a good friday

this weekend i had a bit of time off of work, so diana and i headed up to grand rapids. it was only a short visit, due to the fact that she had to be back for work on saturday. we headed up thursday night. it was a beautifully sunny day (this plays into the contrast which will be mentioned shortly...). we stopped at my parents place, then met up with aaron, jeffry lee and rex at bw3 for some tasty hot wings. we had a great time talking and laughing! when we got home my mom was still up, so we chatted with her for a while.

friday morning we got up nice and early (well, early for a day off) and diana and my mom went to get their nails done. i killed time at the bookstore. i got a new cd, a book for diana, and a dvd for jills kids. then, we headed over to the greasy spoon to meet up with the rest of the family, including my grandma and aunt! it was fun to see everyone and introduce diana to some of the extended family. afterward we ran a couple errands, then went over to jills to give her a break from the kids. we played with them for the whole afternoon (that dvd i picked up came in pretty handy...). then it was back to mom and dads for dinner where my mom had prepared my favorite: half hour stew!!! after much talk and feasting, we packed up and headed out to bring diana back home. as seems to be the case every time i head home, the weather on the way back was terrible! from the time we had lunch to the time we left for home, there was about three or four inches of show on the ground- snow! what ever happened to spring?!? the trip was long and my windshield wipers were terrible, but eventually we made it. it was a really fun, if short, trip. now its just a countdown to next weekend when i get to go visit adam in california!!!

the scottish king

ive found a new outlet for my love of craig ferguson...

go here.

spring break plans

for spring break jeffry lee, aaron, and i are going to go visit adam! ive been wanting to go and visit him out in l.a. for quite a few years, and this year i decided i had waited long enough! so we are heading out at the end of this month and sticking around for a few days.

im not entirely sure what to expect, other than a ton of fun! the only thing we have planed for certain is going to go see craig ferguson- which i am super pumped about!!!

well, here is a little trip ticker to count down for us:

shoping

saturday i headed over to south bend to stop in on diana at work. my timing is always bad, though. she ended up getting out a half hour early, so i was about to pull in when i get a call from her that she is heading home! argh, just missed her! i let her know how close i am and she heads back (she was only about a mile away, so not too much trouble). we hop in the same car and check out the town. her phone had just broken earlier that day, so we tried to get a replacement. then we headed over to the mall and did a bit of shopping. it must have been a good visit because neither one of us came out with any bags...

we both were getting mighty hungry, so we started looking for a place to eat. we were driving through downtown south bend and i remembered a really cool place i had gone last time we had a teacher convention there. we checked it out, but quickly left again- it was way too busy! i guess an irish pub isnt really a good idea for a nice place to sit and eat on the weekend of st. patricks day!

we ended up going to hacienda, which is always a treat! she had taken me to a hacienda restaurant before, but not this location. it was in a really cool old converted house. after we had gotten our fill, we headed back to her place for a bit, played with the dog, then off i went into that cold indiana night...

monte cristo, please!

the weather sure was amazing on friday! i got home from work and almost put shorts on!

diana was around today, so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. we did a little exploring and ended up getting yelled at by a crotchety old man- we felt like naughty teenagers or something! we walked the rest of the way down the train tracks, a very 'stand by me' sort of feeling.

later that night we met up with ken and kristen for a bite to eat at bennigans. she was a little nervous to meet them, but i told her that there was nothing to worry about (other than kennys scary shaved head). we had a great time! i hadnt really ever spent any large amounts of time around kristen before, but she was a lot of fun! we had originally hoped to do something after dinner, maybe catch a show, but we ran out of time. diana headed home soon after.

sunday i talked with kenny again and we decided that we are going to have to do that again soon!

time with the family

last weekend i headed up to michigan for a short visit. we didnt head up until saturday because my family was on vacation living it up in florida. im not jealous at all. ok, maybe a little... they flew back in town on saturday.

we headed up in the afternoon and met up with aaron, rex, and jeffry lee for lunch. we had a great time once aaron and rex got over their little tiff. it was funny, they were fighting like an old married couple. hilarious!

in the evening we went out to eat with my folks at the beltline bar. we waited over an hour, but we hung out at the bar and had a drink and some chips n salsa, so the wait was easily bearable. diana and i shared a delicious wet burrito and had a great time talking with my mom and dad.

later that night we headed over to tim and jills, after the kids went to bed. we hung out, talked, and played cards all night. we both had a blast- tim and jill are so good at making anyone comfortable.

we had a bit of a scare with my gramma brinks health that weekend. she had pneumonia and wasnt looking too good. usually at 92 pneumonia can be then end, but she seems to have pulled through. we went to go visit her after church and the nurse said that the current tests indicate that there is was no sign of pneumonia in her lungs, and she is improving by the hour. wow! we were quite worried, but God works in amazing ways!

for lunch tim and jill and the kids came over and we got to spend time just playing with the kids! we had an amazing time. after a short nap, it was time to head home. ahhh, what a fun time we had. we both look forward to visiting again soon.

the girl

i figure its time to introduce you to someone very special to me: blog readers, this is diana.

cute, huh?


oh, heres a few more pics

the windy city

this past weekend was another one jam packed with goodness- just like a pop tart! friday night i spent some time cleaning my place up a bit, and then headed over to matts to hang out. we chilled for a while and watched a couple episodes of 'lost', which is always fun. we watched the latest episode that focused on desmond, and i must say, it was by far the greatest episode of lost ever!

on saturday a couple friends and i headed up the the city. we spent the day in downtown chicago. it was a lot of fun. one of them, lissa, loves public transportation (i dont get it either...) so we parked a bit out of town and hopped on the metro el train and took that in. we wandered around millennium park for a while and checked out the big shiny bean. we stopped in many of my favorite places: shoe stores, purse stores, and jewelry stores. i tried my best to pretend to be interested. i think it worked. it was starting to get dark, and we were starting to get hungry, so we walked down to the cheesecake factory for dinner. we had a great time just eating and talking! when we were finished we almost had to be rolled out- those portions are soooo big! lissa decided she was not up for walking back about a mile to hop on the metro back to the car, so instead we got a taxi to take us. strange.

sunday was good too. went to church, then went to sophias. yumm...

camp out

last saturday was such a blast! i drove up to michigan and picked up a friend and we headed over to nicks house for a party. i was a little nervous about it because i had never met any of the people who were going to be there, including nick!

the house itself was quite interesting. its actually a sort of lodge check in place for a camp ground. nicks grandpa (his roommate) owns a big chunk of land that he decided to turn into a camp ground, and the bottom floor of the house is where everyone checks in when they arrive. it was really cool, there was a pool table and lots of room, so we were able to have enough space to play games, music, and chat.
i tried my best to be a bit outgoing, so i was intentional about getting to know the other people at the party. it wasnt too hard because everyone there was very nice and welcoming. we had a great time, and i eagerly await a chance to hang out with those guys again!

the lost gang

friday night i finally got to catch up on 'lost', and a few friendships. ive been watching 'lost' ever since it first came on, and for a couple years a few coworkers and would always talk about it the next day. they decided to start getting together, share a meal, and enjoy the show about a year back. i was invited and had a great time! it was a bunch of fun because we would eat, then we would watch the show. the best part is the commercials- we use that time to come up with out own crazy conspiracy theories about what we just saw, then back to the show!

now, this worked great last year because everyone had wednesdays free. but, of course, abc has to change the night they show it on. argh. no one has thursday night free, so we werent able to get together for the first several episodes.

last friday, though, we found some time to get together and catch up on life and 'lost'. we went over to rachels. she asked me to tape the two episodes so we could watch them at her place. about a half hour before we are supposed to meet i get a call from her: 'um, i dont have a vcr... could you bring yours?' i had no problem with it, i just thought it was funny that the vcr is now an almost obsolete item!

we had a great time catching up and watching 'lost'. one of the couples brought their kids, which was a lot of fun, but not very conducive to watching a tv show... i think i will watch the show before i go and just enjoy the company instead.

the big show

got a big weekend ahead. tonight getting together with friends to catch up on 'lost'. tomorrow im visiting a friend in michigan which im very excited for. and sunday is the big show: its finally oscar time! hurray! i figured i should give my own predictions for the oscars, which you can find here.

an action packed weekend that i am really looking forward to. oh, i should actually get going or the weekend will start without me!

red moon rising

last night it was a little overcast, but i was still able to see it through the spotty clouds. it was the last lunar eclipse until 2012. around 8:00 the moon started to get a bit discolored, and then by 10:00 it turned from its normal white into a dark reddish brown.

i tried to enjoy it as long as possible, but my shivering (and the 15 degree temp) got the best of me, and i headed back inside where it was warm! hopefully you got a chance to see it too.

the last red moon i remember seeing was at college. robbie and i pulled out some chairs in front of west hall and watched it and talked for an hour or so. good times.

oh, by the way, congrats on the new baby, robbie and tracy!

the big clean

its been a great weekend, nice and long! friday was easy because instead of regular work, we just had some staff seminars, which always means a short day. then, we had today off! almost a four day weekend- cant beat that!

friday i decided to do what i had been putting off for far too long- i cleaned by house. ive had dishes in the sink since the mesozoic period. ive actually had a few archaeologists interested in excavating... i cleaned dishes, moped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the living room, and put all the dvds and cds back in their shelves. i was busy organizing and cleaning until about 1 in he morning, but boy, does it look good now!

saturday i had a friend come over and we hung out, went to see a movie, and went out to eat. a really fun time. after church on sunday i was just chilling out on the couch emptying out the tivo as best i could, when i got a call. i answered, and before i knew it, i found myself in michigan eating at applebees. strange how that happens...

and as for today? i havent been doing much of anything. i sure do love these days off!

happy b-day abe!

happy 199th birthday abraham lincoln!!! just think, he would be 199 years old if he hadnt been shot in that theater. his birthday was actually yesterday, and i apologize for the delay. this post should have been up yesterday, but i was just too busy celebrating!

(check out this amazing photo of me hanging out with abe a few years ago)

snow and slow

this past weekend was a really fun time. i loved hanging out with my family and friend up in michigan, as always. but, ive come to this realization: their winter weather really sucks! all weekend it was snowing and blowy and freezing. the driveway needed to be shoveled at least once a day, and my car would just start feeling comfortable as i arrived at my destination. im not saying our weather down here is much better, but i am really starting to understand how much they are messed by the lake effect off lake michigan. i was driving back to indiana yesterday (which was a very bad idea), and kept having just complete white-outs from the wind. i think i averaged about twenty miles per hour! a drive that is supposed to take two hours was drug out to be a four and a half hour trip. argh! but, like clockwork, as soon as i got below the lake- it was perfectly sunny! still windy, but no snow on the ground.

on days like this it makes me happy to live down here.

but on the other hand, if i lived up there, i would get a whole lot more snow days... maybe its time to move back home...

the beard

for the past eight weeks i have been growing a beard. in december it started snowing one day, and i just figured 'all right, i think im done shaving for a while'. and so i stopped. the beard has been growing ever since (with slight trimmings here and there). and boy, is it an unruly beast! i believe it has come to the end of its life. it had a good long run, but good sense is going to win out in this situation, me thinks...
(more pics)

the pump house

last night was a blast! i headed over to jeffry lees so we could figure out what to do for the night. we sat there for a while trying to figure it out. i got on his nerves, he got on my nerves, then i got on his nerves again. really, it was a fun time! finally, after we were done being annoyed with each other (which we both agreed was kind of fun), he called all the guys and headed over to logans for dinner. rex, aaron, dusty, and adam soon joined us. we got a good table and spend an hour or so just catching up: aaron and rex each got new cars, adam had fun california stories, and dusty is going to be a dad in just a few weeks!
after we finished up our meal, we tried to think of a place to go next. we werent entirely sure what to do, so we decided to have a secret ballot vote! the options were: a. rexs house, b. dustys house, c. adams house, or d. the pump house. we each wrote our selection a a scrap of paper and then put it in the ballot box (i.e. adams hands). one by one we read through the votes and tabulated the results. and, i must say, the results were a bit shocking: two for adams house, and four for the pump house! what a surprise win!
now, in case you are wondering what the pump house is, let me tell you. the pump house is a very old bar that is tucked away on one of the shady side streets in kentwood. it has a lot of character, and by character, i mean its a run down white trash bar. which just so happens to make it the perfect place to hang out! we went there and met up with zagman and just continued talking and hanging out. it was really cool, because it just so happened that we had assembled all the guys from the cabin! this is something rare- getting all seven of us in the same room usually only happens at the cabin, so we were really loving it! we chatted the night away, having a great time! something i noticed through out the night: every conversation i was having was really enjoyable and interesting, but i always felt like i wished i could be a part of the other conversations going on. i figure thats a pretty good sign that we all really enjoy each other. i wanted to be a part of every ones conversation because i love to know whats going on in their lives, what they think about the world, and the wisdom that they can share. its pretty cool to find six other guys who i respect that much.
(more pics)

uncle time

this afternoon i went over to tim and jills. i figured i had the time free, so maybe i could offer my babysitting skills for them so they could maybe catch a quick nap. they were thankful and quickly passed out in their respective pillows. that gave me a chance to have a fun time playing with the kids! avers is getting big enough to stand on her own, which is soo cute! jackson and i messed around with legos for a while and played around.

right after avers was put down for her nap tweeters woke up! so we played with her too. the three of us had a great time playing 'lava floor', 'the planets', and a bunch of other nonsense games that they love! and as their uncle, by default, i love too. also, i let them mess around with my camera a bit, which they always love. here are a few more pictures that they took.

friday night right

i decided to go up to michigan this weekend. friday i stopped by a friends place on the way up, we grabbed a bite for dinner and had a great time. when i got up to grand rapids i stopped over at jeffry lees place. rex, kooch, and jeffry lee were wrapping up a night of crappy movie watching, which im glad i missed. we had a great time just chilling, sitting around talking about life, love, and cars. one of those topics i didnt really have much to add to the conversation. ill let you guess which one it was (a little hint: it doesnt start with an 'L').

i always dig talking with jeffry lee about deeper, bigger issues. hes always got a different perspective than i come from, and that encourages me to grow in my understanding. also, it was nice to get a bit deeper with kooch. i really respect the guy, and its nice to be able to get to know him a bit better.

oh, and just so it didnt get too philosophical in there, we also kept shooting each other with nerf guns. i guess that kinda sums us up: maturely immature.

crazy weather

what a strange few days for the weather! last week on thursday night we had a huge dumping of snow on us, around 6-10 inches! (which i didnt mind at all, i got a snow day out of it!!!) all weekend it was really cold, but then yesterday it was rainy and reached 52 degrees here! the strange thing though is that there is still a bunch of snow on the ground. this lead to some really strange fog. the fog was so thick that i could only see about 50 feet in front of me as i was driving home last night. it was really strange to not see a intersection light until it was suddenly right in front of me!

when night fell it got really creepy. the fog was so thick that i could actually see it moving when a slight breeze came by. all the lights outside show their rays in vivid contrast to the darkness. its really cool! oh, and tonight were supposed to get a bunch more snow. certainly a strange start to a february...