The Net Dog Blog

It seems that once again I have neglected my faithful readers. Bad blogger. Bad! Bad! Bad!
Seeing as how I didn't do too much writing while I was back home in Louisville I figured I would take this time to play a little catch up.
As many of you know, I left a few days earlier than Blake. This gave me the opportunity to hang out with my friend Jim before his big weeklong skiing trip to Telluride, Colorado. By the way, he really enjoyed his vacation and he is more than glad to share his pictures. Trust me. (I'm kidding, Jim. The photos were lovely!)
I also got to spend some quality time with my newly divorced friend, Jay. He was in very good spirits but I know that if he is ever down all I have to do is say the words "button on a fur coat" and he will smile. Unfortunately I can't share with the rest of you what that means because if you knew you'd let out a little pee.
Blake finally arrived a day later than planned due to a little fender-bender involving a moving van and the taxi taking him to the airport. He wasn't injured but it did cause him to miss my birthday dinner at Karma Cafe. See how I can always bring it back to me? As much as I missed him at the dinner, he more than made up for it with my birthday present. Get your minds out of the gutter! It was a Playstation Portable and a cute game to play on it called Death Jr. I also found a puzzle game for it for $9.99 at Best Buy called Frantix. This fulfilled my love for video games as well as my love for bargains!
Speaking of cheap video games, I also discovered a game for the PS2 that has been out forever and now it's only $19.99. It's called Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. I was hoping since it was rated "E" for Everybody I would be able to play it without resorting to cheats. Boy, was I wrong! Since I didn't have my trusty Gameshark with me, I wasn't able to rely on cheat codes so I made Blake and John do the hard parts for me. Together we finished the game in a little over a week. I said I loved video games. I didn't say I was very good at them.

Most the the week Blake was with me was spent preparing the house for his sister's visit. Cleaning, shampooing rugs, making minor repairs. Fun, Fun, Fun. In the end, though, the house looked great and I finally got to meet his sister. She was adorable and so much fun! We had a great time and drank way too much liquor. Isn't that always the way?

Anyway the rest of the trip was a blur of numerous Target visits and so much Chinese food that my eyes were beginning to slant. Ahhhh... it was good to be home.

Greetings from America! That's right, boys and girls, I have returned to the motherland for a little vacation. Since Blake won't be joining me for another day, I figured I'd take advantage of the situation to do something he would never do with me... go see a chick flick. I decided to see the newest Matthew McConaughey film, Failure to Launch, with my good friend Allen (Miss Aqua if you're nasty ... and most of you are I think). Now many of you know that I have a not-so-secret celebrity crush on Mr. McConaughey. It's not just his looks that makes me a little moist, it's his voice. That sexy Texas drawl. Mmmmmmmmm...
Er, anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about the film. The movie was an entertaining retelling of several romcoms. The age old story of Girl is hired to go out with Boy, Boy falls for Girl, Girl Falls for Boy, Boy finds out Girl was hired to go out with him, Boy gets pissed, Girl says she's sorry, Boy forgives Girl, Boy and Girl swim with dolphins. Basically trade out that insipid Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days for Sarah Jessica Parker and you have the same movie. However, I have to say that any movie where Matthew McConaughey takes his shirt off and Kathy Bates leaves hers on is aces in my book.
Sarah Jessica Parker was pretty much playing Carrie Bradshaw with better outfits. I realize I don't know anything about fashion but, come on. Some of those outfits she wore on Sex and the City looked like something a person who was burned out of her home might throw together from the lost and found boxes at a homeless shelter. And what's with sister's makeup? Girl likes her some dark mascara and blush. I swear it looks like she puts her makeup on with a shotgun.
The rest of the cast was filled out by Matthew's parents played by Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw. Why oh why did the only naked butt we saw in this movie have to belong to Terry Bradshaw? Mama, why?!? I just thank my lucky stars there was no hot tub for Kathy Bates to pop up out of. I'm already scarred for life after seeing About Schmidt! Both Sarah and Matthew had some some quirky friends and, needless to say, nobody ended up alone at the end of the movie.

Anyway, this wasn't the greatest movie ever made but it was definitely a nice distraction and, since we had an hour and a half wait between lunch and the 2:25 showing, I got to fit another Target visit in. Matthew McConaughey and Target in one day. Life is good.

Last night was Blake's birthday (sorta) and we wanted to go somewhere different for dinner. At first Blake wanted to go to our old standby Bodean's but, fortunately, some of his work colleagues suggested another place: Texas Embassy Cantina.
Why hadn't we discovered this place before now?!?
As soon as we stepped through the doors we felt like we had gone home... well, the Don Pablo's on Highway 131 in Jeffersonville anyway. You won't find any sissy British lagers on tap here. It's Bud and Corona, baby. And you can't smoke in the dining room, which I love. And they played some kind of Learning Spanish tape in the bathrooms which was much better than the endless loop of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony remixes that one might normally hear in your average Tex-Mex eatery. The best part was all the funny Texas bumper stickers which adorned almost every square inch of the place like "Kinky Friedman for Governor". Blake's favorite stated "Texas: It's Bigger Than France". There was a hot bartender who had the biggest arms I've ever seen in my life. We think he was Italian.
After an assortment of starters which included chicken quesadillas, fried jalapenos, and the Texas Rose (which we Americans might call a Bloomin Onion or an Awesome Blossom), we had a round of girly drinks with names like Texas Twister, Texas Pink Gin, Coco's Martini, and Woo Woo. I had a Pina Colada which wasn't on the menu but they managed to whip up for me anyway.
For dinner I had El Rancho Tejano which was a "pork steak marinated in Dr Pepper, mesquite grilled, served with piquant apple salsa served with ranch mashed potatoes." It was as tasty as it sounds. I mean how can you go wrong with anything marinated in Dr. Pepper? Of course, Blake had to get the biggest piece of meat on the menu. Specifically that would be the "Bigger than Dallas" T-Bone Steak, "a 22oz. T-Bone steak served on a bed of sizzling onions with french fries and deep fried onion rings." It was huge! I can't believe he ate the whole thing. Oh who am I kidding? Of course he did. Big Daddy loves his beef.
Anyway, we will definitely be going back. I mean Texas has a whorehouse in it but London has Texas Embassy Cantina.