My Happy Place

Happy Gilmore has been on one of the few English channels the past few nights. I forgot that the movie is already 12 years old, but It's still funny as hell. One of the better moments is when Happy has to find his "Happy Place" as follows:

Watch more Megavideo videos on AOL Video

So I started thinking - what would be in my Happy Place????

• Sarah (of course).....
• We're on a beach with blue ocean all around
• 78 degrees, not a cloud in the sky
• Ample supply of Shiner beer and Captain and Cokes (no lime)
• Candy dispenser full of Skittles, Reeses Pieces, Gummy Worms, Gummy Raspberries....
• U2 playing hour long sets
• Elvis playing between U2 sets
• Iowa State winning football games on TV
• Girls jumping on trampolines - I won't lie to you....
  
• And no need to go back to work... EVER!!

How'd I do?

It's freezing cold here once the sun goes down. It gets to about 50 degrees at night, with a chilly breeze. I know, nothing to complain about compared to most of you in the Midwest, but I only have a jacket here and no heat. The trick is not to open a window when the sun is up and accidentally leave it open for over an hour. This creates a problem on how to get the apartment warm again considering there is no heat in the houses here. I have a small heater/fan that does the trick for me (Sarah would not be happy with me in this cold), and for the few minutes after shutting the open window, I just turn the stove top on high for a few minutes and let it add as much heat as is required. Primitive, I know. Kind of like leaving the freezer open in the dead of summer to help cool the house off!!! I don't really have a lot of other options at this point and I'm not sure I want to buy a larger heater just for another 2 months.

Chinese New Year is approaching. Out with the year of the Rat (those of you born in '96, '84, '72, '60, '48, or '36) and in with the year of the Ox (or cow) (those born in '97, '85, '73, '61, '49, or '37). There are already noises in the street with people letting off random firecrackers from time to time - as well as all the Christmas decorations still up. How convenient that they serve as deocrations for Chinese New Year as well!!!! I'll share more with what I learn about CNY as it happens.