A few weeks ago I was shoveling some dirt in our yard, and I injured my wrist. I was twisting the handle of the shovel back and forth so that the dirt would fall off the sides in sort of an even fashion. My wrist felt fine that day, but the following morning, it was really sore. In fact, the forearm was pretty much hurting as well. I couldn’t flex my wrist backwards or forwards very far at all, and I couldn’t apply very much pressure with my fingers. Throughout the following week, it got better, but then on the weekend, I picked up Koa to give him a time-out, and re injured the wrist. Another week of healing went by until Koa needed another time-out, and yes, I hurt my wrist again! This time, it was really painful. So painful, that I decided to get a wrist brace from the drug store. I have been wearing it for the past few days, and it really helps! My wrist is getting better much more quickly. I guess all those small tweaks I used to accidentally give my wrist have been minimized, so the healing can go without any setbacks.
A few times I have wondered if there are any vitamins I could take that would help out. And then I would always think about MLB players and the banned drugs they use, or should I say used. I have a better understanding of why someone would do that now, in order to recover from injury quicker and get back in the lineup.
It’s time to figure out what baseball games to go to this year. Living in Austin, we have a few options on which clubs to go see. First, there’s the local Minor League team, the Round Rock Express who play at the Dell Diamond. The field is nice, and it’s pretty close. Prices are a little high, though, especially for food. But they do have (or at least used to have) dollar hot dog and dollar beer nights once a week. The other two options are to make the 3hr hour drives to either Houston to catch the Astros, or Arlington to catch the Rangers. Last year Mikey (my ballgame pal) and I went up to Arlington to see the Angels play the Rangers. They year before, we went to Houston to see the Dodgers. This year, the Dodgers are in Houston from June 30 - July 3 which is Monday - Thursday. I think I will have to take a half day off to catch my team. But also this year, the Yankees will play in Houston for an Inter league series. I really want to see the Yanks play. The game is sold out, except for standing-room only space, and seats in the upper decks are $50 a piece. I think we’ll go for it, though. The series is on the weekend, so a Saturday night game looks good. Time to pull out the credit card!
Back in the mid 90’s, my brother Kevin got me a Dodgers home jersey for my birthday. I still have not gotten a number or name on this one, but I think I have decided now. When I first got the jersey, I thought about putting the name Modesi (Raul) on it, since he was my favorite player at the time. I’m glad I didn’t, however, since he turned out to be a bust. I decided I would go back to a player from the past. I thought about Robinson and Drysdale, who were Dodger greats, but ultimately passed on them since they were from an era that was before my time. It would be more meaningful if I chose a player who played for the Dodgers when I was growing up. My short list was comprised of Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Pedro Guerrero, and Manny Mota. Today I finally decided on #11, Manny Mota. Reading his Wikipedia entry, I happened upon this:
“As one of the all-time great pinch hitters and a Los Angeles staple in the 1970s, Mota was referenced in a joke in the movie Airplane! As we hear Ted Striker’s inner-dialogue echo in his mind, it resembles a stadium public address and we hear him think “Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon… Manny Mota… Mota… Mota...” Curiously, Mota and Borbon never actually played on the same team.”
The other night when I went out for a run, I had a few things going thru my head. The first was that my face was kind of burning. It felt like I had a bad sunburn or something. I guess my skin was so dry, and the perspiration was burning my cheeks.
Then later I started thinking about my new meatless diet. I’ve been reading some vegetarianism forums the past few days, and I’ve been surprised at how aggressive vegetarians and non-vegetarians are towards each other, at least on these message boards. It’s so surprising to me that people would get so confrontational about one’s lifestyle choice. Especially about food. I guess I can understand when someone is passionate about not eating meat, but the meat-eaters who come to these forums and start flaming the vegetarians are just amazing. I guess I just don’t agree with forcing your lifestyle choices on others. It’s okay to explain why you made the choices you made, but it’s too much to demand that others follow the same path.
My regular running route takes me to the neighborhood high school, at which point I turn around and head back home. This particular part of the route is a long, straight street, with a speed limit of 35mph. I have often seen people get ticketed for speeding here, and I always keep my speed down. But, since it is near the high school, I see lots of new drivers hauling ass down this stretch. This night, I saw the opposite, although it was still a bit of stupid driving. One car was driving extra-slow, and another car behind it (I presume they were friends) was tailgating. Brake lights would flash, and they would slow down even more. Then they would speed up. Then slow down. I tried to remember back to when I was in high school, and I guess we did silly stuff like that too. What these kids were doing was not too dangerous given the slow speed and lack of traffic, but still, I couldn’t help but shake my head.
Towards the end of my run, I again noticed that my face was totally burning. It only hurt when I touched my cheeks, so I just tried to ignore it. It must have worked since the next time I thought about it was when I was falling asleep, and my cheeks were back to normal.
Yay, football season is over! The Superbowl was pretty amazing, but I am glad all they hype is over and the real sports season starts. Pitchers and catchers report! The Dodgers look pretty good this year. They didn’t make any big moves besides bringing in Torre, but their young players are looking to have breakout years. Should be interesting! Go Blue!
My running has been very sporadic lately. Well, more specifically, I run maybe once a week at best. I really need to start being more consistent. The problem is just scheduling a set time every or every other day. I should start my 5am three-mile run again, but it’s kinda cold in the mornings. Yeah, excuses!
Oh, and my bike sits idle in the garage. I love riding it, so I should just get off my butt and at least go around the neighborhood with it. Again, this means going out after hours, or early in the morning. Maybe 9 o’clock night ride would be good.
