Cha, cha, cha, changing…

Posted on 02/09/2009 by RLW3

David Bowie’s song and Spencer Johnson’s book “Who Moved My Cheese?” are in my head today…

It is amazing how fast life can change. A little over two weeks ago, my son was planning to attend the local junior college. However that has all changed.

A little less than two weeks ago, the college coach e-mailed my son and told him that the next step was to fill out the application for the university and to complete the financial aid application.

When I heard that, I immediately focused on the financial aid. Why? Because to complete that, I have to have completed my tax return. So, figuring that was the long pole in the tent, I have been working on getting all of the information together to accomplish this task.

When my son got home from wrestling practice this evening, he informed me that the college coach had called him and asked if we had filled out the application to the university…

I had completely forgotten about that! 

My plans to resume working on the taxes were scuttled and I went online to fill out the application. I got to the part of the application where they asked for his SAT and ACT scores…

Since he was going to attend a junior college, he wasn’t going to take the SAT.

Now, he has to!

So, I paused on the university’s application and began investigating SAT test dates online. It turns out that the deadline to register for the next test date is tomorrow! Can’t put that off…

So, I registered him online and called him to tell him that his spring break vacation plans just changed. In addition to visiting his friends in California, he will now be taking the SAT at Chatsworth High and studying quite a bit in preparation.

I then finished his application to the university and sent it.

I’m going to bed!

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A great idea goes south

Posted on 02/08/2009 by RLW3

As you know, I have been trying to purchase a reliable used car to make the thirty mile to and from work every day. Thus far, it has been adventurous and unsuccessful.

My wife’s parents are coming out next Tuesday to watch my youngest daughter perform in the school play and to watch my son wrestle in the league tournament. I HAVE to find a car.

I can’t tell you exactly how it happened, but I stumbled upon a car that looked perfect for my son. The only problem is that it was in Dallas! However, my oldest daughter lives there, so…

I called the owner to inquire about the vehicle. He told me all of the defects first. None of them sounded all that bad. Besides the car looked great in the picture and he spoke of it in terms that seemed to match. The car wasn’t perfect but it was very nice. So…

I took a chance and grabbed my son. We left mid Saturday morning and pulled into Dallas at 7:30 P.M.

While my son and my daughter cooked dinner together, I went back on the Internet to see if there were any other cars worth looking at. I found a beautiful, white 98 VW Cabriolet convertible with 82,000 miles that was “runs perfectly”. Sound familiar?

I woke up this morning with two great cars to look at: one for my son and one for my daughter. I was sure that this was going to be a successful trip!

Let me just say that it was a VERY LONG drive home. I wanted to kick myself so badly. “How could I have been so foolish to believe someone who is trying to sell their car.” “What was I thinking?” etc., etc.

How either one of those men can say that their cars were great cars is beyond me.

When we returned to my daughter’s apartment, Jennifer’s roommate asked how the cars looked. My son quipped, “Let’s just say that seeing you was the highlight of the trip.”

On the bright side, I got quite a bit of great time with my son and got to see my daughter’s new apartment. Outside of that, it feels like I screwed up this weekend.

Maybe it could be the pilot for a new reality TV show “Great Ideas Gone Terrible!”

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What’s an hour?

Posted on 02/04/2009 by RLW3

I left work 1/2 hour early this evening so I would be able to make it to my son’s last regular season wrestling match.

I drove 30 miles home to pick up my wife and then drove 40 minutes to go see the match. I was concerned that we might miss his match because we got there 45 minutes late. However, since he wrestles at 160 pounds, we still should have been fine.

We found the high school with no problem. However, when we walked in, the announcer was introducing the home team and another high school! I looked and looked…

no sign of Anson’s team

I called him on his cell phone…

“Hey Dad!”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the bus.”

“On the bus?”

“Yes. We are on our way home.”

I didn’t say anything.

“We wrestled at Leavenworth.”

He said this as if I didn’t know this fact.

“I know. I am in the Leavenworth gym right now.”

He had told me that match started at 6:00. It started at 5:00!

%&^&%#$#*

I drove 1 1/2 hours and burned 6 gallons of gas to pick my son up from his school that is three miles away from our apartment!

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Somebody is trying to go to prison

Posted on 02/03/2009 by RLW3

I decided to call the Honda dealer who dealt with the electrical problem in 2007. It turns out that they found the same codes that my mechanic found yesterday. The car needs a new computer. That is not that bad.

The problem is that the new computer has to be synced with the keys and that can only be done at a Honda dealership. The cost for this little operation: $1153!!!

As a last gasp, I asked the service guy on the phone if he thought I should keep the car and fix it. I then described it to him, mentioning that it had 110,000 miles. He asked me to repeat that. I told him again and then asked him why he asked. He said that when he serviced it back in 2007, it had 158,000 miles on it!

Somebody has been doing something illegal!

The last actual mileage on the Carfax was when the timing belts were changed at 100,000 miles. So, someone rolled the odometer back just far enough so it wouldn’t be noticed.

I called my car dealer and told him what I had uncovered. He said, “^%&%^###!!! I run a Carfax on every car that I purchase. That explains why I got it so cheap!”

He told me that he would gladly refund my money…AGAIN!

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I’ve been down this road before

Posted on 02/02/2009 by RLW3

What is going on? My wife had the day off so I asked her to take our new car to our mechanic to have him thoroughly go through it so I know what maintenance needs to be done.

She called me early this morning…

the “Check Engine” light was on…

When she took off, the car had no power…

So she shifted the transmission down into first gear and the car took off fine. When she shifted into second, the car began bucking like a bronco…

She finally made it to the mechanic.

The “Check Engine” light codes said that the car MIGHT need a new computer ($500). Because of the mileage, the timing belt MIGHT need to be changed ($500).

My stomach was starting to twist and turn at the thought that my car dealer might not be quite as honest as he first appeared. I HATE being lied to, especially when I am extending trust to someone.

When I got home, I ran a Carfax and it had good news and it had bad news: the good news is that the belts were changed at 100,000 miles so that is $500 that I won’t have to spend. The bad news is that an electrical problem was addressed by a Honda dealer in October of 2007.

I have to make a decision by tomorrow on this thing.

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Our second try at a second car

Posted on 02/01/2009 by RLW3

Our car dealer called me on Wednesday night to tell me that he had three cars that he thought that I might be interested.

Today, I bought a second car for our family for the second time. It is a nice green 1998 Honda Accord EX with tan leather interior with 110,000 miles. Blue book on the car is $4,500. Our car dealer sold it to us for $3,800.

My wife should be happy.

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How much!?!?

Posted on 01/31/2009 by RLW3

After my son’s big victory last night, he weighed himself to make sure that he would be under the weight limit for this morning’s weigh in. As is so often the case, what should have been a mere formality turned into another small adventure.

He was 4 pounds overweight!!!

To make matters worse, it was indirectly my fault!

Last weekend, I had found an article written by doctors and wrestling coaches on how to eat and drink during a wrestling tournament. It said that he should drink 8 ounces of Gatorade one hour before his next match and 4 ounces of water 20 minutes before the match.

It worked great at last week’s tournament. However, last week he wrestled one match every three hours. This weekend’s tournament was run so much more efficiently. He wrestled 5 matches in 5 hours.

So, he drank 48 ounces of Gatorade and at least 20 ounces of water in 5 hours!

because I told him to!

So, after cutting two pounds earlier in the day to make the initial weigh in, going to school and then wrestling 5 times in 5 hours, instead of going right to bed when we got home at 11:00 P.M., he put on three layers of sweat clothes and went to the gym to sit in the sauna for more than an hour.

He had to be back at school at 6:00 A.M. this morning.

All that work paid off. He pinned his first two opponents to make it to the finals to where he lost to the reigning Missouri Group 2 state champion by a 12-4 score. He went 7-1 for the tournament. His record for the year is now 31-7.

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A BIG victory

Posted on 01/30/2009 by RLW3

My son has another big tournament this weekend. This one is in Missouri. Missouri is a hotbed for high school wrestling. Kansas schools don’t wrestle across the border very often. Two of the top teams in the state of Missouri were at this tournament.

My son pinned his first four opponents. In the fifth bout of the evening (you read that right!), he faced the third ranked wrestler in Missouri’s Group 4 (the big high schools).

I usually shout encouragement (and a little instruction since I don’t know all that much) to him during the match. However, I was in full throttle yelling mode for this one. It turns out that the other kids parents were sitting two chairs away from me. I am sure that they thought I was one of those maniacal psycho parents. I certainly was acting like one!

I was so nervous…

Well, that’s not quite true. I was nervous and scared. 

I was trying to describe the match to my wife and came up with this. My son is not a good wrestler…yet! He is just really good at wrestling. What do I mean by that?

He has so much to learn. I can see that and I don’t know that much. But, he has such heart. He is tough as nails and he just has a knack for knowing what to do.

It was a thrilling match. There were at least three big scrambles. A scramble is where one kid looks like he has just made a great scoring move only to have it turned around on him and finding himself in trouble when just one moment before it looked like he was in control. Bodies are flying, muscles are rippling as two young men try to force their will on each other. You really have to see one but when you do, I don’t care who you are, you will be shouting!

The other kid was a very good wrestler. As soon as the match began, he was pushing the action. Throughout the match, my son was frequently reacting. Yet, after two periods, he was leading by a 7-5 score!

However, a match lasts 3 two minute periods.

With a minute to go, my son broke free from his opponent’s grasp to gain one point. The score was now 8-5.

He was leading, but it was very obvious that my son was very tired. The kid started pressing the action even more.

Their next tussle tool them out of bounds. My son was so slow walking back to the center of the mat to resume the match that he received a warning for stalling. 

He dove in to grab my son’s legs. He fought him off and the third big scramble was on! When the dust had settled, my son came out with the takedown…

10-5 with 30 seconds left…

My son somehow managed to put the kid on his back to get 3 more points! He beat the #3 wrestler in the state of Missouri by a score of 13-5!

I’m exhausted!

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Father Knows Best

Posted on 01/29/2009 by RLW3

I never really watched this show but I sure do like the title.

My son has a friend who happens to be a girl. He assures me that there is nothing more between them.

Last night, he informed me when I got home that he was going to go the the movies with her and a few friends.

It just so happened that my wife and my youngest daughter wanted to go to the movies also. You can imagine my (really our) surprise when my son started to wriggle like an earthworm on the sidewalk when I suggested that he take them with him!

He kept a great attitude but it was very obvious that the idea was quite a bit below his dream scenario. The more he protested and pleaded, the more delightful the idea became. Finally, I made the decree: if he was going to the movies, he had to take his mother and sister!

Now, just between you and me, I did it just because it was fun to see him squirm. It was really a precious moment. But, as is so often the case, God was secretly at work behind the scenes.

When he went to pick up the girl and their friends, he learned that one of the friends was sick and the other had to study for a test. That meant that it would have been just him and her…

on a DATE!!!

Thankfully, I had already taken the necessary precautions to protect the two of them from any uncomfortable (or should I say too comfortable) situations.

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He’s getting famous

Posted on 01/28/2009 by RLW3

I forgot something very important in my last post about Big A’s wrestling this weekend. His victory in the final was covered by three newspapers: Husky Headlines (the local school paper), Sun Publications and the Sunday edition of the Kansas City Star, the main paper for the city!

Here is a link to their online version of the story. The article in the actual newspaper was much better.

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