Esther and I went to McDonald’s today, not something we normally do. Today is a special day, my last day of work at the College of William & Mary, so a special breakfast celebration was in order. This is also the first time we have been to McDonald’s since becoming vegetarian, figuring breakfast would be much more veg friendly than any burger. We step up to the counter, Cee Cee behind it, waiting to take our order. Esther offers her order first:

I’d like an Sausage Biscuit with Egg meal, please.

Why don’t you just order an egg biscuit?

Let me tell you, there is no egg biscuit on the menu. Everything on the breakfast board labeled one through ten has some form of meat on it.

Ok, I’ll have an Egg Biscuit

Now I get ready to order.

I’d like an Egg McMuffin with no meat

*Laughs* Why don’t you just get an egg biscuit?

I don’t want a biscuit, I want an English muffin.

Now I know that being a vegetarian is “weird”. I understand that I’m not the normal customer she runs into everyday, and I also know that I’m not at Burger King, where I can “have it my way”. But seriously?! You are going to mock and question my choice of breakfast sandwich. I said I want an Egg McMuffin with out the meat. Is it really that hard to punch into your register? I didn’t ask for the sense of disdain that came along with me giving my order. To top it off, Esther’s meal got downgraded to just the sandwich, with a side of ridicule.

Okay, I thought I would get to post, but the hangover was pretty bad on Friday and Saturday, I was without wifi on Sunday / Monday and super busy yesterday. Now the wedding recap: Friday I went and got my hair cut with my dad. I went to the barber that he has been doing for years and it was funny how my dad is so oddly intimate with this guy. Telling him all about the wedding, a new boat he wants to buy, gardening. Oddly intimate. After getting cleaned up, Esther and I brought her mom and brother with the Paulson boys, to go and get a wedding present. I don’t know if my sister has had a chance to open her presents so it will remain a secret for a little while longer. We drove in to the heart of KC and checked into the hotel, which was nice, if not basic. As we were checking in, all of my cousins, aunts and uncles were milling around. It was great to see everyone. The great thing about a Benoit get-together is that we pick up like no time has passed. We start up conversations and just roll with the punches. Esther and I got dressed up for the rehearsal (my sister’s request, not my idea) and after running through the mechanics of getting married, we made our way over the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was a very fancy soirée. An open bar with hard drinks, very fancy plated dinner. I enjoyed a couple of mixed drinks and some great conversation with my grandmother, whom I was seated next. The great thing that she and I talked about, which I also shared with my Gramps, was that Esther and I are going to start our family in the next year. Yes, that means babies. After the official dinner broke up, we all went to Salon A at the hotel, which was setup as a hospitality room. Stocked with beer and snacks, it became the hangout room. Lots of great conversation, although, most of them were a little slurred, if you get what I mean. Some of you may know that I had sworn off alcohol. I have to had any to drink in about a year. Joanna and Esther asked that I imbibe a little, seeing as I was so much fun when I did. Needless to say, when one’s sister is getting married, you give her what she wants and you drink to cope with the fact that your sister is getting married. The party kept going on into the morning with the Benoit’s walking (read: stumbling) to the Quick Trip down the street to stock up on beer and liquor. After we made it back, I stopped by the new party spot, but faded quickly and made it up to our room. Saturday The big day! So what do the Benoit’s do? Go motorcycle shopping! My dad and rest of the men went to a motorcycle cycle shop and I think I found my motorcycle, the Triumph Scrambler. My dad ended up buy a bike (the make/model evades me) but before that most of the guys went and got a great greasy spoon breakfast from a restaurant down the street. After he did the hand shake, we headed back to the hotel to meet up for lunch, a great taco combo at Chipotle. I caught up with my cousin Jason, who is out in Hollywood, talking about movies and I even got slipped a … probably shouldn’t say, don’t want to get him in trouble. We kind of just hung out and then shortly after 4 started getting ready. Tux and dresses… it is always fun to play dress up. The ceremony was fabulous, my sister looked great and it was a very spiritual event. As a groomsman, I played a pretty prominent role in the wedding, walking my mom down the aisle and then walking down the aisle with my wife. Let me tell you, it is so much better when you are walking down the aisle after being married. Not that I’m knocking waiting up front, that’s fun too. My sister getting ready to kiss her husband… not eat him! The reception was fabulous. Held at the Kansas City Public Library, which was an amazing location. We partied on the roof and had a great dinner, with some excellent speeches and quite possibly the best cakes ever. It was comprised of lots of cupcakes, different flavors of cake and frosting, delicious! The reception went on and after the Bride and Groom left, the party really started. The Benoit’s closed down the library and went hog wild at the hotel. Let me tell you, when you have had a “little” bit to drink, cigars are great, when you are sobering up, your mouth tastes like garbage! Sunday My wife and I woke up as early as we could (after fading from the party around 5 a.m.) and then started driving her mom and brother down to my parents lake house. We had a great time once we got there… and this post has gone on for too long. So let me wrap up by saying. I am incredibly happy for my sister. I hope that she and her new husband find all the happiness that they are due. A final picture for the road. Ray (next to be married) and my brother-in-law Clayton, air-guitaring during Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. I think it adequately captures the mood.

Thursday: The flight in to Atlanta was quick and our connection went smoothly. The second flight was not as smooth, we crossed a major front which made it a little bumpy, but we did get into Kansas City on time. My parents picked us up at the airport and then we went to pick up my dad and my tux. Unfortunately, my dad’s tux was not ready, so we will be driving back and forth to get things done. After a quick lunch, we came back to the Chez Benoit Senior. Hanging out was nice, talking, catching up and waiting for everyone to arrive for the evening’s informal gathering. My parents had about 30 people over to their house to start the wedding weekend off right. Good food, a little bit of adult beverages and great conversation with family and friends got everyone in the mood. I had a great time catching up with my uncles, aunts and cousins. It was also nice to meet all of Joanna and Matt’s friends. During the course of the evening, I had a chance to play with an iPhone. I learned that I was wise to pass on getting one right away. While it is very cool, I don’t think I could use it as a day to day device. It would make a good phone, but the close platform would make it difficult for me to maximize use of the device. Sorry about the tech interruption. Back to wedding stuff. So, last night was great, a lot of fun, a little stress and some planning. It is really hard to coordinate a wedding. I thought our wedding was hard to coordinate, but essentially everyone had to come to us to get information, here in Kansas City, everyone can do their own thing, which is kind of strange. Photos should come tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest.

First off, let me catch my breath for a second. Phew! I feel like I have been running non-stop since coming back from my sister’s graduation. I started my new job the day after we got back, that has been interesting and very, very exhausting. I feel like I have been run ragged. Not that the job is very hard, but I have had a ton of meetings and more meetings after each meeting. I was in training all day yesterday with Ryan from Space150. I have a much better handle on Microsoft Content Management Server which means that I will finally start to do my job. I also had a meeting with my boss about how we can launch a viewbook with a micro-site, which might involve a blog or two. I put together all my research about blogs this morning, breaking it down by service, cost, etc. It should be interesting to start launching blogs at a school that is really behind making the web their marketing vehicle. Let me think. What else has happened… Oh yeah! We got a new cat. Slideshow His name is Magnus, because he’s huge, he’s a massive cat, compared to the other cats that I have had. I’m sure he’ll be the feature of many a’ blog post. I also went to a Norfolk Tides baseball game. A buddy of mine got tickets to a box from work, so we had a great view. Sky box #9, with free food. It truly is the only way to watch baseball. The Tides lost, but the evening was still enjoyable. I really need to get it together with my camera and a video camera so I can post this stuff online… add that to my list.

Last night, Esther and I headed up to W-burg to have a joint birthday for two of our friends, Casey and Adele. We went to the Corner Pocket in New Town. After everyone got there we cozied up to a pool table and ordered some appetizers. The pool was amateur, my own included, at best, but a great evening was had. The interesting double entendre started after the social lubricants flowed and after 2 and half games we had a great cake by Esther.

Not my favorite variety of cake, but it was still really good. So much so that every employee was asking where we bought it, and after telling them Esther had made it, they were all very envious.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, in the post turkey haze, Esther, her mother-in-law, her brother and I went to see Casino Royale. Having seen every Bond movie from Dr. No to Die Another Day, I was very curious to see the blue eyed, blond haired Daniel Craig take the mantle of James Bond.

Wow!

I was so impressed with this James Bond that I am willing to go see it again. The movie, while not without its small flaws, was one of the most superior Bond movies I have ever seen. It had grit, real grit, not the falsely campy grit that Sean Connery projected, and not the lost puppy dog grit that Timothy Dalton sucked for. Daniel Craig had an edge to him that was very realistic for the role, it re-energized the character, showing that he is a a man who goes to work by killing people.

Another aspect that I throughly enjoyed was the lack of gadgets! While they have been cool, the invisible car in Die Another Day, crossed the line from the very cool, the inanely stupid. Sure, my 13-year-old brother-in-law ate up the vanishing car and all of the super cool geeky gadgets, but having recently watched some of the Bond movies on TV, I came to realize that they cheapened the character. They lessened the “realism” and deadened the plot, the gadgets became a game of “Hmmm. Q is giving him an exploding pen, when will he use it?”

The lack of extended chase sequences was very nice, essentially the chase sequence has been a plot moving device that has served little function except to show off the car that Bond was given, spinning razor blades popping from the tires and all. The chase sequence in the beginning of the film was choreographed beautifully and really kept me on the edge of my seat.

Bond’s femme fatale of the movie was Eva Green as Vespa Lynd, and while she was the typical Bond beauty, she was an intellectual match for Bond, making for some witty dialog. I have read other reviews and heard that the viewer was bored by the card playing through out the film, but I found it to be quite exciting, watching for the “tell” of the opponent, who in this movie was the most realistic villain in pantheon of Bond baddies, more on him later. The reviewer may have thought the poker was boring, but towards the end of the movie, a few scenes were very drawn out and while I’m sure they, in some way, reinforced elements of the relationship between Bond and his girl, they did start to drag on.

The bond villain was generally a evil mastermind, he was not an over the top villain as in previous installments, like Max Zorin or Goldfinger. He was very fitting for this day and age. I am purposefully leaving out more about the character to allow you to find out for yourself.

2 hr 24 min is the final run time of the movie and I think that it is a plenty good serving of Bond. Daniel Craig has given Bone not only a new look, but a whole new direction, one that is edgier, grittier and generally much more watchable.

Thursday was my birthday. I’m 24 years young, almost ready for the quarter life crisis (assuming I live to be 100). Thursday was a great day. Esther woke up early and made me pancakes and let me open my presents. Most of all, though, she kept my present a secret! It’s really hard for her to keep my presents secrets, she usually gives a hint or two and from that I can divine what the gift is. This year, no hints, so I was shocked when I opened the large generic box that we keep to hide presents in and found tissue paper holding a new 30 gig iPod. Amazing! Thursday at work was super busy. No, I didn’t take the day off from work, I couldn’t. After my incredibly busy work day, my social day kicked off. I had to run home and take care of the dog and then drive, with mother-in-law in tow, up to Williamsburg. We met Esther and our friends Kristi, Casey, Adele and Dave at a cafe there and ate, talked and had a generally excellent time! A jazz band was performing while we were there and unbeknownst to Esther, she had picked the prime table. Come to think of it, she might have known, that sneaky devil. Part way through the evening, Adele snuck up to band and requested that they sing me happy birthday and while I’m sure they cleared the performance rights, it was fun to be sang to, especially when it’s not the staff at Applebees. When the band wrapped up their performance we all dispersed and I came home happy and tired. What a great birthday.

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Me with Debbie Weil

Originally uploaded by jeredb.
This is a photo from today’s PRSA conference (Part I, Part II). With me is the presenter Debbie Weil, who gave a great talk about “Blogging 101.”

More door prizes, a gift basket to Home-a-rama. Not me. Another set of tickets to something… not me. More museum passes, again, not me. I guess that I’m a loser today.

Oh! Corporate blogging book prizes, please, please, please. Fingers crossed. 1st copy, not me. Second copy, not me. Third copy, not me. Bummer. Oh well, I guess I could by the “Corporate Blogging Book.”
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