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!