Welcome, teeming fandom

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I am going to do on this blog to make it different from my last one & I'm open to ideas. One thing I'm thinking is that I'll try to be a little bit more intentional with specific categories (photos, home improvement projects, school, work, hobbies/interests, etc). However, since I'm essentially creating a public record of my life & I will undoubtedly be googled by future girlfriends employers, I'll probably steer clear of certain topics/ideas as well and keep this more of a journal of my life than an outlet for profession of any particular ideologies. I'm not trying to be boring or overly introverted as much as I'm trying to be intelligent in a world where information is so readily available and people are quick to judge. I'll also work on updating the look & feel over time as well. For today, I'm going to stick with ultra bland-o generic just to get started. I dunno, we'll see how it evolves.

Anyway, for now, just few quick updates since I didn't get to any this weekend. I'll probably expound on some of these things later on:

Going back to School: During our 3-week car trip to Denver & Phoenix this past summer, I bugged Sarah so incessantly that she finally relented and decided to let me start taking classes toward my master's degree beginning this January. I was a little nervous about taking the GMAT and going through the whole application process, but in the end it wasn't too bad. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a part-time program at my first choice school. I'm really excited to get started. The program I'm entering is a MBA that focuses entirely on the business aspects of technology organizations, which is of great interest to me. Plus their school mascot is a goat, and that is just awesome. Now if I can just figure out how to pay for it, I'll be set...

Bathroom destroyed & in the process of being remodeled: Once again, we had to rip out walls in our master bathroom because when it was added on a few years ago the plumbing was not done correctly. The result was a slow leak that produced a lot of black mold. We removed the walls & got rid of the mold and are now in the process of putting things back together. I found a really good clearance deal on some 16x16 travertine, so the end result will look much better and more modern than in did before (it was previously a really ugly shade of brown-hued pink). While we are at it, we decided to update the shower & sink hardware to a nice brushed nickel set. I wish we didn't have to spend the money to do this, but the results should look really nice. And in today's housing market, we can rest assured that we are making a sound investment that will surely be returned to us when we go to sell. (ha!) I guess we can feel good about the fact that the new owners will get a home much nicer (and cheaper) than the one we bought.*

Christmas in Des Moines, Iowa: Whoopidy-whoop! We're going to Des Moines for Christmas this year, where we will be staying at the fabulous Embassy Suites on the River and dine on "free" made-to-order omelets in the morning. Okay, so this is just our first leg of a longer trip that includes seeing my sister & brother-in-law in Denver or something like that. Its hard focus on the rest of the trip when Des Moines itself (!!!) is just 11 days away.

Adios,
djs

*EDIT:  I feel like I should note that we are not presently listing our house for sale.  Just saying that once we do, the new buyers will be getting a sweet deal after all the time and money we put into this place to get it fixed up.