4th of July 2006

We had a long, but fun weekend in Minnesota. Every year, Stephanie's family gets together to celebrate the 4th of July up at Square Lake in Washington County, MN. We got an early start on the 4th by getting up to Square Lake around 9:30 a.m. to grill up some French Toast for breakfast. We then spend the day soaking up the sun until around 5 p.m. Just as we got back to Steph's parent's house, we had to pack all of our things and hit the road. Steph had an interview the next day and I had work, so we had to drive all night to get home (watching the fireworks out of the car windows). Other highlights of the weekend include watching Munich and The Devil Wears Prada and Steph trying on a few wedding dresses (no, we don't have a date set yet - sometime August 2007).

Updated: July 7th, 2006

How could I forget? While driving up to Minnesota over the weekend, the brakes on my car (1998 Ford Mustang) started grinding. They felt fine on Friday (I've known they needed to be replaced, but I've had no problems with them), but all day Saturday, they were grinding whenever I touched the brakes. So, on Monday, I took my car into the local Ford dealer and dropped $912.80 on new brakes and rotors (both front and rear), a new fuel filter, and windshield wipers. Upon picking up my car, I decided to test drive one of the new Mustangs. I am not sure if I like the body or not, but I wanted to see what it was like behind the wheel. So, I test drove the 300hp Mustang GT. Damn, that car can move. I only got to drive around for like half a mile, but the one main road in front of the dealership is marked at 50 mph. It took hardly any effort for the GT to hit 50 and I didn't gun it. The interior is sweet: leather seats, adjustable seatbelt, 6 disc MP3 capable CD changer... I want it... if I could only afford the $500+ per month payment ;-)

Jack's First Baseball Game

Stephanie and I went back up to Minnesota this past weekend to celebrate Independence Day and take Jack to his first baseball game. We left my parents house at 10:45 a.m. Saturday morning (July 1st) and with all the construction leaving Illinois, we barely made the 6:10 p.m. start time for the Twins vs. Brewers game. Jack was all decked out in his Twins gear rooting the team to a 10-to-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. With a combined 27 hits and 17 runs, neither team hit a home run. Jack was accompanied by Stephanie and myself, Megan, Mike, Debbie, Aunt Susie, and Grandma B.

 Team  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  R  H  E 
 Brewers  0  0  3  0  4  0  0  0  0  7  12  1 
 Twins  2  0  3  1  0  0  0  4  X  10  17  2 

Mike's Graduation

Up by popular demand (Stephanie complaining I only have her graduation photos up on my site), a few photos from my graduation way back in December 2005! I managed to graduate a semester early (only 3.5 years!) with a 3.3 GPA (Graduated with Honors). I didn't get to graduate any place fancy (like some people =P), our ceremony was held in the Herman Union Building (HUB) on IIT's (Illinois Institute of Technology) main campus. The commencement (only bachelor candidates) lasted less than an hour and was pretty painless on everyone.

Steph's Graduation

Stephanie graduated Sunday, June 11th, 2006 with Highest Honors from DePaul University majoring in Spanish and Psychology with a Human Services concentration. Her graduation ceremony was held at the Allstate Arena and was the third commencement to take place that day. The ceremony started at 3:30 PM CDT and lasted just about 3 hours.

Updated: June 21st, 2006

During the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications & Information Systems (CTI) Commencement that took place before Stephanie's ceremony, Ray Kurzweil was awarded an honorary degree and gave speech to the graduating class. I am a big fan of Ray Kurzweil and was sad to have missed this in person, but DePaul has recorded webcasts of the commencement ceremonies, so I got to watch the presentation he gave.

I'm Getting Married!

Yep, that’s right, Stephanie and I got engaged on Friday, April 28th, 2006. We decided to head on down to Jewelers Center on Wabash to look at a few stores and see if we could find something we liked. After randomly going to a few stores on the 12th and 9th floors, we stumbled into Wedding Bands & Co. on the 7th floor. We meet with Koorosh Daneshgar, the CEO and Chief Designer, and he showed us a wide range of designs and options. Stephanie found one ring that she really liked and we are having a custom ring made based on that design. We are waiting to approve the design before the ring will be made.

Updated: May 19th, 2006

We have a winner! Stephanie’s engagement/wedding band will look similar to ring option number 2 pictured above. The ring is cast in white gold with a .9 carat round cut diamond in a bezel setting. We should have the ring by the end of next week (26 May 2006).

Updated: May 25th, 2006