Category: Daily Life

These are my daily rants, stories, and what not.

Chuppa’s Market

meisajDaily Life

Sorry for the lack of posts.  To be honest I’ve spent the last two weeks obsessing with the Hockey Playoffs.  My beard is going well and the Sabres, despite not winning the last three games prior, did fantastic and played with a lot of energy Friday.

Anyways, Chuppa’s Market!!  Friday morning I mentioned how we (Sarah and I) should go to the West Side Market on Saturday to do some shopping, and she said we should try out Chuppa’s Market in Parma because she had a gift certificate for them.  Before she could say another word I went into a rant about how Chuppa’s Market sounds like the name of a kid’s show on Nickelodeon.  From there my imagination just catapulted into what the show would look like.  And at work I started sketching the show outlines and even got the kids to sing with me about Chuppa’s Market.

Chuppas Market 1

Chuppas Market 2

Chuppas Market 3

Chuppas Market 4

On an ending note, Chuppa’s Market is a pretty decent place to shop.  Fresh foods, peanut butter made on location (Sarah went crazy for the Chocolate Peanut Butter.  You could watch them make it, oil, peanuts, and chocolate chips.  That’s it, three ingredients.  I got myself some honey peanut butter, honey, oil, peanuts.  Nice and fresh).  If you are ever in the Parma area, go for it.

Blorpee McWhiskers

meisajDaily Life

A little over a week ago Sarah and I were in a pet store.  There we saw a Pacman frog that Sarah fell in love with.  We named him Blorpee.  Later we added the last name McWhiskers.  Saturday we went back to the store to get Blorpee (the guy at the pet store didn’t seem as excited at the name as Sarah is).

We think Blorpee qualifies as an albino frog but we’re not sure.  He has red eyes, and isn’t as pigmented as other Pacman frogs I’ve seen online.  He is friendly and doesn’t seem to mind being held.  Sarah and I spent a large chunk of Saturday just watching him, which is funny in itself to think about.  Pacman frogs are apparently the laziest of all frogs.  They sit in one spot for the whole day until they want to eat.  Then they eat, and sit again all day.  Not exactly an active frog.

Interesting Pacman Frog facts:

  • They grow as wide as they are long.
  • They have sharp teeth that are angled so they can’t let go of what they catch.
  • They will eat anything.
  • They often try to eat things as big as themselves, leading them to choke to death because they can’t let go.
  • They are called Pacman frogs because their mouth is almost as wide as their bodies.
  • The Hypnotoad from Futurama is a Pacman frog.
  • Sarah doesn’t like the idea of putting a dog collar on Blorpee like the Hypnotoad has.

And he has peed on me twice already.  That’s a sign of affection right?

Playoffs

meisajDaily Life

The Sabres made the playoffs securing the number one position in the Northeast Division.  That means it is time for the playoff beard.

I stole this from Jeremy White’s column at WGR 550.

Growing a beard is a commitment…and you have less than a week to decide what level of commitment you’re willing to put in.

Here’s a loose set of rules for you (Keep in mind, there are special interpretations and circumstances with each beard).

1.        If you plan on growing a playoff beard, it must in SOME way be different from your normal look. Having a goatee, and keeping a goatee is cheating. That doesn’t count. Beard up.

2.       You may “manscape” if necessary. The more dedicated you are, the less you’ll do with trimming. That said, my neck gets disgusting in about 7 days. I’m going to try to hold out as long as possible this year.

3.       If your girlfriend or wife hates it – TOUGH. For her.

4.       You may begin the day of the playoffs, or the last day of the regular season, or today if you’d like. I have NO objections with calling today “training camp” for your beard. Get started if you need the push.

5.       If you CANT grow a beard but CAN grow a mustache…mustache up.

That’s about it. I’m sure there are more intricate rules and rulings to be made but for me it’s simple. Grow a beard. If someone thinks you’re lame because of it, then just rub your face on them.

It rocks.  And I’m totally growing out a playoff beard.   I already forewarned Sarah.  Let’s go Sabres!!

In the morning…

meisajDaily Life

This morning I got up (reluctantly) at 6 am and checked my bike tire.  It seemed to be in good shape, the rear wheel was still inflated, but seemed to need just a little more air.  Good enough to bike to work on though….

I hopped in the shower and thought about Monday’s biking travesty.  On my way back Monday I got not one, but two flat tires.  I managed to walk my bike back to my apartment (and thankfully it was on my ride home not to work) and then went for a run with Sarah.  I  left the bike alone for a day and finally got to it Tuesday night.

Weirdly enough both tubes had holes in exactly the same spot.  The holes were within millimeters of each other.  It was strange.  So I took a close look at both the rim and the tire itself.  I found no spokes coming through, no nails, thorns, tacks or anything of that sort in the tire.  I felt around the whole inside of the tire to see if there was anything sharp in there and found none.  I then patched both tubes, checked to see that the patches would hold, and put one back in the tire.  I inflated it, put some pressure on it, and it seemed to hold.

After my shower I put a few extra pumps of air in the tire.  It wasn’t bad, the tire just had more give than it should have.  I wheeled the bike to the door, got my shoes on, put some music on the ipod, grabbed my helmet and….. saw that the rear wheel was flat again.  What the hell.

So I’m taking the rear wheel to the bike shop tonight.  I’m just bringing it to work and then straight to the shop.  Although I can’t afford to spend a lot of money on it right now, I just put $350 into my car to have my brakes, rotors and other crap fixed.  Hopefully its nothing too big. Stupid bike.  I ride you to save money (and also stay in shape), not to spend money.

– On a side note, the latest Radiolab podcast describes the bicycle as a perfectly built machine to self torture yourself on.  Or something along those lines.  It made me laugh.

Tree Climbing and Hungry Howies

meisajDaily Life

The art of tree climbing is lost on most adults I think.  The nimble ability to hoist yourself up a branch or trunk till you get a solid hold and keep climbing higher and higher.

I love climbing trees.  It rocks.  And is fun.  Sarah and I climbed some trees yesterday, and while I don’t have a picture of me climbing a tree, here’s one of Sarah up in a tree.

We ended the day by getting Hungry Howie’s 3-cheeser bread.  I’m not sure what makes their cheeser bread so freaking good, but it was.  We got some at 3 pm, and then headed back around 8:30 for another order.  Apparently Hungry Howie’s is a chain (I’ve never seen one before moving to Cleveland, but we saw one in Florida), however the 3-Cheeser Bread at other locations is nowhere near as good as it is here in Cleveland (well the Hungry Howie’s we frequent is in Lakewood).  Their pizza is alright, the 3-Cheeser Bread is fantastic.

On a side-note, it is awful to live away from Buffalo.  No place out here sells what can rightfully be called a Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  Its a travesty.  And wings out here, a sad sad affair.  There is a Buffalo Wild Wings around here someplace, I may have to hit them up soon for a little taste of home.  Their boneless wings are pretty good.