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will be out of town for two or three days....

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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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    Posted: 23 March 2012 at 11:05
hey, everyone - i'm off to billings, at the bottom of the state, again - this time for two reasons.
 
the official reason is to take my final exam tomorrow morning, in order to be fully licensed, certified etc. for insurance in montana. easy stuff, and i passed the first two tests with no troubles; i should have done this years ago, but with the kids and the fact that we'd moved around so much in the past, i didn't count on being here as long as i have been. late is better than never, though, so no worries.
 
the other, more important (to me) reason is for a little bit of family time. my wife and i will be going down with our youngest son to attend the montana open invitational wrestling tournament, which is a huge event in this state, bringing kids from all over montana, the surrounding states and even canada. as i recall, there were kids from three or four other countries last year, as well. he should do fairly well, because he has outstanding, focused coaches who have produced serious champions here in montana, teaching him some serious, advanced tactics - but he's still a relative beginner (this is his 3rd year and he is 9, wrestling against kids who have been doing this since they were 3 or 4), so things will probably balance out in the middle somewhere. as long as he puts his all into it and doesn't let a win go to his head or a loss go to his heart, i'm proud.
 
anyway, hold down the fort, folks, and if you need anything, i should be able to check my email and probably will be able to drop in for a post or update. those of you who are with me on facebook might get an update or two from there, as well.
 
have a great weekend!
 
ron
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 March 2012 at 02:57
Have a great weekend my friend!
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HistoricFoodie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 March 2012 at 09:23
So, now that you're back, did we win?
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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 March 2012 at 10:29
good morning guys, and thanks!
 
i'll tell the shorter story first: i aced the test, no troubles at all ~
 
now, as above, on to more improtant things ~
 
this wrestling meet was a challenge, but some good thigns came from it. when we got tehre and wentthrough the usual registration/wheigh-in rigamarole, we saw that the organizers of the event classified the participants into groups based on age (two years per group) and in a fairly-wide range of weights. this results in a much-wider pool within each bracket than is normal. so, my son (roger) who is actually 9 years old and weighing 102 pounds, was put in the 10-year-old group at 113 pounds. because of this, he was, in general, wrestling against kids who are older, heavier and more experienced, rather than wrestling against kids that are closer to his age, weight and experience level.
 
luckily, roger has a very good attitude toward wrestling, which is, always do your best and never quit - if you're smaller and lighter, you need to be faster and smarter. if you win, fine - if you lose, then you'd better be able to tell yourself you did everything you could do, and learn anything you can from the experience.
 
his first match was against a kid slightly bigger than him, but he applied the ideas above and won. a path to 1st place was clear: 4 wins total would do it. a great beginning!
 
his second match was against a kid who was a older and little heavier than him, but with much more experience. he pretty much dominated roger, who tried everything he could but couldn't close the deal, so roger lost that one. even with this loss, he still had a shot at a thrid-place finish, and even a second place finish (if the winner of second place was somone he hadn't wrestled before, then they would face off in a "true second place" challenge).  
 
his third match was, to me, the most significant of the three. the kid was visibly older and much heavier, certainly at the top of the range (113) over roger, who was at the bottom (102), but i think they were about even where skills and excperience were concerned. the match began, and i thought roger was going to get creamed, but he fought like a tiger and actuallynearly pinned his opponent. but in the last 12 seconds of the bout, the other kid managed to turn it around and, after a real struggle, pinned roger, wch resulted in 2 losses and roger's elimination from the tournament.
 
normally, when roger loses, he takes it in stride, knowing that he did his best. but this time, i could immediatly see, even before he left the mat, that he was disheartened. sure enough, when he got back to the stands, he told me that he could have won the bout, but je made one small mistake that allowed his opponent an advantage. it was a mistake that he knew he could have prevented, and he felt pretty bad at about it - one thing's for sure, he won't be making that mistake ever again!
 
so, in strict wins or losses, he didn't do great, but he didn't lose out completely, either. as far as effort, he did incredibly well, considering his age/weight/experience disadvantages. as far as experience gained and lessons learned, i think this was a very valuable experience. we record each on of his matches, and he reviews them, looking for ways to not only improve for next time, but also to learn wheat hsi opponents are doing and how to counter their moves. i'm pretty confident that, even though he suffered some defeat, he definitely came out ahead and will be a better wrestler for it.
 
i enver wrestled as a child, but i do find it to be a very valuable sport in that it is an individual sport where you are the one who controls your destiny. he is invovled in some team sports as well, and i think that the two concepts go well together, but the the individual aspect of wrestling, in my opinion, really gives him some growth. since this tournament pretty much marks the end of his wrestling season, we'll see how things go for him next year.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marissa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 March 2012 at 09:22
Sounds like a great experience for Roger! You certainly can learn a lot from losing to a more experienced person...or losing because of making a mistake! Those things tend to stick in your mind. Glad you are back!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 March 2012 at 09:40
thanks!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 July 2012 at 11:34
if anyone's interested in the places we went to for dining, click here:
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 July 2012 at 13:00
Tas,
 
Have a lovely few days away ... Billings looks like the Capital, Yes ?
 
ENJOY... Your little one is quite cute too ...
 
Margi.
Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 July 2012 at 10:09
hi, margi - sorry, i forgot to reply to this post!
 
billings is not the capital of montana, but it is the largest city in the state. probably a "big town" by most standards, but most towns in montana are quite small, so even if it just barely breaks 100k in population, we call it the big city. Embarrassed
 
anyway, if you picture the state of montana in your head:
 
 
my small village town of chinook is in the centre of the state, but along the top of the state near the canadian border (20 miles east of HAVRE). billings is pretty much straight south and a little east, almost at the bottom of the state. close to a 250-mile drive, but since it is a centre for many activities in the state (business, tournaments etc.), we find ourselves going there now and then. other major towns/cities are great falls, butte and helena (which is the capital, over toward the south-western part of the state), and the "university" cities of missoula and bozeman.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 July 2012 at 11:17
Tas,
 
Hoping one day to travel through your home land ... and we could plan a Lobster Dinner over in Billings !  Thanks for all the details on Montana and Chinook.
 
I have been to Jacksonhole,Wyoming and a quite a number of " small towns" and Yellowstone ... It was in the early 90s. I was doing a feature article on MUSTANGS in WY.
 
 
All my best.
Margi.
Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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