Thursday, December 25, 2008

And unto you

It's not about presents
or trees
or lights
or music
or decorations.

It's not about family
or friends
or trips
or cards
or phone calls.

It's not about caroling
or hymns
or wassailing
or cider
or hot chocolate.

It's not about "Holidays"
or Santa
or elves
or reindeer
or sleigh bells.

It's not about so many things
we think about
and talk about
and preach about
and get worked up about.

It's about a sinful race
in need of a savior
who was born
to die
for us.

It's about Him.

Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Ten Below

I can't remember the last time it was this cold. Probably sometime last year, but my brain likely froze and thus the memory was never seared into my cerebral cortex. At any rate, it's super duper cold, and there's a foot of snow on the ground. The bright side? For starters, our apartment doesn't charge us for heat. :) I used to have a Warm Mist humidifier in my bedroom back in kollij, and on nights like last night I would set it to 'max,' so I would wake up on mornings like this to a veritable tropical vacation. We don't quite do the same now, but it's still nice to have a cozy comfy place to live on morning like this. Last night we went out to eat with my cousin and his wife, and then came back here for some board games and Guitar Hero. All the while, we were waiting to hear from my cousing Jessie who was at the Airport in Atlanta, anxiously awaiting the boarding call of her flight up to the Cities. Her original flight was scheduled to depart at 1. It was cancelled, though, because there was too much snow up here for it to land. Major bummer.

She ended up waiting at the airport for almost the entire day, only to find out that her only option was to take a plane on Monday. Ouch. But, a few days late is better than crashing and burning on a frozen runway...

We are actually heading out for Montana in a few hours, where we will spend the week visiting family, eating too much junk food, and watching The West Wing. After that it's a trip to Lincoln for much of the same, but with the added benefit of seeing my two-and-a-half-year-old niece, as well as Amigo's and Valentino's. :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Tomorrow's gonna be great

I just finished a video project for my uncle's newsletter company, and I'm nearly finished with another one for my work. There's also a wedding and two video slide shows on the horizon, and I think the only real big expense we have to take care of in the next year or so is a set of good tripod legs and our journey toward the Video Side will be complete. Until we go full-on HD, that is, but that could be a few years yet. High-grade standard definition video is doing fine for us right now. :)

Just last week I found out about (gasp!) a cheapo movie theatre not too far from our place. It's no Roseville 4, but then, few things are. It should suit us well, though, and we might hit up a flick there this weekend. I wouldn't mind seeing Wall-E or The Dark Knight again, but Eagle Eye looks pretty good. We'll see (har!).

24 hours from now we will most likely be rolling on the floor, with our friends Jon and Sarah, after eating *way* too much build-your-own pizza. My wife and I picked up the crust and cheese, and the two of them went to get the fixin's tonight. They will probably be here around 6:30 and we'll spend a while crafting the perfect pizza pies, which in my and Jon's case will involve at least one pound of Italian Sausage, one pound of cheese, lots of mushrooms, pepperoni...you get the idea. We are also going to, thanks to Sarah, watch Home Alone while punishing our colons. Thankfully there's Wii Bowling to help us drop the extra poundage afterwards.

Speaking (or writing) of video games, my wife and I have been playing a game called Star Trek Conquest recently. It's no Metroid Prime Corruption or Halo, but it's actually a pretty good time. It's kind of a simple turn-based conquer-the-galaxy game, but that format allows us to play a few rounds and then come back later for some more.

Alright, time to get outta here. Later.

Oh, and if anyone knows a good place to pick up Chrono Trigger DS, lemme know.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

"One Hundred, K?"

Our 1998 Corolla, William, hit 100,000 miles today. Awww... The little guy's been so good to us for the past few years after we rescued him from his former owners, and we hope to drive him for at least double his current mileage before sending him out to pasture many years from now.

Well, that's the hope, anyway. And with any luck (and continued frequent oil changes, thanks in no small part to Sarah's dad's garage, and my dad's garage too) we'll get him there.

We made our special chili the other night, and while it might not be up to Andy's standards, it suits us just fine--especially when coupled with a large dosage of corn bread and crackers. Even better, it tastes great even as leftovers, so one night's feast turns into a week's worth of lunch for me at work. Aw yeah.

Oh, and get this. I lost not only my copy of The Two Towers, but also my new water bottle, on our trip to Georgia last weekend. Major drag, huh? But Sunday afternoon we rectified the book situation, and tonight before dinner we made a quick trip to REI to pick up another of their cheapest water bottles. Since we don't go hiking or snowbooting or whatever, we had to hide behind a stack of Power Bars to get away from the clerks who were stalking us and trying to sign us up for memberships. Thankfully we made it out alive without any caribbeaners or Columbia pants--just a simple water bottle, thank you very much.

Time for bed.