Jason's Untimely Thoughts

Last night I’m at the store, buying a new bike for Adelaide as she’s long outgrown her last one and the big neighborhood 4th of July parade is coming up. (On that note, be sure to check out the Columbia Daily Tribune’s 2007 “Our Town” cover with AEB’s photo from last year’s event.) Anyway, I’m at the checkout line, rolling a pink bike through the aisle.

A nice couple in front of me turns to see the spectacle, lady says “Aww, that’s cute. Someone’s going to be a happy girl tomorrow.” I respond that yeah, and hopefully that works. I’m afraid that we’ll end up with one happy and one sad with me only bringing one bike home.

A few minutes later she mentions that hopefully the kids can share. I agree and tell her that I’m hoping Adelaide is happy with her new bike and “he is happy with her old pink bike”. At this point, the husband finally becomes interested. “Did you say ‘he’?”. Yep. It’s either her pink bike or her pink tricycle, he can have whichever one he likes.

“At some point, we’re going to have to change colors,” he responds. I agree, but then add that as long as he puts down Adelaide’s purse and takes off her dress-up shoes before he gets on the pink bike, I’m really OK with it. For some reason, that put them over the edge.

Thankfully, I didn’t even mention that Jack has his toenails painted at the moment. I did, however, try to save his pride (or mine?) by mentioning the 4-year old boy that came up to me at the McDonald’s play area a month ago or so and said, “Hi, my name is Mary Poppins!” I think they thought I was making that up.

Fast forward to this morning, I come downstairs to find Adelaide and Jack excitedly looking at the new bike. Adelaide has her “ballerinatard” on, Jack is wearing her sparkly pink high-heeled sandals.

(It was all in good fun, the people at the store thought the whole thing was funny. And Jack is conveniently 36.5 inches tall and 36 pounds, so he can take any grief he might get from those less secure in their manliness.)

Some guy named Mark Schlabach from ESPN has an article calling Georgia’s 26-24 defeat over Tennessee in 2001 the best game he’s ever seen. I should write for ESPN, it seems.

I was also at that game and it was a great game, but it barely rates my personal Top 5. While heavily skewed towards Mizzou, obviously, several of these are still replayed endlessly on ESPN Classic, so I’m not alone at least. My Top 5 NCAA Football games witnessed in person:

5. GA-UT game in Knoxville in 2001. Georgia wins 26-24 on a touchdown in the last seconds.

4. MU’s 41-24 victory over Nebraska in 2003. Would be on my personal highlight list just for breaking the streak against the bugeaters, but Brad Smith’s performance in the game against the #1 ranked defense in the country (at the time) was remarkable.

3. 5th Down. Colorado’s 33-31 victory over Mizzou in 1990. Game remarkable for the officiating, not necessarily the on-field performances, as CU’s winning “score” came on a mistaken “5th Down” play as time expired. And as replays still show, CU quarterback Charles Johnson still didn’t score on the play. He was down. CU went on to claim a share of the national championship.

2. Flea-Kicker. Nebraska’s 45-38 overtime win at Mizzou in 1997 was possible due to an insanely lucky (and technically illegal) game-tieing touchdown with seconds remaining in regulation. Pass from QB Scott Frost intended for Shevin Wiggins. As the ball was deflected, Wiggins eventually kicked it just enough for a diving Matt Davison to catch for the TD that sent to overtime. Nebraska went on to claim a share of the national championship.

1. Boston College’s 41-39 victory at Notre Dame in 1993. Notre Dame had just beaten Florida State in “The Game of the Century” to remain undefeated and move to #1 in the rankings with just the BC game remaining. BC dominated much of the game, only to have Notre Dame score 3 touchdowns in 11 minutes to move into the lead with just seconds remaining. BC then drove and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired. Remarkable not only for the ups and downs, but for how the ND crowd (students at least) stayed into the game and supported their team even when they were way down.

Other tidbits, here’s a youtube clip of a 1961 brawl between players at KU-MU basketball game. Interesting as a reminder that stuff like this didn’t just start with today’s generation. Also interesting that they thought (hoped?) playing the national anthem would make everyone stop.

Sarah & I just returned from a trip to New York city, where much fun was had. Originally just a vacation, we also worked in a little doctoring and some time with friends. Pictures from the trip are here.

We arrived on Wednesday and met up with Craig #1 at his apartment in Greenwich Village, then off to a quick dinner. On Thursday, we did a bicycle rickshaw tour of Central Park in the morning, then Sarah had an appointment with Dr. Richard Warner, another of the nation’s experts on carcinoid. He had some slightly different recommendations than we’d heard before, but preliminary. He’ll be sending us and our local oncologist a full report in approximately a month.

From there, we hit Times Square for sights and dinner. Times Square is an insane mix of corporate advertising, people, taxis, and all that comes with all of that. For foreigners visiting the US, what a shocking first impression.

On Friday, we went walking in SoHo, checking out the stores and the sights. We then met up with Craig #2 at his apartment on the Upper East Side, for dinner and more sights. Walked around 5th Avenue a bit, seeing the fancy stores and watching young girls take pictures of the “Gucci” and “Pucci” store signs. I want to establish a chain named “Hucci” and become a millionaire. Also saw Rockefeller Center, home of the NBC studios.

Saturday was a street fair in the Village then back up to shopping around Rockefeller Plaza. Late afternoon, we took the Circle Line‘s cruise around Manhattan. Three hours very well spent, seeing parts of the city and region that we’d have never seen otherwise (thanks to our DC friends for suggesting this).

On Sunday we hit Times Square again to buy half-price tickets to a Broadway show at the TKTS windows. After debating and deciphering, we ended up with tickets to Curtains at the Hirschfeld Theatre. Had drinks at Tavern on the Green in Central Park while waiting for the show, then back up to Broadway for the performance. High Quality.

We ended our trip by stopping at Ground Zero then a quick walk over to South Street Seaport. We took mostly subway, all over town, for cheap. Also took much advantage of the plethora of meat & drink carts all over town, the Duane Reade drug stores on every corner, and the Bagel Buffet just across the street from where we stayed.

Thanks to all that helped with this trip!

YouTube – Cats From Ol’ Mizzou Rap 1987

“I don’t speak jive”.  Norm Stewart, 1987.  Funny stuff.

Happy May 10th,

A year ago this week, it was nothing but pure craziness and many on this list were first finding out about Sarah’s surgery et cetera (which happened 368 days ago). It was hectic times. Sarah & I were talking on Monday, an anniversary that you can’t figure out how to celebrate, only to conclude that “it has been a good year.”

With the benefit of hindsight, the best thing I can offer is continued and heartfelt thanks to any and all who have helped during this learning, traveling, scanning, kid-chasing experience. We’ve had help with meals, laundry, chasing kids, medical advice, insurance problem solving, chasing kids, housework, photography work, chasing kids, my work, getting to places, staying places, chasing kids, painting rooms, and countless other things. Too many times I try to speak for Sarah, but I know she joins in saying we simply could not have handled the past year without each offer of help. Thank you.

As for an update, Sarah continues to have CT scans and other testing done quarterly or thereabouts. Best information seems to be that the disease is stable, although the natural inclination is to question everything and look for more all the time. We continue to do that questioning and looking as well. We continue to be pleased with the care we’re receiving in Columbia, especially their honesty and assistance as we seek the opinions of others that see more of this disease.

The kids continue to grow, no matter how much we cut off their nourishment. Jack Thayer is almost 2 and Adelaide is almost 18. It’s dance recital weekend, so excitement is in the air. They have a new bedroom and play room, so we almost have a living room again. Somehow, I lucked into the fact that they’re happy to watch a James Taylor tribute concert thing I taped the other day, so I’m temporarily relieved from the Parent Trap¸ Aquamarine, High School Musical kid-movie loop of hell.

Later this month, we’re headed to NYC to take advantage of another generous offer and grab some vacation time in the big city. It didn’t seem right to make a trip and not visit a doctor or a Mizzou sporting event, so we arranged to visit with another of the nation’s carcinoid experts in NYC on that trip (although I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have preferred to get a Tiger football game going somehow instead).

And, speaking of football….. 114 days until the Tigers beat the Whining’ Illini and their illustrious orange uniforms. 198 days until the Tigers beat the mythical shoe-wearing birds and seal a trip to the Big 12 Championship game. About a month after that, the Tigers will claim their first ever 14 and 0 season. Mark it down. Learned things, and there were travelled around Europe like pengar.

Happy Mother’s Day to the Mothers. And on a side note, screw ku.

Spring Football Game is Saturday. Good Times.

Here are two great articles on Tigers:

• Jeremy Maclin from Graham Watson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Marcus Woods from Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star.

This will be the first spring game in forever that Sarah’s not taking pictures. With the demise of Inside Mizzou (unofficially), no one is paying her anymore. Makes shooting the spring game considerably less of a priority.

The athletic department keeps talking like they might pay her for stuff like this. And talking. And talking. It was going to be worked out by September. 2006. Come December, I imagine they’ll figure out they’d really like to have had a bunch of pictures from the football games.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready to re-order our crazy number of football season tickets, buy tickets to four away games, and renew our Tiger Scholarship Fund donation. In a couple more months we’ll renew our basketball season tickets. If only there were some really obvious way to combine their needs with our needs.

We’re almost done with the attic remodel. AEB & JTB are both sleeping in their new beds. Now if we can just get the parents away from those beds too, real progress will have been made. Pictures of the latest developments are here now.

Anyone reading this that lives in the St. Paul, Minnesota, area, e-mail me. I have a clandestine mission for you.

On a side note, screw ku.

ESPN.com – NCF – Feldman: Daniel, Tigers reaching for new heights

Read this article on Chase Daniel and the Tigers, if you get the chance.  It’s April, I’m ready for football.

The entire family, plus support system, is in Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament this weekend. Or this night, as it turned out.

May or may not know, but Sarah had a breast biopsy on Tuesday. She’d previously had a ‘needle core’ biopsy, but the surgeon didn’t trust the results fully… didn’t think that method had enough tissue to rule cancer (or “pre-cancer”, depending on how they phrased things) out. So, had a ‘needle excission’ biopsy on this time around, basically like a lumpectomy in that they take out tissue around the area in question. Surgeon called this afternoon and said it was 100% clear…. absolutely fantastic news.

Adelaide saw a beaker sign in the lobby and made a big deal out of it… I told her she’d be seeing KU fans all weekend, trying to instill some sportsmanship, and that I’d just seen one walking through the lobby. “Did they stink?” she asked.

Happy Daylight Savings Time to you and yours.

The Yeti and This Website Stinks are two sites of minor interest that came to me this week.

In other news, MU plays KU in basketball Saturday. Down with the shoebirds.

MU and KU recently announced a two-year deal to play their football games in Arrowhead Stadium in KC. I was asked informally about it before it was official, and my response hasn’t changed. I don’t care. Any other weekend and I’d be opposed.

The game is on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, meaning it’s a difficult time for students to be in Columbia. As long as it’s that weekend, playing in KC gives it a chance of becoming an event, instead of a home game on either campus played to 70% capacity. And with it being played on that Saturday, I don’t know that you could reasonably expect more than 70% capacity with no students on campus.

It also probably means I’ll be able to go to the next two of these games. While I certainly would have gone to the game in Columbia in 2008, no chance I would have gone to Larry in 2007. Now, probably 80% chance that I’ll go to both of them.

The common criticism of the decision seems to be that the respective athletic directors are money hungry. The criticism seems to most often come from restaurant and retail owners who are afraid this will impact their sales. Seems fairly hypocritical to me.

on a side note, screw ku.