Monday, September 26, 2005

Well another year has past and another Oktoberfest has come and gone. The holiday I love for many reasons. Also the holiday I was trying find a way to celebrate myself, at my home, when my wife's company and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City went and did it for me on a large scale.

Then there was this year. This year I got to be a Bar Tender. (Insert your own devilish laughter here.)

Did I mention I was a bartender at the Warsteiner Wagon. The beer I love and drink all the time. Did I also mention that they let us drink beer while we worked. Did I mention that I got a free stein and a shirt. Finally, did I mention this was like a flashback to when Norm from Cheers got hired as a beer taster. There was just something very wrong, yet oh so right with it happening.

And yes, as someone fond of all things Germanic, I pontificated on high to my inebriated congregation in butchered Germanglish on my opinions about how great this all was and how thankful they should be to drink of something so great.

My typical response when asked what kind of Beer we served: "We have all 3 kinds - Great, Even Better, and Outstanding! Which one can I get you?"

My typical response when asked what we served that tastes like Bud light: "Not a God-damn thing."

Yeah...I had fun.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

That was painful...

61 to 14. At home. Ouch.

There is not much to say here other than be captain obvious - Tackling involves more than just hitting someone hard. But I wonder why players on the field are so slow in adjusting to what appears so obvious to those watching a game from the stands? Furthermore, I wonder why teams continue to fail at this when it has been proven over and over again by many teams throughout football history that you must wrap people up?

Friday, September 23, 2005

100 Bottles of Tears on the Wall

Well the Kansas City Royals capped 100 yesterday in the 11-6 loss to the Royals. After fighting to save what is left of their pride with a 4 game win streak holding at 99 losses, the Royals finally broke in the face of actual talent.

The only thing I can say is thank God its Football season. I can only imagine, but I would bet the Royals feel the same way.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Pockets

My son's latest discovery is his pockets. Jackson has come to realize how useful pockets can be for carrying things. More precisely, and as Jackson refers to them, "My Favorite Things." As all kids do, Jackson carries around as many things as he can as he traverses the house, sometimes even asking Mom and Dad to assist in the heavy load.

The other day we had another oops incident where we didn't make the toilet in time. So as my son stood before me with rigor mortis so as to not upset the apple cart so to speak, he let me peel him down to the mess. When I got to his pants I started to unload the pockets. This lead to an interesting parental moment as I quickly found things I had never seen before.

Our smart little boy has discovered you can keep small toys there that are near and dear to you and that you wish others would not play with, as well as interesting little trinkets we find exploring our world.

Looks like we will have to start patting him down before we leave places in the future.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Work Recognition Moment #045

Monday, September 19, 2005

Grandma & Booper go to the Zoo

This past weekend we fulfilled a long awaited commitment to my Mom and took her to the Zoo. As Friends of the Zoo we take Jackson to the Zoo about once a month. This time we made sure we timed it with Mom's visit. She knows how much Jackson loves animals and wanted to enjoy his appreciation first hand. Thankfully, Jackson was in wonderful form. I hold told him we wanted him to be Grandma's Tour guide, and he didn't disappoint.

The Kansas City Zoo is broken into sections of global geography and we went to "Africa," which is Jackson's favorite part. (This is where the lions are.)

We also caught the Sea Lion show, saw the White Tiger, hung out with the goats, and had a picnic. (Pictures are in the Photo Album.)
Underfortunately, the pony rides were shut down for the year otherwise we would have done that too. But honestly, we couldn't have picked a better weekend weather wise, it was simply beautiful.

It was nice to have Mom around for the weekend. With our busy lives we always seem to struggle to stay close to the ones we love.

Thank you Mom for coming and spending time with us and thank you for spoiling our son some more. Mom bought Jackson this sweatsuit, a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine shoes, and more trucks and cars. All were really great.




Friday, September 16, 2005

Work Recognition Moment #389

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Good thoughts on the Illini

Illini hope Cal's fortunes will trickle down their wayBy
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/14/2005

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The residue of a disastrous season lingered when Jeff Tedford accepted the task of cleaning up a sagging football program at California in 2002. The first-year coach immediately generated excitement by coaching the Bears to a pair of season-opening wins. But traveling halfway across the country for a subsequent meeting with No. 15 Michigan State figured to offer a dose of reality. Instead, Cal continued its resurgence with a 46-22 win, and the Bears have yet to slow down. Four years into Tedford's tenure in Berkeley, Calif., Cal is 27-13 and has become a threat to USC's Pac-10 dominance. Illinois hopes to repeat that formula this weekend. The Illini have some confidence with two wins for coach Ron Zook as they head west to face No. 15 California on Saturday.

The Bears were 1-10 the season before Tedford arrived and 8-25 in the previous three years. The Illini were 3-8 before Zook was hired and 9-26 the previous three years. "I do see some similarities there," Tedford said. "I was thinking about that: a new coach, you go 2-0 and then go on the road to play a top 20 team. We're going to have to play our best to not let that happen because they are playing well." But can Zook match Tedford, who went 7-5 in his first year? Can quarterback Tim Brasic perform like Kyle Boller? Could the Illini become bowl-worthy just like that?

Zook was blunt in saying the Illini are not necessarily ready to face a team the caliber of California, which won its first two games by a combined score of 97-20. Nor is he ready to predict as quick a turnaround after wins over Rutgers and San Jose State. "We feel like we have made some strides," Zook said. "In the spring and summer, one of the concerns I had was changing the mind-set. We always talk about how winning is a habit, but unfortunately, so is losing. How do you continually press and force and push them to believe? ... I have to believe that some of it is getting through." Tedford did inherit some exceptional talent from predecessor Tom Holmoe. Boller was on campus, as were the players who led the team in rushing, touchdown receptions and sacks in Tedford's first season.

The Bears got off to a fast start and continued to win despite the likelihood that they wouldn't be able to play in a bowl because of previous NCAA sanctions. They beat bowl-bound Washington, UCLA and Arizona State in 2002, but their NCAA appeal to play in a bowl was denied. "After going 1-10 the year before, the guys were just very eager to have success, bowl game or no bowl game," Tedford said. "When we couldn't go, our last game against Stanford was our bowl game." Illinois has seen both sides of the Cal program. In 2001, the Illini pounded the Bears 44-17 in Berkeley on their way to the Sugar Bowl. In 2003, Cal edged Illinois 31-24 in Champaign as the programs went different directions.

"I remember when they came into our place and beat us in that close game," Illinois offensive tackle JJ Simmons said. "You could see them go up and us go down. You can definitely see a program like that get better, and it helps us knowing that we can do it, too. If they can do it, we can do it." Cal's rise has been among the most impressive in college football.

Last year, the Bears threatened to win a national championship. However, a six-point loss to eventual champ Southern California knocked the Bears out of the Bowl Championship Series. Texas made a late run to overtake Cal in the BCS standings and went to the Rose Bowl. Although the Bears were No. 5 in the final BCS standings, Utah received the final BCS bowl berth because of a rules technicality. So, Cal will try again. Getting there would involve beating USC, which has won two of their last three meetings - 23-17 in 2004 and 30-28 in 2002. Cal won 34-31 in three overtimes in 2003. "We've played them fairly well in the past, but there's no question they're an elite program," Tedford said. "If we reach our full potential, maybe. But they're still the elite program in the West." sdurando@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8232

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Work Recognition Moment #712

Monday, September 12, 2005

Weekend Update

First off, congratulations to the Illini on going 2-0 so far in this year. I realize it was non-conference and San Jose State is no Goliath, but this team needs to build on some success. I am very excited to see the kind of numbers they put up as well as the fact that this coach can change off his game when he is up against a team that thinks they have figured him out.

Second and most important, we were blessed this weekend to have my brother and his friend come visit us. We have been hoping for some time to meet and spend time with Valerie. With everyone's schedule this has been tough. This weekend we finally made it work and had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Valerie is a wonderful girl and Jackson really appreciated having Uncle Keiff around to play with.

We are also proud that we were able to arrange an on-site visit for Keith to meet with someone and see St. Paul's. Keith is considering entering their Master's of Divinity Program and spent Sunday on the campus before heading back to St. Louis.

Finally, last week I said that I would be running on the field after the Rutgers game. Well from a picture I found on Illinois Loyalty's website, it looks like I wouldn't have been alone.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Labor Day Fun

We kept up our semi-annual tradition of male looser behavior this weekend at Camp Saukenauk: Fished most of the day, ate steaks and fried fish, then smoked cigars under the stars, and played cards all night long. We are going on 3 years of this now if memory serves. Each Memorial Day and Labor Day. This is to change however with the advent of aging children. Going forward, we have resolved to include the wives and children more and we are moving the fall time to October to reduce conflicts.

The fishing was horrible this year though. Typically on a 3 day weekend each of us will pull out 50 plus fish. I think I only caught around 20 for the whole weekend. The largest fish went to a first timer who came out Saturday for just the afternoon and dinner - congratulations Dan on your 6 lb bass.

Saturday afternoon I came into town and met Michelle at a sports bar to watch the Illinois Football game. If you haven't heard the news, Illinois pulled off a monumental 4th quarter come back to tie with an overtime win. The game tied the school record for largest deficit comeback resulting in a win. Congratulations to Coach Zook and the Illini for a wonderful season opener.

Watching the game for me took me back to a come back win we had over Minnesota my Junior Year. This was a game that mattered only to the Illini faithful. A game that gives us hope. After the the game against Minnesota, yours truly was doing baseball slides into the inzone through the snow. Had I been at the stadium for the Rutgers game, I probably would be on the field again.

Coach Zook was prophetically quoted before the game as saying he knew bad things would happen and that they should be judged on how they play when those things occur. Well, maybe it was the new coach, maybe it was inspiration derived from the basketball team, or maybe it was drawing on the record setting attendance of over 52,000 people with a new sense of expectation; but regardless - they faced adversity with the poise needed to win the game.

Personally, I like to think of this game as being a microcosm of what is to come: embarrassment changing into heroism. From the first quarter to the fourth quarter, let that be the story of last year to this year. Bring on the change, bring on the pride, and bring on the Illini!

On Sunday we made a brief appearance at the Hoffman Family reunion (Michelle's Grandmother). Jackson enjoyed playing in the park and made friends with a caterpillar. We also taught him that to get Grandpa's attention he should go up and swat him in the butt. That lead to a lot of laughs.

After the reunion, we spent some long overdue time with my Mom. We spent the evening with her and had dinner. We also took the opportunity to call my Uncle George whom we miss dearly as well. Family is the water we renew ourselves with in the well of life.

All in all, we had a great time and hope you did too.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Lord hear our prayer

There is nothing we could add which would further inform anyone as to the level of tragedy that is occurring on the gulf coast.

We, as like many of you, tremble at the sight of what we see and hear on a daily basis. We stand in shock that such things are occurring with such proximity. We as a nation, see ourselves as the givers and not the needy.

Though there is not much we can physically do to assist in the daily needs of these people, we pray each night as a family for those trapped in this plight and we wanted to take this opportunity to do so with you here:

Father,

We pray for those afflicted by the tragedies of the hurricane.

We pray for those who's lives were sustained by technology which can no longer power it self.

We pray for the babies born into this horror with no post-natal care.

We pray for the elderly whose strength tires without such tragedy.

We pray you care for those who will die alone and without comfort.

We pray for the hero's of this tragedy and what they give up daily in reaching out to others.

We pray for this strength to head the warnings of this event and use it orient the future of our lives.

We pray for the weak.

We pray for the strong.

We pray for our country.

We pray for our world.

In your son's name Jesus Christ we pray,

Amen.