Friday, June 30, 2006

This blog will self-destruct in 30 seconds

A long, long time ago in a southern Minnesota mall, I was told about a fun little game. More like a challenge.


The Tradehome Challenge

Tradehome Shoes is the home of the most sell-happy employees of any store ever established. If one were to take a step into the store, they would be hunted down like a gazelle by the cheetah-like salesman. No, they aren't fast or have quick reflexes. But they're hungry for that sale.

So, what is The Tradehome Challenge? It's a test of bravery, slyness, and for those who are watched the challenger, ability to keep a straight face and not blow it for them. With this challenge, one must attempt to enter the store, walk to and touch the rear wall, and return back to the onlookers. Sounds easy, right? Well, here's the challenging part: The challenger must do this without having a word spoken to them by any employee. If that were to happen, the challenge is failed.

Number of times I've attempted The Tradehome Challenge -- 1
Number of times I've completed The Challenge -- 0

Number of times I've seen The Challenge attempted by others -- 37
Number of times I've seen The Challenge completed by others -- 3



I am very proud of Mariah Tappe. Why? Because during the shopping spree described in my last blog, we walked past Tradehome Shoes and I thought about The Challenge. I asked who would do it, and nobody spoke up. I looked in to the store again and realized it was prime time to attempt it. Blue was fitting shoes on someone, Green (if I remember colors correctly) was ringing someone up at the cash register, and Maroon was standing nonchalantly by the register.

When I mentioned to everyone that it would be the perfect time to try it, Mariah took the initiative. She started The Challenge fairly slowly, as not to attract much attention. When she got to the rear wall and touched it, Maroon started to move in on her. Kimmy and I thought she was done for. Mariah moved a little more quickly to get out of the store, and she was successful. I commended her by giving her a quarter.


Random quote del día: "How's it goin'?" -- What was said to Tommy by "Blue" as he returned from the rear wall. Challenge failed....

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Vote Janet!....And Vote Joe!

I went on a great shopping spree today with Tommy, Kimmy, and Mariah. We've got our pink shirts for the Amazing Race on Sunday in Wells, and we just have to prep them with our team name and sweet slogans.

Of course, Mariah had to leave early because of her dumb sister (first Mac ruins Matt's prom, then she ruins our fun). But we still made fun without her. How?

While Kimmy was in Hollister, Tommy and I sat in the chairs in the entrance. Tommy was saying "Hi" to everyone who walked in or out, and one girl gave a really energetic "HEY!" in reply. So later on, we're in Spencer Gifts and that same girl walks by. Tommy nodded to her, and he said she winked back. What do we do? Decide to follow her and her friend through Target. Eventually we tell Tommy he has to go get her number. We had horrible things planned to do to him if he didn't come back with it. [[Random quote from this moment: Kimmy - "Do you need a pen?" Tommy - "No....I have my phone...."]] We finally got off of the patio furniture to go find him, and he shows us this name in his phone. Lauren (except he spelled it really oddly). Well, I found out later tonight that Tommy is a little liar. He called our friend Shayla and told her to say her name was Lauren when Kimmy called with Tommy's phone.
Moral of the story? Tommy's in trouble tomorrow....

I can't even explain how random the day really was. I ended up walking around Kohl's and through JC Penney with a shirt I got at Old Navy for $2 that said "Greatest Dad 2006." That was quite entertaining.


Random quote del día: "My dad became a computer Nazi and won't let anyone use the new one." -- Brandon on MSN when he was explaining why he wasn't using the upstairs computer.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Please don't mind what I'm trying to say, 'cause I'm, I'm being honest....

Once again the title has nothing to do with the post. I'm just obsessed with the song "Honestly" by Cartel lately, and I wanted to throw a line up there. I also became obsessed with their song "The Minstrel's Prayer" while I typed this blog.


I was up and at 'em yet again this morning to go to my dentist appointment in Faribault. Scheduled for 9:50, my mom and I arrived at about 9:40. My mom finally went in at a few minutes after 10:00, and I had to wait until she was done because we were scheduled to see the same lady for our cleanings. I ended up going in at about 11:15 after reading one and a half issues of Sports Illustrated (cover to cover, every word). The worst part about getting your teeth cleaned is the half hour of no rinsing/eating/drinking after having the flouride treatment. But along with that wait, at least for me, comes a good meal. Today's came straight from Famous Dave's. Great food....

Speaking of great food, I hate canned peas. They are probably one of the few vegetables I can truly say I hate. On the other hand, I love fresh peas. Straight from the pod to the mouth. They're utterly irresistable. I eat them by the handful as snacks. Like candy....

Random quote del día número uno: "Just eating candy." -- My neighbor WB while he was eating fresh peas on my patio
Random quote el día número dos: "Apparently I went to Taco Bell...." -- Chris Porter of Last Comic Standing

Monday, June 26, 2006

Grrness....

Just a little bit ago, I heard a knock at the door. I figured it was just someone dropping off a check to pay for gas (my mom's boyfriend works for his dad, who owns the local gas company). Lo and behold, I was wrong. It happened to be a Jehovah's Witness. Of course, she gives me the jazz about it all and hands me a sheet of paper, which I later throw away because I already have a religion. But all this leads up to what I was thinking about while I waited for my mom do get done with her doctor's appointment today in Mankato. What would that be?

Pet peeves....

I don't have a whole lot of pet peeves, but the ones I do have are usually very irritating to me when they come about.

  1. When teachers make you take off the fringes from your papers. If it's something like a rough draft for an essay, then I don't have a huge problem with it. But I don't see why it's a big deal when it's on your math homework or something like that.
  2. World Cup referees. They have extremely easy jobs, but they can never seem to do it quite right. Who honestly gives a red card for a late tackle? NOBODY!
  3. Bi-polar emotions from people without bi-polar disorder. Yes, someone can feel incredibly happy one day and miserable the next, but I find it impossible to make that kind of change within a matter of minutes. Who does this usually occur with? Girls, of course.
  4. Having wet hands after using paper towels to dry them off. How do I fix this? I use the most paper towels out of anyone I know when I'm in public restrooms. In addition to this, I also hate it when public restrooms have no paper towels. I can't get my hands dry enough with a blow dryer alone. It just doesn't work that way.
  5. This is probably my favorite one. When my shoes are untied and the laces get wet and dirty from the ground. I can't even begin to explain how irritating this is to me. Because then I feel compelled to tie them which makes my hands gross, which in turn makes my clothes gross because that's the only place to wipe my hands. Tying the shoes also makes the shoes themselves gross sometimes.

Random quote del día: What I thought about saying to the Jehovah's Witness after she asked what my brother's cat's name was -- "He doesn't have one. He's mentally challenged."

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Movies....I like movies....

Before I talk about my latest movie experience, let me give you a little deal on it from a show on Comedy Central called The Colbert Report:

"The latest live-action Disney film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, is intended to be a metaphor of the Crucifixion, with Jesus being played by a lion named Aslan. Now, if this film is intended to be about Jesus, I don't agree on the current title. Can we get that up on the screen?

The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Thank you. So first of all, 'the lion' is actually portraying Jesus, so let's fix that.
The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Jesus, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Great start. Now what else can we do? Well, I don't think Satan quite qualifies as a 'witch'. But close. Drop that.
The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Jesus and the Wardrobe
And I'm sure there weren't 'wardrobes' back in the day of JC.
The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Jesus
What's with all this 'Narnia' jazz?
The Jesus
Good, good. Another word for Jesus is Christ, right?
The Christ
Hmm. Not quite. Christ had some sort of mission in life. Can we fit that in there?
The Passion of the Christ
Perfect! There you have it, folks! The greatest film about Jesus in the history of mankind!"


And now onto what I thought of the movie.

When I first saw the previews, I remembered I had the book. I also remembered the fact that I never really enjoyed the book. I read it again anyway, and I actually liked it. So tonight, I figured I'd finally watch the movie. I wasn't expecting much out of it since I didn't like the book originally. Yet again, I'm wrong about what I'll think of a movie. I loved it. Not even sure what to say was the best part. As for effects, I found the flaming arrow turning into a bird was pretty sweet. All-around amazing movie. I loved the metaphor for the Crucifixion, and I even found myself anticipating the next event (especially the Ressurection).


I've decided to end my "number of the day" and switch to "random quote" and use Spanglish.

Random quote del día: "Question? Question?....No question?....Question?....No?....Ok...." -- from Corky Romano

....

I think I'm going to post this blog as a list of things that happened and/or I learned Tuesday, yesterday and within the last 2 hours. So here it goes:

  • I got hit in the face by a frisbee (thanks, Kyree)
  • I swatted the frisbee out of the air and broke a blood vessel on the palm side of my right middle finger (now I feel like Tim since I keep getting injured playing frisbee)
  • Stealing Amanda's car was amazingly great. Too bad the brakes were horrible enough for me to not drive all crazy-like
  • "Kyle" is still on vacation....so please stop using his name until he returns....
  • My mom is getting pains from the drain tubes, but that means they're about to come out soon. She got one of the two out yesterday. She also has to go to the doctor 3 different times next week for appointments.
  • Greg never answers his blog! I keep getting that stupid answering blog whenever I click on the link for his
  • I won a penny because someone fell asleep last night after they vowed not to
  • Had an awesome sub from Jimmy John's in Mankato
  • In a recent poll, 28% of the people surveyed believe the Bible is true, down from 38% last year. Consequently, 19% of those people believe the Bible is an "ancient book of fables," up from 13%. I find this pretty heartbreaking....
  • If a birdie (for badminton) is left out through all types of weather for about a year, the feathers will fall off quickly when you use it in a game.
  • Blue Earth is boring when nobody's around to hang out with
  • I almost hit Meehan in the Dairy Queen parking lot

That's about all I've got....

El número del día: I don't have a number today, but I do have a funny quote from Amanda -- "I have an underwear problem."

Monday, June 19, 2006

Real quick....

I wanted to make this one short, sweet, and to the point.

1) I got sunburn on my left knee while mowing today. Other than that I didn't get burned.

2) Happy birthday to my favorite Bob in the world....Jodi!

Good story

A friend of mine from Iowa told me an interesting story tonight. It came from a visitor of a church. This visitor was very good friends with the preacher, and he told this story:

"A father, his son, and the son's friend were all out fishing one day. All of a sudden, a horrible storm came in and turned the boat. The father swam through the waves back to the boat, flipped it over, and began to search for the two boys. They were very close together, but the harsh waves seperated them. The son was yelling out, "Help, Daddy. Help!" The son's friends was screaming, "Please hurry! Help!" The man found some rope, but knew he could only rescue one of the children. He finally pulled the child back into the boat. He said to the child, "I love you, son," as he held the son's friend in his arms. The man knew his son had been saved because he believed in God, so he rescued the son's friend who didn't. The father was me. The boy was your preacher."

I just thought this was an interesting story, and it's just very strange to understand how someone could give up their own child to save another. I know it must've helped knowing that his son knew God, but I still can't even comprehend how hard of a decision that would be.


But on that note:
Happy Father's Day, everyone!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

[This blog has no title. Please call customer service for assistance.]

My mom came home from the hospital at about 3:00 today. She's very glad to be back, and she had a lot of visitors and "Get Well" stuff while she was there.


So now, I'll say a few words about the camping trip at Whitewater State Park. I always love being there. God's amazingly beautiful creations just come to life there, and it's impossible to not know that He exists.

The first night, Kyle (who I was rooming with in the tent) had his little brother's airsoft gun and glow-in-the-dark pellets. He decided to randomly shoot at shadows in the dark. The first shot hit a tree, but the second hit someone. [Gun firing] "OUCH!" Broden came to the tent and asked what hit him. I said, "Um....Kyle just threw a rock." Broden has yet to figure out what really happened.

On the second day, Kyree and I decided to hike together. We took the 3 1/2 hour Dakota Trail, but were totally ripped off by the stupid maps. The trail was supposed to go probably another half-mile after Eagle Point, but there was no trail to follow. We backtracked quite a ways, and we ended up taking the random Valley Trail past the group camps (a place like Good Earth Village). That took us to Meadow, and we ended up making our way back to camp in the same 3 1/2 hours it should've taken us.

At one point, most of the group was on top of Inspiration Point (absolutely gorgeous view). Somebody decided to break the law and play with sparklers up there (way to go, Joy). As people were playing with them, a small patch of grass started on fire. Danny freaked out, "PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT! THE WHOLE PLACE IS GOING TO START ON FIRE!" He almost pushed Kyle off the edge in order to get to the fire and stomp it out.

Also at Inspiration Point (the next night), Sarah and Rachel decided to be dumb and climb down the entire cliff instead of taking the stairs/path or the dirt/root climbing path we found. They made it to a grassy ledge before they got stuck. Danny was thoroughly mad, and he took the stairs down to help them. A rock ended up hitting him in the head, and he went to bed mad because they almost killed themselves. Quality entertainment.

On Wednesday, we met an 8 year old boy named Gavin. When people from our group first met him, they thought he was a cool kid and invited him to hang out with us sometime. Turns out he was the spawn of Satan. Go near him, he would freak out. He gave people physical therapy, such as slapping them in the face, shoving fingers in their ears and noses, etc. He even had magic tricks. They were "Now you see it....[throw object]....Now you don't" tricks, and they all ended in him finding the objects in someone's butt.

Just a few quotes from the week:
"Oh jeez!" -- Brett
"I'm private property, darn you!" -- Gavin (the demon child)
"Get back to nature. Hike naked!" -- Map posted on a trail
"Please step out of the vehicle...." -- Me while I was "arresting" someone
"This is the only face she's got." "Well obviously...." -- Me and Ashley
"We don't ask questions. We just go with it." -- Joy
"Duck!" -- Me
"Wet floor, hot floor, hot man!" -- Gavin (pointed to Danny)
"My low point is when everyone hated me. My high point is now, when everyone doesn't hate me" -- Garrett
"Hey Kyle, did you find your pants yet?" -- Joy
"I drooled all over my face. I haven't done that in years." -- Kyle after Joy put water on his face while he was sleeping
"I swear that spider jumped on me!" -- Kyree
"I love random patches of stuff. It makes pictures look better." -- Me



Kyle, Gavin, and Danny

Sam on top of Inspiration Point
Random patch of plants
Kyree in deep concentration
Steve scratching his nose
I'll randomly post more pictures whenever I feel like doing it. I just don't have the ambition to put more on here right now.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

¡Adios para cuatras días!

Yes, I will be gone for four days, starting tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. I'll be back from this camping trip sometime Thursday night.

I'd like to ask you to keep my mom in your prayers this week. She has a mastectomy on Wednesday to rid her of her breast cancer, and I know she'll have a tough time without my brother or me around to help her. My grandma will be staying in the hospital with her, but as she's said many times before, Cody and I are "her life," which makes it hard to even go on this trip without feeling somewhat guilty.

Have a great week! God bless!

Love

I wrote this little thing on God's love back on November 16, and since I couldn't think of anything to blog tonight I decided to post this. It's not the greatest (I realize that), but it's just one of those things I wrote as it came to me and such.


"All great characters in stories are the ones who give their lives for something bigger than themselves. And in all of the stories I don't find anyone more noble than Jesus. He gave His life for me, in obedience to His Father. I truly love Him for it. ... I think the difference in my life came when I realized, after reading [the Gospels], that Jesus didn't just love me out of principle; He didn't just love me because it was the right thing to do. Rather, there was something inside me that caused Him to love me."
-- from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

We all know that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the world to save us from the sins that we, the people, had committed. But He didn't just come to the world, live and teach God's Word, then die when the time came. Jesus really made an effort to see exactly what His Father saw in us that made us loved. Jesus sought out to get to know the people, especially the lowly, poor, and hated, and He realized that even in all of our sin, stress, and turmoil, we still find a way to seek forgiveness, show compassion, and be happy with our lives. He understood why God wanted to save us and give us eternal life, knew that He had to find a help us seek that life. Jesus found every opportunity (no matter how short) to find a way into our hearts. Some people have the Lord filling every single inch of their heart, but even having the smallest crack or crevice filled with love for Him is a success.
"...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed...Nothing will be impossible for you." -- Matthew 17:20

Here is somewhat of a prayer I wrote to go with this. It's a prayer of love. Use it if you ever want to.
Heavenly Father,
I love You. I want You to fill every bit of my heart with love for You. I know that You love us, and it took a huge price for us to be able to see how much You love us. Help us to remember the importance of asking forgiveness, not only for salvation, but for love. Because even though Your love is unconditional, we first need to accept it.
I pray also, Lord, that You will continue to let us show love to one another. Without community, we still have You. But without that community, we don't have the resources to love You by spreading Your Word, and if we aren't loving You, we aren't accepting Your love.The knowledge of LOVE is needed to accept the gifts You've given us. So I first and foremost thank You for Your love.
Amen.

Friday, June 09, 2006

El tenis....

Last night was a great council meeting. Afterwards, a caravan of us drove from the church in Blooming Prarie to Perkins in Owatonna. Before we left, Laura said if we didn't know how to get there, "just follow Janet." The convoy included, in order: Janet, Laura, Mariah, Carl/Nate, Me/Kimmy, and Sarah. Laura was losing ground on Janet, and she seemed to be slowing down. I decided to take her advice and "follow Janet" (or should I say "falloh Jannit"). I sped (not too fast) past everyone and followed Janet on the short route to Perkins. Laura decided to take the rest of the crew through town, and they managed to lose Sarah on the way.

Perkins was as interesting as ever. We wrote Nate's phone number on some sugar packets at the table before they all got there. When they finally showed up, Laura said I was "an ideeut" for driving like that. We made fun of her fantastic spelling capacity, and just hung out for a while.



Now onto tonight. I had planned to play tennis with Brice, Kimmy, and one of Kimmy's friends, but her friend couldn't play. Tommy took that spot. We headed to Blue Earth after Kimmy finally showed up, and I had to change into my sweet uniform for the match. I had some old shorts (they were a little small), my sweet Vacation Bible School shirt, and my "I'm A Member of God's Team" headband. I was definitely the only one properly dressed for tennis.

The teams were Kimmy and I against Brice and Tommy. It was a pretty even match and all, and everyone had some nice shots. Brice smoked a crazy drive over once, and I was going to swing at it. I realized, "That's going to be out," so I stopped swinging, but my wrist and the racket kept swinging. They managed to hit me under the eye. Very attractive.


El número del día: Number of times I laughed (on the inside) as I spellchecked this blog -- 5. I love Laura's inability to correctly spell words in the "verbology" of the human race. I also thank Greg for that great word. It needs a copyright....

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Mud Shark Champions

When I was first asked to play in tonight's mud volleyball tournament, I was very skeptical. I ended up going but not playing in it. I planned on just watching the games until I saw a quartet of guys walking up dressed in good ol' MAROON and GOLD. Spencer, Grant, Trent, and Logan had decided to be a team for this tournament. They became the Italian Stallions, and I became their unofficial manager.

They started out with a loss to an all-USC team called The Studs. It was pretty devastating, but this was a double-elimination tourney. They fought back through the brackets and became one of two teams with only one loss. The other was The "B" Team (or The "A" Team, I don't remember). The Studs had remained undefeated, so after another victory, the Stallions went on to the championship against The Studs. In order to win, the Stallions had to win two matches to give The Studs their two losses for elimination. After the first match, it was starting to get dark. We had to keep cleaning off the yellow volleyballs so the mud wasn't able to coat them and make them nearly invisible.

The Italian Stallions ended up winning the championship, and they were granted an awesome shark-shaped, wooden trophy with the words, "Mud Shark Champions". I, as their manager, did have to argue a few calls my brother made as line judge during the championship match, but I figured my Ron Gardenhire skills needed to be polished up anyway.

All in all, I'm glad I went to the tournament. It was awesome watching these folks sacrifice their cleanliness to win some very messy games. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and "Midnight" and "M Scribbles" made great mascots for the Italian Stallions.

El número del día: Number of times Trent flirted with girls over the phone -- at least 2. He's the mack daddy of phone flirting. Undoubtedly....

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The Omen

So, this post has nothing to do with that movie. I just couldn't think of another title.

I realized today that I have no idea why I continue to help with the recreation stuff at vacation Bible school. I don't really see what the kids get out of it. They have a good time and all, but they just like to cause trouble for us while they're supposed to be learning. I guess I just have no patience for annoying children. There are some that are calm and all, and I have no problem with them. Most of them, on the other hand, are usually too much to handle.

That's really all I've got. I guess I'll just have to deal with it for the rest of the week.

El número del día: Jesse Crain's ERA when he entered tonight's game against Seattle -- 6.66 Pretty ironic, eh?

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Quick thought

I just had a quick thought on why I might be feeling the way I feel....

Today, Cody asked Kim to just pray that this doesn't control our lives. I'm thinking that maybe I'm just having an easy time not letting it do that.

It was just a thought, and if anyone has any insight on why I feel the way I do I'd gladly listen to it.

Now is the time we will survive to see the light of another day....

I woke up today somewhat refreshed and ready to do nothing. My brother eventually came up to my room and told me about my mom's call from the doctor. She definitely does have breast cancer. For those of you who knew about it and have been praying, thank you very much. We appreciate it more than you can imagine, and I just ask that you continue to do so. For those of you who I asked to pray but didn't really know what was going on, thank you very much. And for those of you who didn't know at all, well I guess you do now, and I just ask you to keep our family in your prayers.

One might ask why I didn't tell everyone about it when my mom first said she was going to the doctor to have a lump checked. My reason is this: I didn't want all this, "Oh, I'm so sorry," stuff. I know it's just the way people express their concern for others, but it's so cliché that it sometimes just makes you want to scream. I love knowing that people are concerned and care for my family, but I guess I just didn't want all that jazz going on.

Something really strange about this whole ordeal is the fact that I'm not freaking out about it. I have no clue why, but I have a suspicion. I actually have two suspicions. The first is that it just hasn't set in yet, which would be strange. The second one is that this lack of anger/fear/sadness is just God telling me, "Don't worry. It's all going to be fine. We caught it in time. It's not nearly as bad as it could be." I would definitely choose the latter if I had a choice. I've just been praying for God to show me which it is.

When I talked to my youth director about the situation on Wednesday night, she brought up a good point. My brother and I both know that our mom loves us and worries about us all the time, but we've never really had to have that worry about her until now. That's one reason I feel bad about not having hardcore emotion about this. Maybe I'm naive or something, but I almost feel like a bad person for not feeling worried about what's going to happen. At the same time, I think it's good to be like this because I'm the type of person that always sees the glass as half-full. I love to look at the bright side of things. Like when my car was attacked again tonight, I did look at the downside of never being able to get rid of all the glitter, but at the same time I knew I'd be able to have fun getting payback. I'm seeing this whole ordeal with my mom as somewhat of a trial of our family's strength, and at the same time I'm thinking positively about the future of it all. I keep having feelings that they really did get this in time for it to not be as bad as it could.

One thing that kind of hit me today was this: For the last 3 years or so, I've gone to Relay for Life in Blue Earth. I've basically gone to have just a cool night hanging out with some of my friends and taking nice walks around the fairgrounds. Today when my mom came up to my room to talk to me more about what was going on, I was wearing my Relay for Life shirt from 2003. She asked me, "Are you walking again this year?" And I said I was. When I changed clothes a little while later, I noticed what shirt I was wearing and thought to myself, "Wow. Relay has a whole new meaning to me now."

I'm not sure this whole blog is structured enough to make sense because I'm just typing it as I think of it, but I just needed to get a few feelings down. I thank you all for your prayers, and I appreciate the fact that my family has such a great community by our side.

El número del día: Number of Psalms I read last night that fit the current situation -- 3

Friday, June 02, 2006

School's out....for a while....

Having completed my sophomore year of high school (successfully, for the most part), I decided I would make a quick comment concerning the school building itself.

WE'VE GOT WINDOWS!

Why do I say that? Becuase Fairmont doesn't, and we love to dwell on that fact that their school is essentially a prison. And for all the Fairmont Fools who won't ever read this blog: Say goodbye to your precious Mike Wubbena. You're shipping him off to Augustana while Sheehan is going to Purdue. If you ask me, Wubbena is probably crying about it. Maybe the mayor of Fairmont should give him the key to the city just to cheer him up. And while they're at it, they should name all the streets after him since he's been their precious "all-star" since the day he was born.

Oh, and one last piece of information for Fairmont:
BEA = Maroon
Fairmont = Red
Color blind?
El número del día: Number of times the name "Mike Wubbena" was spoken during our Spanish lunch at El Mariachi in Fairmont -- 74