Thought Box

Merry Christmas to all!

It has been an exciting year for the Rosenbaugh Family, and I’m really grateful that we were able to share it with many of you. Here’s the month by month rundown:

The wicked awesome seal we used on the wedding announcements

January: Wedding planning was in full swing. Wedding announcements were printed and shipped to us so we could get started mailing everything out to everyone while Hayley was finalizing her dress fittings and I enjoyed Jimmer.

February: We held our annual Super Bowl party (I hate the Packers) and had a really good turnout – including a lot of delicious food. Hay went skiing over President’s Day weekend with her family, and I got to see Jimmer destroy TCU in their high school sized gym with my buddy Gary. More wedding planning madness ensued, including me purchasing a sweet Hugo Boss tux and a bunch of stuff from Brooks Brothers.

March: “Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today. Wove, twue wove… So tweasure your woves forever!” We got married on March 26, 2011 – GO TEAM ROSENBAUGH! Then we swiftly left the country to party it up in Costa Rica for a week. The wedding was great, and both of us are incredibly grateful to all of our family and friends who made the sacrifices to be there with us. I personally have to thank my most excellent groomsmen, Travis(aurus Rex) Tidball and W. Spencer Porter - you guys are truly great!

Family and friends in front of the temple doors

April: The honeymoon continued into April, and then it was time to get used to normal life and the fact that BYU wasn’t going to play in the Final Four. Hay studied up a storm for her next exam while I finished Red Dead Redemption and began the amazing Mass Effect 2. Honestly, April was allllll about relaxing after the wedding planning, and boy did we need it.

Hay & I on the beach in Costa Rica

May: We had a wonderful Open House in Houston to celebrate with friends here at home, and then we were off to Chicago for a fun filled adventure in the city and another Open House at my parent’s place! Rand and Cynthia (Hay’s parents) made the trip to both Open Houses, which made it that much more fun.  Also, I beat Mass Effect 2,was immediately sad it was over, and Hay took her actuarial exam of doom. It was a busy month!

June: The beginning of Birthday Season! Hay was spoiled with a birthday celebration and a really awesome road bike: Orbea Onyx (lady edition – Hay named her Betty). We also went to an Astros game with ExxonMobil, X-Men First Class was great, Assassin’s Creed 2 helped me learn Italian (“Requiescat en pace…”) while I enjoy assassining, and Jimmer got drafted.

July: The “Birthday Season” continues!!! I was spoiled w/ a Cannondale SuperSix road bike (awesome – it’s named Thor, after the cyclist and not the Marvel Superhero) and a really great little birthday party! We went on a bunch of bike rides and thoroughly enjoyed the weather before it started getting really warm. Oh… and CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS AWESOME!!!!

August: Papa Ron came to visit us while in town for work! We loooooove having people visit us! We got all caught up on Mad Men, which is highly recommended. (OhDon – we just want you to be happy and make good decisions!) Other than that, we went on our first long bike ride (34 miles, Hay was a trooper) and threw a party for absolutely no reason other than that we wanted to see our friends from the single’s ward.

Hay relaxing on the rocky cliffs of Acadia National Park

September: We went on am amazing trip to the Northeastern United States, hitting seven states and getting to see Derek and Brooke, Carly (Hay’s Sister), and the Jersey Boys (along

Riding in the Tour de Cure (50 miles)

with the beautiful Acadia National Park, the Freedom Trail, the US Open, and forests of the Northeast). Later in the month I participated in the Tour de Cure, riding 50 miles w/ the ExxonMobil cycling team to support research for the cure to diabetes.

October: Hay went with her sisters to Tennessee for a long weekend and came home singing “Rocky Top” nonstop, I got the new iPhone 4S and proceeded to use Siri for just about everything, and we got to see Memphis as our first show in this year’s Broadway Across America season! For Halloween Hay was the Morton Salt Girl, and I did nothing… Again… Maybe next year I should buy that bear suit I’ve always wanted?

November: November started off with the Romans Family Reunion in Arizona – I got to meet a bunch of Hayley’s relatives who weren’t able to travel for the wedding, and I think I successfully proved a valuable addition to the family. I met Brandon Sanderson at a local book signing, the author of some of my favorite books, including Mistborn and The Way of Kings! On a mini-adventure in Houston, Hay and I successfully found the Presidents statues, which was a little trickier than I had originally thought. For Thanksgiving it was off to Chicago! We had a great time hanging out (Color Me Mine w/ the sisters!) and we were able to go on several adventures (including a trip to downtown Milwaukee to see the Jelly Belly factory and Pabst Mansion, and another trip into Downtown Chicago).

(from top left to bottom right) Hay w/ Grandma Katee; me meeting Brandon Sanderson; Hay and the sisters @ Color Me Mine; Hayley discovering the Presidents!

December: This month we’ve hit 5+ Christmas parties ( 2 ExxonMobil, 1 Towers Watson, 1 Ward, 1 friends), celebrated the birthdays of our AWESOME friends Jenny & Kyle, and we’re headed to Utah for Christmas tomorrow (I’m going to learn to ski this year?!)! Oh, and I think I have Hayley now hooked on Fringe, I totally finished inFamous 2 and then got quickly wrapped up in Uncharted 3, which is amazingly wonderful.

We are incredibly excited for 2012 and all of the adventure that it will bring! We already know we’ve got a big trip planned for March/April, I’ll be riding in the Houston to Austin MS150, and The Lion King musical will be coming to Houston in the summer (I’m way too excited for it)!

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the new year!!!

Tangent: A quite humerous and adorable blog post about the rumorative power held by Facebook can be found here.  It may be of interest to frequent readers and those who know me personally.

I went and saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World on Saturday and I love, love, love, LOVED it!  It’s the kind of movie a comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid nerd would love, and I think that description defines me pretty well (except for maybe not the stupid part – you decide!).  If you grew up playing games in the 80′s and 90′s, and you love movies that make you laugh and are insanely different than anything else Hollywood does, do yourself a favor and see Scott Pilgrim.  I promise, you’ll love, love, love, LOVE it!  And if not, lie to me and say you did.

I’m saddened that the film is “failing” in the eyes of the movie industry, and I think there are 2 legitimate reasons why..  Every movie blog within the blogosphere has  come up with their own guesses, but I only really consider a these 2 to be legit:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is hard to categorize. This is one of the aspects of the story that I really love, but it has to be a marketer’s worst nightmare!  The posters with Scott rocking out on the guitar have been slammed for making people think the movie was about a rockstar, which is not the case, but they do make sense if you already know the story.  You also can’t sell it as a love story, because that’s only one component of the whole.  And an action movie?  With Michael Cera?  That won’t fly…  So, how do you categorize this film if you’re Blockbuster Video?  It doesn’t even fit in with the goofy punk/skateboarder movies I remember from the 80′s and 90′s (Gleaming the Cube, anyone?)…  Universal Pictures tried, but mixed messages left potential audiences confused, which is a shame.

2.  This movie was made for a small subsection of the population – the comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid (maybe) nerds of this world.  I honestly don’t see this movie having a strong appeal to the masses when you consider the ever rising barrier to entry for this kind of thing (e.g. the $9 movie ticket).  Those who have read the comic, which is supremely delightful and highly recommended, will be immediately drawn to the move.  Those who love Michael Cera (a dwindling fan base) might be drawn.  Those who love Edgar Wright (the director) may have been drawn…  Aside from some of those pretty small fan bases, you’re lucky to pull in the occasional straggler (like my buddy Spencer, who was a rockstar for coming with the lady and I).  Does the movie deserve a wider audience?  YES, but that doesn’t mean it will automatically have one.

If you’re reading this and find anything I’ve said interesting, go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and love yourself for it.  It will treat you to something wholly different than anything else Hollywood has produced in a very long time.  I thought the acting was good, the writing was witty, the transition from page to screen was handled marvelously, and I finally got to see a girl kick some butt with a giant hammer (+5 against girls).

K.O.

I recently read Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and I LOVED it! Fantastic read! Definitely a nerd’s tale, which is likely why I loved it so much. I ripped through the books in just a couple of days, it’s that good. I’m very excited for the movie, but for the time being you can check out the GREATEST ONLINE TRAILER EVER CONCEIVED!!