First Anniversary and the Cities

Good morning Life, universe, and everything. Welp, it was quite a fun weekend. As a few of you know, Jacinda, Aaron and I buzzed up to the cities for Saturday to see some friends and participate in Party and Mike's 4. I had a hollow victory in a seven player Magic battle (as in, the game went too long), ate too much and finally got to give Halo 3 a try, which depending on the level, I totally rocked at.

One of the main reasons we went to the cities was to pick up a darkroom kit, which included just about all the tools needed as well as two enlargers, which I am very excited about learning how to use. I believe, from my limited amount of studying the topic, we got quite a deal on it. The star item was the Saunders LPL enlarger, which I believe only works with 35mm film (Color and B&W). Jacinda and I like taking a lot of Medium format pics, which the other antique dinosaur enlarger (name escapes me) will do in black and white. I'll get back on this subject when we give them a shot. Cross-processing here we come.

I'm also really excited to say that it was mine and Jacinda's first anniversary yesterday! The past year definitely went by fast. We have grown a lot together. Our wedding cake was less desirable than our marriage, which is probably a good thing.

Tags: Jacinda, Party at Mikes, Photography

I just Wooted a Zune

woot.com has Brown Zunes for $80 today! YES.

So I officially bought a Brown Zune, the saddest color of them all. I don't have any buyer's remorse yet, and I promised Jacinda that we would get a new faucet for the bath tub. She seemed happy about that. Thanks darling! Hopefully, now that woot.com successfully roped me into buying a Zune, they'll be done with the sales (I'd hate for them to have a cheaper deal in the future).

Tags: Zune, Microsoft, Purchases, Jacinda, woot

Colorado and Utah

Alright, we made it! We successfully drove Jacinda's Ford Taurus to Utah and then back home without any major complication! It was great week and a lot of fun to get away from everything for a spell. We started our 14 hour trek to Estes Park, Co, early morning last Monday. We endured driving through the monstrously long and boring state of Nebraska to get there. Morale was high and excitement got us through it.

Once at Colorado, we checked out a few restaurants, ate a really small-town diner (of which everyone stared at us non-regulars when we waltzed in), did the camping thing and hiked our hearts out. One hike we took was to the top of Estes Cone, which I believe was about 6 miles long. In the process, we saw a very beautiful creek with crystal clear water (that I took a sip of.) We also got to sit under a rock and partake in a storm that rained and thundered on us for about a half of an hour. The last 3/4 of a mile was pretty tricky, as it was a fairly steep climb with lots of rocks and stuff. It was well worth the trouble, as the view from the top was amazing. Jacinda and I watched clouds form, it was a great site to see.

Once done in Colorado, we drove another six hours through it's beautiful mountains over to Moab, Utah and made it just before midnight. First impressions were ill-lit under the cloudy moonlight, and to some, was unimpressive. Alas, we were all just tired and ready to sleep. By the time we had all woke up the next morning, The hills were lit up and the air was warm. We took a look around to find that Everything was beautiful, from the horizon to the friendly people surrounding us. This was truly an exiting and new area for me. Absolutely unreal terrain, great weather, interesting wildlife, everything. I hadn't even seen Arches National Park and I was already excited. The Park was definitely a spectacle, seeing how large God's creation is, and how small you actually are. It was amazing being able to see, stand under, walk over and touch everything. The experience was like living in a picture you see in a travel magazine or National Geographic. It was all right there for you to live in.

I also had a great time with the others on the trip. It was great getting to learn new aspects of Jacinda, Mike and Aaron. I really enjoyed the camping experience, hanging out at restaurants, swimming, hiking. Everything was great! It puts into perspective just how intricate God really is. He created the very mountains, meadows, rocks and plains we tread, and he made these for his people to enjoy them.

I will post pictures once they are developed.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Mountains, Road Trip, Aaron, Jacinda, Nick, Mike, Taurus, God, Arches National Park, Rocky National Park

Watching Kids and Colorado Prep

I think yesterday was really good for me. Jacinda and I went over to watch my siblings while Dad took Mom to the Albertville outlet for her birthday present. Lately it feels the days go by all too fast and I'm just sort of going through motions kind of thing. While we were at my parents watching kids, I was really sort of forced to just live in the current moment and not have to worry about anything else beyond what took place at that house. So that is what I did. I hung out with my family and took things one at a time. It was great. Mom's probably going to laugh when she sees what I am going to say, but it was actually really peaceful. My family is great.

While I was there, I was also given a couple hours to change the oil and fix a few things on Jacinda's car. It runs like a champ and will definetly make it to Colorado and back. Can you believe it? We are actually going, like, this time tommorow, we'll be somewhere in Nebraksa! Yikes!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Car, Colorado, Family, Jacinda, Nebraska

Summer 07 Update

Alright, when I'm in a blogging rut, I usually make some sort of quasi-annual list of stuff that has been going on. I believe they usually come around this time of year as there is a fair amount going on and then I do one around February since absolutely nothing goes on around then. Without further redo, here's some thoughts, happenings, future references, etc.

Summer 07 has been really, really, really good for me. Summer 06 I did not care as much for as there was a lot of weird stuff going on. '06 contained New Job, Loss of roommates, buttloads of side work, engagement, no summer events, etc. Munnnndane. '07 is pretty happening and we are taking advantage of every part of it.
Duluth was a great "Second Honeymoon". I wish we had stayed up there four days instead of three. We took it for what it was, however, and really enjoyed it. Watched enormous tugs come in under the raising bridge, Swam (more waded as it was intensely cold) in beautiful lake superior, ate a ton, shopped, watched a sunrise, laughed and enjoyed each other's company.
Landscaping is still going on. I still need to take out some rock and we are waiting for a few loads of dirt to fill the sides of the house with.
Wood trim and painting is also a never-ending project at our place. This year, it seems I lack the panache to get the jobs done. The weeks go by so awfully fast, it's ridiculous.
Sidework is coming in at a perfect pace. Just enough to get me a little extra cash on the side. I don't need sidework only to survive like I did the last few years, which is a great feeling. I'll display my most recent works once they are complete.
Jacinda is still the best person to have ever entered my life.
I think Mafesta finally bit the bullet.
Fav. Bands are He Is Legend, Drive-By Truckers, Black Keys, Weezer.
I am still into Coffee, Pictures, Nintendo DS, Smash Bros, Cooking, Gardening, Internetz and Walking.

So there it be. The Summer of 2007 events list.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Duluth, Jacinda, Landscaping, Mafesta, Music, Nick, Painting, Sidework, Summer

Take One For Me

Out with my wife taking pics with our Holga and Lubitel medium format cameras:

For more summery-photo fun, check out my Flickr set: Part VII: Summer Fun

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Holga, Jacinda, Martial Arts, Minnesota, Nick, Pictures, Summer

Landscaping, Roofing, Busch Lights

My Memorial Day Weekend was a blast! Earlier last week, my Father-in-Law suggested getting some roofing done at my place, and while we were at it, start ripping up the landscaping. Early Saturday morning, we started working on the roof and besides a few minor things, managed to wrap that up by Sunday evening. No more leaks in the kitchen! w00t! It's a great feeling to know that is accomplished.

Also, over the last week, we have been removing a lot of the crappy landscaping rocks and the busted up walk-way on the side of the house. Since I moved in, water would pool up against our home. It wasn't bad enough to leak into the basement, but it's probably best to tackle it before it becomes an issue. Once we are done removing all this stone, we are going to lay some nice bricks down and put some wood chips around instead. In the end, I'm hoping that it will look nicer. It should. It does in my brain, anyways.

I also started setting up a trellis in the back so you can't see our gross looking shed (and neighbors in back) as easily. Down the line we are hoping to have some nice viney plants on those.

After 12 hour days, it was a real treat to kick back and grill with some friends in the evening. Waking up was brutal, however, as I am a Programmer (not used to physical labor!!) and don't get sore too often. It was a great feeling. Also HUGE thanks to Dick! I am able, I just lack initiative when I don't know how to do something. He really helped me out with the whole process of roof and landscape.

I'll get some pictures of the processes this evening, I hope. I didn't take as many as I would have liked, and I'm definitely lacking pictures of what it looked like before the process, so you'll just have to trust me that it is going to look better!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, diy, Home Improvement, House, Jacinda, Nick, Summer

Colorado?

Jacinda, Aaron and I have been throwing the idea around of taking a road trip Colorado. So far, out of the three of us, Jacinda is the only one who has been further West than 50 miles into South Dakota. Pretty sad? Maybe. We will be planning on visiting the usual National Park or two and the presidents in SD. We are also going to stop by small-town cafes, roadside oddities and do some classic American camping.

It's pretty exciting as I haven't done too much traveling. I'm also excited to camp. I haven't done that in 4-5 years. It'll also be fun to hang out with Wife and friends. as of right now, I don't even really care where we go.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Aaron, Colorado, Jacinda, Nick, Road Trip, Vacation

Chicagoland

We are back in Willmar from a week long honeymoon in Chicago, Illinois. As of right now, it all feels like a blur, it went so fast! I'm still trying to recap the week for my own benefit, which is partially a reason why I am blogging about it!

The Flight

We arrived in Minneapolis the night before we flew out so that we wouldn't have to worry about making the drive early in the morning. As an added bonus, we found out that Days Inn (Bloomington West) has an airport shuttle and will hold your car for $25 a week. Steal! We took advantage of that. It was all a breeze, except for that Jacinda and I, being first time flyer's, accidentally left our carry-on with our other baggage. We had about $1000 worth of crap in those and they didn't have ID tags. So that was a little nerve-wracking. It also didn't help watching them toss bags onto the plane! We did get our stuff back in Chicago, however. so it was all good.

Transportation

Once we got to Chicago and dumped our crap at our Hotel room, we figured next step would be to figure out a means of transportation. Initially we took a cab to get to our first destination, had a wonderful talk with the driver. He dropped us off and we got done with our shopping. Since we now had an approximation of how far we were from our hotel, we decided to just walk the rest of the way. Living in a small town with light traffic, you kind of forget what walking is, almost. After realizing this, we ended up walking to 90% of our destinations in Chicago. This was nice for the sake of cutting costs as well as for burning off all the food we ate. We didn't bother with Buses or the Train, that will be for another trip.

Food

Mmmm!!! Sooo much food! Highlights were the following: Giordano's, DeLaCosta, Puck's and Lavazza. Giordano's was great Chicago-style pizza. Deep, cheese on the crust, followed by sauce. I highly recommend this!!! You'll be able to split a small between two people and eat it for at least two meals! Puck's was in the contemporary Art Museum and had very nice light dishes. Felt healthy and looked appealing. Lavazza was an excellent Italian coffee shop. We tried their "Solid espresso" called Espesso. In the USA, it's available only in Chicago. Coffee was good, too. Last but not least, DeLaCosta was a ritzy Latin food restaurant. The food looked and tasted amazing. We got some drinks, which the name escapes me, that consisted of wine, brandy and lots of fruits. Had a wonderful appetizer which was a sort of Chicken with a very delicious green chile sauce. My main entree was Salmon, which was drenched in lemon, cilantro (i think) and topped with horseradish sauce. The Salmon was cooked interesting. It was almost raw. I want to figure out how to do that. We also had a very tasty desert, which they gave us free! Wow!

Sights/Shows

We hit a couple Art Museums, viewed the city from the John Hancock skydeck, saw "The Bean" and Millineum Park, visited Walgreen's multiple times and saw plenty other Chicago sights. We took a cab up to "The Second City" and saw their act, "Disposable Nation" which was filled with plenty of Sarcasm towards American culture and topics. It was pretty funny stuff and quite far fetched. Very talented people! We also went to "Schuba's Tavern" and attended their mini-festival thing they had going on. Bands I appreciated was Office and Mucca Pazza. Mucca Pazza is absolutely talented. I can't even begin to explain their show. check them out on Youtube for a few videos. We also saw the Pianist, Lang Lang perform at the Orchestra hall.

The Company

Only me and Jacinda. It was perfect. :-)

OOF! It was a great week and an awesome trip. I am very pleased that we decided to go to Chicago for a honeymoon. Though the location is a little off-beat for a honeymoon (I guess), it was a great experience.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Jacinda, Nick, Travel

Engagement Photos

Jacinda and I took some photos yesterday. Some may be suitable for Engagement pictures. I could use another trim.....