Worst Week Ever?

After the drive to Dallas where I wrecked the front-end of my car I knew I was going to have a long week ahead of me. It is always a hassle trying to get a car fixed, especially in a new city.

During the weekend I also found out my grandmother was sick. She had a heart-attack on Saturday morning and was in pretty rough shape. They were not sure how long she was going to make it...

I was pretty upset when I heard this news. Luckily I was able to stay behind with the wrestlers who had lost out of the tournament on Friday and take a little time to compose myself and talk to my family. It was, and still is, really hard to not be with my grandmother during this time. I know there is not much I could do if I was there, but I felt like I should be there to let her know that I love her and really care.

Later in the day I was able to talk to my dad on the phone who told me that my grandma was better, but was still in pretty bad shape. My family and the doctors think that this might be her time. As of tonight, my grandma is still hanging in there. I have been able to talk to her on the telephone a couple times since she has been in the hospital, but she is very weak. She has developed pneumonia in the hospital as well and has become very confused several times over the last couple of weeks. All I pray for is that my grandma is able to be happy and peaceful with whatever happens. The last thing I would want is for her to be in any pain or suffering. She is an amazing lady that I would hate to loose.

After I got home from wrestling I worked hard to get ready for the school week all day Sunday, and was fortunate to have Monday off in honor of President's day. I spent Monday looking for a new car and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my damaged car.

Tuesday went as planned. I got to school early, taught, had after school clubs, and then came home. Our head coach was not in school so we did not have the keys to get to the practice mats.

Wednesday I woke up early, got ready for school and went down to notice that my car had been robbed. My stereo, GPS, speakers, and anything worth any value had been taken from my car. I was pretty shocked that my car had been robbed in the parking lot of my apartment complex, specially since my car was parked in a gated area.

I ended up taking the day off on Wednesday since I wasn't able to drive my car after it was broken into. The robbers had cut all the wires and I didn't take the time at that moment to fix them. After calling the police, insurance companies, ect. I got the car started (turns out it was just a cord to the battery had been ripped off when they were stealing my capacitor (stores energy from the battery to power the stereo system I used to have in my car).

I didn't want to drive so I walked to a car rental store and they were out of cars! I walked to another store and they were also out of cars. They said all the cars were still at the airport or checked out because of the snow storm over the weekend. I walked the 1.5 miles home and decided I was going to have to drive my car.

I took my car, no headlights, turn signals, parts of the dashboard missing, and loud ticking noise... out to do some car shopping.

Just to top off my morning... on the way to the first dealership, my pen exploded in my pocket and got blue ink all over the place. It turned my hands blue and ruined my shirt.

I was able to find a new car. I bought a 2006 Ford Fusion SE and so far I really like the car. It was a huge hassle to get the car, but hopefully it will pay off in the long run.

I have been told many things this week about bad things happening to good people, but one thing that I found interesting was the idea that without bad times there wouldn't be any good times. I guess I kinda agree in that having gone through challenges in my life, I will be better able to appreciate all of the good and good things that may come.

In a couple hours I will be starting another new week of teaching... hopefully a week that is better than the last...

Regional Wrestling Tournament

I am going to have to "post date" this entry as I have been too busy to write over the past two weeks.

As mentioned in the last post, my wrestlers participated in the Regional Wrestling Tournament on the 12th and 13th in Allen, Texas (close to Dallas).

The other assistant coach and I left on Thursday evening after school. We decided to follow the head coach and then team, who left at 12:00pm, as neither of us wanted to miss another day of school. Our decision ended up being a bad one, as a large snow storm hit Dallas and the surrounding area that evening. The snow storm was a pretty big one, dumping snow on a city, and state, that is ill prepared for that kinda of weather. The roads were terrible on our way up to Dallas and continued to get worse with every hour we were on the road. Closures and cancellations continued to be reported over the radio, but conversations with our head coach, who was already at the hotel, confirmed the wrestling meet would be on - no matter what.

About 30 minutes away from our destination, my car spun out of control. I am pretty used to driving in the snow since I am from Minnesota, but I guess I wasn't good enough. The roads were bad, and I ended up spinning out and going in the ditch. My car got hung-up on the cable divider that separates the highway system. We tried to push the car out, but we weren't able to get the car to move. As we were digging around the car, a large truck pulled up and asked if we needed help. The man got out and with a heavy Southern accent told us he was from Mississippi and was amazed by all of this snow. We tied a rope to my car and tied the other end to his hitch. We were slowly pulled out of the ditch and into oncoming traffic, which for some reason, did not seem to be slowing down, despite the hazard lights of both my car and the Mississippian's truck. Once traffic died down, I did a U-turn in the middle of the interstate to get going in the right direction again. I got stuck again while doing the U-turn in the 8+ inches of snow that was now in the interstate.

Eventually, we made it to Dallas and then to Allen. My car limped to the motel... missing most of my bumper, passenger-side headlight, and with some minor engine damage... the car still run though and got us the whole way home from Allen on Saturday evening.

My kids wrestled tough at the tournament, but I only had one individual go on to the State tournament. Our 102 pound wrestler will be competing in State this upcoming weekend!

District Wrestling

Last night (Thursday night) Sam Houston High School competed in the District Wrestling Tournament - District 23 AAAAA (yes 5A). The tournament was for both boys and girls and we wrestled very well.

GIRLS WRESTLING RESULTS:

The team took FIRST PLACE!

95 lbs. - Monica Caballero - 1st
102 lbs. - Andrea Davila - 1st
110 lbs. - Lucero DeLeon - 2nd
119 lbs. - Diamond Ponce - 4th
128 lbs. - Karen Ponce - 4th
138 lbs. - Elizabeth Arroyo - 2nd
148 lbs. - Cassandra Soto - 4th
165 lbs. - Elizabeth Zamarron - 1st
185 lbs. - Norma Castillo - 1st
215 lbs. - Brandi Flores - 3rd

Our girls were dominate in this tournament... no questions asked!

BOYS WRESTLING RESULTS:

The team took THIRD PLACE! (much better than expected by many in attendance)

103 lbs. - OPEN
112 lbs. - OPEN
119 lbs. - OPEN
125 lbs. - OPEN
130 lbs. - Jorge Troncoso - 2nd
135 lbs. - Robert Sandoval - 3rd
140 lbs. - Jabob Villalobos - 2nd
145 lbs. - Andrew Mendoza - DNP
152 lbs. - Tevin Freel - 3rd
160 lbs. - Gerardo Muniz - DNP
171 lbs. - Jesse Bickham - 3rd
180 lbs. - Joel Gonzalez - 2nd
189 lbs. - Giovanni Valdez - 1st
215 lbs. - Bennie Turner - DNP
285 lbs. - George Rodriguez - 1st

The boys did great as well. I can't imagine how well we would have done if we would have had a full roster. Evidently, our High School does not have any "small guys."

All of the wrestlers who finished 1st or 2nd will be wrestling next week at the Regional Tournament for a chance to advance to State!

This was the best tournament we have had this year and I am very proud of my wrestlers. I will try to get some of the pictures up here soon.



**If you haven't noticed... I have been very slow to post. I have been very swamped the last couple weeks as wrestling is getting into "tournament time," my students have been taking the Stanford tests, and my graduate courses have once again started. I have lots of stories to share though... and might actually write about them in the days to come.