So it goes...

The week is as crazy as I feared. I made it down to Sarah's game tonight. They played well, but lost two out of three. I was one of the few parents who made the trip. It was a bit ridiculous to drive all that way down for an hour, but I think Sarah appreciated it. I really enjoy watching the games though, in part because I love playing the game. Mosaic leadership went OK on Tuesday night. It turns out my group had only 3 kids in it and two of them were from my old boys club group. They are good kids and I'm glad I listened to my heart and went and did it. It's really where I belong and it just felt extremely right. Funny how God works sometimes. Writing workshop went well too. Got to hear from one of the new students who's writing Young Adult fiction. She's writing about kids entering into a closet fantasy world. I put forth three poems, two of which were crap, or so I thought. The class thought they were OK. The one I thought was the best was received as just OK. T...

I've volunteered to help out with Elmbrook's Middle School Mosaic Ministry http://www.elmbrook.org/students/middle-school.aspx on Tuesday evenings. They were desperate for leaders, and well I fit the bill for desperation, I guess. I had kind of resolved to quit leading after Boys Club last year, but was floundering a bit with not feeling right not doing anything. I was being incredibly selfish and self-righteous about "having served for four years" in Boys Club. "Look what I've done. Aren't I a good person?" All the while, feeling a restlessness with having both my kids and my wife still involved in some form of ministry. And so it hit me last week Thursday. I was feeling especially dumpy about the whole thing on my bike on the way to work. About a third of the way to work, I get a fairly clear signal from God, or the Holy Spirit or whatever that I NEED to do something. It was a bit like Jesus was on the handlebars or something. Back when I was a ki...

Spent the early afternoon at Ben's football game. It was a marquee matchup featureing the Waukesha South Jr Blackshirts vs. the Waukesha West Jr. Wolverines. This is a great rivalry for this area. At at the High School level it is a lopsided one, in favor of West. Evidently last year West beat South in the (then) 5 th grade game "by cheating" in some form, according to Coach. So, he was out for revenge in a big way. He motivated his players by saying he wanted the 'shirts to "smash West in the mouth". My first reaction was that seemed a bit violent for the sixth grade level. Then I remembered that football is a violent game of brute strength. It is smash, or be smashed. Frankly I would prefer my son is on the smasher end, not the smashee . Turns out, it was good advice after all. So the Blackshirts got the opening Kickoff and went right down the field and scored. Then they kicked off and I got to see Ben "clean up" on the tackle. I count it as a...

One of the best periods of literary discovery for me was in the early 1990's when I was introduced to the Beat Writers of the 50's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation . It was here that I first read Brautigan , Kerouac and Burroughs. It was such a diversion from any other kinds of writing that I had seen. Incredibly refreshing and different. Very unconventional as well. It led to reading Hunter S. Thompson who, albeit over the top at times (one would say, most times), was my first foray into Gonzo Journalism. I remember distinctly in Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America where he describes a trout stream and uses phone booths as units of measure. Wild, crazy, fun, beautiful stuff. I intend to get back into some of those old books, prose pieces and poetry, as they are incredibly inspiring for me. Granted most of them were drug addicts, alcoholics, and depressives, but in part that's what fueled their creativity. There's something to be said to living hard, ...

Yesterday was a bit of a lost day. As it worked out, Sarah had a volleyball tournament that ran from 9:00 until 4:00 PM. Donna took that duty as I had to stay back and go to Ben's football game at Catholic Memorial at Noon. Ah, the joys of a being a two fall sport family. As I was sitting at Ben's game, another parent asked me where Donna was. When I told them she was at an all-day tournament, they just kind of said, "Well, you got the better end of that deal, eh?" I had to agree. Though it was killing me not to be able to get to BOTH events. I really WANT to be there to support Sarah in her volleyball. Based on Donna's perception though, there weren't many parents that stayed for the entire tournament. I think we should be happy that both of the kids' events were covered by at least one parent. Turns out the Waukesha South Freshmen Volleyball team didn't win any of the games yesterday. The only benefit of that was being able to leave after only 7 hou...

Things I don't understand about the few weeks worth of High School Freshman Volleyball that I've seen, including tonights match against Milwaukee Pius. (South lost 0-3) What is a Libero, and what is it used for? Is it 3 games to a match, or 3 sets to a game. I also heard it may be 3 games to an "event". What is with the hip-hop music before the varsity games and is it really necessary? Since when can you get a point if you're not serving? Now every play results in a point for either one team or another. Why can't they put the manual scoreboard in a better spot so fans can see it? We almost got charged $13 admission for the three of us to see Sarah play. Can't you cut a deal for the freshmen? (We got off with a $5 charge because the lady was nice and it was all the cash we had on us.) These are the things that remind me that I'm not getting any younger. I'm what you call old school I guess. So old, that I'm blogging off...

Just got back from a weekend in Minnesota for Labor Day. We drove up on Saturday and spent a couple days with the family. It was a fast and furious weekend, jam-packed with activity. We wouldn't spend vacation any other way now, would we? We stayed at Rob and Jane's house for the weekend. Always gracious hosts, their accommodations are perfect for us. The kids play together great and we hardly know they're there. The kids have a blast with their cousins and every time we go we're sure they're creating lifelong memories. We never had this kind of relationship with our cousins in St. Cloud, MN, but did alright with our cousins in White Bear Lake, MN. Our kids are totally comfortable with their cousins in Minnesota and NY. It was fantastic to see Rob up and around again! He looks good, albeit a bit frail and thin, but his spirits seem high and he seems to be determined to get back to normal as quickly as possible. At one point yesterday, he showed us his CT Scan X-Ray...

Sarah had her first couple volleyball games this past week. On Tuesday she played against Waukesha West. While they lost all three matches, I was so incredibly proud to see her out there in uniform I almost cried. She is so tall, that I think this is the perfect sport for her. She played in the first game (therefore, I can say she "started") and did OK. A couple of legitimate gaffes (foot faults, muffed serves, etc) but had some shining moments too. They lost the first game 25-15, second was 25-19 and the third was 15-12 (called on time). The two teams are cross-town rivals and don't like each other very much. The kicker was we had to stay and watch the Varsity play 2 of their 3 games after that. Of course, they didn't play RIGHT after Sarah's match either, there was a 30 minute difference. So, we did not get home until about 8:30. To follow it up, last night she had to play in a 5 team invitational at South. It started at 5:00 and did not get finished until 8:30....