I’m coaching youth soccer

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Joel

So……… Remember how I said that while I don’t know much about soccer, I kinda enjoyed helping out as a temporary coach? And that I would volunteer as an assistant coach to learn the ropes? Possibly be a head coach in the Fall?

Yeah, about that. You kinda knew it wouldn’t work out like that. That they wouldn’t have enough coaches. Well, it turns out they don’t have enough coaches for the weekend games. I asked the coordinator that I wouldn’t mind being a coach, except I don’t know a lot apart from what I’ve learned being on the sidelines since Josh started playing in Fall 2010. She said it was okay, and they will have training sessions with the coaches.

So….. Here we are. I’m coaching Josh’s team this season, and our first games are coming up this Saturday and Sunday. I submitted all of the background check paperwork, and I’ve been reading up on youth soccer coaching websites.

I hope I don’t screw up.

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Getting back on the horse after 6.5 months

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Joel

The weather was so nice this week, I felt serious irony and guilt each day. Irony and guilt that the weather is so nice, and I can only enjoy during the 10 mins I’m outside to pick up my lunch from Subway. Pathetic.

I decided earlier this week that it would be nice to take Friday off and go riding, taking advantage of the excellent weather.

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Friday, I ran a few errands, and got the bike ready. The bike itself was in decent shape, albeit nearing air in the tires and a new battery for the cyclocomputer. I picked that up during my errand shopping (and lunch), got dressed in all my gear, and took off with no real plan or destination.

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No plan or destination? Yes, that’s right, none. This week, I realized that, instead of excitement, I’ve felt some anxiety over the upcoming ride. You could call it the fear of falling. It seems last September’s accident left more than physical damage. I knew I had to get back on, but it wasn’t filling me with joy.

Still, I had to. I was contemplating riding the MS Bike Ride again. I still have trouble sitting on regular chairs. Could I ride long distances on a bike saddle? I had to get back on the horse. I started riding, and it wasn’t bad. I had to adjust a bit, but I could sit after all. I took a meandering path up through to Princeton and back, approx 33 miles. I found a few back roads and minor bike paths, and stayed away from major roads without adequate shoulders. I did consider riding down one major road without a shoulder, but got too nervous and turned back.

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I even stopped and took a picture of myself at our favorite date night restaurant Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. I was so happy when I got back, I convinced my wife to have dinner with me tonight at Ruth’s Chris. Well, the food is so good there, neither of us needs much convincing.

So, success. I guess I can ride again. I can do the MS Bike ride again too next month.

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Josh’s 2nd attempt at a 7th birthday party

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Joel

We had Josh’s redo of a birthday party, our 1st of two parties today. This was the rescheduled party from last Saturday for his classmates and peers, same venue as last time. This time around, everything went smoothly, and I am under the assumption that everything went well. The kids played on the huge jungle gym, then played laser tag and climbed a tall rock wall. We had pizza and cake for everyone, standard fair for kids’ parties.

After everyone left and we settled up the bill, we went home to host our second party, a smaller gathering celebrating both Josh & Lily’s birthdays with our respective families. This included both sets of grandparents, our respective sisters and their families. We didn’t have a lot of time to cook this time around, so we ordered dinner from one of the many local Indian restaurants in town.

I don’t have any great stories to share from either party. Both went well, no hiccups. One more party left, this one for Lily. This one, after getting burned from last year’s RSVP debacle, will be a smaller (and simpler) affair consisting of pizza and cupcakes for lunch in her classroom. Thank goodness for simplicity.

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Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (2012)

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Joel

As I mentioned in my earlier post, in lieu of Joshua’s previously-planned-but-now-postponed birthday party, we tried to make it up to him with dinner and a movie. We had dinner with Josh & Lily’s best friends (and their dad), and then all of us went to see Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about this film. Basically, the folks at Universal Pictures found writers who had a story to take Dr. Seuss’ book The Lorax and turn it into a feature-length animated film. Personally, The Lorax is one of my favorite books by Dr. Seuss. The original story concerns the danger corporate greed poses to nature, using “the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler (whose face is never shown in any of the story’s illustrations or in the television special) and the environment as The Lorax.”

It’s a good story. It’s not a long story, but it’s short and to the point. It works as a book, and if I recall correctly, it also worked in the 1972 animated television special, which I remember watching in elementary school back in the 1980’s. It’s been recently remade, and filled out with additional story elements to get it to 86 minutes, and also appeal to a wide audience. The story has been modifed, and plenty of songs written for it:

A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

What worked for me in this film?

  • The animation was top-notch. Colors popped, lots of detail.
  • Danny DeVito was kinda funny as the titular Lorax.

What didn’t work for me in this film?

  • I thought the songs were terrible. Sorry Ed Helms, I’ve had enough of your singing, both here and on The Office.
  • I didn’t care for the romantic subplot, and anyway, Taylor Swift’s character was such a minor character, she was almost nonexistent.
  • The 12-year-old boy in this film has a villain/nemesis of his own, and I that villain was rather lame. A short villain who looked like the male version of Edna Mode, and he’s both the mayor and a proprietor of a bottled oxygen company. Bottled air? Isn’t this ripping off President Skroob from Spaceballs?

As a person of faith, I believe it’s our responsiblity to be good stewards of our planet, and all of the animals that live on it. I like the book The Lorax. Even though it’s visually interesting, I didn’t particularly care for this recent film. Of course, the kids liked it, and my wife thought it was decent, so what do I know anyway. And why won’t those damn kids get off my lawn. Gosh, have I started transforming into some sort of curmudgeon?

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

 

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Joshua’s 7th birthday party – Part 1

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Joel

Well, this is a first for us. Joshua’s birthday party has been postponed.

This morning we were up early to get ready for the party in the afternoon. It is/was a Transformed-themed birthday party – Generation 1, none of that Michael Bay crap. Much like last year, my wife ordered Transformer-themed t-shirts for the family. For Josh’s little friends as part of the party favor, she ordered plain blue t-shirts and designed iron-on transfers with similar Transformer graphics. We tried ironing them Friday night, but we unfortunately discovered that iron-ons printed with a color laser printer won’t work.

My wife found out that our local Walmart had the ink jet printers and replacement light and dark iron-on transfer sheets. Two options: either find replacement party favor activity books or buy an inkjet printer and new iron-ons and make all 18 shirts between now and 1pm. After I hunted around and found nothing good in terms of activity books, I bought a decent looking HP Deskjet 3052A ink jet printer and lots of iron-on transfer sheets. I’m not a fan of inkjets, but it was 7am and I was desperate. At only $69, I see this as a low-risk purchase.

After I got home, I had to run a work-related errand for my wife up in Hackensack NJ dropping off some materials for a class. When I got back around 10am, the new iron-ons were ready, and I took over from my wife ironing the remaining t-shirts. She finished decorating the birthday cake, we got the kids ready and in the car, loaded the car, and we were ready to party!

Almost.

Josh & Kaiya reading The Lorax before watching The Lorax

Josh & Kaiya reading The Lorax before watching The Lorax

12:05pm, ready to go, I had a voicemail from Kids Towne USA, our party venue. There was incident with one of the attractions, smoke, and the place was closed for the day until the local fire department could evaluate. Party cancelled. We were absolutely incredulous.

Consulting amongst ourselves, we decided it would be best to email everyone on the Evite, go there anyway to meet any guests, let them know what’s going on. Some guests didn’t get the email msg, so we apologized for the inconvenience. My brother-in-law Rob and niece Abby were already there. We rescheduled for next Saturday afternoon.

Josh was a little down, but he’s easy-going and took it in stride. With my BIL and niece, we hit the nearby Chick-fil-A for lunch, then hung out at home before Josh’s last soccer game of the winter season.

My lady friend and I chilling at TGI Friday's before we see The Lorax

My lady friend and I chilling at TGI Friday's before we see The Lorax

In the evening, we made plans with some family friends (and their kids are best friends with our kids) to have dinner at the local T.G.I. Friday’s, then walk across the lot to see Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. There was an interminably long wait to get a table for seven people, and we were in danger of missing the film. We eventually were seated, and I immediately got anxious that we were going to get terrible seats, miss the beginning of the film, etc. Then, I had an epiphany. Why was I getting worked up about missing the beginning of a childrens’ movie? The only people who cared about seeing the film were between 3-7-years old, and they didn’t particularly care either. I relaxed, and we walked over whenever we were done. I think we may have missed the first 10-15 minutes. Turns out it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be.

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Joshua’s final winter 2012 game

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Joel

Saturday was Josh’s last soccer game for the winter. We’ve got a short break before the Spring season begins in late March / early April.

So what did I think of this most recent season? Well. I thought it was okay. I’ve mentioned the problems that we experienced — half of the team dropped out, the coach wasn’t available to attend all of our games, and no practice time. The lack of adequate practice time isn’t anyone’s fault — there is limited time and use of indoor facilities in the winter.

BTW, I had an opportunity to speak to the coach last week when he returned, and my hardened opinion softened tremendously when he told me what happened this season. He wasn’t the original coach — we had no coach. At the first intro practice, the folks running the winter program drafted him to coach when he showed up with his son like everyone else. Ah, the joys of parenting. No wonder. That he ultimately agreed to it is a testament to his good character.

In a way, I sort of enjoyed being a substitute coach. It’s a little stressful because you can only hope the kids will listen to you as your stand on the sidelines, but you’re happy when they do well. We signed up Josh for spring soccer, and I put my name in to volunteer as an assistant coach. I would like to get my feet wet and learn from someone more experienced. Maybe I could be a head coach in the Fall.

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The Ipes go back to the circus

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Joel
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The circus all-access pre-show

On Saturday, March 3rd, the Ipes went to the circus. No, not the circus that is our life — we could have stayed home for that. I mean the Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. The circus was in town with their newest show at the Prudential Center, Dragons. Incredibly, it’s been three years since we last saw the circus at Prudential Center, and Lily had never seen it before, so this was an opportune time.

We had our usually busy Saturday taking the kids to their respective dance practices and soccer games, then brought them to get them showered and cleaned up. We hit the road to Newark in order to catch the all-access flood pre-show, then get our seats for the big show.

I gotta tell you, in all honesty, these circus show themes are all very corny from an adult perspective, but the kids like ’em, and that’s all that really matters.

 

 

 

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The First

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Joel

    Cell phone:

I remember buying my first cell phone in 1997…. or was it 1998? It was this old school Ericsson analog phone from what was then known as AT&T Wireless. Back then, there was no texting, Internet, no color LCD display. Wow, how times have changed.

    Car I ever drove:

My parents owned this big red 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlas Supreme. It was a monster of a car, and I ended beginning to learn how to drive on it.

    Car i ever owned:

I eventually bought my first car, a brand-new 1999 Honda Accord after graduating from Pace University and landing my first “real” job. I put down a decent downpayment, and my parents loaned me the rest.

    Computer I ever used:

Way back in 3rd grade (1984/1985), my parents footed the bill for some after-school extracurricular classes, and I took a computer course. We used these PET computers. Black and green screens, and instead of a 5 1/4″ diskette drives, it used a tape cassette drive to store removable information. I don’t remember doing much, except playing that Turtle game.

    Computer we ever had:

In 1989, my family and I went and bought our first home PC from this local now-defunct small business called The Computer Factory. It was a 80386SX-based machine (look it up if you care), 2 Mb RAM, and 40 Mb hard drive. We also bought a 14″ VGA monitor and an Epson dot-matrix printer? Total cost? $3,0000. Can you believe that? It was a different time though.

    Job I ever had:

I found a part-time summer job in the paper to work at Lentz & Lentz, a small business SAT prep company. I did mailings. It wasn’t exactly a glorious job, but it was high school.

    Movie I saw in a theater:

Being seriously deprived of fun social events, I never went to movies. I lived off magazines, tv movies, and word-of-mouth. I remember I had to argue with my parents about finally seeing Batman Returns in 1992. I should have argued more strenuously and not waited until I was 15.

    Game console I ever owned:

The original 8-bit Nintendo. My parents bought it for my sister and I for Christmas. After we exhausted ourselves playing the two included games (Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt), our folks weren’t too keen to continue buying us new games. I ended up borrowing from friends such classics such as Contra, The Legend of Zelda, Excite Bike, Spy Hunter, Castlevania, etc.

    iPod I ever owned:

The 4th generation only-option-is-white, no-color-screen iPod. It had a 20 Gb capacity HDD, which was basically enough back then for me and my burgeoning music collection. I loved it on trips.

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It’s the Ipe House of Basketball

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Joel

Linsanity!

Now that I got that out the way….

Oh man, this has been a basketball-filled month for the Ipes, much to my wife’s consternation. It began in early February with Jeremy Lin’s rise to stardom and the NY Knicks turning their losing season around. Let me use a 90’s flashback to explain.

So I became a NY Knicks fan late in life — I’d estimate roughly in 1993 while watching the Knicks-Bulls playoff matchup. Damn, it still hurts to think of game 5 where Charles Smith was blocked four consecutive times directly under the basket as he attempted to give New York the lead in that 1993 Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls. It felt like an eternity. After that playoff series, I was oddly hooked by that motley cast of characters –e.g. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Anthony Mason, and Charles Oakley.

I watched as many games as I could during their 1993-1994 run for the title, entranced by their Eastern Conference Finals matchup against Reggie Miller & the Indiana Pacers and I was heartbroken during their ultimate defeat at the hands of Hakeem Olajuwon & his Houston Rockets. I had hopes the Knicks could do it again in 1995, but that hope died with Ewing’s unlucky finger roll against the Pacers.

The next few seasons weren’t that great and I lost interest while I focused on living life in the University @ Albany dorms, finding myself, dating for the first time, etc. In this interval period, I changed schools and careers, so life was pretty tumultuous for me. Sorry, with a sad Knicks team, I had more on my mind.

During the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season, I missed most of the season, but I, along with the rest of NY, was captivated by these new Knicks during their Cinderella post-season run through the playoffs and the NBA Finals. Absolutely captivated. Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, Charlie Ward, Allan Houston, Patrick Ewing, Larry “Grandmama” Johnson. Sadly, this season also ended in defeat in Texas, but this time at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. Damn, Duncan, Robinson, Johnson. They were just the better team, and Knicks were so banged up.

That Knicks team imploded and exploded over the next few years, the players I loved got traded away for lesser players, and a succession of new coaches couldn’t stop the downward spiral of the team’s fortunes. Don Nelson, Don Chaney, I’ll just stop right there before I get to the miserable Isiah Thomas era. I lost interest, but I checked in every once in a while.

Last year, the Knicks weren’t much better, but with the new big HD TV, I was watching the 2011 NBA playoffs. Man, so many fun teams to watch — the Mavericks, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Grizzlies. I had a great time watching, even if my Knicks got eliminated in the first round. I was having fun again. Also, Joshua had somehow become a fan of Derrick Rose & the new-look Chicago Bulls. After the Bulls dominance during the 1990’s, I wasn’t going to be a fan, but I supported my son in his new-found interest in sports. It probably had something to do with all the soccer we’d been playing.

Which brings us circuitously back to 2012. Why is this the month of basketball for the Ipes?

  1. Joshua and I have been watching the Chicago Bulls when they have games playing.
  2. We went to a Bulls-Nets game on February 7th, and had a great time.
  3. Alhough I missed Jeremy Lin’s Feb 4th fateful game against the Nets, I have not missed any other Knicks games this month. Finally, a Knicks team is playing well together, winning games, and above all, is exciting to watch. I can scarcely believe it with my own eyes. I haven’t cares this much since 1999. Seriously.
  4. I also now want to watch these other exciting teams. It’s hard for me to miss an OKC Thunder game. If anything, I check ESPN nightly on my phone to read the recaps. Maybe soccer got me more into sports now.

I don’t think my wife has been enjoying his recent monopolization with basketball. She never cared for it during July when I watch the Tour de France, but this is lasting much longer than a three week bicycle race. I think we’ll need to seriously consider a second television for the guest room later this year.

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Josh & Winter Soccer 2012

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Joel

Josh is currently playing boys soccer again, for winter season. It’s his fifth season, and second indoor one. Like last winter, the various teams play in a gym at the local middle school. It’s a different dynamic to play indoors vs. on the grass. More confined, less out of bounds, and the ball moves faster. Also, less practice time — I have the feeling this is more about keeping fresh, and less about teaching fundamentals.

What am Inot happy about this winter?

  1. It’s a bit unstructured, if you ask me. There appears to be only four teams, so we’re playing the same teams every other week. While I’ve seen teams come in doing drills and looking better prepared, our kids just run around goofing off. No structure or teaching fundamentals. Unlike the summer or fall, there is no weeknight practice.
  2. Half of the kids on our team (and their parents) are no longer showing up on Saturdays for the games. For the past few weeks, we’ve been severely undermanned. While the other three teams have enough players for all positions and a healthy bench, we only have 4-5 kids showing up. Our kids, including Josh, are playing the entire time, and we have to continually ask the other team coach to let us borrow one of their players. Have these other parents paid registration money, and now given up, or changed their minds? It’s within their right, but with so many absentees, it’s become unfair to the kids who are still showing up to play and even win a game.
  3. For the first time in the past five seasons, Josh is on a team where the coach isn’t showing up anymore. I understand that it’s a volunteer position, but he hasn’t been letting all of the parents know what’s up. Josh and I arrive, and then I have to find out from a random parent that the coach has a conflict. Again, I understand things come up –Josh’s first coach last year suffered a heart attack, and his son had to fill in for the remained of the season. This time around, I’ve stepped in and been coaching with another parent for two games now.

I’m sorry, but between all of these problems, we’ve been at a disadvantage since January. Today, we won our first game. Josh and I were so happy, we rushed home to tell the girls, and we had ice cream for dessert.

Nums and I registered both kids for soccer in the spring, and I put myself down to be an assistant coach. I know very little about soccer, apart what I’ve learned from standing on the sidelines of games and practices in the past year. I’m a little nervous about being inept, but how hard could it be? Teach the fundamentals, schedule weekly practices, and encourage the kids. What better way to wade into it than being an assistant? However, with the way it’s been difficult to find parents who want to also volunteer their time, I’ve got a nagging fear that I’ll end up coaching by myself.

We’ll find out what happens, I guess.

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