I have such a good life. I don't know why I get caught dwelling on so many other things I don't have (bigger/nicer home, toys, etc.) when I should be thankful for how lucky I am to have an amazing wife and a great son.
I honestly don't know how life can get any better in my situation.
It took my co-worker (Missy in Atlanta) to remind me of how blessed my life is to have these two wonderful people in my life. Thanks Missy :-).
Really though, I'm so amazed at how patient Alene is with me and how much Caiden grows more and more every day. It seriously seems like yesterday that he was a tiny little baby. Now he's in Kindergarten and talking about "who has a crush on who". How did he learn what the word "crush" means anyway? :-) Seriously though, he's grown up so fast.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
We lost another one by 1 point
The 8th grade team I coach lost by 1 point again, although this was the toughest team we will have ever played. This team we played has not lost a game since they've been playing as 9 year olds (13 year olds now). They usually dominate everyone they play by shutting them out and scoring 30-40 points. As we were getting ready to play them, here were the scores of their first 3 games:
32-7
34-0
53-0
We lost 7-6. This is the lowest amount of points they've ever scored. Our defense only allowed them to score on their first drive, in which they were aided by 5 penalties that put them down by the goal line. Other than that, the defense shut them down and came up with big plays when they needed to. Our offense would drive down into scoring position, then we'd do something to beat ourselves. If only we had made our extra point, I know we would have won in OT.
Oh well. Nothing that can be done about it. The two toughest teams we will ever play are out of the way and we lost to them by a combined 2 points. It's a total moral victory thing.
Now it's onto Granite, a team that I don't think has ever won and game and rarely ever scores a TD in a game. Should be fun to let the starters rest early and get the back-ups into the game to get some experience.
32-7
34-0
53-0
We lost 7-6. This is the lowest amount of points they've ever scored. Our defense only allowed them to score on their first drive, in which they were aided by 5 penalties that put them down by the goal line. Other than that, the defense shut them down and came up with big plays when they needed to. Our offense would drive down into scoring position, then we'd do something to beat ourselves. If only we had made our extra point, I know we would have won in OT.
Oh well. Nothing that can be done about it. The two toughest teams we will ever play are out of the way and we lost to them by a combined 2 points. It's a total moral victory thing.
Now it's onto Granite, a team that I don't think has ever won and game and rarely ever scores a TD in a game. Should be fun to let the starters rest early and get the back-ups into the game to get some experience.
Our situation in Iraq made a lot of sense to me this morning
I am looking for a commentary to analyze and write about. I was searching on OpinionJournal.com and found this article written by Iraqs newly elected President Jalal Talabani.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007289
Now, my general political leanings is to support the more conservative side of our government, but I generally don't try to do it blindly. If I'm familiar with a topic, I will talk/argue about it. If I don't have a clue, I just shut up. Sometimes I also speak out about how "I" generally would like things to be.
Anyway, as I read this, a lot of our "reason" for going into Iraq in the first place started to make sense. After 9/11 and our commitment to fighting global terrorism, it made total sense to me for us to get into Afghanistan and rid the major area of ruling Taliban leadership, who was not hiding anything when it came to it's support of Al Qaeda. I think 99.9% of Americans were behind this move by President Bush. However, when we started making plans to invade Iraq, there were a lot of head scratching and immediate "Booooooos" from the liberal side of the political spectrum.
Generally, I think people saw this as another early 90's blunder in our first Gulf war, where many thought we were just protecting Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for our oil gains (that argument is debatable). I know there were many issues surrounding why Saddam invaded Kuwait and threatened to invade Saudi Arabia. Kuwait was at one time part of Iraq and he felt it (and it's rich oil) should be part of it again. In addition, he was wronged by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia relating to oil costs (can't remember the specifics), so he was upset and reacted. Not saying I don't blame him, but at least I see what he was doing. There was also that little fear of another WWII situation, where one country (Iraq) could be compared to Germany in that it had plans to eventually spread throughout and take over the entire middle east and eventually the world (much like the plans of Germany/Italy/Japan). Who knows if this was Saddam's intent. Maybe he DID just want what he felt belonged to Iraq all along?
Anyway, back to the topic. When we decided to head into Iraq, many on the left were upset. "No blood for oil" was the cry (and still is today), however, as I look at it and analyze the strategy behind it, it makes sense.
Some facts:
Iraq is and always has been the dominant country in the middle east. At one point in time, Baghdad was the most "learned" city in the world. It was the centerpiece for learning about medical and technological advancements. It still possesses many great qualities as it did in the past. Anyway, with that said, we (America/Allies) went into Afghanistan and kicked out the Taliban and helped to quickly establish a new/better/fair government for the people there. While we didn't accomplish our ultimate goal (find Osama) we still liberated many people. Women were actually allowed to hold jobs as Dr's and lawyers as they did in the past, people didn't walk around in fear of the Taliban men, who felt they had "rights" as men to do as they pleased.
Our next strategy was: OK, we didn't find Osama, however, where is the biggest threat of terrorism building up and what country could we get to become our allies quickly in helping to prevent the spread of terrorism (and joining the fight) in the middle east. Iraq.
See, during the 80's, America actually HELPED Iraq in it's war against Iran. Our special forces trained a lot of their replican guards and we aided them in many ways. Even after the Gulf War (which we quickly handed Iraq their asses on a platter, but didn't finish the job), we still had a lot of respect from Iraqis (even after our quick pull-out, leaving a lot of them half-liberated). We knew that we could go in and take over quickly (as we did the first time), help establish a democracy and have the most populated and strongest middle-east country on our side in the fight.
Well, we did move in, we took control quickly and got the government in their hands as quick as possible. Now it's our job to stand by and assist, helping them to establish their democracy and ways of protecting themselves. Once they are on their feet, we can have them by our sides fighting against terrorism.
I just don't understand (and if there are any liberals that read my blog, which I doubt) what the thinking is behind this? Sure, there are the scandals involving Haliburton or the "we just want to invade for oil", but can you not see that it is possible that by establishing a democracy in Iraq, it only benefits us in the fight against terrorism?
I hear some say, "let them fight it out themselves", well as the new president said, they had been in civil war for some time, but it was no use fighting because of how much power Saddam commanded. He had his republican guard and took GREAT care of them (feeding/paying them well) while leaving the rest of the people to fight with pitch forks and spoons and no ways of making money. You tell me how this is "naturally" going to pan out and the majority will win via civil war. I'm willing to bet that the lives lost in the 3 years of fighting there, saved many more lives that would have died in a civil war that would have lasted as it would have for centuries to come.
I'm glad we went into Iraq. I really feel we've done some good there in the fight against terrorism. I don't know enough about the conspiracies behind the "war for oil" or Haliburton, but like most government agencies (right and left) I'm sure there someone that is gaining out of this. You know what, I really don't care so long as it gives Iraq democracy quickly and it gives us another allie in the fight against terrorism.
Now someone tell me if/why I'm in left field on this.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007289
Now, my general political leanings is to support the more conservative side of our government, but I generally don't try to do it blindly. If I'm familiar with a topic, I will talk/argue about it. If I don't have a clue, I just shut up. Sometimes I also speak out about how "I" generally would like things to be.
Anyway, as I read this, a lot of our "reason" for going into Iraq in the first place started to make sense. After 9/11 and our commitment to fighting global terrorism, it made total sense to me for us to get into Afghanistan and rid the major area of ruling Taliban leadership, who was not hiding anything when it came to it's support of Al Qaeda. I think 99.9% of Americans were behind this move by President Bush. However, when we started making plans to invade Iraq, there were a lot of head scratching and immediate "Booooooos" from the liberal side of the political spectrum.
Generally, I think people saw this as another early 90's blunder in our first Gulf war, where many thought we were just protecting Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for our oil gains (that argument is debatable). I know there were many issues surrounding why Saddam invaded Kuwait and threatened to invade Saudi Arabia. Kuwait was at one time part of Iraq and he felt it (and it's rich oil) should be part of it again. In addition, he was wronged by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia relating to oil costs (can't remember the specifics), so he was upset and reacted. Not saying I don't blame him, but at least I see what he was doing. There was also that little fear of another WWII situation, where one country (Iraq) could be compared to Germany in that it had plans to eventually spread throughout and take over the entire middle east and eventually the world (much like the plans of Germany/Italy/Japan). Who knows if this was Saddam's intent. Maybe he DID just want what he felt belonged to Iraq all along?
Anyway, back to the topic. When we decided to head into Iraq, many on the left were upset. "No blood for oil" was the cry (and still is today), however, as I look at it and analyze the strategy behind it, it makes sense.
Some facts:
Iraq is and always has been the dominant country in the middle east. At one point in time, Baghdad was the most "learned" city in the world. It was the centerpiece for learning about medical and technological advancements. It still possesses many great qualities as it did in the past. Anyway, with that said, we (America/Allies) went into Afghanistan and kicked out the Taliban and helped to quickly establish a new/better/fair government for the people there. While we didn't accomplish our ultimate goal (find Osama) we still liberated many people. Women were actually allowed to hold jobs as Dr's and lawyers as they did in the past, people didn't walk around in fear of the Taliban men, who felt they had "rights" as men to do as they pleased.
Our next strategy was: OK, we didn't find Osama, however, where is the biggest threat of terrorism building up and what country could we get to become our allies quickly in helping to prevent the spread of terrorism (and joining the fight) in the middle east. Iraq.
See, during the 80's, America actually HELPED Iraq in it's war against Iran. Our special forces trained a lot of their replican guards and we aided them in many ways. Even after the Gulf War (which we quickly handed Iraq their asses on a platter, but didn't finish the job), we still had a lot of respect from Iraqis (even after our quick pull-out, leaving a lot of them half-liberated). We knew that we could go in and take over quickly (as we did the first time), help establish a democracy and have the most populated and strongest middle-east country on our side in the fight.
Well, we did move in, we took control quickly and got the government in their hands as quick as possible. Now it's our job to stand by and assist, helping them to establish their democracy and ways of protecting themselves. Once they are on their feet, we can have them by our sides fighting against terrorism.
I just don't understand (and if there are any liberals that read my blog, which I doubt) what the thinking is behind this? Sure, there are the scandals involving Haliburton or the "we just want to invade for oil", but can you not see that it is possible that by establishing a democracy in Iraq, it only benefits us in the fight against terrorism?
I hear some say, "let them fight it out themselves", well as the new president said, they had been in civil war for some time, but it was no use fighting because of how much power Saddam commanded. He had his republican guard and took GREAT care of them (feeding/paying them well) while leaving the rest of the people to fight with pitch forks and spoons and no ways of making money. You tell me how this is "naturally" going to pan out and the majority will win via civil war. I'm willing to bet that the lives lost in the 3 years of fighting there, saved many more lives that would have died in a civil war that would have lasted as it would have for centuries to come.
I'm glad we went into Iraq. I really feel we've done some good there in the fight against terrorism. I don't know enough about the conspiracies behind the "war for oil" or Haliburton, but like most government agencies (right and left) I'm sure there someone that is gaining out of this. You know what, I really don't care so long as it gives Iraq democracy quickly and it gives us another allie in the fight against terrorism.
Now someone tell me if/why I'm in left field on this.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
My team lost this week 18-19
SO CLOSE!! We beat ourselves though. We didn't convert any of our extra points, and I didn't put the other team's best receiver in double coverage when I should have, which led to our loss.
We played Cottonwood, who beat us 33-0 last year and 26-7 in the playoffs (at the end of the season). The thing that REALLY sucks is we really stopped them on defense. On two of their scores we had them at 3rd and long and they completed a deep pass to a really speedy WR. Seriously, both went for about 50 yards. Then, they returned a KO against us. Other than that, we played a great game.
Our offense moved pretty good as well. We were down 12-19 with around a minute or so to go and one of our studs in the game took a pitch sweep to the right and went for about 40 yards down to the 2 yard line. I've never seen a kid at this level run so hard. He found a little seam, ran up through it, jumped over a kid (literally), cut back across the field, juked out two defenders, raced down the middle and was caught behind. On the next play we scored.
Then, we tried the XP (which in this league, we don't kick FG's, we either run a play from the 2 yd line for 1 point, or from the 5 yd line for 2 points). We went for the tie because we felt our defense could really shut them down in OT. We ran off tackle with our FB for the XP and he was stuffed at the LOS, but then kept churning his feet and falling forward. As he went down, he reached the ball over the goal line, but the refs said his knee was down before he put the ball out.
Man, that was a tough blow to take in the gut. I felt so bad for our kids. They really played their heart out. The two kids who were scored on I felt even more sorry for. They feel like they lost it for us. They didn't though. It's not just their job to cover someone. Our DL and LB's need to get a rush on the QB and force him to throw a bad pass. It didn't happen.
Anyway, I as a coach should have put two people on that dude. He was FAST.
So now we prepare for Judge. This is a team that hasn't lost a game their entire years as FB players (since they were 9 years old). It's going to be tough.
We played Cottonwood, who beat us 33-0 last year and 26-7 in the playoffs (at the end of the season). The thing that REALLY sucks is we really stopped them on defense. On two of their scores we had them at 3rd and long and they completed a deep pass to a really speedy WR. Seriously, both went for about 50 yards. Then, they returned a KO against us. Other than that, we played a great game.
Our offense moved pretty good as well. We were down 12-19 with around a minute or so to go and one of our studs in the game took a pitch sweep to the right and went for about 40 yards down to the 2 yard line. I've never seen a kid at this level run so hard. He found a little seam, ran up through it, jumped over a kid (literally), cut back across the field, juked out two defenders, raced down the middle and was caught behind. On the next play we scored.
Then, we tried the XP (which in this league, we don't kick FG's, we either run a play from the 2 yd line for 1 point, or from the 5 yd line for 2 points). We went for the tie because we felt our defense could really shut them down in OT. We ran off tackle with our FB for the XP and he was stuffed at the LOS, but then kept churning his feet and falling forward. As he went down, he reached the ball over the goal line, but the refs said his knee was down before he put the ball out.
Man, that was a tough blow to take in the gut. I felt so bad for our kids. They really played their heart out. The two kids who were scored on I felt even more sorry for. They feel like they lost it for us. They didn't though. It's not just their job to cover someone. Our DL and LB's need to get a rush on the QB and force him to throw a bad pass. It didn't happen.
Anyway, I as a coach should have put two people on that dude. He was FAST.
So now we prepare for Judge. This is a team that hasn't lost a game their entire years as FB players (since they were 9 years old). It's going to be tough.
Alene showed me this funny commercial
It's this dude named "Tim" that is trying to sell his '88 Dodge Aries. The commercial is funny because it totally looks like a modern sports car commercial. Check it out.
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/957894?htv=12
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/957894?htv=12
Monday, September 12, 2005
We won another game this past weekend
It was a pretty good weekend for most of my teams.
For starters, the 8th grade team I coach won their game 26-13. It should have been upwards of 40-0, but we had a few bad break-downs on defense, and some pretty bad officiating. Our RB's ran VERY hard (harder than I've ever seen them run) and we, for the most part played w/o a lot of mistakes.
We have a tough challenge this week in Cottonwood, who was the 2nd place team last year and beat us in the play-offs to take 2nd place.
This year, however, they have lost two games to two teams I would not have expected. They lost to Bountiful, who we KILLED last year and they lost to Taylorsville, who is a good team, but nothing you would expect to beat Cottonwood. It's been rumored that Cottonwood's main RB broke his arm and if that is the case, I could see it limiting them. Still, they had a good QB and another good RB.
Alene and I made it to the BYU-Eastern Illinois (who) game at the end of the 1st quarter. It was good to see BYU play and the offense in person. They won 45-10, but it could have been upwards of 60-10. The offense got stale in the 2nd half and had to punt a lot. BYU has a lot to work out still, but they are most definitely getting better.
Now, the losers. My fantasy FB teams sucked it up this weekend. I have two of them in two different leagues. In one league, I flat-out sucked. In the other league, I scored more points than most of the others in the league, but the dude I'm playing scored off the roof! Oh well.
So now I have to get 1000 copies of a flyer to drop off in my neighborhood for Friends of Scouting and I have to write a review for my English class tonight.
I better get back to work.
For starters, the 8th grade team I coach won their game 26-13. It should have been upwards of 40-0, but we had a few bad break-downs on defense, and some pretty bad officiating. Our RB's ran VERY hard (harder than I've ever seen them run) and we, for the most part played w/o a lot of mistakes.
We have a tough challenge this week in Cottonwood, who was the 2nd place team last year and beat us in the play-offs to take 2nd place.
This year, however, they have lost two games to two teams I would not have expected. They lost to Bountiful, who we KILLED last year and they lost to Taylorsville, who is a good team, but nothing you would expect to beat Cottonwood. It's been rumored that Cottonwood's main RB broke his arm and if that is the case, I could see it limiting them. Still, they had a good QB and another good RB.
Alene and I made it to the BYU-Eastern Illinois (who) game at the end of the 1st quarter. It was good to see BYU play and the offense in person. They won 45-10, but it could have been upwards of 60-10. The offense got stale in the 2nd half and had to punt a lot. BYU has a lot to work out still, but they are most definitely getting better.
Now, the losers. My fantasy FB teams sucked it up this weekend. I have two of them in two different leagues. In one league, I flat-out sucked. In the other league, I scored more points than most of the others in the league, but the dude I'm playing scored off the roof! Oh well.
So now I have to get 1000 copies of a flyer to drop off in my neighborhood for Friends of Scouting and I have to write a review for my English class tonight.
I better get back to work.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Time flies when you're having......I mean, uhhhh BUSY!
WOW! Where has the time gone. So many thoughts on so many different things. This is going to be a long Blog, so get ready:
School
School has started....YIPPIE! I'm taking Math 1010 and English 2010. I hate Math, love the English. We have a group project in our English class (which I'm not fond of), but other than that, it rocks and our professor is dope. I hate Math. Nuff said.
Cougarboard.com Golf Tourney
I played in the annual golf tourney that me and a lot of random internet friends and I play in. It was a blast and we played at Talon's cove. Tim and I played in a 4 man-scramble with two of our other internet buddies, Matt, and Jeff. We held last year's distinctive prize as the "most honest foursome" in that we finished dead last and in horrible fashion. This year we finished 5 strokes better than we did last year, but again, we retained our prize as the "most honest foursome" two years running!
The course was beautiful. It's in Saratoga Springs, which is somewhat on the NW side of Utah Lake. It had a beautiful view of the Mt. Timpanogos range and the rest of Utah County. Here are some pictures:
This is a view from the club house looking across the lake
Here is a picture of yours truely
Here is a picture of Tim with his cool shirt (it's an inside joke and I don't have time to explain)
Here is another picture of yours truely in perfect teeing off form
Here is a picture of my ball in the air as it sailed about 1' from my friend Matt's ear when he crouched about 30' in front of me to take a picture as I Tee'd off.
And finally, here is a picture of one of Tim's groupies we found hiding on the 18th hole
Nebraska
Went with my lovely wife to Nebraska last Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and came back on Monday. Alene's brother got married on Saturday in this tiny place outside of York. York is about 2hrs from Omaha, which is the largest city in Nebraska located right on the border of Nebraska/Iowa (I think the Missouri river is the state line?). Anyway, it was beautiful out there. It was located at this old farm house, which was surrounded by a wall of trees and beyond that was nothing but corn fields as well as a few soy bean patches from time to time. Here are some pictures of the place where the wedding was:
These are pictures of the property
Here is a picture of Alene and I
Here is a picture of Alene and April
Here is a picture of Dave & Kelli doing the wedding thing
I loved the trip even more because I found out that my 8th grade FB team that I coach (I had to miss their first game) won 28-0! In addition, I was able to watch the BYU-Boston College game and it just happened to be that they only channel they got out there was airing the game :-). BYU lost though. Oh well, I think they will bounce back. They moved the ball well, just didn't put the ball in the end zone.
The next day we headed into Omaha, dropped off April and Lanik at the airport, then met up with Brian and Jenn (Alene's brother and sis-in-law) to walk around downtown Omaha and get some food. Downtown Omaha is really pretty. It sits on the Missouri river and there was a little tributary of it that ran through the city. Here are some pictures of Omaha.
Alene and I got back into SLC on Monday and Caiden's mom brought him to stay with us for the night. It was so good to see him. It's weird how being gone only a few days and he looks older :-).
On Tuesday morning he started his first day of Kindergarten. He was pretty cool and calm. Just kind of went with the flow. I really know that his 2 years in Pre-school helped him a TON on how to deal with other kids. Caiden is still a shy person, but he's coming out of his shell more and more. He's still doing Karate (and loving it) and is very active. I'm so proud of him!
Anyway, I've got to get to class now. I have a busy week with both of my FB teams having games on Saturday (my 8th grade team and BYU). In addition, I have to teach the Sunday School lesson in church. Should be a fun weekend :-).
School
School has started....YIPPIE! I'm taking Math 1010 and English 2010. I hate Math, love the English. We have a group project in our English class (which I'm not fond of), but other than that, it rocks and our professor is dope. I hate Math. Nuff said.
Cougarboard.com Golf Tourney
I played in the annual golf tourney that me and a lot of random internet friends and I play in. It was a blast and we played at Talon's cove. Tim and I played in a 4 man-scramble with two of our other internet buddies, Matt, and Jeff. We held last year's distinctive prize as the "most honest foursome" in that we finished dead last and in horrible fashion. This year we finished 5 strokes better than we did last year, but again, we retained our prize as the "most honest foursome" two years running!
The course was beautiful. It's in Saratoga Springs, which is somewhat on the NW side of Utah Lake. It had a beautiful view of the Mt. Timpanogos range and the rest of Utah County. Here are some pictures:
This is a view from the club house looking across the lake
Here is a picture of yours truely
Here is a picture of Tim with his cool shirt (it's an inside joke and I don't have time to explain)
Here is another picture of yours truely in perfect teeing off form
Here is a picture of my ball in the air as it sailed about 1' from my friend Matt's ear when he crouched about 30' in front of me to take a picture as I Tee'd off.
And finally, here is a picture of one of Tim's groupies we found hiding on the 18th hole
Nebraska
Went with my lovely wife to Nebraska last Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and came back on Monday. Alene's brother got married on Saturday in this tiny place outside of York. York is about 2hrs from Omaha, which is the largest city in Nebraska located right on the border of Nebraska/Iowa (I think the Missouri river is the state line?). Anyway, it was beautiful out there. It was located at this old farm house, which was surrounded by a wall of trees and beyond that was nothing but corn fields as well as a few soy bean patches from time to time. Here are some pictures of the place where the wedding was:
These are pictures of the property
Here is a picture of Alene and I
Here is a picture of Alene and April
Here is a picture of Dave & Kelli doing the wedding thing
I loved the trip even more because I found out that my 8th grade FB team that I coach (I had to miss their first game) won 28-0! In addition, I was able to watch the BYU-Boston College game and it just happened to be that they only channel they got out there was airing the game :-). BYU lost though. Oh well, I think they will bounce back. They moved the ball well, just didn't put the ball in the end zone.
The next day we headed into Omaha, dropped off April and Lanik at the airport, then met up with Brian and Jenn (Alene's brother and sis-in-law) to walk around downtown Omaha and get some food. Downtown Omaha is really pretty. It sits on the Missouri river and there was a little tributary of it that ran through the city. Here are some pictures of Omaha.
Alene and I got back into SLC on Monday and Caiden's mom brought him to stay with us for the night. It was so good to see him. It's weird how being gone only a few days and he looks older :-).
On Tuesday morning he started his first day of Kindergarten. He was pretty cool and calm. Just kind of went with the flow. I really know that his 2 years in Pre-school helped him a TON on how to deal with other kids. Caiden is still a shy person, but he's coming out of his shell more and more. He's still doing Karate (and loving it) and is very active. I'm so proud of him!
Anyway, I've got to get to class now. I have a busy week with both of my FB teams having games on Saturday (my 8th grade team and BYU). In addition, I have to teach the Sunday School lesson in church. Should be a fun weekend :-).
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