Welcome back from Grand Cayman

We got back from the Cayman Islands on Tuesday the 8th. When I arrived at work on Wednesday the 9th, I was delighted to discover that my colleagues had decorated my cube. It's not easy to get a slightly-filled plastic wading pool and real sandcastles in an office environment, but they did it. Nice work! :)


The "Just Married" sign is left over from a colleague down the hall whose wedding was about a month ago.

Cayman Islands, Day 4

In case you missed the earlier entries:
Day 1     Day 2     Day 3

Here's the photo album for our last full day in the Cayman Islands.

We once again started our day with free breakfast at the hotel. After that, it was off to the south for our kayaking/snorkeling adventure! There were a number of things that made this particular outing so great:
1) There were only six "customers" + the guide. Smaller groups make for a better time.
2) The guide was well-informed. He knew the best places to go, and he told us a lot about the history of the island and the various wildlife. He picked up different things off the sea floor and let us hold them (sea cucumbers, conch shells, and even a sea urchin -- but I didn't dare touch that!)
3) The underwater view was AMAZING -- there was one bed of coral that had tons of fish and a couple of lobsters around it. We got plenty of photos, and even some video.

After lunch, we went to a beach on the northwest part of the island for more snorkeling. There weren't that many fish at first, but then a whole group of them seemed to be following us around! As best we could tell, they must have thought the camera was food. The sequence of events progressed something like this:
1) Ben takes pictures.
2) Fish swarm around Ben.
3) Ben hands the camera to Jenelle to get a shot of the fish all around Ben.
4) Fish swarm around Jenelle.
5) Jenelle hands camera back to Ben.
6) Back to step one.
We did get some great shots!

After a quick stop back at the hotel, we went back to the beach to relax and watch the sun set. What a view.

In the evening, we visited a shopping mall. It looked very upscale, but to our surprise, a lot of the buildings were still vacant! It must be pretty new. In any case, the mall was well-decorated with Christmas lights, which made it fun to stroll around. We're not big on souvenirs anyways. :)

We left Grand Cayman the next morning, and after a slight delay in Miami because of weather at O'Hare, we eventually took off, arrived in Chicago, and took a bus back home -- just in time for all the snow.

Merry Christmas!

Here's our 2009 Christmas letter. We're keeping it short and sweet this year.

I'll have details from the last day of our Cayman Islands trip posted soon!

Cayman Islands, Day 3

Not as many pictures from today, but here's the album.

Sunday, December 6
I ran the marathon in the morning. I'll eventually have a recap posted on the running log, but that's not done yet. To summarize, it was a bit hot for running, but I still managed a solid finish in 4:04:28. The race started at 5 a.m., so my post-race meal was breakfast shortly after 9 a.m.! Jenelle got lots of video in addition to the photos that are in the album.

In the afternoon and evening, we drove around Grand Cayman, exploring the east and northern ends of the island. I had enough energy left to do a tiny bit of snorkeling, but it wasn't nearly as awesome as our snorkeling adventures on Saturday (which I posted about earlier) and our kayaking/snorkeling adventures on Monday (which I'll post about soon).

Cayman Islands, Day 2

You can browse the photo album in a new window while reading the recap.

Saturday, December 5
I got up a bit early (but not too early) on Saturday morning to run two miles. This is standard day-before-the-marathon practice for me, especially when traveling. Feeling how hot it was, even before 8 a.m., confirmed that I would need to make an extra effort to stay cool and hydrated at the race on Sunday. It also gave me a chance to check out the area near our hotel.

Later that morning, Jenelle and I went out for a walk after enjoying free continental breakfast. We ventured to the beach across the street as well as a nearby grocery store.

Here's the perfect time to talk about money in the Cayman Islands. All prices are given in Cayman Island dollars (which I'll abbreviate as $CI from now on). The exchange rate between $CI and the US dollar is fixed at $1 CI = $1.25 US. The prices of everything are elevated, which is what you'd expect for an island in the Caribbean, but because of the exchange rate, it's more expensive than you realize. For example, a combo meal at a Wendy's cost $6.70. That's a little more that we'd pay in the states. However, that's $6.70 CI, which works out to about $8.37 US. If I paid for this with a US $20 bill, I'd get $9.30 CI back. How's that for heavy math? :)

After returning to the hotel with our groceries, we boarded a bus for the Marriott (a few miles to the south) to pick up my race number. More on that in tomorrow's entry. After lunch at Wendy's, we went back to the hotel to relax a little bit before our main activity of the day.

SNORKELING! We booked a boat tour at Captain Marvin's Watersports. There were three separate stops on the tour. We left around 1 p.m. and made our way to Stingray City, about a half hour boat ride off shore. The water was not even shoulder-deep, and string rays swam all around us. We were scared at first, but when we noticed all the people mingling about with the rays, we were pretty sure it was safe. Thanks to our waterproof camera, we got some great shots of the rays and of us holding them. Guides instructed us to kiss the ray to get seven years good luck. :)

The next two stops were both snorkeling places -- Barrier Reef and Coral Gardens. Both of these gave us ample opportunties to don our own snorkels (which I bought before our honeymoon six years ago) and swim with the fishies. It was pretty neat, but little did I know that more exciting snorkeling was in store for us later on the trip.

Between the boat trip and dinner, we decided to go rent a car for the remainder of our trip. It would make things a lot easier for us, as Jenelle would need to easily get around while I was running the race on Sunday. We took the car to Breezes by the Bay, a restaurant in George Town (the closest thing to "downtown" in Grand Cayman), for the pre-race pasta party. We ended up sitting with a couple from Chicago, both of whom were running the half marathon. Another interesting note was that the brand of butter was "Wisconsin Gold". A little taste of home.

We took it easy the rest of the night, as we would be getting up very early the next day.

Our Cayman Islands Adventure

Yesterday, we returned from our vacation in the Cayman Islands. My hope is that, every few days, I will post about each big event that happened during our trip. Here we go!

Friday, December 4: Getting There
We used our frequent flier miles to book travel from O'Hare to Grand Cayman. The journey involved two intermediate stops -- one in Nashville, and one in Miami. The first flight went perfectly. The second flight made us a bit anxious, as we had to wait on a somewhat hot and stuffy plane for several minutes while they got a ramp in place. Then we had to board a bus to the terminal. As if that wasn't enough, we had to board a tram-type vehicle to go to another concourse to catch our flight to Grand Cayman. Boarding had just started when we arrived. Whew! Our third flight had no problems at all. Yay! We made it!

We boarded a bus to our hotel (Sunshine Suites Resort). Check-in was quick and easy. We got a GREAT deal on our hotel. For four nights, we paid $632, which included free breakfast, free internet access, and airport transportation. In addition, since we booked using an American Express card, we received two $100 gift checks -- essentially the same as cash. That works out to about $108 a night. Had we stayed elsewhere, it would have probably cost us over $250 a night, and it might not have included all the amenities. Our room was beautiful -- it certainly did not feel like we were skimping.

After dinner at the Sunshine Grill (on the resort property), we did some simple planning of the days ahead, and got a great night's sleep.

This picture was actually taken on Saturday morning, but it's from just outside our hotel room.

Bright Red & Green

We put our lights up over the weekend. The biggest additions from last year are the red and green lights on each side of the garage and the icicle lights above our bedroom window. It was quite fun being up high on an extension ladder. :)

Weekend in Eden Prairie

We had a great time visiting Andrew, Holly, Ella, and Lily in Minnesota this weekend. My parents also made the trip.

There were plenty of things going on. First, we took a family photo (all eight of us). I don't have it ready to share yet, but I think it turned out great. Holly, who has her own photo business, also took a bunch of pictures of Jenelle and me. I hope to share those very soon.

Dad, Andrew, and I spent a fair amount of time in the basement, which is slowly transforming from unfinished to finished. The framing is done, and we worked mostly on the wiring. One of my main tasks was setting up the speaker wire in the TV room. It wasn't too tough, but it did involve drilling holes in the wooden beams above and carefully threading the wire across the top of the room. Dad and Andrew did the electrical wiring. It still seems like there's lots to do, but we made great progress.

We had a second mini-golf match at Big Bear. Andrew dominated the event with a 34. Dad finished with a 40, and I came in third with a 43. Andrew's performance was impressive, but Dad still holds the family record with a 32.

Homecoming

In celebration of the Northwestern football team's upset victory at Iowa today, I think it's time to post about our visit to NU two weeks ago. It's been nine years since I graduated, and six years since Jenelle graduated.

We walked around campus for a while, making a special stop at the bench where we got engaged in March 2002. After that, we stopped at the university bookstore. There's a lot more cool stuff now, including dri-fit running shirts. I used some restraint though, and limited myself to a new winter hat, which has already been very helpful on several long runs in the past month.

For dinner, we met up with my cousin, Katie, who graduated from NU earlier this year. She's living in Chicago, and she made the trip up to Evanston to meet us. We ate at Thai Sookdee, a Thai restaurant that Jenelle and Katie both like. It was my first time there, but I enjoyed it as well. We had ice cream for dessert at J.K. Sweets.


That about wraps up our super-fun day in Evanston. Go 'Cats!

As the leaves turn...

We're doing plenty this month, but not much of it is blogworthy.

We're both involved at Kenosha Bible Church with various activities. I attended a men's retreat in Lake Geneva last weekend, which was a nice, relaxing time. For the first time, I played disc golf. It's harder than you think. I also got to play guitar at each of the four worship sessions. Meanwhile, Jenelle continues to serve as an AWANA leader on Wednesday nights.

With the weather getting a bit cooler, I'm trying to run a little bit more. We'll see if anything becomes of that.

I guarantee that November and December will have more exciting stuff. Stay tuned.

OctoberBlog

Not much new with us lately, but we're doing well. In case you're looking for more content, here's some photos from a marathon I ran last month.

Also, be sure to read Jenelle's post from her trip to D.C. a few weeks ago. It includes a link to some great photos. Enjoy!

In The CLEAN Garage

You might recall this post from a few weeks ago. I am pleased to report that we have just about everything conveniently organized in our garage, and now we can easily fit both cars in. We'll probably be able to fit our deck furniture as well. Besides Jenelle's celebratory pose above, you are welcome to check out a movie that shows our work in all its glory. :)

The Showdown, Part 2

This post is WAY overdue. After my narrow victory at Settler's Mill on June 7, Andrew and I arranged for a rematch. We ventured to Armstrong Park on July 5 for the next chapter in our competitive endeavors in miniature golf.

Watch highlights from the event.

While I was hoping for another down-to-the-last-hole edge-of-your-seat thriller, Andrew dominated right from the start, gaining three strokes on both Dad and me in the first three holes. He demonstrated his skills throughout the front nine, carding a most impressive 21. I shot 26, and Dad shot 27.

I had a few moments of brilliance on the back nine, but I could never string enough good shots together to make a dent in the lead. Dad, however, gained two strokes on both of us, bolstered by a hole-in-one on #14.

To sum things up, we all had lots of fun, and Andrew demonstrated his amazing putting skills. It'll be interesting to see if he can emerge victorious in the next match, keeping in mind Dad's awesome perfomance at Big Bear last month.

Final Results:
Andrew - 45, Dad - 49, Benj - 50

Jenelle and Sarah Do DC

Last weekend, I went on a weekend trip to Washington, DC with my college roommate Sarah. More photos from the trip are up on our shutterfly account here.

We arrived on Friday morning and spent the day walking around the National Mall and visiting a few of the Smithsonian Museums. We saw the rockets at the Air and Space Museum, the Monets at the National Gallery of Art, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution at the National Archives and more.

Friday night, we took a monument bike tour. We started near the Federal triangle and then biked to the White House, the Washington Monument, the major war memorials, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial and even the Albert Einstein Memorial.

On Saturday morning, we first went to the Newseum, an interactive museum of journalism and freedom of speech. It was a great museum, very interactive, and they had some great exhibits. They had a large span of the Berlin Wall, the broadcast antenna from the top of one of the twin towers, and newspapers covering major historical events from the past few hundred years.

From the top of the Newseum, we had a great view of the Capitol building. The weekend we were there, there happened to be a large protest in town. While there were crowds everywhere, it was neat to see people filling Pennsylvania avenue as they marched toward the Capitol.

After the Newseum, we took the metro out to Arlington National Cemetery. We visited the Kennedys' graves (John, Robert, Edward), saw a changing of the guard ceremony at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and enjoyed the beautiful views from Arlington House at the top of the hill. We had a great tour guide who shared lots of interesting facts about all different parts of the cemetery. It was impressive. Afterward, we had dinner in Georgetown at a restaurant overlooking the Potomac River.

On Sunday morning, we walked to the Capitol and also saw the Supreme Court building. Then, we had brunch at Art and Soul, a restaurant owned by Art Smith, who was a contestant on Top Chef Masters. Afterward, we took the metro back to Georgetown to walk around the shops and see the neat old buildings. We stopped at the White House on the way back, then headed back to Union Station to take the train to the airport.

We had a great weekend and it was so fun to spend time with Sarah. We hadn't seen each other since Sarah's wedding last summer, so it was fun to catch up and bum around DC together. We're already thinking of where to go next year!

A decade

About 10 years ago was when Jenelle and I first met, during New Student Week at Northwestern. While I don't recall the exact encounter, it most likely occurred in a big group that was gathering outside NU's Foster-Walker Complex to go to a social event sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. I was doing my best just to remember everyone's name. It wasn't love at first sight -- sometimes it takes a little while. :)

The Heart of a Champion

This post takes us back about a week. On Sunday, August 30, we were in Minnesota, finishing up a weekend of fun with Andrew and Holly and the girls. After a party with tons of people on Saturday, we had some time for fun in a much smaller group. The eight of us (Ben, Jenelle, Andrew, Holly, Ella, Lily, and my parents) went to Big Bear mini-putt, only a short drive away from Andrew & Holly's house.

As with all of our mini-golf matches, Andrew and I tend to be a bit competitive, with me being the perpetual underdog. What we did not expect, though, was the amazing performance by my dad. After nine holes, Dad was in the lead with a score of 17, which included three birdies and an eagle. I was in second with 18, and Andrew wasn't far behind at 20.

I should also mention that my dad was playing on one good knee. He had surgery on the other one just this past Friday, and is doing well. Granted, mini-putt isn't as stressful as full-swinging golf, but on the course, I felt like I was watching Tiger Woods at the '08 U.S. Open.

Andrew and I were hoping to pick up some strokes on Dad on the back nine. It wasn't to be. My dad did not have an error-free round, but he made some unbelievable shots to cover his mistakes. For example, on a hole with a bunch of rocks guarding the green, his first shot hit the rocks, leaving him on the fairway. His second putt went around the rocks, off the wall, and into the hole for a 2. Too good -- Andrew and I just could not compete.

I struggled more on the back nine, but Andrew held his own to take second place. The final results are as follows:
Dad: 32 (17, 15) EIGHT under par
Andrew: 38 (20, 18) two under par
Ben: 40 (18, 22) even par

Andrew and I had another mini-golf "showdown" back in early July. I'll post more on that sometime soon.

In The Garage

We took everything out of the garage today. Yes, everything. We thoroughly swept the floor and cleared out the cobwebs. The next step is to organize all the stuff. Stay tuned.

Property of...

There's a community fridge / freezer in my area at work. I haven't had any problems with people taking stuff that I put in there. Just to make sure it stays that way, I do things like this:

Landscaping Part 2

Over the weekend, we finished the other planting area in our front yard:

Things are looking pretty good -- I just hope I can keep the plants alive. :)

Party Hearty

Four weeks ago today (my goodness, has it been that long?) was our annual Independence Day party. We always invite a bunch of friends and family for a cookout, fireworks, and general outdoor fun. Did I forget to invite you this year? My apologies -- e-mail me, and I'll make sure you're on the list for 2010!

This year's party was another great one. The thing that I will remember most is the large number of kids in attendance. Thankfully, we had lots of things for them to do. Jenelle has three bins full of her old toys in the basement. We also have a set of bases, about ten wiffle balls, and a big red plastic bat. We have a firepit that we used to help the kids (and adults) make s'mores. And when Jenelle told the kids that there's a frog (or is it a toad?) that hangs around our yard, the kids were following her all over. It was pretty cute.

We STILL have tons of beverages left over. This year, we had about 50 alcoholic beverages, and approximately 7 of those were consumed at the party. The same goes for soda. We obviously overbought. Jenelle and I are not big drinkers, so I think we're covered until the end of the year. :)

The cutest kid pictures are below, and here's the full photo album.

Exacta Exacta

Congratulations to my grandpa, who won over $100 at Arlington race track yesterday. I don't know how he did it, but on two consecutive races, he got both his exacta bet and his winning horse. Amazing. He was nice enough to buy me two fried doughs at the Roma Lodge Italian Festival, which starts today. What a guy!

Adventures Up North, Part 2

From June 26-30, we ventured north to the family cottage for the second time in a month! This time, we were joined by three other couples -- Mark & Heather, Rich & Maryke, and Jamie & Janet.

The photo album covers most of the stuff we did.

We went kayaking on Clear Lake on Saturday afternoon. Rich & Maryke came along. We did just fine alternating who was paddling and who was relaxing on shore. It makes me wish we had another two-person kayak. Hmmm....

Miniature golf was the big activity on Saturday night. In a match play format (four singles matches), the gentlemen managed a 3-1 victory over the ladies. It was great fun, as we had pretty much the entire course to ourselves.

On Sunday morning, Janet, Jamie, Mark, and I (Ben) ran the Freedom 5K in St. Germain. I set a new personal best, finishing in 21:12. Mark wasn't far behind. Jamie & Janet each finished their first ever 5K, so congrats are in order for them as well. We celebrated by going to Paul Bunyan's for breakfast after the run.

One thing that's not in the photo album -- we went back to St. Germain that night for fireworks. It was an amazingly impressive show. They seemed as good as (if not better than) the fireworks we saw in Racine on July 4.

We tried a new pizza place on Monday for dinner - the Minocqua Pizza Co., which is outside of town (south of the bridge). Not bad.

The weather was a bit cool for late June. On Monday night, before heading out for one last fishing trip on Little Muskie Lake, Jamie and I bundled up in some old clothes we found in a closet in the cottage (there is a picture of it in the album). We didn't catch that many fish, but we still had fun.

I'm not sure if we're heading back up to the cottage again this summer, but if we do, I know it'll be a blast.

A little behind

June and early July has been / will be a pretty crazy time for us. Crazy, but fun. I'll post more as soon as things settle down. Hang in there!

Kayaking in Lake Minocqua

The above map shows the journey we made on Saturday, June 6. We left from a dock at the south end of town (green dot) and headed east. We saw some ducks and a loon near a small island.

To get a better view of the downtown area, we headed west and went underneath Highway 51. We veered north from there. I noticed the area where the Min-Aqua Bats water ski show is usually held. I called the rest of the family and told them to meet us there. That's when I got the great picture below.

We spent over an hour on the water -- I'm glad it stayed warm just long enough for Jenelle and me to enjoy some quality kayaking time.

Showdown at Settlers

It was a chilly Sunday in Minocqua, Wisconsin, but it wasn't too cold for a round of miniature golf. Six of us -- myself, Jenelle, Andrew, Holly, Ella, & Lily -- took on the course at Settlers Mill.

After the front nine, Andrew had a one-shot lead over me. The tough back nine took its toll on everyone, but I somehow managed to stay in the match. I tied things up a few times, Andrew managed to keep his one-shot lead going into the 18th hole.

Andrew and I have always had a lot of friendly competitions. With us now living nearly 400 miles apart, we take advantage of opportunities to challenge each other in a variety of games. Andrew beat me in Cribbage on Saturday night. Could he earn another victory at Settlers Mill, in an event which he arguably holds an advantage?

The 18th hole has a gentle downslope leading up to a tunnel with rocks at various positions. Inside the tunnel, the surface is bare so that balls should easily roll down to the green and not get stuck. If you hit the ball too hard, there's a chance it will go into a collection area that makes achieving a two very difficult.

Andrew, aware of everything I mentioned above, hit his shot just gently enough to get it down to the green. To everyone's surprise, his ball struck one of the first rocks and STOPPED just short of the tunnel. This was the golden opportunity I needed to tie things up again.

I also hit my shot very lightly. My ball also struck a rock, and it appeared to stop for just a moment, and then it ever-so-gently rolled down the slope, through the tunnel, and stopped a few feet away from the hole. I made the putt for a 2, and the pressure was on.

Andrew's second shot ended up in the back of the green, and he had a tricky putt remaining. As I pondered what kind of "playoff" we could set up, I watched as Andrew MISSED the putt. I finished with a 49 (+5), and Andrew carded a 50 (+6). A rare victory for me.

Until next time. :)

Also, congratulations are in order for Andrew and Holly. Nine years ago today is when Andrew proposed to Holly by the fountain at the center of town in Galesburg, Illinois. Happy Engagement Anniversary!

Hilton Head: May 16-23

Now available are pictures from our trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. There were tons of things that made this vacation so great.

Big Family Fun
Eight of us went on this trip. Dad, Mom, Andrew, Holly, Ella, Lily, Benj, Jenelle. I put together a document in advance so that we could track everyone's flights and keep tabs on everyone en route. We all arrived without difficulty, got two rental vehicles (one car, one van), and made the one-hour drive from the Savannah (Georgia) airport to Hilton Head. Instead of staying at a hotel, we rented a five-bedroom house in Palmetto Dunes. Any fears that we'd be cramped for space quickly disappeared when we first toured the house. Lots of space for everyone. We also enjoyed the movie theater in the basement.

The Beach
There were only two significant beach visits on our trip, but they were both wonderful. The first time out, I rented a boogie board to relive the surfing lessons I took in Hawaii a couple of years ago. Both Jenelle and I tried it out with mixed results. The waves weren't quite as big as we needed, and the board was obviously smaller than a surfboard. Still, we had fun. It was also fun to hang out and play with Ella and Lily along the shoreline.

Food
Tons of food. Pizza two or three times. Panera. Outback. Chick Fil-A. Top-notch breakfasts made by Dad. I had to run every other day just to maintain my weight. :)

Golf
I haven't played golf in quite a while. Thanks to some rental clubs, I played two rounds of golf. I don't recall what my exact scores were, but I know I did much better at the Arthur Hills course on Wednesday than I did at the Robert Jones course on Monday. One memorable event was a shot of mine that landed on a pile of sod with a thud -- there's a picture of it in the album. On Friday, I didn't play, but Andrew shot an amazing 75 at the Fazio course.

Tennis
Jenelle and I played tennis for an hour -- I think it was on Thursday. Neither of us had hit a ball in a while. The tennis balls we bought make great souvenirs, as they have the Palmetto Dunes logo on them.

Kayaking
The weather kept us from kayaking as much as we wanted, but Jenelle and I did manage to get out once on Friday. For a change of pace, we each rented our own kayaks instead of paddling in one together. We were out on the water for over an hour, enjoying every moment.

Art
Mom, Jenelle, Holly, and the girls went to a store at a nearby mall that lets you paint/glaze a variety of clay objects. You can check out the finished designs at the end of the photo album. I think all of their projects turned out great!

If I think of more great stuff about our trip, you'll probably see another post about it. Also, Andrew & Holly took tons of photos as well, so I'll let you know when their site has been updated.

Yard Work

Jenelle has done some truly amazing work in the front yard. It's still a work in progress, but it's looking awesome.

Wishin'

I'll have an update from our trip to Hilton Head sometime soon.

Until then, I'm pleased to report that Jenelle has updated her wish list. Her birthday is less than a month away. :)

Brewers-Cubs, Sunday

The first three innings were exciting, then things dulled down for a while, and then the last inning had some suspense. In the end, the Cubs prevailed by a score of 4 to 2, avoiding the sweep.

On the way in, I snapped a shot of a couple of the Klements Racing Sausages, who were getting swarmed by lots of kids:Note: The italian sausage won the race. This was the first time this year that I saw someone BESIDES THE HOT DOG winning the race.

In honor of Mother's Day, several of the players used pink bats and/or wore pink wristbands.

When the Cubs took the lead, Jenelle was pretty excited:
One of the most poignant moments of the game came after a near disaster. An errant line drive zoomed into the crowd. The ball bounced off someone and ended up in another section. While we couldn't see everything that happened, it appeared that a young boy (probably in the 7-9 years old range) was hit. Thankfully, there were no visible signs of injury. He was sobbing loudly and clutching his father -- my guess is that he was more startled and scared than actually hurt. Here's the amazing part. The ball, which was about a section away, was passed back to the boy, resulting in applause from everyone. He certainly deserved to keep that souvenir.

It was a great weekend, but I think I need some time off from attending live baseball games for a while. :)

Brewers-Cubs, Saturday

Chalk up another one for the Brewers. That was a LONG game.

Once again, we arrived at the game with time to spare. We left a bit later than we wanted to, and we were surprised that we didn't run into much traffic.

Both starting pitchers did pretty well. Ryan Dempster of the Cubs had six strikeouts in the first two innings, and Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers wasn't far behind. Dempster did give up a few runs early on, but pitched six solid innings.

With the Brewers up 3-0, Cubs first baseman Micah Hoffpauir hit a two-run homer. I caught Jenelle smiling:

It looked like we might have another down-to-the-wire finish, but then the Brewers poured it on in the seventh. Dempster stayed in the game for two too many batters, giving up back-to-back home runs by Craig Counsell and Ryan Braun before taking a seat. A few walks and a few more hits gave the Brewers a total of six runs in the bottom of the seventh, making the score 9-2.

The Cubs worked hard to get back in the game in the eighth, scoring four runs. With two outs and Kosuke Fukudome on second, about 30% of the stadium lights went out. About thirty seconds later, another 30% of the lights went out. It's hard to tell from the picture below, but it was a little bit darker. We could see just fine, but it wasn't bright enough to continue play.

The lights eventually came back on, and the Brewers tacked on three more in the bottom of the eighth. The final score was 12-6.

One more thought on the pitching efforts. Dempster had nine strikeouts in six innings. Gallardo had eight strikeouts in five innings. There's a board in right field that tracks the total number of strikeouts thrown by Brewer pitchers. Brewer pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. The board only has capacity for fifteen. Here's what it looked like at the end of the game:

Today, it's Sean Marshall of the Cubs vs. Jeff Suppan of the Brewers in the series finale. Go Brewers! (Jenelle: Go Cubs!)

Brewers-Cubs, Friday

Yesterday was the first of three Brewers-Cubs games at Miller Park this weekend. In the three-game series over Easter weekend, the Brewers won the opening game, and the Cubs took the other two.

The first game of this series was another thriller. I forgot my actual digital camera, so I used my cell phone camera instead. It takes pretty good pictures:

We got to the game pretty early, and fans were lined up in certain aisles for "Autograph Friday". The line for Corey Hart (RF) was quite long, and so was the one for Manny Parra (starting pitcher). Mitch Stetter (relief pitcher) had a much shorter line. An attentive father was waiting in line with his son for Manny Parra's autograph. His son held a souvenir bat. While his son stayed in line, the father borrowed the bat, got in line for Mitch Stetter's autograph, made it to the front in a minute or two, got the autograph, and was back with his son before reaching the front of Manny Parra's line. Good work.

The big highlight of pre-game activities, though, was American Idol top three contestant Danny Gokey, who is from Milwaukee. He threw out a ceremonial first pitch and sang the national anthem.

The Cubs scored first in the 5th inning on a solo home run by Milton Bradley. They added another run in the 6th on a sacrifice fly by Alfonso Soriano (following a pinch-hit triple by Bobby Scales). The Cubs fans were in pretty good spirits, even after a solo home run by Brewer shortstop J.J. Hardy in the bottom of the 6th.

That all changed in the bottom of the 8th. After a walk and a wild pitch, Corey Hart was on second base. Ryan Braun stepped up to the plate. I said to Jenelle, "he should bunt. No would expect that." Instead, he belted one over the right field wall. "Yeah, I guess a home run is better." There's a reason I'm not a manager. Here's the look on Jenelle's face after the Brewers took a 3-2 lead:

Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth inning to get the save. The Brewers-Cubs season series is now tied at two games each. Hopefully today and tomorrow's games will be just as exciting.

May Warm-Up

Things are moving along just fine with Jenelle and me. We're enjoying the warmer weather. My marathon on Saturday went pretty well -- I'll have details on the Running Blog soon. Photos are already up, including this great shot:
In other news, we're planning to attend all three Brewers-Cubs games this weekend, so that should be fun. As usual, I'll wear my Brewers shirt, and Jenelle will wear her Cubs shirt. Nothing like a little rivalry to keep things interesting.

Easter Weekend 2009

As you can see from the picture above, we were blessed to enjoy Easter dinner with both my parents and Jenelle's parents.

The second thing that made this an extra special weekend is all the baseball games we attended. Jenelle and I went to the Brewers' first home game of the season on Friday. I went with my friend, Rich, on Saturday. On Sunday, Jenelle, her parents, and I all got to enjoy the game. Here's a few photos from each day. Enjoy!

Wisconsin Marathon

After nearly six months "off", I'm running a marathon on Saturday, May 2nd. Details here.

One year later

Whenever a difficult task is before me, I can still hear his voice:
"If you have a job to do, you do it."

Remembering Grandpa Milt

I miss him, but as long as I never forget him, I think everything will be okay.

Happy Anniversnowry

To celebrate six years of nuptial bliss, Jenelle and I ventured north to Door County, for a one-night stay at The Blacksmith Inn on the Shore" in Baileys Harbor. It was a lovely bed & breakfast right on the "main drag" (Highway 57).


With the weather on the cold side and a lot of stores not opened for the peak tourist season, we spent most of our time relaxing in the room. They had free popcorn (which was really good) and a large selection of DVDs. We watched North by Northwest, an old Cary Grant film. I also found an edition of Groundhog Day with special features that my version at home doesn't have, so we took in the deleted scenes and a couple of other things.

For dinner, we went a bit further north to The Inn at Kristofer's in Sister Bay. Jenelle had the halibut, and I had chicken roulade. For dessert, we split a chocolate baked alaska with caramel topping. All quite delicious.



On Sunday morning, the actual date of our anniversary, we woke up to see snow covering the landscape, notably the pier leading out to the lake.


We would have liked to spend more time outside, especially on our private balcony, but it was too cold. After a breakfast that featured blueberries, muffins, cereal, juice, and milk, we traveled back to Kenosha. The roads weren't too bad.



The toughest part was arriving at home and having to clear out several inches of wet, heavy snow. While it wasn't the most exciting anniversary celebration, it was great to spend lots of quality time with my sweetie.

Getting it right, part 2

When covering a story for Milwaukee's new Arena Football team (the "Iron"), channel 4 made a horrible error with the on-screen caption:
This next image isn't exactly a mistake. It was taken at a hallway intersection at a church. If I was a newcomer looking for a restroom or a stairway, I might be a bit confused:

I've been there enough to know that there are multiple restrooms and stairways in the building, so you'll soon find one no matter which way you go.

Coming soon -- a post celebrating our sixth anniversary, which was yesterday.