Jon's 101th Blog Post Spectacular!

i just realized that i inadvertently missed my big 100th blog post by posting a joke about inter-species relations. oh well.

so i've actually written 100 blogs. that's a pretty cool achievement for me, especially considering some of them were pretty substantial. others obviously were pretty dumb (see last post) but i'm decently proud of myself for keeping up with this for as long as i have. it's a great feeling to write something and then put it out for anybody to stumble across. a good outlet. so thanks for reading. i don't plan on quitting anytime soon.

as is hopefully noticeable to the avid reader of my blog, i've changed the look up a bit. this template is called rounders. don't know why. i've seen some other blogs that are designed in very cool ways (awesome picture karlie), but i have no idea how to church this thing up other than changing background colors. oh well.

i'm also confused about font and almost more importantly, spacing of lines. i kind of feel like the blogspot service isn't the most user friendly when it comes to organization.

but that's what i intend on figuring out as i continue to blog. here's to hoping you'll stick around while i learn how to space all my lines evenly. that would be awesome.

-jon

update.

edited to say: forgot to mention earlier that i am nearing my 100th blog, so when that happens i will update this mug just a bit. change fonts, maybe even a color or two. my buddy adam did it and it looks awesome and it will also look like i am copying him now. dang.

remember when i used to blog? the good ol' days.

since it's been over a month, here's some stuff that's happening as of late.

been listening to ben folds as much as i can. everything too, old/new/stuff with the five. smoke is still one of the most incredibly well-written songs i've ever heard. mulling over a possible Top 5 list of favorite songs. we'll see.

my bachelor party was thrown last night. super great time. might put up pictures recap the night a bit. i want to give a tip o' the cap to my best bud joel and the boys for putting on one hell of a party for me. thanks guys.

and along those lines, it is two weeks until i am married. in exactly two weeks time i will be shaking my tookus on the dance floor at my reception with my beautiful new bride and a bunch of our friends. i am super nervous but even more excited.

started reading a book now that my summer class finished and i've got a tad bit more free time. it's called a severe mercy by sheldon vanauken. it's a walk through of this guy's relationship with his wife and has a lot of letters from his good friend c.s. lewis. pretty good so far.

while making the slideshow for the wedding, i got a glimpse of how cool i was in high school. seeing all the cool clothes i wore made me want to try and reclaim a bit of that former glory so i went out and bought a cards cap. holler.

and that little raspberry on my hand is from the bachelor party. i was a 1st-time kayaker.

consider yourself updated. i'm off to work.

-jon

here's some new stuff.

break is almost over. here are a few noteworthy things that have been going on.

- i restrung my acoustic guitar. it was in serious need of it too, not having been changed since before i left for spain.

speaking of spain, exactly one year and a day ago i got on a plane to leave the country for five months. i thanked God yesterday i wasn't doing it again this year.

back to the list.

- colleen's family got a wii. which means i've gotten rehooked on trying to go pro in every sport on wii sports except for boxing, which shouldn't even be counted as a sport in the game. so stupid. also means i really want to buy them guitar hero so i can play whenever i go back to visit.

- awesome christmas presents include:

• muppet show: season 3
• pea coat
• digital camera
• 12 pack of mt. dew
• money and m&ms
• homemade stuff for my first place with my wife
  
• awesome homemade christmas card
• a bird clock (more on this later)
• a turntable

all of these are so great. i haven't worn my carhartt since i received the pea coat. it looks great and i feel like josh hartnett when i wear it. super nice of my fiance, who bought it for me after we had said we were just gonna split the cost of a digital camera and that would be our christmas present to each other. the digital camera, by the way, is a canon powershot SD 1100. now i have to practice taking pictures in groups and not feeling weird about it. it's really cool though. and did anyone happen to see the new updates to iphoto? they look super awesome. take a gander and how great this looks. almost worth the price of ilife '09. the garageband updates look incredible too. get a load of this. apple thinks of everything.

another great thing i got was the bird clock. great addition to the jam shack. this present was won in the big gift exchange the cooper family does every christmas. i had opened two prior gifts, each a gift card of some kind (i think target and itunes), but each were stolen from me, so i ended up opening another present which was an analog clock, with a different bird for each number. on the hour, the clock chimes the call of the specific bird for that hour. awesome.

i got a turntable. incredible. not just any turntable mind you, this one has a usb hook up which means i can actually record vinyl onto my computer. this opens up a whole new way of listening to music. i bought my first record the other day too, stevie wonder's Hotter Than July. i figure i will start keeping my eyes out for vinyl, anything old and awesome. basically anything pre-80s is a must-buy. i am one step closer to being rob gordon. it felt so cool to put the thing together out of the box; i did my best to be really careful with every little part. it's like i'm handling much more fragile equipment than if i was to put on a cd. records seem to have so much more of a history behind them, a culture associated with them. if i'm not careful with a record than a whole generation of audiophiles will get upset with me. it's really cool.

- my best man joel gave me loads of new music, including adele's 19, rachel yamagata's new album Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart (which wins the award for weirdest album title), kings of leon's newest, and a few more. i've also been trying to do a bit of spring cleaning with my itunes, so i've been getting rid of some of the crap and editing a few things here and there. it's looking better than ever.

- been getting back into sufjan stevens' Illinoise album. what an artist. the whole thing is so richly textured it's incredible. the themes in his music just stop you in your tracks. such a great album. i wish i had more time to listen to all of his stuff.

- colleen and i start premartial counseling on sunday. i'm actually looking forward to it; we're in it with another couple with whom we are friends and it will be a lot of fun i think.

school starts up again on monday. not looking forward to it. i also just realized how horribly organized this post it.

-jon