Well, I took the older boy to see “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” tonight. I realized something. I could watch that movie a hundred times and still love it. The boy liked it a lot too.

Today, due to the loss of the original headphones with the volume control I had to add a voume control slider to the kids computer. The one in the tray is disabled by way of fortres to keep them from messing with the system time, and other goodies available there.
I accomplished this easily by creating a shortcut on the “All Users” desktop. The shortcut points to “sndrec32.exe” in teh windows system 32 directory. To get just the main volume slider, and not the full volume control panel I passed the command line option “/t”. This option causes the same slider to apper that you would get when you single click on the tray volume control.

Friday Morning, the Big Day

Friday morning started out around 8:15 with the morning contental breakfast. When I arrived I found Tony and Carrie. They sorting out some of the days details. After doing a few things that needed to be taken care of at the hotel we set off. First on our task list get the bow ties form the Tuxedo rental place. A number of the tuxes did not have the correct boxties. Some of the tuxes had straight ties and others supposedly were missing compleetly. We went to the Mall, and arrided at the shop at 10:08. The shop was closed. The night before Carrie had called and raised hell with them and they were supposed to be open, with the ties at 10:00 am. I waited at the door while Tony went to take care of something else in the mall. While Tony was gone the manger arrived and started to appologise for the delay. He then started to explain how they didn’t have all of the bowties they promised jsut yet they were short one or two. He insisted that there were some with the suits, he had checked a number of the suits himself. I puffed up a little and explained that I was told by the bride, to get 12 bowties and that is what I am going to do. He started to argue but I flared a little more and the manager backed down compleetly. At that point Tony returned and the manager rummaged in the back and low and behold produced the finall two bowties we needed. With the bowties in hand Tony and I left the mall and returned to the hotel where we distributed the ties to everyone. At that point we climbed back into the cars and I followed Tony to the reception hall to leave his car. While there we both went in to check out the decorations. Everything looked very nice and Tony seemed pleased. I then drove him back to the hotel to continue the preperations. I returned to my room to crash for about an hour so try to make sure I was rested for the actuall ceremony. After about 30 minutes or so, my phone range, and it was Tony. He was curious about lunch plans, and I told him I had none. He suggested we all go someplace when he got back to the hotel. It seems he decided to walk to the mall ( about 4 blocks from the hotel) to get his nails done. When he returned most of all of the wedding part walked down to the Perkins down the street for lunch. The service wasn’t great, it took about an hour to get our food. We were within 5 minutes of walking out. I even had to get a little harsh to get silverware for half of the table. Once dinner was over we returned to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. By this point my nerves were starting to get really rough. I decided to slip down to the hottub to help me unwind while I practiced the toast. It helped some and I returned to the room feeling a little more relaxed. At that point my roomate Dan, one of the ushers, and I began to get ready for the wedding. I was showered dressed and ready pretty quickly, which is slightly surprising for me when it comes to dressing fancy. Lets jsut say, I’m not a fan.
While waiting in the tux, Dan and his fiancee came out of the bedroom area needing help with the cufflinks, and button studs. I showed them what to do, and put the cufflinks in for Dan. Just as I finished that a knock came at the door and it was Tony mostly dressed. He neede dhelp with his bowtie, as well as the cufflinks. Trish immediatly asked him what was the problem with his bowtie, as it looked funny. It dawened on me at that point that he had put on one of the kids bowties instead of the adult variety. Trish and I headed to his room to fix that mistake and make sure he got everyhitgn else right. Once he was dressed, we headed back to our room, as I approaced teh room the rest of the groomsman, and useres were miling about in front of my room. Each one struggling to figure out the tux. I stood there and dressed / instructed them on how to put on the accessories of the tux. At that point on of the groomsmen made the mistake of point out to me that he was wearing white socks. “No, you are not”, I responded. he pulled up the pant leg to prove it. I immediatly ordered him to get his ass in my room immediatly. I was expecting this and had bought a 6 pack of black socks. “No one is goign to notice it!??!?!”, he pleaded. I responded with, “Like hell they won’t, get in there and get some black socks on!” He grumbled and wasn’t moving. “Look, this is not about you this is about Tony and Carrie. You are here for THEM, not for YOU, you will wear black socks or I will kick your ass!” He folded and went in and put the socks on. After that we all made our way to the lobby to figure out driving arrangements. Tony, Cody and Nathan rode with me and we all arrived at the church at 3:30.

Next time… “The Wedding“.

Good Morning World! I slept extreemly well last night., and I wasn’t woken up by any disasters this mornig either. I got up, went downstairs threw in a pizza for lunch. (Yes I slept that long) So far it’s been a nice morning. I’m actualyl in a goos mood and all seems well.

Boy was that a long drive last night. I really gotta watch doing that. I knew I was getting in trouble when I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a large hippopotamus in a tu-tu sleeping on a giant red couch in the middle of the road. Thankfully for my safety, and the safety of others I was only two blocks from home. If I had seem that any furher away I would certainly have pulled the car over and took a nap. At least this time the trees on the side of the road didn’t turn into a giant lion. That was about 6 years ago when that happened.

Well, I’m awake… I got home this morning around 1:30 a.m. Yesterday I got home around 2:30 a.m. So for the last two days I had around four hours of sleep. It was woth it thoguh. I helped Karl order his computer & PDA and got to see a Seelie Court show, as well as go out for dinner.
The show was fun, I think we scared the Barrington Library regulars. Every person I talked to seemed a little frightened of me. I tried selling CD’s but they didn’t seem to interested. I half wonder if they thoguht perhaps I was a crook. I got the distinct impression of that from four or five people.
Oh well… Ya win some, ya loose some…

Thank you to everyone who responded to my previous question. I really am glad for the responses. I some times get to wondering things like that and I can’t really answer my own question in that case. Thanks again!!!

Ok anyone reading this that has actually met me in person please post a reply on this…

Today I was walking into the building as I do every morning. (Kinda hard to go to wrk if I don’t durh…) As usual I said hello to anyone walking by in the halls. This time though someone walked by who stopped and did a double take after responding back the typical “hello”. She then said “Are you John?” I responded back with, “Yes, I am”. “You’re THE John, John Wohlers arent you?” I responded “Uh yes…” “You’re the guy who knows everything aren’t you!!! My name is ___” I was alittel taken aback at this comment but responded with “Well, no, its not possible to know everything.” “But you are the reference librarian that everyone talks about arent you!?” Again I corrected her with “Well, no I’m not a librarian, but I do work in the library.” “Yes well I’m a librarian, and everyone knows you are so smart and generally have an answer to anything” At this point I was getting a little disturbed waiting for the other shoe to drop, knowing full well this is a precursory butterup for something. “Well, I don’t know about that, I’m just the library computer geek.” She again responded with “Well that just proves it you, know everyhitng. Have a good day, It was nice to meet you.”

The question I have for you who are reading this and who know me in person…

Do I come off as a “know it all” to everyone? I realize she didn’t mean it like that but I really feel I must know if I do. Thanks…

Sinclair You scored 10 Diplomacy , 130 Integrity, and -20 Chaos!

You are a just and wise leader. You do the best you can to keep the peace. You know how to relate to the many ambassadors, and are able to keep things calm. Your diplomatic style is intelligent varying from friendly and warm to stern and direct as needed. You have a destiny, which you will realize, a destiny of importance which will make a great use of your spirtual side and wisdom. You are the closed circle, and will return to the beginning.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 74% on Diplomacy You scored higher than 40% on Leadership You scored higher than 97% on Integrity You scored higher than 17% on Chaos

Wow, kinda scary…. 97% on integrity. Who’d uh thunk it…

Last time on Wedding stories…
So I ran Tony back to the hotel, so that he could use his car to get moving on to the rehersal. I then went back and picked up the boys and brought them back to the hotel long enough to drop off all the tuxes. After that we all climbed back into the cars and headed off to the church for the rehersal.

We now continue…

At the church the priest was shocked that peopel were actually there early, he kept commenting on how amazed that when he said to be there early, people actually got there thirty minutes early. He then spent the next 45 minutes going over the basics of the wedding. During that time I discovered I would also be acting as an usher until 5:25 p.m. at which point I was to make my way to the front of the church to join the rest of the wedding party. After the remainder of the instructions for the rest of the wedding party was given we then spent fifteen minutes on the actual run through. That went pretty well, there were a couple of things that got ironed out but everyone stayed in good spirits. After the rehersal was over we went to the rehersal dinner. The dinner was held at a local pizza place called “Mama Mia’s”. While there, those in the wedding party received their gifts. We also all received gift certificates to Kopps. Before heading back to the Hotel, my roomates and I made a run to Jewel / Osco to pick up a few things to drink. After we got done there we metup back at the hotel where Trish, Cody, Nathan and I played another game of spades. This time Trish was the new player. Cody and I teamed up again, and we teamed Nathan with Trish. With the way Nathan was playing we thought it would be a fair matching. Well Trish played a good game, Cody and I played better. Cody and I won, or at least were ahead until the boys had to head to bed. After the game was done, the rest of the group sat around with Tony, and a host of other friends, talking and carying on for quite a while. Around one a.m. Tony and a few others headed to one of the rooms to torment some of his other friends who were not down in the lobby with us. After a while the remainder of us joined them. We were there until almost 2 a.m. hanging out and talking. It was interesting to finally meet his college buddies. I have heard a great number of stories and had hear all of the names, I just never had faces or personal experience to go with them. At around 2 a.m. Tony headed to bed, I followed suit shortly later as did pretty much everyone else.

Up next…
Friday Morning, the Big Day

This is the speech I used for the wedding.

Four score and seven years ago.Whoops wrong speech.(THROW CARD, pull out
other)

To be or not To be that is the question .. Nope still not right…(Throw
Card, pull out other)

My Fellow Americans …Definitly wrong…(Throw Card, pull out playing card)

Oh look the ace of spades.I wondered where that went. (toss that, pull
out the real speech)

I was honored to accept the position of best man..confused and dazed but
honored nonetheless. So I would like to thank both Tony and Carrie for
this opportunity.

“Thank you both, and Carrie you look absolutely lovely tonight.”

I would also like to take a moment to thank the bridesmaids for all of
their contributions to Tony and Carrie’s big day. I think everybody
agrees that they look fantastic and I must say they have both done an
excellent job looking after Carrie. They have certainly helped to make
today very special.

Not being much on public speaking I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to
give this speech. So I figured I’d just wing it and see where the
keyboard led me. So Tony, and Carrie, if this turns out bad, there is
only one thing to do. Blame the keyboard!!!

I met Tony back one night when he was “working” at Waubonsee while still
going to school at NIU. We hit it off, and like most friends, I made it
a point to hang around and distract him from actually studying or
working as much as possible.

Over the years we have hung out quite a lot and kept each other sane
whenever possible. Believe me it’s not always been an easy task. for
him. <cough> and me

When Tony wanted to introduce me to Carrie he suggested that we all get
together for lunch. So we all met at the fanciest dinning establishment
in the United States.Portillos Hotdogs.

When she actually showed up at the restaurant there was little doubt in
my mind that they were right for each other. The fact that she would go
along with going to Portillos gives her a great deal of credit in my book.

While we were there we all talked and kidded around, as friends do and
during the course of the afternoon I could see they were truly in love.
Over the past year I have been privileged to watch that love grow.

I suppose it would take me a book to explain them entirely and no one
wants to hear me talk that long. But really you cannot describe either
without illuminating the love they have for each other and for their
friends and family.

Tony, it has truly been an honor to act as your Bestman. Once again I’d
like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for affording me the
privilege.. It has been my pleasure.

I’d like to wish you and Carrie both a long and happy life together.

Ladies & Gentleman would you please join with me in a toast to the bride
and groom.

May you live as long as you like, and have all you like for as long as
you live
May your joys be as deep as the ocean, and your troubles as light as its
foam.

Wow what a incredible roller coaster the past few days have been. Last Wednesday I finished up my speech as best man, packed my luggage, and drove to Glendale, WI. I arrived around 8 pm and checked into my hotel room for the night. After getting settled I gave my buddy Tony a call and after he returned from dinner he showed up at the room. Before we left, he introduced me to his cousin’s son’s Cody, and Nathan. We then walked next door to Kopps so that the boys and I could get dinner of our own.
When we got back we headed down to the pool area to talk to Carrie and one of her bridesmaids who were busilly putting finishing touches on a collage of Tony over the years. There were some pretty funny pictures.
We all stayed in the pool area until it closed at ten pm. After that we guys returned to the room and decided to play a game of spades. We had to teach Nathan how to play, so he and Tony teamed up, and Cody and I teamed up. Cody and I got our butts kicked. After keeping the boys out past thier curfew Tony and I were ready to call it a night. I suggested we do lunch the next day, at his favorite sushi place, and that we invite a local friend of ours along as well.

Thursday arrived fairly quickly and so I moved to my new room that I would be sharing with one of the ushers, and his fiancee. I then ran with Tony on a few errands, including a run to the Sprecher brewery to pick up some sampler packs for some of Tony’s friends from out of town. After we returned to the hotel I suggested that we go get lunch at his favorite sushi place, the site of he and Carries first date, Nanakusa. I gave our mutual friend Jon a call and he agreed to meet us there. Jon is the one who introduced me to Nanakusa in the first place, and is way more familliar with sushi than I am. Thanks to Jon’s expertise we consumed a ton of sushi and all had a great time. This visit I discovered a few more things I like there including a seasonal item made from an amazing macerel. After lunch we walked with Jon back to his office, by way of the Public Market where he sprung for dessert. Mmmmmmm Brownie Cookie…. Jon also bought Tony a bottle of wine as a wedding present. After leaving Jon at his office we drove back to the hotel where we crashed for about 30 minutes or so while waiting for more of the wedding party to arrive. When they did it was decided that we would all go to pick up the tuxes and check for fit. A car and pickup full of people and a short trip later Tony, a groomsman, the two users, the fieancee of the one usher, and myself arrived at the mall and started the fitting process. While I was checking the fit Tony got a call and had to run and pick up his cousin’s kids and bring them for their fitting as well. Doing the math I quickly realized we now had 1 car, and one pickup capable of holding a combined total of 7 people. Unfortunalty we now numbered nine. So I ran Tony back to the hotel, so that he could use his car to get moving on to the rehersal. I then went back and picked up the boys and brought them back to the hotel long enough to drop off all the tuxes. After that we all climbed back into the cars and headed off to the church for the rehersal.

(more to come later…)

Yes, ocassionally it does happen. I will wear a tux when I really must. I this case, this was for my best friend Tony’s wedding.

Ok, time to remove the place holder.

This post referrs to the fact that some dear friends of mine will not be at bristol this year. At least not as often as they have in the past. I’m really going to miss the fun we had this past year both during and after faire. Hopefully though they will still make it some times and we can still go for Thai food and goof around some at least.

You know… I was compleetly over my cold, my sinuses were compleetly clear for the 1st time in ages, and I generally felt good. I return to work, and am in the building for no more than 30 minutes and my head started filling up. I feel the crud in my sinuses again and there is a definite smell of mildew / mold in the building. Even my boss with a cronic cough said she hadn’t coughed at all almost the entire vacation, but she is back here for an hour and the cough has returned. Our newest co-worker then chimed in and commented on how since they started working here they have had a regular runny nose. I really do believe there is something wrong in this building.

I’m sure it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the leaky roof. They replaced all the waterstained celing tiles the day before we left for break and there are already a number of them that are heavily waterstained again. The storn today isn’t helping either.