counting chickens

photo from countdown for no. 78, all the way back in june.

because it's a bye week for west virginia, i'm left to pick over remains of the past four weeks.

took a moment to check on my buddy paul myerberg over at usa today to re-read his preseason ranking of my mountaineers.

in the process, i discovered that a) he does not tweet everything he writes and 2) he's been keeping up his tradition of re-ranking the 128 teams from his original list as the season goes on.

way back on 24 june, he had us at no. 78.

after our loss to alabama, he bumped us up 8 spots to no. 70. (must've agreed it was a good loss.)

then we beat 2013 fcs runner-up towson in the way you're supposed to beat a division ii team and he moves us to no. 64.

we win a nail-biter in college park to take down maryland with great offensive stats and bend-but-don't-break defense. we took this one rather than back into it as we've seemed to do in close games the past few years. myerberg responds by advancing wvu by 11 to no. 53.

then we just get worn down by what has to be the best squad in the country in a defeat to oklahoma. clint trickett makes some untimely mistakes while still putting up impressive numbers and the defense doesn't quit. up now to no. 45.

and then there's this, which made me chuckle and appreciate our new conference-mates after today's results:

So WVU > Maryland > Indiana > Missouri > South Carolina > Georgia So WVU > Sec East
— Matthew Gaylor (@MatthewGaylor) September 28, 2014

this may be the next test for dana hologrsen as a head coach: keeping the boys from reading the press clippings and focused in advance of a home game against a team we have no business losing to.

and, yeah, i'm probably cursing us in advance of a game that should start padding our conference record, but i have faith the ship is righting itself. (a double whammy if ever i heard one. after all, i remember writing this.)

four weeks in

and my mountaineers are 2-2. i'll go ahead and say a handful of breaks here and there and we're 4-0. but as i've been saying all day, we needed those breaks against two of the top four teams because we simply do not have the horses to not execute well and still win games. (one day. and maybe not that far away.)

and just because i monday morning quarterback, i look over the smoldering wreckage after losses and  look for valuables i can salvage.

here, i read that our boys last night displayed "a level of performance that would beat 80-90% of the teams in college football," which would have been great if we hadn't been playing the top 10 percent.

and, "If the Mountaineers play the rest of the year the way they have this first month of the season, they will win a bunch of games."

barring injury and mental breakdowns, i'm going to predict here we only lose one more game, tops, the rest of the year. so there. i've cursed us.

he's actually looking at the camera for pictures these days.

anyway, got to enjoy a weekend with the boy and his godmother. these night games still find him loopy and ready to go home in the first half, but he manages to keep his shit together until he konks out. (no screaming in the night, either.)

he did start getting into the spirit of the game in his own way. "you girls, go jump into the stadium!" seemed to have some sort of menace as a cheer.

he also did yell "let's go mountaineers!" and i taught him how to say "de-fense." so it's a start.

(and, um, he sat through his first "eat shit, pitt" chant after the pitt loss to iowa went up. on the plus side, he did so without picking up what was actually being said, which i'm sure his mama is grateful for,)

a do-over from the unpleasantness of the last visit.

he was pretty good in church and was proud to not spit on his godmother when we took a picture — which he asked for after mass, i suppose to show how he was going to be good. if the light were better or if the phone had a better flash, it would be a much nicer picture.

anyway, that was our weekend.

week in pics

everything just right.

it finally got chilly this week. a little later than usual, i think. monday, slept with two blankets and it was a deep, deep sleep. my favorite part about fall.

i like this shot because of the mottled texture in everything and the contrast of the autumnal reds and yellows against the gray paint in the porch.

one man's trash.

this might look like a bag of garbage, but it could be, as kris said, a life-changing development. in addition to now offering single stream recycling — ie, no longer separating our metal from plastic from paper — we can also toss cardboard into the bag for curbside pickup.

now it may not mean much to you, but the cardboard piles up pretty fast in our house between trips to recycling center. not having that to clutter up the house on a weekly basis is a wonderful, time-saving service. and it all started this week.

hoodie, part i.

in the interest of fairness — partially because of a paucity of marshall university garb in our house — i took advantage of the cooler weather to dress the boy in a marshall jacket for school this week.

he really wouldn't stand still for a good shot — a phone glitch at the moment, where i can't actually use the camera and use a photo app instead (don't ask how i do it) — and i wound up with this, where he remained motionless long enough for me to snap something.

i like that it makes him look pensive and reflective, but really, he was just trying to tie the straps of his bookbag together.

as a p.s. — kris says that today, he actually sounded out the signage here. they were driving through kanawha city when she realized she was listening to the boy say, "i want to go to 'b-ah-m-s."

the little monkey was actually sounding out a word using his letters. this is what he was looking at:

You guys, Boom's is open. pic.twitter.com/KYu4c8FJOr
— Matt Murphy (@DMLocalGov) September 18, 2014

he's turning into a person.

(kris also said she was making an extra effort this week to not raise her voice to the boy. she figured if she wouldn't yell when frustrated at him, he wouldn't yell or otherwise act out when he got frustrated in general. five days in, it seems like progress. hopefully, actually listening and doing what he is told will follow. i know, i know — one thing at a time.)

 pretty pony tail.

and then there's this pretty thing.

we're all still happy to see the girl's hair has grown out enough to create pony tails and she looked so cute for preschool this week that i needed to get it on film, as we used to say.

she's coming along swimmingly in week three of school. she told her mommy that "i'm not going to cry" when getting dropped off and put up a brave face, determined not to break down.

this week, she didn't even flinch when mommy left. (it helped that another kid was totally losing it both days and drawing the attention of the class.)

also, while she's sent to school with the same gluten/dye-free snacks as the boy, kris informed her teacher that she's ok to eat whatever the class does.

on the first day, however, when her teacher tried to offer the morning snack, the baby wouldn't have it; she insisted on the food her mama packed for her. (that's my girl.)

this held true for the first couple of weeks. and then the teacher produced a package of oreos. needless to say, it was game over that day.

kris figures the baby's acquiescence may have come from watching her cousins noshing on the cookies on vacation or at the lakehouse. must have developed some powerful curiosity there.

hoodie, part ii.

and this is my godson, wearing the birthday present i sent him. already looks like a teenager. my brother assures me he's fond of west virginia u gear. which makes me happy, of course. (it's also probably the last thing i'll ever buy at our local sporting goods store before they close. i got him lots of birthday presents there.)

wvu lb isaiah bruce's number.

i found this at a tj maxx at a fraction of retail. it was nice because it features the new design that rolled out last year. i found it while looking for a hat or something for the baby and i thought it would be something nice he'd like. (hopefully, this weekend the team will do something to make it popular for him to wear.)

bad time to be swept up in a lesson

press release re battery charge against wvu cb daryl worley.

i suppose, given where we'd prefer to put our priorities, it would take football to finally make society say, "enough's enough."

and, regardless of perception vs reality, this kid's actions show he hasn't been quick to pick up on that message.

some lessons you have to learn the hard way; some you have to keep learning; some you never learn.

as a middle-aged dude, i hope he can overcome his youth and find the maturity to seek and accept the help needed to not treat anyone this way.

and by the way

we actually got to attend mass as a family again. and, again, mama had to go to the gathering space with baby when she wouldn't sit still. oh, well. it's a start. 

exhale

ok. despite a plethora of mistakes that nearly eradicated some record-setting work from our offense, my mountaineers pulled out the win going away. ("a walk-off field goal," the radio guys said.)

another away game, another day to focus on family. probably kept me from losing my mind from all the times we shot ourselves in the foot.

just happy to see the coaches/team keep their shit together and not panic.

i'll just enjoy this for the next day or two. then comes our next test.

curating

just trying to capture the flavor of the start of a promising football season from folks who aren't me and hoping to God i'm not jinxing things.

this i picked up from a recap from my favorite aggregator:

Saw my buddy wearing a Bama shirt. Me: "Just had to wear that shirt huh?" Him: "If y'all could catch the ball, I'd be asking you that"
— Jason Perdue (@jason1040) September 6, 2014

this i probably re-tweeted from the professor emeritus of alabama coverage after it appeared in my feed or someone else re-tweeted it:

A little late but I was very impressed with @WVUfootball Saturday against Bama. Don't tell anyone but I'm a fan from afar.
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 2, 2014

this from another sports guy i follow who has always been a hard grader of my mountaineers:

So -- this is going a little differently than the past few Bama neutral site openers.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 30, 2014

and this from my buddy marcus because i need to remember what our prospects looked like before the season even started:

Once WVU loses in embarrassing fashion to Alabama, I never want to hear it from a WVU fan again that WVU is national championship caliber.
— Marcus Constantino (@amtino) August 29, 2014

also today

drawing of himself in a monster costume.

the boy has been on a tear with his drawings. i love this, but not as much as one he created yesterday. i'll try to get a scan or at least a shot of it tomorrow. it seems to be part of a halloween series inspired by the early autumnal sales/decor at our area retailers.

apple corps

© apple

just taking a moment to jot down the beginning of something. it may be a hit; it may be a flop.

but apple today introduced its new wearable computer that works with its iphone.

listening to my colleagues in the newsroom was kind of like listening to my friends when the ipad was introduced about 4 years ago.

"who wears a watch?"

"i already use my phone for this."

as i recall, the question of the ipad was along the lines of "i've already got a laptop; why do i need this?"

i have a feeling we'll be watching the next step into the future. again.

three pics

a puzzle, this one is.

took the boy to west virginia's home opener this weekend. he was up before dawn and skipped his nap on the drive up. then he stayed up about three hours past his regular bedtime. not a good set-up for the mid-morning sugar crash after sitting still for 10 o'clock mass today.

the hilltop where morgantown st. francis de sales is situated has a lovely, mountainous backdrop. i thought it would be nice to take a photo of the boy and his godmother. long story short, he was balky and uncooperative.

the unfortunate incident.

he took it one step too far, however, once his theatrics devolved to spitting at his auntie joy. rather than apologize, he took swat on the behind in front of everyone in the parking lot. i told him it's hard to say sorry and he was right to feel ashamed to the point of tears for doing what he did. he was left to mull in silence on the ride home.

lunch afterward cured all manner of ills and he kept it together for the drive home. even took a nap.

but ... the night before was a good time.

got to take a bus ride to the stadium. a nice guy in the blue lot gave him a turn to play cornhole. he ate a whole box of popcorn. he shot about a dozen photos with daddy's camera.

football!

finally, he had a fun pic just before we hit the road at the half. he wanted a shot to send to his mommy of his evening watching "football!" slow smartphone notwithstanding, it only took two shots to get it right.

(given his state of mind and the afore-mentioned factors leading into a night game, i decided half a game was better than a whole one compounded by an hour drive to go one mile*. it helped that by the time we left the stadium, we were rolling the way a good team should be rolling against an out-manned squad. i could leave not feeling like i was abandoning anyone.)

next week, we play our barometer game against maryland. if the history of game holds true, it should tell us what kind of team we've got.

* in an odd combination of cheapness and the desire for fast transport with a small boy in tow, i've had to park at the wvu health science center to watch basketball games at the coliseum and at same venue to watch football games at mountaineer field right behind the health science center.

meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

... papaw let the girl take the tractor out for a spin last week.

day one

just shoot it, dad-o.

just for posterity's sake. first day for both my babies to go to school. also, the boy has occasionally taken to calling me "dad-o." wondering if that comes from his gaga and papaw using the term "daddy-o."

little feat.

and here are their shoes for the new school year. not sure how we'd keep our kids clothed without my smart-shopping, coupon-clipping wife or my sibs who pass along their gently used hand-me-downs from their kids. thank the Lord for them all.

keep playing

work in progress. magic island labor day 2014

"keep playing," he said to his sister as they ran to-and-fro before bed.

it was as if he were trying to squeeze out the last bit of fun out of a long, hard day.

today being an actual day off now that i'm in upper management, i didn't want it wasted in front of the tube or on the couch.

the boy was doing his best to stay active, including crawling all over me as i tried to recover the dregs of a mid-morning nap on the couch.

truth be told, it was pretty annoying. but he's 4 and his sister's taking a nap and his mother's in the shower and he'd been playing indoors for the better part of two hours and needed something to do.

we were supposed to go to the last ballgame of the season for our minor league franchise. but the weather being iffy and the baby being fussy and needing said nap put the kibosh on that.

so kris took the boy out on a drive to look at houses while i had some lunch and caught up on the papers.

the day turned out to be pretty nice and we wanted to enjoy the outdoors, so we headed out with vague ideas on how we wanted to spend it somewhere.

luckily the parking was good up from magic island and the city had done a decent job of keeping the goose poop cleared away.

sand drawing, magic island volleyball court.

we watched the kids chase geese and then other kids out at the playground. the boy drew a lovely picture of himself and his sister in the sand of the volleyball court. he then was led kicking and screaming to the car when it was time to go.

into the tub they all went.

supper was easy. kris treated us to the all-american holiday dish of take-out sushi from the celebrity kroger; she made fish sticks and fries for the kids, which they ate "picnic style" on their little table in front of the television for a "thomas the tank engine" movie.

everyone went down after that pretty fast.

but it was the boy's urging of his sister to "keep playing" that kind of put a name on the thing that begins slipping from our grasp beginning tomorrow.

he begins 5-day pre-school this week — that now means no mornings off to drive me crazy until i leave for work. i'll only have him 1 1/2 days a week. and then next year, it's kindergarten all day, meaning i lose that half day.

city kid.

and he'll be taller. too big to be crawling all over me taller. and then he won't be a little boy any more.

right now, when i see him first thing in the morning or on return from work, or someplace without him, i'm a rock star. "daddy!" and he runs over for a hug and to inform me of his latest creation or grand scheme.

used to be the same thing when i'd visit my sister. for the better part of five years, my entrance to her house was always a great occasion.

to her brood, my coming in that front door meant a new face, someone else who can give some attention. i would always brace myself for the greeting stampede of "uncle p!" and the crush of hugs and kisses.

last week, i swung by to pick up a few things and the only people to greet me were my sister and her husband. the kids, now hitting their tween years, were in their own worlds, doing their own things. it was ... different. it was foreshadowing.

so as he's making his mama and me crazy, i should remember the childish antics — if we continue to tamp them down and work to teach him how to be a decent person — will subside.

he'll be less of a wild man then, maybe a little more self-conscious. he'll probably be less manic or obsessed with making secret plans and maps. i hope he never loses his love of extemporaneous singing and dancing.

just for a while longer, i hope he'll keep playing.