Post Christmas Wrap Up

It was a good christmas at the Thorpe family household. I got some nice gifts from my family and some really cool ones from my girlfriend Emily. We even had some snow left on the ground from the few inches we got that week before. Whats this, a somewhat white Christmas in Texas??

It was nice having a few days off from work. And as a bonus, when i came back to work this past Tuesday, I realized I only have a short 3 day work week this week because we're off Friday for New Years Eve. How cool.

It hasn't been a too eventful week, but I figured I had to post something about the holidays.

Toto, We're Not in Texas Anymore!

It seems to happen at least once a year here, and yesterday it did. I woke up to a snow covered landscape! It was great, giant flakes were falling and gave us about 4 inches of snow cover by the time it was done! Around 3pm the snow died down, but I could tell the temps were falling. About an hour later, more snow began to fall! Moving around during the day made me feel like I was back in Chicago. I had my heavy coat and gloves on, scraping off my windshield and having to drive slow over the side roads. It was awesome! haha By the time I left my buddy Doug's place at night, temps were definatly in the 20's and things were really freezing solid. This must have been the cause for all the wrecks I passed as I drove home. You see, most Texans dont have a clue how to drive when snow and ice hits the ground. It seems like their theory is, "If I drive really really fast, I'll just glide over the snow". Yeah... you will, and into anyone stopped infront of you!!
Anyhow, I took a picture with my camera phone from my back porch. You can see the size of the large flakes as they started to fall yesterday morning. And as a bonus, its still below freezing out today so the snow isnt melting away! Woo Whoooo!!

Roger Wilco!

Yesterday was paintball Sunday and time to finally test out our new Foxfire Paintball Tactical Throat Mic's. These nifty little devices fit like collar around your neck, with a sensor like pad resting on the side of the adams apple on the throat. This pad picks up vibrations from the throat to transmit, without picking up any background noise. You also can talk very quietly and still be heard by the other person you're talking to.

On this day, Ken and I were the only ones to have them with us. So we figured we'd give it a test by playing me and him against the other two guys playing that day. To say the least, it was a slaughter! haha Being able to communicate with your team from anywhere on the field was a HUGE advantage over the other team without comm's. Ken and I were able to quickly out flank and ambush the the team with ease. While he laid down in some heavy brush near a creek and watched the other team patrolling for us, he would radio to me their exact position and direction of travel. I was able to work my way behind them and set up our ambush. On a verbal que, Ken and I opened fire on them. Confusion and panic took over. Mark, not knowing where all the fire was coming from, ran into a position between Ken and myself to take "cover". He was quickly hit and eliminated. His teamate, Courts, also paniced. He fired a few shots at me and took off running the other direction for cover. He dove inbetween an old matress that had been propped up for cover and a large tree. I quickly radioed Ken his position and we re-positioned ourselves to advance from both sides of him. This is where it became rather comical. Now keep in mind, Ken and I have paintball guns that fire almost fully automatic. Courts' on the other hand is a semi-auto gun and sometimes malfunctions when he tries to fire too fast. So he is sticking his gun around the corner of the tree and over the matress, firing blind shots in our general direction. All Ken and I see is an arm reaching around a tree with a gun firing up into the trees and into the ground. We are firing paintballs at him in a steady stream. If he was to even peak around the tree, he'd be hit. Suddenly, I hear his gun jam and he starts fidling with the bolt trying to get it to fire again. I quickly step wide around the tree and fire off a fast 6 shots at him. They almost all hit him, starting at his leg and running up his body to his shoulders. Instead of yelling hit, Courts just slumps against the tree and slides down it to the ground. I assume he was hit.

It was a fun day of paintball despite only being the 4 of us. The throat mics worked great and I cant wait to use them on a full field of players.

Gear Talk

I almost forgot to discuss the hiking gear I was testing out on this last camping trip. As I gather up the gear needed for use on the Appalachian Trail, I'm trying to get it all tested first before I get out there and things fail.

First item on the list was the Coleman Sleeping bag Compression bag. The idea behind this item is to take that large, warm sleeping back and compress it down to a managable size for carrying on a backpack. So, I roll up my sleeping bag and begin to cram it into what seems like a nylon bag that is a bit too small. After a few minutes of stuffing, I fit it in! Now all I had to do was wrap the 3 nylon straps around it to finalize the compression. This is where this product turns to crap. As I lace each strap thru its buckle and pull, I hear a snapping sound and a small piece of plastic goes flying into the air. The PLASTIC buckle isnt nearly strong enough to withstand the force of the straps once tightened. So I ended up using an old fashion half knot to keep things snug. It worked, but not like advertised. I give this item a 5/10. I expected better quality from Coleman camping gear.

Second item were these little white cubes that are advertised to either power heat to a one burner stove, or to help start camp fires. They are about $5 for 12 per box. They claim the cubes will burn at 1400 Degrees F. for 15 minutes. I didnt have the one burner stove so I just wanted to use them to help start our fires. When we had our firewood gathered and stacked correctly in the Tee Pee style, I inserted the small white cube into the base of our wood and lit it. Not only did it burn easily, but it quickly lit our campfire! It was just about the easiest campfire ive delt with in a while. Product rating, 10/10! I'll be carrying these on many future campouts.

Both products tested on this trip were useful. But only one really excelled. Try them out yourself when camping. The compression bag was helpful and keeping a large sleeping bag managable. But the plastic buckles were a disapointment. The fire cubes were great though!

A No Show

I say a "no show" as was my Tuesday night Division A soccer team last
night. Physically we were there. But we played like we mentally
weren't. Poor passing, lack of hustle and overall sloppyness cost us
the game 4-2. Hopefully we can rebound next week and get back on
track. This wasn't the way I wanted to start defending our league
title from last season.

Here is a picture of the restaraunt Meers, taken with my phone camera (mentioned in the post below). I highly recommend it if you are ever up in the Wichita Mountains!

Hide the Food and Zip Up the Door!

Saturday morning was the big day. For a month Craig and I had been planning a campout in the Wichita Mountains. We would be staying in a campground called Camp Doris, which sits low in a valley between two mountains, near a small lake. I spent three days planning and packing to make sure I had everything I needed. We had a group of four going... myself, Craig, his girlfriend Becci and Brotha James. We would be making the three hour drive North to South Central Oklahoma for this short adventure.

Although we were supposed to meet up at 9am sharp, Craig and Becci were almost an hour late getting to the meeting point. I knew this would make things tight since it gets dark so early and we had so much to do still. But once they got there, we were on our way. Two hours later, we were in Wichita Falls Texas to pick up Brotha James. He rode in my car and we communicated with walkie-talkies between cars.

We arrived in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge around 1:30pm. We stopped at Mt. Scott for a quick tour and some photo Op's, then it was off to Camp Doris to claim a camping spot. Four miles down the road we rolled into the front gate and found a camp site towards the back of the campgrounds near a small lake. It was perfect; no one around us, a lake infront of our tents and clear skies overhead. We quickly had our tents set up and began collecting firewood for our firepit. This was our first obstacle. The campground had almost been picked clean of anything worth burning. So Craig and I jumped into his Jeep and took a drive around to see what we could find. We quickly hit the gold mine! We came across an empty campsite where someone had left a pile of neatly stacked and cute logs. Large ones too! We loaded up all we could in his Jeep and headed back. Around 5:30pm we started the fire and began cooking our food. Diner was rather simple, we cooked hotdogs and had chips and juice on the side. Becci brought pears and they were juicy and delicious! After dinner, Brotha James broke out graham crackers, marshmellows and chocolate bars to make Smores with. That was a great dessert!

The rest of the night we spent gathering some more firewood and hanging out at the fire telling stories and talking. Occationally we would hear people yelling and talking. This was coming from another campsite about 200 yards from ours. A group of boyscouts had set camp and were getting rowdy as it got dark. A bit later we start to hear loud "ku-plunks" out in the water. We figure its the kids throwing large, bowling ball sized rocks into the lake. So we thought.

Around 10pm the fire was dying down and we all decided to call it a night and head to our tents. This is where the night began to get interesting. First off, on a funny note, I had seen the forecasts and seen that the temperature was going to drop into the upper 30's later that night. I came prepaired with warm clothes, thick sleeping bag and an extra blanket. My tent mate, Brotha James, did not. James being a person who stands 6'5", brought a sleeping bag made for a child. Once in it, it barely came up past his shoulders! HAHA! He also forgot to bring his pillow and didn't bring any other warm clothes. I instructed him on how to make a pillow by stuffing a shirt with extra clothes and tieing it off at both ends. This seemed to be working for him as he began to dose off. I sat up with the lantern on, reading a magazine until I got sleepy. About 20 minutes later I turned off the light and layed my head down to drift off. I could feel the cold air moving in off the lake and the temps begining to drop. I got in my sleeping bag and pulled the blanket over the top of it to help insulate me. I turned off the light and lay quietly listening to the wind in the trees. Thats when I hears a high pitched chattering noise. I quickly recognized this as the sound racoons make when talking to eachother. But its not a loud sound, which means they are close to our camp site! I wasnt worried because we had made a special effort to hide all trash and food from dinner. The chattering noise stops and I began to hear leaves crunching, clearly something walking thru them from the left of our campsite. So I knew the racoons were getting braver now that the fire was gone and we were out of site. Suddenly I hear those loud "ka-plunks" again in the lake. But this time its over at the shore where our camp borders! I knew this wasnt kids playing this time. And it wasnt a fish jumping, this was something heavy hitting the water hard. A few minutes later, our group is awoken by a large pack of yelping coyotes chasing something just across the lake cove we are at. It was loud and clear and they were close! I really liked that because it was exciting to hear them do their nightly routines with us out there. These noises continues all night. I woke up a couple times to the sound of brush crunching and limbs snapping just outside our tent. But surprisingly, I wasnt a bit worried. Its just the little night animals doing their thing. My only concern was a larger animal like a deer or buffalo getting spooked and accidentally running into our tents. But odds are thin that would actually happen.

By midnight it was really feeling cold. I was so glad I had brought the clothes I did. I was now sunk down into my sleeping bag, with the blanket pulled up over my head and tucked into my pillow on top. I had created a warm cocoon. Brotha James on the other hand wasnt fairing so well. I kept hearing him say things like, "I cant feel my toes!", or "Im so cold, my nose is frozen!" I would just respond with, "Man, Im sweating over here." LOL He wasnt amused. As morning came, Craig and Becci had an intersting event happen. They are just laying there when they hear a rather larger animal sniffing around the edge of their tent. Becci was a little un-nerved, but stayed cool. Most likely it was a couple curious coyotes.

Everyone got up and we had a light breakfast, then packed up the camp. After all our stuff was up, we went for a hike climbing a nearby mountain. There was no actual trail up the mountain, so we just made our own. The mountain was mostly granite rock also. The only problem was the wind was blowing at gusts of 40mph! This was the strongest wind id ever been in up there. As we got higher on the mountain, the wind became so strong merely standing up straight was almost impossible. When we got to the last ledge before the top of the mountain, the wind was so strong that Becci and James decided to find a crevase to take shelter in while Craig and I climbed the last leg to the summit. I stepped up on to the highest rock and was almost blown off my feet. I wish I knew the exact speed of the wind because Id guess it was close to 60mph.

After the hike, we came back, got cleaned up and went to the famous Meers restaraunt for burgars and onion rings. Meers has been open since 1901 and is built into the side of a hill. It defines "rustic". After lunch we headed back down to Wichita Falls to drop off James and make our way back home. Three hours later I was back home and getting cleaned up. It was an exciting, fun and exhausting trip. I cant wait till the next one! I took lots of pictures and hope to have them up on thorpeland.com soon! Hopefully next time Emily can go. She had to work that day which kept her from going. :( So now that gives me a reason to plan another trip. hehe

Worth Mentioning

A few weeks back I posted news concerning my buddy Roger and the new job he took in Kabul Afganistan. Well he's been posting to his blog and his stuff is fairly interesting. Have a look at it. Its some interesting reading!

http://rogerskabul.blogspot.com

"It Could Very Well Save Their Lives From Negative Orgone!!"

Remember how the famous boxing promoter Don King used to get up on the podium and be know for putting his filthy rich hands up in the air and yelling, "Only in America!"? Well now I am convinced to how right he was. Take for example, my good buddy Rodney. Rodney is an interesting fellow, to say the least. He's one of my work buddies and biggest conspiracy theorist I know. But thats a different story.

Rodney recently started up his own side business called "Spiritual Stew" and after extensive research into what lengths some people will go to buy good health and happiness, has come up with a product to deliver such wishes. I present to you the "Orgone Vril Radionics Prana Pyramid Generator + FreeCD". I have provided a link to his auction at the bottom of this blog post. You have to finish reading first, to truly appreciate and beleive the scope of this endeavor.

Now, Rodney himself is a bit of a spiritualist in his own off beat ways. But don't kid yourself, he in no way believes in the healing, faith-providing powers these pyramids are known to provide. He simply keeps building them at home and selling them on Ebay with a smile. And thats the kicker... they are ACTUALLY selling!! One for as high as $75. While other websites rip people off with pyramids priced as high as $125, Rodney offers believers value and quality. Yes, im also shaking my head at the people buying these.... home decorations. When asked what word he would use to describe his customer base, he quickly replied... "dumbasses". Yet the funniest of all things is his auctions don't lie about what it is. He clearly posts, "DISCLAIMER: All radionics instruments are to be used for experimental purposes only; no claims are made. It is not intended to replace a doctor's care in any way shape or form". But they are still selling! This thing is nothing more than a plastic 3 inch high pyramid, filled with steel BB's on a bed of crushed rock! Some would call Rodney a scammer. But its hard to call someone a scammer when they tell you up front what your buying. Only in America Rodney, only in America...

THE LINK ---> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5524837696&ssPageName=STRK:MESO:IT

Wearing the Crown

What has been denied to my Tuesday night soccer team, was achieved last night. We won the "A" Division championship game against our tough opponents, the dreaded 5 time champion, IMEG. It was the toughest game played all season for our team but we fought back from being down 3-2 with only 3 minutes left in the game. Now, read on for the play by play.

The game started out with IMEG scoring first and early. My first thought was, "oh no, here we go". Luckily our team woke up after that and we began to defend our net better. We also began to put together somewhat of an attack. About midway thru the first half, I made a run down the sideline for a thru-ball. Their keeper was quick to come off his line to collect the ball. I started to turn and head back downfield to defend, but suddenly he rolls the ball out to his defender just 5 feet from me! I quickly charged at the defender as they recieved the pass. A well timed tackle and I had stolen the ball! The keeper was still off his line so I hit a quick shot hoping to score. The ball was just wide and bounced off the wall. Lucky for me, the rebound came back out at center goal and had bounced around the scrambling keeper. I met the ball in stride and carefully shot it into the net with the outside of my right foot. Goal!! Tie game, 1-1.

A few minutes later, IMEG struck again. A defensive miscue left one of their forwards open. He met a perfectly placed pass on the back side of our net and despite several of my teams defenders collapsing in on him to stop the shot, he scores, making it 2-1. He pulled himself out of the pile of people on the ground and jogged back high-fiving his teammates. Time was running out in the first half, but we figured only being down by a goal to them at half time was great. Suddenly our goalie steve, who had just made a nice save, throws a long ball down the field to an on running Tyler. The ball took a high bounce and the IMEG keeper charges out of his goal to make the save. Tyler leaps up and flicks a header right past the on-rushing goal tender. Goal!! The buzzer sounds and its 2-2 at the half. This was great!

The second half starts and both teams come out playing fast and aggressive. I could tell IMEG really wanted to step up the pressure on us, hoping to open the flood gates with a few quick goals. But we held strong, stopping shot after shot. Our passing wasnt as pretty as theirs, yet we seemed to get the ball down to their end and get our share of chances. There had been a number of hard fouls already, everyone was tackling the ball and the other players hard. Then again, a series of quick passes and finding a defensive mismatch and IMEG had scored again. It was now 3-2, with time running out.

Now the clock seemed to be counting down faster than ever. We were down by a goal and they were begining to kill time off the clock. Finally we began to really press our attack. Partially because the dropped back into a defensive shell. Suddenly out of nowhere, one of our defenders (I cant remember his name at this moment) steals the ball about 15 yards from their goal. He quickly spins around a fires a low hard shot that beats their keeper in the low right side of the net. The score is tied 3-3!! Just 1 minutes left on the clock.

Quickly, IMEG came out of their defensive shell and went on the attack. We dropped everyone back to defend and blocked a series of shot as they went desperatly for the win. I was coving the right side of the field when their midfielder crossed the ball over to the forward on that side of the field. I ran at the striker to cover him but right as i get there, he hits a one time shot at our goal. My outstretched right foot catches part of the ball and redirects is straight up into the air. I shield off the forward then spin around a volley the falling ball out of the air and down the field, safely from our net. With seconds left, they quickly bring the ball back down the field for one last attack. Again they couldnt get thru to our goal and the final buzzer sounded, ending the game in a tie. This means it was on to a penalty shootout!

IMEG's 1st shot: Steve stops the shot!
U Wish 1st shot: I fake a hard shot, freezing the keeper then put an accurate shot to the far post for our first goal! 1-0.
IMEG's 2nd shot: Steve stops the shot!
U Wish 2nd shot: Rocky tries to put the ball thru the keepers legs, but he saves it.
IMEG's 3rd shot: Steve stops the shot easily!
U Wish 3 shot: Cody tries to go wide and then flick it over the keeper head. He easily stops it.
IMEG's 4th shot: Their top player quickly touches the ball to his left and blasts it into the net. 1-1, tie game.
U Wish 4th shot: Tyler does almost the exact same thing. Pushes the ball left and uses his natural left foot shot to power one home. 2-1! IMEG must score on their last shot or its over.
IMEG's 5 shot: Their player pushes the ball wide right and blasts a shot. Not a problem for Steve, he easily blocks it away.

ITS OVER, WE WIN!!! Champions!!

As mentioned in the Post below, here's a phone cam shot from a night out at Kirks place. It was fun times and good food with the guys! I dont like card games, but still had a blast and a lot of laughs!

Pass the Turkey

I haven't had the chance to post in a few days because of the recent Thanksgiving holiday. So I'll rewind a bit for review. The Monday before Turkey day, my buddy Dan flew in from L.A. for a visit with family and friends. I picked him up at the airport, like usual. From there, we drove out to the Hooters resteraunt in Lewisiville. He was craving to go since there is not a Hooters near him in L.A. He's a big fan of their greasy chicken wings. I can eat them on occation, but not very often. I took him home around midnight and I was headed home to crash, since it was still a worknight.

Wednesday came and the end of the work week was here! Gotta love a 3 day workweek. I dont know why but that 3 day week felt like a 6 day work week for some reason, I guess because of the anticipation.

Thursday morning it was off to the parents house for the big meal. We had a bit of a light turn out this turkey day. It was just me, my brother Courts and mom & dad. Macey was sick from something so didnt make it there until after the meal. Emily headed down to see her family, but lucky for me she came back the next day. :) Shortly after we finished eating at my families house, I packed up a bunch of leftovers and headed south again to my home. Not a very eventful Thanksgiving Day, but a fun one.

Saturday night my buddy Kirk held a little get to gether at his place out in Allen, TX. Dan and I headed WAY up there to Kirks house for some burgers and poker. Although I have a strong dislike for poker, or card games in general, I was the official "dealer" of the night. It at least kept my interest and kept me being social at the table with everyone. Also in attendance were my buddies Dustin and Robin. I dont get to see these goofballs very often, so its always good for a night of laughs. I dont even know who won the game of poker, but I had a lot of fun just eating and lauging with these guys I hadnt see in so long. Kirk did make the announcement that he and his girfriend Jennifer, who was there helping with things, recently got engaged. Congrats to Kirk!! I hope things go much better for you this time buddy. :)

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Emily and I went out and started our Christmas shopping. Which I actually enjoy because while im out shopping, I keep getting ideas for things I need. haha So far Ive got my dad and brother checked off my present buying list. This is actually the earliest ive ever started shopping. Perhaps I'll actualy get everyone a decent gift this year? lol

He Shoots a Perfect Game!

Yesterday (Sunday), was the seasons first paintball game out in the woods for me and some of my buddies. At first it looked like we werent going to be able to play. It rained all night and was still drizzling outside when morning arrived. But after talking to all the guys, they were gung ho and ready to play. We all arrived at that game field and suited up in our cammo's and gear. This was the first time I was getting to try out my new paintball gun, a Tippman Custom 98. As I took my gun out of my gear back to show Ken, he noticed something I was unaware of. He immediatly says, "Oh, you have a response trigger!". Upon further inspection he was correct. Whoever sold this gun on Ebay didnt know this item had been upgraded or they would of tacked on $80 to the original price! What a response trigger does is pretty much turn the gun from a semi-automatic paintball gun to FULL automatic. :) I was ready to play now.

There were six of us so we divided up into teams of three and headed off to our starting bases. We were playing "elimination", meaning the goal was easy... shoot everyone who's not on your team. It didnt take long for the action to start. We were walking down a trail spread out about 15 feet apart, looking and listening for signs of the other team. All of a sudden, I hear the pop of a paintball gun and the hiss of a paintball narrowly missing me! I hit the groud for cover while Ken and Paul return fire into an area of thick brush near a creek. I dont think they could see who was shooting, but only knew the area it was coming from. I stand back up to see one of their team running back up a creek enbankment. I fire a couple shots but he disapears into the foliage. By this point, Ken and Paul had moved down into the creek to engage our enemy. He quickly turns to me and gives me the hand signal to flank back around the trail and come up from the other side. I hustle down the trail to where to bend sharply left and down into the creek. I stop and wait, watching. Suddenly, I hear a loud snap! Then I see movement. I point my gun and fire off a quick 6 rounds. "Im hit, Im hit!!" someone yells. My first "kill" of the day!! Its Chris, Ken's brother. I got him in the butt of all places and he comes out of the brush rubbing his left butt cheek complaining about it stinging. LOL Well, this is what happens when you're shot running away from the enemy. hehe

The rest of my day continues to go this well. I end up tagging out the other two players (Mark and Todd) in the first round... then killing all 3 players on my own again in the second game of the day we played! I finished our third game with only one kill, but went the full day without being shot. Although I had a few very near misses zing by me. My new gun performed perfectly and I played really well. I look forward to the next time we get to play, which will probably be right after Thanksgiving. I will be ready!

Later that day, after paintball, Emily and I met up with my family at the local Red Lobster for my brothers Birthday dinner. The little guy turned 30! I felt bad for Emily because she doesn't eat sea food, but yet when my family wants to do a "family dinner" they will only eat at Red Lobster. Luckily, they have a chicken and rice dinner that she doesnt mind getting. And lucky for me the rice and chicken does not taste like fish from their kitchen, or she wouldnt be a happy camper! :)

Tonight my buddy Dan fly's in from L.A. I pick him up from the airport around 9pm. Im looking forward to seeing him. I havent seen him in months. It should be fun!

It's War

There is a term known to the techie world called "Wardriving". You get in your car with a laptop, equiped with some special network scanning software and you drive around neighborhoods searching for "open" home wireless networks. Once you find one you could connect to the network and surf the internet for free, hack another pc on the internet or wreak havoc on the persons pc who owns the wireless network. You see, new wireless routers such as those sold in Best Buy, Circuit City or even Wal-Mart come out of the box, wide open with security turned off! Most non-techies do not know this. They get their new shiny Linksys home wireless router, come home, hook it up and assume thats all there is too it. Wrong.

To prove my point of how common this is, listen to what I did recently. I was sitting on my couch about to watch some Monday Night Football and I decided to get out my laptop. Its handy to surf the net, check stats and stuff while the game is on. My laptop was taking its time finding my own wireless network, so I had it do a Site Search again to find my connection. I quickly found it and began to authenticate thru the WEP security I have setup. All of a sudden, my software detects 3 other wireless networks nearby. They have to be within 100 feet or so to my location or I wouldnt be picking up their signal. Most of them are fairly weak signals, ranging from 5% to 15% strength. Two of them are named "Default", which means they are still on their default settings right out of the box! And one of them has its name changed to "UcMe". So clever, yet it was still unsecured and open for any public connections! So I thought, I wonder just how many are turned on, unprotected in my apartment complex? I threw on some shoes, unplugged my laptop and decided to take a little walk. I went down the stairs and started walking along the row of apartment buildlings. All of a sudden I now have 8 wireless networks showing up and NONE of them are secured! Incredible... just amazing what these people dont know. I selected the wireless network with the strongest signal and clicked "connect". My wireless network card lights flickered and the software on my screen showed it was working on making a connection. Bingo! I connected to this unknown persons wireless network. If I was up to no-good, I could have begun a very destructive hacking lesson. But I walked on to see how long I could hold the signal. About 15 feet later, it dropped and I lost it. As my friend Craig put it, "Would this be Warwalking"? :) I began to get a bit cold from walking around in a t-shirt and shorts so I headed back to watch my game, happy to know I had proved a point to myself. A secure wireless network pays off!!

As Predicted...

The Cowgirls were routed by the Eagles 49-21 last night, just as I predicted. Ha! I was loving every second of it, while Brother James was hating every second. I was sure to remind him of the score and the highlight plays everytime something happened. I must have sent 45 text messages to his phone with taunting words. He wasnt a happy camper. Awwww... too bad cowgirls.

Showtime!

Tonight is the game ive been waiting for all Football season. The Philidelphia Eagles vs the Dallas Cowgirls (cowboys). Eagles are 7-1 and the cowgirls are 3-5. My buddy James has bet me a lunch on this game. Despite how bad dallas sucks, he insists they will win by 21 points. The Eagles however have scored easily on every team they have played. Kick off has just finished and the game is on. Its showtime. Go Eagles!! I predict a 24 point victory for Philly.

The Fat Lady... Has Sung.

Well, sorta. For the first time in my life I attended a real opera. I promised Emily long ago that I would go with her to one and the chance arose when my friend Craig and Becci asked if we'd be interested. It was an interesting experience and a lot of fun. The evening started with Emily and I meeting at Becci's place in downtown Big D. From there we drove over to Fair Park where the opera house is to get out tickets. We were about an hour early but didnt want the even to sell out. Lucky we did. We got the last group of 4 seats together. They were located way up on the balcony, on the far right. But thats ok, we were in! We go upstairs to take our seats and hang out. Ive learned one thing; the average opera fan must be a tiny person! The seats are so close, that our knees hit the back of the seats infront of us. This later lead to many a cramping legs. But we settled in and showtime neared.

At 7:30 the lights went down and the curtains came up. We were there to see "Carmen". An opera which takes place in Spain, but sung in French with English subtitles scrolling on a screen above the stage. Interesting. I soon learned that the opera Carmen lasts 3.5 hours! Luckily, there are 3 interemission breaks. Whew! Surprisingly once I began to watch the story and follow along, the breaks came quickly. I was very impressed by the singers voices and how loud they could sing... and in French to boot! Most all of the performers were american, except one of the female performers who is from Russia. The set design on stage was very well done. Between acts, they would completely redesign the stage to make it appear to be a totally differnt setting. I was impressed. I guess I had expected the set from a junior high play I was in as a kid. Thank goodness I was wrong. haha

Overall the opera was a very enjoyable evening. My girlfriend Emily looked very beautiful, as it was the first time Id ever seen her in a dress. That sight alone was worth getting dressed up in my suit to go to the opera with her. :) Craig and Becci were dressed up very nice also, but Craig always dressed up the exact same for work. So he loses snazzy points. lol I cant say I'll go again soon to the opera, but I could see myself doing one or two a year. Like my mom said, it does me good to take in some culture. Hhhmm.... I supose mom.

The night before the opera, we caught the new movie "The Incredibles". I'll have to admit, normally I hate those Disney, Pixar... whatever, animated movies. You know, the ones that try to appeal to kids but still squize in some adult humor to keep us awake. But this one was actually very entertaining and hilarious. I caught myself laughing outloud many times during the movie. I was surprised at a couple things. First, the movie was a tad over 2 hours long... with previews. That might wear a little kid out. Secondly, the bad guys in the movie actually get killed. Normally they try to protect children from seeing anything about death in a kids movie, but im glad they didnt try to spare us this time. Anyhow, good movie, 2 thumbs up from Thorpeland!

Last Saturday, before the opera I went on a really fun hike. My brother Courts and I drove up to Lake Texoma and hiked a couple miles of the Cross Timbers Trail. This is a winding trail that follows a ridge running along the lake. It goes thru a series of gorges and hills and was a lot of fun. I hope to go back one weekend and hike the trail further. In total it stretches along 28 miles of the lakes shoreline. I doubt I'll do all that. I got to take some good photos and do some cool exploring. I hope to get some of the pics up on my site or in the blog soon.

Now on to more recent events. All this week ive been driving down to Dallas each morning to attend a class for work. To be more specific, im being "officially" trained in "Novell Desktop Management with Zenworks 4". Yes I know... after merely reading the title you are bursting with excitement. Well its a fairly interesting class. Ive learned a lot and im looking forward to getting back to work next week with my new knowledge. Its kinda cool that my work will send me to these training classes. Normally I couldnt afford to go to them, as this one im in this week cost $6500!

Last Tuesday my Division A soccer team did it again, pulling off a last minute win! This time, I got the assist on the winning goal which was really cool. One of my teamates comes dribbling down the center of the field with me on his right. As the defender comes at him, he dishes it off to me, but another defender was waiting for that pass. He stretches to reach ahead of me and barely tips it away towards the wall. But he trips over my outstretched leg. The referee doesnt blow the whistle though because the ball is headed straight back to their keeper at the side of their penalty box. I charge forward to challange him and I guess he panics. He freezes and the ball bounces off the wall and back to me. I pull the ball back, spin around and knock it to the center hoping my teamate stuck around. I look up and there he is!! The hits him right in stride as he calmly traps the ball with his left foot and flicks it with his right over a diving goal keeper. GOAL!! We hold them off for the last 45 seconds to win, giving us a 5-1 record and a 5-4 win.

This coming weekend is looking like it will be fun. Emily and I are going to catch the movie "Saw" friday night and Saturday my buddy James is coming into town. That night he and I are going to my buddy Eric's ice hockey game and Im going to take some action pictures. Im looking forward to that! Then, Sunday, after having the summer off... PAINTBALL is back! Time to dawn the camo's, assult gear and have some war in the woods. Should be fun!

Incredible!

In a last second grasp, my tuesday night A Division team pulled off an incredible victory over our dreaded IMEG opponents. Normally by the end of the first half we are losing by a couple goals but we fought hard and things were all tied up 3-3 at the mid-point. The first half was an exciting one! Although I didnt get a goal, I had a big part in our 2nd and 3rd tallies. The first of the two goals came late in the first half. IMEG fouls one of our guys right outside the red line on their end of the field, about 12 yards from the goal. They set up a defensive wall to stop the shot but its only 2 of their players in it. Their goal keeper can still see the shot easily to stop it. I take off running in front of him, hoping to screen his view of the play. It worked perfectly! Right as I get infront of him, he reaches out with both arms to shove me out of the way. I look up to see the ball in mid-air on its way to an open net! Goal!!!
On the second goal, IMEG's best player had the ball in their end of the field and was looking to pass it out. Cody, on my team, pressured him so he cut the ball back to dribble away from him. He didnt realize I had snuck up on his blind side and saw him about to turn around towards me. I quickly got a foot in and stole the ball deep in the left corner of their end of the field. I look up to see Cody, now completely unmarked, calling for the ball again. I drop a pass back to him and he easily blasts it home for a goal!

In the second half, they came out attacking. Within a few minutes they got a goal making it 4-3. We began to worry. This is normally when the flood gates open and they score a flurry of goals on us. But we hung in there and fought back. Sahal broke down the right flank and found Rocky on the back post of the goal for an easy pass shot in and a goal! Tied again, 4-4! The game battled back and forth for the rest of the half, until the last minute of the game. They threw everything they had at us. Forwards attacked and so did their defenders. Even their goal keeper had come up to half field to be open for a pass back. We had everyone back defending, blocking shot after shot. Suddenly, with FIVE SECONDS left, Cody steals the ball at the top of our goalbox. He spins around and quickly lobs a deep shot downfield. The IMEG goalie can only watch as the ball sails over his head at midfield. Luckily, the ball lands just inside their red line, avoiding a 3 line fould and the end of the game. The ball bounces over the red line, 3 seconds... bounces again... 2 seconds... starts to roll to a stop.... 1 second.... and slowly crosses the goal line. BUZZZZZZ!!! END OF THE GAME!! GOAL! Our bench clears as we rushed onto the field to pile on Cody. IMEG, disgusted, could barley come out to say good game. Most didnt even leave the bench. This is our first victory over this team in almost 2 years. They have been undefeated in 5 seasons. We know now, we will meet them in the championship game at the end of the season. Im sure they will want revenge badly. We will be ready.

Boo! Happy Halloween to all the gouls, goblins and ghosts out there tonight. Its a rainy, dreary night here in Dallas Texas. Perfect for guys who look like this dude. Ha!

Preparing For Life On The Trail

As plans gear up for a 2005 hike on the Appalachian Trail, I needed a resource to help my team of hikers colaberate and organize our efforts. After searching the web for what I was looking for, I can up empty handed. So, I made my own. Introducing www.hikingmonkey.com . Originally I set up this forum site for myself and the 3 others accompanying me on this adventure. But I thought, why not open it up for all hikers who want a place to share their favorite hiking and trekking spots, stories and gear opinions? So, I extend a welcome to any thorpeland blog readers who want to create a free account on my new site and share their stories and information! Check it out! http://www.hikingmonkey.com