CDAPBA, here I come!

My life is about to get very interesting... on top of a job in which I travel a fair amount, a one-night/week commitment to my ice skating passion & Christmas Extravaganza preparation, a one-night/week commitment to football/Game Night with my F&T guys, I've added another commitment to my life. I'm going to coach a 3rd/4th grade intramural girls basketball team this year.

Meet the new head coach of the CDAPBA Thunder! I spent two hours last night sitting with 2 other coaches "drafting" our teams. It was pretty crazy... serious discussion about individual players and which players would be best suited to play on certain teams.

The experience (hopefully) should be loads of fun. I love kids and basketball, and it should be fun to get back on the court and hopefully inspire some young players; however, the infamous head of the league, Jim, might be the death of me. I am amazed that this league has been going smoothly for 21 years now with Jim's incredible un-organization. We're sitting there at the beginning of the session, starting to draft the teams, and Jim tells us that we're two coaches short - "Does anyone have a cell phone I could borrow," he asks, claiming that he has never had one nor does he ever plan to get one. He borrows Coach George's phone and calls several fathers of kids signed up to play and leaves "recruitment" messages. Coachless Team #6 would be assigned to whichever father called him back first - Roger Slatt or Jim Parker. Classic.

Jim also was very official with the kids' score sheets. Apparently, earlier in the week they participated in a skills session in which they were rated, scored, and ranked in the different aspects of the game (passing, shooting, dribbling, running, 3-on-3 skills, etc.) Jim also included their phone numbers on the sheet. We used these ranking sheets to help us place the girls evenly on teams. But when it came time to head home after all teams had been established, Jim informed us that we were not allowed to take this "confidential" information home with us. We would have to copy anything/ everything we wanted. Including phone numbers. Including parent information. Including email addresses. Everything. Thanks, Jim. I truly felt like I was back in Jr. High as I sat there in CD East Middle School, copying my team information into my notebook.

About this time Roger Slatt calls back. Team #6 has a coach.

When I signed on to do this, the guy that recruited me asked if I had a daughter playing in the program. "No," I said, "I just love the game and want to share my time with some kids that will hopefully come to love the game like I do." He then called me a saint. After dealing with Jim for one evening and wanting to pull my hair out, I understand why. Saint Kristina... no, just call me Coach!

First practice tomorrow.... more to come in the coming weeks!

Family is about love.

I've decided in the past few years that family is definitely not defined merely by blood ties - family is defined by love. Family is about nurturing. Family is about people who are dedicated to your well-being for no personal gain of their own, but mainly because they care. It's about love.

I firmly believe in this. I believe that the lives of adopted children can be just as fulfilling and full of care and support as kids who grow up in their natural families. Their lives can be just as meaningful and they can have the same quality of relationships as kids that grow up in their natural homes. It's about love.

I have many families in my life. I have my immediate family and my extended family, of course. But I also have my family of girlfriends. I have my family of high school friends. I have my family of college friends. I have my family of skating friends. And now I have my Frog & Toads family (*see pic of F&T dinner). What more does one really need than that? Love is definitely what life is all about.

Pics from PSU v. Wisconsin - Last Home Game of 2005

I finished out the season in style by attending the game and doing the bars afterwards and State College on Sunday. Dan came to the game with me and we had a great time (nothing really notable happened, but PSU is SO damn beautiful in the fall).















Pre-Game Rally Cheer.















Dan & Kristina @ the Phyrst.















Dan, double-fisting it with pitchers of lager.





















Pretty tree on campus.

Halloween Madness - Fun Pics

I had a great week of Halloween festivities... I had a Halloween Game Night (we do game nights now since football is over) with Keith and Dan from Frogs & Toads and we cooked and watched the Exorcist and carved pumpkins. Here are our pumpkins (Keith, Kristina, Dan).

Then I spent my Friday evening attending/ helping 0ut at the Hershey Figure Skating Club's community skate event. All the kids, especially, loved my costume... Know who I am?

Then I was at PSU for the weekend for Homecoming/Halloween... there were some great costumes at the bar Saturday night. This is why I love and miss State College.

Who wants to wake up with the King?

Lt. Dangle from Reno 911 & Doug.

"There's a thin line between Saturday Night and Sunday morning," as Jimmy Buffett says. Yeah, Jesus!

PSU/Michigan Roadtrip

My friend (read - former professor) Curtis and I took a spontaneous road trip out to Michigan to see the PSU/Michigan game a few weeks back. We had a really fun time just hanging out and taking it all in.

We drove out all day on the Friday before the game and checked into the hotel and had a beer with our neighbors, a crew of about 15 PSU fans. Then we drove into Ann Arbor and walked around town/campus (all sort of intermingled).... we stopped at the student union building to get some advice and directions from the girl at the info desk - she was spectacular. She gave us a bar map and marked the best according to what we were looking for; she gave us some restaurant suggestions; and she gave us a back route into the town for gameday (which was great - NO traffic!). We ate at a restaurant called Casey's which was amazing. Great little burger joint / neighborhood bar. While waiting for a table at the restaurant, we struck up a conversation with a nice woman at the bar. She bought us a round of drinks and chatted up about some stuff we should see in Ann Arbor (turns out she's the Dean of Student affairs or some high up position like that at Michigan). Anyway, her husband ended up being our waiter. He was a really cool guy, too. At the end of the meal he bought us dessert (since his wife bought our drinks). Just a bunch of classy classy people.

Then we hit up the bars. State College seriously overran this town on Friday night - everywhere you went there were people decked out in blue and white. And there was a lot of "WE ARE.... Penn State!" all over the place. Doug and his friends were out for the game, too. He said that in one of the bars they were in, Michigan fans were actually booed out of their own bar b/c so many PSU people were in there. Those crazy Penn Staters!

Gameday was lots of fun. Curtis and I met up with Doug and his friends at the PSU pep rally/tailgate. Grahm Spanier was there and the blue band and the lion and cheerleaders. So fun! And so much PSU pride!

Game was great until the end, obviously. The Big House is really really cool - great food, great fans. Again, I can't overstate how classy these people were. I was blown away, actually. I was expecting taunting, obnoxious fans for some reason.... but they were really great.

We spent Saturday night bar-hopping in Ann Arbor and drinking off our misery. Great bars, beautiful town, kind people. Couldn't ask for a better road game experience.

HOWEVER, I must say that PSU parties harder, cheers harder, and generally has fans that are much crazier (and i'm not just saying that b/c i love psu --- our midwestern friends just seem to be more low-key and subdued. Even during the game, no one was goign ape shit cheering or anything). I think it might be an East Coast vs. Midwest kind of thing, perhaps? We're just a little more intense about the things we do and the teams we love? Not sure.

It was a looooong drive home on Sunday. 9 hours from Ann Arbor to Hbg via State College. But I did stop and grab a Boots sub on my way out of town which made it all ok. :-)

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

Smuggling a burrito into the Big House in the hood of my sweatshirt.

Curtis & I at the Penn State pep rally!!

Penn State Love!

It's been a little while since posting. Busy fall.

It's been quite a season for the boys in Blue. I wanted to post some great pics, too, from tailgating at my home away from home with some of my favorite people in the world. PSU love!
















Dunking my Oreo.... in Yuengling. (PSU v. Central Florida)

















Curtis and I posing with the Nittany Lion, Blue Sapphire, and Drum Major. (PSU v. Minnesota)






















Hitting up the Phyrst with Curtis and Marcia! (PSU v. Minnesota)





















Jenn and I with the lifesize Joepa bobblehead. (PSU v. Ohio State)























Caitlin being a good drunken recycler (PSU v. Ohio State)