I See Some Good Walls Risin’

“Homer he needs some CPR!” “I see a bad moon risin'” (Homer singing).  “Not CCR!” (Marge says)

Well, we have indeed seen some walls a risin’ as they have put up sheetrock for the ceilings and all the walls.  Did I mention they put insulation through all the walls as well?  Well they did, and we’re thoroughly excited.  Even more exciting is that we found out that we are probably going to close right after the beginning of the year!  Just a couple more months!  Check out our picture album for more recent pictures (again, click on the picture to the right; the newest pictures are listed first).

I also had an interesting thought today regarding our happiness and how we live our lives.  So often I catch myself saying, “I need to do this or that because I know if I do so, I’ll be happy.”  For example

Shingles, ductwork, and electrical

Check out the album pictures to the right.  Yep, the subject pretty much sums it up.  It really is pretty exciting to watch our house get built.  We just can’t believe its going to be ours! 

As far as other things going on, we’re just doing our best to stay afloat.  Jessica’s been incredibly busy with teaching, church stuff, and keeping me out of trouble.  She’s been organizing a lot of groups for Relief Society to do different things like book clubs, craft groups, etc.  I’ve haven’t really been good for much lately.  I haven’t been able to kick my allergies yet.  I still wake up most mornings with a bunch of crud in my chest and throat and sore throat, yada yada yada.  Oh well, it can only get better right? 

Again, be sure the check the photo album!

Hectic Times

Everythings crazy!  Jessica and I are going nuts!  Ok, not quite, but things are definitely busy around here.  Jessica is really going a million miles an hour trying to get caught up at her job as a middle school teacher.  Seeing as how she started a week into the semester, she is trying to set up her room that would have been setup in the summer, plan lessons that would have all ready been planned, and trying to stay sane through it all.

I’m trying to help her in whatever ways he can as well as fitting in time for his writing.  Writing is such an involved process that it can be overwhelming, but I know I can do it.  I just always have to remember that it is my first time, and mistakes are ok.  I really do enjoy it, and that’s what I need to focus on.

By the way, some new house pictures are up.  Keep checking back often as we’ll put new ones up.

House News

Hi all. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Labor Day weekend! 3-day weekends are always nice. Well, its been a week since I’ve been to Nebraska, and I was glad to be back. It was the longest I’d ever been away from home since we’ve been married, and it was pretty weird, like a limbo or something. I have to go to Nebraska again in a month, so that’s no fun. The food there doesn’t really agree with me either.

Ok, enough about Nebraska! Two good news items. First, our house is getting built! It starts construction on Tuesday, and we’re pretty excited about it. All the plans are done, and all the preparations are made. We are going to go take a picture of the land before it gets started, and we’ll keep a regular update on the blog of pictures and news until it is finished. So…check back regularly.

Second, I’ve decided to start writing a novel. It seems kind of weird, but I’ve got a really good idea, and I’m even taking a writing class to help do some things right in my writing. I’m pretty excited about it.

That’s about it for now. Congratulations to my sister Wendy on having a baby _girl_ in January. They just found out, and it is pretty exciting. Bye for now!

Updates & Musings

Well, I have to apologize for the long, unexplained absence on this blog.  It seems like I’ve been so consumed by my work in trying to keep up, and the mental energy involved in that has been immense.  So…with that lame excuse out of the way, here’s an update:

I’ve been enjoying my work and getting into it more and more everyday.  My department is all in one room (all six of us), so it is pretty crazy.  Its always eventful there whether it be jovial harrassment flying around or taking a few minutes to watch our spider Mitch hunt down a fly (oh, the suspense!).  The actual “work” is good.  They’ve been slowly adapting me to the new environment that it is, and though it is still frustrating that I don’t know 90% of what they’re talking about, that is slowly dropping every day, and I will be competent soon enough.

World Cup Disappointment

The US-Ghana game just ended, and I have to vent.  First, referee Markus Merk was absolutely horrible on both teams.  I place probably 55% of the blame for the US loss on this man.  If Ghana hadn’t had the penalty shot, I am confident the US would have come out the second half and scored two more goals for a 3-1 win.  Sure, the US has to be able to take bad calls in stride and still come out swinging (hence only 55%), but the fact is that they would have won.  There were several other similarly bad calls, and this man should get a talking to and a reprimand for altering the game as he did.

Second, Ghana was good.  They played good soccer, but not great soccer.  I say this because the US was playing bad soccer for most of the game.  Ghana only out-played them slightly.  The same went for their game against the Czech.  It was only mediocre soccer, unlike how Czech played against the US.  They were excellent there.  Ghana is advancing, but they will flop against Brazil when they play some high-level football.  Everybodys saying how great Ghana is playing in their first world cup, but frankly, they aren’t that good.  Italy was the only team in this group that was consistently playing professional, solid soccer.

We’re outta here

Well, we’re outta here.  Adam got a job in Oklahoma at Lopez foods as a computer programmer.  We’ve thought about it, prayed about it, even debated it (almost heatedly) and we’ve decided that this is the right thing for us to do right now.

So right now, we are starting to pack things up and get ready to leave.  I have resigned my post as an English teacher at Olympus High School, which made me quite sad; but I’ll be okay.  My principal was really good to me and very understanding.
 
Adam has also left his job with Dan, and he has been great during this whole process.  We are so grateful for all that Dan did to help us right out of school.  Adam had a job to go to that he learned a great deal from.  It was an invaluable experience.  Thanks Dan!

Thank you to everyone here who made our life in Utah as pleasant as it could be.  We have loved our time here, but sadly, it is time to move on to something different.  We’d love to hear from you if you are here sometime before the 20th, since that is when we are leaving. 

So adieu for now!  Please stay in touch with us if you are not already!

Missing her…

I love my wife, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget just how much I need and depend on her. She left me today…to go to Oklahoma to see her family for the weekend. 😦 Well, as soon as I got home from taking her to the airport, I had this depressing, dark cloud of despair fall on me. Sounds pretty bad, I know, but that’s pretty much what it felt like.

It seems like that is always how I feel whenever we’re apart like this, where I don’t have immediate access to her. I know there are some in the world that would say that its not healthy to be dependent on someone other than yourself, but I think it is an indication of the deepness of our relationship and that it (our relationship) is something that is meant to last.

Don’t get me wrong, its not like I’m actually depressed (because I know she’ll come back! :)), but I think it interesting that I feel this way. She is my everything and I feel so blessed to have her as my companion. Jessica, I love you so much. I need you so much. I think it is a good thing!

Soccer mania

Jessica and I went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game tonight. For those of you who weren’t aware, Real is one of 12 teams in the MLS (Major League Soccer). Anyway, Jessica was kind enough to come with me as many people think that watching soccer is akin to watching grass grow.

Well, she’ll tell you different after tonight. What a difference the atmosphere makes. I really felt like the game never lulled and that it was completely interesting for the full 90 minutes. She was pleasantly surprised (as was I), and I’m all ready wanting to go back.

They ended up losing 1-0 to the Columbus Crew, and that was kind of a bummer, but our team had control for probably 80% of the game. Oh well. A guy a few seats down from us got thrown out because he threw his Coke onto the field after they scored on us. I think he had season tickets, too (well, there’s $200 out the window).

Unfortunately, the team is having problems securing funding from the county to help fund their new stadium in Sandy. It really is quite unfortunate as this is SLC’s only professional team besides the Jazz, and we all know that’s probably going nowhere. Anyway, here’s a good link with all the latest news. Also, here’s a quality article on why soccer is more American than baseball

Wootered

“Wootered”?  Yeah, it means “woot-entered” or “I put in a submission for this week’s woot photoshopping competition”.  Anyway, at Woot, they have a weekly competition where they give a prompt (usually involving one of the week’s sales) asking for people to submit photos or illustrations altered to some crazy theme.  Anyway, this week’s prompt was “Show someone using the Gyration Ultra keyboard and/or mouse to control something other than a computer.” 

Well, I gave it a shot (my first time entering), and after much too much time later, this is what I entered.  I know not everything looks completely natural in the pic, but hey, I thought it was at least a pretty good idea.  Go here to check out all the other entries and check back tomorrow afternoon for the results on the winners. 

Edit: I got an honorable mention!  Yay!  Not too shabby for a first time.  I’ll probably try again next week.