48 Hours of No Phone, Internet

It's been an interesting start to the week with a refreshing reality check on priorities.

After camping, canoeing, hiking, tennis, movies, and everything else bachelor-esque, I found myself Sunday in Bryce's living room watching the USA v. Brazil championship game. My phone (which I've had since August 2007, not bad huh?) was sitting on my lap when US scored their first, and needless to say got trampled by 10 of us jumping up and down, shattering the LCD screen. Thankfully I could still call my nine speed dials and the two numbers I have memorized.

And apparently our internet crapped out on Saturday with a password issue. Late last night it finally got fixed (after my 3 hours and Travis's 2 hours on customer support) and we've been rolling since.

All this to say, I've realized how dependent I have become on on technologies that really weren't even around 15 years ago. While it was tough to have no phone (and no internet on my phone) and no internet, I realized by that 48 hours the need to shut things off every once in awhile.

In that time, God and I got to spend some needed quiet moments that frankly get pushed aside when there's plenty to do. I mean, sure, I pray every day and try to read the Bible every day, but usually I'm still open to being interrupted, and that's gotta change.

Quiet time from now on means I'm not allowed to be interrupted. The cell phone will be turned off, the TV unplugged, and the DSL modem powered down.

I don't know that I could have learned this lesson any way other than having no phone and no internet. God has a way of showing us things if we'll be open to see them.

Time to go play some tennis with Brett. Later!

Bachelor Camping

(Note: While the title implies that we are bachelors camping, we in fact are not all bachelors, but 5/6 of us are so I just rounded up for convenience sake.)

We (Chris, Board, geoX, Anthony, Brett, and myself) are heading to Chain O Lakes State Park for a weekend excursion of exploring, swimming, and camp fire-ing as one last memory before geoX ties the knot next month. And this is partly a party for Chris as well, who is forsaking America for Japan for a year or two, leaving next month.

While this "bachelor party" may sound like trouble, and yes, we often joke about the presence of hookers, the ladies in our lives (mainly Anthony's wife Emily, and our moms and grandmas) need not worry.

We're good boys.

We wouldn't do anything our dads wouldn't do at our age.


In other news:

Got to meet my family last night for supper in celebration of Mom's bday. We all met at Golden Corral buffet in Ft. Wayne. It was a great time seeing them. Daniel and I learned this important tip:

Do NOT eat the bourbon chicken.

Both of us had diarrhea sheer minutes after eating it.

Just looked up the word 'diarrhea' for spelling purposes (on dictionary.com) and now wished I hadn't.

Here's the definition:

"An intestinal disorder characterized by abnormal frequency and fluidity of fecal evacuations."

I'm guessing you wish you hadn't of read that.

I need to go pack for Bachelor Camping.

Mowing the Yard

New house brings about new responsibilities. Like cutting the grass.

Shower Issues

My shower being jank helps teach me a lesson.

Dunes Jump '09 Video

As promised, here's the Dunes video from this weekend! Enjoy :)

Mango Smoothies Should Be Illegal

First of all, I love honey-roasted peanuts. Currently sitting at internship on lunch break enjoying some honey-roasted goodness. Bounce Logistics is kinda like the Google of logistics companies. Treadmill, flat screens, all you can eat snacks (as in honey-roasted peanuts. how circular.), great people, and balls everywhere (get it? -- bounce).

This weekend was awesome: Zach and Courtney got married at Potawatomi Inn in Angola, IN. What a perfect place for a wedding. It rained up until 2 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start on the large outdoor deck. Volunteers rushed out to dry stuff off and the wedding started only ten minutes late (which is rare in my experience of indoor weddings). The ceremony was beautiful and the sunshine immediately after the rain testified to God's goodness and favor. After the ceremony we all headed out to Glendarin Country Club for the reception.

The mango smoothies things were to-die-for and people at least fought for them. Dancing, mingling, billiards, and tears of happiness (not me. come on.) concluded a great wedding weekend. May Zach and Courtney's marriage be blessed by God for the rest of their lives.

Yesterday the gang (well, 12 of us) went to the Warren Dunes up on Lake Michigan. Throwing football and frisbee, laying out, napping, reading, singing(?), and relaxing prefaced an amazing time of throwing ourselves down the sand dunes. I got some video which I'll throw together either tonight or tomorrow. Expect that.

All in all, a good summer weekend of friends, mango smoothies, hot tubs, sand, and sun.

And now I need to get back to work (meaning: eat my honey-roasted peanuts).

Wait for that video!

Todd

Emails -- Like Carrots -- Are Good in Small Doses

If my self-esteem is directly proportional to the number of emails I receive at my truck-brokering internship at Bounce Logistics, I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

Just saying.

Big Animal and Grilling Out

Travis thinks he sees a big animal out back by the trash. Key word: thinks.

The First Video Blog Post