Weekend recap...

I wanted to first of all let you all know that I had my first winning night at poker night this year. You all can breathe now... I know you all were concerned, as was I. But I also wanted to let you all know that there is a certain someone...a certain someone that reads this blog...a certain someone who is flaky and doesn't come to poker night when he says he's going to!!! I won't name any names (j...two..na...). :-P

And how can I mention the weekend without mentioning Prince's Super-Bowl performance?? Now, I like Prince and all and I like the Foo Fighters...but in no way does that mean you should combine the two. That's really all I have to say about that. And no, I didn't watch the game.

Welcome to 3, Colin-bear!!...

Happy birthday Colin-bear!! :-) Handsome devil...

Minus one toofel...

The tooth fairy made her first visit to Ty's this weekend. $5! He may knock out a couple more to expedite a shopping spree at Toys R Us.

Strangest dream ever...

I don't recall the details, but I remember fruit and wanting lots of it. Mostly pineapples and peaches. And I couldn't get enough, it was like I was on crack (but replace crack with fruit). What does it all mean??!! I am such a freak.

Adventures at Great Falls and, is that snow??...

It wasn't SMC...but it was just as fun. I took Ty's to Great Falls Saturday morning, and let me tell you...I've got a lil' adventurer in my hands. I took him on his first mini-hike, he loved every minute of it. It was cute, upon leaving he kept saying "mom, this was a great idea!". Oh, just wait till he starts climbing... :-)




Gig went well that night, actually...the fact that I got carded made it an exceptionally good gig. I think I need to start every gig off that way! :-D And was it supposed to snow today?! Because I heard 'snow flurries', which isn't quite what occured. This is the first time in a WHILE that I've actually gave my car an appreciation pat. While people in their beemers were sliding all over the place, I felt pretty comfy in my ghetto-nothing-functioning-but-has-4-wheel-drive car. And, of course, the boys made the most of it.

5 (fünf) things...

Alright, here goes... Five things you probably didn't know about me ("you" excludes my sisters...they know everything and, darn it, they don't forget either!!):

1. I do a mean cookie monster and cabbage patch kid impression
2. I took four years of German in high school...I bet my mom didn't even know that...
3. The author I've read most of is Dean Koontz
4. I don't throw away publications that I think are really well designed (which is starting to cause a serious clutter problem)
5. The first song I ever performed in public (this being a venue with 100+ strangers) was the Star Spangled Banner

...and I'm tagging anyone who reads this post! Ha!!! Your turn...

My cell phone dreams have come true...

Check it out. Mac-haters (you know who you are!!)...you know you want one... :-P

If I watched football...

...it'd be because of great footage like this.

The latest and greatest...

Man, I've been soooo bad about updating my blog! Bad, bad Amanda...

Where shall I begin? Oh, a very late Happy New Year's to everyone!! I had a gig which went okay. Middle of nowhere and um, interesting hotel afterwards....but lucky me, I expected worse so in conclusion, it wasn't all that bad.

So, on the 30th I went to Seneca for a nice day trip. Weather was perfect. I lead my first trad pitch ever...yay (we shall just disregard the fact that it was a short, super easy pitch...).

Partner at the climbers summit...


Nice view...


Well, my blog isn't the only thing I've been procrastinating on....guess I'd better go take down my Christmas tree now. :-/

By popular demand...

I present to you the professional performance from Grant-Man and Colin-Bear!

Gettin' down with Frosty

Ho ho ho...

Did Santa bring everyone what they wanted for Christmas?? If not, maybe you should be good this year. ;-) Climbing stuff...check. Nerd books...check. Smelly stuff...check. Music dvds...check. Oh, even chilly legos...check. :-D Now, about that winning lotto ticket, I'll have to have words with Santa bout dat.

Some highlights...

Ty's and his new G.I. Joe (could G.I. Joe take over the Power Rangers obsession?? It's a close one so far...stay tuned)



We bored Colin to sleep...



Parker having to manually smile until Santa brings him his Tigatron...

FNP, SMC, and SNL...

I've decided that if an event gets mentioned more than 3 times on my blog...it's open game to be acronymized (thanks, I made that word up all by myself).

So, while the Frosts are galavanting in the Bahamas (and still are....so jealous), I kept the FNP flame burning. Unfortunately, being the host does not improve ones luck and I certainly had none that night. It was sad...but it's all part of my master plan, just playing bad to throw them off for next time.... yea... :-P

SMC (which involves a Saturday morning and climbing) was fun...I actually didn't climb all that much. We had two ropes and one of them was on a 5.10 (I barely scrape up those in good weather!!), so needless to say....didn't spend too much time on that one.

Now, I want to mention SNL because 1) I actually got out of the gig early enough to catch it, I LOVE those gigs....and 2) because now I have a crush on Justin Timberlake. He's adorable! I'm so jealous of Cameron Diaz...and poor Brittany, had to go from him to K-Fed (is that the correct spelling these days?). Anyways, it's the first SNL in a while where I actually laughed out loud. He did a really good job....I completely forgive him of his boy band days.

For Daphne's Pop-si-doodle-darling...

Thanks for everything...

FNP, cold rocks, and band bonding...

Well, it's usually on a Friday night so I feel fairly comfortable in making Friday Night Poker, officially FNP. And it was a good FNP, hehe...for me. I managed to win one big hand (sorry Tulip!!)...then spent the rest of the night kicking myself for folding a hand I would've won with pocket A's. All your fault, Stacy... :-P

So, yea...the rock was kinda chilly on Saturday. But cold rock is better than no rock. :-) And just for you guys, I took a shot of Aid Box below. This is the area we were climbing at and the location of my nemesis climb (w/ arrow). Yup, that little crack be it. (That's Tulip climbing and Jason O. belaying, btw...)



And the band soiree was really fun too. Our drummer and his lady hosted (they have the cutest little apartment!). I had my first taste of honey wine...which, um, I'll have to get used to... We watched Spinal Tap and played Taboo. We got creamed....thus ending my world domination in Taboo!! Just so I know I haven't lost it, please fill in the blank...

Pepe Le Pew is a ______
The band that does Linger and Zombie are ______

Yummy turkey...

Everyone have a good Turkey Day?? Hope you all stuffed yourselves half as silly as I did. And I hope that you all remembered to bring home your leftovers....unlike me. :-(

Grant-man meets Pookie, everyone say awwww...

Bloggers block...

Thank goodness I don't get paid for this. Doesn't help that my camera phone won't email the pics I take, thank you Cingular.

Ok, to the next topic...

Sniff, sniff...$250...

He knows what I'm talking about... Happy birthday, Dad!!! :-D

Foops shloops...

Greg on Foops Jr...


Jason (O) on Foops Jr...


Me on Foops Jr...

I'll spare you all the details of my sad sad performance....hey, climbing on minimal sleep is not all that conducive for focusing! (Ohhh, now I see why they didn't climb on the rope I had set up....sure they 'had to go')

He didn't admit it, but...

...it's okay, your secret is safe in my blog. Happy birthday j2!! :-D

Jumpin' on the accessibility bandwagon...

I'm embarassed to say, I haven't been a good little web designer/developer that adheres to today's best practices. There are a few things I've shamefully disregarded in my websites. The one that I should be kicking myself on is: accessiblity. Now before you run off to another blog, this is not as techy-nerdy as you may think...

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual's ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. ‘ 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

This act came about just as I was getting into desktop publishing, so I knew about it and knew it was important to learn but just never had someone come to me that wanted their website to be 508 compliant. So, unfortunately, I never bothered. Well, since then I've done my share of reading and figure if I know how to do it, well then....why not?

Although I'm no expert with the issue and can't promise that a blind person won't be frustrated with what I give them...I can say, it'll be better than before... :-)