The Johnson Blog

Ana and I went to a few stores tonight and ended up purchasing 12 DVDs that were on the “cheap racks”. Our collection has exploded to over 140 now.

In other news, Springfield finally has two Taco Bells open again. The most recent was about 5 minutes from our house that opened last week; mmm gorditas! Hopefully they won’t go bankrupt and force us to be without for 2+ years again.

We were at the Taco Bell tonight and witnessed some idiot teenage girl back out of her parking spot and proceed to swipe the Grand Am next to her as she turned. The Grand Am shook as she got stuck in its trim and had to rock the car out, hitting it over and over. To our amazement, the girl looked around and saw about a dozen witnesses (all of us just staring at her) and DROVE OFF! We got the plates and found the owner inside to let them know; two local newscasters were also in the lot at the time and called police. As we were eating our food we were able to give info to the police officer.

A week ago, shortly after our 25″ RCA TV was called the “pinnacle of television entertainment”, we went out and purchased a new television. Now sitting in our family room is a 30″ widescreen HDTV. Had a little problem with the first one we brought home and had to exchange it at Circuit City, but now it’s great. I’ll probably be calling our cable company and upgrading to their HD package soon.

In other news, on Thursday our neighbors across the boulevard put a large (5-6′ tall) fountain on their lawn. It appears it’s here to stay, with 10 bags of mulch ready to landscape around it. Interesting.. I’ll try to get a photo of it up.

Ana’s azalea bushes out front have bloomed in the past week and look great.
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Saturday brought Ana’s graduation from UIS with her MBA. Congratulations Ana!

We had our families over afterwards for a small celebration, then headed over to Jay’s where his family was celebrating his brother’s college graduation as well.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I stand corrected from my last post. Here’s a quick glance at what it’s like.
. Awesome.

Last Friday I ordered a Green Laser Pointer and it arrived today. I tried it out in a room without light and wasn’t able to see the beam like you’re supposed to, kinda disappointing but it may have been because my eyes weren’t really dark adapted at all. I can’t wait to take it outside tonight once the sun goes down.

The weekend was nice and relaxing. Friday was spent mowing the lawn and looking all over town for the laser pointer. Had to order it since nobody carries them. Friday night we (myself, Ana, Jay, and Katherine) watched Spanglish (suprisingly good) and an episode of The Office (BBC). Ended up being a late night, but fun.

Saturday involved us enslaving Jay for some yard work because he had mentioned on IM that he was bored. That’ll be the last time he mutters those words. We all enjoyed a huge meal on the grill though.

To top off the weekend we went to the Springfield Air Rendezvous to catch the Blue Angels. It was sunny, cold, and windy. Both our faces are red with a sun/wind burn combo.

Now starts my three day weekend. It’s been a long three or four weeks at work so I’m taking a day off tomorrow. Really don’t have anything planned, maybe a little yard work then kick around with Jay.

I considered mowing the lawn when I got home tonight, but was quickly preoccupied with cleaning up after my neighbors (directly behind us) who put up a fence and left all the post hole dirt strewn into our yard. 12 5-gallon buckets of dirt and an hour later, it’s all cleaned up. Slightly annoying to say the least.

In addition to the new fence out back, the Springfield Public Works crews came by today and poured new concrete for the three sections of sidewalk that were removed a couple weeks ago. We’ve been very pleased at how quickly they came to repair, all started with a single friendly email.

Photos here.

Three posts in a day, odd I know…

The brand new Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is now open in Springfield, with the official dedication set for Tuesday. President Bush is scheduled to be in town for the event, which is pretty cool. Hopefully Air Force One won’t get stuck in the mud like it did in Champaign a few years back.

We’ve been in the library portion of the complex, but not the museum yet. We’ve heard great things about it so we’re looking forward to visiting sometime.