FLORIDA!!! Tomorrow monring Jess and I will be leaving for Florida for a week! That means no blogging for a whole week! Whatever will you do? I recommend going to one of the two major comedy shows in Madison this week or the Nine Inch Nails concert. Or do a couple cyclocross races next weekend! Plenty to do! Can't wait to post about all the fun we had upon our return!

Volleyball is done, we pissed down our leg last Tuesday losing all 3 and likely assuring us 2nd place. We just couldn't get the rhythm going and the team we played was definately pretty decent!

Thursday we our work put on an Amazing Race on State Street for employees. We were put in teams of 5 or 6 and basically had to scavenger hunt our way up and down State St. Our team (Jess and I, Julie, Nick and Bob) appeared pretty average on paper and we didn't run like some other teams. We did however pick up all but one extra credit question, were very efficient and made no errors. At our destination of State Street Brats, we ran up the stairs and finished. We awaited the results...and once they were tabulated...we were first place!!! Awesome! It was nice to get the recognition of our co-workers and a $50 gift certificate! A fun night. The fun night was for naught the next morning at work. I guess they did a recount and a math error gave us the victory (they didn't give enought points to one other team.) We were actually second place, so that was a bummer! I thought the results should stand as the awards were given and everything but such is life. We did get to keep the 1st place certificates however, so not all was lost.

Stupid Badgers...

Way to go Packers! Way to go Lions!

I wonder what Riz is doing now?

I see drunk people...

So last night was the event of the year. Many of Pacific Cycle's finest have been awaiting a party of this magnitude for months...yes the event was Stephen and Emily's wedding. For those of you who don't know them, basically take two of the most charismatic and popular individuals in a company and mate them together. You get a couple who is perfect together, that everyone envies and who everyone wants to be associated with. I have been friends for a couple years with both and they are two of my favorite people I know.

Enter an evening of uniqueness and fun. Jess and I arrived at Tyrol Basin shortly before 4, after the Badgers and Wolverines' bad losses. As I sad before, this wouldn't be a normal wedding and when arriving we saw 50 pumpkins carved with the Stephen and Emily logo (others know this as a star.) We then went up the chairlift to where the ceremony was held. You can imagine the coolness of a fall Wisconsin day, but add 20mph winds and scattered clouds and it was pretty nippy! Anyways it was fun to see all of our friends/co-workers arrive via chairlift. We hung out for a half hour and were seated and the ceremony began. A friend of their's is an ordained minister and he officiated. He was hilarious. Two other of Stephen's friends read pieces, one was a story about cycling which had nothing to do with marriage or anything the other was the poem Where the Sidewalk Ends. Emily's friend also read a poem that actually had something to do with marriage. And then they read their self-written vows, outstanding. They made us laugh and then they made each other cry (thus inducing other tear faced wedding-goers) and then made us laugh once again! The ceremony was probably the best ceremony I've ever been to!


A cold ride down the chairlift and we were back in the ski warming hut where the reception would be held. It was there we found out the beer and wine were in fact free, awesome! So myself, Jess, J.Bro and Dakin started hitting the bar! It was also announced that to get the newlyweds to kiss we had to either kiss, sing or do acrobatics. We decided to go the acrobatics route and do the human pyramid. Others opted for kissing (homoerotic, crazy and/or pants-down style.) Crazy! The dance then got under way and alot more co-workers showed up (they invited all of our co-workers to the reception.) There were also a neat contraption, it was basically a ski with 5 shot glasses mounted on it, you all had to shoot at the exact same time by lifting and then tilting the ski! Zany! Needless to say I (along with 50% of my co-workers) had a good buzz going on!

Too bad I'll be in Florida tomorrow as I am sure the stories will be flowing at work! Everyone I talked to said this was one of the best weddings they have ever been to! Fun and casual! They even had a bonfire outside too!

I am pretty sure neither Stephen nor Emily know my blog exists but I officially want to congratulate them! They are both outstanding people and great friends. They make a perfect couple, them being together just plain makes sense. I wish the very best for them and I know they will enjoy a great life together. I also learned that great people usually have great friends. I've met Stephen and Emily's non-work friends before but I really got to see their personalities come through! Their friends are awesome, making this wedding truly memorable!

Thanks to Jess for driving my impared-self home! :) Sorry you weren't able to get impared yourself...but I'll make it up to you! Thanks for dancing with me too! Sorry to Jenny C who had to tote the Jasons to and from this event (not J.Bro...Vale and Kobler.) Brooke, your back-to-back Michael Jackson dance was one of the funniest things I've seen in a while...as was Vale trying to do the worm (which people were calling the cricket!)