A Blog About Blogs

It's my wonderful wife's birthday! Harass Tell her Happy Birthday if you know her! Love ya, babe!

On account of the fact that it's Saturday, and because my laptop battery is about to die, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I really just wanted to let you know that I was able to check another goal off of my 111 in 2011: blog at least 25 times (Goal 13)! The 25th blog of the year came on Wednesday, and you can check it out here if you missed it!

My Second Draft

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

Last night, something happened that I've been looking forward to for a long time: the NFL draft. Yeah, I'm one of those guys. I think this is the part where I should probably apologize, but I won't. I can't help but love football, and I have my dad to thank for that. 

Thus, I spent my evening being completely unproductive (when I could've been writing something much more entertaining for you on here), waiting for my favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs, to make their pick. 

This, however, will not be a post about the NFL Draft, so breathe a sigh of relief. 

I know my wife is.

Instead, I wanted to post today about a different kind of draft. A second draft, in fact. Of what, though? What is there to redo in life (besides everything)? Personally, I believe a little revision every now and then does the heart good. Whether that's revising a paper for a class (which I used to be fanatical about) or revising what's for dinner, change isn't always a bad thing...

It's Ten Days Away!

Oatmeal and coffee are oddly comforting at 4 AM...

Today is the 28th of April. Thursday, to be exact. Unless you're on Jupiter, in which case, I'm really just not sure. Either way, though, May 8th is fast approaching. And you and I both know what that means...

Oh. You don't?

You gonna be in trooouble...

Let me go ahead and help you out here. Remember that lady who did the whole "giving birth" number for you and then proceeded to love you from that day forward, regardless of circumstance or happenstance? Oh, yeah. Her. That'd be your mother, in case you missed it.

Actually, this would be MY mom, not yours. Unless you're one of my sisters, I guess.

Don't have a mother, you say? Then you're either a liar or one of those people from Jupiter I was talking about earlier, because the rest of us humans have mothers, whether we like them or not. It's just the way things work around here...

Bigger is Better, Especially if it's Free

The last few mornings, I've really enjoyed listening to the birds outside. Man, I'm getting old real fast.

Americans are funny people. I mean, not to say that people from other countries aren't funny - because they definitely are (and maybe I'll share some stories about this in the future) - but Americans are just especially peculiar. We like things the way they are, and if someone tries to fix things, change things, or even suggest that we might be wrong in the way we do something, we throw a fit, call a lawyer, or vote someone out of office. I happen to be one of those funny Americans...

I'm a Terrible Christian

I'm sorry, but there's no way in a million lifetimes that I can follow up yesterday's blog post. Did you miss it? Check it out here. And if you were wondering, I DID surprise Kalyn.

A Quick Note: I'm pretty sure today's post was partially inspired by something I read yesterday from Jamie, the Very Worst Missionary. She's funny, honest, and has a much cooler blog than my own. You can (and should) check it out here. Do it.

____________________________________________________________

I'm going to jump right in. I've been thinking all morning of a way to sugarcoat this, and it just ain't happening. So here's the scoop: I suck, suck, suck at being a Christian. This becomes more evident to me every day that I live, and especially every day that I attend a Christian college. Here's my (mostly satirical, somewhat serious) reasoning for the conclusion I've drawn:

1. I was not born in a pew, which I hear is major qualification #1 for being a radical Christian. Heck, I don't remember seeing a church until I was 10, and even then, I just went there to play games.
2. I sang a song about David and Goliath around that same age for some choir thing in school. As I sang, I always secretly wished that Goliath had won so that I could be one of his descendants and be at least 10 feet tall.
3. I attend a Christian college now, but until my junior year of high school (I would've been about 17 for anyone counting), I didn't know such a thing existed. And at the ripe, young age of 21, I'm still not really sure what a "Christian college" is. Forgive me, MCC. Forgive me.

Tough stuff, eh? I mean, really, I'll need to probably work the rest of my life to right these wrongs. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of my "real" failures at being a Christian. I suppose, though, that I should give you a little insight into just how unqualified I am. And when I say this, I'm being completely and totally honest. Cross my fingers, hope to die, and all that bizarre stuff we said as children when we really meant something...

Three Birds, One Stone

Disclaimer: I originally wrote this up on Easter, hence the Easter references. Enjoy!

Happy Easter! If ever there were a day to "start over" in life, it's today. After all, that Jesus guy up and walked his dead self out of his grave some 2000 years ago - a pretty big deal if you ask me. 

See that little quip up there? It's actually relevant today. Or it's supposed to be, anyway. We'll see if it is or not by the end of this post.

So today is Easter. I contemplated posting some tangential nonsense what Easter is actually about. However, I have a feeling that you'll be hearing plenty about that in the next 24 hours or so. Let me give you a little hint, though: it has nothing to do with those bright, colorful, delicious little chicks made out of sugar. You know what I'm talkin' about...

So instead of talking about the real meaning of Easter (Peeps, obviously), I'm going to talk about something mostly unrelated. I hope you'll forgive me. To make it up to you, I'd like to introduce you to something that I rather enjoy. This "something" is a list I've been (unofficially) keeping for about a year now. Let me just give you the list and see if you know what it's about...

A Week of Achievement

It's Easter weekend and we decided to protest traveling home, because we're college students and that's what we do when gas is almost $4. Turns out the family just came to us instead. Gotta love 'em!

Whew. That flurry of Spring Break posts has worn me out. Here's a quick recap, in case you missed one of the posts over the last month: 

• 11-of-111-goal: Goal 101
• A Much Belated Spring Break Post (And a Goal Accomplished!) 
• Nacrolepsy, Tetrazzini, and Farm and Fleet, Oh My! - Pt. 1 
•  Nacrolepsy, Tetrazzini, and Farm and Fleet, Oh My! - Pt. 2
•  Waka-What?
• Indiana: The home of invisible towns, Starbucks, and the Colts 
• A Little More Indiana(polis) 
• Question: What Time is it There? 
• Missouri Wasn't Misery 

Missouri Wasn't Misery

I'm pretty sure a combination of this thunderstorm and my medicine is the reason I'm up at 5 AM on a day we have no school. Not cool, body. Not cool at all.

So here we are. Finally. My last post about Spring Break. Which is fitting, seeing as how I'm enjoying my first spring storm. I know you're sad, and I'm a little teary-eyed too, knowing that this series of posts is just about finished. I promise we can make it through, though. Right? Righty-o.

In my last post, I wrote about visiting the Crowdus family, which was beyond awesome. We were so happy to finally meet them and we really enjoyed their love, hospitality, and wonderful company as we spent time at their house. As always, though, we had to say goodbye. If we have any say in it, though, this won't be the last time we see them!

Our next destination seemed like it should be a lot further away than it was, and the whole geography thing is still throwing me for a loop on this one, but we were meeting up with our friend Natalie, who worked with us at THOGL (and who authors a blog that is much cooler than my own), and currently resides in St. Louis. I've only actually been to St. Louis once, and that was for some missions work a few years ago. Actually, it was only a day. Or rather, a few hours. It was like "missions practice." Whatever that is...

Question: What Time is it There?

Sunday is Easter, in case you missed it. Just a friendly heads up!

When we last left off in this Spring Break extravaganza, we were still in Indiana. Well, folks, I am here to tell you that we are finally getting out of there! I mean, not that I don't love it. There's just only so much time you can spend in a state that doesn't cheer for the Chiefs.

After having a great time with the Fowlers (their hospitality and love toward us was unbelievable), we set off on the next leg of our adventure. Our first stop would be in Morganfield, Kentucky to meet up with the Yaugers, another family from THOGL who we met while we were over there this past summer. We decided to meet up at a barbecue restaurant in Morganfield, which I was thrilled about - even if it wasn't KC barbecue...

A Little More Indiana(polis)

Am I the only one who has noticed that I've made posting about Spring Break about 10 times as long as Spring Break actually was?

When we last left off on this marathon of a road trip, we were in Indianapolis, hanging out with Kelsey's sister, Tracy. Did I mention that I love Indy? Because I do. In fact, I loved it so much that I'm going to write about it again... sort of.

After spending the night with Tracy, we got up the next morning, packed up once more (we were professionals by this point), and headed to our next destination: the Fowlers! The Fowlers live in a town just outside of Indianapolis, so we only sort of left the city, which was fine by me. Somehow, though, I think I still managed to sleep part of the way there. Maybe I should get that checked out...

A Break from Spring Break

This should be short and sweet, mostly because I have 2 tests today and a major paper due Monday...

As you can see from the title of this blog post, I want to take a quick break from Spring Break. I promise I will continue to post about it in the very near future. For now, though, I want to share an experience with you that I had yesterday.

Nothing incredibly out of the ordinary truly happened yesterday. Honestly, it probably won't be a day that I remember outside of this blog post. However, that is part of the reason I want to tell you about part of it...

Indiana: The home of invisible towns, Starbucks, and the Colts

I'm not gonna lie. I had to e-mail myself a copy of our Spring Break itinerary from Kalyn's computer to help me with this blog post...

When we last left off on this ridiculous trip, we were in Wakarusa, Indiana, spending time with some of Kalyn's family. Check out the previous post if you missed it to get filled in on Waka-Waka Land (as I affectionately refer to it).

We had a great time with Kalyn's family and their hospitality was amazing. Hopefully we'll get to see them again soon. However, we did eventually have to leave. We had a lot of people to see, and unfortunately, Spring Break was only a week long. Our next stop?

Wabash/Somerset/La Fontaine, IN. 

And I thought Wakarusa was small...

W/S/LF, Indiana is, well... Let's just say you're not going to find it if you look for it. Literally. Even in the 21st century, some towns aren't "on the map." If you check it out on Google Maps, you'll actually be able to find Wabash, and if you're lucky, you'll find La Fontaine, too. Somerset, though? Non-existent. 

And therein lies our problem. The next family we were supposed to visit claimed to live in Somerset. I'm still not sure if the town exists, and I've been there! I mean, I really would've taken a picture of it, but what's the use in photographing an invisible town?

Eventually, though, we figured out how to trick Google Maps into giving us directions to this invisible town. We actually missed it the first time we drove through. No joke. However, we eventually made it there, and the people we saw more than made up for the invisible town that they live in...

Waka-What?

I realized that we only have 4 weeks of school left last night. My motivation level dropped about 1007%.

When we last left off in our epic Spring Break journey, typical road trip chaos had ensued. Missed that post? Check it out here. Thankfully, though, we finally made it to Wakarusa, Indiana, home of none other than Aunt Kelly, Uncle Billy, and Isaac.

No seriously. I really meant "none other." There's literally no one else there.

So maybe I'm being a bit facetious. That's beside the point. Aunt Kelly and Uncle Billy are relatives of Kalyn that she is very close to and loves very much. Unfortunately, they live in a town with a population of 3 that is $200 worth of gas away from us. Thankfully, though, they will be moving back to Kansas soon. Until then, though, Wakarusa is the place to be (5 points to anyone who caught that ridiculous TV show reference)...

Nacrolepsy, Tetrazzini, and Farm and Fleet, Oh My! - Pt. 2

It's a great day. I'd say about 126% of the reason for that is because it's Friday.

Road trips are always interesting. There's always something that gets in the way of plans unfolding just the way you envisioned them. Whether it's spontaneous combustion, a pack of untamed baboons, or an unexpected stop at Nostalgia Ville, something always interrupts road trip plans. Thankfully, none of these things happened during our Spring Break journey, though I'd love to stop by Nostalgia Ville again sometime soon.

If you squint, you can see Kalyn being really cool in this picture.

When I last wrote about our Spring Break, we had made it Des Moines (again, prounounced "Dess Moy-ness") to spend time with Kelsey's family. We arrived Saturday in the early afternoon and planned to stay the night and leave the next day. We had a very relaxing time with the Taylors as we vegged, watched some of the NCAA Tournament (before everyone's brackets exploded), went on a random Wal-Mart run, ate taco salad/burritos/soft tacos, and played some board games.

As an aside, I have to tell you a very sad, disappointing story about the time we spent with Kelsey's kin. As previously mentioned, we went on a Wal-Mart run, and part of the purpose of this was so that Kelsey's mom could get ingredients for her famed Chicken Tetrazzini. She had planned to make it for lunch the next day. Kelsey talks the Tetrazzini up quite a bit because one of Kalyn and my favorite meals is Chicken/Tuna Tetrazzini, a wonderful comfort food inherited from my wonderful mom.

This is where I would insert a picture of my mom's Tuna Tetrazzini. Unfortunately, it's a fabled creature of sorts (like Big Foot), so getting a picture of it is nearly impossible. This is the closest thing I could find.

Little did we know that we would figure out in a couple of hours that we wouldn't be enjoying this fabulous meal the next day. We had our adventure planned out to a tee (thanks to my wonderful wife's hard work), so we had to leave immediately following church the next day, forcing us to eat sandwiches on the road instead of the delectable meal that I was so looking forward to.

After church on Sunday, we quickly left Des Moines (as any sane person would do) on our way to bigger and better things. Our next stop? Chicago!

Nacrolepsy, Tetrazzini, and Farm and Fleet, Oh My! - Pt. 1

And so Spring Break continues (on here, anyway)...

Narcolepsy. Tetrazzini. Farm and Fleet.

 Do you have any clue what these the three things have in common?

If not, keep reading. You'll find out soon enough...

A Much Belated Spring Break Post (And a Goal Accomplished!)

I have to apologize. 

Sincerely, honestly, and truly, I need to ask for your forgiveness.

I posted on here about our epic road trip over Spring Break a week ago with a really cool map that showed the ridiculous amount of driving we did, and then left you hanging.

I realize this tease may have burned a bridge between us.

Thankfully, I plan to own an airplane someday, so I'll just take you for a ride to make it up to you.

Deal? Deal.

 Now that we're past that, I really do want to tell you about our epic Spring Break (or at least our first stop)!

This Spring Break, Kalyn and Kelsey (who we went to Taiwan with this past summer and who is returning there this summer) decided that we should go on a road trip. Now, I love traveling as much as the next guy. However, the idea of traversing 2000 miles with minimal male contact scared me a little. I was assured, though, that I'd survive. And somehow, I did...