We've Moved!!!

I have moved my blog. If you did not receive an email it is because I might not have your email address. So here is a link to the new site:

Running Roundup (Week 2)

It has been a good week but I am having to slow down because my shins are starting to hurt. I think it is because I have been running in my neighborhood on the concrete. Next week I will be able to run on our track. Today I just walked almost 3 miles and tomorrow I will probably walk as well. I just don't want to lose the momentum I have started.

Anyway, here's the update on my goal. With 15 days remaining, I have run 23.4 miles. This puts me 12 miles ahead of where I should be. I guess after tomorrow I will set a new goal.

What If?

If you have been watching sports or even news at all, I am sure you have heard about the "Big 3" Commissioners of sports. Let's play a game of what if...

1. What if you were Bud Selig? Would you attend Barry Bond's games until he broke the record? Would you participate in any on-field activities?

2. What if you were David Stern? How would you handle the Tim Donaghy situation?

3. What if you were Roger Goodell? Would you do more than tell Mike Vick to stay home from team camp? If found guilty, what punishment would you hand out?

So, what if you were these guys, what would you do?

Friek Accident

Our local baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers, lost a member of their family last night in a friek accident. Hitting coach Mike Coolbaugh was hit in the head with a line drive last night in Little Rock. Witnesses say he barely had time to move out of the way when the ball caught him right in the temple and dropped him. When medical personnel arrived he was not breathing and he was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. Coach Coolbaugh was 35, married with 2 children and one on the way. Read more about this tragedy here.

I am amazed that stuff like this doesn't happen more often. Maybe not with the coaches but the pitchers. I assure you I will pay more attention when I am in the coaches box now.

Oh Yes I Did!

I got the new Harry Potter book last night at midnight. I went to Wal-Mart around 9:00 to get a bracelet to guarantee me a book and then went back at midnight to get my book. I was amazing how many people were there waiting to get their book. It took me about 45 minutes to get to the front and get my copy. I hope it was worth it. Stay tuned.

What amazed me though was the people waiting in line at 9 when I got there for my bracelet. These people already have their bracelet but they were waiting for the book. Some were reading, others were watching a movie (Polar Express...not sure why they weren't showing Harry Potter), or just talking. When I was in line last night, one the employees mentioned that people had been waiting since 5:00 to get their bracelet. Wal-Mart didn't start handing those out until 8:00.

What possesses people to stand in lines for hours?

Back, Back, Back....

That one is gone!!!!! I thought of Chris Berman tonight from the homerun derby as the Team Park Plaza hit 3 homeruns in our nightcap.

I have been playing summer league softball with my church team and things have been up and down. We either hit well or have solid defense, rarely do we have both. I would like to challege Team Laurel to a game (to bad we have that major distance Jim).

I have been hitting quite well in fact I can only think of about 3 times that I have not gotten a hit to be on base. Tonight was a first though, tonight I hit my first over the fence homerun!!!! Unfortunately in our league they don't let you round the bases, so I didn't get to do my homerun trot that I have practiced for so many years. You may say big deal, a homerun. Let me lay this out for you. I started playing softball at Harding as a freshman in 1994. I have played ever year since then save 2 summers. Tonight was the first homrun!!! I also realized that in our doubleheader, I hit for the cycle. One single, one double, 2 triples and a homerun. What fun.

Now tonight was our first game in three weeks because of rain. I needed that time off because I was heading for the DL. Here's what happened and it's okay to laugh. My first night to play I hit a ball that allowed me stretch the hit into a triple. I thought that there would be a play at the bag so I slid. Now, if you know me at all you know I like to slide head first and did quite often in college. I am not sure what possessed me to do it this night but for some reason I felt young. I slid safely, but I knocked the wind out of me something major. The last time I tried to slide I was not as fat as I am now. I also bruised my ribs real bad. Needless to say, I will not be sliding anymore in the future. I will just get out!

Running Roundup (Week 1)

Well it hasn't been a full week since I started my goals, although it has been over a week since I started running. Last Friday and Saturday, I was able to run a full mile without stopping. That probably doesn't sound like much but when you are fat and out of shape it's a start. This week I raised my distance to 2 miles and hope that by the end of next week I'll be running that distance without stopping.

Here is my goal update. I started these goals last Friday. Remember my first goal is 25 miles in 4 weeks. I have run 7.4 miles which is 2.5 miles ahead of schedule with 23 days remaining.

My second goal has already been obliterated. I set the goal to burn 900 calories in 4 weeks. I have already burned over 1100. So I probably will not reset that goal, although I could up the amount, I'll just stick to the distance.

Daily Trivia

I got this idea from a friend of mine, Richard. He set this up on his blog and I have joined. I thought it would be fun for some of my following to have a little tournament to participate in. It is very simple, click on the link to the right and sign up (it's free). Each day has a new category with about 10 questions. It will keep a running tally of who is winning. The tournament starts today and each week I will change the categories, varying difficulty.

The tournament will run for 30 days. So you have until August 15 to win. A prize will be rewarded!

Are You Kidding Me?

What's with the crazy stuff that ESPN shows at times on their channels? Don't get me wrong, I love ESPN and don't know what I would do without it. But, is there really nothing better to show than some of things they show? We have all seen the Scripps Spelling Bee. And I am sure we have all seen highlights (I have never watched) the hot dog eating contest. But today, I flipped over there and saw the Rock, Paper, Scissor League Championships (check out this story)

Are you kidding me? Is that really considered a sport of any kind? Can any of you really argue that it should be on television? Can you even argue that this "league" should even exist?

Nike + iPod

I don't know if you have heard of this before but Nike and Apple have joined forces to make running shoes. I recently learned about it and since I have started, this week, running on a consistent basis (I know can 4 days straight be considered consistent?) I decided I needed a pair of these shoes. Here's how it works. You buy a sensor that goes into the sole of your shoes, of course, you must have certain shoes made by Nike noted with a + sign. You also with the same sensor purchase receive a receiver that attaches to your iPod nano. The sensor sends data to your iPod telling you how long your have run, how far your have run, and your pace for a mile. When you are done with your run it will also tell you how many calories your burned. At various times throughout your run a female voice (male voice if your prefer) comes on and updates you on how you are doing. Now you can set perimeters for your run (i.e. distance, time, calories) and the little voice will let you know when you have completed your perimeter. Once you are done you can download your information to the Nike Plus website and it will keep a record of your progress.

One this website you can set goals for yourself and even challenge other people. I got my shoes today and already ran with them. I must say...I AM OUT OF SHAPE!!!!! I won't tell you all of my stats except to say I can't even run a complete mile without walking a little. I hope that will change in the coming days and weeks. My goal is to lose some weight and get in shape. After two years of coaching, I hate the fact that I am not in shape and I coach.

So, I plan to keep my faithful listeners up to date on my progress. Every Wednesday I will update you. Here are my goals for right now:

1. Run 25 miles in 4 weeks

2. Burn 900 calories in 4 weeks

Sooner Nation

The talk around this area is the Sooners. Not the upcoming season so much as the 2005 season. Many of you remember this past year two of their players being kicked off the team because they were paid for work that they did not do. One of those players being Rhett Bomar. Now I guess the Oklahoma Sooners are receiving major sanctions from the NCAA.

What are your thoughts about the punishment or the act that caused the punishment?

What Are You Worth?

I found this website on Mark Elrod's Lame-O Weblog asking "What you are worth if you were for sale." I was worth $1,991,570. Wendy was worth $2,257,570. (There was one question that asked for my face the jury value, I guessed because I did not want to sign up for a dating service.)

Take the quiz and let me know what you are worth.

Also, on this little quiz you are asked How dumb you are according to Am I Dumb.com. I am smarter than 57.11% of the population. Wendy was smarter than 72.07% of the population. I missed some that I realized when Wendy was taking it so I have retaken it and now am smarter than 78.48% smarter.

How much are you worth? How dumb are you?

We're Home Again!

Well we made it back home from vacation on Sunday night. We had a great time. It is always fun to get together with Dawg and his family. We didn't actually do a whole lot but just being with friends was fun enough. Schlitterbahn was a blast and the girls loved it. The girls all went to see Disney's Ratatouille. Time always seems to fly when you are on vacation. I could have spent another several days with the Dawg but had to come home.

Why you might ask? Well yesterday morning Bentley had surgery. Now it was not anything major but it is still considered surgery at the hospital. Her tear ducts had not opened and so they had to go in and open them up for her. Pretty common procedure that took all of 10 minutes. In fact, within 20 minutes of leaving her we were back with her in recovery trying to calm her down. All went well!

Vacation...

We are leaving in the morning on a mini-vacation. One thing we have tried to do each year since I started teaching, was to take a family vacation. We don't usually do a lot of major travelling but we do try to just get away. This summer we are not doing as much as normal but we are fulfilling a yearly visit. Every year we get together with some good friends of ours in Texas. Many of you know them because we lived near them at Harding and even for a while lived with them. That's right, we lived with them (pre kidos). I like to refer to them as The Dawg and The Dawg's wife. Normally, they would be coming to our house since we went to see them last summer, but they are expecting in a few weeks and so we are making the trip again. Last summer we took the kids to Sea World in San Antonio. The girls loved it, this summer we are heading to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. We are heading there because The Dawg has free tickets. Should be a fun time, if nothing else because we are leaving town and getting to spend time with dear friends. I'll keep you posted.

What vacations do you remember as a kid?

Triple A Baseball

I got to attend my second ever Triple A baseball game last night (the first being the Memphis Redbirds with my good friend Scott). Last night was a fun night because I went to Bricktown in Oklahoma City and watched the Oklahoma City Redhawks play at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

I went with a friend of mine from church, Clint, who played a few years in the Cincinnati Reds organization. One of his friends from that time, Andrew Beattie, plays for the Albuquerque Isotopes. So Andrew got us tickets to come down and watch. Unfortunately he did not have such a great game and the Redhawks won. It was fun meeting him and we went out afterwards so he and Clint could catch up. I also got to meet another former teammate of Clint's, John Koronka. John spent all of last season pitching for the Texas Rangers but has been sent down so they can change some of his mechanics.

It was nice to be at a ballgame and nice to eat a good sports bar and grill (not Ferottos, Jim). The place was called Coach's and was filled with sports memoriabilia. Good eats overlooking the ballpark. You can see a picture from the restaurant overlooking the park. Sometimes it's nice to get away and watch some minor league baseball.

Happy Father's Day!!

I love Father's Day!! Maybe it's the fun things the kids make for me during class or bible hour at church (see picture above, it was fun watching dad's wear these around church), or the time I get to spend with my kids. Or the memories I have and remember with my dad. Whatever it is, this is a fun day.

Now, I realize this day does not get the hoopla that Mother's Day gets, and I'm fine with that because mother's are completely different breeds (in a good way).

I remember my first Father's Day. We were living in Searcy and my little girl was just a few weeks old. What a wonderful feeling that has never gotten old. In fact, I would venture to say that I am so blessed that everyday is father's day and, speaking for Wendy, mother's day.

My middle child asked me today at lunch when Kid's Day was. We got a good laugh out of that.

What do you like about Father's Day?

Mrs. Belvedere

For the last few days, the talk around Tulsa has been focused on a buried 1957 Belvedere automobile. You may have heard about this on your local or national news, but around here it has been the talk. I guess 50 years ago the citizens of Tulsa buried, in a cement vault underground, a brand new Belvedere. They wrapped it in a special covering that was to help prevent rust and help keep the vehicle in pristine condition. Well when the top came off they found water in about 1/3 of the vault. So much for protection from the elements.

Tonight we sat at Mazzio's watching the live unveiling on our local CBS affilitate. The car was not in great shape, in fact there was major rust damage. Boyd Coddington from American Hot Rod and his team where in town to help get the vehicle opened up and hopefully even get it running. Unfortunately, it will never run with the current motor. In fact, they even had a problem getting the doors opened up.

When the car was buried, the local residents included items from the day, some of which were put into a time capsule (which survived nicely). Some of the items in the car included: bottles of gasoline (24 cents a gallon), a case of Schlitz beer, a woman's purse and its contents, an unpaid parking ticket, and cans of oil. In the time capsule, there was in perfect condition an American flag with 48 stars, a city directory, a letter from Tulsa Public Schools, postcards with citizen's guesses to the population of Tulsa in 2007, an aerial photo of Tulsa in 1957, and various other Tulsa paperwork.

The purpose behind the population guesses is quite cool. The person who made the closest guess wins the car. Now if that person is no longer alive, it would go to one of their relatives.

What an exciting day!! I hope they will take the time to clean the vehicle and find out how much damage it really had over the last 50 years. You can see more photos here and Check out this short video of the background behind the buried Belvedere.

You Asked For Them...

Many of you have asked for pics of the girls. So here they are. Sometimes it is really hard to get a good picture.

We had Brecken's birthday party today and it rained the entire time at the playground. Thank goodness for pavilions. The kids had a good time though.

BACK ONLINE!!!

Well if you have missed me, here I am; however, I am sure that most of you have not even noticed my absence. Here is a quick update of our lives since my last post.

1. We are both out of school and on summer vacation.
2. Summer baseball has started and this week and next I am involved in baseball and football camps respectively.
3. Brecken turned 6!!!!!! Those of you Searcy, remember those days? I do. I was sitting in an Admissions meeting when the call came to head to the hospital. I tried to warn Dr. Carr to start with me.
4. We have moved. I will be emailing out out new address soon.
5. For 2 weeks because of the move and major internet problems, we have been without the internet at home.
6. I have not been able to check my fantasy baseball teams.
7. Our TV is quickly dying, and I mean DYING!!!!
8. I have decided to start of my Doctorate in School Administration. I was going to get another Masters in School Administration but my principal and superintendent are pushing me toward the Ed.D.

A lot has happened and I wish I could provide more information, but who cares anyway. See you later.

BTW, does anyone know how to podcast? My summer project is to learn.

The Verdict Is In!!!

Wendy and I spent the weekend at a couple's retreat with our church. There were about 15 young couples there and we had a blast. I played paintball for the first time and we both had a little adventure on the zipline (Oklahoma's longest - 2000 feet). The place was called Sky Ranch. It was a good time of fellowship and worship.

I also spent a lot of time in thought and prayer. I have decided to stay put in Oklahoma for now. I think it is the best decision for my family. God has placed us at Park Plaza two months ago for a reason and we are beginning (especially after this weekend) to understand why. I know this opportunity in Little Rock at Central Arkansas Christian was a great opportunity but at this point, it is not what is best for my family. Maybe in the future the opportunity will come again, and maybe it will be the right time, until God has placed us here. I pray he continues to use us!!!

Thanks for all your advice and prayers over the past few weeks.