The Summer “to do list....”

Pop’s Summer Kiddo To Do List.

At some point growing up, our parents decided that Casey, Tim and I could stay home by ourselves.  Three boys in small town Iowa left home alone to enjoy there summer.  This memory is not about the crazy adventures we experienced, those will come later, rather this is about the start of each of those days.

We would wake up, most of the time before Dad and Mom would leave the house.  If we were lucky we would catch Dad as he was finishing up that days To Do List.

My Dad has always been a list guy.  A trait that I picked up on as well.  He has them for work, vacation etc. but the list that I am talking about is the one he would create everyday during the summer for us boys to accomplish.  A Kiddo To Do List.

The list always started with a letter, and ended with the list.  Dishes, Clean Up our Rooms, Dust, bathrooms, the Yard, etc. etc.  and they almost always said…Get done before WE(Mom and Dad) get home.

Remember those adventures I talked about above…well those adventures would take all day.  All day long.  They had to, because how else could you explain that the list always got finished right as Mom or Dad was pulling into the driveway.  I can remember on some occasions sitting in the living room and seeing their vehicles come down the hill, yelling to my brothers and racing to get the dishes done in 15 seconds…..LOL, OMG….so funny to think about now.

Lists led to compromise, to trades of chores, to arguments, to who did what, who did it when, who did the most(Casey was the king of the list)…..

Looking back…oh, do be a fly on the wall to hear those three young boys debating the list….We probably spent more time figuring the list out, then we ever did actually doing the list itself….but damn were those summers fun....

The Cookie Club....

As I repost these stories, the memories and the smiles that accompany them come rushing back.

Mr. Quillin was an amazing man.

You see, my classmate Paul and I always make it a point when we can, when I am in town visiting, to get together for a Donut, some soda and to catch up.  We have now drafted Jeremy into those get together was well.

The conversations always lead to the GREAT Mercy Hospital Team (referenced in a previous memory).  I am not sure that I have ever talked more about a team in my life.  My apologies to Paul, the HS championship team from a few weeks ago is now right up there.

One thing leads to another and we would always end up talking about our Dads.  Both were Coaches and have had such a lasting impact on our lives.

Besides the Mercy Hospital Team Memory, Mr. Quillin also contributed to the Memory collection because of his job at Randalls in Cedar Rapids.  Randalls was located on Edgewood Road.  Just down the road from Happy Joes, and not to far from the previously mentioned Donutland.  It had been Barlows(spelling??) before Randalls.  I remember the Barlows sign being a GREEN Lit up cursive.

The Kasparek Family did their grocery shopping there for some time.  When we did, there was Mr. Quillin, walking the aisles, busting his hump, but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS had a smile on his face and a greeting for those around….but I also remember him asking us kids if we had got our Cookie yet.  You see, there was a Cookie Club.  Seriously, does anyone else remember this?  You went to the Grocery Store, and you got a Cookie.  I cannot remember if there was a punch card of some sort, or if there was money involved, but I do know that you got a COOKIE!!!!!!  There goes that damn sweet tooth again.

Thank you Paul for always sharing stories of your Dad with me, I know he is greatly missed.

I look forward to our next donut where we will once again talk about the Mercy Team, our green jerseys, how know one could beat us, and of course talking about our fathers. 

I miss my Grandpa Kasparek.....

 To My Critics....

This sign has always been in Grandma and Grandpa K's house.  I am not sure for how long, but for as long as I can remember.  I have not doubt that It is something that all of us Kaspareks would love hanging in our homes one day.

A few visits ago, when visiting Grandma Rose I took a picture of it.

From time to time I will pull it up on my phone or Ipad just to remind me of Grandpa K but more importantly just to remind myself never to take my self to seriously, and to LOL....

I cannot tell you how much I love this picture.  Seriously words cannot do it justice.  I have no idea how many family, friends, acquaintances have put eyes on it, but I can only imagine that it has produced countless smiles and laughs through the years.  

If you are offended by it, so be it....but if you read this, and saw the pic and laughed, then my mission was accomplished...

Could this happen today????

SOCCER and CHOIR in a matter of hours. 

It seems more and more in today’s world that kids are having to specialize.  When  I was in HS the trend seemed to be beginning.  You were starting to see kids play only one sport, or only do Music, or only do Drama etc.  I consider myself very, very lucky that this was never the case with me.  I have a few memories on this matter, but we will start with this one.

My senior year, I participated in Show and Concert Choir.  In the Spring I also played soccer.  Soccer was my sport.  Loved it.  Well as it so happened a Concert Choir Performance and BIG Soccer Game ended up being on the same day.  We were playing in the Muscatine Invitational in the middle/late afternoon, and then we had a Concert Choir Performance early that evening in Cedar Rapids.  

My Dad/Coach and Mr. Berry made a deal that I could do both.  Not sure if these deals even exist outside my experience.  I hope they do.  

According to the deal, I could only play one half of soccer, then I would have to get in my Ford Escort, which I had followed the bus in, and drive back to Cedar Rapids, just in time for the concert.  

Back in 1993 this was possible, I am not sure it would be allowed now…..Is it?? A student by himself, following the bus in his personal vehicle.

I remember correctly the concert started at 7.  The game got to halftime sometime after 5.  

Here is the kicker though.  We were tied at the half.  Tied.  This was a HUGE deal.  Why?  I may not have mentioned it in the memories yet, but I NEVER won a HS Soccer Game as a player.  Never.  Ask my HS Teams I coached.  They know.  We were tied, and I had saved a penalty kick in the first half to keep it tied.  

I may or may not have spent the first minutes of Halftime begging my Pops to let me play this one out, but he had a deal with Mr. Berry, and he was going to make sure he held to it, and that I sang.

I finally hustled to my car, and plugged in the fuzzbuster(true story)  This was not mine, but it was given to me by someone not of HS Age, for the express reason to get me to the concert on time, and I did. Cough, Cough, Mr. Berry. 

I arrived in less than an hour with a little breathing room to spare, warmed up with the choir and we performed a great set.

We may not have won the soccer game, or won the performance, but overall I WON, because I had a Great Coach and a Great Choir Director who let ME do it ALL….

What’s in a #?

What’s in a #?

Everything when  it motivates the living he#$ out of you.....Back at the beginning of January, when a not so nice thing was told to me, and it kicked me in the A$$ to get my SH#$ together, I did not step on a scale.

I was SCARED!!!

No seriously, I did not want to see what that # was.....but I know it was higher than I ever wanted it to be but probably a little lower than I imagined....but today I can safely and confidently say that the # is more than 20 lost....

and for the first time in YEARS, it sits below 260......So what is in a #?  259, which is below 260, and is closer to that GOAL!!!!!

and that #, well, I’ll keep that # to myself for now.....

I’m Back.....

Welcome back.....Has it really been 7 years.....Holy Crap!!!!! 

I have been doing more reading in the last two months....probably more than I had done in the last few years combined...that is the truth......and I am LOVING it.....I am not going to dwell on why it took me so long to start, but now that I have, I do not plan on finishing anytime soon....

So now what???  Well as the description states, Leadership, Wisdom, Guidance, Recreation, Storytelling(yeah more of those memories), Coaching(a place I can put those tidbits I use that I have gathered myself or learned from others, and LAUGHTER......

Maybe you will like it, maybe you won’t...

Follow it, or Don’t....Go back and read the old ones...there are some doozies.....

So again, welcome back.....I hope you will enjoy this journey, as much as I do......

Next Week is Going to be Fun....

Wow, Wow, Wow....If you love College football then you  absolutely loved this last weekend...The only ones who absolutely hated this weekend...ALABAMA...Michigan fans, I think, can even stand the loss with the ballsy move by Brady Hoke...You wanna bet that all special teams coaches now practice Long Field Goals and how to defend them in case the kicker lofts a beauty that comes up just short....

This game was case in point to why I love college football...You think Auburn is out, back in, out, and back in again...You think that Auburn is going to have there hopes dashed when Saban gets one second put back on the clock.....and just think if that guy does not catch the kick...seriously did anyone think of that...another time I wish we all had Cartoon Character Bubbles over our heads...can you imagine the one over him....

"OMG, OMG, oh sh$%, oh sh%&, I got this,I got this...do not drop it...here we go, got it, block that guy, and that guy, uh-oh, have to stay in bounds.....yikes, almost stepped out.....HOLY SH%^ I am going to WIN the game....What up bi$%^#s.........."  or something similar, hahahahahahahaha.....

So here it is, the new Kasparek Poll and some scenarios for the BCS Championship Game:

1) AUBURN-WIN and IN...
2) FSU-WIN and IN..
3) Ohio State-Win and either an Auburn or FSU loss and they are in...
4) Missouri-Win and OSU loss and they are in.....
5) Oklahoma State-Win and Auburn, FSU, and OSU loss....
6) Alabama-OUT
7) Clemson-OUT
8) Michigan State-OUT
9) Arizona State-OUT
10) Stanford-Out

Predictions:
Auburn over Missouri
FSU over Duke
Michigan St. over OSU
Oklahoma St. over Oklahoma
Baylor over Texas
Arizona State over Stanford

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP: Auburn vs FSU

HOMER HOPE of the week: IowaFootball  cracks the top 25 after consecutive wins over Michigan and Nebraska.

Throw-Up in my Mouth Moment of the Week: When the cameras caught AJ McCarron's Model Girlfriend asking him if he was ok after the loss as he ran off the field and hugged his Mom, Dad, and of course the Auburn Graduate Girlfriend who has been featured on all sports networks and papers since Brett Musburger googoo gagaed over her during last years BCS game....Puke....