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March 29, 2003
It's like the Darwin Awards on steroids...
Posted by Pepperguy at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2003
She was awesome!!
Went to a vocal recital of a friend at BGSU last night. She was just amazing!! Maryellen and I took another girl from our church to see/hear Leslie and another girl. They each sang about a half dozen songs. Leslie was by far the superior singer. I had heard her sing at church and was impressed, but to hear her and see her perform songs she had worked on much more than the church songs...I was just blown away!
A week from tonight is the Faculty Jazz Ensemble...kind of an annual event that I absolutely LOVE. M has to work, so I'm hoping Ed and maybe some others will be able to go along with me, but if not, I'll go alone. I've done it before.
THEN the Saturday after that is Jane Monheit in concert at BG. It's a music-a-licious week or so for the G-man!!
Posted by Pepperguy at 07:06 AM | Comments (3)
March 24, 2003
Porsche Carrera GT
Maybe the most beautiful car ever...
Posted by Pepperguy at 09:06 PM | Comments (5)
March 23, 2003
Pontiac Commercials, Jimmy V, and feeling...
Ok...so the Pontiac commercials they're running during the tourney give me goosebumps every freaking time. VERY good ad campaign. Fuel for the soul, indeed!! I don't think I'd have done them any differently myself. I still haven't seen Bryce Drew hitting the last second shot for Vanderbilt a few years back though.
Is there any moment is sports any cooler than NC State over Houston in 1983? I actually wrote a paper on that game in college. I get tears in my eyes seeing Jimmy V running around on the court "looking for someone to hug."
Don't give up...don't EVER give up. I linked that to what's probably been the most ifluential speech in my life. Unfortunately, they don't have the video or audio of the entire speech online. If I can find it, I'll post it. The paragraph that's changed me is:
"...When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."
I cry like a baby for just about any emotion...and I really think that started after hearing this speech. I let myself feel those emotions...why not?! I definitely laugh... and I think/meditate every single day. It really does make a difference.
Thanks Jimmy V. Give if you can.
Posted by Pepperguy at 09:39 PM | Comments (2)
March 20, 2003
Favorite day of the year!!
Well, this has always been my favorite day of the year...the first day of the NCAA tournament.
This year is a little different. With the war starting last night it just takes some of the "fun" out of the day. I used to skip school every year, order pizza and watch the first day of the tournament non-stop. The first day always holds some surprises. A few years ago I was lucky enough to actually get to a first round site and watch two days of games in Cleveland. What a thrill! I don't think anything epitomizes the essence of sports like the NCAA tourney.
I'm a little tired of the fog...
Posted by Pepperguy at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2003
Brackets
Posted by Pepperguy at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2003
An appeal...
This is what I posted on my Ay-ziggy-zoomba.com website. I'd appreciate it if any friends/visitors to this site would consider sponsoring me. Thanks.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Some of you may have noticed the "Do Something" footer at the bottom of every page of this (ay-ziggy-zoomba.com) website. I've linked to two charities that are very dear to me. The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Since 1983 I followed Jim Valvano's career and still get tears in my eyes every time I hear the "Don't ever give up" speech. With the loss of my dad 2 years ago to cancer, this charity means more to me than ever and I'd appreciate any support any of you could find to give it.
The other charity is one I don't say much about. The same summer my dad was diagnosed with cancer, my wife was diagnosed with MS. MS is a terrible, scary, unknown that not only robs its victims of their motor skills, vision, strength, sleep, coordination and more, but also of their innocence and often all of their hope. MS isn't a well known disease, people remember reading books to raise money back in school, or maybe recognize the Bike-To-The-Bay each year, but they don't really know what MS is.
My wife, Maryellen, woke up one morning and couldn't see out of her right eye. After a trip to the emergency room and several doctors visits later, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Neither of us really knew what that was. MRI's showed scars in her brain where the electrical impulses "jumped the circuit" and caused damage. Since then she's lost feeling in her legs, experienced numbness, dizziness, fatigue and depression. Maybe more devastating, she never knows what tomorrow will hold…it's very probable that one day she'll wake up and not be able to stand up.
I give her a shot once a week to help slow the progression of the disease. Thankfully, she's recovered from each of her exacerbations (although there's always some residual damage that holds on…her vision returned, but isn't normal, etc.), and she's only had to miss a few weeks of work. I can't stand wondering what tomorrow may hold for her and can only imagine what it's like from her perspective.
So now that I've given you the story…here comes the action item. April 6, I'm going to be walking in the MS Walk to help raise awareness and monies for the National MS Society. I'm looking for sponsors. The MS Society helps fund research and education. Please consider giving. There is a website where you can make pledges online, (it's a little slow, but it does work) or if you'd rather, please send a check made out to the "National MS Society" to me directly:
Grant Cummings
P.O. Box 73
Elmore, OH 43416
It's not easy for me to be public about this very private part of our lives…I hope you all don't mind my openness. If you can't help, that's fine, but if you can, please do! If not for Maryellen, then for someone you may or may not know. It seems like almost everyone knows of someone with MS. Now would be a great time to help do something about it! Thanks for reading.
Posted by Pepperguy at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)
March Madness!!
Well, I've gone ahead and set up the NCAA Tourney Tracker thingie again this year. No prizes...no bells or whistles, but it was fun last year so if you want to sign up and participate, PLEASE do!!
Posted by Pepperguy at 06:57 AM | Comments (1)
March 11, 2003
YAWN....
Been a while since I blogged. Lots going on. Busy busy busy. I'm loving work, gave up caffeine and soda pop for Lent. The caffeine withdrawl has been really REALLY tough. I had a headache for 3 days, but I think it's out of me now.
Going to Cleveland tomorrow to follow the Falcons in the MAC tourney. It'll be my first real test of XM. I always hated the drive to the Gund b/c it wasn't long, but I couldn't get any good radio stations around Sandusky. This will fix that.
Lots coming up...hopefully I'll get back into Blogging. My laptop crashed completely the other night so I'm still re=installing everything. Slow process.
Posted by Pepperguy at 10:05 PM | Comments (1)
March 07, 2003
Birthdays suck
Blech.
Gee... I'm 33 now. Whoopie.
Oh well, at least it's Friday.
Posted by Pepperguy at 06:56 AM | Comments (7)
March 06, 2003
It's my birthday
I'm really not that excited about my b-day this year. Kinda forgot it even WAS until Maryellen said something when I got out of bed this AM. ::shrug:: Oh well.
33 years ago this morning I was born in Gorgas Hospital just outside the Canal Zone in Panama. Here's what it looks like. Kinda cool!
I've always said, there are two places I really want to go in this world, India and Panama. Anyone want to spring for either trip??
Happy birthday to Ed and Jeff too! I'm meeting Ed and some people for lunch today, but Jeff is going to be out of town so he can't join us.
Maryellen greeted me at the door last night with a hot dinner and a pineapple upside-down cake! My favorites!!! Because we're going to a basketball game tonight (my other favorite thing!) Yay!!
Posted by Pepperguy at 07:05 AM | Comments (3)
March 04, 2003
BGSU Hoops
This awesome photo was from the Toledo Blade on Sunday.
This is the reason I still continue to go to every game...year after year...for this, my 25th season of BG Basketball. People say I'm insane and ask me why... Moments like this one make it worth it. No question!
Oh...and the kid on the shoulders is a football player. Yup...he just walked on to the basketball team because they needed bodies. He ended up being the hero of the game. That's about 70 members of the football team carrying him off the floor. God that was awesome!
Posted by Pepperguy at 08:58 PM | Comments (1)
March 01, 2003
My mind is now sufficiently blown!
Yesterday I found out one of my new co-workers...who is a very quiet, unassuming, almost un-approchable individual...is one of the foremost authorities on 19th and early 20th century baseball! He's published 2 books and will be on ESPN Classic tomorrow night at 8PM!! David Fleitz's two books are both available at Amazon.com, Shoeless - The Life and Times of Joe Jackson, and Louis Sockalexis - The First Cleveland Indian, are both regarded as landmark books on baseball. At Glasstech, he's a system's analyst/programmer....and like I said, he's just very quiet and a little "different." Just goes to show you it's hard to judge someone on a first impression! Check out David's website for more info on him, on baseball and his books.
Posted by Pepperguy at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)