It’s been awhile since I have posted. To be honest not much has been going on. The holiday season is upon us and it’s getting busy.

Festivus came and went. It was a relatively tame year, which might be good. Brad and Kristi, thanks for hosting.

It looks like I’ll be installing a new water heater this weekend. I think mine is corroding now. It looks like it’s pretty stinking new… It’s always something.

Now on to the subject at hand. Tina and I have been playing some Guitar Hero on the Wii this week. Tonight I finally got fed up trying to beat songs on hard and playing the same old medium songs trying to beat my old high scores. So I hopped online to play some matches. It still seems a little spotty for the Wii. You get a match 1 out of 3 attempts. It was fun, a different twist. Here is the box score, if you will

Pro Face Off on Expert

Best of 5

Grimley vs einhander

wins 0 vs 3
best streak 44 vs 302
highest score 58548 vs 257823

black magic woman
26095 vs 209628

sabotage
58548 vs 159678 (only playing 2/3 the song, I think he felt bad for me.)

cult of personality
22433 vs 257823

It was more comical than anything because I can barely play hard let alone expert. Definitely something I am gonna have more fun with though.

Thanks to Dan for this one… and a little reference to a similar loss for Dan

If any of you have heard about my epic trips to Las Vegas then you’ve certainly learned of my fondness for Gilly’s. Well that has all come to a close now. I knew the New Frontier was on it’s way out, just didn’t know when. Gilly’s had some of the strongest, cheapest drinks in town along with a wonderful country music atmosphere and the ever popular “bikini bull riding”. I always found it to get raunchier each time around. It was great for cheap (relatively) entertainment. I remember once when Mason even got to be a judge… R.I.P Gilly’s

I had the pleasant opportunity to witness history in the making on Sunday as I saw Brett Favre complete his NFL record breaking 421st touchdown pass at the HumptyDome in Minneapolis.

Tina and I procured tickets after some last minute scrambling.  It was well worth it.  We met Dan downtown at Rosen’s for some breakfeast and a few drinks.  Then light-railed it up to the dome for the much anticipated game.  While the Packers’ start made me a little nervous the TD put me at ease and I settled in for a pretty good game.  I must admit watching a game live is awesome.  You can see so much more develop, and you get to see things that the TV cameras just don’t catch… like the couple in front of us who high-fived and kissed on EVERY Viking first down… ok ok, and holes, seams, and routes that all the WR’s are running, and the lines are blocking for.  The Packers/Viking games are always close ones no matter who the dog is or where it’s played.  It’s fun to watch especially when my team wins.  I can’t help get pumped up when you are at the visitor’s house and above the loud pumped in music of the dome you can hear that chant “Go Pack Go! Go Pack Go!” Brings chills to the spine.

In case you missed it and the great call by my favorite play-by-play guy Wayne Larrivee here it is

And like Favre says, “Let’s keep this shit going”.  GO PACK GO!

Well the time has come and gone.  I am now a married man and have enjoyed everyone minute of it so far.  Thanks Tina!

The wedding went off without a hitch.  I was a bit nervous beforehand but once we got into the ceremony it was all good.  Thanks to everyone for making the trek and showing your support.  I’d also like to thank my parents, Tina’s parents, the bridal party, and since they are my boys I’ll name my party, Jason M (best man), Dan F, Chris A, Carl G, Jason S, and Ben K.

The reception was great.  Although it went quite fast.  Thanks to J again for a great speech.  I couldn’t even foul him up with the “go sign”.

Now for the honeymoon…. I surprised lbt  (a lot of good that tinagillen.com domain does now, eh?) with a trip to Maui.  I told her when we got back to the hotel after the reception.  She was quite excited (which I was expecting).

We flew out on Monday morning.  After a flight to Seattle, a layover spent at the bar, and finally landing in Maui we were relieved, tired, and excited all at the same time.  We picked up our rental car which was a mustang convertible.  By the time we were driving to Kaanapali it was dark.  Maui isn’t the best place to drive on unfamiliar roads at night, but we made it to the hotel.  After checking in we took a little walk on the beach.  I could tell this was gonna be good.

We woke up quite early the next morning and took another walk along the beach.  Tuesday was recovery and relaxation day.  We hung out at the beach.  The first two days the surf was extremely active (although the red flags were up all week).  The Pacific is much more powerful than any other ocean I have set foot in.  I was quite surprised and a bit itimidated at first.

The next day we went to the shops and boardwalk in Lahaina.  Since I left my sunglasses at home this was an order of business.  We walked into a Sunglass Hut and the sales guy got me into a pair of Maui Jim’s.  If you know me and how often I buy new sunglasses you might be saying “WTF?, You’re a moron”.  Perhaps.. only time will tell.  We also caught the fireworks in Lahaina.  They shot them from a barge out in the ocean and they were quite magnificent.  I have some time lapse videos that I’ll try and get posted.

Blah.. I am worn out..  I’ll continue in an updated post but I’ve got stuff to do now.  Later.

Well the time has finally arrived and me and the boys are leaving for Vegas in just over 12 hours. I think I’ve got everything covered. Sunblock, the appropriate travel medications, a charged camera battery, an (almost) full ipod, swim trunks, and a reservation at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

The weekend weather report looks fabulous (high 80s) and it’ll be nice to get out of this 30 degree weather for a few days. I decided it would be a good idea to have a few red bulls tonight. We’ll see how good of an idea that is at 5AM tomorrow. Anywho, I am pumped and ready for this one. I’ve got a couple loose ends to tie up tonight, finalize the suitcase, and get some shut-eye for a real barn burner.

Beware of drunken phone calls and text messages.
I hope to report back on Monday.

Jason , Dan, and Mason.. I’ll see you on the other side.

Over and out!

I stumbled upon an entertaining flash “tutuorial” about Learning to Dance with Napoleon Dynamite. It was entertaining not because I hadn’t ever seen the movie or revel in his sweet dancing moves, but I never knew there were names for all of his moves.  I bring this up because Vegas is a mere week away and when Jason and I drink and end up in strange bars with thumping music, we tend to pull out some of the classics… i.e. “The Lawnmower”, “The Shopping Cart”, “The Bus Driver”, “The Chainsaw”, etc.  Well now I can add an entire new set of moves.  Watch out, I’ll be studying this intently. You can bet they’ll be out at the wedding too.