Esther and I went to McDonald’s today, not something we normally do. Today is a special day, my last day of work at the College of William & Mary, so a special breakfast celebration was in order. This is also the first time we have been to McDonald’s since becoming vegetarian, figuring breakfast would be much more veg friendly than any burger.

We step up to the counter, Cee Cee behind it, waiting to take our order. Esther offers her order first:

I’d like an Sausage Biscuit with Egg meal, please.

Why don’t you just order an egg biscuit?

Let me tell you, there is no egg biscuit on the menu. Everything on the breakfast board labeled one through ten has some form of meat on it.

Ok, I’ll have an Egg Biscuit

Now I get ready to order.

I’d like an Egg McMuffin with no meat

*Laughs* Why don’t you just get an egg biscuit?

I don’t want a biscuit, I want an English muffin.

Now I know that being a vegetarian is “weird”. I understand that I’m not the normal customer she runs into everyday, and I also know that I’m not at Burger King, where I can “have it my way”. But seriously?! You are going to mock and question my choice of breakfast sandwich. I said I want an Egg McMuffin with out the meat. Is it really that hard to punch into your register? I didn’t ask for the sense of disdain that came along with me giving my order.

To top it off, Esther’s meal got downgraded to just the sandwich, with a side of ridicule.

Usually I have marked the passing of a year by Christmas, New Years, or my birthday. In a few years, I will mark the passing of a year by a different event, my father-in-law’s passing. It is very weird to mark a year by death, years are normally marked by happy times, but this 365 day cycle is a little different.

I have learned a lot in the past year. I have found the strength to try and be more caring and gentle to my mother-in-law even though she drives me crazy. I have tried to take my 13 (soon to be 14) year old brother-in-law under my wing. Let me tell you, it is hard to be a strong male role model. I have learned that you only live once and that you should live with as few regrets as possible.

John’s passing, showed me the importance of family, so much so, that Esther and I are planning on starting our own. It has also showed me how important work-home balance is. In a year I have started a left a job, started a new one and worked more than I ever have in my life. As the year is coming to a close, I have been reminded that work is only what we do, who we are is defined by a different set of goals.

In the past year, I have taken up a new hobby, become interested in a hobby to share with my dad, grandfather and extended family, and I am finally learning to let go of things that have cluttered my life. I have seen my sister get married, which I am happy about, and my sister-in-law join the army, which I am very proud of. My sister-in-law also has gotten married, but I’m home John can work some divine intervention in that situation.

It is a weird thing to mark a year by a death, it is inevitable and unfortunate, but as long as I can remember what John would have done, or how he would have reacted, I say that this was a year to learn.

Okay, I thought I would get to post, but the hangover was pretty bad on Friday and Saturday, I was without wifi on Sunday / Monday and super busy yesterday. Now the wedding recap:

Friday

I went and got my hair cut with my dad. I went to the barber that he has been doing for years and it was funny how my dad is so oddly intimate with this guy. Telling him all about the wedding, a new boat he wants to buy, gardening. Oddly intimate.

After getting cleaned up, Esther and I brought her mom and brother with the Paulson boys, to go and get a wedding present. I don’t know if my sister has had a chance to open her presents so it will remain a secret for a little while longer.

We drove in to the heart of KC and checked into the hotel, which was nice, if not basic. As we were checking in, all of my cousins, aunts and uncles were milling around. It was great to see everyone. The great thing about a Benoit get-together is that we pick up like no time has passed. We start up conversations and just roll with the punches.

Esther and I got dressed up for the rehearsal (my sister’s request, not my idea) and after running through the mechanics of getting married, we made our way over the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner was a very fancy soirée. An open bar with hard drinks, very fancy plated dinner. I enjoyed a couple of mixed drinks and some great conversation with my grandmother, whom I was seated next.

The great thing that she and I talked about, which I also shared with my Gramps, was that Esther and I are going to start our family in the next year. Yes, that means babies.

After the official dinner broke up, we all went to Salon A at the hotel, which was setup as a hospitality room. Stocked with beer and snacks, it became the hangout room. Lots of great conversation, although, most of them were a little slurred, if you get what I mean.

Some of you may know that I had sworn off alcohol. I have to had any to drink in about a year. Joanna and Esther asked that I imbibe a little, seeing as I was so much fun when I did. Needless to say, when one’s sister is getting married, you give her what she wants and you drink to cope with the fact that your sister is getting married.

The party kept going on into the morning with the Benoit’s walking (read: stumbling) to the Quick Trip down the street to stock up on beer and liquor. After we made it back, I stopped by the new party spot, but faded quickly and made it up to our room.

Saturday

The big day! So what do the Benoit’s do? Go motorcycle shopping! My dad and rest of the men went to a motorcycle cycle shop and I think I found my motorcycle, the Triumph Scrambler.

My dad ended up buy a bike (the make/model evades me) but before that most of the guys went and got a great greasy spoon breakfast from a restaurant down the street. After he did the hand shake, we headed back to the hotel to meet up for lunch, a great taco combo at Chipotle. I caught up with my cousin Jason, who is out in Hollywood, talking about movies and I even got slipped a … probably shouldn’t say, don’t want to get him in trouble.

We kind of just hung out and then shortly after 4 started getting ready. Tux and dresses… it is always fun to play dress up.

The ceremony was fabulous, my sister looked great and it was a very spiritual event. As a groomsman, I played a pretty prominent role in the wedding, walking my mom down the aisle and then walking down the aisle with my wife. Let me tell you, it is so much better when you are walking down the aisle after being married. Not that I’m knocking waiting up front, that’s fun too.

My sister getting ready to kiss her husband… not eat him!

The reception was fabulous. Held at the Kansas City Public Library, which was an amazing location. We partied on the roof and had a great dinner, with some excellent speeches and quite possibly the best cakes ever. It was comprised of lots of cupcakes, different flavors of cake and frosting, delicious!

The reception went on and after the Bride and Groom left, the party really started. The Benoit’s closed down the library and went hog wild at the hotel. Let me tell you, when you have had a “little” bit to drink, cigars are great, when you are sobering up, your mouth tastes like garbage!

Sunday

My wife and I woke up as early as we could (after fading from the party around 5 a.m.) and then started driving her mom and brother down to my parents lake house. We had a great time once we got there… and this post has gone on for too long. So let me wrap up by saying. I am incredibly happy for my sister. I hope that she and her new husband find all the happiness that they are due.

A final picture for the road. Ray (next to be married) and my brother-in-law Clayton, air-guitaring during Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. I think it adequately captures the mood.

Esther and I play this game from time to time. When we see a particularly masculine looking woman or a rather feminine looking man, we quickly ask the other “Mann oder Frau?”. The point of the game is not to poke fun at the target, but to try and determine their gender: Mann (German for Man) or Frau (German for woman)? We are getting ready to fly out to Kansas City for my sister’s wedding and airports are a great place to play.

Any weird inside games that you play?

I am going to post more. This past week has been good, I was a little stressed at work this week. The boss set a meeting on my calendar and didn’t really let me know what it was about except for a vague list. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought, but the morning before I was really anxious, I don’t know why, but I was.

Anyway, I have been bitten by the golf bug. I went to the driving range with Clayton this afternoon and we hit a jumbo bucket of balls. It was a good time. I found how to correct for my slice (a ball that curves to the right), but it’s really hard to get it right and the posture is a little uncomfortable. Next time I got out golfing I’ll take the camera.

Tonight we are going over to our friends new houses. I will bring the camera, maybe a video or two!

D9 5A DC 79 D2 7C 72 02 00 C3 BF E0 7A 16 4B DC

You are probably wondering what that random configuration of numbers and letters means. I don’t blame you. A week ago, a string of similar characters was released onto the internet. Those characters were the key to decrypting the digital right management on HD-DVD discs. I don’t know how you do it, and I wouldn’t care to elaborate, that would be breaking the DMCA.

So again, you are thinking, “What’s up with your random string of numbers and letters?” That, dear reader, is my 128-bit encryption key. Ed Felton, Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University, on his blog has created a script that generates a 128-bit key that you can own.

The idea stems from the fact that the AACS-LA (Advanced Access Content System Licensing Authority) claims to own a 128-bit key. Ed Felton, genius that he is, thought that if everyone owns all possible 128-bit character combination, then no other company could ever claim to own a number again. Genius!

My key will be released for anyone to use under the Creative Commons Share alike with attribution. So if you want to use it, you must: let others use the same key, you must also say that it is my key, and you can never charge for it.

Get your very own key at Ed Felton’s blog.

After spending Saturday out and about, Esther and I decided to focus on our home and ourselves. Saturday was not a great Weight Watchers day, we ate out a lot, most of which was not points friendly. Sunday, we decided to get back on the WW horse, that meant after brewing some coffee, we went to the Nolan Trail and did the whole 5 miles. I have always wondered why the Nolan Trail was advertised in a lot of brochures, and I have finally found out why. It is a fantastic 5 mile loop through the woods surrounding the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News.

The Nolan Trail, originally uploaded by Tobyotter.

After our long walk, the conversation that ensued essentially went as follows:
Esther: “We should get our backyard in shape.”
Jered: “Yeah, wouldn’t it be great to have our friends over and not have to hide the back yard?”
Esther: “Yeah, we should get our backyard in shape.”

So that is how most of our Sunday was spent. A whole bunch of tilling and weeding and planting. You can see a diagram of our backyard below, it is shaping up very nicely.

I have some really big news, but I can’t talk about it until tomorrow around noon. I just wanted to let you, kind reader, that I am here and that I will be posting tomorrow.

When I last updated about fitblogging/fatblogging, I was way under. I let that go to my head and I managed not to lose a single pound, or half pound, or tenth of a pound. I am still at the same weight and while I’m a little disappointed, I’m not too upset as a whole.

The thing that was weird about today was that we lost our cat today. Not in the “oh no, he got outside and ran away”, but in the way where he has joined the great scratching post in the sky. Floyd has been sick for a while, three months now, and while he showed some improvement over the course, on the whole it was really just a steady decline. He had lost over 40% of his body weight, consisting of little more than flesh and bones, he could eat or drink with bringing it up shortly after consumption and the vets were no where closer to finding out what was wrong with him.

Esther and I were faced with a choice, costly test that may or may not get us answers to what’s wrong, or take away Floyd’s suffering, which there was plenty of.

So on the whole, the past year has been one of loss. First we lost Esther’s dad, then my pet rat, and now our first pet together, Floyd. It has been very hard to maintain my Buddhist outlook on life, partly because there is no god to be angry with, partly because it all come back to attachment, which leads to suffering; how can you perceive death with out attachment? Apparently, that means I should meditate more.

Floyd, I miss you.

Last night was not the greatest on the weight loss front. We had some friends over and it was hard to be on the Weight Watchers program. I think that had we not had our party, my weight loss might have been more. One of those things where I’m retaining stuff. But, that being said, progress is progress! Might work in the garden some more today, beautifying and working out. Unfortunately it is really cold out, no bike riding, unless it’s on the trainer inside. Probably will do a little work out on the elliptical trainer.