My honey and my money are at the golf course

How many times can we travel to Blunder City before we realize it's a shit town??

2010-10-14T22:46:00.004-05:00

The title of this post pretty much sums up my thoughts on the Twins season. Numerous highlights throughout the season including the most important: bringing outdoor Major League baseball back to the great state of Minnesota, only to end in disappointment...again. It hurts, it stings like when you stop peeing and try to start again.

How about those Gophers and Vikings? I'm now seriously interested in watching a UND vs. U of M football game, I have no idea what the result would be. What is going on in Minnesota sports right now? Did the sports Gods decide we wasted too many opportunities and are now shitting on us? Baffling.

Otherwise I've been a busy boy this past month and apologize for the lack of posts. Who knew full time graduate school and work would take up so much time? Never the less I'm glad I'm back in school, kind of kicking myself for leaving in the first place but we have to live with our choices right? My life now consists of reading textbooks, powerpoints, writing papers and discussing feelings with anyone that will listen.

Another new found hobby: observing new counseling students. They learn to ask how someone feels about just about anything in different ways and now that's all they do. The following discussion had me rolling in class the other day. 1st Year Boy (1YB) was attempting to flirt with 2nd Year Girl (2YG) and I was sitting between them. The names have obviously been changed to protect the innocent. I should also say that the female:male ratio is about 15:1 so it's pretty obvious to the rest of us when flirting is being attempted.

1YB: "Hi 2YG! How was your weekend?"

2YG: "It kind of sucked I was swamped with homework and didn't get to do anything fun."

1YB: "Interesting, how do you feel about that?"

2YG: "I feel like I don't have any time to do anything."

1YB: "Interesting, what are you experiencing when you feel like you don't have time?"

2YG: "Are you in Counseling Methods class?"

1YB: "I am. I'm wondering what that means to you that I'm in methods class?"

2YG: "It means you just learned how to ask effing feeling questions and are all excited to use them on me. So you can stop talking to me now."

SSWY: "Oh snapdragons!!"

1YB really had no response and hasn't been using his feeling questions in regular conversation anymore. Just a little counseling department humor for you.

Some questions to think about:

How were you feeling while reading this post?

Were there any differences in your feelings at the beginning compared to the end?

What have you learned about your feelings while reading my posts?

The NFL Season is Here!

2010-09-10T10:19:00.003-05:00

And this is my reaction to last night's game...huh? I had class till 9:00 then headed to Kelly's Bar hoping to catch an exciting 2nd half. What I got was a less than exciting half. I did however get a nice smoke free atmosphere at Kelly's. I never thought GF would come around so I had that going for me.

Brett Favre looked like he literally came off the couch to play. I don't want to dog him because he's a hero but the name of the game in the NFL is preparation, Favre and the rest of the squad did not seem prepared. Our offense couldn't get anything going consistently and then time ran out quickly on us. I'm not going to say I was impressed with New Orleans either. Sloppy game. Also I hope it's not true but did Jared Allen lose his powers when he cut off his mullet for love? I didn't hear his name much last night.

I'm not really complaining or panicking, it's only week 1 and only 1 loss. I thought going into the game it was a toss up as to who would win and basically that's what it was with a 14-9 score. I have faith that Favre will be ready next week and we'll get the Viking ship sailing.

Skol Vikes!

In other news

Jacks are 1-0 with a win over Moorhead last week always a big win over Moorhead. Fergus Falls tonight at the Chet.
I'm officially on the Boise State bandwagon. National Champs over Alabama this year! Then they will be forced to go to a playoff system which everyone wants.
Twins look well on their way to clinching the Central. Now if we can get some playoff success. And by success I mean World Champs. We're not just happy to get there boys.

Happy Friday! I hope you have a stupendous weekend!

There is a change in the air...

2010-09-03T18:53:00.001-05:00

The days are getting shorter, school has started, there is the transition of the warm summer air leaving us for cooler crisp fall air. It’s that special time of year again. Football season is upon us.

Excitement levels are high from Friday night lights in small towns across America to the bright lights of NFL stadiums next week. Weeks of two a days have completed, season goals and expectations are set, everyone is undefeated. There’s nothing quite like the first few weeks of the football season.

There are a handful of teams that I follow regularly every year in addition to the top teams in the land. We’ll start with the hometown kids. With Coach Hendricks returning to the helm last year the Jack’s made it back to the state tournament for the first time since 2001. With numerous starters back the Jacks look to make a statement against rival Moorhead tonight.

Moving up to the college ranks a few local squads hold a special place in my heart. We’ll start with the hometown BSU Beavers who opened last week with a win over Minot State. The Beavs look to be atop the NSIC leaders this year in the DII ranks.

Then we have the alma mater UND Fighting Sioux entering the final season as the Fighting Sioux. After being a DII powerhouse. I have not gone to a game since the greatest game I have ever attended the last UND-NDSU game. They have now moved up to the DI ranks and have struggled mightily since including last night’s crushing loss to Idaho 45-0. Could be a long season boys. Hockey season couldn’t arrive to soon this year in Grand Forks.

Also grabbing some of my attention will be the home state Minnesota Gophers who have also not been very good in recent years. They have a sweet new stadium that I hope to get to sometime. I’m not sure what to make of their 24-17 win last night over Middle Tennessee State.

Finally in the college ranks my big time favorite Miami Hurricanes. Last year they got off to a great start only to fade towards the end of the season. I love thug nation. It’s all about the U!

And then of course the Minnesota Vikings anticipation is high for the upcoming season after the devastation of last year’s NFC Championship game. That’s all I really have to say about that.

Enjoy the cooler airs and changing of the leaves. It’s a wonderful time of year!

Got My Boots Tied Tight...

2010-08-24T19:57:00.003-05:00

The summer from hell has come to an end mercifully. The combination of my manager taking three months off and taking a class proved to be nearly deadly. Last week I took my one day off for the summer and Linds and I travelled down to the Twin Cities to see some friends. It was mostly uneventful but nice to get away to the big city for a little bit. Thanks to our friends for putting us up.

The highlight reel from Summer 2010 is short but sweet...

B and Kev Bear's wedding. Old college friends and my first experience with cigars and cognac. 'Nuff said.
College World Series in June. For those that were involved (you know who you are) thank you. It was indeed an epic weekend and the number 1 highlight of my summer.
July 4th Family Reunion. 105 relatives that see each other so little that introductions were necessary for almost every conversation. Throw some booze, my dad's BBQ and 95 degree heat in there...glorious.
Paul Bunyan Triathlon. See previous post.
Short trip to the cities. Mansion walk down Summit Ave. in St. Paul. Anyone want to go in on a 10 bed, 6 bath 1.5 million dollar mansion with us?

With every end comes a need beginning at it's back to school tomorrow for another exciting semester of graduate college. This will be me tomorrow morning minus the school bus. I feel a little bit like Van Wilder in that it seems like I've been in Grand Forks forever, seriously 7 years now. Hopefully I won't have to use my counseling skills to defuse a situation like this atop the Chester Fritz.

I hope I don't get in a fight...

2010 Paul Bunyan Triathlon

2010-08-06T14:06:00.002-05:00

As previewed last week the 2010 Dirty Waters Paul Bunyan Triathlon took place last Saturday. The e coli measurements were deemed safe and the torture commenced. 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 , mile run. My goal was to improve last year's time and I accomplished that goal successfully. Last year's time was 1:31:36, this year's time: 1:26:54. An improvement of 4:42.

Reasons for improvement as in almost all aspects of life I think, training and preparation. I only got 2 practice swims in but after doing it last year I was better prepared for what to expect. I jumped in and tested the water temp before the start so I wouldn't be shocked at the beginning of the race. Also I stayed near the back of the pack and walked out as far as I could. I did make the mistake of trying to swim too early, then I realized people were walking by me, so I stood up and continued walking until I couldn't anymore. Swim time:20:48 first transition was 2:00.

On to the bike ride. No real drama here for me. I purchased a new bike in May so Mr. Pete's bike was donated to Sister J for the festivities. I finished the bike portion in 40:39 17.7 mph average, transition was :38. My bike was actually about 30 seconds slower which I was kind of bummed about but my improvements in the other events made up for it.

On to the run, not a whole lot of drama here either and some more improvement with a time of 22:51. I feel like I can still shave some minutes off for next year and the thought of doing the long course has crept into my mind a little bit.

The real drama occurred with the rest of the family partaking in the events. As previewed before, most of Linds' family showed up to test their fitness. Including Linds, Sista J, Sista Mama J, Brotha Z, Sista in-law K and Brotha in-law M who joined as a team doing the bike portion.

With Momo out from last year Linds decided to go along with Sista Mama J at an easy pace. Sista Mama J was using a mountain bike with large tires which was not a good choice, as a result Linds didn't want to stay with her at the slow pace and left her in the dust.

Brother Z is the hunting, fisherman type and pretty much stays away from all physical activity. He made it out of the swim alive and moved onto the bike. Brotha Z has the nicest of bikes and made it through the bike easily. The run is an out and back course so as you turn around you run by everyone who's behind you. I encountered Brother Z walking near the 1 mile mark for him 2 mile for me. Later Linds saw him walk to the turnaround before taking off in a full sprint for about 100 yards before starting to walk again. I wish I could have seen that.

Other drama included Brotha in-law M seeing someone he knew and yelling "good job!" His friend got distracted, drifted off the pavement and bit it hard in the ditch! I also wish I could have seen that.

Then we have Sista J. Sista J has run a marathon and works out regularly. Her swim and bike put her on pace for a very good time. On the run I saw her right after the turnaround and was pretty sure that she was going to catch me so I picked up my pace. After finishing I waited for her to get done. I figured at the most she should be maybe 2 minutes behind me. I kept waiting and waiting...Turns out she blew right through the turnaround and found herself all alone on the long course near Paul and Babe. She then saw the 2 mile mark and figured something was wrong. As a long course runner went by she asked where the turnaround was. He laughed and said it was the water station a half mile back. Needless to say she turned around and finished after having ran an extra mile.

Had she turned around at the station and finished the regular short course she would have beat me and been one of the top female finishers. If this doesn't deserve one of my favorite catch phrases I don't know what does...BlunderCity!

Overall fun was had by all. Here's some pics from the website. Not quite as classic as last year's pics. Others are on my facebook page.

Lost Puppy

Snapdragons that's a long way

Almost done

Black Fierceness

Love That Dirty Water! Ohhh Lake Bemidji, You're So Gross!

2010-07-30T11:43:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning is the 4th annual Bemidji Paul Bunyan Triathlon, it will the second running for myself and Linds, a recap of last year's debacle here. 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run. Let's do this LEEEEROOOOOOYYYYY JEEEEEEENKIIIIINS!

New this year Linds convinced almost her entire family to partake in the festivities. Both sisters, brother, brother in law, sister in law and her dad. Of course the convincing was done in December when the early registration is half price. For many of the athletes training did not start until sometime in June and we quickly found out that swimming is not on the list of strong family attributes, this "training" lead to one drop out and one doing it as team instead. Some brave souls in Linds' family.

Also new this year E Coli! It was reported that two swimmers have been recently hospitalized with E Coli after swimming in Lake Bemidji at Diamond Point. Diamond Point has since been closed for environmental testing of the water until levels are safe. I'm not a scientist but it seems to me that things tend to disperse in water so wouldn't there be E Coli everywhere not just at Diamond Point?

As if the triathlon wasn't difficult enough the addition of E Coli will make tomorrow and interesting morning. Love that dirty water!!!

Infomercial Nation

2010-07-23T09:51:00.000-05:00

While at work every other Sunday morning the person I work with watches the same infomercial everytime. The Xpress Redi-Set-Go cooking machine. It can be seen on t.v. as well as here. I warn you though once you see it you probably have to buy it. This thing will replace your oven, microwave, toaster, Foreman grill and anything else that you use to cook. It's simply amazing. You could get by with having your kitchen be a sink, fridge and this device.

This got me to thinking about infomercials in general and I think they can be broken down into a handful of categories.

Cooking items such as the Xpress Redi-Set-Go and the Magic Bullet
Cleaning products like Oxyclean or crazy vacuum cleaners
Exercise/fitness items or videos. Bow-flex, P90X and the one that started it all The Gazelle. I've heard that P90X is effective it's just that nobody can move after the 1st week and they give up.
Random tools, gadgets essentially junk that looks sweet on t.v. but doesn't actually work.

Infomercials all have the same basic format. A crazy ridiculous host showing all the features of the item, another person that acts overly amazed at what they see before them, a comparison to similar more common items and how these items are woefully inadequate and special add-ons that you can only get if you order now.

As ridiculous as they are infomercials are hard to turn away from. Why is that? The other thing I think when watching them is who would ever buy this thing? and sure enough I end up seeing them at rummage sales and thrift stores. People got sucked in then decided it was a piece of crap and it takes up space in their garage. Only in America.

Back in Business (for realz this time)

2010-06-30T23:47:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to the blogosphere. Since I have failed so miserably at blogging I have decided to change my approach. Before I thought I needed to spin epic tales of grand adventures to produce a blog. Then as my life slowed down and I took less and less grand adventures my confidence in blogging skills decreased then led to extinction.

I realize now that I'm an not a story teller and should not pretend to be who I am not to fit in with the cool blog kids. Instead I am a keen observer of life who occasionally verbalizes theses observations in witty, sarcastic and usually nonsensical ways. Thus I am reconforming my blog to coincide with my attributes. While I still go on the occasional adventure, this blog will be more about life's great questions and observations and will require more participation from both of my readers.

First question of the new blog: When does one achieve "old man strength?"

Old man strength is that inherent strength that our father's have even without exercising regularly. My dad is 54 years old and I don't know that I've ever seen him exercise, yet he is probably 5 times stronger than me a 25 year old who exercises sometimes. How does that happen? I don't get it.

Btown edition for our nation's birthday this weekend. Happy birthday America...fuck yeah!

Twins Take a Trip to Blunder City Pop. 25

2009-10-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Disappointment. All I can say about the Twins ALDS showing. The last three weeks were a magical run one last time in the Dome ending in disappointment. I'm not mad that we lost, the Yankees are a superior team. The way we lost is what I think most fans are upset with. Blunder after blunder for a team that prides itself on being fundamentally sound. In the end we were a .500 team that got hot at the right time and needed to play close to perfect baseball to win. We did not. We looked nervous and scared the whole series which was weird because we played so loose and carefree down the stretch. Lots of questions heading into the off season now. We can also look forward to October baseball in 32 degree weather next year. Could be fun.

Vikes Pack

2009-10-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Since it was the most hyped MNF game ever I'm sure most of you saw the game and know what happened. I do have a few comments however.

Jared Allen is a beast. Especially with the mullet, he needs to change up his celebration though that thing is brutal. I'm not sure if the left tackle for the Pack has a job today. Worst game ever. "The mullut is not a hairstyle...it's a lifestyle." (Allen 2009)

I was a skeptic and I know we are only 4 games in, but old man Favre looked really good. Enough said.
Percy Harvin is really good. For some reason I thought he was a finesse guy who wouldn't go over the middle and was afraid of getting hit. A la Randy Moss. I was wrong he loves being physical.
Did anyone else see Sportsnations Gunslingers Commercial? Absolutely hilarious. "Stylish? Debatable. Unwashed? Guaranteed." see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0VTCwn5JQs

Since my boys and I have separated we watch sporting events and interact via text. It's almost like being in the same room. Here are some of my favorites from last night. Congratulations to Mowan on being my top pick of the night.

Myself: All time high in minnesota sports excitement the last 4 days, tonight and tomorrow? The H.H.H. Metrodome is the focus of sports universe. How does that happen?

Big Guy: Its unreal. Doesn't happen up here! Reminiscent of Celtics/Bruins playoffs, Red Sox, marathon, brady/giselle wedding(greatest sports weekend of all time)

Gangel: Complete madness even in Nebraska

Big Guy: I drove by St. Phillips school today and thought the Vikings were practicing, thats how many kids had purple jerseys on.

Big Guy: ...and I'm at the Green Mill with Truax's dad. Yep, time to get out of Bemidji now.

Gangel: (about the allen mullet quote) Thats a great line from a grown man who still wears #69

Myself: (after the wildcat double reverse reciever pass that totally broke up our momentum) Why call that play? No reason. Childress trying to screw up our momentum. dum dum dum dum dum.

Mowan: actually Childress' beard made that play call.

Good stuff. Happy Tuesday all! Go Twins in #163!

Thug Nation is back!

2009-09-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

Within the last couple years I have started watching more and become a fan of college football, I didn't really care for it when I was younger as far as I was concerned the NFL is where its at. I think the games are way less predictable and more exciting than the NFL mostly do to the fact that the players are 20 years old and usually let their emotions get the better of them.

Me not liking college football as a youngster probably had to do with our satellite dish getting struck by lightning and being forever stuck on CBC the Canadian channel. My parents looked at this as an opportunity for us to participate in other activities and didn't get it fixed until I was in middle school. On Sundays we would go to my grandpa's to watch the Vikes so my dad could get his football fix. CBC does have the CFL however so I dreamed of winning the Grey Cup instead of the Lombardi Trophy.

At a young age I recieved an old hand me down Miami Hurricanes sweatshirt from my cousin. This was the early 90s and the Canes were the cream of the college football crop. Naturally since I had their shirt I would become a fan pretty much not knowing anything about college football as I usually spent my Saturdays playing outside dreaming of the Grey Cup.

The other team of the 90s was Florida State who my buddy Adam was a huge fan of, I never really knew why. I don't think he got a sweet hand me down sweatshirt from his cousin did he?

Anyways they had some classic games in the 90s with the wide rights and my Canes usually winning. In the 2000s Florida State kind of fell of the map and the Canes won the 2001 championship and then became Thug Nation. Having players time after time getting in trouble with the law culminating in the brawl against FIU in 2006. I pretty much gave up on them much earlier than this and didn't really follow the college game anyway.

"Florida International? I've never even heard of you."

"Screw you I'm gonna poke you in the eye!"

"Hey lets punch eachother with our helmets on maybe we'll get on Sportscenter!"

Back to present day. Miami and Floriday State played two weeks ago and I thought it would be fun to do a little trash talking with Adam via text. I didn't really plan on watching the game and then it turned into a fantastic contest, an instant classic between the two schools of the 90s. They followed that up with an impressive win over Georgia Tech and find themselves ranked in the Top 10 again and face Virginia Tech on Saturday. We comin' we comin'!

Since my homestate Gophers won't do anything on the national stage and my alma mater Sioux don't play real football. 16 years later I am officially back on the Thug Nation bandwagon. I should probably go buy a new sweatshirt.

Paul Bunyan Triathlon

2009-07-30T11:56:00.000-05:00

Months ago our good friend Momo decided that she was going to compete in the Paul Bunyan Triathlon in Bemidji on July 25th 2009. 1/2 mile swim in Lake Bemidji, 12 mile bike followed by a 3 mile run. Since Lindsey and Momo were attached at the hip in our middle and high school days Lindsey decided she wanted to do it as well. Therefore Lindsey asked me to do it and initially I said I would. After jumping in the Hyslop pool in March I decided maybe this wasn't for me.

Long story short, it is a week before the event Lindsey and Momo are registered and there's no turning back now. I am out. One would think. Nope I act stupidly a la the Cambridge police and throw my hat into the ring 1 week before.

I had been working out at the greatest fitness facility in the great north (Center Court) since January so I am in pretty good shape as far as running is concerned. I also had been doing some biking and figure thats the easiest part anyway. Swimming is another story and is the most common reason for someone not doing a triathlon, but hey I grew up on a lake I'll be alright. Nevermind the part that I hadn't been in the lake at all this summer and only a handful of times last summer. This would come back to haunt me.

The event starts at 8 am. Lindsey and I arrive at around 7 am to find Momo making friends and getting tips for how to best navigate the course like rolling your socks and putting them on top of your shoes for the swim to bike transition. What am I doing here? Once we got out bikes set up on the racks and organized our stuff we got registered and they marked our bodies with our number and short or long course. They use a large marker and write your number in huge print down both arms and legs. (they do this so they can id your body when they pull it up from the bottom of the lake) I'm glad to see Papa Gangel is volunteering and he marks my body (at least a familiar person will know that I was there and can search for my body.)

We are ready to start this crazy adventure. The swim is first its 1/4 out and then back and believe me the buoys look like they are on the other side of the lake. For you athletes out there you probably have experienced some nervousness or anxiety before the big game this is usually pretty normal and research has said that is a good thing to be a little anxious. I was downright scared out of my gord standing in the water looking out on the course am I really doing this?

The guy in charge says go and I wade out as far as I can before diving in. Its 8 am, overcast, probably 65 degrees and the water is cold, this was a terrible idea. I dive in take a few strokes and realize how much this is going to suck. The front crawl is not working for me, everytime I try to take a breath I get smoked in the face by a wave and I'm panicking a little really considering quitting at this point 20 seconds into the race. Papa Gangel is on his jetski keeping track of everybody and I almost called him over. The buoys are probably spaced 50 yards apart and I've made it to the first one. From here on the goal is to make it to the next buoy a strategy that kept me sane a got me through the water course. I run out of the lake a tell my boy Durn that I will indeed make it to his wedding next month. We all had our doubts.

The start was in different waves based on division. I was in the male 39 and under wave and started out 2 waves before Lindsey and Momo in the women's wave. We probably started close to 10 minutes before them and they were transitioning just as I was hopping on my bike. Maybe the quote of the race by Lindsey, "What are you doing here?" I reply, "Turns out I'm not the strongest swimmer!" Swim time: 23:11. Michael Phelps I am not.

On to the bike ride. 12 miles not so bad. Its my hometown so I am familiar with the roads which helps and quickly get into a nice rhythm. There wasn't too much drama in the bike portion and my prerace prediction that it would be the easiest was correct. I passed more people than passed me so I actually am feeling pretty good at this point. I did not see Lindsey and Momo at the bike to run transition so I must have made up some time there. Bike time: 40:16 18.6 mph average. Not bad, not Lance Armstrong but not bad.

I grab a quick swig of gatorade and 2 bites of a banana and I'm off on the 3 mile run. The only problem here is that my legs feel like lead pipes and to get out of Cameron Park one must run up a nice little hill. Since running is really the only thing I had trained for I felt pretty good about my run. I actually passed quite a few people and felt like I was making up for my horrid swim.

I feel like a Kenyan now! I passed Brother Gangel 1/4 mile before the turn around point and we both agreed this was not one of our brightest ideas. I then saw the girls after I turned around and wished them luck. Less than a mile to go now. I think I can start pushing it, I try to shift gears but there is nothing left in the tank. For me it was a really strange feeling because usually the last half mile of my runs is my strongest. I resign to the fact that I have no kick left and finish the run at an easy pace. Run time: 24:25. And I can now call myself a triathlete!

Total time with transitions 1:31:36. Call me crazy but I had fun and would like to do another triathlon.

Here are some pics. They were taken by a professional company so they have writing over the top of them and I can't copy and paste them.

I call this one the wet dog.
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_2843.jpg&img=0&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_IMG_2843.jpg&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1

Biking
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_5680.jpg&img=&tt=&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&bool=or&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1&tfile=tn_IMG_5680.jpg

Triathlon Complete
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_5809.jpg&img=0&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_IMG_5809.jpg&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1

This one is pretty sweet. I call it dying bird
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_5810.jpg&img=0&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_IMG_5810.jpg&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1

Lindsey and I
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_5881.jpg&img=0&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_IMG_5881.jpg&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1

Pretty serious. I found out later that Momo and I jogged our bikes out stopped and got on them, while Lindsey sprinted and jumped on in one fluid motion. Tip for next year.
http://minnefotamoments.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Paul_Bunyan_Triathlon_2009&image=IMG_5426.jpg&img=0&search=194%20whiting&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_IMG_5426.jpg&numtolist=24&sortfiles=1

Big wedding this weekend, close on the house Monday. Have a good one!

Radical Changes

2009-07-11T11:24:00.002-05:00

I was recently told that my blog is capable of burning out retinas due to the laser red background from my faithful reader. Changes have been made and has you can see I have changed the background to a lovely green shade. I also added a picture of my friend Sam and I.

Just been living the dream up here in the Grand Cities. Lindsey and I made the rash decision of purchasing a house here. I was interested in how much we could borrow not really planning on getting a house in the near future, I was just curious and the $8,000 tax credit and relatively low interest rates (which are rising) are very enticing. So to the bank we went. Two days later we are looking at houses and a week later we put in an offer. It happened that fast and now we'll be in Grand Forks for at least three more years helping sick people and developmentally disabled folk.

While waiting for everything to happen we have been looking at furniture and going to places like Menards and Lowes. Just having nice little weekends even if we don't have time. My first purchase will be a lawnmower and I'm pretty excited for those that wanted to know. Here's some pics front and back. It also has a rental unit that we would like to take advantage of so if anyone knows someone thats looking hit me up.

I Love That Dirty Water...Ohhh Boston Your My Home!

2009-06-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

Took my second trip to Beantown last weekend. The first time we drove in grabbed a train to Fenway caught a Sox game got drunk at a piano bar and left the next morning. This time we actually got to check Boston out. Primary reason for being there: Dave Matthews Band performing at Fenway Park Friday and Saturday nights. Secondary reason: My boy Adam is doing an internship there so we got to visit. Tertiary reason: Could be fun, stupid not to right? (When else am I ever going to use the word tertiary?)

After checking in to a downtown hotel, D, Momo, Linds and I took went on our first stop: Sam Adam's Brewery Tour. Pretty interesting, I learned what the four main ingredients for beer are. Barley, hops, water and the most important yeast. When the tour guide advises against tasting the hops he hands out, do it anyway it could be fun. The tour was more of a tasting than a tour involving how to appraise your beer which was alright by me and it was free of charge (although they ask for a small donation for some charities in the Boston area). We promptly got a little tipsy and moved on in our travels.

After regrouping at the hotel we called Adam who was still at work and learned that the airport had been shut down due to fog and our other companions were stuck in Milwaukee (Gangel) and Philadelphia (Adam's sis) respectively. Gangel has been delayed before and he knows what to do by making the best of what's around running up a pretty good tab I understand. We then met up with Adam for some beers and wings before the airport opened up and he went to pick them up. We later met up at the bars but it was uneventful.

Friday involved some sight seeing in Boston we jumped on a Duck Boat tour and saw pretty much what we needed to see. Not sure what the others thought but I thought it was good what can I say I like history. Friday's dinner was my first experience with real seafood by the sea. Lindsey had the lobsta, I had a spaghetti with a variety of sea creatures in it and we also had oysters. My sketti was fantastic and the lobsta and oysters were ok, I'd rather have a burger though.

Friday nights concert was great fun. The new album Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King was featured prominently as well as a cover of "Burning Down the House" by the Talking Heads. Overall a quality Dave show not the best I've been to but solid. These were my 15th and 16th shows so I have high expectations.

After the show we went to a bar with a live band that was absolutely fudge packed. Lindsey wasn't too excited so I didn't know how this was going to go, she said she didn't want to drink. Luckily in Momo's travels to Ireland she was introduced to Magner's Irish Cider. A couple ciders and shots later Lindsey is pretty tipsy and when she gets that way it may be the funniest thing anyone has ever seen.

To set things up we were a crew of eight and occupied a little area between the bar and dance floor, to the left is the bathroom to the right is the exit so it was a pretty high traffic area. Unsuspecting males would try to walk through us before bam! Lindsey jumps in front and starts shimmying using her signature move where she bends down and does this raise the roof thing with her hands. Absolutely hilarious! The best part is watching guy's reactions, at first stunned and then the majority of them dance a little bit. After awhile people have caught on to this girl jumping out so you can actually see them walking towards us a little apprehensive and ready to get jumped. I've seen this behavior before but around my friends Lindsey is usually pretty conservative and they have never seen this side of her, I think Gangel shed some tears he was laughing so hard. At closing time we watched some guys trying to determine if she was single or not, no worries from me because we were rolling pretty deep an advantage of having big friends and I thought it was pretty funny.

Alas the night ended and we needed to catch a ride home. We were in the Fenway Park area and needed to get Downtown. You would think that this would be the easiest cab ride ever pretty much the two most popular areas in Boston. Not for our cabbie. Adam told us it would be about $14. Pretty soon the fare is reaching $10 and we aren't even close the cabbie is asking us directions and at one point hands me his GPS. The fare reaches around $17 and D politely ridicules the driver "Sir where are we going? Come on sir its not that difficult to find downtown sir." I tell him to pull over and let us out. I gave him $10 and said good riddance we can find our way home. We get out I look to my left and can see TD Banknorth Garden. Are you fracking kidding me? On the positive the ride ended up being cheaper than we expected in retrospect I shouldn't have given him anything. We run into a drunk Boston native who listens to our story apologizes on behalf of the City of Boston and points us in the right direction. We ended up walking to the hotel but that was probably good for us in our drunken state to get some fresh Boston air before crashing in bed.

Saturday was some more sightseeing the highlight being about 500 zombies walking through Boston Commons while we were chilling out. Craziest thing I have ever seen. Our crew was pretty tired and subdued and Dave played much of the same setlist from the night before, I wasn't really feeling it until about half way through when Jeff Coffin went ballistic during "#41". Best sax solo ever then Carter had the best drum solo ever on "Two Step" and we were in business. Addy had been twittering Dave and Fonzi for a month to play "Dirty Water" by the Standells and sure enough they busted it out for the encore. Amazing. Fenway was rocking at this point and they finished it up by playing Stay.

We went to the Cask n' Flagon afterwards for some beehs. The girls caught the train home early citing not enough energy for a repeat of Friday and the men were left to their own devices. At one point us four from Minnesota up on a stage swinging our hips to the 80s music in a Fenway Bah, pretty strange how does that happen? Our cab ride home was uneventful as we got home in 10 minutes for $11. We flew out Sunday morning and our adventure was over till next time.

Shake and Bake

2009-05-07T12:04:00.001-05:00

Well, Dora made it through surgery and is alive and well, however hobbled. She faces a tough 3 months of rehab before she gets back to her Dora the explorer ways. She can only go out to use the pottie and can't do stairs yet so I have to carry her up and down while Duke looks on in astonishment. It has been a hassle to say the least.

I've been pretty excited about sports lately the last two weeks especially. NBA playoffs the first round was fantastic. The NBA is spot on with their slogan "Where Amazing Happens" just ask George Karl.

The Kentucky Derby was enjoyable from my couch. I made a pact to plan on going next year with Adam and Gangel I also invited Lindsey by telling her she would get to wear a big hat. She didn't seem too impressed and said that the Derby is for rich people, no worries though I told her about the poor people like us in the infield and that from what I've seen and heard its like Springfest with horses and gambling. What could be more fun? We coming! We coming! Even the NHL playoffs have been a joy for me. I grew up watching a lot of hockey since my older brothers played and am now getting back into it with many former Sioux making playoff appearances.

Here's a sporting suprise to even me, I'm kind of getting into NASCAR. shh don't tell. As some of you know I work with disabled folk and one of the gentlemen I work with just loves NASCAR so I am forced to watch every other weekend when I am over there. At first I hated it and got very bored but like most things I figured if I turned it into a game it may become more enjoyable. So I told my buddy to pick a driver at the beginning and I'll pick one too so I had someone to root for. Eventually this leads to trash talking and I'm having a pretty good time. You can imagine my excitement a few weekends ago when I picked Carl Edwards and sure enough he takes the lead late. I'm standing up yelling, pumping my fist, my buddy is laughing his ass off at me and then it happens... Edwards tried to go down low and I think everyone has seen the highlight by now. He goes up in the air and flying into the fence. I'm stunned, absolutely shocked. What happens next makes it even more classic. Edwards jumps out of his car and runs across the finish line ala Ricky Bobby. I immediately text my friends (actually thinking they were watching), and they think it is hilarious that I saw that live.

Joe Joe Mauer made is return to the big leagues and had hits in his first 2 swings of the bat, the Dome was rocking and this season's excitement level was at an all time high. Then they promptly lost the next 2 games and struggled in Detroit bringing my excitement level back to normal. The Twins will putz around until the All-Star break, come out on a tear putting themselves into position to win the Central and then struggle down the stretch to either get 2nd or win and lose in the first round of the playoffs. Never fails.

Lindsey is off to Vegas this weekend to visit her sister, I chose not to go because we are going to Boston at the end of the month to see Dave at Fenway and needed to save my time off.

Have a good weekend all! I'm off to Walmart to pick up a Carl Edwards t-shirt.

Don Juan Triumphant

2009-04-21T10:45:00.000-05:00

Hammen, you shamed me into starting up the old key pounding again. I'll try to make this a regular thing although my life isn't at all interesting anymore. Just living the dream baby, living the dream.

As many of you know the wife and I have been involved in sports our whole lives. Lindsey being a collegiate athlete and I consider myself to be a decent weekend warrior. Throughout our playing days we were fortunate enough to never suffer a serious injury. Sure a sprained ankle here and there but nothing that would be season ending. Being as active as we are irony swung its evil head on us over Easter break although it didn't happen to either of us. My dog tore her ACL. (insert laughs here). Yup true story.

I went home to Bemidji for Easter weekend, the dogs usually love this because they can be leash free and eat as much poop and dead animals that they can find at my parent's house or Lindsey's parents place since they are both in rural areas. I let the dogs run around as soon as the car stops in the driveway and not 20 minutes later Dora comes up lame. She won't put any weight on her back left leg, tripodding around the yard. The tripodding continues through the weekend and my return to the Forks and I figure I better bring her in.

From previous experiences Dora hates the vet already. They call our name and she turns to head for the exit, realizing that I'm not giving in she belly flops on the ground and won't move. I have to carry her back to the exam room where the vet cranks on her leg like no tomorrow and we hear a pop. The vet looks up very solemn and says, "Your dog has the most common sports injury." I almost started laughing because 1. I knew exactly what she was talking about and 2. Is it even possible for a dog to tear an ACL?

To her credit Dora took it like a true warrior immediately asking the vet what are options were. Should we go under the knife or try to rehab it. The vet tells us that either way she will have arthritis as she gets older, the surgery will delay that by years and hopefully she won't be in too much pain. I left the choice up to Dora after all it is her future (but my pocket book) and she chose to get the surgery. They gave her some pain meds and we shopped around for the best deal. Knee surgery on a dog is no joke its cutthroat out there and my company health insurance won't cover it, so I'm forced to shell out the cash to improve the quality of life for my dog.

Dora either has the highest pain threshold I have ever seen or has some Jedi mind control powers because throughout the whole thing she hasn't whined or whimpered. She started putting weight on it and every step there is a loud pop, which is rather disturbing, I hope that it goes away.

Surgery tomorrow morning wish her luck.

Adventures in America Part II

2008-08-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

I never got around to finishing the Adventures in America segment so here goes. After the Grand Canyon debacle we continued on our way to beautiful Las Vegas, NV to visit the sister in law. On the way to Vegas there happens to be a very large dam that as of now needs to be crossed over. The dam has a name, they call it Hoover. I say as of now it needs to be crossed because they are currently building a by-pass to ease the traffic through area because quite frankly it is a mess.

As we arrived at Mr. Hoover's dam it was late afternoon/early evening and we decided to do the get out of the car and take pictures tour instead of the actual tour which I hear is pretty cool, maybe next time. Lets not kid ourselves we really wanted to get to Vegas quickly so the hop out tour was best. At this point we are also running out of gas quickly, Lindsey is getting flustered but I assure her we can go another 20 miles once the line gets to E. I really don't know if thats true, but I'm not scared I'll say it will. We finally get out of the Hoover mess and see a gas station a few miles after, the price? $4.05. At the end of May the averages price was around $3.30 so I'm really not happy about this, I try to keep going but the wife and common sense prevail, we needed to get gas.

We don't have directions to Jen's place and are trying to contact her. Little do we know her phone doesn't ring while she is in her apartment but it does recieve voicemails and texts. We are approaching the city quickly it's rush hour and we don't know where we are going. Lindsey is getting flustered and I say if we don't hear from Jen in the next 10 minutes we are going to Four Queens for some blackjack switch (greatest game ever!). We don't hear from Jen and proceed to north vegas when finally Jen calls back and asks where we are. She is laughing and ripping us for going somewhere without directions and I assure her its ok I have an atlas, blackjack switch here we come! Anyways we turn around and go to Jen's and I am crushed, Lindsey tells me the tables will be waiting but I don't believe her.

We had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and retired to bed for the evening without going to the casinos. The next day we hang out at Jen's pool and do some barbecueing. Then its time to hit the tables.

So a few months ago I bought a computer casino game so I could learn how to play craps. (I know, I know I'm a nerd.) I'm really excited to play but first we play switch at Binions and all three of us are doing well. Jen and I pretty much play by the book and are up like $50 or so. Lindsey plays with no rhyme or reason and is cleaning up. I will never understand. We finish the shoe, I'm up money and am now ready to try out craps. Jen and I play and it's going good for about 10 minutes, then boom the money I was up is gone plus a little more. We gave ourselves a gambling budget since the trip was draining our pocketbook and my budget is almost spent which isn't good. I sit out for awhile and watch Lindsey clean up at her favorite casino The Fitzgerald, baffled by how she is playing and winning. She equates busting to double faulting so she will stand at nearly every chance and ends up winning with 13s and 14s. Simply amazing.

I sneak away to secretly play craps and lose the rest of my budget. I come crawling back to Lindsey and ask for some of her winnings and she reluctantly gives $40 to me, I play switch for awhile and do alright before the craps itch comes back. Yep I lost all that too and I'm done. No wait! I have a secret $50 stash in my shoe! I promise myself I'm done. Wait for it, wait for it...I'm playing again, I lose again. I'm really done now. Lindsey does well enough to make up for some of my losses and we end up down $97 as a team for the evening which really isn't bad at all. Props to Lindsey for making no excuses and playing like a champion.

The rest of our Vegas time goes well, the girls did some shopping meanwhile I participated in some people watching, one of my favorite pastimes. We check out some of the casinos I didn't get a chance to see last time and meet up with Buckley for some lunch at her new house. Buckley's boyfriend hooked us up with some free tickets to Spamalot for that evening which was fantastic and our time in Sin City was over.

Next stop...Yosemite National Park and Redwood Forest

I suck at blogging

2008-08-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

I am really sorry, I'm not very good at this. Anyways for an update on my life and other happenings here you go. I finished up my first summer session of big kid's school last week. Maybe that's why I haven't found the time to update.

I'm in graduate school to get a master's in community counseling. Community counseling is basically being a counselor that provides individual, group, family, and marriage counseling that works through a community agency. The six students including me in our class were all new and pretty much had no idea what was going on. So what do we do you ask. Theories class was about different counseling theories and was pretty boring, Counseling Methods class was however not boring. We had lecture on Monday and Tuesday for two hours and then had lab on Thursdays. Lab is where it really gets crazy. We pair off so one person is the counselor and the other is a client, then they send us into the room next door. This room has some chairs a small table a two way mirror that the rest of the class is watching through and a camera system so we get recorded.

The first week they throw us in the fire telling us to go in there and start a counseling session and try to make it 10-15 minutes in length. Keep in mind that we have no experience and are pretty much nervous as hell. Needless to say we all pretty much sucked that first week. As the weeks went on we learned new skills and the sessions got longer working our way up to 25 minute sessions. A typical session in the real world is 50 minutes but we couldn't do that due to classroom constraints.

After 8 weeks of that we finished and our professor assures us we are ready for practicum even though none of us feel that confident. Practicum starts in the fall and is pretty much the same as methods except it involves real clients at real sites in Grand Forks. I'm not gonna lie I'm kind of scared, I can't believe they are going to put that kind of responsibility in my hands.

That has been a recap of the last 8 weeks of my life, in other news Lindsey and I had our one year anniversary last Sunday, we celebrated by going to Qdoba and eating the top of our wedding cake that had been cryogenetically frozen in my inlaws fridge for the last year. It actually tasted pretty good.

Ta Ta for now I'm going to noonball.

Adventures in America Part I

2008-06-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

Wow have I been a bust at blogging or what? I apoligize to both of my readers for my lack of posting. The past month has been a wild ride quite literally for me. My wife and I departed Grand Forks on May 8th on a quest to see the U.S. The following will be a quick synopsis of our travels and highlights of each destination.

The trip started in Bolivar, Missouri where the wife had tennis regionals. The UND tennis team had never won in this round of the postseason and hopes were high. After many hours of rain the sun decided to come out allowing the teams to compete. The girls lost and so ended the wife's competitive tennis career. We then traveled north to visit the Slice and company in Lawrence.

After taking a strange route and getting lost in Kansas City we made it to the Reserve safely. We stayed in this night catching up on everyone's lives and resting for the day ahead. In the morning we attended a BBQ cookoff which was a fantastic suprise as there were many quality samples of meat for us to enjoy. The Slice gave us the Lawrence tour afterwords and we attended the Sandbar in the evening where we were introduced to the delicious shark attacks. The final day in Lawrence brought us to Kansas City for a mother's day Royals game. The women recieved a pink royals t-shirt that would make an appearance in a hostile environment later in the trip. We departed the following morning for Corpus Christi, Texas.

Our friend in Corpus took two days off work to show us around her area. We went to the Gulf and swam, visited a WWII aircraft carrier and played mini-golf during our time in Corpus. Nothing extrodinary happened and it was nice to see our friend in her natural habitat. The next part of our trip was the longest driving stretch taking us west to Arizona.

Our destination was the Grand Canyon before going to Las Vegas for a few days. Using our atlas I see that the Grand Canyon is around 300 miles long or something and decided we should go to the western part to save time. Bad decision. The normal fee for a national park is $20 and you pretty much get to explore on your own if you want to. We soon realize that we are arriving at the small portion of the canyon owned by a native american reservation. We pay $20 to park and can't see the canyon. In order to see the canyon we must use either their bus at $30 a person or their helicopter at $150 a person. We take the bus and are brought to a lookout point where they have built a 70 foot glass floored platform that goes out over the canyon. Pretty cool but this also costs an additional $30, needless to say we didn't go on it. Even though we got screwed over the Grand Canyon is an unbelievable site and something everyone should see in their lifetime. On our way to Vegas we also stopped and drove over the Hoover Dam which was pretty sweet too.

More to follow including Vegas, Yosemite and Redwood Forest...

It has been a good week.

2008-05-01T10:52:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the UND Tennis squad. Last weekend they won the NCC championship. They will travel to Bolivar, MO for regionals on May 8-10 which means Lindsey and I will begin our tour of the western United States then. Lindsey also passed her nursing boards yesterday officially making her a registered nurse. After making another visit to St. Cloud I got a strange vibe and have decided to accept UND's offer to continue my education. This is bittersweet in that we will be staying in the Forks for another two years but they are giving me a pretty good aid package so it was hard to turn down. After months of wondering what our future was going to be it is a relief to know what we will be doing. With that being said here is our preliminary trip plans and dates:

May 8-10: Bolivar, MO for tennis. According to Google Maps Bolivar is approximately three hours southeast of Lawrence.
May 10-12: depending on how tennis goes we will travel to Lawrence to meet up with Hammen and company for a couple days. I look forward to eating at Sonic.
May 12-14: drive to Corpus Christi to see the Surmanator.
May 15-16: drive from Corpus to see the Grand Canyon for a day.
May 17-19: continue to Las Vegas to see a relative and be inappopriate in Sin City.
May 20: drive northwest and check out Yosemite National Park in California.
May 21: continue on to Redwood National Park.
May 22-23: Portland, OR to see a relative's friend.
May 24-26: Seattle, WA area to see Lindsey's relatives.
May 27-28: drive east to Glacier National Park for a few days before returning home.

It should be a grand adventure seeing friends and relatives as well as knocking off many states on my quest for all fifty. Upon returning, my old roommates and I are traveling east to catch two Dave Matthews Band concerts in New Jersey as well as attending numerous baseball games in Chicago, Philly, New York and Boston.

Don't ask how we can afford this because we probably can't with gas at record highs, but I enjoy adventures and there is no better time to do this before we get tied down to jobs and school.

Good day!

The NBA Playoffs begin Saturday

2008-04-17T14:01:00.001-05:00

As an exciting NBA season ended last night, (at least in the West) the matchups have been set for the first round. Here are my predictions:

WEST

Lakers (1) over Nuggets (8) in 5.
Mavericks (7) over Hornets (2) in 6.
Suns (6) over Spurs (3) in 7. Best first round series.
Jazz (4) over Rockets (5) in 5.

EAST

Celtics (1) over Hawks (8) in 4.
Pistons (2) over 76ers (7) in 5.
Magic (3) over Raptors (6) in 5.
Cavs (4) over Wizards (5) in 6.

The West playoffs are going to be fantastic.

In other news Lindsey and I are planning a "How the West was won." trip starting in May. We plan on visiting all of our friends in their new locations starting with the Hammen crew in Kansas, followed by the Surmanator in Texas, before heading west to California, Vegas, Oregon, Washington, Montana and back home. More details and dates to follow when we have more planning done. Hammen you have been forewarned, we're coming down.

Good day!

Twins Opener

2008-04-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

My third Twins opener in a row didn't disappoint. Twins record in home openers when Mr. Whiting is in attendance? 3-0. My long weekend started by watching some quality DII tennis on Friday and Saturday in St. Cloud. I then stayed in Little Falls, MN with my old roommate Gangle. Gangle works at the Country Inn and Suites in Littles Falls a small town 25 minutes north of St. Cloud. The evening started out innocently enough with my arrival, I picked up two chicken tender melts at the local Perkins and Gangle purchased a case of beverages. We enjoyed our feast before heading to the Red Bull Bar in Little Falls. It was fun hanging out with these layed back country folk. Gangle gets a call from a co-worker and we depart for her house and the night gets interesting.

Upon arrival there are two large muddy pickups in the driveway and I tell Gangle we might be out of place here. He laughed and reminded me we are from Bemidji, this is totally normal. We enter the house and proceed to play drinking games. I pretty much hadn't played any drinking games or gotten belligerent since moving out of H67 and getting married, so this brought back some memories for me and the glamourous H67 days.

We played P & A as well as categories. The night gets stranger as the co-worker's dad arrives home from the bowling alley he owns, he is with a couple of friends and they sit down to play with us. To be honest I have never played drinking games with middle aged folks and it got pretty funny. At one point the category was U.S. presidents, we are going along pretty well, not a real hard category and what comes out? Somebody says, "Benjamin Franklin." Gangle and I look at eachother not sure what to do. Someone else says, "Yeah Ben Franklin he was one of the best presidents ever!" Wow! I'll drink to that! Gangle and I didn't want to rain on anyones parade so we let it slide, afterall we were guests. We managed to get back to the hotel early in the morning where Gangle had to work the front desk at 7 in the am. I slept till noon it was glorious.

Gangle got off work and we headed for the cities. We stopped at Gangle's uncle's place to catch the end of Kansas vs. Davidson on big screen HD. It was fantastic. Thanks Uncle Matt. We planned on staying at another friends house in St. Paul but we crashed at uncle Matt's. We were awoken by uncle Matt's four and two year old demanding we play with them. Wow! Insanity ensued as these kids ran around us in circles for nearly two hours. When we decided to leave the little girl didn't want to say goodbye, she was mad at us for leaving.

With the excitement of the new Twins stadium we were reminded very quickly why it should probably have a retractable roof even if no one wants to foot the bill. The snowstorm was redonkulus. Something like 8 inches fell on Monday. Anyway Gangle and I go to the Corner Bar around 1:30 or so to take in the opening day games. We order some food and brews and watch the games until deciding to go to the dome around 3:30ish. We have general admission tickets so we want to get there early to sit in the front row above the right field baggy. Its about a ten minute walk through the storm which neither of us are dressed for. Our shoes are soaked but we are in line about 3:45. The doors open at 4:30, this is going to suck. We don't have great position in line and know our odds to get front row are not good but we remain optimistic. To pass the time Gangle tries to memorize the PA announcement from the dome that is repeating every couple of minutes.

At last the doors open, Gangle and I scurry to the proper section to witness a lady that had a roll of tape over 8-10 chairs for the first 3 rows. Thats 24-30 seats are you f'ing kidding me!? We sit in the fourth or fifth row and the madness begins. An usher comes over and says that isn't legit. As soon as he finishes his sentence a woman pounces down there and starts ripping the tape off and a middle aged woman yelling match ensues. People are scrambling down to get the seats, Gangle and I are shell shocked and unable to move. While this is going on T. Hunt is taking bp and hits one up there, people are scrambling, women are yelling at eachother and someone almost gets hit by a baseball. This action is worth the price of admission alone.

The pregame festivities commence and Torii Hunter recieves a nice standing ovation and a highlight reel his played. Good for him that was nice. The game itself was pretty entertaining a 3-2 victory for the Twins with highlights being a good performance from fat Livan, Carlos Gomez's great debut and Joe Nathan striking out Hunter in the 9th with everyone on their feet the entire at bat. My buddy Durn and I were also rumored to make an apperance on ESPN cheering loudly. We knew it was a possibility because the ESPN camera guy was pretty much in our faces for 2 innings. The Twins turned a double play, we stood up and cheered with great enthusiasm and two minutes later Durn recieves a call from his buddy in Chicago. "Are you wearing your grey Twins Territory shirt? Is the guy next to you wearing a jersey? I think I just saw you on ESPN, let me rewind it and get back to you." Sure enough there we were, good for us. Gangle missed out by going to the concession stand.

We stayed at Durn's that evening with no excitement which was ok. I left in the morning and Gangle stayed to go to Tuesday's game. Overall a fantastic weekend. Twins are now 1-3.

Late March Review

2008-03-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting for awhile, this month has been a little busy. First off the last three weeks I have had interviews for Community Counseling Grad schools. March 14th UND, March 21st St.Cloud State, March 27th University of St. Thomas. The first two (UND and SCSU) were in a group format which was a new experience for me. There was a panel of three faculty members and a group of five students. Faculty asked questions and we each responded. The whole process took three hours and I was a little tired afterwords. The third interview at St. Thomas, which is in Minneapolis was yesterday and lasted only 15 minutes. Yes that's right I drove for almost five hours and had a 15 minute interview. They had told me beforehand that it would only be 15 minutes but somehow after driving there and finishing the interview I felt it may have been the largest waste of a day ever considering that afterwords I turned around and drove back to G Funk.

Overall I felt the interviews went pretty well. UND probably went the best because of my familiarity with the campus and the fact that the acting head of the department is Dr. David Perry who some of you may know as a noonball legend. So I had that going for me. However if I was to get an offer from all three, UND would be my last choice. Let's compare and contrast.

1. UND
Pros: familiarity, quality faculty,
Cons: some funding available but not alot, could be problems with practicum assignments, more focus on research than other schools, would like to leave Grand Forks, Lindsey doesn't want to work at Altru

2. SCSU
Pros: lots of funding available, seemed like a quality faculty, no problems with practicum, good track record for job placement, great hospital that Lindsey wants to work at
Cons: I didn't get the same welcoming vibe that I got at UND, I'm not quite sure about the city of St. Cloud

3. St. Thomas
Pros: focus on training professionals with almost nothing on research, no thesis, quality faculty, good job placement, would like to live in the cities, lots of quality hospitals in the cities for Lindsey
Cons: essentially no funding available I'd have to take out more loans, only having a 15 minute interview seemed kind of fishy, Lindsey isn't completely sold on living in the cities

I should be finding out my fate in about two weeks, my fate may be decided for me but hopefully I will get offers from all three and can then make my decision. I also applied to UNLV but got rejected without getting an interview which I'm kind of bummed about, would've been a great excuse to make a trip to Vegas.

Among other things, I guess my brackets are so-so, I had eleven sweet sixteen teams, although I had Tennessee in the Final Four, I regretted this decision as soon as the bracket deadline passed. I watched them earlier in the year and thought they were fantastic and then they beat Memphis. However after watching them last night against Louisville I was dumbfounded. As far as fundamental basketball (taking care of the rock, taking good shots, playing good defense) possibly the worst game I've ever watched. It was truly madness, both teams combined for 25 turnovers in the first half and the shot selection was worse than noonball. It reminded me of the guy last summer that showed up didn't know anybody and took a contested three every time down bricking every one, then when it came time to shoot for the next game he went toe to toe with James making like six in a row before James beat him.

Also Twins opener on Monday. Gangle and I will be in attendance, my third opener in a row and Gangle's fourth. I remain optimistic about the Twins this year but in reality they aren't going to be good for awhile I'm afraid. Livan Hernandez opening day starter. Enough said. Torii Hunter also makes an early return to the dome as a member of the Angels. I'm interested to see what kind of reception he recieves. I for one don't blame him for leaving, the Twins offer was laughable an the Twins clearly aren't committed to winning this season. I hope the Minnesota faithful treat him nicely he was pretty much the face of the franchise after Kirby.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Yay for March!

2008-03-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

March is here! Which means many things. Besides the summer months, March is the best month on the calendar for a multitude of reasons:

1. The Red River Valley slowly begins to thaw out. This can be fun because as soon as it gets a little bit above freezing it feels like its 75 degrees. So everyone including me is like "sweet I don't have to wear my jacket anymore! Maybe I'll go out in my t-shirt. Man this weather is amazing." and ten minutes later you're fricken freezing and then you remember is 35 degrees. I love that feeling.

2. Daylight savings time begins or ends, I'm not sure. Either way we move our clocks ahead, the days get longer and we actually get to see the sun. This alone makes March marvelous.

3. St. Patrick's Day. I get to celebrate my Irish heritage along with everybody else who may or may not have Irish roots but it doesn't matter. People get drunk on green beer and says things like "top of the morning to ya! How cool is that?

4. Mustache March (also Moustache March). This is kind of random. Last year while perusing around on Facebook I found a group called Facial Hair February. The idea was that you don't shave all month and post pictures showing your progress. Naturally I thought this was the greatest use of Facebook ever. So January 31st I shaved. I had never really grown a beard before, sometimes I get lazy and don't shave for a week but this time it was on purpose. Anyways by the end of the month I had a decent beard. I recruited some Red River kids who I worked with to join the event and their attempts were hilarious, bless their adolescent souls. Come the end of February I didn't want it to end so I declared that it was Mustache March, I shaved my beard and left the mustache. Let me be the first to tell you it was disgusting. I could only handle it for 2 days and Mustache March was history. Sadly I didn't participate this year, because I have a new semi-serious job which means I need to be semi-serious.

5. March Madness. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships. What an event. Although Selection Sunday isn't until March 16th, the madness truly begins the first week of March.
a. Fantastic end of the regular season games. We have had three different number 1 teams in the last three weeks. Every game seems to mean more and the effects ripple through college basketball.
b. The Bubble Watch. I have to say that ESPN has gotten a little out of control with this. The one thing I hate about ESPN and sports broadcasting in general is the over analysis. They actually started talking about the bubble at the end of January. I agree and understand that every game is important this time of year. No question about it. My problem is that they break it down so much that sometimes I think if a team loses the tip-off they might not make the tournament. Too bad try again next year. I have no problem with the bubble watch I just wish they would tone it down a little bit.
c. This tournament has actually affected how people speak. Phrases like "March Madness," "Selection Sunday," "the bubble," "championsip week," "bracketology," and "mid-major" have all become common vernacular in the American culture not just the sports enthusiasts. That's pretty amazing. The tournament makes everyone a fan. Every office has a pool, people that never watch sports watch it. Middle age office secretaries fill out their bracket and more than often do better than the young hotshot who watches everygame. (this means you James, no offense, it just happens.)

With that I wish everyone good luck on their brackets and bets if that's what you do. Enjoy the upcoming nice weather but remember to leave your jacket on. Enjoy champioship week, feel sorry for the burst bubbles. Luck of the Irish to you on St. Patty's Day and buckle in for a fantastic tournament.

Greetings

2008-02-29T12:33:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody. First off I'm really excited to be here! I have officially made the jump from anonymous blog reader to blogger. After months of reading my friends blogs (mainly "A Little Slice of Hammen" and the links he provides) I decided to enter the world.

Who am I you might ask. My name is Shawn, I came to the Forks from the metropolis that is Bemidji, MN in August of 2003 to go to school and haven't been able to escape yet. After a year or so here I met one James Hammen through the sisters Folkert who worked with him at Perkins (South Columbia edition) and we became friends.

I enjoy watching and playing sports especially basketball and water polo. My favorite spectactor sport is college basketball and my favorite team is Duke. Some of you may stop reading this after seeing that but I assure you I am not one of those gay Duke fans, I became a fan as an impressionable young 1st grader when Laetner became a hero, I also thought they had a cool logo. I have been a fan ever since but ironically can't stand the upper class snobbishness that the program exhibits, I refuse to choose another team though. It's not my style. Either way I enjoy a good college basketball game no matter who is playing.

The name of my blog is "My honey and my money are at the golf course" This in fact is a bumper sticker that is on my 1993 Ford Escort Wagon. My parentals bought the vehicle for $900 for me to use at school. It was previously owned by a middle aged woman who took ridiculus care of it and had the bumper sticker on it. As a result of me being to lazy and just not caring the bumper sticker remains there and a get a few laughs from people driving by every once in awhile. When I got married in August I offered to buy it from my parents, my dad laughed in my face and gave me the title for nothing.

This has been a sampling of what I'm all about, I should be posting at least once a week in the future. Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow.