Month: January 2008

NOTE: abbreviated post so I can get my life back I just want my kids back!

Christmas was good. We spent it the weekend previous at Hawarden, where there was an early Christmas on account of Adam and Cari being unable to be in town on the 25th. My big present there was a box of N* t-shirts. Holli did a good job of keeping me in the dark on it, and she contacted a number of people and sold them t-shirts – thoroughly undercutting any profit I hope to make off these shirts in the future. Just kidding!

Between Holli and I, we got a bathroom for Christmas. I also got Born Standing Up by (The) Steve Martin from A&C. It’s super awesome, though I haven’t had much time for it lately. Marissa got the big present: she got a new MacBook. She had to earn it, though. It was at the end of a long series of bogus presents, which was beautifully orchestrated by Larry “Puppetmaster” Gregg.

After Hawarden we went to Big Stone City. Bryce and Lindsey were back, so we got to see them. We had the usual get together at Grandma’s which ended in presents. Sue’s gift for us all was a used pack of cards. And then there was an iTunes gift card inside. I haven’t used mine yet. I’m waiting for the perfect moment. Holli and Lindsey both got presents from Sue this year.

Then it was back to the Val Rausch house. I got a snow globe, Extras Series 1 DVD, a movie trivia book, and a Garmin GPS unit from Mom. I was a little taken aback looking inside the box because half the stuff listed on the contents was missing. Then she mentioned the word “eBay”, and I knew the score. Still, the device is neat, and I definitely need to devote more time to playing with it.

The big present here went to (the youngest) Brenna. She got Rock Band for PS2. Good thing there’s a large living room there. We hooked it all up, and we played for a fair amount of time. It works with Guitar Hero II guitars, so we were playing bass, lead, drums, and had a singer. We all took turns and Dan and David and Tom came over.

Christmas Day, Holli and I headed to Sioux Falls. And a storm hit. We were driving 10 miles an hour at some points. We got to witness a collision, but thankfully made the trip just fine ourselves. The GPS brought us straight to Kevin’s place. There we had a great meal of prime rib and lobster tail. Holli and I were originally going to head to Madison, but we scrapped those plans pretty quick. At Karin’s, then, Holli broke out Pop 5, and it was a hit.

I’m sure there’s plenty I’m forgetting. It’s late at night, and all this last minute wedding stuff has a lot of us over-tired. All-in-all it was a good Christmas. Let’s do it again next year.

So, Holli graduated. After years of hard work and stress, she was finally able to accept her diploma AND to give a speech. When she heard that she was chosen to give a speech at graduation, we sorta joked that I was more of a writer, and that we could do what the President does on West Wing.

It was enticing, and then we thought, “Why not?” So, she gave me some ideas that she had, and she passed on previous speeches. She wanted a rough draft in a couple days. I toiled away at it, mentally. I finally, at 1am one morning, got something down on digital paper. It was a speech that, moments after I wrote it, I was proud of. The next morning I wasn’t.

Holli’s remarks made it clear that an almost complete rewrite was in order. My nickname of Miles “One-Draft” Rausch was dangerously close to being a sham. We were in Jersey’s, and I finally set to asking her questions that could help me get inside her mind. She wanted it to be mostly solemn with some comedy. She wanted to touch on certain topics. She definitely wanted no “Yo’ Mama” jokes, a pillar of the first speech.

So, with her encouragement and ideas, I set to writing again. I liked the general theme of “paying attention”, but it was really Holli’s ideas that I needed to express, not my own. This draft I got right. She made some additional changes to it and got to practicing it. But that wasn’t it. We made the decision to “fake out” the blogging masses. We decided that we’d both post fake speeches on the day of the speech, and I would post a video of the real speech later on. Holli posted the first draft, while I penned an entirely new version of the speech. It was a version that I knew Holli would have been horrified to give.

I did eventually post the actual speech, in video form. In retrospect, I should have titled it “The Graduation Speech” not “The Graduation”.

It was an interesting experience helping to write a speech for another person to give. You have to keep a lot of things in mind, including their sense of humor, their reading style, background, vocabulary, and personal experience.

P.S. Job search is still on. I’ll keep you updated.