The date is one of our romantic anniversaries – June 24th. Four years ago today, I invited Katie to a Brewers’ game with some church friends for an outing that I was sure to clarify was not a date. So looking ahead to June 24th on the calendar, I was excited to see that Katie had a baby shower with the women from work. That meant I could pick her up from the shower and take her on a walking date around the old neighborhood where we took so many walks during the summer of 2004.

Regarding the shower – it still amazes me the generosity of our friends. It’s been such a help to get the supplies we need for having this boy!

My favorite outfit was the Wisconsin onesie and matching booties! Thanks Linda!!

I just got back from the Robertson Men’s Fishing trip in Canada. In the works since last November, I’d been waiting for this trip with eager anticipation. I’m certainly not an experienced fisherman, but any chance to be out in the wilderness on a trip like this is an opportunity for me to cherish.

The final total was 14 men on the trip – 5 uncles and 9 cousins. We had four vehicles meet up in Eau Claire and then Duluth before crossing the border to Canada at Baudett. After gearing up a few last minute supplies, we made our way to the outfitter and were able to check out the 2 houseboats that we rented. We had five small 25-horse boats for our daily fishing. The set-up couldn’t have been better.

We ate like kings, thanks to Uncle Tom. How does this menu sound… pork chops, marinated chicken sandwiches, ribs, and steak. That was just dinner. Breakfast was as usual… Wranglers and Lumber Jack – eggs, bacon, pancakes. Life was good. And of course mid-day we had shore lunch, sandwiches filled with the walleye we caught in the morning.

I struggled with walleye fishing. The bites were smaller and I had a hard time with the feel of it. Now fishing for northerns is a whole different thing. That was a blast b/c the bites were rock solid – there wasn’t much of a fight for the fish, but reeling in 8-12 a day was a lot of fun.

The fishing trip to Canada was a great time to spend with family, working and playing together. Everyone chipped in and we laughed a lot. What more can you ask for from a group of men?

And as I was coming home, it begged the question — what next?

I only met Christian one time – at his wedding reception at his parents’ home two summers ago. Big guy. Almost quirky, but certainly an attractive personality. I’m not that great with words sometimes and I only met him once, so you will have to trust me in my thoughts here… As I hear about what Katie and her family say about Christian, and as I hear about his funeral and what was said and who attended, I’m left in awe of the man he was.

On a training flight last fall while in Italy, Christian’s helicopter went down with 9 others aboard. From the details I’ve read, he died in the hospital of head injuries.

It’s the first time I’ve admired someone so much from knowing him so little. I don’t mean to be trite with this comment, but people say the nicest things about people when they die. But Christian’s death was different – and this I could tell from the one time I met him. He had a personality everyone was attracted to. He genuinely cared for people and naturally demanded the attention in whatever room he entered. I won’t do him justice… but he’s got my thoughts today.

He’s survived by his wife, Liz. As I woke up on this Memorial Day, she came to mind very quickly. Patriotism is important to me. Men and women sign up for military service — Service. And many have to pay the Ultimate Sacrifice. Is there a better way to die? Is there any more honor than dying for your country? Christian would probably say there is, and that would be to die serving your Lord. And Christian did just that. His life was lived in faith, and his death proclaimed that faith. I can’t imagine the sorrow of that family, but as a brother I can relate to the pride I have for a man who was so highly regarded by everyone when he left this life. What an example, what an inspiration for any Christian man.

Well done, Christian. We honor you on this Memorial Day.

I have to admit how much I’m looking forward to dressing my son. I’ve always been interested in fashion, and those adult outfits in kids sizes are just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. So Katie and I decided we should go out and get a first outfit for Baby Boy. Tori was with us, and we had fun looking through Baby Gap and H&M’s selection of infant clothes.

I ended up picking up this outfit: a cute baseball-looking shirt with blue sleeves and a brown pair of pants that can be rolled up into shorts. I’m very excited to get Junior into his first set of clothes.

I haven’t written about our pregnancy on the Game Plan b/c I had a couple other (out of town) people to tell personally. It’s kind of a long story which I can’t (and won’t) get into. But now it’s officially on the blog – we’re having a baby, due date August 28.

To all my readers (if there’s any besides my 2 moms, let me know), you can keep updated on our progress here, at the Game Plan. This has proven to be a very reflective time for Katie and me. Discussions are different. Planning is ambiguous. But the excitement is high. It’s been amazing to see Katie’s belly grow with the development of our child.

Seeing our baby for the first time on the ultrasound is a moment I’ll never forget. It practically took my breathe away, and it felt like time stopped for 2 seconds.

Calling it a child or baby has been our way of conversation for the last 4 months. Well that changed today! We had our 20-week ultrasound today at 3:15. After 18 weeks it’s usually possible to see if it’s a boy or a girl.

In the room, the sonographer was going through all these measurements of our baby, similar to the last couple ultrasounds. She measured the head (5cm diameter, 17cm circumference), arms, spine, internal organs. One of the most amazing shots was the 4 chambers of the heart. The heartbeat was 150. She said she had to chase the baby a lot – very active. Then she said, “And that’s a boy not afraid to tell everyone he’s a boy.” There it is – we’re having a baby boy!!! !!!

!!! !!! !!! !!! !!!

I can’t write without a smile on my face! I’m so excited to see what’s next. Now I don’t want to wait. Sitting here, I just want to get to the first week in September and hold him.

So stay tuned for pictures and stories. Who knows… maybe Baby Boy will get his own blog. But until then, he’ll have to be the star of dad’s blog.

I understand that we all get older, and the music we listened to gets more and more “out of date.” But like a good bottle of wine, it gets better with time…. right? (Rhymes are flowing today.)

In high school a good friend of mine, Jason Jobke, always listened to the Oldies. He was raised on it by his parents, and so we listened to them so much that the Oldies really grew on me. The summers of 1993 and ’94 were filled with nights of shooting pool in his basement, playing basketball in his driveway, and driving to McDonald’s at all hours of the night to the soundtrack of the Oldies.

On a different musical commentary, I’ve never been ashamed of my love for 80’s music. A genre in and of itself, the Monster Ballads will always take me to a good place. The music I grew up on was Bon Jovi, Van Halen, the Police, and even AC/DC. Elton John and Billy Joel were classic musicians, not to be confused with the Oldies. NOT TO BE CONFUSED!!!

Yesterday I’m driving home from the club on a beautiful sunny day, and I do the quick scan of the stations to find some good music. I flipped (quickly) through the Oldies station and had to double back to confirm what my ears were telling me. Billy Joel is on the Oldies station!! “Movin’ Out” was certainly a catchy tune, and I guess you can even say it “sounds” Oldies, but Billy Joel on the Oldies station is like hearing Def Leopard on the Country station.

Well I was sure Wisconsin was going to get a decent victory over Davidson in their Sweet 16 match-up Friday night. I wasn’t overlooking the Wildcats, but I honestly felt we were a better team. And maybe 8 out of 10 times we are, but last night Curry and Davidson gave the Badgers a whupin’.

Can I say that I actually enjoyed watching that shooting performance? I mean if he had a good look at the hoop, he was amazing. Not much else to say – what a disappointing way to end the season.

Well the NCAA Tourney is upon us – what a great time of the year. Now Katie’s fully involved, so much so that SHE organizes the office pool! This year Easter weekend falls on the first and second rounds, so I’ve never watched so much basketball. We were home since Thursday night b/c Katie’s sister Tori was coming home from England. Of course Wisconsin played Thursday night, and we watched them handle Cal-State Fullerton. But I was nervous about their second round game with USC – oh wait! USC lost to Kansas State. Well that made my day so much better, as we watched a much more balanced Badger team easily handle the one-player team that is/was the Kansas State Wildcats.

Each night Katie got tired and was off to bed early, so I was able to stay up with dad and Grant to watch basketball. They tried to stay up as late as they could, but each night I closed down the tournament’s final game watching teams go down to the wire. Friday night Villanova’s defense baffled Clemson and knocked out the 5th seed. Saturday night Michigan State handled Pitt and UCLA barely beat Texas A&M.

Easter Sunday was tough to watch hoops (but we managed to see some of the Tennessee game). Katie and I headed back around 3:30 and came home to watch the last disc of the Office Season 3. We woke up this morning to find out that Georgetown had lost!! This is a big deal b/c it was the 2-seed, and our next opponent. Now we play Davidson!!

I told Katie on Sunday morning that I found myself caring very little about my bracket. (That way when she beats I have less emotion tied to my bracket.) I just want to see really good basketball games, and some upsets. Katie and I agree that we’re seeing things we didn’t see last year. It’s always something new – new, but different.

Let the Tournaments begin! It’s the first day for a whole new season, and you better be wearing your Wisconsin Red today! (Do I need to tell you..) The Badgers play Michigan at 11:00 this morning, and productivity in the workplace takes a hit. This is such a great time of the year. Just wait until the first four days of the NCAA Tourney…

So I guess you could say it took me about 35 hours to get to this point: where I could publicly talk about the retirement of Brett Favre. When I heard it on the radio, I really didn’t know what to do with the news. I was certainly disappointed, but more so I was just really sad. We all knew the day would come “one of these years.”

But why now? Why not two years ago, when he was coming back to a really crappy team? Why now when the team is so good and we are so close to the Super Bowl?

I’m not calling it a man-crush. I’m calling it fully-devoted appreciation of the blessing Brett Favre has been to Packer fans for 16 years.

Katie got a little annoyed this season when I insisted on watching every game. I told her then and I reminded her now that my reason was simple – I knew this day was coming, and that when it did, we’d no longer be entertained by the hero and the legend that is #4.

So last night I was able to look up some videos and pics from Brett’s career. They’re so rich with meaning and stories. My favorite is probably this, Favre Soundbites (ESPN).

But I found some good pics too that I can share now. I’ll post some more material later.

(below) Diving for the game winning touchdown in the last game at County Stadium.