What's Happening?

I haven't been on blogger for a while, so I thought I'd do a quick list (Bryan's Office-style) of what's been happening.

1. At church, I was fortunate enough to have a projector available for two weeks (until I had to return it to Minster High School), and I loved it. I loved having the song lyrics up on the screen. I loved being able to project the main points of the sermon. In making room for the projector on the stage, I moved aside the large pulpit. Though I don't yet have my lavaliere microphone and I can't move around too much, it's amazing how much freer I feel to be out from behind it. I even had someone comment that my preaching has become better for moving the pulpit.

2. Last Saturday I played in a 3-v-3 soccer tournament (this is my third year of participation, each with different teammates). My teammates this year were all just-graduated players from the team that I volunteer coached with the past two years (for whom I'm now the official assistant varsity coach). We started out slowly (playing against the same team that killed my team the first year) - we got beat by quite a lot...

In the second game, we were much more evenly matched. We managed to fend them off for a 8-7 victory... with me scoring 7 of our 8 goals. I scored on a really nice volley from almost halfway, and I scored twice on "nutmeg" goals (through the legs).

The final game was against a team that called itself "Old and Fat." Some of my friends and I agreed; if you have to advertise, you probably aren't. This game wasn't very close either.

Our final tally: 1-2. We had a good time, and that's what counts. After the games, I went home and relaxed in our family pool.

3. I took a short trip to visit my family this week, and it was filled with excitement. It was good to see "Uncle David" as he was back in the states for a conference. He gave good gifts to everyone (including a cricket set for each set of boys). We had a good time riding bikes together, even though he blew a tire and (of course) the cell phone battery was dead.

4. At the "Chykkyn Rantch" (as we call the family compound), the temperature was extremely hot. There's nothing like a cool, relaxing dip in the pool, right? So what if the pool temperature is 97 degrees, though?

5. Now nobody can dispute the identity of the heavyweight champion of the world.

6. When I got back from Kentucky, it was in time for a huge storm. We lost yet another of our trees (the big pine in the back is now splintered). The wind was strong enough to blow our grill and Jonathan's kitchen set some 10 feet where they came to rest (upside down) against the garage. I wonder how far they'd have gone if the garage wasn't where it is... There was sleet, hard rain, and severe wind. And, best of all, Homer and his wife were apparently interviewed by a near-local television station to talk about the weather. Nice.

7. The storm stopped just in time for the annual New Knoxville alumni soccer game. I came to play with the alums - they needed all the help they could get! Not only was it hot and humid, and not only were they playing against a more-than-full team, but they were seriously out of shape. Many hadn't played since last year's alumni game (which was a 9-0 whitewashing of the high schoolers). The game started out fast with the alums scoring several, but that was against the JV. The varsity team held their own, even scoring several goals. I don't know what the final score was, but it was really close.

Good job, Rangers! They looked really good. As for the alumni, we had size and experience on our side, but the way the Rangers are progressing, this won't be enough in a few years. Especially if the alums continue to "forget" how to play positions (especially midfield)