Arctic Blast

I could not resist a blog about the latest event that has taken place in Texas. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and today I took a picture of snow! It really isn't that big of a deal, but the big deal is how big of a deal this is to people here. I tried to wait to take a picture when the snow looked the heaviest, and you can barely see the snow on the cars...there wasn't even enough to stick on the ground, but this is where the story gets crazy.

The news channels were calling this the "Arctic Blast" and with how much coverage there was on it, they might have well given it a name like they do hurricanes, like arctic blast Pedro or something. Seriously, I don't remember seeing this much coverage on a single event since 9/11. From the early morning hours until late tonight, most of the shows have been canceled or been interrupted with emergency updates on the snow situation. One news station showed live coverage of the sand trucks coming into town and they were the "exlcusive" station to be able to follow the sand trucks around the city with live footage of the trucks dumping sand on the streets. The story gets crazier. All schools, major businesses and universities, and pretty much every building (except Lowes of course) in town told employees and students that work and school were canceled. There was not a drop of ice on the roads, let alone enough snow anywhere to warrant canceling anything, but sure enough...everyone was advised to stay home. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when this one news guys was literally bundled up with three inch thick fleece all around his neck and head, heavy winter gloves, and a wind breaker over the fleece. I have really had to bite my tounge because I don't want to be the guy who says "well this is nothing compared to where I am from", but seriously, this is crazy to a point that it is really funny. I had heard rumors about winters here and how everything would shut down, but it is another thing to actually experience it. I can't count the number of times I had to literally dig out my truck with a shovel in Logan to get to school on time, today I scraped the window with a credit card and everything in town was shut down.

I can't wait until after next week because I will hopefully get my wife back from Baylor. She has been on loan to them since she started the internship in August. She is freaking out because her huge seminar in front of all of the doctors and important people in the hospital is on December 7th. This is the biggest part of her internship, or at least the most stressful. She has been working on it tirelessly for months. It is crazy to think about how much students have to do to prove themselves worthy of a good job or certain certifications these days. Joel of course comes to mind as well when I think of that. I am excited for Sunday, I switched schedules with someone for my Sunday night shift in order to catch Cutler in his first start against the Seahwawks, Go Broncos!

Challenges and famous people

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I am nursing a mild turkey hangover today. I have had turkey sandwiches every day since last Saturday and last night was about all I could handle. Plus, we ate with a bunch of Joni's friends and thier families last night and I think the Martinelli's might have been alchohlic. I didn't think anything of it because I never really liked the taste of Martinelli's sparklling cider, so I gulped it down to get it out of the way, then Joni told me later she thought it was spiked a little bit. Does Martinelli's even make alchoholic cider? If so...ooops...maybe that is where my headache this morning is from. Consider this my confession even though I didn't know.
So I officially feel cool at 24 Hour Fitness now. The other day one of the main guys from the show "Prison Break" came in to work out. And I found out that former Forty-niner and Cowboy pro bowler Charles Haley works out every day there. It is funny to see famous people in person, it is kind of exciting at first, then you realize that they are normal people too, and it is wierd.
Joni and I teach the 6-7-8 year olds in primary as opposed to the 10-11 year olds...which leads me to a quick "venting" session. I know I was a little misbehaved but this is just plain cruel. The two craziest kids in primary are in our class. One little girl named Hannah is in a wheelchair, she is really sweet when she wants to be but she throws a lot of fits and you have to keep her entertained all of the time. I think she also has cerebral paulsey. Last week she ended up tearing apart our visual lesson, but at least it kept her quiet and busy for 5 minutes. The other tough one...and I mean TOUGH to handle...is a boy named Isaac who also suffers from a disabilty of some sorts. He wears diapers and jumps up and down and tries to run away every 5 seconds. He loves to scream loud and spit and hit too, and he isn't small, he is a thick and strong little guy. We have never been more physically drained after 2 hours then we were for our first day. It is one of the most challenging callings I have ever faced and I thought it was going to be easy. I seriously don't know what to do, we need two people to give all of thier attention to these two kids and one other person to teach the poor kids who are trying to pay attention amid all of the chaos. I feel even worse for Joni because I work two Sundays a month. Everyone kept saying they were acting up because we were new, but with my job there will be a sub in there with Joni twice a month. I know everyone is going to tell us, "it will be good in the long run and rewarding" or that "maybe we are being prepared for something" but come on, I get a headache just thinking about going back on Sunday. Okay, enough of the venting...for now anyways. I need a major attitude change or an "uplift" of some sorts to get through this one. Maybe I am just mad because the Broncos lost again. Plus I just wrote an e-mail to some guy who works for the Denver Post who wrote a negative article about the Broncos...it was actually pretty fun to do...I heckled him a bit. Hope everyone is enjoying thier time off, Happy Holidays!

Early thanksgiving

We had a pretty eventful week the last couple of days. Joni and I drove to Houston to have our Thanksgiving a little early with some friends and I wanted to visit Texas A&M in order to get a better feel for the place before I apply to graduate school. Joni likes taking pictures in the car, I can't help but wonder what people were thinking when flashes kept coming out of the windows. The Texas sky really is beautiful, I don't know if it is the humidity that makes a difference but there are literally layers and layers of colors. It made me think of that retro painter guy with the afro because he always painted the sky like that but I always remember thinking he painted his own little make believe-land or something, not real sunsets. I was very impressed with Texas A&M, and I was treated very good. They had two graduate students waiting for me when we got there to take us on a tour of the place and answer all of my questions, then they led me to a professor and advisor's office to learn more. All in all it was a very positive experience, the campus is ENORMOUS, I met some professors and students, and I am excited about applying. I don't want to get my hopes too high in case I don't get in, but I think we did the right thing by checking things out first.

Of course we thought this sign was hilarious. We were trying to figure out how they came up with the name...any ideas?

The food came out delicious, Joni and Amanda made thier first Thanksgiving meal ever and did an awesome job. They made everything look like it was right out of a magazine and it tasted even better.

I took my turn at trying to make the little whopper turkeys, they came out a little retarded...as was the little zip lock bag I was using.

It really felt like Thanksgiving, football was on all day, and we were able to spend time with friends. The feast included citrus herb turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, candied yams, stuffing, green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce, and of course...pumpkin pie. It was fun to see friends and experience a little bit of Houston, and it was great to be back home in Dallas. Joni went at it again with the camera in the car because the Dallas skyline downtown was awesome as we drove in, but the pictures didn't come out. No animals or people were harmed in the picture taking process...except the turkey of course. Texas is starting to feel a bit more like home for us...at least for now...I guess thats what a thanksgiving feast will do for you wherever you are.

My life as an actor

I was thinking the other day about something my mom and I talked about a few years back and for some reason I have never forgotten it. I thought my brothers would be interested to know(if you already don't) because it is another one of those questions that is really random but interesting. The question was, what actor do you think most fully portrays your life or the lives of those close to you? I recently read about a couple who did something similar except they asked each other what famous person would they like to play them in a movie about thier life story. It was funny because the wife asked the husband who he thought would be a good fit for him, and he thought about it and said, "Dennis Quaid, and you would be Reese Witherspoon". The wife thought for a moment and said, "if you are Dennis Quaid then I am playing myself". I guess it was funnier when I read it because it was on one of those airplane magazines and I was really tired. But anyways...Joni and I are too much the same as you probably know by now because she has always been as random as me when asking questions, but it really makes for an interesting conversation. Here are some examples: What are five features that you would HAVE to have if you built or bought a house? what 3 cd's would you keep if you could only listen to those 3 the rest of your life? what inanimate object could you not live without? etc, etc. It really helps you to get to know someone better than the typical "where are you from" type questions. It was funny because when Joni and I started dating, I don't know if I knew much about her as far as personal history goes, but I knew what foods she craved, and what the best skittle combination was. I think we both just really like asking questions that make you think and that can bring out your personality. The questions never seem to be answered directly, but a funny story will always ensue. I can't wait to ask some of the primary kids some of thier ideas because kids have some of the best answers...by the way we have the 10 and 11 year olds. I still remember at Glen and Kendi's wedding Joel and I had to sit at a table with all of the kids twelve and under...I about peed my pants when Joel asked them what they thought about world peace.

Back to the main question...with my mom and the actors question, this is what she said( and let this answer the question-does mom have a favorite?... you tell me): Steve-Nicholas Cage. She said it was because of his wry sense of humor but I thought it was really because of the hairline thing along with the ever present 5 o'clock shadow. Glen-Tom Hanks. I had to wonder, does Tom Hanks scrunch up in a ball when he laughs? Once again I thought it might be the hair. Joel-Harrison Ford. Who does mom have a crush on? you guessed it, the perfect manly man with a sense of humor that drives women crazy. For some reason I can't see Harrison Ford in a family circle talking about butt's and smells. And lastly, Paul-Kevin Bacon. WHHAAAAT? when I desperately asked for an explanation she told me the Kevin Bacon from Footloose...even better mom...am I spastic? After the initial shock I actually thought it was pretty funny, as are all answers to random questions. What is your take?

Halloween - a little late

So just when Paul and I think we've reached the height of our nerdiness, we take it one step further. On Halloween night Paul decided we needed to leave the house. He said it was because mobs of trick or treaters were going to break down our door & we wouldn't have enough candy... I'm pretty sure he just wanted that bag of Kit Kats all to himself. So we were walking out the door to see a movie and decided to throw together some last minute costumes. Well costumes are hard to come by when our belongings are separated in three different states but we did okay. In the end I was dressed up as Paul and he was dressed up as me - not to many other options, ya know?

I was quit funny to see people stare at Paul, obviously wondering if he was dressed up or just into bright colors and funny looking short bearded guys. We didn't make it to the movie we planned on but did find a cool little pizza place. It is called Piggy Pies (atta way to make a girl feel slim) and it was very yummy pizza.

So after dinner we rented a movie - that was cool and all but the funnest part of our Halloween was when we sat in the dark with a little light and made shadow puppets with our hands. Some of the coolest shadows?

• Elvis
• caveman
• cougar
• dog
• goose

You name it - we had it figured out. Anyways, I haven't done that since I was like 8 yrs old. I'm sleepy, gotta go! :)