oops...thougt we were closed today, turns out we aren't!

Stop snowing! Stop snowing! Stop snowing!

Is catching up from being away from the office for a few days

Is ready for christmas and wishes everyone a happy holidays

doesn't want another blizzard

Can't believe its only one week from christmas!

thinks it is way too warm in here, 59 degrees is just too hot for an office!

its cold outside but what makes it even worse is that it is 57 degrees in my office

hopes we do not get stranded in Fargo this weekend with the weather coming in

Is glad to be feeling somewhat better

wants to see Marley and me, cause I think I have one of his offspring at my house

Is playing with my new phone, gonna take me a while to figure it out

does not like 6AM practices even if it is the only time we get the ice to ourselves

can not believe I actually went shopping at 6 this morning

is excited for Ashley getting a shut out in her first game of the season

Is proud of his team for overcoming a 5 goal deficit in the 3rd period to beat Williston

4 meetings today and a game after work, today is going to fly by

is tired of cleaning up someone else's messes

is back from AZ and CA, had a great trip all around, not thrilled about the snow

is sittin on Coronado beach and lovin it down here, 82 degrees in November

had a blast at Dave and Busters

just watched the sunset at Mission Beach

having lunch in Alpine CA

is on our way to San Diego

89 degrees today, little different that ND

thinks there are better things than getting lost in phoenix at 2 in the morning

is boarding a plane to phoenix.

has one more busy day of meetings and project work and off to sunny Arizona

is sore from hunting this weekend, but the weekend was a blast!

is wrapping up our Odney 3rd quarter meeting with a session on social media, marketing and networking

doesn't want it to snow quite yet

had a great weekend visiting the infamous Kory Martin and my adorble nieces and nephews, but it will be good to get home!

Is driving back from a long road trip, good business and even better family time

is going to a gymnastics academy in Duluth for my nephews birthday party

is watching warm ups in the new Urban Plains Center, home of the Force, www.upcenterfargo.org

Can't believe it's been 2 years at iNet Technologies, time flies when you re doing what you like

is on my way on Fargo for meetings in a Kia Rondo rental

Is getting things wrapped up at work for a trip to the first Fargo Force home game, www.fargoforce.com, then off to Duluth and Minneapolis

has to figure out what to do with Taylor since the big bad Dr. won't let her come to work anymore

is sleep deprived but had a great weekend, now I have to get ready for a road trip.

It has been a long, long two days but things are looking up!

Is thinking that this week is going to be a long one

Is going to a meeting to discuss an incredible system for Preferred Restaurants, www.thepreferredcompanies.com

is putting together a proposal for Roll-A-Ramp, www.rollaramp.com

would ike to get to bed before 1 just one of these nights

had a successful hunting trip this weekend

is excited for the opening of pheasant this weekend and so is Taylor

Is excited that the Mustangs hadan impressive victory in their first game, www.missouririvermustangs.com

is amazed you can have 750 total yards vs under 400 and still lose

Is ready for our first redular saeson game tonight even though i have to mis watching the Saints on MNF, www.missouririvermustangs.com

is excited i don't have to pay for groceries for a while, won a $500 gift card for kicking a field goal at the Mary game

's kneecap is the size of a grapefruit, who knew old man's hockey could be so rough

is excited to tour the Urban Plains Center on Friday, www.upcenterfargo.org

is very sore from a nasty spill in last nights tie with the mandan mencae, www.missourirvermustangs.com

is excited for our pre season game tonight, www.missouririvermustangs.com

Is talking linkedin and facebook with Kayla and Rhonda at the YP 5:01.

Giving my social networking networks some attenion...ignored them for a while

thought this years ryder cup was amazing!

Thinks the US better step it up for the Ryder Cup!

is not suprised the Saints blew another win in the last 2 minutes of a game

is back at work after a nice vacation. Horrible golf but a fun time had by all.

is in Dickinson for the Kevin Bergman memorial match play golf tournament.

is back at work for a couple days

Thinks this wind is ridiculous

is looking forward to the Kevin Bergman memorial golf tourney next week

needs a vacation

's thoughts are with the Callahan family.

Shot 75 in the pro am at Dickinson and tied for first

's head hurts from getting hit in hockey last night

Trying to figure out how I lose my watch when it is strapped around my wrist...

has to get caught up on paperwork at work.

Is not happy with 72 at Tom O'Leary

is reviewing phase 2 proposal for www.findabettersolution.com

Payback is a dish served cold, and in a mold?

This summer I bought myself a scooter to save on gas mileage that I was using in my SUV. The very first day I went to a client meeting with a co worker and left the scooter at the office, I just had a feeling something was going to happen. I was right...as we returned to the office my scooter was not where I parked it. I did not panic. I walked into my office and Mike and Greg had moved it behind my desk which must have taken a lot of work.
It took me a while to get the scooter our of my office and when I finally got it out of the building it tipped over and scratched the paint. I was not that concerned but I knew I needed some revenge. I wanted to wait until they weren't expecting it. 9 Months later was more than enough time for them not to expect anything.



Mr. Welder was out of the office for two days with a sick child and I had my opportunity. The other night on TV was the episode of The Office where Jim put Dwight's stapler in Jello. I thought this would be fun to do. We started with 4 packs of yellow jello and his stapler. We thought we had it figured out but by Friday morning we thought we needed to put more of his personal items in jello. Mike has two rubber bass on his desk so Erin thought they should be in jello as well. I had the thought that fish swim, I know I am a quick thinker, so I suggested we fill an aquarium full of jello and suspend the fish so they look like they are swimming.



Fast forward. I went and got the aquarium, fake plants, rocks and 20 packets of jello. Scott and I started suspending the items in the aquarium using fishing line and tape. Contents of the aquarium:


Fake Bass, little, really don't know the purpose of it
Fake Bass beer holder, holding a beer bottle that was also filled with Jello
Plastic Monkey
Batman coffee cup
His Swingline stapler, for you Office Space fans, Welder is our Milton

Udder Cream, his personal lotion, don't ask
Spinner bait with attached gummi worm
Beware of attack gecko sign




We emptied out the bottom of the fridge and I started making jello. About an hour into the process I realized 20 packets was not going to be nearly enough jello. I had to go and buy more, over 35 total packages if you are looking to duplicate this prank. With only blue jello it was too dark so I started mixing yellow and green in to try and make the jello more transparent but to no avail. A lesson learned from this would be to use Knox clear jello, it is much more expensive but the only jello that sets up clear. The jello took about 24 hours to set in the fridge and the end product looked something like this.

















Payback for Mike is done, is Greg next? Possibly?

While we were failing at making it so you could clearly see the items in the jello we did come accross some other fun pranks you can do in your office.

Appreciate Life

The last year has been tough. I lost an uncle to cancer at 50, a wife to a great friend and mentor to cancer, and a life long friend and boss to a heart attack at 56. While I was only close to one of the deceased I was very close to the families and friends of all. Either way the pain is still the same. To see and feel the pain from the people around you and the pain you feel inside is eye opening. So eye opening that i decided to make a few changes in my life.

The first decision I made was to lose weight and get in shape. I don't mean go on a crash diet but a lifestyle change. I don't have a wife and kids but I have parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews that I need to be around for in the future. I have changed my eating habits completely. Being single it is cheaper to go to a fast food restaurant and eat off the value menu. At the pace I was going I wasn't going to make it to 50. That also goes along to with the second change. I am going to spend money on things I want. If you really want, not need, just want something,buy it for yourself once in a while if it is going to make you happy. It is only money and you can always make more.

Parents are worse than their kids!

In today's day and age it is hard to believe that parents often times behave worse than their kids. I recently refereed a PeeWee B hockey game between the two Bismarck PeeWee B teams. Keep in mind that there are two PeeWee A teams in Bismarck so these are the bottom two teams in Bismarck for 11 and 12 year olds.

Before the game started I noticed an odd amount of spectators for a PeeWee B game starting to gather. I was then informed by a fellow referee that the game I was about to officiate was the difference between one of the teams going to a B1 and the other the B2 tournament. The teams were tied for the year and it all came down to this game...GREAT!!!.

Less than halfway through the first period a pile up occurred in front of one of the goailes and two players started pushing and punching, well as good as you can punch at 11 years old. I called both kids for penalties and immediately realized how much fun this day was going to be. One coach is instanly screaming that his kid nothing wrong. I gave that coach an unsportsman like conduct penalty and informed him that there would be absolutely zero tolerance in this game. I explained this to the other team's coaches and that was the last problem I had with the coaches...enter the parents.

From that point forward everytime there was body contact, an offsides, or a goal, one half of the building would start screaming. Penalties were dead even for the game, and towards the end of the game the parents started yelling at other parents from the opposite teams.

The game went into overtime...even better! Two minutes into overtime there was a blatant penalty that I called. In overtime you only call the obvious. Kid goes into the penalty box, 20 seconds later his team is scored on and they lose. The kid knew he got the penalty and you could tell he felt horrible for it. He never argued or said a word because he knew he did something wrong.

The kids shook hands, losing team all crying but they still showed good sportsmanship. Going from the ice to our locker room was uneventful, much unlike going from the locker room to my car. As soon as I opened the door to the locker room there was a group of parents 25 feet away that were pointing at me and shaking their heads...obviously their kid plays for the losing team. I decided I should wait for the other referee. As we walked by the group of parents we heard words like "asshole" and "blind". This didn't bother me but as soon as I took one step out the door there was another group of parents, 3 dads and a mom to be precise. They immediately told me I have a lot of "balls" to call a penatly in the overtime of such an impotant game. The mother commented how she could have called a better game from the stands. I wanted to open my bag and hand her a whistle and tell her to give it a shot but i didn't. I sternly stated that the calls were my decisiion and not open for discussion. As I walked towards my car two other parents approached me, they thanked me and told me I did a good job. Their team won. I finally get to my car and started to put away my gear and I hear a car stop right behind me. I shut my trunk and turn around and there is a dad and a player in his truck. I asked if I could help him and his reply was "just waiting for you to leave so I can see where you live". I chuckled and shook my head and got in my car, the guy left...big talker.

The whole point of this is where do parents get off treating referee's like this. For a long time USA hockey has had declining numbers of hockey officials every year and it is days like that one that causes the decrease. I have pretty thick skin but often times it is other 15-16 year old kids that are officiating those games and would probably never ref again after being treated like that. Of course we did get off easy. My dad and I once had to have a police escort out of the Dickinson hockey rink after officiating a PeeWee tournament. And other officials have actually been physically abused by parents. The worse case scenario has been a referee beaten to death at a PeeWee hockey game in Boston in 2003 and just last year a 5 month old pregnant referee being kicked by a parent at a fifth grade basketball game.

Next time you are at a sporting event and you think the official made a bad call stop and think about how you would handle it in their situation. Maybe we can save a few referee's from quitting because of obnoxious parents and spectators.