Japanese Pop Culture Party

So about a week and a half ago we went to a friends house (also known as Ben2) to have a house warming party at his new place (also known as Digs). It was themed party and/or gala event. Mandatory dressing up was required in order to attend. The theme: Japanese Pop Culture (also known as anything weird). If you haven't been keeping up on the latest trends in Japan, well then you haven't missed much. Pretty much anything goes. Since the majority of school kids must dress in uniforms for 5-6 days a week, Sundays they go out on the streets to make a personal statement of their personality.

We were greeted with a barrel of Fat Tire beer and a classic plastic red cup to go with it. High class is right! Unfortunately not everyone in attendance had dressed up (also known as leakers; see Matt for a reference). Therefore we were the few, the proud, the cool ones. Everyone loved the outfits! And those that didn't comment were secretly just jealous. We played lots of darts and socialized.

The night ended with random craziness.

I even had my own personal Photo Shoot.





Stay tuned for next weeks entry of VEGAS, BABY!

My Birthday! & Dave Matthews

Come one, come all! Celebration is in the air! For it is (was) my birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me! #26

For my birthday Chrissy had 3 days of fun planned out for me. This was a surprise to me even though I had told her not to have any surprises. Day one began on the day of (Sept. 2nd; mark your calenders for next year ;) Chrissy knows that I love meat, so what better place to take me then an Argentinian grill! A giant slab of Strip Steak complete with mashed potatoes and green beans. What could be better?

We then came back and had some homemade Ice Cream cake! Yes, that's right. Homemade! Oreo cookie crust, oreo cookie and brownie fudge ice cream and chocolate frosting topping with sprinkles on top (sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle).

Then came present time! What could it be.... SOCKS! No really, I wanted some good pairs of socks so I got some. Chrissy has been complaining that all my socks have holes in them and that I need a new pair of sandals. So I got some sweet new sandals too! I had also been talking about brewing my own beer for awhile now, but have never made the initiative to do so. therefore Chrissy got me my own beer making kit.

Mr. Beer

Day two continued with more awesomeness. I am always asking Chrissy to give me back rubs and massages. I'm sure she's gotten sick of it so she decided to have someone else do it for her. We went to a quaint little health and human wellness boutique in Capitol Hill that was actually a giant house. The massage was, of course, amazing! How could it not be? The only bad part was that it wasn't 3 hours longer.

Day three couldn't possibly be better than the previous days, could it? OH YES IT WAS!!! If you know me, you know my affinity for video games. Therefore we went to a giant arcade for my birthday!!! I felt like I was 12 years old again. We even got a party room complete with pizza, drinks, and cake. But it gets better. Included with the celebration was an HOUR game card for everyone to play ANY game they wanted to. Have I died and gone to heaven? I think I have.

After breaking a sweat playing so many sweet games, we decided to get even sweatier at a local dance club/bar for their monthly first friday funk nights at Lo-Fi. $5 all you can dance complete with two dance floors and Dj's spinning some of the funkiest hits from all era's. It even has a classic photo booth!

Sunday was a continuation of awesomeness because we were going to see the Dave Matthews Band at the infamous Gorge outdoor amphitheater located along the Columbia river's canyon in George, Washington. There really couldn't be a more beautiful location to hold a concert. Not only is the background breathe taking, the acoustics are second to none. Better than any indoor concert I have ever been to. The Yonder Mountain String Band began the night with some bluegrass jam rock. Then came G. Love and Special Sauce with a little funk for our feet. Dave Matthews then blew the stars out of the sky with an amazing performance. He began with the song Typical Situation with a slow heart felt intro, a huge energy jam in the middle and ended it real slow again. He also had a 30 min rendition of Two Step which was really sweet. It has been an on going tradition to go see Dave for the last ~7 years and the tradition will continue indefinitely. What could be better? Oh yeah, free camping! [See Memorial Weekend Part 1 blog for pictures of the camp grounds]

Thus concludes almost a full week of shear greatness! Thanks again to Chrissy for being such a wonderful girlfriend! You are the best!

Stay tuned for two more blogs coming later this week.

Egan Family Vacation '09 [Part 2]

You may be wondering what the Part 2 in the title means... Are there some more shenanigans from the Egan Family that await? Why in fact there is! Although this time it involves another generation of Egan's. Meet Glen and Ester Egan, my grandparents.

They flew out with my cousin Jacob to come visit us in our new home of Seattle. They have been here before although it has been about 20 years, so a lot has changed. The biggest thing that they noticed was that all of the grass was yellow. They could not understand this because Seattle is supposed to have a ton of rain. I couldn't explain it because, to me, it doesn't rain much in Seattle. It also stays in the upper 70's lower 80's; which was the average temperature for their trip. When they got in we decided to hit up McCormick & Schimick's for some $2.50 Gourmet Burgers. We then got some rest for the big day ahead of us.

Early Wednesday morning we embarked on our journey across the Puget Sound en route to Bremerton, Wa. There we would meet up with my grandma's long lost Aunt (who is actually about the same age). After some chatting and a little catching up, me and Jacob left them to reminisce while we drove out to the Olympic mountains to tackle Mount Walker.

At 2,805 feet, Mt. Walker is no push over. The incline grade is anywhere from 25%-40%... the entire way. At parts we thought the trail was going to level out, but to our disappointment that was only for about 15 steps. As if the trail was taunting us, it would then get even steeper after the flat parts.

It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to hike to the top. Although the view from above was absolutely amazing. From the North lookout we could see the entire Hood Canal region as well as Mt. Baker who resides in the Cascades mountains.

From the Southern Lookout point we could see all the way to Seattle. Mount Rainier was also out in all of its brilliance.

Even though it took a little over 2 hours to hike up, it only took 32 minutes to hike down. The reason for this is because we ran...fast. It seemed easier to let gravity help us out instead of fighting it every single step. Though at some parts it got pretty crazy due to the steepness of the trail. Also, if we missed a step we would be tumbling for a long ways and the trail was no bigger than 2-3 feet wide. It was an adrenalin packed journey down but our legs would be paying for it the next couple days.

After picking up Grandpa and Grandma we decided to drive down around the sound instead of taking the ferry back across. This gave us a chance to drive across the famous Tacoma Narrows bridge. This bridge holds a special significance for me as it was a class project to determine the vibrational frequencies that caused it to be called the "Galloping Gertie". We then of course hit up the South Lake Grill where me, Grandpa and Jacob all shared in the heavenly meal of the Prime Dip sandwich. MMmmmmm!!!

Thursday we went down to the market for some lunch and food shopping for the grill out later that night. We got some fresh fish, squash, zucchini and corn on the cob. The cookout on the roof was as delicious as ever (of course). We then played some amazing games of cards including 5-handed Euchre and Golf.

In case you didn't know, my grandpa is a card shark.

Friday was their last real day here so we decided to ride the infamous DUCKS (also known by their military code name DUKW). In case you have been living in a cave for the past 50 years, the Duck is an offroad land-water vehicle. Yes that's right, it can drive on land AND water. Pretty cool huh? Now some of you may be thinking that this sounds super lame (myself included) although it turned out to be a great time. I think the reason for this was our captain "Johnny Throttle". He was absolutely hilarious! It was also fun because we sat in the very front row, right next to Captain Throttle. Whilst dropping knowledge bombs about the Seattle area on us, he intermingled cleaver and witty remarks. For example, every time we drove by a Starbucks every one would say "Cha-Ching" while giving the "YES!" one handed salute. I would recommend it for a good laugh. Even Jacob enjoyed it!

Afterwords Jacob and Grandma went up in the Space Needle to check it out. We then had Ice Cream to cool us down on the warm 84 degrees day.

We then went back home to relax and play some more cards. The next day we drove them to airport in the morning so they could catch their flight back to the midwest. It was sad to see them go since we had had such a wonderful time with them. It was so nice to see them and I'm really glad that they could come out to see our new home! Thank You so much!

Now enjoy some more pictures from atop Mt. Walker.