This is Clement Freud, providing the driest, funniest delivery I’ve heard on a joke in a very long time. He’s the grandson of Sigmund Freud, just for those of you keeping track. Courtesy of Boing Boing.

So today I put my new capo to some practice and finally broke into my Death Cab for Cutie tab.  I have to say most of it is pretty advanced for me, but I was able to claim a small victory: I got most of the guitar intro of Long Division down.  I’m still really poor with strum rhythms and switching between things, but I knew I was on to something when Tasha said “hey, I recognize that!”

Also, I got turned on to the Barenaked Ladies Bathroom Sessions that are available on YouTube.  They’re pretty awesome and I think I can see enough to start to learn some BNL music, so that’ll be fun!

Yesterday we ventured across the frozen highways to Colorado Springs to see Dave Ramsey‘s My Total Money Makeover Live event!  We slightly misjudged the weather conditions and got there about 10 minutes before Dave hit the stage.  The place had general admission seating and it was PACKED, we ended up in the upper bowl.  I was surprised to see so many people there, Dave later explained that they had people come from as far as Wyoming and Montana to come to this event.

The event itself lasted 5 hours.  There were three breaks and I was pretty impressed with Dave’s level of energy the whole time.  The whole seminar took much of the same form as his Financial Peace University lectures, only it was shortened up to fit the shorter block of time.  There was a big display of Dave’s merchandise (books, DVDs, budgeting software, etc) and he was offering some pretty significant discounts at the show, but there wasn’t anything we explicitly needed so we gave that part a pass.

The whole experience acted just as I had hoped: motivation for the last big debt repayment kick.  If we finish this year, we’ll be right in the time range of the “average” people that get out of debt using his program, so that makes me feel pretty good given how much we had to pay off.  I have done a budget revision already, Tasha and I are going to talk it over and really push to get this stuff finished up ASAP.

I highly recommend Dave’s live show if you are serious about getting debt under control.  He also provided some good motivation for people looking to shift careers or find some additional income to help the debt repayment process or for those who were out of debt and wanted to build wealth, so there was really something for everyone.  I think Tasha’s got some pictures coming soon!

We’re heading to Colorado Springs to see Dave Ramsey Live! More later!

After a long arduous day of travel, I have arrived back in Denver safe and sound. The flight from Chicago to Peoria went just fine, however the Chicago to Denver trip was VERY turbulent. They stopped drink service 3 times so the flight attendants could put their seatbelts on, and they just passed on the last cabin check at the end of the flight due to the bumpiness. It wasn’t that bad, flying on a big plane like that is certainly more interesting. I don’t know if it was my view from behind the wing but I got the same sinking pit of the stomach feeling that I used to get on roller coasters as the plane was lifting off.

They had in-flight video service, where they played an episode of 30 Rock, The Office, and some nature show. I listened to my iPod the whole time, since I am not an avid fan of those shows. It seems that the weather held enough for us to get into Denver, where Tasha was waiting for me amid the rain. The rain turned into a wintery mix about halfway home, and into sloppy wet snow right around Westminster.

Right now it’s coming down in buckets, we’re unsure if we’re going to get to Colorado Springs to see Dave Ramsey after all. We’ll see how things look tomorrow!

Last night I ended up at Texas Roadhouse with my family, where I unexpectedly ran into Oedewaldt-san and his lovely girlfriend. I was shocked and amazed to find out that I HAVE A READER and she found my blog as they began dating by Googling his name. I was momentarily concerned that I had said something bad or inflammatory about him, but I was assured that she hadn’t found those posts (yet). Not that there’s much bad to say, that is. Except for where he’s buried the bodies. 🙂 She also informed me that the quality of my blog has been suffering lately (she’s right), so I figured I could improve her opinion of me if I mentioned how awesome she is.

I had a steak the size of my head, which is the reason for this blog. I think I’m still full from it. *groan*

Tonight I’m hanging out in the fetid bowels of my cousin’s apartment. Tomorrow morning I will be flying out via Chicago (including a two-hour layover) because my direct flight to Denver was canceled due to the threat of snow. The upside is that I get to fly on a Boeing 747 (the biggest plane I’ve ridden in yet) and I get to be in O’Hare for awhile. That’s all from me right now!

Last night I went to karate at my home dojo, at long last. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a crowd… Sensei Brewer and Erbe-san showed up as far as black belts go. We did have a special, non-photo-op appearance by lazarusman and a whole gaggle of red belts.

For the first class, we did a good solid basics workout. I could certainly feel the effects of all the extra red blood cells that I have accumulated since living in Denver, I wasn’t winded or tired at the end of the first class at all.

That served me well for the second class, which was kata and sparring drills. We did 3-5 time attack and I had the good fortune to end up across from Sensei Brewer. He and I mixed it up pretty good for awhile, each trading some decent shots. He got me with a kidney punch that was dead on, and I socked him a pretty good one in the stomach at one point during the drill.

After class was over, I got to spend around 45 minutes in the parking lot talking to Sensei about the experience over in Denver. It was so good to talk to him and good to be home… I really miss the people from the dojo here just as much as my family.

Today was a good, productive day at the office. It’s always great being here to interact with the rest of our team face-to-face.

Tonight on the docket: more karate! After that, I’m heading over to the Dukeses to visit with them. I’m posting this now because there is a very real chance I will not get home before midnight and I don’t want to break the blog streak.

This week is shaping up to be very busy and I’m wearing out a little at this point. Sleeping in a strange bed and staying up until all hours seeing friends and family is taking its toll. The benefits outweigh the inconvenience though! I’ll probably blog my workout from tonight as tomorrow’s post, we’ll see how things go!

I’m going to gloss over my weekend workout since the more exciting one happened tonight. Since I’m back in Pekin for a few days I decided to hit the Mapleton dojo tonight.

It only ended up being Oedewaldt-san and myself, so he decided to let me teach the first class. I went with one of our “combinations of the month” from Colorado, breaking it down into pieces so the lower ranks could follow along too. It went well, and everyone seemed to pick up something to work on… even the kids!

Second class we did a tour of black belt kata, working on Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, and Jion. Everyone joined in on the fun and we doled out a few pointers so everyone could pick up a little something to work on as they explored these katas.

It was great to see everyone, including Dunham-san who stopped by just to see little ol’ me. I’m planning to hit Pekin tomorrow night… that’ll probably do it for my karate training this week since I have a pretty full schedule of seeing friends and family for the other two days that I am in town.

It felt great to be back at a familiar dojo!

We’re just a few short hours from Easter, and it is yet another end to yet another Lenten season. We finally got turned on to a Catholic Church near our place, so we’re going to check that out tomorrow. I’ll be spending part of Easter on a plane back to Peoria, we’ve got a work session planned for 4 days out of next week. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to see my extended family on Easter or not, but if my flight comes in early or their party goes long I might get to see them all.

Aside from that, I’ve got a full dance card for my after-work time this week. Karate Monday and Tuesday, visiting both of my cousins, Matt and Sarah, and my parents all in four evenings. This trip is long overdue from a work perspective, but that’s not going to keep me from taking my out of the office time to visit friends and family. That’s about all I’ve got right now… looking forward to seeing all of my Peoria crew this week!

Speaking of this week, I’ve got a lot to look forward to. Tomorrow is my 5 year service anniversary at work, Friday is our 5 year wedding anniversary, and Saturday I’m going to see Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover Live in Colorado Springs. Good times!