james nunn | blog

My good friends Damir & Shane joined the throngs of people who are now enjoying the American dream (house ownership people). Today, they signed on the dotted line for their new home in Little Elm. Congrats Damir & Shane!

Melbourne is looking mighty nice right now! After a mid-November burst of warm weather (it was over 70F during Thanksgiving), it seems that the cold weather has finally found its way to Frisco.

I skipped class today, as did most (from what I read on the class Facebook site), and also decided to skip driving to Denton (where it was much colder this morning than Frisco, but as you can see, able equal). UNT closed its doors at 3 PM anyway, so I was kind of thankful that I didn’t go north, only to have to drive back home on icier roads.

Today was also meant to be the World AIDS Day event that I had been involved with, and due to Collin College closing their doors (at 3PM), this event was cancelled. This is actually a real shame, as so much work had been planned by so many people. The sad fact that the AIDS Memorial Quilt had been set up and was ready for its display was crushing to many. I’m hopeful that we will be able to hold something in the next couple of months to dedicate the new quilt panels that were made for the ceremony tonight.

Chris is in Chicago today, and hopefully he will be departing there in about one hour, and will be home before midnight. As I type this, small white flakes are falling from the sky, and landing on the growing piles of ice/snow mixture already on the ground. From all weather reports, it appears that tomorrow will be warmer.

We are currently driving back to Frisco after visiting Gilmer for Thansgiving. The boys are exhausted – a common result after a visit to see Grandma & Grandpa, and Uncle Jake. We are both a little tired as well, but more relaxed than when we heading there on Wednesday.

Our entire visit involved eating, resting (including naps), walking and relaxing. When we arrived Wednesday night, we were treated to ham, sweet potato casserole, and a multitude of other delicacies. The casserole was unbelievably good!

Turkey day was busy for Chris’s mom as she worked on the Thanksgiving creations that was to become main meal for the day. The rest of us try to help, but I always feel that my contribution is best provided after the meal in the cleaning up. Of course the pooches LOVE to visit at these times of the year due to the yummy leftovers they enjoy.

Did I mention desserts? No? Well Chris’s mom is singly responsible for destroying whatever little health we have, by making the most incredible desserts (they are addictive, so one can’t avoid eaten them).

I am thankful that on this trip home we do not have leftovers. Leftovers from Gilmer MUST be consumed – it would be a sin otherwise.

It’s always nice to visit, but equally nice to head home.

Thanks to Andy (Towleroad), comes this link to some spectacular photos featured in the Daily Mail this week. This image (right) is an elephant fetus at twelve months (they gestate for twenty-four months).

The images are taken from a National Geographic program titled, “In the Womb: Animals” which is scheduled to be shown on December 10, 2006 (at 7PM, CST).

Chris took the following picture of Bosley earlier today. He loves the sun beams, and will snooze whereever he can find one.

Bosley and Colby’s cousins (Caleb and Skylar) recently visited, and it seems they quickly claimed their spot in the house.

Saturday night I discovered a very disconcerting aspect of my life. I got the opportunity to be a capitalistic pig … and I liked it! I mean, it really felt good.

Of course, there is a saving grace to the potential of me slipping down this pathway. My capitalistic urges tend to have been limited to the game of Monopoly.

This all happened after Jonas’s birthday gathering. After making the trek back north, Bobby, Ian, Layton, Chris and I returned home to consume some hot buttered rum (courtesy of Layton’s culinary talents). We then decided that the night was young, and a game or two was in order, and given the recent Diane Rehm show on the history of Monopoly, we all agreed it would be fun to give that a try.

Early on in the game, it appeared that Bobby was going to be leading the way to an early victory (he was the first to acquire a monopoly of properties, and started building houses and then hotels). Of course, as we all know in the game of Monopoly, those that rise, sometimes fall, and this was the case. Towards the end of the game, Chris, Layton and Bobby had all been bankrupted, and it was down to Ian and I. Ian had hotels on the yellow properties, and I had got hotels on the light blue and dark blue properties.

For a short time, we exchanged large amounts of rent with each other, however my greed was nourished when Ian landed on Park Place (for a nice rental amount of $1500) and the rolled snake-eyes (two ones) and landed on Boardwalk (for a lovely rental amount of $2000). With the hotels firmly in place, Ian checked out, and I salivated at my victory (I may have even yelled a “woo hoo”).

Then I felt dirty.

Update: I failed to mention that I think I ended the game with more money than the bank!

2nd Update: I found this entry I made last year that justifies my disgust in myself.

Saturday was Jonas’s birthday (he is now able to get cheaper auto insurance). For his birthday, he decided we should spend some time at the Magic Time Machine. It had been a while since I had been there (only once before), and I was quickly reminded how much I enjoyed the establishment the last time I was there.

The characters had changed since the last time, and it appears that “new” or younger characters were all the rage on Saturday evening (for example, Harry Potter, Jack Black [pirate], etc.). Our server was “Joe Dirt” who I had never heard of, and then realized why when it was explained to me that this was a David Spade character in a movie. Apart from being a forgettable character, he was actually a pretty good server.

Dinner was good, large portions of food. But by far the most entertaining element of the evening was Spiderman mounting one of the female teacher-friends of Jonas. The photographic evidence of that, along with an incriminating picture of Spiderman’s inner thigh, will be talked about for some time to come.

It was a fun evening with friends. Happy Birthday Jonas!