"Bleh" for being sick...NO, it's NOT swine flu!

Well this week has been a long week. With all the wedding plans requiring attention, calls to be made, follow ups, dance lessons....oh and that thing called "work" still being a necessity, Deb and I are exhausted. So what better way to help aide in my exhaustion than getting sick? Right?

Tuesday I woke up with an awful sore throat, congestion, and those aches and pains associated with the flu. As the day went on, I felt better, eventually capping the day off with our dance lessons. Wednesday I felt significantly better, but by the end of the day all those early morning Tuesday symptoms had crept back. That night I went through my emails and online sites for swine flu info, just in case. Scary stuff for toddlers and babies, especially with how to detect it and stuff. Yikes! in any case, I was in the clear and definitely felt as though I was just sick with a cold, not swine flu or the seasonal flu. No fever, etc. Anyways Thursday was great because I had to get to the office early and prep for a site visit to the Shell Refinery here in Houston. Who needs to inhale Vick's when they can go to a refinery and inhale methane and all the other conglomerates of fumes? By the end of my site visit I was exhausted and ill. It's the double edged sword because if you say "I'm to sick to come in," you'll get those questionable looks. However, when you do come in, you get the comments like, "oh why are you here, don't hurt yourself." It's truly a no win situation.

Best conversation of the day went like this:

He says, "Well, Michael Jordan played with a 102 degree fever."

My response, "I'm not Michael Jordan. I don't get paid millions."

His response, "he didn't do it for the money."

My response, "yeah, but I'm not playing on the 1995 Chicago Bulls. I work for Halcrow."

I mean, come on people. I'm pale (not just my normal paleness, a little more extreme), I'm talking with a scratchy and hoarse voice, walking around like a little old man, my eyes rolling around, my thought process not quite there, and probably looking quite disheveled, why make comparisons to me visiting a project site to Michael Jordan's honorable play? Oye, you just can't win!

At the end of the day I was exhausted and came home. And today I spent at home trying to get better. As of now, I'm feeling better...and really, it's better that I'm sick this week then in three from now!

I mean, who would want to congratulate the groom at his wedding if you appeared to be a swine flu carrier? :-)

And one last time, I don't have it...with the fear in America right now, you have to assume every sick person has it!

Stupid Parades

OK, so everyone says that something will go wrong with the wedding, well I already know what it is! There is a parade blocking all access roads to the church just in time for our ceremony to begin!

Yep, it is St. Charles' Bicentennial Celebration that weekend which is great because our out of town guests will have plenty to do (hay rides, movies under the stars, historic tours...), everything but making it to the church!

You can see the Parade route below, St. Charles Borromeo is 1 block North of Clark Street. SO you can see that to get from the highway/hotel to the church you would typically head down 5th Street. This intersection may or may not still be closed when guests should be arriving.

I spoke with the parade coordinator for the city today, she didn't sound hopeful, but told me the parade starts at 12pm and 'should' be over by 2pm. And she promised to talk with the police and get some suggested routes for our guests. So please stay tuned for updates!

Terence and I did a walking estimate on Google Maps tonight and it will take 16 minutes to get to Blanchette Park (C) from 5th and Clark (B). Which means the last float should pass through the intersection that we need by about 1:45pm.

Any suggestions?
View Larger Map

Wedding Overload!

We are now within a month! Approximately 24 days, 23 hours, 44 minutes, and change! Yikes!

Debbie is working soooo hard now, and I'm working...well, lets just say I'm "contributing as needed." I think that's fair. This past weekend Debbie and I seemingly got a lot accomplished. We headed out to the Houston outlets, just outside Houston (on the Northwest side). I was able to finish my "need to buy for the wedding and honeymoon" list, but Debbie...not so much. We have a lot left! Then on Sunday Debbie had to work but we were still able to assemble our wedding ceremony that evening. Last night we put together our songs for the ceremony, hymns, processional, etc etc. It's a lot of work considering we can only use certain songs (for the church). We were working past midnight! (Again more Debbie than me...)

Anyways, we are chugging along. Less than three weeks of work to go for the two of us, then we will enjoy the four weeks off!

Funny line today came from my friend, and groomsmen, Alok. He wrote to me, "I am sure you and Debbie must be inundated with things to worry about, but between a structural engineer and a astro-physicist, I am sure that all eventualities must have been planned for :)"

I laughed. When I read this, I thought of the fifty things I need to do! Have to get my tux tailored, call our priest, book the rest of our excursions etc etc etc. It was one of the first moments that I realized just how stressed Debbie must be (and have been for the past year plus!). She is so awesome!

So We're Dancing a "Rumba"

It was an interesting first dance lesson, no joke at all. I don't even know where to begin! Debbie signed us up for dance lessons for the wedding. See, we don't want to look like complete tools during our first dance, so we are getting lessons. Really, they are for me! :-) Stack the two of us up together and Debbie looks like a professional...versus me, the "challenged" one.

When we got there and Debbie was filling in the form the guy says across the counter, "Terence you can relax, it's not that bad." It felt like I was at the doctors, all that anxiety and all! Once we met up with our dance instructor, who neither Debbie or I could remember his name afterwards, he brought us up to speed. When asked of our level of experience, I think "nothing, nada, zilch" could sum it up! When we got to the dancing, our song we decided to do our first dance to came on. (NOTE: we really don't have a song that is "ours," aside from "Video Killed the Radio Star." hahaha, don't ask!) It was decided we'd do a "Rumba" which I recall from Debbie and our days watching So You Think You Can Dance. Saying "Foxtrot" and "Waltz" just makes me think of all the professional dancers on the show failing miserably doing these dances, so they decide to send us up there to do this! Yikes!

I will hold off on all the details of our training and lessons, but I will continue to poke fun at myself, the guy with two left feet with what our instructor kept saying to me..."breathe." Yup, I guess my multi-tasking is limited to walking and breathing, because dancing and breathing is just too much for me! :-)

More to come...

Deb and I have been together over 5 1/2 years, but I realized...I don't think I have one picture of us dancing! Nope, I do! It was back in 2004 at Debbie's sorority formal. We were dancing (I think) just before or after this picture. Whatever, it works. It's like a book with pictures...it's more entertaining than the book without pictures (well, not really...). (NOTE: perhaps the blogmaster will have to step in here and update me. I don't think this was 2004...I recall Debbie in a black dress, so perhaps this was another year...hmmm...whatever, it's the closest thing I have to us dancing!)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I will be a little more cordial today for you, mom! I save the sarcasm, jokes, and a-hole-ish comments for my siblings...i.e., Tamara yesterday!

I wish that Debbie and I were able to make it to Florida to help celebrate, but with the wedding in only ONE month, it wasn't possible. I thought the following pics were classic shots...

Here is my mom and I playing Scrabble...of course my mom is doing what she does often during our games...challenging my words! I like to think I win more than I lose, but we'll see. I smell a challenge in St Louis pre-wedding!

One of my mom and I when I was younger, thought it was a funny "past" picture...(this isn't the long hair that Debbie likes to make fun of, but it's what led to it!)

And of course my mom and her kids...

Happy Birthday Mom!