Happy Birthday Jamie!

Today was Jamie’s 22nd birthday. We started early with some cake and presents at Casey & Andrew’s house last night and continued it into today with dinner, cake again, and the movies.

We went out to eat to the new TGI Friday’s that opened up about a month or so ago in town with my parents and sister. I love TGI Friday’s because they use Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce. Anyway, we all had a nice meal and with barely any time to digest we headed off to Jamie’s parents house for cake and more presents with Casey & Andrew there. After all that hoopla, we met up with Justin and Matthew to watch the movie The Wolfman.

If you are curious who decorated the cake, that was all Marie :)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Since Jamie had to work all this weekend we didn’t get to go out to eat this year, what a bummer. I guess its ok since next week it’s her birthday and we are going out to celebrate.

I did however break the rules yet again and gave Jamie some hoop earrings. She always gets those cheap ones and they look like crap after weathering, so now she has some real ones from Tiffany (boy she’s lucky my dad works there I’ll tell ya!). Of course I threw in the necessary chocolate covered cherries she loves, I even got the right brand this year!

As we get pummeled with snow all weekend long I just wanted to say

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last year Jamie really wanted a remote car starter for Christmas but I never got around to it. This year she kept reminding me like a kid looking at the Toys ‘R Us catalog each night.

Last Friday I had one installed for her and I let her have the remote to use since it was about 15 degrees outside. I did want to keep the remotes from her but just couldn’t do it since it was so cold.

I went to Solar Shades on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie. I chose them because they have been there for awhile and haven’t gone out of business like most places around here. That gave me some confidence that they must be good or they wouldn’t keep getting business to stay open. I also did a Google search for “remote car starter poughkeepsie” and boom they came up first, so it was a sign from Google that I should go with my gut and use them.

They did a great job on the install, very clean and neat. No wires showing or any paneling damaged during install. The starter works just as its supposed to with no glitches or issues. I do recommend them, I am very impressed with the quality of the job.

I had an Autopage CS-RS-603 remote starter installed. Well actually I just asked for a basic remote starter and that’s what they installed. Didn’t need any fancy remote lowering the windows or other “toys”. The system can remote start/stop the car, leave it running while you go in the store with the key, lock/unlock, and start from about 1,000 feet away.

I’ve had a remote starter in my car for a few years now, but it only worked for the first year. I think I kicked some wiring loose and it hasn’t worked for about two years now. I’m going back to Solar Shades after the holiday to get it fixed.

Solar Shades also offers window tinting (hence the name), detailing, vinyl graphics, and vehicle accessories.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

...what an evil looking turkey...

Happy Birthday to me! Sad that I have to blog about my own birthday, (grrr Jamie) but that’s another issue.

I am 24 years old now, getting pretty old I guess. I asked for a simple birthday, just a nice family dinner, wanted everyone to save their money really. There isn’t any need for a big hoopla in between 21 and 30 anyway. To celebrate, I asked to go to O’sho Japanese Steakhouse on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie. We all haven’t been there in many years, so it was time for a visit.

The dinner was great. By some stroke of luck we got our own table which was nice. We all were stuffed by the end of the meal. I felt like the guy from Monty Python’s Life of Brian (hope you all know what I mean). Everything that came off that hibachi was delicious, couldn’t get enough of it.

After we took some pictures in the rain of the building for this blog, we went home to digest some food before cake. A few hours later we sat around the table and had cake while I opened my presents. Everyone hates shopping for me because I either want stuff that is really expensive, I already own everything they think of, or the gift that they want to get me is technical so I would have to ensure they purchase the right one. I am a big movie buff and own quite the collection of DVDs, up near 400 last time I checked. Like usual, I only asked for some DVDs for my birthday. Love getting a whole bunch and adding to the collection.

To my surprise, my parents got me a very awesome gift. They gave me tickets to the 20 Mile Super Speedway Program from Stock Car Racing Experience at Pocono Raceway. This program puts you behind the wheel and driving a 600 hp Stock Car on the 2.5 mile Super Speedway for 8 laps, reaching speeds of 165mph. I am in 100% complete control of the car by myself. No instructors or experienced drives in the car with me, just me and an exact model NASCAR stock car. I don’t think awesome is quite a powerful enough word. I have to go through a few hours of lessons and training first, but I just can’t believe I get to drive the thing! I also get to go on a three lap ride along in the beginning, which is fun in itself. Can’t wait to experience 160mph G-force going through a turn with a 20+ degree embankment.

Enjoy some pictures from the night.