The Return

How many blog comebacks can a person have in one year?? Well, I'm on number 3 already. Let's catch up!

First of all, I can't help but empathize for the Brewers, as they have succumbed to the same fate as the Longshots; do awesome in the beginning of the season, but then have terrible, terrible losses later in the season. At our last Longshots game a few weeks ago, we suffered one of these terrible losses. It was a makeup game from a rainout from the first-half in the season. The Longshots were bumped up to the next highest division because we were doing so well and the other team was bumped down a notch. So, easy win right?? No! Not at all! Our pitching was not quite up to par and we had many holes in our defense. They were up 0-10 in the first inning! And we just couldn't make it back after that. We ended up losing 12-24; which ruined our chances of getting into the playoffs. But on the bright side of things, we did reach our goal of 4 wins! And I really love our team which makes it all worth it.

Work has been going really well lately. I have a lot more responsibility than I ever had and I think I'm handling it great. I feel really important to the company, actually, which makes every day better! I'm heavily involved in certain parts of some high profile projects for some major customers such as the UW and the WI government. I have a conference in Oregon in October that I'm pretty excited about. I get to bring Amber too so that's pretty sweet. It's at a resort right by Mount Hood so it might be a bit snowy! I also might be going to Pocatella, ID (home of Napolean Dynamite) for some equipment testing. Woot.

I've started getting up a half-hour earlier each day so I can read my daily bible passages. This has is pros and cons. I get to start my day on a great foot and get to work early actually! But I sometimes find myself falling asleep on the couch while I read. One thing that I've been working on is trying to pray more/better/effectively. So I've been keeping a prayer journal for the past 2 months and it's really amazing to see how God has answered prayers as you look back from past weeks/months.

We recently got back from camping with Amber's family up in Mincqua. It was our annual trip which I blogged about in detail last year. We did pretty much the same stuff as last year, except this year it was much colder and it rained quite a bit more. We went jeep riding a lot and I am an official expert when it comes to driving that baby. I could be a trucker with the way I handle the stick!


We also went to Seattle in late June for a mini-vacation. We heard good things about the city from some good friends which made us want to check it out. We were not disappointed; expensive, though! Pike's Place Market alone is enough to make the trip worth it! Not to mention the beautiful Olympic National Park; mountains, beach, rainforests all in a days trip. It was a really fun time hanging out with with Amber since we haven't had that much one-on-one time in quite a while.


I'm looking forward to a few runs coming up. Next Thursday, I'm running the Full Moon 5k here in Madison. It's a race that starts at 9pm and goes around Monona Bay. And then I'm hoping to do the Fox Cities Relay Marathon in late Sept. I'm trying to assemble a crack team of runners to crush the opposition. So far it's just me and Dobbins, but I'm working on a few others. I'm sure I'll do anther 5k in there between now and then. I've been doing a ton of biking this summer too, more than I've ever done. I really enjoy it because you see so much more when you're biking than when you're running. I naively did a 40miler cold turkey a few weeks ago. I felt pretty weak at the end of it as I only had one bottle of water that was empty by mile 20. I should get a Camelback. Usually I try to do a 20-25 miler at least once a week.


Remember the patio set that I blogged about last April?? Well we finally got it and have been enjoying it quite a bit. Nothing like grilling some meat and enjoying a cold brew on the patio on a cool summer evening. Speaking of beer, I started to brew the Belgian Wheat Bier that Shawn got me for my birthday on Monday evening. It has orange peel and coriander in it! I started at 8pm and didn't get done until OMG 1am. Note to self: start earlier next time. I'm gonna need a good name for this one...I welcome any suggestions like usual.

Let's see, what music am I into at the moment:
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP
Various mix CDs from Dobbins.
REM - Reckoning
Any and all Springsteen
Neko Case
John Mayer (never thought I would say that, but he is REALLY talented.)
6/3/09 Zekesessions

I worked on a mix of a song that Camann recorded a few months ago. It helped me get used to the software I use and it was a lot of fun. I realized that I love producing and engineering tracks; whoops, too late for that career path! Yes, yes, I'm still working on my stuff too...

Whew! A bit long winded, I know, but that's what you get when I don't blog for 2 months :-) Peace!