Troubles McSteans

Today is my friend Nathan's birthday. Nathan is a fellow Trinity Tiger alum (rawr) who also knows Ryan from high school. He still lives in the great city of San Antonio with his lovely wife Renata and their adorable kids Samantha and Maximilian. We don't get to see him very often these days but we still keep in touch and we hope to make a trip down I-35 soon to see the Cone clan and visit San Antonio. Fun fact, apropo of nothing: Nathan was once a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and won a nice chunk of change. Sadly I don't think he and Renata danced in a train station afterwards, Bollywood style, but I could be wrong . Happy Birthday Nathan! CORN!

I've known the honorable Heather 'Daredevil' Wagner for over 10 years and for most of that, she's been pursuing some form of higher education. Heather and I met at Human Code where we both worked starting in 1998 and she's been one of my best friends ever since. She was nice enough to agree to be my maid of honor at my wedding in 2000 and has since gone above and beyond the friendship call of duty. When I was waiting in the hospital for my second kidney to arrive, she was there all afternoon and evening until someone finally made her go home around midnight. She also flew out to San Diego to help me celebrate my 30th birthday and made more than one trip to the desert wasteland of Chandler, AZ to visit (if that's not true friendship, I don't know what is). There was also the time she had to rush me to the hospital for a kidney biopsy and then sat with me all night while I rode the high of my vicodin/valium/morphine coctail and babbled incoherently. Most ...