Merry Christmas

... so bring us some figgy pudding...

MERRY CHRISTMAS
and
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season this year. May your days be blessed with abundant love, peace, and happiness.

... and in the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one."

weekend

the party edition

Thursday
The best girlfriend in the world came to visit me (no, not yours... mine). I took her out on an awesome date that night since our six month anniversary was on the 9th. We went to Johnny Carino's for dinner. It was yummy. We then went to see Happy Feet. It was REALLY good. Erin and I laughed so much it hurt. Not only was it a very sweet movie, and it had some political and environmental messages as well. After that we went to the Paddy Wagon for a couple of drinks before heading back to watch some Ghost Whisperer before bed.

Friday
Erin and I slept in, then went to LiveWire and met Dustin for lunch. I left Erin and Dustin to gab a bit since I had to go to my Web Publishing class for my final, which consisted of showing off our web pages and getting back various papers and our grade for the class (I got a 94... yeah, I'm awesome). For dinner, Erin and I ate at B.D.'s Mongolian Grill... AWESOME. I highly recommend it! After dinner we went to St. Awesome's Christmas Party. We sat at a table with a bunch of the guys I volunteer with and Erin and I danced to the music the 3 piece jazz combo was playing. After the party wound down, we headed home and watch MORE Ghost Whisperer.

Saturday
I made brunch for Erin, Dustin, and Katie. Probably the biggest meal I've ever attempted. I'm generally a one dish meal kind of guy... mostly because it's tough to make a full meal for just one person. We had scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits. Erin helped me do some more Christmas shopping before the big party at Dustin and Katie's. We had a blast! We played a couple rousing games of Scene It and had a wine-gift exchange. We tried one wine, and it tasted like Dimetap cough syrup.

Sunday
Erin left. I was sad. I wrote out Christmas Cards and went to bed.

Monday
Finished up Christmas shopping! ... and six days before I needed to be! Now I'm watching the Cincinnati Bengals play the Indianapolis Colts. Major game.

exciting

like i have ants in my pants...

Erin comes in tomorrow!

YAY!

weekend

apparently that's the only time stuff happens to me...

Friday
I had a nice relaxing day. I woke up when my body decide it was time to get up. I cleaned up a little but in anticipation for Katie's family coming in for a visit for the weekend. That afternoon, I went to the mall, got a much needed haircut (as in a couple months, dirty-hippie-looking, needed). After that, I wandered around the mall and did some Christmas shopping. I decided to treat myself to a movie and went to see The Holiday with Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Cameron Diaz, and Jude Law. It was really good. Caught myself tearing up a little bit several times. Afterwards, I bought a few groceries in anticipation for Erin's visit this coming weekend and headed home.

Saturday
I slept in again, and then headed to St. Awesome's to volunteer as lighting director. The band and vocal team were doing some really cool versions of carols, and they seemed to be having some difficulty getting it all together. But as always, the finished product was amazing. Went home after church and crashed.

Sunday
As with most Sundays I volunteer, the morning came way too early. After church, I came home and watched the Bengals beat the Raiders. It was a really fun game to watch. :) That means the Bengals are still in the Playoff Race... they're seeded #5 right now (which means if the season ended last weekend, Cincy would be in the playoffs). Crashed hard again after the game. Woke up in time for Dustin to ask me how I like my steak cooked. Medium-well. I made some garlic cheese mashed potatoes and Dustin, Katie, and I had a nice dinner. After dinner, I exiled myself to my room to study for my finals on Monday. (which went very well! thanks for asking!)

redesign launch

new. simple.

Been working on this for a couple weeks. It was one of the projects i teased you about a while back... this is obviously the one I wasn't getting paid for. I'm still working out a couple of kinks, but so far I like it. Tell me what you think.

random

fun facts to get you through the day

- December 9th marks mine and Erin's 6 month anniversary. :)We're going to celebrate when she comes into town at the end of the week. :)

- Took my final final.

- Scored perfect on my lab notebook for Graphics Communications.

- I like blackberry cobbler from Aesop's in Buckhannon.

Christmas Wishes

Brought to you by my wonderful girlfriend.

STEP ONE
Make a post to your live journal or blog. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related to medium to really big. The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real life things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you. Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your live journal or blog.

STEP TWO
Surf around your friends journals and blogs to see who has posted their list. If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You don't have to spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just... wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

... in no particular order... except the first one...
1. A closer relationship with God.

2. To not be a burden on people, whether it be family, friends, or society.

3. A worry and stress-free holiday season. (for me, "holiday" means Christmas and New Year)

4. More time with my girlfriend.

5. For everyone I love to be in the same room at the same time.

6. To be able to give Erin the present she really wants for Christmas (and that I really want to give her).

7. To be with Stephanie and Chris. I miss them so much, and I'm not sure when I'll get to see them again.

8. Wisdom. For everyone. An end to ignorance. An end to warring nations.

9. For all of my loved ones to have a safe travels and happy holidays.

10. To know that my dad is proud of me.

Journey love

I have some of the coolest friends...

This is just a small example of why I have some of the best friends in the world.

The Holiday

Bottom line. Go see this movie.

Let's work our way back to the top, now... Kate Winslet and all the British actors in this film are brilliant. Kate is adorable.

The movie is one of those heart-warming-feel-good kind of holiday movies. I welled up with tears for about the last half of the movie. It's just a sweet, wonderful movie.

Go see it.

Gutenberg Awards!

I know, I know, what the HECK are the Gutenberg Awards?

The Gutenberg Awards is a contest sponsored by The International Graphic Arts Education Association (IGAEA). As many of my faithful readers know, I've been taking a Graphic Communications class. We learn a variety of techniques, including screen printing T-shirts.

Dr. Dailey, my Graphic Comm professor asked me for one of the shirts I printed, he told me that he's going to submit it to the Gutenberg Awards!!! What a compliment!!!

Anyway, I thought it was really cool that he wants to submit my shirt to the contest. I'm all excited.

light at the end of the CARES tunnel

I'm all registered up for another round of classes at EKU for the Spring semester. Here's what I'm taking...

- English Literature I
- Graphics Communications II
- Web Animation
- Astronomy
- Costume Design

... okay, that last one is not my first choice. Generally as a theatre major, you have a choice of three (3) design courses (scenic, lighting, costume). Unfortunately with how small the department is, there's never enough interest in lighting to warrant the class... so I'm taking what I can get. It's my last theatre class i need.

For those of you who have attended EKU, you'll know what CARES is. For the rest of you, it's the listing of all the classes you're required to take, and each semester it's updated and will show you what you have left. Stuff you still need to take is generally in bold or a color. There's a whole lot less bold and color on my CARES report than before the beginning of this semester. After the spring semester I'll only need 8 more classes! Whoo hoo!!!

weekend

Friday
I met up with Dustin for lunch at our usual haunt. Unfortunately, when I first arrived, LiveWire was closed due to the fact that the power was out for their building. Apparently, the crazy windstorm we had knocked out the power about mid-morning. Normally, Dustin and I meet for lunch on Wednesdays. This week we ended up eating lunch together Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Too cool.

Saturday
I made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast (shared them with Dustin & Katie) and headed to church to setup and run lights. Before we got started we had some fun "guy" talk. It was good times. Stayed up late Saturday night talking with Erin... we had a really fun conversation that night, and neither of us really wanted to hang up.

Sunday
After the sun ticked me off for coming up so early, I headed back to church to continue my weekend duties. The band played some really awesome instrumental Christmas carols. After church, I went home and crashed. Hard. I took about a 4 hour nap, ate some dinner, took another nap, hung out a bit with Dustin & Katie, and then went to bed.

sudden change

December is PISSED OFF that November let us off with such nice weather and now it's out for revenge!

WHO DEY!!!!

Bengals defeat the Ravens 13 - 7.

The Bengals had a lot going against them. Going into this game, Baltimore had one of the highest rated defense teams in the NFL. The rain was coming down pretty steady in Cincinnati tonight as well. The thing both teams had as motivation was playoff hopes. The Ravens had hopes of clinching a playoff berth, and the Bengals were fighting for the chances for a wild-card spot. This brings the Bengals to 7 - 5, and drops the Ravens to 9 - 3. Cincinnati held Baltimore to a scoreless game through about a minute and a half remaining in the fourth quarter with hopes of a second straight shut-out after Sunday's 30 - 0 win over the Cleveland Browns.

video fun

silently into the night

With everything that's been going on this semester, I totally forgot to wish my blog a happy birthday. This blog has been around since October of 2003.. I've been blogging for 3 years straight. That's a lot of crap to tell the world, huh?

I raise the proverbial glass, and thank all of you for reading!

weekend - holiday edition

.. is that all you do around here?

Wednesday
I traveled up North to visit the family for the holidays. Went over to Erin's that night to celebrate her birthday with her and her family. We cuddled up and watched a movie together late that night.

Thursday
Went and did the family thing. Had a great time hanging out with my plethora of cousins. It was so nice outside, we were even able to get out into the back year and play some games with the itty bitty ones. Ate a lot and watched a little bit of football. None of the games really interested me, though, so I talked with my cousins most of the time. Went home and crashed hard.

Friday
Slept in until about 10. Another nice day, so my cousins and I went and played a round of frisbee golf in the afternoon. Hit the bed pretty hard again after a good dinner. In Erin-land - she and the ladies of her family shopped all the black-friday sales for about 12 hours starting at 4:30am. (yikes)

Saturday
Mom and my uncles went house-hunting for an uncle who is looking to move to the area. Meanwhile, I spent most of the day with Erin and her folks. Erin has this huge village that she puts up ever year. It takes over most of the kitchen. She's been collecting these village pieces every year since she was in high school, and she has 26 individual buildings. After decorating, we ate dinner, and played some games. Erin and I cuddled up and watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol" before I headed back to mom's.

Sunday
Drove home bright and early. Watched the Bengals beat the Browns (30 - 0)! Chatted about the holidays a bit with Dustin and Katie. Had some dinner, did some homework, unpacked, and went to bed.

Who Dey!!!

The Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Cleveland Browns in a blowout score of 30 - 0!

sadness

i guess that's why they call them the blues...

The past three weeks have felt very normal. Safe. Everything in it's place. Happy. Tomorrow as of 2:55pm, all that goes back to the way it was prior to these three weeks. My best friend goes back across the pond to continue her new life. Last time she left it was pretty rough, but I knew she would be back in a relatively short amount of time. This time it's tougher, I won't get to see her for over a year.

I'm going to miss you, friend.

is late really better than never?

It's been well over a week since I last blogged. I must apologize. I've been really busy. Here's what's been going on:

Last week: Pretty much the normal stuff happened. Class; homework; lunches at LiveWire with Dustin (always highlights of my week); job searching. I also had a job interview at Hastings. We'll see how that winds up.

The weekend gave way to a LOT of driving...

Friday I went to good ole Prestonsburg to do some work for JWT. It was a decent day's work, and as a bonus, I got to see a lot of old friends who were in for "A Christmas Survival Guide"... I enjoyed my visit with everyone and probably would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't had a horrible cold. My front passenger seat was filled with used tissues, and i called it my "rolling bio-hazard".

I woke up really early on Saturday morning to take a 5 hour drive from Prestonsburg to Columbus. I then drove mom and I to my girlfriend's parent's house in Newark in order to watch the biggest college football game of the season. The OSU v Michigan game. Her parents were having a small get-together and it was the first time her parents and my mom got to meet. I think they got along very well! That night, my mom, Erin and I drove into downtown Columbus to see The Kings Singers in concert. (by the way, they have a myspace page now... so check 'em out) The concert was amazing as always. The six men that make up this group can create sounds with their voices you wouldn't think possible.

On Sunday, Steph, Chris, Doris, Erin, my mom, and I went to lunch together since we didn't have much change to really chat the day before. They all met at my mom's house and those who hadn't been there before got the quick nickel tour before we left to eat. After lunch we all split up and went our separate ways. After a little more visiting with Erin and my mom, I headed back home. I crashed early Sunday night... still quite sick from my cold.

So far this week has been pretty much business as usual, except I went to see the new bond film with Steph and Chris (which was really good!). And they blessed me not only with their company, but also with a late birthday / early christmas gift. An awesome fossil watch! I've been wanting a dressy watch for a while now, especially lately as I've been in so many weddings, my brown leather everyday watch seems a little blah for special occasions or when I'm wearing a suit... so I know I'll get a lot of use out of it.

Okay... now, back to work... i have a paper due for my class tonight... yuk!