Happy Thanksgiving!

Oliver and Dina
Thanksgiving 2011

Dina and Oliver on Thanksgiving 2011. He was so little. What a fun time of year with Thanksgiving. The good food, the beautiful weather, and connecting with family. I look forward to Thanksgiving each year and while some of that has to do with the great food, I enjoy everything about Thanksgiving. The time leading up to the holiday when the trees are changing and dropping leaves. Even the change in weather as it gets colder and frost starts occur overnight. Soon, we will have our first snow fall. No, I am not ready for snow...

I will spend this Thanksgiving with Eddie, Joan, Greg, Erin, and Carrie. We will eat a lot and then possibly play games or certainly there will be some football watching and basketball watching taking place. I will talk to my mom and siblings on the phone throughout the day. We might even see if we can do a Zoom call to connect with everyone, but sometimes that proves to be a difficult task, so maybe just phone calls.

Kansas plays basketball on Thanksgiving Day at 1:30 pm, so I know I will be talking to my sister Dina following the game, but likely before too. I know that I will watch for her half-time report on FaceBook she posts each game and we will connect afterwards. I will conference in my Mom on the call to discuss the game. I think this will only be the second game my Mom will be able to watch as the others have all been on ESPN+.

At some point during the day, I will have spoken to all of my family. I will hear what they are doing on Thanksgiving Day and what they are eating. Maybe even share information regarding what wine or beer they are enjoying during the day. 

I am grateful for my family being healthy. I look forward to the day when we can be together once again on Thanksgiving Day as we used to do not many years ago.

Jerry Ready to Eat and Drink
Thanksgiving 2009

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Day! I know I will be like Jerry, pictured to the right, where I will be ready to eat, drink, and be jolly on Thanksgiving Day 2021.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Working Out, Washburn Sports, Chiefs, Lawn Care, and Other Odds and Ends

My workout routine worked for about a week and then I stopped being motivated to get up early to ride the bike. This past week, I did not ride once and have today (Sunday) to get back on track. The previous two weeks, I was able to get up at 6 am and ride the bike. Tuesday and Thursday this week, my alarm was set, but I could not get up to start my ride. 

I plan to change it again this week and go back to working out in the evening instead of trying to so first thing during the week. I will revert to riding Tuesday and Thursday in the evening after work and I believe that will help me to stick to the plan. More on my progress in another week or two as I post a full monthly update for how it is going.

Yesterday, Washburn played in the first-round of the NCAA tournament. We had a fantastic season with some huge wins and great memories. Washburn lost yesterday 30 - 14 in the first-round. The season will go down as one of the greats in my memory. We now turn our focus to basketball. We actually missed the first home Washburn game yesterday as we were out at Johnny's Tavern to watch the Washburn game. I followed along on the basketball game and we won 90 - 47 over Baker.

This afternoon we have the Chiefs playing Dallas. We sit in first place in the AFC West. Not too bad after the first few weeks where no one was sure what was happening with our Chiefs. I am looking forward to the game and for a win over the Cowboys. Let's GO Chiefs!

Thanksgiving is this next week and it is one of my favorite holidays. I love the food and I cannot wait. This time of year is also when everyone is out doing their leaves. Our lawn, patio, driveway, and curbs were packed with leaves. I was going to do them, but they got out of hand, so I reached out to business I thought had shut down, but they continue to do lawn work and more importantly clearing leaves. On Tuesday, I called Green Boys LawnCare, Inc. and asked if they could add us to the schedule. They told me with all the wind, recent rain, etc., it might be a little bit before they could get to us. They got to us the next day. Yard, driveway, curbside, and back yard looked great... well, until the next day. More wind and now can hardly tell they were at our house. I told them when we spoke, it will probably be a two or three time visit for our house to clean leaves. So trees, now is the time to drop your leaves and prepare for winter.

Short work week, so enjoy your Sunday and a few days of work. Until next time...

Washburn Ichabods Win Final Regular Season Game and Headed to Playoffs... Plus, KU Beats First Big 12 Foe Since 2008 and Chiefs Tonight!

We had a fun day on Saturday, November 13, 2021 for the last regular season home football game for Washburn. We had a crowded corner which was fun. Carrie made breakfast and a mid-game snack. Erin made some breakfast snacks and Joan brought delicious items too. Javier was supposed to be up for this last regular season game, but because of flight issues, he decided he would not make it as he did not want to drive. 

It was a cold day although the day started off not too bad when we all arrived a little before 11 am. The sky was clear and the sun helped keep the temperature where it was enjoyable. About noon though the clouds moved in and a little breeze kicked up which made it a rather cold day to be watching football. 

Washburn won the game 38 - 28 and we all stayed until the very end. Matt showed up and watched the game with us at the fence. It was a fun day! Even though it was cold, it was worth it to see our Ichabods go to 9 - 2 on the season. It has been a fun season and hoping to see us play again.

The night was capped off as I was watching the Kansas Jayhawks play that went into overtime and they won. First time they have beat a Big 12 opponent since October 4, 2008 at Iowa State (see KC Star article). They have come close a few times through the years to beat another Big 12 foe, but it has not happened since 2008. Wow! That helped to top off the Saturday of football.

Sunday late afternoon and I am preparing to watch the Kansas City Chiefs this evening. Go Chiefs!

Just heard from Greg, and I see it on Twitter, Washburn will play in Super Region III playoffs. So great! 

WE ARE HEADING TO THE PLAYOFFS!!! #GoBods pic.twitter.com/ouOI0UKuAO

— Washburn Football (@IchabodFTBL) November 14, 2021

Happy Veterans Day! #VeteransDay

To all veterans of all branches: Thank you for sacrifice, your bravery, and the example you set for us all. In short, thank you for your service! To all those who have served, and those who continue to serve… Happy Veterans Day!

Be sure to thank a veteran today and always.

New CIO for Washburn University as of October 2021

Many of you already know, but I have a new job at Washburn University. As of October 2021, I am the Chief Information Officer (CIO). In July 2021, our CIO announced he would be leaving Washburn to return to the east coast to work. I asked about being interim CIO and in the middle of July it was announced that I would be the interim CIO for Information Technology Services (ITS). 

I learned a lot in the few months while I was interim CIO. I wanted to make sure that by being interim CIO that I could still apply for the CIO position and I was told that was not an issue. So, I started working on updating my resume. Carrie put me in touch with a company she had heard great things from others about helping with their resume, so I reached out to Grammar Chic, Inc to start the process.

I already had some vacation scheduled at the end of July, so by the time I was able to connect with Grammar Chic to discuss my resume, I was on vacation and already doing the interim CIO stent. I had sent them copies of my resume which I had been using for for whole career and I thought it was good. After going through the process with Grammar Chic, my resume was completely reformed and it is so much better! I would highly recommend Grammar Chic to help with your resume and cover letter.

I could not be more excited then to be the CIO for Washburn University. I am learning new things everyday and dealing with new challenges each day too. On October 5, 2021, I was announced to the campus as the new CIO.

While I do not post a lot about work on my blog, I wanted to post an update to document and share the news with those I have not been able to talk to about my recent career change. I want to thank my family and friends who helped me with this change along with the encouragement. I would also like to thank the ITS staff I work with and those that gave me advice on the process. 

Yesterday, Carrie helped me clean out my old office in Bennett Computer Center to throw out old items and move paperwork to my new office. While I had been working out of Morgan Hall room 215B since the first part of August, I am now completely out of Bennett Computer Center and it feels good to be done with the move. Carrie is encouraging me to have my new office painted, we are buying pictures for the new office, and once it is painted, we will go back to hang the newly acquired art work. 

I do plan to keep at least an annual update to this space on my job and progress. I look forward to providing my expertise and passion for Washburn University in this new role. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Have a happy and safe Halloween. 

What do you do to celebrate Halloween? Carrie and I used to sit on our driveway/patio, drink wine, and hand out candy. I saw a lot of pictures the past few days of friends attending Halloween parties. Some really good costumes! I do not recall the last time I dressed up on a costume, but I know it was over five years ago. I hope everyone has a great Halloween and the candy is handed out freely and all delicious.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The Workout Starts Now and I Plan to Stick to a Regular Schedule for Exercise

I previously stated that I would start up exercise again after our latest camping trip (see No Exercise), so the time has come to start my journey to become motivated and start a workout process once again. The last time I worked out was November to the end of June. I completely stopped riding our bike, walking, or basically doing anything, so now the motivation needs to kick in so I can start working out on a regular basis. 

My plan is simple, start out slow. Bike riding 10 - 15 minutes the first few weeks as I build up what I lost in stamina from riding November 2020 - June 2021. I know that when I rode for only a week back in August, I struggled to ride for the two or three days I had planned which ultimately had me giving up and not riding since that date. My plan this time is to only do 10 - 15 minutes in beginning classes once again 2 to 3 times per week. 

I would also like to add in walking/jogging at least once a week although that might be difficult as the winter months are approaching, but we will see. The walking/jogging is to give me motivation to take our dog, Oliver, on walks. He loves it when I used to jog regularly (see Jogging Posts) as he would get excited when I would simply put on my tennis shoes. If I can just start the regular bike riding, I will be happy and keep it going throughout the year even when busy with other items.

To be able to keep the bike riding motivation continuing, I plan to ride during the week before work. My plan is to get up at 6 am on Tuesday and Thursday to ride the bike. As I become more used to riding, I might need to extend this out to earlier, but right now, I plan on 6 am twice a week to get up and ride. The third day of riding will be on either Saturday or Sunday depending on what is happening. I prefer Sunday and hope to take part in "Sundays with Love" on Peloton.

Looking at my current stats from Peloton, I did 275 activities with most of them being riding the bike, but I hope in a year I can double that amount. I did really good for a few months and then it is so easy to just stop and very difficult to get back into the swing of exercise.

I plan to update here at least once a month on my status and looking for my family and friends to call me out if I miss a monthly update or you know I am not doing the rides. I do enjoy riding, and running, so I look forward to the process and getting back into the swing of the mindset for exercise.

What do you do for exercise and how do you keep yourself motivated to keep working out each week? Post a comment and I would like to discuss further.

Our Second Trip to Eisenhower State Park Was So Fun… We Want to Do It Again and Soon!

We want to go camping again! We went on our recent camping trip to Melvern Lake in Lebo, KS. We were planning to take our little dog, Oliver, but as the days approached, he was not doing great, so we decided to leave him behind. In hindsight, it was best that we did as the first night was chilly and then our last night camping it poured down rain with a lot of lightening and thunder; Oliver would have freaked out and not had anywhere to go within the tent, so it is best he did not go.

We went out mid-afternoon on Thursday, October 21. Greg and Erin were meeting us after Erin finished with work, so Carrie and I got the tent set up, ready to make dinner, etc. and we were ready for the weekend. While we took some firewood as did Greg and Erin, we went through all of it the first night. 

Although it was chilly the first night, it was a perfect night. We used the Firedisc to cook supper where we made fried rice along with Bulgogi. It was our first attempt at doing fried rice let alone Bulgogi, but it was really good! We ate late and by headlamp and cell phones as the moon was not out yet when we were eating. 

The moon did come out after we finished eating and we were sitting around the fire pit. The moon had a ring around it that stuck around for a few hours while we sat and admired the moon. We tried to take pictures of the moon, but it did not give it justice to what we were seeing. It was a cold evening, so the fire felt really good. Great first night at our camp site!

The second day (Friday), we all slept late and so we ended up not evening doing breakfast. Joan and Eddie came out to join us for lunch and be around the fire pit. We did chili in the Firedisc which was our first time doing that with the Firedisc. Carrie had read some sites and blogs and it came out great! It was a fun afternoon/evening sitting around talking, eating, and chatting.

The third day (Saturday), we did cook breakfast and once again on the Firedisc. Potatoes, sausage, cheese, eggs, and wrapped up in a tortilla. Carrie said she would change some things on it, but I thought it was pretty dang good to start the day. We spent the day once again relaxing and playing some games. I could not have asked for a more comfortable day just chilling and not doing anything. 

Saturday night around 2 am, the storm that had been forecast hit our area. We had heavy rain, lightening, thunder, and strong winds. The storms woke me up as the tent was going back and forth. I could hear the rain pounding on the south side of the tent and a little water came in under the flap for the vent. We only had one hook come up down and it was on the south side near the vent, so a small table we had in the tent dumped contents. Overall, no major issues and then did great through the heavy storm. Another reason glad our dog, Oliver, was not with us as there would have been no where he could have gone to “get away” from the sounds.

Sunday morning was low key as we knew we had to head out. Had a light breakfast before we started picking up and getting ready to head out. 

We love this spot as it was our second visit to this same camp site (see Melvern Lake). We plan to go back and maybe check out some other areas of the State Park for camping… but why change from a place we love?

Below is Instagram post Carrie did from our camping weekend.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Carrie H. (@carrieloulou)

 

Have you camped at Eisenhower State Park? Where is your favorite location to campus at this State Park or any Kansas State Park? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

October 16 Washburn Faced Off Against Northwest Missouri State University and We Won!

On Saturday, October 16 I went to a tailgate for Washburn University vs Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU). It was any normal Saturday and the third such tailgate of the season I had attended. Previous years, we would put up a good fight to lose to NWMSU whether at home or on the road. Not this day! This day, Washburn came away with a huge win! It will be one of those games that I remember forever. I have been attending Washburn football games for many years going way back to Javier and I first coming across tailgating and football on the Washburn campus one weekend some fifteen years (or so) ago. I have been going ever since.

Greg and I went to the game as Carrie was out of town with her Mom and sister-in-law, Erin, for a girls weekend. Greg and I got to the tailgate right about the time it was starting. It seemed like a lighter crowd than normal, but I supposed that was partially because of other football games going on at the same time or that afternoon. The weather was amazing! 60-70s for the temp and nice and sunny. We hung out for a while in the alumni tent where we had a hotdog and a few drinks before making it back to our tailgate spot by the flag pole. 

We saw a few of our friends at the game, but it was sparse in our corner for this game. To end the first quarter the score was zero to zero. I recall Greg and I talking and saying hey that is not bad at all to be tied at zero after a quarter of football. Sometime in the third quarter my father-in-law, Eddie, showed up to watch the game. He had been out playing golf on the beautiful morning, so it was good to have him at the game to watch this game with us. The second quarter finished up and we were up 3 - 0 at the half. Again, not bad at all considering who we were facing in this matchup. 

The third quarter was suddenly upon us and NWMSU scored a touchdown which put us down 7 - 3 but we came right back and scored a touchdown ourselves late in the third quarter. Again, we were all going crazy in the stands with high-fives and screaming. We were into the fourth quarter and we were feeling pretty good but knew it was nowhere close to being over. Sometime during the fourth quarter, our friend Matt showed up. He only lives block away from campus and he had been following on the radio. He said he had to get over to watch the game in-person, so we had four fans in our corner following and cheering for the Ichabods. 

Once again, late in the fourth quarter,  scores a a touchdown putting us up 17 - 14 with 48 seconds on the clock. We were all going crazy screaming, high-fiving, and there might have been some hugging, but again, we all knew it was nowhere close to being over. NWMSU turned it over on downs and punted back to Washburn with just a few seconds on the clock. Washburn being backed up to our own goal and only a few seconds decided to do a safety so we not have a chance of giving excellent field advantage to NWMSU. So, now the score is 17 - 16 with 5 seconds remaining on the clock. Washburn Football kicks the ball and NWMSU tries some trickery but to no avail and Washburn comes away with a huge win of 17 - 16 over NWMSU.

Our tailgate neighbor, John, who always has a huge spread for his tailgate, multiple tents, satellite TV, and is so friendly was over in our spot a few times during the game high-fiving and telling us this was the time we are going to beat NWMSU. As the final seconds ticked off of the clock, John was over in our area telling us he was going to rush the field when it ended and we won. Sure enough, as the clock ticked away to the end of the game, John moved inside of the stadium and was poised ready to run down the hill. There might have been some talk about taking down the goal posts, but his friends as well as us just laughed at him. If there ever was a good time to take down the goal posts at Yager Stadium, this was likely that time, but then what would we do with he goal posts? Where would we take them? Instead, we watched John rush down the hill following the 17 - 16 win and hug coaches, players, and possibly other fans. When he came back up the hill, he high-fived, hugged, and yelled celebration of the huge win. 

The last time we had beaten NWMSU, home or away, was back in 2004 I believe I heard mentioned. We did all of this with a backup quarterback as Mitch Schurig had gone out in the very first play of the game. Kellen Simoncic came into the game and did an excellent job of leading us to a win. Our whole team played well that day and it was exactly what we needed to knock of a 5 - 0 (at the time) powerhouse of NWMSU. It will go down as one of my all-time favorite memories of Washburn Football.

Next, we have homecoming on October 30 and then only one more home game on November 13. Who knows, at 5 - 2 on the season, we could see the postseason… but that is a bit early to speculate at this time. Until then, we will enjoy the games and keep cheering on our Washburn Ichabod Football team. Go Bods!

Where Has October Gone and What is Next?

Is it hard for others to believe we are in the middle of October? It seems like a blur the past year and half and it only keeps going faster through the days and months. Before long it will be 2022 and I will be talking about it being hard to believe we are half-way through 2022. Wow! I know time seems to speed up as I get older, but I could use it slowing down just a little. 

Speaking of things going by fast, baseball season is nearing an end. The regular season ended just two weeks ago and we are into the playoffs. I am having fun watching the games although I really do not have a dog in the fight, but enjoy watching the games. Of course football season is chugging right along. Not anywhere near where I thought the Chiefs would be at this point in the season (2 - 3) so we need to be careful or we might end up missing out on the playoffs. The start of practices started for college basketball and here before long we will have the first games of the 2021-2022 season. I cannot wait!

We are preparing for another camping trip. Like our first time we went back in April, this will be a chilly camping trip. We are excited and looking forward to a few days outside. We are planning to take Oliver, but with it being 39 degrees on Saturday morning when I am writing this update, I am a little concerned it might be too cold for Oliver. We will have him in a sweater and fires going every night, but he has been shivering just about every time we let him outside here the past week or so and today is the coldest it has been thus far. So, we will see how he does on our camping adventure. Carrie and I cannot wait to get out there to camp and relax. We are taking lawn games to play during the day and look forward to just relaxing for a few days. 

Overall, a relaxing weekend and I am looking forward to a lazy Sunday with football, naps, and grilling in the evening for dinner. Oh, I do have to mow Sunday morning. Our yard is doing great after over seeding a few weeks ago. The bare spots in our yard are now covered with nice green grass. Keeping the watering going and hopefully through the winter months and the grass will still be in the yard. In the spring, I plan to work on the flower beds in our front yard to get them looking presentable. There is always something to be done.

The end of October, Carrie and I are hoping to connect with a friend for dinner and then pop into Lawrence another weekend to meet my Uncle and Aunt for dinner that we have not seen in a long-time. We are also trying to line up a time for Javier to come visit us in November for Washburn football and hanging out, so hopefully a lot more to write about as October ends and November gets started. There I go again putting us into November and making the months fly by…

Until the next time, have a great week!