New Hobby - Gardening

A small but dedicated group of us at work make use of the elaborate garden that Kettering so graciously provides us. Anyone can claim a plot (or more), but only a few of us do. My motivation for getting involved was purely pragmatic, as I figured I could save a few bucks by growing some food rather than paying grocery store prices. Like many fellow gardeners, I find myself relishing (pun intended) the experience more than the harvest. I think this is something I'll continue later in life.


Here is a copy of the report I filed for others at the foundation:

TO: Kettering Foundation Staff

FROM: The Gardening Group (Lara, Derek, Matt)

CC: Mother Earth

DATE: August 1, 2007

SUBJECT: Mid-Season Report

The Gardening Group has experienced a very successful first half of the season, and wishes to file a mid-season report. We have produced many cucumbers, peppers, greens, tomatoes, peas, beans, and basil. We “weathered” some attacks from squash bugs and things of the like, but managed to recover quickly.

While we are always happy to share our harvest, we are even happier to welcome new members into our group. We plan to plant our second harvest in a couple of weeks.

Bachelor Party

Here is the first installment of the wedding weekend -- the bachelor party. (Don't worry, this entry is parent and work-friendly.)

The bachelor party was a great time, due to the fine planning of my best man. The day began with a little golf accompanied by a friendly wager,


followed by some great Chinese cuisine (my favorite),


and ended with a limo bus extravaganza. We had 14 guys on the limo bus, which we had from 9 pm - 3 am. We took advantage of all six hours. Here was the result at the end of the night.


(I'm fine in this picture, I just ad-libbed the case for effect!)

If I can get serious for a moment sans the beer case hat, this was one of the best days of my life. Spending the day with 15 of my closest friends (Dad, bro-in-law included), was truly a wonderful feeling. Some came from as close as a half mile, some came from over 2,000 miles away. I think that says it all.

Special thanks to all who came, and a very special thanks to Rob for putting so much thought and planning into making this day unlike any other.

Matt Simpson

Taking a page from Julie's Blog, I decided to create my own Simpson character, to see what I would look like if I was a cartoon character on The Simpsons.

I think they got it right! What do you think?

(Wedding pictures coming soon... we hope!)

Fear Not...

Fear not fellow blogospherians: a wedding post(s) will be coming soon. The pictures are going to be in by Wednesday, and I'll post them thereafter. I'm going to make 4 separate posts, to document the bachelor party, rehearsal dinner, wedding day, and honeymoon.

I feel terrible keeping my fans waiting, but life is hectic but great right now. For now, here is a picture of a giraffe.

I Was a Hambone in College

I came across the word "hamble" today in my readings. I was forced to look up the definition, as I sometimes am when I read. Hamble means to limp or stumble when walking. Interesting, huh? Not in many online dictionaries on which I heavily rely. I had to resort to the mammoth dictionary, which is prominently displayed on a lectern in the corner of our building. In my online searchings for the word, I stumbled across the urban dictionary's closest definition, "hambone."


ham-bone
definition: Term given to male college students who are jocks, gym-rats, beer-drinkers or business majors. They generally attend frat parties and always wear a collared shirt tuck neatly into their pants. Hambones will engage in debates with other hambones that consist of "which are the best Dave Matthews Band lyrics" or the cheapest place to buy a "30-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon." The best place to spot hambones is at the gym.

usage: Dude, lets go the frat party, they'll be other hambones there and they have a beer pong table.

That is scary. That definition pretty much depicts my undergraduate experience. Replace "Dave Matthews Band" with "Poison," and you've got yourself a match. It's a good thing she wasn't scared off by my hamboning ways! 5 days and counting...

Next Sunday Night Baseball

We just found out that next Sunday after our wedding, the Detroit Tigers baseball game we have tickets to has been selected as the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game. As you might guess, I'm more excited about this than Erica. We are hoping to get on television, and we've decided that the best way to do so is to exploit our new found marital status. What better way to do that than a flashy sign. Here it is:



Look for us Sunday night on ESPN. We'll be the ones with the biggest smiles and the coolest sign in the park!

Deleted Scene from My Favorite Movie

Micromanagement at its finest!