Movie Review

A big 2 thumbs down for the movie "The Final Season." While the story line is a good one. (The movie is about the Norway, IA baseball team which won 20 straight state championships.) I understand that movies based on a true story don't always include all the facts, or names need to be changed so people don't sue. This movie really stretched pretty far to make it all work.

Inaccuracies: Norway is somewhere near Cedar Rapids, however they are shown dining for lunch on the Sutliff Bridge, about an hour away. Now it is never said that they didn't take a drive for lunch, but it is implied that they just went and grabbed some lunch.

Also the school merges to become Benton Community School District in real life. In the movie they call it Madison County, um isn't that in Southern Iowa somewhere? Isn't that where Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep filmed the movie about covered bridges?

Next in the movie they have the late 80's early 90's state baseball championships in Cedar Rapids at the renovated Kernals Stadium. This place didn't exist in its current state then, and the games were played in Marshalltown or some other place Josh told me but i forgot.

Also the radio announcer in the movie is one of the morning guys from the current radio station at Z102.9. In the early 90's that radio sation was called Q103. That station was never responsible for sports coverage. Talk about product placement.

They also dipict Iowa as a bunch of farm people with vintage cars and tractors. While it is true that a lot of people live on farms in Iowa and do chores, some people just live in the country, and surprisingly enough own a TV. Also there is a scene with a Farmall tractor which is all waxed and painted to the nines, we all know that a tractor used for chores and farmwork would be dirty. Also the cars in this movie are older than the time period, yes there is a camero and a Ford LTD, but the 60-70 issue collector mustang, come on! It is the 90's not the 50's.

So after watching this movie it has me wondering about all those movies that are based on a true story. How much of the movie is actual fact? What have they changed or altered to make it on the big screen? I guess they get the story across, but somethings should remain the way they actually happened

Josh rented this movie becuase it was about baseball, but he fell asleep when he realized how ridiculous the movie was. I somehow managed to stay awake and watch it. However I woke up with a migraine, the worst ever. Coincidence I think not!

Sweet Summertime!

Summer is here, but instead of sweltering temperatures, it is a windy, partly sunny, 75 degree Sunday. It is a nice day, at least it is not raining.

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been busy. I finished the painting (for now) in room #1 at the motel. Dad is still working on the bathroom ceiling, so can't finish up. Otherwise the room looks nice, it is amazing what a coat of paint can do for a room.

So on Friday I painted and pulled weeds, ate the remainder of my taco pizza while sharing it with Halen. Then Friday evening, Art and his wife Susan (family friends) showed up to have supper with us, they brought some taco pizza and sausage pizza. I hadn't had pizza for a long time, but after these few days eating only pizza I am good for a while.

Saturday, I painted some more. I was glad to get done, that room is not the biggest and when the weather is nice, it is hard to be inside. We also rented some motel rooms. I even managed to escape for a few mintues and grab some ice cream from the Pup Hut. Halen even got some. When the evening rolled around I was able to pack up and come home.

The best thing about traveling back and forth is the Kum N Go in Monticello. They have the best gas station popcorn around, so I always have to stop. Not to mention they have Dr. Pepper on the fountain pop machine and this summer they have a .59 cent promotion on a 32 ouncer. It is only a 2 hour drive, but that stop really makes it all worth the while. On another note, for those that need to travel between Solon and Mt. Vernon on hwy 1 there is a detour on gravel around the washed out road surface.

Which brings me up to today. It is nice to have a day off just to get caught up on all the things at home. Josh had to go get things squared away for the first sports camp since the flooding, so he is at work. We grabbed some lunch at the dorms together, which is nice becuase they have soft serve ice cream. I am doing some laundry, paying bills, throwing the frisbee to Kona, and spying on the new neighbors (they have a nice grill). Ok well I am not really spying, but just checking things out once in a while. We haven't really met them, but I met their 2 month old wienereimer (sp?) such a tiny little puppy.

Taco Pizza!

Well I have arrived in Guttenberg. I caught up on some cleaning and then jumped into the painting project in room #1 at the motel. It is now 12:30 am and I am just getting ready for bed. I don't mind painting it is easy, I have to put a second coat in the bathroom and finish the trim work and ceiling and then it will be done for now, then dad needs to finish the bathroom ceiling. This project all started with a leaky roof. So a coat of paint, a new roof, and a new ceiling in the bathroom and it will be better than ever.

I did take a break for supper an ordered a taco pizza from Joe's Pizza downtown, it is some good stuff. However there were no tomatoes. This tomato bacteria thing is for the birds, I can't wait for some Iowa grown tomatoes so taco pizza can return to it's normal state.

Well more work for tomorrow, the painting and weeding my flowers, the weeds have overtaken them. There is some rain in the forecast so hopefully I can get that project done. Mom and dad are scheduled to come up tomorrow for the weekend. So far there is one reservation at the motel. We were full and then they all cancelled for one reason or another.

Mom has been busy working, working and working. She does bookwork for an excavating company, a heating and air company, Plato Electric, North Overlook Lodge, Hardknocks, a local gas station, and I think that it is it. Dad has been busy wiring the new Mercy clinic in West Branch. He also spends lots of time exploring ebay.

Josh is back in Iowa City. He was supposed to umpire a baseball game tonight, but it was cancelled. He has a game tomorrow that is still on. I took Halen with me and left Kona behind for Josh to look after. Who knows how many pairs of shoes will be left when I return. Lucky for me I have my glasses with me, so she can not continue her mutilation of those.

Well this was a long post, hopefully someone is reading this out there. Have a good one!

Hump Day

Well not much new today. Almost hit a kid on a bike this morning on my way to work. I am not sure if bike safety is ignored in school these days, but whoever told this kid to ride in the center of the street should be tarred and feathered. So he heard me approaching slowly from behind him, so he creeped over to the left hand side of the street, I passed then stopped at a stop sign (intersection), where he proceeded to race by me on the left and take the road to the right. I was mad, but didn't want to scare the kid, so I just shouted out the window that a stop sign means stop, not sure if he heard me. Hope he made it to his destination safely.

Usually I work at the women's gym on Thursday, however because I will be traveling to the Gutt I switched and I am now working at the gym right now. (I work at the gym in exchange for a membership) Slow night here, not sure if our hot and humid weather is keeping people at home or maybe it's the fabulous TV schedule. I managed to get in a workout early becuase Josh delivered me some supper courtesy of the Hillcrest Dorms.

Speaking of Josh, he is getting back into the swing of things, the sports campers will be checking in this Sunday. Also he has been assigned to umpire 3 maybe 4 (it's hard to remember) district baseball games in a few weeks. This is a great honor, and it might lead to umpiring at the state tournament, he is excited.

Well hope all of you are well out there in cyber space. Drop me a note sometime.

2 Years!

Hey all - So today Josh and I celebrate our 2 year anniversary. I think it is no coincidence that El Ranchero is back in business as well. El Ranchero is the mexican restuarant where we had our rehearsal dinner, they did not get flooded, but water surrounded them.

According to our first blog comment, it sounds like you have to give away your first born and the kitchen sink to log in. We do like the comments, so be ready to part with your child to keep those comments coming. Or youcan always contact me via email: scweegie@aol.com

On another note, there will be many typos, so bear with me. Also I am still trying to figure out this service with the colors and pictures and all the pizazz.

To blog or not to blog?

I decided since Josh and I spend so much time on the computer we should start a blog. Well, not really, after following friends blogs, friends baby sites, and remembering our wedding website, I decided it was time to keep the world informed about the happenings in the Maske-Berka household.

Creating this one central site will be easier for those who do not have facebook or myspace. However we both have these accounts, ask if you are interested in being our cyber friends.

I (Angie) will probably be the main person running the site, as Josh is very busy. In time I hope to have this site all pretty and decorated in our style. I also hope to keep the information current as well as the pictures. I take a lot of pictures, but currently I am having a problem loading them.

There is also room to add comments after each blog, so we hope to hear from all of you as well.

Well now that the general information is out of the way....I will catch you up to speed with our lives.

We are both doing great! Josh is still working with the University of Iowa. He is the Sports Camps director and when he is not busy with that he also works for the Athletic Department, (ask him for the specific job title) runs the Iowa City Officials Association, and officiates high school sports. I still work for my dad at Plato Electric, doing mostly office managment type work, I also help him operate an ebay business. In addition I help my family run a small motel in Guttenberg, IA.

The flood of 2008 did not affect our house, we are high and dry. We did try to help where we could with the sandbagging effort. Talk about a work out! The water is receeding slowly throughout the town. Josh had to cancel sports camps for 2 weeks, and they will resumer June 29th.

Otherwise nothing new with us. Josh is busy with work and umpiring baseball and I am busy piddling around in the yard as well as taking care of our 2 dogs; Halen a German Shepherd mix who is about 11 years old, and Kona a German Shepherd/Lab mix who is approx 7 mos. old.