Guys Weekend - Recap

For those who don't know, I invited all the guys from our cell group along with Dan G to my parent's house for a weekend away. Dixon was unable to make it, but otherwise everyone else made it for a total of 8 guys total. Here is a recap of the majority of things that happened over the weekend.

We went up there on Friday afternoon/evening. Dan, Jason, and I got a tent setup along with the camper and then we decided to do some fishing before the rest of the guys got in. We didn't catch much the first night, but it was nice to get out and do a little fishing right away. The other guys showed up around 8:30 and started getting everything situated. We spent the evening just relaxing and a few of us sat in the hot tub enjoying the ability to actually see the stars.

Saturday morning we got up around 5:30 and left the house by 6:00. We went to Pocket Lake. Ryun and I were in the paddleboat; Dan, Jason, and Matt were in the smaller boat; Harry, Austin, and Abe were in the bigger boat. This was an important fishing trip as it was providing the food for that evening :). The boats took off and weren't having a lot of luck. They managed to catch a few keepers. Since Ryun didn't have a fishing license, I got the pleasure of having my someone paddle me to wherever I requested on the lake. We stayed pretty close to shore and I managed to catch quite a few fish (about 4 of which were keepers) in the first couple hours. The next two hours, I hardly had a bite. Most of us were ready to head out, but Harry's boat was not quite ready so they stayed out a couple extra hours.

Once we got back to the house we cleaned the fish and had some lunch. A few of us went out to shoot some bow while waiting for the others to return. After everyone ate lunch, we decided to pull out the 22's (I believe we had 6 of them total) and get some target practice. Shortly after that, we moved on to the bigger guns and tried our hands at shooting some shotguns at clay pigeons. Everyone seemed to really enjoy this and everyone did pretty good. We then all went inside and took a break before dinner.

Matt and my Mom cooked up the fish and the rest of dinner. The fish was great...but now it was time to do some more fishing....this time for some Walleye. Ryun had fun that morning but decided he might as well get a license if he was going to go out 2 more times. We went to Lake Mary and had the same boat setup. Ryun and I stayed in the shallows and found one spot where the fish were biting so we stayed there the whole time. The other boats went out after some walleye. Ryun and I got into some good bass fishing and managed to bring home a few keepers. The others brought back a couple walleye's and northerns, along with a few crappies. A lot of fun either way. We got back in around 9:30 and cleaned the fish. Many were ready to call it a day by 10:30. Harry, Austin, and Abe all decided to come back to the cities once we were done fishing for the evening. Others went to bed, and Dan and I stayed up playing some Video Games till shortly after midnight.

At 5:30 on Sunday morning, those who remained decided to go out and do some more fishing. This time we just took the 2 boats: Smaller boat had Jason and Matt, and the bigger boat had Dan, Ryun, and myself. We decided to go to Pocket lake as it was closer to the house. We started out and didn't have much luck aside from a few small sunnies or crappies. We then moved to the other side of the lake where we found a good bass fishing spot. Dan, Ryun, and I managed to bring in 4 nice bass that we kept. Jason and Matt weren't having much luck with the keepers, but they caught a lot of sunnies and crappies. Once we got off the lake it started to rain, so once we got back to the house we had to try and quickly close up the windows of the camper and the tents.

Dan made us breakfast and I cleaned the fish. Ryun was packing up his stuff. After eating breakfast, Ryun headed home on his bike while the rest of us stayed a while longer. We started cleaning everything up and restoring my parent's house back to it's normal state. We then went out and shot some guns before leaving around 2pm.

It was a great weekend and I think I can speak for all the guys when I say that we had a lot of fun. Oh...and don't forget...everything is good to eat when wrapped in bacon!

Baseball and Instant Replays

Tennis recently implemented Instant Replays that the players can challenge. Their implementation of this makes it quick and easy for the players to challenge. The NFL has had a challenge system where they can review a play and if there is definitive proof that the call was wrong, they can change it...otherwise the call stays. This system has worked for quite some time.

So why hasn't baseball implemented this logic? I was watching the All Star Game last night (yes, I stayed up till 12:30 watching it) and I think that if they would have had this ability the game may have ended much sooner than it did. There were two plays in particular that the TV cameras clearly showed the runner being safe, but in both situations the umpire called them out.

I don't see how implementing a challenge system into the MLB would be too hard. Each team gets 2 challenges per game. They can challenge any call in the game aside from Balls and Strikes. They already have the replays...they are shown on TV. There doesn't really need to be much new technology. If a team challenges, the lead umpire would go to a TV screen and watch the replays (put together easily for them to review). The umpire then makes their decision. It does not need to take a lot of time but can instead be something rather quick. If there is no definitive call then they let the call stand...otherwise overturn it.

For those who care about Baseball, what are your thoughts?

Happy Birthday Wanda!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Wanda, you are so special to me and I am thankful that I get to spend this day with you. I may not have much planned and may not have bought you a gift yet (I will...I promise), but I am looking forward to spending the entire day with you. Hope you have an awesome birthday!

Thanks for being such a wonderful, loving, thoughtful, and faithful wife. I am blessed to have you as my wife!