Brad pays up

The graduation lasted 2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES, but was enough to win me $10 from Brad and Bill with my time of 1 hr 37 minutes. This is one of the first time Brad has actually paid up on a bet.

Will's Graduation Ceremony

Bill, Brad, Cathie, my Dad and I are at Will's graduation this morning. We each threw $5 in a pot and picked an end time - winner take all. Gambling makes everything go quicker. I lost two other bets when Brad showed up sober and Will wore pants under his gown.

Homeward Bound

Only three days gone, but it feels like a week. I haven't seen Nate and Maddie in a week. I miss them like crazy.

Ken Buck is a Wise Sage

My siblings and I have a tradition on the birthdays of our family and close friends. We often share fun facts - some made up, but mostly loving comments. My friend Ken (a great man of God, a youth pastor, seminarian, philosopher and lover of the poor and hurting) took exception to my Jon and Susan's birthday facts about me. Ken is a man who follows God's directive to "do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God" and I think that's he's pursuing here:

My Persecuted Friend Dave..

If you were to look up the word persecuted on Wikipedia it just might read Dave Kurt after what I am about to tell you gets out. Now Dave has been a friend of mine for over 7 years now and I feel that I have had a pretty good chance to see his true colors come out. I have to say that Dave is one of the most giving, loyal, kind and encouraging friends that I have had. Now I know that Dave is a kidder, a jokester if you will.... but deep down... no... not deep down, but right under the surface, Dave Kurt is a decent and kind man who is always looking out to bless those around him!!!

Now let me give you a few examples:

• He took time out of his busy work schedule to come to my wedding via a stop in Atlantic City.
  
• Year after year he spends a whole week of his personal vacation time to be at camp with a bunch of Middle School kids that the rest of the world has thrown aside.
  
• He has twice used frequent flier miles and hotel points to hook me up with a weekend getaway with my wife and a flight to Costa Rica!!
• He gave me his Motorcycle.
• We have shared our love of kids and youth ministry.
• He taught me the difference between the snobbish jerks at fancy Martini bars and the good folk at a common pub.
• He taught me how to play blackjack and has introduced me to great people Chauncey Billups, Will, Brad, Eli and Noel.
• He took in a homeless girl from Xenia, Ohio.
• And Dave has taken time to honor people on their birthdays to make sure that they truly know that God loves them and that they are indeed special. You can read these here, and here, and here.

Now the reason why I took the time to share a little about St. Dave Kurt is the just the other day was his birthday. And was he written about on such a day? Yes he was, but not with the grace, nor the beauty, nor the kindness that he gives to others... No he was maligned and mocked and defamed over the World Wide Web!!! You might think that is is Old Ingrid again, but no, this I must say is even more underhanded than she... the attacks that I am about to share with you about the persecution of Dave Kurt is from his own brother and sister!!! Read these words and weep for Dave pray that he can with stand such attacks with grace....

Viva las Vegas

What a trip to Vegas! It was by far one of the best times I've had in a long, long time. Part of it was the location, part of it was the long build up and surprise to our wives and part of it was the company. Going on a trip with another couple can be a tricky deal. Just because you like going to a movie with them won't necessarily mean you'll want to spend every minute with them for 3 days straight. Dana and Eli were the perfect couple to go on the trip with. We had the same agenda - relax and have fun with no expectations. We went with the flow and didn't really have an agenda as to what we needed to do. We spent a lot of time just hanging out at the pool relaxing, talking and laughing. We stayed out late (the first day we were up 24 hours straight and the second we got back in after they'd laid out the newspapers). I really don't know how the trip could have been more fun than we had. We ate like kings, we won at the tables and walked away with some of the best stories imaginable. We took cabs everywhere and with that came even more great stories - those told by the cabbies (one involved a lawyer, a crack pipe and a transvestite) and an experience with a cabbie doing a power slide at 80mph on the expressway as we took the wrong exit, missing construction barrels by 6 inches.

I also should mention that I'm married to the greatest woman in the world. Seriously. Hands down. I had such a blast with her. Not only did she look stunning the whole time we were there, but she had her giant smile and laugh going the whole time, which makes her 10x sexier. She relaxed with, gambled with me and had fun with me. My soul is intimately linked to this woman. No matter where I travel, unless she's with me, it's tough for me to really experience the place or the event. Having her there along side me, having all the fun with me, made this one of the best trips of my life.

You can see most of the pictures from the trip here.

Walking in Memphis

I'm stuck in Memphis. My sister-in-law Beth was kind enough to offer a room at their house, but I didn't want to put her out, plus Jon wanted to charge me $100 for the room. Northwest was kind enough to put me up downtown near the pyramid at the Wyndham. I fly out early tomorrow.

Flight Delayed

We got home from Vegas at two this morning and I'm back on a plane headed for Tulsa via Memphis. I've been on the plane for 2 hours and we haven't taken off yet. I've already missed my connecting flight to Tulsa, the last one of the evening, so it looks like I might be staying over in Memphis tonight and flying out in the morning.

God hates Eli

Lots of people don't know that Eli grew up Mormon (and is now a Christian). Check out the caption right over Eli's head. We were amused to find out how much God used to hate Eli, according to this fella.

Cathie and Eli love Celine

Separated at Birth

I ran into my twin while having dinner at the Wynn. Though you can't tell it from his expression, the guy was equally amused. I look like I'd just had some Hor Fun.

Dancing Fools of Fremont Street

These guys reminded me of my brothers Dan and Jon dancing:

Happy Birthday?

My sister Sooze started this whole thing with posting fun facts for birthdays, and it's since caught on. On a given family member's birthday you'll see a very amusing picture along with the little gems of knowledge. These are some of my favorite posts to read. Here are 10 things about me you might not know from Jon, man of them even true.

1. As much as Dave loves going to the gym to work out, he enjoys complaining about it even more.
2. Dave always has connections to get things done. Whether it is paying to much for a new car or getting a deal on a TV, there is always "someone from church" who he can call to take care of business.
3. Dave likes to wear his clothes on the small side. His pants are a size 30 and his tee-shirts are girls medium.
4. Nobody in our family has any idea what he does for work. We know it involves travelling and watching lots of videos on you-tube.
5. Dave can't sit still for even 5 minutes. He always has to either be doing something or getting all his ducks in a row to be doing something soon.
6. Never eat ice cream while over at his house. He will occasionally dip his junk in the ice cream so other people won't eat it.
7. He is a huge "cat person". If you read his blog, you will read entry after entry about how great his cat is, but you would never even know he has three wonderful children.
8. One time on a trip out to Iowa, Dave pushed me off the slide and I broke my arm. I had to start nursery school with a cast on.
9. Dave was the Best Man at my wedding, as I was at his. Our older brother Dan had some other guy.
10. When Dave was younger, he perfected the art of taking my money. One thing he would do is convince me to put all my money underneath a brick out in the yard and he would do the same. Then together we could save up to buy Star War figures. The next day when I went to check on the money, it was all gone and I still have yet to see the figurines.

10 from Susan.

1. He is what my parents liked to call, the bad son
2. He is hypoglycemic. That may mean nothing to you, but it meant beatings for me when I was growing up. When he would get hungry and needed to eat NOW, and if he didn't he would just hurt me
3. Him and Cathie's favorite past time when they were dating was to make out in the back seat of my parents car. The odd part was, my mom, dad and I were all sitting in the front seat
4. He learned that you would have to be an idiot to light fireworks off in your room. And an even bigger idiot to try and hide a hole the carpet in the middle of the room and curtains with burn marks from your mom and dad
5. Because of him one year, I had to spend Christmas Day ALL BY MYSELF when I was 12 years old because he couldn't find his way to my aunt's house. The rest of the family was there already so Dave and Cathie dropped me off at my parent's house and took off to spend Christmas with her family
6. If it wasn't for Kevin, nothing would get fixed around his house
7. He is the best arguer in the whole entire world. Growing up, if I ever needed to convince my parents of something, I would present all the facts to Dave and let him tell them. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't

Apparently Dan doesn't even know it's my birthday. Sigh.

Georgina

This is Georgina. She spoke almost no english but helped Cathie and I win $400 Dana and Eli $300. The table was smoking hot for 2 hours. Dana hit more blackjacks than I've ever seen. I was in a funk after my video blackjack debacle, but now I'm all about the game.

The Venetian in the moonlight

We were full, so we walked and gambled. Video black jack is not my friend. You can win and lose waaaay to quickly. I'm no longer up $130, or any money for that matter. At least I got a free beer out of it.

Eli loves "Hor Fun"

Eli found a new favorite dish in Vegas. He never knew how much he loved Hor Fun until now.

Taste of Heaven at the Wynn

I have a better understanding of what heaven will be like agter dinner tonight at the Wynn's buffett. Eli and I ate our weight in sushi, giant alaskan king crab legs and everything else in the world. The dinner was as good, or better than the Bellagio's buffett. The dessert was a little lacking. The creme brule was so-so, which brought the overall score down.

Fremont Street

Apparently Jesus is angry that we're $130 up after our first gambling stint

Fountain show at the Bellagio

Bright Light City Gonna Set my Soul on Fire

We made it!

We found an agent who booked us on a connecting flight that arrived as our flight to Vegas was taking off. We were the last passengers on the plane, but we made it. Phew. Long morning. Vegas here we come.