Friday, September 28, 2007

Company Paintball

So I had the most fun I have had in years yesterday, we had a company paintball tournament at crossfire paintball. I believe that we had 24 people show up and we all got rental guns and unlimited ammo.

They had 4 courses at crossfire; speedball, short course with log barriers, short course with plywood barriers, and a 7 acres wooded course. The wooded course was the worst of the 4, they didn't keep that course up at all and it was nothing but heavy brush. The heavy brush included tons of thorns which I crawled through, cutting up my hand and neck.

Speedball was fun, it was a ultrashort course with plastic tubing barriers. You went through a ton of ammo here since you were shooting all of the time, couldn't move much on this course. I ran out of ammo the first time I played this course and ended up picking up paintballs one at a time off the ground and putting them into my gun. Amazingly with one of those ground balls I got Adam right in the head. Also it was a good try when LiLu rushed us in the speed round and was promptly shot over 10 times by 3 of us. Better luck next time.

The other two courses were fun because it was big enough you could run between barriers and have a little more strategy. My favorite course was the plywood barrier because I could actually fit behind the plywood and still see around to shoot.

My favorite round was the final round which was the iron man. If you got shot you just had to go back to the starting point and come back out. You play till you are out of ammo, last team with ammo wins. This is a good round to go all out. In this round I was running between barriers, turned around to slide into the barrier. I didn't get hit but basically went through the barrier ending up on my back which is where I got shot.

Overall it was a great time, I think I shot Adam the most. I got shot most of the time in the head. I wish I had the time and money to play this every weekend.

Some Videos take during:

Particle Board Course (1st Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7160682515785350728&hl=en

Speed Ball (1st Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8045813634081767295&hl=en

Speed Ball (2nd Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2064943413261697333&hl=en

Iron Man

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5737397960163736631&hl=en

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Rain Event 9-20-07/9-21-07

Man what a storm we had on Thursday September 20th. It was a strong thunderstorm; lots of wind, lightening, hail, and rain. When driving home I got within about 5 miles of Sauk Centre and the torrential rain came down. I was driving about 40 mph on I94 and couldn't see anything in around me. Hail was pelting my car and the booming thunder was incredibly loud. Most traffic had pulled over on the shoulder but I kept going because I had to get home.

Once I got into town the streets were flooded, with my little Civic I could feel the water running across the bottom of my car and was just hoping I wouldn't stall out in the street. The home was fine, we are on a big hill so flooding has never been a problem for us. Part of our driveway did get washed away but not too bad. What really shocked me was when I checked my rain gauge. We got over 4 inches of rain!! That is the most rain I remember getting since 2001, lets hope that this storm will mark a new more generous precipitation cycle. I would love ton of snow.

 

Vikings Game 3 - Lose (13-10)

Here we go again, looks to be a tough season for the Vikings. Not like this is news to most Vikings fans. While we all hoped the Vikings would come out and shine most of us knew already in the off-season that this would be a tough year. The Vikings don't really have any offensive stars to take the team to the top of the division. Peterson continues to look great but can't pull all of the load himself, Chester Taylor is still hurt which is a big blow to the offensive.

Jackson was hurt and out this week, we had to go with a backup QB in Holcomb. Holcomb looked pretty good in the 1st quarter but like the rest of the Vikings team got worst throughout the game. The Vikings really looked like they would pull this one out until the 4th quarter. Classic Vikings, play 3/4ths of the game and give it up in the end. I would say that I would put my hopes on Holcomb any day over Bollinger.

If the Vikings want any chance to not finish the season in last place in the NFC Central they need to get healthy. Already after week 2 injurys were everywhere on the Vikings team. Both major offensive and defensive major players were hurt. This is also a classic Vikings problem, they are always hurt. I am keeping my blog entry about this game a little shorter because it really isn't worth talking about.

This coming week is the 1st meeting of the Packers and Vikings for the year. I am not very positive about what is going to happen, the Pack is hot this year and everyone seems hurt on the Vikings team. You never can tell though, when the Vikings and the Packers meet all rules go out the window.

Go Vikes!

 

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Vikings Game 2 - Lose (20-17)

So what a disappointing game this weekend for the Vikings. I think this is one of the sloppiest games I have seen. Not only did the Vikings have 5 turnovers, but the Lions had 5 turnovers as well. No it wasn't rainy or muddy, it was just a worthlessly played game.

Jackson was at fault for more of the turnovers on the Vikings side, he was trying to force the ball into dangerous places and got burned numerous times. When had had time and took his time he was throwing great passes but was also trying to make things happen when they weren't there.

I am not sure what the offensive game plan was for Sunday and why they went that way. We have a running back in Peterson who had over 160 all purpose yards in week one and they hardly used him this week. Seemed like we tried to put the entire game on Jackson's shoulders and as we all saw he isn't ready for that.

Our defense looked ok, they had a hard time with the starting QB and their no huddle offense. The Vikings had opportunities to win the games but after the game they played didn't really deserve it. Jackson got hurt in OT and Bollinger came out to play, this sealed the game for the Lions. Bollinger is the most worthless backup QB out there, he was worthless last year and this year is not better. The couple of passes he had were wild and ended up dropping a snap for the last turnover that nailed the coffin shut.

It doesn't appear Jackson was hurt bad and will be back in next week, hopefully so will Chester Taylor. I think if the Vikings are going to have any chance this year they need both Chester Taylor and Peterson healthy and in the game. Let the running game control the pace of play they have Jackson pass when he can. Jackson isn't ready to take all the load of the team and we don't have anyone else who can.

Our division is looking tough this year and the Vikings will have to fight to stay off the bottom. Lions have a high powered offensive this year. Packers have a great defensive this year and the Bears are back with their great defensive as well. Hopefully things will be better next week.

Go Vikings!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Fall is Here

So fall is here in Minnesota once again, I love fall, I think it is the best time of the year. I do not like the days of 90s in Minnesota, I know compared to a lot places in the US and the world 90s isn't that hot but in Minnesota it is plenty hot. I like the cold, in fact in the dead of winter I enjoy the -30 degrees days (I don't like paying for heating my house) it is kind of a pride thing, being a Minnesotan and going on day to day in that kind of cold. I won't get on my soap box about Minnesotans who don't like winter, maybe another time.

Back to fall, this morning it was a nice crisp 34 degrees at my house. Perfect fall morning where it will get into the upper 60s maybe 70 during that day. Doesn't get better than that. This year we had well over 30 days over 90 in Central Minnesota and the average is closer to 13 days over 90. The past few years we have been well over the 13 days of 90s every year. Also throughout the year it has been warmer including winters.

We have had well below normal snow fall in Central Minnesota since at least 2001, ends up just being gray and cloudy for November and December. I am hoping for a fall that stays around where it is now for September and into October. Hopefully November will bring early snowfall which I doubt and maybe we can have more of a normal snowfall year this year.

I am hoping for at least 1 foot of snow for Christmas, hasn't even been close in recent years.

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Monday, September 10, 2007

Minnesota Vikings Win Season Opener

Well the Vikings are 1-0 after this weekend. I would have to say in pretty typical form the Vikings defense won the game for them again. Last year the only way the Vikings could score points was with there defense.

The defense scored 14 out of the Vikings 24 points yesterday and overall looked pretty good. The defense had there good and bad moments they can improve but did well enough for us to win the game.

The offence for the Vikings wasn't great but was better then pretty much any game last year. They moved the ball pretty well, Travaris Jackson was throwing well and scrambling well for his first season opener start. When the pressure was on him he could have made some better choices and his receivers could have caught the ball better but they really showed promise for later in the season.

Running back Adrian Peterson in his first NFL game looked damn good, he had the only Offensive touchdown of the game and looked like he had great vision and speed. It really is too bad that Chester Taylor had to get hurt already because him and Peterson could have made a great one-two punch in the running game. Peterson stepped it up though to fill in for the injured Taylor by rushing for over 100 yards in the game.

Back to Travaris Jackson, he seemed to keep the offence going when his running game seemed in jeopardy. I think Jackson is the future of this team or at least has the potential to be.

I will say this only in the season's first post, all last year I said Johnson is washed up and we need to put in Jackson. This did not happen until the end of the season last year and because of it we had one of the worst offences in the league last year. Already in the first game of the season Jackson had a better game than all of last year for Johnson. Go Travaris Jackson!

 

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