New Phone

As part of the "Renew Every Two" program with Verizon Wireless, I was eligible for a new phone. So, Christa and I went to the store in Appleton to get a new phone.

In speaking with the sales person in the store, he said that this phone had most of the features my previous phone had because I did not need a lot of bells and whistles.

The key thing is that any phone that I get would: (1) actually keep a charge and (2) would be able to charge up without requiring a strange ritual of futzing with the cord.

So far I like it!

Post 400!: Sleep!

Last night, sleep was very difficult to come by. For the first time since high school I slept somewhere that had a dog (that I had to take care of). Needless to say, I slept awful. I usually never sleep well the first night I sleep somewhere different, but when you add a canine in the mix, it only got worse.

Buddy would bark at the occasional car, would come to check in on me and this would keep me up. Plus, any sound I heard Buddy making seemed strange and I was worried that he may be in trouble or that he was up to not good. My sleep came in 30 minutes chunks at best for most of the night. By around 4:00 AM, I was finally getting some regular sleep.

Other News
Preparations for the homily are going well...let's hope people learn something. I have been re-sucked into Oblivion. I have entered into the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild. That sounds so evil. I can counter it by saying that I have moved along in the main quest line as well. That fulfills the powers of good. :)

Broadcasting From a Remote Location

As I type these words, I am sitting at the computer at my pastor's home in Oshkosh, WI. He and his family have left for the weekend, and I am watching the house and taking care of buddy, their dog. In some ways, I am treating this weekend like a retreat. I have work to do and much of it will probably best be done in quiet and tranquility, which I will have for much of the weekend. The tasks that require my attention?

This Sunday's Homily
As will now be the tradition for three years, I have led the church service at First Oshkosh on Memorial Day weekend. Everyone else has plans, and I'm always around so I can usually step up. Of all the times I've done this, I feel the least nervous about this Sunday. I think the previous times I've tried too hard and this time I'm coming at the word of God from my level instead of pretending to be sophisticated and deep. I think it will be more meaningful for the congregation and more meaningful for me. We shall see.

The Continuing Ministry Process
For those that have read the blog for awhile, you know about my contemplation of the Methodist ministry. The next stage of the process involves a discussion with my pastor about a book entitled The Christian as Minister. Steve is having me write down some points from the book that cane spearhead a discussion. I hoping that I can hand this to him upon his return on Monday.

Wedding Tasks
As always, I will need to spend some time working on stuff related to the wedding. I have updated the guest list, have worked on getting the word out about the wedding to members of the church and have a few tasks to work on this weekend as well.

Video Games
I am also hoping to get some quality gaming in. I would say that gaming isn't quite the same when you don't have surround sound and you are playing on a 17" TV monitor. I will try to manage. ;)

Last Thought
Overall, I realize that I am trying a little too hard with this blog. It is interesting to see the cycles that have occurred. It took we many tries (and failed blogs) to finally post consistently. Once I had that down, I thought it would be good to post every day. Little did I realize that my life is not always exciting enough to post every day. So, I am hoping to find a happy medium as this point. I would like to post regularly, but it won't mean every day anymore. (Sorry to disappointment my loyal readers...all 10 of you. :) )

Closure

In a few minutes, I will heading over to our A/RHD staff meeting. In addition to our regular meeting, we will be doing a closure activity. We do these every year, so I'm ready for it. I'm not the hugest fan, but I understand why we do it. You want to bring some kind of, um...closure to the year. I suppose that's healthy.

This morning's closure activity will be more difficult to get into for me. Next weekend we have the NACURH conference (moderately stressful) and two weeks after that I have a wedding (majorly stressful). When combined, I am more stressed now than at any point in the year.

But, come June 18...all will be well. I will be a married man on my way to Vegas with the woman I love. Woot!

Weekend Update

I traveled home to Mequon to pick up Gizmo from from where he was being boarded. Christa and I were unable to pick up our wedding bands (not ready yet), but we were able to hang out at Mayfair Mall for a little while. In the afternoon and evening, I completed the storyline for Call of Duty. Now, I just need to gather up the courage to get my butt kicked in on-line play.

On Sunday I went to Veteran's-themed worship service at church in the morning. It was very good. In the afternoon, I worked on wedding and church stuff interspersed with games of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and King Kong. I am a much bigger fan of the Marvel game. It has occupied much of my time recently. I ended up getting something like 400 achievement points this weekend.

A Day of Catch-Up

Last night was a great opportunity to catch up on things that had been loading up for awhile. I was able to reserve all of the hotels and the rental car for our Honeymoon. I was able to catch up on paying bills and doing filing. I was able to get some other work done for the wedding. I was even able to get some work done for the SPRC Committee.

With my second bedroom becoming the storage place for wedding gifts, it was taking up the space I use to work in there. So, I removed all of the gifts and put them in storage. That freed up the work area and I was able to do much more. I think I now almost completely caught up.

Other News
I would also point out that Christa played brilliantly in her softball game last night. She had three hits, a walk and three RBIs (read: she's better than me :) ). It was nice to sit back and watch a softball game, although I was asked to score the game which takes away from the viewing potential...so many things to pay attention to.

Christa and I will also be going to the Winnebago County Courthouse to get our marriage certificates today. Just another step that shows how deep I'm in...I don't think I can back out of this now ;).

NACURH is quickly approaching...June 1st! Things are beginning to get a bit more stressful, especially trying to juggle NACURH duties with wedding preparations.

The Funeral Experience

I arrived in Brookfield at around 12:30 PM for the funeral of Mary Jane McIntosh, Christa's grandmother and someone that I had the opportunity to meet a few times at various Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter celebrations with other members of the McIntosh family (Christa's mom's side). It was hard for me to really focus on anything related to work in the morning because I was thinking about the trip and thinking about what to expect.

The service was at a local funeral home and it gave me the opportunity to meet many of Christa's family members. This was also an opportunity for many folks to get their first look at the guy that Christa was marrying. One month from now, many of them would be back for a wedding anyway. The service was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Mary Jane and what a great person she was. I appreciated the pastor's use of the Great Commission in his eulogy:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

After the service, I was part of my first funeral procession and when we made it to the burial plot, the pastor has more inspirational words and said another prayer which I had yet to hear in an actual service that I attended:

"In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our sister Mary Jane; and we commit her body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless her and keep her, the Lord make his face to shine upon her and be gracious unto her and give her peace. Amen."

Then it was off to a luncheon which provided another opportunity to connect with family. After a few hours, I was pretty exhausted and needed to head home. It was a draining day, but what energy I had left went into the evening choir practice.

Funeral Today

I will be heading to Brookfield, WI today for a funeral. Christa's grandmother died after a long fight with something that that not been clearly identified. She has deteriorated for awhile, but nobody thought she would die this quickly. I am afraid there isn't much else to talk about today.

Victory!

It only took 19 games and my second season of playing softball to finally be on a team that wins a game! It came down to the 7th inning, but we managed to put one run over the plate in the bottom of the seventh to win the game 13-12. We had some timely hitting in the sixth inning which really gave us the opportunity to win the game. It was nice to make individual contributions in a game that helped the team win.

Games	At Bat	Runs	Hits	2B	3B	BB	RBI	AVG	OBP
2	6	1	4	0	0	1	0	.666	.714

It was really windy last night, so that added an extra dimension to everything. The wind was blowing to the outfield, so catching fly balls was fun. I only had one ball hit to me and I caught it. I also felt for the pitcher because the wind would carry a lot of his pitches.

Either way, we won!

The Building is Empty...Almost

This past weekend was incredibly chaotic! The Breese staff was busy doing a variety of checkouts and I was generating the paperwork necessary to allow residents to move over to Evans for interim. The last few people were moved in our roster program, so right now I have four residents in the building...all of whom are staff.

To right the stress of closing, I have been logging in some serious hours of gaming. Oblivion has taken the most time and has garnered quite a few achievement points. I also recently purchased Call of Duty 3 and have been working my way through it. I am excited to become part of the on-line multiplayer community as well.

Other News
Now that the building is closed, Christa and I can kick into high gear with the wedding. We are now getting to quite a few tasks this week and we are looking good. It's a month from Wednesday...eep!

Tonight is our next softball game. You will know about the stats tomorrow. Tonight should be windy.

Radio Silence

You may not be hearing from me for a few days. It is building closing season and things will get busy. I have not abandoned the blog :).

Softball Season 2

Thanks to Thomas Pedersen, I have been asked to join his men's softball team for the summer. Nothing can beat my perfect season (0-17) last summer, but I have the opportunity to try things out with a new team. Our first game last Monday was rained out, but today the nasty weather seemed to go around us and the game was on.

I knew a few folks on the team besides Thomas. DJ, Shane Leach and Rich Scott were the other folks that I knew. Otherwise, it was a bunch of people that I did not know. They seemed very nice, but I did not necessarily feel a connection to the team. They have all played together before, so it will probably take a little time to get into the flow.

I played in right field which is probably a good spot for me. Not too many balls hit my way, but the ones that were I caught :). I proved that I have speed on my side. I ran out a single my second at bat. I accidentally overran third on my first at bat...too fast.

In what became a popular segment last year, I will continue to keep you posted on my results playing in weekly softball games on Monday night.

Games	At Bat	Runs	Hits	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP
1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.666	.666

Other News
Christa and I had our second meeting with our pastor regarding the wedding and marriage. He gave us a nice to do list for this week. We also had a good, heart-felt chat about where we were at. I know I am feeling better about the wedding preparation.

Pick Up the Pieces

While a great funk song, it also sums up the coming week. I have let me room degrade to shambles because I haven't been around it much and when I have, I have had no desire to clean my room. That needs to change soon...it was pretty gross.

Christa and I are going to be doing lots of wedding stuff today. We meet with the pastor and organist this week. We finalize our reception plan this week. We are wedding band shopping this Saturday. I will be making some purchases for gift bags this week.

NACURH hits crunch time this week as we need to finalize the materials for the binder this week. That should be interesting.

And...we close the building. Good times.

The Streak Ends!

Well, the Brewers won 10-0 last night. In addition to a lopsided victory:

• It was Jim Gantner bobblehead night.
• Sodas and hot dogs were $1

All in all, it was a good evening with Christa and my parents. Perhaps now, I will not be viewed as poison for a Brewer's victory ;).

The Weekend To Come

This weekend is the weekend before finals and at does not disappoint. Here is an overview of the weekend that will be.

Friday
Christa and I travel home to pick up my parents so that we can go to tonight's Brewers game. Let's hope my losing streak ends tonight.

Saturday
Christa and my mom will be at a bridal shower for Christa, so this leaves me Dad and I free. Perhaps there is something we can find to do with our free time. Perhaps a viewing of Spiderman 3?

I will be traveling back in the afternoon to get back in time for the Residence Life/USRH banquet. The Breese delegation will be 16 strong and we will be dining on wonderful food and hearing about a variety of awards. My wife to be is in charge of the committee that decided many of these awards...her lips are sealed and that's good :). I know that I will be a friend of USRH, which is cool.

After that is the USRH formal. It's a James Bong theme. You can't beat that.

Sunday
After church, Nick will be coming to finalize the bachelor party as well as other wedding arrangements. Sadly, we have not been able to game for a few weeks, but it will be nice to have Nick up to visit again.

Then it's time for the NBC Picnic in the mid-afternoon and a NACURH meeting at 6:00 PM.

Somewhere this weekend I will get the chance to catch my breath and get charged up for checkout. Enjoy the great weather!

Getting To Old For This?

On my continuing odyssey to find games for the XBox 360 that fit me, I have been successful with only a few. Sadly, the game that I have enjoyed the most is Uno. Uno? Are you kidding me? A $300 machine and a $50 subscription to XBox Live to play Uno?!?!

I am starting to think that video games have gotten too complex for me. I grew up in the ear of Nintendo and Super Nintendo. The games were (relatively) simple and straightforward. Now, games are really complex. I am still catching up to the concept of the first person shooter game. I can only imagine what that will be like when I try playing with people from around the world.

Even RPGs are pretty intense. Oblivion, while really good, seems to be too complex for me to figure out. I will continue to search for games. When Call of Duty 3 is available for rental, I am going to check that out. There has to be more than Uno :).

Ok, I'll Admit It...

...I am a fair weather fan of the Brewers. This team is 17-9 and playing entertaining baseball. They lead their division and are among the top teams in baseball. How could you not be excited about this team?

I will admit that I have been, at best, a casual fan of the Brewers for much of my life. I could tell you starting line-ups each year and could hold a reasonably detailed conversation about the Brewers. If the game in on the radio, I'll listen in. If the game is on TV and I'm at home, I'll watch. But, when you lose...a lot...it's hard to stay motivated as a fan. The Bucks and Packers have had success in the last ten years, the Brewers have not.

When the Brewers are on Monday Night Baseball of ESPN and are getting leading articles on ESPN.com you know that your team is relevant right now. You have more of a desire to care. So, I'll admit it, I am a fair weather fan.

I will be going to the game this Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. I am taking my parents and Christa to the game. I have horrible luck with attending Brewers games. They usually lose when I am there...just ask Jason Bock about that. Hopefully, my luck changes.

Cleaning Catch-Up

It amazes me how dirty your apartment can get when you let it go a few weeks without cleaning. What usually is a one afternoon project has turned into a much larger multi-day project. But, when completed the apartment should look nice for the two-week stretch run before the end of the semester.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to my mom who is celebrating today. We will look over how old she is :). I am hoping to stop down to Mequon on Friday evening for belated birthday wishes and an opportunity to visit home.