29 or four and 1

The countdown continues. I am going to be a married man in 29 days. Britni is starting to stress a little bit about the wedding plans. I keep trying to reassure her that everything is going to be just fine and to take things one at a time. I can't wait until the wedding. At the same time everything is going too fast.

I have so much to do at work between now and then it's ridiculous. This week I am prepping for one show here in Denver and two shows in Las Vegas. Next week I am in Las Vegas, the week after that I have to build a trade show booth and then I have less than a week before the wedding. In all of that I have to hire some more people or we are going to get caught in a meat grinder of shows.

I have been trying to hang out with friends more instead of being at work all the time. It's kinda hard to do though. I get most of my work done between 4:30 and 9:00pm.

I still haven't been sleeping very well. I don't know if it's just all of the pressures of work and the wedding or if there is something else going on. My bed definitely needs to be replaced but I am saving up to buy a temperapedic in a couple of weeks so that Britni and I can have a bed to sleep on.

Well, I think that's all for now.

_E_

35

I might get mocked for this one but I am willing to take it. There are only 35 days left until I am married to the most amazing woman ever. Thirty five days, thats five weeks. It is also, 840 hours, or 50400 minutes. The more I think about it the longer it gets. The more I want it to be sooner the harder it is to concentrate on what is going on now. I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!

In other news... This week at work has been a good one. I am falling in to a rythm finally. The only disadvantage to that is that I am not sleeping very much. It's kind of wierd. I have been waking up every hour and half to two hours. Then I roll over and fall asleep again.

I had to meet Skip our IT consultant at the office yesterday at 10:00am to do some after hours updates and maintenence to the server. We finished rather quickly and left the updates running. Skip called me last night around 6:30 to tell me that the server had crashed and we would need to come in today and get it fixed. That's what I am doing right now. I am sitting here waiting to hear the, "Ok, we are all good" about the server. We started on it at 7:30 this morning. We are still going at 2:30 this afternoon. Oh, well, maybe we will have a better operating server when all is said and done.

My last post was to let all of you know that I was spiderman according to my superhero evaluation. I thought that was rather ironic as Britni absolutely HATES spiders. She is so scared of them that she won't even kill them. She just stands there frozen, staring at it or screaming. It's actually mildly amusing sometimes. I guess I will have to be the spider killer in the family.

I think that is all for now. If I remember something I will be sure to post it.

_E_

I'm A Super Hero According to......

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 70% Robin 70% Supergirl 68% Green Lantern 60% Superman 60% The Flash 55% Iron Man 55% Wonder Woman 48% Hulk 35% Batman 30% Catwoman 5%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

More Snow

It's snowing once again in Denver. Britni is supposed to land tomorrow morning at 10:30. I hope her flight doesn't get cancelled. I would be really mad. There are so many varying weather reports that it's hard to tell what is going to happen. The airport is still open but some of the airlines have been cancelling flights to thin out their service at DIA. It's not snowing real hard but it is cold enough to have ice problems. I closed the office today because of the roads. All of the government agencies are asking that people stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. There are chain requirements for commercial vehicles on all of the major highways. At best there is one slushy lane open on each one. Oh well. I guess this is what I bargained for moving to Denver. In some ways I kind of like it. It's just a little bit annoying twice in one week.

_E_

Snow, Travel, Christmas and Stuff

Well, it has certainly been an eventful week. Last Tuesday Britni landed here in Denver. Wednesday I woke up an the snow was coming down so hard I couldn't see the building on the other side of the road. I went and picked Britni up for breakfast and while we were on our way back to my apartment Harold called to tell me to close the office for the day. It was snowing so hard that we actually closed!!! Britni and I decided to go to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast and then run some errands. We got to our second to last stop, Home Depot, and when we went to leave the car wouldn't start. It was snowing like mad and it was butt cold. I narrowed it down to the starter itself and decided to have the car towed to the mechanics. I then called a bunch of car rental places and finally found what was probably one of the last SUV's in the state. By this time Denver International Airport (DIA) was closed for the first time in history. The only road going to it was so dangerous to drive on they closed it. That's awesome.

Our company Christmas party was scheduled for Wednesday night as well. The food was already cooked and ready to go so we couldn't reschedule it. We usually have a bus come around and pick everybody up at their homes but they couldn't even get out of their garage with the bus. We decided to get as many people out there as we could so we who had four wheel drive picked up as many of those who didn't as we could and headed out to Harold and Judy's. It was a great drive. It was snowing so hard sometimes we couldn't see the car fifty feet in front of us. I love it!

It was a great party. There was a ton of good food. The snow was falling all night long. We talked a laughed a lot. Harold and Judy gave us our "company presents" for lack of a better term. I got a great Spyder ski parka with the company logo on it, a big bonus, and a huge, completely unexpected raise!!! Oh, and I got the employee of the year award.

After the party the snow was so deep that every vehicle that we brought out to Harold and Judy's got stuck on the road in front of their house. We dug each one out and were on our merry way by 2:15am.

On Thursday we woke up to more snow falling. DIA was announcing that it would be closed until noon on Friday. Britni called and got a refund on her flight and we made plans to drive back to Des Moines on Friday. The highway that we needed to take was opened back up on Thursday around 10:00pm.

We left at 10:00am on Friday and made it back to Des Moines at 10:15pm. It was a great drive. We took the 4Runner that we had rented because my car hadn't even been looked at due to the storm. They had to dig it out before they could even roll it in to the shop.

On Saturday I took Britni to work and ran errands all day. Sunday was Christmas Eve and I decided to fix her mom's downstairs toilet. We went to Home Depot and got the parts I needed and I rebuilt the insides of the tank. When I was done I went upstairs to wash my hands in the kitchen and when I went to turn on the water, the faucet felt like it was going to fall off in my hand. I decided to fix it. I started to take it apart and it began to fall to pieces in my hands. At that point I figured out what I was going to get her mom for Christmas. I got her a new faucet. I got a Pegasus all brass faucet with ceramic bushings and washers. This thing is great. I think we can safely say that the house will fall down before this thing dies. She loved it.

On Sunday night we went to Christmas Eve service and then over to Dan and Ashley's (Britni's sister and brother in law). We had desert and then headed home. When we got home Britni and I made the dough for the cinnamon rolls and then went to bed. Monday morning we opened gifts and ate all of the food that was family tradition. I left to come back to Denver around 3:45 and arrived at my apartment around 12:15. I went straight to bed and fell asleep.

I woke up on Tuesday morning and wasn't feeling so well but I went to work anyway being the die hard that I am. We moved the office furniture around all day so that it was done before the office staff came back to work today. My car was completed by the time I left work so Jesse was my ride after I dropped off the 4Runner at Enterprise.

Car repairs are expensive dang it. The starter cost $400.00 and the CV axles cost $500.00. Ouch!! The car is doing much better now though.

I got home around 7:00 and took a hot bath and went to bed. I haven't slept that hard in a really long time. I woke up this morning feeling great and I went to work to get a lot of stuff done. I did get a lot of stuff done actually but the list is growing faster than I can check things off.

All that said, it is supposed to snow a bunch more tomorrow and Friday. Britni is supposed to land here in Denver at 10:30 on Saturday morning. I hope they don't close the airport again.

I think that's all for now. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you are planning a great New Year.

_E_

Breakfast Rules!!

Stuart and I went to breakfast a Mimi's today. He and his family are on their way up to Breckenridge and they stayed in Denver last night. He and I went to breakfast to catch up. It was really good. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love eggs and sausage and pancakes and orange juice and coffee and...... Anyway, it was nice to sit down and talk for a little while.

In other news, Britni will be here on Tuesday. She if flying in for the company Christmas party. It's going to be a fun one. It is at Harold and Judy's again this year. The bus will pick us up at my apartment and then go pick up a couple more people and then take us all out to their house. It's pretty far out there in Franktown. The best part is that Britni will be here.

I checked our wedding website today and it says we have 105 days left until the wedding. Yee-Haww! That means in 105 days I will be a married man. Britni's dress came in last week. She's really excited. Now we just have to find the perfect tuxes.

More Later

_E_

mmmmmm Steak

i decided to splurge a little bit tonight. I bought a steak and grilled it up. It's a boneless ribeye. I am not usually a fan of ribeyes but I saw this one and it had the most even marbling I have ever seen. I grilled it to a medium-rare. I seasoned it with "Vermont Country Seasoning". I am in heaven. Oh so good!!

_E_

again, with the cold

Today's high was 32 degrees. I know there are other places in the US that are much colder, but that is not the point. It is really cold for the Denver area. We have a low of 12 degrees tonight. Eeeek. That's cold enough to freeze shrimp in the ocean. Speaking of shrimp, I think I have a love affair with shrimp cocktail. There is something really satisfying about it. It is definitely one of my favorite foods.

The wedding plans are coming along. I talked with Aunt Bonnie a couple of days ago. She is a wedding floral designer. She is doing the flowers for our wedding. I asked her how much it was going to be and she said that it is our wedding present. That freakin' rocks. I can't believe it.

I was watching movie trailers tonight and I heard a song that I really like. I have heard it on the radio a million times but they never say who the artist is or the name of the song. I spent hours on i-Tunes trying to find it to no avail.

The next few weeks I think are going to fly by. There is a whole lot going on with Christmas parties, trips, and Christmas going on.

I heard Jimmy Eat World's Christmas EP and I really like their version of Last Christmas. I am listening to it right now. I love Christmas music. It has a certain drive to it even if it some of the slower stuff.

I need to go get a Christmas tree. There are a bunch of stands around but I have no way of getting it back to the apartment. I think I am going to ask Jesse if he will go with me and put it in his truck in exchange for dinner tomorrow night.

That's all for now.

_E_

One of Those Days

I had this great plan all laid out for what I was going to do today. Yeah right!!! I got to the office and it couldn't have been more than ten minutes later, Kevin says, "hey, the phones went dead." Arrrrgh! So I go look at the phone controller and sure enough, it's dead, completely and totally irreversibly dead. So I spent my well planned easily executed day doing nothing other than soliciting bids and meeting with salesmen to spend inordinate amounts of money to purchase and have a new phone system installed here at the office. It is currently 8:30pm and I am now leaving the office after an exhausting day of making executive decisions, signing contracts and spending tons of money while Harold and Judy are down in Dallas on business. I guess that well planned, easily executed day will have to wait yet another.

Oh yeah, we now have a killer new phone system in the office and I am the only one who knows how to use it.

_E_

It Snowed Again!

Except this time it is BUTT COLD!!! It started snowing last night around 5:00pm and it finally stopped snowing at 5:30pm tonight. It is currently 10 degrees outside and it is supposed to be ten below by tomorrow morning. EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Talk about freezing your fingers off. Oh well. I work inside for the most part. Work has been kinda strange lately. I haven't been able to get anything done on my to do lists. I have been in this meeting and that meeting and then another one. Next year is looking to be fairly full. We hit the ground running on January 12th. I don't see it letting up until sometime next fall. The week of July 4th is already completely booked up. I am getting married in 123 days. Woohooo! I can't wait. Not only will I be getting married but I will be taking my first vacation in a long long long time.

That's all for now.

_E_

Time and Traditions

I stayed in CO for Thanksgiving again this year. It's kinda funny how we all have traditions that create expectations. Then we move out from our parents houses and live on our own and start with nothing. Last year I went to Craig and Priscilla's house to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was fun. They have a few traditions that are very similar to what I grew up with. This year I went to Harold and Judy's house for Thanksgiving and it was a very different experience. It was fun but it wasn't the expectation I have developed over my years of life for a Thanksgiving celebration. All in all I had a good time. It just got a lot of thought started about traditions and holiday expectations.

In other news, long distance relationships are a pain in the butt. No, I am not saying they aren't worth it. I am just saying that it is tough. Everyday I wish I could see Britni when I get home from work. Everyday she wishes she could see me when she gets home from work. It is harder to talk things over because there are only words and nothing else. It is harder to get things done because we can't just get in the car and go look at tuxes. We have to do everything in baby steps. I am very task oriented. I like to get things done in the most efficient manner possible. This certainly isn't it. I am learning a lot about patience right now.

I think that is all that is on my mind right now. There might be more later but I have run dry.

_E_

I'm Here

I am here in Des Moines right now. I don't think I could live here. It is a weird sort of cold. I really like Denver's weather a whole lot. Anyway, it's time for my update.

Wedding:

Things are going pretty well. Men's Wearhouse is a pain because what is on the website is not what is available in the store. The caterer hasn't had time to make a contract up, so I got on their case and said I have to have it by next Monday. The limo is scheduled. We might be changing our mind about the first night hotel room, but it's not like we would tell anyone were it is anyway. Ha-ha. I am waiting a little bit on Honeymoon arrangements to let some pricing settle down on a couple of things. Being this far out the pricing is not set in stone and I have a problem saying I will spend money without knowing how much.

Work:

Interesting. The usual response. I am learning a lot. Mostly about people. I am somewhat frustrated with one situation right now but it will work itself out. We have a lighting staff that is capable and will finally. I am somewhat relieved about that.

We had a DOT consultant come in and look at our trucking to help us with all of the laws and record keeping. Next thing I know Jesse, Harold, and I are the only ones who are qualified to drive any of the trucks. Colorado has a crappy law that says that you must have a commercial drivers license to drive any vehicle that has a USDOT number on the side of it. Then they have this other crappy law that says you must have a USDOT number on the side of every vehicle that is owned by a company. Big time PITA!! So now everyone has to go get their CDL and if they are going to go get their CDL it might as well be at least a class B. There are some people who will never be allowed to even try for a class A. The thought of some people towing a 53' trailer worth millions is absolutely mind numbing.





Life:

In general it is going pretty well. I am starting to pay down some debt finally. I can't wait to have it all paid off. Our goal is to have all of our "dirty" debt paid off in a year and a half. I am so tired of paying interest on things I don't even remember. I know this might be the kettle calling the pot black but just a little word of advise to all of you who read this.

If you won't die without it you can do without it. If you can't pay cash, don't pay at all. There is no such thing as "good debt" there is such a thing as debt.

That is the end of my tirade for the day.

Later

_E_

She's Coming!!!!

Britni is coming to Denver for the company Christmas Party. I can't wait. That means we get to hang out and have some fun here in Denver. Wooo Hooo.

Later,

_E_

Once a Month

Britni and I made a goal of seeing each other at least once a month until the wedding. So far we have met that goal. We are 4 1/2 months away from the wedding and we are starting to hate the fact that it is only once a month. What do you do about it? We really can't do anything. It wouldn't make sense for her to move out here before the wedding because the wedding is in Des Moines, she lives at her Mom's house and cuts down on living expenses, she would have to find a new job out here and then take unpaid time off for our wedding and honeymoon. It wouldn't make sense for me to move out there because that is not where we want to live and I couldn't find another job like the one I have. Grrrr. Logistics, circumstances, and love should not be placed in the same situation.

I get to go see Britni next Thursday. I can't wait. December is going to be a tough month though. Neither of us has time off that coincides and she can't ask for time off because she works in retail and we all know what happens in retail around Christmas time. Hopefully she will be able to come out on her two days off and come to the company Christmas Party but that is a stretch. I am debating as to whether I should go to see Britni for Christmas since she only has Christmas Day off, or if I should go home to see my family which I have not seen in it's entirety since last Christmas. I have seen Dad and Karen for a decent amount of time. I saw Beth in the Dallas airport for two minutes and I haven't seen Mom at all since last Christmas.

Oh well, I guess I have plenty to contemplate.

I updated the look of my Blog a little bit. I am working on getting a photo album posted so be looking for that.

Later,

_E_

(in) Sanity

Wow!! Last week was a doozy. Everything was laid out just right and all five of the shows were covered. The plan was coming together very nicely. Then it happened. On Monday at 10:00 am we received a call from the White House Advance team. They needed us in Elko, Nevada. The show was on Thursday. Yes this past thursday. Talk about short notice. Next thing I know I have found a driver to take the gear to Elko and I am loading his truck until 2:00am. I then caught a plane to Elko on Tuesday morning. Wednesday we loaded in all day. Thursday was the show and load out. Friday I flew back to Denver and prepped for my weekend show. Saturday I loaded in for Allied Jewish. Sunday I did the Allied Jewish show and loaded it out.

I am now deciding which way is up and starting to swim there. I think the light above me is a good sign that that way it up.

On a lighter note, I am going to see Britni next thursday November 17th. I can't wait. We still have a few details to nail down with the wedding. I am sure there will always be something to nail down until it is over. The to do list is definitely getting shorter though. We have three contracts to sign and some pre-marital counseling to do while I am there. It's not too bad.

That's all for now.

_E_

Winter, Snow, and the Beauty of it All

It has now snowed in Denver twice this October. I love snow. I can't beleive how much we have already had. The first snow storm was pretty cool. It was short but dumped enough snow to cover everything. It was probably about 8" of snow. The crazy part was the fact that it was 70 degrees the very next day and the snow was gone.

This last storm was much bigger. We had about 18" dumped in 24 hours here at my apartment. Colorado Springs got about 26" in 24 hours. It shut down both I-25 and I-70 for a whole day. I love snow.

Work has been interesting lately or should I say still. When it rains it pours and when it's dry it's bone dry. We have had all of our shows land at the same time and then nothing for two weeks and then a massive load of shows all on top of each other again. This next week we have three shows for the White House and two shows for local clients. None of them are small by any stretch of the imagination. The smallest show takes two 24' box trucks. The biggest show looks like it will take three full semi's. It's gonna be fun.

It looks like I am going to be going to Aruba in January. That should be fun. I will be in Las Vegas for two weeks in March as well. That one is going to be crazy. I don't know the full scope yet but I know we will be taking the whole company out there. I get married a week and a half after I get back from that one.

Speaking of getting married, I can't wait. 157 days as of today. The registries are almost done. The cake is ordered. We have decided on the tuxes. We are waiting on the caterer to get us a contract. The Honeymoon is planned. I think everything is going pretty well.

That's all I have for now. Did I mention that I love snow!!!

_E_

More to Come

Last weekend I went out to Iowa to see Britni again. This once a month thing is killing me. I wish we were living in the same city so we could see each other any time we wanted to. Heck, I wish we were married already.

We got a fair bit of wedding planning done. The major highlight of the weekend was Helzberg's Diamonds. Yes, we finally got her ring. It's pretty cool looking. I like it. We also went ahead a bought both wedding bands. It was actually pretty fun.

We have settled on a caterer. We picked out the invitations. There are entirely too many details to a wedding. I can't wait for April 1.

Work has been interesting. I had to dismiss one of the people in the lighting department on Monday. Then the other two people in the department walked out. I have a new lighting designer starting on Monday October 2nd. I have a week of brief reprieve and then we go in to hell week. We have a national cable awards, Denver Public Library Booklovers Ball, National Mariachi Festival, and a Gubenatorial debate in the course of four days. All of them are large shows. This should prove to be interesting.

Well, it is time to get a shower and get ready for church.

Later.

-E-

Long Distance Blues

Right now I am system teching for a Blues Traveler show. I am bored out of my mind because our gear almost never has a problem. I set it up at 8:00 this morning and have been pretty much sitting around ever since. It is kind of nice though. It has allowed me to get a ton of work done and to do some "enjoyable" thinking on top of the stuff I am required to process every day. I get a big break next weekend. I am going to see Britni in Iowa. I am flying and that is a beautiful thing. I get four days off in a row. I will get some R&R and some time with my bride to be. There has been a lot going on at work lately but I don't really feel like talking about that right now. I am doing pretty well. I have not had time to do laundry in two weeks now. I need to do some real soon or I am going to have to recycle some clothes. It is loud as crap in here and I am really glad I have ear plugs.

Thats all for now.

-E-

What is it about.....

Life is just flying by. I hate that. There is something to be said for taking a deep breath and enjoying life in the moment. I feel like I am going so fast right now that I can't even see what's going on. I am working like mad dealing with this situation and putting out that fire, and preventing this mess, and taking care of that client. I get a vacation in 6 1/2 months. I am going on my honeymoon and I can't wait. The trouble is that I have no idea where we are going to go. If anyone has any ideas please share.

We need to hire more people, and we need to get those people trained, all the while doing shows to the level of excellence that we all remember they should be. I don't know what went wrong but something did and I am done with chasing my tail. I have decided that every show that I do will be perfect. Period. I don't care what it takes because in the long run there will be a whole lot less stress if the show is done right.

I have to go load out a show so I will post more later.

-E-

Cars....Grrrrh

What is it with cars. There is one cliche that sums them up.

A necessary evil.

I took the Maxima in to get the brakes inspected and worked on. I knew it was going to cost some money but $275.00, DANG. While they were inspecting the brakes they saw that the CV boot on both sides was gone. I don't just mean cracked or leaking, I mean g-o-n-e gone. Well, I am going to have to wait two weeks to get that fixed because that is another $500.00 or so. Sometimes I think about not having a car and then I think for a couple more seconds and realize just how much I enjoy having a car.

I can drive anywhere I want to whenever I want to. I don't have to rely on public transportation schedules. I don't have to wait for someone to give me a ride. Cars are very valuable. I have grown accustomed to having a reliable car. It's nice. I also have a car that is comfortable. That's nice too. So where do you draw the line between comfort/features and need? This brings up another question. Where do we draw the line in life between wants and needs. I want a motorcycle. I most certainly don't need one. I want a Cannon 30D camera. I definitely don't need one. I need toilet paper. I most definitely hate spending money on toilet paper. What is it about us that makes this happen. We often want the things we don't need but we don't want the things we do need.

I think it has to do with the fact that we think the grass is always greener on the other side. Contentment is something I have been working on lately. I have been doing pretty well. I am starting to wonder though, where is the line between being content and being complacent? Is there one? Have I crossed it?

Thoughts... Anyone?

-E-