Weddings,Garth, Jerseys and Broken Tails - Weekend Adventure Time

Part Uno

Weekends in the Burkey household should be spelled like this: “Adventure-time-GO-GO-GO!”

It seems that every weekend for the past couple of weeks have been crammed full of insanity that I don’t have any time to do anything around the house or sit down and take a breather. I’m not complaining about that either, surprisingly. There is almost a satisfaction of finishing off a busy weekend, knowing that I didn’t just sit around the house the whole time.

This weekend was no different than others lately, let me give you the rundown:

Saturday

I wake up with Penny crying at 5:15am. I decide to wake up with her, letting Britt sleep since she has a big wedding to shoot today. I give Pen a bottle and try to rock her asleep but she just wants to stay up. Hello NFL Network early in the morning.

After a while of tending to Penny and getting ready Brittany and I plan out the morning. It is about 7:30 now. Britt needs to leave to arrive at Christy and Wade’s wedding at 8:30 to begin shooting the pre-ceremony stuff. My tasks for the morning are to run by Derek and Amanda’s house to drop off Micah’s jersey, run to Kim and Randy’s to drop off Penny then arrive at Kroger by 8:30 to make sure I get in line for Garth Brooks’ tickets. Then, after the ticket waiting I was going to take our cat, Sun, to the vet for a weird tail injury we noticed the night before. Then finally, meet up with Britt and Raleigh at the wedding to help them.

(-Side tracking here: These Garth Brooks tickets have been crazy to deal with. First I had to wait in line on Thursday to get a wristband, which allowed me to wait in line on Saturday to get tickets. Problem is, I was supposed to go with Britt to the wedding to assist her. So, I was going to get the wristband Thursday, give it to my mom so she can wait in line, so I could go to the wedding. WELL, they made sure to strap the wristband on my wrist Thursday and I was not allowed to take it off [that was fun for three days]. That means that I had to be the one to wait in line! Ahh! They are pretty nazi about those wristbands too.)

Back on track – Britt leaves late from the house, forgets the computer. We plan on meeting at her parent’s house when I drop off Pen to get the computer. I pack my car full of all of Penny’s stuff, grab the computer and start heading out the door. The dog is still outside from when Britt left...great…stupid…dog. I chase the dog for a few minutes and luckily she runs into the house (usually takes upwards of 30 mins to get her inside). I get Pen in the car and leave, late.

Britt calls me on the way to her parent’s house, Sun needs to get into the vet asap for them to be able to look at her. The injury looks pretty serious so I had to figure out a way to get her to the vet and get all this other stuff done. CRAP! I’m not at Randy and Kim’s yet – and it is already 8:20. CRAP AGAIN! We have a problem, not enough time for all the things I need to do. Think, think, think.

Ok, I’m meeting my mom (who is going to buy all of our tickets, cause she is awesome) at Kroger, and my dad is waiting at home. We can figure this out. Dad went to go grab Sun and take her to the vet, I went and dropped Penny off and gave Britt the computer and my mom went to drop Micah’s jersey off at Derek and Amanda’s while I stood in line at Kroger. DEAL! I get to Kroger on time, my dad is on the way to get Sun and my mom is about to meet me to grab the jersey. All is well with that stuff, now the waiting game begins for these tickets.

8:45 – The line is full of wristband wearers, but I’m still confident that I will get tickets. The way they set up the wristbands allows me to be the first person in line, or the last person, depending on what number they draw. The wristbands started at number 41, ended at number 110, I was number 75. So I was pretty close to the middle. If they drew 76 though, I would be the very last person in line, if they drew 74, I’d be the second person in line. Not too hard to understand.

9:05 – They draw the number: 91. GAH! Now that puts me closer to the back of the line. Not good. Ok let’s try ticketmaster.com or calling ticketmaster while I wait in line. My dad was still at the vet and my mom was done dropping the jersey off, so she went home and sat at the computer. Now, we waited again – the tickets didn’t actually go on sale until 10.

9:45 – I’ve made friends in the line, I’d feel bad if I got tickets and the person behind me didn’t…I can’t let my feeling interfere. I must complete the mission.

10:00 – Ticket sales open up.

10:03 – Show is sold out, only 3 people out of the line got tickets….are you freaking kidding me?

10:05 – Kroger tells everyone to stay in line, grumblings of a second show start up.

10:07 – Second show opens up, everyone gets anxious again.

10:10 – Second show is sold out, only about 8 more people get tickets…man this is pointless. I call my mom, she is getting nothing online and over the phone. She can’t get through.

10:15 – Grumblings of a third show start up, then the show goes on sale! The line is moving a little bit, but still pretty slow. First buyer in our line for the third show screams, jumps up and down…she just received forth row tickets to the Sunday show. WOW.

10:24 – Third show has not sold out yet, I’m getting closer and closer to the counter. Only back about 3 people…I stare at the woman behind the counter as she mouths “I’m sorry I tried” to the current costumer. I pee my pants and clinch my fists. I WAS SO CLOSE. NOOOOOOO.

10:25 – That costumer gets tickets, and the line is continuing to move…there is hope. Use the force Luke! I get asked “how many?” I’m in shock, “4?”

10:26 – I’m walking out of Kroger with 4 tickets to the Sunday show, kind of bad seats but I still have tickets. I call my mom, WOOO TICKETS!

You know what is really funny? I’m not a huge fan of country music, I barely know any Garth Brooks songs, but I still was very worried that I wouldn’t get tickets. I think it was the experience more than anything…Also the fact that I was waiting in line for my parents and for one of Brittany’s birthday presents. I know they will all be stoked that I completed my quest for tickets. Do I get like some special sword or gold or something as a reward? Oh, sorry, that’s for WoW nerds.

Part two coming next!!!!!

(funny that this is by far my longest post and I’m only to 10:30 in the morning on Saturday! Lol.)

Challenge Day 03 - Your Parents

(I've fallen behind with my blog challenge, hopefully I can catch back up within the next few days.)

Jim and Sue Burkey.

Happily married for more than twenty-seven years (? sorry dunno if that is correct) and parents for almost twenty-five years.

Dad is the quiet one, but whenever he speaks it is full of knowledge or laughter. He does the funniest things and really gets me laughing when he does them. Example: Pressing the “brew” button on the tea machine in the cafeteria at work, expecting to get some more tea. However he didn’t think to check where the tea came out of and he started making a mess. The cafeteria people got mad at him for pushing the button. He does stuff like this all the time and it gets even funnier each time. Dad is a huge Redskins fan, and most of conversations consist entirely of our favorite football team. He also taught me everything I know about playing guitar – and I thank him sincerely for doing that and allowing me to experience the awesomeness of several bands.

Mom is the talkative, caring one. She is always wondering how things are and always wanting to hear about my day. She has taught me how to love and care for individuals as I grew up and has always been there for me when I need her. I don’t have many funny stories about my mom, most of the time we are laughing about something my dad did. She is a huge Aerosmith fan, and got me into loving music at a young age. Again, I thank her for this because it led to me playing guitar and experiencing the music industry shortly.

They go perfectly together and have been great examples of how a parent should raise their child. They have been one of the rare couples that have stayed married, and I applaud them for that.

Life Quote #2

Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.

Challenge Day 02 - Your First Love

Did anyone else have a girlfriend/boyfriend in kindergarten? I did. Her name was Lindsay something-another. I remember she had a twin, so I'd get her confused with her twin.

Anyways, that's not my first love, because the only love I knew at that point was in relation to my parents. But kindergarten just popped in my head...

My first love was sophomore year of high school, Beka Talbot. I think everyone in our high school knew that as well, she was one of the more popular names and I was a new face. She decided to run for homecoming queen and she needed an escort. For some reason she picked me, the pale, awkward, smile full of braces, spikey haired kid who nobody knew.

Though, this is very similar to the kindergarten situation in a way. I thought I knew what love was, and that's what I felt for Beka. I don't even think we dated for more than two months, but after we were an "item" we continued to stay friends.

She really just wanted to be friends, but I always hoped their was something more between us. She was a fun, cookey, smart, beautiful girl and I loved being her friend, but I wasted my whole high school love life hoping that we would get back together. Anyone else fall into this category?

Last I heard from her was our graduation from college, I think she was about to get engaged, but I can't remember. I hope all is well with her, because I know that things sure did for me.

Now I truly know what "love" is, even though I thought I knew what it was in HS. Brittany is my love, and I thank her for her allowing me to experience that feeling everyday. I don't know how I'd survive without her in my life. Dreamteam forever.

Life Quote #1

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."

Challenge Day 01 - Introduce Yourself

My name is Mike Burkey, I'm a month away from my 25th birthday. Geez, that age looks strange to me...just realized I'm a forth of a century old. I have a beautiful wife, Brittany, who I've been married to for a little over two years now. I have a five (almost six) year old step-son, Micah, who is full of energy and adventure. He is also the smartest little kid I've ever met. I have a gorgeous 3 month old daughter, Penny, who is a bundle of joy and is growing bigger every day.

I work for a company called Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) as a Web Content Editor for their East and West Florida divisions. Oddly enough I work out of HCA's corporate campus in Nashville, TN. Oh, the beauty of technology. I graduated from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Studies with an Emphasis in Technology. Though, I changed majors twice - started in journalism, then switched to advertising, then switched to IS.

I have a lot of interests, sometimes I feel like I have too much to really fit into my day. I'm a homebody, I love just sitting at home with my family and spending time with them. I love the NFL, it's probably my biggest obsession. I love watching TV shows and actually think they are better than watching movies now. ABC's Lost is my favorite show ever, however it finished earlier this year so it has been rough trying to replace it.

I'm a creative person, I love writing (obviously) even though I'm not the best at it. I love graphic design and web design. I love playing my guitar and song writing. I love music in general and my musical tastes have changed a lot over the past few years. I love doing video work, producing and editing, and can't wait to get more into that soon.

I'm not a MAC person I own a PC. Nor do I have an iPhone, I have an Android HTC Hero. I own a Xbox 360, not a PS3. I definitely like Pepsi better than Coke. Root Beer has been my drink of choice lately. Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays. I'm not a very religions person but that is beginning to change. I'm not very interested in politics either, so looks like you won't have any controversial conversations with me in the future. My favorite food is Chicken Cordon Bleu and my favorite dessert is Cheesecake. UMMMMMMMM I think that's about all I can think about. If anyone has any questions just let me know!

30 Day Challenge - Starting Today!

Going to start doing this today, found this on a couple other blogs and thought it was interesting! I'll be posting other blogs as well, but this will be my daily blog each day for sure.

Keep your eyes peeled! :)

Day 01 – Introduce yourself.
Day 02 – Your first love.
Day 03 – Your parents.
Day 04 – What you ate today.
Day 05 – Your definition of love.
Day 06 – Your day.
Day 07 – Your best friend.
Day 08 – A moment.
Day 09 – Your beliefs.
Day 10 – What you wore today.
Day 11 – Your siblings.
Day 12 – What’s in your bag.
Day 13 – This week.
Day 14 – What you wore today.
Day 15 – Your dreams.
Day 16 – Your first kiss.
Day 17 – Your favorite memory.
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday.
Day 19 – Something you regret.
Day 20 – This month.
Day 21 – Another moment.
Day 22 – Something that upsets you.
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better.
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry.
Day 25 – A first.
Day 26 – Your fears.
Day 27 – Your favorite place.
Day 28 – Something that you miss.
Day 29 – Your aspirations.
Day 30 – One last moment.

Video Games: Good or Bad?

Recently Micah has shown a tad bit of an addiction to his video games. He does have a Nintendo DS and Wii, not to mention my Xbox 360 and PC that he can play on. All of these are easily accessible and he is starting to get to the point where he doesn’t need us to help him set the games up. So this brings up the following questions:

Do video games land my kids in jail in the future?! OF COURSE! No not really, just messin’.

Are video games doing anything more than just causing drool to fall out of my kids’ mouth? Are there any benefits to playing video games? Most people would say no, they are a waste of time, nothing but just pointless entertainment.

Well, folks, I’m here to point out some benefits to playing video games not as a gamer myself, but as a father with a child who plays a lot of games. There are plenty of negative reasons why NOT to play games, but how about hearing some positive things?

• It’s better than what they would get out of watching TV. Their brain is actively at work at trying to solve problems instead of turning off while Patrick and Spongebob are jelly fishing.


• Imagination Boost, let’s face it – video games have some pretty fascinating worlds and your child will be able to experience great creativity in these games.


• The obvious, it improves hand-eye coordination. I can type faster because of my gaming, which has helped me get higher in my career.


• It could actually help your child keep his mind off of over snacking or eating! Yeah, that’s right, this is evidence that your child might LOOSE weight playing video games…or well, at least not eat as much.


• It is a new way of teaching, as it keeps children on the edge of their abilities. As the game progresses the game gets harder, making the child learn more and more as the game pulls them along. Think Tetris, the first level was cake, but as the game goes on it trains you for the higher levels which make you think more.

If you want any more reasons and the source of my 5 points, check out this link.

Also, please realize I’m not saying place your child in front of the TV/computer screen all day and let them learn all the knowledge they need. Kids need to get outside and run around, get some exercise and get some face to face social interactions. Try to limit your children on games a day, if you think it is getting out of hand. During the day, go outside and play with them, save the games for when it is dark. And for all you parents that game, remember that you are setting an example for your kiddos. Try not to over-game and remember to get the same exercise your kids are getting instead of picking up that controller.

Now, I’m off to go shoot some zombies, lol.

Penny's First Laugh

A babies first laugh is one of the most beautiful things a father could hear in his lifetime. It doesn’t matter what kind of mood he is in, that first laugh can take away any pain or irritation and put a huge smile on his face.

I’m not talking about a little squeal or a huge smile. I’m talking about the laugh that comes from the belly, a real laugh. You know what I’m talking about, one of those laughs that you let out when you are watching Will Ferrell shakin’ n’ bakin’ in Talladega Nights or Chris Farley screaming as he is rolling down a hill.

We as adults take those laughs for granted, not really paying attention to when somebody really lets one out. However a parent always notices when a baby does it for the first time or when a young child gets the giggles that make them slap their knees. We take those moments and we bottle them up and cherish them, always remembering them as they happened.

Today was that day for my little Penny Lane, at 3 months 1 week and 5 days she continuously let out a chuckle felt from the gut. As she lay on her changing table after a nice warm bath she watched wide-eyed as Brittany made silly faces and noises. Micah and I were getting ready to play the Wii, and were lightly arguing over what pajamas he should wear when we heard it.

Everyone stopped and listened and she brought all of us to a silence. Then, after a moment we all smiled and watched her as Brittany kept making her laugh, over and over. Micah got those giggles that made him slap his knee, and Brittany and I laughed together.

Penny’s first laugh was wonderful and is only one of the many things I will experience with my family as a new father. Just that thought makes me smile and want to continue to live my life for her, for Micah and for Brittany.

Life is good as we near the holiday stretch.

Just for fun, here is a funny video of Penny from yesterday just having a conversation with Brittany and I.

The Walking Dead Invade My House!

My entertainment of the weekend consisted of a lot of brains getting eaten.

Well, this weekend I watched a new movie and a new TV show, both related to the Halloween holiday. Friday night I got home and wanted to watch a scary movie, so I popped in Netflix and found two choices that I really wanted to see, Zombieland and The Crazies.

I’ve heard that Zombieland is almost more a comedy than a horror movie. So, I went with The Crazies, which I haven’t heard too much about but I remember the previews being decent for it.

The Crazies

To my surprise the movie was actually a lot better than what I thought it would be. It had a zombie feel to it, but these were different types of zombies that didn’t really seem interested in brains. They seemed more interested in just killing people, basically acting like crazy zombies. I guess that’s where they got the name of the movie?

Anyway, the movie starts to change directions into a government cover-up conspiracy theory in the middle and that’s when it really started to get interesting. The army gets called in and tons of people die and get shot by them as they quarantine the city trying to keep the infected in the same area.

The main character is interesting and believable, as well as his deputy but I didn’t really connect with anyone else. The visuals were great, and the sound was that of a classic horror movie, so no complaints there.

I’d recommend going to check this one out if you are wanting to have the thrill of zombies chasing you around. Britt on the other hand didn’t like it as much I don’t think.

The Walking Dead

Last night, as football was dying down Brittany and I found ourselves with nothing to watch. Then, I remembered that The Walking Dead was about to premier.

Boy, am I glad I remembered. This show went far beyond my expectations and honestly I’m more excited about this show than any other show on TV currently.

Let me start by saying that I’m completely surprised that this show is on TV, if this were a movie it would be rated R. It lives up to the hype of any zombie movie’s gore level, tons of gun shots to the head, a lot of blood spraying, and a lot of cheering from me. Brittany on the other hand had her hands over her face through most of the episode. I will definitely make sure that Micah is asleep before watching any more from this series, seeing as his only interaction with zombies so far in his life has been from Plants vs. Zombies.

This show is going to be rich in character I believe; I’m already caring about the main character. The opening sequence with him (a sheriff’s deputy) and his partner was brilliant and got me connected to both of them immediately. By judging by the preview for the rest of the season it seems there will be several other characters I will get close to and hope they don’t get eaten by the blood thirsty undead.

Overall this show really surprised me and really has me wanting more. I haven’t been this interested in a show since the beginning of Lost, and we all know how that show turned out. Let’s just hope they can carry this awesome premier throughout the rest of the season.

Even if you aren’t into zombie lore, I seriously recommend checking out this show, but make sure no kiddies are around and be careful if you have a weak stomach for blood.

Here is the trailer:


That was my entertainment of the weekend, a good zombie filled Halloween!

WHCoC Fall Festival

Sunday was the real Halloween, even though we went trick or treating on Saturday. Which, by the way, I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but it seemed to work out well I suppose. So Sunday, after watching my Redskins get beat by the Lions…what?...Britt, Penny and I went to White House Church of Christ’s Fall Festival, and man it was fun! (Micah was at his Dad's)

They had the first annual Cornhole tournament, which lasted just about the whole time (from 3 to 6). Randy and I (Shake n Bake) came into the tournament with high expectations, but got knocked out in the third round by the newlyweds, Wade and Christy. Randy had never played before and I’ve only played twice, but we got a pretty good rhythm going on in the first two rounds. Wade and Christy were just too much to handle though after we were beating them 15-6, they came back as we couldn’t put them away and sunk a lot of three pointers.

After we got knocked out of the tourney I decided to just hang out and eat some chili, play with Penny, talk football and walk around with Britt as she took pictures (which you can see some below).

As the daylight started to fade the tournament came to an end, which led to the devotional and then trunk-or-treating for the kids. Penny fell asleep on me as we were handing out candy, and soon after that we decided to head home.

I was pretty upset we didn’t take the gold in the tournament, I think Randy even flipped a car in rage for loosing…but next year we will take the medal and we will be the greatest corn holers ever on the face on the planet. That’s what shake n bake does to you. Oh yes. Watch out.

……Sorry, a little Ricky Bobby just came out of me there.

Anyways, after the festival we relaxed at home, Brittany edited some pictures while I watched Big Ben loose two of my fantasy games for me when the Steelers lost to the Saints. Then, we watched a killer (literally) new show on AMC called The Walking Dead. I absolutely loved it, and will review it soon on this blog because I think everyone should check it out!

So with that, the Halloween weekend ends and I’m back to work…let’s hope this week goes by as fast as last week!

Halloween Weekend!

Trick or Treat! YEAH!

Well, another busy weekend for the Burkey household. It was filled with hockey games, photoshoots, fall festivals and not to mention Halloween!

Work ended on Friday and I went to Micah’s hockey practice with little Pen-Pen, which was kind of funny because both Brittany and Derek had to work, leaving the step-parents (or “two-parents”) there cheering Micah on. He is getting so great at skating it isn’t even funny, such a huge improvement from about a month ago.

The rest of the night was spent eating at TGI Fridays and watching a scary movie to celebrate the Halloween weekend, The Crazies. Honestly, I liked the movie even though there were a lot of negative reviews on it.

Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend. Micah had a pre-game show where his team ran drills before a high school hockey game, then he came back home with us to go trick-or-treating! Jason got there early and helped me finish up the Halloween decorations as company started to arrive for our chili night.

We had a lot of people come over and enjoy the chili and trick or treating festivities, Meredith, Ryan and their baby Haley came, Mark brought his son Carson and Beatlejuice (Matt), and Randy and Kim. All of us went trick or treating while Jason stayed behind and gave out the candy (thanks man!)

Micah’s bowser costume was the talk of the street among the kids while all of the parents couldn’t get over Matt’s Beatlejuice costume, actually Matt took about seven to ten pictures with random people as we were walking around.

Honestly, it felt like New York City in our neighborhood. This year was probably the most kids I’ve seen trick or treating in a long time, which was awesome! I’ve seen the hype of Halloween fall over the years, so it was great to see as many people as we did on Saturday night.

Micah got a ton of candy, and as usual let me have all of the chocolate (he doesn’t like chocolate surprisingly). So, Halloween is always a good night for me as well, lol. The night ended with Brittany, Micah and I camping out in the play room, snacking out on some candy while watching Back to the Future and Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs.

Halloween 2010 was a success in my book, I really think Micah, Carson, Penny and Haley all had a wonderful time. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Next post will consist of the Sunday happenings, pictures of us trick or treating will be up soon!