In one week I'll be married! Its hard to believe that after such a long time, I'm finally getting married. Maybe it doesn't seem like such a long time to all of you, but to me, its been a torturously long wait.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we've been cleaning house, hauling wood, and fixing stuff up for the big day. And I'm not joking about the hauling wood bit either. We've also been spending time with some of Anna's friends and I'm meeting new people almost every day. My parents are coming in tomorrow, with more people scheduled to arrive at various points throughout the week. I'm really excited!

In one week I'll be married! Its hard to believe that after such a long time, I'm finally getting married. Maybe it doesn't seem like such a long time to all of you, but to me, its been a torturously wait.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we've been cleaning house, hauling wood, and fixing stuff up for the big day. And I'm not joking about the hauling wood bit either. We've also been spending time with some of Anna's friends and I'm meeting new people almost every day. My parents are coming in tomorrow, with more people scheduled to arrive at various points throughout the week. I'm really excited!

Less than ten days before I get married. I'm trying to enjoy the time I have right now, but wow, I'm really looking forward to next Sunday.

I leave for Oregon tomorrow.

I listen to Chuck Swindoll on Insight for Living and currently he is talking about strengthening marriages (something I find particularly relevant right now). He discussed the examples of Adam and Eve, Hosea and Gomer, and Joseph and Mary. His main point was that marriages can survive almost anything. What occurred to me was that all marriages, not just the Biblical examples, are meant to represent God's relationship with us. I knew this before, but not surprisingly, this is become more real as the days go by.

I just watched an interview with the leader of the Mormons. After hearing him respond to the questions by a German interviewer, I can see why they don't let him do interviews more often. He did not respond to some of the questions and many of those he did respond to didn't correspond to the seriousness of the issues. Some of his answers were factually wrong. This interview is from 2002, and they never would have given this interview if they hadn't been hosting the Olympics. If you are interested in a good question to ask Mormons, check out these two videos, here and here. Maybe you could even play them next time you have a polite knock at your door.

Wedding Prep Rablings
So a while back I was looking at stuff at Bed Bath & Beyond and I decided that I would keep a list of some of the more random things I found. I won't have time to go look for more, and unfortunetly, blogger just deleted half of my post (the first problem that I've had with them). Let's see. There was a real Banana Hammock, a Laser Culinary Thermometer, a Salt Pig, a $200 trash can, and a $130 pet stroller. Whenever I see cooking stuff, I ask myself three questions: Is this something that mom would buy? Is this something that Alton Brown would buy? Is this something that Ethan Varela would buy?

I was also thinking about wedding favors. We ended up getting some very good chocolates, but I had hoped for something more creative. Here are my ideas in no particular order. Do you have any good suggestions?

temporary tattoos
yo-yo's with our picture on them
kazoo's for the bridal entrance march
waterballoons

I also had the idea that for wedding favors we could give Sunny and Deannah a small budget and let them scour Savers and Value Village for 'unique' gifts. The guests would arrive to a wrapped present waiting for them and they could enjoy the evening by horse trading them for 'better' gifts.

Do you ever get in those moods when you simply don't feel like going to bed? Occasionally I've had nights when I just couldn't fall asleep. Not often, and tonight won't be one, but its weird when it does happen.

This is strange for me. For the first time in a long time, I have a weekend entirely free. There's nothing that I have to do. For the last seven months, I've had to work on at least one day of the weekend. I finished at Subway, and I'd like to say that I had a great time there and it was a wonderful experience. It wasn't. But God did teach me a few things about real humility. I don't know if I can explain it, but if you've ever gone through a time when you feel you could do more, feel like you deserve more, feel like you may be better than the people around you, well then maybe you understand what I'm saying.

So what am I going to do with my weekend? I don't know. I was going to go with one of my housemates to play ultimate, but we both slept in instead. Last night I played the Game of Life, Pirate Edition with two of my friends here. I finished watching The Rookie, which was an excellent film (I'm a sucker for happy endings). As an interesting side note, not even Disney could take God out of that story. They tried to minimize the spiritual side, but I think that after spending so much time in Texas, they couldn't help but include the scene where the coach prays with his team. And for those of you who haven't seen it, yes, there is a Don't Mess With Texas sticker. It was also interesting to see people walk into Arlington Stadium for the first time, when I did the very same thing less than a year ago. So yeah, if you're looking for a good movie that has a good mix of humor, heart, and plot, I'd recommend The Rookie. End review.

In Other News...
Its still a week before I get to see Anna again. The last week has just dragged on like you wouldn't believe.

[Update] - I really feel like going garage saleing, maybe washing the car, listening to Cartalk, maybe playing with legos or a video game.

Anna moved back up to Oregon and I'm stuck in LA. Sigh. It's going to be a long two weeks.