While HR may be the breeding ground of monsters according to The Office’s Michael Scott, our prisons and jails may be the breeding ground of something worse–the H1N1 flu.

Well, it's been a quiet week in Harrisburg, my home town.

With the exception of the high school football playoffs (the Tigers beat longtime rival Canton), so quiet, in fact, that I have to go all the way to Alabama for some news.

My buddy Billy Bob (not his real name but one I gave him) is a life long Alabaman.  He is the definition of a Southern good ol' boy.  He hunts wild boars.  He catches gators off the bow of a boat.  And he's invented a gizmo that helps when you noodle.

Noodling is when you go into a waterway, stick your arm in an underwater hole, and pull out a catfish.

You and I would use a hook and line but that's how some folks do it in Dixie.

Anyway, he sent me a photo of some kids who used his invention.  He says the problem with sticking your hand in a hole is that sometimes there are snapping turtles and snakes.  Never mind the barbs on the catfish's nose.

The device must work because there's about 200-300 pounds of catfish sitting on the dock that these youngsters caught with Billy Bob's wonder noodling stick.

Well, that's the news from Alabama, were all the men love the Governor, the women all did what they had to do, and the children catch catfish with their bare hands.

Well, it's been a quiet week in Harrisburg, my hometown.

The recreational youth soccer season is finally winding down after a number of rainouts.  I have been mostly an AR (assistant referee or linesman) on high school games this fall and haven't had a chance to be the center referee on youth matches until this past week or so.

I centered a wonderful U14 girls rec game Monday night.  Pizza Ranch was undefeated and Wells Fargo only had one loss.  They played one of the best rec games I've ever been associated with.  Excellent passing, good ball skills, fine coaching, and excellent sportsmanship.  I got nailed in the head during a dropped ball, which sent my glasses flying and bent the heck out of my frames.  I was woozy for a bit as I stumbled back up the field.  Then I got nailed in the leg and pulled a muscle.  But I kept going because the kids were playing their hearts out.  This is why I love soccer.

Pizza Ranch won 1-0 on a late second half goal.  It was exciting, well-played soccer.

And this is why I don't like soccer, at least as a referee--some of the parents.  Some of the comments I hear about me and my official colleagues are crude and rude--and often just plain stupid.  Some folks insist on not learning about the rules of soccer and how the game is played. 

But I will give the doorknobs who hurl insults at us wearers of the black kneesocks some credit.  Unlike commenters on blogs who are completely hidden and anonymous, it does take some small amount of chutzpah to make an arse out of yourself in front players, coaches, other parents, and assorted others.  At least there is no mistaking who your critic is, unlike many blog commenters. 

Once in a while, however, a comment from the peanut gallery gets my attention.  My favorite line this year was during a U14 boys club game at the Yankton tournament this summer where I was a center:  "Hey grandpa, get your head in the game!"

While I'm not the oldest ref out there, I am one of the older refs.  And I could technically be a grandfather and probably will be someday, I've never thought of myself as an old codger.  And the person who yelled this at me was in their 30s.

I thought it was pretty funny.  Like some of the Duke University students' insults at Cameron Indoor Stadium, at least it was creative.

On the other hand, while an AR at the state tournament in Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago, I overhead a conversation behind me. 

"They called something like too many fouls and a yellow card on my kid in the last game," a man from Sioux Falls Christian said.  "I've never heard of that."

I turned briefly and said, "Sir, that's called persistent infringement."  I was just trying to be helpful and teach the game. 

To which the man replied, "Now I suppose you'll insert yourself in this game and ruin it too."

Classy!

Don't cry for me, Argentina or KELOLAND.  I have a pretty think skin while out on the pitch.  But there's no reason to be a jerk.  It is the kids who get it best, like those young ladies on the Wells Fargo and Pizza Ranch teams who played the Beautiful Game beautifully.

That's the news from Harrisburg, where all the men are interested in the high school football playoffs, the women are wrapped in blankets while in the stadium, and all the children in shinguards dream of being Landon Donovan.

Well, it's been another quiet week in Harrisburg, my home town.

The Harrisburg High School girls soccer team went to Aberdeen last week for the state championship and kicked some major grass.  They took second place for the third year in a row, losing again to Rapid City St. Thomas More.  They lost in a shoot out, which meant they played 90 minutes, then another 20 minutes, then 5 shots on goal.  That's a heartbreaking way to lose. 

Weather conditions were horrible, with rain, cold, wind, and snow. 

The Lady Tigers have developed quite the program.  Oh, and by the way, just to brag a bit, when I coached them in 2004 and 2005, we also took second those years to Groton. 

Meanwhile, the HHS boys had high expectations with a senior heavy team, a 12-2-1 record, and the third seed.  Unfortunately, my son Matt's team lost in the OT period to a fired up James Valley Christian team 2-3.  The Tigers ended up playing Custer, another team upset in the first round, for 5th place and lost that game 2-4 in OT.  The boys had an outstanding season.  My son learned a lot of soccer, got to know more of his fellow Tigers, and had a good experience.

Soccer has grown by leaps and bounds in Harrisburg.  Both the boys and girls have a good crop of young players coming in.  Playing at the new stadium has done wonders for the programs' notoriety, as not just parents come to the games, but people from the community and fellow HHS students.  Many of the games had a "football"-like atmosphere of excitement, with lots of yelling (postive yelling, that is), concession sales, and lots of fans.

Congratulations to both the HHS boys and girls soccer teams for outstanding seasons!  And thanks to all the coaches and managers on both teams who make the experience possible, the parents, as well as support from Tiger Nation and the Harrisburg School District.   It's another winning Harrisburg athletic program.

Well, it's been another quiet week in Harrisburg, my home town.

The HHS girls volleyball team were all pretty in pink last night in support of breast cancer awareness.  And the HHS boys and girls soccer teams are the third seeds in the State Soccer Tournament that begins Thursday in Aberdeen, the Hub City.  The Hub of what, I'm not sure.

The most excitement was the State Soccer Association "forgetting" to reserve rooms for the HHS boys soccer team in Aberdeen.  I don't know how you forget an entire team that qualifies for a tournament, but the soccer bureaucrats managed to do that.  So now we have the team staying in hunting lodges, trailers, houses, and fleabag motels in Redfield, Webster and Mina Lake.  But not Aberdeen. 

But one of the boys' father is a good Christian man and he believes this adversity is a sign that our boys will win the Class A championship.  Me?  I'll put my faith in good crosses to the 18 from Corbin Jensen and Jacob Moir's right foot putting the onion in the back of the net.  God--or His/Her hand--only gets involved in soccer when Maradona is on a breakaway in the World Cup. 

Otherwise, at the Epp Estate, Daughter Sarah has moved back in, bringing with her a boy friend (who we really, really like) and a big dog (who we are not so fond of).  So we are all trying to (re)learn how to all live together again. 

Well, that's the news from Harrisburg, where the women are busy, the men are handy, and the children are all waiting for three more schools to be built.

Well, it's been a quiet week in Harrisburg, my home town. 

The leaves are starting to turn with the return of fall, the air has that certain crispness in it, and the town is all a twitter about the high school football and soccer teams.

Meanwhile, my hiatus from regular blogging continues without major incident.  Returning to an offline life has been less difficult than I first imagined.  I frankly thought I was addicted to blogging but I have left it without having delirum tremors.  I don't even check my stats anymore. 

So what has this new found time allowed me to do?  Quite a bit, actually.

• I've been refereeing high school, adult, recreational, and club soccer like a madman this fall.  I'm in pretty good shape, get to enjoy a game I love, and get paid for it.
• I've joined the Civil Air Patrol.  I figured it was time to give a little something back to my country.  I serve with some really good cadets and senior members.  I've learned alot about aviation and emergency services.  Plus I get to wear a nifty uniform.
• There's less stress in my life.  I've talked about this before.  There's one less set of self-imposed deadlines and need to come up with material.  There's no online squabbles with unreasonable people and trolls.

When I'll make a full-bore return to blogging, I have no idea.  Maybe in 2010 before the Sioux Falls City Elections.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying living the offline life.

So I'm sitting here on my self-imposed hiatus from blogging and I get an email from Jaine Andrews, KELOLAND's executive producer and my main "minder" here on KELOLAND's blogatorium.

She sends a gentle reminder that I agreed a couple years ago to blog at least once a week here on KELOLAND.  The quid pro quo is KELOLAND gives me this real estate, I have to blog once in a while.  Fair enough.

Oops!

Just when I thought I was out Jaine Andrews pulls me back in!

Ok, I've been remiss.  To be frank with you (but only if I can be Frank first or Frank Furst), I've enjoyed not blogging.  I've enjoyed not trying to come up with something interesting, newsworthy, or at least mildly entertaining every day.  I've enjoyed not being called a godless, socialist, humanist secular by Sibby simply because I support President Obama's health care reforms.  I've enjoyed not worrying about whether South Dakota's Most Enlightened Non-Woman get's his knickers in a knot because I happened to post a photo of beautiful and talented woman on my blog.  I've enjoyed not being all stressed out about writing stuff for free.

Plus, you can always go read my young Republican friend PP at the War College to see what the lazy SD MSM has missed this week on the political front.  Frankly, I'm still surprised newspapers exist.  I can read Pat and a myriad of online sources and be better informed than reading the local rag--and it's free and I don't have to throw the paper out or recycle it.  Now that's convenience.

However, I've come almost to embrace my iracible colleague Dr. "Nuke" Newquist's meme that we bloggers are bunch of petulant little kids who can't play nice in the sandbox.  There is lots of sand being thrown around here.  And I've enjoyed not having to pour it out of my shoes and dig it out of my butt crack.

So yes, I've enjoyed my time off from the SoDakBlogOSphere.  Can't say that I've missed most of you.  Ok, Grudnick, I've missed you.  And Nic, you too.  And Matt over at KJAM, you too. 

But like Ahnuld in the Terminator movies, "I'll be back"--once a week or so.  Same Bat time, same Bat station.

Dear Fellow Babies:

My postings are going to be semi-frequent for a while at the Middle Border Sun and here at KELOLAND.

I need a break from blogging for a while. I always try to post at least one thing each day that is "worthwhile" to either you or at least myself. I'm kind of tired of doing this pretty much non-stop since January 2005 with just a few brief hiatuses (hiatusi?) during that time.

I've tried to feed the monster and I've kind of run out of monster feed.

I have backed away from most (but not quite all) of my former political involvements. My ear is still reasonably close to the ground but not on the ground like it has been in the past. I don't hear all the juicy stuff that I used to hear.

Image via Wikipedia

My tiredness is coupled with some things going on in my personal and professional lives that have taken my attention. It's nothing really bad, just stuff that demands my time.

Also, I have been refereeing soccer and basketball like a madman this summer. For a fat old man like me, that takes a lot out of fellow. This fall, I will again be refereeing quite a bit of soccer and following my son Matt's Harrisburg boys varisty soccer team around the state.

Further, once I am officially "in," I'm going to announce that I am member of an organization that might surprise some of you. (No, Sibby, I'm not joining the Black Helicopter of the Month Club.) It's a service opportunity that I am really excited about.

My Buddhist practice and education is becoming an area that I am really enjoying and hope to become more formally involved in, time permitting.

I'm going to continue to post here once in a while and post DharmaTweets at Twitter and write about the Kansas City Chiefs at My Chiefs Complaint at BlogCritics.

Image via Wikipedia

With so many local blogs around, I'm finding it harder and harder to break through the noise and clutter and yes, even the good stuff.

When I started out, I wasn't a trail blazer but I was one of the pioneers in a digital Conestoga wagon. Now, there's a plethora of South Dakota-related blogsites. I saw the frontier before it was gone and now it is gone. It isn't as much fun as it used to be.

While I'm off doing other things and just posting once in a while here, I think these local blogs deserve your attention because of what they do and how they do it.

• South Dakota War College--My young Republican friend Pat Powers simply has the most informative political blog in the state. You want to know what's going on, read PP.

• Madville Times--Though I'm still pissed at my young liberal friend Cory Heidelberger for kneecapping me on my Today's Babe feature, Cory is the smartest kid in the room who always does his homework on the issues.

• The Decorum Forum--This upstart has lots of upside. Fellow enlightened being and creative genius Bill Fleming is doing some fun things with his little corner of digital turf.

• South DaCola--My young artistic friend Scott Ehrisman can get a little fired up at times about stuff but his computer generated cartoons are top notch. I think he's one of the true innovators in our blogosphere. And he calls them like he sees them--fearlessly.

• The Northern Valley Beacon--My young grumpy anti-blogging friend Dr. David Newquist is the best writer of all us and usually the best thinker.

• Hog House--Denise Ross combines old school journalism--you know, do research and get both sides of a story--with new school technology. And it doesn't hurt to have access to all the big politicians either.

  Image of Denise Ross

• Mt. Blogmore and Take It Outside--Kevin Woster is the best writer and reporter in the SDMSM and is also one of its best people. Politics or the outdoors, Kevin knows about it and writes about it with flare and humanity.

• And there are many others I enjoy, like Dakota Today, Nick Sloan's Official Website, Tony's Kansas City, The Jackrabbit's Den, Republic Insider, Rant A Bit, South Dakota Humanist, South Dakota Politics, and yes, even Sibby Online. They deserve your attention as well.

If I don't "see" you here, I'll see you on the pitch, in the courtroom, or on the highway. Thanks for reading and don't delete the Middle Border Sun just yet from your RSS feeds or bookmarks!

So, thank you South Dakota, good night! (sort of). I leave you with Pres. Man Crush saying good bye for me--for just a little while.