Matt Howell

My oldest son was to go to Spring Camporee at Camp Redwing on Friday night. Well, the weather turned wet and it was decided that we should meet on Saturday morning instead of camping Friday night. That started a strange weekend of things in motion changing. I got my daughter off to a girl scout lock-in that took place at the Jay County High School. They got to swim in the pool there. My daughter and her friend arrived at my house a little after midnight. The lock-in wasn’t a true lock-in…it was like “come and play for awhile and then we’ll get you back home because there is no way we are going to watch a bunch of girl scouts overnight!”

Friday night we rented “Shoot ‘Em Up” and “Hitman” for our viewing pleasure. I made spaghetti for Angie and my oldest son for dinner.

I delivered my oldest son to the Camporee out at Camp Redwing around 8:30am. It took us a lap around the Camp to find the Troop 60 campsite. We got there just in time for morning flags. I returned home for breakfast with the girls which included powdered doughnuts and milk. We watched the first “Batman” movie with Michael Keaton and then had lunch. Lunch consisted of using my birthday present, the fire pit, and roasting hotdogs! The girls had great fun with it. We even had s’mores for dessert.

I delivered my daughter’s friend to her house and took my daughter to her Grandma’s house. I then met up with Angie in Muncie where we stopped off at the Hallmark store before going to “Intern” Rachel’s graduation party. We didn’t stay long. After that, it was a shoe shopping experience at the Shoe Carnival where Angie picked up some “rock star” heels and some comfy sandals. We decided on Johnny Carino’s for dinner and by luck, ran into Lee and Sonja. We all had dinner together and then went to the Studio Theatre production of “Assassins”. Another great show put on by the Civic. Oh, we did stop in at the Fickle Peach beforehand and had a Woodchuck :-)

I attended Sunday services at Bethany and then Angie and I went to lunch with the Marcum family. We went to the new “Real Hacienda” that just opened on Scatterfield in Anderson. Afterwards, we hit Dairy Queen in Chesterfield for dessert. A short nap later, it was time for homemade quesadillas and then I was off back to Farmland. I visited Lee and Sonja for a bit and looked at some goodies his mom may have for me coming up. More on that to come…

Once home, I start laundry. First thing I always do is gather up the jeans. I put them in and an hour later I open the lid. Oh, a pair of headphones. Darn it, oldest son, you should have taken them out of your pocket! Oh, a bright, shiny, red iPod shuffle. Suck, he left not only his headphones in his pocket, but also the shuffle. I’m letting it dry right now, but I don’t have much hope for it.

I don’t like to end on a sour note, so here’s some happy news…the camper is gone from my driveway! Good friend Lee made some deal with another friend of his to come out and get it and store it at his place. I’m just happy to have it gone. Two years is plenty to have it in my driveway! :-)

Friday - Angie and I had “The Real Hacienda” for dinner and then attended “Friday Night Live” at Bethany Christian Church in Anderson. FNL is a variety/comedy show put on by church members. It was pretty funny, I’ll give it that. Afterwards, Mark and Patty came over to Angie’s apartment where we spent the rest of the evening playing euchre and visiting.

Saturday - I picked up the kiddos around noon and we stopped in town for ground beef at the Thrift-E. Angie met us at my house where we had hamburgers for lunch. My dad came down and the younger two and myself helped him load up straw that we put around the house and dump it back in the woods. For you “green” people, that means “compost”. We got the straw from my mom and dad’s house and Violet’s house as well.

My oldest and I loaded up the car with the DJ equipment and headed off to the Farmland Legion to setup for a Sweet 16 Birthday Party. It took about an hour to setup. We went back home and I took a quick shower. We delivered the kiddos down to my parent’s house and it was back to the Legion. Angie and my oldest came with me. The party went really well, although I had some issues with the wireless mic. The party was over at 9pm and we were out of there by 9:30pm.

Sunday - We had breakfast at my mom and dad’s, then got ready for church. After church, there was a carry-in dinner. We stayed and had some great food. My oldest son and I tore into mowing the lawn once we got back home. Around 3:30pm, we had to stop and get him to church. The other two were delivered to their grandma’s. I headed back and finished up the lawn and laundry.  The weather was great, but a slight bit chilly on Sunday.

Friday - Angie and I went out to Red Lobster for dinner. I had the talapia in a bag with mixed vegetables - It was yummy! We stopped by Blockbuster and picked up “Sweeny Todd” for the evening entertainment.

Saturday - I attended the Randolph County Business Expo at the 4-H Fairgrounds outside Winchester. I made a few new contacts, mingled and chatted a bit with Arrick Garringer of Williams Printing in Farmland.

After the expo, it was a quick stop at Wally World for supplies and Aldi’s for cereal. They have the best twigs and granola cereal. I cleaned the house, did the dishes and started the laundry.

Sunday - I attended church at Bethany in Anderson to watch Angie sing in the choir. We had lunch at a chinese buffet with the Marcum family. I finally got to meet Loudnie, the little Hatian girl the Marcum’s have been trying to get to the states for over a year. Anyway, she thought I was funny.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the ballpark to watch one of the kids play ball. Angie made yummy stir-fry for dinner and I was off to the office to get a few things done before Monday hits. Nice weekend :-)

For some reason, I was awake when the earthquake shook my bed and house at 5:40am this morning. It was quite the experience.

From The Star Press:

“A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor.

The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Muncie, Indianapolis, Chicago and Cincinnati, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage.”

No damage at my house either. It was actually pretty neat. My bed swayed, the house creaked, and there was a distinctive rumble sound all around.

This article from http://www.gitomer.com/ really opens your eyes and is full of goodie nuggets for consumption.

The relationship edge. Are you on it, in it, or over it?

Beginning a relationship is easy.

Exploration is predominantly on the surface. Nothing too deep. Nothing too wide. Nothing too revealing. In the beginning, all is well. Friendships blossom. Feelings emerge. And life is good.

Full Article here >>

It’s like fast dancing at a bar. You kind of get to know the other person without touching them. Watch them move, see their rhythm, exchange smiles, scream a word or two. And at the end of the song, thank the person for their time.

Continue reading »

From Karlene Clapp on MySpace:

The Seattle Majestics soundly defeated the Portland Shockwave 14-0 during their home opener on April 12th. The first half of the game was dominated by solid defensive play by both teams. The Majestics went into half time scoreless but their offense came alive in the second half. Rachel Gore had two running touchdowns for the Majestics and Crystal Brown successfully kicked both point after touchdowns. When the Majestics faced a 4th and 10 situation WR Adrienne Wilson came down with a huge 23 yard 1st down catch to keep the Majestics drive alive.

On defense the Majestics benefited from stellar play by Ese Sesepasara, Heidi Corey, Kasey Rivas, Gretchen Pietras and Gail Pitman. The Majestics defense sealed their first shut out of the season with an interception by Carolyn Napier with time running out in the fourth quarter.

The Majestics win was a total team effort and everyone played great.

The Majestics will travel to Sacramento, CA to take on the Sacramento Sirens on April 19th.

More Photos

The Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL) is a full tackle women’s football league focused on creating a positive, safe and fun environment for the women who play the game and fans that come out to watch them. The IWFL was founded in 2000 by a group of women dedicated to making the sport a household name. The IWFL currently has over 1600 women playing the sport for 41 teams across North America from Southern California to Montreal and Washington to Florida with consistent expansion into to new markets.

Sunday afternoon was “website creative time” as I tried to build x-nod.com into an actual website again. X-NOD.com is now the home of “Howell’s DJ Service” providing information on my disc jockey service for East Central Indiana.

Ever since I’ve heard the phrase “iPod Wedding”, I’ve wanted to use that to my advantage some way. So, don’t have an iPod Wedding…get me to do the music for you instead! :-)

Friday - Patrick and I went to the Advertising Federation of East Central Indiana presentation at noon. The speaker gave an interesting presentation on “Building Brands in Small & Rural Markets”.

http://www.adfedeci.org/

Later that afternoon, I went to the “The Young & The Artless” presented by Gordy Fine Art & Framing through the Muncie Young Professionals Group. They had wine and cheese. I finally tasted Chianti wine. No fava beans though.

http://www.muncieypg.com/

Angie and I attended the Muncie Civic Theatre’s production of Anne of Green Gables. I wasn’t feeling too well and we had to exit at intermission.

http://www.munciecivic.org/

Saturday - I picked up the kiddos around noon and we came home and had tacos. Yum! Angie came out around 4pm with her new purchase, a 2007 Pontiac Vibe. Graphite gray :-)

That evening, we headed to Muncie and had dinner at “Eatza Pizza” - a pizza buffet. The kids like the games and it’s not quite as intense as “Chuck E. Cheese”. Afterwards, we attended the BSU Planetarium’s “People on the Moon and Robots on Mars” presentation. My youngest boy zonked out during the first few minutes of the Mars presentation in the planetarium.

http://www.bsu.edu/planetarium/

Sunday - The kids and I attended church services and then had alfredo and pasta for lunch. In the afternoon I worked on a website while the kids played. My oldest son had youth group and the other kids were delivered to their Grandma’s. I went to the office to finish my website work that I started. I arrived at Angie’s place around 6:30pm. We had Pizza King pizza and then we were off to Motini’s in Muncie for a Muncie Civic Theatre fundraiser. $3 martini’s and a silent auction. I don’t think the concept worked too well because there wasn’t a host for the event. Oh, well…the martini’s were pretty good! :-)