The Year of WIN!!

Well hello there blogspot...long time no type! Pretty much forgot about this guy for awhile. I'll just have to have 1 epic blog post for the last couple of months.

I just have to say that this year has been full of so much WIN. I have a great job, I've paid off all my debt, bought a new (used) car (yes debt, lol), took an epic road trip to Canada w/ my best friend Lars, saw another great friend get married (Floyd!), went to some great conventions, and am now dating the girl of my dreams.

Debt - Yes....debt, we all know about it and I'm sure we've all been there. Some probably a little more then others and for reasons they wouldn't want to talk about. I had accrued quite a bit since back around 01'-06' ... mainly computer stuff and then later on actually living off my credit cards to pay for bills and basically not going anywhere at all. PUH! Well, turned all that around and went to debt management...they put me on a 6 year plan and I told myself no way, 2 years....and accomplished that at the end of 2007!

Car - I've always wanted a 5 second card, but I could never afford it because of the little debt problem I had. Well, that all changed at the beginning of the year! I had it narrowed down between 2 cars. A MazdaSpeed 3 or a Subaru Impreza WRX. I really liked the hatchback style of the SP3 and the amount of power it put down on the 2 front tires, but it was a little pricey. My next choice, the WRX, was AWD ... which you know the kind of weather we have in NE, ya...pretty good idea. I ended up buying it off my buddy at the beginning of 2008 and it's been, pedal to the metal ever since! ;)

Epic Road Trip - 3 Years ago, Lars and I took a road trip out to OR for convention and a little getaway. We met quite a few young kids from Canada and since then we've always wanted to go. So we decided to make that happen this year and took 2 weeks off of life (1st 2 weeks in Aug) and 2 weeks on the road! I rolled out of Omaha on the 1st of August (after work) and made it up to Lars' place in Hot Springs, SD. Aug 2nd (Lars bday) we headed for Bozeman, MT and stayed the nite there and went to mtg w/ some ppl we met/knew from our OR trip. Sunday, the 3rd (my bday) we headed for Spokane, WT and stayed w/ my cousin and her husband (John and Carmen, and there 2 kids. Then on Monday the 4th we made it to Seattle and hung out there for awhile. We met up w/ Dan Farnsworth (who lives there) and Brett Barry (who was visiting) and strolled around down town for awhile and then went to a Mariner's game (they beat the Twins). I'm not a huge sports fan, but it was pretty fun seeing the crowd and having a perfect view of down town Seattle. We stayed there til Wednesday afternoon and then headed up to Canada. Going through the border was pretty easy and then we were headed for Vancouver. We checked the downtown area out and saw a lot of sweeeeeet sites. We then headed to Glen Valley 2, convention, on Thursday and got a couple days in there. Then on Saturday we decided to head off to Vancouver Island and checked out Victoria, BC! We then headed back across Canada and into Banff National Park. Rolled in there Monday, the 11th, evening and setup camp. Did some awesome camping and checked out a Glacier. We camped for a couple days then headed out across Alberta and Saskatchewan and back into the States. Customs was more of a pain getting through....getting drilled w/ questions and letting them poke around in the trunk ... lol, it went ok though and we were back headed back south in no time. There's probably more to add on this topic, but this is getting to be a little drawn out. LOL. You'll just have to ask if you want more. ;-)

Floyd and Jeanne's Wedding - AWESOME! I'm so happy for these 2. It's so amazing how things work out when God's involved. I've had some conversations w/ Floyd in the past, before he started dating Jeanne, and we were always talking about wanting to be married and have a family some day etc etc. Well, Floyd's dream has came true...at least w/ getting married! ;) Congrats Brutha! The wedding was pretty sweet. I was "lucky" enough to participate some and helped w/ the singing (does n e body have a video on this?). The wedding went great and I had some good times w/ all my friends out there. Oh ya...how could I forget to mention that Lyss was there, and after spending some time around her @ the wedding, I had been thinking about her quite a bit, but just didn't know how to handle that whole thought process that was going on...so I just waited. ;-)

York - So York convention was pretty interesting. Had a conversation w/ Ryan ... about girls (imagine that) and we somehow started talking about this sister, Lyss (imagine that!). Pretty much found out she liked me, but she wasn't sure about that either...etc etc. lol. Ok, so back to convention. We heard a lot of good things from the platform and what really spoke to me was not getting to busy w/ life and to keep God 1st place, etc.

BirdCity - And now on to Birdcity. Nick Jones (cousin of mine) asked me at Antioch, if I wanted to plan on going to Birdcity. I told him let's do it ... so I started looking for people to go. I found a few people to go with us; David Miller and Ryan and Derek Jelinek. I knew I'd be in need for another good convention and wasn't planning on going there to hook up w/ any girl...that's for sure. I then found out that Lyss was planning on going....so I started thinking how awesome it'd be if we had a chance to talk and hang out w/ her. Nick was running late because of traffic, so I called Ryan and he took off w/ Lyss, while David and I waited around for Nick to show up. We finally rolled out of Omaha bout 5pm on Friday and headed towards Kearney to pick Derek up and grab some Amigos! We decided we'd spend the night in McCook, instead of trying to find convention after dark....which is a gooooood thing, because the directions we had to the grounds, ended up taking us to a cornfield! LOL. Anyways, we made it in time for the 1st meeting and as we were trying to decide where to sit (Derek and Lyss had seats saved), it just so happened that I sat next to Lyss (imaaaagine that ;) ... WIN!!!! So, convention was once again great and much needed. I pretty much arranged it so Lyss could ride back to Kearney w/ me and we really didn't have much of a chance to talk about "us", since Nick was w/ us. He slept for a little bit, so there was some time for a little conversation, but not enough.

Ok, this is getting to be pretty looooong, sorry to bore ya! ;-)

Lyss - By far the least boring part of this blog, or at least that's what I think. ;) It's pretty much an amazing story on how it's all came together. You know when you have it all worked out in your head as to how you want something to work out, but it never seems to quite go as you had hoped or planned? Well, that's usually how it works out for me....but then again, there's a reason for why things work out aye? Hennyways....I had it all planned out as to how it'd go at Birdcity, once I found out Lyss was going to be there, and it all fell into place. Since we didn't have any time to talk on Sunday...I just laid awake til about 3am Monday morning....wishing I could have talked to her. Then Monday rolled around and I finally did and it was exactly what I needed. So much WIN. Well....more to come later. It's about time to hit the road and head towards Kearney! :D

Have a great weekend!!

LASIK Surgery (aka The Twilight Zone)

Been awhile since I've posted.....Having a pretty decent, but busy summer. The 4th of July was awesome. We had a little family reunion in Alliance, NE @ my parents. Both of my brothers and their families were there too, so that was some good times. Anyways, this post is about my experience w/ having LASIK surgery. It was such an odd experience....sooo weird.

I arrived at the surgery center around 11am. Paid them some $$ and signed a couple papers. The nurse came a called me in the back room about 10 minutes later. She put me in a little room and made me wear a shower cap and the same type of thing over my shoes. The nurse takes my blood pressure (yaaay, High Blood pressure, 152/90 I think) and then she puts some numbing drops and antibiotic drops in my eyes and asks if I'm going to take the valium to help relax me. I tell her I'd rather not. She says, "Ok, I'll be back in a bit to put more drops in." She comes back about 10-15 minutes later and puts more drops in and leaves. I sit another 10-15 minutes....keep in mind there is nothing at all to do in this room, no magazines, no TV, no radio...just sitting there and thinking about what's going to happen next. This happens a total of 4 times and then she says Doctor Meyers is here early so we'll be starting soon. Yay! The nurse comes back and leads me to another room w/ a table/bed that has a head rest so your head's in a pretty secure position so you can't really move from side to side. Doctor Meyers is there with 5 other nurses getting everything prepped. I also see Curious George laying on the bed too...and when they positioned me on the bed they handed me Curious George and had me lay him about stomach/chest area and told me not to move my hands from there. I said, "Sweet I have a toy...thanks." Then a nurse puts some more drops in my eye and dries the area around my eye and puts a patch over my left eye and then uses a little piece of tape on my right eye to hold it open. Then they tape the eyelashes out of the way and use this weird device to pry my eye open so I can't blink. They get the laser lined up above my right eye and once it's in position, Doctor Meyers presses this device down on my cornea and tells me she's going to cut the flap over my eye. I say,"Ok", and feel quite a bit of pressure on my eye and then she turns it and everything goes dark. :| Next she lifts the flap up and my vision is somewhat restored. I can see the blinking green light on the laser and they tell me to keep my eye on that. Around it I see the red beam of the laser and 4 other orange lights that are in a square around the green light. I hear one of the nurses say the laser is starting and will complete in 15 seconds. Then I feel and sort of see the red area moving around the outside of my pupil, while I stare at this green dot. I hear, "25% complete, how are you Mark?" I say, "I'm doing fine." "50%, 75%, and complete." During this all I'm seeing is this green dot and these lasers arranging my eye particle and it's pretty crazy. The right eye is finished....Doctor Meyers moves the flap back over my eye and more drops go in and then I can finally close my poor, laser burned eye. They proceed by asking, "Would you like to go ahead with the other eye?" "Sure," I say. Great....now I know what to expect for the left eye and let's just say I wasn't to thrilled about it. I haven't moved an inch though....and I heard Doctor Meyers say numerous times, wow this patient is great, and he hasn't even had valume. I'm thinking to myself....yaaaa, but my heart sure is pounding and right now I don't really like you Doctor Meyers. So they go about putting the patch over my right eye and prying my left eye open. My left eye seemed a little dry, but they noticed it and got drops in and started the procedure. The left eye was the worst....not only did I know what was coming, I think the eye numbing drops had wore off a bit, because it was quite discomforting when she cut the flap. This time I hear from Doctor Meyers, "Mark, take a breath...make sure you breath." I then noticed I was pretty tense and it was taking all I had to keep my left eye focused on the, now infamous, green dot. I manage a couple of breaths and didn't slow anything down with the surgery. I hear the nurse say, "25% done, 50% done, 75% done, and complete." Doctor Meyers puts the flap back over and they finish up and the bed moves back from under the laser. They help me sit up and I could somewhat see...very cloudy though. I get up and realize I'm still clinging to Curious George...I reluctantly let go of him and put him back where he belongs. :( Doctor Meyers says, "I'm impressed, most guys that have the surgery, without valium, need to be held down, you were very calm and didn't move a bit, I wish more patients were like you. Since everything went so well today, I would like to see you at 4pm, instead of tomorrow." So I get these little packets of eyedrops and they send me on my way. My ride was already there .... so I got home and took a couple 30 minute naps and now I'm typing this w/ cloudy eyes. Can't wait until I can see clearly again!

Hokay So

Here's the blog......oooooh, that is a sweeeeeet blog! Hennyway (anyway).

Oh let's see...what's new. I went to see Dan, Donna, and Tyler last weekend. Cedar Rapids had some really bad flooding. I pulled into town around 10pm and my exit off of I-380 was right into downtown Cedar Rapids, where teh flooding had hit the worst. The residential area around that was like a war zone or something. Just the smell and how it looked was mind boggling. Pictures can't really do it justice. I have a few that I'll include at the bottom of this post. Hennyway, it was fun seeing Dan and Donna again and watching them with Tyler. That kid is super awesome. 3 years old and I guess a week ago from Sunday, he decided he didn't want his training wheels on his bike, so Dan took em off and Tyler took off! lol! So I had fun riding Dan's bike around w/ my nephew.
Sunday morning meeting was awesome. Everybody's thoughts seemed to be along the same lines. Faith, Love, and Jesus. The last hymn we sang was 400, When Jesus Comes....."Oh, can we say we are truly ready"....I've been thinking that quite, especially last night after meeting when Ryan Barry mentioned one of his close friends was killed in a car accident. Sigh. Life is so fragile, yet it's so easy to think we're indestructible. Sneefle Tear.

On a better note....I'm getting Lasik Surgery done on July 18th! I'm sooo excited. I've always enjoyed physical activities such as basketball, racquetball, wrestling w/ my bros, and the like...but I always feel like I have to hold back because I have to play w/ my glasses and I'm paranoid they're going to get knocked off and busted, then I can't see. X_x The surgery is coming at the right time too. Just before my Canada trip! :-D WHEEE!! In fact I just counted out $1,000 cash that I will have to take to the bank and get it converted into Canadian $'s. Sad thing is...now that the $1 has lost so much value, Canadian exchange is pretty much 1:1 and gas is even more up there in Canada. Siiiiigh. All worth it though, I need a vacation.

Ok, well....here's a few pics. I was bored so I lined out my $20 so I could see what $1,000 looked like. LOL. Yaaa...vain, I know....but funnay.


















Hokay....here's pics of Cedar Rapids.

Ready for the weekend

Ugh...what a week. The good news is I finally received an answer from a Paypal representative who know what end was up! He pointed me in the right direction and told me how to redeem my $100 voucher. I just needed to go directly to Paypal, go to the send money section, choose who the money was going too, and select my voucher. I called my bro up (Jim) and was like heeey buddy, let's try something. I typed in his paypal account email address and sent an amount of $100 and he was able to pull it into his account and after the Paypal fees it was $97. I'm seeing my bro on the 4th of July, so he'll write me a check then (hopefully). The $97 number is rather interesting too. About 5-6 years ago I purchased a set of Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 Computer speakers and 1 month after the 4 year warranty expired, the amp blew and white noise was coming from the front left speaker. I was rather disappointed and didn't know where to go to get them repaired and even though I knew which resistor was blown, I didn't want to mess with it, so I settled for a lesser set of Logitech speakers. Recently I started doing some more research for Klipsch ProMedia speaker repair and found a guy on eBay to do the repairs. The cost is $60 + shipping, which totals to $97....the total of my Paypal voucher. WOOT!

Anyways... this weekends going to be a breath of fresh air! Going to take a little road trip over to Cedar Rapids, IA and see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew...Dan, Donna, and Tyler Weeda. I'm interested to see the flood damage that's plagued Cedar Rapids for the past couple of weeks. Thankfully my brother and his family were not affected. My brother has had a very busy time too....helping out the city in trying to save the last water well, out of four, and also getting into the hospital. For about 3-4 days they were unable to take showers, flush the toilet, and drink tap water. Then it was every other day for showers until they had the other wells up in the city. Now that the water has gone down some, they were able to get into downtown and I guess it's quite a mess. It always amazes me to see the power of mother nature and no matter how far man has advanced with technology, that he has little to no power against God and mother nature. Which makes me even more thankful that I can put my trust in God and not man.

Lunch break is about over and I have quite a bit to get done before 1645 gets here. ^_^

Paypal Voucher

Well.....this blog's going to be a little odd, mainly because I'm a little odd. My 1st post isn't going to be anything about my personal feelings, but more about this company you've probably heard of. Paypal! I have a PayPal Plus credit card and for every $1.00 I spend, I get 1 point. $9500 = a $100 PayPal voucher, redeemable at any online store that uses Paypal to accept payments. I do a lot of business transactions off my PayPal Plus card, so $9500 really isn't a lot .... pretty easy $100 for me. Free money right? I have yet to believe that, because I can't redeem my voucher. :(

My 1st attempt was on June 12th....found a nice set of computer speakers, went to check out w/ Paypal and I had no way to enter my Paypal voucher.....and it seems any email reply I get is a canned reply telling me how to redeem my points and use the voucher. In fact I received another email this morning, telling me the same thing. LOL....so here's my reply to Paypal.

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That's awesome.....I've had this canned response about 4 times now. I am glad to say that I pretty much have this process memorized.

Let's try again! :D

I have redeemed my points....I have my voucher code! I've had it since June 12th! Write this down, type it out, print it, hang it on the wall! I don't care...just remember that I have my voucher, but I can't use it.

Let's try scenario #1 - I browse to www.newegg.com and locate an item I'd like to purchase. I've been looking for a new set of speakers, some Logitech Z-2300 THX Certified speakers and guess what?!?! They only cost $90.99 w/ free shipping. Pretty sweet deal, especially since I have a $100 voucher from Paypal. I can barely contain my excitement as I click the Add to Cart button and log in w/ my Newegg account. I double and triple check this screen to see if I have an area to enter my Paypal voucher code, nope....nothing. I then select, pay with Paypal and log in with my Paypal account. I check the options on this screen and once again, I have nowhere to enter my voucher codes. I continue to the Newegg confirmation page and all I have is the Submit order button. So I cancel my purchase and email Paypal...this was on the 12th. Paypal's kind enough to email me back, telling me this "You can use a coupon on any eBay item that accepts PayPal and that meets the coupon's requirements." Then of course the infamous instructions on How To use your Voucher points!! Yaaay!

This leads to scenario #2 - Going to www.ebay.com ....
I find the same set of speakers from an eBay vendor (buy.com) and I go ahead choose to buy a set of speakers. Only this time I'm committing to buy the speakers. Once I click the "commit to buy" ... I'm locked into the sale. I go through the checkout process and choose to pay w/ Paypal and I'm greeted w/ the same Paypal screen that I was on Newegg. Guess what?!?! No area to enter my voucher code. Now I'm getting a little disappointed because I was hoping to have my speakers purchased and on the way. Things are looking a little bleak, but I'm not losing hope yet...Paypal's always pulled through for me. Well...for the most part. ;)

I decide to give Paypal a call and discuss this problem with them. The phone support was great, I got the answers I was looking for and after the gentlemen reviewed my problem and looked at my account to see the purchase from buy.com, he told me he would talk to somebody about getting that credit back to my card and that would be equivalent to using the voucher. He said that somebody would email me w/ in 24 hours with the status of this. I did receive an email and it was w/ in 24 hours....and low and behold, it was those saaaaaaaaaaaaaaame flipping instructions on how to redeem my points and use the voucher!! LOL! Talk about FUNNAY!

So I'm thinking to myself....I spend $9,500 on my Paypal card to get my awesome $100 voucher, only to chase my tail for 7 days (June 12th to Jun 19th) and still have nothing. I hate to think how much time I've wasted trying to get my $100.....but I'm not going to sweat it. I'm just asking for somebody over there to please look at why I can't get my $100....instead of just telling me how to redeem my points and use the voucher. BECAUSE I CAN'T USE THE VOUCHER! :(

Thanks a bunch,
Mark Weeda
weedatech@gmail.com