What's New

"All I wanna do is have some fun

I got a feeling I'm not the only one"

Sheryl Crow

I apologize to anyone still reading this dribble. My life just does not generate that much excitement when I'm not traipsing up the hill. But anyway I feel obligated to at least make an attempt to update every once in awhile.

Let's start with volleyball. Tonite is monday April 28th in Madison, Wisconsin and our game has thankfully been "rained out". Why thankfully? Because by rain I really mean the freezing rain, sleet, snow mix that began falling today at about 3pm. Mix in temperstures in the 20's tonite and playing volleyball in the sand is no fun. The good news is my team is now 3-0 winning 8 of the 9 games we have played. Not too shabby for the ragtag group of players that I can promise you instills no fear in our opponents eyes when they look across the net.

Live Music update. Been to a lot of shows in my life, waited in lots of lines, have been first in line at ticketmaster plenty of times. But today for the first time ever I scored front row seats for a fairly major show and I was THIRD in line. I went to the venue this morning at about 9:15am and there were two people in line. When tickets went on sale at 10 am there were about 10 people in line. They opened two windows so I had to pick which line to go into. I had heard one old dude talk about hating the floor so I knew not to go behind him. Dude in front of me is buying one ticket, and there's a six ticket limit. I hear the teller tell him I can get you sect 1 row A. I say I'll take the four next to him if he doesn't want them. She says nothing. Guy in front of me pays for his ticket and the lady teller hands me 4 tickets in the first row. And the best thing about it no ticketmaster fees at the venue. $68 per ticket. Who am I seeing? SHERYL CROW. I did get some live music viewing in friday night this past week when I saw The Lucas Cates Band at Club Tavern. Only problem was the openers played until about 10:30 and they didn't hit the stage until after 11. Kinda late for us old people. Especially when you have an 8:30 24 stage circuit workout scheduled for the morning.

Workouts and eating have been going well. I am hungry a lot but I have learned to deal with it. My second weigh in at Weight Watchers was good for -4.4 lbs. I have not missed a day working out since taking sunday off a week ago. Trying to do treading twice a week, Circuit training 3 times a week. Various other stuff on other days. On top of the gym workouts I have been able to get out and actually walk some this past week. We actually had nice weather some of last week. Went around the Oregon High School track yesterday just to time my self and and see how far I go based on my Tom Petty mix playlist, so i can take that anywhere and measure myself. Plus after dinner saturday night I needed some extra cardio.

Saturday night was the 11 year anniversary of one of the greatest parties ever thrown and of course the accompanying marriage to my sweetheart Jacky. We celebrated with dinner at my favorite Madison restaurant The Capitol Chophouse. I had shrimp cocktail, Wedge salad, 10 oz filet, and baked potato no toppings, and one Amstel Light. Seemed like a good amount of food, and it tasted really, really good :)

This saturday is of course the first saturday in May. And that can mean one and only thing. The Kentucky Derby will be taking place at beautiful Churchill Downs. I am making the trip down to suburban Chicago for opening day at Arlington Park ( the closest horse track to Madison) and to bet the Derby and friday's Kentucky Oaks. So who will win the Derby? I'm no favorite player by any stretch, but one horse has really shown me a freakish turn of foot and I will be playing the favorite saturday. Big Brown looked the part in his Florida Derby win and I think he repeats that big run on saturday. Use him over Bob's Blackjack, Cowboy Cal, Recapturetheglory, and Pyro. Best of Luck to all the participants in this weekends big races and best of luck to all of you as well. Peace, Jim