My son is my conscience.

The other day Steph and the boys were driving behind me in another car as we all drove home...I was in the lead and as I was coming up to a stop light it turned yellow...for the record I was traveling at 30mph and the nose of my car was in the intersection when it turned yellow.

Steph and the boys stopped at the light and Maxim noticed that I had gone through the light, so he makes Steph call me and to tell me that I was sinning by going through the stoplight...he learned about going through stoplights from his mom, by the way.

We had a good laugh about it, but now he thinks it is his duty to call me out every time I break a traffic law. Yellow lights are a no-no, don't complain about old people driving slow, and don't speed...we were driving into town and I passed someone...I had to speed up to do it, and, yes, I did go over the posted 65mph, but just for a second to ensure that our family safely passed the idiot going 60. Maxim said, "Daddy is sinning again!"

I'm going to start playing a movie every time I get in a car with him so he isn't paying attention to my driving habits.

Snowboarding behind the Expedition

Last night after I got home from Montana the boys and I went right outside to play in the snow. A beautiful 4 to 6 inches of powder was all over the place and we were loving it.

Just as the sun went down, I remembered something that I had wanted to do last winter...snowboard behind a car using my wakeboard rope to pull me.

So I begged Steph and crazy enough she agreed. She brought out my snowboard, boots and I got the rope...the boys stood in the back of the Expedition with the back window up so they could yell at me, and Steph pulled me up and down the road in front of our house...IT WAS A BLAST.

I knew I couldn't have been the first person to think of doing this stunt, so I googled "snowboarding behind a car" today, and it turns out some folks call it "carboarding". I posted a video and this is exactly what we did last night except we weren't on the lake...that isn't frozen enough yet!

Quantum of Something

I'm a huge James Bond fan, and with that said, the new Bond flick is in a theatre near you. I heard some bad reviews, some said Bond was dirty and ragged all the time and it didn't stand up to the old standard of Bonds. Some said the plot was shallow...I would agree with that one...but the action made up for it.

I went to the movie in a Montana theatre tonight, action from start to finish, then just when you think the movie was wrapping up, the movie stopped. "M" was just saying something to Bond and all the sudden the screen goes black and a Fandango commercial pops up. The place went wild...you would have thought that a referee blew the biggest call in the state tournament game.

After the reset movie ended a few folks went to complain, they reset the movie to let us see the end. So they reset it and it was about 20 back from where we were in the movie when it stopped, so we watched the big final fight scene and got to the point when it stopped the first time and all we missed was 8 words! Then the credits rolled!

Most of the folks in the theatre laughed that we sat there for another half hour waiting for the last 2 lines, but when we walked out there was about 3 or 4 couples that were complaining to the manager about ruining their experience and they wanted their money back. Some people will complain about anything! I was just happy to see the end and the always cool ending credits where Bond shoots a bullet at the screen.

I was born today.

Yep, birthday number 1 after 35. No, I'm not all depressed about getting older, I'll leave that to the almost-40 year-olds named Sally Sue. In fact, I told a couple of guys I work with how old I was the other day and they didn't believe me, they made me get out my driver's license to prove my age, they thought I was 29 or 30...so I guess that's good, right. Eye of the beholder.

I celebrated another year by running 6 miles and then eating my favorite meal at Grandma Penny's last night. This morning Steph made me pancakes and sausage, another favorite I get like 2 times a year when I have time for a sit down breakfast...I ran another 6 miles and lifted super hard today...So all in all my birthday was about eating a ton of calories and then running and lifting it off...the price you pay for sitting behind a desk all day.

Last night, Brecken gave me his birthday present...he skated without a chair or leaning on the wall or any help at all! He's 2 years old and skates almost as good as some of the 5 year-olds I coach in mini-mites. I was all smiles when he skated away from the chair he was pushing, and came right up to me and tackled my leg.

Maxim also gave me a present, his was in the form of comedy. If you remember a few weeks ago, Steph cranked her ankle over in the church parking lot and it was pretty messed up. Well, Maxim must have really thought it was kind of funny to see mom laying in a pile of pain, so last night as we were walking out of church, Maxim pretends to fall, then he screams and holds his ankle...then he gets up and starts walking while dragging his "hurt" ankle behind him. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time...Steph was gonna spank him for teasing her, then she broke out in laughter.

Another life moment brought to you be DeSmet Farm Mutual.

Don Meyer Story

I'm not easily intimidated, I always feel during an initial conversation with someone I have the upper hand, because of my strong personality and ability to talk to any stranger, famous or not.

I had Bo Jackson laughing and telling me stories about his childhood like we were old friends within 3 minutes of meeting him. MLB catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hated by most reporters when he arrived at Twins training camp...I liked him and always enjoyed interviewing him. I was a little nervous when Gordie Howe was at the other end of my photographers camera, but come on...it was Mr. Hockey. Even Tom Kelly, who I am sure thought I was a high schooler, gave me a good interview and after shook my hand and said thanks with a look of respect.

The camera is a great equalizer, and most folks have trouble being comfortable in front of a camera, so I had a little help. But there were 3 people, in my almost 10 years of interviewing sports figures, that intimidated me. Charles Barkley, Randy Moss and Northern State University Head Basketball coach Don Meyer.

Barkley got easier to interview as the years went on, but Moss and Meyer were 2 guys I always got nervous to interview. Moss, more so because of the situation, in a hot locker room after a game, or on the campus of Minnesota State Mankato after a training camp workout...he didn't want to talk to us, and I knew I had 5 minutes to nail an interview with one of the best receivers of all time.

Then there is Don Meyer, the first time I drove to Aberdeen to interview him he had just finished practice and I sat him in a chair on the court...camera rolling and I started asking him questions...after one of my first questions he looked at me and said, "Well, that's not a very good question." Then expanded on it. Boom, he had the upper hand forever in our relationship of reporter and coach.

I think he brought out the best in me, because I knew each question I threw to him had to be a good one...sometimes you ask a dumb question to buy some time to think of something else to talk about. He saw right through that. He didn't know it, but he made me a better reporter. I thought he was kind of grumpy, and in the years to follow I never did get over our first meeting. He had my utmost respect and I now understand why he is such a good coach...I didn't even play for him, but I wanted to do my best to make him happy.

A month or so ago Coach Meyer was in a serious car accident...I think if you read the ESPN story you might get a glimpse as to how much of a leader/coach/quality human Don Meyer is...read it by clicking here.

"Hunnys" can't fly space ships.

For the last couple of days the Toy Story toys have had center stage at our house...it goes in cycles, sometimes it's Diego and Dora, sometimes sports, sometimes cowboys and usually Star Wars or Transformers...but Brecken pulled out Woody, our 3 Buzz Lightyears, Jessie and the little green men the other day and it has been Toy Story time ever since.

While the boys were riding in the backseat the other day, we heard Maxim say, "No Brecken, your Hunny can't fly a space ship!"

We looked at each other trying to figure out who "Hunny" was. Turns out Brecken was holding Jessie, which the boys think is Woody's wife, pretending that she was flying. So I asked Maxim who "Hunny" was...he said, "It's a someone who you are married to, and Hunny's can't fly space ships."

So Steph and I laughed a ton at the fact that I call her "Hunny" and she calls me "Hunny" a ton...at least enough that Maxim knows that is what you call, "a someone who you are married to."

This guy named Dirk is my friend...

So this dude, Dirk and his family of 33 kids and his long-suffering wife Julie, moved to Huron about 4 months ago so that he could be the Souled Out Center youth pastor. Dirk and I hit it off pretty quick because he knew one of my best friends D. Decker from Sioux Falls. (By the way, the picture off to the right is Dirk...at least I think it is...or it is a much younger, better groomed and less grey brother of Dirk, or it is Dirk and it was taken a year ago.)

In all honesty, I use Dirk to replace the lost time with Decker, because I miss all the fun he and T-Rav and I had. Don't tell Dirk, but he is kind of a poor-man's D. Decker and he's good for a few laughs every now and then and a couple of text messages.

Dirk got a new computer so he can stay hooked up with all the kiddies and young adults that he ministers to, and it came equipped with a built in web cam and he has been sending these crazy videos to me and of course I post them to my youtube web channel, just to torture him and let other know how funny Dirk thinks he is.

This one I attained kind of on the down-low...it was sent to his wife while he was working in his home office, he has like 3 different accents and then gets spastic about coming upstairs to eat tacos for lunch...I was told to post it and then the person slipped me a $50.

In all reality Dirk is one of the most solid guys I know, he's a great pastor, and a great friend, but this is what guys do to each other to show their love, they bust each others chops, punch each other in the shoulder and post their stupid videos on-line. (He also listens to pretty girly music)

Mayne Street

As a former sports anchor I had some hero's in the job, guys that did the same job as I...just way better than me, and most of them on bigger networks, Mark O., Barry Melrose, Keith Olbermann, Suzy Kolber and Willow Bay to name a few.

I even became e-mail friends with ESPN's John Buccigross after I gave him a little heads up on the kid phenom Thomas Vanek prior to his service at the U of Minnesota and then on to his current NHL stardom.

There is one guy whom I think is the best all around anchor that ESPN ever turned out...Kenny Mayne. I was not sure if he just had good writers or he was that funny and clever. Well, ESPN must have realized that their current crew of anchors is lacking some punch and they brought back Kenny in a web-series called Mayne Street. I'm not sure what the series will be like, but here is the first installment, classic Mayne.

If it's a boy we are giving it away...

A funny story re-surfaced this morning while I was chatting with our neighbor.

A while back Stephanie asked Maxim if he wanted a brother or sister (in case you didn't know we are expecting a new human in the family in February). He said he wanted a sister and he wants to name it Rebecca. In his mind, in no way shape or form are we having anything but a little sister.

So Steph asked him what happens if we have a baby boy...he said he would give it to the neighbors Gayle and Kathy, because they don't have any kids...just dogs. We got a great laugh out of that, and then promptly told Gayle and Kathy about it.

Gayle's response was classic, "ahhhh, no way, I've already been there done that and married him off." or something to that effect.

I can't wait until February when the baby arrives, if it is a girl we will call our parents first and tell them the great news....if it is a boy, I am calling Gayle and Kathy first and telling them their great news. We can figure out some visitation times I'm sure.

I must be getting older.

We just had our first storm of the year...it wasn't even that bad. Barely any snow and a little wind, temps were normal for this time of the year.

The crazy thing is I am usually excited about snow in my yard, but all I can think about is moving to Florida, Arizona or Texas or Belize or somewhere warm all the time.

Steph's love of ankle injuries.

Steph has broke her left ankle playing softball...broke her right ankle in a car accident when she was 7 months prego with Brecken, then about a day before we left for Arizona last year she was hauling Breck down to bed and she severely sprained her right ankle walking down steps.

It's been a while and now that she is in her 7th month of pregnancy it was time for some drama. Tonight when she was taking the boys to the car to take them home from church, she somehow rolled her ankle enough to send us to the ER to make sure it wasn't broken.

Once the pain dulled down we laughed. She will be in a boot for a week or so and she should be fine after about 3 weeks. She didn't even sprain her bad ankle, it was her "good" ankle. Now I guess they are both sketchy.

The good news is that we have all the medical equipment one would ever need to care for an ankle injury.

High School Football Reunion

As most of you know I spent almost 10 years in the TV business anchoring sports...just like Sarah Palin, but I was in a bigger market than Wasilla, AK.

The local sports scene became such a big part of my existence I never thought I would disconnect from sports at that level...boy was I wrong. After leaving TV in late 2004 I also left the high school sports scene. I didn't go to a prep level event for almost a year, and then only went to a couple of game where Steph's relatives were playing. (reffing hockey is excluded from this)

Last night as I was heading into Sioux Falls I realized that it was the quarterfinals of the high school football playoffs, so I made a couple of calls and I ended up watching the Lincoln/Roosevelt game from the sidelines just like old times.

It was the first high school football game I had been to in almost 5 years! It was a fun homecoming of sorts...running into old friends, colleagues and coaches. I kind of forgot how much fun it was to be right there on the sidelines.

I actually followed the guys back to KSFY and hung out for the broadcast of the sports that night...it was fun but it also made me realize I don't miss the TV business as much as I thought I did.

I am glued to the TV again tonight as it looks like "CHANGE" will be in our future as far as the new President is concerned.

My Neice...the abstract artist.

My Niece Cassidy is one of the funniest, most enjoyable middle schoolers I have ever been around. I think it comes from spending so much time around her Uncle Tom. She is wise beyond her years.

She is also giving Andy Warhol a run for his money with her art work. She sent me her latest masterpiece...I might pay her for an original, frame it and hang it in our living room...or I might just right click on it and make it my desktop wallpaper.

Either way, I think it is a beautiful painting Cassidy.