First Week in April 2010

The week after Easter 2009, yep, that's when it all went to pieces last year. So this is an anniversary of sorts. I took 40 days off from dancing and Facebook and refocused. It was incredibly beneficial to take the break, although I did not enjoy it at the time. Somethings have changed quite a bit. I lost 25 pounds and for the first time in my life an exercise program stuck and worked. I am much more confident, and for the first time in recent years, I am ambitious, and looking to complete projects, not just start them. Other issues are still lingering, particularly wrangling my money under control, and still looking to keep my self-esteem to be centered in my relationship with God, not in whether people like me or not ... however, both are vastly improved from this time last year.

In other news, this is my first 'weekly' blog post that does not include pictures, weird.

Monday morning I woke up and went to work as sick as I can ever remember doing so. Eventually, my migraine meds kicked in and I felt better, but I really wanted to go home at one point. I ended up canceling my guitar lesson, and instead I laid on the couch and watched Troy play video games, until the last few minutes of the NCAA men's national championship basketball game.

I asked Troy to flip over to it and with Merinda, we watched the end of the game. It turned out to be really compelling viewing, and was still not completely decided until after time expired. With Duke winning, I became the winner of Kaleb's pool. I now have bragging rights for fantasy football and the NCAA pool.

Tuesday I had lunch with CJ and Troy. Troy is now working down not too far away from me, CJ too, we'll be having lots of lunches, hopefully. Tuesday evening was dance practice, and we had ten people there! Yay! Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I basically stayed at home and did nothing memorable. It was a nice break.

Friday at work I tried to be a tech geek, and I watched a little bit of the Masters golf tournament on my iPhone. The picture quality was better than I thought it would be, but it wasn't that watchable, it's just too small to keep attention on it.

Friday night I predictably went dancing. I had my camera, but I didn't take any pictures. I probably talked more than I usually do, rather than dance. I had a funny moment dancing with a person (who will remain nameless) who indicated that the strong, silent dancing type would be more appreciated. I guess I was talking too much. I'm cursed to be the guy who likes to talk.

On Saturday, Troy and I started the day off by taking a trip to Hy-Vee for lunch, and then over to Best Buy. When we came home I started off my game of Final Fantasy 13. Maeg is insisting I'll hate it, but I think I'll let it play out first. I read a few reviews on it, and they varied wildly, I guess I'll have to make up my mind for myself.

Later on Mae, Frank, and I went to eat at Old Chicago. Our server seemed a little on the unsure side, Mae and I can be pretty outgoing and enthusiastic at times. Fortunately Frank showed up and calmed everyone down. We ordered our food and had a great time. After a side trip to Hy-Vee, where we didn't get thrown out, eventually, we ended up back at the house and sat around the table and talked.

Sunday began the big project. Remember last week, I wrote

After Mass one of us came up with doing a tour of the all the churches in Omaha. Ha ha ... expect remember the last time something like was said offhandedly. I ended up walking most of the NRD trails. I think Brianne is all in, Joe seems like he'll go along, and I think more news will be coming on this little project.

Yeah, well it's underway. We had kind of a soft launch, just myself, Brianne, and Frank. But there are plans, big plans. We have a group blog. A link to it is over in my project area. We're calling it Mass Chaos, and we're going to try to get interviewed by the Catholic Voice, the local Catholic newspaper. It's not a big deal (yet), but it's the biggest deal I've been part of in a good long time, if ever. Here is my contribution to this weeks visit, Saint Bridget in South Omaha. Before church we had breakfast at IHOP, yes, this means I was up at a very reasonable hour on a Sunday morning.

Later in the afternoon, I went golfing with CJ at Dodge Park in Council Bluffs. It's officially called Dodge Riverside or something like that. I like it. The problem with the course is that in the summer, it gets really buggy. I hit a bunch of greens in regulation, and zero fairways. Good: one great sand shot, a mostly amazing save from under a tree on 18. Bad: I managed to miss a six foot putt for birdie and go over the green on 8 so badly it made a save impossible. Final score: 79.

And that was it for this week. I really want to get the camera out and go on a shoot.