guys night

tonight was 'guys night' for my dad and i. my mom had plans to see some old friends, so dad and i took it upon ourselves to enjoy the evening together.
my dad and i are alot alike, we have the same sense of humor, we both enjoy learning about history, we even look alike (which is kind of scary to me- i look like a 52 year old?!?). so when ever we get the chance to spend some time together it is always a good time. well, lately dad has been asking about the movie 300. he saw a special on the historical battle on the history channel (i saw it too) and wanted to see the movie. we hadnt had any time since i got home, so we took the opportunity to see during our 'guys night'. the theater was quite empty (4:00 on a monday, what do you expect?) so his usual comments and questions while we watch movies werent quite as disruptive. i always enjoy his questions because they are usually something like this: 'whos that guy?' which invariably is asked about 3 seconds before they tell us. i get a kick out of that.
after the movie we headed out for dinner at an old favorite: the corner bar in rockford. it seems like a bit of a drive, but my dad swears 'its only seven minutes away!' every once in a while we will go up there and have their amazing hot dogs. they are so good im almost positive they come from the same magic farie hot dog land as baseball stadium hot dogs. we had a great time talking about the historical accuracy of the film the whole way there, and were able to just have some great conversations and enjoy each others company all night.
it never takes much to remind me, but tonight i remembered how much i love my dad. hopefully someday i will be as cool as him.

doin' nuthin.

friday night was a blast! a few of the guys got together at adams, which in and of itself is pretty cool because we rarely get to see him these days. its always fun to hang out with everyone when there are no expectations. the worst times we have together are usually the times when we have the highest expectations. when we plan on going out on the town or makes plans for 'the best night ever', it hardly ever is. when we do that i think we put too much pressure on ourselves and end up disappointed.
friday we had no expectations. our plan for the night consisted of this: 'hey, lets go to adams and hang out'. and hang out we did! we caught up on life, joked with his dad (who is really cool), and then we headed down stairs to chill. after another hour or so of talking and making ourselves laugh, we hooked up my wii and played some bowling. the 'iconoclast' did fairly well, and we had a great time playing.
around 2:00 adam realized what time it was and headed off to bed. we packed up and ended up spending another hour and a half standing in his driveway talking and laughing some more. finally at 3:30am we called it a night.
it reminded me that often he simplest of plans are the most enjoyable.

a comical quandry

there is a comic book shop in town that i go to every once in a while. i used to be totally into comic books when i was growing up, but since college i have lost interest in the collecting aspect of comics. i still enjoy the characters, story, and especially the art, but now i am alot more selective. growing up i would get anything and everything that had my favorite characters in it. my favorites through the years have been mainstream (batman, xmen) and indie (maxx, sandman, cerebus, etc). i used to be all about the characters, but i am now more prone to follow a particular author.
there are very few comics that i still keep up on, and i have gotten alot more patient. i always wait for the collected stories (trade paper backs) instead of the monthly issues. there is one character in particular whom i still keep up with: hellboy. i was initially drawn to him based solely on the art. i love to draw and i deeply appreciate mike mignolas high black and white contrast. that man can shadow a face like no one else!
any way, this past fall i went to the local comic shop because i had heard that there was a new hellboy tpb and i figured i would like to see whats been going on lately in hellboys world. so i go and he doesnt have it in stock. i ask him if he can order it and he says 'no problem'. i then proceed to purchase another book or two and figure id pay for the hellboy order now. cut to last week: i remember 'oh yah, i ordered a comic, maybe i should pick it up'. i drive down to the shop, and what sight do my wondering eyes see? nothing. and here lies the problem. the comic shop is gone!!! the windows are covered in newspaper, the sign is gone. nothing remains.
so, my question is this: how do i get my twenty bucks back?!?

spring already?

what a strange week we have had here. earlier this week spring gave us a little sneak peek- it got all the way up to 68 degrees around here. i actually pulled out some shorts! but the weather was short lived. a day and a half later i wake up to see snow on the ground. quite the change. but with this flipping and flopping, the reality of my upcoming spring break becomes real. how lucky am i? once the weather starts to get nice my job gives me a week off so i can enjoy it. can it get any better? oh, thats right, it does get better- they give me 13 weeks off over the summer too. (did i mention that i love this profession?)

im not going to be doing too much for spring break this year. next friday ill head up to michigan and stick around there till tuesday or wednesday (or until i get sick of it). im not quite sure how i will spend the rest of my time, but thats most of the fun of spring break anyway...

just a little reminder...

ive been doing this blogging thing for a while now, and i really love it. i like to write about what ever is going on or what ever is on my mind. i also like to keep these thoughts (aka ramblings) a little bit organized, so i have created for myself a bit of a blog page empire. i have a different page for different things i want to talk about. the break down like this:
home page: this is where i put stuff that is going on in my life, or general thoughts on whats going on.
critiques: this is where i review general pop culture stuff. everything from tv shows ive watched, video games ive played, dvds ive watched, books ive read, and magazines i have looked at.
music: this is where i review cds ive gotten, or just talk about my favorite bands.
movies: this is where i review movies ive recently seen, or am looking forward to seeing.
etc: just like it sounds; this is where i post random thoughts, quotes, or pictures that catch my interest.
theology: this is where i talk about bigger issues that are on my mind. i need to spend more time on this one...
image gallery: this is where i post photos, mostly of my family or other events i actually remembered to have my camera with me for.

like i said, there are a lot of them, but i spend a bit of time filling up those blogs too, so be sure to check them out as well. and feel free to comment.

oh, and something about a fish turtle...

car problems

last weekend i was stuck at home. friday morning i got ready for school, and when i go out to the car, ready to leave, i turn the key in the ignition. nothing. no clicks, no klunks, just nothing. i quickly gave matt a call. he had just pulled in to school and was nice enough to come and pick me up. friday afternoon rachel brings me back home, and i do what any reasonable man would do: i try and convince my three 'car guy' friends to come down and visit me that weekend! 'so, jeffry lee, what to come and visit?' 'why?' 'oh, no reason...'
the ruse doesnt work. saturday matt and dan stop by (dan is a mechanic and can easily fix it, but he does charge for it) he lifts the car and starts wacking the starter. 'try it now' i do, and it rumbles to life. we drive back to dans house, because hes got a huge garage and tons of rad tools to make my problem go away.
cut to monday afternoon, the cars done and all is well once again in me-land. it set me back a bit, but i knew it was coming. even before the problems started last weekend, i knew car problems were in my future. i knew something was going to happen because i was currently in the perfect storm: recently ive been able to have a little extra padding in my account, my car just passed the hundred thousand mile point, and i almost have it paid off. i would have been amazed if i didnt have car problems!
oh well, it could have been a lot worse...

avery's baptism

last sunday my new little niece had a big day- and i dont think she quite knew what was going on... it was time for that ever important sacrament in the life of a christian family- that of baptism. as members of the christian reformed church, my sister and bro-in-law took part in their tradition of infant baptism. fortunately, i got to be there for it!
sunday night at their church, friendship crc, my whole family, my grandma, a cousin or two, an uncle and aunt, and many of their friends were able to celebrate the event.
it was really cool. avery looked really cute in her outfit- as you can see above! there were even a few surprises for me during the service too- i had been told before, but had forgotten, that the pastor who baptized avery also baptized me! kinda cool! also, after the baptism, all avery's cousins got up and sang a song about how she is now in God's hands. it was super cute and it became obvious that jackson is going to be a performer of some sort- he was hysterical!
unfortunately i had to leave a bit early to beat the weather so i could make it home that night, but i felt really blessed to have been able to be a part of that beautiful night!

last weekend

wow, its been a while since ive been able to post on here! well, i better catch back up-
last weekend i went back up to michigan again to see the family. my brother, who is in the air force and stationed in new mexico, came into town for a visit! i had just been home the weekend earlier, but it was certainly worth the trip again to see him.
friday night we ate at my folks place (we pulled out the grill again) and spent time catching up and talking. after my sis left with the kids i got my bed ready. since my brother was home, he got the spare bed (because my parents love him more than me), and i was stuck with an air matress in the other room. after getting it set up (which included a quick visit to meijers because my dad accidentally threw away the old matress inflater) my brother and i headed over to my sisters house.
we sent the rest of the night playing cards and laughing very hard. such highlights include: 'oh, yah, they call that the pinch hitter', and a unique variation on 'pass' that i am unwilling to share here...
saturday i met up with rexy and putzed around baker bookhouse, toys r us, and woodland mall. jeffry lee joined us for a late lunch, and then he went back to rex's to play with transformers (no lie!). eventually we went to the theater to see ghost rider with aaron. afterward we grabbed a bite to eat, and went to go 'shoot some stick' as they say. it turned out to be a very fun day, even with the emminent promise of a blizzard coming.
sunday after church we had a great meal with my grandma. in the evening my new niece was baptized and i had to race home to see the oscars afterward.
a very fun and packed weekend!

working on cars

im not exactly what you might call 'good at working on cars'. i dont even know how to change my own oil. and im ok with that. the problem, though, is that all my michigan buddies are. so, often times i will find myself hip deep in a conversation about rear pin axle manifold mods and wonder how i got there (i dont think thats even a real thing...). like a deer in the headlights. i have a hard enough time remembering what kind of car i have, let alone what size engine or horsepower. i dont mind those times when they talk about cars and stuff, i just try my best to not look too dumb, and just stay out of the way.
well, friday night was one of those 'car' nights. the guys were at jeffry lee's working on a car. i rolled in around 6:30 and just hung out. they were working and getting dirty and stuff, and i was just standing around with them enjoying the company and the light hearted conversations. there were plans to go out that night, but the car stuff came first. we ended up in the garage till about 10:30, but at least the car was running (certainly through no help from me). it was kind of a drag to me at first, we were hanging out in a very cold garage, and i had no idea what they were doing, and am too ignorant to be able to help. but, as the night wound down, i realized that it was actually more fun than if we had gone out and hit the scene. we had some quality time just talking, laughing, and working (not me, them), which was so much more rewarding.
i guess thats kind of what friends are: even when you are not interested, they are still interesting.

snow snow snow!

earlier this week we finally got hit with snow. up until monday night all we had had for the whole season was just a couple light dustings of snow. but then we got a wallup!

note, the bottom of my bedroom window is about 2 1/2 feet high. it wasnt this high everywhere, but the wind caused some cool drifting- it almost looks like a 'snow wave' is about to hit the side of my house!

dear diary

dear diary,
what a week this has been! on tuesday i got something i have been waiting and waiting for since i first started working. i had heard rumors about them, but i was still unsure if such a magical thing really existed. but this week i finally got to see that mythical thing called a 'snow day'! oh, and what an amazing thing it was. that morning i went about my activities like normal. but for some reason, i decided to check my answering machine before my shower. and lo, what did i find? a message which uttered those truly beautiful works 'no school today'! after six long years of hoping against hope, of anticipation and letdown, i finally was able to let its beauty and joy wash over me like a thousand tiny drops of 'yipee!'. i turned on the tv to see if it was true, and it was!
as if this glorious event werent enough, by days end i recieved a call which once again uttered those illuminous words: 'looks like schools off for tomorrow too'. oh, the rapturous joy! i must tell you, dear reader, that it is true- i have been touched by magic not once, but twice.
and it is glorious!

oh the bitter cold!

it has been a rough week and a half to live in northwest indiana (well, i guess its true of most of the midwest lately). the weather has been truely wretched. now, i am a big fan of the cold. i enjoy a 45 degree day much more than an 80 degree day. but lately its been rediculous. we have had almost 8 days over the past 10 where the temperature has been below zero! and then theres the wind chill... i have been holed up under a blanket for quite a while! fortunately i finally bit the bullet and called the furnace guy just as this whole whing was starting. ive been struggling with my heat for quite a while now (and by quite a while, i mean a year or two...). and it turned out to be fairly cheap! there was just a little part that needed to be replaced. so for the first time in far too long, i have been able to set the heat and actually have that temperature reached before the thing turns off! what a blessing! saints be praised! so ive been treating myself lately, and have even turned it up to 68 degrees- absolutely scandalous, i know!

just arrived!

world, please welcome Avery Marie Koster. born january 23, 7lb 9oz. 10 fingers, 10 toes. she is doing well (but im pretty sure she doesnt know whats going on yet...), and my sister is doing well too. and so is the proud uncle!

here are a few more pics

eagerly awaiting...

my big sister is big. i mean BIG! dont take that the wrong way, when i say big its a good thing, she is pregnant after all...
she is due at the end of the month, but she was about two weeks early with each of the last two, so shes thinking (and hoping) this one will follow the trend. if thats the case, i may be getting a phone call in the next day or two! i am very excited abou this- i am planning to head up to see here as soon as i get the call. i have been unable to with each of them so far, but i would really love to be able to visit her in the hospital. im sure its not a time when she feels her prettiest, but i would really love to have the memory of seeing her there with her brand new baby girl.
so im waiting for the call.
just waiting.
waiting.

i think i need a new hobby...

expensive lessons to teach

for the third time in four years i had to have my places pipes cleaned out. what a pain in the butt. whenever the pipes get backed up water comes up through the floor drain by the water heater. unfortunately i dont have a basement, so this means water comes up through the closet right next to my kitchen. its never too bad, usually just a puddle that expands for a minute or two, then goes back down. this was very frustrating for me the first time it happened because i was a bit unprepared. and by unprepared i mean i had two large boxes of comic books on the floor right next to the closet. a hundred or so got destroyed. i then learned my lesson- put the boxes on a wooden plank. theyve been safe ever since.
what happens to the pipes is this: the trees in my yard really like the water that flows right by their roots through the sewer system. they like it so much that many roots have busted through the pipes and are now growing in there. just for fun these crazy roots decided that they should do some exploring and so they started to grow up into my sewer pipe! lucky me! so, every so often i have to call the plumber to clean out the pipe and cut all the roots that are growing in there.
the problem is this- i just had someone come and do it this past spring! there is no way the tree roots grew that much over the course of one summer. in years past it has always taken at least two growing seasons to clogg it up. but clogged they were, so i had to call the plumber. on a sunday. after not being able to shower and go to church. needless to say i felt like crap, and looked like it too.
the guys come and clean it out, but the tree roots are only a small part of the problem. a couple months ago my renter had his son and daughter-in-law move in with him. and it seems that she needs to learn how to properly use a toilet. here are the simple guide lines: pee- yes. poo- yes. toilet paper- yes. feminine products- no. she seems to struggle with that last one. the plumbers found about 15 of these 'products' lodged in the pipe and had to stick a tool down the sewer pipe to dislodge said clogg.
toilet ettiquite is an important lesson to learn, and im glad i got the opportunity to teach her this lesson. all for only $170! what a deal!

gerald r ford

former president ford has a special place in the hearts of the people of grand rapids. he wasnt originally from here, but this is where he grew up and who he prepresented for 25 years in congress. we have a special presidential museum for him here right on the edge of the grand river and have always looked to him as one of grand rapids favorite sons.
he was president long before i was around, but his importance and his history was always a part of my upbringing. around here he was always a favorite figure during history classes, and we visited his museum for class trips on more than one occassion. as an adult i have looked deeper and understood better why he is so revered here in grand rapids. he was truly a strong leader unafraid of grace.
last week we lost him. a city mourned. a couple friends and i took an evening and headed down to the museum to pay our respects. it was no small surprise that we were not alone down there. dozens were gathered to reflect on his life. there was a signature book that we could leave our thoughts on. one of the workers told us that there had already been more than eight thousand people who came to share their respects with the family. the mood was respectful, but actually quite chatty. everyone seemed to have a story of fords kindness. a neighbor who remembered his firm handshake, a family friend who remembered getting a card when his mother passed away. all stories of a gentle man and a loving servent of his people. a rare thing to find in politics these days. the stories remembered were not of power or money, but of a kind man who loved those around him. an example we can all look to and admire.

the cabin

yesterday was our fourth annual cabin trip. for four years now the guys and i have been going up to the cabin for one night during christmas break and just having a blast. the line up has changed slightly, mostly adding more players, but the fun remains the same. rex and i headed up friday and got there around noon (well before our usual time of 4:00), which gave us some extra time to just enjoy the place. we got the fire started, unpacked, then we went for a walk. one of our traditions up there is to go for a walk, which guns, and try to get as lost as possible. often times it works... we walked for about an hour, stopping indiscriminately and shooting stuff. always a good time! when we got back we chilled out and read for a while. i read my wizard magazine, and rex read the graphic novel of 'the fountain'.
around five, dusty and steve showed up. we hung out some more and played a few games. one of them i did well at, the other i did not. at eight we headed out to sporties (another cabin tradition) for dinner, and met up with aaron, jeffry lee, and adam. he had a great time there, and eventually headed back to the cabin.
the rest of the night, unfortunately, will have to remain classified information. we have a strick 'loose lips sink ships' policy that i must adhere to. im sure you understand...

'the incident'

earlier this week i was over at my aunt and uncles place with my family. my cousin and her family were not able to be here for the extended family christmas, and niether was i, so our families to decided to get together this past weeek as well. i was a great time, even my grandma showed up for a bit. we got pizza and talked and caught up. at the end of the night i headed back home (i drove over alone). on the way back i happened to notice that my driver side headlight was kind of pointing funny. i wasnt sure what to make of it. when i got back home i pulled it into the drive way to get a good look at it.
turns out while my car was parked at my aunt and uncles it had been backed into! the headlight was out of whack, the fender was crunched, and the bumper was slightly cracked. argh!!! after getting over my initial anger i made plans for the next day to get an estimate and see what kind of damage this was going to do to my wallet. because, of course, my insurance company would make me pay my five hundred dollar deductable no matter what.
the next morning my uncle called and told me to stop by him at his work (he owns a car dealership and wanted to take a look at it and see if he could get me a deal on fixing it). i stopped over there and then i went over to get an estimate for fixing it- $1100!! rediculous!!! there was no way i was going to pay that much, so i headed back to my uncle and he said he could have pull a few strings and have it taken care of for one fifty. deal! later that morning my grandma calls my uncle up and says 'im not sure why, but for some reason i seem to have a few scratches and a bit of green paint on the back of my car...'

christmas fun

friday i got out of work and began my christmas vacation (two whole weeks!!!). i headed up to grand rapids on saturday to see the family. saturday night i went to a verve pipe concert (which i wrote about here). sunday we took it easy and decided to go to the later church service (my parents church had four services that day, and they were all the same, so we opted for a bit of the ol' sleeping in). jill, tim and the kids came over for lunch and we had a grand meal (dang, my mom sure does no how to cook!), they headed home, we went for a walk, and then to church. the rest of the night we hung out and just enjoyed each others company. monday, christmas day, we took it easy once again (sensing a pattern?). mom wanted to make a big brunch, so she invited my grandma over, last minute, and we ate a hearty meal. later in the afternoon i made mom and dad go for a walk (which wasnt too hard, considering it was about 5o degrees outside and sunny) so i could wrap all the gifts i got for the family.
around 4:00 jill, tim and the kids came back. the kids opened gifts, and then we had a rather strange christmas dinner: burgers on the grill! with the super nice weather, we figured we would revel in it! we put the kids to bed and then it was time for the rest of us to open prizes! it was a lot of fun, and all the gifts were appreciated very much. for some reason i got an excess of gift certificates, so i guess my christmas gifts will keep on giving for a while! one of the highlights was that my mom got an ipod from my dad- how wierd is that? she wasnt entirely sure what to do with it... after a little explaining and training on the computer, she is very excited about it and cant wait to use it on her walks. way to go dad!
we were done with gifts by around 9:00, and we were all totally exhausted! i felt like i could have crawled in bed right then and slept for three days straight! so, obviously i decided to stay up till about 1:30 puttzing around on the computer. one of these days ill learn my lesson...
all in all it was a very fun time with the family, and i feel very blessed to have the time and opportunity to spend it with them. (chad, hopefully one of these years you will be able to join us too!)
some more fun family christmas photos here.

new blogs

over the past couple days i have been introduced to a couple new blogs and i felt like i should share in the wonderment and awe of them. the first one i have recently been checking out is by shaun groves. if you are wondering who exactly that is, well you are not alone. when i first went to go check it out i had no idea who he was. andrew osenga, a musician who i trust completely, suggested the site. i dont know if andrew knows shaun, or if its just an admiration, but i now have that same admiration. shaun is a songwriter and musician. i still have yet to hear any of his stuff, but i truly appreciate his opinions and well written thoughts. if you need a quick introduction, he has written one himself that links to some of his more thought-provoking posts. it is here. i checked out most of these former posts and now am compelled to check his site for more nuggets of wisdom each day.

the other new blog i have come across is by someone whom i already hold in high regard. his name is ronnie martin. he is a musician as well. the big difference thought between his music and anyone elses music is the fact that ronnies music is the best in the entire world. not even remotely an exaggeration. granted, i am incredibly bias, but im right, so its ok. anyway... ronnie has decided that journaling on his bands website should be focused on the music and what he is up to in the studio. he also wanted to share some of his more personal thoughts and musings, so he has created a personal blog. ah, now i will know what it is like to look into the mind of a genius.
can life get any better? i submit that it cannot.


ps. it looks like b.t. is going to give it another go- so make sure you check him out too!