Since when does it say that a blog has to be updated every day, every week, every month? I can't say when I think I'll be blogging normally again, but I do know that I won't be deleting this site.

I do think it's time for a new title, though. I've found my newer world...I'm not searching anymore.

So then, what is this blog about? Hmmm...good question. Maybe that's why there haven't been more posts.

Something to think about, I guess.

Well hey there! Last Tuesday Jessica & I had our engagement pictures, and they were a BLAST! We had them taken down by the Hennepin Ave bridge in Minneapolis, and surrounding area. Since the pics were included in the cost of the wedding photography, I figured we'd have 30-45 mins with them...but the shoot was 2 hours long. Bonus!

Another great part about it is that they post some highlights of the pictures on their blog, which is at blog.pricelessphotomemories.com

As you can see the photographers are really good at taking the fun & unusual pictures....which is exactly what we were looking for. Exciting!

I hear the Beastie Boys are putting out a new album. That's right. A new album. I hope it's a-la-Check Your Head or Ill Communication, not the last few they've put out.

Since April 1st my job has reduced my pay by more than 31%. Sorry that I'm not blogging more. Most of my free time that I consume on the internet has been seeking and applying for new jobs. I would love to stay at my current job and hope that my pay will be returned to at least close to its normal rate....but I can't stay in that delusion.

Thankfully, oh so thankfully, Jessica and I are moving in together in about 2.5 weeks. That will help enormously.

That is my life right now.

I'm at good ol' Walser Honda right now, in Burnsville. I'm glad I decided to grab my backpack that had my work laptop in it, because the wifi here is a savior. Not because I need to get anything done, but because i can just play some internet checkers or something and not have to flip through old Car & Driver magazines or read a book that I'm really not interested in or watch CNN.

I thought about walking about a mile down the road to Burnville Center, but then I'd probably be enticed to spend money I don't have on things I don't need. It's probably better to stay here, I guess.

This is a lame post. Bye.

Smart Cars? Maybe not so smart....

Crash Test

Check out that video embedded in the story.

Vinegar works pretty dang well on cleaning the grout in your bathroom.

I've been in the process of cleaning my shower about once a week, just to make the project a little more manageable. My shower grout may be the only thing that will prevent me from getting my full security deposit back, which is something I'm trying really hard to get. I had to pay a lot for my security deposit -- the equivalent of a month's rent, to be exact. I hadn't rented before, not even in college, so I had to pay a little extra to show that I was trust-worthy. The new place had a pretty strict screening process, so the security deposit is really cheap. Especially for 2 people. So I'm really trying hard to get all of that money back.

I had never used vinegar for hardcore cleaning before. I mean, I've always used it for washing floors because that's what my mom does. But I guess I never put much thought in it. For the bathroom, I usually use one product for mostly everything: Scrubbing Bubbles. Good stuff. But it just wasn't getting the job done in the shower. It fought back the mildew, but didn't quite defeat it. I figured there must be a better solution. So I Googled it.

After 30 minutes of reading through home remedies (I didn't want to drop any dunkets on some expensive cleaning product), one woman swore by using vinegar. Plus, she said, it's natural so you're not dumping a bunch of chemicals down the drain. Sounded legit to me.

Holy crap. I'm not even kidding. It works so unbelievably well! I poured about 2 inches of white vinegar into a juice glass, grabbed my 99 cent Walgreens toothbrush I use specifically for cleaning, and went to town. That mildew just melted away. It was way less work than the cleaning products!

Seriously. Go into your kitchen right now. Grab some vinegar. Bring it into the bathroom. Grab an old toothbrush or sponge or something like that. Dip it in the vinegar and try it out. It's great. I promise.

From what I could see (and drink) at the Twins home opener tonight, Summit is no longer offered on tap at the normal Field Fare counters. Instead you have to go to the special Summit carts. There you pay the normal $6.50 and get a cup somewhere between 12 & 16 oz, instead of the normal 22 oz.

Rip-off.

Or is it?

I've been saying it for years (well, maybe only 4) that it never made any sense to buy Mich Golden Light at a Twins or Vikings game when you could get a Summit for the exact same price. I guess Summit finally got smart and started charging the same for less.

The moral of the story is, I'd still rather pay more for a smaller glass of much better beer. It still kinda sucks though.

My life has gotten so busy. "Has gotten" meaning in the last year. I used to have so much free time, but I guess that's what happens when you find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. The problem with the busyness, though, is that I really don't think much of it is blog worthy.

Like this weekend. Umm, Friday I had to work later than normal and then got some work-related emails later at night and had to take care of them. Saturday morning, I woke up and had some more work-related emails that I had to address, then went to J's 2nd cousin's 3rd birthday party. That may seem like a bit of a stretch, but she's really close to her cousin and we see the 2nd cousins (4 little girls) a lot. Actually, the 2nd oldest will be the flower girl in our wedding. And then after that we went to IKEA to look at Armoires for when we move into the new place. It actually ended up being a nice little Saturday. We wanted to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond as well, but we didn't have enough time....

And then today I did my dishes like a mad-man, and started cleaning the grout in my bathroom. Woot! Woot! Seriously.

Other than that, we've just been doing either wedding stuff or preparing to move in together. Here are some random updates:

Wedding date has been set: April 10th, 2010
Church has been booked: Northwestern College's Chapel in Roseville (J graduated from there)
Reception site has been booked: Profile Event Center off of University Ave in Minneapolis, 2 blocks from the U of M
Food has been chosen
Cake style & place have been chosen: Just prepare yourself for some amazing cake
DJ Booked: Not much to say, other than we got a great deal
Photographers booked: Another great deal
Engagement pics date booked
Guest List negotiations started: Should be a long & drawn-out battle
Wedding Party Decided: My two brothers, J's brother & Tulgren will be the groomsmen, My sister in-law and three of J's friends will be the bridesmaids, little 2nd cousin will be flower girl, no ring bearer, and ushers are up in the air
J is now in the process of trying on dresses

Random move updates:
Basically that the money we've made from signing our new apt & selling old furniture is being used to buy new furniture that will better fit our life together. And it's a really fun process! For those of you who don't know my spending methods, when it comes to buying something big like furniture I tend to over-analyze, scrutinize, and think about it for way too long. Just like my dad. With J, we think about it for like a day or two, go over all options, and then buy it. Whamo. Just like that. Kind of fun.

And there you have it. That's the big huge update on my life.

As a result of J & my move-in together, we are forced to consolidate our furniture. A casualty of the consolidation is J's prized dining room table. The new place doesn't really provide any space for a dining room table, so this beauty will have to be sold. We're trying to get $875 for it on Craigslist and have gotten some hits, but I thought I'd offer it out to friends on here as well for the much cheaper price of $600. Why the big difference, you may be asking yourself? Well that's the number we initially decided on & I offered to co-workers before we did some research and realized we could probably try to sell it for a much better price....since it's only 2 years old and cost a lot, lot more when it was new.

The dimensions are:
Dimensions:
Length from 65" (when oval) to 48" (when circle)
Width 48"
Height 36"

6 chairs,
seat 23"
back 40.5"




Let me know if you want to check it out in person!

Yesterday I got a six pack of Brau Brothers Pale Ale from the Byerly's Liquor store. When I got home, I cracked one and took a swig. It was the WORST pale ale I've ever tasted. And then I noticed the bottle for the first time:

Brau Brothers Strawberry Wheat.

umm what? I could've sworn I bought pale ale! I opened up the fridge again and looked at the cardboard packaging and it said pale ale, so no, I wasn't on crack. But then I pulled out each of the other bottles and everyone of them were Strawberry Wheat. Strangest thing ever.

I called Byerly's and asked if I could get a refund and they said yes, so my original plan was to return the sixer tonight. However, I finished that bottle I opened and realized that this Strawberry Wheat was actually really pretty good.

Those of you that know my beer tastes know that I'm pretty much opposed to wheat beer, and opposed to fruity beer, and especially opposed to fruity wheat beer. So this was something of a breakthrough for me. The warmer weather might have somthing to do with it as well, but I'd recommend the beer to anyone.

I've been meaning to post for a while now, but the problem is that my life has begun to be consumed by the wedding...and I can imagine that it will only continue to be that way. So I want to avoid this becoming a wedding blog...of which I'm sure that few of you really care to hear the details. Unless you do. Let me know.

The problem being, I already don't blog about work (and for good reason), which takes up 1/3 of my day. The other 1/3 I'm sleeping, and the last 1/3 is split in half...if you can do that...with vegging out and wedding. That = not anything cool to blog about.

However, we did just have another big decision in our life: J & I are moving in together in June. That's 6 months earlier than we had originally planned. Why the big change? We found an amazing apartment that we could only afford if we both moved in together. If you care, this link
has a bunch of great pictures of the place. It looks expensive, but remember this is in St. Louis Park, not Minneapolis, so you can get better for less. Plus it's a two bedroom, and I think that they're having trouble renting out the 2 bedroom apts.

Anyway, we're pretty pumped about that. Both sets of parents have been told of this plan, and there was minimal backlash, so that was good. I think they had prepared themselves for this day. I was just about to write that I actually couldn't get too excited about the place yet because we hadn't been approved for renting yet. But then my cell phone rang and it was the leasing department at the apartment building letting me know we'd been approved! Yaaaaay!

And that's about all I know.