Happy Holidays

I'm working several hours over the next few days, so I wanted to go ahead and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and an Outstanding 2016!  If things go as planned, I'll be typing on my brand new tablet the next time I talk to you.  Until then, enjoy your holidays!

Sentimental Street

"I've been kicked so many times, I don't know nothin' else..." -Night Ranger- (Sentimental Street)

"For when there's nothing left, I'll fight for every breath..." -The Outfield- (Taking My Chances)



Good evening everyone.  Today has been a trip down "Sentimental Street" as I've been running errands up and down Main Street, and have once again ended up at the Littleton Public Library to do another post for y'all.  Let's see, where to begin...  For starters, I'm starting to think that the local library may end up getting more press in my blog than from any other source.  :)  "Sentimental Street" - in case I haven't mentioned it before, after we "fall back" for the time change, it gets dark for the "evening" at about 4:15 p.m. here in Littleton, U.S.A.  Yes, that's a capital YUCK!!!  On the very bright side, we have had an EXTREMELY mild winter up to this point, with high's still in the 30's and negligible snow.  Back to the yuck and not very bright side (although money comes in handy), I worked the past six days in a row before today, and I will be working the next seven days in a row starting tomorrow.  On the next bright side, I found out that I won't work on Christmas Day.  After working on Thanksgiving, I just assumed that we were open for Christmas also.  On the next not-so-bright side, there are ZERO college bowl games on Christmas Day.  So back and forth, and up and down we go...  ;)

Since I won't be off again til next Thursday, that's likely about the time that you'll be seeing my next blog post here (next Thursday or Friday).  I plan on doing my next blog post with our weekend football picks at Coach's Parlay Card tomorrow night if Joey and my brother Pete cooperate.  Joey is evidently taking a short vacation in Cali...

Yeah, Joey's in a casino - I'm SHOCKED...  Meanwhile, Pete wreaked havoc on a 1/2 table in the Red Rock Poker Room yesterday, and he also won a few sports bets to boot...

Sorry, that's only a "stock photo" of the room at Red Rock.  Pete was too busy winning money to take pictures evidently...  Anyway, these two jokers are having fun, and I'm just hoping not to be buried in a blizzard...  ;)  Speaking of all these people doing all this fun stuff, I'm very proud to share that my sister recently completed the San Antonio Rock N Roll Half Marathon.  Here's Whitney showing off at the finish line...

And here she is sporting the hardware that she took home...

Whitney was PROBABLY already dating the guy, but wouldn't it be a great story if she found him on the course?  :)  Great stuff Whitney!  Like I said before, WOO HOO!!  Very proud of you...  :D  And now we've come to the portion of our program where we steal from our friends (as if I haven't already been doing that)...  My friend Keenan shared this, and PLEASE, for the love of everything that's holy, PLEASE rack your weights...

I'm going to steal from myself this time, and I think that this is a pretty good picture of the gym at my Alma Mater...

I spent a lot of time watching varsity basketball games with a great view from the bench during my senior year is this gymnasium.  And I think that your girl is somewhere in there Carlene... :)  I also took this photo recently, and BELIEVE ME when I say that this is just a small preview of things to come...

  
I guess that's why they're called the "White Mountains..."  Back to more cheerful views, this is a photo that my friend Leslie shared from the Santa Monica Pier, a place that I DEFINITELY must find someday...

After all, my throwback photo has me fitting right in out in Cali...

I also had my friend Karen popping in from my teaching and coaching days with this 'Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich...'

Goodness gracious...  Speaking of my former kiddos, Leanne's first competition is this weekend, and she posted these...

Believe me when I tell you that girl has worked hard.  Have fun this weekend Leanne!  :)  Jessica is another one of my many former student-athletes who has worked tirelessly, and I'm bringing this snapshot back from last year...

I hope that y'all are enjoying the holiday season to this point, and that you'll continue to do so until I see you next week!

Thanksgiving Weekend

"I promise I might, not walk on by, maybe next time, but not this time..., even though I know, I don't want to know, yeah I guess I know, I just hate how it sounds..., if I traded it all, if I gave it all away for one thing, just for one thing..., if I sorted it out, if I knew all about this one thing, wouldn't that be something?" -Finger Eleven- (One Thing)

"I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn, I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel..." -Natalie Imbruglia- (Torn)

"I can't light, no more of your darkness..., all my pictures, seem to fade to black and white..., I'm growing tired, and time stands still before me..., frozen here, on the ladder of my life..."
-Roger Daltrey- (Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me)



Good afternoon everyone.  I'm sitting here at the Littleton Public Library hurting these keys when I could be at home watching college football (what am I thinking?!)...  This has been a very long Thanksgiving Weekend for me to say the least, but now I'm on my second day off of two in a row, so I thought that I'd say hi to you.  I worked from 3:30 p.m. til 12:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving, and we actually weren't as busy as I thought we were going to be.  Let me qualify that previous statement by saying that we had lines at all of our registers from 6:00 p.m. thru about 9:15 p.m. - I just assumed that the standing lines at our registers were going to last longer I guess.  I ran into my friend Kari here on Main Street yesterday (she has seemingly gained some sort of "fame" for her walks downtown).  Anyway, I was mentioning working on Thanksgiving, and Kari said that she's cautious about going out in those crowds (for several reasons).  I kind of shrugged it off because our event went pretty well on Thanksgiving night, but later when I was perusing Facebook yesterday, it seems that SEVERAL places had problems with people getting trampled, with multiple injuries and even deaths occurring.  I myself have never shopped on Thanksgiving or 'Black Friday' for deals, and I don't think that I ever will... 

For the second week in a row, my 'Football Friday' post at Coach's Parlay Card came out late, but if you want to see what Joey, Pete, and myself think about this weekend's football games (both NCAA and NFL), our favorite bets are there.  We went 5-4 last week, so there still might be a little bit of hope left for us.  Speaking of Pete, he just had another birthday this week.  It's amazing how fast we get old, isn't it?

Speaking of age, this is the portion of the program where we segue to stealing stuff from our friends...  ;)

   
My friend Kristen shared this one on Facebook earlier in the week, and if I adhere to this, you won't be seeing much of me up here in the White Mountains for quite a while..  :)  And since we're on the topic of 'Peanuts' and Thanksgiving, my friend Callie posted this cartoon on the internet a few days back...

The only turkey that I had for the holiday was at work, so I'm still a little bitter.  "Woof..."  And this one is dedicated to those of you who prepared meals over the holiday, via my friend Megan and her toddler Coy...

It must have been fun trying to clean that mess up...  :)  And this meme goes out to those of you who may have bitten into your meals just a little too soon, via my friend Shae...

And this photo goes out as encouragement to all of us who are going to be in dire need of losing weight and getting more physically fit after the holiday season ends...

This is my friend Leanne, who is now only two weeks out from competing in her first show.  I have featured Leanne a few times throughout the course of writing 'Bikini Hill,' and now I can honestly say that she might be able to take me in a fight..., MAYBE...  :)  Best of luck to you Leanne!  Back to the holidays, I'm telling you up front that you should not waste your time trying to figure out this meme, and that if you do, you'll be disappointed.  You can blame my friend Mary...  :)

My friend Ashley shared a timely thought for those of you who may doubt yourselves unnecessarily, because you put too much stock in what others think of you...

And this one is an oldie but goodie that I found, basically along those lines...

 

And this one is the sun going down on me...

I know what you're saying to yourself - "could Coach possibly share more 'Peanuts' strips in his blog???"  Well, the sun going down on this post is probably my cue to go and watch the rest of that Ohio State/Michigan game...  ;)  Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon!

Twice In Four Days?

Good evening everyone.  I thought that I'd write again since I'm feeling a little more rested.  Twice in four days, I know - call Guinness...  I'm just watching a little 'Two and a Half Men' and 'The Big Bang Theory' and whatever else catches my eye until I fall asleep tonight.  This is the eve of classes starting on the University of Texas at Austin campus tomorrow, the proverbial "quiet before the storm" if you will...  This is what the trash dumpsters currently (this afternoon) look like at my apartment complex, if you need any proof that the students have returned to Austin...

Photographs of trash.  And just when you thought that my blog couldn't possibly get any better...  Speaking of trash, I bet a little preseason football last night (the baby bets, thank goodness).  Last night I had bet on the Bengals (+3) and also wagered that Cincinnati would score over 18.5 points against Tampa Bay.  By the way, if any of you have ever competed at Fan Duel or Draft Kings, I'd like to get your feedback on those sites.  I've been seeing A LOT of commercials lately as the football season approaches...

Speaking of football, again, my friend Joey, my brother Pete, and myself will be giving you weekly football predictions at one of my other blogs, Coach's Parlay Card.  Regarding my picks, maybe this is where I should have inserted the photo of the trash...  ;)  Actually, I'm still living on my prediction that Kentucky was overrated and would not win the NCAA hoops title this past spring.  Didn't even make it to the championship game...  :)

Alright, now to get that trash out of your mind.  My friend Tim posted a nice picture today from Franconia Notch, where isn't too terribly far from my hometown in New Hampshire...

It's not year-round snow up there...  ;)  And this facebook share came from my friend Brigette, who it seems I'm stealing as much from now as anyone on social media...

Another one of my pet peeves, people who don't use their turn signals and nearly kill me...  Yeah, I really need to start getting my rants out there more...  :)

That's it for tonight gang.  I just wanted to check in real quick.  Have a great week and I'll see you soon!

It's Time To Write

Good evening everyone.  It's been almost a month since I've bothered you.  I should (hopefully) have a lot more time to write in the near future.  Students are now returning to the University of Texas at Austin (which was evident when I saw the broken glass at the entrance to my apartment complex this morning), and that means that my countless hours of overtime for this summer are now done.  I was working on a big project in one of the dorms on campus this summer, and now I'll be able to put that time into my writing (unlucky you)...  I've been so busy that I haven't even studied my football.  I was toying with the thought of entering a random fantasy league online before the season begins, and I realized that I wouldn't have any idea who to draft.  I haven't looked at schedules yet, I don't know who the projected starters are for each team, etc, etc...  As you could probably guess, I do have my t.v. tuned into the NFL Network right now, as I'm mainly listening to the Chargers/Cardinals game.  I have $2.00 worth of baby bet action on the contest, in case you're interested ($1.00 each on San Diego (+3 1/2) and (Under 40).  The game is currently 9-0 Cards with 7:52 remaining in the first half.  The game will likely be long over once you've read this, but whatever...  :)

Speaking of football, can't miss (can't hit?) football picks will once again be coming your way from my "family of blogs."  A couple of changes are in store for this season (as seems to be the case every year).  This season, not only will my friend Joey be contributing his weekly bets, but I also convinced my brother Pete to throw in his favorite selections.  That's right, you'll be receiving wisdom from not just one, but TWO ticket writers at Las Vegas sportsbooks...  In the interest of keeping things easier on myself, AND hopefully improving our winning percentages, each of us will only be giving you our favorite three bets for each week.  These can be from college or NFL games, and they can be against the spread or on the over/under.  These picks will normally be published on Friday, and they should begin appearing at Coach's Parlay Card starting September 4th, just in time for the first full weekend of college football games.  The season is REALLY THAT CLOSE...  :D

Back to my "family of blogs," I hope to start writing a lot more everywhere.  I definitely wouldn't mind earning a living (or at least supplementing my income) by writing if I could just get myself focused and lined out.  I swear, I was so caught up this summer with my project at work that I barely had time to think about much else.  I worked overtime shifts since early July and most of this month, and I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to just RELAX a little...  Speaking of focus, if you've watched any preseason football, isn't the drop off astounding when teams are led by the second team quarterbacks as opposed to their starters???  Anyway, I'm paying a lot to rent out this space from Google, so I might as well you use it, right?  :)

I'm going to call it a night now, but stay tuned..., I'll have a lot more for you soon...  ;)
      

Hopeless

"You know it's hot when the highlight of your day is someone bringing you a freeze pop..."
 -Destiny Perez-




Good afternoon everyone.  It appears that this is going to be my SIXTH post since my entry on March 31st.  I definitely have to start pacing myself...  Ironically, this will also be the post where my total pageviews go over the 90,000 mark, which is an incredible milestone considering the fact that I don't write.

As a potentially classic Men's Final at Wimbledon plays out of the t.v. beside me, I guess that I'll write a little.  I'll begin with work, which has been extremely busy since I took my new job at the start of March.  In my job with ITS, we see a huge number of projects during the summer as you might imagine, because that's when the students are gone and we can do more work without disturbing them.  We do work in preparation for their return to campus, in addition to everything that happens in and around the football stadium, for the return of Longhorn Football in early September.  We already had several ongoing projects this year before the summer rush hit, so I've been working quite a bit.  During the past week, I worked 3.5 hours of overtime on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 hours on Thursday, and 2.5 extra hours on Friday.  I also expect a lot more overtime before the students return to campus.  Don't get me wrong, UT has summer school, but there are over 50,000 students wandering around here during the long semesters...

In the world of sports, I still plan on doing football picks again.  These will be moved to one of my newer blogs (don't worry, you haven't missed anything - I don't write in my newer blogs either), Coach's Parlay Card.  I believe that Joey still plans on making picks with me.  I've barely cracked the covers on my college and pro football magazines, for what you'd expect from me anyway.  In baseball, the Red Sox and Yankees will be on TBS in about five minutes.  The Sox are 5 1/2 games back if I'm correct (the Yankees in first), so the whole division will be within 4 1/2 games of the lead at the All-Star Break should Boston win today.  The Sox were favored to win the division (and more) coming into the season, so the second half could be very interesting...  And of course, there's the Spurs offseason.  It's interesting to see where free agents want to sign, and the jerks on the teams that they're deciding not to play with...

Despite the moniker of this blog, I've spent nearly all of my free time at home recharging from work, so I don't have tons to report about San Marcos or Austin.  My friend Cindy from campus put her house up for sale recently, and has had people coming to look at it virtually IMMEDIATELY after it listed, so the housing/rental market here in Austin is still ridiculously strong, a fact that I curse every time that I write my monthly rent check.  Following along on facebook, it seems that people were incredibly generous in the wake of the late spring flooding in San Marcos and Wimberley, as I saw that all kinds of benefits were held for victims.  In some San Marcos and sports news, the Texas State Bobcats will be opening up their football season at Florida State University.  That should be interesting...  :)

Hopefully that's enough to tide you over for a week, or a month, or longer...  :)  Have a great week and I'll talk to again sometime...  ;)

    

The Memorial Day Weekend Flood Of 2015

"The trick is to not let people know how weird you really are until it's too late for them to back out..." -via Bianca Edwards-

"Why can't taco rhyme with Waco?" -HalleyAnna Finlay-



Good afternoon everyone.  I know, two posts in a month - somebody stop me...  ;)  The big news in this area today is the flooding that's taking place due to the recent rain that we've had.  Thanks to my friends, I have several photos to share with you today. We'll start down south, with my sister Whitney...

This comes to you from Schertz, which is just north of San Antonio.  Next we arrive in San Marcos, where all sorts of havoc has taken place.  We'll begin with the photos in and around Sewell Park, which is the home of 'Bikini Hill.'

My friend Courtney shared this one, and yes, that is a regulation basketball hoop...

My friend Katie shared this photo earlier in the morning...

This a different vantage point of the park from my friend Alma.  As we move around San Marcos, you'll see that there is no shortage of photos, and these are just a fraction of what I've seen on facebook today...

This shot comes to you from my friend Keith...

And this picture was taken by my friend Valerie in front of a strip mall that's just east of IH-35...

This photo from my friend Scott was one of the first that I saw this morning, and comes from a local apartment complex...

Cyndi's photo also shows another apartment complex in San Marcos...

J.J.'s picture shows us an access road submerged alongside the aforementioned IH-35...

Monica's shot comes to us from near Highway 80...

This picture was taken to the west of Austin and was shared last night by my friend Hunter.  The Austin-area had several tornado watches and warnings last night, and this restaurant obviously experienced some of the strong winds...

And this morning at my own apartment complex, I saw where the storms were successful in snapping off a big part of this tree last night (the tree on the right, behind the blue dumpster)...


So yeah, the flooding is a pretty big story down here in south Texas.  Before all of this happened last night and into this morning, the local graduations were the big story. My friend Lauren shared a pre-flood photo from Texas State (same Sewell Park) earlier in the week...

Several graduates celebrate by jumping into the river after the ceremony.  You'll notice that you don't see any of the steps in the background in the previous photos, as they're all underwater right now...  And this gem comes to you from Lubbock, where one of my former softball players received a bit of recognition from Texas Tech...

I may have gone to medical school if I would have known that I get could my name put up on the big screen after I finished.  Well..., probably not...  ;)  Congratulations Amanda!  I'll even spare y'all the story where I was pitching batting practice and as a freshman, Amanda NAILED MY THIGH with a line drive, giving me a bruise that I sported for well over a month.  I'm SURE that the guilt from that experience encouraged Amanda to complete medical school...  :D

To go along with that throwback story, I have a throwback photo of myself that I put on facebook earlier in the week...

This was taken just before the finish line at the site of my first marathon in San Antonio.  I was a pound or two lighter back then...  AND I've got a photo for you from Las Vegas...

A sneak preview from the upcoming World Series of Poker, as my brother is attending his new employee orientation today...  I know that I haven't posted much lately, but when I do post, I make them count...  ;)

I hope that all of you have a tremendous Memorial Day Weekend, and I'll see you soon (maybe)...

Segue Anyone?

"Everyone is on a timeout!  Shhh...don't talk to me!....that's all....carry on..." -Alma Medrano-

"13 days til graduation, 32 days til X Games, 48 days til Caribbean Cruise, 58 days til Vegas...  Summer hurry up!!!!" -Brittany Flores-

"Two years ago today my wife uttered the phrase, "Hurry up, my ring is waiting for me," because I wasn't walking fast enough to get to the jewelry store.  Less than 30 minutes later she was wearing the perfect ring and I was destined to never have money again..." -Grrouchie-

"She was unstoppable, not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them..." -via Lorraine Lamb-

"I laugh..., I love..., I hope..., I try..., I hurt..., I need..., I fear..., I cry..., and I know you do the same things too, so we're really not that different, me and you..." -Collin Raye- (Not That Different)

"Am I that strong..., to carry on?..., I might change your life, I might save my world, could you save me?..., and all of your weight, all you dream, falls on me, it falls on me..." -Fuel- (Falls On Me)

"You've already won me over, in spite of me, and don't be alarmed if I fall, head over feet, don't be surprised if I love you, for all that you are, I couldn't help it, it's all your fault..." -Alanis Morrissette- (Head Over Feet)




Good evening everyone.  In the first of what will be several segues today, I'll take you back in time to when my friend Heather's first ever words to me were, "You better stop watching me..."  Yeah, that story is somewhere in the blog archives, as this photo was in Heather's recent archives...

"That one time I graduated college a year ago..."  Not a bad tag Heather...  :)  So yes, it's that time of year again, when the spring semester is about to end, and Bobcats and Longhorns will be receiving their diplomas in San Marcos and Austin (and Corpus too Brittany)...  ;)  Surprisingly, Heather wasn't my first friend to post a 'Flashback Friday' graduation photo from last year in San Marcos, as Maureen beat her to the punch...

Maureen's picture immediately caught my eye because she's soaked, which I thought was appropriate for a former lifeguard, and someone who I watched (helped? - okay, more watched) save a youngster's life in the very same San Marcos River that several Bobcats jump into after graduating.  That story is also in a previous blog post here.  I'm evidently very big on recurring roles in the blog, and water...

Tina was in the blog not too long ago, and was kind enough to break out a surfboard recently for her cover photo and remind me that I don't live near the water.  Tina can be a pain like that...  :)  I love the water, but have never lived near it (not counting the aforementioned river that runs by 'Bikini Hill,' but A LOT of water).

My friend Pete was more than willing to jump on board with the water theme, sharing this recent vacation snapshot.  Let me interject here that Austin has had more than its share of rain recently (and has a bunch more in the ten-day forecast), and that a substantial amount of it leaked into my apartment recently during a big storm.  You'd probably know more about these types of things if I'd ever blog...  :)  Back to the water though, it wouldn't be complete without...

SHARKS!  I rarely post photos with my friends' children in here, but I had already decided to be officially jealous of my friends and all of their water photos when I saw this gem yesterday. Leanne's poor little guy seems to be having an awful time in the jumpy house, doesn't he?  :) Speaking of friends, and their children's photos, and not writing much recently...

This is a great Easter shot of my friend Megan's boy that stood out in my mind because I saw it not long after seeing another photo where a friend's child looked ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED of posing with an overgrown bunny.  :)  So I missed Easter...  Oh, I also missed the Blue Bell ice cream recall.  My friend Jamie reminded me of this recently when she shared a status along with her sentiment, "Took 'em long enough.  I need some homemade vanilla like yesterday!!!"  I saw a great meme back at the time of the recall, but now I don't remember which of my friends posted it. Basically, the gist of it was that the rest of the country didn't understand:  Texans weren't more limited in their choice of ice cream without Blue Bell, but Texans were OUT OF ICE CREAM!  :)  I also missed sharing the news of Apple rolling out their new watches.  My friend Jason received one as a birthday present recently...

:)  We also missed the Mayweather/Pacquiao "fight."  I didn't see the "action," but I followed along on Twitter, and my friend Valerie shared this shortly after the "fight of the century..."

And I'll be honest with you, this is ALL that I read on Twitter about the "fight..."  We also missed the closing of the Riviera this week, so I'll give you this showgirl in its honor...

My friend Jessica is becoming more and more famous by the minute...  :)  Speaking of things that are Las Vegas related, I've also neglected to tell you that my brother Pete landed a job working at the World Series of Poker this summer ("Yay" as Josie would say)...  Maybe someday I'll write a little bit about poker again.  There are some great blog links over to the right, most of which are poker related, if you're interested in reading some good stories on the subject.  It's funny, I went from writing one blog to writing four, and then I pretty much stopped writing completely.  And that really doesn't bother me...  :)

Alright, I guess it's about time to publish this, but I did see a few more things on facebook this week that didn't fit nicely and neatly into my segue barrage, but I thought that they were worth sharing anyway...

My friend Carren shared this, and there is probably nothing that frustrates me as much as bad driving.  I mean, oblivious people can actually KILL YOU...  And my friend Sophie shared this...,

Have a great Mother's Day Weekend, and I'll see you soon (maybe)...