Good and wonderful things can arise even during finals week. While most people fill their heads with useless facts and formulas, one man I know chose to accomplish something truly meaningful. Putting his own exam scores at risk, he meticilously crafted something that will undoubtedly make the world a better place.

Of course I'm referring to the creation of a new blog created by my good friend Spencer Elliott! Fueled by a desire to share his wisdom and his totally sweet Halo 2 screenshots, Spence joined the blogging community yesterday (instead of studying).

Be sure to visit his site regularly for some great stories, commentaries, and random useless knowledge! I think having a blog buddy will help motivate me to post more to my own blog, too. And that's something everyone can get excited about!

It's 3:30am right now, but I'm feeling quite bloggy so I will share with you some of today's adventures.

Lumberjacks

For weeks my roommates and I had planned to throw a Christmas party at our apartment this weekend. When we all woke up early this morning (around noon), we realized that while we had already "decked the halls" of our apartment with Christmas lights and garland, we were lacking a Christmas tree!

In order to remedy this problem, Dave "Frugal" Perkins suggested we chop down a tree in Weber's backyard. Always eager for any excuse to wield sharp metal tools, the roommates and I put on our lumberjack shirts (literally) and drove to Woodway.

We found some choice tools in Weber's garage and then combed the forest in search of a perfect little tree to bring Christmas cheer to our apartment! We ended up hacking down about 5 or 6 before settling on a lovely 7-foot cedar!

Hot Jelly

The party was a success as well, especially considering the men dominated the women at Battle of the Sexes for the first time ever! However, it is somewhat hard to revel in a victory that was won based on our knowledge of cosmetics and cooking.

We also had a ton of great food, including one of my favorite party dishes: wheat thins with cream cheese and spicy pepper jelly! Yummy yum yum!

P.S. I will be posting pictures of the engagement soon, so stay tuned!

People throughout history have on many occasions experienced things worth getting excited about, such as finding a new continent, winning a war for independence from an imperialist monarchy, or simply beating the Atlanta Braves in a playoff series.

These things are all very nice, of course (unless you're a Braves fan from England), but none of them can compare to the events of this past Thanksgiving week. At least in the eyes and heart of this young man.

As most of you know, for the past six months I have been dating a lovely girl named Jaime Patterson. Even before our first date, I knew in my heart that I was going to marry her someday. Well folks, someday is now an official date on my calendar!

And for those of you that don't understand the significance of that statement (probably my male demographic): I'M ENGAGED!

I know it is probably hard for you to believe, and you must have many questions. How could your friendly little blogger be growing up so fast? How did he propose? When is the wedding? Can I see the ring? How many feet are there in a nautical mile? Well I don't have the answers to all of those questions, but I will tell you about...

The Proposal

The main thing preventing me from getting engaged all along was an uncertainty about where I would be living and working after college. I wanted to have the security of knowing I had a job and an income lined up before I committed to getting married.

God certainly provided in ways I could not even expect, because I was offered a wonderful job with ExxonMobil and accepted their offer Monday before Thanksgiving. I had always hoped that I would know about a job by Thanksgiving because all my family was planning to fly down for the holidays to spend the week in The Woodlands. My moment of opportunity had arrived!

So on Monday I drove to Dallas and bought a beautiful (if I may say so) engagement ring and on Tuesday I drove to Houston and secretly met with Jaime's parents. In the meantime, I had also reserved the Woodlands Ice Rink for Thanksgiving night, where I intended to propose.

The whole week I was incredibly nervous and incredibly excited at the same time. My heart and my brain were both going about a million miles per hour. By the grace of God, the secret was preserved even when Jaime visited my relatives' house on Wednesday night. I was so relieved and happy when she finally left!

Keep in mind that Jaime was not expecting a proposal until March or April next year, so I had the opportunity to completely catch her off guard. I had my friend Anthony call and pretend to ask if we wanted to join him and some friends at the skating rink. So we drove up there around 9:30 Thanksgiving night.

When we arrived, the rink was illuminated by thousands of Christmas lights as Edwin McCain's I'll Be was playing on the sound system (I made a CD with our favorite songs). My aunt and cousin helped me set up a table just inside the door with roses, flower petals, candles, and two pairs of ice skates.

At this point, Jaime was still clueless. As she later said, "I just thought the rink had a nice table decoration!" She thought the rink was closed and we shouldn't be there, but I convinced her to put on her skates and we started cautiously skating around the rink.

I couldn't wait more than about 3 laps before I stopped her, because at this point she was getting suspicious. I was too nervous to really remember what I intended to say to her, but I did say some nice things. Then I got down on a knee (which isn't easy on ice skates) and asked her to marry me! As soon as I opened the ring box, she reached down, took the ring, and put it on her finger. I took that as a yes, but then she did reaffirm her answer with an emphatic "Yes!"

After we skated for about 20 more minutes, we went back to her house where both our families were waiting to celebrate! I don't think I stopped smiling all night, and the next day my face muscles were sore!

It was a perfect night and I am so happy, so relieved, and so very blessed! But this is only the beginning. I know God has many great things planned for our life ahead together.

I'm sure the days ahead won't always be this euphoric, but when facing life's trials and adventures, there is no one who I'd rather have by my side than her. And as of July 9th, she'll always be there!

Now that is worth getting excited about!

Go see this movie right now! If you don't, some bully may try to steal your tots and slam you into your school locker. And don't you dare even respond with, "I'll do whatever I want! Gaaah!"

Me and the boys saw it last night and were stricken with maniacal laughter during the entire show! And that's a good thing! We chuckled the whole way back from the theater as well, while we recounted the many hysterical scenes this independent film had to offer.

If you've already had the joy of seeing this movie, please leave your comments. Otherwise, I strongly recommend you find your closest theater. Go on, get moving!

vi·gnette
n.

1. A short, usually descriptive literary sketch.

I thought I'd start out this long-awaited blog entry with a definition, because I've never done that before. I also did it to prepare you for what is to follow: a series of vignettes describing some of the various happenings of my summer...

My Girl
You probably all know by now, but I have been dating Jaime Patterson since May 9th. And every day since, I have thanked God for bringing me a girl more beautiful, more fun, and more amazing than I ever expected.

Fun In The Sun
Right after spring finals, I flew home to join my family on a trip to the sunny beaches of Charleston, SC. In tribute to the valiant people of Rohan, we built not a sand castle, but a sand Helm's Deep. The clear skies led to a few sunburns (poor Ben), but also made for some spectacular star-gazing.

Summer School
I am actually surprised how little I complained about taking 12 hours of class this summer. It got a little repetitive with each class 5 days a week, but my roommates were in the same boat...so it's all good. (You get a point if you know that last reference.)

4th of July
To celebrate our day of independence, me and the gang journeyed to Austin where we did some tubular tubing, ate some snowy snow-cones, and watched the fiery fireworks!

Pinball
I want to get this out in the open: I, Nicholas Patrick Cochran, am addicted to the Addam's Family pinball machine. That terrible game is at the same time infinitely frustrating and supremely satisfying. Satisfying only because I now hold 3rd place on the all-time leaderboard (you're going down Trejo).

My Great Day
Everyone has a good day from time to time, but Wednesday, August 18, 2004 was absolutely phenomenal (high-five, Lee) for this young man. I finished my summer classes, scored 100 on my management final, won every game of Halo, received a free meal, and won $40 playing poker! Oh, and the Astros won that night, as well!

Spongebob and The Cowboy
Our apartment is overflowing with instruments! As of my latest tally, we possess 3 acoustic guitars, an electric guitar, a mandolin, two trumpets, a keyboard, and an african drum. John has also recently purchased some recording equipment, so...

9 Instruments + Recording Equipment + Marginal Talent = All-night jam sessions!

My brother, John, and I have a couple great songs in the works, which we will debut at a later date.