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Wednesday, 20 August 2008

Take a gander.

Sunday, 09 March 2008

Better late than never right?
This past Monday my wife handed me her early birthday present to me. Two tickets to see Josh Ritter in Grand Rapids. I was BEYOND elated. One, because I knew she wasn't as big a fan as me and for her to still want to go with me was an awesome gesture ... and two BECAUSE THAT MEANT I GOT TO GO!
Let me set the stage for you a little ... so the concert is on a Monday night at 8pm in Grand Rapids. About two hours away. Linds had arranged for Jack to stay at the in-laws for the ENTIRE NIGHT! That in itself was an awesome gift. The plan is for Linds to pick me up after work and then we'll head out on what should be a very interesting and hopefully entertaining night.
We left about 4:45 from South Bend and started on our way. I was so pumped. Linds was enthusiastic but I could tell she wasn't all there. Turns out she had had a migraine that day and really felt pretty bad even when she got to my work. I assurred her it wouldn't hurt my feelings if she wasn't up for it but she said she was. We kept going. Again, my wife is awesome!
About two hours into the trip we arrived at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. We wanted to find exactly where it was and then grab a quick bite to eat. We had about an hour before it started so we were in pretty good shape ... at least we thought. I run into the auditorium and I see a sign on the door, "The Josh Ritter concert is at the Ladies Literary Club downtown". Uh ... what? The Ladies what?
As I was thinking how I would break the news to Linds I also started to think ... "hmm ... "downtown" isn't the official address of that place I'm guessing".
On a whim I call the box office ... straight to voicemail. But what's this, a recording? 60 Sheldon SE? Ladies Literary Club? UREKA! Thank goodness for that message and thank goodness for GPS. I quickly dialed it in and we are a mere 15 minutes away. Onward and upward.
We approach the address and upon finding it we see a very ominous structure ... VERY OMINOUS.
We drove by once surveying the scene ... a lot of hipster-esque looking people. Well, we did say it would be an adventure.
So we grab some very questionable "mexican" food at a fast food place called "Adobe". It wasn't great but it was quick and that's what we were after since we had like 30 minutes before it started.
Well, after a questionable meal and a heck of a parallel parking job by yours truley, we enter the venue. It. Was. Awesome. The front door opened up into a 400 seat auditorium. It was small and quaint and perfect. Couldn't have been a better place to see this concert.
At just after 8pm Josh stepped on stage. The next 2 hours will be a memory I cherish for a long time. It was probably one of the best times I've ever had with my wife. The music was PHENOMENAL. It's hard to really say how good it was ... I can't say anything on here that would do it any justice at all. Here's a video from when the band was on Dave. This might give you a taste.
After the concert we left and zipped back to Wakarusa. We got home at 11:45 ... not too bad. What an awesome night with my amazing wife.
PS. Lindsey LOVED IT. She wasn't too thrilled by what she had heard before the concert but after, she was sold. We are both hooked.

Thursday, 21 February 2008

Currently Listening
The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
By Josh Ritter
see related

Well it has been a while ... my apologies. A lot has changed since Christmas.
Jack is growing up so fast and he's such a good boy. Always goes to sleep good, we are so lucky and blessed to have him. We are in Fort Wayne tonight because we have a doctor's appointment with the kidney specialist to see how his kidney is doing. We are hoping that the size has gone down which will mean he won't have to have surgery. But, if it is bigger the good news is that the surgery isn't that major. It would be corrective surgery and we would have the best pediatric kidney specialist around performing it.
In lighter news ... I have a new music interest. Namely, Josh Ritter. Man is this guy good. Check him out here ... you won't be disappointed. I'm trying to convince Linds to go to a concert with me in March but it's not going well.
February 5th was Lindsey and I's 3rd anniversary. I took her to Chicago for a night and we stayed in a great hotel on Michigan Ave. We spent a lot of quality time together and we splurged on our meals. It was our first night without Jack so it was a little bittersweet ... but mostly just sweet. It was so great. I love my wife so much and I'm so proud of the mom she has become. It was great to be able to spoil her a little bit.
I got a promotion at work and so far it's going great. It's a lot of new things to learn which is great and it also lends itself to bigger and better things in the future. I'm still sort of doing a little of my old job until the transition is complete but it's not been too bad so far.
Lindsey just made a comment as I was typing that I talked about Josh Ritter before her ... she is none too pleased. Also, scratch that Jack goes to bed good ... he's still up and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Tuesday, 01 January 2008

What a great holiday season we had. Jack's first Christmas went great. He was mostly interested in the wrapping paper but he got some cool toys too. We were able to go to Detroit and see a lot of my extended family which was great since most of them hadn't met Jack before. He was a good boy the whole time and we were so proud to show him off :).

I've never been too into gadgets but I received two great little gadgets for Christmas this year. Linds got me an iPod and my parents got me a TomTom (GPS system). I've been having a ball navigating my way through Wakarusa while listening to my iPod. I probably look ridiculous but thats okay.
I got Linds some new pots and pans (matching ones even!) that she wanted so she is cooking up a storm. I believe there is some eggplant being cooked in them at this exact moment ... quality.

Monday, 17 December 2007

It's been too long. Hopefully I can jump back into more regular updates in the next few days. As Linds and Jamie both said we got back from our family vacation a couple weeks ago. We had an amazing time. Family is very important to all of us and it felt good to get to be with both mine and her's for an extended amount of time.
One of the greatest parts of our vacation was the hike that I planned for those that were brave enough. Our cabin in Gatlinburg was about 10 miles from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It's a huge park with tons of trails. I did some preliminary research and chose one that was moderate in difficulty and would reward us with a 90-100 foot cascade at the end.
Jerry, Cory, Matt, Landon, Lori and I all embarked on our journey, stopping frequently for water and trail mix. It was great to just joke around and have a few laughs. The trail loosely follows a river so we had that great rushing water sound in our ear the whole time. Although a drawback to that sound is that nature did call a couple times ... if you know what I mean.
About 2 1/2 hours in we stopped to eat our sandwiches that we had packed. We were all getting pretty tired at that point as the incline had gotten much steeper. The total incline from start to finish was about 2600 feet and we felt every one of those feet.
We finally made it to the cascade which is the turnaround point. It took us between 3 and 3 1/2 hours to get there. We were all really tired but man what a sight. After that we began our descent which took another 2 1/2 hours. Total Time: 6 hours. Total Distance: 8 miles (roundtrip).
Here's a few pictures:
This is one of two foot bridges that we crossed. It was a log sawed in half the long ways that had a little railing on one side. You can't really see but the water underneath was rushing pretty good. It was pretty cool to just stand on that and look over it for a while.
Jerry, Matt and Cory carefully navigating the foot bridge.
Landon, Lori and I acting like we aren't scared.
Here is me when we finally got to Ramsay Cascades
Other then that nothing much is going on.

We went and got our Christmas tree.

And here is a recent family photo taken at the cabin in Gatlinburg.
Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Webinar....shmebinar.

Today at 2pm I have to sit at my computer and watch a webinar. Here is how I look as I say that.
Maaaaannnnn those are some short shorts. I do not have short shorts on right now, fyi. Mmmmmm Subway.
3 weeks until our vacation. It will be a very busy 3 weeks at work as we are getting behind on a big project. I've already got the time blocked out and approved but if we don't get this project done it'll provide a little bit for me to worry about while I'm gone. I'm actually only missing 6 actual work days since it's over Thanksgiving so it shouldn't be too bad.
Speaking of our vacation.......I have delved (sp?) into the world of hiking. Man, I am so pumped to get down there to the Smoky Mountains. I am planning to go hiking as much as possible. I'll be disappointed if I don't go at least 2 times while we are there. I've been reading books about the trails down there and have been scouring the internet for tips and advice about which trails to hike. It should be awesome.