New Blog for a new name

The time has come to say goodbye....to my old name that is. John and I have started a new blog at a new location. check out http://www.ajschmidt.blogspot.com to see what we decide post together as we begin a new family. There is also a convenient link to our honeymoon photos. Don't worry, this page will remain so that you may see any archived information.

Don't forget to change your bookmark!

Green Festival 2005

Last weekend I attended my first green festival with my friend Jennifer...Poor John was so bummed he had to work. It was an incredible turnout and a fantastic experience. I was supposed to go last year with Tom and Michelle, but my cat, Buddy suddenly got very ill and had to have his gall bladder removed. Poor, Buddy...he had surgery just in time and is now a happy/healthy cat...Yeah!! Anyhow, I was so inspired by the festival this year I have decided to start my own website with a domain I've had for a couple years...coming soon...keep your eyes peeled. I thought I would introduce one thing here I saw at the festival: For those of you (me included) feeling terribly guilty about not composting and instead using terrible chemical fertilizers, here's the product for you...and John and me too. I should warn, though, if you have become aware of peak oil, wait for the solar powered version of this really cool machine.

There is so much more to tell about everything I learned at the festival, but it will take a year to share. I have much to learn but I truly believe that what I saw was a glimpse of a new age. It looks like we have a rough road ahead, but one well worth it. There are so many new inventions and ideas on changing our way of being. I couldn't be more excited about life right now!

Now it's off to packing. We've got a plane to catch!

A Delightful Visit

Last weekend John and I had a wonderful visit from Aaron and Alexys. They came over Saturday Afternoon and stayed 'till late Sunday Morning. It's funny how your focus changes when kids are in the picture. On a normal Saturday, John usually works a 1-10 shift and I spend the day catching up on reading or blogging. Last Saturday however, that just wouldn't do. After John left for work, the kids and I packed up to go for a small hike along the creek that runs near our house. See the photo story on flickr. When we came back home, I made a pizza with broccoli on it thinking it would be nutritious and fun at the same time. Sounds good right? It's an Amy's Organic Frozen Pizza. Alexys says, "Annie, I don't like it." Aaron is bit more polite, but when I say "What do you think," he shakes his head apologetically. Thankfully, we had another pizza with cheese only on it. It was good enough to eat, but Alexys tells me the next morning, "Thank you Aunt Annie for the pizza last night... Don't make it again. Next time ORDER it." Guess we will have to be more creative with the organic selection :) Thanks, kids, for a wonderful time!!!

Please read this e-mail sent to me by John's mom, Shirley. This is so funny, it inspires me to some day be a teacher.

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term exam. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Here is the "Bonus Question" on the exam:

Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed)or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa (a girlfriend of mine during my Freshman year) that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A."

I just love this!! With this new found persepective I could have used a few years ago, we are now armed with good scholarly reasoning: If anyone ever tells you "Your going to Hell." You can now explain how impossible that is because hell already froze over. Which makes me think about Karma...but that's another story.

Post Wedding Syndrome

Good Morning everyone! What a lovely Saturday it is. It has been a long time since we have posted anything... sorry Tom! But, things are finally getting back to normal. We are considering changing the URL of our "Keeping in Touch" blog since Lowe is no longer my name. We were thinking Schmidtfamily.blogspot.com, or something like that. Any suggestions?

Now, I'd like to say that our wedding turned out better than we hoped under the circumstances. There were so many things that didn't go according to the plan, it's not even funny. Everyone we talked to before the wedding warned us of this phenomenon,
"Weddings tend to take on a personality of their own...don't sweat it." They told us. So, we went with the flow as advised and it was an incredible, beautiful day in spite of, or perhaps because of the little imperfections. The most important thing was how full of friends, family, and love the day was. We feel so blessed to begin our marriage this way, with so much love and support. So here it begins with the outpouring of thank you's. We are humbled by your generosity and promise to do everything we can to continue this spirit of family.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the wedding, the picture that won the contest was #71. For those of you who did make it, the picture that got matted was a zoomed in version of the winner. We wanted everyone to be able to see our faces. Kinda worked out...don't know.



Thank you Tom for posting the link to our photographers website for everyone to see the photos, but you need a password for that link. Use this link to bypass the password screen. I must mention that we will be getting a CD from our photograher with all photos and we will post the good ones on flickr at full resolution. So, don't buy from the dotphoto website unless you just want a high quality print.

We've been working very hard the past few weeks. John's back in school and got promoted...YEAH JOHN!!! He's been helping to open up a new store in Stockton. So that's 40 hours a week at work + two classes at UC Davis...YIKES! He won't be blogging much until Christmas, so I'll try to fill everyone in. As for me, I'm trying to clean up the storm that 8 months of wedding planning brought down on the house. What a mess! So, come November 13th, we will very much welcome our Trip to Fiji. Here comes another big THANK YOU (among many more) to everyone for chipping in to make this dream vacation a reality. It still feels like a dream. Are we really going?? We should be receiving our full itinerary any day now.

Thanks For Your Help!!!

We want to say "thank you" to everyone who voiced, er, typed their opinion on our engagement photos. We have made a final decision, and your votes definitely counted. The chosen photo will be matted and displayed at the wedding for all the guests to sign.

Thanks again!!!

Trivia 10-12

Fourth installment of four:

#10. Annie and John are considering moving to Oregon.

#11. At one time or another, they have dreamed about opening a B&B, a brewpub, and a general store.

#12. Annie and John would like to have at least one child.

That's all of 'em! (as if that weren't enough). As we said before, there just might be a use for this info at the wedding (hint, hint).

Wedding FAQs

The wedding is certainly close now, and we are getting excited! The details are really coming along, and you have all been a lot of help along the way. It has come to our attention, though, that many of you have similar questions about our big day, and we would like to address some of them here:

Q. What should I wear to the wedding?

A. We think you will be most comfortable in semi-formal garden attire. This is not a black-tie event, but it's not a hoedown either ;) Please keep in mind the ceremony and the reception will be outside. The average high temperature for Lincoln, CA on September 24th is 87 degrees. But with the weird weather year we've been having, who knows? You should probably bring multiple layers for maximum adaptibility.

Q. What should I wear to the rehearsal dinner?

A. Latitudes is a nice restaurant. However, Auburn is a casual town, and the mood at Latitudes is definitely on the casual side. Just don't wear shorts.

Q. How far is Auburn from Lincoln?

A. About 15 miles. Get directions from Lincoln Oaks B&B to Latitudes by clicking here.

Q. Where do I go to find out about your gift registry?

A. You can view our gift registry by clicking here.

For more information on the wedding, go to our wedding webpage or keep your eye on this blog.

Trivia 7-9

Third installment of four:

#7. The first place Annie and John went camping was Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

#8. The last place Annie and John went backpacking was along the Lost Coast Trail in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.

#9. Their favorite place to go for Annie's Birthday is Death Valley National Park.

Bachelor's Brew Party

KIT News Release, 8/22/2005. For immediate distribution:

John's Bachelor Brew Party will be held Wednesday August 31st, at Brew it Up! in downtown Sacramento. The fun will begin at 6:30. John and Annie thought it would be a great idea to brew and bottle a batch of beer to be shared with all of their guests as wedding favors. "We thought it would be neat to do something to incorporate craft beer into the wedding itself. What better way than to do it with beer we made ourselves?" quips John. He has even secured special bottles and labels for the brew.

The idea to combine the brewing with a bachelor's party didn't come until later. Annie explains, "Believe it or not, we originally were going to have the girls get together and brew the beer. We had talked about the tradition of bride ale. That's where the word bridal comes from. The bride's family would brew ale and sell it to the wedding guests as a way to raise money for the newlyweds. But, the boys will probably enjoy this more than we would have."

Brew it Up! Personal Brewery & Grill is located at 801 14th Street (14th & H) in Sacramento. For more information about Brew it Up! dial 916.441.3000, or e-mail info@brewitup.com