still neil jammin'

one of the highlights of the comic con is going to the artists gallery and seeing our good friend neil fitzpatrick. he is the artist who created neil jam, a funny little comic that we all really love. we saw him last year (which i wrote about here), and were glad to see him back again. we wandered over to his table and he had a double take- he recognized us from somewhere but wasnt quite sure... well, we introduced ourselves again and shared our love with him. (heres a link to his site, he updates it with new comic strips at least twice a week, check it out!) we were all excited to see that he had published two new books since last year, so we quickly purchased them all! rex had even found his old copy of the book we got 10 or so years ago and asked neil to sign it, which he graciously agreed to! it was such fun to chat with him for a little while- we really do love his stuff!
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the con proper

every year at the comic con is a little different. i don't actually remember how many years i have gone, but if i were to guess, i would say this is probably my 10th time there. some years there is a focus on the vendors selling old comics, some times its a focus on the publishers themselves. this year the focus was on celebrities. there were tons of them! there were a bunch of people from old sci-fi shows and newer comic book movies, and for some reason i will never understand, wwe wrestlers. we didnt get to see everyone, but there are a few pics of the famous people we did see! oh, and the costumes. got to love the nerds who arrive dressed up to look like their favorite characters! for some reason there were even a bunch of cars at the show too. enough of me explaining, how about you just check them out below:

celebrities

costumes

cars

and a cool panarama of the booths

cylon signs

one of the best parts of the con is seeing all the nerds get really excited. that is the reason we always try to get brains to come. he is a nerd, and he gets really excited! he is quite particular in what gets him excited. the comics dont do it, the artwork doesnt do it. no, what gets him completely floored is the chance to meet someone from his beloved battlestar galactica! i do not share his enthusiasm for this particular nerd flavor, but i do like to watch him get all blubbery when he gets to talk to the actors from the show! last year it was the xo from the show (which i mentioned here), this year its one of the human cylons. the funny thing is that brains doesnt even know the names of the actors, just the names of the characters... but he sure does want to meet them!
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nerds only!

finally, after waiting in line by myself for the past twenty minutes, i meet back up with the guys. they have been busy people watching in the lobby all that time. sick of waiting, its finally time for us to enter this great festival of geeks once again!

dont plan ahead

ah, the con begins! we finally arrived after working through the traffic situation (i'm pretty sure some of those drivers had never seen a traffic light before...), we walk up to the convention center only to find a HUGE line! what? we've been doing this thing for years and we have never had a line out the door this long! whats going on?!? well, it turns out that the convention center wants to punish those who actually planned ahead and bought their tickets on line. foolishly, i was one of those people. the line almost circled around half the building (and its a huge building). we soon realized that the line was just for prepayed tickets, so the three guys got to skip the entire line and just walk up and buy their tickets. me? i had to wait an extra 28 minutes (we timed it with brains' stopwatch phone app) to get in. that doesnt exactly seem fair to me. i wont make that same mistake again next year...

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pre con

after we got the haircut out of the way, we made ourselves comfy and settled in for the night. we all sat down and chatted for a bit, which eventually lead to us talking about internet stuff, so jeffry lee pulled out his laptop to show us a few things. i saw jeffry lee hunched over like that and i figured that would be the perfect place for poco to get a better view of the goings on...
we didnt stay up too late, after all, diana had to work on saturday and all four of us guys had just finished a full day of work and were looking forward to a full day of fun ahead!
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cutting brains

its that time once again, boys and girls! its time for comic con! the guys and i have been going to this thing for years now, and its become an annual tradition at this point- its assumed that we will go. well, this year brains tried to play hardball and said he wasnt going to go. he gave some excuse about having to move the next weekend and needing to pack or something. well, we werent having it! so i lured him in with the promise of a free haircut! dont worry, i got diana's permission to offer her haircutting services (i may have gotten that permission after i offered it, i cant remember...) well, either way it worked! so jeffry lee, rex, and brains all came down friday night for a weekend of nerdy fun. we grabbed a bite to eat at sneaky and then diana worked her magic. she turned brains from a hairy unsightly beast into the handsome gentlemen you see here. now that is magic!
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burgers and tavish

with all the excitement of my brother's visit, i almost forgot about the other exciting guest: diana's step-sister alanna was visiting as well! so on wednesday we left grand rapids early and were able to spend the day with diana's mom and david at their place on the lake. we got to spend the day with alanna and her new baby boy tavish! he was born right around christmas so this was the first time we had gotten to meet him, and boy is he cute! we got to enjoy some time with the the family, grill out, and see the little guy try to get around- hilarious!
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1000!

its a big day here at 'poke it with a stick.'! this marks the 1000th post on this site! yikes! i've been at this a while! what started off as something i thought would be a fad has become a very fun and very big part of my life- i love posting on here! i'm still pretty sure that its nerdy, but thats ok. i have had a ton of fun writing up all the ins and outs, all the goings on in my life. a lot of things have changed since i first started writing this blog, and i look forward to the changes that are ahead. what was that first post? well, you can see for yourself here. as you can tell i started off not really caring about it and not sure how long i would be at it. i thought i would give it a try and see if i actually liked it. turns out that i do! what started out as an afternoon tinkering around with this new thing called a 'blog', has swelled to include all kinds of different areas of writing. it has grown to include my thoughts on movies, music, critiquing just about anything, sharing object memories, an image gallery, random quotes, random pictures, a collection of words my dad made up, and a slightly scary obsession with the late late show...
this is my 1000th post on this blog page, but turns out i have actually had 3,733 posts over all my different pages! yikes! i need to get a life! anyway, be sure to check out the rest of my random ranting by clicking the links above. its been a blast writing this thing and i hope you have had a good time reading it. and if you havent, then go start your own blog!
oh, and by the way: no, i will not start capitalizing, you will just have to get used to it...

another dinner

after dinner with the family, diana, barbara, and i met up with the guys to hang out at fridays. we chilled out with aaron, rex, brains, jeffry lee, freddie, and keith as they all had dinner (the three of us had filled up at our last stop). it was really good to see the guys again and get some plans figured out for the next weekend. after fridays we couldnt think of anything better to do, so we went across the street to applebees for dessert! by around 11:00pm, the guys called it quits so we headed back to mom and papa's house. as the three of us were hanging out in the living room, my brother came down from his room to join us! wha?!? i was really excited that he came down to talk! he stayed and chatted with us until 3:00am. with him being gone so much, it was really great to be able to have some quality time with him and have a chance to hear all about what hes been up to and crack up at all his funny remarks! i sometimes forget what it is like to have a big brother, so its nice to have these times to remind me.

texas brinkhouse

for a special get together, the family all headed to texas roadhouse! it was meant to be one last time that we would all be together because diana and i had to head out the next day. we got there and, after hassling the waitress for a while (all in good fun, mind you), we sat down and had a great time. since i wasnt able to be home for my birthday earlier in the summer, this was also meant to be a little bit of a birthday dinner too. i got some great gifts from everyone, including an amazing twenty year old pillow cover of he-man and the masters of the universe! jill said she found it while she was cleaning out a closet and knew i'd love it. she was right! its from an old set i used to have when i was about 10 years old- i still have the top bed sheet too! i will put it to use immediately! mom and papa also gave me some money to spend how ever i wanted to. me things i shall squander it! another amazing gift diana and i got was from my brother, he wasnt able to be there for our wedding, so he gave us our wedding gift now. it was very very appreciated- diana and i were shocked and flattered by such a gift. thank you so much, bro! and of course, to end out the night, the waitresses came over and had me sit on a little horse saddle as they sang happy birthday to me and gave me some free ice cream! what an amazing time!
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princess tweet

while we were at tim and jills, tweets wanted to take advantage of having an aunt who does hair! she and diana headed for the bathroom and got to work making tweet's hair extra beautiful. diana put in some time and hard work to give her a beautiful up-do. it almost looked like our little girl was ready for the prom! or at least princess school...
(see what it looked like here!)

a dance show

in the afternoon we went with the kids back to tim and jill's house so jill could run an errand or two. as we were hanging out, tweets asked if we wanted to see her dance video. well, of course!!! how could we pass on that?!? she has been in a dance class for the past couple of years and diana and i, unfortunately, live too far away to make it to any of the dance recitals. so we sat down and watched both of her videos and they were sooo cute! it was such fun to see our little tweets do her dance thing! as far as the dancing goes, she may not have all the moves, but she has the heart to make up for it! well done, tweets!
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paper track

on tuesday mom invited the kids over for the day while jill worked. diana and i got up early so we could play with the kids all morning.
bubba and i were playing with micro machines and got talking, and i thought of something fun we could do: make paper tracks! micro machines were some of my favorite toys growing up- i loved them! i had a bunch of them and always loved to try and create places to play with them. i didnt go for the play sets or anything, i wanted to create my own! i remember i stared off just drawing tracks on paper and having a great time with that, but then i had the idea to make the tracks 3D so i could actually run the cars on it. i figured bubba was old enough to get a kick out of this too, so we headed to the kitchen table, pulled out some paper, pencils, scissors, and tape and got started! at first bubba wasnt quite sure what we were up to, but as soon as the first track was built we was totally on board. i had built a little platform that was about three inches off the table, and put a micro machine sized paper track coming down from it- instant speed! as we kept working on more tracks, the rest of girls came over to see what we were doing and wanted to join in. we had a great time playing, and i got to pass on one of my creative little crafts i loved to build! hopefully bubba will pull this track out again next time he is at moms and want to make more for himself! that would make me a proud uncle in deed.
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family pictures

just before we went to the park for chad's party, my cousin kelley stopped by to take some family photos for us in mom and papa's backyard. jill, tim, and the kids were over for them as well. this day marks the first time ever that our family has been in one place together since the addition of diana! seems like the perfect time to document it with family photos, right? well, kelley took a whole bunch of them with the whole family, just the guys, mom and papa and the kids, and jills family as well! i'm sure they will look great, and i'm sure i will post them here as soon as i get them!

monday in the park with chad

when chad is in town its a big deal. in order to celebrate his visit, my mom organized a big party for him at the park. she invited both sides of the family to come down, have some pizza and cake, and spend some time with chad!
we got to the park and set up and within about 20 minutes there were over 50 friends and extended family members there to celebrate with us! it was fantastic to see everyone there and to show chad how much we care about him and miss him! i must admit though, it was really strange seeing both sides of the family in one place- like worlds colliding! we had a great time walking around and mingling with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids (and grandma too!). since diana and i live a couple hours away, we dont really get to see the extended family that much, and i must say that i truly enjoy seeing them and catching up with them. even chad, who can sometimes be a bit introverted, was really having a great time seeing all the relatives and getting to share with them what he's been up to. i dont mean to put words into chad's mouth, but i think he was genuinely surprised and touched that all these people love him and care about him so much! thanks for putting all that work into the planning and everything mom, it was perfect!
(some more pics: 1, 2, 3)

long lost brother

monday, when diana and i got back from sandy pines, we finally got to see chad! its been over a year and a half since i last got to see him and i was really excited! see, my brother is in the military and is currently stationed in japan so he hasnt been able to get back since last christmas. a lot of things have happened in the past year and a half (for example: i got married!), so it was really good to see him again and do a little catching up! diana had only met him two other times, so i was happy that he would be able to get to know his sister-in-law a little bit better too. we hung out that afternoon for a bit and got to hear some of his stories about what he has been up to as well. needless to say, he has been pretty busy as well! apparently they keep him busy in the military by sending him to the philippines, austraila, and who knows where else! oh, and he jumps out of planes from time to time... me thinks that he and i have taken vastly different directions with our lives!!! i sure would love some of the adventures he has been on, globetrotting around the world and all, but im quite certain i would rather take my life of teaching and being married to the always beautiful diana, thanks.

a night at the pines

when we first arrived in town we went straight out to sandy pines to see the family. that afternoon diana and my mom wanted to go out and enjoy the sunny weather and the beach. as for me? well, i didnt really want to spend my afternoon at the beach in the sweltering heat and humidity. if you know me at all, you know thats just not my thing... so i offered to drive to the house and drop off poco and unpack. just as i had finished lugging in the last of our stuff from the car down to the basement, i got a call from diana. 'um, your sister asked if we would like to spend tonight at their place at sandy pines since they are leaving this afternoon. that sound like fun?' now, i am a smart enough husband to know that when my wife asks me 'does that sound like fun?' what she really means is 'this sounds like fun to me, so we are doing it. asking you is merely a formality'. fortunately for me, it did sound like fun! well, now i get to pack everything back up again, including poco, and bring it back upstairs to the car and head back.
when i got back out there the girls had just gotten back from the beach and diana and i played some cards with mom over dinner. soon after we went over to tim and jill's place and got out stuff unpacked for the night. we went to the little store and got some soda and snacks for the night, went for a little cart ride, and enjoyed the lovely cool night. it was a great time and made us realize that we should get a place out there too! (well, in these little impossible dreams of ours we could actually afford it...)

birthday crisp

with my brother in town for the first time in a year and a half, diana and i made plans to go up and spend an extended weekend with my family. we got to sandy pines sunday morning and joined mom, papa, tim & jill and the kids for a sunday lunch. this was the first time i have been able to get home to see the family since my birthday, so my mom made me a little birthday treat: blueberry crisp- my favorite dessert! it was soo good- it makes turning one year older worth it! my only regret is that i forgot to take the left-overs of it home at the end of the weekend. shoot...

work married

diana has been working a lot lately at her salon. right now she is an assistant, mostly helping out with customers getting their hair colored and washed, but is working up to be a full time stylist. since she is always getting her hands dirty with colorant and shampoo, she often takes her wedding ring off to do her work. the problem is she hates to take it off but is worried about getting color in the jewel fixtures or loosing it when its in her pocket.
well, as the husband of a really cute girl, i dont really want her taking it off either- thats just asking for other opportunistic men to swoop in and try and flirt with her! so, recently we went to the jewelry store and got her a nice little ring for her to wear when she is working so that she can still be a proud wife, but also wont damage her fancy wedding ring. we went and looked at all the jewelers (which was about 7 of them...) and diana thought i had done so well in picking out her engagement ring, that she let me pick out the work replacement ring too. she was very pleased with my choice and has been loving it ever since. now we are not only married, but we are now officially 'work married' as well!
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fence mending

we spent one last long weekend at diana's mom and david's house. i've been working there on and off this summer helping out with redoing the bathrooms and taking care of a bunch of lawn work. this weekend diana and i were planning on going to see them and me working on monday there, but i went up early on saturday to help out with getting their house ready for a big grill out they were having with a bunch of guests. diana was going to join us after she got out of work. i cleaned up a bunch of brush and used the weed wacker to clean up the shoreline. it looked good!
when i was done working, i got to do what i had been wanting to do all summer- i headed in to michawaka and wandered around for a while. it had been a long time since i had last been there. when diana and i were dating i would spend a lot of time in michawaka waiting for her to get out of work. i kind of missed the place, so it was nice to go back! i got to go to the really good used movie store and bargin book store they have there. the wanderings were cut short when i got a call from diana- she was frantic! she thought she lost her wedding ring! turned out to be a false alarm, it was in the laundry in her pants pocket. phew! that evening she came and joined us as we joined the grill out.
sunday we got to just sit back and relax at their house, going on boat rides and the like. monday it was back to work for me! after i finished cleaning out all the bushes and underbrush, david and i made work of rebuilding portions of the fence that had fallen into disrepair. it was a hot and sweaty mess, but it looked great after we were done! of course the girls were living it up care free as they swam in the lake... i didnt mind, it actually felt pretty good to get the last of the landscaping cleared and organized.
monday night we visited diana's dad and got to spend a couple hours chatting with him, which is always a lot of fun! after dinner,diana headed back home but i stuck around for one more day of working. i got as much landscaping done as i could and called it a day. it was really fun to spend some time with diana's mom and david while diana was actually there- what a change of pace! well, i got a lot done and worked really hard. what more can you ask for, right?
(more pics, and a funny video of poco swimming!)

wet day, dry wall

and its back to mom and david's on this rainy day to work on their bathroom! fortunately the rain didnt slow us down too much since we were planning on working inside the whole time anyway. last time we had gotten everything ready for the next step: dry wall. we installed the ceiling fan/light and began the meticulous step of measuring and remeasuring so that we could make the holes in the dry wall. as we began working i took great heed of my dad's advice in such matters. he always says 'measure twice, cut once'. wise words, papa, wise words. well, we started with the ceiling piece, and much to my surprise, it fit perfectly! we then tackled the easier walls, meaning the walls with no holes needed, and everything seemed to fit pretty well. the hardest wall was the one with all the stuff on it- we had to be extra careful of our measurements! there were seven holes that needed to be cut in the south wall of the bathroom, making room for the medicine cabinet, the electrical plugs, the sink pipes, the toilet pipes, and the strange sewer pipe that stuck out too far in three places... for most of them i actually did make sure that i measured twice! i measured it all, drew it on the dry wall, we cut the holes and brought it in. we were both very delighted that all the holes fit where they were supposed to be! now with the hardest part done, we moved on to the last of the dry wall. david planned on covering the bottom four feet of the dry wall with bead board, so we began working on that. we finished up the difficult south wall with all the holes, and once again the piece fit just right! papa would be so proud of me! we measured out and cut some of the other bead board pieces, but by then it was getting toward the end of the day, so we wrapped it up. next time i go there we should be able to finish up the walls, paint them, and even begin putting in the fixtures and moulding! man, there is a real sense of accomplishment with a home renovation project. i cant wait to see the finished product: a new bathroom rebuilt all the way from the wall studs up.
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at the car wash

i am not one to put much effort into making our cars look nice, much to the frustration of my wife. we typically take the black car in for a car wash every two or three months, and i dont think i have ever taken the grey one in for a wash. ever. well, with the grey car parked on the road all the time (we have a small driveway and no garage), its always under a couple trees. those trees sometimes have a tendency to drip weird tree stuff onto it, making it very sticky. this then collects tons of dirt. the other day i was walking out of a store and looking for my car and realized just how terribly dirty it was- i was actually a little bit embarrassed about it... so, the next day i went and bought a sprayer head, bucket, and sponge so that i could fix this filthy problem!
earlier this week i got out there and cleaned up both of those cars of ours! unfortunately, the black car looked even dirtier after i had washed it... (why did i buy a black car?!?), but the grey one looks tons better! i can actually drive it now with my head held high knowing that it looks good! well, except for the hail damage, and the pealing paint on the front bumper, and the missing side mirror...
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back to work

i'm back for my weekly trip to mom and davids to help out with some work. soon after i got there we got busy finishing up the lawn work we started last week. david wanted to make a little path with steps on the side of the garage, but there were a couple plants in the way. i got busy digging them up and replanted them in a nice spot near the back of the garage where they will hopefully continue to grow in peace. i measured out the places to put the patio stones and made two steps, filled in the mulch around them, and presto! a new walkway! next on the agenda was figuring out why the boat's batteries couldnt hold a charge. i pulled out the four super heavy batteries and loaded them in davids truck. we went to a local battery seller and had him test them all. one of them was low and seemed to be draining all the rest of them. we replaced that one and put them back in. hopefully that was the problem (any other problem will cost significantly more to fix...). after a bit more lawn work, it was time to get back inside and get the bathroom ready! together david and i tried to make some sense of what the previous owner had done. after we realized there was no logic to the current wiring/ceiling, i tore it all out so we could start fresh. we then framed out the ceiling so it could support dry wall and the new light and bathroom fan. we framed out a few more things, including the medicine cabinet and extra lighting. it was a good productive visit, and next time we will really get that room looking good!