Happy Birthday To My Dad...

Just wanted to say happy birthday to my dad. He would've been 80 years old today. There are times when I still really miss him. I guess I'll always feel that way. I look up to him a lot as I go through my walk in faith. I look up to him as someone who did it the way I am trying to do it: It's not how you start, but how you finish... He made some huge mistakes in his life, as did I. I used to carry around a lot of anger and guilt and depression. I think he did too. But as it got closer to the end for him, we both made an effort to patch things up and I must say, the last few years he was on this earth, we really got along great and I managed to love him again. He became a dad to me again, someone I could look up to. And most of all, someone I could love and be proud of and l miss very much to this day. But the best part in developing my faith, is I have come to believe that he is in Heaven with my mom, the true love of his life. When she passed more than 30 years ago, a major part of him died with her. He fell into a deep hole and didn't get out of it till about the last ten years of his life. But like I said, it's not how you start or run the race in the middle, it's all about how you finish. And when I say he turned it around, man did he ever! Even though he still missed his girl, he began to live again. And he was happy. The relationship we re-built is something I will cherish forever. Happy Birthday Ol' Man... (I never called him dad or daddy or papa or stuff like that. I just always called him ol' man... but as a term of endearment)... I miss you a lot, but give mom a hug for me and know that I will continue to live and love in the way you showed me... for better or worse... hahahah...

It Could Only Happen To Me...

From the "I may not be the brightest candle on the menorah, but..." dept:

Okay, just shy of a month ago, I chalked up another birthday. I used to like birthdays. Back in my party days, it meant that I could go get drunk off of my butt and it was okay. Of course back then, I'd be more than happy to crack a few open to celebrate Flag Day, Bastille Day, and the Feast of St. Francis if it meant getting hammered... Okay, fast forward to the current edition of me. Sober, a little older, a smidge wiser, and a few pounds fatter (okay, time to celebrate... er, oops... ain't doing that anymore)... I celebrate differently now that I survived the insanity that was my younger years and am now more grateful that inspite of the really poor choices of my past, I am trying to live a more docile, peaceful life with my faith at the forefront. I don't hide it nor am I embarrassed by it. I'm a child of God. 'Nuff said. I use that to guide me these days. It doesn't mean that I'll have peace from difficulties. Not everything is going to be sunshine and daisies and chocolate bunny rabbits (which I can't eat any way because I'm a friggin' diabetic...) But a faith that tells me that He will be there beside me when I struggle with life. That if I blow it, He will still love me and forgive me and understand me. He created me for cryin' out loud. I needed to start focusing on worshipping the Creator and not his creations...
Now back to the birthday thing three weeks or so ago. I stop at the Bureau of Motorized Vehicles (BMV) to get my new tags for my license plates for another year. The lady wishes me a happy birthday (an a.d.d. moment: in her line of work, I get the feeling that wishing EVERYBODY a happy birthday is an occupational hazzard) and I politely say thanks and leave. Fast forward to last Sunday. I go to church and am talking to people afterwards. I'm just enjoying the time with folks and cracking a few jokes along the way. No big deal. Till I leave and stop at the gas station to fill up. I reach for my wallet and the only thing I feel is the surprise of my backend (a side note: if I wore white pants, you could show a movie on my rear, but I digress...) and that sickening feeling hit my stomach. So I drive back to church. And I stop at the info center and the lady behind the counter is very helpful and tells me that they found my wallet. I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. I take my wallet and thank her profusely. I leave church, head for home and when I stop at the store and grab my wallet again, I look inside and find everything intact. Everything but my driver's license. Now I'm thinking (a danger in itself) "Did someone take it from me for identity theft?" I am fearing the worst. So I drive back to church again, and they're very helpful but NO license. So I go and look all over the place in the church but nothing. I go home and look all over. Again, nada. So I call the BMV and tell them my dilemma and they tell me I need my birth certificate and social security card. I lost my social security card years ago but never though of replacing it because it's also on my driver's license. But now I needed one and had to go to the Social Security administration office to get another one. I got my number to wait to called and my ticket said that the estimated time till my number would be called was 140 minutes... WHAAAAAT!!!! So what's a dork to do? I waited. I finally got called after only about 45 minutes (thank you Lord), and got what I needed and headed over to the BMV to get a duplicate of my license. I walk in there, take another number to wait, and sit and wait. My number gets called, and I go up. I have the same lady that I had a few weeks ago. I tell her that I need a new duplicate license and she tells me that it'll cost full price (ugh...) and I told her "the last time I remember seeing my driver's license was when I pulled it out here a few weeks ago on my birthday to get my new tags." She looks at my info, asks when my birthday was, and then excuses herself and goes to a back office. She comes back, with a big grin on her face, and extends her hand out with the driver's license that I had left on the counter at the BMV three freakin' weeks ago!!!!! The only thing I could manage to say was: "y'know, it could only happen to ME..." Man, I gotta tell ya, it's funny sometimes. I can do some really dumb things. But I have faith and I didn't panic at any time during this whole thing. It's always easy to talk about faith but when something is happening in your world like you have serious issues with a family member or a close friend. Or when a loved one is having serious health issues. It's easy for me to say on the outside to have faith and it'll be okay. But sometimes my faith gets tested. Whether it's something small like losing a wallet, or something more serious like my sisters' health issues, I have put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. God Bless you and I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll stop by soon... eventually! (you've been warned... mwahahahahahaha) :)

A Julia Childs Moment...

Hey folks,
sorry I haven't been on much lately. I was chopping up some cucumbers to munch on since I'm really trying to eat better. I was really getting into slicing the cukes and was in a groove. Well, I think I got TOO much into it because I was not thinking and the next thing you know.... WHACK! and there goes a chunk of the meaty part of my palm into the pile of cucumber slices. It wasn't that big of a piece. But it was enough. At first I was in stunned silence, no blood and no pain. Then all of a sudden there was an avalanche of both. I was able to clean it up and make a dressing for it (uh, for my wound... not for the cucumber salad I was making) and when I cleaned the wound up, it stopped bleeding. It does sting and it will for quite a while but I'm dealing with it alright. It's not too bad. But I realize that a chef, I am NOT... Of course, when I mention it to family and friends, the words of encouragement came flooding to me: "geez Mik, were you trying to make finger sandwiches or something?" ahhhh... delightful folks I deal with... I prefer humor to worry and like I said, it wasn't a real big piece of my skin and tissue. It was about the area of 3/4 the size of a dime, just below my pinky finger... Though it hurts to type. But as the saying goes, this too, shall pass. They always say when you get knocked off of a horse, that the 1st thing you should do is hop back on. Well, for me that meant chopping up more cucumbers and eating them without feeling like I was a cannibal... mission accomplished!

Yo Quiero Taco Bell... Gidget Buys It...

It's not normal for me to wax poetic on a pop culture fixation but I gotta say that I was kind of bummed to read where Gidget, the little chihuaha from the Taco Hell commercials of the 90's had passed away at the ripe old age of 15 years old. I really loved the dog and the character it portrayed. To this day and now beyond, there isn't a time that goes by that people will not automatically associate "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" or "Here Lizard Lizard Lizard" without thinking about that little dog. Gidget was the name, and selling tacos was the game. I still have lying around somewhere, a couple of chihuahua dolls that when you pull the string, the Taco Bell dog says something silly. I'm not an animal freak or anything like that. Of course my girlfriend laughs at the thought of me trying to explain my peculiar, if not misunderstood relationship with that most selfish of doggy divas, my Penney. But outside of my penney-pooh, I didn't have fixation with any other animal. Except for that goofy little chihuahua who hawked some below average (alledged) Mexican food... RIP Gidget... I'm going to eat an enchirito in tribute to you...lol... catch you guys later.

Highlights of the holiday...

what's a guy to do when he's got a girl who is WAY out of his league? Simple: just love her like crazy and never let her go.... A couple of pics from when the gal pal came over on the July 4th holiday and spent the day with me at our garage sale. Well, the garage sale at my place. My gal pal had stuff to sell. Her mom had stuff to sell. My sister had stuff to sell. My sister's boys had stuff to sell. My sister's best friend had stuff to sell. EVERYONE had stuff to sell at the garage sale... Everyone but ME... go figure! But being the congenial (if not exhausted) host, I endured all day long. And I do mean ALL DAY...lol But my gal pal was right there with me. She is simply the best and most wonderful human being on planet earth. Have a good week everybody...

Fireworks? What Fireworks? Well...

Howdy one and all...

I spent the weekend with my gal pal and both of our families... and I had a wonderful time with them. It was a typical Mik experience- whacky. I don't do normal. I haven't for years. Why start now? Let's see... In the span of 48 hours I had to get my house cleaned (no easy feat...lol), welcome my gal pal and her folks into town, get back home because my sister and her best friend were bringing a boatload of crap to sell at the garage sale (our town has a city wide garage sale every July 4th weekend) on Saturday, so my house and my garage were full of things to sell. Plus my beloved and her mom came and brought some jewelry and clothes to sell... Now for those who are parents or are used to company coming over an a routine basis, this is no big deal. For a guy who NEVER entertains at his home, let alone have everyone coming over to have a garage sale at his house, I was simply enjoying the PPF to gauge how nervous I was. (PPF = poopin' pickles factor). Nervous? Me? Nahhh... (yeah right!). But the topper for me was that the girls (Lou and Terri) were feeling good enough to make it out and come over. To give you an idea how significant this was, it was huge to me because it was the first time they had ever been to my house since I moved there several years ago. My place is not wheelchair friendly and with Lou having no legs, presented a touch of a challenge. But she and Terri (who cooked for me for Saturday) were great and it made me downshift from all out panic at having this stuff come together, to a somewhat stunned appreciation to what I was witnessing. My whole family and my gal pal's family sitting at my place hanging out with a garage sale all day and having a great time. All this and to top it off, my oldest nephew became a father for the first time at age 34. Yep, I became a great uncle. And here all this time I thought I was a great uncle because I was a nice guy. But my nephew became a dad for the first time and has a brand new baby boy (7lbs 1oz and 21ins. long). Little Alec has turned my family upside down and I'm a great uncle. And the translation of the term "great uncle"? Simple. I AM OLD...

Say hi to Alec....

Passing Bye...

So, some rambling thoughts as I get ready for my gal pal and her parents to come up to chateaux du Mik...
I'm really glad that we're into a new week. After the insanity of so many folks passing away, it's just crazy. I mean... all the big names of my youth: I grew up watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett was a huge part of my life as a pre-pubescent. I was not a Michael Jackson fan during his adult years (aka "the white years"). I LOVED the music he made as a little kid as part of the Jackson 5 (I always dug Motown)... Even losing Billy Mays was a cultural shock. You just never expected it. I can't ever watch commercials the same way again. I'm glad he didn't get to do the Taco Bell spots he was hired for... I probably couldn't eat there again. Granted, with my diet, I'm not supposed to eat there any, but I digress. And then someone who nobody gave two craps about, but for me, he was such an entertainer when I was a little kid that I was just awestruck when I saw him work. His name was Fred Travalena. And for a goofy fat kid in the midwest, I thought he was great. An absolute blast... I think about all these people that we have lost in the last week, and the thing that bugs me (besides the wall to wall 24/7 MJ overkill), is seeing parts of my youth start to die off. I dunno. I guess I don't like to see people I watched from my youth clock out so early... But I guess you never know, do ya?

Tick Tock

Gotta tell ya, it gets scary every once in a while...
I have been hitting the sauce hard lately. By "sauce", I mean for the first time in over 20 years, I started drinking coffee again. I don't do de-caff... besides the java, I've always been a fan of Rip It energy drinks. The sugar free of course. But I've been drinking them for years. Well, this past weekend, my body decided that it had enough of what I was doing to it. I woke up in the middle of the night with serious heart palpitations. I was sweating to beat the band, but not at all short of breath. So I took some medication and felt better and went back to sleep since I stopped having any more symptoms. I figured I'd call my doctor from work in the morning. I slept pretty good and woke up and got ready for work and went in. Well I was there about 2 hours and it started happening again. So I got a hold of my doc and he wanted to see me in his office right away. I went over there and he ran some tests on me and once we got the palpitations taken care of, he asked me about some issues with my history and my diet. Long story short, I had to make some changes to my diet because of my sugar. And NO MORE CAFFEINE!! Great. Why not just ask me to stop living while you're at it... And with my history, I had to be put on another med... great... the one guy who HATES taking any kind of medicine has to take more. Grrrrr... I guess I could have it worse... I know some folks that take enough meds that they are almost a meal in themselves. So I'm not going to complain about five. But I feel MUCH better today than I did yesterday. I'll be undergoing a few more tests over the next couple of days, but things have stabilized nicely so far. So my gal pal freaked a bit but I re-assured her that I'm going to be around long enough so that we can be stuck in a nursing home together and chase each other in our wheelchairs... I feel good. So I'm going to make the adjustments. I dread having to start eating salads routinely, but I'll make due. Talk to ya later...

Mayflies Doing The June Bug...

A sure sign of summer on the lake... MAYFLIES... they come around every early summer for about 3-4 weeks and make life generally miserable for people because they are completely harmless but there are millions of them around here. They live only 24 hours because they have no digestive system. But supposedly are good for the water and eco-system. Generally, all they do is be born, reproduce, and then croak... what a life, huh? lol... Hope y'all have a good week...

Suddenly (liking) Salad... say it isn't so...

Hey all,
Just touching base as I get through the daily grind of work, work, and more work. I am hoping that you guys are enjoying the beginnings of summer. I promised that I would let you know when I tried something that someone sent me as an idea for making an easy dish. For lunch, I tried the suddenly salad idea from Indigo (greetings out on the smoke Indigo). Yes, it was easy. And it was pretty good. And this from a guy who cannot stand salads. But I've been trying to eat them because I'm trying to eat healthy. My body might revolt against it, but it's probably for the best. It's funny, I went through the Wendy's drive-thru the other day and it was hard for me to do, but instead of ordering a burger combo with a chili, I opted for the mandarin chicken garden salad. I have to admit, it wasn't all that bad. I liked it... Now don't worry, I have a couple friends on stand-by that if I do something crazy like stop eating meat or chicken, that they are to commence with an intervention. With my friends, that could be hazardous to my health. Have fun this weekend...

Take Two...

Ahhh... Greetings from the work place... (zzzzzz...)
I had the chance a little while ago to pop a movie in my laptop but my pickings were very slim. So I had all of one movie to pop in the DVD player. It was a sequel to a classic movie. Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice.... wholly smokes... it was bad... or should I say, wholly CRAP! One of the worst sequels I've ever seen. It's without a doubt the most brutal sequel of all time. And I've seen some awful ones... for some reason, Caddyshack II pops up near the top of the list. Mighy Ducks 3 is about in the same boat. So it got me thinking... what's the worst movie sequel you've ever seen. Most sequels aren't that good to begin with... But there are some good ones... Like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. The "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy was alright too. But there have been some real lemons... And I was wondering, what's the worst sequel that you've ever seen... Hope this finds you in good spirits and a grateful mindset... Have a great Memorial Day! And to all who have served, and those that sacrificed and those who survive them... Thank You so much and God Bless you... We are in your debt.

And The Winner Is (well, um, was)...

First off, many thanks to all who offered recipe ideas in the comments and via e-mail (even Dirk who suggested I just go pick something up at the store... believe me Dirk, I thought about it)... I promise that I'm going to try each and every recipe idea that I received from you all. And I will report it in these pages when I do... But I narrowed it down to one choice and the winner was something that I've made before. The last time I made this was about a year and a half ago when I made it for my gal pal's church for their tuesday night ministry. I had forgot about it until a friend of mine sent me a note to remind me that I made it before and it was so easy a ten year old could've made it. (which means I barely qualify).... The history of this tasty treat was that a co-worker made it originally and called it "Candy Shoppe Pizza". However I added more toppings (the candy) and when I presented it at work, because of all the chocolate and candy involved, the girls re-dubbed it "PMS Pizza"... so here's the recipe and directions to make this. It's so easy that even MIK can do it....

PMS Pizza:

a regular size tube of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough
a half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
a half cup of peanut butter
6 to 8 candy bars, chopped up

a 12-inch pizza pan

Directions:
set oven at 350 degrees (farrenheit).
Take cookie dough and spread it entirely onto pizza pan and bake as one big cookie.
When cookie is done baking, take cookie out of the oven and turn oven off. Then pour chocolate chips and peanut butter on middle of cookie and place back into oven so that the chocolate chips and peanut butter can soften. Meanwhile, chop up the candy bars.
Next, spread the chocolate chips and peanut butter mix to coat the cookie. leave about a half inch or an inch edge around the outside of the cookie. Remember, this is supposed to look like a pizza with pizza sauce on it.
Put the "toppings" on the "sauce". As for what candy bars to put on, my general rule of thumb is to use about three different types of candy bars. Allow to cool a couple of hours in the fridge and cut the pizza up to serve as you wish... serves 8-10 people

Different combinations that I use:

Almond Joy, Snickers, Twix

Milky Way, York Peppermint Patties, Zero bars

(my personal favorite) is:

Snickers, Almond Joy, Butterfinger

note: you can add more or less toppings to whatever your taste desires... this one is whatever tastes good to you... again, thanks to all who gave me ideas... I mean it when I say that I'm going to try each of the recipes that you all sent me... I let you know when I do it...

A (Culinary) Cry For Help...

So,
I've been going from one thing to another and I've been trying to get some things done. As per usual, I am in a constant state of hurried nuttiness. And it always seems to be the case that when I've got a busy schedule, I need to make food for a potluck. Oh perfect... just what I need. I'm a guy who can't cook. Let's put it this way: anytime I need to get something done food wise, I either:

A) Go to the grocery store and buy something
B) Go to a restaurant and order something to take
C) "Uh, hello? Terri? It's your brother. Wait! don't hang up!"

And since I need to whip something up for this weekend for a potluck of about ten folks, I want to break tradition and actually MAKE SOMETHING... But being an inept cook/baker/disaster in a bowl, I want to make something that is easy and quick to make, that an absolute clod like me can put together without burning down my house or bringing bodily harm to me or anyone around me. I thought about the always reliable multi-layer taco dip, but I'm not going to do that again. I do it every time that I try to make something and it's predictable. Since most of my readership is female, I'm going throw myself at your mercy and humbly ask if you've got any ideas for an appetizer of some sort that I can make that won't have someone calling 9-1-1 while I'm in the kitchen, I'd be forever in your debt... any ideas?

Pickin' and Grinnin'...

Now I am not one to puff myself up and let my ego get built up. I try to keep things in check and show appreciation to others. Anytime I think I am feeling good about myself, something inevitably happens that brings me crashing down to earth to remind myself not to take myself too seriously. Case in point: Yesterday, after church, I run into one of the church elders who recognized me from my broadcasting stuff. So we're out in the atrium of our church having a nice conversation as people are walking by. He asks me about the business, I ask him about his son who plays basketball. We chat for a while and then part ways. I then start talking to some of the guys in the band who were hanging out nearby. Had a nice chat so as I head out to my car, I run across folks who smile and say hello and I return their greeting in kind. As I get into my car, I look up into the rearview mirror for some reason... and there it is... shining in all of it's glory. I'm looking straight at a category five booger hanging on for dear life at the end of my nose. I was looking to some how crawl under a rock and perhaps take up residence for about the next five years or so... just absolutely crushing to the psyche'... But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how I can't take myself so seriously... by the time I left the parking lot I figured there's nothing I can do about it now and was laughing as I got to the highway to head towards home.

Side note: Now this past weekend was the NFL draft. I need to keep my GUY credentials in order here so I feel the need to comment... it was mighty lame in my eyes. But the funniest thing I read online was from Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones who said the following... " There are a number of stories that come from the day but the most interesting to me is the saga of former Fort Thomas Highlands Micheal Mitchell. Mitchell was picked in the second round by the Oakland Raiders (team motto: "We are officially nuts"). He is a Safety out of Ohio University and his athleticism is impressive enough that Mel Kiper had him ranked as the 73rd best Safety in the draft. From 73rd to 1st, that's quite a leap. When you add to the fact that (Raiders owner) Al Davis is 143 years old and is making the call, you can't help but love the randomness of it all..."

Matt, I couldn't agree with you more... Have a great week everybody!

Love And Food... or Love Of Food? Is There A Difference?

So,
what's a guy to do when he's tired, busy, cranky, irritable, and just plain snotty? Simple, spend a weekend with the gal pal... It's funny, someone pointed out an observation to me that I didn't realize before but now that I think about it, it makes sense. It seems that most often due to my whacked out schedule, I don't post as much as I should. But when I do post, it almost always seems to happen after spending time with the gal pal, or I've finished chatting with her. She cracks me up. Every time I go see her, and I spend about ten to twelve minutes with her, I feel every tired, busy, cranky, irritable and just plain snotty attitude disappear. They don't exist anymore. They are replaced by awe, and by amazement. We went to lunch after church on Sunday with her folks and I think all four of us were almost ready to nod off at the table we were at in a mexican restaurant. Of course the lone exception being when her dad and I both were busy inhailing the tortilla chips and salsa that we had before our meal arrived. I normally don't eat like that with the lone exception of when the gal pal and I go to that restaurant. Of course, her dad wasn't buying that... He laughed at me and just kept saying "uh-huh, sure Mik". I even pleaded that if I wanted to eat heavy duty mexican food, being of mexican descent, I could just go home or over to my sisters' and I could whale-out all I wanted. He acknowledged that and then laughed when I told him that when I do eat mexican food, sadly, it's usually Taco Bell. Or as I like to call it after eating there each time... Taco hell. I dunno... They just opened a Del Taco in my town and I've gone there and tried it a couple of times. It's not too bad actually. I liked it. I've tried Jack In the Box and again, not all bad. Okay so nothing can take the place of homemade... My question today: outside of homemade, what's your favorite chain for mexican food and what's your favorite meal from there? I know, I know, not the most ponderous question we've ever dealt with, but hey, why not? As I type this out, I'm dreaming of FOOD.... GLORIOUS FOOD...mmmm... (oh yeah, and how awesome my gal pal is...) That figures. I started this entry to say how much I love and appreciate my gal pal and I get side tracked by my one true weakness in this world... FOOD...lol

And On The Third Day, He Rose

Happy Easter folks,
Hope you all have a great weekend and a good week. Me and mine are doing fine. Nothing major going on right now (whew!) and trust me, I don't mind the doldrums of day to day life. In fact, I kinda look forward to them. But that being said, this is my favorite part of the year. Well this and early fall... I love spring because that means warmer weather and no more wearing mulitiple layers of clothing. As much as I like winter, I can only stand it for so long. Spring means golf, baseball, my gal pal in a much better frame of mind... (hint: she HATES winter and just being cold in general). Easter is a starting point for me. A new beginning of sorts. I have come to appreciate the REAL meaning of Easter. I don't mind kids doing the egg hunt thing (so long as they don't trip over the left over Christmas lights in the process... that's a true story which I'll write about someday...). The easter candy stuff is okay too... I don't get wound up about it. However, the REAL meaning of Easter is something I never took seriously before. But I do now. I guess in the commercialization of Easter, some things get lost. But I don't want that to happen any more. I have a heart of gratitude that wants to say thanks to Him for taking my sins and all my crap and letting me lay it down at the foot of the Cross. I seen a bumpersticker the other day that says it all... 1 tree + 3 nails = 4 given

The Parting of a Great Lakes

Whew!
That's the best way to describe the last week and a half I reckon. I was looking so forward to going to Boston for nationals, but that got derailed in Iowa. (side note to Di from Dubuque: I hate that town because the last two years I've driven out there for the Hurster Cup playoffs... twice I've gotten to meet State Troopers if you get my meaning...lol) So I had taken that time off from work and still thought about going out to bean town just to take everything in. But then I thought about my gal pal and figured spending the time with her would be a good thing as I really didn't have the heart to watch another hockey game that my team wasn't in. So my gal pal tells me that her grandfather wasn't doing well and it was a matter of time till he passed. I got out of church on Sunday morning and drove the long trip getting there in the evening. When I woke up on Monday morning, my gal pal calls me and tells me that he passed away at the hospice during the night. I went over to see her and her folks and hugged them. I didn't know what to do except to just be there. I spent lots of time with my gal pal because she was very close to her grandfather. They watched UK games together all the time. They shared alot of special moments together. I just tried to simply be there for her and her family. They were prepared for this as was her grandfather. He was very prepared and ready to go. He said he couldn't wait to go to Heaven. His faith was of utmost importance to him and he shared it with others in testimony and witness right up till the day before he passed. Friends and family rallied around my gal pal's family in a wonderful and loving way. It was funny because to give you an idea how serious they are about UK basketball... during the whole process of mourning and burying my gal pal's grandfather, in addition to saying kind words to the family about their loss, they also talked about UK getting a new basketball coach that same day. The conversation was going back and forth and they all were excited about UK naming John Calipari as their new coach. In fact on the day of the funeral, they had "Coach Cal's" news conference that same morning and I took my gal pal into the back office of the mortuary where they had the TV turned on to it and she watched it until it was time to head in for the services to begin. It was a very strong and moving service. Two different pastors preached at the service and while I am usually pretty stoic and not one to show any emotion at all, I had to hold back tears on a couple of occasions as I saw them mourning a really good man. It made me think a lot about my dad. I miss him a lot sometimes. I really do. It hit home during this whole time with my gal pal's family. I miss him so much but I don't wish him back for one minute. He's with my mom in Heaven. I couldn't him bring back here just for my benefit. That's just selfish. I know that he's in my heart. I felt in my heart that I just know that I was meant to be here. After a series of circumstances that came into play, I came to the conclusion that the good Lord didn't want me in Boston. He wanted me to be with my gal pal's family. I was meant to be there. The time that I left to be there until the time I came home which was the day AFTER the funeral... was the exact same number of days I requested off from work two months ago so I could go to Boston. Yeah, I think God had a hand in this and directed me where I needed to be. As for my gal pal, she was amazing. She handled everything with grace and kindness and no matter how tired she was, she always welcomed everyone that came up to her to express their condolences. She was exhausted, but reached out to everyone that was there and she was a real inspiration to me. I was so grateful for the honor of being allowed to be a part of the experience. I am grateful to have gotten to meet and know her grandfather a little bit. He was quite a charachter. I'm glad and thankful to God that I was able to be there and supportive of my gal pal. I learned so much about my gal pal, my faith, and the love of a community for a really good person.

The Cornfield Chronicles

Hi,
Well, it's been awhile (again) but that's because I've been traveling all over the midwest with reckless abandon. My hockey season is over as we lost in our league championship game over in Iowa and that prevented us from qualifying for the national championship tournament in Boston. It really hurt because if our kids had won or tied one more game in the regular season, we'd be packing our bags for Beantown on Wednesday. But because we gave it away during the regular season, we had to win a round-robin playoff tournament with St Louis, Peoria, and Dubuque. Well, to quote Meatloaf “two out of three ain't bad”... We beat Peoria and St Louis but couldn't get by Dubuque. So Dubuque goes to Boston... oh yippee... I'm so tickled to death... not! A Dubuque fan was so happy and came up to me not realizing that I was with Toledo and said “Isn't this great?” I was polite, but droll and said “yeah, I think I'll go wet my pants now.”
Now the easy thing to do would be say bad things about Dubuque, Iowa because I've never liked the town or the area for a wide variety of reasons. But this time around, I came across a Dubuque fan who just warmed my heart and made me smile. This kid looked to be around 12 or 13 years old. He appeared to be a very innocent (as in naive), soft spoken and gentile. My first thought was maybe special needs but I didn't want to seem judging. But boy did he loved his Dubuque team. But he came out to the early game on the first day of the tournament to see Toledo play Peoria in the afternoon. This kid, reached out his hand and touched the glove of one of our bruiser types, Brandon. Brandon is 6 foot 3, 200 lb rugged defenseman, who loves to intimidate, and drop the gloves and scrap. Well, after our game. The kid runs into Brandon in the concession lobby and the kid was just in total awe. He looks up at Brandon and asks him his name. Brandon is not the type to converse politely for a long period of time. But for some reason, this kid has Brandon's complete attention. I think Brandon realized that he was dealing with an innocent child so he couldn't just rip a bunch of expletives to try and be funny. So he chatted with this kid for a while and ends up befriending the boy. The boy brings his game program for Brandon to autograph. Now here's where I love hockey so much more than any other sport. The people involved in the game are just so different than Basketball, Baseball, and Football. Hockey is not just a sport, but the people involved know how different it is than the other big three. We love those sports too, but for some reason, hockey has it's own distinct culture. But for a lot of the people, it's a lifestyle. It's a big part of their lives, not just a hobby. Kind of like how Soccer fans around the world that get passionate during the season. Anyway, back to Brandon. This kid asks for Brandon's autograph and Brandon says “give me a minute”. Brandon takes the kid's program into the locker room and has the entire team (including staff... meaning me), autograph this kid's program. He takes it back out but the kid had left. So Brandon gives the program to me and asks me to hold it till either one of us see this kid again. Brandon sees him later asks me for the program and gives it to the kid and you would've thought he gave him a million dollars. The kid's face lights up. So while a bunch of our players were in the stands watching the Dubuque – St Louis game, the kid comes over and starts talking to our guys who razz him a little because he's a Dubuque fan, but were overall, good to him and treated him with kid gloves. So, when they were getting up to leave, the kid walks over to Brandon, like he's his new best friend, and says, “I'll be cheering for you guys tomorrow when you play St Louis.” Brandon in true fashion chirps “okay but just don't wear that $&*#%### Dubuque jersey to our game okay?” The other players laugh. The kid says “yeah but I don't have a Cherokee shirt”. So the players talk one of our fans into doing something amazing. The fan gives up her game worn jersey, and the players autograph it, and the next day, they present it to the kid to keep and wear during Toledo's game against St Louis. The kid just lit up like you wouldn't believe. Of course the same night when Dubuque played Peoria, he went back to his Dubuque jersey... but we couldn't fault him for that. And then the capper... after the championship game when we lost to Dubuque, the players packed their gear for the final time and headed out to the bus for the long ride home. Some of the players, still in tears over losing, were hugging family and friends and taking a few pictures for posterity. After all the celebrating by the Dubuque fans inside the rink, this precious kid comes outside to the Toledo bus and is shaking hands and then starts giving big hugs to Brandon and the rest of the team. As much as the trip home sucked, I'll never forget this kid or how our team embraced a supposed “opponent”. It just made me feel so good that when those that rag on hockey players sometimes calling them cement heads because hockey can be such a violent sport sometimes, stories like the one I wrote about here happen often without anyone noticing it. But I witnessed this one and I wanted to write about it and say thanks to the players... They are what is good about our sport... and they're what is good about human beings.

It Figures...

So,
Here I am, trying to recover from this nasty cold and coughing up lung oysters and nurse this sore throat back to health because I have to broadcast hockey this weekend on Toledo Sports Radio... Anyway, during this time, I get a text from my sister Terri telling me that my sister Lou is in the hospital having some (minor) surgery and wanted to know if I could check on her. Whaaaat!??? Um, could you at least have let me know that she was going to go in there in the first place. Oh well. Such is life. Anyhow, my youngest sister is texting me from the cafeteria of the hospital that I work at. I'm plopped on the couch, being thankful that my fever broke and that I'm able to breath reasonably again. It goes something like this...

Angie: "Hey, I'm in the cafeteria! where are you"

Me: "I'm home sick on the couch, trying to breathe"

Angie: "I guess that rules out you buying me lunch."

Me: "Ok, um, what's the word on Lou?"

Angie: "Just went back, she'll be able to go home in 2 hours"

Me: "alright, let me know how it goes. nobody in this family let's me know about anything until 6 months after the fact. I didn't know about this until 20 minutes ago."

Angie: "In that case I'll text you in December"

Me: "Merry freakin' Christmas"

I come from a family of whackos... Lou is home and recovering nicely by the way. Not that anybody in my family was willing to volunteer that info right away... ugh... I am just starting to move around and feel a bit better. Still coughing lots but otherwise, I'm feeling better.

Like A Really Bad "Three's Company" Episode

Okay,
When last I was trying to write and keep up with you all, I was pointing out some great virtues of the gal pal.. I had a bizarre thing happen to me last week and after clearing it with the boss, I figured I'd share it with you guys. So, for Valentine's day, my gal pal gets us tickets for the Kentucky – Georgia college basketball game. This was a nice surprise for me and I looked forward to seeing the tradition rich program of Kentucky basketball and the historic Rupp Arena. So last week was the game. I was feeling like crap with a terrible head cold and sore throat to beat the band. But I wasn't going to miss this. It was important to her, and it was important to me. So I took some Zicam, and headed down to meet her, and her folks for dinner at Applebee's. I chose that place because I had driven by the Rupp Arena exit and saw an Applebee's sign there so I figured it would be easy for everyone to meet there. Of course, I'm not the local and when I got off the exit to head towards the restaurant, I notice that there's no restaurant. What do I find at the address? Applebee's Ball Park, the home of the local minor-league baseball team. So after realizing that I'm a clod and am directionally challenged, I get directions from someone at the ticket office, and call them and get things figured out and meet at an Applebee's that's about 8 miles away. Ugh... once we get there, we have a great time. Since I'm such a wonder at finding places in and around Lexington, we decide to leave my car and we all ride together over to Rupp. Once inside, things were a lot of fun. You could see the rich history of the place. It was very cool. I was sitting with my beloved and trading text messages with my buddy back home. Then during the middle of the game, I get a text that does not have a name on the header, but rather a phone number. I did not recognize it at all. So I shrug my shoulders and show it to my gal pal and say “I dunno who it is” and I proceed to open it in front of her. The message read “I'm heading out of Findlay and wanted to know if you wanted to meet or ? This is Michelle by the way” To which my gal pal looks at me and says “who's Michelle?” I looked at her and said “I have no idea. This must be a wrong number.” So I text this person back and tell her that she must've texted the wrong number. I get a quick text back saying that it was indeed a wrong number and they apologized. I look back up at the gal pal and she's got crocodile tears in her eyes and my heart just flat out sunk. This is a no-win situation if ever there was one. Any person that even knows a little about me knows that I would NEVER cheat on my gal pal or do anything purposely to hurt her. But here I was, because of someone's wrong number, trying to explain to my gal pal that while many of my species are indeed swine and like to “play the field”, that I was strictly a one woman man. I told her if I was that kind of guy that I would never have shown her the text message in the first place. I would've tried to be secretive and hide the message and the phone. She stopped crying and I looked her straight in the eyes and asked her if she trusted me. She said yes and I told her that I trusted her too. After a little while, she came around and realized the truth and told me she was fine and that it just got under her skin and it took her awhile to process it all. So I am trying to continue watching the game and my gal pal lays her head on my shoulder and I never felt such a surge of love go through me as I looked down at her head on my shoulder. I kept stroking her hair and I kissed her forehead because I didn't want to give her my cold. Then I started sneezing and sneezing and sneezing.... she laughed. By the next day, I felt a lot better because we talked about everything and she knows that I'd never ever do such a thing to her... She knows that I adore her. But man, talk about a simple thing that could tear you apart. And you didn't do anything wrong! By the next afternoon, she was feeling better about it than I was. She was trying to console me about it...lol... It really bothered me a great deal because it was such an innocent thing that could've destroyed a relationship. But I've got a good woman. I spend time every day showing her that I feel that way about her... She laughs about it now. In between sneezes and sniffles. Because as a true sign of my love for her... I gave her my cold. If that doesn't say “I love you”, then I don't know what does...