MyVirtualLife.net

So, our wedding is all done and we got some pictures back that I'll post here sometime. I was recovered and back into things at work, but then we went to Vegas for another wedding. It was fun too, but I'm in recovery mode again.

There's a lot of updates that I want to make to the site, but I'll do what I usually do... move on to something else! I've always meant to post some pictures of things I've made over the years, but I never got around to it. So, what better time than now with Halloween coming up soon.

Here are some pumpkins I made over the years:

Marvin the Martian - 2005

Eric Cartman - 2006

Appa - 2007

I'm not sure what inspired me to make these, but I made the first one and got a little better with each one. I made the last one for Steph since she likes Appa from the cartoon, Avatar. I guess I stopped making them after we started going out.

Life, Stuff I Made, Wedding, Blog pumpkins, carving, marvin the martian, eric cartman, appa

One of the small things that didn't work out at the wedding was the slide show. I setup a monitor near the koi pond that was supposed to show a small intro when people were walking in and a slide show on a loop during the cocktail hour. I setup Steph's laptop to do this, but I ended up using my work one, which locks every 15 minutes. It was also really crowded there but most people probably saw a Windows screensaver if they saw anything at all.

This is what the guests were supposed to see when walking in: [mediaplayer:http://www.myvirtuallife.net/multimedia/WeddingWelcome.flv]

And here's the slideshow: [mediaplayer:http://www.myvirtuallife.net/multimedia/WeddingSlideShow.flv]

Wedding, Blog wedding, slide show, video

Our weekend in San Diego sure went by quickly. It's all a blur, but I think I got married!

It was a lot of fun and I'm so thankful of my family and friends. Everyone was so nice and supportive and them showing up means more than anything. Everything turned out really great and I think people had a good time down in SD. The weather was nice too, although it got too cold for some people at night, and the garden looked great.

The caterers, DJ and photographers all did great jobs and they really kept things moving along. We would've like to take more pictures, but both of us left the weekend thinking we didn't have any big regrets about the evening and that we just had a lot fun and felt so loved.

There'll be plenty of stuff that I'll post later and I'll have to redo the wedding page as well. Here's some pictures I took awhile ago, but Steph wanted some things to be a surprise.

Wedding, Blog cranes, wedding, gift boxes. flowers, name cards

There's not much else to say, but I had a great time in Vegas for my bachelor party. Thanks again to all the guys for making it out there!



The only thing we did outside of the normal Vegas trip was to go shooting at the Gun Store. I've never fired a weapon before, but it was awesome! I ended up shooting an M9 Beretta, M16, M249 SAW and a police sniper rifle. It was such a good experience that maybe I'll end up owning one some day. I'm still a little apprehensive about that, but I'd have to take safety classes anyway. And Steph can always teach me how to shoot!

Life, Wedding, Blog

Ok, I'm trying to get back on track with the website now that my work schedule isn't so crazy. Now that we sent out most of the invitations, I guess it's ok to post some pictures here:





I was so proud of the map I made, but I realized that my directions will try and send you down a one way street! I was trying to get people off of Park Boulevard since they're doing some construction and it doesn't send you through the best parts of SD. The easiest way to get across the train tracks is on 5th, but it's a one way street except for the first block.




Here's some updated directions to get from the park to the hotel:
South on Park
Right on J Street
Left on 5th
Left on Harbor
Right on 8th into the Hilton

Wedding, Blog

So, once we got people to call us back, we did really well on the wedding planning over the past two weeks.  We've all but decided on a caterer, hotel, and photographer so now I think we're doing really well.

I also spent most of this weekend working on the wedding page of this site.  We may end up doing a separate wedding site, but this will do for now.  If you haven't checked it out, the link is:

http://www.myvirtuallife.net/wedding

 

We're trying to put everything we can think of there so everyone should know what to expect. Please let me know if there's anything we can add or clarify.

Wedding, Blog

So, I feel like we're doing pretty good with the wedding planning but I want to get some stuff settled before I let everyone know and post things here. We're going to meet with some caterers next week and I've been trying to get group rates at some hotels.

The crazy thing is that Steph and I have called 3 hotels (and I'm contacting a 4th right now) numerous times and they don't even call us back! I was seriously thinking I should call myself because I was wondering if my phone was broken.

One of the hotels was the Marriott in Dana Point. We were thinking of having the wedding there but I called them a bunch of times and they never returned my calls. I actually ended up writing a complaint letter and then they called, but it was too late.

Now, we're looking into hotels to stay at in San Diego and it's been almost comical. We've both called one hotel multiple times and I called and emailed another and we still haven't heard anything. And, to make things worse, the screener was probably the worst person I've ever had to deal with on the phone.

I just started this process with another hotel today and here's how it starts. I talked to the reservations department and they transfered me to group sales. I was thinking that maybe I'd actually talk to someone this time and then... click... disconnected. WTF? I call back and it happens again.

Fun times.

At least we're making a trip down to SD this weekend and the weather should be nice. Maybe we'll be able to track someone down in person while we're there.

Wedding, Blog

You may have seen our wedding date on the front page. Steph and I are getting married on Saturday, September 18th at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego.

When we first talked about dates, I told her that Saturdays in the fall were out due to SC football. Unfortunately, after we looked around and tried to find wedding venues, I learned that all of the Saturdays in the summer are booked way in advance.

The garden was only available on Sept. 18th, which is the same day as USC vs Minnesota! At least it's an away game, but there's no TV there either! So now I can't ever complain about when people schedule their weddings and I'll have to turn in my fan card...

Wedding, USC, Blog