Family/Friend Friday --- The Future of Blogging

Well, I started this about 9 months ago to keep family and friends updated and share some stories from the past and videos from the present. As we begin a new year, I need help with the future of this blog --- I need to know what family and friends want to to write about, not write about, how often to blog, etc, etc, etc. So I'll take the next few weeks off and come up with a plan for 2009. So please put all suggestions in the comment box. Some possibilities:

Media Monday --- stuff going on in the world and thought/discussions on it

Funny Friday --- some of my favorite joke and funny videos

Who's Who Wednesday --- interviews with some of my family and friends so you can get to know them better

None of these have been decided yet, which is why I need your suggestions! Until I start blogging again in 2009...Let me know what you want to hear about...

Family/Friend Friday --- Final Day of Work

Well, today is my final day working at Ashland Seminary. I am still an "employee" until December 31st, but all the offices will be shut down over the next 2 weeks for Christmas and New Years. I really enjoyed working at the seminary...especially because of the people I got to work with! Two of my favorite co-workers were Jill and Renae who worked out front in our building. Renae (on the left in the video) is the administrator for the entire building and the whole place would fall apart without her. Jill (on the right in the video) has been my assistant for Pastors of Excellence for the last 3 years, and gets most of my job dumped on her now! Does that mean she can boss herself around???
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We've had a lot of fun times together...eating steak dinners at Malabar Farm, playing Ping Pong at Mohican Resort, Having Ice Cream Socials in the Hallway, Making Comic Strips Out of People in the Building, Sneaking Free Lunches from Other Departments Using Our Building, etc --- All during work time! (hmm...no wonder they don't need me anymore!).
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The best memories I recall was Jill's surprise birthday party we had (I think she is the only employee in seminary history to actually be surprised!), and the day Jill went home early, and Renae and I rigged up her desk chair to collapse the next morning when she came into work (which it did). In any case, since our building is separate from the main seminary campus there were many days it was just the 3 of us (and Paul joined us to start a new program about a year ago which you will see him on the Christmas gift in the video as well as Gene --- the head of our building). Yesterday I was blessed (and Jen got to come to) with a "surprise" (about 25 people told me about it) going away party by, of course, Jill and Renae. Here they are opening their Christmas gifts...

Family Friend Friday --- The Trikke

Above is a video of Jen's sister Julie riding my Trikke. I bought it on e-bay soon after we moved to Ashland as a fun way to exercise. You basically propel yourself through your body movements...its a cross between a scooter and roller blades. After some practice you can climb small hills as well (but forget about those Pennsylvania hills!!!). In Ohio, we have the perfect landscape for a Trikke. As Steve would say, "I stood on a speed bump to get a view".

Riding the Trikke requires 2 rules...(1) Do Not Slam on the Brakes and (2) Do Not Let Any of the Wheels Go in the Grass. Breaking either of these rules will end in disaster. There is a huge list of neighbors, family, friends, etc who have fallen off for ignoring these two important rules. Most memorable were 2 family members:

Ron --- Jen's sister Joni's husband jumped on and almost immediately allowed the back wheel to touch the grass, and he did quite a nice belly dive over the front handle bars and onto the cement. I could only give him a 9.5 out of 10 though since he didn't quite stick the landing. My only regret is that I wasn't filming cause I'd be collecting my $10,000 from America's Funniest Home Videos right about now.

My Dad --- On a visit to Ashland, my mom and dad wanted to try out the Trikke. My mom stayed on flat land and went in little circles. My dad decided to be braver and climbed the only hill in Ashland. As he started down the hill, the path branches off a few times, and of all choices he could have made as far as which path to take, he chose the only one that led to a set of steps. As soon as he saw the steps, he broke rule #1 and slammed on the brakes causing a nice front somersault over the handle bars and into the grass. He also didn't quite stick the landing, but I'll give him a 9.7 (slightly edging out Ron for the gold) because of higher technical difficulty on the launch.

Anyone want to try for a 10?

Black Friday

In my hometown (DuBois), you have to be part of Black Friday to believe it! Even the years I've spent in Pittsburgh...the after Thanksgiving shopping there has nothing on DuBois. Maybe it is the fact that DuBois has 50,000 people jammed into 5 stores where as Pittsburgh has 200,000 spread out in 200 stores. In any case, DuBois on Black Friday is not the place to be!

For some reason I let Jen talk me into driving her to some stores on Black Friday while we were in DuBois last week. The video above only tells 1/2 the story...the inch by inch travel time...the 1 hour drive to go 1 mile...but this was taken around 2:00 PM. You multiply this by 100 and you get the 6:00 am to 10:00 am craziness!

Growing up when I had no money, I would go out on Black Friday only if I would save at least $100. That amount has climb significantly over the years and now stands at $500. But several years ago, there was a computer I wanted at Walmart that would save me a bundle. With the store opening at 6:00 am, I journeyed out of the house around 5:15.

Big mistake! The Walmart parking lot was already completely full, as well as the McDonald's lot on one side, and the bowling alley lot on the other. The line wound all the way to the back of the main lot further than I could see. By the time I got parked and made my way to Walmart it was 5:55 and the store would be opening soon. With the size of the line, I knew it would be hopeless in getting my computer unless I came up with some sort of plan.

So here's what I did...my grandma used to work in the fabrics department there, and I would drop her off or pick her up for work at a little used side door. I figured I would just go stand in front of that side door and act like I was waiting for it to get unlocked (figuring nobody would unlock it) and then just "merge with the traffic" at the main door, knowing it would be way faster than standing at the end of the endless line.

About 10 seconds after I stood at that door, a sales associate came. I thought I was going to be told to go to the end of the line, but she unlocked my door. I was the first one in the store! I went straight back, grabbed my computer, and thought this was going to be the world's fastest in-and-out in Walmart history! Unfortunately the main doors had been opened as well by now and within seconds I was surrounded by 1,000's of people! Shoulder to shoulder...you just couldn't move! It took almost an hour to drag that computer back to the front of the store and check out.

So that's a summary of Black Friday in DuBois and my "mini triumph". Hopefully Jen will tell you on her Blog someday the Black Friday at Sears in DuBois that made her cry --- she fell victim to the DuBois madness! Above all, Black Friday in my hometown requires patience. As I talked about yesterday, advent is all about patience and waiting...but thankfully Black Friday falls just before advent and does not apply. hahaha

Family/Friend Friday --- The Toolbox

When I was in Junior High, I had to take metal shop. We had a few different choices of what we could make, and I decided I would make a tool box for my dad. So throughout the semester I made a toolbox, painted it blue, and presented it to my dad. My dad filled it with some tools, and it sat on the shelf in his tool room for years.

Several years later when it was time for me to go off to college, my dad wanted to put together a toolbox that I could take with me. So he empty out the blue toolbox I had made him and started filling it up with all the essential tools I may need. When he was finished, he handed me the toolbox and said, "Here you go...Johnny (my brother) made this toolbox for me years ago. It's not very good, but it should hold up". I responded, "Johnny didn't make that for you, I did!"

After a moment of silent thinking he replied, "Oh, then I meant it was the greatest toolbox I'd ever seen".

Well, I think the first statement (his honest opinion hahaha) was more accurate...the thing fell apart just a few weeks after I went to school.

Family/Friend Friday --- The Plants

As you read this, I am on my way to our retreat in Pennsylvania. It is a great time to connect with God and old friends. We all look forward to this every year (and start planning for the next year before the current year is even over!). My first retreat was in 1999, and I've only missed one (while I had to do a show out of state). Jen and I also met for the first time here in 2001.

CONFESSION TIME:

As I was thinking back over the different retreats, there was a little "practical joke" that stuck out that happened back in 2000. The pastor that was leading the retreat brought a pot with a dead plant in it (as a representation of what sin can do to us). He talked about it all day Saturday and said we would look on Sunday morning at how God can transform us.

Well, that night after the pastor went to bed, we (ok, mostly me) took the dead plant and pulled it out...dirt and all, and replaced it with a very live and vibrant plant that was in the castle (the castle is full of them!). I assumed the pastor would know that it was a joke (as I am sure it wasn't even the same type of plant), but first thing Sunday morning, he went on and on and on and on about the transformation that had happened in that little plant overnight (he really thought it was the same plant!). About 1/2 the group knew what happened, but he was so thrilled, nobody had the heart to tell him.

So there you have it. The 2000 "Miracle of Majesty" was really the "Mischief of a Magician". I'd like to blame my dad for this one...he taught me and would have done the same thing.

Family/Friend Friday --- Janet's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Jen's mom (Janet). I couldn't ask for a better Mother-in-law! She is always very kind and giving, especially when she lets me and Jerry (Jen's dad) go golfing every time we are together and the weather is nice!
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Among the many special talents Janet has are cooking, drawing, painting, sewing, etc, etc, etc. One of the most popular items we own is a quilt she made us for our wedding that has our baby pictures, college logos, etc. Over the past week or so, I have been mentioning something in my office that gets the most attention by visitors. It is a replica of the building I work in which Janet made for me for Christmas a few years ago. It it perfectly done! People always ask where it came from and can't believe what a great job she did! The director for my building asked if there was any way he could order 100 of them to give to donors, special guests, etc (and I am sure he wanted to keep one for himself too!). Now that she is retired, she may want to consider?!? Below are some pictures of the building I work in as well as the replica Janet made. Can you tell which of the 3 are real and which are Janet's...

So Happy Birthday Janet! Jen and I put our dance lessons we took a few years ago to good use and did the "Birthday Dance" from the era you are used to. Take a look below...

Family/Friend Friday --- The Closet

I was going through old posts to see who I haven't said much about on Fridays, and one that stuck out was my sister Dana (pictured above with her family). Her name gets mentioned a lot around here as she bought me a "Talking Jesus" and people love to come into my office and get the "Word for the Day" from Jesus. He is currently on one of my office tables with arms straight in the air (signaling a TD) in honor of football season. There is only one thing more popular in my office (given to me by another family member) that I will tell you about next week.

Growing up, my sister had the bedroom in the house with no closet. So she kept many of her clothes in the closet in my bedroom. With the "80's hair", she required a lot more time to get ready than I did. So every morning, she would walk in my room, wake me up by turning on my light, and stand in front of the closet. And when I say "stand", I mean she would just stand there and stand there and stand there and...it took her forever to decide what to wear. I thought that was pretty abnormal, but I married someone who is the same way (go figure). I would get mad and turn out the light...she would get mad and turn it back on. I would slam the closet door on her and she'd start yelling. This happened every morning! Why we just didn't switch rooms, I'll never know --- ok, maybe it is due to the fact that I stapled baseball cards (all 4 corners of each individual card) to every square inch of my door, or that I had written in marker the name and phone number of everyone I knew on my wall, or that my room was covered with nailed up "Nintendo tournaments" I had with my friends, etc, etc, etc --- in any case....nobody wanted my room!

So one morning I hear my sister's alarm go off and I felt pretty awake. I got out of bed and stuffed some pillows and blankets in my place to make it look like I was still in bed. Then I went into the closet and waited for my sister to come do her 20-minute, "What will I wear today" routine so I could jump out and scare her. Well at some point during my waiting, I fell back asleep in the closet. To make matters worse, for some reason, Dana never came over that morning (she must have picked out her clothes the night before...why didn't she do that every night???). So about 10 minutes before I had to be at school my mom is knocking on the door wondering where I am at.

Obviously I was a little late for school that day. When I arrived my teacher asked why I was late. I said, "Oh, I was trying to scare my sister". He said, "Ok, it's nice to hear a good excuse every so often...I like that one".

Family/Friend Friday --- The Man in the Gorilla Suit

I don't remember many Halloweens growing up...it was never one of my favorite holidays. My friends and I would do the usual "door-to-door" thing and get plenty of candy. One of the neighbors that lived a few blocks away always handed out 50-cent pieces, so we would always be sure to visit that house more than once!

Every year for Halloween, my church had a big party for the kids. We would all come in our costumes...speaking of costumes, remember how the used to be? You basically went to K-mart and pick out a plastic mask with an elastic string and a decorated Velcro cape. What happened to those? Probably made in China and we took in plenty of lead from those things. But any way, at this party we would wear our costumes until someone guessed who we were.

There was a big "gorilla" in a suit covered head to toe that was too big to be a kid, so we figured it was one of the teachers for our Monday-night Catechism. All the kids guessed all the teachers to no success. As the night went on, the adults at the party started to join in and guess. The church only had about 50 people, and we were assured it was someone from the church, but nobody had a clue! By the end of the night, the gorilla was still prancing around, with an unknown identity. We all gathered around to find out who fooled us for Halloween. I couldn't believe who it was...

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MY GRANDMA!!!

Family/Friend Friday --- Florida Vacation

Here is a video from last week's Florida Vacation and Wedding (Jen's brother Jason to Kerby). The train started in Altoona PA and finished in Jacksonville FL and we stayed on Santa Rosa Beach (for the wedding) and Destin Beach (for our mini-vacation). Hope you enjoy the video (Jen wasn't very impressed so she is going to make her own)...just don't blink!

Family/Friend Friday --- The Big Game

Just a reminder...this will be my last post for the next 2 weeks. I will start up again on Monday, October 20th. Jen and I are taking Amtrak from PA to Florida for her brother Jason and his girlfriend Kerby's wedding. Jen's family rented a big house on the beach (Santa Rosa Beach) close to where the wedding will be held and where we will be staying Thursday to Sunday. We are also using one of our free nights in our travel club to stay an extra night oceanfront at Delray Beach on Sunday night.

One of the best times I've had with Jason was a Steeler game we got tickets to. We headed down to Heintz Field and took our seats in the upper deck. We were playing Jacksonville and it was back in the days of Tommy Maddox at QB. Tommy played absolutely horrible that day with 4 interceptions in regulation, but the Steeler DEF was awesome and kept us in the game.

The score was tied as the 4th quarter was ending, and Jason said, "This thing is going to go into overtime and I REALLY have to go to the bathroom". So as the clock hit 0:00, I suggested he hurry up and go because they would have to take a comercial break, do another coin toss, etc. So we left our seats and I was standing along the railing watching while Jason was in the bathroom. Several people had the same idea as Jason, so he had to wait in line. The break was over...still no Jason, the coin toss was over...still no Jason, overtime started with JAX kicking to PIT...still no Jason.

As Hank Poteat of the Steeler hauled in the kick he ran to the 10, the 20, the 30, the 40, across mid-field, to the 40, and tackled about the 35 yard line. As this is playing out, the crowd is getting louder and louder with each yard that is returned. By the time he was tackled, the stadium had erupted! As I was standing there I hear someone yelling, "Hey Mike, what happened, WHAT HAPPENED?!?" I turned around to see Jason in an all-out sprint, his zipper still down and his pants still unbuckled...more concerned with what all the cheers were about than the fact that his drawers weren't on. Unfortunatly the very next play, Maddox threw interception #5 that was returned for a Jacksonville TD (Jason should have just stayed in the bathroom!).

So as Jason and Kerby look back at all the things they should be thankful for on their wedding day, I have one for them to add to their list --- that Jason doesn't have an indecent exposure charge in his history.

Family/Friend Friday --- A Long Trip

Back in the summer of 2003 we went on a week-long trip with all of Jen's family to Kentucky to see the Corvette museum, Louisville Slugger plant, Churchill Downs, etc. It was about an 8-hour drive from where we were living in Pittsburgh, and we decided to carpool with Jen's sister Joni (the birthday girl this week!) and her boyfriend (now husband) Ron (pictured above).

Joni and Ron like to pick on each other back then and Jen thought 8-hours of bickering back and forth would put her over the edge. I told her not to worry as I would keep one eye on the road and one eye on them. Unfortunately the night before our trip I got wet sand kicked in my eye playing beach volleyball and ended up with an abrasion and infection and only one good eye (which I figured I had better keep on the road).

So we implemented one rule for our trip...It was known as "Rule #1"...NO FIGHTING! It worked out pretty well on the way down. As Ron would try to badger Joni, we would just say "Rule #1" and that would be the end of it. It is kind of like saying to the kids, "I'm going to count to 3...", but hey whatever works.

We made it all the way to Louisville, KY without any major fighting or bickering. We needed to eat dinner and stopped at a local Shoney's (now Joni's favorite restaurant). Our highlights from our 11:00pm pit stop was our waitress with only 3 teeth, the nice long hair in my ranch dressing, and the blood that came pouring out of Ron's chicken when he started to cut it. The favorite part for Joni was the women's restroom in which someone obviously had some issues in there that was never cleaned up. All said and done we got 10% off our bill (yeah, that was worth it!).

Hope you had a great birthday Joni, and hope Ron was able to take you back to your favorite restaurant!

Family/Friend Friday --- 10 Years

This month will be my 10-year reunion at Lock Haven University. Early this week I told you a story about my friends at Grove City College and the great relationships I had there, but when I transferred to Lock Haven, it was very different. There was a lot more drinking, partying, and a complete lack of Christian values...so I didn't have nearly as many friends there (and I would go to either DuBois or Grove City on the weekends to visit my friends there).
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I did have 1 great friend at Lock Haven. Her name was Kirsten and she was in the Phys Ed program with me. While others were out partying, we would always watch Three's Company, Friends (they actually had new episodes back then!), rule the tennis courts (we never lost a double's match together), or play one of my wacky made-up games like Bruiseball or Powerball(so those of you that hate my made up games and modified rules you can blame Kirsten for always encouraging me!). She is now a teacher near Hershey and lives with her husband and occasionally jumps on to read this Blog.
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The best story I can remember with Kirsten came from our Adaptive Physical Education class. The professor thought it would be a good idea to make the entire class spend 24-hours in a wheelchair to get an idea of what it was like. Kirsten was my partner and she would help me out, and then we would switch the following day. As soon as we got out of class that day, she agreed to help wheel me back to my apartment.
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Now, if you've ever been to Lock Haven you know there are only 2 choices...you are either walking up a hill or walking down a hill....there is no level ground. So we get to one of the hills that leads to my apartment and we are slowly making our way down. All of the sudden, Kirsten "accidentally" lets go, and I am off to the races (I am still not sure if it was really an accident?!? --- Maybe she'll leave a comment and explain). I wish I had a video I could show you of what happened next, but this one off of Youtube pretty much sums it up:

Family/Friend Friday --- Grove City Bob

My freshman year at Grove City College introduced me to a lot of great people...especially the guys on my floor in my dorm. One of my best friends today (Chris) and I met as he lived only a few doors down. When I knew I would be transferring to a new school to change to a major not offered at GCC, I used to drag my mattress from room to room and spend the night on the floor of some of my best friends there (and the joke continued for years that "I was the guy that slept around").

At the end of the hall lived a guy named Bob. Everyone on our floor left their doors unlocked except for Bob. He was very particular about his stuff...especially his bed. You didn't dare sit on his bed or lay anything on top of it. Bob also had this huge "treasure chest" that he put all his spare change in since he was a child that had several hundred (possibly even thousand) dollars full of quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies.

Bob was also known to leave every night at 8:00 for the library and return at 9:00 (almost to the minute!). So one day Bob goes to the bathroom and his door is open. So I hurry and take a piece of duct tape and cover his lock so the door will shut, but not lock. So at 8:00 that night as he headed to the library, a couple of us got together to plan on a joke we could play on Bob.

It started as, "Why don't we rearrange his room" to "Let's switch his room with someone else that's not here". Finally the suggestion came to do something to his weak spot, his bed. That led into a handful of change from his treasure chest being stuffed into his pillow, to several handfulls being placed under his sheet, and as one thing led to another, the entire chest was dumped and piled onto his bed (probably a good 2 feet high!).

We all stood by the window and just like clockwork, at 9:00 we could see Bob and his girlfriend walking toward our dorm. We all went to our rooms to act natural...and listened with great anticipation of what his reaction would be. I didn't hear Bob say a word, but I did hear BOOM, SLAM, POW, ETC. What was Bob doing???

Well, since Bob was sure he had locked the door, he thought it had to be his roommate that did this. So he was flipping out and throwing his roommates stuff all over the floor. Next thing I knew he 1-handedly pulled every drawer out from his roommate's dresser, walked over to the window, and dumped out all its contents (and we were on the 3rd floor!). So all of his roommate's stuff was all over the floor, and his roommate's clothes were scattered on the ground 3 floors below, and to top it all off, Bob's girlfriend was standing down there waiting and watching all this.

Next Bob takes off running to (as we were told later) kill his roommate for doing this (even though he had no clue where he was). As we watched out the window, his girlfriend stopped him and got him calmed down. Lucky for us, we would get to see a whole new show when his roommate returned to see what Bob had done! hahaha

Bob and that girlfriend of his did end up getting married. Oh, and if you ever run into Bob today, call him "pastor" as he has a church in Illinois.

Family/Friend Friday --- Grandparent's Day

This is my grandma June. We just call her "Gran". This Sunday (September 7th) is Grandparent's Day, and I am so happy I have Gran for my grandma! She lived right across the street from us growing up. Since my mom cannot cook, I would go over there quite often for dinner...and every Saturday morning for pancakes or eggs and every Sunday for a big lunch after church (my favorite was always her chicken and stuffing). She also makes the best perogies in the world (which I am still waiting for Jen to make!).

One of my favorite memories happened about 10 years ago. For my birthday, she came with me and my mom to Atlantic City (she had never been to a casino before). Back then, the slot machines actually took real money...you'd throw in a quarter, and if you won, somewhere between 2 and 1,000 quarters would shoot back out (in today's casinos you buy "credit" on a little card you insert into the machine and at the end of the day you take your card to the cashier and they give you the money that you have left on it). Back then you could throw all your coins into big buckets they had laying around, take it to the cashier, and they would throw them into a money counter and give you bills.

So when we get there my grandma doesn't really want to gamble, but decides she will try her luck for a little bit on a nickel slot machine. So I leave her there and head over to the card tables and tell her I'll be back in an hour or so. After about an hour passes I start heading over to check on my grandma and I can see her in the distance throwing nickels in the machine as quick as possible and looking very annoyed. When I got there, her tray was overflowing with nickles (and these are HUGE trays!). I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I trying to get rid of all these nickels, but they just keep coming back out...I don't want to carry all these home!!!"

She didn't realize she could cash them in. She is probably the first person in casino history that got mad every time she won. I helped her load up several buckets and take them to the cashier. She had over $200 in nickels (that's over 4,000 nickels!). I asked her how she won so many, and all she knew was she put in $5.00 and pulled the handle and they just kept coming out.

This was just one of many great times we've had together.

Family/Friend Friday --- Aunt Mary Lou

This is my aunt Mary Lou (my grandma's sister) on my mom's side. Everyday my mom prints out my Blog and gives a copy to her and to my grandma. When I went for a visit in DuBois, they asked me why I never say anything about them in my posts. Most of my family/friend Friday posts deal with someone who is celebrating a birthday/anniversary/etc. and Mary Lou and my grandma had birthdays soon before I started this Blog. But since there are no birthdays this coming week, and the following week is Grandparent's Day (the perfect time to make a post about my grandma) I thought today would be a good time to introduce Mary Lou.
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Mary Lou was always my "summer babysitter" growing up. I went to her house everyday and played with my cousins Allen and Melanie. She also taught my 1st grade catechism class. Since she was a teacher, she would always pick up me, my brother, and sister every Monday night. She could tell you plenty of nightmare stories about trying to drag my brother who often refused to go without putting up a fight. Recently she called my brother her "favorite" nephew...so she is obviously losing her mind as she gets older! Don't worry...she has a great sense of humor and will find that funny.
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Anyway, when I turned 21 twelve years ago, I had no desire to go to a bar...but I couldn't wait to go to the casino! I don't care much about money, but it is the competition that I love. Mary Lou and I used to take bus trips to Atlantic City several times a year (I won on my first 7 trips which made me want to go even more!). Mary Lou would play the slot machines and I would play the table card games. She was always insistent that I knew exactly where she was and that I checked up on her often.
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So one day we take a bus trip and arrive in Atlantic City and we have to go to the bathroom. So I go into the men's room, and Mary Lou goes into the ladies room. I told her I would meet her right outside the doors. I was only in there a minute or 2 and came out to wait. Five minutes go by....then 10...then 15...and no Mary Lou! I asked one of the women going into the restroom if they could see if she was ok. The woman came out and said, "There is nobody in there named Mary Lou".
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So now I start to wonder if she did beat me out, and if so, where would she have gone? I stopped a passing security guard and said, "I lost my aunt in the bathroom" (not something you say everyday). The security guard replied, "Did you know this bathroom has a separate entrance?" Right away I was sure Mary Lou had walked out the wrong door and was on the other side of the casino probably frantically waiting. As I was walking though the casino with the guard to try and find her, I hear another security guard's voice come through on his walkie-talkie..."WE ARE LOOKING FOR A MIKE CATA...CANATA..." and I hear Mary Lou finish him off, "IT'S CATANZARITO AND I'M LOST!!!"
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Obviously we eventually found each other, and she should be very happy --- the ordeal took 15 minutes off her gambling time and probably saved her $20 that she would have lost!

Family/Friend Friday --- Catanzarito

Last weekend we got to spend some time with my family in DuBois. My brother and his kids also came up from North Carolina. On Sunday we celebrated my birthday, my dad's, and my niece Brooke's. Instead of telling stories about them, I will attach a family video from the weekend. You will see how tame my dad got the deer to become in his backyard. He used to have names for them...Fuzzy was his favorite and, among others, was Connie, the mean deer jokingly named after my mom. At his retirement party at work, his co-workers got him a set of sticky "Hello My Name Is" name tags so he could keep track of all his deer and their names (there are about 40 that regularly come around). I don't have much to add on Brooke from the weekend...most of her time was spent in constant text messages with her boyfriend --- not sure how she has so much to say!

Family/Friend FRICKET Friday

When Jen's parents were here this past weekend, her dad and I went everywhere looking for garden stakes so I could make a game of FRICKET. We are traveling to my parent's this weekend to meet up with my brother and his family, and I know they'll love this game! We went to Joanns, Target, and Walmart with no luck. On their final day here, we walked down to Home Hardware and finally found some. After all that, we had to set it up and play so they could see what all the trouble was for!

The game of FRICKET has very few rules. The name is a cross between Frisbee and Wicket (the main parts of the game). Basically there are 2 garden stakes (called wickets) that are separated by a frisbee length + the size of your fist. Twelve yards away are 2 more stakes separated by the same distance. On top of each stake is a plastic cup. You and your teammate stand together on one end. You throw the frisbee at the opponents stakes. If you can get the frisbee through without hitting a stake, you get 3 points. If you hit one, the plastic cup will fly off. If it hits the ground you get 1 point....or if your opponents can catch it 1-handed without trapping it against their body, they get the point. Play to 21.

The video is a little distorted from the upload to YouTube. Make sure when you visit us, you ask to see the original! Jen said she hates this game, but watch her in the video and tell me she isn't having fun!!!

Family/Friend Friday --- A Day at Camp (Part 2)

OK...things are a little backwards this week...part 2 is going to come before part 1 because Jen (whose birthday we celebrated this week) is a lot more involved in the part 2 story, but it will still have some flow to it next week when the story is finished off.

Growing up Jen would always go to a 1-week Baptist camp called "Camp Judson". As she got older she spent time as a camp counselor and right after nursing school she was the "camp nurse" for all the little campers. In the summer of 2003, Jen was asked to spend a full day teaching a group of high school kids spiritual discipline. She accepted the challenge and ask me to come along with her.

It was really neat to spend a day at this camp that meant so much growing up to her (it's where she accepted Christ!). When we got there, she immediately remembered so many memories and was so excited to share all of them with me including camp songs (every once in a while I still ask her to sing the "Austrian Song" where a guy goes climbing a mountain), where they would do the polar bear swim (jumping in the water at like 6:00 in the morning), where they would have night services and sing around a camp fire, the elephant tree which was very old and looked like an elephant (which fell down this year...Jen was sad!), the places she slept, the games she played, how she would save her money for the little store they had there, and even the secret place her sister Julie ran off with some other boy counselor she liked during a game of hide-and-go-seek so they could be alone!

I am glad Jen got to experience all this and have so many memories and a place like that she can go back to. She also did an amazing job teaching! She kept the high school kids attention all day and they were really into what she was presenting. Her preparation really showed! I usually spend about 1/2 hour getting ready to share at the detention home each week and about an hour getting ready for the class I teach at church...but not Jen...I'll bet she spent at least 15-20 hours getting ready so it would be as close to perfect as could be, and God was certainly glorified that day! So if you work with youth at all --- ask Jen to teach...she'll do a great job. Just ask at least a year in advance!

All this came after a disastrous night. What happened the night before? Well, check out this blog next Friday and you'll find out.

P.S. The stories I had in mind to share today that were funny I was told I was not allowed to tell. So just keep in mind when your birthday or a big event in your life rolls around and you will be featured in Family/Friend Friday --- THREATS DO WORK (so does paying me off). How did I do Jen?

Family/Friend Friday --- The Young Man and the Sea

This past week was the birthday of one of my good friends growing up...Jim. We went to elementary school together, played on the same baseball and basketball teams, and every summer for only $75 we would get a student membership at a local golf course and be able to golf together on weekdays for free (and we went pretty much everyday!). Since we were both teachers after college in the Pittsburgh area, we continued to golf several times a week during the summer and still keep in contact today.

It was our senior year of high school and the day of the prom. Our prom in DuBois was always on a Friday evening. The school told students that if we were going to the prom, and if we needed time to get ready, we could leave school that day at 1:00. Well, obviously we didn't need 5 hours to get ready, but we definitely weren't going to sit in school either! So, we took off and headed for the golf course.

This particular year Jim had his "lucky ball"...one he had been golfing with for several weeks and hadn't lost and was playing really well with. On the second hole, Jim hit his drive (and his lucky ball) directly into the center of a large pond. However, water levels were down that day and a small island was exposed in the center of the pond and when we arrived, we could see Jim's "lucky ball" sitting on the little island.

Me and Chad (another friend who was golfing with us that day) began trying to persuade Jim to go after this ball. It was probably about 40 feet to this little island. The water was so dirty that there was no way to tell how deep it was, but we convinced him since you could see land in the middle, it couldn't be more than a foot or two deep. So he reached out and measured the depth from the edge with a golf club, and sure enough it was only about a foot.

So Jim takes off his socks and shoes and starts walking through the muddy pond. As he walked, the water level went from his ankles, to his knees, to his thighs, to his waist, and by the half way point it was near his chest...but he was determined to get that ball! When he retrieved it and came back, he was completely covered in mud. He thought about heading home, but with the wet mud he didn't want to get in his car (which had been washed and cleaned for prom).

We finished our round and Jim is now covered in dry mud. He used the clubhouse hose to try and clean some off, but it wasn't coming off! By now we only had about an hour to get ready for prom, so he jumped in his car and "peeled out" to get home as fast as he could. He made it to prom that night and somehow got all the mud off.

Oh, and Jim's "lucky ball" --- he lost it on the very next hole.