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The Day That Was

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It was such a wonderful evening. God answered our prayers and the rain moved out in the early afternoon leaving a partly cloudy, autumnal day where pictures could be taken in the beautiful natural outdoor light. Tori was lovely, Grant handsome, and the rest of us cleaned up pretty good too. The ceremony was intimate and the reception a time of visiting with friends and relatives that went by all too quickly.

And now our baby is truly all grown up and is a married woman. While it sometimes seems unreal, we could not be more happy for Grant and Tori. We love them both dearly.

Thank you to everyone who made the weekend so fantastic. To the McCarty family for an amazing rehearsal dinner. To the Dibben family for helping set up, direct guests, handle the gifts and especially to James for taking the Director role for the ceremony itself and the table dismissal for the meal. To Pastor Larry for a joyful, intimate wedding ceremony. To the Anderson family for helping to set up table decor and especially to Dawn for lovely, creative flower arrangements. To all the ushers and groomsman and bridesmaids…you all looked lovely/debonair (pick the appropriate adjective) and you made Grant and Tori’s special weekend even more special.

Thank you to the caterers, Two Sisters, who made a delicious meal. To the event venue, Studio 2131, for making everything run smoothy, for helping us decorate on Friday night, and for help cleaning up.

Thank you to everyone who helped pick up and load up and who helped out in any way whatsoever. I’m just the father-of-the-bride and am no doubt in the dark about much of the efforts that went into making this such a wonderful wedding. So thank you.

What follows is a collage of just a handful of the pictures I took. The professional ones will hopefully soon follow. Continue reading The Day That Was →

Home

Endings and New Beginnings

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Today marks the ending of a big chapter in our lives and turns the page to the beginning of another. This day, Friday September 27th 2013, is the last day that our daughter Tori will be living in our home*…it is also the last day that she will share our surname.

Tomorrow Tori and Grant become husband and wife.

Today will be filled with last minute wedding planning followed by the rehearsal and a wonderful rehearsal dinner at the McCarty’s. Really looking forward to that, especially as they have been hard at work expanding their back porch to create a really nice space to entertain.

I’ve been very scarce on both this site and others over the past month and this is in large part why. Pictures and a wedding report will follow.

Mary and I are looking forward to the new roles we will be playing as in-laws and are excited about watching Grant and Tori take this new step in their lives as husband and wife.
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*It better be! 🙂

(Image Credit)

Gaming

Puppeteer: A Review

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Early last week I stumbled across a game set for release the very next day, Puppeteer, for the PS3. I have a PS3 that I bought used primarily to act as a second blu-ray player and had yet to play any games on it. I have always enjoyed puppets and something about this looked intriguing so I checked out the trailer, and was sold.

It looked so kooky and charming and wacky, and was being offered for such a nice price, that I went out on release day, picked up a copy, and started playing it right away that night. Off and on over the last week I’ve found myself lost in Kutaro’s world in a game that is visually unique and stimulating at each level, filled with all manner of humor and adventure, and relatively easy to adapt to from the perspective of the game’s mechanics.

If any video game can be considered art, there is certainly an argument to be made for Puppeteer. It is a visual feast that delivers on the actual gameplay as well.

Continue reading Puppeteer: A Review →

Book Reviews, Gothic/Horror, Mystery, Young Adult

The Clockwork Scarab ~Colleen Gleason

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In the year 1889 the sister of Bram Stoker and the niece of Sherlock Holmes are called together by the only woman to ever best the great detective to undertake a secret assignation for Queen and country. Evaline Stoker is a young woman active in London society who carries the burdens and responsibilities of a great and powerful legacy. Mina Holmes longs to overcome the stigma of age and gender to prove that the powers of observation and deduction are not restricted to the male sex. Together these young women must lay aside their solitary natures and distrust of one another to determine why other young society women are either disappearing or being killed before more lives are lost.

Colleen Gleason, author of the successful adult paranormal romance Gardella Vampire Chronicles, debuts her first title written for teens. The Clockwork Scarab is set in a steampunk-infused London and blends together elements familiar to the subgenre with paranormal and science fictional tropes to create a story that delights in its world-building but is successful because of the strength of its two female protagonists. Adults and young people alike will find Gleason’s characters at once familiar and refreshing in that they embody the characteristics of their fictional and non-fictional ancestors while being established as believable heroines in their own right.

I became a fan of Colleen Gleason’s work after first befriending her online and then moving outside of my comfort zone to read the first of her Buffy-and-Jane-Austen-inspired Gardella novels. My enjoyment of each subsequent novel increased and I was excited when she announced that she would be breaking into teen fiction with a steampunk novel. Having just spent much of the last 24 hours lost in an alternative Victorian London I can safely say that this is her best work to date. 8.5/10 stars.

The book releases September 17th. Go grab a copy right away. Tis’ the season for compelling mystery and adventure.

Continue reading The Clockwork Scarab ~Colleen Gleason →

Fitness

10K Saturday

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Despite all the running I’ve done over the last year and a half I had yet to run an official 10K, a milestone that I reached this weekend at the North Shore Clinton Lake trail run sponsored by the Trail Nerds.

I ran this event last year when it was an 8 mile race in preparation for my first half-marathon. It was my favorite trail of the year to that point and has remained my favorite. I love it, beautiful, technical and fun.

Continue reading 10K Saturday →

Eclectic Musings of a Renaissance Geek