I Love Fights!!!

These guys danced around a bit before they went at it.

--------------
sent from my wireless handheld device

Cotton Eye Joe?

The 2nd goal of the evening, along with the 2nd fight and first "tossing" of the evening took place right after the great hit song - Cotton Eye Joe was played over the loud speaker.....coincidence? I think not!

(you forgot about that song didn't you....).

--------------
sent from my wireless handheld device

A Small World

The above photo is of Thane Campbell and his dad. Thane was my keeper on Huntington United....small world huh?

--------------
sent from my wireless handheld device

A Night With The Fam

Tonight I'm at the komets game with my parents and little bro. We were late because Dad wanted seconds....that little man can eat!!!

--------------
sent from my wireless handheld device

Home Sweet Home - A trip down memory lane

Today I helped my sister-in-law paint her new home.  Well, I'll be honest, I only helped paint the kitchen because I've been working on the youth's new website.  But anyways, I helped.  As I was painting the kitchen, I remembered my first home and how scared/excited I was to be buying it at the age of 19 (I tried to find some pictures of it, but for some reason the only good photo I could come up with was from a small group super-bowl party).

I will never forget my first house, as I'm sure my sister-in-law will never forget her first house, but it wasn't the house that made it memorable. It was experiencing it with my best friend. Andrea and I made that home our own, and as we continue to do so in our second house (below), we find it has different memories - mostly of Jadyn, but others as well. I hope my sister-in-law finds similar experiences with her first home as well.

Indiana Weather

I think the photo says it all......yuck!
---------------
sent from my wireless handheld device

Big Head Fridays

Have you ever had one of those weeks where your heads feels like it is continually growing and that your neck may snap?  Well, that was this week for me.  What a freaking stressful week - but now it is over and my little girl is trying to pull me away from my computer so she can push me in my "rolly" chair around the house....I can feel my head shrinking back to normal size.......ahhhhhh

My Daughter The Negotiator

Andrea went out to eat with a friend last night, so I was in charge of putting Jade to bed. Here is exactly how Jadyn tried to negotiate her way out of it.

Me - Time for bed Babe
Jade - I wanna watch Mickey
Me - Sorry babe, we need to go to bed
Jade - I wanna watch Little Einsteins
Me - Jade, I said we need to go to bed
Jade - Wanna watch FOOTBALL, Dad?

Aren't kids hilarious?!?

Kevin Hart - An Example For All

I'm addicted to ESPN's Pardon The Interruption. The whole concept is perfect for me - all the sports news of the day delivered in a conversational form with witty banter, in less than 30 minutes. It is GREAT! This week, one of the stories was of this Kevin Hart kid, who, in front of local media, family and friends, chose Cal over Oregon as his college choice for football. Then, as the story developed, and both schools released statements that they had never heard of the kid, he claimed that he as duped by a "middle man" who was his liaison with these schools. Further investigation led the kid to admit he made the whole thing up. "I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn't going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality."

If this is the first time you've heard of this story, take a few seconds to watch the video below.

How sad.  I really feel for this kid, and I have to admit I fit into the sector of society that probably pushed him to do this.  We (and by we, I really mean me and all those crazy sports fans out there), put so much hype on National Signing Day and Verbal Commitments, that we push kids and parents to this type of craziness.  It truly is sad.

Following with this theme, the Indiana Hoosiers went to Champaign Illinois to play the Illili in a game that was bigger than the normal Big10 rivalry.  Indiana's freshman star, Eric Gordon, had verbally committed to Illinois last year, only to renege and sign with the Hoosiers.  The crowed booed every time he touched the ball and cheered whenever he screwed up. I found it interesting that they were more focused on booing the opponent than they were cheering on their own team.  Near the end of the double-overtime game, fans threw beads and ice into the courtside section of Indiana fans that included Gordon's parents.  

I have blogged earlier of the passion that sports brings to its fans.  These two examples are the negative aspects of that passion.  I hope, for my kids sake, that I do a better job of teaching how to be passionate in a good way.

What A Week

The weather has sucked the last few days.  Three inches of melted snow along with 2 days of rain causes some serious issues.  As I drove into work on Wednesday, I ran to the local coffee hut to grab a quick drink and noticed that one of the roads was barricaded off.  I didn't even notice why as I tried to navigate a different route (not hard in a small town, but hey, it was early).  As I finally made way to my parking space, I noticed water rushing through the once quiet "stream" next to the lot.  I instantly pulled up the weather on my phone and realized it was going to be a long day for some families in the area.  

Later in the afternoon, I received a call from our Director of Loss control asking that I be "on call" in case we needed to sandbag the office.  Fortunately, the rising tide subsided and I was never called to duty, but it made me think briefly of the madness of Katrina.  I watched a LOT of news coverage of that event as it happened a little before Jadyn was born.  I found myself glued to the TV in the birthing room I was stationed in for the weekend.  I couldn't believe the destruction created from Mother Nature.  While the high waters in small town Indiana came no where near the destruction of Katrina, I was still reminded of how small I really am in this powerful world.

Top photo of CR 1100N (Herald-Press/Ben Hopper)

Bottom photo of Katrina Destruction (New York Times)

Coaching To A Perfect 18-1

What a game last night!  I was talking to my friend, Michael, during half time and he was commenting on how boring the game was.  I disagreed as I was happy to see Brady get hit as many times as he did...and man did the game heat up at the end!  While I could elaborate on several aspects of the game, I'm going to comment on one in particular - the terrible display of leadership by Coach Bill Belicheck at the end of the game.

With the possession switching to the Giants on the Pats' failed 4th down conversion, and only 1 second left in the game, Belicheck ran out to shake Tom Caughlin's hand and then walked off the field.  He didn't congratulate any of the players or other coaches, he just walked.  I'm not a big fan of Belicheck because of who he coaches, but I will admit he is a great coach and produces results.  However, last night's display eliminated any and all respect I had for the guy.  Sure, the game was over and the Patriot hopes for a perfect season were crushed, but you don't walk off an quit.  

To me, that display was the perfect ending to a not-so-perfect season for the Patriots. 

Size DOES Matter

I've been wanting to post about this since Monday, but as you can tell from my prior post, Jadyn's little accident did not allow for that.  Then the rest of the week turned into craziness so I had to wait....

Our need for a new computer was long overdue.  With me taking on more wedding jobs, editing video on a 12" laptop has not been fun.  In light of my recent promotion, we decided to celebrate and buy the 24" iMac.  I ordered the new addition to our family on the 25th and waited for it to come, tracking the status of its journey from start to finish.  I was alerted that it arrived on Monday afternoon and decided that I would leave work a little early (5:15) so we could begin the bonding process.  Jadyn was even excited as we tore into the box, yelling, "ooooooo, Daddy's puter!"

I haven't had much time to enjoy the full glory that it brings, but I'm sure I will over the next few months and years.  It's funny to think that messing around on the free macintosh computer provided to students at my elementary school (see photo below) would turn into the interest that I currently have for technology today.  I'm sure that in 6 months from now, Apple will launch a new desktop computer that is much cooler than I what I have now, but after 3 years of working on 12 inches of space, I'm sure glad we made the upgrade now.

Photo of my first Mac...my have we come a long way!