The Wii

Yup that's right. Kyle has a Wii. (Yes please make jokes about the name... that is SOOOO not over done :-) ) Sunday morning I went and stood in line at EB Games on the south side of South Bend from 7am to 10am in hopes of purchasing one. When i got there there were two other ladies in front of me; one had been there since 3am and the other since 5am. They were really nice ladies and we talked a lot during our
long wait. Over time more people came and joined our line and by about 8:30 there were approximately 15 people in the line. Jeanette showed up around that time with some Hot Apple Cider for me (which was oooh so appreciated!) and she brought homemade cookies for everyone in the line! Most of the people in line took a cookie and even after Jeanette left they commented over and over about how great the cookies were and how much they appreciated her doing that. It was cool to hear people say things like that. I get to stand there beaming and thinking "Yup, that's my wife."
At about 9am the EB employee (We'll call him "Chris") showed up and let us know that they had 6 Wii's and handed out pieces of paper with our number in line to the first 6 of us (I was third!) and told us that they'd be opening a few minutes before 10am for those of us that had been waiting; so with the extra time, I went home and took a nice hot shower before heading back to make the purchase. I actually ended up getting the first one out of the box, and paid for it with the $180 of store credit that I had accrued from selling my xbox, gamecube and a bunch of games and controllers, and some money that I had been saving so I could buy one.
After about 20 minutes of unpacking and half an hour of updates (yeah that's right, I hooked it up to my wireless router and downloaded updates for my wii) I finally got a chance to play it.

Awesome. It comes with Wii Sports, which has Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Boxing, and Golf. I played Bowling first, and found that Jeanette is a better bowler than I am (she got a strike right off the bat, where for me for some reason, my ball always went left right before hitting the pins!). It turns out though, that I am REALLY good at Boxing! The other games are each difficult in their own ways, but they're all a lot of fun. I finished playing after about an hour and a half and my arms were SORE. This is totally the most enjoyable workout I've ever done. I'm hoping to pick up a second controller today so that we can start playing some two player, because man... this thing is FUN!

Stranger than Fiction

There are very few movies that I go crazy for, but let me tell you... This was an EXCELLENT movie. Jeanette and I saw it Sunday afternoon, and while we went in expecting another post-modern reminder that life is depressing and man is depraved, we left feeling good and loving the characters.

I won't spoil the plot any more than the previews give away but the idea is that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) finds that someone is writing a story about his life and his impending death and he can hear the narration. Will Ferrell plays a quiet predictable IRS Agent who falls in love with one of the people he audits played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Emma Thompson plays Kay Eiffel a writer who always kills the heroes in her stories and Queen Latifah plays her undesired assistant Penny Escher who, interestingly enough could have been played by anyone. The role wasn't a largely necessary one, other than it gave Emma Thompson someone to talk to, so I found it interesting that she would take such a small part, but she did a great job none the less. Dustin Hoffman plays Professor Jules Hilbert, a literature expert, who helps Crick figure out the type of story that he's in.

That's all I can give you without explaining too much, but it was a breath of fresh air to see BIG Names in Hollywood (Hoffman, Thompson, Ferrell) make an actual feel good movie that not only is funny, but has some great themes and morals to it.

I give this movie 2 Thumbs WAY up and like 4 stars or whatever it is they rate movies with.

Tags: Stranger than Fiction, Ferrell, Thompson, Hoffman, movies, review

Not Dead Just Sucky

So after spending some time with Jeff this weekend, I kinda got a inadvertant kick in the pants about my blog suckiness. Honestly it's not that I don't want to post, its more that if I DO post I don't have anything to talk to Jeanette about when I get home because I've already got it off my chest before I see her. As a man I have very little to talk about as it is. I've considered quitting the blog all together, because I may have a total of 4 people who ever check my site including my mom, but I'd like to instead be reborn as something legit. I'm currently trying to decide what "legit" means for Welshmnky, whether it will be a life blog, a topical blog, some type of random blog or maybe something different entirely.

Change or die, but I can't stay the same.

Tags: blog, future

Another shot

Double rainbow at nd this morning!

The Horse Joke

Kyle 3 years ago in 2003 Telling the greatest joke ever

Hair

Ok, like... I'm not gonna blame this on Jeanette, but it's TOTALLY her fault.
Probably.

Ever since I've started to get to know her, which was almost 2 years ago, I've started getting hair in and on my ears. I never had any problems with ear hair, or nose hair or anything like that until "Jeanette" came along and now all of a sudden. BAM I have to like trim ear hair. What the HECK is that all about? It's weird man.
Now sure, I'd expect this if I were one of those guys covered in body hair (The Sleeveless Sweater) sure I could understand having to deal with it, but believe me... I aint one of those guys!

I don't know what she's putting in the food but... Is it worth it?
(above photo is not a recent photo of me, I stole it from the internet somewhere...)

Computer Illiterate

Today for the 926th time someone came in our office and claimed to be "Computer Illiterate." I find it amusing that so many of these "Computer Illiterate" people know the term "Computer Illiterate." How in the world did they get a hold of this term, EXCEPT from the Internet? I watch a lot of TV, and I am yet to find a show that calls people computer illiterate (in fact you usually find good examples of people being able to use the computer to do all kinds of stuff on TV... Even things that aren't necessarily possible... But any way) I suppose that it could be word of mouth, but how would a term like that propagate itself so quickly? I dunno... Moving on.

I was talking to a coworker about it and we've decided it's just an excuse for sustaining your ignorance. "I can be dumb as long as I know how to label myself."

You'll never hear a mentally retarded person say, "Oh, I'm sorry I can't do that because I'm retarded as you can probably tell. Do it for me okay?" Of course not!! They try extremely hard to learn and to adjust and to get better. These people however are simply comfortable knowing nothing and don't want to learn when you try to teach them something as simple as creating a password.

No, I'm not exaggerating.

We had to explain to a 45yr old man how to create a password. This is not an ignorant man, it's a man who doesn't want to learn to do things for himself.

Some people just want you to give them the fish and then claim your fishing lessons are too technical. Even when the first step is pointing at the water and saying "The fish are in there."

Chicken Rub

I am known for a lot of things, but one thing that most people don't know about me is that I LOVE to grill. Today at lunch I branced out for the first time into rubs. A rub is either a paste or just a mixture of spices that you (believe it or not) "rub" into the meat. Allow me to share with you the great recipe that I used today.

Herb Rub
combine 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, 2 teaspoons dried thyme, 2 teaspoons dried minced onion, 2 teaspoons FRESH minced garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon black pepper.
Enough for 5 lbs. of meat Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Rub that a couple chicken breasts, then grill them on medium heat, about 10min on the first side and 5 on the other side. When the juice runs white, take them off the grill and serve them with buttered corn on the cob and lemonade.

D.E.A. Licious.

Took a little while to get the rub all mixed together, but MAN was it worth it! That was the best smelling food I've ever taken off my grill!

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Me and tayla

The mind of an artist...

    Nothing great that is ever created by man comes out perfect on the first try. An artist knows this and is undaunted. Hours are spent fine tuning, honing skill. Patiently, persistently pressing on they spend hours and hours at their craft, forsaking all other pursuits, their art becomes their world. They don't go out when their friends want them to, they don't always catch this week's episode of "Popular Reality Show" They somehow missed it and don't seem to care too very much. Their art is their baby, and they'll tell you about it if you really want to know about it, sometimes they brag about it, but usually it comes with a second half where they point out how they failed in this and this and this, but they made it work here here and here. Artists are fighters, their enemy often times is their own skill, or the very media they work with; but with every failure comes pending success... and with every success, comes learning, and a new step is made, the art becomes clearer, it becomes better. Failure is never failure, it's a chance to improve the skill. An artist never approaches their media and tries to be the greatest at what they do. An artist pours himself out on the media and shows what they truly are.

My parents are artists, though they might not admit it themselves.

My dad is a gardener, and every year his garden is something new, something bigger, something cooler. This year he's found a way to almost completely eliminate weeds from the entire garden. The next year, he's designed a watering system that runs on a timer and he builds it himself. The year after that he's created a climbing tomato "tree" that's 20 feet tall that the tomatoes will climb, and pole beans will climb the 4 suspension wires. His strawberries are in a tiered area of the garden that he designed to minimize weeds, and help to hold water better. Will they give many strawberries this year? No, but next year... we'll be eating strawberries every night!

My mom will be surprised to read this, but she's an artist too ("Oh, I'm not an artist, I just follow a pattern!"). My mom makes quilts. My mom makes GORGEOUS quilts. for our wedding she made us this blue and yellow quilt that we proudly show off to everyone who visits our apartment. She spent months cutting tiny pieces of fabric that she had spent weeks picking out from different fabric stores, then she began the even more tedious job of piecing it all together. She could probably look at this quilt and see every mistake she made, but we see only beauty. This is something we'll be proud of for the next 50 years. My son will probably spill grape juice on it climbing in to bed with us. And even with a giant purple stain, we'll still put it on our bed and be proud of it. It's that great of a quilt.

I'm an artist in my own way I guess. I act and write some, but not as well as my parents do their things. But I'm still young and developing my skills. I hope to be as great as they are when I'm their age.

Tags: artist, gardening, quilting, pensive

Tuesday or wednesday or whatever...

A representative from Microsoft just came to ND to show us all the wonders of Windows Vista. An hour and a half later i walked out with a free copy of Vista Beta 2 Ultimate and I'll get Release Canidate 1 when it comes out later this month. I'm trying to upgrade my work machine to Vista now to give it a real shot. It's taking forever to do which is kinda weird, but whatever I guess, I've got nowhere to go for 3 more hours.

Amazing Race Bachelor Party this weekend for 2 of my good friends, Derek is getting married next weekend, and Levi next month; both to beautiful women that I have a lot of respect for. It's really cool to see everybody gettin hooked up.


Oom Bop.

And then there were Two

Ladies, gentlemen... Children of all your ages....

I'm married.

A month ago yesterday we tied the ole proverbial knot and began our life together. Allow me to share some G Rated observations of the past month

• Sharing a bed with a girl is harder than you think. They are TOTAL blanket hogs!!
• The aforementioned blanket hogs will accuse you of snoring if you say anything about them taking all the blanket.
• Coming home to a wife who's missed you all day is sooo much better than a house full of guys or even a dog.
• Laying with her head on my chest is the most peaceful place in the world.
  
• Getting up in the morning is easier because i have someone to push me out of bed, but at the same time, she's really cute and snuggly and I don't want to get out of bed.
• She is smarter than me in a lot of ways.
• I can still beat her at Mario Party 7 though.

Bein married is seriously the coolest thing I've ever done. Words can't express the complete change in thinking I've been undergoing over the past 31ish days. It's like I now exist as 2 humans... I have two mouths to feed, two people to clean up after, people to protect, to provide for, to encourage, to take care of in every way I used to have to take care of myself. But the best part is, I don't have to do it all! She takes care of 2 people now two! It's so weird, but it's so perfect.

I'm no expert at marriage or nothin yet, so I won't try to impart wisdom to all of you married people out there, because... well, I'm new, but to those of you who aren't married yet... Be Careful. Get the right girl. Don't just marry someone who makes you feel good. Find a good person.
oh and talk.
Talk about everything.

No really, talk about everything. (Best marriage advice I've been given yet. From my friend Dustin Sahlhoff)

Caviezel

'nuff said

Processing...

*paces*
What do I stand for? Do I stand for morals and ethics all the time? Or can they be cast aside for the sake of a great storyline? Can my integrity be bought for so cheap a price? Do I stand for "Art for Art's sake?" Willing to stare into the darkness that is Man's soul because I am an artist/actor and I get something from seeing the depths to which a man's soul can fall? Why do movies like this appeal to me? Why do they appeal to guys in general? Sleven, Fight Club, Rounders... the list goes on. Twist-stories that go back years and years to the days of Hitchcock and others who twist their readers/watchers around on themselves and see not just a person who could do something like this, but the potential in your own soul. I loved these movies, not because they stood for what I want to stand for but because in a sick small way I related to them. I know my sin, I know how quickly a person can go from sane to insane at the suggestion of a glance. I watch people, I learn them, and these movies give me a deeper view into people's lives who are depraved and open, like a carcass with it's ribs split in front of me. I can't look away because I'm fascinated. I want to know what's in there, regardless of what it's surrounded by or how it's presented in front of me.

*stops and stares into camera*
But at what cost.
Fight Club had a blurred sex scene, Sleven had 3 that were far from blurred. the movie had 3 freakin porn scenes! We looked away 3 times instead of walking out, because the storyline was THAT good. When sex scenes go from two people under a sheet staring at eachother, to a pair of naked people in front of you doing things that I can't even say in front of my fiancee... we've gone too far. I almost went and saw this with her and her parents on opening night! Watching a movie like that myself is bad, watching it with the woman i love, worse, but going with your father and mother inlaw? HOLY CRAP.
Naw, I can't do this anymore.

Look, I know hollywood isn't reading my blog, no one does for the most part, and I'm fine with that, but I'm not gonna see movies like this anymore. I don't want that stuff in my head. That might sell movies to some people, but not to me. Not anymore. I'm trying to be different. I mean that sentence both ways. I'm done with darkness. I'm done. If I have to watch kids movies and romantic comedies for the rest of my life so be it.
*walks out and shuts the door*

Pause...

*door creaks back open, sticks his head in*
hollywood, if you ARE there - make good movies again. Sleven will be a flash in the pan, it's just like 98% of the other crap out there. Napoleon Dynamite gained insane following, not because of sex(none) profanity(none) crude jokes/innuendos(none) murders(none) but because it had endearing characters people related to, great dialogue, catchphrases people STILL (annoyingly admittedly) won't stop saying, and a terrificly simple story.
Bring me back in hollywood. bring me back in.
Come back to excellence again.
Please

*shuts door*

The Neighbors

Jeanette and I have very... "interesting" neighbors.
First we'll start with my neighbors, because they're not as cool as hers.
Across the hall there is the "Frog Lady" and her husband, Mr. Frog Lady. Don't ask why we call her that, we just have for a long time. They're pretty loud all the time, and they leave their trash in the hall which stinks up the hall like old beer and stinky cheese. The frog lady is also in some unseen way handicapped. She has requested 2 "reserved parking" spots in front of our building for her 1 car. I think she works at Martins. Every morning when I go out to my jeep they sit in their car in the reserved spot and stare at me... just kinda watchin me.
Above me there's the young couple. I never noticed them until one night when i went to bed late and they were above me... umm, being a young couple. They have a baby that cries EVERY night. Last night the baby was crying and the guy was in the bedroom watching TV and as the baby cried he turned the TV up. Classy. Ignore your baby. I think the TV is a new addition to the bedroom, since I've never noticed it before.
As I walk into my building the first door just down the stairs ALWAYS has the TV on. I can come home at 3pm or 3am and any time in between... the TV is ALWAYS on.

Jeanettes lives in a building on the other side of our apartment complex, and things are even MORE interesting. Walking into her building 7 out of 10 days it smells like marijuana.
Downstairs and across the hall lives a guy who was in my dorm my senior year who was a missing person because he just left one day and never came back to school or the dorm, for like 3 months.
Across the hall from Jeanette she gets someone new every 6 months, she's had druggies (who she made friends with) an army chick (who she actually was in a Masters class with) and now a relatively normal couple.
In her building is also a creepy old guy who she says smells like pot and who has asked her out on dates on multiple occasions.
There's an African guy who comes around occasionally who wants Jeanette to meet his brother or something. VERY scary.
Above Jeanette and across is a new young couple. We first noticed them about a week or two ago on a friday night. We were in the middle of a semi-serious discussion when we heard the pounding. This was then followed by other sounds. We stopped talking and listened for a few minutes... and yeah... yeah, they were doin it. We giggled a little and went back about our convesation. The Sunday morning after that... yup, again. It's not really annoying, just kinda loud. and frequent.
And THEN directly above her apartment ANOTHER young couple who apparently will not be outdone. We've taken to turning the stereo on when they're being... noisy. We've found it's important to have a station with lots of bass.

People are weird. I'm glad I'm not one of em.


Technorati Tags: apartments, neighbors

Technorati Tags: apartments, neighbors

A Man

a man comes into Walgreens to pickup his 17 prescriptions. He's about 55 or 60. 17 prescriptions is a LOT of medication.

"That's about 2200 dollars worth of medication there. A small price for life" "Wow. That is a lot."
"I just had a heart transplant, I drive up here to see my doctor, and then i have to drive back to Fort Wayne."
"That's a long drive."
"Yup." (he smiles)
"That'll be $50 for your prescriptions"
"Here ya go."
"Have a good day."

"They all are." (he smiles and walks away)

Technorati Tags: inspiration, Walgreens

If you're wondering where I've gone

okay seriously.
you need to post more.
my wedding is 8 days away kyle.
8 days and still i find the time to post.

She's right, i should post more. but as to where I've gone, allow me to explain. Since the last time I've posted, I've started a new job at Walgreens picking up some extra hours, working weekends and Monday nights. Starting March 1st I started my training and worked every evening from 5 to 10 after working 8 to 5 at ND, and worked 9 to 6 on Saturday and Sunday until March 13th. If you're counting hours worked there that's about 178 hours straight working (I did have Thursday night's off because of dance lessons, but still). Needless to say... that'll tire a fella out. So yes, I've been a bit busy.

I'm on a "regular" schedule now, I work 9 to 6 Saturday and Sunday and then 5 to 10 on Monday's and I'll do this until the end of May. That'll help pay for some of the stuff I need to pay for for this wedding deal we've got comin up. Jeanette's telling her boss today that she's not coming back next year, She's a little worried about how he'll react, but at the same time, excited to finally have it "out there" and not have to hide how she feels about her job anymore. So we're excited about that.

Life is hard and good right now.

The Doomed Post worked!!

I did it!!
By posting the toilet post before i had a job, they were FORCED to offer me the job TODAY!!!

I start FULL time March 1st!!

Six months later, I have the job that was coming "Any day now"

Thank you God.


technorati tags: Job

Doomed Post??

Since graduating from college I've had 3 jobs. Durring my tenure at each of my two past jobs I have in some way written about the bathroom, and then in the next few months my position has been eliminated. In my current job i don't technically have a position to eliminate so maybe this will push them to create one for me.

So here we go.

In the office where I work, to get to the bathroom, we (both men and women) are forced to walk past the Coffee Room. It's just a tiny room with a coffee pot some cupboards and a sink; and yet, while it serves it's purpose of providing coffee to those who choose to drink it, it has another effect as well. A constant smell of old wet coffee grounds permeates the entire area around the bathroom doors. It reminds me of what it smells like if you dump your coffee grounds into a trashbag, then tie it closed, then two days later open it and stick your head inside.

I can bear the smell. Seriously, it's not all that bad. However I'm afraid it's going to eventually cause some sort of Pavlovian response where anytime I smell old coffee I'm gonna have to pee. I'm more concerned about this everytime I walk past there. I've started holding my breath, just to keep it from being engrained in my head tying urination and old coffee together. Sure right now you might think this silly but imagine the possibilities.

• Weeks from now while driving around the back of Starbucks, I feel a strange pressure on my bladder.


• Months from now while in Barnes and Noble, in the midst of ordering my usual Carmel Vanilla Mocha Frappaccino I strangely have to run to the back of the store to the restroom to relieve myself.


• Years from now while taking out the trash, the bag breaks spilling (among other things) coffee grounds on the driveway I unexplicably wet myself.

I cant deal with those consequences. Maybe I'll just go upstairs and use the bathroom that has heat.


technorati tags: bathroom, coffee, Pavlov

Waiting

Stiiiiil waiting. 4 months and change left now until the wedding, and as expected, it's tough going. The thing that makes it difficult is that our relationship is so close to marriage as it is. We do everything together as if we were already married (barring sex, living together, and sharing a bank account... and anything else inappropriate that i'm missing here or whatever) I come home at night to her, we spend our evenings together, we cook together, we eat together, we do laundry together, we (sometimes) brush our teeth together, we read together, we watch tv together, then she gets ready for bed and we pray together and i go home and sleep in my bed. we do this every night.

First of all, don't think I'm complaining, because I'm not. I love where we are and everything is great right now. The part that is difficult is the following.

There's a big difference between not having something "yet" and not having something "ever." If you can't have something yet, you know that eventually you will, and that's exciting and easier to deal with in some ways than not having something ever. On the other hand knowing you aren't going to have something ever has it's own advantages as you can resign yourself to it and accept things the way they are and move on. Not having something yet means it's always on your mind and you're constantly wondering, "is it time yet? is it time yet? when, when when??" It's easy to try to push it along faster and faster trying to make it get here before it's supposed to. And that's easy enough to do.

The great thing about being engaged though, is you know when. I know that June 24th, I will finally be married. So I know the "when." It's more like Christmas than some kind of surprise that I'm waiting for "any day now". Granted this does make it a LOT easier to wait for. But you easily get into the Count Down mentality and completely miss the great time that you're having right now. I'm trying very hard to avoid that. I was talking to my friend Ryan about it today, he conveniently happens to be a pastor at a local church, but he's also just a great guy in general, here's a short exceprt from our conversation:

Ryan: very true. it's weird though because you wait the whole time up to it, going insane, then it get's there and passes and it almost seems too simple. like "did that really happen?". I mean, you are together, then and everything, but like you said, except for sex and money, you pretty much already are. It's a little bit of an eerie feeling of same yet completely different at the same time...
Kyle: thats kinda what i'm expecting
Kyle: just kind of a sigh of relief... ah finally we can just be US totally and stop stopping short of being what we're supposed to be

Patience, and Contentment. the two things the Enemy wants me to forget. I'm glad I have a good woman beside me who reminds me when I forget, and I remind when she forgets. We're a good team.


technorati tags: sex, engagement, love

Monday Morning

My dad told me to steal his MP3 player when i was home this weekend doing my taxes, so I did. It's just a little 128mb dinker, but it gets me to work and back and since i don't have a stereo, it's nice to put something in my head. Currently it has some Nickel Creek
and some nice classic rock on it, just because I was in a hurry. But it was a great drive in today. My favorite song on it right now is "It's a great day" by Paul Thorn. Check that one out on iTunes nevermind, that one isn't on iTunes... Dang you iTunes. You've let me down again. Great song, very funny. good stuff.

Did my taxes on Saturday, I'm getting some money back from state which is cool, but I owe $53.00 to the Feds. But I come out positive in the end which is cool.

Oh and it's that time of year. I'm totally getting a cold. I'm not upset about it. It's Feruary, and I haven't really been sick yet this winter, so I'm due I guess. No biggy. I've been sick before. Everyone here at the office has been taking their turns with it, and I guess my turn's comin up.

Jeanette and I are coming up on 1 year together which is cool. Last night a friend mentioned the girl I dated before her, and it brought mixed feelings. I went home and lay in bed thinking about it, and I had to thank God for what she did. If she hadn't dumped me, I never would have even looked at Jeanette and would never have found the woman I'm spending my life with. I prayed for her last night, that she'd find someone who would be good to her, and would take care of her the way she wants and needs. She's a great girl, but my biased opinion says I came out with the better girl. And that's ok. I'm entitled, it's my website.

That's a cool thing about life, "You can't pray for someone you hate (I never hated her, but this is a quote from someone so I'll leave it in tact), and you can't hate someone you pray for. Prayer requires you to care about the person." -Matt Olsen

boy am i hungry.

Quote of the week, "I'm all for women being treated equal, but they don't belong on the sidelines at the Super Bowl." -Jeanette
I am sooo marrying the right woman.

technorati tags: NickelCreek, Taxes, sick, Prayer

Writing becomes part of my career

After last night's sermon at GCC on the spiritual discipline of Blogging, I felt like I needed to get back to this, and make it a priority.
SO, no apologies, here I am.

I've become the somewhat-official-public-relations-type-writer-guy for the OIT Help Desk. I'm writing a lot of stuff that's being pushed out to the web. I think they like me for a few reasons, the biggest of which is I volunteered, and the second is that I write for normal people, or atleast try to.

I really like my job, I really like my fiancee, I really like my family. They're all really good things right now. The weather is great here right now for the first week of Febuary, though I expect it to change to Icy Frigidity any day now. But that's ok. I'm only four and three quarters months away from my wedding, and that's DANG cool.

technorati tags: GCC, OIT