Top o' the Mornin'

Today I went into the guest room where Olive lives now and noticed that she was not only out and about in her tank, but she was perched on top of the log that she usually hides beneath. I wanted to capture this rare moment of her basking in the spotlight, so I ran downstairs to grab the camera. When I stepped into the office, I noticed Kenzie up on top of the bookshelf by Kevin's desk. I'd never seen him up there before (he's usually curled up on the back of the couch next to the heater vent in the morning). So here's a glimpse of our two bashful pets--the ones most of you claim you never see. Notice Olive's red lipstick; she'd just finished eating this sweet, fruity turtle food that she seems to love.

I gave in, I'm now also on "MySpace"

I don't plan on updating it too much, but it seems that EVERYONE is now on My Space (even Jason Chaney). So like always, I hopped on the bandwagon. But now I can't figure out how to get any friends and I feel really pathetic when it tells me that I have zero friends.
So, check it out:
www.myspace.com/kewhitman

An Old Fashioned Barn Raising

While Sarah was out of town this weekend, I invited some of the guys over for an old fashioned barn raising. Well, maybe not so old fashioned (and maybe not quite a barn), but we did build a new 7'x7' shed for the back yard. Matt Hulme, Matt Hood, and my cousin Jon Gelhausen all came over Saturday afternoon to help me put it together. Most of our time was spent leveling out the ground before we laid the floor. This was a big achievement for me because I tend to hate the prep work portion of ANY project. I'd rather just start doing it; a system that usually ends in disaster. Fortunately the ground was pretty soft which made leveling a little less difficult. The shed itself went together without too much trouble, we actually followed the directions. Among the four of us we were able to figure it all out and the whole project came together in about 3 hours. I think it looks good and I'm really proud of the fact that we all worked together to make it happen.
As soon as we finished, I started loading it up with stuff while Matt Hulme and Jon went to Kroger to get some steaks for dinner and Matt Hood put together the fire pit my brother's family got us for Christmas. When Matt and Jon got back, they started working on getting the fire going while I fired up the grill. I got a little nervous when Jon grabbed the gas can and walked over to the fire pit, but they got it going and after dinner we spent some time hanging out around the fire. In the end we had a really fun day with "just the guys."
And Sarah was very happy to come home on Sunday with the shed together and everything put away.

Clean your room, Gilmore!!

I got home from work tonight and, as I usually do, went over to Gilmore's crate to let him out. When I opened the door, I could not believe my eyes. There was white stuffing EVERYWHERE! At first I couldn't figure out what toy I had left in there that he could do this to, but he was anxious to go to the bathroom, so I took him out and we came back in to figure it out. I pulled everything out and realized that he had destroyed his bed! I took it down to the basement to assess the damage, figuring I'd have to be going to the pet store for a new bed. Upon closer examination, I realized that he had actually UNZIPPED the outer cover of his bed and torn apart the inner cover to get to the stuffing. Once I got it all cleaned up, he spent some time "in jail" as you can see below.
Kids, what're you gonna do?

Did you know...

It has been a while since I have received and filled out a "tell me about yourself" forward, but this one seemed pretty simple. My good friend Jenna Severs sent it to out and tagged me as one of the people that would complete it. She was right. I didn't want to fill all your inboxes with another one, so here it is!

How well do you know me?? Probably not as well as you think you do!For instance, did you know...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Auction clerk
2. Waiter
3. Telemarketer (I sold sing-along videos to nursing homes...seriously)
4. Bank Manager

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
2. Chicago
3. Dude, Where's My Car
4. Psycho Beach Party

Four places I have lived:
1. Edgerton, OH
2. Cincinnati, OH
3. I'm so boring, that's all!!
4.

Four TV shows I love to watch: only four!
1. Smallville
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Arrested Development
4. Will & Grace

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Las Vegas
2. Paris, France
3. Italy
4. Daytona, Florida

Four websites I visit daily:
1. www.53.com
2. www.kevin-sarah.blogspot.com
3. www.google.com
4. www.cincinnati.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Indian
3. Thai
4. Mexican

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Sleeping
2. Shopping
3. With Sarah (she's sleeping)
4. On vacation

FUNdraiser

Last Sunday, Save the Animals Foundation held its annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Katie and I helped out with the bake sale portion of the event, and I baked some oatmeal peanut-butter biscuits shaped like dog bones and donated them to the sale. The entire event was a huge success, raising almost $23,000 for the cats and dogs at the shelter!

In addition to the price of admission ($8 for all-you-could-eat salad, spaghetti, dessert and drinks), there were 2 different raffles, a gift sale with STAF T-shirt and pet goodies, the bake sale and a silent auction with more than 100 different items to bid on! I was really proud to be part of such a successful event with such an important mission. And Katie and I had a lot of fun working the bake sale table.

As an extra treat, Kevin joined us for dinner after our shift, and he brought Liz T. and her little sister Emily along. They were in town to see a matinee of Wicked. And of course we didn't leave without some goodies of our own.

Wicked Awesome!

I don't even know where to begin! If you have the opportunity, you HAVE to go see Wicked. Sarah and I both loved everything about it. The music, performers, set, costumes... everything! What I love most is the story. I don't want to give anything away (you really need to see it) but at the heart of everything, it's about two unlikely friends that change the course of each others lives. In the mix is a lot of humor (Glinda cracked me up throughout the entire show), a true antagonist, romance, and political satire.
I have been wanting to see Wicked for over a year now and I can honestly say that it was everything I expected and more. I read the book by Gregory Maguire that was the inspiration for the musical and while the two are VASTLY different, the themes stay in tact. I really recommend the book; it's a different tone from the musical, so don't expect the same things from both. I also recently read the sequel to Wicked, Son of a Witch and enjoyed that book as well.
I think I was really drawn to this story because I have always loved finding out what else happened. I want to know what happened before (or after) the story. How did people end up the way they seem, what series of events led to the perceived conclusion, and is that really the best part of the story? For The Wizard of Oz, Wicked answered a lot of these questions for me. In Junior High, I read several of the Oz series of books by the original author, L. Frank Baum. Now I'm really anxious to reread these stories to further satisfy my need to know "what else happened."

Go see Wicked; you'll be changed for good...

The Nitty Gritty

I know I haven't posted much lately, so here's a brief recap of what's been going on in my life:
• I've been super-busy at work between deadlines (we're about to send the June issue to the printer) and immature shenanegans on the online discussion forum that I moderate.
• We went out of town to Edgerton last weekend for a family get-together. It was fun and relaxing.
• I have a cold. I'm trying not to give it to Kevin.
• We're going to see "Wicked" tonight, which is a major score in Cincinnati. Kevin bought the tickets through Fifth Third (they sponsor the Broadway series here) last fall. I'm picking up Indian food on the way home to eat before the show.
• We're taking tomorrow off just for the heck of it.
• I just got a freelance project that I need to turn around in about a week and a half. Should be easy money, though.

Week Two

Thursday I had my second week of Fifth Third's Young Bankers Club for this year. This is the third year for this program and I have been involved since it started. Basically it's a financial literacy program that runs for 11 weeks, once a week for an hour in a Cincinnati Public Schools classroom. Fifth Third has expanded the program to several other cities since the first year and it has been exciting for me to be part of that growth.
This year I am at Parham Elementary and I have a really great class of 17 students. It has been a lot of fun so far. On Thursday we had an "Unlimited Shopping Spree" where the students go to eight different "stores" around the room and buy whatever they want. An image of each item and its value were listed on an index card that they could select. They didn't have any kind of spending limit, so they went CRAZY. They were so excited about the idea of getting a plasma TV, Hummer H2, a house, a new outfit, a bedroom set. A few were asking if they were going to actually get these "for real" so I had to explain that this was just a game and they didn't get to keep their purchases. We use this exercise then to help them understand that things cost money, you have to eventually pay for them in the real world, and there is an opportunity cost for everything we buy. In later classes we'll build on some of the ideas we learned this week and refer back to this class often.
As I go through the rest of our 11weeks, I'll be sure to keep you all updated. I can always count on some funny stories and profound experiences.

***UPDATE*** I always miss the good ones...

As many of you have predicted, the drive-thru finger lady has resurfaced. Our insurance agent was out at my banking center today to interview the teller and manager who handled the situation. From what I understand, the "victim" contacted our insurance company and informed us that we would be hearing from her attorney.
I get the impression that this sort of thing happens from time to time and we are very rarely required to pay anything out to these individuals. What sucks for me is that if we do have to involve our legal counsel, my banking center has to pay for it. That means an unplanned expense that affects my bottom line which can affect the level of bonus I meet personally. Bluch. We'll see...