Blogging to Blog

Not really too much going on this week. The weather sucks. Its cold, cloudy, windy and rainy out today. Where I am, Seattle? Im hoping it dries up enough by Sunday so we have an outdoor soccer game. I hate playing in the cold and wind and the league wont let us play if the fields are slop. It tears them up too badly for the rest of the season.
Well, its looking like another huge LAN party is on the horizon. One of the guys from my gaming group has secured a large room and large tables. Perfect for setting up 15 or so computers and and packing nerds and pizza into a building for 6 hours. Oh the fun!!

Another Late Update

Wow, im really getting lazy about these updates! I was just sitting here at work, and I thought... uh-oh, I havent updated the Thorpeblog in a log time!! So here I am, trying to write in a few quick things before lunch. Lets see, whats been going on? Oh yeah, my buddy Dan flew into town from LA for a family get together. I didnt get to see him much, but while he was here me, Drew and him met up at one of our favorite restaurants, La Hacienda. For those that do not know what La Hacienda is... your missing out! Its a "Tex-Mex" place that makes fajitas that are unbelievable. Im getting hungery just typing about it. Im not sure how many there are around the USA, but there are at least 3 I know of in the Dallas area alone. Needless to say, we stuffed ourselves. Funny thing, Drew has a thing for their salsa dip. So we get our bowl of tortilla chips and he burns thru 4 bowls of the stuff! The waitress gives him a bowl sealed in a to-go bag. But after he finishes his meal and the 4 bowls of the salsa he already had... he opens the bag and digs into the to-go salsa. Crazy I tell ya. haha
Also, a Texas rarity, we got hit by a "snow storm" last saturday. It was kinda neat. Reminded me of my days in Chicagoland. Although we only got about 6 inches of the white stuff, the news and weather stations here were acting like it was practically the end of the world. Talking about how to drive safe, stay warm, care for you pets and plants, how to walk in it.... it was hilarious. Drew and I were joking about how up north the weather man would have said, "... and this morning we got a little snow, looks nice out... Now on to sports." But here our weather man devotes the entire day to "Snow Storm Coverage". Too funny. Well gotta run and do some work. More to come.

A Late Update

Yeah, yeah... so it's Thursday and im doing a last weekend recap. So sue me. haha Last saturday the Dinner Club met again. This time it was off to Addison for some Mongolian Barbeque. For those that have never been to Ghengis Grill, its quite an experience! First you go thru this buffett like area full of raw beef, chicken, pork and tofu. (blah!) Then you pile veggies, stir fry mixes, seasonings and tons of other stuff into your stainless steel bowl. From there you head over and get in line around what looks like a giant, round, steel table. Probably about 10 feet in diameter. Once there, they take your bowl from you, plop it upside down on this hot steel surface and begin to beat and mix it with a pair of sticks. When your meat or tofu (blah!) is fully cooked and your veggies are done, they use the sticks and scrape it back off into a new bowl. You then get to choose between steamed or fried rice and your back off to your table. To say this food is delicious would be the understatement of the year. Its all you can eat so if you finish your first bowl, its back up for more. And if your food sucks, its your own fault... you created it. Normally im good for about 4 bowls. But this time i was tapping out after 2 large bowls. Most everyone made it to at least their second bowl. Dinner Club members in attendance were Val, me, Mandy, Therese, Craig, Becki, Cheryl and Mike. We had a really good time. Funny thing. After we left Ghengis Grill we went next door to a store called Condom Sense. We thought it would be a good laugh. Oh, it was. As i walked in, I expected to see a store that mainly sold different types of condoms. Kinda boring if you ask me. But nooooooooo. Not this place! They had a small corner dedicated to condoms. The rest of the store had every type of sex device, aid, contraption, pump, crutch, tool, assistant.... whatever. There was even a life sized sex doll for like $800!! I really feel sorry for anyone who forks out money for something like that. hahaha We walked thru the isles laughing and making jokes at just about every device we saw. It was a hoot. Just like us, most people in there were doing the same thing. Not shopping, just there after eating and having a chuckle. Sad thing was, there was this guy walking around there. Probably mid 40's. He was in the corner and carrying something he had picked up to buy. He was asking the girl working there all these serioius questions about different stuff. It was actually kinda creepy. Geeze buddy, just get it off the internet. Well, after about 30 minutes of looking around we all left. I was so full I was useless the rest of the night. Went straight home and fell asleep.
Saturday was also the first practice for my outdoor soccer team. I arrive at the fields and it is COLD! With temps in the upper 30's, low 40's and wind gusts of 30 mph... i knew it was going to be a tough practice. We were scrimmaging another team that would be in our division. So this would be a good judge of where we stood in our league. Although none of us on our team knew eachother, we had never played together before and we played sloppy... we managed to beat the other team like 4 or 5 to 0. Good showing id say. They didnt even manage to get a good shot off on our goal. After the scrimmage, the entire frozen team all decided to meet up at the local Hooters restaraunt. Once there everyone got to start talking and getting to know eachother. I didnt eat because I knew we were going to Ghengis Grill that night. (yes i know these events are backwards) :) The team ordere a platter of 50 hotwings. Ive never seen chicken wings turn to a pile of bones so fast. Wow.
Sunday was another fun day as RSi (www.red-sector.com) was competing in Mission 4 of the Azzcup Ghost Recon tournament. I was originally in the reserve pool but as the insertion time neared I was called to duty. I was briefed on the mission intel, voice comms were configured, fire team load-outs were decided and then we waited for the go command. The only thing we knew so far was it was a night time insertion into a Georgian (Russian province) rebel controled area. We were to rescue a hostage from a castle compound and assasinate their leader, then get to the EZ. The tournament isnt over, so I cant talk about what happend or our final score... yet. I have to wait until all teams have finished the final round. But i will just say, things went surprisingly well. :) Check back for a detailed update soon. (If you care)