Getting ready

Good evening! I'\m back and ask forgiveness for not posting. The reality is that we are in a holding pattern until the surgery on November 2. Until then, there is no good, juicy baseball news....except....

The guys from Seattle contacted the Big kid. It seems that the Czar and Psycho contacted them for more information about their program. if you are a regular reader, you know that to do these exercises and programs are taboo. The guys could be cut from the team....Yet......

Over the summer, one of the frosh, now sophomores contacted the big lefty to ask for advice. He sent films to him and wanted to work out using his techniques. Being a softie, the big guy gave it to him. Then he analyzed the sophs films and sent him advice. During fall ball, this kid hit 95 consistently.

When asked by the coaches what he had done over the summer, he told him that he followed this program. Figuring that he would be cut, the coaches contacted Seattle for more information. Remember, my son was not allowed to mention other protocols for fear of reprisals. Times have changed a bit, eh?

Anyway, the lefty is in a good place. He is ready for surgery and has a job at a baseball and fitness center when he recovers until he heads back out west. All things plus the stars and moon have aligned as he is ready to go.

Hopefully, I will be able to post more before the surgery. Unfortunately, work has been crazy. With the online format, I have doubled my work. In other words, my face is always looking at a screen....except today, when I took the afternoon off to take the pups to the vet. They are healthy and a good weight. They got their shots and after their appointment, Tink and I took them to Petsmart for bones and toys. Yes, I know, they are dogs, but they received two shots in the rear ends....so they got a cute toy for their troubles.

Ok, I have to go online to read my students' posts and grade some quizzes.....

OR.....

I could go to bed and watch television.....

Later!

Primordial scream

Greetings! Yes, it has been a while since I posted, but I have lots of excuses beginning and ending with that crazy four letter word...W-O-R-K.

Yep, I have lots of excuses...let's start at the beginning......

Last Thursday, I was told at 2 pm that my class that begins on Tuesday night would be completely offered online.


That's right. I was prepared for weeks to step into the classroom and begin and end as I do every time I teach this course....with my Fitbit on trying to hit 10,000 steps by the end of the four hour class. Administration made the last minute decision to teach it in the virtual world.

How does this work? Well, anything that I would have done in the classroom must suddenly be uploaded online, which means my lectures and explanations of concepts, assignments, and the virtual world.

This decision created a panic and an emergency as I worked for 5 days to create and upload videos for the class. Here is where my patience was tested over and over and over and over and over again.....

As I recorded the class, I hit the red 'record' button. Once finished with 15 to 20 minute sessions, I would hit 'save'. Looking to upload it onto the virtual classroom site, I would search all my files for the recorded sessions. Not finding the recordings, I would record again and again and again and again......I finally got in touch with IT. My little friend helped me and suggested I needed an 'add-in'.

OK, where do I get an add-in? Well, BPM.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

And so, I finally downloaded the add-in.....all is well, right?

Not in my world.....

Six more recording sessions later, I was throwing things...cussin'.....ready to jump out of my second floor window. It was not pretty.

I walked away and the next day, I started again.

Picture this....the recording would have my video in the corner with my presentation on most of the screen. During the last recording, there was no video, so I assumed the student would hear my voice and not see my face. I was cool with that.
So, as the recording continued, I took off the scarf I had around my neck which hid my tee shirt that I got for the tennis sectionals and drank a glass of wine to keep my nerves from getting the best of me.

Afterwards, I re wound the video and listened....something wonderful and horrifying happened....

The recording finally took and was saved on my hard drive...this was amazing! After 5 days, I finally have 1 recording....

Now the horror.....the video did turn out as I scratched my nose, removed my scarf to reveal the tee shirt, messy hair since I had not brushed it, dirty glasses, and the wine glass in my hand. Yikes!


I had a fast decision to make....do I re-record the orientation or leave it as is?

I left it and the rest is history. My online students now see the real me...tee shirt wearing....messy hair lovin'...wine drinking instructor who was at the end of her rope.

I was able to show the video at an orientation on Thursday night. The students laughed and all is well. However, my angst and lack of IT savvy is going to be an ongoing challenge where I will be doing a primordial scream on a weekly basis as I try to teach this class.


On to the big lefty...yes, life is a challenge having him at home with his mess and lack of responsibility when  it comes to putting away his clothes, shoes, dishes, and gear. Oh well, I love him more than I hate the mess.

However, we finally have a diagnosis and plan of action.

As you may recall, he had a MRI and was referred to a well known surgeon in the region....not a Michael Jordan, but someone who was pretty good like Scotty Pippin.


Anyway, he is diagnosed with a hip impingement and labral tear needing surgery. He will be on crutches for 6 weeks and not able to throw for three-four months. He has to have the surgery to have any quality of life. It seems that he has a genetic defect.....I told him that my side of the family has great hips....fully aligned and ready to run or stand in line for hours waiting to see the Pope. We must blame this defect on his father. Done!

The surgery is scheduled for early November and this will offer a logistics challenge as he will have to go to PT and have doctors' appointments and not be able to drive. I guess converting my classes to online will offer me flexibility to put my chauffeur's hat on like the old days when I drove him to preschool, baseball, basketball, parties, school, football,......singing off key to any Mowtown song on the radio....

Hey, he will be dancing before we know it....

More later....thanks for hanging in there with me....

Peace!

Sunday...a fun day?

Good morning! Yep, it is day two of life without the Pope and I miss the little guy. He shared so many thoughts on how to build a better society and be a better person. As I complete this post, I will share the paragraph that was most inspirational to me.

 

On to Sunday.....I had to arise early to get on the train again but the body was not willing. I guess standing for a long period of time on Saturday took a bit of a toll on the legs. But if a 78 year old man could do it, so can I.....

Unfortunately, the 78 year old man has more stamina, and I was late for the train. With that, Tink and I arrived around 11 am for the 4 pm mass on the Parkway. I had received an email from my volunteer captain to head for the Parkway to count pilgrims. Yep, a person who cannot count passed 11 without a calculator was going to count people at mass with one of the clickers.


First, we had to get through security.... and here is where my story begins and ends......

Running and limping from the train since we were late, we made it to one of the lines to get through security. Although I could not see the TSA officials (yep, TSA), I figured the wait would be like an airport line at rush hour. I could not have been more wrong....as a bus load of pilgrims cut into our line.

Then we waited....and did not move.....

I put on my distance glasses to try to locate the security check point. Even with the glasses, I was blocks away. So, we continued to wait.....and wait.....

We moved a few inches.....don't they know that I am supposed to count people? Oh, by the way, I have a ticket!

Fifteen minutes later, we moved another 6 inches....It seemed that we moved 6 inches every 15 minutes for 2 and 1/2 hours......

One block later, we are still in line with two blocks to go...crawling....legs are cramping....then the restaurant owners got smart. No one was in their establishments because we were stuck in line. So, the restaurants came to us. I was not hungry when I got into line but after three hours, the stomach began to whisper to me saying "your Kaski bar is not going to cut it.....look at that gorgeous hoagie with fresh mozzarella and tomato....roasted red pepper pesto...it is calling to us...."

Then I did it. I ordered the sandwich from line and had it delivered. Tink and I crawled a few more inches now equipped with our lunch and dinner......

After four hours, I started to jump in place because the legs were screaming.....the gel foam pads were useless....the feet were on fire....I am not complaining, just reporting facts.



Then I see it.....there are 4 airport security scanners for 200,000 of my closest friends. Four....that's right...four.....no wonder it took all day. Sheesh!

I could now see what the hold up was. The security folks were going through every bag and bag chair then allowing people to walk through the metal detectors. I watched in aghast as the two women (that's right, 2) pulled each bag chair out of its sleeve to examine it. Then they went through each cooler. I was afraid for my mozzarella and roasted red pepper pesto hoagie. Was she going to squish it looking for a weapon of mass destruction. Fear crept into my mind as I began to worry more about the fate of my hoagie than my feet.



Side bar: this is what happens when the blood pools in a person's legs and is no longer perfusing the brain. The individual starts to hallucinate about flattened hoagies and bag chair bombs.....

Then we finally got through. I did set off the security alarm with some underwire that I was wearing and had to be scanned with a wand. I saw a nun being scanned too, so I did not feel so violated.

Anyway, we made it through and I was going to wait for Betty and Scoob who were a half block behind us but I had tickets and was going to save them a space.

I ran to the corner and showed my ticket. The officer would not let me cross the street despite my ticket since the mass was beginning. And so, I stood under the flag of Sweden waiting to hear mass since I could not see it and had no idea where I was. I waited for Betty and Scoob but they never came. In fact, the police closed the security check points as they were about to pass through. They never got in!



The mass sounded nice. Although most of it was in Spanish. The jumbo trons had the mass on it with subtitles. I could not see those. So, I stood by a barrier listening to Spanish and not understanding a thing....despite having taken dos anos in escuela de espanol.....

After mass, I continued to look for Betty and Scoob who had disappeared, so I headed back to the train. Sad....I did not see mass...understand it.....or catch a glimpse of the Pope. In the week that I had spent in the city, I saw his right arm wave from his Fiat. That's it.

Was I sad? YES!



Was I peeved? YES!

But Pope Francis speaks of love and patience and kindness with compassion. Gotcha....I am being tested....thanks....

As we ran to the train, we waited as the cars began to fill.....luckily, we got a seat and as I sat, I went on the internet to read the Pope's homily. Yes, it was inspiring. Now, I should count my lucky stars that I was near the event.

Wearing our orange volunteer shirts did nothing for us during the day as we waiting in line with the rest of the hopefuls. Then I was tapped on the shoulder. A lady said to me: "Thank you for your service."

Huh? What did I do?

"Thank you for volunteering."



How nice.

You're welcome. Did you see the Pope?

"Oh yes. We had great seats (grrrr........)."

What time did you get there.

"We were in line at 7 am and got through the screening right away. Although they took my apples and water."

Huh? My apples and water and hoagie made it through the screening process and were declared safe. Perhaps they got tired of throwing produce out by the time they got to me.

"Yes, and I told them that I was diabetic."

Feeling concerned, I asked her if she had enough to eat.

"Oh we were fine."

With that, I gave her my non threatening Red Delicious apples for her hotel room. Enjoy, they have been screened and cleared as a weapon. They pose no threat to you and your husband.

Then she said something that I had noticed and loved about the week...."I was so thrilled with the city. Can you believe in the time that I spent here, I never heard one curse word."

She was right. People were on their best behavior. Or, perhaps, this is the type of crowd that is attracted to the Pope. Anyway you look at it, it was a terrific week. People came together for a common purpose, to live their faith and to listen to the head of the church.

The way, I look at it is, the world was more peaceful and kind for one week. I liked it. I really liked it....

Then it was back to work Monday.....the day was long and I wanted to come home and sit and have a glass of wine to unwind and rejuvenate. This required a quick trip to the liquor store. As I stood in line, a common theme for the week, I spoke to the clerk and asked him if he saw the Pope.



Here is his reply:

"Yes, I did. First, I watched half of the Eagles game which started at one (what?). Then I left the house and got in line."

How long did it take you to get through?

"Forty five minutes."

WHAT!????? Where were you?

"Twelfth and Wood".

Crud! This was five blocks from our crammed security check point. Did you have a ticket?

"Oh yes. I was very close."

I wanted to shout, but held my angst back and considered a few things.

First, I was blessed to have had the experience.

Second, I learned new things like how to read a train schedule and pay for a train ticket.

Third, people are basically kind and good. It was a privilege to have served in such a way. Some day, if the Pope comes back, which he won't, I will have no qualms about doing it again.

Now, it is time for me to figure out what I am going to teach today......let's see......blank.....I am drawing a blank...

Coffee time!



PS: Here is the paragraph that I plan to share with my family: "Faith opens a “window” to the presence and working of the Spirit. It shows us that, like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures. “Whoever gives you a cup of water in my name — a small gesture — will not go unrewarded”, says Jesus (cf. Mk 9:41). These little gestures are those we learn at home, in the family; they get lost amid all the other things we do, yet they do make each day different. They are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children, by brothers. They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion. Like the warm supper we look forward to at night, the early lunch awaiting someone who gets up early to go to work. Homely gestures. Like a blessing before we go to bed, or a hug after we return from a hard day’s work. Love is shown by little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home. Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life grows in faith."

Peace!

Don't blink!

I'm back! It was Pope-mania this weekend as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims descended upon the city. As planned, Tink and I volunteered for the festivities and to assist with the World Meeting of Families that met throughout the week.



Not knowing what the future held, I worked out, bought new sneakers with tread and arch support, new expensive runner's socks, and planned to meet and greet the Pontiff.

With all due humility, I assumed that my volunteer position would be driving the Pope or opening the Fiat's door.....OK, not really. I figured that I would be collecting tickets somewhere. Actually, I could not have been more wrong.

On Monday, Tink and I drove to the city, parked, and registered participants from all over the planet. It was fascinating meeting people from all walks of life who saved for a trip to Philly! Really? Philly?

Yes, Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love who has the reputation for throwing snowballs at Santa at an Eagles game in the '60s. Can't live that one down, right Jim Gaffigan? He actually told a joke about the snow ball fiasco at a gathering on the Parkway in front of hundreds of thousands of people. He was booed....and showed shock on his face when it happened. Dude, old news...move on to another Philly blunder.....more recent...let's say in the last 30 years.

Anyway, Tink and I stood at our kiosk for 6+ hours testing my new sneakers and socks....they failed miserably, to which I added Dr Scholls gel pads (to be discussed later.).

On Thursday, since I am a newbie with public transportation, Tink and I hit the railroad and almost missed the train as I mentioned in the last post. Not to make the mistake again, I scoured the online rail schedule and memorized stupid trivia while not really figuring out what to do.

Finally, Saturday comes and dad drops us off at the station. Prepared for the worse, there were more cops and national guard members than train riders. In fact, we have to serpentine our way through a maze to get to the train only to have the doors close as we started to board.

Really? Is this how it is going to go?

Finally, before the train left, the doors magically opened and we entered to our choice of seats. Uh, where are the people?

As the train left, we sat back and expected to be taken right into Philly, when the train stopped at Penn. Hmmm.....Mr. Conductor? We are not in center city, what gives?

All out!

Huh? Yep, we had to leave the train and take another train to our destination. Good grief! Is this seamless? 

After waiting 30 minutes for the center city train, I had the opportunity to speak to one of the "SEPTA ambassadors" who suggested that I take the airport train into the city since there were no stops and it ran all day. My proposed itinerary was problematic since the departing trains from the city did not begin to leave until 6p. I would be stuck there for hours on end waiting to get home. Keep in mind, roads were closed. We were trapped until 6p until I discovered the airport train.

Anyway, once in the city, Tink and I walked to our assignment. Was it having lunch with the Pope? Hanging out with Mark Wahlberg? Joe Biden?

None of the above.

We were positioned at the bottom of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge from New Jersey which was closed (the bridge to traffic, not New Jersey), but people were allowed to walk over it. We were to greet people as we wore orange tee shirts with Volunteer plastered on the front. The toughest question a person had for me was where was Independence Hall. I pointed to a large green sign that said "Independence Hall" and that was basically it. We were on the outskirts of the city. No where near the action....feeling a bit sad.

After a few hours of pointing at the sign, Tink and I moved on to the activities. Not being able to get through the check points, we hung out, ate lunch, and went home.

Before we left, we were walking past an intersection that had a large presence of police men and women from all over the country. A couple was sitting in a chair waiting. I asked them what was going on? They replied: "The Pope should be coming through here soon."

Are you sure? They would not tell the volunteers what the route was for security purposes. How do you know this?

"We think that he is coming through because of all of the cops standing around."

Hmmm.....through process of elimination or deduction, this couple seemed to have figured it out. So, Tink and I stood next to them. After waiting for an hour, a kindly cop walked up to me and said: "I hate to see you stand here, but this is not the Pope's route".

Gulp! Drat!

"He is going to be on 7th street coming off the expressway."



Guess what? This is where Tink and I had been stationed earlier. You know, the place where nothing was going on.

Off we went almost running through the streets and knocking down anyone or thing in our way.....limping in my new sneakers and runners' socks realizing that the gel foam pads were virtually ineffective.

As we got to the street corner, there was already a crowd. Rats. We were in the second row.....then we look.....there are people in the orange volunteer shirts who were standing in the street. That's right...in the street, next to the cops and national guardsmen.



Hmmm....I ponder......

I am wearing an orange shirt....perhaps they need two more orange shirt volunteers to help them to manage the crowd as we slipped into the street. Yeah, this works.

And we waited and waited and waited....finally, the moment comes. We were ready with our cell phone cameras. The moment......Then it happened......

The police moved us. Everyone behind the barriers.



What?

I am a volunteer! I wear an orange shirt! I passed a criminal background screening that said I was 'not a felon.' Behind the barriers??


Slowly we moved toward the barriers when a police officer said to the entire crowd. "Get back and let the volunteers in to the front."


Ok, officer, you are my hero. And there we were....front row...waiting for the Fiat.....then the procession begins.  Camera ready.......suddenly I get a phone call and my camera goes dead.

Dang! Now! Really? I clicked on delete.

Ready again.....

Phone call......Why can't I have a moment to take the Pope's picture? Delete.

Phone call....I answer it. "Stop calling! I am waiting for the Pope! Dang!"

The crowd roars. The Fiat is in view. No phone calls......here he is...I click photos. I got a photo of his arm and the nice police officer.....2 seconds. Obviously, the Pope was in a hurry.

It's over....time to go since we did not have tickets for the event. Off to the train....limping slowly, we got on the air port train being grateful for the 2 second glimpse of the man who is changing the way the world views the poor, marginalized, and most vulnerable. May his tenure as Pope continue for a long time. I know that I have been impacted by his words and will try to live a better life.


Next post: Sunday....a day to forget.......

Off to work....
Peace!