Life List

I've been working on this for a while and was waiting to hit a major number. I originally was shooting for 100, but when i got stuck around 32, I decided 50 might be easier. My problem is a good one... I've already done a lot of things people normally have on these lists. So here ya go! If anyone wants to help, let me know! :)

Note: Since starting the list, I've been able to cross off a couple things

1. Meet a seated or former President.


2. Learn to ski


3. Perform on stage with a band


4. Skydive solo


5. Bungee jump solo


6. Visit Ireland


7. Travel by train


8. Travel by bus


9. Visit the Grand Canyon


10. Go on an Alaskan cruise.


11. Be thanked on an inside album cover by a signed band


12. Visit New Zealand


13. Take a city bus to the “end of the line”


14. Visit Antarctica or somewhere north of the Arctic Circle


15. Climb Everest (it doesn’t have to be to the top, I just want to be on it)


16. See a game at Fenway Park


17. Times Square New Year


18. Vegas New Year


19. Get married


20. Have kids


21. Visit my Grandpa Waggoner’s grave


22. Participate in a major charity/fundraising event


23. Meet Bono


24. Cliff dive/jump into a Hawaiian lagoon


25. Start a snow cone business


26. Go to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.


27. Camp out to win/buy something.


28. Ride the rides at Stratosphere


29. See every Bond movie. (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace)


30. See Ben Folds in concert


31. See U2 in concert


32. Attend a black tie/benefit award show


33. Step foot in all 50 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming)
    
34. Step foot on all 7 continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antartica)


35. Camp in Yellowstone Nat’l Park


36. Ride in a hot air balloon


37. Ride in a helicopter (not a medi-copter)


38. Ice Skate at Rockefeller Plaza


39. See Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)


40. Visit Washington D.C.


41. See a live Fútbol game


42. See Mt. Rushmore


43. Visit Rome


44. See the Great Pyramid at Giza


45. See the Taj Mahal


46. Visit Japan


47. Lick the Liberty Bell


48. Attend the Olympics


49. Watch a shuttle launch


50. Travel on the “streets” of Venice
    

Viva Las Vegas (Part 2)

It took me a bit to get this posted, but here's some pics and video of my night out last Saturday. I'll post some NYE pics soon too.

My friend Katie happened to be in Vegas with her family and since she was staying off-strip with her grandparents, i figured she could use a fun night out :). We literally walked all over the strip. Without including any of what we walked inside the hotels, I figured out we walked about 20 miles just up and down the Strip. Phew! We were a little tired the next day. Had a great time though and it was all worth it. So here's my pics and videos from that night.

The Gondola inside the Venetian Hotel

Hotel Paris

Excalibur

MGM Grand Hotel

A lion's paw at the habitat inside MGM

the Eiffel Tower

A little show at Magaritaville. She slid down a "volcano" into a giant margarita

She got pulled out on a hook and began twirling really fast

Me and Katie

The fountains at the Bellagio Hotel

The fountains again, but from atop the Eiffel Tower

Is Rusty Still in the Navy?

Yes, its Christmas Vacation time. And not just the movie, although I still haven't watched that this season... But also for me! I head out bright and early tomorrow morning and fly to Kansas City where some friends will be picking me up and whisking me away, eventually back to Omaha. I'm rather excited to be back and see some friends. I've been down here for a week shy of 9 months now and have only been back to Omaha twice, and neither time really got to spend any time with people.

I'll get some good quality time with my friends and family, including the traditional Christmas at Grandma's where we will more than likely eat dinner in the cold, dark basement, and open gifts, followed by the annual decorating of the Christmas Jeff.

Then Friday afternoon, I fly out to Las Vegas to help watch my niece and nephew. I'll have a Vegas New Year, before flying back to Tulsa on January 4th. Yep. Really looking forward to the next 2 weeks!

I'll try to do some mobile blogging while I'm gone, and who knows, maybe even another Vidcast?

i love you,

dw

Promised Thanksgiving update

Ok, in my last post I said I'd send out another "recap" blog over Thanksgiving and obviously, that didn't happen, so here it is... better late than never.

I'll try to summarize best I can, but I've been keeping myself pretty busy with lots of concerts, live remotes, and a few little projects soon to come at KXOJ.

Back in October, mom and my aunt Rhonda came down for a concert with Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman. I'm sure there was another reason they came down, but free tickets didn't hurt. My boss is very close with Steven and Michael, so I really felt like I had the pleasure of meeting a different side of them than most. With Bob there and being backstage, it seemed they both had their "fan guard" down.

From my end, the concert was a big success as well. It was our first experience with the new Spirit Bank Event Center but it was a great one. Especially for me. The deal with them is they take care of most of the finer details as part of the rental price. Those finer details are normally my responsibility so my job was limited to finding merch volunteers. Their merch manager was great working with and I even got to show off a little for him. In talking, he expressed gratitude for finding all the volunteers and said that was not the case for the next night and he was getting a bit worried. Knowing the next night's show was Omaha, I gave him a hand and jumped on my phone. Before long I had 5 volunteers lined up for him. Again, he was thankful.

On to November, and two more concerts! The first, was Creation Festival Tour with Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, Pillar plus half a dozen or so more. We also chose to have our "Bible Across America" stop on this day. Zondervan Publishing contacted us a couple months ago and presented this idea to us about a handwritten bible they were putting together. They went from city to city having people come out and sign their very own scripture in the Bible. We got a HUGE response that day with I believe just shy of 600 people over a 6 hour period. This was their largest 6 hr stop and I believe we could have added 100 or so more had they had an additional podium (by the end, the wait was nearly 2 hours in line so many people left). We were also able to get many of the bands to sign, and they were quite excited about it as well.

The concert went well with over 2000 seats sold, which we were pleased with. Tulsa has become very concert saturated and ticket sales overall are way down. Many concerts are being cancelled and if not, the numbers are very low and promoters are losing big. I didn't actually stay for the show because by that point I had been there for 10 hours, but i heard it was awesome.

Mom and dad came down a few days after that for Thanksgiving. Mom made her annual huge Thanksgiving feast which I couldn't eat! I had been going through some back pain that day and by dinner time it was so bad that I had almost no appetite. Plenty of leftovers though! Had a great time with mom and dad that week and we did our annual trip over to the Rhema lights. For my readers who aren't from Tulsa, and aren't familiar, Rhema is a bible college down here that is right across the street. Every Thanksgiving, they begin their annual display which this year includes nearly 2 million lights all over their campus park! Its truly a site. This year, they included a LED display set to music.



Mom and pop left Sunday afternoon, and that night we already had another concert. Casting Crowns was joined by Natalie Grant, Avalon, Michael English, and more for the Christmas Celebration Spectacular or something like that. Before hand, Natalie Grant joined by about 90 listeners went down to John3:16 Mission to do some caroling. Even though it was a little chillly, we had a blast and collected a lot of warm items! You may remember John3:16 Mission from a previous blog.

So far this month has been pretty calm less a lot of remotes. Its Wednesday and i still have 2 more this week, then a concert Saturday night. This concert will be a blast though. TobyMac, Relient K, Family Force 5... I'm excited!

Just 13 days and I fly back to Omaha to see lots of family and friends for Christmas! Then on the 26th, I fly out to Vegas to help my sister and brother-in-law with the kids while they are working. I'll be out there through January 4th, and fly back to Tulsa. I'll do a mega picture post when I return!

Omaha wrap-up!

I'm exhausted today, but I had a great time back in Omaha. Sorry I won't end up having another vid-cast out of this. I really had planned on it but honestly just did something very uncharacteristic of me and took it easy this weekend. Lots of pictures at the bottom!

I got in Thursday night and instead of going out with the several people I had talked over plans with I just went to a small coffee shop by myself and watched a friend of mine perform. It worked out perfectly that he went on later because of a delayed flight and I walked in the door for the last song of the guy right before Nicholas. I sipped my delicious free coffee and enjoyed it.

The next day I was able to meet up with an old friend from high school. I basically keep in touch with 2 people from my class regularly. Stephen (Beav) and his wife. We had delicious Alvarado's burritos (one of the three Omaha restaurants I had planned on hitting up while I was there) and just chatted. It was also my high school's homecoming, and although I could care less about whats going on with my high school, my sister was bringing out her three kids to the parade and I also wanted to be sure to see my grandma so it was a great opportunity. So I went to the football game, and after Stephanie took Avery and Jackson home but left Annabelle with me and mom to take to the game.

Saturday I went back in to Omaha and took some pictures around town. I've always wanted to photograph the downtown area but have never really taken the time. I still could have used more time, but I got a few of the iconic markers for downtown Omaha (photos all below). I had to rush through at the end because of the wedding. I quickly got ready, picked up my date and then her dog got out! We had to chase her all over the neighborhood. Thankfully I had planned on getting to the wedding plenty early so that I could get the camera set up (I videoed the wedding) so we were only late to when we said we'd be there, not to the actual wedding.

It was one of the best weddings I had been to in a while. I have to honestly say I wasn't paying much attention to the actual content of the ceremony because I was concentrating on filming, but I assume it was nice, and the reception was great. There were a couple slide shows, including one that the photographer had quickly put together of the wedding photos in between the ceremony and that lag time before the wedding party showed up. There was also a "friends and family" slideshow that I was awesome enough to make with Andy and my CWS picture with "the Captain". Oh, and also there was a picture of a random friend we haven't talked to in nearly a year. The funny thing was, he was the only one in the picture. And maybe 3 people at the whole wedding even knew who he was. Randomness. We finished the night out back at the hotel hanging out and singing karaoke. Andy and I broke out our rendition of Tag Team's Whoomp There It Is. Just call us DC-the Brain Supreme and the Man, Steve Rollin. And perhaps the highlight of my night was the fact that not only did I beat Janel in darts (a rarity) but I beat her 2 games in a row! And that was after not playing darts in 3 months! I'm sorry, what was the question... Why am I so awesome?

Sunday was just a church/hang out with the family kind of day. I didn't end up leaving town until 5:30 which meant I got home around 12:30, and after only getting about 4 hours of sleep the night before, it made for quite the long day!

Here's all the pictures from the weekend! (click to enlarge; roll over for description)

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