As I may have mentioned in the past, I’m not a lover of nature.  Typically, if it doesn’t involve golf or mowing, I’m not really all that interested in being outside.  But sometimes, just sometimes, I really do appreciate the beauty of the world around us.

A recent visit to a nearby state park would have been one of those times, had I not spent the whole time anxious about the possibility of one of my children falling from one of the many bridges or ledges.  (And the real kicker?  The only one to slip and fall the whole time was me.)

Click to enlarge.*

*That only works for the thumbnail photos.  Sorry.

The wife and I took a whirlwind trip to New York City last month so that we could go to a Yankee game. It was our first trip to any Yankee Stadium, and after we regained consciousness from when we fainted due to the awesomeness of it being Yankee Stadium, we had a blast! Except for the part where the Yankees lost. And the part where I got sad looking out over the location of the old Yankee Stadium.

On the plus side, the Yankees have never lost a game in franchise history when played the day after I went to watch them at Yankee Stadium.

I went to NYC a few times per year every year as a kid, because we have a bit of family still living there (my family lived there also, several years ago). But because we were always hanging out with locals, we never did any tourist stuff. So the wife and I went to times square, Rockefeller Center, the WTC site, THE APPLE STORE, and my new favorite business, “Phat Cribs Realty.”

Way back in 2006, my wife got me a Fisher Space Pen for Christmas. For the next three years, I carried that pen with me everywhere. The pen was with me:

- for the birth of my second child.
- at the conception of — nah, I’m just kidding. That’s gross.
- for the signing of my will.
- when I went to Apple’s WWDC and saw Steve Jobs.
- when I met Jon and Cadiz12 in Chicago.
- at my best friend’s wedding.
- when Tiger Woods was having lots of extramarital affairs.
- etc.

The point is, it wasn’t just a writing utensil. It was a part of my daily routine. I’d twirl it in my fingers when I was deep in thought. I’d write with the pen upside-down, just because I could.

One day in January, I was getting ready for work, and I couldn’t find my pen. I almost made my kid miss his bus, because I was looking for my pen. It was very troubling. That night, I had mentioned at the dinner table that I still couldn’t find my pen. My son sheepishly went over to the toy box and pulled out his sister’s little purse. From one of the side pockets, he pulled out the pen. I was mostly excited to have it back, and only partly wanted to give the kids both up for adoption. But let’s focus on my excitement.

Just over a week later, my pen went missing again. After some mostly civil interrogation, I was pretty sure that my kids didn’t know where it was this time. And as much as it pained me, I deemed the pen lost. Because it had been over 3 years since I got the pen, I figured I owed it to myself to go buy a new one. I don’t want to be in the habit of buying $20 pens, but if I can make them last, I’m OK with it. So I went out and bought a shiny new Space Pen. All was right with the world.

Until three weeks later, when the NEW one went missing. By this point, I was pretty angry about all of it. And though we do OK for ourselves financially, I’m not looking to spend $20/month on pens. So after going to a pretty dark place, emerging from that dark place, then having a rational discussion with The Wife, I decided to not buy a new Space Pen.

So for the past several months, I’ve been trying to cut down on my sadness by carefully avoiding flood conditions, greasy writing surfaces, extreme temperatures, and outer space. All the while, I’ve been making due with these lame pens with non-pressurized ink cartridges that would totally melt like sissies at 150 degrees. I’d like to say that I’m over it by now.

But I can’t.

I know it’s been a while, so I figured it’s appropriate for me to get [what's left of] you guys up to speed on what’s been going on in my life.

January – March: I don’t remember.

April: I went to the Frozen Four (NCAA hockey tournament) in Detroit.

May: I got an iPad.

I think that just about covers it. There is the story about going vole hunting with my kids, but I have to save something for my next post, don’t I?

Way back in April 2005, I needed a creative outlet. So I started a blog. In the first few weeks of my blog’s existence, I received comments from a couple of strangers (to me – and at the time, to each other) named cadiz12 and Jon.

Five years later, I (again) need a creative outlet. And though I currently suck at blogging, I’m still receiving comments from cadiz12 and Jon. Except now, they’re not strangers to me. And because I had dinner with them, I have visual proof that they’re no longer strangers to each other.

[To be clear, I had nothing to do with these two people getting together. But because I got to watch their blog friendship grow from the very beginning, I kind of feel like I was there. And it's always fun when two people who you already like as individuals get together.]

Jon and Cadiz12 are engaged, and they’ve entered a wedding contest – no, the ULTIMATE wedding contest. And I like these two more than I like any of the other contestants, so I want them to win. In order to win, they need votes. In order to get votes, they need you to go here:

http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/36688

Your vote gives them a better chance to win, which makes them happy. If you vote as a result of reading this post, that also makes me happy, because I like to help. And the knowledge that you made three other people happy should make you happy. Don’t you deserve some happiness, too? Of course you do. So go vote.