Cory's Spot: Website: Post Secret

http://postsecret.blogspot.com

My sister pointed this site out to me a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say, it's interesting. Although it's hosted by Blogger, it's not really a blog, per se, but more of an art project. The "curator" has people send him homemade post cards through the mail with secrets on them they haven't ever told anybody else. He then picks the ones he most wants to show and posts them to his site, with the intent of someday publishing a book.

I can't really say just what the appeal is, but it's there. Many of the cards are quite artistically assembled, some show no one is really all that strange in the things that we consider our deepest, darkest secrets, and some show that there are people who really are just plain sick and odd.

In any case, give it a look.

Cory's Spot: Movie: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise – I don’t own any action figures and I’ve never had a toy lightsaber, and I’ve never camped out for any of the movie premiers. I do however feel that Star Wars is above average sci-fi, with grandiose ideas and believable, yet larger-than-life characters (even when saddled with poor dialogue), and I do own Episodes I and II and the original trilogy boxset, all on DVD (I wasn’t one of those who had to jump to get the VHS releases long before the DVDs were even available).

All that said, I was entirely uncertain as to how I was going to like the latest and supposedly last installment in the series, but since I’d heard good things about the special effects, I figured it’d be worth catching a matinee at a nice stadium-seating theater to get the most out of it. Angie and I were going to watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith at the theater at The Gateway outdoor mall when we were down in Salt Lake, but we realized it wasn’t out yet, so we settled on Episode III.

I have to say, I’m glad I saw it – Episode III is a far better movie both I and II by far, and I found myself getting caught up in the how of the change from a republic to an empire and from Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight, to Darth Vader, Sith lord. Acting and dialogue are still painfully wooden at times, but it’s enough to get the job done, and the CGI special effects are finally good enough that it’s usually possible to forget just how much of the movie was created on a computer.

All in all, I’d definitely recommend Episode III. Heck, Angie even ended up liking it, and she usually makes fun of me for being interested in anything sci-fi.

Project Update: Flower Bed

These are pictures of our new flowers. We have been wanting to put flowers in our little flower spot for a year now, but we just never got around to it. We did plant some tulips in the fall and they bloomed beautifully this past spring. We only planted three plants since it's a little late in the season to be planting new plants. But, in the fall I'm going to get some starters from Mom and Dad's garden that I will be able to plant in our garden. It's just a small start, but we're excited to finally have flowers. Tomorrow we're planting some tomatoes in the back yard by the shed.

I actually thought that I would be able to dig the garden spot out myself while Cory mowed the lawn. I thought that all I had to do was dig a hole and put the plant in the hole and bury the roots. Little did I know. I had to add planting soil and turn the dirt, and putting those red bricks around the edge as trim wasn't easy. So, I recruited Cory's cousin to help. I told him if he dug for me that I would make him a big batch of cookies. He's the reason why this project got finished. I would've probably quit once I found out we had a little ant farm in the middle of the dirt patch. It was a fun project and I'm really glad we finished. It's going to be nice to have some color in our front yard.

Flower Bed


Purple Flower (I forgot the name of it)


Purple flower (Isn't it beautiful!!!)


White Flower (I know, it looks like a
bush, but it will bloom some sort of
white flowers.)


Yellow Flower (Amanda flower)


These are my favorite flowers that we
bought. They look like a mix between
sunflowers and daisies.

Projects Update

The shed is all but done! I broke a hammerdrill bit Saturday drilling holes for the concrete anchors I'm using, so I have to get a new one before I can finish, and some of the predrilled holes along the edges don't quite line up yet, so I'll have to tweak those to get the final bits of trim attached, but for all intents and purposes, the shed is finished.

Here are a couple of shots from along the way:








Well, it's way late for us, considering how early our day starts tomorrow, so that's it from me for now.

Convergys!!

I don't know if everyone knows this yet, but 3 1/2 weeks ago I quit my job at the group home and started working at Convergys. I've sold my soul as some people would call it. I finished my three weeks of training last Saturday and I was on the phones this week. I've enjoyed myself so far. It's not as bad as people say it is. It can actually be quite entertaining. It's nice to be on the same schedule and team as Cory. So we have breaks, lucnches, and the same days off. Plus, both of us have to wake up at 4:45 together. It would be worse if I had to wake up on my own at that crazy time, but it's been nice since both of us have to suffer. The nice thing about going to work that early is getting off at 2:30. After work we have practically the whole afternoon and evening to get projects done. And as Cory mentioned, I have a whole list of things he needs to do this summer. I just wanted everyone to know how work was going and that Convergys really isn't all that bad.

Happy two year anniversary to US!!!

Tuesday was our two year anniversary. We woke up at 4:45 ambitious to start work at 5:45, but at about 5:15 we decided to take total rewards, or unpaid time off. It was a good move on our part. We then decided to make a spontaneous action and we headed for Salt Lake. Our first stop was in Park City where we ran into some snow. Yes, some snow. It wasn't very fun shopping in an outdoor mall running around in the snow so we drove from store to store. Then we went to our favorite movie theater in Salt Lake City and saw STAR WARS. As the credits were starting I told Cory that I couldn't believe I agreed to see Star Wars on our anniversary. I was pleasantly suprised. It was actually a pretty good movie. It took me about 10-15 minutes to actually admit that I liked the film. It had some rather touching moments also. Maybe I was a little teary eyed because I'm pregnant, who knows. It was good though. Cory will post on his views of Star Wars at a later date. After the movie we went to Bountiful where we went to one of our favorite restauraunts. Its called the Mandarin. It's a cute little Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere. We like to call it our hidden treasure. The meals are delicious. We ended up sharing the lettuce wrap appetizer and then sharing a meal. We even had leftovers. The meals are huge. Apparantly, the owner hires specialty chefs and imports them in from all over the world. Again, it's delicious. We highly recommend you to eat there. After dinner we came home and enjoyed sleeping in until 7:00. Yes, 7:00 is sleeping in to us. I never thought it was possible for Cory and I to wake up before 9:00, but we've managed......somehow. I can't believe Cory and I have already been married for two years. Time sure does fly when you're in love.

Our Summer Projects Have Begun!

A few weeks before the end of this past semester, Angie made up a rather lengthy list of projects for the summer, ranging from things as simple as a thorough dusting to as intensive as finishing our basement. I’m happy to announce that things are officially underway – this past week, Dan and I dug out and leveled a spot for a concrete pad for our new shed, with some help from David, and then Dad, Dan, David, and I poured the concrete on Wednesday. I hope to get the shed itself up this coming Wednesday.

Dan and I were amazed to find that we hauled almost 1.5 tons of dirt, sod, and rock to the dump (2060 pounds in one load, which turned out to be way too much for my little pickup). Due to a lucky turn of events involving a late cement truck and some extra mud they needed to get rid of, we ended up not paying for the cement itself, saving about $100.

Many thanks to all who helped, especially Dan, who put in a full day of back-breaking work with me on Tuesday!

REGGIE RETIRES!!!

The NBA finals ended tonight and Reggie Miller unfortunately will not receive the winning title he deserves. With 15 seconds left of the game Carlisle, coach of the Detroit Pistons, called a time out so fans could honor Reggie Miller with a standing ovation. It was an amazing moment. I don’t know if I got a tear in my eye just because I’m pregnant, or just because I know Reggie is an amazing player who deserved to win tonight. Although I didn’t get to see the whole game, I’m glad I was able to see Reggie Miller’s last moments on the court.

SCHOOL'S OVER!!!

Well, I just finished up my last final. It feels good to be done with another semester. Now, Cory and I have the rest of the summer to prepare for the baby to come. All in all, I think that this semester went pretty well. It was hard though, with being pregnant and having to go to school and work. But I managed. I have a whole paper full of things Cory and I have to do around the house this summer. So, we're going to keep ourselves pretty busy. I can' t wait until September comes around so that we'll have a new addition to our family.

Ultrasound Results

Editor's Note: We had previously included images of the ultrasound, but they are no longer available online since our webhosting was provided by ISU and we don't keep our computer account active over the summer. Should family and friends have missed the pictures we had posted, send us and email and we'll send them to you directly.

We've already told our immediate families, so this won't be anything new to most of our readers, but Angie had her first ultrasound Monday, 25 April 2005, and we found out that our baby boy is developing well and everything looks good.

We're having a BOY!

Angie will probably want to say more than I have, but I wanted to get the good word up on our blog!