have a good long weekend

I went out this morning to set up our tent for the weekend. Now I'm getting ready to finish packing and packing the Rendezvous. I'm hoping to be able to take some naps. I like taking naps in tents when there is a nice breeze blowing through. That and just sitting by the fire doing nothing. But this is a Friesen(Stephanie's side) event so I'll have to get ready to play some games. Sunday night is Karaoke night. Not sure what to sing this year. They are also having "Let's Make A Deal" on Saturday night. I'll have to see what that's about.

I hope everyone has a nice long weekend. If you have to work Monday that's too bad. I guess I have to work Monday though. I go in at 6pm, but I get Sunday night off.

TJ

summers almost gone

Summer's almost gone, but I don't mind. I'm ready for some nice, cool weather. Today is perfect. Mid-Seventies with a little breeze and sunshine. Hopefully it will be like this all weekend. It's our annual camping weekend with Stephanie's family(and my parents) at the campground in Owatonna. The last 2 years we've gotten rained on. And not just a quick shower or an overnight sprinkle, but downpours. 2 years ago we were under a flash-flood warning. Last year our tent got wet and we ended up sleeping at our house. According to the forecast so far for this year, it's supposed to be very nice - lower to mid-Eighties and sunny.

I'm excited to go swimming...this fall. The first weekend in October, Stephanie and I along with Will and Melissa are going to the Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. That's the place we went on vacation in June. Even though the outdoor waterparks will be closed there are still 3 indoor waterparks, including a huge wave pool. I just saw that the Wilderness Resort was rated the #1 waterpark in the United States! Maybe we'll ride the ducks too.

TJ

Tuesday, Aug 28th

Hello everyone. It's new release Tuesday. There's a few new cd's coming out today. Casting Crowns releases, "The Altar & The Door". Point of Grace releases "How You Live" and Bill & Gloria Gaither release "Amazing Grace" & "How Great Thou Art" on DVD and CD.

You can preorder the new Vocal Band & Signature Sound DVD and CD on Gaither.com for $29.95. When you preorder you will also receive Gordon Mote's new cd, "Don't Let Me Miss The Glory" featuring the Gaither Vocal Band, The Isaacs, Alison Krauss and more. Plus you get the opportunity to see TJ and Stephanie on DVD whenever you want!


Any opinions on Stephanie's new hair-do? I think it looks like a hair piece.

my weekend

This past weekend I went down to Iowa to sing in Amy Niehoff's(now Earl) wedding with Four His Glory. On Wednesday evening I noticed I was starting to get a cold so I started drinking water. And boy did I ever drink it. On my way down on Friday I drank around 148 oz. of water. Not kidding. I stopped 4 times to go to the bathroom. I was trying to flush the cold out. I think it worked cause it's just about gone. On Friday evening we had the rehearsal. After that we went to Jeremy's house for a little bit, then we went to Will and Melissa's house and played the Nintendo Wii. My arms are still very sore. I played boxing against Brian "I Eat Danger For Breakfast" Niehoff. It's been a long time since I've been this sore, and it's from a video game. A certain someone called to see what we were up to. We said we were at Will's so he said he'd come over. Well, apparently he went to a house 2 doors down and rang the doorbell over and over. When no one answered, he went around back and banged on the back door. An old couple came to the door. This was at 11pm. He thought he was at Will and Melissa's. I won't mention his full name, we'll just call him "Louis, from Ankeny".

Saturday was the wedding. Here's a pic of the quartet singing during the wedding. We did "Your Grace Still Amazes Me". Mark looks like he's ready to kill someone. He's evil. After the wedding we dropped the bride and groom's presents off at their duplex. A certain someone took the labels off the canned goods. It was all me!

I came back Saturday evening.

Attention: If anyone is interested, some silly person(I won't name name's. We'll call him "Jeremy, from Huxley") has a pop machine if anyone is interested. It's old, it's very, very heavy, and it's at Mark Vance's house where it's been for 6 months. It's pretty sweet. If your interested contact Jeremy at 515-371-7541. Jeremy would be glad to move it for you.

TJ

Here's what I've been waiting for

WooHoo!

On October 23rd the Gaither Vocal Band and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound release the cd/DVD "Together". The studio cd features both quartets singing together. I'm listening to the clips right now online. It has 15 songs on it! The DVD is the recording my parents and Stephanie and I went too in Louisville, KY. It's going to be a good one. There's 24 songs on the DVD! Check out the song clips and more info.

It's still raining here. And it's supposed to rain some more this evening and tomorrow.

I'm going to Iowa this weekend to sing in Amy Niehoff's wedding. I think we're singing "Coming Down", one of our all-time favorite quartet numbers... and a great wedding song.

I better go. I'm going in to work overtime at work at 2pm. I normally go at 6pm. We'll see how it goes.

I gotta go potty.

TJ

Drought's over

I think the drought we were in is over. Last I heard, we had about 7 inches of rain in 2 days. I haven't seen the sun since Friday. Saturday night was the big night for rain. In southern Owatonna a bunch of roads and homes were flooded. The Microtel Hotel right across from Viracon and Target was flooded again. It was flooded right about this time last year too. They built some kind of drainage ditch next to it to help the flooding. That seemed to work well. HA! A bunch of cars were flooded in the Viracon parking lot. Thankfully, I wasn't there. There were at least 6 deaths in SE Minnesota because of the flooding. Our county and a few others are in a "State of Emergency", which means.... umm, I don't know. Here's pics from the flooding. It's supposed to rain the rest of the week.

Also, I found the Deep-Fried Coca-Cola. It was $5 so I didn't try it, but I did ask them how they made it. They use the Coca-Cola syrup without the carbonation, then they add their secret ingredients and deep-fry it. It looks kinda like a funnel cake.

TJ

Little House On The Prairie

So with my $25 gift card I won at the fair to Fleet Farm I got Season 8 of Little House On The Prairie. I'm watching the first episode right now. Woohoo!

TJ

It's fair time

This week is the Steele County Free Fair in Owatonna. Apparently it's the biggest county fair in Minnesota. I wouldn't really know. I never grew up going to county fairs. It was always the Iowa State Fair, which I won't be able to make it to this year. Stephanie went to the county fair on Tuesday, I went yesterday and we're going today. Stephanie signed up to win something in one of the booths and the guy called me today telling me we won a $25 gift card to Fleet Farm. WooHoo! All I had at the fair yesterday was the Nitro ice cream. I had to get Stephanie's favorite, mini doughnuts for her though. This year they've got Spaghetti Sundaes, which is ice cream shaped like spaghetti, chocolate sandwiches, mashed potatoes on stick and the food I'm going to try and find tonight, Deep-Fried Coca-Cola. I want to know how they make it. I don't get it.

TJ

Close call at work

Let me create a picture for you.

So I'm working Monday night at Viracon. The guy I was working with and me were putting glass on a rack. It's kinda "L" shaped and you stack the glass sideways on it. Well, we're putting it on and this guy is driving by in the aisle next to us. He's pushing a trash rack. It's kinda like the rack we were putting glass on except it has wheels. It was full of trashed glass that was bad or scratched or whatever. He was on his way to the dumpster. He was pushing it with what is called a tugger. Well the connection to the rack came undone from the tugger. I was watching this all out of the corner of my eye as we were putting glass on. I noticed it was coming towards us but I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I finally realized it was stopping so I yelled, "It's coming" and jumped out of the way. It knocked a bunch of glass over. They said I was white as a ghost. But I'll have you know my record still stands at 29 days!

Hymns

I just got the new Gaither DVD's "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art" featuring all hymns. I watched one yesterday and am watching one now. I love em. If you like the old hymns you'll love it, if you don't, I don't recommend them because that's all they are. These are probably the best produced videos yet. They're my favorites. They feature the Oak Ridge Boys, Randy Owen from Alabama, David Phelps, the Vocal Band & Signature Sound, Booth Brothers and a whole lot more, plus a full orchestra. These are for everyone, even those that may not like the more upbeat videos like Signature Sound.

I've seen a lot of Hymns projects coming out lately. I love it. I love hymns. I'm not much of a "Praise and Worship" guy. There's a few I like, but most of them I find shallow. Hymns are so deep and lasting. Some are over a hundred years old. And I like to sing the harmony parts on them.

They release in stores on Tuesday, August 28th. Or you can order them online too.

Have a good day,
TJ

Wow! This is getting good.

I am now at 26 Consecutive Days of Work Without Breaking Glass! This is absolutely amazing. I might be holding an all-time Viracon record. Our Consecutive Years of Marriage Without Breaking Dishes also still stands at 5!

My sister-in-law was so impressed with our blog(who isn't), that she started one of her own. 7shoes It's amazing.


I wish I had 13 toes.

TJ

Stephanie is famous!

Many of you know that I am famous from my time with the critically acclaimed group, Four His Glory. But what you may not know is that my wife is also famous. She does it all. She has an album out - Check out her website: Stephanie Wright. She did most of her touring in New York City. She hasn't toured for a few years though. She also has an excellent book out for those who want to double their energy in just 8 steps! Kum Nye. In her spare time she writes blogs for the Michigan Daily paper for University of Michigan football. She has also been helping patients navigate the road to health. She has also been involved in real estate with my dad, Bob. Last year, she received an alumni award. Lately you can find her on the news in Illinois. She's also a dentist, International Student and Scholar Staff Assistant, attorney, librarian, and a tv producer. Oh yeah, she works at OfficeMax too. She's really changed her look through the years.

TJ

Ouch!

I just saw something on the news about a lady who fell while carrying a pencil. It apparently went straight into her head. THE WHOLE THING! apparently going in through the eye socket. That's what it looked like when they showed the X-ray. Yikes! Be careful with those pens and pencils, if you walk around carrying them. They said she was finally able to have it removed from her head/brain after so many years of it being in there. How Crazy! Just thought you might find that tid-bit of info interesting. Check out the link: Pencil in the head.
~Stephanie

good day

Good day to you all. It's been pretty uneventful around here, which is a good thing. I had to work all night on Saturday. Stephanie had to work Sunday afternoon. I think we are both going to quit our jobs and run a home-based business selling something. Not sure what though? Maybe homemade tables from my woodshop out back.

Have a good day,
Can't wait to get to work tonight.
TJ

bridge collapse Pt II

I woke up this morning at 7 and flipped on the tv. I decided I was too tired so I went back to sleep, but I woke up at 7:30. Of course I've been watching since(although I did take a shower). I was up till 12:30 or so.

The first thing I thought when I heard about it was Stephanie will never go on a bridge again. She doesn't like bridges anyway. She never has. Especially when it goes over water. I don't think we are ever going to be able to go East of the Mississippi again. We'll have to go up through Canada.

TJ

bridge collapse

I found out when I was at work tonight about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I came home at 10 and have been watching tv since. Any time something big happens like this I can't quit watching tv coverage. Whether it's the 9-11 attacks or severe weather coverage. It's addicting. Stephanie will probably go to bed and I'll watch for who knows how long.

For more info on this, visit this Twin Cities tv station website: WCCO

TJ