brother surprise

my mom got quite a surprise recently: she got back from the grocery store and was about to start unloading the vehicle when she heard a familiar voice behind her say 'hi!'- it was my brother! he came all the way from japan, where he's stationed, and surprised my mom! i'm sure she immediately was filled with tears of excitement (well, after she got over her initial 'whos this creepy guy watching me empty the groceries?' shock)! that brother of mine pulled a fast one on all of us and came for the week without letting any of us know! well played, sir, well played...

since school had already began, diana and i werent able to spend a ton of time up there to see him, but we did manage to drive up there for an evening after i got out of work. we all met, tim & jill included, for dinner and got to spend a couple hours with him. he hadnt been home for over a year and a half, so it was really cool to see him! the night was cut too short because i needed to work the next day and we had a two hour trip back home. shoot! next time bro, come when i have some days off!

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gate con guests

here's a good general rule for attending any sort of event where people may have to sit behind you: dont wear a cowboy hat!!! this is the amazing view i had to suffer through for one of the guests! it took everything i had to restrain myself from taking it off his head and throwing it across the room! argh! thankfully we got different seats for the next speaker so i didnt have to put up with a strained neck for the entire day.

the guests this year were pretty fun, the main guest was christopher judge, he plays teal'c on stargate sg-1. there were also a couple other guys from stargate sg-1 and stargate atlantis: kavan smith, ben browder, paul mcgillion, and alex zahara. they were all quite interesting to hear from, some shared where they got their start, who were their influences growing up, and others, like ben browder, proved that he is just as big a fan of the show as the rest of us!

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stargate quiz

along with the guests who come up and share stories and stuff, they also have a stargate auction and a stargate trivia challange quiz! they pick three people from the audience to go up and try to correctly answer any questions that the audience members can think up to try and stump them. brains and i were about to leave the hall and check out the vendors room again when brains asked me 'hey, why dont you do it? youve got nothing to lose!' so when the host asked for any volunteers i raised my hand- low and behold i was called up to the stage! now, i would not consider myself very knowledgeable in stargate stuff. i like to watch it, but i dont really get obsessive enough to memorize all the intricate details that one would need to know to do well on a challenge like this. fortunately though, the girl on the right did not have a life and instead invested all her time in memorizing useless stargate information for just such an event as this! the challenge was for us to answer five questions in a row correctly, if we did each of the three of us would win a 100 dollar gift certificate for the vendors room. the other guy on stage was in the same position i was in- he just thought it would be fun to come up on stage! obsessed girl though was in it to win it! someone would ask the question and she would get all persnickety about it and throw a fit if she couldnt hear the question perfectly or if the person asking it had bad grammar. yikes! we did pretty well (and by 'we' i mean the other guy and i didnt answer a single question!) getting seven out of 9 questions right, unfortunately we didnt get them all right in a row so we did not win. oh well, i did get a couple cool parting gifts though!

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stargate convention

the big day is finally here and brains and i drive up to rosemont to enjoy the convention! the place isnt that big, there are maybe 500 people there total. its set up in one main hall where guests come up on stage and regale us with anecdotes about life on the stargate set or what they have been up to since the show ended or just anything thats con their mind. most of the time the guests are up there they take questions from the audience. microphones are set up at each side of the stage and anyone can line up to ask a question. surprisingly, the questions are not nearly as nerdy as one might think, there were no questions at all that started 'so, on episode 43 when you were in a triangulated phase lock...' everyone were pretty good about asking interesting questions. well, almost everyone, there were some people who were obsessed with pranks on set and farting for some reason...

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stargate on the brains

i had been eagerly waiting for this weekend all summer! it is that most fabled of times: the stargate convention!!! yes, i am fully aware how nerdy it is that i attend a stargate convention. on the nerd scale, i think it is just below dr. who fan fiction. that wont deter me, i have been saving up all summer so that i can go and enjoy all the great stargate craziness! i went last year and had a blast and some how i convinced brains to go along with me this year (but to be honest, he's almost a bigger stargate nerd than i am...).

friday afternoon brains rolled in to town so that we could spend the night geeking out in preparation. we went to get some delicious panda express and catch up. my wife was gone for the weekend so our friday night was wide open for a couple of guys to get as wild as we wanted. we took advantage by watching a couple episodes of stargate sg-1, drank two whole cans of diet soda, and went to bed by 11:00pm. wild and crazy, i know! we were planning ahead, after all, we wanted to be well rested for the fun on saturday.

fill the walls again

along with the return to school is the dreaded task of decorating my classroom! actually, its not that bad, the hardest part is thinking of a theme for the room. in years past i have done everything from superheroes to video game characters. last year i stuck with more traditional stuff, focusing on the actual subject i teach instead of a random theme! this year with the new curriculum, it lends itself easily to a building and tools theme. i decided to go with it and made a bunch of construction stuff and tools. it took a lot longer than i had hoped, but it turned out ok. i'm not always happy with my own work, and this year was no exception. oh well, ill only have to look at it for a whole year, right?

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clear!

back to work. blah. before the students come to school we teachers have to have a ton of meetings. this year, on top of all the meetings we had, we also did cpr certification. we do this every couple years so that we can be qualified if needed. its not too bad, other than the fact that they keep changing it on us! last time i was certified there were tons of numbers that we had to remember: 2 breaths for every 15 chest pushes for 5 repetitions... now they have made it much simpler to remember, which is quite handy! now i am ready to do cpr, but i certainly hope i never will need to!

and by the way, the cpr dolls are still creepy...

last day of summer

with school starting the next day, diana and i had one last hurrah before our mornings and afternoons together came to a close! we started off the day by sleeping in (of course), and then we drove down to merrillville and spent the day wandering around different stores and just enjoying each other! diana was very pleased because i even treated her to her favorite restaurant: chipotle!

these are the days that are i remember most, not because there was anything special, but because there is nothing special about them. these past three and a half years of knowing my best friend have flown by so quickly. there have been busy days and there have been slow days, but all of them have been good days! sorry honey, i wish i could continue to spend every morning and afternoon hanging out with you, but unfortunately i guess i should probably go back to work now...

on deck

on my last visit to south bend for the summer (school's starting soon...) i got to do a little work at the rental house, working on the bathrooms and stuff, but the bulk of time was spent at mom and david's place trying to build a frame for an extension on the deck in the back to go around the hot tub. i had no clue what i was doing, but the framework came along pretty well! there was a bunch of stopping to think so that we did is right and readjusting our plans along the way, but i think we build a pretty strong foundation for it! its pretty tough to build a framework around an octagon shaped hot tub, but we did well for being amateurs...

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visiting dad

diana came with on one of the many visits i made over the summer to south bend and we decided to stop in and visit her dad. it just so happened that barbara had the day off as well, so she stopped over too- its a family reunion! we even brought along poco so he could enjoy the family time too! it had been too long since last we saw her dad so it was a nice visit. we came by for lunch and her dad made us a delicious meal. it sounds like things have been going well for him, making art and keeping up with old friends. i will tell you this: diana is never happier than when she gets to see her family!

coupling

diana has become good friends with a few of the girls at her work, among them is kat. recently kat and her husband tim have invited us over to their house to hang out on sunday nights. since neither one of us work on mondays over the summer, we have taken them up on the offer! we go over there and hang out, watch a little tv, play some games or grill out. its been a great time for both diana and i. she enjoys spending time with kat, and i think tim is really cool! i tell you what, its nice sometimes to have married friends...

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a major paint

back i go! the whole going to south bend to work on the house for mom and david thing has become a bit of a pattern lately- every week i go there and work for two or three days! its been going great so far, i've almost got all the painting done. sure, the painting took me a while, but bare in mind that i have had to paint, literally, every single wall in the whole house- including closets! i've never really liked to paint before and this isnt convincing me otherwise!

actually, it hasnt been bad at all. i listen to my mp3 player while i work and the time just zips by! along with all the painting, there has also been some floor boards that needed replacing, and a few other odds and ends to take care of. this place is really starting to look nice!

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kitchen shuffle

after years of only having about two and a half feet of counter space, diana and i finally did something about it! we have a really small kitchen with only a couple feet of counter space on either side of the sink, and one side is covered by the huge microwave! after years of complaining about it, we finally went out and got a little cart to put next to the stove so we can put the microwave over there instead of using up the valuable counter space. the biggest change, though, has been getting used to the new placement of our trash. it was always next to the stove where the new cart is, but now its under the sink. its been a few days since we made the change, and we both still walk over next to the stove to throw something away. one of these days the change will sink in and ill stop trying to microwave our trash!

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sandy supper

on monday the family gathered together for a yummy dinner together: hot dogs and brats on the grill! we always have such a fun time together, just hanging out and chatting. the weather wasnt quite as hot as it had been all weekend, so we sat outside and enjoyed the shade from the trees. the kids were as fun and bubbly as ever! i wish we could spend more time with them than just the occasional bi-monthly visit! soon after we ate diana and i had to head back home again. why are holidays always so short?!?

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hole in one

my mom had a great idea, she wanted to go out on the paddle boat with the bubba and tweets. diana was excited about that and wanted to go enjoy the fun too. well, that leaves aves feeling left out. thats where i come in! i went over to tim and jill's trailer and invited aves to go on a cart ride with me and go play some mini golf. she felt pretty cool to be singled out by, what i can only assume, is her favorite uncle! tim came along too and the three of us had a great time playing putt putt. tim and i did pretty well, we ended up tying each other at the end of the 18 holes. aves, on the other hand, did amazingly well at mini golf! she got almost 15 holes in one! it was truly amazing! granted, she started off by dropping her ball about 3 inches away from the hole after the first three holes...

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fireworks!

the kids get excited for fireworks, but you know who gets even more excited about it than them? my wife! diana loves fireworks! every 4th of july it is the highlight of the weekend. at sandy pines, as dusk set in, we headed down to the usual spot down by the beach for the show to begin. the ritual also includes the kids playing around with sparklers before it gets too dark- and they have a blast with them! its been fun over the years to see the kids play with them because it wasnt that long ago that the kids, all three of them, were terrified of sparklers! they were so scared that they were going to get burned that they wouldnt even hold them- their dad and i had to hold them and they would move our arms around. the firework show at sandy pines was especially good this year, where as in years past the whole thing was, at times, a bit underwhelming, this year was the park's 40th anniversary so they went all out and had a great firework display!

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pines potluck

its the 4th and we are at sandy pines- that must mean its time for a potluck! every year mom and papa invite over all their friends and kids from sandy pines for a grill out. its been going on so many years that now the kids have kids! there more than twenty people there enjoying the food and fun of sandy pines. diana and i have a good time each year at the potlucks mom hosts (theres usually one on memorial and labor day weekends too), and enjoy seeing everyone again. each time it gets more and more comfortable seeing everyone again, chatting it up with the old gang from back in the day. i tell ya, if diana and i move back to grand rapids, we are totally going to hang out with squeegee and his wife- those two are a ton of fun!

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buried treasure

as we were leaving the beach after a few hours of fun in the sun, we happened across a fun event for the kids. at the volley ball court they had hidden hundreds of plastic coins under the sand for the kids to find. when the kids got word of this they were excited and wanted to join in! it started a couple minutes after we stopped there so they dug right in! the kids did surprisingly well with aves actually getting the most coins with 18. once the coins were collected they could trade them in for a frozen icee pop, which they were super excited for! it was a fun little even and the kids had a blast!

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parade candy

the 4th of july has rolled around again and that means diana and i are off to sandy pines to enjoy the weekend with the family! soon after we got there on saturday we all drove over to the main road for the annual parade! the kids walked over from the beach where they had been swimming all afternoon. the girls put on their patriotic antenna (which aves corrected me on when i accidentally called them antlers!), all three of the kids got their bags out for the important parade job of candy collecting! we waved at all the passing vehicles and carts all decorated for the holiday and enjoyed the fun of the spectacle! after it was over, all of us looked over the candy they had gotten and each picked one for ourselves. hey kids, its the price you pay for getting all that yummy candy- the adults get a little piece too!
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after all these years

so, a month or two ago my buddy adam decided that he wanted to have a reunion with our former classmates. high school reunion? sounds like fun! the thing is though, adam didnt go to the same high school as most of us, so he actually wanted to have an 8th grade class reunion! thats right, all of our former classmates from kelloggsville christian (rest her soul)! thanks to this strange thing called 'facebook' (maybe youve heard of it) he was able to get the word out to almost all of our graduating class of 1993! the crazy thing is, many of them showed up! adam ended up hosting about 17 former 8th grade classmates! so friday night everyone gathered at adam's childhood home (he lives in l.a. and for some reason wasnt willing to fly us all out there to have the reunion. rude.) for a bit of catching up. i got there a bit late, living two hours away and trying to fight 4th of july weekend traffic will cause that sometimes... but when i got there it was such a strange sight- all these old faces that i hadnt seen in almost 18 years! granted, some of them i have kept up with, but many of them had been relegated to the 'i'll probably never see them again in my life' category. the night was spent catching up and hearing about where everyone is now, most stories involved marriage and multiple children. it seems so strange because last time i had seen some of these people they themselves were children! oh time, what have you done to us? it was a great night filled with fun and memories. at the end of the night adam promised to do this again next year with even more people in attendance. well, put me on the list- ill be there!

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