So I was watching deleted scenes (again) from The Office Season 5. I must not have been paying attention closely enough the first time around to notice the hilarity of this scene in which Michael tells the staff of his fictitious proposal to Holly.
(Several members of the Office are gathered in Michael's office.) Meredith:How did you propose? Spill it. Were you wasted?
Michael:How did I propose? Let's see. Well, I drove her up to Nashua, and I had the ring. A big 10 karat diamond. It was beautiful. I got down on my hands and knees, a shooting star crossed overhead, and it just lit up the diamond like a shooting star, and we were in a restaurant, and I put the diamond into a cheeseburger. and she took a bite and started to choke. So what do I do? I have CPR training, so I go around and start doing the Heimlich. The ring, a 10 karat diamond, pops out of her mouth, hits her shrimp cocktail, right onto her finger. Million to one shot. All of the Greek people in the restaurant start screaming "Opa!", which means congratulations.
I was pretty proud of my proposal idea, but I don't think I can top Michael's "proposal"!
Today, Jenna and I went to the Holiday Parade in downtown Kalamazoo. It was filled with lots of people throwing candy, marching bands, singing girl scouts, and of course the big balloons.
The first thing I always think of when I see these balloons is the Seinfeld episode where Mr. Pitt got to hold one of the ropes on the Woody Woodpecker balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The balloon is popped by Jerry, and Mr. Pitt is caught underneath the rapidly deflating balloon. Priceless.
No balloons fully deflated at the parade, but Rudolph's right ear did pop somewhere prior to getting to where we were standing.
The Rudolph and Frosty balloons made sense, but then Odie and Felix came rolling around the corner. Not sure how they are holiday related, but oh well.
This next picture is a guy/gal dressed up like a muffin from Perkins Family Restaurant. Just a little FYI for you all. If you were to actually eat a single blueberry muffin from Perkins, you would have just consumed 550 calories, 26 grams of fat, 78 grams of carbs, and 10 grams of protein. Sad thing is, that is one of the healthier muffins that they offer!
Is it sad that everything I saw evoked memories of TV shows? The first fire truck went by (pictured below), and I started laughing because I thought of Dwight from the Office in Season 2, episode " The Fire."
(The fire trucks arrive)
(Dwight jumps in the air with a little fist pump)
Dwight: Yeah!
(The firefighters make their way to the building)
Dwight: (to the passing firefighters) Hey guys, great response time. Listen up, I got some theories, there's a... (the firefighters ignore him)
And then the star of the parade finally showed up... It was a glorious day for a Parade. Its tough to beat 65 degrees and sunny in November!
A couple of weekends ago my sister took some engagement pictures for us. Here's a small sampling for you all. We went to a park in Grand Rapids and then Robinette's Orchard as well. Enjoy!
I completed my third adventure race of the fall yesterday. I completed this one with my Dad, who was a first time adventure racer. The race took place at Yankee Springs Recreation Area near Middleville, MI.
Here's the course map we were given at the beginning of the race. The orienteering section is not shown. We were given a differently scaled map of the Hall Lake area for that section.
The race started with a 3.5 mile canoe across Gun Lake and Long Lake to get a couple check points. This was then followed by a 4 to 5 mile trail run. However, we missed a check point along the way and had to double back, which probably turned our 4 to 5 mile run into 6 or 7 miles. The trekking section starts at the beginning of the green trail on the map, and then ended at the check point TA2 on the east end of the mountain bike trail.
Next up was the bike course, which is shown in red on the map. All the other races I had done to this point involved predominantly road riding. This race consisted of all off-road riding on the trails through Yankee Springs. The trails are fairly technical at spots, with a lot of up and downs. I have a little mountain biking experience and found this quite fun, but my Dad didn't necessarily like the biking, as he has virtually no off-roading experience. We did manage to complete the grueling course in one piece.
The last portion of the race was the orienteering section. Our missed check point blunder at the beginning left us with less time than we would have liked, but still managed to find 6 of the 12 check points in the orienteering section.
I am quite proud of my Dad for wanting to do the race to begin with and then finishing it on top of that! Finishing any competition where you are on the move for 6 hours is quite an accomplishment, especially never having done anything like this before. We crossed the finish line in under 6 hours and found 15 of the 21 check points. It was a tough race to do for a first timer. Here are his final thoughts on the day.
As far as racing goes, this was the last one on my calendar for the year. Unless a fun winter event comes up, I won't be doing any more racing until next spring, and hopefully I will be in better shape.
The wedding planning is moving along. Last Saturday it was time to get the gift registry process started. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't exactly looking forward to this process. Not because I don't want gifts, but mostly because of a general disdain towards shopping.
I knew I was in for the longest shopping trip of my entire life, so I tested out several pairs of shoes to determine which ones would keep me most comfortable throughout the day. We also packed some snacks in order to keep our energy level up, or maybe it was to keep my complaining to a minimum. Either way it was a good idea.
We registered at three different stores, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, and JC Penny. We started at Bed Bath & Beyond, the gift registry giant.
See how happy we are at the beginning... We got some help from a registry consultant or something. She gave us some tips on a few things and then set us free. We looked at and scanned a lot of stuff. The scanning gun that they give you isn't really that great. It isn't even shaped like a gun. I expected much better, especially from a store who does as much gift registering as they do. I thought that I would make it through a store or two before I lost focus, but I could not have been more wrong. I didn't even make it out of Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I think this chair is designed for guys that aren't really shoppers and need reviving during the gift registry process. I find it funny how I have been doing adventure races all fall in which I run, bike, and canoe for 6-10 hours and yet an hour of shopping completely wears me out.
The rest of the day went pretty well. Target has by far the best registry gun. It is shaped like a gun, has a touch screen, and actually allows you to scroll through things you have registered for. By the end of the day I had gotten pretty versatile in my scanning skills. We both survived the long day of shopping, and we now have the bulk of the registry process behind us!
This past Saturday my good buddy, Darren Tigelaar, and I participated in the 2009 Kalamazoo Metro Trek. This was an 8-10 hour urban adventure race. It consisted of a combination of biking, running, canoeing, orienteering, urban orienteering, and a short ropes course all occuring across the greater Kalamazoo area.
This was Darren's first Adventure Race, and my third. And to be quite frank, Darren carried me through this one. I had a pretty off day, and had some fairly serious cramping problems about 7 hours in. If anybody happened to see somebody wearing a bike helmet and a backpack, doubled over on the side over on the side of the road near Wallbridge St. and Kalamazoo Ave, that was me. I couldn't stand up. When I tried to stretch my quads, my hamstrings cramped, and when I tried to stretch my hamstrings, my quads cramped up. It wasn't fun. I started eating and drinking anything I could, including a handful of salt from the train depot downtown. The cramping did eventually let up a little and then I could run for 2 to 3 minutes bursts. I thought I had done a good job of staying hydrated and eating throughout the day, but apparently I was wrong.
In spite of me being slow and crampy, it was still unbelievably fun. We ended up biking 36 miles on mountain bikes, ran anywhere from 10-12 miles, and paddled a canoe about 1.5 miles.
This was easily the muddiest and most difficult orienteering section I have done. We routinely found ourselves in mud/clay/water up to ours knees and hips. We did get ourselves turned around a few times, and stuck in the middle of a briar patch, but I am proud to say that we found every single check point on the orienteering section.
We finished in 8 hours 28 minutes. It was a perfect day for a race, I didn't lose the passport this time, and Darren was an awesome teammate to have out there. Hopefully next year I won't slow him down as much!
That's right everybody. I am getting married. Last night I proposed to Jenna, and she said yes! :) I will try and give little rundown of how it happened. If you feel like you want more details, feel free to talk with us:)
I took yesterday off from work. I am actually off work today as well, hence the blog in the middle of the morning. I spent most of the day moving furniture out of my apartment and then decorating it. My sister, Theresa, came down from GR to help with the decorating and Abby came over after school.
Jenna likes lights of all varieties, especially little twinkle lights and star lights. I had made (with some much appreciated help) a long string of paper star lights and then hung them up in my apartment. I pretty much then just littered the rest of my apartment with other strings of lights.
I wanted everything to be a surprise, so I did my best to give Jenna the impression everything was a normal Wednesday. I got up at my usual time so we could chat on g-chat, sent texts throughout the day, and even waited till the normal time I get out of work and went and picked her up in my work "uniform".
We went out to eat at Applebee's. Not the most romantic places, I know, but I had a gift card and it was the only rational explanation for going out to eat in the middle of the week. We needed to eat so that there was enough time for it to get dark out, so that all the lights in my apartment would look better.
We had planned to go back to her place to hang out for the evening, but I needed to get her to my apartment somehow. So, I told her I wanted to watch some of The Office Season 5 on DVD which I "accidently" left at my apartment, in preparation for the season 6 premiere tonight. It was a bit odd, but she went along with the idea.
I had held it together pretty well for most of the night, in my opinion anyways, and was able to act fairly normal. But as soon as we headed down Milham Ave towards my apartment, my heart started pounding. She was telling a story, but unfortunately I have no idea what it was about as my mind was elsewhere.
I opened the door, and flipped the switch which all the lights were connected to, and then we saw this... The ring was hanging from the ceiling on a thread right in the middle of it all. The TV was playing a video/slideshow that I had made for her.
I proposed. She said yes. Then I put this on her finger...
Here's the video/slideshow that I made and was playing on the TV.
Everything went well, and pretty much according plan. We are both extremely excited, and I can't wait to marry the woman that I love. I love you Jenna!
I have never enjoyed grocery shopping. I love eating the food that I buy. I just don't enjoy the process of going to the store, so while I was doing my shopping yesterday I started thinking of all the reasons I don't like it. Here they are in no particular order:
Most other shoppers in the store always seem completely oblivious to everything else going on around them.
The cart I choose always has a wobbly/squeaky wheel, even if I give it a test run before committing to it.
There are about 5 aisles of things I rarely need situated between things I always need. For example, all the dairy in the very back then rows of paper towel, cleaning supplies, booze, etc. before getting back to food aisles again.
The personal hygeine items and food are on opposite sides of the store.
There are cart corrals every 50 to 75 feet these days and people still can't manage to take the time to put their empty cart in them, so they end up rolling all over the parking lot.
People seem to think that a grocery store is a great place to carry on cell phone conversations.
People like to leave carts in the middle of the aisle. I understand leaving your cart to look at something, but at least leave it to the side.
Not everyone realizes the u-scan lanes are supposed to be quick and are not intended for a full cart of groceries.
I always seem to pick the wrong/slowest check out lane. Instead of having an aisle number lit up, the cashier's should have their scan rate in items per minute displayed, to make it easier to choose which check-out lane to use.
The aisle I need the most, usually the cereal aisle, is always the most crowded.
There you have it. Basically what it comes down to is that I have no patience while in the grocery store. Maybe with a little patience, I could solve my problems, with the exception of #5, because that's just being lazy:)
This year the Mejeur family headed to Muskegon, MI for a weekend away on the beach. My parents rented a house with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan.
We had awesome weather all weekend. It was sunny and had temps in the mid to high 70's. The water temperature was a balmy 52 degrees, so we didn't do much swimming, but did manage a few plunges into the lake.
The best thing about the weekend was that we had absolutely no schedule. We laid on the beach, went for bike rides, played a pretty competitive/argumentative game of ultimate Frisbee, enjoyed a sunset every night, ate a lot of food, drank coffee, and played games (which usually resulted in more competitiveness and arguing).
It was a great way to cap of an all around solid summer. It makes me a little sad to see it go, but I had a wonderful time spending a few days with my family.
We took a few family photos on the beach... Jenna and I explored Muskegon via bicycle... The sun was a little intense for two people who spend their entire working day inside, so we fashioned a shelter out of a blanket, two shovels and two rubber bands. Not bad, eh?
This past weekend two of my good friends Nate DeVisser and Abby Czap got hitched! The ceremony was good, the reception/food was amazing, and the dancing was just downright spectacular. Below are a just a few pictures to chronicle the night.
The Bride and Groom in all their glory...
Happily dating and Happily married...
Busting a few moves...
And then the air guitar made an appearance...
Overall it was an awesome night. Congrats Nate and Abby!
This weekend I participated in the Chameleon Adventure Race in Middleville, MI for the second year in a row. This year I did it with my brother-in-law, Aaron.
Basically the race consists of finding check points using a map and compass using a variety of modes of transportation including biking, paddling, and running/trekking. They give you a map with all the check points plotted, and then you have 6 hours to complete as many as possible and return to the finish line.
This wouldn't be such a difficult task if all the check points were placed right a long a road or trail. However, we often found ourselves trouncing through some pretty dense forest/brush/prickers causing you legs to look like this afterwards:
And if it wasn't dense brush, we could usually find a way to be knee deep in a swamp or bog. Sorry, no pictures of those experiences. The water/mud combination would not have been camera friendly.
Things were moving along pretty smoothly, and we were finding a good number of check points. However, between the second to last and the last check point we were going to get before our six hour time limit was up, I lost our passport. The passport basically verifies all the check points you find by getting a punch at each of them. Unfortunately, without this you get a big fat DNF (did not finish) in the standings. We still crossed the finish line. But I wasn't happy. Here are my thoughts as we crossed the finish line:
We didn't finish in the standings, but we did manage to still take home an award! The race also awards the team who finds and brings back the best piece of trash. I happened to find an old school radio from the 70's or 80's. I knew this had a good chance of winning the prize for Best Trash, but it weighed 15-20 pounds. I decided to strap it up to my pack and carry it for the next 3 hours. It turned out to be worth it, especially after the lost passport debacle. We were each rewarded with a $100 gift certificate to Merrell!
All in all we had a good time. I am already looking forward to the next Adventure Race in September. Here are a couple more pictures including our faithful supporters Jenna, Theresa and Abby who braved the cool temperatures and the rain!
Jenna and I have been attending Radiant Church in Richland, MI for the past couple months. We have really enjoyed it thus far, but had yet to be too involved or really feel connected. We had both been praying for the right opportunity and that God would open the door for us to serve him better.
Well, recently Radiant unveiled that they would be starting a second location in Portage, MI! When I first heard this I thought it sounded like a spectacular idea, but figured it would be months until it got underway, but last night we figured out it would be starting October 4. Talk about perfect timing! We couldn't be more excited for this chance to get in on the ground level of a church. The fact that we now only have to drive 5-10 minutes to church instead of 25-30 minutes is also a huge plus.
It also opens up opportunity for all kinds of service and volunteering. I am eager to see how God will use this church expansion to reach the un-churched and the de-churched, as well as give us a an opportunity to grow in our faith.
"You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it." Matthew 21:22 (NLT)
