Remotes & the holidays

Why I love doing ComedySportz remotes in small towns and why I love having a camera phone:

This was found in a Subway in Centerville, IA, and just too good to pass up.

We are in our busiest time of year for CSz right now, and yours truly is putting more miles on his car than ever. It would be interesting sometime to map out just how many small towns we have been to in the 16 years of our troupes existence. I think the southwestern corner of Iowa is seriously the only place we've yet to venture to in the state of Iowa, but I may even be wrong about that...

Merry Christams, Kwanza, Hannukah, and Festivus to you all, by the way. I hope you were all taken care of by Santa et. al. I had a pretty good haul myself this year with some highlights including the Trivial Pursuit - 80's Edition, a graphic design book I had been eyeing, The Venture Borthers - Season 1 on DVD, and Talledega Nights and Superman Returns on BluRay. Although, I will admit to be insanely jealous of Corey & Monique's new Match Game collection on DVD as it makes me miss not having the Game Show Network more and more.

I also got to go see a really good basketball game early in December featuring the Iowa Hawkeyes VS. University of Northern Iowa, with UNI taking them to the wire and actually pulling out the upset win. It was a great game and it made me kind of resent the fact that I never went to a large university for school. My sister went to Illinois and I visited and went to many games down there as I have in Iowa City too, but back then, it just wasn't appealing to me to be at a large school. Now, looking back, I really wish that I would've gotten a full collegiate expereince and had a university atmosphere to call my own. Ah well, that's what grad school is for, I guess...

On the blog maintenance side, thank you for pointing out to me that I had a couple of dead links over there in the Links section. I have removed the dead ones, but have left a couple up there that are currently inactive, but I think will be live again in the near future. If not, I will eventually take them down as well. And speaking of links, I added a new one for anyone who ever has been a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mike Nelson, head writer for MST3K, has a new website called RiffTrax where you can download his (and sometimes fellow MST3K'ers) commentary for blockbuster films and then play them on an MP3 player synched up with the DVD. I'm going to give it a try and let you know the verdict soon.

Also I joined the masses and finally set up a Facebook too. Between that and MySpace, I think I'm pretty much covered cyberly for awhile. Click the link to the right to check it out.

We had a great year-end review for the Prenzie Players in The Reader praising our production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and also lauding the start of The Henriad Trilogy by the reviewer touting that Steph's performance as the title role in Richard The Second as the best female theatrical performance he saw all year. Well deserved kudos to her and to the rest of the troupe as well. The Henriad continues in late February with Henry The Fourth and Jeremy Mahr (fellow CSz'er) in the title role. He was very strong in part one and I'm sure that momentum will continue into part two. Personally, I'm extremely intimidated as I have been cast as Hal/Henry V in both this upcoming show and in part three (Henry The Fifth) and it's easily the largest role I've ever had to take on.

Also, if you are in the area, the Prenzie's are having a fundraising gala in the beginning of January. If you can come support our troupe, that would be fantastic (click below for larger image):At the behest of my buddy Jake, I have checked out and am now a full fledged fan of AskANinja.com. If you've never seen it before, I added a link to it and you should really check it out sometime. Also there's a ton of Ask A Ninja stuff over on You Tube, if you are interested.


That's all for now. Have a safe New Years and a great start to 2007!

Yes, Virginia, There Is A New Post

Hey, all. Sorry I haven't posted, blah blah blah. I can never say that enough so I guess I'm just not going to bother with it anymore. However, I would be remissed not to thank my friends for picking up this blog and running with it through the comments on the previous post. It was quite fun reading what I was up to while not posting.

I'm single again. Which is part of the reason, but not an excuse for not posting in so long. Kind of sucks, but life goes on. It's all definately hitting me late so that sucks - pile on top of that the fact that I've got personal reasons that I already hate this time of year anyway and I'm not doing too well right now. But you forge ahead, face reality, and move on.

I haven't delved too much into this relationship on here (by choice) as I did with my previous one (by force) - and I'm not going to now - but suffice it to say, she's an incredible and extremely talented person, we are still good friends, and I hope nothing but success and happiness falls her way.

O.k., then. What else....?

I finally saw Borat and LOVED it. Offensive? Yes. Uncomfortable at parts? Sure. Fall out of my seat laughing? More than once. It was just a great comedy that reflects a side of America that many of us don't really want to acknowledge or choose to not face, but it's more alive than any of us care to admit. Sascha Baron Cohen is already being compared to Lenny Bruce and Andy Kaufman in terms of where his comedy is going - and with the recently announced Bruno movie set to begin filming in 2008 (based on his third outrageous character from Da Ali G Show), there's just more funny to look forward to.

But all is not well in moviedom...

So far, the biggest and most unfortunate let down of all the movies I have seen this year is definately Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration. The now infamous Guest troupe are easily the most talented group to ever tackle the 'mockumentary' style of filmmaking...and yet this film strays from that formula and is shot entirely like a normal film. No one-on-one interviews or anything. Now I am one that totally supports trying something new, and after three pretty successful improvisational films helmed by Guest, I applaud their effort to branch out. Yet something just seems to not fit quite right in here and I left the theater feeling hollow. The characters are all wonderful - and I want to know more about them, but am never afforded that opportunity. I genuinely think if they kept a lot of the same footage, but went back and spliced in interviews and one-on-one sit downs with the characters that this film could still be saved. There are some very funny moments and some emotional ones as well, but this is the first Guest film that I'm just not that enthused about. I hope that their next project together goes back to what 'brought them to the dance,' so to speak.

Proving to everyone that I am certifiably insane, I am one of the very few people in this country (about 300,000 to be exact) that pre-paid and then bought a PlayStation 3 at launch....and....(wait for it)....actually kept the damn thing instead of putting it on eBay. I know - crazy right? God forbid, I actually enjoy the console and use it for it's intended purpose, but I guess I'm just weird that way. On the other hand, I'm enjoying BluRay goodness (Superman Returns on BluRay = awesome, and Talledega Nights came bundled with the system!) and if you consider yourself a fan of videogames, you haven't lived until you've played Resistance: Fall of Man in surround sound. Better than Xbox360's Gears of War? Quite possibly. At any rate, only 299,999 of you out there will know what I'm talking about anyway so I'll shut up about it.

I went to Chicago for Thanksgiving to visit with family and friends and, although it was a bit of family overload, it was a fun time. I've definately now got relatives that will become characters on stage at CSz at some point, so I guess this was also a 'creative work research' trip as well. I wonder if that means I can write that off my taxes...

The Prenzie Players' King Richard The Second staged and ended with much praise and ballyhoo. We got very positive reviews in the papers and the pressure is now officially on as we gear up to deliver parts II & III of The Henriad Trilogy (Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V). If you did not see Richard II, it's o.k. to still come check out the other shows as they are being treated as indivudual shows, but for those that attend all three, they will get to see a continuous cast and everyone reprising their roles from the previous show - something that has never been done in the U.S., as far as our research goes. If you've never seen a Prenzie show before, you really should as its Shakespeare more accessable than it's ever been before.

Alright, it's finally below freezing here in the crappy Midwest and I've got a jaunt to Galesburg tonight for a show - which is supposed to be getting hit with 10-12 inches of snow. So if this is the last post I ever make due to some unforeseen and horrific accident on the drive down, know that each one of you that are reading this right now I like better than all of my other friends.

So Little Time...

I made it over a month without blogging. I can't believe it - this is so awesome! To my fan base - hey, we did it! This honor is as much mine as it is yours - seriously.

Wow, they're so many people to thank. Let's see, I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible starting with the play that I've been cast in and it's many rehearsals (including you, Sundays!), and Showcase 53 for the many movies that I've seen. Also working a bit stranger hours at work - can't forget about you. Let's see, who am I forgetting....uhm....Oh! The Xbox360 for your many games and DVD's who, without you, I may have actually had free time to do other things.

And I'd like to thank God for all that stuff he does too.

You know - not blogging for a month started as a dream, but through consistent laziness and A.D.D., I was able to get to this level and if I can do it - so can you. LET'S KEEP IT REAL!

Now that that's out of the way, let's begin, shall we?

First off, I broke with a promise that I had made and I caved and finally bought Episodes IV, V, & VI of the Star Wars saga after swearing that I would hold out until they released a big six-pack with all of them. However, they hit me with that whole "limited edition" thing with these DVD's being the only time that the original theatrical cuts would be released. So I caved and bought them. The rumor, of course, is that the six-pack is coming out next year and if IV, V, & VI in that set inculde the original cuts, then I'll trade in mine towards the purchase of it. Otherwise, I feel justified in finally caving to peer pressure and the hype machine and buying them.

The originals look great, in that nostalgic sort of way. The new ones have all of the updates, of course, and apparently even more tinkering was done by LucasArts in this version as well. I don't know about you, but I actually wasn't that weirded out to see Hayden Christansen appear as Annikin at the end of Return of the Jedi as I feared I would be. However, the inexcusable offense is the replacement of the Ewoks celebration song at the end of the film. The Ewoks were already hard to stomach as it was in the series, but there was this modicum of redemption for them in that jovial, and awkwardly disarming music they played at the end which blended into a heavenly chorus. Now, it's this forced (no pun intended) weird party music that just seems out of place. I don't really mind all the other touch-ups because, as I've said before, it's Lucas' series to to with whatever he wants, but that music was unique and fun and it's a mistake to have messed with it.

Granted, I'm sure all of you have your own opinions on the touch-ups, whether you view them as sacreligious or share the opinion that Lucas is now making the film he had originally envisioned, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

At the talkie pictures, the lady and I saw Little Miss Sunshine and it was so good! If any of you have ever said, "my family is so weird," than this is the film for you. Steve Carell continues to impress and the entire cast is really solid, but Alan Arkin stole the film for me. His on screen time is priceless and it's interesting to think back on the fact that he was one of the originals at The Second City when it started in Chicago. Although it's not technically an independent film, although marketed as one, this is such a good script and so well put together that it's a must see for the year. GO SEE IT!

I also bore witness to the human bumper car extravaganza known as Jackass: Number Two, which had quite a bit to live up to seeing as the first movie was one of my favorite movies the year that it came out. Sometimes, it's just fun to tap into that Dumb & Dumber mentality and just enjoy watching grown men get the crap kicked out them in the most sophomoric way possible. That theory applies here, but I will admit to a 'been there before' feel when watching this film. Although, I will say seeing it in a packed theater is really the only way to witness this carnality as all of those, "Oh my GOD," moments are shared by 50 or so anonymous voices. I think it's worth at least one viewing, but I can't really see justifying going back for seconds.

I actually did something else besides watch movies too, you know. We went to Chicago for my 30th Dave Matthews Band concert, which means that I got to see my 30th show in my 30th year of life. The crazy thing is that there was a guy three rows behind us who turned 32 and was at his 30th show as well. He was attempting to synch up his show total with his birthday llike I had (so I'm not the only DMB nerd out there). We were literally in the 7th row and the show was incredible. George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic opened and just set an amazing tone for the rest of the show.

And contrary to my parents belief that upon hitting this personal milestone, that I would "slow down a bit" and not go to that many more DMB concerts, this is only the beginning...

I did some sight-seeing of my old haunt the following day and ventured down to Milennium Park. There were some pretty cool pieces down there including this amazing silver structure which gave off a cool reflection of the skyline. Actually, there really wasn't a "bad" side to it.

Underneath the structure was it's center, which is where pretty much everyone was cramming under as there were no less than four wedding parties there trying to capture moments of their big day. I snuck in and got a quick shot before being ushered away.

The park is a pretty incredible place (with much more to do than I have mentioned here) and if you can get there before one of those trademark Chicago winters hits, I more than recommend it. The Art Museum is close by as is the Magnificant Mile, so the culture and shopping fiends in you can both be satiated.

Also, if you haven't discovered the ranting bliss that is The Ricky Gervais Show over at iTunes, then you really need to do yourself a service and go check it out. It made the Guiness Book of World Records for the most downloaded podcast ever, and you haven't heard anything yet until you discover the world of Karl Pilkington. If you are a fan of either version of The Office, then you really should make these podcasts a part of your expereince. Trust me - you will absosmurfly love it.

Alright, I think I've bored you enough for another month. Take care of yourselves, enjoy life, have good poops and we'll see you back here soon!

"If you ain't first - you're last."

Ah, faceless reader, we meet again. Enough of the pleasantries - a lots happened so sit a spell and let me bore you...

In case you had any doubts, Talladega Nights is awesome. I'm not quite sure if it's in the Anchorman echelon just yet, but it's still a very funny film and Will Ferrell's supporting cast almost surpasses him in terms of great moments on-screen. First off, Gary Cole as Ricky Bobby's father has probably the most quotable lines of anyone, and John C. Reilly should've been in Anchorman because he more than holds his own with everyone else. However, the best has to go to Sascha Baron Cohen as Ricky's French rival. The man is a chameleon and it took me several times to register that this man also portrays Ali G and his newest movie (based on arguably his best character) Borat had a trailer before the film futher hammering home this man's talent (see poster under Talladega Nights). While Cohen's Ali G: Da Movie left a truckload to be desired, I'm hoping his performance here will parlay a new audience to witness his great Borat character in its own film. Oh, and the NASCAR tint of the film didn't really bother me either way. See it and I promise you'll walk away laughing (and stay through the credits).

Thanks to my buddy, Mike, I also got to see Superman Returns in 3D at the IMAX. While not a big fan of the whole "3D" craze, I did enjoy seeing the movie again and the 3D stuff was fun at the beginning, but tended to get a bit comical as these little 3D glasses would flash on-screen everytime you were supposed to put them on and you could hear seats shifting and people murmuring everytime it happened. The story was great and seeing the homages to the first film was fun again. I'm not going to give any more of my thoughts on the film because you can find them in an earlier post if you really want to know.

Yet another film I saw was the critcally slammed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. People seem to generally hate this film and, while it did have its short-comings, I say this to you who were so bothered by it: IT'S THE SECOND MOVIE IN A TRILOGY - IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BIT DEPRESSING. I guess I'm the only one on the planet that remembers Attack of the Clones as being a bit worse than Revenge of the Sith, and The Two Towers ending with a ton of questions and a cliff-hanger ending. This movie was supposed to introduce all the major players, which it did, set-up the central conflict and side stories, which it did, and leave us with a cliff-hanger ending, which it did. The swordplay and action were fun and I really think the movie got a much harder time than it should've.

Stephanie had a birthday on Friday and we celebrated by venturing down to St. Louis for the weekend to take in the sights. We packed a lot into those two days, including the St. Louis Art Museum and St. Louis Zoo, the Gateway Arch, the City Museum, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour, Union Station, and a tour of the new Busch Stadium - home to the St. Louis Cardinals. Unfortunately, the Cards were in Pittsburgh this weekend, but the upside was that we got access to everything on the tour since the team was away. I've included some cool photos below and have a Kodak Gallery set up so contact me if you want to view the rest.









And I'll leave you with this image from the aquarium, giving everyone a not so subtle hint at the next great film of our generation. Until then..

Reservoir Comics

Here is a Reservoir Dogs'esque photo of the CSz gang we took to Wisconsin Dells for the WELS Youth Rally (my 3rd year going) after waiting in the parking lot for over 45 minutes to get checked into our rooms. That 45 minutes culminated in many an impromptu song (with Big G on guitar) about the Motel 6 and it's lack of customer service. Thankfully, we didn't peak comedically or anything then and ended up having really great shows.

Also, for the second time, we went to the infamous Paul Bunyan's for the lumberjack breakfest. You drop $8 @ the door and eat everything you can keep down - they just keep bringing you food! It was fun seeing their reactions when Big G entered. We more than downed our fair share and, being improvisors, had quite a fun time with the waitstaff and the ambiance. However, things went a little too far, as you can see below, but luckily we now know why the big statue of Paul Bunyan outside the restaurant has a permanent smile on his face.
I just got back from yet another CSz outing - this time to Litchfield, IL, where another fun time and great show was had. The trip culminated with a seven person cannonball in the hotel pool which turned it into an impromptu wave pool for about 5 minutes. I ended up leaving some clothes behind and am hoping they (or some of it) will get sent back to me soon.

My buddy Tim just let me know that the final piece to my Matt Groening puzzle is on sale for really cheap at Best Buy, so I must take my leave of you and go grab it before they close. Finally, Futurama - Season 4 will be mine, thus completing my set and getting me all geeked up for the new 13 episodes that were announced on Cartoon Network (following in Family Guy's illustrious footsteps). If you haven't checked out this underrated, ahead-of-its-time show, NetFlix it or do whatever you have to and I bet you may find yourself a new guilty pleasure.

Sorry that it's been so long since I've posted (and I'm sure I'll catch heck for it in the comments section...those of you that actually post comments) and I'm not going to say the whole "I'll try to be better," because I've already said that and clearly I don't have enough time to make that happen. So I'll post when I can, but please know that I visit many other blogs when I can and envy the fact that you all can update what's happening on your lives and share it with the world.

Ciao.

20 10

So now that I've crossed over into the echelon and begin my 30's (and can no longer refer to myself as a "20 something") I wonder is life going to be any different? Do I now have to start acting more like an adult and harness resposibilities that I may have eschewed earlier in life? Or will the opposite happen and will I regret missing a bunch of things that I always wanted to try and then feverishly attempt them against my so called "better judgement" in an attempt to reclaim that youthful spontinaety that once coarsed through my veins? Or will there be no change at all and life just kind of continues on with no real revelation occuring as I rest in that middle-zone of youthfullness with a touch of maturity making its gradually increasing presence known?

Well, if my birthday present to myself is any indication, then the latter is much assuredly rearing it's head.

As for my birthday itself, I went on a movie spree and saw the three films over the week (don't read ahead if you son't want spoilers!); The DaVinci Code, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and Over The Hedge.

The DaVinci Code was pretty good and about 80-85% faithful to the book, however, I was pretty disappointed with how much they twisted the ending around (if you've read the book, and you should've, you know what I'm talking about) and messed with the familial aspects. I honestly can't think of any movie that I have ever seen where I had read the book first, saw the movie second (except with all of the Marvel movies, I guess), and then was all angry that the movie didn't follow suit. Actually, the movies would get me motivated to go read the book, as was the case with Jurassic Park and the John Grisham novels. But this is an instance where I really didn't think the changes that were made were warranted and that the film would've stood on its own had they not changed a thing.

X-Men 3: The Last Stand was alright, but I was pretty miffed at the fact that they held nothing back and in no uncertain terms said, "this is the last X-Men movie we're making for a LONG time." They killed off three of the founding members of the squad - Jean Grey/Phoenix, Cyclops, and Professor Xavier (alledgedly, as there is supposedly some extra footage if you stay after the credits that hint at his return). The remaining X-Men lined up to face the Brotherhood at the end of the film and I honestly cared about one, maybe two of the characters. Those two being Storm, portrayed by Halle Berry (who has already made public that she is done with the franchise) and the one saving grace from this whole trilogy - Hugh Jackman's increasingly in-depth and great personification of Wolverine/Logan. The good news is that Hugh has confirmed that he is contracted to make two Wolverine-only films in the next couple of years so fans of the series will at least have a spin-off of the most popular character to look forward to.

And finally, I went to Over The Hedge. I thought it was great, but wouldn't have been nearly as funny were it not for the spastic performance of Steve Carrell. The majority of the cast was dead on and Gary Busey even turns in a convincingly menacing performance. I did have a problem with Garry Shandling as the turtle because I continually got the impression that he was phoning in some of his dialogue and that his expressiveness and excitement was not matching the animation that was on screen - something that Carell does in spades. His manic squirell is the highlight of the film and demands your attention from the moment he appears on screen. Near the end, when his character finally gets a hold of some caffine, the subtle little noise choices Carell makes alongside the animation or really well done, and I think the adults in the audience were laughing harder than the kids were by that point.

I hate to draw the comparison, but Steve Carell has picked up the preverbial torch that Jim Carrey dropped a few years back and is running full steam ahead. There's a literalness to that as well as later this year Carell starts in Evan Almighty (see pic to the right), a follow up to Carrey's Bruce Almighty, after Jim turned down the offer to make a sequel. Combine that with his rising box office status, his Golden Globe winning turn on the NBC version of The Office, and the fact that he's maintaining indie film cred by making films like the upcoming Little Miss Sunshine, and I think it's safe to say that Carell is the new reigning king of comedy in Holly wood.

Steph and I also went to the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend and picked up the audiobook of The Daily Show presents America: The Book as entertainment for the 6 or so hour drive down. It is dominantly read by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert acts as a narrator of sorts. While I don't consider myself political at all, this was a very entertaining book and made some pretty interesting points about where we've come from and where we might be going. If you haven't read the book before or even if you already own it, you should check out or rent the audiobook because there's just something about hearing it out of the mouths of its creators that makes it all the more satisfying.

Which brings me to the gift that I got myself. The timing was right, the glitches had been worked out, the finances fell into the right place, and I happened to strike when a deal was offered where I was going to get the most resale out of my old system, so I did it. I caved. Behold the newest addition to my meak entertainment empire:It is SO cool! It plays games and movies in HD and is set-up to play HD-DVD's as well. So far, I've only got two games for it, Call of Duty 2 and the amazing Elder Scrolls III: Oblivion (which even Steph said after seeing the graphics, "Damn! I'd even play that!"). But there are a ton of new games on the horizon and the big guns will be out near November when the PlayStation 3 is set to launch....which is a system that also may somehow find it's way into my empire (they still pay good money for healthy kidney's, right?).

I also set up a MySpace.com. See link to the right if you're at all interested or have an account yourself and want to be friends (awwwww).

Let's see, what else can I bore you with?

The Prenzie Players were finally ganted non-for-profit status as a theatre company so now we can apply for grants and make our shows more exciting, but still retain that grassroots, interactive mentality that got us to where we are. Our 2006 season will consist entirely of The Henriad, which has only been done in the United States twice and never before in the Midwest. Only we're going to do it with a continuous cast - meaning if your character appears in the following play, you stay that same character until they are killed off or no longer appear in the series. Check out the website in future months for more information.

My friend John Hannon and I are so jazzed at the re-launch of ECW, however, we're wondering just how long it will take until Vince & company screw this one up too (their SciFi debut is off to an inauspicious start). If you know what I'm referencing, you get what I'm saying, if you don't know what ECW is, it's probably better that you don't get involved.

Which brings me up to this weekend where the MoC: Monsters of Comedy will be invading the 2006 ComedySportz Milwaukee MidWest Tournament (see previous post). We're working on launching an MoC page on CSz-QC.com so you can get a history of what the group is, but suffice it to say it's a mix of pro wrestling and improv that has to be seen to be believed and understood. It's increasing popularity is a bit frightening at times, but if the public keeps asking for it, then we're going to keep delivering it. We've got three shows in Milwaukee and we're bringing it back to the Quad Cities later this summer. As for CSzQC, we're looking to launch our first foray into long form next month as we're going to add a late show and give it a trial run. We don't really have a name yet, but we've got some concepts down that we want to try which hopefully the audience will take too.

I'm really excited though because Steph's parents are going out of town (Party. Her house. With beer. Curfew be damned - this will be the greatest summer EVER! Let's go egg the principal's house!!!) and we get to babysit their dog, Toby! Steph bought me Season 1 of the Dog Whisperer and it's really tapping into that "I want to own a dog" part of my subconscience. So this week should be fun.
Later.

MoC heading to Milwaukee

Here is the official poster for the 2006 MoC Tour that our manager of CSz is sending us out on this summer. The poster will chnage a bit down the line as we now have one of the original members back, which increases our number to five. We played this past weekend at CSz, but I was vacationing in the Lake of the Ozarks so could not participate. I heard it went really well though so we've got some momentum going into the tournament.

I'm crazy busy right now, but check back here later for upates on the Missouri trip complete with tales of boats on fire, golfing priates, and a little something for the ladies......

.......and by that, I mean outlet malls, baby.

Oh, and big-ups to the dark-grey horse, Taylor Hicks winning American Idol! This self-effacing, soul singing, underdog won a pop competition dominated by carbon copy females and the surprising exit of a stage stealing rocker. Steph and I were so excited watching the finale and, although the single written for him (and the one for Katherine) were horrible, his choices of songs throughout the competition were excellent and even he made a cover album of soul music, I'd still buy it.

Now that the majority of reality TV is passed, I may venture to this place called "outside."

Love & Marriage

We're back from Arizona, slightly burnt, a bit jet-lagged, but very happy and very sad to leave the amazing weather down there. But the resort we were at was amazing and a lot of great memories traveled back with us to the Midwest, but none moreso than the stark realization that my sister is now Katy Baily.

It's still weird to see, let alone type.

Anyhoot, I'll start at the beginning with the welcome party my parents hosted at their place. We were one of the last groups to arrive as our flight out of Dallas took its precious time getting there, but we were beseiged upon arrival by many a drunk relative, family friends, and soon-to-be-relatives. It was also the first time I got to see my idol growing up (also my neighbor and sometime babysitter), Barry. In every picture we have together, he's taller than I am so, as you can see at right, it's been awhile since we were in a photo together. He's in Denver and a huge Colorado Avalanche fan (like yours truly) and invited me out to a game sometime - which I am definately planning on taking him up on.

Barry was also close to my father (who, if you didn't know, passed away when I was ten) and shared many a great story about a man I unfortunately never really got to know.

All of my parents friends were so happy to see everyone again and Steph fit in like she had been there a million times.

The next day, Steph and I went to Sabino Canyon (see photo at the top of this post) and took a tram the 3.7 miles up to midway point and did some sightseeing. Now we are a somewhat adventuresome couple and decided to go hiking up through some of the trails on the canyon and seemed lured by the siren call of the Phoneline Trail.

We started our trek amongst the rocks and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. It's one thing to see a sheer rock cliff from a tram and another thing entirely to be standing at it's base and looking straight up it. So we wandered on taking in amazing view after amazing view and came upon the longest cactus I have ever seen (and would make many a lady cactus a happy foliage). The photo really doesn't do the size of this monstrousity justice.

We continued on past the cactus and realized that had missed our opportuinty to rejoin the tram and were now going to have to hike the entire trail (5.7 miles)....and it had just broke 92 degrees.

So we knuckled up and traversed on and Steph even got up close with a prairie dog/gopher thing that ran not a foot in front of her down the boulder-riddled cliff. Eventually we had made it to the base of this amazing cliff (and the base itself was already halfway up the canyon).


We had a rehearsal dinner that night, but Steph got a case of heat exhaustion and I was pretty much blown from the hike myself so we called it an early night (and the only bad thing from the trip occured that night - the Avalanche lost to Anaheim in Game 1 of their semi-final series).

The next day was the wedding and we did family pictures and what-not beforehand eschewing the age old tradition of the bride not seeing the groom before the wedding. My sister looked amazing and never really 'bridezillad' out like I had feared she may. The service itself was beautiful and, aside from a strange story told by the pastor, went off without a hitch.

Stephanie looked absolutely stunning as well and, although I had seen her in her dress when she purchased it, nothing prepared me for how amazing it looked on her in that setting. She was such a trooper the whole weekend - meeting more relatives than she ever could remember, putting up with some mild bickering between my family, and even surviving the doing YMCA with my jubilant parents at the reception.

We all then traversed down to the reception patio where my new brother-in-law, Q (see below), gave one of the greatest toasts I think any of us had ever heard honoring my father - a man he had never met. He had my family in tears and all of us knew that my sister couldn't have married a more perfect man...

...or dude, as the case may be.

Q uses the term "dude" more than anyone on the planet. Everyone is dude to him. And his dudeness labeling is genderless as many a female that crosses his path also is christened "dude" at some point or another. He's got a great sense of humor, is genuinely caring, and I couldn't be more happy to call someone like him family.

My step-dad followed a bit later with a toast thanking everyone for coming and I got to toast the happy couple, but knew nothing I could say would have the same impact that Q's amazing toast did, so I turned to what I know best - humor. I shared a little story about how my sister was so good at Monopoly that she would be beating the pants off of me in less than an hour of us setting up the pieces (she being the dog, I the racecar for those of you scoring at home). I would get down to about a $1 to my name and she would go to the closet, open the board game Pay Day, give me all the money, then continue our game so that she could keep getting money. I think it went over well and I ribbed Q a bit too, but knew if anyone could take a joke, it was him.

So finally my sister, who unfortunately was feeling a bit under the weather on her big day, and I got to dance to Etta James' "Someone To Watch Over Me" and were placing bets on how many times our mother had cried so far (I still think I won the bet). We got together for a quick photo and my camera subsequently ran out of battery power. I was glad that at least I got that one photo in there though.

I am so proud of her. She's got an amzing job, incredible friends, and now the perfect guy to share the rest of her life with. I hope someday to acheive something similar and she's set a pretty good example to follow.

And my parents went above and beyond in getting this whole shindig together. I remember back to my mother being nervous about whether they would enjoy the Loews Resort as the setting (which, by the way, has a top-notch staff and is well deserved of their 5 star rating) and how many nights I would get a panicked phone call about some little detail being correct. I was very proud of them as well for pulling this together and their obvious enjoyment and just finally being able to "let go" and get a little crazy at the reception afterwards (witness the aforementioned YMCA dance) was well deserved.

Speaking of the reception, following dinner we all moved to an indoor restaurant (at the resort) and the party lasted into the morning. The next day, my immediate family met for a quick breakfast before Steph and I had to head to the airport. We flew out of Tucson to Chicago where we waited.

And waited.

And waited as our flight got delayed because our plane broke. (How does a plane break?) So waited at the gate from 6 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. when a new plane finally made its way to our gate and took us the 45 minute flight home. 4.25 hours to go 45 minutes - and I thought the Chicago car traffic was bad. So by the time we got our car and stopped to pick up various sundries we needed, we eventually made it back to the condo and our heads hit the pillows at about 1 a.m.

That's a full weekend. I hope yours was fun too.

And now, me teaching the Sabino Canyon who's boss...


(Not picutred: me with a sunburn, blistered feet, dehydrated, and praying for air conditioning about 3 hours later)