All You Can Fit In Your Body-Shrimp

After work today, Bobo, Paul and I went to Red Lobster for all you can eat Shrimp. We try to do this every year and its great. This year they added a coconut shrimp- awesome!

Pat was invited and declined because he doesn't care for seafood, yet he is absolutly starving for social contact. Foolish.

Viking Game Day LIVE makes me feel undead

Today was all about Viking Game Day, like it always is when they play at home. The whole day is dedicated to that show and I'm zombified for the rest of the day.

Everything went well this time round. The only thing that was really strange was a guest- some strange little night club act singer from Arizona who flies to MN every time the Vikings play at home. He came on and was intereviewed aukwardly. Hammer, our director described it perfectly- "This segment makes me feel icky!" That was exactly what it did. Oh well. We also had Benchwarmer Bob on and he sang some Wells Fargo jingle or something and did the moonwalk. Good stuff.

What did I learn today? A Ford truck key has a pretty good chance of opening other Ford truck doors.

Lets Go See the Nice Guys

Cara and I went to Greg's and Mandy's with out saying a word about the ring on Cara's finger. Lets see how long it takes for them to notice.

What a strange scene it was when we got there. Greg and Dad were dancing around with a light and half of the ceiling open and a light switch hanging off the wall. Mandy and Mom were shoveling out the fireplace and hauling out bags of ash.?! I thought they forgot to tell us to bring work gloves or something. So obviously, everyone was too busy to notice right away.

About an hour later we all sat down by the fire to talk. I knew Greg knew. He caught my eye looking at Cara's finger. And I caught his catching mine. We hid our grins. Everyone else was harder to read. Finally, Mom exclaims "I can't stand it anymore!" at the very same moment Mandy points at Cara's hand and gasps "OH MY GOSH!" and then the whole room exploded into laughter and congratulations. I'm sure Cogs and especially Eddy were startled. Turned out everyone was onto us except for Mandy. We all saw when she realized Cara had the ring on.

It was a wonderful time visiting. We went out to eat, came home and visited more.

9 Lunar Months/Proposition

This has been a crazy week. With Mom and Dad in town and staying at Cara's I haven't been at home much. It felt like go go go. All of a sudden we find ourselves with a night and it just happened to be a full moon- our 9th Lunar Month anniversary!

Work was very strange. Both the shows that I work on on any given weekday were cancelled, but I still had to be there. So I got there, and did nothing- well... Jay and I played a fantasy boardgame; Jason and I feasted on yesterday leftovers; Josh, Robyn, Scott and I played Crazy Rules Uno with some crazy Ahmed rules and then I left early. Stopped at The Source for a few minutes and then went on to Cara's house.

We watched an anime with Leesha and then she went to bed.

Cara and I found we had a night to ourselves on our ninth lunar month anniversary. So we cuddled listening to Enya. Except, I couldn't settle down. Cara could see I was all goofy and when she finally asked what was up with me tonight I broke down...

I dug into my backpack and pulled out a folded papertowel and gave it to her. She unfolded it, and inside was a blue satin bag, inside that was a small fancy fabric bag. Inside this small bag was...

a ring.

Then I said "Cara Joy, will you marry me?"

And she kissed me, and said "Yes, yes, yes!" and kissed me again.

Then I told her that she has seen this ring before. It is a ring that was going to be given to me by my mom's mom when she was gone but she had the idea to give it to me early for this reason and I thought that was a great idea.

We waited till 12:15 am or so to call her parents (who live in Kenya) and told them. They were very happy for us. About 30 minutes later, Craig and Tracy (Cara's brother and sister-in-law) called all excited.

It was a good night.

music - Flora's Secret - Enya

Thanksgiving Surprises

Work was that typical holiday work day when all the hallways and cubicles are dark and quiet. Today, however, I gave my family a tour of my work. They arrived for the second half of the Midday broadcast and after we were off the air I showed mom, dad, Cara and Leesha everything, newsroom, edit suites, control room, front entrance, makeup room, studio B, locker room, everything. After they left we feasted like kings in the newsroom with Thanksgiving catering from Boston Market. It was awesome.

After the 5 broadcast, I took off to Cara's house to meet up with everyone for our Thanksgiving feast. Little did mom and dad know, but the Trelevens were en route to Cara's as well for a surprise. They were getting out of their car as I pulled in- everything falls into place, doesn't it. We surprised them big time. We had a wonderful time- Cara, Leesha, Mom, Dad, Eric, Terry, Teresa, brand new Lucas and me. Wonderful food, wonderful entertainment (Lucas), good times.

Thanksgiving Eve

Today was a virtual Friday at work because we recorded At Issue early due to the Holiday (which means I'm spent). While I worked, my mom and dad with Cara to Leesha's school to see her in a holiday performance for the student's grandparents. They said it was wonderful and I'm sure it was. She is a cool kid.

After work, I imidiatly went to Cara's house for dinner and to hang out with her and my folks since thats where they're staying. Cara made a great dinner and we had a nice relaxing evening just visiting. As we all started to fade, we listened to the Mischke broadcast.

music - The Man with the Golden Gun soundtrack - John Barry

Bible Study/Mum & Dad In Town

My mom and dad are in town today. They arrived at Cara's just after dinner and just before bible study. We had a tiny chance to talk and they met Leesha, Eric and Laura Beth, then we got right into study. Bobo, Laura and Jonathan were absent tonight for various reasons, but my folks made up for it in conversation. They fueled great debate over Romans chapter 9. It was very fun.

Monday Monday, Can't Trust That Day

Today was focused on the tragedy in Wisconsin with the man shooting eight people while hunting. This kind of news darkens the day. I felt better having rested much yesterday.

Tonight I dug through Bobo's cds and founds some wonderful music. Namely the original Enya album and especially The Long Walk Home (Rabbit Proof Fence soundtrack by Peter Gabriel). AMAZING!

Tomorrow me mum and my dad will be in town.

music - Enya and Pete

Viking Game Day at the Dome/BJ's Birthday

Another early early morning at the Metrodome. Today, however, was very cold. The show went well as usual and the only thing different of note was I went picked to help get the McDonald's food run. It was kind of fun ordering 15+ breakfast meals and see how the employees deal with that.

After the show was done and we had everything packed we were waiting for the cargo truck, I walked out to the sidewalk just past the Metrodome's shadow the soak up some sunshine. There was a bohemian looking fellow scalping tickets who noted my KSTP ID badge. He asked if I knew a guy named BJ who worked there- I said "oh, you mean Pinnerman?" (happy birthday, BJ)

The afternoon was spent in my bed trying, and seemingly not succeeding, in trying to reheat my body core. It was nice to stay off my feet for half a day.

Defrag/GirlyCon

Took 9 hours for my computer to defrag its harddrive. I was given this computer about 2 and a half years ago and in all that time never defragged the harddrive because I could see it was taking too much time. Today I gave the computer the time it needed. I figured it would have plenty of time during...

GirlyCon- Laura, Keesha, Cara, Eric and I played D&D run by Bobo today. Bobo made up simplified characters for each of the girls and then made up a regular character for Eric. I rolled one up as people started to arrive. It took some time for the girls to get the hang of how to play a roleplaying game, but once we were into the story, I think they all liked it. It was hard for Cara and Laura to sit and play a game like this for such a long period of time (5-6 hours), but surprisingly enough, it seemed like Keesha really got into the game. I had a good time inspite of my character getting tied up by the rest of the party because they didn't trust him. Good times.

Bobo really went all out for Girlycon. He cooked up a giant pot of beef stew, had round loaves of bread and wheels of cheese. It was quite a feast. More than enough for all of us for two meals.

music - Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings soundtrack, Princess Mononoke soundtrack, Buldar's Gate soundtrack

Dinner like a King/LOST/Walk

Work was fine. We had a production department meeting today and it was a congratulations-session, pretty much. It appears that our managers recognize that this is a very good group we have currently. Looks like there will be opportunities on the horizon. It is time for me to learn more.

I was very much looking forward to getting home today because I'm not feeling very well. I got home and Bobo started making dinner for both of us (with no request from me- awesome!). We ate very well and watched LOST. This show is amazing. Its fun being addicted to a show when the show is worthy of addiction. After that we had pumpkin pie and brandy/eggnog. Feasted like hobbits.

Then we went for a walk and talked about the end of the world. Got back and did some eBay tasks. Good day and I'm off to bed reletivley early.

Last Before-You-Say-I-Might class

This was the last class. Our breakout group leaders- Ethan and Robin, were awesome and I think we were lucky to have them. Alot has changed since starting the class in alot of different ways. I feel my relationship with Cara is stronger as a result of the class. Our friendships with Bobo and Laura and Eric and Keesha are stronger as well. It was a good experience, I feel.

When we got home I had an email from my grandma so I called her back and we had a nice talk. She wishes she could be here for Thanksgiving.

When I got off the phone, I found Eric hadn't left yet and joined he and Bobo in discussion for about another hour. I think we all feel as I have stated above about the class and our relationships in general. Its a unique and good time right now.

Church/Viking vs Packers

Spent almost ALL day at church. I picked up Cara for church. After church, she and I took our friend Dan to Culvers for lunch. After that we returned to church for the FOCUS event which was the Packers vs Vikings game. It was held in the new Phase 1 Youth Center with the big screen projector and audio equipment. Pretty fun hanging out with the FOCUS crew. and the Packers won.

music - Solsbury Hill, Down the Dolce Vita, Here Comes the Flood - Peter Gabriel

The Three Trelevens/UP

Today is the day that Cara and I went to see Terry, Teresa and the band new Lucas Treleven. We drove out to Eau Claire and spent the afternoon with them in their apartment. It was a really nice time. They hadn't met Cara yet and we hadn't met Lucas yet, so it was good all around. Lucas is about 10 months old and is full of wonder and energy. Its fascinating to watch a little human like that. Its even more fascinating to watch your best friend from childhood with his own child. We took a walk, had some pizza and played a game of trivial pursuit and the T's won. Shortly after that Cara and I went home.

Once home, we built a fire (in my room, -sigh-) and watched the Peter Gabriel DVD- UP. It was a nice time to cuddle in front of a fire.

music - Goldfinger soundtrack - John Barry. And Peter Gabriel - UP dvd concert film

Nonstop Work/At Issue

I didn't sleep well. My subconciouns mind kept worrying that I was going to run out of oxygen from the embers in the fireplace. But I warmly restless.

Its a little rough coming out of lastnight's intensity of work, going to bed and having a day like Fridays at work. Its go go go almost from the moment I get there till I go home and thats because of At Issue. That show fills the gap between live news quite well and you come out the other end spent. Poor Cara suffers at home while I'm in my zombie state of having a night at home without anything planned for a change.

So I spent most of the night on the phone with Cara, mum and dad and Terry (not all together).

Veteran's Day/Viking Game Day (or Viking's LowLight Night Special)

I had a bunch of things I was going to send out in the mail from eBay and didn't realize it was Veteran's Day. D'oh! Thats fine, they get their day. Thank you, to all the vets who ever read this board, for your service.

Arafat died today and the media is making it seem like a wonderful and great man has passed away. Was I wrong with the impression this guy was out to wipe out the Jews? What is wonderful and great about that?

Viking Game Day started off like they all have. Played a couple of games of 4 way chess with 3 guys. Around 4pm is when things start to go wrong. Something is wrong with the lights. They can't seem to get them all working at once (They, being the lighting company that was hired to light Game Day). Something has changed. For the next 2 hours the guy is running around sweating his head off trying to figure out what was wrong. Our time is ticking away and we need to do something. We start running power cables for our own little light kits each photog has with them and get to work just throwing light around. Meanwhile, the lighting guy is still messing with his thing and all this power is overloading the breakers. All of a sudden, with a pop, we lose all audio power. Get the power back on and it happens again! Its the light guy, messing with things. Finally we get him to stop and he just leaves. We do the show with our little kits and it looks alright. Just not fun. What else could go wrong? Well, we had a heckler in the audience and it happened to be a lit up Viet Nam vet! I swooped in on him and asked him to be quiet and soon a security guard talks to him so I leave since the situation was cooled off. The guy was fine after that, just giving anyone with eye contact the thumbs up and peace signs. I felt bad for the dude.

Cara and Leesha came to watch the show. I don't think they made it in any bump shots because they were sitting in an unlit area and lit areas were limited tonight.

Scott, Josh, Bryce, Glen and I had a beer at Jillians- this one was kind of earned more than the beers before.

Bobo and I mad a fire in my fireplace tonight. It smelled so good and cooked up my room to a nice warm temperature. Nice way to end such an evening.

music - Because - Beatles

Church/Lord of the Rings

Met Cara at church. This was the first time in about a month that I've been able to go to church. It was nice and Greg Boyd had a pretty good message about freedom from fear. The coolest concept I got out of it was:

your fear of [blank] causes more pain than the actual [blank]. your fear of [blank] will make it more likely that you will have [blank].

Insert [blank] with:

• rejection
• poverty
• aging and death
• failure
• being wrong
• past experiences
• etc.

I really enjoyed the message.

Cara and I went out to lunch after church, today, and used up the gift card Jen gave me for watching Dasher. Jeremy dropped off Leesha at the Applebees we were at and we all went to Cara's house. We hung out, had some french toast and then sat down to watch Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I had been wanting to watch it since our anniversary night a week and a half ago because of Enya and Ian McKellen and I started reading The Two Towers yesterday. When I have to move, I believe I will have to pick up this trilogy, for sure. These are worthy to be owned.

music - Howard Shore

BoboCon II/8 Months

All day was dedicated to BoboCon II. From 2pm till about 10pm, around 21 guys were gaming in our house. Most were regulars, some new people gaming here were Jay from work and Eric from church- both in my group. It was pretty fun all around. I think it was maybe too much time gaming, but since its so rare that we ever do for that length, its ok.

Didn't do anything for Cara's and my 8 month. We celebrated it already on the lunar 8 month. Sometime durring our gaming, she snuck over and put a magnet picture of us as Han and Leia on my car- funny.

music - Lord of the Rinds: Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, Baldur's Gate soundtrack, DUNE soundtrack, Princess Mononoke soundtrack, Nausicaa soundtrack (which Wally hated)

Viking Game Day MOA

Today was the first Game Day in the giant rotunda at the Mall of America. It went pretty well. Before we started taping, Scott, Josh, Robyn and I got two games of 4 player chess in. That game rules.

Afterwards, a bunch of us met at Jillian's for a beer. Hammer and his wife, Steph, stopped by. Its so fun talking with those two. In the end everyone else left and the three of us were last.

Crazy Schedule/BUSH WINS

So I start work today at 2:30 AM! The plan was to start the morning news at 4 AM, but since nothing was happening, they started at the regular 5 AM. So I sat in the prompter booth listening to George Noory. He had a guest who was talking about how either candidate was bad enough because they're both part of this global conspiracy where Europe will, in the end, 'save' Iraq and US will be on the offering table. If any of that's true, bring it on! I'm fine with a Mad Max kind of world. One thing I'd miss would be this web page- Sinking In the Quicksand of My Thoughts!

I was finished with work at noon, went and did some errands and started to lose my energy. I was home and asleep by 2:45pm

I got up to watch LOST. Awesome show.

At 10pm I was at the Mall of America to help set up lights and cabling for the new location at the mall- we're now in the giant rotunda by Underwater World for the rest of the season. Dave Hammer was there as well and we mainly just stood in place and let the guys set the lighting while we shot the shyte.

Oh, yeah. Bush won the election.

It feels like I haven't seen Cara in a long time.



music - Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears

Election Day

Bobo and I went to vote together. We talked about gaming while in line. This was the first time that I can remember going to vote with someone else.

Social night at Cara's house for bible study. We had two new people come. Ross was one, not new, but his lady friend, Lindsey was new. We played some kind of DVD Trivial Persuit which was fun, but I seemed to help the girls team more than our own.

music - Election Day - Arcadia