Wednesday, May 28, 2008

14

It was 14 years ago today that a lovely woman agreed to be my lovely wife.
In that time ...
* We've had two amazing kids who make our lives even better every day.
* I gained and lost 50 pounds (ouch!)
* Both my best-man and Tracy's maid-of-honor got married and divorced.
* And my best-man got re-married (this last weekend ... congrats, George!)
* The Rockies made it to the World Series (probably another 14 years before they win the damn thing)
* The U.S. has been involved in several bloody wars that didn't do diddily-squat for anyone
* George Lucas finally finished the first three Star Wars movies
* The Broncos won the Super Bowl ... twice!
* We own two mini-vans
* I've had five different jobs (still would rather be writing full time)
* Tracy's had three
* My mother-in-law moved to Greeley from Fort Morgan (woo-hoo!)
* My father-in-law passed away (we miss you, Joe!)
* We've made many friends and lost contact with a few, too.
* I discovered I really like shrimp
* Brussel sprouts ... not so much
* Tracy has probably had less than 10 glasses of wine (I may have had a few more than that)
* Terrorists have done a number of really bad things
* So have US politicians
* We've only had two presidents (that's strange, huh?)
* We've seen hundreds (if not thousands) of movies (include bad TV shows and we're easily there)
* I am now comprised of 90 percent ice cream and popcorn
* I've published one book and several hundred columns (see many of 'em here)
* I've written several novels ... edited a couple and pitched to one agent
* My parents have moved from a gorgeous lake in California to Texas (please forgive them)
* We have killed at least two hermit crabs, countless sea monkeys (although two live!), a couple goldfish, a strange swimming frog and not nearly enough mosquitoes.

And through it all, I have been the most fortunate person on the planet because I have been able to experience it all with my incredible wife. She's my best friend and the hottest chick ever ... it's an awesome combination.
ILYM!!!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Whew!

In case you didn't know, our county has been dealing with the aftermath of a horrible tornado that hit about 10 miles from our house on Thursday. It's been a scary couple days. On Thursday, Tracy and the kids spent much of the afternoon under the stairs (Tracy has a nice area set up ... since Y2K!!!). I was at work but I was at the gym for the lunch hour and we all had to go into the basement aerobics room to wait out the tornado warnings. Tracy's mom, Ruth, was driving home to Greeley from Windsor and went right through it. The baseball-sized hail caused extensive damage to her car and her nerves, but she's OK.
On Friday, Alex and I went to the mall to get me some clothes that fit (finally) and while we were there, another tornado warning came up and the power in the whole mall went 0ut. We were kicked out of JC Penney's until we found out that store is one of the "safe" areas. (duh!). With the power out, the pretzel guy was giving away pretzels, so Alex was OK.
All in all, it's really a miracle only one person was killed. We don't have sirens in Greeley or Windsor. But I guess we really are connected enough these days that nobody was really caught off-guard (although some kids in the day care in Windsor were nearly sucked away).
So, the rest of our weekend ...
* Took Alex and a friend to Indiana Jones. Not bad. Not great.
* Tracy and I were going to see a double-feature of Married Life and Baby Mama on Saturday but the theater was doing construction (not tornado-related) and they failed to tell people until the last minute. So, we had a good dinner and went home to see the Savages on OnDemand. Good flick.
* Spent 3 days cleaning the kitchen (and we're not done). We emptied and cleaned every cabinet. It's amazing what crap you collect over 12 years! Should be done today!
That's about it.

Monday, May 19, 2008

B-day week(end)

On Friday, I turned 39. I had a pretty good week, too.

On Wednesday, I was part of a drinking study for the Tribune as several of us got loaded to see how fast someone can get drunk and its impact on driving. See the article (with a link to video ... what was I thinking?!?!?) here http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20080518/NEWS/950371384

On Friday, I was off work because we're on 4-day weeks this summer (nice, but 10-hour days suck). Anyway, Andy Segal and I went (with a friend of his, Rob, from Denver) to play 18 at Marianna Butte in Loveland. It was great! I actually hit a shot that skipped across water (twice!) and landed in a great spot. Andy and I had such a great time that we decided to play the Old Course in Loveland when we were done. Yes, 36 holes of golf in one day. It was a good day.

The diet is going OK. I lost another pound last week and I bought a pair of shorts that were 8 inches less than all the others I own. That felt good. I actually bought another pair that is two inches less than that but they are a little too snug right now but it gives me something to shoot for. The hard part with the diet is my birthday. With the drinking before and during as well as the tasty ice cream Tracy bought me and the amazing cake my mother-in-law made me (glutten-free!!!) and the banana bread Tracy made (GF!), I have eaten more than I have in a long time. I know they say you can just bounce back, but it's tough. I feel like poop. But I had some good fish and veggies last night for dinner, so I hope that will begin to cleanse out the body again.

As for movies, Tracy and I went with Christi and Andy to "What Happens in Vegas" (after going to PF Changs which was awesome ... but stuffing also). It's a pretty good movie, actually. Lots of good laughs. The hardest part for me was the gambling. It was totally wrong. They won the slot jackpot ($3 million) with ONE QUARTER. Any moron could see the machine said it needed TWO to win the big one. And, earlier they were playing craps and with a table full of money (including money on the Come line), they were cheering for a seven. (Of course, they hit and they win). Anyone who has played craps knows this is crap. Sure, they could have been playing the no-pass line, but they had their money on pass. Stupid thing to complain about, but still. It wouldn't have been that tough to make it right.

Watching Veronica Mars (Season 1) and The 4400 (the newest season) on DVD. Both very good. Can't wait to see where The 4400 is going.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Movie weekend

Trying to stay out of Tracy's hair, I spent a lot of time in the movie theater this weekend.
On Saturday, I took the boys to Speed Racer. If you loved the cartoon, you'll love this. I remember loving the cartoon for a short time. I didn't like the film for the same reason I stopped liking the cartoon. Still was amazing to see the visuals.
The boys then stayed at Grandma's and I went to Harold and Kumar with Dono. Fortunately, we went to a bar beforehand which put us in the right mood. Still wasn't as funny as the first one.
On Mother's Day, Tracy still had to work so I took the boys (plus Grandma Ruth) to Iron Man. What a great flick. Robert Downey Jr. was awesome.
Also this weekend we had our last soccer game of the year. We lost but the boys played well. The wind came up at the end and that was no fun whatsoever.
Pretty sick of the wind right now.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Good weekend

So, Friday, I gave the boys the option of going to a really cool new model train exhibit and museum that's only open once a month or staying home and watching a couple old Star Trek Next Generation episodes from NetFlix. Pikard won out. Although I'd like to go see the exhibit some time, I'm pretty happy that both of my sons are into Star Trek as much as I was. They use ST refs all the time and talk about phasers and posotronic brains and, yes, I have created two total nerds ... and I love it.

Saturday, we had Andy's second to last soccer game and the kids played amazing. By far their best game. My assistant coach was blown away. It was incredible.

Then, Andy went to a friend's house for a birthday party and Alex and I went to see the play "Annie" at the UCCC with Ruth, Greta, Alex's friend, Ryan, and his mom Kristie. Tracy couldn't go because she's snowed with a major work project. The play was pretty good. I'll admit I am not a big fan of the music in it, but the staging was impressive.

Alex then had a sleepover at Ryan's house and the next morning I picked up Andy and his friend, Cameron, and we met Dono and Sara for the Rockies game against the hated Dodgers. And the Rox actually won one!!! Woo-hoo.

During the game, I also got to meet up with a friend of mine from California, Mike Ingraham. Mike and I grew up about four houses from each other in the Bay Area from 4th grade through high school. Growing up, we had a lot of fun together (he went to my first rock concert (Van Halen, May 11, 1984) with me) and we also fought a lot (about nothing ... which sounds about right). Anyway, I hadn't seen him since high school graduation. He's now re-married to a cool lady named Jen and they recently moved to Colorado Springs. He looks just like his dad (so do I, I think). It was a short visit but it was great to see him.

Finished Sunday off by watching "Dead Alive" on DVD. This was Peter Jackson's first movie and it was so darn funny. Absolutely laugh-out-loud cheesy. WAY over the top fake gore. Really funny lines. Really bad special effects (the rat monkey is now my fav!). Horrible acting. Really fun.