6 Pieces of Pizza

It's been a busy last few weeks planning for Eli's 2nd Birthday and keeping busy at work.  

I know I promised Westphalia Youth Choir for my next topic, so I thought I would stay true to my word and give the people what they wanted.  Anyone from Westphalia that grew up in the late 80's and early 90's was most likely a member of the Westphalia Youth Choir.  

We sang at church about once a month and also made appearances Christmas Caroling and during the Westphalia 4th of July Picnic.  Christmas Caroling was the best because it always followed a pizza party at the Fire Hall.  Those who witnessed my devouring of 6 pieces of pizza as a six-year-old after caroling still remind me of it to this day.  In fact, I think that moment was probably was the beginning of my competitive eating career.  

In 3rd grade I ate 8 hamburgers at Shane Schechinger's birthday party.  You might think that was a lot, but we did go swimming beforehand.  I put many men to shame with my eating abilities and most recently took the title of Food Service Spagetti Eating Champion in college where I ate 7 plates to Shane's 6.  The rest of the competitors weren't even close enough to garner mention.  At least I know I have a fall back career.

Kobyashi ain't got nothin' on me

Anyway, back to Youth Choir.  It was 1989 and I was in 1st grade.  Matt Gross and my cousin, Dana Schmitz, had been chosen to perform the solos in "Do You Love Jesus?", the song for 1st Communion that year.  At the last minute, Matt had to leave town for the weekend and that left the choir short a soloist for 1st Communion.  Choir director Jan Rau and organist Gloria Schmitz had me step in and do the solo.  The rest, as they say, is history.  I've since gone on to win 3 Grammy's, sell 3 Platinum records, and make millions.  

Actually, in reality it was more like a scene from the Wonder Years where Kevin's voice starts to change and his voice goes to hell.  That, and the fact that I quit Youth Choir when I was 12 because I didn't want to sing Yankee Doodle Dandy with the choir at the 4th of July Picnic while my friends were throwing Black Cats and squirting Magic Ink on anyone they could find.

My mom still had a cassette tape of that performance and I just converted it to MP3 for all to enjoy.  Here you go:

Youth Choir Performance - 1989 First Communion

Same Performance Edited to sound like the Chipmunks

Is that Theodore?  No, it's Kevin Malik.

Next time I'll have videos and pictures from Eli's birthday.  I still have some work to do to get the videos online, so it will probably be a couple days.  

Drive Time, '91

As part of my future plans for this blog, you will be seeing a lot more video of past events.  These videos may range from my favorites growing up to obscure family videos that I am working on converting to digital format.  For instance, I may feature baseball bloopers one week, and footage of my brother Mark with a semi-mullet the next (don't worry, it's coming).  You might see me as a portly 8 year old in a stunning purple shirt (again, don't worry, it's coming), and the next entry might feature the 1991 Minnesota Twins tribute video.  

If you were voting for the Twins, you're in luck.  

My aunt and uncle and their two kids lived in Minnesota and knew that I was a big baseball fan growing up.  When the Twins won the World Series, they sent a VHS tape to us featuring a Tribute to the 1991 Twins.  This video was my favorite thing to watch for 2 years straight.  I wasn't even a Twins fan, but it was really well put together and kept me entertained.  This video is part of the reason I idolized Chuck Knoblauch for a number of years.  I watched it so much, I even memorized the Twins Pennant race song:

"We got Puck, Chuck, Jack, Mack...Chilly, Willy, Bush, and Tap, Harper, Gladden, Alan, Gags, Hrbek, Willis, Bush and Pags.  Aguilera, Erickson, Terry and Bedrosian. Guthrie, West, and the rest. Don't you know we've got the best!?"  

Now, it wouldn't be fair to talk about these fine videos without actually showing you them.  The whole video is an hour long and has tons of highlights and clips throughout the season, but I chose the most obscure and corny moments of the video to showcase here.  It's kind of like the Super Bowl Shuffle meets M.C. Hammer meets the "Not" t-shirts of the 90's.  I hope you enjoy.

The Twins are on the runnin', in 1991!

Total chicanery

The best part is when Hrby is pointing at Wille Banks dancing.  And what is Tony Oliva doing?

Eli is really starting to talk a lot more recently.  Just last week he starting putting multiple words together.  Previously, if he wanted picked up he would say, "up."  Now he says, "lift up."  If he wanted to lay down, he would just say, "lay."  Now he says the whole thing.  You get the picture.  Tonight I noticed it starting to become 3 words.  It's really amazing to watch him grow up so fast.  

Amber was on the treadmill while I was giving Eli a bath and I decided to try to see if Eli wanted to try singing.  You know, just to cover my bases so if he isn't a MLB All-Star second baseman someday, he'll have a good start to a smashing singing career.  We started with "How Much is That Doggie in the Window."  This was a good song as it features sound effects (arf, arf) that Eli thoroughly enjoys.  So after I sang it about 3 times, we were ready for our duet.

Me: "How much is that...

Eli: "Doggy" 

Me: "in the window?"

Both: "Arf, arf"

Me: "The one with the waggily..."

Eli: "Tail"

Both: "Arf, arf"

Me: "How much is that...

Eli: "Doggy" 

Me: "in the window?"

Both: "Arf, arf"

Me: "I do hope that doggy's for..."

Eli: "Garage"

Apparently Eli associates sale with garage. 

Next post:  The Westphalia Youth Choir sings the hits

Don't call it a comeback

I've had a severe case of writer's block lasting nearly 10 months and finally, it appears that it has passed.  I had attempted to hire monkeys that could type 40 words per minute on a typewriter to do my dirty work for me in the meantime, but it didn't work out well.  We had negotiated their compensation to be Popcorn Shrimp, Popcorn Chicken, and Popcorn Popcorn.  Well, after 2 months, all I had to show for it was a VIP Customer Card to Mickel's, KFC, and Snappy and three barely coherent paragraphs documenting the health benefits of bananas.  At least I've found an alternative use for my monkey friends:

I could go on all day making obscure monkey references, but I'll spare all of you the details...for now at least.  That is, until the 10 month writer's block sets in again.

I've realized that this blog is not only a great way to torture its readers by forcing them to read my tongue-in-cheek comments, poor use of the English language, and over-utilization of weird YouTube videos that have no relevance to my topics, but to document what happens in my life over the years.  In 20 years I can look back and see what happened at this point in time in my life and what was going on.  

Another reason About Schmitz is back with a vengeance is because of the incessant emails and requests I have gotten to continue blogging again.  The requests have poured into my inbox like V!agr@ email messages into an email account without spam protection.  The numbers are mind boggling; in the triple figures actually:

My sister Kim

Also Daniel

My sister Kim again

3.  That's triple figures in my book.  Granted, my sister Kim just wants to see more pictures of Eli and Daniel was probably just trying to be nice.

So anyway, life in the Schmitz Family has been pretty crazy this past year.  Eli is talking and keeping busy as ever.  He eats like a horse, but moves around so much he hasn't gotten much bigger.  I really hope he has better metabolism than his dad.  Currently, he loves books and is starting to get more into watching Bob the Builder and some Baby Einstein videos.  He knows that our new president is Obama and walks around the house saying "'Bama".  He is also obviously working on his Spanish because most adjectives are preceded by the noun.  "Bama" lives in "house....white."  This is a really fun age right now with something different every night. 

Amber stays busy with Eli all day and is currently expecting.  Schmitz Baby number 2 is coming near the end of March.  Eli has given his suggestions for names:

Boy Names:

Arnold

Hutch

Ben

Brody

Girl Names:

Amen

Ben

I personally am partial to Amen, but I'm not sure if I have final say in the matter.  I've been busy with work and coached baseball this past summer.  

So that's the last 10 months in a nutshell.  Here's some pictures for those of you who are too lazy to read.

Watching Bob on Dad's iPod

"Mittens!  I don't need no stinking mittens!"

First Sled Ride

I just realized that this post reads like a poorly constructed Christmas Letter, published 2 months late.

Next Post: The 1991 Minnesota Twins (seriously)

Procreation, Relocation, and attempted Copulaiton

Some big news to report this week from the Schmitz family:

1. My sister Karen had a baby boy on March 25th. Drake Phillip was born 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 21 inches long, and everyone is doing well. Everyone was waiting with baited breath for what the name would be as the other boy names passed around by Karen and Doug in the past have ranged from Hutch to Haymish to Joe. Of course Haymish was only mentioned to scare the crap out of my mom; it worked. I like Drake though. Sounds like the name of a doctor on a daytime soap opera.

My top three TV doctor names: 1. Drake 2. Doogie 3. Dr. Nick

Here are some pictures of the cute little guy and the happy fam. Cute little guy, looks like his uncle.

2. We finally found a house! We close on the 22nd of April and are looking forward to having our own place again. I'll let you know the address of our new place once we move in, but here is a picture:

3. Kent and Deb have adopted some stray cats and Gus has become very fond of them. He tries to get action from the cats all the time when he's outside. I feel sorry for him and the cats both, but it is pretty funny watching a 4 pound dog trying to romanticize a 6 pound cat.

No one ever said that pimpin' was easy

I promise more pictures of Eli to come soon. It's really hard to get pictures lately as he never stops moving. That and I've been a little lazy lately when it comes to generating things for this site.

No pictures, but all the macaroni salad you can eat

I know I promised pictures and videos in my next post, but this blog's intention is to disappoint everyone by saying I'm going to do something, and then doing something entirely different. No pictures or videos yet, but I do hope to have them up before the week is over.

This week is exciting for me because its a short week for school as students and teachers are on break Thursday, Friday and next Monday, Tuesday. I still have to work, but it is a good opportunity to get something done when people aren't around.

Amber and I are doing well. Amber keeps busy following Eli around and believe me, he is constantly going. Last night we went to my mom and dad's for the Westphalia Fire Department Chicken Supper and Eli was excited to have an audience. He's a total show off anymore. He really doesn't like his toys much. He's still very into kitchen utensils and exploring the house. But he ate tons of macaroni salad. He loves the stuff.

Lately Eli has started dancing. He even has a little spin move he likes to do. When he gets in the kitchen, sometimes he likes to crawl backwards for some reason. It's the most hilarious thing in the world, so of course, he never does it when I have the camcorder nearby. Videos of everything else will be coming soon.

We're still looking for a house. More are coming available recently, but not quite what we are looking for yet. We're getting a little desparate...it's hard not having your own place after being on your own for almost 4 years.

I nominate this post for most boring ever. That's why I'll liven it up with this random YouTube video I thought was entertaining:

Catch up or Ketchup or Catsup?

As Eli would tell you, it's not fun living out of a suitcase.

The with the writer's strike finally coming to an end, About Schmitz is back with a vengence. Don't call it a comeback, we've been here for months. It was a long, hard battle, but the agreement was finally made and the monkies with typewriters are back at it, helping to put About Schmitz on the map. And if you don't know how to read that map, here's why:

A lot has happened in the past three months, so I'll try to give you all a crash course to get caught up.

Eli got a really bad case of the stomach flu in late November and it lasted about 2 weeks. I never thought that I wouldn't mind getting puked on, but when it's your own kid, it's not so bad after like the 11th time. It also helps that it was just milk usually. Gross, but not as gross as you would think.

He is now recovered and is doing better than ever. He eats. And eats. And eats some more. I think he lost a little weight being sick, but he is working hard at regaining that and then some.

Just a little snack.

After that was Christmas, Eli started walking, and Eli's Birthday. I've been working quite a few hours at my new job, and with everything else going on, the blog went on hiatus. I plan to follow this post up with video the above mentioned and other craziness. We are still living with Amber's parents right now. Although they have been more than hospitable, we really want to find a house. Harlan and Avoca are not exactly buyer's markets however. It will happen, it's just been frustrating.

I don't feel as if this post is my best work, but I'm a the monkies are a little rusty after the long layoff. It will get better.

Just Pictures

For those of you who have not seen Eli in a while, here are some pics. I promise, I will start posting some info soon. Merry Christmas!