Times ticking away...

Time to close the books on 2006 and look towards the new year. Spent the final hours at home with the family. Last year it was just me and my oldest, as my wife was out working and pregnant with our second child. I'm thankful that this year we all could be at home together. I spent part of it with the baby asleep in my arms as I read my last book for 2006. Now with minutes to spare, I finished the book and I'm watching the count down for us here. So long 2006 and hello 2007. I wonder which book I should pick up and start reading next.

hmmm....

Dear Santa, support my hobby please!

Dear Santa,

I know its a last minute request and on the chance that you might have a few extra items available, I thought I give you a shout out. Yes, I know we have not talked with you in sometime, but I've really tried to be good and help with the good work over the years just the same.

Anyway, I've got a passion for two wheels, in case you haven't heard and love racing (watching) and I would love to have a chance to lean hard in the curves and scream around some of the best tracks in the world. I would have to say that Moto GP would be the top of the list for someone who loves this sport motorcycle racing.

Yes, I know you can't begin to get me on a team, a bike, sponsors, and all the training to get me up to this level. Yes, going to see a Moto GP race live from the stands would be cool, but I think I could work on that at some point myself. I had something else in mind here instead of the above.

That's right the Xbox 360 Live with the Moto GP 06 will give me a chance to try out racing around the Moto GP tracks from the comfort of my own home. No extra costs in hiring a racing team, getting sponsors, bikes, and the training to race. From what I've seen and heard, this is a very realistic sim for motorcycle racing. Just look at how cool the graphics are from the photo above.

I know, I'm suppose to come up with a list of items as alternates. So here we go, if you can I'd like to have that pony I've always wanted. Yes, might be a little hard to get a live horse to me in such short notice. Maybe a brand new BMW K1200 would be a little easier and more along with my motorcycle love. Next is the Xbox 360 Racing package I've outlined above and perhaps the cheaper of the three possible requests (HINT!).

I know I should have contacted you sooner and these will have to wait till next year or years to come. I thought I'd give it a shot at the least and since I really haven't had a game system since the first Nintendo, I'd just like to get more up with the times. So if you could work your magic, that would be great. Otherwise it will be a goal of mine to get a system like this on my own.

Thanks and Merry Christmas...

New Addition coming soon...

Looks like I'm an uncle.

I still think these things look like a weather radar at times.

Rep's win again...

Candidate -------------Votes--------Percent----Winner
Rick Perry (R)-------- 1,708,833 --- 38% ----------X
Chris Bell (D)--------- 1,302,251 --- 30%
Carole Strayhorn (I)-- 786,109 ----- 18%
Kinky Friedman (I)--- 551,325 ----- 13%
James Werner (L)---- 26,619 -------1%

2,666,304

I'm for Kinky

Election Day is here and it's my right to cast a vote. So today I've made my selection for Richard "Kinky" Freidman. I think he's just what the state needs for a change. Sure he might not know it all, but sometimes I wonder what the others know to tell the truth. Maybe its time to send a message that Texas wants a change and it's not going to be only a two party system.

Seems to me the Governor is going to be the one to help lead and I for one like Kinky's style on the subject. So what if is doesn't know Politics, something tells me he's smart enough to hire some people to help him out and get the job done.

So standing in line I had my mind made up and I sure enjoyed the older guy coming out when asked, "Did you vote twice for Governor?" He replied, "I think one vote for Kinky is enough!" Makes me think perhaps a shocker could take place today.

Back in soccer retirement again

I've decide its time to call it quits as far as playing the game I so love. Fact is I'm wanting to really spend more time with family now and have lots of things planned with my daughters. Money is a little factor and time is the other. I just can't see spending the money and worrying about the time for games as it stands right now.

Most of the games are played on Sunday and I have a number of events planed and I don't want to think, no I can't do that or I need to be back for a game. So tonight was going to be the last game I would play for sometime. The game was scheduled for 11:00 pm and I just got a call from the team manager stating the team we would play was tied for last place and they have decided to forfeit the last game. We now finish the season in 2nd place, no chance of getting first no matter what.

I'm glad that I don't have to run out at 11:00 pm for a game and get home after midnight now, but I'm bummed that I don't get to put the uniform on for one last game. My co-worker/friend and teammate has also decided to leave the team and play for a league closer to home and I was looking forward to one last game with him. It's not exactly the way I planned to leave the game and last week was a bye week because of the holidays.

Oh well, it was a lot of fun and I'll have to think long and hard about returning. If I do come back to the game, I think I'll need to find a league that only plays on Wednesday nights or something like that. I just think at my stage of life and even though its only about 2 hours out of my Sunday, that's a lot of time I want to spend with my family instead of playing the game.

Has it really been a year?

Wow, I've had this blog well over a year now and it has been a lot of fun and I'm working on blogging more when I can. I think I reach times were I'm just a bit to busy to write on some topics. I know I've had a few more ideas at times and just never got them out. But I was looking back and noticed that I've had this thing going for over a year now. Not that it is a great source of information and I don't think I have a huge following. Still I'm liking it and plan to keep it going. Maybe it will just be a mind dump for me or a platform to clear my head, what ever it is, I'll blog on just the same.

A year ago was the last day I had a Soda of any shape or form. Now that is really a mile stone for me. Sodas are really plain evil in a can or at a restaurant even worse. I can say that I can leave with out them and have not really missed them at all. It's tough to give up for the first few weeks and its not like I haven't gone days with out them before. But when I use to have them or drink around 3 or more large glasses in one sitting, while out to eat for dinner; you can see how fast they add up. They say if you give up 1 a day in a year you will have lost 10 pounds and I can say that is probably acurate. I'm not sure, but I think I'll keep them off my list of drinks awhile longer, its been so long already I could try and go for two years.

It's Geo-FEVR

So I'm sitting at work and I've heard my buddies talk about this before and think, its sounds cool. Then they talk about it again some more and I start asking questions this time. "This Geocaching is going on all over the place you say?" People equipped with a GPS device, go to a web site and find the location to a hidden Cache (Treasure) at remote location and then head out to discover what is inside.

"Yes! and they are all over and in every park near you.", is the reply that I get to my question. So I say, "No way, your joking". So we pull up Geocaching.Com and punch in the zip code and take a look at the map. My jaw drops as I see all the parks near my house have at least one ore more of these hidden treasures. I'm just in surprise to think that something like this is as big and wide spread.

So as you can see in a sample of what to find in DFW alone, this is a pretty huge activity taking place in our own backyards so to speak. If I went deeper into one of the cities more would pop up on the screen. Clearly enough treasure to keep the busiest of treasure hunters busy for many days to come. In fact people go on trips to places and search for treasures in other locations and this takes place on a global scale as well.

A little bit about the treasures and how it works. In most cases the items you find are tiny little trinkets and this is more of a trade for trade system. The idea is to have fun looking and trying to find these locations. Once you arrive you have to start searching and trying to find something that is hidden and looks like its part of the location. When you have found the hidden treasure, you sign a log in most cases and that is cool as well, to see how many people have come before you. Last you select a small trinket and leave a small trinket in its place for the next group of hunters.

Ok, I'm hooked at this point and decide to start researching what it takes to get started. My daughter is excited and wants to find treasure and my wife is even on board. We start to look at GPS units and want to start searching. My wife mentions to me about a low-tech version called Letterboxing and where people just leave directions to the location, this was for those who don't want to spend money on a GPS and is more in line with the days before GPS devices as well. Sure enough this has a huge following as well and we decide to give some of those a try, at least till we can get a GPS and really start hunting.

The idea with Letterboxing is you still search, but you keep a log book and bring a stamp & inkpad with you. At the treasure location you will find a log book and a stamp. You will make your entry and stamp the treasure log and then use the stamp at the location to stamp your book with your find. People carve their own stamps in a lot of cases. Its not as hi-tech as Geocaching, but some of these are hybrids and show up in both. The better the directions, the easier to find the location. Granted GPS will get you in most cases, with in 10 feet of your prize, but you still will need to look.

The last thing I came across is called Bookcrossing and this is where you Read a Book, Register on the Site, and then Release the book for others to find. Some of these items are turning up in the Geocache locations as well. You take the book, read it and then pass it on after logging its find on the site.

The best thing about the whole sport, is it gets you outside and you exercise your mind and body. Plus its fun seeing your little ones eyes light up as they find the treasure hidden out in the parks. You can spend as little or as much money as you want, but the rewards in the end, I don't think a value can be really set. Happy hunting if you decide to join in.

Team F.E.V.R.

Back in the USA

So my little brother and sister-in-law took a vacation to Europe. A great feet on his part to finally make a trip back to Europe. So for 17 days I've been house & dog sitting and could use a vacation myself.

Habit is formed around 3 weeks of repeating the same process over and over. I firmly believe this, since their return, I can't help but feel that I'm suppose to head over to his house to gather mail and take care of the dogs.

I was ready for them to return and started looking around at was to track the flight progress. I found a few sites that gave basic information and even found a decent site that showed a basic image of the planes location. I end up at a really cool site that took advantage of Google Earth and gave a some what detailed and 3-d view of the flight in from Paris to Chicago.

Its really nice to rotate and change the elevation and see the details as to elevation of the flight and speed of travel. Here you can see the plane making its way towards Chicago's International Airport. You can even get detailed information on other planes in the area as well.

I was lucky to view this for free online, it just so happened that the Chicago Airport tracking is free from the site I was visiting. They offer a service for all airports and flights for around $9.95 a month. The only thing is I can't see where I would need to pay for a service like this really. I suppose some business out there might have a need for information like this and I only found out the additional costs after trying to watch his flight from Chicago to DFW later that evening.

Here's a shot of the plane making a turn back towards the airport for final approach and landing. Was neat to tell my brother about how I watched all of this and the detail. He asked me if they made a turn or circle and I said they sure did. It was also cool to watch all the other planes line up for their turn at landing.

Here is a head on shot of the plane coming in for its landing. For some reason the site stopped updating on the landing and appeared to maintain a holding pattern. I later saw on the Airline site that the plane had made its landing. Oh well the end of watching flights with Google Earth, I suppose at some point I could decide and watch some other flights for the fun of it, if I get that bored I would say.

Here is a pretty cool view from above at the Chicago International airport. Its pretty cool to see some of the really detailed photos of some of the larger cities. I showed my daughter a really cool view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, thanks to Google Earth. I think some day I'll need to take her in person. Check out Google Earth sometime and then do a search on tracking flights with Google Earth.

2006 World Show final stretch

It's been a fun show so far and I've been running around taking lots of photos this year. The Youth show has wrapped up already and this year I took a bunch of stick horse photos. It was hard to pick a favorite out of the bunch, I could have picked a dozen or so for various reasons. Something about these two just says it all. From the first time I saw this event and through the few my daughter has participated in, it just brings a big smile on my face to see the smiles on their faces as they run around the arena showing off their skills.

I have four more days of the APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show to go, lots of photos to take along with my regular duties. After the show ends, I'll try and select my favorite image from the Open show shots and post that as well. I have a few in mind, but you never know what will happen over the next four days.

Well I'm still here

Things have been rather busy these past two months. My eldest has just turned 5 and the little one is now 2 months old. We spent the day taking them for doctor visits and the little one got 4 shots today (two in each leg). That is one thing that we really don't like and with my first was not prepared for. Otherwise both girls are in perfect working order.

So the first two months has been a learning process or re-learning I should say. Remembering how things were the first time and seeing how they are different as well has been fun. For the longest time the baby really would not smile or at least that is how it appeared to me. My wife said she's still learning to see is all and when she started to smile it was because she had gas. She still has gas of course, but I think she sees too and smiles more at me.

Big sister has been great with the baby and so loving. I'm crossing my fingers that remains to be the case for at least a few more years. That's all for now, I've had a few things that I thought about writing on, but I've just been so busy lately and my little bit of free time has been spent bonding with my little girl. I'm also gearing up for the World Championship Paint Horse show and will miss seeing the family as I work the show.

It's a Girl!

Well the wait is now over and I'm proud to announce the arrival of Viola Marie to everyone. She was born on March 27, 2006 at 5:04pm and weighed in at 7lb 7oz and is 19.5 inches long.

It's hard to explain the joy an excitement in watching a new life enter the world. First the head and then shoulders, followed by arms as we build up to the big finale and see the waist and legs. At last the wait is over and I see we have a little girl. Freya has a little Sister now.

Quickly she's laid on top of mother and introduced for the first time. I cut the cord and then they take her over and check her out more and clean her up. I quickly snap some pictures and film some video to help brake the news to the whole family waiting in the lobby.

Grandmother and Oma happen to be waiting right outside of the room as I come out with a Camera & Video Camera, so I was able to tell them first. I made my way to see my daughter who wished for a baby sister and I was happy to tell her that her wish had come true. She had hoped to name the baby Arial Snow White and even the same if the outcome would have been a boy. I told her that could be her special name for Viola.

Next Freya and I bring the whole family back to see Viola for the first time and with Freya leading the proud family on back. She's the perfect proud big sister and will be a big help for sure over the next few days, weeks, and months to come.

Being surprised and keeping the names a secret till the end is fun for us. If we decide to have a 3rd child, I'm not sure if we'll find out or not, but for now we are keeping the name of the boy a secret and I guess we'll have to come up with another name for a girl. We have a lot of time to think about all of that though.

Put that on my list please...

My daughter loves to say this and I thought I'd give it a try for once. For example we'll be walking around the toy store and she spots something she likes, "Put that on my list please..." and I make a mental note. It's not as hard as it seems, just about the whole store will be on the list and I don't know why she likes the Fantastic 4 hands for the character Thing.

So a buddy happens to show me the keynote speech from Bill Gates at CES this past year and I have to say some really cool stuff was shown. I could ask for everything I saw, but I'm only going to put my favorite of the whole speech on my list. Leave room for other stuff later on, I think I have a horse on my list from when I was little.

Keynote Remarks by Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 4, 2006. (Watch Video Clip)

The three panel monitor setup is incredible and I hope this is not some concept computer type thing they never plan to make. You'll need to look hard at the video, but these monitors are see through and it looks like you can look through the back and see the person but not what is on the screen from behind. I just love all that desktop space.

The Wonder Pets!

At the end of every preschool day when the students have all gone home, a call for help rings out and three very special pets: Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck, who live in a classroom become The Wonder Pets, courageous superheroes who sing opera and travel the world using teamwork to help save young animals in distress.

The combination of live action and stop animation is the new show from Nick Jr. and I find it rather enjoyable. I'm not sure if its because I've seen so many of the other shows over and over and this is just new for a change, but I think the artistry involved and story lines have a lot to do with it. Plus I just love the expressions on my daughters face when you hear, "The Phone is Ringing" and the trio spring into action. My daughter starts to sing along and loves this show. So if your looking for something new and fresh, give The Wonder Pets a try, I think you'll soon be smiling too.

The Babies new room

I'm amazed that this room was actually the office at one point. It use to hold about 4 computers, 2 to 3 printers, a scanner, shelf unit, 2 desks, a bookcase, and just about everything else that did not have an official place in the house. We needed an Extreme Makeover and fast.

With the new baby on the way, it was time for the office to go bye bye and all the other odds and ends to find a home. Most has gone to storage and lots of stuff was sold, donated or thrown away.

The new room is really nice and we've been working hard on the rest of the house too. Baby proofing takes time and we still had a lot in place from before. So its not to hard to get back to how it was.

It still in some ways feels like its the first time, being right at about 5 years now from the time Freya was born. We are all excited and looking forward to the big day. I think we just about have everything ready now. I think we'll need to look at a bigger house if we decide to have another baby. I don't think the garage can take much more stuff going out there.

In closing...

I found myself watching more this year than I have in the past winter Olympics. My favorite events had to be the Snowboarding events this year, with Snowboard Cross taking the over all top position. Congrats to Seth Westcott for bringing home the Gold in that event to the USA.

I kept an eye on most of the events and found myself watching just about every night. I would turn shows off or mute the TV when news would come up telling what had happened. I did follow the over all medal counts, but had no clue as to who or what event. So off an on I would see the USA bounce from the 5th overall spot to 3rd and then the past few days into 2nd and hold on through the end of the games.

I was happy with Germany taking the top spot for overall medals, being half German, its cool to see them do well. I tend to do that in a number of areas, I like them doing well in World Cup Soccer and I always pull for the US teams. I was even happy when the recent Pope took office to find out he was from Germany.

The US did a great job in a number of events and I can only imagine how things will be in 4 years at the 2010 Winter games. I even liked most of the Ice Skating events this year. I would have liked to see more Curling and will have to watch for that in 4 years too. Seeing Apollo take gold made a perfect ending to the games for me last night and hope to see him come back for the next games.

The Art of Reading

Time and the enjoyment of reading is really all it takes for the art of reading. Sure you have to know how to read & write to start with, but I think to really read you need to make the time and enjoy reading.

Lately I've been making the time and rather enjoy the books that I've selected to read or should I say consume. I would not have called myself a heavy reader when I was younger. I went to the library and I would pick out some books to read, but as I grew older I started reading less and doing other things.

It wasn't till I started reading the Harry Potter series that I turned into a heavy reader. I found myself moving quickly through the books and wanting more. After each book I was ready for the next and eager to see what would happen. Now I'm waiting like so many other for the last book of the series to come out, but I've found that I really enjoyed reading over those past months and want to read more.

So I moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia and these stories are a lot shorter. I also wanted to read them in the order they originally were published and started with the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and wanted to read it before the recent movie came out. I have the nice hard back collection and was told to skip the Magicians Nephew, because it explains a lot of things that happen later and if I read it first, it would spoil some of the enjoyment of the other stories.

I'm taking a brake from reading the whole set at once and I let myself enjoy some other subject matter. I picked up a series by Eoin Colfer called Artemis Fowl and have really enjoyed the first three books. The first book has been described as "Die Hard with fairies" and is about a 12 year old criminal mastermind named Artemis Fowl, who forms a plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Set in modern times and filled with all sorts of techno gadgets and fantasy themes, the anti-hero Artemis is trying to regain the former glory days of the Fowls' family name and fortune.

Dan Brown's Angles & Demons and the Da Vinci Code has been the latest set of books for me to read. Quite a difference from the other books, I started with Angles & Demons, the first book for the Character Robert Langdon, who also appears in the Da Vinci Code. Both stories weave real world facts and fiction together in such a way, its hard to tell what is fiction and real. The thrillers have been a real enjoyment and I found myself reading page after page and making my way through the books. I've liked them so much I want to read Deception Point and Digital Fortress and I look forward to the third book with Robert Langdon when it comes out.

A lot of these books are later made into movies and I've found that reading the books in almost every case is by far better than just watching the movie. I guess its to be expected when they cut stories down into a 2 hour movie. I'm glad I've started reading more and my list of books to read keeps growing. Which story should I start on next, lets see...

Happy Valentines Day

St. Valentine's Day, February 14, is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.

The middle of February has been associated with love and fertility dates back to the ancient times of Athens & Rome. In Athens the period between mid January and mid February was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

In Rome, February 15 was the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the god, and after drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads, touching anyone they met. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.

Now days gifts of flowers, chocolates, cards, and even fine jewelry rank high on the lists. It's a time to say I love you and do something special for that someone you love. This year I'm going to need to celebrate on the ancient Roman date. That's right tomorrow I'll do my best to be home early and spend sometime with my wife & daughter. I managed to pick today of all days to do a server switch and as you can guess, it did not go off with out a hitch. Crossing fingers I'll have better luck in the morning.

The New Spring Arrival

I'm counting down now from around fifty days out, till the birth of our second child. It's an exciting time for us and we have so much to do still. This weekend we'll be in the Child Birthing class, a refresher course I would say to help us be some what prepared for the big day.

Meanwhile, we still need to work on clearing out the old office and preparing the new babies room. I'm also working on some activities for Freya and I to do after the baby arrives.

That reminds me, I need to get her signed up for Soccer again and start thinking about practice and games. She should only have about 6 games again and they'll have Spring Break off. I better see if my brother or another parent would like to help in the event of the baby coming early by chance.

Should be a really great year and a lot of fun for all of us I think. I'm off to a busy start and expect it to be 2007 before I know it. At least I know the next 50 days will be as fast as can be fore sure.

Wireless Baby...

Contact at last... After many attempts at trying to connect wireless at the house. Finally success of sorts has arrived. The night started off with Nathan and family coming over for dinner. While the two Martin boys played with Freya, Nathan & I looked over the situation (mainly Nathan as I looked on). Joy finally met Edith at last and I found out Joy use to play Soccer (Note to self, remember to see if Joy wants to join C0-Ed team).

We tried and tried to get the laptop and wireless router to speak, but with little luck at all. Dinner was great and the kids had an awesome time together. I was really proud of how well Freya played with the boys.

The kiddos getting tried and everyone full from dinner and time ticking away, it was time to call it a night and try to regroup and figure out the wireless connection later. Well... I decided to give it another go and banged around some and luck was in my favor. Connection at last with Internet Access. Finally the hope of no wires in the house is in site. Still working on a few bugs, but for the most part I'm happy with the results.

Plus it was great having the Martin's over to visit.

Siblings is the new word for the week

We are looking at about 8 weeks till the new addition arrives. Last night was the Siblings class for my daughter and I'm glad I decided to attend the session.

She did so very well in the class and I think she's starting to get excited at the thought of a baby Sister or Brother coming soon. That's right we don't want to find out until the baby arrives and so we're not sure if its a girl or a boy.

My daughter seems to think she'll have a little Sister and we tell her that will be fine, but we also tell her the chance is there that it could be a little Brother and no matter what she'll be a big Sister soon.

So last night she learned the word Sibling and how to help take care of babies and what they do. She learned about diapers and was one of the best at changing the practice baby. She carried the baby around during the hospital tour and had a great time.

It's been great seeing my daughter grow up and I'm really proud at how she's been with the changes leading up to the arrival of her Sibling to the house. Time is starting to pick up and 8 weeks will fly by fast. This week we have our first Daddy & Daughter dance, she has her 2nd season of soccer starting, with me coaching and I'm in another season of indoor soccer myself already. We still have to work on clearing the office out and decorating before the baby arrives.

This is all provided the baby stays on schedule... I better get busy on the baby room.

One down Eleven more to go...

January is now in the books and time sure has flown on by. So I'm a good month into my program and I've only lost 10 pounds so far. Its not too bad, but I need to step up the workouts, start doing more weights, and watch what I eat more.

My lunch times at work involve walking around the building for about 20 - 45 minutes each day. The way I see it, that's 20 - 45 minutes I'd normally be sitting on my ass. I can still try and make it to the club after work and I'll already be about 20 - 45 minutes ahead on my daily workout.

It feels good getting out and moving around some each day. Nathan (a friend an co-worker) has even started walking at the same time and it sure beats me walking and talking to myself. I'm also limiting my going out to lunch to no more than once a week. Saves money and allows me to keep up the daily walking.

Soccer Champs return
I find it hard to step away from the game and so I've decided to at least return for one more season. I have the new baby coming in about 9 weeks now and towards the end of June the APHA World Show kicks back up and will take up a huge portion of my time. I'll have to take it one game at a time, but for now I'm back for at least this season. We played our first game this past sunday and came away with a tie. Should be a good season for us, this week we have a bye week due to the Super Bowl game.

Championship game draws near

Less than 8 hours till the Championship match up for my indoor soccer team. The Rookies are a co-ed team playing in one of the bottom divisions at Apex Indoor Sports Center. I've played for them less than a year now; my 2nd time to comeback and play the game of soccer after many years of not playing at all.

We've done fairly well and won more games than we have lost for the past few seasons that I've played. Pretty much sticking in the middle of the 8 team league each season.

It has been a blast for the most part and I've enjoyed helping setup goals, stop some people from scoring and even knocking a few in for the team. Last weeks game was a really good game for us with my co-worker, friend and team mate playing in goal (Something he normally does not do) and helping us get another win for the season. Tracy guided us every step of the way from his goal and as a team we shut out our opponent for a win. I even managed to knock a few shots in for our team.

Then it became a waiting game with a record of 6-1 and the first place team sitting at 6-0 and facing us next Sunday. On Thursday afternoon I had to call and see how they did and to my surprise they lost last week. No longer would it be us trying to beat them and give them a loss and winning the season by beating them and a tying record. No this weeks match comes down to us facing a tied 6-1 team now and the winner becoming this seasons champion.

I'm trying to think back if I've ever come down to a game like this before. I think the closest I've come was a 2nd place team. It's always about having fun and will always be that for me. Tonight is where the fun continues as we face the Revolution to see who can score the most and keep the other from scoring. We've had a really great season and win or loose it has been so much fun. I just hope tonight can end with a victory for us.

The Program begins

Time to go full force now with the getting is shape for 2006. The National Body Challenge has started and its time to commit to eating right and working out. I've started early as of the first of the year, well even a bit before that with dropping all sodas at the first of September 2005.

I'm planning on walking at least 4 days of the week during lunch at work. I eat my light lunch and spend my time walking around the building for 30 to 45 minutes at a nice pace. I can make about 4 to 7 complete trips around during this time.

So far I've made it to 4 Tai Chi sessions in a row now (twice a week) and find it a nice work out as well as very relaxing. Plans have come up this week and I'll miss one of my sessions for this week. I guess it says something if I'm a little bummed out about missing the class.

My goal is to keep up the classes, keep up the walking at work, increase my workouts during the evening times, and watch what I eat. Pretty much moving more and eating less and with a goal of dropping the pounds.

The Hard part will come later in the year, finding a way to keep up some of the routine during this years World Championship Paint Horse Show. I'm just not sure how I'll get my work outs in during this time. Once the show is over, I need to make sure I get back into the routine of working out again. I'll keep things updated here as I progress over the next few months as well as blog on other subjects that come to mind.

New Highs and Lows for 2006

It's time to get back to my routine of a couple years ago. We had a family challenge to see who all could loose the most weight and I pretty much won that challenge. I did not try any crazy diets like eating all of this or all of that. What worked for me was fairly simple to a degree, but it did take discipline to achieve.
My secret to loosing 43 pounds was to eat less and move more. I watched the portion sizes and I got my self active. In eating less, you take in less calories and in moving more, you burn more calories. This formula is what allowed me to start dropping the pounds.

The next year I fell out of the habits, I found myself moving less and eating more and that brings me to this year and the weight is back. So I'm making it a goal to drop the pounds and hopefully stick to the routine for the whole year.

I've also started taking a Tai Chi class and I'm really enjoying that. I've also joined the Discovery National Body Challenge again to help track my progress. I'm even setting a goal to try Rock climbing at the end of the challenge and see how that goes.