Up In Smoke...

This week saw my favorite restaurant just down the street go up in flames. I was stunned when my wacky friend, who works there, called me at work to tell me about it. I couldn't believe it. About 5am one of the other girls who was coming in to work there arrived to see flames inside the dining room. She called 911 and it has been determined that it was a case of arson. That really whizzes. The family that owns the restaurant lives 40 minutes away. They arrived and were in a complete daze. No one could believe it... All of a sudden, the girls were temporarily out of a job. No insurance... nothing. I'm going to help my friend by putting together a care package for her. To make sure that she and her kids have a Christmas. She said her family is going to help her out too. So that's cool. But still, to see your livelyhood disappear without warning, even if only temporarily... No chance to prepare, no chance to find something else before your job is yanked... I don't know about you, but I'm counting my blessings... no matter how wacked out my life can get...

Post Turkey Turds...

Ohhhhhhhh Burp!
Hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day. Me, it was pretty neat. I woke up early and on my way to work on Thursday when I got the sudden brainstorm to stop at the Meijer's store which was open and packed on Thanksgiving morning at 6:30am. Nice to know that I wasn't alone when it came to last minute shopping. My purpose was to pick up a veggie tray and some soda to take into work for me and my co-workers. Well, as I walk right past the veggie trays and head for the soda pop aisle, I end up at the frozen food section. In that aisle, I noticed a number of boxes stacked up that didn't look like frozen food products of any sort. Instead, they were surround sound home theatre systems for $59... They were part of a two hour, Thanksgiving day only event. Thank the Good Lord that I had some money in my wallet. I snatched up that up in a hurry and grabbed some 2 liters of soda and got in line with the throng of other brainiacs that got up on a holiday morning to get things cheap... and of course after I pull into the hospital, it dawned on me that I forgot to get the veggie tray. Oops!
Anyway, after work, I went to spend time with the family. We had a pretty nice time together. Ate healthier than I normally would on turkey day. We played $100,000 Pyramid. Me and my nephew dominated on that one. Although as much as I love him, he is not the most worldly and knowledgeable person on the planet. Neither am I, for that matter. But we made it work. After leaving there and going home, I had every intention of going to bed early and going to the early sales for 'black friday'. The problem was that I remembered that I had bought the little home theatre system and I was so excited about it that I tore down my other one which was comprised of old speakers that were more accustomed to blaring out old Kiss and Led Zeppelin LPs than digital audio of dvd's, mp3's, or satellite radio. So in all my excitement and desire to install the little speakers etc, and fire up everything to make sure that it all worked, I forgot to look at the time. It was 3 o'clock in the bloody a.m!!! So trying to be the "I can do it... no problem" brainiac, I figured about 90 minutes of sleep and I could be up and at 'em and to the stores by five... That's the last thing I remembered.I woke up friday morning at 9:45 and got up for good at 10:30... ahhh such is life!

Faith, Hope, and... the 1st day of Christmas shopping

I'm currently reading a book called 'Second Guessing God'... Here's a condensed quote that got my attention and hit me like a ton o'bricks... "My faith in God is like a walk on the beach and I've taken off my shoes and am standing at the water's edge, the tide is rolling across my feet... in the last six months, doubt has begun to paralyze me. It's like when the water goes back out to the ocean. It is washing away the sand underneath me and my feet are sinking lower and lower. If this keeps up, there'll be nothing left for me to stand on... My friend's response was immediate: I have stood where you are standing. I've felt the water cascade across my feet. I know how wonderful that feels. I have also felt the water go back to sea. I've felt the water wash the sand away from my feet... listen to me when I say this: When the last grain of sand is finally gone, you're going to discover that you're standing on a ROCK..."
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours... I hope you have a safe and happy holiday... Me, I'll be working at my job at the hospital all day. I'm okay with that though, someone has to work it... Looking forward to waking up and going shopping on Friday with the throng of other cheapskates who will be out trying to pick up good deals in the stores... Let me know if you've got any good shopping stories... I'll let y'all know how it goes... God Bless...

AHHHHHHHH...

Hey y'all,
Today is a much better day than what I was feeling the other night in my last entry. I've put that little tete' a tete' behind me and I've been rejuvenated. I have more energy back in my soul and I am looking forward to a VERY MUCH needed weekend off from EVERYTHING... and I mean EVERYTHING... no hospital, no hockey, no BCSN... NOTHING! I hope and pray to have a fun and enjoyable weekend. There's a little show here locally called the sports rap on BCSN. They had a couple of guys from the Cherokee on a segment. I was the go between to make sure the guys made it there and were ready to do four minutes... I sat there and watched my associate coach and a couple of the players chat it up with the host who's a friend of mine... oh, btw, the head coach passed on being there because his son had a game. I had no problem with that. I put a high value on being a good parent and the head coach is definitely that and I am proud to say that he is... Okay, enough about him... I look forward to getting things improved on that end and look forward to the Cherokee getting the ship righted... I guess it's the optimist in me... Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better today and am looking forward to that silly little football game between Michigan and Ohio State. What's a Notre Dame fan to do??? Hey it should be a good one. Also, this weekend, is Grey Cup Sunday... What is Grey Cup Sunday you ask? Well, it is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. Or more appropriately, the Canadian national drunk... I will make a point of tipping one or two Canadian brews with my dinner and then settle in to watch the British Columbia (Vancouver) Lions battle the Montreal Alouettes at CanadInns Stadium in the fridgid cold of Winnipeg, Manitoba... brrrr... should be a beauty, eh?

Peaks and Valleys

Y'know, sometimes I wonder why I go through this self examination of concsience. I want more than anything to think about all of the positive things that happen in my life. Trust me, there are a lot... The bumper sticker that says 'God Bless America' can be a day late and a dollar short. We've been truly blessed in this nation and even though I'm poor, lumpy, annoying and too sarcastic for my own good, I have to admit that I have been very truly blessed. Even when bad things happen and I'm at a loss to try and figure out why, I know when all is said and done, The Big Man upstairs has really been good to me. I'm saying this because I've been soul searching in regards to some things that are happening in my life right now. Nothing really bad or anything, I'm just thinking that I am feeling a little quirky. No one specific reason. I guess I am feeling a little melancholy right now. I'm frustrated in my role with the Cherokee. I love my job, no question about it. The things that I do and the joy that I bring to people that listen to me online and I am so tickled when I meet families of the players from out of town who come up to me and express their gratitude for me broadcasting games online so they can keep in touch and follow their loved ones on the net. I know that they appreciate it and I feel very touched and honored to be able to do it. Working with the Toledo Cherokee, I have been so blessed to be a part of that organization... no, more like 'family' comes to mind. Until this year. Our record is up and down like last year. That stuff doesn't bother me. But right now, there is such disarray with coaches not really connecting with the players, and players who tune out the coaches because they can't stand them. I don't get along very well with my head coach. He and I are like oil and water... we don't mix. I talked to him for about 3 minutes today. That's way longer than I've talked to him in the last month. He's the head coach, I'm the broadcaster. We're supposed to work together and try to make each broadcast sound reasonably decent with each other's co-operation. But snide comments have been made in each direction and the end result is mud. We don't really do much to reach out to each other in any way, shape or form. We don't seek each other out to do anything together for a broadcast. I talk to his assistant coaches and I get along with those two just fine. Normally, I wouldn't let that stop me and I would try to be a nice guy and make peace. Not this time. This coach has already got the reputation of whining nonstop at the refs. He is constantly complaining and is even making the owners less than thrilled at the moment. The funny part is that he was originally brought on board as an assistant. But after the original coach was canned, he was made head coach. The owners were happy because the coach had name recognition, having played a couple of seasons in the National Hockey League. He also played in the minors and won a couple of championships with the Toledo Storm in the East Coast Hockey League back in the early 90's. But he tries to treat these young players as if they were in the pros. That's not what we're here for... These guys are still developing and learning. He spends more time yelling at the refs than he does getting on the players in his locker room. But he has alienated so many people in the last few months, that he may lose what little control he has over the team right now. You know its bad when the players are complaining about a lack of intensity and discipline from the coach. We lost in OT this weekend to Motor City last night and Flint spanked us today. One of our players got into a fight with a Flint player and cleaned his clock. That was the only brightspot of the game today... If we were winning, then it might not be so bad. But we're not winning much these days and the frustration is really starting to grow. Normally, you'd say that the players need to suck it up and do this and that... but right now it's the players that are frustrated with their coach, and if he's not careful, he might lose his players' respect. Even though there was a different coach last season, there were a number of returnees this season and the players that were here last year are not in tune with their new coach... at all. And you can see the results on the ice. And there are a lot of frustrated people on the Cherokee reservation. Including me...

Feeling Red and Seeing Blue

ARRRRGH!
That seems to be the only word that can come out of my mouth right now. I'm just trying to recover from a night that saw my red world turn blue... I guess I should backtrack: I took half a day off from work because I was asked last week by the TV station to do a regional playoff soccer game. There were several teams from the area that were in the playoffs and at least two of them were supposed to advance in the playoffs and could possibly win at states in their respective divisions. Only one problem: THEY ALL LOST!!! Every last one of them. So that meant my election day afternoon and evening were free... I had planned on an evening of junk food and my TV to watch the returns, but a couple of doctors at work who are good friends of mine called and invited me over to their favorite hangout to watch the results. Hey, 'why not?' I rationalized. I forgot to mention that the 'hangout' in question was a cigar bar. Yep, every asthmatic's dream.... BUT just like the guy who has a fear of heights but takes a job working as window washer on a high-rise building, or a guy who is terrified of flying but works as an air marshall, I am an asthmatic who LOVES a good cigar!!! I seldom smoke them anymore, but I love the aroma... Besides (I thought), I am in the company of a couple of doctors. If anything happens, they can treat me... until I remembered we were in a cigar bar and the only things they were equipped with were Arturo Fuente cigars and single-malt scotch... geez, what are the odds? Oh, nevermind... Anyway, we proceeded (with our humor) to make the entire bar crack up with laughter... We had to laugh because the results of the election made us want to cry... But we're big boys so we'll take our lumps as such and congratulate the Dems on a big victory. Their victory does not change who I am or what I value or believe. I remain true to my convictions and hope that the next two years go by with success and peace for our nation. I guess the only difference is going to be that I spend more money on taxes and less at cigar bars...

Weekend Roundup

Hola y'all,
survived another weekend. I'm feeling a lot better these days. I'm feeling pretty good. The Cherokee lost on Saturday night to Peoria. I got done with the game and instead of going somewhere to have a ginger ale and lament a 2-1 loss, I just went home. I got online and was looking for information about some hockey stuff and got absorbed by some stuff. I had a warped thought about something and before I knew it, I'm looking up crap on 70's and early 80's movies. As in cheeky B-movies. Yikes! that's like reeeeeally scary. I was looking up a movie that Lynda 'Wonder Woman' Carter was in... I think it was called 'Bobby Jo and The Outlaw'... just crap like that. Don't ask me why I was doing this... weird thoughts come to me when I'm eating ice cream at midnight. I think I might have been better off if I went and tipped a few as opposed to really awful movies... How the Academy could've missed these.... Anyway, I got to bed and slept like a brick. Too well. I ended up oversleeping and had to really get a move on it to get to Church on Sunday morning. Once there, my morning improved dramatically. I enjoyed watching the band play. They rock a lot harder than the bar bands I used to go watch every weekend in my younger days. And in a touch of irony, a couple of the guys in the Church band used to play in the regionally popular metal scene where I live, back then. So in the past, I payed a $5 cover charge, would drink about 50 bucks worth of booze, and sit there and yell at these guys. Now here we are all these years later, and I look up at the stage, and see the same couple of guys and shell out money in the collection basket, and go have a hot chocolate in the lobby afterwards. How lame have I become? Well, at least I don't have hangovers every weekend anymore so that's a plus. If that makes me lame, then I gladly plead guilty to that charge. I can still have blast without having to consume large quanities of 'liquid encouragement'. I don't try to 'drink someone pretty' either... I prefer a Gino's pizza over getting tanked... any day! Peace...

I was po'd when I heard John Kerry's comments (regardless of what he may have 'meant' by them) They were hurtful to those of us who have family in the military. Doesn't matter about party affiliation... it was wrong of him. But when I saw this, I laughed and realized that our best and brightest have a great sense of humor... I live in the land of the free... BECAUSE of the BRAVE!!!
God Bless Our Troops!

Sleepless In Seatt... er... my place!

Will someone please take my pulse to make sure I'm alive? lol... I was a complete walking zombie on Saturday night during the Cherokee broadcast. I got a couple of emails from people that heard the broadcast online and were very concerned because I sounded so miserable. I appreciate the concern and for the record, I feel much better now. Thank the Lord. I tried to sleep during the day today, but I kept doing little errands and finally settled down tonight after dinner. Now more random thoughts.
Saw my sister Lou today. She looked awful. She was hacking and coughing and was all kinds of miserable. I was worried about her cause the chemo treatments she's taking have really kicked her butt like nobody's business... She still puts up a brave face, but I know this whole mess is really bringing her down. Spent some time with my nephew today. Tony and I went shopping (i'm almost embarrassed to admit this)... for... (gag)... clothes! There... I said it... two guys shopping for clothes. Thank GOD we're related otherwise I'd worry about 'brokeback' jokes... and NOOOO neither of us asked the other if our butts looked big... We had a pretty good time together. It was kind of strange. He and I don't see each other a great deal but we're still pretty close. He asked me today if I ever talk to or see my former girlfriend. I smiled and said 'no honey, we don't have any contact with each other.'... In the past, I might have added some nasty editorial comments to the answer. But as I said in previous posts, I've left that time of my life in the past, and tossed everything else in the trash can. I think the last time I tried to contact her was back in January. But anyway, Tony asked a couple of more questions about her and instead of trying to slam her, I was polite and just said something like "it didn't work out but it's for the best... for both of us... we're both much happier" and he finished with his questions and dropped it. I must be getting old or something. Normally, considering the circumstances, I would have said something much more negative if he had asked me this about 7 months ago. But by the spring, I made my peace with it and left it at the foot of the cross. And I am soooo much happier now and glad she's gone. I mean no malice with that comment... I'm happier without her than I was with her... 'nuff said. Stay warm everyone... unless you're in Hawaii... (hi Tina)

You're Getting Sleeeeeepy...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,
My airway feels a whole lot better. I'm still not 100% yet... but I'm breathing again so I guess that should be good for something. Right now I'm in the middle of a long weekend of work. I about dropped over on Wednesday night as I had to broadcast 2 soccer games back to back. I hit my inhaler but I was still wheezy. I had a hard time getting through the second game but that's the way the cookie crumbles. My next 2 days should be fun... here's the schedule:

Friday: Work till 6pm... drive to Wayne, MI to broadcast Cherokee hockey vs Michigan Ice Dogs at 8:20pm. Get home around 12:30am... back up about 4am. Go back to work at the hospital Saturday till 2pm. Head from hospital to broadcast district soccer final for TV at 4pm. After district final, jump in car and drive to Cleveland to broadcast Cherokee hockey vs Cleveland Lumberjacks on the internet at 9pm... Now mind you, I'm not really complaining. After all, I get paid to do all of these things. But by the time I wake back up early Sunday morning, I'll be dragging my knuckles to say the least... But I'll be ready for it all... About the only thing that has me feeling down right now is that the Detroit Tigers are down 3-1 to the Cardinals in the World Series. But I'm optimistic...

Punks and Drunks

As much as I love and am passionate about sports (afterall, I work as broadcaster of them), I still have to deal with goofballs that are harmless, but no less annoying. As excited as I am about the World Series being played less than 45 minutes from my house, sometimes things can be downright strange... Let's set the scene: I'm awake and am leaving the doctor's office and going to stop at the local tavern in my little hick town trying to get something to eat. While sitting there, a guy walks by (obviously enjoying 'happy hour' just a little too much), and spills his beverage a bit on yours truly. The very brief conversation went something like this:

Me: Ahhhhhhhhhh!
Drunk guy: Ohhhh dude! TIGERS!!! (at this point, drunk guy walks back to his chair)

apparently, invoking the name of a professional sports team allows you a brief grace period to stagger back to your chair and pretend that nothing happened. I wouldn't have been mad at all if the guy would've said 'sorry' or 'dude, my bad'. I'm a big boy, that stuff doesn't bother me. We all make mistakes. But 'dude, TIGERS'??? I dried myself off and shook my head. Then I heard the guy talking loudly about his levi jeans and his male anatomy. At this point, I laughed. What else could I do? I grabbed my 'to go' order and left. I'm trying to think of where I could use that expression as an excuse the next time I screw something up... If I do, I'll let y'all know how it turns out... yeesh!

Fading In and Out...

I don't know if this will make any sense, but I'm tired, cranky, but still pretty happy. I guess I should explain. I came back from St Louis and on the way home, started wheezing and had some difficulty breathing. There's been a respiratory bug that's been going around our department at work. I came down with it and am now feeling like ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag. Rebecca, if you read this, you may not be a shrink my friend, but you're some prognosticator! So I took the last couple of days off from work to try and get my poop in a group... The only good thing about this is that in addition to getting some rest, I am getting some time to listen to radio, and watch the odd movie or two... something I've always enjoyed but haven't done in a while. I am still feeling the effects of gettin' old... But I'm going back to work tomorrow. Plus I just got my TV schedule for the next week. Ugh! But it's worth it... I'll be logging some serious miles and I can't wait... I start this entry griping about being on the go and feeling like crap. And end it looking forward to more of the same... Yeah I'm crazy... and I'm GLAD... mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Exhaustion Leads to... Being Tired! (profound, eh?)

Ugh... that's about all the energy I've got to say. These last couple of weeks have shown me that I'm not as young as I used to be and I have let the ol' body take a beating by putting in a ton of hours all over the place. I'm ready to collapse. To be truthful, I nearly did the other day. I got a few warning signs that I need to slow down. Of course in traditional Mik fashion... I ignored them. Too stubborn for my own good. Well, as I write this, it's on to the Loo... (that would be St. Louis) as the Cherokee have to go down and play the three time national defending champs... Oh well, c'est la vie... Found out that my best friend and his wife are expecting... very cool. Me, I'm trying to stay focused on what's right in this world. It's not easy, I can tell you this... Found some crap that was my old girlfriend's and that brought back some not-so-good memories of the past. Some anger and bitterness returned for awhile. Like about 8 days. I found myself getting mad at God for all the wrong (as usual) reasons. It wasn't His fault. I needed something to lash out and let it finally rest. Very odd, it came in the form of the 'Grumpy Old Men' movies. I watched those and for some very strange reason, I actually had a couple of tears in my eyes. I saw myself as the Walter Matthau charachter and I didn't like that one bit. I've done pretty good about not thinking about her and putting that worthless segment of my life behind me. I found a couple of things and it brought me back to another time in my life where all I did was practically kill myself trying to please her and take care of her needs at the complete expense of my own. I wasn't living my life at all. I was her servant. Nothing more... But after realizing what that mess was in my past with her, I was able to empty out the garbage and start over again. With much brighter horizons I might add. Today, I am drama queen free... halleluja!

Something I Won't Forget...

Some may question about the evidence of God. That's completely understandable. With things that happen in the world... bad things sometimes happen to good people. We have a showcase tournament that the Cherokee had to play in this weekend up in Detroit. Four games in four days. We got stomped big time by St. Louis on Friday night 5-0... Scored a come from behind 5-4 win over Chicago. And took one in the shorts on Sunday as Dubuque smoked us 9-5... We still have to play Grand Rapids on Monday afternoon at about 5pm ET... But for me... none of that mattered so much as the charity event that took place on Saturday night. I was sitting out in the lobby of the arena, watching the Tigers clinch the ALDS against the Yankees. I about crapped myself. I was so jacked to see that. it's only been 19 years since the Tigers were in the League Championship Series. Anyway, I was getting ready to head home for a night of wine, woman, and song when I was asked to help broadcast a charity hockey game that featured all the players that were in wheelchairs. And most of these players had very little mobility and use of their extremeties. As they were out on the ice, they were being pushed by a host of former hockey players. Some famous, some not quite as famous but it didn't really matter. The players in the wheelchairs were the stars as they battled heartily and it was neat to see former Detroit Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov who dropped the ceremonial opening face-off to get things started. Vladdy was seriously injured in a limousine less than two weeks after the Wings won the Stanley Cup back in 1997. The limo driver who was driving Konstantinov, team massusse Sergei Mnatsakonov, and defenseman Slava Fetisov, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree. Vladdy and Sergei were the only two who were severely injured. Fetisov was fine. Sergei was left in a wheel chair but is able to remember most everything. Vladdy spent a number of years in a wheelchair and can't remember alot. But he showed up in the arena using a walker with wheels on it. He still has great difficulty with balance and co-ordination. But he brought the crowd to it's feet in a wonderful display of love and emotion for the guy we all knew back in the 90's as 'The Vladinator'... I was stunned to see him in an improved condition. I don't think he'll ever be the well enough to walk without a walker or anything, but it was still moving to see him make it out for this event. And then there were the wheelchair players. Some could not really move their arms and legs but it didn't matter. With the guys that were pushing the chairs around the ice, everyone had an absolute ball. After the game, the people in the stands gave the wheelchair players a rousing standing ovation. I watched in silence as the wheelchair players were all smiles and had huge grins on their faces as they posed for pictures and thanked the guys that pushed their chairs around the ice. But I can guarantee you that to a person, the guys pushing the wheelchair players were more in awe of the players much more than the wheelchair players (guys and girls) were awestruck... As someone who watched the event and also helped broadcast it, I was blown away by these folks and really had a new appreciation for just how blessed I really am.... Even when I'm hurting and things aren't going my way... I was truly moved and realized that the issues that I have to face are absolutely nothing in comparison to what these people deal with day to day... I was truly humbled...

Bilingual (soccer) Foot In Mouth...

The following conversation occured between me and the TV station folks...

BCSN: Hey Mik, are you doing the Latino heritage soccer match next Sunday?
Mik: Uh, no... hadn't planned on it nor heard about it... why?
BCSN: Because... you're hispanic silly!
Mik: Um, where exactly do hispanics come from anyway? Hispanica?
BCSN: We thought it'd be cool for you to do part of the game in Spanish!
Mik: ARE YOU NUTS??? I can't even get the hang of doing it in English... and that's my mother tongue!!! Why would I want to butcher up a sporting event in two languages???
BCSN: We want to have an all Latino crew...
Mik: Uh, I don't mean to bring things down, but there's only me and Jon (a director) who would qualify. Are we going to do a single camera shoot with no production truck? There's two other guys who have some puerto rican mixed with lebanese backround. They don't even have latin surnames. (editor's note: a 'crew' consists of three camera people, a director, a VTR operator, a cg operator, a sound person, and a PA.) So in keeping with the immigration issue that persists these days, and in keeping with the latino heritage theme, maybe we can pick up a couple of 'relatives' of the soccer players who just snuck into the country and stick them in the production truck and be sure to get a camera shot of it. Just make sure to include a title "Executive Producer aka Coyote"
BCSN: Never mind Mik, I see your out of town with the Cherokee anyway...
Mik: Gee, that's too bad. (Whhewwww!!!)

On The Fly...

Hola, It's been a bit since I've written. I have been one busy nutcase. Iowa was... well, Iowa. Saturday night was cowbell night. It wasn't so much a giveaway as much as it was for Iowans to accessorize in a fashion sense. Only kidding. I have been on a whirlwind schedule and will continue to be so through the weekend till monday morning. I'm putting in 18-20 hour days every day. I'm doing lots of broadcasting so that's okay by me. Been watching tv on the fly and haven't been yakking too much in my friends' blogs/journals... but know that I'm visiting when I can... Hope that you all are well... I'll chat with y'all later...

Another Day In Paradise

Hmmm... the hospital had a fire in the psych unit??? Now THAT is crazy... and that was just the beginning. One of the ICU's which is located beneath said psych area had a pipe burst and flooded the whole ICU... Nice... The patients had to be moved out to other departments. The irony of this was unbelieveable... This all happened with JCAHO in to visit and determine the level of accreditation for us... YEEEE-HAWWW! I don't know how that panned out... but everything else seems to have settled down. At least for now... I've got a long weekend ahead. I have to go to Iowa this weekend with the Cherokee. We go to Davenport to take on the Quad City Express. I'm not an Iowa fan... we used to have an on-going joke about Iowans...
Q: Why are all Iowa football fields made of artificial turf???
A: So the cheerleaders won't graze after the game....
Not my joke. Honest. But I've never been a Iowa fan. It's not much to write home about. So I don't mind a little wise-crack about the state. It seems only right. Anyway, I talked this week with our old coach who was fired the day before tryouts. Vargs and I are still pretty close and he was talking with me for over an hour. I think I got about 3 minutes of talking in with the other 82 going to Vargs. He's still hurting and has gotten bitter. But I think once this season has passed. he'll get back into hockey and I think he'll be okay. We'll see what happens. I suppose I should go get some shuteye and pray that I don't meet any Iowa cheerleaders...

Recap...

Hmmm... random thoughts as I look at some old things and am tossing them away... the Cherokee won on Saturday night vs Cleveland and then got shut down on Sunday vs Dubuque... Such is life. No real memorable moments from the weekend except after the game on Sunday. I left the rink and went to go get some dinner with someone and as I'm sitting there, some guy comes up to me and says: "y'know, you kinda look like that guy up there on tv" It was me on tape. "naw, I don't look like him... he looks younger than I do..." The slightly drunken response: "yeah, I think (hic-up) you're right..." What could I do but smile and go back to my dinner... I always tell people that my epitath will read: Loved by few, Hated by many, Ignored by NONE!

Reasons to Smile

Hey,
The last few days have seen me do little things that added up to some big things. I'm praying hard for my sister Lou. She has a tumor on her ovary and is having to go through daily chemo. The bad news is that it's daily... the good news is that the mass has shrunk 2cm and hasn't spread. We'll see how it goes. That's two sisters who have gone through this crap called ovarian cancer. Both are in good spirits. Very positive attitudes so why should mine be any less. Lou is keeping up a positive front. When she's not vomiting... but even that is beginning to get a little bit better... Hockey is back in full swing... the team is going to go through a big test this weekend. We open the home part of our season schedule against Cleveland this Saturday night and Dubuque on Sunday. I have to broadcast both games on the net like always, but Sunday's game is going to be broadcast on BCSN-TV here locally and I have to broadcast that too. It'll be strange to simulcast like that, but hey, it should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it...

Five Years Ago...

It still hurts to think about and look back at such a terrible day... It doesn't seem like it's been only 5 years. I think a lot of us would rather forget... because of the pain involved. But I was glad that I forced myself to watch this morning. Especially when the 2nd plane hit the other tower. How often do you see that video footage anymore? They don't show it. I think if they did show it more frequently, we as a country wouldn't be so divided... that everything else wouldn't be so politicized... we wouldn't be democrat, republican, liberal, conservative... black, white, christian, or jew... we'd just be what everyone wants to be... AMERICANS! Or is that too much to ask...