Sweet Potatoes!

Conversation with Emmie yesterday:

Emmie:  Mom, they're making french fries on TV (I had the FoodNetwork on).  I love french fries.  They are my favorite.  Why don't you like french fries?

Kris:  I like french fries.

Emmie:  No, not the orange ones.  Why don't you like the yellow ones?

Thus, the topic of the week is sweet potatoes.  For starters, a sidekick to pumpkin (my favorite SuperFood).  As such, lowers the risk of various cancers, promotes youthful/healthy skin, amongst other benefits.

A recipe to put on the Thanksgiving Day table, INSTEAD of the usual mashed potatoes:

Chili-Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Two bonus SuperSpices within...cinnamon and chili powder!
(I'd replace the brown sugar with honey, or agave nectar)

Which looks more appealing to you?

A.

OR 

B.         

Workout!

Curtis and Noah doing extra offseason workouts on Tuesday. They dispensed with the usual ladder work and stepped up to pulling sleds. Now all they need are sledgehammers and tires to flip and they'll be ready for spring season.

Kroll Report 10

The only thing standing between me and home is a week. The weeks of college are flying by, all of which are filled with class, exams, papers, reflections, studying, tennis, getting swoll, and a number of other things. This week ahead should be fairly easy going other than registration later in the week. I have already wrapped up the last of my school observation hours for my education class and gave one of two major presentations for my media class. 

I was looking ahead at all my class schedules and the possibility of me losing my mind after Thanksgiving break is very high. I have a 15-20 page research paper and 15 minute presentation in December, an hour long group presentation the week following Thanksgiving, and then finals. I will truly experience what it is like to be in college after break...thankfully winter break is only a couple weeks later. 

As of right now though, I'm just trying to get through this week. My Thanksgiving is going to be awesome. I am returning to work Black Friday at Banana Republic Factory Store which I'm sure will be nothing short of crazy. I also have numerous appointments set up with different people to take advantage of my being home. I also plan to spend as much time as possible with my niece and nephew, who starred in Kroll Report 9. 

I also am excited about eating at all the local restaurants in Castle Rock. There is one place in particular called Wingin' It that I have been craving ever since the caf tried to serve me wings. 

Honestly, there is an insane amount of things to be excited about. It will certainly be nice to see all my family members as well as my friends from back home. 

I'm going to try and enjoy every single moment because even though I'll be back in like three weeks, the spring semester doesn't bring any opportunities to go home. Haha, that will be interesting to see how I hold up for that. 

Anyway, here's to going home!!! AHHH!!

Studying!

Without direct observation, I wouldn't constitute this as work.  In reality, their banter quite educational (and at times, humorous/entertainment).  More often than not, two steps ahead of the actual commentators.

Monday HC Musings

Your weekly dosage of ramblings, rants, and randomness

.....quote from my Dad: "Fed is amazing"! Well, yes he is. Watched him versus Andy Murray(Brad's favorite player to not watch) yesterday in the London semi-finals. After four games, I had written the Day off as "Murray too good. Is this the End for Fed?" But Mr Federer scratched out some service holds while he was seeking his normal "A" game, and then made the adjustment of taking the ball earlier, especially on his BH and the rest is History!

.....Tennis Lessons by Mr Federer: Practice your Serve. When all else is scratchy, and lousy, your Service Game can keep you in the match until you figure it out. Or your opponent falls out of his Tree. To a Certain, Unnamed, former Student who now plays for a Big 10 school, "Are you reading this?"

.....Football Sunday
         The NCAA Selection Show revealed that your undefeated 10-0 Kohawks play at Clark Field Saturday, November 17th, vs #17 Elmhurst College. Good! And the Weather looks to be close to 50 degrees. Nice.
         CFL vs NFL? Saskatchewan played Calgary in the Canadian Football League West Semifinals. Calgary won with a 68yd TD pass from former Hawkeye QB Drew Tate. I will say CFL FB is very entertaining....and yes, Brad, that white stuff piled around the Calgary field was indeed snow.
          NFL Football? Haven't watched much. Tried to watch last night, but knowing how passionate Coach Murphy is about the Bears, I limited my viewing as when I watched, the Bears kept fumbling or throwing interceptions. Likely a grumpy day in the Tennis Office at K College. 

.....On Food
         Not generally my place, or inclination, to dispense with nutritional nuggets. Got a couple of requests from other "aging" athletes, so here goes. 
         The following worked out well for me.

          Eat healthy with a plan and discipline, yet indulge occasionally your "weaknesses".

         Follow an Eating Clock. Fruits and vegetables before noon. No food after 8pm

        Limit "mixing" of foods. This makes it easier for your stomach to digest. 

         Eat small servings. Eat often.

.....A Few Pics to share

from a recent urban hike

 The Tennis Center in Aurora, Iowa

    Diego had a long day and a Good Hike! Rest Time!

Weekend Pictures

Tennis player tailgate before Coe's final regular season football game.  Hosted by Tom & Shelly Galbraith; a sincere Thank You to the two of them!  Coe finished the season undefeated, and is currently ranked #10 in the country (Football Recap).

This was also the 3rd week of Saturday morning kids' clinics.  The players serve on a voluntary basis as a fundraiser for our program; they have done a great job.

Adventure!

At some point this Fall, I learned that Laura and Diannah each had a driver's permit, but not a license. Still questioning how ONE makes it through high school without the coveted driver's license (aka "freedom"), let alone TWO!  Diannah did say they she used to ride her bike to the Sonic as an escape.

Nonetheless, not for me to judge.  Rather, I quickly assumed my role as a coach in their lives and took it upon myself to lead them to the "Promise Land".

Driving lesson #1 took place over Fall Break.  As Mark referred to in Kroll Report 6, the driving lesson itself was successful.  Granted, Mark almost got ran over.....but not by Laura or Diannah, and through no fault of his own.

Lesson #2 took place yesterday.  Emmie and I met the girls at Coe after their Strength & Conditioning session with Brad.  Coach had also made his way down to the courts to distribute Nike apparel that arrived earlier in the day.  Thus, I present you with the Picture of the Week:

On tap for the adventure were two necessary stops:

1.  The Cedar Valley Humane Society - To drop off a donation for $117.50, raised from Change for Change via the Kohawk Tennis Fitness, Fun & Philanthropy Community Event.

2.  Newbo Market - Recently opened Downtown and comparable to an upscale Farmer's Market.  Housed in a warehouse so accessible/open year-round.  Consider it a small dose of heaven.  Fresh baked bread, wine merchants, the smell of popcorn.....what more could you ask for?

Emmie gets popcorn too....caramel corn, root beer flavored and cheddar!

Ironically, BOTH Diannah and Laura began their time at the wheel by revving the gas with the car still in park.  "Ooops, other one."  Did we not retain anything from Lesson #1?  Admit that my blood pressure rose each time, and I seriously questioned the endeavor.

Despite the rocky start, both of them were great!  To humor myself, I randomly requested that we stop for gas.  Handed them a credit card and stayed put.  Jordan, there for moral support (mine), enjoyed watching the undertaking from the backseat.  "Do they know how to open the door to the gas tank.  Do you have a button?"  Several confused looks later, and together, they figured it out!!

Agreed that our next adventure would be to Sam's Club for soft pretzels.  Interstate driving!  Emmie wants to go to "100 places" with them.  Jordan texted Trent that they will be acquiring one of the dogs from the Humane Society, Laura planned to call her Mom to inform her of the same and Emmie asked me why we can't have 3 dogs?  

Additional pictures:

Coffee Round Two: Brewed Awakenings

Back in September I wrote about my experiment where I spent a week drinking coffee against my will. Why I did this, I’m not entirely sure.  Before I conducted the experiment, I always imagined that if I was convicted of crimes against humanity, then a lifetime of drinking coffee is probably the punishment they would proscribe for me. I did that experiment to broaden my horizons (I guess) and see how other parts of humanity live. They live in pain, lots and lots of pain. 

I must be a masochist because yesterday I had what alcoholics call a breakdown and plunged myself back into the dark world of coffee drinkers. I thankfully survived; here is my tale.

WARNING: If you are not a member of the coffee underworld, what you are about to read may be disturbing.

Scarier than The Ring

I decided Tuesday would be the day I returned to the world of coffee. I had everything planned out: I would arrive at the racquet center around 10am, go to the coffee shop (Brewed Awakenings) at 10:30, and be back by 11:15 for workouts. Unfortunately it was raining when I woke up which I took as a sign from God that he did not find Tuesday acceptable for me to drink coffee. I quickly modified my plans to not include any products or paraphernalia associated with coffee in my schedule.

WWJD? Not get coffee

On Wednesday the weather was nicer and I was out of excuses, so I prepared for my trip to the coffee shop or as I like to refer to it, The Descent. I left the racquet center at 11:30am bound for Brewed Awakenings. When I walked in the door I took full stock of my surroundings. There were 3 laptops and 1 fedora present by thankfully no skinny jeans – dodged a bullet there, 3 for 3 is grounds for retreat. Of the 3 laptops present only two were Macs. I almost felt inclined to inform the poor soul using a PC he was shaming his people. I mean, I play tennis but I wouldn’t be caught dead using a Volkl racket. Have a little pride in yourself. If you want to do the coffee shop thing, get a Mac and conform to the non-conformists.

I obviously didn’t speak to the PC user, or anyone else for that matter, for one very simple reason:  I’m uncomfortable with new situations and don’t want to draw attention to myself. You can call it what you want, shyness, social awkwardness, low confidence, hatred of humanity. Any way, I’m probably going to engage in as little conversation as possible in an attempt to hide the fact that I have no idea what is going on. I don’t know what happens to you when the baristas find out that you have no idea as to what constitutes an Americano, but I don’t want to find out.

These types of situations remind me of a few articles written by columnist Daniel O’Brien about socially awkward people. O’Brien lists many situations people find terrifying or are uncomfortable with like getting a massage (Yep), standing next to someone at the urinal (Oh Yes), getting a haircut (please hurry and don’t speak to me), and spending any amount of time with someone else’s baby (God please no). The last time someone asked me to hold their baby, I ran out of the kitchen screaming “No! What if I break it!?” 

One entry in O’Brien’s article, 5 Situations That are Secretly Terrifying for Awkward People, covers going to concerts and gives a glimpse of how I feel (I was at a coffee shop and not a concert but the same ideas apply). We don’t do concerts or anything new – like coffee shops – because as O’Brien explains, “Awkward people like music. They’re just, you know… bad at it.” We enjoy the same things everyone else does and would love to go see our favorite band but are afraid to go because, “you don’t know how to dance and you’re afraid of being in a big group of strangers because the family crest of the Awkward Clan is a scrawny lion that doesn’t know what to do with his hands.”

You said it brother

Longtime readers of my posts (yes, you three) will probably remember that I have been to a variety of coffee shops before in a variety of different states. So what’s the problem here Brad? I will tell you the problem. In all those instances I wasn’t alone. I had an inside man, or woman, with me to lead me through those minefields. And I never ordered coffee at any of those places. I usually stood there, pretending not to care, while praying to every god imaginable that the baristas wouldn’t make eye contact, or heaven forbid try to talk to me. The only time my silence came close to breaking was at a coffee shop in Utah where I was almost forced, out of pure principal, to inform a teenage customer that Mötley Crüe was, in fact, not one of the Top 10 greatest bands of all time.

Looks like greatness

It was with great trepidation that I waited in line to order. As I studied the menu I came to the realization that I have no idea what anything means. Without any of my coffee drinking friends alongside me, I was on my own to decipher the differences between latte, espresso, cappuccino, mocha, macchiato, and any other coffee words I have left out. On top of that you could order from the Tradionale, Brewed, Classico, Decadent, or Blended and Iced section of the menu. Additionally there was also Chai tea. What happened to Lipton? While standing in line my conversations with myself went something like this.

What the hell does all that mean? And why does everything end in a vowel?

Don’t stare at the menu like it’s the messiah Brad. In fact just stand here and try to be as normal and not-awkward as possible. And for God’s sake, just put your hand in your pockets before you start drawing attention to yourself.

Oh no. That bearded guy just looked at me. Make it stop.

I almost called the whole operation off in favor of a simple hot chocolate, but felt I had come too far to turn back now. I finally settled on a white chocolate mocha off the Decadent section. The reason for this selection was simple: I felt it would lead to the least number of questions from the cashier who had long curly red hair and whom I took to calling red-headed Jesus (sans beard). My cover would be blown if he asked a question in their language and I couldn’t answer.

Me: "Can I get a small white chocolate mocha?" No questions please, no questions please

Red headed Jesus: "Okay, that’ll be $4.25."

Me: "Okay." Oh God. Cash or credit? Cash or credit? Go with cash, it has more anonymity.

Red headed Jesus: "Do you want whip cream with that?"

Abort! Abort! MI6, Mission Failed! Mission Failed!

Me: "Sure?"

Red headed Jesus: "Can I get your name?"

Asking for my name meant I was most likely going to have to wait while they made my drink. The other scenario going through my head involved the workers in the back scheming ways to abduct me and sell my kidneys. I quickly gave the cashier my name and turned to survey a place to hide while the baristas worked their dark magic. My usual places to sit, in the corners and along the wall, were all occupied so I would have to wait in the middle of the coffee shop with nowhere to sit.

Well Brad, it looks like you had a choice to make and you made the wrong one. Whatever you do, leave your hands in your pockets. Goodbye kidneys, we’ve had a good run.

Generally in these situations I pull out my phone and pretend other humans don’t exist. I re-read old texts, you know, just in case in I missed anything in those 160 characters last time. Let’s see, apparently the pizza I had with Noah a few days ago was still terrible and Curtis was still “disappointed” in my forehand prowess over the weekend.

Eventually my named was called and I picked up my white chocolate mocha, still unaware of what a mocha is. My initial thoughts upon tasting my drink were positive. Of course, there was still that distinct coffee taste permeating my taste buds at the end which was unfortunate, but the overall experience with the drink was good. I noticed the drink had espresso in it which confused me even more. How can mocha have espresso in it? Is it like a square and a rectangle? Mocha’s can also be espressos but espressos aren’t necessarily mochas?

In a state of confusion I left Brewed Awakenings and headed back for the racquet center. After drinking my… whatever it was, I noticed a little more jolt in my step which was quite different compared to my previous coffee experiences.

I know the effects caffeine can have on your body (it’s a stimulant) but am not necessarily respectful of it. This is because I have seen friends down an entire cup of coffee and then promptly pass out while leaving my non-coffee, drinking self to swerve all over interstate 45 in a fit of sleep delirium while we made our way back to Dallas. In this situation I did the only acceptable thing and took pictures for posterity’s sake.

Wait, you said you were driving on the interstate. How did you take that picture? Good question

Will I go back for more coffee? Probably at some point, but I will wait until I once again have someone with the power and linguistic ability to guide me through the forest of laptops, skinny jeans, and oddly spelled words.

Even I Eat Pizza....

Late in October, I found myself at Tomaso's Pizza with Emmie, my parents and my Grandma on a Friday evening.  Upon leaving, there in the corner, sat a former Kohawk tennis player (quite successful one at that!), staff member at Coe and member of my fitness class.....the description is of the same person, not 3 different individuals for those who struggled to follow my train of thought.  Chris Paasch was in the corner, a stylish hat pulled over his brow, legs crossed and with a newspaper opened / covering his identity.  He lowered the newspaper, said hello, and asked if I was going to blog post about the experience.....eating pizza that is (not exactly in line with my reputation on campus!).  We both laughed and I now present Paasch with the requested blog post:

Yes, even I eat pizza.*  For a number of reasons:
1.  Tomato Sauce.  Although the sauce itself is high in sugar, TOMATOES are a SuperFood.
2.  Moderation.  Everything in moderation is fine, and indulgence IS a necessity. Without, one tends to look like this when actually exposed:

3.  Tomaso's IS the best pizza in Cedar Rapids.  The original location at 3234 Center Point Road NE; the other locations don't stack up.  If/when indulge, do it right.  I would ask that you never again settle for what college kids deem, or define, as pizza.
4.  I had earned the indulgence.  As did Paasch via Friday fitness class.....and specifically, the GAUNTLET!

Having explained myself, and justified Paasch waiting for his own take-out pizza, I ask Paasch why he felt it necessary to hide in the corner.....as if embarrassed, or fearful of running into me?

With pride, I hereby solemnly swear, and present you with evidence of my weakness (one of the 12):

Emmie also gets pizza.....and root beer....and I am always on the lookout for a candy shop (for her of course)!

*  Also admit to having drank the beer on tap.  Samuel Adams Octoberfest.  Once again, I would ask that you never again settle for what college kids deem, or define, as beer.  This comment remains an asterisk as it would be Brad's (or even Coach's) realm to blogpost about beer selection.

Kroll Report 9

Sorry for the delay. I thought I would take the opportunity to share some of the pictures from home my family has been sending me. I certainly appreciate the pictures, but every one I receive makes being away a little more difficult. Most of the pictures I get are from my mom and most of them are pictures of  either my niece or my nephew. I also get a lot of pictures from our family friends from Alabama of their little girl, who has quite the little spark in her.

This is Little Man. He is quite the little helper and knows how to get what he wants. His name is Caden and is the son of my 25-year-old brother. He was born about 7 weeks early but is obviously growing without any problems. I love and miss him very much.

Natali a couple of days ago. She helped my mom and big brother,  Jason, pick her outfit for the day. Uncle Mark would usually disapprove, but since Natali chose the outfit it is the cutest outfit ever by default.

Natali is a Broncos fan. She kind of has to be.

Natali is the daughter of my oldest brother Jason who is 28. She is spoiled like a princess should be. Every time she does something wrong and is told "no", all she does is look at you and laugh, as if to say, "I'm too cute for you to do anything to me." She. like her cousin, walk all over the rest of us. 

These are my brothers. A whole lot to brag about. Haha. Beau, 25, is on the left laying on Jason, 28. Aren't they just the cutest. They just got done watching the Bronco game. Probably not far from the couch is a dirty plate that wasn't taken back to the kitchen. Gotta love the brothers. 

This is our family friend's daughter's softball team, the Pink Sox. Jenna is the one furthest to the right in the first row. She is only 6 and playing on the 8 year old team. The team got 2nd in the state and Jenna went 2-2 in the championship. In trying to teach her tennis this past summer, Jenna innocently hit the ball over the fence multiple times. 

Here's Jenna with the trophy!

I go home in less than two weeks and could not be more excited. Our family has been blessed with phenomenal news recently which will make seeing them that much better. Being away from them has been positive and being away from them has been good. I have had to rely on myself and my new friends, but being back in my home and back in Colorado will be much needed. I seriously can't wait. 

Love you, family.