Time Waits for...

It is inevitably true. Last thing I knew, I was writing a fresh new blog with all of my hard hitting updates on the life of the Eau Claire extension of the Nigh family...then, I have my in-laws coming to visit in less than a week. My wife is finished with her job at Target in less than a week. And...to top it all off, I haven't written a blog in almost a month! Okay, so now that I've committed that hyperbolic statement to the electronic realm of cyberspace...let me try to recollect what has occured within the past few weeks.

Well...work has continued to go well. I directed just about every day last week, with the exception of Monday and Wednesday when I worked in master control. It isn't horrible...but, every time I work in master control, I am reminded of how much I don't like it. It actually works out fairly well, because when I'm running master, it generally means that Tom Levenhagen is in traffic, which he doesn't like...so, at least it isn't anything to which I need to become accustomed. The great thing has been that I've been training a fellow, Joel, in master control on the days that I've worked that. He is really competent in master, so aside from the occasional reminder to roll a break or instruction on clipping a show or routing a source...I didn't have to do much. Not that I wasn't working...but, with me gone next Friday, Joel is going to run master on his own...so, I pretty much stay there for questions and emergency situations.

Yes...it is true what I said...Lisa has finally put in her notice at Target. Many were the times that Lisa would walk in the door at 9:00p or later and asked, "Can I quit?" and for each of those times my response remained, "When you have another job lined up." There is a family in the ward that has asked Lisa if she would do daycare for their baby since both parents are working. It looks to be a good fit and Lisa has also agreed to try her hand at doing Pampered Chef. It is going to be exciting and scary. I am sure we will be fine. The best perk, though: I get to see Lisa when I get home!!!

Although it seemed quite a ways off when the Hellums had booked a flight back in May...August is looming just around the corner. Almost unexpectedly, they will be arriving this Saturday! Crazy! Although I do have to work Monday through Wednesday, we have enough things planned that they should be tided over until we can head down to the Dells on Wednesday afternoon and spend the rest of the time there. It will be some much needed R&R for me since the weekends haven't quite been sufficient for me to recover from the mixed master control/directing weeks that I have had for almost a month.

In rather trivial, but nonetheless exciting news...Lisa and I are the proud new owners of a Wii Fit. It is amazing! It is essentially a fitness video game. You can bet that I am in heaven. I like to try to stay in shape and I like video games...the combination could not be more ideal. Although...I also like money and when I go to the plasma center, Wii Fit is out for the evening. But, it has been fun the few days we have had it.

Anyway...I hope but do not promise that I will find time to write another blog in the near future. Especially with all that I have described as being just around the corner. But, I will write again...next time!

Of Fireworks and Things

Well, our Independence Day has come and gone. Lisa and I have been very busy working, traveling and such. Last week, Lisa had a number of late work nights and I stayed up for them...since falling asleep without her there proved to be quite the task. Then, on the 4th of July, we went down to Sun Prairie to visit with Mom and Dad. It was a pleasant weekend. We went to see WALL*E, which was cute in spite of its socio-political commentary. The planet is not on its way to being as polluted as many people would believe. And although there was a little bit of hyperbole in the depiction of people becoming extremely obese as a result of having everything automated and sitting in floating chairs all day sipping on shakes and malts, I have seen that there is most certainly a trend of people who I have begun to refer to as having just "gotten off the ship". Anyway...I was most impressed with the way that the entire movie was carried with very scarce dialogue. This was something that I admired about Cast Away. I think films of that nature are a fine tribute to the filmic principle of showing, not telling. I get annoyed with films that try to expedite parts of their story by explaining things that happened through a line or two.

Friday night, we went and saw the fireworks show in Columbus. It was actually pretty cool. Lisa took some pictures, one of which I have included here. It was a pleasant evening and the drive home was a pleasant contrast to my memories of driving the maddening crawl away from Warner Park after Rhythm and Booms...but, if memory serves, I was asleep for the better part of both, so I suppose there wasn't that much difference in terms of cognisant perception.

Saturday, we went to the farmers market down on Capitol Square...and by farmers market, I mean we stopped at two or three tents and then went in for a tour of the capitol building. It was really cool. It wasn't anything I would have appreciated as a kid, even though I certainly remember taking tours there before. I guess I was more interested in horsing around with my friends than paying attention to the dusty old pieces of Wisconsin and U.S. history. But, we were able to get up onto the observation deck and look out over the whole city. It was really neat. After that, we went to the Sun Prairie 4th (5th?) of July parade. It was extremely enjoyable. We then just relaxed for the evening by playing a game of Bocce, bolo ball and watching National Treasure 2. Sunday was your typical Sunday...as typical as they are away from home. Then that was it...we came back to Eau Claire and geared up for the start of a new week.

Not much going on here. Lisa is seeking a promotion at Target. I think she is more than qualified...but, we will see what happens. We have Mom and Dad Hellums coming to visit in the next few weeks and that will be a treat. I am just hoping that I get more sleep than I have been getting.

Anyway...that's all for now.