Got back yesterday from several days worth of wedding activities for my wife’s cousin in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Our kids were in the wedding party and everything went great. A few pictures are up in the private section of the photo gallery.

Congrats to the newlyweds and thanks for including us in your celebration.

Yesterday my wife Colleen defended her capstone/thesis project at the University of Minnesota and found out afterward that she is now officially done with her masters program in health journalism.

I know firsthand how hard it is to work full-time and go to school–but I never had two kids to deal with too for my degree. Colleen worked extremely hard for this and we are very, very proud of her.

After all the signatures were obtained and the form dropped off with the graduate office (just in time for an official July 31 graduation date), we visited the shoe tree on the west bank before heading to Al’s Breakfast for a celebration lunch.

Congrats!

Michael Alvin Kingsbury and Karen Leslie Smith were married forty years ago today. We celebrated by inviting them over for some grilling, cake and ice cream.

Congrats Mom and Dad!

Last week we also stopped out to Canterbury Park for buck night (and to celebrate our friend Todd’s birthday).

I used to like horse racing a lot while I was in college. The Daily Racing Form has tons of stats and I had all sorts of techniques to try to beat the odds. Like all gambling, though, the only way to win is to become the house.

No big winners or losers among our bets - but then again, my bankroll was only about $10.

Kid two came along and loves watching the big animals up close. The night’s races run pretty late, though, so we left before the end.

Can’t beat $1 nachos and Mountain Dew though…

Today was a hard-working (but fun) Father’s Day for me. The girls woke me up with breakfast in bed and a bunch of great gifts:

• A very cool London Eboy laptop cover for my Mac Book Pro
• Reinhold Messner’s book The Crystal Horizon
• Great arts and crafts items from kid one and two

I worked on laundry a bit (which Colleen went gung-ho on the rest of the day), starting cleaning my office, then worked on yard stuff for a few hours. The grass had grown a lot while I was in San Francisco and required frequent trips to the yard waste bin. I also decided to trim various trees and shrubs, which was going great until I pulled a muscle in my back.

We all had a late lunch at Raising Cane’s in Apple Valley, which may be my perfect fast food restaurant. The chicken they have is always perfect - white breast meat with no fat, tasty breading and an awesome dipping sauce. Their french fries are thin crinkles cooked perfectly and I love the Texas toast that comes with the value meals. Even the ice in the soda machine is great - little pellets that take forever to melt.

Spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on my backlog of magazines while watching the U.S. Open in HD. I can’t believe the USGA still does 18-hole Monday playoffs. The logistics must be terrible to plan for and budget.

Finished the day visiting with the neighbors, then running a quick 5K to end the day. Lots to do this week - I’ll try to post here more often this summer…

Last weekend I planned an executive retreat for my company at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake. This was actually my second choice for venue (none of the Cabins at Deacon’s Lodge were available), but it turned out to be very nice.

I picked up the HSRA LA program director from the airport on Friday morning and took her to Al’s in Dinkytown for breakfast. Afterwards, I dropped her off at The Marsh spa in Minnetonka for a massage.

The actual retreat started with a dinner meeting Friday night at the buffet, which ended up lasting more than three hours. Everyone had their own rooms Friday and Saturday nights and we had a lovely meeting room from 8-5 Saturday and Sunday (the Winuna Room).

We used up all nine hours both days for meetings (with a few delays here and there), but I did manage to get in some fun things too. On Friday, I played a twilight round of golf on the Meadows course with a neighborhood friend. Also played a little video poker both days and lost $45–almost as expensive as the golf.

The family came out and stayed both days, taking advantage of the extra bed and the swimming pool. I didn’t get to see them much, but we did have dinner at the Meadows Grille on Saturday night (it was family BBQ night). Kid one went to a friend’s birthday party sleep-over Saturday night, but they all got to go to Canterbury Park before that to watch the Preakness (and see the live horses too).

In hindsight, I probably could’ve used a massage before this retreat as well. It was a little tense at times and was mentally draining. Our organization is small and has a loose, unstructured culture that is very different from my past corporate experience. That’s not a bad thing, but it does drive me crazy sometimes.

We’ve scheduled a follow-up meeting in California for the end of June. I think the next few months will be a very interesting time for Studio 4. More details coming soon…

Congratulations to my wife Colleen for (almost) completing her master of arts degree in health journalism at the University of Minnesota. We are so proud of her!

She took part in today’s 2008 spring commencement at Northrup Auditorium (despite an emergency tooth extraction yesterday), along with 707 other masters and doctorate candidates. She still has to defend her capstone project next month, but this was the closest available grad ceremony.

Despite my arguing with the catering manager afterwards (don’t get me started on that story), the day was a wonderful celebration of her achievement. The weather was perfect and we stopped at Annie’s Parlour afterwards for a late lunch/early dinner. I think the cheddar cheese on my burger might be the best cheese I’ve ever had on a burger (no kidding).

Pictures from the day are available in the private section of the photo gallery.