For anyone that isn’t aware, I lost my wedding ring back in February.  There really isn’t a cool story to how this happened.  It’s not as if I decided to go out on the town bachelor style or forgot it in a shady motel room.  There were no late night parties or strip clubs involved.  However, I was never quite sure how it became “lost,” of course until I found it.

Every February, my job requires a trip down to San Antonio for a yearly sales convention.  I usually spend a day or two out in our warehouse packing all the convention displays and materials.  This past February wasn’t any different.  After spending a few minutes in the warehouse one morning, I decided to head back inside for what was probably my 3rd cup of coffee.

On my way to the breakroom, I realized that my ring was missing.  While I couldn’t remember putting it on this particular morning, I was pretty sure I had done so.  It’s sorta like brushing your teeth in the morning.  When looking back several hours later, you may not remember doing so in your morning daze, but you can’t imagine that you would have left your house without doing so.  It just wouldn’t have felt right…With that in mind, it was quite cold outside so I figured it must have slipped off my hand while doing some heavy lifting in the warehouse.  Long story short, myself and coworkers spent several hours over the next 5 months tearing that warehouse apart.  I began to question rather I even brushed my teeth, I mean put on my ring that morning afterall.  And exactly like my grandmother in law and her missing burritos, I began insinuating that someone stole my wedding ring.

Turns out I found the wedding ring five months later in a “pop up banner” storage case, in the warehouse,  while packing for our yearly sales convention at the end of every July.  We have 10-12 of these pop banners that have accumulated over the years, but I was looking for the one banner that was actually up to date.  As I was opening each case, I happened to drop one.  This particular case’s lid popped off and lo and behold, my wedding ring shot out onto the concrete warehouse floor. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever felt like a better husband than I did at that very moment.

James Avery now has my ring in Fredericksburg, Texas and is resizing it for a more snug fit.  They said it would take up to five weeks, but what’s five weeks when I’ve gone five months without it.

It’s Thursday night, about 11:45, and we finally have our bags packed. We’ve been working on this all week and finally grabbed the last few items this evening after work.  I called the ranger’s station in the Rio Grande National Forest and asked about the trail conditions. He said there is no way we will complete the 22 mile loop without snowshoes, so we rented two pair at $20 a pair from the TTU Outdoor pursuits center along with a 2-man tent and two 0 degree sleeping bags.  He did ease my avalanche fears and said “that won’t be happening.” We will be leaving for the 10 hour drive tomorrow morning and hope to arrive around 4 or 5 PM, giving us 3 or 4 hours of daylight before reaching the first campsite around mile 3.  From there, we will probably take our time and return to our car on Wednesday morning at the latest and drive back to Lubbock.  Check out the youtube video with our packs on.  (They turned out to be a little heavier than we hoped…)

Grant and I are currently planning on leaving this Friday morning for our first backpacking trip!  We will more than likely head to a 22.3 mile loop in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado.  We aren’t sure how long this loop will take, but we have given ourselves till Tuesday night to finish for a Wednesday drive home.  This should be a fairly easy hike given that we plan to spread it out over 4 days.  I’ll try and post pictures and details upon our return.

You can see the details of our planned trip here.

Marcie and I are finally back into the swing of things. The vacation was awesome, but it feels good to be back on a schedule.  It looks like we are both going to have a busy spring.  Marcie ended up picking up an extra class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  This means she will be teaching 7 classes.  Sure does sound like alot to me – a normal class load is 5 classes…

I had been planning on taking this semester off from classes.  Spring is incredibly busy at work and it would have been nice to just focus on work this go around.  But, it turns out there was an “online” class meaning I can do all the classwork on my own time.  No lectures, no tests.  Just papers and possibly sitting for the CAPM or certified associate in project management certification.

On a side note – just found out some good friends are unexepectedly pregnant!  Who knew that you could have two miracle babies!?  You should definitely read their story here and enjoy a short video of their families’ reactions.

My little brother Grant is in, pending his choice of law school this spring. Depending on who accepts him and where he chooses to attend, he may be starting in the summer as opposed to the fall. I’m hoping he has his choice of schools. Of course I’ll be happy to postpone this trip if necessary.