I started writing a post a while back, but never finished it (how many entries start that same way?). Anyway, I'm going to finish this entry then I'll provide a more current update in a separate entry.

On June 9th, I received an unexpected phone call. Emilie and I had just returned from Bajio and the video store when the phone rang. It was a friend from church and he had somehow come into great fortune in the form of INXS concert tickets. It was a last minute thing, so he was trying to find someone to go with him. We got there a little bit after the show had started. They sang some songs that I recognized. Even though the singer liked to use naughty words, the show was totally worth it because the singer, J.D. Fortune, had a bad leg, which was wrapped in a brace. He was trying to jump around the stage and look cool, but just looked kind of funny. The best part was when he climbed off the stage to interact with the crowd, but then couldn't get back on stage. He had two people on the stage pulling him up and one guy on the ground pushing him up. All the while he continued to sing. It would be impossible to put a dollar value on that kind of entertainment. You can see the sweet brace in the picture below.

Chase had his first real cold. It was sad. He couldn't blow his nose, so it was even worse. He passed it on to us and he's been grounded ever since (just kidding!).

I did a little bit of Geocaching, but not really much to speak of.

We had a raging birthday party for Emilie's brother on the 11th. Pretty much all of Emilie's family came over and we barbecued copious quantities of steak.

That's the quick and skinny to complete this entry. The follow-up to bring us up-to-date should appear tomorrow. Maybe.

The last week has truly been a week of milestones. Some good, some bad.

The first milestone happened last Saturday when I went biking. I went up to do my usual White's Creek Loop ride, but I decided to include the Galena Creek Park trail in the ride. It's roughly an extra four miles, but they can be fairly grueling miles. The first part of the trail is so steep that you have to lean forward to keep your front wheel on the ground while pedaling. If you stand up then you usually can't get enough traction. If you happen to stop then you'll never get going again and will end up walking to the top. Other parts are eroded or very rocky, especially considering the incline. I went all the way to the bridge at the south entrance and then cruised back. I made it through the entire ride without any stops or walking, which was good. It's a pretty good and difficult ride for being so close to town. I think the whole trip is between 12 and 14 miles, but I munched it toward the end and didn't realize that my bike computer quit calculating. Who knows when I'll brave it again to get a better measurement.

We had our first park party of the year. Our family likes a certain park and we usually go there several time a year for picnics. We played some frisbee and had some delicious food. Given the decision-making process that led to our trip to the park, this can certainly be considered a milestone, as well. A phenomenal time was had by all.

A miraculous milestone happened yesterday when they finally completed our patio cover. We signed a contract on the cover in January, it was supposed to be done in April and they just finished it yesterday. We had the extreme misfortune of selecting Affordable Patios and Sunrooms. They submitted incorrect plans to the city repeatedly and they wouldn't return phone calls. They then blamed us for causing them to take so long to start. When they finally started, it wasn't even them that installed it - they contracted it out to someone else. If you're reading this because you were searching for information on their business, please, please, please don't give them your business. They aren't the cheapest, but I would be surprised if there is a business that is less reliable.

The next milestone is that Chase finally figured out the jumping action while using the jumper mentioned in the May 1, 2006 post. The first day he really figured it out was last Saturday. We went to a baptism later that night and he wouldn't stop jumping. If we helped him stand he would wildly start jumping and we couldn't control him. It was quite amusing. Now that he knows what to do, he loves being in the jumper. He sometimes won't go to sleep because he wants to be in the jumper. He'll kick his legs and thrash about until he gets to jump, but then he'll promptly go to sleep after.

Final milestone: Chase got his first cold. It is very sad. He coughs and chokes all night and he can barely breathe. He's not old enough to blow his nose or properly breathe through his mouth, so we helplessly watch him suffer and try to help however we can. I went to the store earlier tonight to get him some Vicks Babyrub. Between that and the humidifier he finally seems to be breathing clearly and sleeping like a...like a baby!

As promised, I was definitely surprised. On several levels, actually. I, of course, was surprised to see that Sam and Lisa's blog was updated. It was actually only 14 days, 9 hours and 49 minutes between posts, which would seem like frequent posting on Mike's blog. I was surprised that Lisa's dad's birthday is on June 5th, but I was mostly surprised that they made it back from Paradise without any tree encounters. Congratulations!

I rode my bike to work two out of the four work days this week. That means that my fuel savings has easily reached into the dollars. I finally calculated my trip and discovered that it's a longer ride than I thought. It's just barely under four miles - I figured it was probably between two and three. That means I'm getting almost eight miles of excitin' ridin' every time I ride to work! This experience has made me quite the mathematician.

I finished reading Can America Survive? by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth. For some reason I had a hard time getting started with this book, but once I got to the second chapter I was hooked. It was very educational and entertaining. It would be a good read for someone who isn't heavily into politics (and anyone else). I also finished listening to Rebel in Chief by Fred Barnes on audiobook. It wasn't as entertaining and engrossing as "Can America Survive?", but it had a lot of good information about George W. Bush. The book was read by Fred Barnes and he spoke very fast. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it didn't feel so rushed.

The week went by fast - I'm ready for the weekend.