Well its that time of year again.  Goodbye 2011 hello 2012.

2011 Was not a bad year by any stretch of the imagination.  We certainly did our fair share of traveling.  Trips to Florida, Arizona and the Bahamas.

But the older I get the quicker time seems to be passing.  Maybe its my perception, my memory or some mystery of time.  Things come and go quicker and after they pass seem almost like they happened years ago not only months.

With the passing of time comes the inevitable, things come to an end.  Whether the timing is right or wrong.

 One of those things being my (and our family's first dog), Bailey.  15 years of the big guy and it was hard to see him go, he will always have a place in my memory.

Loss of pets are expected, not that we have to like that anymore, but we know this going in.  Harder is when you see a person die, when by all means should be in the prime of their life.  Just a few weeks ago long time friend and classmate Mark LaFond died after a long 10 year struggle with brain cancer.  Seeing this known inevitability was real tough for me.  He was 43, had two kids, his son, Matt is the same age as Joel.  (they even met when they were around 10). So to me it was a little of a parallel of my life, not a mirror, because no one but Mark and his family knows the roller-coaster his last 10 years was.  A parallel that eventually took a turn in a different direction.  Who know where life's next detour is.

Good things:

We did all that traveling. Some 4000 total miles. And we had a good time as a family.  That right there is a good year.  Some yelling, fighting but everyone came back alive and we made some nice memories.

Not really sure how else to break this down, so we will go by family member.

Joel is 18 and a senior.  Already been accepted to ASU, Uof AZ, Purdue, Cincinnati and U Of SC.  The two AZ schools have offered up to $60,000 in scholarship money already.That's what good grades and 32 on your ACT will do for you.  More and more I think that kid was swapped at birth. He's still playing tennis (which he loves) but much to my inside disappointment he did not play baseball.  I understand and I can only live my dreams through him so far.  Watching from T ball to High School its hard to break 9 years of that.  I missed watching him play that's for sure.  He also has left the varsity basketball team midway through his senior year. For reasons of his own and was a very tough decision for him.  Again, 9 years of watching him play hoops and I miss it already. I miss the camaraderie with parents and the boys I have watch grow up.   Not to continuously drop cliches, but life goes on.  One last thing, He finally got off the sidelines and has a girlfriend.  I say it not in a mean way, but by little buddy has always been a bit on the social shy side.  So nice to see him metamorphasize into a fine young man.

Mackenzie, Mackenzie, what a little fireplug.  She is a Disney movie waiting to happen.  A day does not go by that I don't get to see 3 mood swings and 8 different emotional states.  Middle school.  Near teen.  Drama at every turn.  Cheers and tears.

She played fast-pitch softball this year, and even though she is one of the smallest girls out there, she doesn't play like it and that makes me all warm and fuzzy.  Back in basketball this fall and somehow I was duped into coaching the team.  Wow, take 10 6th grade girls and try to coach them, when basketball is really not the main thing on their minds.  Talk about herding cats.

Another wonderful thing about her is the effort she has put into her school work.  It's as if she see's what Joel has done and says "hey I can do it too" and maybe even better. Good for her!

19 years of wedded bliss.  What can I say, Tracy is the rock of the household.  The one voice of reason when it gets crazy here.  It sure isn't me.  The Nurse, the Maid, the Chauffeur, the designated driver more often then not.  The sane to my crazy.  The kids (and I) take her for granted way too often and that's not fair.  Something we need to work on this year.  Although, I will blame her for Oakley, the newest member of the household.  Sending me puppy pictures, then me going to look at them, to getting one.  I must be getting soft.

Speaking of me going soft.  That would be the theme for my health this year.  After all the injections over the last 2 plus years, I finally re-injured my neck to the point I had the surgery.  Level one spinal fusion.  Sounds painful, but honestly I feel so much better now.  4 months later and I am ready to rock.    I even joined a gym to start rebuilding some muscle and lose that 30 pounds I added to my middle.  This should eventually help me with my activities (softball, yardwork, biking, golf, snowboarding, etc), making my clothes fit better and me feel better overall.  Physically and mentally.  Hey it sure won't hurt when I take to the track this spring to defend my 2011 Milwaukee Region SCCA Solo Sport Touring Unlimited title.  That's right I am an award winning driver!  Rookie season and win my class.  Ok, so my class was small and I also ran the most events so I gave myself the best chance to take my top scores, but a win is still a win.  These things come far and few between for me so I will enjoy them while I can.

And that is the lesson I am learning.  Enjoy life while you can,  you may never know what's around the corner.

Cheers and Happy 2012 to everyone!

-Jeff

Pig

Watch as the rolly polly dog plays.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Uh-Oh

We still miss Bailey and well it just hasn't felt the same without a dog in the house.

Say hello to Doggie "X" because we cannot come to consensus on a name. He is a 8 week old, male, Lab/Retriever/?? mix. He was a litter rescued by the Wisconsin Humane Society.

We forgot the effort it takes to train and work with a puppy.   Oh well, we will get through this and I hope we have another wonderful addition to the house.

Basketball Jones

Well into the season we go.  The HS boys are 0-4 and it doesn't look good.  So many bright spots followed up by turd play.  Approval ratings for coach are at an all time low.

On the bright side, I started my coaching debut for the 6th grade girls today and we got the first win out of the way.  A 24-11 win over Laconia.  lots of good team play.  Kiki threw in 4.  We could have had 40 but we missed a lot of inside easy buckets.

Looking forward to next week.

The Negligent Blogger

Yea, Again I have been failing to keep up on this thing as I wanted to.  Let's see, since the last blog post basketball season has hit full swing.  I am taking on head coach responsibilities ad I may have mentioned and only 2 more practices until our frst game on 12/3.  Should be interesting, if some of the girls practice as hard as they whine we would go undefeated.  I will post the schedule on here and link to the schedule documents.

Joel's senior basketball season has also started.  Inauspiciously they have started 0-2.  A terrible home opener and a error filled tournament game.  Joel had a lot of time in the first game scoring 5, only a few minutes last night.  If they don't play better its going to be hard to make .500.  Some of that is coaching, but read last years posts for the same reasons as this year.  Same coach same philosophy.

Let see some other interesting things...I have had sushi plenty before, but never octopus.  That was interesting.  a big chunk of tentacle on rice.  Flavor was fine, texture was, well, different.  Not bad just not something I am used to.

To continue rambling, if you are a friend of me on Facebook, you know I won the Street Touring Unlimited Class (Autocross) for the Milwaukee region of the SCCA.  Pretty cool since it was my first year doing that.  Makes me excited to start next year.

Finally, it seems that my neck is healing well.  My second follow up earlier this month shows good healing and have little restriction left.  So now just to actually do more of my therapy exercises  to build up strength and then work on losing some of this extra weight I keep around and adding.  Sounds like a new years resolution coming into play.  We all know how well those work out.

Enjoy the rest of your ThanksGiving weekend!

Wow, I have been slacking on the blog.

Been super busy.  Basketball is cranking up, and that starts to eat a lot of time from my schedule. Doing the head coaching for KYB 6th grade girls basketball.   But as I write this it is snowing.   11/10/11 we have covered grass.   Just seems really early this year.

Go for  a follow up visit to the surgeon Friday, hopefully I can get a OK to snowboard.  That's about the only thing this snow is good for.

Back.  Back from the Bahamas and it sucks.  Cmon 50+ degree difference in temps.   Oh well.

I think thats all the travelling we will be doing for some time now.  We missed Trick or Treat in the neighborhood this year too.  First time ever since living here.  Oh well.  No Packer game either god this does suck.

TRAVEL BLOG!!!!

Getting ready for our trip on Saturday.   Why are we going?   My Birthday?  Our 19th Wedding anniversary?  Continued celebration of Joel becoming an adult?  Sure what ever works for you.  All I know is we grabbed this last week of off season so long ago, it doesn't matter.

Call it beach therapy for my neck.  I just hope no one tries to push me back in the water while on the beach.....

Ouch.

Time flys

A sure sign of getting old is how fast the days, weeks and then years go by.

It's been 1 month since we had Bailey put down.  Just like any long time family member it's very tough but I had over the last few weeks put together some of the things I miss the most.

Every time I think to put a table scrap in your bowl, it's no longer there.  Being my 'ear' when I talk to myself or have solo time in the backyard, on the deck, in the garage.  Never once complaining of the topic or my music selection. Fetch with Kong, tennis balls, sticks and snowballs.  Fur balls floating on the tile floor.  Sleeping in outside in a snowstorm until you were covered.  Getting the paper and mail with me.  Never complained about my cooking, come to think of it.  Being there to greet me after late arrivals and long days of business travel.  Introducing me to the horrible sounds that rabbits make when caught.  Soft ears to play with while watching tv. Disappearing for hours and then just showing up like nothing ever happened.  Nosy nose prints on any window you could see out of. Using whole logs as chew toys....

You get the idea.

Anyway, not meant to be a downer but more of a reminder to remember the good times.  That goes for you too Pops, we still miss you.

Who Likes the Pumpkin Farm!

Funny mood

Ever just get in one of those funks? Not one of those meh days, I mean like shit just don't feel right moods. Like life. I should me in a great mood. My surgery seems really successful, Joel's soccer team won a double shoot out game to make the 16th seed in the playoffs. I washed my car, mowed the lawn, grilled out, had great dinner at Maggianos last night. The brewcrew move on in the playoffs and I could go on.

Yet, I am full of sad and bad moods. This one feels like it's going to hang around for a while.

I think it's come down to my midlife review. Kinda like the mid-year you get at work. Am I where I want to be, have I done what I should have,could have. Can I do more, do I even care?

Lots of questions.....

Happy Birthday Joel!

Happy 18th Birthday to one pretty cool kid.   Could nor be a more proud parent.

Wanna guess what a good surgeon makes to do that surgery below?

I just got the pre-insurance bill.

How does $42,651 sound?  I am on the fence, I mean look what they did and where, but daaayyyyuuum....

Joel - maybe you should reconsider medical school...

Its been a long few weeks or so it seems.

Been spending my time off with no Dog to keep me company and well it's tougher some days than others..

Good news is I had my 2 week post surgery follow up.   Scar is healing good, I am healing well and so far nothing to issue.

So there you have it.  A disc removed, a cage with donor bone inserted where the disc was, a plate and 4 screws.  Not as cool as Jim I am sure but hell getting close.

Bye Bailey!

We will miss you.  The best dog we could ask for for the last 15 years!  Chase rabbit and tennis balls in heaven  7/4/1996 - 09/14/2011

Random thoughts

Been a week since the last post and wow I R busy!

Went to NYC on Tuesday, have tons of work to do, Pre Op stuff:  EKG, Bloodwork, exam, xRays. then there are Joel's soccer games.  Which they won 2-0 yesterday.  Joel had a bunch of nice saves in goal.

How about that Packer Game!

Last weekend is coming up before I go under the knife.  Excited but I would be lying if I I said the nervousness is not to far away.

Here is a picture of rainy NYC for you:

Back to school!

Joel's Soccer Write up

Not sure if everyone knows that Joel went out for soccer and is the starting goalie.  First time playing soccer.  It's been pretty fun to watch up to this point.  Even though they have only won one game.

Follow the link to the local paper's write up on the team.

I told you I would post a video of my last Auto Cross of the year.

Happy Birthday Mom!  Best Mom I ever had!

Last AutoCross of the year for me before I have surgery.  Ran with the Porsche Club of America.  Yea pretty cool, lots of nice cars, new and old.

I was better than some worse than others.  Had 13 runs,  maybe I will you tube some of my better runs later.

Don't want to work today at all.....

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAL - ie

I now have to take a crash course in soccer.  Joel has decided to take up soccer at the age of 17.  Thus sparing me the countless years of youth soccer.   So meet your new 2011 Kewaskum starting goalie:

   Starting?  Yea - well the team won 1 game last year.  They already have won 1 game this year, so its all a better season from here on out!

Great Taste

Wow - it's already been a week since I last posted.
Well last Saturday that being the 13th.  We did our annual pilgrimage to Madison for the Great Taste of the Midwest.   5000 people and 500+  beers.

Yes it started out nice but the day turned rainy.  We had little ponchos so it was no big deal.  We had fun and the group keeps on growing.  We were up to 12 people this year!  Who wants to go next year?

Well got back from the Dr today.  Going to have 1 level one spinal fusion for my C6-C7 vertebrae.   Should I be excited?  I am.  September 12th.  Just in time to make the Bahama vacation at the end of October.  Oh shit that reminds me we need to get the kids passports in!

Race Day

Well against a lot of people telling me it wouldnt be a good idea.  I did it.  Hit MillerPark for the August Autocross session.

Not a great day for me.  2 DNF's, one cone killer.  My tires are not up to the task today.  That and I was a bit rusty.

State Fair

Well we did not get mobbed or beat or anything when we went to the fair on Friday night.   Perfect weather: Warm and breezy.

Got some wrist bands for Twitch and Brooke and off they went.   I did not eat a whole bunch.  The state fair is a living breathing people of Walmart email.   Do these people not have mirrors?

Anyway, almost  ran into more people unexpectedly than the ones we intended to.   Saw some Road Trip and Whiskey of the Damned for the music and that is all she wrote.  

I effectively did the fair without looking at one animal.  Perfect.  If my shoulder were better I think Tim and I would have got shot up in the bungee-whatcha-ma-jigger.  Maybe next year.

Hey its Friday and it is the first day of an event filled weekend.

State fair after work tonight,  a few birthday/non birthday parties tomorrow and then I am going to try my luck and my pain threshold at Miller park for the August SCCA event on Sunday.

500 Posts

With that last post I have now hit 500. I have been running this blog for a few years.  It has kinda got soft around the middle, just like me.  More like a private facebook than any thing else.  Sometimes I feel like writing more in depth on thoughts and other subjects, but not sure why I decide not to.   To those of you who read this and check in from time to time, I thank you.  Your views, comments and ratings make it more enjoyable to do this.

Who's up for another 500 postings?

Brewers and tailgate!

End of July and finally got to my first Brewer game of the year.  Sad but true.  Early start and off we went.
We were all set up in the Moiltor lot and a lady from the Brewers was searching the parking lot for people using Klements products.  I just happened to buy a pack of Klements brats just for today.  I showed her the package and bam! we were winners.  Free hats, T shirts, bobble head and aprons.  Then we shot a 45 second clip in the parking lot that was to be shown at the end of the first inning.  We jumped around and yelled for the camera.  After we got settled in the stadium, sure enough at the end of the first we were on screen!

Extra thanks to Jenny for putting this together and Mom for picking up the tickets.  Nice day of family fun!

Exhaust and then some..

Well I got my hot new/used exhaust installed finally.  Sounds great.  Extra HP.  So I decided to look at a few other things while I was working on it.  The air cleaner was one of them.  Much to my surprise there was a desiccated mouse and his half built nest.  That probabaly cost me 10 HP.