I know... Two in a row!

Who watched 24 on Monday? Did you almost pee your pants when Cloey ended the show the way she did? I was literally rolling on the floor laughing! To be honest, 24 is getting bad.... BUT I STILL LOVE IT!

Let me know what you thought of cloey the super hero

Chris

I long for the love of Hubka!
You better still love me Hubka! I let you sleep on bottom for two years! That should account for something. Who knows though, you probably have moved on to other fat men now that you work at Quiznos.

I hope that everyone has been doing well. Things in Menahga (northern minnesota) have been great. I went to "Grand March" two weekends ago at the local High School... 12 minutes long! No lie, I live in the sticks!

If you are looking for some fun activities this summer I dare you to come up to the Menahga area for a time like you have never had before. I PROMISE. What other location can you visit that in one day you can do all of the following...

1. Visit a town called Nimrod
2. Attend a pig race
3. view a 35 foot statue of St. Urho (who can tell me about St. Urho.... Steve? come on history buff!)
4. Go through a drive through where you see a sign that says (honk your horn when ready to order)
5. Go to a church where Carharts are the dress pants of choice
6. Attend "Messy Bessy"

Allow me to explain Messy Bessy. The block off a street and paint a drid of 3x3 squares. The grid has a fence around it, also surrounded by bleachers. Each square is numbered. You buy squares for 5.00 a piece. At noon the real fun begins. They lead a cow into the square and then you wait............................. What ever square "Bessy" craps in wins the money. Unbelievable. You have to see it to believe it. hundreds of people come to watch this.

Things are good with Kate and I. Yet another one of our dogs died. We now have a 11 week old Chocolate lab named Taylor. Hopefully she makes it more than 6 months (that is the record to date).

Seriously though, come up and visit us. We got a great place on the lake. See those of you making the trip out to Montana in May! I expect a free sub Steve!

Chris

I'm not ready to comment on the rousing blogs of late, but I do have a fun game I'd like to play since I just now noticed something very interesting. I had taken down notes at work to practice making sandwiches at home in my imagination (I got tired of training myself to tie my apron behind my back instead of in front of me and then turning it back around from cape-mode to the way we're "supposed" to wear it), and so I just looked at the bottom of these note-pad sheets, and so all you have to do is Google this thing to see what it is, but the drug product being advertised on my Quizno's recipe sheets is called "Cenestin". See if you find that funny when you know what that is. Okay, abridged blogs here we go. What the crap happened to April, anyways? I've been busy trying to make end's meat (I seriously for a good portion of my life thought that's what it was, making a meat that had something to do with an animal's end, not having any relationship to rope or rope-making in my family [we prefered rubber bands and staples]). Who else is feeling like a Turkey-Bacon Guacomole or a Steakhouse Beef Dip right now? I know I am. Okay, I'm done, and I can't say I love you all. That's just cruel to get your hopes up like that just to find out that you're one of those people that I don't love, like those people who randomly happen upon our blog. I don't love them (unless they are/seem incredibly like Natalie Portman). Don't worry. I do love some of you. Actually, on second thought, worry. I do love some of you.

Well, I am going to break the pattern of recent blogs. I'm not engaged. But I am very excited for those who are and I am happy that we have this blog to post such announcements. Sincere congratulations have been given in person and on the phone, but here are my public congratulations to both Adam/Naomi, and Josh/Becca.

The reason I am posting is to let you all know that I posted the link to all of our addresses again, after the request from Josh for access to more contact information. It is down on the right with the links to personal blogs. If you have an e-mail address or updated home address you would like me to add or change, either post it here or e-mail it to me and I will update it. Thanks!

Is there a place where our current emails are posted? I knew Lynnea had that address section even though i couldn't find it...but did that include our emails? Crown.edu is done for me so let's give jmann@salemalliance.org a shot and use that for a while... ya'll should put your new ones on here...

My apologies for not doing the exciting phone call the night of the engagement to all ya'll...it took two and a half weeks to call my aunts and uncles...i haven't done well with that...my sincere apologies

Hellow fello Crown graduates! Well...big news in my life that I'm excited to include all of you on. After failing miserably to call everyone with this news I've resorted to the blog...wakefield style :) I'm betrothed to a certain Miss Becca Bates and we will cleave on the twenty-fourth of June, two thousand and five in salem oregon, at salem alliance church, leading to an old fashioned american indian tradition of consummating in a tent after which someone will check the sheets to make the deal has been done. I'm excited to take this step...I really am. I'm disappointed that most likely I'll be taking it without most of you. Ya'll are my family and I wish in that regard this wasn't so soon and so far away. But...you are all invited, of course, AND, for those who'll be attending Miller's nuptials can maybe stick around an extra day and enjoy a 'minnesota reception' for becca and myself at my parental's house on that sunday afternoon from like 2-4. So...crazy huh...never imagined being here...and I'm being honest there...God is good and I look forward to what no doubt will be a blessed lesson in Christ's love for the church 101.

Life is still great out here...I wish I was living in China but I believe that for now God has called me to plant seeds in the minds and hearts of 11-14 year olds. Apparantly I still have some growing up to do? Whatever...it's been good for my immature spirituality to see how middle school ministry in salem oregon fits in with what God is doing in the world...took me a WHILE, but I'm there...

I miss you all dearly and am so proud of the current state of this band of brothers and sisters...keep up the good work : )

Well I know that I never post on this thing but that is because my life really doesn't have the major twists and turns that a day at Quiznos holds. I don't have twins to poop on my face. I thought about driving downtown to embrace the free Ben and Jerry's but it just didn't end up happening. Even now the main reason I am posting is not because I am moving to a new apartment this afternoon or even because I have some funny story about my friends cussing during Bible study. No, the reason that I am blogging is much larger and grander than that. I come to this blog on behalf of one Adam Wakefield. Adam is challenged in a number of areas and technology is one of them. By his senior year of college he was still unable to get his desktop computer plugged in and set up. Now he can't remember how to log on to here to write an entry. He asked me to share this news with you:

Adam has decided to spend the next year training to race a dogsled in the iditarod. He is looking for dogs right now so if you know where he could find a good husky give him a call.

Oh yeah, he also wanted me to say that as of yesterday he is engaged. I think he said that because of that he is passing on the iditarod. He couldn't find any good huskies and he would rather just get married to a good woman and never run the iditarod. Go figure.

So, nobody's wanting to state the obvious, so I'll just have to go ahead and say it: Dr. Benedict, and Pope Benedict XVI are the same person! Same face, same connection to high-ranking posts within Christendom - there can be no doubt! We were all living in the presence of a pope-to be, and we didn't even know it. I just wish Dr. B had been more open to us about his German heritage or membeship in the Catholic Church. I don't know how he schedules all this corination stuff all at the end of semester. Isn't he supposed to be doing the final chapel of the year, or whatever? It's good to know that our Catholic heritage on the miracle campus was more than just heritage. Enough fun with Dr. B.
I'm hoping to relate the painful and slow process of writing this blog, but that will be apparent in its shortness and simplicity. Today I had my first work-related accident, slicing two of my fingers quite deeply on a tomato cutter. It makes typing an aggrivating experience. (Pause for a sigh of relief). And for those of you not keeping up with the commenting section of our blogger, you should know that I have been defended from the assaults of unknown rogues by Gabe, Duerk, and Lynnea (Brad, I don't consider your comment helpful - informative, but not helpful). Oh, and maybe this is the first of a long line of blogs that are a bit more abbriviated - what Kyle likes to call an "abridged" blog. Where the unabridged version will go, I have yet to decide. Probably into the empty space that sits above my neck - the very thing that allowed my fingers to push hard and deep against a tomato slicer's blades. Lynnea, if there were a Ben and Jerry's within a hundered miles of here, I might have tried for the free day, but all I've got is Cold Stone (kind of like saying all I've got is Natalie Portman, or I only work at Quizno's). And my last thought: With an added "n", blog becomes blong, which will solve all kinds of problems in the world of "gangsta" rap when trying to rhymn something with... wrong. Mmmmmhmmm. Solves a lot of my issues. Gotta go. Blogging is painful but worth it. You should keep that in mind. Injured people are writing blogs while you just enjoy the fruits of their labor. Bring on the scary, nearly-anonymous comments.

It is the annual Free ice cream day at all Ben and Jerry's locations today! Don't miss it like I did last year. I'm still dealing with the regret.

In other news, I got all of my info about Oxford in the mail today, and I thought, "Wow. This is real. I guess I'm really going to Oxford." And now I am scared out of my mind. I don't know how to fly to England, take a train to Oxford, find my room, etc. all by myself! I just keep picturing myself wandering the streets of England, dragging huge suitcases behind me. I guess it will just be a huge learning experience. I hate those. Nevertheless, I am still very excited, it is just all of the details that are overwhelming me right now. If only I could just transport myself from my house here to my room at Oxford with no planes, buses, trains, etc. Any ideas?

Duerkop, you win. That was maybe the greatest blog I have ever read. Elimidate has all those cartoon things, so you were close anyways. Duerk the lady's man! Oh yeah. And if you have these girls' numbers, and they're thinking of the west coast as a future home, I'd really only like to meet the Ph.D. because cracks ribs and not ready for the real world both sound like a little more than I could handle. Let me just follow you up, Duerk.
Pet owners are irrational. Why would you keep another non-human being alive? In past ages, it was for food, clothing, hunting, and prestige (which was, again, because they provided food, clothing, ect.). No clear-headed Roman citizen would have been interested in companionship from an animal. And I just heard a story about a high school senior who thinks that ducks make the best pets. What is the world coming to? And cat owners are the worst because they have the first creature to openly seek the destruction of mankind without any natural opposition from our race. At least a dog is stupid enough to think that humans are easy to love and obey.
I don't get the works for a democrat thing. Fight those feelings of inferiority by asking her out. Always works for me. At least, I think it will.
Lynnea, you have proved me to be very gender-centered in my thinking since I assumed the Zoloft character was a guy (I think it was the short hair stub and the way he bounces). In reality, the character is twice as likely to be a girl than a guy. I hope that doesn't make you ladies sad. At least you don't look like the Zoloft girl/guy/thing. Or if you think you do, then I let me remind you how often I've said that the Zoloftian is very cute, even attractive, and hopefully you've forgotten about all the stuff I just wrote because you're depressed anyway, and I'm not helping.
A cartoon character. Hmmmm. At first, after reading Gabe's post, I thought I would be a combination of Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and the nerdy boy that hangs out with the dog from Rocky and Bulwinkle. Then I remembered that cartoon characters can't be mixed since it's a pure art form. So, I think maybe my best parallel is Hong Kong Phooey. Slightly politically incorrect (at once offensive to Asians and African Americans since he is supposed to sound like... a black guy, I guess), always messing everything up while thinking he's saving the day, drives a little car, wears something black on his head, terrible theme music, cat for a sidekick (this actually falls in the politically incorrect catergory and not the similar category because it is at once offensive to cat lovers and sidekicks)... a lot of things just line up for me right now. And Gabe, you shouldn't be Garfield, you should be Heathcliff, if you ever watched that show. Now that was a fun cat to watch. But, if you know Heathcliff, you must remember Riff Raff, and that's who I wanted to emulate because he always had the lady cat from the music store. Oh, and I was wondering if anybody remembers a cartoon on Nickleodeon that had a small group of kids searching for this lost treasure thing with this locket, flying around in a giant golden mechanical eagle (maybe I dreamed this one up, but I always thought the Wizard of Oz sequal was just my imagination until this year when it was confirmed to be a real movie). If you know what I'm talking about, let me know, otherwise I might be losing my mind. I mean, at least I didn't start talking about how I used to watch Rainbow Bright or something like that. I still think the old Tom and Jerry is my favorite. Maybe it's just because the cat is always being injured in a way that should kill him, or maybe it's because I always like to root for the underdog. Whatever. Inspector Gadget. There was some good afternoon cartooning. I had a crush on Penny from day one. What was the dog's name? Chief Quimby? Is that right? Dr. Claw (ironically similar to Dr. Caston... very similar letters in the last word, hmmm?). Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum, Dum Dum, Dum Dum; Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum- Dum Dum (dum dum). Ohhh yeah. That was fun. And now all I got in my head is Gobots and GI Joe. And Mask! My childhood is flooding back to me. Gross! It was the 80's! At once the best and worst decade of American history. I was born (so were you, with great probability, unless you're Scott or my brother). But then you had Iran-Contra and the Challenger blowing up.
Enough reminicing. I need to talk about what's happening now! I had a Kyle-born opportunity to ask a beautiful blonde girl out today, and I missed it because I am an idiot. I was manning my cash register, as always (I've been working a lot and that's my excuse for not blogging... no wait, that's your excuse. I don't want to steal your excuse. I'll come up with my own. Here we go: I'm pregnant. There, now everybody knows. And now I fit in with the girls at work so much better. Anyway, I worked seven hours yesterday, six today, six out of seven days last week... I'm a working man, or maybe I'm just working, whatever), when this stunning blonde girl was standing right in front of me. We had a few precious seconds, and she had some tennis thing on her sweatshirt, so I asked if she played. Her eyes lit up, and we batting a few sentences back and forth. Then off she went to fill up her drink, and I was so ready to just ask her if she wanted to play some tennis sometime (on a day that isn't snowy, like this morning was). Then, for some unknown reason, I felt that I should take the time while she was getting her beverage to grab another pair of gloves to put in my apron (yes, I work with women, I wear an apron all day, and the worst thing is, I can't even tie it behind my back - moron!), and I grabbed the gloves and turned around just in time to see her walking out the door. I won't be here very much longer, but just the thought of putting myself out there for a very nice young lady that happens through "my" door.... that sentence kinda fell apart. Anyway, so that was my stupid moment of the day. Yesterday my stupid moments included typing an extra 1 on the register, giving me a $100 overcharge, but with that taken into account, for six hours of taking people's money, I was only off by 54 cents, 41 of which I could account for in a confusing bout with two high school girls who were unhappy with me for thinking they had more expensive sandwiches than they had and then not giving them some discount... better than the guy who handed me a cell phone so I could type in a credit card number on a rather large order. I don't even know if I am allowed to do that, but whatever. Oh, that's what I wanted to tell you. Gabe, don't be mad, but this blog is turning PG-13 for a short while so I can retell this story with maximum impact. These two guys were in today, very loud and talkative, and I was ringing them up, of course, when the guy that was paying found out it was three bucks more than he thought it would be, so he looked at me when I explained why and he said "You son of a bitch!", just shaking his head and handing me his money. I actually laughed a lot, because it was obviously meant as a joke... or maybe I'm just now realizing that I made another enemy today. Crap.
Oh, and in the category of big news, it is as official as these things get: I am moving to Portland, Oregon (technically Vancouver, Washington, but how many of you knew it was nearly the same place? that's what I thought) to live with my brother and see what the west coast is like. Duerkop realized I am slowly moving farther and farther away from him, but really I'm just trying to get away from you. I just never had the guts to say so until now. Oh, and one final thing: The Notebook - didn't like it. I'm already in trouble with my roomate's fiance about the whole thing. Still love Spanglish, though. And 24's a rocking, so don't come a somethingeringnevermind. And why has nobody commented about good ol' JP dying on us last week? I know Brad was wanting to make a comment about Johnny Cockran dying, but the rest of us can at least relate to a religious Polish guy named Carol kicking the bucket (compared to a souther-California lawyer). And now don't you wish you had not checked the blog? That'll teach you.

Lynnea's Blog made me think about being a cartoon character. If you were a cartoon which cartoon would you be? Personally I would be Garfield. Why? Why Not! Please let me know who you would be.

In other news. Life is still going good with the girls. They are rolling over now and sitting up pretty good. They are also still spitting up which is never fun, but they are more then worth it. A big change for me is that I am taking over more responsibility at my church in the youth group. I have not worked with the youth at all, but we are switching things around and I am going to now. That is all from this crazy cat. Garfield Out!

Hello, friends, I am in good old West Virginia. On Sunday, talking to Matt before I left, he said that the weather here was great: sunny and in the 80s. I was excited because in Minnesota it has been rainy and cold for the last several days and it was really starting to get old. So flew out here last night and now, you guessed it, it is cold and cloudy in West Virginia. I told Krista that I feel like one of those cartoon characters with the raincloud hanging over his or her head everywhere they go. I brought the bad weather with me. Krista said it’s more like that commercial with the bouncing Zoloft ball with a cloud over it’s (I am assuming it is genderless) head. I don’t think I really like being compared to a character in a commercial for anti-depressants, I would rather be a colorful cartoon character. I suppose it’s all hypothetical anyway and doesn’t really matter. That’s all for now.

More local news: Stephen will be in Montana April today until the end of May, and he/I would love to see everyone in the area, meaning Robbie. Robbie, I've only seen your car today, and that's sad because we live together, not like most male couples in the Bay area, but like a lot of guys in the Bronx, like on Goodwill Hunting (wait, that was in Boston, but whatever). Of course, I have responsibilities at Quizno's, but not many, and not many that could keep me from seeing whoever's in the area (again, pretty much just meaning Robbie, unless we expand the area to include Oregon, in which case, Josh is included, but who knows if he reads this, and he probably won't stop by for a visit, so whatever). I really want to see you, guy, roommate, I mean. So if anybody's seen Robbie, pass along this message: "Sorry about the kitchen mess. I cooked some great asparagus (I'm in a weird sort of rhymning mood, if you hadn't noticed. Sorry). Your clothes on top of the dryer smell a little stale. Are you in jail? Did we pay this month's rent? Is it already the end of Lent? Sorry I ditched out on the movie last night. See you soon. Kurbis always used to say... nevermind." Okay, that was just stupid, but maybe Kyle will find that funny, and Adam if he still reads this. So, like I said, anybody can come visit me anytime. Bye all.

So Steve asked me why I haven’t posted in a while and I told him that my life hasn’t exactly been blog-worthy lately. My daily activities don’t really go much beyond studying, sleeping, and selling shoes. Then I realized that today I did a very exciting thing: I went skateboarding! Yes, that’s right, can’t you just picture it now? Just me and a bunch of fifteen-year-old boys rolling around a skate park. A friend of mine from work called and asked me to hang out with her and her two kids this afternoon, they were going skateboarding and I thought, "I’ve never done that before, why not try it?" So we went to 3rd Lair, an indoor/outdoor skateboard park in Golden Valley for the day. She and I were the only females in the entire park (I had no idea skateboarding was such a gender-biased sport!) and the only two over the age of 16. There weren’t even any other parents there watching, so of course, my hyper-sensitive lifeguard instincts kicked in and I spent most of the time watching for injuries to be tended to or prevented. I wonder if I will ever be able to enjoy myself in a location of leisure without feeling responsible for the safety of everyone there. Anyway, in the end my skateboarding skills proved lacking and I ended up spending most of the time trying to climb out of the empty swimming pool I was skating in (it looked like the skateboard ramp equivalent to a bunny hill, but it turned out to be more like a black diamond). No broken bones, successful enough for me.

So, wait, now that I have a job, and I just need you guys to clear this up for me, am I too cool to blog? I'm just wondering since everybody seems to be there pretty much, and if it was a job thing or what because I can go along with that. No, sweet, whatever, eh? I get the equation. For whatever reason, people just get too cool to drop a "hey" or a "I won't tell you I'm gonna blog a lot without really blogging a lot". No, I'm there. Maybe I should just sign off right now. Blogging, what is that? My 19-hour weeks are way to packed for blogging. I can't imagine what a forty or more hour week would do to me, except maybe get me to be a voyeur on our blogger and keep my strange little life to myself. Great. I have no stories anyway. Nothing about bread loaves being taller than my coworkers or high school customers showing more cleavage than a Ms. Hawaiian Tropics contest or finding out another girl has five children and is younger than us... no, no stories. Nothing. I'm tired of this one-sided relationship. I'm sure you are, too. I'll just wait until somebody wants to be a part of this so that I have something to be a part of as well. How about that? Sorry for raining on the parade, doing exactly what Lynnea says I'm not allowed to do, but I couldn't tell you two things sideways about what's going on with anybody else except Kyle's a little sacreligious, Brad's a little brief, Duerk's a little into mullets or Chicago newspapers, and Anne is a little good at posting blogs where she doesn't want them to go! Whatever, I have a 24 marathon to get at. Lynnea, let the scolding begin.