Pumpkin Time
/
Can you guess who did which pumpkin?
Stockton Thunder!
/
Our new October tradition... Stockton Thunder Hockey!
Early last year, when we heard that Stockton's new arena would be home to a minor league hockey team, we were less than impressed. Hockey was never a sport that we followed in our house and it didn't seem to match very well with our warm weather and culture. We were much more excited to be getting Arena Football and Major League indoor soccer.
As the season started to get closer we decided that we wanted to be part of the hype of the new team and went to the second home game. From the moment we walked in the arena we knew this was going to be cool! When the game started we were on our feet, along with 9,000 other Stockton Thunder fans and we have been hooked ever since.
So, tonight we showed up, decked out in Thunder gear, ready to scream our lungs out for our hometown Thunder!
If you're a sports fan and live within an hour of Stockton, you have to check this out! Trust me when I say that hockey is meant to watched live; so many people have the same comment after watching their first game: "I could never get into hockey on TV... but this is awesome!"
What a game! The Thunder start the season 2-0 and right in the middle of the Pacific Division and end tonight's game being the only undefeated team in the ECHL.
The first fight of the night. The Arena went crazy when Huxley (Stockton) knocked Neilson right on his bum.
The Long Beach Ice Dogs scored an early first goal but the Thunder tied it up before the end of the first period (click here for the video from the first goal scored at home this season). The same pattern would continue for the second and third period with Long Beach scoring first and then Stockton getting a goal. The final shot in regulation came from Stockton with only 34 seconds left on the clock. The 5 minutes of overtime passed with no scoring so we were treated to a nail-biting shoot out. We tied throughout the first group of attempts so then we went into sudden death shoot out mode!
After 6 failed attempts by each club, Brendon Hodge slaps one in and the Thunder win a close one!
Congrats Thunder... you rock!
Business Leadership Summit
/Yesterday, Dawn and I attended the 12th annual Business Leadership Summit in Downtown Stockton. After last year’s first one at the Bob Hope Theatre the organizers did a much better job with crowd control, especially during the intermissions. This year’s event featured Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel from Common Ground, Ann Rhoades, former Executive Vice President at JetBlue Airways and President and People Ink. It was her early days at Southwest Airlines that intrigued me the most. She told a story about a woman that really wanted to interview with Herb Kelleher so she sent him a bottle of Wild Turkey (purportedly his favorite) with her resume attached. She got the job.
The internet famous Chris Bliss gave an okay monologue and ended with his amazing juggling to the Beatles.
After hearing Rudy Guliani last year, and former British Prime Minister John Major a couple of years before that, I was a little disappointed to hear that this year’s headliner would be Terry Bradshaw. That disapointment vanished the moment he walked on the stage. Mr. Bradshaw gave an exciting and invigorating speech about his life, his marital problems and his love of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After the summit, Dawn and I walked down to Yasoo Yani’s for dinner. Two things I love about Stockton in one evening.
Hopes & Prayers now on YouTube
/
Due to overwhelming fan outcry, I have finally posted the video for Hopes & Prayers on YouTube (check it out here). Ok, so there are really no fans... but I thought I'd post it anyway. The song was recorded in early 2003 in The Outback. Jason wrote the song, played all of the instruments and sang lead vocals; Rich and Tish sang background vocals and I got to put the whole thing together. I have always thought this was the coolest song I ever worked on... in fact, it is so cool, it needed a video. Enjoy!
You can also view the full quality version of the video here.
I got a chance to visit with Bubba and Megan and the girls last week... what a blast. Check out the pics 
Old Home Movies
/We finally started copying some old videos to DVD for Grace. Here are a couple of highlights from the first tape.
Now, this is a total coincidence that I happened across this shot but the next time someone asks the bros where we learned to do the crazy things we do we can say we learned it from Ma.
Picture 1 - from the top: Hope, Ma, KW, KW's dad (I believe)
Picture 2 - from the top: Kenny Jr., Emily, Me, KW
Another observation... Hope (Jo Jo) was always dancing!
Click here for a quick video of the Jo Jo dance.
The quality on these old home movies isn't all that great but wow... how cool is it to see Papa, Mimi, Ma, Grace, Hope and KW from 45 years ago!
Happy Birthday KC!
/I remember the day well... back in 1989... I got a beep on my pager, yes, I said pager, from KW saying that the baby was finally on her way. By the time I arrived at the hospital my first niece was born. 17 years later... I feel old!
What better way to say Happy Birthday then to head to the Havens house to go swimming! And you know what that means.... pictures! Click here to see the pics.
The 1 Mile Challenge
/Although I have ridden thousands of miles on a bicycle over the past few years, and don't even bat an eye lash at doing a hundred miles in a day, I have long thought that running was out of the question. That was, until recently, when Emily challenged me to a 1-mile race. I was pretty sure I could beat her... just as sure as she was she could beat me. So, today, we went out to her school for 3 laps around the field.
We went over what the course was, did a little bit of last minute smack talking, stretched and then headed out. When I asked asked her what the course was she smiled and just said, "Don't worry Dad... just follow me."
Here is a shot as we end the first of three laps and this is pretty much the way the whole run went... me trailing Emily and looking as if I might just die!
... and of course, my very athletic, very proud daughter beat me in my first attempt at running in probably 15 years. I did actually finish the mile... 31 seconds behind her. Great job Emily!
New Archives Added
/In case you didn't notice, we are busy adding archives from the past several years. Some of our entries from mattbeckwith.com, pizzagohere.com, familyisforever.com and even our old AOL webpages might show up. Some of the links may not be working (especially those to picture pages which have moved). We are trying to clean them up but aren't making any promises. Thanks for stopping by... stay a while... enjoy your visit... drop us a line.
The Tech Museum
/What a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than to cruise up to San Jose to check out the Tech Museum. We wanted to see the IMAX movie on the Tour de France but there was only one showing early in the day. We spent 15 minutes outside checking out the huge pool ball kinetic exhibit. It was such a challenge to follow a single ball all the way through the high tech maze of ramps, pulleys and loops.
There was a lot of incredible things to do and see and an easy place to get lost for a few hours. One of my favorites was the planetary exhibit... the girls really liked it too.
Mik, KW, Twon, JR - check out this video (64 MB).
(also videos of 'emily' and 'makenzy', 36 & 24 MB)
Of course... you can check out pics of our trip to The Tech here.