Time Warp Tuesday --- Best Childhood Christmas Gift

When I was 13, I knew exactly what I wanted to save money for --- a Go Kart. My friend Mark had one, and we were tired of taking turns and wanted to ride the trails together! So for the Christmas of 1988, all I wanted was money. I had it set in mind that if someone bought me a gift that year I would return it to add the cash to my Go Kart fund. I had it all figured out that I could save every penny I made (including asking for money rather than chocolate when Easter rolled around) and have my Go Kart by my birthday the following summer.

Every year for Christmas Eve we went to my aunt's house in Punxsy. I was thrilled when I got money from some aunts, uncles, and grandparents....and no presents. It was exactly what I was hoping for! When we returned home that evening, I opened the door to find a Go Kart sitting on our living room floor! My dad was able to buy a used one, which ended up being a wise thing as I would run that thing through mud, snow, over jumps, through puddles, etc.

On Christmas Day, I got Mark and we rode through the snow and on the trails behind our house for a good part of the day, and I loved it! The trail behind our houses was probably 1/4 mile long, so it wasn't long before we got bored with it began venturing out through the alleys, roads, etc. We would ride about 3 miles up the alleys to the elementary school --- until one day a policeman pulled us over and said if he caught us again he would fine us and take our Go Karts away! In any case, this was my favorite childhood gift and served me well until I turned 16 and upgraded to a car.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE CHILDHOOD GIFT? (Add it to the comment section).

Time Warp Tuesday --- A Trip to Radio Shack

Last week during my magic show, my sound system decided to die. Fortunately the place I was performing had its own system I could plug into, but I knew my upcoming show over the weekend did not have its own and I needed to get one. So Thursday night I went to our local music shop and did some wheelin and dealin and traded my broken system (which he will attempt to repair) for smaller one at a discounted price. While I was trying my stuff out at the shop in the new system, I realized that I had the wrong adapter for my microphone system (it was giving it too much power) and needed to get a new one of those too...but the music shop did not have any.

So Friday I headed over to Radio Shack for a new adapter. The salesman looked over everything they had and wasn't completely sure which adapter would fit. He ended with, "Well, I am pretty sure this one might work...you can take it home and try it and if not, bring it back". Well, I had to leave that night for a show and didn't have time to mess around so I asked if I could bring all my stuff into the store to try it out there and if it worked I'd buy it, and if not I would look somewhere else or try and different one. He agreed.

So I lugged all my stuff in and set it up, and the adapter worked perfectly! Then I had to take down all my equipment and take it out to the car. During this process, I am not sure if the salesman was done for the day, went on break, or was in the back...but in any case he wasn't around anymore. I took the adapter I had tried up to the new salesman at the check-out to pay for it. He took a look at it and said, "Oh, this is an open product...you get it for 1/2 price". I explained that I was the one who opened it just to try and make sure it worked and that I said I would buy it full price if it did. He responded, "Our policy says if the box is open at check-out we can only charge 1/2 price". So I got a pretty good deal.

Now I'm thinking...we could really use a big screen TV. I think we'll go to Radio Shack, but we better open it up in the store first and try it out there to be sure it works before we lug that thing home!

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Cats

Growing up my great-grandma always had cats. When it was time for her to move out of her house and into a small apartment, she gave me one of them. My first job was to pick a name for the cat. After thinking long and hard, I decided to call him "Kitty". Kitty was an outdoor cat (except in the winter) and would follow me everywhere I went. In the morning, Kitty would walk down to the bus stop with me and sit there with me until the bus came. He was very friendly and loved to sit on people's laps and was always purring.

It wasn't long before Kitty took an interest in a stray female cat in the neighborhood which we also adopted. My name for that cat..."Kitty Kitty". Kitty Kitty was also very friendly and loved to sit on people's laps and purred a lot as well (but she never followed me around the neighborhood like Kitty). Neither of these cats were ever mean...and they went through a lot with visits from little kids, the mauling by kids at the bus stop, etc.

One day my uncle Mikey came for a visit and we were out on the porch. He asked if Kitty and Kitty Kitty were nice cats, and of course I said yes. He reached down to pet Kitty Kitty and she immediately bit him on the hand. So after having her tailed pulled, being swung around in the air by kids, sat on, etc, etc, etc over the years, I guess Kitty Kitty had enough. Either that or Mikey had just performed the greatest trick I had ever seen.

Time Warp Tuesday --- Thanksgiving 2008

Time Warp Tuesday --- FOCUS Retreat 2008

Here is a video from this past weekend...

Time Warp Tuesday --- Smoking Ladies

95% of people addicted to smoking had their first cigarette before the age of 18.

I remember hearing this statistic from the Surgeon General as I was studying to be a health teacher in college. Then I thought, "What about the other 5%"? And I came to the conclusion that the other 5% were the little old ladies that played BINGO in my hometown on Wednesday nights.

Like most Catholic Churches, my church had a weekly BINGO game in which the vast majority of the crowd was little old ladies and they all smoked (seemed to be a requirement!). As a kid I went with my mom a few times to play. It was always like walking into an ashtray and these women were very serious about their BINGO!

One thing that always annoyed me when we went is my mom reminding me of the "Postage Stamp". It is a way to get BINGO that is different than the normal vertical, horizontal, or diagonal ways. Basically it is when you cover any of the 4 corners on your card (making it look like a postage stamp I guess).

So one night we go to play BINGO and I was surprised that my mom didn't remind me about the postage stamp. So midway through one of the games, as a joke, I covered one of the corners of my card (making a postage stamp) and said, "Hey mom, too bad this doesn't count as a BINGO". She glances over at my card, see the fake postage stamp I made, and thinking it was real she yells at the top of her lungs, "BINGO!!!"

Well, everyone starts clearing off their cards, making the "I'm so upset it wasn't me" sighs all the while I am trying to tell my mom it was just a joke and I didn't mean for her to yell "BINGO". One of the workers came over to check my card, realized it wasn't a BINGO and announced that everyone should just keep playing. Well of course many of them had already cleaned off all their cards for that game and we got the evil eye from every old lady in the room with the look of, "You idiot, even the nursing home people can play this game correctly".

So that brings me to another conclusion...what makes this final 5% of the population start smoking? It is people like me, ruining their precious BINGO game.

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Shot Heard Round Pittsburgh

There is a plaque on my wall in my office that was given to me by my aunt Rose Marie that reminds me that something special happened on November 11th, 1999...exactly 9 years ago (but that still isn't the most popular item in my office...more about that later this week)! The city of Pittsburgh (where I was living) had unusually warm weather that day (very similar to the warm weather we had last week)...so some friends and I decided to hit the local golf course. To appreciate the story and the moment, you have to know a little bit about the people who went that day:

Steve --- My roommate at the time. We had just moved in together a few months before and he loved my little putting machine (although he never golfed on a real course before). So this was his first day to ever play. It was very evident on the first hole when someone asked him to mark his ball (to put something flat down like a coin so it doesn't interfere with someone else's putt) and when he was told it meant to pick up his ball and put something in its place, he picked up his ball and set down his car keys. Steve could always hit his 5-wood perfectly straight, 120 yards. Unfortunately it takes him 5-6 shots to get to his "sweet spot" of 120 yards away.

Eric "Dice" Miller --- Our next door neighbor from "Bawston". We loved his signature line of, "You've gawt to golf early so your ball can break the moornin dew". We called him "Dice" in comparison to Andrew Dice Clay, the comedian who loves to let the 4-letter swear words fly...and Eric had the Boston 4-letter words down pretty well! It was funny the day we talked him into going to church with us...he threw on his Budweiser T-shirt and sat in the very front row. I also remember on a slow day of golf when he drove his ball on a par 3 when the group ahead of us was still on the green...Eric's ball bounced right through the guy's legs (he had his back to us) which started a swearing and shouting match that almost resulted in a fight. Don't get me wrong though, Eric was a GREAT guy and we always enjoyed spending time with him --- although I will never tell the story of the time we were on the radio together!

Zolton --- I know very little about Zolton other than he worked with Steve. He was from another country, but I don't remember where??? He had a very strong accent and I remember eating with him at the Lube and he got the suicide wings. With a beet red face and sweat pouring down, he kept saying, "Deez are goowd, Deez are goowd!". From what I understand, when Steve talks to Zolton, he still mentions what happened 9 years ago...

We were walking around the course having a good time. For how nice the weather was, it wasn't very crowded (although there were some people behind us). We walked up to a par-4 which was only 259 yards (most par 4's range from 280-400 yards). So I knew if I could really get ahold of my ball, I could get it on the green.

When my turn came, I gave it a good smack, and knew that it would make the green. It bounced up on and started curving toward the hole. I figured there is no way to get a hole-in-one on a par 4 as it is next to impossible to get one on a par 3. But much to my amazement (and obviously a ton of luck), the ball dropped into the hole! That set off the following events:

Me --- I ran a "victory lap" to nowhere. I don't really remember much other than I was excited and running in circles and felt like the guy in Chariots of Fire.

Eric --- "Holy @#%! I don't &$^#*% believe the *#&%)$_# ball just went into the &#$*@! hole!!!

Zolton --- "Holwee Cowl" "Holwee Cowl" "Holwee Cowl"

And to put a damper on the party...

Steve --- "I don't get it...is that something that doesn't happen very often?"

Time Warp Tuesday --- Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Well, today is finally election day (and my mailbox will be far less stuffed!), and I have been reflecting on the question, "If Jesus were here on Earth today, who would He vote for?" We can narrow the question down to just a few choices:

1) Jesus would not vote but want us to vote

2) Jesus would not vote and would not want us to vote

3) Jesus would vote for McCain

4) Jesus would vote for Obama

5) Jesus would write someone in

Well, I think we can immediately eliminate #1. The Gospels clearly show us that every time Jesus asks us to do something, He does it as well. Things like loving others, obeying the Father, paying taxes, being Baptized, etc, etc, etc...if Jesus said it, He did it. So if He would want us to vote, He would vote as well.

Taking a look at choice #2, it helps to look into the politics of Jesus' day. He lived in a society where the government was FAR worse than ours. Unfair taxes, death for disobedience, oppression, etc was the norm for His day. Even as the King of Kings (who could have changed things in an instant if He wanted to), His only stance on politics was, "Obey and pay your taxes". However, Jesus did not have the opportunity to vote since the government back then was a far cry from a democracy. Jesus always took advantage of opportunities in His society such as speaking in the synagogues, teaching in public squares, and being involved in daily life, and as part of that, I believe He would have seen voting as a privilege and a way that we can honor God.

So if Jesus would vote today, who would He vote for? Well, I think it is pretty clear that He wouldn't expect perfection. After all, in choosing His closest followers He picked (among others), a traitor (Judas), the uneducated (Peter and Andrew), the governmental terrorist (Simon the Zealot) and the cheat (Matthew the tax collector). In the Old Testament, God used murderers (Moses) and adulterers (David). So perfection isn't the standard here.

I also don't think Jesus would be a "single issue voter". You hear people today say Christians should vote for the person against gay marriage, or the one that will take care of the poor, or the one that will give to faith-based programs, etc, etc, etc. I think He (and we should as well) look at all the policies of each candidate and determine which one would bring the most glory to God. The only Scriptural warning I would give is when Jesus tells us to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the poor, etc", He uses a 2nd person singular verb in the Greek. That means YOU (personally) are responsible for taking care of these things, and not leaving it up to or expecting the government to handle them for you.

No matter who wins, take heart that He is in TOTAL CONTROL. Jesus told Pilate, "You only have control over me because it was given to you from above" (Jn 19:11). Romans 13:1 also teaches that there are "no authorities except that which God had established". So even though I will not tell you which candidate I believe comes closest to aligning with God's Kingdom, I do encourage you to use your privilege of voting today. So let's take part in being used by God to put into place His choice...look at all the issues, spend some time in prayer, and vote for the best AmeriCain.

Time Warp Tuesday --- S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

The number one thing facing the middle class today happens to be a 3-letter word... J-O-B-S.

--- Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden

Spelling (or even counting in the example above) can make a world of difference! Especially when words are closely related. Jen was laughing at me the other day when I told her in elementary school I meant to sign up for our class party to bring "doughnuts", but instead wrote "dog nuts".

Back when I taught Health and PE if a student was going to miss Phys Ed because of an injury, illness, etc --- they couldn't say, "My head hurts", or "I pulled a muscle"...they would have to announce to the class in more proper terms, "I have a pain in my front cerebellum" or "I have a strain in my hamstring" or other parts of the anatomy they had learned in health class. This led to a young lady announcing to the class that she couldn't participate that day because she had a pain in a very embarrassing part of the anatomy that girls don't have (though it sounds very similar to what she meant to say).

Saying what you mean and meaning what you say is critical. If you are writing, be very careful with each letter as the slightest slip can mean a totally different thing (just ask my former student who meant to start off his lifestyle project with "I am a guy" but accidentally wrote "I am a gay"). But nothing made me laugh more that something that was written on our honeymoon. As part of our package deal, we received a picnic on the beach. They handed us a basket, blanket, etc and away we went. When we opened up our basket we found a little note that meant (at least I hope!) to say "Happy Trails to You!". But a little letter mishap had us greeted with the phrase, "Happy Trials to You!"

Foreshadowing?

Time Warp Tuesday --- Three Kinds of People

There are three kinds of people in this world. Those who can count...and those who can't.

I came into my freshman year at Grove City College with great anticipation. I was recruited by the track coach, and the track times I ran in high school were faster than the college records there. I also loved math and did very well at it in high school and was looking forward to (as a math major) to someday being a math teacher and continuing my magic on the side.

Freshman year at GCC everyone had to take physical education. To start out the year all freshman had to take a test to see which skill/fitness level class they would be in. The track coach was also one of the P.E. professors, so of course I wanted to impress him during my test...especially in the running events. So I went all out in the shuttle run, the 50 meter dash, and the vertical jump and did better on these than every other freshman. We also had to do a throw and a few other non-running events in which I did average.

At the end of the test, I was dead tired! We had a little card we carried around with us and marked all our scores. We had to add some stuff up and do some basic division, addition, ect and generated and wrote down a final score. I ended up with a 63, but really had no idea what that meant.

As Physical Education class progressed throughout the semester, it became more and more apparent that I was at a different skill and fitness level than the other guys in my class, and really didn't belong here. My suspicions became valid when my professor asked me if I was sick or something on test day. I said no that I had done pretty well and on some of the tests had the best score out of everyone.

So he went into his records and pulled my card. Basically, on the test, you could score anywhere from 0-400. 0-100 put you in the lowest level class, 101-200 in the next level, etc. So my 63 put me in the lowest level class, but examining my card showed a basic math error that should have made my score a 363. Oh well, at least I got to feel like Rocky Balboa for a semester.

But to add insult to injury, my professor's response was, "Well, hopefully you're not a math major".

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Princess Spoke

When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I moved into an efficiency apartment in a complex located in the North Hills. I lived there for a year before Steve and I found a place to be roommates a little closer to the city. That first year I had a family from India living next door. I had only met the father a few times, but he was very intelligent and worked in some type of product development field and was on work trips more often than not. His wife stayed at home and rarely came out of their apartment. She did not speak English at all. They had 2 kids..."Guy" and "Princess". I don't remember what their real names were, but that is what they always told people to call them.

Guy was 9-years-old and Princess was three. Guy talked a mile-a-minute, but Princess never uttered a sound. She also had a blanket she carried with her everywhere. It was a bit long, so about 2 feet of it would always be dragging on the ground behind her as she walked. They would both knock on my door several times a day (sometimes together, sometimes just Guy, and sometimes just Princess). Guy would always want to go out and play catch, watch TV with me, etc. Princess (since she never talked) would just walk straight in (dragging that blanket behind her), hop up on my couch, and just lay there until either I would have to leave or Guy would come and get her.

As time went on, Guy and Princess would want to go with me wherever I went. If I said I was going to the mall, Guy would say, "Let me ask if we can go too"...and it didn't matter where I was going the mom would always say "Yes". I only had a truck back then so we would load in with Princess in the middle and guy in the passanger side (who knows how many laws I broke without a child-seat for Princess, but back then I thought they were only for newborns). So we would walk through the mall, grocery store, church, wherever with Guy talking his mile-a-minute, and Princess lagging a few feet behind dragging her blanket.

Must be a cultural thing, but this soon turned into, "Mom told us to come stay with you while she goes to the store" or "Mom said to leave Princess with you while she takes me to get my haircut". Not that I ever really minded as Guy was a great kid, and Princess was like watching a cat that just sits there and never makes a peep. About a month before I moved, Guy, Princess, and their family bought a house. As they loaded up the truck to move, they were both crying thinking they would never see me again.

Four years later as I was teaching at North Hills we had a Open House for the 7th-graders. Guy would now be in 7th grade and as I was walking down the hall that night I heard, "Mr. Mike, Mr. Mike!" and turned to see Princess (who I was used to seeing lagging behind everyone) now running ahead to give me a hug. The Princess had spoken! And although I didn't have Guy in class, he would come by my office to say hello and chat throughout the year.

Time Warp Tuesday --- Trivial Pursuit

When I was growing up, my family liked to play trivial pursuit. My dad would win every time, but we had fun trying to beat him (it is amazing how much useless knowledge he has!). I couldn't tell you 99% of the questions that have been asked over the years as you hear them and forget about them fairly quickly, but two moments stick out for me...

The first one happened when I was in 4th grade. The "brown" category was always the hardest. My mom and dad were playing against my brother and his girlfriend. I was on my mom and dad's team but being only in 4th grade I was more of the kid who is just on a team to give me something to do...I wasn't supposed to know any of the answers. My team needed the dreaded brown piece to win. A question came up about the underground railroad for the slaves. We were studying slavery that week, so my ears perked up and asked them to repeat the question. My mom said, "Come on, you don't know that one Mike...I'll give you $1,000 if you do". Moments later I blurted out Nat Turner (the correct answer) to win the game. I am, however, still waiting for my $1,000.

The next one happened when I was in high school. It was me, my mom, and my dad each playing for ourselves. My dad pulled a card to ask my mom a question in the science category. He read, "What is Pi" (the mathematical number used in circle measurements). My mom responded, "What kind of pie?" to which my dad said, "Strawberry banana". My mom said, "Oh, then flour, sugar, strawberries, bananas..."

Time-Warp Tuesday --- The New Cell Phone

Recently Jen and I got new cell phones. We had our old ones more than 4-years and even when we got them they were "bottom-of-the-line". So we are loving our new phones even though we probably don't know 80% of what they can do. I am just happy I can finally play the Monday Night Football theme song for my ringer.

Getting new phones reminded me of something that happened the day after I got a new cell phone back in Pittsburgh. The Bible study I was part of (FOCUS) was having a get together at someone's house on the North Side of downtown. There wasn't much parking there, so we were told to carpool. So I rode down with a girl named Jody in our group.

Once we arrived I stepped out of the car and checked to make sure I had everything (wallet, keys, etc) and realized my brand new cell phone was gone! So I started frantically searching the floor, the street, under the seat, etc in attempt to find it but was unsuccessful. I was sure the phone made it into the car with me, so where could it have gone to?

By this point I was very flustered and asked Jody for her cell phone. I called my roommate Steve and said, "Can you call my cell phone...I lost it and want to try and hear it ring". Jody started laughing hysterically and I had no idea why. Steve called my phone and it did ring and I found it in the little storage space built into the door.

Jody continued to laugh uncontrollably and really didn't see what was so funny about the whole situation. When I inquired she asked, "Why did you use my cell phone to call Steve to tell him to call you...why didn't you just call yourself???"

Yeah, I kind of missed the boat on that one. If you are ever in an emergency...don't call me!

Time Warp Tuesday --- Family Visit

Not much time for a post today (you'll hear more about that tomorrow)...so watch this video Jen made of her sister's family...Julie (Jen's sister), Keith (brother-in-law), and their 3 kids when they came to visit us over Labor Day. We had a great time together and Jen and I loved the time we got to spend with them. You can also visit Jen's Blog @ http://www.jcatanzarito.blogspot.com/

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Shot

Track was always my best sport growing up, but at some point in my life, I also competed in baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, karate, tennis, football, and wrestling. This post is about something that happened during one of my basketball games on the JV team when I was in 10th grade.

I had played basketball through elementary school and on my Junior High teams (7th - 9th grade). In elementary school, I was the best player on the team...when I moved up to junior high and combined with all the elementary schools, I was no longer the best player, but I got to be a starter and played a lot of minutes each game. My specialty by far was shooting. I could beat anyone on the team in HORSE or "Around the World", but my ball handling and defense was never very good (so I would lose at 1-on-1). My main job for the team was to try and hit a few 3-pointers every game.

When I got into 10th grade and was on the JV team, everything changed. The 5 starters were all 11th graders. The 5 second-string guys were 3 more from 11th grade as well as 2 of my classmates in 10th. That put me on the 3rd string, and I NEVER got to play. The first and second string would rotate in and out throughout the game, and if it became a blowout, the coach would throw in the 4th string guys (our team was way to big!). So as I was used to scoring several points a game, I had only 2 points (probably from the only time I actually touched the ball) the entire season heading into the final game.

So for the last game, several of us who were used to getting a lot of playing time when it was just our grade were pretty upset with the entire season (in 11th and 12th grade I gave up basketball to run indoor track). So I made a promise to the other guys who were upset that if I got in the game and if I got the ball, I was going to shoot...didn't matter where I was on the court or how many guys were guarding me...I would shoot.

So our pre-game pep talk from our coach went something like this --- "OK, it's our last game. Some of you hardly got to play this year so we are going to give everyone lots of playing time today". So is wasn't long into the game that I got in. The other team was playing a "press" (guarding us so we couldn't get the ball up to our side of the court) so I purposely avoided looking for the ball so I wouldn't have to either end up a liar, or have to launch a full-court shot.

I hear the coach yell, "Mike look for the ball". I turned, and here came the pass. I was maybe 2 steps in from the half court line. Since it was a press, immediate 2 guys ran over to guard me. I kept my word, and launched a shot over top of them. With the perfect line and distance --- SWISH --- 3 points!!! However, since it was a shot I should have never taken to begin with, the coach wasn't too happy and took me out of the game for good.

But hey, what a way to go out huh?

Time Warp Tuesday --- Our Olympic Experience

As many of you know, Jen and I traveled to China to take part in the Olympic Games. We did our best, but took 4th place behind very talented teams from China, Russia, and Romania. With the 12 hour time difference, most of you probably missed our Rhythmic Gymnastics Routine on NBC at 3:00 in the morning. For those of you who missed out...here it is (in the next post). Didn't we deserve the gold???

Time Warp Tuesday --- A Day at Camp (Part 1)

A few weeks ago I told you the story of Jen taking me to Camp Judson and how great she did leading the high school kids in Spiritual Disciplines for the entire day (see August 8th post). Although the day went great, the night before wasn't so perfect...

The evening before Jen and I were to go to camp, I had a softball game. The game ended pretty early so my former roommate Steve and his girlfriend at the time Amy (now they are married) asked if we wanted to go and play a quick 9 holes at a little par-3 course on the way home. Jen wanted me to help her do some finishing touches on her lesson, but I assured her we would be done in plenty of time for me to give her some help and convinced her to go.

When we arrived, I only had my softball spikes which they wouldn't let me wear on the course so Steve let me borrow a pair of his shoes. I threw my spikes in his trunk and off we went. Jen and Amy are not golfers so the round was taking much longer than expected. About the 7th hole Jen insisted that we leave so we had time to do the stuff for camp. I asked Steve for his keys to get my shoes, but he only had a little remote to unlock his doors and left the keys inside his car. So we decided I would get my shoes, place his car remote inside his shoes that I had borrowed, and I would hide his shoes under his car.

About 20 minutes after we got home, there was a call from Steve asking where his shoes were. I told him I placed them directly under his car but he was adamant that they were missing. He thought I was joking and hid them somewhere else, and I thought he was just trying to get me to drive back there as a joke. But when I heard Amy saying the same thing...I knew she wouldn't lie!

So I headed back to the course (Jen stayed at my place to wait...since this would only take a few minutes), and Steve's shoes had been stolen! The people who had taken them probably didn't realize the car remote was inside because on the front seat was Steve's wallet that they could have easily taken as well.

Steve has locked his keys in his car before and knew how to break in. He said we needed a "radio antenna from a GM vehicle that is from the year 2000 or older". We knew someone nearby that had that and drove and unscrewed it from their car. So just as Steve said, this antenna slid right through a crack in the door and he started pushing it up against the "unlock" button. He tried for a good 1/2 hour with no success. We decided a coat hanger might be helpful so I ran home and grabbed one. Jen was none to happy at this point as it was getting very late!

I returned with the coat hanger and we used it and the antenna together to try and unlock the car. On one of my attempts I could clearly see that the button was completely pushed down and the car was not unlocking. About 2 hours had now passed and I made an interesting discovery. Below the button we had pushing was another button that was labeled "lock/unlock". We had spent 2 hours pushing the wrong button! We were pushing the button that rolls up the window! From the beginning I assumed that since it was Steve car he knew what he was doing. Oh well, my discovery led us to quickly unlocking the car, Jen still did a great job, and I was left with a story I could tell on my Blog years later.

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Pig Farm

The last few weeks I have been talking about some of my hunting and fishing stories, and I couldn't leave this one out. I was probably 14 or 15 and we went hunting at a place referred to as "The Pig Farm". At one time it was a place where pigs were raised, but now was pretty much just a big hunting area. The Pig Farm is located right along side Interstate 80.

My uncle and a friend were going to put on a drive through the pig farm (by walking through the woods with the hope of "driving" the deer toward us). On the opposite side of the woods was a large clearing....but the brush was probably 4-foot tall. My dad stood on top of the hill and sent me to the bottom (right next to I-80). From where he stood, he could see everything happening in the woods and could see me as well. At the bottom where I stood was one path that was cleared (probably to ride 4-wheelers or something). So I stood in the middle of the path, surrounded by a wall of brush.

About 15 minutes after getting there I could hear my dad trying to yell about something. I looked up at him and he was waving, jumping up and down, and trying to get my attention. So I figured the deer must be coming! I had no idea what he was yelling...the noise of the cars flying by on I-80 drowned out what he was trying to say.

Then, I saw my dad motioning for me to come up on top of the hill with him. Maybe the deer had walked out of the woods and was standing in the field up by him? When I looked down the path I was standing on, I saw a dog in the woods running. It happened very fast as it was moving towards us and of course it wasn't going to attempt to run through the 4-foot brush, so it started running down the path I was standing on.

When it got about 40 yards away running full speed directly towards me, I realized something...this is not a dog...its a bear! I had to think fast what to do as we were going to meet head on, and very soon! Should I shoot it? Should I play dead? I certainly wasn't going to outrun the thing!

I just kind of froze for a second or two and it got probably 10 yards from me...still in an all-out sprint. At the last moment, I turned and jumped off the path and into the brush and ran for dear life. I never looked back, but apparently the bear just continued running down the path (probably just a scared as I was from our drivers). I continued to run up the hill to my dad and tried to act as though it wasn't a big deal (I figured he would be mad because I could hear what he was yelling), but we all kind of laughed about it. I can proudly say...at least I didn't pee my pants!

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Master Fisherman

Last Tuesday was about my not-so-great thing I said on a hunting adventure (although I did get the deer!) and this Tuesday is about a very successful fishing trip and another not-so-great thing that I said. When I was around 12, we went to a camp of one of my dad's friends for the first day of fishing. We got up early in the morning and headed to an area just below a dam. When fishing season officially began (8:00 am I think) we started to fish.

I was using a new hand-made lure, and on my first cast --- I caught a fish. My second cast --- I caught a fish. My third cast, same thing. I caught a fish on all 5 casts to start the day. So within 10-15 minutes I had 5 fish. The rest of the day didn't slow down much. If I remember correctly, I caught 31 fish that day and my dad and his friend were very successful as well and we caught over 70 fish between us.

In the middle of the day, I caught a huge trout (I think it was 26 inches). So from then on, the average sized fish that I kept catching wasn't as exciting anymore. So I am thinking this new lure I'm using is so small that any fish would strike it...but if I could get something bigger to use, maybe only the bigger fish would go for it.

In the midst of this remarkable day of fishing, there was a man standing directly between me and my dad that was fishing as well. As my dad and I continued to pull in fish after fish, this poor guy didn't catch a thing. As I pulled in fish #28, he was still on zero. It was around this time that I opened my big mouth and added insult to injury. I yelled over to my dad, "Hey, I am tired of catching all these fish, do we have a big lure that will only catch big fish?"

Time Warp Tuesday --- Master Hunter

I was 12 years old the first year I went hunting with my dad and we would go every year after throughout my years of high school. I never really cared so much if I shot a deer as I was never a fan of venison and my mom had no clue how to cook it anyway. I got either a buck or a doe every year we went, but we would always just give it away to someone. The excitement for me was the competition and the excitement of getting to shoot.

During that first year I didn't get a buck, but there were so many deer that year I was sure to get a doe. On the afternoon of the first day of doe season as my dad and I stood together in the woods, a group of about 20 deer stumbled upon us. I took aim at a doe that was only about 40 yards from us. I shot...she immediately dropped. I just got my first deer!

My dad said, "Nice shot!" to which I replied, "I aimed for the heart just like you taught me". As we approached the fallen prize and examined my masterful hunting skills, my pride soon subsided...the shot was far from the heart I had aimed for...but rather went through the top of the deer's neck.

I am sure she must of ducked and lunged backwards just as I shot making my shot so perfect that --- OK, maybe not.