Thanksgiving sunset

Tucson was one of the warmest places in the United States today (for Thanksgiving), reaching 73 degrees.

The sky was mostly clear all day but we did get a few light clouds which made for a pretty sunset.  I captured it from my apartment balcony.

We have some of the prettiest sunsets in southern Arizona that I've ever seen.

A blue and pink sunset as seen through the trees west of my apartment balcony.

Thanksgiving 2013 (early)

Anthony went to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving with his family, so he and I had a Thanksgiving style dinner on Tuesday.

He's a really good cook.  We didn't have turkey, but had stuff with chicken, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, squash, gravy and rolls.

Two days later, while he's gone, I'm still eating the leftovers.  And they're wonderful.

I have to work tomorrow and Lucky needs a dog sitter so I have enough to keep me occupied while Anthony is gone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anthony makes his awesome stuffing.
I do love me some stuffing.

The finished product when he served it.
Deeeeeelish!

Happy Birthday Marty!

I joined a group of my co-workers at the Radio/TV building to bring a cake to Marty Bishop, the midday radio personality on 94.9 MIX-fm.

No matter how many birthdays one has, cake is always a welcome surprise.

Happy Birthday Marty!

Leslie presents Marty his birthday cake

Blowing out the candles

There's poop on that car window

I managed to take this photo at the stoplight at 22nd and Swan in Tucson.

I don't know what the sticker was for... except that it said poop.

Awesome.

Poop on a car window.
I expected it to be more brown in color.

Balls of cheese and romance at the grocery store

Anthony and I had our usual Sunday outing tonight.  We visited Culver's at Broadway and Prudence for dinner, then rolled east to the Walmart Neighborhood Market at Broadway and Camino Seco.

Dinner at Culver's was nice until Anthony started to get annoyed by the table behind him that had two women and half a dozen children.  He's told me many times that he wants children.  Then, he seems to be annoyed by every child he encounters.  Maybe he'd be happy if his own children were annoying him and not other people's.

The trip to Walmart Neighborhood Market was uneventful.  I was surprised it wasn't busier with only a few days left before Thanksgiving.  Maybe the public has already done their turkey day shopping and have moved on to Christmas.

A lot of choices at Culver's.
I had a baKEN cheddar Butter Burger.

Here's Anthony next to the sign on the table at Culver's displaying his age.

Cheese curds (I call them cheese balls), and chicken strips.
This is what Anthony ordered.

French fries and a Cheddar Bacon Butter Burger for Ken.

Anthony eats his chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Concrete Mixer with extra peanut butter sauce.
I take picture.
The end.

Hey Walmart Neighborhood Market and Family Dollar at Broadway and Camino Seco...
don't over do it with the Christmas decorations.

Romance blossoming in the aisles of Walmart Neighborhood Market.
They're heading toward the toilet paper so it must be true love.

Svelte Organic Protein Shake.
When you need your food to prop up your ego.

Delallo Hearts Of Palm
Where's the rest of the hand?

Keebler Filled Pretzel Bites
Nothing says get ready to be disappointed than seeing
"enlarged to show texture" on a box.

Kraft Jet Puffed Snowman Mallows
Looks like a snowman to me.

Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes
The best part of every holiday season.

This guy pushing a floor cleaning machine seemed to appear behind us in every aisle.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not pee on the floor at the grocery store.

It was not empty because I farted

I forgot to post this from last Sunday... I ate at Jack In The Box by myself at 22nd and Craycroft.

Once again, I ate in an empty restaurant.  I seem to have the ability to find restaurants with no one in them (besides the employees).

Spicy Chicken Sandwich, curly fries, and one occupied chair in the dining room (mine).

Eating in an empty Jack In The Box on 11/17/13 at 22nd and Craycroft
No, it wasn't empty because I farted.

Meeting Jim Breuer

I had the opportunity to meet comedian / actor / former Saturday Night Live SNL cast member Jim Breuer today.

He was a guest on the TV show and he's performing his stand up act tonight at the Fox Theatre in downtown Tucson.

He hung out in my office for about half an hour before the start of the show, and he and I ended up talking about one of Brad Pitt's earliest movies (1990's "Across The Tracks", where Brad's character lived in a trailer park and went to reform school).

It makes me want to go watch "Half Baked" again.

Ken Carr and Jim Breuer
One of us has pretty hair and one a career as a successful comedian

Apartments 242 and 243 need a mute button

Everywhere I've ever lived, there is always one neighbor who doesn't give a rat's ass about those who live around them.  This issue is usually greater in apartment complexes because so many people live in close proximity to one another.

Living at Ridgepointe has been pretty good for the most part.  It's a pretty quiet complex and that's one of it's best assets.  But, there always seems to be one neighbor within earshot or eyeshot who has to make late night parties and being noisy a constant irritant.

The last one that caused that problem moved early this year and I thought there would be a chance that would last for a while but my luck isn't that good.

The people that live in apartments 242 and 243, which are two buildings over with one on the ground floor and one on the second floor above it, keep throwing these noisy parties deep into the night every couple of weeks.  They open all their windows, play fairly loud music (last night I got to see a 60 year old woman attempt to dance to "What Does The Fox Say", and I am still suffering from blindness), and then they are out on their patio until 3 or 4 a.m. and don't talk quietly while drinking.  There's lots of yelling and it's getting annoying.

Their saving grace from not having me call the police is that they are two buildings away and the walls here are just thick enough that I can't hear them inside.  Although I'll admit, it would give me great pleasure to request officers to pay them a visit so they get a red tag.  (A red tag is a violation of the party/noise ordinance in Tucson where you get fined and have to place a big red tag in your window or on your door for a minimum of six months).

Unfortunately security here is worthless (and I don't think they come around on the weekends) so it will take a call to police to put their parties on mute.

Parties at apartment complexes are for indoors so you have the least chance of bothering other people, otherwise these two apartments should pool their money and move to a house.

Yup, I'm getting old.

Apartments 242 and 243 at Ridgepointe
This was shot from my balcony two buildings away
They've already decorated for Christmas but their loud parties
have me saying "bah humbug".

Anthony's 30th birthday

Anthony turned 30, the big three-oh, hit another decade, blah blah blah... yesterday.

I bought him a musical card that says "You're not old until the fat lady sings" on the front, and when it's opened has an opera singer holding a long note with a picture of a large woman inside.  I gave him cash, because he needs that more than anything right now.  I also got him a DVD of "The Conjuring".  He told me he wanted to see that movie so now he owns it.

I was going to get him a cake.  But, he bought himself one the day before his birthday.  My feelings were hurt a little because I felt that he didn't think I'd get him one.  He insists it was a random purchase.  He does things like that sometimes.  I end up having to believe what he says.  I don't think he does it intentionally, it just ends up being odd.

I bought dinner last night at Zinburger, a fancy hamburger restaurant near where we live.  That is where Anthony wanted to go for his birthday.  60 bucks for a couple of burgers and fries.  It was a good dinner, except that where I was sitting was right next to a door leading to the patio of the restaurant and every two minutes it opened with wait staff and customers going in and out and it blew cold wind in my face.  It was like eating dinner in a random high wind storm.

My grandpa used to say about birthdays "I survived another year".  That is worth celebrating for anyone.

Happy Birthday Anthony!

Anthony the birthday boy with his gifts

The fat lady inside the card sang to him

"The Conjuring" DVD

Anthony was hungry at Zinburger

The Samburger at Zinburger
I ordered it with Kobe beef, and it came with cheese, bacon, and Thousand Island dressing
It was so soggy that I ate the second half with a fork

Anthony and his burger at Zinburger
(I gave him my pickles)

The birthday cake Anthony bought himself that he hid in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator
He nicknamed the conversation we had about it "cake-gate"

Lucky's first visit to a dog park

Lucky had his first visit to a dog park yesterday.

Anthony and I met up with my friend Jason at Reid Park in midtown Tucson at about 2 p.m.  Jason brought his dog Summer and we brought Lucky.

I had been hesitant to take him to a dog park because I was unsure how he would do.  I was concerned he's bolt once off the leash or he'd have trouble interacting with other dogs.  He's a unique animal and it's taken a long time to get him to bond to us and function well in a variety of situations.

It turned out that my concerns weren't really justified.  He stuck pretty close to us the whole time and ran around and played well with the other dogs.  One dog attempted multiple times to hump him and Lucky snarled at him but it didn't go any further than that.  (The humping was unsuccessful by the way).

I shot some video of the occasion.  (Get the direct link of the video on YouTube by clicking here).

Butter Burger, Whoopie Pie, and stunning sunset

Anthony and I had our usual Sunday excursion out today.

First, he and I took Lucky to Reid Park to run in the dog park with my friend Jason's dog, Summer.  I shot video at the park so that will be a separate blog entry as soon as I get it edited.

After we exhausted Lucky, it was on to dinner at Culver's on Broadway and Prudence.  I have eaten there a few times now, but this was the first time I had one of their famous Butter Burgers.  It's called that because they butter the bun.

I was a little disappointed that they cook the living crap out of the burger.  It's beyond well done.  It reminded me of Freddy's except the bun was better, and I didn't care for Freddy's burger.

After Culver's, we went to Walmart Neighborhood Market at Broadway and Camino Seco.  It's a nice store, but the air conditioning is set to about 50 degrees at that location no matter what the weather is outside.  The new Walmart Market at Golf Links and Kolb has the same issue.  It's hospital cold.

We went next door after that to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream.

This is the order number we got for our table at Culver's.
It took all of my willpower not to write "play" under the 4.

Culver's Butter Burger with bacon and cheddar
They cook the hell out of that beef.

French fries at Culver's
A little bit too well done as well

Stunning sunset as seen from the Culver's parking lot

Walmart Neighborhood Market already has Christmas goodies (and it's only November 10).
Gingerbread M&M's and Gingerbread Twix

I didn't buy this, but I took a photo because my friend Brandon
is a big fan of bacon jerky.

Whoopie Pie at Baskin Robbins (the sign anyway)
It didn't say it had any chunks of Whoopie Goldberg, but I didn't ask.

Eating ice cream outside of Baskin Robbins at Broadway and Camino Seco
Anthony attempts to avoid the Kenparazzi.

But, the Kenparazzi is patient and gets a photo of Anthony licking his spoon.

A Ken doll and a pizza roll on the floor

Sunday night outing with Anthony tonight.  He was not in a patient mood, so it didn't take long for him to start complaining non-stop about how long it was taking to do anything.  Oh well, it was still more enjoyable than no company.

First stop was Boston Market at Grant and Tanque Verde because I was starving.  He only had a soda.  I got a market bowl that was drowning in gravy.  It was awesome.

Then, we went to Target and I bought a few sweaters and a big pack of AA batteries.  Unfortunately, I forgot razors so I'll have to go back in the next couple of days.

Walmart Neighborhood Market was our last stop.  They were horribly understaffed at the front and had the longest lines I'd ever seen.  Fortunately, by the time we got our basket full of stuff, the lines had significantly reduced in size and we only waited a few minutes before our turn to check out.

Another weekend has come to an end.  They always go by so fast.

Market Bowl for me at Boston Market, Anthony just had a soda.
Now THAT is what I call enough gravy.

This Ken doll at Target looks nothing like me.
Except maybe the hair.

Walmart Neighborhood Market at 22nd and Craycroft
They were out of my favorite potato salad, and based on this photo in the deli,
out of a lot of other stuff, too.

This pizza roll was on the floor in the beverage aisle at Walmart Neighborhood Market.
It looks lonely.

The rest of the Pizza Rolls ended up on this shelf.
(another empty shelf)

I tried to take Anthony's picture at the grocery store.
He wasn't having the Kenparazzi today.

Meeting Lute Olson

One of Tucson's biggest local celebrities is former Arizona Wildcats head basketball coach Lute Olson.  He had a legendary career as coach of the team including a national championship in 1997.

I was able to get him on as a guest today on the Morning Blend, the first appearance he has ever made on the show.  He was a wonderful guest, along with author of the book "Tales From The Arizona Wildcats Locker Room" Steve Rivera (a longtime sports writer in this area).

Super nice guy, and kind enough to pose for a picture with ol' Ken.

Basketball coaching legend Lute Olson and Ken Carr
One of us knows how to score.