On the Inside

Google was a life saver when we needed to rebuild the Ubercart site. I should've checked it for my original "I now pronounce you..." post, too! Anyways, here's what it said originally:

I now pronounce you...

Man and wife! That is what Christina (see her bridal portraits) and I are. We were married on August 18th, 2007 and had an absolutely wonderful honeymoon. We've been showered with blessing over and over. All our friends and family who came to help and to celebrate with us were incredible. Everyone who gave a gift or a card was sooo generous. The wedding was perfect, and my pastor preached an encouraging sermon that helped me think about the way I tend to enjoy things given as gifts and lose site of the joys of heaven. We were upgraded to an incredible suite in the Hyatt in downtown Greenville by family to enjoy the wedding night. We spent a week at David Bailey's unbelievable mountain home for free and got to tour the Biltmore Estate two days. We stopped at my grandparents' on the way home and got a free recliner and hedge trimmer. And we made it back to Louisville on August 25th to spend our first night ever in our new house at 528 Camp St. (updated pictures to follow as soon as we can get them).

Now we've been trying to get things in order at the house and have been using plenty of Target gift cards and will continue to use some other gift cards, certificates, and wedding money. Oh! Did I mention my boss is sending us to Barcelona, Spain!?! Basically, that's the icing on the cake for an incredibly blessed marriage. I don't think we could've possibly had a better start as a couple.

We'll be flying to Barcelona on September 17th where I will attend and hopefully give some presentations at this year's Drupalcon. I plan on presenting several Ubercart related sessions, or at least holding impromptu coding sessions with other developers. We're really hoping to bring in some new talent and spread the word about Ubercart to the Drupal community at large. Christina and I are of course going to take some personal time to explore the city as well. She's been there before and is fluent in Spanish, so we'll have no problem making our way around. I just setup our accommodations yesterday, and we'll be staying with four other Drupal developers in an incredible apartment close to La Sagrada Familia, an incredible looking Gothic cathedral that I hope to explore.

So, Christina and I were taking the trash out yesterday and ran into a spot of trouble. It's a big affair at our house currently to take the trash out, because our back gate is locked with a lock to which we have no key. We have to either throw the trash over the fence and get around to put it in the can or just drive it around in my truck. We chose to drive it around.

Unfortunately, when we got there - to her partial dismay and my somewhat delight - all we found was a charred pile of melted plastic and metal. Apparently someone decided to torch our trash can, and they got it good. There was nothing left! Eventually we'll replace that lock and keep the can inside. I don't know if I should bother having the city replace the can until then.

Man and wife! That's what Christina and I are as of August 18th, 2007. I posted recently with my thoughts and feelings, about the incredible blessings we've been receiving and are continuing to receive from family and friends, and about our upcoming journey to Barcelona, Spain for this year's Drupalcon. Unfortunately, the web host I use had a crash and had to roll back to a backup version of the databases. Good for me I don't update very often. I only lost one post!

I'll try to get it back up as soon as possible, but that just doesn't happen quickly when you don't have an internet connection at home!

I wrote the following story to propose to my fiancee, Christina. If you haven't read it yet, you should start with the story of the engagement by clicking here. Our relationship began with stories through a reading program I was doing for children in the park near my house. We both love fairy tales, and they have constantly been a part of our relationship and a shared pleasure. This seemed like the natural way for me to form a proposal! There is plenty of symbolism in here for the engaged (hah) reader to find, and I'll be happy to post a follow-up explaining some of it at a later date... when I've had a bit of sleep to refresh my mind. :)

Enjoy!

Oh my, what does the title of this post say? Engaged to be married? Could it mean that a wonderful romance has entered a new stage? I think it does... and I'd be happy to tell you all about it!

Over the Christmas vacation I shared with Christina, we talked a wee bit about the future of our relationship and my desire to pursue engagement. After shipping Christina off to Italy to get cultured, I had a nice little chat with her father on the phone about asking his daughter to marry me and desiring his blessing on the relationship. I believe I told him, "I'd like to know you think that's a good idea." He said he'd get back to me... and I think he forgot to call back until he was on a cruise ship heading out of the country. He did call me back, though, and briefly described the ship before assuring me that he and Karina do in fact think it's a good idea for me to propose to Christina. Phew... good news... now three weeks to find an engagement ring...

Thus begins the first of the Italian flavored blog posts. I was priveleged to listen to a pair of precious voicemails from Venice on my way into work this morning. Unfortunately, I was actually awake but not near my phone, so I didn't actually get to talk with the Maiden this morning. She arrived safely and is of course very tired. She slept a little on the flight over, but since she's now 6 hours ahead she had to stay up essentially another day. And all that on little sleep and an infected lung. We can continue to pray for her health.

I was able to get in touch later, but not by calling her. Apparently the front desk at her hotel didn't like my English or something, because I just got hung up on twice. I'll try again tomorrow... maybe brush up on my Italian "Room 119, please" in the meantime. She called me later in the afternoon before turning in and we got to chat for about 15 minutes. It was wonderful. She's still the same Maiden after all... a continental divide just can't change her. (Happily for me!) She's rooming with a Christian named Jen, so you can join with me in praying their time together is mutually beneficial as Christina already reported it is.

That's all for now... Ciao.

Ahh... 172 hours with the Maiden, give or take a little while. I met up with her in Atlanta the evening of December 26th and dropped her off (sadly) in Lexington (very sadly) on January 2nd (it was sad). I shan't be seeing her until the middle of February when she returns from Italy, so I hope my distress is understandable. I have plenty of good memories, warm fuzzies, hugs, and kisses on the cheek to hold me over, though. I couldn't have asked for a greater vacation or more wonderful partner in time for the week after Christmas. And I let her know it. And I let everyone else know it. I am absolutely in love with this girl and find her to be delightful, beautiful, charming, smart, and funny. And she smells nice, too.

My love for her has only been increasing, and I hope to make her my wife.

Ahh, how long it has been since I last posted my progress on the stair. Despite my silence, I have been climbing (or gliding depending on who you ask). I did enjoy a nice little nap there in the chair, and my dreams were indeed filled with smiles and laughter. All the pictures seem to run together, and they just make me think ... Happy.

And she speaks convincingly. It is indeed time for a real update and not just another post about a tutorial or piece of software I've written. To be honest, I am going to put a link in the beginning of this post to the Javascript section, including a tutorial on using setTimeout() to add a timed function to a web page. This comes from a forum posting I made earlier today to help a guy get this working properly on his own site.

The youths found their places on the floor around their elder. His aged face commanded respect, and the lines around his eyes spoke to the young men before he ever opened his mouth... Pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you.

And so they did, and they weren't disappointed.

"A woman," he began slowly, pausing a little bit to let the wonder of that word dance around the room. After a moment he blinked and began again. "A woman is something to be admired."

He seemed quite content to end their session there. He had nothing more to say, but the sideways glances and half smirks on the young men indicated a few of them had different opinions.

"Do you think you're better than a woman?" he asked. None of the youths seemed eager to voice an opinion, but each of them in his heart felt he was better even if he didn't want others to know his conceit. "Get to know one, and let her prove you wrong."

He ended their session there.

Here are just a few things from the last few days that make me smile (and that made me smile):

The Moore security guard said he'd shoot me if I set a foot on the stairs. I bet him he couldn't hit me if he got just one shot. Christina didn't think it was a good idea, but guess who's typing on a blog right now?

Now I'm the adult being hit up by the neighbor kids for fundraiser money. Where did the time go? And since when did a dozen donuts cost $5? Yikes!

Quoth the Maiden: "Whoever thought nerdiness could be so endearing?" I don't claim to have an answer, but I'm happy that's the question!! = )

You might think that a couple days of climbing would get old, that I would long to be out of the Tower and running free in the woods and diving into hidden lakes. How interesting can an old spiral staircase made of stone be after all? Well, normally you'd be right. Any other climb would surely have seemed laborious. Any other stair would be monotonous. But here I couldn't have imagined a happier climb! Every turn seems to bring with it a new picture, an interesting painting, or a small window that reveals a little more of the Maiden.

This morning started gloriously earlier than usual, but not at 4:30 AM. It started early enough for me to call the Doorkeeper, though, and set up a time to have an audience with him. You see, it was very important for me to gain the Doorkeeper's ear, as I was very interested in passing through the door he guarded. I knew that through the door and up the stairs (it's an old spiral type staircase, but it's stone and one or two of the steps are crumbling a little) in the tower sat a Maiden waiting for a worthy man to come searching for her. Sure, I wanted an audience with the Doorkeeper, but mostly because I wanted an audience with the Maiden he protects.