Hello there. I suppose you're awaiting my usual apology for not having written in so long. Well, you're waiting in vain, because I'm not sorry. I've just been flat-out too busy to write anything lately. And as most of you out there who read this thing have provided me with distractions a time or two over the past couple weeks, I doubt you're going to hold it against me.

I don't think I'll give you a day-by-day account of the last couple weeks because I'm fairly certain that that's boring to you. But I will give you the highlights.

Two weeks ago was Angie's last at LeaseTeam, her old job. It was a bittersweet time for her, as she worked with and for some really good people and had spent the past six years establishing her career there. That's not an easy thing to walk away from, no matter how attractive where you're going may be. Anyway, she took that Friday off, and because I had vacation I needed to use up, so did I. We decided to go golfing at HiMark here in Lincoln that afternoon. That was the first time we had played together, and we had a blast. I wasn't hitting the ball very well, given that it was my first time playing since September, but by the end I had drank enough beer that I didn't particularly care. :) Incidentally, I kept myself from playing air guitar with my 3 wood until the last hole. I don't care what conventional wisdom says; air guitaring is cool. And because all that I say and do is right, well. . . you get the idea.

That evening Angie and I took care of Aubrie for Amy and Joel as they celebrated their fifth anniversary. We decided to take her for a walk, but as Amy had the stroller in her SUV, we had to make do without it:


The next several days afforded me a number of opportunities to meet a lot of Angie's family for the first time. That weekend, her nephew Dan graduated from high school in Seward, so I got to meet him; Jesse, his older brother, Carissa, Jesse's fiancee, and Ed, Angie's older brother. (Ed is Jesse and Dan's dad.) So that was cool. I think we're going to try to make the trip down to Santa Fe for Jesse and Carissa's wedding in October.

Later in the week, Angie's older sister, Gwen, came to Lincoln with her husband, Brad, and their daughter, Ryen. We had dinner at Lazlo's, which is always excellent. That Sunday evening, we had a Memorial Day cookout at Angie's folks' place in Seward, and I got to meet her other older sister, Gaynelle, as well as her husband, Chad, and their son, Caden. I was really impressed with how polite and outgoing Caden was. He came right up to me not long after we were introduced and asked if I'd play catch with him. Playing catch with my own younger brothers is one of my favorite things to do, so no way was I going to refuse. I wish I had a picture because it was a lot of fun.

I did snap this semi-candid pic of Angie and her sisters while their attention was focused on other cameras. From left to right are Angie (duh), Amy (duh, again), Gaynelle, and Gwen. It's kind of a fuzzy picture, but I guess you have to make do when all you have at hand is a camera phone:


You know, obviously my relationship with Angie has been a reward in itself. But getting to know her family has been, too. Each one of them in turn has been so kind and welcoming to me, and I truly appreciate that. I'm looking forward to the next time we all get to hang out.

I took another vacation day last Friday in order to make for a four-day weekend. After lunch with Brad and Ted, Mike and I went golfing at Pioneer's. I sucked, but again, my partaking of the barley pops and oat sodas alleviated that pain. At least I managed to clear the water on the fifth (I think) hole. That night Mike, Jana, Brad, Angie, and myself had dinner at Old Chicago and then had a few drinks at the Starlight Lounge. Jana and I got into an argument about the socialist "president" of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, but it was hard for me to bring my A-game after drinking martinis. Such is life.

This past Saturday, we went to a dance recital at the Lied Center, in which my cousins Mollie, Meghan, and Madlyn performed. It was fun to see them, and they all did a really good job. Mollie danced in several sets, and the years of hard work she has put in were easily evident. It was amazing. I hope she and her sisters will stay with it.

On Monday (Memorial Day), I finally had some time to just mess around on my own. This led me, of course, to Barnes & Noble. I picked up a couple of books with some store credit that I had. One was "The Only Wine Book You'll Ever Need" by Danny May because, well, I like wine. I also bought a copy of "Cooking Basics For Dummies." I'm not so proud that I won't buy a good reference source simply because its title implies that I'm dumb. It's high time that I start fixing meals that don't just consist of raw ingredients rolled into a tortilla (excellent though such meals may be).

This week has been exceptionally busy at work and is going by fast. I do have one vacation day left to burn before my anniversary at the company next Friday, so I'm taking Monday off. I'm hoping that it proves interesting, if not fun.

And now, I'm off to bed. To demonstrate how seriously I take myself, I'll leave you with a picture of me. Angie took it with my phone last Sunday evening:


Finally, here is your haiku:

I don't have any
music suggestions tonight.
Wait until next time.

Thank you, and Namaste.

--N

I realize that it has been almost two weeks since my last post. I know it bums y'all out. Even so, I had to work late tonight, so all I really feel like doing right now is drinking some beer and watching television.

However, all beer seems good for tonight is giving me heartburn, so I guess you're stuck with me. At least for a little while. I can't guarantee that I won't hit a stopping point tonight and finish up later. I'm tired.

Enough whining. I'd like to take a moment to address one of the burning questions that the millions upon millions of my readers worldwide ask me pretty much every day. The question?

"What are you wearing?"

Of course, this humble servant is far too modest to answer such a question. Except for tonight. Because, you see, as I was enjoying my supper wrap and beer this evening, I managed to dribble black beans on to my white cut-off t-shirt. I was so amused by my own apathetic response to the ensuing stain that I thought it merited sharing. Truth be told, though, I really hope no one sees a lonely, stained t-shirt as a metaphor for my existence. It probably is a metaphor for some of my college days, though. So, anyway, yep, I'm wearing black exercise shorts, glasses, and a white cutoff with a magnificent stain. Let that image lull you to sleep at night.

The "Scrubs" season finale was on tonight. It was a pretty funny episode, and pretty much everyone ended up pregnant by the end. That part was a little weird, I guess. Still, what a funny show. I'll look forward to its return next year. Pretty much all my favorite shows are winding up for the year right now. They all had pretty good season finales, with the exception of Grey's Anatomy. You know, that one just really pissed me off. There is no respect for the institution of marriage on that show whatsoever. I'm sure many Americans were giddily clapping last night when Meredith and Derek hooked up behind their spouse/significant other's backs. Well, I wasn't one of them. I thought it was atrocious.

OK, enough talk about television.

I suppose I should try to recap the past several days. Let's see...a week ago this past Saturday, my old buddy (and former colleague) Shawn was in town. You all can relax, though. Shawn was thoroughly exhausted from sleeping on his friend's couch, which seemed intent on devouring him, and wasn't about to go on another Guinness-fueled bender with me. Which is probably a good thing, as Angie and I went on to attend graduation receptions for Brad's girlfriend, Beth, and Mike's younger brother, Andrew.

That following morning, Angie and I worked as volunteers for the Lincoln Marathon. We were stationed as course monitors at 10th & G and 10th & A streets, respectively. It was a lot of fun, and encouraging, too, to see so many people out testing their physical limits in such a positive way. Afterward, before going to church, we stopped at a gas station. Angie was in the convenience shop when a cop came in searching for "a slender blonde girl of about 19 years." The gas station attendant pointed out Angie, which was pretty funny. But evidently the girl the cop was looking for was drunk.

Tuesday ended up being an excellent day. At Scheele's Sports & Rec that evening, I got a sweet deal on a Kelty Teton 4 tent. I plan on breaking it in on our tubing trip this summer, which will take place the weekend of my birthday. Last year I had to use Brad's brother's janky-ass little tent, in which I couldn't even completely extend my legs, let alone use an inflatable matress. By comparison, the new tent will be a luxury suite. I'm totally stoked to set it up. I may even do so in my basement sometime this week. Or in the back yard.

Anyway, that evening Theo and I went out for wings and drinks. That was a lot of fun. We ended up bouncing around from one bar to another and stayed out way later than we had intended. And, of course, we consumed a fair amount of beer. I even had a Guinness, which was ever so good. It remains, to this day, my most favoured of all beers.

OK, I'm tired now. Going to bed.

. . .

And I'm back. It's now 1:00p and I'm home on my lunch break. I'm not in nearly as crappy of a mood as I was last night, although I'm still feeling a little worn out. That's mostly because I got up at 5:00a to go to the gym. I would've liked to have slept in, but I've spent enough time being lazy. Time to get back on the wagon. I put a solid 65 minutes on the treadmill this morning at a brisk walk. I ended up burning 1,030 calories and averaged around 14 minutes per mile. That's pretty good for me, considering that the incline is maxed out at level 15.

But I digress. I was telling you about my past week. On Thursday evening, Angie and I went for a walk in the park, which was excellent as always. After that, we watched Varsity Blues at my house. I hadn't watched it in ages, back in the SCC days when I'd insist on having it playing in the background when Rae Lynne and Chris hosted parties at their house. I still had pretty much all the lines memorized, though, which annoyed Angie to some extent. Then again, that's pretty much the case whenever we watch one of my movies. :)

On Saturday, we had lunch at Lazlo's with Angie's folks, as well as Joel, Amy, and Aubrie. We all had a really good time, especially while watching Aubrie eat her ice cream. Miraculously, she only got a little bit of it on her grandma as she held her. That evening, we went to Crete and had dinner with my folks, sister, and brothers as sort of a pre-graduation celebration with some of Tom's fraternity brothers. I managed to eat relatively healthy food through both of those meals, so I was pretty proud of myself.

The following day was Tom's graduation from Doane. He earned his degree in four years, which takes a lot of hard work these days. I'm really proud of him. Kudos to Tom! Afterward we celebrated at my aunt Nancy's house, and I gorged myself on way too much good food. Such is life. It was a lot of fun to see everybody, though. I got to see my grandma and grandpa for the first time since they returned from Arizona, which was wonderful, and I enjoyed introducing Angie to them and my aunt Solveig.

That more or less ends my recap of the past several days. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. Yesterday morning, I administered quite possibly the best shave in the history of shaving to myself. I didn't have to go to work until noon, so I took my time and really scrubbed the shaving gel into my face. Then, after letting the ol' beard softners do their thing for a few minutes, I went to work. I didn't cut myself, not even once, and damn but I looked smooth after finishing up. Smoove, even.

Crippity-crap, time to go back to the office. I'll finish this up and upload some pictures when I get back.

. . .

Back again. It's late (and about 24 hours since I started writing this post). I'm going to try to wrap this up quick so that I can get to bed.

But first, a few things that are on my mind:

1. I don't like the movie "Dead Poets Society."
2. The secrets to being a decent golfer elude me.
3. American Idol is in a sad state of affairs when a guy who looks like he's 45 is poised to win the whole thing. Then again, that whole show is one sad affair to begin with.
4. Staying on top of laundry is an exercise in futility.
5. I want to engage in fisticuffs with whomever it is that sings that "You Had A Bad Day" song. That song is the bane of my existence.

Of course, it wouldn't be a complete post without some pictures, would it?


Here's a pic of my family and I this past weekend at Tom's graduation. I really like this one. From left to right are Mom, Dad, me, Tom, Ross, and Kirsten.


Tom, Angie, and myself. I had tried to set this up as just Tom and Angie because for some reason I thought that'd be amusing. I'm squirrely like that, I guess.


Nursery Rhymes with Aubrie. It's one of her favorite books, although she evidently hates Little Miss Muffet because she tore that page out. Sometimes when I read to Aubrie I like to embelish the stories a little bit. For instance, tonight I read her a book wherein baby Donald Duck makes a PB&J and then loses it. The story ends asking "What happened to Donald's sandwich?" I answered it myself for Aubrie with something like the following:

"Such things are to remain a mystery until the end of time, when the stars are perfectly aligned and all secrets are made know to those whose faith is true."

Call it my flair for the melodramatic, I guess.



And finally, pictures of lovely Angie. Because it simply isn't possible for this blog to look good without them.

Here are some song suggestions for you. I haven't checked for repeats, but I don't think I've mentioned these before, anyway.

"Circle Of Trust" by Accuface. A good trance track I discovered just yesterday.
"Point Of No Return" by Kansas. You can't beat classic rock.
"Lookin' For A Leader" by Neil Young. Not sure whether I actually like this one. I can't decide if it's an honest plea, or just subdued Bush bashing. The latter is very boring to me. You hate Bush. I get it.
"Laid" by Better Than Ezra. BTE's take on that old hit by James.
"Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World. I downloaded this one by accident but found that I rather like it.
"Wrong Planet" by Los Straitjackets. A quick, urgent surf rock instrumental tune. I think people should play this song whenever I exit a room. Or whenever they think about me. Yes, I'll decree that right now. Whenever you hear this song, you must concentrate on me. So go download it. Do it! Do it now!

And finally, your haiku.

I'm going to bed.
Too tired to write haikus.
Sleeping is better.

Keep Hope Alive,

--N

I'm not sitting down to write as early as I had hoped to, so we'll see if I actually post yet tonight.

Some of you may have heard by now that Angie was offered a new job. :) No one could be more deserving. She worked really hard throughout her search, drafting resumes and cover letters, preparing for interviews, writing thank-yous, etc. It all paid off, and I couldn't be more proud of her. It's also a relief for me, too. For one thing, I'm glad that she won't have to make the drive to and from Omaha every day. As those of you out there who regularly commute know too well, it takes a toll on you. Furthermore, looking for and securing new employment is stressful and sometimes disappointing, but Angie put on a strong front and did her very best not to become frustrated. Even so, it was hard to watch her work so diligently toward pursuits that sometimes turned up fruitless. But I guess that makes the final victory all the more enjoyable.

So raise your glasses in toast to Angie. She did good. :)

(By the way, I'm enjoying a glass of charddonay right now, so I actually can raise it in toast. After I finish said glass of charddonay, perhaps I'll chase it with a beer. Or another glass of charddonay. I do what I want.)

Last weekend was a good one. On Friday evening, we went to Old Chicago with Amy, Joel, Aubrie, and Jason and Cathy. Angie officially got started on the World Beer Tour. We'll see how long it takes her to complete it. Honestly, I'm not sure that it'll happen on this side of the grave, but I've been wrong before. Afterward, we watched "A History Of Violence," which starred Viggo Mortensen. Angie and Amy hated it, but I guess I've seen worse. There was some pretty sweet action, but sometimes I got the feeling that the movie couldn't decide what kind of film it wanted to be.

The following day, we went to Grand Island to attend the horse races with Angie's friend Kelly and her husband, Jack. That was pretty sweet; I had never been to the horse races before. I didn't win much, but I think Angie and I won enough combined to do a little better than break even.


Here is a pic I took with my phone of Angie with Kelly and Jack, and their two sons, Jackson and Isaac.
They were a lot of fun to meet and were excellent hosts to Angie and myself throughout the day.

It's worth noting now that I've finished my glass of chardonnay. Rather than mix wine with beer, I do believe
I'll have another thimble full or so of the wine. It would be rude not to.

. . .

And I'm back. So, anyway, on Sunday, Angie made an excellent supper of lasagne and Italian bread, and Amy made some really good dip. We also had a good cabernet sauvignon along with it. As you can probably tell by now, I've enjoyed partaking of the various spirits and liquours since the end of Lent. But not to the point of overindulgence, mind you.

Aside from Angie's good news from yesterday, I guess there hasn't been much of particular excitement going on. Dad put in for a deer permit for me, so assuming I get the permit, I'll see about shooting one next November. I've never gone deer hunting before, which is a shame because I've always wanted to. I'd definitely like to have some jerky. So we'll see how that goes. I'd have to guess that if Tom, Ross, and myself were to each shoot a buck, mine would end up being the biggest. And the cleanest shot, too. Really, what will probably happen is I'll shoot a ginormous buck, and Tom and Ross will both shoot a badger or maybe an opossum thinking that it's a deer.

Then we'll go golfing, and I'll out drive the both of them.

(If that doesn't get them going, I don't know what will.)

I had another good walk in Pioneer's Park today. Maybe I've mentioned this before, but walking the bike paths in Lincoln, especially in the park, is almost like walking in another world. Or a world inside the world, if you will. Each time I make the walk from my house to the park, there is a point in which I make a transition through a gate of trees from a world of houses, cars, and concrete to a world teeming with natural life. It's almost as if time slows down. I become more aware of the sounds, smells, and sights, and the things of the other world suddenly matter much, much less (if only for a little while). It may very well be a small taste of Heaven.

Then again, I may just be a rambling madman.

Well, that should just about wrap things up for tonight. I do have some music suggestions for you, though, which I discovered whilst listening to my LAUNCH station:

Fugue (Concierto Suite) by Yngwie Malmsteen. A killer electric guitar instrumental piece based on a classical tune.
Into The West by Annie Lennox (Lord of the Rings). This song is inspired by Frodo's passage into the West and out of Middle-Earth forever. Also, during the Maundy Thursday service I attended this year, Mary the Mother sang it just prior to the events that would go down in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Thing That Should Not Be by Metallica. This is a song inspired by some of the stories of the mad, mad H.P. Lovecraft. Also, it's the name that Shawn and I have given to the Time Warp of Perdition that besets us pretty much every day we can't wait to leave the office.
Hey Jude by Chokocheeky (Off the Beatles Regrooved album). A slightly electronica version of a classic.

Now, a picture:


Aubrie likes to get into things. That's what children do, after all.

And finally, a haiku:

Time: We all want more.
It becomes more elusive
As we pursue it.

Ain't that the truth? G'night, folks.