[thumb:289:l] We’ve always jokingly told our friends in the US that they should just stop by whenever they are in Budapest. Finally, someone took us up on the offer. Our friends from Orlando, Lynn & Lindsay, were on their way home from a missions trip to Ukraine and they had an overnight layover in Budapest. We picked them up and they spent the night at our house. It was a great treat for us to have some good friends over for the evening.

For all the rest of you, stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

[image:287:c]Well, we made it all night. In a crowd of guys, I had no trouble staying awake. I finally hit the pillow at around 4:30am and the alarm went off at 6:15am. YAAAWWWWNNNN. It’s just after 9am and my meeting starts shortly. I’m doing better than I expected. After a few more cups of coffee, I’ll be fine.

As far as the game, the Seahawks gave this one away. I don’t think there is anyway that you can say the Steelers won (except the final scoreboard). They were pretty much outplayed in every category except crossing the end zone (the important category).

It was painful to see the Seahawks mistakes. Touchdowns called back on penalties, a ton of dropped passes, more penalties, giving a up 75 yard run, etc . . .

I didn’t believe the pregame hype that the Steelers were that much better and the game proved that. They weren’t that much better, but the Seahawks decided that they didn’t want this one very bad.

Also, it was a down year for commericals. Hardly any memorable ones as I think about it this morning.

Tonight’s the big game and here in Budapest hardly anyone has a clue about it. Everything is just business as usual. No displays at the grocery store. No TV Ads. No t-shirts. Nothing.

Yet, a group of Americans is very aware of it. We are gathering here at my house to watch it LIVE. Being that we are 6 hours ahead of Eastern time that means the kickoff is about 12:20am. Ouch! We are doing it for the fun, for the cultural experience, and just to feel like Americans for one evening. I stayed up and watched it last year and in the pivotal 4th quarter (about 3:00am), I fell asleep. When I woke up, there was about 1 minute to go in the game and it was pretty much over. Hopefully, tonight I can make it through. We’ll see.

I have a 9:30am meeting tomorrow that I won’t be much good for. I’m going to try to sleep in on Tuesday and catch up on things.

As far as the game, I don’t really care. If I have to pick, I’ll go with the Seahawks because they are the underdog and they’ve never been there. Also, the Steelers beat up my Cowboys back in the 70s and I haven’t forgotten.

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Today’s Weather Update: Out of Control.

I’m a little fixated on this.

This weekend, Valerie is attending a retreat with the other American women in Campus Crusade from across our area (Eastern Europe & Russia). It is a weekend to minister to the women that serve in places where there isn’t much American contact. They value a weekend to speak English, sing in English, and just relax.

Since Valerie is gone, it means that I’m holding “Wife Appreciation Weekend” as I am continually reminded of the amazing job that she does taking care of, nuturing, feeding, and loving our family.

The weekend got off to a bad start last night. In order to save money on parking, I volunteered to drive her to the hotel in downtown Budapest. I’ve driven there many times before and it takes 15 minutes with no traffic and maybe 30 minutes with traffic. We left our house just after 4pm and were off to pickup Kirby Ann at preschool. We left the preschool around 4:30. After we had driven about halfway, all of a sudden, the traffic came to a complete stop. Busses weren’t moving, cars weren’t moving, and it was backed up as far as we could see. After 10 minutes, we started trying to cut off on side streets to find a way out. Everyone else tried this as well and so we sat on a side street without moving rather than on the main street. When we finally got to the hotel, it was just before 6pm. That’s almost 2 hours. My back was really starting to get uncomfortable and I was going crazy.

Kirby Ann, Reed and I took a 15 minute break and we were back on our way home. As we left the hotel, I almost pulled out into traffic that was going 40-50 mph. I got about a quarter of the way into the lane when a car sailed passed. I realized what I had done and I about passed out. It could have been a tragic mistake. The Lord was watching out for us. After this, I drove by the spot where the traffic was so backed up and I realized that they were digging up the road. They had taken a major 3-4 lane road and reduced it to 1 lane during rush hour. AARRRGGHHHH!!!

Then, since it was so late, I decided to visit the official restaurant of Wife Appreciation Weekend, McDonalds!!! As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw that the drive-thru was overflowing into the parking lot. Since it was about 6:45, I decided to bail on McDonalds. I didn’t want to wait another 30 minutes. I decided to drive to another McD’s and I finally got some food.

We returned home just after 7pm after 3 hours on the road. I was totally wiped out and spent the rest of the night on the couch and letting the kids wait on me. They went to bed and just vegged out. It was a rough start to the weekend.

The good part of this is that things can only get better as the weekend goes on Gotta go, more appreciating to do.

[thumb:133:l] – Today, we woke up to the first snow of the year. It was considerably earlier than last year when it didn’t snow until late January. It is always magical the first time. By March it is nothing but dread. I enjoyed shoveling the driveway this morning knowing that I won’t be doing it after December 5th. I’m in the process of training the kids to take over. Valerie & I bought 4 shovels so everyone can pitch in.

It is pretty much melted by now, but we are expecting more over the next few days.