A Startling Realization about Karma and the Baltimore Orioles/Ravens

As pitchers and catchers report for another great season of fail whale for the Orioles (Why bother having optimism?  We're basically hoping that every team overlooks us and sends their Single-A affiliate to play the game instead), Casey Willet posted a video reminder of how last season ended, with pretty much the only Orioles highlight to mark the season.  We got to play a role in the most epic, fortuitous 30 mins of baseball I've ever seen between two teams.  Boston and Tampa were tied for the Wild Card.  A win by one and loss by the other would seal it.  Any other scenario would mean a play-in game the next day.  Through...7 innings?...Tamps was losing 7-0 to the Yankees, who had already wrapped up their division title with a nice bow, but they weren't giving up.  We had an earlier game and were losing 3-2, but there was a long rain delay, allowing Tampa-NYY game to pass ours.

The stage was set first by an epic comeback by the Rays, as they managed to come all the way back to 7-7, shocking the Red Sox Nation.  But, the Red Sox were still winning against us, and it came down to the bottom of the ninth.  With a man on second, Nolan Reimold slapped a double off the great Papelbon to tie the game.  The next batter, Robert Andino.  And on a 1-1 count, he hit a line drive right to a sliding Carl Crawford...WHO DROPPED IT.  The throw to the plate was too late to get Reimold and just like that, O's win, Red Sox now hoping the Yankees pull it out in extra innings against Tampa.  Within about 5 minutes of that, Evan Longoria hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 12th to give the Rays the win, which ended the Boston baseball season without a playoff trip.  I was awake and watched this comeback and despite how bad the O's was, it felt good to see us play a role.  Aand watching the highlight video, I sort've celebrated...

And then I remembered.  What NFL team does Boston/Massachusetts play host to?  The New England Patriots.

Yes Baltimore, we had our laugh against Boston.  And they promptly returned the favor, about four months later.

We were down 3 points to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game (difference noted...game with playoff implications vs an ACTUAL playoff game.  And the Conference title game no less).  Joe Flacco throws a pass to Lee Evans in the endzone and he doesn't secure the catch, allowing a former practice squad DB to knock it loose.  Two plays later, Billy Cundiff lines up for a pretty easy FG of 32 yards.  And due to whatever circumstances you want to list (Ghost of Myra Kraft, Scoreboard-gate, stupid idiots not taking a timeout), he pushed it about as wide left as you can.  Just like that, when it seemed we could at least make a go of it in OT, the BALTIMORE Ravens lost and the NEW ENGLAND (Read: Boston) Patriots were advancing.

Oh, how I wish I could go back to that night in September and just WILL Carl Crawford into catching the ball.  O's would likely lose in extra innings, Boston would pull off a win, and the fate would be out of Baltimore's hands.  And then, 4 months later, maybe Cundiff just happens to pull off that FG which he makes 1000 times in practice, or Evans manages to make a catch he would have 1000 times in practice.

I know, I know...woulda coulda shoulda.  And now, we have to suffer through 6 months of no football, which will inevitably be an Orioles losing season.  Maybe I'll be wrong, maybe something will finally go right for the Orioles.  But I'm counting on karma to push the Orioles season as wide left as that Cundiff kick, if only that maybe, the Ravens will once again have a nice, dominant season.

My 2012 Fitness List: January Checkin

To Do in 2012 (The Fitness/Wellness Edition)

1. Complete weight loss to 160 pounds - CURRENTLY: 194 pounds.  I'm still stuck in neutral on this one, I've stayed the same for about 2 months now.  I need to recommit to SparkPeople, I haven't gone nuts with my choices, but I stopped tracking every day, and I think the snacking has slowly crept in.


2. Run 325 miles - CURRENTLY: 35 miles.  That would include the 13 miles I've done in February already.  Definitley fell behind on this one in January, but if I can keep up my February start, I'll smash through this one easy.


3. Complete a Tough Mudder - CURRENTLY: Signed up for September 8th!  It's going to happen, for sure.


4. Beat my 2011 Undy 5K time - CURRENTLY: 10:21 pace, 6 seconds better than Undy 5k 2011


5. Begin training for a half-marathon - CURRENTLY: Not even close.

There is no such thing as a 24-hour bug to parents

Man, we had such nice plans laid out for this weekend.  We were going to meet up with Gail Montgomery for lunch and get to pickup the awesome pictures she took of the family a few weeks back.  After that, we were set to drop off the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for a sleepover with their cousins, and I swear, Noah was looking forward to that ALL DAMN WEEK.  Like asking me every single morning.  With our free night, we were going to try to hit up Coho Grill for Restaurant Week, then head home for lots of sleep.  No real plans for Sunday, but again...SLEEP!

Wednesday night, I made Chicken Stuffing Casserole.  Noah started getting kind've mad about it, saying he wanted something else, but we don't do that.  So, then he said his tummy hurt.  We just assumed he was bellyaching, so he ate a couple bites, some green beans, and then went off to bed.  Maybe an hour later, I was upstairs and he came out of his room, again with belly hurting.  And then, the fireworks came.  I won't elaborate on "fireworks", use your own discretion to put together stomach bug and fireworks.  So, that happened, got him to the toilet for about half of it, worked on cleaning up the rest off the rug (Why on earth did I allow him to drink some red Koolaid at dinner?  Idiot!), got him a good drink of water and brushed his teeth, and sent him back to bed, since he said his belly now felt better.  For the next 3.5 hours, he did not sleep.  At.  All.  Came out of his room every 10 mins or so complaining.  A few times, he wretched up a little bit of clear stuff (Assumed it was water).  A couple times, he needed underwear changes (If we labeled the other thing fireworks, we'll call this one bombs).  Finally, I gave him some tylenol to see if that would stop the belly pains, and a little after midnight, he went to bed.

Next morning, he still had bombs, though these cam in the proper facility, and he was still saying his belly felt off, so we called him out of school.  He woke up about as early as you'd expect him to (I end up waking up with Darcy around 5 or 5:30amm so he's up within 10 mins of that), but ended up crashing on the couch around 8am through till about 10:30am.  Always the sign of a sick little man when he crashes in the morning.  Lunch and dinner that night were a bit better, complained less about the belly pains, and finally allowed us to give him some ginger ale (That plan to make him hate soda worked a little TOO well).  So Thursday night, I declared he was doing fine, okay that was the 24 hour bug.

Idiot, you know what's coming next right?

Yup, around 1am, I started the exact same sequence he did.  In the exact same order and time frames.  This happened once before.  He got a stomach bug, was fine the next day while BOTH Shannon and I were curled up in fetal positions in bed struggling not to firework.  So I mustered up some gall and ran him into school (Yeah, parents of kids in daycares are probably about to rip me a new one, but we NEEDED a day of letting him "run free" while I was incapacitated).  Luckily, my side effects were mostly giving way around the time I dropped him off anyway.  Started eating again around lunch, and felt well enough to have a Chicken Cheesesteak for dinner.  Even started to think we'd saved the weekend.

Then, his fireworks started.  Again?  WTF?  After eating, maybe 1/8 a chicken tender and drinking some red Hi-C (Hey idiot, you really deserved that one, a red drink AGAIN!), he just LOST it on the dining room table.  He seemed to be okay after that and went to bed.  Oh yeah, and then Shannon's cycle started too.  So, there went our weekend plans.

And then this morning, he was fine again.  He's still got the bombing problem (still in the correct facility though), but my guess is that will subside in time.  And we made the best of Shannon being down today and not having plans.  I went nuts on the closet in the playroom, finally cleared out all the stuff that used to be in our bedroom and finally turned it into The Playroom Closet (complete with fanfare).  Which allowed me to finally put together one of Noah's Christmas presents, a decorate your own cardboard playhouse.  And immediately, we have plans for tomorrow too, which would be him going nuts on said playhouse.

But to summarize, there is never such a thing as a 24-hour-bug to a parent.  Because inevitably, you catch it, and that just extends the awesomeness.  In our case, this is going on a 36 hour bug.  UGH!

Cancer Sucks: CBS, This Blog Post is for YOU!

Look, all cancers deserve awareness.  But given our personal connection to colon cancer, that's the one I am spending the most time making sure people are aware of, know the warning signs, heed the risk factors, and make sure they do whatever we can to continue preventing it.  But, given the primary detection method of colon cancer, and...let's face it, what we're dealing with, your pooper...colon cancer is one of the least talked about cancers.  Because who wants to discuss bowel movements with your doctor?

So, what I imagine was a very strange commercial to most football fans, was actually music to my ears.  Last night, towards the end of the Giants-Packers game, Ozzie and Sharon Osbourne came on to announce the CBS Cares Colonoscopy Sweepstakes.  Yes, you heard that right.  http://promotions.mardenkane.com/cbs/cbscares12/.  The grand prize is a trip to New York, nice cushy hotel, and at the end, you get knocked out and get a free colonscopy!  MUSIC. TO. MY. EARS.  Sharon is a colon cancer survivor and the combination of the Osbournes and colonscopies was enough to perk my attention, make me chuckle, and startup this blog post.

My only complaint about this is that while SOME people will see this and be reminded "Well, I do need to get one, might as well see if I can get a trip to NY too", many will probably dismiss it or skip it if they don't win.  But, good to see CBS at least putting it out there.  I'm betting it at least started a FEW conversations.  And that's worth it.  My only tip for CBS...next time, offer up a better prize, and make the entry qualification that you need to get a colonoscopy done.  That way, you get a TON of people to get colonoscopies and take care of their health instead of just one.

But, I digress...CBS, for that alone, I am watching ALL your TV programming tonight.

Dad-deee!: The moments when you realize time don't stop

The drawback of having two beatiful kids apparently is that neither of them will be great sleepers for you.  Darcy is shattering Noah's records given the fact that I have to wake up with her at least 2 or more times every night.  2 times is her "I'm feeling okay" standard.  Lately since she's been congested, it's closer to like 3 or 4.

With Noah, he usually slept well at night, but naps were a mess.  When we finally weaned him of night feedings, I discovered the trick to getting him to bed: Rocking.  Yeah, I was a PhD of rocking my son to sleep in the recliner and moving him to bed/crib.  And the same thing MOSTLY worked for naps.  So, that became a big bonding thing for us, I got so used to the best way to rock him to sleep having him lay across me in the chair.  Obviously, that thing ended long ago, as he got big enough to put himself to sleep and eventually, with napping, it became more or less a "I'll go down on my own" or "I won't nap" thing.

Tonight, he was fooling around before he went to sleep and he rolled off the bed and right onto his humidifier.  Obviously, toddler tearworks ensued and I picked him up to comfort him.  I ended up laying him across my lap to calm him down.  And that's when it happened....

I realized how much my little guy has grown.  I nearly lost it.  He sticks out about 6 or 7 inches on each side of the chair.  It seems like just a year ago, I was rocking him to sleep for naps in that chair when he'd become too tired to go down on his own.  And here we are, he doesn't even fit here anymore.

Not ashamed to admit it, I nearly broke down realizing this.  Just seeing how much he's grown physically, not even considering his mental growth...He's almost not even my little guy anymore.  He's practically elementary school big for pete's sake!  I need to not fret so much over how often I wake up with Darcy.  Because in no time at all, she won't fit in the chair either.  And that's going to be a heartbreaker.

And now, to shake me out of this lovey moment...I just went up for the 3rd time to put Noah back in his bed.  Toddler cute moment over...

Let's Tee Up 200 and 12...

I'm going to try to take a break from the negative for a post here.  New Year's Resolutions are the butt of everyone's jokes on New Years.  And I don't think I've ever made a serious resolution I followed through with.  So we won't call these resolutions.  This is my "To Do List for 2012".  I may need people to suggest some things for personal/professional life, because the only thing I can clearly map out a progress for, is my fitness/physique.

So, without further ado

To Do in 2012 (The Fitness/Wellness Edition)

1. Complete weight loss to 160 pounds - This is #1, and is also the easiest to accomplish.  The holidays went so-so for me...I thought I did well even with snacking, but I gained a couple pounds on the scale shortly after, so obviously I need to recommit a bit in 2012.  I am about 35 pounds or so away from finishing this.  My original goal was by April 2012...I'll give myself the full year now.

2. Run 325 miles - In order to accomplish this, I'll need to run about 6.25 miles every week.

3. Complete a Tough Mudder - Hopefully, the D.C. Tough Mudder will soon have the dates posted.  Worst case scenario, I'll do Tri-State or VA and just drive a bit further.  With every passing day, I get more and more committed to this.  It's less about how well you run, how strong you are, etc.  It's about mental toughness and perserverence.  And I have to prove to myself that I can outlast that.

4. Beat my 2011 Undy 5K time - No brainer.  I'm doing it again, I want to show up in a better placement.

5. Begin training for a half-marathon - I want to progress with my running.  Initially, it was all about getting into 5K shape and I didn't think beyond that.  But I like running if I have the tunes with me.  And that might be the biggest obstacle here.  My iPod is really getting over the hill.  Not sure it can last me through a whole half marathon...

How Do I Score 2011?

New Year is coming upon us. This is an entry I've been working on in my head for a long time. Ever since 2007, it's been pretty easy to "score" what the past year has been...



2007 - Bought our house in Westminster, found out we were having 1st child, I got promoted that year - GREAT

2008 - Noah - GREAT!!!!

2009 - Layoffs at work, our refi deal fell apart between Christmas and New Year's, and Shannon's ectopic - HORRIBLE YEAR

2010 - Pregnant with 2nd child, Work doing better - GOOD



This year...I have no idea how to do this. Darcy was born, so I can't call this a terrible year. She is a wonderful child and a blessing to have every day. But, this can't be a wonderful year. It can't be a great or good year. Because while we have Darcy, we also added this shitty member of our household too. Cancer.



I didn't post this before, because I just didn't want to talk about it or confront the situation head on...Shannon had a CT scan for post-op done on December 7th...Pearl Harbor Day, should've seen that coming. The spots in her lungs grew. In the abscence of any signs of infection, that basically confirms that it is Stage 4 cancer. Despite the successful surgery, the cancer has already spread to her lungs. This is not what we wanted, obviously. This is not what should be happening.

What happens now? Shannon is back on chemo, as we figured she would be post-surgery. But now, I think she has to be on chemo until the spots can dissapear. And that's not even a given, since her chemo treatment pre-surgery never fully removed any spots, only shrunk some. And since it's showing signs of spread, that changes the prognosis. In a direction that we didn't want to think about. Basically, they aren't considering this curable anymore.

Nobody is giving up. She has a lot of fight left, but this development just cuts us down at the knees. The thing I keep coming back to, from a perspective of how this year is...this isn't right. Shannon shouldn't have to be focusing on pills, scans, incisions, colostomies. She should be worrying about Darcy cutting teeth, saying first words, what crap she's getting into now that she can crawl like beast mode. Cancer is a thief, that much is certain. And it's already stolen a laundry list of things from our family. And unfortunately, it seems like that list might keep growing for awhile.

So tell me, how should I score this year? It's horrible to think of this year as a shit year, because Darcy's birth was something great. That's not fair to Darcy. But it's not fair that I be forced to score this year as good when we have this kind've shit from cancer. This year has brought so much loss upcoming to our family, how can you celebrate it? Shannon said she'll still toast the new year because, to be honest, next year CAN'T be worse, right? Right? Maybe right? Hopefully right!?

I think all that can be said...F*@# Cancer! You dirty rat, you can't win this war, we can't let you. Also, I'm going to cut your balls off. Maybe not today, maybe not next year, but someday, I will find a way to spit on your figurative grave, you POS disease.