Yesterday's News Today

Flying made interesting

2009-03-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

Tourney Time

2009-03-20T17:39:00.005-04:00

I've noticed a trend in my thinking over the last day plus while the NCAA basketball tournament has been going on. That trend is this -- any time that a team struggles but wins and I've got them going deep into the tournament, automatically I think, 'Alright, I like them having a struggle. They're motivated now to fight harder than ever.' But, any time that a team stuggles but wins and I've got them losing in the next round or two, it's definitely, 'HA, totally gonna score on that pick. Look at how much they struggled in the first round!'

Example of thought process #1: Villanova

Example of thought process #2: Kansas, Pittsburgh

This probably isn't anywhere close to being isolated to just my thinking, but I thought it was funny that I succumbed to such double thinking.

Oh, and West Virginia to the Elite 8? Ummm, not so good.

An abode

2009-03-16T19:52:00.005-04:00

Violet and I now have an apartment to live in after we're married! It was the first one we looked at and we like it a lot. It's only a few minutes away from school for Violet and is in a very nice, quiet neighborhood. We're really excited about it. Now, the only problem is furnishing it. :)

The kitchen is what I'm most excited about. It's just large.

This is the dining room.

The living room.

And one of the two bedrooms.

I'm free to move in April 1, so we'll see if I have enough stuff to go with then!

Another YouTube

2009-03-16T12:34:00.002-04:00

I confess that I haven't put up a whole lot of original material recently, and for that I apologize. However, I continue to find YouTube clips that fascinate me. Here's the latest one that caught my attention.

Forrest in One Minute

2009-03-07T18:02:00.002-05:00

I thought this was rather entertaining.

Basketball is now over. We finished the season a not-so-great 7-14. It was disappointing to have seven seniors and have such a poor season. At the end, it was tough to see if they really cared. Having coached those seniors for two years, it hurt even more for me, because I knew what they were capable of doing. Anyway, my new after-work project? Planning a wedding! Woot!

Amazing rhythmic gymnast

2009-02-13T07:55:00.001-05:00

via videosift.com

Latest basketball update

2009-02-12T21:33:00.008-05:00

Since my last update, LCA is actually 2-2, but what's more interesting is how we got to that record. First, we lost by 10 to the team right above us in league standings, Landmark. (We're in second-to-last place.) Then we beat the worst team in the league, Berwick, by 28 on Monday. Our second game of the week was last night, where we blew a late lead to a middle of the pack Portsmouth Abbey, losing 51-49. We had two opportunities to tie or take in the lead in that game in the last 30 seconds. Then tonight, to top it all off, we beat the second best team in the league, Bancroft, 73-70. What an up and down season! Unfortunately, the guys maybe just saw tonight was they can do as a team. With only four games left in the season, there's not much recovering that can be done in standings, but at least we could end on a good note.

In other news, I'm rediscovering Pandora. My roomate my sophomore year in college, Shawn Cowley, introduced me to this Internet radio service but I never really tried it out. Now I have and I'm using it all of the time. Basically, you create "stations" by giving Pandora different genres, bands or songs, and it makes a stations for each one you enter. It then plays songs of a similar nature to your entry. For example, let's say I like the 70s band, Journey. I insert Journey and Pandora plays Journey's songs as well as songs from similar bands like The Eagles and Boston. The feature I like the most is the quick mix which allows you to pick an assorted collection of your stations and it plays songs from each station. I'm getting to listen to a lot of good music this way. If only Draper didn't block this site during the work day--seriously, I'd be so much more productive. :)

Pandora: http://pandora.com/

Down and out

2009-02-02T21:12:00.001-05:00

LCA 54, Beaver Country Day 55. Chalk another one up for the bad guys...

Alice's Restaurant

2009-01-31T16:06:00.005-05:00

For the older crowd...I heard this played on a classic rock station here in Boston a few afternoons ago and cracked up quite a bit. Presenting Alice's Restaurant from Arlo Guthrie.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Beatbox

2009-01-31T16:01:00.000-05:00

For the younger crowd...

Bunny rabbit trifecta

2009-01-30T20:35:00.003-05:00

Lost in double-overtime tonight to Concord, 76-70. Their best player hit a three with 8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game. We got an open shot off of a sideline play after a timeout and missed. In overtime, under 10 seconds again, our "4" stole the ball, missed badly on a contested layup, the "1" got one outstretched hand on the carom, leading to another carom falling right into our "2"s hands for a layup. The defender that contested the original layup came back and blocked that layup--Coach King dubbed this the bunny rabbit trifecta. In the second overtime, they used their big guys to post up and got a number of shots near the basket. We stayed close for the first two minutes but drifted in the last two. Missed free throw to leave it at a four-point game proved costly, and that's all she wrote. I'm excited about practice tomorrow morning. I wanna get back in the gym.

Chalk one up for the bad guys

2009-01-26T21:02:00.002-05:00

We played Pingree, the best team in the league, tonight. We hung with them until two minutes before halftime. It was a four-point game at that point and then Pingree put on a more rigorous press. We turned the ball over four times consecutively within 15 feet of our endline, each turnover leading to a layup. At halftime, we were down 14. Game over. Final score 70-46.

Random Bible reference

2009-01-25T19:38:00.002-05:00

On our way to the Berkshires this morning, I noticed what I thought at the time was a clever slogan on the side of a semi trailer. The slogan? Kane is Able. After a little research, turns out that the slogan is actually the company's name. It's a trucking company that helps to distribute consumer packaged goods between warehouses. Anyways, thought that was ever so slightly clever!

Hawk sighting

2009-01-24T12:22:00.005-05:00

Sylvia was looking out the back door this morning and noticed that their was a hawk in the backyard tree. After closer inspection, we saw that there was also a squirrel in the tree. Both of them just sat there waiting for the other to give up. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're still sitting there. Let me check...yep, still there.

I don't have a long-range zoom lens yet for my camera so this was the best I could do on getting some pictures. Sorry, no squirrel. I mentioned at Thanksgiving that a good zoom lens was going to be my next major purchase. Wrong thing to say in the present company. My mother quickly responded, "How about a house son?"

The Inauguration

2009-01-23T20:45:00.010-05:00

I came across a pretty cool panoramic picture of the inauguration today. It's a large number of smaller photos pieced together, which allows the viewer to zoom in quite a bit. . Here's the link: Inauguration Panoramic. Because of how it was made, it's a large file so it may take some time to load.

On that note, my next youngest brother, Luke, is interning in Washington, D.C., this semester through the Witherspoon Fellowship after graduating from K-State in December. His apartment is only three blocks from the Capitol so he's right in the mix of things. He took advantage of that proximity to attend the inauguration. I wanted to see if I could find him in the panoramic, and sure enough, there he was. I've outlined him in these pictures cut from the panoramic. Please click on the pics to enlarge them.

It's pretty neat that Luke gets to spend a semester in D.C., but it's even neater that he was able to take in a presidential inauguration.

Changing the subject, tonight was the sixth annual Battle of Lexington-Concord. It's a fairly young tradition with Lexington Christian competing with Concord Academy in V and JV boys and girls basketball (4 games) and wrestling. Best-of-five wins an amazingly wimpy revolutionary-like drum! With that on, we actually had a large crowd (with a student section!). Girls varsity started with a win, followed by wrestling and concluding with our 67-61 victory. This gave LCA the drum for the fifth year in a row. Unfortunately, since the last time I posted about basketball (when we were 1-2), we have lost five games in a row before tonight's win. Do the math and we're a lack-luster 3-7. Sometimes we show up, other times, not so much. Tonight was better, but with three league games next week, we're looking at an uphill battle.

Early 20th century basketball

2008-12-11T22:12:00.005-05:00

Score: LCA 34 - Roxbury Latin 33. Boy, was it ugly. I don't know that I've ever experienced a game quite like the one LCA played last night.

Second half scoring? LCA 13 - RL 9. We didn't score for the last four minutes. Four minutes! I would like to say that both teams just played exceptional defense, but I can't. Both teams shot below 30 percent. We were 1-for-18 on 3-pointers. Ouch. But you know what, it gave us our first win, and a W is a W (unless it's a UU). And after a tough loss on Monday to Chapel Hill (52-49), we needed something encouraging. So here we go at 1-2 on the season with St. Sebastian's, a very good team, coming in on Tuesday. Bring your kneepads and peach baskets everybody; it could get Naismith-like real quick.

Season Opener

2008-12-06T21:58:00.003-05:00

I'm coaching basketball again this winter at Lexington Christian Academy. The AD and coach from last year left after the school year to take a position in Miami, so there is a new AD and coach this year. He's young like me, so we're most definitely the youngest coaching staff in the league.

Anyway, we had our first game of the season tonight and lost to a school in southern Rhode Island, Portsmouth Abbey, 53-40. We didn't shoot well at all and I think our guys are still getting used to the new offensive system. I'm excited to be back into another season and competing again, even if it is from the bench. As it was last year, I'm sure this season will be full of ups and downs, but here's to there being more ups than downs.

Driving home...

2008-12-03T16:21:00.006-05:00

On my way home from work today, I had to stop at just about every stop light between Cambridge and Arlington. It was not enjoyable at all, but it did allow me to see something I'd never noticed before. Just before Rt. 16 (Cambridge-Arlington line), there was a building sign for a cosmetic dentist. On it was the dentist's slogan -- "We Cater to Cowards."

I'm sure that's supposed to be comforting and all for people with "dental anxiety." But does anyone really see that and think "Hey, I'm a coward! That must be the place for me!"

Mall Cop

2008-10-31T16:44:00.008-04:00

Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It's a new Columbia Pictures movie. I was just watching the trailer on apple.com and noticed something very interesting. A lot of it was shot in the Burlington Mall! (For those of you who don't live near Arlington, that's our local mall.) I nearly couldn't believe what I was seeing, but Legal Sea Food and a very distinct Burlington Mall kiosk can clearly be seen. No idea as to when they shot it, but I'm sure it was a few months ago at least. Here's the link to check it out:

Paul Blart: Mall Cop trailer

De-pantsing

2008-10-30T17:54:00.004-04:00

When writing for a major news source, details are important to a story. Early on in reporting class in college, I was taught how to structure the details of a news story. Important/general, eye-catching items go at the top. Not-so-important, filler info items go at the bottom. It's called an inverted pyramid structure.

That in mind, there was an article this afternoon on ESPN.com that caught my eye. I started reading at the top...In summary, this past weekend, a football coach (Mike Singletary) was trying to motivate his team (the San Francisco 49ers) during a halftime speech. To emphasize his point that the 49ers were having their tails whipped, Singletary pulled down his pants. Hmm, ok. I appreciate knowing that, John Clayton, senior writer for ESPN and football Hall-of-Fame writer. Now, what else is going on in sports...

"Singletary was wearing boxers."

Whoa! Whoa!! Where'd that come from? But I kid you not. That was the second to last line of the article. By putting that line in there, John, you're telling me that Singletary wearing boxers actually has some impact on this story. That's like telling me there was cheese on the pretzel Bush, Jr., choked on! That the child Michael Jackson dangled was wearing pampers!

I know baseball is now over for the year, but to me that came straight out of left field.

Snow show

2008-10-29T17:14:00.006-04:00

Hey, no snow! I can't say I was too sad to wake up this morning and find that all of the snow forecasted to hit Boston dumped in eastern NY/western Mass. In fact, I even took the time to document how well uncovered the front lawn was by snow.

There was some excitement in front, however, despite the noted absence of snow. For a few weeks a section of the sidewalk out front of the Wrights has been set for replacement. Today, that replacement happened. Great news for those walking by and those pushing lawnmowers.

Even more exciting was the case of the missing piece of asphalt. Donna, the next door neighbor, who has some mental deficiencies, was sure one of the kids in the neighborhood had gotten to the asphalt too quickly and knocked out a piece. Exhibit A in picture below.

Once I caught on to what she was getting at, I quickly assured her the hole was for accessing the piping underneath. "Ohhh, I've got one of those, too. Actually, I've got two in my sidewalk," Donna quickly quipped. She's always trying to one up me.

For those of you not in New England, here's a few shots of the tree out in front of the Wrights.

Most of the trees around Boston still have their leaves. It will still be a few weeks before everything really starts coming down. Then the fun of raking begins, and after that, undoubtedly snow! Have I ever told you how much I enjoy spring?

It's coming...

2008-10-28T21:23:00.003-04:00

It looks like Boston is going to get its first taste of snow tonight. Right now, it's rainy/drizzly and in the low 40s, but the forecast is for it to get colder overnight. Looking at the radar, New York is pretty well covered in snow, so I don't think it's going to just scoot its way around us. Guess we'll see what it's like in the morning!

My trip to Sunnyvale

2008-10-09T21:25:00.010-04:00

The first week of September, I attended a quarterly meeting at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, Cali., for the program I am a part of at work. It was quite the experience flying all the way across the country, and marked only the second time in my life I'd been in California. I didn't do much at all during the two days of meetings but I was able to make up for it by seeing family who live in the Bay area!

My bed at the hotel--it's nice traveling for business as I get put up in business suites. This particular room had a living space and a bedroom with a flat-screen TV in each space.

The living space, more or less, with the couch not able to be seen off to the left.

I live life dangerously so I took some photos while driving to my cousin's house. I really wanted a shot of the mountains out there and this was one of the best views of them I got.

And there's cousin Margo and Steve's house!

Here's their littlest guy, Simon.

This expression of his cracked me up.

My cousin and her husband have three boys, and after watching them live life for an evening, I couldn't help but think that it was a glimpse at my family in its early days. This was the oldest, Zach, playing with my uncle Bill.

The whole family.

My uncle Bill and aunt Betty.

I had a direct flight to San Jose, but on the way back I had to stop over in Salt Lake City. Flying into SLC, it was absolutely gorgeous with the Rockies and the Great Salt Lake rolling by underneath. Unfortunately, I had an aisle seat so I couldn't take any photos from the plane, but I did get some once we were on the ground.

While it certainly wasn't a thrilling business trip, I had a lot of fun seeing that area of the country--not to mention family. Here's looking to next year's trip!

Hitting the links

2008-09-18T17:01:00.004-04:00

My life consists of "kicks." One week I'm on this kick and the next I'm on something else. It's how I work. It's how I play. Right now, I'm on a golf kick. Well, a low budget golf kick. I've gone to the driving range twice this week and both times I've bought the smallest basket of balls. That's the good budget-conscious Scot coming out in me. But halfway through those plus/minus 50 balls, my golf kick kicks in! That's when I start to argue with myself.

"You know, it's only three dollars more for the medium basket."

"Yeah, but that's three dollars more!"

"But three dollars more would buy you at least a half hour more on the range."

"Hmmm, good point--but then that's a half hour more on the range, and you've already got the Wrights convinced that you're half-looney just being out here."

"Boy, excellent counter-point. But just think about how much your game will improve..."

And that's where I'm stuck. Pay to play and enjoy more or continue to prove that I'm a nim-wit that spends hours on the athletic equivalent of swatting gnats. I consider gnat-swatting a worth-while effort, and for those of who you feel less strongly about the activity, try hitting one straight, let alone far. It's pretty tough! That's why I need to buy more balls to work on my shot more! And...and...

Well, it doesn't matter--I'll have a new kick next week.

Random Pics on my Phone

2008-09-15T20:23:00.005-04:00

Mrs. Wright and I went to look at a church today for the wedding. I forgot my Canon camera so I was stuck taking photos with my phone. While retrieving those photos, I came across some other photos of interest from here and there.

This first one was taken at a restaurant in downtown Boston. A group of us had walked there after seeing some movie at the Boston Common Theater. Susan Burger and I decided to play "Throw the onion ring around the ketchup bottle," a classic children's game. By the end, we decided to decorate it for our waitress--she was not so impressed.

This next one is amazing. While driving my old car from Kansas to Boston, I stopped for a couple of nights in my old hometown, Walton, NY. I stayed at the parsonage, my old house. Brad Johnson, the current pastor, gave me a tour of the place. Much had changed. But one thing hadn't--recognize that material around the beam? That's the stuff boys (or Justin Finley boys) are made of--duct tape. It has remained intact from when our basketball hoop used to be there 15 years ago! I was astounded. The memories flooded back when I saw that. I was giddy.

I intentionally planned to stay in Walton over the Sabbath so I could go to church there. I took the chance to take a picture of the stained glass window where my dad's pastorate in Walton is remembered.

Ahhhhh! Actually, it's alright. This was Thanksgiving 2007 at the Howes' in Providence and Daniel was letting us shoot his air pistol at paper targets in his basement. Turns out the Wright women are better shots than the men. Mrs. Wright is shooting while Daniel (in the midst of his Hispanic phase) looked on, as many a fine Kansas newspaper would say.

Faith's kindergarten graduation!

So, there you have it. A random collection of events in my life over the past year-and-a-half captured on a camera phone. Toodles!

On the back deck

2008-09-06T23:47:00.006-04:00

This week I went to Sunnyvale, Cali., for a meeting at Lockheed Martin. I arrived home late last night, went to bed and got up late--real late. I didn't have anything planned for today so I watched some college football and then started playing around with my camera. My mission was to use the manual settings and focus.

I'll hopefully have pictures up of my trip to CA in the next few days. Take care all.

Visiting the Syracuse Wrights Pt. 2

2008-08-26T19:32:00.013-04:00

After "breakfast," we all headed outside for some volleyball. It was a great, sunny day, so it was fun to be outside.

Visiting the Syracuse Wrights Pt. 1

2008-08-25T17:00:00.010-04:00

Mid-July the three youngest Wrights and I traveled to Syracuse to visit their uncle, aunt and cousins. It was a quick trip, arriving late Friday evening, leaving late Sunday afternoon, but we managed to fit a lot into that small amount of time. Such as, tie-dye waffles and volleyball, a little XBox 360 here and there, and a trip to Starbucks/Barnes & Noble.

Tie-dye waffles...I wasn't too sure about this whole concept. Especially when you add ice cream and sundae toppings, and then make it your breakfast. Definitely wouldn't have flown at the Finley house! You've gotta admit they sure are colorful, even in the early stages.

The finished product--I'm still very wary.

Now I'm sold. Having eaten this like an ice cream sandwich (think waffle, ice cream, waffle) topped with whipped cream and syrup...mmmm. It was a good breakfast after all.

While the waffles were being made, I decided to get out my camera and go to work.

For Faith, this is Violet's cousin's dog, Whistler. He's got lots of energy. The Wrights also have a cat, and some peacocks that they are trying to get rid of. Any takers?

A lone sunflower in the garden. Beside chewing sunflower seeds (yumm...), living in Kansas has given me an affinity for these buggers.

The barn on the Wrights property is old and rickety, so no going inside, but I was able to get a shot of the morning light coming in through a door to create a cool light/shadows effect.

This is the Wrights' house. It's large, as is the yard. Teaser--we played volleyball shortly after breakfast. This has not been confirmed, but some folks think you can actually see the Wrights looking out of their windows...

The Wrights' barn. Growing up in Walton knowing dairy farmers with barns, moving to Kansas and knowing more people with them, not to mention having a barn on the Finley family property in Illinois, barns are a part of my life--and I'm happy about that. I love these elevated New York barns.

Alright, more to come from this visit later. Right now I need to go mow the grass.

Back at it

2008-08-24T22:34:00.007-04:00

First things first--beyond it being a busy summer, Violet and I just recently got engaged! So that's one reason the author of this here blog hasn't been putting anything up. We're pretty excited about it and are planning for a wedding on June 20, 2009. Here are some unofficial pictures (better ones from Alastair, Violet's brother-in-law, coming soon)...

I'm working on getting all of the other photos I've taken the second half of this summer all gussied up and ready for publishing, so there should be more coming up in the next few days. Most of the photos will be on Facebook, but I'll put some up here as well.

-Kyle

Brett Favre Quandry

2008-07-10T07:48:00.003-04:00

Brett Favre, retired quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, is now considering coming back to play. Doing so, however, would really mess with Green Bay's plans as the team has moved on. Here's John Madden's take on solving the Brett Favre mess.

Hail!

2008-07-01T17:14:00.003-04:00

A little under a week ago, it hailed here in Arlington. Brian got a little too excited about it. As I was taking a picture of the hail in Sylvia's hand, I heard a thunk, looked, and saw Brian sprawled on the floor, groaning. Turns out he jumped into the top of the door frame. It was fun for the rest of us. :)

Hide and Seek

2008-06-28T14:30:00.008-04:00

The Van Vlacks, a family from church, moved this week, so three of their four children stayed with us for two nights. The first night we stayed busy by getting beds set up, and playing duck-duck-goose and hide-and-seek. I played camera man during hide-and-seek.

We want to go home!! No, not really. More like, "Kyle, I know how to lock the door!"

Hot, Hazy and Humid

2008-06-10T16:39:00.006-04:00

The title today is brought to you by the lite rock morning DJ here in Boston. Hot, Hazy and Humid with very heavy Hs is how he has described yesterday's and today's forecast for Boston.

It was that same type of weather when Nathan Winkley and his brother, Micah, rolled through town on their tour of the northeastern U.S. Nathan attended K-State with Violet and I, having recently graduated. We took them around Boston and came out rather tan/burned, but having had fun.

Duckies in the Public Garden...

New statehouse signage...

Street performers by Faneuil Hall...

An orchestra in Faneuil Hall...

The freedom trail in the North End...

Ol' Ironsides...

On the harbor ferry...

Sllloooooowww pitch

2008-05-21T22:57:00.004-04:00

My softball team at Draper had its first game today. We've been practicing on dirt and grass but our whole season, it turns out, will be on astroturf. I feel like I'm playing in the Metrodome. Not a good day at the plate (0-3) but a better day in the field. The bases are still just so amazingly close in softball, which led to some rushed throws today, a few by me. One inning the third baseman and I probably had around three consecutive throwing errors. Needless to say, it turned into a big inning for the other team. However, we came out on top, despite fighting off rain the last half of the game, by a final tally of 11-6.

Spring? Where?!? Guess I was warned...

2008-05-08T15:24:00.004-04:00

I don't know if it feels like spring where you're reading this, but it's only been slowly creeping in here in Boston. Twice now, we've been in the 70s for a couple of days followed up by perpetual 50s/60s--and rain. The rain has been good for the grass that I planted in the Wrights' back a few weekends back. It felt good to get my hands dirty again after starting this sterile office job.

Speaking of work, it is going pretty well. I have been placed in charge of tracking documents that outline testing standards and requirements for the electronic parts my program is in charge of. It gets pretty crazy sometimes keeping track of differing versions of the same document floating around and going in between Boston, California and Indiana. I'm also playing on a summer league softball team at Draper. We've had one practice and one scrimmage with our first game being next week. We're not the most talented team in the world, but I think we'll be competitive. My teammates are pretty good people, which is nice.

My car is working out well. I've enjoyed driving it to-and-from work, and then to sporting events at LCA as well. I watched my first live boy's lacrosse game the other night and was impressed. It's a much more physical game than I thought. I also played catch with lacrosse equipment for the first time that night. Again, I was surprised, as I found how difficult it was to catch the ball and keep it in the netting while moving, but at the same time, you can really fling that ball quite a ways.

Over the Bridge

2008-04-20T20:49:00.003-04:00

I traveled with the Wrights this weekend to visit Mrs. Wright's sister's family in Bronxville, N.Y., located next to Yonkers. It was my first time back in NYC since I was 1.5 years old or so. This wasn't a real extensive trip so the closest we were to downtown was the George Washington Bridge. We hiked the bridge over and back, stopping halfway at Port Authority, and then ended by going up on the Palisades on a trail through the woods.

I had been sleeping, and it was dark, as we came in to Bronxville on Friday night so I was thrown off directionally all weekend. I tried using the sun to help me, but I was still confused. During the "urban hike" (crossing the brige, Palisades), I was standing on the bridge and saw many large buildings, but couldn't exactly pick out Manhattan. Now, I think I've got it. Thanks, Google Maps.

One exciting thing: the Pope, as most of you know, was in NYC this weekend. On our way back from the hike, we were redirected to open a route for the Pope to go to a seminary near/in Yonkers. Well, *Duh Duh Duhn* His motorcade went on the opposite side of the highway from us. I think I even saw him through the limo window (they weren't tinted). So, that was interesting.

God provides

2008-04-07T20:52:00.011-04:00

I have a new car! Although it's hard to think of life without the ol' Ponty, its time to go had come. Acceleration and overheating problems, among other things, led me to go out and purchase a new vehicle. It is a 2005 Honda Accord so hopefully it will be that much more reliable than the Ponty. I had quite the time finishing up everything with the dealership and don't plan on ever intentionally going back there again, but I did end up with a fairly solid car it seems, which is the most important thing. Here are some pictures of the car that were from the Internet post the dealership had put up. You can see for yourself in the first picture where you shouldn't go for your next automobile purchase...

Update

2008-03-23T20:51:00.004-04:00

Despite Thursday being the first day of spring, Boston hasn't seen much spring yet, although today was actually sorta warm and sunny. This week brought many interesting times.

1) This was the first break that K-State had during which I was employed. No spring break for me--really a bummer.

2) Violet surprised me by showing up here in Boston Wednesday. Some people get engaged in cemeteries, others get surprised in parking garages. P.S. No, I'm not engaged.

3) Following the theft of my laptop, I tried a Sony Vaio with Vista. Didn't go so well. Now I have a Macbook. It's going much better, thanks.

4) I realized a day after Violet arrived that we are going to be seeing each other two weekends in a row with my visit to KS this coming week. That just doesn't make for good planning, but so what, I'll take it. I'm looking forward to seeing my family anyway.

5) K-State in the NCAA tournament. That was pretty exciting. The win was nice, too.

6) Had the privilege of going to a regional high school all-star basketball game last night. It was a very entertaining evening. There were a number of D-1 recruits/commitments there and a lot of very athletic guys.

Well, take care folks. Looking forward to seeing those of you I don't see as much these days this coming weekend.

Eh, I didn't need it anyway...

2008-03-05T21:18:00.004-05:00

Well, today was an interesting day. I went into work today knowing that I had finished all of my work yesterday, thus hoping for an email from my traveling boss giving me more. Needless to say, that didn't happen. So, I spent another day at work browsing the Internet. But boy, the fun had just started!

I came home before any of the Wrights and found the front door a bit hard to open. No biggy. Walked into my room and noticed my laptop was gone. Biggy. My hope was that this was a prank or that the Wrights needed it for some reason today and had failed to contact me. Well, it wasn't a prank, and the Wrights hadn't needed it. It was needed apparently by the somebody that had decided to break in and steal it along with its bag, a set of headphones and some checks. To our knowledge, nothing else was taken. The Arlington policeman told me when he came that this was a crime that had been happening quite frequently over the last month and that the thieves were smart (wore gloves, no traces, etc.). I was really hoping they would have left a note saying something like, "We took your laptop, sucker!" so I could at least stare at it and possibly frame it someday. Unfortunately, there was nothing left except a pit in my stomach.

Being taken like this is a pretty weird feeling.

2008-03-03T22:23:00.003-05:00

I suppose I could update you on basketball! We beat the Cambridge School of Weston by four Wednesday night, moving ourselves into the semifinals. That round took us to Connecticut where we played Darrow, a team from upstate New York that is barely within the NEPSAC boundaries. We didn't play a great game and one thing leading to another, lost, thus ending our season. It was certainly a good run but I don't think that I ever could have imagined this team finishing 11-14 -- sorta disappointing.

Another video

2008-03-03T22:01:00.004-05:00

The last few posts haven't been "real" content, but I have found these videos interesting. This one shows us how kids can pick up on whatever they're exposed to, whether it be Curious George or Star Wars...

2008-02-27T19:45:00.001-05:00

Will Ferrell schools the senshationol Bill Walton in an aMAZing game of H-O-R-S-E. Unbelievable.

2008-02-26T16:05:00.004-05:00

Well, we made the NEPSAC tourney as a fifth seed in the "B" division. I was really surprised that we received that high of a seed. We play Wednesday night at a neutral site because our opponent, the Cambridge School of Weston, doesn't have a regulation court.

2008-02-24T21:52:00.005-05:00

Well, Saturday was a discouraging day for LCA boys' basketball. We headed to Concord Academy for the Eastern Independent League (EIL) tournament as the fourth of four seeds in the "A" pool. Our first game, we played Pingree, the number one team and lost as we never developed an offensive flow. In the third place game, we faced Beaver Country Day. Just like Pingree, we had beat them once during the regular season. This time, however, we looked lost. They played an uptempo game and got out to a 27-point lead at one point during the second half. Defense was suspect in both affairs of the day. Our only hope of an extension of our season at this point is to be invited to the NEPSAC Tournament (regional tourney) as a team in the "B" pool. We were on the fringe going into the committee meeting held today.

I think to wind up fourth in our league was disappointing considering the physical talent we had. We beat each of the top three teams once so we played well -- at times. A lack of consistency and effort, both mentally and physically, really hurt us this year, though. We also lost to the worst team in the league, handing Portsmouth Abbey their first win of the season. None the less, it has been a great experience and I've really enjoyed it. We'll just wait and see what happens from here.

2008-02-19T21:59:00.002-05:00

Creativity and too much time. Most times the two do not meet due to deadlines. However, the following shows there is such a thing as a blue moon.

Pretty amazing if you ask me.

2008-02-18T16:20:00.004-05:00

I completed my first week of work at Draper last Friday. So far, it has gone well. I'm splitting time between formatting documents (fonts, wording, etc.) and putting together spreadsheets for the Electronics Parts department. I didn't have a computer the first day, which meant pens and paper. Woot! I have my own computer now so I can stay busy during the downtimes.

This is possibly the last week of basketball with our last game on Wednesday and the league tournament on Saturday. If we win Wednesday night there is an outside chance that we could make the regional tournament (NEPSAC). We would be in a much better position for NEPSAC but after beating Pingree (#1 team in the league) we lost to Chapel Hill (a team that has struggled) by a free throw with no time remaining -- very frustrating. I'm still not looking forward to basketball being over.

Presently, I have an occupation

2008-02-02T22:51:00.001-05:00

For those of you who haven't received an email from me or heard some other way, I was hired this past week by Draper Laboratory here in Boston as a technical writer. This is exciting stuff since I have been looking for full-time work since I graduated from college. From what I currently know, I will be formatting documents and helping keep tabs on parts that the engineers at Draper design and use.

Basketball is still ongoing for at least three more weeks. We have six more regular season games and then the league tournament. I can't say that I am looking forward to it ending. I've enjoyed getting to go the gym every day, working with the guys and shooting some hoops. Keeps me slender.

Rev those engines, Scotty!

2008-01-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

It doesn't feel like it's been a week and a half since my last post. LCA had exams last week so we only had one game, on Saturday. We lost a close one at Bancroft School. It sure was a long day. We were gone from 10 a.m. to just after 5 p.m. We had another game tonight, this one at Beaver Country Day in Chestnut Hill. It was another close loss for us, 54-50, so now we're back below .500 overall (6-8) and 5-4 in the league.

I still have yet to hear from Draper although my spies within the company have been working tirelessly. They say you always have to wait for the good things in life, right?

Concord Conquered

2008-01-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

We got another one tonight so we're up to 5-2 in the conference and 6-6 overall. It was a tough game. Concord had a really nice player who is 6'4" or so, could play inside and also hit the three pointer. We got in front early and I don't know that we ever relinquished the lead, although it was tied a couple of times in the second half. The final was 51-46.

I interviewed over the phone with Geneva today for their Publications Manager position and it went pretty well. Draper is still processing things so we'll see how things shape up out here over the next week or two.

Under construction

2008-01-17T13:57:00.001-05:00

Over the past four or five months I have been working my way through a web design text book. I've been meaning to change up the look of my blog for a while but didn't feel like I knew enough to do anything meaningful. I just started messing with some things today so hang with me while I work through this and attempt to come up with a finished product.

One better than tic-tac-toe

2008-01-17T12:45:00.000-05:00

Things are still going well here in Boston. The basketball team made a bit of a breakthrough about a week and a half ago -- well, maybe it was more like a monumental breakthrough. We started playing with a bit of heart and reeled off four straight wins! That's pretty exciting after starting 1-6. Now we're also a conference contender with about a month to go.

Hidey ho, neighbors!

2007-12-02T21:27:00.000-05:00

Hi, folks. Just wanted to update you all on what's going on in my life. Coaching is still going very well. We're into the actual season now with our first game having been Friday night. It didn't go so well as we ended up losing by 16. The other team played an aggressive game while LCA, to say the least, did not. Unfortunately, there isn't much practice time now to change a lot of things. We have three more games this week so the guys are going to be forced to grow up fast! It's delightful to be out on the court again and to be coaching. There's just something about working with kids in a situation like that, that I really love. It also helps that I occasionally get the opportunity to play in practice. How can you say no to playing? I'm also starting to really like the challenge of having to come up with ways to make these guys better thinkers, players and people. The mysteries of motivation and drive really come through when one coaches.

In other news, I have an interview this week. On various trips back from western Massachusetts, the Wrights and I have seen the New Balance headquarters from the turnpike coming into Boston. This gave us the idea to look at their website, search their careers/employment opportunities and see what popped up! Well, I got a call from New Balance and they were interested in me for a customer service position. If I were to get the job, I would be working at the headquarters in the call center with around 35 other people fielding calls from happy, mad, furious and apathetic callers. It might seem like a weird route to go, but I don't think that I would mind the position after having the positive experience of making numerous phone calls at the JFK Presidential Library this summer.

Yesterday, I attended a performance of Handel's Messiah at Boston Symphony Hall. It was quite an experience and a very good concert. I especially enjoyed the trumpeting during the concert. The Hall is a very ordinary brick building looking at it from the outside but a very rustic, beautiful thing on the inside. The seats are old leather with minimal padding and held together by those little fabric rivets and they sit on old wooden flooring. It's quite easy to imagine people from yesteryear enjoying concerts in the Hall.

Perhaps it's just my attitude, but I still find it hard to just marvel at things like the concert yesterday or Fenway Park in terms of how people generally think a small-town Kansas kid would act. I mean that in the sense that many see a picture of bright-eyed kid with mouth wide open wondering if it can get any better than this. It might be that I don't get as emotional as some, or as caught up in things, but I find myself thinking, this really is just another stage and those are just people. I have watched baseball games from Fenway on TV and heard about these wonderful civic centers in the big cities while growing up, and being at a distance does give them a mystique. But coming to them, there is something normal about them. They are unique due to their history, but we are all human in what we do and therefore, somewhat predictable. For me, that means that we do act, cook and talk differently in many respects, but in the end, we turn out to to be very similar in what we do and how we do things because we have one Creator and one image that we all come from. I guess you would all tell me at this point to start enjoying the intricacies and uniqueness of things in life. Maybe you're right.

Well, now you know why I'm not a great author or the next guy in line for Prarie Home Companion but I hope that gives you a glimpse of things for me here in Boston. I would appreciate your prayers in connection with this interview. It is Tuesday morning at 9:30 by the way.

Take care, all.

Turrble

2007-11-20T19:15:00.000-05:00

For those of you familiar with Frank Caliendo, here he is doing different sports figure impersonations such as John Madden, Jim Rome and Charles Barkley.

All is well

2007-11-15T01:12:00.000-05:00

This evening marked the end of the second day of practice for the LCA boys' basketball team. Both days have gone well. We've had close to 30 boys come out for the team, so unfortunately, for the first time in the tenure of the head coach, Mr. Heintz, we are going to have cuts. These two days, we three coaches have spent our time surveying the field to see what areas the guys are not so good in and what areas they are. This has also sped up the process of getting to know their names.

Once we do get the final teams set, it looks like we'll have some solid squads. I'm looking forward to these try-out practices being over so I can actually get to know the kids I'll be working with and so that we can jump into the meat of what we'll be doing this year. So far, we've just been doing drills and scrimmaging.

As a team activity, the varsity is going to the Mercer vs. Harvard game on Friday evening. I'm looking forward to that as well, as Mercer knocked off USC last week. Coach Heintz knows the Mercer coach and Harvard is a local university so it's just as helpful to us to make an appearance.

Well, tomorrow brings about day three. I may have to practice my whistle-blowing before I get there. My first shot at it today was not all that impressive. Later, folks.

A part-time job

2007-11-02T23:32:00.000-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard, I was offered and accepted a coaching position at Lexington Christian Academy, the private school where many of the Wrights have gone/go to school. I'll be the assistant varsity boys' basketball coach, which puts me in a position to do a lot of learning. This is the first long-term assignment I've received in Boston and I'm looking forward to it. It is only a part-time thing so I am still looking for work to do in the mornings before the afternoon practices and games.

Getting this job, I needed to have a car, so right now I'm in the process of driving my car from Kansas to Boston. Tonight, I am in Indianapolis. Tomorrow night I hope to be back in Walton, New York, for the first time since 2000. My short stay in Kansas did allow me to surprise Violet for her birthday, which was fun for us both.

My next post will hopefully be from Boston. 'Til then!

Celebrate good times, c'mon!

2007-10-30T22:36:00.000-04:00

Being in Boston has its perks. One of them being that since the Red Sox just won the World Series, I was able to attend the celebration parade today. It was oh so joyous to have the crowd start throwing tennis balls and T.P. across the street followed by pencils, pens, coins, open water bottles and Boston creme donuts. One of those donuts got a guy behind me right in the face leaving behind a good amount of filling. Fortunately, the parade came along somewhat shortly after, right as the frozen chickens were being loaded into modified potato guns. As a well-established member of P.E.T.A. (People Eating Turkey Always), I was glad to see the chickens slowly lowered to the ground. Then the ducks came...

The aforementioned T.P. There was also some P.T. That's paper towels for you rookies out there. I sure hope they used Bounty, because everyone knows that's the strongest three-ply out there...

I was just outside the Park Street "T" station for you familiar with the area. This is an attempt at a shot of the crowd looking down Tremont Street with the Boston Common on the right. I was about four rows back of the barricade so I had a pretty clear vantage point.

The owner, John Henry, and others as you can see by the signs. I don't remember all of their exact positions.

Theeeeeooooo! As only the Boston faithful can put it.

Franconer. His head is very shiny. And the guy in the middle looks like he's part of the Secret Service, not the Red Sox. Smile, big guy!

Tim "Knuckleballer" Wakefield. Curt "Probably Gone" Schilling. Josh Beckett? On the other side of the duck...how disappointing. The problem? This wasn't the only time that happened.

Yooooouuuuukkkk. That sounded really cool at the parade. Click on the picture to blow it up so you can read the sign based on the Priceless MasterCard commercials. I didn't see this until I looked at the pics at home. Also, look directly right of Youkilis' butt to see a part of Pedroia's face, which is important because...

In this one, you can only see his back. Darrrr! He looked to my side only ever-so-briefly. But hold on, pard'ner, there's another hidden gem! Check out the faux movie flyer on the stick.

Dice-K was pretty excited. I never saw the grin leave his face. I'm sure you don't get this type of treatment in Japan. Or, he could have spotted the Boston creme filling on that kid's face and that made him happy...

The mobile "Black Pearl." For those of you who watched the Red Sox playoff games especially, these hooligans put up quite a challenge to the Blue Man group with their rhthyms. Again, they didn't disappoint.

This is the best I could get of Okajima. He was on the front of the flatbed truck carrying the band, Timlin and Papelbon so I had to take the shot before he got up on me. This meant shooting into the sun. That's all the way zoomed in, too. Sorry. Side note: looks like he keeps his head down in public, too.

Ellsbury looked a kid that just found $20: happy, but not quite sure what to do. The satellite shot shows Bucholz as furious. At first, I thought the guy on the left was Drew, but upon further review, the color of the hair has me thinking its Kielty.

Manny was the only one not wearing red. Manny and Kyle Snyder were the only ones to make use of the PA systems on the ducks. I felt like shouting out to Snyder, "How 'bout them Royals?" And of course, Ortiz was on the other side.

Hey, look! It's the Jordan's furniture guy! See ya next season, bud. We can count on it.

Lugo holding the hardware. He wouldn't let me take the picture with his face uncovered unless I threw some change in his hat. I was without.

This is the statehouse with a large...well, you can see what it is.

And it was over. I don't know that there was quite as large of a crowd as there was in 2004 but I'm sure that I just spent a couple of hours of my life standing with the greater part of the population of Kansas. My apologies for where my camera work came up lacking and for not catching everyone. I really wish I could have seen Papelbon dance. The only shot I really got of that truck was with a hand obstructing the view. Oh, well. Here's to next year, I suppose.

This movie I actually want to watch

2007-10-26T22:25:00.000-04:00

I was surfing the web today and decided to check out the trailers at apple.com. In doing so, I came across this one about two guys running a video rental store. Their tapes go blank so they're about to go out of business... Or are they? Watch and see. Looks hilarious.

Here's the link. Be Kind -- Rewind

Even if you aren't normally a fan of Jack Black, I would still take a look at it.

Interesting Quotation

2007-10-14T19:55:00.000-04:00

As I was finishing up "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis this afternoon, I came across this passage which I found humorous:

Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again; so that years later, when they were grown up they were so used to quarreling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.

Long Time, Really No Talk

2007-10-12T16:04:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a while since I've really put anything substantial up here but I've got some time now to just sit down and put some old stuff up. I am back in Boston after my two+ weeks in Kansas. I'll fill you in on that some other time.

First off, the trip to New York for the White Lake Reunion. I enjoyed that weekend immensely. First of all, the actual trip on the way there was just full of exciting things. We were without an atlas (which just bothered me :]); we had to stop for a bathroom break no more than a half hour after a previous stop; it was my first time in Connecticut; we saw a dog walking across I-84 just get nailed (not a fun sight); Peter and I, while listening to Another One Bites the Dust, named the dog, Dum Dum, after the lollipops Anna had given us before we left; it was Rachel's first day of driving, so the boys' car consistently sped away from the girls' car (irony: Drive Faster by The Killers started playing); we stopped at a gas station that sold cigars and school supplies (it seemed like a mini-Wal-Mart).

And that was all just on the way there! On the way back, we stopped at a gas station that had to be the best looking one I'd ever seen. The landscaping was well done. It was clean. And the bathroom was amazing. I told everyone else that I hoped the bathroom in my future house would be that nice. It was nicely tiled. There were flowers on the top of the toilet (fake or real depending on who you talked to). There was a TV in the corner! What gas station has a TV in the bathroom! I could try and describe it more fully, but I'll just say that it was just very well done, that's all there is to it.

As for the conference, it was very good as well. I met Brad Johnston, who is the current pastor in Walton, NY, where my family used to be. We (well, at least me) had a good time talking about the current events in Walton. Brad spoke on Hell and Heaven, of which I was only able to hear about Hell. I had to miss the lecture on Heaven because I was preparing devotions for after supper, which I was assigned that afternoon after the eldest Trexler injured his shoulder, meaning that the middle Trexler had to leave. Sorry, there were Trexlers in my high school and only their first names are coming to mind right now.

The kids were good and we all had a fun time being with each other and fellowshipping. Paintball was alright, too, I guess.

Well, I'll leave you with that and hope to get back to more regularly scheduled posts. Take care, folks.

Juuuuuust a bit outside

2007-10-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

Ummmm, Brian....we've got some competition.

Here's 2006 NL batting champion, Freddy Sanchez, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, trying to hit last year's USPPBA's (The United States Perforated Plastic Baseball Association) MVP.

Westward ho!

2007-09-21T00:26:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow's the big day. I'm going back to Kansas for the first time since I left for Boston a little more than three months ago. It will be a fairly long day with my travels starting around 10:30 a.m. and ending around 10:30 p.m. (both EST).

I was able to finagle some last-minute work as I returned to JFK Library for a couple of days of work. I was back on the phones again making calls to celebratory and some not-so-celebratory people. The event that I was calling for this time was an upcoming forum with Ken Burns where he will show clips of and discuss his new documentary, "The War," which is about World War II. I'm sure it would actually be a pretty interesting program.

Last weekend was the White Lake Reunion as I had written about before leaving but I have failed to get anything up about that. I hope to change that in the near future. The trip there was quite eventful (in a good way). Teaser: dum-dums and the parking lot of doom.

2007-09-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been praying about the Draper position that I applied for, I found out on Friday that they chose to go with someone else. It would have been nice to have received the job just to have work in a field that I'm fairly comfortable with but I'm OK with moving on to something else. Since I have Draper behind me and nothing really on my "desk" at the moment, I am heading out to Kansas for a couple of weeks. I leave this Friday and return on October 8. As you could expect, I'm really looking forward to it.

A little brown stain

2007-09-13T21:27:00.000-04:00

Today, I water-proofed/stained the third floor deck at the Fishers' house. I started out pounding in nails that were protruding from the boards and then sanded the surface to "open the pores" as the stain can suggested. The project was then finished off by applying the stain. I thought that this would be a multiple-day project but it actually only took me six hours. With the deck being entirely exposed to the sun, I was glad that it was only a 72-degree day, even though it felt hotter than that on the deck. My construction-working brother may now officially call me a wimp...With that humiliation behind me, here are the pictures I took with my cell phone to archive this wonderful adventure.

This is a little past halfway through. Despite what may look like a shadow, that is the part that has already been stained. The previous stain was well-worn, but the right side is that light due to sanding. I was saved on the sanding as Tom had a contraption made up of a push-broom handle attached to a piece that allowed you to stick the sandpaper on. This was store bought; not to say that Tom couldn't have come up with this on his own. The point? It made the sanding go fairly quickly.

The picture to the left is of the other side of the deck at the same time. The pounding and sanding took me two hours and the staining four. I had so much fun all day trying to lean over those railings attempting to apply stain to the edges of the boards. They were so wonderfully designed to be a couple inches longer than my legs so that I had to wedge my toes in between the rails and then lean over. I felt like I was mooning the clouds all day long. I did appreciate Tom providing me with good materials, though. The stain was quality (Cabot--that's Australian, mate!) and a I had a brush made all the in Italy. The can had suggested applying the stain with lamb's wool but alas, after the lack of rain in Boston in August, all our sheep were shipped to Kansas where the grass is green.

Here's an attempt at a picture of the deck completed. Perty, isn't it?

The one downside of the venture? Having to bend over to apply the stain, I was left with a wonderful plumber's...you thought crack, didn't you? Alright, you didn't. But anyway, I'll call it a plumber's sunburn. Insert comments of humiliation again.

In case you were wondering...

2007-09-12T00:24:00.000-04:00

Just as an update, I still have not heard back from Draper. I would ask that you continue to pray that they would give me some sort of response soon. In the meantime, I'll be working on waterproofing Tom and Martha Fisher's third floor deck. This will definitely be an experience for me. Finally, this weekend, I'll be traveling with a group here from Cambridge to serve as a chaperon at the White Lake Reunion (aka youth retreat). I'm looking forward to it.

HI-YAH!

2007-09-10T14:52:00.000-04:00

Needless to say, this Japanese baseball game gets a little ugly...Editor's correction: It has been pointed out to me a couple of times that this is clearly Korean. Heaven forbid the Japanese should have their names dragged through the mud like this. My deepest apologies. :)

Return to Fenway

2007-09-05T18:57:00.000-04:00

Last night, Mr. Wright took me to a Red Sox game at Fenway vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the second time that I have been to Fenway. Before the game, I walked the entire way around the outside of the park looking to buy some t-shirts. Unfortunately, my search turned out to be futile. However, I was able to see the "parking lot" where the Red Sox players' cars are parked, of which I've read about in various sports publications in the past. I'm sorry to report that I did not think to take pictures of it for you, the audience of this blog. I was impressed by the parking skills (and kinds of cars in the lot). Everything that is said about the Red Sox valets appears to be true from 40 feet away.

It truly is amazing to see how the park is made to fit into such a tiny space, which is reflected in the shape of the field. The limited amount of space also makes for the activities outside the park being rather cozy. To steal a description of the Cubs' Wrigley Field, if you're a Red Sox fan, the outside of Fenway certainly does lend itself to being some friendly confines.

The game was a good one, with Josh Beckett lining up against Roy Halladay. There was a stat in the Gameday Publication that Mr. Wright pointed out to me about how long Halladay had lasted in his previous starts. To keep it short, this guy has stamina. It was easy to see why, too. One, he's a big guy. And, two, his follow-through seems so effortless as compared to other pitchers. Whereas their momentum carries them halfway to first/third base, Halladay releases the ball and then looks like he just took a sip of Coke. As could be hoped/expected, both pitchers fared well until they each had one bad inning in the middle of the contest. It was fun to see, or kinda see. That brings me to the one problem with last night was (and one major problem with Fenway):

This was my view of the field, which I didn't get too uptight about. I could see anything in play but as you can see, the section 9 pole perfectly hid home plate. It was also a packed house so Mr. Wright and I couldn't move anywhere else. Despite this, I had fun keeping score, conversing with two young Corps-men who were working on getting drunk next to us, and watching a good game. (As I said, the pitching was good but there were also three homeruns, a triple and some good base running.)

Well, I think I've written enough for this one "little" update. Buenos noches, mis amigos.

Hot Hot Hot

2007-09-04T11:15:00.000-04:00

I wanted to pass along some grrrreat YouTubes for you today.

This first one is a promo for Appalachian State, the football team that knocked off Michigan this past weekend.

This second one is also football related. Apparently, the Raiders selected a two-year-old in this year's draft with pick 100.

A little squirrelly

2007-09-03T10:59:00.001-04:00

For those of you interested in the Red Sox-Yankees series last week, one game the cameras captured a squirrel stranded atop the right field flag pole in Yankee Stadium. The crowd on that side of the stadium was raucous while watching this squirrel contemplate going down or staying put, even while the game carried on. Reading through Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback this morning, he provided a great quote from one of the sportscasters covering the game, the Yankees' telecaster Ken Singleton. "We should stop showing the squirrel,'' Singleton said. "It'll only encourage other squirrels to do the same thing.''

ahhh...

2007-09-03T01:46:00.000-04:00

It has been a good and restful Sabbath. I've enjoyed the number of people that I have been able to talk to today and realized that I have many more to talk to yet. Here's to a day off for everybody tomorrow/today!

I'm from Dixie!

2007-08-30T19:35:00.000-04:00

Well, over the course of the past two days, I've made over 400 phone calls helping people to deal with their glea of getting to see Alan Alda up close or the disappointment of having to sit in an adjoining theater in overflow. I can't wait until I get to tell people that they can't even come to the JFK Library for "A Conversation with Alan Alda," which is the event. I've been asked to come back for tomorrow because the job hasn't been completed and there are still bunches of people to call. By the end of today, I was starting to lose my voice. I tried at one point to go into my "broadcast" register and, put bluntly, failed. It was rather discouraging. I have thought about calling some of you and leaving my speal but I didn't think that would be appropriate.

But you're all dying to know why I am from Dixie. I called a woman today who picked up and said that she didn't have much time to talk. Well, it turns out that she did. Towards the end of me answering her questions about the event, she quickly asked, "Are you from the South?" I replied, "No. I'm from the Midwest."

"Ohhh. That was my second guess."

Over the next five minutes (which seemed like a long time since my conversations up to that point had all probably been less than one minute long and focused on business), the woman explained to me that she very much enjoyed accents and dialects. She had served as a receptionist at one point where she greeted international travelers and enjoyed trying to pronounce their names correctly. She was very confident of her talent, which I don't doubt that she has, as many of these people were glad to have had their name pronounced correctly by a dumb American. I also found out that she would ask these travelers to leave behind alphabets for their language so she could be better prepared for the next time. At least, that's what I got out of it. Anyway, this kept going on and on, with it being very interesting, but I wondered how did this woman suddenly become graced with plenty of time that she didn't have before? She then told me she was getting a new frig and was moving things around for it to be delivered. She was very concerned about the delivery men hitting anything, especially things on a window sill. Some folks interpretation of not having time is sometimes mind boggling.

So, who knew I would be learning so much about one person from one little phone call to a stranger! Back to it tomorrow.

Hi, you've won!

2007-08-28T21:46:00.000-04:00

The first day on the job at JFK Library went fairly well. I spent the majority of today jotting down info from voicemails of people calling in reservations for upcoming events this fall at the library. Some people can really just rattle off their phone number...incredibly quick. The last part of the day I then took the compiled list which had been scrambled and started at the top telling people that they had been selected to come to an event featuring Alan Alda (M.A.S.H. and PBS star). Responses ranged from ho hum to very excited. People had known they only had a chance at getting in for this forum. I continue the calling tomorrow working with winning reservations for about 200 more calls, then moving on to overflow people and finally finishing with "losers". The manager and myself are responsible for calling each and every one of these people who requested tickets to the event, telling them the news, and sending off the tickets to the winners. That's what the next two days will be like.

The library is in a very nice spot. It's right on a point facing a part of the Boston Harbor with lush grass and weeping willows around the outside. The building was designed with the corner facing the water being made entirely of glass and the offices inside the building are set up to look out of that. That allows for a nice view at least. Here is a picture of the huge flag that hangs by the windows looking out to sea.

Picture notes: the pipes you see are framing of some sort on the inside of the glass. I assume it is some type of steel. Down on the grass you can see JFK's sailboat. Click on the picture for an enlarged view.

In case you're interested

2007-08-27T17:01:00.000-04:00

Found this today on Apple's trailer site. Just no one tell Scott Metzger, ok?

Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Movie Trailer

Job Search Update

2007-08-27T14:47:00.000-04:00

Two-and-a-half months into my job search here in Boston, I am finally starting to break through a bit and get a little work here and there. Last week, I finished up a stretch of working for Blackwell Publishing for two weeks. They simply ran out of work for me so they let me go. I wasn't terribly heart broken but it was nice to get a paycheck for that time. Last Friday, I interviewed for a photography/videography position at Draper Laboratory where Mrs. Wright works and where Violet has interned in the summers. The man that I interviewed with liked the photos and videos that I showed him. At the end of the interview, he said my stuff looked promising. They are interviewing a few more applicants this week and then I should hear back from them. In the meantime, I was able to find three days of work for this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). I'll be at JFK Library in South Boston calling people to tell them whether or not they were able to get tickets for an event that is coming up. Essentially, I get to make or break people's days. I'm glad that this worked out so that I'm not just sitting around the house waiting to hear back from Draper. You can continue to pray that God would grant me the Draper job as it seems like it would be an enjoyable position and would provide stableness with it being a permanent position.

Billary

2007-08-25T14:26:00.000-04:00

The last two posts here have featured material that Harold Milligan of Hebron RPC in Clay Center passed on to me while I was at K-State. He told me not to use this photo in school while I was student teaching. He didn't think it would go over very well with people. I don't know. It's very well done...

Lots of C's

2007-08-25T14:09:00.001-04:00

This is a clip from Johnny Carson's days about a Clapper Caper. Enjoy. I did.

A Draper Project

2007-08-24T16:04:00.000-04:00

I didn't have much video of my own going into my interview with Draper this morning so I decided to make one. I ended up making an instructional video on Wiffle ball pitching. It is based on my pitching style so for you hard-core players, the pitches may look different than yours. Also, I had to shoot all of the video with the Wright family digital point-and-shoot camera so the video is not of the greatest quality. Anyway - I hope you enjoy.

El primero

2007-08-24T14:58:00.000-04:00

I had nothing else to do this afternoon after going to an interview this morning at Draper Laboratory, so I decided to start a blog. I must admit that this is a bit of a copy cat of Esther's. In my defense, there really aren't that many choices of how to do things on here.

I guess there could be a bit to actually update you all on. Last Saturday, a group of us held a going-off party of sorts for Brian before he headed off to Geneva. We started out the group fun by playing soccer. However, the fun started long before then. About three hours to be exact. Brian pulled out his soccer/futbol jerseys and we all decided we just had to wear them to play. The following are the results of such craziness.

Sportin' the fauxhawks. Brian didn't have much confidence in mine - that quickly changed.

Sylvia unfortunately was stuck taking the photos. She ended up sporting a pretty kickin' England kit. In the end, we all got laughed at.