Made it to Kentucky

We made it to Kentucky a little while ago...

Bruce Minnick Jr

Bad Weather Follow Up

Since the convention was not all that exciting, I had plenty of time to take some pictures and video of the bad storm that hit us on 5/12/09 (click images for larger versions):






















Because fo the wind and being thrown around, the glass tops on most of the tables had broken. When the wind finally died down, the hotel quick replaced the table tops and straightened everything up....

I did get a quick little video:

Bad Storm!

So we finally got some rain, but this is not what we wanted. Right now I am a convention out at Disney and there are extreme thunderstorms, very high winds, and HAIL!

Glad I am not at a park!

Wedding Bells!

Presenting the happy young couple!

And this one is for mama!

So we cover all of the bases, this one is for mama (and everyone else too). We received the first of a couple shipments for mrsguru's BIG christmas gift (ok, it was actually the day after Christmas gift).

We received the three sets of her new Christmas china!





This is the main part, the rest of the accessories are on their way. Although, not everything made it in one piece. One bag had a broken cup, so I have to return it and order a new one (bummer).

If you are interested, it is Pfaltzgraff Winterberry

This one is for Mom!

Mrsguru spent her day off in the kitchen, her first priority: making her first batch of pizzelles! She's made them with my mother before, but never on her own or with her own pizzelle iron.

They are great and perfect! What do you think?

Family Christmas Celebration Game Plan

For those of you who are not immediate family members, this post really will be boring for you... but if you are immediate family, PAY ATTENTION!

Team BJ will be travelling to Valdosta on Christmas Eve and will stay that night at Team Bruce. Team BJ will spend Christmas morning (and a few hours) with Team Bruce, before moving on to Team Cleo's house. The idea was to have an early Christmas dinner and then do Christmas presents with Team BJ, Team Cleo, and Team Richard.

Team BJ will spend the next few nights with Team Cleo and will return to stay with Team Bruce Sunday night.

On Friday, Team BJ will be with Team Cleo when Team Perry arrives.

Team Sam and Team Joel will arrive at Team Cleo's Sunday afternoon and stay with them (this is when Team BJ will stay with Team Bruce). Monday morning the following will have Christmas gifts and celebration together: Team BJ, Team Cleo, Team Richard, Team Sam, and Team Joel. At some point in the early afternoon, Team Bruce may join in the festivaties.

Team BJ may leave late Monday night or extreme early Tuesday morning. Unknown at this time when Team Sam and Team Joel will return to their points of origin.

Trans Siberian Orchestra Concert

For the last few years, Trans Siberian Orchestra has come through Orlando on their annual Winter tour. Usually the concert date(s) are very close to Christmas Day, so we have been unable to go to the show. This year they moved the concert date big time, 11/15/08, so we were finally able to attend the show. I grabbed two seats the day the tickets went on sales (after a week os invitation only presale) and I'm glad I did. Our seats were in the last "lower bowl" section in the arena, so if I had been any later in ordering ticket, we would have been in the rafters.

This was an amazing concert! It had a ton of lighting effects, great musicians, and lasted nearly 3 HOURS!

Normally you are not allowed to take cameras to concerts, so I didn't take my camera with me. Well, that was a mistake, because they had no issues with taking photos or videos. So the photos below and the video are kinda crappy, because they were taken on my mobile phone (which nearly died on me because I was taking so many photos).

So enjoy the photos and video, click the images for larger versions:



And here is the short video I took:

Christmas Update

I just wanted to do a quick post, so everyone didn't forget about us.... I have a ton of photos that I have uploaded recently, I need to start posting about them. The problme is that things are not going so good at work. Because of the economic problems and some major financial missjudgements this past summer, the company is in very bad shape. If we can make it through the year, we may make it, but it is going to be extremely tough! And to top it all off, looks like we will not be able to go to Georgia for Christmas, looks like I am going to have to work Christmas Eve and the day after. So who knows.....

But I wanted to take a moment and show off one of our new trees.... yes, one of our new trees, we now have 8 TREES! help me, please.......


Click image for larger version and apologies for crappy cell phone photo

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! Last night was our first Halloween in the new house and we were hoping that we would actually have some trick or treaters this year. Over the several years we were in the apartment, we had zero kids come by, we hoped that this year would be different.

We even went so far as getting a permium treat to give out, popcorn balls! It was an ok night, approx 15 kids... which was pretty much all of the kids in the townhouse complex. Later that night, we found out that the HOA didn't keep the entrance gate open. It is usually closed by 8:00pm, but we thought they might keep it open to allow more people through for trick or treating, but they didn't. I may inquire with the HOA and see if the gate can stay open a little later next year.

We did dress up the front porch a little, but I have some BIG plans for next year! In the mean time, enjoy the photos (remember, click the photos for larger versions):

We are starting to setup for handing out candy	Almost done setting up the porch
Close up of some our decorations	Here is Autumn wearing her Maleficent ears
Maleficent and her precious	Charlotte outside on the porch
Maleficent's Fury; Charlotte striking Maleficent's famous pose	It's not all about Charlotte, there was one photo of me
One of our two Disney Haunted Mansion Ghost Tombstones!	Big Jack-O-Lantern; Custom, hand carved pumpkin... done my yours truly
We always get a small pumpin, another custom carving job	Bring on the Trick and Treaters; Notice how we rearranged everything, just for the popcorn balls!
Maleficent's Fury, at night!; I may try loading some plugins and adding Maleficent's green flames	Jack-O-Lantern; Nice shot of my jack-o-lantern
After a few hours, it was time to close up