A new life; same as the old life?

In keeping with our crosses that we had made for the engagement, we wanted the rings to be unique. We went back to the jeweller ( Studio 2015 ) that had done such a fantastic job with the crosses and started to work on an idea that incorporated my clan motto, My Hope Is Constant In Thee , which in addition to being the clan motto, just has a nice ring to it for a marital commitment. As you can see from these pictures, they did a fabulous job once again, and we would thoroughly recommend them to anyone, although you might want to make sure you have sufficient time, as such fine workmanship and individual design can take a little longer than you might otherwise want. As most of our friends know, I have the most hugest fingers in the world, confirmed by my ring size, UK Z.5, US 13.5, compared to Lorraine's delicate 7! Click on either picture for a better look at the detail.

Traditionally these speeches start with my wife and I, so who am I to break this great tradition. Doesn't she look fabulous by the way! My wife and I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the support that we have been given by our families, particularly that of Lorraine's mother, who has been more than generous, and we have a gift for her today, as a small token of our appreciation. I would also like to thank everyone who made the effort to be here today to share our special day, particularly those who have come from so far away. There's Todd & Shannon from Wheaton, Chris and Dani from all the way up in Woodstock, oh and of course Lorraine's family from Epsom and Billy from Scotland! I met Lorraine just before my birthday in 2004, where we were both on the same skiing trip with a bunch of friends from the Epsom area. She had always wanted to learn, but soon found out that it wasn't something that would come naturally to her. On the third day, she was ready ...

Well, the hullabaloo is over. All of our UK visitors have left, and it is back to work for me tomorrow! As most of you know the webcast didn't come off, however we did record it using a friend's video camera, and it has been uploaded to our wedding website . There are three versions, the first being the full ceremony, huge file (94mb) for broadband users, the second being 20mb but still the full ceremony. The third is a bit of a joke version, but well worth a watch. The final run in was pretty hectic. Lorraine's family were in town for a few days before and my friend Billy for a whole week. Lorraine went down to the city for a few days and left me a list of errands to complete. On the last day, Friday, I was running around and accidentally exceeded the speed limit in Bull Valley, just north of us here in Lake County. No amount of protesting my innocence, my wedding plans or even my Chicago PD shirt prevented them from giving me the $75 ticket. Also, I was waiting patiently...

Mostly due to my incompetence, and some issues with blogger and my new template; the link that I put on the wedding invitations for the gift registry doesn't work anymore. Click here , and it will take you to the posting.

My frequent flyers will know that I am a regular contributor at my local Habitat For Humanity site. Yesterday I took a group of folks from my office, the first from the Global Support Centre I think, up there, along with a friend of mine from the UK who is over for the wedding. The picture on the left is one of the hugely talented girls who work up there every day, say hi to Amy. Amy used to volunteer at the site, and now works full time for Habitat. The site is almost complete. All the externals are finished, and most of the internals don't have far to go. However, it doesn't end there. They have a whole other site, capable of taking up to another 50 houses, so I guess I will be busy over the next few years. The picture on the right is another of the on-site girls, Jess. Jess is getting married this year (sorry Leon). She is an Americorp volunteer, who at the tender age of 23, already knows more about building houses than I ever will. The final picture here is the team we work...

Sorry folks, especially all of those who said they were definitely going to tune in, and Caroline who is organising a party for the event. We have all the technology and it all works, but last week we hit some networking issues up at the venue. They told us that they had a wireless network, and stupidly, I assumed that it worked throughout the building. I went up last week to test it, and found that unfortunately, having installed their wireless hub in a storeroom off the kitchen, surrounded by fridges, stainless steel and about a dozen walls, it didn't extend to the room where our ceremony is. We were ready to give up at that point, after trying a few basic things myself, but a friend of ours had some other wireless networking stuff, better cards, and a repeater that may have made the difference, and indeed it looked that way for a while last night. Then we found out that they actually had a wired connection 20 yards away, something they had neglected to tell us until this point! ...

This is a picture of my desk when I arrived at work this morning. Some of the folks at work, and no, not just the girls, Mike! had decorated my desk with all sorts of stuff as you can see. They had also very thoughtfully brought in my favourite donuts (thanks Star) and had a card and a gift card for Best Buy..yay, new toys! Thank you one and all, it was very much appreciated.

I got this today, it tickled me.. 1. OPENING JARS - She's struggling. You take it from her hands, open it effortlessly and pretend she loosened it for you. She didn't. Jars are men's work. 2. CALLING SOMEONE 'SON' - Especially policeman but even saying it to kids makes you the man. 3. DOING A PROPER SLIDE TACKLE - Beckham free kicks - camp. A Stuart Pearce tackle is the pinnacle of the game, simultaneously winning the ball and crippling the man. Magic. 4. SHARPENING A PENCIL WITH A STANLEY KNIFE - Blunt, is it? Hand it here love. No, I don't need a sharpener, you think I can't whittle? 5. GOING TO THE TIP - A manly act which combines driving, lifting and - as you thrillingly drop your rubbish into another huge pile of other rubbish - noisy destruction. 6. DRINKING UP - Specifically, rising from the table, slinging your coat on and downing two thirds of a pint in one fluid movement. Then nodding towards the door, saying, "Let's go" and striding ...

Well, I watched my second ever Superbowl this weekend. I guess in common with most major sporting events anywhere in the world, the whole day of pregame show, analysis and stuff was inevitable, if incredibly tedious, so I only actually watched the game itself. To be honest, I still think it is a 1 hour game that is two hours too long, but, saying that, I did quite enjoy the game yesterday, although I don't think I will ever be a regular viewer. One of the biggest reasons for watching yesterday, apart from the tiny glimpse of the occasional cheerleader (damn you Janet Jackson), and of course seeing Mick and the boys with their zimmer frames and plush hound faces, was to see the commercials. Last year, there were some greats, very clever and very funny, but to be brutally honest, this year they just didn't cut it. There were a couple of funny ones; the Ameriquest "Guy In The Hospital" one and the Bud Light, "Streaker" one, both in the 1st Quarter; check them o...

4 days to go. No, not to THAT date, to my birthday, so I thought it was time that I continued my life story that I promised you all I would back in September! On the 7th February 1968, I know that makes me very old, I was born unto this world, in a little town called Kilmarnock, just south of Glasgow. My early years , were relatively uneventful for the most part. At the age of 6, sorry I don't remember the actual date, we upped sticks and moved to South Africa . I apologise that this story seems a little bitty, but being only 6 years old at the start of this adventure, some of my memories are a little sketchy. I have read it over a few times, but can't really improve it. Rewinding a little, I remember, in preparation that we moved to a crappy apartment round the corner from my paternal grandparents. We packed up all of our worldly goods (not much as I recall) into tea chests, and special metal crates that my dad made at work; he was a sheet metal worker. The next thing I rememb...