I must blog…I have to blog!

I have to blog…must blog…it’s been weeks, months, years! Not really, but I have seriously been lacking. And I have SO SO much to blog about…so bear with me, there will be some personal stuff and some rugby stuff mixed in! Enjoy!

• 80’s sign-a-long at Alamo Draft House! Ok, first off, I didn’t know what the big deal about Alamo was until I moved to Austin. Its freakin’ awesome, they serve FOOD and BEER at the movie theater! And they host special events all the time like the Ladies of the Night: 80’s sing-a-long that Traci and I went to.

We arrived like twenty minutes early and thought we were golden…but since the city of Austin had been shut down because of the ice storm, it was FULL of people looking to get out of their houses but stay out of the weather! So we went to the back of the theater and were surprised when there are BIG COMFORTABLE LEATHER COUCHES! It was awesome! So we drank, sang…and watched the dancing fools all night. It was awesome!

• THE STORM Austin 2007. Yes, the storm. The city of Austin was shutdown for four days because Texas drivers might kill each other if they drive…the gym was shut down for two and a half days. It was GLORIOUS! Check out my post from yesterday to see the videos I shot with my Treo 650 phone.

• Finally on Sunday it was a BEAUTIFUL day! So I took Jake to the dog park and we spent about three hours there. I had been feeling sick all weekend, but had to get out in the sun. There were over a hundred dogs there and it was amazing! Jake ran, jumped, chased, barked and got all of his energy out. It was beautiful!

• Ok, so some rugby stuff…I am loving all the posts from bloggers about practice starting. Dust off those boots, wash out your mouth guard…love it! It’s finally starting to feel like rugby season again!

Wild West Rugby Fest December 1 and 2, 2007
They have an awesome game with a great twist…its called the “All Hookers Match.” Only tight five players can play in this match and there is NO kicking!

• Challenge matches are popping up all over the place this season…teams must be challenged by Jan 31 and the challenge match must scheduled by Feb 28. Let’s shake some things up ruggers!

• The valks start practice tomorrow and I am pretty excited! We have been utilizing craigslist and myspace to recruit this season and it appears to have been pretty successful! We will see tomorrow if we have good numbers at practice though.

• Since reading Blondie’s post about wanting to keep a scoring database online somehow…I have been doing some thinking. What if we created a database similar to craigslist? Keep the same design and all, but the message boards would be about tournaments, teams…contact info…or whatever we want. I’m going to do some research and see if I can’t drum something up in the next couple of weeks. Send me your ideas!

• TRU tryouts are this weekend in Austin, TX and so I volunteered myself to be a runner/mentor or whatever the coaches (Anna Kunkel, Meg Pace and Traci Schmidtke) need. Should be a great weekend and an excellent opportunity to recruit future rugby players to Austin.

• Women’s College rankings are up on Goffonrugby (subscription required for some articles) and a few teams in the West are included: Air force (#4), New Mexico (#11), Texas A&M (#12) and the University of Colorado (#20). Good luck this season ladies!

• US Women’s U-19 Squad Will Tour England! What a great oppurtunity to play rugby overseas. They will play three-test series matches in Englad and Wales on March 22 – April 2, 2007. Roster and more info on American Rugby News.

• The International Women’s 7’s Tournament will be held in conjunction with the USA Sevens in San Diego on Feb 9-10. More info on Goffonrugby (subscription required for some articles).

• Kathy Flores signs on to coach for two more years! Great news to hear that she will be staying as the National Eagles Coach! (from American Rugby News)

• Women’s World Cup a Financial Flop…evidentally the World Cup wasn’t a financial help to Canada, but left them with a huge bill of $850,000. Ouch! Check it out at American Rugby News.

• And leaving you with a funny link…Ellen Degeneres is awesome!