Bonzo

The danger of spending money on a raffle is not that you are spending your money with nothing to show for it. The danger of spending money on a raffle is that you are spending your money with a chance to have something to show for it.

It all started out as an agreement to temporarily watch an Australian Shepherd/Labrador puppy for a couple days.  The plan was that someone was suppossed to win the chance to take this puppy home.  I agreed to buy a raffle ticket and the outcome was that we were the someones to take him home.  I really didn't see that one coming.  I never would have guessed that I'd some day become a dog owner but I must admit that this pup is pretty cute and nice. 

That being said there is a new resident of our house.  Being an Australian Shepherd we looked to the internet for Australian slang words to name it.  After narrowing it down from a few possibilities we settled on naming him Bonzo.

That being said, enjoy a few pictures of Bonzo.

2010 Update

When we left off I believe Thanksgiving had just come and gone.  So if you wish, join me on a trip back through the months on December and January and find out what has kept me from this

DECEMBER:
December started with Emily and I completing our first month of marriage.  To celebrate we went to a restaurant called "Thomas" in KC MO.  This happened to be the night of a Packers/Ravens Monday night football game.  We haven't found many Packer fans in Kansas City yet, but when the owner introduced himself to us we learned that his family was from Beaver Dam and that he too was a big Packer fan.  As we ate, we watched the Packers and occasionally enjoyed a conversation about Wisconsin people and places.  It almost felt as though we were back in Wisconsin.

Emily started a new job waitressing at Cheddars, a nice restaurant with great food at a decent price.  The restaurant is brand new and just opened in mid-December, so there was a bit of an adjustment period, but she's working good hours which has helped a lot with the bills.

We had the opportunity go home to Wisconsin for Christmas, however it was a pretty short trip as we had to be back for Emily's waitressing schedule.  Nonetheless we were able to spend time with both sides of the family.

JANUARY:
I guess you could say that Emily and I started some "New Year's Resolutions" this year.  The firstof which includes joining one of Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" classes.  Ramsey's big themes are living debt free and to simply control your money before it controls you.  Although we feel like we started with a pretty decent grasp on this we feel as though we learn a thing or two each of the weekly sessions.  We highly reccomend for anyone to go on his website and searching for an FPU class near you.  The younger the better but there is no age limit.

Another resolution has been for both of us to get in better shape.  I don't consider eitherof us to be out of shape but I can speak for myself when I say that I have definately felt myself getting older quicker in the last few years.  We both want to be proactive about not letting that happen too fast.

Several who may be reading this may know that a few years ago I decided I wanted to take on a triathlon.  While I started to train for that by riding my bike and especially running I learned that I wasn't going to be able to run a great distance until I took care of a bone spur and bone partical under my knee.  This sidelined the goal of competing in a triathlon and I have not done my part to pick it up again.

This is my avenue to announce to everyone that I am going to compete in the same Pewaukee Triathlon that I had wanted to compete in three years ago.  July of 2010 I will do this.  Keep me on task.

To finish the month off I have to admit that I broke my first bone ever.  While navigating through the dark I found a piece of furniture with my toe.  Sadly yet luckily at the same time my first broken was nothing cool sounding like the femur but instead was the distal phalanx (I think).  But it became very colorful.  I'll put a picture up here soon.

FEBRUARY:
The last few months have been greatly consumed with basketball. In the NBAless town of Kansas City there sure are passionate feelings about the KU Jayhawks, K-State Wildcats, and the Mizzou Tigers.  I can't say I care too much about any, but I do think it would be really cool to go to Lawrence to see a KU game. 

The truth of the matter is that I've been consumed with Bethany basketball.  I've really enjoyed the opportunities I've had to coach in the past and I appreciated every one of my St. Peter's teams that I was affiliated with.  This year I was still able to coach the Eagles.  With all the changes there have been in the past it meant a lot to be able to coach again as it has been something that I've enjoyed.  During the regular season my boys only two games.

The first week of February marked the last week of my 5/6th grade basketball season.  The Kansas City Lutheran Athletic League Tournament was held at KC Lutheran High School this weekend.  Ranked third going into the tournament I knew there was a good chance we'd face the two teams we prviously lost to.  I can't say I was anything but eager to see both of them.  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking for this post.

Until next time... God bless you.