November 2010

This month has been has some up and downs, so let’s start with some of the good items. Deb has been doing well with the pregnancy, as the only real symptom she has dealt with is a lack of energy, which has been linked to her having some low iron and thyroid levels. She has started to show a little bit, which has been pretty exciting, except when it is time for her to pick out her clothes for the day! We haven’t done much yet as far as registering or buying furniture, as we are waiting until our ultrasound appointment next month. We really don’t know what we need yet, but I’m sure we will figure it out once we get into the registering process. We did sign up for a daycare center in November, so that was one thing to mark off the to-do list.

Deb’s aunt and uncle came to visit us in mid-November. They arrived on Friday evening and we had a good visit with them. We went to the Colts vs. Bengals game over the weekend, and the Colts were able to pull out the victory! Barbs, Ralph and I went downtown on Saturday afternoon while Deb took a nap. Ralph enjoyed the off-track betting while Barbs and I walked around the mall and had a cup of coffee. It was nice to have them visit for a low-key, relaxed weekend. Even though Beth’s birthday is in December, she picked a weekend in November to celebrate. She chose to really turn 30 in style by getting a bus full of friends and heading up to Harry’s (Purdue Bar in Lafayette, IN) for some afternoon drinks! The bus picked up the group at noon and got back around 6pm. We ordered pizza and hung out at Rowin for a few hours before heading out to Broad Ripple. The evening was fun, but rolling into Harry’s at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon is usually a good sign that you are going to have fun!

We were in WV for Thanksgiving this year. We heading to Charleston and arrived on Wednesday evening. I went for a run with Julie on Thanksgiving morning and had a great Thanksgiving feast later that afternoon. On Friday, after some Black Friday shopping, we watched the Backyard Brawl (WVU vs. Pitt) and WV won! Deb and Julie cooked dinner at Julie’s house on Friday evening. On Saturday, we went to a basketball game between WVU and VMI. WVU won by about 10 points, but it was a fun experience to see a WVU game in Charleston. Anna had a fun maternity shirt for Deb that she picked up and Ralph found a WVU sweatsuit for the little one!

Things with Dad have been a little tough this month. Dad’s ability to walk has deteriorated a little. The doctors have adjusted some of his medication to see if that will help. Mom has been doing great helping out and Beth was home for Thanksgiving when Dad started to be able to do a little more walking. Hopefully the medication will start to take hold and we will see him back to where he was earlier in the fall. He had a short stint in the hospital in early November.

A few more items from this month:
• We celebrated Grace’s birthday at Pete and Laura’s on November 13th. Grace wasn’t all that interested in opening the gifts, so Claire helped out and told everyone Thank-you!
• We won the flag football championship this fall. You would think a 31 year-old could leave something like this out of the blog, but you would be wrong!

October 2010

There is only one way to start off this month’s memoirs, with the exciting news that:

Deb is pregnant and due on May 1st, 2011!!!

That’s right! We are expecting next spring and Deb has just completed the first trimester of her pregnancy. As of the end of October, she is 14 weeks along and doing great! Aside from her clothes maybe being a little snug and her bedtime arriving about a half-hour earlier each day, things are going about as normal as they usually are for us. She hasn’t had too many cravings, except she really wants fruit and pizza, but she really liked both those things before she was pregnant. Deb has been flooded with maternity clothes from friends and also done a little shopping on her own. We don’t know when those clothes will be needed, but at least we are well prepared! We have heard the first thing we need to do is to look at daycare centers, so that is our priority item before Thanksgiving.

It is hard for anything else to really follow that news, so here it goes! On October 9th, we had 2 weddings we wanted to attend. Chris Wahl and Michelle got married in Chicago, while Amy Dryden and Kurt got married in Indianapolis. Amy was a bridesmaid in our wedding and is one of Deb’s closest friends. We decided a long time ago that I would attend the wedding in Chicago and Deb would stay in Indy for Amy’s wedding. I went up on Friday and spent the night with the Anderson’s, where I got a chance to catch up with Jeremy and Erin, along with their daughter, Emma. We played some Wii games, had some beers, watched some re-runs on TV and ate some pizza, so apparently things don’t change that much from college. I attended the wedding the next day with a large group of our friends from the flag football league. I crashed in the Bassett’s room and drove back with Brandon and Diane. Deb enjoyed Amy and Kurt’s wedding. She enjoyed the ability to see her friend Rick Richardson after so many years along with a chance to see Julie, Bill, Angie and Kristin. Angie and Deb actually set Amy and Kurt up a few years ago so it was fun to see the matchmaking actually work!! On October 16th, we attended the Light the Night event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was held at Victory Field here in Indianapolis and the weather couldn’t have been better. We had a good group of family that attended this year, with the Caslers, Wahmans, Vandervaarts (Pete’s family included) attending. Dad has recovered well from his fall in September and is doing much better. My comments last month were a little dramatic and he was back to using his injured hand early in October.
A few more items from this month:
• Pete joined me in a basketball league that plays on Tuesday evenings. It is organized through a guy I know at work and we lost one a few guys from last season, so Pete was able to help out.
• We had to replace our kitchen faucet this month, which I didn’t trust myself to do correctly so we invited Pat and Paul Casler over for dinner so Paul could help/supervise my work!

September 2010

September was relaxing change to end our summer as we stuck around Indy all month and enjoyed several events. I know we are always on the move, but we really do enjoy sticking around and not doing much sometimes and having football to lounge around and watch makes it an easy decision!

Let’s start with an update on Anna. Her wounds are finally healed!! They definitely have left their mark, but she is almost back to her usual self again!! She is back to work and doing well. She has been working catching up with the new adjustments at Frontier (Verizon was bought out by Frontier), but we all know she is picking it up quickly and doing well. Hopefully her calf is ready for ski season and she is ready for the slopes!

My Dad took a fall in late September and had a dislocated finger along with some bumps and bruises. It sounds like for a majority of the month of October he will be dealing with one usable hand and will need to adjust most of his daily activities. Before this fall, he was walking outside about 2-3 times a week and was getting around the house. We hope and pray he can get back to those activities soon.

Early in the month, we took my cousin Chris to a preseason Colts game for his high school graduation (early present). We brought along my uncle Frank as well. We enjoyed some tailgating, along with having some decent seats and taking part seeing a game at Lucas Oil. We had a good evening and enjoyed hanging out with Chris and Frank, as you can see from the pictures.

We also were fortunate enough to go to the Colts vs. Giants home season opener. We enjoyed tailgating with Beth, Laura and Jeff Ferrand before the game.

Later in the month, I went to a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters in downtown Indy. I received my ticket through work that allowed me to head to this event, where the feature speaker was Bob Knight. Now, I know being a Purdue fan I shouldn’t really be excited about this, but it was great to hear his stories about basketball and coaching. Some of his stories can only be re-told in person and the picture below tells it all, and about how excited he is to be there! I did get a chance to shake his hand, ask him a quick question, and then he was onto the next person!
We attended the 2nd annual LobsterFest at Tom and Tracy’s house this year. It was a good time, as we flew in live lobsters from Maine. It was a great night, as we played some cornhole, ate some appetizers, enjoyed our lobsters and hung out around the fire (and watched WVU vs. LSU play football).

A few more items from this month:
• I continued playing flag football with the Horses. We got new jerseys and we mimicked Charlie Brown’s shirt, with everyone being named after a character from the show, and I got Linus, the one that carries the blanket!
• We attended Diane Steffey’s surprise 30th birthday party, where we tried a new restaurant in Lebanon and came back to Broad Ripple for some music at the Wellington.
• I attended a Bob Schneider concert at the Rathskeller with Tom, Tracy, Diane and Lawton.

August 2010

August went by very fast, mainly because we had something going on each weekend. The month started off with our annual “Beachmo” trip when we head to Lake Michigan for a weekend with family and friends. Everyone was able to make it and it was a good time. The weather cooperated very well and we enjoyed some late night euchre. A highlight this year was the Geography Jeopardy! Several people faced off to figure out who was the least informed person when it came to geography. There were several hilarious responses, but I don’t want to embarrass anyone! The second weekend in August we went to visit the Depps in Cincinnati. We really enjoyed a relaxed weekend of sleeping in, going to a Reds game, enjoying some great pizza and heading to a street festival. We also happened to enjoy a great happy hour before the Reds game that was half off drinks! It was “Red’s Garden Gnome” night and we had to get there in time! We were able to get a few of the collectibles and I gave them to some friends in Indy that were Reds fans! We also got cruise around town in their Jeep Wrangler along with do some nice walking through their trials in their neighborhood.

Deb's mom had a skin graft on August 13th in attempts to get her wound from her fall in June to heal. Unfortunately the surgeons did not put the correct dressing on her leg in surgery and her skin graft failed.

The 3rd weekend in August Deb went to Max Foulke’s birthday party and I went to Chris Wahl’s bachelor party. Now, we can get far more details out of Deb about Max’s party than I have about the bachelor party! We played golf, had appetizers and drinks at St. Elmo’s, headed off the Indians game and then partying the night away. The highlight for me was the food I ate that day: Qdoba for breakfast, hotdog at the golf course, McDonalds for late lunch, hotdog at Indians game, and late night White Castle! After being with Deb for nearly 7 years, my stomach felt like it was going to explode after a day like that! We also attended Sausagefest on Friday night of this weekend. This is a fundraiser at St. Thomas Aquinas (where I went to grade school) and enjoyed a bratwurst along with a cold beer!

Toward the end of August, Deb headed home to help her mom heal from her fall in June. At this point Anna's wound is almost closed and this will soon be behind her. She should be able to head back to work after Labor Day. Deb helped her mom start to get her energy and stamina back and what better way to do that than with retail therapy!! I had planned a trip to Davis for a Mancation trip. Foulke, Watkins, Bassett, Lawton and Anderson all came along to Davis to hang out with Randy. We went to Siranni’s for pizza and Hellbender for burritos, along with grill out steaks and burgers the other nights. We headed over to Mountain State Brewery for some pitchers of Cold Trail beer. We went rafting on the first day and then went mountain biking the next 2 days. It was quite an experience to bike for nearly 3-4 hours each day (first day was in the Camp 70/CVI area and the second day was on the Dobbin Trail in Blackwater falls). Everyone did a great job and the best part of the trip was the first day of biking, in nearly the first 15 minutes out there, I went over my handlebars pretty quickly on probably the easiest trail! Everyone got a good laugh, and there were no serious injuries throughout the weekend. We did finish off some beer along with some moonshine that was found in the liquor cabinet!

July 2010

July was a relatively calm month in comparison to how busy June was and how August is going to be! I arrived back from Amsterdam on July 2nd and we went out to dinner at the Brew Pub with some friends and then and got ice cream at BRICS (Broad Ripple Ice Cream Station). On Saturday, we went to Tom and Tracy’s for dinner. On July 4th (Sunday), we went to Lawton’s parent’s house for their annual party. On July 5th, we went over to Wahl’s place for a cookout. It took some time adjusting that weekend back to U.S. time, but with plans each evening, it forced me to stay up and adjust.

Back to work on Tuesday was a little tough as I had only spent 3 days in the office the prior 2 and a half weeks! I don’t talk about work much on this blog, but it has been a very busy July. Once I got back to work on the 6th, we had to work on getting the month of June closed, along with giving the support to Amsterdam for their new software. Since I had been there twice, most of the accounting and operation issues came my way and I’ve been spending each morning emailing and calling the Netherlands to coordinate some solutions. Hopefully by mid-August, things will slow down a little.

Lawton, Deb and I drove to a campground that Beth and the Vandervaarts were camping at the 2nd weekend in July (along with some of Laura’s friends). It was a hot day so the kids were in the pool, and we enjoyed hanging out, playing cornhole, bocce and just hanging out with everyone.

The following weekend, Deb flew home to spend her annual week at home in WV. I drove out the following Thursday to spend a long weekend in Charleston. Deb arrived the same day her mom got out of the hospital. Anna went back into the hospital and had to have 2 surgeries to clear out the infection and still has a vacuum over the wound to help it heal. Unfortunately she will have to go back to surgery again in August for a skin graft. Deb and Randy helped get Anna situated in the house and by the time I arrived, she seemed to be doing pretty well. Deb and I went down to Bluefield on Friday where I went to a butcher shop with Chuck, Deb and I went to an Orioles game (Rookie ball), and I got to take a ride in Chuck and Heather’s corvette. The next day, we celebrated Deb’s birthday with the Walkers. Deb got some nice gifts from her parents (digital frame along with items from Cornucopia- earrings and a bracelet), a bike helmet from me, some more items from Cornucopia from the Walkers, a nice purse from her sister, some gift certificates from Beth, Laura, Mom and Dad, and a yoga mat from Tom and Tracy. She also got an ice cream cake from B&R which made her more excited than most of her gifts!

For a belated birthday present for Dad, I took him around to visit with his physical therapist at RHI and visit his favorite nurse at Seton Specialty Hospital. Dad and I had a good evening and enjoyed a nice snack at Denny’s between our visits!

A few more items from this month:

• I hung out with Dad on the last Friday in July as Mom had gone up to Dewart Lake with some family members. Dad and I enjoyed watching National Lampoons Vacation and enjoyed a pork-chop dinner with Deb.
• The Anderson’s came for a visit to Indy the last weekend in July. We had a cookout at Ben and Julia’s and Lawton, Foulke, Anderson and I ended up out in Broad Ripple until 1am before getting a burrito on our way home!

June 2010

June has flown by very quickly and it is hard to believe it is already July 4th weekend! Deb and I went on a vacation to Riveria Maya (which is in Mexico). We stayed at an all-inclusive resort and it was very impressive. It was a very large resort and it had all the usual activities from snorkeling to kayaking, along with watching the NBA Finals and World Cup soccer on a big projection TV. We spent just about every minute we could outside. Our typical day consisted of taking in the beach in the morning, followed up by lunch and then one afternoon activity (snorkeling, kayaking, ping pong, etc.). After that, we usually found a place to take a nap before having a few more drinks in the pool before heading to get ready for dinner. We found ourselves pretty tired each night around 10, mainly because of being in the sun all day. The weather was pretty hot (90’s was the usual high), but the breeze kept us cool if we went toward the water. Few funny stories were that I consistently thought I had a straw in my cup, but it was just a stir stick, so I would try to suck my fruity drink through a straw that wasn’t there. Deb got over her fear of fish when she was snorkeling, but a few times she would flip out if a school of small fish got near her! Shortly after getting back from Mexico, I had to head back to Amsterdam for another trip for work. This trip, we went to the Rijks Museum, watched some World Cup soccer, and took a canal boat tour through the city. The canal tour was awesome, because it was on a private boat so we could maneuver through the city and see more sites a little faster than the big boats. We went to dinner on the water and enjoyed wine while seeing different parts of the city. We also spent an afternoon watch the Netherlands play in the elimination round of the World Cup. As soon as they won, I found myself getting spray painted where my hair was turning Orange. The trip was successful in regards to work, as they are close to getting onto our operations software, but it will be a busy July to get them through some of their issues and concerns.

While I was gone, Deb enjoyed a week of being single. She enjoyed dinner with Amy Dryden and caught up with her about her upcoming wedding. She had dinner at the Steffey’s for a Vieques reunion. She probably enjoyed some time away from me as we were together in Mexico for an entire week and she probably needed a break! Deb went along with my parents, Pete and Laura, and the Wahman’s to an Indians game. She also had dinner with the Watkins a few times to catch up with them and of course play with their girls.

A few more items from this month:
• I went over to Pete & Laura’s to watch the USA vs. England World Cup match in Group Play. It was fun to learn about some of the rules from Pete and Chris (Frank and Chris came along also).
• Anna had a fall in Charleston while we were in Mexico and had 50+ stitches in her leg. She is on the road to recovery now, and we hope she is off the crutches soon!
• We went to Bonge’s Tavern in late June with some of our Purdue friends (Watkins, Foulkes, Miles and McGraths). This is a restaurant where you tailgate before your reservation and enjoy some beers before you head in for dinner. It was a great way to catch up and also enjoy a good meal!

May 2010

May started off with Deb and me visiting Beth in Nashville. The visit had plans of going to have some drinks on the river, hiking in a park, going out in the evening and spending time together. We got to hang out and spend some good time…indoors. It rained 14 inches in 2 days and caused some of the worse flooding ever in the Nashville area! It came to a point on the way to church on Sunday that Deb pulled over, after we had already been blocked off by going one direction due to standing water, and decided it was time for us to head home. Probably the best decision she has ever made other than marrying me! We were able to get out of town after being detoured through downtown onto the interstate. We had a good time visiting Beth and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Loveless Café (great biscuits) and also a fun time out with some great live music and some of Beth’s friends on Saturday evening (we even went a bar called “The Trailer Park!”).

After we got back, I was a week away from my 3rd Mini-Marathon and was getting in preparation mode. I had trained differently this year (less worrying about the watch on long runs and running faster on shorter runs) and was anxious to see how it may help out. I was also in Corral E, which is the closest I’ve ever been. Nevertheless, I ended up with a 1:53:27 which was 3 minutes faster than my best time. It was a good time and Deb was able to get some good pictures of me before I went into the Speedway. It was fun to see some friends afterwards, especially Brad who put together a fundraiser for his Dad (fighting Parkinson’s disease).

Our 4th anniversary rolled around on May 20th. As it has been our tradition to go to a steak house for dinner, we went to Flemings Steakhouse. It was a great meal and the service couldn’t be better (they even gave us 2 flutes of champagne to have with our dessert!). We enjoyed ourselves and found it hard to believe it has been 4 years!

We went to Chicago to visit some friends also in May. We left on a Friday night and went to the Rago’s, who ordered some Chicago pizza and invited over the Bencks. We watched the Blackhawks win game 3 of the NHL semi-final playoffs and probably had a few too many drinks (Joe busted out some rum he brought back from Mexico). We woke up and enjoyed breakfast, and then went over to see the Benck’s new house. Upon leaving there, we headed toward the Anderson’s new house and had lunch and a nice afternoon on their back porch. Once their babysitter arrived, we headed to a place that had indoor bocce! We had a great time visiting our friends in Chicago and hope to see them soon!

Memorial Day weekend this year was pretty casual, as we went to a few cookouts and spent some quality time by the pool. Friday night, we went to the Indiana Downs with the Watkins. Saturday, after doing yardwork at my parent’s house and watching the finale of 24 with Beth (Deb was at the pool with friends while we watched 24!), we went to a cookout at the Foulke’s. Sunday was another day by the pool with friends and some beer and then to another cookout at my parent’s house with the Vandervaarts and Wahmans.

A few more items from this month:

• We had some work done to the condo by a friend of ours which included some new caulk, drywall repairs and we added crown molding and new baseboards to the basement.
• On Memorial Day, we touched up some sections of the condo and re-painted the basement room after the changes were done.

April 2010

April started off with the Final Four weekend here in Indy. Usually we would be excited about our city hosting such a big event, but we were fortunate to also have WVU and Butler in the Final Four! Julie and her friend Jennifer came to town from Charleston for the games and we had a great weekend. On Saturday we went down to Scotty’s (which was recognized as the WVU bar) and we enjoyed some drinks with some of our friends. It was a great set-up as there were hundreds of WVU fans along with the band! Unfortunately, WVU lost later that evening but Butler was able to pull out a victory in the early game. We also attended the championship game on Monday night were Duke beat Butler in a last second thriller where Butler had the ball down by 1 point, but was unable to come up with a basket. We enjoyed the opportunity to attend the Final Four and that is something we can mark off our “to-do” list (except when Purdue makes it someday!).We also hosted Aunt Wiz, Aunt Barbs and Deb’s parents for The Race for the Cure during the month of April. It was a great weekend and the weather cooperated for their visit. We cooked some burgers on Friday night, enjoyed a nice day downtown, the ladies went shopping while Randy and I walked down to have a beer and watch the Cubs, enjoyed dinner at Basbeaux and watched a movie called The Blind Side. Anna made some popcorn right out of the pot, which I haven’t had since I was little! I also learned where Deb got her desire to read gossip magazines about celebrities, from Aunt Wiz and Aunt Barbs! I’ve continued my training for the Mini this month and have finally hit the stretch run. I’ve been running with Tom for 3 of my final long runs and have enjoyed the company and running some different routes throughout the neighborhood. I think I am ready for May 8th and next month’s memoirs will tell the story. I don’t know if I am going to do this next year, as I am really exhausted with the training (running 4 times a week isn’t something I am very good at doing!).

Dad has a short stint in the hospital this month. He got a little dehydrated and needed some fluids. He has taken some falls and that is one of our biggest concerns. Falling can be scary and there are only certain ways to get him back up. He is back at home and possibly starting some more therapy soon, which may help with his coordination and independence. He is working hard, but if you don’t see results, it can really dampen the spirits. We are all doing our best to stay positive, but it can be difficult.

A few more items from this month:
• Final Four Weekend was also Easter weekend. We celebrated at my parent’s house after church and enjoyed lunch along with watching Claire find eggs and open her Easter basket. We received a nice basket from my parents.
• Anna and Randy gave us a basket with a theme (annual tradition) and this year it was “T (tea)-shirts.” It was a very creative basket with several shirts for Deb and me along with tea!

• We celebrated Dad’s Birthday on Easter Sunday and Claire’s Birthday that weekend also.
• Pete completed the RCIA program with the Catholic Church this month and joined the church over Easter weekend.

March 2010

March has come and gone quickly and we have had a few things that have kept us busy, but overall it was a little bit calmer than February!

I traveled to the Netherlands in mid-March for work. I flew out on a Saturday and arrived on a Sunday morning. I met up with my co-workers Sonja and Brian and we immediately went out to see the area so I didn’t fall asleep! The first place we went was a pancake house that served poffertjes (Dutch mini-pancakes).

These were pretty small, but a great way to start the day! We then went to visit the Anne Frank House & Museum. There isn’t much to say about this place because the experience was something that would be hard to put into words. It was definitely a reality-check to be thankful for the things we have after seeing the way this family lived for 3 years. After that we talked through the world famous “Red Light District” where there are all kinds of things that are illegal in the USA! It is definitely an eye-popping area for a guy from the mid-west who spent 12 years in catholic school! The canal system in Amsterdam was one of the coolest things. Everywhere you went there were cobble-stone streets, happy people on bikes, and canals with new and old boats. After working for a few days, we went to a tour at the Heineken brewery and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at a local pub! Upon arriving back in the US, the NCAA basketball tournament was in full-swing. Purdue and WVU played well where WVU made it to the Final 4 and Purdue made the Sweet 16. Butler also made the Final 4 and the biggest news was that Deb won the “Deb vs. Keith” Bracket Challenge. She has won 2 years in a row and I need to come back next season. After doing well for 5 years, I’ve stumbled and she has taken advantage!

We also went to Sara Wantuck’s wedding this month. She got married at the Basilica on Notre Dame’s campus. It was great to see her get married at such a wonderful church amongst all her good friends. We were able to see some of the sights at Notre Dame, like Touchdown Jesus and the Grotto. The priest at our church in Indy served as the pastor for this wedding, so we had a good conversation with him at the reception, as he is an avid Colts fan and loves sports, so Deb and I had a very easy time talking with him! A few more items from this month:

• I started playing flag football again with the usual guys.
• The training for the Mini has been tough this year. I’m leaning toward this being my last or just taking a break for a few years after this. Nevertheless, I’m not hurting that bad and the training is still on pace as prior years.
• We had to get a new washer and dryer this month, something that is never fun to spend money on, but it is something you definitely miss when it isn’t working!
• Deb and I went to Beef and Boards to see Hello Dolly. This is a dinner theatre and we were fortunate enough to go thanks to a gift certificate from Beth and Mom and Dad for my birthday.

February 2010

February started out with a bang...

Deb and I went to Miami for Superbowl XLIV (Colts vs. Saints)!

It was a great weekend and everything worked out perfectly. At first, there was a snowstorm coming through Indy so we moved our flights to earlier in the day, but the snow got here a little too soon so we barely made it out of Indy. Upon arriving in Ft. Myers, we then drove to Miami and arrived around 2AM at our hotel. Now, our hotel was a little “too nice” (a.k.a. I felt like I had stepped into a retirement village for millionaires) and we decided we needed to be closer to the party, so we checked out and headed toward Ft. Lauderdale where Deb was able to get another hotel room that had a Tiki-bar outside our door (an apparently Jimmy Buffett has been known to play there)! We headed to the beach for some sun, relaxation and a few beers. We went to a nice dinner on Saturday night with some of Deb’s friends and ended our night having drinks at the Colts family hotel. On game day, we took a walk on the beach and arrived at the stadium at about 3pm. We got to our seats about an hour before game-time and we were 26 rows up from the field! We ended up getting Colts “family” tickets and you can see from the picture how close we were to the field. Chris Berman (ESPN) and Jeff Fisher (Titans Head Coach) walked past us while we were there as I’m sure we probably walked past a bunch of celebrities and sports figures we have no idea who they were! At halftime, The Who rocked out with all their hits and as you now know, the Colts lost and it was quite tough to swallow because we just didn’t play well the last 3 quarters. Overall, it was a great time and an event Deb and I won’t forget anytime soon (except maybe the result of the game!).

Deb went to San Diego a few weekends later to accept her certificate for passing her exam last year (Sports Specialty Exam). She had fun with her co-workers and enjoyed the warm weather. There was a silent auction and where Deb and her co-workers had a few drinks and she came home with autographed pictures of Dwight Freeney, Jeff Saturday and Peyton Manning! It was quite a souvenir to bring home and with those kinds of gifts, she can go have drinks whenever she wants!

While Deb was in San Diego, I had a bachelor weekend. Lawton came over on Friday and we enjoyed some Filet-O-Fishes from McDonalds (I like to eat things Deb wouldn’t allow when she is out of town and Lawton supports this habit!). We enjoyed some beer and watched a few movies. The next day I babysat Claire and Grace and even though I will admit I was a little nervous about having 2 kids to look after, it was quite easy as Claire and Grace were in great moods. Afterwards, I went to Sam Foulke’s 4th birthday party and then back to Pete and Laura’s for a few beers before heading home.

A few more items from this month:
• Valentine’s Day was pretty low-key as we stayed at the condo for dinner. Deb and I exchanged cards and I got a small bouquet of flowers for her.
• We went over to the Wahman’s for some drinks on a Saturday night in February.
• Deb enjoyed drinks at Moe’s with the “bookclub girls.” Now, they have officially stopped reading books, but they can still get together and drink, right?
• Lawton, Foulke, Watkins and I met up for some beers in Broad Ripple. We went to Barley Island, the Wellington, OPT’s and Average Joe’s.
• We hired a new employee at Hurco that will be working for me. Her name is Melissa and this is my first experience with having a peer working for me.