Fun at the Corn Palace.

Well, I admit that I've always thought of and referred to the Corn Palace as one of the dumbest tourist traps ever. But, I actually went and looked around a bit in there today. Actually, I'm going to back up further than that. After church today, I went to lunch and was sitting at Perkins, and thought I saw my parents old 1991 Buick that my Uncle Paul has been driving recently in the Kmart Parking lot. I couldn't figure out why it would be there, but didn't think much of it. I went and looked closer, and sure enough, it was theirs. I was intrigued, but didn't have my phone at the time, so I returned home. After being home for not more than 10 minutes, there was a knock at my door. I went and found my aunt Rhonda and Uncle Paul in my aunt's new car there. They were taking Aunt Rhonda's mom to the Corn Palace, and wanted to know if I would come along. Well, as it turned out, the car had been brought down by Uncle Paul, and he and his wife and mother in law had been eating in Perkins at the same time, and we never saw each other.

So we're off to the Corn Palace.

I've played basketball there, and they turn that whole arena into a shop selling memorabilia. Here were some of the great quotes from the tshirts or aprons in this store.

"I see stupid people." - (Which my Mitchell friends would appreciate!!)
"Men like to barbeque. (Men will cook if Danger is involved)."
"Chocolate makes clothing shrink"
"Skinny cooks can't be trusted."
"My house was clean last week. I'm sorry you missed it"

I laughed hard at some others that won't make this blog, but it was way more fun then I thought I'd have ever thought was possible at the Corn Palace for a non-sporting event.

First Win

Well, we finally got our first win of the softball season last night. Our team finds itself now at 1-5. Upon arriving to the game last night, I found that our normal pitcher was not going to be able to make it, so I got my first start of the year and made it an impressive one!! I thew seven innings only allowing 3 runs, and had a couple RBI at the plate to help in the 11-3 win. That success was short lived though, and game two was pretty rough. We filled the board with errors and kept giving the opponents extra outs. To end the first inning, I took a line drive off the palm of my glove hand and was injured. The wrist still is slightly swollen and it hurts. But, I hung in there to finish the game, even though in hindsight i probably should have left. I was in alot of pain and was tossing up meatballs. Well, next time I sure won't try to be that heroic. Upon arriving to work this morning, I sent a message to HR asking if there was workman's comp available if you're injured playing for the company softball team. Can you believe they won't give you workman's comp for that?!! That's just wrong.

Michigan Sushi and Hibatchi

Well, this week is coming from sunny but pleasant Michigan. I'm out here working on some training classes with a client here. The fun part is going and trying some new things in the evenings. Last night we went to a seafood/steak house downtown in Kalamazoo, and had some sushi and supper. Tonight, we at a hibatchi grill. I've never been to one of these things before. Ended up having more sushi tonight, and then enjoyed the dinner and the show. These guys are quite interesting. I wondered where you get training for this? Do you have to be Japanese to work at these? Maybe there's a hibatchi training school. My other thought was, if you're a hibatchi chef, where do you move up to from there? It seems being a chef anywhere after that would be dull. Anyhow, it was entertaining. Of course, a major fun part is the FIRE! They're doing this whole show, and are quite entertaining. The food was great, and the fun part came way at the end where the hibatchi chef was tossing broccoli from the girl with his flipper, and into our mouths. The first try to me was way off, and I still almost pulled it off. The second try was down the hatch! Never had a chef throw broccoli at me before, so it was a fun expirience. Two nights of sushi in a row, I wonder what tomorrow might bring?

Softball Season - Next Week

Well, I forgot to write about the start of the softball season from Wednesday night. It was a pretty rough outing for our team, as we got 10 run ruled twice. I only got one at bat and played only one game, and was moved in to play 3rd Base. Not used to that, but I did have a couple nice plays, and didn't commit a single error, then sat and froze enduring 35+ mph winds in the night cap. It was fun to get back out and play, but I don't think our team will be competing for any titles any time soon. Of course, the league down here is far more competitive than the one in Huron. There are multiple top tear teams here, and only a couple in Huron. But, I'll keep on being the utility player for my team until they find me a position home.

Now, it's off to church, then on the motorcycle to Sioux Falls for my cousin's graduation party, and then to Michigan for my first training session to lead at my current position. Should be an interesting week.

The Weekend

Well, it's been a busy week already! More on work after a bit. The weekend was fairly uneventful compared to the previous one. Although, there were some challenges to overcome this past weekend. The first was when I woke up, and got ready to hit the road to Watertown, and needed to jumpstart. No problem, I can make coffee! So, I made the cup of coffee, and could not find my travel mug. It's bright green, so it's easy to spot, but no where to be found. So, I went to pick up two things from Coborns, and thought that I'd just grab one quick there. So, I got there, and the only one they had was $14.99. I thought that was just ridiculous, so I decided that since Shopko is attached, it should be no problem, just head over there and grab one. CLOSED. Apparently very few places in Mitchell not named Coborns or Walmart open prior to 9am. So, I went to the hardware store up the street, and they had every kind of mug except a travel one. I thought to myself, "This should not be this hard to find a decent mug!" Finally, I found one at Walgreens, and was able to hit the road. To Watertown we go, for soccer!

We had a pretty good showing this past weekend. We beat Huron 3-0, and Mitchell 6-2. I was kind of upset by giving up 2 goals, but I got over it pretty quickly. I had no discussions or disagreements with any referees either! That was a major plus. So now, we are off until the week after Memorial Day, when we'll be in action at Yankton prior to going to the State tournament the first weekend of June! So I returned to Mitchell, to enjoy my Sunday. Following Church, I decided to hit the greens! I golfed an entire 18 holes, the first 9 alone, the back nine with a couple of guys from work. So, the first nine, I improved my score by 2 strokes from the week previous. I was quite satisfied by this, and ended quite well. The back nine, i was doing quite well, except for the final hole, in which I got a 9, and lost the game by 1 stroke. No one to blame by myself, it was just awful execution. My consolation prize was bad sunburn. I was fine Saturday, not fine Sunday. I sunburned my neck quite badly, and my arms were sunburned too, but I didn't learn this until my shower on Monday Morning. That was not a fun activity.

Ohh, I mentioned work. I'm increadibly busy, and got assigned a new shift! I would normally be upset, but I'm happy actually now that I'm going to work 7am to 4pm. I'm pretty sure that it's a sign that I'm getting old. I'd just as soon not sleep in and work at 7am. What is wrong with me?!?!?!!

Time Dragging On

If feels like time is about standing still. it's been about 4.5 months since we've had a nice day off at work, and I'm looking for something. The stack of work seems to pile higher, and the days just don't seem long enough anymore, yet at the end of them, I'm so ready to head home I can't believe it. I did get some of my travel reduced though, so I'm happy for the start of summer. I've got pretty much every weekend book up between now and the 4th of July. That's alot going on, and I guess better to have it that way so I can stay out of trouble. Well, even the weekends can find me in trouble I guess, but I'm going to try to keep that from happening again. So, we head to Watertown for the weekend set of games. I'm ready to roll again, and we'll see if we can get back to the winning side of things. We are 2-2 right now, and I'd like to see us well over that .500 mark. Hopefully this will be our weekend!

Spring is here!

The past couple of days have been a great! Saturday, it was a beautiful day for soccer. Not a great day for our team, but a beautiful day to be outdoors and enjoy the weather. The evening on Saturday I got to watch a play that I've seen so many times at the Mitchell Christian Dinner Theater. This year, they put on School Zone, and I could remember being a little kid and having to watch the practices, and being able to recite large portions of the script. I still had many memories of it, but it was nice to see some new things and have some others done differently. Then, after it was over, I ended up with tons of leftovers from the meal, so that was a major plus. Today after church, I got a chance to ride the bike for a little while and got some golfing in. Quite successful first outing of the year. I had one really bad hole, and the rest were pretty good. The first hole I had par, and on the eighth hole, i had a 10 foot put for a birdie that rimmed off. I was bummed, but it was fun none the less. Just good to know that it's one of the summer activities that we can do now that the good weather is here!