Living in a play-doh world!

Samantha, pre shower!

Brandon, most days!

Wednesday was grocery shopping day for the Strong household. Even with four+ years of happy wedded bliss I don't think Samantha and I will ever be fully prepared for what we seem to encounter at the grocery store!

Shopping for Samantha and I is really quite enjoyable! I think many young pre-married couples should take a trip to the grocery store for pre-marital counseling! For us, it took a few months to get acquainted with each others food and shopping styles!

For me, I like long term planning, in that if Samantha says she needs some marinara for spaghetti I usually grab 6.

For Samantha, it's all about the needs for that week... well needs and oreos!

Together we've learned compromise... and I've learned to enjoy oreos!

We really enjoy each other's company while shopping and we enjoy trying to spread out a great deal of needs over the smallest amount of money possible! And although we are sometimes self prescribed as being "cheap" we tend to make it work! Through it all Samantha has developed many wonderful meals in the kitchen that are beyond imagination!

Samantha and I both grew up fairly traditional in mid-West families and had a lot of meat and potato style dishes and meals. Samantha is a very good meat and potato chef, but her real talents lay in her other fabulous meals! She often will take one or two dishes she reads about and mixes them together for a fabulous meal! She's made many different meals from a variety of nationalities and I am a few pounds heavier thanks to her abilities!

The grocery store has always been an interesting spot for the Strong's. While we were in Ellendale we often tried to head to Aberdeen at late as possible to do our shopping at our favorite store, Econofoods! Econo was quite the store that provided us with a few laughs over the years!

First, we always seemed to get the largest, slowest cashier in the State of South Dakota! Now when I say "largest" I don't mean tallest! Let's put it like this... you know the area between the register and the area they put the checked items? He didn't fit! The challenge for him to scan items, punch buttons on the machine and bag groceries was excruciating! The worst part is... it didn't matter the day we went or the time we went we always new "big fella" would be there waiting for us!

Out here in Gillette things haven't seemed to change much! We still have 3-4 grocery stores to choose from and we've settled on Smith's as our place of shopping convenience. Smith's is owned by the Kroger Company and has a similar feel to Kroger stores in Michigan!

Ultimately we chose Smith's due to it being the least of the evils! Although it has also led us to a unique experience! At Smith's it's not polite to converse with other shoppers nor is it polite to look for an item for more than 5 seconds, for if you do your prime target for being bug juice on the front of someones cart. People in there are in a hurry, and they let you know! This is bad news for Samantha and I as we grew accustomed to taking our time and being decisive with needs and wants!

Thank goodness we usually only get grocery's about one time per month... if not we'd probably get the shopping version of road rage!

I'm no chimp you chump!

Wow. What a week. I could not be happier that it's over!

I'm still sick... going on 10 days now... "hack, hack, cough, cough" it's getting old.

This Friday night is scheduled to be fairly quiet, which is a relief for me! Eat pizza, converse with Samantha, play with the kids, and watch the Tiger's make that magic number go from nine to eight!

Tonight will absolutely be a change from last weeks Friday. Last week we played host to a friend of our friends, I guess that would now make him our friend!

I originally met Michael in Phoenix, Arizona while on a little trip with Eric Slivoskey, the Head Football Coach I worked with at Trinity.

Michael decided to take a road trip and visit numerous sites like National Parks and Monuments scattered across Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota. It was definitely an ambitious trip and well worth it considering all the pictures and memories that could be made!

We really enjoyed Michael's company and conversation! Saturday I joined him for part of his adventure by traveling with him to Deadwood, South Dakota and Devil's Tower! It was a lot of fun!

Mike's perspective on life both spiritually and scientifically vary greatly from my own but I found myself particularly intrigued with our conversation. Mike majored in Anthropology in College at ASU. I majored in Physical Education at TBC. Needless to say Trinity didn't offer many (any) courses in Anthropology so I had a good many of questions for him! Basically he does believe that God created or was the cause of our creation and that there indeed was an evolutionary process. To some degree he believes that our own process looked something similar to this...


Interesting. My view is that evolution probably looks a little more like this...


Who can argue with forward thinking like that!

So although Mike and I are at odds on our creation I did enjoy learning his perspective! It's nice to hear how someone else thinks instead of simply agreeing with people of like beliefs. It challenges my faith and belief! AND IT SHOULD! For me, life requires faith. I define faith as believing in something that is deemed completely and utterly IMPOSSIBLE!

Often as "Christians" there is an impossible line of rhetoric that is spoken but not always capable of being backed up with proper knowledge and thought. I have really struggled with many of these points in my last few years and although my faith in a loving caring God who sent His Son to be sacrificed remains unshaken, my belief in humanity has indeed been rocked.

Although I believe that to be positive! Is it that my faith was rooted in words spoken by men? Or was it grounded in faith? Michael left me thinking heavily on these issues in my own personal life. Issues that I have failed to address but sought answers from various individuals... again... failure!

Thanks Mike for some enlightening thoughts and being so open with your own thoughts! It's all about faith and faith is often difficult to understand... at least for me! Eventually you'll recognize how crappy this new health care deal is and then... you'll be able to call yourself a conservative like the rest of the sane world (mainly me and Glen Beck)!

We're ALL in trouble now...

Kids! Aren't they great! Mine seem to be almost obsessed with the "bike" as I am. Aundrea always wants to be in the garage while I tinker with the bike, Tristan has quickly learned the word bike, and they both love to go for rides! Tristan climbed on yesterday and decided he was going to give me the ride! Maybe in a few more years!

In further motorcycle news, I now have an official (temporary) license. WOW. Probably one of the top 3 accomplishments in my life! Or maybe not!

The test itself was surprisingly difficult. I have really agonized over this stupid Wyoming Department of Transportation test for way to long! I stopped in a few weeks ago and picked up a book and to check on a class that I could take. The class ended up being 8 Saturday's and isn't offered again until the spring, so that was out of the picture. The book however was free! The biggest problem was getting me to open the book. So, in traditional style I strolled in today and took the test without studying! This was a usual for me in my first year or so (and maybe a little longer) at TBC! For whatever reason this test just gave me a VERY bad feeling. Needless to say it was 25 questions of agony. I could only miss five questions and conveniently I ended with an 80%... you do the math!

So now I am temporarily licensed to drive the bike around. Temporary means that in 10-90 days I need to go back and do a skills test. FUN.

The bike is indeed ready to ride! I recently made some adjustments to the rear spring, rear shock, the clutch cable, and did even more cleaning. I am having an issue with a sticky throttle. I did a few things tonight, under Aundrea's supervision, but decided that it must be either a little gunk in the carb or a kink in one of the throttle cables.

Tomorrow I'll take it to work and hopefully return!

This is what my KLR looks like at 90!
It's really not a bright idea to ride a bike with knobby tires this fast, but dad had to run his mouth!... he's somewhere behind me sucking fumes!

A Good Day Gone Bad...

Adaptive Physical Education.

It's a pretty unusual position I know. It absolutely has it's challenges. Less than 5% of the people I know actually understand what in the world I do! I'll try and phrase it as simply as I know how!

I make adaptations and modifications in physical education for students with special needs.

With this, I work with a broad spectrum of disabilities and motor issues. I typically work with students in four different ways. 1. In a special APE class where all students in the class qualify for APE, are currently on my caseload and it's found to be the most appropriate environment for the students (this is the same for all of my students regardless of where they are serviced). 2. In the regular physical education classroom. 3. In a pull out or one-on-one atmosphere. or 4. On a consult basis which means that they are probably on their way to me dropping them from my caseload as their motor skills are high enough to participate without assistance in regular physical education.

IEP's (Individualized Education Plan's) are really the tedious part of my job. I typically have 1-7 meetings with parents, other staff and administration on students. The paperwork itself isn't overly difficult, but it is a little difficult to squeeze in and it has many legal implications. Details of an individual are kept very private even within the district. Overall, in comparison to Trinity, my job is fairly laid back. Just take care of the details and your set.

Ok, that was boring!

I accepted my current position in Campbell County for a variety of reasons! Some I'm pretty forthcoming about and others that I am probably not!

However, one thing that I knew about when I accepted the position last October was that there was a good chance that along the way we might lose a student. I don't know that it's really crossed my mind to much in the last few months. I guess maybe you just don't think about it to much. I have had two or three students that have been given a pretty short leash by the doctors, and that has really made my job a challenge. I h to make sure that I have the student do nothing to compromise his/her health.

Well, the worst possible became a reality Friday. One of my students passed away.

I really have a great deal sorrow for the family. I viewed them as a family who really "got it" when it came to the educational realities of the situation. They are a good family and I am definitely saddened by their loss.

It is a testament to the teachers and staff in the district. There are many negative thoughts towards public education in our world today. I know a few that hate it, some that don't trust it, and many that don't care for it. I believe I became a teacher to help change those thoughts toward education.

Apparently a lot more than just me did the same thing. I am proud of that! Although we'll be one less than the 8,400 students that went to school on Friday, education will continue and several lives will undoubtedly change thanks to a student that graced us with his life!

Baseball to Football... and why Favre with the Vikings is so COOL!

The Tiger's are on the home stretch of their season and it's promising to be an exciting final few weeks.

Currently, the Tig's are 4 1/2 games up on Minnesota and 6 1/2 up on the hated Ozzie Guillen's White Sox. At this point I don't see the Sox being much of a threat to the Tiger's, however the Twinky's are a completely different story.

Even though the Twins are without Justin Morneau I am still not very comfortable with our lead. The Twins always seem to be in the hunt going into that final series, no matter who they are playing. The Tigers on the other hand seem to be getting a little tired in the pitching department right now... which was really what's kept them on top of the Central all year.

This weekend is a showdown of showdowns. The Tiger's head to Minnesota and the ugly Metrodome to hopefully keep the distance at no less than 3 1/2 games. I say three and a half, simply because it's been difficult enough for the Tigers to not get swept under the big pillow, that it would just be nice if they win one of the three, and hopefully the first one. Right now, Rod and Mario (Tiger's Fox Sports broadcasters) are reporting that Porcello, Verlander and Robertson will be on the mound for the Tigers. This is very good news for us! However, the Twins love to batter bullpens, hopefully ours holds up this weekend.

So speaking of Minnesota, I want to move on to the Vikings! Samantha grew up in central Minnesota and was gracious enough to give up the Twins for the Tiger's, but refused to give up the Vikings for the Lions, and no one can blame her!

I have found myself more and more intrigued by the Vikings, first by their ridiculous "Love Boat" incident. Now more because of their tremendous ability to make a transition and put together a VERY good football team! (I am trying hard not to be a band wagon fan, but it's been so long since the Lions have given anyone anything to cheer about! To make matter's worse I don't want to become a Bronco's fan!) Obviously Adrian Peterson has really helped the Vikings, and he is very worthy of being known as the best back in NFL, he will continue to cement that title as the season moves on!

I think one of the biggest highlights of the Vike's is their defense and particularly the d-line. Slivo always used to say that good football teams are built around the defensive line. The Vikings have done that, and it's made it a lot of fun to watch their games!

Besides Jared Allen is CRAZY and an absolute beast! I think he typifies "corn fed" crazy midwesterner!


Besides trading for Allen, and drafting for AP the other best move the Vikings have made recently is the pick up of Brett Favre... ok ok... I know this is over done... but I really think this pick up was very intelligent on behalf of the Vikings!

First of all, to be a team that was forever haunted by this guy in Green Bay, and have the guts to sign him for your team, after Green Bay basically put him out to pasture... that's cool!

I think it's pretty cool on Brett's part to. Bottom line the guy worked his butt off for years as a Packer, he has the right to decide when he's done! I don't care if he decides to play till he's fifty, he's definitely proven his worth under shoulder pads. Besides that, check out this cool commercial from Sears. Also, this guy doesn't really have anything left to prove. We know he doesn't need the money, and we know he's a lock for the hall! But to have the desire to keep playing for the love of the game is something we can all respect!

Either way, I think a lot of people expected Favre to come in and take those shots down field and force stuff to happen. Ultimately, I don't think he'll have to do that with the Vikings! His job will be to complete a high percentage of short and medium range passes and manage the football game as only Brett Favre can do! Adrian Peterson will be the stud of the offense, and I think Chester Taylor and Percy Harvin are going to have a great season as well. Ultimately the Vikings will be a better team with #4 calling the shots! And I can't believe I am saying this... but... GO VIKINGS!

So long, Ernie

So tonight the Tigers said goodbye to Ernie Harwell and Ernie said goodbye to Baseball.

If you don't know the name Ernie Harwell, he was the radio voice for the Tigers for forty+ years. Prior to that he was with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He is an icon in baseball, and was famous for many baseball one liner's like, "loooooong gone" or "the house by the side of the road". At any rate growing up in Michigan I had the pleasure of listening to Ernie call ball games for the Tigers. He always made the game fun to listen to and really made the game what it was for many loyal Tiger's fans.

Samantha has only shortly been a Tiger's fan but even she understands the meaning of Harwell to Tiger's fans.

Harwell is famous for having covered baseball over 7 decades. He is currently the only person to have done so. Special!

Recently it was discovered that he has inoperable cancer and has little time left on earth. He will surely be missed.

Aundrea stands in front of Ernie's statue at Comerica this past summer!

Overall, Ernie's address to the crowd was short, simple, and clear. He thanked baseball, the Tigers, and the fans in Michigan. Ernie has long been a proponent of the State of Michigan... not just Detroit! I believe that he grew up in Georgia or somewhere in the south but he discovered the great state when he took over in the booth for the Tigers. I even learned tonight that the Brooklyn Dodgers actually acquired Harwell via a trade. That's nuts! They traded a player for the broadcast talent of Harwell. You won't hear about that happening any time soon!

Anyways, as the Tiger's make their drive into the post season, I hope Ernie is with us to witness the Tigers take the 2009 World Series! Go TIGERS!

A trip around the block!

So dad finally brought his bike out to our place. There's a high today of about 62 degrees, so it is kind of chilly outside. Apparently he was a little chilled bringing it out. Dad's bike looks older than 4 years, mainly due to poor storage by the previous owner, but not helped by a drunk individual at their apartment building.

This was the event I referred to in my last blog.

While dad and I were picking up my bike last weekend a guy got ticked at his wife and proceeded to chuck beer bottles at dad's bike and another guys bike. He then tipped them and proceeded to kick both bikes, causing as much damage as humanly possible with a boot. Dad's damage estimate is between $2600-$2900. The other guys was even higher. Stupidity.

So back to the story of today. Mom and Dad came out. Dad on the bike, mom following behind in the car.

Once he got out we headed out for a ride of our own.


Last weekend I discovered that Black and Yellow road (which is actually kind of appropriate) goes in a giant loop starting and ending on highway 50 about 10 miles apart. I've rode the loop 2-3 times in the last week. It's about 30 miles total length and is very enjoyable. There are a great deal of antelope and mule deer in the area and it is the perfect opportunity for me to practice.

The trip was enjoyable but I wish that my helmet would have come in the mail yesterday. We rode through some rain and sprinkles that sting against bare skin.


The new jacket was a great pick up. I zipped all the vents closed and was pleased with the warmth it provided. It was a fun trip!

Dad on his pink bike... he's just missing the streamers!

Is there any wonder why Samantha married this guy?

Well two posts in two days. That's way to many for me.

The KLR Deal... what did I get myself into?

So here I am in the middle of nowhere south of Gillette, Wyoming.

And I bought a motorcycle.

You'd think I would remember that when I showed up in this place it was -55 degrees.

How often do I actually think I'll be able to ride this bike?

Anyways, I am now the owner of a 2004 Kawasaki KLR. If you don't know, the KLR isn't a pure road bike (and definitely not a crotch rocket) and it's not completely a dirt bike either. Maybe "hybrid" is a good word? Either way it's a cross between road and dirt bike, known better as a dual purpose bike. I really have had a crash course in learning about the benefits of the bike, and the KLR's in general.

I have wanted a motorcycle for several years now (since I sold the DT250 to help pay for Aundrea!).

But a KLR? What the heck! I wanted something that rumbled, something built for the road, something that I could have a biker babe ride on the back end (I think the trick would be finding the biker babe and keeping it a secret from Samantha).

Anyways I ended up with this...


Ok, ok so it does look pretty cool! Or at least cooler than this... (dad's bike)



And it doesn't take much to be cooler than this... (Christopher's bike)



Although the dork in the picture doesn't help the last one much!

So now I have this bike and I'm not sure that I can afford to ride it! I just found out the other day that it's going to cost me $140 to have the dumb thing licensed! Then to make matter's worse I have to fork out another $20 to take a written test and a "skills" test. A "SKILLS" test? What the heck is a skills test? I guess if I don't fall off then I have all the skills I need!

Oh, did I forget insurance? Insurance for 12 months on a bike that I can ride 6 months? How does that make sense?

It get's worse... next year round this time I'll fork over more money just so Wyoming can give me a sticker for the miniature license plate.

Remember me saying that it was a dual sport bike? Well that means that it also goes on trail to... and guess what... more money for another sticker that say's ORV. Isn't that a peach?

Ultimately, I have three people I will be blaming for this purchase! Of course I had very little to do with it!

Those at Fault:

#1 Samantha Aileen Strong- Samantha is well known conniver. I've had troubles with her since somewhere around... oh... August 6, 2005. It all started when she convinced me to marry her, maybe even before that. Anyways, I was minding my own business one day... probably doing the dishes... when Samantha called me out to the living room. She typically likes to cruise the Tiger's Website or ESPN.com, whichever catches her attention first. That day, she was on ebay. If your not familiar with ebay, great! Stay away! If you are, contact your local crisis center and ask them about a support group! So, Samantha calls me out and shows me this motorcycle. I refused to look at it but she persisted! Finally, I looked it over and found it in fairly good shape, but overall I was not interested. Before long Samantha told me that (and I quote) "Real men drive motorcycles." Now of course, I am hoping that one day I become a "real man." I figured if that was the case then I had better really consider a motorcycle. So I put in a bid... hoping that someone/anyone would outbid me. It didn't happen. To make it worse, the dumb thing was in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. I am a little familiar with Minnesota as it is home of Paul Bunyan, perhaps the goofiest fictitious character ever thought up (Babe the blue ox makes it just to unbelievable for me).

Let me move on...

#2 Bob Strong- The one and only. (He currently works 7 to 7, 5 days a week and sometimes 6, so if you call him, he may tell you about "pink ponies"... just ignore that!) Anyways, this individual bought the same bike a few weeks ago and was looking for someone to "walk the plank" with him. He spent ALL of his non-working hours convincing Samantha that she needed to get me a bike. Ultimately, the "old man" knew that he was up to his neck in quick sand from "the old woman" that he wanted to at least make sure someone else went down with him. Sad. In the end revenge for me came in the form of a drunk guy, a boot, and marital problems (you can ask me about this another time!).

Wrapping up this blame game...

#3 Christopher Strong- No, that's not a ZZ Top wannabe with a terrible ability to grow facial hair. That's my brother. He's the original owner of a KLR. He got one a while back and spent almost two years trying to convince my dad to get one. To make matter's worse, he's put a bunch of junk on his, which he calls "mods" and cost a boat load of additional money. Fortunately the one Samantha picked out already had a few of these modifications done and I won't have to make all of these so called "mods". We'll see how that pans out. Anyways, do you see how this all worked? #3 to #2 to #1 to me? What a crappy way to live life. Disgusting. Almost as disgusting as that
trash on his chin.


So now what to do?

I'll tell you...

In about 18 months I'm going to take the thing to Alaska. If I don't, at least two of three individuals listed above will get the Tonya Harding to the knee act.

In all seriousness I hope to use this blog as a memoir for all of our preparations for the trip (among other things). Dad is just absolutely psyched about it and is making his plans known in every conversation he has!

Dad and I are planning a trip out to Yellowstone next summer as a prep for the big trip. Hopefully we'll be able to have a good clue as to what we did right/wrong and be more prepared for Alaska. Christopher, Rebeca and Matias will probably be back in the US by next fall. Christopher is planning a southern trip (sounds like at least Panama, maybe farther) before he rides his bike back. Either way it should make for a fun ride.

I've put about 175 miles on the bike since I picked it up last weekend. I've enjoyed it, but see the need for much more practice!

Don't plan on frequent posts. My life isn't that interesting! But I will occasionally post about whatever we're up to, the kids are up to, or Samantha's intriguing thoughts on life!

Here's another picture of the bike...