Friday, July 30, 2004

milk...it does a body good?

on the off chance you remember our concerns about our cat aslan, i have some interesting news. he'd been throwing up daily, and we were sure we'd return from vacation to find a house full of cat puke, as we couldn't bring ourselves to ask our neighbor to clean it up each day. but upon arriving home, not a single bit of upchuck to be found. in fact, aslan was lithely moving around like he was several years younger. our brains began whirring (no, not literally) to figure out what had happened.



after a longer period of time than i care to admit, it dawned on us. milk is what had happened, or more precisely, not happened. while we were away, there were no cereal bowls on the counter with leftover milk for him to drink. no milk = happy cat who may actually have a few more years left in him.



alas.



no, just kidding. i actually have a soft spot in my heart for that cat, even if i have trouble finding it from time to time.

Saturday, July 17, 2004

ipod mini for Ronni campaign

alright, i could really use your help. here's the deal: i can get Ronni a free ipod mini (the pink one, the kind she really wants) if five of you sign up for this promo at freeipods.com there are several deals to choose from, but the best one i can see is [ignore the following and see edit number 2] the ancestry.com one. why? a couple of reasons. first, you can cancel within two weeks and your credit card will never be charged, but i'll still get credit towards the ipod mini. second, it applies to my account right away, no waiting period.



(edit: my referrer number is 7154053, in case you don't use the link above)



(edit 2: the ebay option, as don notes in the comments, is by far the best. no credit cards required, you can place a penny bid and away you go)



from what i can tell, it's risk free. might be worth going for yourself once you help me out (or even if you don't). seems too good to be true, but message boards are reporting success without cost from a number of folks. check out the gearlive forums for more info if you are interested yourself.



thanks for your help! i'll report back how it all works out...

Friday, July 16, 2004

let the caption contest begin





[edit: somehow, the picture wasn't showing up before...sorry about that!]



probably passed this sign hundreds of times in the last 23 years since we've been coming to Long Lake. just noticed it for the first time yesterday. thought of too many great captions for me to pick one, so i thought i'd let you come up with your best and drop them in the comments section. leave your name as well, so that i can award a $5.00 itunes gift certificate to the best entry. Ronni will make the final decision about the best caption (i'll tell her what they are without giving away your names, so she can judge without extra bias) when our vacation is over. have fun...





Wednesday, July 14, 2004

vacation

here at the Surf Cafe in Alpena, Michigan. times, they are a changin'. wireless access in northern Michigan, who'd have imagined? $1.00 an hour, not bad. nice decor, cool atmosphere. especially nice on a rainy day. hope this place makes tons of money and stays in business.



Ronni, Colin, and i are staying in a cabin on Long Lake, about 15 minutes outside of Alpena. Mom, Dad, Grace, Judy, the Smith's and the Bairds (minus Brendan, who had to work this week) are all up here as well. a bunch of other people i've known since i was a kid also. the Conlin's, Paces, Swisses. hooped for a couple of hours when we got up here sunday night. sore now - i think it's been 2 or 3 months since i've played hard. golf the next morning with my dad and Linc. Linc beat us both with a 41, but i shot a 46 (for 9) which is a decent game for me. actually had a rare par on my first hole, with no mulligan.



listened to Bleachers by John Grishom on the way up. Grishom reads it too, which added to the interest. short novel about small town football. Ronni was pretty bored, but i enjoyed it. made me curious about what goes on behind the scenes in Milan football. reading the Confusion by Neal Stephenson, historical fiction set during the late 1600's. provides a window into origins of soft currency and the stock market in Europe. also listening to the Dream of Reason by Anthony Gottlieb.



Ronni's starting to feel the baby move a lot more now, especially after eating anything sweet. getting more excited myself.



Colin's been loving all the attention from adoring relatives. quite a charmer. "Aren't I amazing, Mom?" upon keeping his pullup dry through the night. no self-esteem issues need apply.



not sure if i'll do any more updating of this blog while i'm away or not...if not, catch you at the end of July.

Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Daniel & Johannes

got to catch up with two friends recently.



on monday, Daniel came over to the house and we spent some time playing with Colin and playing computer games. much fun. Daniel just finished directing a summer camp for middle school guys. sounds like God continues to be up to great stuff. love hearing tales of God at work. love hanging out a friend who knows me so well it's not even tempting to put on a mask around him. sort of how when you get married, at first you're trying to wake up early and brush your teeth and get dressed and all that just so your new bride doesn't realize what a horrible mistake she's made in marrying a morning monster. then eventually, you realize that even if she realizes she's made a big mistake, there's not a whole lot she or you can do about it anyway.



tonight, got to spend some time with Johannes, a friend I met when we were 10-12 years old. we see each other every 5-10 years, but it always feels like no time has passed. he didn't realize we had a son until he arrived this evening. i really need to get better at keeping in touch. case in point: my sister Maja called while he was here, and i realized i hadn't told her we were having another baby.



Johannes loves Jesus, is married, running a company, and just became a dad 7 weeks ago. hopefully, he'll be able to come to church on sunday. sweet to pray with him before he left tonight. i'm jealous because he gets to drive his car 170 mph to work every day on the autobahn. my prism would literally fall apart at those speeds, and would only achieve them, i'm sure, if falling from an airplane.



a bit rambling, this post is (sounds like yoda, eh?). oh well, i'm a little tired.



happy anniversary, Sunshine. 9 years and it still hasn't really sunk in.

Sunday, July 4, 2004

the 4th

talked with a man who lost his father on this day many years ago. happens to be his birthday today too. that, and independence day to boot. needless to say, it's a day of conflicting emotions for him. it was cool to see how much he loved his dad, though. less common than it should be to find a man who holds his dad in high esteem.



he was really sad his (the man's) kids never got to know him (the man's dad - the kids' grandpa). occurs to me they will, through him. sort of how we get to know the Father through Jesus. said something to that effect by way of encouragement. i always imagined pastors were the sorts of people to know what to say in those kinds of situations. truth is, i always feel like i'm guessing.



hung out with Colin after his nap so Ronni could go see Shrek 2. she loved it. i loved getting some qt with CJ. we flew (virutally speaking, or is it speaking virtually?) over Orca Island off the coast of Washington State in a single engine prop plane for a while. spent most of the time craining our necks to catch a glimpse of the elusive orcas playing in the shallow waters. eventually switched to Cessna Caravan (the amphibious variety) so we could camp out on the gentle waves and wait for the whales to break the surface. one of them almost swamped our plane - quite a thrill. Colin had quite a story to tell Ronni when she got back.