The week behind, ice adventures, and blog stats

Well, after the exciting weekend of travel, ice fishing, and car issues last weekend, we were due for a bit of a slower week...

• Tuesday morning I scheduled practice for 6:30-8:00 a.m. so we could have a time to get together before the tournament later in the week. That's one of the main reasons I'm glad that the season is over...those early mornings (although they woke me up) really hit hard mid-afternoon.
• Wednesday I helped take some Science Olympiad kids to Benedictine University to look at some fossils and stuffed animals (I first typed taxidermied animals, but it just didn't sound right, or look right for that matter). It turned out to be VERY cool. I struggled to find an animal that they didn't have on display in one way, shape, or form. They even had a skeleton of a baleen whale suspended from the ceiling! Our guide told us that they bought it from another college for $50...the price it took to ship it. Man...for fifty bucks I would've taken it and stuck it in my future basement. How many people that you know have a life-size skeleton of a whale in their basement??? Huh? Huh? That's what I thought. Anyways, it was complete with bison, lions, mule deer, baboons up to whazoo and even dinosaur bones. It was quite the experience.
• I think Thursday was a boring day. I say that because I can't remember what happened during the 30 sec. I thought about it.
• Friday night we had Game #1 of a tournament at a local middle school. We played another school that was much, MUCH larger than us. Not that it should've made a difference, but we lost by 30, so I'm going to say that it did. After the game we stopped at Timothy to check out the Homecoming festivities. We couldn't even find a parking spot on the school's campus, so we parked illegally in the church parking lot across the street. We walked into the school but couldn't see a spot to sit looking at the bleachers from the doorway, so we watched for a few minutes and decided to call it a night.
• Saturday we had Game #2 of the tournament, and it felt like more of the same after being down by 3 at half to a team who I know can't shoot an outside shot. At halftime...here was my speech..."Alright guys, we're switching to a 2-2-1 press and falling back to a 2-3 zone. Whatever you do, don't let #30 dribble down the middle anywhere on the court. Let's go." (Not even kidding...direct quote) Some of the parents commented on it after we got back out, and all I said was..."Not much to say, they know what we need to do." Well, turns out Coach K Jr. did his job at halftime after we outscored them 28-5 to take a 46-26 lead into the 3rd quarter. The bad news...I should have given that 10 sec. speech at the quarter break as well, because we scored a measly 3 points in the 4th quarter to squeak out a 3 point win. Great way to end the year.
• Saturday night we decided to make our way to the Darien Sportplex. A place we've driven past many times, but never before entered. We decided to spend the night doing a little ice skating, which took a little convincing of Linds to go. I already knew I was a natural at ice skating...you know...simply because I'm from MinneSOOOOta and you knOOOOOOw, that's all we do up der in dem woods. (I think I've gone twice...maybe three times) When we walked in the building, we expected the public skate to be packed, based on the hundreds of cars in the parking lot. What we didn't know, however, was that there were not one, not two, but THREE ice rinks in the complex, and that two of them had league hockey games going on...and there were all of a dozen people on the rink for public skate. (they also have a full soccer field fieldhouse somewhere in the building...not to be outdone) So for the next 1 1/2 hours, we spent some time mastering how to 1) not fall (which we didn't, despite some close calls), 2) avoid the REALLY good skaters playing tag & weaving in and out of us, 3) trying to figure out how they do that sweet slide stop like you see the pros doing (I think I need lessons from Luis Mendoza), and 4) being showed up by the next Michelle Kwan...age 4 (honestly...the whole triple reverse quadruple lutz double axel combo put her a step above me)
• Here's a picture from our last date night...
  

Well, that seems to be about it as far as adventures for for the week. On another note, however, I had always wondered how many people actually read my blog...and at times I wondered if I should even bother write. Although I will admit, even though none of you would take this seriously, I've always aspired to be one of those sports columnists in the newspaper. At least...write enough that I could eventually become one of the Baseball Writers of America and be eligible to vote for Hall of Famer's. Maybe Bert would make it in then. Wow...off on a tangent, back to the blog... I learned from Justin Van Zee that you could get a program called Google Analytics attached to your blog to see how many people look at your blog daily and where they're from. I was slightly surprised...here is some rough data:

• I've had 194 visits since Jan. 3, and by Bert's California Math, that comes out to about 9 visitors/day.
• I've had 48 unique visitors (which means from 48 different computers)

• State by State breakdown:
• 55 visits from Iowa
• 47 from Minnesota
• 33 from Colorado (little shout out to Gwyn...Go Rockies!)

• There are a few iffy stats on there...like hits from Vietnam, Venezuela, and Estonia (1 each), but also from some random states (FL, AZ, UT, ND, NY-1 hit each) and cities (Eldridge, IA, Seahurst, WA, & Detroit Lakes, MN). Now I apologize if I know people there, or if your internet service runs through there, but I don't know who you are...which is sweet! If I don't know you, I hope you enjoy reading my blog!
• I must admit though, I am a bit curious, so if you do want me to know your true identity, feel free to shoot me an email or comment on my blog to let me know what you think!

So long everybody!

Adventures of the past week

This past week has been quite the whirlwind...or should I say wind chill (hehe). I'll end the cold jokes now...everyone knows it was cold.

• Last Tuesday we had our semifinal basketball game at Wheaton against Benjamin. We started a little slow, but built up a 1 point lead at the half before extending it to 11 after the 3rd quarter. Final score ended up with us on top 55-47. Everyone made it into the game for at least 1 1/2 minutes and we won. Goals accomplished.
• Wednesday was fairly cold and snowy here. The forecast called for 4-5 inches at school, but I'm not sure we got quite that much. During 4th period, the principal announced over the intercom that all after school events were canceled because of the expected snow and freezing temperatures...except for the 8th grade boys basketball practice in light of the big game tomorrow.--direct quote, no lie. So everyone else went home while we stuck it out in the gym.
• Thursday we had our championship game against Wheaton Christian. In the first meeting, we lost by 18, in the second meeting we won by 3. It didn't look very promising after the first half with us down 24-16, and only thanks to a banked-in 3 pointer at the buzzer on our side to keep it to a single-digit deficit. Thanks to a stellar halftime speech by yours truly, we cut it down to 42-38 halfway through the 4th quarter, but thats as close as we could make it, eventually losing by 6. Three guys didn't make it in the game and we lost. Neither goal accomplished.
• Yes, Friday we did have school despite all, and I repeat ALL of the public schools around us closed. It didn't bother me much...as long as the Beretta started in the morning and I was able to get all of the ice off the inside of the windshield. A number of kids came up to me and asked why we had school but none of their public school friends did. My well-thought out response? "Well, its a good thing that we don't hold our classes outside like they apparently do. Aren't you glad for warm buildings?" All I got were these incredibly confused stares that read "I thought you were on our side here Mr. V."
• Friday night we made a trip to Mom & Dad VW's house. The trip initially was so I could get in one last ice fishing excursion before the season was over, but turned into Matt & Linds bonding time in the car because we probably saw each other a total of 4 hours in the previous 3 days. We left pretty late and got to Grinnell around 12:30.
• Saturday morning we left for Pella in the morning to help Nate & Nicole move into the house they bought. We had to admit to ourselves...having our own house now sounds even better than before. That afternoon, after the wind died down a little, Nate and I took to a farm pond to sit on the ice for awhile in hopes that a fish might find our little grubs appitizing. A couple hours and two non-keeper fish later, we decided to call it a night and hope for better luck the next afternoon.
• So Sunday we went back out in the afternoon. A different time of day, a different location....therefore a different result. We quit counting after about 20 fish each, but I figure we caught between 75-100 fish in the span of 2 1/2 hours. It was an abolutely glorious time, and I know I'll definitely remember some of the memories we made, including the 99% blugill catch that Nate pulled in, and the writer of this blog unsuccessfully attempting to hold in either a bass or a walleye above the ice by using my boots as some sort of trap door.
• For those of you who wish to know, or maybe just because every good post includes some sort of picture, here are the two fish we caught...the top one is a smallmouth bass and the bottom one is the ever-plenty bluegill
  

• Of course it wouldn't be like us to have nice weather driving anywhere, and for about an hour around the Iowa City area, traffic was moving about 15 mph, so we got home way later than we hoped.
• Today was supposed to be a wonderful day of doing errands, planning lessons, and getting some stuff done at school. All of which is difficult to do if you don't have a car. Let me explain...I needed an oil change, so I brought it in at about 9:30, hoping that they could get at it right away, but they said that it would be an hour until they could get to it, and he told me to come back at 11. So I came back a little before 11 and he told me it would be another hour. Well, at this point I just figured that I would just sit there and wait it out, hopefully "save my spot in line". Sure enough...the guy brought the Beretta in 20 min later. Well, that's where the good news ends. He comes back out and asks me if I had seen my tires. Well, I honestly told him I hadn't so he took me back to look and sure enough...the back ones were pretty much completely bald. He asked me if I've been having trouble stopping or sliding at all, and when I told him I didn't, he said I must have been driving really good. (Yea me!!) Anyways, I told him to put two new ones on, and then he asked me if I wanted a new battery because the one I had was at like 30%. Well, I figured why not...add it to the list. (Along with the fact that it probably wouldn't survive another cold spell like the last one.

So long everybody...

Loyalty...or not?

Lately there's been a reoccurring topic that seems to be coming up in my daily life. The funny part is that most of it seems pretty random to me. It comes up while talking to my colleagues at school, while listening to the pastor at church, while reading an article on the upcoming World Baseball Classic in March, and while thinking about the future. The topic that keeps coming up to me?

Loyalty.

To me, it seems human nature to trust people who you know to be loyal. As soon as someone goes back on their word, doesn't show trust in you, or acts in such a way that makes you question their integrity, they lose a little bit of your trust in them. Because I think in terms of baseball for many of life's great mysteries (kidding, but seriously now), the names of Edgar Martinez (18 years), Tony Gwynn (20 years), Cal Ripken, Jr. (21 years), and Ted Williams (19 years) come to mind as players who dedicated their lives to one team, one city, and one lasting legacy as a player who dedicates their career to bringing home the championship to their team. To me, that's a definition of loyalty, sticking with a team through thick and thin (Ripken's Orioles struggled through a 0-21 start to the '88 season), peace and war (Williams left baseball twice to join the army).

That's loyalty...

On the other hand I think of a couple of modern players. Manny Ramirez being...well, Manny. Showing up to Spring Training when he deems it convenient and hustling only....um....when high-fiving a fan in the seats. More recently, I think of Alex Rodriguez who announced that he would participate for the Dominican Republic team during the upcoming World Baseball Classic. I'm not doubting that Felipe Alou is going to turn down a talented hitter like A-Rod, but manning the hot corner during the '06 Classic was Adrian Beltre, the only Dominican named to the all-WBC team after leading the team with 4 HR's and 9 RBI. He is expected to be back on the team again this time, along with left-side infielders Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes. Two years ago, Rodriguez competed for the United States team which failed to make the semifinals. Rodriguez "led" the U.S. team with 0 HR's, 3 RBI, and 7 K's. This time, Rodriguez plans on planting himself in a lineup surrounded by speedseters Carlos Gomez, Hanley Ramirez, and Jose Reyes, and sluggers Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz.

I just find it astonishing that A-Rod considers himself Dominican after living there for 3 years of his life (ages 5-8).

This morning in church the pastor was talking about how Jesus picked his disciples and they followed him immediately. As he was talking, a question ran through my head. "Did the disciples think that they were going to get something out of joining Jesus' crew?" If I place myself in their position, I thought of the following:

• They (Jews) were looking for a savior from the Romans
• The disciples had seen and heard of the amazing things Jesus had done
• On a number of occasions, Jesus asked them questions such as "Do you love me?" and "Who do you say I am?", which leads me to think that they might have thought he was testing them in some way.
• Finally, I recalled the mother who asked Jesus for one of her sons to sit on his right and one on his left when he took his place as ruler.

So again, I ask the question...were the disciples really that loyal, or were they more like A-Rod, hoping to jump on board with the winning team?

Now I don't want to go and criticize these men, or begin to think that I know what was running through the minds of Middle-Eastern taxcollectors and fishermen. I don't know if they first wanted to become rich and famous and then later realized what this Jesus guy was all about. What I do know is that they continued to follow Him, and after his death, they lived to spread His teachings to the known world, and died attempting to do so. I do know that because of them, because of their LOYALTY to keeping the last instruction He gave them. I know I can have hope, that my faith means something, and that my live has a purpose.

Am I loyal to all people all the time? No
Do I know that I will let people down sometime? Yes
Does that stop me from living my life as an imitation of the life of Christ? No

So long everybody...

Holiday travels/Back to School

After I wrote that last entry, spending hours investigating, searching baseball statistics, and trying to come up with some sort of evaluation process for each of the players in Part 1 (Oh yes, there's more to come!!!), Linds pointed out that I didn't even say anything about life, which is probably way more interesting to people than what I think about the Twins (or so I'm told, it's a way of thinking that I'm still trying to comprehend).

Well, after driving over 1500 miles (according to MapQuest) and spending somewhere in the neighborhood of 28-29 hours in the car thanks to less than ideal weather conditions for Parts III and V of the trek, we came up with a path that trumped any of my college road trips.

One of my biggest take-homes from the Christmas season was a hat similar to the one below. Mine's gray with red marks on it, but has the fur and ear flaps nonetheless.



Another article of clothing I now posess (not from a gift, but rather my uncanny ability to smell out a bargain) is this sweatshirt shown below, modeled by yours truly.



School starts again tomorrow. The new topic for the new year....Chemical Compounds and Reactions!!! Get excited, and we hope that there aren't any headlines like this anytime soon in the Tribune...

New Year's (Season's) Resolutions

I read an article on the top ten most popular New Year's resolutions for the coming year. (Based on who, I have no idea) But here they are:

1. Spend more time with family & friends.
2. Spend more time working out.
3. Lose weight.
4. Quit smoking.
5. Enjoy life more.
6. Quit drinking.
7. Get out of debt.
8. Learn something new.
9. Help others.
10. Get organized.

I started to wonder about what some of the Twins players might be making New Year's resolutions about, or maybe New Season's resolutions. I know a lot of the time many sports websites, blogs, and newspapers spend time criticizing players on their play on or off the field. But after thinking about it, no one's perfect, and the best professionals are the ones who aren't content with where they're at, and are always striving to be better. I remember stories of Ken Griffey Jr. never content with his swing, and 611 HR's later, "The Kid" is now "The Natural".

C Joe Mauer: New Year's Resolution-Increase power numbers without decreasing plate discipline. Although there are few obvious flaws in Mauer's offensive and defensive game, one would hope that eventually the 25 year-old with the 6-5 230 frame might produce more than 10 HR, 80 RBI seasons.

1B Justin Morneau: New Year's Resolution-Be more consistent. No one's complaining after a 2nd MVP-type season, but after his stellar 2006 campaign, his offensive numbers dropped across the board, most noticiably in his AVG (.321 to .271) and OPS (.934 to .834).

2B Alexi Casilla: Improve OBP, maintain power numbers. To everyone's suprise, Casilla knocked out 7 HR's in under 100 games last year, contradicting all of his minor league numbers. the Twins need a 2-spot hitter who is able to get on base consistently and get in scoring position for #3 man Mauer.

SS Nick Punto: Show he is a capable starting shortstop...offensively. We know Punto loves to play good, hard-nosed, Twins defense in the field. He's the scrappy little sparkplug that keeps a team going through tough stretches. But if he returns to his dismal 2007 form (.210 AVG, .291 OBP), it may be tough to keep him in the lineup, espeically if Rochester SS Trevor Plouffe is heating up.

3B: Brian Buscher: Show he is a capable starting third baseman...offensively. With either Brendan Harris or Buscher staring the 3B spot in the face, I believe that Buscher showed by the end of last season that he was a viable candidate with slightly better offensive numbers in AVG, OBP, OPS, K%, and BB/K ratio.

Next edition will include those competing for outfield and DH positions.

So long everbody...see you in '09.

Weekend Wonders

This weekend, Jenni and Adam came to visit and we spent Saturday afternoon braving the wind and rain to enjoy some time downtown. After the visit to the Bean and Millennium Park, we headed over to the Art Institute to "culturalize" ourselves. There were some great times by all, and you can see it in our faces while trying to imitate one of our highlights of the trip here...



We then stocked up on drinks at Caribou Coffee and headed off to Daley Plaza to see the Christmas tree. After battling the crowds and a rowdy bunch of Santas, we arrived and made the best of another photo op...



With the Christmas season in full swing and the big day only 11 days away, we have now begun the "12 days of Christmas". Have you ever wondered who came up with the 12 days of Christmas, or what it originated from, or who in the world thought that the song would catch like it did (especially with my extended family year after year) If you're interested, here's the Wikipedia link.

But since I'm more about the how and why (being a Science teacher) and not the history of the song, have you ever wondered how much all 12 days of Christmas would cost someone in order to win over their "true love"?

Well wonder no longer, because the numbers are in....







drum roll please....






For the small price of $86,609, you can make your true love happy this holiday season. However, by leaving out the 7 swans a swimming for each of the 6 days you give them, you can save yourself some pocket change ($33,600).

Just don't let the true love know that you're holding out on those swans...


So long everybody...

Between holidays

This feels like the first actual free time in a long time, but then again, the whole Thanksgiving weekend was free time...so other than that I guess.

• School is still going great, we're working through the periodic table and elements right now and will be until Christmas break and maybe a bit after that, then its to chemical bonds and reactions.
• It has snowed a couple times now, maybe 3-4 inches each time. Glad we don't live in the city of Chicago though. They found out that it cost the city $500,000 each time it snows to pay workers, gas, trucks, salt, etc. So they decided that they wouldn't clear the streets throughout the night, but only if/when it stopped snowing.
• Basketball has been going pretty good, its definitely a different mentality out here with kids having more opportunities to play on travel teams throughout the entire year (yes, even during the season). I took some pictures from one of the kids' facebook pages, so here you go...

• We're 5-2 right now, and just won Friday night by 3 over the team that won their summer league tournament.
• Well...less than two weeks before its back to Minnesota for the wedding, Christmas parties, and hopefully some ice fishing!

So long everybody...