Last weekend (in pictures)

So this past weekend I went up to Michigan for Mike's wedding, which is my 3rd and final (I hope) wedding of the year. Overall it was a good time. My flight from Detroit to Charlotte was a little crazy as I got really nauseous about half-way through the flight. It was strange as I have never had that happen to me before. To make matters more interesting, after fighting off the strong urge to vomit in the pouch in the seat in front of me during landing, the pilot had to abort the landing at the last second because a plane taxied out on to the runway we were going to be landing on, so I had to fight off the urge for another 10 minutes. I am proud to say that I ended up winning the battle, and managed to leave the plane vomit-free. The strange thing was I wasn't the only one that this happened to. While waiting for my bag, I heard about 8 other people saying they got sick at various times during the flight as well, so I guess it wasn't just me.
On Friday, all the groomsmen and my brother went to the Tigers-Royals game at Comerica Park. It was a great time even though the game sucked (Tigers lost 10-2). We got down to Detroit super early (1:30) so we hung out downtown, and got in to the stadium right as the gates opened at 5:00. I was able to wander around the park and get some pictures:


The view from the right-field bleachers, where we watched BP

Zumaya and Leyland talking, while Verlander is shagging fly balls.

The view from the stands, behind home plate.

Kenny Rogers warming up in the bullpen.

The view from our seats.

Saturday afternoon was the wedding. It was a great time. The weather was nice and cool for the most part, so I didn't roast to death in my suit, although at times I did start to get uncomfortable. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures since I didn't have my camera on me. My brother was supposed to take pictures during the ceremony and reception, and he did, but most turned out pretty blurry. A few managed to turn out alright:

The 4 of us groomsmen who crashed at Mike's house after the game Friday night. Myself, Ron, Mike, and Steve. Lloyd had to rush home to get dressed up in his Harry Potter outfit to Barnes & Nobel after the game so he could try to be first in line keep his sister company in line while she waited for the new Harry Potter book to go on-sale at midnight.

Mike, Myself, Steve, Ron and Lloyd minutes before the wedding. Lloyd is smiling really big because he is happy with the ending of the new Harry Potter book that he finished right before this picture was taken.

All in all it was a great time. I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen in quite some time. It would have been even better had Sara been able to make the trip with me. Then again maybe its better she didn't. She's never seen what happens when Mike, Steve, Aadam, Lloyd and myself all get together in the same room for longer than 2 minutes.

Crazy Weather

While growing up in Michigan, the months of December and January usually meant the weather was cold and snowy. It was that way most of my life. I honestly can't remember a Christmas or New Years where there wasn't snow on the ground. One of the main reasons (aside from the crappy economy) that I moved out of Michigan right after I graduated from EMU, was to get away from the dreary never-ending winters that we got every year. I love the climate here in Virginia. The summers are hot, and they last longer than 5 weeks. Spring is awesome, and the Fall season is great, with the temperatures staying on the warm to cool side. The Winters are 10,000 times better. The temps are usually chilly, and we usually get one or two decent snowfalls, and when it does snow, its gone within a couple days. The first full winter I lived here (2001-2002), we got something like 6 inches total for the entire season. Awesome!

This year has been completely unlike anything I've ever experienced. It hasn't been all that cold yet. Its a littly chilly in the morning on the way to work, but I've only had to scrap a light layer of frost off my car maybe 3 times so far. This past Saturday it was in the high 70's, and I for a time, contemplated wearing shorts...just because I could. Coming back from Blake's basketball practice, we noticed that trees around his school were budding. While this is completely out of the ordinary, the most bizzare thing that I've seen took place while we were in Virginia Beach over New Years weekend. When we got to our hotel room on the beach on December 30th, we stepped out on the balcony to check out the view and enjoy the sounds of the waves, but we were unable to hear the waves due to the maintenance man mowing the grass below us. He wasn't mowing the lawn just to mow it, the grass was actually needed to be cut.

Of course now that I've bragged about the awesome weather we've been having here, I'm sure that I've completely jinxed myself, and we'll probably be hit by a Nor'Easter this weekend. Because I have awesome luck like that.

Uhhh No M!ch!gan

Usually when I'm discussing where in Michigan I'm from, it inevitably happens during the conversation that I'll just hold up my right hand and use it as a visual aid and point in the general direction of the middle of my thumb, to signify where North Branch is, since Michigan is in the shape of a hand/mitten/whatever you want to call it.









At some point whenever I do this, I get mocked by my wife who I always thought was just jealous because I could use a visual aid to show-off my home state, while she couldn't. Lately I've started to realize that she mocked me because it was a pretty dorky thing to do. Well today I saw this (the offical Christmas card for the Governor of Michigan):





I've come to the realization that it is indeed, a pretty dorky thing to do. And for full disclosure, I have in the past used my left hand to signify the U.P. (that would be Upper Peninsula for any non-Michiganders reading this).