"Aye, There's the rub!"

Nothing like finishing off a 5 day in a row stretch of night shifts by...preparing to go to Chicago. I got most of my packing done on Monday night. I wish this one was a rugby-related road trip, but no such luck-I gotta go with my wife down to her native Chicago(which is actually a fun city-when you are not getting shot at) to help out her mom(who is NOT such a fun person) who is having surgery on her foot on Wednesday. I think we will probably be back late Friday, but we will see how she does post-op, because with her heart issues and age, there really is no such thing as simple surgery.

My wife and I will do what we can to help my Mother-in-Law out, as far as getting her to and from the surgery, and looking after her once she is home. Da Redhead does have a brother down in the Chicago area, but with all of the turmoil in his life, he just cannot take the time to help his mom out.

To say that I am ambivilant about making this trip would be an understatement. My mother in law on her best days is prickley, and a total pain in the ass on her worst days. My usually competent, mature, in-control wife takes on an alarming personality change whenever she is around her mom. Gas (Petrol) is getting expensive by American standards, over $3.70/Gallon(which probably has my UK friends laughing at why we are complaining as the British are paying about $6.20/Gallon), and at roughly 400 miles(640 km) one -way to Arlington Heights, Illinois, I am just dreading to see how much money we are going to drop on gas.

On the bright side, 6+ hours each way will give me and the Red Head lots of time to talk over things. Hopefully we can find some time to do something fun downtown, as my mother in law lives by a commuter train that goes to downtown Chicago.

Well, hopefully we can be of some help for my Mother in Law, and hopefully she won't mind the help...and hopefully my wife and I will be still on speaking terms after 3 angst filled days with Da Redhead's mom. 

Well, with today being Monday, I hope this week goes well for you dear reader. At least I hope it goes better than the week ended for the people in Myanmar(the former Burma), Zimbabwe,China(who had a horrific earthquake on Monday, with at least 10,000 dead and counting), and the folks in the south-central US( Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri...) who got tatooed by some seriously strong tornados. When everything goes bad, sometimes all you can do is just sit or lie down and just take everything in, like this dog in Oklahoma....Hope your week is a good one.

With this being Mother's Day, I wanted to reprint a posting from last July, which is kind of an homage to my mom and what a charachter she is. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Your card (with money for cigarettes ) is in the mail....

I just got back from a 3 1/2 day weekend 
http://www.50states.com/flag/coflag.htm visiting my mom in Montrose, Colorado. It's a beautiful area in Southwestern Colorado by the San Juan Mountains and the Black Canyon.

http://www.visitmontrose.net/

There are a couple of things that you need to know about my mom. She loves leopard print clothes and bright sequins. She loves to gamble. She has supported herself in Colorado the past 15-16 years by running a poker game out of her spare room in her house. She has played cards for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, the card-playing and gambling can take a major toll on relationships-she's been married and divorced 3 times. You cannot blame it ALL on the gambling-but it clearly played a roll in deep-sixing 3 marriages. She also smokes. But to  say my mom smokes would be like saying Madonna or Paris Hilton enjoy the company of men. My mom RELISHES her smokes. She smokes 3 packs  a day. I have not even seen French guys who can out-smoke my mom.  There are absolutely two ways that you can send my mom into a frothing-at-the-mouth apolectic fit: ask her not to smoke around you, and bring up Mexican Illegal immigrants.

Now lest you think this is some sort of "I'm going to blame all my problems on my parents" posting, forget it. My mom is a lot of fun, she is very social, loves conversation, loves going out(well, used to now that Colorado became a smoke free state in it's restaurants) and does not forget a birthday for me, my brother and sisters AND the grandkids. I can honestly say that when I was a young child, she had a profound impact on my life by reading to me and being there for me when I took my tentative first steps reading Dr Seus books. At Christmas time, I not only got the presents that I asked Santa for, but I got gifts that I never would have dared asked of Santa because they were too expensive, like hockey equipment and such. Even when she was a single mom, Christmas was always a blast.

Living by herself the last several years has meant that my mom is very independent and wants things done her way. Compromise is not a word in her vocabulary.

I had wanted to go to the Four Corners area-it's  the only location in the United States where 4 states(New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Colorado) border on a point where you can stand on that point and be in all 4 states. http://www.mesaverde.com/fcmonument.htm Part of the reason I wanted to go was that by going to the 4 Corners, I would add Utah to my list of States-and would make it that I had set foot in every continental state west of the Mississippi River. (The only states I have yet to set foot in are South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii)

My mom was up for a road trip. The catch was that her car was not in good condition for a tough 3 hour drive through mountains and into the desert. We rented a car, a Toyota Corolla. The one problem: My mom could not smoke in the car under the renters agreement. What should have been a 3 hour trip ended up taking about 5- we would stop roughly every 20 minutes at my mother's strident behest so that she could either A-have a smoke-usually a couple of cigarettes would get power-inhaled, B-get an Iced Tea and C-get something to eat.(Diabetic...low blood sugar) At no point on the way to  the 4 Corners area-or back- was I able to  drive for more than 25 minutes at one shot. Oh yeah, Mom wanted to make sure that we got LOTS of pictures of the scenary. Good thing I just had disposable camera with 27 shots or we would still be on the road by Telluride or Rico.

We stayed at the Ute Mountain Casino and Hotel in Towaoc, Colorado. http://www.utemountaincasino.com/  It was a nice place and Mom was in her element. She played Poker untill about 4 in the morning. It was tough sledding getting her up in time for the 11 AM Check-out, but we made it-barely.

I admit it: I'm a wuss when it comes to gambling. I think I spent about 15 bucks playing the nickle slot machines. I spent most of Saturday night watching my Mom and marvelling at how much fun she had playing cards. I was on a tight budget for this trip, but mostly I am just not into throwing my money away. I think Mom lost 40 bucks that night, but she was down more than $150 earlier in the night, so she rebounded well after I left at 1am to try to sleep.

I really did have a good weekend with my mom. It was fun talking and reminiscing, but I think 3-4 days was all my lungs could take. I am sure I have the beginnings of black lung disease. In all seriousness, there are a lot of people my age who do not have living parents. I'm glad I took the time to do this trip, because with my Mom's health, there is no guarantee that in the future that she would be up for such a road trip.

When you spend time with an aging parent, it makes you realize just how time really is a fleeting thing. I thought about my mom as a young divorcee` in her 20's bringing me and my siblings to a drive in, because that was cheap entertainment for a single mom with limited funds. She would pop up a bag of popcorn and we would be dressed in our pyjammas, because we usually nodded off during the second feature.

I thought about that same period in our lives in the late 60's when she would say that we were going to have breakfast for dinner. My brother Bill and I thought  our Mom was being cool. As kids, we did not realize that it was cheaper on a limited income for my mom to buy eggs and pancake mix than meat and fresh vegetables. 

It did not seem that long ago when I was giving my mom and dad a hard time about turning 40. Now here I am in my late forties and my mom is almost 70.

It is a complex relationship we have with our parents. But we have to make good use of this time that we have them around, because life is short.

I love you Mom.-Steve

In my line of work, I can see a slight change in the health complaints kids are having. I am not getting quite the volume of of kids with vomiting, Diarrhea and RSV/Bronchilitis symptoms, but I must confess I am still amazed how many calls related to Croup that I am still getting.

With the weekend forcast for more wet, cool weather, I am anticipating a busy weekend on the phones.

I do keep my eyes on the foriegn press for any trends that might be coming our way in the USA. One story that has me more than a little concerned is the deadly outbreak of a "Hand-Foot-Mouth disease virus" that is hitting China hard. Normally, this virus is an irritant-in the USA, it goes through daycares in a big way-but for whatever reason, viruses in China seem to have a nasty tendancy to morph and change into genuine killers.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/china.virus/index.html

With modern air travel able to bring somebody from almost any part of the world into the USA, all it would take is one strategically placed sick kid to go from China to the USA and wreak havoc over here.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/03/china.virus/index.html

It does not have to be a Chinese person coming over here. With all of the Americans doing business in China, or media or athletes going to China to do coverage of the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics, one of these American travelers can just as easily bring it home.

One other issue that we have been tracking at my work has been a measles outbreak.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/05/01/measles.outbreak/index.html

One of the big culprits in the US is the number of parents who are refusing to vaccinate their kids. I have had more than a few parents tell me over the phone "I don't believe in immunizations." To which I respond: Well, you had better believe in Whooping Cough, Diptheria, Tetanus and Measles-because those illnesses used to kill a lot of kids before they could even reach school age. " The increased numbers of non-immunized kids is putting other kids at risk. This is one of the parts of my job that is a good news, bad news thing. I love patient education. I hate it when parents pick up some questionable information off the internet, and they take it as pediatric medical gospel.

Anyway, I have my first night shift of 5 in a row tonight. Later on Friday, I gotta find some time and get with my kids so that we can get their mom her Mother's day gift. We don't have anything fancy planned-eating out is getting so expensive, that I decided just to grill some steaks on Mothers Day this Saturday. Hope everybody in my house stays healthy.

One of the things in the USA that has changed, thanks to massive amounts of Mexican Immigration, is that Cinco de Mayo has now become a part of the lexicon of American holidays. When I was in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas over 20 years ago, you just about had to be in south Texas, Arizona, New Mexico or Southern California to know about this holiday.  http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

I guess you can say that it gives my countrymen another excuse to drink too much and party after New Years Eve and Saint Patrick's Day.  For  Cinco de Mayo, people tend to drink Mexican beers like Tecate, Coruna, Dos Equis...oh, hell, ANY Mexican beverage up to and including Mezcal and Tequila will do. Most of the celebrations in the Twin Cities were this past weekend.  I did not make it to any of them, because my friend Karen, who I refer to as "The Merry Mexican", is having a belated Cinco de Mayo get together at her place this coming Saturday. Karen throws GREAT parties, so I am looking forward to it.

What I did for my family on Monday, Cinco de Mayo evening, is that I made ground meat and cheese Enchiladas, Chicken Fajitas,  served with refried beans, rice, corn, flour tortillas(Tortillas taste much better if they are homemade, but I did not have the time today to make homemade flour tortillas-the white wings tortilla mix makes really good tortillas, if you get a chance to try making them), salsa, and salad. I forgot to get avacados yesterday, so I could not make fresh guacamole, but I felt that the the meal turned out pretty well. I did not have any Mexican beer, but I did have a nice bottle of Spanish red wine that went just fine with the meal. 

If I ever hit the lottery, along with taking a Spanish Immersion class in Mexico, I would really love to go to Mexico to take a cooking class. There really is so much variety to Mexican cuisine-it is so much more than Tacos and Burritos.

Hasta Manana! 

I must admit that I was not sure if I was going to play on Saturday, or not. We had a lot of work to do at the house. The initial weather forcast for Saturday morning was going to be snow flurries and temps in the mid 30's....I really thought the only rugby that I would be involved with was having my friend Jacques over to the house to watch the Waratahs-Sharks Super 14 rugby game which I had Tivo'd last week. I make no apologies, playing rugby in just above freezing, wet conditions is not fun-for both spectators and players alike.

A funny thing happened along the way to doing a bunch of chores on Saturday: The weather was actually decent. There was sunshine, no rain and temps in the mid to high 50's. "Screw the chores!" I thought. "I'm going to get a run in today.

We did not have enough Old Boys to do a true "Old Boys Only" game, but we filled out the rosters on the two teams. Our coach, Denny Rowlands, is a native Aussie. He came up with the great idea of instead of just randomly trying to divide teams, he borrowed a page from the State of Origin Series in his native Australia. The State of Origin is from Rugby League, the 13 man a side version of the game. The players are divided out by where they first started to play rugby professionally, either in Queensland or New South Wales. It's a series that elicits a great deal of passion among Australian fans and players alike. The twist that Denny came up with was dividing the team between native born Minnesotans and players NOT born here in the Gopher State.

It's true that I have lived in a few places: Minnesota, Massachussetts, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Texas and France. I am Minnesota born and bred. I played prop in the second half for about 30 minutes. I got to carry the ball a couple of teams, was able to hit and be hit, and generally had a great time playing in the much welcome sunshine. The pitch was a bit muddy and boggy. We had a lot of rain the day before(Which cancelled Rodrigo's game with Plymouth against defending Minnesota state champs Hopkins), but even though the pitch was a bit boggy, the footing was actually better than I thought it would be.

I had a great time after the game chatting and sharing some beers and stories with some of the REAL Metropolis Old Boys. Chronilogically, we are the same age, but in terms of experience, these guys like JD, Horse, and Super Joe have forgotten more about the sport of rugby than I will ever hope to know.

Being able to play more rugby this spring and the thought of possibly being able to play with my brother Bill in the fall season certainly gives me plenty of motivation to tweak my training over the summer. I am hoping that my right knee can stay stable enough so that I can do more interval training in this summer. I felt fine in terms of brute strength and increase comfort in my technique in playing prop on the scrums. I feel like I need to improve my overall fitness so that I can have the legs to get to the breakdown quickly and clean things up, as well as being there for support on the offense.

I have a physical scheduled later this week. I'm 47, and I have not had a physical since when I went into the Army Reserves back in 2002. With diabetes on both sides of my family and cardiac disease on my dad's side, I am really curious where my blood sugars and cholesterol are at. Since I am going to be visiting the lab anyway, I was going to ask my family practice doctor if we can also check my testostrone levels. Men lose testosterone levels in a big way after the age of 40, but I have been reading info that has said that American men have been losing testostrone at rates earlier and faster than our parents and grandparents. If my levels are low, I will see if I can get supplementation. Contrary to what you might think, it's not because of rugby, it's just with diminished testosterone levels, that puts men at increased risk of depression, osteoporisis and gaining fat-because if you are losing muscle tissue, that is a big factor in how well you burn off fat.

I'll get to the chores tomorrow, honey....really!

A couple of days ago, an e-mail was sent out to Metropolis RFC members saying that not only is there the Blue-Grey game scheduled for this Saturday, they are hoping enough old boys will show up to be able to have Old Boys game. Well see if it comes to pass. The forecast for Saturday is cold, wet rain-and maybe some snow flurries...this spring has just sucked in terms of weather, even by Minnesota standards. If the rain is really heavy, they may end up just cancelling the game, but will have the social at 6 pm on Saturday. I am hoping that we can get a run in. A couple of weeks ago, Metropolis Old Boys Super Joe and Horse came out to Green Bay, and played really, really well.

But on top of being really good players, who can show that even at pushing 50 they both have serious game in this sport, Super Joe and Horse are both really nice guys.

Well, here is crossing my fingers and hoping we can have one last run at a rugby game this spring.

Later this month will mark 25 years ago that I graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa with my wonderful B.A in French. I was not alone in my liberal arts folly. I had partners in crime named Kurt, Frank and Kathy(who I call Kass). All four of us had our degree in French. If memory serves, I think Frank had a double major in Poli-Sci and French, and Kass had hers in Business and French. I don't remember if Kurt double majored or not. In spite of our very different personalities and tastes, for some reason, the four of us just hit it off. The year we studied in Montpellier, France was a year that we all grew up, and lea- a lot. But that did not prevent us from having a really good time. Kass had an apartment where we would gather from time to time and Frank, Kurt and I would just spend the better part of the night just laughing our butts off at jokes we told at the expense of our teachers at "le Fac".

I got to thinking today about them. When we studied in Paris during our freshman May term, we got into Paris on April 30th and then the next day, our professor, who referred to as "Big Mac", took us to a May Day celebration to see all of the French Labour groups demonstrating. That was 28 years ago today. I was so moved by the day, that I wrote them a letter. Well, I wrote Kass and Frank-I don't have a current e-mail for Kurt. Here is the letter:
Hi Frank and Kass,
    The Red-head and I had a quiet 24 year anniversary last night. We went to see humorist PJ O'Rourke speak at the University of Minnesota, where he did a nice job of scewering EVERYBODY from Mrs. Clinton, to McCain to Obama to the President. After that, We went out and had a really nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant by the U of M campus.
    Today, as I was walking my dogs, it occurred to me that it was 28 years ago today we got into to Paris: You two, me, Kurt, Susan Bradley and Big Mac. Next month will mark 25 years ago that we got our Diplomas from the The Wart. Some things change: our hairlines, color of our hair, waistlines, our home mailing addresses, our jobs...but some things remain the same:Kass is still wildly independent, Frank and I are still with the same women we were associated with 25 years ago, and Kurt is still Kurt. We are still very different in our politics and our personalities. One other constant is my affection for you two and Kurt. I wish I had Kurt's e-mail to send this message to him, but I will have to settle for just saying it to you two. We all grew up together during our time in French class and at Wartburg College. I'm glad after this many years you can still call me your friend and I still consider you guys such an important part of my life. Almost every day, something happens to make me think of one of you. (Anything with Science Fiction, the Supreme Court or Democratic party makes me think of Frank,volleyball, global warming, penguins and watching the travel channel makes me think of Kass, watching a movie on Logo or any running event on ESPN makes me think of Kurt...and any time I drink a Guiness makes me think of Big Mac)
    Oh yeah, and every time I have a belly laugh that is so strong that it hurts, I think of our slumber parties at Kass's apartment in Montpellier.
     Some people ask me if getting a B.A in French was a waste of time. I don't know, I got a great wife out of the deal, I got to hang out with you guys, and I made friends in Montpellier who I still am pretty tight with. In the case of May and Gerry Gaertner and the "South African Consulate-Montpellier Branch", well, it had a profound impact on my life in getting involved hosting foreign exchange students.
    You guys are the best. Happy May Day tomorrow, Comrades!
A` Bientot!
Steve

Good friends really are a blessing. Happy May Day to all my new friends who I have made in the past year, thanks to the blogosphere.

The above title does not refer to the TV series with Kiefer Sutherland. Today marks 24 years  ago that my favorite Red-Head and I tied the knot. It's funny how on that day in 1984, we got 6 inches of the wet, white stuff in the Minneapolis area. This year has been similar with winter/crappy weather really having a death grip on the upper midwest.

It was a 4 hour trip driving back from Bemidji on Monday. In between conversation with Laurel, the physician with whom I carpooled to and from the Spanish for Health Professionals event, I did think back to just how much my wife and I have been through in 24 years. We have seen and experienced a great deal together. Yet, at the same time it is mind-blowing just how fast 24 years have gone by.

My wife and I are both a bit thicker compared to 24 years ago-I don't think anybody is going to want to see us modeling any Speedo bathing suits, yet I think compared to a lot of other people in our age group, we both look pretty good, even if a I do say so myself.

As I look back on the past 24 years, there are a few things I would have done differently. Two things I would not change is marrying my RedHead and having a couple of kids with her.

This year, it's going to be a pretty sedate anniversary. Money is a bit tight, so any major trips are out. I am hoping to do some kind of trip with her next year for our Silver Anniversary.

365 days to plot a suprise. The clock is ticking. To be continued....

I have just enough time to leave a quick note.

The good news is that  this  immersion camp in Spanish for Medical Professionals has been just great. I have been able to really work on real-world scenarios and vocabulary that will help me with my phone triage job. The instructors have just been great. The food up here has been REALLY good. They have kept us busy, but I think a good kind of busy.

The bad news: in the past 24 hours we have gotten over a foot of snow in this part of northwest Minnesota. That's right, not just a dusting, but an entire foot of snow, and it is still snowing a bit outside. There has been some talk that we might get over 20 inches. Good thing we are all here at camp, because driving to and from anywhere would be too bloody hazerdous.

Time to go study some more Spanish.

Hasta la Vista!