A typical week is never typical and some weird "E" movies

Even though there didn’t appear to be a lot going on this week (no WSU cross country meet and nothing besides regular track practice), it ended up being a fairly busy one!  I went on two different recruiting trips and was gone for four days while not missing any practice.  How does a week like that look?  Well here ya go (and please understand I can’t specifically talk about where or who I was recruiting because of NCAA rules):

Monday – It was a normal morning in the office followed by practice in the afternoon.  There were also several recruiting calls in the evening.

Tuesday – Another typical morning around the office, then practice, then I drove about three hours to stay in a hotel.  I made a couple of recruiting calls (hands free) while I drove to my destination.

Wednesday – I was up early (for me) and at my first of four high schools for the day at 7:45am.  I traveled around during the day and had visits at 8:00am, 9:30am, 10:45am, and 1:00pm.  I saw a total of six recruits for the day while our jumps coach Heidi Yost (now Benton) saw three more.  Practice on Wednesday is optional right now so we didn’t miss anything and I was home in Wichita by early evening.

Thursday – It was back in the office in the morning and practice in the afternoon.

Friday – We had an early morning workout (6am) and then I spent a little bit in the office before heading back out on the road so I could be ready to recruit the next morning.

Saturday – This time I was out recruiting a cross country meet for our distance coach Kirk Hunter.  I got back into Wichita in the evening and relaxed for the night.

Sunday – I’ve been watching football and do not plan on leaving my home until Monday morning.

So as you can see, even in a pretty normal week the life of a coach is hardly normal.  None of this was excruciating or difficult but not having a normal 9-5 job does throw your body for a loop.  I was totally wiped out by Saturday night and have been totally lazy on Sunday.

There are a lot of coaches out there who do a lot more recruiting and travel a lot more than me so you can imagine some of their hectic schedules.  As I often tell people when they ask me what a typical week on the job is, I almost always say, “there isn’t one.”

Next weekend I’ll be heading with the cross country team to Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Invitational.  Should be fun!

“E” Movies

This is the fifth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 155 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

E isn’t the most popular letter for movies so here is the list of my 4 “E” movies from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

El Mariachi (1992, 81 min, R, 7.0, $2m) – The story behind how this cult classic became popular is just as good as the movie itself.  Robert Rodriguez made this movie about a Mexican guitar player who is mistaken for a real life criminal for only $7,000.  It’s pretty amazing what can be done with that little amount of money.  And it’s actually a good movie!

European Vacation (1985, 95 min, R, 6.0, $49.3m) – This is probably my least favorite of the Vacation movies but it’s still pretty funny and has some classic lines.  Chevy Chase was in his prime and very funny.  Anytime I drive through a roundabout I always think of the scene where he’s stuck in London – “Hey kids, Big Ben, Parliament!”

El Topo (1970, 125 min, NR, 7.4, $?) – This strange underground movie somehow developed a significant following in the 1970’s when John Lennon convinced a friend to distribute it worldwide.  What is it about?  Good question.  There some interesting gun fights, weird sexual encounters, and dwarfs too.  I think John Lennon was on drugs when he recommended it but I would say it is worth one viewing for the sake of saying you’ve seen it.

Eraserhead (1977, 89 min, NR, $?) – Another low-budget movie that found a following by being weird.  It’s a story about a quiet man who has a bad job, an angry girlfriend and a mutant baby – no joke.  It’s all in black and white and makes for interesting viewing if you’re ok with seeing a mutant baby and some very, very artsy scenes.  The writer/director David Lynch is best known for the TV series Twin Peaks.

It appears that if you want to jumpstart a movie making career, make a weird movie that begins with the letter E.

I own 11 “F” movies that contain words like Friday, Footloose and Fletch.  Until next week …

Go Shocks!