paulnet

Coaching here in northern ontario can be gruelling.  Our only 2 league opponents are both 2+ hours away and we travel to games on a school bus.  Sleeping on a school bus is not comfortable.  Tonight on the way home, I put both my arms up on the seat in front of me and rested my forehead for close to an hour’s nap.  I woke up and both of my arms were alseep too.  It wasn’t the best.

Fortunately, the trip wasn’t bad because we picked up our second win of the season, 57-48.  57 is good offensive production for a junior team.  We have 2 league games left and the playoffs are on February 19.  It’s been a fast season.  Well it is and it isn’t.  I know though, that after the 19th there will be a void in my life where coaching once existed.  I really enjoy it.  I’ve been to 2 weekend tournaments in the last month, both of them successes in that everyone got to play a lot.  Highlights included a win at the Thunder Bay tournament and a double overtime thriller this past weekend.

Groundhog day, like halloween, is a day to indicate that we’re (roughly) halfway through the winter season.  I’ve been ice fishing as much as I can.  Even with my snazzy -60 rated boots that I bought at christmas, anything less than -10 is just too cold for me to stand out on the ice for very long.  I’m hoping to go this friday night for a few hours.  I’m still trying for my first lunker pike of the year, it hasn’t come yet.

So with my trip home at march break, I decided to pick up some tickets to watch sports.  I’m going to the Raptors-Hawks game on March 17, and the Leafs-Devils game on the 18th.  I’m pretty excited about it, the tickets just came in the mail this week.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to a Leafs game, and 11 years since I’ve been to a Raptors game.  I couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

I haven’t downloaded limewire on my computer yet but I have been introduced to the grooveshark website.  I reccomend it.  Free streaming music of all kinds, it remembers your playlists between uses, and it has an extensive library.  It is easier to use for me than last.fm. Gems I’ve discovered include a cover of Don’t go back to Rockville by 10,000 maniacs.  I’ve also been listening to a lot of Goo Goo dolls lately.  Brings me right back to my teens, listening to 103.3 out of Buffalo (they are both western new york artists.)

 Snowmobile tracks everywhere.

A very small pike.

First Walleye of the year.  Note – Walleyes are not a good fish to lip – sharp teeth

I’d be remiss as a writer if I didn’t take the opportunity of my 30th birthday to put a few words down.  Today was a great day.  I was wished happy birthday by more people today, probably than ever in my life (or at least since I was a student in public school.)  My grade 10 class sang me happy birthday, my volleyball team sang me happy birthday.  It was really nice of them. I had a student (child of a fellow teacher) who made me 30 cupcakes, and they all had “Zn 30″ written on them in icing, signifying Zinc, with the atomic number 30.  Coincidentally, we’re in the middle of the chemistry unit right now.  My co-workers wished me happy birthday.  I had cafeteria duty today, many students wished me happy birthday there.  I had students I’ve never taught bring me hand made cards.  Students in my grade 9 classes worked furiously with their highlighters and pens to make me cards to one-up the one I had already been given.  It’s nice. It shows that they care.

I partied for the occasion on Saturday.  It was a great party with some of my closest friends, followed by an hour or so of dancing at the local discotechque. Cake, stories, sports on TV.  I haven’t been following baseball but it was a long game on saturday night.

I’m not feeling any anxiety about being 30.  I don’t feel like theres so much that I haven’t accomplished.  In fact, I feel almost a little more calm than I’ve felt in a while.  I do look forward to many more accomplisments and experiences to come.  Sure, I’m single and I don’t own a car or house but I enjoy what I do every day and I keep quite busy at it.  I go hunting and fishing when I get the chance and I try to work out when I can. 

Tim McGraw – My next 30 years - Maybe I’ll remember my next 30 years

Life’s been good lately.  Keeping busy, I turn 30 in a month.  Moose hunting in a couple of weekends.  Trying to eat healthier, or just eat less.  I have leftover steak in the fridge for a cheesesteak sandwich tomorrow for lunch.  You might not be as excited as me that my favourite radio personality left a comment on my last post.  He found it by doing a google blog search – last 7 days, on his own name.  Hooray!

I enjoy watching the football games.  I will be able to watch the homecoming game coming up this friday.

This is what I spend a lot of time doing lately – coaching volleyball.  I really enjoy the games.  I stand the entire time – Always have.  It’s just my style. I stand and encourage.  This past weekend was our first tournament, we did well but didn’t win the championship. I normally have a clipboard in my left hand, but as you can see, I didn’t bring one this weekend.  I kept a rolled up stack of papers with lineups, rotations and scores in my left hand. 

I’m the assistant to a very knowledgable coach, who in most cases will take the role of head coach.  For this tournament though, we split the team in to two squads and I got to be head coach of one of them. One thing I’m pretty good at is calling time-outs.  I use the opportunity to emphasize what they’re doing right, and give suggestions on what they need to do to win the set.  Would you take advice from this face?  At first, people found my sideburns quite humourous.  Now, they just wonder why they’re so much darker than the hair on my head. 

Photo taken from the lawn of the Super 8 motel in Kenora.  This is Lake of the Woods, a world-famous freshwater fishery.  I would love to fish the lake some day.  This day though, I was up early to go coach a 9:00 game.

 A suspension bridge has been built here.  I plan on going to the grand opening next Sunday, just to see what its all about.