An employee had a black and white disposible camera.  The flowers were photoshopped into color...

A post I started on my birthday (4/12):

 

The day is early.  Not to put a negative spin on it though, as things are going well.  I was pleasantly awoken to a plate of fresh cinnamon rolls, strawberries, raspberries, oranges, and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.  I didn’t move from the bed.  I got a few movies, one, as funny as it is, was a Vivid movie I had been wanting for years (Virtual Vivid, Make A Wish).  The other was Spanglish, a movie we were supposed to see together but she ended up working late.  More surprises are to come tonight.  I’m going to lunch with Jackie and Cookie.  I hadn’t picked where yet, but I’m leaning towards Macaroni Grill, solely for their dessert.  I read over the post that I had entered last year.  How things have changed, but as much as they have they have not.  I still have issues, and I still watch 24.  I guess I just don’t feel like writing.  I’m not sure what to say.  I’ve been reading Moby’s journal lately.  I bought (yes, bought) his most recent CD, Hotel.  I went to my mom’s on Sunday.  That was an event.  MG2 doesn’t like playing sports, so the family baseball game wasn’t much fun for her.  But Lucy got a good walk around the park.  My sister came to the house late, drunk, and obnoxious.  She is having a lot of issues in her life right now, and dragged down the evening.  But it’s behind me now.  I got an email from K-Girl today, that was unexpected but it was nice.  Another great thing is that after two years of battling with WPS, they are going to query DEERS for each inquiry.  About time.  That’s been the best present so far today.  I can still relate to so much from my post last year.

As it turns out, I find out why her sister seemed so speechless the night I called her for her blessing to marry her sister. It turns out that just before I called, she found out she was pregnant. She was sitting there with her husband when I called.  She says it was meant to be.

We've begun some basic planning, but it is really nice to have plenty of time to prepare.

The date: October 27th, 2007

Originally written on September 11th:

 

It has been an emotionally tumultuous week. I know its been awhile, So an update is most certainly needed.  I'm not sure exactly where I've left off last time.  I've been to Wisconsin and back at least once since then.  I'm on my back to Wisconsin now.  9/11, an ominous day to fly.  I've seen airline security pull aside a woman of a specific ethnicity aside for a detailed screening.  The guy in front of me had to get off the plane because he couldn't fly, he was too uncomfortable. 

 

Moving onto the good news...and why the week has been what it has been...

 

I'll start it right off by saying that I'm now engaged...you read it correct...I had been thinking it over for awhile now, and the last trip to Wisconsin with MG2 was really nice.  I needed that to be sure...so, when I got back, a few weeks passed, I talked a bit with my financial advisor about it and began planning.

 

Step one was to just be bold and go get the ring.  I went to The Shane Company on September 2^nd.  Timing was perfect, as some of the best of Aura was playing on my drive there.  It made me know that I was going to walk out after taking a huge step in my life.

 

I was in there for probably two hours.  I had researched the week before online to find out what worked best and determined the details.  I immediately fell in love with one I saw, and although I kept looking anyway, I knew I would come back to it.  Eventually I did.  It was a platinum ring, and although I thought it was costly for just an un-mounted ring, it was right.

 

I looked at different diamonds, and I knew she wanted a princess cut.  So I went from there.  Although they didn't have the exact ring at the store they had some similar.  The problem was the closest one was in white gold, and not platinum.  The white gold was over three times cheaper.  Which at first sounded good, but I knew I wanted to get a great ring (it was a set), and be able to get a new diamond every so often.  I knew the ring wouldn't be replaced, but the diamond would. 

 

After paying for all the diamond, and half the ring (which I had no problem with emotionally), I walked back to my car.  It was at that point that I really broke down into tears.  It wasn't a bad thing, just an emotional overwhelming thing.  I took a few moments, and talked with my mom to fill her in on the news.  So, officially, she was the first to know I was going to ask.  The cost was part of it, but most of it was that I knew all my life I would be coming to this point, and now that it has arrived its just like, wow. 

 

So, over the weekend I had to think about how I wanted to ask.  She worked the weekend (this is Labor Day weekend) and she even worked Monday.  I took the weekend to prepare, and came up with the idea to make it a weeklong event.  We both knew I was leaving for Wisconsin on 9/11, so I thought it would be best to do it before I leave.  Also, she joked last time we were in Wisconsin, that if I was to go back (which we knew I would), that we needed to be engaged.  Of course, she was kidding, but be careful what you wish for...

 

I had originally planned to ask on Saturday, 9/10.  I started by going to Target and getting her some chocolates, red vines and candy since I knew she wanted some for work.  I also bought a few movies while I was there (Princess Diaries and Princess Diaries II) for which she had been asking.

 

After going home and placing the movies on the counter for her to find when she returned home, I thought it would be best if I had little labels made.  I dubbed it '7 days in September'.  Each card had that name and the date on it and was on the counter next to the gift.

 

The first day (9/3) was the movies, which she just thought were sweet.  She asked me what the 7 days of September were, to which I didn't reply.  I knew she thought I was just being sweet before I left for Wisconsin.

 

The second day (9/4) was the chocolate, red vines, and candy.  She knew they were for work, and the red vines disappeared in record time (I think on the way to work as breakfast).  It was on this day that I realized my math sucks and that if I planned on asking on the 10^th that it would be eight days and not seven.  So, I moved it back a day, which worked perfect since I wasn't sure what to do for one of the days.

 

On 9/5 I left out stationary and envelopes for her to write letters to Nana while I'm gone.  Nana is so sweet and writes us every week.  Which again, made her think I was just doing this all because I was going away.

 

On 9/6, I purchased five Harry Connick Jr. CDs for her.  We had seen him in concert shortly after meeting because I knew she liked to see him.  And although I wanted to get all his CDs, I picked the wrong artist, because the guy has dozens.  So I raided all the ones that were available during lunch one day.  I had just seen him on TV since he was born and raised in New Orleans and he was there after Hurricane Katrina.

 

On 9/7 (Wednesday), I expected her to be home (because she was to have Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, and Sun all off).  However, she ended up working this day, so I had left out a frame that I had purchased and inserted lyrics from Sarah McLachlan:

 

Every time I look at you the world just melts away
All my troubles all my fears dissolve in your affections
You've seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am
And when I fall you offer me a softer place to land

You stay the course you hold the line you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

I get mad so easy but you give me room to breathe
No matter what I say or do 'cause you're to good to fight about it
Even when I have to push just to see how far you'll go
You wont stoop down to battle but you never turn to go

You stay the course you hold the line you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

Your love is just the antidote when nothing else will cure me
There are times I cant decide when I cant tell up from down
You make me feel less crazy when otherwise I'd drown
But you pick me up and brush me off and tell me I'm OK
Sometimes that’s just what we need to get us through the day

 

You stay the course you hold the line you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

 

-Sarah McLachlan-

 

I just thought it was really sweet and I wanted it to be one of the songs to which we dance at our wedding.

 

On 9/8 (Thursday) I knew she would be home so I had prepared a treasure hunt for her.  I had the card out on the table, with a piece of paper that said: 16 Things I Want to Do With You...you have emails today!

 

I was asked by some why 16 things, and really it was that there were 8 hours in the day, and I wanted to do two an hour to keep her busy through the day, and my math was correct this time so it was 16.  We exchanged emails all day with the following hints which lead to the following locations, and the 16 things...

 

Hint	Location	Quote
What's that in Tigger's crate?	Tigger's Crate	Kiss your ear...
Let's Play Darts	Inside the dartboard	Go skydiving...
I quote "Jonathan, Best Wishes, Jerry Bruckheimer"	Under the autographed picture	See the Great Barrier Reef...
What's LeMutt holding, his eye?	My stuffed animal LeMutt (whose eye was chewed out by the dog)	Have Culver's and Rocky's as often as possible...
Are you ever going to wear those sandals I brought you from work?	In the sandal box in the closet (which K-Girl gave us)	Go snorkeling in Hawaii...
Ashes of problem customers	She has a little jar with that label on the side	Go ice-blocking...
Who me?  Couldn't Be!  Tigger stole the cookie from the cookie jar!	In the cute cookie jar that her sister gave us	Go tubing down the Salt River...
They say it's the lava lamp of the future...	Under the laserpod.	Have two-hour long sex...
That's a nice bread machine.  You opening it marks the second time it was opened.  The first was probably when it was still in the store...	Inside the bread-machine that I had to have at the time	Get our pictures taken together...
Do you like my 3rd grade artwork when Ms. Brabazon was my teacher?	Behind the framed picture that I drew when I was younger	Tour the Utah haunted house year after year...
Safe and sound, back in good old 1955	In the Back to the Future DVD	Go to Australia...
Wizard's Wand Glow- Karen thought they were sex toys...	Inside the glow sticks container	Walk an old cemetery at night...
The closest thing I was to playing professional football (jersey # 32), with my 'pouty face'	Behind the framed picture of me when I was little	See the sites Ireland...
"Sierra-bear and a little Lucy Goosey"	Under the picture frame of Sierra and Lucy as a puppy	Live in a house with a basement...
$200 sunglasses, yet I always leave the case at home...	In my sunglasses case	Rent a cabin for the weekend and look up at the stars...
"Love, Hate, Dreams, Life, Work, Play, Friendship, Sex" - the soundtrack	In the Vanilla Sky CD case	Grow old and gray with you...

 

 

It was a lot of fun, and after I sent the last email, I was on my way home.  Although we had done some of the stuff on the list, they were things that I wanted to keep doing.  Just as I was getting home, she sent me an email saying that it was really sweet and that she cried.  It made me happy to know I was right there and that she didn't have to wait any longer.

 

So, during the week I had plenty of time to prepare for Friday.  I had spoke with JenJen on her birthday (9/3), and took Cookie to lunch to talk about it with her.  Although it may seem strange to talk to the ex-girlfriends, they are very important to me and I wanted to talk to them separate than some email going out (or a post on a web log).

 

I went over to her parent's house on Monday, as I knew they had spent the weekend in Tucson with her sister.  I didn't make it out without getting stopped by Sam (my neighbor) who interrogated me as to what I was doing.  He figured out my plans quick.  I told him not to tell Karen, because I hadn't spoke to her yet.  I stopped by her grandmother's first, as she lives just two blocks away from her parents.  Nana is 93 years old and bought a new house when she was 90.  I took Lucy and Sierra with me over there because I knew they would like to see the dogs.  I talked with her for awhile, and when I asked her permission she clapped her hands and bounced in her chair.  She said that if she could she would stand up and jump up and down.  She is so sweet.  She was very excited.  I talked to her for about 45 minutes before her parents came over.  I asked their permission after a few minutes of stalling and they too were excited.  I took them out to lunch nearby, and it was really great.  Probably the best time I've had with them, especially her dad. I had a few minutes to talk with him alone, and it was great.  They knew they had to keep it quiet for a week.

 

On Thursday I went and got two dozen roses, a new vase, and some little gems to place in the bottom of the vase to add some flair to it all.  I took that over to my moms place since I couldn't take it home so I could pick it up the next morning.

 

Later that day I spoke with Karen.  She was very excited too, and I got a quick call back as she called Sam to brag that she had a secret but he told her he already knew.  So I got to hear it from Karen for not telling her first.  She helped me plot by calling me over to her place later that night to 'help her'.  I used this time to call my Dad, his wife Ann, as well as to call MG2's sister Joy to ask for her blessing.  I wanted to ask her because she is very important to her sister.  I'm not sure if she even realizes how much.  I also gave Karen the key so she could take care of the dogs while we were gone on Friday and Saturday.  So, after being gone for over an hour at Karen's, I went back and made up some story about what I was doing.  While I was gone she had ironed my shirt for my 'meetings' I was to have the next day.

 

The next morning I actually did some testing at 3AM, but when she thought I was getting up to go to work at 7, she was mislead.  I went over to my mom's house to get the flowers, and to go to Starbucks, where we first met.  I even went to the same table that we sat and talked at the first time, which lasted about three hours.  I bypassed the long, long line and asked for a manager.  I told Nicole, the friendly Starbucks employee, my plan.  She thought it was sweet and even noticed I was trembling.  She said she would make sure nobody sat at the table and that she would have our coffee waiting there at exactly 9am.  I heard the other girl that work there say she wished she had a sweet boyfriend that would propose to her.  I headed out to the car, took a deep breath, and called MG2 to tell her I was on my way back to pick her up (of which she had no idea).  Of course, through all the planning there is some things out of your control.  Like will she answer her phone?  She had missed 7 calls from me, and when I finally talked to her, she had only 15 minutes to get ready.  I asked her to through on her pants and a sexy top and that I'd be there soon.  Not 30 seconds later, I get a call back asking if I was serious.  I laughed and told her she didn't have time to be calling me back.  She asked if she was going to my meetings with me.  We started driving, and I blabbed the whole way to just keep her from asking where we were going.  At one point she said, you don't work this direction.

 

Right at 9am, we arrived at Starbucks, and by then she knew this was our destination.  As we were walking in I saw the employees placing our drinks down and walking away as they saw us coming.  She saw the flowers and I asked her to take a seat at the table.  We sat and reminisced a bit about the first time we met and how great its been.  After a few minutes, I got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and asked her to marry me.  She said yes, and we stood up and hugged and cried.  Everybody there started clapping.  It was a busy place all morning.  We spent the next two hours there just talking.  Several people came and took pictures and emailed them to us.  It was nice enough to get the free coffee, but the manager came and provided us with a bag of their anniversary blend to take with us.  So, we had plenty of free coffee.  Just before we had gotten there I guess they spilled our coffee, they had rushed to mop it up and we actually didn't notice they did anything.  After awhile, we realized there was coffee under the table that was dripping on my shirt.  There was some dry spots on the vase and some on the 7 days of September card.  We used it as an excuse later to tell people that she said no and through coffee on me.  Several people gave us congratulations and best wishes comments and it helped to have people see the ring and say "he did a real good job", then we headed to the hospital where my mom works to give her the roses. 

 

At the hospital, we learned that she couldn't keep it a secret, and besides telling all her co-workers, she had told my sister.  We chatted with her for awhile and went home to change out of our coffee covered clothes and into something more comfortable.

 

We made love for the first time as an engaged couple, which was exceptionally nice.

 

We headed to Tempe, as I had prepared a romance package at the Wyndham Buttes Resort.  On our way there, we went to Mesa and saw her co-workers and had lunch with my sister (as after hearing from my mom she kept calling me).

 

We arrived at the Buttes at about 4pm.  We had a corner suite which was to be larger with a city view, and a view it had.  It was gorgeous.  We relaxed for awhile and later that evening went to the pool.  There are a bunch of waterfalls leading and falling into the pool.  The pool wraps around the side of the mountain, and there are hot tubs up a little higher which are quiet and look over the city.  It was so beautiful.  We spent some time up there and went in the pool for awhile and played under the waterfalls. 

 

We went back to the room to shower and we went for a late dinner at the Market Café.  We sat in the back corner on the patio, which allowed for a view and the breeze to come around us.  Dinner was great, and we went back to the room, to find the roses, champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries.  Everything was really great, and again, the view was just perfect.

 

The next morning we slept in and had room service bring us a ton of food for breakfast.  Blueberry pancakes, cereal, fresh fruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple, yogurt, banana bread, orange juice, cranberry juice and some milk.  All of it was gone within an hour.

 

We walked around a bit, and after a shower headed over to her parents house.  We met them and Nana for lunch (and they had to see the ring).  We left there after 3pm, and went to my mom's to get some items I needed to take on my trip to WI.  My dad and Ann wanted to meet us for dinner, so we went to Houston's for some steak.  We were so full, as it feels like all we've done is eat.

 

We were so ready to be home when we got there.  We've told the story about a dozen or more times, and now I've typed it.

 

The above was written on my flight from Phoenix to Madison.  It's now been three weeks of engagement.  We've had fun so far, and look forward to our future together...

So many times in our life we hear the phrase that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  Well, today I ponder the longest distance between two points.  I believe that to be two lines that are running parallel to each other.  We are all just people living our lives in this huge, huge universe [insert MIB ending here].  We cross paths with others along the way, and on occasion, even more than once.  Well, today was one of those instances for me.  Timing is everything.  After bantering with Cookie for a few minutes about how she and her mom didn’t want to have lunch with me, I left to go get some food, do some work while I was there, and stop by an ATM on the way.  Well, here I am getting food, but I’m not going to be doing any work.  I stopped at the ATM inside the grocery store up the street from where I work before coming here.  I was elated when I knew I would get an up-front parking spot, as I could get in and out nice and fast.  Once inside, I saw that the armored car folks were coming to empty the ATMs.  While I attempted to use one, I quickly found out that it was malfunctioning.  Moments passed while I waited for the guards to move so I could use the other ATM.  I eventually did so successfully, and was making my way out the door when I saw a familiar face.  Familiar, but older.  Not even so much.  In fact, she looked almost exactly as I remembered her.  Her personality was different.  A little less bubbly, a little more tamed, but she was still the girl I remembered from High School.  She was one of the few people….

 

Okay, that thought ended.  Some stupid work thing came up and I was forced back to the building before I could finish.  Well, that’s my excuse for this post.  Short story:  she was a girl from high school.  Friends with her, she flirted with me often, and I did in return, but that was it.  Except for maybe a few brief make-out sessions.  One good one in the high school auditorium. 

 

I gave her my email address, but I never heard back from her after that day.  Ironically, she only works up the street from where I do.  She is married now, but no kids.  Maybe someday our paths will cross again…

 

This was originally written to be posted on March 1^st, but finished today, October 1^st.