RC for Short

Gyms and Trainers in the New Year

2011-12-31T14:15:00.003-06:00

First, I recognize that blogging once a year is a pot/kettle situation relative to my comments below.

Second, there is some sarcasm here and the rest is a little pointed. I recommend if you find yourself offended, stop reading.

It struck me this week that next week is the week that everyone shows up at the gym as part of their New Year's resolution to get in shape, lose weight, etc. As a regular gym-goer I'm always glad when we get past the first couple of weeks of January and 80% of the additional traffic subsides. My suggestion, if you're not going to make it out of January on the road to better health, don't bother with the gym membership - save some money and try something else (fad diet or something).

On that topic, let's talk about fad diets. Here's a question you need to ask yourself before you start any diet program: What happens when I reach my goal weight? The problem I see with most diets (fad or otherwise) is that they don't seem to do much in the way of changing behavior or teaching people how to avoid putting the weight back on. There are dozens of diets out there that will result in weight loss (if followed), but most aren't doing much to help people live a healthier life (minus that 20 pounds) when they are done dieting. Remember, a diet is a means to an end. Fad diets are particularly bad because they focus on getting people to do things they would never do normally in order to get rid of the weight rather than teaching them better habits in the first place.

Back to gym issues. If part of your resolution includes hiring a trainer let me save you some money and frustration. A few important rules in trainer selection:

1. If the trainer you're about to hire doesn't look the way you want to when you're done, don't hire them. Sorry, that's a little rough. If you are hiring an opposite gender trainer this would apply differently. The point is that if the person you're about to hire is either overweight or a current body-builder they probably aren't the right person if you're goals don't include either of those things.

2. If your trainer spends time on the phone during your sessions, shows up late, leaves early, juggles other clients (if that isn't part of the agreed up on arrangement), FIRE them and find someone else.

3. If you tell the trainer your goal is to get in shape and/or lose weight and all they have you doing is strength-training, FIRE them. If those are your goals, in order to be successful you need to be spending about 75% of your time doing cardio of some sort. That's not to say you'll spend that much of your sessions doing that. It does mean that needs to be what they are teaching you as an overall approach along with teaching you how to eat better and avoid un-doing the good you're doing at the gym. Watch The Biggest Loser, notice that the strength-training they do is almost entirely done as a circuit drill - which is really cardio in disguise. To lose weight you have to get your heart rate up and keep it elevated for extended (30+ minutes) periods. It's important to do weight bearing exercise (strength-training) as part of your program, but doing a set and sitting and chatting for 2 minutes isn't going to help you reach your goals.

4. If you are serious about hiring a trainer and I can't talk you out of it, there's only one I'll recommend to you by name upon request. But fair warning, this guy doesn't mess around and he is a Marine.

That's it. That's the sum total of all I'll say for a very long time on this topic. I'm not a trainer. I don't use a trainer. I don't regularly give diet and exercise advise. And I don't do group workouts - got sick of waiting on people and no-shows. So take all this for what it is worth.

10 Things I learned in 2010

2011-01-08T14:31:00.003-06:00

Eric Epperson - a friend from work and fellow native Oklahoman - suggested I come up with a top-10 style list of the things I learned in 2010. The following is what I came up with. He had several people do the same thing and posted all of them on his blog. There were several insightful things that others had learned, definitely worth a few minutes to read their thoughts. Thank you for the invitation, Eric.

10 things I learned in 2010:

10. That I didn’t really know what exhaustion was until I became a dad.

I have put in some late nights and early mornings in college. I have worked some fairly rough weeks at MOVE. I’ve driven through the night two nights in a row in a box truck. I’ve done all sorts of ridiculous physical exertion activities. But frankly I had no idea what sleep deprivation or exhaustion were until we had Drake. Day after day and week after week of very little sleep combined with constant motion and a whole new list of responsibilities that I was initially terrible at (my wife might debate whether I was only initially terrible or continue in my futility) definitely taught me a little more about what it means to truly be exhausted.

9. The importance of listening, asking questions, then speaking with half the intensity I feel.

To say I learned this needs to be qualified. I was reminded of this truth and daily struggle to live up to it. James 1:19-20 comes to mind, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” I came to the realization that I am much more likely to speak first and harshly when I am exceedingly tired. As a friend whose office used to be across the hall from mine can attest, January and February of 2010 were rough.

8. That when you have a child all the character flaws and bad habits that others tolerate or you just keep to yourself suddenly see the light of day.

The enormity of this hit me one day in traffic as I was explaining to another driver (from inside my wife’s car with the windows up) why he was a complete idiot and the state of Missouri should never have issued him a license. There in the rearview mirror smiling at me was the 10-month-old version of myself. I can hear it now, “Daddy, what does spineless wiener mean?” “Daddy, why did you call that man an idiot?” Not good. 2011 will be make or break in terms of me “unlearning” some bad habits.

7. That Dave Ramsey is right when he says you’ll spend less if you spend cash.

I don’t agree with him on everything, but he is right that you will spend less when you spend cash (actual currency). I had long maintained that if you were disciplined and only bought the things you needed/planned to buy then the form of payment did not particularly matter. After switching our discretionary expense items over to cash in 2010 I now see that he was right. We are spending less on those items because we are looking at what is left in the “envelope”.

6. That small changes can make a big difference in your budget.

When we decided that Brittany would not return to work in the fall of 2010 we had to immediately start looking at our spending and figure out where to reduce it fairly significantly (to us). There were some large, easy things that came first. There were some adjustments we could make (to things like the tax withholdings in my paychecks) that helped. There were a few conscious decisions (the call to Dish Network comes to mind) that we still feel occasionally (like when the entire BCS schedule ends up on ESPN). Ultimately, however, over the course of a few months we started finding ways to save a few dollars here and there (in groceries especially) that made a big difference. A couple of dollars a week doesn’t sound huge until you multiply by 52 (okay, that’s still not huge, but it starts to look a little bigger).

5. How blessed I am by the generosity of those around me.

We have been incredibly blessed as a couple (now family). With both of us working good jobs, while we weren’t purchasing any vacation homes we were able to do things we needed to, many of the things we wanted to, and save for the future. We weren’t particularly dependent on anyone. If we needed something we went and bought it. We have been humbled and greatly blessed by the way God has provided for us through the generosity and love of family and friends as we stepped through each new phase Drake entered in the midst of learning to be more frugal than was required in the past.

4. That weddings are a dangerous thing.

I was in one wedding, supported a wife in 2, and attended a couple of others in 2010. Here’s what I learned, you have to be careful as the bride and groom or you’ll end up with less friends after the wedding than you had before. Over the last several years I have watched and listened as a handful of well-meaning couples made being a part of their big day such a royal pain that their relationships with family and friends suffered as a result. A suggestion: It is your big day, but that doesn’t mean you should walk all over the ones you “love”.

3. That letting go can be difficult.

Prior to 2010, I had supervised the MOVE interns for 4 summers. According to Luzadder I had “worn” it for the program – meaning I owned it. The decision was made in late 2009 that I would hand over the reins in 2010. That sounded good, a little less running crazy all summer. In reality it was tough to give only solicited feedback and advice while watching someone else run it (very capably though differently) than I would have. I’m guessing that’s a lesson I’ll have to put into action again later in life.

2. That people have very strong opinions of how you should care for and raise your child(ren).

Whether it’s names, cloth v. disposable, bottle v. breast (feeding), or any other of a litany of important (though in some cases overblown) decisions you make as a prospective and new parent the one thing you can count on is that everyone you know who has had a kid, might someday want one, or has ever seen one on TV will have an opinion about the decision you should make. Not only that, they’ll be strong opinions in a lot of cases, to the point that it’s personally offensive if you don’t agree with them and make the choices they did or think you should. My advice: Listen to their perspective, learn what you can, then make the right decision for your child and your family. God made you and your spouse the parents of your child and with that comes the responsibility to make choices for how best to care for that child’s needs. Don’t delegate that responsibility and don’t apologize to others for the choices you make.

1. That getting older doesn’t always mean you can’t, but it may mean it’s going to hurt more.

I’m 31, which isn’t that old, I get that. But I’m not 23 anymore, a fact I’m reminded of by the growing colony of gray hair staring at me in the mirror each morning. A jog through Oklahoma City in April reminded me that being several years older than the last time I tried it didn’t mean that I couldn’t still do it (though that day will come too) it really just meant I’d be a lot more sore the next day than the last time. The point here would be that in light of this truth I have to choose wisely when it is and is NOT worth it to prove that I still can.

Cards and Bedlam

2010-11-28T07:14:00.002-06:00

Brief comments only on Webb City's 9th state title and OSU's Bedlam loss last night.

Webb City

I had a feeling that Warrenton was over-matched and I was right. You have to feel for them, well, I do at least, I've been on the wrong side of a blowout state finals game. Webb was never challenged in this one, which to me is a little weird, to just walk all over the finals opponent. Their toughest challenges proved to be Aquinas, Carthage, Helias, and Harrisonville.

I would argue that Aquinas was a turning point in the season. Up to that point they had not shown anything like championship level play. Carthage was Carthage, you have to get over that one every year. Helias and Harrisonville were tough opponents.

In the end, WC had enough this year. Congrats.

Bedlam

First the bad. It was frustrating watching OSU's "high-powered offense" sputter most of the night. I told my wife early on that I had a feeling about that time OSU's offense got their stuff together the Defense would collapse from having been on the field all night. For the record, I'd trade big stats next year for big game wins.

Coach Gundy: Thanks for turning the program in the right direction. A couple of requests.

1. Teach the guys how to win big ballgames. We're tired of creeping into the top-15 only to get knocked off the first time we play a decent opponent.

2. Let us see the "I'm a man..." fire once in a while. You can be cool the rest of the time, but that swagger is part of the reason we like you.

3. Please make sure that we win the bowl game. We'll need the momentum to build on for next year.

You have to give OU credit, they did what they needed to do.

Now the good. For once, OSU's season wasn't entirely wrapped up in whether it won that game or not. Don't get me wrong, it burns me that we lost when we had a chance to win the division and play for a BCS bid, but losing that one doesn't mean the season is a failure. 10 wins is huge and we still have a shot at number 11. Beating all 4 Texas schools in one year is a big deal. Having 4 road wins in a row is a big deal. But the thing that gives me the most hope is the following:

One thing you didn't see last night was an OSU squad hanging on for dear life and getting pushed around all over the field. You saw an OSU squad go toe to toe with OU, make lots of mistakes and still have a shot at it late in the game. OSU wasn't over matched in every phase like we have been for the last 100 years (minus a couple of seasons), we just didn't play well enough to win. If that is a sign of things to come, I'll eat the loss and wait for another shot next year. I want OSU's next bedlam win to be one that can't be looked at as anything but the better team winning the game - none of this stealing one while OU is looking ahead to the next week.

11 Months and Counting

2010-11-21T07:38:00.003-06:00

[I started this post last week on Drake's 11 month birthday. It just took me until today to get back to it.]

I realized this morning that it was 11 months ago today that Drake was born. I can't believe it has been that long and at the same time I have to really think about it to remember what life was like before he came along. Brittany showed me the scrapbook she recently brought up to date and I couldn't believe all the different firsts and transitions that have happened.

One thing I will probably never hold myself out to be is a parenting expert. I'll leave that to those who have more experience. The following is, however, a list of a few things I've learned and would share with new parents or those who someday will be (these are in no particular order):

- Real wood furniture. I decided (for what reason I don't really remember, probably some nonsense about it being the way we do it "where I'm from") that we should buy baby furniture that was all solid wood. I just had this feeling its likelihood of survival was better. This meant we had to buy the crib one place and then go find the rest elsewhere. This took some work, more shopping than I wanted to do, but we ended up with some solid furniture at a similar price. 11 months in and I can confirm the drawers would already be in great peril if we had gone with some of the lighter weight stuff we passed on.

- Car Seats. No one ever mentioned to me that the infant carrier that we scrutinized and agonized over would only last Drake about 9 months, but the second seat we would eventually need would be with us for a couple of years (at least). All I'm saying is keep this in mind when deciding how much time and money to put into the first one. Protect your kid, don't buy a Mercedes.

- Opinions. Everyone has an opinion... I have learned that most people - particularly parents - have very strong opinions about certain things. I don't know if it's because we're insecure about our own choices, but we seem to have a need to convince others that the way we did it is THE right way. This runs the gamut from diapers to feeding to schedules to whether mom goes back to work. While I'll be happy to share with you THE RIGHT WAY to do all of these things, what you really need to do is figure out what is the best thing for your family and move on with it. When others offer input, listen politely, in some cases they will offer truly valuable insight. But don't ever feel pressured to do something because someone important to you thinks it is the way it should be done. Think about it, entire generations not only survived, but enjoyed full lives having been formula fed as well as having been nursed. Lots of people came out of cloth diapers just fine and many have done well with disposables. Some families have thrived on set schedules (ask my wife) and others needed less structure. I'll leave the mom back to work issue out for fear of the backlash I'll get from some combination of NOW and Dr. James Dobson. My point is that every family and every situation is different. Anyone that looks down on you simply because you made different choices than they did needs to check their ego, they are out of line.

- Baby Wise. My wife is a teacher. She believes deeply in education. So you can imagine that before the Drakerster came along we were (really, she was) well read. Mostly I got to just listen to her tell me the important stuff, but when it came to a book called On Being Baby Wise (usually just referred to as Baby Wise) she insisted that I read it. For the record, I finished it a solid 8 hours before Drake was born. Whether you ascribe to this theory on parenting or not, I'll offer a couple of observations.

1. The key point is really that the baby is joining your family and God never intended that they enter the world as CEO. What this means is that to some extent you as the parent(s) need to help the new one learn to adjust to life in your family. For us that means Drake hits the gym at 4:30 every morning. For you that may mean something else. [In case you didn't catch it, the comment about Drake going to the gym was entirely a joke.]

2. They tell you to work toward getting baby on a consistent daily pattern of feeding, having wake time, and sleeping (in that order). What they don't tell you is how to get it started. It turns out that what you have to do is pick a start time for each day (and choose carefully, you are likely to be stuck with your choice for months once the kid adjusts to it) and then go through your cycle. Things may get off schedule, but you start the next day at the same time. In a matter of a few days to a couple of weeks the kid will adjust and start waking up when you want him/her to.

3. On more than one cold winter day I wanted to throw that stupid book out the backdoor. I even visualized whether I could throw it far enough to clear the trees and get it out of my yard so I didn't have to go out and pick it up later. A couple of days later Drake suddenly got it, started doing what we were wanting him to do and within a couple of weeks was sleeping 7 hours at night (which, by the way, is generally the definition of "sleeping through the night" and can be accomplished by week 9). A month after that we were sleeping 10+ hours at night. Yes, Jayson, I'm pretty sure he's an Achiever, he's too willing to ignore us telling him "no" to be a Persistor base.

- Dad involvement. My sense is that the culture has shifted back and forth on this. From what I can tell, when I was a baby not that many dad's were heavily involved in taking care of babies. Now some are and some aren't. While I certainly defer to my wife when it comes to how to handle Drake's care, for me it has been important not only to learn how to take care of him (so that I could when that was necessary or simply to give Brittany a break), but also so that I could begin to bond with him early on. I would encourage prospective new fathers not to shy away from taking a turn feeding (as applicable), changing, etc., but there again, that's my opinion.

- Hold on tight. No rocket science here. Just know that you're in for a wild ride, one that may be exhausting and frustrating at times, but there's nothing like it (that I've experienced). Enjoy as much of it as you can (let's be honest, up all night sucks I don't care how cute the kid is), the little one will be walking before you know it.

Oklahoma City Adventure

2010-04-29T08:09:00.007-05:00

Last weekend (April 24-25) a group from CIY traveled to Oklahoma City to participate in the OKC Memorial Marathon (and its associated events) to raise money for Active:Water and awareness about the water crisis around the world. CIY had 2 marathon relay teams (5 members each), 2 half-marathoners, 1 full-marathoner, and several participating in the 5k. In all about 30 people made the trip.

I decided to take on the half-marathon. I had competed in the OKC half in 2006, did a 2-man relay (where Sigars and I both ran a half) in 2004, and ran the full OKC marathon the first year they held it in 2001 - so I felt pretty comfortable with the race, the distance, and the course.

What I didn't know was that we would have to survive and urban adventure race just to get to compete in the races we'd signed up for.

Let me first say that OKC is a very well organized and executed marathon. I've run in lots of events and they do an outstanding job. Please keep that in mind as you read on.

We were staying out on Meridian - an area about 5 miles from downtown where several hotels are located and that the race folks had arranged to run shuttles to and from. Shuttling in and out of downtown made sense because it kept us from needing to drive and park - which can be difficult when 22,000 people descend on an area in a short amount of time.

Here's the timeline of my urban adventure / half-marathon:

4:33am - Wife: "Ryan, why don't you not let your alarm go off, it might wake Drake up."

4:38am - Disengage the alarm 2 minutes before it should have sounded and roll out of bed.

4:55am - Quietly out the door headed to the lobby to meet the crew.
Packing List:
- Active:Water shirt
- Long sleeve dry fit shirt - seemed like a good idea when it was 50-degrees out
- Dry fit shorts - not runners shorts!
- Well worn shoes
- Cheapest Ironman watch in existence
- Toaster Pastries - Great Value Strawberry
- 1 piece of gum - to deal with the wicked after taste of aforementioned toaster pastries.
- Notice I'm missing any reference to water? I realized after the race started that I had not had a single drop of water yet that morning unless I got some while brushing my teeth.

5:05am - CIY crew navigates across Meridian and locates runner pickup point.

5:25am - Shuttle bus pulls up and informs us that he is full (never mind those 10 empty seats) and another bus will come...was told later that some of the same people were still waiting there when my wife got to the pickup point at 6am. Shuttle Fail!

5:27am - CIY crew piles in CIY vans and rolls for downtown.

5:45am - Vans parked at meters, CIY crew navigates downtown OKC in the dark through sea of other runners.

5:50am - Pit stop at port-o-potties

5:55am - Group pre-race photo

6:10am - Entry into the runner's corral and navigate to the starting line

6:20am - Pre-race festivities and stretching while sizing up the field...He's going to kick my butt, he's going to kick my butt, she's probably going to kick my butt...

6:27am - Race starts slightly early according to my watch and 20,000 people barrel through downtown. At this point I can see the leaders and the CIY camera is not set up when I go by, guess I'll not be making the highlight reel on this trip.

6:40am - Mile 2 - Fast pace and leaders are disappearing. What happened to that tail-wind-aided-downhill at the start?

6:53am - Mile 4 - Still fast pace and I realize that the lady right behind me is a former Olympic marathon champion - Joan Benoit Samuelson (got the clue when people kept calling her by name, I first thought they were cheering for me).

7:37am - Mile 10 - Maybe I should start backing off now, never intended to run this pace and I'm pretty sure my legs are going to lock up if I don't watch it.

7:52am - Mile 13 - So much for slowing down, now on Broadway and there are too many people watching to stop, must keep moving...hey, that guy is wearing an OSU shirt, try to say "GO POKES", can't, no oxygen, show pistols hand signal, he has no idea, never mind.

7:55am - Finish line - Whew, glad that's over. Where's the shuttle back to the hotel?

8:10am - Find Alex Gandy at the shuttle location, he informs me that they aren't running until 10am, asks if I want to catch a cab? YES!

8:25am - Get bellhop at the Hilton to call a cab

8:35am - Arrive back at the Ramada

From that point I was pretty much just hanging out with Drake and waiting on Brittany to make it back. She actually had many more adventures with the shuttle system than I did - since I never actually got on one and she rode 4 different ones.

All in all it was a successful experience. I ran better than I expected, though not that much different than I had run 4 years ago in the same race. Brittany did well on her leg of the relay. Everyone in our group finished well and made it home in one piece.

Now I've got to finish my fund-raising. Unfortunately I have only raised $25 of my $100 goal to date. So if you feel like helping me out with a few dollars please feel free to do so (go here to donate to my effort on Active:Water's website).

Covert Ops Right Here at Home

2010-03-20T12:57:00.003-05:00

You wouldn't know it by the weather in Joplin today, but yesterday was beautiful here. Brittany has been on spring break this week and I was off a couple of days so we decided to put Drake in the stroller and go for a walk.

As we were walking around the neighborhood I looked down and noticed that one of the man-hole covers said "City of Tulsa" and then at the bottom "Do Not Remove".

I immediately started watching and haven't found another one yet, but it appears the City of Joplin "acquired" this particular cover from the City of Tulsa.

This left me wondering, is there a covert-ops segment of the City of Joplin government? I'm guessing they load up late at night, cruise the turnpike and pick off a few man-hole covers under cover of darkness. I'm not sure what these round pieces of steel cost, but I guess stealing them is one way to save some money in a tough economy.

Come to think of it I wonder if there are any openings in Joplin's covert ops division? That's got to be a part-time gig at night, so I could probably moon-light that pretty easily, plus I've recently gotten very good at staying up all night (thanks, Drake).

Toyota Recall and Parental Negotiation

2010-01-29T07:35:00.002-06:00

First, Drake is doing well. I need to weigh him today, but based on his Wednesday evening weigh-in, I'm not going to be shocked when he has gained 2+ pounds in the last 14 days. If not, he will be close.

As most of you have certainly heard reported in the news this week, Toyota has had to recall several million vehicles because they have a tendency to accelerate uncontrollably. At first they thought it was the floor mats. Then it was the gas pedals. I think (and I haven't checked on it this morning) they're ultimately going to determine it's an electrical/computer issue.

What struck me as odd was how long it took for word to come out about what to do if you found your Camry going Speed Racer on you all on its own. (I'm making light of this, but do understand that a lot of people have been injured/killed in these accidents) We just need to remember what Harry Hogue taught us:

Cole: "The accelerator is stuck!"

Harry: "It's over Cole. Push the clutch in let it blow." (I think there was an expletive in there, edited for your edification)

Now, Cole didn't push the clutch in. They were at Daytona and running wide open for several laps was possible. He got spun out, which fixed the accelerator, but jacked up the transmission. The rest is film-making history (MD: Don't hate just because Bruckheimer was involved). This is all beside the point, watch the movie.

My point is this, if you car (and I had this conversation with Britt in a serious tone the other night) accelerates on its own you put it in neutral. The engine may rev like crazy, it may blow itself up (though most cars have cut-offs to protect themselves), but it'll stop accelerating and you can use the brakes to stop.

Seriously, if you're driving a Toyota and it takes off on you, keep you wits about you, put it in neutral and pull off the road using the brakes to control your speed. If the engine blows I'm guessing Toyota will stand behind it, that'll be way cheaper than having you added to the enormous class-action lawsuit they're getting ready to face.

Unrelated to this Days of Thunder life lesson, my wife informed me that Drake isn't allowed to watch that movie until he is much, much older.

I replied, maybe the edited TNT/TBS version?

She agreed if we would skip the side-of-the-road-cop-scene and the bedroom scene.

I replied, those scenes are dumb.

That's what I call complete success - all racing, no love scenes.

Fatherhood: Weeks 2-4

2010-01-16T13:17:00.002-06:00

Every couple of days or so we have a really good day - eat well, sleep well, fuss very little, etc. - and I start to think that we've really turned a corner on this parenting a newborn thing.

Inevitably the next day is a difficult one and I am brought back to the reality that I still have no idea what I'm doing.

In the last couple of weeks, Drake has been to the doctor twice, the ER once, and is headed back to the doctor on Wednesday of next week. Suffice it to say we're trying to get some formula, fussiness, and spit-up issues resolved. At this point we're on the hypo-allergenic formula (read: expensive) plus rice cereal and 2 medications. Through it all he is a sweet baby that really only fusses and cries when he is hurting - or if we let him get too hungry. I am told that Grant Wistrom had similar issues as a baby, was put on hypoallergenic formula (or something similar) and his mom is convinced that is what caused him to grow so fast (got that second hand from someone who knows his mom).

A couple of times the Draker and I have gotten to eat breakfast together. Well, really that means he gets fed and then I eat while he tries to fall asleep. This morning I actually held him while I ate and he dozed. He couldn't have cared less, but because that's my favorite time of the day I thought it was awesome.

Britt has been reading to him from a children's Bible we were given. When he eats with me we just go with the NIV Study Bible. He seems to really like Ezekiel.

I learned an important lesson this week. Being helpful to Brittany requires a sense of timing and precise adherence to the established norms and procedures of the household. Services rendered that deviate from said SOP shall be declared null and void. Actually, it's almost like it becomes the inverse of service rendered - not only not making any deposits in the marriage bank it actually debits the account like an ETF loan shark. But helping her is worth it - as soon as I figure out how to. Luzadder, stop laughing. :) I know you're enjoying this.

We feel pretty accomplished when it comes to bathing the little guy. He doesn't hate it, but seems confused as to why he is being placed naked in a large body of water. He nearly got his first swimming lesson last night when he nearly wriggled away from me.

I got seven and a half hours of sleep last night - not in one shot mind you. But the cumulative effect was great.

Drake Scott Claborn

2009-12-29T18:25:00.007-06:00

Many of you (I am making an assumption that enough people will read this to constitute "many") are aware by now that Brittany and I welcomed our first child last Monday (December 21st). He was born at 5:45pm, weighed 7 lbs., 8 oz., was 20.5 inches long and we named him Drake Scott Claborn.

To say the last 9 days have been a whirlwind would be a huge understatement. Some observations:
- Showing up to Freeman at 5am will guarantee a great parking place and is a little like checking in for a 6am flight out of Joplin - it's just you, one other couple, and a couple of random people.
- The coffee at the hospital cafeteria is mediocre, the free coffee in the waiting rooms is worth exactly what you pay for it.
- Text messaging during the delivery of your first child is tough for a guy, we're not that good at multi-tasking, but it beats having multiple spectators in the room with you.
- Newborns are far smaller than I thought - and ours is a pretty normal size for a newborn.
- The stories you've heard about the first few poopy diapers being tough to change, because the poo is very difficult to get off the kid's butt, are a complete understatement of the situation.
- The stories you've heard about little boys peeing while having their diaper changed (and consequently nothing in place to contain the pee) are true. We've experienced this probably a dozen times in less than a week at home. But having him pee all over the place is manageable as long as you have one of the waterproof changing mats and it sure beats trying to change him mid-poop and not realizing what is about to happen. The very fact that I wrote that last part should tell you this happened to me as well.
- Honestly, half the time when I see newborns, I have to really work at finding something on the kid that I think looks much like whichever parent everyone is convinced the child looks just like. And maybe some of you will struggle figuring out who Drake looks like, but once you see some pictures I doubt it. My mom brought some of my newborn pictures for me to see and I see a lot of my son in pictures of me at that age. But what I find more interesting is that there are a couple of features (hairline and wrinkled forehead) that are very distinctive in my son and can easily be seen in me today, but that were not discernible when I was a baby. It's like the infant version of what I look like today came to live with us more than a duplicate of me when I was a baby.
- People told us all along to get sleep while we could. We believed them, but had no idea just how little sleep we would get in these early days.

To be honest, the first week with your first child can be overwhelming - between all the new things you have to learn, the complete lack of sleep, keeping straight who is visiting when, etc. - and there were times when I thought to myself, "Are we really going to be able to function with a kid?" Actually, i think I said that at one point. Everything takes much longer. Just getting a shower and 3 meals for everyone (well, a sponge bath and 8 meals for the kid) was a struggle for a while. But on Sunday as we were on a family outing - a trip to Best Buy for Britt to pick up camera accessories while I stayed in the car with Drake (no, we weren't about to take him in) - I was reminded of my first week of college (yes, 1997 was a long time ago).

I remember that week being fairly overwhelming, the campus I was on was 3 times larger than my hometown and I had no idea what I was doing. I remember spending all week just trying to keep up with week 1 assignments (and mostly getting very behind on the reading). But somehow on Thursday evening of that week I had managed to catch up a little and got time to go out and wash my car (this was pre-Trans Am) - something I enjoyed doing. For just a moment that evening I again believed that by God's grace I could in fact succeed in college - not that I had all the answers or anything, I just reached a place where I didn't feel like I was drowning.

On Sunday afternoon for the first time I started to get the sense that we (my family and I) can in fact function. There's still a ton I don't know, we're figuring it out together everyday, but we've crossed that first gap and are on our way.

This is one of my wife's favorite faces that Drake makes. Not sure why, just makes her laugh.

This pretty much makes having a baby official. It's been announced to the mall.

Drake likes his car seat. He's been known to sleep in it for hours at a time. He must be able to sense that that seat his his ticket to all things automotive.

T-minus 19 Days

2009-12-06T19:10:00.005-06:00

I was asked last week if I was on alert for a call from my wife that she was in labor. Up to that point I hadn't really thought much about it. I haven't even packed my bag for the hospital yet. But now that it's been brought up, yes, I'll probably be taking most of the calls from my wife for now - even if it means having to get up and leave a meeting. The last thing I need is her mad at me because I declined a call while she was in labor. Not good.

Last weekend we assembled the Diaper Genie and set up the baby monitor. The monitor has this beady green light that shines in my eyes when I roll over in bed at night. I'm not sure what the thinking was in making that light actually shine toward you. From what I understand I won't need any additional help NOT sleeping.

My grandmother (mom's mom) has a long-standing tradition of making a quilt for each grandchild and great-grandchild. I had wondered if her health would allow her to make a quilt for Drake, but when we were in Vinita last weekend she presented us with his quilt. One of the things she does is to stitch who it's for, when, and who it's from on the back. In this case this information is really important to me because it may help Drake make the connection between his middle name and where it came from - Grandma is the last one in our family with the Scott name.

I assembled the pack-n-play this afternoon, it now sits in our bedroom setup in bassinet mode waiting on Drake to come home from the hospital. The pack-n-play is quite the contraption. That thing has all sorts of attachments and accessories.

The list of things left to do seems to grow at least as quickly as I can check them off. Guess I'd better get back to work.

Baby Drake Update

2009-11-26T10:45:00.002-06:00

We are down to just 4 weeks until Drake should be here. Does that freak anyone else out? Maybe it's just me.

Our final ultrasound yesterday was a little disappointing. He was curled up in a tight ball and refused to move, so we couldn't see a ton. They were able to get good measurements and said everything looks good.

According to Dr. Lacey - who is rarely wrong, I'm told - he currently weighs 6 lbs.

(Pause for that to sink in a minute)

Yeah, so he's predicting that Drake will be 8-8.5 lbs. at birth. My father-in-law is very excited. My wife has been trying to figure out which branch of the family is to blame for her having such a large baby inside. She had in mind something in the 6.5-7.0 range. One of her grandmothers is sure that the doctor is wrong, to which Britt replied, "Then he's coming in the next week and a half".

The car seat base is strapped into the Pilot. I'm a big fan of the "LATCH" system, which makes that process very, very easy. I was expecting to have to invoke differential equations to get the seatbelt contorted correctly. Not an issue.

Yesterday Britt commented, at least next Christmas Drake will be old enough to be fun (as opposed to being 2 months old and just sleeping or whatever). Shortly thereafter she realized he'd be mobile at that point and the tree would be in jeopardy. No word on how excited she is now. :)

Nursery is ready. Britt is ready. I guess I am... That's not a question of my excitement level only my confidence about what is getting ready to happen.

Semifinals: Kearney at WC

2009-11-26T10:24:00.002-06:00

This is a week old now, but I don't want to get accused of not having anything to say when the Cards don't win.

If you missed it, Kearney rolled into WC and walked out with a 38-13 win. I'll confine this to comments only, no play by play:
- Kearney earned this win. They were big and physical, more so than I thought they would be.
- WC was in it at halftime and I thought would have a chance to win in the second half - they tend to be a 2nd half team, but not on this day. Rather than wearing down, the offensive and defensive lines for Kearney seemed to get stronger in the 3rd quarter. Kearney seized the momentum and rolled on.
- Kearney did add a late touchdown that probably wasn't necessary - up 31-13 with a couple of minutes left Kearney had their 1-Offense in there and decided to throw deep. Whatever, stuff happens.

Now, my editorial comments:
- The loss snapped a 28-game winning streak for Webb. That was going to happen at some point. No one needs to dwell on this. Losses for the Cards have a tendency spur them on to accomplishment.
- The loss was the first for WC in the new Cardinal Stadium (well, 3-years old now). Also bound to happen and given that Kearney is a very good team, if you're going to lose a winning streak or a home game at least it was to a worthy opponent who deserved to win the game that day.
- I have noticed that there are some people around town that tend to take pleasure in watching WC lose. That's okay, I even understand, I love watching OU lose. Here's where I want to draw an important distinction:

1. No one needs to be concerned for the community or fans of WC that they (we) didn't win a 9th championship in 2009. Certainly they (we) have celebrated more than our share.

2. BUT...Please be respectful of the young men who spent 10 years working toward their 1 shot at a title and didn't win. They are no more deserving than any other team or group, but their disappointment is real and they take little comfort in the fact that 8 other WC teams in the last 21 years have won a state title. While most of the 2009 Cards have a ring from 2008, few of them played a key role in that win (though there certainly are a few who did).

3. So, if you need to rejoice that WC didn't win, that's fine, but be respectful of the players. They worked hard and had a great season.

4. I have also noticed a tendency of the WC fan-base not to support their non-championship teams the same way they do the ones that do win. I get that you are going to celebrate a championship differently than a semi-final or state finals loss, but these boys worked as hard as the others did and they conducted themselves (off-field incidents aside, other teams have those issues too) just as admirably as others have. If you watched them on Saturday you saw that there was no quit in them. They never gave up. There is disappointment (in the outcome, NOT the players) in not making a victorious trip to the Dome, but no shame and anyone who suggests that the 2009 Cards are a disappointment or for some reason weren't worthy needs to check themselves. That's not being a good fan, that's placing unrealistic expectations (specifically that they should win a state title every year - watch "Friday Night Lights" and get back to me) on high school kids.

For WC the lights are out on the 2009 football season, but that just means we move on to other sports and eventually turn our attention to the 2010 season.

Quarterfinals: WC at Bolivar

2009-11-15T13:49:00.002-06:00

Globe Article

The Cardinals hit the road on Saturday seeking a birth in the Missouri Class 4 semi-finals. This quarterfinal match-up was a rematch of the 2008 quarters held in Cardinal Stadium on a cold, windy day. On that day, WC prevailed 42-21.

The 2009 match-up was a little different. WC knew going in that Bolivar was big and could put a lot of offense. In the first half, the game was tight with a lot of back and forth. Not really a ton of mistakes - though each had a first half turnover. WC struck first when Patrick Drake hit Austin Daniel in the front corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

Bolivar responded and would have tied the game if not for a PAT block by Breckin Williams - to my knowledge this was the first block of the season for WC.

On the ensuing possession, Braxton Baker made his presence known in a big way by taking the first snap 64 yards to the Bolivar 12. Two plays later Jamison Cady scored from the 10. Bolivar returned the PAT block favor and we stood at 13-6. That score remained until half-time.

The second half mostly belonged to the Cards who managed 2 big interceptions in the 3rd quarter. The first came on the first play of the 2nd half when Scott Roderique jumped a route. Maddy Johnson scored shortly thereafter and a 2pt conversion made it 21-6 Cards.

Shortly thereafter, Nathan Ervin intercepted a pass and ran 80 yards to the end zone. The PAT made it 28-6.

WC got the ball back and after a Drake to Daniel connection to the 5 yard line, Patrick ran it in. Following the kick WC led 35-6.

The teams traded touchdowns late and Bolivar scored one final time near the end of the game against WC reserves to leave the score at 42-20 where it ended.

It wasn't the best I've seen this WC team play, but they did what they needed to do to secure a victory. The defense played well against a very big team - limiting them to 42 yards rushing (on 34 carries). They'll need to at least repeat the performance next Saturday against a tough Kearney team (who rolled Harrisonville 41-0 on Saturday).

The offense looked good in spots, but I honestly felt like it was a fairly conservative game plan. With the size Bolivar had up front I was surprised the Cards didn't attempt to get out on the edge more often. However, they didn't have to. What they were doing was effective enough to get the job done and it avoided major risks of turnovers.

The Kearney match-up will be another rematch (from the 2008 semi-finals). This time however, Kearney will make the long drive to Webb City. Kearney is tough and WC will have to play very well to win. Kearney has 2 losses on the season. One was to a very good larger class team. The other loss came against Staley on a night Kearney was plagued by turnovers. Kearney avenged that Staley loss in the 2nd round of the playoffs with a 28-0 win (at Staley).

My best guess here is that for WC to win this game, the defense will be key. I'm not sure the Cards want to get into a shootout with Kearney. If the Cards D can hold Kearney down, get a few take-aways and the offense can put together drives I like Webb's chances to return to the Dome on Black Friday.

The way WC won the 2008 match-up was by managing the clock, protecting the ball, and keeping Kearney out of the end zone. That was a game that Webb made some mistakes early and benefited from a couple of mistakes on Kearney's part in the first half before seizing control after the break and managing a 14-7 victory. One thing is sure, nothing will be easy against Kearney.

Kickoff is at 1:30 on Saturday. Get there early.

Round 2: WC v. Carthage

2009-11-11T18:08:00.002-06:00

Globe Article

I'm wrong a lot, so when I get something right I have to fight hard not to make a big deal of it. If you read my post following the first round game against Branson, in my comments about the round 2 game against Carthage I predicted:
1. "I don't know why, but I suspect we didn't see Carthage's best game that [the first time they played] night. I fully expect the second match-up to be a battle."
2. "If they [WC] execute they will win this game."
3. "It wouldn't shock me to see Pat [Drake] have a huge performance."

Two out of three for sure, it's debatable whether Carthage played better than the first time. I think they showed more ability to stop WC at points and move the ball, but they had so many turnovers that it didn't matter.

The bottom line is that WC came out firing and rolled on to the next round.

Patrick had a huge game. No shock when he kept it on an option around the left side on the first drive and ran 55 yards into the end zone. No great shock when he scored the 2nd touchdown. But Pat wasn't done. He finished with 5 rushing TDs and 1 passing. For the record, I had no idea Pat running a lot was part of the game plan. Coach Roderique said after the game that he told Pat going in he was likely to have to run more, I didn't know that when I made my comments last week. What it comes down to is Carthage's defense chose to come down on the veer back and then take the pitch back instead of forcing Pat to make the pitch. Net result was #5 in the end zone a lot.

The defense for WC was good. One big play and one actual drive was all Carthage managed. Aside from that the defense made stops and forced turnovers (1 fumble recovery and 4 INTs).

Looking ahead to Saturday, WC will travel to Bolivar - a rematch of the 3rd round game held in WC a year ago.

This will be the first opponent in a while that WC hasn't had several common opponents with coming in. The book on Bolivar seems to be that they are balanced on offense and have a good QB and WR/DB.

A local sports guy said on Monday night that "Bolivar has a hard time stopping the run, and that doesn't usually work out too well when you're playing Webb City." I have no idea if that's true or not, but thought it was a great quote.

I'm looking for WC to pound the ball on the ground with one of its senior running backs returning to the field.

I do expect WC to win this game, but it's no gimme. As will be the case going forward, protecting the ball and stopping big plays on defense will be key.

SBU football stadium, 1:30 Saturday. Be there!

Round 1: WC v. Branson

2009-11-07T10:56:00.003-06:00

I said before the game that Branson was better than they showed in the 47-7 beat down that WC issued them a few weeks ago in the mud bowl. I was right for once. If you didn't see or listen to this game, the score might be deceptive. A 40-21 win for WC almost looks like a snoozer, but that's not what happened. Branson pulled out all the stops and led WC at 21-14 and 21-20 in the third quarter before WC found its stride and put the game away.

Globe Article

Here are my observations on this one.
- WC came into the game with lots of questions surrounding an off field incident that resulted in 3 starters being suspended (and more rumors than you can imagine beyond the actual story). The struggles in the first half on Wednesday night - in my opinion - had nothing to do with the absence of those players, but probably did reflect the amount of emotional energy that was expended coming into the game and the difficulty of trying to re-direct a game plan in a 3-day period.

- This WC squad continues to struggle at times to hold onto the football. They had 3 first half turnovers (one was an INT in the end zone at the end of the half, you almost hate to count that one because they were out of time and downs and were either going to score or not and it didn't affect much). The games where they can turn it over and expect to win are now over. Whether it's center-qb exchanges, option pitches, punt return fumbles or whatever, they have to control the football. This issue is even more critical right now in the absence of some of their firepower on offense. I have repeatedly said that the 2008 squad was exceptional at protecting the ball and putting together drives. This squad has been far more explosive, but also less consistent. I'm good with the explosive, but the consistency has to be there in order to keep winning.

- The suspensions did give 3 running backs a chance to shine in ways we hadn't seen yet. Watching the season unfold we knew that Maddy Johnson could fly in the open field, but his carries out of the backfield had been limited. He carried the load on Wednesday and did well. I do think he's probably most effective in his first 15 carries and will benefit if they can balance his touches with Jamison Cady and the big surprise in the mix, backup QB Scott Roderique. We had seen Jamison a time or two, but never Scott. Both played well.

Looking forward now to Monday night, another cardiac comeback by Carthage at Neosho will bring the Tigers to Cardinal Stadium for the second time in about a month. When the WC game ended Neosho had just re-taken the lead and we thought we were traveling to Neosho on Monday. But if we've learned anything about Carthage this year it's that you had better be up by 9 or more to think you've got them beaten. They went 75-yards in :46 to pull out the win. By my count that's about their 4th late comeback of the season.

I said after the first Carthage - WC game that it was the least exciting one I'd seen in 6 years. It was. I don't know why, but I suspect we didn't see Carthage's best game that night. I fully expect the second match-up to be a battle. Anyone who thinks WC is going to roll over Carthage are either kidding themselves or don't know what their talking about. Here's how I see this breaking down:

- WC has to control the ball and keep their defense from having to spend the whole night on the field.
- Webb can't turn it over and expect to win. Patrick will have to manage the offense and make good decisions - which he generally does - when it's time to pitch or keep, throw or run. It wouldn't shock me to see Pat have a huge performance.
- WC must prevent big plays early. One of the big reasons Branson stayed in it as long as they did was they got some momentum early. Carthage strikes me as a team that is probably a lot better once something goes their way. I think one of the reasons they never really got going in the first match up was that they had little to be excited about until they were already way behind. Getting on top early will help avoid momentum working against the Cards - something you want to avoid when you're still playing at less than full strength offensively.
- I'm looking for WC to use all three running backs and probably show Carthage some looks they didn't see the last time. I'm also looking for Pat to rack up some yardage on the ground.

If WC plays well, they win this game. They have the ability to make stops on defense and grind it out on offense. They are balanced when they need to be. If they execute they will win this game. If they turn it over or simply don't execute it may be an entirely different story.

Gates open at 5:30, get there early, even on a Monday night it's going to be a big crowd.

Week 10: WC v. CJ

2009-10-31T11:03:00.002-05:00

When I looked at the game-day weather forecast on Wednesday evening I quickly realized we would need 2 pieces of extra equipment as fans on Thursday night as WC closed their regular season at home against Carl: Helmets and Flippers. Why? Because the Weather Channel was calling for a lot of rain and storms including large hail.

The hail never materialized, but I did get to sit through one fairly intense cell under a tarp outside the gates on Thursday afternoon with just a few others brave (or crazy) enough to show up early on a nasty day. There were a couple of lightning strikes close enough to make you wonder whether sitting right next to a chain-link fence holding an umbrella was a great idea.

Most of the rain quit by the time the gates opened with only periodic showers thereafter. It took a major effort from several people to get the lake that had formed on the WC sideline moved before game time, but with that out of the way the weather had little impact on the game itself. The difference between playing in the mud down at Branson and just a wet field at home was striking.

Globe Article

The game was never close. WC turned it over on it's first possession then proceeded to man-handle CJ posting 47 first half points. The starters were mostly done before halftime and only one touchdown was scored after the break.

Patrick Drake threw 4 touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another. It was a good Senior night for him.

CJ turned it over 7 times (4 picks in the first half, 3 fumbles in the second), you just can't do that and think you're not going to get destroyed when you're over-matched anyway.

The only thing that was surprising was the difficulty WC had blocking on PATs. I think they had 3 blocked. I don't know if there was an assignment issue or what. I suspect the Cards will have that fixed by the time they hit the field Wednesday night to open the playoffs.

Branson scored late to finish off Republic 25-20. That win will bring Branson to Cardinal Stadium on Wednesday evening creating a rematch of the mud-bowl game a few weeks ago. My take on it is that Branson is better than they showed the first time WC played them, but probably not a real threat to knock off the Cards at home. I honestly expect WC to come out pretty focused after 2 weeks of weak opponents in games that were snoozers.

If the Cards beat Branson they'll face the winner of Wednesday's Carthage - Neosho matchup. This game should be interesting as Carthage managed to knock off Neosho in Neosho earlier in the season and will have to do it again to get another shot at WC. If Carthage wins, they would visit Cardinal Stadium for the second time this season. If Neosho wins, Webb will travel to Neosho on Monday, November 9th.

It's playoff time and we're about to find out what this WC team is made of.

Kryptonite

2009-10-25T19:32:00.007-05:00

Finally, after nearly 7 years of living here I have discovered the source of Webb City's football success.

For years my wife has been telling me that all (or nearly all) kids in the WC district take swimming lessons before starting Kindergarten. I have always kind of laughed at this because she acts like that's normal and everyone does that. It almost comes across as though any kid who doesn't attend is booted out of the district. "Little Johnny, let me see your Red Cross beginner swimmer certification card. Oh, you didn't take lessons? Sorry, you'll have to find a different district to attend. You'll never be a Cardinal!"

As I said, I'd always jokingly ridiculed this swimming lessons thing - mostly because it bugs my wife, certainly not because I oppose it. Then this evening she revealed to me what else goes on at swimming lessons.

According to my wife, pre-K summer swimming lessons are scheduled around summer football workouts. Why, you ask? That's because Coach Roderique must attend certain swimming lesson sessions to conduct the agility drills. Seem strange?

Think about it, you win championships by starting early. By the time they start Kindergarten Coach Rod already knows what his starting backfield looks like 13 years later will be. Everyone knows about the fact that from 3rd grade on WC football teams are being taught the fundamentals that will eventually make them champions, but it really starts much earlier than that.

What kind of agility drills are we talking about? They're the kind that college kids love to try, but are mostly terrible at if they weren't taught at a young age. Catching a football as you go into the water is a challenge, but you know you've got an All-Stater on your hands when you find a kid that can pull it off.

If you for a moment thought this was the least bit serious I'm sorry you were confused. This has been a joke. Most incoming Kindergarten students in the WC district do take swimming lessons, but to my knowledge Coach Roderique has nothing to do with it. They win games and titles because the players work hard and care about winning and they have coaches from 3rd grade on up that teach them how to play the game and win as a team.

T-Minus 2 Months and Counting

2009-10-25T08:52:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning to discover that the date is 10/25/09...exactly 2 months before Drake's due date. Each time we cross some sort of threshold like that the reality of what is about to happen gets much stronger.

We spent yesterday at a pre-natal class at Freeman. I am glad we went, I feel comfortable now with what will go on the day he arrives. That's not to suggest I feel totally prepared to be a dad, just that I know where to find my wife and baby should we get separated at some point in the process (as well as where the cafeteria is and where to find the grandparents when it's time for them to come in).

I was expecting to spend 2 hours on the floor doing breathing exercises. Turned out to be about 20 minutes. They taught us 2 things:
1. Slow deep breaths - bookended by deep cleansing breaths.
2. 3 He's and a Who - The sequence goes like this, deep cleansing breath, then three short, shallow breaths that sound like you're saying "he" as you exhale, then one that sounds like "who", then repeat the he's and who sequence until the contraction is over and finish with a deep cleansing breath.

I think the reason this was such a short part of the day is that 72% of women opt for an epidural thus rendering the breathing mostly unnecessary (so she said) - don't attack me here, I'm just repeating information.

I fully expected to be in a room full of very young parents to be. As it turned out, I'm not 100% sure I was the oldest guy in room. Most of the moms appeared to be in their early to mid-20s (was honestly expecting a couple of high school juniors). One couple struck me as being around my age. The dad of this couple seemed to be about as unsure of what's coming as I am - that was comforting.

At this point we can actually identify which body part Drake is pushing against Britt's stomach with (usually feet). She likes to push back against him - it's like she went to the Jayson-French-school-of-pre-birth-child-rearing (Motto: Always push back and play all the angles). I find myself regularly exhorting her to be careful with him because he's little. That's easy for me to say, he's not banging around against my rib cage.

Week 9: WC at Nevada

2009-10-25T08:47:00.002-05:00

Short and sweet here. This one was a snoozer. My wife and I didn't go. Webb put up lots of points early and then cruised to a 48-15 win. I really don't have much else to say.

Next up: Carl Junction comes to Cardinal Stadium on Senior night - Thursday.

Carl got worked over by Carthage on Friday night, so I'm not expecting a huge fight in this one either. I won't discuss what comes next in this post, but assure you it'll get more interesting thereafter.

Homecoming - Cowboy Style

2009-10-21T20:12:00.006-05:00

Thanks to my wife who bought us tickets to the OSU-Mizzou game for my birthday we made a trip to Stillwater on Saturday for homecoming. I tend to think of homecoming in reference to the football team (or name your sport of choice) returning from a road trip. But at the collegiate level it's really about inviting the alumni back to town (okay, really, it's probably about that in high school too, I'm just an idiot and didn't realize it).

So me - the alumnus - and the preggo wife decided to make a day of it. Lucky for us they scheduled the parade for 2pm since the game didn't start until 8:15pm, which made getting there for the parade much easier. Honestly, I was on campus 6 fall semesters, but had never gone to the homecoming parade. This one, however had the added attraction of 3 famous alumni (are you technically an alumni if you never graduated?) - Garth Brooks, Barry Sanders, and Robin Ventura. If you don't know who these three are, do your own research. Fine, here you go:

- Garth Brooks - number 1 selling US solo artist of all time.

- Barry Sanders - set 34 NCAA records in 11 games, won a Heisman Trophy, and then dominated the NFL for 10 seasons before retiring.

- Robin Ventura - holds longest hitting streak in college baseball history (58 games), named starting 3rd baseman on all-time NCAA baseball team, played 16 seasons in the MLB.

Bio on these guys.

Post-parade we toured frat row to see what was left of the house decs - most were still in good shape, but most of the mechanical stuff wasn't running. After a stop by the campus house we hiked it up to Mexico Joes just in time to beat the crowd. The Three Amigos (Stan Clark's trio of restaurants - Eskimo Joe's, Mexico Joe's, and Joeseppi's) aren't necessarily known for their food. It's more about atmosphere. But I'll have to say, the food was better than I remembered from the last time I'd been there.

With a couple of hours to kill before kickoff we stopped in at the campus house and hung out with the Moss'. They were a lot of fun.

The game was fun. OSU managed to do enough to cruise to an easy win in spite of not having Kendal Hunter or Dez Bryant. The MVP probably should have been Dan Bailey - the kicker - who hit 4 field goals including a career long 51 yard effort (ironically, his first attempt on that drive - from 46 - missed, but he had to do it again because of a penalty on OSU and he nailed the second). OSU's defense played fairly well in the second half.

After the game we hiked it home pulling into the garage at 2:20am (for the record it was a 2:40 trip with a stop for gas and coffee at QT in Tulsa). It was a long day, but a lot of fun.

Week 8: Carthage at WC

2009-10-21T19:56:00.003-05:00

I've been busy, so this is way late. Sorry, Ben, my bad.

Friday was a fun day. The atmosphere outside the stadium was lively, the air was crisp, and the promise of a big crowd and a district and conference showdown loomed just on the other side of the gates.

The game wasn't really ever in question. That's not to say Carthage was never in it, there just wasn't ever a moment where it felt like they were a threat.

WC scored quickly on its first drive, but gave Carthage 7 on a pick-6 on the next drive. After that Braxton Baker took over in the 2nd quarter running for 3 touchdowns (all in that quarter - he had 4 in all to go with another 200+ yard performance).

Carthage really never got much going on offense. They had one long run where the back broke about 6 tackles - it was impressive for sure - that scored their only offensive touchdown. Aside from that, the WC defense controlled the game throughout.

If only the WC offense had finished a few more drives. They really should have scored 49 or 56, but turning it over 4 times makes that tough. Coming just 2 weeks after a 5 turnover performance I'm a little concerned about that to be honest.

I commented to my wife this evening that if the WC offense can consistently control the ball - the way we saw last season from a less explosive group - I believe the sky is the limit for them. One thing I can see posing a great threat come playoff time is turnovers.

Friday night WC visits Nevada in what should be a blowout. Not much to say about it.

Week 7: WC at Branoson (Mud Bowl 2009)

2009-10-10T10:39:00.004-05:00

Globe Article

Operation Pigskin Highlights

In a world where a lot of high school teams play on field turf, even the concept of playing a game in mud is kind of foreign. Branson is one of only 3 opponents WC will face this season on natural grass (playoffs TBD). So to have several inches of rain in the days leading up to the matchup set the stage for something very rare - a muddy mess.

When we walked in, I could immediately tell that something was weird because the end of the field where WC was warming up was destroyed. The end where Branson was almost looked like no one had been on it. I was told later that Branson didn't do much in the way of drills.

Sideline reports (from the team chaplain) said it was every bit as sloppy as it looked like from the stands.

The game itself was fun to watch, but probably didn't tell us a ton about where WC is at headed into a big matchup with Carthage next week.

WC definitely looked sharper than a week ago against Neosho, but they also weren't tested in the trenches.

Braxton Baker had a good night. I haven't found the official number, but I think he had right at 200 yards (163 in the first half) and 4 touchdowns. A muddy field works for Braxton, he seemed to like it and it fits his style (which is mostly to run over anyone in his path). I played with a guy in high school who got nicknamed "Muddy" because of a game like last night. Watching Braxton drill people while covered in mud reminded me a little of that high school teammate.

Bart Starkey nearly scored a touchdown on an interception. He returned it like 60 (may have been more) yards to the 4 yard line. I really wanted him to get in the end zone, but it didn't quite happen.

Andrew Kolb - an offensive lineman - got a touchdown when the Cards showed a new look, lining up in the I-formation with Baker at tailback and Kolb at fullback. One fan that's been around much longer than I have couldn't remember the last time he saw WC show the I-formation. The point was well taken (though I think they showed that look once last week in short yardage).

Something else we saw last night was a single back set with Patrick under center. I'm not sure if it's considered part of their Posse package - which usually has Pat in the shotgun - or not. In this one, the Cards had Baker as the lone back in the backfield, one tight end and 3 receivers. It was an interesting look. Not sure if we should expect to see more of that or if they were just trying it out.

In the end, WC rolled 49-7 and now stands at 7-0 headed into District play and a big matchup at Cardinal Stadium with Carthage who handled Republic 20-0 last night.

I've been trying to watch Carthage highlights to get a feel for how good they are. Honestly, I'm not sure. They seem to have some firepower in the offense - even with Derryberry gone. What I'm not sure about is how good they are in the trenches. They lost to Nixa, but got by Neosho. I expect it to be a big night and huge crowd on homecoming and opening night of district play.

Week 6: WC v. Neosho

2009-10-03T13:46:00.003-05:00

With Neosho riding a 2 game losing streak and the Cardinals playing well this matchup didn't have quite the hype that preseason picks might have given it - the COC coaches picked Neosho to win the conference. For the first 15 minutes or so the game looked to be a bit of a snoozer.

WC came out and scored on the third play from scrimmage when Patrick Drake found Boo Rodgers deep. The Cardinal defense held and then WC scored again - Drake to Rodgers a second time. Early in the 2nd quarter WC made it 21-0 when Braxton Baker punched it in from 3 yards out.

Neosho scored next. That didn't look so bad, but when Neosho managed to score again before halftime you started to get that uneasy feeling that the tide was turning against WC who led 21-14 at the half.

The second half was ugly for WC. Lots of miscues and mistakes. Braxton Baker - who never fumbles - had one stripped and also dropped an option pitch. Patrick had a pass picked off when it was tipped. An interception by a WC corner got stripped at the 1-yard line and Neosho ended up with it. WC didn't tackle particularly well at times and on a number of occasions let a receiver get wide open.

I've got no interest in knocking the Cards, I'm just pointing out this was not a stellar performance. Had the Cards held onto the ball and finished drives the game never would have been close. One thing I have come to expect from WC teams is correcting mistakes from one week to the next. Part B of that is not beating themselves - with things like penalties and turnovers. I fully expect to see a much sharper WC squad next Friday at Branson.

All of that aside, give Neosho credit. They're big and tough. The Neosho QB - Alex Wise - slashed all over the field and forced WC to change to a 4-man front. The O-line for Neosho was big enough that in most cases they could run the ball effectively. While Webb could have iced it by taking care of the ball, Neosho is a good team that clearly has not performed as well as everyone expected them to.

I have often said that good teams always have a turning point game. Either they get behind and have to fight their way back or find themselves on the wrong side of the momentum and have to find a way to turn the tide. It's a long way to St. Louis from here, but if this Cards squad goes on to accomplish big things I think having to perform under the pressure of a tie game with 5 minutes to go and an opponent driving down the field with momentum will have been a big part of that.

The next two weeks will be key for WC. Branson is tough. They beat Nixa and had Carthage on the ropes (at Carthage) last night before the Tigers made their escape. Waiting for the Cardinals just behind Branson is Carthage.

Week 5: WC v. Nixa

2009-09-27T09:37:00.003-05:00

After three weeks of pounding the pavement, Webb City returned home to host the Nixa Eagles - who came in fresh off wins against Neosho and Carthage and just a 1-point loss to Branson from being unbeaten.

What was known about Nixa was that they had a big running back and were tough and physical. The questions for WC seemed to swirl more around the health of QB Patrick Drake. I am told there was some speculation ahead of the game that perhaps the Cards should go with Sophomore Breckin Williams regardless of Pat's health. The first half on Friday showed 2 things:
1. Pat is healthy
2. When it comes to running the offense - and I mean all of it, which is what makes it so dangerous - Pat knows what he's doing and that comes from a lot of experience.

The Cards came out hot and early on this looked to be a blowout. For most of the first half, Nixa couldn't stop WC. Webb never punted in the first half - a fumble and the half ending were the only two times WC didn't put it in the end-zone.

The second half was a little different story. Nixa hung in there and refused to give up. They made some adjustments at halftime and WC was no longer able to score at will. Strong defense and 3 interceptions allowed WC to cruise on to the win.

After 2 weeks of weaker opponents, Nixa was a legitimate test for WC. Next Friday Neosho comes to town. That game has been highlighted on the schedule for a while, but has lost some of its hype after Neosho dropped not only the game with Nixa, but then lost a close one at home against Carthage on Friday. My take on that isn't that Neosho is weaker than people thought, but more likely they're going to be very hungry when they roll into Cardinal Stadium. WC will need to be very focused on this opponent (not looking past them to Branson or Carthage) to stay unbeaten.

Week 4: WC at Ozark

2009-09-19T10:49:00.003-05:00

It's safe to say this one didn't go the way I thought it would...at least not in the way I was expecting it to.

About 6 plays into the game, Patrick Drake ran for a first down near mid-field with the play ending near the WC sideline. Through the legs of the WC players on the sideline we could see one pair of Columbia blue pants still laying on the turf. When the QB's sister, grandparents, and uncle are sitting next to you and he was the ball carrier it doesn't take long to inventory the players who have returned to the huddle and figure out that it's #5 that's down.

That was a scary moment for his family - as it would be for any family - as he laid there for minutes on end and then finally the stretcher and backboard were rolled out. Early word from the sideline was that he was moving all limbs, but his neck was sore. Eventually Pat's parents and brother converged on the sideline and then migrated to the south end of the field. Britt (Pat's sister, my wife) walked down to where they were examining him and then returned to the stands to report that they were transporting him to the hospital for examination, but that it appeared he was okay.

The radio was reporting way ahead of the actual medical process, by halftime they had said he was fine and would be back next week - at one point they apparently reported he'd be back at the stadium before the end of the game. Pat may well return next week, but it was the 4th quarter before the doctor actually saw Pat and diagnosed a severe neck sprain - next week questionable.

Once the game resumed WC had to face the reality of 2 QB options:
1. A junior who is coming off an injury and has had few reps over the last several weeks.
2. A sophomore with very little varsity experience.

Enter Sophomore Breckin Williams.

I fully expected a steady dose of Braxton Baker for the rest of the night in an effort to shorten the game and get a win. I even said to Britt's gramdma that I thought Breckin would mostly be turning around and handing it off.

I was wrong.

First play, WC dialed up a 1-step fade to Chris Hance for a big gain. A couple of plays later Williams hit Boo Rodgers crossing in the endzone for the game's opening score.

From there we saw a pretty wide open approach. Probably less veer option than Pat tends to run, but WC was forced to the air as Ozark had designed their scheme to stop one man - Braxton Baker (and they were fairly successful at that, relatively speaking).

Braxton eventually picked up some yards and scored a touchdown, but did not get to dominate Ozark the way he does with most opponents. But the reason WC's offense is so potent is that Baker isn't the only weapon.

Williams played well for a guy that hasn't played at the varsity level - 4 TD passes and 1 on the ground. It was a much better showing than I expected - no offense Breckin, that was a tough spot and you just never know how it's going to go.

The WC defense looked good - overall - against a scrambling QB and a spread attack. This is significant because if there's one thing that always concerns me a little going into a game it's a spread attack. In the time I've been watching WC football, pass defense has not been a consistent strong-suit. It appears that speed is paying off in the back end right now.

WC cruised to a 42-7 victory. Ozark's only score came when they recovered a fumble (which should not have been ruled a fumble - more on the officials in a minute) at the WC 1 and managed to punch it in on 3rd down.

The Ozark coach had some pretty lame comments that are quoted in the Joplin Globe. Coach, you got jacked up on a night when you had every advantage. You probably ought to show a little more respect rather than acting like you were ever in the game.

The officiating for the 3rd straight week appeared to be handled by 4 of the opposing team's dads. Seriously, every time WC got a first down they'd call it back for a penalty no one saw. There was no way they could do enough to keep Ozark in the game, so it was just annoying and made the game last forever. Homer officials are annoying. Where do they get those bozos?

WC hosts Nixa next week. Nixa beat Carthage in Carthage so it should be a good game. I certainly hope that Patrick's recovery goes quickly, we'd love to see him out there Friday night running the offense, but of course want to make sure he's ready to go physically before he does that.

Week 3: WC at Willard

2009-09-13T09:12:00.003-05:00

The best part of Friday night for me was the burrito at Q'doba before the game.

Why?

After 2 solid opponents and watching WC come to life in the clutch it was hard to get too excited watching them roll over a comparably weak Willard team.

The Good:
- WC came out throwing. A 45-yard pass from Patrick to Boo Rodgers and a 19-yard pass to Austin Daniel put WC in the end zone for the first time after just those 2 plays. Patrick added a second passing touchdown later in the 1st quarter. It felt like they passed a lot, but according to Globe stats they only attempted 6, connecting on 4 of them for the 2 TDs and 98 yards.
- The defense got to see an option offense - the first of the season against the new 3-5 stack defense. You could tell they were still figuring some things out as Willard actually racked up a fair number of yards.
- Everyone got to play (that was dressed out).
- 1O and 1D were done before half-time.

The Bad:
- Smallest visitors seating area I've ever seen. To Willard's credit, they cleared out 1/3 of their home seating for the sea of red, which WC quickly filled to 80% capacity (thus making it the most full section of the home side).
- No real test. To me, this wasn't a game the Cards were ever really challenged in. I hope they don't come out terribly flat next week.

Next week, at Ozark. Good news: Q'doba is on the way. We'll see how the game goes. Carthage beat Ozark down week 1. I suspect they're a lot better than Willard, but I'm not expecting a challenge the likes of Rogers.

New Shower Head

2009-09-08T07:12:00.002-05:00

This blog has become about the most random collection of ramblings I can think of (and I thought of them all, so I'm not sure if me thinking it's random means something or not). Well, add one more to the chaos...

For several months now my wife and I have been putting up with a mediocre shower experience due to a lack of water pressure. Reason? I'm pretty sure the issue was deposits in the shower head that were restricting flow. I took it off and soaked it in CLR (which will kill your grass by the way) and vinegar - not at the same time - thinking this would break it up and get things moving again.

Unfortunately CLR doesn't work like they show on TV.

On Saturday evening after OSU's big win (I refused to go to dinner with my parents until the game was over - or OSU had no chance to win, whichever came first) and dinner with my parents Brittany said something about needing to "run by" Target (do not be deceived, those words should not indicate anything quick about what is getting ready to happan - though if challenged death and destruction will ensue). I walked virtually every non-clothing aisle (Brittany made sure those got fully inspected). In the process I ran across 2 things I found worthy of purchase:
1. A 4gb jump drive for $9
2. A Waterpik shower head for $11 (on clearance)

The reason I'd been putting up with the lack of water pressure was that I just hated to drop $30 on a shower head at Lowe's since the last time I did that it only took a year before I ended up right where I was at.

But for $11, maybe it would be worth it.

I have become quite proficient with shower head removal/install, so it only took about 5 minutes to remove the old head and install the new. A quick test revealed that there were no pesky leaks and we were in business. Now for the awesome part...

A post-mowing shower late in the afternoon revealed that the new shower head produces nearly the same water pressure as my power washer!

I'm pretty sure this just shaved 3 minutes off our shower times, if that's not environmentally friendly I don't know what is!

Week 2: WC at Rogers

2009-09-05T10:59:00.002-05:00

Sports fans know that games and seasons turn on a series of single moments - and sometimes just one or two. For the first 18 minutes of WC's game at 7A Rogers (AR) it looked like the Cards were going to get roughed up. I was concerned going in. Anytime you match up with a school that much larger you just never know what to expect. Early on it looked like we (notice how I say "we" now?) were in trouble. It took 3 plays and 49 seconds for the "Mounties" to go 70-ish yards and score. On their second possession it didn't take much longer.

To be fair, WC found itself in a hole at home against Rogers last year (Also down 14-0 in the first quarter before Mack and the boys started clawing their way back - see post from that game). When WC got their first defensive stop the crowd settled a little, but with no signs of life on offense through the first quarter I was still very on edge.

Finally, late in the second quarter the Novocaine (explanation of this reference found in post linked above) started to work and the Cards "mounted" a 70-yard drive to get on the board. The PAT (that's Point After Try, not a reference to my brother in law, he had nothing to do with this kick attempt) failed and the half ended at 14-6.

Side-note: The Rogers QB should have been penalized for spiking the ball on what proved to be the final play of the half. Doing so would have forced Rogers to run another play and likely punt it back to WC. The officiating and clock operation were suspect all night, but what do you expect?

A half-time text I sent to a friend said something like: "Halftime 14-6. We're not dead yet, but we've got to play cleaner to win. Novocaine starting to work if we can eliminate mistakes."

WC has developed this reputation for wearing you down until their running game can just beat you into submission. We saw it repeatedly last year. They would go on these impressive 10 and 12 play, 70 and 80 yard drives again and again. At times they'd consume nearly an entire quarter in the process. You hear commentators talk about the need to stay with the running game into the second half during college and pro games, but rarely does it work as noticeably as I've seen it work for WC.

That last drive of the first half gave me some hope that WC could control the ball and start putting some points on the board. Set to receive the second half kickoff would provide a chance to either tie or at least get within 1 or 2 early in the half.

First and 10 from their own 20 I'm looking for the Cards to keep grinding like that last drive of the first half. Didn't happen. Braxton Baker took it 80 yards on the first play. 2pt attempt failed, 14-12 Rogers.

The Cards got it back, drove down and Baker scored on a 25-yard run. A 2pt conversion made it 20-14.

Next possession Jeremiah Box scored and it was 26-14. Box scored again on the next possession, PAT succeeded to make it 33-14.

The Mounties hit a long pass to get to 33-21.

Next Baker scored on a 33 yard run.

Yes, it all happened about this fast.

Then we got to see Pat's wheels again. Pat had a good 2nd half running the offense, ran the veer options very effectively mostly pitching and letting Box and Baker shoulder the load. But from his own 22 yard line we saw a repeat of last week's first offensive play of the game. Pat turned the corner, hit the jets and was gone. This time he had a one-man convoy called Braxton Baker ensuring no one was going to get near him. A cheap shot in the back at the 5-yard line left Baker on the turf (not hurt) and of course no call. John Rod was hot - and understandably so. That touchdown made it 46-21.

The Mounties hit one more long pass (against the 2nd team defense) before the Cards put the 1D back in (after Rogers recovered an onside kick) to get one final stop, then drove it to the the Mounties 16 yard line with 1:55 on the clock.

On 1st and 10 and with no doubt they could have shoved it in the end zone, John Roderique did what he always does: showed he has more class and discipline than most. I would have probably left the starting offense in there long enough to score again for a number of reasons:
1. Rogers had recovered an onside kick after their TD against the WC 2nd team D.
2. Rogers was fairly mouthy - or so it appeared based on the way one of their guys was taunting (?) the WC crowd late in the game (hey, buddy, check the scoreboard and get back to me).
3. How often do you get a chance to "hang half a hundred" on an opponent that much bigger than you?

Second team O went in and successfully killed the clock. You're welcome, Rogers.

Observations:
- I'm not sure the Novocaine theory works for this Cards squad. In the sense of them wearing you down in the first half it does, but they don't do a lot of grinding once it starts to work. It's like they numb you with Novocaine and then hit you with hard drugs. I say that because once they get rolling they'll just put it in the end zone on you in one or two plays and ask questions later.
- I'm not kidding about WC being fast. If you let Pat, Braxton, or Jeremiah get behind you good luck catching them. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying it's not going to be easy. WC hasn't always had that many speed threats in the backfield at once.
- The 3-5 stack defense is growing on me. I like having all those linebackers in there against the spread attack. I'm still not convinced it's cut out to deal with short yardage, but I do think it fits WC's personnel in 2009.
- Putting up 40 points in one half (and leaving 6 or 7 on the table at the end) is impressive against any opponent, I'm not sure what happened in that locker room, but it was as dramatic a turn around as I've ever seen from one half to the next.
- 560 - That's what WC racked up in rushing yards last night. WOW. Braxton had nearly 300. Pat and Jeremiah both went over 100.

I started off talking about moments in sports, so I'd better bring it back to there. Bookends, right programming guys? Here's what I see. Any good team always has at least 1 gut-check moment where they have to look one another in the eye and decide whether they're going to win or lose. In 2006 it was at Pittsburg, down in the first half and looking rough a big play on D sparked a comeback and they took it all the way to the Dome and a title. In 2008 a minor scare at Harrisonville in week 1 was followed by a short nightmare against Rogers before the Cards decided to refuse to give up and ultimately went 15-0. I'm not predicting anything about 2009. Lot's of games to play. Tough matchups at home against Neosho and Carthage, tough road games as well. I am saying I think the Cards learned something about themselves last night and I expect them to play with more confidence going forward. Having come back from down 14-0, on the road, against a big, fast team like Rogers should ensure they're not going to panic when things get tough - which they no doubt will.

It looks like to me the keys for the next couple of weeks are:
1. Don't overlook Willard or Ozark, teams that are not nearly as highly regarded as their first two opponents.
2. Get / stay healthy. Luna played offense last night and looked good. Scott Roderique did not suit last night, need him to get healthy.
3. Continue to improve. You can tell they've got some guys that are still learning - especially on defense. These should be great games to get some game speed experience that will make them better as they head down the road toward district play.

Lessons in Light Bulbs

2009-09-03T07:12:00.003-05:00

File this one in your "Ryan is an idiot" folder.

If you've ever found yourself behind my Civic after dark you might have noticed that one of the two tail lights on the passenger side was out. A few have pointed it out to me thinking I wasn't aware - I appreciate the concern, had I not known I certainly would have wanted to.

The light got knocked out several years ago when my dad inadvertently backed into the Civic. The bulb got replaced (by me) and that fixed the brake light, but for some reason the low intensity tail light didn't work. I figured there was probably a fuse issue or something, but didn't really dig into it.

[Insert soothing voice of Robin Sigars reading "The Little Acorn"] And time moved on...

I decided yesterday to take a stab at fixing it / getting it fixed. I knew it wasn't likely to pass inspection with it out. I thought before paying someone to fix it I'd mess with it (that's a technical term for trying to fix something when you have no idea what is wrong or what needs to be done - it pretty much never works).

Thankfully this particular model Civic was designed in a way that makes this particular bulb easy to get to. Two screws and a quick disconnect of the wiring harness and I had the fitting loose where I could look at it.

I inspected the bulb, both filament wires looked fine.

I pulled the bulb from the socket, looked fine.

But that was when I noticed that on one side of the bulb there were 3 contact wires and on the other there were 2. So I looked down in the socket and sure enough on one side there were 3 metal contact pads, on the other side there were 2.

The light bulb in my head finally came on. I stuck the bulb back in the socket (3 metal pieces against 3 metal pieces, 2 against 2) and presto! Working tail light!

5 years of a tail light out came down to the fact that I stuck the bulb in the socket wrong and never realized it.

Like I said, put this one in the Ryan's and idiot folder.

New (to us) Vehicle

2009-08-30T20:30:00.004-05:00

As I have talked some about already, Brittany and I are eagerly anticipating the birth of our first child in December (Drake Scott). Any of you that know us very well are aware that we have for the last four years owned 3 cars all with 2-doors each. Now, I'm not a seasoned parent yet, but I'm told that a 2-door car + an infant = a headache (literally and figuratively).

As such, we set out to sell my wife's Toyota Solara - a car she has been very happy with and was sad to drive away from - and replace it with something of the four-door variety.

We looked at 3 options seriously: a 3.5 Nissan Altima, a V8 Toyota 4-Runner, and a Honda Pilot. We were searching for a used one of any of the three.

What we found was that it's virtually (not completely, but nearly) impossible to find either the Altima (something like 1 in 12 were made with the 3.5 - V6 engine) or the 4-Runner equipped the way we wanted it. Throw in some expectations regarding miles and price and we were pretty much striking out on these two.

Additionally, we came to decide that while the Altima would have served our needs pretty well with the first child we felt like the odds of wanting something larger if and when a second child comes along were pretty strong. Given that we'd like for Britt to drive this vehicle longer than we're likely to wait before making another person (as John Luzadder likes to put it) it didn't seem prudent to go that route.

At the end of the day my wife loves the 4-Runner and would love to have the available V8 (please forward any green complaints directly to her), but it seems that almost no one that bought one fully-loaded is getting rid of it this soon (can't blame them).

Finally, we found that while not just growing on trees, the Pilot could be located with reasonable miles and pricing that was manageable. As a matter of fact, the one we bought is the only one we actually test drove - goodness knows we looked at several dozen on the internet.

Four weekends ago when we were baby furniture shopping we also hit a couple of car lots. Joe Marina Honda at 91st and Memorial in Tulsa had a silver Pilot that was of interest so we stopped in and drove it. At the time we hadn't really looked at anything else and though it was exactly what we were looking for we declined to talk dollars with them on it.

After searching for other Pilots (and finding little that we felt was as good of a value as the one at Joe Marina) and mostly failing to find anything of interest on the other two types of cars we were looking at we decided to at least see what kind of offer they would make us. Initially we were not terribly close on dollars, but a couple of rounds of straight-forward negotiations (and an eerily silent phone when it came to calls about Britt's Solara) later we were pretty close.

Finally, on Saturday, August 15th, Brittany and I agreed on an amount we were willing to spend so I called and offered that amount "in cash" (Seriously, Dave Ramsey, I mean it). Twenty minutes later I was scrambling out the door to Arvest before they closed at 1pm - again, it was a cash offer.

We hauled ourselves to Tulsa, inspected the Pilot closely (it's a Honda Certified used car, so I knew the inspection they did had to be pretty thorough and it came with 12 months/12,000 miles bumper-to-bumper), cleaned the last of Britt's stuff out of the Solara and then waited (for like 90 minutes) for our turn to sign the papers and pay for it.

The whole time I've got this wad of cash in my pocket. Somehow it just didn't make sense to have the pregnant lady carrying the money.

When we finally got to the part where the finance guy asked us to write a check was he ever shocked to see actual currency. As a matter of fact, we even had exact change - which included 4 quarters left over from washing the Solara on our way to the dealership. A quick double-count later and we were on or way out the door - and making a mad dash for the Martina McBride concert.

I've included a few pics of the Pilot. It doesn't have a name yet, I'm not even sure how we'll refer to it - car, truck, SUV?

One note to add. Britt drove it to school for the first day of teacher's meetings (2 days after we bought it) and of course it rained. By the time she got in it to come home the roads were dry and as a direct result of it being silver (instead of black like her Solara was) it was still clean in spite of the rain. Long-live the silver Hondas.

Week 1: WC v. Harrisonville

2009-08-28T22:29:00.005-05:00

Finally! It seems like ages ago that WC captured their 8th class 4A state title in St. Louis last November, but finally tonight a new season began.

Love or hate the Cards, you have to give it to them, they don't ever play a cream-puff schedule. The Missouri Class 4A #1 Cardinals opened the season with class 4A #6 Harrisonville in a rematch of the 2008 season opener at Harrisonville.

The 2008 matchup was tight throughout and the Cards didn't seal it until the final play - a 27-21 road win that started a 15 game run to a title.

Tonight, Harrisonville received the opening kick, got a first down, stalled out and punted it to the WC 19 yard line. On WC's first play from scrimmage, Cardinal fans watched as Patrick Drake (my brother-in-law) turned the corner on an option and took it 81 yards to the house. (The pic below is about the time Pat turned the corner, it looks like a couple of those guys might have a shot at him, but no one really ever got close.)

Braxton Baker - yes, he's back - scored on a short run to cap a solid 2nd drive and make the score 14-0.

Baker went 49 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the next possession. 21-0 WC.

Then to cap the first half, Breckin Williams picked off a pass and hustled 65 yards into the end zone. A bad snap on the extra point sent the teams to the locker room at 27-0 WC.

On the opening kickoff of the second half, Maddy Johnson went 95 yards untouched to make the score 33-0 WC (2-pt. attempt to get the clock going continuously failed).

The rest of the game honestly was dull by comparison. Harrisonville eventually scored using it's #1 offense versus something between WC's #2 and JV Defense.

Here's what I think we learned tonight:

- WC is fast. Maybe faster than I've seen them be compared to good competition in the years I've been around.
- WC is dangerous and deep at the skill positions. In case you have any questions about that, go back and read how they scored their 5 touchdowns - 4 of them came on big plays where a WC player got behind the D and checked out.
- WC has some work to do on the line - both ways. We knew coming in that the lines were question marks. Knowing that Hunter Luna is out gives me hope that they'll get some help at some point in the season. Outside of that, the boys up front are simply put going to have to continue to get better - and I have no doubt they will.

Here's how I see this going.

- Next week is going to be tough - and potentially rough - at Arkansas 7A Rogers. We'll see how it goes, but a win on the road in that one would likely be talked about for a long time (we all still feel pretty fortunate to have beaten Rogers in WC in 2008 - frankly I still don't know how we won that game).
- I believe the ultimate outcome of the season is going to be predicated on how the offensive and defensive lines improve as the season goes on. The horses are in place in the skill positions to have a great season. If the line can open holes on offense and close them on defense the way we're accustomed to seeing it may be a great year.

Stay tuned, we're just getting started.

Lame Mastercard commercial ripoff exit comments:
- Admission to a WC football game - $0 if you're married to a teacher.
- Spending a couple of hours with your preacher at the stadium just for fun when he's got a bad hammy and needs help claiming the family plot of seats - 50 yards at full speed with 3 blankets and a draw string bag.
- Cardinal Stadium atmosphere on opening night when the QB you're related to takes the first snap to the house - electric.
- Watching the Cards get a big win on your 30th birthday - priceless.

(Special thanks to Matt Foreman for the use of his photos in this post.)

When 3rd = A Good Day

2009-08-17T17:40:00.003-05:00

This has been a long, rough NASCAR season for Dale Jr. fans. Let's face it, he hasn't done well for a variety of reasons. Personally, it doesn't matter to me why he has struggled, it just makes the races a little less interesting when he's not in the mix. But....

For about 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon we got to see flashes of the Jr. we'd like to see every week. Restarting 18th with 44 to go, Jr. blasted through the field with some combination of a better car (for once) and the good fortune of newer tires and a full tank of gas (while some others were trying to save fuel).

Dale had it wound up and running right along the wall - where he likes it - and pretty much no one was about to get in his way.

He didn't get the win, ended up 3rd, but I'd much rather see him charging through a field than trying to hold on for a top 10. It was good to see him finish a race going forward in the field instead of backing up or in the garage. He put himself in a position to drive aggressively and go for a great finish. This time it worked out pretty well.

While The Chase is out of the question for Jr. this year, it would be great to see him put together some good finishes this fall to provide some momentum toward 2010.

Pre-season

2009-08-15T22:43:00.002-05:00

The 2009 edition of the Webb City Cardinals held their DVD-scrimmage this evening at Cardinal Stadium. I didn't get to attend. How could that be you ask? Well, it's simple, I was busy doing some pre-season training of my own. Still confused?

Here's the deal. As a Cards fan, it is critical to get in shape for the dash for seats at each home game. Scrimmages don't provide much training, because crowds are so small there's no pressure to perform. As such, I found a more effective way to train - buy general admission tickets to a sold-out Martina McBride concert.

Doors opened at 6, show at 8, and it was a free-for-all when they opened the doors. Preggo-wife in tow, we dashed for seats and managed front row center.

Let's just say, I'm definitely in mid-season form.

Okay, really, we didn't get there until 7:40 because we were busy buying a 4-door vehicle and there were no seats, so we stood for the first 20 minutes until we spotted some no-shows and grabbed theirs.

It was a good show. Very interesting crowd. Got called a really not-nice name because I wouldn't let a beer and nacho toting woman step between Brittany and I (we were standing about 3-inches apart). We missed the cover of Journey at the end of the show because we thought she was done and we were trying to avoid getting buried in the crowd.

I'm sure the car deal will get its own post soon, but suffice it to say I went "Jayson French" on the guy. He didn't open his Kingdom Worker card, but he took my offer and we now own 2 silver Hondas.

Traditions

2009-08-14T16:57:00.008-05:00

Traditions are an interesting thing we humans do. We have them in virtually every aspect of our lives. We have holiday traditions, work traditions, religious traditions, sports traditions, and the list goes on. I'm not about to claim to understand all the psychology behind why we feel the need to establish and carry on traditions (sometimes well beyond their useful lifespan).

I do find it very interesting that we use what to others must seem like random acts as ways to commemorate important things in our lives. Sometimes traditions are intentionally established - several of the traditions we carry on in the Christian faith were specifically established and intended to be carried on. Other traditions just kind of get going without much forethought.

For instance, in my mom's family there is box that is given between family members each year - and this has been going on longer than I've been alive. At first it wasn't intentional, but then someone realized that that same box kept popping up each year. So they decided to keep giving it. The family is large enough now that we only exchange one gift at the big family party each Christmas - that one gift is given in what we call the "heirloom box".

I guess intentionality is part of a tradition. Until someone intentionally starts repeating the same acts it's not yet a tradition.

I realized Thursday that CIY has a new tradition - the dumping of icy water of the head of the MOVE intern coordinator at the lake party. Four years ago, the first year I served in that role, when it first happened it was a total surprise to me and I didn't think much about it. Then it happened the next year, then last year, and finally again yesterday.

Now there is one common denominator in those 4 cold showers I've received - his name is Tony Anderson. You see, back in 2006 Tony was an intern. Then in 2007 he was an intern again. In 2008 and 2009 Tony traveled with us an Emcee and we like him so well that we still invite him to the lake party. Coincidentally, Tony is a very talented composer and has scored several of the major films we have shown at CIY events over the last few years. Here is a link to his site.

Knowing that I was bound to get a cooler of ice over my head yesterday I decided to turn the tables a little. Rather than try to avoid my own celebratory dousing I decided it was time for Tony to receive the same honor. Tony is very persuasive when it comes to the interns, but he forgot one important thing - there are several of our staff members that (surprising to you or not) like me. So I asked them to help me out a little - by returning the victory shower to Tony when I got mine.

The interns this year were pretty sly, I'll give them that. Well, really they weren't. It was terribly obvious that they were plotting, but how they carried it out was good. They actually used a decoy. Two of the guys - Titus and Will - picked up a cooler and walked around behind me with it - in plain sight. I was thinking, wow, you guys are pretty confident that I'm not going to try to evade you or turn it back on you. What I didn't know was that Paul and Josh had gone around the house with a bucket and were coming from my blind side. It was a direct hit. Nicely done guys, no really, nicely done. In the words of our friend Tony, "Complete Success."

Shortly there after my retaliation plan was carried out by a couple of guys on staff (I think it was Chase and Ben, but I'm not 100% on that) while a couple of others kept Tony distracted - thanks, Jayson.

So it's a tradition. That's cool. I figure if the interns didn't like me they wouldn't do it so I might as well embrace it.

I guess I'll just add this to my list of things to thank Tony for. :)

6 Years Ago Today...

2009-08-14T08:19:00.003-05:00

I was reminded on the morning news that it was 6 years ago today that a massive blackout hit the northeastern United States (and parts of Canada as I recall). I bring this up, because I'm not sure I've ever told my story about that day here on the blog.

During the week leading up to August 14, 2003 my parents, sister, and I had been on a baseball road-trip (sort of). We flew to Toronto (there's a story about that too), saw the Jays at SkyDome - the first modern retractable roof baseball stadium. Then drove to Niagara Falls and over to New York City to visit Yankees Stadium (Mariners were in town). From there we made a stop in Hershey, PA on our way to visit Pittsburgh's new park (they were hosting the Cards). Finally, we trekked it west to Chicago to visit Wrigley Field - where the Cubs were hosting the Astros in the middle of a late summer divisional race.

Wrigley is an awesome park and it was a nice day. We were enjoying the game when I noticed a couple of fighter jets flying along the coastline over Lake Michigan. I have always been fascinated by fighter jets so this caught my eye. They continued up the coastline and out of sight. During the next half inning we heard this thunderous noise behind us then suddenly the fighters buzzed right over the top of Wrigley at what seemed to be really low altitude. Over the next 2 or 3 innings this happened a couple of additional times, but we had no idea why.

Finally in the 8th inning we had to leave because we were catching a flight out of Chicago back to Tulsa. We made our way to O'Hare only to find news vans parked along the curb at the terminal. This seemed a little strange, but we didn't find out until we got inside that the northeast was now without power and most flights weren't coming or going at that point. Basically everywhere we had been for the last week was in the dark and parts of Chicago were too. Thankfully, the airport still had power and our direct flight to Tulsa was on schedule.

We boarded the plane and flew home mostly unaffected by the whole incident and then watched on TV as the blackout played out for the next few days.

When it happened, there were fears that it was terrorism related - hence the fighter jets. In reality it was a failure that set off a chain reaction and took down the whole grid.

Baby Furniture...Really Just Furniture

2009-08-10T19:07:00.003-05:00

As many have heard by now we are having a boy! We plan to name him Drake Scott - both are family names - and can't wait for him to arrive.

The due date remains Christmas Day, we'll see if that plays out or not. I think we'd rather he came just before or just after (I mean just after, I'm pretty determined we're spending New Year's Eve at home).

The search has been on for a crib and furniture. Saturday was a frustrating day as we searched Tulsa with little success. The crib part was relatively easy, but what stores are charging arms and legs for as furniture was unacceptable. Why, you ask? Cheap materials and mediocre construction.

The big thing right now is for the crib to be convertible to a toddler bed and ultimately a full-size bed (you just have to buy the rails and the mattress/box spring to get you to the full-size). Great idea, that means I only have to buy 1 bed for this kid until he goes off to college and starts sleeping on a bed purchased by T. Boone Pickens.

The problem comes in when you start inspecting the construction of the dressers and changing tables they're selling with these cribs - particularly the drawers. If a very careful adult uses them, I'm sure they'd last for quite a long time. But if I'm letting the boy keep his bed, shouldn't he be able to keep his dresser? There's no chance that a growing child (boy or girl) isn't going to tear to pieces the light-weight, veneer finished pieces that are being sold along with most beds (unless you get into the really expensive stuff, found one set that met my approval). That's all before we get into the card stock being used as the bottom of the drawers. Yeah, that'll survive a 5 year-old boy!

Like I said, Saturday was frustrating. Sunday was worse as Brittany shopped endlessly and with no success online looking for something we liked, were willing to pay for, and that might survive.

Brilliant woman that she is, she decided to drop in on a place on Rangeline called "Wood You" Furniture. If you're not familiar with this business, it is basically a place that sells new, unfinished furniture. This gives the DIY-inclined a chance to finish it and feel like they did something. Or Wood You is happy to arrange to have it finished any way you want it.

So in we went...

This was my kind of place. Solid wood everywhere you looked. Now most of this wasn't quite as heavy as what I'd build, but it also didn't look like I'd built it (a plus). When I say heavy, we're talking a couple hundred pounds for the dresser. Brittany's first trip confirmed they had some really solid stuff that would serve our needs and the prices were reasonable (at least as good as what we were seeing elsewhere). Thirty minutes and a couple of trips to the catalog and we were in business.

Here's a picture of a piece similar to one that we bought (this one is slightly taller).

I'll have to do a follow-up to this when we actually get the finished product. Looking at everything in the store I'd be shocked if it turned out anything less than great.

Observations from Tennessee

2009-07-26T17:00:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I posted and I haven't even thought a ton about it. But two weeks in Tennessee are always good for a few thoughts:

- I felt like the trip to Tennessee went pretty well. Ten hours and forty-five minutes from Joplin to Cleveland, TN with stops is good, probably the most efficiently I'd ever done it.
- But I still can't figure out what happened on the way home. I figured with a pregnant wife in tow we'd be somewhere over 11 hours even if all went according to schedule. However, somehow we came in under 10 hours and 30 minutes - including stops and 20 minutes at a dead-stop on I-24 because of an accident. My wife is pretty awesome. She made a move in traffic at one point that was highly impressive. And the fact that we didn't have to stop so she could pee for the last 4.5 hours of the trip is unbelievable to me.
- Hands are surfaces that can be effectively sanitized by spraying them with an antibacterial solution - regardless of whether that particular solution was originally designed with hands in mind. I'm just saying.
- There is something about Japanese food in Tennessee (which is strange), but the best I've ever had is there and I found a new favorite place to get it. If only there were carrots.
- Anything that might look like a fight club to someone who you wake up in the middle of the night probably isn't a great idea. I'm just saying.
- Even when you push 2 twin beds together it's still not quite the same as sleeping in the same bed with your wife.
- File this one away for future reference. Atlanta is only a 2 hour drive from Lee University. If there are flight delays it might be best to just rent a car and drive. Once you get delayed the first time the likelihood that you will leave when they say you will goes down exponentially.
- Brusters refused to serve us at 9:45 (they were closing at 10) because everything was already cleaned up. That didn't go over well when Eric returned a few days later and mentioned it to the manager. Next thing we know, we've got more buy 1 get 1 free coupons than we know what to do with. The Chick-Fil-A that was 2-doors down was more than happy to have our business that night.
- Boo-yah is a quickly overused phrase, but "fail" never gets old. The only question with "fail" is who will come up with the most appropriate title for a particular "fail".
- The special sauce and/or the flan will change your life and the server will ask.
- Not all barber shops are exactly the same. Right, Brad?

Father's Day Gift

2009-07-05T09:35:00.003-05:00

On Friday evening my dad and I made a trip to Springfield to watch a baseball game. Seems simple enough - and it was...and that was kind of the point.

I suspect that I'm not the only adult son who has struggled to figure out what to buy for his dad on Father's Day. Dad's tend to fall into a couple of categories (and I'm sure I will too someday). There are those who don't really need or want much - either because they have everything or just don't have interests and hobbies outside their work and family. Then there are those whose interests and hobbies are too expensive for most people to meaningfully gift-give related thereto.

My dad is more in the former category. He has the things he needs and isn't someone who wants a lot of things - something I respect about him - so when birthdays, Christmas, and Father's Day roll around knowing how to honor him in meaningful ways can be a challenge.

It's easy to just say that a dad is hard to buy for and that ends up coming across negatively toward the person. I don't think it's that simple. I think it is difficult because often we as their children don't fully grasp what dad really enjoys and wants - a lot of times he wants to spend time with his kids (especially the adult ones who are off living their own lives now).

So back to our simple journey to Springfield....

For this to make sense you need some background. Baseball has been an integral part of my life and that of my family as far back as I can remember. Whether it was me playing or us watching at all levels of play - including a lot of Braves games on TBS - baseball is kind of part of the fabric of our family, something we all get, something we hold in common and can enjoy together (every family needs a few of those things).

Here's the list of major league parks dad and I (and in many cases my mom and sister) have been in together:
- Kauffmann (KC)
- Old Busch (STL)
- Wrigley (CHC)
- Skydome (TOR)
- Old Yankees (NYY)
- Fenway (BOS)
- Heinz (PIT)
- Camden (BAL)
- Turner (ATL)
- Arlington (TEX)

Add to that a few of minor league parks - Bricktown, Drillers, and now Hammons.

There are only a couple of parks I've been to without dad - Coors, Anaheim (whatever that one is called), and a minor league park in Johnson City, TN.

Before the game we made a quick stop at the Chipotle up the street from Hammons Field - nothing like a huge burrito before a game. I think dad had only been to a Chipotle one other time. I was pretty sure he'd like it because he would appreciate the freshness and simplicity of the approach, while enjoying the ingredients (unless you're a vegetarian who doesn't like rice, beans, steak, chicken or pork, salsa, cheese, etc. all wrapped in a massive tortilla?).

Friday turned out to be a great evening, cool enough to enjoy sitting outside at a great ballpark. I'll give it to the folks at Hammons, they know how to entertain between innings. People sometimes complain about baseball being slow. Those of us who love the game would argue that it's deliberate and the complainers don't understand what's really going on. The game (which the Cardinals double-A affiliate won 2-1) moved quickly, had some good pitching, a few good hits and plays in the field.

In addition to getting to see a good game (and this is one of the great things about watching baseball) we were able to sit and talk about all sorts of stuff. And I think that's the key, it gave us time to spend together that we don't normally get. It is my theory that more often than we realize, time and no agenda is what our dads really want.

When it was over we were treated to a very nice fireworks show (it was July 3rd).

I'm pretty sure it was the best Father's Day gift I have managed in several years. And opens some options for me going forward. There are all sorts of events and experiences I could take dad to - just takes a little creativity.

Brayden Turns Pro

2009-06-11T06:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday afternoon Brayden Drake got a call that few receive. I have no idea what was said, but it must have been something along the lines of, "Brayden, this is Wayne Decker with the San Diego Padres. We'd like for you to join our organization..."

The Padres took BD in the 12th round of the draft yesterday opening the door to a pro career for a guy that worked his way from a "small" (to quote Jesse Wilson) Missouri high school to a standout career at a solid D-1 baseball school.

His immediate destination is unknown, but thought to be Eugene, Oregon.

It remains to be seen whether we he will continue to play 3rd base or be moved to another position - something he is open to. I think the coaches will find the same thing Coach Darnell (high school) and Coach Guttin (MSU) found: whatever it takes, get his bat in the lineup. The bonuses that come with the bat are that he is very good in the field and an even better guy to have on the team - because other players respect him and he lead quietly by example.

My wife was of course pumped because she can't think of anywhere she'd rather go see him play than in San Diego someday.

Joplin Globe Article

Local TV Story

More Drama with Chrysler

2009-06-10T07:20:00.002-05:00

I've got little time to be blogging this morning, but an article I was sent yesterday describes the major legal problem with the way Chrysler (and GM to follow) are structuring their "bankruptcy" proceedings). The bottom line is that what they're doing is illegal, but the government is sanctioning it so no one is going to stop it. The linked article was written before Justice Ginsberg decided to allow the sale of Chrysler to Fiat to proceed (denying the challenge of the Indiana pension funds).

Here's the short version of the long story. The pension funds - and other senior bond holders (who are considered "secured") - are legally entitled to receive 100% of their investment back before unsecured (or junior) investors like stock holders or unions get anything. But in the Chrysler deal, these senior bond holders are getting about $0.27 on the dollar while the unsecured UAW gets about double that amount.

Beyond wrong, this flies in the face of an underlying principle in corporate finance. You can be anti-capitalism all you want, but trust me if people stop buying bonds to back your favorite companies (like Apple) it'll be bad for all of us because they can't operate effectively without that capital.

Just one other thing. Remember the speech the President gave when the Chrysler - Fiat deal was announced? The one where he chastised a few bond holder groups for playing hardball and trying get more than they were entitled to. He was talking about the senior bond holders that were entitled to get 100% and were asking for somewhere in the neighborhood of 50%.

Article

In The News

2009-06-07T08:57:00.003-05:00

The end of May and beginning of June is always busy and I find it difficult to keep up with blogging. That's not to say I've got nothing to say, just less time to sit down and post it.

A few editorial comments from the last few weeks:

- Headline: GM goes bankrupt. Comment: Didn't see that coming!

- Headline: NASA completes work on Hubble. Comments: I'll be the first to say that I find the history of the the space program fascinating. Guys like Alan Shepherd and John Glenn are (semi-)modern cowboys that rode rockets into space back when that was a new thing. Sometime after we ended the moon program it kind of lost me. I don't really think we're getting much out of the billions we're putting into the program at this point. Recently NASA completed a big reno (yes, I watch HGTV with my wife) on the Hubble telescope. They played it up like this was crazy dangerous. Maybe it was, but I'm skeptical. I have a tendency to think they are trying to keep people interested as they transition out of the shuttle program into whatever is next - they don't want their funding cut in other words.

- Headline: Obama says Iran has legitimate nuclear interests. Comments: Really? What world did he wake up in the day he said that? Thinking like that will get us all killed.

- Headline: Obamas go for date night in NYC. Comments: Too easy. I'll leave this alone. Don't get me started on what a waste of taxpayer dollars this is.

- Headline: Queen of England not invited to D-Day ceremony. Comments: I'm sure the invite just got lost in the mail. I'm sure that the 4 heads of state who were invited had no reason to not invite her. She only served during the war. I mean they're all decorated war vets too...wait, never mind.

- Headline: I'm going to be a dad! Comments: Yes, you read that right. We found out in late April and decided to wait until Britt could go to the doctor before we told anyone. The grandparents (all 6 of them) are really excited and so are we. The doctor said Baby Claborn (gender not known yet) should be available for comment on or about 12/25/09.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-24T07:42:00.002-05:00

As Brittany and I drove past the cemetery near our house yesterday we got to see the array of flowers that have been lovingly placed on graves this weekend. It was a visible reminder that this is Memorial Day Weekend (yes, thank you, Ryan, for telling us something we already know).

Here's my point. This holiday has taken on lots of secondary and tertiary meanings over the years. Let's face it, it tends to be looked at as the beginning of summer lake season around here. It is Indianapolis 500 weekend. It's Coca-Cola 600 weekend (though the weather outlook in Charlotte isn't good for today). It's a 3-day weekend we all enjoy. The list goes on...

But in reality the holiday is intended to honor those who have fought in defense of the freedoms we enjoy in the United States - and specifically those who have died defending those freedoms. You can disagree with the politics or even the premise of the wars that have been fought - that's a right afforded to you by those out there on the front lines. Whatever your view is, please remember that the men and women of the US Armed Forces aren't the ones making policy, they're just serving their country and protecting you. Even if you don't like what they've been sent to do, be thankful for their sacrifice - your life would certainly look different if no one did what they're doing.

Loosely related, I ran across an article this morning about what equipment a ground soldier might wear in 2030. It's pretty interesting and looks like something straight out of Star Wars. I actually don't like it. They'll have to at least do better with the color scheme before they put it on Marines. I think what I'm uncomfortable with is that this feels dangerously close to creating a remote control soldier with a person along for the ride. If the day comes where robots fight our battles (think Predator Drones for a current example) that's one thing. But this seems like one step closer to having someone in a remote location dictating the moves of a soldier in the field just like they were playing Halo. If we're going to put a soldier in harms way, don't take away what makes him so dangerous to the enemy - his ability to think, reason, and figure it out on the fly.

Post-Season Award

2009-05-18T18:54:00.003-05:00

After being named Player of the Week for the second straight week (third of the season), word came today that Brayden Drake has been named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year. This article on the MVC website gives the details along with info about the all conference teams - which Mo-State had 6 first team members of.

Congrats BD!

Bears Win MVC Title

2009-05-17T19:35:00.003-05:00

Brayden Drake's (my wife's brother) tear through the last couple of weeks of Missouri Valley Conference's regular season continued this weekend as Mo-State swept Indiana State on its way to winning the outright MVC regular season championship and securing the #1 seed in the MVC tournament coming up this weekend in Wichita.

Brayden went 8 for 13 in the three game set with 1 HR, 2 - 2Bs, 7 RBIs, and 4 runs scored. He finished the regular season batting .418 (which leads the MVC).

The Bears take on Illinois State on Wednesday, Southern Illinois on Thursday, and Creighton on Friday. Wins in 2 of those three contests would likely put them in the MVC tournament championship on Saturday night versus the winner from the other "pod" (likely Indiana State or Wichita State - my money is on the home team that gets all the 7pm games).

Mo-State Athletics Saturday Article

Mo-State Athletics Friday Article

Mo-State Athletics Thursday Article

Springfield News-Leader Sunday Article

Darned If They Do...

2009-05-15T07:24:00.002-05:00

The fall-out from the collapse of the American Auto Industry really began leaking out of Detroit and hitting small towns across the country this week with the announcement of the nearly 800 dealerships that Chrysler is cutting loose as soon as June. GM hasn't announced their list, but it is expected to include 1,100 dealerships.

I'm not an expert on the inner-workings of the contractual relationships between the auto-makers and their dealers. My understanding is that the dealerships have contracts with the auto-maker that establish how sales of cars from the maker to the dealer will be handled and give the dealer the right to sell new cars from the maker.

Chrysler being in bankruptcy has more leverage to alter these agreements than they would have otherwise and GM apparently operates on yearly agreements with dealers (which they simply won't renew for the ones they're cutting loose).

The part that I don't fully understand is this: What is the liability to the auto-maker that is posed by having more dealers than are "needed"?

The coverage on this hasn't even mentioned how cutting these loose will help the makers. I am guessing that it has to do with branding and a desire to protect the better performing dealerships more than it is a direct financial impact on the auto-makers. The dealers buy cars from the makers. The makers don't own the dealers, so cutting them loose doesn't reduce the payroll of the auto-maker.

I'm usually the last one suggesting that failing businesses be propped up - and that's not what I'm suggesting here. What I am suggesting is that it might be less damaging to the economy and a more equitable situation to allow the dealerships to battle it out.

What I mean is this, if there are too many dealerships, some will eventually go under on their own - and that poses no cost (that I can see) to the auto-makers. Let capitalism take its course. What that does is gives the low performing dealers a chance to fight their way out of this and avoids thousands of simultaneous layoffs.

I certainly support the right of the auto-makers to decide which dealers they will let sell their new cars, my issue here is the massive slashing that is about to take place. If they need to set some standards and go through eliminating some dealers over some period of time that's fine. But to redefine the rules and dump 1/3 of the dealers over night is pretty rough.

Article

Now Batting...Number 5...

2009-05-14T18:56:00.003-05:00

Pounding a baseball seems to run in the Drake family. The sports section of today's Joplin Globe had pictures of both Patrick and Brayden.

Patrick hit another home run and had the save in a win over Kickapoo on Wednesday. I'll have to find out this weekend if he taunted anyone in the process. Article

Not to be out-done by his younger brother, Brayden (the oldest of my wife's brothers) went out and got himself named Missouri Valley Player of the Week (for the second time this season). Article

Brayden batted .588 for the week and hit home runs in 4 straight games (all road wins including one at Columbia and 3 over Creighton). He is batting .402 for the season.

Brayden set the Missouri State University career record for doubles earlier in the season and added 2 to that total over the weekend. BD is also climbing his way into the top-10 in several other MSU career batting categories as he closes his senior campaign.

One of the things I have always appreciated about Brayden is that he understands the small things of the game. As a high school senior I saw him hit a ball 430 feet to center field (only in Carthage does that land in the park) to give his team the lead in the first inning and the out pitch a guy who has recently been up with the Dodgers. How did that happen? He understood the game and knew how to get batters out. Baseball is a game where being successful usually requires both having ability and doing the small things right, consistently.

This weekend Brayden has a shot at capturing a MVC title with Indiana State coming to Springfield. MSU enters the 3-game set 1 game back of ISU. The following weekend MSU will travel to Wichita for the MVC tournament and hopefully to capture an NCAA regional bid.

Throw That In Here Again

2009-05-10T08:38:00.002-05:00

In the top of the 8th (keep in mind standard high school games are only 7 innings), my brother-in-law, Patrick, found himself facing a new pitcher as the lead-off batter in the inning.

The first pitch - to quote my father-in-law - was a high school curveball (translated: kind of a soft, looping curve that started high and broke down into the strikezone). Patrick took the pitch - tie game in extra innings, lead-off batter, new pitcher, first pitch curve most good hitters are going to take that pitch even if the coach doesn't call it. Strike one.

Second pitch, same as the first. Patrick takes it as well. Strike two.

Third pitch, same as the first two. Patrick fouls it off.

After the foul ball, Patrick looked back at the catcher and said, "Throw that in here again."

Fourth pitch, same looping curveball. Patrick parked it over the left field fence giving Webb City the lead for good.

Some people just have the moxie to throw out the gauntlet and then back it up. Nice job, Pat.

I've Got It! Let The Union Own The Company...

2009-05-02T11:25:00.003-05:00

Something happened this week that was either just another step in the unionization / socialization of America or was the most brilliant thing that could have happened.

It was announced this week that when Chrysler emerges from Chapter 11, the UAW (United Auto Workers union) will own 55% of the company (Article).

Let me see if I understand this correctly. The UAW who refused to give any meaningful ground to save the company will now own a controlling stake in it? Hmm...

Well, the way I see it this will cause one of 2 things to happen. Either:

1. The UAW will be forced to change its ways before they force the company they will now own to go out of business.

Or

2. They'll force it off the cliff and have no one to blame but themselves. Though I'm sure that won't stop them from blaming everyone else they can find to point at.

I'm sure glad we sunk billions into Chrysler only to see it file for Chapter 11. My guess is that GM will be next - especially if the UAW stands to own that company as well (because they're sure not going to negotiate without getting a meaningful ownership stake).

A co-worker made a good point yesterday on this topic. At some point in the past the management of the automakers gave too much ground to the UAW and put the companies in a position that when they needed to cut back and change things they couldn't because the UAW had contracts that wouldn't allow the changes. So while the UAW is certainly to blame, it all started when management gave too much ground decades ago.

Congress Debates the BCS

2009-05-02T11:08:00.002-05:00

Article

I would love to get all the parties involved in a room and just lay into all of them. There are about 9 things wrong with this whole situation.

Congress: Really? Really?!? We're in the middle of what you tell us is the worst recession in decades, 2 wars, an outbreak of swine flu and yet you have time to take on the BCS to get that setup the way you want it?

First, it's none of your business. I have yet to figure out what legal grounds you have to get involved in this at all and I hope college football challenges your involvement all the way to the Supreme Court so you'll quit getting involved in private enterprises that haven't violated any laws. Or if the Court upholds your involvement we will at least know what the new ground rules are in the Socialist States of America.

Second, reason number 456 why you need to back off is the fact that you're messing with something that pays for itself - something the government isn't willing to do (aside from just taxing the heck out of everyone to pay for all your pet projects). The BCS funnels millions into these universities, which unlike the government have to operate with balanced budgets and can't print more money or borrow it from China.

Third, Congress is the biggest collection of complete idiots I've ever seen. You're unqualified to do your job (which apparently includes regulating every aspect of our lives) and now you're stepping even further out into territory you don't understand. Half your members don't have the first clue how the game of football is played - and you sure don't have any concept of how the bowl system works.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

BCS: Congress is right. The system is stupid. The fact that the Big East gets an automatic bid is stupid. Yes, let's insert the 20th ranked team and leave out teams in the top-10.

The first thing you need to do is eliminate the Big East's automatic bid. Second, tell the Mountain West (who is driving this whole initiative in Congress) to shut up. Undefeated against mid-major teams isn't the same as undefeated (or even 1-loss) in the SEC or Big 12 (Big 11 fans keep quiet, you don't have an argument this year; Pac 10 - you're next on my list for the elimination of your automatic bid).

I'll even take it this far. No automatic bids for anyone. Top 10 in the final BCS poll get in. Or you could do the smart thing, take the top 8 BCS teams, use the 4 BCS bowls as the first round, add 2 games as national semi-finals, and then hold the BCS championship. I fail to see how this threatens the bowl structure, it just adds 2 games while providing a playoff that pretty much everyone but the bowl games want to see. And by the way it deals with the whining from the small conferences - play your way in and then prove yourself, good luck!

So there you have it. The playoff is ultimately a better system, but Congress needs to stay out of it. Just like Congress needs to stay out of our lives in general.

Ralph "Butch" Lassiter

2009-04-27T07:55:00.008-05:00

From the day I met him, Poppy was the only name we ever called him. I don't know where that name came from, I suspect the oldest grandchild might have given it to him and it stuck.

I met Poppy at Carterville Christian Church in March of 2004. The occasion? His baptism. The short version of the back story is that shortly before this particular day he walked into a local used car dealership and told the owner - Van Benson, a trusted friend - that he needed "to be saved." Sometime earlier, Poppy had started attending church at Carterville with his granddaughter (Brittany...now my wife). Soon after his trip to see Van, he felt the Holy Spirit leading him to take the step of being baptized and so there we were. I don't remember the exact date, but it was early evening on a Thursday.

Statistics will tell you that very few 65 year-old men accept Christ as their Savior, but Poppy did. That meeting taught me a couple of things about Poppy.

First, that Poppy was a person who was more than willing to stand up for what he believed. In the 5 years I knew him, he was never one to be pushy, but he also made no apologies for making his faith known to anyone who would listen.

Second, Poppy was someone who knew how to and liked to celebrate. You can see how excited he is in the photo from that day.

Over the next few years, Poppy made a number of indelible impressions on me. Just a couple of stories.

When Brittany and I got married, unlike many of our friends from this area where the families have known one another or at least known of one another for many years, my family was completely unknown to all of Webb City - where all of Brittany's family is from. Our parents met in early 2005 before we got married in May, but that meeting didn't include any of the extended family. So when the grandparents all rolled in on wedding weekend my grandparents didn't know anyone on Britt's side. While at 80 years old each they certainly could handle a few hours of wedding and reception even if they didn't know anyone. But Poppy was having none of it.

The next thing I knew, Poppy had gone to my grandparents and was making them feel right at home. He had a gift for that. I don't remember if they ever got to see one another again after that day or not (I don't think they did), but almost without fail, anytime we saw either Poppy (and Nan) or my grandparents they would ask about one another.

One more story. One Sunday morning a couple of years ago Robin Sigars was giving announcements from stage during church it came time to have the small cardboard boxes that are used to collect the benevolent offering each month passed. Generally, Robin asks kids in the audience to come up and pass those boxes. On that particular morning none of the kids responded. Completely in jest, Robin looked over at Poppy and said, Butch, do you want to come help me pass these boxes? It was clear in Robin's tone that he was kidding. By this time, Parkinson's had made it difficult for Poppy to walk and there was no expectation for him to get up and circulate throughout the auditorium. Robin turned to the other side of the room and then realized that Poppy didn't know that he was kidding (or more likely decided to play along), because Poppy was half-way up the aisle running (no, really) toward the front. Poppy wasn't about to pass up a chance to serve. Robin commented later that if only he could get others in the congregation to be so willing to serve we'd never have a shortage of people to serve the ministries of the church. He was right about that.

I did not have the privilege of knowing Poppy for all that many years. The stories that Nan (his wife, Sue), his daughters (Pam, Kim, and Tracy), and his grandchildren tell only confirm my observations of him.

At 12:10am on Thursday, April 23rd, Poppy finished his race here on earth. After years of dealing with the effects of Parkinson's that all too soon restricted his physical ability, he now walks and talks without any hindrance. His family misses him terribly because he was so special to them (us), but they (we) understand that he is now far better off and for that we celebrate through the tears of saying goodbye.

Today at noon, Poppy was laid to rest at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

I've explained before that when I lived in Stillwater on the most solemn days as well as the ones of greatest celebration, we wore orange. I have chosen to carry that tradition forward. Today most certainly was a day for orange - both a solemn remembrance and a celebration of eternal victory.

Talladega Never Disappoints

2009-04-27T07:35:00.002-05:00

Like it or not, when the Cup cars go to Talladega, it's going to be 3 hours of chess followed by 30 laps of bedlam. The end result is usually at least one big crash that takes a bunch of the field out of contention and at least one last lap pass.

Sunday was no exception. In the last 2 laps, Carl Edwards was pushed past Ryan Newman and Dale Jr. by Brad Keselowski to the lead. Then just when I thought it was over (and was yelling at Jr. for letting them go by and not pulling out to catch their draft and contend for the win) everyone got a glimpse of why Talladega is different than everywhere else they race.

Aside from being the biggest, fastest track on the circuit there is one other peculiarity that came into play on Sunday. The Start-Finish line is all the way down by turn one. What this means is that when they come off turn 4 it's still a really long way to the finish line. Had this race taken place at Daytona (a very similar track where the Start-Finish line is in a more traditional place in the tri-oval), Carl Edwards would have probably been the winner, quite possibly in mid-flip.

Back to the finish. Keselowski looked high, Edwards moved to block, Keselowski went low and managed to get a nose under Edwards (think Cole Trickle's last lap pass at Daytona in Days of Thunder). At Talladega you can't go below the double-yellow line to advance your position, so when Edwards started down to block Keselowski who was partially along-side him now there were 3 options for Keselowski:
1. Lift (slow down) and take 2nd
2. Go below the line and take 2nd (or worse depending on how NASCAR viewed the move)
3. Hold his ground and see what happened

Let me be crystal clear about the following, what Keselowski did was not dirty (see Carl's post race interview). He had every right to put his nose down there. Carl is the one that turned down across him. Carl was quick to say, I just didn't realize he had gotten along-side me that quickly. At another track, Keselowski would have gone below the line and it would have been a photo finish. Instead, Edwards went flying, got hammered by Newman and landed short of the finish line with the car on fire. He then proceeded to get out of the car and jog across the finish line (I'm told Ricky Bobby did did that in - ironically - Talladega Nights, but I haven't seen the movie. Please spare me your shock at that fact unless you want to hear why.).

Keselowski went on to win the race (his 1st win in only his 5th career start) with his racing mentor Dale Jr. coming home second.

It was a great finish - from an excitement standpoint - but you never want to see wrecks like that. At least 8 fans were injured by debris from Edwards car flying into the stands. None of the injuries were life-threatening. You need to see the video to see what a great job the retaining fence did of keeping the car on the track and the entire thing not landing in the third row. Just like in baseball where balls and bats can enter the stands, in auto racing there can be injuries. NASCAR does everything they can to protect the drivers and the fans.

Long live the big tracks! Next weeekend back to short-track racing. :(

The Citgo Sign

2009-04-21T08:03:00.002-05:00

A couple of quick things.

Yesterday the 113th Annual Boston Marathon was run in front of hundreds of thousands of people - most of whom are not runners and just came out to see the spectacle (who can blame them).

First, kudos to the 2 Americans (Kara Goucher and Ryan Hall) who both came home third in the women's and men's races respectively. That's a pretty big deal. For the last 20 years an American in the top 10 on either side was an accomplishment. To have one in the top 3 in both races is a big deal. And bigger still is the fact that both were within a minute of the winner.

If you saw ESPN's highlight package on the race you heard them reference Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox). Fenway is an icon in sports and someone smartly ran the course right past it. Something they didn't show you was the Citgo sign.

When you go to run the marathon (and I can't remember if I blogged about this before or not) veterans will tell you that if you can catch sight of the Citgo sign you can make it to the finish. Why? What's so special about the sign? Nothing. The reason it matters and the reason they say it is that you first catch sight of the sign at the top of Heartbreak Hill (which is right at mile marker 21). From there the course is predominantly down hill to the finish. So the theory goes if you survive the climb to the top of Heartbreak and see the sign you can drag yourself to the finish from there.

Fenway and the sign are about a mile from the finish. So the second thing about that sign is that if you can get to it you're basically home. ESPN mentioned that it was with about a mile to go that Kara Goucher was passed by the eventual winner. That happened somewhere in the vicinity of the Citgo sign. By the time you get past the sign it's just a matter of a few turns through the city streets and the roar of the crowd will pretty much carry you.

I think that Citgo sign is a little like other markers in our lives. The thing itself may not be that important, but it shows an important spot or marks a critical point in a journey. In my experience at Boston, I was very happy to see that darn sign and even happier to run past it (it turns out that running down hill late in a marathon isn't easy when you come from the plains where there are no hills to train on and the stair climber doesn't really simulate the down hill part of the equation).

The next time you see the Red Sox playing at Fenway, stop just long enough to see a wide-shot of left field. Just out beyond the Green Monster is the Citgo sign.

Answer: $25.79

2009-04-18T10:53:00.002-05:00

Question: What was the total cost of our Friday night?

Here's how it totaled up:
- $14.71 for 2 burritos, chips, salsa, and 2 drinks at Q-doba
- $9.05 in gas for the 150 mile round trip to Springfield
- $2.03 for a venti Pike at Starbucks after the game
- $0.00 for tickets to the Missouri State v. Wichita State game
- Watching MO-State hammer the Shockers was (you guessed it) priceless.

Yes, we've got an advantage, Britt's brother Brayden plays 3rd base for MO-State, which means we generally get in on the player's pass list. Tickets are a whopping $8 at full price, so it's terribly expensive even for paying customers.

It was a great game...for Bears fans. After giving up 1 run in the top of the first, the Bears lead-off batter took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 1st out to left to tie the game. A couple of innings later a 2-run home-run put MO-State up 3-1, an inning later another 2-run home-run made it 5-1.

Meanwhile Tim Clubb was cruising through the Shockers lineup (which strangely had 4 Oklahoma natives in it including the starting pitcher) like they were a high school squad. Clubb retired the side in less than 10 pitches at least twice, maybe 3 times. He threw a complete game, gave up 2 runs (one of which should have been unearned, but a bad scoring decision upstairs gave a hit on a ball that should have been scored E8) and 3 hits. The runs were scored in the 1st and the 9th. Between those innings he was pretty much on cruise control.

The final score was 8-2.

For a baseball fan that likes big burritos, it doesn't get much better than that.

Print Your Own Currency

2009-04-10T07:38:00.003-05:00

I found this article this morning and thought it was interesting - maybe I've been asleep at the wheel for not realizing that this goes on regularly.

Basically, some local communities are printing their own currency and businesses can choose to accept it. Local banks circulate the local bills. In the example cited in the article, $0.95 gets you 1 BerkShare (which is what their currency is called).

The purpose here is to encourage people to shop locally and increase community spirit. I'll give props to the ones that devised the program, they actually created a financial incentive to shop locally - by discounting from the dollar. If you pay in dollars you spend $1, but in BerkShares you'd spend .95. Doesn't sound like much, but over time and on larger purchases that 5% starts to add up.

"Buy Local" campaigns generally annoy me. I came from a small town where you had to drive an hour to do anything and to get a decent deal on anything larger than your groceries. I'm not anti small local businesses. They are vital to the economy. I am against paying more just to prop up a business than can't compete - and being told that it's my duty to do so. Sorry Comrade, I'll pass, that's not my responsibility.

Getting past all the debt issues that our economy is currently suffering from, it is this type of protectionist thought that is making it harder to right the ship. Case in point: Detroit. You have inefficient companies making products that people aren't that enthused about (based on sales) and can't be sold for amounts that will support the business model. But it's our "duty" to buy American. Yeah, I want to support American jobs, but that's protectionism and doesn't end well. If we are going to be a capitalist economy, companies have to find a competitive advantage where they can compete on a level field and not require government bailouts or other unfair advantages. If we insist on giving preferential treatment to certain companies we'll just keep having to do it to keep the next company in business.

So back to the local currency thing. It's an interesting idea and maybe with the 5% discount you might be getting competitive pricing versus larger businesses who aren't participating. While I hope that Joplin doesn't try this, in isolated cases it's not harmful and if it makes a group of people feel better about their circumstances then have at it.

For me, I'd rather see communities find other things to rally around. You see examples every day. For Webb City it's high school football (or maybe youth and high school sports in general). For Stillwater it's a university that is the life-blood of the community. You even see an occasional example in larger cities (sorry for all the sports emphasis here, but that's what I pay attention to) when one of their teams make a run in the playoffs (Green Bay is a prime example, but even Pittsburgh was pretty excited with a SuperBowl win).

How about this. Let's stick to the dollar. Other local currencies are going to be tied to it anyway. Let's agree that we're going to let businesses compete, because when that happens innovation happens and people find ways to provide products and services that buyers actually want to buy (and the buyer gets a better deal). And let's find something other than local protectionist policies to rally our communities around - here's an idea on Easter weekend, how about Jesus. I'm just saying.

Start Writing

2009-04-09T08:18:00.004-05:00

I read something this morning that I'd never really taken note of before. In Deuteronomy 17:18-20, there is a description of some of the expectations of the king(s) that would rule over Israel. The thing that caught my attention was that the king was to write for himself a copy of the law on a scroll to be kept with him during his rule. Verses 19 & 20 read, "It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not to consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel."

I found this interesting. I haven't done the research to see if Saul, David, Solomon, and others actually did this or not. Clearly God was very intent on the king - which you might remember God didn't really want to have in place at all - remaining faithful. I am guessing that the numbers of copies of the law available in those days was very small - as they all had to be done by hand. That God would require the king to copy it down himself makes it pretty clear He was serious about it. I suspect that if we each had to copy (by hand) some large body of scripture and keep it with us, we'd probably tend to know it better and perhaps follow it more faithfully. Just a thought.

Now, shifting gears a little and forgive me if you find the following offensive.

Taking this principle that was laid out in the Old Testament and applying it to rulers in modern times, what would it be like if the first duty of a new president after the inauguration ceremony was to copy the Constitution by hand? I wonder if that would change the reverence our leaders show toward defending and protecting the document that our form of government was based on? I am not trying to spiritualize the office of President of the US, claim that the US is a Christian nation or is somehow chosen by God. I'm just saying this principle might keep an administration from running rough-shod over the document this nation's founders wrote to establish and regulate the function of this union. Maybe it's time for President Obama to breakout a G-2 and start transcribing - let's be sure someone is watching him when he does it so he doesn't change anything to suit his political philosophy.

Recap of March

2009-04-05T09:06:00.003-05:00

It's amazing how quickly 4 weeks can go by without blogging. Here is a quick recap:

-Brittany and I spent her spring break in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area. The weather was great, the major thing we wanted was to go somewhere warm. We got fried the first day we were there on the beach at Sand Key. We got to see the Yankees and Pirates from Steinbrener Stadium - special thanks to the security guard that told us the night before when to get to the stadium to buy the limited number of tickets remaining. We spent a couple more days on the beach and generally tried to relax.

- The week following spring break was all about getting ready to leave for Florida MOVE. It was a short, quick week that included celebrating my mom's birthday on March 25th.

- All of that was followed by 7 days in Panama City Beach (plus a day to get there and a day to get home). A few observations:

1. I don't care what route you take, it's a long way down there and there's no good way to get through southern Alabama.

2. The quickest way to bum out a spring-breaker (specifically one down there to party) is to tell them that the herd of high school students crossing the street are heading to a "private party". They have no idea!

3. Sometimes local law enforcement gets bored - just ask the guy who pulled me over on the way home in southern Alabama because the Penske truck I was driving only had a tag on the front and "in Alabama you have to have a tag on the rear of the vehicle AT ALL TIMES" and "it must be visible from 50 feet AT ALL TIMES." Here's to packing the tools and zip strips right on the back of the truck!

4. Sometimes you have to give people more information than you want to in order to get them to do what they need to do for their safety. This was exhibited when we started rushing everyone into a ballroom to take cover during a tornado warning on Thursday morning. As the CIY staff and Southeast adults rushed throughout the motel to get everyone where they needed to be, many of the students (and some adults) were less than responsive when first asked to head to the ballroom. While I have worked very hard not to be too direct with people, when it comes to their safety I'll make few apologies (especially when I ask nicely and they either just head the other way or reply with questions about which bus their luggage goes on). At that point I decided to just shoot straight with them - "There's a tornado warning, drop what you're doing and go right now!"

It's good to be home. There have been several things that I wanted to blog about over the last few weeks, but most are now not current enough to mess with (however I've got a feeling there's a GM blog coming in light of what happened last week). Stay tuned.

Two Win Thursday

2009-03-12T20:37:00.002-05:00

This evening I was able to watch both the third installment of Bedlam hoops and the WC Lady Cards semifinal game...at the same time, from my living room. This was going great until both games got close late.

The Lady Cards led big early and looked dominant throughout the first half and most of the third quarter, but a half court shot by the other team to close the third quarter turned the momentum against them and they struggled to hold their lead through the fourth as a seasoned (and previously undefeated) Dexter squad rallied to within 4 before WC finished them off. This is the Lady Cards first trip to the final 4 (ever), it was good to see them respond well in a big arena and a big game. They showed poise late when it would have been easy to fold. The prevailing thought seems to have been that Dexter was the favorite to win the title, with them out, WC has a good chance of capturing it on Saturday. For $5 you can watch that game on the MSHSAA website (www.mshsaanetwork.com). While high school girls basketball may not sound like a good way to spend Saturday evening, you might be surprised how good these girls are. They run the court and move the ball faster than any high school girls team I've ever seen - and some boys teams for that matter.

The Cowboys had an uphill climb on their hands facing #7 OU who had beaten them twice (as recently as last Saturday) this season with this one coming on a "neutral" floor in Oklahoma City - a solid 15 miles from the OU campus. The Cowboys kept it close throughout and even surged ahead during the second half behind some solid play by Byron Eaton and key three pointers by Keiton Page (who I can't believe is playing D-1 basketball). I honestly didn't think they could finish it and were fortunate that Blake Griffin missed a good look from deep and then a tip from the guy whose name I don't know, but he wears sleeves (yes, sleeves) rimmed out. The controversy was that in that whole final sequence, the clock didn't start until after the tip. After review the officials correctly declared the game over, having determined that the 2.3 seconds on the clock should have expired. What would have been bad is if the first shot had missed and the tip gone in. I think they'd have allowed the tip based on what happened, but I'd love to see someone put that footage on a clock and see if he got the tip off in time. Thankfully it doesn't matter in this case. I'll pass on the stab about checking to see where the clock-keeper went to school.

I have heard it theorized that 2 wins in the Big 12 tourney might be enough to get OSU into the NCAA tournament as an at large team. I wouldn't count on that, I'm sure there's a 9th C-USA team that needs in or something. I do think this win probably opens the possibility of a bid. It is nice to see them close a season playing well, rather than limp through the last few games, lay an egg at the Big 12 and then cry about not making the dance. We'll see what happens.

Weekend update

2009-03-08T20:25:00.002-05:00

- I wish someone had been recording my dad and I yesterday afternoon as we were finishing up some work out at the barn. We (he) had moved some of the horses so they wouldn't be in our way as we were doing some work in the barn. As we were finishing up they had to be moved back to their normal places. He had put a mare (a mom horse for those not literate in horse-ese) and week-old colt out in this larger lot (it's probably between 1 and 2 acres) for the day. They needed to be brought back into their enclosed stall. So he started walking out around them to sort of herd them back to the barn. Now understand, dad has an old knee injury that he re-aggravated a few weeks ago, so he's not moving too terribly fast. I could see this taking a while and had finished what I was doing, so I went over to help. It must have looked like we were playing a 2-deep zone in prevent coverage (yes, I just connected a horse story to football). We were basically running back and forth until they decided to run into their stall.

- I didn't get to see WC's girl's win this weekend, but the highlights looked like they played well. I hope they continue their run in Columbia next weekend, that would be pretty cool to see them win a title.

- I really detest the celebrity culture in this country. There are celebrities that I like, but very, very few. The ones that annoy me the most are the ones that are famous either:
1. For being famous (i.e. come from a famous family, but have no discernible talent and have contributed nothing to society as of yet)
2. Reality TV "stars" - you had your 15 minutes, go away.
I think one of my favorite segments of celebrities to pick on are R&B stars. Well, musicians in general, but especially rappers. I don't understand why we listen to these people. They are either criminals or doing their dead level best to convince you they are or could be. Whatever! Here's what I'm trying to get to:
What happened to Rihanna is terrible, no woman should be treated that way. And I hope someone around her can talk some sense into her so that she doesn't end up dead, that would be tragic. Chris Brown - assuming momentarily that all the smoke around this is indicative of a fire - is a massive wanna-be. He's not a thug, he's a punk. Yeah, we're all really impressed that you smacked Rihanna around. I'm sure that gave you lots of street cred. If he's guilty, this should be a career killer. But mark my word it won't be. The R&B industry will welcome him back with open arms.

WC Guys Pick Up District Title

2009-03-01T09:46:00.002-06:00

All season I've felt like the WC guys were just a breakthrough away from dominating someone. I've documented their physical dominance, that much is easy to see when they walk on the court. Saturday night I saw them play the way I thought they could for the first time this season.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Harrisonville (who has to be starting to not like WC, remember we ended their forever long home winning streak in football back in week 1). They had put up 90+ points on Thursday night against Carl Junction, so we knew they could score in bunches. But Saturday seemed to be less about Harrisonville and more about the Cards playing their own game.

Parker Graham spent a lot of minutes on the bench because every time he looked at someone they called a foul on him. He ended up on the floor one time (how that happened I'm not sure) and instead of calling the foul on the other guy, they called a double foul. Ordinarily Parker watching from the bench is a really bad sign, but last night it led to a couple of positive things (let me be clear, I'm not suggesting that WC is better with him out, only that him being out allowed a couple of other guys to step up and that I believe they're going to be a better team going forward because of the experience).

Austin Lepper has played well all season, but at times I've felt like we needed to give him his shoulder pads back to make him feel more comfortable on the floor. Like Graham, being so much stronger than his opponents makes it tough not to get a lot of fouls because the moment he touches someone they're probably going to go flying. At times I've felt like he was being too cautious, trying to stay out of foul trouble (and who can blame him?). Over the last few games I've seen him play, however, it has seemed that he's started figuring out how to channel his inner pass-rusher and become a defensive force on the court. He had a couple of blocks on Saturday that were awesome. You knew when he went up that some combination of ball and shooter were going to get redirected. The only real question was what was going to land where. He was about 50/50 when it came to getting a clean block and shutting the whole thing down while getting his money's worth on a foul. But, and this is key, he picked up his first foul in the third quarter. That's a sign of strength playing with discipline, but there was nothing timid about it. Austin's success on defense led to success on offense. He finished with at least 15, may have been more than that.

Hunter Luna - another WC football guy - has played in spots when another big body was called for, but had yet to show (at the games I'd seen) that he could come in and really play a big role. Last night he did. He played a bunch of minutes, was good on defense and made some plays on offense as well. This is a big deal going forward, because it should give the coach some confidence when it's time to put him in the lineup.

Trey Laveroni played better than I've seen him play this season. This is important going forward if the Cards are to make a run in the playoffs. He should cross the 1,000 career point mark early in their game on Wednesday night.

Patrick Drake (brother-in-law) played well and continues to show a lot of poise handling the ball. He's a good shooter and play-maker, but in a crunch they need him handling the ball against pressure. He's cool under fire and tall enough to see the whole court.

Maddy Johnson gave the Harrisonville point guard fits in the second half. That was fun to watch.

All of this led to a dominant performance. The Cards played with confidence in ways I've not seen since last year's team. If they play like they did Saturday going forward I think they have a fair shot of making a run.

WC Lady Cards District Title

2009-03-01T09:22:00.003-06:00

The following is really my advice to coaches in the class 4 playoffs.

First, if you're a coach and you see that the WC girls are your next opponent, I'm sorry. If you don't have superior athletes up and down your roster, you're probably going to get beaten - and quite possibly soundly. WC goes about 9 or 10 deep and they all play about the same way.

Second, the worst thing you can do is speed the game up by pressing them. What you're dealing with is a group of girls (mostly sophomores) that have been playing together for years now and play at a speed that few girls teams can. They are fast and they know how to run the floor better than some guys teams do. They can move the ball around the perimeter quickly enough to expose the holes in your defense. So, for goodness sake, don't beat yourself by pressing them. I'm not sure they shot more than a half-dozen shots that weren't layups last night. Every time Nevada pressed them they'd beat them for a layup. Every time Nevada would step out to guard on the perimeter someone would cut to the basket for a layup.

So if you're in the difficult spot of having to play these girls, here's my advice (and I'm no expert). Spend all of your practice time working on handling the ball against full-court pressure. Don't worry about your offense, you're not going to play any half-court offense anyway. You're going to get pressed from the word go and if you can't handle it, you're done.

On defense, drop back into a zone and don't ever leave the lane. I mean it. Don't step out to guard on the perimeter. Why? Because the moment you step out of the paint you're going to give up a layup. If you stay inside you will force them to beat you shooting the ball - which they'll probably do, but it's your best chance.

Good luck. Did I mention they're mostly sophomores?

By the way, they rolled over Nevada last night. At one point they were up by 38, it was never close.

A letter to the children I hope to have someday

2009-02-28T10:53:00.004-06:00

The following is a letter I fear I might have to write to my children depending how how this economic mess plays out over the next few years. Let's hope I'm wrong and it doesn't come to what I'm about to describe.

Kids, (I'd use their names since we've already picked them, but my wife would shoot me)

I feel the need to apologize to you and any children you might have someday because your future has been sold to China and Russia. Yes, though they may not tell you that in school, that's what happened. Back before you were born, we (and by we, I mean the US as we knew it then) got ourselves (well, really I had nothing to do with it personally, but you get the idea) into a nasty economic mess. Right around the time it was all coming to a head, a new administration took office with a vision for the future that looked nothing like the past. That vision included having the US government take over nearly every aspect of our lives. Rather than being responsible for our own health care, housing, retirement, education, etc. this administration decided that the government was best suited to do all of that for us - because the government had been so efficient at managing the things they were already in charge of!

The problem was that we as a nation didn't have the funds necessary to pay for the socialization of all these programs. We tried to tax the stuffing out of anyone making more than $250,000 per year (we called them rich people, and certainly they were doing well), but that did not yield enough "savings" (that's what the President called it, really it was raising more funds, savings would have been if we could have cut spending somewhere). We tried taking away deductions and taxing other things, but still came up far short of the trillions in spending that were agreed to by the geniuses in Washington (of both parties). The show had to go on, so we printed the money and spent the money anyway, but since we didn't really have the money we were forced to do 2 things:

1. We borrowed it from investors in places like China and Russia (and anywhere else that we could). That worked for a while until they all realized that there was no way we would ever be able to pay all that we owed. So they stopped buying our debt.

2. Once that happened, the value of the dollar tanked like never before. Inflation went crazy because all this paper flooded in, but represented nothing since our production as a society was declining right as the amount of currency was surging. This created a cycle that was very destructive. As the dollar devalued, we had to print more to pay for the things "we" had decided to do, which only further devalued the dollar.

It was ugly and not nearly enough people saw it for what it was.

I am sorry. I am sorry that your future doesn't look anything like mine did at your age. I am sorry that you will spend your life paying for decisions made by the generations before you. I am sorry that by the time your children are born they won't even believe the stories I'll tell them about my childhood, because there won't be anything in those stories they can relate to at all. I'm sorry.

Truth be told, the economic mess was real and lots of people's greed and bad decisions put us in that difficult spot. It was time for change, but the change that came was a double-down on a bad bet and it failed. We didn't want it to fail, but special interests and a different type of greed doomed it to failure before it ever got off the ground.

Sincerely,

Your dad

I'm sure this post annoys a few, or maybe a lot, of you (I'm assuming it will be read by a few people). An I may end up being wrong. I hope that I'm wrong about the outcome and effects of what we're in the middle of doing right now. The problem I'm having is that I can't see how to get around the economic principles that are in play with the enormity of what we're doing. Perhaps I'm over-stating things. Only time will tell. Let me be clear, I do not want bad things to happen, I'm just afraid of what may transpire with the course we are putting ourselves on as a nation right now.

Tithing Contracts, Sign Me Up

2009-02-22T19:29:00.003-06:00

I want to say up front that I'm not really suggesting that we do what I'm about to discuss, but I do think it's an interesting thing to think about.

Last spring my wife and I joined a new gym. This gym was just opening and we were moving, which made this new gym more convenient for us (based on location). Unlike the Y, where you can quit anytime and probably only end up paying for about 1 more month than you want to until they get the account draft stopped, at our new gym it comes with a 2 year contract with only a couple of out-clauses (like moving more than 25 miles away).

This means that if we suddenly decide to stop working out, we'll have to pay the membership out. It's unlikely that this will be a major issue and once you reach the 2 year mark you become month-to-month, but whatever happens you're committed.

I've noticed something about this new gym. It just keeps getting busier. I was told recently they now have more than 2300 members. Unlike what we always saw at the Y, the crowds of January quickly diminished and the regulars remained, we are still battling growing crowds - even at unspeakably early hours of the morning.

But if you think about it, maybe being staked to a commitment really is worth something in causing people to take something seriously.

So what about the Church? What if we had new members sign a contract that obliged them to tithe for 2-years regardless of whether they attended services, were involved or not? I wonder if people would go for that? It doesn't seem to be scaring people away from joining the gym. And not only are they joining, they're showing up. Maybe a tithing contract would give people a little push to get involved. Maybe we're a little too tentative when it comes time to call people to something difficult.

I'm not saying we should actually do this. Scripture is clear that giving should be from a willing, joyful heart, not forced. I just think it's interesting that in some instances people will sign up in droves for a commitment, but in others we will make all manners and sorts of excuses to avoid any kind of commitment.

I'm just saying...

NASCAR in HD

2009-02-22T19:24:00.002-06:00

Last spring when my wife forced me to buy a new television I had a dream. My dream was that one day I would get to watch NASCAR in high definition. Today that dream came true. Now, this isn't the first time a Cup race has been broadcast in HD, it's just the first time I've had access to it. Local Fox waited until after Feb. 17 to begin broadcasting in HD over the air. So this evening, the Cup race looks a little different.

Daytona as the Superbowl of NASCAR

2009-02-18T07:26:00.002-06:00

Article

A friend sent me the link to this article on ESPN.com. I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with this particular writer. I would hope that working for ESPN he has some cred when it comes to covering NASCAR, but he writes like a guy who doesn't understand the sport, so who knows.

First, I agree with him that the "Superbowl" tag given to the Daytona 500 is not well suited to this event. It is like the Superbowl of football (the only real Superbowl) in being the most watched event of the season and having the most hype surrounding it. But what makes the Superbowl the Superbowl is that a champion is crowned when it's over. I think the reason that it continues to be called the Superbowl in the context of NASCAR is that to the drivers, winning this race is a bigger deal than winning any other race - and for some maybe even a bigger deal than winning the season championship.

Now, here's what he got wrong:

1. He complains on and on about restrictor plate racing. Let's remember, there's a reason they use them at Daytona and Talladega - 210 mph in a stock car isn't safe. That's how fast Bill Elliot qualified one year for the 500 prior to the institution of the plates. You can bet that they'd be much faster now if they took them off. With the poor, poor handling of the current cars even at 190 mph and the inability of Goodyear to build a tire that lasts more than 10 laps that would be a very dangerous situation (removing the plates). Restrictor plate racing isn't the problem and probably isn't going anywhere. If you don't like it, watch Indy Car (there's an exciting sport! - that's sarcasm people).

2. His whole diatribe about 500 winners not predicting the season champion shows his complete lack of understanding of this sport. There's no single race that is predictive of the eventual Cup Champion - not even the last race of the year where the champion is crowned. Part of the beauty of NASCAR is that every week there are probably 30 cars that could conceivably win the race (at a plate track maybe a few more than that even). Compare that to Indy Car or F1 where there are less than 5 unless those 5 all blow an engine. That is why NASCAR is such a popular spectator sport in the US - the outcome isn't known before the race and every week someone new may emerge to win (that's why it's more than cars going fast in a circle to fans).

3. To slight Newman in 2008 or Harvick in 2007 for winning is poor. Both men have won races previously. Harvick has been a perennial chase contender. You're entitled to your opinion about the way the 2007 race ended and I do feel badly for Mark Martin, a deserving driver, but let's remember, the rule in NASCAR is that the field isn't frozen until the yellow is thrown. In this instance, the accident happened behind the leaders coming out of the last corner. To end the race a half-mile early made no sense and letting it go posed no threat to anyone. Let's not forget, it hasn't been all that long ago since they were allowed to race back to the start-finish line when the caution came out.

4. I agree that they called the race very quickly after the rains came, but on a track that size drying it in high humidity (which is a given in Florida) after it's been soaked takes hours. How is it more respectful of fans to ask them to chill for 3-4 hours so they can race into the night? That was a tough call, but unless you had the information NASCAR did when they made their decision, you might want to tone it down a notch.

Look I'm as frustrated with this year's 500 as anybody, but this guy doesn't seem to understand what he's talking about and is pointing his criticism in the wrong directions.

The D's of Daytona

2009-02-16T19:35:00.002-06:00

Let me be clear, I cared far more about watching NASCAR on Sunday than I did about the Superbowl a few weeks ago. Why? I'm strange, get over it. Unlike most 500's, this was not a banner day for the Cup Series. Here are the D-words I would use to describe it:

- Darn-it - Sanitized version of what Dale Jr. was probably saying on the radio after missing his pits entirely and ending up at the back of the pack (he was in the top 5 at the time). Then, after scratching his way back into the top 5, he managed to pit with his right front tire ever-so-slightly on the pit box line, which garnered a one lap penalty, setting the stage for the crash discussed below. Wasn't his day.
- Dominant - Only word to describe Kyle Busch's performance for the first 124 laps on Sunday.
- Dumb-decisions - Led to the 10-car pile up that took Kyle Busch (quit crying, Kyle, you had this coming and no-one feels sorry for you, because no one likes you and as Gandy says, you're smug) and several others out of contention or out of the race entirely. Who was the guilty party? Either Brian Vickers or Dale Jr. depending on your perspective. If either had done a little more giving and a little less taking, everyone would have continued on. The short version is that Jr. went low on the backstretch, Vickers moved to block. This forced Jr. below the double-yellow line, which meant he had to back off because you can't advance your position below the double yellow at Daytona. When Jr. tried to get back in line behind Vickers he clipped Vickers' bumper and sent him spinning into the field. If you don't like Jr., the story is the same, except you think Jr. clipped Vickers on purpose. NASCAR didn't think it was intentional.
- Dumb-luck - Led to Jeremy Mayfield and Elliot Sadler holding the lead briefly after the Vickers/Jr. incident. They were in the pits at the right time and ended up on the point by no particular skill of their own. Thankfully the faster cars overtook them before...
- Downpour - By lap 100 it was clear that rain would either temporarily stop or potentially shorten this race. That's probably part of why Vickers and Jr. were racing so hard (a lap down no less). Shortly after Kevin Harvick pushed Matt Kenseth into the lead the rains came and halted the event.
- Disappointment - For having invested all afternoon in watching this race when it got shortened by rain before we were treated to the typical scramble to the finish at Daytona. I have no problems with Kenseth winning, I just wish they could have run the whole race first.

A Key You Don't Want to Lose

2009-02-12T19:07:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty good at keeping track of things. I'm not known for losing my car keys, my wallet, or my cell phone. But I discovered this week that I'd lost something you don't want to lose - my wheel lock key.

Years ago I bought a set of wheels for my Civic from a friend (they were factory wheels on a 2001 Civic, my 2000 Civic came with caps, so having actual wheels was a serious upgrade plus he sold them to me cheap). This particular set of wheels came with a lug nut for each wheel that requires a key to remove it (a wheel lock if you will). He included the lock key in the sale, so no worries. I always carried the lock key in the glove box, so it was there when I needed.

Last week I discovered I had a slow leak in one of my tires, so I went to get it fixed only to find out that I didn't have the key with me. A thorough search of the car and the garage turned up nothing. I had to face the fact that I had lost it. It was tough, I'm still a little embarrassed (and calling car places to confess my failure wasn't sounding like fun either!).

A couple of calls had me headed to the local Honda dealer. The service advisor was really helpful, didn't try to stick it to me. The parts guy wanted $12 per lug nut, negotiated down to $6.57 each before I decided I'd try my luck elsewhere - remember I needed 4 of them, so $30 on lug nuts for the Civic wasn't sounding good (besides, he only had 3, so he couldn't actually fix my problem today anyway). The service advisor walked outside and used his wheel lock keys to take the locks off and sent me on my way. Seriously, thanks, you could of worked me over, that was a stand up move.

From there - with 3 lugs per wheel - I drove to Reeves Tires on 7th. I've been to Reeves a few times before and have been nothing but impressed. They are the only tire shop in town that I'll let touch my Firehawk - I was sent to Reeves by the best Goodyear place in town as the only place that could handle large, powder-coated wheels. They unmounted and remounted 2 of them without a scratch.

So I walk in carrying one of the locks the Honda guy had just taken off and ask the guy at the counter (Mark) if they carry any lug nuts that look roughly like the lock. 45 seconds later he hands me 2 options, one of which was nearly a match for the existing lugs. I walked out to the car to check it, came back and asked, "How much?"

He replied, "Ninety-seven cents."

Sold!

$4.18 and I was out the door installing the four new lugs (I had thrown my 1/2"-drive ratchet, 19mm deep-wall 12-point socket, and 5" extension in the car before leaving home).

Now, hopefully tomorrow I can actually get the tire fixed - as you recall, that's how this started in the first place.

Moral of the story:
1. Buyer beware when buying parts at a new-car dealership.
2. There are good people out there - service advisor, parts guy (who gave me some good advice before I left), and the guy at Reeves.
3. It pays to have the right tool on hand - cause who wants to use the tire tool that came with the car to install anything?!?

The American People Really Don't Care

2009-02-12T18:59:00.002-06:00

That's what Charles Schumer said regarding what he admitted are pork projects in this ridiculous spending bill that Congress is in the process of passing (or shoving down our throats depending on how you feel about it). You can hear it for yourself here. Now, this clip doesn't give you a ton of context, Google it if you want more.

I don't care who you are or what your political leanings are, I can't imagine how disconnected from reality someone would have to be to make that statement about items with price tags between tens of millions and the low billions. Yes, you read that right - the tiny, porky projects he refers to vary in size from 8-figures to 10-figures.

I don't think this one even needs any commentary.

Another Cardinal Signing

2009-02-09T19:13:00.003-06:00

When I wrote the post about Parker Graham and Mack Kyle, I didn't know where Austin Lepper had decided to continue his football career. Last week, Lepper signed to play at Missouri Southern. I knew Austin would move on to play at the next level, but didn't know what he had in mind. Austin was probably an under-appreciated member of the last 2 Cardinal teams. He put others in the right place to make plays about as often as he made the play himself. He proved to be a sure-handed Tight End and played with a lot of heart. If I were a coach, he's the type of guy I'd want on my team. I look forward to seeing how he does at MSSU and certainly wish him the very best.

I'm Just Saying...

2009-02-09T18:29:00.003-06:00

I've been fighting really hard to stay away from blog posts that are political in nature. I'm going to continue that fight...but a couple of things hit the news today that I thought were interesting.

1. If all the money tied up in the various rescue, bail-out, spending, whatever bills that either have already passed or will pass (including funds to guarantee bad debt) were applied to the mortgages of every American household, 90% of them would be paid off. Hey, I'm not an economist, but I'm just saying, that sounds like a great way to spend $9.7 Trillion. Except we're going to blow it on a lot of other stuff. I'm going to stop now before I get started. I'm just saying... (Article)

2. The White House took over control of the census from the Department of Commerce. While that sounds fairly benign, remember it's the census that is used to re-district all of our Congressional districts. There's also the matter of how the counting gets done. One side prefers to go out and actually count people, the other prefers to estimate block by block in urban areas. When you let one party control the census, the odds of that being done fairly are pretty much nil. The way that's likely to play out is that the party controlling it will estimate in urban areas (which happen to be strongly in the favor of the party that is currently in power) and most likely over-estimate the actual population of those areas. Then they'll send people out to actually count the rest of the country - which may or may not lead to under-counting these other areas. Either way, the party who has control of this function has a definite leg up when it comes to ensuring that it gets to hang onto power in say 2012. Does this seem like a conflict of interest to anyone else? I'm just saying... (Article)

3. There is a report that Congress will be taking up legislation that would give the District of Columbia full Congressional representation - a Representative that has a vote (currently theirs does not get to vote because the Constitution only allows states to send voting representatives) and 2 Senators. Again, on the surface doesn't seem so bad. But let's remember that DC is heavily, heavily left leaning. The net result of this would be to give a virtually guaranteed 2 additional Democrat seats in the Senate. If we're going to add states, that's one thing, but working around the Constitution to load the Senate for one party over the other is going a bit far. I can't find a substantiated article with this report in it, only one from last fall where this effort failed. I'm just saying... (Article from last fall when it failed)

Friday Night Hoops (CJ at WC)

2009-02-07T10:37:00.003-06:00

Anyone who looked at their calendar realized that yesterday was Friday (Yes, thank you Ryan, what's your point?). As such, you can pretty much bet that I was at a ballgame. It just so happened to be "winter" homecoming at Webb City.

Now I could go off on the fact that they call it winter homecoming, but it's at a basketball game. Why? Because we have to be inclusive. Whatever.

I could talk about the fact that only the boys played last night because the COC doesn't schedule boys & girls on the same night - yes, I know it used to be that way here back in the day, it's just annoying to me and there are other ways to do it.

We did successfully avoid the homecoming ceremony since they held it before the JV game (whose brilliant idea was that? But seriously, thanks). I think Nicole Hudson won, congrats.

Now the real reason for this post. Officiating in Missouri High School basketball is poor (that's the most tactful word I can come up with). It's always bad, last night it was atrocious. By the way, Webb won by 10 points so this isn't me being bitter and claiming the officials stole the game. Even the calls that went Webb's way were mostly wrong. Maybe they were just having a bad night, but from what I saw, they had no business calling a high school game. MSHSAA really, really needs to get some quality control going on their officials.

But some might argue, that would mean eliminating some of them and there's probably a shortage of people wanting to be officials.

Yes, but you fix that by raising their pay so that it's worth people's time, create some competition and get better officials. I mean you just added an extra round of football playoffs, which should have roughly doubled your revenue from that sport, clearly you have no problem raising revenue. Figure it out!

The Game

CJ - no offense to the players or coaches - didn't look like a very good basketball team. They hit a lot of 3's, but based on their reaction to each one that isn't normal. And without all of those long range shots this would have been a blowout. Webb came out really flat and did the same at the start of the third. This allowed CJ to make a run that Webb spent the rest of the 1st and 3rd quarters overcoming.

Patrick Drake (brother-in-law), playing with a shoulder injury sustained earlier in the week against Colgan, led the Cards with 19 points - mostly in the second half. We saw something last night we hadn't seen a lot of - Trey Laveroni looking up the floor for Patrick in transition. They weren't even running the break, Patrick was just finding a hole in the defense - usually in the paint - and Trey would feed him. They did this 3 or 4 times for easy buckets. That offensive approach needs to continue for the Cards to have success - whether it's Pat on the receiving end or not.

At the end of the game, down by 10, CJ continued to foul with less than 40-seconds left - like 5 or 6 fouls worth. This strung the end of the game out for a long time and gave the WC student section lots of time to taunt CJ. Nothing bad, but a reminder of football season (which everyone gets whether Webb is winning the basketball game or not - the taunt just changes if WC is losing. I commented to my wife, a dominant football program pays dividends all year long) followed by the classic jingling of the keys. A WC teacher made them stop that one, I was tempted to get my keys out, but I've been threatened within an inch of my life that I'm not to embarrass my wife. FINE! But seriously, that's really mild and there didn't appear to be any real animosity between the two groups.

Animal Lovers Unite!!!

2009-02-07T10:35:00.001-06:00

An update on the previous post about the aerobics class torturing a cat on Saturday mornings.

Clearly someone at PETA must have been tipped off and infiltrated their ranks. The same group of women filed into the room right on time this morning, but not a single blood-curdling screech was heard.

Finally, something PETA and I can agree on!

Purpose In Our Trials

2009-02-05T07:31:00.003-06:00

I had a chance to lead our staff devotional time yesterday morning here at CIY. That's always a challenge for a guy who is not a preacher to prepare something for an audience of preachers and people who hear a lot of good sermons. My approach is generally to loosen them up with several good one liners that only make sense in context (hence I won't bother sharing them here), then go after 1 or 2 hopefully clear points. They are a gracious bunch - both for laughing at my jokes and staying engaged in the whole thing.

I've been reading a book called Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It's an old book that was updated in 1993 (originally released in 1973). The author devotes several pages to discussing God's wisdom and how it plays out in our lives. He then moves on to talk about what it means for us to be wise.

A few things that he brought out that I found interesting were:

1. God's wisdom doesn't always make obvious sense to us. If you read scripture, God often chose unlikely people to do great things for His Kingdom. Examples abound, among them are Abraham (often dishonest and lacking faith early in life) and Jacob (deceitful and very self-reliant as a young man). Over time, God did things in their lives that would lead to huge things in the history of God's people.

2. Something that I often catch when I read something in scripture, but fail to recognize in my own life is that God often has a dual purpose in the things He does. When He allowed trials to come along for Abraham or when He wrestled with Jacob and left him walking with a limp those things were there to bring about a change in their lives, but also so that something greater for God's Kingdom could be accomplished later. It's easy to see looking back at it, but much harder when I'm the one going through a painful trial of some sort and can't see the purpose in it.

3. We are not generally privileged to know God's purposes at the time of the trials we face. In most cases, we don't know until later - and sometimes never - why God allows us to face the trials we do. And we're never promised by God that He will reveal those things to us - though I believe in some cases He does, mostly after the fact. If you think about Paul and his reference to the "thorn" in his flesh - II Cor. 12 - you can get a sense of a couple of things. First, Paul didn't understand why it was there at the time and wanted it gone - wouldn't we all. Second, when God answered his prayer to remove it not only did God tell him that it wouldn't be taken away, God didn't tell him why it was there. Though later, Paul realized the purpose it had served - which clearly had an impact on his life and the lives of many others that Paul preached to.

Finding purpose in trials and difficulties can be tough, but in a world where we are sure to face difficulties part of finding hope in Christ in those times is realizing that there is a purpose though we may not now see it. I hope that as you face difficulties, you will find hope in Christ and the knowledge that while we have no promise of being taken out of the trial, we have the assurance that Paul was given - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Torturing Cats

2009-01-31T11:50:00.003-06:00

No, not really, everyone relax, no animals are actually involved in anything in this post.

Every Saturday morning at 9am there is some sort of aerobic class at the gym Britt and I go to. We don't attend the class, but the room it's held in is immediately behind the cardio machines that we do use. So, what usually happens is that about 10 minutes after I get on the treadmill a bunch of women flood the room, then the music starts, and then about every 2 minutes there's this blood-curdling squeal / scream that can probably be heard out in the parking lot (we can definitely hear it out in the main part of the gym on the other side of a wall and closed door over the music playing in the gym and the noise of all the treadmills).

The first time this happened I kept thinking that surely someone would regulate the problem within the room or maybe the gym staff would ask them to keep it down. But no, whatever is making this noise (and it's the same noise each time) seems undaunted. So I finally figured out what is going on.

They are sneaking a cat into the room and then torturing it. The noise is almost certainly not human in nature, so this is the only logical conclusion I can come to. What I don't know is whether they use the same cat each week or spread the love around the feline community.

Seriously, I wish the gym would establish a noise policy - something barring members from making irritating noises that infringe on the right of others to a reasonably peaceful workout environment. This is needed for the same reason that they don't play heavy-metal music at 110 db - while some would enjoy it, others would probably find somewhere else to workout.

How Not to Park at the Gym

2009-01-31T11:37:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday afternoon I was at the gym, had just started my cardio when suddenly there was a loud crashing noise. The crashing noise was followed closely by things along the east wall of the gym scattering and a scream by the young woman working behind the counter. Moments later a crack could be seen running down the sheet rock on the wall and about 30 people running to the exit to see what had just happened.

You guessed it, a car had hit the gym. I never got a straight answer about what happened to cause the car to jump the curb and hit the building. I think it was one of those things where the driver hit the gas instead of the brake as he/she was parking the vehicle.

There were no apparent injuries. Over the next hour there was a lot of sighing and retelling (and by the way, it happened between 2:35 and 2:40pm, every version I heard someone tell had it off by at least 10 minutes and some by far more than that - trust me, I was probably the only one looking at the clock immediately after it happened because I didn't go running out the door to gawk) of the incident. The police came, the gym owners came. I think the people driving the car actually came in to lift for a while as they waited for the police - though I'm not 100% sure the people I identified as the driver & passenger were in fact the ones in the car.

The gym staff used the most logical thing to close the cracks in the wall until it could be repaired - duct tape. Hey, baling wire wasn't going to work on this one, what else were they going to do?

You just never know what you're going to see at the gym.

Freedom in Our Society

2009-01-27T13:22:00.003-06:00

A friend forwarded this article to me from the Wall Street Journal. It's not really intended as a partisan political piece, but does express a sentiment that I can appreciate regarding the way our legal system should function versus the way it currently does and the effects thereof.

I have long said that the purpose of government is to take care of things that individuals can't, protect the borders, deal with needed functions, etc. and then to stay out of the way. As the federal government continues to expand and reach further and further into our lives we get further away from what I believe the founders intended - of course that is a matter for debate.

My wife gets annoyed that I get fired up about things that I see as infringements on the rights of citizens. I appreciate this guy's ability to express that viewpoint in a more diplomatic manner than I probably could.

If you disagree with this perspective, that's cool. Well, that's your right anyway. I just thought it was worth posting this because it does express a philosophy without attaching itself to either side of the aisle or attacking the recently departed Bush administration or the incoming Obama administration. Happy reading.

Article

Cardinals Moving on to the Next Level

2009-01-27T11:27:00.003-06:00

News surfaced yesterday that two of Webb City's football standouts will be continuing their grid-iron careers next fall.

Mack Kyle is reportedly (and I say reportedly because I haven't seen that in print or gotten it directly from a WC official or his family yet) headed to Pitt State. I wondered where Mack would land. Clearly he is a talented player with a lot of heart. I will be even more curious to learn what position he ends up playing for the Gorillas. I'm not an expert on Pitt State football, but I won't be shocked when Coach Broyles moves Mack to a running back slot or uses him as an outside linebacker or strong safety on defense. That's not to say he couldn't take snaps for Pitt, that just may not be the position where he can have the biggest impact for the Gorillas.

The other news that surfaced yesterday and I was able to confirm on ESPN.com is that Parker Graham has verbally committed to Oklahoma State. At a basketball game over in Carthage a couple of weeks ago (see related blog), Parker's mom mentioned that OSU was among the schools he was visiting and expecting an offer from before making a decision. I'm excited to see how Parker's career at O-State progresses. That's a big school and a big program, but Parker has the type of stature that would lend itself to becoming a big-time offensive lineman. I suspect that he will probably go from 260 lbs. to up around 300 lbs. over the next couple of years. At 6'8" and 300 lbs. he will have the size to play on the line at a D1 school. I hope that his experience in Stillwater is as great as mine was. Of course I didn't play football (or any other university sponsored sport), but had a great experience as a student there and I hope that he will as well. It's a great school and a very welcoming university family for a school so large. Don't give me any junk about being "just a number" with reference to OSU unless you have been there. It's not like that!

Good luck to Mack and Parker, I hope you both enjoy the same success in college as you have in high school. We will certainly be cheering you on.

Off-setting Penalties in DC

2009-01-25T09:50:00.004-06:00

I had one of those moments the other morning where I was running along on the treadmill and wanted really badly to scold both sides on a particular issue being discussed on the news (ask my wife, this happens more than you might think, I should probably watch more SportsCenter and less national news while at the gym).

Following President Obama re-taking the oath of office there was a round of complaints from the White House press corps about the fact that they weren't allowed to witness this event. This came the night after all the flowery speeches about the new administration being much more open than the previous one in giving access and information to the press. The press was crying foul - "business as usual" 15 yards, loss of down.

Shame on both sides. Here's why:

The Press - You have no inherent right to cover everything that happens. To my knowledge, the Constitution protects the press from being influenced in their reporting by the government, but does not say they shall have the right to see and know all that goes on. If the President or any other official decides not to invite you in for something you need to get over yourselves, it is not your right to be there (and if someone can point me to the law that says it is I'd appreciate it, I'm not a lawyer or a Constitutional expert, I'm just not aware of anything that says the press shall be allowed to cover everything in the way they want to). My wife says I'm wrong about this, but hasn't yet shown me yet why.

The Obama Administration - Look, you've got mad high approval ratings, but the quickest way (well, at least in the top 3) to destroy them is to say you're going to do something and then not do it. I don't think 70% of the country actually cares whether you are more open than the preceding administration (or as you've said you'll be, more open than any in history), it's really just the press that cares and well, who cares about them. BUT (and it's a big but) don't charge to Washington talking about change, spell out the ways you're going to change things and then backtrack on it within hours of arriving.

WC Hoops v. Carthage

2009-01-17T13:13:00.002-06:00

With football now behind us for the year basketball season is in full swing - as a matter of fact local high school teams are just past the mid-point on their schedules already.

Last night was the renewal of the age-old rivalry between WC and Carthage that seems to translate to all sports - I'll bet those kids don't like each other much in soccer, swimming, or track either. With both schools joining the COC, instead of a home & home only one game per season is scheduled. This year it was in Carthage - it was even homecoming. So there we sat, packed like sardines into what I can't believe passes for a high school gym. I can't wait until the Tigers get moved into their new facility so we don't have to go to the old one anymore.

The game? It reminded me of last year's game a little. Webb would get up, but couldn't seem to deliver the knockout blow and Carthage just kept coming back and keeping it close enough to be a game. Webb had several leads of 9 or more points including at 10-1 in the first. But in the fourth, Carthage started firing three pointers and managed to convert 5 3-point plays (including one guy hitting 3 free throws after Austin Daniel blocked - cleanly - his 3-point attempt and Scott Roderique got called for the foul - Scott was across the floor from where it happened).

Carthage got as close as 2-points and pulled within 3 a couple of times in the last 2 minutes. As I recall, Carthage even got the ball back once when they were down by three, but turned it over without getting a shot to tie.

Webb was Webb - they made the plays they needed to in order to finish the Tigers off - hitting 6 of 8 free throws and forcing 2 turnovers late. It wasn't pretty, but when it comes to playing at Carthage you have to be fairly satisfied with a win even if it's only 6-points.

I wrote last year about Webb City's basketball squad being physically superior to their opponents and not being coached to use that advantage. Even with losing 4 very talented senior starters, when the Cards take the floor it's like watching a varsity squad line up against a freshman squad in a lot of cases. They're just bigger. Case in point. Austin Lepper. I can't think off hand what his height/weight are, but he's a big guy. He walks past me every Sunday at church and he's just a big guy - probably 6'3" and 210, not sure. He's the 3rd biggest starter for WC. No really. Parker Graham is 6'8" and Trey Laveroni is 6'5" and both are strong guys - not wiry like some of the post players Webb faces from time to time. My point here is that WC, top to bottom is a big team (at least their starting 5 is, they are much smaller coming off the bench).

One difference I see from last year's team is a more consistent aggressive attitude in the paint. You don't see Parker Graham or Austin Lepper getting pushed around inside like we suffered through at times last year. I have to think that is caused by some combination of coaching and the individuals involved. These two guys - and the rest of the team - go after rebounds and in most cases take it hard to the rim.

Last night, I think we were in the 3rd quarter before I saw WC get a foul without at least one Carthage player hit the floor. Look, here's the deal, if you're going to foul someone you've got to get your money's worth. Now before someone accuses me of wanting people to play dirty, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about making sure that the fouls you do get are because you're being aggressive and not because you're being lazy and reaching instead of moving your feet on defense. If you're going to foul someone, foul them and don't give them the 3-point play unless they earn it. Why?

Because you're the bigger team and opponents ought to think twice before coming at you with the ball, not because you're a bully, but because they are a buck-thirty-five-soaking-wet and are going to go flying if you even reach in their direction.

The very last thing we ought to see is teams trying to push WC's big men around inside. Why? Because it's like children trying to push their parents around, it can only happen if the parent allows it. The down side is that when the bigger player stands his ground he's going to get the foul a lot of the time because he's easier to see. But you've got to set the tone. Put a couple of guys on the ground early and they'll probably find something else to do other than drive the paint the next time.

But hey, I already admitted I missed football season, so maybe I'm just missing watching WC backs run over defenders.

I also want to give a shout-out to the Cards for playing a lot of tough minutes. WC only willingly goes about 7-deep. They've got some other players that are developing, but are much stronger when they stay with their top-7. This means the starting 5 are playing a lot of minutes. I'm pretty sure Patrick Drake (brother-in-law) didn't sit down until the middle of the 4th. Pat didn't score a ton of points last night, but played well on defense, holding Trey Derryberry and other Tigers in check throughout the game. Derryberry had 11 points, at least 8 of which looked like something I did in a pickup game once upon a time. He's either a lot better than he appears or he got lucky on a couple of really ugly looking shots. Maddy Johnson has come along quickly, looking much more confident with the ball than a few weeks ago. He knows the game and can handle the ball. Austin Daniel shoots the ball well when WC needs him to and is good on defense. Not unlike football, he's a good player that the opponent probably wasn't paying attention to on film because of the others on the team.

Holiday Bowl

2008-12-31T10:07:00.002-06:00

First, congratulations to the Oregon Ducks. They played well and deserved to win the game. They are a good team and I knew going in that it would be a tough contest (and that was all before Dez Bryant got hurt). I hate losing, but the Ducks were classy in victory and certainly earned it.

Now, some analysis and thoughts:

- It was frustrating as an alumni to watch the 'Boys go down ugly in the second half, but you had to admire the heart they showed staying in it with a big part of their offense rendered ineffective.

- It's not that Dez Bryant is OSU's whole offense, but his threat opens up chances for the others to make big plays. As we saw, others can make plays, but when you take him out of the equation it is much easier for a defense to focus on stopping the ground game and Zac Robinson.

- Dez Bryant and Zac Robinson are tough hombres. Both were legitimately injured, but kept coming back. Yes, Bryant eventually was more of a distraction than anything else, but you have to appreciate the heart of a guy who will keep going out there over the middle to catch passes. And to be honest it was a toss-up whether OSU was better off with him in there as a decoy or having someone else in the game who could go full speed. The commentators (more on this in a minute) couldn't even decide which was better.

- It turns out Zac had a separated shoulder, again you have to respect him for staying in there, standing in the pocket, running the ball, etc. He took some monster shots (only one that probably should have garnered a late hit, the rest were all legit). In a division of high profile QBs, he had a great season and should be tough to contain in 2009 (assuming a good ground game and at least one deep threat is available so that the spread attack can work).

- Jesse Palmer is a terrible commentator. Everything he says is so blatantly obvious I find myself just wishing he'd hurry up and finish talking because he's just wasting air-time. I'm not sure if he talks slow or if I just hate the sound of his voice. I really hope he doesn't become an iconic commentator because I cringe when I have to listen to him. Brent Mussberger is about the only commentator that is more irritating to listen to, well Keith Jackson is annoying too - and I'll not bother pointing out how bad Tony Kornheiser is.

- I never enjoyed reading college sports info coming from the Daily Oklahoman when I was in Stillwater, but in those days I didn't need to because information was readily available on campus and from other sources. I (and I'll probably get some criticism for this) can't stand the OU-bias at the Oklahoman. It's understandable, the publisher of the Oklahoman is the name sponsor of OU's football stadium. I'm sure if Boone Pickens had a newspaper it would be printed with orange ink. That said, reading or listening to the Oklahoman's reporting is irritating. Look, I get it that you're "in the tank" (to borrow a phrase from the election this fall often used about some other favorite media outlets of mine - MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS) for OU, so have at it during Bedlam week. But don't just be negative toward the Cowboys all the time, it just makes you an illegitimate news source. Or as Mike Gundy might say, "it's garbage!" I watched a video on the Oklahoman's website this morning with analysis from Qualcomm after the game by 2 Oklahoman reporters. You'd have thought O-State had gotten blown out listening to them. Now I'll grant you that OSU looked bad in the second half, but don't dance on their grave. Your Sooners have a tough game coming up next week, it's a virtue to be merciful to your rivals, you might need some mercy some day too.

- There is an open debate as to which provides more motivation ending a season - a bowl win as a "springboard" to the next season or a loss that provides bitter motivation through the spring and summer. I think both are reasonable points of view and any coaching staff is going to take whatever it has to work with to get their squad ready to go. I hope that out of this loss Gundy and company will prepare the returning Cowboys to be much improved in deficient areas in 2009: defense in general (especially pass defense), power ground game, kick coverage, and delivering a knockout blow.

5 Bad Commercials

2008-12-30T08:18:00.003-06:00

I'd like to title this post the 5 worst commercials of the year, but there are 2 problems:
1. I'm sure I've forgotten some that were worse
2. Some of these are reheated from a previous year

Here they are:
5. Any of several sonic listening devices. These things are apparently the key to getting ahead in life, true happiness and so much more. They show people wearing these things in all sorts of situations - on the couch, in bed, at a game, in church, while hunting, unloading groceries....Some highlights:
- The lady shaking her head when she overhears the neighbors marveling over how well she and her husband must be doing because they just got another new car!
- The elderly lady rocking the bluetooth looking device at what appears to be a church built sometime in the early 1900s. That's believable - she's always on the phone and at her age must have a direct line to God to still be alive.
- The guy who can hear the play calls in the huddle at a little league football game.
- The guy wearing at the gym who can overhear the 2 women talking about how cute he is.
- The lady walking along the beach wearing the device who overhears another woman wishing she could look like that.

4. The Snuggie - Have you seen this? It's a fleece blanket with arm holes. They market it as the perfect item for staying warm on the couch at home and still being able to use your hands, as well as for a ball game (really, you have to see this thing). The best is when they show the family at the ball game all in their Snuggies. The daughter (it's a one-size-fits-all item) has about a foot worth of the arms of this blanket draping beyond her hands when she stands up. But hey, I think they're 2 for $20 if you call today.

3. G. Gordon Liddy's ad for Rosland Capital - this is one of the litany of commercials urging people to buy gold. I have all sorts of issues with these philosophically (among them: they are targeting older people who may be frightened by the current market conditions, gold is a commodity and not a business that can really grow in value long term faster than inflation - because it's real value doesn't change, it's just changing relative to currencies, and while I haven't done the research I'm pretty sure what they are selling includes a nice fee to the seller). Beyond that, the commercial itself is terrible, the acting is bad, and I'm pretty sure I'm far less likely to buy gold or call that number than to go to my dentist and ask for an unnecessary root canal.

2. Christy Lane's Christmas album - This one is a holdover from previous years, but is a classic. I have yet to figure out what her demographic is or why they think that group of people will be more likely to buy if the commercial looks like it was made in the late 70s. It's just bad, trust me.

1. The Lebron James dust throwing commercial. I hate this one most because (Mike, I'm sorry for what I'm about to say, I love you, but I just can't get into the NBA) I don't care for the NBA in general and I'm not a Lebron fan to say for sure. Next Michael Jordan blah, blah, blah...Win some championships (like several) and then let's talk. Mostly I just can't fathom being in a crowd of people, watching him do this before a game and getting all in a frenzy about it. Really, you're getting pumped up because this guy threw dust (or chalk or whatever it is) in the air? Let me remind you, no one plays defense in the NBA until the playoffs and then there are usually a couple of teams that do.

1080p

2008-12-29T19:34:00.002-06:00

For months (years really) I've been listening to people (MD, Jon, and Patrick - I'm talking about you) talk about how amazing things look in high definition - especially 1080p, currently the Cadillac of high definition resolutions. But until last week I had not ever really experienced it for myself. And honestly figured it probably wasn't all they were making it out to be.

In April, my wife consented to the purchase of a 1080p capable plasma. We've been enjoying it, but had no 1080 signal sources (the only thing above 480p is CBS HD, which I think is 720p). I knew when we bought it we'd eventually have the higher resolution sources and figured it was worth buying the compatible TV.

Fast forward to last week and we suddenly found ourselves blessed when we opened a really nice Blu-ray player (made by the people who - as I understand it - created the format). Not unlike the night we moved in to this house and we couldn't stop the moving process until we un-crated the new TV, I wasn't about to go to bed that night until I had it hooked up and got to see what 1080p looked like.

Let's just say 1080p is all it's cracked up to be. I was amazed at how good things looked, the clarity is unbelievable. The depth, richness, etc. are all awesome. After checking out the full 1080p experience on a Blu-ray disc (thanks, Brayden) I even dropped a standard DVD in there to see what the 1080i up-convert looked like and was very impressed with that as well.

While I've never been one to rush out and buy the newest thing, judging by the number of movies currently available on Blu-ray I think we're a little ahead of the curve this time thanks to family members who are very generous.

One of these days I'll break down and pay up to get Dish in high definition...maybe.

Guy Day

2008-12-29T19:03:00.002-06:00

The following is a re-enactment of a conversation between my wife and I last week:

Brittany: "Ryan, do you care if I go shopping down in Arkansas next Monday with my friend?"

Ryan: [House to myself, no competition for the TV...] "Yes, please go."

So at 9:30 this morning, Starbucks travel mug in hand (really strong breakfast blend weakened by creamer & sweet & low), off she went. "Have fun" I called as she shut the door.

So what did I do? What else, went to Lowe's. She didn't much more than clear the neighborhood before I was on my way. I only bought one thing (and it was a pre-agreed purchase out of Christmas money) - a digital, programmable thermostat for our house. Insert Tim Allen signature grunt.

One phone call to the good people at Hunter Fan Co. and a few wires later and that bad-boy was up and running. They say you can save up to 33% on your energy bills with this thing, but after I got it home I realized how you do that. You just set it at a temperature no wife will allow during the day and then lower than that at night. I'm sure we won't save 33%, but wouldn't be shocked to save 20-25%, but we'll see.

Thermostat installed and lunch eaten it was time to head to the garage. A couple of projects were on tap: Oil change and tire rotation for the Firehawk and one other project we'll get to in a minute.

Oil change was good. When you only drive a few hundred miles per year in a car, the oil comes out about as clean as it went in. I'm pretty sure you could cook with the Mobil 1, 5w-30 that came out of the TA, but I'm not going to try it. This is a yearly Christmas / New Years ritual. Helps me remember to do it once a year. Even with pump gas prices down, Mobil 1 is going for north of $6/quart at Wal-Mart. I'm glad I don't have to do that very often.

The tire rotation included a pleasant surprise - there's more tread left on the OE Firehawk radials than I thought. And they're wearing evenly. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get at least one more rotation (which may come in 2 years if I only drive 500 miles in 2009). By my math that may mean I can get up to 4 more years on these (which would be awesome) - knock on wood.

The downside on the tire rotation was that I'd gotten a few of the lugs on entirely too tight the last time. To save a lengthy explanation I was doing this with a 1/2" ratchet and a 4" extension. I eventually gave up on one of them and got the 4-way out to break it loose. I think I must have put those on before I figured out how to use my torque wrench correctly - or else 2 years had just frozen them on there like no other. Aside from that issue the exchange went smoothly and I can assure you they are on there at 100 ft-lb. now, which should avoid any hernia or over-exertion injuries the next time.

Now, that one other project. And you young guys who are newly married or aren't yet married you need to pay attention to this. Here's how you sell a day like I had to your wife: you wash her car while she's gone. Britt's friend drove, so her car was here all day. By the time she got home it was clean.

If you're going for double bonus points you can do one other thing - make dinner. I had one of my favorite meals in the oven when she came in this evening so she didn't have to cook after a long, hard day of shopping (FYI she was spending money she got for graduation).

The obvious question would be why go to the trouble of making dinner if you've already washed her car? Well, I can think of three possible reasons:
1. You broke something while she was gone (not the case this time for me)
2. You want something (yes, but not my focus in this case)
3. You want to watch football on a week night...tonight and tomorrow (we have a winner)

Back to reality tomorrow. At least OSU plays tomorrow evening.

Guaranteed Lifetime Brake Pads

2008-12-23T18:08:00.004-06:00

A couple of years ago (2005) I started hearing a lot of squeaking when I would hit the brakes in the Civic. I decided it was the brake pads. My friend Jude convinced me I could change the pads (I'd never done it before). Turns out there are only pads on the front of the Civic, so a set of lifetime pads was only $20. I could have saved a few dollars, but figured why not if they're going to last forever.

In retrospect, buying the lifetime pads was the right call, but not because they lasted forever. It was the right call because when I replaced them again last week AutoZone refunded my purchase of the new ones - that's the guaranteed part.

Two things learned here:
1. Changing brake pads isn't really hard to do. If you only do it every 3-4 years you have to relearn it, so it takes twice as long as it should, but it's fairly easy.
2. Clearly anyone who would market a "lifetime" brake pad hasn't seen me drive. Truth be told I drive the Civic harder than I do the TA most of the time - then again the TA is barely even awake doing things the Civic can't do wide open.

Speaking of the TA, I noticed a vibration when I drove it yesterday. I think my tire pressures must be down a little from the cold or something, clearly it's a balance issue and I'm just hoping pressure will clear it up. It's not a major issue in that it is only barely noticeable at highway speeds (but gets worse from there). If we were to move to Germany I'd definitely have to get that sorted out in a hurry.

Local Radio DJ - Cool Guy Alert!

2008-12-22T12:55:00.003-06:00

Taking some vacation this week I spent a couple of hours wrapping Christmas gifts this morning. There was absolutely nothing on TV, so I figured I'd save some hours on the plasma and listen to the radio instead.

As I was wrapping I started realizing how annoying the DJs on this particular station are - well, the one that was on at this particular time anyway. Now, I'll admit I don't listen to the radio that much, really only in the car and most of my trips are less than 10 minutes in length. Plus I station hop until I find a song I like, I don't listen to DJs, few have anything worth listening to (my opinion).

Before I tell you what bugged me about this guy, let's get some context. This is a DJ on one of Joplin (population 50,000), Missourah's local stations. Okay, that's plenty of context. What drove me nuts was all the effort this guy was making to try to sound cool. I ran across a phrase last week that suits this guy perfectly: he was so cool it hurts. No really, it hurt to listen.

Here's the deal, dude. You live in Joplin. This IS the southwestern outpost of the Midwest, but it's still definitely the Midwest (I can explain as needed on that point). Given the demographic makeup of this area I could make a guess that you are about as pasty in complexion as I am. What does this mean? It means that the start value (think Olympic figure skating) on your coolness coefficient is very, very low. There's no shame in not being cool, we are in fact out of high school now (in case you missed that fact, sorry to disappoint you). Some of us (myself included) just weren't intended to be cool. Just be who God made you to be, stop trying to be someone else.

Something not so text heavy

2008-12-14T09:33:00.006-06:00

My wife took one look at my posts yesterday and said, "you need some pictures." Needless to say she didn't read my thoughts - and for the most part she's probably heard me say all those things here at home anyway.

My reply to her was that I didn't have any real way to get access to pictures, so she sent me some of my nephew - Jarod. He was 17 months old on December 7th. As you will see, we (I'm taking partial credit here since it seems to be going well, first OU shirt I see him in and I'm blaming his parents entirely) have taken seriously Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it - in trying to get him off to the right start in life.

Picture 1: This one is from the summer. My mom is in the background. This was in the days before Jarod learned to request to see himself immediately after you snap his picture. I think it's something in his rider. So far he hasn't objected to any we've taken.

Picture 2: Not really sure what he was doing. I think this one was taken at our house when everyone came up for Britt's party. He entertained everyone not completely enthralled in the LSU-Florida football game.

Picture 3: Howdy Partner. This one was taken when we were cleaning out the garage at my grandparents house. We discovered this hat - a little big, but actually a nice felt hat - and the lanterns he is playing with.

Picture 4: Not sure where he's going, but he's off to somewhere.

Pay To Play

2008-12-12T09:10:00.003-06:00

The other big story of the week has been the revelation of the pay to play scheme the governor of Illinois was running in his effort to capitalize on the opportunity to pick a replacement for Barack Obama in the US Senate. I don't know that much about Illinois politics, don't care to, but had the sense that Chicago was a really dirty city in this regard. I guess now we know. By the way, Chicago isn't the capital of Illinois, but that is where the sitting governor operates from. That's odd to me.

I suspect there is more of this type of thing that goes on than we realize, but it's probably less reckless and covered up better. That doesn't make it anymore acceptable, but perhaps speaks to how pervasive it is in the Chicago machine - clearly the governor was very brazen in this and thought he was above the law in this regard.

While there's no tie to the president-elect at this point, I find it disconcerting that someone with so little experience or track record has risen through that system to take the highest office in the land. We'll see if Barack Obama is any different than the people who have surrounded him for the last several years.

Auto Industry Meltdown

2008-12-12T08:50:00.003-06:00

With High School football over for the year, OSU's football team in bowl prep for another 18 days, and Daytona nearly 2 months away I'm without my typical post topics. That's not to suggest nothing is going on that gets me fired up, but not the things I typically write about.

This week we've watched as Congress wrestled with the decision to "rescue" the big 3 automakers or not. A previous post should give you a solid idea where I'm at on this. I want to reiterate, I don't want any of the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihood is tied to these three companies and their subsidiaries, affiliates, and vendors to lose their job.

The key on this deal is the role that unionized labor will play. At present, the UAW is refusing to rework their contract in any meaningful way. Let me be clear. Without a massive reduction (probably 30-40%) in what the US automakers pay their unionized workers, they cannot succeed long term. Their business model is insolvent and will fail until this massively out-of-balance element is adjusted to a reasonable level. What this means is that to give them money now may avoid a liquidation or chapter 11 filing, but won't fix the underlying problem and we'll face this same issue again.

Ultimately, whether it's Congress (the opposite of progress as the lame joke says) or the Treasury or the Bush Administration someone is going to keep these three companies from going bankrupt. And when they do, organized labor wins again.

I'll come right out and say it, labor unions - the ones that operate like the UAW - are parasitic in nature. They feed off other entities and will ultimately destroy that other entity if not destroyed themselves first. When will we have enough collective spine to break the unions and start fixing problems?

I also want to address one thing I keep hearing. Some people are upset that the automakers are being forced to come up with a plan to get back on track before getting funding, but the financial institutions weren't forced to do this. Two things: 1. You're right, the financial institutions should have been forced to this too (or just allowed to fail). 2. But here's the difference, the financial institutions have the ability to be financially viable long-term if they can correct the current issues. As explained above, the auto industry does not. Any money we give to Detroit might as well have been put in a barrel and burned.

Dome 2008: WC v. Helias

2008-11-30T18:48:00.002-06:00

For the third time in the last 5 seasons, the WC Cardinals made the trip to St. Louis for a shot at a state title. In 2004, the Cards came up a yard short on a 2-point conversion in overtime (going for it was the right decision, I'll be glad to expound on why if you care to listen). In 2006, the Cards took care of Hannibal with little trouble. Now the 2008 matchup pitted the Cards with another one of the vaunted Missouri programs - Jefferson City Helias.

You can read the Globe's articles on the game to get the details.

Cover Article

Main Article

Here are my observations:

- Early in the game it looked like it was going to be a really long trip home. The Cards were completely unable to move the ball on their first 2 (or may have been 3) offensive drives. I mean not at all. Helias seemed to be playing on Webb's side of the ball on every snap. By the second series, WC was backed up into the shadow of their goal post, leaving Helias very good field position after a punt. Helias promptly threw a long pass and scored. But then everything changed.

- From their own 20 and thus far completely unsuccessful at running the ball, WC did something WC never does. They dropped Mack Kyle back and sent Boo Rogers on a fade route. Mack threw it right on target, Boo out battled the corner (who covered it well) for the ball, then streaked up the sideline and into the end zone. This happened late in the first quarter and was the first time anyone on the WC side took a breath since the opening kickoff.

- Webb's defense, now not having to play on a short field finally, took care of some business, holding Helias out of the endzone until the closing seconds of the first half. During that time, WC found ways to scrap and claw its way to 14 more points, building a 21-7 lead. Helias' late score sent the teams to the locker room at 21-14.

- I'm not sure I've ever seen the Novocaine principle (this is a reference to the movie "Remember the Titans", where coach Boone says that he only runs 4 plays, just like Novocaine, give them time and they always work) play out more dramatically. After not being able to run the ball at all early in the first quarter, WC slowly began to make small gains using their veer offense. I think 2 things were happening. One, the WC players were slowly beginning to win the war in the trenches - by force of sheer will. Second, a few completed passes were forcing Helias to back some people out of the box and opening up lanes to run through.

- Momentum shifted again in the third quarter - well, really it shifted right before halftime when Helias scored. In the third quarter, Helias scored twice and took the lead 27-21 (Parker Graham - I think - blocked the second PAT). As the third quarter closed it didn't look good. After WC scored to tie the game early in the 4th quarter (missed PAT), one particularly obtuse WC fan turned to my brother-in-law Brayden and asked if this seemed familiar. He was referencing the 2004 game. I momentarily thought about asking Brayden if he wanted me to hold the guy while he kicked him. Decided it was better left alone.

- WC got the ball back and scored to take the lead 33-27, a failed 2-point conversion left the margin at 6. It was the right decision to go for 2, it just didn't work out.

- Helias responded going ahead 34-33 and again shifting the momentum and emotion.

- But then the ultimate Novocaine drive ensued. Webb went 72 yards on 10 plays and Braxton Baker put it in the endzone with about 2:30 left in the game. This time the 2-point attempt was successful - though from the stands I don't know how, Jeremiah Box was hit at the line and I thought he was stopped. This left the score at 41-34 and a knot in the stomach of every WC fan. Why?

- Does anyone remember the playoffs last year against Carthage when Mack went like 70-yards to put WC up late in the game only to watch Carthage score again to win it? That's probably something that was on some minds.

- Not this time. Webb's defense made two stops and then came up with an interception that ended Helias' hopes of a state title. A couple of plays, a couple of knee's and Webb City's Cardinals hoisted their 8th state football championship.

This was an epic struggle of a game. Yeah, that sounds really over the top, but seriously I'm not sure I've ever seen a game where the momentum shifted more times or one team's relentless persistence at running the football paid off more directly. I told my wife at halftime Webb should be able to run the ball in the second half, they were wearing the Helias defense down. As the 4th quarter began, what had been 2 yard first down gains became 5-8 yard gains, which set up much better play selection options on 2nd down and when needed a short third down.

This group of seniors concluded their high school football careers having lost only 1 game. I'll let you figure out which one that was. I guess if you're going to have to deal with having been among those who lost to Carthage for the first time in 20 years, being able to exhibit 2 rings and claim a 3-year record of 39-1 (it may be 38-1, 2006 may have been the year that WC had an open week during the regular season) isn't a bad response.

This team found ways to win games at times when it was hard to see how they could. Remember, this is the same group that pulled one out of nowhere in week 2 against Rogers. This team, while very talented, won several games by just refusing to give up - which we saw in a big way last weekend at Kearney. To me, a team that out-performs even their own ability is always deserving of great respect because they are exemplifying the principle of a team being more than the sum of its parts.

Congrats to the 2008 Webb City Cardinals. You earned every one of your 15 victories and are deserving champions.

Bedlam

2008-11-27T10:29:00.002-06:00

I'm going to be as brief as I can.

I hold no particular crazy ideas that my Cowboys are likely to take down the Sooners on Saturday. Can it happen? Absolutely, I've seen it done - at home, on the road, close game, easy win (only once on that one). But the reality is that OU is really good this year and it'll take a much more inspired performance from the Pokes than we saw against Texas Tech to have a chance against the Sooners. But none of this is the reason for the post.

This week ESPN's College Gameday is going to be held in Stillwater. I'm only aware of this happening one other time - also a Bedlam matchup and we won't talk about the outcome. I'm excited for the Gameday guys to be in my old stomping grounds, going to Joe's, etc.

One of ESPN's commercials this week (one of it's "Every week can change the season" series) includes a type-set frame showing b-roll from both OU and OSU games this season that says "Every rivalry game is bedlam."

WRONG!

One, that is a term that OU and OSU have adopted for their series of meetings in the gambit of sports each year. That term, while not copyrighted that I'm aware of, is specific to this rivalry.

Two, not all rivalries are the same. I'm not saying that the OU/OSU rivalry is the greatest in the country (I think it is, but that's not what I'm saying here so back off all of you Ohio State / Michigan fans - but really this isn't a good year to make that particular argument). I am saying every rivalry isn't the same.

Oklahoma certainly isn't the only state to have 2 large, Division 1 schools that have for several decades been in the same conference, but that's no gimme either. When I moved to Missouri I had to learn that most of the wonderful people in this state don't even understand that OU and OSU are separate schools - here in MO there's always just been MU (though MSU is in the process of raising it's profile). Some states who do have multiple big schools have them in different conferences and this tends to take away from the intensity of the rivalry (in my opinion) because the outcome of all their games don't directly correlate to the success of the season in all cases.

I would also argue that the depth and intensity of this rivalry is deeper and higher than some others. This rivalry runs deep, dividing the state, cities, and lots of families. And please understand, it's difficult (and in my opinion not possible) to not choose a side. Each school has a distinct history and heritage and those who are aware of those tend to identify with what they see as the ideals of their school / team. At least I hope that's why we choose our sides and not something stupid like they've won some titles.

Want a representation of how deep this runs? When I moved to Joplin, I owned 1 red shirt (that I can remember, there might have been 1 other). I went to a high school whose rival was red and white, then went to OSU. I had no use for anything red. Times have changed a little and I'd like to think I've grown up a little too. My closet is now fairly well stocked with WC red (no crimson & cream - really, who thought the cream part was a good idea?).

Let's be clear, Bedlam is serious business.

I won't get to watch the game live, we'll be on the way back from watching WC play for a state title. Please don't call me or text me about it - and yes, I'll ignore your call if you do. I may DVR the game and try to watch enough to know the outcome.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-27T10:15:00.002-06:00

I would be amiss not to take a moment (at least) to identify some things that I am thankful for this year. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, just a few that come to mind and they are in no particular order:

- My wife - We've been married about 3 1/2 years now and I have a hard time remembering much about what life was like before she came along. I am certainly blessed to have her.

- A job - I do feel particularly blessed to have the job that I do, certainly working at Christ In Youth is a great opportunity. Even beyond being thankful for my specific job I am thankful to have meaningful work. I believe God wired us to work and so I am thankful to have that opportunity. Also, in a difficult economy I am thankful to be employed.

- Family - We are blessed to have several groups of people who love us dearly because they are our families. It is easy to take family for granted when you are young, but the older I get, the more I realize that not everyone is so lucky and tomorrow is not guaranteed.

- Freedom - Yes, I know it's borderline unacceptable in today's ministry culture to be patriotic, get over it this isn't about patriotism. I'm thankful for the men and women who have fought to defend the liberty that we enjoy (and often take for granted, such as when we don't like what's going on, but don't want to listen to anyone else's ideas). Thousands and thousands have given their lives in defense of the freedom we enjoy. A side note. On a flight this week, a United Airlines crew gave an open first class seat to a young man in his Army uniform who was traveling with us. If you see someone in the military today, thank them for their service.

- Football - Yes, this one is markedly less important than the others, but I'm still thankful for it. I'd list NASCAR, but anyone who reads my blog knows that about me anyway, plus that season is over (but February is coming!).

- Jesus - I'm listing this one last, but in reality He is first. His sacrifice has opened the door for all of mankind to be restored to God if only they will accept Him. It is easy to get used to and comfortable with the story of what Christ did on the cross, but don't forget that He didn't have to and without Him you'd have no hope.

Semi-Finals: WC v. Kearney

2008-11-22T20:55:00.002-06:00

I listened all week to stories of the beatings that the Kearney Bulldogs had delivered to the 2002 and 2003 WC Cards - both in WC and both in the semi-final round. Some (my wife included) seemed to be under the impression that what had happened 5+ years ago had some bearing and somehow worked against the 2008 Cards chances to overcome the #1 team in the state and advance to the finals in St. Louis. I did what I could to explain why that made no sense what-so-ever.

For anyone who didn't see the game or listened and wasn't there, it was ugly. It was an ugly, physical battle between two very good football teams. WC lost 3 fumbles in the first half. Yes, you read that right. They've done a good job this season of not turning it over, but in a tough game it appeared they might give it way by repeatedly coughing it up. In spite of the fumbles, WC's defense kept them in it and after a blocked field-goal late in the 2nd quarter, WC went to half-time down 7-0 (which felt like a victory from the stands).

To make matters worse, WC had to kickoff to start the 2nd half. But the D again came up big, forcing Kearney to go 3 & out and setting up the O with good field position. The O finally got on track, driving down for a touchdown to tie the game.

Another stop by the D and WC was in business again, driving down and ultimately scoring on the last play of the third quarter. When WC kicked off to start the 4th quarter Webb led 14-0 and seemed to have the momentum.

What followed was a lot like the 1st quarter - ugly, physical, and scoreless. Webb came up with the stops they needed - including a 4th & 2 deep in their own territory - and managed to avoid turnovers. With a chance to ice the game, WC chose to punt on 4th & 1 near mid-field with less than 1 minute remaining in the game. On the snap, a defender reached out and hit the ball before Patrick (Drake) could get it snapped. According to what Pat told us after the game he just swatted it backwards - rolling on the ground. Fortunately the ball rolled right to the punter (even popped up to him at just the right time) and he narrowly avoided getting the punt blocked.

With time winding down, Boo Rogers intercepted a pass and ran out the clock.

As expected, WC fans started streaming out of the stands onto the field until the PA announcer announced that MSHSAA rules don't allow fans on the field. Whatever, I'm sure Kearney would have abided by that rule if they'd won.

The Cards are again Dome bound for a showdown with Jeff City - Helias. As with Bolivar and Kearney I don't know anything about them. They've not really been tested in the playoffs, but I don't know what kind of quality opponents they've had either.

One thing I've observed - sadly - in my 5 or so seasons of watching WC sports is that their great fans do have their faults. WC fans are loyal and they will drive hundreds of miles in droves to support their team, but frankly they are about the most negative bunch I've ever seen when things aren't going their way. We weren't 3 plays into the game when people started giving up and talking about the blowouts in 2002 and 2003 against Kearney. Now listen, I'm the pot (calling the kettle black) on this one, but you've got to at least keep your head up long enough to see how things are going to go. If you're going to give up before the other team even scores, don't make the drive. But that's just my opinion.

No prediction for next weekend. Just glad to be making the trip.

Worst Airtravel Moments

2008-11-16T09:49:00.002-06:00

In theory I like to fly. I certainly have no aversion to the act of riding in a large aluminum object as it hurtles through the air at high rates of speed. The drawback is the hurrying, the waiting, the dragging, the breath holding (for a number of reasons), and the repetition of the preceding. Then again, the alternative is countless hours behind the wheel – which can be good or bad.

Here are my least favorite moments in air travel:

Putting your bag on the scale and just hoping the scale reads 50.0 or less. In a pinch, I would totally consider debating a ticket agent about the accuracy of their scale and when it was last calibrated. Of course it’s not going to work, but it might make me feel better, you never know.

Putting your carry-on items on the conveyor and hoping you didn’t leave a sharp object or other contra-band in there from a previous trip…and that your liquids are < or = to 3.4 ounces (because 3.5 would pose a grave danger to everyone involved, no really, who came up with that number?).

Seeing ATL or ORD on your itinerary – that’s Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson International and O’Hare International – because it almost guarantees you’re going to get hung up somewhere for some amount of time (and when you’re going to and/or from a small regional airport that can spell disaster with a very limited number of flights).

Arriving in a major airport to find that your connecting gate is 4 terminals away and you’ve got 15 minutes. Remedy? Stop and get some Starbucks, because either your departing flight has been delayed and you’ve got time or you’ve already missed it and now you have lots of time. Venti House, no room, thank you.

When a fellow traveler sits down next to you in the terminal (or worse on the plane) and shortly exhibits that they are suffering from either a cold or pneumonia. Sweet, my wife likes it when I bring her gifts. Here you go, honey, a week of hacking up a lung.

When the flight attendant uses the term "Deplane". If you're not familiar with that term let me define it. It means "to get off an airplane." Now if it's used after you arrive where you're going it's a good thing. But when you hear it shortly after boarding that's bad. It means something is wrong - such as the bathroom is not working or the engine fell off - and you're not going anywhere anytime soon.

There you have it. Hopefully you can enjoy one or more of these wonderful experiences on your next trip. If you’re really looking for some fun, book a trip on one of the major holiday travel dates…through Chicago and Atlanta to Tri-Cities, Tennessee and drag everything you own with you. For the record, I have nothing against either Chicago or Atlanta, my track record for getting through their airports without delays just isn't very good.

The Coffee Test

2008-11-16T09:45:00.002-06:00

Yes, I’m sure I could write something worthwhile about how to judge a good cup of coffee. In fact, let’s just do that real quick. If I can see the bottom of the cup (even if it’s a small cup) that’s not a good sign. I used to be pretty easy to please when it came to coffee and I’ll still drink about whatever is available, but I’ve figured out that most restaurants brew really, really weak stuff that isn’t great anyway. You can tell immediately when someone is serving the good stuff – dark, rich, and strong.

Now, back to business…

In a seminar at the Rejuvenate Marketplace this week Dean Jones (previously identified as the Meeting Planner for this particular event) was taking a group through how to write a good RFP (Request For Proposal) when he said something I thought was really perceptive. We were talking about how to get a handle on meal pricing for a prospective venue when planning an event years in the future when he said, I can tell you in less than 1 minute whether I’m going to be able to afford meals at a property.…I just ask what they charge for a gallon of coffee. It was good that he finished his statement quickly or he’d have lost me. He continued, if they're charging $75 for a gallon of coffee the dinners will start at $50/person, breakfasts at $24, and lunches at $35 and I can’t afford to do meals at the property. But if they're charging $20/gallon for coffee breakfasts will be $18… (I would have listed quote marks, but didn’t want to be guilty of misquoting him and I’m sure my notes aren’t perfect)

You get the impression that Dean might have planned a few events to know what prices will be based solely on the coffee. Given how few meal functions we’ve planned at hotels in my time at CIY that was a great insight and will probably save me some time whenever I’m asked to figure out meal costs for a catered event. The one thing he didn’t say was whether that was Starbucks coffee or just whatever the caterer serves. Either way it was helpful to get some insight into that subject.

Sunrises

2008-11-13T09:25:00.001-06:00

From the 9th floor of the Sheraton Oceanfront in Virginia Beach, Virginia I was able to watch a beautiful sunrise yesterday morning. It was awesome to watch the sky go through the color changes that lead up to the appearance of the sun as an orange ball that seems to rise out of the ocean.

Watching the sun come up I noticed something. When it first appears not only does it look orange instead of the bright yellow we typically think of, but for the first few moments you can actually look right at it without having to squint. I suspect it has something to do with the angle it’s at relative to the atmosphere that is causing the sun to look orange and obscuring its brightness just enough that we can get a look at it.

This reminded me of something in scripture. In Exodus 33 we read the account of Moses getting the chance to see God. Moses asked God to show him His glory. God replies that He will cause His goodness to pass by and allow Moses to see His back, but will He would cover Moses so that God’s face was not seen. God let Moses see as much as He could without overwhelming Moses to the point of death.

I am thankful that God knows us well enough and loves us enough to create opportunities for us to see Him in ways we can take and understand. For me, that usually translates into something that wouldn’t be meaningful to anyone else, but speaks directly to my heart. It is tempting to wish that we could understand and explain everything in life, but the older I get the more I think that when it comes to the big issues in life we are better left trying to discover and understand. Why? Because that is what causes us to continually seek God. If I could explain God, had a full understanding of who He is and what He is about, would I really be likely to daily seek to grow closer to Him and know Him better? Probably not.

Yesterday evening shortly after dark a full moon radiated brilliantly off the water outside my hotel. It was equally awesome to the sunrise that morning. I tried to take pictures of both with my cell phone, neither does any justice to what I saw.

Speed Dating with Venues

2008-11-12T13:48:00.002-06:00

Yes, you read that right. For the second consecutive year I’ve had the chance to attend the Rejuvenate Marketplace. The Marketplace is a gathering of meeting planners (such as CIY) and religious meeting suppliers (primarily Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus along with specific hotels and convention centers). The idea is to put the planners together with the suppliers and give them time to figure out how one may serve the other.

One of the unique parts of this particular gathering are the pre-arranged appointments. Each planner is scheduled to meet with 38 – yes, that’s right 38 – suppliers in a two-day period. The way it works is that the Marketplace creates a table for each planner, who then sits as the suppliers scurry from planner to planner on their schedule. Every 7 minutes the chimes ring and it’s time for a new face, new city, new list of reasons why the planner should bring their meeting to a given location. You can’t really watch or experience this process without being reminded of speed-dating scenes you’ve watched on TV or in movies. Heck, even the Marketplace staff acknowledges the similarities.

This morning I got the chance to talk to lots of great potential venues. Many of which may never host a CIY event, some of which already are, and a few may indeed land a MOVE, Believe, or SuperStart event as a direct result of this event.

As entertaining as this is and as much value as it has, for me there is also great value in connecting with previous acquaintances and taking in educational sessions. The educational sessions at events like this might tend to take a backseat and be treated like an afterthought. Thankfully the people at Collinson Publishing saw the value in investing in quality presenters and providing information and training that are of great value to the planners (and in some cases the suppliers as well). While what I do is not quite what the typical planner might do, I’m probably the closest thing at CIY to a planner – based on my understanding of what a planner does. The difference is that I don’t really operate in that world most of the year. But at certain times I have to put my planner hat on – which makes this very, very valuable.

I observed this afternoon that an added benefit for me (and CIY) of attending an event like this is getting to see how other planners plan events. You have to figure Dean Jones – who is the planner in charge of this event – knows his stuff for Collinson to put him in charge of planning a meeting for planners. And clearly he does. Things are well thought through and well done.

The event is just small enough that the staff (at least one of them) will call you by name. In my case it’s Chris Collinson, who called me and personally registered me for the event. He picked me out across the room and called me by name (no chance he could have read my name badge from where he was). Certainly they accomplish what we at CIY need to be doing in terms of connecting with their clientèle. I’m generally skeptical, but this event – for the second year – has taken away my skepticism specifically because knowing my name and genuinely caring that I enjoy and benefit from the event stands to benefit the Marketplace staff none. No really. Reason? Because what CIY paid for me to be here doesn’t even cover the cost of the hotel & meals they’re serving – not to mention the cost of the event. So Rejuvenate doesn’t benefit financially from me. Certainly they need planners who have viable events to offer in order to make the show go – that’s what causes the suppliers to put up what I suspect is fairly big money to fund the event. I definitely give the staff an A investing in the people who attend and making us feel valued.

Round 2: WC v. Neosho...again

2008-11-12T13:47:00.000-06:00

For the second game in a row, Webb City had the daunting task of taking on an opponent they’d already beaten in the regular season. In some sports this isn’t that big of an issue, but in football it’s a tall order. Motivation to even a score combined with the importance of game planning are huge in football (especially in high school), so even if you took someone down in the regular season you can’t take them for granted in the post-season (take Carthage in 2007 for example).

For the second game in a row rain was an issue for WC. Unlike last Wednesday, this time it was cold and rainy. And unlike last Wednesday, I wasn’t there. So please understand that the account and observations that follow are based on text messages from Jayson French and the part of the game I caught on the radio via the internet.

The short version is that Webb got their business taken care of. It was an ugly first quarter with no score and several missed opportunities, but when WC woke up in the second quarter they began the kind of methodical dismantling of Neosho that a fan loves to see. Why does a fan love to see that?

They demonstrated the ability to control the opponent’s offense, keep them off the field and maintain possession of the ball while putting sufficient points on the board to win comfortably.

For most of the 4th quarter WC enjoyed the continuous clock mercy rule that exists in MSHSAA football as a result of having a 35-point lead. A late touchdown by Neosho stopped the continuous clock for the last couple of minutes of play.

Webb’s rushing attack did what it does – hit people in the mouth and pound them into submission. Mack, Seth, and Braxton did their thing, each scoring (Seth scored twice) and Jeremiah Box added the 5th score.

Defensively the Cards were tough up front and did their classic bend, but don’t break routine. The one time Neosho scored it was at the end of the game and came as a result of a fumbled punt return. But that does bring up one thing to be discussed: mistakes.

While a solid and fairly dominant performance, WC cannot make the kinds of mistakes they did on Monday if they hope to continue their march to St. Louis. Fumbles, penalties, interceptions, mental errors on defense, these are the things that will end your playoff run all too soon. I am sure that John and the coaches are preaching that message this week in anticipation of a home tilt with Bolivar on Saturday afternoon.

Yes, that’s right. Because Bolivar beat Union and the way the scheduling works with MSHSAA, WC will host their third consecutive playoff game on Saturday afternoon. I could explain why and how, but you’d be asleep before I got finished.

I don’t know squat about Bolivar except that they beat what was supposed to be a very good Union team (one of 2 teams in Missouri class 4 ranked ahead of WC). My guess is that they might have a common regular season opponent or two and I’m sure Robin Sigars knows all about them.

My take: The Cards will have to protect their house. Any team that travels to WC faces an uphill climb – and not just because of the chat piles. The crowd will be huge and probably loud. If the Cards play well – limit mistakes, execute on both sides and in special teams – they will be a tough out in their house.

Round 1: WC v. Branson (again)

2008-11-07T18:40:00.003-06:00

Yes, the playoffs are upon us and WC cruised through their round one game - a rematch with a surprising Branson. Perhaps my expectations are a little tough when I say that a 34-0 domination was a little bit of a snoozer. I mean really, what do I expect?

Weather was a factor in this game, but only temporarily. Cloud to ground lightning strikes in the area forced the game to be suspended for about 30 minutes. When play resumed, WC went about methodically dismantling Branson (again). Unlike their first match up where virtually everything went right for WC in the first half. Webb didn't have any pick-6s or returns for a touchdown. Instead, WC limited Branson to 11 yards of offense in the first half (82 yards for the game) and used their dominant ground game to put points on the board.

Webb put together a nice drive from their own 5 yard line with about 3:30 remaining in the first half, scoring as time expired. The drive included a couple of long runs, a nice pass by Patrick Drake (my brother-in-law) on 3rd & 11 to pick up a first down, and one of those plays the fans love - where the quarterback lowers his shoulder and turns a defender upside down.

Meanwhile, down in Neosho, Carthage's season was unraveling...quickly. The first half was back and forth and looked to be a real battle. But then the unthinkable for any Tiger fan happened. Trey Derryberry - Carthage's QB - went down with a concussion and was out for the night. My understanding is that their second string QB suffered an injury as well. Combine those injuries with a couple of turnovers and Carthage's season ended with a thud in a 39-13 loss.

Honestly, I really kind of wanted to play Carthage again, beating them is just fun. With that said, Neosho is a good football team and the Cards had better bring their A-game on Monday night or there'll be no Saturday game.

I won't be there Monday night - out of town - someone will have to fill me in later.

Ben, this is for you. My prediction for Monday night: Webb City 34 - Neosho 21.

I also predict someone will sit in my seat. That's fine as long as we all understand that I get it back whenever the next home game is. If anyone has any problems with that they'll have to beat me to it!

My Mutant Cell Phone Battery

2008-11-03T17:53:00.002-06:00

I've never had the latest or greatest cell phone, but I've always had a reliable phone that generally got reception in areas where others couldn't. Recently I acquired a new phone, my first Motorola (always been partial to Nokia's). This phone is a definite upgrade from my previous one, which I'd affectionately termed "the brick". The new one is no iPhone, Blackberry or G1, but does have a camera, is good on text and navigates the internet as needed.

But the shocking thing about this phone is the battery life.

I charged it last night, which was the first time I'd charged it since October 20th. Yes, that's right it lasted almost 14 days. The first question I usually get about it is whether I talk on it or not. While I've never been accused of being Chatty Cathy, I was definitely north of a hour of talk time in that 2 week period.

So it's true. My cell battery is a mutant. Take that all of you iPhone junkies!

Oh, and my incoming calls and text are still free... but that's about the network, not the phone.

Who has phone envy now?

Week 10: WC at CJ

2008-11-02T18:33:00.002-06:00

Honestly, this was a fairly boring game. WC predictably came out flat against an opponent that was undermanned. The good news for the Cards is that they rolled fairly easily over CJ and to my knowledge avoided major injury. After a couple of romps it will be back to business for the Cards Wednesday night as Branson comes back to Cardinal Stadium - certainly looking for some revenge.

One would hope that with the stakes being much, much higher now and a very good opponent coming to town the Cards will come to play.

Don't Bail GM Out

2008-10-28T16:37:00.003-05:00

Please understand that what I am about to say pains me greatly.

I have always been a proponent of American made cars - specifically GM, I don't have any particular affinity for Ford or Chrysler (though each produces or has produced vehicles of merit in specific instances). From the time I was born my parents drove GM vehicles - with 2 exceptions (a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and a 1974 AMC Jeep CJ-5). My parents both drive GM vehicles to this day (dad drives a 3/4-Ton GMC truck - Z71, Duramax; mom drives a Grand Prix GXP).

My first, second, and third vehicles (not counting my days driving the previously mentioned 1974 Jeep) were all made by GM (all were/are Pontiacs - '96 Grand Prix GTP, '01 Trans Am WS-6, '02 Firehawk Trans Am). My current dream car is made by GM - 2009 Z06 Corvette. When I watch NASCAR, you'll notice my favorite drivers all drive GM products (in as much as any NSCS car is really a product of a manufacturer).

I give you all of those details that no one cares about except me so that when I say what I'm about to say you'll understand the internal dissonance it creates.

In recent days talks of a GM and Chrysler merger have been all over business news. These discussions don't particularly excite me, but whatever. In the last couple of days news has surfaced that these two manufacturers are seeking billions in government bailouts in order to merge and survive. Now I'm mad.

In general I'm against government bailouts anyway. But this one is going to really irritate me because it is doomed to failure from the word go. Why?

Becuase neither of these companies (alone or together) is capable of being profitable. Yes, you read that right. In their current form, with their current business model, and accounting for their current business environment neither is going to survive. Why?

Two reasons:

1. The sheer dollar value of what they owe in retirement benefits to current and future retirees cannot be supported by firms of their current size. It's the same issue as Social Security is facing...sort of. Back in the good old days for GM they had a lot more workers than retirees, so meeting demands for retirement benefits wasn't a problem. But time and competition have forced work force cuts so there are now far fewer paying into the system than drawing out. And, geniuses that they are, they didn't fund the plan sufficiently back when those people were working to have the money available later.

2. Unions. GM's (as well as the other automakers) work force is largely unionized and has been for years. And those workers enjoy great wages and benefits that almost no one else in the US gets (their medical coverage while working and in retirement is second to none). The unions contributed to the under-funding issue I described above by continually demanding more, but pose an even greater threat going forward. The union contracts in place now make it difficult or impossible for GM (or Chrysler or Ford) to effectively make needed changes to production, close plants, etc. in order to adapt to the current situation and changes in demand. In some cases, when jobs are cut, workers are still paid because of their union contracts. Add to all that, the cost of this unionized labor force makes it impossible for GM to make money on the cars it sells in many cases. That's right, it's actually possible to buy a new GM vehicle and if you know what you're doing pay less than the real cost to produce that vehicle. That's a business model problem if I ever saw one.

The US government needs to let GM (and the other automakers) fail, fold, file for bankruptcy, pick your own term here. Reason?

That's the only way to break the unions. And sadly, breaking the unions is the only way an American automaker can ever truly be a profitable enterprise again.

As I stated previously, I'm generally against bailouts, but at least with most financial services firms, if done correctly and making the big assumption they are managed properly, they have a viable business model. The US automakers do not.

The next sector that is going to go begging to the government is going to be the airlines. Lower oil prices may help them for a short time, but lower demand is ultimately going to drive them to the brink. When they start asking for a bailout the government's answer needs to be "no". They have the same problems as the automakers - at least on the union front, I'm less familiar with how their retirement program funding is doing.

In the interest of full disclosure, my wife is a member of MSTA, which is a teacher's union. I'm not in favor of that organization or the borderline coercive practices used to get her to join. She is a member for one reason - the insurance they provide in the event she were to be sued for some reason. Well, that and it gets her in to most road games for free.

Additionally, I want to be clear my comments above are strictly from my perspective and are not intended to assess the emotional or personal toll that what I'm suggesting might have on those who might lose their jobs. Those are real issues that I don't intend to gloss over, but it is my opinion that propping up a business that isn't viable is going to cost more than helping meet the needs of those families displaced by the loss of their job in the short-term while they find a new job.

Final thought: I don't want GM to fail. I just don't see anyway that it can be a viable business longterm without a major restructuring effort that can only take place on the other side of a bankruptcy, etc.