The land of cheese

Once again we are on the road. We are going to be spending the weekend in Wisconsin celebrating the marriage of Ryan Krzeszewski and Lauralyn Sutrick. We are SO excited for them to get married and can’t wait to come visit on the weekends. They have a wonderful apartment, and LOTS OF GAME SYSTEMS! Plus they have like a monstrous High-def Philips TV…

Random, heres an excerpt from Tyler K-ski, the best man: Well, I wanted to write something memorable on the blog, but the last time Jake had a blog bad things happened… : ) long story. So who would have thought that we would all get married the same summer: James, Jake, Sam, Ryan, Dave, and myself. It’s been crazy times the last 20 years, but now that Jake and I are gonna live in the same state we have alot more to come.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming. I couldn’t have said it better myself! Well, we have a long night ahead of us so this post is going to have to be cut short. Come back later for “The rest of the story…”

So I guess Mario fights sheep…

Laura and I are currently in a heated debate about the characters that Mario and Luigi fight against on the classic NES game Super Mario Brothers. Our debate was sparked when we discovered our old, beat up NES in the basement of my parent’s house. We brought it to our house only to discover that it was broken. After some preliminary research, we decided to order a new part for the NES online. Thanks to Google and YouTube, we were able to replace the part (new 72 pin connector) and get the ol’ girl back to working condition. After fixing a broken NES, it seems only right to play the best game ever made for the system, Super Mario Brothers. Thus the debate started…

Now as kids we all had our names for the different characters that Mario encounters on his journey to save the Princess, but what are they really?

I present to you… the turtle. This is the one character that we agree on. Although it is somewhat ridiculous that you encounter turtles with wings in the later levels, the shell on its back convinces us both that there is no possible way this could be anything other than a turtle. Some refer to it as a duck to which I say…when was the last time you saw a duck with a shell? Case closed.

The next character on the agenda is above. Laura commonly refers to these characters as OWLS…no seriously, an owl. Laura argues that their little eyes look just like owl eyes. I suppose I cannot prove her wrong since I have not spent much time looking at owl eyes. I tend to call these little guys goombas. I don’t know what that means either, but I have heard them called that on other Mario games. OWL vs. GOOMBAS

This one is the hardest to decipher. Laura argues that the above character is a sheep because it is “fuzzy” and it looks like it has black fur. I tend to disagree and say that the black hump on its back is some sort of shell, maybe like a beetle. In either case it is pretty hard to tell and neither one of us are too sure. SHEEP vs. BEETLE.

The last debate has not been over a character but rather the currency that Mario uses to gain extra lives. Some of us collected these things every chance we got and went squatting on every tube to make sure we didn’t miss one of the underground “secret” layers with tons of these in it; others of us could care less about them and were more concerned with getting through the level than spending 20 minutes punching them out of overhead floating blocks. The debate stems from Laura calling these units of Mario currency “Pennies.” She says they are the same color as pennies and once you get 100 of them you get a free life. Apparently free lives cost a dollar in Mario land. My argument is that these are called “Coins.” Coins are a neutral term and don’t refer to a specific currency. Coins are still coins in Japan, but pennies become yen… or whatever their penny is. And who says Mario lives are worth a dollar anyway?

Yes this may have been a ridiculous post, but since we have already spent lots of time debating these characters, we thought it would be fun to involve you in the enjoyment of arguing over useless things. Have fun and let us know if you come to any solid conclusions by leaving your thoughts in the comments section. We will keep you posted.

Fooooooooore!

Well the time left in Michigan is growing shorter. Before I left I really wanted to play a round of golf with my dad, so on Monday morning we did. It was a beautiful day out on the course! The grass was still just a little wet from the morning dew which made the greens a tad slow (+3 after hole 1), but other than that the course was pristine.

I was having an unusually good day of golf. Every drive seemed to soar as opposed to the 2-3 mulligans I usually take at each tee box. My short game worked out well enough and my putting killed me as normal. All in all, I ended up with a 3 hole par streak (which is unheard for me), and finished the 9th hole with a 46! A 46 is the best I have ever shot and I couldn’t have been happier! Did I beat my dad? Well, lets just say that some things are better left unsaid…(yes I did beat him)click to see the scorecard

Houghton or Bust

This week was the first time, and possibly the last time, we were able to go up to “Miss Torrey’s Cabin.” The cabin has been the site for some great times. Laura and I shared our first sunrise together while sitting on a bench just outside the cabin (insert sappy love song here). While we are saddened that the cabin might be sold soon, we are very thankful to have been able to go there on numerous occassions.

On this particular trip we were accompanied by Laura’s best friend Tiffany Breil. Tiff drove up to Saginaw on Wednesday morning and we left from the house in the early afternoon. We arrived up at the cabin with just enough time to catch some rays and hang out by the pool before lunch. While the girls laid out and read their “Insider” and “People” magazines, I was busy studying up on finances and investments by reading a book Tiff’s brother gave me (“Total Money Makeover”). I jumped in the pool a few times but had a hard time getting the girls convinced to ease into the “freezing cold”, 80° water.

We made a few more stops during the trip including two trips to Camp CoBeAc, a breakfast out with Jon, a quick stop at the ice cream store for malts and shakes, and two Shell gas station runs for slushies. We had a great time and are crossing our fingers that we will be able to go back again…SOON!

See spot run

I have decided to discipline myself to read an entire book. The book that I decided on was given to me by a friend. The title is “The Total Money Makeover.” While we are not yet in any sort of SUPER deep debt, it always helps to learn some tips and tricks from the experiences of others… stand on the shoulders of giants if you will.

The author of the book is a born again believer and uses principles from the Bible as well as solid logical thinking to back up his strategies developed to help people get out of debt and start developing wealth. It seems to be a good read so far (even though I am only on page 64).

Anyway, I know this is sort of a cop out post, but I am once again on my way out the door. I will be giving a break down of this weeks happenings in the next few days. It will range from house hunting in Illinois, to a one day vacation/visit to Houghton Lake, MI to a wedding reception in Ohio. It will be fully illustrated with lots of Google Maps I promise. See ya then.

Bocce Ball, Big Guns, and Bonfires

So where have we been you may ask. A quick response to that question would be… EVERYWHERE! While time does not allow me to post about ALL the different things we were able to do this last week, I will sum up three things that we did with friends that were extremely fun!

Bocce Ball: Now for those of you who have not had the privilege of learning and playing this game, I am sorry. Bocce ball is possilby one of the easiest and MOST fun games in the world. On Saturday night, Dave, Karen, James and Shanda all came over to our house to play. The one person I expected to dominate (James) ended up falling to the mighty champ, LAURA! I still have no idea how she beats all the boys at these things.

Big Guns: On Sunday night Laura and I went to James and Shanda’s house after church to hang out. We had planned on shooting clay pigeons and had just enough time to squeeze off a couple rounds before the sun set for the night. I was victorious hitting 4 for 4! I was just as shocked as you probably are. Laura also shot twice and knicked a target on her second attempt. It was the cutest thing in the world to see her shoot a 12 gauge (I swear I will upload the video, it is hilarious). I think we have to go buy one now.

Bonfires: After all the shooting, James, Shanda, Laura and I had a “small” bonfire that lasted for about 4 hours. It was tons of fun! We roasted hot dogs, made s’mores, and talked late into the night. The conversation topics went from Maranatha good times to movie quotes to wind turbines. Conversations are always so random with James. We managed to get home at about mid-night and just HAD to watch an episode of Big Brother 10 before hitting the hay. We’re addicted…AGAIN!

Well hopefully you were able to get a quick glimpse into our weekend. We will be back with posts and pictures detailing our recent trip to Normal, IL looking for housing. Until then…

Satan must have invented taxes…

I am absolutely sure that every single person that stumbles onto this blog has at one point or another had to fill out one of these forms… a W4. I was first introduced to W4’s at my first job and was as stumped about them then as I am about them now. Although through the years I have become proficient at calculating my withholding (put a little -0- on line 5 and call it good), being married throws a whole new variable into the mix.

Apparently once you are married and filing jointly you now need to know the various tax equations that come into play on page 2 of the W4, the part we used to just throw away by instinct. As a math teacher I figured that these simple equations could not be any more difficult to master than basic Algebra, little did I realize that these were not equations… they were STORY PROBLEMS! And not only that, but they are story problems with missing pieces! How in the world am I supposed to know if my income from three years ago was equal to the ratio of earnings to loss in the Dow Industrial Average for the 2005 fiscal year? Now I’m being facetious but seriously, if anyone has a clue as to whether I am supposed to put a little -1- or a -0- in the box on line 5, please let me know.

Jet lag laziness

Ten O' Clock?

You may be wondering what you are looking at when you see the picture above. What you are seeing is the exact same thing I have seen the past two days when waking up. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the occasional sleeping in, but seriously… ten? Below you will find the best excuse I could come up with to make myself feel better.

Our wedding was approximately one month ago. We were married on Saturday and were scheduled to leave for our honeymoon on Sunday morning at 6:00 AM. We did not get into our hotel until late, and waking up the next morning was a struggle. We did manage to make our flight after a series of mistakes led us to jump shuttles for an hour before arriving at our gate while the last 3 rows were boarding. Needless to say we were EXHAUSTED! We slept the whole flight to Chicago, and spent the next 3 hours of our layover sleeping on the carpet of the O’ Hare United terminal (note 1 timezone change to Chicago).

From Chicago, we flew to Mexico (note a second timezone change of 3 hours) where we crashed for the rest of the night and relaxed all week. Just about when our bodies were getting adjusted to the time difference between the Mid-West and the West Coast we were on our way home. So back to Chicago we went (third time change). Our flight was delayed in Chicago and we consequently didn’t end up getting back home until 4:00 AM Monday morning (one more time change back to Ohio).

We left the next day to go to Illinois for job interviews and were there for two days (another time zone change).

We were able to stay in Michigan for a few days before leaving for South Dakota for Ryan’s Wedding (A 20 hour drive and another time zone jump of two hours). We were there for 5 days, and then returned home on a one way, non-stop, all night, driving extravaganza that took us about 24 hours on two energy drinks and four tanks of gas (last time jump back to Ohio). We arrived back in Ohio at 3:00 AM and slept until noon the next day.

I say all of that to say this… our internal clocks are about as jacked up as they have ever been in our entire lives. We go to sleep whenever we get tired, and have a terribly difficult time waking up in the “morning.”Of course the fact that we don’t have jobs until the middle of August somewhat lends itself to laziness and apathy, but until we get those jobs, bring on the late nights and even later mornings. I think we can handle it for another two weeks before starting real life. This is not throw a pity party, but rather an attempt to justify our sleeping habits. I hope it worked

Well, back to bed.

New Beginnings

The family at Mount Rushmore

Welcome to our new blog! This blog is not intended to be an in depth blog about our philosophies of life and deep reflecting, but rather a fun page for us to catalog and share some of our fond memories in these first few years of marriage.

Speaking of fond memories, the picture above shows Laura and I at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. I very highly doubt that I would have ever seen Mount Rushmore or passed through the state of South Dakota if not for the wedding that was taking place there. My new brother-in-law Ryan was married to his girlfriend of almost 4 years this last Saturday in South Dakota. The church they were married in was the same church that Sharon’s parents, and grandparents were married in. It was a neat little country church in a town called White Owl.

Now most people have at one point or another said that they were “out in the middle of nowhere.” I gained a new appreciation for this coined phrase when we visited White Owl, South Dakota. The hour drive to the church from our hotel was on a road that cut through miles and miles of nothing more than wheat and corn fields occasionally dotted with farmhouses and Chevy pickups. When we finally arrived at the “town” of White Owl, I was surprised to see the the town was made up of nothing more than a church, a community center, a general store, 3 houses, and a tractor trailer. It was then that it hit me, we were truly “in the middle of nowhere.”

Although it was a long drive, we had a wonderful time with the family and enjoyed the wedding thoroughly. We wish Ryan and Sharon a long, happy life together with lots of laughs and fun along their journey. Pictures to follow!

p.s. This will be a work in progress as I begin to relearn the in’s and out’s of wordpress and all the fun stuff you can do with it! We will eventually be moving our blog to a different host where we can have our own domain name for our blog! Something like… www.JakeandLaura.com or something like that. We will notify you when/if that happens.