Well Jamie and I tied the knot at 5pm on Saturday, June 24, 2006. I am awaiting photos from the photographer but Rohit was kind enough to send me a couple snapshots.

Here I am speaking with the officiant, Ed McLean, a local judge and friend of the family.

Jamie with her father, Joe.

Feeding each other our wedding cake. Nice catch, Rohit!

Speaking of catch, see the garter mid-flight before Jeff snags it.

Jamie and her girls, Mandy Joe, Erica and Erika.

When I get the photos from the professional photographer, I will likely dedicate a page to our wedding so thanks for viewing and of course to all who shared this moment with us both in person and online.

- Mike and Jamie Sparr

A casual night where the families and wedding party could meet. We kept it small and personal with enough time to hang out with all our out-of-town guests - all in all, the entire week was a hit.

The parents. Mine: Bill and Debbie (left) and Jamies: Joe and Kathy (right)

Rohit and Darin in Joe and Kathy’s front lawn as sun set over Missoula.

The boys - Part 2 (Rohit and his “ghost”)

Missoula Valley at night - from Mansion Heights.

After the dinner, we rallied some of our other out-of-town guests and hit downtown Missoula. Jeff’s girlfriend, Stephanie, got the grand tour. Of over 50 venues, we hit 4. We started at the Iron Horse, a nice brew pub (yuppy crowd) with great food, atmosphere and the posh 501 Lounge. We then hit an old college haunt, Shawn Kelly’s, an Irish pub w/ live music.

We stopped for a quick basketball game at The Bodega, a sports bar in downtown Missoula, before heading to our “destination”, Hammer Jack’s, a local dance club that Rohit insisted we re-visit (after the bachelor party the night before).

Darin and Rohit on the dance floor.

DJ booth and dance crowd. There are several rooms and a raised section here with pool tables and 2 bars. It was the first smoke-free bar in Missoula and now Iron Horse and others have followed suit.

Jeff and girlfriend, Stephanie, having a laugh at our buddy’s expense.

After the bachelor party the night before, I was in no condition to “tear it up” Friday night so it was a chill evening. We closed down Hammer Jack’s and hit a late-night pizzeria for snacks before heading back to my house.

The boys went all out and threw me one heck of a bachelor party. My thanks to Darin, Mike, Dave, Brandon, Jeff, Rohit, Travis, Jamy and Jason. Everyone met at my house and a school bus showed up to my surprise and carted us around from place to place the whole night.

They did their job and punished me. We all had custom-printed t-shirts and I had to carry a doll all night between drink after drink. Here a couple teaser pics:

Darin presenting our transportation.

Guys reviewing the contract before signing.

Our first stop - appetizers and drinks at Paradise Falls.

Group photo of our bachelor party crew running into one of the 3 bachelorrette parties we crashed Thursday evening at The Iron Horse.

Thanks again boys!

Almost there. I have lighting, mirror and towel bars and it’s complete. Here are photos of assembling vanity, toilet and current progress:

Dry-fitting fixtures before setting/sealing.

The new g-max flush system from Toto. No swirl and very quiet yet you could flush a dozen golf balls without any issue. I’ll save them for the course though!

Cut-outs for water and trap lines.

Faucet and drain installation.

Vanity, toilet and faucet installed.

New bathroom with fixtures installed.

Some accessories were left by friend Jeff Northcutt to our surprise upon returning home after our wedding night. Thanks Jeff!

The other day there was a double rainbow outside. I took a photo from the living room. I have never seen 2 rainbows at once, or at least cannot recall seeing any. I thought I would share the photo below:

Double rainbow

We’re no where near having video on demand! I’ve recently had two experiences that were really disappointing. The first experience was when I was in search of a movie. I had a friend coming over that wanted to watch Top Gun. I didn’t have it, but I figured how hard could it be to get. I have cable broadband, BitTorrent, Comcast OnDemand and there are a dozen other services on the web. So, here’s what I did. I needed the movie fast, so I went first to Comcast OnDemand thinking that would be the quickest download of the movie as the last time I used it the movie loaded almost instantaneously. However, when I went to the movie list, there was no Top Gun. In fact, there was a disappointing list in total. Next up, google… I did a quick search for “video on demand” to pull up some of the web options such as Movielink, Vongo, etc. I was on Mac Mini though, which is connected to a HD projection LCD (perfect for movies). None of these services either a.) worked with my Mac, b.) were easy to figure out what to do or c.) allowed me to just get one movie quickly and on demand. I think this is the key to these services being truly successful. I should be able to get a movie going without too much hassle. Let me start it with nothing more than entering my credit card. Don’t make me sign-up for a full account or require me to install a ton of new software. In the end, I went to the tried and true, BitTorrent. It’s slow as molasses, but I haven’t yet not found what I was looking for.

My second video on demand experience that was disappointing was purely due to a poor UI. A few friends of mine have told me that I have to watch this new HPO Series. Since I have Comcast HBO, I also have access to most of the HPO content on demand. This is a pretty good experience, but someone needs to sit on a couch and use it before it’s rolled out to the public. As I was watching the show, I had a phone call that I had to take. I put the show on pause and took the call. During the call, the pause kicked off and it went back to the main menu. At first I was really frustrated expecting that I would now have to fast forward through the show to get back to where I was. Luckily, it has saved where I was, but required me to clumsily go back through the menu to get back to the show (btw, have you noticed there’s no “back” button on these remotes!). The other issue I have with this experience is it leaves me at a screen that shows my “saved programs”. First of all I didn’t “save” them and don’t care to as I’ve already watched them. Secondly, make it easier for me to watch the next episode!

It’s slowly coming together though. We have the bandwidth, we have the technology and we have the content. The keys to getting it all to work are going to be a.) making it easy to access and b.) priced to sell.

A friend forwarded me an email. Despite my annoyance with forwarded jokes, I read anyway. They were pretty funny and thought I’d share this thought-provoking prose with the world - not that the email hasn’t hit your inbox yet, right?

Here are a few things to think about that you probably have never thought about:

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