Wow! Rockies Baseball!

I have, for the past week or so, meant to post on a couple of recent trips. I joined my friend Micaela on an AMAZING trip to Glacier National park, then more recently climbed Bison peak with my girlfriend (yup, still Tami) and Micaela. But then I experienced a once in a lifetime event.

One of my favorite things to do here in Denver is go to Rockies games. From previous posts you know all the things I love about it. It's a big reason that I choose to stay here in Denver and not move up to the mountains, or other beautiful places such as Oregon.

So I bought tickets to last nights game, and sat in our usual seats (upper outfield reserved, first base side where you get a great view of the mountains)

We played the San Francisco Giants, a team 3 games back in the wild card, and quickly turning into a rival. Winning here would be HUGE.

It was a game full of complete futility. I was constantly frustrated. We scored 1 run, 1 RUN!!!, that coming off a bases loaded walk, through all of regulation. Luckily the Giants could only muster 1 first inning run of their own. We constantly got men on base, men on third and 1 out, 1st and 3rd one out, over and over, and time after time we left them there. We couldn't score. Neither could they. The 9th inning came and went. 11th. then 12th. 13, then 14. I told Tami I was on an emotional roller coaster. I'd get excited only to be let down again.


Then came the 14th inning. The Giants strung some big hits together, scored 3 runs to go up 4-1. Only a miracle could win this game for us. After all, we had all those chances, we deserved to lose.

In the bottom of the inning, they gave us some base runners by way of walks. Cool, but no way I'm getting excited. I've seen this before. Fowler gets up, hits a ball off his knee, somehow gets back up to hit, and walks. From this point on, he's hobbling around the base paths. With one out, the bases get loaded, and guess whose up? Yeah, the pitcher. Perfect. And no, we had NO MORE bench players. I read in an article today that if we tied the game, the pitcher was going to play right field.

Then the unthinkable happens. They walk the pitcher, forcing in a run.

We now trail 4-2, Ryan Spilborghs up to bat. Spilly, by the way, has already grounded into a double play when just a fly ball would have won the game, and misplayed a double, turning it into a triple. Heres the clip of what happens next: (including a little on what already took place in the inning)

I could not contain myself. All that pent up frustration released in a single swing. It was awesome.

-JJ

MIssing the Point

While undermining all that Obama is trying to do in the Middle East, you wonder why they don't care much for us.

Failed...

Today I wandered to downtown Golden to grab some lunch and drop by the bike shop. On my return trip I passed by the blood mobile. I have, since a small child, and like LOTS of other people, have a completely rational fear of needles. I've never given blood.

This time I decided to man up. So I stopped, joined the small group of people relaxing under a tent, and signed up.

Why the change of heart? Well I blood drawn back in the fall for a cholesterol check, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. So here I am, all signed up. My name was called, and I headed in the bus, where I was immediately informed of the finger prick they had to do, to make sure my blood was ok.

In my head, this is actually worse! But with no way of backing out without getting called names, I manned up and got my finger pricked.

Again, not nearly as bad as I remembered it.

So next thing I know I'm laying on the table. Whenever I get nervous, I get very chatty. So here I am chatting up everyone. Then a girl from a previous session comes in, for she is still feeling nauseous and weak. So I start talking to her. She was in a while back, and still not feeling well, and looked as if she might puke.

I shrugged it off, and in the needle went. Ok, not so bad. The nurse asked how I felt, and I knew I wasn't quite right, but then I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel. I told her I was feeling kind of sleepy and maybe just a little hint of nausea. I'm just trying to be honest, after all.

Next thing I know shes fiddling with the needle, and then takes it out.

I immediately felt like a complete waste of these people's time. I just wanted to help, and I was just being honest, and she bailed on the whole thing. I then asked if not getting enough sleep might have something to do with it, and she said "definitely." I had only 4 hrs that previous night. No breakfast either, but a good lunch.

So here I am, armed bandaged up, having made absolutely no contribution to humanity.

-JJ

Hello All. Guess I just have to be honest that everytime I have some free time on my computer I end up on World of Warcraft. Yeah, my buddy Chester from work got me into it. It's fun, and nice for overnights.

So many things have been going on that I could have posted about, but if I did it now, it'd be too late.

Notably I got to fulfill a small dream of mine and go see the College World Series in Omaha. Thanks to my uncle and cousins for letting me tag along on their trip. It was a blast.



Anyway, excited for this coming weekend at Kelsie's cabin on Grand Mesa. I'll be posting soon.

-JJ

Home of the Free?

13 year old Daniel Hauser has Hodgkins lymphoma. I'm sure you've seen him in the news, for he and his family are refusing Chemo treatment. Doctors say with the treatment he has a 90 percent chance of survival. Without it, he will likely die. The family wants to go the route of more natural treatments, per their religion.

I saw that yesterday authorities were imprisoning the parents for this.

I'm wondering when we got to the point of not being able to make our own decisions about our own lives.

I once worked with a young gir, probably late 20s, that had cancer, went through Chemo, and was well. Then the cancer came back. They wanted to go through the whole operation again, and she refused. She started taking care of herself, eating right, excersizing. The cancer went away, and never came back.

I've gotten similar testimonials from at least 3 passengers on my plane.

I say he should be able to do what he wants.

-JJ

Impressed!

A few weeks ago I posted about our trip to Santa Fe. We brought our bikes on that trip, and on a few of the moderate climbs, I noticed that Tami dealt with them quite well.

After that trip, I thought that maybe she could handle the 5 miles uphill to lookout mountain. It's one of my favorite things to do here in town, and one of the most rewarding also. You get up there, impressed with what you just accomplished, and its literally all downhill from there. Like 50 mph downhill. Awesome.



So we did. After work Tami came over, we drove to the base of the mountain (the ride from my house to the base will ruin you) and up we went.

Let me tell you the girl DID NOT STOP. It was slow and steady, all the way up. I honestly, for her first time, did not expect her to make it all the way to the top. But she did. I was floored. Even better, everyone on that mountain had thousand dollar road bikes, pedal clips, the works, and Tami did it with her commuter hybrid bike and regular pedals. ha! I'm surprised she didn't wear a skirt.

Congrats Tamara!

Unfortunately I had promised her ice cream, and by the time we made it to the Golden Sweets shop it was closed. (Early, I might add, because of the Nuggets Lakers game. ha!)

I Agree

I love this short little article.

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_12303097