3 posts tagged “parents”
Today is the ceremonial kick-off for the online holiday shopping season. Planning on buying anything today? What good deals have you found?
I basically have Jess done. Jess helped me sort out my niece. This just leaves...
- One sibling (this year, we're doing a secret Santa gift exchange thing as there are too many of us with spouses and partners)
- Five grandparents
- Four parents
- Two unborn babies
- One mysterious child (Toys For Tots)
I start in earnest tonight.
After saying goodbye to my parents and having a two-day work week, I didn't expect to have the energy to do much this weekend. Somehow, though, we did a fair amount.
I had to get up really early on Saturday morning as I had a biometrics appointment with US Immigration. Unlike the last time, where they fingerprinted every single digit and took multiple photos, I was in and out. One fingerprint, a signature and a photo. Done and done. Exactly two years before, I had proposed to Jess in Paris, so it was pretty surreal to be living in the same country.
During the day, we got lunch, did some shopping, talked to AT&T about our pending migration from T-Mobile, then Jess had a nap. She then made a very healthy dinner before we went out drinking with co-workers. Mike, the guy who started the exact same day as me, was turning the exact same age as me - 28 - so we were going to surprise him. We left at midnight, everyone else kept drinking. It was a fun night.
Our plan for Sunday was simple:
- Do laundry
- Get brunch
- Head to Best Buy when it opened to get Wii Fit and/or Guitar Hero On Tour for DS
- Go home and bum around
Best Buy hadn't received any copies of Wii Fit (meaning, basically, the game Nintendo have spent fucktons marketing hasn't been available for purchase since its release date). I'm pretty much resigned to the fact we're not getting it. Instead, we both picked up a copy of Guitar Hero On Tour with the free stickers, and then noticed that they had the standalone Rock Band drum kits.
I've been hemming and hawing about the game for a while. We have Guitar Hero II and III and thus two compatible guitars, and neither of us would want to sing. That ruled out the big bundle. Then there's the pending release of Guitar Hero IV with its own snazzier drum kit. I decided to go for it, though, as the drums looked very appealing to play. So we went home with the disc-only Rock Band game, the drum kit and two copies of GHOT.
We spent a lot of time playing Rock Band, in which time I realised how much fun drumming is. After that, Jess tried the drums while I opened my copy of Guitar Hero. Due to the high potential for hand cramping, the shitty list of songs, and the fact we would likely never play the multiplayer modes, we decided to take the second copy straight back for a refund. It's fun, but not twice the price fun.
And that was our little indulgence.
We have an interesting few weeks coming up.
- We're about to receive our economic stimulus cheque from the government. We're splitting it between four charities - one of which is our savings account, the other three are actual good causes.
- I supposedly get a bonus I've been promised for a few months next week, so that has been earmarked for a new iPhone each (hence the aforementioned AT&T migration) and more savings.
- There's some little thing called the fourth of July.
- We're seeing the excellent Wolf Parade at House Of Blues (having seen the also brilliant Dethklok there last week).
- I have my interview for my green card application.
It's all go, go, go.
This is my favourite song right now.
HAI! I've been very quiet the last week or so. First I was cramming at work to prepare for time off, then I took that time off. My parents flew in last Wednesday, so since then I've been hanging out with them, eating far too much and doing touristy things - many of which, I had never done before, despite having been to and from this city several times as a tourist before moving here.
Today is their final day in Chicago, so they'll be bringing their luggage up here shortly so we can go to the local farmer's market and the zoo before taking them to the airport. In lieu of getting my green card so I can go home and see *everyone*, it's been nice seeing them.
I'd better get ready. I just wanted to say I'm not dead or something.
