Again, and One More Time

It's been a long time with no significant updates, so here we go, over and over, again and one more time.

Marriage:
Plans continue to progress in a start and stop manner. We'll have several good days where decisions are made, registries are developed, and things are great. Then we'll have bad days where we realize something is going to require more money than we had planned. It's the same thing anyone who's gotten married has gone through, but that doesn't really help when it's you.

For anyone that hasn't gotten the update, we're going with the a tourmobile model. The actual ceremony and first reception will be in DC, then we'll have a reception in Michigan and a reception in Missouri. That means that hopefully some people who won't be able to travel to DC will still be able to celebrate with us at one of the closer receptions.

Work:
Things are certainly interesting. The project I'm on continues to be the topic of the town as lawmakers discuss the delays that keep coming up on the project. My favorite quote is from the below article where one critic states, “It's like they're playing with Monopoly money.” In standard government operating procedures the responsibilities for one task are delegated to many committees that seem to have no other purpose than to question the other committees. The direct impact on me comes when, for instance, the Department of Defense wants to switch spaces with the Speaker's office. No big deal right? Well the space that they WERE each planning for had very specific needs, desk outlets for voice and data, floor boxes that are cast into the concrete when the floor is poured, and audiovisual infrastructure specific to their needs (ceiling speakers, projectors and projection screens, wall outlets, etc.). When they decide to switch places, before the center even opens, it means that we have to trench up the floor slab (read: taking a jack hammer and gouging out large amounts of the floor slab), cut open walls and add conduit, and relocate thousands of feet of cabling in ceilings.

And people ask why the opening has been delayed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030802235.html

Family:
My Dad was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident recently. It was bad enough that the doctors said he was “lucky” to only have a broken ankle, broken collar bone, slight bleeding in his head, and scrapes and bruises distributed over his body. If that's lucky, it must have been pretty bad. He is back at home now though, and through God's grace and the marvels of modern drugs he's doing things like sitting outside reading and I've gotten to talk to him on the phone many times. My Mom seems to be taking it all well as is my sister. Thanks for all the prayers for those that prayed for us.

Things:
Yup actually about THINGS. I've placed my dream to have a digital SLR on the back burner. I had an episode where I was close to throwing my iPod across the mall at the Apple store because I was so frustrated with it being broken and so upset with Apple customer service. This was shortly after I had gone back on a promise to myself NOT to by a digital SLR when the first mention of a used Nikon D70 came up. I came to my senses before spending the money but the fact that my desire for someTHING material like that was so strong combined with how easily I lost it over my iPod difficulties was a real eye opener.