So long, 2008!

It has been a tremendously eventful year to say the very least. I've gotten a new job, moved to a new city, gotten married, and had all kinds of fun with friends and family here and around the country. Vivian and I were able to ring in the New Year the same way we did 366 days ago: with a sparkling cider toast in the basement of 1316 Jones Street at GAMe's New Year's Eve party. We had live music courtesy of Big Bo and the Biscuit Eaters, who covered a series of very danceable songs as dozens of us squeezed into the too-small dance floor to bump into each other in a crude mockery of East Coast Swing. They had plenty of other things going on as well, including two rooms of Rock Band, Apples to Apples, and Foosball. After the party, we dropped by Eric's apartment for some waffles and do-it-yourself mixed drinks.

2008 was truly a year to remember. Here are a few of the highlights from the thousands of pictures I've taken:

• January: We have a shoot-out at Hugh's house and I make a modest proposal to Vivian.
• February: Who needs crowded, overpriced restaurants on Valentine's Day when you can get take-out steak dinner and open a bottle of sweet Nebraska wine?
• March: An 80s party, air-guitar karaoke, and singing Love Shack with a group of lovely backup singers. What could be more radical?
• April: Vivian and I take a trip to Cedar Rapids to celebrate my Uncle Ben's 70th birthday and meet several members of my extended family, including Grandma Gibbs, Ben and Shannon (our ring-bearer and flower girl, respectively).
• May: Vivian and sign the lease for our new apartment, and I move on up to Omaha with the help of a few good friends!
• June: Goodbye, Land and Sky! I started a new career in Omaha had one last round of goodbye drinks with my co-workers the night before my last day.
• July: Vivian and I tie the knot and escape to "Bah-ha-bah" Maine for a week.
• August: I turn 30. Hold me, please.
• September: Vivian turns 29. She's catching up to me.
• October: I get to visit Vivian's hometown of Petaluma, meet more of her family, and attend her ten-year high school reunion.
• November: Comic Genesis friends Dan "Vorticus" Zastrow and Michelle "Dragonmajik" Mayo get married in Kansas City. I wind up being the Best Man.
• December: My dear Grandma Gibbs passes away, and nearly the entire family comes together to remember. Vivian gets to meet more of my goofy side of the family.

Here's to the end of one amazing year, and the dawn of yet another. Cheers to you, 2008!

Order of the Shovel

It was the Saturday after Christmas, a Lisa decided to invite us to a party with the illustrious members of the Order of the Shovel. She cooked up some delicious chili and potato soup for us, and we spent the evening stuffing our faces and bull scrapping the night away over samples of wine and beer. Lisa had some Christmas Crackers for us to open, winning herself a Boy Toy in the process, among other things. Our friend Ben "Risky" Rassmussen asked Sarah and Jillian pull his cracker, earning him a knighthood in the Order of the Shovel. We worked in a game of Apples to Apples somewhere in the mix, and we had intended to watch The Princess Bride, but we had more fun just being goofballs.

Video from our evening of mayhem

Married Christmas

Another eventful Christmas season has come and gone once again. This one was special, of course, because it was our first Christmas as a married couple. I suppose we were fortunate, in a way, to have been able to see my side of the family a few weeks ago when we gathered for Grandma's funeral in Cedar Rapids, so in a way we were able to celebrate with both sides a bit this year.

Vivian and I spent our Christmas Eve in Bellevue. We dropped by the Bellevue Christian Center, Vivian's old church, to attend their candlelight service. They had a couple very cute skits and several of our favorite Christmas songs to sing together. After the service, we drove up the road to have dinner with Vivian's parents and open a couple presents. It was a memorable occasion for me, because I got to learn for the first time that there is, in fact, a big difference between "yams" and "sweet potatoes." I'd grown up calling those orange things mashed up with marshmallows and brown sugar "sweet potatoes." In fact, sweet potatoes seem to be golden yellow mashed things that you dress up with butter and garlic instead. At least that's the way Jack does it.

We opened a couple presents, including Dilbert on DVD and a book on marriage from my parents, and Vivian surprised me with a lovely pair of black dress shoes! They'll be perfect for dancing once I break them in.

On Christmas Day, Vivian and I made some bacon and eggs for breakfast together and watched It's a Wonderful Life on the couch, snacking on some egg nog and pumpkin pie fudge throughout the morning. We also opened more presents. Vivian gave me the Star Wars Robot Chicken video, which was hilarious, and I gave her a sushi starter kit among other things.

We gathered at Vivian's parents' house together that afternoon. We stuffed ourselves with hors d'oeuvres, and then filled what space we had left with turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole. Vivian invited Eric and her friends Sherry and Rob to join us. My brother Nathan also came. Sherry is quite an artist, so we enjoyed passing a sketchbook back and forth and "improving" one another's artwork. We opened our stocking presents later, which included such trinkets as a colored pencil frog, a boxing snowman pen, and mismatched socks. After the presents, some friends left and others came to play an extended two-hour game of cut-throat solitaire together before calling it an evening.

I was busy getting photos and video here and there and put together a brief video summary of the season for you all below. It includes footage of our Christmas tree, Vivian's office Christmas party, and gathering at her parents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas, everybody! We'll see you all next year.

Christmas Dumplings

Christmas is nearly upon us now, and with temperatures dropping below zero at night and drifting around single digits in the daytime, it's beginning to feel just a bit like the North Pole here in Nebraska. We're finding fun ways to stay warm, fortunately. On Saturday, a couple of us went to see the Christ Community Church Christmas program, "I'll be home for Christmas," which was a strange kind of musical mixed with shades of World War 2 1940s radio trivia blended in. I got a chance to try some new settings with my camera for low-light settings that my cousin-in-law Bridget showed me. It let me snap some fairly decent pictures in the dimly lit auditorium.

That evening, it was time for another Dumpling Party with Hugh and company. We put together a couple hundred yummy "pot stickers" and stuffed ourselves with pumpkin bars and a variety of other sinful Christmas treats. We played a lengthy game of Imaginiff afterward while dodging orange slices and paper plates thrown at us from the roudy bunch on the other side of the room.

Video summary of the evening

Grandma Gibbs: 1922-2008

Eula Faye Gibbs

April 30, 1922 - December 11, 2008

My grandmother has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the last several years of her life, and her passing last week has honestly been long-expected. Nonetheless, it was with a great deal of sorrow that her family gathered together to release her into the Lord's hands over the weekend. She is survived by five children, thirteen grandchildren, and too many great-grandchildren to count (including one more on the way we discovered this weekend, congratulations, Catina!) Nearly everyone on my mother's side of the family gathered to say goodbye to a woman I called Gramma. I'll carry in my heart many years of coming to see my grandparents, Faye and Bud Gibbs, in Cedar Rapids for Thanksgiving and summer visits. I consider it a blessing that Vivian and I were able to come and see grandma one more time just a week or two before her passing.

The weekend itself was also a real blessing from the Lord, since we were all able to arrive before any serious winter storms hit the Midwest. Mom, Dad, and Jonathan flew in on Friday to pick up their estranged Chrysler from Nathan and travel across Iowa. Vivian and I joined them the day after, arriving in time to catch up with family at the Visiting at Cedar Memorial before going to dinner at Valley View Baptist Church. My cousin-in-law Arlan cooked up some sloppy joes for everyone made with (surprise!) venison he'd hunted down himself. My cousin Barb also brought a bunch of cookies she'd received at a cookie exchange, and I was able to work off the sugar high by giving "airplane" rides to a number of little second cousins running around.

On the day of the funeral, most of us gathered at the Spring House restaurant for a big meal together, having some greasy breakfast and diner-type food before heading on to the church. The service was very lovely, and I was elected to capture video of the ceremony from a convenient perch in the balcony. I'm hoping to put together a DVD with video from the funeral and other activities over the weekend for anybody who wants one. A brief ice storm passed over Iowa toward the end of the day, sending most of us out to our cars to chisel them free after gathering for a few group photos. The cold snap temporarily froze the latch shut on my car door, and it kept most of us indoors for the night. We were fortunately able to get home safely.

It was a difficult, mournful weekend for those of us gathered together in Iowa over the weekend. It gives me comfort, though, to know that my grandmother been released from her sickness at last and is now in the arms of the Lord. We'll miss you Gramma, and hold you dear in our hearts on this side of Heaven. We'll all be reunited once again someday.

The Christmas season starts

It's that time of year again, the stores get crowded, and time starts running short as the days until Christmas start flying by. Vivian and I dropped by the Eagle's Lodge for another fun Jitterbugs Night Out, and then spent most of the weekend getting in the Christmas spirit. On Saturday, we hunted down a Christmas tree in the blistering cold, hauled it home on the roof of the Taurus and started decorating with lights. I also got to show Vivian the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie for the first time. I've seen it at least a dozen times, and it's still just as funny after all these years. (Got to love Aunt Bethany, played by "Betty Boop" voice actress Mae Questel).

Our other holiday preparations include doing some frantic Christmas shopping and writing up our Christmas letter for friends and family. I also want to wish my Mom and Dad a Happy Birthday this week! My dad turned the big six-oh on Monday, and my mom will be 39 again on Wednesday. I think.

One bit of sad news: my Grandma Gibbs has unfortunately taken a turn for the worse. She's been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for a number of years now, and on Monday I learned that her kidneys are starting to fail. We suspect that she had only a matters of days left, so I'd appreciate any prayers you all can muster up until that time comes.

Turkey, Hot Dogs, and Chili

I hope everyone enjoyed sharing in the great American tradition of gorging on turkey and battering crowds of demented shoppers at five in the morning this year. Vivian and I got to enjoy having Thanksgiving in Cedar Rapids, the first time as husband and wife. We hit the road bright and early at 4:30 AM, arriving in mid-morning with plenty of time to play games with cousins and their kids. We had a big turkey dinner and then settled in to watch home movies and play games. There was a rousing game of Wii volleyball, and then Shannon got to kick my butt while playing chess. We also had a fun game of Balderdash that evening, with Vivian defining dungarunga as an Australian Pooper Scooper, and me spelling out SBA as the Sagging Bottoms Association.

The next morning, Uncle Ben took us out for Coffee at a local coffee shop called Brewed Awakenings, which has to be the absolute coolest name ever. We also dropped by to visit my Grandma Gibbs at the nursing home. Her Alzheimer's is unfortunately progressing to the point where she's having trouble eating, but it was good to visit her and see her somewhat responsive. When they started serving lunch, Vivian stayed by her side with my Uncle Jim for well over an hour coaxing her into eating something. I'm reminded day after day what a wonderful woman I married.

After saying goodbye, we headed downtown to have some lunch. On the way, we toured some of the flood damage from the Great Flood of 2008 There were plenty of depressed-looking homes tagged "unsafe" with spray paint and condemnation notices. I'd seen the photos like everybody else, but when you drive through dozens of city blocks that were all underwater and now remain uninhabitable, the reality really hits you hard.

Fortunately, one of the businesses that went underwater and survives just fine was the Flying Wienie: a hot dog restaurant our family fondly remembers passing by every time we went to church at Valley View (where my parents were married, by the way). We got to enjoy some supposedly authentic Chicago-style hot dogs, though I'll need some authority like Onion-Boy to give us the official verdict on this.

And speaking of Onion-Boy, Vivian and I returned Saturday to enjoy a Chili Throwdown over at his apartment. We had a number of admirable contestants creating some mouth-watering (and searing) concoctions. I liked Mark's spicy little pot of steak chili the best, though I was impressed how Ben's experimental beet chili made those dirty little vegetables nearly palatable. After stuffing ourselves, we played a bunch of games together. They included Werewolf, a 2.0 version of Mafia that included expanded roles for the bunch of us who didn't get to participate in killing other guests while they slept. We also played a long, long game of What's Yours Like, which offered up many "TMI" moments as we tried giving each other the worst clues ever for one word or another. It was a good time, though while we enjoyed ourselves with chili, some freezing rain outside made it a little difficult for some other people to get home. I-80 and 75 were apparently shut down due to accidents.

On Sunday, I had Thanksgiving with my new in-laws, Jack and Donna. We had more turkey, watched some home videos courtesy of Vivian's Aunt Alice, and played a couple rounds of Mappy, a classic video game from 1983 that Donna is apparently hooked on. It came as part of a five-in-one standalone video game console that you hook up to your TV. I bought it for Jack as a Christmas present last year, and I'm happy to see it getting such good use now that we actually figured out how to hook it up to the TV.