Friday, June 18, 2010

Reinemann Night at the Ballpark!

Some pics from last night's Sheboygan A's event (can't say "game" because the opposing team never showed up! Click HERE for the story, including a recording of the local radio interview with the A's manager! Definitely click through and listen to the interview!!).

Click on any picture to make them bigger.

It was a beautiful evening, as evidenced by the above photograph.... And it was crowded, about 1,000 people showed up--look at the long line at the admission gate below! Mark Reinemann (his caringbridge site is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/markreinemann) is a former A's player. I think they retired his number--so he couldn't come back. (That one was for you, Mark!) Mark said he led the team in strikeouts, but the bad news was that he wasn't a pitcher (such a Mark type joke).





Of course, I had to enjoy one cold beer. It was a baseball game, after all.

The Sheboygan South High baseball team was there--funny, nice kids. During a serious moment of the pre-game "ceremony" one of the kids was blowing a bubble and his gum flew out of his mouth on to the grass. I enjoyed watching them trying not to laugh about it.

Mark's UCC church softball team mates were also there--they offered to play the A's since the other team was apparently busy or intimidated.

 Finally, a good crowd shot, the bleacher bums.

Before the festivities started, a friend came up to me and said there was a woman holding a "Sheboygan Dan" sign, walking around the ballpark. Now, I'm kind of used to that kind of attention from women, as you might expect. However, it turns out this was no ordinary woman, it was Cheryl, from the bellybuttons PMP website! Cheryl's son Brad has been dealing with PMP for about 5 years now, and she drove up for the game. It was so cool to meet her in person, she's been a great resource for so many PMP patients, including me.

In addition, the first (as far as I know) Sheboygan PMP patient, Barb, was in attendance. She had her MOAS (surgery) 5 years ago with Dr. Sugardaddy, and she is doing great, no problems! Always great to see her, a walking success story!

A good night at the ballpark. Would've been better with the other team, but the A's are a class organization, and I plan to go to more games. It is baseball in a pure, joyous form. Everyone should support local organizations like the Sheboygan A's. Here is a link to their SCHEDULE.


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

For no reason other than they make me happy....

Another great OK Go song and video.... they kinda look like Teletubbies in this one.

I've seen these guys interviewed about their music, and I really like them. Thoughtful.


To see the first one I posted, which is their best, in my opinion, click HERE.

Baseball Benefit

From the Sheboygan Press....

A's benefit to help one of their own, Mark Reinemann
Posted  6/14/2010 3:12 PM CDT

When the Sheboygan A's take the field on Thursday, June 17, for a 7:30 p.m. contest against De Pere at Wildwood, there will be more than winning a game as the priority. Helping out a former A's player will also be on the minds of those in attendance.

Mark Reinemann, a volunteer assistant coach for the Sheboygan South baseball team who played for the A's from 1979 to 1984, will undergo a 12-hour surgery on Tuesday in Baltimore after being diagnosed with two rare illnesses.

According A's general manager Denny Moyer, Reinemann was diagnosed with Membranous Glomerulonephritis following a burst appendix. Six months of treatment did not yield the expected results, and he was later diagnosed with a cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei. The cancer, if left untreated, leads to organ shutdown.

A more detailed account of Mark's surgeries can be found at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/MarkReinemann.

Gate receipts and money from other auctions and raffles will be donated to the Reinemann family. There are also opportunities for individuals to offer up outright donations. A's fans and friends of the family are encouraged to be at the ballpark by 7:10 to participate in a pre-game program.

Persons interested in donating but unable to attend are encouraged to send checks payable to the Sheboygan Athletic Club and list Mark Reinemann Fund in the memo line. Checks can be mailed to the club at: P.O. Box 32, Sheboygan, WI 53082-0032, or brought to the ballpark during any A's home game.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

If you can't laugh....

I've referenced inappropriate humor before. Here's the picture Mark referenced on his caringbridge site. The county coroner is apparently following Mark around.... (Actually, Mark and I were having breakfast Saturday morning--Mark is heading to Baltimore for his MOAS ("mother of all surgeries") scheduled for this week, and the coroner walked by and made a crack about Mark's shirt. Hilarious. At least to us it was....)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, June 11, 2010

Why do I like this?

Monday night a co-worker and I took a fascinating visitor from Tama University in Japan to dinner at Blackwolf Run. Right before dinner I was doing research on Tama U., contemplating joint or exchange programs with our college, and I of course checked out their website.

I love it--the Japanese version, not the English version. I have no idea what it says, but I still like it.



It looks even better in your browser window: http://www.tama.ac.jp/. I wonder why I like it? Does it invoke the franticness of a Japanese game show? Maybe it represents what I imagine Tokyo to be like--colorful, crowded, busy, incomprehensible.... It's just such a funky homepage. It's like a decision making flowchart to help you determine whether you need to drop more acid or if you've had enough. 

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Lessons from a ten year old...

Playing the original old skool 1980s Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version of "Punch Out" with my son. He was impressed with my skillz, as on my first try I quickly dispatched of Glass Joe, Von Kaiser, Piston Honda, Don Flamenco, King Hippo, and Great Tiger. I explained, as I played on, that I wasted a lot of time with Nintendo games as a kid.

He replied simply, quickly, and matter-of-factly, "Fun is never wasted time." And he didn't preachify like he was Khalil Gibran or Ghandi or some such famous smarty pants; he was kind of dismissive about it, like I should know better.

F#&*in' A right, Sammy.

Then Bald Bull knocked me out. Need more practice.


"An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind." Kahlil Gibran 

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Lessons from a two year old....

I traveled to my ancestral homeland of Minnesota for Memorial Day weekend. Well, Friday night I only went as far as Prescott, WI, where the St. Croix River meets the Mississippi River. The St. Croix River is the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin from Prescott on up north, through Hudson and Stillwater. Friday night I slept on my brother's boat. (Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.)

On Saturday, my siblings (see a picture in an earlier post), their spouses, and I spent most of the day on my sister's family boat, on Lake Minnetonka. We beached the boat in a nice bay (see right), and stood in the water enjoying margaritas and Coronas and laughing. I haven't laughed so hard in ages, it seems. We pulled up to Lord Fletcher's later in the day--a boat-in restaurant/bar.

Sunday morning I went with my father and nephew to Osowski's Orchard, the flea market just outside of my hometown. It was a ritual, whenever I returned home, to visit my grandparents at the flea market. It was kind of a senior center for them. I'm not sure if I just have faulty memories of what this flea market used to be, if it has really gone down hill in the past few years, or if it was just an off day, but the place now seemed empty and decrepit. My grandparents died years ago, so I haven't been out there in a long time.

At one point, it was advertised as the largest flea market in Minnesota. My memories from the 1980s and 1990s is of a place with big crowds, a go kart track, tons of junk for sale, and my grandparents holding court with their friends inside by the bar, enjoying beer and listening to polka or country/western bands. It had this frantic carnival feel, with the vendors set up in front of their campers, transient sellers of new and used junk. Seems a little different now.




Couldn't even get any fresh mini-donuts!








Above is the bar where my grandparents used to hang out with their homies and peeps. But the place didn't seem as alive as it used to be.... I was kind of hoping to see my grandparents there, but that may not have been a good thing for me.... Too "Sixth Sense" given my health experience, if you get my drift and I think you do.



My nephew Ole had the right idea. He spent quality time examining every toy, thinking of what he could do with that toy if he only had a quarter to buy it. Totally focused on the moment. No dwelling on what the place used to be--but what fun could be had right now, and going forward! He ended up purchasing his first mobile phone, shown above. Yes, he has the right attitude. You can't judge a flea market from a distance, whether physical or temporal. You have to look at everything as it is right in front of you, right then, and you can't be afraid to examine things in isolation, breaking a table of junk down into its elemental pieces of sub-junk, and picking things up and examining them and wondering what you could do with it. When you do that, you start to see some pretty interesting items amongst the castoff debris.

Anyhow, I laughed long and hard quite a bit over that weekend. And spent some good, slow time at the flea market looking at some cool stuff.


That's my head. As far as the abdomen and the rest of me goes, I'm "therapeutic" with the blood thinning medication I'm taking for the clots in my lung, which means it's working. And on my last two runs, I set post-surgery personal bests, one for average speed over 5k (back into single digits per mile!!), and on Sunday for distance ran. Feels good. My only pain is around my incision, and only when I cough or try to do sit ups. That's normal given that they cut through all my tissue and muscles in that area.

I think this is becoming a blog of recovery, rather than one of illness.

Off to the farm to work with Nourish. I'll take pictures.