Whirlwind of a Weekend

I had an awesome weekend. For those of you that don't know, Snoop and Alexis (friends of ours) got married. They both looked great (I am comfortable enough to say Snoop looked good) and the whole weekend was a blast.

Other than a little rain here and there, everything went off without a hitch. Snoop and Alexis appeared to have a great time (which is most important) but everyone else seemed to have a great time as well. The ceremony was standing room only. I have been to very few weddings that pulled the crowd that their ceremony did. The reception was a blast as well. The food was great, speeches were touching (maid of honor) and funny as hell (Best Man), and the dance drew people from the other wedding (bridesmaids).

I know that I have a lot of the summer left, but I think that this might top my list as weekend of the summer.

An interesting article title

I stumbled across an interesting article on SI.com, if I wouldn't have known otherwise I would have sworn it was from the Onion. Check it out here

Shameless Plug for Beck

Modern Guilt, 07/08/08

R.I.P. Mr. Conductor

Pics

Full House Didn't Do It Justice

Mandy read no further, so you won't want to hit me.

Now that she is gone, the rest of you can keep reading.

Today after we were done in Scotts Valley we took the scenic route up to San Fransisco. We drove up Hwy 1 along the ocean. It was gorgeous. Each time I thought that I had see the most scenic stretch, we drove a mile, and then I was amazed again. I had a disposable camera on me, and I will try and get pictures up at some point.

We made it into San Fran, and drove the Golden Gate bridge. Stopped on the other side for the scenic look over the Bay and back to the city. It was a clearer day than most people said, and it was an incredibly hot day. We made our way down to Fisherman's Wharf, where we did a little touristy things, saw Alcatraz, watch a guy save a another guy in the water, and then went to dinner.

The real fun started on our way back to the hotel. I would come to San Fran just to drive the streets. They are some of the craziest I have been on, it was like a roller coaster. Up and down and Up and down.

Anyway, it is a town I hope I can come back to and get to spend more than a couple of hours in. It is a very beautiful part of America.

#14

I saw the Pacific Ocean today. The group of people whose office I was at today, took us to Santa Cruz on the wharf to an Italian Restaurant that looked out over the ocean. The food was great, the view was amazing, and the people were awesome. Overall it was a great night, and a great way to cross one of the items off of my list.

This area of CA, is very beautiful. I would love to have more time to spend. Santa Cruz has a board walk and the wharf, with all the tourist attractions. I hear there are some very pretty red wood forests around here. The terrain is nothing like I have been in before. Very mountainous, and then bam you are at the ocean.

Tomorrow back to the office, to finish up our work related things, then we plan to drive the ocean back up to San Fran, where we will hopefully be able to spend some time. Not that anyone from my work reads this, so I don't need to type, work comes first, but it does. So I am not sure how much time we will get.

We will see what tomorrow brings. Though this is an area, that I would love to come back to, and spend time in.

CWA

I have come to the conclusion that the sadest airport on earth is the Central Wisconsin Airport. For some crazy reason, I thought we should be at the airport 90 minutes before our flight to CA. After 10 minutes in the security line, we are sitting at our gate (well every gate since they are all right here) at no one else is in the terminal. No passengers, no employees, nobody.

It is 1:30 on a Wednesday and the airport is empty.

Pacific Ocean

Much to my wife's chagrin, I will be able to cross another off my list of 30x30 when I head to CA next week for work. Admittedly I was asked to go somewhat short notice. Meaning I finalized trip plans yesterday and leave on Wednesday.

That being said, she so far, has been incredibly nice to me. I know she doesn't like it when I travel, and I love her for letting me go.

I will be flying into San Fransisco, and then driving down to Scotts Valley, which is near Santa Cruz. I will be in town for two days, and flying back on Saturday. A fairly quick trip, but I will get to see the Pacific Ocean.

Depending on plans, I hope to drive into Santa Cruz, and eat somewhere on the ocean Thursday night. Friday night, I plan on making reservations at a Vietnamese restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco (the last night we are staying in San Fran so we can make our 6 AM flight back).

I wish I could have had my family with me to sign off on this one, but I will take what I can get. An all expenses paid trip to CA is hard to pass up.

A Bit to Far

A school in CA recently decided it was a good idea to have a police officer come into the school to tell the kids that numerous friends of theirs had been killed the previous night by drunk drivers. This was done in attempt to "scare kids straight" when it comes to drunk driving.

Before I go on, I want to make it clear that drunk driving is dangerous and often results in tragedy. Within the last 2 years two kids from my hometown were killed by drunk drivers. One, after recently graduating and learning he was accepted into the Air Force, was hit by a drunk driver and killed. The other was in a car with someone who was driving drunk, the car crashed and he was killed. While I was much older than these two kids, I know the loved ones they left behind, and know that scars were left that probably will never heal. Drunk Driving is not something that should be taken lightly, and not something to be joked about. At the end of the day, this school played an elaborate joke on it's student body.

That being said, while I appreciate the effort of the school to try and limit the amount of teenage drinking and driving that takes place. I feel they took measures that were much, much to far. At no point should you ever tell a group of teenagers that their friends and classmates have died. While I am not about babying the youth of the world, teenagers are fragile individuals, and something like this could have permanent effects on them.

If you wanted to have a scared straight program, I am sure there are numerous individuals in the community who have been hurt tragically by drunk driving. People who could come in and share their stories and their pain. You don't need to lie and tell a school of 3,100 that 26, yes 26, members of your student body were killed by drunk drivers.

Anyway, the story is here

My Son and I must be Terrorists

Fox News has hit a new low. I understand peoples fascination over Obama and his wife bumping fists last week. It is not a gesture that is mainstream in America. People associate it with athletes, gamgstas, and young punks. To associate it with Terrorism though is just wrong.

I associate it with one of the first things I taught my son to do. Since then it has evolved into more of an elaborate hand shake, for the two of us, but is started as the simple touching of knuckles. Though thanks to Fox News, and one of the most irresponsible statements I have ever heard, I will now be worried that I will be detained and questioned about my ties to Osama Bin Laden next time my son and I touch knuckles in public.

Though I do give credit to the body language expert that they brought on. She didn't lend any credibility to the terrorist comment, and said if you really wanted to find out what the fist bump meant, you should ask the Obamas. I hope they do. I would love to see Bill O'Riely ask Obama if his fist bump is the secret handshake of his Muslim terrorist cult. To which Obama would then fist bump his face.

I saved a turtles life...

so it peed on my leg. Damn turtle.

Girl Fight.....Well Almost

I took a walk to the Little Plover River Park tonight. At the park they have a couple of ball fields. On one of them their was a girls softball game going on. It seemed to be 10-11 year olds. For a brief moment I thought a fight had broken out. I looked over at the field, and saw, what I believed to be the two sides rushing at each other, and partaking in a girly slap fight. On a closer look, it was a very unorganized high five line, after what I imagine was the end of the game. The excitement of the two teams, and energy they threw into this end of game exchange, helped lead me to believe a fight had broken out.

Alas, no massive brawl by a bunch of pre-teen girls.

7 Years

As of today I have been married for seven years. Consecutive years and to the same wonderful person no less. Though I feel it is pretty crazy that I have been married for seven years.