Another great weekend in the books as we were in the throng at Qwest field and survived the emotional rollercoaster that was the Seahawks home playoff game in the wildcard round. After many crazy sequences the Seahawks managed to pull out a close with in the final seconds over the dreaded Dallas Cowboys by the 21-20 margin after a botched field goal attempt from the 1 yard line!! Even with the miss-handled snap on the play a shoe-string tackle was required to avert last-minute disaster for the Hawks, what a game!! They had a great give-away at the game with "12-man" green gloves for the first 50,000 fans. As you can see Janelle thought they were great fun!! As usual we had some great seats courtesy of the Weaver parents season tickets and the help of my bro John in the Hawks office making sure I got my playoff seats. A great way to see the game with friends John, Amy McKenna, Jesse and Steph Paulson, and the Hoadley twins. It has been incredibly memorable to see all this great football in what might be considered the heyday of the Hawks organization. The weather held after all of our miserable rain, we won a close game over a hated foe, and we are still in the running for the Superbowl in Miami....tough to beat for a weekend. I also managed to get a fun pic of the stadium all lit up as we left the field of battle on Saturday. Good times. This week I also started two of my indoor v-ball leagues as I have coed 6's on Thursdays and men's 6's on Sundays. It will be a very interesting league for the men as along with many of the usual opponents there is a team comprised of entirely sand guys, some of the best in the region in fact. There is always some lingering bad blood between the dedicated outdoor versus indoor guys so our match versus them I think will prove interesting at the very least. More to come form this as things develop. At any rate I am glad to start back into the swing of things on the hard court and look forward to this coming Saturday as we head South to the Rose City of Portland, OR for our first men's USAV tournament of the year. We are going down with a little bit of a miss-matched crew but looking forward to the fun just the same. I am also looking forward to starting a fun indoor soccer season with my brother along with friends the Hoadley twins, Mark Kadlec, Lee Graber, and others. Should be another fun time and a great way to get back in shape if I can manage it.

Currents League Standings:
Men's 6's - 4-0 (Tied for first)
Coed 6's - 2-1 (2nd place)

What a great way to start off the new year!! Is anyone else amazed that it is already 2007?!? I feel like the last year just flew bye....I guess that is just the way It goes when you are having so much fun. I was able to spent part of the holidays at a wonderful dinner hosted by Craig and Trisha Fisher (Sp?) in Issaquah where we were able to spend time with Trish's extended family which included her parents Byron and Janet (My beloved Godparents!!) and older sister Denise with husband Rob and daughters Temmi and Skylar. Great to see three generations of ladies all together as we poured over scrapbooks and told childhood stories well into the evening. They cooked up some southwest favorites including tamales and enchiladas...yum!! A great extended family pic topped off the evening that we will talk about several meetings from now I am sure. Then my parents were here to celebrate the new year with a sonics basketball game and fireworks from the roof of John's condo in Belltown of Seattle. We started the night with a little dinner with food from the Seattle Center Food Pavilion and followed up with some cheap seats in the rafters which made the night very low key as there are really no bad seats in Key Arena. We watched as they squeaked out a win over the hapless Boston Celtics. A few beers, some creative cheering and a quick visit from friend Sally topped off the event. From there it was on to John's as we opened up some late X-mas gifts from the parents an to the parents. I got some nice new cooking gear, shirt, hat and $$$ towards some new car tires which the old Jeep really needs. I also was able to give John his B-day gift which was a Madman Volleyball hat along with a video presentation I had made for him with old pics, clips, and a soundtrack. It turned out quite well and we ended just in time to rush up the stairs and welcome in the new year with fireworks from the Space Needle a few kisses with snuggled loved-ones on the clear night. A memorable one to be sure and great to spend with family and friends. Now it is on to another season of indoor v-ball and maybe even some soccer action as we crank up the new year. Here's to great one!!

Well the big X-mas fro '06 has come and passed here in the Emerald City. I had a great couple of days and will remember this holiday for years to come. We started out with a fun-filled trip to the Seahawks game as they took on the league-leading San Diego Chargers and fought to the bitter end. They fell slightly short with a tough 17-20 loss in the closing seconds but fought pretty hard for the entire game in my opinion. A much increased effort over the last several weeks, hopefully a good sign as playoffs near. It was great to hang out with my brother and Amy again and we had a good time no matter the outcome. A great way to start the big holiday. The one silver lining is with the 49er loss to Arizona the same day the Hawks clinch the division and will at least make the '06 playoffs and host a first round playoff game as a division winner. Nice for the city and I am sure to be there losing my voice once again in this unique opportunity with a regional team in the hunt for the super bowl once again. That of course was on Christmas Eve. After the game I braved the slick roads and headed north as as I spent some time that night with Janelle's extended family at aunt Carolyne and uncle John's house as they hosted the Parker gathering. Low-key and fun this time around with nice talks with the grandparents and family. Then down south as we headed to Port Orchard and the lovely self-built home of Bruce and Lisa Parker. They spoiled me rotten as I received a full stocking and many presents. My best will have to be the leather coat from my girl Janelle, fits great and I am loathe to take it off!!! They made me feel like one of the family for sure and it made for a really memorable Christmas morning. After a lazy breakfast and present session we headed north once again to hook up with the extended Paulson crowd with John, Amy, Jesse, and Steph all in attendance. Good times again and more presents!! I really feel spoiled this year for sure. We finished off the night after a superb dinner and pies with a trip to the theater for our holiday showing of "Night at the Museum". I had low expectations as with all Ben Stiller movies in my mind but was pleasantly surprised and laughed quite frequently at the show and would recommend it to others. Then it was off to the apartment as we cuddled in with the cat to go over all of our holiday loot and rest up for my parents visit for the New Year!! Hope the holiday were kind to all of you out there.

Thanks to my brother Johnny I was able to get tickets to see the recent Thursday night game between the Seahawks and the 49ers in QWest field. The Hawks had a chance to clinch the division and stay in the running for a good playoff seed but failed on both tasks with a very poor performance. You can clearly see the distress if the situation on the face of my game buddy Mike Walton. Luckily there were a few beers to be had, as evidenced by the slightly goofy look on the face of one Stacey Terry and good times were still had by all. There was a HUGE storm that night as we all ran through the monsoon to see the game, nice for us that most of the really crazy stuff held off during the game. It has however placed a slight wrinkle in the local Seattle environment with lots of black-outs and the like with the associated school closures and such. I am getting ready to make finish up final holiday shopping and such this weekend and get the last items on my list. I have not done too badly this year and look forward to some holiday time with the Weaver parents as well as Janelle's parents in Porch Orchard, WA. I leave you with this landscape picture showing off the great seats we always get through John as the Sea Gals show off their holiday routine with some really silly giant, foam candy canes as props. Does anyone else groan when they hear "Santa-baby" during the holidays? Good times none-the-less and more to come as we gear up for the main event. Bring on the Bearded Fat Elf in the crazy red suit!!!!