This weekend was a blast! We got in to Cincy really late on Thursday night, slept for a bit and then spent the next morning with Kim’s family. Soon enough it was time to start one of our busy days. I dropped Kim off to get her nails done and then killed some time. I bought tickets for the Marc Broussard show next Friday, which we’ll be at. I then went to the mall and picked up Emma’s baptism gift. I still had extra time after that so I spent an hour on UC’s campus checking out all of the new stuff they’ve built. I took some pictures, so I’ll have to get those up soon. I then picked Kim up and we headed out to my parent’s place. We visited for a bit and then got ready for the rehearsal. The time at the church went by really fast and then we headed down to the river for the rehearsal dinner. We had dinner and drinks on a three hour tour on a Celebrations Riverboat. It was a great night with awesome views of the city. Again I took some awesome pictures that I’ll post tonight or tomorrow hopefully.

The next morning I dropped Kim off to get her hair done and then headed back to my parent’s to relax for awhile. That was interrupted when I was alerted that Kim forgot her shoes, so I drove back down to where she was and gave them to her. After that I was running behind so I had to shower and get ready really fast. I made it to the church ten minutes before the ceremony started, but others were still arriving so it was ok. The wedding was nice and short. Afterward it was off to the Glendale Lyceum for the reception. This ended up being one of my favorite receptions to date, mostly because they had a live band instead of the standard DJ. The bands name is The Mistics and they were awesome!

Sunday was Emma’s baptism. The ceremony itself was much longer than I remembered or thought it would be, but maybe that’s because I haven’t been to one of these in a long time. There were two other babies being baptized at the same time so maybe that had something to do with it. My only job while there was to light the baptismal candle, which I did successfully. So far so good. :) From there we went over to my Uncle Andy’s house for the after party. It was nice seeing everyone again even though we had to leave just a short time after we got there. I think almost everyone that was there will be at Pig-Fest this coming weekend though…

Lately I’ve been addicted to Wikipedia, which is the free encyclopedia of the web. I’m not sure how many of you have already used it so I’ll provide this explanation from their welcome page. “Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. The site is a Wiki, meaning that anyone, including you, can edit almost any article right now.” The amount of factual information on this site is amazing, you can spend days reading and learning. I wish I had to write a term paper now, you could easily do so using simply this one site. Here are various places and events in my life:

Huntsville
Marshall Space Flight Center
STS-1: First Shuttle Launch
Huntsville Tornado
Cincinnati
Loveland
Kings Island
University Of Cincinnati
O.A.R.
Kansas City
Perhaps I’ll add the Ed Paff entry to their site…

In just a few hours we’ll be making the drive back to Cincinnati. Kim’s friend Julie is getting married this weekend and Kim is in the wedding. It should be a real good time, but likely very busy. Well at least Kim will be busy, I might have some free time so give me a shout if you are in town.

I’m back at work wishing I was still in Wisconsin. That was a great weekend, and we may just have to head back up that way next year when DMB returns. Here’s a recap of what happened:

My hockey bag weighed 48.5 pounds on the airport scales! The lady at check-in said I was lucky. After an uneventful flight, I met up with Weeba at the airport in Chicago and we headed over to Tracey’s apartment. Our friend Pat was already there and the rest of the clan was already out at a bar. We quickly got ready and took a cab over to meet up with everyone. A friend of a friend was having a $20 wristband party. I guess these are a popular thing in Chicago. Basically you and your friends pay $20 a piece to drink whatever you want for a certain amount of time. I think we got our money’s worth even though we only had an hour and a half of drinking time. From there we went and checked out a little bit of the Greenstreet show but we didn’t stay out too late since we wanted to get up to Wisconsin fairly early.

We woke up at 7 AM or so, Tracey said that we looked like kids on Christmas. We were way too excited to sleep anymore. After some breakfast and showers we packed the rental SUV (aka the urban assault vehicle) to the roof and headed off. I’m not sure why, but we hit some traffic that never seemed to end. We ditched the highway route and headed on the back roads to the campsite. It probably should have taken an hour and half to get there but it took us over three hours. Not the best way to start off the weekend, but oh well. We finally got our site, setup our camp and waited for the rest of our group to get in. One problem with the setup, I forgot the tent poles for my tent. Ooops. We did have 3 other tents though and there were only six of us so it was alright. Once everyone got there we ate some food and drank some beers until a very scary storm quickly approached our camp. At the front of this storm were some rotating clouds right above us. We were in the middle of a field with a tornado forming above our heads. It was fairly frightening and it almost canceled the show. We didn’t know this at the time, but when this all was blowing over the venue they closed the gates to the lot. We left really soon after the storm passed and were then stuck in traffic for awhile waiting for the gates to open again. Unfortunately we didn’t get into the lot until around 6 and OAR was starting at 7. As we found out the next day we should have arrived earlier, the party scene in the lot is incredible. The show was great, the seats were great, everything was great. After the show we sat in our seats for awhile and when everyone was gathered we exited the venue. We quickly saw the insane amount of traffic trying to get out and the large number of people who were giving up for now and carrying on with the party. We joined in for an hour or two after the show and then ventured back to camp. We did stop at some local country bar on the way back for a drink and on the way out had a little fun with their sign (see the pictures). When back at camp we hung out some more and before we knew it the sky was getting lighter and lighter. Three or four of us managed to stay around the fire for awhile and I don’t think any of us managed to keep our eyes closed for longer than ten minutes.

Later that morning everyone else decided to get up around eight. Later on I took a pretty nice nap under the canopy and was ready to go again. We took everyone back to the bar we visited the night before for some lunch. From there we headed into the lot to take full advantage this time. We brought along our cornhole boards and beer and had a blast despite it being about 110 degrees with the cars packed together, people everywhere, grills going, etc. It was worth it though, the partying was great! The show was of course excellent again and we were all pretty much in the same 5 rows of the same section. After the show we hung out like the night before and headed back to camp. We tried to keep the party going but you could tell everyone was dead.

The next morning it was time to pack everything up and head back to Chicago. We stopped back by Tracey’s to clean ourselves up and were off to the airport. Sarnovsky and AP were also flying out around the same time we were. We soon found out that all of our flights were being delayed though. We had some lunch and a few drinks to kill the time and then we were all on our separate ways, thus ending a great weekend. The nice thing is that most all of us will get back together again in a few weeks at Pig-Fest!

I got home last night around 5:30 and with Kim’s help had everything laid out to be packed by 7:00. At first I put both canopies, 2 chairs and tent in my hockey bag and it weighed like 53 pounds or something. So I took one of the chairs out, now it weights 46 or 47 pounds. This is what I’m going with, so hopefully they don’t try to charge me $50 later today. I’ve also got a large roller bag filled with all my sleeping supplies and then my backpack with all my clothes in it. I had to put this all together fairly quickly because we had plans to watch Wedding Crashers with a rather large crowd.

The movie was great, I can see why my brother has already begun to quote some of the lines. I haven’t laughed that hard at the theatre in a long time. After the movie we went down to our favorite plaza watering hole, Tomfooleries, for a couple of drinks and then returned home to finish packing.

I’ve got all of my bags in the car right now. After work I’m going to pick up Kim from work and then we are off to the airport. I’ll fly to Chicago tonight, meet up with my buddy Weeba at the airport, go out with everyone for a little bit, and then stay at my friend Tracey’s place. From there we are heading to Wisconsin on Saturday morning to camp out and watch DMB and OAR blow the roof off of Alpine Valley two nights in a row!

My last couple days have been all about the trip this weekend. My friends and I have been searching all of the DMB boards (antsmarching.org, nancies.org, etc.) for tickets to the shows. Many of us already have tickets in our hands (I am not one of those people) and are looking for better seats, while others have been holding out for the best seats possible. It’s a known fact that ticketmaster.com will release some unused band comp tickets as the show date approaches. With this in mind, we have also been checking out the site at least every half hour. I got a call from my good friend Nasim (lead singer of O.A.R.’s wife). She told me that I’ve got at least one ticket to each night this weekend, so I can finally relax thanks to her. Although I’m still checking ticketmaster quite often to see what they have and also to let my buddies know when something is there.

With my ticket concerns mostly out of the way, I’ve been concentrating on my packing. We will be camping the whole weekend and our friends who live in Chicago don’t have much camping gear. This means that I am somehow going to take some large things with me on my flight as checked luggage. I’ve borrowed two canopies from my parents that I hope to bring with me. However, each one of them weights nearly 15 pounds! The limit on southwest flights is 50 pounds per piece of luggage. So two of the canopies in one bag is already 30 pounds. The next problem is that they are so large that only one will fit in the biggest piece of luggage that we have, and it only fits diagonally across the bag. This doesn’t leave much room for other things. The good news is that I can check up to three pieces of luggage. I’ve been considering using my hockey bag to transport some of the supplies, but it seems that it might be too big to use as a free item. In addition to these two canopies, I’m also taking one or two bag chairs, a smaller sized tent, an air mattress, a pillow and sleeping bag. That’s in addition to any clothes that I’ll pack. So you sort of see my dilemma that I face when putting it all together tonight. Another problem is that I’ve only got about an hour to get it all done. Wish me luck…

Crazy weekend number one was a ton of fun! The drive in, however, was not. We got stuck in traffic leaving Kansas City and again just before St. Louis. One nice thing is that they are finally making repairs to I-70 across Missouri. Oh yeah, and the highway speed limit in Indiana was bumped up to 70 MPH. That leaves Illinois as the only state between here and Ohio with 65 MPH speed limits (well Ohio is 65 too). We finally got to Kim’s family’s house around 3:30 AM and crashed before 4.

Saturday morning came early, but that is to be expected. We hung out with Kim’s family for awhile and then were off to my family’s house. My dad and I replaced the back brake pads on the Jetta. We still aren’t sure why the back pads wore out way before the front pads, anyone? From there we all got ready and then it was off to my cousin Karen’s wedding. The mass was fairly quick although late in the day. The reception was excellent! The food was great, the facility was really nice and the attendees were in good spirits. I forgot to bring my camera along with me, but that’s ok since my mother was there to get everything on film.

Sunday we woke up and headed back to the westside of town to meet up with Kim’s family and head over to Indianapolis. It was her youngest brother’s birthday and he wanted to ride go-carts. They found a track just outside of Indianapolis, so a group of us headed there and rode the go-carts for 2 hours. What a tiring way to spend the day. I’ve got blisters on my hands, my leg hurts and I know Kim is a little beat up as well. I definitely give a little credit to NASCAR drivers now. After our punishment was over, Kim and I headed back to KC and got in around 10. We actually shared driving duties last night since we both were tired from the weekend.

Today starts the never ending summer of traveling…

This weekend my cousin Karen is getting married back in Cincinnati. We are going to drive back after work today so we should hopefully get into town around 3 or 4 in the morning. Yay! :| At least we have a Busch wedding to look forward to! I learned at a young age that a Busch wedding is not something to mess around with. I believe I was 18 years old when my Uncle Andy (my mom’s youngest brother, the baby of nine children) got married. Being that he is my godfather, I was asked to be in his wedding. The wedding went fine, and then came the bus ride from the church to the reception. This is where things took a turn and my Uncles decided to feed me with lots of beer. I barely remember being introduced into the reception but I do remember having a ton of fun. That is until I ended up outside of the reception hall, seated on a tree stub, puking my brains out. Hey, at least I made it outside, right?

The weekend after this I am flying to Chicago where I am meeting up with some friends. From there we are going up to Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. O.A.R. is opening for DMB for two nights, which is a guaranteed good time. All I need to do now is get some tickets for the shows…

The weekend after that we will actually be in KC but we have another wedding to attend. The Reynold’s are family friends of ours from our time in Huntsville, AL. My mom has kept in touch with them throughout the years, and when I moved out here we realized that they weren’t far away in Overland Park, KS. Anyway, their daughter Stephanie is getting married so Kim and I will be joining in the festivities. Hopefully my mom and dad can make it out too!

After that we have to go back to Cincinnati again, this time for yet another wedding. Kim’s friend from high school (Julie) is getting married and Kim is in the wedding. The nice thing is that we will actually be taking a full day off of work for this trip since the rehearsal is on Friday.

The weekend after that brings us back to Cincinnati a third time. This is of course for Pig-Fest. Enough said!

And one more trip the weekend after that for me. I’m heading up to Chicago once again for O.A.R.’s Feeling Better Than Everfine Festival. I’m sure this will be another kick ass weekend, just as it always has been.

After that I am taking at least a month off with no traveling. I should be very busy, but at least I’ll be having a blast doing it all!

I am back at work and Kim is on her way to Minnesota for business. Here is a brief recap of the weekend. We left Kansas City bright and early on Saturday and stuck with the route described on the page I linked to earlier. It took us about 13.5 hours to get to Cincinnati; it usually takes 9. The drive was much nicer though and we did stop a few times at various little towns. One in particular was made famous for their albino squirrels. We went to the city park in Olney, IL but were not successful in sighting one of these. We did see a bunch of really friendly regular squirrels though. When we got into Cincy, we went straight to Amy’s apartment. A small group of us gathered there and then we decided to take a cab out to our old stomping grounds, the UC campus. We went to Christy’s first and then made it to Murphy’s before last call. Overall I felt pretty old in the bars, but it was a nice night out.

Sunday we visited with my family for a few hours and then headed back over to Kim’s for a gathering of her extended family. That took care of most of the day and then on Monday we finally got our loan to buy out the Jetta’s lease. We are now the proud owners of the car. :) From there Kim went out to dinner with Amy and other friends for Amy’s birthday while I met up with my buddy Jon and went out to Paxton’s where Ken was bar-tending. When Ken was done with work we all headed up to Hap’s to finish off the night with Kim and Amy.

The funeral was on Tuesday and it was a very nice service. I’m sure everyone appreciates all of your thoughts and prayers.
HAIS Charles F., beloved husband of 64 years to the late Mildred M. (nee Doyle) Hais. Loving father of Carolyn (Doug) Otto, Peggy (Ron) Fleming, Chuck (Mary) Hais, Susan (Tom) Cupito and Jodi Hais. Dear brother of Margie (Don) Flick, Mimi (Dick) Berning and the late Al Hais. Devoted grandfather to 20 favorite grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. On Thursday, May 12, 2005 at 84 years of age. Visitation on Tuesday at B. J. Meyer Sons Overlook Funeral Home, 4841 Glenway Avenue, (next to St.Teresa Church) from 10:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., followed by Mass of Christian Burial at St. Teresa of Avila Church at 1 P.M. Family requests memorials to Teen Parent Mentor Program, One YMCA Place, Greensboro, NC 27401 or St. Teresa of Avila Memorial Fund, 1175 Overlook Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45238. www.bjmeyersons.com

In light of yesterday’s news Kim and I will be driving back to Cincinnati tomorrow. I talked things over with my boss and we do infact have a bereavement policy that covers up to 3 days off of work. So, we will be in Cincinnati from sometime on Saturday until after the funeral which is on Tuesday. We will then drive back Tuesday night and be at work on next Wednesday. One good things is that this weekend is my brother Bryan’s 18th birthday, so we should be able to spend a little time with him and my family as well. To make the drive a little more exciting we are planning on taking US-50 all the way to Cincy. Rand McNally is the only site I can get to actually give directions using 50 and it says that it will take 15 hours. That’s an extra 6 hours, which I don’t really believe, but either way I think we are gonna do it. Since we plan to leave early in the morning, the worst thing is that we get to Cincy at the same time we do when we leave after work. Wish us luck. :)

The weekend flew by and so has work so far today. Here is a quick update:

Friday we left work a little early and drove all night. We finally got to Kim’s parents around 2AM and quickly went to bed. I was woken up at 7AM and shortly after we were on our way downtown to run the 5K race. To my disappointment, we were not given timing chips so there is no online record of our times. This was even more disappointing after we finished the race since we all ran less than 8 minute miles. We started off together, but before too long Chris pulled ahead of us. Kim decided she was going to try and keep up with him. I hung back with Chip, even though we were still moving at a pretty quick pace. When the first mile marker read 7:50 I couldn’t believe it. We kept it up though, and finished the race just under the 24 minute mark. I think Chris was close to the 23 minute mark and Kim was just ahead of me and Chip. It was a good run for all of us!

From there we went back to the Hais house to relax for a little bit. Later on that evening we headed over to visit my family. We stayed up a little longer than we probably should have, especially since we got up even earlier the next day to head down and watch my dad run the marathon. I never really went down and watched before, mostly because I was in school and they are typically finished before 11AM. It was a really cool experience though. We stopped at various points along the way to cheer for my dad and Shawna along with anyone else out there. You can check out my mom’s pictures here.

Before we knew it, it was time to get back in the car and head home. We decided to get a hotel in St Louis since we would be getting a late start and didn’t feel like making the drive straight through. We finished off the drive this morning and now I’m back here at work starting off another week.