Today marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall. I remember that I was sitting in the cafeteria at Asbury College during my sophomore year when the news broke that the wall was coming down. I've always felt a connection to Germany. My connection initially was to West Germany because I was born there while my Dad was in the army. I remember doing a report on West Germany in 4th grade because of this connection I had. We had a lot of reminders of Germany in the house when I... Read Full Story
Last spring I helped coach a little league baseball team. It was a group of 10-, 11- and 12-year-old kids. I enjoyed it so much that I am helping again this season. You might be thinking, "It's early November; why are you talking about baseball now? The World Series just ended. Didn't the off-season just start?" I could understand your confusion. But alas, tonight I went to a meeting of the coaches in our league in preparation for next spring. The meeting was called by a couple of pa... Read Full Story
I took K-Man with me to the lake Friday afternoon. Boys weekend. We stopped by Ingles on the way for some supplies: Kraft Mac & Cheese, hot dogs, "orange chips" (i.e., nacho cheese Doritos), Cheez-its crackers (Scrabble edition -- so we're working on the alphabet and enjoying that cheesy greatness), bananas, bagels and donuts. I also picked up a surprise for him (like the above was not awesome enough, right?)! After we got our rations, we proceeded to the lake house and made dinner:... Read Full Story
Many of you have probably seen the video clip of the Mountain West Conference women's semi-finals soccer match between New Mexico and BYU. A New Mexico defender takes physical play to a completely new level. You want your central defenders to be tough and to play a physical brand of soccer. And I can sympathize with the New Mexico player as this back and forth starts. She is marking a BYU forward who gives her an elbow in the chest. This obviously does not sit well with the defender. H... Read Full Story
I work out of the house, and my office currently is at the front of the house. There is a park across the street, so I get to watch our neighbors walk their dogs. I saw a coyote on a cold morning in February -- probably the one that ended the existence of our former cat. But one of the things that has stood out to me all year is the timing of our mailman. As most of you know, during a week absent a federal holiday, the mail is delivered 6 days per week. Five of the six days the mail com... Read Full Story
In mid-July, I helped co-lead a mission trip to Scotland with our church. This was a return trip for me, but a new leadership role. Even with the added responsibilities, it was a great trip made better because Jen came with us this year. I enjoyed introducing her to my Scottish friends and vice versa, and now they are her friends as well. I had several questions from people about why there might be a need for a mission trip to Scotland. Many hear "mission trip" and associate that with t... Read Full Story
So I played some softball tonight. We've played in the fall and the spring for several years now (except for the one season the manager forgot to send in the registration on time). I enjoy playing. We're in the playoffs. Usually, we'd be done by now, but the weather has not cooperated on a number of Tuesday nights this fall. We won the first game tonight and lost the second. The second time in the double-elimination playoffs that we've had to do this. I've learned something over the c... Read Full Story
Last night I promised some pictures from Halloween. Our little Buzz Lightyear. K-Man's first Halloween, he went as Hulk. That may be the last time that he didn't complain about wearing a costume -- probably because he wasn't verbal enough to express his displeasure. Oh, were that the case now!Kee has embraced the cheesiest of smiles when asked to smile for pictures. It is on full display below. His best smiles are when he's laughing. He hasn't learned the art of smiling on queue like his mom... Read Full Story
So here we are again with another attempt at posting every day for the month of November as part of National Blog Posting Month (i.e., NaBloPoMo) 2009. It's been about 4 months since I last posted, and I apologize to any reader who may still remain out there. Life sometimes gets in the way of this blog thing. It's funny because when I first thought about starting a blog, I think I did it because I was looking for a distraction from the life I had at my old job. Over the last 10 months of... Read Full Story
