New Year -- Lots of New Content

I'm pleased to announce that the following photo albums are now available online:

Oregon Christmas 2004 - 35 photos

Oregon: Pittock Mansion - 17 photos

New Year's Eve 2004 - 9 photos

Enjoy! Happy 2005!

We're home!

There's lots to tell from our trip to Oregon. I'll save most of it for Jenelle to write about later.

One cool thing that happened on our trip home -- we took a "bump" from our 11:25 a.m. flight from Portland to O'Hare to a flight leaving at the gate next door at 12:09 p.m., and we both got a free roundtrip ticket out of it. Even though weather delays prevented us from leaving until after 2 p.m., it was still worth it. Our next trip to Portland (or perhaps somewhere else) will be courtesy of the folks at United.

Pictures soon!

Christmas (Eve)^364

Merry Christmas!

There's a lot of things that I could share about the past several days. Here's a few highlights:

THURSDAY: The SCJ holiday party was lots of fun. According to several eyewitness reports, I was one of few people in the employee & children's chorus that didn't have his head buried in the music. :)

FRIDAY: We managed to get upgraded to business class for our Chicago to Seattle flight. Even though we were delayed for two hours in Seattle due to fog, our travels to Oregon were pretty smooth.

SATURDAY: So much food, so many family members gathering together, and so many toys for an excited nephew of ours. It's great fun hanging around Lucas and helping him play with all of his new stuff.

SUNDAY: Though comparatively low-key, today was fun too. We went to church, exercised a little, did a bit of shopping, and saw Meet the Fockers at a nearby cinema.

I now present a few great reasons to move to Oregon.

1. WEATHER -- today was a balmy 45 degrees, perfect for a four-mile run through a nearby park. Without this trip, I would have to wait until March to use the new Garmin Forerunner GPS exercise assistant that Jenelle bought me for Christmas. Seriously, if you're tired of the phrase, "It's too cold to snow", you might want to consider a trip to the Pacific Northwest.

2. COST OF LIVING -- Property taxes are low, and sales tax is non-existent.

3. KETTLE CORN -- There's also a really cool movie theater. Tickets were $5.25 for a show at 5:45, and you could choose between regular popcorn and kettle corn at the concession stand. We obviously chose the latter. :)

By the way, Mom and Dad, if you're reading this, don't freak out. We're not making any quick decisions at this point. All I'm saying is that we're really enjoying our visit.

To all burglars who might be reading this -- we'll be home before you know it.

Wild, Wacky Wednesday

I admit it -- I'm guilty of overusing the phrase "I'm keeping busy with..." when I write e-mails to people telling them how I'm doing. One of the reasons is days like today. Here's what I did:

7:00 a.m. -- Dentist Appointment
8:00 a.m. -- Work
4:00 p.m. -- Guitar Lesson
4:30 p.m. -- Go to the post office
5:00 p.m. -- Go to church, practice, and set up for...
6:30 p.m. -- Church service
7:45 p.m. -- Go pick up my new suit (My 44L doesn't fit, so I bought a 40L! Yeah!)
8:30 p.m. -- Get home

So, yeah, I'm busy, but I try to enjoy every minute of it.

Speaking of enjoying every minute, Sunday's early Christmas party was a fun-filled event. The meal consisted of chicken, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and corn bread from Boston Market. Yum. Dessert was Schwan's peppermint ice cream. Yum again. I took on the role of "Santa" for the gift opening, doing my best Uncle Nick impression each time I handed out a present. I'm thankful for every present I received.

I was worried that this event might take away from the splendor of the Christmas Eve gatherings we always hold at Grandma & Grandpa's place -- but looking back on it, I'm glad we spent some quality time with both my parents and grandparents. I'm still going to call sometime on Friday evening to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Photos Already?

Yup, here's some right here -- Family Christmas 2004. My favorite two pictures would have to be:
1) Me wearing Grandpa's hat, and
2) Jenelle trying on her new pajamas.

We had a blast celebrating with Mom, Dad, Grandma Iz, and Grandpa Nick on the 19th. If I have time, I'll write more about it soon.

For now, I'll celebrate some recent milestones:
Today: Happy Birthday, Grandpa Milt!
Also today: Happy Anniversary, Eric & Gina!
One more for today: Happy Baptism Anniversary, Ella!

Finally, one that I should have posted way back on the 13th. I totally dropped the ball on this one.
Happy Birthday, Uncle Dan!

Running on Full

Whoa, today is an exciting day in Family History....

In between church and an early Christmas party on Sunday, I reached another milestone in my running career. It was about eleven months since I began regularly hopping on a treadmill a few times a week. My goal back then was to lose a little weight. My goal on Sunday was to run farther than I ever had before -- specifically, 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles). I originally wanted to complete this task on the streets of Sturtevant, but anyone who took a step outside that day would understand my decsion to do it on the treadmill instead. I clocked in at 1:22:58, which is a pace of 8:54 / mile. This is about the pace at which I ran the Roma 5K back in July. Granted, running on a treadmill is easier than running outside, even when the weather is perfect. On a treadmill, the impact on your knees is smaller, and you can hold on to the side rails to catch your breath if you're getting tired (I did that several times during the last mile or two). In any case, I'm excited that I was able to complete a 15K, and I'm still determining what challenge I'll take on next.

In the "How much do you weigh?" department, I've lost approximately 50 pounds this year, and I currently tip the scales at 175 pounds. The difference is readily apparent after watching a video of me from Ella's baptism last year. I recently got a letter from Adam H., one of my groomsmen, who was apparently inspired by my efforts and has lost 35 pounds of his own (way to go, buddy!). I certainly don't need to lose any more weight, but if I keep working out, it might happen. One option I have is to increase the frequency/effort of my strength training to build some muscle. In any case, if I put on a holiday pound or two in the weeks ahead, I won't sweat it one bit.

Got any questions about my exercise habits? I'm more than happy to share. Write or leave a comment below.

Holiday Greetings from us to you

Now available online is our 2004 Christmas Letter. Enjoy!

On Saturday the 11th: Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Chicago Trip!

Photos are ready! Right here!

Listening to Christmas Music yet?

I'm pretty busy this week. Between the SCJ Profit Sharing Choir, the Global Business Process & Technoligy Holiday Orchestra & Chorus (GBPTHOC), my usual commitment to Wednesday nights at Our Savior's, exercising 3-5 times a week, and meeting with a Bible study group on Thursday nights, it's not always easy to find time to post. By the way, those Chicago pictures will be up soon -- hopefully this weekend. Jenelle and I are in the process of sending out Christmas cards, and we'll likely finish those up over the weekend as well.

Even though we seem to be falling behind on some things, I don't feel stressed at all. In fact, I feel fantastic. :)

Side by side

We took Jenelle's car in for an oil change yesterday. After picking it up, we each had a car to drive home. We pulled up alongside each other at the intersection of 31 & 20. Looking to my right, I noticed Jenelle singing in her car. I quickly turned off my Newsboys CD and attempted to find the station to which she was listening. I soon discovered that her radio was tuned in to "The Mix", which is already playing holiday music every night. I began singing an upbeat version of "Home for the Holidays" with the radio and with Jenelle. She soon noticed I had joined in. We kept singing and looking at each other until the light turned green.

Northwestern-Hawaii, Part 2

Before reading this post, make sure you read part one (posted on Monday).

What made watching the NU-Hawaii game so interesting? Here's just a few things:

1) When "Randy Walker, Head Coach, Northwestern" was displayed at the bottom of the screen before the game, the camera was focused on an assistant coach. We became worried for a moment that some horrible fate had kept the real Randy Walker from attending the game. As it turns out, it was just a mistake by someone probably working for channel 5.

2) There were quite a few awkward pauses throughout the game when neither announcer said anything. I'm not sure who to blame -- the play-by-play guy could only say so much, and the color commentary guy talked too fast. I guess it didn't really matter, since we were all so tired anyways because it was after 10 p.m.

3) A bit more on the play-by-play guy. What he lacked in describing the action to the audience, he made up for in pronouncing Hawaiian names. Whether it was Watson Ho'ohuli (linebacker), West Keliikipi (running back), or Kila Kamakawiwo'ole (defensive line), he could rattle off the names better than George W. Bush naming members of the government of Nigeria. Here's more names for you.

4) My mother made some cookies before the game, some of which were shaped like gingerbread men. She used purple and black sprinkles to decorate some of them so that they would look like Northwestern players. However, she seemed a bit distraught when she learned that Northwestern was wearing white jerseys for the game. No matter what color the sprinkles, the cookies were still very delicious.

I guess that's all I can think of for now. Perhaps I should have posted this when it was fresher in my mind. Oh well.

Coming soon... pictures from our trip to Chicago on Saturday, November 20.

By the way, I should have said this yesterday: Happy Birthday, Mom!

And on November 27: Happy Birthday, Uncle Nick!

Hawaii 49, Northwestern 41

Northwestern played its final football game of the season on Saturday night in Hawaii. The game wasn't on television in our area. I figured I would just check the score on the internet -- until my parents called and left a message on the answering machine. They upgraded to digital cable just so they could order the ESPN "Game Plan" ($20 for the weekend) and watch the game. By the way, this game started at 10 p.m. Central Standard Time. I was dumbfounded at why my parents would spend so much to see two unranked college teams play football. When I called back and asked my mother what led them to spending $20+ to watch the game, she said something to the effect of: "It's less expensive than traveling to Hawaii." She's right.

So, Jenelle and I made the 5.1-mile journey to my parents' house to watch the game. We turned on channel 891 just before 10 p.m. We soon discovered that the feed was coming from channel 5 in Hawaii, also known as "K5". Both announcers had Hawaiian shirts on, and we could tell that they weren't the most exciting announcers in the world. As the teams lined up for the opening kickoff, I had a feeling that watching this game would be an experience like no other.

Part 2 of this story coming soon...

Jenelle's Thankful #2

I am very thankful that I no longer owe any money to Mr. Stafford! After writing a fairly hefty check yesterday, my entire college education is paid off! No more student loans!

Ben's Thankful #3

Here's one that I'm borrowing from a refrigerator magnet that I saw at the Walter house in Oregon:

Thank you, Lord, for dirty dishes. They have a story to tell.
While others may go hungry, we're eating rather well.
With home and health and happiness, I shouldn't want to fuss,
For by this stack of evidence, God's been good to us.

Ben's Thankful #2

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for quite a few things today, but let's start with the company that I've worked for in some capacity since 1995 (and that Jenelle has worked for since January). SC Johnson is a wonderful place to spend 40 hours a week. Flexible hours and competitive wages are just the beginning. It is a place where everyone is respected, and each individual's talents and contributions are recognized on a regular basis. I've never encountered a situation where freedom of expression is challenged. Whenever Jenelle and I discuss the possibility of moving to Oregon, we both agree that leaving SCJ is a difficult thing to do.

Jenelle's Thankful #1

Thanks, Ben! I'm thankful for you too -- but I'll write about you another day.

I am very thankful for my family. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like, but we do keep in touch through emails and phone calls, and I love them very much. My mom makes the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had -- and Thanksgiving anywhere else just isn't the same. So, tomorrow I'll be thinking about all of you a lot and remember that I love you and am very thankful for you.

Ben's Thankful #1

Once again, I'm a day late. I guess the first thing I'm thankful for is people who keep reading this even though I'm not always prompt with my posts. :)

The first thing I'm thankful for is quite cheesy -- no, not pizza. I'm thankful for JENELLE! She's been a great wife to me over the past 20 months, and she was a great girlfriend to me in the three years before that. Those of you who know me know that I have my share of funny behaviors, and Jenelle puts up with all of them. Lately, she doesn't mind me exercising after work, even if it keeps her at SCJ an extra half-hour or so. I could go on for a while about her, but I'll spare everyone a few eye rolls. :)

What else I am thankful for? Plenty more to come!

Warm November Flies Away

Whoa, eight days since the last post...

Since we've been pretty lazy with the WebJournal lately, we're going to try and post something every day next week -- and since it's Thanksgiving week, we'll be highlighting something we're thankful for in each entry. The fun begins on Sunday the 21st. We have some semi-interesting weekend plans, so you'll get to hear about those as well.

Otherwise, Jenelle and I are trying to make the most out every day, and we're keeping busy with work-related stuff, church-related stuff, exercise-related stuff, and married couple stuff. :)

By the way, have you tried to post a comment without success? Let me know. Thanks!

Whaddya want?

A third Christmas list is now available to the right -- the Comande Family Christmas list! If you're a Comande family member, and you want your Christmas list posted for all to see, you can contact us (e-mail, phone, whatever), and we'll add it as soon as we can. So far, it's just Sue and Ed. Would you like to be next?

And even if you're not a Comande Family member, we'll still put a list up for you. :)

A few birthdays before heading out:
Sunday the 7th: Happy Birthday, Grandma Iz!
Sunday the 7th: Happy Birthday, Uncle Gary!
Friday the 5th: Happy Birthday, Jeff! (a friend in Missouri)

You've Been Asking For It...

...and now it's here! My (Jenelle's) Christmas list is now online. Just click on the link below our webcam picture.

Remember -- nobody has to buy us anything, but since you never listen when we tell you that, we've come up with a few suggestions. Enjoy, and remember to send Ben an email before or after you buy - he can verify no one has bought it yet. (And send me an email for Ben's gifts.)

Family members -- if you have a Christmas list you'd like us to post, let us know!

On a tangent, it seems like Christmas celebrations start earlier and earlier each year. Has anyone remembered that we have another very important holiday before the big Joyeux Noel? It's called Thanksgiving -- and I think we should all remember to be thankful for everything we have before beginning the crazy Christmas shopping season.

And finally, on a completely unrelated note, the crazy Kerry campaigners have finally stopped calling us! We are both thrilled the election is over as we can now stop screening calls.

Ricky's 50-something, Pinocchio's 40-something

A lot of us had trouble making shots at tonight's game, but I still thought we put forth a good effort. Oh, well... you can't win 'em all. Next week, we're playing a team called "Bye". I wonder if they're any good.

In other news -- only 6 days until I get my ring back. :)

Pinocchio's 34, Ricky's III 30

Silly me, I forgot to mention two birthdays from October 21:

Happy Birthday, Randy! - Picture here
Happy Birthday, Jeri!

Last night was the first game of the city league basketball season. Though only six players were available for the Pinocchio's team, we managed to squeeze out a victory over Ricky's III. I didn't score any points, but I did have a couple of rebounds.

Our next opponent is Ricky's I. Is "I" better than "III"? We'll find out on November 4.

Ring it up... er, down

Would you like to try the BEN weight loss plan? Here's what you do. Exercise a little more. Eat a little less. That's it.

I've noticed that I'm losing weight in various parts of my body. Since January, I've lost roughly 40 pounds. My waist size has dropped from nearly 40 to 34-35. But here's one I didn't expect -- my wedding ring doesn't fit anymore.

So, yesterday evening, I went in to Rasmussen Jewelers to get my ring re-sized. You know how jewelry store folks like to make positive comments about you and encourage you to buy something? Well, jewelers must love it when a guy walks in and needs his ring sized down. Assuming correctly that I must have lost weight, the compliments rained down -- stronger than the light drizzle outside. Being the only person in the store, every employee managed to get one in.
The person helping me out: "You look fabulous."
The person sitting at a computer updating something-or-other: "Wow! How did you do it?"
The person in the back on the phone: "You're looking great! Nice work!" (He must have been on hold -- otherwise, he really confused the person on the other line)

Anyway, my ring size was 9 when the ring was purchased in early 2003. I'm now a size 7.5. Those finger aerobics really pay off.

The Power of a Complaint

Jenelle here...

When I was growing up, I would often go to the grocery store with my mom. Every single time, without fail, she would complain about the grotesque mold growing under the handles of the shopping carts. It was quite grotesque. She would often complain to anyone that would listen about the perils of germs.

Well, mom, someone out there heard you. Today at Jewel I noticed free disinfecting wipes to sanitize your cart should you wish to keep your fresh fruit and meat e coli free. So, while your gripe may have been with a Safeway store 1700 miles away, someone at a Jewel in Racine, Wisconsin heard you. Guess you'll just have to move here.

Badgers 24, Wildcats 12

Well, Northwestern fans aren't happy, but the whole state of Wisconsin has no depression whatsoever, which makes me smile. :)

The flowers that were previously displayed on the webcam (now available for viewing here) were purchased at Pick N' Save.

And, as you can see from the latest webcam picture, our butter knife indeed does have a notch. The picture was taken to answer a question from one of the many readers of this log. Thanks for asking!

24 reasons to smile

The flowers currently displayed on the BenCam were purchased on Friday. I hadn't originally intended them to be a Sweetest Day present, but that's what they turned out to be. My general rule is that if you can't remember the last time you bought flowers for your special someone, it's time to make a new memory. :)

Lucky for me, the "holiday" of Sweetest Day, which both Jenelle and me tend to ignore, allowed me to take advantage of quite a sale. Two dozen roses for less than $15. Can you guess from what store I acquired the beautiful bouquet? Feel free to use the comments section to post your guess. The answer will be revealed in the next few days or so.

Celebrity B-Ball

I've decided to play city league basketball on my uncle's team this year (Pinocchio's Restaurant at 31 & 20). We've had two practices so far, which consist mainly of scrimmage games with whoever else happens to be around.

One of the people who we happened to be playing against last night just happened to be 1994 Rose Bowl MVP Brent Moss, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in playing for Wisconsin in 1993. He was certainly the strongest player on the other team, but I wouldn't call his presence dominating. :)

And that's my latest celebrity encounter.

Those of you who have been paying attention to the History Page realize that there were a couple of milestones on October 12 that are worth mentioning here:
Happy Anniversary, Ed & Yolie!
Happy Birthday, Laura!

Is it Autumn yet?

Another exciting weekend for us -- we were at Grandma & Grandpa's house when we watched Northwestern triumph over Indiana in overtime. Today was especially exciting because we watched Sarah, Jenelle's former roommate and maid of honor, run in the Chicago Marathon. We saw her at about mile 25, and she still had plenty of energy left. She finished with no trouble at all. Congratulations, Sarah!

For those who have been waiting for a while, here are the pictures from Hunter's 3rd birthday party.

On Monday, October 4, I forgot to say: Happy Birthday, Aunt Lisa!

Cyberspace Mountain

Thanks to my webspace getting increased from 100 megabytes to over 230 megabytes, I am able to present this 7.5 megabyte movie of our visit to DisneyQuest's Cyberspace Mountain, a very neat roller coaster simulator. It's also accessible via a link from our Disney journal. Enjoy!

Hail to the Chief, part 2

Jenelle here..

Here are some pictures of the Bush rally in Racine. The picture with me in it also has some of my coworkers -- Petrell, Margie and Diane.

#1 #2 #3 #4

Birthdays a plenty

The end of September and beginning of October are busy times for birthdays. Nine months after New Years... hmmm.


Happy Birthday Josie!
Happy Birthday Hunter!
Happy Birthday Grandma!
Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!
Happy Birthday Lucas!

Dancing Disney

All five days of the Disney Journal are now complete! There's also a video of Jenelle dancing with Goofy, Mickey, and Pluto. I hope you enjoy it! I'm also working on importing a video of our Cyberquest Space Mountain roller coaster ride so I can show it to everyone, but my four year-old camcorder is giving me issues. Perhaps it's time to replace it.

Also coming soon: Pictures from Hunter's birthday party.

Hail to the Chief...

Jenelle here...

Yesterday, President Bush visited Racine, and since quite a few execs at SCJ have donated to the Bush campaign, there were extra tickets floating around. Five people in my work group snatched up the tix and we walked down to Pershing Park, about 15 blocks from work.

There were cops and guys with big guns everywhere -- helicopters searching the area, secret service everywhere, snipers on the roof -- they had a pretty large area blocked off. The rally was down by the skateboard park, but we had to enter all the way on the north side of the library, go through security and walk down to the field. Because we had blue tickets, and not red or green tickets -- we got a seat in the bleachers. We were behind the president -- so I got a nice view of his back during the whole speech. I think the green tickets got you a close-up face view.

Once we were seated, Bush campaign volunteers starting passing out flags, poms, shirts and signs -- some where hand-made, some were the typical Bush Cheney '04 signs. My favorite said "Luv Ya, Dub Ya."

We got to the field around 2, but Bush didn't show up til 4. His entourage had at least seven buses, a motorcade and lots of cop cars and unmarked SUVs. Just like the movies.

I was actually surprised how eloquent Bush was -- he stuttered a few times, but I didn't catch any blatant mispronunciation -- for the most part, he got the emPHASis on the right sylLABle. He focused on education, social security, terrorism and Kerry's inability to make a decision. His speaking skills have come a long way in four years.

I think the presidency is a very honorable institution and this was a great opportunity to see the President of the United States -- I may never get that chance again until I am the President --(or at least her speechwriter, press secretary or director of communication!)I took a few pics of the event -- I'll see if I can get them online sometime soon.

Publishing in progress... 80%

Days three and four of the Disney Journal are now online. After the journal is done, I'm hoping to get some video up as well. I'm also working on something else big that's website-related, but it's hard to say how big it will actually be.

Tomorrow, I am participating for the second time in Joe's Run for United Cerebral Palsy of Southeastern Wisconsin. This time, I will actually be running. I doubt I'll be able to beat the time I posted at the Roma 5K, since I haven't been running as much as I used to. However, it should still be fun. I'll probably see Danny and D from 105.3 the Fish there again.

It all started with a mouse

The first two days of our Disney Journal are online! There's plenty of photos in there -- maybe not enough for Uncle Nick -- but I assure you there are lots of 'em. :)

Disney Log in progress...

Last Monday: Happy Birthday, Aunt Gail!
Yesterday (Thursday): Happy Birthday, Dad!

I'm continuing work on a journal of our Disney World Trip. I also need to make some room on my iDisk for all of the pictures we took. I'm short by about 8 megabytes at the moment, but I promise I'll make room somehow. :)

Remember the Magic

We returned from a five-day vacation to Walt Disney World at about 8:40 last night. We're both back at work today. We both agree that we should have taken an extra vacation day to recover. Oh well.

However, as soon as we get a little more free time, there will be lots of pictures and details from our trip, which was quite wonderful.

Watch out for Ivan

I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at hurricane forecasts even though I live far from the Atlantic coast. It's interesting that, with all the technology we have today, we haven't found a way to reduce the huge impact of tropical storms. My thoughts and prayers go out to anyone whose lives have been altered because of hurricanes, especially those affected by Charley and Frances.

Things haven't been too exciting over the past week or so, but that's no excuse for not posting in a while. I had a fun time on Thursday afternoon -- I took Grandpa Nick to the horse racing track at Arlington. We both did okay. On Sunday, we gathered to visit my cousin Todd, who made a trip up from his current residence in Texas. It's always nice to visit with one of the groomsmen at my wedding. I just realized that all of my groomsmen live outside of Wisconsin. Maybe I need more friends. :)

I can't promise that I'll post more frequently in the days to come, but I do promise some more exciting stuff to appear here or on the main site within the next few weeks.

Dinner with Nick & Iz

Jenelle here...

Ben's grandparents, Nick and Isabelle, celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary back in July. It took us a while, but we finally took them out to dinner to celebrate. We've only been out to dinner with just the two of them a couple times, but everytime we go we're reminded just how well-loved they are. For example, when Ben and I arrived at the restaurant, Nick & Iz were already seated at the table of their choice and talking and laughing with the restaurant owner. After we ordered our food, the waitress brought out Italian bread and cheesy garlic bread -- compliments of the house.

Grandma Iz ordered one of the specials -- breaded cod -- and Grandpa Nick snuck a few bites. He told our waitress how great the cod was, and with wink and a smile she asked him if he wanted a couple more pieces. His mouth was saying no, but his head was nodding an emphatic yes. A few minutes later, the waitress came out with a heaping plate of breaded cod -- free of charge.

After we had eaten and eaten and eaten tons of food, the waitress brought us our check, but asked us not to leave... dessert was still on the way. Four bowls of spumoni ice cream.. again, compliments of the house.

Maybe it's just their friendly demeanor, but Nick and Iz sure know how to get the best service at any restaurant!

Wishin'

Here's a photo from the Walk for Wishes that Jenelle and I attended on Saturday morning. We had lots of fun, and we helped support the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin.

I thought it was an appropriate time to update my wish list, so I did that. Enjoy!

Walkin' Season Already?

Last Saturday: Happy Birthday, Gina!

Last September and October, I participated in four fundraising walks. This year, the number might actually increase. The fun begins this Saturday at the Milwaukee Walk for Wishes to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation. Jenelle and I will both be participating. We're not going to do a lot of bugging people about donations, but let us know if you'd like to make a contribution.

A big thank you to Uncle Nick, who is giving us lots of guidebooks and tips for our trip to Walt Disney World next month. I last visited in 2000; Jenelle has never been there. It's going to be great fun.

31 + 3

I'm one day late on these:
Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!
Happy Anniversary, Andrew & Holly!

I added one April event to the history site, which will continue to get PR in this weblog. Can you guess on what day the event occurs? Hint: The day has a 2 and a 6 in it. :)

In other news, I'm continuing to play guitar on Wednesday nights at church. I'm reaching the point where I'm trying to play a lot of the songs without even looking at the chord sheet in front of me. For some reason, I get nervous when I do that. Perhaps I should just not even have the sheet in front of me and see how well I do. I've been playing a lot of the songs for at least a year, so they should be pretty well-established in my brain.

Anyway, if you ever want to see me play, the service is at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 2219 Washington Avenue, Racine, on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. I guarantee good seats. :)

Thirsting for more?

I had the craziest dream last night. I was extremely thirsty. I recall being at many different locations drinking every available flavor of Gatorade. To my surprise, nothing would quench my thirst! On some Monday mornings, it's very difficult to get out of bed without hitting the snooze button on the alarm a few times. Today, it was not a problem. I walked directly to the kitchen and drank a huge glass of water. :)

Time to make another plug for the history site, which mentions that pictures can be added to any event. Those of you would like a living example of this, be sure to check out the site this coming Wednesday. Or, if you're very eager to check this out, just do an event query for August 18.

By the way -- for the entire month of April, there's no events in the database. Gasp. Can anyone think of some historical Isaacson family moments that occurred in April? Anyone?

Photo Time

This oughta keep everyone busy for a while:

Oregon Trip - General Photos

Oregon Trip - Amanda and Dave's Wedding

Oregon Trip - Street of Dreams

Okay, back to the olympics. :)

Celebrations All Around

Congratulations to Eric, Gina, and Hunter on the new addition to their family. Tanner was born on August 8.

Jenelle and I have returned from Oregon. Amanda and Dave's wedding was wonderful. Jenelle was the most beautiful flower girl I've ever seen. :)

I took 140 photos throughout the course of the trip. After I figure out the best way to organize them, you'll see the best of those 140 photos online!

We're looking forward to a fairly calm weekend ahead. We'll be catching up on correspondence, cleaning the condo, and doing plenty of other "recently got back from out of town" type tasks. I'll also be planning for the upcoming "Walk Season". I participated in four fundraising walks last year -- we'll see how many I attend in the coming months.

Ready for the Big Day

Yesterday: Happy Birthday, Eric!
Eric and his wife, Gina, are expecting their second child any day now. Prayers for a smooth delivery are in order.

Things continue to be exciting here in Oregon. The rehearsal was at 10 a.m. yesterday morning, and a meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory followed. The wedding is at the Willamette Valley Vineyards near Salem. The vineyard is on a hill (like I'm guessing most are), so there's a great view, which I have already captured on digital film. It's a beautiful place to get married -- and that explains why there were two other weddings going on yesterday after the rehearsal.

The dinner (or would you call it lunch?) was also very nice. Family and friends shared stories about Amanda and Dave -- everything from when they met to when Dave proposed. The parents had plenty to tell about their childhood years, which was really cute. After the meal, we gathered around them and prayed for their future together. This was something I had never experienced at a rehearsal dinner before, but I think it really prepared us for the joy and excitement that today's wedding will bring.

More fun stories from our trip when I have the chance to write about 'em.

I'm So Exciting

Our travels to Oregon yesterday were fairly smooth. The only trouble we had is that our luggage did not get successfully transferred from the MKE-ORD plane to the ORD-PDX plane in time, so our bags were delivered to us this morning. No big deal at all.

Speaking of the luggage, here's an interesting tale from the MKE airport. After we checked in, we put our three bags in the spot where the agent could properly tag them. The agent completed his task and handed the boarding passes to Jenelle. Clearly excited by the fact that we were on our way to Oregon, Jenelle grabbed the passes and began the walk toward the gate. What she forgot is the agent mentioning that we had to take our three pieces of checked luggage (weighing a total of about 60 pounds) to the big x-ray scanners about 20-30 yards from the ticket counter.

Standing by the three bags, watching Jenelle leave me behind, and laughing inside at her oversight, I said, "Oh, I guess I'm supposed to carry these." I slung my carry-on backpack over my shoulders, hoisted the dufflebag-style luggage over my left shoulder, and grabbed the handles of the remaining two suitcasess, one with each hand.

As I began my trek to the scanners, Jenelle quickly realized her mistake. She looked back at me with the cutest "oops" smile I've ever seen. "You need any help with those?" she asked with a chuckle. "Nah, I got 'em," was my reply, also with a chuckle. We were soon on our way to the gate.

If more interesting things happen to us while we're out here, I'll be sure to post them. Have a great weekend, all!

366 and counting...

Happy Birthday, Ella!

I just fixed a bug in the History Site that was preventing any events with a day less than 10 from showing up on the main page. If you did an event lookup on such a day, the events would show up fine. The entry for Ella's birthday is now appearing as it should. A big thank you to all of the people who e-mailed me about the problem.

Also, congratulations to Holly for entering event number FIFTY into the database. Exciting!

Catching up

Two short photo albums:
Rachel's Third Birthday
Roma Lodge Italian Festival

From Friday: Happy Birthday, Adam W.!

As usual, I've been pretty lazy in updating the webjournal. Oops. This weekend was another fun one. Jenelle and I saw Anchorman on Friday. We comprised 25% of the entire viewing audience. We went to dinner at Gibson's Charhouse on Douglas, which was a Big Boy the last time I was there -- the food was suprisingly good.

Saturday was a relaxing day -- we didn't do a whole lot of exciting stuff, but we did run a bunch of errands and clean up the condo a bit. Of course, you wouldn't know that by looking at the place now. :)

On Sunday, we went to Lodi to see Gail, Mike, Laura, and several other members of the Isaacson family. We celebrated the third anniversary of Ryan's departure for heaven. We are all thankful for the ways he blessed us, but it's hard not to think about what life would be like if he was still here today. In any case, I truly enjoy trips to Lodi. It's always nice to visit with family -- and while Minocqua has transformed into a tourist trap, Lodi remains a quaint small town.

I didn't have to "work" on Monday, because my team had a group outing to Great America. I managed to ride all of the roller coasters I planned on riding. The only one that had a wait more than 20 minutes was Superman. It took over an hour, but I think it was worth it.

More fun is ahead in the coming weeks. I'll try and keep you loyal webreaders a little better informed.

Enjoy Roma

41st Place. Oh yeah!

The 2004 Roma Lodge Italian Festival was lots of fun. I didn't bring my camcorder this year -- it's always best to wait a year or two before releasing hilarious movies featuring the Comande family and their exciting adventures at the festival. And don't forget about Mr. Roma, either.

Though it was lots of fun, there was one slight "downer" on Sunday -- at approximately 4pm, my favorite Italian Festival treat, "pane fritto" -- also known as fried dough -- sold out. I remember the good ol' days when I managed to eat 10 of them in a single weekend. I had to stop at four this year. Oh well. Perhaps my stomach is thankful. :)

Pictures sometime soon!

Team Cuisine

My group at work has a lot of fun together -- probably because our bosses are always up for some fun event, whether it's group pedicures and facials, movie days, field trips or today's event -- Team Cuisine. The Global Public Affairs and Communication team at Johnson Financial asked my group to take a trip with them to The American Inn in Kohler, Wisconsin, for a team cooking contest.

We split into five groups and each were responsible for cooking one dish: crab cakes, mustard and herb asparagus and phyllo, smoked onion and black bean soup with three tomato salsa and cumin sour cream, Herb-crusted tenderloin of been in a roasted garlic sauce, and finally, tiramisu. Then the head banquet chef judged them all on presentation, taste and adherence to the recipe. Mom, you will be very happy to know that my asparagus and phyllo combo took home the top prize! We had a lot of fun, got to eat some great food, and best yet, didn't have to work today!

Immediate Family Fun

Here's the highly-anticipated list of great moments from Andrew, Holly, and Ella's visit to the Midwest:
---
After another close eight ball match between Andrew and me, Dad came downstairs to demonstrate a new golf hole setup. A tricky par four spanning the length of the main basement room. He said that it was next to impossible to score better than birdie. Without too much effort, he scored an eagle 2.
---
We spent about an hour in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's condo. We used Ella's beach ball to play an exciting game of a keep-away. Jenelle and I tried to break Andrew's record of eight consecutive throws. On two occasions, Andrew was able to stop us at seven. Only after a tremendous struggle did we succeed in reaching nine.
---
Holly's stepdad (Dave), Andrew, Holly, and I played several hands of Texas Hold 'Em. On the big blind after two calls, Dave was about to fold. I mentioned that he only had to check, so he decided to do that. I raised him all-in after flopping a pair, expecting him to fold right away. He called because he had flopped top two pair. Lucky for him, not so lucky for me. :)
---
We were all in the basement at my parent's house. Andrew and I were playing my newly-acquired Dance Dance Revolution game. To my surprise, my dad AND my mom also played a song or two. Even Ella joined in the fun for a while. :)
---

This weekend will have more fun times because it's the weekend of the Roma Lodge Italian Festival. I'll be sure to take my camera.

Incredibly Behind

Sorry, folks.  I know it' s been a while.  I hope you can wait a little bit longer.

Coming soon:
Fun moments from the 4th of July week
Pictures from Rachel's Birthday Party

Well spent

I thought I had posted links to these photo albums on the 8th. Oops. Here they are:

3rd of July
4th and 5th of July

It was wonderful to be able to spend lots of time with Andrew, Holly, and Ella while they visited us last week. I'll write more about it as soon as I finish compiling my list of memorable moments. :)

Me Smile Pretty One Day

As some of you may know, I now have braces! They're not your traditional braces. No brace face or metal mouth here. These new invisalign braces are clear, pop in over my teeth and are removable. My orthodontist took a mold of my teeth and now I get lots of clear liners that slowly move my teeth. Because they're clear, most people don't even know I have them! The liners are designed using 3D software to simulate how my teeth should move to make them straight. Click here to see a video of how my teeth look now and how they will slowly change this year into a big, beautiful smile!

Party Time?

The forecast is for rain tomorrow night. I hope it's not too bad, because plenty of people are dropping by for a little party and fireworks watching.

Yesterday evening, I managed to run 6.68 miles in a hour. That's just under nine minutes per mile. I haven't been exercising as frequently as earlier this year, but I'm still managing to lose a pound a week. I'm thrilled about that.

Otherwise, nothing exciting to report. Those of you who check this log frequently are welcome to send us some questions over e-mail, and perhaps we'll answer them in the next post! :)

Splashing Good Fun

On Friday: Happy Birthday, Ed!

On Saturday: Happy Golden Birthday, Me!

There was lots of fun at a neighborhood carnival at Our Savior's on Friday evening. There's a photo album here and a movie of me in the dunk tank here. Yup, that's right, I was in a dunk tank. It was a great experience -- the only trouble was the platform I sat on. If you don't sit far enough forward, the platform hits you in the back as you fall in. Thanks to Allison, one of the summer interns, who pointed that out to me before my stay in the tank.

My birthday wasn't all that eventful, but that's how I liked it. We went shopping at various places and ventured to Tenuta's in Kenosha for dinner. Tenuta's has some of the best pizza I have ever tasted. They use to have a location in Sturtevant, about five minutes away from our house. I could probably have run there in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, that location closed about a year ago because of some lease issues. In any case, it was worth the 25-minute drive. There's still some leftovers in the fridge. :)

We checked out Kenosha Bible Church this morning. They have a unique service experience called "Video Cafe". After grabbing a muffin and some coffee or juice, you can sit at a table with other worshippers. After the contemporary-style band warms everyone up, we watch the pastor's sermon, taped at the earlier service in the sanctuary. We might visit there again.

After the service, we went to Woodman's market (also in Kenosha) and stocked up on items for our upcoming fireworks party. I think we're well prepared for the exciting weeks ahead!

New Site Feature! (Beta Testing)

There's a new feature on the site. It's called This Day in Isaacson Family History. It's an interactive site that allows family members to add events from family history into a database. The page automatically changes every day. Here's what it has to offer:

Today's Entries (start page) - Lists all of the events in the database for today (Jenelle's birthday currently appears).
Event Query - Use this to view all events for a particular month and day. Try June 26. :)
Add Event - Fill out a form to add another event to the database. It can be a birthday, wedding, or anything else significant. After I approve the entry, everyone will be able to see it.
Update Event - If an event needs correction or more information, you can use this e-mail the requested changes to me. (currently not working)
Delete Event - If an event, for whatever reason, should not appear in the database, you can send me an e-mail to request that it be deleted. (currently not working).

You can access the site from the link above OR the link that I will put up shortly on the main site. After I get the rest of the site up and running (and perhaps make it look a little prettier), I'll notify family members via e-mail.

Feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment if you have any troubles with the site or suggestions for improvement. Enjoy!

The Big Two-Three

Jenelle is 23 today! Happy Birthday!

Since we're both working today, we celebrated yesterday. After I made breakfast, we saw The Terminal at Westgate Cinema. It was a pretty good movie -- we both agreed that our favorite part involved a "Caution: Wet Floor" sign. For some strange reason, Jenelle decided that she wanted pizza for dinner. I happily granted that request. After dinner, we didn't do all that much, but we did complete our once-every-four-weeks ritual of cleaning for the cleaning person. Anyone who has someone clean for them on a regular basis knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Things I bought for Jenelle this year included: A subscription to inStyle magazine, a headset for use with our cell phone, and the new Third Day CD.

Now, all of you fathers out there are probably wondering -- yesterday was Father's Day, so why didn't you do something nice for your parents? Well, knowing that we'd be spending the day together, the two of us took my dad (and my mom) out to dinner at the Chancery on Friday night. We also had time yesterday to call each of our fathers and wish them a happy day. Interesting fact: Jenelle was born on Father's Day.

Summer Days

Plans are underway for our big July 3rd party. If you haven't been invited yet (and you're not some random stranger who came upon this weblog), let me know.

In other news, I ran a 5K outside today after getting my hair cut (courtesy of SuperCuts). There was a decent breeze, so I didn't get overly sweaty. You might notice that I've updated the "Personal Bests" section on the right-hand column. I still prefer running on a treadmill, as it's not as tough on the knees. However, an outdoor stroll is a nice change of pace. I'm still losing weight, but not nearly as fast as I was back in February.

Looking for more content? Please post ideas in the comments section. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

I should have posted this on Friday the 11th: Happy Birthday, Cousin Suzy! :)

Mr. Fidelity is rolling over in his grave

I recently received a letter in the mail from Fidelity saying my former employer, Fox, was going to cash out my 401(k) and send me a check. I'm not quite ready to retire yet, so I called Fidelity and asked how to roll my funds into my new SC Johnson 401(k). They told me it was easy-- I needed to download a form online and send it in. I would get a check in the mail from Fidelity that was payable to Fidelity and I would have to mail that back to Fidelity with a different form. It seemed like a lot of red tape, and it cost me $50, but I had a few hundred bucks in there, so I went ahead and did that.

Well, it turns out nothing in the financial world is easy, and all those forms did was put my money in an IRA. So, I called them back, and they told me I had to fill out yet another form sending all that money into my SCJ 401(k). So I filled out the form and sent it in just like they told me, but apparently that wasn't good enough because I got yet another check in the mail from Fidelity payable to Fidelity that I had to send back to Fidelity with another form. Well, they mailed that check back to me because apparently I didn't fill out the right form... even thought it was the one they told me to fill out.

So I finally sent them the correct form and lo and behold, I had successfully rolled over my 401(k). Or so I thought. A few days later I was checking out my 401(k) balance online and the brilliant masterminds at Fidelity had deposited nine cents in dividends into my old account.

For a while I was concerned that it would cost me a buck in postage to get my nine cents back, so I decided to leave the fund alone. Well, I guess Fidelity figured out that they screwed up somewhere because a few days ago, in the mail I received this: A check for $.09!!! I'm sure I'll have to pay some tax penalty for cashing out before my 59th birthday.

What concerns me most about this whole process is that these are the buffoons who are managing my life savings! Maybe I should just put all the cash in a shoebox in the closet.

Muscle gain

On Monday, Jenelle and I attended a fitness course at the JMBA called "Strictly Strength". We thoroughly enjoyed the course and got a great workout. Having lost 35 pounds in the past several months, I'm hoping to add some muscle mass.

There was only one problem with the course -- I am the only male attendee. I originally was planning to sign up by myself, and I convinced Jenelle to join me. However, for my comfort, we've agreed to change our story. If anyone asks, Jenelle is the one who wanted to attend the course, and I'm "supporting her" in her efforts to become more fit. Heh.

Otherwise, it's another busy week in Wisconsin. I have a list of about ten small things to do at home, and I'm hoping to get most of them done before the end of the week. Most of them involve cleaning something or buying something.

If you have a spare moment, Congratulate my grandma on getting a new computer. I helped her set it up. :)

Saturday the 5th: Happy Birthday, Brinkles! (a.k.a. Mike)
Monday the 7th: Happy Birthday, Adam H.!

Hallelujah

I just got a USB wireless network adapter to function properly at church.

And there was much rejoicing!

Rock Island Rocks

I just added a brand new newsletter to our site. It talks about our trip to Rock Island, IL over the weekend.

In other news, Happy Birthday, Fil!. Fil has his own web site. Enjoy!

What happens in Vegas... is on the web!

Here's the much anticipated photo album fromJenelle's Vegas Trip.

Viva Las Vegas

It has come to my attention that I have quite a few fans out there (yes, Grandma, I'm talking about you!) So here it is, your first ever Jenelle post on Ben & Jenelle's Web Journal. Enjoy!

The past few weeks have been pretty busy for me, and since I know you all find my life fascinating, here's the 50 cent tour of the month of May:

May 7-9, Ben and I went to Oklahoma City for Lia's wedding-- we had a great time and it was nice to be back in a sunny state! I got to catch up with friends from high school and college-- Lia, Rose, Justin and Melanie.

May 14-15, I spent the weekend in Lake Geneva with my AWANA group. The goal of AWANA is "to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve him." Throughout the year, the girls work through a handbook and this year, we took those who finished their book to Covenant Harbor Bible Camp in Lake Geneva. We had a blast- the weather was gorgeous, the camp was beautiful and the girls had lots of fun running around, sitting on the pier and toasting s'mores.

May 19-21, while Ben was in Philadelphia, I went to Las Vegas for the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference. Each year, Ragan presents 10 awards to outstanding corporate publications, and this year, my team at SC Johnson was honored with three awards, including Best Overall! On top of that, we gave a presentation on how to have a quality publication without a lot of money. It was my first time presenting in front of a big group of people who were interested in what I had to say. But it went very well. We even hired some actors to dress up as a giant ziploc bag and a giant bottle of pledge to greet people as they entered the presentation. I did lose about 20 bucks at the slot machine, but as Ben says, they don't build those places on winners. We'll have some pictures up on the web site soon. As Ben mentioned in an earlier post, we got back home pretty early Saturday morning, so we slept through most of the day.

May 23 I woke up to the news that Sam Johnson had passed away after battling cancer. Until a few years ago, Sam was the Chairman of SC Johnson (where we work.) He had passed the baton to his son Fisk, but has long been the guiding force behind many of the company's decisions. He was a brilliant businessman, and environmental leader and a true family man. Throughout the past week, we've realized just how much he meant to the Racine community. Flags are at half mast, white ribbons tied throughout the city in honor of Sam, and today thousands of people attended his memorial service. He will be dearly missed in our community, and our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Johnson family.

As you can see, May has been a pretty busy month for us, and this weekend we're thinking of heading to Rock Island, Illinois to visit my good friend Sarah. She's home from law school in Boston for Memorial Day weekend. More on that next week.

And, finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Crazy return from Philly

Before I talk about my flight back to Chicago from the city of brotherly love, I would just like to comment that this week's Strongbad E-mail is a must-see for anyone who has ever been to Disneyland / Disneyworld and rode the Jungle Cruise.

I was scheduled to leave PHL at 7:15 on Friday night, arriving at O'Hare around 9pm local time. Working my way through the crowds in the United terminal, I discovered that my flight was canceled, but I was booked on the 6:15 flight with no trouble at all. I also noticed that the 4:00, 5:00, and 6:15 flights to O'Hare were all DELAYED. Yikes. After grabbing a $2 slice of pizza (not bad for the airport), I made my way to the gate. I sat where I could see the departure board so that I could keep tabs on the other two flights.

Seven O'Clock. My flight is still delayed. There's bad weather in O'Hare, and even after it's passed through, it will still be directly in between Philadelphia and Chicago.

Eight O'Clock. Still delayed. The other two PHL-ORD flights are also delayed.

Nine O'Clock. My flight gets canceled. I wait in line for a boarding pass on the flight originally scheduled to leave at 5:00. To my surprise, I have no trouble getting one.

Ten O'Clock. I board the 5:00 flight. We sit out on the runway for a while.

Eleven O'Clock. We finally take off. The captain mentions that we'll be flying south around the storms.

Midnight. We're somewhere in Kentucky, still quite a distance from Chicago. By 12:30, we're in a holding pattern over St. Louis.

One O'Clock. The captain mentions that we might have to land somewhere besides O'Hare because we don't have an abundance of fuel left. At one point, he says something like, "We'll see if we can make it". I envision the captain and first officer tapping on the gas gauge to determine if there's enough left in the tank. "Hey, Bill, have you ever seen the fuel read this low before?"

One Thirty. We land safely at O'Hare. Yay.

Two O'Clock. Jenelle and I meet at the American terminal and head for economy parking.

Two Thirty. We leave the airport.

Four O'Clock. We arrive safely at our condo.

So, it was quite an interesting evening / morning. I'm thankful that Jenelle and I both made it back to Chicago without having to sleep somewhere in an airport.

More pictures up

I have photos from the ECFA Bike & Hike online!

Coming soon -- tales from my trip to Philadelphia and Jenelle's trip to Vegas. There will be pictures from Vegas, too!

Day four of my five-day class is about to begin. I'm not having any trouble with the material, and I think I'll be well-equipped when I return to normal work on Monday.

Otherwise, I'm sorry to say that life is pretty uneventful around here. I have plenty of time to work out and then relax in the evenings. There's a grocery store and a K-mart within walking distance, so I can always go to those places if I need something. Business trips are always a bit of a challenge in terms of food. The company pays for your meals, so you can go crazy for every meal if you want. I try to take a more practical approach; I've ordered out once (pizza delivery), and the rest of my breakfasts and dinners are made from the groceries I bought on Monday (or leftover pizza). There's no scale that I can use to check my weight, but I think I'm still under 195. :)

I'm heading back on a Friday evening flight. If a "bump" is offered, I'll probably take it.

Outdoor Trek

On Saturday, while Jenelle was camping in Lake Geneva with her AWANA group, I drove up to Waukesha for a "Bike & Hike" event sponsored by the Evangelical Child & Family Agency (ECFA). I ran about 5k. According to my stopwatch, it only took me 25:04 to finish. I'm thinking that I actually ran a distance shorter than 5k, because it took me 30 minutes to run a 5k in Sturtevant on Thursday, and I wasn't really pushing my limits on Saturday.

I once again met up with Danny Clayton and D Steward from 105.3 The Fish. They remembered me from Joe's Run last September, so it was neat to catch up with them and talk about my exercise habits. They even noticed that I've lost weight (about 32 pounds in 16 weeks for those of you keeping track).

I have pictures from this event, and I'll get them on the web sometime this weekend. For those of you who like to read more news from Jenelle, I'll try and get her to do a write-up of her camping trip.

Better than Vegas

I am currently in a town near Philadelphia, PA for work. I flew in from Chicago yesterday. My trip over was slightly more eventful than usual.

I was scheduled to take the 3:00 flight from O'Hare to Philadelphia, arriving around 6:20. The flight was oversold, so the agent offered a free roundtrip ticket in exchange for a "bump" to an alternate flight arrangement. Instead, I'd leave O'Hare around 4, and I'd fly to Washington National and then to Philadelphia, arriving in PHL at about 9:30 p.m. I'd have to wait a bunch and take two planes instead of one, but I'm happy to do that for a free ticket. I accepted the offer and waited for the agent to issue me new boarding passes.

SURPRISE #1: The agent secures us passage on a non-stop ORD-PHL flight leaving at 4:15. Hey, works for me -- I arrive an hour or so later than I originally planned. Not bad!

SURPRISE #2: The 4:15 flight is also oversold. I have no idea why they bumped me from one oversold flight to another, but I won't complain.

So, this flight also has a "bump" option, and the agent offers alternate flights through Washington National. By this point, I've met up with another person who has done the exact same thing as me. We get boarding passes on the Washington flight and e-ticket receipts for the US Air flight that gets us to Philadelphia. We are asked to hurry to the gate and board the plane for Washington. Each of us now has TWO free roundtrip tickets.

SURPRISE #3: As we walk down the jetway, we notice that the US Air flight leaves Washington BEFORE our scheduled arrival. We talk to an agent at the front of the plane who advises us to stay in Chicago -- our chances of getting to Philadelphia before midnight are best if we try to get on a later non-stop flight from O'Hare.

We go back to the agent who originally booked us on the Washington flight. To make a long story short, I get booked on the 7:00 p.m. flight to Philadelphia. The person with me got a seat on the 4:15 flight that opened up at the last minute. She had to drive to New Jersey after landing in Philadelphia, so it was a no-brainer to let her have that seat rather than draw for it.

SURPRISE #4: The 7:00 flight was also oversold, and the agent was offering a really sweet deal -- hotel accommodations, meal vouchers, and a FIRST CLASS seat on a non-stop ORD-PHL flight leaving at noon the next day. I had to get here for my class this morning, so I couldn't take them up. But I would have loved three free roundtrip tickets in two days.

I arrived in Philadelphia around 10:00 p.m. local time, and I got to the hotel with no further surprises.

I have no idea how United can make money doing things like this, but I wonder if anyone could ever get in a situation in which they were bumped ad infinitum, receiving one free ticket after another.

The class lunch break is ending, but feel free to post comments if you have questions about my joyride yesterday. :)

Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed

For Jenelle, Wednesday night is AWANA night. She travels to Winnetka Bible Church to be a leader to a group of 10 sixth grade girls. Tonight was a special occasion -- awards night. I joined Jenelle on her weekly trek to help her celebrate the completion of another year with her students and colleagues. Here's a shot of Jenelle in her AWANA uniform with two of her girls. I'm proud to say that Jenelle won an award for being the person who traveled the furthest each week. It was great to meet the other leaders that she works with on a regular basis. They're all very nice!

Jenelle will be traveling to Covenant Harbor Bible camp this weekend with other leaders and 12 girls who completed their AWANA assignment books. Perhaps we'll have some photos of that for you next week.

A Life in Focus

I can't believe I forgot to blog this. An article about Andrew was in The Journal Times earlier this week. Enjoy!

Site Update! Woohoo!

New on the site today:
Another newsletter. This is the first one in about four months.
A photo album from our trip to Oklahoma City this weekend. Congratulations to Lia and Dave, who got married on Saturday!

I'd also like to point out a neat new feature of this blog. You can now add comments! See the link just to the right of "posted by Ben" below? The number in parentheses refers to the number of comments people have left. I've left one just to show you how it works. Feel free to add comments to this or any other entry in the blog. Enjoy!

bffffffffft

Yeah, I know, it's been over a week. I don't even have a good excuse, but there's plenty of things happening right now.

Last week, a power surge hit my parents' subdivision. They lost two televisions, the computer, a microwave, and a few other appliances. Actually, the computer is okay. The power supply was fried, but the processor and the hard drive are a-okay. I was over at their house today helping reconnect the computer and helping install the new microwave. Others in the subdivision had fire damage, so things actually turned out pretty well for Mom and Dad.

Wow! It's late. I'll try and get another newsletter up soon with pictures of our bedroom furniture.

And since I probably won't post tomorrow....
Happy Birthday, Todd!

Confidence Booster

I finished second in the latest poker tournament at Adam's place on Saturday night. This is a big improvement from my last two performances (eighth and sixth).

For those of you poker fans, here's a description of probably the most exciting hand of the night:

With four players remaining, I am on a short stack, as is Carl, the player to my immediate left. The other two players are doing fairly well. I'm on the button. Adam, the player to my right, folds. I draw a pair of nines and decide to go all-in. Carl, who has fifty cents more than me, calls without much hesitation. Loren, the player across the table also goes all-in.

I'm holding 9s-9d. Carl has Ks-Kc. Loren has Kd-Qh. This makes Carl the favorite before the flop. I'm hoping for a nine to show up.

The flop comes 5s-10c-8h. No help for anyone. The turn card is Jh. This gives Loren an inside straight draw. If a nine comes up on the river, I would have three of a kind, but his straight would beat me. Am I drawing dead?

Nope. This picture shows the table shortly after the final card was dealt. What a lucky draw for me.

More photos for you!

Here are pics from the MS Walk.

We ended up having only five SC Johnson team members at the walk, but we still had fun. The weather was nice enough for shorts, and even though we were right by the lake, it was comfortable most of the time.

After 2.5 days off last week, it's time for a full week of work for Jenelle and me. Which also means I'll be trying to make three or more trips to the fitness center. I'm managing to run 4.5+ miles every workout, about which I'm very pleased.

However, I still need to practice my guitar more frequently. I guess I'll go do that now.

The heat is off

It's a beautiful day in Wisconsin. Jenelle and I will be heading out to enjoy it soon, but we really wanted you to see these Easter Photos. One of my personal favorites is Jenelle with her new sewing machine. Her mom helped her make a cushion for our bedroom out of an extra bed sheet. It turned out really well -- perhaps I'll take a picture of that for the NEXT album.

Oh wait, tomorrow is the MS Walk, so pictures from that event will be in the NEXT album. In any case, we're finding plenty of things to take pictures of these days. :)

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Jenelle's parents flew in from Oregon on Saturday, and they're still in town. Jenelle and I took some vacation from work to spend more time with them, and it's been lots of fun. They're not flying back until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, and we have more exciting things planned before their flight.

Coming soon:
--Easter pictures.
--Pictures of Jenelle and her new sewing machine!

Stay tuned.

Walking for M.S.

My parents, my wife, and I will all be participating in the MS Walk on Sunday, April 18, 2004. This is an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We are walking 3.1 miles to raise awareness and to gather financial support to help find a cure for MS. More information on MS and the walk is available here.

If you'd like to support the four of us in some way, here are some things you can do:
--Give us words of encouragement. I don't know how many of you have friends or family members affected by MS, but sometimes a note that says "I appreciate what you're doing!" goes a long way. I can pass on any e-mail replies to the appropriate person(s).
--If you live in the area, you can participate in the walk yourself. We're actually all signed up on an SC Johnson team (of which I'm the captain), but friends and family are welcome to join it. The more, the merrier!
--If you would like to support us financially, you can give online. Go here and click on the "Pledge a Participant" link by the MS walk logo. If you would like to send a check, e-mail me for details.

After the walk, I'll post an entry here that outlines how everything went. I'll probably get pictures online as well. :)

I appreciate you taking the time to read this message -- just doing that really means a lot.

Music and more

The Concerts section is up, and there's three new sets of pictures. Enjoy!

In other news, I finished sixth in a poker tournament on Friday night. That's two spots better than last time -- woohoo!

Jenelle and I are both excited about the weeks ahead. Her parents are coming in for Easter, which will be great. We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. We're both taking a few days off work.

I haven't lost any more weight in the last week or so, but I haven't gained any either. :)

Coming soon: An announcement about another fundraising walk.

Ask me how

I stepped on our semi-new bathroom scale yesterday evening. I was shocked at what it said.

90.71.

Realizing that the scale had somehow switched to metric, I switched it back to English units, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

199.6.

I have lost an estimated 25 pounds in 10 weeks. I am not doing Atkins or South Beach, or even that points thing. All that I've done is eat a bit less and start exercising at least 3 times a week, usually for about 45 minutes each trip. It also helps that I haven't had a slice of pizza in 34 days. :)

Thanks to everyone who sent us anniversary cards and gifts -- Jenelle and I celebrated on Monday by going to dinner at Salute Italian Restaurant in downtown Racine. We also ate one of the leftover chocolate bars that were favors at the wedding.

Sorry for the delay on the concert pictures -- with luck, I'll have them up by the weekend.

Got a haircut on Monday

Thursday's concert was amazing. I'm going to put pictures up, along with some pictures from the Bleeding Charity concert from a couple of weeks ago, in a new "concerts" section of my home page. As you might expect, I'll post here as soon as they're up.

Jenelle and I are celebrating a couple of anniversaries this weekend. Friday was our four-year dating anniversary, and Monday is our one-year wedding anniversary. We haven't done anything really exciting, but we did go shopping at Brookfield, Southridge, and both outlet malls in Kenosha.

We're also enjoying our new digital cable box. It allows us to record two programs at once and pause live TV. Today, there was four hours of coverage of PGA golf (The Players' Championship). I started watching it an hour after it actually began. I was caught up to the "live" broadcast a couple of hours later, thanks to fast-forwarding over commericials and the parts where golfers are preparing to make their next shot.

So, as you can tell, not a whole lot of excitement this weekend. But we're still having fun. :)

Earplugs Ready

Tonight, Jenelle and I are going to a Newsboys concert with two of my college friends (Adam H. and Fil). We have third row seats. It's going to ROCK! I'll bring my camera.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Sandy!

It's finally getting warm. I think I'll go for a walk outside...

HELLO?

Jenelle and I visited Grace Church once again this morning. Once again, the service was very nice.

Once again, the welcome room was empty after the service. And this time, the lights were off. That's a step in the wrong direction.

We have some commitments at Our Savior's that prevent us from attending next week -- but just in case anyone at Grace is reading this -- we will be back. :)

Eat More Chikin

From 9:30 p.m. last night until 10:30 p.m. this morning, Jenelle and I were at Regency Mall, waiting in line at Chick Fil-A. Why were we waiting for 13 hours? The first 100 people in line received coupons for 52 free combo meals, redeemable anytime between now and March 31, 2005. So, Jenelle and I have 104 coupons for free combo meals. Yum. My mom joined the party shortly after 3 a.m. and also got free coupons. In our 20/20 hindsight, we could have been one of the first 100 if we had arrived at 6 a.m. I'll remember that next time. :)

It's been a fun week. On Tuesday night, Jenelle and I went to the Bucks-Blazers game at the Bradley Center with Uncle Randy and Aunt Liz. Which reminds me, Happy Birthday, Aunt Liz! I should have said posted that on Tuesday. Jenelle enjoyed the game a little bit more because the Blazers won on a last-second shot. However, we were all happy that it was a close game.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy with the usual -- church, work, workin' out. I did set a personal best on Monday -- 5 miles in 45 minutes. I haven't been able to repeat that feat since then. Tomorrow is another week!

Hello?

The concert on Friday night was quite fun. The band gave their greatest performance yet. I brought my camera as you can see from this, this, and this. It was nice to just hang out with people our own age.

Speaking of people our own age, Jenelle and I went to Grace Church this morning after the service at Our Savior's. We thoroughly enjoyed the service. I saw someone who attended Our Savior's back when I was in middle school, and I saw one of my co-workers playing the saxophone in the worship band. Everything was fine except for one small issue.

In the pews is a "Welcome Guest!" card that explains a few different things about the church. There was a section to fill out to give to an usher/staff person, so we filled that part out. Also, Jenelle and I were particularly intrigued by the following paragraph:
Welcome Room
On your way out of the building today, please stop in the Welcome Room. It's located to your right as you exit through the center sanctuary doors. There you will find regular Grace Church attendees and a staff member who can answer questions for you, give you a tour of the building and help you get connected!

I'm thinking: "Yes! That's exactly what we're looking for. We can get a tour of the place (which is huge) and ask about opportunities to meet more people our age. I wish Our Savior's had room for something like that!" After the service ended, we had no trouble locating the Welcome Room. Through the window, we noticed several comfortable chairs. The room wasn't as big as I imagined it. In fact, it resembled a waiting room that you might find at a doctor's office, minus the reception window. Oh yeah, and there was one more problem.

The room was empty.

Besides the furniture, there wasn't a soul inside the Welcome Room. We walked around for a moment, wondering if perhaps the welcomers hadn't arrived yet or had taken a break for some reason. The room remained empty. Jenelle and I had some decision-making to do. We both decided that we shouldn't have to ASK for somebody to welcome us. That didn't seem right. It's like when you want your spouse to buy you a gift for a special occasion but you don't want to have to ASK him/her to buy you a gift. He/she should just know. We also wouldn't have felt right sitting down in some of those chairs, like we were waiting to begin some sort of counseling session.

We took our comment card, added the phrase "Why was the Welcome Room empty after the service?", gave it to someone at a desk in the center of the building, and headed home. Our phone number and e-mail address is on the comment card, so I'm hoping that someone gives us a call or an e-mail so that we can tell them about our unique experience. I'll be happy to share our story.

So, to the folks at Grace Church -- keep up the good work, and make sure you put someone in your Welcome Room. We'll be back to check on your progress. :)

One more thing before I end this entry.
Happy Birthday, Ashby!

It Keeps You Runnin'

After seven weeks of working out, I'm feeling fantastic. My body mass index (BMI) is now below 27. If I can keep it up, I'll be in the ideal weight range (between 19 and 25) before the start of summer. I was able to go for a run over the lunch hour today. I'm pleased to report that I can run a 5k in about 28:30.

I'm enjoying my new job, but things are still a little bit slow. I'm in the awkward phase where I want more things to do, but I need help to accomplish them. Oh well -- the vibe I'm getting is that things are slow for everybody, and that things will pick up in the near future. I hope I'm ready.

I'm excited about tonight -- Jenelle and I are going to dinner with my buddy Adam, Leslie (Adam's girlfriend), and a few other young folks. After that, it's off to the Beat Kitchen for a concert featuring Bleeding Charity. It's been a while since I've seen Jed, Carl, and the other Adam, and even longer since I've seen them in concert, so it will be a fun night. I'm bringing my camera.

Times at Timber-Lee

I spent Friday evening and most of Saturday at Camp Timber-Lee, near East Troy, WI. I was there as a chaperone at the first ever ELCA Racine Cluster Confirmation Retreat. I got to do more than just watch over some young folks. I played in the worship band, which consisted of musicians from several churches in the cluster. All of them had lots of experience, and it was a joy to play with each of them. I also learned some new songs that might show up at a Wednesday night service at Our Savior's in the near future. :)

A note to all of you folks who are going to be chaperones at a camping event with kids under 15: It is important to prepare mentally as well as physically for this type of activity. Your patience and your resolve will be tested. There were no major disasters at this particular retreat, or even minor ones -- but I found out yesterday that the three boys in my cabin snuck out after I fell asleep. I'm very thankful that God was watching over them. They were walking around the camp sometime between 1 and 4 in the morning, and they didn't get into any serious trouble. I've never been a heavy sleeper, but perhaps I was a bit exhausted from making sure they behaved earlier in the night.

Not much else is going on at the moment. I'm still exercising at least three times a week, and I'll be hitting the fitness center later this afternoon. My new position at SCJ is going well, and I'm keeping up with the workload I've been assigned. Perhaps it's time to ask for a little more.

Famine Pictures. Yeah!

Right here!

Fill 'er up, 20 bucks

Yup, gasoline prices are on the rise.

Anyway, here's the last installment in the Boston trip journal:

Boston Trip, Days Three and Four - February 21-22
Every trip has a day during which you do practically nothing. Saturday was that day for us. We hung out at Sarah's apartment, watching movies, playing cards, ordering Chinese food, and basically relaxing after a lot of walking on Friday. We watched the first Harry Potter movie and What About Bob? I taught Sarah and Jenelle how to play a card game called golf. No, not the one that comes with Windows machines. This is a game in the style of gin with only four cards to a person, and two of them are hidden until the player decides to exchange them. The last time I played that game, I was in Minocqua. Fun times.

We didn't have time to do much on Sunday. We packed up and headed out to the airport. It was a great trip. Thanks to Sarah for showing us around and providing some quality hospitality for us.

More weekend, please :)

The 30-hour famine is over. It's always an interesting time when several youth and a few chaperones spend more than a day roaming about in the church building. The kids always get a little crazy near the end, but all things considered, they were great. Pictures will be up on the church web site by the end of the week.

Boston Trip, Day Two - Friday, February 20
This was by far the most eventful day of the trip. We took Boston's light rail system, also known as the "T", downtown. We walked to Cheers (the restaurant/bar that inspired the TV show), browsing the gift shop and taking a few pictures outside.

We went to several different places to shop, including an old building called Fanueil Hall, which had lots of fun souvenirs. I might have bought a Boston zipper-pull with my name on it, but I didn't consider it worth it to spend $5 to replace the homemade zipper-pull currently on my coat. It's a paper clip with scotch tape around it. Anyway, I did buy a new watch band at a department store called Filene's, and we also went to a huge Macy's store, where I purchased a new pair of brown shoes.

We had a bit of time to kill before dinner, so we decided to catch a movie. To our suprise, the theater was closed for fire alarm maintenance. Oops. After a little bit more shopping, we headed over to Pizzeria Regina. The pizza was a little bit greasy, but it was pretty good. It was also a treat to hear waitresses with authentic Boston accents.

After dinner, we managed to take the "T" to another movie theater. We saw Miracle. I've been meaning to see that one for quite a while because my brother's company (Hornet Animation) did some of the graphics. A fun time was had by all.

Fast in progress...

My apologies for not promptly continuing the journal of the Boston trip. I'll try and get back to that later this weekend.

It is currently hour #7 of the annual 30-hour famine, sponsored by WorldVision. Youth and chaperones (that's Jenelle and me) will be gathering at church later tonight. I'll be taking pictures, and of course I'll share them with everyone after the event is over.

Since I'll probably be busy tomorrow, I'll say this one day early:
Happy Birthday, Dyan!

Palermo, you're relieved

Jenelle and I had a frozen pizza for dinner tonight. It's the last one I'll have in quite a while. As some of you may already know, I am giving up pizza for Lent. I know that other people give up chocolate or meat or whatever, but I don't eat those very much. I decided that this year, I would make a genuine sacrifice. Those of you close to me know how frequently I eat the stuff.

However, when we make sacrifices during Lent or at any other time, we must keep in mind the reason we do such things. It is one of many ways to show deference to our God. There are many people who make similar sacrifices, but not by their own choice. More on that this weekend when I attend the 30 hour famine.

Boston Trip, Day One
Sarah picked us up at the airport and took us to the Union Street Bar/Restaurant for lunch. We didn't run into anyone with a Boston accent, but we enjoyed the atmosphere. After showing us her apartment, we made our way to the hotel. After checking out the hotel's amenities, surfing the internet, and planning the days ahead, we got some carry out dinner at a nearby Thai place. We spent the remainder of the night watching Survivor, CSI, and E.R.. Fun, eh?

I missed somebody's special day yesterday:
Happy Birthday, Uncle Mike!

Boston Photos up!

Check out photos from Boston here. I'll share some details from the trip in the near future.

Weekend in Boston

Hi all! Sorry for the blog "outage" over the past week. From Thursday until today, Jenelle and I went to Boston to visit Sarah, who is Jenelle's former roommate -- she was also the maid of honor at our wedding.

We had a great vacation out there, even though the weather was about the same as it is in Wisconsin. I'll have pictures up soon!

Merry Monday

Valentine's weekend was a blast. Jenelle and I went shopping on both Saturday and Sunday. We went to the Olive Garden for dinner on Saturday night. Wow, what a crowd. All things considered, we didn't really have to wait that long. On Sunday evening, we had dinner with my parents at Cortese's, a quaint Italian restaurant in Kenosha. That was also fun.

A story from our shopping trip. Jenelle and I were at Target purchasing clothing to donate to local school children in need. We found a lot of great items on sale, and we both felt great buying a cart full of things not for us. On our way to the checkout, we saw a shirt in the girls department. It was pink with pictures of cute baby chickens on it. Written below the pictures was the following phrase, punctuated exactly as I have it shown here:

CHICK'S RULE!

This is quite irritating for both Jenelle and me, since we both endeavor to use proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar in everything we do. I'm certainly not perfect, but how can we expect our kids to do any better when absolutely awful punctuation mistakes are printed ON A SHIRT? Just because something is plural does not mean that it gets an apostrophe. Argh.

I'm not really that bitter about it -- but I hope you find this blog entry a bit more informative that my usual contributions.

Valentine's Eve

First, something I should have posted two days ago:
Happy Birthday, Tony!

I'm happy to say that my exercise habit continues. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I went to the SCJ fitness center. Each time, I walked/ran 4 miles in 45 minutes. This corresponds to a speed of roughly 5.3 miles per hour. If I can keep this up, I'll be running in all of those 5k fundraising walks instead of walking. Let's see -- at the same speed, I could complete a 5k in about 35 minutes. However, since I wouldn't need to keep up that pace for a full 45 minutes, I could probably do a little better. Hmmmm.....

Anyone out there have any exciting plans for Valentine's Day? Bueller?

Jenelle and I are going to take it easy -- we've both had a pretty busy week. In any case, I'm sure we'll find some fun things to do. It's our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. :)

Gonna Fly Now

I didn't have any trouble getting home from Philadelphia on Friday night, even though the weather was a bit ugly both departing and arriving in Chicago.

I worked out again last night at the SCJ fitness center. Over the weekend, I created a new playlist on my iPod called "Exercise". It's amazing how the right song can energize you for a workout. Here's a partial list of the songs on the playlist:

"Gonna Fly Now" (from Rocky)
Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger" (also from Rocky)
John Farnham - "Break the Ice" (from the movie Rad)
"Phil's Piano Solo" (from Groundhog Day)
Paul Colman Trio - "Run"
Third Day - "Come Together"
"Hospital Chase" (from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

I usually walk for 2 minutes, run for 4 minutes, and repeat the pattern. Yesterday, I was nearing the end of a 4-minute run when "Gonna Fly Now" came on. How can I slow down when that song comes on? Rocky never slowed down. In fact, he SPRINTED when he got near the museum. So, I kept running until the song was over. I managed to log over 4 miles in 45 minutes, which is the best I've ever done. We'll see if I can do as well tonight.

By the way, I'd like to give a shout out to Mike Brinkley, a friend of mine who has participated in several marathons over the years. I sometimes think of his determination when I'm on the treadmill. Thanks for the inspiration, Mike!

Graduation Day

There's about four hours of class left. Once I learn a bit more about function modules, I'll feel ready to demonstrate my skills at SCJ.

I hope the weather doesn't cause any flight delays / cancellations tonight. There's a flood watch for Philadelphia and light snow predicted for O'Hare and the surrounding area. Assuming there's no issues, I'll be seeing Jenelle just after 8:37 central standard time. Yay!

Yesterday, I went on the treadmill for the fourth consecutive evening, completing my second week of "regular" exercise (meaning three or more times a week). It's tough to say if I'll be able to keep this up if things get busy. In any case, I'm off to a great start.

36 Hours and Counting

I'm still having a good time in Pennsylvania, but I'm getting a bit eager to return home. This is probably the longest time Jenelle and I have spent apart since we got married.

Yesterday was fairly productive. I didn't do any reading, but I did manage to walk/jog 3.8 miles in 45 minutes on the treadmill while watching two hilarious episodes of Seinfeld.

The cafeteria at the training site has lots of free stuff. You can get any kind of drink whenever you want (coffee, milk, OJ, soda, etc.), and there's always a bowl of fruit. Lunch is also free. You can get salad, a sandwich with any kind of bread/meat, and there's also a different hot dish every day. Yesterday, I skipped the breakfast buffet at the hotel and just ate the free stuff until dinner time. When dinner rolled around, I decided to eat some of the groceries I bought on Monday. There's still plenty left for the rest of the trip.

To sum things up -- besides the cost of the class and the cost of the hotel, I didn't spend a penny yesterday. Since the company pays for my expenses on trips like this, it's easy to buy expensive and/or fattening meals every day. This time, I'm trying to do things differently. I wouldn't say I'm eating extra-healthy while I'm out here, but this is the best I've ever done on a business trip in terms of minimizing weight gain. Since I've spent time in the fitness room in each of the past three nights, perhaps I'll lose a pound or two.

We're learning screen maps in ABAP today. It should be a blast. :)

Hurry up and wait

There's advantages and disadvantages to finishing your class exercises early. The advantage is that I'm done 45 minutes early. The disadvantage is that the shuttle bus leaves for the hotel at the same time every evening (about 5:15 p.m. local time), so I have an hour to kill. So, I'll probably spend it trying to do some neat things with ABAP code, or perhaps mess with the blog template.

I can view tonight as one of two things:
1) A boring endeavor.
2) An opportunity to be productive.

I'm obviously shooting for #2. I'll let you know tomorrow how I fared.

Best. Mall. Ever.

After another enlightening ABAP class, I decided to go to a nearby mall for dinner. The King of Prussia Mall, that is. Those of you Wisconsinites who read this: pick any major store that you can find at Mayfair, Brookfield, Southridge, or Regency. I can almost guarantee that you'll find it at this mall. The most amazing thing about it, though, is that at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night, the place was practically empty. It's apparently the largest mall on the east coast, and there was no waiting at any of the stores I visited. I spent about an hour there. If Jenelle had been with me (and I really wish she was), we would have spent at least three hours there.

I came back to the hotel and did another 5K on the treadmill. I wish that I had brought my swimsuit with me, because there's a pool that has been empty every time I've walked by it.

Class is starting...adios!

Pennsylvania, Days 1-2

After two nights in PA and one day of class, things are going well. I'm not going to bore anyone with the details of Advanced Business Application Programming, so here's a few notes from my trip so far:

I left the airport at about the same time as the Super Bowl started. Thankfully, the shuttle driver had a portable TV in his van, so all of the passengers got to watch the game. Since a few people were staying in downtown Philadelphia, I got to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and quite a few other neat buildings.

My hotel is about 30 minutes from downtown. Since there's a free shuttle to the training site (about 20 minutes from the hotel), I'm here without a car. The classes run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the shuttle doesn't leave until 5:15, so I get back to the hotel around 5:45. Last night, I walked to a nearby grocery store called Acme. Yup, that's right, ACME. There was plenty of fresh produce, snacks, and drinks, but I didn't see any of the items that Wile E. Coyote used to try to catch Road Runner. No jet packs, rocket-powered skates, or batman suits.

There's a fitness room at the hotel. I walked/jogged a little over 3 miles in 45 minutes on a treadmill. About five minutes into the workout, a gentlemen walked in front of the fitness room door, briefly looked at me jogging on the treadmill, and then walked back the way he came. My guess is that he heard the noise from the treadmill (even the best treadmills make noise when they're operating) and walked by to check out what was going on. He must have the room next to the fitness room. I hope I didn't bother him too much. I've got the room across the hall from the ice machine, so I know how it feels.

Anyway, class is about to begin. Until next time!

A tribute to my favorite movie

Okay, campers, rise and shine! And don't forget your booties 'cause it's COLD out there today. What is this, Miami Beach? Not hardly. And don't forget about that big blizzard thing... oh, here's the report: The National Weather Service is calling for a big blizzard thing.

Now, there's another reason why today is especially exciting (especially cold), yes, especially cold, but the big question on everybody's lips (chapped lips), yes, their chapped lips, is do you think Phil's going to come out and see his shadow.

Punxsutawney Phil. That's right, woodchuck-chuckers, it's
GROUNDHOG DAY!