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The Preparation...
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The Christmas Tree at Bridget's house. Bridget
and Savannah decorated it.
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The night before the party... Savannah dancing
with her stuffed animal "Sleepy", which I got for
her in Japan on my last trip with my mother...
I left for the airport to pick up my good friend Bill (Wilson
to some people)...
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Next morning... arrived Bridget's at around
11am and started the project of moving the tree to its final
location... where the computer table was...
Savannah is shutting the computer down so we can move the
desk out of the way...
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Bill did the HARD job - to clean out the
roof so we can hang Christmas lights...
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While my job was just to sit around and take
pictures... THANKS BILL - next time you come over I will make
sure you don't do any work! :P
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Okay all done - now we are ready
to go have some GOOD Vietnamese Pho noodles...
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After the quick lunch, Bill and I drove
to that famous Mall in Minnesota... on the way there
we saw a cool PT Cruiser... NOT!
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Yup - Here it is, the Mall of America...
or to us Minnesotans... the MegaMall.
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I thought Bill would freeze in Minnesota,
but he is tougher than I think... windchill makes it approximately
0 degrees F. NO JACKET!
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The famous Knotts Camp Snoopy INSIDE the
mall - including a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and a lot
of other rides.
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Hmmm I wonder how the network at Merck is
holding up...
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(10 minutes later)... "NOT ONE PAGE since
this morning. Something must be really wrong! I need
to call Pascal NOW to make sure everything is
all right!"
Calm down Bill. Maybe everything is just fine and you need
to enjoy the blistering cold in Minnesota, hehe.
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There's always a new fad, and here is one
I predict will fail real soon. Get someone to lie down...
put waterproof bags over him/her... and blast water on their
back.
I wonder if some prison inmate invented this after being water
blated by guards...
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Oh yeah did I forget to mention that you
get to listen to RELAXING music with the package? M----e-----h!
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Okay fun is over, back to work Bill.
Bill: "Lewis - the lights don't seem to work... they're
too DIM to be normal!"
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Lewis: "Just a minute, there's this other plug with
a red X over it... let me
plug it in..." |
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Bill: "ARRRRRGGGHHHH!
Turn it off! Turn it off!"
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Bill's gloves welded to the roof from the
heat in sub-zero temperature... note that he is STILL
not wearing his jacket.
Just kidding - Bill was not hurt during the preparation
of the party.
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Savannah and Brett making funny faces.
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I had Savannah behind me...
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And Brett in front... my workout for the
evening...
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Savannah tries to hind behind me while someone
takes a picture...
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And Brett tries to rip my arm off.
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Dan moving around, while Alreido and Kasia
chats by the kitchen table...
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Savannah wakes up from her nap, while Brett
tries to trip me...
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POST-PARTY... Bill and I met when we both
attended Rochester Institute of Technology, living in the
same dormitory floor.
Being new in this country in 1990, I was amazed by the availabilty
of 24-hour non-stop television... but mostly by the as-seen-on-tv
commercials after midnight...
And Bill was amazed by the availability of MSG-filled Chinese
ramen noodles that I have stocked up in my room.
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I figure we relive those days by cooking
him some good Chinese ramen noodles, Lewis-style.
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After the late-night dinner... I passed
out on the couch while Bill watched "The Gladiator"
on DVD...
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Here is the true definition of a GOOD GUEST
- Bill washing the dishes at 4 in the morning!!! Wow we need
you over again, SOON!
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Meanwhile Lewis is still passed out on the
couch.
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The modern day party is never complete without
that one table filled with techno-gadgets... here we have
5 Nokia 6100 phones, a Sony MD recorder, and a Motorolla pager...
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I promised to show Bill the gas station next
to my house serving 100 octane gas... hehe for those
special days when you want to drive faster...
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At this moment I want to thank everyone at the party for
cheering me up at a sad time in my life. My mother had passed
away two days before this party. Maybe I needed this to temporarily
forget my sadness, and concentrate on living again...
Thank you Bill for coming to Minneapolis and hanging out with
me.
Let me know when you have another few days off and I will
treat you to the best CHINESE HOT POT you've ever had!
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