Brent vs. the January

I would write about the Winteräufe and show you pictures of that, but it was incredibly uneventful (8K, 46:55).  This sorry excuse for winter melted all the ice and snow sculptures from last weekend.  The only thing left of it was a few ice cubes on the ground and some snow plowed in an alleyway.  Quite a bit different from last year when it was all still up and being awesome.

Last Year

This winter is pathetic.  I'm really hating it.  Besides, I'm slower than all these people as it is.  The only advantage I had was the winter when a good chunk of them are "Sissy Skinner" (NOT the senior women's tennis olympian) and stay indoors on their treadmills, and now that's gone.



You know what's also gone?  "Yep, you guessed it....Frank Stallone."

Just kidding, January's gone.  So it's time to check in on me and see if I'm completely slacking off here.

The Ones of the Twelves


1) Pick 12 things of social importance that I've had limited exposure to, but decided I didn't like and immerse myself in each of them for 1 month. 


Westerns - I know I'll lose a stamp or two on the man card for admitting it, but I was pretty sure I didn't like westerns, not even the Eastwood ones.  Westerns were always something that my Dad and Uncle Bob watched that kept me from watching real television.  They were boring, and usually just a bunch of guys riding ponies around in the wilderness until they have to kill a bunch of Native Americans or other cowboys to get some sort of reward or loot they didn't earn.

So I spent my January immersing myself within this genre of film that not only was an American staple, but seems to come back in spurts for a couple years in each decade.  So I went out and watched everything from early 1900s westerns to John Wayne westerns to 80's westerns, and beyond.

The Verdict:  It's not a genre I can continue to dismiss.  While I can still say fairly reasonably that 75% of the time I don't like them, some of the 25% I have liked have been well worth the hours spent.  However, I still haven't met a John Wayne movie I like.  I still never really jumped into the Eastwood movies, but I figured they'd be around and now that the door's been opened enough, I will see them.

Brent Approved:  High Noon, Tombstone, Westworld, Magnificent Seven, Young Guns, and True Grit

2)  Learn 12 new recipes (1/month)
That stuffed peppers recipe that I kind of concocted out of nothing is pretty much perfect, fast, and easy. Let's not forget delicious. Definitely will do that again. Other than that, I don't think I tried another new one. I know I spent about a bag of potatoes and flour trying to perfect the pierogies, and ended up with 100+ in the freezer. They must have been delicious. They've mysteriously disappeared already.

3)  Do 12 home improvements (1/month).
We got a window box/tv stand in the bay window made for the living room and it's allowed us to get rid of a lot of clutter in here.  Normally I'd be sitting and typing this while thinking I should straighten up the living room, but now it all has a place and it stays there.  I even got our stereo hooked up to everything, which has never happened until now.  We also put up a lot of our friends photos and wedding photos around the place, and it's just so much more alive in here.  I feel surrounded by good memories.  I think it counts as at least one, even though it's not the one I planned for this month.

4)  Try 12 new restaurants (1/month).
Maybe this barely counts, but I ate at the White Horse.  Now, I've cut my teeth on drinking there several times in my life, but I couldn't say I've ever eaten there.  That probably has something to do with the voice in my head that only talks about Taco Bell when he's been drinking.  Now I've finally tried their famous Black and Blue burger, and it's kind of fighting for my hometown burger affection with the Torch.  It's also been a while since I drank there and they've really stepped up their selection.  Other than that, we're still stuck in our rut, but when that rut is a delicious Thai restaurant where everything on the menu is delightful, it's hard to complain.

Trying to point to the White Horse window behind me

Enjoy the Super Bowl, everyone.  I have enough food and beer to take care of a small army, and I haven't even seen what everyone else will be bringing.  I don't it think will break 20+ people in here like the last two years, but we'll see.  I'm at 12 confirmed, and with the MSU/UM b-ball game on at 1:00pm, I fear for us and the extra 5 hours of drinking.