Shane Life

Volleyball and Poker…

They will converge this Saturday, March 10 in a fundraiser for some of my friends’ volleyball team. Buffalo Club won nationals at the US Open Volleyball Championships last year, the first Kansas City team to do so. To raise money for the defending bid, they will be holding a tournament this Saturday.

You can find details at the site I built them here.

I’ve talked before about how my best friends are a bunch of guys that I grew up playing volleyball with. Well, today, I’m really excited for them.

They recently participated in the USA Volleyball Open in New Orleans and they won the Mens’ AA championship. Not only that, but my former college roommate (you are the man, Stowell!) - was named MVP of the tournament. Not bad for a bunch of volleyballers from Kansas City. From what I understand another one of my roommates (the winner of the Biggest Loser contest) - was named to the all-tournament team as well. That’s the rumor, but I haven’t yet confirmed that.

My team went to nationals, but I didn’t participate. A small part of me wishes that I would have, but in the end, I had a great Memorial Day weekend with Alli’s parents. Volleyball season didn’t go as I planned this year, which is too bad, but we’ll see what next year brings.

I just want to say congratulations to the Buffalo Club, the team that I helped name back in the day. I’m proud of you guys and really happy for you.

It’s 1:48 AM.

Big night.

Corporate Challenge Volleyball Finals (we won).
American Idol Finale (Michael McDonald II won).
Top Chef Finale (my boy Harold won).
Lost Finale (I got goosebumps…such an awesome show).

It’s time for bed. More on the above later.

First volleyball tournament since the ankle incident. Today in Ottawa, we played in a 5-team AA tournament and we ended up second. Again.

We played awful this morning. Awful. We just were not clicking at all and it sucked. We just couldn’t do anything right.

Then, we kind of turned a brief corner and we participated in the longest rally I can remember in my 10+ year volleyball career. We won one and lost won, finally getting ourselves into the win column, needing to win our final two games to make it into the playoffs. We were down 23-24, and managed to come back and win that game and another game to JUST make it in.

Then, in the semis, I got one of the nastiest floor burns on my left leg. It’s probably 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide and it still is stinging me even today. Well, we won our semifinal match in 3 games and then went to 3 games in the finals against the team that we had needed to beat to get into the tournament. While they ended up beating us, I guess you could say that it was a “moral victory” considering how terribly we played the rest of the day.

Overall, it was a pretty good tournament.

I’m going to test my ankle for the first time since I sprained it. A few of us are going to go to the gym tonight and play a little before our tournament this weekend.

I hope it doesn’t hurt too badly.

UPDATE: Jumping didn’t hurt too much. Landing did. We’ll see how it feels on Thursday if we play again.

So this weekend, Alli, Ashley and I went to Iowa. On Friday night, we drove up to Council Bluffs to Alli’s parents’ house and then on Saturday morning, I awoke at the crack of dawn to drive across I-80 and up I-35 to Ames, Iowa, home of the Iowa State Cyclones for a Volleyball tournament.

The tournament went really well. I listened to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on the way to and from Ames (and some during the day) and our team played well, losing in the finals to a bunch of Iowa State alumni.

Unfortunately, on the very last play of the very last game of our very last match, something awful happened…I sprained my ankle something FIERCE. I came down from a block just fine, but the ball was close to me and as I reached out to play it, I stepped akwardly, coming down on the side of my right foot. I felt about 25 ligaments in my ankle pop and then watched as the ball dropped and we lost. It actually still hurts me now thinking about it.

I iced it briefly and then made the 2-1/2 hour trek back to Council Bluffs, listening to Harry Potter the whole way. By the time I got home, my ankle was throbbing pretty bad. Got home around 10-ish and iced again. Tried to go to sleep that night, but it was tough because my ankle was in so much pain. I fell asleep, but woke up around 5 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I got up and listened to the rest of Harry Potter and tried to walk around to get rid of some of the stiffness in my foot. It helped and continued to feel better as the day went on.

We were pretty lazy all day, watching Stealth and some random TV while we waited for the Super Bowl to start. After it was over, we drove home, got in around midnight and got to sleep. By the end of the weekend, I drove approximately 11 hours and over 730 miles. I’m exhausted, but it was a great weekend. Thanks for hosting us, Tom and Carol!

Me and my new team played in our first volleyball tournament (OK, not totally, but it was MY first tournament) of the year this weekend. We got second, which is completely awesome compared to our exploits last year. We struggled a lot last year…with some reshuffling we’ve found a better team and we are kind of just getting used to each other.

It was good to be back in the gym playing competitively. While I’m certainly not at the weight that I want to be at right now, I’m feeling in better shape (although this tournament I feel like crap afterward). I am really looking forward to the year. I think that we will get better as the year goes on and it will be good motivation for me to get in shape.

I have to say, I have this one friend on my team whose name is Josh. Josh is our setter and he is very VERY good. Josh could have played with a better team this year, but he chose to play with me and two other guys from work because he is a really good guy. I enjoy playing with him and I think that he brings the level of play of those around him up. Anyway, I was just thinking tonight how he is a good friend. I know that he could have played with someone else and he didn’t and I’m grateful for that.

I like having a good setter around.

I know that there are about 2 people who read this.

That’s OK with me…it’s not why I created it…this is more of an outlet for the stuff that clouds my brain.

Lately, I’ve been pretty clear. Business at Alli Arnold Art is booming, much better than we both expected it to be at this point.

Look for topFIVEdesign.com to come online in the next month or so.

Summer should be good. Couple trips planned. 5-year anniversary this July. HOW Conference in June…possible trip to Wyoming in late July. Should be a great summer.

Corporate Challenge is coming up and I’m pumped. I enjoy it so much. Good times.

Soreness is king today.

I played volleyball Monday night with my friends. We all have been playing together competitively since we were in 7th grade. It’s been a while since I’ve played at such a high level, and it was a blast. But MAN, am I paying for it today.

Worked out last night to hopefully get some of the kinks out, but I’m sore in places where I didn’t know I could be sore (my arches? are you kidding me?) I’m hoping that my body recovers by tomorrow when we are scheduled to play again. You might ask why I would do this to my body?

Because it’s fun.