1. Feeling the need for some afternoon excitement, Lucas and I went to see Over the Hedge today. I was in the mood for some comedic relief after viewing our most recent Netflix selections. Somehow, always unintentional, we end up watching multiple movies starring the same actor/actress in a weekend. This time, it was Billy Bob Thornton. First up was Slingblade. Lucas tells me that sadder movies exist, but I am not convinced that is a true statement, mmm-hmmm. We also watched A Simple Plan. Billy Bob sure can do sad and pathetic. Another tear-jerker. So, today at the theater, we saw Over the Hedge because I wanted something happy. And really, what is happier than animated animals eating junkfood? Plus, a bonus: we didn't know this going in to the movie, but Ben Folds did the soundtrack. There are 3 new songs, plus a re-working of "Rockin' the Suburbs." More happy.

2. As we were sitting down watching "Last Comic Standing" tonight, the thought occurred to me: with all the reality TV shows out there, why haven't I seen someone I know on one of them yet? I mean, there have to be at least 50 reality shows, and that is probably on the low side. With shows like "American Idol" and "Last Comic Standing" airing the auditions as well as the actual competition, thousands of people are broadcast every night onto our TV. So why don't I know any of them? I figure the odds are astronomical that longer than 2 more years pass without finally seeing someone I know end up a reality TV star.

~Kelly

So I was reading about socialism. I went to wikipedia, and I just read the list of people or groups of people that claimed to have socialist ideas. Go check it out here. Wow...

Here is a rundown of our Memorial Day weekend, beginning on Friday and concluding on Monday. Included is some commentary, and I'll leave it to you whether you read it or not. Though, as always, there is a chance I will be making fun of you, and you may want to know that.

1. Friday: We visited Body Worlds II (official site). It is a travelling exhibit of deceased individuals who donated themselves to the exhibit. The deceased are preserved in a process known as plastination, dissected/posed, and then put on display. I recommend looking at the linked sites to really see the results. It is quite interesting, but a bit bizarre when you think that everything you are looking at was one part of a person, living and breathing.
2. Saturday: Kelly planned a barbecue, inviting some friends from work and their husbands. We were expecting them to show up at 5, but no one came until 5:45 (after we became a little nervous that no one would show up). We cooked out, played croquet, and then went to our complexes theater (which we had rented out for $50) to watch Ferris Bueller. However, the projector was busted and there was a drunken party going on at the pool right outside. We ended up just hanging out for a while and getting our money back.
3. Sunday: Cornrows.
4. Monday: We ran in the Bolder Boulder 10k, the biggest 10k in the US (I think). There were about 50,000 people running, some in costume, Superman having a commanding lead on any other character. Bands lined the streets playing things like Black Sabbath and a reggae version of the Kinks Lola. The race was a lot of fun, and there is a standing invitation for people to come out and run it with us next year.

So that was our weekend. It was dope.

I have decided that we might as well call these updates quarterly, since that's what they basically are. I just hope that since I'm calling them quarterly, I don't trick myself into posting them semi-annually! (I don't use the exclammation point much, and I don't think that last sentence will convince me to start using it more.)

Steph got accepted to the Master of Library Science distance education program at the University of Illinois, as well as the program at San Jose State. The U of I program is significantly more expensive, but also much higher quality (it's the number one program in the nation). After we chose U of I, San Jose doubled their tuition, so we feel we made the right decision. She will be traveling to Illinois once per semester now, her first trip being this July for about 10 days or so. She will fly in and out of St. Louis, and I know she is hoping to see a few people while there (although there won't be much time).

Steph's new job at the library has begun, and she is a few weeks into her training. She likes the job pretty well, and I think it boosted her confidence when I told her I was willing to stay in California for her (my, how times have changed!).

I'm happy with how that last exclammation point turned out.

The cats are on a diet. They are angry now. As far as I can tell, our veterinarian hates us. Well, I hate his lisp!

I got a job as an English teacher at a Christian high school here in Pasadena. The job begins in August, and I may also get to work with the student council kids and do some mentoring and (hopefully) leadership development with them. This means we'll be here at least for another year, and it means I'll also be leaving Restoration Hardware soon. I don't know if this is what I will want to do for the rest of my life, but it seems like a big step in the right direction.

May 27 was our sixth anniversary. The crazy thing is that we've been out here for about two thirds of our marriage.

Say hello sometime. I have a new email address I can send to you if you want it. Love to all!

We're back safe and sound from a wonderful smelling, traffic-free, short-feeling, fully packed weekend!

We drove up Friday afternoon and made it to Camp Nelson in about 4.5 hours. That night we had a couple of drinks at the local diner, where we met plenty of locals, including the bartender, whose name also happened to be Jeri, spelled the exact same way. Weird. They make the best frozen pizza I've ever had. We found out our room was called the Eagle's Nest. What a coincidence. :) Vaulted ceilings, plenty of eagle-themed stuff throughout, and a funky 60s-style bathroom that we really dug.

Saturday morning we got up to a beautiful foggy morning (photo from our balcony) and found Ric's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousin's family. We all went to breakfast at the diner, then several of us headed up the mountain to find the Amos Alanzo Stagg tree.

It made us feel short.

We came back and relaxed a bit, then had dinner down at the family's campsite (we stayed at the lodge while some of them roughed it), and spent the evening making smores. It was the first time Grandpa Price ever had a smore. Crazy! Good family times.

Sunday morning we all had a pancake breakfast with the rest of the community at the local volunteer fire department fire house. Yummy.

Ric and I went to the Trail of 100 Giants in the Sequoia National Park area on our own. That place was awesome. It smelled great, and every step we took was crunching over tons of pieces of brances and wood bits. Again, we felt quite short. We went back to the diner after that so we could have some more of that tasty pizza.

I filled the memory card, so we didn't have photos after that. We hung out at the campfire the entire night and had great family times and conversations.

Sunday, after a great country breakfast, a long goodbye with the grandfolks (you know how they all are about saying goodbye) and driving down to the campsite to say goodbye, we headed home. We had ZERO traffic problems the entire way home and got back in only 4 hours! Amazing. I thank God for our safe travels, good times, and the chance to enjoy the nature he created. I'm also thankful we got back with plenty of time to relax on Monday and also get a chance to see X3. I think we might have exploded if we didn't see it on opening weekend. :)

I'll upload photos from the trip in the next week or so. Lots of great nature shots and family moments. It was a very fun time.

I made my first blog post three years ago today. It was on LiveJournal then, but I've imported the old posts.

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman