augiewan.com

The example set by my parents in how to love each other through good times and bad will always stick with me. They seem more loving towards each other now than ever before (at least in my relatively short time being around). They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in April and we had a few parties to mark the big event. On the gallery page, first you’ll see the pictures of the grandkids having fun at Nana & Bampa’s house and giving some small gifts. After those pictures are some of a small formal dinner we did with the older ones. We had fun at both and I think Mom & Dad did too!

See the images here…

So as I had mentioned many months ago (or sadly about two or three posts ago) my plan was to separate the personal “family & friends” site from the “geek stuff” site. Augiewan.com (this site) will remain the more personal site focusing on the recent happenings of my family and friends as well as some occasional personal views and rants.

The posts and content focusing on stuff like toys, art, comics, and other geeky things will now be found at theSpeakEasy.com.

So basically, family and friends stay here…

Geeks go here…

I really hate the wait between football seasons because it happens to be the only sport I care to watch. It’s even a harder wait when there’s so much in the air regarding your team. My Packers for instance have been on a major roller coaster for the past few years. After a long run of success, they sank to a very forgettable 4 wins in 2005, rose to a so-so even wins & losses in 2006, to an overtime field-goal loss away from making it to the Super Bowl in 2007. It would have been really nice to have watch MY team beat the New England Cheaters, er… I mean Patriots…

But here the Packer fans sit, waiting and wondering if Aaron Rodgers will be able to carry on the winning ways that the Packers regained during the last year of the Brett Favre era. I think he’ll do well as long as he doesn’t go and get hurt again. He’s been with the team long enough to know the system and he showed that he could play well in last year’s game against Dallas. We’ll see…

La la la… I haven’t posted in well over two months… Plenty has happened, I’m just inconsiderate and don’t want to share! La la la…

Sheila turned 36 today! man she’s OLD!!!

I’m a dork, I know…

OK, so Randi’s been all loony the last few days because of her obsession with a flash video someone made about llamas. Apparently her teacher showed the class. Now she runs around singing “llama llama duck!” I can’t explain, you just need to watch yourself. I’m so sorry for doing this to you…

So here I am waiting for a report to run at work and I have a decision to make. Take a few minutes to write up a quick post to my ever-neglected blog, or clean my desk. It’s obvious by the fact that you’re reading this that my desk remains cluttered…

I’ve been torn recently because this blog has a split personality. I love talking about geeky things like toys, comics, etc, but I also love updating friends and family on what’s going on with everyday life and sharing family pictures. Unfortunately, I don’t’ think many of my family members are interested in the latest U.B.Funkeys figure I found or what comic I just enjoyed reading. On the flip, I don’t think the people finding my site by searching on Custom Invader Zim Figures are all that pumped to see a gallery on my kids bowling.

I think what I’m going to do is free the two from their bonds. Augiewan.com will remain my more personal “family & friends” oriented blog and theSpeakeasy.com (a domain I’ve wanted to utilize for quite a few years now) will become my “geek” blog. Sound good? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

OK, so I forgot about this post I started and now it’s time to go home. So here are a few proud pics of my evolving new office…

First, a shot of one wall in my ever-evolving office. Proudly displayed in the middle is my Invader Zim poster. Below is my small Green Bay Packers display. GO PACK! To the right you can see some figures which include Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy characters, Edward Scissorhands, and Smiley Bone in a cow suit. To the left we have some of the guys from Cartoon Planet and Rogue from the X-Men movie.

And lastly, we have my brand spankin’ new white board, just hung on the wall today. Tomorrow, I leave on a training trip so I needed to leave something on the board. I think Zim fills it nicely…

Booyah, and have a nice day…

I just love gadgets and my new phone (supplied by my wonderful new employer) is a gadget and a half!

So here I am getting ready to head home for the day and I just thought I’d snap a couple pics with my phone. So here they are and not too shabby quality for a stinking phone!

A couple of the Funkeys I’ve purchased recently. It’s a fairly new computer game / vinyl collectibles line. I love the way they look and I figure my kids will probably get a kick out of playing the game. I want more!

A shot of my cluttered Hasbro “chunkies” figures. A mash of both Transformers and Marvel characters. I’m a bit obsessed with these as well. Yes, I’m a dork…

Great Googly Mooglies! It’s been quite a while since I posted and so much has happened. Here’s a brief recap:

I got a new job! Yes, that’s right, I’m employed once again. I have to admit that despite having a bit of a severance package, it was very unnerving for me during those many weeks. I mean, I’m sure it is for anyone that gets laid off, but this was a first for me. A wife and four kids to support, and this was my first time to be out of work since before I graduated High-School. But hey, that messy part of my summer is over and now I’m gainfully employed and ready to move ahead. I’m doing very similar work, but as the Director of Ecommerce for Epopus, a consulting firm within the furniture industry, an industry in which I’ve worked for almost 11 years via FurnitureFind.com.

The kids are back in school! All four of them are in school for the full day now and Sheila’s just now getting the hang of no one else being home all day. That’s not to say she’s alone. We have two super-cute little nephews (both living right here in town) that she loves being around and Sheila’s mother is also visiting for the summer/fall time period.

Married for 14 years! As hard as it is to believe that much time has gone by, we’ve been married now for 14 years. We love to include the kids in on our day, so we celebrated by giving the kids presents. (we exchanged ours the night before) Sheila and I followed it up this past weekend by spending a night in Chicago as we’ve made a habit of doing for our anniversaries. We had a blast, but I think we’re going to have to come up with something a bit more “unique” for the next one coming up. The big 15 is looming!

The new bedrooms are (almost) done! One nice side-effect from being off work for a bit there, was that I had some time to work on the girl’s bedrooms upstairs. I finished up the walls, we got most of the painting done, we got the carpet laid, and the girls have officially moved in their rooms. I now need to finish by staining and hanging the doors and doing the same with all the trim. I think that’s going to have to take a slight back-seat for now though. I really need to get the gutter re-hung on the back of the house and get the roof ready for winter. I don’t want any major messes like we had last winter!

Well, those are the big points. I’ll try to get back to a more regular posting schedule now that things have settled a bit. Come back soon!

OK, this has just gotten ridiculous. We’ve been back for two weeks and I’ve done a really poor job of getting the rest of the pictures up. I was trying to look through the pictures and my notes to write a little about each day, but I’m too far behind and have other topics to move on to!

So here are the rest of the pictures for those of you who are interested…

Tuesday 8-14 – (91 Pictures) – We went on a guided hike to an abandoned bear den, which we had gone on last year as well. It was a great hike, and the sun was in just the right spot in the sky for us to get some great pictures on the trip back to the van.

Wednesday 8-15 – (48 Pictures) – Shalen put together his 3D shark puzzle in the morning. We spent a good chunk of the day at the beach at White Fish Point. It was a very nice sunny day, but it was a bit cool and breezy as well. The rain came in just as we were packing it up and chased us to the van.

Thursday 8-16 – (204 Pictures) – This was the biggest day at the falls. We spent the morning at the upper falls (the big one) and then ate lunch there at the brewery. We then spent the afternoon hiking up and down the lower falls (the smaller series).

Friday 8-17 – (86 Pictures) – Today was the big day at the Blueberry Festival. The kids all entered the coloring contest and Moranda and Shalen won in each of their age groups. We then followed it up with a nice evening hike near the campground.

Saturday 8-18 – (119 Pictures) – This was our last full day in the UP. We took a drive and took the kids to a black bear rescue/sanctuary. We then took one last long hike along the river in the evening.

Sunday 8-19 – (2 Pictures) – Time to go home…

Pictures Shalen Took – (89 Pictures) – Shalen took these pictures on the bear den hike on Tuesday.

Pictures Hailee Took – (132 Pictures) – Hailee’s turn with the camera was at the falls on Thursday.

Pictures Moranda Took – (132 Pictures) – Moranda took these on Friday at the Blueberry Festival.

Pictures Corbin Took – (274 Pictures) – WARNING! These could make you dizzy.

Tired of pictures yet?!?!?!?