Calfgrit8 (he’s 8 now!) is still playing and enjoying soccer. His outdoor fall season just finished up last Saturday with a tournament, (his team came in 2nd). Then he had a make-up game this past Saturday to play a game that had originally been rained out. Interestingly/strangely, the final tournament game (which they lost) was against a team they hadn’t played at all during the whole season. And then the make-up game was against that team again (lost again).

Calfgrit8 is in the yellow shirt, black socks.

His indoor fall season has just gotten started two weeks ago. The league manager put this team in the 10-year-old bracket, much to the chagrin of us parents. CG8’s team averages 8 years old, and the other kids in the 10 bracket average a head taller than our kids. The first game in that 10 bracket had our kids loosing about 1-8. The next game was lost 5-6. Our coaches talked to the league manager to get our kids put back down the 8 bracket, if for no other reason than just out of safety concerns. Two or more kids running into each other can hurt, but when some kids outweigh the others by 30 pounds, our kids can get injured.

Calfgrit8 is in background.

So the next game was back down in the 8 bracket. And our team won 15-2! Most of us parents were actually embarrassed for our kids to cream the other kids like that. The league manager had put our kids in the 10 bracket because their skill was that much better than the other 8 year olds. Now we’re kind of throwing up our hands about what to do. We want our kids in a bracket where they’re challenged with equally skilled teams, but we don’t want to run the risk of one of our kids getting overpowered or hurt by a 10 year old. What to do?

Calfgrit8 is in the yellow shirt, black socks.

Bullgrit

This is the first Halloween in many years that I didn’t even try to “get in the spirit.” I didn’t give any serious thought about dressing up, and the only decorating I did was what I was instructed to do. A couple of weeks ago I hung a big spider web (with a huge spider) across our front porch, but within 24 hours it had blown down. The cotton (or whatever the web is made of) got wrapped around one of the porch columns, and I just let it stay there. I just haven’t felt in the mood for Halloween this year.

But on Halloween afternoon, I started getting in the mood. I left work a bit early to be home and watch the boys get excited. They were talking about what friends they were going to trick or treat with, they planned their neighborhood pattern, and they agreed on what candy they’d trade at the end of the night.

Before it got dark outside we had our first trick or treaters. The youngest children started coming up, and our boys sat out on the porch to watch the sun go down. When the night had arrived, they were excited and anxious and impatient. The got on their costumes, (a mix and match of various masks and robes and capes), and gathered up their friends from around the cul de sac. I put on my coat and went out with them while Wifegrit stayed at our house with her mom to pass out treats to our visitors.

I followed six boys around our neighborhood, with the help of one boy’s mom. They were all very good even though their excitement got the better of them a time or ten. Shouting, running, laughing, bragging, telling me what they got at which house, they were so much fun to watch. The streets were filled with kids all over the place. This year was like what I remember as a kid. Dozens of kids all around, in ones, twos, half dozens, with various moms and dads or both herding little ones or keeping up with the older ones.

It took us about an hour to cover the whole neighborhood, and by the time we made it back around to our house, the crowd had thinned considerably. Some of the boys sat down in our driveway to trade candy. I gave them about 15 minutes and then called my boys in for baths and bed, (it’s a school night). Everyone had fun.

I had wanted to avoid eating any candy that night, but I ended up succumbing to about half a dozen Reese’s Cups and mini Twiks bars. The next morning, the candy called me again, but I held strong. I thought, if I can just get out of the house and at work, I’ll be away from the sweet chocolatey temptations. But when I got to work, and went into the office kitchen to fix some breakfast, I spied this pile of candy on the table:

Oh God! Reese’s Cups! Kit Kats! M&Ms! Crunch! (Butterfingers, bleh.)

Surprisingly, though, I managed to restrain myself from grabbing anything. Then the emails started coming in announcing that extra candy had been put out in other places around the offices. Through the rest of the day I came across more and more candy everywhere. Everywhere! Oh my God! But still, I stood strong and restrained. I managed to not eat a single piece of candy the entire day. By 6:00 when I left work, every candy pile had been picked down to the bare scrubs.

At home, the boys had organized their favorite candies, and Wifegrit had taken and put away anything they didn’t want. Put away in some hiding places that I don’t even want to look for. God help me forget that there is candy somewhere in this house.

Bullgrit

Mom, you should probably skip this post.

Wearing sleeveless shirts with my workouts and running during the summer, I thought about getting a tattoo. I gave it a lot of thought. Then, a few weeks ago, I went for it. What the hell, I’m 45, a grown man.

So check it out:

(That’s my right arm reflected in a mirror.)

I know a tattoo does not make me a badass. It doesn’t make me younger. But I like it, and it’s my body, so I figure if I can take the process, I can get one if I want.

What do you think?

[Edit: It’s a temp tattoo I got while on our Walt Disney World vacation.]

Bullgrit

Since I’ve taken up more running over the summer, I’ve decided I’d like to continue it through the colder months. Well, I’d like to *try* to continue it through the colder months. I hate cold, and I’m not sure I can put up with it while running and sweating. But I’ll try.

To prepare, I started looking at long sleeve performance shirts. These kinds of shirts are supposed to wick away sweat from your skin, which will help keep me from freezing while exercising outdoors. I really don’t know much more about them, but I think they’re supposed to be fairly close fitting. I usually wear a size medium shirt, so that’s what I assumed I’d need when looking at performance shirts.

First I went to Kohl’s to check out what they had. I found a Fila shirt in medium size, and bought it without trying it on. Why try it on? I wear a medium in every other shirt I’ve tried.

Next I went to Target to see what they had. Target had more options for styles, and since I was going to be there longer, I had time to try them on before buying. The first I tried was a medium size mock turtleneck. I couldn’t get my head through the neck hole. Really. I couldn’t even get the damn shirt on my body. So then I tried a regular crew neck shirt in medium size. I could get the shirt on, but it was so extremely tight I feared I would burst the seams just breathing. So then I tried a large size. At least it fit better; skin tight but not near bursting.

I took the two shirts (Fila from Kohl’s, Champion from Target) home to compare.

Here is the Fila brand size medium on me, (this shirt has sleeves that cover the hands, by design):

Now look at how a Champion brand size large fits:

The Fila medium is at least one size too big for me, but the Champion large is skin tight. What the hell? I know there’s no universal size scale but really, companies, who is screwing up here?

Buying pants has driven me crazy for years. Depending on the brand and style, I can wear anything from a 28 to a 31. But pants sizes are pretty specific numbers, so a couple points variation can be forgiven, to some degree. But when shirt sizes of simple small, medium, and large vary so much that a large is very tight and a medium is very loose, that’s just stupid.

Bullgrit