Viva!

...and the rest of the crew. We scored first place in the Halloween departmental decorating contest for "I.S. Vegas"

Anonymous Blue

Another award-winning Halloween costume this year. Tied for "most creative." Complete with mini Luxor.

How much for a kid on a bicycle?

On the day of the MMW show, Mr. Wilson and I stopped in to a VIP party held as part of the International Horror / SciFi Film Festival. There we happened upon B-movie legend Lloyd Kaufman, owner of Troma Studios. Long live Toxie! Also "The Girl in the Woods" won a few more awards at this festival.

The Proposal

The photo strip that I promised. (See previous post.)

Fiancé + Fiancée

I proposed marriage to my love last night. She said yes! The proposal occurred at the location of our first date just over a year ago: the AZ State Fair, post-demolition derby. Classy? Heck yeah. Ellen has a love for photo booths (black and white only, please) so I found one at the fair, dropped in a token and took a knee. You'll see the photo strip here as soon as I scan it in. So here it is. The official announcement online. Yep. Computer nerd here. Family members should expect a call later today, though. Yea!

Top 8

I played in the Shiner Hold'em Poker Tournament tonight at the AZ State Fair. I tied for fourth place. The top 8 win a snazzy t-shirt, and more importantly, a seat in the final tournament on November 5. Top prize is a Honda Ridgeline truck. There are 3 tournaments per night for 9 days, so the field is 216 players. Wish me luck!

Sunday Night Live

Sunday Night Live
Originally uploaded by boeke.

Acoustic Carpet, movin' on up at Last Exit.

Kosher Dog

A Picture Share!
Originally uploaded by boeke.

D-backs vs. Mets

4 by 4th

Went down to First Friday's. Nice art scene in downtown Phoenix where live bands play, galleries stay open late with funky offerings and folks walk around the streets sippin' on beverages like it was legal. Acoustic Carpet, featuring Dave Wilson, played a few tunes in a parking lot until the crowds finally trickled away late into the evening.

I had some digestive issues on Saturday, but still managed to do some car shopping and eat some fantastic Mexican food at Los Sombreros. MMmmmm... GWACK! Watched Oceans 12 on DVD Saturday night. Despite some horrible reviews I found it mildly entertaining.

Sunday. More car shopping and finally some car purchasing! Meet the new boss:






2001 Toyota Tacoma, V6, 4x4, TRD, SR5.

Later Sunday - Went to a pool party Sunday night up in Fountain Hills (fancy-smanchy).

Monday night - we took the new truck out to some mountains on the edge of town. The goal was to try and see all of the valley's fireworks shows at once. I chose a road on a map that said "Jeep Trail." Good choice. I threw it into 4H very quickly and did things I couldn't have imagined doing in the old truck, all-the-while listening to Chris Cross' "Jump". However, it was getting late and the road took a turn and went straight up the side of the mountain with a pretty threatening drop off on the side. No room for error here. Had it not been dark out, and had we been with more people and had I been more confident about the state of my auto insurance we might have continued to our planned destination. We settled for a spot a bit lower, got up on top of the truck, blasted some Beethoven, Bach and John Williams and watched all kinds of stuff explode in the sky.

There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

Chicago Highlights (in no particular order):

Kingston Mines

Metra

Chicago Gospel Festival with Solomon Burke

The Loop

Chicago Botanic Gardens

Lou Malnati's Pizza

Beth's Asparagus Eggs

Papa Milanos

Baseball practice

Lego String Vehicles

Lake Michigan

Hot Dogs

Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art

Magnificent Mile

Robinson's BBQ

Sears Tower

Northbrook YMCA

Chicago Federal Reserve

Shedd Aquarium

Midway Airport

The Joe Boeke Jr. Family

Choo-Choo Grill

Location, location, location...

Coolest plane feature ever. Real time location info. We're in Chicago!

Outfitting

Had a meeting at Four Peaks to talk about our upcoming trip to Havasu Falls - followed by a shopping trip to REI. I picked up:

Pocket Rocket Stove

Teva's

The best camp soap in the world

A dry bag

A pack towel

and other miscellany

Die, Puny Humans!

Captured! by Robots. See them all. Here they are at Jugheads. Also - Michelle had a graduation party tonight, which was good fun. Chris made awesome Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches.