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Jenelle… back in the saddle

By admin  |  2006/03/07 20:51 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Jenelle… back in the saddle

It’s been a while since my last posting, and while you have all been so kind not to nag me for my lack of posts, I decided it was time to show my face again. The truth is, we have just both been very busy with work and other things. We’re sitting on a plane right now, flying back from a weekend visiting Andrew, Holly, Ella and Lily in L.A. Surprisingly, this trip has been just about the calmest thing to happen to us in a while. Ben and I certainly needed the break. Here’s the recap of the past week and a half…

Friday, February 24: Jenelle drives Ben to O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Ben flies to see his friend Fil in North Carolina for the weekend.

Sunday, February 26, 5 a.m.: Jenelle picks up Tom and drives to O’Hare to catch a flight to Palm Springs for a work meeting. (Rough life, eh?)

Sunday, February 26, mid-afternoon: Ben arrives back in Chicago from North Carolina, finds the car and drives back to Wisconsin.

Monday, February 27 – Wednesday, March 1: Ben and Jenelle both work, just in separate states.

Thursday, March 2, 9 a.m.: Jenelle catches the shuttle to Palm Springs Airport, where she rents a car and drives to L.A. (Side note – it’s expensive to rent a car when you’re only 24 years and 7 months, and when you want to drop it off in a different city than you picked it up.) Around the same time, Ben drives to O’Hare, parks the car, and catches a flight to L.A.

Thursday, March 2, 1 p.m.: Ben and Jenelle meet up in the American Airlines baggage claim in L.A. (Side note – Ben first asked Jenelle out at American Airlines baggage claim #7 in Chicago. She said yes.) Andrew picks us up, and after a short trip to his work, we drive to their house in Glendale. Then, we meet Brian for dinner in Pasadena. Brian is in California for work, and it was good to meet up with him and here about how he’s doing.

Friday, March 3 – Saturday, March 4: Ben and Jenelle hang out with Andrew, Holly, Ella and Lily and do NO work. Yeah!

Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m.: After a slight delay due to snow on the ground in Chicago, Ben and Jenelle take off from L.A. headed back to O’Hare.

So there you have it. Things should start to calm down a bit. I hesitate to use the phrase “return to normal” because “normal” seems to be busier and busier lately. But hopefully we’ll have some time to kick back and relax.

Weekend in Raleigh-Durham

By admin  |  2006/03/02 05:01 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Weekend in Raleigh-Durham

I had a great time this past weekend with my friend Fil, who was my roommate in Delta Chi when I was a junior at Northwestern. He works for a consulting company, and every weekend he can either fly home to Chicago or fly someone else to North Carolina. I accepted his offer to fly me out for the weekend. He picked me up from the airport on Friday night, and we spent a lot of time catching up on things. We shared his hotel suite, so it was just like old times.

I got up somewhat early on Saturday and ran around the neighborhood. It was a tiny bit cool, but MUCH warmer than it is in the Midwest. I came back after about three miles, and then we had free breakfast in the hotel dining area. As usual, I took advantage of the waffle maker.

We went shopping in a nearby mall that had a lot of neat stores. We went in a lot of the gadgety places like the Apple Store, Sharper Image, and Williams-Sonoma. We probably would have spent a lot more time there if Jenelle was with us. 🙂

After having lunch/dinner at a $3.99 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, we drove to the Greensboro Coliseum for the WinterJam concert featuring one of my favorite bands — Newsboys. There were several other groups, including Toby Mac, ZOEGirl, and Newsong. And I should also mention the Sphere of Fear motorcycle show. I took pictures, but they didn’t turn out too well. I’ll try and find a good one or two and post it soon. There was something happening at the event from 5:30 until about 10:00. It cost only $10 a person, and we managed to get seats pretty close to the front. We had a blast!

On Sunday, we went to a nearby fitness center, where we could both burn off the free pizza from the day before. I logged 10 miles in 90 minutes, and Fil spent time on the elliptical trainer and lifting weights.

After heading back to the hotel and packing up, we stopped at a nearby Subway, and still had plenty of time to get to the airport for my flight back to O’Hare. It was a quick but fun-filled weekend. It’s been a while since I spent more than a few minutes chatting with Fil, so it was great to hang out for a while.

Greetings from North Carolina!

By admin  |  2006/02/25 17:22 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Greetings from North Carolina!

I’m posting this from an Apple Store in Durham, NC. I’m here with my old roommate, Fil. The weather is a comfortable 50-60 degrees, and we’ll be heading to the Greensboro Coliseum later for a Newsboys concert. I’ll bring my camera.

More to come when I get back on Sunday!

One birthday on Thursday: Happy Birthday, Uncle Mike!

Keeping away from Olympics results

By admin  |  2006/02/13 22:49 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Keeping away from Olympics results

The Olympics have started. I’ll probably watch most of them, thanks to our digital video recorder. There’s only one problem — the delay. Results are posted online before they air on television, and I’ll wait a while to watch them so that I can skip over the commercials. So, I have to stay away from CNN.com, ESPN, Google news, and every other major news site. No problem, right?

Ha. It’s not as easy at it looks. I also have to be careful I don’t accidentally watch another channel when the news is on. Here’s a scenario for you:

I was running in the company fitness center at lunchtime. The WGN (channel 9) news was on, and the volume was turned up somewhat loud so that it could be heard above the din of treadmills and elliptical machines. I was listening to music on my iPod shuffle (not too loud, too many warnings about hearing damage these days). So, I can hear both music and the TV at the same time.

All of a sudden, I saw a picture of a U.S. Athlete with the Torino logo on the screen. ACK! I quickly looked down at the treadmill display, turned up my headphones and covered my ears as best I could. I could still hear the TV a little bit, but it was muffled enough so that I didn’t understand anything. I was *this* close to singing along with my iPod as to be sure not to get any unwanted information. A minute or so later, I glanced up at the TV, and the news folks had moved on to another story.

All this just to save my viewing experience. Is it worth it? Who knows.

Tour Time

By admin  |  2006/02/11 02:04 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Tour Time

Jenelle and I have been doing plenty of things lately, but none of them seem to be blogworthy. So, I invite you all to read a bit more about my mom.

A couple of birthday announcements:
Wednesday the 8th: Happy Birthday, Higgs!
Saturday the 11th: Happy Birthday, Tony!

I definitely see a shadow

By admin  |  2006/02/02 18:05 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on I definitely see a shadow

That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s… GROUNDHOG DAY!

Go ahead and vote in the new poll. 🙂

Warm January Rolls On

By admin  |  2006/01/26 16:04 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Warm January Rolls On

Time for one of those posts with a bunch of random stuff.

Celebrations all over the place —
Monday, January 23:
Happy Birthday, Holly!
Happy Birthday, Jeff!
Wednesday, January 25:
Happy Birthday, Brian!
Happy Birthday, Katie!

I’m not quite used to it being 2006 yet. I find myself recalling events in 2004 and thinking that they occurred “last year”. I really need to get with the times.

How many of you have misspelled Jenelle’s name and found yourself here?

What percentage of the U.S. population eats cereal without milk? How abnormal am I?

How come cellular companies don’t advertise any monthly plans that cost LESS than $39.95 a month? Am I the only one who uses a cell phone, but not that much?

Have you seen the flashlights that don’t need batteries? You just shake it up a little, and it gives light for hours. Whatever you do, DON’T buy one through mail order or an infomercial. They have them at the dollar store at the mall.

I have lots of little projects on which I’m currently working. You might see one of them here within a month. Maybe not.

That’s all for now!

Houston Marathon Stuff

By admin  |  2006/01/20 14:06 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Houston Marathon Stuff

There’s even more info in the running log, but here’s some links that have enjoyment potential, even for non-runners:

Houston Pictures

By admin  |  2006/01/20 01:19 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Houston Pictures

Here you go!

More details from the Houston marathon coming soon!

Mid-January Fun Fun Fun!

By admin  |  2006/01/17 04:14 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off on Mid-January Fun Fun Fun!

This past weekend was a blast. We had a great time with Todd, and I turned in a personal best at the Houston Marathon. I’ve put up a new poll along with a picture of my finisher’s medal and mug. I’ll have pictures and more soon!