Thursday, July 30, 2009

Honeymoon is fast approaching! (Wedding, too!)

October 10th is going to be awesome, but I know that Debbie and I are probably more excited for the 2 weeks that follow! In 2 mos and 13 days we leave for Rome, then 2 days later we'll be onboard the Carnival Dream for 13 days, then back to Rome for another night. It's going to be awesome!


Only a few months to go, and we have so much to do! Wedding stuff first, of course, but that is more Debbie than me. I'm helping, don't worry, I am. I probably think I've helped more than I have. Deb has handled 98% of the wedding, me...probably at 1%, the minimum for a groom! :-) Maybe more...

Anyways, the past few days I have really gotten into the honeymoon planning groove. I even got a book that is our "honeymoon book" with all our confirmations, plans, insurance, etc. I'll post pic later. We have so much on the agenda so far visiting Rome pre-cruise, and then again post-cruise. Vatican, Colosseum, etc etc. Plus all the stops on the cruise. We are headed to Pompeii, Mt Vesuvuis, and along the Almafi Coast while in Naples, the Murano glass factory in Venice, and off to Florence when we port in Livorno.

But the most important scheduling was completed first...couples massage during our first sea day! Going to be awesome. Once I get more planned and confirmed, I'll share...

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Stick a fork in 'em, the Indians are done!

What a disappointing year it is for people in Washington, they have the Nationals who are just terrible, or in Pittsburgh where they've traded nearly every opening day starter away, but not Cleveland right? WRONG! They traded away Ryan Garko the other day and now Cliff Lee, their ace. Go figure I'll have to wait one more year (at least) to see the Indians try for a ring. Another year where they are touted as being the best in the AL Central down the tubes... I guess it was meant to be since we'll be on our honeymoon during the World Series. :-)

Maybe the Astros? I won't jinx them, but they've been playing some great ball of late. I'm in for at least 2 games next week. Maybe they will win their first game I will attend...they have lost every game I've been to all year!

I'll try and update wedding and honeymoon later. Honeymoon plans have really started coming together. Wedding isn't that far away!!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Interesting Baseball Statistic (from SI and WSJ)

Did you know that there are only 26 baseball players and managers in Major League Baseball (currently) that have college degrees! I read this in Sports Illustrated (from a Wall Street Journal poll) a few weeks back and thought I'd share.

Just a side note, I find it funny that only 1 major leaguer is the product of Florida Tech...and I believe he IS one of the 26. So good for you, Tim Wakefield! That's nearly 4%! He also was the oldest pitcher selected for the first time to an All Star Game. Perhaps that means us Panthers bloom later in our careers? Hmm...

Here is a link to the article: CLICK HERE

Check out the graph of the "brainiest" teams. I like how Atlanta is last. My mom is one that always roots against them, so I'm sure she'll be pleased!

Beer A Mids Season 1 Coming to an End

This Thursday is the last week of my first season playing with the Beer-A-Mids. It's been a lot of fun so far, and playing close to home (in Pearland) is a much better than when I was out nearly in Katy! We have two more games to go but I don't know how the playoff picture is looking. Heck I can't recall our record!

Last week I had a good week, hitting my second homerun of the season. Oddly enough it would have been an out had they not called the previous homerun hit by our team a double! In our league only one homer is allowed per game, per team. Had they had the call correct, I would have been the third out of the inning...my three RBI's wouldn't have been there, and the next three runs later in the inning wouldn't have counted. The other team argued it later, but really...if they really were trying to be honest, they should have said the first one really WAS a homer!

All in all, it's been great thus far...

The funniest part of my stats is that I'm batting a robust 0.567 and that falls BELOW the team's average! I find that quite funny! This week I'm going to see what I can do about raising my average...singles, doubles, gap shots...anything! I'll keep you all posted!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My sister is a hippie!

Well if you haven't met my sister or don't recall what she looks like, take a stroll down the navigation tolls at the left and find the video of her doing the YMCA at Yankee Stadium. That's my sis! And she'll be at the wedding, of course, but not sporting her hippie gear but a bridesmaid dress!

All joking aside, my sister is very Earth-conscious, which is a great thing for all of us. My brother and I dub her the "hippie" out of pure love and admiration. Some sarcasm, but that's what my brother and I have been doing to her for years! I was telling Debbie's sister about what we would do to her and how we were mean to her, she felt bad. Nobody can forget the woodchip incident! Oye...maybe that'll be some wedding conversation???

Anyways, check out her new car...a 2010 Toyota Prius:


And in case anyone doubts the "hybrid" tag that Prius' have...she clarified it in a picture!


To forshadow her September birthday, Deb and I went with a similar theme...only 2 months to go until her 31st birthday! Wow...she's in her 30s!

I think this post is testament to all the torturous years that my brother and I contributed to! :-)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

50th Birthday, Wedding Stuff, & All Star Fanfest

Last weekend we headed up to St Louis to celebrate Debbie's mom and aunt's 50th birthday! Debbie and her sister did an amazing job planning, decorating, and more for the event! I'll leave the details and photos for Debbie to blog...

We also took care of wedding stuff, including doing our menu tasting for our reception. I think we were impressed by nearly all our preliminary selections...and narrowed it down to some great dishes. One more thing we took care of was our wedding cake fillings, icings, etc. I can't say I'll ever get to eat enough wedding cake!

Then on Sunday it seemingly was for me. We headed to the America's Center in downtown St Louis for the All Star Fanfest, part of the MLB All Star Game celebrations. There was so much there from Hall of Famer's signing autographs (like Harmon Killebrew and Tony Perez, for instance), a travelling HOF exhibit, interactive baseball games, and more. It was pretty sweet. We didn't have all day to spend there as we all head home that evening, but we got a few hours of fun in. We did the speed pitch (including Debbie, her cousins Robbie and Bryan, her aunt Pat, and myself). Debbie and Pat threw in the 30s and 40s, Bryan in the 50s, and Robbie and I in the 70s. I don't know where it came from, but somehow I still have 78 mph in my arm! That is off my once 89 mph throw from my high school days, but wasn't all that bad for my 27 year old arm.

Ditto to the wedding photos, the party photos, and now the Fanfest photos...Deb has them! She is off in Denver this weekend (remember this is our busy busy month!)... I did find one photo taken at the State Farm Homerun Derby exhibit, check it out:

Saturday, July 18, 2009

One More...Half Marathon in January!

Well, registration opened at 12:01am yesterday (Friday)...even though I won't be able to train before the wedding, I know I'll be ready in January. As I am a very "clumsy" and seemingly injury prone (just ask my softball teammates!), I am going to avoid any regimented training until November.

Running has been my escape for quite some time, and much of that goes back to 2007 when Deb and I trained for our first half marathon. We would wake up early every Satruday and train with Pearland Fit. It was a great experience and was definitely a lot of fun. Last year I tried training for the full marathon, but all the injuries stacked up and held me back. Go figure my bum knee was holding up just fine, aside from the regular pain I deal with!

In any case, I registered early yesterday...got myself in okay. As of a little bit ago, only 1,000 spots remain out of the 22,000 pool! And those spots are only for the marathon! I am so happy I just went with my gut and registered...something to look forward to!

Here's a pic from the Houston marathon in 2008...Deb and I were happy to be finished! Good times!

Engagement Photos...

So back in May Deb and I headed up to St Louis for our engagement photos. Can't see we were blown away with the final product, but they were okay.

Couple sets in Tower Grove Park, then down near Busch Stadium (I sported my Indians gear, while Deb was in her loser Cardinals), and then down underneath some railroads in downtown. It was a cool location with multiple structural elements (I was looking up a lot!)...

Once we get them downloaded, we can upload more...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Dallas iPhone fun

Terence and I went to Dallas this weekend to help my sister move into her new apartment. She is starting medical school in a few weeks, I'm so proud of her!

Well we ended up going to the Dallas Fairpark to watch the fireworks, I got an awesome video I shot with my iPhone. I don't know how we ended up directly next to the Firework "launch site", but it sounds like we are in a war zone! Tell me this isn't pretty good quality for a phone!!


Beer Pong, Dallas, More Dallas, then St Louis...

July arrived last Wednesday...the month of us being ridiculously busy!

Last Thursday I took off work, not in preparation, but in a Seinfeld-esque way. I can quote Elaine and be right on: "I had to take a sick day. I'm so sick of these people." :-) But Thursday was an awesome day...later on that day I had a softball game. One of the guys joked about bringing his "regulation" beer pong table. Well, he did! After an undetermined amount of beer, we lost both games...badly. The first game was by slaughter. It was bad. So with the hour break we all decided what better way to spend our time then with beer pong! We even built a beer-a-mid on the table to throw through. The second game that followed was no better. It was 23-1 when the first basemen dropped the F-bomb. We were warned, but the pitcher wasn't pleased...he just said "that's it, we're done." And that was it... It was a fun night...

Friday Deb and I headed to Dallas to help her sister Christine move. Already an RN, she is going further...becoming a doctor. She is going to the University of North Dallas in Fort Worth. (I think that's right...Debbie can confirm.) The weekend was filled with boxes, furniture shopping, and more. We drove back on Sunday...and oddly enough, I'm headed back up to Dallas tonight for some Structural software training. Two full days of training await...all of which will help my structural capabilities.

This weekend we are headed up to St Louis for a 50th birthday celebration for her mom and aunt. Deb has been planning the party with her sister and grandma, and I anticipate it being a blast! Afterwards we are headed to the All Star Game Fanfest which is part of the pre-All Star Game festivities! Homerun derby is Monday, the game is Tuesday. Anyone have any tickets, I'd be sooooo willing and thankful! Who knows, maybe we'll win some?

The rest of the month is going to be similar...Denver next weekend, Dallas the following, then August...St Louis, Florida, etc... Can't wait until the wedding and honeymoon!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Word from the past week..."Liability"

Well it's been a little over a week now, and all last week and now into this week I keep hearing the same thing over and over...

"Nothing like a little liability to help you sleep at night"
"You are a PE now, you don't need me anymore."
"Put everything in your wife's name."

It's all new to me and I have a lot to learn, but now I just chuckle when I hear these things. I know I shouldn't, because it's soooo true! Today I was reading a story about the 13-story apartment complex in Shanghai that fell over. Craziest thing...it fell over intact! I assumed it had to be geotechnical to fall over like that...and apparently it was when they started excavating for the underground parking garage that it all happened. Check out the picture:


...or go read the link at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html

Debbie's response to all of this, "huh, and you wanted to be a PE..."