Cubsessories

Just in time for the Cubs/Cards series tonight...
We are all familiar with the "Successoires" pictures where they show some beautiful scene with some motivational advice beneath it.
Well, here are the new...

Cubsessories







































And a personal favorite...

c'mon, blue!

The Cardinals won yesterday. Oops. There I go again. Talking about the past. See, the Cardinals can actually beat the Brewers in 9 innings.

Adam and I had a debate yesterday about which is mathematically harder to do. Become a major league umpire or a major league baseball player. I won't tell you which side I favored, and I am trusting Adam will do the same. I have a feeling that because this is my blog, if I were to give my thoughts, then people would automatically disagree.

See, here at My Turn, we are open for discussion. We try not to oppress our views on you, the faithful reader.

So, which is harder to do?
Become a major league umpire or player?
Hmmmmm....

Caption Contest 6

Keeping with this week's theme...here's your weekend caption contest!

*****Nephew Showcase # 3*****

Allright. The final one is here. Gabriel Johnson is Free's younger bro. Gabe is the artistic one of the group. He plays the meanest air guitar you've ever seen. He even air plugs the guitar into the amp, air messes with his effects pedals, air puts on the guitar, air turns it up, and finally plays air guitar.

----------
Stats
Name: Gabriel Christian Johnson
Age: 4
Hometown: Springfield, IL
Parents: Mike and Beth Johnson
Hobbies: Music, drawing, riding bikes
Favorite color: clear
Favorite car: 1996 Pontiac Grand am
Favorite food: crackers
Strength(s): Getting others involved, air guitar, singing
Weakness(es): Can't lift over 150 lbs
----------

One week, when I was playing guitar at church, Gabe was on stage with me while we were setting up. I gave him one of my pics, because he always loves to have a pic with him. About 15 minutes later, he was off the stage accross the big room where we were playing. He was playing with Free. I got all my stuff set up, and so I started to tune my guitar. When Gabe heard the guitar through the amp, he instantly turned around to face me and had that "oh my gosh, the world is about to end" look about him. He started running as fast as he could to the stage holding the pic high up in the air, yelling as loud as he could..."Miah! Miah! You fogat yo picc!!!!! Yo piiiiic!!!!!!!!"
Precious.

*****Nephew Showcase #2*****

Today's nephew showcase will focus on Free Johnson. Free lives in Springfield and studies at Owen Marsh Elementary School. He has many lady suitors, but at this time, Free is not "accepting applications". It is rumored that he wants to focus on his studies and athletic career before he even thinks about girls.

---------
Stats

Name: Free Christian Johnson
Hometown: Springfield, IL
Age: 7
Parents: Beth and Micheal Johnson
Hobbies: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf
Favorite color: Cardinal Red
Favorite car: the Kia Rio Cinco
Favorite food: Hot wings (made by Mike Johnson)
Strength(s): Baseball (hitting), his laugh, and silky smooth hair
Weakness(es): Struggles with advanced trig
---------

Free is one of the best big brothers this side of the Mississippi. He always looks out for his younger brother (who will be featured soon) and loves hanging out with him. Free is the oldest of my nephews, and thus, my first experience as an uncle. My experience with Free made me want to be an uncle some more.
I remember one time when Free was over in Decatur, and John and I decided just how wrowled up we could get him. So, we started yelling, jumping, shoving, and we did indeed get Free so wound up, that he started jumping up and down on the couch because he had no other way of releasing ALL this energy.

#1 Perk of being an Uncle - Get the nephews all wound up...and get to walk away.

*****Nephew Showcase*****

Over the next three days, I will be showcasing each of my three nephews. In no particular order. They will not be in any order from favorite to least favorite, or least favorite to favorite. I will not tell who my favorite is.
Today's nephew is Gavin Cox.

---------
Stats
Name: Gavin Cox
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Age: 11 months
Parents: Josh & Amanda Cox
Hobby: Messin' around
Favorite Color: Not yet determined (but responds very well to green)
Favorite Car: Fast
Favorite food: Not water
Favorite sport: Ice Hockey
Strength(s): Smiling, general TCB (taking care of business)
Weakness(es): Excessive drooling
---------

I have to say that I do not see Gavin NEAR as much as I...
A. should
B. would like to
Gavin probebly smiles more than any baby I have ever seen. I remember one night when we are all leaving to go home, our family was standing around in the doorway. Gavin literally looked at every single person (about 10 of us) and smiled at them. I'm talkin, looking at you in the eye, waiting till you smile back, kind of smile. I am a firm believer that 99% of all babies look alike, and therefore are not especially cute. I am not impressed by babies. I realize that at 11 months, you are just leaving the baby stage, but Gavin was/is one incredibly cute baby/toddler.
And I'm not being biased, either.

I give you exhibit "A"...

ohhh...not so fast

My friend, Tim has a really cute website where he talks about the Baby Bears. In is recent entry, he quoted The News-Gazette as for the top 10 reasons the Cardinals won't win it all. The News-Gazette...the next best thing for a Cubs 1st place prediction next to Vine Line. I'll give you the top ten, and then give you the My Turn take on them. Ours will be in ().


Top Ten Reasons the Cardinals Won't Win It All:

1. Matt Morris' shoulder (Morris' rehab start in Minors, 6 IP, 2 runs. Mark Prior in minor league rehab start: 6 innings, 7 runs)
2. Tony LaRussa's brain (how many World Championships and Pennants has Dusy Baker won?)
3. Scott Rolen's knee (Sure didn't stop him from hitting the game winning home run off of Roger Clemens in game 7)
4. Albert Pujols' heel (How many games has he missed because of this? None.)
5. Reggie Sanders' age (Heck yeah, but he still hits better than DuBois)
6. Larry Walker's back (Cards only need his bat in the playoffs)
7. Mark Grudzielanek's glove (that's weird. He's better than what we had last year. You'd think that'd help us)
8. Jason Isringhausen's hip (Sure didn't hurt his 47 saves last year)
9. David Eckstein's height (height?!?! is this basketball?)
10. Chris Carpenter's elbow (Oh,, you must have meant to say Chris Carpenter's 15 Wins and 3.46 ERA)

So, now 17 reasons why the Cubs will disapiont their fans again this year. Maybe some of them can read these reasons and stop blaming their wives, curses, and Bartman.

Top 17 reasons the Cubs will dissapoint again.

17. Jeromy Burnitz's strikeouts
16. Corey Patterson's "potential"
15. Carlos Zambrano's head.
14. Mark Prior's Achilles tendon
13. Kerry Wood's shoulder
12. Mark Prior's elbow
11. Kerry Wood's right triceps
10. Dusty Baker's arm bands (does he realize that he doesn't need those to manage?)
9. Michael Barrett's mouth
8. Carlos Zambrano's temper
7. Nomar Garciapara's Achilles tendon
6. Nomar Garciapara's groin injury
5. Nomar Garciapara's wrist
4. Mike Remlinger's age
3. Latroy Hawkin's pitching abilities
2. Joe Borowski's hopes
1. They have two brand new announcers to place their blame on

Game on!

johnny 5 is alive!

Here's the 5th caption contest. This week's prize is just in time for the summer. A pair of My Turn Isotoner gloves. That's two gloves with M on the thumb, Y on the pointer, T on the middle, U on the ring, and RN on the pinky fingers. These are dope.
Here's this weeks picture...

what did you just say??

These past couple of days have really been an eye opener to me. As many or all of you know, I work in a city middle school. I often quote kids on the playground, or kids saying things about my wife and whether or not I do indeed own a *playa card*.
I do own one, by the way.
Probebly the biggest suprise of my first year in teaching would be the absolute disrespect kids have for anyone who is older than them. I know this is sounding old, but when I was this age, I thought that anyone older than me was the coolest. I always loved it whenever my older siblings would bring home a friend, and I would be all nervous and trying to be cool around them. It seems that now, kids don't give a rip about anyone older than them. There is no respect. There is no realization of the fact that these people have been through more, know more, and deserve decent conversation.
Let me give you a small sample of some things I have heard from students at my school to me JUST this week. And no, none of these are students in special ed.

"Shut up"
"Okay, liar."
"ooooooh. just wait unit I see you out in County Market somewhere"
"Don't talk to me"
"Shut up"
"Shut the #$%@ up"


Unbelievable.

Praise Jesus!!!

This is how Kortny and I felt tonight when she got a job offer ...

wierdest morning ever.

On Monday mornings, Adam, Matt, and I get together at 6 for our *accountability* group. We call it a *Life Transformation Group* or, LTG for all the kids out there. We talk about life, our walk with Jesus, and we usually don't hold any punches when it comes to calling each other out. We meet at Aunt Sonya's Restaurant, and the only people there besides us are a group of 6 or so old farmers. Our waiter every morning is Michael, and he always has three glasses of water on the same table every morning when we walk in. We are at the point now, where Matt and I say we'll have *the usual*. For some reason, Adam never was that cool, and never ordered the same thing.
So, this week, I drive up to The Sonya, and the parking lot is packed. Hmm. This is weird. Its 5:55 and The Sonya is packed. They don't open 'till 6. A few possibilities went through my head.
1. People in Champaign have gotten REALLY excited about the game tonight and every one wanted a little local flavor, so they went to The Sonya.
2. The hotel right by had a lot of people there over night, so they parked here.
3. People are throwing me a surprise birthday party 5 months and 9 days early.

That's until I saw, through the windows, the U of I pep band and cheerleaders. Then, my friend Matt, pointed out that not only was there a full pep band and cheerleading squad in INSIDE the restaurant, but he showed me the 2 Channel 2 CBS news from Chicago vans that were there. We went in, and Michael greeted us as normal. We didn't get to sit at our table, and there was not water sitting there. So, as we started transforming each other’s lives. I started saying, "You know guys, I've really been struggling with--" when the U of I pep band started playing their fight song.
In a restaurant.
At 6:10 in the morning.
Now, I'm a former band nerd. Even in college. But, I draw the line at 6 am on Monday morning, in a small, now over-crowded cafe.
So there we were. In a small cafe restaurant at 6 am on Monday morning. With about 25 pep band members, 15 cheerleaders, a news reporter, and her crew. And us.
To make matters worse, when Michael came to our table he told us that they would be coming back to the reporter every 10 minutes.
Every 10 minutes?!?!!? What the heck?!!?
The band would play a song, and the cheerleaders would cheer. Every 10 minutes. After one cheer/song thingy, one of the cheerleaders kinda yelled, "Beer!". I suppose this was to be a funny college thing, but not one other cheerleader did it along with her. Maybe they didn't because they, I don't know, knew they were on TV. So, this girl yell beer, but halfway through the word realizes she is the only one. So her voice cracks and goes down to about half the original volume.
See, I've always said that nothing positive comes out of beer.
So, this would happen every 10 minutes. Traffic report from Champaign. Turns out, Susan Carlson is the traffic reporter for the CBS. Now, it's funny, but I didn't see monitors where she saw the traffic in Chicago. So, I don't know how she knew that Wacker drive had a 3 car accident on it.

So, you're telling me that some dude in Chicago was telling some lady in Champaign who was telling people in Chicago what the traffic was?
Efficient.


Loud.


Annoying.



By far, the wierdest Monday morning of my life.

caption contest. 4

This week's prize is a My Turn lawn chair. It's green, and is made of the stretchy long plastic rope-type stuff.

And isn't it fitting that this is the 4th caption contest on the 4th month with the Final 4 this weekend?
That's cause My Turn is the epicenter of the universe, people. Let's not forget that.

So, let's have at it, kiddos...

serious post #3

Last night was rough. We and most of you have been praying and praying hard for Kortny's job. To some this might not seem like a big deal. Not all know how hard it is to get an Elementary teaching job. Over 175 applicants apply for the average job out there. The school we were waiting to hear from didn't offer her the job.
So, last night I was really questioning God's faithfulness in a lot of this. I mean, when so many people are praying, how come we don't see results? I know the answer. It's because God has his plan, and it's going to work out better than we can even think about right now. That we must learn patience. That God's timing is not our timing. But to be honest, that didn't really help last night and through this morning. I mean, how can we move do Champaign for His calling and ministry, trusting he will take care of this, and it not happen? These are all things I was thinking about at 2:30 in the morning.

1 Corinthians 15:58: "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

But it seems that when one door closes, another opens. Today, by 9 am, God has allready been working. We can see Him doing His thang. Some other doors are opening. Not huge. But definately some signs of hope.

Psalm 30:5
"Though the sorrow, may last through the night, the joy comes in the morning"

Getting over-optimistic?
Trying not to.

Will Satan win?
Not a chance.

thank you, brian

On Guster's website yesterday, Brian (the percussionist) had a picture on their studio journal of their engineer laughing while looking at a computer. He said that it was most likley of him watching a news reporter falling down while stomping grapes and freaking out into the microphone.
So, I emailed Brian and asked him where I could find this clip, and he e-mailed me back and sent me the link. Enjoy this little nugget of fun.

thanks, warren. i love you.

As I tried to do a couple of days ago...
I have had the same hair do for 6 years. I'm tired of it. Welcome back, parted hair...

wrestle mania 40

I wrestled Matt Ahrens last night. We moved a table out of the way, and wrestled. Some would say that he won. I like to think of it as I won. Matt said that he wrestled in 9th grade, and he definitely had the moves to make me believe him. But I had heart. I am pretty confident that if you were there to see this happen, you would be inspired by my courage, spunk, and punctuality. Just like every sports movie recently made, the good guy lost. Yes, I may have lost because he "pinned" me down. Yes, I may have lost because I couldn't "breathe". Or maybe even, yes, I may have lost because I still can't "move" my left leg.
But much like Friday Night Lights, Mystery Alaska, and Coach Carter, I will forever remain in the hearts a winner in the eyes of those who witnessed this. I suppose now that I will train even harder. With Kortny as my training partner, I will become stronger, more agile, and invincible. This isn't over. This story will end like every sports movie should end. Like every sports movie made before 1995. With the underdog winning. Not losing. Winning.
I am and will be a winner.

i hate you, picture.

So, I tried to upload a picture on here with my hair parted. It's a great picture, but the joke backfired on me. Dangit. I feel so stupid. If anyone knows how to post your own pics on blogs, let me know. I will reward you hansomly.
Today is the first day back to work. Spring break was nice. The thing that is getting me through now, is the thought that the amount of time I have to work until my next break is shorter than my next break is going to be. Catch that? Cause if you did, it's awesome.
Spring break was a tease-a sneak peak, if you will, of the summer vacation ahead. Nothing to do, and a whole lot of time to do it. I hope we don't make ourselves TOO busy, and I hope we don't make Tim Lybarger feel TOO bad about himself being a Cubs fan. Because we knew we were going to be able to sleep in this past week, we nailed-thats right-NAILED a blanket over our window in the bed room. We are rock stars like that.

Kortny has an interview today. Pray at 4:45. Please.

No Electoral Votes, here...

I need your help. Here are some possible finalists for a name for the band that I am in with Nathan and Lynnelle Funk. I will list some names, and you let me know which one you like the best. I will not provide any explanation for the names, so you can just go off of the name itself. I love you!

Here are the names:
_____________
Life of Riley
Some Relevance
Edison Central
Deeper Grey
Redeye Flight
_____________


Allright, let's have at it!

Juiced up.

I have to say "I am sorry" for not posting something since Sunday. I'm on spring break, and enjoying every cotton-pickin' second of it. I really did go out and pick some cotton yesterday. Today I'm going to be putting it through my new "Eli Whitney Cotton Gin 2000" today. It's gonna be in incredible.
I am an equal opportunity basher. By this, I mean, when someone from the Cardinals does something stupid, I have no bones in admitting it. Their announcer, Wayne Hagan, accused Colorado Rockies 1st baseman Todd Helton of being on "the juice". When Helton was outraged by this, Hagan backed up and said he was referring to the juice as being Creatine. And saying he was sorry and all that stuff.
Larry Walker, one of Helton's former teammates and now Cardinals Right fielder, said about Helton:

"Do I think Todd took steroids? Not a chance," Walker said. "I've seen the guy naked, and it can be disgusting at times. If he did take it, he's not putting it in the right spot."

Beautiful, Larry. That's why we traded for this guy.

3 oh, it's a magic number.

Yeah, it is. It's a magic number.
Today marks the third Caption Friday. Hey, this time through, let's try and get some more captions here. I think we only had 3 entries last week. Running out of funny???

Erin Tarr made her My Turn debut last week, so big ups to her.

But, while I have your attention, I will stick with the 3 theme and give you three things to chew on before we get to the picture.

1. I have successfully figured out how to scare off a goose or many geese. It's pretty incredible. If you see me in person some time, ask me to give you a demonstration. You will not be disapointed.

2. I was helping students cross Green Street today because on Friday, that's my duty post. I walked out and was helping a student cross the busy street. A police car just so happened to be the front car that had to stop. He just sat there with is window down until I walked to his window and he ask (very demeaning) "Are you the OFFICIAL crossing guard"? I felt like saying "Hey, the jerk store called. They're running out of you. And no, sir. I'm just some schmo who got up early and decided to help kids cross the street". Wow. Why can't more police be like Joel Sanders?

3. Rick Ankiel went 2 for 2 with a home-run yesterday.

Okay, here's the pic...


Remember, the My Turn beach ball carried over to this week, so in honor of Spring Break starting today at 2:40 central, the winner will get the My Turn beach ball and a bottle of My Turn SPF 15 sun block.

Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity, you'll get three. It's a magic number...

junior high girls II (that's sweedish for 2)

We've already talked about one group of people that act like Jr. High girls this week: Chicago Cubs fans.
The other is Kortny and Jeremiah. Kortny and Jeremiah are at their apartment every night anticipating a phone call from Principals of schools. See, she is waiting to hear from a couple of Principals about getting interviews and others about her actual interview.
So, we sit around our table and watch the phone. The TV is not on. There is no music on. Just the sound of our increasingly heavy breathing. And whenever the Motorola phone rings, our hearts instantly skip one beat as we wait to see who is calling on the caller-ID. Last night it was Adam Tarr's cell phone.
Dangit.
So, goes our nights. Just like Jr. High girls on Friday nights wait for the phone call from the Point Guard of the 7th grade Junior High School 7th grade basketball team that just won it's sectional. It would be so incredible if he were to just call.

junior high girls

I really value our faithful readers of My Turn. So, I'm not one to point out the short-comings of people who read our work. However, I have been very amused by one of the reader's web sites (link on the right) that talks about the Cubs. For the sake of discussion, we'll call him *Tim*.
Here is the amusing thing. It seems that this guy really has a problem with the Cardinals. One look at his posts and you will find that most if not all of them have references to the Cardinals that bash them. Some posts are completely dedicated to this. When I see this, it makes me, as a Cardinal fan, feel good. Because if the Cardinals really were as horrible as he makes them seem, then he wouldn't even mention them.
Much like Junior high girls. Junior high girls like to talk mean about other girls. Is it because the other girls really are bad girls? Sometimes. But a lot of the time, it's because they are either jealous of her or a threat to themselves. Pretty girls talking bad about the other pretty girls. Do you hear *Tim* bashing the Pirates? No. They are not a threat. Nor are they good.

See, for Cubs fans, if they end the season ahead of the Cardinals, it's a successful season. For Cardinals fans, if they end ahead of the Cubs (oh, say by 16 games or so), that's fine, but we really just care about getting to the playoffs. The Cubs could beat the Cardinals in every single head to head match-up, but as long as the Cards get in the post-season, that's fine by me. Sure, sometimes, I might mention the Cubs. But consistently have entire posts dedicated to the bashing of the opposition? Insecure, are we????

I wanted to see what it's like to do that. So, *Tim*, in the spirit of your posts, I dedicate this entire entry to bashing the rival team. Oh, and this post is a response to all of yours, so feel no need to give a comeback.


How'd that work out for ya?



Well, that's good. The first step is admiting it...



Ahhhhhhh. The friendly confines.



Excuse me, ma'am? The rally cap is traditionally only for one game at a time. It won't make up for the past 100 years.



Oh, let's see. Let's blame this one on the "Sports Illustrated Curse". Yeah, that one will work.


Carefullllll, Kerry. You don't want to hurt your shoulder again. THIS is the year you'll win 20 games!


Forget our Shortstop who dropped the DP ball. Let's blame this guy!


2003? Don't worry, Mark. The team you're on now can actually GET to the World Series.


How come its only the teams that haven't won for a LONG time that have "Believe" signs and awesome rally bracelets?


Exactly.

I have 10 fingers. She has 6 strings.

Abe requested an entry on my life as a musician. I will start it off by saying, no, it did not start with me doing Neil Diamond covers in Decatur at the age of 13.

It was much less exciting than that.
I was a Sophomore at Washington Community High School. I was an average kid. A's and B's in school, played the Tuba in the marching band, played summer ball, captain of the soccer team, and worked at a bike shop. I didn't have any real friends. I hung out with some kids, but it was mostly to play hockey and stuff like that. Conversation went as far as Brett Hull or Greg Jefferies, and that was about it. Nothing deeper. For Christmas that year, I asked for a guitar, because I thought, well, to tell you the truth...I really don't know why I asked for one.
However, about 2 months before Christmas, I found the guitar in my brother's closet, where my parents were hiding it. So, just about every other day when I would get home from school before every one else, I would get it out and look at it. I just last month confessed this to my mother. I kid you not.
I started playing it that day and on my first day learned the song "Free Falling". To this day my brother John makes fun of me and tells me how friggin annoying it was to hear me playing that riff over and over and over and over.
I really got tired of playing guitar and actually stopped playing it all together for about 6 months. I started a band later in my Sophomore year with some friends and we were called "The 5th Vibe".
We should have been called "The 5th Sucky Band"
Wow, we were horrible.
So, my family moved to Decatur where I attended Mt. Zion high school, in Mt. Zion. Our church started a contemporary worship service (and, yes, it is successful, Erin) where I played guitar. Dave Burke was a praise singer. I was definatelly cooler than him. But he did get to sing next to Beth Cox-Johnson, his crush. So, I guess he wins.
I was in a band in Mt. Zion called "Worm Circus" with some guys that were all about the music and the weed. They were actually really good, but I was only with them for a small cup of coffee. So, my buddy Nick Rozanski and I started a band called "Generic Live". Dave Burke came into the band and played the Djembe'. We weren't half bad, but we were just out to have fun. Goof around, and play gigs. It was a lot of fun.
It was in Decatur that I purchased my first dream guitar. I went to a Jars of Clay concert and saw Steve Mason (from Decatur) playing a sparkle Les Paul. I became so in love with it, that I actually carried a picture of it in my wallet. True. Over a year later, I found one and purchased it.
Here she is. Try not to lust...



Then, I went off to college. This is where I really learned why, for all these years I had been playing guitar. I learned my Freshman year, that God was calling me to be a full-time worship pastor. I was asked to start a worship band at the Wesley Foundation there, and so I did. We named the band "foam" which stood for fishers of all men. Over my span of 4 years at EIU, foam had over 30 members rotate in and out each week and year. Foam is still going strong, and actually just a couple of weeks ago led worship at a high school youth retreat for a couple hundred kids.
Also, while at EIU, I participated in what was probebly my most influencial experience as a worship leader and musician. I traveled for two summers with a band called Harvest Ministry Teams. Harvest is a well-known worship band in the Midwest that travels and leads worship at concerts, festivals, camps and churches. So, for 8 weeks, each summer, I got to pack up in a van and travel around the country worshiping God every day. I got to play in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, played in Nashville in front of 7,000 people, played at Agape music festival, and tons of other awesome stuff. It's not even that we got to play at these cool places, but just that God gave me the opportunity to do it all in His name.
As a musician's stand point, playing with Harvest was the best. If anyone sings every sing day, twice a day, for 8 weeks, your voice is going to get stronger. I've always thought that any guitar playing or voice I might have is all from working at it. I am NOT a naturall singer or musician. Its wierd, but my only natural skill I have is at hockey. Go figure. I also got to play with some really incredible musicians. One, for example, name was Theo. Theo plays bass. Theo plays bass really well. Theo went to Berkley college of music in Boston. Just to give you and idea of how incredible he is, when people go into Berkley they are rated on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being the best. Most people go into Berkley as a 10, or 9, SOME at 8. Their goal is that when you graduate, you go up a couple of points. Don't get me wrong, if you even get accepted to Berkley you are a stud. A STUD. Okay, so back to the rating school. Theo WENT IN as a 2.
When I was at school, my dream job was to be a full-time worship pastor for a brand new church for 20 somethings.
Here comes Andy Adams.
Andy told me that he was starting a new church in Champaign/Urbana that was going to be reaching to a group of people that have not been reached to yet. 20-30 somethings.
Nice!
Kortny and I prayed and prayed and prayed, and we took the call. We were both always planning on living in St. Louis, so we really didn't want to live in Champaign. But God told us this is where we need to be. So we went. We trusted God that he would find Kortny a job, and we are still waiting on that. Sometimes we get really fed up here that she doesn't have a job, and we loose sight as to why we are here. We still keep on trying to have a good outlook on it.
So, that leads us to today. To where if you come to the Park Inn on Sunday mornings at 9 or 11, you will find little ol' Jeremiah rockin out to Jesus with the likes of Toby Curtwright, Andy Burnett, and Joel Sanders. We hope that soon, Tim Lybarger will be joining on stage with his turntables. I will post on that when it happens, I expect each and every one of you who is reading this to be there.

redbird nation

Okay, so this is my final entry on this subject. For those of you who don't care about baseball, we will get back to other subjects soon. Remember, tomorrow is the start of a new Caption Contest!!!
There was a great blog called "Redbird Nation" (new link) that is a must read for any cards fan out there. Brian Gunn (who I don't know) had been doing this for 2 years and stopped doing it just a couple of months ago. If you read anything from Nov 3rd and back, its some really great stuff.
Anyway, he sort of came out of retirement to write a piece on the Ankiel drama. I thought it was very well said, and deserved a mention here. It's long, but if you read House's blog, thats nothing new to you. Enjoy...

Rick Ankiel, Ex-Pitcher
by Brian Gunn
March 10, 2005

By the time he took his first legal drink, Rick Ankiel was already an accomplished major league pitcher. As a teenager he was both the High School Pitcher of the Year and the Minor League Player of the Year. At age 20, his first full year in the bigs, he won 11 games for the Cardinals, struck out over a man per inning, and logged an ERA a run below the league average. He possessed a mid-90s fastball and a devastating curve – the best I’ve ever seen – and his future seemed unimaginably vast.

Then one afternoon everything fell apart. You all know the story: he started Game 1 of the 2000 NLDS against the Braves, was sailing along with a big lead in the third inning, then walked four of the next eight hitters and uncorked five wild pitches. His throws hit off the catcher’s glove, hit the backstop, hit everything but the Durham Bull. It was a disaster, an agonizing meltdown on national TV.

The years since have been both strange and oddly familiar for Rick Ankiel, a ceaseless round of hopes and disappointments, one on top of the other. Last fall, after an odyssey that included maddening control problems and Tommy John surgery, Ankiel made a triumphant return to the major leagues. He pitched only 10 innings, but he struck out nine, walked only one, and flashed the same brilliant stuff he had as a rookie years back. With a solid stint in the Puerto Rican winter league, the Cards’ brain trust silently penciled him in as a starter in place of the recovering Matt Morris.

But just over a week ago Ankiel fell off the wagon once again. In a series of simulated at-bats against the heart of the Cards’ lineup, Ankiel began “feathering” his pitches – several thudded into the dirt in front of home plate, and some sailed to the back of the batting cage. Of the 23 pitches he threw that day, only three were strikes.

Yesterday Ankiel announced that he was quitting the pitching business altogether. It was unsettling news, but certainly not shocking. If you’ve followed the saga of Rick Ankiel, you’re far from shockable at this point. But that doesn’t make the breakdown of his career any less mysterious.

Everyone in St. Louis has a pet theory about what went wrong with Rick Ankiel, the same way every Oxford scholar has his own explanation for the outbreak of World War I. One theory holds that Ankiel suffered from a kind of nerve disorder, that his sense of kinesthetic awareness had gotten out of whack.

Another theory blames Tony La Russa. After all, it was La Russa who threw poor Ankiel into the pressure cooker as his Game 1 starter in the playoffs. Delay his turn in the rotation and everything would be fine today – or so the thinking goes. A related theory says Ankiel went wild because his regular catcher, Mike Matheny, wasn’t behind the plate on that fateful day in 2000. (Call it the Curse of Carlos Hernandez.)

Still others chalk up Ankiel’s problems to sheer performance anxiety. If you look at the athletes who suffered symptoms similar to Ankiel’s, you’ll notice a common thread: nearly all of them ran into mental roadblocks when they had time to become conscious (even hyper-conscious) of what they were doing. Think of Steve Blass on the mound, alone with his thoughts as he goes into his windup. Same goes for Nick Anderson at the free throw line, Ian Baker-Finch lining up a short putt, Mackey Sasser lobbing a throw to the pitcher, or Chuck Knoblauch making a routine toss to first. Notably, it’s not hitters – whose actions are more reflexive – who suffer from this kind of anxiety. It’s the guys who have time to think.

So what was Rick Ankiel thinking when he was out there on the mound? This tender article by Pat Jordan, which ran in the New York Times a few years ago, paints Ankiel as a kid who suffered from excess sensitivity, who fed into all the pressures that bore down on him. In one heartbreaking passage, Ankiel describes his childhood: “Well, I was goofy. I walked like a klutz. I spilled milk at the dinner table every night.” Apparently he never lost his self-consciousness, even on the baseball diamond. “I was terribly shy,” he said. “Maybe it was because my dad yelled at me so much. I was afraid to mess up.”

Ankiel’s father, of course, was one of those pushy Little League dads who later did prison time for dealing narcotics. By all accounts his son is the nicest guy in the world – a gleeful imp beloved by his teammates – but Jordan suggests that this same lack of guile may have made Ankiel defenseless when it came to the cauldron of big-league competition. It’s a sad but unfortunate truth that good people don’t always make good athletes. In fact, one sometimes suspects that churlishness – the ability to walk over rivals, a taste for blood – is a positive asset in the world of sports. Nice guys finish last and all.

So what happens next for Rick Ankiel? He says he’s going to try his hand as a full-time hitter, and there are some wishful thinkers who’d have you believe that Ankiel is a legitimate “blue chip prospect” with the bat. These people will tell you that Ankiel has a lifetime minor-league slugging percentage of .575, that he yanked 10 homers as a part-time DH in the Appalachian League, and that he just may be the second coming of another Cards pitcher-turned-outfielder named Stan Musial.

But it’s silly for anyone – and this includes the St. Louis Cardinals – to indulge this fantasy. By the time he was Ankiel’s age, Musial had already won two MVP awards. Ankiel, on the other hand, has struck out in exactly one-third of his at-bats in the major leagues. His on-base percentage above A ball is a miniscule .252. He is not a real hitter by any conceivable stretch of the imagination. It’s unfortunate, then, that Ankiel is flirting with the outfield, because it won’t allow him or the Cardinals to truly turn the page. He’ll be just another spring training curiosity, grist for sportswriters on a slow day in March – like Garth Brooks in a Padres uniform, only more depressing.

Some people have speculated that the whole pitcher-turned-outfielder scenario is a ruse. The Cardinals are out of options with Ankiel, see, so they can’t send him to the minors without exposing him to waivers. But if other teams think Ankiel is nothing more than a hitting project, they won’t claim him, especially if it means keeping him on their major-league roster all year long. Perhaps Jocketty was simply scaring off potential suitors yesterday when he said of Ankiel, “He said he’s not going to pitch. If someone claims him to be a pitcher, it’ll be a costly error.” But this conspiracy theory presumes a lot of work for very little in return. For all intents and purposes it’s best to consider Rick Ankiel retired from baseball.

Ankiel now joins a notorious list of “might’ve beens” from baseball history – Tony Conigliaro, Herb Score, Pete Reiser, Mark Fidrych, Steve Busby, and, of course, countless people you’ve never heard of. But we shouldn’t exactly feel sorry for the guy. By my count he made at least $4 million by the age of 25 ($1.5 million in salary over five years, plus a $2.5 million signing bonus) and, you know, he did get to play in the major leagues (which is more than you can say for flameouts like Brien Taylor or Josh Hamilton).

And let’s face it, after Ankiel hangs up his cleats for good, he’ll follow a career path not unlike countless Americans before him. I mean, very few of us get paid to follow our dreams. By the time we reach age 25, most of us have already set aside our ball gloves or our guitars or our paintbrushes and we’ve started looking for more practical ways to settle down, pay the rent, make do. In a very real sense, then, when we mourn for Rick Ankiel we may as well be mourning ourselves.

For two years, Brian Gunn ran the Redbird Nation, "A St. Louis Cardinals Obsession Site." You can purchase the Redbird Nation book -- a compendium of the best of his writing -- at the site.

i'll miss ya, rick.

Today is a really really sad day for St. Louis Cardinals fans. Rick Ankiel retired today as a pitcher and is now converting to be an outfielder. Now before you laugh, take a step back and try to see how heart-breaking this is.
Ankiel at one time had been thought of by many, as the most promising young arm in the Majors. In his rookie season, 2000, he won 11 games, struck out 194 batters in 175 innings, and was 2nd in the Rookie of the Year award voting. He threw a 95-97 mph fastball, a wicked slider and one of thost electric curves you will EVER see. That same season, he started the first game of the playoffs for the Cards. He threw wild pitch after wild pitch, and was never the same. He had worked for 4 YEARS to get back to where he was. Last year he pitched very well out of the Cards bullpen in September, and did well in winterball as well. This spring, he had one outing where he was as Pujols described, "spectacular", and one where he, again, struggled to find control. However, he was never wild.
Today, he announced that he will be moving to the outfield, where he will try to make the team that way. In the minors, he lead the Appelacian league in Homeruns, average, and total bases. As a pitcher. So, there is some hope here.
I find this very sad, not as a Cardinals fan, but as a person. Here is a guy who grew up with no mother, and who's father was and still is in jail. Not a good up-bringing and still made something of himself. Then, with the national media all up in his bidness all the time, he was like "get up off me national media" and worked his tail off for 4 years. If you are a Cardinal fan, Cub fan, anything...if you take a step back and think about it, it is a sad story.

"My concern is just taking care of me as a person, and whatever else happens will fall into place," Ankiel said.

Tony LaRussa once said this is a game that will break your heart. This guy's career proves it. Good luck, Rick.

So, in respect to Ankiel, we give an Adam Tarr and Jeremiah Cox holla...RICKANKIEELLL!!!

Rick Ankiel the pitcher 1999-2005



Rick Ankiel the outfielder 2005 - ?




ps. john has a post from earlier today.

PMQ

On the first Monday of every month, the leaders of our church get together for a leader's meeting. Quest is a new church in Champaign/Urbana that is supposed to be very postmodern/emerging generation/relavent/real/20-30 something attitude/anythingcool. Matt Arhens has always said that I am the poster boy for the postmodern Quest. Tonight, TJ (the_dude) made and filled out what he calls the "Post Modern Quotient" (PMQ). This is where he made 10 different sub-categories to rate someone on how post-modern they are.
Here is its:

Post-Modern Quotient (PMQ)
for Jeremiah Cox

9/10 Hair (spiky-ness, extra points for "tips")
8/8 Clothing (MTV V.J.-esque, appropriate mix of Gap/Buckle/Urban Outfitters & thrift store)
5/5 Speech (casual and fluent use of "ghetto-speak" aka "ebonics")
6/7 Music (at least 50% of favorite bands should be "indie" or unknown)
9/10 Computer use (Apple preferred)
9/10 Sense of Humor (should quote Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell)
6/7 Tatoos/Body Piercing (extra points for Chinese characters)
6/7 Politics (Note: Republicans are NOT post-modern)
6/6 Underwear (Boxers 6/6, BoxerBriefs 3/6, Tighty Whities 0/6)
10/10 Accessories (glasses, rings, big leather things on wrist)

SCORE 74/80

When Matt saw this score, he yelled, " A 74?!?!?! I've never seen a score that high!!!"
I felt like the golden child. I felt like Neo in the Matrix. (dang. Did I just make a Matrix refrence? That is so not post-modern.)



ps. Pujols hit 2 homers today. Nice to know some things never change.

Video killed the radio star

Nathan Funk emailed me a MP3 of a new song he wrote. I got chills up my spine when I heard it. Nathan Funk is a great song writer.

We are supposed to hear on Friday abot Kortny's job interview.

Pray.

The Cardinals won yesterday and the Cubs lost 10-1.

It is really stupid to care about spring training.

I am ready to go on Spring break.

I have to make another video this week. Can I borrow 8 hours from you so I can get it done? Thanks.

I found out that if you Email Tim Lybarger something to put on his website, he will only cut and paste the stuff he wants on there.

I found out that I was really really tired at school today.

I found out this morning that this was the first Monday of the month. That means I leave home at 5:30 am, and get back at 8pm.

I found out that there will be no hockey this year. I really thought this was the Blues' year.

Dang.

caption contest

My Turn does not usually get many new entries come the weekend. That's because The Editors of My Turn know how to work hard...and play hard. So, I had the idea that on Fridays we will start a new feature called, "Caption Contest".

As soon as the picture is posted, to Sunday at midnight, post a caption for the picture we put on here. The winner, selected by The Editors will win a "My Turn" t-shirt. Some weeks we might even give out a "My Turn" mug. Perfect for drinking hot chocolate. Or Hot milk. Or hot water. Pretty much anything but coffee.

So, with the talks this week about baseball, we will start off with a baseball pic. Don't worry, we won't always have a sports picture. But, with the recent talks of steriods and Glenallen Hill being a far superior player to Albert Pujols, we will start off with this dandy...

summer lovin'

This is the stretch in the school year where there are no breaks. I have hit a wall now. School is actually going pretty well compared to the rest of the year, but I definatelly am ready for summer break. I just kind of have a numb feeling walking around the school. Actually, the numb feeling is kinda cool. I've never done drugs, so I guess this is what its like?
This entry has gone down hill quick.
Speaking of hills, remember the Cubs' bench/outfielder, Glennallen Hill? What a stupid name.
I digress.
So here is a list of things that I am looking forward to this summer, hope to do this summer, and things I totally plan on NOT doing this summer.

Things I am looking forward to:
1. Not teaching
2. Playing baseball video games
3. Playing real-life baseball
4 Looking at my wife in a bikini
5. Hearing the Cardinals game on the radio while driving with my window rolled down. Ahhhhhhh.
6. Sleeping in everyday if I cotton-picking want to

Things I hope to do:
1. Go to Paris, France
2. Go to 35 or more Cardinals games
3. Buy a new Mac Mini
4. Run/Ride my bike at least 50 miles a week
5. Looking at my wife in a bikini at least 73 times
6. Get tan
7. Learn how to slam-dunk a basketball

Things I will definately NOT do:
1. Teach
2. Get up at 6:15 in the morning every day
3. Watch "The Notebook"
4. Cheer for the Cubs
5. Steal something from a store
6. Slam-dunk a basketball

high socks

So, "my turn" has been heated a little more than usual lately. I still stand that Dee Brown is not a "bad" person, but he really dropped the ball on this. If you have so much on your plate, don't commit to something.

Anyway, like I was saying, because we have been so hard hitting lately, I will do an entry on something not so hard hitting. That would be the opposing teams when they face these St. Louis Cardinals young pitchers. When you see these pics, notice how every one of them is styling the old-old schoool high socks. That's because these young studs are in an organization that has a long history of playing classy, fundamental, winning baseball.
Check it!

Anthony Reyes
"I told him last year, 'When you get called up, it's probably lights-out for us.'"
- Mark Prior



Brad Thompson
-Threw a record 49 consecutive scoreless innings last year for AA Smokies



Rick Ankiel


Adam Wainwright


Chris Lambert


Like I said; every one of them rockin' out the high socks. Love it!
I only wish I could still list Danny Haren with these guys.

chump.

Follow the arrow that points to The Chump.
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Dee Brown commited to come to our school today and talk to a group of the students. Honestly, I have NEVER seen a group of people, young or old, get this jacked up about seeing someone. You would have thought that Shaq himself was going to be in the house. Dee was originally supposed to come at 9. At 8:45, his publisist called and said that they would have to pospone until 10 am. The kids sat in the Auditorium anxiously awaiting Dee. He never showed. I've never seen a group of kids so crushed about anything.

Good lesson, Dee. Way to teach these impressionable 6, 7, and 8th graders that it's okay that you don't show up to something. It's okay to commit to something and not follow through. It's even okay to not call and tell someone that, "sorry, I can't make it".

Epecially the kids at our school. If there was ever a school that needed a postive role model, this is it. The only lesson learned today was that its okay to do whatever you want...as long as you are a basketball star. And the sorry thing is that these kids, and even some adults will dismiss it because he has a lot on his plate. Because he plays for a #1 ranked team. Because he is just so darn adorable.

When on the court, Dee is the man. He is "king of the fast break". He is cash money with the 3's. He energizes the team. He is a leader. He's great at stealing the ball.

Well today, Dee, you just dropped it.

look at me now!!!

Let's play a little "before and after", just for poops and giggles.

Barry Bonds

Before...




After...




Mark McGwire

Before...



After...



Sammy Sosa

Before...



After...



I am really proud of these boys. I mean, they eat healthy, take their vitamins, work hard, and become really strong. They can hit a baseball real far. And hard.

How does someone's head get bigger? Literally? How does someone's head literally get bigger?

As far as the baseball cards, Donruss had an ultra-awesome splatter paint. Can I splatter paint my room, mom??? Please!!! Splatter paint is so cool!!
I also love Topps' beautiful wood grain finish their baseball cards.
"What kind of wood is this?"
"I think it's pine"
"Ohhh, pine is good."
"Yeah. Pine's allright."

a great lookin' group of people

I am stressed out to the max today. It is really unbelievable. At one point today, three of my kids had a crisis at the same time. AT THE SAME TIME. One just got punched in the stomach, one lost his binder and was freaking out, and one was being sent to my office because he got kicked out the in-school suspension room. At the same time. Un-freaking-believable.
So, like any good teacher would do, I went to my office and looked up my name in Google to get some enjoyment out of something. I was not disapointed:



Excellent work again, Google. Excellent work.

By Scott Wentworth

The organ player sitting at his perch high above Bloggers Field saw the manager touch his left hand as he approached the mound. The signal to the bullpen must have been received because within moments a panel in the outfield wall swung open revealing a black chasm, not unlike the gap in David Letterman's teeth.

From this darkness emerged a figure unfamiliar to the 1,908 fans in attendance for the first of a three-game series between the River City Champs and the Lakeview Challengers. Earlier that day the Champs had summoned relief pitcher Lefty Gonvalue from the team's Triple-A affiliate, and now the gangly southpaw was jogging across the warning track, on his way to make his Major League debut.

Although the score was now lopsided, the game certainly didn't lack drama. The Challengers jumped on the River City's starter, Gerald Peters, for two runs in the first inning. But after that shaky first frame, Peters settled down and momentum shifted overwhelmingly to the River City side of the field.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second, the Champs' slugging second baseman doubled home a run to cut the lead in half. The Challengers squandered a prime opportunity in their half of the third, stranding two runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the third, the Champs used gritty, aggressive baserunning--which sometimes toed the line of recklessness--to take a 3-2 lead. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, the Champs' All-Star rightfielder unfurled a corkscrew swing that turned a hanging slider into a three-run homer.

Two innings later, former Challenger "Salty" Larry Baines made Lakeview rue the day they traded him for soon-to-be-washed-up pitcher Bert Ernesto. Baines ignited a two-run rally by bunting his way on to first and then stealing second and third. And when the Champs' speed on the basepaths allowed them to push across an insurance tally in the eighth, the score stood at 9-2.

After the rough first inning, Peters' pitching--backed by several spectacular defensive plays by his shortshop--dominated the Challengers. Since the third inning, Lakeview had managed to get only one baserunner into scoring position, and that runner was thrown out stealing thrid by Champs catcher William Groat.

But here in the ninth, Peters' arm was showing signs of fatigue, so the manager decided to give the recent callup a chance to preserve the seven-run lead.

As the rookie hurler galloped toward the mound from left field, the organist tried to think of an appropriate song to entertain the crowd. The organ player felt the lopsided score merited a mellow tune, so he decided on Tom Petty's "Even the Losers (Get Lucky Some Times).

After Gonvalue completed his warmup tosses, he exhaled deeply and considered the situation. Although he was pitching with a big lead, he didn't want to surrender any runs. He knew that even if the Challengers scored just once, making the score 9-3, they would celebrate as if they won the game."

Enough is enough

It seems my blog has been contaminated by Cubs propaganda recently. I was going to post a piece about why Cubs fans are...well... Cubs fans and such. However, I realized that you all read my words very often, and they may become stale to you. That is why I am going to be bringing in an "outsider" to comment on what has happened here over the weekend.
Scott Wentworth is a graduage of a University of Illinois in Urban-Champaign. Scott got all A's. Then, Scott was going to go to Law school to be a lawyer. He decided to pursue a career in journalism instead. He just recently graduate from Northwestern University where I'm sure he again recieved all A's.
Maybe a B.
I doubt it, though.
Scott now works in Chicago and is also a free-lance sports writer for various newspapers in Chicago. I have asked him to write "My Turn" a piece that might finally shed some light on the contamination that has taken place here at "My Turn". We will be posting his piece later today sometime.
For those who need an illustration, consider this....

It's the 9th inning
"My Turn" walks out of the dugout onto to the mound.
We're calling in the lefty.
Cue the music.
Scott Wentworth is coming in to close the game.

Spring Training

Pitchers and catchers report today. Let's get those final four wins this year...

Parent-Awesome Conferences

Captain's Log.
Today marks Day 1 of 2 for Parent-Teacher Conferences.
Being a Special Education Teacher, I don't have as many students as other teachers. Also, because of IEP meetings, most of my students' parents won't come to PTC's because they will just come to the IEP in the Spring. So, from 4-8 tonight and from 8-11 tomorrow, I am in my little cute office. Chillin. Not like a villian. But like Bob Dylan.
I assume most of you reading this, however have met me in person.
How would you feel going to your PTC for your child, the child you brought into this world, care for, love, look after, and you see his teacher is some punk 23 year old with spikey/messy hair, earrings, and a leather cuff on his wrist? Good thing Kortny doesn't want me to get a tatoo, or they'd be staring at a Cross on the underside of his forearm, too.

Parent- "See, Honey. That's what we get for raisin' our kid in a liberal college town. We get one of those metrosexual teachers".

So, if you read this sometime today and tomorrow, drop me a question about your kid's education. I'll respond to you as if we were having our very own cyber-parent-world - wide- web-teacher-conference.
It will be interactive.
It will be incredible.

Band with no name

Reading Dave's blog, I got the idea for my most recent post. Dave is in a band called Jirish. I have not heard them play, but I have a feeling they are going to rock your world hard.
Because this is my blog, however, I will now turn the attention on to myself. If we were in real life and Dave started promoting his band, I would not take that conversation and start talking about my own band.
But this aint no real life. This is thug-life.
Fo' real.
So I am in a band with my friend Nathan Funk and his wife, Lynnelle. Nathan plays acoustic guitar and does the lead vocals. Lynnelle plays violin/fiddle BGV's. I play the mandolin and the acoustic, electric, and slide guitars. I also do BGV's. We have been trying to figure out a name for our band. We sing Christian music. It's all original music, and most of it is worship-centered.
Ideas of a couple of names we have thrown around so far are:
Edison Central (the name of the two schools Lynnele and I teach at. I thought it actually sounds kind of cool)
Life of Riley (name doesn't mean much, but again, thought it sounded cool)

So here's the shiz-nizzle. I am opening up the comments section to ideas for possible names for the band. I know with this invitation there will obviously be some "wacky" or "funny" names that will be written down. That's fine. Actual cool ideas for names is highly encouraged. If by for some chance we end up using the name you thought up, we will reward you with not one, but two great prizes!
1. A free copy of our CD
2. Your name in the "Thank You" section in the cover of the CD when we come out with it this summer.


So, have at it!

Long days

Yesterday and today are days where I pretty much leave The Baytowne before 7 am and don't get back until after 8 pm. These are days that I have to question why I work two jobs and why my checkbook doesn't reflect that. Okay, okay, it's not about the money. I know. I'm sorry. Don't get mad at me. Even though I am busy during all these times, it does allow me to have some extra time to think. To graze in the meadow of thought in the vast valley of my brain. Here are some things that have been circling around in my head yesterday and are on the schedule for today.
1. How sweet is it that Abe and Mandy are engaged? Even more sweet, is how sweet is it that they both never kissed or said "I love you" until they were engaged?
2. I wonder if Mandy will be jealous that Abe has told ME that the loves me. Even though we are not engaged. Hmm.
3. If TJ moves to Boston or San Fransicso, can I have all his computers?
4. If I can't have all his computers when he moves, can I have all his computers when he is dead?
5. I wonder if Motorola can make me a new guitar.
6. I wonder if I sprung my ankle and broke my neck jumping off a basketball rim, who I would rather have right away to ade me. Dave the murse, or Adam the sports therapist?
7. I wonder if Kortny wishes she was not related to Anne.
8. If George W. Bush were to become Principal of my school, would he try to take over the other two middle schools in town?
9. I would love to invite Jerry Sienfeld and Larry David to my apartment so we could play "MVP Baseball 2004".
10. I wonder what teams they would choose to be. I would choose the Cardinals.
11. When I try out for the Cardinals next year, I wonder what position I should try for?
12. What would I do if I went to school one day and nobody else showed up. Would I go home and be happy I have a day off, or should I call Kortny and ask her to buy us some roller blades and we can skate around the school?
13. I wonder what people would do if I yelled out, "French Kissing!!!!!!" in the halls really loud in the middle of class.
14. I wonder what people would do if I yelled out, "French Kissing!!!!!" in the middle of church on Sunday.
15. If I counted by 5's all the way to 100, and I did this 5,00o times, how long would that take me?


Those are some of the thoughts that I think of when I have these long, long, workdays. But really, a big ol' congradulations are in order for Abe and Mandy. And as I told Abe on Sunday, I am very pumped for them, and they deserve it and every other blessing that comes their way.

I think I'm going to sing Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces of Me" at their wedding.

Hoop Dreams

I think it was TJ who told me that he would love to come to my morning duty at school just to hear and see what goes on. Well, something excellent happened this morning.

The following is based on true events.*

This morning was butt-cold out. It was 12 degrees with a wind-chill of 8. That's cold. Some of the homies were playing their normal game of b-ball oustide of the school. Then, as it usually does, it only took one of the kids to take a 3/4 length shot to change the whole game to a game of "who can hit the 3/4 court shot" game. Kids were hitting the backboard, but nobody got the cash money shot. Then, one of the bro's took a "Hakeem the dream" shot. It hit the backboard and deflected right on to the side of some kid's face. 8 degrees. Basketball. Fast basketball. 8 degrees, fast basketball, kid's face.
Fantastic.
The kid started holding his face, in great great pain. I don't know what was worse: the kid getting whaled in the face or all is homies totally 100% ignoring their bro in pain. About 5 minutes passed (4 of which the kid spent crouched over, holding his face in his hands) and he he decided to take a shot of his own.
He takes the rock.
He Hakeem the Dream's the ball.
Nothing but frozen net, baby.
It was the American Dream. I think the kid was Republican, too. All the brothers started hootin' and hollerin'. This kid was knocked down, and was all "get up off me!" and he drained the shot others have been trying for 20 minutes.

* The kid didn't actually make the shot. He missed by 15 feet, easily. My Turn used poetic license with this story to make it extra awesome.