Soldier

by George L. Skypeck

I was that which others did not want to be.

I went where others feared to go, and did what others failed to do.

I asked nothing from those who gave nothing, and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness ... should I fail.

I have seen the face of terror; felt the stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment's love.

I have cried, pained, and hoped ... but most of all, I have lived times other would say were best forgotten.

At least someday I will be able to say that I was proud of what I was ... a soldier.

It is the Soldier

by Charles M. Province

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

Whoe has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,

Who serves under the flag,

Whose coffin is draped in the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

The Employee Committee

Me and Amanda

The Dunk Tank

Summer Picnic

We had our annual summer picnic Friday night. It was a perfect night for it and the picnic was a huge success. I somehow ended up being the emcee for the night (I'm still not quite sure how that happened). And someone thought that it would be great to have the President of the Employee Committee participate in the dunk tank from now on. Lucky me! That water was freezing!

For your Monday afternoon!

We're getting there!
I know it will still be a while before we are completely settled, but we're off to a good start!

Yay packing! Yay moving!

Yeah, right.

Most of the apartment is packed up now. We only have a couple rooms left! I can't quite seem to figure out why I thought it was so great to move every single year in college. This two year break from moving was really nice. It's going to be a long, long time before we do this again.

Fat Daddy's Houes of Bones ... Best ribs by far!

Starship!!

RibFest 2007

Thursday night, Dustin and I went to RibFest in Sioux Falls with my parents. It's become quite a tradition for us (last year we went to see Joan Jett). The ribs were amazing as always. There were two new vendors there this year, Auusim Aussies (he had a pretty good raspberry chipolte sauce) and Fat Daddy's. Fat Daddy's was by far our favorite.

This year, I decided I was brave enough to try the thermo-nuclear sauce at Johnson's. While I did survive, it was terrible! Our thermo-nuclear sauce was mixed with regular sauce so we didn't have to sign a waiver. That's right, they make you sign a waiver to eat this stuff. I only had the tiniest bit on a piece of meat. My dad even laughed at me because I didn't have that much. From the instant I put it in my mouth, I started sweating and crying. Yes, the sauce brought tears to my eyes.

After I recovered, we made our way to the stage for Starship! Of course I was familiar with "We Built This City", I just had no idea some of their other songs. They were amazing. There are so many groups out there that I would have loved to have seen in their prime ... and with their original members. At least most of them are still going strong. And they still rock!

Cormorants Baseball

This was taken at one of Dustin's games a couple weeks ago. I think they might have actually won this one! (That doesn't happen very often.)

I'm having some issues getting pictures up ... hopefully I can get some more game pictures up soon.

Good News!

We found out today that the sellers are willing to move up our closing date to June 15!

I can't believe we'll be in our house in a couple of weeks!

There's a reason we put a do-rag on her ... her shirt says

"My Mom is a Rockstar"!

And yes, Nichole bought that shirt for her!

I thought I would take the liberty of creating a little calendar for Dustin's games. The schedule I have isn't very creative and I would rather have something nicer, and more fun, to hang on my fridge. With the exception of some of the away games, I'll be at all the games ... anyone who wants to watch some baseball is welcome to join me!

All things must come to an end ...

Today is Beth's last day at Daktronics. I really don't know what I'm going to do without her here.

Beth came over last night, along with Rachel and Lacey, and I made them spaghetti and garlic bread and Rachel brought the wine. We watched the results from American Idol (I was shocked to find out that Melinda didn't make it to the finals) and Gray's Anatomy (excellent season finale ... I can't believe Christina and Burke didn't get married!). We had so much fun and we've made plans to get together at least once a month after Beth moves to Sioux Falls.

We'll miss you Beth!! Don't be a stranger!

Running crazy!

This weekend was a weekend that was definately inspired by, and filled with, runners! Yesterday was the Brookings Marathon. I have volunteered for this marathon for four years now with my sister (and Dustin when he's around). Each year, we hope and pray that it will be nice out and every year we sit at the corner of 2nd and 7th with a winter coat, stocking cap and gloves ... and an umbrella. This was finally the year. It was gorgeous out! The runners were definately in a better mood too. We always have so much fun volunteering and it's amazing how much the runners appreciate us. Allie even came out to help!

After we were done at our post, we met up with my parents and cheered on the rest of their relay team and my uncle, who ran the full marathon. For those that don't quite understand ... that's 26.2 miles. He completed the marathon in approximately four hours and 23 minutes. We watched the last participant of the relay team and my uncle cross the finish line at Pioneer Park, where we also enjoyed burgers and brats from Hy-Vee's "Grill Named Sue" and music from Eclipse. It was a great day! But we weren't quite done. We had to back-track the marathon route, picking up mile marker signs and cones. Once we finally finished it was time for a couple beers at Cubby's. We left our house at 7 a.m. and finally got home around 6 p.m.

Today, we went to Madison for a family brunch at the country club and then we went to the Dakota State fieldhouse and watched my cousin, Reid, compete in the long jump and triple jump. This was his last career jump, with the exception of the national meet. It was amazing. He's broken a record that stood for 36 years and was hoping for a personal best today. We had to leave before he finished, so hopefully he got that best jump!

Home Sweet Home ... And This Time I Mean It!!

We've been eying this house for about a week now. It wasn't available for showing until yesterday. So last night we went to see it and a few hours later we put an offer in. Our realtor called us today (Anita, you're the best!) and told us the situation. There were already three offers on the house when we went to go see it. We didn't necessarily get into a bidding war ... the seller's really liked our offer so they told us where we needed to be and we got there!

We're Home Owners!

212 Santee Pass will be our new home.

We close on or before June 22.

So ... anyone ready to help us pack and move?

Happy 28th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Their anniversary is actually May 4th. Trish and I sent a text to Cory (he's the Dak guy that now works for the Brewers) and asked him to display this for me. He put this up at the bottom of the third. It's not our board, but it is our content, so it's still pretty cool!

The gang's all here!

Buckley is quite the dancer!

Enjoying some live music at Mo's Irish Pub

Miller Park ... This stadium is unbelievable!

Milwaukee Baby!

We had our NC region meeting in Milwaukee and it was great! Wednesday night we had a group dinner at Benihana's (mmm ... sushi) and then we checked out a live band. By band, I mean two guys that played guitar and keyboard and sang some really great songs. It was a blast. Thursday consisted of meetings (held at Miller Park) and Thursday night we watched the Brewers take on the Pirates. The Brewers lost ... boo, hiss ... but it was still a great game!

I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again ...

I started to type this and got that song stuck in my head! I'm leaving tomorrow for Milwaukee. We have some meetings for work there, but it won't be all work and no play. We're going to the Brewers vs. Pirates game Thursday night! Hopefully I'll have some fun pics to post when I return on Friday.

Congratulations John and Amanda!

Their son, Nathan John, was born last night!

Happy Birthday Lucinda!

Cheers to 21 years!

Yay Tonic Sol Fa!

After the week I've had, the perfect ending was the Tonic Sol Fa concert I went to last night with my mom and my sister. These guys simply amaze me. If you've never heard them, check them out (they'll be at the Sioux Empire Fair and the SD State Fair this year). I guarantee you will be a fan. They showcased some new songs last night that are awesome ... I can't wait for the new cd to come out!

The little girl in the picture is the daughter of one of my co-workers. Yes, I shamelessly used her to get in line, get my cd signed and meet the boys!

Better luck next time, I guess.

Our offer wasn't accepted. Turns out there were four other offers made on the house ... the listing agent didn't tell our agent about it, even though he knew that we made the first offer on the house last night. So we spent a better part of the day thinking that we would be home-owners by this afternoon. Our hopes were dashed around 2:30.

I guess that will teach me to get my hopes up!

Home Sweet Home?

Well, we did it. We put in an offer on a house!! Hopefully I'll have some good news to post tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed ... your toes crossed ... say a little prayer ... anything!!

Happy Birthday baby!

Dustin finally got his truck! My favorite feature is the adjustable pedals!!

My competitive singing days are over ...

Last night was the local karaoke finals, of which I was a participant. The top two advance to the state finals next weekend in Sioux Falls. Alas, I placed third. I got a koozie for my efforts though! All in all, it was fun. When I entered the first contest it was simply for fun, something to do. I went last night with no expectations (Shel - what did you say expectations were?) other than to just have a good time and sing my best. I had a great time. There were some really great singers in the bunch ... and of course others that weren't so great! For those of you hoping to see me on the next season of American Idol, I'm afraid that won't happen!!

I've kind of been in a funk this week. Not sure why ... maybe it's stress at work, maybe it's the weather. Who knows. Either way, this week has sucked. So, I made myself some flowers!

Happy Birthday Shelly!

Spring Fling!

For a special day ...

It's a great day to be a jackrabbit!

Congratulations to the South Dakota State University Women's Basketball team on a thrilling 60-53 victory over Indiana State University. That game was awesome!!

Go big. Go blue. Go Jacks!

My current desktop wallpaper. This was originally (and still is) a cover for one of my steno notebooks. I found the tickets and the text and my friend incorporated the guitar. Then I turned it into desktop wallpaper. If you look real close at the tickets you can see how cheaps concerts used to be. Those were the days, I guess!

thoughts

"There is a gigantic difference between

earning a great deal of money and being rich."

- Marlene Dietrich

Happy Birthday Abby!

Make it stop!

My refrigerator is driving me crazy! It's on the verge of dying and it will not go quietly into that gentle night. My only relief is that I'm getting a new one tomorrow. Only it's not tomorrow and I'm ready to scream! That is one thing that I will miss about living in an apartment ... one phone call and you get new appliances.

I went over to Nichole's last night to watch a movie and we put Piper's new vest on her. She absolutely hates it, she will hardly move when she has it on! But we love it ... it's so cute!

I'm a singin' fool

Friday night started out as any other Friday night. I met a few friends from work at Skinners. Dustin met up with us later and we headed over to Rachel's for a couple drinks, then to The Cellar for an art opening. After that we headed to Main Street Pub for a little karaoke. Turns out they were having a karaoke contest. After quite a bit of encouraging from Dustin, Rachel, and some other work friends that happened to be there, I decided to enter. Another girl that I work with also entered the contest. I sang I Hate Myself For Lovin' You and I won! She won too. We both received $10 bar tabs ... we basically broke even, the entry fee was $10.

Desktop Publishing

I presented to the Desktop Publishing class at SDSU yesterday. A friend of mine teaches the course and another friend of mine is in it. They are currently learning InDesign, a program that I use every day at work. I told them about a few features that I really like and also told them how I use the program. They asked a lot of great questions and I actually had answers for them! I think they enjoyed seeing that you don't have to be a graphic designer to use these programs and that even Journalism majors can be desktop publishers! I've been told that I will be invited back next year!

Some things to think about ...

I subscribe to Real Simple (if you've never perused this particular magazine, I suggest you pick up a copy ... it's great!) and they feature a reader every month. They have several questions that they pose to the chosen reader. Some of them are silly, but some of them really make you stop and think. So, I thought I would share some of them with everyone.

What is your motto?
What makes you laugh?
High road or Low road?
What's the one thing you'll never understand?
What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
What surprises you most about your adult life?
What's your favorite place in the world?
Biggest waste of time?
My life would be simpler if ...
The big decision I'm currently wrestling with is ...
If I knew then what I know now ...

Happy Valentine's Day

Continue to love deeply and risk everything for the good thing.

Miss Allie

Who knew!

After leaving Stef's party, we went bowling! It was so much fun and I wasn't as terrible as I thought I would be. I even got two strikes! We also had the opportunity to meet Shel's boyfriend, Mike. He is such a great guy and we had a great time with them!

Farewell Stef!

Stef is moving on to bigger and better things at Daktronics, so we got together to toast her new adventure. Stef's Mom, Lynelle, loves her some spinach artichoke dip!