Sunday, June 12, 2011

Last Place Finish

After one of the worst work weeks of the year, I knew that I needed to have some fun this weekend. The weekend started off with the first group of new student orientation on Saturday morning and welcoming the Class of 2015 to campus....really, 2015????? When I got done, I watched the NCAA Track Championships, which was actually exciting, and the College Baseball World Series. Later, Keelin and I made a trip to the Old Orchard Mall and after two hours of walking around waiting for Keelin to try on jeans, I decided to go see Hangover 2 so she could have more shopping time. After watching the movie, which was as terrible as I had heard and expected, I leave the theater to find Keelin with NO JEANS....after FOUR hours of shopping.

Today was much more exciting as Keelin and I made the trip to Melrose Park, IL to use a groupon that I had purchased for Grand Prix go-cart racing. This was the most fun thing I have done since I moved to Chicago. These go-carts have the ability to get up to 40 mph, and although I was slow and hitting many walls, I had a blast. The guys that were on the track racing with me destroyed any confidence I may have had when they were finishing individual laps 7 seconds ahead of me, but I gained a small amount of confidence back after the second race when Keelin told me that they all are professional racers, including one who races stock cars and two that race motorcycles. The only time I race at my work is when I am trying to get the last piece of chicken pizza, so I was happy. I had no idea how strenuous racing can be on your body but I have a feeling that I am going to have a hard time moving tomorrow. Between the ab workout from trying to control the car and the whiplash from slamming into the wall five times, I am probably going to be hurting. That being said, I can't wait until they come out with another Groupon so that I can do it again...because that was great.

I am hoping for a better work week this week but just in case it doesn't get better, I will find ways to have fun, including a trip to Wrigley Field on Tuesday with friends and Wednesday with my dad (my first time sitting in the bleachers), and celebrating my 1st anniversary for the weekend (boat cruise on lake michigan, six flags trip, and next week we leave for D.C.). I hope everyone is doing well and I apologize this wasn't as funny as the last :)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Wait, do you hear those little voices?

Since you are visiting this site, you are probably already aware that I am a bit of a butthead....at times, even an asshole. My humor is a bit dry (to say the least) and I like to make people laugh, usually at the expense of others. One of my favorites was when I made Keelin's mom believe that if she touched the windows in my car she could make them go up and down, claiming that this was the "newest technology". I explained to Marcia that if you touch the top half of the window it will know you want it to go up, and if you touch the bottom half of the window it will automatically roll down. As I watched Marcia from the rear-view mirror in the front seat and controlled the window based on where I saw her touching the window, she gazed in amazement for 10 minutes, playing with this "new technology". Everyone laughed....and everyone that was present continues to laugh even now. Yes, this was one of the funniest, until last night.

Last night I laid in bed with my headphones on listening to the radio before sleeping. Keelin turns over to me and in a very concerned voice, says, "Chad, do you hear little voices". I couldn't help myself. For the next 15 minutes I worked to convince Keelin that she was imagining the voices. Finally, Keelin laid her head on my chest to try and get away from the "little voices". This is when I got the idea that it would be funny to only turn the radio on when she was laying on me....as soon as she would hear the radio (which she now realized was not just "little voices") she would lift her head off of my chest and the radio would stop. Keelin immediately thought that my implanted defibrillator was picking up radio signals and that she was controlling the signal based on where she was laying. lol. Head on my chest and you get Rhianna...head up and you get silence. This continued for another 10 minutes before I couldnt' breathe.

It's the simple things....Probably one of my favorite moments so far.

Have a great day everyone!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Summer!

Summer time is here. Even though summer has just gotten here, Keelin and I have been busy already. We have had 3 different sets of guests in the last four weeks. Corey Peach and Jess Ross came to visit, a trip which included a Cubs game, many great meals, and a special trip to the beach that ended with the engagement of Corey and Jess. Since then, both Keelin and I have been asked to stand up for them at their wedding in November and we couldn't be more excited about that trip back to Rock Falls.

Our next guests were Nick and Dani Kiminski, who came up last week. During their visit here we spent a great deal of time at the beach and the park, a trip to Six Flags (and Portillos), and even grilled out a few times. While grilling out we even discovered that grilled pizza rolls are delicious and nobody can judge me until they come to Chicago and try it out. We had a blast! A few minutes ago, Lamar Shingles left after his visit for the weekend. Lamar and I went to the driving range and the batting cages, and ate out a LOT! Many delicious meals and good conversation but all good things come to an end and Lamar has made his way back to Minnesota. 

It has already been such a great time seeing everyone and I can't wait for the month ahead. By the end of June, Keelin and I will have (hopefully) gotten to spend some time with both of our families, I will have gone to some more Cubs games, taken a five day trip to Washington D.C., and celebrated our 1 year anniversary.

I can't believe we have already been married for one year. We leave for D.C. on June 21st and this will be our first trip together since the wedding. Keelin has been so busy with school and work so we haven't spent much time together just relaxing. We will get to stay with a college friend, and one of my former residents from when I was an RA, Jessica Ferguson, for a couple of days and then will be staying a hotel for a couple of days.

I hope to use this to update how everything is going and to fill you in on my (our) life. Hope everyone is well and remember, Hotel Henderson (hyphen Yenney) is always taking reservations for your next trip to Chicago.