Beseball is Over (sigh of relief)

Well I coached a team for about 4 months and I managed to survive and I believe that most of the kids had a good time and more importantly prepared themselves to play at the next level of competition. We ended the season playing a team that we were severely mismatched against. They were simply bigger, stronger, and faster than us. The weekend before they had taken 2nd place in a difficult tournament. We jumped out to a 3-1 lead, and held onto that lead for 3 innings. I truly believe that if we had been more mentally tough, we might have won that game.

A kid that we perceived as a leader of the team asked to come out of the game b/c his arm was hurting. We let hime come out before the 4th inning and the kid that replaced him subsequently had 3 errors that hurt us a lot. The next inning the kid with the hurt arm said his arm felt fine now and he could play. Soon after another kid came to me and said that he thought he needed to sit out b/c he had a headache. So the person that took his place had another 2 errors. My only point is that sometimes you have to play through the pain. I asked Brian if he would have taken himself out of the state tournament and he said not unless he was hurt to the point that he could not return to the game. It was unbelievable, but at the same time we did the best we could with the team that actually wanted to play.

It was nice to see the progress that we had made as a team. At the beginning of the season there is a good possibility that we would have been run ruled by that team. At the end of the season we were going toe to toe with them with a good shot of winning. It is very satisfying to know that you were an integral part in shaping a player and to know you gave them tools to help them compete at the next level. I would do it again if the opportunity arose, but in the meantime I am going to really enjoy my time off.

Rain Delay

So our team opened up with a come from behing win which was awesome. We were told that we would play at 9 a.m. Brian and I awoke for the game bright and early, just as we were about to leave we were told that the game had been pushed backed to 10, which was fine. When 10 arrived they delayed it back to 12, so we went to go get some lunch at a mexican restaurant. When came back to the hotel to get ready to go after lunch only to find out that the game had been delayed again to 3.

So basically we are sitting around the hotel waiting for confirmation that we are playing...we will see how it goes! Go Aces!!

Day Off & Last Practice

I have had this day planned for quite a while b/c I really had stuff that needed to get done. I have been driving around in a truck that only blows out room temperature air (and that is not fun in the dog days of summer). I had decided that I was going to wake early and get some Freon put in it as well as get a oil change, clean the inside of the truck and get a car wash. Then I was going to zip to the church and help Joe get ready for VBS by helping him with the puppet stage and later head to practice. That is what I thought and this is what actually happened. I woke up late, but the way I could figured it, I could still get my car fixed and be done with that at noon. Everything was going according to plan until I found out around 1:30 that my compressor was not working right and I would need a new one if I wanted cold air. I asked how much and they said a price that just floored me (600). He said he could get the part in about an hour and it would take another hour to install it. Amy and I decided that we would look around b/c surely there was someone that could do it cheaper than that, but there wasnt. An hour later we were back where we started shelling out money that we did not want to be paying. By the time I got done there was only time for me to get to practice. I feel really bad for leaving Joe high and dry, but I called him and explained the dilemma so at least I tried.

The baseball team that I coach had its last practice tonight. I had mixed feelings b/c I really want it to be over so I can spend more time at home, but I am also really upset because we finally have started to come together as a team and I really enjoy being with the kids and helping coach them.

Some of the kids that we thought were going to be great players just turned out to be average and some of the players that we thought would be terrible turned out to be some of our greatest assets. We will be playing in our final tournament this weekend and I would love for our team to perform to the standards that we have set for them. We have seen significant improvement in the team's performance from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. When we first started we couldnt win a game to save our lives, but just two weeks ago we took 2nd place in a pretty good tournament. I just hope that the kids will look back at this season fondly and I hope that we have given them some of the tools to go forward and compete at the next level.

Brian and I will be leaving for Muskogee tomorrow so I am asking for prayers as our team is leaving and for our safe return.

Wish us luck this weekend!

BAMF Story of the Week (Week 4)

It is Tuesday, and you know what that means....it is time for another BAMF. I remind everyone that these are completely true stories that have either happened to myself or a close acquaintance of mine. This one comes from a close encounter that I had with a BAMF while at work.

A customer had came in to make a payment on her policy and had brought her son. We directed the customer to Bruce (our boss) while the son stayed outside. The son immediately began asking us questions about sports. He immediately was very interesting to me and Chad b/c he sounded a lot like Napoleon Dynamite. He said that his high school used to have a football team, but they didnt anymore. We asked him why his school didnt have a football team and he said that he kept hurting all of the other players because he was so strong. He said that the school had to shut the program down b/c he kept hurting everyone. The kid that was saying this was about 5'7'' and maybe 145 lbs soaking wet. He then goes on to say that he is training to become a professional wrestler and is perfecting his finishing move. He says I call it "the spear", basically I get in a three point stance and tackle the other guy head first. By now Bruce is finishing up with the customer as the son is leaving he says I can't decide if I want to be a clean or a dirty wrestler when I go pro. I encourage him to keep talking by saying if I was a wrestler I would be a clean wrestler so I could take showers and stuff. He says not clean and dirty like that I mean clean, like a good guy or dirty like a bad guy. I was actually already fully aware of what he meant, but I wanted him to continue to talk to me. As he was leaving he said I will probably be a dirty wrestler so I can thumb people in the eyes.

What a fun kid, and a great BAMF story!

Dude where's my (fill in the blank)

So if you know me at all you are well aware of the fact that I can manage to lose just about everything all the time. I have been told that losing stuff frequently is an early sign that you may have Alzheimer's disease later in life. If this is true, I anticipate that I should have Alzheimer's by... Sunday at noon. :)

Anyways losing my stuff has been a recurring theme for me this week. I went to watch The Incredible Hulk on Wednesday with my buddy B.J. I knew that I needed my wallet, so I had put in a nearby spot in my living. BJ arrived at my house right on time to give us plenty of time to make it to the movie on time, but I couldnt find my wallet that I had sat out. Anyways I decide that I am just going to go without it. Amy thinks this is a bad idea, but I am convinced that everything will be right. We make it to the movies without a problem and I am stoked about how awesome the movie was. On the way home apparently I had a lead foot and was doing 48 in a 35 and I get to have an impromptu meet and greet with one of Midwest City's police officers. He asks me if I knew why I pulled him over and my mind automatically starts thinking of a joke I had heard earlier in the day about how if you are asked this question make the officer confused or make him laugh by saying "Because I'm Black!!!" Anyways hes asks for my license and registration. I say well we have a little problem there I dont exactly have it, I left it at home. but I know my drivers license number and anything else on the license I can get to you. He takes all my info down and says I'll be back and walks back to his car, a few minutes go by and he comes back and says I need you to raise your right hand. At his point I am like, great I am going to jail. He says repeat after me I swear I will not do 48 in a 35 again. I repeat, but I felt kinda bad because at some point I probably will again but thats beside the point.

You would have figured I would have learned my lesson, but guess what? I didnt. I woke up Friday morning to go to work and guess what I cant find? Thats right, cant find that slippery wallet again. I dont worry about it too much though, b/c occasionally I will leave it at work by mistake. Well I didnt leave it at work, but I didnt feel too bad b/c occasionally if my wallet is not at work it is in the truck. Well it wasnt in the truck either so I am less than 48 hrs removed from this run in with the law and I am already driving w/o a license again. By the way I found my wallet and it is worth mentioning that my wallet is about the size of a checkbook for all of those that believe that wallets get lost often. Mine should not, it should be pretty to easy to locate for most people. I unfortunately am not "most people".

Hope you enjoyed the read, I am off to enjoy my last day before the Alzheimer's kicks in.

BAMF Story of the Week (week 3)

So I am coming to the realization that just about everyone has encountered a BAMF at some time or another and everyone has a funny story. So once again I am going to put off my personal BAMF moments in exchange for a funnier BAMF story that was told to me. Once again I will be changing the names so I do not embarass the BAMF in this particular story.

My brother-in-law told me about this story. Apparently Brian and Abraham, and another guy were reminiscing about their baseball careers. Brian played for SNU and has a pretty impressive baseball career that he does not like to brag about but includes two all american nods and a career batting avg of over .400. Abraham played for a Junior college team. Apparently Abraham in the midst of the reminiscing says yeah I was pretty good too. I hit the ball pretty well, I was awesome at defense, and I was pretty fast. Then he says the only thing that hurt me was this (and he points at his muscle). The other guys automatically assume that he got hurt and that was what ended his baseball career. They inquire about what happened. Abraham says no I didnt get hurt, I was just too strong! He says I always have played centerfield but I just got too strong to play there. Even if that really was the case (which I highly doubt), this is a true mark of a BAMF, telling everone else how great you were. I am sure we will hear more from Abraham soon.

If you have any BAMF stories let me know and I will put them on the blog. I will leave you with a list of nicknames that BAMF's typically call each other (and yes I too have been guilty of using some of these):

*Boss
*Hoss
*Young Blood
*Big'N
*Bud
*Chief
*Bra (as in bro with an A)
*Young Buck
*Son
*Bub
*Cowboy
*Slim

My Weekend

So I had an awesome weekend. Saturday was our 5 year anniversary, so I took off of work to celebrate with Amy. We went to Turner Falls for the day and did some hiking and went swimming. I was trying to walk on in the falls but the ground was like ice, so I fell at least a half dozen times (maybe more). It was a fun trip, but it made me realize how out of shape I was, for the next 2 days my calves were sore. That evening we went to the casino and I lost some money, which is not as fun as winning if you didnt know.

Saturday we went to Hafer park and spent the night at the Renaissance. We had booked a suite plenty of time in advance but when we got to the hotel the front desk informed us that the only suite available had double beds. They said that they had a junior suite that had a king bed. We decided to do that, but we were not too happy about it considering how far in advance we had booked the suite. We got to our floor and stepped in and Amy said I am not happy. I told her I was going to go speak to the front desk about getting our room switched. I talked to the front desk and explained to them that we were celebrating a 5 year anniversary and asked them to make it something we could remember fondly rather than just another trip to a hotel. The lady understood and changed our accomodations to a master suite and sent up chocolate strawberries and champagne free of charge. I didnt get mean with her I just talked to her and I think she just understood, which was great. That evening we ate at The Melting Pot, which is great and if it wasnt so expensive we would probably try to make it there at least once a week. Then we went back to the hotel and took some pictures of the suite and funny pictures of ourselves. It is an awesome feeling to be married to your best friend and know you can act like an idiot and still have someone that loves you anyways.

Sunday we woke up and went to IHOP for breakfast then I hauled it across town to coach my baseball team. We ended up making it to the championship game. We lost, but we still ended up taking a 2nd place trophy home which was a great feeling. We picked up three kids from another team and every one of them contributed and helped us attain the goal that we had of getting to a championship game. Great weekend overall!

BAMF Story of the Week (Week 2)

I love doing these, b/c I have a ton of them saved up. This one comes from one of my good friends. I am changing names to protect the innocent BAMF.

So my friend's brother in law (we'll call him Bruce) works for the highway patrol. Last Christmas they were doing their present exchange. Bruce presents his mother-in-law with a recipe book written by Brad Henry's wife. Bruce says I'll get that signed for you if you want. The mother-in-law says how can you do that. Bruce confidently looks down at his highway patrol uniform and says "It's all about the badge". Now that is the absolute definition of BAMF, a guy who believes that he wields more power than he actually has. I asked my buddy if he was actually ever able to get the book signed and he said that he probably never looked at it again.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks BAMF, can't wait for next week! I actually have another story about this particular BAMF, but we will save that for later.

What is a BAMF

I am pumped to tell my next BAMF story of the week, but it is not Tuesday yet. So I will give my definition of a BAMF. There are a lot of different BAMF's out there so I have tried my best to categorize them. Here they are:

Jerk BAMF's- These are the guys that are jerks and everything about them says I am cooler than you are. Most of the time this applies to people with little man's disease and pricks in general. E.G. A 18 year old 5'3" guy says I am not scared of anyone

Mannerism BAMF's- These folks arent usually jerks, but they sometimes do things that make you question why anyone would do that other than to try to seem cool. E.G. A guy wears sunglasses in an office setting for about an hour looking at everything in the room except the person that he is talking to.

Chad and I really want to make it clear what a BAMF is so we took a picture to illustrate the meaning of BAMF. Be sure to check back for the BAMF story of the week tomorrow!

First Time at the Drive In

Went to the drive in movies las night w/ Amy and some friends. Indiana Jones was a little disappointing for me. It wasnt the most horrible thing I have ever seen, but kind of a downer for that particular series. I would compare it to Rocky 5, every guy will watch it b/c it is still Sly Stallone doing his thing, but we all know it was pretty weak compared to the rest of the series. I would give it a C+

What a Wonderful Invention

So I feel as though Amy and I have definitely paid our dues. With that said we are pleased to announce a new addition to our family. No it is not a child (unfortunately). We have just acquired our first dishwasher (YAY!). It is so much easier than having to do all the dishes by hand. The dishes do not get stacked up and they are typically cleaner than if I would have done them by hand. I love dishwashers!

BAMF story of the week (week 1)

So I decided that I am going to try to have a BAMF story of the week. Chad and I always tell these stories about BAMFs that we meet and we are always cracking up so I felt as if I should share. Without further ado I give you the inaugural BAMF story of the week.

There is a guy that comes into my office pretty regularly. The other day he comes in wearing motorcycle gear head to toe and sunglasses (which sunglasses on in a building for an extended time period is definitely a BAMF trait). I get to talking to him about his new motorcycle. He asks me when I am going to get one, I say I would like to have one some day but it probably wont happen. He says "All you need is a bike and the chicks come running". Now the guy is fully aware that I am married, but he is still trying to impress me. I was laughing so hard on the inside but I really wanted to mess with the guy so I said do the helmet and sunglasses help too? He says in all seriousness "Don't even need them bud"! As he leaves the insurance company he revs his motorcycle as loud as he can. I laughed for a good 15-20 minutes after he left. This guy was trying way too hard.

Now I can understand what most of you are thinking after reading, he just a kid stop messing with him right? Wrong, this dude is in his late 30s acting like that. Bottom line is if your heroes include A.C. Slater and Steavan Seagal you might ask yourself am I a BAMF?

More BAMFs to come!

Best Dog In the World

This is my pup Jacey, I love this picture. This is how she acts all the time. She is super fun.

My New Book

So I just started this book "The Chris Farley Show". It is a really interesting read, I had already read an excerpt from the book before I actually bought it. The excerpt was about a time that Farley was giving his testimony in front of his rehab class. The excerpt offered a look at Chris Farley that I had never seen before. I decided to buy the book and read about 60 pages in a little over 45 minutes. So far it has been great. When I bought the book the guy that was checking me out said this should be funny. I explained to him that I was pretty sure it was not that kind of book, I mean I am sure it will offer some laughs but I think this is more about the inner struggles that Farley was having with himself. It is good so far, and there are some really funny moments so far so I guess I was wrong.