A Year of Change

After a long day, I picked up Lori at 6;15 and with her running late, we went straight over to school to pick up Jag from basketball practice. He was running some extra drills which is what they do if you get a technical foul in a game which he did a week or so ago. He embraced it and ran his sprints all out. Afterwards the coach told me how well Jag is playing and that he has the highest OER (overall efficiency rating) among his team. This is where they keep track of how each individual plays giving them points for good things like scoring, rebounds, assists, blocks and negative points for turnovers, fouls, or bad things, etc. So in the end this means when Jag is on the court, the team score more and plays better. When you put 5 kids on the court with the highest OER’s, you end up in theory, having the best chance of winning. It’s like Moneyball in baseball if you know what that is. Anyhow the coach said Jag will be getting a lot more playing time, even over some of the seniors, as he’s earned it. We have a Varsity game tonight against Nederland from down by Boulder so we’ll see.

I made it down and up from Denver in pretty good time yesterday. Jag had team pictures last night before practice and Ty and I went down to Performance Sports in Edwards to get some special kind of get inserts for Jag’s shoes to help with his tendinitis after school. He’s still wearing his boot when he’s not playing so hopefully they’ll help. I opened a checking account yesterday for Jag so he has a debit card for China. Ty has about $500 saved up and wants one too so I’ll open him one Friday. It’ll be good for both boys to start managing their own money.

Lori has a dentist appointment today at noon and is heading to the gym now to hopefully get some relief on her neck. I need to warm up both cars as Jag has to be at school by 7:30 for a make-up test in Biology. I have a lot of computer work today that I’ve been putting off for a while, time to get it done.

Have a great day, GB.

Yesterday I took Jag to the eye doctor as his eyes were bothering him. Turns out he has 20/15 vision which is incredible but he still is getting glasses. He has a small astigmatism in one eye but is getting glasses to help with screen time and reading. They now have glasses that really don’t have magnification but have a blue tint or something that softens the screen of things like computers and Ipads. It also helps with people that do a ton of reading. Danica in Lori’s office has them and swears by them. The doctor also told him to drink a ton of water as kids eyes get dry as they don’t drink enough water. So Jag is getting glasses. I go on January 31st and Ty on February 12th.

We then went to lunch before heading home to clean all the clean clothes off the dining room table, if you could call it that, ha. I’m off to Denver today to the distributor and hope to be down and up by 1. It’s cold, like zero outside but that’s January in the mountains. Lori’s head is still freakin hurting which is not good.

We need to leave by 7:30 this morning so I’d better get moving. Hope everyone is well, everyone up here is busy so time to run. GB

Here we go, another week of life. Early mornings are always tough and this one’s no different. Sometimes on Monday you just want to crawl back in bed and hope when you wake up it’ll be Tuesday. Oh well, you do what you have to do.

It’s nice up here, some would say cold but fine for us. Not sure what the week will bring weather wise but we’ll take it as it comes. I have a big week at work, we have 3 basketball games, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, Jag and Ty both need eye exams and Lori’s neck is bothering her. Thankfully I feel pretty good. I think Jag was throwing up last night though so he’s skipping practice this morning which is from 6:30 until 8.

Good football games yesterday but I wish Jacksonville would have beat the Patriots. As I said earlier, we all need an extra day off. Oh well, better get after the day. GB

It’s 8:30 and we managed to sleep in until about 20 minutes ago. Tom, being the diligent one, texted 45 minutes ago reminding me to write the post.

It’s snowing up here but so far we have only about 3 inches. It is still snowing lightly though and cold and windy outside. Glad we’re not driving anywhere. They had said we’d get like a foot or more so we have a way to go. We’ll see.

Yesterday we had two games. Jag played well shooting 50% from the field and getting a handful of blocks and a bunch of rebounds. Jag tends to get hacked a lot and it often doesn’t get called. In one instance Jag was hit in the head and then a ball inadvertently hit him smack dab in the face. Jag lost it and made a move towards the kid who threw the ball and was lucky he didn’t get a T. The coach pulled him right away to calm him down and I thought they would sit him the rest of the game but he was right back in a few minutes later. I always tell him rage is good if it’s controlled, uncontrollable rage is bad. So our new saying is “control the rage”. In the second game, they had a Junior who was 7 feet tall! He wasn’t the most coordinated but when you’re 7 feet you don’t have to be. We led 22 to 11 at halftime but couldn’t handle their press and lost in the end. We have to get better at overcoming other teams full court pressure. Right at the end the 7 footer went up to dunk for the first time and Castor (our friend James from Metallica’s son) went up and blocked him and the we all went wild high fiving each other which took some of the sting of losing away. After the game which sometimes happens, the kid came right up to James and said “excuse me sir, are you Mr. Hetfield” and James said “yes, this is my son” introducing Castor who had just blocked his shot to the kid. It was funny and perfect timing. He is always very gracious to fans and talks to them but doesn’t take pictures as that can quickly get out of hand. This kid was so star struck it was funny. He was beside himself holding his hands to his head saying “oh my God, I can’t believe this” and more. I was thinking to myself it would have been helpful to distract him earlier in the game, ha.

When we arrived home at 6, Jag had two hours to get ready for the school formal. I took the boys (Jag and Ethan) at 8 and Jag caught a ride home with him at 11 arriving around 11:30. He’s still sleeping and now has no games until Wednesday. I think he has practice at 6 am tomorrow. This is a real commitment this year and almost too much. Some parents are complaining that the kids need a break but the results are we’re a much better team this year and actually building something. I’m keeping my mouth shut and just supporting the team.

Time to make our Mexican stew which is 4 pounds of filet cut up in chunks and a bunch of spices like chili powder along with some chocolate and one dark Mexican beer in the crock pot for 6 hours. If I get busy it’ll be done around the start of the second half of the first football game. Have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Tonight we’re supposed to get hammered. Sometime this afternoon, probably while we’re at basketball, the snow is supposed to start. Then overnight it should pick up and continue until sometime tomorrow. Bring it on.

Last night we lost both games by just a few points. It was our own fault as we made too many bad passes and just didn’t take care of the ball. Jag scored like 12 points and had a couple big time blocks with one being a flat out stuff of a guy like out of some movie. The crowd went wild. Ty stayed home and cleaned his room and did some work. Today we’re back at it with Jag needing to be at school by noon. I guess the team today has a 6″10″ player that Jag remembers from last year. We need to win after dropping the game last night by 2 points.

Everyone is sleeping here at 6:11. I was in Denver yesterday and took down Ty’s skateboard deck with me, that he got for Christmas. I had his trucks and wheels put on for him. He was super excited and the guys at the skate shop were jealous of the set up saying some of the pros don’t even have a board this nice. When I arrived home Ty said he had a special place in his room to display his board until it warms up enough to hit the skate parks.

Tonight after the games Jag has the school dance from 8 to 11. The make the kids take a breathalyzer test when they show up and leave. How things have changed. We’ve all been going hard all week and could use a day of rest. I don’t know why I woke up at 5:30, habit I guess. Wish I could sleep in but that just doesn’t happen much anymore.

As a public service announcement, both Tom Petty and the famous baseball pitcher Roy Halladay, both died from too many prescription drugs in their system. This should be a good reminder to try to stay off all drugs, whenever possible. The less you take of anything, the better. Just saying. Have a great day and GB.

Yesterday I had a lunch meeting on top of Keystone Mountain. I had to take two gondola’s up to get there. In the end it was a great meeting with me selling Vail Resorts hundreds of cases and putting together a deal that will run for at least a year.

When I returned home, I grabbed Jag to take him to practice and then picked up Ty on the way to take him to the doctor to see how his concussion was doing. Thankfully he is cleared now but needs to lay off strenuous activity for a few more days. They like kids to ease there way back into full on activity.

Jag semi practiced as he was still favoring his foot per doctor instructions but will go all out in the games tonight. He had a lot of school work to do to get caught up. Lori worked hard at work as usual and I have a ton of high level moves going on at my work. This should be an interesting year.

B ball starts at 5:30 so we’ll get home around 9. Then we have games at 2 and 4 tomorrow and Jag has the Winter Formal at school tomorrow night from 8 to 11. Ty and I are off to Big D today for a few errands. We should be back by 3 if we’re lucky. He gets to get some new trucks (wheels) on his skateboard that Uncle Tom and Aunt Ali gave him for Christmas.

Have a great day, take care, be safe and GB.

That’s right, yesterday we were back at the clinic only this time it was for Jag. He’s in a walking boot right now with tendinitis. He needs to wear it today but should be able to play tomorrow. He also has a topical cream that’s an anti inflammatory he’s supposed to put on 3 times a day.

Ty came home about an hour early yesterday with his head and neck still sore. I picked him up and we then went to pick up Mojo from the groomer. Then we came home and he opened his presents and we had dinner. He’s off the next two days as it’s “Learn How to Ski” days at school. He won’t be skiing today as he’s still in concussion protocol.

I have a lunch meeting on the mountain at Keystone today. We’re having a wine dinner with Lorenzo and a chef from the French Laundry there on February 17th. I woke up around 2 with a stuffed nose and am still trying to fight off catching a cold. Time to eat some garlic.

It’s almost 6 so I need to run. Ty just crawled in our bed. He sneaks in from time to time. I need to sign him up for summer camp today , cha ching, and then sign both boys up for basketball camp when registration opens on the 22nd, cha ching,  and then pay for the second half of the China trip next week, cha ching, it never stops! Thank God we both work, ha. Snow this weekend and Jag has the Winter Formal dance on Saturday after the games. Lori has a meeting at 7 this morning. She’s had something going on early every single morning this week. Oh well, that’s life! As Mom always said, you do what you have to do! GB

Today Ty turns 14 years old! Whoo hoo! Yesterday he ended up staying home and after seeing the doctor, is in concussion protocol from a crash on the hill Monday. You probably remember from Jag’s event that they take concussions pretty seriously up here. He wants to go to school today so we’ll let him go but no gym class for him. He’s growing almost daily and is now a size 10 in shoes! Hope he has a great day.

Jag had two games yesterday and played really well even though we lost. He was a monster on the boards (rebounds) and scored a bunch too. The coach told me after the game to tell Jag on the ride home to be selfish. In other words, take the ball and look to score and don’t worry about passing it so much. He’s continuing to get better every game. At least these games were out of conference meaning they don’t count against our record a we played a much larger school. The team is now off until Friday when they have their next two games and then they have two on Saturday too.

This summer on top of everything else, both boys will be going to a basketball camp at Colorado School of Mines which is about 5 minutes from our old house and from Tom and Ali’s. It’s an overnight camp where they spend the whole week living on campus. They’re both really into basketball which is great and Ty will be getting a bunch of b ball stuff today as gifts.

Lori is at the gym with our trainer and I go at 9 after dropping Jag at school and then Ty and then Mojo at the groomer. Then I need to run to Silverthorne to Blue Moon Bakery to get Ty’s cake that I ordered a week ago. Lots going on at work and lots to do. Time to run so have a great day, GB and Happy Birthday Ty!

Yesterday went fast. Ty was on the mountain all day and might have a concussion from a spill while Jag and the team played two tough games in Oak Creek and won both! My buddy James (singer of Metallica) whose son plays with Jagger on the team, and I left to drive over about 3. We left 30 minutes after the bus but he has one of those 4 wheel drive Tesla’s and we managed to arrive at the same time. It’s like driving a computer, pretty wild. After the games we grabbed the boys and they rode back with us. We made it to Vail around 9:15 and ordered up some sushi to go and took it back to their house where my truck was parked. Jag and I then made it home around 10:30.

This morning Lori has to be at work at 7:15 so she’s in the shower now. I need to take off for Denver to get the car fixed as it has a burned out tail light and needs an oil change. I also need to drop some wine and pick up a few presents for Ty’s birthday tomorrow.

In the game, two kids were banging and grabbing Jag all night and finally after he was hit in the head, for about the 4th time, he turned around and pushed the kid. This resulted in a technical foul but we were all fine with it and the refs then were watching closely and the other kids started piling up fouls. Today at 2 the bus leaves for Breckenridge. They are a larger school and the game doesn’t count towards our league record but it would be a “key win” for us if we could pull it off which helps in our playoff seating if we get that far.

Both boys are still sleeping so I’d better get moving. Have a great day and Go Rangers! (that’s our school mascot) GB

Today Ty is off and Jag goes in for two periods to coach up some 4th graders in basketball for MLK Day. Then at 3 the bus leaves for Oak Creek which is by Steamboat for basketball. Tomorrow we have games in Summit which is basically Breckenridge. Then the boys are off until two homes games this Friday and Saturday. After tomorrow we only have two more road games so we’re getting them all out of the way early in the season. Jag slept until at least noon yesterday as he needed to catch up on his rest. Ty hit the mountain from 10 until 4 and had a great day of boarding. I think he wants to go again today but has to get his room cleaned up first. Lori has a new hire coming in to work that needs to be trained and I have a bunch of stuff at work.

One of our employees who has been with us since the beginning, is resigning as his wife’s dad passed away and they’re inheriting some money. He wants to be a writer and move back to Portland from California. Hope it works out for them. He’s giving us a couple months notice but change is never good, at least in the beginning. Hopefully in the end we’ll end up with a stronger person in that position.

Lori did a lot of cleaning yesterday and probably 10 loads of laundry. Problem is we don’t have anywhere to put all the clean clothes! She then even made some more Rice Krispie treats for the boys to take on the bus to the game. This time she put in butterscotch chips, yum. It was all I could do to resist having one.

Time to get moving as I need to get Jag to school in 45 minutes. Both boys must have stayed up late as we came down to the lights and tv on with food out and the kitchen a mess. Wish they’d learn how to clean up after themselves. I think it’s a teenager thing. GB