Missing

Yes, I've been missing for quite a while. My little post of a Glee trailer is a total cop out. I know. I'm a bad blogger.

BAD BLOGGER!

So, what's going on with my life? Lots.

I'm nearly done with the MBA program. We only have two classes left. Graduation is at the end of June. Richard's family and my family are coming for the big occasion and a big party. A fun time will be had by all.

But first...we are taking a vacation to Iceland! Yes, we are going to spend 10 days in Iceland. We are going to sit in a geo-thermal hot spring. We are going to climb a mountain. We are going to see a geyser.

Fun fact: In Iceland, there is a geyser named Geysir. We get the word geyser from the name of this thing. Cool huh?

People have been asking, "Why Iceland?" My first answer is "Why not?" My second answer is that the country is in a very bad recession, worse than in the US. They had set up huge banking systems and the entire thing collapsed. The country is bankrupt. Ergo, things are less expensive than they would normally be. It seemed like a good time to take advantage of some low prices and pump a little extra cash into the country.

The trip will consist of me, Richard, and my parents. I've been told that we get wireless, so I can probably post while we are there. Hopefully, we can put some photos up as well.

I'll try to get better about the blogging thing. I think that Facebook is taking over what energy I had for blogging.

Glee

This makes me want to watch television again. I just watched the pilot on hulu, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed.




I'm not sure why I can't seem to format it to fit in my window. Sorry about that.

Oh, and the Rachel character. She was in Spring Awakening as Wendla. I saw her in NYC.

On Godparenting

I'm currently in Minot, ND for the confirmation of my godson. He was baptized in 2000, when he was six years old, and now he is old enough to be confirmed.

This weekend is shorter than I (or anyone else) would like it to be. We didn't leave until this morning, at 6:00 AM. We got to Minot about 1:30 PM. The rest of the afternoon has been spent eating, and watching kids swim. Naomi (my three-week-old niece) is here, so I've been holding her quite a bit. It's been a good time getting to visit and play.

I'm now one of the "older group". There are enough children and grandchildren that I won't be relegated to the "kids table" anymore.

Tomorrow is the confirmation ceremony at church. I believe that the godparents are going to be standing around the confirmands. My godson has four godparents, his two uncles, and my sister and me. I don't often feel like I'm a good godparent. I'm not around all that much. However, I've always appreciated the love and affection that I get from my godson. Perhaps that's enough. Although I think I always want to be more involved.I'm very proud and excited for him. He's a very good kid, turning into a great young man.

After the confirmation service, we'll begin the long trek home.

Yet Another Job Perk

I'm still getting used to this new job, but the perks seem to be popping up all over the place.

We are contracting with a brand-new hotel to house our visitors and volunteers during the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Because the hotel is brand-new they offered us a great deal...a better deal than the ELCA has with four other hotels downtown.

About a week ago, we got an invitation to the grand opening event, held yesterday. The Operations Manager and I decided that we needed to check out the facility again. We got there and entered the crowd of people filling the smallish lobby.

There were hotel employees (I learned later that many were front desk people) who were offering platters of food. There was a bar where we got some white wine. Then we ventured to the 2nd floor, where all the meeting rooms are. Each room had a different food item inside. There was the salad room, the fruit room, the meat room, and the dessert room. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time up there. There was also another bar that had large containers of a green liquid. It looked like Ecto-Plasma Cooler (for those of you who remember that). I asked, and was told that it was a "Garden-tini". I am not one to turn down an adventure (free!), so I took a glass. It tasted like spicy grass.

We then learned that there would be a prize drawing for all the guests. Some people won Twins tickets, and a 9 year-old boy won $100 to Zelo's restaurant. I ended up winning $100 to McCormick & Schmick's seafood restaurant. Later, I found the boy trying to find who won the Twins tickets, so he could swap.

The last event was a butterfly release. I thought that sounded pretty cool. They invited us outside, but we sat by a window to watch the action. The butterfly release was a bust. They gave each guest an envelope with a butterfly in it and asked them to release them all at once. I only saw about 10-15 butterflys actually fly up to the sky. The rest crawled around on the hands of the people who were to be releasing them. I guess they got attached.

I'm excited to go back in August and work with this hotel. If you are going to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, and you need a place to stay. Contact me!