The year in review and remembering my friend Shelby.

As I rush through my days I find myself getting caught up in the little things and don't often or at least often enough, take the time to reflect. Each year time passes by and we don't always realize all of the events that occured. Today I will reflect on the events, as I can remember them, from last year.

As I remember, the Winter months last year were cold and snowy. I know we had quite a few snow days and the track season got off to a slow start becuase of the weather. The first couple weeks of practice were indoors.

Jess had a stellar year in track. She broke two school records and made it to State in two events. The open 400 and the Sprint Medley Relay which she anchored with a 400.

Shelby passed away right before the state track meet. I took her in to get spade and she died during surgery. It was one of he hardest days of my life. She was part of our family and was my friend. I still think of her and miss her. She will never be forgotten.

The summer was hot and humid. Drew had a solid baseball season and decided to not play all-stars. The coach said he would have been on the team but Drew wanted to have some free time to play with his friends in the nieghborhood.

Jess had her first start on the Varsity in softball. The season was a bit of a dissapointment but she played well. The coach was a mess and resigned at the end of the season. The highlight of the season was when Jess hit the game winning run in a tournament against Urbandale.

We had new neighbors. The Carmicheals. Drew spent the whole year playing with the girls, Courtney and Beth. The family moved out right before Christmas. This new year will bring new neighbors so I hope they have nice kids.

We got a new puppy. Molly. She was a handful at first and very naughty. She has since turned out to be a great dog. She has been a nice addition to my daily routine.

Football season went well. Drew played tight end and defensive end. The team did well but lost a few games. He loves football and was sad when the season was over.

Jess played Varsity volleyball. She played the center position and played front row. She broke a couple school records and was selected second team all conference. Not bad from a team that went 16-15 and finished second to last in the conference.

Basketball has been rough. The girls haven't won a game and Drew's team is about 500. Jess starts Varisty and does a nice job.

Jess tried out for a club volleyball team and was selected. She starts her tournament season this weekend.

In a nutshell that has been the year. I am sure I have forgotten things but there should be a record of it all in my blog postings.

As for today. It is the last day of break and I plan on cleaning things up in the office and taking it easy the rest of the day. Nancy and I deserve a break and today we are going to take it.

Jess had practice yesterday for volleyball and she learned to jump serve. She is excited about the tournament this weekend. The coaches are great with the kids. She blocked on the coaches during the scrimmage yesterday and from across the building another coach, who was coaching his team, yelled "Nichols - YOU ARE A STUD!!!". Jess said her face turned red and she was sooo embarassed.

Drew had his New Years Eve birthday party and the boys had a good time. He slept most of the day yesterday.

The new year is just winding up and I can feel the pressure of the pace starting to quicken. This month is going to be a whirlwind and I hope the weather holds up.

Is this a new year or did somebody re-gift last year?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

The evening ended up being a bit uneventful. Drew had his birthday party and as I type this, I can hear them playing downstairs. I am sure there was very little, if any, sleep done by those boys last night. They will eventually crash and sleep through the day. My guess is that Drew will spend the first day of 2008 sleeping.

Jess had changes in plans last night. Two of the three parties she was planning on attending were cancelled. The third one she didn't really want to go to so she ended up just staying home last night. Personally, I was kind of glad becuase she has been fighting a cold or the flu or something but she has not had much energy and really stuggled to keep up in the scrimmage yesterday. I think the rest did her good. She has two practices today. Basketball at 9 and volleyball at 2.

I am heading to work today. I have a few things that I really want to get done and tomorrow is the last day of break and I need to use these next two days to get ready for the hords to return.

The weather is terrible today, kind of a snow/sleet. The high today is going to be 12 with a bad wind. Not fit for man or beast outside.....I would love to put some names to the beast comment but will refrain because of the public forum in which I post.

I have been working on my Intro to Computers class. I start my official teaching career Monday night. I really want the first night to go smooth. I imagine I will spend a bit of time on Sunday working on things. The orientation is Saturday and I really want to wait until I get the instructors books before I start putting together the instructional presentations. I don't want to recreate the wheel so to speak. I find myself thinking of things I never thought about from a students perspective. Here are a few of those thoughts:

• For me to be able to teach and in turn, make money, I need students to enroll in class. I want to make the class worth while but if I make it too much work or too hard, I think students will not be interested in taking it. If numbers are small or zero, I lose my job.

• The students have a fundamental knowledge of what I am going to teach, so how do I cover the material without it becoming a snoozefest?

• I really want to do a good job but as with my day job, I can put everything I have into this and nobody will really notice or care. There really is no evaluation process. Just a student feedback/evaluation form collected twice a semester. What the students think is important to my future.

Oh well. Things will just work out as they normally do. Somehow things just seem to work out for the most part in life. We have our small victories and setback but life just keeps pushing forward.

Off to start my day.

Last post of 07 - How the time flies

So Molly has decided that she likes sleeping with me at night. Here's the rub: SHE IS A BED HOG!!!!!

The weekend seemed to go by relatively slowly. I really didn't do anything that is worth talking about but I will review anyway.

Jess and I took down the Christmas stuff and cleaned the house. I did the dishes three times yesterday. I also made Drew's birthday dinner last night. The menu was shrimp alfredo with salad and garlic bread (Which I kind of burned). We also had an alfredo dipping sauce for the bread. It turned out pretty good. I am toying with the idea of making homeade noodles sometime to see how they turn out. If that happens, I will let you know.

It is New Years Eve today and Drew is having his birthday party. I think there are 7 kids coming over tonight. They were supposed to go to Dawn's parents house but for some reason they are all coming here instead. I am not thrilled about it but I told Drew to make sure it doesn't get too crazy loud. At least they can just play in the basement. I told Dawn to pick up about 5 Papa John's pizzas for tonight. I haven't tried that kind of pizza before and I hear it is really good. They make it and you bring it home and bake it. It is less expensive than Pizza Hut or Breadeaux and about the same price as Casey's.

Jess is going to three New Years Eve parties tonight. She has a friend Cole Brant that is having a get together so her and Katlyn are starting there. After that one they are headed to the FCA party and then to another party. The last one is an all girls party and the basketball team will all be there so that is where they are really spending NYE. They are just making appearances at the other two. Oh, the busy life of a high school student.

The sports activities pick up pretty rapidly this week. Jess has a scrimage here in Perry this morning. Both kids have games Friday night and both are away. I am not sure if I am going to Drew's game becuase it starts so early and I will wait to see about Jess's game. Saturday Jess has a game here in Perry and Sunday she plays in her first volleyball tournament.

I have an orientation for DMACC instructors on Saturday from 8-3 but should be back in time for the game. The volleyball tournament is a couple of hours away so we are driving up Sunday morning. They play at 9 so it shouldn't be a problem.

The break is winding down and school will be back in session before you know it. I am going to enjoy today and not think about that until Wednesday.

I hope you all have a good and SAFE new year.

More next year.

Foot wine makes me want to gag! I assume every wine I drink was crushed by a machine.

As each day passes I seem to be feeling a little better. Last night I ate dinner for the first time in three days and I didn't even crap in my pants afterwards, which is a dramatic and welcome improvement. I know, too much information but I had to put it in there because it made me laugh to read it.

Whatever I had, seems to have moved to my chest and lungs. I have a tightness and an ache when I breath. I cough and I feel it in my lungs.

Enough of the poor me stuff for now. I do however, reserve the right to wine in future postings. Like I said, I ate dinner last night. I made grilled chicken breasts for the kids and I had a steak. It was the first time I have tried one of the Flat Iron steaks mom gave me and I can honestly say that may have been the best steak I have ever eaten. I am not kidding either. We also have buttery rice and green beans.

Jess had her three hour practice yesterday and they practiced hard the whole time. She was completely wiped out yesterday. After practice she came home, took a bath, ate lunch and laid in bed the rest of the day. When I got home at 5 she we sleeping. She woke up to eat dinner and then laid on the couch the rest of the night. She was tired! They have a scrimmage this morning at Ft. Dodge and need to be at the school by 8.

Drew has practice today at 1. He got a call from the coach last night with the good news. I think he is happy to have practice. Sitting at home is ok but I think they get tired of it quickly when they can't play outside much. Drew's friends that he played with everyday, moved last week so he doesn't have anyone to hang out with in the neighborhood anymore. The main person he played with was a girl and he won't admit it but they were kind of boy friend-girl friend. As soon as he would get home from practice, she would be at the door wanting him to come out and hang out. Drew could have been in a dead sleep and if she came to the door, he would be outside in a minute to hang out with her.

It is Friday but I don't have the same enthusiasm I normally do for the end of the week. Break is great and the end of the week is almost a reminder that we are getting close to the end. School doesn't start back up again until Thursday but I can see the darkness of the tunnel approaching.

I need to note that something has happened to my brain over the last few days. With feeling terrible it seems that I have also gotten dumber. My brain isn't functioning correctly. Whatever wit, humor, and modest intuitive grasp of concepts I previously had has now seem to evaported. I was trying to do some simple calculations in my head yesterday and had to break out the calculator. I was working with vendors yesterday and they would ask as question that I normally would just snap off an answer and I had to think and then I am not even sure I gave them the right answer or even really an answer at all. I hope I snap out of this soon. If not, I will have someone take a picture of my stupid ass, eyes wide and a clueless expression on my face; maybe even my finger in my nose. I do take some solice in that fact that I notice this is happening.

I am not sure what the plans are for the weekend. I really need to get to the grocery store and I probably need to find a way to get the ice off of my driveway. It is really slick!

Off to start my day and weekend. More Monday!

It just doesn't seem right that the lue has seen more content than my stomach!!!

I am feeling a little better today. I have a touch of a sore throat and spent too much time in the bathroom, it you know what I mean, and my stomach is still a bit upset but I seem to have a touch more energy this morning. Don't get me wrong, I am not up for a marathon or even a long walk to the fridge but it is better than yesterday.

Jess has practice today. The coach told them they will be practicing for three hours this morning. 8-11. Practice for two hours and shooting for the last hour. Jess is thrilled..lol

Work went pretty well yesterday. Progress on all the projects is going well and I hope to have a majority of everything done by the end of the day today. Life just doesn't stand still does it.

I haven't eaten much over the last couple of days but suprisingly, I am not hungry. I guess if there is a positive spin to feeling like hell, it is a great way to lose a little weight.

It is Thursday but is seems more like Tuesday because of Christmas. It is not so exciting to see the weekend around the corner while we are on break. I like having the building kind of quiet and not having to worry about people bothering me. Before I know it, the break will be over and the long part of winter will be upon us.

I hope I get my appetite back. I kind of miss eating and the joy of eating.

More tomorrow.

Shiver me timbers!

Woe is me! Yesterday I was sick and sick in a bad, bad way. My stomach was bad and I had a persistent headache. I was achy all over and had big temperature issues. In the morning I was so cold I was almost shivering. I checked my temp and either the thermometer doesn't work or I didn't have a temp. What I do know was that I was freezing. I finally warmed up but then I was sweating. Took some ibuprofen and that helped but during the night I had the same thing. Woke up FREEZING even though I had three blankets and a sheet on. I was also wearing pajama bottoms, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. When my alarm went off, I was sweating.

I hope I am done with this because I have a bunch to do at work this week. I have vendors in and a few projects that need to be done by Friday. Yesterday was miserable.

The kids had a good Christmas. Drew got a PS2 and Jess go Guitar Hero. It is a fun game. I played it Monday and a bit yesterday morning before I started feeling like hell. They played it most of the day.

I don't really feel like going into all the things everyone got and all that but it was a good Christmas. I will mention that Mom got me a case of Flat Iron Steaks. I was going to eat one yesterday but as I mentioned above, it was a bad day. I had chicken noodle soup and a bowl of ceral for the day.

I feel like I should have a bunch more to say today but I must not be feeling well yet because it seems like effort to even type the blog today. I seem to feel ok but I am tired and don't have any energy. I will keep on the ibuprofen today and hopefully am on the downward slid of this.

Drew turned 13 yesterday as well. He wanted a certain type of game but they didn't have it out yet so we game him a $100 visa so he could buy whatever he wants. He can save it and use it to buy the game when it comes out or use it on whatever. He said he has enough in gift cards now to buy a Wii. We will see if that is what he does with his money.

I am going to get started on my day. I am hoping a shower and shave helps me feel more human than I do now.

Off to start the day.

It's 40 below but I don't give a "bleep" got a heater in my truck and I'm off to the rodeo.......

We seem to have made it to Christmas break! No school today! Jess has practice this morning from 8:00 - 9:30 but will be done for a week after that.

The girls lost last night in overtime. It was a bit of a dissapointment because they played pretty well. They were tied with a little over a minute left in overtime and a girl from the other team hit a three pointer. That did it. Three points was a lot for our team to overcome in just a minute or so. We pressed and they broke it and ended up winning by 8 or so.

Jess had a good game. She scored 14 point in the first half but didn't get any points in the second half. She was the team high scorer but she only shot the ball twice in the whole second half and missed both. She did shoot a third time but it was blocked and she was fouled pretty good but there was no call.

I talked to her a bit after the game and she was dissapointed. The team is getting better and have finally found a point guard that can play pretty well. We are stuggling on the inside and our older kids are throwing the ball away quite a bit. Still looking for win number one.

I played in the student vs staff basketball game yesterday. It was fun. I scored pretty regularly but am so out of shape I could only play for about 4 minutes at a time. Drew score 7 points. Two normal field goals and a three pointer. He was the only one on his team to score against us. It should be noted that I wasn't guarding him when he scored. That would have been tragic. We played a 2-3 zone and he was shooting from the other side from where I played.

After the first half of the basketball game last night I had a teacher come up to me and say, "The Nichols family is really on tonight. You were on fire in the staff game and so was Drew and now Jess has 14 in the first half. What did you guys eat for breakfast?". Kind of funny.

Today should be a pretty good day. No students, no staff and a relaxed atmosphere. The first day of a break is always great. Towards the end of break, I start thinking about what I have to do after break and the stress of what is to come starts to creep back in but NOT TODAY! Today is party central.

So I found out the national title football game is Monday night, January 7th. The same night I start teaching my class. It is a good thing the huskers weren't good this year. I am not sure what I would have done if they were playing in the national title game. That would have completely sucked. I guess there is a bright side to the huskers sucking this year.

Today I party at work. Tomorrow we make gingerbread houses and Sunday off to Nebraska for a big Christmas celebration. Life it pretty good right now.

Merry Christmas everyone! I will see you soon.

FYI for you devoted readers of the blog. I will not post again until Wednesday the 26th of December. I might even have some Christmas pictures to post.