I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul

Easter.  Jesus dying for your sins, getting resurrected. It makes other problems in life seem pretty insignificant when you compare them to that, but there's still stuff I can't get out of my mind.  I live in San Diego now which is pretty close to paradise.  I have a spectacular job at Intuit.  I also have a few friends out here that are pretty awesome.  All that is great, but what good is any of it if you don't have anyone to share it with?

I miss all of my friends now scattered all over the planet.  I hope you are all doing well!

The title: Radiohead - Creep

I fear that I'm ordinary, just like everyone

Here's an update on my gym activity.  For a week I went to the gym about 3 hours a day.  I was feeling fantastic and when I stepped on the scale the following Monday I had lost 3 pounds.  On Jan 9th my dad showed up for a visit and left yesterday.  We had an amazing time, but man did we eat a lot of excellent food.  So now I am worse off than when I started haha.  I have been sick most of this week and I still am.  Monday I should be back to normal and will be back to my ambitious 3 hours a day.

I ordered a TV this week.  I really wanted a Samsung PN63C8000, but the crazy price of $3100 was just way beyond reasonable.  I settled on a PN58C8000 that I found for $1700, which is still a ton of money, but for a 5 inch difference is is a much better price.  Now all I need is a couch.  I've been planning to buy a couch for like 6 months now, but I keep putting it off.

The title: Smashing Pumpkins - Muzzle

Will you feel better, better, better. Will you feel anything at all?

This morning I began the attempt to get back to the old me.  The old me who is active all the time.  I hit the gym for an hour on the elliptical, and now I am eating some oatmeal with peaches (not the stuff from a packet).  I weighed in this morning at 245 pounds, but I'm not going to check that again for a week so I don;t get depressed about not making any progress.  Corinne, if you are reading this, I didn't steal anyone's machine, the gym was pretty close to empty ;)

I am really excited for work this week.  I can't wait to get in there and get stuff done.

My dad will be here in one week, and that is going to be so awesome!  I am not sure what he is going to do while I am at work every day, but at least he can drive my car around with brand new tires on it.

The title: Regina Spektor - Better

Lights will guide you home

I have returned to San Diego!  I got to see a lot of people that I didn't expect I'd get the chance to see, and yet there were still more people I hoped to see that I missed. 

I got to have lunch with my friend Dave from T&R and he is doing fantastic.  He got a road bike and has been riding all over the place and meeting new people.  I have been thinking about getting a road bike for a long time, but I was always afraid of the traffic.  Here in Escondido it might not be so bad.  The only problem I have is that I don't know anything about road bikes. 

Before I left my friend Morgan came over to visit.  I haven't seen her in years.  So many years in fact that she wasn't done growing when I saw her last and I was surprised to see that she's almost 6 feet tall.  Tall and absolutely beautiful.  I had such a fun time visiting with her.  We laughed so much that my cheeks hurt haha.  I am hoping to convince her to come out to visit, or maybe I will have to fly back to MA to see her.

Seeing Morgan got me thinking about my friend Marcy (which is how I met Morgan).  Marcy lives about an hour north of where I live in Cali.  I have been here since May and never met up with her, so I texted her tonight and told her that we need to soon.  She agreed, and we are going to make that happen.

Since it is the new year I am going to set some goals, cause goals are good, and that's what people do in the new year.  The only goal that I am pretty determined to hit is to lose 50 pounds by about June.  I am currently just under 250 pounds.  I am not sure if I am going to get a road bike or just hit the gym more, but I am definitely going to try to exercise in some way Monday through Saturday every week.

The title: Coldplay - Fix You

Something in the way.

Yesterday we were hit by a blizzard in Massachusetts (and the whole east coast).  My flight was canceled and now I can't get in contact with Delta to reschedule a flight home.  I am loving it here with all this snow!  Unfortunately I am working from "home" here in MA, so I can't really enjoy the snow until much later today and maybe tomorrow morning.  I'll try to post some pictures up later here or maybe facebook.

Last night Gerry and Sarah stopped by which was awesome.  I don;t have a car to drive around and visit people, so that was very nice of them.  Anyone is welcome to stop by while I am here to visit.

The title: Nirvana - Something in the Way

There's no place like home for the holidays

When I arrived at my parent's house there was an amazing spread of appetizers to snack on all night.  My brother and girlfriend were there, and so was my nephew.  We opened presents and listened to Christmas music.

Saturday morning we awoke to a Christmas that was not white.  What did we do about that?  We grabbed a snow gun that I made when I was a kid and headed to  my brother's house.  My brother has some huge air compressors that he uses for sandblasting and they worked perfect.  We only ran it for about 15 minutes, but that was enough to cover a bit of his front lawn with a dusting of snow.

I spent the day with my parent's at the home of my nephew's mom.  She made a crazy amount of fantastic food.  I ate way too much.  I played a lot of Mario Kart with the kids there.

Tomorrow I will be heading to church here and I am dreading having to explain that I am no longer married.  At least Esther answered my text today wishing her Merry Christmas.

I am supposed to be flying home tomorrow night, but that might now happen.  Today it snowed in Georgia (where my layover is) and it hasn't snowed in Atlanta in over 100 years.  It should start snowing here around 6am and be blizzard conditions from noon until noon the next day!

The title: Perry Como - Home for the Holidays

I'm on a plain

Greetings!  I am coming to you live from a plane (not a plain, but over a plain)!  The wireless is free (thanks google) but it is crazy slow and keeps cutting out.  It is something though.  My friend Jenn brought me to the airport in my car and as she was leaving the airport hit a pothole and is stranded there waiting for AAA.  I have been texting her through my gmail account (thanks again google) and discussing what to do since R32s don;t have spare tires.  Jenn dropped me off at 5:30am and it is now almost 9:30.  I owe her really really big.  So Jenn, if you are reading this, I am soooo sorry for getting you stranded on Christmas Eve and I can't express to you how grateful I am for you giving me a ride.

The title: Nirvana - On a plain

57 Channels and nothing on

Mondays are a bummer with Hulu because there's no new shows and on top of that many shows are on break for the holidays, so there nothing to catch up on.  Tonight I watched "A Nanny for Christmas" and then the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Natalie Cole.  Good stuff.  Now I'm listening to the Glee Christmas album.

For some reason Davin and I can't get into the jump box through the work VPN right now, so he is going in early in the morning.

I found super sweet site for sending Christmas e-cards it is portablenorthpole.tv and you can make custom videos from Santa to your friends that says their name and shows pictures of them.

My friend Renae asked for a nintendo game for Christmas.  I was shocked to find that there are any NES systems left that run.  I don't miss blowing in cartridges to make them work hehe.

The title: Bruce Springsteen - 57 Channels (and nothing on)

I like watchin' the puddles gather rain

Is there anywhere that I can live that just has warm weather and snow?  I would like to skip the rain.  Well, one day of rain is fine I guess, but 4 in a row is a bummer no matter which state you live in.

Today was the Christmas program at church, and it was really excellent.

Last night I was at a friend's house making graham cracker houses.  Although much cheaper and faster than gingerbread, it is much harder to shape graham crackers because they are so brittle.  I made the Provo Temple.

The title: Blind Melon - No Rain

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I was so happy for an extremely busy day today at work.  It was good to get my mind off of real life and just work.  I gave everyone at work nerf guns today.  Hopefully some good fun comes out of that.

I like a soap opera.  I know, shameful, but I really enjoy it.  The show is Being Erica.  I thought it got canceled at the end of the 2nd season because no new episodes came on Hulu, but it turns out there is 3rd season!  The same thing happened with the show Merlin which I also love.

I am supposed to be hitting the gym every day, but instead I have been baking every day.  Exercise is one that that I have a lot of trouble doing alone.  I miss having Lily to work out with.  She isn't planning to visit California until this summer.  I certainly can't wait that long to do some exercise haha.

I ordered a computer today.  I got a pretty loaded Dell XPS 8100 with a 24" monitor for $1000.  Oddly, it absolutely killed me to spend that much money.  There's one thing I use more than anything though, and that's a computer.

I cannot motivate myself to tackle the mountain of boxes of my stuff in the middle of my living room.  I need to get the stuff put away, but I would rather not look at it and just stuff it in a closet.  I have the extra closet space since this place has 2 bedrooms and it looks like the other one is never going to be filled with a person.

The tabernacle in Provo burned down today.  Lots of people are sad, but I've never been there, so I don't really know how great it was.

For dinner tonight I made tomato jalapeno soup.  I went a bit overboard on the jalapenos, but it was very tasty even if it was a tad spicy.

The title: Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide

Who can it be now?

This evening just after I got home someone knocked on my door.  When I opened there was a huge crowd of people Caroling!  I stood on the balcony in my shorts and listen to them.  My neighbors did the same.  It was pretty awesome!

Our department at work today went to Dave and Busters .  They bought us all dinner and gave us cards to play games for hours.  It was a wicked good time.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, I love the place I work so much!

Volkswagen is releasing a new car to replace the R32.  It may be time for me to get a new car.

I bought myself some Christmas presents.  I got a 6 quart Kitchenaid mixer and a nerf gun.  Making pizza dough by hand is impossible.  you have to kneed it for like 30 minutes and it is really hard to do unlike normal bread dough.  Why a nerf gun?  Today Mandy from another department came to my desk and distracted me with fudge that she made and then unloaded on me with her nerf gun!  Over the past week I have made more than 30 dozen cookies.  Amazingly I have only eaten 10 cookies out of all those.

The title: Men at Work - Who Can it Be Now?

For the holidays you can't beat home sweet home.

Well, if home is where the heart is then I have no idea where "home" is.  I love it here in California, but man do I miss Massachusetts in the winter.  I know that so many of you are wondering how I can choose snow over bright sunshine and warm days.  There's 10 days 'til Christmas, and Christmas to me is not a day at the beach.  I guess living in MA Christmas was rarely white, but there's something about the crisp air, smells of wood stoves, trees without leaves, and people bundled up from head to toe that make it just so awesome!  Part of my heart is also divided off to my now ex-wife Esther, but I pretty much just try and block that out because it kinda hurts to think about.  I am flying to Massachusetts on the 24th and flying back on the 26th!  Not very long to be there, but I will be with my family for Christmas :)

I have had no luck convincing people to visit me here!  So many people say how nice it must be, but nobody wants to visit.  The only excuse I ever hear is that it is too expensive.  I am considering putting together a contest to fly a friend here for a week with me.  Would anyone be interested in that?

My job is really fantastic.  I can't say that enough.  I really love the people that I work with *and* the job!  Today I had a meeting with someone on the network security team to discuss reworking the network for our filers.  They encourage us to make suggestions to make things better here and they actually get implemented when they are good ideas!  Why has it been impossible in many places I have worked to suggest improvements?

I have a TON of pictures to post to update my online photo gallery, but I haven't worked on any of them in probably a year.  I'm going to have to work on that real soon.

I have so much more to say, but I have to get to bed.  All that I have to say probably won't get posted, but feel free to call or email if you like!

The title: Various Artists - Home for the Holidays

The house is a rockin'

I just felt my first earthquake in California!  It is estimated at a 4.8 and will be updated in 15 minutes with the actual reading.  Pretty cool. 

Esther is about to board a plane to fly here.  Hopefully California is still attached to the US when she gets here hehe.

The title: Stevie Ray Vaughan - The House Is Rockin'

Traffic jam, got more cars than a beach got sand

The traffic in California is legendary and today I got a heavy dose of it.  I live about 10 miles from work, but it took me almost an hour to get home.  My work has a "Social" every Friday at 4pm.  Free food that is themed, and free drinks.  By free drinks I mean a cooler full of soda and water and a bunch of different beer on tap.  Unlimited.  Fo realz.  The problem is that I get off at 4:30, and if I do not leave immediately a wave of people going home bombards the route I take and we all sit in gridlock together.  I went to the social to get some eats instead of going home right away.  The food was great, but the traffic was not.

I am visiting "home" this coming week.  I don't know what is classified as home anymore.  CA, UT, or MA?  I went to church this past Sunday here in California and I really like my new ward.  Matt Beynon served 7 month of his mission in this ward and told me it is fantastic.

If you find yourself in the San Diego area please call me :)

The title: Dave Matthews - Too Much

Going To California with an aching in my heart

On May 9th I got in my car and drove to San Diego.  I have been here almost a week and I believe that this is pretty close to heaven on earth.  Here I have water and trees like Massachusetts and mountains like Utah.  To make it even sweeter the temperature is perfect and there are palm trees everywhere.  So, if you're wondering what state to find me in, it is California for now.  I have a 1 year contract at Intuit as a Storage Admin and so far I am loving it.  My first week of work was challenging and pleasant.

The title:  Led Zeppelin - Going to California

How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

I never changed the time on the thermostat when daylight savings changed over.  The heat turned on 15 minutes ago and the temp change woke me up.  It needs to be cold when I am sleeping or I can't sleep.

I went on a hike with Wendy two days ago up Rock Canyon.  There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground.  She was wearing her backpack with some water bottles in it.  It didn't seem to faze her at all that she was carrying a few extra pounds.  She stayed off the path as much as possible, leaping through the fluffy snow and getting it in her nose.  When we got back she was tired and fell asleep.

Yesterday we walked up to Provo Canyon.  When we got to Timpanogos park it was dark, so I had to call around to find someone to bring us home.  Sara came and got us, but before she did Wendy found a dip cup and got it all over her snout.  It smelled horrible.  Chewing tobacco = gross.

So, I am starting off this Sunday bright and early because of the heater.  We're not really even suposed to be here, we should be in Park City.  Esther's family got a condo from Friday (two days ago) until Monday (a week from tomorrow).  During this week we will surely be up there.

Does anyone have exciting plans for Black Friday?  The deals this year don't look all that spectacular, but there is one thing that I would like to get - a plasma TV.  Over the past few months I have done a ton of research on HDTVs so that I can get one!  Esther says she will pay for half if I can come up with the first half.  Someone asked me a few days ago if they should get a plasma or an LCD, and this was my answer (with a little editing): 
Plasma FOR SURE. Go with either Samsung, LG, or Panasonic. The best deal I see coming up is Best Buy's Black Friday deal on a Samsung. Samsung 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV (Model # PN50B530S2F) - $897.99.  Sears has a BF deal on a similar model Samsung 50" Plasma HDTV (Model PN50B530) - $899.99 aaaand at Best Buy they have a Panasonic Viera 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV (Model# TC-P50U1) w/Blu-ray Disc Player (Model # DMP-BD60K) - $999.98. Go with something 1080p for that large. If you are going under 42" then you will have to go LCD, and you could also go with 720p at that size. The sweet spot of pricing right now is right at about 50", depending on brand. Very small discount for going smaller, very big jump for bigger. The three brands have different features such as if they have D-sub input, DVI, a slot for a memory card... Also very important is the Blue-ray player you are going to hook up. You usually want to go with the same brand as the TV, BUT they all have different features such as whether they stream Pandora, YouTube, Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon video... Some are wired, some are wireless. In most cases it is cheaper to buy a cheap wireless bridge than to get a player with wireless build in (save yourself around $100).  Keep in mind that the features that the blu-ray player has may make up for the features that the TV lacks, for xample an LG TV probably doesn't have an SDHC memory card slot for your pictures, but the blu-ray player might. Plasmas have blacker blacks, higher contrast ratios, and no refresh rate issues. They do use more power though. There are some brand new Plasmas that have the energy star logo if you are concerned with that (those are much better on power). I can give you lots of info on LCD as well, but I really don't think they are worth it comparatively. Plasmas haven't had problems with burn in for years. Many technologies have been developed to avoid this. http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-burnin.html As long as the image on the screen does not stay the same you will never have to worry, and even then, the new technologies *should* prevent it. The people who are most at risk of burn in, if it is going to happen, are people who play games with static graphics on the screen. As I said though, it is unlikely with a modern plasma. Back when a 50" would cost you $8000 it was a reasonable worry. This is a good excuse for the gamer in your family to never play games for more than an hour ;) LCD HDTVs can have uneven lighting, halos, judder, washed out colors and blacks, smaller viewing angle, and the decent ones are more expensive than their plasma counterparts. One other thing that I forgot to mention is whether your TV has a matte finish or glossy. To the eye glossy usually looks better, but it can be annoying to see reflections on your screen while watching TV. Many now have an adequate anti-glare finish, but it is worth a mention anyways. It is always best to see the TV in person first, BUT always remember that the floor models are not calibrated, so the picture will almost always look much better in your home after calibration. Some differences between LCD and Plasma http://hdguru.com/choosing-the-hdtv-that%E2%80%99s-right-for-you/603/ and here is a link to Black Friday HDTV deals http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic_view.php?catid=18&threadid=968537&start=0

The titlte: Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning

Who let the dogs out

I recently got a dog. Her name is Wendy. She is an airdale terrier. Esther and I had been talking about getting a dog for a while and she had just reached the point where she thought we would never agree on a dog (and therefore never get one). I have been waiting to hear about a job in New York since July, we couldn't agree on a dog we liked, and we work opposing schedules. She showed up one day while I was sleeping and tried to wake me up "to meet someone". I told her to come back later. Turns out it was Wendy she wanted me to meet. This is one totally awesome dog. She was 4 months old when we got her and she has grown a lot, but she will grow a lot more. An airdale looks kinda like a cross between a yorkie and a deer. Originally she was very shy and obedient. Not she is a ball of energy and often won't listen to us. The Dog Whisperer has been a HUGE help, but sometimes we still aren't the leader of the pack.

I know you think she looks small, but she isn't.

Lots of my friends in the past month or two had kids. While they were birthing I got a dog, and I'm ok with that. Yes, I am old, and getting older. There's probably never a "good time" to have a kid, but I'd like to wait at least a few more months. This new dog has been good training so far.

I got a fantastic new phone - The Sprint Hero. It runs android, which is completely new to me. The OS could be a little more respinsive, but the fact that the programs for it are almost all free is real nice. I don't have to pirate buy software for my phone! I have had the phone for a week and paid $200 for it. It is my luck that today the price dropped to $100. There have been amazing deals on so many things over the past two weeks. I think that black friday will be a letdown in comparison, and judging my the leaked ads I think I'll be right.

Halloween came and went pretty quickly, and I wish it had lasted longer. We now leap into the depressing season of gifts and greediness. Bleh.

Adobe released a sweeeeet beta of flash that improves the performance of hulu desktop by tons. Some day I hope to be able to watch hulu on my phone. Still in the works.

For anyone who hasn't seen me in a while, and is in the Utah area, you should get in contact with me so we can do something. I miss my friends!

The title: Baha Men - Who Let the Dogs Out

We're fightin' with the gods of war

My friend Scott sent this over to me, and I put off checking it out, but it was pretty fun. Go to this link: http://musicgreg.mybrute.com/ and create yourself a Brute and battle me. After that, enter the arena and fight some others. It is only about 5 minutes worth of time a day, but kinda cool cause you go up in levels and you don't waste your life away playing.

The pictures I have promised are going to be a little while. I need to get a filer to Chicago to expand the storage capacity of my webserver.

The title: Def Leppard - Gods of War

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

I stumbled upon something so awesome today that it motivated me to finally post a new blog entry. I get people asking me questions all the time - it's my job. Quite often it seems they could have just thrown their question in google and would have found the answer. So, if you find yourself in the same situation I suggest you use this link: http://www.lmgtfy.com/.

I am expanding the amount of storage space on my web hosting server and I am looking for new customers. Here's a shameless plug for http://nuclearcrayon.net/. Send people my way if you know anyone, thanks! Also, I could use a web designer or two. Email me if you would like to design some pages.

Blogs with no pictures are boring, which describes *my* blog. I promise to fix that in the near future.

I am going to Ireland at the end of May. if you have any suggestions of where to go please let me know.

The title: U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married

Some of you may have heard that I am getting married, in fact, you might be here because you wanted to hear the whole story. I haven't updated the blog in a bit because I have been crazy busy - sorry about that.

I'm going to start way back a year ago, before I moved to Utah. For those of you who are not LDS here's a quick piece of information you should know: Memebers of the LDS church can get what is called a Patriarchal Blessing. There is one priesthood holder per stake called as a Patriarch, and his calling is to give blessings. You can only get one, and it ranges from a paragraph to about 3 pages. Two days after my friend John Manzi got married I got my Patriarchal Blessing. Although I had read it many times after getting it, the part that got me to Utah didn't stand out till quite a while later. I was at a fireside in CT being given by the Patriarch of that stake. he said that everyone should go home and read their blessings and that often you see things that didn't stand out to you before. I followed this counsel and it was totally true. There was a paragraph that mentioned that I should be discerning of where I live, that it should be in the center of education, and that it should be some place where the church is very strong. It also said that this would have a lot to do with me finding a wife. At that point I was pretty seriously considering moving to Utah, which I had always said I would never do. The job market for tech jobs in MA was pretty weak, and I was having some pay issues where I was working. I really didn't want to leave my job, but I needed to get paid more badly. On Aug 10th I packed everything that would fit in my car and drove to Utah. I arrived on the 15th (and the trip is a whole other story).

When I arrived in Utah I went to a house owned by a dude named Greg Brooks whom my friend Kajsa had directed me to so that I could rent a room. There were a few rooms to pick from and I chose one on the main floor at the end of the hallway. After I moved in and got to know the roommates I was informaed that I had chosen the marriage room. It is so named because everyone who moves into that room gets married. The first time I saw Esther was in the kitchen. She was cleanign the fridge, which is something that I saw her doing often over the next few months. I learned of her identity from my roommate Mark and also learned that she was dating Dan, my other roommate. She was cute, had reddish hair, and was very bubbly. She talked about country dancing a lot and tried to get me to go several times, but I hate country music (and I told her that). Esther got lsik near the end of September, here is a pic of her before that (with Dan - her ex): I know, not a very flatterring picture. She looks much better now! Not long after that was General Conference. As is tradition I cooked a enormous breakfast for lots of people. Esther, was there, as well as lots of my friends. Some of my friends told me that they noticed whenever Esther was around me that she lit up. They tried to convince me to go after her, but I always told them that I would not as long as she was dating Dan. We played games a lot, especially game nights on Sundays. Here's a shot of her whooping me at Jenga: Whenever we played games with teams she chose to be on my team. I think that was mostly due to the fact that her and Dan disagreed a lot. When they did he would go sit on the couch and she would go outside to cool off. There were a few times that she sat down to talk to me about it and just broke down crying. When Halloween rolled around there were lots of halloween parties to go to, so Esther got us the hookup and I went with her and Ashley as charaters from The Wizard of Oz to my friend Ben's ward party. I went with her to her parent's house to pick up games shortly after that. We stopped by a park to play for a bit (it was at night, so the place was pretty empty) and when we left there I taught her how to drive stick. I think that was the first time I met her mom. There were a whole bunch of times that I made dinner for Esther and Dan. Dan would either sit at the table and read (such as manuals for his camera) or go sit on the couch and eat with his laptop. This left me to sit and eat with Esther. I certainly didn't have any objections to that. Some time in October I started telling Esther about AWE. We began planning a trip accross the US to go to AWE and visit her sister. Much to my dismay the date of her wedding ended up being set for the weekend following AWE, so she decided she could not go. I had to work on New Year's Eve, but right after that Esther invited me to go tubing with Soldier's Hollow with her whole family (and Dan). Esther broke it off with Dan in January and I helped her move to a new place along with some other dudes. There was at least one time that I went hiking with her and Dan (and she spent the whole time talking to me) but for the most part she dissappeared soon after they called off the wedding. I still hung out with Dan a lot. We were pretty good friends.

In August Esther resurfaced. I got a call from her asking me to go to a play at the Hale Center Theater right then. I already had plans that I could not get out of. I told her that i really wanted to go, but that there was no way that I could. Soon after that i got a call saying that she had found the house of her dreams and that she was probably going to buy it. She flipped flopped on that for a bit and i got a few calls from her freaking out, not knowing what to do. She decided to buy the house finally. I told her that when she closed on the house I would help her move if she wanted. She called after some time telling me when the closing would be and asked if I would still help her move, and so I did. I showed up at her apartment and started loading stuff onto her dad's trailer. It was all packed tight and organized. I told her to leave some stuff behind such as empty boxes, freezer burned food, and stuff from the fridge that was months out of date. Her mom was there to witness this craziness and thought it was fantastic. The trailer was driven to her new house and I helped two of her other friends unload it. Before I left she told me that she feared for the food in my house, that it might get eaten by my roommates, as it sometimes does. She said that I could (and should) bring my food over and keep it in the fridge. She told me that i could use the kitchen, and even park in the garage. Keep in mind that at this point she still had no interest in me beyond being my friend. So, I brought stuff over. First food, then kitchen tools, then a stereo! You can't really cook without good tools and some good music. I don't have pics of any of this up yet because my computer died somewhere along this time, and it still has not fully recovered as of this writing. Back to the story... I think she started to figure it all out on October 11th. On October 12th she suggested we get married. On October 15th we had our first kiss. I know, crazy backwards, but it works. The details of this are best told by her, so I strongly suggest that if you're interested you hear her side, cause it is better than mine.

There will be a reception in Utah on December 6th at 715 S Utah Ave at 5:30pm. Food will be served till 8pm and then dancing will go until everyone goes home! We will be sealed in the Timpanogos Temple at 10am on December 10th. There will be a reception in MA on May 23th, the location is to be determined.

Edit:
As promised, here is Esther's side of the story. Much more detailed. Hope you all enjoy it...

Wednesday, Sept 3rd Love at first sight when I found my house. Proposed that same night.

Friday, Sept 5th Went under contract. Next two weeks were crazy. Heavenly Father guided everything. My sister Abby was amazing and encouraging in pulling me through. I was just like a ditzy bride and was so happy my dream house, everything I had hoped for when I was engaged previously I felt about my house! Told Mom I knew that Heavenly Father was letting me know how it would be when I found my husband.

Week of Sept 8th- Texted everyone on my phone list (including Greg, but not Dan) that I was getting married to my dream house. Greg responded that he could help me move. So many guys had been calling me and continued to call me all month, but I didn’t want them to help me move. Then they would know where I lived and I would feel obligated to “go out” with them and did NOT want them to just “stop” by while I lived by myself. I decided that I would “allow” Greg and my friend Jamal to help because I didn’t feel obligated to “go out” with them and I wouldn’t mind them visiting me at the new house for games, dinners, etc.

Friday, Sept 26th –Softball game. He had been planning a camping trip to Zion’s, then everyone bailed on him; he was sooooooo sad. I felt bad and considered going with him, but didn’t want to go on camping trip with him alone in case it would become anything romantic, so I prayed that I would not have to go and not have to let him down. Storm forecast, he went to my softball game instead, we won! Went to his house and watched a show, didn’t enjoy it. Hate this house and didn’t want anyone to see me there or to think there was anything between us. Two years I had been visiting that house with Dan and now Greg?! I am done with it; I have a completely new life now and never ever ever have to go back!

Monday, Sept 29th Rock climbing in Sandy when Leah didn’t need help moving her washer/drier, lectured him about taking a real date. I have a pass to the Quarry and he PAID for me to go to Momentum. He should be taking his date or his wife! Had a terrible time. Stopped at the horrid house. Told him I would never never never EVER enter his house ever again. He had the usual food and other stuff missing/eaten by his roommates. I told him I had no sympathy, that he needed to find a wife and stop cooking and buying things for his roommates to mooch off of. What was it with the guys I was hanging out with lately! Dan gave everything away and Jamal had just bought steak for all his roommates and cleaned up after them all the time! What is it with nice guys enabling moochers?! Stop it! Then they would probably get hungry and get themselves married too. I was always so frustrated cleaning that house after so many messy lazy bachelors! I hate that house! It is disgusting! Get me out of it!
I didn’t tell any of the guys I had been hanging out with where I was moving too, but I had told Jamal he could hang out at my house and park in the garage when he came to visit. So I told Greg he could move his kitchen to my house and cook and I wouldn’t eat his food or use his stuff, just as long as his roommates didn’t get it. I offered the garage for his car when he came, I could even push the button for my cool garage door opener. We could have game nights at my house and I would never ever EVER go to this awful house ever again and he would meet girls and feed THEM and get a wife from it!
When I left I wouldn’t let him hug me. I don’t let people hug me-I feel vulnerable and I cry. He insisted he hugs everyone (Greg’s friends can attest) and I insisted I don’t let people hug me (My friends can attest). I think he still won, but I made it very uncomfortable for him.

Monday, Sept 29th Lender fell through. Abby worked out another option. Miracles!
Tuesday, Sept 30 Closed on my house. Crazy!!

Wednesday, Oct 1st Moved in to my dream house! I had been packing for two weeks and considered myself very organized and hoped I would not impose too much on whoever ended up helping me. (I absolutely detest moving people’s junk and bags and helping them pack). My boxes carefully packed according to subject, weight, and fragility, and even which room it went to.
I didn’t want to ask the other guys to help me move in because I would feel obligated to go on a date with them and I didn’t want them to stop by to visit me at my new house. But I “allowed” my guy friends Jamal, Enoch and Greg to help because I didn’t feel that sort of obligation and I wouldn’t mind if they knew where I lived. Greg loaded the trailer himself and did so well at it! But he was so particular and bossy about the whole thing! I was so mad and told him so, many times. He jabbed me about all my stuff and silly boxes and food that was out of date. Sometimes I could see his eyes were laughing and that he was enjoying himself. I was already feeling helpless not being able to move all by myself and was defensive, embarrassed, and very very frustrated! I told Enoch I was only grateful for this experience so he could witness how NOT to treat a girl.
When Mom and Abby showed up, everything was loaded already. It was truly amazing! They were impressed how Greg packed the trailer and wouldn’t let anyone else load it. They also noticed how he could take me on and not back down. Greg invited me to a concert in Provo that night, but I had to drive Enoch home and was hungry, tired, sweaty, and very very grumpy. I easily declined.
He was over later that week and insisted I needed a television and I refused. He argued that I had to have a projector in the green room and I told him I would never have it, then he insisted he was bringing one and a sound system if he was going to visit. I told him I couldn’t pay for it and I would not be a mooch.

Saturday, Oct 4th General Conference, I was grumpy that day and had dropped off some of his food from my fridge for his usual Conference Breakfast and left without saying “hi” or “bye.” He called after I had left and mentioned that was probably the rudest thing anyone had done to him in a really long time. I knew I had been a jerk and after talking to him, I realized he had always been kind to me and that I had been a total snot. Later we went looking at a couch listed on Craig’s List for my house, didn’t get it. Today is the first day I looked at Greg and realized he was a human being and my friend. Made dinner together; he cooked, I washed dishes and gushed about my house and how happy I was. It was like I was on a honeymoon with my house!

Sunday, Oct 5th Watched conference at Greg’s house with his roommates and friends, washed dishes and more dishes (yes, the same horrid house). We picked the grapes for fun that grow in abundance outside his house. We went to visit my family after. They knew him from stories with Dan, going tubing at Soldier Hollow for New Year’s, moving me twice. Didn’t have a good time today, though. When I am up he is down and visa versa/ opposites, told him in the car I didn’t know what I would do about it, but I didn’t like it at all.

Week of Oct 6th, Monday, went to Costco together for groceries. Had a blast! Don’t know what changed but I was relaxed and he smiled so much! Rainbows burst into hundreds of skittles when he laughs! Just wanted to be near him all the time and lots of hugs by this point, but now he was so stand off-ish, especially when he was cooking in the kitchen or driving. He would actually tell me to move away or stay out of the kitchen! My own kitchen! I would wash dishes and then had to get out of his way; but I couldn’t be happy to sit and watch him from afar, so I would disappear and start unpacking boxes in another room…and be sad. I figured we were really just going to stay friends and decided to be happy with that. Meanwhile, Greg was bringing Costco to the house, cooking all our meals, buying a garbage can and other household necessities, installing a sound system, juicing grapes all day, and driving all over town to research refrigerators. I gave him the code to the garage so he could install the sound system and I told myself I would change the code as soon as possible. I just kept washing dishes and gushing about my wonderful house. Linda at work started hearing about Greg in all my adventures with my house and said “this Greg seems really. . .helpful.” I simply replied “yes.”

Thursday Oct 9- Greg was at my parents’ house juicing grapes all day and into the evening. Mom enjoyed it and the neighbor kids would come over and help, get bored and leave, then come back and get in the way again. I pulled together some leftovers and made him a couple sloppy joes and plenty of milk to drink. He was so happy.

Oct 10- Will (from my new ward, a really nice guy, not bad looking, and one of two people I had met in my neighborhood) came over to visit and invite me to the ward Halloween Skating activity that night. I had opened the garage since Greg was on his way and Will had parked in Greg’s way. Greg was a bit annoyed when he pulled up and stayed in the car, then roared off until Will left! What was wrong with him? Made dinner together, Greg cooked food, I did dishes, and we blasted his music. I unpacked my chimes that I have had packed up for almost 10 years, waiting for a home to hang them.

Oct 11- Did laundry all morning, cleaned my wonderful house. Wanted to unpack but I knew I had unnecessary junk that I couldn’t get myself to chuck. I decided I would throw it away if Greg told me to. Really enjoyed last night, thought about how he wasn’t impressed with Will and was actually rude about it. I thought about the hilarity of inviting a date over to the house and Greg walking in from the garage over to the fridge and taking food out of it, which was all his, and eating it. He was putting so much into my house and was here all the time. A bit of concern came to my mind that I might be entangling myself with someone that I didn’t have a future with. What would I do if I started dating someone else? Wait, I didn’t want Greg to go away, my house didn’t feel the same when he wasn’t there. . . Wait. . . then I asked my house out loud (I said “good morning” and “good night” to my house every day) “Does he know something I don’t?” I had a suspicion but couldn’t let myself believe it. But I knew I liked being with him, and that my house liked him.
The lady with the couch texted me back (week later) and I got her down another $100, called Greg if he thought I should get it. He borrowed Trevor’s truck and we picked it up. Greg didn’t like the chimes very much and suggested a different kind that he had in mind. Went to Home Depot and bought the fridge, based on Greg’s amazing and time consuming research. He told them he would be at the house when it was delivered. I got butterflies thinking about Greg holding down the fort when I came home.
That evening, made dinner, did dishes, listened to music as usual, but there was a bit more flirting and chemistry in the air. While he put a garbage liner (that he bought) in the trash can (that he bought) and finished up kitchen stuff, changed the music, etc., I sat on the new comfy cozy couch and was overwhelmed with happiness! I kept going on about how happy I was and that I never had a thought about my life before this house. Everything was so different now and Greg was so different. . . A light went on in my brain, I lost track of what I was saying as I realized. . . I bought this house for Greg!!
He came over to sit on the couch by me, close, and he had a kind look in his eye when he agreed I looked very happy. The light in my brain was shining full wattage by now and I told him my house didn’t know me without him. We sat on the new comfy couch, so cozy, so happy. He moved me closer to him and put his arms around me. I so wanted him to say something because I was always talking and he was so quiet! I kept asking him in between my monologue what he was thinking about and he would talk about some idea he had for the kitchen, or the yard, or the grape juice, etc. So cute! Eventually I asked him just like I ask everyone, “Where would you like to end up living?” He said “New England for sure.” I knew about his reasons for coming to Utah and said he still had to find a wife and he responded that he would give himself 6 years (It turns out Greg had made a bet a couple years ago with Sister Beynon and he had six years left). My thoughts trailed off about how the Lord has other plans for us and we never know what or where we will be. I came back to reality when Greg asked “Is that OK with you?” I said “sure”, and he looked amazed and asked “really?” I told him about what I had learned from the Lord, especially getting this house and so fast.

Sunday Oct 12 Greg texted between church meetings, something romantic about picking something up at Trevor’s house. Butterflies! I took down the chimes when I got home. Dinner at Mom and Dad’s, dishes, games with Heather Capson. We sat close on the couch. He told me I didn’t have to take down the chimes and I told him it was ok as long as my house got some soon. He thanked me for letting him listen to his music. I asked him what he would like to change about the house and he said he loved this house from the first time he stepped into it.(I argued that he had put stress on my honeymoon these past weeks) We talked about his projects in the house and I asked him what he would do with the other sound system. He started to describe running cords through the kitchen cupboards and putting the speakers in the space near the ceiling. Ding! Ding! Ding! The lights were all on in my head this time. As he hugged me close, I told him my house loved him, my garage loved his car, and if he was putting so much into this house, he would have to stay. With the kindest eyes that were a little moist he said in a voice just as kind “That was my plan.” I turned to mush! We hadn’t even held hands at this point, but we sure had a wonderful hug!
Then I had a thought and asked him suspiciously, “How long have you known?!” And he told me about his Bishop asking him about how Dan was doing, since he was always with me at my ward meetings. Greg told him that we had just gotten engaged (A year ago Oct 12th I flew out for a 28 hour visit to see Dan in Arkansas). Straight faced the Bishop bluntly said “I thought she was going to marry you.” Greg responded “So did I.” I couldn’t believe he had known this for a year! To the day! I apologized that he had suffered so much hanging out with us, I had been so rude, so emotional, so crazy. I had always hoped my future spouse could watch me for a long time and see me in all my glorious insanity when I didn’t know I was on camera. I told Greg “you know everything I need you to know.”
He asked me where I would like to get married and I told him I didn’t mind, as long as it was a temple. Boston was his first choice and I didn’t mind that either. He was astounded! He asked me when I would like to get married and I told him a couple months ago I had been worried about finding a guy who would get to know me but I really didn’t want to spend almost 2 years training him like last time. A feeling had come to me that I would be married while I was still 28 years old. He asked me when my birthday was, May 10th, and he said that should be ok. Then I sheepishly told him the rest of the feeling I had gotten was that it would be in the year 2008. His eyes got really big.
I didn’t want to argue with the valid concerns of guys who are think about money and providing for a family, etc. but I knew there was a reason I got this house so quickly, that he had known me for a year, and I knew my family loved him, and I would not be the one to hold up the Lord’s blessings. Greg had a hard time believing my family liked him and I told him to make sure he attended the applesauce event with my family and that would be enough for him to see my family how they truly are and for Mom and Dad, especially, to see him, although I knew they were already sold on Greg. I reminded him that my prayers work better and faster than his (it took a year for his to work and we joke that if you need something, just get on Esther’s prayer list) and that all I do is obey the commandments (plus the extra credit ones) and pray that things work out by the Lord’s will. I have learned Heavenly Father tends to work fast sometimes and I have strong belt loops from flying by the seat of my pants and that Greg better get prepared because it was going to be sooner than he thought.

Oct 14, Tuesday Called Mom and asked her what she thought about Greg. She said he was nice and asked why I asked. I told her he was important. She paid more attention and asked for clarification and I told her he was more important than any other boy, actually the most important. She kept pushing me for an answer until I finally said we were getting married and that I was incredibly happy and it was just as I had hoped it would feel like and Heavenly Father had let me practice getting married to my house. Then she told me that the first Sunday I brought Greg over, they began joking about how long it would take me “playing house” with Greg until I figured it out. While going to buy bread for sandwiches, Greg called his Mom and told her the news. What a shock for them out in Massachusetts! He emailed her pictures of us during the past year. He even remembered that he had been the one who helped me with my wedding registry last time.

Oct 15 We were preparing dinner, as usual, and Greg was pouring himself a tall glass of milk, as usual. He asked if I wanted a drink of milk too and I walked past him to get a glass and he pulled me into a big hug and kissed me!

Oct 16 Greg updated our status on Facebook. At work, Linda asked me what I was doing for fun this weekend and I said “Planning a wedding.” Linda asked “Whose?” and I simply replied “Mine.”

Oct 18 paper route at 4 am for Trevor and Miranda, applesauce all day with the family and the young married ward Dad is a high councilman to. Greg was such a trooper! Mom gave him pointers about me and Dad showed him all of his amazing pots and pans and other cooking gear. That evening and into the wee hours of the morning, Greg slaved away to make dinner for my family (he had promised Jenny last week he would make lasagna), he made two cheesecakes, 3 trays of lasagna, and a huge pot of chicken soup, from which he earned a terrible steam burn on his wrist.

Oct 19 He hurt so bad and wanted to go to the hospital. I was deliriously tired and when he woke me up to ask what to do, all I could say was to put ice on it, which is not what you are supposed to do, but in his agony, he applied it anyway for relief. We went ahead and started the paper route 2:30 am. It was so fun and I loved running from house to house, the squealing breaks of my car and Greg so frustrated, but I loved him so much and told him so. All he could do was shake his head in disbelief and mutter things to my car. Went to Church at Greg’s ward and they recognized me. The Bishop told me he had known all along, When asked to introduce myself, I told the Relief Society sisters I was back, but as someone else’s fiancé. Dinner with family was a huge success! Jenny and Sara were anxious to talk about wedding plans and kept pushing Greg to have the “talk” with Dad. Finally, with Mom and I there to get things rolling, Greg asked Dad’s permission (I hope Greg put that story in his blog). Dad told us that a couple weeks ago, when he started hearing stories about Greg, he had asked Mom what was going on with this nice guy Greg, he was oh so nice and so good for Esther, she was just trying to keep her mouth shut for fear it would break something. Dad agreed not to wait too long. “Esther, you have been dating Greg for a year and were the only one who didn’t know it.”

Friday Oct 24 With the apples from Greg’s house, we chopped and canned applesauce til 4 am. I drove all over town looking for quart jars, ended up borrowing some. The house was perfect for it! Made a huge mess, I washed the huge pots in the bathtub and Greg managed the 6 burners. Ended up with 54 quarts of heavenly applesauce! Greg was so pleased, Dad was proud! Showing the downstairs apartment all month, every day to a ton of people. We cannot agree on any of them. Even before we got engaged, I had decided Greg and I needed to agree about the tenant for it to be right.

Monday Oct27 Bought and carved pumpkins with Trevor and Miranda

Wednesday Oct 29 Made beautiful grape jelly at Mom and Dad’s house from the juice of the grapes we picked during General Conference.

Friday Oct 31 Stressful day, Halloween, I did a little girl’s updo for her Cinderella costume, ran and bought a toaster oven off craigs list, people over, free wedding dress made just my size my style for 1994. Mom and Dad brought over book shelves and mattresses for Greg’s parents’ visit. Handed out candy. Stressful. Tired.

Saturday Nov 1 Drove up to Sundance with my sister Jenny and Greg’s friend Rebecca Bezzant, took engagement photos. Chilly, lots of fun.

Sunday Nov 2 Mom handed over the reception catering and planning and DJ’ing the reception to Greg. His wish that everyone said that could never be granted. . . was granted! Prayers work!

The title: Dixie Cups - Chapel of Love