Who is the most photographed person at a wedding? The bride? The groom? The mother of the bride? Or could it be the pastor? I looked through all my photos from Jenny's wedding this past weekend and I think the pastor made it into 98% of the shots. Some of his expressions were pretty good.

This sunset is from along 1-70 as we headed back from Kansas last weekend. About an hour after this photo was taken I started developing a sore throat. By the time we arrived home at 10:30 I was hurting pretty badly. I didn't get much work done Tuesday, Wednesday or today as I've since been sick with a terrible sore throat and a cold. I finally went to the doctor today and got some medication. I can at least eat now and hope to be on the mend.

we're home...

Well we're back.

Sunday morning, Paul and I went down to the lower pasture and fired my new 1911. I asked him if he would do me the honor of firing the first rounds. At first he wouldn't, as it was my new gun, but I explained that it would mean a lot to me if he would shoot it first, and he humored me. Despite his deteriorating eyesight, he hit the target consistently and called our time together an "enjoyable interlude" for the morning.

I had a lot of time to talk with Paul over the weekend. Talking with him is generally the highlight of my time visiting Abilene. It's hard to feel like I'm forging a meaningful friendship with him, while at the same time seeing his body deteriorate from visit to visit. I feel almost an urgency to sit and hear everything he has to say, to soak up as much of the memory of him as I can while I am able.

I'm not certain why I feel such a connection with Paul. I have lost both my grandfathers, and never felt the connection with them that I have felt with Paul. I think it may be that Paul's mind is very sharp, and I never knew either of my grandfathers to be as engaging as Paul.

I get the impression that I am one of a very small group of people that actively sits and listens to Paul. He comments frequently that he really enjoys visiting with me, and I let him know that I feel the same way. I pray that I will have many years to continue to sit and visit with Paul, but do not know how many I will get.

We left Abilene (where we had been staying with Nancy's grandparents) and headed to Moundridge yesterday morning.

Emma stayed behind as she wanted to ride home with her grandparents, who had driven separately and were leaving later.

Nancy, Corben and I got to visit with Tim and Sherrill for a few hours, and despite the rainy weather, Tim and I managed to shoot a round of sporting clays. As he generally does, Tim shot very well. I did not shoot as well but still had a lot of fun.

We hope to make it back to Central Kansas again soon.

I'll post some photos from our trip when I get some time, but for now I need to catch up on a lot of work. This will be a busy week. I still have a lot of work to get done and we close on our house tomorrow.

this coming weekend

Disclosure: This post contains some text which could be construed as political in nature and may offend those who lean left.

Well, our next trip is upon us. Tomorrow evening we'll be driving to Kansas for Nancy's cousin's wedding. I've only met her cousin Jenny a few times, but I look forward to getting away from the desk for a few days and seeing Nancy's family.

Weather.com seems to think our trip will be a rainy one. If you are planning a road trip, I would advise checking their driving weather report. We'll be on 1-70 pretty much the whole way, and they have forecasts for Interstates that show the weather along the entire route.

While there, I hope once again to do some shooting. I really hope I can get to Moundridge and shoot at Kansas Clays & Hunts. Tim and Sherrill (our former pastor and his wife) now own and run this great outfit, and we'd love to get to see them. I know how it is, though. Family visits can get a little hectic, and with the wedding it may not be possible this trip.

I'm up to my neck in work, still. I have projects due tomorrow which I will be working on most of tonight. I need to sleep some, though because I'll be driving all night tomorrow night.

For those of you who I know who are of like mind on the shooting sports, I have recently acquired a new Colt 1911-A1 (Springfield Armory replica). It's Springfield Armory's least-expensive version -- which just means it is very close to the original in design -- but I have been saving up for a while and got it along with new cherry grips. I haven't had a a chance to take it shooting yet, but perhaps this weekend I will. Here is a link to a very large, but somewhat poor photo.

For those who don't know what a Colt 1911 is, who are interested, it is a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun adopted for use by the US military in 1911. You can read more here and here.

If anyone is interested in why I bought this particular gun, here are several reasons:

• I like shooting 1911's.
  
• I have a wife and kids and think that it's my job to protect them if anyone intended them harm.
  
• I like to camp in the Colorado Rockies and want to take my small children with me -- there are mountain lions in Colorado and since they have tightened regulations on hunting them there have been more attacks -- especially on smaller people.
  
• The 1911 has a rich history, and Nancy's grandfather has owned several and has stories of carrying and using them in WWII. Even though mine is a replica rather than an original, I like owning something that has an interesting history.
• I may have a chance to use it hunting sometime. I had some friends go on a boar hunt a few years ago and they were able to use their handguns. I think this would be a fun hunt and hope I can someday go.
  
• Lastly, I feel that it is the responsibility of the responsible among us to own and know how to use guns. I get extremely frustrated with the efforts of some people to take the rights guaranteed in the second amendment of the US Constitution away from law-abiding citizens. I won't take the time to get on a big soapbox right now -- I find politics to be very divisive and that is not what I'm about. I will say that I think the world is a messed up place, and removing something that gives us the means to provide some small measure of security to those who we are responsible for just puts us all more at risk.
  

I had not initially intended this post to turn political. I do want this journal to reflect what I think, be it political in nature or not, so I ask for grace from those who disagree with me. Hopefully this post won't cause anyone to stop reading about my life and caring about what I and my family are up to.

I plan on trying to post some audio from the road here over the weekend, then post the details from our trip early next week. Thanks for checking in!

saturday news, calling all interns...

well I'm going to get crazy here and post 2 days in a row.

I helped Nancy's folks with some fairly heavy landscaping today. I have been behind a keyboard for a long time, and have done little else. I hurt like a son-of-a-gun already. I thought I gave myself a hernia at one point, and that I sprained my shoulder at another.

I need to get some exercise. It probably wasn't good that I had fried chicken for 2 meals today either...

OK Interns (you know who you are), I spoke with Darin the other day (and Meeghan for about 10 seconds) and they want to have a get-together. You all know me, I love a good get-together. So I'm going to be looking for suggestions on how we want to do this. I can already say that it will probably need to be in July or August (perhaps later, I don't know). Darin suggested (and I love this, too) that we should have the get-together in Colorado, being that it's somewhat central to us all. SO, reply, post, whatever on the pitifully lonesome intern blog.

friday news

Well the week is drawing to a close. Thank God.

For the past month I've been working on a project using a relatively new technology called "Flex" from Macromedia. Flex is cool. Flex is expensive. Flex can build amazing applications. Flex has a steep learning curve.

I am completely exhausted from lack of sleep (I've been averaging about 3 hours a night) and pushing myself mentally.

I am excited to be working with Flex, however, as it seems to be on the verge of very wide adoption, and there are relatively few people in the world who know how to use it. We'll see if I find any paying projects that require its use.

I haven't given a full wrap-up of what all is going on in a while, so let me take this opportunity to do so.

We are closing on a house here in Fort Collins on the 27th of this month. My friend Todd got his dream job with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and as a result decided to sell their house, and they asked us if we wanted to buy it. We did. This house used to belong to the pastor of PEAK Community Church, Tim Kraft, and his wife Sherrill.

Tim and Sherrill are great friends, and Nancy and I spent many evenings at the Kraft's house while we were in college and dating. The house holds many great memories, and it is a neat house. It is on a large lot and has a lot of room for our family. We are very excited to move in.

We are having a baby in October. I'm going to keep on writing to see if you are really reading or if you are just skimming and missed that last sentence. We are excited about this as well.

I am going to be doing a fair amount of travelling in the coming months. This month we are going to Nancy's cousin's wedding in Kansas. Next month I am taking at least one, perhaps two trips to Nebraska to visit the family on the ranch and help them with their Prairie Dog problem. I will also be taking a trip in June to NE for the same reason. June will also be the month of our 9-year wedding anniversary, and we are making plans to take a little trip for that as well.

My friends Andy and Jon are coming out for one of the trips to NE in May. Then Dan and Bill are coming for the trip in July. Dan visited last summer as well.

Work-wise, in addition to all the Flex stuff I've been helping Studio North with, I have also started working with a local design company called One Tribe. They seem like a great group of people, and I hope to be a good fit in working with them on technology projects.

That's it for now. I'm going to walk away from the keyboard for a bit and rest my monitor-weary eyes.

audio try 2

My first audio post was way back in July. Kelly motivated me to give this a try again. I don't really have anything that important to say, listen if you want. Let me know what you think.

mini VOIP review

Check out my Technology blog for a short review of 2 VOIP (Voice Over IP -- internet phone) service providers.

Emma let me take her photo while she was picking flowers in Kansas. I never get over how beautiful she is. 

Emma's preschool went to the CSU veterinary hospital yesterday. They sent home this photo with her and Nancy and I thought it was pretty cute. She's definitely not squeamish about seeing the insides of animals, and this was a fun trip for her. 

Well here's a quick photographic rundown of our Easter Kansas trip.

We did a lot of shooting, Paul had a new black powder revolver (that's the one kicking out all the smoke). We also shot his WWII Colt 1911.

The fire on the top right was from Becky's field, she was burning off the brush, it was quite a spectacle.

Paul also had a bunch of Civil war letters from one of his ancestors, and we had a great time looking over those.

We did a few more things, but these are the ones I took photos of.