Jenelle’s parents flew in from Oregon on Saturday, and they’re still in town. Jenelle and I took some vacation from work to spend more time with them, and it’s been lots of fun. They’re not flying back until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, and we have more exciting things planned before their flight.
Coming soon:
–Easter pictures.
–Pictures of Jenelle and her new sewing machine!
Stay tuned.
My parents, my wife, and I will all be participating in the MS Walk on Sunday, April 18, 2004. This is an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We are walking 3.1 miles to raise awareness and to gather financial support to help find a cure for MS. More information on MS and the walk is available here.
If you’d like to support the four of us in some way, here are some things you can do:
–Give us words of encouragement. I don’t know how many of you have friends or family members affected by MS, but sometimes a note that says “I appreciate what you’re doing!” goes a long way. I can pass on any e-mail replies to the appropriate person(s).
–If you live in the area, you can participate in the walk yourself. We’re actually all signed up on an SC Johnson team (of which I’m the captain), but friends and family are welcome to join it. The more, the merrier!
–If you would like to support us financially, you can give online. Go here and click on the “Pledge a Participant” link by the MS walk logo. If you would like to send a check, e-mail me for details.
After the walk, I’ll post an entry here that outlines how everything went. I’ll probably get pictures online as well. 🙂
I appreciate you taking the time to read this message — just doing that really means a lot.
The Concerts section is up, and there’s three new sets of pictures. Enjoy!
In other news, I finished sixth in a poker tournament on Friday night. That’s two spots better than last time — woohoo!
Jenelle and I are both excited about the weeks ahead. Her parents are coming in for Easter, which will be great. We haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving. We’re both taking a few days off work.
I haven’t lost any more weight in the last week or so, but I haven’t gained any either. 🙂
Coming soon: An announcement about another fundraising walk.
I stepped on our semi-new bathroom scale yesterday evening. I was shocked at what it said.
90.71.
Realizing that the scale had somehow switched to metric, I switched it back to English units, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
199.6.
I have lost an estimated 25 pounds in 10 weeks. I am not doing Atkins or South Beach, or even that points thing. All that I’ve done is eat a bit less and start exercising at least 3 times a week, usually for about 45 minutes each trip. It also helps that I haven’t had a slice of pizza in 34 days. 🙂
Thanks to everyone who sent us anniversary cards and gifts — Jenelle and I celebrated on Monday by going to dinner at Salute Italian Restaurant in downtown Racine. We also ate one of the leftover chocolate bars that were favors at the wedding.
Sorry for the delay on the concert pictures — with luck, I’ll have them up by the weekend.
Thursday’s concert was amazing. I’m going to put pictures up, along with some pictures from the Bleeding Charity concert from a couple of weeks ago, in a new “concerts” section of my home page. As you might expect, I’ll post here as soon as they’re up.
Jenelle and I are celebrating a couple of anniversaries this weekend. Friday was our four-year dating anniversary, and Monday is our one-year wedding anniversary. We haven’t done anything really exciting, but we did go shopping at Brookfield, Southridge, and both outlet malls in Kenosha.
We’re also enjoying our new digital cable box. It allows us to record two programs at once and pause live TV. Today, there was four hours of coverage of PGA golf (The Players’ Championship). I started watching it an hour after it actually began. I was caught up to the “live” broadcast a couple of hours later, thanks to fast-forwarding over commericials and the parts where golfers are preparing to make their next shot.
So, as you can tell, not a whole lot of excitement this weekend. But we’re still having fun. 🙂
Tonight, Jenelle and I are going to a Newsboys concert with two of my college friends (Adam H. and Fil). We have third row seats. It’s going to ROCK! I’ll bring my camera.
Happy Birthday, Aunt Sandy!
It’s finally getting warm. I think I’ll go for a walk outside…
Jenelle and I visited Grace Church once again this morning. Once again, the service was very nice.
Once again, the welcome room was empty after the service. And this time, the lights were off. That’s a step in the wrong direction.
We have some commitments at Our Savior’s that prevent us from attending next week — but just in case anyone at Grace is reading this — we will be back. 🙂
From 9:30 p.m. last night until 10:30 p.m. this morning, Jenelle and I were at Regency Mall, waiting in line at Chick Fil-A. Why were we waiting for 13 hours? The first 100 people in line received coupons for 52 free combo meals, redeemable anytime between now and March 31, 2005. So, Jenelle and I have 104 coupons for free combo meals. Yum. My mom joined the party shortly after 3 a.m. and also got free coupons. In our 20/20 hindsight, we could have been one of the first 100 if we had arrived at 6 a.m. I’ll remember that next time. 🙂
It’s been a fun week. On Tuesday night, Jenelle and I went to the Bucks-Blazers game at the Bradley Center with Uncle Randy and Aunt Liz. Which reminds me, Happy Birthday, Aunt Liz! I should have said posted that on Tuesday. Jenelle enjoyed the game a little bit more because the Blazers won on a last-second shot. However, we were all happy that it was a close game.
Other than that, I’ve been keeping busy with the usual — church, work, workin’ out. I did set a personal best on Monday — 5 miles in 45 minutes. I haven’t been able to repeat that feat since then. Tomorrow is another week!
The concert on Friday night was quite fun. The band gave their greatest performance yet. I brought my camera as you can see from this, this, and this. It was nice to just hang out with people our own age.
Speaking of people our own age, Jenelle and I went to Grace Church this morning after the service at Our Savior’s. We thoroughly enjoyed the service. I saw someone who attended Our Savior’s back when I was in middle school, and I saw one of my co-workers playing the saxophone in the worship band. Everything was fine except for one small issue.
In the pews is a “Welcome Guest!” card that explains a few different things about the church. There was a section to fill out to give to an usher/staff person, so we filled that part out. Also, Jenelle and I were particularly intrigued by the following paragraph:
Welcome Room
On your way out of the building today, please stop in the Welcome Room. It’s located to your right as you exit through the center sanctuary doors. There you will find regular Grace Church attendees and a staff member who can answer questions for you, give you a tour of the building and help you get connected!
I’m thinking: “Yes! That’s exactly what we’re looking for. We can get a tour of the place (which is huge) and ask about opportunities to meet more people our age. I wish Our Savior’s had room for something like that!” After the service ended, we had no trouble locating the Welcome Room. Through the window, we noticed several comfortable chairs. The room wasn’t as big as I imagined it. In fact, it resembled a waiting room that you might find at a doctor’s office, minus the reception window. Oh yeah, and there was one more problem.
The room was empty.
Besides the furniture, there wasn’t a soul inside the Welcome Room. We walked around for a moment, wondering if perhaps the welcomers hadn’t arrived yet or had taken a break for some reason. The room remained empty. Jenelle and I had some decision-making to do. We both decided that we shouldn’t have to ASK for somebody to welcome us. That didn’t seem right. It’s like when you want your spouse to buy you a gift for a special occasion but you don’t want to have to ASK him/her to buy you a gift. He/she should just know. We also wouldn’t have felt right sitting down in some of those chairs, like we were waiting to begin some sort of counseling session.
We took our comment card, added the phrase “Why was the Welcome Room empty after the service?”, gave it to someone at a desk in the center of the building, and headed home. Our phone number and e-mail address is on the comment card, so I’m hoping that someone gives us a call or an e-mail so that we can tell them about our unique experience. I’ll be happy to share our story.
So, to the folks at Grace Church — keep up the good work, and make sure you put someone in your Welcome Room. We’ll be back to check on your progress. 🙂
One more thing before I end this entry.
Happy Birthday, Ashby!
After seven weeks of working out, I’m feeling fantastic. My body mass index (BMI) is now below 27. If I can keep it up, I’ll be in the ideal weight range (between 19 and 25) before the start of summer. I was able to go for a run over the lunch hour today. I’m pleased to report that I can run a 5k in about 28:30.
I’m enjoying my new job, but things are still a little bit slow. I’m in the awkward phase where I want more things to do, but I need help to accomplish them. Oh well — the vibe I’m getting is that things are slow for everybody, and that things will pick up in the near future. I hope I’m ready.
I’m excited about tonight — Jenelle and I are going to dinner with my buddy Adam, Leslie (Adam’s girlfriend), and a few other young folks. After that, it’s off to the Beat Kitchen for a concert featuring Bleeding Charity. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Jed, Carl, and the other Adam, and even longer since I’ve seen them in concert, so it will be a fun night. I’m bringing my camera.
