Category Archives: Varsity Football

Priorities


I didn’t join the usual group on a long trail run today. The IT band on my left knee has been barking way too much, and since I don’t have any specific goals to run a long distance anytime soon, I thought it best to just start taking it easy with shorter (4.5 miles) less technically challenging trails like the 56 near my house. What I love about that trail is that you really CAN zone out mentally and since I was by myself that is exactly what I did.

And it was good.

OK, so my knee wasn’t so good – it started tightening up as usual around the 2 mile mark despite the easy footing and relatively level ground and mellow pace. That probably means I should stay off of it entirely, but…I need to at least run a little bit!!

Anyway, it was good because I needed that zone out time.

It’s been a little crazy around here.

Por ejemplo – here’s the calendar on the ‘fridge for the next few weeks (mind you, this is after crossing off a week of items from last week)

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It occurred to me as I was running and thinking about how I am only writing in here once a week and feeling guilty – hey it’s a miracle it happens once a week! So, guilt has been released :)

Here’s what I know is going to have to be my priorities for the rest of 2013:

  1. Daily house/cat/kid upkeep
  2. Day job
  3. Football liaison tasks
  4. Blogmutt writing
  5. Running
  6. Everything/everyone else!

Numbers 4 and 5 might swap around depending on how much extra cash I need in a given week. So far, I’m earning between $48-$72/week or, as I like to call it “gas money” :) My goal is to AT LEAST sell 5 posts per week which means writing  5-6 per week (given that about 10% get rejected no matter how well you write). I’ve got 6 in the queue for this coming Thursday, then 4 each week after for the next 3 weeks. That means I really don’t NEED to write 5 new ones this week  or the next which is probably just as well looking at that schedule up there!

The point is that I think I needed that time on the trail to just let my brain settle on this ranking.

That list doesn’t even include the new task I inherited for the football team – website mistress…err..webmistress..er…webmaster….err….crazy person who never learns to stop saying “I can do that?” Yeah..so that was four hours today learning how to use the software and switching every page at all levels to have 2013 information.

Also – yes! 16 is now wearing contact lenses! And I will have “driving glasses”. My near-sightedness has returned somewhat. Just enough that I will feel better having some cheap frames to wear while I drive and watching football games at night. I don’t – and won’t need anything for reading despite my age since the lasik surgery back in 2006 will keep that issue at bay for a quite a bit longer.

Oh, but you should have seen the poor boy learning how to put in those daily wear contacts! He is lucky that his prescription is the same in each eye so we wont have to keep track of leftie and rightie. And the folks at the Optometrist were SO good and patient with him showing how to put them in and take them out. I, of course, was the usual supportive mom sitting and giggling at his red red eyes with the tears flowing out of them :)

Hah – I did the math and I’ve run 143 miles this year! Maybe my knee is right to be cranky and demand some rest. Perhaps I’ll listen to it and go enjoy some quality sofa time now. As you can see, that is a rarity!

 

Ever pack 3 days into one?


I’m pretty sure I did that on Thursday and again today.

Today I had 8 things on my To DO list – some fun, some chores, some money making blog work. I did 5 so that’s not too bad when you consider I also spent time with the boyfriend.

Anyway – my whole money saving goal was a) blown out of the water this week and b) a life saver when I needed cash and had to shut down my bank accounts on a Friday night! (possibly to be explained later, but everything is OK now).

So yeah, I’m at $3  in coins right now, but it will all be replenished if not next week, then by 4/15 for sure (and then some, there’s another teaser that I cannot explain just yet either!)

Exercise mid week went MUCH better! You saw the routine that I posted – I did that VERY diligently for the first hour & a half of Biggest Loser and that ended up being more than 30 minutes of course (damn commercials!) I did the same routine again while watching TV Wednesday night though not quite as long. Still, my abs HURT after two nights of all that!

I’ve begun the last step in my volunteering journey. Going out in a blaze a glory as a co-parent liaison for the varsity football program at the high school. We met Thursday with the coach and outgoing liaison and I have another meeting tomorrow morning because we have to launch right into planning for the first spirit wear website setup and sales and the budget for next year. That’s my main role – finances – which is right up my alley of course.

Speaking of football – so remember that 16 had a bum knee last summer? Well, let’s be honest – not just last summer – pretty much since he was 11 or so only it was never bad enough, long enough for him to complain and request a doctor visit. Last winter/spring he finally did and went through an MRI and then physical therapy and a regimen of icing/ibuprofren and continued stretches to try and get the knee cap to get back on track without surgery. A year of that which included the two months of complete rest with the concussion and there is still no change.

Tuesday, he has arthroscopic surgery. Two small incisions and they will look around to see if the MRI missed anything and also check to see if there is anything physically keeping the knee cap from resting in the right groove. If so, they will clean that up. They may also perform a lateral pressure release which…I cannot entirely remember! Anyway, just 45 minutes supposedly though he will be under anesthesia and he will end up with a pretty painful and swollen knee for a few weeks. BUT – once that heals, the ortho is saying he will be good to go and play football one last year. And that’s the whole goal isn’t it? As I said when we were there for a visit in early Feb – “Doc, bottom line, he has one more year to play football. Senior year. He can start if he’s healthy.  This is what he has been dreaming about for his whole life – to play varsity football for the Falcons. What can we do to have him ready to play flag football with the team in May, get back to weight training and be full speed in the summer?”

Check in time is 6:30am – umm..say what? Is there a bed for me to sleep on? :-)

Oh! I’ve picked up a writing gig to hone my skills and earn a wee bit of cash (for the play money fund most likely) $8 per purchased blog post. You search through the client list and find keywords and craft a 300 or so word post. If the client likes it and buys it – $8! I sold one this week and have 6 in the queue. 3 have been reviewed and are scheduled to be bought 3/21 – they get pulled every Thursday. It’s a fun challenge! You can either pick keywords that you know like the back of your hand such as the two I wrote last night on sports blogging and excel 2010, or you can try something totally different and take some time to research it a bit. I’m really loving it so far. I wont make Big Money with this company, but I will learn a TON. It is almost like landing an internship in copy writing/content writing. You have to cater to different companies across a vast spectrum of topics and style types. One company my LOVE your stuff and one might reject it. What I’ve learned from chatting in the forum with other writers is that once you find clients who like you and build up a rapport, you can almost count on them giving your posts 5 stars and moving them up in line to be purchased next.

First though, I need to have more than an hour at the end of every day to focus on it. In fact, I was supposed to block out some time today to do that, but it fell off the list. And now it is late….heck..really it is TOO LATE because we Spring Forward tonight! Yipes! That’s good though – it means I can run after work again instead of just on the weekends. Speaking of which, since I have a coffee meeting for football tomorrow I wont be joining Renee for the 3+ hour marathon. So instead, I joined her today out at Lake Hodges for a mere 90 minutes and 7 miles. Running out there the day after rain? AMAZING!

Lake Hodges

 

 

Football Dinner


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Yeah, this is how the night started out – the current parent liaison gives me this monstrosity to thank me for always volunteering for the little things when he asked. Fine, but I am not doing HIS job (by myself) next year! And now I have to keep this thing for a year. I’m already plotting who to pass it on to next year!

It was a long, but truly fun evening. The senior class of players are just a great group of guys who clearly all got along so well. They all sat up front on a stage with their jerseys draped in front of them at their seats. One by one each coach had players come up so that they could say a few things about them and then give them their varsity letter. Yes, even with all his injuries, 16 earned his letter! Now we get to figure out how to pay for one of those letterman jackets ($$)!

The seniors also had to do parent thank yous. One by one they took the microphone and presented a rose to a parent (usually the mom) and thanked them for the years of support during their youth sports careers. Most were nervous, some were touching (even a rap poem!) and some were truly funny.  What cracked me up was that so many of the boys started off with “This is my mom. She did all my dirty laundry, made me lunch and extra snacks during 2-a days and throughout the football season….”

And I would think “Uh, whoops!” Not being a stay at home mom, I couldn’t even contemplate those things! So it was with great relief when one boy finally got up and said: “This is mom, she didn’t do my laundry – she taught ME how to do it myself!” YAY!!!

16 and I talked about it on the way home and I have a feeling we will have some sort of comedy routine all picked out by this time next year.

I also hope he gets a little bit better about tying a tie – which I cannot do and which he was doing while watching a You Tube video not 5 minutes before we had to leave. So given those extreme efforts that he took, I then had to insist on pictures -

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Football video of 16 on the field!


Week 4 Pig Pen Inductee: Jacob Alsadek of Torrey Pines H.S..

Click on the link above to watch the video!

OK, that’s a bit of a teaser headline :-)

(note: this post is in lieu of a game report form Friday night since the team lost 2-0 and 16 didn’t even step on the field)

The video is a feature that was done this weekend for 16′s teammate who is a standout high school offensive lineman who was heavily recruited by colleges last year. He’s a great kid who 16 truly likes. The reason I am featuring this video is because in the clips that were taken during the practice at the high school, #78 had to show off his blocking skills, right? Because that is what he does.

So here’s a test.

Watch the video at the link and then come back here and tell me how many times the BIGGEST player on the team ends up blocking the SMALLEST player on the team (#18).

And yes, #18 is our guy. AKA Mighty Mite to his team mates :-)

Here’s a quick screen shot from the video:

Varsity football game #1


I swear this blog wont become all Friday Night Lights football but…..what’s a proud mama to do but document her son’s glory days eh?

The team is blessed with a fabulous photographer who has pics up often on the same night after a game. Our #18 being a junior and having just come off of his knee injury wont be starting and we knew it would be a rare opportunity if he got on the field.

Well, with the team leading 35-0 in the 4th qtr, the rare opportunity presented itself and the grandparents, parents and friends were thrilled to see him go in for one offensive series. He blocked like a stud if I do say so myself :-) The rule for wide receivers is to hold your blocks for AT LEAST 6 seconds after the ball snaps. The first time the play unfolded so fast that he didn’t have to but the second time not only did he engage the defender for more than 6 seconds, but I can bet you that guy is still wondering who that little #18 was who busted him up in the chops a couple of times!

Anyway, here’s the best pics from the game this week. Fingers crossed that he has more to come!

THE classic pose. I think we have one of him like this every season he’s played wide receiver.

Post victory smiles.

 

 

Friday Night Lights Rivalry Game


16 recently flipped through some of the football and baseball game posts I’ve written over the years that he’s played.

When he got home from the Friday night high school football game (one in which he didn’t even suit up to play), he said to me “You know how you wrote about the best baseball game ever? Well, that was the best football game ever!”

Even though he didn’t play, it WAS pretty damn exciting. And as the boys get older, it does feel more significant.

How do you know you are playing at a different level?

When I can now link to two local newspaper articles instead of writing up all the details myself :-)

First, from the largest of the county papers:

’35 Belly’ a winner for Torrey Pines

On fourth-and-1, with the game on the line and time winding down, Torrey Pines running back Chase Pickwell confidently drew the call with his number “35 Belly.”

Then the Falcons senior saw an open hole and burst through it for a 29-yard touchdown scamper that lifted the visitors over third-ranked Cathedral Catholic 24-17 with 1:00 left to complete a comeback from a 10-point deficit in a battle between Carmel Valley neighbors on Friday night.

“Oh, that was great,” said Pickwell, a senior who gained 93 yards on 15 rushes.

Then this from the more local North County paper:

Torrey Pines storms back to upset Cathedral Catholic

An aggressive defense and 17 fourth-quarter points powered the Torrey Pines High football team to a 24-17 upset of No. 3 Cathedral Catholic on Friday night at Cathedral.

Those two snapshots from the articles sum up the basics. TPHS jumped to an early lead. CC roared back to take a lead going into the 4th quarter. TPHS offense had been largely ineffective the whole game.

Then it was like someone lit a fire under the boys. Our quarterback turned into Michael Vick and scrambled all over the field for critical first downs. As plays were made, the boys came up fist pumping and rallying the crowd to get louder. Even though we were visitors, the stands were JAMMED since this is really an in neighborhood rivalry and we all live in the same 10 mile radius. Not only were player’s families there, but a large portion of the student body showed up along with former graduates and and then some of the pop warner youth league teams and coaches.

The defense fed off of the renewed energy from the offense and CC could not get any sort of drive going despite how easily they seemed to be able to move in the earlier quarters.

It was, in fact, a highly emotionally charged game and one that these players take SERIOUSLY each year. Our in conference rival used to be the other public high school closest to us, but when CC opened up just a mile down the road and right away developed (private school – they can offer scholarships) a very strong football program, this became the #1 team to beat each year. The teams have traded victories, some quite a bit uglier than others, but this was a huge triumph especially for the seniors who can say they won that final game of their careers against CC. This was, at least, an injury free game thankfully.

Well, except maybe for the one CC defender who had the unfortunate luck to be “blocked” by our biggest lineman on a goal line play. Watching film with 16 on Saturday we couldn’t help but to rewind and replay this guy running blindly into a very large tree-like player :-) I am fairly sure that guy was a tad sore over the weekend!

When all else fails, just write.


Having no specific topic or opinion on my mind that wont offend a ton of people right now, I shall resort to the mundane – what I did on my summer vacation.

Hang on.

I don’t get summer vacations.

Damn.

Fine then – here’s what I’ve done pretty much since July, how’s that?

Work (day job at it’s most intense since the auditors arrive for year end fun this coming Monday), study (gearing up for the launching of a full on consulting business within the next 60-90 days), cook, drive, clean, nag the teen to study, run, drive, work, study, cook, run, go the racetrack, work, read, watch the Olympics, drive, go to Chargers training camp, work, study, cook, drive, clean, clean up yard for new fence installation, clean out kitchen cabinets and re-arrange counter tops, scratch a cat or two, work, run, drive, cook, clean, nag the teen etc etc.

OK, so there’s one or two fun things in there.

The racetrack has been a hoot. Our trainer Tanja is also a freaking horse betting savant. She grew up around horses, worked at the track while in college and has a pretty damn good system for betting. My first day I just watched and only sort of played along, but once I reported back to Marcus what I witnessed, he promised to give me money for the next outing. That was this past Sunday and though I had a minor heart attack when we lost the first 5 races, 6-8 made it all back and then some and the evening ended with a group dinner celebration where I laughed so hard my abs hurt afterward. Marcus is bummed that we can’t go again until the season is almost over :-)

Chargers training camp was an outing for 15 and I to get ourselves amped up for fantasy football. Oh, and to get him ready for his own set of practices which start in earnest tomorrow. The dreaded August 2-a days in the heat of the summer. Weee!!!

And while the kitchen cabinet clean out may not sound like FUN – it resulted in a kitchen that makes me feel calm and that I have kept clean and uncluttered for 10 straight days now.

I also have to admit that while I was worried that the new taller fence would make the yard look really small, since I did have to strip out all the jasmine (waaah, maybe some will grow back?), it actually gives the yard more usable space along with the additional privacy.

So there you go. While the day job might ease up a bit starting next week, the other stuff will just fill it in. 15 will turn 16…football starts as I mentioned and then school starts back up in just 3 weeks. The first semester of online math is done (solid B) and the second one is started and needs to be completed this month as well. I predict a few more nagging sessions before it all ends!

I will be relieved when it does end. I *think* the right amount of motivation has been dangled before him to at least get us through the hardest part of school – he needs a 3.5 at the end of October review period to get his driver’s license and if he KEEPS the 3.5 into December, I have promised him a new laptop (his old one is from the end of 7th grade & is a clunker). Since the 1st semester includes football, it is usually the one that he has the most trouble staying focused. Here’s hoping that between it being a big year for college transcripts, and the additional carrots dangled, that the motivation stays higher this time around.

I’ll leave you with the in home version of the Olympics at my house – The Cat Hurdles. You must transition from the bedroom to the bathroom sink without disturbing the felines – GO!

Back to cheering for the D-E-F-E-N-S-E!


With 15 moving up to the varsity level this year, he is truly the little bird in the big nest. (Get it? ‘Cause they are Falcons?! – Hah! I kill me)

Even a starting receiver in a Wing-T offense can barely see 5 balls thrown to him all season (like last year). So this upcoming season he would not only be slotted behind the seniors, but there are a couple of juniors with a step (or really, a foot more of height!) ahead of him. Basically if he focused all his attention on staying on offense he would be lucky to get in on some special teams plays this season.

So he shifted gears and practiced with the defensive backs in the spring flag practices. And he found himself initially slotted as the #3 corner. Given that there are always two on the field, that means anytime one of them needs a break or gets hurt, his number will be called. Much higher in the rotation than he was placed (#7 receiver) on offense.

He still didn’t get a ton of playing time in at the annual Cardinal-Gold spring flag football bbq & game. But he did get in for one full series and batted away a pass. So here’s the pics from the photographers on the ground. He’s #18 this year and will be working a lot on his backpedaling skills!

The pile pushes towards him as the runner tries to get through without losing a flag

Even though it was “flag” football, the boys still fell all over the place and a tackle or two may have occurred.

In a not great situation – the receiver is beating him down the field. Safety coming over to help.

A last gasp leap…! And it worked – the pass was thankfully underthrown and he was able to knock it away. Nice recovery :-)

The Days are Long


Yes, the days are long.

That could mean it is summer and I’m loving the longer daylight hours such as last night when we stayed on Fiesta Island at our monthly bonfire later than ever. I was driving home at 8:45pm and noticed that while the sun was long gone, the sky was still clinging to that gorgeous turquoise blue-ish, purple-ish blending to black on the western horizon.

It could mean that having a combination of month end close, auditors on site at work, and daily lessons and writing to do at night has forced me to stay alert and focused later into the nights.

It could also mean I’ve been listening to Eminem’s Recovery CD a lot – oh wait….hah! That lyric I’ve had running through my head all week from my new favorite song on the CD? It’s not the DAYS are long – here’s what it really is:

“The nights are long, I’m growing older”

Um – yeah, clearly.

Moving on…..

It’s a weird week overall for me. If you follow me on twitter or notice the tweets over there in the right hand column, I’m chatting a lot about #NN12. Aka – Netroots Nation 2012 in Providence Rhode Island.

What’s weird is that I am not THERE. My streak of attending every NN gathering is broken as of this year and I am really really sad about it since it is the only time I would get to see many truly wonderful friends. The timing is just All Wrong this year. I had to make the decision in February that even with all the money in the world I just couldn’t go. The computer upgrade/month end/auditor preliminary visit made it just too much to overcome. Of course, if I had all the money in the world I guess I wouldn’t need to work so those things wouldn’t really impact me much, but I think you get the gist.

I’ve been following along though. The beauty of a gathering of bloggers is that they are all tweeting away like crazy, many pics have already been posted online and I’ve been able to listen in on Netroots Radio and even watch a couple of live streamed panels. The time difference is annoying though. My most favorite event of all is the Pub Quiz which WILL be on the live stream tomorrow night but it will happen right when I am at the high school for 15′s Spring flag football game. Poop!

Saturday night they announce the location and timing for next year and I am crossing all appendages that a) it wont be in the first weekend in June and b) it WILL be a lot closer to cut down on travel time.

It’s crazy, but I’ve missed writing every day!

No, I’m not going to try doing that again right now.

As I said, the days are long, uhhh….the nights are long and I’m growing colder..err…older…um…maybe I should close that window and go to bed now?

May 22 – Beauty in many forms


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This morning I was greeted on my run with the songs you can hear above. Over and over the Song Sparrows in the neighborhood were singin’ about the day getting started (and, I am sure, yapping about this crazy human huffin’ & puffin’ as she jogged past them!)

Here’s what they look like so you can picture them: (I didn’t see them, or take any photos. I was, after all, running!)

As hard as it is to get my Not Even CLOSE To A Morning Person ass out the door (took 15 minutes of internal debate to make it happen), I am always glad when I do. I love being out there in the morning. It’s quiet – so I can hear the birds instead of listening to cars whizz by. No one is mowing their lawn, no kids are in the park playing yet. The temperature is perfect this time of year. No wind, a little moisture from the overnight clouds, no hot sun, just cool comfortable running weather. It also just smells better. Probably the lack of exhaust belching cars again, but I swear I smelled the sweet scent of jasmine in one spot and sweat peas in another that I hadn’t noticed on the same route on Sunday.

My only complaint which will exist as long as I live here are the hills. Kick ass hills. Every damn route I take over 2.5 miles long that involves me just running out the front door vs driving somewhere means at least two 4/10 mile long uphill battles and one more about half that. And are they ever battles! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? RIGHT?!  ’Cause I am gonna get mighty strong doing this shit :->

A quick catch up on yesterday. Eve & Renee and I met for dinner and to brainstorm *seriously* about where we are taking these websites we are creating. Renee is involved now because she is determined to get into fitness coaching. Eve and I needed to solidify what, exactly we are doing with all this. We renewed our own commitment towards the long haul together on this with the intention of being a consulting team for future clients. But first, we need to prove we can do what we want to teach so that means getting a few different types of online business sites up and running profitably (including one to support Renee’s endeavor). We are taking a 5 month online course on the topic which really has us both amped up & excited about our prospects.

Also, what inspired me to look for unexpected moments of beauty yesterday was this site in my rear view mirror as I drove in to work:

Jaguar XK

Doesn’t it look like the car is smiling at you? It sure made me smile and then it reminded me of an Unexpected Beauty meme that I participated in a few years ago. Seemed like as good a week as any to bring it back around.

Oh hey – did you notice the new blog style? If you view this in a Reader probably not, but I did have some fun picking out something a little more spring-y simple and fun.

Had our first Varsity Football parent meeting tonight. Yep – Varsity! How did that happen? They started up with Spring Football – no pads or hitting – it’s essentially two hand touch. But, the skills players like 15 get to start running routes and plays and getting their timing together with their quarterbacks. We are not stressing about academic eligibility as much since we confirmed that his AP History class DOES count a grade higher as long as he has at least a C. We didn’t notice that rule last semester since he had a D ;-> But, he has a pretty solid C which he will most likely keep so he’s already over the thresh hold for fall sports as long as none of the existing grades falter.

And now I need to get back to reading this course module. One thing I’ve learned – I need to close the laptop in order to read and comprehend anything. I’m probably going to have to go over the material 2-3 times for it to sink into these old brain cells. Read it through once. Read it again taking notes and then listen to the audio version just to be sure I don’t miss anything. I’m pretty sure I smelled smoke as I dove into it earlier…yes, my brain is on FI-Yah!

Buzz buzz!