Random day at Ball State

Last Saturday Miriam and I had planned a little double date with Adam and Stacy but before that began we needed to head into Muncie a little early so Miriam could stop by Wal-Mart to get her contacts. Miriam and I planned to head in early enough so that we could spend some time together at our memorable picnic area from last semester. Regrettably I forgot my camera as we were headed to this amazing castle playground which is ideal for groundies. (I seriously think we should do a fall retreat up to Ball State for groundies and nuke 'em because of this place). As you can see in this picture it is a little like the one we went to, but still does not do justice to the actual castle itself.

But anyway, back to our day, we ended up not even playing at the playground as we felt weird just going to play and being so old, last time we had it to ourselves and had a picnic, so that wasn't as weird. If we just came up and started playing it could have been weird. Luckily the playground is right near Ball State University, which I have now declared the most beautiful campus I have been to. (It is now my goal to find another one more beautiful). We strolled around Ball State for awhile. It was pretty dead as they had just finished classes for the semester the day before, yeah, they finished in mid-April, that is weird. We tried to hit up their bookstore but it had closed 20 minutes before we got there, we were a little disappointed by that, but not as much as another girl who shared her disappointment with some expletives, she was pretty serious about not getting in.

From there is where the time at Ball State really picked up. We noticed a little concert going on and had to investigate as to what was going on. What we came upon was ideal for our situation of just roaming around. It was the Boyer Bash 08!!!! Yes, the Boyer Bash! In case you are wondering, I am not real sure what that means either, but it did mean fun for Miriam and I. We got to enjoy multiple different inflatable games, including, a velcro wall, obstacle course, jousting, bungee run, and the ever amazing mechanical bull.

We took advantage of the free games for a little while and a free concert. Also if you are keeping score at home on who won at the games, I will not really tell the outcomes, but you can just guess who won both times we ran the obstacle course (which was a pretty sweet inflatable one), both times we jousted, and who lasted longer on the bull. Miriam did hang in there well on the bull and actually didn't even fall when she fell off the bull, she gracefully slid off and stood there looking dominant.

So, after we scored some free water from the Boyer Bash, which we decided was some sort of end of the school celebration, we headed to Panera so Mim could get some homework done, until Adam and Stacy met us at Qdoba, which is basically Chipotle just more options and food that doesn't taste as good. (Also, Chipotle next Sunday evening? I will be going....probably.)

After some Qdoba we headed to play some mini golf at what I am right now deeming our hidden secret of Royerton, IN. It is officially the best mini golf that side of Hartford City and this side of Muncie.

Oh! Also another key to mini golf that evening was that there was a pretty sweet little car show going on, which included a mean looking 1968 Camaro. The owner of the car sadly still drives the car and did not want to just give it to me, so that was a bit of a bummer, but I did get to see it which was good.

After some mini golf we enjoyed some ice cream at the little shop right next to mini golf. Sadly none of us tried the trash can sundae, but we enjoyed our snacks and then headed on our seperate ways as we all had homework....wait we all did except me. I forget what homework is at this point, it is a foreign subject to me.

Anyway, that was our random day in Muncie which included some great fun at Ball State and mini golfing with friends. Stay tuned as I will hopefully blog again before I leave for home.

Welp, See ya!

Depressing...

Joe just found out that a tank of gas is equal to two and a half days of work at the D.C.

Rainy Day at Notre Dame

A couple Saturdays ago Miriam and I ventured to South Bend, IN with Pastor Phil (Trinity UMC Pastor) and Andrew (Trinity UMC's youth). The purpose of the trip was originally the idea to go see Granger Community Church, which is a very successful United Methodist church in Northern Indiana. Miriam and I had planned on going up to see it before the semester was over and when I proposed the idea to Pastor Phil he was excited about it and wanted to take Andrew along as well. Once I knew the plan was a go I had to see Notre Dame's campus and all the history, as it is very near Granger.

We began our journey around 10:00 in the morning. It took a little while to get out of Hartford City because of some errands that had to be run. But after a few stops we were on our way to our first destination which was the campus of Notre Dame. On our way we got a little hungry so we stopped in Columbia City, yes that name is correct, at a Hardee's. Our stopped turned into quite an adventure as a couple minutes after we got our food the electricity all along the street went out and we had to eat our food with no lighting. I offered multiple times to eat the ice cream and shakes just to help, but the Hardee's crew declined to accept the offer on each occasion.

We finished up our lunch and headed on to Notre Dame. I was hopeful that Rudy would be there as it was my understanding the real Rudy just hangs out on campus constantly. Apparently I had heard incorrectly from my sources as we never did see him, but we did get to give ourselves a nice little tour. The bummer was that it was pretty rainy all day, not too hard of a rain but every now and then it was coming down.

Pastor Phil gave us a pretty good tour of the campus for it being so rainy. Has was familiar with the area so he showed us around and made sure we saw all of the important areas. He was very adamant about showing us "Touchdown Jesus" as he called it. I also got a sweet shot of a low flying airplane right near the "Golden Dome". It was a good tour of the campus even though the rain brought our moods down a little. Miriam was not feeling very photogenic as you can see.

Along with those shots I got a picture of probably the fattest squirrel I have ever seen. Andrew and I were very excited about that.

We finished up our campus tour and then had a to stop somewhere else I had to go while in South Bend. Of course if you know me you know that we grabbed some dinner at Chipotle before heading to the GCC.

So from there we journeyed on to Granger Community Church where we toured the building and then attended their 5:30 Saturday night service. GCC actually does four services; two on Saturday night and two on Sunday morning. It was a good experience, the only real problem was that it probably made Miriam and I a little homesick as it had some characteristics we are familiar with.

After GCC we headed back to Hartford City to part ways and call it a night.

(Authors note: the ride back from Hartford City is when I finally thought of the blog about our time in Indiana. Too bad that idea came so late....but I have been able to catch you up on the big stuff at least.)

Welp. See ya!

Dressed up for some Bowling

Time to tell of a night of fun on a Pick-A-Date in Ft. Wayne. We started the night off with some dinner at Flat Top restaurant, it is pretty much an exact replica of HuHot, or HuHot is an exact replica of Flat Top I am not really sure. I will leave that up to you the reader to decide, but I believe they may both go back to ancient times and their origins are untraceable today.


We enjoyed our meals with our group of 30+ and went on our way to where the real action was for the night, Crazy Pinz! It was the sweetest bowling alley out there.Rated the top new bowling alley of 2007 in Bowling Magazine. (67% of statistics in this blog are made up and reflect the thoughts solely of the author, but for real though, this statistic is actually true. Not sure the actual magazine though.) Miriam and I enjoyed a lane with her roommate Katie and her "friend" John. We were lane neighbors with Holly, Stacy, Corey, and Adam.


We started our bowling night off with a little couples challenge. The couple with the highest total score would be declared the winner. Things did not start off to hot for Miriam and I, or maybe just Miriam. Through 4 frames Miriam had a total of one pin. Our team was not out of the running yet though. I coached Miriam's game a little and she ended her game up in the high 80's. Adding that to my score we did pull off the upset victory. Only an upset really as we did fall a little behind coming out of the gate so slowly in the opening.


We were declared victorious and then continued on with our bowling from there, being a little less serious from then on. Miriam and I did battle each other in a later game that evening with your winner being.....MIRIAM! Yes, I will admit that she defeated me. I can easily admit when I have been defeated. Oh and also there was one rule. She was bowling normal and she told me how to bowl each time. These types of bowling included through the legs, doing a 360 then bowling, left handed, throwing the ball overhand, and I even had to kick the ball once. The kick did seriously hurt my foot, but I kept my head up and finished strong, only losing by about 20 pins. I had a shot on the final frame, but could not pick up a strike with a through the legs bowl.


That was our night of competitiveness. We pretty much just had a blast otherwise. Corey and I had some fun simalbowling (bowling at the same time) through the legs, and as you can see we did a great job of encouraging each other. It was a fun night of bowling. To top if off Crazy Pinz had a big screen showing the Final Four. I did miss UCLA/Memphis, but got to see Kansas destroy UNC, so I am actually not to sure how glad I really am about seeing that (authors note, there will be no blog reference of how Kansas ended their season, I will admit they did a great job this year, had a great team and I will not become a Mizzou fan who cheers more for a KU loss than for an MU win). UNC did make a comeback and made it interesting as Miriam, Katie, John, and I watched from McDonald's after bowling.

Also, here is a picture of Miriam and I at Crazy Pinz!




Well, that is it for our time on a great pick-a-date to Ft. Wayne. We all enjoyed ourselves as we had a great time. Look forward to future updates of our trip to Notre Dame and other things.

Oh, if you wonder what we are doing at present time. Miriam is working on homework. She is studying as she has a test and a quiz tomorrow. I am watching the NBA playoffs. The Magic just beat the Raptors and now the Lakers and Nuggets are battling. Mizzou players in each of the last two games. (Dooling and Kleiza)

Welp, See ya!

Check out Miriam's wicked cut she got while shaving that morning!
Also, don't be afraid to leave me some comments.

Lebron and Chipotle

Today I have decided to let you all know about a trip Miriam and I took to see a Pacers/Cavs game and have some Chipotle. The trip to Indianapolis was worth it just to get Chipotle for me.






We took a week night trip to Indy and had some amazing Chipotle before heading to Conseco Fieldhouse to see the Pacers host Lebron and the Cavs. Sadly the Celtics had already come to town as seeing Kevin Garnett in person would have been pretty sweet. Lebron James was an easy substitute though as he is a manchild. Even though I could never get Miriam to call Lebron a manchild, she just would not use the word. :) Seeing Lebron play in person wasn't all I thought it would be as he is so good, it looked as if he was not trying all night and he still ended up with a triple double.



An added bonus of the night was getting to see Kareem Rush play for the Pacers. Even though he has bounced around a lot in his NBA career he has done quite well. For some reason he gets limited minutes with the Pacers when he should be getting a lot of PT. He was in double figures for the night in only about 12 minutes of play.



All-in-all it was a good time in Indy and at Conseco as the Lebron pulled the Cavs away in the 4th for the victory over the Pacers. NBA fans in Indy has no real heart for their team, but who would after the Artest Brawl from a few years back anyway. That franchise is still getting over that. I had a great time though as Mim and I traveled the building and saw some of the Pacers history. I also walked in on some dinner banquet that was ending on accident. I pretended like I knew what I was doing though and scored some free water from their table filled with food and drink. The trick is to just look like you belong.



So that was Miriam and I's trip to Indy for some Chipotle and an NBA game. I am excited for the NBA playoffs to start this weekend as I have had time to keep up with the NBA this 2nd half of the season. I am bummed the Nuggets are in the playoffs and not the Warriors, but it should still be good. Hopefully we get a Suns/Celtics NBA Finals, but anything but the Spurs/Pistons.



But anyway, for those of you who are not here to listen to me talk about sports. My time in Indiana is going well. Miriam is over right now, she is playing Peggle while she should be doing homework. Peggle is a great game too, I found it when I was getting Trinity United Methodist a new computer, it is very addictive. Ok, Peggle is also addicting to watch. I just caught myself watching Mim play for a few minutes and was forgetting about my blog.



Alright, that was our trip to Indy. The best part was being on the trip with Miriam, but Chipotle is a close 2nd in case you are wondering.


Time for me to get Miriam to do homework so I can play Peggle! :)


Welp, See ya!

Why I am Here.

Well, the main reason I am here in Indiana is pretty obvious. It is Miriam Casey. She is incredible if you don't know her. She makes me smile. I am kind of bummed right now though because it is a Sunday night. Miriam has small group on Sunday nights so we don't get to hang out all night on these nights. It is our only night of the week we don't hang until late.

In case you are wondering our weeks are spent about the same each week. Miriam is obviously busy with school and I keep busy with a couple jobs, tv, books, and video games. I am working at the D.C., it is the campus dining hall at Taylor. I stock the dishes as they get cleaned, it is a pretty easy job and I don't have to buy groceries either as I usually bring home some food from there, so that is a good set up for me.

My other job is working with a small United Methodist church in Hartford City where I am living. It is a block from my house so it will be a great little walk when it finally warms up. The church is gonna be going through a pastoral change in the next couple months, so that will be making my job there a little more awkward and difficult I think. As of right now it is already kind of awkward as Miriam and I are two of the very few young people there. This morning was spent with the Pastor talking about his requesting to leave the church. The UM churches are ran by a conference and the conference helps to elect and guide pastors to churches they feel are the best fits for both sides.

Other than these things each week, Mim and I usually try to have a little date of some sort each Friday. Hartford City is right in between two bigger towns, so we go to one of those for stuff to do. These two months have gone by pretty quick even though it was difficult first getting here as it was hard to find a job.

I spent my first few weeks getting into the show lost.

I fully caught up very quickly and the show is now in its 4th season. (Yeah, I had nothing to do)

Also, my roomate just came in and that reminds me that I am also very into the game Settlers of Catan now as well. I am going to get it when I get back to Missouri and if you live in Missouri you will be playing it with me and you will fall in love with it. Trust me.

Ok well, I have rambled for a bit. I am probably a bad blogger, am I supposed to keep it short? Hey, wait, my blog, my rules. As long as I want.

Look forward to future updates of Pick-A-Dates and going to Notre Dame to see the campus and go to Granger Community Church. Those have already happened, but also look forward to the Ball State campus afternoon of fun that will happen in the future. This place is ideal for groundies.

Welp. See ya.

First Post

So, two months into my time up here with Mim I have decided to start a blog. Maybe people will be interested maybe not. If all else, I just need more to do to pass my time as I am still getting used to having no homework. Because I am starting out this blog so late into my time here, I am thinking my first few posts may have to be some catch up of some things we have done.