Texas Snow!

ATTENTION: It does get cold in Texas! North Texas was hit with a record snowfall today. DFW airport reported 9.4 inches as of 9:00 PM and the snow is supposed to continue into the night. It has been fun to see snow again. My friends and I even made a snowman after work complete with a cowboy hat :)

It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow which is perfect since I need to run 11 miles this weekend for my half marathon training. I have about a month until my first half marathon, the Dallas Rock ‘n’ Roll on March 14. I've enjoyed the running and am already looking into what my next run is going to be. Anyone want to run one with me??

Neal and Courtney are also making a trip down to Fort Worth for their spring break in a few weeks and I hope they get some nice weather. I’m trying to think of fun things for them to do while they’re here. Billy Bobs, the world’s largest honky tonk, might be a required stop!

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss and love you all!

Tournament time

Alaina played her midseason tournament last weekend in Lawrence. In Kansas, the boys take a week off in the middle of the season for a three-day tournament, followed by the girls the next week. Alaina's team came in second out of eight teams, which is the school's best showing in many years. It should be noted that the tournament field was pretty weak, but, hey, so is the American League Central and Tigers fans aren't complaining about that.
Her team beat a KC area school the first night (led 18-0 to start the game) and a team from suburban Wichita in the semis (led 11-0). They played the host school in the finals, which featured a 6-5 center who is being recruited by the Big 12. She was sort of thin and Alaina bodied her up and pushed her farther from the basket then she likes (think Bill Laimbeer and Kevin McHale). She only scored two points (two free throws) and threw an elbow at Alaina because she was getting frustrated. Alaina scored 11 points but her team lost 35-33. Alaina averaged 12 points and 8.7 boards for three games and made the all-tournament team. Her cousins from Kansas City and their spouses came down to watch her two of the nights, which was fun.
Tom spent his free time in Lawrence meeting with J-school faculty and students at the University of Kansas. It's reassuring to know that so many students still want to get into print journalism. Several of the faculty are former Knight-Ridder people who were familiar with dad.
Laura, meanwhile, played her second club volleyball tournament. Her team's first was pretty tough because most of the girls had never played in one and were nervous. They didn't win a game the whole tournament. The second one went better. They won a pair of games and were competitive in just about every other match. They have several girls who are decent and a handful who are dreadful. Unlike baseball, you can't hide somebody in right field in volleyball. With such a small court, the ball always seems to find the worst player. You know the team is improving because they are getting better at all the little cheers you do in volleyball after you score.

Home for the holidays

Conor is winding up his holiday break before heading back to Minnesotah on Saturday. He spent part of his break working as a winter intern at The Eagle. He wrote a very nice long obit on a 51-year-old firefighter who died, leaving behind eight kids and eight grandchildren (what are the odds? He was Catholic). He also covered the opening of the new Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and the RV and Trailer Show (always a big event). He also helped cover the opening of our new 15,000-seat downtown arena, which drew a sell-out crowd for Brad Paisley (this is Kansas, after all). Conor helped monitor traffic and parking, which was tough duty since it was 8 degrees outside that night. Fortunately he had most of his cold-weather gear from up North.
Alaina's basketball season has resumed. They had a funny week: won by 42 (NW 65, West 23) and then lost by 38 (Heights 81, NW 43). Heights is ranked No. 2 in the state and is ranked nationally in some polls. It also recruits pretty heavily. Alaina played OK (team-high 12 points, 12 rebounds against two Division I players inside) but it was a train wreck. Her team is 6-2 and both losses are to ranked teams.
Laura plays her first club volleyball match this weekend for the Chaos. She is starting to grow some (mostly her legs) and already has improved her game after several weeks of practice. We're not sure how good her team is, but we'll know more after this weekend.

Remembering Mom

Hi all,

We posted an "In Memoriam" in today's Free Press for Mom. You can see it here.
Tom and Peg say I have a future at Hallmark if my day job goes south.

Love you all,

Dan

Bride updates

Hey all-

So Mark and I are less than 90 days out, things are getting crossed off and ADDED to the "to do" list every day.  Planning is starting to be a little more fun, I dare say I'd enjoy it if I had free time :)

We took Mark's mom and step-dad to Vince's for dinner last night, they loved it and we're definitely going to have our rehearsal dinner there.  Yay!

Thanks again to everyone for the beautiful shower and gifts--I'm so lucky to have an awesome family.

Love, Sara

Look at all this loot:

The holiday break

Alaina's basketball team hit the holiday break at 5-1, its best record in several years at this point. After losing its first game 46-41 to Carroll, one of the better teams in the state, Northwest won its next five. Its last game before break, against another Catholic school, was its best so far. Kapaun played man-to-man, which was a change from most of the zones Northwest has seen. Alaina had 15 points and didn't play in the fourth quarter. I felt bad for the girl guarding her, who was just a freshman. Alaina kept calling for the ball and taking it to the basket. The girl got two fouls in the first quarter and was in foul trouble the rest of the game.
All five starters from last season are back. The key will be developing some depth off the bench. They are three or so deep on the bench, but need to get more quality minutes from that group. After break, Northwest plays the worst team in the league and then plays the No. 1 team in the state, Wichita Heights. That will be a good barometer for where they stand.
Alaina is averaging between 11 and 12 points a game and between eight and nine rebounds. She likes her new coach a lot better than the one from last year. Her new coach, Jim Mernagh, is from Portage, and despite the fact he's a Notre Dame fan, he's a good guy. Very positive, upbeat, encouraging. Her coach the last two years was a screamer and the girls didn't respond well to that. He is now coaching a nearby rival suburban school. They came to Northwest for a game earlier this season and the girls really wanted to win. Alaina had 17 points in that one.
Laura, meanwhile, is preparing for her first volleyball tournament. She is playing club volleyball for the first time. She is starting to grow a bit and judging by the length of her legs, probably isn't done yet. She is doing well and her coach, a guy, has played a lot of volleyball and does a good job of explaining the game. Her first tournament is Jan. 16 in Wichita. Most of her tournaments will be here with one of them out of town. This should help her next year when she tries out again for the middle school team.

A sad day in Tulsa

As many of you have heard, our nephew Kyle Herren was killed the other week in a motorcycle accident near Tulsa. Sharon spent much of last week in Tulsa with her sister, Lisa, and her husband, Kent. She went down a week ago Sunday with her sister, Donna, and sister-in-law, Julie.
Kyle was 22 and had just graduated from OU last May with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was working in Tulsa and starting to look for his own house. He was just starting to enter that next phase of his life when he died.
The girls and I went down to Tulsa last Tuesday for a viewing at the funeral home. The funeral was Wednesday morning. All of Sharon's brothers and sisters and most of the Kyle's cousins were able to make it (Conor could not). It was a tough service. Kent spoke, as did Kyle's girlfriend and his younger brother Zach, who is a sophomore at OU. They were pretty close and hung out together at OU last year when Zach was a freshman.
Lisa and Kent have a lot of good friends down there, who took a lot of the Bohn family in Tuesday night. We spent the night at the house of a woman who it turns out grew up in Windsor (I asked her whether she was Canadian when she kept telling her dog to get "oot" of the kitchen while we were eating breakfast). She is a big Red Wings fan and knew where Stoney Point is. Like all Canadians, she was very gracious.
Please keep Kyle and his family in your prayers.

Feels It, Fires It, Fills It

On Nov. 12, I attended the annual Philanthropy Day Dinner at the Dearborn Hyatt to hand out the Neal Shine Media Award for Commitment in Philanthropy. This year's winner was the voice of the Detroit Pistons, George Blaha. He has raised nearly $1 million for a women's shelter, and also works with a few local basketball-related groups in and around the city. He was very nice and had kind words to say about Dad. So did some of the other honorees (Art Van and former GM chair Lloyd Reuss) as well as emcee Mary Kramer of Crain's Detroit. (FYI - Members of the Pistons dance team, Automotion, did not accept the award with George).

"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"

While Kim was trying to get an email sent out, she let Maeve play with the phone. A minute later she could hear this faint voice saying "Hello? Hello?" She thought Maeve had hit redial and it was me on the phone. When she picked it up and said hello, the woman said, "This is 911. What's your emergency?" Kim quickly explained what happened but the police are still required to answer the call. Sure enough, there was a knock on the door a moment later. When the cop was satisfied with Kim's explanation, he called off the other two cars that were speeding to our home. Bad, but perhaps not as bad as when Juliana hit the 911 button on the cottage phone and the poor OPP cop had to drive out to the cottage from Belle River to make sure all was OK.

Tigers black eye

Thought I'd share mine and Mark's Halloween costumes this year.  People who got it loved them, people who don't follow the news or sports mostly asked if we go beat up.  Sigh.

And in action:

State of despair

The Northwest volleyball team's trip to the state tournament was short but sweet. Northwest lost all three of its matches and didn't advance to bracket play. Alaina had a good time, even though she was playing on an infected pinkie toe. The team got to play in an arena that holds about 8,000 people, which was cool (there were plenty of empty seats.)
Northwest lost in two games to Olathe South, 25-19 both times. The other team had a 6-foot girl who was just a stud. Whenever it needed a point, she got the set, either in front or the back row. Against No. 2 Manhattan, Northwest led 22-20 but lost 25-22. It lost the second game 25-23. Manhattan wound up finishing third in the tournament. In the final match, Northwest won the first game against Blue Valley North 25-22. In the second game, it trailed 17-15 when Alaina made a service error (her only one of the day). It came at a bad time and Northwest sort of unraveled after that, losing 25-16. The team looked tired in the third game and got pounded 25-11. Of course, the fact that it was 10:30 p.m. might have had something to do with. Tom, Sharon and Aunt Donna didn't get back to Wichita until 1 a.m. Alaina and the team spent the night. Laura spent the night at her friend Hannah's house so she would be well rested for her soccer game the next day (it must have worked; her team is now 6-0-1 this fall). Alaina will take a day or two off and then start basketball conditioning. That season begins Friday, Dec. 4, against rival Bishop Carroll.
The photo is from last year, but Alaina likes it because it shows off her guns.

Going to state

Alaina's volleyball team qualified for the state tournament over the weekend. It is, we think, only the school's second trip to state since it was formed in 1978. Her team was seeded fourth going into substate and had to win two matches to qualify. Her team beat the host team, Campus High School (think Roseville only with more employment), in straight sets in the first match. Campus was pretty good blocking (three 6-footers) but not good in the back or on offense.
In the second match, they played Goddard, a suburban district near west Wichita. Goddard was the No. 1 seed and 30-6 coming in. Alaina has played basketball with a couple of the players on their team over the years. Northwest thumped them pretty good in the first game and then scored the last three points in the second game to win 26-24. The girls were pretty excited. Laura was, too, when she realized she might get a free celebratory meal out of it. Tom got a little verklempt.
Next is the state tournament Friday and Saturday in beautiful Topeka. Northwest is the No. 6 seed out of eight teams. The tournament is two, four-team pools, which play a straight round-robin on Friday. Top two from each pool advance to Saturday's semifinals. Northwest will play Manhattan (No. 2), Olathe South (No. 3) and Blue Valley North (No. 7). The last two schools are from suburban Kansas City, which tends to dominate this tournament.

Gift of Reading

Kudos to Ted for picking up the "Gift of Reading" column mantle from his uncles Dan and Tom (previous GoR columnists). His column on Grandpa Neal and the importance of supporting the Gift of Reading program ran in the Sunday, Oct. 25 edition of the Free Press. He was a little bummed that the Freep ran an old (2007) photo of him even though they took a new one of him at the Shining Light breakfast earlier in the month. Just another lesson to Ted that the newspaper business can drive you crazy. Read Ted's column here: http://www.freep.com/article/20091025/OPINION05/910250432/

Nice win for Northwest

Alaina's team ended the regular season with a nice victory over Bishop Carroll, which was the first-place team and ranked No. 3 in the state. Northwest got drilled in the first game and was down 13-4 in the second before rallying to win. The team finished 25-13 overall and 13-3 in league play, which tied them for second. It was 8-0 in the second round-robin of league play. Up next is sub-state play on Saturday. Her team has to win twice to advance to state. Each of the last two years, it has won the first game and then lost in the sub-state finals. We'll see what happens this year. We kept waiting for Alaina after the game, wondering where she was at. Turns out she was doing some media appearances. I think she looks like Sara in the video, only with bigger dimples. If you want to see some bad video of both matches Tuesday, go to this link. Videos are on the right. Alaina is No. 9. She has some nice kills off of some slide plays.

Caitlin's wide world of sports

Caitlin came to Kansas for a nice visit the weekend of Sept. 17 and immediately was treated to about 11 hours of sports excitement. Alaina had a volleyball tournament in Maize, which started at 9 a.m. After watching her first two matches, Caitlin, Tom and Sharon drove east for Laura's soccer game at noon. Laura had a nice assist at midfield on the first goal and then tossed a shutout in goal during the second half (OK, one ball hit the post but it didn't go in). She is playing 11-on-11 for the first time this year. She would prefer not to play goal but her mean coach (Tom) volunteered her for the assignment.
Then it was back to volleyball. Alaina's team went undefeated in its pool but lost in the winner's bracket semifinals. They had to settle for third place (They finished second in a 10-team tournament this past weekend and are now 14-5 on the season). We finally got home about 8 p.m. We had a nice brunch the next morning to celebrate Caitlin and Tom's birthdays, and we even got to watch the Lions lose to Minnesota. Our nephew, Chad, and his fiancee, Jenny, who were in town for a wedding, also came, as did Tessa (another niece), her husband, Brandon, and Aunt Donna. It was a fun morning, except for the Lions.
It was great fun to have Caitlin visit. Alaina and Laura particularly enjoy hanging out with her. We wish Fort Worth was a couple of hours closer.

Maura's birthday invite

I found a cool site, smilebox.com, to send out electronic birthday invites complete with photos and soundtrack. Check it out.

Make a Smilebox invite

on the road again

Looks like I will be doing some traveling for the month of September...will be out promoting a huge new dealer program on behalf of GM. No word yet on where I will be sent but I'm listing Wichita, Fort Worth, Miami, San Diego, Boston and Knoxville! Stay tuned in the event I get to go any of those places...my boss said I'll probably be in Waco, TX or something. Neat.

Back in the saddle

Unlike the lucky kids in Michigan, school started this week in Kansas. Alaina and Laura both started Monday, as did Sharon, who will work about 35 hours a week at our elementary school as a para-educator and a lunchroom aide ("Hey, take that Cheetoh out of your nose!").
Alaina actually had to start a day early because she was part of the school's Link Crew, which helps the freshmen get oriented. She also has started volleyball practice. They had tryouts earlier this week and play an alumni game this Saturday. First league contest is Sept. 1 against the East High Aces (think aviation, not gambling). Her team should contend for a league title.
Laura is taking both band and jazz band this year. My guess is that in about eight years, she can start playing Shine weddings. She already does a mean version of Gary Glitter's "History of Rock and Roll." She plans to try out for volleyball next month.
I drove Conor back to Minnesota earlier in the month. He wanted to get back early to hang out awhile before classes start on Sept. 8. The good thing is I got to fly back because we we left his car with him. Even better thing is I don't have to help him move to a new apartment on Sept. 1. He will work about 15 hours a week at the St. Paul Pioneer-Press as part of a class. He gets three hours of credit and he gets paid. Talk about a win-win. We had lunch with my friend Tom Webb who is a business writer for the Pi-Press. We also talked with Dan and Kim's friend Tom Fladung, who is the editor. We walked around the new on-campus football stadium, which is really pretty. Michigan State plays a night game there on Oct. 31. Conor says Chris Gibney has tickets for you Spartan fans.

Save The Date - Alison Is Turning 70

Our favorite wacky aunt from Miami is turning 70 this year and wants to come celebrate with us. As she told Peg, all the people she'd want to be at her party are in Detroit so why not have the party there? We'll have brunch Sunday, Oct. 11 at Peg's. Exact time will be determined later. Mark it on your calendars. And the last word is from Alison: "I am so delighted that you all are enthusiastic - you all mean so much to me."

Ahem!

Family, in the great tradition of all Shines before us...we are slacking on these posts. Is that because we are all on facebook peeking in on each other? Or because, like true journalists, we operate better under deadlines?