Now that I'm married, there's nothing better to do than blog.

And that is my reentry into the world of spilling your guts for anyone who wants to read about it. As you can see from the comments on the six months of writing below, that's not too many. But those of you who do, you're great, really. So, let's see, what's new?

1. I retired from running.
Don't expect any more marathon updates or anything crazy like that. Running and I are over. I can't control myself. I went from about zero running for a few months to nine miles in one day after about four or five weeks. And then I broke down like always, because zero miles to nine miles is overdoing it. I can't run in moderation, so it's over for good.

2. We are settled into the new house.
We've been here long enough to have almost everything put away. We've made a couple of painful payments and stuff is starting to break. Joys of homeownership, right? Anyway, it's awesome. I'm sitting here with the windows open, the breeze at my back, and some unnecessarily long grass within my sights. I'll get to it tomorrow.

3. We got married last week.
Katie and I are official. We flew to Vegas, waited for the families to arrive, and did some gambling. (And then we went to the blackjack tables... ba dum cha!) Really tho, the wedding went well, the ceremony was nice and short. The champagne was cold. After we put the family back on planes, we drove a rented Mustang convertible to the Grand Canyon and did some hiking. Then we went back to Vegas to catch our plane and lost a lot more money that night.

Anyway, I think three complete topics is enough for today. Don't want this to be like running. I'll try to post something else before the end of the year... if anyone is still reading.

Oh yeah... we moved!

I completely forgot to post an update on the move. We got mostly moved in, thanks to a lot of help from family and Jeff... (Thanks, Jeff.) Then Katie's parents and brother visited for 4th of July weekend, so I wasn't on the computer much. They helped us with a few home improvement projects and let us show them a few of the cool places in Indy before heading back to Iowa. We also hosted the monthly family game nite last nite with my mom's family. So, all my relatives on that side got to come down from Boone County and get a look at the new place. They also got to participate in a rousing game of DVD Family Feud (which the men won 804-295, despite being outnumbered four to eight). Now that we've got an empty house for a while, we can start hanging up some pictures and making the place a little more ours instead of just a place to put our furniture!

Here's a few photos of the house I took over 4th of July weekend. It's messy and not set up, but I'll go ahead and insert them into the posterity of the Internet.

Move Update

It looks like pretty much everything is squared away for the big move. After a couple agonizing weeks dealing with mortgage people, it looks like everything is where it should be. I'm not going to get too far into it, but let's just say you should avoid getting your mortgage through Bank of America if you can help it. Customer service is not their forté. A quick call elsewhere and all of our headaches were gone.

We close on the loan on Wednesday and should get the keys sometime on Friday. That means this weekend is "packing" weekend, and next weekend will be moving weekend. I say "packing" because we are only moving a few blocks, so it's going to be real half-assed packing. I think the plan is to throw the kitchen in some boxes, move them to the new house, put them away, and bring the boxes back to the apartment for the next room.

Today, my manly self installed a trailer hitch on the Escape so we can tow a trailer with the big stuff on it. I know, I know, pretty impressive. My hands were dirty and everything. The instructions said it would take 40 minutes, but it took me an hour. I guess I needed more pictures. The important thing is: it's done and it's at least sturdy enough to support my weight on it. We'll see how it does with more next weekend.

More Big News

Katie and I keep coming up with more big news to broadcast on the blog. This time we are in the process of buying a house. Although it's really good news and very cool for us to finally be moving somewhere permanent and not paying rent anymore, the house-buying process is way too grueling for me. After years of being about to pick up whatever I want at a store or buy something online and get it in a couple days, The idea of waiting a month and a half to get possession after we've signed the offer is just unreal.

So the stats of the place: It's a 3-bedroom, 2½-bathroom, two-story house. It has a dining room, living room, kitchen, half-bath laundry room and two car garage on the first level, and two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a master suite upstairs. We also have a small back yard and a small wooded area behind that.

The neighborhood seems pretty nice and quiet, and the way it's built, there's nowhere else to build, so it's as big as it can get. We're also not too far away from the park, and the best news of—we only have to move about half a mile from our current apartment! So, we'll be moving the weekend of June 27th. Keep that in mind if any of you want to help us move some stuff.