Josh's New Hobby

I've finally started the path toward removing some of the extra "Josh" that hangs out on my belly. With the addition of a little cardio and the help of my brother-in-law Chris, I will be taking a Karate Class. I went down tonight and got my gi and watched the class I would participate in. There is one little kid Robert who has been training since he was eight. Chris told me that his parents used to train him by attaching weights to his hands when he punched. He is now 15 and a junior black belt. How he is in my class I do not know. I'm sure he'll end up being my sparring partner. The class looks to be a lot of fun, plus I get to hang out with Chris and get a chance to get to know him better. We had a good time hanging out tonight talking about the kids and his business. So look out for the next great Chuck Norris.

-Josh

PS. I also asked my sister Kallie and Chris to go with us to a wine tasting class on Saturday. Those of you who know Chris realize how great a situation that is.

PSS. Those of you wanting to participate in the "Bet on What Belt Level Josh Drops Karate Poll" need to speak with Kallie. She has 20 bucks on the blue belt!

(Just kidding. GO KARATE!)

March Madness, Movie Style

For all those movie geeks living with sports nuts....this is fun! i'll show you mine if you show me yours!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7053845/

kal
and yes, i consider it a triumph that Napoleon Dynamite was NOT included!

CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL AND JASON

Jason and Rachel, congrats on the engagement. In what little time we have known Jason, we have learned enough to see how much he cares for Rachel and how much he can tolerate her friends. We are very excited for you both and we can't wait to have you two up in Northern California for a Giants game.

Kallie's Dream

i was in the back seat, Whitney was driving and Winter was shotgun, and we were all talking about something when Winter said "I just can't wait to be a daddy." It was a weird thing to say but i ignored it, until i realized that Whit and Winter were both in on something i was unaware of. All of sudden we were in our beachfront mansion made entirely of windows and yet enclosed inside Klassen Hall. Winter announced that yes, she was pregnant! i immediately offered my condolences and sympathies but she was actually very excited and showed me the postcard that the doctor's office had sent her. It was the standard form kind where they fill in the details; it said "Dear WINTER MITCHELL, this is to confirm that you are PREGNANT but not LACTATING." i asked how it happened, since Winter hadn't wanted kids yet. She said she had a nodule that had counterbalanced her patch and made her pregnant. Suddenly it was a few years later and Jason was showing me a photo of himself with two little blond boys, (Winter had twins) and telling me that they had named the boys Evan and Uritch. Later i fell off the top of my giant canopy bed which was floating in water but i didn't sink in the water i landed on my back and floated while on the phone and telling Korina about the pregnancy.

(For a good half hour this morning i thought about how weird it was that Winter and Jason were going to be parents.)

Collierville Country Store

Don't let Josh ever tell you that he didn't grow up in the boonies. Around the corner from the Markle homestead is the Collierville Country Store....Acampo's version of 7/11 or something. When we stopped in on Sunday THERE WAS A CHICKEN CHILLING IN THE PARKING LOT. That's when i knew we weren't in San Diego anymore.

-kal

Things I Wish I Hadn't Learned At Work

While it's good to be working for a cause, it's hard to be submerged in all that i'm working against. At times i can't stand the feeling that i'm the only one knowing this stuff, so i'm putting it out there and telling myself that at least now i'm not alone in how i'm feeling.

---Since Roe v Wade, there have been more than 40 million recorded abortions. (The entire population of San Diego is just over 1 million.)
---An unborn child has less legal protection from pain than commercial livestock.
---Dilation and Evacuation Abortions involve the dismemberment of the unborn child by a pair of forceps; sometimes the head is too large and must be crushed for removal. Instillation Abortions involve replacing amniotic fluid with a concentrated salt solution, which the child inhales as the salt burns its skin for up to an hour. In neither technique is the unborn provided with any anesthesia, despite the fact that @ 20 weeks he/she is fully capable of feeling pain but has not developed the mechanisms for inhibiting or moderating pain that adults and children have.
---More children are killed by abortion every year than the total number of Americans killed in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, WWI & WWII, and the Vietnam, Korean and Persian Gulf Wars combined.
---Induced Labor Abortion forces a preterm baby (up to an incl. 9 months) out of its mother, alive, where it is left on a table to die (which can take several hours); hospitals are not even required to wrap the baby in a blanket.
---Californians pay for more than 91,666 abortions a year, about $51,863,235.00 .... and that was in 1998.

-kal

SD, HERE WE COME!

The long awaited trip has finally come and we couldn't be more excited to get back to San Diego. Jeff Kane has won the honors of picking us up from the airport. We have no plans other than places we would like to eat. Those hot spots on the list are the following: Santanas, Miguel's, Wahoo's, La Taverna, Hawaiian Place, The Schollers, Einstein Bros Bagels, Coffee Bean & Gordon Biersh...to name a few. So if any of you old friends want to meet up for a bite some where this weekend, please join us! We are excited to see all of you and spend time with some of our dearest. Thank you for those of you helping us out with traveling and lodging. We appreciate everything.

See you soon,

Josh and Kallie

mmmm, monotony

i have discovered something i love almost as much as alphabatizing books: addressing envelopes. It is the perfect activity for someone who revels in organized monotony and is entirely obsessed with her own handwriting.


-kal

Words of Wisdom

If you are ever looking for dental insurance, try Delta Dental Insurance. Apparently it is the only insurance approved by almost every dentist. Choosing to not go with Delta leaves you with an insurance that is unapproved by your dentist causing you to pay for your (1,100 dollar) wisdom teeth removal surgery up front and waiting for your insurance to pay YOU back. Since when was Blue Cross outed by Dentists!

"The City"

It is official: i've been in a limosine! For Kallie T's birthday Chris rented a limo and we all went to San Francisco to play. It was raining, so we played indoors at Ikea and the Exploratorium, where an old man kept stealing the fun science projects from us and a little girl was wearing a neon green wrestling uniform over her blue tights. Then we ate at the Rainforest Cafe'. It's a fun place and all, but too loud (what with the fake elephants and gorillas sounding mating calls every fifteen minutes) and humid (they sat us right next to the waterfall, water fell on our table). Overpriced food is one thing when you're paying for a great overall experience, but the mating gorillas and messy waterfall weren't our definition of a great overall experience. But we had MUCHO fun despite the rainforest, and we already know what we're getting Kallie T next year!