Happy Halloween!

One of my favorite days of the year is here! I love the fall, the changing leaves, the arrival of the rain (yup, I have become an Oregonian!) and the hanging of Halloween Decorations. I swear, I can spend hours in Wal-mart and Target rifling through their decorations, giggling all the way down the aisles. Halloween... time for my true nature to come out and play for a few weeks. And luckily this year, Little Calvin is getting just as into it as I am, helping and scheming with me for every step... My wife typically ends the month of October with extra strong eyeballs, with the amount of rolling they do this month. Halloween... must be a "boy thing".

Halloween is also the time of many family traditions. For one, On October 1st, the house MUST be decorated (and note to others... putting up decorations prior to October 1st is just tacky, wrong and against the rules of the universe... DON'T DO IT!) For us, this means covering the outside of the house in lights.. Just like at Chirstmas time, but instead of bright white lights, it's little purple ones, casting the place in an eerie glow. Even Little Calvin's outside play structure got the lights treatment, something new for this year. Inside, it's skull candelabras, creepy candles, spooky pictures in place of our normal decorative art, and all manor of decorations, in every corner possible. New this year: "Old Batty" a decorative skeleton, named by Little Calvin after we decided he couldn't name it after his brother, a new series of "bloody hands" decorations, one of which is placed in the rear window of my car, looking like someone covered their hands in thick blood and pressed them to the window (very cool!) and a fog machine, which by the way, does set off the smoke alarms in the house when fired in close proximity to them.. eh... not that I would have discovered first hand... eh.... Anyhoo..

Next, you must go to the pumpkin patch. Luckily, right down the road a few miles we have the world's best pumpkin patch. At the patch we had to spend an hour getting lost in a huge corn maze (see more here) and then taking the horse drawn hay ride out to pick our pumpkins. The rule of thumb in our house: you can only pick a pumpkin that you can actually carry, and no, it doesn't matter how much you beg or cry... you carry your own! This keeps the size of the pumpkin in step with that the kids can actually carve at each age and prevents us from getting overboard in our pumpkin picking as they look a lot bigger sitting on the table at home than sitting in the patch!

Once all the decorations have been hung, pumpkins found and carved, with Halloween drawing close.. it's time for: Halloween lunch! This is typically held on the Sunday falling closest to Halloween. Halloween lunch is something that I do.. simply because I can, because it's cool, because it freaks the kids out and is fun. The concept is simple... cook with ample amounts of food coloring!

Take this year for example... For lunch we had grilled tuna sandwiches and milk. Now, when grilling you simply butter the outside of the bread prior to putting it on the grill. BUT, if you mix that butter with hefty amounts of green food coloring prior to spreading it on the bread... well, then it suddenly looks as though you have a hefty mold problem. Take it one step further... Take your tuna fish mix, and make it a sickly purple color, and you have a GREAT halloween lunch! It taste's perfectly normal.. but boy does it look disgusting! Other things to try... put colors into your Mac and Cheese or Hamburger Helper as it cooks... tapping into that inner artist as you create the sickest possible color combinations. Trust me, it's fun and your kids think you have lost your mind! (Which may be true!)

Now comes the big day! The costumes come out and it's time to have our scary fun! This year, Amanda dressed up as a zombie, tyler as a mummy and Little Calvin as a pirate. Tonight, we went trick or treating and to our church's chili feed/trunck-or-treat party, thus giving us a lot of candy!! It'll take months to get through all of this.

Now comes the depressing part... tomorrow, I have to take it all down as I eagerly await getting it all back out in another 11 months. Oh well, in just a few weeks, I can go "Psycho Clark Griswald" on my house, when it is time to pull out the Christmas decorations.

Happy Halloween!

It's over... early...

Well.... It's over... Our week of travel carefully planned out, hotel reservations made, even car food bought. Everything was ready to go and planned. What was not planned for was the fact that, as I put is last week, Hyde showed up to play tonight, causing us to lose the game, thus officially ending the season. For the first time in 10 years, Marist High School will NOT be going to State.

What does that do for me? I have no clue. I spent the drive home trying to wrap my brain around it. The season has been painstakingly shot... interviews done, with all the players telling the story of the season, sequences edited, and hours and hours put into telling the story of a season... that everyone now wants nothing more than to forget.

During the drive home tonight, entire chunks of the film were mentally chopped off, putting them into cold storage for future years when the team may have better success. I have a plan of attack now worked out, taking the focus of the story off of the playing and moving it to the good times the team had and the relationship of the girls. But will they even want to watch it.. who knows at this point...

I am just sad to see it all end...

Calvin's Ketchup

I'm a bad, bad, bad blogger.... I'll admit it. I let my bog go stale for way too long and for all of those that check in to catch up (hey... ketchp!) on my life, I apologize for the drought of updates. As it turns out, working a full time job, trying to be a good husband and father, producing a documentary film, training for a marathon AND maintaining an active blog, is just a bit too much... and so my blogging has suffered. So here's a quick catchup on my various activities over the last month:

AT THE OFFICE:
It's been an insane month of stress as we work to get our new dealer network up and running in time for our deadline next month. Combine that with some serious decision making times: I received a job offer to take my skills to another company. It was a good company... great future, great benefits and a solid position. But it required me to take just a bit too much of a pay cut to make it work. And so I am staying put and working to re-energize myself with my current job.. to fix that things in my own company that made leaving look so dang attractive. It could be an interesting road to go down, and I'll be curious to see how it all works out.

FILMING/VOLLEYBALL:
It's been a very busy 2 months of filming. As of this writing, I am entering week 10 of filming.. and that means... I have shot ALOT of footage. Most days I am shooting something, games here, interviews there, B-roll in between...I just can't seem to leave the house without my camera. In all, the film is looking good as I start to seriously do some editing. There is one major problem in the whole thing... This is supposed to be my telling of an inspirational sports story.. And the team.. well.. they haven't been playing all that inspirational so far. Now, I don't want that to sound too negative, overall they have done pretty darn well.

Take the first half of the season.. They lost two games, to Pleasant Hill and Junction City. JC also had won all of their games, making them the undefeated leader of the league. As the second half of the season began, we lost yet again to Sisters in our second game with them. This stuck us in a 3 way tie for second place in the league. The only way to get out of this, was to beat both teams that had beaten us during the first cycle.

On October 17th, Pleasant Hill played at our gym.. the first in 2 back to back huge, and insanely important games. Luckily, we prevailed, completing the first half of "mission impossible". The next step was to play JC... AT JC, the still undefeated team in the league that had stomped us pretty hard the first time around.

During the season coaches and players alike made a similar observation: We don't have one volleyball team, we have two: The Jekyll team and the Hyde team. Trying to figure out which team will show up for a game is the tricky part. Obviously at that second Pleasant Hill game, the Jekyll team came to play. And in the season's most amazing night, the Jekyll team also came to play at Junction City, completely unhinging the JC team in every way possible, winning in 3 games. It was THE night of the season so far, the main inspirational point so far.

In typical Jekyll and Hyde fashion however, the Hyde team showed up for the last regular game of the season. You would think that after taking out the undefeated league champs, the girls would be on a roll, but the team that showed up on Monday night at Cottage Grove was anything but. Yes, the team won.... in 5 games.. and barely, and it was NOT pretty. It just gets scary watching the team do that while trying to tell an inspirational story. The film genre says that they should win the big game and continue winning all the way to State.. but that just isn't happening.

To further this, the girls played the first of their "League Playoff" games on Wednesday. Marist and Sisters, now tied for second place (JC still won the league with only one loss) played for league ranking. Sadly, Hyde came.. and this time Hyde lost. Once again, teams in the "sports film genre" are not supposed to lose key play off games.

So where does that leave us? Depends on how we do... The loss on Wednesday places us third in the league. Our next game is Monday night against.... yet again.. Pleasant Hill... the 4th place team. Assuming we win that game, we will immediately leave on Tuesday morning (Halloween!) for a Wednesday game against Ontario, a lovely 8 hour drive EACH WAY. We'd get back from that game on Thursday in time for one more practice. If we beat Ontario, then we'll leave Friday to drive to Klamath Falls, on the southern end of the State for a Saturday game. Ug. If we lose any of these games... Monday, Wednesday or Saturday... we're done.

MARATHON TRAINING:
10 weeks left to go! Yikes! I am still working towards the big race, but I can't say that I have stayed perfectly on schedule! I spent 2 weeks this month not running (under doctors orders), having gotten bronchitis. Add in the crazy volleyball game schedule, editing nights, and our rainy season hitting and it's made it very difficult to keep on track. But I am doing the best that I can under the circumstances.

I just got my "official race program" in the mail which is both thrilling and scary at the same time as I study the course. I can also feel how sore and "loose" my limbs feel after a strong 10 mile run and my brain starts to over analyze going 26 miles. But I am staying positive, knowing that while 10 weeks may seem like so short of a time, there is a lot I can do in that time!

Soooo, that's the update! Obviously very nuts right now in our house, with lots going on and all of us pulling our hair out. If I can survive all my work deadlines, get the right team to show up so I can continue to tell my inspirational story and if I can keep my body together to survive Marathon training, I may just make it...

Birthday Mayhem

Birthdays this week! Woo-Hoo! Time to be my evil self! It just so happens that this week, 2 of my employees are having birthdays. Now, some people think that birthdays are a time to honor and celebrate others. Nope. Not me. Birthdays are a time to show people you care by going overboard in driving them nuts.

Think about it.. What did you get for your birthday last year? What did you do? Was it just an average birthday, doing typical birthday things? People get into the typical "birthday mode" making every birthday just like the last, and to me, that is just boring. Now imagine this: you come to work only to find every last inch of your desk wrapped in aluminum foil. When this occurs you come to realize that:

A. someone went to a whole heck of a lot of work just for you, and
B. You will remember this for a long time.

I guarantee that 10 years down the road when you celebrate another traditional birthday, you will think back and say "Man, remember that year when all my stuff was encased in foil..." So birthdays are a time to really get people in obnoxious ways that both honor them and annoy them... That's my job.. I'm BIRTHDAY MAN!

Now, I'm not used to having 2 birthday stunts to pull off in a week, so this year was particularly challenging, without breaking the bank. Plus, a year ago, we enacted the "glitter truce" in the office. I had been a big fan of using glitter in my decorating in years past. It so annoyed my co-workers that for my birthday last year.. they dropped the "glitter nuke": bags and BAGS of glitter.... everywhere.. and I do mean everywhere.. in my office. I was literally buried in the stuff and it took me the better part of a work day to shovel out. Heck, I still find pockets of glitter on a daily basis, over a year later. So we all decided the glitter fun was over, and now I had to find a different way to make a mess.

So... Birthday #1.. the "inexpensive" solution, this time for Brian. The idea was: when he went to lunch to cover every last inch of his desk, drawers, computer, floor, walls, ceiling, etc. with post it notes. All I had to do was go to Wal-mart and get the big pack for $5 and then go to town. You'd be amazed how far those things can go! It's was also amazing to see the look on his face when he returned from lunch to find his office in a sea of yellow. Just priceless. Now, in judging my own work, I realized I grossly underestimated the amount of post-its I would need, so the floor, walls and ceiling had to go without..... but still... good fun.

Four days later, its time for birthday #2.. one of my weirder attempts. This one is for Aaron. Just to give you some background, Aaron is the office angry liberal, constantly going off on his political rants that can be quite entertaining. I may not agree with him, but it is fun to hear him get worked up. He is single.. no plans or interest in marriage.. and kids are the last thing from his mind. So what better way to celebrate his birthday.. then with a Baby Shower. I mean, come on, you get birthdays every dang year, but when was the last time he had a baby shower'? I can dare to say... never..

And so there I was at the office, extremely early hanging pastel colored streamers, wrapping his desk in baby wrapping paper, giving his area a generous sprinkling of Baby Powder (for the scent), and covering his desk with diapers, teddy bears, little shoes, diaper genie refills, bottles, etc. (Thanks to Molly who recently had twins!). To top it all off, a giant "It's a Boy" foil balloon, stuck to his desk. Now, Aaron typically takes things in stride, but I think he was a little speechless for once when he saw his office. And that means.. I have done my job!

Now I get to sit back and take a break from birthdays while mentally plotting and scheming for next year. hmmmmmmm. Just the brainstorming I love to do! So Happy Birthday Brian and Aaron.. please don't kill me.

Why Marist Rules!

Ok, I just have to say this.... Marist High School.. rules. Yes, I have been a part of the Marist community for 6 years now, ever since Dawn took over the coaching of the JV volleyball team. Yes, I produced a new Marketing video for the school and am doing ongoing video production for the school. Yes, I have seen the benefits of attending a private christian high school, what with all the crap going on in public schools. But never has this really been truly demonstrated prior to this week.

First, let's go back a week. Last Wednesday... was a tough day. As I blogged about earlier, it was just a very emotional day, very stressful due to the unknowns and just overall, a very rough experience. So, how did my office react to my going through this? With the typical "Oh, that's terrible.. now, I need you to do... blah blah blah". It was about as impersonal as you can get. No real care, no real concern, just another issue to deal with at the office.. and when will you be focused on your job?

Now fast forward to later in the afternoon. About 3:00 I headed over to the school to do some video interviews with volleyball players for my current video project. As always, I checked in at the office and had one of their staff walk me to the class room I use and let me in. The staff member that walked me over.. I had never even met her.. and yet she knew who I was and immediately asked "How is your Mom doing? Do they know if she is safe? Is there anything we can do?"

I was floored. I didn't even know this person and yet their care and concern were nothing like those that I have worked with for years. Then I walked into the gym to talk to the girls and right away, I had a quick hug from Kaycee, one of the senior girls asking if everything was ok. Again, the care and concern from this group was just a very nice gesture and one that I will appreciate for a long time.

But then, they took it a step forward. The next day at our game in LaPine (we won, by the way) the team approached me with an idea.. They wanted to do something cool for the volleyball team at PCHS, as Emily, the girl who was killed, was on the team. Our girls wanted to send a care package and I thought it was a great idea.

On Friday, thanks to the help of Dawn and the coaches, the package was ready, a volleyball, signed by all the girls in the program, cards (also signed by all the girls) a letter to share our condolences, and then we shot a video. All the girls from the 3 teams got together outside in a group. The seniors spoke, and delivered a message of hope and recover to the PCHS team, and some insight on what it may be like playing after loosing a team member. They shared that their hearts and prayers were with them. It was quick, all of a two minute message, but very cool nonetheless.

So today, the package went out.. bound for Colorado and a team that is experiencing a huge trial. For me.. this is totally surreal.. to see the high school that I am now involved with so heavily connecting to the high school I graduated from. It's like my present and past all colliding together... very odd, under the circumstances.

But again, it just impressed me deeply, the care and concern that exists in the whole Marist organization. They are an awesome bunch. Regardless of how the team does this year, and how my video project turn out.. this will be a highlight of the season for me, to see a team come together to do what they can to help strangers so many miles away. This is something that I will keep with me... for a long time.