St. Patrick's Day

Its 6:00 pm

    Its a cold day here in SE Michigan....as I was at work,the only thing that kept going through my mind was that I definitely should have dressed warmer. Its sort of weird,we have had a lot colder days but today,I really seemed to feel it in my bones.

  But the day was beautiful,blue skies with patches of light clouds...winter is trying to hang on but baseball is coming and so is spring!
 Been watching my Yankees sputter through a miserable spring,they seem to in such a mess in terms of having a decent roster this year...with A-Roid on the shelf until July (barring a 100 game suspension that MLB might hit him with),Derek Jeter slowly coming back from a broken ankle and the rotation a bit iffy,still am forecasting a 4th place finish behind Tampa,Baltimore and Toronto yet will still finish ahead of Boston.
Of course this will tickle my favorite baseball fanatics Brad (who roots for the Twins),Slade Wilson and Tom Leyden (both diehard Mets fans),Sydney (who can talk some serious trash despite rooting for the now dangerous Indians) and Coco (while rooting for the Red Sox,still has a soft spot for the Mets). I love talking baseball with these folks and I am hoping Brad will be doing his baseball blog again so I can share it here with you guys!



Of course it goes without saying that every friend who roots for the Kittens,err,Tigers,is telling me in no uncertain terms that they are going to win this year...but we'll see. They look good but I really don't any improvement on defense and as the Tigers found out painfully,hitting wins divisions but pitching and defense wins championships.

 Lori is resting on the couch today,her friend Deb came over and spent the day with her while I was at work. Deb is Lori's best friend and was her maid of honor at our wedding. They had a good visit just talking about memories and old friends. I got home and did the medicine rounds and fixed her cream of tomato soup. Sadly we now know that tomato soup will not be a food we can have at all...she lost her dinner after 35 minutes. I know tomorrow she'll have to be hydrated across the street but I'm okay with this. I would like to figure out why she isn't drinking more water. I bought a case of Ice Mountain water



which I think is a good bottled water. I know many think bottled water is a waste of cash as water is water but I don't agree. I do feel Ice Mountain is the best tasting one out there and I hope it can help Lori drink a little more then she does now.
  Today was a little better,managed to keep some chicken soup down and after I finish this entry,I'm making warm pudding for her...which is pretty exciting to say the least.



So how many of you folks had some sort of fun on St. Patrick's Day? What did you see,eat and drink? I hope someone will drop a comment below as to how they spent the day. I know Detroit does a big parade and that Chicago dyes their river green every holiday. But I want to hear what traditions other folks and towns observe. Come and share a little bit...

   So Lori and I are watching the 3rd season of "The Vanilla Ice Project" on DIY Network. We stumbled across the show when it came on a couple of years ago. Seems like Rob Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) has settled in Florida and started flipping houses that a group of investors bankrolls. Turns out he is a whiz at and has made a very nice living at it. He has a small core crew that goes with him and spends months taking busted,foreclosed homes and flipping them for large paydays. The show follows Vanilla as he transforms the home,including adding his own personal touches throughout the project.
  Its a very cool show to watch and it really comes out that Vanilla Ice has really made peace within himself,that he has found his place in the world. Oh he still does small shows and even pops up in films once in a while but ridicule he once got seems very much in the past. He comes across as a pretty mellow guy and a good father to his daughters who have helped him on the 2nd season house.
  The current season is now half way done but you can find more info about the show by going here:
The Vanilla Ice Project.

Thanks for dropping by and saying "hello"! Please feel free to share this blog with anyone you think it would help. You can also join the Follow list as well.

You can follow me on Twitter @Jinzo_2400


Debbie T - Awesome bonus for your excellent work!!
Tom - Go Gaels!
Scorpion - Time for a new Stomach already!
Denise V. - still waiting for your results.
Michelle,Christa,Cheryl - Thank for the cards and beautiful words
Brad - I need a link to your baseball blog.
Amy,Michelle B- thank you as always for your support.
John Branch - Congrats on the engagement! I wish you both a long and HEALTHY marriage!!!

Medical Update plus Kwame,Justin Verlander and some more Love and Compassion

Its 10:53 pm

    Its been a rainy day here in SE Michigan. Yesterday felt like spring and then this....with possible snow showers to follow. Only in Michigan....
  The big news is ex Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty today in his federal corruption case along with his boyhood pal Bobby Ferguson and his pops,Bernard. Kwame was guilty on 24 of the 29 counts against him,Bobby got nailed for 9 of the 11 counts while Bernard Kilpatrick got hit with a single guilty conviction. The judge then had Kwame and Bobby taken into custody because she considered them flight risks....wise move indeed. The feds know they have hidden the cash somewhere and they could see those two running out of the country. Its going to be another 3-4 months until they learn their fate but early rumblings are saying 10 years without parole in a Federal prison. That is a long pull for anyone but then again,they brought it upon themselves. Kwame,to this day,still wants to act he is above the law...but he found out the hard way how much it will cost him for violating the public's trust and faith in him. But even when he gets out,we'll find he didn't learn a damn thing and will continue to find himself in trouble. Its just in his nature.
The fallout of this trail will now force everyone to look at Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and his corrupt office which seen its fair share of small underlings all being convicted. You know the full weight of the Feds will be turned on him and I'm willing to say that Kwame and Bobby will have a new cell mate soon enough....stay tuned!

The medical update:
 
      So far,so good. Lori is doing well and I think I'll be able to bring her home tomorrow...I say this but not with the confidence I should be feeling. While she is doing better,she had two small vomiting incidents but we think its tied to taking her vankomyacin and chasing it with fruit punch. We decided to back off the next step of cream soup and go back to chicken broth but her stomach was still feeling iffy. They gave her Adavan with is supposed to still her nausea but when I left she was still not 100%.
  Seems like we are both going to learn how to administer a IV from a nurse who will be coming by the house. Lori will still need to have a IV to help chase away her E Coli infection that she picked up. I believe we'll have to do the IV bag 3-4 times a day until the 20th. This will include cleaning the IV tube she has in her chemo port. The other big news is the diet,there will be no more solid food for quite a while for her. The diet team came by and gave Lori a detailed list of what she and cannot and must not eat. Its a pretty weird list to say the least. Everything has to be a soup or pureed in a blender. And while I thought they would not want too much sugar in her diet,its actually quite the opposite,they are encouraging to eat ice cream and as much yogurt as she likes.
  I think this will be a good thing,we're going to have to learn to eat even better then before. I know I could benefit from this as for the past 12 days I have been eating like crap. Stress eating is not how a responsible caretaker should be doing,I need to be a much better husband in that regard.
  Lori now finally understands how close we really came...when the doctors came to see her at 4 pm. She was puzzled by that because until two ago they were seeing her at 5:15 am. When we asked the nurse about this,she explained the team visits the sickest patients first...and 5:15 am is pretty damn early!
  The house in still in decent shape from the cleaning her brother and his wife did for us. I only had to do some laundry,change the cat litter and wash a few dishes. Everything else is pretty clean of which I'm very happy about!

  Pretty scary moment today....I was listening to the Tigers game while driving to Ann Arbor today. They were playing the Mets and had Justin Verlander on the hill. The Tigers were down 3-0 and had a man on base in the 5th inning. The Mets batter attempted a bunt and as he squared up,Verlander nailed him in the chest with a 95 mph fastball. You could hear the fear in the voice of Dan Dickerson,the voice of the Tigers.
Verlander has a fastball that could kill a player if he got hit in the head with it. But he isn't the best pitcher in the majors for nothing,he has pinpoint control and this was truly a accident. The Met's player got up after about 6-7 minutes and managed to walk to first base before being taken out. Tigers manager Jim Leyland also took out Justin as well...the Mets ended up winning 11-0.

Before I close shop for the night.....I'm posting two more entries of actress and activist Elaine Hendrix's videoblog about raising awareness for animals. I like to say thank you again for reading this blog...it means a lot knowing that its starting to reach some folks....

And one more for good measure.....

I see Elaine has my same problem,she must live close to a Dollar Tree based on all the books she on her shelf....


Thanks for reading!

Poncho's retirement and other sprack.

Its 12:45 pm

     Got time for a quick entry before I have to run a slew of errands.

Last night saw Lori taking it easy while I went to our city hall for the retirement ceremony for Poncho the police dog. It had been scheduled for last month but was pushed back until yesterday.
The council's regular meeting was scheduled as well so the ceremony was tied into the meeting. It was very charming,about 30 other citizens along with K-9 units from several local cities came by to salute Poncho.
I got there about a minute or 2 behind and had to stand with the other police officers while our city clerk talked about the daring feats and service Poncho and his partner Brian had performed for the city.
The city gifted Poncho a new dogbed,a year's pass to our new dog park and also renewed his dog license.
The clerk then introduced the other K-9 teams who had come out and as they walked by me,Brian went to the nearest corner,looked up,did a double take when he saw me and said "Mike! How the hell are you?" We shook hands and I whispered back "I wouldn't have missed this for the world".
  The ceremonies were over and they had one last surprise for all the dogs,a huge dog cake in the shape of a bone. Each dog got a nice sized piece to eat while the cameras were brought out and pictures were snapped.
Finally Brian and I got to chat for a bit while Poncho chowed down. I hadn't seen Poncho in over 2 years so I was shocked at how much he had aged. He had a lot of grey around his muzzle and looked a few pounds lighter then when I last saw him.
  Brian is going to continue to be a K-9 handler and already is training his new partner,Hoss. Poncho is going to enjoy a sweet retirement just being a dog for a while.
We made small talk and then I bent down and patted Poncho on his noble head,I got choked up as I said "Thanks for keeping me safe ol buddy". Because its true,I always felt much more secure when I knew Brian and Poncho were in our area. And with that,I went home.
 
   And what did I come home to? A goofy cat who jumped on our bed while I was changing into my comfy clothes. He laid down while I was telling Lori about the nice stuff the city gave Poncho. I went to put away my jeans in my closet when Derek jumped down .....and left a wet spot on the sheet. Seems like he had eaten something weird and it caused him to have a messy bottom. And he had left it on a sheet and our comforter. *sigh*
   So I had to clean his bottom,wash the linens and see if he left any other "surprises" on the carpet.
Here I am,always talking smack about mutts and how messy they are compared to cats when this happens.
Of course after cleaning and remaking the bed,who pops up to curl up on my pillow?

 Had a sad and strange case happen a couple of days ago.....seems like two 13 year old girls were playing chicken on the road in front of the house one of the girls lived in. They were taking turns either lying down or darting in front of cars to see how close they could come. I think what happened was they were both lying down and whoever moved first lost the dare. Maybe that might have worked on a sunny day on a 15 mph speed limit road but at dusk with a 75 year old driver who never saw them,it turned out to be fatal as both girls couldn't move out of the way fast enough,were hit and killed.  Maybe they were doing a new version of "planking",I guess what really surprised me the most about this was it was girls doing this,most times,its boys doing dumb shit like this but death is no respecter of people,it can strike the stupid or careless anytime. And we are left to mourn the aftermath.

  George Zimmerman is going to be rightly charged for the shooting of Trayvon Martin. He'll be convicted of 2nd degree murder and nothing will be done about the NRA backed "Stand Your Ground"law. Gun sales will continue to rise,more Americans will die and Martin will join James Brady,Gabby Giffords,Martin Luther King and JFK as mere footnotes in our history that had one thing in common,get killed by a gun.

Thank heaven baseball is here.....

A death in the family

Its 11:07 am

   Sigh. Its a depressing day in our house....we have suffered a terrible sadness,a loss of a beloved family member. One was loved almost everyday,whose name we spoke aloud with adoration,affection and longing.
 Everyday either Lori or I would slide over and gently wash,rinse and make sure our loved was filled with only the best of the best. Starbucks, 8 O'Clock,Tim Hortons,Dunkin Donuts.
   And while their history may not of always been so noble,their redemption of today helped overcome their not so glorious past.
  Of whom am I speaking of?  Our beloved Krupps Coffee Maker died this morning after 8 years of loyal service. The mighty maker of both hot steaming cups of coffee for Lori to huge Jimmy cups of iced coffee for me.
  It fueled many of writing sessions,brewed up enough coffee for those long trips to Ann Arbor or "Up North" (my Michigan readers will get that). Many of days we would wake up to heavy snow and instead of going "holy cat poo",we would happily gear up knowing that after shoveling 8 inches of snow,we would have coffee waiting for us.
  And while we did have to to replace a filter and a coffee pot,the machine itself went of brewing steadfast for the 8 years we had it. It was a wedding shower gift to Lori from her friend Karen. Now I might be hard pressed to name a wedding gift we received but never have forgotten the mighty coffee maker. And now its gone,suddenly and with no warning. I am mourning our devoted friend and I ask of you to raise your cup (or in Debbie Rochon's case,several cups) and give a toast to our coffee maker.
  That said,we're heading over to Bed Bath and Beyond to see what new models they so we can brew up a fresh cup tonight.

   Going to give a hearty shout out to my friend and fellow blogger Slade Wilson for has made the trek over from FB and is following me here. Will is one of my favorite people and another die-hard baseball fan. Sadly he follows the Mets and hates the Yankees despite my best efforts to get him to come over to the Dark Side (we have cookies!!) he shrugs off my best efforts and stays loyal to the "other team". He is a gifted writer in his own right and his takes on the current state of TV allows me to know what or not to waste my time on.
  I'm just tickled he has joined the growing (11) number of folks who are starting to read me here. I'm closing in on 2,000 views already and its only April.


Speaking of baseball,its been rather amusing to listen and read the local Detroit sportswriters this spring training. The Tigers have a massively talented looking team and one that could reach the World Series and the biggest question? What will happen to erstwhile 3rd baseman Brandon Inge? Inge,who was a Tigers fan favorite until his selfishness reared its ugly head (refused to play catcher,refused to go on the DL for a injured knee which not only cost Inge at the plate but the Tigers as well).
  Guy has never hit well (.235 average),shown so-so power with 139 home runs but has played great defensively. Last year after scuffling along and barely hitting his weight,he agreed to go the minors instead of becoming a free agent. Came back up in Sept and hit .321 before fading badly once again in the playoffs.
 When the Tigers signed Prince Fielder and moved Miguel Cabrera to 3rd this past off season,instead of asking for his release or a trade,Inge said he wanted to compete for the 2nd base job despite the Tigers having  many better players who have earned a crack at a starting job. Instead of stepping aside for a younger player who might really help the team,Inge is bringing  his .181 spring training average and is seriously being considered for the team. Brandon Inge has gone from a player who used to care about his team to becoming a cancer in the locker room. It has the baseball fans talking a mile of minute and where a couple of years ago,this would have been a 50/50 topic (50% love Inge,50% hate him),its now more like 85/15 against him,Inge has burned away almost all of his old support due to his hanging on despite not helping the team. Its pretty interesting to see this little drama unwind and I'm sure the other teams in the AL Awful,err,Central division are pretty happy to see this.

  Sort of weird to be typing this entry and hearing James Taylor singing Christmas tunes on iTunes. This must be my signal to wrap this up and go cut my grass!

Will share our hunt for a new coffee maker tomorrow.  Pretty exciting,isn't it???
























  

Free Speech and other sprack on a Monday

 Its 12:32 pm

     Got iTunes on shuffle.....James Horner's score to "Braveheart" is the first song up. Got some coffee (my first cup in 3 days) and Derek Jeter is sitting on the couch reading my George Bush book. I know when he reads something good because he'll let out this low "meow" or a "pffft". Yeah,my cat likes his politics.

  Was wondering if anyone outside of the metro Detroit area heard about the 56 year old writing student who was suspended for writing a essay called "Hot For Teacher"which was based on his college teacher?
 Joseph Corlett,who is married,wrote his essay based on his teacher's looks. He used several sexually charged words in describing how his teacher appeared to him each day in class.
  Corlett,who attends Oakland University in Rochester,Michigan,is a aspiring writer and has received As from the same teacher about his other works in regards of his attraction to women. He said even his own wife didn't seem to have a problem with what he wrote. He also says he had never gotten so much as a warning from any faculty member in regards to his writing. Now he says that the university has violated his 1st Amendment rights and he is upset that school has suspended him for a year.
   Really....I mean,really? A 56 year married man is going to sit there and write a sexually charged essay about his professor and he has no problems with that? And of course he has given no thought to the teacher's rights and feelings. If she was upset enough to turn your ass in Joey,then you should have been talking to her and apologizing for acting more like a 13 year old junior high student. The fact is,you come across looking more like a potential stalker and rapist then you do a writer and a married man.
  The fact you are on every local TV station crying over your rights being "stepped on" and not once,even ONCE,saying that "Yes,I may have crossed the line with my teacher and I am deeply sorry for that" says everything that we need to know about you. And using the lame excuse that you based your story on a old Van Halen song is even more stupid,doesn't ya think Joey?
  I think the university had every right to suspend you and to protect the teacher's right not to have a student sit there and rape her with his thoughts and deeds. As Lori said,"If this had been on a job site,we wouldn't even  be having this discussion,because this would be a open and shut case of sexual harassment".
  I guess what really sort of creeps me about this...I wonder if this guy has daughters,one sort of shudders thinking about that given his self-admitted obsession with women.
  As for his "rights",free speech doesn't give you free reign to trample on someone's else rights. Maybe instead of a writing class,Joey might do well to sit in with a therapist or a women rape survivor's group and learn that they are people,not objects.

  Just heard on the news that a 9 month old baby was killed by two men who shot up the house with 2 AK-47s. Now I wonder if the local media will cover this story like they have Jane Bashera's murder,you know,24-7 coverage,prime-time specials. Hell,Fox 2's ace reporter Amy Lange was there so much on the Bashera case the Gross Pointe Park police made her a honorary cop!
 But for some reason,I don't think we'll get that...but I do like to think the community in Detroit will speak the hell up and turn these guys in. Neighbors said the two killers were in a grey van and stopped in the middle of the street. They calmly and slowly got out,armed themselves and just shot the shot out of the house. They then got back in their van and with no hurry,drove away leaving that baby broken and dead on the floor.
Good ol' Detroit strikes again....just praying that justice strikes back....

Okay.....let's go a little softer,shall we?

Lori's Aunt Emma turned 100 yesterday.  Just amazing....but the real bear is as it always is when shopping for Emma,just what do you give a person who turns 100??? My suggestion was a blind date with Justin Verlander but for some reason the family shot that down....
   I have a secret.....I think Il Divo is one of the coolest vocal groups ever.

Today is the first day of Spring Training for baseball. And of course the fans of the mighty Yankee Nation are once again excited. While we're sort of bummed that our team is still getting older without much youth coming in,the pitching staff is looking very strong and my early opinion of fighting the Red Sox for 3rd place may have been a little premature. If the Yanks can find a couple of good long men in the 'pen and lighten David Robertson's workload,the Yanks could definitely challenge for 2nd place. "Well Michael,why not first place?" I can hear some of you asking. Because Tampa Bay is loaded with excellent arms and with the Yankees getting out of the gate a little slower each year due to older players still finding their groove,Tampa will strike first and should be able to get nice lead in the AL Beast. Of course if Tampa struggles on the road,the Yanks can stay close and could contend.
  And yes,the Subway Series bet I have with my good buddy and New York Mets fan,Tom Leyden will take place for the 3rd year. And once again,the hunt is on for a cheap Mets cap...or hell,even a t-shirt. If any of my   readers can score me a cheap cap,I will gladly pay for it....as long as its not more then the payroll of the real Mets team,you know....3 or 4 bucks should do it.
  The Tiger ownership has just installed a huge new big screen just in time for the season. While fans think it was installed to help the fans see the game better,it really installed so they could fit Prince Fielder on it for the TV feeds.
  Now as for the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants.....

Well that is all I got for now......Derek has started chewing his Bush book....

Thanks for reading

Renee- thanks for the kind words.
Brad,Adrian and Sharon J - pfffft!
Slade and Coco- Can you help a fellow baseball pal with that Met's cap THIS year??
Tom- Not to worry,I won't be actually wearing it this year!!
Smokey Myers - home at last!!!!