Blog: Sherpa's Wonderin's

I haven't had the best luck when it comes to seeing whales. In 2008, I was whale watching just on the coast of Oregon but the water was too choppy to see the gray whales that were probably there. In 2009, I was on a whale watching tour that had 99% success that year. We were the unfortunate 1% that didn't see whales. Last year on the plane back from the Galapagos Islands, I was sitting next to a lady who was on the same itinerary as us-just on a different boat. She asked if [...]

So, yesterday Kelli and I celebrated my birthday (don't worry mom, we're both still straight). We started out at a Lebanese restaurant that has to die for hummus. After a wonderful dinner, we went to the Massage Academy for massages. The Masseuses are students so it's about half or less of what a 1 hour massage costs almost everywhere else (at 35 an hour it's even cheaper than Groupon). I admit, it was my first massage. I haven't been leery of getting one, I just have never done it before. Kelli's done it before, but [...]

Iguana at the Uxmal Ruins in Mexico. I'm alive. Between getting sick (again), preparing for a trip to the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and being not sure what to blog here, I just let the blog lie dormant for a few weeks. But I'm back from Mexico and (maybe) back blogging. Hope this finds you well.

I'm not the biggest cake fan. I think cupcakes are fun, and I like tres leches cake but I'd rather have a birthday pie, bars or even birthday cookies. So this year when my mom suggested my grandmother's carrot pudding for my birthday today-I said, "great"! This recipe was perhaps my grandma's signature dessert and I remember eating and loving it as a kid and adult. In fact, I only found out recently that this recipe is actually English-and there's not much modification from the English recipe that was handed down to my grandma. [...]

Of all Christmas Songs, Silent Night may very well may be my favorite. Here it is in German

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is easily one of my favorite Christmas songs. Judy Garland introduced this song during WWII in 1944 (in the clip above). Enjoy!

My mom has had her car tuned to a "Country Christmas" song on her radio. Although the radio station has a few duds, this song gets a lot of airplay. Oh, and her new movie will be out in a month!! I've posted the trailer before on here---but why not do it again?

This video is....awesomely bad. It's apparent Mariah Carey updated it with the Biebs to make more money (or show her awesome bod, I'm not sure). I wouldn't post it on here, but I had it in my head from the end of November to the middle of December. Not to mention, we kept hearing it in NYC three weeks ago. So enjoy...and here's a fun snarkiesh play by play interpreting the video as a tale of terror and mob rule.

I love how the little boy's mother is cracking up during the last half of this segment.

Today's Christmas song is brought to you by the Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker.

Today marks a week from Christmas, and I thought I'd give you three versions of one of my favorite Christmas songs. It's one of the seminal Christmas Songs, written originally in German, and never fails to help me get in the Christmas mood. We have Bing (Crosby), the Temptations, and Elvis Presley in order.

About 7 years ago I saw Billy Idol at a festival in Baltimore. I had never seen anyone rock quite like the Idol even though by then I had seen quite a few shows. Therefore my Christmas Music tribute wouldn't be quite the same without him. Here's Billy

Today I bring you "Last Christmas" from Wham. This "gem" couldn't be complete without it's "literal version" counterpart. Enjoy!

Today I'm shifting gears from homicidal santas and robot dancing robots at a cowboy hoe down to a melancholy tune which sort of fits my mood today. Perhaps one of my favorite Christmas songs is "River," a gem from Joni Mitchell. I couldn't find a video of Joni Mitchell playing this song, so you'll have to do with just listening to her play the song.

Since 2007, the Killers have put out a Christmas song each year. Their first song, "Don't Shoot me Santa" is arguably the strongest song (the video is great too), but this year's video is pretty great too. Love the Bonanza feel to the video. The top video is "Don't Shoot me Santa." As an aside, Brandon "I'm a Mormon" Flowers has aged well. Looking good Brandon!

A couple of years ago John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell "recreated" the (in)famous Bing Crosby/Bowie Drummer video. I was telling a friend about the recreation of the video but she wasn't getting it because she somehow had never seen the original video. Any who...here is the original video along with the parody. Here's the link to the spoof as I can't seem to embed the video from You Tube: http://youtu.be/EJBFD-Wvc7U

I've tried posting the 12 days before Christmas as a "tidying up" the blog for the end of the year, but I always fail. This year may not be any different but I think I'm going to try again.

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After Thanksgiving one forgets to continue NaBloPoMo. Oops!

What does one do after turkey and pie?* Watch the Muppets movie of course. Best Thanksgiving Ever!! **I didn't actually eat turkey or pie (well, I made three pies) but it was still an awesome Thanksgiving!!