NFL Experience 2009

These are pictures of our day at the 2009 NFL Experience in Tampa, FL. It was a beautiful, sunny Florida day and quite warm, especially for those of us in our black Steeler Jerseys.

We did not see any Cardinal fans and the entire venue was a sea of black and gold. The funniest thing was the entrance where you could line up and take a photo of yourself in a team's uniform. All the teams were represented. The Steelers line was LONG. The Cardinals line....empty. I got a chuckle. As I've said before this county is full of Steeler fans.

The NFL Experience is very hands on. You had to sign a waiver if you wanted to participate in the exhibitions. If you did, you received an armband. We entered different activities such as passing, running, running plays, football drills, etc. The girls did all sorts of football drills.

Darcy and I competed against each other where we sat on a couch and when the announcer said "go" we had to push a green button, jump up and run through tires, run around several cones, jump into a chair that rocked, and throw footballs through a hole. We got 4 tries and when you made it through the hole you pushed a red button to stop the clock. I, of course, whipped her good!

One of my favorite exhibits was the Hall of Fame. I spent a considerable amount of time just wandering through it reading the different histories and looking at the exhibits such as old uniforms and equipment. All of the balls used in every Super Bowl were displayed, as were all of the Championship rings.

We got to see inside players' lockers. The player's actual equipment and clothing were inside a simulated glass locker with the player's name on it. The Steelers had Roethlisberger's locker. The Cardinals had Warner's locker. Both pretty normal with energy drinks, shoes, and shirts. The Cowboys had T.O.'s locker and inside was a copy of his own book. So typical!

We watched the Wilson company make footballs. There is only one company in Ohio that makes the NFL official footballs. Each year employees travel to the Super Bowl and set up at the NFL Experience to make footballs for the fans to see the process. We talked for quite some time with the lacing woman. They wear tape around their fingers so that the leather laces don't cut them. Each football starts out in two pieces. A seamstress sews two pieces together inside out and then the football is turned out and shaped some. The air piece is attached and cut, the laces are put in by hand, the air is pumped in and then the ball goes into a contraption that shapes it correctly. The balls are then inspected to make sure they are up to NFL code. All of the balls are made by hand. You can tell an authentic Wilson ball by the tiny "W" throughout the leather. I did not opt to throw out $130.00 for the ball.

There was an area where NFL players were seated for autograph seekers. The day we went they were Tampa Bucs players, but not really anyone of interest for me that I was willing to stand in line for a signature.

We ended the night by watching a movie on football in a makeshift theater then shopping in the NFL merchandise tent. Most of the Steeler merchandise was sold out, but I did purchase a pair of socks and some trading cards. An all around great experience!

Out of the mouths of my babes

We are sitting at the table. Madison is doing homework. I'm reading the newspaper and Darcy is reading a book.

Darcy: "Mom, what is a van gen ie a?"

Me: "What?"

Darcy: (pointing in her book) "What is a van gen ie a?"

Me: "A what? A vangena?"

Darcy: (pushing the book to me) "Yes, right here."

Me: (reading) "The word is vagina."

Darcy: (turning red in the face) "It is?"

Madison: (embarrassed) "Oh, my"

Me: "For heaven's sake, you two. What are you freaking out about? You each have one."

Darcy: "Have what?"

Me: "A van gen ie a."

That is so the new word at our house right now.

Proximidade Award to little ole me....

Thanks to my sweetie of a sister-in-law at http://susan-mythoughts.blogspot.com/ who gave me this Proximidade Award. I had never heard of it (sort of like the tagging thing) but I researched it and found some neat blogs. I'm not sure who started this thing, but I like it. I will admit to having to look up some of the words in the description so not only am I awarded, not only did I find some neat new blogs, but I learned some new vocabulary words as well!

Here is the scoop: Proximidade is described as follows: 'This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!'

This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn, should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

Problem with coming up with 8 is that I really don't have 8 blogs to recommend. But here are 6 blogs that I visit. Some are family members. Some I visit daily. Some are goofy but entertaining. Some I'm not even sure are considered blogs. Enjoy!

• www.demographicofone.blogspot.com/
• www.grapevinecreek.com/
• www.dooce.com
• www.singleservecoffee.com
• http://thepioneerwoman.com/
• www.sarahnielson.com/

Out of the mouths of my babes

Hanging out at the NFL Experience in Tampa, we are sitting at a table finishing our $30.00 hot dog lunch.

Me: "Okay, now I want to see the Hall of Fame tent. I want to see the Lombardi trophy. I want to stroll past the autograph booth and see who is out there and I want to go to the NFL shop."

Tom: "Darcy?"

Darcy: "I want cotton candy."

Who said I wasn't paying attention?

This past weekend my husband held a computer class here at home. He is a computer whiz and thus we have several computer stations in our home. Obviously, he has been concerned lately about some catastrophe happening to our computers and us losing all of our files.

He decided we needed a lesson.

We sat at our computer desks and he asked questions and made us find things on our computers. We learned about external hard drives and how to back up our files. We learned what a UPS was and how to tell how much free space we had on our drives. I took detailed notes and paid close attention. Below are some excerpts from the class and from my notes (in bold).

Tom: "Raise your hand if you have an external hard drive on your computer. Raise your hand if you know what an external hard drive is. Anyone? Well, you should. This is why we are here today. You should know what an external hard drive is. You should know if you have one or not. Are you guessing? Mommy, are you guessing or do you know?" The Teacher is a hard ass.

Tom: "Raise your hand if you have a computer." Three hands raise. "Raise your hand if you have a laptop" Madison and Darcy raise their hands. "Raise your hand if you have more than one computer." Madison raises her hand. Madison is the teacher's pet.

Tom: "Who has ever paid to download files? I'm talking about places like Itunes. Has anyone ever paid to download files?" The girls raise their hands. The girls have way more money then I do.

Tom: "Logging off your computer is not necessary. That is up to you. But how do we save money and energy? Isn't that important? Saving money? Saving energy? Do you turn off the lights when you leave the room? Yes, you do. And you should turn off your printers when you are not using them." I wonder what time lunch is?

That night I went to bed early. About 1:00 AM the phone rang and woke us. Computer trouble at Tom's work. He dealt with it and then snuggled back into the bed.

Tom: "It was that storm. Messed up the computers at work."

Me: "What storm?"

Tom: "The storm we had tonight. We had a huge storm with wind and rain. Our power was knocked out several different times."

Me: "Thank god we backed up our computer files!"

Tom: "Exactly! Just remember to continue to do that."

Me: "No problem. I took notes."

And I worked out next to the President of the United States

It was exciting to watch history being made today. I've never been more proud of my country. I don't know that the new President can change things or make things better, but I do feel that we are taking a step in the right direction. We need diversity. We need to stop being two sides working against one another. Hopefully, this will be the start of that.

Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go...

Pittsburgh 23 Baltimore 14

PITTSBURGH'S GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!

And how good was my boy, number 43, Troy Polamalu in that game? He was everywhere, stopping Flacco on the one-yard line more than once, making big tackles, and reading Flacco's eyes and making that big interception. What a game! Two trips in four years and the Super Bowl is in Tampa! Starting the year off right, baby!

Here We Go!

It's in the blood....we're Hoosiers

My older daughter decided that she would play on the school's basketball team this season. She attends a small private Montessori school with a little over one hundred students total so everyone who chooses to play gets to play. The team is co-ed and they play in a conference against other Montessori based schools.

This is, for me, quite exciting. I mean I'm a Hoosier. I grew up playing basketball in my driveway. I can twirl a basketball on my pointer finger and shoot free throws with my eyes closed. Okay, maybe that last part isn't quite accurate, but I did win the local free throw shooting contest at the University of Evansville. So, when Madison announced she wanted to play basketball I was thrilled.

I loved basketball growing up. I loved to watch it. I loved going to games. I loved playing the game in my backyard with the neighborhood kids. I didn't, however, want to play it in school. My parents did want me to do that so I tried out for the team in grade school. I didn't make it, but this wasn't surprising considering the same kids played on all the teams each year. In high school, I made the JV team and played my freshman and sophomore year. I was a bench warmer who prayed that we didn't get too far ahead in the game that I might actually have to go in. By the time my junior year rolled around, I think my parents knew forcing me to continue would only bring heartache for all of us so I was allowed to drop school basketball. I did, however, continue playing in the driveway, thus perfecting my free throw shot which led to my title.

Madison has never played basketball. I have pictures of her at about one year of age dribbling a basketball in that Indiana driveway, but I can't really count that. I sent her off to practice and stayed away so that I wouldn't be tempted to offer up any paternal advice. This worked well for the first week. The second-week practice ran later and I ended up on the bleachers watching. I think I probably made it ten minutes before I was on my feet offering the team helpful b-ball advice. The next day I was helping with warm-ups. This week I'm one of the assistant coaches.

I'm having a great time. Madison is actually a fairly decent player. She is a thinker so she takes the ins and the outs of the game and applies it to her performance. She enjoys practicing and she is quite accepting of my teachings. She isn't a bad shot either. She needs some free throw work, but hello, think I've got that one covered.

I too am getting back into the game. Helping to coach puts me back on the court, and after I shook off the rust it all came rushing back to me. I'm rebounding and doing layups. I'm in with these kids during the drills passing and running. I'm on the sidelines watching and analyzing. I'm in there demonstrating, sometimes pulling a kid around by the arm putting her in the right place, helping her to jump. I think I'm one of those sports people who can't play well, but who can coach. I love it. Not only have I gotten back to my roots, but I'm sharing it with my daughter. And there isn't anything better than that.....

Tony Dungy leaving makes me sad

I'm was sorry to hear yesterday's news that Indianapolis Colt's Head Coach Tony Dungy was retiring from the game. In this day and age of NFL football players shooting themselves and others, outrunning police, driving intoxicated, and beating women, we need more Tony Dungys.

He is what the NFL should be. He was a gentle giant on the sidelines where screaming and yelling is the norm. He's a mentor to players and young assistants not only on the field but off it as well. He preaches, but he lives what he preaches.

I do like that he did it his way. I like that he can walk away from something he loves because he has other dreams and goals to accomplish. I like that football isn't the only thing in his life (are you listening, Brett Favre?). I like that he is coming back to our neck of the woods. We love him here in the Tampa Bay area. He has done so much good for so many here. I do hate that he is gone from the NFL

Good luck, Mr. Dungy. I wish you well, although I can't help thinking that the NFL just won't be the same.

Pittsburgh 35, San Diego 24

One down, two to go...

Hello 2009

Every year since 1990 my family has made resolutions for the new year written on parchment and kept in a secret vault to be taken out and read at the end of each year. It is an interesting piece of family history. We can see when family members entered (husbands, children) and exited (death) and it's a little slice of where everyone was in the emotional department that year.

For awhile, my resolutions followed the same theme: weight, exercise, and getting birthday cards out on time. About six years ago we decided to add in whether or not we kept the previous year's resolutions. For the most part, I did not. So, this year I decided to make it my goal to actual keep my resolutions and to check in bi-monthly.

My resolutions for 2009 -

1. To work on being patient and to not react hysterically like my forefathers. New motto: "Let it go".
2. To get back on my exercise track, lose 15 pounds, and live comfortably with my body however it may turn out.
3. To get to the beach at least twice a month
4. To get birthday cards and gifts out on time!

Okay, so the last one was added on as an afterthought because I put a birthday card into the mail today 4 days prior to the big day. I've also already purchased, sealed, and stamped three cards for January. I'm practically killing this one already!

Which is lucky since we are now in the midst of a cold front that makes beaching it an impossible task to accomplish. I have started the exercise track. Last week, I hit the gym 4 out of my possible 5 days, but today I'm slacking and blogging instead.

May 2009 be the year that I reach and keep all of my resolutions!