The Delta Debacle

I'm on the road again this week. Down to Chattanooga, TN. No, I didn't ride the choo-choo train, I came on Delta, unfortunately. Actually, I felt things really started out going my way. Because of hunting season, Delta added a direct flight from Sioux Falls to Atlanta. I liked that because generally when I come down here I have to go to Minneapolis then to Atlanta, and then to Chattanooga. I get more frequent flier miles when I do that, but I'd really just rather fly direct as much as possible. So, I'm enjoying that flight while it lasts. Well, on Saturday, I was notified that I'd been granted a first class upgrade. I like those, and is a good reason I fly on Delta, because I like those. So, I had to get up early this morning...really early. Because of the time that flight leaves to Atlanta, I had to leave the house by 4:30. As I've gotten older, getting up at 4:30 really doesn't appeal to me in the least. But, I did, and I headed out. I got to Sioux Falls, and got checked in, and we were a bit late leaving, but not too bad. The flight was rough. Bad weather down here this morning, so we bounced around quite a bit. We landed in Atlanta, and I had to go from gate 48 down to gate 42. It was literally 50 feet. And, because of the weather, there were delays all over the airport. So, there was plenty of time to pull my suitcase off the plan and say, we should send this down to that gate that is 25 steps away, but apparently Delta can't pull that off. So, I got to the airport, and my bag did not. So, I went and reported it missing, to have one lady chewing out the people at the Delta desk. That's a whole different story, but she apparently isn't too familiar with air travel, and apparently feels that just because her flight got cancelled, that she should then be entitled to my seat on the next plane so that my schedule could be all screwed up. Now, she maybe had a point that she should have been on a standby list for the flight she was on, but that's where her being right ended. Anyhow, they had a report on my bag and told me they would deliver it. So, I caught a taxi to the hotel, got checked in and went to work for the afternoon. Once I did that, I waited for the call that my bag was in. I finally got it about 20 minutes ago, about 8pm eastern. I had to laugh. When I got the suitcase, there was a bright yellow tag on it that said "PRIORITY". Since I'd been a first class ticket at checkin, they automatically put the "PRIORITY" tag on it. Apparently that doesn't really mean anything, since it can't even make it from one plane 50 feet to the next plane. Leave it to Delta....

Bachelor - For Now

Well, it's night one on my own. No, Heather didn't run away from me. She had to go to the Cities for a school conference and is going to see her parents on the way home, so until Sunday, I'm on my own. Scary thing #1, I'm going to have to have food. I can however, operate the grill, so I think I'll be ok, and have a gift certificate that I need to use up by Saturday, so I think I'll be ok. Laundry I'll be ok, that was just done not that long ago, so I'll make it there. I've got the Trailblazer for transportation, even though it's partially not working properly. I should be ok because it's still warm enough I could motorcycle it if necessary. Otherwise, I'll just wander around like a little lost puppy until Sunday. This weekend I'll be refereeing anyhow, so that will help pass some of the time. I've got plenty of action to oversee this weekend, with two out of the three games being the center referee. That will end my season, and that means slowing it down considerably, for which I'm ready.

For Heather, she's got one week of volleyball left before the post season starts, and her squad looks like they could end up with a .500 record again. That's a positive, and hopefully this is the year where they can win a district game. They have yet to do that, but hopefully this is the year. From there, the busy season will be over for us until February. I think we know our busy season is really coming then.

Busyness

If you've noticed this being my first post in a couple weeks (or maybe 3 weeks), then I've got to tell you you should do better things with your time then keep looking at my blog. Just kidding, I love all my readers, but this is a show of how busy we are around here. I've been busy working, and that's meant some trips to Sioux Falls to work out of our office there. It's kept me busy for sure, and when you tack on some refereeing, that makes me extremely busy. Heather, she's just as busy. As if the teaching and carrying the baby around aren't enough, volleyball season is in full swing, but getting ready to wind down. She becomes one fairly tired puppy, that's for sure. Well, we'll see this all wind down for me next weekend will wrap up my soccer season, and Heather's season has two weeks left before the playoffs.

Well, as busy as we are, it's amazing we get anything done outside of work. I don't have any good story's to tell really, because all it is is running around makes us forget when funny things happen. Well, next week should be interesting. On Wednesday, Heather is leaving for the Cities for a few days, so I'll be all alone. I'm fairly well adapted to the married life, so I'm not really sure how I'm going to fare through all of this. Kind of scary, that's for sure. I'm sure I'll be ready to have her home sometime Wednesday (yes about the same time she'll leave, I'll be wanting her back). Should be a fairly interesting time.

Hope everyone's hunting kickoff was fun. I'm going to go with Heather to Huron tomorrow to talk with hunters and getting a good meal as well. Heather's told me she likes to eat pheasant, so I'm going to have to go after some here soon, but I'll be waiting until the busy season is over first.

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!