There are nine days remaining before I get married, and I'm totally not nervous. Interesting how things work out that way ... I mean, I'm supposed to be nervous, right?

Julie and I are skipping town on August 20th. We're heading to some tropical-type island to relax and do nothing. After this past year, we'll need it -- one thing I've learned is that the honeymoon is there to give you some time to relax after all of the planning. There's a lot of planning.

Our first international guest arrives this Saturday, the 11th. He's staying here until the 27th, probably because he has never seen Chicago before and one week isn't enough

I had a bigger post planned out this morning but it appears this is all I can give you today. I hope to have some more posts leading up to the big day. It will indeed be big ... current head count for the reception is 320.

Whether you know it or not, I am somewhat of a Formula 1 fan. I don't think I can be considered a F1 nerd just yet, as I don't know nearly enough about the politics behind the sport.

Anyway, the Grand Prix of Canada, held in Montreal, took place yesterday. There were numerous "wtf" moments during the race, but this morning two of them stood out. The first was the fact that Takuma Sato passed Fernando Alonso. We're talking about Super Aguri, a team that didn't exist a year and a half ago, passing Renault, who has been a mainstay of the sport in one way or another since the late 1970s. Freaking twilight zone.

The other moment occurred when Robert Kubica clipped Jarno Trulli and planted his car firmly into an inside wall at 150MPH+. The car practically disintegrated, and you could see Kubica's red helmet bobbling back and forth as the tub (yes, tub, because that's really all that was left of the car) rolled onto its side and came to rest. That wasn't what caused the "wtf." The cause was the fact that Kubica got away from that wreck with a freaking sprained ankle, and a light concussion. Either those cars are the safest in the world (try running head-on into a wall at over 150MPH in a streetable BMW and see if you survive), or Kubica had a horseshoe crammed up his rear-end.

I mean, the rest of the race was pretty whacked out as well. Four safety car periods, ten retirements, Heikki Kovalainen moving up 18 places from 22nd to 4th, Fisichella and Massa getting black-flagged (I don't think I've ever seen a black flag in F1), the list goes on and on.

Okay ... in other news, the house is getting painted this week. They start tomorrow night. I ripped up the carpet in the fourth bedroom to reveal some reasonably ugly hardwood, which will be repaired because I don't really like looking at it. I was hoping to move in last Saturday but that fell through, so I'm looking at this Saturday instead.

Remember that post in which I said I have a house? Yeah ... it's official now. We closed this morning. I have keys, I have a garage door opener, and I now have a lawn to mow before it gets too unwieldy Good times, good times.

Julie gave me a pretty hefty gift card to GameStop/EB Games for Christmas because it was such a pain in the butt to find a Wii at that time. Turns out that those stores never have Wiis (or, they only have them when I am not there). I got lucky today and picked one up, along with a few games and accessories. So ... I has Wii!

We played Wii Sports for a little bit in the office. I'll tell you what, it would have been a lot more fun with a pizza or 5. My favorites so far are Tennis and Boxing, but Golf wasn't bad. I picked up a couple other games too, so more good times will be had.

Julie works tomorrow, but I will introduce her to the joy that is Wii on Sunday.

The home inspection was today. Left work at 3:00, got to the house at 3:30, and the home inspector was nearly done already. Good thing too, it would have been a pain in the butt to wait for that dude to finish up in the attic.

So ... we found a couple of minor things, but nothing earth-shattering. The furnace's heat exchanger needs to be inspected, and a couple of little panels of glass need to be replaced, but other than that it's golden. That is always good news.

Next thing to do is to get the financials in order, and we're well on our way to a May 31st closing date. I'll probably move in there pretty quickly to get everything up and running by the time the bridal shower hits, but I don't expect Julie to move in until after the wedding.

Good times.