Rollin' to Rodney's Ribfest II

Well, its off for another holiday break, and its New Years, so that can only mean one thing: Rodney's Ribfest II. It's quickly becoming the area's premier, INVITATION ONLY, New Years Party. Of course, simply giving expensive gifts to a relative could get you into this exclusive event, however, it's too late for this year. But, you have a whole new year to try to get invited to next year's event. Good luck, and just leave a comment to get my address to send gifts, checks, or money orders to me....

Post Christmas Post....and Happy Birthday Blog

Well, another Christmas come, and another one gone. I got a whole 2 days off for Christmas, but it was enjoyable. Christmas eve, we got to eat a great supper, a piece of prime rib that you could stick your fork into and not touch the plate. Now that's good eating.

And, as I suspected, more car parts for Christmas. This was started last year when my brother gave me a power steering pump. Now this year it was a little different, because, I actually paid for this battery, and yet, my parents still wrapped it and made it look like a present. Ha ha ha. I made the comment that in about 6 or 7 more Christmases I'm gonna have my engine mostly replaced. Anyhow, other gifts actually included some saddle bags that are coming here sometime, they didn't make it for Christmas, but they will be used later in the spring and summer time. I was kinda surprised that my mother agreed to that actually. She doesn't want anything to do that thing, yet she went in on the accessories for it. I'm looking forward to getting riding season underway again here really soon. Christmas day was fun too, we had tons of fun with the cousins, and their kids. Still have one more to go coming up here in January. Grandpa Wipf will come home and we'll do a late Christmas, which is kinda fun. To me, it makes it a little more original when you do it away from the normal season time.

One thing I completely overlooked at the beginning of the month is the one year marker of the blog. It's been up and going for almost 13 months now, and I was told a couple times at Christmas that people at home (Grandpa and Grandma Hofer to be exact) enjoy keeping up on what's happening. So, I guess to keep the people happy, I'll just blog on....

'We Get Christmas Off??!?" and Good Day Gone Bad

As Christmas comes, it's fun to be anticipating some time off of work. Unfortunately, I think I've said this before, we get 2 days off and have to go back in for Friday after these holidays, to work one day and then be off again for the weeken, twice! We get the same thing next week for New Years. Anyhow, at the end of the day today, I couldn't help but laugh at the co-worker whose office is next to mine. In our hallway, there are four offices. 3 of them belong to people on the support team that I work for, and the fourth one is a lady that does time and cost analysis. Really technical stuff I guess, because I have no clue what that really means. Anyhow, she is a nice lady, and I know her from church too, and we really like having her around. I'll call her Jamie to protect her identity for this story. Well, actually, I better go with Sally, because I think there is a Jamie that works on the floor somewhere. Anyhow, Sally is getting ready to leave for the day, and walks by and says to me, "Well, are you coming in tomorrow?" I shook my head no, and told her I was heading home tomorrow to be with my family for Christmas. I then gave her a puzzled look and asked if she was coming in tomorrow. She shook her head yes, and I thought to myself, 'Wow, that's dedication. I'd never give up a holiday unless I was forced to.' So, I decided to console her slightly, and told her how must have to be tough to work on a holiday like that. She said, "Ohh, well I wish I got that day off, but I didn't take it off." Then I realized that she had no clue that the office was actually closed for Christmas Day, AND Christmas Eve. I told her that we all got it off because the office was closed, and she didn't believe me until I showed her my timesheet that had the holidays already blocked off. Wow did she get excited after that! She then decided that she'd take the Friday off, so she's going to be off for the next 5 days. I hate that rule about not being able to use any of my built up vacation. But, tomorrow morning I'm no longer on call, and will be happy to head home for Christmas.

My next story relates to yesterday's fun filled events. Have you ever had one of those days where you got out of bed, and thought, "Ok, today is going to be a good day. I'm going to be positive, happy, and just have a good attitude today." Then you go about your morning routine, and everything is going peachy for the first 30 minutes, until you start your car. You step outside, and the wind is already making that attitude tip dangerously close to bad, and then you get to your car and it won't start. In fact, it's not even close to starting, it's more of a complaint then an attempt at starting. Well, it's the second time that I've had that happen to me, and it's odd, because it picks the strangest times to not work. I go out some mornings thinking, "Ok, this might not go well because it was cold last night," and it starts with out one little hesitation. Then, Monday morning, nope, can't do it. A couple years ago, I got a jumper kit from my Grandpa for Christmas. Quite handy and practical. I gave it a shot, and it didn't work well at all. So, I got my roommate out of bed to jump my car (thank goodness he was still here, otherwise it's possible I'd still be trying to get it started). Now, all I can hope for is another great Christmas like last years when I get more car parts. It's gonna be hard to top last year's power steering pump, but a certain gift that would help with my not having to jump my car every week might just do it. Hint, hint Dad, I know you're not done shopping yet....

Cheap Gas? Come Fast!

I'll be the first to admit, I really never ever thought I'd be able to pay under $2.00 for a gallon of gas ever again. I've been pleasantly surprised that the price here in Mitchell for a gallon of E30 is $1.60, which I've documented well why I buy that in this earlier post on my trip to Minnesota. So, tonight, I pulled up to the pump to fight the bitter cold and fill up. I got out, and the pump showed that my blend of E30 was priced at $.40. WHAT!?!! I wanted to see if it was really true, so I pumped it, but it was just a mistaken display, the fuel was priced at normal price. Then, I had to think about what I would have done at that point if it would have been 40 cents. Do you go in and say something? After these people made a ton of money off us all summer, do you really think I'd want to be nice about them not charging enough. Good thing that I didn't have to cross that bridge, because it would have been a tough decision.

We had tonight off from the basketball court, and will be off until 2009, when we'll try to be over .500 for first time this year. Well, tomorrow night, I'll finally be off call. I maybe didn't mention that, but I don't remember. I was placed on call for the first time in my career this weekend, and all the way up until early morning on December 24. I'll be home for Christmas Eve, and be back here late Christmas Day so I can work again on December 26. It's been kinda quiet around here already, but sometimes, it's even kind of enjoyable. I did get some Christmas presents wrapped tonight though. I've got extra wrapping paper, so any future birthday presents that people I know might get might have "Happy Holiday" wrapping paper.

Busy week(end)

Man, it's hard to believe the weekend is gone already. It was such a busy week, I didn't even get a chance to get anything written. Well, I'll write about an expirience that I had this weekend. I decided that I was gonna get a football game to occupy some extra time I've got, so I got one for the computer. I found out that the computer decided that my controller wasn't good enough, it tried to tell the controller that it had extra buttons and features that the controller really didn't. So, after buying a cheap computer game, I had to upgrade the controller. Should have known it wouldn't have been so easy as just getting a cheap computer game. So, I figured that since the game I had bought required Windows, I should get a Microsoft controller, so I did. Now, you'd think that because I'm running the game in Windows (made by Microsoft) and I had a controller that was made by Microsoft, that it should be able to just identify it and say, "Ohh, you're a Microsoft product just like I am, we can be friends. I've got your driver right here, now you can work perfectly." Well, that didn't happen. Windows decided that it didn't like the controller, and wasn't going to find the drivers for it. I had to force them to like each other. After telling them that they would play nice, and they would work together, and forcing the driver on the machine, the machine tried to be definant and said it wouldn't work without restarting. It's a good thing for Windows that it was on my work computer, and that I have to use it and have to keep it, otherwise, it'd still be in that snow bank back in Sioux Falls.

Another Successful Night

The hardwood has been good to Martin Group in the past couple of times we've played. We're now 2-2 heading into the Christmas break after last nights 1 point win. It was a slightly faster game then we're used to for sure. We had seven players, and one got into foul trouble right away, and actually fouled out early in the 4th quarter, so that left us with 6 guys. That doesn't give you much for subs. I played all but 2 minutes of the game in the second quarter. What made the game so fast was our opponents that came from Marty. They were up and down the floor like mad, so we had to scramble back, and get on the defensive right away. I slept like a rock! I'm also not too sore from the performance either. I came out and hit a 3 pointer on our first possession, and led the way for us with 17 points, which matches my career high at any level. I scored that many in 8th grade once, and again last night. That accounted for just under 1/3 of our total offensive output. This is alot different for me then high school. I'm scoring alot more, and I'm making free throws. For those that watched me in high school, don't be shocked. And, I don't know what got into me, but I'm 10/14 on the season so far. I'm also shooting 33% from behind the arc, and I'd be close to 50% from the floor. Anyhow, most importantly, we have 2 straight wins heading into Christmas break. I believe now we're off until January. I'm thinking by the time March rolls around, and we get to the playoffs, I'm going to be pretty worn down.

Left out in the Cold

The blizzard came to us here in Mitchell. I'm sure alot of you have snow anyhow, but this was a little bit different. I was still up fairly late, and there wasn't any snow falling when I fell asleep. But, when I got up at 8am, there was the snow, and it was fairly deep. I'm not sure how much we got, but it had blown in, and drifted, and made driving kind of fun (if you have a 4x4). So, I plowed my way to church after very little sleep, and arrived at 8:27, perfect for the 8:30 service. Unfortunately, I was alone in the parking lot. That was unimpressive. In fact, I was down right mad. I got up, trudged through the freezing cold, plowed through the snow of some of the back streets to make it on time, and no one else had the nerve to show up. I wanted them to come and open the doors so I could at least pretend. Anyhow, as I was driving out of the parking lot, then it comes over the radio that all the churches in Mitchell had cancelled their services. Ahh, thanks alot. That would have been useful information about 10 minutes prior to when it was given. But, you know those radio personalities, they can't seem to deliver any kind of useful information at the appropriate time.

Yay for Friday!

I never quite understood everyone's fascination with Friday. When I was at the station, it was nice to know the weekend was there, but especially in winter, you knew that it probably meant working a game somewhere, or working that beloved early morning shift, or fixing something that would break. Now, I'm understanding the love of Friday so much more. It's nice to know that for a whole two and a half days, I'm free to do anything I want. I had an interesting week at the office. I was pretty much the only one in our support department in the Mitchell office, which meant that every phone call, and every issue that I had to deal with, I was on my own. We had two people in Montana, and one in Rapid City, and me in Mitchell, but it's reassuring to know that if the call gets too difficult, then I can call one of my team members in and have immediate backup. Well, that wasn't the case this week. Next week, it gets worse. There will only be 2 of us in the entire department. That makes alot of work for the two of us that are there. We have to work around each other's schedules as much as possible so one person is available to answer the phone. Every issue will not be split between, well two of us. Christmas is a giving season, so anyone who would like to help reduce workload next week, please call, I'll pass some of mine along to you. I'd do that just for you!

First Win

I didn't get a chance to update you from our basketball game on Monday. Last night, my parents made it to town so I spent the evening with them, and uncle Paul. I've spent the last two days in quite a bit of pain from the strain of the game. I guess having to carry your team is harder than I remember. We picked up our first win of the season on Monday. Our team is now 1-2. I came off the bench for us since it was my first league game. But, I was a major contributor. We won 55-48, and I had 10 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds, and was 4-6 from the free throw line. Now, before you get too bent out of shape about only shooting 66% from the line, consider that my free throw percentage was 40% higher then the rest of the team combined. I'm not lying or exaggerating that either. I made our team's first free throw with about 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. That made us as a team 1-12 at that point. I got a few more attempts in the fourth quarter as the opponents were trying to make runs at us, but I fended them off with free throws, and a key layup during their fouling stretch. Most importantly, we won the game, and it was a blast. I was dead tired, but it was fun. I can't wait for Monday to return to hit the floor again. It was also reported that the past couple of days, my jersey sales are up at the company store.

Wanting to Beat Up Your Sunday School Teacher

Many of you may have heard already that It only took me two tries to pick a church down here. The girls down here (and by girls, I mean the teachers that I hang around) have said the best quality of Northridge Baptist Chruch is Pastor Tolley. I could not for the life of me figure out why you would go to a church just because you think the pastor is good if you don't like any of the other parts of it. Well, it was the second church I tried down here, and after hearing the man preach once, I knew why you'd go to a church just because of the pastor. He was really that good. It's a pretty unanimous decision he's probably the best pastor at the churches pretty much all of them have tried. One of the complaints that several people have expressed about the church is that the people don't seem overly friendly. I can see where this could be seen that way, but when you have a church the size this one is (and I'd guess they probably have around 500 people attending church at the two services on any given Sunday) it can be hard to tell who is new, and who isn't. You don't want to look silly going to someone and saying, "Ohh, I've not seen you before, you must be new," to find out that they actually just needed to go to the 8:30 service that day instead of the 11:00 service, which is the one they normally go to. So, I didn't let that bother me much, and I enjoyed the music, so I was pretty much hooked. So far, I've only attended the 8:30 service. It'd say there are 80 to 110 people in this service on a regular morning (the later one is quite full from what I'm told.) And, I found as you get into the church a little more, people do realize you're new and you do get that attention. That's what happened to me joining a Sunday School class.

I believe I've talked about that before, and how my friend Chet (who is more like a grandfather figure, but really seems to like me for some reason) seemed to want me to come back to his class, so I did, and actually enjoy the study of Romans alot. Anyhow, I met the new teacher of the class. It's my second time, and apparently the first time it was a substitute teacher. Well, the new teacher was Alan Olson, and his wife Deb (who is the boss of alot of my friends who are elementary teachers). I started out liking Alan's teaching style, and his wife was a hoot, especially when she saw I wanted to ask a question, and said, "Well, I think Jared has a question." Ha! I smiled and didn't say anything and asked my question, and we moved on. And yes, I later told her that my name was Tyler when class was over. I told one of the girls that they should go to Deb today and say, "I heard you met my friend Jared in church yesterday," and see if there is any response. I doubt she was actually going to do it, but anyhow, I digress. So, after Sunday School, Alan, the Sunday School teacher comes over to where Chet and I were talking and joins our conversation. Chet had to leave, so, Alan and I talked for a while, and he started calling me Jerry (I hadn't told him or Deb yet that they didn't have my name right).
"So, Jerry, where do you work?"
"Umm, my name is actaully Tyler. I think you heard your wife mistakenly call me that."
"Ohh, I'm sorry that's my mistake."
"It's ok. I work at Martin Group."
"Ohh, I work at your competition then!"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, I work at Innovative. We make mapping software for phone companies to track their lines and junction boxes and such. It's more narrow then Martin Group's focus, but what division do you work in at Martin Group?"
"Umm, the one that makes mapping software for phone companies to track their lines and junction boxes and such."

Yup, we were truly working in the exact same field for different companies who try to take business from each other. We were hated rivals, just like that. We got a chuckle out of that part, and ended up saying that we'd just not talk about hating each other, and try to get along anyway. It all turned out just fine, and actually, I don't think that either of us really cares that we work for opposing companies, it was just quite an interesting occurrence.


Tonight is my debut in the regular season of "C League Basketball." That would be Mitchell's lowest City League Level. Martin Group sponsors a team, and a while back, I played in a series of scrimmages that determine which league we'd play in. We lost all our scrimmage games, usually by 1 point, so we ended up in the lowest division. That means, I might have a chance to excel! Maybe I can be the league MVP or something. I'll let you know how all that turns out. I've missed the past two nights from being on the road in Texas for our opening week, and being sick last week. I'm actually playing with some kids that I played against in high school. I think one is from Highmore, and another from Doland. So, if you're watching highlights on ESPN tonight, I'm actually going to be wearing a new number. You can be looking for #10. I'll be wearing that number from here on out. It's a marketing ploy so we can sell more of the jerseys with my name on them in the company store.

Retirement

Basketball fans can now rejoice. I've reached the decision that I will retire as a basketball referee. I'm going to begin to now just blend into the background as a spectator who can enjoy the sport from the bleachers amongst the screaming fans. I'll be there, but won't be screaming at any officials either. I may still chip in and do a 7th and 8th game, or something simple, but as of now I'm not going be doing any high school level games of any kind. I've already had the offers, and have been turning them back. It was easier when I knew what was going to be happening at the radio station. However, now with scheduling at work, I could be asked in a month to hit the road traveling, and that won't sit to well with people who want me to be somewhere refereeing a game. I know that several of my basketball reffing buddies have their 2010 schedules filled already with reffing dates. I don't know where I'm going to be in February. So, I'll be relaxing, and enjoying my retirement in a gym near you.

Surviving

Well, some of you will be happy to know (and maybe some of you unhappy to know) that I've successfully eluded death. It was close at some points, but I did make it. Even put in a 9.5 hour day today, so things are pretty much back to normal. I did go to the doctor yesterday for some tests, so tomorrow I'll find out what did hound me for several days, and what is mostly behind me.

Using Sick Days

I've been at my job now for 8 weeks, and I've had to use my first sick days. I've contacted either food poisoning or a stomach virus that has been plaguing me for 2 days now. It's gotten me so miserable, the only good way to not be that way is to sleep. I've not figured out how I can sleep for an entire day, so it's just not worked out yet. My stomach is rumbling more than the San Andreas fault in the 80s. So, I've missed work the past couple of days, and the problem with that is the fact that part of the being a new employee means I cannot use sick days or vacation days until I've been there 3 months. So, I'm not quite sure exactly how this is going to work yet, but I'm sure I'll find out soon. The fortunate thing is our Team Leader, who is generally in the Rapid City office is here this week, so he is sticking up for me. I tried to work today, but he sent me home after the first half of the day. And, we'll try again tomorrow.