Las Vegas

We just got back from another great trip to Vegas. This time the group consisted of Aly (who lives out there), Ericka, Nate, Monica, and I. We stayed at the Mirage which was a small step up from my last trip out there.

One of the trip's highlights was the new Cirque du Soleil show, "Love". This was another great show - a bit different than the other Cirque shows I've seen. Lots of acrobatics, but definitely not as much as O and Mystere - equally strange but in a much more familiar way (if that makes any sense). We all really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Monnie has written up some in depth coverage of our trip, so I'll cut mine a bit short here.

I will say though that my initial search for a link to the Cirque show was just to enter "Love" into Google. #1 on the hit list was "The Love Calculator" which I had to check out.

Looks like Monnie and I are not exactly a sure thing. The site says (based strictly on your names) that we have a 44% chance of love. The description following says that we have a chance but that it will probably take "a lot of work". It also cautions that no matter how much work we put in - it can't guarantee anything.

Of course, it didn't surprise me to find that Kevin (Burg) and Monnie would have a 91% chance. He's quite the ladies man, I bet I could put kevin and about anyone in there and it would be 90%

Rob & Emily Are Married!

Last weekend Monnie and I were in Milwaukee for a weekend of fun surrounding Rob & Emily's wedding.

After arriving Thursday night, Rob and I spent Friday working remotely from the lounge of the Pfister. Why the Pfister? It's the preferred remote workplace for the distinguished wireless internet user, of course... oh, and because our significant others were having their nails done at the salon there.

Friday night was the rehearsal (at the Pfister, which was the site of both wedding and reception), followed by dinner at Coquette Cafe. I would highly recommend the Coquette by the way - if you're looking for spot in the 3rd Ward.

Saturday was a great day. The guys watched football in Rob's room all day before the nights festivities. Everything seemed to go REALLY well - the ceremony was very nice. Justice Prosser (Rob worked for him at the state Supreme Court) officiated a very fun ceremony - a little humor mixed in with your dose of serious is always a good thing.

The speeches and the dance were great too - Monnie and Becca's maids of honor speech was a big hit and everyone had an awesome time!

Congrats kids!

(click the picture for plenty more)

Canadian Air Force

Our yard has become incredibly popular.

Welcome to the 19th century

Not a great day for Wisconsin. Many/most of my candidates did make it through yesterday but both referendums (that mattered) passed, neither of which I supported.

I guess my personal viewpoint is that the death penalty referendum passing is "unfortunate". I really don't support it, but at least this is only "advisory". Meaning that the governor and others would still need to actually approve in order for things to change. To be honest, I haven't done a whole lot of checking on how likely this is, but I'm assuming that Doyle (who won by a landslide in the end) won't go for it.

The real reason it's embarrassing to live in Wisconsin this morning is the amendment to our constitution approved yesterday.


"Marriage. Shall section 13 of article XIII of the constitution be created to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state?"

It's not exactly a smooth read. It certainly could be less wordy and more clear, perhaps (as a friend suggested yesterday) it should have read: "Do you want discrimination to be written into our constitution?", but that can't account for the incredible margin this passed by: 59%-41%.

Yes, that's right: It's the 21st century and we're voting in overwhelming numbers to add blatant discrimination to the constitution. I guess it just wasn't illegal enough already.

At least it looks like AZ got it right.

Movie Night

Monnie and I saw The Departed tonight (you can see the trailer at that link). We both thought it was awesome and definitely recommend it. Of course, you may not want to take the kids: it's a gang movie through and through - crude, politically incorrect (especially at the beginning), and people dropping left and right.

There aren't many movies with a lineup quite like this: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Martin Scorsese.

If you're in the mood for an action flick: it's a great one and I don't think you'll be disappointed.