Another nice Dallas weekend is in the books. Save the unpleasantness of taking Step 2, I enjoyed being back in Dallas to relax over the weekend. Here is the recap:
Friday Night
After the exam, we decided to go to Houston's for dinner. Houston's is a mini-chain but serves excellent, excellent food. I've never had something bad there, and last Friday was no different. We started with the traditional spinach dip and also had the salmon appetizers. Then we split a Cesar salad. Finally the main courses were delivered. Grandmother had some tasty grilled chicken, mom had the halibut, David Schultz (or "Tiger" as my roommate Ryan calls him) had a rib eye, and Dad & I had the special Worchester marinated prime New York strip. Everything was quite good, down to the three Grey Goose and tonics I had. The dinner was comparable to dinner on Wednesday night, when we all ate at Javier's gourmet Mexican cuisine at Knox and Harvard in the uptown area. This is not the dreaded "Tex-Mex" that litters the restaurant landscape of the South. This is authentic Mexico City cuisine, which is far, far better than the crap you get at places like On the Boarder or even a nicer place like Lupe's in Houston. (Lupe's isn't crap, that's for sure. But if you get something besides their signature fajitas, you aren't going to be all that impressed in my opinion.) Should you have $50 or so to spend per person, I highly recommend Javier's or Houston's.
After dinner, Julie Hirsh and her teaching friend Erin picked me up. We proceeded to Cape Buffalo, which is half pool hall and half live music/dance place. It's very similar to a Fox and Hound, but higher class and more expensive. The evening was very enjoyable. We were joined by Dave Dierkes a long time Aggie softball friend of mine and then eventually by Tony Rucker, Stephen Wu, and another of Julie's friends. The drinks were flowing, and we had a very nice waitress named Lisa who I will look for whenever I go back there. She was having a rough night, but I thought she did very well. Plus she was cool as shit which always makes the evening nicer when you have fun waitresses. The only event of note was the spilling of 12 ounces of beer on my lap. Dave reached across the table to shake hands with one of the arriving guests and shortly after I felt this very cold liquid on my crotch. Being the astute medical man that I am, I knew it couldn't be urine, as that liquid comes out hot. The only remaining option was the ice cold, brand new beer Dave had just received. So my wetness wasn't very appealing, and I borrowed Julie's car to go home and change. The rest of the night was good times and culminated with Kenny Rogers snapping Mark Mulder's 11-game win streak, which I really enjoyed. Can we say +1.45?
Saturday's Bar-B-Que
Saturday was very lazy. The roofing guys were at the house finishing off day 10 of new roof installation. Apparently they stapled some electrical wires, and the west wing of the house was having power problems all afternoon. I floated in the pool for a while then headed down to White Rock Lake for an evening with the A&M softball people. I do say, the evening was a success for the most part. Let me rephrase...it was an expensive success for some of the invited guests.
We started with some horseshoe throwing, beer drinking, and burger grilling. James Banze and Brendan Grych were the excellent hosts and food makers. I met these dudes through the Dallas A&M Club and softball ties about 4 years ago. The whole group is very cool and always a good time. Dave Dierkes was there with his new girlfriend Nicole, also Chinh Vu, a dude named Neil, and two very attractive girls called Julie and Selena. Julie was sort of confusing, because apparently she was often confused with a girl named Shelby, so I was told to call her "not Shelby". She hails from Atlanta, Georgia. I didn't get to talk with the other girl Selena as much, but she likes to participate in marathons and triathlons from what I gathered. She wasn't drinking as much, because she had to ride 60 miles on her bike today. There were other various people in attendance, but you've now met the principal players. So the partying continued until someone had the bright idea to play "quarters" which is a drinking game. Basically, one tries to bounce a quarter off the table into a shot glass filled with a booze beverage. If the quarter goes in, you designate one of the other players to consume said beverage. If you miss, you get another chance to make the quarter at your option. If you miss the second one, you are required to drink said beverage. Let's just say things got interesting after that. I will fast-forward 2 hours now in the interest of time, but in summary:
1. a bottle of Jose Cuervo was demolished (consumed)
2. a bottle of Jim Beam was demolished (consumed)
3. lots and lots of pictures were taken by Dave
4. my digital camera was demolished
5. several (and I mean several) beer beverages were demolished (consumed)
6. the speaking volume by all parties became increased
7. it seemed much more flirting was taking place among the guests
So now I'm taking a break from quarters, and I don't have a camera anymore cause Dave dropped it (although he did make a valiant effort to save the camera with his foot on the way down...except the lens was facing his save foot which bent the lens out of place thus jamming the mechanism). He of course offered to repair the damage which will cost him in the area of $150 according to the quote I have from kodak.com. Then a bunch more people arrived including my favorite lady friends from softball, Gretchen Feinhals and Connie Hartmann. They brought with them two girls who seemed very nice, but I can't for the life of me remember their names. I walked in on a political discussion in the kitchen, which forced me to promptly run outside. However, I think the mere thought of political discussion planted a seed for what was to come. Somehow I ended up sitting in a circle of chairs outside on the deck. And somehow I became engaged with Dave's girlfriend Nicole and another dude regarding the recent film Fahrenheit 9/11. You know my feelings on this movie, which I expressed to them. I basically said I liked it but thought it was the worst of Moore's three movies, because it wasn't nearly as entertaining and Moore didn't present any new, exciting information like he did in his other films. Then we discussed the movie further, which started a side discussion of the 2000 election in Florida. Ugh, what a huge cluster fuck that was. These two people with whom I was talking decided I was a right-wing republican (which is very far from the truth), so it was difficult to have a good conversation. However, the amusing part was that Nicole was very, very intoxicated. She had this problem of repeating one phrase literally 8 times to try and get her point across. I tried very hard to keep from laughing (which was difficult already because I had the giggles due to my disinhibition). So the political conversation continued at which point Nicole started raising her voice a bit, which was my queue to leave the discussion. So I went over and chatted with Gretch and her friend, who dogged me about being 26. Speaking of being 26...earlier in the evening I made some comment about how OLD 30 year olds were. Oops, not a good idea. I forgot everyone there was over thirty (because I normally hang out with people my age in Houston, and I forgot to make the transition in Dallas), and hellfire rained upon me after that. So the rest of the night it seemed people were dogging me for being such a youngin, when in reality they dearly wished they were a 26-year old sprite lad with the fun and mature personality that I have. Anyway, I think I promised Gretchen to take her on a date when I'm back in Dallas next week...which would really kick ass if I had the balls to do that. I will confirm this with her via the "Internet" tomorrow. So the evening winded down, and I drove home. Just as I finished brushing my teeth, Dave called. He wanted me to have some beer with him at his place, because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. Holy crap, I hope I don't have anything to do with that...but it is quite possible from the description of their conversation in the ride back from Banze and Bendan's place. I don't know how Dave feels about this, and I really don't know how I feel either. Nicole seemed like a very cool girl during the sober part of the evening, but then she started getting annoying during the drinking part of the evening. However, I attribute the annoying part of her to the EXCESSIVE amount of alcohol she consumed during quarters, and I actually give her credit for partying so hard. But from what Dave said last night about their conversation driving home, he apparently wasn't "husband material". YIKES! That's a low blow dude and probably a breakupable comment. I will get more information as to their status shortly.
>>View the PICTURES<<
The plane ride home was interesting. While I was in line to be screened, a random girl behind me asked if I was going to Houston. We started chatting, and it turns out she's pretty cool. Margarite (like margarita without the "uh" at the end) is 21 from Lake Jackson which is 45 minutes south of Houston. She has this really cool sarcastic personality, which of course was perfect for Ryan and me. It was kind of instant chemistry. So the three of us sat together on the plane and shot the shit. She sort of lives far away, so I don't know how much I'll be seeing her. However, she's a pool player and a fun girl, so we'll see what happens. It's always nice to meet cool people in the airport.
And that was my Step 2 weekend. Next weekend, we're going toobing in New Braunfels. Get ready for some fun blogging then...
Friday Night
After the exam, we decided to go to Houston's for dinner. Houston's is a mini-chain but serves excellent, excellent food. I've never had something bad there, and last Friday was no different. We started with the traditional spinach dip and also had the salmon appetizers. Then we split a Cesar salad. Finally the main courses were delivered. Grandmother had some tasty grilled chicken, mom had the halibut, David Schultz (or "Tiger" as my roommate Ryan calls him) had a rib eye, and Dad & I had the special Worchester marinated prime New York strip. Everything was quite good, down to the three Grey Goose and tonics I had. The dinner was comparable to dinner on Wednesday night, when we all ate at Javier's gourmet Mexican cuisine at Knox and Harvard in the uptown area. This is not the dreaded "Tex-Mex" that litters the restaurant landscape of the South. This is authentic Mexico City cuisine, which is far, far better than the crap you get at places like On the Boarder or even a nicer place like Lupe's in Houston. (Lupe's isn't crap, that's for sure. But if you get something besides their signature fajitas, you aren't going to be all that impressed in my opinion.) Should you have $50 or so to spend per person, I highly recommend Javier's or Houston's.
After dinner, Julie Hirsh and her teaching friend Erin picked me up. We proceeded to Cape Buffalo, which is half pool hall and half live music/dance place. It's very similar to a Fox and Hound, but higher class and more expensive. The evening was very enjoyable. We were joined by Dave Dierkes a long time Aggie softball friend of mine and then eventually by Tony Rucker, Stephen Wu, and another of Julie's friends. The drinks were flowing, and we had a very nice waitress named Lisa who I will look for whenever I go back there. She was having a rough night, but I thought she did very well. Plus she was cool as shit which always makes the evening nicer when you have fun waitresses. The only event of note was the spilling of 12 ounces of beer on my lap. Dave reached across the table to shake hands with one of the arriving guests and shortly after I felt this very cold liquid on my crotch. Being the astute medical man that I am, I knew it couldn't be urine, as that liquid comes out hot. The only remaining option was the ice cold, brand new beer Dave had just received. So my wetness wasn't very appealing, and I borrowed Julie's car to go home and change. The rest of the night was good times and culminated with Kenny Rogers snapping Mark Mulder's 11-game win streak, which I really enjoyed. Can we say +1.45?
Saturday's Bar-B-Que
Saturday was very lazy. The roofing guys were at the house finishing off day 10 of new roof installation. Apparently they stapled some electrical wires, and the west wing of the house was having power problems all afternoon. I floated in the pool for a while then headed down to White Rock Lake for an evening with the A&M softball people. I do say, the evening was a success for the most part. Let me rephrase...it was an expensive success for some of the invited guests.
We started with some horseshoe throwing, beer drinking, and burger grilling. James Banze and Brendan Grych were the excellent hosts and food makers. I met these dudes through the Dallas A&M Club and softball ties about 4 years ago. The whole group is very cool and always a good time. Dave Dierkes was there with his new girlfriend Nicole, also Chinh Vu, a dude named Neil, and two very attractive girls called Julie and Selena. Julie was sort of confusing, because apparently she was often confused with a girl named Shelby, so I was told to call her "not Shelby". She hails from Atlanta, Georgia. I didn't get to talk with the other girl Selena as much, but she likes to participate in marathons and triathlons from what I gathered. She wasn't drinking as much, because she had to ride 60 miles on her bike today. There were other various people in attendance, but you've now met the principal players. So the partying continued until someone had the bright idea to play "quarters" which is a drinking game. Basically, one tries to bounce a quarter off the table into a shot glass filled with a booze beverage. If the quarter goes in, you designate one of the other players to consume said beverage. If you miss, you get another chance to make the quarter at your option. If you miss the second one, you are required to drink said beverage. Let's just say things got interesting after that. I will fast-forward 2 hours now in the interest of time, but in summary:
1. a bottle of Jose Cuervo was demolished (consumed)
2. a bottle of Jim Beam was demolished (consumed)
3. lots and lots of pictures were taken by Dave
4. my digital camera was demolished
5. several (and I mean several) beer beverages were demolished (consumed)
6. the speaking volume by all parties became increased
7. it seemed much more flirting was taking place among the guests
So now I'm taking a break from quarters, and I don't have a camera anymore cause Dave dropped it (although he did make a valiant effort to save the camera with his foot on the way down...except the lens was facing his save foot which bent the lens out of place thus jamming the mechanism). He of course offered to repair the damage which will cost him in the area of $150 according to the quote I have from kodak.com. Then a bunch more people arrived including my favorite lady friends from softball, Gretchen Feinhals and Connie Hartmann. They brought with them two girls who seemed very nice, but I can't for the life of me remember their names. I walked in on a political discussion in the kitchen, which forced me to promptly run outside. However, I think the mere thought of political discussion planted a seed for what was to come. Somehow I ended up sitting in a circle of chairs outside on the deck. And somehow I became engaged with Dave's girlfriend Nicole and another dude regarding the recent film Fahrenheit 9/11. You know my feelings on this movie, which I expressed to them. I basically said I liked it but thought it was the worst of Moore's three movies, because it wasn't nearly as entertaining and Moore didn't present any new, exciting information like he did in his other films. Then we discussed the movie further, which started a side discussion of the 2000 election in Florida. Ugh, what a huge cluster fuck that was. These two people with whom I was talking decided I was a right-wing republican (which is very far from the truth), so it was difficult to have a good conversation. However, the amusing part was that Nicole was very, very intoxicated. She had this problem of repeating one phrase literally 8 times to try and get her point across. I tried very hard to keep from laughing (which was difficult already because I had the giggles due to my disinhibition). So the political conversation continued at which point Nicole started raising her voice a bit, which was my queue to leave the discussion. So I went over and chatted with Gretch and her friend, who dogged me about being 26. Speaking of being 26...earlier in the evening I made some comment about how OLD 30 year olds were. Oops, not a good idea. I forgot everyone there was over thirty (because I normally hang out with people my age in Houston, and I forgot to make the transition in Dallas), and hellfire rained upon me after that. So the rest of the night it seemed people were dogging me for being such a youngin, when in reality they dearly wished they were a 26-year old sprite lad with the fun and mature personality that I have. Anyway, I think I promised Gretchen to take her on a date when I'm back in Dallas next week...which would really kick ass if I had the balls to do that. I will confirm this with her via the "Internet" tomorrow. So the evening winded down, and I drove home. Just as I finished brushing my teeth, Dave called. He wanted me to have some beer with him at his place, because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. Holy crap, I hope I don't have anything to do with that...but it is quite possible from the description of their conversation in the ride back from Banze and Bendan's place. I don't know how Dave feels about this, and I really don't know how I feel either. Nicole seemed like a very cool girl during the sober part of the evening, but then she started getting annoying during the drinking part of the evening. However, I attribute the annoying part of her to the EXCESSIVE amount of alcohol she consumed during quarters, and I actually give her credit for partying so hard. But from what Dave said last night about their conversation driving home, he apparently wasn't "husband material". YIKES! That's a low blow dude and probably a breakupable comment. I will get more information as to their status shortly.
>>View the PICTURES<<
The plane ride home was interesting. While I was in line to be screened, a random girl behind me asked if I was going to Houston. We started chatting, and it turns out she's pretty cool. Margarite (like margarita without the "uh" at the end) is 21 from Lake Jackson which is 45 minutes south of Houston. She has this really cool sarcastic personality, which of course was perfect for Ryan and me. It was kind of instant chemistry. So the three of us sat together on the plane and shot the shit. She sort of lives far away, so I don't know how much I'll be seeing her. However, she's a pool player and a fun girl, so we'll see what happens. It's always nice to meet cool people in the airport.
And that was my Step 2 weekend. Next weekend, we're going toobing in New Braunfels. Get ready for some fun blogging then...
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