Last night Abi and I celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss. We got all dressed up and headed to downtown Bellevue to for a 7:00PM at The Melting Pot--a fancy fondue restaraunt.

 

We arrived about 20 minutes early and stopped for drinks in the lounge while we waited for our reservation. We waited...and waited...and waited. 15 minutes after our reservation time, I head back over to the hostess desk to check on things. I don't even need to say anything and they tell me that they are just waiting for some tables to be cleared and then we will get seated. The manager jumps in and offers to comp some drinks for making us wait--I don't protest.

 

We get seated and start our "Big Night Out". This is a full four course fondue experience: Cheese fondue, salad, entree fondue, and chocolate fondue for desert. We had an awesome waiter that more than made up for our seating delay.

 

First course: Cheddar cheese fondue. it was a beer base with minced garlic, mustard powder, 3 types of cheese, whorcheister and black pepper. Our waiter made the sauce right in front of us, and then we had 3 different kinds of bread, carrots, celery, cauliflower and granny smith apples to dip it in. It was very very tasty! Our waiter warned us not to fill up on Cheese, and it was very hard not to.

 

Second course: Salads. Abi got a strawberry and almod salad (on spinich greens with feta cheese and a vinegarette dressing). I had a chef salad with some semi-sweet house dressing. Abi absolutely loved her salad, I enjoyed my salad, but wasn't attacking it with gusto as I wanted to save room for the good stuff--meat.

 

Third course: Entree Fondue. We had center cut filet mignon, teriyaki beef, tiger shrimp, pork, chicken, and roasted red pepper ravioli. Our cooking style was Coq Au Vin--a broth with burgundy wine, garlic, herbs, mushrooms and scallions. then there were so many different dips, sauces, glazes etc. everything was very tasty. we had fun trying different combinations of meat and sauces, and trying to figure out if the meat was done. Sadly I must confess we did leave meat uncooked and uneaten. I know, I know, but I knew there was an entire course still to go.

 

Fourth course: Chocolate Fondue. There were 10 different types of chocolate fondue to choose from--that is way to many choices for Abi and myself. Feeling very sated by the meal so far, we decided to go with the tried and true "Original." This was a milk chocolate base swirled with crunchy peanut butter. For dippers they brought out cheese cake, pound cake, brownies, marshmellows, strawberries, bananas, and pineapple. We probably won't try this one again, it was a bit too rich for our taste--especially after the meal that preceeded it. Next time we will go with simple milk chocolate.

 

Overall we had a great time. It was a very fun evening with excellent company, good food, and a great time.

 

Here's to the next three years!

 

ddv

Well my weekend started off well enough. Had some good Thai food with friends on Friday, got some decisions made on the flooring situation on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon was taken up with watching a fantastic HBO series “Entourage”, then poker on Saturday night.

 

For those of you who follow along, I’ve never been good at poker. I don’t try to be a mechanical player, learn all the strategies, calculate pot odds and all that other stuff that sucks the fun out of a night of cards and booze with friends. Abi is the money winner, having won player of the year last year and continually placing in the money in our monthly games.

 

Last night was no exception, she got first place and brought home a cool $140. But, and this is where the story get interesting, I too brought home a profit. Yup, I took 4^th place and brought home $30. That is $170 for the Velins, totaling $130 in profit. Woohoo for me!

 

Riding high off my poker winnings, Sunday was going to be a good day. We got up, ran some errands, then finally made it to the Northshore pool for some lap swim—a fun way to get in shape. This is where my faith in humanity begins to falter.

 

We swam laps for awhile and then headed back to the locker room. I showered and then went to grab my bag out of the locker. Hmmmm…my bag isn’t there. *moment of panic/anger* I’ll check the locker next to it. *sigh of relief* my bag is there. Some punk kids were fooling around. So I take my bag over to start changing. I unzip my bag. *another moment of rage*. My stuff is not in my bag the way I left it. Great, I just know my wallet is gone. So I rifle through my bag (all my clothes are still there) and find my pants. *shock* my wallet is in my pants. *confusion* what the hell is going on. So I open my wallet and sure enough, everything is there but my cash. Sneaky lil bastards left my ID and my credit cards, even my Visa gift card that is anonymous and just like cash. I initially thought that they got the $20 I had in my money holder as well as the emergency $50 I keep stashed away for….emergencies. But the idiots didn’t look hard enough to find it—suckers!!

 

While I was happy the thieves didn’t get all my cash, and very happy I didn’t wear my wedding ring, college ring or watch to the pool, and very happy they didn’t steal my ID and credit cards, I am saddened by this turn of events.

 

While not usually a very open and trusting person, I am usually quite optimistic about the human race and hopeful about the integrity of humanity. I have faith that most people will continue to do the right thing. I was naïve enough to think that in the quaint suburbs at a community pool on a Sunday morning people would respect the property of others. Yes it was my fault that I brought my wallet to the pool, chose to use a free locker instead of a coin operated lockable one, and ignore the sign that said the pool isn’t responsible for lost or stolen property. I’m not disputing that fact; I am just saddened that I had to learn a lesson the hard way about humanity.

 

Part of my hopes the thief uses the money to get food for his family or something useful, and part of me hopes that if he uses it for drugs he gets a bad batch and OD’s a slow, horrendous death. Yes, that is punishment enough for lifting $20 of a BMW driving yuppie trying to lose a few pounds.

 

But “they” won’t get me again. Abi and I will only bring as much money as necessary to get in, and we won’t leave anything in the lockers any more.

 

Take that humanity…but I’m still holding out hope…

 

ddv

ah yes, it has been quite a week for me. Last Wednesday I got to do a work outing at Safeco field. We watched the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. and when i say watched, i mean we drank beer and talked while the game was played in front of us. but that is how i like to watch baseball (it is rather dull if you actually concentrate on the game). Traffic home was dreadful, i was very glad i was on a bus back to campus.

 

Friday i played hooky from work to go to Everett to audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. they were in town for 3 shows: the general show, the special movie trivia week, and some couples week where you played to have your wedding paid for. My friend Rob and I got there about 7 (doors opened at 9) and were numbers 176 and 177 in line. Luckily we made the first group in to get tested (they took the first 200). We had a 10 minute, 30 question test for the movie show and a 10 minute, 30 question test of the general category. the tests were quite a bit harder than i expected, and seemingly harder than the questions on the show itself. out of the 200 people that took the test with me, only 4 passed the movie test and about 40-50 passed the general test. and when i say passed, i mean they got to move on to the interview. the producers were very secretive about what score you needed to move on. my conspiracy theory is that they have a range they want you to test in (people who score between 65% and 70% are accepted) to move on. it makes more sense from a business perspective to have people that aren't the smartest--you run a greater risk of having to pay out the 1 million that way. Holding this theory as true, i do not believe i passed the movie test (the real reason Rob and I went). that bugger was tough! but i do feel that i scored much better on the general test. at least i tell myself i over-scored on the test to lessen the sting of not making it. but on a lighter side, i did still get about 15 seconds of fame as Rob and I had close ups on the local news. The network was out covering the auditions and walked up the line, catching a very dapper ddv looking quite serious standing in line. Rob's parents caught the footage on VHS. I'll post it if it converted to digital...

 

Friday night was the going away party for Ryan. after being out here since February, he thought it was time to move back to his wife and house. we went out to dinner and then to a bar to celebrate. beers and cigars all around--it made for a very nice send-off.

 

The next day we of course had Ryan help us get the last bit of rock for our backyard. i think the total was just under 6 tons. ugh....but at least it looks nice. now we have to schedule all our home improvement projects for the first week of each month when Ryan will be back in town. I sure hope he is ready!

 

Saturday was also a big day for me (apart from moving all the damn rock). I got to once again see my beloved Dallas Cowboys play in person. they were in town for a pre-season exhibition match against the Seahawks. i wouldn't pay full price to go see the second and third string players play, but a friend of mine (and fellow Bimmer nut) John scored tickets and offered me a seat. so i fought traffic down to Renton to pick him up, then fought more traffic to get down to Kent to catch the Seahawks shuttle to Qwest field. after a 40 minute or so bus ride, we arrived. not as many Cowboys fans as last years regular season, but enough that i could cheer with confidence. it worked too as the 'Boys put on quite a show and one the game 13-3. woohoo. then it was more fighting the crowds to get back to the bus, sitting around forever on the bus, another 40 minute trip to Kent, then back to Renton, then back to Woodinville. I left home at 3:40 for the game and got home at 11:45. but it was well worth it.

 

Sunday was pretty laid back. we went to lunch, tried to go swimming, and went shopping for laminate hardwood floors. we are narrowing it down on color, now we just need to figure out how much it will all cost. boo for unexpected home improvement costs!

 

but life is good, so i can't complain all that much.

 

ddv

Last weekend Abi, Ryan and I took off after work to head to Hayden Lake, ID for a weekend of family fun. We met up with my parents (and their RV) late Thursday night and spent some time chatting before bed. Somehow Abi and I both "fit" on the pullout couch in the RV (a few months earlier I didn't fit by myself! (no fat jokes allowed)).

 

We got up on Friday and had a good breakfast at the RV before heading to Rob and Vicky's cabin on the lake. We met up with most of the Velin family and had a good time getting tan, getting thrown in the lake, getting thrown from the tubes behind the boat, and just having a good time. We all hungout, had dinner, and talked to well into the evening/night.

 

Ryan, Ron (dad) and I got up early on Saturday morning to head to the airport to take a ride in Rob's airplane. I'm not sure how a single engine airplane made it off the ground with 4 Velin males inside, but it did--and we even made it back to earth safely! After our hour long flight over Coeur d'Alene and Kellog, we left Rob to fly Derry and Randy around and went to pick up Abi and Sandy (mom) for a breakfast at Perkins.

 

Perkins was one of two goals for the weekend. Growing up in the midwest, and especially going to college in Moorhead, Perkins is a staple. Open 24 hours, good food, good prices--many a late night was taken up there while we put off papers, homework and studying. Other than the fact that it was about 26 degrees F inside, the food was good and goal 1 was achieved.

 

Then it was back to the lake for more hanging about. lots of boat rides, polish horseshoes and food. There was also a round of bone breaking, muscle severing "massage" by "therapist" Derry. He supposedly does this for a living (and to the elderly no less), but I have yet to see a "victim" walk away better after a round with him. I still don't know why we always volunteer for this!!

 

Sunday was time to go. Time for goal number 2--Taco Johns. Now I personally don't think Taco Johns is better than Taco Bell or Taco Time, but Abi and Ryan have been looking forward to Taco Johns for weeks. We ate on our way out of town and the craving seems to have been satisfied for now. :)

 

Take a look at the latest photos for a visual recap of our wonderfully relaxing weekend with the Velin family.

 

peace, love and understanding

 

ddv