24

Denise is really into 24 now. A little delayed. Although I didn't start getting into it until last season. We now stand before an inevitable marathon of veg-ing out on 6 entire 24 hour periods to catch up with the current season. There's a part of me that doesn't wish to undertake this grand adventure. While at the same time, it is so hilarious to watch Denise cringe, writh, and wince at every move Jack makes.

We started with the first 4 episodes last night. We'll see what happens with this. At least we know Jack survives, and Tony Alameda. ha

Well, I need to run, I'm hanging out at AAA Automark and they just dropped a 234.00 bomb on me. Come on Murphy, leave me alone for just a second!

Flan

Amazing stuff

merry christmas

so i really tried to get a christmas card out this year. i L-O-V-E christmas cards and am very thankful for all of you who sent me one. mark and i even took the above photo and i was going to upload it to shutterfly, make a card, mail it out, etc. but we are busy and it didn't happen as planned...so consider this your christmas card from us :-)

a story. the other night mark and i were laying in bed and he has his eyes closed, is drifting off to sleep but he says to me, "will you sing me a song?" and i almost died laughing because he sounded kind of pitiful and has never asked me to do that before. i started singing, "..miss independent, miss i'm sufficient, miss keep-your-distance..." (which for those of you who don't know is an excellent kelly clarkson song) but mark goes "stop! stop!" i thought he just didn't like my song choice but then he goes, "i can't believe this is happening to me. i mean, i've always heard this existed but i've never experienced it for myself." i was like, "what?!" and he says, "tone deafness. i never knew it was real. but that's what you have." he then proceeded to try to give me a music lesson. he would hum a note and then he would make me try to hum at the same pitch. this went on for about 20 minutes and finally we decided i was not making any progress and i would just have to live with this condition.

sky mall

so, i was recently on a trip in which i spent 14 hours getting from charlotte, nc to providence, ri. during part of that time i sat on the plane out on the runway for an hour or so. i didn't have anything with me to read so i ended up reading Sky Mall for about two hours. i'm sure many of you are familiar with sky mall. it is a catalogue of endless, ridiculous items that you can purchase right there, while you're on the plane. if you're not familiar with it, picture oriental trading company meets brookstone meets the word of faith healing movement.

i will mention just two items that i read about in sky mall. the first, and most appalling, was a hooded sweatshirt. but first a little background information for the product- according to the advertisers, it has been proven that positive words can alter the consistency of water. Therefore, if you were to wear a sweatshirt with positive words all over the INSIDE of the sweatshirt, it would alter the consistency of the water inside you, and you, being 2/3 water, could become a completely different person. the sweatshirt was selling for $79.99. i cringe to think of anyone actually purchasing this and i am basically infuriated at the idiots selling it.

#2 from sky mall: a personal size microwave, complete with a handle, that you can carry with you everywhere you go. do you ever want to reheat your coffee or pop a bag of popcorn, but don't want to get up from your desk to do it? now you don't have to! oh wow. i think the advertisement should've read, do you hate people and want to avoid them at all costs, so much so that you'd rather not go to the breakroom to reheat your coffee on the off chance that you'd run into someone? are you too lazy to get up from your desk for five seconds? this product is for you. (okay that might be a little harsh, i know some of you, including my brother in law Ryan, are probably actually interested in the personal microwave. but still. come on.)

to the makers of sky mall: you are ridiculous.

bach-ing tonight

I haven't been a single man in awhile but tonight I'm re-living what its like to be batch-ing. Denise is out of town for a theology/academic conference and I'm home taking care of the house. I was worried tonight about Denise, she had to wait 3+ hours to get on a standby flight at the Newark airport alone, while I sat helpless in Charlotte at a network association dinner listening to the guest speaker talk about self-defense and the threats we will encounter during our lifetime. This was a completely random topic for this kind of event, had little or nothing to do with construction, but of course, the night my wife is alone and distant, I get to sit for 45 minutes and listen to heinous acts of violence in Charlotte.

I love Denise very much. For all others who love her, I am privileged with seeing her in an out of all kinds of elements as her husband. She is the most interesting person I've ever met, and I like to meet people. She is incredibly book smart, and has amazing common sense and intuition, both areas of which I am weak.

She is so honest and real with her feelings, I never have to worry about her being fake or sly with me. If she's holding a grudge, she'll recognize it and tell you so, which doesn't necessarily mean she's going to let go of that grudge right then and there...but she will.

She has exponentially increased in her tendency to forgive. She has learned to forgive herself since she's been thinking about the gospel full-time for school, and as a result, has been able to forgive others quick.

I really have received a gift.

And now I'm motivated to exercise my constitutional rights with a gun, get back into boxing, lift weights, and protect this gift the Lord has given me. The guy said tonight that criminals expect you to freeze when they threaten you, and he said that your best response and best tactic is to use your brain and think. Meaning...think fast to figure out how to get away, and/or fight back.

-Mark

i voted

so today i voted. who did i vote for? cherie berry. i just cannot bear the thought of stepping onto an elevator and not seeing her face staring back at me on the elevator door. 

on another note, my voting experience was awesome. it was about 1 mile from my house and it took about 5 minutes. that was a pleasant surprise. i had packed like four hours worth of stuff to do in purse just in case. but it was not needed.

a little story

so the other night i made chili for dinner. i called mark from work and told him i had made chili and that it was in the fridge and he should heat some up for dinner. later when i got home i asked him how it was and he was like, oh it was so awesome. great.

so the next day i went to make pasta and i was like, where did all my spaghetti sauce go? i could've sworn i had made a lot more than what was there, but i was like, oh well, i guess this will be lightly sauced.

so then later that night mark came home and we were going to have the leftover chili for dinner. i get it out of the fridge and start putting it in bowls and he leans over my shoulder
and says: um..the chili i ate last night did not look like that.
denise: what do you mean? this is the only chili in there.
mark: no, what i ate was in a small blue container.
denise: mark, that was spaghetti sauce.
mark: i ate spaghetti sauce for dinner?

and we died laughing. he had literally eaten a bowl of spaghetti sauce for dinner. not meat sauce, just plain, tomato sauce. i was like mark, i asked you how it was and you said awesome. he said, it WAS awesome.