The Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas to all! It's Monday, December 25th, and I hope that everyone is having a great holiday! Kat and I have been enjoying a nice visit with her parents, Jan and Craig, who are visiting from Arkansas.

So far we've enjoyed plenty of sunshine and outdoors attractions. On Saturday, we took Jan and Craig to the Wild Animal Park~ It was a really great day - Mild temps and sunny skies; Unfortunately, our friends the Cheetahs were not running that day. But there were plenty of rhinos, giraffes, and the occasional scimitar white oryx to check out (my favorite) -




Flurry of activity when the lion actually woke up long enough to put his head in the air. And WE WERE THERE! *grin* -

Christmas Eve -

Sunday was Christmas Eve, and we went to church in the morning and the afternoon at North City. I played my Trombone for both the morning and evening service, which is about 100% more than I normally play~ Ahh, sigh - I remember when I could actually play... After the service in the evening, we came back to Jan's sister's home, where Jan and Craig are staying. We exchanged gifts, ate tamales, and had a real nice time!



Maggie, the amazing foot-long tongued dog...


Craig with his new reindeer nose

Christmas Day

Nice and quiet monday for Christmas. We took a long walk at Torrey Pines, and then Kat and Craig topped it off with yet another 6 mile hike! They've earned their prime rib, I'd say...



It's been a great visit! Somewhat of an uninspiring post, I admit, but it really has been good! Drope us a note soon and let us know what's going on in your corner of the world! - B -

A Weekend in Rome...

Its been a big weekend for our church. We hosted 1100-plus for the 8th or 9th annual "Bethlehem Village" event. I was in charge of the Roman Guards for this shindig, and I think we held our own pretty well - We had a really big crowd on the first night, with perfect weather and fair conditions. On the second, the skies opened for one of our 5 days of rain per year, and so that kept all but the hardiest couple hundred of our neighbors from coming out.

But it was a good time! Llamas, nativity plays, puppet shows, crafts, petting zoos - Its a great way for our little church to reach out to the community, and a really neat bonding time for us as a group -

Man! I am ready for the holidays ~ Kat has just a few more hours of exam left, and she will be too!

Will the real Brent Applegate please step up...

It's Saturday morning, I am still feeling a little bit queasy after staying home from work sick yesterday, and that means, "Too much free time on the internet!"-

First, an obervation. Google really is an amazing thing! While the company does not provide detailed information about its hardware, a 2006 estimate consisted of over 450,000 servers, racked up in clusters located in data centers around the world. They have LOTS of info. For a real treat, type in your own name to Google Images and see what comes up!

I am pleased to see that the first ranking for my name is a picture of me getting a trophy! Can't go wrong with that!












But after that, it gets intriguing. A couple "other me's" emerge ~ I could have been Brent Applegate, the Iowa State-going, dirt-bike riding, snowmobile racing, former farmhand current Ag Econ studying student - www.public.iastate.edu/~aplg8/homepage.html

Or even better, I could have been Brent Applegate, the manager of Brewsky's sports bar just of the campus of Lincoln, Nebraska - www.brewskys.com/catering.html

Ah, but alas, I am Brent Applegate in San Diego, California, who has a trophy from Toastmasters and a bit of a stomach bug on a drippy Saturday... But I am happy with my life... Though I think I might want to contact my other self in Iowa and see if I can trade some HP equipment for a nice dirtbike...

3 church kids, 2 movie buffs, and a carol party by the sea

Weekend update...

On Friday night, Kat and I put our wills and hearts to the test as we took on... BABYSITTING! This was another first for us, and I don't think either of us had done any babysitting since we were 16 or so...

Fortunately, we were taking care of 3 awesome kids from our church. It gave their parents a night out, and allowed us to get a little glimpse of what family life might someday be like!

Luckily, the evening went pretty smooth. No threats or duress needed, though I did find myself in a collossal psychological battle with their two-year old, Shin, to get him to put his pajamas on...

Eventually, his big sister took pity on me and working together, we coaxed him in. It was tense, though... I mean if you can talk a 2-year old into PJs on your own, you are ready for hostage negotiation, I'd say.

Saturday - Kat went to day 1 of a 5 day conference in downtown San Diego, so I was left to fend for myself for a bit. My buddy Hank and I went to see Nativity Story, which as a Christian I would solidly recommend. Critics all panned it, but I think because it was too encouraging and wholesome for their darker tastes.

Sunday - After Kat's day at the conference, we went out to a caroling party... Now, this too is a first as an adult for us both. Her previous roomate Sara threw the shin dig. A group of 10 or so of us got together at the condo complex where Sara now lives, enjoyed a variety of nogs and cheeses, then set out to serenade their neighbors. We knocked on doors, disturbed resident's TV watchings, didn't get arrested, sang Silent Night in multiple languages, and generally had a blast. Here's what a caroling party looks like:



And this is what a Sara looks like with a naked mole rat sculpture in the foreground...


If you are thinking, "Christmas Card-worthy," we are on the same wavelength!!!

A Little Flickr 101

I've heard a couple of confused folks about the Flickr wedding photos -

What you want to do is click to the photo of your choice, then look for a little toolbar above the photo - It will say "All Sizes" and "Order Prints"...

If you want to download the photos to your PC, click All Sizes, and then "Download Original Size."

If you want to get them printed and sent to you, click "Order Prints" and follow the instructions.

Little bit confusing, I admit, but Flickr is pretty good at everything else!

It's beginning to look a lot like... breaking and entering

OK, so I've never been that big on car stealing. Ask all my friends - I VERY RARELY try to break into automobiles! That's what makes the events of this past Tuesday so out of character for me.

It was a day like most Tuesdays ~ I was walking out of HP with a couple of friends to head to our lunch pickup Ultimate Frisbee game, and my buddy Gordon said he would drive since he had his Durango SUV.

All is well - I headed out to the parking lot, looking around for something like this











I got a little distracted when I saw a co-worker who I hadn't talked with for awhile who was arriving - So I was just chatting away with my co-worker and opened the door to the Silver Durango, talking away, putting my bags in, etc... This goes on for a good minute or so until Gordon walks over and motions me that HIS Silver Durango was in fact parked a good 20 feet away, and that I might want to consider getting out of that trusting person's unlocked truck!

So let that be a lesson to you! Not all breakers and enterers are up to no good... Some are just very easily distracted...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I love December. It is such a great month! Every time you turn around, someone's handing you a santa cookie or something like that. There's wassail, misteltoe, bowl games, carols, advent calendars, presents, and so much more!

The first couple days of December are off to a great start. On Friday, our church had their annual Christmas dinner. This year they had a French theme, which pretty much meant a lot of REALLY poor pronunciation and butchering of the beautiful French language. But we had fun, and our pastors did a remarkably creative pastors of the 12 days of Christmas...

This morning we went to a work session for Bethlehem Village, our church's big holiday event. Kat's organizational abilities have been shining; She's got hundereds of costumes put together, organized, and ready to roll.

Well, tonight we are heading downtown for a friend's "crepe party." The French theme rolls along. Life is going good... All I can say is, "We wish you a VERY merry Christmas"