They Are Back

I was disappointed roughly a year ago when Wendy's introduced their Spicy Chicken Nuggets, only to find them as a seasonal/promo item.  I liked them a lot and was not happy when I tried to order them and they no longer sold them.

I am glad they are currently back.  Hopefully this time they stay around quite a bit longer. 

They mix really well with the Wendy's Sweet and Sour sauce and would likely be delicious if dipped in a Frosty.

The Pain Guy

I got to help with the women's team at practice today.  One of the assistants deemed me "the pain coach."

There was a portion of today's practice set aside for "creative conditioning" and I was put in charge of that because of some of the creative ways I've made them work through some previous men's practices that have apparently made their way to the girls team in gossip form.

As much as I hate running, I do enjoy making other people run...

A Tale of Almosts

Had two near hole-in-one's this weekend, one on a difficult 200 yard par 3 (playing 190 uphill that day).

Then, missed my fantasy football draft for one league and had to be auto-drafted.

Oh what could have been if the almosts would have been completed.

Golfing Time

Tomorrow will be another early morning, though I'll appreciate rising early for golf far more than for work.

Soccer practices have been fun this week, but 5:xx alarm times are just not enticing at all.  I'm glad that is done and returns to normal next week.

Here is to hoping I can hit it long and straight tomorrow, if not, i'm sure dad will make up the difference as it is a scramble tournament.

Girls...Out of My Ordinary

For the first 5 practices this week, I helped the men's team.

Today's afternoon practice was my first practice helping with the women's team.

Things didn't go the same way that I'm used to as a coach.

Girls are polite.  Guys aren't ever polite, at least, not out of their way polite.  When a girl would finish the drill I was running and go on to the next one, they would actually thank me for running a drill for them.  I didn't know what to do with this, it was so far out of my ordinary.

Will be something I'll enjoy getting used to I guess.

Short Strolls and Swordfighting Spoons

Sometimes the best part of an evening includes just a short stroll and swordfighting spoons over parts of a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

The "Oreo Cookie Jar" that has both Oreo cookies and Cookie Dough was a delicious treat. 

Jenny was better company.

I Haven't Lost It All

While I didn't play soccer this summer in any organized fashion, I was happy to find out today that I haven't lost all of the old school.

I find that I can still kick a ball hard enough and place it well enough to make a goalie look foolish if he puts himself in a poor position.  That was a fun realization for me today.

Also fun, was making the team run stairs while just having to watch instead of run them myself.

Not as fun, that it meant my alarm was set for a time in the 5 o'clock hour and will be so again tomorrow.

Alive + Exhausted

Made it out of the weekend alive. 

Had fun experiencing new things at the Mall of America, Target Field for the first time for a Twins game, and hanging out with the guys.  Life is always a treat with them, but we all made it out safe, but tired.

My exhaustion will likely only continue as the two-a-day practices for the soccer teams start this week.  That means that tomorrow morning I need to be downtown to help run a conditioning workout at 6:30 in the morning.  I don't like the time that means I need to set my alarm for.

Boys are Back in Town

The two guys who instigated and participated in the most tomfoolery in college are in town for Matt's bachelor party.

They are both fathers now, but have a weekend together and without their kids again. 

Watch out in the MN area, these guys may be causing some trouble...

...and I just may be there to watch it all unfold.

Pencil It In

Today, the senior pastor and I tentatively scheduled me to preach the Sunday Services on October 3rd.  If you are going to be in the Minneapolis area, you can pencil that date in if you are interested.

It's probably a 90% at this point and should be confirmed within the week or so.

Stop Feeding His Addiction

It doesn't help to give in to people's bad habits.  You don't laugh at inappropriate jokes people tell.  You shouldn't respond to another person's anger towards you by getting noticeably upset...the kinds of things people are hoping for when angry at you.

You simply need to stop giving attention to people's "bad" behaviors when it seems that the attention is something they are feeding off of.

That being said, media: please stop covering the Brett Favre story.  Talk about him on the field.  I don't need to hear more.  I don't care who had a conversation with him yesterday, or what time his plane landed.  I don't care what the special teams co-ordinator said when asked about it, or how the place kicker's practice was affected by it.

Please stop covering it.

Not Much Live Anymore

We don't have cable.

We don't own a DVR.

Regardless of those two facts, we still watch most of our t.v. as a new episode (not more than a week behind) but don't catch much of it when it is actually broadcast.

The wonder of the internet.  There isn't much you can't find on there nowadays.  I have become a wizard at finding whatever it is I need/want to watch, and to do so legally.

Let's Not Call It Cheating

I get it.  We don't want people to cheat in golf.  We want the scores to be honest and accurate and for everyone to play by the same rules.

(The rest of this post is about Dustin Johnson's misfortune on the 18th hole of the final round of the PGA Championship this afternoon.)

What I don't get, is when thousands of spectators, hundreds of cameras, 10s of commentators, and all fellow players within the area thinks that something was done within the rules, why people still need to make fuss over it.

There was clearly no intent, and clearly no advantage gained, and not a whole lot of reason to know what had happened.

Nobody thought he shouldn't have scored the bogey.  Nobody wanted the two stroke penalty to stand.  I wish it didn't have to.

Dinner with Friends

Nice to spend an evening eating dinner with some friends from church.

Great to hear stories about the time one of them got to spend in Africa and the eye opening experience a trip like that was for him.  I'm excited to see the ways that an experience like that changes parts of his/their life.

Equally excited about the chips and salsa/dips that were flowing to the tables.

Powerless Storms

We lost power at the church offices today for roughly 2 hours.  This happened just as we started throwing a baby shower for one of the staff members and his wife.

It comes in handy to have recently used a battery operated lantern for a sermon illustration when the power goes out for that long.

No need to stop the party when we've got those kinds of supplies.

There Are Days...

There are days that the time at work seems to go slow.  There are days that the task lists seem overwhelming and it just doesn't feel productive.

There are other days that are filled with meetings. 

Tomorrow is one of those days.  Time will be flying tomorrow.  Meeting, Meeting, Baby Shower, Meeting, Meeting and respond to e-mails and it will be time to go home.

Shouldn't feel like too long of a day.

Nearly Impossible

It would take far more than most days have ever thrown on me (though there have been a few) to make a day turn bad that at any point had you baptizing people in the open water.

It is an awesome thing to watch people decide to be baptized on the spot and get the honor of doing that with/for them.

Not much beats it either.

It's a Whirlwind

We bought a new computer on Wednesday night, and playing with it, in my boyish excitement, I forgot to write a blog.

It was one of few times Jenny was talking me into upgrading what we had gone to look at rather than the other way around.

At a leadership conference today and tomorrow, enjoyed hearing from the likes of Tony Dungy and Jim Collins today.  Really looking forward to Jack Welch and the owner of Tom's Shoes tomorrow.

Football Fun

The nice thing about being a Colts fan and a fantasy football player living in MN is that I just get to watch from the front row as so many people deal with the Favre drama around here.

Give me my popcorn and soda, i'm in for some entertainment.

Long Time Friends

Got to eat meals today with two great friends I haven't seen enough of recently.

One just married, and one getting married in just over a month, life has changed all of our availability, but it is always great to hang out with those guys.

Looking forward to all of us finding "normal" in our schedules and seeing more of each other again as able.

Sunburn, Surprise, Speed, Starcraft, Schmucks

It’s fun when everything you did in a weekend ends up as an alliteration.

Enjoyed a gorgeous day out on the lake and by the pool throughout Saturday afternoon before heading out to a surprise birthday party for my mother in law.

That left me feeling pretty exhausted.

After church on Sunday, found out about the speed purchase my father made, which I’m excited to experience shortly, and then played Starcraft 2 at a friend’s house before heading to “Dinner with Schmucks” in the evening.

If you had been thinking about seeing that in the theater, feel free to wait until video.  Not that great of a movie.