Flesh of My Flesh, Blog of My Blog

Hang in there, baby.

2006-09-25T16:47:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the lack of posting. Somehow, with the marriage and the new city and the new jobs, blogging has slipped down the list of priorities. I hereby offer my promise (cold comfort though it no doubt is) that in not *too* long blogging will return here in some form. Things you might see here include: first-hand accounts of our wedding, photos from our fun honeymoon trip to the Bronx Zoo, shots of our cool, IKEA-filled apartment, and so much more! Nothing job-related, though. At least not by me - Sarah can blog about clarinet-teaching 'til the cows come home.

Broccoli... Celery... Gotta be...

2006-09-12T15:13:00.000-04:00

Veggietales!

Finally, a reason to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings again.

And remember, whatever you don't hear, God made you special and He loves you very much.

Happy Weekiversary!

2006-09-09T21:14:00.000-04:00

Sarah and I have officially been man and wife for one week as of a few hours ago. Needless to say, this is an exciting occasion. We celebrated with some homemade pasta (with meat sauce - my tastes of my bachelor days still haven't quite left me) and a giant bottle of pretty-OK Italian red (yes, that's right, I've been enjoying a glass of chianti).

Our day was pretty fun. We slept in, then after a tasty lunch at Quiznos and an unsuccessful attempt to board the 1 Train (doesn't run south of 14th Street on weekends), we took the R Train to Times Square, from which we headed south to Mood Fabrics (as seen on the wife's favorite non-animated TV program). At Mood, we shopped around a while, looking for a fabric from which to make a curtain for our bedroom window. Needless to say, I was very macho the whole time. ¿Quien es mas macho? Angus Dwyer es mas macho.

After Mood we headed north to check out the practice studio where Sarah will be teaching in the fall. En route, we stopped for some Nuts for Nuts peanuts (a New York street vendor classic - highly recommended for all visitors to the Big Apple) and to peer at the giant indoor ferris wheel at the Toys'R'Us in Times Square. (Which - have you noticed? - isn't really a square. What's up with that?) We found the studio - it's upstairs from Rosie O'Grady's restaurant (note: not this Rosie O'Grady's), and next door to the Ha! comedy club - but didn't go inside (mostly because we couldn't figure out how to do so withoutinadvertentlyy getting a table at Rosie's...this is probably something Sarah will have to ask about on the phone).

Anyway, by this time we were pretty tired from being so wonderful and amazing, and headed home. And then _yadda_yadda_yadda_ various things happened that conduced towards dinner being prepared (mostly by Sarah, though she'll deny it). I'll spare you the gory details.

Generally, we're well and are settling in nicely to the NYC. Tomorrow we have Mass at our neighborhood church, then the pickup of the second half of our first-ever Fresh Direct order. (Don't ask why it didn't come in one shipment. Really. It's not a very interesting story.) Then Monday: Da Zoo!

The Big Day Arrives

2006-09-02T09:50:00.000-04:00

There's something I'm supposed to do this afternoon, but I can't quite put my finger on it....

I just wanted to thank everyone who's read this blog over the last few months; it's been a lot of fun. When next I post, Sarah and I will be married and in New York, beginning our new life together. Crazy man, crazy.

Please keep Sarah and I, and all our guests, in your prayers.

Talk to you soon, blogosphere.

Or, you could just graze on the lawn...

2006-08-26T19:21:00.000-04:00

Apropos of this earlier post, Sarah and I have settled on a restaurant from which to serve our sad, sad vegetarian guests: the Spiral Diner & Bakery. It's about a half-mile from the church (one minute, fifteen seconds by car - we measured this afternoon). Peruse the menu and let us know what you want, if you are in fact among those poor, unfortunate souls that do not eat the meat.

Hopefully, I'll be able to offer a more complete review tomorrow... I plan to try to convince Sarah to get their all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast after Mass tomorrow morning...

And what did you do *after* you left the restaurant?
We went home.
Mrs. Simpson, may I remind you that you are under oath?
{sob} We went *fishing*....
Do these sound like the actions of a man who's had *all* he could eat?

We've been kind of quiet

2006-08-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

It's due mainly to the new delicacies that Angus has been introduced to this trip (ask him how many dreams he's had of Whataburger since stepping off the plane) but it is also due in large part to the amount of time we spend pretending to be Ken Jennings at the Jeopardy! Archive (yes, it is what you think it is).

Truth be told, The Yankee and I don't actually talk to each other at all... we just quiz and read long The Brian-related interviews...

Mmmmmmmmm...meaty...

2006-08-24T14:12:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, Texas = meat.

With an eye towards giving our wedding guests the full Texas experience, we've arranged for Cousin's BBQ, a local smoked-and-sauced-meat-peddling concern, to cater our reception. In addition to being a fine example of Texas-style barbeque - and trust me on this score, I've sampled their wares - Cousin's is also a childhood favorite of my bride-to-be's (perhaps she'll treat us to the story about why the dogs followed her brother Chris home at some point), so the nostalgia factor is almost as high as the tastiness.

Anyway, all run-on sentences aside, here is the menu for Saturday night (which, needless to say, will not be alright for fighting):

The Meats

Brisket (that's beef for the not meat-literate among us)
Chopped brisket (brisket that had to be taught a lesson...)
Boneless chicken breast (no jokes there...)

The Sides

Potato salad (the only reason Dan Quayle wasn't on the invite list)
Corn on the Cob (my jokes, not the only thing here that's corny)
Victory Cabbage (cole slaw to you Kaiser-lovers...)

The Beverages

Unsweet tea (Sarah's plenty sweet enough, plus there'll be Sweet*n*low)
Various soft drinks (including Dr Pepper, the national drink of Texas)
Various cold beers (including Pabst, the only way to get Grant to come)

You'll notice (as the post's title suggests) that this is a somewhat meat-heavy regimen. If you are one of those poor benighted souls that does not know the sweet, sweet savor of dead animal carcass on your palate, and would like some kind of alternative entree (we're thinking veggie burritos at the moment) please email us to let us know.

That Way, Everything Will Be Nice and Legal

2006-08-16T11:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the paucity of postings. We've been a mite bit busy in the last week-and-a-half or so, doing wedding-organization things and putting out a few fires of a late-developing nature. Everything's pretty much taken care of now, or will be in the next few days.

One notable wedding-organization thing accomplished recently is the acquisition of the marriage license.
(Note the Brain in the left foreground. He has indicated he'll act as the witness at the wedding, if need be, in consideration for our assistance in his plot to take over the world....)

We dropped it off at the church yesterday afternoon. We're returning there today to meet with the parish's lay marriage organizing guy, Mr. Martinez, and perhaps stop in briefly with the pastor, Father Bristow.

(And then, perhaps, some Sonic, if my powers of persuasion are finely honed enough....)

If you'd like a more close-up view of the license, and don't mind having to look at a more-than-a-little-dishevled Angus, here you go (all others scroll past, quickly):

The Brain: he's everywhere....

Attention Party People in the Place to Be

2006-07-26T18:02:00.000-04:00

Wedding guests be made aware: we have reserved a bloc of rooms at two hotels in Fort Worth for the weekend of the wedding. However, this reservation will expire *soon*: on August 1. I'm not going to post the names or numbers of the hotels on the web, but if you want to book a room contact me by email (again: angusdwyer@yahoo.com or angus.dwyer@yale.edu) and I'll get you the relevant data.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

2006-07-14T00:35:00.000-04:00

...lend me your addresses...

I am currently in the process of compiling the address list for our wedding invitations. I have most of the addresses I need, but not all of them. I'm going to try to track them down over the next few days, but obviously, what with the studying for the bar exam and all, it would be easier if the addresses tracked me down. (There's a Yakov Smirnoff joke in there somewhere.) So, if you're a potential wedding guest (which basically means "you want to come to the wedding") and I don't already have your mailing address, please email it to me at angus.dwyer@yale.edu or angusdwyer@yahoo.com

General Trends in Weddingalia

2006-07-02T21:51:00.000-04:00

Wedding-related, if not our wedding related: Father Jim Tucker posts some interesting thoughts on the apparently growing trend of baptized Catholics having non-Catholic weddings.

So, I really don't feel threatened by the growing proportion of these do-it-yourself weddings. In fact, I welcome their existence because they give attractive options to people who aren't interested in all the Catholic obligations that come with a Catholic marriage. Any Catholic who seriously considers those non-traditional weddings as a serious possibility for his or her own wedding probably isn't yet ready for the Sacrament of Matrimony to begin with.

See also Amy Welborn on the same subject.

So this is where Angus's friends hang out...

2006-06-28T18:25:00.000-04:00

Expect posting to be very light here until August, as both Sarah and I are extremely busy at present, but to pick up thereafter.

Angus should speak for himself on this one. He may be busy studying and being his general amazing self but his non-Yankee fiancée has quite a lot of time on her hands. Today, in fact, I had time enough to stand in the wrong line at the motor vehicle registration office not once but twice. I also replaced a spring on my clarinet and completed a "clever" crossword where the answer to 63-across ("Pancake-eating senator at a deli?") was "TRENTLATKE".

I'm just sayin'.

The real reason blogging might be light is because one can only say "No, we're not having dwarf tossing at the wedding" and "Seriously. Latin." so many ways.

Caveat!

2006-06-27T11:53:00.000-04:00

Wedding guests be on notice! The wedding will be (mostly) in Latin. This is a) because we're Catholics of the Roman Rite, and Latin is the normative language of the Novus Ordo Mass; and b) because we're both huge Latin nerds and it's our wedding, dangit! There will be worship guides to help those unfamiliar with Latin, the structure of the Catholic Mass, or both, to follow along, but in the meantime you may also want to consider brushing up on your Latin.

...going to the chapel of love....

2006-06-27T11:39:00.000-04:00

Here is the church,
Here is the steeple,
Show up September 2nd,
And see all the people!

This is the church at which the wedding in question will be celebrated: St Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in scenic Fort Worth, Texas. I have never been there myself, but it gets raves from my lovely bride to be, so I figure it must be lovely.

You can click here for more photos of Saint Mary's. WARNING: these photos may stir unusual feelings of piety and/or general awesomeness.

Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here...

2006-06-24T20:59:00.000-04:00

What's up with this site? (Angus, don't you already have a blog? you ask.) Well, I'll tell you what's up with this site. This is Sarah and my engagement blog, which we will use both to chronicle our engagement and to help coordinate the wedding itself. Expect posting to be very light here until August, as both Sarah and I are extremely busy at present, but to pick up thereafter.

As you may or may not know, Sarah and I met through my other blog, Mansfield Fox, and the proposal was extensively blogged about. Ours is, shall we say, a bloggy romance. Why not put the engagement up on the 'net, too? (Well...) At any rate, we hope this is a successful experiment and that you find this a useful and interesting resource in the months ahead (and that it doesn't become a massive drain on our time).

Well, I think that's enough by way of general introduction.

This is a test of the emergency wedding system

2006-06-24T20:35:00.000-04:00

If this had been a real wedding, vows would have been exchanged.