Ben and Jenelle DOT COM

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read four different announcements and web sites which state that a particular event in the near future is occuring at a certain time “CST”. The reference is most likely to Central Standard Time, since I live in the Central Time Zone.

There’s only one problem. Most of the Central Time Zone is not using CST right now. Since the “spring ahead” a few weeks ago, we are now on Central Daylight time (CDT), which is one hour ahead of CST.

For example, if an event starts at 7:00 p.m. CST, that’s the equivalent of 8:00 p.m. CDT. However, it would be silly for someone to use CST when everyone else is on CDT. The likely scenario is that the person writing the announcement means to say “CDT”, but he/she is used to always writing “CST”.

In my opinion, it’s perfectly acceptable to just say “Central time” or “local time”, and then it doesn’t matter if we’re currently on Daylight saving time or not.

Perhaps I’m the only one who notices these kinds of details. However, when making statements to the masses, I think it’s important to get it right.

And while I’m at it — it’s called “Daylight saving time”. There’s no “Savings”. If you can figure out how to keep extra daylight in a bank, I’ll reconsider my position. 🙂

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while. Over the past few months, I served as an assistant coach of a 2nd grade girls basketball team. My uncle, Randy, was the head coach. I helped him out at practices once a week, and Jenelle and I both helped at games on Saturday mornings. There was one game when Randy couldn’t make it, so Jenelle and I handled the coaching duties ourselves.

There are things that make coaching at this level very easy. For example:
1) There are ten players on the team, and each plays for two quarters, so you don’t worry too much about substitutions.
2) Since the kids are still working on the basics of the game, it’s pretty easy to give direction and instruction. Even though I am far from a basketball expert, I have enough knowledge to be a decent coach.

On the flip side, there are things that make coaching at this level very difficult.
1) Sometimes the kids can whine and/or complain a bit more during practices and games. “Can I go get a drink?” “We’re taking a break in five minutes.” “But I’m thirsty now!”
2) For whatever reason, not all of the players are focused on the game. You sometimes have to remind them whether they are on offense or defense. I am pleased to report that our kids never took a shot at the wrong basket, like one of our opponents. Unfortunately for us, they missed.

All things considered, this was a great experience for me. Below is a picture from the warm-ups at the game where Jenelle and I were the only coaches, and also a picture of almost everyone on the team taken after one of our practices.

The most exciting news of the day — we refinanced our mortgage. Exciting, right? We reduced our interest rate by a whopping 1.5%, and I estimate we’ll make up the closing costs in six months. We’re still using the same bank — I wouldn’t dare go anywhere else.

In other news, yes, it’s still cold, but it might hit 40 (gasp!) this weekend. That would be very nice indeed.

I forget exactly which day the snow started falling, but I recall working most of the weekend (Jan. 9-11) to keep the driveway and sidewalks clear. It was interesting to watch the snow build up on the tables on our deck. Here’s what the dining room table looked like on January 11:
We got a bunch more snow during the week. I’m very thankful that we have a snowblower now. Piles got higher and higher as I ran out of places to put the snow. There was so much that it nearly covered the fire hydrant nearest our house:
Even though the temperatures were bitterly cold, I took the time to dig it out:
Another interesting sight is our mailbox. Every part of it is covered except the door!
Here’s the whole snow photo album on Shutterfly. Enjoy!

We celebrated New Year’s by having dinner at our house with four other couples. Jenelle and I were thrilled to host Andrew & Holly, Mark & Heather, Jamie & Janet, and Steve & Mary. After feasting on chicken saltimbocca, we played games and chatted constantly, and the new year was here before we knew it. We celebrated once at 11 p.m. and once at midnight. We were hoping for a Conan O’Brien “Happy New Year Central Time Zone” event, but we settled for a local broadcast.

Here we are shortly after the start of 2009:
Ben, Jenelle, Andrew, Holly, Mark, Heather, Steve, Mary, Janet, Jamie