You would think he lives alone or that I don’t pay him any attention!

Well, I have had a busy couple of weeks. My sister Athena is getting married next year and on the 8th, we went wedding dress shopping. She found a dress from David’s Bridal that just screams “ATHENA!!!!”. She is going to be a very beautiful bride. Now we just have to decide on a color for the wedding party! As her Matron of Honor and personal consultant for “all things paper crafted for a wedding”, I am taking care of her Save the Date cards and helping her with her invites. I may even take a stab at her favors and assist with the centerpieces. The girl is putting me to work!

While at Athena’s, I dropped my Siemens SL56 slider phone that I had for over 2 years in a puddle in front of her door. I thought it would survive that fall, but alas, that was the last straw. At least I didn’t flush it! That prompted us to purchase new phones, so we went with matching Motorola Razr V3’s in black. We have been riding out our contract for over a year and Will has been hating on his phone for the majority of that year. That, coupled with my phone’s untimely demise, was a good enough excuse to get new phones with a new plan.

That evening, our good friend Mike came to visit with his girlfriend. Our attempt to go to IHOP for breakfast that Sunday was foiled because we came in with the church crowd. We ended up going to TGI Friday where Mike harassed one of the waiters by staring at him every time he passed by. Mike pushed it over the top by asking our waitress for his name. The guy must have thought I was trying to get with him because he gave me this really weird stare when we were leaving. Mike recently purchased an Infinity G35 Coupe and Will just had to drive it. It was a beautiful vehicle…he crashed it several days later and was briefly hospitalized for his injuries.

I took my record Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) on the 11th and I passed with flying colors. Out of a possible 260 (I only get 60 points because I can’t do sit-ups due to my scoliosis), I got 251. I improved my push-ups by 8 (from 40 to 48 in 2 minutes) and my run by 36 seconds (from 17:10 to 16:34 2 mile run). I did so well that I had to stay home the following day due to dehydration. Over a week later (this past Friday), I end up in the ER for dehydration at the very beginning of PT. I ran one lap and I was done. Throughout the week, horrible things have been leaving my body. I can tell you today that the bag of fluids helped to flush whatever was ailing me out of my system.

Our good friend Gwen came from Jersey to visit. She doesn’t get much free time, so we make sure to spend as much time with her as we can. We met for lunch at Kobe’s Japanese Grill & Sushi and it was a wonderful experience! The food was awesome and despite the group of unknowns at our grill (they wait for a full table of 10 before they start), we were entertained by our chef who delighted us with knife juggling, onion volcanos and other feats of fire. We went to see Kevin & Athena afterwards (they were heavily engrossed in the Penn State game) and spent some time chatting about the wedding. We went our separate ways with hopes of being able to see each other over Thanksgiving.

Erica, my best friend from college, had her second child on the 15th. I have known her and her husband Csaba for over 10 years. She was so happy to initially find out that she was pregnant and even happier to have him on her grandmother’s birthday. She cherished her relationship with her grandmother and this was a blessing to her. His name is Alexander and his brother Sebestyen is looking forward to being a big brother.

Despite my trip to the ER, I had to get myself together to lead a Color Guard event on Saturday. I have to say this is the first time I ever marched to Michael Jackson (I am sure it was a mistake) and had the National Anthem played by electric guitar. The guy was like Jimi Hendrix reincarnated and he embelished the Anthem with his own flare. There was a moment at which I realized that I may not know when the song was ending and completely jack up our presentation (just like at the Dining-In when SGT Martinez squeaked…it was hilarious!!!). The mission went off without a hitch and we were happy to have had that experience.

I purchased Fire Emblem for the GameCube and Will put more money towards the Xbox 360. I am enjoying the game a lot and it has even pulled me away from Jade Empire for a bit. I am also loving my GameBoy Micro. It is so cute and super portable. I am currently playing Mario Golf Advance in it. Each of my handhelds has a different game in it - the SP has Sword of Mana, the DS has Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and Bomberman DS. Gotta love options! Currently, my GB Pocket, GB Color and GBA aren’t getting any love…

Something that happened a couple of weeks ago that is going well to date is that Hotaru’s clutch died. It died on Ft. Meade on the night of the Dining-In. I was able to make it home and then to the dealership the following day. As a loaner, we got another Vibe and the poor thing was so anemic it wasn’t funny. I know what most are thinking - isn’t that car just about brand new??? Yes, it is and that just about brand new car has a transmission that is made for Celica GTS - a car nearly 1000 pounds lighter. Our case is not unique - several other owners have epressed the same problem. Luckily, she was covered under warranty, so that potentially expensive job cost zero bucks. We dodged a big bullet that time!

I think I got it all out of my system. I guess I will write again in 2 weeks!