Storm of the Century!

At least that's how Keloland billed it, along with every other chance we had at a couple inches of snow this year. I just have to wonder how on earth they get their ideas and totals. They weren't even close. Mitchell got a foot more than forcasted, and here in Brookings, we got about a foot less than forcasted, That's right, only a slight dusting here. I guess that when you have that much money tied up in weather equipment in South Dakota, you have to try to show it off with every storm that comes. Problem is, even though Mitchell did get hit pretty good with a couple feet of snow, that's not a catastrophic occurance of snow. One of these days, we are going to get the actual "storm of the century" and no one will be ready because of how overblown Keloland usually takes everything. I'm reminded of childhood, and the little boy that always cried wolf. Think Keloland would get the association if I bought that book and sent it to them?

Did You Read this Blog Post?

If you've not read this post from Living on Liquid then you need to. If you didn't see the game, it should be on ESPN cheater classics coming up at anytime. I was heated following this game, and believe that everything Tom said in there was accurate, including making fun of my sport of soccer. There are some wimps that just whine about it. I sat watching this atrocity of a basketball game thinking it was a joke to watch, because it wasn't much of a basketball game, it was a zebra show. As an official, you're always taught to blend into the background, and just do your job, and you'll know you did it right when no one remembers you were there. Well, I purposely didn't post for 2 days following this game to try to see if it really did seem as bad as it did Tuesday night, and sure enough, the only thing I can remember is how poorly the game was officiated. That's not good when you've got me saying the referees were bad, because I'm known for defending even poor referees for what they do. This crew though, should go back to some middle school games and work their way back up. Tom, you and I need to find a 3rd and see if we can get into the NCAA to do some tourney games, because apparently they'll take anyone. My next question to Tom is how can that rule be changed to make sure the "injury substitution rule" isn't abused again?

Season Over

Tonight was the final night of the season for our basketball squad. We finish with a loss tonight, 70-52. I didn't play all that well, and didn't shoot well. Our whole team struggled from the floor, but I didn't help matters any from behind the arc. I did have a couple 3s, 4 field goals from the freethrow line when i started playing the small forward spot, and had a couple free throws. Finished with 16 points, but missed a couple layups again, which makes me really angry. But, now we head to the off season, actually finishing in the middle of the pack. Those last three wins in a row really made a big difference to finish it off. But now, my favorite season is right around the corner. Let's play some softball!

Taking Hostages

There has been an ongoing thing here at the house that I've contemplated addressing, but it's usually not a huge deal. My roommate likes to set his alarm clocks fairly early in the morning, around 5:30 even though he doesn't get out of bed until 7am. I've not said anything, but this past weekend, I'd have enough. He actually left Friday night, and was gone for most of the weekend. However, he failed to shut the alarm clocks off. So, I get to bed late, and fairly tired, but happy, because I don't have to wake up for anything. I was torn from my great sleep at 5:45. By the time I got to his room to shut the alarm clocks off, there was another one going off in there somewhere too. Needless to say, that didn't make me happy, and didn't allow me to return to sleep. So, I took matters into my own hands, and had two alarm clocks as my hostages. My demands were met, so they were returned to their owner. He didn't find it as funny as me and a couple friends did, but it was still a good time!

Things You Don't Want to Hear Your Barber Say

I'd not had this one happen to me before. I decided that in the evening, since most places close for business by 5:30, that the salon at Walmart is the place to go later in the evening for a hair cut. I had decent luck there last time, and I got there this time, hardly even had to wait, the one gal had an opening right away. Well, this sounded good, and there weren't many people in there, so I sat down, and she asked how short I wanted it cut. So, I told her and she said, "Ok, so the guard size I would use is a....." and I interjected at this point that she was looking to use a size 3, because I've learned to know that when I'm getting my hair cut. Her response was, "That's what I thought. I really am getting better at this." WHAT?!? WAIT A MINUTE!! YOUR GETTING BETTER? So, I turned around in the chair and looked at the other girl in there cutting hair and asked if she would mind if we switched people. Well, I had no intention of doing this, but there were a couple times when I wondered if this was going to be an ok thing or not. Well, it ended up being fine, but I won't soon forget this hair cut.

Remember When...

I was cleaning up some photos the other night when I came across one that I'd nearly forgotten about. Back in 2004, when we were in Belize, we were given a bus to ride from place to place in. It had plenty of room for the 6 of us that rode around, but it was the best way they had to move all of us at once. Apparently there wasn't a van available, or something. So, we travelled around the country in this bus. It was slightly nicer than most school buses, but nothing way extraordinary. There were some "white knuckle" moments when you're not quite sure about your drive, but we all survived. Well, it wasn't always the most reliable thing ever, because on occasion, it wouldn't start. We wouldn't be gone that long, but would need a jump from another vehicle to get it started. Well, they didn't have any jumper cables, so of course, they had to improvise. We have a car with a dead battery, a car running, and a wire. So what do we have? Jumper Cables.


Ohh yeah, I got to be the "clamps".

3 in a Row!

Our winning streak is now at three in a row! An amazing night tonight for us, as we knocked off the top team in the league. Ok, we didn't exactly knock them off, we may have won 2-0. Hey, a win is still a win, even if the other team did forfeit. Apparently, word of our current surge of good play has got teams now fearing us. Or, it may have been the icy roads, but either way, 3 in a row!!!

Daylight Savings Time - Related to Snow

Hope you didn't forget! I went to bed last night thinking I was getting to bed nice and early, and then it hit me, that I wasn't early, that I was actually an hour later then I thought. At least I did remember though. I got to church on time this morning, and found that I was one of the few. Our service which last Sunday was the largest crowd ever at the 8:30 service, was maybe 60-70 people there today. That's less than half of what was there last week. People kept saying that the daylight time change really keeps people from church early. That kind of baffled me. I'd never really seen it create a problem anywhere, but here. I'll add that to the "Mitchell Problems" along with parking, bad drivers, and one way streets. Daylight savings time is a lot like a city in the south that gets 1 inch of snow: just shut down! Take the day, and try to see if you will survive. I remember hearing about a co-worker who lived here, and then moved to the south for a bit, then came back. He said that in Carolina, they would see a snowstorm, and the day before, you would have people at the store buying supplies like the world might end. 1 inch of snow = apocalypse to them, which is ironic because it would literally be gone in 30 hours. I didn't see people at the store stocking up on supplies, but apparently they did just play it safe and stay in doors.

Sports - It brings out the worst in you

What is it about sports that has seemed to grip our society now, and just pull us around. We treat way too many things like they are the end of the world. Today, I watch 60+ year olds taunting high school kids at a district basketball game. I won't mention school names, but it wasn't a good situation. There is no reason for that kind of behavior, and you would think that someone in their 60s might think better before taunting an 18 year old?! Not a good idea. But, I've been reminding alot of people around here today that it's only a game. I am competitive and like to win as much as anyone else. But I'll also sleep tonight knowing that it was only a game, and things will still be fine tomorrow. I wish more people understood that.

You - Get off the Phone! and You - SLOW DOWN

I have griped about the drivers here before, but I've had two bad experiences in the past week that have been completely avoidable. I was trying to decide which one was more angering, but I just couldn't decide. Today I was driving down Main Street on my lunch break when I saw this car pull up to the intersection that was a stop sign for her. I was close enough to see she was on her phone, that's how close I was. She looks right at me, then pulls out into traffic. Ok, fine, it's a 4 lane road. But for some reason, she insisted on turning directly in front of my across the first lane and into mine. I had to slow down to miss her. HANG UP THE PHONE! I've been trying to control myself when I drive, because I do get wound up. But stupid things like that I just can't let go easily. Almost a completely preventable accident if the other driver would just pay attention.

So, the second one. This one actually happened on Monday I think it was. I was headed to work, and was only 2 blocks from home. We had gotten the snow, and things were quite slippery here, even in town. So, I'm headed down a one way, and out of the corner of my eye in the alley that I'm approaching, I see an older blazer come flying down the alley, going somewhere close to 30 mph. Well, he was trying to stop flying, but it was now obvious that it was quite icy, and he had is breaks locked up. I was going to reach the intersection with alley about in time to have him hit me right between the doors. So I tried to carefully make my way to the far curb (good thing it was a one way) and was about to scrape it with my tire, when the blazer finally stopped missing me by less than a foot. WHY WOULD YOU DRIVE 30 MPH DOWN AN ALLEY ON AN ICY MORNING! It's a good thing I didn't get hit by either of these two, because I'm sure the road rage would have taken over at that point. I just hate stupid people.

2 Wins in a Row!

We are on a roll now! 69-60 was the final tonight in the latest MG win as we stretch our winning streak to 2 games. One of the guys said that with our win last week, if we'd win out our last 3 games, we could finish as high as second in the league. That would be quite a feat for the way we struggled. I've not checked that out for myself, but I suppose it's possible. I did miss quite a bit of the game tonight though with a sprained ankle. I landed on a foot in the second quarter, but was able to lace back up and play a bit in the 3rd before deciding enough was enough, and pulled myself to sit the rest of the game. No need to stay out there when we had 9 guys tonight. I even scored on my bum wheel. So, now I ice and become good friends with my Advil bottle.