Since last post we have not lost, so that is good news. This includes regular season Danish Volley League games, Pokal Cup, and Nordic Cup 1st phase. We went through the entire first round of head to head match ups pretty easily. No games went to five, and only 4 sets were dropped in 7 matches. As for Pokal cup it has also been very easy. We are in the Semi-finals vs Aalborg with not much resistance so far. I think 3 wins at 3-0 with large point differentials. The Nordic Cup was a bit closer however. Our draw was Aalborg from DK and Førde from Norway. The first night I wouldn't say we played great but we won as expected. I haven't lost to Aalborg ever, in about 12 matches, so yes it was an expected win. The next night against the Norwegians we really didn't know what to expect. I didn't think they were going to be very good at all, but that quickly changed after the first set. They played very well. Made very few mistakes and served tough. We weren't really in the set at any point. Second set went pretty much the same. They didn't quite play as well as the first set but we were still stuck in first gear. We were down something like 20-24 in the second set, and somehow we managed to tie it at 24. Simon Bitsch came off the bench and gave us a spark we even had a set point in there but we ended up dropping the set. I played very poorly the ball just wasn't agreeing with my hand at all, and I was already probably over a career high in errors after two sets. But the great thing about volleyball is that each set is basically a new life and whatever happened before is erased. I finally found my hand again in the third set. I found it from the service stripe and ripped 4 aces in a row to get my game back on track. Everyone found their serve in game three and we won something like 25-12, we just came to life out of nowhere. Game three was a little more back and forth but we closed it out and headed into a fifth set. The fifth set was again back and forth. I think we switched sides behind 8-7 and were down 12-10, before we turned it on again at the end and won the set 15-12. It was our first big test and we passed. It was also a pre-season goal to make it to the Nordic Cup finals in January. And with a sweep of our pool we were guaranteed a spot in the final 4 round robin championship to be held in Middelfart, DK.
To go undefeated in the first round of the DK league was big because we beat our toughest competition in Middelfart in their gym 1-3. They took the first set easily 17-25, and it looked like it was going to be a long night or a short one rather since the first set was not much of a fight. Second set it looked like the two teams switched jerseys. We came back and won just as easily. Game three and four however we didn't switch the winning jerseys back. The next two sets also were not as close as expected and we escaped from Middelfart with a nice first strike win on the road in front of a decent sized crowd. Other than those two games not much has happened on the volleyball front worth mentioning. Like I said there were only 2 other games where we even dropped a set so lets just skip all of that nonsense.
Since the last post Denmark has decided to turn off the sun for most of the day. And also turned the AC on full blast or placed us inside the freezer would probably be more accurate. Sitting in a freezer with a strong fan blowing in your face is probably even more accurate. Nah, it's not that bad but it is coming. The last two days it snowed and it didn't appear to let up for 48 hours. In Odense there is already traffic problems and if you throw a handful of snow out on the street the city resembles Los Angeles in rush hour. I think the snow removal services wait to see if the snow will melt on its own, and after it accumulates to about 6+ inches they come out and look at how pretty it is, and once it goes over a foot they finally send out the trucks. I went 3 miles by car to drop off Christa at school. It was a one hour round trip! Unreal. But on the way back I drove behind a city salt and plow truck which would have been great if for the half hour ride they actually had the plow down or the salt shooter on. Maybe it was just some farmer who was taking his tractor for a nice snow drive through the city?
Last night we worked the Christmas party at Marienlyst. We were crowd control to make sure the party could go on into the wee hours. It went pretty smoothly. Much more so than last year. It seemed to be a slightly different crowd this year a bit older and slightly more reserved. Still there are a few knuckleheads in the crowd. We had to get rid of one guy and he just wouldn't leave. He would go for a walk then 20 minutes later would be back at the front door trying to come back in. He did this three times before we had to be a bit more forceful. Nothing crazy but he needed to be carried and pushed a bit before he stood 100 feet away still running his mouth. The kid, and yea he looked like a kid, was out of control it was more funny than anything else it wasn't a terribly serious situation, but one that needed to be dealt with because he was on autopilot and being a goof.
The apartment is finally finished. We got a new couch from IKEA, got a new tv, and finally got all the shelves, blinds, and pictures up on the walls. The place is looking good and we can rest easy now to know that it is done! Molly is doing well she has a few more puppy teeth to lose, but she has been a really great dog so far. Hasn't ruined anything to valuable, still nibbling on just about everything, but nothing out of the ordinary. She is getting big!
We have the last few days off which was a much needed rest for me. My shoulder has not really been "normal" all season and in the last couple weeks has taken a turn backwards. I say normal because there are days where my arm is there velocity wise but I don't have the hand eye like I normally have or the range I used to. It is getting really frustrating to be limited but hopefully it is an overuse issue and nothing more. 4 days off is hopefully what the doctor ordered.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be grateful for, and I can start with my family. I know that I have been gone a lot of the time in the past 4-5 years and it is nice to have that support from home while I am gone. I hope that they can come out and see some big games this year, would be great to host them again! Friends back at home it is nice to keep in touch. Missed a big one with one of my best buds getting married a few weeks ago. Congrats to Jim and Tine wish I could have been there!
All for now. Talk soon.
Good stuff, hope all stays well and I'll see you at Tai's next time you're in town.
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