Golf is a good walk spoiled.

-Mark Twain

I'm in minor panic mode right now. The office newsletter came out a couple of days ago and announced that we are having an office golf outing next Thursday. Back in my high school days, I golfed a lot. In fact, I was not too bad. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I was good…just decent. Not going to this work event doesn't seem like an option for me. Of course, I don't have to go but if someone else is paying for me to play 18 holes and have some fun, I feel like I should go.

It's been a few years since I've even picked up a golf club. As such, I feel like I need to practice so I won't make a total fool out of myself. I plan to make a trip to the driving range this weekend and maybe play a few holes sometime early next week. Luckily, my clubs are in town but I don't have a clue where any of my other stuff is…shoes, glove, etc. I need to get some golf balls for sure. It sounds like a trip to the local sports store may be in order.

We've been a little spoiled at work lately. Last night we took a 2 hour "happy hour" cruise around Lake Minnetonka. It was a good time. For those of you familiar with The Office, it was somewhat similar to the booze cruise episode. Someone should win an award for the open bar concept!

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.

Liz Carpenter

I'm generally not one who loves phone conversations. I usually prefer face to face conversations or emails. Normally my 450 minute cell phone plan is more than enough. However, this month I have already gone past my 450 minutes and my billing cycle doesn't end until Thursday. It's odd because all of a sudden I feel like I can't go for the next 4 days without talking to someone not on the Verizon network (IN minutes are free).

So for those of you not using Verizon, don't call me until Friday :)

a happy tuesday to you all

Really, it's already July 29th? How did that happen??

I know I'm not much for updating this thing lately. There are several things I'm trying to sort out and on top of that, I've been doing a lot of running back and forth to Rochester. Luckily things on the Mom front are going well, so I can't complain much.

I got a new addition to my technological family last night. Mediacom called and said my HD DVR box was in. Yay! So I picked it up yesterday afternoon. I watched part of the Twins game after I got it hooked up and then ventured to the "on demand" feature. As it turns out, seasons 1 & 2 of "Mad Men" is an option. I've heard good things so I gave it a try. It's really good. The show is set in the early 1960s and focuses on the world of corporate advertising. I stayed up way too late watching it last night and managed to catch an episode this morning when I realized I didn't have to be into the office until 8:30.

This afternoon I have my mid-year review. That should be interesting.

On a fun note, my sister called last night and we're going to Inver Grove Heights on Saturday for a "meet Mike Redmond" event.

give blood!

This is perhaps my favorite series of hospital literature ever.

day 2

Two new posts at the Caring Bridge website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/kolberding

I'm looking forward to sleep tonight. I ended up making a trip with Dad to Dunnell this morning so I spent 5 hours in the car today. I was able to take a two hour nap this afternoon but that's been it for sleep since I woke up yesterday morning at 7.

I'm celebrating our country's independence with some good ol' American baseball. Twins games Friday and Saturday night with a trip to Rochester inbetween.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

day 1

Just when I thought my life was boring...

This morning my mom and I were sitting in my parent's living room watching a movie. All of a sudden the phone rings. As it turns out, it was the transplant clinic at Mayo. We were supposed to gather our things and get to Rochester ASAP. So we called my dad at work, told him to head home and we threw a few things together. We got to Rochester aorund 3. They got her ready to go and we walked down to surgery a little after 4. Surgery officially started at 4:20 and since she's having a double transplant, they expect the procedure to take 10-12 hours. Last we heard, all of the incisions are made, the doner is prepped and they've started the actual transplant. So now we're sitting and waiting for updates. We're about to go across the street and get checked in at the hotel.

We put a CaringBridge page together to make it a little easier to update everyone. Here's the link:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/kolberding

I'll try to keep everything updated as often as I can. Luckily there's a computer on the floor Mom's room is on so it should be easy enough to do updates.

Happy good thoughts everyone!!

inevitable return of the great white dope

I'm back, I guess. So here's an update for the past month and a half...with pictures of course!

I moved. Yay! I'm loving the new apartment. There's plenty of room for me and my random guests. The view is pretty stellar out back. Here's the view from the dock
Overall, moving went well with the exception of one little incident that led to the purchase of something new and shiny.

So that's fun. It's money I wish I still had in my pocket, but it is what it is.

Work is going well enough. We finally have a full staff. It's nice not to feel totally overwhelmed all of the time.

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Fantasticland (aka Valleyfair) with a few college friends and then a steak eating, wine drinking party. No pictures of that. They're all on someone else's camera.

Last weekend I had a few of the high school friends & Rachel over for a small bbq by the lake. Zeke and I went shopping and he bought me an apartment warming grill.


We actually had so much random stuff to bring in that we had to use 2 shopping carts to bring it in.
I also got to see my adorable goddaughter.

That weekend I found out that my hard drive "may fail". So this weekend I got an external hard drive to back everything up on.

Yeah, I'm girly. I ended up getting the pink one over the bigger and probably better option that Zeke reccomended. I blame Rachel :)

As for this week? I'm on vacation. I took off the whole week to do nothing. I'm going to spend a few days visiting my parents and will come back for the 4th. I have a Twins/Indians game to go to on the 5th.