It's April already?

Nearly three months since my last post, and many important events have transpired in the meantime: Our nation's first black president was inaugurated and, in what some may consider his first mistake among many more to come, botched the oath of office; Detroit automakers and a bunch of other undeserving companies fended off bankruptcy at least temporarily with taxpayers' hard-earned money, making "bailout" the new "WMDs" in terms of frequently recurring nouns in spite-filled speech; the Arizona Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII to the Pittsburgh Steelers, giving us flashbacks to the Seahawks' painful collapse three years ago; and, speaking of flashbacks, SPOILER ALERT FOR GARY the Oceanic 6 (minus 1) returned to the time-trippin' island during an anticlimactic mid-season episode, causing us to wonder if the show's name is supposed to describe the writers as well as the characters and viewers. Oh, yeah, and Colin and I celebrated our five-year anniversary. But that news isn't nearly as exciting as the fact that we now own Rock Band!

This joint Colin/Jenn b-day gift from the Hesses has provided endless entertainment for us, our friends, and even Kaffy, who likes to play dodge-the-drum-pedal while we're rockin' out. Colin (aka Spock) could put Jimi Hendrix to shame with his mad guitar skills, and no doubt Gwen Stefani will be calling lead vocalist Arwen (aka me) soon for pointers. John (Almeda) and Gavin (Kirk) have toured with our bands, Balaam's Donkey and Enterprizz, and we've got another gig goin' with our friends Jamie (Jinxie) and Stephan.

In non-video-game-related news, I flew up to WA in February to watch Justin complete his collegiate swimming career and thus close a significant chapter in the annals of Whitworth swimming history. The Brandler Dynasty came to a sad but fulfilling end at the 2009 NW Conference Champs, where Justin contributed to the Bucs' victory with a couple of great swims including a wicked-fast 50 split in the 200 free relay that broke the men's team record. Now that he's done with swimming and has loads of time on his hands*, Justin is working on sending out invitations for his graduation in May and planning his second medical mission trip to Guetamala this summer. To keep everyone apprised of his activities, he is thinking of starting a blog, which I'm sure will garner more avid readership than this one.
*sarcasm

On that pathetic note, moving on to highlights from the month of March, Colin and Gavin spent Spring Break/Twin Birthday Week '09 playing Rock Band and Call of Duty, pausing only for an occasional trip to MickeyD's to take advantage of a limited run on McRibs. And, as if that wasn't hedonistic enough, all five Hesses met up last weekend in Las Vegas, where Colin and Gavin won and lost some money on Blackjack and roulette (I mostly watched until the last day, when we all seemed to hit a losing streak, possibly due to my participation). Besides that, we dined at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, caught a Penn & Teller show, and schlepped up and down the Strip looking at all the casinos, spending as little money as possible and averting our eyes when necessary – it's how Christians do Vegas. I should also mention that Colin lost a bet on a tournament game (Louisville v. Michigan State), teaching him a lesson that he shouldn't bet against my bracket. That's right, I picked all Final Four teams correctly, putting my bracket in the 99.8 percentile and giving me much sweeter satisfaction than the $3.50 I won playing video poker.

To close up shop here, I've got a couple of pics of the Brandler Trifecta and the Hesse trip to Vegas. I might post again later this month after my fam comes to visit over Easter weekend, but if you've learned anything from following this blog, you'll know not to hold your breath.

Go Tar Heels!