Life After Work: Tacoma Athletic Commission

I haven't blogged in a while. Since right after being let go from my job. You'd think now that I'm not working I'd have all the time in the world, yet I feel busier now than I ever had. Between looking for work, trying to start a business, side work, writing and other whatnots...I'm exhausted.

I'll talk about those things another day though. Today I'm going to talk about a cause I joined - the Tacoma Athletic Commission (TAC). I was asked to join by one of the committee chairs after submitting an ad I designed for my father for one of their banquets publications.

TAC raises funds, holds event, recognizes the achievements of local athletes (and others in sports related fields) and dedicates itself to youth sports.


They have a Golden Gloves boxing championship, a Golf Classic, an Old Timers Baseball/Softball Banquet, ceremonies for stellar high school athletes for each season, and in June have a big event to give away scholarships to the Male and Female Student Athlete of the Year.

TAC also supports other athletic events held by the parks, high schools, colleges, sports clubs and teams, and other events held in the area.

They are responsible for bringing the Tacoma Pierce County Sports Museum, the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame, the Tacoma-Pierce County Softball-Baseball Old Timers and the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame to Tacoma.

I decided I needed a cause. I mean, I support other things, but have not been actively involved. I decided since I came from a heavy sports loving background, I played ball, coached soccer, one of my kids is still playing college level soccer, and I have talents to volunteer, that this would be a good fit for me. I'm also a big proponent of kids playing sports to keep them in shape and out of trouble.

Today was the first meeting I've gone to and it was a good time. Seeing all the athletes from years past - record setters, award winners - was pretty intriguing. The guest speaker was Andrea Geubell,  a track and field star that went to Curtis High School.

Andrea holds records in Long Jump, Triple Jump, both indoor and outdoor, 400 Meter and 100 Meter Dash.  She won a gold medal for Triple Jump at the
2012 NACAC Under-23 Championships. She took the win at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and helped take her college, the Kansas Jayhawks win their first NCAA women's title.

She's back in Tacoma, still training and substitute teaching. She wants to give back to her community and help other athletes achieve their goals.

We have a ton of great athletes to come out of our city.

• Lawyer Milloy - NFL Patriots
• John Kitna - NFL Seahawks, Bengals, etc.
• Marcus Trufant  - NFL Seahawks
• Jon Lester - MLB Red Sox
• Isaiah Thomas - NBA Kings
• Nate Burleson - NFL Vikings
• Ron Cey - MLB Dodgers, etc.
• Jeffrey Conine - MLB Marlins
• Sugar Ray Seales - Boxer
• Kaye Hall Greff - Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Gretchen Fraser - Olympic medalist in Alpine Skiing
• Phil Sykes - NHL Kings, Olympian
• Alex Montgomery - WNBA Liberty

I could go on and on...

I'm looking forward to helping TAC however I can and meeting more local athletes.

Hot Wing Thursday

I actually did triple duty this week. I had hot wings twice on my vacation to the beach, then again last night.

First stop, Homeport Restaurant at Ocean Shores. Not all that impressed. Crispy, which is not really how I like my wings and they weren't hot enough for my taste. The waitress initially brought ranch. I was like, "Is this blue cheese?"

"Did you want blue cheese?" Um, hot wings come with blue cheese, not ranch. The whole experience was a bit disappointing.

Then I tried again at the Pirates Cove, also in Ocean Shores. They wings were crispy still, but hotter. Once again, they were delivered to me with ranch. This time I didn't complain because I came in right before the kitchen closed and didn't want to cause any trouble. So, I sucked it up.

Okay, so last night I go to the Loose Wheel Bar and Grill on 6th Ave in Tacoma. First of all, you can get an order of 6 or 12, and Wednesday happens to be Wing night, so I guess they're on the cheap. Then, you have a variety of sauces to choose from, there was BBQ, Sweet and Spicy, Mild, Hot, Extra Hot, and Stupid Hot.

I like hot, but if it's too hot, you can't really taste the food, so we asked for a sample of the Stupid Hot and Extra Hot, which our waitress, I wish I could remember her name because she was awesome, brought us. The Stupid Hot was a smoky chipotle sauce, and while I love chipotle, I don't like it on my wings. So, I went with the Extra Hot.

AND you got your choice of blue cheese or ranch.

When the wings came, they were just as I like them, not too crisp, dripping with hot sauce. Yum. Going to be hard to beat these. But I am a woman on a mission.

So while I'd skip the wings at the first two (though they have some great other food, Homeport serves killer breakfast, and I hear the fish and chips at the Pirates Cove rock) you can't miss out at The Loose Wheel.

Ciao,

Megan

Friday Free For All

The hotness. We have had record breaking weather here in the Pacific Northwest this week. 102? I don't remember moving to Phoenix. And apparently 60% of households here do not have air conditioning. Including mine. Fans normally do the job, but not this week. It felt as if I were dripping, melting, leaving me nothing but a puddle of flesh on the kitchen floor.

Of course, my kids had a blast. I blew up a rubber raft we have, filled it with water, and put it beneath their slide. They loved it. They didn't even want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's air conditioned house and swim in their nice cold indoor pool. I am always amazed at the simplicity of children's enjoyment.

Me however, trying to catch up on messages, and revisions, and writing, and reading, and cleaning stayed in the sweat box that was my house toiling away. Of course, I did get my bathing suit on and dunk myself in the raft every so often for a break.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I would never do that based on how much I hate to be cold. I definitely prefer the heat. But come on! 102! I think I now know what hell feels like.

Cd of the week, AC/DC Highway to Hell

Show of the week, Rescue Me (I've actually never watched it, but it seemed fitting)

Movie of the week, Backdraft

Book of the Week, Days of Little Texas by R.A. Nelson. Just finished it. Hellfire and damnation. (you can catch my review of it on The Angsty Writer Book Review blog: http://angstywriter.blogspot.com/ )




Kisses
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Megan