mDale.com v2

News Flash!

Matt | January 30, 2006 at 11:10 pm | In Personal | Comments Off

The following comic says it all…

In all honesty, the picture may not say it all. To fill in some of the details, Danielle and I have been dating since December 17th. I’ve known her for a long time (about three years). We spent quite a bit of time together last summer after work and on weekends and became good friends. To make a long story short, on December 17th I asked her if she would like to get to know me in a more “romantical” way and she said yes! Since then we have been spending most of our waking hours together. It has been really fun to get to know Danielle and I look forward to the coming months.

If you’ve got any questions for me or Danielle (e.g. why didn’t she choose the turkey? etc.) send me an email.

And now for December and January!

Matt | January 30, 2006 at 10:03 pm | In Personal | Comments Off

I suppose it is getting to be time for another installment in the “Life of Matt Dale” since I haven’t posted anything since mid-December ;)

I finished up the last few weeks at Focus on the Family Institute after Thanksgiving break. One of the last events we got to do was to go see the Phantom of the Opera up in Denver. The performance was really amazing. I don’t think I particularly enjoy musicals, but there is something neat about watching talented people perform in front of you. In addition, the production was fantastic. I had a great time.

On the final weekend of FFI we went back up to Horn Creek retreat center to have the “summit” retreat. It was a time of reflection and prepared us to say “goodbye” to each other. A group of us went bowling (at a tiny alley they have at the retreat center) that night. We (and by we, I mean mostly that I) got really crazy. It was mostly me jumping around and saying silly things at the top of my lungs. I don’t think I bowled a very good game, but everyone had a great time. We fit 16 people in a Ford minivan on the 1/4 mile drive back to our cabins. The next morning I could barely talk (from all the yelling the night before), but somehow managed to lead worship for the whole group. Luckily for me everyone at the institute could sing really well, so I just had to keep playing the guitar ;) The worship set was especially memorable for me because I broke (and subsequently dropped) a pick halfway through the second song and broke a string on the third song. Luckily one of my friends had his guitar there and I was able to finish the worship set.

Graduation was a lot of fun. The day before Steve (my roommate) and I cleaned the house from top to bottom. When graduation rolled around, he had left to stay at a hotel with his dad, so I had the apartment to myself. Graduation itself was a cool experience. It was nothing like the TAC graduation, but I really enjoyed Dr. Tackett’s commencement address. I said “goodbye” to all my friends and took a lot of pictures. That night I was alone in the apartment and felt sad and lonely; my institute experience was over.

The drive home was fairly uneventful. I took off around 9:00 a.m. and drove all day. I skipped lunch and hit Wendover, NV by 7:00 p.m. I had lots of time alone to think and pray while I was on the road. I also listened to pop music and 90’s hits on XM radio. In Wendover, I stayed at the Montego Bay casino for $40. The room was comfortable and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap place to stay in that area. Along with my room, I was given a coupon book filled with different complimentary deals. One of them was good for $1 in nickels to play the nickel slots. I redeemed my $1 and put it towards breakfast at McDonald’s the next morning. I always like coming out ahead of the house ;)

The second day’s drive was much like the first. I almost ran out of gas, but didn’t. My car took 9.9 gallons of gas when I filled it up, and it only has a 10 gallon tank. I made it home that day by 4:00 p.m. and was really happy to be off the road.

Almost immediately upon reaching home (actually three days after), I started dating Danielle Buss (c.f. the “news flash” above). I won’t go in to any great detail here, but we have been having a great time getting to know each other as more than just “friends.”

The following week was preparation for Christmas. My brother Alden came home from college with his girlfriend, Stephanie. My grandparents also drove up from SoCal for a visit. My friend, Rick Ruhman, and his band, The Revells, had a gig at Abottswood restaurant here in Paradise. Danielle, my grandparents and I showed up and watched a few of their sets. Danielle and I left around midnight but my grandparents stayed until the bar closed, then went to listen to karaoke at another club. I guess if you can’t stay up until the bar closes, you’re too old ;)

We spent New Year’s Eve at my house. Danielle and I played Catch Phrase with my parents. My parents managed to beat us most of the games, but one of these days Danielle and I will show them! We set off a bunch of firecrakcers and bottle rockets at midnight, then (after sending Danielle home) crashed into bed.

The next morning (at 4:00), my family and I took off for our annual trip up to Seaside, OR. The flight to Portland was great. We finally got to Seaside that evening and had our traditional halibut sandwich dinner at Dooger’s. We had three great days in Seaside. Alden and I didn’t get to surf because the waves were closing out. We did have fun at the two different surf shops. I picked up a couple of surf movies and a bunch of older surf magazines. All in all it was a really enjoyable time with my family.

The week after we got back Danielle, my mom, my grandad and I went to Macworld SF ‘O6. We saw all the stuff at the show, enjoyed riding cable cars and the older street cars to and from the show, and walked around the Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 area. We had lunch the second day at Boudin’s (where they make the best sourdough bread!). I’ve posted a bunch of pictures in the “Photos” section of my site.

When I got back I became an “official” employee of Cedar Creek Publishing. It is my first “real” full-time job. I’ll probably be here until mid-summer, when I hope to move back down to the Ventura area.

Last weekend, Danielle and I drove out to Reno, NV. We went up Highway 70 through Quincy and had a great time taking pictures and stopping to look at interesting things. When we got to Reno, we played miniature golf at Magic Carpet golf and I won! After dinner (at Joe’s Diner, which was awesome) we walked around downtown and tried not to get mugged. Reno can be a scary place at night.

I have been looking for a snowboard ever since I got back from Colorado. I finally found one at Boards ‘N Motion in Auburn, CA. I’ve got an ‘04 K2 Instinct 162cm board with ‘05 Salomon SPX-Pro bindings and ‘05 Salomon Dialogue boots. I bought the board on Tuesday and went up to Donner Ski Ranch for a half day. The board is really great. I can’t believe how much better it feels than the rental boards I’ve been riding. I hope to go up every week for a half-day of riding on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m actually going to hit the slopes tomorrow. It’s not surfing, but I suppose that in the given conditions, it will have to do ;)

For pictures from the last two months, check out the new photo gallery! I’ll do my best to keep y’all posted on a (hopefully) more regular basis ;)