Pre-Halloween Busy-ness

So, things have gotten crazy lately. Normally my weekdays during football season are empty and relaxing, but I’ve been busy out the wazoo the last few weeks! Don’t get me wrong – I like having things to do, and the things I do I enjoy! But it’s just been crazy. A couple Saturdays ago my computer decided it didn’t want to turn on, so I took a few days fixing that, which really set back my Android development. Then I got backed up on my high school football playoff projections Excel workbook, so that took a few days to get my projections developed and presented online. Then the other nights leftover I end up having things scheduled during them. Again, all the things I’ve been doing on my week nights I like doing! Especially in the rare instances when Jennifer and I get to spend time together outside the weekend; but it’s just been crazy busy!

High school football is big right now with league championships and the playoffs all being decided in the last few weeks. Triway needs Manchester to lose to CVCA this Friday in order to claim a share of the PAC-7 title, but chances of the Panthers losing to the Royals are slim to none. But even though we may not win the league, it looks like we’re going to make the playoffs for the 3rd straight year, which will be a school record. Before Triway’s playoff appearance my junior year, we had only 1 playoff appearance in school history. Now since that 2003 campaign, the total has accumulated to 5! (including this year) We are not going to be a favorite in week 11 since we’ll be traveling to somewhere in the likes of Orrville, Genoa, or Elyria to play some very good teams. However, our kids are resilient and are able to pull something off if they put their minds and efforts into it.

How ‘bout them Browns? Wow! For the third straight season, the Cleveland Browns have beaten the defending super bowl champion. This time it was the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome! How cool, huh? Something else that is pretty cool (or ironic, or coincidental, or just plain weird!) is that just a few days ago Drew Brees, the Saints’ quarterback, had a son named “Bowen”, and on Sunday Brees was intercepted by a Browns defender with the last name of Bowens, who returned both interceptions for touchdowns. A 30-17 win is always fun to watch, especially when it’s against the defending Super Bowl champions at their place. That’s what the Browns have been like this year, though – at times they show signs of greatness and of a team that is gritty, tough, and can play with anyone (mostly in the 1st half). But whenever the 2nd half comes around, things start to fall apart, we get less aggressive, and for some reason the other team is always able to adjust and execute much better than us in the last two quarters. Coaching? Who knows? It’s just frustrating. But we beat the Saints! Now if only we could beat the Steelers or the Ravens.

Every week during the high school football season, our local paper, The Daily Record in Wooster, has a pick’em contest between all the sports writers. Every week they also have a guest picker. I got a little lucky last week when my name came up and was chosen to be the guest picker for week 10, which is this week! I just got home from The Daily Record’s headquarters where I got to fill out my picks for the weekend (which includes high school, college, and professional football games) and fill out a questionnaire for the brief blurb they’ll write about me under everyone’s picks. It’s always fun to see who the guest picker is this week, and this week it’ll be me! I’m hoping not to make a fool of myself. Supposedly there are prizes if I do so well, and I get all the available prizes if I beat every single one of the other every-week pickers. We’ll see how I do!

Later this week Jennifer and I are going to a haunted house, something which we were hoping to do this past weekend while the weather was awesome but didn’t work out. There are a couple of them out there which we are considering, but I think we’ll end up going to The Haunted School and Laboratory in Akron or Hauntville in Elyria. If we want to go to my preferred location, Carnival of Horrors, we’ll hae to wait until the weekend since it’s not open during the week. It’s been at least 5 or 6 years since I’ve been to a haunted house, so I’m pumped! Any time I get to spend time with Jennifer is a blast, especially when it’s something like this.

Have a great week, everyone! I’ll see if I can come back and make another post before Halloween, but I can’t guarantee anything.

Smile! May God continue to bless you.