day 1

Who knew 4 days could seem to last a lifetime?

So J is out of town right now, enjoying some much needed time away with some friends - and although we are so happy and excited for her, there is still a bit of a void here when she's gone. I know she's in good hands, and that we will be just fine so that helps. I don't sleep all that well alone anymore - I've been blessed to have her by my side for a very long time now.

So for now, all I can say is one day down, three to go...

more pictures

More pictures and articles to go with the post below...

The person Next to Senator McCain is our Plant Manager...

so close

Who knew I'd ever be this close to a presidential candidate?

John McCain came to our plant yesterday. He originally was going to do a press conference from here as well, but when all the accusations came out yesterday they cancelled that part. He still visited though and took a tour. There were a few articles about it in our papers, here is the latest.

These pictures were taken at the plant and he is looking at (and sitting in) a Focus (the vehicle I worked on for the last two years). I was relatively close to him at this point in his tour, and even though I didn't get too close, it was still kind of cool to see him.

For me, no matter which side of the political fence I'm on, it's always cool to see these people in person. Maybe next time I'll try to run up and sneak into a picture...

improv everywhere

Who knew drama groups could be so funny? I thought drama was supposed to be boring?

So a friend of mine, Laurence, reminded me why I like the group "Improv Everywhere." He sent me their latest mission and I thought it was pretty good so I decided to post it. They are an improv group that does planned 'missions' which usually involve social awkward situations (per their web-site). I have seen some of their other missions as well - I like the Best Buy, Cell Phone Symphony, and McDonald's Bathroom Attendant missions to name a few.

In case you haven't seen this yet, their latest mission was at Grand Central Station - I thought it was pretty funny...





Looking at their web-site, they just did a 'freeze event' in London and Toronto as well...

happy valentine's day

bourne

Who knew books and movies with the same title could be totally different stories??????

So I'm about 350 pages into the Bourne Identity book (since I'm such a huge fan of the movies) by Robert Ludlum, and am still waiting for the book to be like the movie - other than his name (Jason Bourne), her name (Marie), and the agency (Treadstone), there really isn't much the book and movie have in common. Maybe I'm just not to the part where they are the same yet...it could be coming so we'll see...

After watching the latest Bourne movie (Ultimatum), arguably the best so far, I realized there was a lot of back story we were missing by only watching the movies. J and Tay got me the set of books for Christmas so I was pretty pumped to get a chance to figure out all the stuff they didn't tell us in the movies - apparently that was pretty much the entire book.

I had heard they were different, but I guess I didn't realize how completely different they were. Maybe it will all come full circle when I read the last 150 pages or so. With the first book being so completely different, I'm curious to see how the next 2 will be...

Here's to hoping...

rob and big

Who knew a half hour show could be so funny it makes your sides hurt?

Rob and Big is a show that I LOVE and totally cracks me up to no end. It's basically the only thing on MTV I will watch. Jeff (from Minnesota) got me hooked on this show last year and it has just started season 3.

The show is basically about Rob (a professional skateboarder) and Big (his friend) and what they do to pass the time - which is basically goof off and do funny things. It had been a while without a new episode and I started to forget a little bit how funny these guys actually are. It was a text from Jeff last week reminding me it was on that got me into it again. They are currently on the sixth show coming up next week of season 3. You can watch old episodes here.

In episode 4, they decided they could be on the front of a box of Kashi cereal and decided the only way to convince the manufacturer was to send them a picture to prove it. Here is the picture they took and the cereal box they made from it.

The stuff they do never ceases to amaze me. In the last episode, the decided to break a bunch of Guiness World Records - it was a great episode.

Anyone that needs a good laugh, I highly recommend this show...it cracks me up a lot.

Here are a few samples:

Car Wash

Revenge on Spiderman

Rob and Big on Jimmy Kimmel

Net Gun

Maybe it's just me, but these guys really help add a TON of laughter into my house. Youtube is a great place if you need more clips. I could put soooooooooooooo many clips on here, but guess I need to stop. These are the clips I found yesterday that really had my laughing...

chess tournament

Who knew the second time around could be better?

This was our second year at the Chess Tournament for Taylor in Lansing - and man was it better than last year! Mainly because this year we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We knew it was going to be a long day so we were able to pace ourselves - and bring things to keep us all entertained. Also, we knew many of the parents so were able to be more social as well.

Taylor played in 3 out of the 5 games and was 2-1 (which is an improvement from last year) - steady progress as we say. She also had fun, which was our main concern. She wound up spending the night at a hotel with a friend and had a blast afterward.

We left around 7:15AM and finally made it back home around 9PM. Made for a long day, but we definitely had fun.

lost

Who knew waiting for a new season of a TV show could be this hard???

Disclaimer - I'm going to talk about a TV show for a little bit now, so if you don't care, go ahead and go to the next entry below. Thanks.

Last night I finally got a fix of the latest season of LOST. Man did I miss that show. It is really the only show that I 'have' to see so it's pretty high on my list. It's fun for me also because Nadia is a fan so we generally try to watch the episodes together and she calms me down when it gets too scary. J does watch with us as well, but as she said last night, "I only watch it with you guys so I know how to make fun of you." Gotta love it!

In classic LOST style, last night raised more questions than it answered - I can't wait for next week. There are so many stories going on right now - there is the current story to follow on the island, then the 'future' story of what's going on with those that got off the island, and so on. Crazy to say the least.

I don't feel too bad writing about my excitement for this show to start again since I know I'm definitely not the only one - there are at least 3-4 other people I know that recorded the episode last night to make sure they didn't miss it.

The downside for me is that they moved it to Thursday nights - guess I'm going to have to cancel my small group - I do have priorities you know...

If you missed the episode and want to catch up, you can watch it here.

bump in the road

Who knew time flies whether you are having fun or not?

Well, it's almost February already – what happened to January? It seems like just yesterday I was talking to J about how rough 2007 was and how we were looking forward to 2008. How naïve I was way back on January 1.

Today I find myself saying, "Man, I can't wait until February because January was really rough – and made 2007 look good." I guess we get to start the year sharpening our skills and learning how to lean on others in times of crisis – a lesson I've always looked forward to learning…or not.

As an addition to the post below, I found a new wrinkle in my journey to find my way – stupid road signs. The latest one has hit loud and clear:

If you think about it, how many times have we heard that in our lives? Time and time again until it is a cliché now – "Stop and smell the roses." I'm sure we all hear it many times, but rarely take time to do what it says. I remember one of the first times I heard this message, it was by one of my favorite people of all times, Ferris Beuller. He said, "Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

A movie I really enjoy – despite constant criticism and berating from friends – is The Peaceful Warrior. In this movie, part of what they talk about is living in the moment – being aware of your surroundings and trying not to miss anything. To be conscious of what is happening around you – not only what is happening to you, but also around you. For me, this movie was a great reminder to actually do this – not just talk about it. It's something I've been trying to do for a while now – and I really do enjoy the effects of it.

It seems as though I am usually so worried about what comes next in my day that I can rarely focus on what I am currently doing. If I continue to do so, life turns out to never be enjoyable because there will always be something coming on the horizon. I don't want to get to the end of the road, look back and not remember any of the journey – what a waste that would be.

Instead, I'm focusing on living in the moment when I can, paying attention to the little things in life, noticing the details as much as I can while life rolls by. I find there are many times I have to force myself to do that, but am always grateful later that I did. I don't want to take anything for granted anymore – because when it is gone, I don't want to regret missing anything.

The last few weeks have been some of the hardest in my life (being an adult stinks), but looking back, there have been some good times that somehow found their way into the madness. Being able to enjoy those times helped get me through. I'm sure everyone in my house would say the same thing –there have been times and people that have helped us maintain some level of sanity through it all. Just last night we were in Tay's room and something happened and all three of us (J, Tay and I) started laughing so hard – it was a great distraction to real life and really brightened the evening.

As a quick disclaimer – I'm not saying we shouldn't plan ahead or look to the future – I believe those are extremely important things. I'm simply saying that we shouldn't look to those at the expense of missing out on what we are currently doing. There are times we can be content in where we are and what we are doing if we only take time to slow down and pay attention.

It seems as though I never get the signs I'm looking for though - signs like these:






Dead End, Exit Here, Do Not Enter. Those would make this journey so much easier – either that or autopilot, "Here God, take the wheel and wake me up when we get there." As I'm sure we can all attest, this is not the way it works – our life signs are rarely that clear or obvious. That is why I take it all the more serious when I do get a sign I can read that is clear…so I guess it's time to slow down just a bit…