B’s Blog

I don’t think I’ve ever been so sick of winter in my life! The snow just can’t melt fast enough! One of these days we’ll be able to see the lawn and the grass should be greening up within a month. I can’t wait!

* The Vikings loss was a killer. I didn’t realize how much it bothered me until the Saints won the Super Bowl. So close, yet so far away! Favre’s gotta come back. One more year, one more year! I hope they can get L.T. in the backfield to join A.P. too. How sweet would that be?!?
* MLB 10 The Show is great! It’s made me very excited for Target Field to open in less than a month! If it’s as nice as it is in the game…wow!
* The school year is flying by! I can’t believe that it’s almost the end of the third quarter.
* The boys are growing. Brady’s writing and drawing skills have advanced a huge amount in the past few months. He loves to draw pictures and write words. Ben is talking more and more. His favorite word is “No!” and his red-headedness is starting to show more and more.
* I’ve met with Lucy, starting to plan another group of Talents Academy classes for this summer.
* Alex and I went to Twins Fest where I got Rod Carew’s autograph. Now I have autographs of all the Twins players with their numbers retired - #3 Harmon Killebrew, #6 Tony Oliva, #14 Kent Hrbek, #29 Rod Carew, and #34 Kirby Puckett. I also got all the “Down on the Farm” autographs. It’ll be interesting to see which guys are able to find success in the Majors. Many of them are getting lots of time in Spring Training.
* Single game tickets for the Twins went on sale yesterday. I picked up tickets for us to go to three games during the season. I’m very excited!
* I worked at Computers and Beyond last Thursday night and Saturday. My skills were a little rusty, but I enjoyed it and Scott may be in touch if he needs some help in the future.
* I’ve been doing some website work lately too. You can check out the new site for D&M Implement at www.dmimplement.com. I’ve also reworked the layout on the Tiger Baseball site tigerbaseball.thebpark.com. I’m also working on a new site for Bisbee Plumbing & Heating.
* Something new this year is going to be signs on the fence at the ballpark in Springfield. Since it’s the first year, there’s been quite a bit of time put in, but we’re laying the groundwork for what should be a really cool thing for many years to come.

Recent Movies:
My Sassy Girl: First, Tara picked this movie! It was a pretty good romantic comedy. I almost thought that it was going to be very similar to Sweet November, but it wasn’t. There’s a little twist. Check it out and see if you pick-up on it.
Couples Retreat: I was actually pretty disappointed by the movie. Somehow I just expected a lot more laughs. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I didn’t get it.

Video Games:
MLB 10 - The Show (PS3): As I’ve already mentioned, this game is amazing! It’s very similar to last year’s game, but the fact that Target Field was new, and the Twins have new uniforms made me buy this game. The Homerun Derby is a lot of fun too!
Heavy Rain (PS3): I’ve only played the demo, but I will own this game at some point. It’s almost like a modern version of the “choose your own adventure” books. You can’t lose the game, but the decisions you make can make a huge difference as you try to catch the killer. Tara also played through the demo and enjoyed it!
BioShock (PS3): This is another game that I’ve only played the demo of and it’s an older game, but it’s high on my list. It’s basically a FPS set in a retro-creepy underwater world. Once I started playing the demo, I got totally sucked in and played through the whole thing. I’m excited to play the actual game.

Daylight savings time is great! You can’t beat it being light past 6pm!

I hope things are going well for everyone out there! Take care!

Peace, love, and Go Twins!!

Check out this Mayne Event from ESPN…classic.

Let’s see here…

* Wow! I don’t remember a winter with this much snow! Of course, I don’t have the best frame of reference with the new house and all, but I’m not sure where I’ll go with much more!
* Christmas was good. It didn’t go exactly as planned due to the weather, but eventually we made it everywhere and had a good time.
* Tara and I both made it to midnight this year for New Years! The first time in a few years! Nothing too crazy - church, supper with Alex and Tracy, some time at their house before we came home and watched a movie. All that wrapped up just in time to flip over and watch the ball drop.
* I’m cautiously optimistic about the Vikings. If they can do half of what they did in the second half against the Bears and the first half against the Giants, hopefully they’ll still be playing in February. Notice though, I’m not even saying the word.
* This weekend is an eRally for a new Vikings stadium. Show your support here: SavetheVikings.org
* McDonald’s is now offering a “Big Mac Wrap’. Really?!? Because the bun is the part of a Big Mac that’ll kill you! Wow! It doesn’t even look good!
* Fantasy Football wrapped up for another season. I finished first out of eight in the league with Wade, Darren, Chad, etc. In the BlueSky league I finished 8th out of 18. Tara beat me in the Pack pick league, where we both finished around the middle.
* Apparently, the ratings for the Jay Leno Show haven’t been very good and they’re even looking at moving him back to late night. I’m really bummed because Jay being on at 9pm is a dream because I can watch Dave and Jay live. We’ll see what happens…
* I’m working on catching up with posting pictures. I’m into Feb. 2009. Yeah, so I’m still almost a year behind, but I’m making progress!

Recent Movies:
Death Race: The title says it all. Make sure you haven’t eaten too recently. This one is rated R for a reason. Not a bad story though.
One Missed Call: People get voice mails that predict their death. Some pretty scary stuff!
Gran Torino: GREAT MOVIE! If you haven’t already seen this, see it! It will draw on all your emotions. A great quote: “I have more in common with these people than my own family.”

Video Games:
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii): All the greatness of classic Super Mario Bros. with some new stuff mixed in. My only complaint…it’s ridiculously hard!
Cars (Wii): This is technically Brady’s game, but I’ve been playing to unlock various characters. The story is pretty good, but the controls are possibly the worst of any video game I’ve played recently.

Time to watch the Cowboys vs Eagles game to see who the Vikings might play!

Peace, love, and Go Vikes!

Even though my intentions are good my lack of posts speaks for itself.

Here’s a quick update…
* The house is pretty much officially unpacked.
* The Twins Room v2.0 is awesome AND kid safe.
* Games 161, 162, 163 of the Twins season were great to be at.
* I’m not a fan of the Twins new uniforms and logo. Probably because it’s a change from what I’ve known during pretty much my entire life as a Twins fan.
* Brady is so smart! He knows all his letters and can write his name. His memory is amazing even alittle disturbing sometimes with the details he remembers.
* Ben is so funny. He’s Brady’s little shadow. He listens and is always helpful! I’m guessing that will end soon.
* Entertaining at our house is a pleasure - family, friends, co-workers - it’s all good.
* School is going well for me. Our school has a new website that’s really cool: www.blueskyschool.org. Check it out it you’re interested in learning what online 7-12 education is all about!
* This week we’ve gotten to replace our washer, dryer, and garage door opener when they crapped out. Merry Christmas.
* How about those Vikings?!? 11-2 Not bad. I think all those who weren’t a fan of Favre have been won over, if not, you’re not a Vikings fan! I wear my Favre jersey every week…gotta get my money’s worth! Who knows how long he’ll play?!
* I finished up the 2009 version of the baseball yearbook last weekend. I’m waiting for the proof and then it’ll be available.

Recent Movies:
Paranormal Activity: Good, except it should have ended 5 minutes earlier
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Very good, except for the unnecessary male nudity
Leatherheads: A throw-back sort of movie about the early days of footbal, not too shabby
The Final Season: ok, it was about baseball, but a little anti-clamatic
Yes Man: Excellent, classic Jim Carey rides again!

Video Games:
The Bigs 2 (PS3): I downloaded the demo and really enjoyed the homerun pinball. There’s lots of homers in regular game play, which is fun when you hit them, but not so much when you give them up.

That’s all for today! I’ll try hard to have some more frequent shorter posts, but no promises!

Peace, love, and Merry Christmas!!!

I guess you can probably tell that life has been going at a break-neck pace by the lack of recent posts. I’ve got lots of catching up to do…

* The Springfiled Tigers were eliminated by Stark in the amateur baseball playoffs. Congrats to Hanska who finished 2nd in class C state tournament.
* We made our annual trip to Farmfest with John.
* My beginning of the year workshop for BlueSky was held in Alexandria. Spent time with Liz who’s there for school.
* As the spouse of someone who works at the Independent I get to do a paper route in our neighborhood until they can find someone to take it over. It’s been almost two months now. I am not made to get up at 5:30am six days a week!
* The Krogman Krew got together for the Relay for Life. Our second year having a team. We lost in dodgeball, but due to time limits weren’t able to battle back to defend our title.
* Tara’s whole immediate family got together for a vacation in Osakis at the end of August. It was kind of chilly and windy, but we still got in some good fishing and family time.
* We got Kwik Kerb edging put in around about half the landscaping around our house. It replaced that cheap black plastic stuff and it’s SWEET! Mowing is a breeze! We’ve got some rock to fill in yet to finish it up.
* I always knew that once Ben decided he wanted to walk it wouldn’t take him long. Sure enough, on September 2nd we got him to take a couple steps and then I got him coming toward me and I just kept backing up and he walked all the way across our front room. The rest is history! He’s a walking manaic now!
* I presented a technology workshop to the math teachers in Springfield the week before school started. It went really well.
* I’m already a month of the way through my third year at BlueSky. I’m enjoying the “office” that’s not also our bedroom.
* Brady will be in his 3rd week of preschool tomorrow. He loves it and he’s learning lots!
* I’m teaching faith formation again this year. I’ve got 10th grade again.
* How about those Vikings!?! Oh yeah and #4! I haven’t been this excited about them for years! The last second win against the 49ers is exactly why we needed him.
* What a last couple of weeks it has been for the Twins. I honestly had pretty much given up, but after Morneau went done it was almost like Cuddyer said, “Hop on my back boys, we’re going to the playoffs!”. We went to the games yesterday and today. Wow! What a way to send out the Metrodome! Today’s farewell cerimony was kind of toned down considering there’s at least one more game to be played at the Dome…hopefully several more!
* We’re in pretty good shape in the new house. We got the last things that we had stored at Joe and Jan’s a couple weeks ago and I’m making good progress on the basement.
* We’ve made it to two football games at the REC this year. One Mustang game and one Marshall Tiger game where I was honored by Ty Alcorn for faculty and staff appreciation. Thanks Tyler!

I will be making an effort to be more timely in my updates. Hopefully life will slow down a bit now. We’ll see…

Peace, love, and Go Twins and Vikings!!