Posted 3:25 PM by Mike
I love the look of my son’s face when I pick him up from daycare everyday. That look like “Hey I know that guy……..”

I love the big huge smile I get when he sees my face right after he gets up from a nap.

I love his facial expressions and belly laugh when I say “poop nugget”

I love the look of content on his face when he lies on my chest when he’s tired.

I love watching him interact with my dad.

I love how his face lights up and his arms start flailing and legs start kicking when he gets excited.

I love how he watches himself in the mirror when he takes a bath.

Basically…………I just love being a dad!

(And the really fun stuff won’t start happening for awhile…….)

Posted 1:41 PM by Mike
I have a lyrical soul……

This is what I found out the other day. I was watching “Fever Pitch” on HBO. This is the movie staring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore about an obsessed Boston Red Sox fan. In the movie, Jimmy Fallon’s character discloses to Drew Barrymore, whom he had been seeing for a couple of months, that he is very, very, VERY passionate about the Boston Red Sox and that they are a very big part of his life. He goes on the explain that he loves being a part of something bigger than him and likes to feel eleven years old all the time. Barrymore’s character goes on to say..”You are a hopeless romantic. You have a lyrical soul. You are able to love under the best and worst conditions.”

She was referring to his passion for the Red Sox. I started thinking about this……I’m kind of the same. Although I’m not as bad as Fallon’s character (I had to make sure my wife agreed with me…..luckily she did!), I do have a passion for the Pittsburgh Penguins. What about her quote made me think about this? “You are able to love under the best and worst conditions”. Never has this been more true than the last five years that the Penguins have missed the playoffs. Ever since the magical playoff run in 2001 coming off Mario triumphant return, the Penguins have become the worst team in hockey. Following the playoffs that year, Jaromir Jagr was traded for peanuts because of money. That was just the start of their freefall. Since then, Mario endured two separate hip surgeries, a heart ailment, and subsequently has put the Penguins up for sale due to a lack of cooperation from politicians in getting the Pens a new arena. Mario has since retired. Countless stars have come and gone from this team. Jagr, Kovalev, Lang, Straka, etc… have all gone because the team couldn’t afford them any longer. The lockout hurt everything.
When a favorable CBA was finally agreed upon, the Pens were finally able to sign a few big name free agents. Most of them were busts and Pens have again found themselves at the bottom of the standings. And through all of this, I still can’t help but watch them when they are on. Kristin can agree to this. Countless times this season, she has seen me turn the game off because the Penguins were getting killed, only to turn it back five minutes later to see if they have done anything. I can’t help it…. I love this team. It’s part of being a true fan. What kind of fan are you if you only follow your teams when they are winning? The Cubs, 49’ers, Penguins, FSU….all of them have struggled recently and I continue to cheer for them as if they were the best teams in the league. But there’s something special about the Penguins for me. It’s hard to explain.
Through all the bad the past five years, I strongly feel the future is very bright for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The past five years have enabled the Pens to draft their building blocks for the future with their 1st round draft picks.

2002: Defensemen Ryan Whitney (selected 5th overall) He has made his debut this season and shows a lot of potential to be a future all-star. Just lacks experience which he is getting

2003: Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (selected 1st overall) The Pens traded up in order to draft one of the best goalie prospects in decades. After a rough couple of years, he has entrenched himself as the #1 goaltender and will only improve as the defense in front of him improves

2004: Center Evgeni Malkin (selected 2nd overall) Initially, Penguins fans were outrages that we didn’t win the lottery that year in order to select the “other” Russian phenom, Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin has been one of the best players in the league this season and should win Rookie of the Year. But the Pens may have actually got the better player in that draft. Malkin was a star in the World Junior Championships (were he was named Best Forward) and for Team Russia in the 2006 Olympic games. In the Olympics he was widely regarded as Team Russia’s best player as a 19 year old playing with the likes of Ovechkin, Kovalev, etc… He plays an all-around game and his skating stride and reach remind people of another superstar Penguin….one Mario Lemieux. Baring any major setbacks, he should be in Pittsburgh for the start of next season.

2005: Center Sidney Crosby (selected 1st overall) What can’t be said about this kid that hasn’t been said already. He IS the Penguins. He came into the league with the hype that only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and maybe Eric Lindros have seen. All the hype had set him up for a possible let down. Wrong. This kid is among the league leaders in scoring as an 18 year old straight out of junior hockey. He is second to Ovechkin in rookie scoring, but his already one of the best passers in the league. With all the superstar vets gone from this team, he has carried this team on his back and they have made a lot of strides along the way. He will be this team’s leader for along time…..

2006 will see another high draft pick come this way. There are four really good players who have separated themselves from the rest in what is a very top heavy draft. Erik Johnson, Jordan Staal, Phil Kessel, and Jonathan Toews. Either one will fit right into the Pens plans.

If an arena deal is reached and the future of the Pens is cemented in Pittsburgh, this team will be competing for Cups very soon. And if not??? I’ll still be rooting for them anyway…………because as I learned.....I have a lyrical soul.

Posted 11:37 AM by Mike
February was a busy one.......We had visitors from NY the week of President's Day. The NY Webbs came to visit the new addition to the family. Needless to say Cameron was a hit. We even had half of Rochester at our house while they were here. One day, Pat and I ventured to Minneapols/Edina/Bloomington to find Pat's favorite grub joint....Schlotzky's. We were able to find it along with a pit stop at Chipotle for Lyn, Kristin, and I near the Southdale Mall. It just happened to coincide with a cold-snap that saw temps plummet. Good timing by them I guess :)

On President's Day we took Cam to the Mall of America for the first time. It was the first time we got to try our super-cool Jeep Liberty stroller that the NY Webbs bought for us. It was definately worth it! Cam did pretty good at the Mall. He just kind of took everything in and napped. We did the racing thing again like always...which was fun.

The following weekend we ventured up north for the first time with the little bugger. We drove right into the teeth of a pretty major snow storm on the way up. Four-wheel drive definately came in handy. Mom, Dad, Sister, and nephew were anxiously waiting for Cam to arrive. I wondered how Alex would deal with having to share the spotlight now with a new baby cousin. After some initial jelousy (he called him "Baby Dumb Cousin" at one point), he started to warm up to him. Mom and Dad couldn't stop gushing over him! I was able to take Madison out on the lake and run around, sans leash. She ran around and played with my sister's dog. She was pretty depressed about having to leave.

Cameron is changing everyday. It's fun watching him develop into a little person already. He is a little cuddle-bug right now which is fun. He has the cutest grin that makes him look like my dad when he smiles. Fatherhood is fun.....

RIP Kirby

Posted 11:45 AM by Mike
An end of an era for me yesterday..... My last remaining "sports" idol officially retired. Obviously I don't consider athletes role models, that is left for parents, but Mario Lemieux was as close of a role model as I would let an athlete get. When I told Kristin that Mario hung up his skates she said something that made me think. She said "Well, now Sidney Crosby can be your idol". I thought about that. He's only 18 years old! There is no way and 18 year old kid will ever be my idol. He is now officially my new favorite hockey player, but not idol status. I thought back on all my sports idols. They are all gone now. Mario, Jerry Rice, Larry Bird, Joe Montana, Ryne Sandberg, Lawrence Taylor....all retired. Now that I'm almost 30 years old, I don't think I will ever hold another athlete in the same regard as I did those six. Probably because I started idolizing them when I was a kid. When you're a kid, you tend to look up to the athletes you idolize. Well, since I'm probably older or around the same age of all the players I cheer for now, I don't think I can ever idolize another athlete ever again.

This is what makes Mario's retirement even sadder for me. This time it's for good. I will never again see my favorite athlete of all-time on the ice. The last link to my childhood hero's is gone. Some Mario memories for me:

Living up in God's country, we were able to get a Canadian TV station. I remember watching a hockey game in the early 80's. It was a Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens game. This was before Mario came to Pittsburgh. The Penguins were a pathetic group then. They got pounded (something like 5-1 or something). But for some reason I latched on to the Pens. Can't really explain it. I think it comes down to the fact that I don't like to be like everybody else and root for my own teams. From that day forward the Pens were my team.

Around 1985 I started collecting hockey cards. Of course I pulled all of the Penguins cards out and kept them seperate. I came across a card of some rookie named....you guessed it...Mario Lemieux. Now I bet if I asked my dad about this he wouldn't recollect it, but I was showing my cards to him and he saw the Lemieux card. He said "I heard that kid is really good". From that day on I followed Mario as best I could (remember this was before we had satellite with ESPN) through the papers.

1990: It was coming towards the end of the season and the Pens were on the brink of a playoff spot. Mario was out of the line up because of a back injury (little did I know how serious it was). It came down to the last couple of game that they had to win in order to get in. They of course didn't make it. I remember thinking "Wait until next year when Mario comes back"

The summer of 1990 was a bad one for Mario. His herniated disk was repaired, but he got an awful staph infection following the surgery. He spent three months in bed and had to learn how to walk all over again. It looked as though his career might be over. The 90-91 season started without Mario. I remember thinking that there was no way this team could make it without him. To their credit (and to Jaromir Jagr, Mark Recchi, and John Cullen's credit) they stayed within striking distance of a playoff spot. Well.....Mario came back mid-season...nothing short of a miracle. I remember the highlights of the game against the Flyers when he came back. He didn't miss a beat with three assists in the game.

1991: The Pens finished the season on a roll and made it to the finals against.....the Minnesota North Stars! I was now Enemy #1 in my school. I got to watch each of the finals game except Game #6 (we were traveling to Muscatine that day). The Pens were up 3 games to 2 in the series. Mario had sat out a game because of his back, but other than that he was single handedly destroying the North Stars. The second we pulled into my grandparents driveway I ran out of the car to catch the news. Score 8-0.....Pens win!! Stanley Cup Champs!

1992: Mario leads the team to a second consecutive Cup....this time I got to watch all the games. This time it was the Mario-Jagr show as they steam rolled over the Blackhawks.

1992-93: The Pens were on the brink of a dynasty. The Pens were an overwhelming favorite to win the Cup. Mario was in the middle of scoring outburst never before seen. He was on pace to shatter Gretzky's single-season scoring record. Things were good. Then.....it all came crashing down. Mario was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease.....Cancer. At that point I was more worried about his life than his career. He started radiation therapy. Again, the Pens did a good job while Mario wasn't there. Jagr had blossomed into one of the best RW's in hockey and helped carry the team. All of a sudden I heare on the news that Mario is going to be playing against the Flyers....the same day as his last radiation treatment! He came back and got a standing ovation from the Philly crowd. He had a goal and an assist, but the Pens lost the game....but I didn't care....my idol was back. He was 24 points behind Pat LaFontaine for the scoring lead. He had missed 20 games. The barage that he went on made the early season outburst look like child's play! When it was all said and done Mario won the scoring title by 12 points despite playing in only 60 games!! In the process the Pens set a new NHL record for consecutive wins with 17. Unfortunately the Pens were upset in the second round of the playoffs by the NY Islanders.

1995: Mario sits out the entire year. He needed to recover from all he had been through. It all caught up to him. Again I think he is done.

1995-96 season starts with Mario back and better than ever. He easiy wins another scoring title and MVP. The Pens get to the Eastern Conference Finals and lose in 7 games to the Florida Panthers. My highlight of this season was watching Mario score 5 goals against Wayne Gretzky and the St. Louis Blues.

1996-97: Mario still productive...leads the league in scoring but the Pens aren't that good of a team and barely make the playoffs with the #8 seed. Mario has said he is going to retire after the playoffs citing fatigue and general unhappiness with what the game has become...a hack league. Mario gives his home fans one more reason to cheer as he scores on a breakaway goal. The crowd erupts and he gets a 10 minute ovation from the crowd while Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" is played during the ovation....I've got goosebumbs just thinking about it. Unfortunately they lose the next game and Mario's career is over....at 31 years old. Way too early, but I understood. He wanted to leave on the top of his game.

1999: Mario buys the Penguins as they are on the brink of bankruptcy. Again he saves the franchise....

December 7th, 2000: I remember it like it was yesterday. I logged on to the Penguins message board that I post on. People were posting things like "Merry Christmas!" and "possible line combo's with Mario". What? Huh? Jump onto ESPN.com.....It's true! The man is back! I was so excited I couldn't even stand it. Kristin thinks I'm a major freak!

December 27th, 2000: Mario's first game back against the Maple Leafs. Like he never left. Assist 30 seconds into the game. Scores a sweet goal and adds another assist.

February 11, 2001: I had already had tickets for the Wild-Pens game at the Xcel Energy Center before Mario had come back. This just made it even sweeter. Finally getting to see the man up close. I even got interviewed before the game because they were interviewing Pens fans about Mario. I made the news!

I got to see Mario one more time in person in 2002 before he got injured. That was it. Too bad injuries derailed this god on skates. He had it all. Size, strength, hands, grace.... The perfect hockey player. Had be been healthy his whole career and hadn't been driven from the game for 3 years he may be challenging Gretzky's records. He's a class act...not only a great hockey player, but a great person. As I type this, the Pens future in Pittsburgh is bleak. Mario is selling the team because finally it's time he thinks about himself for once. He has given everything for the city of Pittsburgh and it will be a shame if the team is moved. He is selling because he doesn't want to have to be the owner who possibly moves the team.

I want to thank Mario for all the great memories over the past 21 years. Especially these past 5 years since he came back because he allowed me to hold onto a part of my childhood. My last idol. This chapter of my life is over. Now I'm just a fan....not a kid looking up to his idol.

Thanks Mario!!

Posted 1:31 PM by Mike
Well......again....here we sit...months since my last post. Not making any excuses. Just not up to it lately. I guess Uncle Pat and Grandpa Steve were up to posting about it so I guess me, as the father, should post as well.

My life has changed forever. Cameron Patrick Lemke was born at 10:11AM on January 11th. 8 lbs 12 oz, 22 inches long. I just read Steve's post about how special it was to be there within a couple of hours of the birth of his grandson. Well, I'm about to explain the exhiliration of being there at the moment a new life, a life that you created, enters the world. A nine month odessey that culminated with the birth of the most perfect little boy I've ever seen (ok...I'm a little biased:))

The month of December was a pretty rocky one for Kristin and I. November had been pretty uneventful. I had been frantically working on the basement in order for it to be done by the time the little one came. Things were moving right along. Framing was done, wiring was done, had just installed the drywall on the ceiling. I was making arrangements on the logistics for knotty pine boards that was going to cover the walls. Then Kristin's car breaks down. Not a big deal. Went up north for Thanksgiving only to come home to a freezing cold house. Furnace broke down. Decided to put the basement on temporary hold because I refuse to dip into our savings account or jack up our credit cards in order to finish the basement. Christmas was just around the corner and I didn't want to do into debt. Again, not that big of a deal. Then December hits....

December starts with Kristin in agony with stomach craps/early labor signs. Major freakout session. Kristin makes an appointment and goes in. They give her a shot in order to stop the contractions. They want her to get to 37 weeks. Another trip to the hospital due to contractions, another shot to stop them before the 37 week mark. They decide to put her on medication to keep the contractions at bay. Now I'm really scared. I know babies are born premature all the time, but when it's your child, things are different. Doctors pretty much tell us that she won't make her due date and will stop her medication at 37 weeks. We are thinking that she will immediately go into labor once the pills are gone. In the mean time, we had to cancel Christmas with my parents up in Duluth because she is on bedrest. Kind of bummed me out since I haven't had a good Christmas with my family in quite sometime. I went to my graduation ceremony up in Duluth from St. Scholastica. My dad met me there. He was the only one who could make it. It meant alot to me that he did.

Kristin makes it to 37 weeks and is told to stop her medication and can go back to work half-days if she wants to. Three days after the medication stops, contractions! The doctors were right....wrong. False alarm. Next day, back to work for both of us. A few days after that, when we were deciding on whether or not to go to Rochester for Christmas, more contractions. Midly excited, but not really thinking the baby was coming. We decided to go in to make sure. Again....nothing coming. We head to Rochester for Christmas since Kristin was hell-bent on being home for Christmas.

New Year's eve....Kristin and I stay home and play games and each junk food. Next day....major contractions. The worst they have ever been. This is it....the baby is coming! We call Steve to come and get Madison, which he does. He brings her to Sue and Barry's while we get ready to head to the hospital. The nurse tells us that we should hang out on home as long as we can since it will take awhile because it's our first. Contractions go away.....!@#!@#!!!! We can't handle it anymore. Madison spends the week down in Rochester. Kristin in the meantime officially starts her maternity leave on January 5th. We drive down on the 6th to get Madison because Kristin was missing her something awful.

Official due date of January 6th comes and goes. Doctor doesn't believe in letting her patients go a week over their due dates. A stress test and ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday the 10th and an induction scheduled for Friday the 13th!

January 9th.....major pain. Not really contraction pain......but pain to where Kristin can barely move. Scared big time. Now not only for my child, but for my wife as well. I bring her in again...same routine of monitoring baby's heart-rate and Kristin's contractions. Nope....no baby. I didn't really think so but was still worried about her pain. They prescribe both anti-biotics (for a possible bladder infection) and vicodin for the pain. Head home and go to bed that night not realizing that it was going to be last sleep I got for awhile.

January 10th...Day of the stress test and ultra-sound. Since Kristin is hopped up on vicodin, I took the day off to drive her to these appointments. Stress-test is fine. Ultra-sound shows a possible cyst on her ovaries which could be the cause of the pain she has been having. We have lunch at Olive Garden, head to Wal-Mart, and Pet-Smart. Pretty good day. Both of us have decided that we have our minds set on Friday being the day our baby is coming. It's a load off of our minds. We know the day and now we can just relax.

7:30PM....Contractions. This time they feel different. But considering all that we have been through, we don't really think anything of them. They get worse as the night progresses. Again to the point to where she can't move. At around 1:00, Kristin gets into the tub..one of the few things that made her comfortable before. Didn't work. Pain still coming. Call the hospital. We get the same runaround that we should wait it out! My wife is in the worse pain she has ever been in and they are telling us we should stay home! Hell no!

January 11th......2:00AM. We leave for the hospital. Madison looks at us like we are retarded as we put her in the kennel at this time of night. We arrive at the hospital at 2:30AM. Same routine of being hooked up to the monitors. Pain is so severe that Kristin is shaking at this point. The nurse comes in and asks about a million questions. Then she examines her.....she's dialated to 4 cm! This is it......she is officially in labor. Pretty amazing considering not more than 12 hours ago she was at a very tight 2cm.

We had decided that Kristin was going to get an epidural for the pain. Not much risk to baby. However....it was C-section city that night and the anethisilogist was busy attending to them and couldn't get to Kristin right away. Reluctantly she asks for some pain medication to help her in the mean time. They give her the medication at around 3:30AM and she is instantly high. Kind of funny looking at her expression as the medication took effect (think Spicoli on Fast Times!) Whoa!

I figured that since she was stable that I would run to my office real quick to shore up some things and leave notes for people who would be doing my stuff while I was gone. I got back around 4:15AM and she had the epidural and was feeling pretty good. I took the opportunity to try and sleep....it didn't work.

6:15AM they break her water. Things progress very fast. I had called Steve at 3:00AM to arrange for him to get Madison in the morning and bring her to Rochester. Knowing that she was going to be taken care off was a huge load off of my mind.

8:30AM...she is dialated all the way! The time has come. The nurses prep the room for delivery. I couldn't believe that after all this time it was finally going to happen.

9:00AM...pushing starts. Kristin did just a good job. I'm so proud of her. I coached her as best I could. Had her slow her breathing down so she didn't hyperventilate, held her legs while she pushed, held a cold-wash cloth on her head to cool her down...whatever I could do to help. I didn't want her to think she was going through this by herself.

10:00...after a good hour of pushing, her doctor comes in. I thought we were still awhile away. I could see the top of my baby's head but it wasn't out yet. The doctor come in and took over. A couple of big pushes and it's head was out. I was kind of freaked out because of the shape, but nobody else was worried so I knew everything was fine. I though we still had a ways to go in order to get past the shoulders....wrong. One more big push and the doctors pulled my baby boy out! He was so beautiful. I immediately leaned over to Kristin to tell her she did a great job and that I loved her as a few tears trickled down my cheeks. Our baby was here! The most exhilerating feeling came over me.....I'm a dad! I had many people tell me its the most life-changing experience I was ever going to go through....they were 100% right. I've never felt this kind of joy before. Seeing how beautiful he was made all the crap we went through melt away. We both looked at each other and said "Cameron". Cameron Patrick Lemke. My son......

I called my parents and Steve. Kristin called her mom. They were grandparents again. Luckily Steve was still at our house with Madison. He mentioned that he was getting ready to leave to bring her down to Rochester. I told him that he should come and see his new grandson. I'm glad he did since he said it was something he will never forget.

We brought him home on Friday the 13th. I've enjoyed every bit of him being home with us. Every time he opens his little eyes and makes eye contact with me, I get a little flutter in my heart and a huge smile comes across my face. I feel like I've been put on this earth to raise this little boy. I have jumped head first into parenthood and love every minute of it. I look forward to seeing this little man grow up. How my dad will beam at him because his only son has had a son to carry on the name, just as he did. I hope that my son adores me the way I adore my dad. Even if it's half as much, I'm a lucky dad. I miss my grandparents terribly and wish they could here. My Grandpa Lemke would be proud knowing that his branch of the Lemke name is continuing.

More to come....

Posted 11:53 AM by Mike
Back from a short vacation from Iowa. It's starting to feel more and more like home and definately a place we are considering when I'm sending resumes out.

Despite the gas prices, we took the new vehicle, 2003 Dodge Durango, down to Iowa. It only had 380 miles on it so it needed to be broken in sometime. It rides really well. So well in fact that it led to my first ever ticket for speeding. We were in Iowa just outside of New Hampton. I was keeping pace with the vehicle in front of me from a distance. He nailed me instead. Oh well. I was speeding do I accept it. I've dodged the bullet far too long. Ticket was only $60 so I wasn't too upset.

Rolled into Muscatine after 11:00 pm on Wednesday. My trip was made when I had called Mike's house to tell him we would be late and he should go to bed since he had to work. Much to my suprise, he wasn't there. He was out shooting pool with my cousin Jason. Turns out his boss decided to let him have Thursday and Friday off. Mike had called me the night before we left to tell us that he wasn't able to get time off. That brought a big smile to my face.

Thursday, while Kristin was off racking up the miles on my new truck :) , Mike and I went for lunch where my cousin Jason works. We told him to head on over after his shift because we were going to go shoot pool at a new pool hall. Well, three hours of pool and coutless pitchers of Budweiser later, we came home for some college football on TV and of course...more beers. Needless to say when Kristin got back we were all feeling no pain!

Friday was kind of a lazy day. Kristin, Mike, and I ate lunch at our favorite Tex Mex place in Muscatine. After that we kind of hung out until later that night when Mike and I went over to my cousin Mitchell's sophmore football game. It was a monster blowout as they were up 51-0 at half-time! Afterwards, we took the wives out for pizza (the scale on Monday confirmed all of this eating out was not good for me!)

Saturday we got up early to head to Iowa City for the 11:00am kickoff of the Iowa-Ball St. game at Kinnick Stadium. Monster blowout here two as the Hawkeyes were up 49-0 at halftime. I didn't care though as it was a blast! Outdoor, on-campus stadiums definately have much better atmosphere. Hopefully the Gophers get one approved soon. Even though it was Ball St., the place was just electric before the game. They love their Hawks down there!

We visited with my aunt that night and just hung out the rest of the night. Sunday we got up and left to head home. It was a fun trip. I probably won't be going down until my cousin Mike (Uncle Mike's son) graduates in May so I wanted to have a lot of fun for the short time we were there.

Basement continues to come along. Almost ready to start wiring. Will continue to update my progress. I don't have any before pictures like my brother-in-law (most excellent job by the way!), but I will have plenty of after pictures when done.

The Streak is now over! FSU finally beat the Univerisity of Miami on Labor Day. It wasn't pretty, but they came out on top 10-7. The Nole's defense swarmed all night. Freshmen QB's struggled a lot, but there were playing against one of the toughest defenses in the country. We will see how they do the next couple of weeks against lessor competition.

Only 26 more days until the drop of the puck on October 5th (Mario's 40th birthday as well!). Our first lamaze class is that night too so I will have to record Sid the Kid's debut.

Posted 6:57 AM by Mike
I'M DONE!!!!!!

Yesterday my thesis was approved for printing. I sent it to the printer downtown here in St. Paul to be printed. A couple of hours later I got the phone call from the printer that my three copies were ready to be picked up. It felt so good to drop them off at the campus. When I was there, an orientation group was coming through. I remember how nervous and scared I was when I was part of that same orientation group almost a year ago. Although it was hard work, my nervousness was for nothing. Although I didn't make my goal of 4.0 (one A- short), I exceeded all my expectations for my performance. I realized a couple of things in this program.

One, I found out I have a great writing ability. Not sure where that came from. In high school and during my undergrad days, I was never that great of a writer. But I got an A on every single paper I turned in except one (that paper was an A-). The edit guy at the college said I was one of the best writers he's seen since he started editing thesis's for the college. Kind of made me feel good.

Two, I realized that although you don't like somebody you can still work with them and succeed. There was really only one person in my cohort group I didn't like, and it just so happened that we were on teams together often. We always did well, but I still think he's a dink!

So it's over. What's next? I'm not sure. I've sent a couple of resumes out, but I'm really going to start fanning them out soon. Not sure what direction I want to take my career, but I'm sure the journey ahead will be interesting to say the least. All I know is that my next career move will not be with AgriBank. I've been burned too many times for me to accept another position here.

The annual family campout is this weekend. Football and festivities. Should be fun. Heading up north next weekend for the final time this summer. I didn't make it up too many times this summer with all my time being taken with school.

Baby is growing. Kristin's belly is really popping out now. Our first official ultra sound is next Friday. I'm so excited to actually see that little bugger!!

On the sports front:

Penguins making a big splash in free agency. Made a couple of HUGE signings. Sergie Gonchar, probably the best offensive defenseman in the game; and Ziggy Palffy, a much needed high scoring winger. Things are shaping up. Hopefully Evgeni Malkin can be bought out of his contract in Russia to come over and play with Sidney Crosby.

Cubs are done. There are 7.5 games out of the Wild Card. They just look out of gas. The only thing to root for is Derrick Lee's attack on the Triple Crown.

Florida State......not sure how this team is going to be. They had a rough off-season with arrests and school issues. Maybe they'll suprise me, but I'm not too optimistic. The open up with Miami again in few weeks.

Nascar...........AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Kurt Busch signed to replace Rusty Wallace in the 2 car. YUCK!!