Basketball Season

I was a bit disappointed to see today that KU is ranked 25th in ESPN's preseason basketball poll. Sure, they lost 4 seniors as well as J.R. Giddens and Alex Galindo. However, there is an awful lot of talent on the court in Lawrence. Hopefully Self is able to bring it all together.

Read what the "insiders" say here.

Catching up with my life

After two weeks straight and over 130 hours of working without time off, they decided to give us a day off today in the interest of our sanity. It's nice to have a chance to catch up with my life - pay some bills, check my email, watch a little tv, work out...Laura even took the morning off and we decided to "reorganize" some things. Moving in after Jess and I, she sort of got shafted when it came to space in the apartment. Being the swell guy I am, I suggested we do something about that, so that is how we occupied our morning. It may not sound like much fun, but it just FEELS better around here. Anyways, the break was a short one - I have to go back to shift work again tomorrow - but was well spent and much needed.

We are the champions...well, almost.

Had our last "regular season" flag football game today. We won 21-9, locking up a 2nd place finish in the league. We have the "state tournament" (well, they call it that, but what they mean is all the teams from every level - A, B, C, D - in the league compete to determine an overall champ...they is no state competition involved) next weekend so we should be seeded pretty highly. The team that got first did beat us but probably shouldn't have. Hopefully we get a chance to meet up again in the tourney. After that is the offseason...gotta start training for next spring's Alumni Game...or not.

Picture Party

You may have noticed I added LOTS of new pictures to the site. To the right, you'll see that I added a section called "My Flickr Photos". Flickr is a photo-sharing site that created the tool you see which randomly cylces through the photos I have uploaded. If you click on a pic, it should open up the full-sized version. Thanks, Jason, for the idea! I knew you were good for something...

Near the bottom of the page on the right, I added a section called "My Photo Links". I have links to lots of photos I have uploaded to a different website. If you have any problems opening any of these, please email me and let me know.

Enjoy!

In his own words

Jason had a great post this week that I found particularly interesting. He talks about what I think a lot of us can relate to - the monotony that is the real world and what it is that most of us crave but find ourselves missing. I believe that, like him, especially being a former athlete, I've come to need emotion and passion in things I do. I do my best to take pride in everything I affix my name to, but sometimes it's easier to just go through the motions. Anyways, Jason has a good post that might make you think. Enjoy!

The link is here.

Maple Leaf-less

For the first time in who-knows-how-many years, I missed Maple Leaf. For those who are unfamiliar with it, every third weekend in October, there is a 2 day "festival" where people from all over (literally) come for a parade, booths, etc. When I say they come from miles around, I mean it. The population of Baldwin (probably around 5,000) will easily triple for those two days, if not worse. Did anyone go this year? How was it? More importantly, can you believe that Baldwin has a website and that the Maple Leaf website has NO pictures - seeing all the trees is the best part of the whole weekend!!

UPDATE: Maple Leaf pics from the newspaper.

What a Weekend

As adverstised, I have been working my tail off. When all is said and done, I'll likely have well over 70 hours this week (and I didn't even come to work on Monday). The overtime will be nice but I'd rather be laying on the couch right now!

Other than work, the weekend was pretty slow. I reffed a couple games yesterday and played on my flag football team this morning. We pulled out a win against a pretty crappy team. I'm not sure why we insist on playing down to other teams but we keep doing it. We have sort of a random/ecclectic assortment of guys on the team so it's always interesting. However, the team chemistry is pretty awful (thanks to one or two guys) so I'm not sure if I'll play on this team in the future or not. Oh well, it's fun to get it out of my system.

Why am I still awake?

It's been an interesting week thusfar. After not working on Monday because I was getting my brakes repaired, I showed up on Tuesday to work to find they had instilled a new policy. Before, they had been very reasonable about overtime, etc. because we have SO much to do that it is nearly impossible to complete it all in only 40 hours/week. However, out of the blue, they decided to squash the idea of overtime...it is no more. Well, that's fine I suppose - I'll cut back to 40 hours and leave as soon as I hit that. I didn't sign up to work for free, did you?

Anyways, so that was Tuesday. By Thursday, they had realized that deadlines were drawing near and there was NO way we'd meet them if people weren't working. So now, rather than cutting back, I think I'm working more than ever. In three days alone I've reached my 40 hours and I still have to work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, each for at least 9 hours a day. Regardless of how much or how little time I spend in it, the business world just keeps throwing me one curve ball after another.

Wanna buy a car?

While at home this weekend, my car started making a funny, "clanking" sound (that is, of course, the technical term). Well, I made it home and decided to take it to a mechanic today because it felt like it was in the brakes. I started at Midas - I'd had good luck there. They seem to do good work and their prices have been reasonable in the past. Little did I know they'd come back with an estimate of $1,200! They obviously added everything to the work order that they could think of but it still floored me. By the time I got them down to what I needed done, it was still almost$500.

As you may or may not know, I'm very, very, very stingy when it comes to money. I don't mind spending it on something I need or really want. However, if I feel like I'm getting screwed, they usually feel my wrath (however, when it comes to haggling on prices, I'm your guy!). By the time all was said and done, I determined it best to take my business elsewhere. All I needed were new rear pads and rotors, which we probably could of changed at home for $100 in parts. However, I had to call about a dozen places before I finally found a place that did it for $300. Oh, happy day! I love unexpected expenses!!

Anyways, for anyone interested in a stunning GMC Jimmy, I'd be happy to cut you a deal.

Fall Drive

Went on a drive with Jason & Kelli to check out the fall colors. This one came out pretty well.

See more pictures from our trip here.

Aaron & Laura at Bear Lake

Me and Laura at Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park.

We spent the day in Estes Park & RMNP exploring, hiking, and taking pictures. See more photos from our trip here.

Over the mountain and through the woods...

We FINALLY got back to Kansas late last night/early this morning. It was a pretty normal trip - nothing too out of the ordinary. We did make it on only one pit stop, however, which was a first. Nevertheless, that did put a little scare into us that we didn't think we'd have enough gas to make it home at one point!! When I say we were cutting it close, I mean we were running on fumes from the fumes.

Should be a very busy weekend. Wedding stuff all day today (meeting with photographer, caterer, etc.) and then going to the wedding tomorrow. It sucks having to drive that far twice in only three days without any time to relax in between but it had to be done. Plus I get to go watch the Bulldogs play tonight - haven't seen them play since coaching them so that will probably be a little awkward. But, it's homecoming so it outta be a blowout.

Off to spend way too much money on more stuff for a one day event...gotta love getting married!!

Ben and Beth

I understand that some of you were having trouble opening pics from Ben & Beth's wedding. So, I have reposted them and you can find the link below. Let me know if you have problems!

Pics are here.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Laura and I made a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park a few weeks ago up near Estes Park. Just now getting around to posting pics...

Pictures are here.

This and That

It has been a good weekend so far - lots going on but nothing too stressful. On Friday night, Ben, Beth, Laura & I went downtown to an "up-scale" bowling alley that Beth discovered. It was WAY too expensive but a lot of fun - huge projection tv's at the end of each lane, a restaurant that was actually tasty, and an inviting environment. Like I said, they overcharge for bowling, but it was a good time (oh, and if you're wondering, I did awful - like usual).

Saturday morning I had yet another football game. I am getting to the point where I'm pretty comfortable with the game - it is surprisingly different than playing. The hardest part is just keeping control of the situation, but I got several compliments from the veterans I was working with, so maybe I'll be ok at this after all. We'll see if I can talk my crew chief into letting me work some varsity games (I don't have my hopes up!).

I just got back a little while ago from my flag football game this morning. We won - I think that puts us at 2-2 even though we are leading the league in scoring...by a lot. Too bad our defense isn't that great. The team we played today, however, was pretty bad. They called the game in the second half because we were up by too much. Last week was actually more fun for me, even though we lost, because the guy playing across from me was pretty decent. Today wasn't even a challege...what can ya do?

Off to watch the Chiefs game...hopefully not a repeat of Monday night!