Happy Easter!

You know it's great when the crowd is already standing before the song is over. This might be the best version I have ever heard of this song. Hope everyone had a great Easter!

It's been a long, long time

Lazy Saturday morning here at the Nelsen household. Lisa and I had to get up at seven to get Eddie from the kennel and now we are catching up on the shows we missed this last week.

We have been out of town at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, where the Mavericks played. Talk about a once in lifetime experience. I flew out to Springfield last Sunday night and Lisa joined the fun on Tuesday.

We opened with a great overtime win against Alabama-Huntsville. The highlights can be found below. Be sure to watch, a couple of great clips of Lisa in the stands.

Our second game put us against the #2 team in the nation, Bellarmine. We went back and forth with the Knights until the final five minutes. Nothing to hang your head about, the guys put together a helluva season, tying a school record for wins, with 28.

Here are the highlights from the second game:

Things should start to slow down a bit with the spring sports, they will go by quick and before you know it, it will be summer.

Sorry for the delays, hope everyone is doing well.

Pretty Much Sums it Up

We lost my grandpa today. This song pretty much sums up how awesome grandpas are.

Finally Got to See the Dave Matthews Band

Last winter during the Grammy's I saw that the Dave Matthews Band was coming to the cities this fall. I signed up for the "Warehouse" (the DMB) fan club and got in the lottery for tickets and got a pair. I was beyond stoked. Lisa, not so much, but we were going for my birthday so she didn't say much.

Anyway, last night was the show. Needless to say it was everything I could imagine. Lisa even said she had a lot more fun than she expected. Great crowd, great show and a ton of fun to people watch.

Here are some photos from the night. Enjoy them this weekend while I'm on a six-hour bus trip to beautiful Crookston.

* Edit - Lisa said she didn't think that Dave Matthews was good looking...Until last night. Not sure what that means, but it's interesting :)

It's been two years already?

Tomorrow (Monday) marks our two year anniversary and I can't believe it. These past two years have absolutely flown by. It seems like just yesterday Lisa and I were sharing our special day with so many of our friends.

These past two years have been great filled with some ups and downs, but that's life. This past weekend, Lisa and I had a relatively relaxing weekend planned (we had a wedding on Friday, her dad was going to help me fix the garage window on Saturday and then today we had her goddaughter's fourth birthday party) but the storm that rolled through Saturday morning changed those plans. Long story short, we lost electricity for about a day, but we got it back (and should have a new cable box by Tuesday).

Happy Anniversary Lisa, I can't wait to see what the future has in hold for us!

Get Away

This past weekend, Lisa and I took a few days off to head down to God's Country (Iowa).

We took of Saturday morning and dropped Eddie off at mom and dad's (where he got lots of walks and lots of car rides) before driving down to State Center to visit the Burdorf's.

We got into town late Saturday afternoon and hung out and caught up for the night. It was a relatively uneventful night, minus Brody punching me in the family jewels (it got a good laugh from everyone, even me).

Sunday morning we got up and walked down to Aaron's ballpark and he showed me what's all changed in the last five years. He's down a great job with the West Marshall baseball program and the diamond looks great. After we got back to the house, Lisa and I got our stuff ready and drove to Des Moines where we had lunch at my favorite Des Moines Mexican restaurant before going out to Jordan Creek to kill some time. We could check into our room Sunday at 2, so we took off and arrived at Lake Panorama around 2:30.

This is our second stay at Lake Panorama and we love it. The hotel we stayed at is small, but every room looks out at the Lake and it was quiet since we were there on Sunday and Monday. Once we got checked in, we hit the pool for a while (I think we were the only people who stayed there Sunday) before eating at the restaurant. Sunday night we drove around (not much to do in the small little town) before chilling in the room and watching the sunset.

Monday we woke up to storms and it stayed rainy until about 10:30 (it was raining so hard we even toyed with the idea of coming home). Once the rain pushed away, we hit the Raccoon River trail for a little hike before stopping at a ma and pa shop for some lunch. Saturday afternoon we were in the pool again for a couple of hours and caught a lot of sun (i got burnt, not honeymoon in Mexico burnt, but burnt). Having ate at the restaurant in the hotel already, we decided that we would drive back into Des Moines for dinner and a movie. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory (didn't realize how spending it was) before going to see the movie Inception. (Sidenote: Highly recommend inception. You think the entire movie and it is exhausting. I want to see it again because I know I missed a lot).

Here are some photos from the trip, I hope you enjoy.

Finally, i would be remiss if I didn't mention a passing of one of my favorite movie characters of all time, sweet Lou.

what's up?

Hey All-

Been far too long between posts and I hope this note finds everyone well. Posted a video from Saturday Night Live - and this might be one of my favorite skits on the show called "What Up With That". I hope you enjoy it.

Not a lot has been new around here. Lisa just completed her first 5k last weekend and it looks like she is gearing up for another one this weekend. I am so proud of her. She did great and established a new personal best so that was really exciting.

She ran it with Jamie Burdorf and Mandy Hunecke and it was for a great cause as they raised over a 1,000 dollars for Leep. Saturday afternoon I worked the spring football game before we all hung out at Mandy and Justin's that night. It was great catching up with everyone. We live two miles from Mandy and Justin and don't see them enough and we haven't seen Aaron and Jamie since they stayed with my parents for the fourth of July last year.

Work has been good for both of us. The sports season is winding down (everything should be wrapped up by the end of May) and I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing summer. If I get approved, I'll be heading to San Francisco for work in July and Lisa and I are hoping for a getaway at sometime this summer. Where, I don't know but we want to go somewhere and somewhere were we can do things relatively cheap.

Watching the biggest loser right now and they have to pen cattle. Of all the things they can do... Damn I should have applied for this season. I'm no expert herdsman, that's for sure, but I know that I could do this way better than these City Slickers.

That's really all I got... I'll take vacation ideas in the comments!

Hope all is well-

Scott, Lisa and Eddie

PS: Speaking of Eddie.... Little guy got his first kill a couple of weeks ago

Maybe a summer home away from home...

Today was a great day in the Minnesota State Athletic Communications office. Through one of my boss's (PA) contacts, we got a private tour of the new Twins ballpark, Target Field.

Talk about a beautiful place to watch a game. Until my sophomore year of college, I had never been to an outdoor ball game before I went to Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City and I have seen about 10 games there. I have also been to Petco Park in San Diego and it (Petco) was the best ball park I have ever been to, until today. From everything I have heard, Target Field takes the best of every new ballpark and combines it into one. What I saw they took from Petco in San Diego was the open concourse. No matter where you walk around the concourse you can see the field basically unobstructed. They have also installed a boat load of HD tvs in the concourse so you never can miss the action. Plus they have added a lot more bathrooms and concession stands, so the lines won't be nearly as bad. Additionally the concourse is twice as wide as it was in the Dome.

For those who want, you can view my album of the day Facebook, here.

We had a good - busy - but good Easter. We drove down to Iowa Saturday night and had Easter Eve supper with Bryon, Brooke and Drake along with my Uncle Arnie. Dad grilled and we watched the Final Four and hung out, it was a good time. Drake is getting big and has a great personality so he's pretty fun to be around right now.

Sunday morning we got up went to church with my parents and then drove to Gaylord to have Easter Dinner with Lisa's family (immediate family, aunt, uncle, cousins and cousins kids). It turned out to be an absolute beautiful day and we hung outside for a couple of hours before heading back to Mankato.

Other than that, there isn't much new in our world. Hope everyone is well-

SnL and Eddie...

Three Things That Tripped my Trigger Today

Sorry for headline, I'm a sucker for alliteration.

But three things really chapped my ass today.

- Was out walking Eddie today at noon and it was cold (nice, sunny but cold) and walked by the elementary school that's a block from our house and the kids were outside for recess, no big deal right? What really bothered me was the fact that the air temp was like 35 degrees and there were more kids without coats (just sweatshirts) running around during recess. Where are the parents to tell them to wear their coats as they leave the house or even more so, where are the teachers to tell them to wear their coats at recess. Now I'm not one to tell people how to parent or teach, but seriously folks?

Secondly...I had to run back home after lunch to get a camera for the softball game and there were two people with strollers (a guy and a gal) coming off the trail. As I drove by them, I waved (I'm an Iowa farm boy, I wave at everyone) and they just started at me and almost looked annoyed at me as I waved at them. I was so close to rolling down my window and yelling at them to lighten up and telling them to lighten up, it's called a wave and when someone does it to them, you should do it back.

Finally, following supper tonight, I stopped by campus to wash my car and get some gas. As we drove by campus there were two punks that walked right throw the street and onto campus...No big deal right? Well the problem is, like five years ago someone walked across the street by campus was hit by a car and killed. Now this isn't that drastic, but as they walked, they didn't look either way for cars (I did stop). I gave my horn a quick honk, to tell the guys "Hey, you might want to look before you cross" and I was greeted with a the one finger salute. Now whatever, I don't care, but seriously, just care enough about yourself to look before you cross.

Okay, now that I seem like a grouchy old jerk, a couple of notes for you...
- Our softball coach, Lori Meyer, won her 800th game today. A couple of tidbits aboutMeyer... She is the winningest active collegiate coach (all divisions) in the state of Minnesota. During her tenure at Minnesota State, which covers more than a quarter of a century, Meyer has compiled a 800-536-3 (.579) record at Minnesota State and has coached 86.4 percent of MSU’s 925 victories in program history.

Finally, as you both know, Lisa and I both enjoy TV shows... If you aren't watching Parenthood, check it out, probably my favorite hour long (serious type) show on television. Secondly, if 30 Rock isn't the best comedy on TV it's close. And the Big Bang Theory might be 1a.

Okay, lots of random stuff, but that's what I've got.

In the words of Mr. Jon Larsen, what do you think? :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

With playoff basketball starting tonight, I just wanted to share this... I love this month!

The office combined with curling

For those who know me, they know I love "The Office" and curling. Here they are combined.

Ma...The Meatloaf

Not much going on here in the Nelsen household. Days are getting a bit longer, the sun is getting a bit stronger which makes me happy.

One highlight lately has been Lisa's new favorite cookbook that she found Campbells 1-2-3 Dinner (which I think should be called 1-2-3 supper, but i digress). Basically, it's two or three ingredients and a can of obviously, Campbell's soup. Last week, she made a great potato-broccoli-chicken dish and tonight was an awesome meatloaf. Didn't even need ketchup, it was made with Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup. Amazing.

Currently I have been obsessed with the Olympics (surprise, surprise) and this one has been a lot of fun. Check out the post here about two of our women's hockey players who are playing against each other for the bronze medal. Which is pretty awesome if you ask me.

To top it off, David Backes and his American teammates downed Canada, 5-3, last Sunday night to win their pool. The Americans now take on the Swiss again tomorrow. Backes - who was both an All-American and an Academic All-American for the Mavericks when he played here is a class act and has a goal (pictured left), two assists and two penalty minutes so far.

I've also gotten into curling (Lisa finds it somewhat boring) but it is on during the day in the office and it's a game that I find fun to watch and full of strategy. I find my self getting mad at Americans a lot and tell myself that I shouldn't be mad because I have never even played the game before and don't know what I'm talking about. Sometimes it is just common sense though, but oh well. We do have a curling club here in 'Kato and I hope to be able to make it there sometime yet this winter.

Tonight have taken the night off from the games (at least for now) to watch two shows. Bryon (my brother) got me hooked on the show called American Pickers on History and I watched it tonight...great show. Lisa wanted to watch Idol (don't like it, don't hate it) since it's the first night that America votes. Tonight it's the ladies...Some are good some are bad. Right now some chick is trying to sing the Beatles and I didn't think it was good, but I guess the judges did. Ellen has made the show more watchable. I'm a huge fan of hers. She makes me laugh and I don't think she's full of her self.

*Note- I've already started the next paragraph but just saw there is a girl from West Des Moines, Iowa. I have a lot of pride in my home state, so I have to cheer for her. Damn this show, I'll probably watch now every week that she is on.

Work for me is going great right now. Our men's hoops team is 23-2, 16-2 in league play and they play for a share of the league title tomorrow against Augustana at 8 p.m. Our women have come on strong as well in the second half of the season and made a push to make the league playoffs. This weekend is a busy weekend for us. Hoops at the University of Mary, track and field is hosting the NSIC championships, our women's hockey team travels to Minnesota for the first round of league playoffs, our men's hockey team hosts the #1 team in the nation Denver, and our men's and women's tennis teams have seven matches in two days. Oh yea, softball added a double-header in the Irish Sports Dome in Rosemount, Minn., Friday morning beginning at 7:30 a.m. (that's right in the morning, wake-up call for the softball team..4:15 am).

Well that's about it for tonight. You may not hear from me until the weekend, or next week, or even next month (it's the same thing :) )...

Until then

SnL (and Eddie)

Ya, I'm famous

Yesterday was the MSU Athletic Departments annual Big Bobber Ice Fishing trophy and I guess i got my picture taken with the tournament winner!

I scanned this out of today's Mankato Free Press

Say What...

Just when you thought we were dead.

Sorry for the delay in blogs my friends. It's not that we have been super crazy, it's just that we've been super boring.

Life has been good, just boring that's all. Eddie is doing well. He is a good dog. He loves his trips to "school" and sits so proud in the backseat of the car when he knows that he is going up there.

I've stayed busy with athletics at MSU. Our winter season is in full gear. Hard to believe that the winter sports are almost done and spring sports are around the corner (that mean's maybe a Friday or Saturday night with my wife:) ).

Anyway, hope all is well, we'll be in touch soon.

SnL (and Eddie)

Update

Greetings All-

It's been a while since I have posted an update that didn't involve a video or a tribute to our brothers to the North, so here it goes.

Yes, the photo above was taken today...in my office. Slow day in Taylor Center 175, but I have my buddy Eddie with. PA is at his son's baseball tournament and it was going to be quiet in here so he came with me, at lease he listens to my jokes.

Life is good, but it is hard to believe that summer is already over. I consider the 4th of July the official end of summer because in 39 days (or roughly 930 hours) the football season kicks off. I actually did do some work today, as I have printed the rough draft of the media guide and am now ready for a round of edits next week.k

We had a good, but quick fourth. My 10 year class reunion was on the fourth (an Armstrong-Ringsted tradition) and it was good to get together and see a bunch of people I haven't seen for a while and Lisa got to meet a bunch of people that she's heard me talk about, but never met before so it was good.

I graduated with 52 people and we had about 22 or 23 show up so it was nice to see people and catch up... here is what the Class of 99 looks like (those who were there), 10 years later.

Saturday night, Jamie (Hunecke) Burdorf and her husband (Aaron) and kids (Jenna and Brody) stayed at my parents place with us Saturday night so it was good to see them.

Sunday morning, I got up for Breakfast at Wimbledon and wasn't disappointed. The only thing that sucked was I had to leave half way through the match and remarkably, my dad got hooked on the match (this, is a good thing) and was calling me asking me questions and keeping me updated. It's funny, I wasn't a big tennis guy until I went to work at Drake, but I love it now. Roddick played well, but am really excited that Federer broke Sampras' record and is now the GOAT (

greatest of all-time).

This past week has been nothing unusual, wake-up, walk eddie-go to work - work out at noon - walk eddie at noon- work - go home eat supper - do dishes - lisa walks eddie - rinse, lather and repeat. But we do have a nice little weekend planned. Tonight I'm meeting a buddy and going to grill and go to fun days while lisa runs some shopping errands. Tomorrow's Lisa's cousin is getting married and then Sunday I usher in church and then gotta mow the yard. Other than that, not much else is planned.

Going to leave you with a couple of things...first, this photo was posted on a friend's facebook status...For those who love the office, they will appreciate it.

And i can't get this song out of my head... (it's not the actual video but you should get the point)

Happy (Belated) Canada Day

Note: I tried to post this last night, but the link wouldn't work...

I would like to wish a happy (belated) Canada day to all of our friends to the north... Now I love the good ole US-of-A as much as the next person, but the Canadian pride, especially when it comes to their sports team is something unlike anything else. Where in the USA would EVER find this happen at a sporting event..



So I hope all of you Canadians out there a nursing a good Labatt, Molson or Kokanee hangover from last night. I suggest a Coffee Crisp or some Smartee's (for my American friends, these are not the flavored sugar tablets found in clear wrapping) and have some poutine for lunch.

Until next time-

SnL (this message has not been approved by L)

...

Kinda Boring Really

Not much new at 505 West 8th Street...Eddie is doing great, we have upgraded him from crate, to basement to full access to the house while we are gone and he does well...He jumped on the couch a couple of times so Lisa has put three folding chairs in front of the couch while we are gone and it has cured the problem.  He is a great dog.

We took him to the dog park last week and he had a blast, i'm sure we will try to get there once or twice this week, it's good for him to interact with other dogs.

Last weekend was a good - but quick one.  We met some friends Friday night for supper before seeing hangover (great laughs, great movie).  Afterwards, we (mainly I, Lisa facebooked...is that a verb? if not, I just made it one) came home and watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  I was really proud of myself as I didn't check the score or my phone once during the entire movie and watched the game without knowing who won.

Saturday, we woke up and did our usual Saturday tradition, which is brunch at the Hub. After brunch, we met Mandy and Justin  at the dog park with their dog Bear.  The two had a good time playing together.  Afterwards, I came home and mowed while Lisa did some work around the yard.  We then had to hurry and get ready as we had a wedding reception on the Mississippi River for my friend, and fellow SID Josh Deer and his bride, Stef.  They got married in Mexico back in January (thanks to the scheduling gods) and the reception was this weekend.  It was a blast.  Good food, good friends and a great time.

Sunday we had every intention on getting up and going to church but opted to stay home and clean up after our buddy Eddy.  Love the dog, but he sheds like it's his job.  So after vacuuming, sweeping, dusting and other odds and ends had a nice clean house.  We went and grabbed some groceries and came home only to unpack and then take Eddie to the park.

Around noon on Sunday, Curt (lisa's pop called) to see what he was doing. During the conversation, the words "Drive-Inn" came out of his mouth and we were sold so we went home and had supper with the Kahle's at the Drive-Inn in Winthrop...A summer classic.

Curt "What's everybody ordering"

Lisa "I'm ordering something different, I always get the California Burger, I just don't know what I want."

wait five minutes.

Waitress: "What do you guys want to order."

Lisa: "California Burger."

We took Eddie with and he got to meet Wally (all we are missing is The Beav) and they got along, wrestled stayed apart, got along wrestled, etc. etc.  Eddie has some issues with male dogs, but he is getting better.

So that's it... Not a whole lot new in our world.  We'll be going to Gaylord for Father's Day Eve before heading to Ringsted for Father's Day on Sunday.

One more note...My boss, PA, has been named to CoSIDA Hall of Fame.  You can find the press release here... Awesome  honour (spelled like the Canadians do) for an awesome guy.

SnL

Gotta Love Steve Nash

Week one in the books

Well week one with Eddie (aka: Edward and 'Dawrdo) is in the books and we are learning more and more about our little buddy each day.

1)  He is a great dog.  I know most people say they have a great dog, but he really is a great dog.  Doesn't jump (he will climb on you and stay, but he won't jump up and down on you) 

2)  He poops and pees on walks only, which kinda sucks when it's raining but is nice that I don't have to clean up yard bombs

3)  He is house trained, no accidents as of yet (knock on wood)

4)  He stays off the furniture

5)  He sleeps through the night.  

All that said, I'm sure I have probably jinxed tonight but we will see.  He gets to meet Curt and Julie tonight, so that should be fun...The little guy doesn't shy away from attention too much.

We took him to the vet today and he got a clean bill of health...Was told he could lose a few pounds, but then again, so could I, so our walks should be beneficial to both of us.

Life around here has been good.  I worked the Minnesota State High School Softball Tournament last weekend and he had great weather (never got warmer than like 78).  Saturday and Sunday were kind of low key due to the nearly three inches of rain we got in the Greater Mankato Area, but that is fine, we needed it, and the farmers need it even more.

Other than that, life has been good...I start volunteering at the Miracle League field tomorrow night here in town, so I am really excited for that, it should be a blast.  

Last night I caught one of my favorite tv shows (Ice Road Truckers, this season is going to be intense) and then watched a new show called Whale Wars (i think) about stopping whaling on animal planet...Looks like there is another show to add to the mix.

That should about do it... Until next time-

SnL