Jarrett

Oh, and Skip, I specified 1-3 thousand to play with, 3200 being the base price of an Eclipse. If Eclipses where only 1000 dollars, I'd have 6 by now.
-J
haha

Skip

Jarrett,

No need to worry about a ring. Since Lisa feels the way she does about Eclipse trumpets, I called her up, and she accepted my marriage proposal. Sorry bud, you were just too late.

Jarrett

Haha, well she'll get back with me once I add the Eclipse Flugelhorn to my Eclipse Medium in Scratch Gold.
:)
-J

Jarrett

Oh, and no chance Lisa will read this site. She hates computers and is almost as bad with them as Leigh Mckinney is.
(But who's really that bad?)
-J

eclipse trumpets

OUCH!

That hurt Jarrett!

Don't come crying to me when your new hi-tech laptop breaks down and you need it fixed

Ok its true! i have not got the first clue what i am doing on this thing.

I dont even know how to put up a picture on here, computers completely passed me by at school i guess.

TangneyK

Leigh--

I didn't know they had computers when you were in school...

--Kevin

gzent

Jarrett,

For just a moment, consider this. Why buy a natural diamond? The cost is all artificial.

My wife bought a stunning "cultivated diamond" ring last year and nobody and I mean nobody can tell that it is not a natural diamond. The cost was about 15-20% of a comparable natural diamond ring.

Check it out:
http://www.simulateddiamonds.net/introduction.html

Greg

rdt1959

Jarrett. First, congrats on the pending engagement. Sound like you two are quite a devoted couple!

I got married 16 months ago. And I will add my thoughts to this thread.

I spent about 3 months being dragged into jewelry stores shopping for rings. Like some of the others said, we spend a lot of time researching the 4 C's (is that twice as high as a dubba C?), and really put a lot of thought into how much we wanted to spend, and what our ablsolute limit was.

In the end, we got our rings at Walmart.

Why?

Because those were the rings she liked best. And....

When the rings came back from being sized, they sent the wrong wedding ring with the engagement ring. So the store sent the correct ring in to get sized. Trouble is that my wife like the wrong ring so much, she kept it too.

The point is, it might be worth your (you and the future Ms.) time to spent some of that two weeks picking something out together. After all, this is a major purchase that you are going to be stuck with for a while....I good LONG while I hope!

Next point, I didn't realize that you were in the service, nor that you were in Iraq.

Thankyou very much for being in the military and making these personal sacrafices for the rest of us.

Jarrett

For an update, there's been a change of plans. I'm not going home in July anymore. Now I'm looking at February-March 2005. That's not a good thing. However, seeing as after this christmas there's not another time I'll probably be able to see her, we are getting married at Christmas.
Sometimes, when your plans are suddenly changed with little or no explanation, the formalities and niceties of the marriage "ritual" are passed up. They pretty much have to be. I have to make sure she's taken care of while I'm gone.
So, she is helping to pick her own ring and I've already picked mine. We will be married between December 21st-Christmas day, depending on various agencies time schedules.
About the military, you may not realize it, but Castle Bravo, Shofar Man on the Th, and Fresh Brewed all work with me as well. Castle Bravo, Shofar Man and I will all be leaving behind our wives/kids for Iraq, so at least I won't be alone in the endeavor anymore. As much as I hate being away from Lisa, misery loves company.
Anyway, enough of all that, I'm incredibly thankful for all the help offered on this ring subject, I totally had not expected the support I recieved. I know that I recieved personal offers of help in various ways from at least 4 members who did not even know me before this. I consider you all friends and thank you for your support, sometimes all this stuff can really weigh on your head and some advice from people who have been there, or can see it from an outsiders perspective is quite helpful. Thanks a lot guys.
-Jarrett

Skip

Jarrett,

I'm sorry to hear that your tour got extended, and that it threw a monkey wrench into your plans.

Without divulging any company secrets, what will be your duties in Iraq? Will you guys just be there to play gigs for your fellow troups, boost morale, etc., or will you actually have to put away the horns, and take up arms? Be safe, & God speed.

Skip