whew... that was close

I just spent the last 5 minutes trying to remember my password to be able to post on this site! I tried to have it reset, but it would have taken over two days to figure it all out! By that time I would have failed to post, and I can only imagine what horrible end waited for me with Brian's choice of "wrestling move." Probably something like Hulk Hogan's "Big Boot" or "The Sleeper." Too bad we won't find out this week. ;-)

The Lent season has started. I've chosen to abstain from drinking any pop and swearing. Swearing isn't new, its what I try to avoid doing every season of Lent. I always do keep track of how many times I slip up. Last year it was nine. This year i'm not off to a good start. I have two already and it is mostly due to things that go on at work. I will specifically blame Sears for one of them, and the other has to do with an upcoming trip to Boston.

Next week I venture out east to Baahhston... I'll be driving a caahhr around the yaahd from Monday till Friday. Should be a GREAT time.. :-/ Oh well.. whatever earns a paycheck right?

Along the wedding front, things are progressing. Kelsey and I have picked out most of our pictures for the slide show. I've started scanning mine into the computer. I thought it would take forever, but it looks like I've found a nice little way to make things go faster. Its fun to look at old pictures. I think Kelsey will win the "cutest little kid" contest between the two of us. She has some really good pictures. Of the ones i've scanned so far, this one is my personal favorite of me.



If she'll let me, i'll put a good one of Kelsey for a little preview for all that are interested. Until then, lots more work to do! The day draws near and we're both getting really excited for it!

Ho K Peace out!

One from the road

Ahhh.. Milwaukee.... I can smell the beer! Yeah, it's Friday, about quitting time, and i'm stuck here in the wonderful Milwaukee airport. I have Sears to thank for this travesty! Who organizes a walk through for a lighting project on a Friday? Seriously! I guess that's the price I pay for being the lighting dork that I am!

I can definately say, people watching in the airports is always a blast! Everyone is either going about the motions waiting patiently for the inevitable, or they are completely stressed out over every small detail and taking it out on the poor service workers that man the airline counters and restaurants. Don't get me wrong, there are a fair share of idiots that work in these places, but there is also a great deal of very respectable and kind people as well.

I guess I like seeing how different people travel. I know quite a few that have such a hard time even making it through security, let alone getting on the plane without a single complaint. To me it is more of a game. How quickly can you get through security? How can you manipulate the system to get a good seat, or a free snack? Learning the quickest routes into and out of the same airports that EMC has me frequent on a yearly basis. I guess its all part of the job that isn't neccisarily in my "job description." I'm ok with walking through the "Expert Traveler" lines in different airports. The funny thing is, those are usually the slowest lines. :-)

It looks like my bachelor party is coming together! When I was younger I never thought I would have my bachelor party in Hatfield, WI. But honestly, it seems to be the place where I can enjoy myself the way I want, and also make sure all my friends have a great time as well. We'll have good food, a relaxed atmosphere, and plenty of bars to try and get thrown out of! For those of you that know him, I plan to use the phrase, "I KNOW DAVE RIENSTRA!!" plenty throughout the night. We'll see how far that gets me!

I guess there isn't a lot to write this week. Work has been my focus and big projects are starting so I haven't had as much time to enjoy all there is to offer recently. I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy a nice cold beer soon though. I guess that's enough motivation for now!


HO K Peace out!

He paid the price

This is how it went down. Brian forgot to post within the allotted time, and as such incurred the penalty. This time it was in the form of a "Sharp-Shooter" made famous by Brett "The Hitman" Heart. While Mother couldn't bear to watch her two sons wrestling, we did manage to rope young Trevor in to help us out. He was the referee, but he was more enamored with keeping Mother from seeing her boys duke it out. Brian was to tap out when he had enough, but as you can tell... the referee was detained with distractions. Funny.. that's how I remember the real WWF wrestling matches taking place. :-)

It might also be fair to inform everyone of Brian's "status" for this match. The night before he may or may not have drank the deadly combination of Patron and beer. Dehydration may have caused some minor cramping. :-)

Enjoy:






And FYI, he made the bet again. He has until Saturday at 11:59pm to post, or he will receive another "wrestling move."

This does not count as Kevin's post. :-)

Things I used to do:

I seem to be in a reflecting mood today. I keep having flashes of things I used to do way back when I was a kid pop into my head. I don't know if I'm in a nostalgic mood, or if its just my weird brain acting out because it is becoming more active with things related to weddings, spring / summer activities, and an increase in work. Regardless of the reason, the things that stick out are past events.

Its kind of weird to think about, but I've seen my brother once a week for the past 7 or 8 weeks. I think this kind of exposure to each other isn't a bad thing at all, but it definitely is not the norm. That is strictly an obvious statement given both of our schedules. He is busy on the weekends and most of the weeknights. I travel during the week and often have my own things to do on the weekends, and as such rarely have time to see him. But thanks to broomball fitting nicely into our schedules, we get a chance to have a little fun / conversation every week.

This might be the root of my flashbacks because I haven't seen him really do anything athletic or team oriented in a long time. The closest i've seen him to being "active" is when I body slam him at my parents house for Trevor's amusement. (Ok, for my amusement too) But the thing about it is that he fits into our team. He flies around and looks the same as the rest of us out on the ice. I remember when our dad would rent out the gym and would have Brian and I practice basketball. The two images kind of crossed my mind when we were playing our broomball game last Wednesday and these images were some of the latest in a long line of memories that keep circulating back.

I'm also wondering if going through mountains of old pictures for our slide show has anything to do with it. There were pictures of me and a lot of others with stuffed animals. Those stuffed animals were the reason that I had such an active imagination. They all had names, they all could talk, (Brian and I had our own separate voice for their conversations) and I still refuse to throw them out. There was also pictures of lake trips, or pictures of me in a pool. There was all kinds of sports pictures, including a really nice set where I had just teed off on a golf course. One picture was of me when i was somewhere between 10-12 years old. I had poor form of course, but i was wearing this blue fish-net trucker hat that had "Future" written in big letters on the front. The second picture was of me probably during my Sr. Year of College. Much better form, but still in the same generic pose. Its pictures like these, as well as the famous "Kevin / Rich Arms out" pose, that i'm looking forward to doing some cool tricks with in the slideshow merely for my own enjoyment. I'm really hoping that Kelsey will have similar picturs that will tie into the same "theme" and have a really fun little break from our big day to just sit back and smile at the way we were.

Quickly some of my favorite childhood memories:

-Playing basketball / golf with Dad and Grandpa.

-Trying to sneak past Krissy to get a drink of water downstairs because the water was better downstairs. :-)

-Christmas and making sure the presents were organized in everyones "spots" before the sun came up

-Playing Video games - specifically MarioKart or NHL94 thru 2001

- Car rides with the kleenex on a string out the window.

- Airplane rides with stuffed animals sticking out of our backpacks.

- Playing our games in the basement / outside. (Cops and Robbers, Bloody Murder, War and many others)

- Knee hockey!!!

-Rollerblade hockey with Bobby and Joe (more than a few times wrecking the garage door)

- Playing with Rudy

-Going to work with Dad and seeing the Koosh ball or where he keeps his Coke so they stay cold.

-Cabin trips with RC-ProAm and singing Billy Joel with Mom and Aunt "Barf"

-Thanksgivings

I'll stop here because I coul probably keep going all day. :-)


HO K Peace out.

Early bird gets worms.. or something

A blog post?? On a Tuesday?? What gives?

Eh... why not?

I'm resorting back to the "things I think" format.

I think the whole facebook "25 random things" note craze is really annoying. The biggest reason because it provides an avenue for the same reason why I hate MySpace: It allows people to start passing around surveys and other things that we normally classify as SPAM when we receive it in our in-boxes. Now i have to sift through all these notes as I strategically stalk.. i mean... catch up with old friends through facebook? Give me a break!

I think the Easter season is intrueging to me, especially Lent. I never really took Lent seriously because of all the things people would "Give up for Lent." I ran into too many people who were giving things up that had no relevance to Lent whatsoever. Recently I tried to carve my own personal stance on Lent and tried to avoid swearing whenever possible. I wrote down every time I would swear accidentially and keep track. In 40 days I would swear no more than 10 times, but as soon as Easter hit, I found myself needing the censor button from radio or TV. It is something I will always work on, but in Lent I guess I focus extra hard on it. This year I'm adding a special challenge. I'm going to see if it's Kevinly possible to not drink pop for 40 days. I will be using replacement fluids in abundance such as Gatorade and Propel, and of course, good old H2O, but for me, and the person I've become today, not drinking pop will be a big challenge. I'm looking forward to it!

I think I had a really good laugh today. Kelsey found the web-page with our broomball stats and standings on it. One stat stuck out to me. Our Goals Allowed number is 21. Our goals scored is 5. The next highest Goals Allowed number is 10. I'm thinking about cutting our Goalie. Seriously, what a mess he is.

I think upon reviewing my desire to avoid pop for Lent and as I sit here with my Mtn. Dew, I'm speculating that its going to be harder to not drink pop than to not drink beer for Lent. And that's saying something!

I think going to the White Bear YMCA was very interesting last night. A lot of memories from when I was very little. Also, couldn't recall the work out room being so SMALL! And HOT! The basketball gym got a new floor and it was pretty fantastic!


I think i'm excited to start putting the wedding slide show together! I know that there have been many wedding slide shows before ours, and I'd like to think that I've seen enough to avoid all the nuances, and thanks to Brian's software, I think I can do a few cool things to keep ours fresh and entertaining. By no means to I think it will be awesome, or the hit of the show.. but the mullet pictures alone will get good laughs!

Ok, gotta run... until next time!

Ho K Peace Out!

Just a follow up...

I did find the sheet music, and can now play the Joshua Radin version of Sesame Street. For those of you who did not catch the song in the episode of Scrubs, here it is. :-)