Where For Art Thou Pete Chat?

Were you worried that I was gone forever? Were you concerned that the most dominant blog on the internet was no longer being regularly maintained? Did you even notice I have only posted a few times all year?

No I haven't given up on Pete Chat but with the end of Google Reader upon us I thought I better fill in my loyal readership on my current situation.

As you probably know I just graduated with my MPP from Pepperdine. It was a great day and I feel very comfortable being referred to as Master Peter. I think it has a nice ring to it. I have been applying my little heart out and have continued doing my research job in the mean time. It's not exactly glamorous but it pays at least some of the bills. My sugar-mama Shannon  has been educating the young people of Malibu and even got to babysit for a well known celebrity couple.

We just got back from a fun trip to VA and are looking forward to a summer of weekends at the beach and Angel games in the evenings.

Falling Out of Love

If you saw the title of my blog post and gasped because you thought I was talking about Shannon, fear not. This love affair started long before I ever met Shannon.

We were introduced by my good friend B-Rock right around the fall of 2005. And for the next eight years I have been faithful (even though there was the dalliance with the British relative)  but it appears that our relationship has finally come to an end.

I am of course, writing about the Office.

Seriously I used to love this show. I remember big groups getting together at McMary's place to watch it every Thursday, beerating Mary when she didn't work the DVR expertly and having Stephanie point out that the best episodes were the ones written by Mindy Kaling. I have three episodes of the office saved on my Tivo that I have not erased in literally years, Valentine's Day, The Injury, and Casino Night. Three of my very favorites. I have seen every episode of this show, stayed totally committed all these years but last Thursday, something happened, as I was watching the show I thought to myself, I don't even like this show.

 The first few seasons I loved the Jim and Pam storyline, and when they finally got married I got the group together again to watch it at McMary's new place, and that was the last time I ever watched the show in a group setting.  But for the last few seasons I have enjoyed it less and less to the point where I was thinking, why do I even watch it anymore. I guess at this point I'm all in so I'll watch it but I certainly won't enjoy it like I used to.

I guess I am not the only one who thinks this way because this is the Office's last season, NBC has decided to put it out of its misery but I think it is a season too late. This is sort of a weird phenomena where a show that I loved gets cancelled and I am not bothered by it. When I list my all time favorite shows to this point when most of them were cancelled I didn't want them to end. They usually run out of show before I run out of interest. I especially felt that way when they cancelled The OC, 24 and Dawson's Creek.

Good bye Office your time has come to and end.

That wasn't easy to write. It was really hard.

Kissing and Telling

Way back in September at our open house here in California, my awesome bosses from the Lakers, Jason and Alison gave Shannon and I two tickets for the game on Valentine's day. It was a great way to celebrate Valentine's day and six months of marriage.

The thing you have to know about LA in case you don't is that traffic can be terrible (I say can be because yesterday we took Eva and Russell on the 405 to LAX and hit virtually no traffic) and Thursday was no exception. The game was on national tv and the Heat/Thunder game that was on before ran long. Thankfully that meant that tip was about 20 minutes late. It took us two hours to get to the Staples Center but we eventually got there. I texted Alison to let her know we were there and she let us know that the auction would be starting late because of traffic. We got to our seats just in time for the Lakers to make a big run and cut the Clippers lead to just three.

One of my favorite things about last season was the kiss cam. When I was sitting at the auction booth I would run for the aisle to watch it once I heard Sunny and Cher start up with "I Got You Babe". The last time out before half time the Lakers search the crowd for couples and show them on the big screen until they share a kiss. Often hilarity ensues when a non couple is put on, a celebrity couple, or even a pair of fairly newly weds. And whilst Shannon and I have attended a number of sporting events together we have never been on the kiss cam. So I put my arm around her and said let's look like we like each other. I am very particular about the kiss cam I like funny kisses and nice kisses not gross jam it down your throat kisses, and that was what I saw on the kiss cam until we saw this...

We were legitimately surprised. I remember thinking oh my gosh, that's us! We had made the kiss cam.

This was such a surprise. I remember thinking how fun it would be if we got on, but I didn't really think it would happen. But now that we were on it was time to smooch.

I think our kiss was perfectly romantic and appropriately affectionate. The funny thing about the kiss cam is that you want to have a picture of you on it but is impossible because you can't really prepare for it. Unless of course you have the power of the Lakers behind you. Alison got one of the team photographers (Thanks Evan) to document it for us, and that is how we got these great pictures.

Of course I was pumped about it and made sure to mug for the camera. I even threw up a #1. We were so excited, moments later Alison sent us this picture...

 We went down to the auction at half time and were so elated and appreciative. I had the best coworkers at the Lakers and was blown away by all the planning they did to make this happen.The only bad thing about the evening was that the Lakers lost...to the Clippers.

It was the best possible Valentine's Day. We posted the picture on Facebook and got over 100 likes. It's the most I've got for a picture I've been in besides the picture announcing our engagement. I was so happy that I got to spend Valentine's Day with Shannon and am looking forward to many more although this one will be hard to top.

I Know it's Ridiculous...But Still

If you know me you know I am a huge 49ers fan. Chances are I am the biggest 49ers fan you know. I count January 29, 1995 as one of the best days of my life. The day Steve Young threw six touchdowns and the 49ers won Superbowl XXIX.  I was spoiled as a 49ers fan, the team went to the playoffs every season, and then one Monday night this happened.



I remember exactly where I was sitting in the lobby of May Hall. I couldn't cry, I was beyond that. I simply fell to my knees and then on my face. And while there were some decent Jeff Garcia seasons the team had been pretty terrible for the last 10 years. Then last season Coach Harbaugh took over and now the 49ers are headed to the NFC Championship game for the second year in a row.

I've never been more nervous than I am about the game on Sunday. I have never wanted it to be game time more than I do right now for Saturday's game. I have been reading about the game like crazy, especially articles about why the 49ers won't win so as not to get overly confident. And guess what I won't be watching the game live on Sunday at noon.

Why? Because I am terribly superstitious. With the dawn of 2013 our church schedule changed from 9-12 to the new time of 12:30-3:30. Kickoff is at twelve. My plan was to go to the earlier ward and then hurry home for the game. Last night my EQ president texted to see fi I would teach the lesson. I thought, "Oh no." And didn't respond. Many of you are wondering why I don't just TiVo it and watch it later. Any big time sports fan will tell you it's just not the same. Please take the time to read this article by my man Chuck Klosterman . He explains it perfectly. Pay careful attention to the section titled "Irrational". Chuck gets it.

 The EQ president texted again and I started to panic. If I didn't teach was I jinxing the 49ers. Now I recognize that a rational person knows that they have no impact on the performance of the team they root for but when it comes to my team I am not rational. My niece turns 9 on Saturday so we having a family party for her Sunday evening. That means I won't get to see the game until at the earliest Sunday night. The universe doesn't like you sending your wife to church alone letting a 9 year old niece down to watch a game.

I googled the phrase "Sacrifice Brings Blessings" and it turns out that this might be primarily an LDS doctrine as the first three links were all church related. That is why I will be teaching EQ on Sunday. I figured if I stay home and watch and the 49ers lose I'll be partly to blame. If they win I will watch the game that night. It won't be the same, but really what choice do I have. I can't risk upsetting the Universe.

GO NINERS!

Married Christmas

As you can probably imagine I really  like being married. While Shannon and I had great and wonderful plans of spending Christmas wiht her family in VA, the dastardly airlines plotted against us and we stayed here in California instead.

Shannon and I have very different preferences when it comes to gift receiving. Shannon does not liketo be surprised. I love to be surprised. This works well for me because I didn't have to struggle much with what to get her. She just wrote down a thorough list and told me to pick a few. I on the other hand made no list and told her that you can never go wrong with getting me something Angels, Lakers, Cougars, 49ers or Star Wars.

Thanks to my dad's general apathy to tree trimming we borrowed his Christmas tree and decorated it at our apartment. We also proudly displayed the Christmas Cards we received on our door. I loved getting Christmas cards. It's especially fun when you find out one of your friends has added to their family without your knowledge. Hello Ridge Watkins.

If we sent you a card and you are not married you get a pass. If we sent you a card and you didn't send out cards you get a pass. If we sent you a card and you didn't send one to us, you are on notice.

It's no surprise that my wife knows me very well. I enjoyed every single present that I got from her. I got a sweet T-Shirt that combines two of my passions MMA and Sweden.

 I got the Star Wars saga on Blu Ray and The Dark Knight Rises. Shannon made me a radical Star Wars blanket and she even got me the Angels cufflinks I have wanted for a very long time. She listens to the things I mention throughout the season and makes notes. But the biggest surprise was my own custom made bobble head.  I am often accused of being a bit narcissistic so you can imagine that I enjoyed this quite a bit. Shannon and I disagree a bit about the likeness. The more I look at it the more I see myself.

Full Sized Pete Chat with Mini Pete Chat.

Shannon did pretty well herself. Like I mentioned earlier she made me a list of some of the things she wanted, and I was happy to oblige. I even took care of most of it with one trip to the mall. I learned first hand that jeans for girls cost a lot more than jeans for guys. We have a pretty small apartment without a lot of storage space so we agreed not to search for presents. I hid Shannon's presents in our closet under some strategically placed clothes. Besides the jeans, I got Shannon some pink Nikes, an electric mixer, and some other clothes, I also got Shannon and my dad matching Pepperdine sweatshirts so that they can display their Wave pride just like I do. We also picked out PJ's we wanted. I got Laker PJ's and Shannon got a shirt that said love in many languages including Swedish.

The highlight of the morning was Skyping with Shannon's family including her brother Warren who is on his mission in Washington state. It took us a few times to get the connection right. It sure has changed since I served in ancient times. We had VA, WA, UT, and CA on all at the same time. The Grandparents in NJ were even able to listen in.

Present opening ended pretty quickly. I think that was on account of the fact that there was just the two of us. Shannon cooked us breakfast and I watched Batman which meant it was a pretty perfect morning. Shortly thereafter we headed to the Breniers to have Christmas dinner with my family. We don't have too many traditions other than our Christmas menu, which has stayed generally the same for at least the last 30 years that I have been aware. One tradition that may be gaining a foothold is the ceremonial wearing of the mustaches. Chrissi enjoys a good mustache so she got them for us and hilarity ensued.

Shannon could not resist me.

It wasn't just me who got in on the action. All the men in the family had a mustache ( and a few of the girls who were so inclined) although Don was the only one who had grown it of his own accord.

Shannon brought a little Crowley tradition the table with some Christmas poppers. I got a watch in mine and we all enjoyed wearing our crowns. Jennifer especially as she wore hers for the rest of the evening.

It was a very Merry Christmas and I can't wait to do it again in about a year.