Lacrosse and Spring (Summer) Weather

This past week involved pretty much nothing but lacrosse.

On tuesday May 6, 2014 I headed over to Indian Plains HS to film Waubonsie and Bartlett. It was a pretty sloppy game, but I will make it look sweet.  I also finished a video for a game from last week. Naperville Central vs Naperville North. View it below!

I also finally finished editing a game from over a month ago. Benedictine vs Augustana. Check it out below.

On Wednesday May 7th, I was hoping to go to watch Adrian play Aurora in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Adrian, but my team was poop over the weekned so practice was more important. I streamed most of the Adrian game online at work, and they got whooped. They ened up losing by 10 or so. Darn. At practice for my eighth grade team, we pumped out 200 pushups b/c of the no swear policy I put in place, you swear, the team does 100 pushups. 

Thursday May 8th, I filmed Waubonsie play Geneva over at Indian Plains HS again. A couple guys I coached back in 8th grade for Fox Valley were on Geneva, Waubonsie pulled out the win by 1. Right after this game, I drove over to Naperville Central to watch them play Wheaton North. I talked to the Wheaton North coach (who I know) and he said he used my games I filmed as scouts for playing Central. Pretty cool my videos are getting around and people are watching them. MalutaVision is becoming a household name around here! Check out this sweet behind the back dodge to a goal from the game I put up on 1223.

May 9th, a Friday at work involved a lot of testing tarps. We just ripped as hard as we could all day at these new tarps to see what will be most consistent and durable. I ended up breaking my record for fastest shot, hitting 89 mph and find the net. It was pretty funny since Gio hit 88 to break his record and tie mine, literally 2 minutes before I 1-uped him! Sorry bro! I actually later hit 90, but missed the goal, so we won't count it! After practice, where I pumped out another 200 pushups with the team, I went home, showered, and headed to downtown Naperville to meet up with Rachel and her work friends. We hopped around between a couple of bars, and had some fun dancing and such. I only had a drink since I was to drive home, but it was an overall fun time! I drover Rachel and her friend Becca home, and we stopped at taco bell to pick up some food, which we ate at Becca's house, before driving back home to mine to pass out. Fun night!

Saturday morning, I didn't have any games until 3pm so Rachel and I loaded up some Crash Bandicoot 2 on the PlayStation and played that for about an hour. I forgot how fun and awesome that game is. I will have to figure out how to have it save to a memory card so I can try to beat it, don't think I ever did back in the day. I had 2 lax games at 3p and 5p that afternoon, and the weather was beautiful, high 70s or low 80s and my team played with fire and passion. Despite losing both games, the competition was tough and we were playing A teams as a B team, I was proud of the guys and confident we would win on Sunday. I headed over to Rachel's brothers out in Joliet for a couple of drinks and some delicious pinwheels. Steak layered with bacon and spinach, then wrapped up into a succulent roll. How tasty.

Sunday, the 11th of May, Mother's Day! I was waken by my Mother at 7:35 AM and she asked me when my game was. Well my game wasn't until 8, but I told the kids to be there at 7 to warmup, looks like Coach was late again (we will tell the other story another time). In the rush to leave I forgot to tell my Mom Happy Mother's Day, but made it to the field with 10 minutes to spare before game time. We played 3 hard fought games, and won all 3, going 3-2 in the tournament. The weather was beautiful again,  I got some nasty sunburn, but I'll be tan in no time! After, I grilled up steaks & italian sausage for my parents for Mother's Day. I also made a homemade vinaigrette sauce for the pasta I cooked up. It was all pretty darn delicious. Chef Masta over here! My brother's daughter Sophia was over all day, while Danny and Sarah were moving out. When they came to get Sophia, we found out they still had a lot to move out to a storage unit, so my Dad and I went over to his house in YorkVille and helped him load up the remaining items and deliviered over to the storage unit. Once at the unit, I felt like I was on the show Storage Wars, just going through all the junk, looking for gold. Ah, just in, I don't know how I could have forgot, my dad was holding a rather large box and going to place it in the storage unit when he missed the little step going into it. He tripped over his feet and face planted right into some of the other boxes stacked as high as the ceiling. It was quite hilarious, and he was okay, the box just had an imprint of his face.

On our drive home we stopped at a gas station and ran into our cousin Joey who just got off his shift as a paramedic. Good to catch up with him real quick!

Monday May 12th saw me meet up with a parent at Rancheros where I then had 6 beef tacos and felt super stuffed for the rest of the day. My friend Jeff Ulfig came to visit and rip around at work since he was in town visiting his girlfriend. It was good to catch up with and play some lax. The night ended with the Master's Open, where I actually played this week and felt super exhausted after. I think it is a combination of me being out of shape and feeling a little sick. Oh well. 

This awesome video filmed on a GoPro. I want to travel everywhere!

I leave you with 2 great Deer Tick songs recorded back in 2006 when Deer Tick was just John McCauley

Until Next week.

Josh

Beautiful South Bend

A busy week revolving around lacrosse, like always.

Tuesday April 29, 2014 saw a little practice takeover, where at work, we went and worked with a Frosh team at NC and coached their practice. Fun little session, reminding me that high school freshman are just as childish as 8th graders.  Later that evening I went and filmed the Naperville North vs Naperville Central lacrosse game for the lacrosse cup. The sky was looking pretty awesome during the beginning of the game, picture to the side, video highlights can be found below.

On Wednesday the 30th of April, I worked, then drove out to Aurora to catch the MLC semi final game between Aurora and Augustana. Aurora dominated the game and ended up winning the MLC and will face off against Adrian in the NCAA tournament tomorrow. Wish I was going, but can't miss practice after my team's weekend, more later. After the game,  I headed back to work and had an indoor practice with my Fox team, lots of defensive work. Video highlight from this game will be found below.

May is here! Already! Crazy! May 1st, Thursday we drove over to Lemont and did another practice takeover for work, this time with a varsity team. Good group of guys, hopefully will bring us some more players to work. That evening I went to the Benet vs Neuqua lacrosse game at BenU and stood in the rain under an umbrella and filmed. Again, video highlight is down below.

Friday May 2nd, Gio picked me up from my house around 2:30p and we drove with his girlfriend Kelly out to South Bend for the Rip the Duck tournament. After we got there we met up with some of his friends at Wings Etc. A restaurant in the area. I ordered 10 wings, half parmesian garlic, half hot bbq. Both were delicious! The best wings I had that day! I ordred a coors light on tap, mistake, should have gotten something worthwhile. Around 8:50p we left our hotel and drove across South Bend through some super shady areas to the South Bend Amtrack train station to pick up Rachel. My lovely girlfirend took the train from Chicago and met us out in South Bend! Her train ended up being about 30 minutes late, and her first Amtrack ride was once to forget. Not exactly what she had expected! Oh public transportation. Once we picked her up we headed over to Gio's friends place and had a couple of beers while watching the Hawks get the win. His friends were going to the Kentucky Derby the next day so we didn't get too rowdy. We got back to the hotel around midnight and Rachel and I split a bottle of soveign blanc wine before passing out!

May 3rd, the first day of Rip the Duck was here. This tournament is usually full of rain, cold weather, and lax. Luckily the rain stayed away this year, but the other two, not so much. After losing our first game, Rachel and I went over to my team mom's house that her and some other families were renting. This is when we were introduced to Beautiful South Bend. Most of South Bend is meh, but just look at these pictures below and tell me it was not gorgeous!

While we were there, we had some grilled chicken sandwhiches with fruit, & veggies. After an hour or so, everyone was going to go watch the Army Notre Dame lacrosse game, but Rachel and I were not attending. The families were nice enough to let us stay at the house and nap. I put on lacrosse, and watched the Thompsons for Albany tie and set the single season record for points. Lyle now as 114, and Miles has 108. Incredible for two teammates. Watching them play is something out of this world, considering almost all of their shots are behind the back, and they awlways go in. Two of the best players I have ever seen, along with guys like Mikey Powell. Exciting to watch! The Notre Dame Army game was on after and although I slept through most of it, it ended up being a 18 to 17 thriller of a finish. A crazy high scoring game for two teams who are known for their defenses.

After we headed back the fields, where my team lost a nail biter of a game by a score of 7 to 6. Disappointing, but what can you do. We drove back to hotel with a parent, then headed back over to that amazing house for some flank steak, mac 'n cheese, IPA beers, and ice cream and cake to celebrate some children's birthdays. Oh how I love travel lax. This time Gio and Kelly went over with us and we had a great time chatting with the parents. Again though, check out the amazing view above. Love the sunset/clouds in this one on the lake. Everyone had a lovely time as we celebrated birthdays and watched Loyola (IL) win the National Championship for men's volleyball on tv.

After this party, we headed back to the hotel, where we met up with some more lax parents, who happened to buy us a couple more beers as we talked lax strategy. Rachel was a happy girl!

May the Fourth be with you! May 4th, we lost both games we had on this day, to end our tournament with an 0-4 record, pretty disappointing. This is the main reason I will be staying home this Wednesday and going to practice instead of heading out to watch Adrian take on Aurora tomorrow. We had another easy two hour drive, this time home. After taking a little nap, Rachel, my parents, and I ordered some barbecue chicken pizza from jets, tasty. At around 7pm I then drove Rachel home to Chicago, where we ended up asleep by 9:30pm. A long weekend ending with an early nights sleep. Fantastic.

Monday May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. I drove home from Chicago back to Naperville in the morning, headed to work, and then watched the old men play in their league that evening. A typical monday. Nothing compared to the Cinco de Mayo from 2012. 

In other news, I am starting to get a lot of looks and questions about recruiting film and just recently completed my first highlight tape for a customer. Good looks for the future.

A busy week with another tournament this upcoming weekend ahead. TONS of editing to do, hopefully I can finish some.

Peace out!

Josh

My First Vinyl Album

The past week was a relatively slow week followed up by a fun and busy weekend.

We will go head and skip head to Wednesday April 23, 2014 when I drove over to Aurora to film the Aurora University vs Benedictine University lacrosse game. This was my first time testing out  the $2,500 lens I got my hands on a 70-200mm f/2.8L telephoto lens. It was different than my normal 18-135mm, hence the super zoom ins that I was experiencing, but the difference in focus between foreground and background was incredible. Not to mention the photos, even though I only took a few. Video to come next week, check out some of the photos.

On Thursday April 24th, I was able to catch the classic Neuqua vs Waubonsie lacrosse match up. I filmed the game and pumped out a video by Sunday afternoon. The video is posted below, but when I was watching the game I kept having flashbacks to 2006 when I was a junior on the team and there was a bench clearing brawl mostly involving JJ suplexing a huge guy over his shoulder. Great memories.

Friday the 25th found me furiously editing 2 lacrosse videos in the morning before I headed out to Carmel, Indiana for my first FV tournament of the year. I finished editing a game I filmed about a week ago, between Aurora and Hanover which was a blowout but had a few good shots. Check out the highlights below.

Continuing on to my Friday, I drove over to Carmel, Indiana, about a 3 hour drive around 3 pm. I arrived and settled into the hotel and then drove over to The Vogue theater to catch Deer Tick open up for The Hold Steady. The theater was along a normal city road, so I parked in the neighborhood across the street for free! John told me about this show about a week ago and fortunately I was headed to Carmel, right next to Indianapolis that weekend for lax, the perfect combo! Then the past week, John's computer crashed and he lost a semester's worth of work, so he had to skip out on the concert, but I couldn't let this deter me from seeing Deer Tick perform for a second time, so I hoped in line after a 15 minute drive over to the Vogue theater from my hotel. 

While waiting in line, I met a nice couple my age from Purdue University, Francis & Andrew. I tried to pawn off my extra ticket, but had no luck, as it appeared all those wanting to see the show already had tickets. At the door, the doorman asked for my ID and then a second ID, as if I don't look 21 with this Goatee, child please.

Once inside, I headed toward my usual spot, a bit off to the left and second row, perfect spot to see Deer Tick take the stage. Francis and Andrew ended up right next to me for Deer Tick, they were there for DT as well, and had found out about them through Middle Brother, the collab band between Deer Tick, Dawes, & Delta Spirit.

The show started and Deer Tick played a fantastic show as usual. I love the way they perform and play their music. Awesome. John McCauley, the lead singer, unzipped his pants at the end of the show, and I was thinking, wow, here comes his willy. Instead he lit a lighter in his hand and then began to burn his pubic hair off. He did this for a solid 30 seconds, and he was loving it! Quite the end to their portion of the show. Unfortunately they were the opening band for The Hold Steady so they could only play a certain amount of songs. After their show was over, they sent their set list into the crowd. Francis, the girl next to me, who I was now best friends with, ended up with it. I was able to snap a picture of it (before she got it signed by leader singer John). This was the next best thing to having actually received the set list.

While Deer Tick cleaned up their set and took their equipment back stage, I watched with a close eye and took a few steps back to let The Hold Steady fans get closer. While this was happenign lead singer John began taking pictures with fans off to the side of the stage. I started to snap a few photos, and got a semi-decent one. Right after this happened I struck up conversation with two woman who took a pic with John and then one of their husbands. Two of them were parents of a 16 year old who loved Deer Tick but couldn't come to the show (21 and yup). We chatted each other up for about 20 minutes while the band set up. Finally they came on, and the crowd absolutely loved them! The Hold Steady really got the crowd into it and I was having fun, but didn't know the lyrics and the concert was more of  story telling performance, so I felt like I was missing out. After about 45 mintues on the stage, I decided to head out. On my way out, I came across the Deer Tick merchandise table. After carefully browsing the items available, I decided to pick up my first vinyl album. War Elephant by Deer Tick. Even though I still haven't officially opened or played the album, I felt a great connection buying this, and holding it in my hands. It felt like gold. 

On my way out to the door, I saw the bassist of Deer Tick picking up a drink at the bar. I walked up to him and told him, "great show." He responded with "Why thank you." As I shook his hand I told him that, "I loved it!" What a great concert and experience. Last time I saw Deer Tick, Rachel recognized the Drummer and high fived him. This time I recognized the Bassist and shook his hand, and after I did so, other people started to congratulate him. Legendary.

I walked out of The Vogue that night, so happy that I went to the Deer Tick show by myself and smiling from ear to ear, holding my first ever vinyl album. I listened to two songs they have yet to play live for me all the way home, Mange & Blood Moon. I blared these songs through my car speakers all the 15 minutes home from the theater, what a show. Come back to Chicago Deer Tick!

I got back to my hotel in Carmel around 11:45 pm, but my night was far from over. I went down to the hotel bar, which was closing at midnight, and met up with a lax dad from my team. He wasn't done having fun, so we went out to TGI Friday's for a few drinks a few apps. We had a trio of apps, as well as some fried green beans. I first had a Jack Daniels and Coke. Then the lax dad I was with had other plans for me, Maker's Mark on the rocks. The bartender joked with us how the lax dad was taking me home to get some tonight. Funny, but a little weird! After 3 of the Marker's Marks and another set of Jack Daniels sauced apps, we headed back to the hotel, and I finally crashed around 3AM, a happy coach. What a great night.

The next day was our first tournament as a team. Since I had not started drinking until after the concert, I was perfectly fine. We lost our first two games, 6-2, and 13-5, but then turned on the jets and won our 3rd game 10-6. The goal of the year came from one of my attackman in this game who dodged behind the back and stepped in for a rip during the game. So sick! I drove home 3 hours that Saturday evening, after 3 hard fought games, but more importantly, 2 sunburt legs due to my above the knee khaki shorts I was sporting. On my way home I stopped at Steak 'n Shake and picked up my usual, Triple steak burger and fries, chicken tenders and fries, for a solid 9 bucks total. What a deal!

Sunday April 27th I spent editing lacrosse videos all day, and then coaching a lax game. After work on Monday the 28th, a lax dad brought by a 64 oz Solemn Oath Brewery Wreck IPA beer for me and Gio. Such a kind gesture that we both for surely will enjoy, and I am enjoying as I write this blog!

This past weekend I also watched the movies Princess Mononoke and The King of Summer. Princess movie was a great animated film about destroying the earth, made in Japan, basically the Stars Wars of animted films. And Kings was a great film about enjoying childhood and being free during the summer. Oh how I miss it.

So there it is, the last week of my life in review, summed up by an awesome Deer Tick concert. If you haven't listened to them before, you need to do yourself a favor and listen up. Start with War Elephant, or ask to come listen to my vinyl album of it. I finished up this Tuesday by filming a lax game between Naperville North and Naperville Central. Another 2 games, 1 college, 1 high school coming later this week, then Rip the Duck weekend in South bend where Rachel plans to take the train out to me, what a sweet woman!

Check in next Tuesday!

It's Ya Boy!

Josh