Seahawks Scrape Out a "W"

Yesterday was Sunday. Sunday marked the start of the NFL Season and more importantly the start of the Seahawks season against the Carolina Panthers. Although I didn't get to watch the game due to "Waffle Sunday" at a friends house but here are some of my thoughts on the game;

I loved the way that as a Seahawks team we could get a win on the east side of the country to start the season, especially without Browner, Avril, Irvin, Clemons, and Harvin. Two of our big offseason acquisitions weren't in the game but we still were able to hold the Panthers destructive Cam Newton to 38 rushing yards and 125 passing yards. The Panthers HB Deangelo Williams took the majority of the carries for the Panthers due to an injury to starting HB Jonathan Stewart in which he racked up 86 yards on 17 touches. I think Williams effectiveness in the running game not only came from lots of read option plays between himself and Newton but also an apparent weakness in the middle of the field. Without Clemons and Avril on the edge and Irvin to help the linebacking core of Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, Williams had a hay day. But regardless the Seahawks D held the Cats to only 7 points and managed to force two fumbles in the game which proved to be of great importance with the Seahawks offence only managing to put 12 points on the board. Steven Hauschka kicked half the points for the Hawks in the match while a fantastic 43 yard catch by Jermaine Kearse ended up sealing the deal for the Seahawks as they left the east coast Sunday with a 12-7 victory over the Panthers.

Deangelo Williams had 86 yards rushing on the day with 17 carries 

Russell Wilson scrambles to make a play

Some things I would like to see improve:

The running game! 17 touches from Marshawn Lynch and only 43 yards?!? Maybe it was the fact that the O-Line is still young or that the Hawks cut FB Michael Robinson. Whatever the case 2nd year Robert Turbin had 3 touches and 17 yards so maybe the BEASTMODE just needed a week to get settled back into the rhythm.

Some things I loved:

Russell Wilson avoided the sack all day, only getting sacked twice in a game where he was scrambling to make throws all day! The Seahawks receiving core even without Percy Harvin was outstanding. Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse made fabulous catches in the game to not only keep drives alive but also winning the game. Both of those receivers are also the ones that you wouldn't necessarily focus on. When people think of the Seahawks receivers they think of Sidney Rice and Golden Tate but with the performance that Kearse and Baldwin displayed on Sunday, I am very excited for the remainder of the season when Russell Wilson decides to drop back (with protection) and throw the ball.

Jermaine Kearse with the possible catch of the week on a 43 pass from Russell Wilson

Next week we play the San Francisco 49ers in primetime and I can't wait for kick-off!

Ottawa and Rough Days

It's been a while since I last blogged, some determining factors included the fact that I was working and that I went to Ottawa!!

Work's been pretty hectic (like always) and as much as I enjoy it I think it might be catching up to me. I had four days off work so I could travel to Ottawa with the rest of my family, but it wasn't necessarily a vacation.

I was in Ottawa for my older sister's convocation. She graduated magna cum laude (with great honour) with a BA; majoring in international development and globalization and a minor in anthropology. It was fantastic! But the lack of sleep definitely wasn't the greatest. Social sciences was the first ceremony on Saturday which meant that the convocation started at 9:30 AM, eastern time! So after a flight that left on Friday at 6:30 in the morning and a consecutive morning which had me waking up around 5 AM mountain time; it wasn't splendid to say the least. The whole family went to church on Sunday in and then we flew home, back to Calgary later that evening; creating a not so stellar late evening/morning. Then before I knew it, I was back at Camp Evergreen working Tuesday morning. So those are some of the minor time details about my "4 days off."

The rest of the trip though was awesome. The ceremony was actually half entertaining as Michälle Jean and Paul Martin both spoke at the uOttawa convocation. We got to walk down to the ByWard market as well as walk around Parliament and the Supreme Court to top off the rest of the evening. Needless to say, Ottawa was amazing, the amount of sleep I got? Not so amazing.

That leads me to the reason why I've been having a bad day. I had a bad dream about a stupid little problem that I thought would never happen in real life. But it turns out that I had deja vu and it made me so angry when I saw it happen. It definitely made my day even worse on top of all the other stress and lack of energy that I had throughout the day. I still have to do Yodel n' Hum tonight and I'm not prepared to act happy and excited in front of all those kids.

Sometimes it's difficult to show true happiness. But from what I know, true happiness and everlasting joy can only come through Christ. No person, object, toy, form of technology or anything else can make me truly, and purely 100% happy. Only through Christ can I experience that joy. So I guess my prayer is that while I write this blog post, God would reveal to me the joy and the happiness that is currently surrounding me and that I would be able to see Christ working in that. If that means encouragement from a fellow staff member or simply just the reassurance that God is present in my weakness, then I will be overjoyed and filled full with his everlasting peace and joy. But I don't want to set expectations on what he can and can not do. I just pray that I would be able to sing and dance to crazy songs around a campfire and that the kids singing along with me would see that joy also. Because if they don't see my happiness in what I do, then would I really be living out my mission at camp? I wouldn't think so, and that's why I have to come to realize while I write this post that God is sufficient, he is enough and he is present despite my biggest or smallest struggles, all I have to do is have faith and trust in his plan. I hope that by the end of the day I can say that I did trust in him and that I did have faith and that I experienced his joy.

Just my thoughts on the days events. See you guys soon!

Bradley "Aflac" Jones

VFB Stuttgart vs. FC Bayern München

It's another Saturday and the busy work is finally over. I have today off so what else is their to do then watch VFB Stuttgart play Bayern München in the DFB Pokal Finale which is pretty much a knockout tournament between the majority of all German soccer teams within the country.

I am watching with Nate again, as he's the Bayern fan. I also watching the game today with Fritzi (one of our German staff members) who actually lives about a half hour outside of Stuttgart.

I will be live blogging the event.

Tomas Müller scored on a penalty in the 36th minute after Stuttgart commited a penalty in their box, drawing a yellow card from the referee.

Mario Gomez former striker for VFB Stuttgart scored an easy goal in the 48th minute and another in the 61st to give Bayern the 3-0 lead in the DFB Pokal Finale.

Stuttgart finally got on the board as Martin Harnik landed a header from the Japanese Sakai that made its way past Manuel Neuer

Stuttgart struck again the the 80th minute as Martin Harnik took two cracks at the München goal. Manuel Neuer stopped the first but no the second. FC Bayern München is still up on Stuttgart 3-2 with 9 minutes until full time.

And a last minute save from Manuel Neuer in injury time seals the deal for Bayern as they win the DFB Pokal Finale and become one of the greatest teams that Germany has ever seen after winning the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the DFB Pokal Tournament.

What a great game! Stuttgart definitely put pressure on Bayern in the final minutes to make it a very entertaining match to watch, especially with Fritzi and Nate.

That wraps us me blogging about soccer for a while. Thanks for reading.

No Water. No Power. But Fireworks.

Yesterday was definitely an eventful one! We all woke up Sunday morning without any power or any running water! What a great surprise when you have over 85 people on site plus management and spring staff. Needless to say the maintenance team had a busy morning having to set up the generator to at least supply camp with running water. The problem was resolved in a couple of hours by about lunch time when the fallen tree was removed after it was found leaning against one of camp's main power lines.

The guest group left after lunch, and post clean was finished by mid-afternoon allowing for a relaxing evening off with the rest of the spring staff. We decided to head east, away from camp and shoot off some fireworks and just socialize/hangout. It was an awesome time as we all lit a couple of roman candles, threw a frisbee around and just relaxed as a spring staff team while blasting country music from our cars.

That wraps up my Sunday. This next week is extremely busy so hopefully I will still be able to blog soon!

Thanks for reading,

Bradley "Aflac" Jones

 This is Firework Church (at least that's what I call it) the destination for our Sunday hangout!

Mumford & Sons, Sports and Thrift Shops

Bayern München won the UEFA Champions League final over Dortmund 2-1! What a crazy game! Robben with the redeeming goal in the 89th minute to seal the deal and some phenomenal saves from both keepers definitely made the 2013 final a memorable one!

Watching the game today was definitely a nice break after a couple days of torrential rain. We've had over 108 millimetres of rain over the past two days and its definitely dampened some of the spirits of staff on site but with the sun shining late this afternoon, a Bayern München win and a couple of thrift shop finds that would brighten anyone's day, it definitely turned out to be quite a phenomenal Saturday.

Arjen Robben scores in the 89th minute to lead Bayern München to it's 5th UEFA Champions League Title

With that being said one of the highlights of this past week was getting to see Mumford & Sons in concert! They were sensational and completely lit up the entire stage playing Little Lion Man, I Will Wait, Babel, The Cave and even covering Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire for their encore. It was a memorable concert that I got the privilege of sharing with Felicity, my sister, and Nicole's friend from Ottawa.

Marcus Mumford from Mumford & Sons played in Calgary at the Saddledome on May 21st to a sold out crowd

So that's been my week I hope that I can continue to consistently blog and blog more about God, sports, and maybe some posts about hardcore music aka (Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying and his murder for hire trial and debaucel and August Burns Red's new album coming out in June)

UEFA Champions League Final

I realize that I probably should blog more about sports considering I love watching them so much. I find that while I'm at Camp Evergreen I don't get to watch a whole lot of sports but when I do watch games it's usually Union Rugby or UEFA and FIFA football matches. So with that being said I feel like I should make more of an effort to watch a variety of sports and the only way I can do that is by watching sports with other people. Courtney and Nate are great examples of people who let me watch Rugby and follow soccer more intensely then I ever have.

This brings me to the reason as to why I am blogging. It's the UEFA Champions League Final today between Bayern and Dortmund (both German teams) who are playing in the Super Bowl of soccer; the UCL Final in Wembley. Nate is pretty much a religious Bayern Munchen fan which makes complete sense because they are debated to be the best club team in the world next to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Dortmund has also played really well recently which makes the final game an intriguing matchup. This is due to the fact that all games between Dortmund and Bayern have ended in draws this year so the final is sure to be a thriller. From what I have seen so far Dortmund has been taking it to the red and white with Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer being the main reason the UCL Final is still scoreless. Robben is still stone cold for Bayern and can't seem to get anything past Dortmund while Javi Martinez had the closest chance in the first half for Bayern with a header off of a corner kick that just skimmed off the fingertips of the Dortmund keeper. 

Go Bayern!

First Year is Over, a New Year Begins

Wow, Bradley Jones is blogging again! Why yes I am! You know why? Because I am back at Camp Evergreen, the only place where I find the time to blog so here it comes!

My first year of college was phenomenal, I couldn't have asked for better roommates and I couldn't have asked for better classmates, instructors, and friends. I learned how to broadcast live on the radio, how to produce and direct a live television news cast, how to write and record radio and TV commercials, and numerous other skills that I will need when I graduate from Lethbridge College next winter semester. I can't wait for next year but then again I can't wait for Camp Evergreen's summer season to get started. That leads me to my next point!

I'm back at Camp Evergreen! Doing the same thing I did last year and with the same job title, "Summer Director," not that the title really matters other then the fact that my current work days consist of planning, discussing, planning, discussing the planning, and planning some more. The last couple of days haven't gone the greatest, but after making a decent amount of progress today we (the summer program team) hope that we can start discussing and planning all of the fun activities and games soon, rather then focusing on all of the logistics and troubleshooting all of the kinks and knots. But the great thing is that it's spring! And all of the male staff have bonded really well, from making a rap about living in the mini lodge, to adopting a rotting taxidermy caribou as our pet, and to sitting on the roof of the Man Cave and looking at the stars. It's really been a blast and all of the guys and myself are enjoying every minute of it! The Man Cave includes Aflac (myself), K2 (Mitch), Sunshine (Cam), Fender (Dylan), Eiger (Adam), The Distraction (John), and Duracell (Christoph (everyone's favourite German)). We are still awaiting the last member of the Man Cave Bacon (Nate) who should be arriving to camp within the next 9 days, I'm sure he will be a great addition. Correct that. He WILL be a great addition to the group of guys and the rest of the staff!

Other then that life has been super busy as always, I'm going to try and blog more now that I am back at camp! So keep checking back for updates in the life of Bradley Jones!