Project 365

So most of you know about my hobby of photography and it has been almost 1 year since I got my nice new SLR camera (which I just LOVE!). So I am looking to do something big with it and what I have chosen to do is "Project 365".

What I am committing to is one picture a day every day posted to my blog chronicling my life from January 01 2010 through December 31 2010. Some pictures will be cool and some will be mundane but put them all together and you will have "A Year in the Life of..."

Not all pictures will be of me per say but certainly a lot will. A lot will also be of my family friends and current events.

All the best in 2010.

Later Dayz,
Ken

An apple a day...

HA! I beat Rachel to this one!
In spite of the snow,

We took our annual trip to the Apple Orchard on Saturday the 10th to collect supplies to make a wide variety of delicious goods. Of course this couldn't be done without practicing some of our more favorite Wedding picture poses.

There were also many fun activities to be had. There was a corn maze and a pumpkin patch.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The big 3 uh 0

Warmest Birthday Wishes to me. I think I got in the neighborhood of 40 birthday Wishes on Facebook. I did something a bit different this year and thanked every single one of them indavidually. :) That felt good to be able to do I must say.

It was a wonderful birthday. I had dinner with Marens Family and my parents as Osaka which is the best reasturaunt in the world!! Then we retired back to Marens and my home where we served cake that Maren made for me! :)

Maren got me a new lens for my camera called a fixed 50/1.8. It is a lens for portrait pictures. here are a couple of pictures I took with it.

Needless to say I am pretty thrilled with the way this worked out!

Next step onwards and upwards to my wedding in... EEEK!!! 9 DAYS!!!!

Later Dayz,

Ken

Dakota County Fair

These are going to be my entries into the Dakota County Fair this year... Wish me luck

not... enough... time....

Good lord I am so far behind the ball in updating this blog...

real quick... I am down 50+ lbs now...

There is lots of stuff happening really fast...

I am planning a wedding still.

I got my passport Jamaica is on.

Maren and I bought a house.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenzaffke/ check the link for all my latest pictures from everything I have been up to.

Later Dayz,
Ken

Weight Watchers and pictures

Well, first off a Weight Watchers update. I am now down 45 lbs! Funny thing is I can't even remember what life was like 45 lbs ago... Unfortunately there are no shortages of pictures to remind me...

Also I have started a photo blog online at Flikr. I wanted some where I could showcase my favorite pictures without having to sacrifice resolution and clarity. So feel free to look and enjoy my favorites.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenzaffke/

Later dayz,
Ken

I have unlocked blogging from my cell phone! I rule!

Life comes fast...

Well, what a smashing week at Weight Watchers. I went up 2 last week and down 6 this week bringing me to a whopping 41 lbs lost!!!! I don't even know where to begin. I think this week I must thank... myself for having the integrity drive and motivation to stick with this. While it has not always been easy the results are always worth it.

Those whom know me know what music means to me. In spite of popular opinion not everyone may know that my favorite music is actually classical and opera. With that said I wanted to share one of my very favorite operas with you today. It ties back to many many treasured memories that I hold near and dear to my heart. I hope you will enjoy it. It is called Maria and Draco http://songza.com/z/xk56rq

Now for some not so great news... 2 weeks ago my friend and brother Jesse's Mom Karen passed away after a long fight with cancer. She went peacefully surrounded by family. If I may say it was arguably one of the most beautiful services I have ever been to. A beautiful service for a beautiful woman.

The reason I bring this up is I just wanted to share my favorite Karen memory. About 4 years ago (maybe longer) I was hanging out at Jesse's brother Dan's place, Jesse and I had decided to go for a dip in Dans pool... in our clothes. We knew full well what we were doing and I was 26 or 27 at the time. We had a great time swimming and being silly for an hour when we got out. Shortly afterwards I had to run to my car for a minute as Karen pulled up in her nice Lincoln Continental. The first thing she says to me is "Kenny, look at you you're all wet. Do you need me to take you home so you can get some warm dry clothes?" I of course thanked her and declined the offer. after all I am 26 - 27 and 10 feet away from my own car. I was in Burnsville and I lived in Eagan at the time. Therein lies the beauty of the story. This shows what an incredible woman she was. I am a full adult as is Jesse and she was still offering to drive me home for clothes like I was 12 or 13. It was then that I became very present to what an exceptional woman she was, and I also realised I had really made it as a friend of Jesse's. That meant the world to me. It means even more now that Jesse is going to be my Best Man. I must say, I am humbly honored.

Thanks for the memories Karen.

Later Dayz,

Ken

New Shiny VROOOM and WW week... I lost count

First the boring part, I am down a total of 36 at the ol' WW.





Now the fun part... Wasn't a real great weekend for Weight Watchers in Iowa visiting Jeff. On the other hand it was a great weekend in Iowa visiting Jeff!! A really great weekend!! I would do that again in a heartbeat. truthfully I would love to this summer go down just the guys Jeff, Brian and I and hang out enjoying the town... However without Lovely Maren and Rachel driving the show I doubt we would ever make it out of the house....





Aaaaannnd!!! Who has two thumbs and just got a new car?!? THIS GUY (as Ken points at himself with his two thumbs)





What an ordeal!! So Thursday Maren and I test drove some cars and agreed on the Chevy HHR. On Friday we decided to go for it and I called the dealer and set the whole thing up. So after Maren got off of work on Friday she rushed over to my place so we could rush to the dealer get the car sign the papers and get moving to Iowa. We hit a snag... When we got there the Finance guy says to us I have some good news and some bad news.... NEVER a good thing to hear at a car dealership... Good news I got you a great rate on your loan (and he did) bad news it is from a credit union in NE Minneapolis. You have to be a member to get a loan from them. So you have to run over there and open an account....





>:( ok... for those of you who live out of the area, let me set this up for you. We are in Invergrove heights which is in the south east portion of the metro area. NE Mlps is like driving diagonally across the cities... it is 5:00pm and the Credit Union closes at 6:00... So Maren and I jump back into my car and rush over as quickly (and safely) as we possibly can. We get there with 15 minutes to spare.





Unfortunately the dealership closes at 6:00 as well. Our dealer and his finance guy have agreed to stay late to help us complete this transaction... So Maren and I brimming with an odd mix of disgust at this process and excitement of our (MY!!) new car hurry back to the dealership. When we are about 5 minutes away My car guy calls me and I (before he can really say anything) eagerly tell him that we are 5 minutes out from the dealership. To which he replies with "Yeeeaaa.... there is a problem... Ummm... There is a safety recall on your car. Legally I cannot let you drive it out of here, and the computer has it locked down so you couldn't drive it if we could even let you....."





"So what does this mean for me?"





"Well, I have a rental we can send you out with here. Come on in and we can talk about it."





Well, to make a short story long I still went with the car anyways because Maren and I got an insane deal on the car. by shopping at the end of the month, they were in a hurry to move product so they way undercut the prices of a few of their HHRs on the lot. My car started at about 21,000 and they had slashed right off the top 3,500. then there was a 2500 same as cash and finally I was trading in a lease so there is another 1000. which puts me in at about 14000....





I hate to say it, but that is a price I simply cannot argue with. It is an outstanding deal! The unfortunate part about this is I have to play ball a bit, and had to take the rental car.. a Hyundai Sonata -_- Not the greatest car I have ever driven... But the lighter side is when something goes this bad there are sometimes comps that come with it. i got the rental for free as it is part of my warranty to get a free rental. They are covering all my gas from the weekend in the rental! Also there was some wear and tear on my drivers seat in my car and they are covering the repair of that as well, which could have been as bad as 1000 if they had to replace the whole seat (which i doubt) but even still they also covered my last lease payment.





However I was not quite so positive about this on Friday when this all went down. Maren and I began our very bitter drive to Iowa. The quote of the day comes from Brian when he called me to see where we were at, and after speaking to me and hanging up the phone said to the family "I don't know what's going on but something is wrong with Ken" tee hee. In the advent of trading my car in I took all my CDs out of my Saturn as my new car has satellite radio as well as an IPOD jack in it!! So I had my IPOD loaded with great tunes as well as was ready to explore the hundreds of XM stations (Raw Dog here I come!) Unfortunately i am not in the car I had expected to be in and it didn't occur to me until I lost radio signal from 93X that I have nothing to listen to. I tuned to the XM in my car which was not activated and only had the commercials on... Basically I had crystal clear commercials for all the stations I could have been listening to... So I instead changed to my new phone (Which took the pictures below) and I have loaded on several songs as ring tones. However these are not great songs for casual listening they are more novelty tunes that make fun ring tones ie the Mario Brothers Tune. Maren was asleep and I am driving in silence which for me is a fate worse than death!





We did make it to Iowa at about 9:00 after all of this, I had some pizza and some laughs with the Family. We did Karaoke on Sat night and rocked the bar! Sunday we began the long trip home. Finally today my care was delivered to me at work as promised... I feel much better about everything now and look forward to getting to know her...


Suggest names for Kens car at kenzaffke@gmail.com
Later Dayz, Ken

WW Week 8

And another 2.2 gone!!! Total of 30 even!! :) Time to get some smaller pants I think. This is gonna be fun....

Rachels wish is my command....

When I had initially requested Blog ideas, it was because I have always had a really hard time organizing my thoughts into a focused idea. ie what you get is my Weight Watchers blogs where it is simple numbers and slightly less simple -and entirely heartfelt- thank yous. I like having and idea and perspective to work towards.

With that said, my dear (soon to be) sister requested to hear what is on my mind...

12/21/2012

There are those who would say that this is when the world will end. Pure and simple.

On the other hand... There are those who say that humanity as a whole will take "The next leap" that we will grow beyond technology as it is now, that we will grow beyond such trivial things as time and money.

A part of me wants to be scared. The truth is however, whatever is going to happen will happen. My job is to simply have control of how I will react to my circumstances. From a point of view scenario number two above is an ending of the world... The world as we know it. if Scenario number two comes true everything will be different. I couldn't even imagine what that might be like. The source (which you can find below) says that there will be a pulse that will "Upgrade" us all at once... Now this is prophecy that was written over 5000 years ago. who knows what it could all actually mean...

Here is what confuses me... How is it that 4000 years before we discovered the world wasn't flat did Mayans manage to figure out a celestial ca lander accurate to within a day 5125 years later? How is it that a primitive culture managed to figure out to build pyramids with impossibly heavy stones. True enough there could have been slave labor that did it, and I am no doubt sure there was... but I believe there was something bigger at hand... I suspect extraterrestrial intervention...

The pyramids of Giza in Egypt line up with the belt of the constellation Orion. They believed this to be home to their god Osiris. How is it that such ancient cultures were able to do these things? It would seem that perhaps there was another event such as what is "anticipated" to come in 2012. All of a sudden we are able to build and create impossible structures and we master space and time in an impossibly short amount of time. Perhaps there was a direct intervention -a hands on approach if you will- of extra terrestrials interfering and guiding us. Perhaps these are the "gods" that the ancient cultures worshiped. There are many who think this. On the 0ther hand, how could they grasp the solar system and time itself if they couldn't even get that the sun streaking through the sky was not a god? Seems fishy to me. On the other hand, just as is suspected to be coming in 2012 it may have been a pulse that unlocked something in their head.

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unlocked the power of our imagination and we began to talk. -Pink Floyd

Personally I do believe in alien beings. I have seen too many things that just don't make sense to ignore this as what could only be described as at least a possibility. Unfortunately there may be no real way of knowing until 2012. Until then I shall be waiting with baited breath.

I suggest you take a look at the article, it is interesting at the very least. Just a quick note also, there is a lot of this which parallels revelations in the bible too... such as the evolution will only happen to those who have made an effort to enlighten themselves and move beyond such petty things as hate and wars... Rapture anyone?



On a much lighter note...
The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm

Later Dayz,
Ken

Thanks for the comment Rachel and keep the requests coming you never know what you'll get outta me!! email me kenzaffke@yahoo.com or leave a comment

Weight Watchers week 7

Wow, 7 weeks already. The verdict is in. 4.8 lbs lost this week. That puts me at a total of 27.8 lbs. That puts me past 25% of my goal weight loss by September 5th... Outstanding 1/4th of the way.

I really must acknowledge the efforts of two people this week. Grandma Sansgaard and Rachel Thiele.

First Grandma for being so sensitive to the Weight Watchers plan and stocking her home with WW friendly foods for the weekend. Thank you Grandma, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. You were a big part of my success this week and I appreciate all the positive support.

Rachel, I appreciate you being the WW book keeper of the weekend. As Maren and I were helping and preparing for ourselves pizzas, Rachel was right there with pen and paper making sure we got to enjoy as much pizza as we could by helping out and being on top of our points tracking... which when you are making pizzas they can run away fro m you in a BIG hurry. I appreciate your support and commitment to my success!! I can't wait till you're my sister!

Finally, I am curious. I have all these ideas in my head about what to write about on here, but I have no real direction to work in. I am curious, what do people want to read about? Weight Watchers? The Wedding? Philosophy? Video Games? Current Events? Something else? Leave a comment or shoot me an email at kenzaffke@yahoo.com let me know what you want to hear about.

Weight Watchers week 6

Weight Watchers week 6. I lost .6lbs for a solid total of 23lbs even. Although it is not as large of a loss as I have been having, I am pleased as it is still a loss and you simply are not going to loose 3 - 5 lbs every week... Unless you have bypass surgery, which is why I am doing WW so I don't have to!

I have to thank my dear friend Jesse for going through this and hitting the meetings with me. Jess, I can't thank you enough for helping me get back into this and back into a better life and future for myself. You absolutely inspire me with your commitment and hard work.

Weight Watchers Week 5

I can't beleive it, down anothe 3 lbs for a total of 22.4.

I think it is at this point I do have to thank everyone for all the positive support and the good vibes they are sending my way!

But I have to send an extra special thank you to Maren who is absolutely instrumental in helping me with this by making delicious weight watchers meals to help keep me on plan! I love you honey and thank you!!!

Weight Watchers Week 4 I have lost 5%

Well, this week I weighed in and lost another 3.4 lbs, which brings me to a grand total of 19.4 lbas lost in 4 weeks. With my goal of 100 lbs and the rate I am loosing it should only take another 4 - 5 months at this rate. The wedding is now officially 8 months away and the clock continues to wind down... As it is, with my grand total of 19.4 lost that is 5% of my total weight I have lost... YAAY!!!

The wedding plans are coming along nicely which Iam really excited about. There are some small things that we are still working out... But no sense in getting everyone all worked up over those...

I've gotta tell ya, things are good and they are only getting better....

Later Dayz,
Kenny

Weight Watchers week 3 FTW

Well, I just got back from week 3... Annnnnnd I lost 7.6 lbs for a grand total of 16.0 lbs!!! W00T! This is off to a great start. I know every week will not be as good as this, but for the time being I shall savor my victory while I can. The lighter side of this is my goal of 100 lbs by September 5th continues to be within my reach....

Here's hoping...

Later Dayz,
Ken

Weight Watchers week 2

Alright, week two. I had to weigh in early this week as I am working this thursday which is my usual day.

And the verdict is..... In 4 days I lost another 3.2 lbs, totalling 11.6. Can you say awesome?

Customer Service Fail and I joined Weight Watchers!!

Ok, I am mad as hell right now >:(

This past summer I took a trip out to Marens family's place in MI where I wrecked my right knee a bit. I wound up going to the emergency room for it and they said I pretty much jut hurt it and the pain would go away. Well, time has come and gone and the pain never went away. It did get a LOT better but it never really went away. Well, something slipped tonight and it really started hurting. Fortunately I was able to push back into place whatever it was that slipped over my kneecap (you may cringe here) and get back to walking normally... but if that isn't a red flag I don't know what is.

So I call my doctors office to make an appointment at about 4:50 knowing they close at 5:00. I am on hold when I call so i don't mind waiting. I wait and wait and wait... finally I get to 4:58pm and the pone comes on and say I will be switched to the on call nurse. I don't care as long as I can make my appointment. So at about 5 she picks up and does the whole "can I help you" thing. I say i would like to make an appointment. She informs me that she can't do that because she is the oncall nurse. I can't fault her for that she did nothing wrong.

Seriously?!? I was kept on hold and then just cut off? What kind of rinky dink phone system are they using there? I know at work, our phones automatically shut off at closing time - 8:00. However if you get through the gate at 7:59:59 and there are three calls holding in front of you, we will take your call and the service will be excellent! We will not cut you off and hang you out to dry like you don't matter. What a bunch of garbage. Epic Fail Fairview! Thanks a lot!

On a much happier note, last Thursday I joined Weight Watchers. My goal is to loose at least 100 lbs by September 5 (my wedding day) I just weighed in yesterday after week one and I am down 8.4 lbs almost one tenth of the way already!! I'll call that a win.

Later Dayz,
Ken