A New Beginning

Most, if not all of you (if you're even still reading this!) are aware that I was laid off last week. What a strange, surreal, upsetting, stressful and yet wonderful experience. You all can probably relate or at least understand my first 4 adjectives. But wonderful? Yeah. Wonderful. On many levels. The outpouring of support and well-wishes has been overwhelming. The positive thoughts and prayers heading my way are surprising yet comforting. It was also wonderful because the place I was working was, well, toxic to say the least. I won't go into more, since Eric is still (at least for now) employed there. But many of you know it was not a healthy place to be and have known our frustrations for awhile.

So I am choosing to be upbeat and positive and looking forward to the unknown, yet wonderful future that is ahead. I have been scouring the want ads. Which in this day and age are numerous. I now have about 50 job sites and company websites 'bookmarked' and they are checked daily, often several times daily. I have applied for jobs from Rochester, NY to Hyannis, MA and many places in between. I have had 2 rejections, and one phone call. No interviews. No solid leads. But it's really only been 4 days. I'm thinking positive, staying busy and forging ahead.

On Saturday, I argued with Time Warner for an hour and a half on the phone. For my time, I received a months worth of free cable/tv/internet and a nice credit for next month too. And they lowered my rate by $25/month. (They have been charging us for a box and remote that we didn't have.) Yesterday at Wegmans, I saved $16 on a $27 bill, using coupons and returned bottles.

Last week, I helped Sheila weed her river bank. Eric helped too on Friday when he had the day off. (This was originally a job for Alex, until he realized how much actual work it required. Sigh.) Sheila was generous enough to pay us for the work and we put it towards our groceries for the week.

So for having a week 'off" (well, I was still being paid last week...) I did pretty well with saving/earning a little extra cash. Anything extra will go a long way right now. We'll be ok for awhile, but cut-backs are in progress at the Hayden House. We're not ruling out the possibility of selling the house and downsizing. (We were already thinking that way before this happened.) We also won't rule out the possibility of moving away from Syracuse entirely. Our options are open.

Next up, I'll be clearing out the basement getting ready for a massive yard sale. We have so much junk, we'll probably earn enough for a couple of mortgage payments! 

States and Feds

The NY State XC Meet was held on Nov. 9 in Queensbury, NY. It was a bitter cold 36 degree day.
4 Liverpool runners got to compete.

They were Dan, Ben, Connor and Alex. 

It was all about the individuals, since their whole team didn't make it. They all ran great races. Alex came in 27th overall. They helped Section III take the win for being the #1 section in the state. As if there was any question!

This past Saturday was a balmy 62 degrees when we went to Poughkeepsie for the NY State Federation Meet. You all might be wondering what the difference is, between States and Feds. Well, States includes only Public Schools. Federations includes public AND private schools. And we all know, NY state has a lot of private schools, especially down near the city. They are all very competitive in XC. 

Feds is a very crazy, very fast race. With the best talent in the state. Individual and team. And for the first time in school history, Liverpool won a Federation title. In any sport. It was a very good day for Liverpool. 

Next up is the NXN Regional XC Meet on Nov. 30th. It's held at the same course as Federations. They need a top-2 finish to go to Oregon. They're seeded 2nd. Stay tuned!

Sectionals

Yesterday was the much-anticipated Section III Championship race at Jamesville Beach. There are 11 sections in NY State. Each section has a championship race, and the winner of each section goes to the State Meet. All season long, Liverpool has been ranked #2 in the state of NY. But unfortunately, the #1 team in the state (Fayetteville-Manlius aka F-M) is also in Section III. So only one team gets to go to States.

The 2 teams have had 2 other head-to-head races this year, and each time Liverpool just missed beating them. They have worked so hard and had a goal to get to States.

They all ran the race of their lives. 

Alex placed 9th overall in the Section. His teammate was right on his heels.

Well, there was good news and bad news after the race. The good news was, Alex was going to states, no matter what the outcome was. The top 5 individuals (after the top team-winner runners) get to go to States to run as individuals. Alex was that 5th runner. He just made it! The team unfortunately, fell short. Although, it was the first time ever that the 2nd place team had all their top 5 runners all finish in the Top 10. That just shows the depth of their team. Liverpool's Top 5 came in before F-M's Top 5. However, it wasn't enough. But, the good news is that 4 Liverpool runners are going to States... and that has also never happened. 

The top row is the team from F-M. The bottom row are the individual winners. 

Liverpool will still be going to Regionals on Nov. 30 and will get to face F-M once again. And this time, the top 2 teams get to go to Nationals. So let's keep our fingers crossed!! First up though, States are Saturday in Queensbury, NY. (Just north of Albany.) And on Sunday, Alex and I get to go to Lehigh University in PA for an official visit. Busy times!

Manhattan

This weekend was the big "Manhattan Invitational". Last year, Liverpool placed first in their race. And we all thought that was amazing and wonderful. It was one of 7 Varsity Boys races that day. This year, they ran in the "Big" race. The Eastern States Championship Race. The best of the best, from all over the East Coast. And a random team from California. The #1 team in the country competed. (They're from NJ.) There was also the #7 team in the country there (From PA.) And the #1 team from NY... and so many more talented teams. Liverpool hasn't really been in that kind of race before... although they are nationally ranked too. It was nice to be able to show everyone what they had and to be able to compete with the best teams in the country. And that they did! 

They were hoping for a Top 5 finish. They came in 3rd. And a very good 3rd too. They even beat the #7 team in the country. The #1 team from NJ won, the #1 team from NY came in 2nd. And Liverpool took 3rd. The coach said that was the best overall finish of any Liverpool team in the school's history. They also had 4 of the top 11 all-time best times of anyone in their High School, since the records began in the 70s...

They also got to take this little trophy home with them... (Sorry, Alex, it stays at the HS.)

Next up is the CNYCL Championship on Wednesday. Alex said that Manhattan was his last ever XC Invitational in High School. It's all Championship meets from here on out. Fingers crossed we get to go to Oregon in December!

I'm Baaack.

Hi again! It's me. Is anybody still out there?? It's been almost 6 months since I last updated. I keep meaning to post things, but then I just throw stuff up on Facebook and forget about the blog. It just seems easier sometimes! 

Here are a few things that have been going on around here lately. Some big news - Alex got his braces off. Here are the before and after pictures. I'd say braces were a very good thing for him!

He started his senior year braces-free and just had his senior pictures taken. (By Eric, on the back deck...)

Speaking of being a senior, he already had "Senior Night" for Cross Country. It was the last home meet of the season. There's still a lot of season to go, but that was the last home meet. 

The Cross Country season is going very well so far. Liverpool has some hefty goals for this season. They are (so far) ranked #2 in NY State and #18 in the Nation. They're looking to get a bid to run in the National Meet in Oregon in December. I'd say they are well on their way. This weekend is a big meet for them in Manhattan. They're going up against the #1 team in the nation as well as the #1 team in NY. It'll be interesting and exciting to see how they fare. 

Some other developments include some college recruiting news. He's got 3 colleges very interested in him and has 3 official visit invitations lined up so far. The top 3 (as of today) are UAlbany, Binghamton University and Lehigh University. Letters are still pouring in. He just got a nice one from the Notre Dame track coach today... The whole recruiting process has been quite the learning experience. It's nice that he has good grades too. The coaches have been impressed with all he has to offer, which makes things much easier! Hopefully between the academics and the athletics, he'll receive some nice financial help!!

I guess that's it for now. I know a whole lot has happened since May, but I'll make this brief. Hopefully I'll be better at updating now. We're off to Manhattan tomorrow... keep an eye on Facebook. I'm sure I'll have updates along the way...

Mini's and Meets

Friday was Eric's birthday. And with all my cake decorating "training", I was put in charge of creating a masterpiece of a cake. My first thought was to do something about the Mini. I wanted to make a "Mini" cake, actually shaped like a Mini. But I'm not that advanced. So I took the easy way out. I found a picture online, sized it to fit, then traced it with icing on wax paper. Then I pressed the image down on the cake. Which is what the photo above shows.

Then I basically filled in the lines with frosting. I kind of wish I had a bigger variety of shades of colors, but this was really my first official cake. So simple was better. And Eric knew exactly what it was when he saw it, so I guess it was a success. I think I need practice with the script font, but other than that, I was pleased with the outcome.

We went up to Sheila's house to celebrate. Laura lit the candles. Gary took video.

And here is Eric's post-blowfish photo. He was too quick for me.

Also last week was the CNYCL Championship meet. Alex ran the 1600, 800 and 4x400 relay.

The 1600 was first. He described the race as a 1400 meter run followed by a 200 meter sprint.

Alex won that 200 meter sprint at the end and won the 1600. It was only the 2nd time he had run that race all season. And it was a VERY windy day. Check the flags out in the picture below, they are out straight.

By the time he ran the 800, he was still pretty beat from the 1600. He placed a respectable 3rd overall.

And here he is at the end of the 4x400 relay. Love that stride! The relay team came in 4th. Liverpool came in 2nd overall in the meet. This week's meet is a big one, the Section III Championship. I think he's going to go back to just running the 800. I know he wants to win that one. He's got a good shot, he's still seeded 1st in the Section. It'll be a great race for sure.

League Champs

Today was the battle for the regular season League Championship Title. Liverpool and C-NS were both 3-0. We knew it was going to be close. Alex ran 3 events today. The first was the 4x800. The race was not close... here he is giving a nice smile on his way by toward the finish. They won handily.

 

Next he ran the 800 meter. He hung behind the leader, as he likes to do.

Then with 100 meters to go, he took off. As he likes to do.

And he won. Not sure what happened to the other guy, he didn't make the shot.

Then he ran the last event, the 4x400 meter relay.

He ran the fastest 400 he has ever run. (51.4 seconds), and the relay team won. And with that, Liverpool beat C-NS by a score of 72-69. That's about as close as you can get. They were very excited. Next week all the teams in the league get together and run against each other for the other "League Title". Then we're on to Sectionals and then State Quals. The season is flying by... This weekend is the Loucks Games in White Plains. Should be a fun one!

* The local newspaper had a nice article about the meet. Alex was even quoted! Check it out!!