here we go!

Mere hours left until departure. We're pretty excited about the whole thing, that's for sure.
Served with the 3 year olds last night instead of tonight, since we were leaving, and then had our show. It went really well, had a good crowd (except for the constantly yelling kids, and the random man who was talking throughout, as though he was talking to a tv), got good laughs, got some good footage for the website... all in all, very good.
We went to Saddleback San Clemente this morning, and really enjoyed it. Kinda bummed that their service is ours a week later, so we heard one we already heard, but it was a good one, so it's ok. It is nice to only have to drive about 5 minutes to get to church, instead of 30, but since we're with the 3s up there, we're there anyway.
Had our first meeting for Team in Training, and it was fun. No running, that starts next week, when we're out of town, but it was more about meeting our mentors and coaches and all those people. It's vacation first, then it's down to the runnin! Although, I'm not nearly as intimidated by running 26 miles as I am about raising 3100... each.

countdown on

Well, the day is finally here. This is the last day of work before vacation. I know I'm going to have to be there late, to write down everything that's going on with all my cars, but hopefully not much more than an hour or so. So, if you hear someone going down the freeway accompanied with a "yah-hoo!" at about 645 or so, that was just me. We've still got a lot of packing to do, and trying to remember to bring everything we want to bring, but we'll finish that up tomorrow or Sunday before we leave. Tomorrow morning we've got our first Team in Training meeting, which should be fun, then working with the 3 year olds at the 430 service, then food, then my show. So, it's not like free time starts tonight. But I will be playing a little WoW, just because I can.

ummmmmm

Found this picture on another person's blog, and man, I have nothing to say but it's awesome. I haven't yet found it available for purchase as a poster, but if I do, Jen says I can buy it.

Well, just 3 more work days until we're on vacation, and let's just say work is getting more difficult. Well, more difficult to stay motivated for, anyway. heh heh

Run Matt, run! Run like the wind!

Well, we did it.. we signed up for the marathon! We each have to raise a lot of money, so it's going to be a challenge, and then there's the challenge of actually running it! If you feel led to donate, thank you in advance! Every little bit helps, and if you do it following the links, you'll get immediate docs for your taxes! Also, please please please send the link to anyone you know who might want to donate!

Posh, and Becks, and us on the run

First off, we caught a bit of the NBC show about Victoria Beckham coming to America. I have to say, she does seem a bit wacky, but not at all ridiculous. If they play it again, watch it for a few minutes, just to give it a try, you'll be entertained. But that's not the big news...
Jen and I signed up for this:
Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix
We are going to do it through Team in Training. This means a few things. First, we'll have coaches, mentors, group runs, motivation, gifts, food, flights to Phoenix, and a hotel room right by the starting line. Also, we're going to need to raise about $3100 each. So, don't be surprised if you get a letter in the mail, or an email asking for support.
Why are we doing this? Well, the race itself is on Jen's 30th birthday, so she thought that it would be a fun thing to do on her birthday. The reason we're doing it through Team in Training, is that 75% of the money we raise will actually go to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. When Jen and I were freshly married, we were in a small group with other newlyweds. There was a couple, Aaron and Amanda, who were around 21ish. She had already had her lifetime dose of chemothrapy, and her cancer had come back. She was an amazing, and caring person, and for someone that young, she had more people at her funeral, who had their lives' touched by her than most people who have lived full lives. She died two years ago, yesterday... the day we went to the information meeting to sign up for the marathon.
I love when "coincidences" happen.

Dear people who own cars and get in an accident:
When you pick up your vehicle from the body shop, before you look at the work done, ask yourself how closely you inspected your vehicle when you first bought it. Just because it's a new car, DOES NOT mean that it's in perfect shape, and does not mean that it hasn't already been fixed before they sold it to you. Yup, you heard me right.. If it's below a certain amount, door dings, etc, they don't have to tell you. Could have happened at the dealer, could have happened at the loading or unloading docks and fixed before it even gets to the dealer.
Anyways, just remember that.

Also, it's just a car.

9 times.

9 more days. Just 9. They are working days, not weekend days, but when you're counting down to vacation, weekends don't count. Let me say that I am plenty ready for this vacation. Work right now is tough. It's very difficult to learn something very complex, while being very busy at it. I just hope that the mistakes I invariably will make will not cause the shop to lose one of our accounts. It's unlikely to happen, but not at all impossible. I guess that's part of making the big bucks.. Or at least having the possibility of big bucks. Ahhh comission. It weird though, because although we work on comission, it's not like we go out to make sales. Someone gets in an accident, they call their insurance who recommends a shop, or they already know where they want to go, or a friend tells them. It's not like I go out on the street and look for accidents and then try to sell them on our shop. So I don't have direct control over the sale. The only thing we have control over is the current customer's experience, so that if they ever get into another accident, or someone they know does, then they'll recommend us. I guess making money off of other people's lack of driving skills is kinda odd in the first place. It is interesting though, to see how cars are put together, how they hold up over time, which ones are good (toyota) and bad (don't buy a VW... ever), how different models hold up in accidents. Good times. Well, speaking of it, time to shower up and head on in, one step closer to the Dominican Republic!!

3s, not 3's

Only had 10 little 3 year olds today, so it made for an extra fun one. No criers, and one that possibly drank 3 red bulls before being dropped off. It was physically impossible for him to be still. During the story, Jen, in her brilliance, took him into the little room to "help" her get the snack ready. Was the abridged story of Moses going to Pharoah to free the Isrealites. Went well, they seemed to be paying attention, and even remembered Moses' name when I asked them at the end. Good times!

Fire!

So, my little brother, who has been trying to become a firefighter for at least 5 years now, had his first day as one yesterday. They had an actual fire, to which he and his partner were first on scene (which means he ran a hose, went in the building, the whole deal). As soon as that was done, they had to go take care of an 8 car pileup on the interstate, and at 1 in the morning, a whole family brought in their dog that had got caught up in some barbed wire. Quite a day. The thing that's so awesome about it all, is that not only our whole family, but an unknown number of other people have been praying for this for a long time. The best part is, that about a month ago, he decided not to give up on it, but to go for something else that was a little more for sure, to put his family and their needs before his dream. And just a little bit after he let it go, Someone Else took it and ran with it. Amazing.
Also, they're going to have a little girl in Nov. Another great thing, cause they won't have to buy new clothes, since they still have Mackenzie's old stuff!

rat-a-tat-tat-oooooweeee!

Saw Ratatouille last night with a buddy. I loved the way it looks. It's not like they were trying to make it look completely realistic. I get the feeling that now that they can make it look real, they're focusing more on having it just look good. You can tell it's animated, but not because of lack of reality, the way the characters move are very fun to watch, especially chasing the main rat through a building in Paris. But, that reminds me of a problem with it. I have no idea of the character's names. Don't know the rat's name, the evil chef, the dead chef, the girlfriend, or the kid. It wasn't as geared towards kids, I thought. Not like jokes geared for adults, just felt more like an adult story. I wouldn't recommend going to the theater to see it, unless you take the kids.. the ones in my theater laughed throughout, but I also heard many questions from them to their parents as to what was going on.

It's exactly what meets the eye...

Transformers rocked. I absolutely loved it. I think that even if Transformers were not my favorite toy as a kid, and if I hadn't watched the cartoon show, or movie, and even if I had not decided beforehand that I would love it, I still would. Jen loved it. There was even a group of teenage girls walking out next to us talking about it, and even they said that it was way better than they expected. And teenage girls don't like anything.
So, I recommend you go see it, somehow, go see it. Don't wait for dvd, go now.