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NEWS 201 - 22 Comments
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Congradulantions Johnstains!!! I can't wait to hear the plan and how it all came together. Heather is a great girl and I like her a lot (of course that doesn't matter, its just for the record!)
I hope you have fun on your Vegas pre-honeymoon.
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Congradulantions Rossenpfeffer!!!
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Sucker!
Seriously, Prebert... CONGADS!
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Thank you, thank you. Here is the story as I remember it:
I bought the ring the Wednesday before last, and knew that I had to have it shipped out of state if I wanted to avoid paying sales tax (8.75% in Chicago - ouch!). My plan had always been to ship it to my parents' house, but since I was going to be in Vegas during the next week, I took a chance and had it mailed to our hotel (the Monte Carlo). I called ahead of time to decipher their process for packages, so I knew that when I showed up on Tuesday, the jewler should have overnighted it on Monday and the ring should have beaten me to the hotel.
Upon arrival, Heather and I went directly to the check-in line. Since the room was registered in her name, I was safe - I feigned having to shit. She bought it, as any reasonable person would, and agreed to meet me in the lobby after we both "took care of business". Now I only had to find the Business Center. I went around the corner of the checkout area, barely concealed from Heather's view, to a desk that had a bunch of mailboxes behind it. There I found one worker behind the desk, listening to a man complain about his room incessantly. Time was wasting, and this guy wasn't shutting up at all. I constantly kept one eye on Heather's location, I must have looked like I was going to rob the place. After what seemed like several hours, I darted toward the rear area of the counter and the woman came over to me. I asked where packages are delivered and she told me the Business Center was upstairs. Shit! I knew I was wasting my time! I bolted for the elevators - there are no stairs in Vegas, people are too fat and lazy for that kind of thing. I signed for the ring without a hitch, and stuffed the box in my bookbag, which I took with me to the "shitter" without comment from Heather.
The next day we had to get up early for our trip to the Grand Canyon. While she was in the shower, I got the ring out of its box and put it in my wallet - I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it - my shorts were too baggy and therefore risky - and a box would be noticable. I was all set.
The Grand Canyon is sweet as hell. And our tour was pretty cool too, if you don't count all the waiting around we did for our planes and helicopters to arrive. Here is the chopper we rode down and back up from the canyon floor:
And here are some miscellaneous pics of us there:
And me doing my Indiana Jones impression:
Anyway, after tooling around out over a particularly scenic lookout spot, with most of the other tourists out of the way, I chose my moment and pretended to pose for another picture, instead got down on my knee and pulled out the ring. Heather was oblivious and thought I was pulling out change to toss into the canyon for a moment. Finally, she figured it out and it was clear that I surprised the hell out of her. She thought I might do it in Vegas, but she didn't suspect the canyon. Ross: 1, Heather: 0.
Here's a pic of the ring:
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I'm puzzled by Roche's lack of response to the news. Even when I called him, he barely acknowledged the fact that I was calling to tell him of my engagement. Is it really that depressing?
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I congrandulated you when you called the other day and I felt it would be redundant to do it here as well. As I recall it was you who had to get going because your phone was going to die. I'm most definitely happy for you and I think you found a great girl. I'm sorry you found my response lacking but quite honestly I wasn't surprised. I knew you planned on popping the question and I believe when I spoke with you I said it was a sweet choice to have done it at the Grand Canyon.
Your pics from the Grand Canyon are breathtaking including the one of Heather's ring. That's some nice rock you got her there, Bert. I wish you guy's the best!
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My bad. Thanks, Roche!
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That's a great story Bert. When Roche relayed the story about the ring, I couldn't understand why you had it shipped. I thought you were just trying to conceal it during your travels. It all makes sense now. Did you pick the ring out on your own? It's really nice. You have good taste. I don't think I've ever seen Heather before, she's very cute. I notice she wears a thumbring. You know what they say about girs who wear thumbrings?
Are you planning on a ceremony? If so when? Finally, how did you like Vegas?
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I did pick out the ring, but we had been ring shopping months earlier so I had a good idea of what she wanted. Basically I knew she wanted a radiant cut (princess cut with the corners rounded off), white gold or platinum, and some side stones. So the details were up to me. But she's been telling her friends that it's exactly what she would have picked out, so I'm pretty pleased.
As for the thumb ring, I had to ask her what they say about them. I didn't know anything about it - though I was never really a fan of it. Anyway, she's not wearing it anymore. :)
As for the wedding, all I know is yes, we're having a ceremony, it will be next summer or fall sometime. We have zero planning done at this point but I'll fill you guys in on the details as we figure them out.
Vegas was cool, though I don't think I'll be back anytime soon. This was my third time in as many years and even though I've by no means seen everything, it's not my first choice vacation destination at this point. We only went because her good friend was supposed to be getting married there, but then called it off - but we were stuck with our travel plans. So we made the most out of it. We both played a decent amount of blackjack - I won $300 the first night, lost $150 of it the next night, won about another $200, and then lost most of that, so I still came ahead but not by much.
I also hurt my foot sometime during our Grand Canyon tour and now I'm limping like an old man. Already the world is conspiring against me to keep me from working out and gettng back in shape.
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If won $300 at backjack I'd probably quit right there but then again I'm not much of a gambler.
It's always something when it come to working out. I've been sick for more than two weeks and have cut way back on working out. In fact I forwent it entirely this week. I want to start doing cardio so I can trim up some. Hopefully I'll feel better this week so I can get started.
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Bert, if you do get married in the summer, in June specifically, the Muffin and I would be able to come. I transfer in June to San Diego which would give me time enroute for leave. Of course I don't expect you to plan around my schedule but if it happens to work out, I'll be there.
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Since you are starting the planning stage, just an idea..... You could have one of your ordained minister buddies marry you. It would be unique and more personal. There would need to be some licensing done, so planning this ahead would be good. It could be just like on Friends.
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I've thought of that, Fatty. But I'm not sure that would go over too well with the future missus. I'm sure we'll think of something that will not offend our collective secular sensibilities, however. That much has already been laid down in stone - no churches, no religion, no BULLSHIT.
As for June, I think that's going to be too soon - besides, I believe Swerb is getting married sometime in June?
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Yep, I'm getting hitched on June 11 of '05. And if you want my advice, a long engagement means you can spread out all the planning, and it's significantly less stressful. Besides, it's easier to book your reception hall and stuff that way, and you have more choice of dates. Plus, it gives you plenty of time to duke it out with your future spouse about all the details...
By the way, Stacy and I are pre-approved for a mortgage and have started house-hunting seriously (after about a year of waffling). Wish us luck.
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That's great news, Swerb! Good luck.
That reminds me, Heather and I are planning on coming to GR the weekend after next (the week of the 10th). So if you fools are going to be around, we should set up a gaming session.
As for the wedding, Heather is convinced she can do it in a year or thereabouts. She's already working on it. So I'm letting her do it her way...
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Good idea - Give her free reign and if you have any ideas or wants tell her now - then let her go. Girls entering Wedding mode become an entirely different person. Their lives revolve around the wedding. If you drop some last minute ideas, she will not be too happy - having spent a better part of a year planning things while you sat around dreaming about being Spider-man.
How do I know all this? From watching TV! That little box has all the answers to lifes questions!
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What do you mean "dreaming about"? You'll pay for that comment, Kingpin!
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If you were his mom he'd tell you to call him Peter Parker next time, if you know what's good for you.
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New news: Heather and I have selected a place and date for our wedding: July 15, 2005 at a place called Chateau Bu-Sche just south of Chicago proper. It's on a Friday so if that's going to be a problem for anyone, reserve the vacation day now. Bone, are you going to be in the US and/or free enough to make it? I assume Fatty will be back in the states by then?
Here's the joint's website:
http://www.chateaubusche.com/index.html
I'm trying to decide whether to have the ceremony (not the reception) outdoors or not. They don't actually have a picture of the outdoor gazebo area they have for ceremonies but it's pretty sweet and it's covered in case of light rain. However, extreme weather (storms or heat) would force the ceremony indoors, into the dining area, which is not as sweet. However, if we opt for an indoor-only ceremony, we get one of indoor atriums as shown on this page:
http://www.chateaubusche.com/features/index.html
Which is separate from the dining area and is pretty decent in its own right.
So either way, we have the date, so mark it down!
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Bert, the Chateau looks awesome. Super classy. I'm not sure yet if I can make it but the opportunity to entice Roche into drunken shenanigans at such a classy establishment ranks high on my list of life's accomplishment. I will make every humanly possible effort to be there to celebrate your's and Heathers's special day.
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Bert, my calendar is marked. In ink, even. Congradulantions... the place looks pretty swank. Just curious, why a Friday? Or was the place booked every Saturday next summer?
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Yeah, it was pretty much booked for Saturdays next summer. So we talked it over with the fams and everyone agreed that Friday should be okay for most people as long as we give enough notice. Plus, Fridays are a lot cheaper anyway.
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