Congrats John and Chrissy

Anna, Kristen, and I drove up to Port Huron for John and Chrissy's Wedding. The car ride there was nice. I love long car rides where the conversation hides the static from the radio station that you no longer get, and you never really notice. With good company and conversation, car rides (my least favorite thing about vacations) seem so much shorter.

We got to the reception about an hour early, and we had time to check out a local brew pub. I tried eight different beers, but nothing too special. One of the eight was a Miabock. I never had that style before. It was probably my favorite out of the bunch. Good thing Anna and Kristen were there to help me through the eight "samples".

We got to the reception right on time. I sat with a bunch of co-workers. It was fun to hang around all of them, and we never even talked shop. It's nice to hang around friends and not talk about work, especially when you're out of town.

The reception was so much fun. I cannot remember when I danced that much. I'm not sure how good I was. My dancing philosophy is just don't stop moving. Well, I didn't stop moving; I think I hurt myself. Besides dancing, the night included good food, one incredibly good pepper (that's right Pete, it was delicious), fireworks, a bunch of boats, and a lot of comics talk.

We were not planning on spending the night, but we were having so much fun that we lost track of time. It was about 1:00 am when we left the reception. We thought about driving home, but decided that we were all too tired to drive. Got up the next morning, ate at Bob Evan's, and drove back to home.

Later that day, Anna surprised me and took me to Potter's Park Zoo. The red panda was my favorite. With all the traveling, late night partying, and walking at the zoo, I can't believe I wasn't that tired come Monday morning. All in all, this was the best weekend I've had in a long time.

Lists

I recently read this article about lists. It seems funny to get excited about lists, but I do. Lists help you to not forget. Lists help you free up the mind so you can focus on other other tasks.

My traditional list medium of choice is the much loved Post-it note, but I have also been making digital lists for some time using one of my favorite applications, Tomboy. When I used to write a lot of music, I would carry a small pad of paper around at all times to list lyrics I thought of throughout the day (some of these eventually became songs -- most went through the washing machine and were lost forever, my best works I'm sure). Heck! Most people never use a spreadsheet for its original purpose (to calculate financial invoices), but they use it to make all sorts of lists.

Out of the nine lists the author talked about, I found I was already keeping six of them:

1. Things I Want - thanks wish list
2. Gift Ideas - thanks Tomboy
3. “Got a Minute?” - thanks ReadItLater
4. “Watch, Read, Listen” - thanks Netflix
5. Great Ideas - thanks Tomboy
6. Grocery List - thanks Magnetic Christmas Penguin Pad

The most beneficial list I keep is my Great Ideas list. Not only do I not forget an idea I have, but this usually turns into a goal of some sort. A program to code, a blog entry to post, a story to write - when I have the need to be creative, I have a place to look to get me started.

So what I'm trying to say is give lists a try. You might like them.

Vader is Now Receiving 87 Channels

Or perhaps a more nerdy title, The Rebels Have Won.

Vader was chasing rabbits in the back yard. I'm sure she was only trying to introduce herself to her fuzzy neighbors, but she got a little too excited. She jumped up on a fence and *squeamish readers go to next paragraph* ripped off one of her toe nails.

So she has to wear this funnel on her head until Saturday. Poor, ridiculous looking dog :(

It's OK to laugh -- we have, both out of hilarity and pity. She can't tell where she's going or how much space her facial region takes up know, so she runs into a lot of things and managed to get herself stuck on a corner of the wall.

Now that you're all incredibly sad, here is a less embarrassing picture of Vader:

Batman Returns

I would have to say that the vast majority of my numerous (cough, cough, five, cough) readers do not follow comics, so I'll keep this brief.

Batman 687 hit the shelves today. For those not it the know, Bruce is dead (sort of - stupid DC), and Dick Grayson (the first Robin/Nightwing

27

Today was my 27th birthday. It was nice. I got up, drank some coffee, then got ready to go fishing. My mom called me and sang me Happy Birthday, and then my two nieces sang me Happy Birthday also; although, Cora said I looked like a monkey and smelled like one too. I chuckled.

I went to Lake Ovid. I've never been there before. It was a lot bigger than I expected. I talked politics and technology with my bud Travis. I caught a few gills, and I was totally out-fishing Travis, but then he caught a six pound catfish. Technically I caught more fish than him, but nothing close to the size of that. We were there until 6:30. On the way home, a truck with a trailer was passing me, and the trailer's ramp fell off and almost hit me. It was crazy.

I came home to find Anna had made me a birthday cake. It had candles on it and everything. I can't remember the last time I had to blow out candles. I got them all in one blow! The cake said, "My Geek, Happy Birthday!" She knows how to make me smile.

Now I'm going to relax.