Plymouth Ice 2009

For the first time in four years I remembered about the Plymouth Ice Festival in time to attend! Melissa and I went out to the festival earlier today and got to see the sculptures, some of which were still being carved. This was the first time Melissa had ever been to an Ice Carving show, and she says she liked it vey much, although it was very cold out. For me, I think I was expecting a little more. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun and nice, but I think four years ago some of the sculptures were better.  In addition I think it was easier to see the detail in some of the sculptures four years ago due to the falling snow and the way the lights hit them at night. I will get the pictures I took up in the gallery later, as soon as I get the Plymouth Ice album re-organized and the pictures prepared. I hope I remember and have the time to go to the festival again next year.

Yep…It’s that cold

Well, I guess when it is colder here than it is in Antarctica I really need to question this whole “Global Warming” thing…

weather

Michcon Repair

Last week I got a letter in the mail from Michcon, which is my gas supplier, stating that they needed to come out and repair my gas meter and that i should call them at the listed number to arrange a time. I called them and set the time for today, but honestly I had forgotten about it. While I was on the phone with the person setting the appointment I asked what the problem was, to which she replied she didn’t know only that the meter had been flagged as having an issue.

Fast forward to today at about 10:30am. I am sitting at work when my phone rings and the caller ID shows a number I am not familliar with. I answer and it turns out to be the guy from Michcon. He says “As I am sure you are aware of, your meter was broken and I have just finished replacing all of the gears. This should allow the meter to read correctly and you will notice new starting numbers on your bill.” To which I replied, “Oh, was that the issue? Honestly we did not know as we have not used the heat yet this winter and that is all our gas is used for.” This got a few seconds of silience to which the repair guy then replies, “Oh. Well maybe I just did all that for nothing then. Your meter was flagged as broken because the meter reader noticed the numbers had not changed for a few months.”

Ahh…needless work. What makes this funnier is that when I was on the phone making the appointment I had told the woman that we had not used our heat yet, and as such where unaware of any problem with our gas. I wonder how may service calls could be avoided if they asked questions (or listened to information freely given) first?

Star Wars Jerseys

Seriously? How sweet are these? Star Wars sports jerseys featuring charters from the movies.  Like Vader’s football jersey:

Vader Jersey

Click for larger view

Not that I am a die hard Star Wars fan, or even a huge sports fan, but these are awesome. Boba Fett’s basketball jersey is pretty sweet too. The Assassins jersey can be seen below.

Click for larger view

Click for larger view

I found them through this

article which links to the Cargo Bay store that has a lot of different Star Wars jerseys; Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, and Football, all with Star Wars names and teams. Though thye would make awesome gifts, they are a little on the pricey side. For instance the Vader jersey shown here costs $110.00, but is most likely well worth it. The description from the Cargo Bay store for this jersey reads:

Be one of the first to own Darth Vader’s Sith Lord TIE Fighter team jersey! This long sleeve black Vader football jersey is made of heavy cotton and is part of the Drew Pearson’s Saga Collection. The jersey sports the number “77” in felt appliqué with red stitching and Vader’s name on the back in cotton panel with tackle twill letters. The sleeves contain two heavy cotton cut and sew white stripes as well as heavy cotton cut and sew elbow pads. The front of the jersey includes the number “77” in felt appliqué with red stitching, the Star Wars logo and woven team felt patch with embroidered team name.

Yeah, that’d be pretty sweet. Ok, maybe I’m just a dork, but still they are pretty sweet.

Stem Cell Research and Cord Blood

When Kylie was born Tiffany and I had the option to save her umbilical cord blood in an umbilical cord blood bank.

Umbilical cord blood – collected at birth – contains stem cells, which have the potential to become any kind of cell. Because they are an exact match to the person they are collected from, they are used to “reboot” immune systems after cancer treatment. Experimental treatments are also using stem cells to treat a range of inherited disorders, type-1 diabetes and brain injuries.

And while we discussed having this done, as we both thought it was a good idea, unfortunetly at the time we did not have the money. The possabilities of the uses of cord blood and the stem cells are numerous, and personally I am and have been a supporter of stem cell research, and here is a good example of why. Today I found this article which illistrates just one of the many possabilities for both cord blood and stem cells. The story is an amazing one of a childs second chance at life due to a cord blood transfusion.

Night Terrors

Tonight, for the first time I can remember, I went to a haunted house. Every year Wiard’s Orchard hosts Night Terrors, a collection of haunted houses and hayride. Tonight Melissa and I went and checked it out. It was pretty neat for the most part. Some of the attractions were pretty cool, and at least one was pretty stupid. The haunted Hay Ride was nice, and it made me realise that Wiard’s is a much bigger place than I realized. A lot of work was clearly put into all of these haunted attractions, and even though I do not scare or startle easy, it was still a lot of fun. I am not sure if I would do it again though, as it was a little on the pricey side. In any event it was a pretty fun night.

Jackie and Russel’s Wedding Day

First off, we would like to say congratulations to Jackie and Russel on getting married and we wish them happiness and love for the rest of their lives together.

That said, I must admit this was one wedding I will never forget. Everything started out fine yesterday, the day of the rehearsal, and even this morning started out well. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel, nothing huge, just the free continental breakfast, bagels and cereal, things like that. Then we all got dressed, Kylie looked so pretty in her dress that Mimi made, and we headed off to the cabin to prepare for a 12pm wedding.

When we got there around 11am we found out that the photographer had not yet arrived. Not to worry though as she was on her way and had only gotten slightly lost. The minister arrived a few minutes later and they took the opportunity to handle the necessary paperwork, and then things started to go down hill. By 11:30 we still had no word from the photographer, and the minister was pushing to start the ceremony…30 minutes early. This pattern went on, every 10 minutes or so he would suggest we start the ceremony and we would have to tell him it wasn’t scheduled until noon and we were waiting for the photographer. By 12:30 we had not yet seen the photographer and no one could get a hold of her, in addition the minister had gotten on everyone’s nerves. As it turns out he had scheduled another wedding at a location almost 2 hours away and he was supposed to be there at 1:30. Not to bright considering this ceremony was supposed to start at noon and be at least 30 minutes.

By 12:40 the minister had confronted the bride and made her cry! Not a bright idea under any circumstances. Thankfully the groom was not made aware of this as that could have spark a huge fire. The father of the bride ended up telling the minister to leave “presently” and I escorted him off the property, with a few kind suggestions.

By 2pm the minister was gone and we still had no word from the photographer. Everyone was calmed and relaxed again, which didn’t take long after the minister left as he stressed everyone out and caused a lot of problems. So the decision was made that the ceremony would be read by Russel’s cousin Tim and Tiffany and I would handle the photography. Luckily Paul and I both have very good digital cameras so between me using mine and Tiffany using Paul’s we had taken well over 1000 pictures.

In the end the wedding was even better than it was going to be originally as it was all handled by friends and family. From the ceremony to the pictures and even the food, people who knew and loved the couple all pitched in and took care of everything. I have to say it was one of the most beautiful, and happiest ceremonies I have ever been too.

Once again, congratulations to Jackie and Russel!

Wedding Rehersal

Today Kylie, Tiffany and I drove out to Mecosta, MI to get ready for Jackie and Russel’s wedding tomorrow. Kylie is the flower girl so we needed to go to todays rehersal. They are having the wedding at Russel’s Uncle’s cabin, a nice little place out in the country sitting on a lake. We didn’t have any trouble finding our hotel in Mount Pleasant and were able to meet up with the groom and some of the wedding party at the hotel. We then all drove out to the cabin and had the rehersal and lunch. I personally thought the rehersal was a little rushed, but the preist had another engagment to attend and the ceromy looks like it is going to be short and simple. Everyone loved Kylie and she had fun running around with David, the little boy who is going to be the ring baerer. A number of people commented to us on how polite Kylie is, and what an extensive vocabulary she has. We are so proud of her! After the rehersal we all hung out and talked, ate and drank, and around 8pm we headed back to the hotel so Kylie could get some sleep. She didn’t have a nap today and we want to make sure she has plenty of sleep for tomorrow, no one wants to have a cranky flower girl.

Portrait Day

Today we went to Sears Portrait Studio to have Kylie’s third year birthday pictures and the family portrait taken. In addition to this being a yearly tradition it is also one of two times that we go to the studio each year to have pictures of Kylie taken, the other time being Christmas. This was the first time that I was not happy with the way the sitting went. It started off bad when the photographer attempted to introduce himself to Kylie by basically running up to her and jumping down into her face. What adult charges at a strange three year old child? That was the beginning of the end for this photo shoot. The photographer had no artistic opinion or pose ideas and Tiffany and I found our selves trying to suggest poses that were done in the past. In addition he seemed to have no idea of what color backdrops to use in conjunction with the outfits that Kylie was wearing. On top of this he even spoke negatively of his own company saying that other locations, in particular the Allen Park store, was “a dump that” he “would never work at.” We were so displeased with this particular photographer’s work, ethics, and ability that for the first ime we had to bring it up with his supervisor. The supervisor look at the pictures already taken and took the time to re-shoot the sitting and get us some good shots and poses, in addition he was able to get on Kylie’s good side and get her to smile. We are hoping the Christmas sitting goes better as we are planning on giving Sears another chance and not letting this one bad experience turn us to another studio.

First After-work Workout

Today was my first day going to Bally’s after work, and I have to say I think I like going in the mornings better. I feel like I didn’t get as good of a workout this afternoon as I did in the morning. The gym is also less crowded in the morning, and I seem to like that more as well. I didn’t have any trouble getting to use the equipment I wanted or anything like that, I just feel like my morning workout was better. I will try to arrange my schedule so I can go more in the morning.