Hal McCoy is looking for a ride to Reds games

Reblogged from HardballTalk:

Via Hal McCoy's personal blog on the Dayton Daily News website:

As most of you know, I am legally blind and unable to drive. For the past five years, my friend Larry Glass has been my driver from Dayton to Cincinnati and back for Cincinnati Reds home games.

Unfortunately, Larry has some health issues and won’t be able to drive this year, leaving me with no transportation to and from Reds games.

Read more… 105 more words

Man I wish I was either rich or retired. I would so take up Mr. McCoy on this offer. He is a legend for the Reds. It would be an honor to spend time with him, just asking him questions about his experiences!

Kick it: What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?

I don’t know about you but the first thing I did when I saw the newest Daily Prompt was break into song…(clears throat)…”I went skyyyyyy diving, I went Rocky Mountain climbin’, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu…”. Um now that I got my Tim McGraw out of me (Note: not a Country fan but I have an uncanny ability to remember lyrics, regardless of genre), we can move onto the topic at hand.

I really never have thought about my Bucket List since ya know I am only 32 and all. So this topic is new to me. I actually found it exciting to sit down and list out my Top 10 Bucket List items…and then list the 11th.  I think the first 10 are ones that I can potentially accomplish. But I would say the 11th may be unattainable. Here goes my Bucket List:

1) Attend a Duke Basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  I am a huge college Basketball fan, but an even bigger University of Kentucky basketball fan. I love my Wildcats and live and die with each win and loss (Note: great place to find all the news on UK sports is www.KentuckySportsRadio.com). So wanting to see a Duke basketball game might seem a little weird. But what I have been told it is an amazing experience. 

2) Write a book. I don’t have any topics in mind but I think it would be really fun to write a book. I recently got into historical fiction novels of Steve Berry. I think if I chose to write a book, it would mirror his writing style.

3) Run either a 5K; Half Marathon; Marathon; heck run at all. In my younger years I loved to run. I had to do it a lot for High School soccer. Now I don’t run. Every year I tell myself I will run a 5K. Maybe some day I will get around to it.

4) Travel through Europe. I’d love to have the time and money to travel throughout Europe, go England, Paris, Rome, Greece, Germany. But having 3 kids and a job kind of makes all that impossible. This may have to wait a bit.

5) Travel to Israel. I love History. I was a History major. Where else better to go than Israel?

6) Attend the Super Bowl. I don’t think I’d want to go unless my team was playing. My team is the Cincinnati Bengals. Depending on your view point, this may never happen.

7) Own a boat. I live about 5 miles from the “Mighty” Ohio River. I’d love to have a house boat or speed boat to relax on the weekend. I also would need lots of cash for this….

8) Bourbon trail. I also live in Kentucky, home of Bourbon. I am becoming kind of a Bourbon snob, but I have a whole lot to learn. Some day I am going to tour the various Bourbon distilleries in Kentucky.

9) Own a restaurant. One of my dreams is to own my own restaurant. My wife is a great cook. Whenever she cooks something that is awesome (all the time) I tell her it is going on the menu. She is never amused. 

10) Go to Alaska. I don’t have cable but I am obsessed with all the reality TV shows about Alaska. We have Netflix, so I get my fix of Ice Road Truckers/Gold Rush/Flying Alaska whenever I want. Still, there is something about Alaska. Seems beautiful. Seems pristine. I just want to go there….

and the last one is….

11) Climb Everest. Never going to happen. I am afraid of heights. I am also afraid of dying and being left on a Mountain. But I’d love to just have 5 minutes on the summit. Wouldn’t that be awesome?!?! Maybe a helicopter could fly me up there????

There it is, my Bucket List. Whats yours?

Resolved: Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution that you kept?

No. Never have I actually kept a resolution. I am one of those people that make the cheesy resolutions, like work out more (if you look at my pics you will notice God has gifted me with sufficient muscles that this is not needed); drink less coke/pop/soda; eat less sweets…etc. But inevitably, I break those resolutions immediately. I never took resolutions seriously. Besides why change!?!

As you saw from my first post, I hope this year will be different. This year I plan to keep my resolutions. I am already perfect so far!! And we are on Day 2!!!

New Years at the “D” House…My Resolutions

It is that time of year again when everyone comes out with their list of New Year’s resolutions for the upcoming year.  I am no different.  This year I have some things that I want to work on. Without further ado, my 2013 resolutions:

1) Read the Bible all the way through. Not much commentary here. I have always wanted to read the Bible from the first book to the very end and this year I think I will do it. Bible Gateway is a great source for reading plans and some can be found here: http://www.biblegateway.com I am going to follow my Church’s reading plan, which can be found here: http://www.wcoc-ohio.org/home.html

2) Fix my yard.  We were blessed with a great back yard and I have simply ignored it. This year I will strive to make it a yard that my wife and I can be proud of. More importantly, I want it to be a yard that my kids can play in whenever they want. This year I am going to do that.

3) Budget Meetings. They are going to happen. My wife says so. Seriously though, this year I am going to try my best to be a better business partner. No questions asked.

4) Volunteer more. I think it is important that we give our time and talents to serve God. I know that I don’t do enough of that. This year our family has an incredible opportunity to worship once a month with the CUMO Church in Cincinnati. I am going to use that opportunity to teach my family what it means to service God and our fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ. As Joshua 24: 15 states: 

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

5) Dream. I don’t dream enough. My wife always tells me what my dreams are and I never have an answer. This year I plan to dream…

6) Blog. I have neglected this space long enough. I am going to try to get on here daily. I get the Daily Post emails and don’t do anything with them. That is going to change. There is something about putting your thoughts down on paper (or the internets) that is appealing to me. Whether it be a simple quote I found that day, a picture of my family or a long post, I plan to blog more this year.

7) Read. Last year started off with my reading about 5 books, but then it tapered off. It had something to do with work and having a third child, but this year I plan to read. I will take suggestions for books.

8) Fix things. I have been in my house now for going on 7 years (I think). Everything is starting to break down. I need to fix them. I need to learn to be more handy.

9) Have fun. There are a lot of days that I come home and am so mentally exhausted that I simply want to relax. But I have learned recently that takes away precious time that I could be spending with my kids and with my wife. Since Christmas, we have played family games almost every night. I am getting really good at Princess Yahtzee and Scrabble Soup. More importantly though, my girls are having a blast and seeing their daddy in a different light.  Also I think that it is time for more date night with the wife. In December we went on an alone/overnight trip with each other and it was a blast. Had a great time. We need more of that! It is important to have fun. I am going to do more of that this year.

10) Not worry. I am the worst at worrying. I do it all the time. This year I plan to live a life without worry because I know that God is with me. Matthew 6: 25-34 helps out a lot!

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

That is it for now. I may add things as year goes on but I think this is a pretty good start. At least I don’t have any lose weight/work out things included in the list!!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Big…”CHEESE”

 

This week’s photo challenge was to find something that I perceived as BIG. Well, here you go, “The Big Cheese.”  This large cheese specimen is not found in Wisconsin. No, it is found in Eastgate, Ohio at Jungle Jim’s International Market! Great place to go visit, if only to check out all weird/cool food from around the world. I could spend hours and hours in this place.

 

Here is a closer picture. Dude, this is some Big Cheese!!

 

Why I love this time of year…

This time of the year feels like a Folger’s coffee commercial. You know the one where a couple is sleeping (usually there are no kids in the house), one wakes up early and on their own, walks downstairs and starts the coffee.  It is cold outside and soon the smell of fresh Folger’s is wafting through the house. That smell wakes the spouse up and they head downstairs for a cup o’ joe.  Coincidentally, I just bought a new can of Folger’s coffee.  Today felt like that commercial, except you know, the two kids jumping into your bed to wake you up while the baby is cranky in the pack and play.  

Anyways, I love this time of year especially because it is the time when every sport is going strong. Baseball playoffs (don’t get me started on my RedLegs), pro and college football, College basketball, hockey (if the lockout would end).

This time of year is exciting. The most exciting part for me is Kentucky Basketball.  Last night was mid-night madness.  A good write up on Big Blue Madness can be found at one of my favorite sites, http://www.kentuckysportsradio.com including a great video of UK Women’s coach Matthew Mitchell doing his best impressive of M.C. Hammer!  While the Reds broke my heart this year (don’t worry it will be ok), Kentucky basketball swoops right in to pick me up.  I am excited about this year. Coach Cal has a great team returning to try to bring #9 back to the Bluegrass!  I think UK has a legit shot to go back to back this year!

I love this time of year. The cool weather, the leaves turning, the leaves falling, hot drinks, pumpkin pie, turkey and the fix ins and most importantly, Kentucky Basketball!!!!

 

Reds Game

Keegan and I attending our first Reds baseball game.

Well we attended our first Reds game this afternoon. Keegan, Natasha and myself decided, at the last minute, to go to the Reds v. Giants Game 5 NLDS game. It didn’t turn out the way that we wanted but we sure had fun. Very proud of this team this year. First year that I truly paid attention to just about every game. I have a feeling that Keegan and I (with the girls of course!) will be attending many more Reds games in the future. Can’t wait for the day where we get to play catch too!