Wow, my last post was in September.  So much has happened since then, that it's a little hard to even know where to pick up. 

 

This week was pretty hectic.  On Tuesday I had my last day at Universal Mccann.  For the last year and a half my work life has consisted of delivering best-of-class media solutions for vaginal dryness, yeast infection, pregnancy tests, and hair regrowth products.  Although these products completely made me uncomfortable in the beginning, I came to be completely at ease with talking about these topics.  As always I became super attached to the people with whom I worked and it was sad to say goodbye.  However, my new office is only a few blocks away so it will be easy to reconnect.

 

I'm super excited about starting the new adventure working on Digital media on a very cool account.  It's so refreshing to work on a client that completely embraces the digital space and realizes that the "game" and its rules have changed and that we need to find smart and innovate ways to engage and connect consumers with brands. 

 

So Cat and I continue our quest to become parents.  Since the last time I posted, Cat and I have gone through two cycles of invetro but unfortunately the procedure didn't take.  Actaully that's not exactly correct, as both times we've received positive tests that Cat was pregnant.  Unfortunately each time something has happened and the pregnancy has not stuck.  I think they need to try to super glue those embryos to the Uterus. 

 

Last week we met with the LDS family services office in NYC.  I'm really excited about the prospect of being able to adopt and hope that someone will deem us worthy to provide us this miracle of starting a family.  The adoption counselor told us that many of the adoptions happen as refferals, so if any of you reading this know of a young mom willing to provide a future for her child please let them know about Cat and I.

 

Hope everyone is doing well.  Make sure you comment on our posts.

 

Jason

 

 

Wow, it's Monday night and I have to say I'm pretty exhausted.  It's a great exhausted though because I know that Cat and I made the most of our Labor Day weekend.  Originally we were planning on going to Jim Thorpe, PA to do some biking and some hiking, but our habitual procrastination ended up biting us in the butt as we weren't able to get a place to stay.  We were determined to have a great weekend regardless and came up with some fun things to do.

 

On Saturday Cat and I went hiking with her parents up on the Appalachin trail.  Sweet, I can finally say I've hiked the AT...well three miles of it anyways.  Supposedly it takes 6 months to hike from Georgia to Maine so I think next year I'll quit the job and Cat and I will take a good long walk in the woods.  Cat doesn't yet know of this plan so please don't spoil the surprise if you speak to her.  Although the trail was beautiful with some great views, I really do miss hiking in the canyons that are so close to SLC.  I especially miss the hike that starts at Albion Basin at Alta and goes up to Cecret lake. 

 

On Sunday Cat and I decided (ok mostly I decided) we would play hookie from church and go to Six Flags.  We had bought season passes with the intent on going several times this summer but because of the craziness at work we found ourselves at the end of summer having not gotten the value of our passes.  Cat's really good friend from College and her Fiance (names witheld to protect the innocent) joined us for a day of fun.  The day started out beautifully with hardly anyone at the park so we bolted directly for El Toro.  El Toro is this amazing wooden roller coaster that has some super fast turns and big drops.  After the ride, the four of us were all smiling and looking forward to the rest of the day.  A few rides later we made it to Medusa which is the probably the longest ride at the park with a lot of loops and corkscrews.  Half way through the ride I looked over at Jim (not his real name) and he appeared to be doing fine but as we were pulling into the station I looked over and saw him cover his mouth with his hand and the next thing I saw was purple chunks.  Poor guy puked all over his seat, shirt, and shorts.  After hanging out for about a half hour he still wasn't feeling very well so we decided to call it quits and head home.

 

Later that night some of our other friends joined us for a BBQ.  I never thought I would be the type of guy who would get all into BBQing thing (thought it was for 300 LB. guys in Wisconsin who take their charcoal grills to the Packer games) but I have to say it's been a lot of fun this summer having friends over for dinner.

 

Monday morning I dragged Cat up to Queens to go pick up a spin bike that I saw on Craigs List.  This spin bike had actually been a huge fiasco as the guy was supposed to deliver it and after three days of complications I finally gave in and drove to pick it up.  When Cat offered to wake up at 7:00 am to go with me I was completely shocked for if you know Cat you know how much she loves to sleep in.  Finally I have the spin bike and am ready to get in shape. 

 

Later on in the afternoon Cat and I headed out to the beach.  Earlier in the summer we had gone out to the beach with the youth in the church and it made me remember all the good times I had as a kid at the Oregon shore with my family and grandparents.  One of the things we always did was fly kites on the beach.  So I decided to buy a trick kite.  Although I don't know any amazing tricks yet, I can fly the kite pretty well getting it to swoop down and nearly touch the sand before taking it back up in the air.

 

We had taken a beach umbrella and while I was flying my kite, Cat lied underneath and read her book.  The problem was she fell asleep and after a while was no longer in the shade but was rather in the sun.  Needless to say she is very burned and uncomfortable.  As I type she has a wet towel (that I had in the freezer) draped across her soon to be blistered back.

 

So all in all it was a fabulous weekend.  Work has been so crazy the last few weeks that this was definitely something that I needed to help restore perspective.  I know selling K-Y is of paramount importance, but let's be honest I'm not saving lives and it was important for me to step away for a few days.

 

Hope everyone also had an equally great Labor Day weekend.

 

 

This week has been extremely long an taxing as I worked very hard to get our 2008 media plans together for K-Y and Monistat. The prelim plans were due on Friday and I put in some ridiculous hours to get them done.  In fact on Thursday night I didn't get home until 3am.  No matter how much work we do leading up to presentations, it seems like a given that at least two days/night  before any presentation I'll be subjected to extremely long days.  In the end though I think we put together some very smart and strategic plans. 

 

For those of you in "the church", many of you have heard the story of a prominent church leader who sat next to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones on a flight.  When the church leader asked Mick what the purpose of his music is, Mick replied "to convince people to do drugs and have sex".  Ironically, now that I work on the K-Y business I suppose Mick and I have pretty similary goals (expect for the drugs part). Do keep in mind though that K-Y is a J&J brand so our real purpose is to provide committed couples with a resource that helps bring them together to improve their intimate relationships.  Monistat is a little bit more safe-and-sure as I'm pretty confident that there have not been any legendary rock musicians trying to convice people to cure their vaginal yeast infections.

 

Finally the weekend has come and I've been able to relax.  On Saturday morning a groupf of six guys from church got together and went for a 25 mile road ride.  It has been a lot of fun riding with this group and has been a great way for me to discover some prettier parts of NJ.  The more rural areas of NJ are actually pretty beautiful and resemble Belgium (my first true love) in that it's very flat and very green.  The only downside of the ride was that it was so humid that litterally water was collecting on our bikes, shoes, helmets, and of course all of our clothes.  Rather than reaching for the water bottle, I simply opened my mouth and would drink the air.

 

After the ride, Cat and I took Zoe to her Petsmart Graduation.  For the last several weeks, we've been taking her to puppy class where she has learned some essential training.  In the class she's learned many essential things to be a good dog such as sit, stay, drop it, leave it, paw, loose leash walking, and several other things.  We are so proud of the progress she has made and now look forward for she and Cleo to take the intermediate class together.  Afterall, Living in Princeton we must demand scholarly perfection and greater learning.

 

Thanks for checking in and we'll try to do better keeping the blog updated.

 

 

After mowing the lawn and doing some other household chores, Cat and I headed up to the city.   The plan was to spend the afternoon at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, as we had heard they were amazingly beautiful, and then meet up with Catherine's Bryn Mawr crew for dinner to celebrate her (and her friend's) 30th birthday.

 

By the time we got into the city, both of us were starving.  Rather than venturing out for lunch near the train station, I made the executive decision to wait unitl we got to Brooklyn to eat.  After a painfully slow subway ride (the express train wasn't running so we stopped at each stop on the way) we finally made it to the Botanical Gardens.  By this time we were both hungry and grumpy but much to my dismay there were  no places to eat right around the gardens. 

 

After wandering around we stumbled across a little farmers market.  Fortunately for us there was a street vendor and we got ourselves a couple of dogs and split a pretzel.  Although we weren't totally full, our hunger had been appeased.  We saw this guy who had dreadlocks litterally down to his waist....it was amazing. 

 

Finally we were ready to go to the gardens and experience some nature in the city.  As we got to the ticket booth, we handed the credit card to the person and at that exact moment the modem went down and they weren't able to take the credit card.  Fortunately the adjacent museum had an ATM and we were able to get cash.  Finally, all obstacles had been overcome.

 

We spent 3-4 hours wandering the gardens and having a very peaceful time...it was such a pretty day.  Although the roses weren't in full bloom, Catherine was very happy to see them all.  My favorite area of the gardens was the Japanese area.  Before we left, we found this huge expanse of lawn where everyone was just lying down and enjoying the beautiful weather.  It reminded me a lot of when I went to Europe with Alison and every day we found a park where I could lie down an take a nap.   Seriously, there's nothing better than a half hour power nap under a tree.

 

After the gardens we headed back into the city to meet up with Cat's friends.  Our reservation was at this trendy Thai place in SoHo.  SoHo (South of Houston --pronounced houseston) is totally a lively and fun area of the city.  We had a very good dinner and Cat had a great time catching up with her friends.  At the very end of the dinner, the other boy friend of the other birthday girl announced that they had gotten engaged the night before.  It was very cool to see how excited they were.

 

 

I keep trying to convince Cat that we should move into the city but I'm not sure the doggies would be super excited about moving from a house with a backyard to a 1 bedroom apartment.

 

Well that about sums up our fun day/evening in the city.

 

 

 

 

This morning I was playing with Zoe and noticed that she had something wrong with her right eye.  After consulting Cat, she believes it's Cherry eye".  Essentially "Cherry Eye" is the term often used to describe protrusion of the tear gland associated with the third eyelid membrane in the corner of the eye.   We've looked online and from what we can find this is fairly common with Cocker Spaniels and is easily corrected.  With that said, I'm guessing the cost is going to double our investment in Zoe.  I suppose this means we are going to just have to lover her twice as much.

 

We tried getting an appointment with the vet today (Saturday) but they were unable to see Zoe.  We have made an appoinmtent to take her in on Sunday and all I can say is that this is definitely a valid reason for breaking the Sabath. 

 

 

I can't believe how long it's been since we've updated the blog.  I suppose this means either of two thing 1) Nothing has happened in the last 4 months or 2) I'm just too lazy to tell everyone about my crazy and exciting life.  In all honesty, I suppose it's really a combination of the two.

 

Of most importance, Cat and I became the proud parents of another Cocker Spaniel puppy.  We better hurry and start having kids or we are going to end up with a house full of dogs.  Last Saturday Cat and I were looking on line and found a litter in PA about an hour and a half away.  Typically Cat and I are not very impulsive on making huge decisions such as getting another dog, but in the space of about twenty minutes we had decided to go at least check out the puppies.  If nothing else it gave us a good reason to go on a drive.  As we were getting close to the breeder's home we passed several Amish families in their horse drawn carriages.  We kept telling ourselves that despite the fact that we were in the middle of Amish country, there's no way the family would be Amish as the puppies were online.  Well we finally found the house and to our surprise it was indeed an Amish family.  Apparently the Amish can use the internet these days.  We found a cute little female that just begged to be taken home with us.  How could I resist the puppy breath as she licked my face?  I mean really.

 

So it's been about a week since we brought Zoe home.  Cleo is helping to teach Zoe proper dog behavior and is very patient with her considering that Zoe spends the good part of the day biting Cleo's ears and stealing her toys.  We are seriously hoping that they will be great little buddies.

 

 

 

Beyond getting Zoe our life has been pretty status quo.  Work has been very busy but I'm learning a lot.  K-Y has sponsored several events (one with Christina Aguilera) so I've been able to get out and about the city.   I once had dreams and aspirations of moving into the city but now that we have the two dogs I think that dream is somewhat fading.  Now it's a life of suburbia for us.

 

Well I'm rededicating myself to keeping the blog updated so check back often as we'll try to keep everyone informed as to what we're doing to keep busy.

 

 

 

 

So today Sarah (my co-worker) and I went out to get pizza for a group luncheon and had quite the experience.  As we were waiting for the pizza, I looked out the store window and saw a lady sitting on the curb with  her pants appearing as if they had fallen somewhat off.  Next thing you know she stands up, now her pants are at her ankles, and wipes herself.  Sarah and I just looked at each other and the only thing we could say is "Only in NY do you see someone pull down their pants and pee on the street."  Ok that's not actually true because when I lived in Belgium and France I saw plenty of guys peeing on trees, fences, walls, etc. but never have I seen a woman drop her drawers to pee in the street. 

 

In any event we invite you all out to NJ/NY to come experience the craziness with us.

 

Well It's Sunday night and I thought I'd write a quick entry.  This weekend has probably been the best one that I have had since moving to NJ (except for when Cat was out for Thanksgiving) so I thought I'd share. 

 

On Friday night I got home late from work which has turned out to be the norm.  I have been bummed out for the last week or so just because living away from Cat and Cleo have begun to take its toll on my well being so I was definetely needing something to cheer me up.  I got online and looked to see if any of my favorite bands were playing in the area.  Low and behold one of them actuallly was going to be playing on Saturday night and only 25 minutes away.  Nope it wasn't  U2 but Darkstar Orchestra.  I'm sure you are thinking this sounds like some Satanic devil worshipping band but I asure you they are nothing of the sort.  They are a well-known Grateful Dead cover band...now I'm sure you are thinking they are of the devil.  I was so happy to finally have something that I could get excited about.

 

On Saturday morning I went with Gail and Steven to work on the house that Cat and I will be living in...at least for the interim until our place in Michigan sells.  We're so lucky that Cat's parents are letting us stay in that house as it has surely eased the pain of moving.  Also Cleo will be in doggy heaven as she'll have an endless supply of squirrels to chase in the backyard.

 

After taking a quick nap and getting some food at McDonald's I got ready and headed off to the show.  Not to further you preconceived notion of everyone who listens to the Dead is a pot head, but at the door some guy asked me if I wanted to buy some mushrooms, LSD, or weed. Yes Mom I turned them all down. I've seen DSO about 5 times and I can honestly say I've never been disapointed in their shows.   Tonight would be no different as they started off with three of my favorite songs (New Minglewood Blues, Mississippi 1/2 step, and Looks Like Rain (such a favorite that it was the last song I listened to before going on my mission).  They finished off the first set with an amazing Jack Straw and Deal.  The crowd was pumped and so was I.

 

 

The second set started off where the first one ended.  They played one of my absolute favorites, Estimated Prophet (see now we're on the right spiritual track), and a ridiculous The Other One.  When I thought it couldn't get any better it did.  Now we get to the reason behind this blog entry's name... Sugar Magnolia.  The show ended with probably the best version of Sugar Magnolia that I've ever heard.  The crowd was singing and dancing like a bunch of kids after having eaten a pack of pixie sticks.  There's something to be said for standing next to 2,000 people who all have smiles on their faces.

 

After church on Sunday I headed up to Princeton to take some pictures (see Princeton collection above).  The campus is truly stunning with the brick buildings and archways.  Hopefully you enjoy the pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Saturday I had nothing to do so I went back into the city to take some pictures.  For lunch I went down to the East Village and ate at this place called Pommes Frites (Potato fries).  As many of you know I served a mission in Belgium, and Belgium is well known for their fries and the dipping sauces.  Needless to say I felt right at home with my Samurai Pineapple fry sauce. 

 

 

 

Looking back it's been a while since I've written.  A lot has changed since then.  A little over a month ago I received a call from a guy I worked with at my first ad agency in Detroit.  He called to tell me that he had taken a job as an associate media director at Mccann in NY and that he was looking to hire a media supervisor and wanted to know if I were interested.  I told him sure and we arranged a time for me to go out and interview.

 

Not to bore you with all the details but I thought I'd share one funny thing about the day I went in for my interview.  That morning I took the train from Cat's parents' house in Princeton to the city.  When I got off the train I realized that one of the pockets on my suit pants had come unstitched and one could see the white pocket lining.  This is not at all what I wanted when I was already stressed about the interview...not only would they think I'm an idiot but they would think I'm a slob for wearing an old ghetto suit.  Fortunately in the train station there was a little store that sold a sewing kit, so there I was in a NYC subway sation performing surgery on my pants.  I have to say though that it turned out looking as if I'd just stepped out of the fashion district.

 

The interview went well and a few days later I received a job offer.  Wow....what a big decision to make.  I was excited about the opportunity and Cat was pumped about being able to live closer to her family, but it was definetely a big decision.  Funny thing is that when I moved from Salt Lake to Michigan I hated Michigan.  Now I was in love with our condo, our ward was awesome, and we now have some greate friends in Michigan.  I was so torn as to what to do but we decided to take the opportunity and I've been working in Manhattan for the last two weeks.  

 

The city is crazy.  In Detroit I'd walk from the parking lot to the office and I'd see 20 or so people.  Now I'm lucky if I can see 20 feet in front of me when I walk from the subway station to the office.  Cat says the city is perfect for me though as I'm impatient, always in a hurry, and generally rude to others. (I think the impatient part is an exageration). 

 

For the time being I'm living with Cat's family in NJ.  I'm so happy that I have in-laws that are totally awesome.  So many times I've heard nightmare stories about in-laws and I'm thankful that mine are so easy going.  Cat's actually still in Michigan until mid December and then she'll move out here.  Hopefully our condo in Michigan will sell quickly and Cat and I can move closer into the city as my commute is insanely long (1.5 hrs each way).  The crazy thing is that the train from Princeton to NY is packed every single day so I'm not the only fool making the commute.

 

Anyways that's the update....Life has gotten much more complicated.  Hope to see you all in the Big Apple soon.

 

Jason

 

 

 

It’s often said if a small business owner can make it past the first three years, he/ she has done something right.  I don’t know if this holds true in marriage, but the fact that Cat hasn’t left me after three years must be a good sign.   

To celebrate this feat, we decided to go to Traverse City in northern Michigan to experience the fall colors.   For several weeks we had been scouting the change in colors over the internet and we were confident that were going to hit it just right.   Unfortunately, we both got sick and had to postpone the trip until the following weekend but all signs pointed that the leaves would still be in peak form.  On the Wednesday before leaving, our luck seemed to change for the worse.  The day temperature dropped from 60 degrees to around 40 degrees with rain/snow projected for the weekend.  When the hotel called to confirm that we were still planning on coming up, that was a pretty good indication that the weekend weather was going to be crappy. 

Nonetheless, we decided to forge forward with our plans.  On our way up the weather was horrendous with the rain changing to snow as we drove further north.  Although the colors were still fairly vibrant, it was evident that the colder weather had taken its effect.  To make matters worse, not only was it cold and snowy, but the wind was blowing at close to 20 MPH which resulted in most of the leaves being blown off the top of the trees.

Despite my disappointment, Cat persuaded me to stop complaining and to have a good attitude about it.  I must admit, she’s a total trooper and always sees the bright side of things. 

 We finally arrived at the hotel and decided that rather than brave the elements we would stay in and watch the Tiger’s game.  The Tiger’s were up two games to zero against the A’s and we were looking to the “Gambler”, Kenny Rogers, to get us one game closer to the World Series.  He came out and pitched amazingly well to lead the Tigs to a 3-0 win.  To celebrate, we went to a great Mexican restaurant called the “Red Mesa Grill.”  After dinner we went to a coffee shop and drank peppermint hot chocolate buy the fire, and although I wish I could say we had a deep romantic conversation, the truth is Cat read her fantasy novel and I played Sudoku.   

The next day the weather proved to be better (not sunny but not raining) so we decided to drive and see two of the peninsula’s light houses.  One of them was located directly on the 45^th parallel which signifies the halfway point between the North Pole and the equator.  Cat was so excited that she had to call her father to tell him where she was.  Cat can be pretty wacky at times.  Later that night we decided to go stroll downtown and found ourselves in a small pizza parlor.  

Fortunately they had several TVs with the Tiger’s game.  In the bottom of the 9^th, still tied, the Tiger’s were in prime position to close out the series.  With a runner on 1^st and 2^nd and two outs, Magglio Ordonez stepped up to the plate and hit a walk-off home run to win the game.  The crowd went crazy and according to Cat I yelled as well.  I know this weekend was supposed to be about love and romance, but that night Cat and I shared something so special…..THE TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES BABY.

 If the Tiger’s win the night before weren’t a blessing enough, Sunday brought us beautiful sunny weather.   We decided to take the long way home and drive out to Sleeping Bear Dunes and to see another light house. Cat always has to remind me that it’s about the journey and not the destination. It was such a beautiful drive out there and we found a very picturesque barn with vibrant trees in the background. 

 At the dunes we hiked out on this little trail and I decided to jump off one of the wind lips.  Ok I’ll be honest here.  I had scouted out one that I thought would be great and when I got on top it turned out to be higher than I anticipated and I wussed out and chose a smaller one.  It’s probably a good thing though, because when I hit the sand, rather than sinking in, I got pitched forward and totally ate it.  I proudly picked myself up and tried to act as though that were my plan but as it turns out Cat is no dummy and quickly laughed at my misfortune. 

All-in-all it was a fabulous weekend and we had such a great

It a duel that will go down in infamy; "The Gambler" Kenny Rogers going head-to-head against the "Big Unit" Randy Johnson.  Kind of sounds like the main event at a WWF Smackdown event, but rather it was a night of two fast ball slinging studs. 

 

The Tigers are back in the playoffs since 1987 and are now tied up in the ALDS against the Yankees.  Around noon I received a call from my rep at NBC asking me if I wanted to go to the game.  Did I want to go to the game?  Do crack addicts want their crack?  Do bears poop in the forest?  Of course I wanted to go to the game.  And then I think I lost all capacity to think clearly.  The problem was that I had been sick the first half of the week and Cat had been so nice to stay home and take care of me, but now she was sick and I felt some obligation to go home and take care of her.  Thankfully I was able to gain some compusre and rid myself of this hysteria to realize this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity (ok well at least for another 19 years) to see the Tigers in the playoffs.

 

I don't profess to be a play-by-play commentator so I'll make a long game into a short story.  Rogers (41 years old) played phenominally well.     After the game he commented, "I never want to show anybody up," Rogers said, "but I wanted this game as much as I ever wanted any in my life."  Kenny pitched a no run game through the eighth inning.  It was amazing to see Rogers handle the likes of Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi, and Johnny Damon. 

 

When Leyland pulled Rogers the crowd went nuts chanting his name as he walked to the dugout.  The crowd was so electric that you couldn't help but feel that you were part of something great.  Finally the people in Detroit have something to cheer about.

 

LET'S GO TIGERS!!!! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!!

 

 

Last Sunday Cat and I went to the Lions football game.  That's right Mom, we skipped out on church.  Going into the game, the Lions were 0-2 which has left the fans little faith (many consider football their religion so I take the liberty of using the word "faith" in this context) in the team for this season.  We can only be thankful that the Tigers have made the playoff for the first time in 17 years.  I digress, let's not focus on the positive.   I think the fans have realized that going to the games is simply setting one's self up for disapointment.  The unfortunate side effect to this conundrum (having optimisn in the wake of a harsh reality that the Lions suck) is that many people drown their sorrows in multiple beers.  However, I must admitt that I don't understand this strategy, as a bottle of beer sells for $7.50 so I don't understand how shelling out this amount of money can mask any type of disapointment.

 

Apparently the cost of beer has not affected the consumption of this beverage.  I think the beer vendors realized that if people were stupid enough to pay $2.95 for a gallon of gas, they would be more than willing to pay $7.50 for 160Z of beer.  Until the cost of beer comes down, we are going to be slaves to the Germans and not the Saudis.  With this said, I might encourage consumers of beer to stock pile as we are reaching the time of Octoberfest when demand will peak and prices will undoubtly soar to an all time high.

 

There is one upside, however, to this mass consumption of beer.....high quality watching of low quality people.  (Crap and the Lord says man shall not judge his neighbor....or at least his fellow Lions fan).   I'm not sure I've been in an environment this good for people watching since my friend Nate and I went to the WWF wrestling match when I was 16 years old.  The picture below is of this crazy guy who kept standing up during the AC/DC music that was pumped through the speakers to excite the crowd.  The funniest thing was that he kep singing the songs as if he were an opera singer.  Since when did opera music become the favorite of crazy football fans?  Apparently only after several bottles of beer and a football team with a losing record.

 

In any case, it appears that some people are so embarassed to be seen at the Lions game that they come incognito.  The below picture is of a guy who came to the game as Darth Vadar.  Who comes to a football game in a Halloween costume?  The best was when Darth bought crazy, drunk, fat opera singer another beer. 

 

So although we all had faith that the 0-2 Lions could beat the 0-2 Packers, we all left the stadium in a depressed state as the Lions lost yet another game. 

 

                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cat, Cleo, and I spent the weekend with a group of families from church at Muskegon Sate Park, located on Lake Michigan.  We got to the park on Friday morning and set up our camp.  Because of the holiday weekend, the campground was packed. The sites had little seclusion so it seemed like we were right on top of the other groups.  The group across from us had a Cocker Spaniel as well; the only problem was that it was a male and Cleo is in heat.  Fortnatutely, we were able to keep her on a tight leash and no funny business ensued. 

Although the campground was not the greatest, it did however have access to a totally awesome beach.  Cat and I took Cleo despite the sign that clearly indicated no animals and let her frolic around in the sand.   She’s come up with a new move called the “sand scoot” where she would sprawl out and slither across the sand.  I’ve never seen a cuter dog in my entire life. 

After dinner (hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill), we went back down to the beach with the other families for the sunset.  It was absolutely stunning.  There were enough clouds to make the colors pop.

                                                             

 

On Saturday, the entire group headed out to Silver Lake where there is a gigantic sand dune.  One of the members had a boat and Cat and I went tubing.  Cat is a total daredevil and she ended up hanging on longer than me.  To my credit, one of the times was when I tried to jump from my tube to hers.   

Being on the boat reminded me of all the good times that my family had on our boat.  I hope that when Cat and I have kids we will have the means to be able to afford one.  It’s thinking back on times like these, that I realize what a great childhood I had. 

On Sunday, Cat and I were ready to have some alone time so we decided to introduce Cleo to canoeing.  Cleo didn’t seem to mind too much being in the boat; in fact she kept leaning over the side of the boat in an effort to drink out of the lake.  We ended up paddling for about an hour to this beach with a sand dune.  Cleo had so much fun running up and down the dune; I even got her to jump off the wind cornice.  After getting all sandy, I grabbed Cleo and jumped in the water with her.  It was the perfect day with Cat and the fur baby.

 

On Monday night I took Cleo out rollerblading.  As we were returning home, Cleo got spooked by a vehicle passing through an entry gate into the private community that we were exiting.  She ripped the leash free from my hands and started to run across a busy road.  I attempted to call her back but she’s much too independent and kept going.  Knowing that she wasn’t going to return to me, I skated out into the middle of the road (not knowing if there was oncoming traffic) in an attempt to make sure any vehicle would see me and thus slow down to avoid hitting Cleo.   

I was too late and the car didn’t stop in time.  The next thing I saw was Cleo being sucked under the vehicle and then coming out the rear, rolling down the street.  It seemed so surreal; everything happening as if it were in slow motion.  I think my heart stopped at this point.  I was frozen, unable to move, unable to think.  I was convinced that I would never see my dog alive.  And then she moved.  She actually got up and ran down the grass hill back to the house.  I could tell she was hurt pretty badly as she struggled to run.  When I finally caught up to her she was in the garage lying in a puddle of urine.  I was surprised to see that my pants were actually dry. 

I opened the door to the house and screamed for Cat.  I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that intensely in my life.  I kept screaming “Cleo’s been hit, Cleo’s been hit…we’ve got to go”.  Cat picked up Cleo, where she peed again, and we rushed down to the car.  We rushed toward the animal clinic but we couldn’t go fast enough.  I was absolutely shaking as I drove.  When we finally got to the clinic it was closed.  Fortunately, I had grabbed my phone before we left and was able to call the phone number on the door.  The message indicated that they were closed, but it provided a number for a 24 hour emergency care.  We called, got the address, and drove like Hell.  I think I might go to hell for all the bad words that I was saying.   

 By the time we got the emergency care, Cleo was actually pretty calm; lying at Cat’s feet.  I, on the other hand, was absolutely freaking out.  Unfortunately I took out some of my panic on the poor vet assistant who kept asking me questions about what happened.  I think I was most distraught about having to relive what had just happened to Cleo.   

The doctor came in and examined Cleo.  Besides the abrasions on Cleo’s head (deep gouge above her right eye) he couldn’t see any obvious injuries.  Just to be safe we had them take X-rays of Cleo’s skull, rib cage, and legs.  The analysis was that there were no broken bones.  Although I was still somewhat in shock, I began to settle down.  Cleo was definitely more composed than I was. 

We were finally able to leave the clinic around midnight.  Cat and I slept out in the front room on the floor so we could be close to Cleo.  I ended up only sleeping a few hours. 

As it can be difficult to diagnose everything right after an accident, the doctor recommended that we take her to our regular vet the next day to ensure that nothing surfaced after 24 hours.  We took her in and they told us that despite the cuts she was going to be ok. 

48 hours later it appears Cleo is ok.  She’s back to playing with her toys and jumping around the house like she always does.  Although she has to wear an E-collar, she’s doing great.

And now for a shout out to the big man above for helping us through this.  I haven’t prayed this much in a long time and know that truly the fact that we have little Cleo is a miracle. 

 

 

For those who don’t know, Floyd tested positive for an unusually high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone following the 17th stage of the Tour de France.  Although Floyd insists that his body's natural metabolism - not doping - caused the elevated result, a New York Times report cast doubt on that defense. The newspaper cited a source from the UCI, cycling's international federation, saying that a second analysis of the "A'' sample, called a carbon isotope ratio test, had detected synthetic testosterone in Landis' system.  

Floyd!!!! Floyd, say it’s not true.  How could you let me down?   Please explain to me how, in the wake of the doping charges that took out Basso and Ulrich, that you could be so foolish as to use performance enhancing drugs.  Please convince me that you are innocent of these charges.  I’ve never been more excited after your win on stage 17 and now I’m left feeling that you have let me and all your fans down.  If you are guilty of cheating, I would hope that you would cowboy up and admit your error.  With that said, I keep the faith that you are in fact innocent. 

 

 

Well it's official; another American on top of the podium.  With the departure of Lance, we see Floyd Landis step in as the TDF champion.

                                     

 

Cat and I have spent most of the last 20 evenings in front of the TV watching the events unfold.  I must say Cat is a great sport to spend two hours a night watching guys pedal around France.  Many could argue that watching the Tour is more boring than watching golf, but I would argue that there's no greater sporting event.

 

Needless to say it's been quite the tour. Even before the prologue, the chaos had begun.  Three of the top contenders, Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, and Francisco Mancebo, were all dismissed just the day before the beginning of the tour as they were all indicted on doping charges. 

 

On stage two, we watched Robbie McEwan win the sprint to the line.  After he won stages four and six, Catherine was in love.  I guess this explains her enthusiasm to watch the tour after all.  Personally, I think it's more because he looks a little like Johnny Depp (Catherine thinks I'm smoking crack).  Every stage she wanted to know where her "Man" was.  I've never seen her more worried than when they hit the mountain stages, and McEwan suffered to stay within the time limits.

 

Stage 10 signified the real begging of the tour.  As the riders entered the Pyrenees all eyes were on the American GC (General Classification) riders: Levi, Floyd, and Georgie.  Although Juan Miguel Mercado won the stage, they looked pretty strong and in the same group together.

 

Going into stage 11, Floyd was the best placed American in fifth place.  The stage ended with both Levi and Floyd, along with Denis Menchov, finishing out in front.  Thanks to his effort, Floyd took the yellow jersey for the first time in his life and led by 8 seconds.  However, it was not such a glorious day for Hincapie who struggled on the stage finishing 21 minutes behind the leaders.  I felt awful for George for he had spent so many years leading for Lance, it was finally his turn to be in the spotlight.  Unfortunately the TDF is the race of truth and only the true riders rise to the top.  I must admit that I was somewhat content to see Discovery's domination come to end; fortunately it was at the hands of another American.

 

Moving into the Alps, Floyd was looking strong.  Stage 15 included the famous Alpe d'Huez and I was pumped to see how Floyd would respond the viscous attacks of the main GC contenders.  Although Frank Schlek went on to win the stage, Floyd had re-taken the yellow jersey that he gave to Oscar Pereiro on stage 13.

 

Stage 16 will be remembered as the worst day of Floyd's cycling career.  With 18 kilometers left to go in the race, Floyd bonked....simply running out of gas.  Floyd's implosion was the worst by a legitimate yellow-jersey contender since Jan Ullrich cracked and lost the 1998 Tour de France over the Col du Galibier.  Floyd ended up losing 10 minutes on the stage and was now 8 minutes behind Periro and around 6 minutes back behind the main contenders such as Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov, and Adreas Kloden.  At this point Floyd was written off as a possible winner of the TDF.

 

Stage 17 will be remembered as the stage where Floyd reaches down, musters all the courage in the world, and charges back to show the world this man is not ready to roll over and die.  In what could be argued as the most audacious and bravest rides in tour history, Landis attacked with 125 kilometers remaining in the stage.  With the teams thinking that he could never maintain the break away and gain the time he lost the day before, they let him go.   Not a good decision by the team directors.  Floyd was able to re-capture nearly six of the 8 minute deficit.  DON'T CALL IT A COME BACK...I'VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS....sucka.

 

  Never have I seen anyone ride as courageously as Floyd did that day.  While watching this stage at home I could not help to scream at the TV as if my screaming would help inspire Floyd to push forward up the insanely steep and long climbs.  I learned an important lesson today..you may have a day where you think all is lost and it would be easy to give up, but the true man rises to the occasion and crushes the challenge and those threatening to pull him down.  I was on a high for the next day just thinking about how Floyd "rose from the depths of the ashes and rose again as a reborn phoenix". (Thanks Bob Roll for the poetic prose).

 

Stage 19, the individual time trial, was the determining stage.  Because of his position going into the TT, he started third before Carlos Sastre, and Oscar Pereiro.  Sastre, mainly known for his climbing skills, rode the TT of his life but was unable to pull off a fast enough time to remain on the podium in 2nd place.  Pereiro rode like a man possessed and was determined to stay on the podium despite knowing that Floyd would most likely bump him out of the yellow jersey.  Although Floyd knocked him out of first, he rode an inspired ride and finished 4th on the stage and making him 2nd place overall.  Floyd would again re-take the yellow jersey.  Because the final stage into Paris is a mere formality, Floyd had secured the TDF.  That's eight years in a row for the Americans.  As many of you know, I love the French and their culture, but was ecstatic with Floyd winning the TDF.

 

I love the tour and everything it stands for.  There's nothing more beautiful than a race with so much tradition and history behind it.  Without fail, each year provides many stories of courage and bravery.  This year I will always remember the way Floyd would not give up and how he responded despite everyone counting him out.

 

The first part of my European trip was to Belgium.  Ten years ago I had the opportunity to go to Belgium as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I spent two years of my life growing a deep love for the country and especially the Belgian people...not to mention the chocolate and frites.  

 

DAY 1 (Friday)

 

I flew into Amsterdam on Friday morning and took the train down to Bruxelles.  As the train arrived in the city a wealth of memories came back and I must admit I got a little teary eyed.  Once I got to the Gare de Midi, my Belgian parents, Yves and Huguette, met me with open arms and big hugs. 

 

 

 

 As we drove I realized how much I love and miss the small cobble stone streets of Bruxelles.  However, I remember as a missionary walking eight hours a day on these streets and how at the end of the day my feet would be swollen from the un-even pave (stones). 

 

By this time I had been up for about 35 hours and was fairly exhausted from the change in hours.  This must have been fairly obvious as their first suggestion was to go back to their house and rest for a while.  For the last couple years or so Yves and Huguette have been working on finishing their new home and I was very excited to see the fruits of their labor.  Their home is beautiful and is located in a small town called Ittre which is out in the countryside with very green rolling hills.  With that said, the best thing about their house was the bed waiting for me in their guest room.  There's nothing like a 3 hour nap to help cure jet lag.

 

That night we went to see their daughter Yvettes and her two children.  It's funny because when I first met Yvettes she didn't like the missionaries and I was pretty sure she despised me.  I think now we have a good relationship and it was very cool to see her two children and how great she is as a mother.  Also it was really cool to see Yves interact with the kids....he's a big push over afterall.  I even left with a picture that Yvettes daugher made for me.

 

Day 2 (Saturday)

 

The next morning Huguette and I went to Nivelles to go buy some chocolate...did I mention that Belgium has the best chocolate in the world?   I ended up buying around 10 lbs or so of different varieties.  After stockpiling we went to the town market where I purchased two very cool hats.  The market back brought back some great memories as a missionary we used to set up a table and speak to people as they walked through the merchants.  It always cracked me up because we'd meet the most interesting people...some very nice and some not so nice.  Also there's nothing like seeing skinned rabits hanging up for sale. 

 

 

For lunch we met up with my friend Christel, her husband Eric, and her oldest son.  I first met Christel at the first of my mission in when I was in Liege.  Christel was a recent convert to the church and was always so excited to hang out with the missionaries.  She taught me a lot of french at the beginning and she especially liked to teach me slang.  Later I served in Namur for 10 months where she was going to school so our friendship continued to grow.

 

For lunch we went to a friterie where I got a mitraillette (machine gun) which is a baggette filled with pieces of meat and onion and then topped with fries and sauce.  Can I say to die for?  The belgian fries and the best sauce ever (andalouse) is a thin slice of heaven. 

 

After lunch, we left Huguette and Yves and went to Bruxelles to see the refinished Antonium. 

This monument from 1958 has become the Eiffel tower of Brussels. The Atomium is the visual representation of the concept of an "atom". It symbolizes an elementary iron crystal with its 9 atoms and magnified 150 billion times.  We waited in the long line to take the elevator to the top but it turned out it was worth the wait to be able to look out over the city. 

 

 

Later that evening we went back to Christel and Eric's house.  We were planning on going to a light show above one of the Castles in her town but true to Belgium form it rained and the show was cancelled.  We did, however, go down to the town fair where we took her son on some of the rides.  I think the Belgians have become accustomed to the rain and will brave the elements.  We didn't want the ugly weather to dampen (no pun intended) our spirits so we went out for dinner at another Friterie.  This time I only went for the fries rather than the full on Mitraillette.

 

Day 3 (Sunday)

On Sunday I wanted to attend Church in Namur.  As I lived there for 10 month I feel like the church there is pretty special.  When I arrived at the church I was met with great bissous (kisses) from many of the members that I had grown to love so dearly.  Soeur (Sister) Badoux had such a big smile on her face when she saw me that it made the $1,300 airfare seem pretty insignifacnt at that point. 

I was able to attend a meeting where the investigators of the church are taught.   One of the greatest things was that Patrick, a man we baptized, was there and he brought a friend with him so he could share the gospel with her.  It was so rewarding to be able to speak again about the church in French.

After church I was invited to go to Rudy's house for lunch.  While on my mission Rudy was in charge of working with the missionaries and we had so many fun times together playing football and playstation on our preperation days.  Rudy was a return missionary and was naturally always looking for a wife but in Belgium it's not the easiest thing to find a mormon girl.  I was delighted to find that he had in fact found a wife who was totaly awesome and has two adorable kids.  It's pretty classic because his oldest son has bright red hair but fortunately he is only four and it's been eight years since I've been in the country so there was no chance he was mine.

Later that evening I returned to Huguette and Yves' house where we had dinner with Norbert and Michelline.  I first met Norbert as a missionary as we were walking down the street looking for people to talk to.  Much like all Belgians, Norbert told me he was interested in hearing about the church.  One of the first phrases I learned in French was Ca ne m'interesse pas (that doesn't interest me) as I heard this over and over and over again.  However, as we talked with Norbert we invited him to come to the English Class we taught at the church.  Over several months of coming to the class I became close with he and Michelline.  The great thing is that although both of these couple don't go to church, it was in fact the church that brought these two couples together as friends. 

 

 

The only uncomfortable part of the evening was when Norbert asked me how my friend George was doing.  I was a little confused but he clarified...George Bush.  Yeah it seems like the Belge have a less than favorable opinion of our president.

 

Day 4 (Monday)

We woke up early in order to get me to the train station so that I could make my flight in Amsterdam.  It was pretty hard saying good bye to Huguette and Yves as it's hard to say when I'll be able to return to my dexiumme pays (second country).