packin up, movin out

I hope these pictures end up coming out like I want them to. Joni has been having a lot of fun with a program she downloaded called Picasa. We had one of those random conversations on our anniversary about what we wish we could do if we could have any job, and to my surprise she said she'd be a photographer...I had absolutely no idea she ever felt that way, hey Kendi, maybe you guys could start something someday? These are some pictures that I really liked that Joni messed around with. She changes colors and contrast, you can even make a dull picture of nature look beautiful and more like it does in real life. I have one and a half days left at Lowe's, then I am done, I seriously can't believe it. I have been there longer than I was in high school, it's like a whole nother chapter of my life. I really have learned a lot about business and people than I could have ever experienced in school, and although it has not been extremely fun, it has been well worth the experience. It feels very strange to soon be totally reliant on Joni now for our income, and I can't wait to get back to school and be done with it. Our lives are going to take some more serious turns very soon, after I am done with school, finding a job, and a place that we can live for hopefully the rest of our lives, starting a family etc. For now I guess I just need to worry about getting moved this weekend. We will be moving Saturday morning, then driving down to Bryan, and moving in all in one day. The good thing is the weather hasn't been crazy hot like last year, it has rained for almost 2 months straight, minus a couple of days. There are flash flood warnings every night...its wierd.

I hope we get the internet hooked up at our place soon, we will be out of touch for a while, searching for internet has been the hardest thing because we don't have a home phone, and most of the major companies can't reach Bryan for some reason. There has to be something and when we find it I guess you will know. We are REALLY excited to have dish, we have had the 20 channel thing for almost 5 years. We will e-mail everyone our new address, please come visit, we now have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms as opposed to our 1 and 1. Packing is not fun, but since we do it every year I guess you could call it our spring cleaning. On the raod again...

12 year olds at heart

Do you ever feel like you aren't the age your birth certificate says? Well we took that thinking to a whole new level yesterday, and after what we did I couldn't help but think its pretty funny. I had work off yesterday and we were thinking of things to do, so after doing our "chores" we went to the gym and I played basketball for two hours while Joni worked out. Then since money is tight, we went to the atm and printed off a crisp new $20 bill and decided to do whatever we wanted with it as long as we spent it all. Sound familiar? You get money when your 12 and you start to think how many differerent candies you can buy, and which GI Joe to get at the toy store. Anyways, we were hungry and Joni loves the rolls they serve at Texas Roadhouse, so we went there and ate 3 baskets of rolls with cinnamon butter, and shared a meal. The waitress just kept bringing out more rolls, we thought it was pretty funny and a little bit embarrassing, but we couldn't say no. Then on the way home we stopped to get a movie, but instead we rented a nintendo game called Rampage. Remember the game with the giant gorilla, lizard and wolf that destroyed buildings and ate people? Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too. After all that we still had $1.50 left, so we went over to cvs pharmacy across the street and bought 3 candy bars. We ended up staying up most of the night playing the game and taking out our stress on buildings from London to Las Vegas. I recommend anyone play this game if you liked the old school version of Rampage from the 80's. The best part of it all? Waking up and seeing Joni in front of the tv by herself saying, "Hey Paul I got a sweet new move and a new monster...it's a lion."

If you look at the picture you will also notice a toy gun on the ground, with red sticky darts, I forgot how fun the game is we used to play when you shoot the gun at the tv and whoever it lands on is your girlfriend for the moment. Allright, enough of that, what would you do with a $20 bill on a Thursday night?

Happy Father's Day

I wanted so bad to post a video I have of dad but I can't get it to work. It's the kind of video that I could watch every night before going to bed and not be able to sleep because I am giggling...that's right, I said giggle. My hand comes in from the right of the screen with a pink spray bottle and all you can see is me squeezing the trigger a bunch of times...my dad is in the background about ten feet away, head tilted back and mouth open...sleeping of course. The water hits his face and the rest is priceless. I was thinking that I don't know many other people who have as many funny stories they could tell about thier dad. Maybe its because he is so easy to tease, or just a clutzy, goofy guy. I have made it a goal of mine whenever I am with him to see him laugh so hard he starts sounding like a guinea pig, shrinks up his noise...if that's possible, gets red in the face and bobbles his head in delight. Some laughs are incredibly contagious, and make you laugh even more, my dad has one of those. It's during those moments that people say the funniest things because thier true colors are shining the brightest, my dad's insights are usually unintentional dirty innuendos. The last really good laugh I remember having with him we were in New York eating spaghetti and he made the comment that I lost my noodle, then all hell broke loose...guess you had to be there. You ever notice how funny it is to watch people laugh? We all got a kick out of Joni, because the harder she laughs, the wider she opens her mouth. She doesn't make any noise after the initial belly roar, then the tears come, probably because she is so sad that she can't close her mighty mouth while laughing. I could go off on a huge tangent with that one, but I must focus this time.

After all of the poking fun and joking around, I really admire my dad for the person he is, he has been raising kids for the past thirty nine years and he is still going strong. Thats a lot of bald jokes, freak fan accidents, financial stress, 4am lawn mowings, punches in the gut, bananas in the cereal, joy and sadness, and whatever else it is that kids do. Hope you have a great fathers day dad, and Happy father's day to Brent, Jim, and all my bros out there.

putting things off

I don't even know if I have anything to write about today. I have officially sat down at the computer 12 times since getting home from work, I have picked up my guitar twice and played one song, called Joni twice-spoke to her once, and browsed espn.com and my bank account until I couldn't stand it anymore...I am a huge nerd...and I realize I am an expert at putting things off because I don't want to do them. I am pretty good at keeping a schedule, making phone calls, submitting important things on time etc. But I just have a horrible time doing things that take longer than 20 minutes to complete. I know I will feel better tomorrow if it is done, but I would rather walk around in circles, or flip through our 15 channels a hundred times, than finish something that I am supposed to do. Maybe its the nature of what I have to do...write a skills matrix, an outline or brainstorm...of a professional resume and turn it in to my career advisor at Texas A&M by the end of the week. Sometimes it is fun to see your lifetime achievements all down on one piece of paper, but going through the process is not.

I think that is why it is so hard for me to read a book, unless I am sitting by a pool, but even then I get distracted by my belly button filled with water (from the pool). Short stories are the best, ones that you can read while on the toilet, then be done. Thats why I love blogs too I guess, too bad I don't have internet in the bathroom. I have decided that brushing your teeth while in the shower is pretty fun, unless you use selsun blue, and you brush for too long...you get the idea...but it is really refreshing when you are done, you get the super wash as apposed to the regular wash.

I talked to mom yesterday about how much it costs to stud a colt, she's a wierdo. She told me that people pay $300,000 to have thier horses "hook up" in order to breed a champion with certain stallions. I think she has more time than me to learn random things. Any suggestions on how to focus? I think I could have been halfway done by now, but I think I'll try to find a new song to learn on the guitar. I used to love playing guitar outside, but when it's 99 degrees with the heat index, and my feet stick to my sandals the second I walk outside, I'll choose to sing hippie songs barefoot inside any day.

Happy Anniversary and stuff

Joni didn't quite make it to the camera in time for the picture...we liked this one

Been a busy week, sorry about the sideways picture. Joni and I celebrated three years together yesterday, I guess its more like four and a half years together, 3 years being married. We have made a tradition of going somewhere for our anniversary, so we went to a really cool bed and breakfast in Arlington and stayed in a little cottage...actually it was twice the size of our apartment so it was pretty nice. For some reason whenever we go places like this we end up being the only ones there, its really wierd but kind of nice. We still joke about this place we went to about an hour north of Logan that has natural hot springs. The place we stayed in was really nice, but it was creepy because it had big long hallways that reminded us of "The Shining", and you had to go down the hallway to use the restroom at full speed so the bad guys wouldn't get you. I remember as a kid in the Niwot house, I would walk slowly down the basement hallway after getting something from the pantry, peering into each room hoping not to see anyone...then I would superspeed once I got to the stairs...I never understood how Glen and Steve could stay down there. It was that same kind of feeling at the hot springs place, but the place last night was really nice and relaxing. Our honeymoon was very deserted too. We stayed in a hotel with 30 rooms, and most of them were not checked out, I think we just seem to find those places a lot...wierd.

I think you know when a good memory is taking place, because you wish you could share it with others when you are alone, or you wish the moment could last forever when you are with people you care about. We have had a lot of those moments lately. I wish you could all share some of the experiences we have had down here with us. I feel like we could live anywhere after this.

Joni's graduation was awesome, very funny, and very sad. I felt like I wanted to go up and hug people that I never met, because Joni knew them so well and I heard so many stories, but since I never met them I didn't want to scare them away. We had a truckload of estrogen in our house this last week...I've always wanted to say that. Along with Joni's intern friends, her mom, aunt, and sister I was feeling like I needed to watch ESPN and drink a beer, but since I don't drink beer or have ESPN I had the opportunity to observe a lot...which is fun too. We saw the place where Kennedy was shot, for the fourth time, but I still love it. This time the guy who was a writer for the movie "JFK" was there signing autographs and talking about conspiracies, which was really cool.

We found these really creepy looking teddy bears while sight seeing, it made me wonder who would spend the money to construct teddy bears made out of solid granite. They had to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whenever I say "hundreds" or "thousands" I feel like Jack Bauer. "Thousands of people will die if you don't tell me where the chip is!"

We aren't moving now until July 1st...long story, and I only get more upset thinking about the reasons why, but I think everything will work out okay. Joni's new boss was very understanding, as was mine, and our landlords, and we get our first month's rent free because of the whole mess, and a couple of jobs MIGHT have just opened up in College Station for Joni...but we don't want to even think about anything new until it happens. So we'll keep you updated, but its just really funny how good fortune can change to bad, and then back to good again. I am taking Joni to the airport today so she can see all of her family before beginning her new job. I will be a bachelor for a week...kind of.