Hi all,

In comparison with the past couple of weekends, I kept myself pretty darn busy this time around. On Friday after workout, I headed straight to the stores to buy a wok for my mother-in-law, because we were having our Mother's Day early this year. While I was out, I bought a lot of supplies for the Cinco de Mayo party, which I'm in charge of coordinating. It's a thing we do at work every year to have fun and eat food together. Basically we love parties. I went home and worked around the house and got some trim painted, and then Ric and I headed out for a late-night showing of Iron Man, which we loved.

Saturday I slept in only a little bit, then got up and started painting trim. Once I was finished with that, I shopped online a bit and ordered a heat gun for trying to get some paneling off our closet doors in the office. Then I headed out to the stores to shop for more Cinco de Mayo stuff. There's a party supply store in Santa Fe Springs that I can't recommend enough. Its prices are decent and they just have so much stuff! I loaded up with supplies for a couple of parties, then headed over to Costco. I had been considering a membership there for a while, but when I realized I needed to buy a 4+ pound chunk of beef for shredded beef tacos, I knew that I should just go get a membership. The awesome part was that I got a free $25 cash card at sign up and was able to use that to buy what I needed. From there I went to Vons to buy brownie sundae ingredients, and went home to bake brownies, since brownie sundaes were Ric's mom's choice for her Mother's Day dessert. Then we headed over to Ric's parents' place and went with them to Karuta for Mother's Day dinner. We had a good time there and then spent the evening chatting over our sundaes. I think I did more painting once I got home, and Ric and I watched Cloverfield too.

Sunday there was an outdoor church service and we didn't want to go, so I woke up and went straight to work on paint. I finally finished all the paint in the office and the living room! It feels good to finally be able to say that something is finished. We also ordered a little console to hold all of our audiovisual equipment, which should come in the next couple of weeks, and then the living room will almost look complete (minus some artwork). In the evening Erika called and we caught up with each other for a while, and then Ric and I went out to try and entertain ourselves only to find out that every store we wanted to visit was already closed. We made a quick stop by the grocery store, then watched some tv together (after I did a little bit more painting).

Today has been crazier than the weekend. I got to work and unloaded all of my party supplies, and then it was time for the department meeting. Once that was over, it was time for chapel. Our chaplain is retiring after 42 years of service, so we had to make sure to go and show our support of him. It was a fun time. After chapel, I started set up for the party, and at lunch we ate to our hearts' content and had a great time together. As soon as we were done cleaning up, I headed out for a doctor's appointment.

I had the test results for my MRI today. They say, "There is a central annular tear at the L5-S1. There is a moderate-to-large central disc protrusion. This projects approximately 6 mm posteriorly. This is likely in contact with the S1 nerve roots where they arise from the thecal sac. There is disc desiccation at this level." When I had my very first MRI a few years ago, the protrusion was 3 mm. So, it has increased, and now there is a tear on the disc. This is what has been causing my hip trouble while running. The only thing to do is not to overdo things. Supposedly, over time the tear will heal itself, and hopefully that will end the hip problems. So I guess that means I won't be running for a long time. That's frustrating, since it's very hard for me to make progress losing weight when I'm only walking and lifting weights. But it's what I've got, so I've got to get on with it!

Up this week: tonight is Jon's art show opening, Wednesday we're watching movies with the Agadonis, and Friday is Jon's graduation and celebration!

I freaking loved the movie. If you haven't seen it, go see it and make sure you stay after the credits. If you saw it already and for some crazy reason aren't going to see it again you can watch the scene here. I haven't geeked out so hard watching a movie in a long time. Props to Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and the rest of the cast for the amazing work and the 100 million dollar opening.

Robert Downey Jr. was incredible as Tony Stark. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. I don't think I would have liked the movie nearly as much if Tom Cruise had been cast as originally planned. Terrence Howard did a great job as well and as teased in the movie, we'll be seeing more of him in the next one. Jeff Bridges was great as always, despite the fact that it's always hard for me not to see him as "The Dude." I'm not a huge Gwyneth Paltrow fan but I thought she did a fine job as Pepper Potts. Add to that one of my favorite Stan Lee cameos and a Peter Billingsley (Christmas Story) cameo along with lots of nods to the comic and you have a great start to the summer movie season. The new Dark Knight and Indiana Jones trailers almost made me forget what movie I was about to see. It has begun....