Good Food!

So Adam and I drove into Omaha with 2 agenda's in hand yesterday:
1) Surprise Jenni by taking her, and the lovely Christi out to dinner.
2) Go back to the riverboats and see if we could turn our profit from last time we went, into an even bigger profit.

Well, the first one sure turned out great. Being the great men of chivalry that we are, we even stopped by, and picked up flowers for our lovely dates before we ate. To say the least, they didn't see that coming, and appreciated it greatly. Then came the food. Oh wow. I've never been to Kobe's Steakhouse before, and what a treat it was. Great environment. Great food. And the best part was, it was really REALLY fun (or rerry fun for the people working there...). I really like how you sat around a huge grill with other people that you don't know, then they cook (while putting on a show) right in front of your eyes. Although, I was disappointed that I went 1 for 2 on catching shrimp in my mouth that the cook threw at me.

I could just go on and on about how great the food was, the service was, and the people I was with, but I won't, 'cause I'm at work (shhh, don't tell anyone I'm doing this on the clock!). It was just a great night. Adam, we need to go into Omaha and do that more often!

Oh yeah, after that, we went and looked at some very nice shops inside of regency. Then Adam and I proceded to the river where we didn't come up on the positive side of playing poker. Not like we lost a ton, but we still lost. The ride home was great though, because I just kept thinking about how good the food was!

History for the 'skers

Last night was a great night. It was my first return trip to the CWS in about 7 or 8 years. I got to take Christi for her first trip, and what a night it was. There's just something about this Husker team. Obviously not the most dominating team that has ever come through the program, but wow, they sure play as a team and know how to win games. It's always great to see the bottom of your order coming up with 3 of the 5 rbi's for the game (way to go ryan and jeff!).

The one thing that I wanted to do was tell the guy next to me to kindly leave the field, and then tell half of the stadium to leave the field as well. The guy sitting to the right of me has never, NEVER been to a Husker baseball game before. He was telling his son who was up to bat with names like "Wurl" and "Simmo-kates". Wow.... it just bugs you, and gets to you for 3.5 hours.

The other thing was that the whole stadium was booing every time an ASU pitcher stepped off of the rubber and made a move towards the runner at second. Ok people, think about it... he wasn't trying to make us all mad, there is actually a strategy for doing things like that (maybe a handful of people at the game actually knew that).

Overall though it was amazing. High-five to the VanKat's for hooking us up with a parking spot at Mr. Stander's place before the game. High-five to my gma & gpa for putting in their name for tickets (yeah, I had 4 tickets to the game total!). The other two tickets were courtesy of my parents though. High-five to them for picking up the tab on the tickets and dinner afterwards (you really made it an enjoyable night). Last but not least, High-five for the Husker baseball team, and the 25,000 there who saw their first CWS win EVER!

-Maybe the basketball will pick up their first NCAA win ever this year....

Commercialization

I was shocked watching the Braves game today. Not the fact that they lost (again), but the fact that the name of the stadium that they were playing had changed without me knowing it. The coolest ballpark name, "The Ballpark in Arlington" has apparently changed to "Ameriquest Field." Wow... doesn't that sound cool? This got me to look into how many stadiums have sponsored names. In the NL, 10 of 16 teams have sponsored names, these led by beer groups of Coors, Busch, and Miller (hey, they're the Brewers, what'd you expect?). In the AL, 8 of 14 teams have sponsored names, led by good ones on this side (Fenway, Yankee, Camden Yards, Jacobs Field). Mind you I gave some fields the benefit of the doubt, like Turner Field whose name is not commercialized, but private.

Where is this leading us in the next 10 years? Pretty soon, we're goin' to hear, "now up to the plate, Andrew Coca-Cola Jones." Then when you go to the concession stand, you'll buy a "Family General Hot Dog." Then you'll walk back to your padded "Jenny Craig seats in section 107." It's getting out of control, and we need to stop it.







Such words as paid advertisement by, paid for by, paid political ad meet the requirements of the act; however, an advertiser is not limited to just those phrases.
Yeah, whatever.

Coach A

Wondering what the top coach in the nation does to prepare for the College World Series (and the biggest games of his life)?. Well, last night I found the answer to that question. He goes to watch his son Taylor play baseball, and cheer him on. I saw Mike walk in with his wife, Kim, yesterday at Densmore while I was waiting for the rest of my team to show up. He remembered who I was, and asked how I was doing. It always makes you feel good when a guy like that remembers who you are, and has time to talk to you.
Noticeable tip of the day: Mike Anderson likes the Houston Astro's (wearing their cap all night long.)

Ms. Nebraska

Ok, everyone can exhale now. I know you've been refreshing the page for the past 24 hours to see what has happened at Ms. Nebraska, so I'll tell you. Good news, but not great news. Christi didn't win. That means that we're all goin' to have to scratch off the "5" and put a "6" on those "Christi Roach: Ms. Nebraska 2005" shirts that we all ordered... The good news of it all, is that it went to a very deserving Kelly Keiser. Besides Christi (obviously), there is no better candidate for the job. We are all very proud that Kelly won it this year. Not sure when tickets go on sale for next year, but I'll keep you posted...

More updates

For those of you continuing on the blog to see pictures of Christi during here competition at Ms. Nebraska, I have two more for you. The casual wear is from Wednesday, and the formal wear is from the Thursday pre-lims. Christi said that Thursday night went great. She said that she felt very comfortable during her two on-stage questions.

Maybe it's because she's my fiancee, but she's looking great out there. I can't wait until Saturday so that I can finally see her again....

Go do something

For all of the slackers out there who have nothing better to do with their summers (besides reading this blog during the day), go out and get something done. My mom sent me this, and I thought this was absolutely phenominal, and should be shard with everyone. Go lego nerds!

Lego Church

How long to build?

Around a year and a half for planning, building and photographing.

How many pieces of LEGOs?

More than 75,000!

How big is it?

7 feet x 5.5 feet x 2.5 feet

How many LEGO people does it seat?

1372

How many windows?

3976





For many many more pictures of this work of art, please go [here].

On and on

More news from the wonderful town of North Platte. Prelim's were yesterday, and Christi did talent and casual wear. There was a three-way tie for first place, and unfortunately Christi was not part of that group. She said that she has evening wear and on-stage questions to do tonight. Then tomorrow is the big expensive dinner, and then Saturday is the grand finale.

News from Tuesday

Not much happening in the pageant world on Tuesdsay. Christi said that they spent most of the day working on memorizing the 20 min. opener. That really sucks. Today is going to get quite interesting though. It's the first day of pre-lims. She has her talent to do tonight, and also evening wear if I remember correctly. Today should be full of great pictures and exciting information.

More Poker: We had 7 people over last night for a $5 buy in and a friendly game of poker. I got second, and got my money back. For some reason, I'm playing really good lately, and I'm making good reads and good calls.

More on Ms. Nebraska

Christi called last night and said that they worked on dances for 10 hours on Monday. Wow that sucks. It's really got to suck for the dancers there because they learn the dances in about 10 minutes, then have to wait the rest of the time for everyone else to catch up. Anyways, she said that everyone went go-carting and had a really good time because it took their focus off of the pageant.

Boatin': So Drew came into town last night, and with Drew, comes the urge to go gambling at the boats in Council Bluffs. Adam, Kevin, Drew, and I made our way down there after we drank free beer at Lazlo's. Once we got there, there was quite a long wait to play poker. It took me about 2.5 hours to finally sit down at the table. Once I did though, it was well worth it. I won two big hands, lost a medium size one, and walked away from the casino up $54. Now I'm feeling pretty good about myself when that happens. Not as good as Adam though. Adam walked away up $160 for the night. Not too shabby from the one guy who didn't want to go up there in the first place.

Tracking Ms. Nebraska

Sunday was the sign in ceremony for Ms. Nebraska. All 20 contestants gathered and greeted with their little sisters. Christi said that her host family is amazing, and they even have a really cute dog. Countdown is just 5 days away until the final. Things should get a lot more interesting as pre-lims are held on Wed. and Thurs. night.

Feeling Super

The Huskers showed this past weekend why they are one of the best teams in the nation. We'll all be welcoming Miami in this next weekend, as temperatures will hit the upper 90's (what they are probably used to while we have snow on the ground). Should be a great matchup of two dominant baseball programs. As a side note, Adam and I saw Andy Gerch and Jesse Boyer as we left lunch today, and those two guys couldn't be happier. I think Boyer said, "Everyone, here's Andy Gerch, your regional MVP!" about fifteen different times.

Baseball

High five to the Huskers for their win yesterday. High five to all of the 8000+ Husker fans that sat out in the freezing cold to watch the game (including Ben, Kevin, and Chris). All Nebraska has to do now is win 1 out of 2 games and they are playing at home again in the Super Regionals. The road to Rosenblatt (1-80 for those living in state) looks to be paved and pretty clear to all Husker fans, as they know the 'Skers play unbelievable ball at home.

Baseball pt.2: Once again, I will get scrutinized for not attending the championship game tonight at Haymarket. There is a huge game at Staplehurst field at 4:00 with the Lincoln Reds doing battle with the Staplehurst Panthers. This game is crucial for both teams if they hope to play at Haymarket at the end of July. Batting practice will be at least an hour earlier for the game as we can not hit at all right now. They way things are going for me, I should've went there last night and started hitting the cages...
VS

HDTV

So we finally did it. We upgraded to HDTV and got a DVR. So all of that thought of, "it's summer time, you should go outside and do something" just flew out the window. Well, I guess we can go outside, tape our shows, and then come back in a watch them... and watching ESPN in HD is amazing. Ben, you should move back for the summer, just for that.

Baseball: Apparently Staplehurst can't find it's bats during the night (pun?). I can't find a gap, and our team is going to find itself tied for first place in our division here shortly (something that's never happened past the first week of every season). We played Will Smith 'n co. yesterday, made an amazing comeback in the 9th, and I got the at bat of a lifetime. Bottom of the 9th. 2 outs. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. Will Smith vs. Brian Helge. I couldn't ask for more. I got the pitch I was looking for, and hit a sharp line drive right to the 1st baseman. He grounded it, stepped on the bag, and sent us home with our 2nd loss in 3 games. Now somewhere in the near future I'm going to have to get a hit. My goal this year is to cut down on the strikeouts. I think last season I struck out every 4 or 5 at bats. I have 4 strikeouts in 30 at bats this year, but I can't seem to find a hole when I'm hitting. It's frustrating. They'll come. I've always heard that if you keep putting the ball in play, good things will happen...

After Baseball: What happens after the intense games of LABL action you might ask? Going to no better sports bar than Heidelberg's. It was nice hanging out with Will, Ponec, Nate, Drew, and of course my biggest fan to date, my mom. And apparently since going to Old Chicago the other night, I've found a new beer of choice: Amber Bock. Go pick up a 12 pack today. It's worth it. Or call me if you're not old enough.... wait... that's not legal... don't do that....

Abundance of good food

Last Friday, the meal that Christi and I put together was amazing. So why stop there? I say keep the good food comin'. That brings me to Monday night, where Christi, Adam and I went out to the cabin for dinner. Amazing meal put together by my family. When it was all done, we rolled ourselves onto the floor, out the door, and onto the 4-wheelers. Then for the next 2 hours or so we proceeded to drive around and explore as far as we could. Exploring both the vastness of the cabin's property and the property out at Coyote Hollow. This got me thinking, "why, oh why, do i not quit my job and just spend my time at the cabin all day?" Such a beautiful and relaxing place....

Ok, back to the food. So when we left the cabin, we got to take home leftovers and uncooked steaks. Last night, I cooked the uncooked steaks in the rain, made homemade potatoes (thanks mom), and a ham/cheese/stringy potato dish (well, that one was from a box, but that's ok). I'm still in a good mood to cook, and Christi and I just agreed that we are going to make a nice big meal Friday when I come up to Omaha for her, her mom, her sister, and myself. Now I just need to start thinking of what to cook next...