Inaugural Trip to Lambeau (regular season)

There are some things in life that I just get "geeked" about. The Packers and Lambeau field are right at the top of the list. The history of the Packers is fascinating to me. Did you know that Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the U.S., doesn't have an NFL team, and Green Bay, the 257th largest, does?!?! That is so awesome (thanks Rick Reilly).












My dad and I went to Lambeau quite a few years ago for a pre-season game on a Monday night. They played the Browns. I'll never forget my first trip to Lambeau field. As cool as that was, pre-season just isn't the same as the regular season.

Two weeks ago I successfully bought tickets from a friend at work. Katie and I made plans for the Sunday night game. I could write for pages about our experience. If you've ever been there, you know how cool it is. Let's put it this way: Katie started to get REALLY excited about the atmosphere - she ended up admitting how cool it is there, it's just special. She went on to say Badger fans are lame - Packer fans are where it's at.

She's right. Fans tailgating at Lambeau are just different - in a cool way. All that green and gold never looked better. Everyone's really nice. It's fanfare at it's best. We at at Brett Favre's Steakhouse - good burger. Our seats were fantastic. Ok, they were average, but I would sit anywhere in that stadium.





John Madden was doing the game for NBC - here's his famous touring bus.








Here we saw A.J. Hawk getting dropped off and entering the stadium.


So they're playing the Bears, which made this sign the biggest laugh of the day.












So we've all heard about the season ticket waiting list. If you put your name on the waiting list today, you would be number 74,659. An average of 70 people give up their tickets every year, which means you'll have your tickets by the 3074 season.
Luckily you'll still catch Brett Favre's last year.







Sadly, we all know the Pack lost its first game of the season to the arch rival Bears. But I can honestly say that my first regular season game was so memorable and special - there's extra excitement around the team this year with their great start. And Brett Favre is a living legend. Even if I had the opportunity to get season tickets, it would be hard - the time, the money, and the impossibility all are stacked against me. But getting to Lambeau once every couple years would be the way to go for me.

Four Pillars of a Man's Heart

I just finished reading a book I put down four years ago. I was given Four Pillars of a Man's Heart in 2002 and for whatever reason, I never finished it. Boy, am I glad I picked it back up. When I read, I'm an underliner - everything that catches my attention gets some ink. It really helps me so I can re-read sections and cement it into my head. And this book got it's fair share of my ink.

The Four Pillars, described by Stu Weber, are foundational for men to hold in balance. As men, we need to carefully discern which pillar needs our attention at any given moment, with any given person, for any situation.




-- A man of vision and character... a King.
-- A man of strength and power... a Warrior.
-- A man of faith and wisdom... a Mentor.
-- A man of heart and love.. a Friend.


Here's a little synopsis of the book. I don't like giving things away, but if this gives you a good idea of the content of the book, then mission accomplished. Fantastic book!

Weber's background is in the military and he's an outdoorsman, so he's got some great stories. For any man looking to learn about four Biblical pillars of manhood, check out this book.

Rappelling at Devil's Lake

Earlier this week my cousin Brad invited me to go climbing and rappelling with him and some friends at Devil's Lake. My experience in the tree business has gotten me comfortable hanging on a rope and swinging through the air. But it took me a little bit to get comfortable in the rappelling setting. All the principles and even techniques are similar, if not the same. But with the trees, so often you have branches to hang onto and even stand on. Today, the context was a little different - just a face of rock to push against, and certainly nothing to stand on.

Nevertheless, my first rappel was safe and controlled. The second one was a lot faster - I had the figure-8 hot from friction when I got to the bottom.

Here, Scotty's getting Brad set-up for a descent.













Brad took these of me coming down.

Labor Day Festivities

Katie and I have been looking forward to this Labor Day weekend for quite some time. We've just moved into a new place, and we've still been busy around town. So a quiet, extended weekend was highlighted on our schedule. Well Sunday night Katie started to get a cold, and it got worse Monday morning.

Nevertheless, we still managed a nice day on the water and experimenting with our new cast iron cookware.

Lake Wingra Boathouse is about a 10 minute walk from our place. We rented a canoe and soaked in some of the last good rays of the season.

The project for the evening was to make our initial attempt at fried chicken in my new Lodge cast iron chicken fryer. We had concocted a rub for the chicken earlier in the morning. Once the oil was hot, we breaded the pieces in some flour and began the cooking.

We couldn't have been happier with the results. Katie and I really get into these kinds of things - southern cooking, classic recipes, fun and different ways of cooking.

(Breading the chicken, in the fryer, and the finished product.)

Game Day!

Theres' something special about the first Saturday of the football season. Sure, a few teams kicked off the 2007 season on Thursday night, but let's be honest - the season starts today. After a back-and-forth week with tickets, I thought Game Day for me meant meeting my brother and his wife at Lucky's for pre-game. Then Katie said she'd join me for the game -- "oh by the way, we have tickets!" A doctor from work gave her possibly the best seats in the house - 25 rows up on the 50-yard line.

Life is good in the Schiefelbein household this fine Saturday morning. We just had a great breakfast made in the aforementioned cast iron skillet. Katie made her signature tube-top from an old Wisconsin shirt of mine, and I'm ready for that walk to the stadium.







This place off Monroe Street is great - it reminds me of the college days of "park at my house and walk to the game." It's not like we're downtown like the college students, but we're within striking range - right where Katie and I like to be.

The Cast Iron Skillet

Katie has noticed something about me: I am certainly passionate about certain things, and I get really excited about camping, traveling, and even cooking. But what she's noticed is that when I get excited about something, I want to get all the gear necessary to make this new hobby or adventure the best it can be.

Around our house, Katie does most of the cooking. And it's a good thing b/c she's really good at it and she really enjoys it. I'll cook once or twice a week, and the grilling season is always fun for me.

Well I just read an article in a favorite magazine of mine and they talk about how men need to take over (and ownership) of their kitchen. It's a place, like the garage, where manly things can happen. And think of all the tools that you'll need...

And the first tool they said was an essential was the cast iron skillet. Now my father-in-law has told me numerous times that his cast iron skillet is his favorite tool in the kitchen. He's seasoned it over the years, and food continues to get better and better.

After convincing Katie of the necessity of this tool, I went looking for the non-seasoned cast iron skillet from Lodge, widely recognized as the best in the business. Well thanks to the yuppies who want everything done for them, Lodge is discontinuing their non-seasoned line. So I snatched up an 8" skillet and a 3qt. chicken fryer. Since then, I've done some research and have found a 12" skillet that I'll be getting soon.

I'm so proud and excited about my new hobby. In a different magazine, Katie and I found an article about a man who makes the best fried chicken in his cast iron skillet. Too many things falling into place at just the right time...

So here's me opening my cast iron skillet and fryer - cookware that I'll have for the rest of my life: (skillet, and fryer)












So next I had to season it by putting a light coat of cooking oil over the entire piece, inside and out. Putting this in the oven at 350 for one hour seasons the cast iron so that it becomes the original non-stick skillet.

During the process, the original finish starts to get baked to it's final color - black. Here it looks more brown, but I repeated the process again today and now we're starting to get to the final product. But like I said, continued use means continued seasoning, which translates to better and better flavor. I'm very excited about this new hobby.

Back By Popular Demand

Well, there hasn't exactly been popular demands for me to return to this blog, but it sounded like a good comeback line

It's been three months and a day since I've posted on the Game Plan. I had just finished my first marathon. Like my running habit, my blogging habit fell by the wayside. Summer was very busy for Katie and me. We've had a lot of fun at weddings and grilling out. I've played some golf and we had our first garage sale. We made it to Summerfest, a Brewers game, and have enjoyed my favorite show, West Wing, on DVD many nights.

At the end of July, we decided not to renew our lease at 6314 McKee Road b/c we had found a house to rent off Monroe Street. I'll update with some pics later on.

I guess the other big news for me is that I've decided to officially step away from college ministry. I have been a part of things since Blackhawk hired Matt Metzger to be the pastor for this ministry. I could go on and on, but again, I'd like to give it some time and write at a later date.

So I can officially say that I'm back. Summer just got really busy. Now I've got this great office to work from, and life just seems more organized. Looking back on some of the pics, I'm realizing we really had some fun, so I'll certainly get back to recap the summer. Until then, here's a few moments:

MCM 2007

I told myself a few years ago that I wanted to do a marathon before I turned 30. On Sunday May 27th, at 11:14 a.m. I made good on that commitment. I've been training for the 2007 Mad City Marathon since the end of February. Since then, Katie and I took a trip to Europe which really hurt training, although I did two runs, one in Munich and one in Freiburg.

The training really had an impact last Wednesday as my tapering was coming to an end. I had gone on a 4-mile run that felt fantastic. I came home and told Katie that I was ready - that the training had prepared me for Sunday's race. Saturday evening Katie put together a family dinner for the carb-loading.

Saturday night, I was a little nervous. Katie and I loaded the final songs on the new iPod Shuffle she got me for birthday/marathon gift. By the way: if you're training or working out, you need a shuffle.

I won't take you through the play-by-play of the marathon, but here's a summary: I went out as slow as I could for the first 6 miles and felt good. I sped up the next 9, and "cruised" for miles 15-18. Miles 19-21 got tough, and from 22 to the end, I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult that was. One coach of mine calls the last 6 miles the "survival shuffle." Now I can see why. I walked more than I wanted, and I was slower than I had hoped. At mile 22, I had a chance to finish under 4 hours for the race (which was my ultimate goal) but I couldn't quite hold on. I finished in 4:04, which I am still happy with for my first marathon.

Katie was a fantastic supporter the whole race. I will never forget her running across a field to get ahead of me, take a picture, and give me a high-five. My parents, sister, and the Robertsons were wonderful encouragement also. Special props for my sister who ran about 8 miles that day due to bike failures.

On the back of the Shuffle, Katie inscribed the following:

Plan, Work, Perform, Succeed. 26.2












There is nothing more satisfying than planning, working towards that goal, performing your best, and finishing with success.

Dad's Birthday on the Golf Course

My father-in-law would like to spend a few more days on the golf course than he actually gets to in a season. So his wife organized a 4-some last weekend for his birthday -- dad, Grant, Peter, and I.
Dad had the best round, shooting an 89. We all played really well. Luckily for me (and probably Grant and Peter, too) the course was wide open. I'm proud to say I only lost 2 or 3 balls.














Golf is such an addicting game. One good hole and you're hooked for another couple rounds! I had the drive of the day (310 yds), Grant had the chip of the day, and here dad had the put of the day.











Grant had a great shot on this par 3, 133 yds. The funny part was the next picture (click to enlarge) which shows how he used his driver off the tee.











This is our 18th. On our last hole, "We shoot 'til we're happy." If you look closely (click to enlarge), our four-some had 7 balls on the green. Happy Golfing!!

Munich and on to Frankfurt

The train ride to Munich was a little difficult because Katie had a migrane. She slept most of the way, and to make things worse, we could only find a seat in smoking. That was difficult for me, so we changed seats after the first stop. We had to change seats a couple more times because Katie was facing the wrong way, which made the migrane worse. When we got off in Munich, I realized we had left a bag on the train. I threw my bag off and ran back to the train. When I got on, I was frantically looking under the seats for it. Finally, I found it and got off the train (I was worried it might take me off to another city without my wife!!!).

Munich has been great. We had pizza again at our favorite place - Monaco Pizzaria. Literally, the best pizza I have ever had. Munich is by far my favorite city. Yesterday we rented bikes and really got to see a lot more of the city. We went to Nymphenburg, where the original ruling family lived. We had lunch packed and ate in the Enlish Garten. So many people out there - very social and recreational.

We finished off the day with a couple red brats. After taking our bikes back and walking the city, we will be on a train at 15:00 for Frankfurt. As the trip comes to an end and we prepare to fly out of Frankfurt, I eagerly await to begin putting more money away for our return trip to Germany.

Leaving Freiburg

Well Katie`s trip to the bath was eventful - not as close as she thought it would be. She walked a bit, but she figured it out like the seasoned traveler that she is. My day in Freiburg was relaxing, and it was very exciting to wait at the train station for her to arrive.

We had a nice date at a restaurant I had found. Sitting by the river (which flows through most of the city) will never get old.

The shops were closed yesterday, so we are going to check out of here, take our bags to the lockers at the train station, and walk into town for a couple hours. Then off to Munich.

First full day in Freiburg

On a strong recommendation from two women we met on our way out of Gimmewald, Katie decided to travel to Baden-Baden for the bath. We looked up a couple of the descriptions of what a bath entails (16 sections, 10-15 minutes each) and I almost joined her. Hot and cold baths, massages, all sounded very appealing, especially after our hiking in the Alps. But we figured Katie wanted this more than I, and I would rather wander Freiburg for a few hours.

I just got done with a 60 minute run. I headed out of Freiburg and ran the entire way along a river. I am guessing I went about 3.5 miles out and was never more than 20 feet from the water. At one point, I crossed in front of a dam across some rocks for a little variety. There were bikers, walkers, and runners everywhere. A very beautiful run.

Now I am off to the city. I still have a tram pass that is very convenient. My mission is to find lunch and then find a place to take Katie on a date tonight. The weather is expected to be 64 today - another beautiful one here in Germany.