Well, it has been the better part if a year since my last blog. I must say that I have been failing to make it a priority. I'll start by saying that I recently have been convinced that we had been saying that we were REALLY busy a lot...maybe too much. Every time someone asked how we were, we would reply, "Busy". We have started to try not to say that. And I think it has been helping us be more productive. We try to no longer let ourselves have that excuse because we do have unproductive things that take up our time and if we feel busy, we cut some of that out and all of the sudden we have time to hang out with friends or help someone out.....or clean our apartment. Lol.
There have been several things we have been doing this summer:
1. Trying our hand at making our own pizza and wings. Buffalo wings are quite the thing up here in buffalo and we have come to enjoy them quite a lot. We have had several friends over and they seem to think that our pizza is quite good. And our wings. I grill the wings on the charcoal grill and then put the sauce on them. We got all the recipes from the Internet and we think they are great.
2. I have been riding my motorcycle MUCH more this summer as compared to last summer. Last month, I rode it 20ish days. Over the last two weeks, I think I rode it 9 work days. I actually noticed that the rear tire is wore out. I need to get it replaced before the end of the summer. Probably before the end of the month. It has been averaging a solid 40 mpg.
3. This morning we had the first rain since probably 4 weeks ago. The grass has gotten quite crispy almost everywhere. Last week it reached 95 one day and one of the major freeways around buffalo buckled in one place because it expanded so much in the heat. The heat was more than we are used to. All of the lowes and sears stores were sold out of air conditioners. We have managed to survive without one so far.
4. We have been able to hang out with a lot of people from church and we have also been able to get to know some of our neighbors better too. It is nice in the summer weather because it's easier to go places and hang out. We can stay outside too. We have been riding our bicycles more too. Melissa, of course has been riding hers the .75 miles to work most days. If friends of ours want to meet for ice cream, we just ride over to the ice cream shop. We can even ride over to a couple of our friends' houses too.
5. This weekend, we got invited to go with a friend, Jeffrey, to Buffalo for a schooner ride. It was a first for both of us, and it was really fun. We ate at the Anchor Bar afterwords. It is famous for being the originator of the buffalo wing. They had good wings. And the other food we had was great too. After that, we ended going up to Niagra falls too, another first for me. :)
So, I guess that's all for now.....
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Vacation and cars
Today, we were up at 4:30am. We stayed at Jake and Lauras house so we could get an early start to Emerald Isle, NC. After 14 hours in the car and 710 miles of driving, we arrived at Second Wind. That is what our 6 bedroom, 5 bath house is called. We were invited to come along with the Alianellos on their vacation for a whole week. It is quite a nice place where you can hear the ocean(and see it). All of the bedrooms are seaside and the house has a wonderful two story deck with lots of chairs on it for sitting and reading or looking at the sunrise or sunset or whatever you want.
I am ready for a little time off of work. It is nice to spend time with friends without having to worry about being tired in the morning and sleeping in for work. We plan to do some fishing and sea kayaking and swimming and suning and snorkling. It is supposed to be in the 75-80 degree range all week. Should be great.
When we get back home I will be picking up our corolla from the transmission shop. It needed to have the differential replaced. Not a small job I guess. Our intrigue is also giving us some trouble. A wiring problem that seems to be manifesting itself in the form of an out low beam headlight on the right side and a rear left window that won't go up. The AC clutch is also going bad and the engine needs a valve cover gasket. Oh the joys of owning vehicles. Even though we are having some trouble, we feel blessed to have cars and decent jobs. God is good.
Melissa's grandparents came to visit two weeks ago. It was really nice to visit with them and eat with them. Melisa and grandma made two apple pies while they were here. They were honestly the best apple pies I have ever eaten. Absolutly delicous.
Hmm I'll bet it'll be really close to winter when we get back to New York on the 18th. I'm looking forward to snowboarding. Soon it will be time to pack up the motorcycle hemets and het out the snowboarding gear.
Well, it's been a long day. Time for something like bed.
Until Next Time....
I am ready for a little time off of work. It is nice to spend time with friends without having to worry about being tired in the morning and sleeping in for work. We plan to do some fishing and sea kayaking and swimming and suning and snorkling. It is supposed to be in the 75-80 degree range all week. Should be great.
When we get back home I will be picking up our corolla from the transmission shop. It needed to have the differential replaced. Not a small job I guess. Our intrigue is also giving us some trouble. A wiring problem that seems to be manifesting itself in the form of an out low beam headlight on the right side and a rear left window that won't go up. The AC clutch is also going bad and the engine needs a valve cover gasket. Oh the joys of owning vehicles. Even though we are having some trouble, we feel blessed to have cars and decent jobs. God is good.
Melissa's grandparents came to visit two weeks ago. It was really nice to visit with them and eat with them. Melisa and grandma made two apple pies while they were here. They were honestly the best apple pies I have ever eaten. Absolutly delicous.
Hmm I'll bet it'll be really close to winter when we get back to New York on the 18th. I'm looking forward to snowboarding. Soon it will be time to pack up the motorcycle hemets and het out the snowboarding gear.
Well, it's been a long day. Time for something like bed.
Until Next Time....
Saturday, July 31, 2010
long time no blog...
Hmmm. Well i guess it has been a while. A few people have expressed their wonderings about what it is that I am up to. Well, a lot. I'm/We're still happily married. Trying all kinds of new meals and recipes. Trying to get into a good 'walking in the evenings' habit to keep from gaining all kinds of weight from the all kinds of new meals and recipes.
Work has been picking up. We just put out to bid a $225,000 double box culvert replacement for a village, not too far from where our office is. There is all kinds of new projects that are still in the preliminary stages, but there is some potential to be a lot of good new work for us.
I have done a few things to my/our cars. Turned front rotors and new pads on the Intrigue, New rotors and pads on the front of the Corolla, new exhaust 'donut' gasket on the exhaust of the Corolla(done by a local shop), new master window control switch for the Intrigue, new wiper blades for the Corolla.
Today, I helped Jake put in a water treatment system at his house. He has had a iron bacteria problem and he did lots of research (being that he is an engineer) and he came up with a pretty slick system. It involves a chlorine injection pump, am 80 gallon chlorine contact tank and a backwashable carbon filter. The chlorine disinfects the water as well as precipitating the iron out of the water. The chlorine contact tank is kind of a place for some of the precipitated iron to collect. The carbon filter then filters out anything that didn't settle out in the chlorine contact tank as well as removing some or most of the chlorine from the water. I helped him install the system which involved cutting into the existing piping and plumbing in the new system. I also had my first experience installing a relay to control the chlorine injection pump. The relay is engaged when the well pump comes on, then switching power to the chlorine pump. Anyway, the system is up and running. Now, Jake only needs to figure out how much chlorine to put into the water so that it does it's job, but is not overpowering. And now, his water that was once VERY stinky and dirty on the plumbing and fixtures has no smell and tastes GREAT :) I love when a job goes together and works.
Well, Until Next Time....
Work has been picking up. We just put out to bid a $225,000 double box culvert replacement for a village, not too far from where our office is. There is all kinds of new projects that are still in the preliminary stages, but there is some potential to be a lot of good new work for us.
I have done a few things to my/our cars. Turned front rotors and new pads on the Intrigue, New rotors and pads on the front of the Corolla, new exhaust 'donut' gasket on the exhaust of the Corolla(done by a local shop), new master window control switch for the Intrigue, new wiper blades for the Corolla.
Today, I helped Jake put in a water treatment system at his house. He has had a iron bacteria problem and he did lots of research (being that he is an engineer) and he came up with a pretty slick system. It involves a chlorine injection pump, am 80 gallon chlorine contact tank and a backwashable carbon filter. The chlorine disinfects the water as well as precipitating the iron out of the water. The chlorine contact tank is kind of a place for some of the precipitated iron to collect. The carbon filter then filters out anything that didn't settle out in the chlorine contact tank as well as removing some or most of the chlorine from the water. I helped him install the system which involved cutting into the existing piping and plumbing in the new system. I also had my first experience installing a relay to control the chlorine injection pump. The relay is engaged when the well pump comes on, then switching power to the chlorine pump. Anyway, the system is up and running. Now, Jake only needs to figure out how much chlorine to put into the water so that it does it's job, but is not overpowering. And now, his water that was once VERY stinky and dirty on the plumbing and fixtures has no smell and tastes GREAT :) I love when a job goes together and works.
Well, Until Next Time....
Saturday, April 24, 2010
First Weekend Home
It's saturday and I am actually writing a post....on Saturday. Imagine that. We had Jake and Laura over last evening for dinner and a movie. Melissa made this new coffee BBQ sauce. It was amazing. We had it with chicken and rice. Add corn and a salad to that and we had quite a nice meal. I think that we both agree....as did our company...that the BBQ sauce should make another reappearance in the future...maybe several. We will definitely be adding it to our binder of 'hit'recipes. We have been constantly amazed at how God has blessed us with so many things. We have pretty much been able to get anything we wanted for our kitchen through the wedding gifts that we have received.
We have used our pannini maker many times and are always coming up with new variations of sandwiches to try in it. We also take it over to Brad and Michelle's because they really like it, or actually, the food that comes out of it. We use our cookware set everyday and sometimes, we find that every pan in the set is dirty because we use them so much. And it's amazing because we do dishes very regularly....much more regularly than when i was living here alone. lol. Actually, the whole Apartment in general is cleaner now that Melissa has moved in.
Also, the coffee pot and french press get used very regularly. I try to use them both so one or the other doesn't get jealous. They both make great coffee. We used some gift money to buy a set of Zwilling J.A. Henkels knives. http://www.zwilling.com/en-US/Product-Range--sortiment/Cutlery--knives/Series-overview--serien/TWIN(R)-Four-Star-II--3542.html
We bought a smaller set that contains two chef knives, a parer, a peeler, and a serrated utility knife as well as the knife block and a set of kitchen shears. These, too we use every day and anticipate that they will last as long as the cookware set...
We also acquired a kitchenAid mixer. Melissa asked me if i wanted to buy a new one from the store when we were there, and I knew that she wasn't crazy about them yet, so she was asking me because she knew i wanted one. I told her that we should not spend $299 on something that she didn't really want, and that we might find one at a garage sale. WELL, wouldn't you know, Jake and Laura are buying a house and the sellers have been getting rid of stuff in a sort of ongoing yard sale. Jake called me last week and said that there was a kitchenAid Professional for sale that looked pretty good and he wanted to know if we wanted it(because he heard that we/I kinda wanted one). When I asked him how much they wanted for it and he said $50, I talked to Melissa and it didn't take too long for us to decide that it was an AMAZING deal and that we should get it. SO, we have one now, even though we are running out of room to keep stuff. :) It's stuff like that that makes you feel so blessed. A $300-$400 mixer for $50.00. :)
Thursday, We got her car title and registration all taken care of and switched to NY as well as her Drivers License. There is a 'mobile' DMV that comes to springville every thursday. They happen to set up at the town hall which is right across the street from where she works. It was great. After about 1.5 hours, we had it all straighten out and our pocket books were about $200 lighter. lol
Well, I suppose that's about it. I rode my bike to work friday. It was cool in the morning, but the afternoon was great. an amazing ride. We need to get all three vehicles inspected before the end of the month and probably get the oil changed for at least two of them. STUFF>>>>means you have MAINTENANCE to do with it. the more stuff, the more maintenance. amazing.
Until Next Time....
We have used our pannini maker many times and are always coming up with new variations of sandwiches to try in it. We also take it over to Brad and Michelle's because they really like it, or actually, the food that comes out of it. We use our cookware set everyday and sometimes, we find that every pan in the set is dirty because we use them so much. And it's amazing because we do dishes very regularly....much more regularly than when i was living here alone. lol. Actually, the whole Apartment in general is cleaner now that Melissa has moved in.
Also, the coffee pot and french press get used very regularly. I try to use them both so one or the other doesn't get jealous. They both make great coffee. We used some gift money to buy a set of Zwilling J.A. Henkels knives. http://www.zwilling.com/en-US/Product-Range--sortiment/Cutlery--knives/Series-overview--serien/TWIN(R)-Four-Star-II--3542.html
We bought a smaller set that contains two chef knives, a parer, a peeler, and a serrated utility knife as well as the knife block and a set of kitchen shears. These, too we use every day and anticipate that they will last as long as the cookware set...
We also acquired a kitchenAid mixer. Melissa asked me if i wanted to buy a new one from the store when we were there, and I knew that she wasn't crazy about them yet, so she was asking me because she knew i wanted one. I told her that we should not spend $299 on something that she didn't really want, and that we might find one at a garage sale. WELL, wouldn't you know, Jake and Laura are buying a house and the sellers have been getting rid of stuff in a sort of ongoing yard sale. Jake called me last week and said that there was a kitchenAid Professional for sale that looked pretty good and he wanted to know if we wanted it(because he heard that we/I kinda wanted one). When I asked him how much they wanted for it and he said $50, I talked to Melissa and it didn't take too long for us to decide that it was an AMAZING deal and that we should get it. SO, we have one now, even though we are running out of room to keep stuff. :) It's stuff like that that makes you feel so blessed. A $300-$400 mixer for $50.00. :)
Thursday, We got her car title and registration all taken care of and switched to NY as well as her Drivers License. There is a 'mobile' DMV that comes to springville every thursday. They happen to set up at the town hall which is right across the street from where she works. It was great. After about 1.5 hours, we had it all straighten out and our pocket books were about $200 lighter. lol
Well, I suppose that's about it. I rode my bike to work friday. It was cool in the morning, but the afternoon was great. an amazing ride. We need to get all three vehicles inspected before the end of the month and probably get the oil changed for at least two of them. STUFF>>>>means you have MAINTENANCE to do with it. the more stuff, the more maintenance. amazing.
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Still Married and Still Lovin' It
Well, it's been a month since Melissa and I got married...I've slacked off on writing regularly, and a few people have mentioned this....so, i will try to write a little something. :)
We have been putting our Apartment together....putting stuff away and cleaning up various messes that seem propagate all by themselves. We had three major 'dumps' into our apartment since we came home: all of our cloths from the wedding and honeymoon, all our gifts from the wedding that we picked up at Brad and Michelle's house, and a whole car load of stuff that we got from Bed Bath and Beyond and Target with Wedding gift cards. It seemed for a while that as soon as we got one mess cleaned up, another one just appeared. Anyway, thanks to Melissa mostly, we have a very clean and well organized apartment. We just need to figure out how to keep it that way. lol.
Melissa is working for a Surveyor in Springville. We live within a 10 minute walk of her office so when the weather is nice and she feels like it(or if we have a broken down car or something) she can walk to work. She was been working there for two weeks now and things seem to be going well. She has been in the office mostly so far, but last week she spent 2 days out in the field working with one of the surveyors. She really likes getting out and having the variety of being in the office and also out in the field. She is figuring out the programs that they use in the office. It's a pretty 'open format' office where she pretty much has to figure a lot of stuff out on her own. So she is getting used to that.
We have been shopping a lot at Aldi for groceries and finally have decided that we need to go there FIRST, before Walmart, so that we can get everything we can there. We keep going there last and finding out that we could have gotten tomatoes there and saved money on them...stuff like that. :)
I got the windshield replaced on the Intrigue last week. I was informed that i wouldn't be able to get it inspected until the windshield was replaced because it had two cracks in it. Fortunately I have glass coverage on my insurance and all it cost me was the time it took to make one phone call. We are still getting stuff straightened out as far as getting her license and vehicle registration into New York, but We're getting there.
Also, we are looking forward to our first Full Weekend home since we got married. :)
In subsequent posts, i hope to tell you how happy we are with our cookware set and our cutlery set. And the amazing deal we got on a KitchenAid Mixer.
Until Next Time....
We have been putting our Apartment together....putting stuff away and cleaning up various messes that seem propagate all by themselves. We had three major 'dumps' into our apartment since we came home: all of our cloths from the wedding and honeymoon, all our gifts from the wedding that we picked up at Brad and Michelle's house, and a whole car load of stuff that we got from Bed Bath and Beyond and Target with Wedding gift cards. It seemed for a while that as soon as we got one mess cleaned up, another one just appeared. Anyway, thanks to Melissa mostly, we have a very clean and well organized apartment. We just need to figure out how to keep it that way. lol.
Melissa is working for a Surveyor in Springville. We live within a 10 minute walk of her office so when the weather is nice and she feels like it(or if we have a broken down car or something) she can walk to work. She was been working there for two weeks now and things seem to be going well. She has been in the office mostly so far, but last week she spent 2 days out in the field working with one of the surveyors. She really likes getting out and having the variety of being in the office and also out in the field. She is figuring out the programs that they use in the office. It's a pretty 'open format' office where she pretty much has to figure a lot of stuff out on her own. So she is getting used to that.
We have been shopping a lot at Aldi for groceries and finally have decided that we need to go there FIRST, before Walmart, so that we can get everything we can there. We keep going there last and finding out that we could have gotten tomatoes there and saved money on them...stuff like that. :)
I got the windshield replaced on the Intrigue last week. I was informed that i wouldn't be able to get it inspected until the windshield was replaced because it had two cracks in it. Fortunately I have glass coverage on my insurance and all it cost me was the time it took to make one phone call. We are still getting stuff straightened out as far as getting her license and vehicle registration into New York, but We're getting there.
Also, we are looking forward to our first Full Weekend home since we got married. :)
In subsequent posts, i hope to tell you how happy we are with our cookware set and our cutlery set. And the amazing deal we got on a KitchenAid Mixer.
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The first from a married man.
So, here I am. Back in my, or should I say our apartment. I am married to the love of my life, Melissa. She's a Henning now. Lol. The wedding went pretty well. It was great to see everyone that came. Looking back on the whole thing, I'm kinda looking forward to seeing the pictures from the photographer. He turned out to be really good. The pictures should be available to view and purchase if you want online. When I get the webpage, I'll post the link.
The honeymoon was great. We stayed at a ski resort in the middle of the white mountain national forest in New Hampshire. We had a few rainy days which was ok and then we had a few super nice days. Warm enough for t-shirts actually. We walked around town one day and went to a bunch of shops. We went to an outlet mall another day. And even though it was warm and it rained some, we still went snowboarding. There was a ski slope that was up in the national forest. It was called wildcat. They are high enough that the temps were probably 7 degrees F lower than where we were staying. They still had great snow and on Friday they were running a deal...$9 lift tickets. For all day. They are normally $69. So we decided to go. It was great. We got there at 10. Boarded some. Ate lunch. Boarded more. And left at about 2:30. We were both tired out not having boarded much this season. :)
the mountain was really neat. there were all kinda of trails and they were long too. There Is a total of 2100 feet of elevation difference from the top to the bottom. The peak was at an elevation of something like 4100 feet. What was really cool was that Mt. Washington, the famous mountain of the presidential range, was right across the 'valley' from the ski slope and you could see it as you were going up the lift, at the top, and even while
boarding down. It was SO close. It seemed like it was almost unreal it was so amazing. We could also see down the valley and the other mountains too. It was amazing and a good reminder of the awesomeness of God and how amazing He is and how good he is to let us enjoy all his creation.
So now we are back in our apartment. I go back to work tomorow and it will be interesting to see what my/our new 'normal' life is going to look like. I'm typing this on my iPod so there may have been a few typos. Also. I'm tired of typing on the tiny keypad so I'm going to
be done.
Until Next Time....
The honeymoon was great. We stayed at a ski resort in the middle of the white mountain national forest in New Hampshire. We had a few rainy days which was ok and then we had a few super nice days. Warm enough for t-shirts actually. We walked around town one day and went to a bunch of shops. We went to an outlet mall another day. And even though it was warm and it rained some, we still went snowboarding. There was a ski slope that was up in the national forest. It was called wildcat. They are high enough that the temps were probably 7 degrees F lower than where we were staying. They still had great snow and on Friday they were running a deal...$9 lift tickets. For all day. They are normally $69. So we decided to go. It was great. We got there at 10. Boarded some. Ate lunch. Boarded more. And left at about 2:30. We were both tired out not having boarded much this season. :)
the mountain was really neat. there were all kinda of trails and they were long too. There Is a total of 2100 feet of elevation difference from the top to the bottom. The peak was at an elevation of something like 4100 feet. What was really cool was that Mt. Washington, the famous mountain of the presidential range, was right across the 'valley' from the ski slope and you could see it as you were going up the lift, at the top, and even while
boarding down. It was SO close. It seemed like it was almost unreal it was so amazing. We could also see down the valley and the other mountains too. It was amazing and a good reminder of the awesomeness of God and how amazing He is and how good he is to let us enjoy all his creation.
So now we are back in our apartment. I go back to work tomorow and it will be interesting to see what my/our new 'normal' life is going to look like. I'm typing this on my iPod so there may have been a few typos. Also. I'm tired of typing on the tiny keypad so I'm going to
be done.
Until Next Time....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Getting Closer
The wedding is fast approaching.... These last few weeks have been very busy...with wedding planning stuff as well as other non-wedding, non-work stuff. Michelle, Melissa's sister had a baby last thursday. Ryan was born at 2 lbs 15.somthing ozs. Although he was premature and will be in the NICU for a fair amount of time, he seems to be doing pretty well. Michelle is also recovering. This does however mean that Brad and Michelle and family will not be able to make it to Maine for the wedding, which means that Melissa will not be having Michelle as her matron of honor at the wedding either. It has been pretty hectic over the last week, but we both know that God is in control and that He is working out His perfect plan. We are still super excited to be getting married in only 5 days.
I have spent the last week getting ready to leave for a couple weeks and cleaning the apartment so that it is nice and everything for us when we get back.
In other news, (by the way, this part was written a couple of weeks ago, but i figured i'd still post it because it is relevant to what is going on in my life and it is also very interesting)
Our church has started a small group study called "The Truth Project". It's a 12 class program where you go through videos that are basically a classroom setting. The series is all about developing a Christian worldview. Dr. Del Tackett is the guy that is teaching the lessons. It is really neat, they use all sorts of different media in the lessons and they interview some people from the general public as well as some well known Christian authors and preachers. I have included the links to two
The Truth Project Intro and Trailer
Dr. Del Tackett - the Truth Project 'tour guide'
Until Next Time....
I have spent the last week getting ready to leave for a couple weeks and cleaning the apartment so that it is nice and everything for us when we get back.
In other news, (by the way, this part was written a couple of weeks ago, but i figured i'd still post it because it is relevant to what is going on in my life and it is also very interesting)
Our church has started a small group study called "The Truth Project". It's a 12 class program where you go through videos that are basically a classroom setting. The series is all about developing a Christian worldview. Dr. Del Tackett is the guy that is teaching the lessons. It is really neat, they use all sorts of different media in the lessons and they interview some people from the general public as well as some well known Christian authors and preachers. I have included the links to two
The Truth Project Intro and Trailer
Dr. Del Tackett - the Truth Project 'tour guide'
Until Next Time....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)