Day Off

Well, something caught up with me. I had to just spend today resting and recovering for the busy time that's ahead. Here is what is ahead for us:

Tonight - Volleyball
Tomorrow - Soccer in Sioux Falls
Thursday - Volleyball
This weekend - at Heather's Parents
Next Tuesday - Volleyball
Next Thursday - State Soccer and Volleyball
Next Friday - State Soccer
Next Saturday - State Soccer
Next Sunday - Soccer

And it goes on and on. I woke up just feeling down. I couldn't pick myself up enough to get in to work, so I decided that since I'm going to be on the road for work in Sioux Falls the next couple of days, as well as soccer, I'd better just feel better and get some rest and recover.

The regular soccer season wrapped up now for high school, and soon we're getting ready to host the state tournament here. I think it's exciting, and I'm ready to do some work here for the tournament. These next weeks will be interesting to see how Heather and I survive. I'm hoping she can get some rest, but she's been quite busy. We'll figure out how to get her slowed down a bit as there are still 5 weeks of the volleyball regular season left. We'll get it figured out though.

Can't take the sports

Boy, I'm not sure if I can take much more of watching this. Between the Vikings just plain being bad, and the umpires screwing things up all over the place in the Twins game, I shouldn't have wasted my time today, and taken a nap like my wife.

I started out watching the Twins game and watching the bad play that came about in center field. I think that the center field did indeed catch the ball and dropped it when trying to throw it. The problem being that the umpire who went out to make the call signaled that he didn't catch the ball. Thus, the Twins runner at first took off and safely made it to second. After a discussion, the umpires decided that the center fielder did catch the ball. When there is no one on first, that's fine I suppose, but doesn't look good. The problem becomes now that the Twins runner didn't know that the ball was indeed caught because the umpire signaled that it was not a catch, now he's really in a tough spot. The umpires decided that it was a catch, and that the Twins runner is out at second because he did not tag up. I was not a happy camper. If there is another runner on, Major League Baseball cannot then allow umpires to start changing their minds. The runner would have made it back to first easily if the correct call (a caught ball) would have been made, but since it wasn't, what's he to do? I was angry, so I decided it was time to flip over to the Vikings game and see if they were done stinking it up and actually playing. When I got there, it was 14-10. That was a major improvement when I chose to start watching the Twins game, the Vikes were behind 14-0 at home! Anyhow, I watched Brett Favre throw an interception deep in Miami territory. That was irritating. Then, the Vikings defense comes out and takes the ball back, so the Vikings had the ball deep in Miami territory. I wrote on Facebook about the savvy play Brett made (sarcastically of course). After that of course, if you watched the game, the Vikings would turn the ball over on downs at the 1 yard line. I went back to the Twins in time to watch the same bad second base umpire screw up another call (a catch that was ruled no catch at shortstop). I guess the one thing that I always look for is that a sports official is consistent. Unfortunately, the only thing this umpire is is consistently bad. I'm still watching, but still irritated.

This also stems back to a game this week at MCS that was to be blocked with one bad referee who insulted Heather, and the other who didn't seem to know what was going on. I'm not even as mad at the one who didn't seem to know what was going on, I'm mad at the lady "I'm on a power trip" referee who was asking what was wrong with Heather, or if she was just fat (noting that this referee weighed close to my weight). Why would you say that? I'm still irritated when I think about that. I'll have to try hard to not be insulting to her when they come back to MCS. I'm doubting it's going to work. I was kind of glad that my brother called that night though. He called, and I had to make a trip home to help him out. It kept me from yelling things at both of them. But dealing with that lady is a good reason why referees get yelled at, they don't have respect for the players, the fans, the rules, or the game.

Restoration

In light of the new upcoming LB, we are going to be in need of a few more pieces of furniture. So, we are looking at the nursery and trying to get together on some things that that we'll need. Let's see: Crib - Check, Changing Table - Need that, Rocking Chair - Check, Dresser - well, it's not in good shape, but we have one. That's where I got myself an idea. I have in my possession a dresser that used to be my dad's when he was younger. So, I figured that a third generation should be able to enjoy that dresser. It's about perfect for a youngster. So, after looking at how beat up it is and how marked up it is, I've decided it's going to get a makeover. It's in the garage now as disassembled as I'm going to get for the overhaul. I've got myself a sander, and it's going to see some work. I'm excited to see how it turns out. It's fun to look at and see where it could possibly go. It's also the first sanding I've done with an orbital sander, so we'll see how that goes. Ohh, dad, by the way, do you care if I keep your dresser and give it a face lift?

Jim Thome!

This is a chant that I'm constantly taunting a White Sox fan around here with. Email-Facebook-To His Face, all the above. It was great as the Twins were thumping the Sox, and I will continue to as long as the Twins keep winning. Huge series coming up tomorrow. Now this will determine if the taunting will continue. What I'm fired up about is going back to a game to dawn my new jersey. A great #25 Thome jersey, and man am I excited. I'm also concerned because I don't want anything to it, but I will wear it for sure! I've not pulled it out yet. Last year was had a jersey day when the end of the season rolled around, so we'll see if I can wear it to work coming up. I'll proudly wear it though, as I've loved Thome for a while, and was really pumped when he signed with the Twins. Now he's blasting home runs for us instead of killing us. I'm loving it, and I'm pumped to get that jersey out and about!

Goodbye Summer!!

Well, it's time to start wrapping up what was summer and get ready for a busy fall. We've already been doing that here, as Heather has started in with one volleyball game already this year (a win) and I've gotten in a couple of high school games, and a couple of college games already. And, with the weather the past week or so, it's been feeling like fall is ready to make it's appearance. I'm just loving this time of year. This week, Heather gets busy, and in a couple of weeks, I'll be quite busy as well. I'm generally refereeing 2 or 3 nights a week, and that is keeping me quite busy. Of course, now I have more invested in this volleyball team too, so I'll be on the road quite a bit to see them play. Should make for a busy fall for sure. Come Halloween, it will be time to wrap it all up.

Today was a great day. I spent some time outside and did some work out there while I could. Rain kind of hampered that, but I got the garage cleaned up and the hot tub refilled and running again. It was nice to turn it back on not because it was broken, but because I'd turned it off to empty it. So, following that I loafed around and watch the Twins game and Jim Thome's 480 foot home run. I just really like that guy! Plus, he's pushing the Twins on a roll.

Well, last night was also a good time. Heather and I spent some time at the South Dakota State Fair. Lot's of people, and a good time with friends. We were pretty thrilled by the food and the time we had there. We'll be back for a few more of those, but we sure wish that almost all the big events would opt to not use Labor Day so we could do more of them. Ohh well, the State Fair it is! We'll see you around this fall, if you can catch us!

Changes...changes

So, I'm sitting here tonight thinking back over the past couple of years. Two years ago, I was in Huron doing the radio gig daily, and keeping busy refereeing. Well, only one of those things is still true, I'm keeping busy refereeing. Two years later, I find my self with a house, two cars, a beautiful wife, and many things to be thankful for. I'm just amazed that two years ago in Huron, I didn't even know my wife was here, but through all the things that happened, we're now together with our own family. And, to make it even more exciting, coming in February will be member number three of our little family. Yup, Heather is having a baby. February 25 is the due date, so we're gearing up for an interesting winter. Mom and dad a bit on the excited side. Every time we see them, new toy for the new little one. We are currently in the process of getting a nursery ready, so once fall is over and we get close to winter, I'm going to be happy to have a little time to get some of these things done. So far, Heather has been feeling ok. The first trimester was kind of rough, but no serious sicknesses or anything, just some aches and pains, which has been nice. Things have been getting a lot better recently, so that's good as well. It's interesting though, because she's hungry all the time! I guess the little one got my appetite. It's been a fun ride so far though. It does make her job more interesting, and her coaching as well, but it looks like we've got a team full of baby sitters just waiting!

We will continue to be busy through the fall with volleyball, and the soccer schedule in full swing, and throw in a wedding, and we've got us a full fall. It's hard to believe that with Labor day, we draw summer to a close. It was far busier than we wanted, but it's been fun. And next summer, we have a new family member to share all that with!