Garrett M. Vonk

Here are a few things I’m excited about this fall…

• Halo 3 - Duh. After playing the multiplayer beta and following every tiny tidbit of Halo news I could find on X3F, the most anticipated video game of all time is pretty high on my list. I even violated two of my self-imposed rules by A) pre-ordering the game at B) EB Games, but I don’t care. Come September 25th, I’ll be right there in line with the teenagers waiting to unwrap my cat helmet and play all night. Also–I have a Halo 3 party planned with several friends that night. I’m obsessed.
• Trip to Reno/California - Heather and I are heading to Northern California in October to visit my grandparents out there and do a little sightseeing. We happened to find a great price on a flight through Reno, so we’ll probably spend a day in Lake Tahoe, as well.
• Futurama - As far as I can tell, Futurama will be back on TV toward the end of this year or early 2008. It can’t come quickly enough for me. Yes, I saw the Simpsons movie, and it was great, but I’m at least equally excited for new Futurama after all of these years of repeats on Adult Swim.

We’re heading out tomorrow to the British Virgin Islands for a trip that we’ve been planning with Heather’s family since last July. We fly through Puerto Rico on Friday and stay the night in Tortola, and we’ll be on the boat Saturday through Thursday.

I guess there’s not much else to say except that we’re excited and trying to get packed and finish up everything at work before the trip. I always make a concerted attempt at not over-packing, but sometimes I fail. I have a feeling this may be one of those times. I mean, how many pairs of socks and gadgets could I possibly need on a 55′ boat?

Yes, we’ll take lots of photos and no, I won’t have access to email or phone for the whole week. It’ll be very nice.

The rest of the weekend went well. Saturday was a day of fun and excitement at the Food and Wine Festival.

EPCOT, as you may know, is partitioned into countries, with scenes exhibiting the plethora of stereotypes that Disney engineers held about all 12 nations of our great planet. So, in that vein, the food/wine/beer exhibits were sectioned by country. Heather enjoyed a Lamb Slider from New Zealand. In “Argentina”, I had a Spicy Beef Empanada worthy of José Olé®. I sipped, even in 90 degree weather, a small cup of Cheese Soup from Canada.

You’d think this would mean there were exciting beer selections from these countries. But unless Tsing Tao, Kirin, and Peroni make you feel like you’re sitting in Beijing, Tokyo, or Milan, the beer selections at the Festival were nothing to write home about. The only beer I hadn’t heard of at the entire festival was Brahma, a fruity Brazilian brew. Blah.

Sam Adams, over in the “America” exhibit, had a whole smattering of Sam Adams brews, like their Cherry Wheat and whatever. That normally wouldn’t pique my interest at all, but they had a “11th Annual Festival Brew” that was a nice robust porter. Probably the best Sam Adams I’ve ever had, though their Summer Ale isn’t terrible.

All in all, there wasn’t much free beer, and there wasn’t anything I hadn’t had before, so I call it less than optimal. However, it was a day of walking around, stopping every 10 feet to eat and drink, and watching fireworks, so as far as theme parks go, I wholeheartedly approve.

Saturday evening was fantastic. We filled up exquisitely at The Yachtsman steakhouse and then had a front-row seat for the fireworks display back over at EPCOT. We returned home only to watch Georgia squeak by yet again against Ole Miss. Do I regret this year’s wager with Rusty? No. Am I worried about it? A little.

Good: I’m in Florida with the wife visiting her parents. It’s a beautiful day.

Bad: Things went awry at work this week and I’m stuck in the inlaws’ kitchen (probably technically a breakfast nook) working away on my laptop today. It’s kind of a bummer, compared to all of the relaxing and non-work things I could be doing.

Good: I’m not in the office. I’ll finish putting out fires and can have a relaxing weekend without any calls from work. Then, we can enjoy the 11th Annual EPCOT Food and Wine Festival properly.

The phrase “Over the course of the Festival, there will be 1200 beer and wine seminars scheduled with complimentary samples” resonates pretty well with me…

Monday, July 10th, was our second wedding anniversary. It seems like the human tendency is to use anniversaries as a kind of yardstick. Has it really been two years? That one feels about right. It’s been an eventful two years–since July 2004, I’m on my third job (and third home).

But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty short time. While many marriages are shorter, my parents hit 31 years in January. I’ve had cell phone contracts that lasted 2 years. We’ve had our cat for longer than that. Yes, in terms of yardsticks, while I’m happy to have hit this milestone, and I’m even more excited about the years ahead of us, it doesn’t seem like very long.

More striking, I think, is that as of July 17th, I’ve been with Heather for 10 years. We began our relationship in July of 1996, when the Olympics were in town. The newspaper last weekend read “Games Changed Everything”, with the expected retrospective pieces on the commercial and cultural growth Atlanta experienced during the years on either side of 1996. Somewhere in my closet, I have the newspaper from the Opening Ceremonies, 10 years ago. Metaphorically, it’s as if these two papers are the coming and going of a comet, a steadfast chronological ticker that returns to earth after a decade and finds that much has changed.

And yet, you could throw both newspapers in the same pile in the closet because they both represent that which is finished. Heather and I have laughed and cried for these 10 years together, and have shared our lives in ways that are always intensifying in an exciting manner. It’s invigorating to pass the 10-year mark, and it makes me a little nostalgic.

Anyway, as I’ve said many times, I love you, Heather. Thanks for the best 10 years of my life.

Heather and I were in Jacksonville for the weekend, as you may have noticed from the fun photos to your left. My sister graduated from college (congrats, Christine!) and we all met to celebrate.

Tomorrow, we leave for Italy. My buddy Matt made the decision to have his wedding in Florence, and we decided to make a weeklong vacation out of it. We fly into Milan, take the train to Rome and Florence, and fly out of Milan a week later. I’ll have a recap and photos as soon as I can. Have a good week, everyone!

So, I wrote half a post about our vacation and how I had very little to do at work upon my return, but I never finished it. It’s the strangest thing; for some reason, the more free time I have on my hands, the less inclined I am to post here.

I do have an inkling of what has been taking up some of my free time, though… (Keep reading)

Presents

I wouldn’t ride Marta with
these in your lap…

Even though we’re through the part of the year where most of us unabashedly display our consumerism and material lusts, I can still show off my favorite Christmas presents. Heather scored me an Xbox 360 with a little help from one of my friends. The in-laws, god love ‘em, had a new iPod waiting for me under the tree. My parents came through with a hot new game to accompany the hot new Xbox.

So, like I said, that’s what’s been occupying much of my time lately. I spend much of my time at home fleeing the authorities and winning World War II, though I do take some time out to blast aliens now and then, as has been my preference for 14 months now.

In additional, exciting news, Heather and I are headed to Acapulco in just under 2 weeks for a long weekend. Why would we go to Mexico just for the weekend? The tickets were nearly free. Back in November, American Airlines (accidentally?) offered round trip tickets to Acapulco for $0. After paying only the taxes on the tickets, we were confirmed and booked for a quick weekend getaway. My mom is coming along with us for the 3-day trip. We’re going to try the Hotel El Mirador Acapulco. At the least, it’ll be quite an adventure.

Link Action

These two links may have identical syllabic grouping, but that’s where the similarity ends–

The Consumerist
Do you enjoy Clark Howard, but a) you’re anti-semitic or b) you haven’t used an AM radio in years? Frustrated but savvy consumers air their gripes, tips, and trends. Some of the commentary is hilarious, and most of the posts contain good anecdotes to store away for future reference in your consumer dealings.

The Superficial
The best way to describe this site would be “People Magazine for people who absolutely hate People Magazine”. You have to be incredibly snarky and witty to get me to care about any kind of “celebrity news”, so this is a true feat.

So, we had to run out to California for my grandma’s funeral this past week. I didn’ t even mention my grandpa’s passing earlier this year, and I won’t say much about this one, because such things are very private to me. It was really good to see my family, though.

We were only gone for four days, yet Heather and I agree that it feels like we were gone for an eternity. Tasks piled up at work, another member of my team quit, and there’s much to do before I leave again for Christmas. Do I dare even offer a glance over at my Bloglines feeds? Oh crap, 2554 unread postings. Good thing I didn’t check before lunch!

Last week’s travel in the Vonkmobile:
Atlanta → Jupiter → Orlando → Jupiter → Orlando → Atlanta

I consumed amounts of food that would likely prepare me to hibernate for several months in a cave, were I a bear. (A bear who likes fried eggs, stuffing, and pumpkin bread, as I assume most bears would.) We played a lot of ping pong, a little tennis, and a good amount of Rummikub. It was the relaxing vacation that many people complain about not experiencing when they travel. Heather and I went up to Orlando twice: once mid-week to visit Disney World, and once on our return trip to Atlanta to celebrate Thanksgiving with her parents.

Another common travel annoyance that we avoided? Traffic. Thanks to some strategic planning, we encountered very little traffic in both directions.

The holidays in Florida feel a little strange. There’s just something different about picking out a Christmas tree in 85 ° heat or coming off the tennis court in shorts to eat leftover turkey and stuffing.

Uh, good luck, Mom, Dad, and Stephen…
I just talked to my Mom and things were “blowing around the house”. I don’t really know what that means. The phone connection kept dying, too, but they still had power. I figure that they weathered last year’s storms pretty well, so they’ll probably be fine today.