Do you know how to say Beijing?

So, Brian and I have been watching the Olympics 24/7. We were talking about the Games tonight and realized we weren't this excited nor did we watch as much during the Athens Games four years ago. Don't know why that is... maybe the hype about Michael Phelps (who's amazing, by the way) or Shawn Johnson has something to do with it? Brian thinks it is because many of the prime time events are live, not tape delayed. At any rate, it's so exciting!

Also, since I work for NBC and we air the Olympics, we did a story on how to properly pronounce Beijing. Do you know how? Apparently, it's Bay-jing instead of the way most us of say it like Bay-shing. If you listen to Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, he says it correctly, but some of those reporting on the Games and even Bob Costas say Bay-shing. Just a little tidbit of info, in case you didn't know.

So back to the Games themselves, how many of you are losing sleep staying up watching them or DVRing it? Last night, Brian and I realized our DVR only had 3% available, so we had to start erasing some events. We just entered the DVR world in March and I can't believe we waited that long to get one. To think, we've been recording on tape using our VCR this whole time! And, it's amazing how much more detail and vivid everything is on HD. My station entered into a contract with DirecTV to air them in HD, and there was some concern that that wouldn't happen in time for the Opening Ceremony but it did. And boy, are we glad!

Hope you're enjoying the Olympics as much as we are!

Trinity Friends Come to Visit

Last weekend was a blast! We had our first "friends visit" to our new house. Laura and Roland flew up from Dallas, while Melissa and Andy drove up from OKC. First, they stopped by the station because Brian and I were working. We captured this picture in the studio after I finished anchoring the 10pm.

We were all starving... them after traveling, us after working, so we went to a restaurant/brewery by our house. Laura ordered Idaho Nachos, which as you can tell is a big mountain of Idaho waffle fries with cheese and other toppings. We couldn't help catching this pic of Laura with her huge meal.
For those of you who watch Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, this restaurant might look familiar. Brints Diner in Wichita was featured in its first episode. Since we all watch the show, and Brian and I had never been there, we decided to all go together.

The food was good and filling. We all loved their B & G... which we learned were biscuits and gravy... and their gravy had sausage in it. Yummy!! Here are the girls... even with Melissa standing on a step lower than me, she's still taller! Here are the guys... trying to look oh so cool.
For Laura's birthday, we travelled to a town about 35 minutes from where we live for a fantastic Italian restaurant. It's called Luciano's. The owner and chef is from Italy. He married a woman from Kansas and they decided to open their restaurant in her hometown. Not only was the food the best Italian I've ever had, they also allow you to bring your own wine (for a $10/bottle corkage fee), which definitely cuts down on the alcohol tab. Laura and Roland have been to Italy and they say this restaurant is the closest in the States to food over there. We highly recommend Luciano's and I bet it won't be the last time we dine there.
The waiter brought out Laura's dessert with a candle on top... happy birthday!
I'm glad we got to celebrate together.
A group pic after dinner and two big bottles of wine.
After dinner we were going to go bar hopping in Wichita's downtown area called Old Town, but it was raining and since we were so far away from our house, we decided to drink close to home. Here we are at Firkin and Bull. Andy's been to this bar before in Texas, and apparently, ours is more of a restaurant-type atmosphere than a bar, but that didn't stop us from drinking.
Here's a pic of the guys doing a car bomb, not an Irish one, something else but I can't remember the name. Apparently, someone had said go, so Roland started drinking, Brian's thinking about it, and Andy wanted to pose for the pic before imbibing.

A picture post car bomb with the guys doing their thing. Roland's thinking pose...
I don't really remember what's going on here, but isn't it a great pic?
And, that's the end of the trip. Very sad that it's over, but we had so much fun we're planning another trip, this time a destination vacation: NOLA 2009! Can't wait!!!

House Warming Party

So after finally getting our basement furnished, we decided to throw a house warming party. Unfortunately, my computer takes forever to upload pics to the blog, so I can't post many of them. But I thought I'd start off with this shot of our family sign in our flower bed.

40 of our closest friends from work came to celebrate with us and check out our new digs. In return, I cooked a feast... bbq pulled pork, macaroni salad, fruit salad placed in a watermelon bowl I cut myself, two batches of cookies and my fabulous queso with chili. Brian grilled brats, and we bought very delicious deviled egg potato salad from our local grocery store. Here's a pic of the table... which also included filipino treats my mom made, which were a hit!
Here's our friend, Harvey, enjoying the buffet... giving it a thumbs up! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of everyone at the house, things got a little hectic with the house tours and of course, all the eating and drinking.
Brian and I at the end of the night... happy we survived our first big shindig at the new house!