Dad--Part II

OK, so I’ve gone through a number of the good things about Dad.  And I meant every one of them.  However, just like anyone’s parents, he’s got his quirks, some of which he’s passed on to me.  Those include:

1. A lack of patience.  I think I may be a little more patient than the big guy, but not much.  I think this is tied together with…


2. A desire to stick to a schedule.  Yes, I prefer to know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing before doing it.  I’m not the most spontaneous guy on the planet.  Actually, I’m rarely spontaneous.  Mom learned a long time ago that if she wanted me to do something or go someplace, she had better give me a couple days notice so I can acclimate myself to the idea and deem it acceptable.  However, Dad’s taken this to a new level.  He needs more like a week, and that’s assuming he doesn’t have to leave town.  A change in geography requires more like 2 months.  Since he’s retired, he’s set up a cleaning schedule, and he sticks to that pretty religiously.  He hates to have that change.  If something comes up, his first concern is the impact on the cleaning schedule.  Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s close.  This could be related to the fact that he is…


3. A little bit stubborn.  The first time Mom & Dad came down to visit me after moving to Charlotte, I was still living in an apartment.  The place did have an indoor basketball court, so I took them over, and brought a basketball with me.  We (that’s me & Dad) started shooting, though it wasn’t long before I noticed Dad wasn’t shooting with his right hand.  This wasn’t extremely unusual, as he is bit ambidextrous, and he can shoot left handed.  But he is naturally right handed, so after 4 or 5 shots, I asked him about why he wasn’t using his right.  Come to find out, it hurt to do that, so he didn’t.  Only after a fair amount of prodding (“Dad, you can’t go the next 30 years not being able to lift your right arm higher than your shoulder”), he finally had it checked out:  Partially torn rotator cuff.  Luckily, physical therapy was able to rehab it, but I still don’t think he would have even mentioned it had we (this would be Mom & me this time) not started pushing harder to have it checked.


4. A preference to stay home.  For me, this is primarily related to being a strong introvert.  Being around people, particularly people I don’t know, just sucks energy right out of me.  Don’t believe me?  I think it was during an open house for Chad’s high school graduation that I’d worn out on being around people, so I went upstairs in the bathroom, closed the doors, and laid down to take a nap.  It was the only place where people wouldn’t bother me, at least that seemed available at the time.

I can probably hold Dad responsible for my desire to play while injured.  There’s a certain amount of honor in that.  There’s two that really stick out in my mind.  First, I dislocated my right pinky while playing basketball in Winston-Salem (when I was still working for Aon).  I felt, and heard, it pop out.  We had just started the last game, and with no subs available, I needed to keep going.  So I asked, “Anyone know how to set a dislocated finger?”  Someone said, “Just pull it.”  Granted, I had no idea whether the person had any idea what he was talking about, but it sounded good, so as soon as I could get my hands dry enough to get a grip (it was summer, and I’d already been playing for 1-1/2 hours), that’s exactly what I did.  Lo and behold, it did pop back in.  It still hurt like hell, but I finished the game.  Much like Dad was doing, I just tried to do everything with my left, which is definitely not my strong hand.

The other was playing softball for TeamVest.  Several of you at TNG either remember the event, or at least saw me the following day.  While playing left-center, a ball was hit deep in my direction.  I started running back, watching the ball almost the whole way.  Finally, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make the catch, so I turned to play the ball off the fence (one of the chain-link variety).  Problem was, when I did this, I was AT the fence, and basically ran into if face-first.  I kind of went down in a heap, probably out of shock as much as anything.  After a few minutes, I was up again, and despite spitting blood, finished the game.  I could swear most of the team asked me, “Are you sure you’re OK?”  Only after I got home did I realize why.  I had about 3 cuts on my face, not to mention a couple on the inside of my mouth (hence the blood).  I did look pretty bad.

That’s going to do it for now.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Yankees Take 2

Sorry this one’s going to be short, but it was a late night last night.  I stayed up to watch the end of the Yankees – Red Sux game, which thankfully New York won.  And since they took game 1 of the doubleheader as well, my boys are up by 3-1/2 games in the AL East.  Damon went 6-12 with a triple, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, and 4 runs in the two games.  Abreau went 6-9 with 2 doubles, 3 walks, 2 RBI, 2 runs, and a stolen base.  I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it was to listen to Boston’s announcers watch the game slide out of reach.  The only thing that kept them upbeat was the fact that they were also helping with the Jimmy Fund telethon, which did exceed its goal of raising over $2.6 million.  I don’t know what the final total ended up, but The Donald is the one credited for putting them over the top with a $60,000 pledge.  Even Steinbrenner gives ten grand each year.  For more info, go to www.jimmyfund.org.

At worst, the Yankees will leave Fenway with the division lead.  I’m still hoping they’ll release Ponson, who still sucks.  He’s just horrible, and have to agree with Dad, that someone down in AA could do at least what he’s done (10.47 ERA).

Needless to say, this has been my focus so far, as I managed to slip out of work early yesterday so I could catch the first game.  Don’t worry, TNG’ers, I’ll be back on Monday.  I even brought a small project home to work on.

I have gotten a couple things done this morning, though.  Outside of the normal shopping trip, I’ve gotten a haircut and hosed down the exterior of the house (at least the parts the hose would reach.  The Yankees come on at 1:20 (sorry, FOX, I’m not watching all your pre-game crap.

Well, it’s almost time for lunch.  Have a good weekend, and don’t get arrested.

Dad--Part I

I am my father’s son.  There’s not a whole lot of doubt about that.  OK, you might not know it from looking at me, as I bear a strong resemblance to the men on Mom’s side of the family.  In fact, more than one person thought Mom’s brother was my father (something I notice more as I get older).  But if you get to know me, and you know my Dad, you know where my personality comes from.

Dad’s a great guy, and that’s something I don’t tell him often enough.  Sure, many of you have seen and/or heard my impressions of him at various times, but I love the guy.  Mom would say, “You better.  You’re just like him.”  Yeah, in a lot of ways I am.  But a good part of that is because he’s been an involved (but not overbearing) father from the start.

My earliest memory is just after we moved to West Virginia (I think I was a little under 2 at that point), sitting in the family room and rolling a little yellow football back and forth across the floor to Dad.  He taught me to throw (and catch) baseballs, footballs, and Frisbees.  I remember Dad & Uncle Art (who’s actually my Godfather, but it feels weird to call him anything else) taking me to a gym for the first time.  They played basketball, and let me play (and shoot at) the side baskets.  He assembled my first bike and taught me to ride it.  He coached my little league games, and attended just about all of my basketball games.  Heck, he’d even come out for some of the games I was just doing stats for.  He put up a basketball net at the end of the driveway shortly after we moved to Michigan, and we used to go out nearly every night after dinner and play some 1-on-1.  There were evenings when he would stand at the end of the driveway and throw footballs to Chad while I would play defense.  He taught me the importance of playing good defense, regardless of the sport.  I can’t even begin to count the number of baseball, football, basketball (college & pro), and hockey games we watched together when I was a kid.

Dad taught me a few other things as well.  While both he and Mom taught me the importance of saving, it was Dad I had to negotiate with when I wanted (or thought I deserved) a raise in my allowance.  He opened up some of his financial records to me before I had even started college and made sure I understood how (and when) to use credit.  As much as anyone, he may have started to show me that there are times to be a little more flexible with rules.  I can remember one evening during my freshman year of high school when I was freaking out about the amount of homework I had.  I had gotten home late because the basketball team (that I was doing stats for) had a road game and by the time I’d finished dinner, it was about 9:30 or 10:00.  Bedtime (yes, I still had a bedtime then) was 10:30, and I just didn’t see how I was going to get everything done.  Dad came in and said, “Look, you’re in high school now.  Do your homework, and get to bed as soon as you can.”  Little did he know that 3 years later, I’d pull my first all-nighter.  Or maybe he did.

I can still remember watching baseball playoffs with Dad when I should have been in bed (which would occasionally frustrate Mom).  But because of Dad, I saw Kirk Gibson’s home run against Eck in the ’88 Series.  We watched NC State beat Houston in the ’83 NCAA tournament final (sorry Casey, but I was pulling for Phi Slamma Jamma).  We watched Gretzky in his prime, and how much fun hockey can be when you’ve got an offensive minded team like the mid-80’s Edmonton Oilers.  I had moved back in with the parents after college, which allowed us to watch the ’93 NCAA finals between UNC and Michigan (we were both pulling for UNC).  I’m sure he can still remember me jumping off the couch and over the coffee table screaming for a traveling call on Chris Webber before the infamous “time out”.   Today, even though he’s still up in Michigan, there are games that we sort of “watch” together over the phone (thank heavens for Vonage and the flat monthly rate).

He’s been there when I needed to move in and out of dorms, buy my first car, and buy my house.  He’s there with a hug when I make it back home and before I leave again.  He’s answered my dumb questions on minor household repairs and when I’ve needed to bounce ideas off of him.  Anytime he sends me anything, there’s usually a little note in there.  

Here’s the funny thing.  He’ll probably never see this.  I’m sure Dad had no idea what a blog is, what it’s for, or that I even have 3.  But I’m sure Mom will probably tell him.  So I guess what I’m saying is…

Love ya Big Guy.  And thanks for everything.

What?'s Dead

Yep, you read that right.  What?’s dead.  Seems the dude got sick.  When I noticed this, he was asleep in his house.  I figured I’d check on him later when he would be outside so I could give him a shot.  Well, I forgot to do that before I went to bed.  When I checked on him this morning, he’d expired.  What? was 54.

American Top 40 on XM8

For those of you with XM radio (as well as those of you who have access to some of it through DirecTV like me), the 80’s channel is playing different editions of America’s Top 40 countdowns from the 80’s. Don’t know how often this will happen, or how long this will go, but it’s kind of cool to listen to. The 70's channel is doing the same thing, and Casey Kasem sounds identical on both.

Plethora of Baseball

I’m not sure if I can pull it off, but I’m hoping to get a lot of baseball in this weekend.  I don’t mean playing baseball.  It’s been too freaking hot for that, though it is supposed to cool off on Saturday, getting back into the mid to upper 80’s.  No, I mean playing a number of games from my 1975 replay.

I’m on May 6th of the schedule.  I got a couple games in earlier this week.  Well, that’s not quite true.  The first one (Cubs @ Expos) was rained out, so needless to say, that one went pretty quick.  Then on Thursday, I played a Yankees-Orioles game, which I lost 2-0.  The Yankees have now gone 6 games without a home run.  I didn’t think that was possible.

Anyway, today ended up as a short day at TNG, so I came home and started laying out my plan.  After getting a couple things done around the house, including 2 loads of laundry, I’ve managed to play 2 games so far tonight.  First, Pittsburgh beat the Mets 3-0.  Since I had the Mets (that was randomly selected Kevin, so I don’t want to hear about how good the Pirates were then.  I know they were good), that was the second straight game I’d been shut out, which kind of sucked.  However, I’m feeling pretty good now as I led the Indians to a 5-3 win over the Red Sux.

With a little bit of luck, I’ll squeeze in 4 games tomorrow (Saturday) followed by another 3 on Sunday.  So 9 games in 3 days amounts to a near orgy of baseball, particularly when you consider I’m sure I’ll have live games going on TV at the same time.

Outside of that, tomorrow is the normal grocery shopping trip.  I’ll also trim the shrubs out in front of the house and clean the air filters (hopefully before it rains).  Then it’s on to my mini baseball-fest.

Hope your weekend is as relaxing as mine.