First Flat Tire

Song of the Week: Old Punk song from 2006 by Cute is What We Aim For. Brings back some high school memories!

Tuesday March 3rd, 2015. I finished up watching the movie The Endless Summer, which is a great documentary about surfing from the 1960s, currently on Netflix. This movie deserves a 5/5 and was almost movie of the week until a movie later in the week claimed that prize. I had a second day of tryouts for the Cats and enjoyed a tasty tuna Sandwich from my love for dinner.

Wednesday March 4th, tryouts were simply conditioning and I was able to get out pretty early. Rachel and I walked over to Snarf's Sandwiches for dinner, I got the French dip. It was a bitter cold walk, but super worth it once we got into our sandwiches back at our place. Absolutely scrumptious. We watched an episode of Better Call Saul while enjoy our tasty sammys.

On Thursday, March 5th, tryouts got cancelled on an account of it being too darn cold out. Weak sauce. Rachel and I cooked up some tacos for dinner and enjoyed the movie Whiplash. An oscar winning film, that was well deserved for the incredible character portrayal of a music teacher by J.K. Simmons. Definitly a must see for anyone who is a coach and even those are not! Incredible acting and an interesting and controversial story about how to push your pupils to greatness. I loved it!

Friday March 6th, I was able to get out of work a few minutes early to see former teammate, Georgia, face off against former Coach at Adrian in a Division III lax match-up. The Benedictine v Olivet game film is on its way, as I was able to film it and am in the editing stage, stay tuned! Video is now linked here! After the game we had JV tryouts for the cats which went successful. I had some soup at my parents place and called it an early night watching some Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Saturday March 7th was a day in history, as I got my first flat tire in 10 years of driving on my way to work. Luckily it did not happen until I was about 1/2 a mile from work, so I was able to get to work and park in the lot before examining the damage. A huge bolt or nail was sticking out of my tire and air continued to pour out. To my fortune, my father came and helped me change my tire out, then he took my car in to have it fixed! What a Dad!

I had to work all day, which included 7 straight hours of coaching. After the coaching, I was able to watch a rental party that included dodge-ball. It made me think I should have a friend get together for some dodge-ball here. The folks that were there dressed the St. Patty's Day part wearing green, and having lots of fun. If you get out, you can get back in by having a drink! Fun game!

Sunday March 8th began by springing our clocks ahead, losing an hour of sleep, which I am thankful for because the sun is out later now and it begins to feel more like spring. The snow has started to melt, but that didn't stop the flakes from falling at practice on Sunday morning. After two practices I headed home and then Rachel and I hit up Steve Quick Jeweler to check out wedding bands at a trunk show. With no intention to buy, I was again pleasantly surprised with the amazing, friendly, and helpful staff that helped us pick out our bands. It was a lovely experience which included mimosas and some delicious cookies and snacks!

That evening we ordered Chinese food and enjoyed it while watching The Walking Dead and editing some lacrosse game footage from Friday.

Monday March 9th consisted of a morning of meal prepping with the same chicken, quinoa, rice, onion, pepper meal that I had cooked up the previous week. After prepping a weeks worth of lunches, I headed to Burr Ridge to hang out with Aunt Elaine, Grandma, & Beth for awhile. I then did my laundry and had practice, calling it an early night once again.

Video of the Week: A time-lapse form Austria, I NEED to learn how to time-lapse this summer. Just bought a remote shutter, not an interval timer, but it is a good start.

Movie of the Week: Whiplash - what an amazing film that has lead to a new coaching philosophy for the year to push my players to greatness! A must see and well deserved oscar for J.K. Simmons. Wow

You can say I am a bit busy!

See ya next week folks! Still waiting on the celeb blog text & photos from John in Nepal (for those wondering).

Josh

Laxing into March

Song of the Week: Strength by Zebrahead. My favorite song off their best album MFZB from 2003. Rediscovered my love for these guys freshman year of college, and still consider this album one of my all-time favorite albums from cover to cover.

Tuesday February 24th, went shopping and got a ton of food. Had some pizza and homemade breadsticks for dinner.

Wednesday February 25th, Picked up some Burger King for dinner and then had dinner again when I got home, stuffed shells made by mom, yum. Beth and I watched Of Men and Miracles, the 30 for 30 about the Russians side of the 1980 Miracle on Ice. Very interested training methods and history behind the men of Russian hockey, ending with the Russian 5 entering the NHL and dominating on the RedWings winning some Stanley Cups (back when I liked them!).

On Thursday February 26th I picked up a mcdouble and 2 mcchickens for lunch and had my first shamrock shake ever? Or maybe in a few years. I cannot recall, but it was very tasty and not nearly as minty as I thought it would be. I suggest a shammy shake to all this spring. That evening Rach and I watched another episode of Better Call Saul. We enjoyed a dinner of pasta with veggies, sausage, & Balsamic dressing. 

Friday February 27th was a super busy day at work with kids off of school, I brought the ps2 back to Naperville since in the 5 months of living here, we haven't even plugged it in yet. I also finished the book Ender's Shadow on Friday. An awesome book that gives the perspective of Ender's Game from Ender's Shadow, Bean. Also had the background of Bean and was all revolved around Bean, the superhuman! Can't wait to continue this series and see where Bean will end up next. Went to bed early.

Saturday February 28th was my last Saturday morning practice. In the afternoon I had to take some dumb coaching testing certifications. It took forever, but I finished and passed the test with the help of Beth. We both had to do it, and some of the scenario videos were outdated and hilarious, in a badly made kind of way. That night Rachel and I watched House of Cards season 3 which was just realeased on Netflix.

Sunday March 1st, I had a morning practice, went back to my parents and watched some lax on TV with Beth while i cleaned my room. Then I went to another practice. Afterwards I headed back home and meal prepped with Rachel for the week, making a burrito bowl style type of meal for lunches during the week. First time doing this, but hoping it will continue and allow me to eat more and build more muscle. We also worked out prior to this. For dinner that night we made some tasty burgers with fries, and enjoyed them while watching the movie St. Vincent featuring Bill Murray. Great film about an odd friendship that develops between an old guy and a kid, brought a tear to my eye.

Monday March 2nd, I watched an episode of The Walking Dead. Last season is going pretty good, excited to see how it will end up in the last 5 episodes. We officially booked a band for our wedding! So get excited some live music! High school lax has also officially started with tryouts occurring that evening outside. Dress warm my friends! 

Video of the week: Lost Kubrick - A short documentary about the unfinished films of Stanley Kubrick 

Movie of the Week: St. Vincent

For the next 2 1/2 months, I will be coaching a lax team every single day. Let the fun begin with the 3 teams I have this year!! I am pretty excited to coach some high school lax. Should be a fun year coaching for the alma mater JV squad.  Rachel is the best for being so accommodating to this!! Love you!

YaBoy is Out

Josh

And the Academy Award Goes To...

Song of the Week: Go! by Common who just won an Oscar for his song Glory in the movie Selma. Turns out my Aunt and Uncle went to highschool with him! Amazing!

Tuesday February 17th, Rachel and I had some soup and bread for dinner and watched the movie Pay it Forward. Such an inspiring movie about a boy with a plan that in the end, comes true. Although I thought the end of the movie was rushed, it got the point of the movie across even more.

Wednesday February 18th, after work I did some organizing and cleaning, find old toys such as this home made toy bomb that was made with batteries from probably 1999. Oh childhood. I also finished the second novel in the Mitch Rapp Series by Vince Flynn, Kill Shot. Got to love how much of a badass that Mitch Rapp is. 

On Thursday February 19th Rachel and I made a delicious stir fry that we enjoyed whiling watching an episode of Mad Men season 5. 

Friday February 20th was another record setting day. This time I set a new personal record, shooting 98 mph with my right hand and 92 mph with my left hand. Both are 1 mph more than I shot a week ago. At this rate I will hit 100 in 2 weeks, but probably not unless I get into shape! After work I headed home and did some more cleaning and organizing.

I began Saturday February 21st with an early morning practice. After that practice I headed home and then Rachel and I went out to The Other Side bar for some lunch. We split a hamburger and chicken tenders while I enjoyed a Sheep IPA beer. This bar was really cool and I will definitely be back, considering while I was there they played great music (no country or rap), had delicious and inexpensive food (a hamburger and fries for $6.99!?), and the staff and environment was warm and welcoming. After that we headed over to my Aunt Jan's for a little family game night. We played games similar to charades and then charades as well. We enjoyed some pizza, whiling having fun with the family. Sophia & Nikolas were there as well and cute as ever. Baby Nikolas is always laughing and smiling, such a good baby! I also was able to play a little prank on Emma and Anna by changing their sign "Coat Service" to "Goat Service." Ahh I'm so funny. We played some spoons to end the night and then Rachel and I headed home and then went to bed.

Sunday February 22nd was another early morning for me as I had to go coach. After a scheduling meeting which was terribly designed and unorganized, I came back home and chilled before making some delicious chicken alfredo pasta for dinner. After dinner, Rachel and I planned on having the 87th Annual Academy Awards ceremony on as we did other things, however, we ended up watching the whole show in its entirety with Neil Patrick Harris hosting. With having only seen The Lego Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, & The Grand Budapest Hotel I thought all the Oscars given out were appropriate, but really I have no clue since I haven't seen any of the other movies. I filled out an Oscar sheet and only got 5 of the categories correct. There were some great inspirational speeches, focusing on giving thanks and loving your parents, suicide prevention, equality for women, equality for all people of other race, gender, sexual orientation, & religion, and being yourself & being weird. The big winners from the night when it came to total number of awards won was The Grand Budapest Hotel  and the film Birdman. I can't wait to get my hands on all of the films that were nominated and see if the winners were truly deserving. 

Here is a list of all the nominees and winners.

With that being said, here is a picture of Rachel and I from game night that I am now posting in honor of the Best Picture: Birdman.

Monday February 23rd was a simple day. I wrote my blog, then Mozilla crashed and I lost it all, so I had to rewrite it, losing some of the original spunk it had. Went to work and then went home and watched The Walking Dead episode from the night before and started to watch a 30 for 30 about the Russians side of Miracle on Ice, interesting perspective and awesome coaching techniques so far!

Video of the Week: Live performance of Oscar nominated Everything is Awesome. I had no idea it was written/performed by Tegan & Sara as well as The Lonely Island!

Movie of the Week: Oscar winning short film, Feast!

Coaching is about to get real busy.

Talk in 7.

Josh