Free Throws

Yep, it's that time of year again. The P.E. classes at our school are back to being outside and I can shoot hoops during my free period. My session of shooting today did not start off good. I missed the first three and was beginning to grow nervous. I made 3 or 4 in a row and then missed one, that was pretty much the trend for awhile. I went on one streak and made 9, missed one, then made another 6. That was the best streak I had. I shot for about 10 minutes. It felt good to be back in the gym moving around during the day. While this goal might not be attained so easily, I like it because I get to be active during the day and get my blood flowing. I'm going to keep trying. If anything big happens, I will keep you all posted.
Matt, I know you think this goal is a crazy one and won't be attained. I think about you while I shoot and get motivated by you to get myself into the gym and keep trying. You don't need to comment about my inability to put a substantial streak of made shots together and how I won't get this goal. You also don't need to comment "White Castle" anymore. I think Mom and I are going to go there tonight to give it a try. I'll keep you posted on how that goes as well.

39. Weber's Big Book of Grilling

I finished up another book just for fun. It is a mix of a cookbook and a how-to book. I have always wanted to be able to grill well. Melissa told me in the past that I was good at grilling stuff, but honestly, I just set it on the grill waited awhile and when I thought it was done, Itook it off. I wasn't doing anything special. I wanted to get a feel for why things happened on the grill rather than hoping that I was doing things right. The book Weber's Big Book of Grilling did just that for me. It walked me through different things you can do on the grill. It talked about different techniques you can use while having things on the grill. It went through each type of meat or produce specifically and told of things to look for when purchasing the product, to how to know when it was done. This book was not the typical read, but it gave me knowledge that I have enjoyed getting to know and use over the past month.
While the book did give practical advice and education about things to do with/on the grill, it was also filled with different recipes to try out. I've only tried a few, but so far, things have gone well. The thing right now that I'm looking forward to most is having it be light out again when it is time for dinner. This grilling in the dark is getting old!
Through all this knowledge, I have learned that I will never again just buy ground beef, form it into a patty and throw it on the grill. There are so many things you can add to it to give it flavor and texture. I'm glad I picked this one up and look forward to what things I will do in the future on the grill.

70 and 81

I gave blood this weekend. Nothing exciting happened. That's pretty much what you hope for when you go there. Excitement means something went wrong. Everything was smooth and as always I finished up my donation with some Cheez-its, a brownie and a Coca-Cola. That's the part I look forward to most when I go. I don't know what it is, but Cheeze-its just taste better there.

I watched Braveheart yesterday. 2 hours and 50 minutes! As stated multiple times before, to win best picture, I guess it has to be long. This was not the first time watching this movie and I was actually looking forward to watching it for my own enjoyment, so I consider it a Sunday afternoon well spent. I am not saying I don't enjoy watching many of these, it's just that for many of the movies, I don't what they are about or anything about them, so it brings in a different level of suspense.

That's all I've got for now.

4. Fast for 24 hours

This goal is done. It was pretty rough at times, but I made it. Luckily, I only had to do it for a day! This came on as our church raised the challenge to fast for the entire day on Wednesday and to eat a small bag of rice as our meal for the day. With that small bag of rice, it made it to be not a true fast, but I treated it as such throughout the day. I began my fast at 9:30 on Tuesday night and went until Thursday morning's breakfast at 7:30. I went 34 hours with only a small bowl of rice and had plenty of moments where I didn't think I could make it. There were many times where I looked at a bag of goldfish crackers, or a block of cheese to suppress my hunger, but at that time, I just prayed to God and prayed for strength and prayed for the people around the world that deal with those pains day after day.
The reason for the call from our church is because we have begun a partnership with a church in Nicaragua. Over the past few months we have been learning of the extreme poverty that they are dealing with and the hunger that they go through. Our bag of rice represented one meal for them and that was all they would have for the day. I was humbled to think that is what children are expected to live off day after day. It changes your perspective to think, this is all I get, and I hope there will be food tomorrow. That is truly a different way to live. I am so thankful to live where I do and how I do so that I don't have to have these worries for me or for my family. It also makes me proud to be in the church we are in where we are working to make a difference for those kids and families down there.

21. Try a new meal I would normally not try

Today was the day. I could feel my day was coming soon, but I didn't know where or what it would be. I tried food today that would not have passed my test for trying ever before I had started this list. I am a picky eater. I have gotten a lot better, but I am still pretty picky. Today we had parent teacher conferences and our wonderful PTA provided dinner. It had the asian theme to it. At the dinner was a huge spread of Oriental and Indian dishes. Last year if they had this meal, I think I would have relied on rice filling me up and been satisfied with that being my meal. Today I branched out. I tried everything. I even matched the coresponding sauces with their meals. It was crazy. When I sat down with my food, I felt proud. I was doing it! I started with Indian rice, I followed it with some somoas which were pastry type things filled with potatoes, peas and some other spices. I had a "salad" of chick peas and what seemed to be the makings of guacamole. I was told this was a traditional indian salad rather than using lettuce. It was really good. I would eat it again. I finished it off with an Indian dessert that was shredded carrots yogurt and some spices.
I have to say. This was no typical meal and I steped up to the plate. When I finished, my entire plate was empty. I even went up to get more when I was finished. That salad was really good!
This is not my coming out party to try new things all of the time, but as I have been slowly learning, it isn't too bad to try something new every once in awhile.

23. Visit new restaurants

I finally made it to the restaurant Jalisco's Tacos. I drive by there twice a day. I have wanted to go there for years. It is not the most attractive place. It is just a restaurant with a few booths and Mexican food. That's enough for me. We were the only white people in there. To the best of my knowledge, we were the only ones that spoke English. That was apparent when I asked what the bowl of limes was for and the waitress brought back more napkins and a couple more forks. It was fun to take a break from the normal chain restaurant and finally step inside the place I have driven by probably a thousand times.
As a bonus, friends of ours asked if we wanted to go our after church today. We ended up going to a place called Mother's Pancake House. We had six one year olds and six adults. It was one of the more interesting table of twelves you will ever see. The kids all handled it well. The food was really good. It was voted best as having the best pancakes in town. I would agree, mine was pretty good.
I now just have one more new restaurant to go to. There are plenty of options, we will see where I get to go, and when I get to go there.

Valentine's dinner

Six years ago, I cooked my first dinner for Melissa. I was in college at the time and had never really cooked a meal up to that point. Back then, I thought I would surprise her with a steak dinner. So that's what I did. The steaks were joined by some mashed potatoes (straight from the box), some corn (right out of the can), and some Sweet Hawaiian Rolls. Pretty easy dinner. For the last six years, it has been the same meal every Valentine's Day. I know that beyond the steak, the meal isn't too great, but it is something that I really like doing. I like the tradition. I look forward to it each year.
One change to this year's meal that I did not really like was that we had to use regular potatoes. I thought we had a box of potatoes, but I was wrong. I know, regular are much better, but the thing I like most about the meal is that it is the same every year.
Oh, also for dessert I buy brownies from the deli. They are really over priced, but it is what I get every year.