dicebourbon.com

The end (?)

2010-03-04T09:38:00.002-06:00

Blogger is shutting down ftp-based blogs, which include this one. I'm not sure whether I should move this blog or just shut it down. I guess I would like to keep it for archive purposes, but I think I'll be posting more often over at the Durbin family blog.

Today is my birthday.

2010-02-23T14:34:00.003-06:00

I'm 31. Last night we hung out with Frederique, Brian, Mari and Katie and tried out some spinach & artichoke dip that will possibly be on the menu (shhh). We watched some Olympic ice dancing, including human-color Navi girl Meryl Davis, as well as random YouTube videos. Somehow we did this till 1 a.m.

I am a little tired today but we are looking forward to having some people over tonight, including Jason and Sadie, whom we haven't seen in months.

The year

2010-01-05T22:21:00.003-06:00

Had Christmas celebrations too numerous to count, including with my family in Paducah.

Getting stuff done in the new year. I might do a recap of 2009. I should make a point to do that instead of wasting time on something else.

Thanksgiving '09

2009-11-27T23:21:00.004-06:00

Had Thanksgiving at Shannon's brother's house in Carroll. Link had fun chilling with his cousin Diana. We had some delicious turkey served from a slow cooker on the floor. Vahida made this great dessert that may or may not have been Bosnian.

Watched parts of two terrible movies, Without a Paddle, which I'd been morbidly curious about, and Santa Buddies, which I snarkily tweeted about.

We beat the holiday shoppers by looking around downtown on Thanksgiving. Sure, we couldn't buy anything, but who needs the pressure?

I mean to call my parents and siblings and catch up. We'll see them for Christmas - can't wait!

2009-11-15T21:29:00.002-06:00

Link and I came along to Shannon's retreat near Stillwater, MN. Mostly relaxing weekend, had some time to just chill in each other's company.

2009-11-01T10:55:00.002-06:00

Link's Halloween costume, hand-made by us.

Little things from this week

2009-09-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday we visited Lee and Randy and had a good time playing with Link and Alissa. Our car broke down on the way out of town, but it was ok because it gave us a chance to visit Shannon's former neighbor, Patches, while Shannon's mom picked us up and brought us home.

On Wednesday I saw Inglourious Basterds with a friend from our home birth group while our wives stayed at home with the babies. How masculine of us. The movie was good. I was expecting it to be even more violent than it was, so I was actually relieved and able to just enjoy the story after a while.

Today we went to the Moores' for Shannon to take Trent's senior photos. We hung out and played with the kids and had yummy stromboli.

Very tired for some reason. It's odd because we kind of slept in. Link is cute as always, sitting next to me cooing at toys.

Two nights out

2009-09-16T23:49:00.002-05:00

Had dinner at Jason and Sadie's, fellow new parents whose beautiful daughter was born earlier this month. She's half Link's size and he's maybe 6 weeks older than she is.

We brought sushi and brownies with ice cream and they were a big hit. We had fun talking about our wide-eyed new experiences and all that good stuff. Had some good Irish whiskey, too.

Last night was a good night out too. We saw Julie & Julia at the cinema and I liked it a lot. Link was good the whole time, and even watched part of the movie with seeming interest. I'm going to see Inglourious Basterds without the family, but possibly with Jason.

weekend away

2009-09-01T09:48:00.003-05:00

Went to Shannon's retreat last weekend on the other side of Des Moines. Link was really good on most of the car ride and really the whole weekend. And of course everyone loved him.

We also got to spend the night at Dustin and Vahida's house and spend some time with Link's cousin Diana, who is about five months older than he is.

Yesterday was the first day Link was fussy for an extended period. Something was bothering him but I don't know what. And it wasn't all day, but it was intermittent enough that it disrupted everything we were trying to get done. Bleh. Today will be better I think.

Goodbye, Ed

2009-08-19T09:27:00.003-05:00

Our friend Ed died Saturday. He was an incredible man, one of the warmest, friendliest people I've ever known. He was an inspiration to so many in Elkader and beyond, including our sister city, Mascara, Algeria. He'll be missed greatly.

our son

2009-07-25T01:00:00.001-05:00

Lincoln Oliver Dallenbach Durbin

sunny days

2009-07-05T15:06:00.002-05:00

We've walked a nearby trail several times this week. It's been a pleasant way to get some exercise. We've also driven over to Guttenberg (on the Mississippi) to hang out and get some ice cream a couple times. We did both of these today.

We're still just in anticipation mode, waiting for the baby to come. Yesterday would have been a fortuitous day (hint, hint, kid) but any time would be fine, actually. If we have some more mild days like the end of last week, I wouldn't complain either.

RIP MJ

2009-06-26T01:20:00.000-05:00

Shannon and I went to a Michael Jackson singalong at the Coolidge Corner movie theater when we briefly lived in Brookline, MA. It was awesome. They played all the best videos, and for some songs people were invited to dance along as well. There was one guy who knew absolutely every move and danced just like Michael! He absolutely won the night and made it that much more fun. I wonder how he's feeling now.

Impending birth

2009-06-23T10:42:00.002-05:00

The baby is due any day now! We are excited/anxious. Expect photos eventually.

Finito

2009-06-23T10:10:00.001-05:00

Brook finished her cross-country bike trip.

the work

2009-05-31T13:30:00.003-05:00

I've been working a fair amount at the restaurant. I'm getting pretty good at handling orders by myself if there aren't too many at once. Friday night was pretty crazy busy. Saturday there was a wedding, so I did some prep work for it and handled lunch orders while everyone else dealt with the 60+ people. I had a sample of some of the food, which was not from the menu, and it was tasty.

Work at home is good, too. I've done some website designs and redesigns that I've been pleased with.

Shannon and I wanted to go to Mary's wedding this weekend in Columbus, but just couldn't find a way to leave for three or four days. I think my weekends are going to be booked for the foreseeable future.

success!

2009-05-20T08:29:00.001-05:00

The first Taste of Dishntunes.com was last night and it went really well! We didn't really know what to expect for a turnout, but I estimate we had between 200 and 300 people. There were 12 restaurants/wineries/coffee shops represented and all the food was amazing!

Our friend Beth's home dessert-making business, Stolen Moments, won the event (deservedly) by having the most tickets.

Shannon and I went to a bar with some Monona folks afterwards and it was fun, but we were old-timers and left by 10:30.

The new

2009-05-18T10:48:00.001-05:00

Updated the look of the site. Not that I'll write more in it, but I was getting bored with the old design.

Brook the biker, couchsurfer

2009-05-07T10:59:00.004-05:00

We hosted our first couchsurfer at this house yesterday. Brook is cycling across the country and we were her stop after riding 78 miles, much of it in pouring rain. Here is her post about yesterday, including a picture of Brook, Shannon and I plus Frederique and Brian.

Brian sprained (broke?) his ankle yesterday, so I was called in to cook in the evening at Schera's. I've been working there a couple days a week for about four weeks now, so I've learned how to make most everything on the menu. The night went pretty well - it got busy early but it not insanely so. Brian had to get up a couple times to help out but for the most part it worked for him just to direct me on stuff I didn't know/remember how to do. Hopefully he'll be able to stay off that foot for a good amount of time and recover quickly.

2009-05-05T23:07:00.002-05:00

My body's all messed up today. This morning I had a mocha that left me wired for the next 8 hours, then in the evening I got tipsy with a single glass of New Glarus Fat Squirrel, then I ate way too much Wun-Doe-Mus burger + fries + Culver's ice cream. It was worth it though.

the wedding

2009-04-28T20:47:00.002-05:00

Went to Columbus last weekend for my sister Kate's wedding. It was really fun. I got to sing a song ("More Than Words") in the ceremony. I got a little choked up right before I went to pick up the guitar, so I didn't play or sing perfectly, but I think it went all right.

Kate and Chris compiled a great selection of music for the reception. Their first dance was to a David Bowie song I didn't know. They had some classics and some semi-obscure stuff, all good for dancing.

I am super happy for both of them.

We got to reconnect with my whole immediate family, which doesn't happen too often. Our nephew Mason has grown a lot since we saw him in October, and he's got huge, take-it-all-in eyes and a delightful giggle. Our niece Naomi is bubbly and super smart and, according to them, really good at playing her parents against each other.

Lundi Gras

2009-03-11T15:53:00.002-05:00

We were in New Orleans for the week of my 30th birthday. It was fun. Will write about it sometime. Ciao.

New Orleans trip

2009-03-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

So here's my post on New Orleans.

We drove up to Minnesota on Friday since we were flying out of Minneapolis. We stayed with Shannon's cousin Elizabeth and her family in Zumbro Falls and had a relaxing evening/morning just hanging out.

Saturday we went to see a college friend of Shannon's, Liz, who made Shannon's hair into dreads. It was faster than we expected; still, we had a good time just sitting and talking while Shannon's locks were transformed. That night we stayed with Anne and Nathan, whose wedding we went to last year in North Dokota. They've lived in Oregon, St. Thomas and North Dakota in the past year, and are back in Minneapolis until Nathan finishes seminary and they get an assignment (which will be somewhere in Minnesota, North Dakota, or... I think South Dakota). We went to church with them the following morning in the suburbs, at a church where Nathan used to work. He was welcomed heartily.

We took off that day from Minneapolis, switched planes in Memphis. Actually, we didn't switch planes, we just got off the plane and got back on because it was the same plane going to New Orleans. The flight attendant, seeing our polka-dot suitcase, said, "Hey, I saw that bag coming off!"

We got to New Orleans late in the evening (9ish?) and took a shuttle to our hotel a couple blocks from the French Quarter. We had to walk a few blocks through the crowd of revelers and over a few puddles of urine/beer to get there, but we made it. It was a nice old building branded with a national chain.

We got a little food from the hotel bar and I watched the news coverage of the parades happening that night while I waited. New Orleans has parades for a few weeks leading up to Mardi Gras.

The next day, Lundi Gras, was my birthday. I think we slept in a little because it was close to lunchtime when we left the hotel. We went to a deli called FredRick's where I had a shrimp po' boy and Shannon had rice and beans. Good stuff all around.

After lunch we took a van tour of Hurricane Katrina damage. We joined Paul, who know from McGregor, and his two friends (also from Iowa). The tour was really good. Our driver/guide had the authentic New Orleans accent that I imagined for Ignatius' mother in A Confederacy of Dunces and she had a good mix of statistics, information and opinion to keep the tour interesting throughout. We saw entire neighborhoods that remain abandoned and also some hopeful rebuilding projects.

After the tour was over we got out in the French Quarter and wandered around. We watched the sunset had some beignets at Cafe du Monde which were tastily messy.

We went to Canal Street to catch the Proteus and Orpheus parades.

[Shannon was right. I will never finish this. Oh well.]

housework / INA

2009-02-08T12:15:00.005-06:00

Shannon's parents are here doing work on the house (we are helping any way we can). Shannon's dad has been here nearly every day this week fixing the plumbing upstairs and doing a ton of little important things like getting our doors to shut properly and right now he's making a laundry chute from upstairs to the basement. (A washer and dryer are forthcoming.)

So we have an upstairs bathroom now and we're stoked. No more bleary-eyed stumbling down the ~~basement~~ stairs to get ready for work.

This weekend we went to Des Moines for the Iowa Newspaper Association convention, where we attended several information sessions, a luncheon and the awards banquet. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary! He was really cool and inspiring, and he got the audience singing along with him to "Puff the Magic Dragon" (to which he added an extra verse that lessened the sadness of the original), "If I Had a Hammer", and "This Little Light of Mine".

At the awards banquet, Shannon won an award for best ad designer in her class (weeklies with a circulation between 1400 and ... something), which was well-deserved.

We had some good conversation with a couple we know who are also involved in Shannon's spiritual formation group. Their newspaper won a ton of awards.

A shooting star is not a star

2009-01-02T23:04:00.003-06:00

We saw a beautiful green meteorite walking home tonight. It flashed down across the sky over the course of several seconds. I remember seeing one similar shooting star driving once, but this was way cooler and lasted much longer.

We had fun at Beth and Steve's new year's party. Good company, good food. New Year's Day for us was pretty lazy - we moved the last of our boxes into the house, and that's about it.