November Rain

Well actually it isn’t raining but it is a good song by Guns-N-Roses (which incidentally I can not wait to hear Chinese Democracy).

 

So in the two plus months since my last post, we’ve lived through (or are living through); a landmark election, a complete economic meltdown that continues to unfold, significant job changes on my home front and a few major renovation projects at home.  That’s not even considering the closing of soccer season and the immediate onslaught of holiday bliss.

 

So in the midst of all this upheaval, I’m pretty darn happy.  The wife and I are taking the kids to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while spending three nights in Manhattan.  We got an amazing deal on a room in Midtown, that I still can’t believe…$175/night over the holiday weekend is just sick good. 

 

Black Friday shopping in Manhattan…with three kids…what could be better?  CHA-CHING!  I will certainly do my part on spurring on the sputtering economy…the American Girl Doll store is about to get a world of hurt put on it…or is that vice-versa?  I’m not sure.

 

We also got a puppy..

 

It’s September Already

So it’s about time for my monthly update!  Here are some loose-leaf thoughts from a tight knit mind:

 

• I don’t like the choice of Sarah Palin for VP, I love it!
• I’m pro-choice, believe strongly in evolution and have never fired a gun in my life, yet I still love the choice.
• I love the hysteria in the left-wing media.
• Who cares if her daughter is knocked-up?  If it’s okay for Slick Willie to get head in the Oval Office, why should the bad decision of a 17-year old matter?
• The poor kid who knocked her up went from “Dude I banged the governors daughter! to….”Dude I got the governors daughter pregnant!”…to…”Dude I have to go on national TV with John freaking McCain.”…to…”Dude I’m never getting laid again.”
• I have no problem telling kids about abstinence and preaching it.  However, please let them know about contraceptives.
• The same goes for teaching Intelligent Design v. Evolution.  Give both sides of the argument and the ridiculousness of Intelligent Design comes to light quickly.
• I don’t like unions.
• I’m thinking about changing careers and being a teacher.
• I’ve been playing SPORE with the kids and it’s a pretty good game for 9 and 10 year olds. 
• Warhammer Online starts on Sunday, I definitely have to make time to play that.
• The soccer team kicked ass in its first game winning 7-2. 
• My daughter scored 2 goals and was a force all over the field.
• The kids are all playing better.  They play as a team.

 

I’ll post more later, but I’m pressed for time

Summer Slammed

So its been at least two weeks since I’ve updated; I knew I would be bad with updating, but not THAT bad.  So let’s get right to it…

 

Family Stuff

I can’t wait for school to start up so I can get some peace and quiet in the evenings.  I love my kids dearly, but when they stay up late on the weeknights it just totally cuts into any mental downtime or quiet time with the misses. 

 

So in addition to three night a week soccer practices, games on Saturday and Sunday, I decided that now would be a good time to repaint the kids rooms…I must be insane.  I got the oldest girls room done quick.  However, my son’s room has been a work in progress for two weeks.  It was initially painted a combination of green apple and a very light green (pretty much white with a hint of light green) with stencils of classic Winnie the Pooh.  Now that he’s soon to be 3, Winnie the Pooh has got to go…its all about MARVEL (Iron Man, Captain America and Spider Man).  So the plan was to pain the top ¾ of the room red and the bottom ¼ white.  So knowing that the stencils would require a primer, I went and ahead and coated the room with a fresh primer layer followed by the red.  Well the stencils bled right through the red paint and I ended up with very evil looking Winnie the Pooh and Eyore popping out everywhere.  Needless to say I had to go get oil based primer (with gray tint) and repaint everything!  So alls well that ends well and the room is just about done.

 

Soccer Stuff

I have several girls on the team that are as fast as lightning but can’t dribble the ball to save their lives.  Unless you can keep possession, all that speed is wasted.  Kids also see everything in Black & White.  If I tell a girl to play defense, they literally will stand in that spot and not move.  So to make a long story short, we have a big tournament coming up the weekend of the 22^nd and we will find out how good or bad we are really quick.

 

Work Stuff

I’ve been traveling back and forth to Philadelphia for a big project and I can honestly say I truly dislike Philadelphia.  Outside of a very small touristy corridor around Independence Hall it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  I did eat at a fantastic Sushi Restaurant though…it’s called Morimoto and it rocks.

 

Olympics

Do they call Nastia Liukin “Nasty” for short?  I’m so down with that.  For three years and 350 days, I could care less about gymnastics and swimming, but for two weeks I am totally into everything Olympic (except maybe for male tandem diving…that’s just wrong).  Women’s Beach Volleyball should have it’s own network running 24/7.

 

Wine Recommendation: Langmeil Three Gardens Shiraz (Australian), Marc Kreydenweiss Ansata Rhone Red (French)

Coaching

As the summer winds down, planning for the fall sports activities is kicking into high gear.  This year marks a big step in coaching as I got my first travel soccer team.  Now you would think that it is an easy task to get 10, 10 year old girls playing on a single team….HA!  Think again!

 

In this day and age of the over-organized and over-scheduled lives of our children, something as simple as picking a team is a political pain in the ass.  Generally speaking, the children are divided into age brackets of U-12, U-10, U-8, and U-6 all based on the arbitrary cutoff date of 8-1. Every spring the local club holds tryouts for “travel” teams.  Travel teams are generally more competitive than your local in-house team.  If you try out for travel, you really, really want to play. 

 

Now this year, we had a situation where my girl and three other girls played on my in-house “Level 2” (this gets confusing) team.  This team consisted mainly of 8 year olds who could have played up to the “Level 3” in-house team.  So in a nutshell Level 2 = U- and Level 3 = U-10.  Basically, my girl wanted to play with her friends who were still too young to move up to U-10.  Needless to say, this Level 2 team went through the season 8 – 0 outscoring their opponents a mere 41 to 4.  In other words, the kids were pretty freaking good.

 

Now here’s where things get messy and political.  Now my girl and the three others decide they want to play U-10 Travel soccer, but they are denied the chance to try out for the team.  Why?  They played Level 2 and not Level 3 In-House and the club rules state that a “player should” complete a half season of Level 3 before being allowed to try out for Travel.  Not “must”, but “should”.  So at that point I go to the club director and he flat out refuses to let these girls try out.  Rules are rules….right?  WRONG!

 

So tryouts come and go and a total of 14 ten year olds show up for tryouts.  A total of 10 girls make the “A” team.  This leaves 4 girls who want to play but can’t play and have no coach.  In comes Mr. Maurian who gets a call from the club director who says “do your kids still want to play”…”Yes” I say…and shizdamnbang I’ve got a team.

 

So last night was the second practice for this team and I’m thinking at the moment that I’ve got a very, very competitive group.  I have a couple of girls that still can’t complete a simple pass, but I’ve also got 2 stud players and at least 7 others who are above average and follow instructions.  I’m definitely looking forward to the season.

 

Oh…next week I start them on a 2 times a week practice schedule. 

Thanks Lawgirl

Thanks Lawgirl for the linking goodness.  I am still working my way through all of the settings and how I want this blog to look.  For example, I’ve got to figure out how to turn comment moderation off….there are too many darn buttons and options.

Your First Concert

Last night we took the girls to see The Police in concert out at the Post-Gazette Pavillion (which incidentally is in the worst possible location ever) for their first concert experience.  I didn’t go to a concert until I was 21!  No joke…really…twenty freaking one before I went to my first concert (that is a whole other story).  I swear the whole event is like a MasterCard Commercial:

Tickets for 4: $400

Cost to fill up the SUV: $70

Snacks & Drinks: $50 (no alcohol, I was driving!)

Watching your elementary age kids dance to De Do Do Do De Da Da Da: Priceless. 

You know I can remember roller skating to that ridiculous song at the Roller King along with other great songs like Another One Bites the Dust (Queen) and Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen).  Not to mention playing video games like Tempest and Asteroids in the arcade. 

What do my kids get…Avril Lavine singing about somebody’s mothereffing princess.  Charming.  Let’s not even get into cartoons that can be had 24/7.  I had to wait until Saturday mornings to get my fix of Captain Caveman…yeah…I’m jealous.

Anyway, I digress.  The Police were great and ‘Wrapped Around My Finger” continues to be my favorite Police song of all time.  Elvis Costello opened and he was equally fantastic.

What was your first concert?

Irritations

We all have IM’s, cell phones, pagers, land lines, work numbers, home numbers, e-mail, faxes, addresss and on and on and on…However, why is it that when you absolutely, positively need to speak to someone they are no where to be found?  This drives me insane on a daily basis.

Hypothesis No. 1

Sometimes it takes an epiphany of sorts to inspire us to do things we wouldn’t normally do.  Last night, I had one of those moments where a light went off in my head about parenting and it’s inspired me to write about it.  The revelation was:

 

One of the hardest things about being a parent is being a secure, confident and inspiring individual even when you are not currently feeling any of those things.  My kids don’t know when I am feeling insecure, they don’t know when I’ve screwed up at work and they may not know that I’m having a disagreement with their mother (okay a fight).  All they know and expect is that I’m there for them when they need me.  That’s real honest to god pressure and that’s why so many people fail at parenting.

 

This will be known as Hypothesis No. 1 for future discussions.