i can't relax!

March

2011-03-01T12:00:00.001-06:00

The sun is shining and the snow is melting. The wind is brisk, yet still refreshing. It is a perfect day for a walk. As much as I love winter and the fun that it brings, I might finally be ready for a change. It is, in fact, March 1st and spring is just around the corner, no matter how much I'd like for winter to stay a little longer. I am excited for things to begin growing once again. The first sign of plants sprouting up through the dirt is quite a sight to see, one that means there will soon be color all around.

I've begun to think of what I want to plant in my garden this year and have been getting excited to get things going, however, I soon put a halt to my excitement and remember that Jeff is planning on doing some changes to the house and garage, meaning that the back yard will be a big pile of dirt for most of the spring. It makes me sad to think that I won't have a garden this year; maybe I'll just have to plant in pots and place them around the front yard. If anyone wants to have a garden in their yard but don't want to take the time to tend to it, just let me know, I might be able to help.

happy valentine's day...i'm a student

2010-02-14T23:00:00.001-06:00

yes, happy valentine's day. . .

As I sit in the kitchen, in the corner booth, the spot that i've been sitting in for many hours this weekend, I watched the clock strike 12:00 and my eyes instantly got heavy. (Disclaimer: all my typically amazing writing skills are gonna be missing tonight, because of sleepiness) I've been reading textbooks on grammar, literacy and mathematics and as boring as that stuff is, i've sort of enjoyed it (but my eyes are still tired). Now, its not quite the same type of enjoyment i get out of going to sleep at night, walking to get the mail, or even cleaning out the Roomba. It is a type of enjoyment that is hard to explain. Maybe the fact of the matter is that I am actually enjoying school and being a student again, even enjoying learning. For many people, this might be a normal thing, but for me, not so much. I don't think i've ever studied for 8 hrs in a month, let alone a single weekend, and if i didn't need sleep, i could keep going! I'm crazy!

But, anyways, school is underway and i am really enjoying it. my classmates are all great! very friendly and welcoming. One day last week we had to get into groups of 4 and find things that we all had in common. One of the groups said that they were "all younger than tim", which is true by a good 2 yrs.... oh wait... no, 7-9 yrs, i'm old. but it did get a good laugh out of the class and those sort of things help me feel a little more comfortable, since i don't, or didn't, know anyone. I am in a 3rd grade classroom every Tuesday and it is quite possibly the best 3rd grade classroom ever! my teacher is amazing in many ways, from the way she connects with each of the kids to how she organizes her day to how she relates to many of the parents. and the kids, the kids are practically little angels. They help each other when they need it, they behave when they should behave and they have also welcomed me in as one of their class. Last week i stayed after school to sit in on a few conferences. One family came in and my teacher introduced me to them. They said, "oh, we've heard about you. ... when 'our boy' gets home each day we have him share a high point and low point, YOU were his low point today. He said, "my low point is the fact that Mr. Olson is only in our class on Tuesdays." That made my day! Things like that really help you keep pluggin' along. well, off to bed so i can plug along tomorrow.

I've been home for a while

2010-01-31T22:00:00.001-06:00

Well, little has happened since Thanksgiving. Let's see, where should I start?..... ok, here it goes.

The next morning was a brisk and lovely morning, I slept in a bit, until about 9:17, and after my breakfast, I walked my 9 minute walk to church. There was definitely a chill in the air and I knew that if I had been in Minnesota that a snowfall would be just around the corner. Ok, so maybe I won't be quite THAT detailed, when i told Jen that I was going to update my blog she said, "WAHOO!!! Good job! Is it going to be 5 pages long since it's been so long?" I said, "I hope not! I'm tired." So, you're going to get the shortened version on my last couple of months (don't be TOO excited)

My last month is Sweden was simply, wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better experience. My host family couldn't have been more amazing, I still think about them all almost every day. As the month went on I was all of a sudden getting the questions, "are you getting excited to go home?", "what are you most looking forward to when you get home?", "are you going to come back soon?" and several other questions that I didn't really want to answer. I wasn't ready to go home yet, I was just getting comfortable, just getting to know people on a deeper level, making great friends and gaining family members. I really didn't want to think about those questions, but my answers where, "don't know if I'd use 'excited'.", seeing my dog & new nephew." and "hopefully." 3 months is NOT a long time to live somewhere and even after being home for over a month now, I often think about when the next opportunity will come for me to go back. I don't know what I miss the most, if it was all the walking I did, if it was the great bus system, if it was the church or if it was all the wonderful, kind people that helped make me feel more welcomed than I feel I deserved... maybe I miss it all equally, yep, I think that's it.

Anyways, Tuesday morning, December 22nd, Birgitta drove me to the airport and as we hugged, wished each other "Gud Jul" and then as I watched her drive away, it hit me that I was going home to be with my family for Christmas. I landed in Minneapolis and Jen, Jeff & Brad were at the gate waiting for me. It was really good to see all of them, even though I had practically just seen Jen ;) We got home and Mom & Dad were there to help welcome me back. We went inside and there was my baby! Riley hadn't forgotten about me, she was so excited she peed a little bit :) ... I think I might have too, but I don't remember the details, whatev. Brad, Jeff & I went out for dinner and had a good time. I was home and was ready for Christmas.

I went to Mom & Dad's on Christmas Eve and after dinner I fell asleep on the couch, since my internal clock thought it was about 4 in the morning. I was dreaming about Santa, or Reindeer, or Snow, or something when I was abruptly jostled by an adorable little 4 year old! Erika, JJ, Kaleb & new baby Alek had arrived and Kaleb needed to give his uncle a big hug, even though I was sleeping, it was the best way to be woken up! After a big, stronger than when I left, hug, I got to hold Alek for the first time after getting to just see him via Skype. He was/is ADORABLE! (and so much more real in person).

Ok, Christmas was great, New Years was fun. I'm pretty tired after a long weekend and should get to bed, because tomorrow morning I will be a full time student at Bethel University. yep, once semester of classes/practicum and one semester of student teaching and I will have my teaching license, which I will elaborate on later, but i MUST keep this under 5 pages.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-02T10:00:00.001-06:00

I am a few days late on this but i figured better late than never.
So, Wednesday the family got here, it was great to see their smiling faces as i met them at the airport and after we hugged we were off, and didn´t stop until they left at 4:30 on Sunday morn. We had Wednesday night and at 6:00am on Thursday we were on the train to Stockholm. We had really nice weather (well, sunny and a bit chilly) and enjoyed the day walking around and enjoying the city. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe and as my dad paid the bill the waiter wished him a Happy Thanksgiving! it was a nice reminder of the holiday that was being celebrated back home. We ended the day by getting back onto the train at about 8:00pm and got back to Göteborg at a little after 11:00, we were all very exhausted.
Friday started out with breakfast at my place. I drove the rental car over to get my parents from the Jannerlands, where they were staying. oh, and driving was pretty fun, i havent done that in 2 months! Aaron joined us for breakfast and we all had a nice relaxing start to the day. After breakfast we stopped by the church so i could show them where i have been working and they were also to meet a few of the folks i spend so much time with in the office. We toured Göteborg for the rest of the day and ended by going to Liseberg, which is decorated for Christmas this time of year.
Saturday we took a boat to the island Hönö and checked out a Christmas market that they have every year, it was quite nice. We ended the day with dinner at the Jannerlands house and then made Fiskebäcksbröd (Fiskebäcks = the town/area. bröd = bread.) At about 10:30 a few people started arriving for fika. more and more people kept coming and then a little before 11, Aaron and Stina came to celebrate the end of their "Aaron and Stina day" aka 6 month anniversary of dating. However it wasn't long before Aaron began to tell the story of the day and how he picked Stine up at 4:30 am and then took her to Venice, Italy for the day. while there, he proposed to her and she said, "yes". So the little fika that the Jannerlands thought they were having was actually a mini engagement party, it was a lot of fun!
The night ended around 12:30 and my family left after a few hours of sleep and went on their way to a day in Amsterdam.
I called them at 1:15am on Monday morning to make sure they got home ok and everything was good. I was exhausted and went to bed.
Good Times.

Timmer

Where am I?

2009-12-01T23:00:00.000-06:00

Last night as Andrew and I were waiting at the bus stop I heard something coming down the street. Normally just hearing something coming would not catch my attention since there are many cars, buses and other vehicles here, however this sound was different. All of a sudden from around the corner I saw a 4-wheeler/atv (whatever you want to call it) ..zz....z......zzz........ ooh, i just fell asleep for 5 minutes, too bad since it is 11:00 am..... ok, umm..... where was i? .....aw, yes. Depending on where you live this might not be an abnormal sight, but when we were standing at a busstop in downtown Göteborg and the only street that went past us was an entrance ramp to the freeway, I was really surprised! What kind of place do I live in? 4-wheelers on the freeway!? now that is just a little crazy.

a couple pictures.

2009-12-01T22:00:00.001-06:00

i added a few pictures to previous posts. if you are interested, here they are:
Small Group
Julstagan
Wednesday

The Fam is Coming

2009-11-24T22:00:00.002-06:00

Today at 3:25 my family lands at the airport in Göteborg, Sweden. I am going to meet them and am pretty excited for it. I do wish that Erika, JJ, Kaleb & Alek could have come too, but i guess Mom, Dad & Jen will just have to do :)
Tonight we are having dinner at the Natanaelsson house and I am really hoping that the combination of losing 7 hours and having a full stomach doesnt cause anyone (my dad) to fall asleep at the table (actually, that would look kind of funny). It should be a great time, but hopefully not too late because tomorrow morning at 6:00am we are getting on the train to Stockholm and will be back in Göteborg at about 23:00 tomorrow night, good times.

Julstugan är här .... and gone, but it was fun.

2009-11-21T15:00:00.005-06:00

Last night as I the church and turned on my iPod, I selected my "Christmas!!" playlist! Now, I usually don't start listening to Christmas music until December 1st because I don't want to be sick of hearing all the great songs before the big day actually arrives. However, I was told last week that "Julstugan" is kind of "the official start" for Christmas music to some people, and I have chosen to be one of those people. I LOVE Christmas music!
So, are you wondering what "Julstugan" is? well, the translation is "Christmas Cabin". Does that explain it for you? no? oh fine, me neither. Julstugan is actually a fund raiser for the youth group at the church. It is held every year and is a great time for the church and the community to come together in fellowship and fun. Throughout the church there are tables set up to sell items such as poinsettias, baked goods, hand knitted hats & mittens and other donated items. There are also many items that are raffled off, I was feeling very confident that I was going to win the Nintendo Wii with my one ticket since I was donating my time here, but then I saw that someone had purchased 10 tickets and I knew my chances of winning were very slim. I am still waiting for my phone to ring with the good news that I am the winner of a Wii, but I don't think it will happen. oh well. This event is very fun for everyone involved, but it is also very successful. This is the only fundraiser that the youth has each year, I think I heard someone say that last year they raised nearly $40,000 over the two days! yes, that is DOLLARS, not CROWNS, WOW! Hopefully they made the same this year.
I know you are probably just DYING to know what the first Christmas song that played on my iPod was, (it was a really good one and you should probably go check it out) "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" by Sufjan Stevens. One of my favorite lines is: "Chestnuts and fire, holly and hay, Jesus and Mary, what a great day!" His Christmas album is simply wonderful!

Gud Jul!!
Timmer

Small Group

2009-11-17T10:00:00.004-06:00

This past Thursday my small group met for the 2nd time. the week before we met at Anna-Maria's apt and had a great time enjoying fika and just getting to know one another. This week however Anna-Maria had to work, so she couldn't make it, but Johan, Iris and Abby came over to my place and we cooked Köttbullar (pronounced "schut-boola" = meatballs) together using a recipe that I was given and then translated, did you know that you can upload complete documents into "Google translate"! I didn't, until last Thursday :) it was fun, we had a good time and we able to spend some time going a little deeper as well. God is so good and it is great to see His hands moving and mixing things together, oh, i forgot to mention that there were also 4 countries represented last Thursday, Sweden, the UK, Germany and me. And now that i'm on the subject of multiple countries....
Last Sunday night, Nov 9th, we had a more contemplative service, a time of song and prayer. We sat on couch cushions on the main stage and were very relaxed. It was great to hear the sound of 20 or so voices echoing throughout the entire sanctuary, simply beautiful and kinda gave me the chills. At the end of each service we spend time in prayer. With the piano, we sing short prayer, then whoever wants can say a prayer, then we sing, then someone prays, then we sing, then someone prays, etc... do you get it? well, if you don't, i'm sorry, because it actually quite powerful. During this prayer, i still had my chills from earlier, but then those chills got chills because after a few "rounds" we had heard prayers in Swedish, English, German, and Chinese. It was so touching to hear prayers in so many languages, just plain cool!

Yep, anyways, things are still moving along and The Well is starting to get a good solid 'core' of folks that are here are a weekly basis. It's almost like we have a 5 week old child that is starting to walk.... or something like that.

keep praying!
T

The Land of Volvos

2009-11-09T10:00:00.004-06:00

I think I once heard that 25% of cars on the road in Sweden are Volvos, this might be hard to believe, until you see it with your own eyes. Let's say you take a walk down any street, I will guarantee that soon there will be a Volvo past you, followed by another and then maybe even another. Yes, they are everywhere! There are a few good reasons, however, for this Volvo craziness:
#1. Volvo is a Swedish company.
#2: Volvo is based here in Gothenburg.

#2 brings me to my point for today. I went on a tour of the Volvo factory, Andrew and Johan were there too. It was a good time. we rode on what is called "The Blue Train", it is just a few small carts with seats that are pulled by a little golf cart type thing. We got to see almost the entire process of how a car is built, from seeing the rolls of metal being cut to seeing the cars be started for the first time. Now, I'm not that into cars or anything, but it was pretty cool. We went to fika afterward, good times.
After fika, I went to the Central Station, downtown, and bought 4 tickets to Stockholm. My parents and sister, Jen, are coming to Sweden on Nov 25th for a nice, short visit. On the 26th we are getting on a speed train at 6:00am and cruising across the country in 3 hours, by car it can take 6, to Stockholm. We will have a nice day of touring the capital city and then at 8:10pm, we'll get back on the train and head west, back to Gothenburg. I am very excited!

Wednesday was a nice day

2009-11-06T22:00:00.001-06:00

Jan & Lynn are an older couple from the international church (Fisherscreek International Church) that I met at the retreat my first weekend here. Jan is from southern Sweden and is still learning English, but is very good, especially since he gets many private lessons. Lynn is from Wales and has been an English teacher at the University here in Gothenburg for several years. They are a funny couple, in a good way. They have been together about 4 years, I believe, and even though they have grown kids, they seem as if they are in their 20’s when they are near one another.

A few weeks ago I went to the Swedish church (Fiskebäcks Missionskyrka) and Jan was singing in the gospel choir. I got a chance to talk to him during fika afterwards and he asked me if I’d ever be up for getting lunch or going for a walk or something. I like to eat and I like to go for walks, so I said, “sure, that’d be great!” We exchanged phone numbers and planned to meet in about a week and a half.

He called me on Tuesday to make sure I was still able to meet and he said he’d call me tomorrow after lunch to tell me a specific time. He, and Lynn, picked my up right around noon. It wasn’t the nicest day, cloudy, a slight wind and about 5 degrees (upper 30’s) but we had a very nice time. First, they took me to the University’s Botanical Gardens. I was a little hesitant since so many of the leaves have fallen off of everything but I figured it would at least be a nice walk and there would be good conversation. The gardens were beautiful! There were still plenty of plants that had their leaves, some were very colorful, and there were quite a few flowers still going strong, but after about 45 minutes we were all starting to get a little too chilled.

We got back in the car and they were going to bring me to lunch at “the best place in town!” Jan likes to cook, and he is very good. Lynn likes to bake, and Jan has told me she is also very good, both are kind of “foodies”, so I figured when they say that we’re going to “the best place in town” it is going to be good. We got to a place called Gunnebo’s Slot, which was built by a English guy back in the day. He came to Sweden started two businesses: 1. a logging company and 2. a mining company. He did OK for himself. Anyways, they place now is pretty nice, there is a horse stable, and organic garden and a restaurant, which we ate at. The food was pretty good, “nothing to write home about” except that I am, but whatever. It would have been much better if the fish didn’t have so much mustard on it, very spicy mustard, woof! After we ate we enjoyed tea and dessert.

It was a great day but it wore me out. I was in bed by 8:00.

Sad Day.

2009-11-06T10:00:00.001-06:00

Yesterday morning as I sat down to put on my socks I noticed something on my foot. There was actually something on both of my feet, it looked like a very faint letter “Z”. I instantly knew what it was; it was what is left of the tan line I got from wearing my Chaco sandals (everyone should have a pair) this past summer. It made me question if I had lost the rest of my tan, so I took my shirt off and went to stand in front of the mirror, what did I see? I saw white, a lot of white! My entire tan is officially gone. No more farmer’s tan from all my time out side under the sun this past summer, nothing. My hair, what hair I have, is showing less signs of the sun, it is getting darker every day and my beard is practically black; but that could be because of its length, who knows.

This morning’s weather report said the sun is to rise at 7:36 (am) and will set at 16:14 (4:14 pm) and that there will be 4 minutes 35 seconds less daylight tomorrow, 4.5 minutes less, in ONE DAY! Yikes! Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to enjoy the 8 hours that the sun is up, hiding behind the clouds.

Its official, summer is a distant memory.

Time Flies.. CONTINUED

2009-11-05T10:00:00.001-06:00

So, I talked a lot about Halloween, but not so much about All Saints Day. Whoops, guess I just got in a reminiscent mood or something.

Saturday, October 31^st started out like any other typical Saturday….no, wait, it didn’t. I got up and went to church, on Saturday morning. **short detour** do any of you work in a church? How do you get used to the schedule? I am always so messed up as to what day it is. Typically we take Monday off, that throws me off for the whole week. But going to church on Saturday morning, that REALLY messes with the whole, “weekend/week” clock. Oof! **detour over** I was a little hesitant because I knew the service was going to be in Swedish, so I sent Aaron a text to see if he was going to be there and if he could translate for me, he was, good. The service was to remember those that passed away this past year, there were 5 members of the church that had died and each of their names were read and then put up on the screen. It was especially heart wrenching when Gustav, the pastor, came to the last name, Mrs. Fredrickson, because she had just recently passed away on October 25^th and her family was in the front row. Her husband, Sven-Erik, is an old, active guy that runs marathons and rides his bike everywhere, year round. He is about 85 years old, has white hair and thick black rimmed glasses, Aaron says, “he looks like Geppetto, from Pinocchio!”, and he does! but it was hard to see him hurting. I've gotten to know him just a little bit at a few Wednesday morning prayer meetings, and he is a very gentle and loving man, so to know that he is hurting, hurts. I think it was gave a sense of closure for his family at the service though, i saw some smiles afterwards as they were talking to people.

The rest of the day was pretty laid back, until 19:00 (7:00 pm) when the Jannerland's had a party at their house. now, i know you're probably thinking that this was a "Halloween" party, but you would be wrong. it was a party for "anyone that knows the Thompsons". If I haven't mentioned it, Aaron's parents were here for 2 weeks and it is their 4th time visiting, so they've gotten to know a few people in the area. It was a nice evening with dinner, laughter and even singing. there were around 30 people and was definitely a good time. I almost had forgotten about the all the parties that were about to start back home as i was getting home at around 1:00, but i got online to check my email and see if i could Skype with anyone (I'm usually on a few times per week sometime between 4pm & 6:30pm CST - Skype name: tim.olson6 - hint hint, wink wink) and ended up talking to my sister and parents and heard all about their plans for the night. good times!

**I'll post some pictures later**

Time Flies

2009-11-04T10:00:00.010-06:00

I know I’ve said it before, but I can’t believe that I’ve been here this long, 5 weeks! Wow! Ok, I’ll probably only say something like that just 2 more times, sorry. Let’s see, what has gone down? ….

This past weekend was Halloween. Now, I know for many of you, this was just another day where kids come to your doorstep, ring the door bell and say “trick or treat!” You either acted scared because they had on a scary costume or your heart melted because they were so darn cute. Oh, and then you gave them loads of candy. Sounds like fun, and I’m sure it was. Last year was my first time handing out candy, and it was great. For those of you who didn’t read last years entry, "Best Costumes Ever!?..." I was a giant chicken. My favorite trick or treaters for the evening were silent as I opened the door, granted, I as I opened the door I abruptly squatted down and just stared out the 3 kids and their dad, or some sort of father figure. After about 30 seconds of silence the biggest one, probably too old to be asking for candy, and dressed like Jason (from Friday the 13^th?, I think) simply said, “whoa” and then the youngest one, dressed like Freddy (from Nightmare on Elm St) said, “trick or treat”. The 3^rd kid, dressed like a ware wolf, never said a word. Yep, it was great! One of the most non-scary costumes, a chicken, caused 3 of the scariest costumes to go speechless!

Ok, so anyways, this year, well Halloween isn’t that big here is Sweden, so no kids running door to door, no parties, too bad. However, they do celebrate All Saints Day which is considered to be the more Christian side of Halloween. It is a day to remember anyone who has passed away over he past year, more of a day of mourning.

Well, i learned more about both All Saints Day and Halloween than i knew before, very interesting what writing a blog teaches you :) I had a good costume planned for this year too, oh well, just have to make it for next year.

The ‘fugees!

2009-10-28T22:00:00.002-05:00

Almost two weeks ago, Aaron & I went to the refugee center in Kållered. While we were there we met people that came to the country with very little warm clothing, if any warm clothes at all. We hung out with them in a small room, that IKEA donated furniture for (see attached photo) for a few hours having fika, drawing and sharing stories. When it was time to leave, a few young boys were going through the “hats & gloves” box trying to find something to wear on their little 6 year old hands, one of them left with men’s gloves that were just too big and the other left with bright pink, “piglet” mittens. Both boys did find gloves which is good because it was more than what either of them had, but they weren’t ideal. We have challenged our churches, Fiskebäcks Missionskyrcka and Fisherscreek International Church, to go through their closets and find warm clothes to donate. We were hoping to get enough clothes for one car load to the center, but after telling the congregation about this opportunity on Sunday, by Tuesday night we had enough clothes to fill about 3 Volvo station wagons!!! and more clothes are still coming; it is truly amazing at how much the people in this church are giving! I’m truly amazed!

One of our main goals with “The Well” (the service I’m here for, young adults) is to get people to “be the church, inside and outside of the church walls”. I think this is a great start and a good sign of what we are all capable of.

Keep praying!

Timmer

Already Wednesday!

2009-10-28T18:30:00.000-05:00

I can’t believe that have already been here for one month! Wow, where does the time go? (…………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… actual reflective pause as sit and I think about all that I’ve done this past month …………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………)

I guess I can believe that it has already been one month, I’ve done quite a bit of stuff…. and have drunk more coffee than I have in my entire life!

So, as I’ve been giving updates every so often you may have notice something has been missing. What did I come here for? I came to lead a small group. Why haven’t I written much about these, “small groups”? I’ve been here for 1/3 of my time and I haven’t really even mentioned them. WHOOPS! Just kidding, it has been on purpose. Over this past month there has been a lot of planning, because (I think I mentioned it, but if I haven’t) I am in charge of starting all the small groups, not just leading one. I was given a stack of books and a few prayers. Now, it isn’t as bad as I make it sound, Aaron and Sara are both very helpful and the whole time they’ve told me that if I don’t think I can handle it, to ask for help, and I have asked for their guidance on a few things here and there. …Anyways, we had a meeting 2 weeks ago and anyone who was interested in small groups was invited, we had about 10 of 20 who were able to make it and we actually got 3 groups started that night. We set a very relaxed schedule for the groups to meet. Each group decides when they meet and where. This will provide the flexibility that so many students need in order to participate in a small group.

My group, which I am not leading, is meeting tonight for the first time at Pizzeria Roberto’s, a little restaurant here in Fiskebäck that serves Italian food and Thai food, it’s a strange combo, but pretty darn delicious! I had a few guys get in contact with me this week that were interested in joining a group so tonight I think we will be 7 or 8 people, and hopefully be able to divide into 2 small groups, we’ll see.

Well, things are definitely moving in the right direction and it is very exciting to see more and more people wanting to be involved one way or another. Keep praying!

Timmer

I moved!

2009-10-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

i know, i know, you are probably thinking, “what? Where did he move to? I thought he already moved to Sweden?” well, it is quite alright if you are thinking that, but here’s the deal; I moved out of Aarons small, one room stuga which I’ve been sharing with him for the past 2 weeks and into a house. A couple from the Swedish church, Thomas and Birgitta Natanaelsson, have graciously opened their home to me. My walk to church each day is great! It takes about 10 minutes and the path is paved they whole way. There are trees along most of it, but one section is open and goes past a new playground. Now, I don’t think I’d ever see this playground in the States, why? Well, because it is made of logs! The first time I saw it I just thought, “lawsuit waiting to happen!” Yep, they even have a spinning log that I’m sure was made for Lumber Jack training, it is amazing! Well anyways, my walk is nice. Monday night the three of us were having dinner and conversation at around 6, and before I knew it, we were finishing coffee at nearly 9:00. They are both extremely kind, warm and easy to talk to. They said they want me to feel at home while I’m here and I definitely do. They’ve even given me a bike to use, oh and I have my own entrance to the house too. It is great!

and......

2009-10-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

So, let’s see…..... I left out a few days…....... What did I do....?
Oh, ok, so on Monday, October 12th at about 4, Aaron Andrew and I went to the Central Station in Göteborg and boarded a train. We rode it for about 20 minutes to a tiny little town and transferred to a bus. We rode the bus for about 30 minutes and came to a town called Marstrand. This is a nice little town and is a popular tourist destination, especially in the summer. Part of why it is popular is because it is a central location for sailing, Volvo’s “world race” makes a stop every year, another reason is for the Fort overlooking the town, it is beautiful (see photo). But we were not here to sail or sight see; we were here for a church staff retreat. One of the pastors grew up in the town and now has her parent’s old house which has been remodeled into 3 separate “apartments”, one on each level. She rents out 2 and keeps the top level as a place to get away to. So, we ‘got away’. It was quite nice; there were 7 of us there for one night. We all helped with dinner, played games and watched a movie, basically just relaxed and hung out. Tuesday morning after breakfast we had a time to share anything we wanted; thoughts, dreams, concerns, prayer requests, etc. It was a very refreshing time. That afternoon we took the bus back to the city and back to our now normal lives.

Settling in

2009-10-16T07:50:00.002-05:00

Well, here i am again, not writing as much as i would have hoped. oh well, i'm sure you are doing fine with that, if not... too bad, ha!

This has been a good week, I'm an uncle again, the weather has been great, and we had our first small group meeting last night. but let's see. i don't think i've written about last weekend so i'll start with that.

Friday was a nice day, sunny and about 10 degrees C (around 50 on a fahrenheit thermometer). We did alot of walking around the city and were just really able to enjoy the day. Once the sun decided to go away and night fell upon us Andrew (a fella that went to seminary with both Aaron and Sara, lives in Connecticut and is now here to help with music for the same time period as me) Sara and I went to a concert at one of the Lutheran churches in town. It was a choir concert and it was very good. the nice thing about it is that it was free. This night happened to be Gotherburg's "Culture Night", very similar to an "art crawl". there were many productions going on around town, most art studios were open to the public and the place we explored after the show was the Gothernburg Art Museum, i liked it.

Saturday, I slept in and relaxed. it was the first time i really had much time to myself and i felt very relaxed. at around 16:00 (4:00pm) i took the 23 minute bus ride into Gothenburg and met Sara and Andrew at Liseberg (the largest theme park in Scandinavia!) and we explored and enjoyed a few rollercoasters, it was the last weekend that it was open. good times! That night we went to another concert, this time it was a Gospel show at a church, Andrew really enjoys gospel music and since he plays the piano, he enjoys it even more. It was a decent show, and the most amusing part of the night for me was how people stood up to get involved with the music. Ok, so, you know how in the states when you are either in church or someplace where you are following the worship leader and someone stands up, soon after almost everyone is standing and worshipping together. well, the funny thing about this night was this: it was about the 3rd song and about 6 people stood up as a group, then across the sanctuary about 3 more stood up... and that was it. i looked around and was kind of waiting for more people to stand up, but nope, nothing. the only thing i saw was one lady in the 3 row stand up, walk up the isle and tap the lady in the front row on the shoulder. Apparently since she was video taping the choir it didn't give her the same permission to stand with the other people in her row and this lady asked her to sit down. Gotta love the 'Stoic Swedes"

That gives a good idea of what Friday and Saturday were for me, but now it is 14:55 (2:55pm) and I think i need to go get lunch. yep, i'm hungry, my stomach is starting to get trained to the eating schedule around here, which is: (no matter what time you wake up) eat breakfast, fika @ 10ish (even if you've just had breakfast 30 minutes ago), 12 or 12:30ish is Lunch, 1:30-2:30ish is fika again, sometime between 5&7 is dinner, 8 or 9 is fika again and then if you're still up between 11 & 1 you'll eat fika again, only at this time of day it is called....(i can't think of the word) and translates to "night food". yep, always eating. so should i be hungry? no! but am I hungry? yes, STARVING actually. so..

later.
Timmer

2009-10-14T02:26:00.001-05:00

Today, as i walked out the door on my way to the church, i was greeted with a sign that winter is drawing near. There was a crisp feel to the air and a thin layer of frost on almost everything, it was gorgeous. The sun was beginning to show itself over the trees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect way to start my day!

I'm an Uncle..Again!!

2009-10-12T02:18:00.003-05:00

At approximately 2:50am local time my phone rang. I was expecting a call so i was sleeping lighter than normal, it was my sister jen, she said there was a new baby boy born 15 minutes ago but he didn't have a name yet. she said she'd text me as soon as they had a name. a few hours later, my phone buzzed and i found out the new baby's name is Alek James! he was born Sunday October 11th, 2009 at 7:36pm. He weighed 7lb 11oz and was 21.5" long! I wish i was able to be there to see and hold him, but for now i am thankful for the internet! (i took a picture of my computer screen! ) i can't wait to see him in person!

congrats Erika, JJ & Kaleb!! love you guys!

My first week....it was rough!

2009-10-09T23:59:00.007-05:00

Last night I jumped in the Atlantic…for the second time in a week. Have I already gone crazy? … Maybe, but I think I am still the same as I was before coming here (take that as you will). Sorry, but I’m going to start at the beginning.

One week ago today Aaron and I drove to a retreat center called Bokanäs (check it out at www.bokanas.com) about an hour and a half north of Gothenburg. The International church was having an annual retreat weekend and we had to go early and make sure everything was set for the weekend`s activities. The weekend started with a welcome service at 8:30pm on Friday and was followed by Fika, (which I heard best described for Americans as “Fellowship”). I instantly felt very welcome and soon was talking to many new faces, I even had one little kid grab onto my leg a few times because he thought I was his dad. At about 10 a few of us younger adults went outside with the youth, about 15-20 kids between the ages of 7 & 18, and played tag in the dark, it was great! The rest of the weekend went a little too fast, but it was very nice. Saturday started with devotions at 8 and was followed by 3 hours of free time where we were able to enjoy the facilities a little bit. Yep, a church retreat with the following:

A breathtaking view of the ocean and many islands
out door hot tubs
a very large and brand new sauna which overlooked the ocean and islands

It was very nice. At 12ish, we met for lunch, which all the meals for the weekend were potluck style, very delicious! There was a lot more sitting, talking and laughing. It all felt like a family reunion, well, at least one of mine, since so many family things are held at a church and are potluck J The day ended after an evening service and as most people went off to their rooms, there were a few of us that went to the Hot Bästu (that is a hot sauna for those that don´t know). But this one was different than the one were in before, it was in it`s own building and it had a bridge going to it, and it was floating! So, there were about 8 guys, a few father & son combos, in one sauna and a few ladies in the other. After exactly 10 minutes we were told my Johan ( who was from Holland and had more sauna experience than the rest of us said that it isn't good to be in longer than that) that it was time to go. We all filed out of the sauna and onto the wet, slippery deck and into the cold wind and sprinkling rain. About 2 meters from the door the railing opened up and still single file, we began to dive into the VERY COLD ocean! IT WAS EXHILARATING! I did this 4 more times! I slept like a baby that night and we went back to Gothenburg the next day, after a short service and lunch.

Sunday night after we returned from the retreat with the international church we had to go to the Swedish church, Fiskebäck's Missionskyrcka, for our service call “The Well” (the part that I am working with). We had close to 30 young adults and one 55 year old Syrian man. The service started out with a few worship songs, parts in Swedish and parts in English. Ante, the Swedish youth pastor, went to the podium and started his sermon in Swedish, but thankfully Sara was beside him to translate as he went. The service ended with a time of Communion and prayer, and then everyone soon went downstairs for Fika. It was fun to meet so many new faces but I know it is going to be hard to remember all their names*.

After church, at about 21:30, Aaron, Sara and I were graciously given a ride to the ferry by Filip, a 23 yr old man with a heart for hospitality*, meeting new people* and God. We got out of Filip’s Volvo, yes almost anyone that drives here does drive a Volvo (1 in 4 actually), and got on the ferry to the island of Hönö (“Ö is pronounced oo”) in the Archipelago off the coast at Göteburg “Gothenburg” (pronounced Yo-ta-burry). Once we landed we got in taxi and drove 5 minutes to the island of Öckerö (pictured) where Sara’s family has a vacation home, it was her grandparent’s place until they both passed away. We spent the next 2 days relaxing, hiking and baking, yes I’m finding out that most Swedes do in fact bake on a regular basis and I might be learning how to as well, whether I want to or not ;). We also helped Sara’s dad and brother take their boat out of the harbor for the winter, a cool thing to see since I don’t do that stuff on a regular basis. Tuesday afternoon Aaron and Sara sat me down so we could finally talk about what exactly I will be doing here. All this time I thought I’d be helping out and leading a small group, which I will be, but I also found out that I am in charge of small groups, yep everything. Aaron and Sara will help as I need it, but they are really trying to spread the idea that they don’t have to do everything in the church, which they currently are. I am very excited for this, even though it might be a challenge to find leaders since, in general, Swedes don’t like to take “leadership roles”, they like to just let thing happen.

The rest of the week went well. I’m starting to get a somewhat regular schedule down, worked in the office at church and am getting to know rest of the church staff, they are all very warm and kind people.

I am now up to date, sorry I haven’t written much this first week, I think it’ll get a little better as my schedule is more regular. This weekend should be fun, a lot to do, I’ll tell ya all about it, I promise!

OOH! I almost forgot! Last night Aaron and I went for a walk with Andrew, who came from Connecticut to help with music, down by one of the harbors and as an introduction to Sweden, we jumped in the ocean in the buff! The water is MUCH colder when you don’t sit in a sauna for 10 minutes before jumping in. WOW it was cold, and it didn't help that as we were trying to dry off it began to rain a bit… and the wind was blowing that rain almost horizontally. Good times! J

Hej Då!

Timmer

*I’ll explain more on this subject later.

In Sweden

2009-10-01T07:11:00.001-05:00

I landed in Gothenburg at 4:45pm on wednesday, it was 52 degrees and cloudy, but looked pretty nice. as i walked through customs i looked around for Aaron and 2 others that he said would be there to greet me, i didn't see him anywhere. I scanned the airport lobby for a few seconds and then i saw a young man holding a piece of notebook paper with "tim olsson" written in green marker. I asked him if he was with Aaron Thompson, he said, in broken english, "AaRRon could Not maKe it." and then he started walking towards the door. i thought, hmm, this is different, but Aaron is a pastor, so maybe something did come up. As we're walking out to the car, i ask him what his name is, and he simply said, "johanes" (or something like that) and kept walking. in case you're wondering i was carrying my bag and pulling both suitcases, he still only had the sheet of paper. we got across the street to his car, oddly enough it was a volvo, and as i was putting my first bag into the trunk, i was grabbed from behind in the form of a bear hug. i was a little startled but i somehow knew it was aaron. He and Sara (a friend and co-worker, he calls her his "personal secretary") had asked Johanes, who works with them as well, to get me while they watched my reaction. However, they didn't get into the airport lobby in time and instead had to run up to us at the car. it was pretty funny, even though i don't think i made it seem as if i found it as amusing as i did, probably because i was a bit tired. good times. we got back to Aaron's place and hung out while he and Sara cooked dinner. we sat, ate and laughed, it was such a nice way to start my stay here in Sweden.

i slept for 12 hours and when Aaron woke me up at 11, i took my first ride on Swedish public transportation. we had to go get groceries because he was having his girlfriend, Stina's (sp?) parents over for dinner. he made a wonderful chicken dinner with carrots, potatoes and salad. he even made chocolate mousse for dessert.

So far this trip has been great! i've slept more and eaten better than i do at home, no complaints here :)

well, its after 2:00am here, i should get some sleep.

hej då!

Timmer

Tomorrow!

2009-09-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

Wow, i can't believe that i leave for Sweden tomorrow night! so much has happened the past couple of weeks, it is hard to remember it all. well, one thing that i wanted to write about but didn't was Brad & Tara's wedding. it was back on 9.12, but it was such a great day! I am so blessed to know both of them and have been fortunate enough to watch their relationship grow from a work friendship to the deep, amazing love that it is today. It was such an honor to be part of their big day, its a day that i will not ever forget (i even had fun on the dance floor, who am i?) so, i want to wish Mr. & Mrs. Adams (i'm still trying to get them to change it to Bergadams) the best of luck as they start their new lives together, and hopefully move into Jeff's place for their first year :)

Now, it is monday, i leave @ 9:35pm on tuesday, need to leave for the airport about 7ish, that gives me .... about 36 hrs to get alot of things done.. ok, maybe i'll just write more when i get time in Gothenburg, i really should think about packing & finding my passport for now.

please remember to pray for me, maybe even starting today, so as i'm running around like a chicken w/ my head cut off...i wish i had my halloween costume here from last year, that'd be fun to wear all day...i might actually be able to concentrate & keep focused on everything i need to do.

tack!
Timmer

I'm Going to Sweden!

2009-09-16T00:30:00.003-05:00

On September 9th, 2009 i bought a round trip ticket to Gothenburg, Sweden. I leave on Sept 29th and return on December 22nd. "wait, is that 3 MONTHS!?" you ask! well, yes, it is 3 months. I will be serving with Fishers Creek International Church and my cousin, Rev. Aaron Thompson as they are starting a new young adult program this fall called “The Well”. The hope of this ministry is that we will not only meet with one another and God to be refreshed, but also to be active in our faith and impact the world, both inside and outside the church walls.

I could not be more excited to be heading off on this journey and am anxiously waiting to see what all God has in store for me. Please pray for everything to flow smoothly as I finalize my plans over the next couple weeks.

Later,

For the Birds

2009-04-30T10:44:00.002-05:00

I recently made a small bird feeder for all the birds in our yard, they have really started to love it. i have a lot of sparrows, some cardinals & a few pesky squirrels. how can i keep the squirrels from eating my bird seed, besides throwing rocks @ them, shooting them or getting one of those bird feeders w/ the squirrel spinner things at the bottom? grrr.

My First Garden

2009-04-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Spring is finally here and i am getting very anxious about planting my very first garden. This idea is a little strange to me because while i was growing up i swore i'd never have my own garden. Why was i so against having a garden? well, every year my grandpa would visit from Seattle and plant our garden for us. This was no regular garden, it was practically a field, and he would always call to make sure i was weeding it regularly. i didn't like it at all, but for some reason i'm now ready to have my own.
I have to wait another month until i can put stuff outside, but so far i have a good start on a few peas, tomatoes, peppers, basil & broccoli. it is pretty enjoyable to see something that started as a tiny little seed that you put in the ground grow and begin to mature day by day.
i'll give more updates as i have them.

I've also been trying to figure out what else i like about spring. what are a few of your favorite things?

I Love Cheese!

2009-03-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

I love Cheese. yep, i really do. i had a nice chunk of cheddar today with my lunch and i had some wonderfully cheesy stuffed crust pizza for dinner. i am so very thankful for cheese. how horrible would this world be without it? i don't EVER want to know, i just love the stuff.

MMMMMMMMM, cheese.

Morning Breakfast

2009-03-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

I was sitting, eating a bowl of cereal this morning, when brad walked into the kitchen and noticed a bunny rabbit sitting in our back yard. i watched that little guy for about 5 minutes & thought about the summer that i had 2 pet rabbits. have you ever had a pet rabbit? i don't know if they are usually nice and cuddly or what, but the 2 that i had were stupid. every time i'd try to pick them up they would just scratch & try to bite me. i think i "accidentally" left the cage unlocked one day after feeding them and to my surprise the next morning there were no more rabbits.

my new roommates

2009-03-19T10:00:00.002-05:00

i recently moved into my friend jeff's new house in south minneapolis. jeff, brad & i moved in the 2nd week of february, are slowly getting settled and it is starting to feel like home. last weekend we got an additional roommate & she shares a room w/ me. Now, before you go getting any thoughts that i am sharing my room w/ just some girl, let me say that it is my dog, Riley! i am finally able to get her back from her 3.5 yr stay w/ my parents. I no longer feel like a father sharing custody of his child! it is great!

Time... to find a new dream

2009-03-17T09:00:00.003-05:00

what is 'time'? is it just the way we measure our days, is it a certain period of life or is it a magazine? whatever 'time' is, i have A LOT of it these days!....well, not so much of the magazine, but all other forms.

close to one month ago, i was laid off from my job of 3.8 years. some people might think this is "too bad" or "so sad", but i think of it as a blessing in disguise. would i like to have a job right now? sure, i guess that would be good, but here's the deal: i didn't love my job (a hush falls on the audience w/ one woman gasping from shock) and am ready to move on.

i am looking at this time as an opportunity to find something that i love doing and am pretty excited about it, but here's the deal; i'm not sure what i want to do. i was doing: finance, operations, tech support, reception, inventory/supply ordering and an occasional 'stress therapy' session from time to time (co-workers would stop by the front desk w/somethings they needed to get off their chests or needed advice on. the highlight was seeing stressed people walk up to me & 5 minutes later see smiling people walk away). i also enjoy kids, adults, animals, computers, working w/my hands, being outdoors, having a somewhat flexible schedule and free weekends.

i will take any and all job suggestions, please help me find my dream!

Thanks, T

BROOMBALL!!

2009-01-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

The 2009 Minneapolis Rec Broomball League starts today & I AM VERY EXCITED!!

You had me at Skee-Ball

2009-01-04T10:45:00.001-06:00

Yes, the year is still going great! I had to work on friday, which was too bad, but i did travel 2 hours w/ my sister Jen to our sister Erika's house & helped watch my nephew for the night. It was a very fun time, i hadn't been to their house in about a year and a half (i'm a horrible brother/uncle).

I got back to the Minneapolis area and had a nice day that involved church & my first ever experience @ Dave & Buster's. if you don't know what D & B's is, it is an arcade/sports bar. i was a little apprehensive about going at first because who in their late 20's hangs out at an arcade? As Wormy & Pidge (B & T) tried to convince me to go they only needed to say one thing, Skee-Ball. and just like THAT, i was hooked.

My Hips Don't Lie.

2009-01-02T06:30:00.000-06:00

the new year started off on a good foot, i played broomball for about 2 hours w/ half of this year's team & a few other folks on a beautiful 31 degree day. I was a fun time! I was about to be on my way home for a nice relaxing afternoon when Brando asked if i'd want to play w/ last year's team. I said yes & headed to st.louis park & played for about 2 more hours, this was also very fun. However, i am not is shape and shouldn't have played for 4 hours. How do i know this? well, because my hips do not lie and they are definitely telling me that i shouldn't have played for 4 hours!

Happy New Year!

2009!?!

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

Wow, i can't believe that it's already 2009!
well..... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Dreaming of the Captain

2008-12-02T06:45:00.000-06:00

i've have some odd dreams in my day but last night's dreams were a little different. Here are just a few that i remember:
1. having a conversation with my dog Riley
2. trying on new shorts in the middle of a store and hearing over the loud speaker, "assistance to the men's department, there's a guy running around in his underwear".
3. meeting a few friends in a grocery store, eating Captain Crunch and after remembering how delicious it was, i went and bought 4 boxes of it!

What i wouldn't give for some Captain Crunch this morning.

Coldplay = .......

2008-11-17T23:45:00.007-06:00

I don't even know what words to use to describe the performance that Coldplay gave in St. Paul, Minnesota. I do however know that I will always remember Friday, November 14th , 2008 as the end best concert i've ever been to. The only reason it was the 2nd best is because on Friday, September 23rd, 2005 I was privelaged enough to be about 6 feet from the stage while Bono, The Edge, Larry & Adam (you may know them as U2) played their hearts out in Minneapolis.

Anyways, to start the night off right, a small band from El Paso, Texas named Sleeper Car opened up with some good tunes and were followed by a killer fella by the name DJ Jon Hopkins. I recommend you look into the music that these folks all make, it's good.

After Mr. Hopkins mixed awesome beats accompanied by the trippiest videos i've ever seen, the Xcel center went dark.

A few minutes later the sweet sounds of "life in techincolor" began to play with 4 sets of spot lights growing brighter & brighter behind a thin curtain and by the time the lights were up to full strength it was time for "violet hill" to kick in. "Clocks" followed with what I thought was a pretty rad lazer/light show.

The greatness just kept right on coming with:
"in my place"
"speed of sound"
"cemetaries in london"
"chinese sleep chant"
"42"
"fix you"
"strawberry swing"

At this point in the show all 4 of the guys went to a stage that went out into the crowd, the floor light up and they play techno versions of "god put a smile on your face" & "talk", i thought they were done rather nicely. when "talk" was finished every one walked off into the darkness, except mr. martin; he stayed seated at the piano and played a wonderful rendition of "the hardest part" which he followed with a piano instrumental titled "postcards from far away".
Once he finished playing they picked it all right back up again and play the 'new classics' (as i like to call them) "viva la vida" & "lost!"

The whole band had just about had enough, said, "thank you" and walked off stage. people around me were not quite sure what to do because they really hadn't played long enough for it to be the end of the show yet. the band continued off stage but then walked through the crowd to the far end of the stadium and up 17 rows into section 114. ........ why is section 114 important?
well, i had sold 2 tickets to my friend becky & her friend john. their tickets were section 114, row 14. i gave them those tickets because i had thought that my tickets, in the club level were a little better, i was wrong and they were 3 rows away from an acoustic perfomance by Coldplay.... anyways.....
As the band stood on a small stage amongst their fans they played an acoustic version of "the scientest" and then mr. will champion took the mic & sang a lovely version of the song "death will never conquer". As the lights went out the room filled w/ bass as a remixed version of "viva la vida" played with many people swaying their phones/cameras/anything w/ light to the beat.

The band took the stage once again and rocked out on "politik", "lovers in japan" and "death and all his friends" with the crowd at a level they none of us had been to throughout the evening, they left the stage. a few short minutes of cheering the band reappeard and showed us all why they are so good and played "yellow". they finished playing and all 4 men took a bow. as the left the stage, "the escapist" (the second part of 'death and all his friends' on the album) began to play. the crowd was cheering for more but after about 3 minutes of music, more black lights and a slight level of anticipation for more... the house lights came on.

As much as i wasn't ready for it all to end yet, i sat back, thought about the past 1&1/2 hours and then remembered how great each minute really was. it was great, but i really don't know what words to use to truly describe how great it was.

the best i can do is to sum it up as, COLDPLAY = ..........................

Livin' in Technicolor

2008-11-13T23:15:00.006-06:00

COLDPLAY: Viva La Vida Tour

- TOMORROW - NOV 14th - XCEL CENTER - ST.PAUL, MN -

I will be going to my very first Coldplay show tomorrow night. I have only heard great things about their shows and cannot wait to see for myself how great they truly are. Now, I do already know that they are great, but hearing a band through speakers in your headphones/house/car/etc is a totally different experience than seeing and hearing that same band live & in person. I love seeing music performed by the artist(s) that created it, nothing left out or withheld from the performance and it comes across as it was meant to, not just as sound coming out of your speakers. dang, i'm excited! i'll comment on the performance afterwards.

~later

Toast.

2008-11-02T23:45:00.000-06:00

Bacon, Eggs (over easy), Hash browns, Sausage, Ham & Pancakes; That is what I ordered at I.H.O.P. this morning and I was pretty excited to eat all of that deliciousness. Before the waitress was able to escape I managed to ask her for a side of wheat toast, so I would have something to mop up my plate. Everything came to the table in a speedy manner and it was all very good & filling.

Our waitress brought the checks and as I looked at the un-itemized bill, I thought $14.90 was a bit more than the $11.40 (or so) that it should have been. I asked one of the folks across the table, who had the same meal as me, what her bill was. she said, "about $12." I was taken back by this and could not think of what would have made my bill nearly $3 higher. The only thing we had different was my toast, but we laughed at the idea the toast would cost more than $1 so we just waited for our waitress to return.

When the waitress did return I asked her how much the toast cost. she responded, "$2.50".
I think my mouth was hanging open a bit and I responded (in a calm, still happy w/ my breakfast tone of voice) with, "what? really? those two slices of toast cost $2.50! I could go buy a loaf of bread for about $3 and have toast for a week.... really? $2.50?" to which she said, "yeah, that kinda surprises me too." and she waited for me to sign my receipt and after i signed and handed it to her (I could have put up a fight, but why, it's only $2.50 & i don't really care) she just walked away.

Yes, I could have looked at the menu or asked what the price was prior to adding my side of toast to my order, but should I really have been expecting it to be over $1? ... it's just toast! ..$2.50!

COME ON, I.H.O.P!!!

Now don't get me wrong, I like breakfast food & I hadn't been to I.H.O.P. in about 4 or 5 years so it's not that big of a deal, but because of their ridiculous cost of toast, I don't see myself returning anytime soon and possibly never again.

sorry International House of Pancakes.

Best Costumes Ever! ? ... Chicken

2008-11-02T23:15:00.004-06:00

Brad was a Panda. I was a Chicken. I'll let the picture explain the greatness.
I hope everyone had a fun & safe halloween.

Best Costume Ever! ?

2008-10-24T00:00:00.012-05:00

Costumes can be fun, exciting, cute, scary, skanky, boring or just not very original. Halloween is right around the corner which means there will be many people dressing up. I for one have enjoyed making my own costumes the past few years & am making one again this year. I think i know what i am going to be this year, but i am always trying to think of the most original costumes that i can.

The first costume i made was a "moth". have you ever seen anyone dressed like a moth? no, neither had i, which is why i wanted to be one. it was an original idea. two of my buddies had great costumes as well. Brad was "Beckham w/Posh" by his side (manikin head w/ dress) & Bormes borrowed his Grandpa's old Navy uniform & was a "sailor"/"popeye", good stuff.

Next i was a "maple tree" which included an actual stuffed squirrel (thanks to my friend jenni, check her out @ thejenniadventures.blogspot.com/, she's great!) I enjoyed this costume. Brad was a "hot air balloon", also pretty good.

Last year i was really struggling about what i wanted to be. I had bought some PVC pipe to use for one idea, but then changed my mind and decided to be a "balding eagle" (because i'm not bald) & used the pipe for my wings & nest. Brad was "a body of water" he had various 'water' things attached to him... (i'll just say... it wasn't his best effort)

I want to ask what you think the best costume is that you've ever seen/been/dreamt of/heard something about.

I may throw out a few more 'great' ideas i've had, just to see if anyone else thinks they are as great as i do..

well.

let me know, eh?

I Like Bonfires!

2008-10-16T00:00:00.015-05:00

WHAT IS A PYRO?

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary's definition is:
"A person who has an irresistible impulse to start fires".

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, defines one as: "A person who has a compulsion to set fires".

Urban Dictionary.com defines pyro as:
"Something that hundreds of kids call themselves. Thay are NOT pyros. Pyromania is a mental illness where the person sets things on fire or explodes things for satisfaction. Like all manias, it acts as an addiction and pyromaniacs will feel uncomfortable and uneasy. Thay won't be able to sleep or stay calm. Just because you carry a lighter around that doesn't make you a pyro."

AM I A PYRO?

Hmmmmmm......I wonder. OK, let's see if i can pass a simple "are you a pyro test" & then we'll know if i'm normal or not... maybe.

q1. do you ever get an irresistable impulse to start a fire? a1. yes, once a year.

q2. do you ever light anything on fire for satisfaction? a2. yes, once a year.

q3. do you feel uncomfortable or uneasy?
a3. yes, most of the time (but in regards to what?)

q4. are you able to sleep or stay calm? a4. umm.. i don't go to sleep before 12am & i can't relax!

q5. do you carry a lighter around? a5. no

q6. do you ever build large bonfires? a6. yes i do & am proud of it. (brad helps me)

OK, so if i answered the questions in the above test honestly, what do you think? would you consider me a pyro? Please let me know so i know if i should watch out for myself or not. Thanks!

... Oh, & just in case you're wondering what these pics are actually from.

here's the story: for the past 3 years we've celebrated brad's birthday in grand style by having a large bonfire that the 2 of us build a few weekends before whatever the big day arives which includes shooting guns, a wicked game of wiffle ball & finally burning a big fire... and yes, this year's was a pirate ship (like you couldn't tell).

BOOYA!

Sounds of.... thought

2008-10-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

Do you ever take the time to hear the sounds around you? I know that I for one rarely do. It seems that I am always going, going, going & don't take time to listen or....... think. I don't know if i just don't let myself take the time or if it truly does come down to the fact that maybe i can't relax. If the time ever comes along & i do actually relax, i just tend to fall asleep which still keeps me from my thoughts. dang, it's rough.
There was a time this past weekend where i took the time to listen to my surroundings. I was sitting on the ground listening to a fire crackle & snap, the crickets signing away all around me, the sound of a slight breeze through the air & an occasional crack of thunder in the distance; it was really an amazingly peaceful time. I was actually starting to unwind and let my thoughts go when it started to rain causing me to stop thinking and go, go, go! i want to listen to & hear so many things in life that i don't take the time for. Maybe it's time I change some things up, re prioritize, sit back, breathe, block out the noise, pray, plan & relax a little bit; then, just maybe will i possibly hear all the incredible sounds of thought.

Weezer = Kickin'

2008-10-13T20:00:00.001-05:00

It's been over a week, but i am finally processing my thoughts from the Weezer show. It was great! I'm not really how to explain the show, but what show could be bad if the first song is "my name is jonas" and the last song is "buddy holly"? they played many more great songs in between alternating the duty of singing lead between each band member. the only downer for me was that they had tom delonge (angels & airwaves) sing w/ them on "undone (the sweater song)". why Weezer, would you take such a great, classic song & hurt it by letting mr. 'i used to be in a cool band & still think i am as big, funny & popular as i was in 1999' delonge sing on this song? i was sad by this. BUT all in all i give the October 3rd, 2008 Weezer show @ the Xcel in St. Paul a hefty 2 thumbs UP!

oh, two more highlights for me were "say it ain't so" & "the greatest man that ever lived" good stuff.

i'll bring home the turkey if you bring home the bacon!

2008-10-02T21:00:00.004-05:00

It has been one week since i saw Sigur Rós & i am still a little taken back by how simply awesome of a show they put on. However, i unfortunately had to stop listening to them yesterday so i can prepare myself for Weezer tomorrow night. I am actually pretty darn tootin' excited to see these guys again. I saw them a few years back on their "enlightenment" tour but i think this current one, their "troublemaker" tour, will be better. I know their new album, (the red album), hasn't received the best of reviews, but i like it and if tomorrow's show is anything like the show they started off this tour with, then.... then i don't know what i'll think. hopefully i'll think that it couldn't get much better! I'll let you know how it went. but just for for fun, watch this video for "pork and beans"

I must again appologize for not writing like i said i would, i've been busy. As i said, last thursday was pretty sweet & to make it a little sweeter, when the show was over i found out the Twins had beat the White Sox in extra innings to pull ahead by 1/2 a game in the AL central race.... too bad that since then, the regular season has ended, the 2 teams ended up having the exact same record and had a one game playoff in which the Twins lost 1-0 (sadness) and now the White Sox are trailing the TampaBay Rays 1 game to 0 (gladness). This past week also found Brad, Tara & myself traveling to my parent's house where we started getting some brush & wood ready for our annual bonfire. This saturday Brad & I will go back & work on our creation and then the party is on the 11th (i can't wait!).

Last night i went to a preseason Wild hockey game vs. the Buffalo Sabres. we won 3-2. i really wasn't ready for the thought of hockey quite yet, i mean, it was only October 1st... BUT after watching just 2.35 minutes, i was hooked. I like Hockey! GO WILD! (i shouldn't do this, but i'm going to) I'm predicting that the Stanley Cup is coming to Minnesota! that's right, the Wild will be CHAMPIONS!!

peace, i'm out.

I LIKE WEEZER!!

myndað af I am bak og hér þú ert

2008-09-25T00:15:00.003-05:00

I am back and here you are!

I must first & foremost appolgize to all of my faithful readers who i have let down on a daily, possibly even an hourly, basis. The past month has been a very busy one to say the least and as i know that is a terrible excuse for not writing regularly, tough luck, that is the excuse you're getting.

So, i have left 3dudesplace (now appropiately named 2dudesplace) i have temporarily become roommates w/ my sister again, as i was back 2002, and so far it has been going great! except that i don't really have internet access, which kinda makes life different. AND you're probably asking yourself, "well, if you don't really have internet access how are you now writing on your amazing blog?" to this i answer, my sister has been gone all week so i do what i want & if that means stealing the internet access from the router in her room, well then, so be it. Ok, anyways.

Let's see, what else do i have for you? hmmm. not too much, i'll elaborate further at a later time but i spent the 1st two weekends of September in the great outdoors enjoying nature while camping in the BWCA (that's the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for those of you that don't know) w/2 groups of friends. I LOVE CAMPING!

OK, oh, you may also be wondering what the title of this entry is... are you? well, if you in fact are, it is in english at the top of this page, but do you know what language it is? I'll give just one hint; it is the language spoken by the band in the picture above. & they are playing at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis tomorrow (well, technically, tonight). & I will be at that show. & I have been beside myself for the past week in anticipation of this show. I actually started a little bit of hyperventalationating a couple of times today when i would here a song of theirs (which was all day) or see a video, such as THIS one.

you should check out their lastest album @ sigur-ros.co.uk for free!

ég vilja ég myndað af alls ekki verða að vinna á morgun & ég er mjög bráður fyrir Sigur Rós sameiginlega

Peace out!
P.S. it's good to be back.

BUT... i think i despise opossums!

2008-08-29T00:45:00.000-05:00

Yes, I really do think it is true (especially since i sit here & cringe even thinking about them).

So...... to end a GREAT evening of Birfday celebrating, I decided to stop by Blockbuster on my way back to 3dudesplace tongiht and return "Meet Bill" starring Aaron Eckhart & Jessica Alba (I DO NOT RECOMMEND this movie, it was pretty stupid & even though there were a few funny parts here & there they were not funny enough to consider it worth your time), anyways, as i was then driving down a nice, quite neighborhood street i noticed something in the road in front of me, "what was it?" you ask? well, I wasn't REALLY sure. Whatever it was that is saw, it was grey, about 1.67-2.89 feet long (including tail), and stood about 5.4-7.23 inches tall. I came to a COMPLETE STOP in the middle of the road because, A: i didn't feel like hitting the thing & B: i was prety dang curious as to what it was. As i sat in my car, no way was i going to get out & allow this evil looking ratty spawn of lucifer the opportunity it was waiting for, and watched it walk slowly across the road i practically started convulsing. I thought it might be an Opossum, but since i had never seen a LIVING one walking across the road i couldn't be 100% sure. My mind began to wonder & (yes, i'm still convulsing) wonder what it was. After the Opossum thought, i thought, "could that be a rat? ......ugh..... if it is,..........ugh......... that is one large & nasty rat.......... UUGGHHH...... & it's in a regular neighborhood?! UUUGGGHHH. By now, the little bugger (i determined it HAS to be an Opossum.. JUST BECAUSE.) had made it across the road into someone's freshly watered lawn & i drove off still shaking & cringing for the next 1.4 miles home. ......... UUGGHH!! (yep, still cringing, that thing was GROSS!

OK, I DESPISE OPPOSSUMS..........uugghh!

PS: I do believe that my buddy Chris & I made an AWESOME "Sand Possum" on spring break '00!

PPS: I LOVE LONG WEEKENDS!

I LOVE birfdays!

2008-08-29T00:30:00.001-05:00

Today ..... well, yesterday was an overall great Minnesota August day. I had the privilege of celebrating TWO birthdays, that's right, you heard me, TWO. You may be asking yourself, "Tim, how did you get lucky enough that you were able to celebrate TWO Birthdays in ONE DAY?" WELL, it is because i am friends with TWO women who are very amazingly amazing & just happen to have their birthdays w/in the same week of eachother. This is great for multiple reasons but the one that i am happiest for in this moment is the fact that it brought a great group of people together tonight. It is always fun to see & catch up w/ friends that you haven't seen in a long time, and it is always great to make new friends and strengthen current relationships. I am always up for getting together w/ friends but there is just nothing quite like getting together for birthday celebrations; someone always ends up being surprised (not always who'd you excpect, which makes for good entertainment) and there is most often a good amount of smiles & laughter to be had.

I LOVE BIRFDAYS!!!

Who Let the Slack Out?

2008-08-25T21:00:00.001-05:00

I have really been slacking lately, and not just in regards to updating my blog, in most aspects of life... but it's for a good reason, so i like to think.

For 2 long weekends in september i am going to the boundary waters w/ 2 different groups of friends and i am VERY excited. I am pretty much thinking about it all the time. Saturday i went to REI w/ Brad & Tara and picked up a few essentials, such as a new nalgene bottle(because i didn't have a blue one w/ a picture of trees on it), spoons, food, gas & soap. I LOVE REI!
This amazing weather isn't helping me focus much either. I love having the windows open and to be able to listen to the crickets all night w/out having to wipe the sweat off my face due to humidity. I can't wait to be out in the woods, sitting around a campfire with nothing but the sound of nature. I can't wait to watch the gazillion stars in the sky for hours on end! I can't wait to see the fog roll off the glasslike water each morning! I lOVE IT!
To add to the anticipation, I am getting close to moving out of 3dudesplace and have allowed Brad to have his room back (yep, i'm THAT nice of a guy that i let the owner of the house have his room back... he's the sucker for giving it up ;) ... or he's the nicest sucker for giving it up, whatev) ... but anyways, i slept on my sleeping pad last night w/my head by an open window listeng to wonderful outdoor-like noises all night. I was sleeping on the floor, w/ cool, fall-like air filling the room and hearing crickets. I actually woke up at one point and wasn't sure where i was, but i just grinned a little & rolled over and i'd bet i was back to sleep before i finished rolling over.
well.. anyways, I'm slacking, because all i want to do is go camping. AND i love fall so i am very excited for it to be here. THEN i also LOVE winter and when i think about fall i start to think about winter and then i start to think about Snowboarding and i LOVE that too. dang. ... too much stuff to be thinking about on a monday night.

yep, so as my grammer, spelling, puncuation & any other writing type errors show, i'm am truly slacking and am ok with it :)

HAPPY DAY!

Golf Cart Driver

2008-08-14T05:30:00.000-05:00

I AM A GOLF CART DRIVER, or at least i was yesterday. We had a golf event for clients yesterday at Crystal Lake Golf Club in Lakeville. It was a pretty good day. I live approximately 6.3 miles away and didn't have to be there until 10am, i like 10 minute commutes.
It started out w/ a couple different seminars, one of which my sister led, followed by a lunch buffet at 11:30. Golf started at 12:00 at which time my co-worker Margaret & I hopped into a golf cart and went to find a nice hole to hang at for the day to take pictures of the groups as they came through. This was great, relaxing fun until the sky turned black & the lightning started. we had an hour break, & went back out at 3:00. we eventually caught w/ everyone and got their smiling faces on record for the scrap book... or something like that (i really hope i don't get in charge of having to put a scrapbook together) I left before happy hour & dinner which were to start shortly, it was a great day & was home by 4:45, not bad
.
If anyone ever gives you the opportunity to stay back and cover phones in the office or go drive a golf cart around all day......

ALWAYS CHOSE TO BE A GOLF CART DRIVER!!

Knockey!

2008-08-08T01:30:00.001-05:00

Tonight was a great, great night. These pictures should explain it all.

But for those of you that the pictures don't explain it all to & you need words to help you understand, Knockey is just a cooler name for Knee Hockey.

The Whole Crew.

Too Early!

2008-08-07T05:45:00.001-05:00

What do you call a guy w/ no arms & no legs sitting behind a podium? ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Mike!!

I'm sorry! :)

Happy Thursday.

My First Time.

2008-08-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a weekend of first times.

It all started off by looking at 4 different houses on friday night(my first time), with a couple of them having good potential and are still on my list. After giving my parents a tour of southeast minneaplis side streets i took them to Matt's Bar where we had some delicious Juicy Lucy's (thier first time), yummy.

After Matt's, my parents & I went our seperate ways, they went to my sister's place & i went to the Bergengren household for a backyard bbq & fire. most people were still there when i arrived @ 10:30 and the night ended about 12:30 just after a nice hot Smore! yummy.

Saturday morning i set my alarm for 7:01(my first time)and met Jeff in N. St. Paul. We then unloaded a load of gravel from flatbed truck & drove to Amery, Wisconsin to the Sunde's cabin (my first time). It was a beautiful august weekend that included: boating, tubing, jetskiing(my first time), making new friends, pontooning(my first time), learning when Carnival is, napping, swimming, laughing(my first time), grilling, fireworking, campfiring, smoreing, stargazing and learning about what causes the arora borealis (northern lights).
It was great weekend. the only thing that would have made it better is if i had rememebered, before being submerged, that i have a very weak defense against lake water. As i sit here, home sick for the day, I look back and think to myself, 'was it worth going in the water?' my answer is, "Heck Yes!"

Pizza! Pizza!

2008-07-31T23:00:00.001-05:00

Little Ceasar's is GREAT! $5 for a pizza & it is ready to go as soon as you walk in the door. no calling ahead. no waiting for the deliver guy. you drive up, walk in, tell them what you want and the next minute you're back in your car on the way home. My roommate & i got our last little ceasar's pizza for a while as monday morning at 5:00am we are starting a new training regiment. Can i call it "new" if it is the first regiment that we've started? i dont' care, i'm going to anyways.

Besides cheap pizza, the Twins beat the White Sox 10-6 to move w/in a half a game of 1st place!

BOOYA TWINS!!

Decisions, Decisions

2008-07-30T23:55:00.001-05:00

Have you ever made a decision? uh, of course you have, we are all constantly making decisions. I, right now am deciding between doing one of two different things: 1. sleeping or 2. shining my shoes, and i doing either? nope, i am typing about making (or not making) decisions & i guess i'd rather squint at my computer screen through extremely dry contacts and dream of a time that i'll be in bed before midnight than decide betweens options 1 or 2.

ANYWAYS, where was I? .. ok, Decisions. hmmmm, think about that word, "DECISIONS", .... keep thinking.......ok, stop. Life is crazy, the only things that i can think of that we don't make decisions about are, for the most part, breathing & sleeping. right? wrong! at least a personal one that i have is that when i hear any music i just have to start dancing, no decision is made, i just start moving. it is weird.

The decisions that we do consciously make on a day to day basis don't often stress us out. we know we need to decide to get in the shower or put that smile on before seeing our boss, but when a bigger decision comes up, we kind of take a step back, look at the situation and try to figure out what actions to take in order to make sure that we are making the correct decision. Sometimes, these decisions can be quite large. What kind of job do i want? Where do i want to live? When should i have Little Ceasar's next? When am i going to shine my shoes? These are the decisions that, when thrown together at the same time, can really start to effect the levels of stress that we feel and it is up to us to make the right decision of how we are going to let that stress effect us..... and then eventually get around to solving those issues that are causing the stress, but who has time for that?

Decisions, Decisions....... crap, I gotta shine my shoes.

Earthshaking!!

2008-07-29T21:00:00.001-05:00

Sometimes we all come across a bit of news that strikes us
as slightly funny. Well, just because my title mentions earthshaking, dont' go thinking that i think earthshakes/quakes are funny & the one that hit LA today isn't either, but I am glad that it wasn't more serious than it was. What i think is funny is that on the BBC i read an article titled "Hour's Excercise 'to lose weight'" and it said, "Women who want to lose weight - and keep it off - need to be exercising for almost an hour, five days a week, according to US experts." REALLY?! No way, that news is earthshaking!! for people to lose weight they need to excercise for an hour a day? I am probably the only one, but i actually chuckled to myself when i read that the first time. I feel like i've heard that we all need to exercise daily ever since i was in middle school health class at the MN Center.... anyone else find that topic funny in the least? ... just me? oh well, not the first time i thought something was funny & nobody else did. ....... Like the time that my roommate called the cops when he was home alone only to have a realtor show the house while while he was on the deck talking on his phone to the cops about a possible intruder! HILARIOUSNESS!!!

Holy Anxiousness Batman!!

2008-07-21T21:00:00.001-05:00

There are times in life when a person gets ANXIOUS & EXCITED, some examples are: Graduation, First Kiss, Wedding, Winning the Lottery, blah, blah, blah. Well, I am both ANXIOUS & EXCITED to see The Dark Knight. I still have to wait a couple of days, but when I'm watching it on the Imax screen, I believe it will be worth the wait as well as pretty dang cool. I've heard great things so far from Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker and am nervous that I too will stay awake at night all creeped out from how incredibly creepy he is. we'll see.

I'm also pretty ANXIOUS to go to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area). I love camping and have 2 trips planned, but unfortunately neither of them are planned until September. I think about paddling across those amazing lakes each day, and can't wait for it! 2 weekends in a row. BOOYA!! It's like a dream come true!

Home Run!

2008-07-14T21:00:00.001-05:00

I love the homerun derby at the all-star game. Last night's was pretty good. Josh Hamilton had an amazaing 28 in the first round, that's nuts! When it came down to the final round he was unfortunately all worn out and our very own Minnesota Twin, Justin Morneau won the trophy! GO TWINS!! Did anyone watch the 3rd round? how sad / awkward was it that after Hamilton LOST, he was the first to be interviewed while the crowd & excitement were still in the building? If you saw the interview immediately following his at bat, you can see Morneau in the background standing there looking very uncomfortable. No one came to congratulate him, as the loser, hamilton was being interviewed. Sure, Hamilton blew everyone out of the water in the first round, but that doesn't matter. Morneau won the derby & should have been given a little more credit for doing so. it just brings to light once again that the Minnesota Twins are a small market team & nobody really cares about them.
At least we have Joe Mauer starting in tonight's game! GO AMERICAN LEAGUE!

No Complaints.

2008-07-08T21:00:00.001-05:00

What can i say? today was a pretty enjoyable day. :)
As good of a day as it was, i do have one question. Does anyone really like change? let's be honest, whether any of us do or not, it usually occurs no matter what WE want. tomorrow is already wednesday (ptL) & i'm probably going to find out if things change up a bit for me at work, which has really been stressin me out lately, cross your fingers that everything goes well & the world is happy & full of peace. (i'll update more later)

If you didn't know, i'm excited to go camping this weekend & would probably go camping every other weekend until november if i could, i like it, but i most likely will not be able to go every weekend. This will then cause me to search for another way to occupy my time....

what do you do to occupy your free time?

peace out!

Busy, Busy, Busy.

2008-07-07T21:00:00.001-05:00

Wow, tonight is the first night in a very long time that i have been home & gotten around to thinking about my wonderful blog. I've got some catching up to do.

Did anyone see Wimbledon this weekend? simply amazing! the match between Federer & Nadal was just.. amazing. I do need to admit a very sad thing, i didn't get to see the end of it. i saw until it was 2-2 in the 5th set; the rest didn't get recorded because of the rain delays, sad. but praise the Lord for sportscenter & highlights!
..... Anyways, 3 of the 5 sets went to a tie breaker & to keep that theme of greatness going i want to say how that when Brad & i played tennis tonight, we started out with a tie-breaker in the 1st set! yep, just call us really good. but then i ufortunately lost the next 2 sets 3-6, 3-6. i like to think that it was because I, A: forgot my nalgene at home & B: left my Gatorade in the car, i was parched for the whole 2+ hours. However, we did go to Dairy Queen afterwards! Blizzards are wonderfully delicious, even though i had to pay. oh well.

ok, that's about all i got. OOOH, i also finally planned a trip to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area). my buddies Ryan, Chris & Joe have gone every summer for the past 8 summers & this will be #9. Joe missed one year & he moved to Chicago in June to start his residency for the next 3 years so he unfortunately won't be there this year either. (we'll miss ya buddy) I am still VERY Excited to go though. I LOVE CAMPING.... which i am also doing this coming weekend with Bloms, Brazil & Brad. GTs.

Can I Relax?

2008-06-25T21:00:00.001-05:00

I just spent WAY too much time trying to get that stupid picture to fit in the header. i had the idea to add a little pizazz to my page & then couldn't decide what i wanted to add. i then decided i wanted a picture of some sort.. hmmmm, but what would be good? i decided on a picture that looks nice & peaceful. you can imagine that it would be a great place to relax, well, let me tell ya; it IS a great place to relax. The only sucky thing about it is it's location. No, i'm not saying that Sweden sucks, i'm just saying that it sucks that the beautiful, relaxing hilltop that i was sitting on is in Sweden i don't have the privilege to just walk down the street and take a seat atop that wonderful hill. This then causes me to wish that i had a place like that to go, only to realize i sit in an office all day & can't go exploring for hilltops that are beautiful & relaxing. all in all it all comes back to the fact that i can't relax no matter where i am nor do i have the time so why even look for that wonderful hilltop?

where is your special place that you go when you need to get a way from the stresses life throws your way?

Singin' in my Sleep

2008-06-19T05:45:00.000-05:00

I like to think that I am a person that usually rememebers my dreams, i'd say at least 57% of the time. I had a good one the other night that i was involved in a slow speed, wild west, horse & carriage shootout. the best part was that I was making the bullets out of ice as we went along. The fact that dreams can be so random (or not, as mine proves to be) is indeed a strange thing. Another strange thing is when you wake up with a song in your head, you know what i'm talking about, right?. However, the mornings that i wake up with a song in my head i don't usually rememeber many of my dreams. I mean, just this morning i woke up singing "Crimson & Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondells. You know the part, "Cri i. i. mm s o. n and Cl o. o. v e.r, O. O. ve. r & O. O. ve. r". Yes indeedy, i truly have that song going around in my head Over & Over. WTC (what the crap), I have not heard that song in forever! what could i have possibly dreamt about that made me wake up singing that song? and when this stange phenomenon occurs, what do you think the chances are that i might have been audibly singin' in my sleep all night? weird.

Coldplay!

2008-06-16T21:00:00.001-05:00

I am trying not to count down the minutes that i have to wait until i will have the new Coldplay album, "Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends" in my hands, but it is hard not to. I am very excited for this new record. I was able to listen to the album many times at "IHeartMusic.com" and, although it is different than their older stuff, i think it is simply superb. dang, i'm pretty excited & i totally can't relax. Just a few short hours away. Wooo!

Rain, Rain, Rain!!

2008-06-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

i don't know how many people really know how much it has rained in central wisconsin over the past couple weeks but let let me tell ya, it's been a lot! I drove to chicago, to see my buddy joe, this weekend by way of milwaukie and about 40 miles west of madison traffic stopped. the four of us in the car were a bit annoyed that we weren't moving and still had a few hours to go. after nearly 2 hours and moving about 10 miles we came to the cause of the slow traffic; most of interstate 94 was under water!! there was water past the center line of the road and only one vehicle could go at a time. once we got past that it just poured rain for the next hour or so, i don't know the last time i've held the wheel so incredibly tight.
The next morning joe's wife rachel took a bus to minnesota and called when she got near madison and both directions of 94 were closed due to flooding!! i'm glad we made it past the night before prior to the road being closed.
keep everyone in wisconsin, illinois & iowa in your prayers as they are dealing with so much flooding, destruction and many evacuations.

am i the only one?

2008-06-10T05:45:00.001-05:00

As i sit here and watch the sunrise i had a thought of early morning hunting come to mind. Then i thought about this past sunday when i was waiting ever so patiently in the customer service line at Cabela's & truly enjoying this wonderful opportunity to people watch. there was one particular couple that shone brighter than the rest. a mid 60's woman was standing about 5'5" and was definitely a "good eater / frumpy". her husband, same age range & body type, was dressed in a very faded camo t-shirt, non-faded camo shorts w/ camo suspenders and sitting in a wheel chair. at first glance, this couple was a treat in itself because the dude had shoulder length hair too.. but then i overheard the service attendant ask him, "how tall are you?" Not only did i think this was one of the weirdest questions to ever ask someone in a wheelchair but when he responded with a British accents i think my jaw dropped a little bit. It's not like any of these things were bad, but the combination was just spectacular!

Sweden Trip 2.1

2008-06-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

1 WEEK AGO, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, i was sitting on the couch after a long day of trying be productive at work with my internal clock completely messed up. Not only was i pretty dang tired, everyone in the office was curious about my trip and would ask some variation of the following questions, "Timmer, how was Sweden?" or "Timmer, what was your favorite part of your trip?" My response was, and still is, "I am not sure, i honestly liked it all." (then i usually had a big grin on my face because i truly did like all of it and then thinking of it makes me remember the fun i had so i a NOW showing a big grin as i'm typing!! wow, i'm a dork) I know i have been very slowly logging my trip, this is partially because i'm busy and partially because i enjoy looking back and thinking of my trip :)

WE LEFT GOTHENBURG TOWARDS STOCKHOLM on Tuesday morning around 11am. It was yet another beautiful, sunny day; perfect for driving across Sweden! My sister had talked to some relatives back home prior to our departure and found out where a few of our ancestors lived, so we headed north in the direction of Lake Vanern (as we had some ancestors from that region). As we drove we came to a small town called Haverlund, there was neato aquaduct there. We took a nice little hike and decided that we were like 35 minutes away from where the family of long ago lived. This was as close as we got because we all figured we should get back on the road. Now its not like we didn't WANT to see exactly where we were from, but we were still hoping to make Stockholm and were about 4.5 hours away (without stops) and it was already almost 3:00pm.

WE CONTINUED DRIVING and were on some of the skinnier roads that i've ever been on, it was exhilarating & scary. We stopped in the city of Carlstad, which is on the north end of Lake Vanern for dinner and caught a nice view of the lake. This lake is very big - actually it's the largest lake in Sweden and the third largest lake in Europe After we ate it was finally my turn to drive, WOOHOO!! Before i got too excited though, i was reminded of how ticketing works in Sweden (you are fined on the spot, often several hundred dollars; if over 30 kmph(=18.64mph), your car is towed right then and there. yikes! my car might have been towed a couple times already if i lived in Sweden) With such strict speeding laws, they don't seem to need as many cops as we have here, but if you get caught... BAM!!! Aaron did point out one cop car to me, the only one we saw on our trip. As I drove, within the laws of this great country,i was still was able to enjoy myself very much.

WE GOT TO STOCKHOLM at around 9:30pm, after trying a couple different hotels, we found one. (we didn't get a hotel ealier cuz we didn't know if we'd be is Stockholm that night or not) This hotel was nothing fancy, but it worked. after and 10:30 check-in Aaron & went on a walk towards a lake that he thought he saw. we found it after a 10 minute walk and it was awesome! Now, we were about 24 minutes outside of downtown Stockholm and if i didn't know any better i would have thought i was in the wildnerness. There are no houses on the lakes(to help preserve nature)and you can't even realy see lights through the trees. We then took a path through the woods back towards the hotel, it was not paved and i honestly felt like i was in the middle of nowhere until we walked up a short hill and we were in the middle of the suburbs again.

OFFICALLY STOCKHOLM, DAY 1. It all started with Aaron and I getting ready before the girls so we went up to breakfast. It was again, a nice sunny day, nearly perfect, so we ate out on the patio. We were sitting in the shade, as the sun had not yet poked it's rays over the roof of the hotel. We both reached over the railing to get a little bit of warm sun rays on our skin and i felt something cool... that's right, cool, not warm. what was it? As i had a confused look on my face Aaron was pointing at my arm. Then we both almost puked! i had put my arm in a nice slimy pile of bird poop... it was SO disgusting! Anyways, off to Stockholm. On the bus stop, Aaron met this woman who ended up going to Covenant church in Stockholm and knew Aaron's roommate from Seminary, small world. We talked to her on the bus & train rides on our way downtown & after her and Aaron exchanged contact info she asked us to come over to her family's house for "night fika" that night. which we did and it was pretty cool.

We got downtown and started our tour. We were on our way to see the palace to see what time the changing of the guard took place when all of a sudden a tympani was pounding in the streets! a large group of horses rode past us with a soldier on each one. we booked it across the canal over to the palace and beat the horses there. We watched the changing of the guard, impressive.

NOW, we did so much over the next two days i'm not 100% sure of the order we did them all. so, here goes nothing. We saw the National Museum, The Royal Palace, The Architectural Museum, The Harbor Tour, The Vasa (15th century ship that sank in the harbor on it's maiden voyage) Museum, Drotningholms Palace (The Royal Residence) Skansen (the world's first outdoor museum) Many Churches, many squares, many coffee shops, many, many streets and SO much more. it was truly amazing and i can't explain how fun it was.

I feel like we saw so much history in those 2 days in Stockholm that i don't know what else there is to see (yes, i know i am way wrong with that thought, i'm sure there is a TON more to see) Hopefully i will get the opportunity to go back and see the rest of it someday.
Well, this is not the end of my trip, but it is for now. There isn't too much left, just a couple more days ;)

Peace out!
Timmer

Sweden Trip 1.6

2008-06-05T21:00:00.003-05:00

2 weeks ago, at this very moment, i was soaring through the clouds on my way to Iceland. We landed in Iceland at 6:00am (1:00am our time) on Friday, May 23rd and everything that i experienced over the next 10 days seems like a dream.

We were only in Iceland a short 7 hours, but none the less it was pretty great. (see entry "Scandinavia Lands" for a few more details)

Onto Copenhagen, you may say, "Tim, you already wrote about Copenhagen!" to which i answer in a comanding tone, "yes, i did, but not very much!" SO, Copenhagen was a very nice place. i loved it. it was a beautiful day & it was quite perfect, about 70 degrees & very sunny (i was unfortunately in the shower while the sunscreen was being passed around and i missed out. I was very red at the end of the day). we spent all of saturday walking around this pedestrian & bicyclist oriented city. It is crazy, you have the sidewalk for walking (6 ft wide x 2), the bike paths for biking (8 ft wide x 2) and the roads for driving (5 lanes wide x 2) to cross a street with all of that is exhausting!... well, not too exhausting. I was amazed at how much everyone was out and about enjoying the day. the streets were filled with smiling faces, laughter and an occasional waft of cigarette smoke and i felt that most people were happy to be alive. We went to a few historic buildings such as Rosenborg Slot (the old castle at the center of the city) and a few different churches from back in the day. the amount of history here was awesome. We enjoyed the day by walking some more and then heading to the train station, getting on a train, leaving the country & onto Malmö, Sweden.

We were in Malmö just long enough to find out that the car we were renting wasn't at the train station, but was at the airport instead, an hour bus ride away. (OOPS! glad i didn't have to take the credit for that move)

We got to Göteburg around midnight & it wasn't completely dark yet (just a nice glow on the horizon, which was more to the north than to the west). The next morning, sunday, Aaron's parents came over to his place to have breakfast with us (they were there visiting for the past 2 weeks, very fun to have a mini family reunion all the way in Sweden) We then went to Aaron's church (Fisher's Creek International Church a branch of Fiskebäcks Missionskyrka - fisherscreek.net) where he is the youth pastor. After church we took part in the Swedish tradition of "fika" - "taking a break from work or other activities and having a coffee with one's colleagues, friends, date, or family." We were then invited over to the Jannerland's (practically Aaron's family while in Sweden) house for an amazing Swedish lunch. We headed up to a small village of Marstrand where we took a ferry to Carlsten’s Fortress, which was also amazing.

Monday was our tour of Göteburg by our very knowledgable guide, Aaron Thompson. We started off by walking on the "Postgaten" (the road the Swedish immigrants walked from the train station to the harbor). Just knowing that i was walking on the same road that my ancestors were on so long ago was a pretty cool feeling. We walked all around town, saw many restaraunts, shops and climbed a few hills to see awesome views. i don't think it would be much of an adjustment to move to a place like that.

Now that i've only written about the places that i already wrote about i'll leave you with that for now. Hope this has shown a little more of the amazing awesomeness that i was able to enjoy.

~Timmer

Back Home... will share.

2008-06-03T21:00:00.001-05:00

SWEDEN WAS FANTASTIC!
I didn't get a chance to give as detailed of updates as i had hoped.... or as many. too bad. We got back to minnesota on sunday & I still kinda miss the great places i was able to visit the past 10 days. oh well, life goes on. Hang tight, I will give great details of my trip shortly, it was fun.

Ok, i gotta clean. pictures for house listing are being taken tomorrow. But first, i need to share that i played Kickball tonight for the first time this year (we're like 6 games into the season, oops) and it brought back all the feelings of joy that i had when playing a couple years ago. and if you're wondering, we won tongiht 14-3!

Oh, & Weezer's new album, "The Red Album" came out today. Not quite what i was hoping for. So far i like "Dreamin'", but I guess the rest is growing on me.

Peace Out World!

Another great day!

2008-05-26T12:59:00.002-05:00

Hej! today has been great so far. we walked all around Gothenburg today & it is a very wonderful city.
but we're about to eat... again, which i am really starting to like. Oh, you may ask about my walk from last night and are wondering if we did go swimming? yes, we did. BRRRRR the harbor was a tad bit chilly . & the wind was strong, but it was worth it.
well, bright & early tomorrow morning we are off to Stockholm. should be a good time.

later!

Scandanavia Lands!

2008-05-25T16:45:00.004-05:00

WOW! i must say, i liked Iceland quite a bit. it was a little chilly & a lotta windy, but when we went to the "blue lagoon" to enjoy they natural hot springs, it was amazing! Copenhagen on saturday was very nice as well. i loved it too, very beautiful & it was very warm. ... i was unfortunately in the shower while the sunscreen was being passed around and missed out. I was very red at the end of the day. We got to Gothenburg, Swededn last night at about midnight, & well it wasn't completely dark yet. The sun sets really late...about 11:00 & i doesn't go completely black, its so weird. & today after church we had an amazing Swedish lunch & then went an island up north & visited and old army fort, very sweet!
well, it is almost midnight & my cousin & i are about to go on a walk & maybe even take a dip in the ocean.. wish me luck!

for those of you that care, i am doing great & do rememeber you! :)

hej da!

I Fly Like Paper!

2008-05-21T21:00:00.003-05:00

In less than 22 hours from right now, I will be as high as the plane that will be flying me away from this land that I live in and be on my way to a land where my ancestors once lived.

if you want to know how i feel about going to Sweden tomorrow, I'll tell you that i feel just like I look in this picture! (if you are unable to tell how i feel in this picture due to the lack of sound, i'll tell you)

Jag är mycket glada!!!! (translation: I am very excited)

Be sure to check back over the next week and a half as i will surely be updating, as often as i can, with the events that i will be encountering!

Hej då!

Look out Sweden, Here I Come!

2008-05-18T21:00:00.006-05:00

I'M GOIN' TO SWEDEN!!

On this coming Thursday evening I will be boarding a plane with my sister Jen & cousin Lisa and the three of us will be on our way to Sveriege, and I am VERY EXCITED!!

I don't want to know how fill w/ anticipation this week is going to be because as I sit and think about my trip, I am already very anxious and can't relax one bit. I have 3.5 days of work that I need to get through before I leave & do believe that it will unfortunately end up being a bit stressful. With my boss leaving the company last week, my work load has grown just a tad, actually a lot. I spent 4 hours at work today trying to get somewhat organized so I won't end up staying too late on Thursday and missing my flight... ooh, can't think about that possibility. Whatev.

In order to get ready for my Sweden trip, I've been taking Swedish lessons off and on for about the past 6 months, gotta love the PimsleurApproach. I'm by no means fluent, but I do think I will be able to ask any woman, with confidence, if she'd like to eat dinner at my place :) I've also been listening to some Swedish rockers so I will be hip to the local music scene..... or maybe a few of my favorite bands this past year just happen to be from Sweden and I won't be too hip, who knows? Anyways, check out these bands: ShoutOutLouds, Peter,Bjorn&John and TakenByTrees. I like them all, they are good!
Oh, and I really like SigurRos who are not from Sweden but from Iceland. We'll have a 8-10 hr layover there so we'll be able to go out enjoy some scenery & I'm very excited about that too!!!

Alarm Clocks

2008-05-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

My alarm didn't go off today. I think i need a new one. It just doesn't seem to work like it used to. I remember waking up at 4:48 and checking to see if i had actually set the alarm for 4:44, which i did but i had missed it. I set it for 5:05 and never heard from it again. i am usually at work by 6:30 or 7:00 at the latest, today i woke up at 7:16 thanks to my roommate knocking on my door to check if i was alive. Now traffic is REALLY going to suck.

do they make alarms that send an electric current through your bed? maybe i just need a bigger, louder clock to get me going each morning. does anyone know of any great alarm clocks?

Impossibly Addictive!

2008-05-13T21:00:00.015-05:00

It all started as a typical cold, cloudy, rainy & very dreary Mother's Day Eve. After i did some "people watching" w/ my sis, i arrived home to find my roommate, brad, in front of the television watching sports. i joined in because of my love for baseball, futbol & hockey. As we were both slowly losing interest with the Twins losing to Boston, I was struck with something. Ouch! A Rubber Band! I picked up that little strand of rubber and deflected it off the ceiling only to hit brad in the knee, i don't think that hurt too bad. Now, with his eyes shooting flames of anger combined with his stellar physics knowledge, he shot at the ceiling which then led to the rubber band getting me square on the top of my head, nice shot. i shot back, missed. The Twins were now looking kind of like dead fish, we lost focus on the hockey & this little game of shooting each other was now boring. Brad then points his finger in the direction of Brando's statue that is resting on the mantle (the statue that represents the horrible "Trail of Tears" that the Cherokee Nation suffered so many years ago) and says, "do you think i can get the rubber band around his head?"

We took a few turns shooting our one rubber band, missing the statue and then getting up to walk the 10 feet to pick that band up once again. This went on a good 7-12 "rounds" when i remembered that i have a stash of rubber bands in my room (i open the mail at work each day and it is bound with many rubber bands. i come home every day with 2-3 bands on my wrist). I came back upstairs with a few handfuls of bands and we continued to try and "Ring the Rider" (patent pending) and have continued to try every night since that crazy Saturday. Have we rung that rider you ask? Well, Brando has even joined in on the challenge a few times and with all three of us getting scars & bloody thumbs, the answer is..... NO, we haven't.

This game is IMPOSSIBLY ADDICTIVE!

We have shot a few thousand rubber bands over the past 4 days and not once have we been able to "Ring the Rider". If you think you have the rubber band shooting skills to do so, come on over to 3dudesplace and show us what you've got!

People Watching

2008-05-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

How many times have you found yourself "people watching"? for me its been about....hmmm, roughly 1,456 times. The past couple of days i've seen some very memorable cases. Last night i had one of the better mullet sightings of my life! it was somewhat similar to the attached photo, and it was great!

This morning i was sitting at the MOA with my sister and saw many a memorable folk walking past. As we sat discussing life and throwing in various comments of people that we saw pass by, she reminded me of when we were younger and would sit with my dad and "people watch", he has taught us so much of the important things in life :) but I really do enjoy it. it is never the same, each person is so very different than the person that passed by the minute before. It never gets old!..(unless you're people watching in a crowd of like 5 people, that gets old tooquickly)

I kinda want to go back to the mall right now, just to smile & enjoy the the variety of wonderful people in this world. but as i think about going somewhere with the intent to "people watch" and enjoy the "funny looking" people in particular, i can't help but think, "who is there to 'watch' me?"

Grilled Pork Burgers = Deliciousness

2008-05-07T21:00:00.001-05:00

i love grilling!

tonight i went to my normal wednesday night guy's group, this week we were at nick's place. He was grilling in the back yard & asked as i walked out, "have you ever had a pork burger?" my response was, "nope" then he asked me if i would like to try one to which i responded with a very energetic "Would I!?" he then told us how these burgers were really good and he hoped we'd like them.

Moments later his wife came home and asked the same question as nick had moments earlier. After the both of them had told us how much they like these burgers and that the ONLY place you can get them (pre-seasoned, frozen & made with love) is a small meat shop (i don't remember it's name) in Jordan, MN. They were starting to feel as if they talked these pork burgers up just a little too much and said that it would be ok if we didn't like them. (just as everyone does when they have something that they love and really hope others will like but don't want them to feel that they must eat it just to polite regarding the feelings of the people doing the recommending)

the time came to eat the pork burger, i was very excited to try it. my burger was topped with 3 slices of melted cheese, ketchup, lettuce and was set between two wonderfully sesame seed covered buns. i took a bite.... and it was just as great as it had been described.

well done Tessler family, well done.

What's the Deal?

2008-05-06T21:00:00.001-05:00

Hooray for Tuesdays!!

What's the deal with monkeys? why do they never cease to make people smile?

anyways, as another week is now under way i have a few questions that have come to mind. What's the deal with people not being able to communicate? don't we live in a world that has countless forms of communication? aren't e-communicatios supposed to save time and help us get things done in a timely manner? how is it that there are still thousands upon thousands of miscommunications per day? I'm not complaining about any one person in particular and if you think i am writing about you, you are straight up wrong. I just think it is strange that no matter how many people you communicate with in a day, there are always going to be a few people who don't understand what you are trying to communicate. Maybe someone skipped a word while reading (i've never done that) or maybe someone skipped a word while typing (i've never that either) or you wrote something with a little bit of sarcasm that was read by someone who has no sense of humor and the you suddenly realize that you shouldn't be communicating with someone if they don't have a sense of humor because they are lame! i dont' get it, what's the deal?

Will there ever be a day when all communication is smooth and wonderful, like the communications of the future that i dreamt about as a young boy? what's the deal? when will be be able to communicate via holographic message like in one of the star wars movies? whats the deal? when will we be able to talk to someone and be absolutely 100% positive that they for sure understand what we are trying to say when we say it in the most down to earth, common sensicle explanation ever possible? what's the dillio? why is so hard to communicate in such a communicable world? do you think we will ever solve this eternal mystery?

Turkey Time

2008-05-04T21:00:00.004-05:00

This weekend i went turkey hunting for the first time in my life. I had never been hunting until last fall when two of my pally pals, Brad & Cliff introduced me to pheasant & grouse hunting. I have never hit a bird, but when the idea of turkey hunting came up i was all in!. Going into this weekend i had strange feeling.... no, not a strange feeling...um.... let me rephrase, i KNEW i was going to shoot a turkey and the anticipation had me bouncing off the walls for weeks, even more so when i woke up saturday morning at 4:37am, 3 minutes before my alarm!

It was 5:11am and the three of us were already running 11 minutes late. we started the 3/4 mile walk to our "spot" on a morning that was very brisk, with a temp around 30 degrees (i didn't actually check, but it sure was cold). Brad and I were on a mission to get set up, Cliff had a heavy bag and small boots (in other words, he was a ways behind us). As we crossed the creek and doubled back i looked back across the creek and noticed Clifford standing still. I asked him how he was doing and he said to me, in a whispering shout, "can you help me, i'm stuck!" I dropped my decoys & gun on the ground and hustled back to help him get out of the very wet, sloppy mud. You may ask how myself & Brad had made it through without slowing down. Well, as i mentioned before, Cliff had a "heavy"(as he called it) bag and small boots so he had more weight and less of a base for that weight to be distributed over the wet mud causing him to sink right in.
After a few minutes, we were all on the move again. We get to our destination at about 5:38-5:40am (roughly), set up the decoys & our blind and took a seat beneath a very old & large Oak tree. We were all camoflauged up and started with a couple of hen calls... Nothing. after a little bit (about6:45am) we heard a gobble off to the Northeast. Cliff & Brad started calling the old Gobbler in. As it got a little closer i asked them, "who gets the shot?" Since I was was still a beginner hunter & had never shot anything, they told me i had first shot, to which i am very greatful (thanks guys). As the turkey got closer and closer, gobbling in response to one of our calls every 5-10 minutes i started to get a tad excited, visually. I started shifting around in anticipation of shooting a turkey! I was shaking ever so slightly when Cliff whispered to me, "he's coming out of the woods." I leaned over my already drawn shotgun and waited for him to get in clear view, after i had waited for him to get with in 20 yards (what seemed like forever!) i took a deep breath, held the gun somewhat steady and pulled the trigger! I HIT HIM!!! i was so excited seeing that turkey drop to the ground! I was not 100% sure if i had hit him well enough to kill him, i jumped up and was ready to put him out of his suffering but was quickly reminded by my trusty hunting companions that it was just nerves and he was already dead. At that point, it was 7:30am on our first day and i had just got my turkey, i was SO pumped!

We headed in to get breakfast and to register my bird. Hits stats were:
weight: 19 pounds, beard: 9 1/2" and spurs: 3/4". He was a 2 year old Tom. I fileted him up and got 8 pounds of meat from his legs & breast.

I was just a "tag along" the rest of the day as we kept on trying to get Brad and Cliff some birds, to which we were actually successful. It was 7:30pm (we had until 8:21pm to shoot for the day) and we decided to call a few more times to see if were could get a turkey to come in towards us just as Cliff was getting very anxious and couldn't relax any more... yep, as antsy as i was throughout the day, i wasn't the one that couldn't take another minute of sitting in the woods. we soon heard a bird gobble to the northwest of us. we called him, he was then directly west and a little closer. we called again and i heard him even closer and just southwest of us when i heard brad (behind me) whisper, "there's two up on the hill" i turned around and directly to the east there were 2 toms coming across the field (about 200 yds out). we kept calling and they kept coming. Brad noticed 2 more a little further behind them to the north as well. What the heck! its 8:00, we have 21 minutes to shoot for the day and we had 5 birds very close to us, but were they going to get within shooting range before 8:21? i was shaking more than i had been when i was about to shoot mine (partially out of excitement and partially because i was freezing cold) as we kept calling them in. Finally, 2 of them came over the hill between 2 of our decoys (well within shooting range) as they poked around and stayed close to eachother Cliff shot, HIT! dead turkey! the other tom jumped (i would too if whoever was standing next to me was shot) and was about 10 feet from his "pal" and Brad shot, HIT! not dead, the bird was running away, limping badly. Brad shot again (as the bird is running away, yep, in the back. brad is such a coward, who shoots something in the back? ha) and this time, the bird went down & was dead!! what time was it? 8:18pm!! we had our 3 birds! in one day!! and with 3 minutes to spare!!

WE ARE THE BEST TURKEY HUNTERS EVER!!!

(my turkey was not available for this photo)

It was awesome and as i sit here typing, my heart is racing and i'm super excited for the next time i go turkey hunting!!

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!!

Oooogity Whoop!

2008-05-01T18:21:00.004-05:00

My oh my, today was just a wee little CRAZY! It all started with getting up & out of bed at 5:15am after only hitting the snooze 4 times (big accomplishment as of the late). i got to work at 6:34am and the day was off to a quick start, even though there was only one other person in the building for the next hour. The day could not have gone by any faster than it was going and i didn't think there could be any more fires that could possibly start (it is truly a rare occasion when i feel like a professional fire fighte, but today was that day) when yet i had one more fellow co-worker bring another wonderful techology problem my way.

It is now 8:45 am and i'm starting to shake from my 2 cups of coffee that each have 1 creamer packet of irish cream and a 5 count pour of sugar into my cup (I count each of those 5 seconds in my head as "one mississppi, two mississippi, three mississippi, four mississippi, FIVE mississippi" all while trying to sound like the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show (an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbs64GvGgPU )). I like my 2 cups in the morning, even though i was told by a Dr. a few years back to stay away from caffeine, oh well. ... Anyways, I sit down in my office and all buy 5 minutes later i have my visiting manager from our downtown office asking me where a good Chinese place is so he can order lunch without having to leave the office. Really?... couldn't he see that i had my boots & fire fighting helmet on with face sheild down? how am i supposed to know where a chinese place is? so, i sent a few emails out to some co-workers to see if there were any recomendations (hoping that someone was a preferred customer and would have everything taken care of for me or at least maybe they had favorite food item to tell me to order) all i got was one response out of 5 but nothing else. I had to google the only 3 places that were close to get a phone # or menu or something. I called "the jade fountain at 9:38am and it rang FOR.E.V.E.R and there was no answer, again 10:14am, no answer. I bring this info to my Mngr & he says to me he does, "this is good, but i need to get from A to Z, right now i'm at L,M,N. gotta get to Z" (it didn't come across as bad as it does now as i write this. he's a good Mngr) dang. so again send out an email asking "my 5" for some help. maybe they can find some menus around, give them to our Mngr or just take this might task off my hands. they all jump on board but unfortunately everyone has come up short. ugh. so i again go to my good friend mr. google and look for an office catering place i had used a few years back. sure enough within 5 minutes i had lunch ordered for the office and had stomped out one little campfire... oh then i see an email that our normal "lunch ordering lady" had sent me since she was out of the office. the email was a receipt for a lunch that was already coming in... OOPS, two lunches (each able to feed about 20) and with one team in AZ there were only 17 of us in the office today... and yes, i did try to cancel one of the lunches but it was too late. oh well. Dang.

the day just kept right on moving and i had more and more people asking me the same questions that they've been asking me for the past week and i kept telling them, "i know, i've done everything that i can. It is out of my hands, i can't go any higher. ... yes, i can try calling tech support yet again but it won't do any good. there is a problem with the system and we're working on it. please be patient? thanks :)" which is pretty much what i've been telling them for the past week. BOO for technology & being in charge of it for an office!

before i know it is is 4:08pm and i remember that i have a chiropractic appointment at 4:30. Yikes! gotta go gotta go!! .... really, i had to hit the water closet before i went to have my body all twisted and popped back into place. when i get the the chiro about 5 minutes later (its just down the street from the office) and am walking in i noticed that it is REALLY nice out, i was inside all day and it looked so crappy i just thought it was crappy. nope. 68 and a nice breeze.
back indoors i am now on a chiro bed with hot packs on my back and electro shock shooting through me i am finally starting to relax (yes, sometimes i can) when the Dr. comes in and starts pushing and twisting me in not so relaxing ways. done, on the road. traffic sucks. I just CAN'T RELAX!

as i get home and think of how there is still a chance, a dreamful wish, one small glimmer on the horizon that i will be able to relax tonight. Then it hits me like a cows hoof to the side of the head, THE OFFICE AND LOST are on tonight!!! OooOgiTY WHOOP!!!

Welcome To My Brain!

2008-04-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

I have finally stepped into the wonderful world of blogging!

I have been pressured for years to start one of these. You may now hear yourself asking, "Tim, why did you finally decide to create a blog and what are you possibly going to share with the world? Is it in response to the thousands of requests that you've had to share how you are able to tell such great, jaw dropping stories? or are you about to share with us where you learned how to show off my excellent writing & spelling skills?" My answer to these questions (with each finger on my right hand curled down toward my palm creating a 'fist of fury' and shaking it dramatically into the air) I say, "NO WAY, EH!"

If I am not doing this for the reasons listed above then the only possible reason left is that I am doing this for the sole purpose of broadening my horizons, going somewhere I've never gone, doing something that I've never done and sharing things that I feel like sharing when I feel like sharing them! Now grab a cane and hold on tight, you're about to have your world ROCKED!

WELCOME! :)