160 Yard Par 3

The shot that brings me back golfing next week. I put the shot within 10 feet of the pin. I played with Eli's brother-in-law, Jeff, who kept us in the game. The first three holes I couldn't hit a small baby five feet in front of me. The last 6 I didn't suck quite as badly.

Overheard at our dinner table tonight

We had hot dogs for dinner:

Me: 'Nate, would you like another wiener?'
Nate: (without missing a beat) 'No Dad, I'm good with the one I've got.' (big grin)
Me: (Beaming like a proud father, followed by a dirty look from Cathie) 'What???'

Why I love working with junior high kids

I watched these three wail on each other for 20 minutes with foam water noodles. Non Stop. Impressive.

Memorial Day Party

We had our 16th annual Memorial Day party today with a bunch of neighbors, family and friends. It was a perfect day, about 80 and sunny with a nice breeze. We only had a few major injuries, but none from the tire swing. Andrew busted himself up jumping off the tire swing, the basketball hoop fell on Josh and a few kids rolled off the hammock onto the metal bar below - plus a few other mishaps.

We spent all day sitting outside and talking while the kids ran around playing. We sipped ice cold beer and margaritas while we sat around laughing and telling stories.

My sister Susan is not known for being in touch with her feminine side. You'll never see her wearing a skirt or make up and most of the time her hair is nothing fancy. (We attribute this to the fact that after having three boys, my Mom decided to dress my sister in dresses every day until she was old enough to say no.) Susan allowed Kris to braid her hair, which is something you never see as well. You can tell she's enjoying it.

I have never seen a pair of ankle socks that have no elastic. Dan has somehow achieved this with these beauties.



You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Carbon Footprint

This is an interesting article looking at the Carbon Footprint (overall environmental impact) of a Prius Hybrid vehicle versus a Hummer, where the Hummer ends up being the more environmentally friendly vehicle in the end. I knew there was a reason I've always loved Hummers.

Bad Luck and Trouble

I just finished the latest Lee Child book Bad Luck and Trouble. There's about ten of them out by Lee Child, all centering around an ex-military MP named Jack Reacher. They're some of my favorite books and I've read all of them a couple of times. The books could be seen as a little formulaic, but I love the fact that you've got a guy who knows what to do in every situation he runs into (even though most of the situations he ends up in have people dying). He's a compassionate guy who ends up in bad situations most of the time because he's always willing to help out the marginalized. If you've never read any of them, you can start anywhere in the series and there's not really a bad book in the bunch.

Dancing Queens

Dan, Jon, Sooze and I used to choreograph dances like this all the time:

Neighbors

We got a call last night from our one of our neighbors to get together for cocktail hour. Along with ten other neighbors, we hung out on the deck around a fire until midnight while the kids played with baseball bats, light-sabers, a portable pool and a sandbox. We took side bets on which one would cry first. Emily was a safe bet with three new band-aids by the end of the evening.

We've lived in this house for 8 years and most of the people there last night have been there a while as well. Our kids have grown up together, we all see each other as we drive in and out of the neighborhood, at the bus-stop or at the store. At any given time any of our kids might be at any of their houses and vice versa. Our neighborhood is an odd one. It's somewhat transient given the price ranges of houses. We've gotten more and more unmarried couples moving in and lots of families with three kids. There are people on my block who I've never met and almost never see and some who I talk to occasionally and wave to when I drive down the street and then there's this group. It was fun hanging with them. I laughed a lot.

If Susan had a Segway

Cool, free remote access service for your home computers: LogMeIn.com

Relay for Life, cont

Last week there was a great letter to the editor about how horrible the Relay for Life cancer walk is. In yesterday's paper, 20 different people submitted letters with some pretty impressive levels of shame in them. No one went as far to say, "I hope you get cancer", but the undertones were there. Some of my favorite excerpts are:

No sleep for one night? Get over it. My son is now graduating from South Lyon High School. My husband and my son and I had a wonderful vacation (the first time in many years). I have a lot of nice friends and I'm glad to be alive. Do you think the Relay for Life helped out? I know it did.

and

I cannot believe that these two individuals would label the Relay for Life event as "ridiculous and rude." Jim and Karen, your letter was ridiculous and rude! So you had one uncomfortable, sleepless night in your home! What about all the uncomfortable sleepless nights the Dolans have had since Abby's cancer diagnosis. What about all the uncomfortable sleepless nights all those stricken with cancer and their families have to endure because of this awful disease?

and

To know that somebody had complained about an event that could help survivors, or could have saved my aunt, is truly heartbreaking. This letter is an example of how apathetic the world has become. Anybody could be diagnosed with cancer and to complain about raising money for possibly you, or your kids, or grandkids in the future, is mind boggling. At the start of Relay for Life, there was the survivor lap.

I read this article this morning and it reminded me of my brother Jon:

In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters."

Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think power wheelchair.

Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, perfectly healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm.

"It was all the walking," 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, Texas, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation, "and now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet."

Note to self

If I'm flying out of Bishop International Airport in Flint, don't drive to Detroit Metro Airport. They're different airports, hence different names and locations.

On the wall of the Shinn's Apartment

Great Domain Names

I can't remember where I've seen this before, but thanks to Eric for this:

Everyone knows that if you are going to operate a business in today's world you need a domain name. It is advisable to look at the domain name selected as other see it and not just as you think it looks. Failure to do this may result in situations such as the following (legitimate) companies who deal in everyday humdrum products and services but clearly didn't give their domain names enough consideration:

1. A site called 'Who Represents' where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is whorepresents.com
2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at penisland.net
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at therapistfinder.com
5. Then of course, there's the Italian Power Generator company…powergenitalia.com
6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: molestationnursery.com
7. If you're looking for computer software, there's always ipanywhere.com
8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church . Their website is cummingfirst.com
9. Then, of course, there's these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: speedofart.com
10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe ? Try their brochure website at gotahoe.com

Maddie and Cathie Painting

Church Today

What an amazing day at church. We celebrated three big things: Communion, High School Graduation and the Hamiltons'. The five kids you see here have been in our youth group since junior high. Some of them, I remember from as early as 2nd grade. It's amazing to have seen them grow up and have many of them now help as leaders in our junior high youth group. It's one of the things I love about staying at a church for the long haul. You get to see generations rise up and help the next generation.

Today was also a day we celebrated communion. What made it very special was that it was Nate and Maddie's first time. We'd attended a class as a family on communion where the kids learned about the sacrament at just the right level for them. Afterwards, we talked it through and they decided that they were ready as did Cathie and I. It such a cool thing seeing my kids grow in their faith as they make choice after choice to pursue God at a deeper level.

We also said goodbye to the Hamiltons. Mark Hamilton is one of the most faithful servants for the Church that I know. This guy showed up every Sunday for 15 years to run the sound board - and did it gladly and excellently. He would spend hours and hours putting together video and art for the services as well that always blew me away. He and his wife are moving down to Louisiana to be closer to family. Again, another reason why I love to be part of a church over the long haul. Getting to see lives lived like Mark's first hand as older generations model servanthood to the next.


You can see all of the pictures here.

Mowing the Lawn

Nate's started mowing the lawn. I mowed part and Nate took the back yard and did a nice job at it. I hate mowing the lawn, but I'm too cheap to pay someone $35 a week to mow mine. At one point, I'd tried to pay neighborhood junior high kids to mow it and the end result was a lawn that looked like I'd mowed it while drunk.

I'm still trying to figure out if I should pay him, or make it a part of his allowance. Growing up, none of us got paid to mow our lawn until Susan. If I remember correctly, I think my Dad paid her about $40 to mow it.

Emily's Bed Time

When we go to tuck Em in at night, we never know how we'll find her. We've found her laying in her door way, dressed in crazy clothes, sleeping in her closet and occasionally, even sleeping in her bed. Thursday night we found her leaning up against her bed and tonight she must have decided it was a good idea to sleep in a box. Gotta love the third child.

Emily's Daisy Swaps

Emily had her Daisy's SWAP thing today. Each kid makes these little do-hickeys which they then get to trade with each other. The end result is a hat full of stuff that little girls seem to love. The rule is that you have to trade with someone if they ask. I tried to coach Emily to pretend she didn't see the other kid if they came up trying to trade a junky swap, but she explained to me that you get to trade with everyone.

Piece of Bread that looks like Jesus

We discovered this piece of bread this morning. It looks just like Jesus, doesn't it? It is listed on eBay right now. The starting bid is $5. You can bid on it here.

Update: You can also find the auction featured on GoofyAuctions.com

Tobacco Nazis

There are few things I love more in the Spring, Summer and Fall than sitting out and smoking a cigar in the evening. Schools these days apparently teach our kids to be very annoying about this stuff. My kids have grown up seeing me do this and have occasional questions, but I've explained to them that it's different than cigarettes, it's not all the time, not as bad for you and I'm not addicted to them - so it's alright. For Pete's sake, my Doctor even said it was OK to have the occasional cigar.

I was over hanging out with a neighbor tonight smoking cigars and we must have had ten neighborhood kids come up and tell us how horrible smoking is and that we're going to die. Quickly. I'm with you that cigarette's are bad and most people who smoke them smoke multiple packs a day. That's bad for you. You've got to wonder why they don't teach about excess instead - teach kids to run up to overweight people and do the same thing that they're doing to people who smoke. Or teach kids to run up to their parents when they're on the 17th beer of the night (Brad) and tell them how bad they are. I got tired of the neighborhood kids telling us that our smoking was evil, so I turned it back on them and asked them why they hate the Indians who taught us about tobacco. They weren't quite sure what to say, but hopefully some kid will go into school on Monday and ask his teacher why they hate Indians.

Roll the Bones

Check out this video for “Ankle Injuries” by Fujiya & Miyagi. It's done completely with dice.

Ninja Warrior

My family has found a new favorite show: Ninja Warrior on G4. The show starts with 100 people and puts them through a Ninja skills course, eliminating 90-95 of them in the first stage. The stages are courses that have back to back feats of strength and agility that require ridiculous strength and ninja skills - things like climbing across a 30 foot ceiling, holding onto globes suspended from the ceiling. The fourth stage (which we've never seen anyone get to) consists of a 300 foot tower that they have to scale in 30 seconds. The show comes from Japan and is all subtitled, but Ninja Skills know no borders.

Bad Mom

I just read this story about a Mom who who coached her kids to act "retarded" in order to receive government subsidies. There are some funny things in this article and some not so funny. I think it's pretty safe to say that she's not going to win any 'Mom of the Year' awards.

Happy Birthday Bender!

Happy Birthday Bender! Ben turns two today.
1. Bender is nicknamed after John Bender, the breakfast club character and the name has no relation to a chiefly British slang word for a homosexual.
2. Bender always has a smile on his face and is happy when just about anyone picks him up, pokes him or gives him something that looks like attention.
3. As much as Susan complains, Ben is an easy baby who is happy getting any attention whatsoever.
4. In the Mayes tradition, Ben also has a large melon, which he has to keep covered by a helmet at all times.
5. Although Ben is not the blogging gold that his sister Allie is, he provides for some darn good pictures - like this, which is my favorite.

Relay for Life

This is perhaps the greatest letter to the editor ever from our local paper regarding our recent Relay for Life for Cancer Research:

My husband and I shared a sleepless night this past Saturday, May 5, because of loud music being played over the loudspeakers at the middle school nearby. The sound permeated the house even with the windows closed. Disturbing to say the least, but when the music was still blasting when the sun came up Sunday morning it was clear that the City of south Lyon had given permission for this intrusion. Never in over twenty years have we heard loud music for an entire 24 hours.

Upon calling city hall on Monday morning to place a complaint, I was given a non-emergency number to call at the police department where the clerk put me on hold to inquire about the source of the music and explained that the fire department had sponsored the Relay for Life cancer research event at the middle school that weekend. I then was given another phone number for the non-emergency dispatch so I could request an officer to come to the house and file a report. Guess what? The "cause" lost all of its importance when we were treated with total inconsideration by the city we pay taxes to and were made uncomfortable in our home.

We want to know how this could possibly be rectified by filing a police report? I called city hall to register a complaint and was promptly given the brush off. Shame on South Lyon for deciding when its residents can sleep. Ridiculous and rude would be the best way to describe this event last weekend. Apparently the City of south Lyon only cares about tax dollars and not the residents who pay them.

I sent in the following response to the paper, which Cathie and I laughed about all night:

Last year I had the opportunity to walk in the Relay for Life with my Mother, who was battling Pancreatic Cancer at the time. It was an amazing moment for my whole family as we walked the survivor lap together with my Mom. My mother passed away this past October, however this year I had the chance to see a friend who is a cancer survivor walk in the event as well.

I know Jim and Karen Olson gave up a sound sleep and I want to thank them for their selfless sacrifice in the support of the Relay as people walked to raise money to find a cure for cancer. I'm sure after thinking this through that Jim and Karen have come to realize that the "cause" as they refer to it deals with real people, like my Mom and my neighbor who have suffered many more than one sleepless night. There are many that have fought a much larger injustice than just that of one night of loud music; they have fought the injustice of cancer.

Will's 190 yard Tee Shot

Two feet from the pin.

Plantronics CS70N Headset

I just got a new headset for my office phone, the Plantronics CS70N. In my opinion, Plantronics is the best of the best when it comes to any kind of headsets, and this is no different. At Mack's recommendation, i got the CS55 about 3 years ago and have loved the headset and the freedom it gives me. The CS70n is lighter with better noise cancellation, better range and sound quality. Working virtually, I can be on the phone 9 hours in a given day. The headset gives me the ability to answer my phone from anywhere in the house by simply pushing a button on the side of the ear-piece to lift the handset on my phone's base. If you're on the phone for any amount of time, this is the way to go. It'll change your life.

Update: After using this for two days, I love the light weight and better noise canceling capability- but the mute button is a pain to use and the range is worse than my original CS55 headset.

Golf

I'm in a golf league and I really don't enjoy golfing that much. I like golfing as a social thing - drinking beer, smoking cigars and hanging out with friends on a nice sunny day - but golfing itself - I can take it or leave it. I'm not good at it and it's not cheap - so all in all, I'd rather be out mountain-biking than golfing I agreed to be on a team with Will and Bob in order to improve my game - hoping that if I get better at it, I'll enjoy it more and since I golf just enough at work that it could be useful. Will and I are golfing tonight together. Should be interesting. Will has asked me to refer to him as Fiancé Will . Seems odd.

Weird Noise

I woke up last night at about 1:30AM and ran to the window, hearing what sounded like a screaming girl out our window. In the middle of the night this sound, combined with the recent kidnapping in South Lyon of one of Maddie's friends got me wide awake in a hurry. I listened at the window and it it turned out to be some kind of animal - making the loudest screaming girl noise I've ever heard. It was creepy. I lay back in bed, listening a minute longer and got back up one more time, not convinced that it wasn't a kid. No idea if it was a wounded cat, raccoon or what it could of been. This morning, i check with Cathie to make sure I hadn't dreamed it all. I hadn't. Cathie had heard it too and thought the same thing I did. She just let me get out of bed and check.

Chaos

We had our Chaos Junior High Youth Group meeting last night. I gave a group of kids a ride and on the way and we had this thought provoking conversation in the car:

Zach: What are we doing tonight?
Me: Poking each other in the eye with big, sharp needles.
Brian: Sweet! Let's give each other piercings too!
Eric: Yeah! I want nine piercings!
Zach: This could be the greatest meeting ever!

We had a huge group of leaders there yesterday. Shinn has done a great job pulling together a core of leaders for junior high of our ex-high school/now-college students to help lead, and together we have a blast doing this.

Jason was teaching on our image of God, looking at how people view God from the perspective of two comic book characters view of the world - The Green Lantern and The Punisher. Mike Rays and I had the sixth grade boys and we got to hear some hilarious and honest answers. As Jason would talk about a new Super Hero, the same kid would raise his hand and ask, "Is this guy in the Bible?" Mike and I were dying laughing.

I love working with these kids. Their honesty and views of God are so interesting to hear and there in a place where they can be impacted in a big way.

Will and Monaca are Engaged!

Our friends Will and Monaca are engaged! Words can't describe how excited I am about this. Will is like a brother to me - one of my best friends in the whole world. He is a part of my family and i speak for us all when I say that we are all thrilled to have the family now grow by one as Monaca joins the Kurt clan (much to our chagrin, she will not be taking the Kurt name when she marries Will). Our kids are very excited, especially the girls, who love Monaca to death. Even Nate showed something that was beyond ambivalence when he heard the news. The whole family has been pulling for Will and Monaca to take this step for a long time. Most excited is Will's Mom, who gain a daughter, lose a roommate and gain a bedroom and couch back.

I can think of no one that would have been more excited at this news than my Mom. The day before she died, she sat down with Will and Monaca and tried to get them to move their schedule up a little bit, but they wouldn't go for it. She considered Will one of her boys and as Will put it, my Mom had the best seat in the house for the proposal.

Rumor has it that Ted Haase will have the important job of coaching and motivating the ring-bearer and flower-girls.

No idea what means

Just got this message. No idea what application caused it or what it means.

Roll Call

Aside from my family and close friends, i have no idea who reads this page. If you would, take a sec and leave a comment and let me know who you are and where you live. If you're feeling ambitious, you can click on the map below and put a pin on it and show me where you're reading from. Thanks!

Jott

I'm trying out a new cell phone based transcription service called Jott. It lets you call it, speak a message, which it will in turn translate to text and send either to you or others. I use my voice mail and e-mail on my phone to record to-do's for myself all the time. I'm trying this to see if this is easier than having to type out a quick e-mail to myself as a reminder for things. Jott integrates well into my address book, pulling them all over from just about any source and then allowing me to interact with everything via voice commands. It's free, it's beta, and it seems to be a good idea in concept.

I still use the YouMail personalized voice mail system which made it past my two-week window of usefulness testing. If you haven't tried YouMail yet, it's rather cool. It's also free and it lets you personalize the voice mail greeting based on phone number and then access your voice mail via a web browser, if you like.

Mother's Day Montage

Happy Mother's Day, Cathie!

We let Cathie sleep in today and all three kids helped make Cathie breakfast-in-bed. Emily hand-made (literally, she picked out and placed each piece of fruit in the bowl) a giant fruit-salad, while Nate helped me with the sausages, eggs and french-toast. Maddie and Em went out and picked some wild flowers to complete the breakfast ensemble. We let Cathie sleep in until 10 before we woke her and brought out creation.

Today was about making sure Cathie had nothing to do but relax. We waited on her hand and foot and the kids were on their best behavior (helped, in my opinion, by my 5x punishment rule for the day - something that would normally put them in bed 30 minutes early was now 2 1/2 hrs early). Cathie hung out in the beautiful weather and enjoyed the sun and a good book.

The girls decided that Cathie needed some pampering so they went out and gathered wild flowers and then gave her a spa treatment. Madeline staretd with a foot massage and Em gave Cathie a back massage.

Maddie finished it off with some strange leaf treatment which involved lots of lotion topped off with leaves which she was told to keep on for an hour afterwards.

We had a great mother's day, touched with a twinge of sadness, all of us missing my Mom today. I think my wife is the most amazing mother I've ever seen. She is the standard by which I measure all other Mom's. She was made in part to be a Mom and she lives in that so well. I love to see her playing with the kids, which she does all the time. She radiates this joy and beauty that make me so proud to be married to her. I'm crazy in love with this Mom.

I got Cathie a couple dozen roses for Mother's Day, having found that I can't really pick out clothes and that she's got all the jewelry she needs (in my opinion) and a vacuum cleaner or cooking pans might have not communicated the message I was going for. Note the beautiful card below in the roses (2 dozen). Cathie asked me, "You drew that? I thought it was Madeline or Emily."

My Mom

Today is my first Mother's Day without a Mom. Even though we've had a great day celebrating Cathie and what a great Mom she is, there's been this sadness in me thinking about the fact that my Mom isn't here anymore. She was an amazing Mom and our memories of her are vivid. We tell stories about my Mom with smileson our faces, but today still has a pang of sadness about it. I miss my Mom. A lot. Still.

The Chair

All of the kids that love and care about our grandma came down to move her out of her apartment in Haslett. The highlight for everyone was driving the chair. My Grandma had only used it for a few days before she managed to break her ankle with it. While my Grandma was living at the apartment, I was the only one allowed to sit on the chair or even look at it. We went over to my Dad's afterwards where the boys dug for fossils in the back yard. Later, I walked into the basement where the boys were huddled around the computer. They explained that they'd found a meteor and were listing it on eBay.

Brad's Cottage

Eli, Mark, Brad and I went out to Brad's cottage to grill out and watch the Wings game

Brad's Girly Sweatshirts

Note the thumb holes. Wonder if Brad's wife knows he borrowed her sweatshirt?

Interpretive Dance

Maddie is part of a dance group in church that periodically does "interpretive dances" to songs as part of worship at our church. Not my thing, but for some it is. I think I've finally found the kind of dance that works for me at church. Thanks to Tom for this:

Happy Birthday Allie

My niece Allie or (Al-wi) turned 4 yesterday. Here are some things about Allie:
1. Allie coined the phrase, "What Say?", which translates to, "What are you saying?" Even my Grandma uses this phrase.
2. Allie is a middle child. She is stubborn like her Mom. The two of them will but heads like nothing else as she grows older. Should be fun to watch.
3. She's one of the only little girls I know who goes hunting with her Dad. She has killed a deer with a .30-06
4. She must have lived with Jess Shinn at some point, because her fashion sense is fairly "eclectic" (read: odd). Most of time she is wearing Emily and Madeline's old clothes - and the occasional turtle-neck from Matthew/Andrew/Stephen.
5. Allie is a wonderful little girl who's smile lights up a room and whose pronunciation we all love to imitate.

Striker's Win

Em's soccer team won 7 to 3 tonight. The team consists of Kindergarten and First graders, many of whom it's there first time playing soccer. Throughout the game there were these two woman next to us complaining non-stop about how the coaches weren't calling fouls. I jokingly said, 'They're letting these kids playing as if they're kindergarteners!' The women responded 'Yeah! That's what we're talking about'. After a pause, I reminded them that they ARE actually kindergarteners. I laughed. They didn't.

Mother's Day

Cathie was working in Em's Kindergarten class, helping the kids with their Mother's Day cards. She said that it was pretty funny watching the kids spell their cards out phonetically. she said the best one was: "Mom, I love you. you're the Beast."

E-Mail

So far this year I've sent 3,268 work related e-mails and I've received 7,455. Seems out of whack.

Life Lesson

My friend and co-worker Bill was on-site working with The Limited today, which happens to be the parent company of Victoria's Secret. He learned the hard way not to use his company credit card to pay for lunch in the cafeteria. The charge goes through without a problem, but the hard part is getting reimbursed for the expense. It ends up in the expense system showing that you made a purchase at Victoria's Secret, which can be a tough one to explain away.

Em's Soccer Pic

It doesn't get much cuter than kindergarten soccer.

It's a Beautiful Day

I love my job. No commute and the freedom to work where ever. I got home from the gym, grabbed my coffee, my laptop and my wireless headset and I've been working on my deck in my back yard all morning - listening to the birds chirp and savoring the perfect weather with my dog at my side.

Vegas Montage

I compiled some of the pictures and videos that we took in Vegas into this video montage. I only watch these things if I'm in 'em, so it's probably not worth your time unless you want to see pictures of neked statues or pictures of Eli in a bathing suit (Jon), don't bother watching.

Girls for Sale - $.25

Will's Surprise Party

On Saturday afternoon Brad, Bob, Monaca threw a surprise party for Will to celebrate his graduation. We had a huge turn-out and it went on until the wee hours of the night. One of the highlights was the food. Bob brought enough food from Mexican Fiesta in Canton to feed the whole group (for $10 more than Eli's previous order for the 6 of us at one of our previous poker games).

The party would have been a surprise, had Brad not parked his truck right on the route that Will took to my house. Brad did not feel it was his responsibility to hide his truck. In Brad's defense, Will said that one truck by itself wouldn't of given it away, but seeing Bob's, Brad's and Jen's trucks all parked next to each other was a dead give away.


That wasn't the only debacle. We have a giant tractor tire swing in our back yard. Fully loaded with kids, getting hit with this thing feels like being laid out by a linebacker. Especially if you're 1. While pushing the kids on the swing, Makenna came running over and took a shot from the swing right above her left eye. I saw it all in slow motion as it threw her a couple feet up and a few feet back. I blame Brad for this.

We finished the night out rocking to Guitar Hero on the Xbox 360. As Dan put it, it's like Dance-Dance-Revolution for men. We played this first at the Kohne's and got hooked on it from there. I pretty much justified buying my 360 based solely on my love for this game.

You can see the rest of the pictures from Will's Graduation and Party here.

Will's Graduation

Bill, Brad and I attended Will's graduation on Friday morning. It was long and dull, but worth it to see Will's big moment in his life. There were a couple of fun moments, including the VP of Diversity's speech capstone's call of "Go White". Apparently this was not a call to white-power, but a response to the previous speaker's "Go Green" call to action. At another point, one of the PhD candidates thanked Jesus for what He's done in her life. You could have heard a pin drop as the Social Worker students sat around angry at the mention of the name. Even Will did not clap as he said he would be black-balled from all social-work circles.

Spideman 3

Nate and I went to see Spideman 3 at the IMAX. Everyone I'd talked to had so-so things to say about it relative to the first two. Nate and I both dug it. As good as the first two, maybe even better action. A little too much drama, but the visuals on the IMAX screen more than made up for it. I agree with Nate, who thought the action scenes would have been ever better in IMAX-3D.

How Many Guys Does it take to Hang a set of Lights?

We had load-up/take-down this morning at church. Brad and I had fun watching Matt, Mark and Eli try and setup this light tree. We recruited Tony Muzzi at Will's party to join the load team. Bob Rays ditched us to atttend bed-side chapel this morning, which means he buys breakfast next time.