"Aye, There's the rub!"

I have an older brother named Bill. He and I are not even 13 months apart-we are not true Irish Twins born within a 12 month period-but 12.5 months apart is pretty darned close.

My brother was always a bruiser when we were little kids. He was always getting into stuff. Somewhere out there is a picture of my brother as a toddler in the back of hour house in Richfield, Minnesota-he had a harness with a chain on it that was attached to the clothes line so that he could run-but not run away. Like most brothers we were close, but we fought quite a bit, too. He was always much bigger and stronger than me when we were growing up. I was a skinny little kid who was always happiest reading a book or playing with my little stick-men.(yeah, pathetic, I know) When we fought-and we fought a lot as kids-I got stomped on quite a bit. Having a tough older brother was a good thing when I had to fight me own fights, he would make sure that the fight stayed fair. On one occasion, when I was about 5 and getting harassed by much bigger kids-they must have been about 8 or 9, my brother did what amounted to a Judo throw on the kid and just planted him on the asphalt. I never got harrassed again.

Bill was always the more natural athlete. When we got into high school, he set the 9th and 10th grade pole vault records, and was captain of our Football and wrestling teams.

Tomorrow marks the start of the 2008 Minnesota State Wrestling tournament. 30 Years ago, my brother Bill qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament at 185 pounds.  He ended up finishing 4th in State at his weight class in the AA competition. 

Years later, when I was in the Air Force and working out like a madman and was in really, really good shape (190 pounds with a 32 inch waist at 5'10), I was going to be back in Minnesota over Christmas Break. As luck would have it, my friend Bob Smith was coaching the Cooper Wrestling team, so I arranged for me and my brother to go to wrestling practice to work with the upper weight kids. I had as my motive to show my brother how much tougher I had gotten since high school. When we all separated to do a 6 minute match, I was all set for some serious payback...that never came.  Bill just waxed me. It was the stuff of Christians versus the Lions or almost anybody wiping out the French military...In a word,it was not a pretty sight.

So, I'd like to give a shout out to my brother on this week marking 30 years since he took 4th in State. I was never as good an althete as he is... Then, as now, I'm still proud of you, big brother.

I had a chance to have Brunch with my dear friends Bob and Carrie and two of their boys, Joshua and Jacob in River Falls, Wisconsin. It was fun to catch up them. I first met them just before they got married-they just celebrated their 25th Anniversary.  Our kids are very close in age. Bob and Carrie are both nurses, like me. Actually, Bob was a source of support and encouragement when I was going to nursing school.

I had a great time catching up with Bob, Carrie and the boys. I should also add that they are probably the token Jewish family in their area of Poplar, Wisconsin. http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/wisconsin/poplar

Over the years, we joke about our religious differences-to the point where I will refer to myself as the "Goy Boy". Goy, is short for Goyim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goy , or Gentile. Over the years, we have gone up their place for Chanukah, Passover, and his son David's Bar Mitvah.

Bob's main love is music. He's a nurse to pay the bills, but his passion is music(His late brother Chuck Greenberg was the heart and soul behind the Grammy winning Jazz group Shadofax ) He has stated a band camp that has become very successful and popular-and because he has pounded the pavement getting donations, he has been able to keep this camp affordable so kids who otherwise would not be able to go to band camp have been able to do so.
http://www.nymp.net/

Anyway, when we were eating, a guy saw Bob's shirt, and got to talking about band and music programs. He asked me what my role in this group was-Bob and his sons are accomplished musicians. I told the guy that I was the Token Goyim in the group. He said that he did not know what that meant, I think he thought it was some kind of instrument. Anyway, after that exchange, I looked at Bob and boys and said that "If you have to ask what a Goyim is, you probably are".

Here is a link for finding out about Shadowfax. The group ended after Bob's brother Chuck died of a heart attack back in 1995.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowfax_(band)

Well, the Red-Head and I went with Ian down to Eau-Claire a couple of days ago on Friday for Andrea's Obstetric appointment (OB! Or NOT OB, that is the question!!) We had a chance to see the ultrasound of Ian and Andrea's new baby-our first grandchild. She is due around 7/12/2008. Here are some ultrasound shots....It's pretty heady stuff waiting for the baby. It's also amazing the detail that you can see on these ultrasound shots. Wow...I really AM going to be a grandfather...Cool!

My wife has just been busy as can be with her job as a funeral director. With apoligies to the Chicago Police Homicide Department, her day really does begin when your day ends.You should have seen the curious stares from our neighbors when she parked this hearse from work in front of our house in New Hope, Minnesota.

My wife kind of stumbled onto the funeral trade. It was her late grandmother's fault-really.

When my wife's  Maternal Grandmother passed away a few years ago, the funeral home in Chicago just made a hash of everything. It was a funeral that was tacky and done on the cheap with no class. (Blame part of that on my wife's bitchy aunty Sharon) A day or two after after that, my wife had an Epiphany: " I can do this job!" It's amazing that it took so many years for her to come to this realization. My wife's ability to multi-task, eye for detail and innate desire to help people in great difficulty made her a natural to get into this line of work.

Luckily, my wife,as an Air Force Veteran, was able to get some help from the V. A-otherwise financially, we never could have pulled this off.

My wife graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Mortuary Science a couple of years ago. Just as I defy stereotypes when people think of a guy who is a Registered Nurse , My talkative, Red-Headed bride defies stereotypes when somebody thinks of a woman working in the funeral industry. Someday, I am hoping that maybe we can go to Europe  for a couple of years where I can work as a Nurse and she can work in the Funeral Trade... This picture was taken in Eguilles, France

Our exchange student Rodrigo has been chomping at the bit to play rugby again. He went to a couple of practices with my Metropolis club back in the fall. I think he would prefer to play with Metropolis this spring, but for several reasons, I think he would be better to play with kids in his age group-even if he has been playing the sport for 10 years. I have no doubts that he could hold his own as a scrum half or fly half on the B-squad for Metropolis, but the social aspect-after the games- would be awkward, I think, for a 17 year old. I know when my son Ian was with Metropolis, it was tough for him to feel integrated with the team on social occasions-and he was 19 last year when he and I played together during the spring season.

So, Rodrigo will find himself a Plymouth Panther this spring.
http://www.ballcharts.com/PlymouthPanthers

It's a unique opportunity for him. He still gets a chance to play, but as I joked with him  the other day, he can almost be a player-coach while he is out there on the pitch. As I am writing this, he should be finishing up with practice.

On a semi-related note, and keeping with the "Panther Theme", I thought that as it is "Black History Month" here in the USA,I would add a link on the Black Panther Party. People my age group and older will know who they were, but for those of you under the age of 45, here is today's Black History Link on the Black Panther Party:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_P._Newton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party

Over the weekend, my family and I had a chance to go to our friends,  Lynn and Ron, to go up to Ron's parent's place west of Alexandria, Minnesota to go ice-fishing. It's a unique activity to this part of the midwest. In part, because you need a winter cold enough to freeze lake ice to a point where you can not just walk onto the ice, but drive a snowmobile or a truck onto the ice. On Lake Emily, the Ice was 27 inches thick. Plenty thick enough to drive a large truck onto it. Ron supplied the ice houses, the fishing poles and bait. We dropped our lines into the ice, and waited for the fish to bite. I caught a Crappie(pronounced Crah-pee) and a small Northern Pike, our exchange student Rodrigo caught two Crappies.
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/pike-ice-fishing.php
http://fishingminnesota.com/fishinfo43.html

I  took advantage of the quiet time to do some reading from "Dictionaire Amoureux du Rugby"("Rugby Lovers Dictionary") written by Daniel Herrero. It was a gift from my buddy Jean-Paul when I visited him back in September. There was a really striking story in it, and I will translate it here:

Charles Brochard, born in 1916 in Lons-le-Saunier, member of the Resistence, was one of the links in the 'evasion net' in his region, which led to his arrest on November 29, 1943 in Besancon. Transferred to Bordeaux, he was tried and condemed to death by German Military tribunal. Jailed at the Fort Ha, he was tortured there before being shot to death January 25, 1944. Here is his last letter:

My dear Robert, this will be my first letter of 1944-and the last one of my life. I was sentenced to death with 16 other guys by the Germans on January 20th, 1944, and since that day, I have been awaiting the firing squad.

You know, my dear Robert, that I have courage, and it's not death that scares me, it's thinking of my poor mother who will be in great pain, as she has had no luck in her life. My Father and my two brothers killed at war, and with me soon to join them. A dark cloud of bad luck seems to have settled over my family.

I regret one thing, that I won't see the end of the war so that those of us who played rugby can go back and play again. Promise me that if one day, I have a gravesite, ask my buddies to get me a tombstone with a crown of white roses with the emblem for le Rugby Club Franc-Comtois.
http://www.francerugby.fr/jccomites/jcfranchecomte.html

There was also the interesting story of David Gallaher-the first captain of the New Zealand All Blacks. He gave his life during World War one near Ypres, in Belgium.  He was a captain of a formidable All-Blacks side that on it's European Tour in 1905-06 lost only one of 31 matches-to the Welsh. He was also a pioneer in tactics of the game at that time. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/david-gallaher
http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=3G1

Since 2000, when France and New Zealand meet annually in Friendly matches, they play for the Dave Gallaher Trophy.

Thanks to Ice Fishing, I was able to not only have a good time, but I was able to make some serious progress in a book I just love. Merci Jean-Paul!

I have a son who is an adult and about to be a father. I have a  now 17 year-old-daughter who is on the cusp of adulthood. As a parent, I can say that as fun as they are to be with now, the journey of watching them grow up has been a very fulfilling thing.  It's an amazing thing watching your kids go from birth through Infancy, toddlerhood, pre-school years, primary and secondary school. There are days when one can be overwhelmed with emotion as your kids struggle with, and master new skills on their voyage to adulthood.

Unfortunately, bad news is also something that can be overwhelming...With all of the things in the news the last few days like yesterdays shooting at Northern Illinois University, and last week, a cute little 4 year old boy savagely beat to death by a cousin in Minneapolis, among others, leave it to an almost 4 year old boy in Nebraska who is today's reality check.

As a pediatric nurse, I have taken care of dying kids and worked with their parents. To put it bluntly, the death of a child just sucks. It's obscene to go to a funeral and see a baby or small child in a coffin. I remember one kid I took care of years ago when I was a new nurse. He had a muscle degenerative disease, and breathed with the help of a ventilator. His body was so fragile that to hold him, I had to place him on a bean bag to rock him. There were certain videos that calmed him, when his body was wracked with pain, like "The Velvateen Rabbit" and "Winnie the Pooh". I would sit and rock him for hours...One evening, after I had worked with him on a day shift, I got a call from the evening charge nurse telling me that he had died. To this day, I still cannot watch neither the Velvateen Rabbit, nor Winnie the Pooh...I hope Ian and Andrea never get those films for their baby.

The reason I bring up all of this was to give background to the fact that I know a thing or two about suffering, seriously sick kids...and what their parents go through.

The thing that really struck me about this story about this soon to be 4- year- old child in the Cornhusker State http://www.ketv.com/family/15304410/detail.html   is that a lot of times, when the Make a Wish organization tries to fulfill a dying, or seriously sick kid's wish, it might involve going to Disney World, or Sea World, or meeting a favorite actor or Athlete. This child's wish was poignant and moving in it's simplicity: All this kid wanted to do was to be able to take the bus to Kindegarten. That's it. To take the yellow school bus, meet the other kids at school....and learn. After his day in school, Prabesh, the kid fighting Leukemia, took the yellow school bus...back to the hospital where he is being treated.

Somebody hand me a Kleenex. I'm getting choked up just writing this.

If you are believer, spare a thought and a prayer for little Prabesh Sapkota and his family in Nebraska. Who knows, maybe this kid can make it to Kindergarten for real one day...

Rachel turns 17 this week. She's a junior in High School at the Main Street School of Performing Arts. http://www.performing-arts-school.org/ She did not go out of her way to want to go to school there-it kind of just happened. She, like her brother Ian, went to a Lutheran School from Kindergarten to 8th grade. She did not want to go to one of the big local schools like Cooper, Armstrong or Wayzata. We initially were going to send her to West Lutheran High School. When my wife and Rachel sat down to register for 9th grade classes, my wife made it clear that Rachel should be in an advanced English class, because as an 8th grader, she was already reading at a collegiate level. Not suprisingly, she was bored out of her wits in 7th and 8th grade. My wife was told "we think Rachel will be JUST fine in 9th grade English"-"No, she really needs to be in an advance English Class", my wife told them. My wife and Rachel soon found themsleves having an audience with the prinicipal of West Lutheran. Rather than being understanding, he set up quizzing my wife if she thought my daughter was more intelligent than several of Rachel's classmates who were going to be going to West and would be in 9th grade English. My wife was stunned. I remember her calling me to tell me what happened. " We can get that kind of lousy service at a PUBLIC high school and not have to pay a dime" is what I remember telling the RedHead. (Thanks to that dick-headed principal,  I hold West Lutheran with the type of disdain I usually hold for the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Stade Francais, the New York Yankees...and Hilary Clinton)

My wife had heard about MSSPA, a charter high school, and had a talk with their principal- who could not have been nicer about placing Rachel in more advanced classes in her 9th grade year.

Well, as my daughter is on  the verge of becoming 17 this week, or as the Hmong or hillbillies would say "an old maid", she is going to be starting her college shopping in earnest. By her own admission, she is "so ready for high school to be over". She is going with a friend and her family out to Colorado and Wyoming to check out some universities there. In a couple of weeks, she and I will go up to Fargo("It's below zero, but hey, it's a DRY cold") North Dakota to check out North Dakota State. I know that at some point she is also probably going to want to check out some places in Texas, Like A&M or Texas Tech. We have a long strange trip in the elusive search for a college for my Equine-crazy daughter. To Paraphrase the poet Robert Frost, we have miles to go before we sleep.

When I was a kid, my mom's second husband was a computer/math whiz. It was the second best thing to being a military brat, because we moved from Minneapolis, to Boston, to a suburb of Washington DC, to Chicago and back to the Twin Cities when I was in 9th grade.

I really enjoyed the Boston Area. I loved the history, the food, and the people in our neighborhood. Then, as now, New Englanders are serious sports fans. Massachusetts, along with my native Minnesota and Michigan are the three states where Hockey is a major sport, and not a "niche sport", like it is in most of the rest of the U.S.A.

When we lived in the Boston area, it was during the beginning of the Golden era for the "Big, Bad Bruins". The Bruins had great players like Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, and of course, Bobby Orr. At the time we were living in the Boston area, the Bruins had not won a Stanley Cup since 1941. During the 1969-70 season, the Bruins blitzed through the Stanley Cup playoffs to face the Saint Louis Blues in the Finals. I remember watching game four in our basement. The game had gone to overtime when Bobby Orr worked a neat give-and-go with Derek Sanderson, Orr tucked the puck past Blues Goaltender Glenn Hall. As he was scoring the goal, Orr was lifted in the air by Blues Defenseman Noel Picard. The image is still considered one of the greatest hockey shots ever taken:


The comedian-and Boston native-Denis Leary has talked about how when he was a kid playing hockey with his friends,kids would try to recreate the goal to the point of having another kid try to trip them in the air a`la` Picard. It's true-when whe played out street hockey games, and we played street hockey all of the time when we lived in the Boston Area, we would try to recreate that goal.

It was pretty cool to live in a REAL hockey place like New England and experience the local team winning the Stanley Cup. It's not like today, when in recent years you have had teams in Dallas, Carolina, Anaheim and Tampa winning the Stanley Cup in places where the average local could give a shit. It would be like the U.S winning the FIFA World Cup-a cruel joke to places who hold soccer in high regard.

I still have fond memories of the roughly 15 months I lived in the Boston area. We had great friends, we saw a lot...and it was before Boston fans became insufferable like Red Sox and New England Patriot fans are now.(How bad have Red Sox fans become? This season, I actually hope the Yankees win the East)

I still wish the Bruins well. They have not won a Stanley Cup since 1972. I could give a rip about the Celtics, Red Sox or Patriots, but I will always have a soft spot for the Black and Gold of the Boston Bruins. It brings back memories of Esposito scoring from the slot, Gerry Cheevers making acrobatic saves,Derek Sanderson's rock star hair flowing while he skated, John Mackenzie flattening somebody in the corners, but mostly, I think of Bobby Orr orchestrating rushes from the back of his net and stick handling past his opponents as if they were disks at hockey practice. What made Orr so great was that as great of a player he was-and he revolutionized the defenseman becoming an offensive weapon- he was a decent, unassuming, generous person away from the ice who was, and still is involved with children's charities in the Boston area.

That year in Boston was a great time to be a kid.In retrospect, I think it was one of the happiest years of my chilhood.

I had my Tivo really busy this weekend, between Six Nations matches and Super Bowl XLII.

First the rugby. I picked the wrong game for an upset. France ran over Scotland at Murrayfield.The upset special ended up being at Twickenham, where Wales-who looked well and dead for the better part of 60 minutes, staged an improbable comeback to beat England 26-19. It's hard to say if it was great Welsh heart and effort in the last 20 minutes- or England doing the type of surrender that one usually associates with the French military. The loss was bad enough for England, but a team already depleted by injuries saw more players carted off yesterday...
Mike Tindall is now out for the rest of the Six Nations.

The big news here in North American Sport was the amazing upset of the New England Patriots by the New York Giants, 17-14. The Giants win prevented the Patriots from winning their 4th Vince Lombardi Trophy.(It's the G-men's 3rd in club history) It also prevented the Patriots from being the first team to go 19-0 since NFL teams play a 16 game regular season. This may be the first time in NFL history where brothers led two different teams to Super Bowl titles. Last year, Peyton Manning, Eli's older brother, won with the Colts. Now Eli has given the Manning family another family member with a Super Bowl ring after his gutsy performance against the heavily favored patriots.  The win by Wales in England after playing so poorly for 3/4 of the game against the World Cup Runner's up at Twickenham was a real suprise. The Giants upset win against the Patriots in the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona may have been the biggest upset in Super Bowl History. Both of these wins highlight just why sports is such a great thing. No matter the favorite, you still have to play the game. For people who coach, or work with kids, this is good fodder about attitude going into a game when they are the so-called underdog.