Thursday, July 31, 2008

August and Everything After

I feel bad I only have 7 posts in July, I am feeling the summer slack for sure.

Man, August is here. July was a looong month, it's feels extra long when you're waiting for a paycheck. I get paid on the last working day of the month, and today is the last working day, a full 31 days.

Our second to last softball game is tonight. It would be nice to finish off the season with 3-2 second half. An actual winning record! I really enjoyed the double-header last week, I kinda wish all of our games were like that. Flood it!

Starting next Tuesday, for 11 weeks, I have to drive to Milwaukee after work for a 2 hour class in preparation for my P.E. exam in late October. I'm taking my own car, but luckily I get reimbursed for the mileage. I figure it's about 150 there and back and at $0.585/mile I can make $90 every Tuesday. Way more than what I would ever spend on gas! But I'm not looking forward to the class, I'm assuming it's just going to be a boring lecture that I will fall asleep in. Just like my first day and my very first class in college :-)

I ran the Milwaukee sausage race last weekend. It really wasn't a very impressive course, just a couple loops around the parking lot and then run through Miller Park in the end. It's so much smaller when you're down on the field! I didn't run that great but I blame it on my stride being all messed up because I've been favoring my right knee; and I think the course was a bit long, possibly 3.2 miles, instead of the usual 3.1. This fall I'm going to bike more and build up the strength in my left leg in preparation for next year's running season.

This weekend Amber and I will be going up to Eau Claire for my sister, Katie's, college graduation. She still hasn't found a job yet, but is still hoping for either Madison or the Twin Cities. She'll have a degree in Marketing and Advertising with a minor in Photography and something else. She's very marketable and I'm confident she'll find something great no matter what!

Amber and I went to a nice barbecue at friend's place last night with a few couples. We played Kubb and Buck and I rocked it to the max. We had several 8 stackers that game which is unheard of in the Kubb world. One of our friends, Chad, plays trumpet in a Blues band called The Blue Olives (www.blueolives.com) and they have a show on Friday night and I'm tempted to check it out. They opened for Lynard Skynard a few years back and have played Summerfest numerous times. I've heard them once and they are very tight.

Still rockin' the keys quite a bit at home. I was searching craigslist and found the keyboard I want that somebody is selling in Madison for much cheaper than new. I may have to check it out and see what kind of shape it's in and worth buying.

I won't mention the Brewers.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Pre-Weekend Update

Recently, I've been reading this book called "The One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" by Mark Cahill. It's about witnessing and sharing your faith with non-believers to draw them to Christ; since this is the one thing you can't do in Heaven. It's a practical, easy to follow, step-by-step guide to begin sharing your faith. It's a very quick, engaging read. I highly recommend it. I've been feeling very convicted over the past year to share my faith with people but I didn't' really know where to start or how to do it effectively. So I asked my Aunt and she recommended this one to get started. Mark Cahill will go to any measure to talk to people about Christ; he has even picked up prostitutes and paid them to hop in a his car just to talk. Some blow him off, but most times he has amazing conversations with them. That takes guts.

The Longshots had a big double-header last night. Our first game took forever. In fact, it got called in the 5th inning since it was going so long. We ended up losing 17-18 or something like that. The bats were hot let me tell you. Our second game started out incredible slow. We were down 0-8 going into the bottom of the 3rd. Then we got seven runs to make it 7-8. they got a few more runs, then we got a few, and it was tied 10-10 in the bottom of the seventh so we went into extra innings. They got two runs, then we got three, winning it 13-12. "Mr. Camann" aka "Shaft" aka "A-Cams" aka "Camshaft" give us the winning hit to drive in the winning run. It was a pretty intense game with a lot of sliding into bases, aggressive base running. The wives brought food to eat in between games so that was pretty sweet. We also got some nice team photos, here is one:



This past week I finally got around to cleaning my office. I seriously haven't cleaned it in about a year and it was WAY overdue. Check out what it looked like:






Ridiculous I know. So now it's clean and organized and I hope to keep it like that for a while.

Tonight is Rock Band Night 2.0 with our book group. Should be a ton of fun! We'll order some pizza and rock out 'til our heart's content. I may have to try singing "Jimmy and the Lords of the Underworld" again. Yes, it is inappropriate, but such a challenge!

Tomorrow morning I have to get up early and drive to Milwaukee to do the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race 5k with some friends at 9am. It finishes in Miller Park. I really hope to pound the pavement and get 19:50 or so with my bum knee. So we'll see. After that we'll have a little tailgate party and I may or may not go to the game. The race registration comes with a ticket but I need to get back to Madison and get some stuff done. Since the Crew is doing so well and Ryan Braun is such a pimp I just may have to go to the game.

Then on Sunday I'm working sound for the morning services in the rockin' Westside venue. I'll crank it to 11 once again. Be sure to be there if you want to worship the Lord at 95 decibels.

Stay tuned...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

In The Air Tonight

I have been hearing the song "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins on the radio quite a bit over the past week. I got to thinking: "If this song was released today it would be such a crazy huge hit." Don't you think?

I mean, the song is perfect, dark, brooding, haunting, it has a huge hook. It's almost anti-pop music. Not to mention all the awesome urban legends that surround the song such as Phil witnessing a man watching another man drown and then he invited that guy to the show and at the show Phil stared right at him while singing the song and then the guy went home and killed himself...check out all the urban legends here

Oh, and that drum sound is incredible! That sharp, cut-off sound gives the sound such urgency.

Of course the video is haunting as well; Phil's face taking up the whole screen I think the Cadbury Ad with that gorilla playing the drums recently brought the song back into the spotlight. Eminem evens mentions the song is his song "Stan" Oh, and how about the very first Miami Vice episode from 1984, this was the opening song and clip. Watch it, it's so cool!

Here's a video of Phil performing this song in concert.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Longshots FTW!!!

Tonight, July 17th 2008, marks the second win of the Longshots 2nd season. And what a win it was. The game time was 7:30pm, it was humid, hot and overcast.

There was excitment in the air.

An urgency to win.

We needed to "Flood the Tub".

The game started rather normal with us being down 3-0. We got 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Then the other team, Nitty Gritty, got 2 more runs. 5-2. We had a bad 3rd inning and they got 2 more. 7-2. The 4th inning we stopped them with three quick outs and a sweet double play by Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Huber. Nice extension, Buck! I think we scored another run in the 5th inning. 7-3. I hit a juicy double to drive in an run.

While on 2nd base, a lady keeping score for the game, sitting on the other teams bench noticed that something wasn't adding up quite right. She noticed we had 11 batters but only 10 were on the scorecard. I thought it couldn't be because I filled it out the same way I always do. I've never made a mistake. The umps called time. I went over by them and sure enough, I forgot to add the 11th man on our roster, Chad Whittinghill, Jazz trumpetist extraordinaire and star left fielder to the lineup. S$%@, I thought. What is going to happen? Are we going to have to forfeit?? No, not now. After quite the argument and figuring out what to do it was decided that we would finish up that inning. We ended up getting the lead in the top of the 6th 9-7. Nitty Gritty scored two more runs. All tied up 9-9 going into the 7th and final inning.

Since only 10 guys were on our roster. Someone had to sit out. I chose to since Chad, the player I forgot to add, is a much better player than I am! I couldn't even bat that last inning. No matter. We scored 2 more runs. 11-9. We held the gritty runless in the bottom of the 7th to win it.

Joy and Excitement filled the field. A hard fought victory. Well done, blue...well done.

Then it was off to Michael's Frozen Custard to celebrate. Time for a double header next week. Should be amazing.

Stay tuned.

(I think I'm using "FTW" way too often now.)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

On The Road

Ok, I know I have only 2 posts in July so far. But I think the reason is because I've only worked 3 days this entire month! Man, a person would start to think I was enrolled in the Andy Camann School of Life! J/K Shaft. Anyway, lots to talk about, discuss, update. Where should I start...

FIREFLY LAKE TRIP
It is a right of passage that every summer Amber's family and I go up to Firefly lake north of Minocqua for a family camping vacation. I think this started when Amber was a wee lass and has continued every year since. I love traditions like that. This is my 4th year up there.

The Coffee
Every morning, Amber's dad, Dick, and I get up at about 6:45 and brew our selves a couple cups of coffee. I may have never mentioned this, but Dick brews the most perfect cup of coffee in the entire world. It is what I look forward to the most when I come home to Neenah. That first cup of coffee in the morning. The conversation. The newspaper.

The Dog
After coffee, Dick and I take their dog, Abby, for walk around Firefly Lake. It is a small lake so walking around it takes about 30 min. or so. Abby is a Golden Retriever about 6 years old. She is an amazing dog. We call her the super diving rock dog. If you throw a large rock in the water (the size my head) she will dive down into the water, no matter how deep and fetch it for us. No joke. We always get stopped by people on the shoreline amazed by this talent. I'm sure we could make money of this dog!

The Jeep
After the walk, before Amber and Amber's mom Marcia, are up, we take the jeep out. Dick has a 1994 Jeep Wrangler. When I first started coming up here, the first morning, Dick too me out to learn how to drive stick. That first year I must have konked it out about 40 times in 4 days. Now I'm a pro. We go off roading on any trail we find and discover new lakes.

Ice Cream
Every night we are camping we get ice cream after dinner from a different place. Either McKay's, Hoggie Doggies, Susie's or Mad Dog Jakes. I don't even want to know the total calorie in take of this trip but it is ridiculous. I went running a few times just to burn off a few of those scoops!

Amber
Amber really surprised me this year! In all the past years, I've had to sleep alone in the tent because Amber wanted to sleep in the RV camper her parents have since it's more comfortable and convenient. There isn't room for me in there. Well this year was different. She decided she would stay with me in our small tent. We had an air mattress and sheets and I wasn't lonely any more! It even stormed crazy hard on Friday night and there was a bit of water in the tent and our sheets got soaked and there wasn't even a complaint! What a trooper!

Swimming
I've been wanting to get better at swimming over the past few years but haven't had the chance or time. Since there was a nice calm lake by our campsite I decided to have Amber help me perfect my strokes. Amber is a very good swimmer and was one level shy of becoming a life guard. She helped me "perfect" my front crawl and breast stroke. She also demonstrated the butterfly which is absurd and I see no reason for it since it's so tiring. but she's good nonetheless! We also had swimming races. We did a 40m front crawl and 40m sidestroke. I won both, but barely. It would be fun to do a relay sprint triathlon with her someday. Just gotta find a biker!

The Mallow
Never have I ever made a more perfect roasted marshmallow than I did on Tuesday night. It was crispy on the outside and the inside was uniform gooey goodness. Just melted in your mouth. You definitely want me at your campfires. For sure.

The Albino Deer
The the second time in three years we saw an albino deer crossing the road near Sayner. IT was amazing. Marcia had a camera with her and got a good photo. She was so flustered it took her about 30 seconds to turn the thing on. A few miles down the road we saw small black bear cross the road. Nature!

The Accident
Unfortunately on the drive back home from ice cream one night, we got caught in traffic from a car that got flipped over on a curve on a lonely county road. A wreck on the highway. No paramedics or fireman where on the scene yet. Just onlookers with cell phones. There was a person lying in the road. An off-duty cop told us to turn around and head back. When he ambulances and fireman came we decided to get out of there. We hoped the young lady was alright. The next morning we went to the corner store and they said that the girl died on the scene and was a 20 year old from Appleton who didn't have their seat belt on. I never heard the cause of the accident. Here is the only thing I could find in the paper: http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/APC0101/307160012/1007

The Tick
After we got back to Madison on Wednesday night and finished packing, I had to go to the bathroom. Amber was taking a shower so I went in the guest bathroom. While I was on the can, I saw a black thing near my belly button, I tried to flick it off and it wouldn't come off. I looked closer and it was a tick!! I quick ran to the other bathroom and told Amber to get a tweezers to pull it off me. I had pee all over my boxers as I ran to the other bathroom and Amber was laughing very hard. She got it off me and we burned that sucker in the kitchen sink. It was sweet.

Great trip overall and look forward to next year already!!

I really missed my music on while I was away. I would intentionally not ride my bike the showers at night so I could listen to a few songs on my iPod. Man, music sounds so much better when you're walking alone underneath that big bowl of stars. When I got back home I played on the piano since I hadn't done that much in July. It felt great. It's always good for me to step away from it for a few days and then play again. Ideas come flowing. I had these two song I had written music for but never finished. I decided to try to put them together into one song and it worked perfectly. Magic!! The melodies flowed right into one another. Maybe in 2018 when I finally complete my recording you'll be able to notice which song it is...

On the beach at Firefly I read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Great, great novel. Possibly one of the greatest of the last 50 years or so I hear. It was an crazy book but the language and descriptions of jazz in the book are incredible. I'll think I'll read a few more of his books.

Only a two day work week now. I'm not gonna complain...

As always, stay tuned...



Monday, July 7, 2008

Rocky Mountain High II

This past week I was in Colorado "working hard to get my phil" of the Rocky Mountain High for the 2nd time in 4 months. Needless to say, it was gorgeous in Rocky Mountain National Park. I won't say too much about what we saw just a few pictures below should be enough. The trip was long, but luckily there was good company and good music. A must for any road trip. I drove the 2:30am until 5:30am shift in the middle of Nebraska on the way out. I saw the sunrise over the plains which was sweet. On the way back I drove from 9:40am until 2:40pm from Kearney, NE to Des Moines, IA. I was in charge of the music, so I had to hand pick a playlist to cover 15 hours of travel. Everybody loved it and I was a hero! Our Chevy Uplander held up great!

The people I was with are some great high school/college friends that I'm certain I'll be friends with forever. I'm so different than them now but it's still so great to get together from time to time. Truely fun people.

We climbed three mountians: Flat Top Mountain (elev. 12,300 ft.), Hallott's Peak (elev. 12, 700 ft.) and Deer Mountain (elev. 10,013 ft.) People were getting elevation sickness left and right. My head was feeling a little bit weird as well. It took us about 4 hours to climb Hallott's Peak and like 2 hours to get back down. We walked on glaciers and had snowball fights and went "skiing" in July. Good fun.

I'll leave you with some choice pictures:










Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Done and Done

Finally, my project at work is complete. Just in time to go to Colorado tonight. Nothing like driving 14.5 hours to relax after a hard 2 months of work! I'm leaving at 7:00pm with 6 friends. We rented a minivan/SUV with a car top carrier. I figure we'll arrive at around 8 or 9am tomorrow in Denver. I saw on the weather that it was 96 degrees for a high over there. Man, I'm done for if that's how it's going to be all week! We'll be camping at Glacier Basin in Rocky Mountain National Park. By the pictures I saw on the Internet, it looks breathtaking! Perhaps I can blog if I have time and access to Internet out there.

A reminder to anyone out there who owns Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" (Andy and Shawn), that you must listen to it in its entirety on the 4th of July. No Exceptions! It is a rite of summer. Also, the annual 4th of July run!

Have a nice holiday, everyone!