Not so fast little bro.. (in the nick of time!)

Oh Brian, you think 8 hours is too short of a notice for me not to squeeze in a blog at the last minute? Tsk tsk tsk.. You thought I'd have something better to do on a Saturday night at 9:10pm than blog about random stuff? Do you even know your older brother?? :-)

This week had a lot of crappy traveling for me. To the great city of Pittsburgh (go Steelers) then to the suck-hole that is Ohio, and one final stop in Detroit before flying home. I had a day trip to Milwaukee that was over quickly, and that wrapped it up.

The one bright spot was the discovery of new music! Rich led me on to a new discovery (for me) that enables the music junkie in me. The software is called Torrent, and it allows you to download entire albums for free! This discovery happened at the most ideal time, because the day earlier I had stumbled across an iMix on iTunes that was simply titled "Acoustic." This iMix had songs from mostly punk bands that did an acoustic rendition of some of their top songs. This category of music is my all-time favorite. I had some of the songs already, but I downloaded a few more, and before you know it I had a pretty good start to my own acoustic play list. Thursday night, before my Friday trip, I completed the Acoustic list with the balance of my music library from my home laptop. The result of the effort is one of my favorite collaborations of music. I seriously could listen to the list of 80 some songs non-stop and never grow tired of it. I have to pass it in front of Rich for his approval (and additions) and I will probably throw it in front of Brian too for his additions should he have any that we haven't covered. I haven't been this excited over music in some time. It even got me to bust out my guitar and play a little piano today.

Speaking of piano, I watched this week's episode of "Scrubs" and was happy to see another good show. The first episode involved cameo appearances by some of the cast of Sesame Street. Oscar, Grover, one muppet that i didn't recognize, and Elmo were all pretty funny, but the best part of the show was at the end. In the background a song was playing. That song was sung by Joshua Radin, (one of my personal favorites) and he was singing, of course... Sesame Street. The song was comprised of just his voice, and a piano backing. The song is not available.. yet, but should it ever become available, be sure to know that I will have it the second it comes out. I did however just locate the sheet music for something close to what Joshua played.. I think i'll go check it out and try to play it again!

WOO!

Take that little bro! A posting with time to spare! :-)

HO K Peace OUT!

Another week, another post

Well, our perfect season has ended in broom ball. It only took 2 games. :-) Turns out my goalie abilities were not well represented by the first game. But the good news is that Kelsey scored her first goal of the season!!!..... ON ME! (hee hee). Yeah, it was one of those situations that it just couldn't be helped. She was trying to make a play and it just was the right angle and the perfect deflection right into our net. It didn't matter much, we didn't score a single goal and they had a few more on top of Kelsey's helping goal. The best part about it was that everyone still had fun (to what I could tell). We're looking forward to playing a team that is more on our level. I don't know if that kind of team exists in our league, but we'll soon figure it out! We have a double header next week! Hopefully we take both games! I like it better when we win!

January seems to be filling up with sports! Broomball has taken off now, as we'll play 4 games this month, my Sunday night basketball team is doing pretty well, and the Priest at our church asked me to play a game of racquetball with him! I really don't know what to expect as far as the competitive nature of Fr. Bob, or what kind of game he is looking for from me. I am interested to see what he's like outside of Sunday mass and who knows, maybe it'll help me clear up a few things in the faith realm of life. :-)

Its getting a little real now, this whole wedding thing. By the time the first week of February rolls around we'll be under 100 days until the wedding. I'm not even going to mention the things I have to do before the big day, which by the way, pales in comparison to what Kelsey is doing, but between now and then my friends have to organize my bachelor party! Doesn't seem like a hard task right? Wrong... my friends are some of the worst people to try and schedule something with. This is no fault of their own, but honestly, i don't think you could have a more different group of people with dissimilar schedules. Some of my friends don't work, some travel a LOT, some work odd or long hours, and some can't take vacation. Try finding a weekend where I already don't have something going on, and within 100 days, planning for a bachelor party might be harder than anticipated. Good luck guys! I hope we do something fantastic! (Possible idea... Poker anyone?)

As for this whole Blog bet.. so far so good. Brian is keeping up to his end of the bet, but I sense in my infinate blog wisdom that he soon may struggle. And if he does, Rich came up with a great way to seal the bet. As a refresh, the loser of the blog bet gets to have a "wrestling move" performed on him by the winner. I propose this, if Brian wants to "bank" a loss when he recieves one, he can do so, but the next time he loses, he has to use two losses, or accept this offer. He can avoid two wrestling moves by accepting that both Rich and Kevin can perform one of the greatest tag team wrestling duo's finishing moves of all time.

I leave you with this video, please look for this famous move called "The Doomsday Device" toward the end of the video clip. Actual time is at the 1:53 mark.

OOOOHHHHHHHHHH WHAT A RUSH!!!




Ho K Peace out!

And then there was one... week. :-)

Here's the first entry in the blog competition. After reading the little brother's version.. i'll try to keep mine a little more up-beat. There are no rules for mood of the entry so anything goes.

I'll probably keep my blogs in the form of "I think." Peter King of Sports Illustrated writes part of his weekly "Monday Morning Quarterback" column with "Ten Things I think I think." I like that format and it usually provides for a good read. So for the most part, that's what I'll be using to fuel my entries.

I think broom ball is a very fun sport when played with the right people. Granted not all the right people were in attendance for our first game, but for those that were, it turned out to be a blast. This is the first "new" sport I've picked up, or tried to do, since logrolling / boomrunning. Something about learning new sports is just exhilarating to me. I still enjoy my favorites of basketball and golf, but new sports are challenging and always lead to some fun times because I don't care if i'm not that great. I'm out there doing something fun! Of course, the fact that we won our first game helps out the team moral quite a bit, and it just makes Wednesday nights that much more enjoyable.

I think this winter has a lot more time associated with athletics then I had anticipated. I like getting out of the house every once in a while, but on Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, and any other night Kelsey and I decide to go to the gym, it just seems to help the winter pass a little quicker. I'm sure our wedding anticipation helps too. :-)

I think i'm ready to begin my part of the wedding planning. I'm in charge of the slide show, the ceremony, and 1st assistant to the most wonderful wedding planner / bride to be in the world! The more I can help out the better I feel about everything. Now if I can just find the time to do this stuff before it gets too late! :-) Motivation is high right now, so I don't see it as a problem.

I think i'm ready to live on a structured budget. This would be the first time in my life that i've kept a thorough record of every cent that i spend. I'm tracking where it goes, what its for, how much i have left over, and hell... i might even save a couple bucks! I promise.. its still me, the same crazy spender i've always been. I just have a little thing called discipline. Plus life has a way of making you plan for your future when you're an elderly 26 year old. :-)

I think i'm ready for a temperature above 0 degrees. I can't even go outside to play hockey when its this cold! Seriously, there is something wrong when I can't go skating for a week straight!

I think i'm ready for this week to be over. Its been an off week and I just would like to have a nice couple of weekend nights with some fun events. Kelsey and I are going to the Chanhassen dinner theater to see "The Producers" on Saturday night. I think I might be able to turn that into a little romantic evening... right? :-)

I think that's about it for now. We'll see ya next week!

P.S. Should I win this competition, i can't decide on the "wrestling move" to use on my little bro. I'm debating between the Sharp Shooter, or the Suplex. Any other suggestions are welcome.

HO K PEACE OUT!

Let it Begin

For the record, a blog challenge has been laid down.

The parties are: one younger brother, and the older much wiser, stronger, bigger (not fatter) brother.

The rules are: One blog must be posted between the hours of Sunday 12:01am and Saturday 11:59pm of any respective week throughout 2009. The blog entry must consist of at least 100 words, be of any subject, and above all be full of Trauscht-esque insight and or humor.
(additional item: one blog post per month must contain images or video.. to be debated this week)

The consequences: (open to debate) A loser will be declared once a blog is not posted during a given week. The winner will be able to perform a "wrestling move" on the loser. The "wrestling move" will be chosen by the winner and the loser must receive the wrestling move without any resistance. After move is conducted a new blog challenge may begin. (Subject to agreement).

LET IT BEGIN! Both parties have until 11:59pm on Saturday Jan. 10th to post 100 words or more.

(this entry does not count in the competition for the older, wiser, better looking, bigger brother.)

HA HA!

P.S. any "wrestling moves" conducted prior to this post are admissible as simply pure brotherly shenanigans and will not count against either parties track record.

Be on the lookout

Quick note... for 2009 my brother - aka The Best Man - aka the guy who can't find a rink for broom ball - aka Brian and I have engaged in a challenge. The challenge is a blog challenge. One post for each week. That's right, between 12:01am Sunday morning thru Saturday at 11:59pm one blog post of at least 100 words must be posted. Consequences for not posting will be decided later, although they could be pretty interesting.

Look out for new posts in the very near future.

Also.. we won our first broom ball game for the year! We played a team with a sponsor, all the pads, matching jerseys, and a little skill. :-)

We won in overtime. :-) We were the rag-tag group that have enough skill to overcome all odds and beat the better team on the ice tonight. Honestly, if this is the only win we have all season, i'll take it. It was awesome! :-)

More later. :-)