More updates!

Our San Diego trip went off without a hitch! D got to tour the Padres baseball stadium (which was awesome apparently) and he even caught a game against the Chicago Cubs. We stayed in a quaint one bedroom condo for a bargain price and rented a car. The AAPA conference was good; I learned a lot and it was good to catch up with friends from school. D and I drove up the coast one day and watched the sunset from a state park. It was beautiful! We had a blast at the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park where we spent 2 days looking at the beautiful animals! We even got a private tour at the Wild Animal Park where we saw the behind the scenes work of the zoo. We were able to pet a miniature ant eater, visit a pregnant Okapi, and see lots of baby animals including a 2 week old rhinoceros. It was a fantastic trip all in all. 

Now that we're home, things are starting to settle down...well, sort of. We found a great deal on a pontoon boat and purchased it last week from an older couple down at Lake Murray. It's a 2000 20 ft Bennington Pontoon. It is in fantastic condition and was well maintained by this older, semi-retired couple. We've taken it out a couple times already and really believe we got an excellent deal! We are so excited and really looking forward to taking our friends out on the lake and relaxing on the weekends. 

We'll put pictures up of the boat and our trip to San Diego soon! 

Cool Internet Stuff

So right now I'm listening to an audiobook excerpt from Denis Leary's latest book Why We Suck. I got this for free on iTunes (cool thing #1 about the internet). How did I found out about this free excerpt? Twitter (cool thing #2 about the internet).

I have recently gotten into Twitter and I dig it. I follow (that's Twitter speak) iTunesFreeDLs which non twitterers can get to with this link: www.twitter.com/iTunesFreeDLs and those of you savy enough to be on Twitter can find them @iTunesFreeDLs. That's how you refer to other users. Anyways, you can check out all the newest free stuff that is on iTunes, sometimes songs, videos, audiobooks, etc. via the @iTunesFreeDLs updates.

Now I don't personally know many people that use Twitter, but I find that it's a GREAT way to follow different newspapers, sports teams and even some celebs all in one place. I go there now to find the latest links to articles regarding the Redskins and Gamecocks among others. If someone has music or articles they've written Twitter is a great way to let other people find and enjoy those things. As a matter of fact I'll be tweeting (more Twitter speak) the link to this blog so if anyone actually cares about it they can check it out.

Sometimes I write articles for a website called Bleacher Report. There, sports fans can write and read articles written by other fans. Later this week I'll be writing about what the NFL Draft told us about the state of the Gamecocks. Guess what, I'm gonna post a link to it on Twitter. You folks should check it out if you haven't already.

Oh and you can follow me here.
Holler.

Ramblings

So as it turns out, I really suck at keeping this thing updated. But we have been really busy. Here's what our spring has looked like so far and what is coming up:
- C's bday weekend 4/4 and 4/5
- Simpsonville for Easter
- Aiken/Augusta 4/17 - 4/19
- Work and the NFL draft this weekend (4/25 and 4/26)
- Next weekend we have a going away party at the lake for Jordan and House
- Then on 5/9 I'm going to the Darlington race and Christina is going back to Simpsonville
- The next weekend (5/16 & 5/17) Heidi will be visiting and I'm going to the All-Star race
- The following weekend we will leave for San Diego and be there a week (woohoo!)
- The weekend after we get back from San Diego we'll have our yard sale
- After that we get a weekend off!!!!
- But then we rev it back up again, going to Charleston for my company picnic and to see friends
- Then another week off before we celebrate July 4th at the lake.

WHEW!

So that's a lot of stuff on our plate. I didn't realize how much until I started typing it out. Most of that should be really fun though. It will be sad to see Jordan and House leave as I mentioned. House reports to Eagle Pass, TX around May 18th I believe and he'll be there indefinitely. Jordan leaves June 9th(ish) for Douglas Arizona and he'll be there a year. But we'll send them off with a nice little lake shindig in which we'll be able to lounge on our new lake toy (picture to follow).

That's it for now folks. I talk a vow to keep this thing a bit more updated. At least once a week and some links to pictures should be on the way too. Hope everyone watching the NFL draft will enjoy it as much as me!!

Snow in SC

So its been a really long time since the last post. I'm not gonna bother with going back and posting pictures of all the past events, but we'll just try to keep up from here on out. Here's a quick run down of the events that have happened since I last posted: we moved to Lancaster, SC and our beautiful home, we got married, went on our Honeymoon Cruise to Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Caymen and Cozumel, Mexico, went to a bunch of Gamecock football games, watched way too much football on the weekends in general, got Remi, our new puppy, built a beer pong table, had an awesome new years party, watched some miserable bowl games and now we have played in the snow this morning. I'll try to put some pictures up of the snow a little later today. We'll be updating this more frequently now, so stay tuned.

Oh yeah, Barack Obama is being innagurated today. I'll just say that there is way too much hype surrounding this event. This is an historic event and the change is good, but my feeling is that Obama is getting a lot of support for not so great reasons. I do however wish our new President the best and I hope he makes my beloved home country a lot better during his term.

Russ's Wedding Weekend (7/16 - 7/20)

So here it is, Thursday, and I think I have finally recovered from this past weekend. I had a blast the entire time and it was really great to see everyone together again. I personally couldn't be happier for Russ and Eva and I'm glad she is now a part of our family. In case you missed it, here's what went on this weekend.

The "weekend" technically started for me on Wednesday when I headed up towards Jacksonville, NC to pick up cousin Cory. From there he and I went to Chapel Hill, NC to meet up with Cromer and Maggie. We went out drinking for a bit and then stumbled home. It was pretty cold in Maggie's apartment so I decided it would be warmer to sleep under the table on the nice hard floor. I did manage to find a blanket whereas Cory wrapped himself up like a taco in the futon mattress to try and stay warm.

Thursday comes and its time to head to Kingsport, TN. We got on the road 2 hours later than I wanted to thanks to Cromer and Maggie but we still made good time getting there. We got in Russ's pool for the pre-party and just hung out for a while. Once the whole gang got to Kingsport we headed to Hooters to kick off the bachelor party. After Hooters we headed to a local karaoke dive in Kingsport where we were entertained by Hamilton's singing. Finally we made it back to Jeff's house to play some poker and then crash for the night. Once again I found myself sleeping on hard floor, this time it was the screened in porch which had concrete covered with thin carpet for the flooring. It was a rather tame bachelor party but everyone had a lot of fun.

On Friday we didn't do much. We picked up the tux's then checked into our hotel (which happens to be the nicest part of Kingsport) and got ready for the rehearsal and dinner. At the rehearsal dinner we consumed quite a lot of alcohol and everyone had a great time. Cromer's slideshow was a hit and the rest of the night was pretty much spent drinking and shootin' the bull, by far the best night of the weekend.

Russ's big day finally came and I was just as nervous as anyone else (perhaps the Pal's burger for lunch had something to do with my nervous stomach). The first thing I did was leave the rings in my hotel room but I quickly got back there to retrieve them. We picked up the wedding cake and I had to drive it home like I was driving a new born home from the hospital. Luckily the cake made it to the church with only a few finger prints showing in the icing. We started getting into our tux's and we were all dressed by like 3:45pm which made for a long July day in a penguin suit. We got to the church for pictures and this is where I really began falling apart. As we were taking pictures my button falls off, this helps to keep everyone else loose and laughing but I thought I was going to break down. The rest of the time before the wedding was spent hanging out with the guys, and then Russ alone. He and I did our best to keep our composure, but as Eva and her dad walked down the aisle I think a lot of us teared up. We made it through the ceremony and the whole day turned out beautiful. I know I've said it before but I'm really excited for the both of them.

The good news is, we get to do this all over again at mine and Christina's wedding on Sept. 13th!! I'm pretty sure I'll be a pool of goo by the time the ceremony starts but nevertheless I'm getting excited.

New Pics

So its been way too long since the last post, but we've had a lot going on. Christina made it back from Alaska just fine and since then we've been working on wedding stuff and house stuff. There's been a lot of paperwork and some stress mixed in but overall I'd say things are going pretty well.

To explain some more about the house, we are closing on Aug. the 18th and hope to move in that following weekend!! We have been lucky in that the sellers accepted our offer right off the bat and things seem to be going smoothly so far. Its kind of an old school house with a Brady bunch look to it but we'll be able to do some work on it and make it our own. There is a fenced in backyard so hopefully a Beagle pup will come pretty soon. And did I mention the awesome basement? It includes a bar and pool table along with a hideous bean bag, circa 1970.

Anyways, we have pictures posted of the house and Christina put a lot of pictures up from her Alaska trip, there may even be a video of bears in there. Not quite all the Alaska pics are up but more will follow and there are certainly enough to keep you entertained for a while.

Holla!

Heading for Alaska!!

Hey y'all! 

It's about that time for me to start packing up for my 4.5 weeks in The Last Frontier. I head out on Sunday morning, arrive in Anchorage on Sunday night and spend the night with a complete stranger in Anchorage. I leave for Prudhoe Bay on Monday morning. I'll be working in a clinic in the oil fields. I get a pager and go on 911 calls with the ambulance. It's going to be exciting but probably intimidating. Unfortunately, I might not have a way to call home...but I will have internet, so I'll be able to keep up the blog...as long as I'm not going crazy with work. :) I'll get pictures up as soon as I can. :)