Freakin’ Fantastically Fun Friday!

Or as I like to call it, “FFFF.” Much to the discontent of anybody within range of my spit.

So, my very dear and amazingly awesome friend Erin (visit her blog here) was sweet enough to include me in a post concerning her favorite blogs that she enjoys visiting, so I figured I should probably cook up a nice little post. Had some fun stuff happen in the past couple weeks, so here’s a rapid fire update for you, starting with something incredibly exciting.

I got a haircut.

Okay, okay, I’m sorry.

I grilled a heart-shaped ribeye for Jenn and me on Valentine’s Day.

I used a new seasoning on it that I hadn’t used before, much to the delight of my easily amused palate. Jenn loved it, too. She cooked a mean pot roast that day for lunch. Our V-Day gift to each other was to stay at home and cook for each other. Best V-Day ever, seriously.

It snowed shortly before V-Day.

Just a little.

Some jerk kids knocked over our snowman. Here’s a dramatic reenactment of the discovery from after our second snowman fell over on its own…

Also, here’s Maddie catching a snowball.

Words With Friends is awesome. Here’s a screencap of the most epic opening word I’ve ever started a game with.

You can see my username on there, so feel free to challenge me. It’s a fun little diversion when I have some downtime at work.

I found this really awesome artist who makes some killer poster art based on favorite comic book characters. Here are two of my favorites, Green Lantern and Iron Man.

I especially love that GL poster. I mean, GL’s my favorite in general, but that’s just cool in its simplicity. Wish I had it framed for my nonexistent man cave. Heck, might as well throw in that Iron Man poster, too, if we’re talking nonexistent things. 🙂

Let’s see, what else? School’s going okay, graduation’s getting closer and closer. Work’s going fine, even though I’m beyond ready to move up into the world of teaching.

Jenn and I doing marvelously. We had our first premarital counseling session with our pastor and his wife last Sunday, and we’ll do our second/last one this Sunday. Planning the wedding and the honeymoon have really brought us together as a team more than ever before, and it makes me all the more excited to tackle life together with her.

Speaking of the honeymoon, I’ve been using Yelp and this excellent book to assemble a “bucket list” of sorts of restaurants and other stuff we have to check out while we’re in Kauai. It’s turning into quite a list, and I’m having a blast compiling all this info. There’s so much to do during the week that we’ll be there, and we’re so freakin’ excited about it. 🙂

Guess that’s about it for now. I hope you have a blessed and FFFF.

Excuse me, I need to get a paper towel.

iPSotD

Mark and Dad goofing around Saturday night.

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Awww, cute puppy.

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Blech.

Washout.

So we went to the Brad Paisley concert at the Superpages.com Center (previously the Smirnoff Music Center, previously the Coca-Cola Starplex).

On a completely unrelated note, the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex has received roughly 800 inches of rain since Friday evening.

Heh, but really, it was a blast. Sure, we got BEYOND drenched after standing out in the worst of it for several hours. But we got to hear some awesome music! Jimmy Wayne opened up the show. I’d never heard of him, but he had some excellent tunes. Dierks Bentley (yes, that’s spelled right) came out next, and he was a blast. Then Brad came out and just tore it up. I always forget that the man can shred on the guitar. Dude could hold his own with Clapton, srsly. He is easily leading the next generation of guitar legends. Jenn took some great pictures of him performing, but I haven’t had a chance to pull them off her camera yet. Nothing on Flickr yet either, which surprises me, but I snapped a couple shots on my iPhone (through a protective Ziploc bag) of our friends having some fun.

By the way, iPhones work GREAT through Ziploc bags! I could even update my Facebook status through the plastic. LOL

Anyway, all in all, it was so much fun. We all went to Whataburger afterward (after going home to change) and got some brekfust taquitos. Almost as good as a bag full of Jack in the Box tacos after midnight. 🙂

Still raining outside. It’s really starting to affect my mood, unfortunately. Feeling pretty down in the dumps today. I know it’ll pass though, just gotta have faith.

iPSotD:

New Office

Well, to make a big dumb story short, I’ve been asked to move my “office” into one of my computer labs. So it’s kinda like getting my own classroom/office, which is pretty sweet. Of course, I have much more than this lab to take care of, but it’s still kinda fun. 🙂

On the down side, I had to say goodbye to my iMac. It’s needed elsewhere, so I’m stuck using my decent work-issue laptop and the crappy desktop machine here on my desk. Which, in turn, means no more Photo Booth Shot of the Day. 😦

BUT, I’m trying something new. Gonna see how the iPhone Shot of the Day plays out. It won’t be a picture of me every day anymore (though this one is). I’m gonna try and mix it up a little and get creative within the constraints of the iPhone’s camera. It’s actually a pretty decent lens, so we’ll see what I can cook up.

Anyway, yesterday was the first day of school here at work AND at UTA. First day at work went pretty darn well, no hiccups at all. Been a little busier today, but it’s still going swimmingly.

First day at UTA was AWESOME. I had my Business & Professional Communications class (which hereafter shall be simply known as “Speech”) first, and it looks to be a lot of fun. My teacher… I swear, if Sean Connery had an American twin brother, this guy would SO be him. The look, the mannerisms, the voice, the eyebrow raise. TOTALLY SEAN CONNERY. It’s so funny! Makes me look forward to this class even more.

After that, I had my Pirates of the Caribbean class with Doc Sullivan, which so far looks like it will totally justify the excitement that’s been building in me since I first registered for the class earlier this year. Sullivan remembered me from his Colonial America class last Fall, and he is REALLY excited to be teaching this after taking a year off. He’s totally in his element, and I’m pumped about all the stuff I have to do for this class. Arrrr!

iPhone Shot of the Day:

Hai.

An update just for you, Kilo.

Man, what a summer this is shaping up to be. Classes have been kicking my butt, and I am beyond ready to be done with school. Summer I at UTA was pretty rough, but I think I emerged unscathed. Summer II is shaping up to be pretty cool, with my Political Parties and Images of the American West classes. TCC is kinda the exact opposite, though. Summer I was a lot of fun thanks to the people and the teacher in my Spanish III class. But now Summer II kinda sucks, because Spanish IV and Intro to Architecture just aren’t tickling my fancy so much. BUT, I’ll get through it. Have to.

Jenn and I (with Misty) took our annual trip down to Galveston this past weekend. Despite what some people said about the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike, it actually looked really great down there. True, there was a field full of destroyed boats right as you crossed the bridge onto the island. And true, there’s a huge gaping hole in the side of the Flagship Hotel on the Seawall, along with the entry ramp being completely washed away. But aside from all that and some minor cosmetic damage to various stores, it really wasn’t that bad at all. Stewart Beach was in better shape than it’s ever been. This is the first year we’ve been able to go there and not have to deal with massive amounts of washed-up seaweed. It was clean and beautiful. We were able to get out there on the beach two days in a row this year, and I’m paying for it right now. I look like the Leper of UTA or something here.

Oh, there was one MAJOR downer about the trip. A good chunk of the Strand is still closed due to damages, namely LaKing’s Confectionary, which is (or was) one of the greatest ice cream and candy shops to ever exist in the history of the universe. It was completely shut down, and that made Jenn and I really sad. 😦 But we made up for it by having a blast on the beach, and checking out some amazing restaurants that we’ve never been to before, so it was okay.

Speaking of the restaurants, O.M.G.. Fish Tales, Miller’s Landing, and Salsa’s. DO NOT go to Galveston without eating at these three places. Wonderful stuff, friend. Life-changing.

Oh, and then there was Buc-ee’s, the greatest travel stop EVAR. If you ever run across one in your Texas travels, you absolutely must stop there. You’ll love it, I guarantee. I can’t even put into words the awesomeness of Buc-ee’s. Lemme put it this way… do you like jerky? Ever wished you could order just about any kind/flavor of jerky imaginable, fresh from the deli? Yeah, go to Buc-ee’s. And don’t forget to get some Frostie’s Root Beer. It’s on tap there. OH YEAH.

So yeah, all in all and excellent weekend.

In other news, I’m geeking out like a… geek… about Green Lantern right now. Variety is reporting that Ryan Reynolds has been cast as Hal Jordan for the new Green Lantern movie coming out in a year or two. To me, Ryan Reynolds is one of those awesome actors who tends to get stuck in crappy movies, ie. Wolverine and Blade: Trinity. But the man can act, and I think he can totally pull off Hal Jordan. Can’t wait. On top of that, I just preordered “Green Lantern: First Flight” on DVD, and I get to go pick up my copy of Blackest Night #1 tomorrow from Lone Star Comics. Freakin’ awesome! 🙂

Guess I’ll wrap this up by telling you something that most of y’all already know, and has been a long time coming: I finally got an iPhone! Yay!

Srsly, when’s Spring Break?

I think I’m trying to get a cold. I’ve been awfully sneezy the past few days. Blech. Hopefully it won’t get worse. I definitely don’t want what everyone else around here has been getting. Flu’s been running rampant this season, especially since it’s that crazy Tamiflu-resistant strain.

My phone’s been gimping out big time this week. I have a Samsung Blackjack II, and I’ve always enjoyed it. But lately I’ve been getting a lot of dropped calls, and it’s generally been running pretty sluggish. I wish I had the money right now to get a new phone. I’m dying to get an iPhone. 😦

Photo Booth Shot of the Day:

I'M IN UR ATARI