Coffee and Bagels at 8

I haven't been here because I've been there.  I created a Facebook account a few weeks ago and all kinds of people are coming out of the wood work.  Many I haven't talked to in 15 or 20 years.  Pretty cool but that's why I haven't posted here lately.
If interested, you can friend me on F/B and we'll catch up.  Jon Snurka

Just realized that I didn't update from BDog's championship game.  It wasn't really close until the end.  The score was 9-2 after the first quarter and it seemed our team was behind about 5-7 points the rest of the game.  The interesting thing is that we have a very good player who was shut out in the first quarter and then got into foul trouble.  When he was turned loose in the 3rd quarter, we pulled within 2 a couple of times.
Our team policy for this league has been to swap subs at the half way point of each quarter.  Our best player was playing the first half of every quarter and BDog the last half.  So the 2nd half of the 3rd quarter they started to slip away again with a score of 26-19 I believe.  4th quarter comes along and we pull closer to like within 4 points behind the play of our star player.  (Other team swaps their players every quarter so they had what could have been their second string in) 
Our subs vs their subs pulled to within 1 point.  29-28 with about a minute to go.  At this level it's not like College or even high school ball where you have a chance of stealing or rebounding and scoring quickly.  Scores come slowly.  Our team finally was able to foul them with about 8 seconds left.  They sank one free throw making it 30-28.  BDog rebounded the second free throw  but time ran out when he was at about half court.  It was an exciting finish to the game and season.
Now, one interesting point is our coach.  I thought he did a great job all season and was very instructional to the players.  BDog learned a lot from him.  If the coach put kept the star player in for the whole 4th quarter the outcome may have been different.  BUT, I agree with following our season long guidelines.  He coached the game consistent with the whole season and didn't compromise to go for the win.  I salute that.  At this level (5th & 6th grade) it's about learning the game and not winning.
The funny part?  The second place trophy from this year is bigger than last year's first place trophy.  Go figure...

Bdog's basketball playoffs have started.  The association has been great up to this point with the games but Monday night there was only 1 ref and last night no ref until the 2nd period (After the game started 20 min late).  Each team provided a parent ref until the regular guy showed up.  Even with those distractions his team has done well.
Monday they scored over 40 points for the first time and won 44-26.  Last night they won 25-15.  He has a pretty good team of ball handlers and these last two games every shot has dropped.  One of the kids is really good and normally scores at least half of the points himself.  The team is fun to watch.
Bdog is mainly a defensive person.  He is one of the taller ones so he gets to guard the other team's tall players.  His defense has picked up throughout the season and now sticks on his man pretty well.  He gets some shots off too and last night scored the last two baskets of the game.  The other team was pressing and Bdog was the down court out.  Two easy shots from under the basket. 
So on to Thursday night.  If they win, the championship is Friday night.

Back in October I talked about how we got our ticket order in for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Well....We were notified yesterday that we only were awarded one event.  The Luge.  We're all pretty disappointed.  It's not that we don't want to see the Luge but it's that we wanted to see a number of events, not just one.

So now what do we do?  Do we sell these tickets?  Do we try to by other events on Ebay?  (Up to $7K for Hockey tickets not that it was what we wanted to see)  My Brother in Law lives in Seattle as was going to go with us.  We'll still go visit him during that time but I doubt we'll do a 4-5 hour drive to Vancouver just for one event.

Just call us Bummed in Chicago.

For some reason I seem to be jinxed in January from a running standpoint.  But in most years, I at least can get past the first week or two before I have problems.  Not this year.
I went for a run on New Year's Eve as a way to say good bye to 2008.  I ran 5.75 miles bringing my yearly total to 516.  Not bad but it actually was the fewest annual miles that I've run in the past 3 years.  Mainly due to my twisting my knee last January while running on a slippery bridge.  It took me three months to recover enough to get in a good run after that.
So after a good New Year's Eve run, I woke up early on New Year's Day (I know, sick) and went for a run.  A good 5 mile loop that had some ice but not as much as the previous day.  It was a pretty good run but I kept it a little slower than the day before.  As I approached the end, my knee tweaked.  What the heck?  I felt good, was on a dry route and I didn't step on anything.  But, in the last 5 steps of my run, I couldn't put weight on my knee.  It felt just like last year.
I don't usually swear much but this time I was sure thinking it.  Of course last year came to mind and the three months of trouble running.  After being mad, I slipped into being depressed.  This sucked.
I came home and immediately iced it and took some ibuprofen.  Since then I've been doing the same twice a day.  Hopefully I'll rest this one properly and take care of it so maybe I'm only out of running for a few weeks. Who knows but I'm pretty annoyed right now.
Oh and other January problems that I've experienced?  Well, the Knee last year.  Before that I had shingles and the flu and was away from running for a month.  Before that I had problems with my calf and the year before that I pulled my Achilles.  Maybe I just need to take January off from running.

If you remember, in September we had some heavy rainfall and our basement flooded.  After around $4,000 in repairs, it's back in a livable condition (Thanks insurance!).  Then came the snow and freeze.  Christmas morning we had 10 inches of snow on the ground and had about 7 days of a hard freeze (Some of them didn't get above zero).  Yesterday it started to rain and the temp climbed.  By the evening it was 47 degrees and the snow was melting rapidly.
Now for the fun.  A couple of years ago we installed a French Drain coming off of the down spout. 

It emptied into the alley behind us.  Well, somehow the downspout became dislodged from the drain and most of the water was going to the foundation.  Bdog noticed a puddle on the floor in the basement around 10:00 pm.  I took a look around outside and saw the disconnect.  Problem is that the connector didn't allow for a smooth connection so even after playing with it about half of the water missed the drain.  I finally ended up cutting another 2 feet of downspout and stuck it farther into the drain so the water had no choice but to go in.
Then I needed to clean up the large puddle of water next to the foundation so it didn't seep inside.  Out came the Wet Vac, which I'm sure the neighbors loved hearing at 11:00 pm, to clean up the mess.
Problem solved?  Not quite.  We had thunderstorms over night (I know...It is winter) and a heck of a lot more rain.  About .53 inches according to my gauge.  We have a gutter that runs the length of the house in back ending in the downspout that connects to the drain.  It seems there was a leaf jam in the gutter because the water was falling over the edge and not going down the drain.  What a mess and of course there was another (Larger) puddle against the house draining into the basement. 
So the missus and I went to Home Depot first thing to get an extension ladder.  We didn't clean the leaves this fall because I couldn't find a ladder to borrow and wasn't about to purchase one for use once a year.  Guess what?  we bought one...
By this time it was driving rain when I was tying the ladder on to the Outlander.  It made for a sopping mess.  But, we got it home without the ladder falling off and not too many drivers annoyed at me for going the speed limit.  :-)
Bdog came out to hold the ladder in the rain while I climbed up to dislodge the leaves.  20 minutes later and the water was flowing freely down the downspout.  Bdog and I Wet Vac'd the foundation again and things looked better.
End of the story?  I hope so!  To find the silver lining though, there were a few instances where the Lord showed He is good even in stressful times like these.
First, when restoring the basement from the fall flooding, we chose to paint the concrete floor rather than re-carpet.   We would of had a huge mess if we had carpeting.  Second, we were playing games downstairs and Bdog just happened to put his foot in the water.  If he hadn't done that, we wouldn't have discovered it when we did and could of had a lot more water in the basement.  And lastly?  The ladder we bought was on sale for $115, normally $209.  What a blessing!  :-)
BTW - Another 1-3 inches of RAIN is predicted for this afternoon.  Stay tuned...

On Christmas Eve day, I joined the kids outside for a snowball fight.  It ended up being Missy and myself vs BDog and a friend.  We spend the first 30 min building our forts.  BDog built a standard wall out of a snow pile but Missy and I went a little overboard.  We also took a mound of snow but I shaped it with a thick base and then used her snow block maker to add a few layers to the top.  Not only did this add some strength and height but it looked good!
So Missy was my supplier and we started the fight.  The boys took a sled to use as protection because I was just lobbing anything over their wall or punching through with my throws.  Missy also repaired our wall so we always had a good defensive position.
Of course, me being me, I went for more.  I grabbed a shovel and just started throwing shovel fulls at anything that moved.  In the end, they ended up pretty white while Missy and I were in pretty good shape (Except for my sore back).
I didn't think much of the whole fight until we came inside and BDog told my wife that I pwn'd them.  I have no idea what that meant, but I think it means they had fun....

Here is our 5th annual Christmas Video.  This year to save costs we didn't send out as many DVD's and instead pointed our family and friends to this site.
So we wish you and your family a most Merry Christmas

One of my worker's gave me liqueur filled chocolate for Christmas today.  Of course I couldn't share them with co-workers at work :-) so I brought them home. 

My kids were interested so we gave them a try.  The chocolate's came in a variety pack.  It included Jim Beam, Kahlua and Grand Marnier.  I thought I'd let them try the Kahlua because it would be not as dramatic (More chocolaty).  Wrong!  The Kahlua was the most obvious alcohol tasting of the bunch.  I wish I had a camera to capture the moment. 
For my own part, I really liked them.  The liqueur was subtle in each of the chocolates but there was enough of a hint so that you knew what you were having.  Of course, the liquid squirting in your mouth helped.
Regarding the kids, the good part is that they swore off the Kahlua chocolates.  The bad part is that they liked the Grand Marnier.  I guess I'll have to hide them or finish them tonight...

So you saw my previous post about the Missus getting her gall bladder out.  Unrelated, a friend sent this YouTube Video to her. 
I think she popped a few Steri-Strips from laughing so hard.  Now I'll need to get her some of the good pain meds.
Take a look at this and judge for your self.