I write, occasionally

Last weekend was nice, Kari's family came over to hang out/make beer/etc. Friday we went to Vicki's to celebrate Matthew's 50th Birthday. The boys and I played Geo Cache and found our first one. It was pretty fun - I want a GPS now. Then we had a big feast, hung out, etc. Later we drove up to Ames to pick up our wedding photos - which turned out awesome.

Saturday Nehru came over and we went to get beer supplies. While we were out Jeff ended up buying a mac mini to play with, ha. They are pretty nice little machines. I should get one to hook to a projector... I also got a blog and everything setup for Jeff. Which will be kind of fun to keep track of since he travels so much. Like, right now he's in Brazil again, wtf. Anyway, …

This may be one of the best emails I've ever gotten. Top 10 at least....

derek,

right now I am busy building a 6 foot tall anatomically correct paper
mache unicorn. we're stuffing it with 1000 twinkies, putting on
boxing gloves, and smashing it to pieces. the goal is to break of a
part and eat whats inside.

So i'm a little busy right now, but I will see if I can fit something in soon

This week was a pretty good one. Monday I went to the Brother Ali/Swollen Members/Gaiden show at Vaudeville Mews. It was awesome. Swollen Members are really hype and Brother Ali is really good.

Wednesday, Kari and I went to a Cornell alumni thing at Mondo's in Des Moines. It was pretty nice to see some people and hear some things going on at Cornell. But it's also pretty funny that after all the money we spent on that school we had to pay for our own food and drinks. Then I met Zach @ Val Air for the Reliant K/MXPX show. It was pretty funny. We walked in to the biggest crowd I've seen at Val Air so far - 95% of which were H.S. kids. The number of zits in that crowd was INSANE. Plus there were soooooo many girls. It was like …

While I was on my honeymoon I got this email from Kevi that said, "Here's the plan... Friday, Nov. 4, we go to Cedar Rapids and hang out with the cast of Viva la Bam. Saturday, Nov. 5, we film Tonya's musical and then come home." I was confused, but when I got home he told me that he bought VIP tickets for Don Vito's Back to School Tour, where apparently Don Vito and guests from Viva la Bam tour around with rock bands. I'm not really a fan of Viva la Bam, in fact I think it's a pretty awful show - totally scripted. But I do love all the old cky videos. They're like Viva la Bam, but without mtv and infinitely deep pockets. So they're way better. That said, I'm definitely a fan of most of the cast of Viva la Bam, so I was in. Though …

Ever since I started to hit puberty I've been referred to as 'looking like some sort of celebrity.' The first one I got was Devon Sawa, the kid from the Casper movie. I've never seen it, but apparently I used to look like him. It was super sweet for all the girls to call me Casper and bring me copies of the Teen Beat magazine when he was on the cover. Then in college I was told that I looked like Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. And for the past few years I've been told that I look like Bam Margera - like insanely. Kids have stopped in their tracks and wanted my autograph - this one got a bit weird. It resulted in me getting "not bam" shirt made and also made me cut my hair.

It's also weird that everyone I've been told that I look …

I'm home now. Things are still pretty nuts, lots of things to put away after the wedding/honeymoon. Plus about 1000 pictures to sort through and upload. Don't worry, they'll be up soon.

In other news, I got a 60gig video iPod, now Kari and I have 4 ipods, wtf. Hopefully they release a new one tomorrow so we can have 5.

And in other other news, my cubicle at work got filled with packing peanuts. Check out the pictures.

Being married is pretty funny. I am one immature married person.

We woke up early to get breakfast at Tuscanini's. I got the steak and eggs because steak and eggs sounded awesome for breakfast.

After breakfast we swam, played on the beach, and sailed a hobie cat out into the bay. Then we had to come back to the room to pack. Around this time I found out that steak and eggs in St Lucia were not that good. I got a bit sick, hung out in the bathroom for a bit, annhilated the toilet, etc. Never order medium-rare steak anywhere but the US. So yeah, we packed, then caught a shuttle out to the Pier at the Sandals Halcyon and had a great West Indian dinner - scallops, curried shark, and some chocolate banana stuff, mmm.

After dinner we came home, went to bed early, then woke up at 3am to checkout …

Today ruled again - actually all the days have ruled so far. So anyway, we slept in pretty late, then decided to hike to the top of the mountains at the end of our resort's peninsula. It was really nice, pretty tough hike, but really nice. We went up to the fort on one peak and then across to the taller peak.

After hiking we bought things: bounty rum, a couple cuban cigars, some huge necklace, etc. Then we swam @ the main pool for the rest of the afternoon until Kari needed a nap and I needed my computer. ;)

Later we ate at London Pub and just hung out at the bar down on the beach until we got tired.

Today ruled. We went on another excursion called the Jeep Safari Tour. We took this open top 16 person jeep through Castries, a banana plantation, some mountains, to a rainforest, and to a secluded beach. We stopped in the mountains at this little stand to try some fresh fruit, I drank out of a coconut, we had star fruit, fresh pineapple, etc. We also bought some banana ketchup to bring home, heh.

So after that we drove down into the rainforest, hiked some insane trails to this awesome cascading waterfall, and then hiked some more. Normally they cross the rivers by jumping rocks, but since there was so much rain the day before, the rocks were below the water. We had to walk through waist high, fast flowing rivers - it ruled. …

Today we slept in a bit, then woke up and found it raining - which it pretty much did off and on all day. Actually, the weather is really weird here. It rains pretty much everyday, but only for a little bit. Like it'll be sunny all day then it'll suddenly pour. for like 15 minutes. Today though, it rained off and on all day.

So after we woke up we tried to find food - which sucked. It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. So we ran around everywhere. Long story short, certain restaurants that normally open early were relocated due to weather, which took forever to do, they told us to go to other places that "opened early" but actually wern't opening early. We walked back and forth on the resort 4+ times. And if …

Today ruled. We went on this Land and Sea excursion. They drove us all around the island and then we rode this huge catamaran around the shore back to a bay near our resort. There is too much to say about it... So here it is in list form - there will be plenty of pics soon.

Basically, we drove through...
· Anse La Raye (a fisherman village)
· Soufriere
· Marigot Bay, where we got to try banana ketchup and some locally made spiced rum (I bought a bottle for yall to try)

and saw ...
· Some pirate ships that were used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie
· Hess Oils, which had some insane crude oil containers
· Some huge banana plantations
· The Pitons (those 2 huge mountains that the local beer is named after, and where …

So day 2 nothing really happened, we just wanted to relax after all the traveling and the last couple weeks of insanity. We laid around all day on the beach or in pools. The main pool here has this swim up bar, it rules, haha. I walked to the end of the beach where some natives were, I got offered pot by 3 different people and blow once, haha. Maybe I'll buy a ton, bring it home, and be a millionaire....

Kari and I kayaked out in the ocean for a bit, napped on this wicker hammock by the beach, etc.

Before dinner we went to this little bar by the beach for a drink before dinner. We started sipping the locally made rum, Bounty, it's good stuff - I think I'll bring a bottle home... While sitting out there, it just started …

After 3 layovers flying from Des Moines to Chicago to San Juan to St. Lucia, we've arrived. The airport here was pretty crazy. There are actually 2 airports in St Lucia - 1 is big and international, the other only services the islands - this is the one we flew into. The "terminal" is actually just an outdoor hallway covered with a roof. The gate numbers are painted on little signs above the doorways, and our luggage was hauled from the plane with an allis-chalmers tractor. It ruled. It was also nice because our airport was only like 15 minutes from the resort. The drive here was fun, we took a little RH drive van and saw random cows and horses walking around in the narrow streets, etc.

So after 12+ hours of travel we arrived at …

So, the wedding day ruled of course. But it started out sort of lame because apparently I wasn't allowed to see (or even talk to) Kari the entire day. However, it got cooler when a bunch of guys came over, hung out, played pool, had tons of pizza, tried the 2nd batch of homebrews (which turned out awesome, btw), played with the pocketbike, etc.

After playing for bit, everyone left, Kevi and I got ready and we headed for the church to get photos, etc. Soon after the photos, people started showing up. 5:30 came around and the organist was supposed to start playing as people were escorted to their seats. The people were escorted just fine, but the organist hadn't shown up yet - besides the million things going through my head just 30 …

I spent the day doing everything last minute (stressed, of course) - printing programs, printing table placements, buying groomsmen/usher gifts, getting my tux, etc. After all that insanity, we had rehearsal which went really well, then we all had dinner at Latin King. It was nice. After all of that we met a bunch of friends up at the Cab. It was so nice to see everyone, Josh, Tom, etc. I can't believe Tom came up from Texas.

ok so, i have been stressed beyond belief over the last 2 days, haha. it's seriously ridiculous. it is so so annoying to be this stressed, but it is also really really hilarious. like i am seriously worked up, omg.

besides that. my grandma and grandpa are here, i just had a good dinner, i cashed in $200 in change, i got 4ga plugs in my ears, i found out i didn't have my tickets for our honeymoon (hopefully those get here tomorrow), i have printed 200 menus, and i'm currently printing out 250 double sided programs (500 prints). i will be up all night. i still need to get our tuxes, get gifts for groomsmen/ushers, hang out, etc. things are INSANE. i hope tomorrow i can relax, but... yeah right. all this work is retarded. i just …

Friday, Kari's dad and I bottled beer, then Nick and Nicole visited while we cut my hair.

Saturday, Kevi and I drove to the Quad Cities for Ben's Wicked Undergroupd Rap festival. It was a lot of fun. There were some good acts and also some not-so-good acts. Dan Tha Saltine was really good, as was Claas, and the Unidentified Suspects. I may have to go see the Unidentified Suspects again since they are from Des Moines. This metal band from the QC (The Guerrilla Cadets) ruled. They are Christian metal so I'm sure they felt a bit out of place, but they were awesome. After Claas was on, Kevi and I decided to drive to Cornell because people were there for homecoming. We hung out with Lindsey, her friends, Harper, etc. I love …

Whoops, I forgot that I have a web site to write on. A lot has happened lately - tons of wedding planning, Kari had a birthday, Aaron, got married, and I've been having fun.

We ate a lot of nice food for Kari's birthday, I got her a K2 Skyla snowboard, and a Tiffany bracelet. I'm excited to snowboard with her. Maybe she will be better at that than inline skating, haha.

We also went to Aaron's wedding in Canton. It was a ton of fun, we goofed around alot, you know. plus they had the sweetest little towny bar next to our hotel called Josie B's. We had a blast there - Ben rules (he even gave us a penguin sign). Other than that, it was pretty weird being in a wedding 2 weeks before ours. It definitely got a lot of things going …

This weekend was pretty laid back but full of awesome food. Friday, we went to Sage with Nick and Nicole for Kari's little pre-birthday celebration. I love that place. We've gotten the same waitress everytime we've gone there and she rules - really knows her stuff. After that we stopped by the Cab of course.

Saturday I cleaned, worked on videos/web dev, stopped by Trent's house, then Kari's parents came over. Her dad and I went to buy a 4g iPod Nano, but apparently they sent all the 4gigs back to get better screens, heh. The advertisements don't really show how small they are... because all the advertisements are HUGE. But their size is pretty incredible. Too bad they are only 4gb. After iPod searching, we went to dinner at Bis…

OMG. This sucks. So, my friend Ben is having this underground rap festival Saturday the 15th in the Quad Cities. I've gotta go to help support Ben and of course, underground rap.

But, today I was checking some of my favorite bands' tour schedules. Bloodhound Gang and HIM both released new CDs, so I checked their sites first. HIM is really not coming near here, but they are stopping in Minneapolis, which is close enough for me to drive to for a show. However, they are there the 21st - the night before my wedding - GAH! Bloodhound Gang, on the other hand, is going to be @ Quest, Minneapolis on the 16th - the day after Ben's show. If I could get back here quick on Sunday, I could maybe find a friend to drive up there to see the …