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)