Anniversary

Since I'm out of town, Maddie and Em decided to make sure Cathie still had a happy Anniversary. They woke Cathie up with breakfast in bed, a card and later performed an anniversary dance they'd choreographed just for the occasion. Makes the 15 roses I sent Cathie seem pretty weak.

Fifteen Years of Bliss!

15 years ago today, I walked down the aisle with my best friend in the whole world and my soul mate. Here are some things you may not know about the first year:

• My brother Jon was my best man, my brother Dan a groomsman, my sister Susan was a bridesmaid and my brother-in-law Ed a groomsman.
  
• I had two bachelor parties. One of them the police broke up.
• I still had a year left in college, Cathie got a job at Big Brothers/Big Sisters. We didn't know what we'd do with all the money.
• The first car I bought after we were married was an Audi Fox for $100. My friend Webb and I had to string a cable around the car to hold the floor up after the floor rusted out. This in turn cut the gas line, so gas would trail behind the car.
  
• We honeymooned down in Florida, the exact same time Hurricane Andrew struck.
  
• On our way down to our honeymoon the woman at the American Airlines counter saw that it was our honeymoon and upgraded us to first class. We wandered all around the back of the plane because we couldn't figure out where our seats were.
• We rented a convertible in Florida and loved every second of it. It was our first time alone together on a trip and it was amazing. I remember driving in the convertible, hearing the song Life is a Highway while Cathie and I were laughing til it hurt as we read Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy.
• We found out the hard way that the Canaveral National Seashore in front of our condo was actually a nude beach.
  
• For the first part of our marriage, we lived in a 400 square foot apartment in married housing at MSU.
• Within the first 6 months, I taped over the only copy of our wedding video.
• We didn't have much money or have a clue what we were doing, but we were on our own and it was bliss.

I have fallen more in love with Cathie every day, beyond what I could have ever dreamed. Cathie gets me and models what for me what it looks like to love and server one another. My Mom prayed for all of us since we were little that God would give us amazing spouses. God really answered that prayer in a big way for me. My heart still beats fast when I look at her. She is the perfect woman for me and can't wait to grow old with her.

(Cathie included fifteen notes in my suitcase, one for each year of marriage.)

Walking in Memphis

I got up around 4am this morning to head to Graceland for meetings. I got their earlier enough that I was able to take a side trip to the local Chick-Fil-A for a two pack of the much beloved Chicken Minis. Jon, Beth and I went downtown to dinner and then Jon and I headed out to see the movie Superbad, which we both dug. The kitchen drawers in Jon's house can not be slammed. I've tried. It's almost creepy. It was good seeing Libby and Reagan, and Beth... and Zoe and Stretch... and Jon. Dan had a layover in Memphis, but thanks to Northwest's stellar on-time record, we couldn't catch up with him. I'm flying out tomorrow morning to Kansas City and then back home on Thursday morning.

Worship Dance Group

Our friend Jen leads the worship dance group for the kids at church. They practice every week for an hour and for the third time performed at church today. Jen does a great job teaching the girls that worship is not just about singing, but about a of doing things in a way that puts God above everything else. The girls were cute and did a great job.

Hot Date in Windsor

Cathie and I went on a date last night over to Canada to Windsor. The first question people seem to want to ask is, "Did you go for the Windsor Ballet?" Windsor is like Detroit's answer to Tijuana with just about everything being legal over there: Cuban Cigars, Marijuana, Prostitution and a 19 year old drinking age. For the record, we went for none of those things.

We went to The Keg Steakhouse right on the river and then headed over to another bar for drinks. On our way back across the border we saw the guy a couple cars in front of us get swarmed by cops and arrested on the spot. No idea what for.

As much as we love going out with our friends, we really needed to do this. It was a great evening of the two of us catching up on our lives. Whenever life gets too crazy and especially when I'm traveling, it's easy for us to get disconnected relationally. When we're not connected, nothing else works. It was a fantastic night.

Linen Drive is a Bust.. Kind of

The linen drive we tried to do in our neighborhood didn't go off all that well. Nate, Maddie and I went around with the Kohne kids passed our flyer's last week to all 85 houses in our neighborhood and went around yesterday to pick up the linens off the front porches. Only two people had left stuff out there. Nate and Maddie proceeded to go up and down the block knocking on doors, hoping that people had forgotten. No luck. I think we're going to try and make this a monthly thing for our neighborhood, and try and get even more kids involved in it. Next time, we'll try to pick items that people might have laying around.

Joe interviewed the two Maddie's, Nate and Trevor up on stage as part of his message today in church. Joe's message was around starting from where you're at and doing something... Which is what the kids did. We went out to breakfast with the Kohne's afterwards.

Football Jamboree

Yesterday was Nate's Panthers season kick-off. They did team pictures a pep-rally and then inter-league scrimmages against all of the other teams at their level. Each team at each level has cheerleaders and a PomPom squad and they all did their routines at the pep-rally. Cath's parents came up to cheer him on before her Mom left for Japan today today to teach for three months. Nate decided he'd keep his Mohawk through today and get it shaved off tomorrow.

Nate's team did pretty well offensively, but had a tough time defensively containing the run outside and stopping the pass.

Mr. Slithers

After Em caught her pet snake, Mr. Slithers, we tried to feed it all sorts of things - gold fish, crickets, you name it - but none of it would take. We finally had to let it go and Em was in tears afterwards.

My Little Guitar Hero

The whole family is into Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360. Nate and I are stuck about half-way through "hard" mode" on the song Woman. Maybe Em's been playing it a little too much.. I heard her walking around the house the other day singing the words to her favorite song on the game, Surrender: "Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird"...

High School Musical 2 Party

Maddie and Em are huge fans of the movie High School Musical, so naturally, there was a big to-do about the premiere last night of High School Musical 2. The girls went all out, turning our family room into a.... um, I don't know... family room with pillows, blankets and menus. Even the dog was not allowed in the family room prior to the big event, leste the blankets get messed up. They created menus for all of the snacks and drinks, and waited on Cathie, Nate and I as we watched the show. Maddie was a little intense as we watched, shusshing anyone who dared utter a word and chastising me for my lack of TiVO remote skills if I skipped a second or two past the commercials and into the show. I'm sure we'll be listening to the soundtrack for months to come. I completely forgot to invite Phil over.

TomTom One

With all of the travel I do for work a portable (as opposed to a stationary one??) GPS system is a huge help (if only I could get one one that helps me find my car at the airport). For the past 3 years, I've used TomTom Navigator which allowed my phone to work with a GPS receiver to give me full GPS capabilities. It worked great 95% of the time, but the 5% that my phone would lock up or my bluetooth link to the receiver would drop. I finally sold my the whole kit on eBay and used the money to buy the TomTom One GPS system. It's the same size, the same software, a great battery life and about the same price as what I sold my TomTom stuff for. I like it so far. It travels easily and I don't have to dink around with Bluetooth connections.

Bill in the Middle

Bill and I have worked together for 13 years and been close friends almost as long. We really got to know each other when Bill, Noel, Brad, Will and I went to Colorado on a 4 day spiritual retreat. Bill is also my new boss, which he's been in the past and is a great thing for me.

Bill is also Platinum on Northwest and of course is a frequent traveler who nearly always gets upgraded to first class due to his status. On our trip back from New Jersey today, I was complaining that I didn't get upgraded, assuming Bill had. Not only had Bill not gotten upgraded, but he'd forgotten to change his seat and ended up with a middle seat between two big dudes in the row behind me. It made my day.

Lost

Ever forget where you park at the airport and have to call your co-worker, admit this and ask him to drive you around until you find it? Yeah, me either.

What does this mean?

Girls Chicago Trip

Guest blogger, Cathie Kurt:
As you heard, My mom graciously took Maddie, Emily and I to Chicago for some fun last week. We had a great time. We took the train and Emily loved her first train ride. The idea of being able to walk around during a long trip was quite appealing to her!

It was definitely a girl oriented trip that Dave and Nate would have absolutely hated. We ate at a lot of fun restaurants, hung out at Navy Pier and Millinium park and visited the Field museum. The girl's highlight of the trip though was The American Girl place. For those of you who don't have girls, you may not have heard about this little doll cult. They draw you in and make you drink the kool-aid before you even realize it.


We spent an entire day at this store. The girls received a "Day at American Girl" package from Grandma. So they were able to bring their American Girls to have their doll's hair done, shop a lot, have a professional photo taken of themselves with their dolls, eat at the A.G. Cafe and even see a play done all about the stories of American Girls. It was a very fun, girly day. Aunt Susan would have loved it! Maddie put it best when she said that even more than all the gifts Grandma gave us, she loved just having Grandma to ourselves for 4 days-especially since she is heading to Japan for three whole months! Thanks Grandma for a wonderful trip! We Love You!

You can see the rest of the pictures from the girl's trip here.

Em's Latest Pet

Em and Maddie found a snake in the yard and Em has been spending hours with it. Literally. She holds it, wraps it around her neck and cuddles with it. We're going to try and keep it for a little while. Apparently you can feed them gold fish and worms.

Update: Em came to me this morning first thing after she woke up and asked if she could play with the snake. She quickly came back to me, excitedly explaining that he had laid an egg. It was poop.

New Camera Lens

I picked up a new lens for my Canon SLR. I got a 70-300 film lens, but with the lens factor it's actually 480mm on my camera. From 100+ feet out I'm able to get some great shots. I dig these two pictures of Nate (#24), especially the one of him going up against these two big 'ol linemen. His coach called him out in front of the whole team for the progress he's made on the line.

Clothing Drive

Our church is doing a bedding drive with our local Active Faith, a local organization that helps the needy in our community. We're trying to get our neighborhood involved, so Mark Kohne and I put flyers together and passed them out in our neighborhood and we're going to pick stuff up next weekend. For the most part, I think people want the chance to help the hurting, but most are either too busy, don't know how or just see it as too big of a problem to make a difference. I figured by trying to get a grass-roots group of guys doing this in my neighborhood, we might be able to get something larger going in the community. I think it's easier to invite guys to help the poor than it is to invite them to church. The idea of church carries all sorts of baggage, at least with guys who are loosely connected to churches. Regardless of church background or depth of faith, people seem to want to help others that need it and are looking for the opportunities to do it. I'd think I'd rather have people ask the question, "Why would you guys want to help people like this?" and be able to talk about my church and faith from that point on.

Over a beer with one of my neighbors last week, we started talking about how we could use our business skills to help people in our community, particularly those families who can't afford computers. We talked about ways to use some of the local technology businesses to provide computers and the related support to people in the area that need them. Lots of ideas right now, no good way to move forward.

Weekend

Cathie and the girls got home from Chicago on Thursday night. After Nate and I were solo for the week, it was strange having them back. The girls came back with lots of words and loud voices with lots and lots of words. It sounds mean, but after it being just Nate and I hanging out, it was a pretty radical shift.

I finished my parking lot duty this week for Panthers football, and I'm glad to have it done. I ended up missing some of Nate's scrimmages over the past few days because of the parking lot stuff, but Nate's coach filled me in afterwards. Nate's been playing Corner and Safety on Defense and it sounds like Nate's been popping guys out there in a way that surprised the coach. Nate's one of only 4 new guys on the team and he's had to work twice as hard to catch up with where everyone else is at. For being only 75lbs, Nate's really holding his own.

We had the Kohne's over for dinner tonight. The Kohne's are neighbors of ours with three kids as well. Mark and I have worked together for the past three years, Nate and Maddie are great friends with their youngest two kids and their oldest, Haley, is involved in our church's junior high youth group and went to camp with us this summer.

Today we're taking our Sabbath. After a busy week, we need a day to catch up, rest, recuperate and hang as a family. No errands, no chores, no friends over - just hanging out, doing a family movie night and getting some much needed rest after a crazy week.

Air Conditioning

Our air conditioning started flaking out this week. Today was an especially great day for it with 90+ degree weather and 100%+ humidity. Nice and comfortable. My air conditioner wasn't cooling down the house and the pipes would ice up when I'd run it. Trying to save a buck, I did some research online and tried replacing the filter and unblocking the condensation drain. It didn't fix it. My fear was that I was going to have to replace the whole unit, but after spending $240 for 15 minutes of service, I had some more coolant added in and everyting is back and working again. While the unit had frozen up, some of the coolant had leaked out. Apparently, replacing your filter more than once every couple of years is somewhat important. Had I done that, I'd be $240 ahead of where I'm at.