Since the beginning of this baseball season a number of people in and around the game passed away. Since I am a Tiger fan, the one that hit closer to home was the death of Mark Fidrych. Unfortunately, I never got to see him pitch at the stadium, but he was frequently on TV and his antics were played on the sports highlights of the News. Monday night baseball was a big thing on TV in 1976. There weren’t the number of cable stations. Believe it or not televised games were usually only shown on Saturday. Anyone else remember the ‘Game of the Week’?

Mark Fidrych brought a bit of the kid in all of us to the ball park. From filling in holes on the mound with his hands, to talking to the baseball or himself, and then shaking the hands of almost everyone when he won the game or left the game. He was a kid having fun on the ball field. He won 19 games in his rookie year, was voted rookie of the year, won 9 games before being name an all-star. And as quick as it started, the magic ended. An injury the next year made his season start late, and after winning 6 games his arm just gave out. Without the injuries who knows what his career would have been.

I remember watching those Monday and Saturday games. I remember some of the news stories and articles in the paper. It was the summer just before my Senior year. Even though the Tigers were a sub-500 team that year, they captured the nation for every game that Mark Fidrych pitched. I don’t recall anything else in baseball that came close to that year, and a performance by a 20 year old pitcher know as “The Bird”.

MLB network talks about the Bird
Last batter in Monday Night game
Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych interview

A fascinating trip to bring Audrey to town. Audrey is the name of a carnivorous plant from the show “The Little Shop of Horrors”. We had to bring various sizes of Audrey back from another theater. The trip there was uneventful. No problems, and the GPS unit, while a bit annoying, led us unerringly to our destination.

Then we saw the plants. All I could think of was: “Would it all fit in my truck?” All of the stuff was soon loaded into the truck, and we were on our way. On the way to get some food, I was sure the stuff in back would need to have a tarp to be safe at speeds over 40 mph. We stopped at a Meijer store to locate said tarp. I was sure I had enough cords and straps to contain the load. Everything looked good to go.

Starting down the road, the load looked good. At 45-50 mph things started to come apart. Something came off and the back end of the tarp was flipping all over the place. I started looking for a place to pull over. In looking at our prized load we found that the tarp had ripped, and a one of the bungies broke. We thought we saw some of Audrey fall off the truck, but we could not find any of the pieces. Tying down the load again we took off at a slower speed.

Things still weren’t looking good, so I found a better place to stop. I was too close to the road the last time, and tying up loose ends when traffic is flying past you at 55+ isn’t something on my list of things to do. We stopped in the lot of a small yard ornament shop. They had some nice things, but we didn’t have any room to put them. If I had really found a deal, I wonder if I could have talked one of my fellow travelers into holding a 50 concrete statue on their lap?

Again we go out to tie things down. I do mean tie things down. More straps came loose and broke. We actually had to tie them to the tarp and the truck.

Instead of taking the the roads with higher traffic, I took a less traveled road, hoping to get to a town or village. We did stop 1 or 2 more times before finding a place to get some more things to tie this menacing beast down. Audrey II was threatening to fly off with the tarp whenever our speed approached 50 mph. Not much could be done at this point. We were out of things to tie her down. If we kept losing straps, we would need to go less than 25 mph because there wouldn’t be much holding Audrey in place.

Finally making it to Oakwood, Ohio there was a little hardware store that did have what we needed to finish our transport. This place actually had a wood stove to supply its heat. This was common in a much earlier time period, but not so much in 2009 OHIO. When replacing the straps one of the old ones actually snapped in half removing it. Wow!! I think we just made it. If I can find the receipt for those straps, I may take them back. They were supposedly heavy duty bungies. I don’t think so.

With more straps and tie downs we were finally able to travel at 50+ Mph without fear of Audrey II taking flight. We made it through Defiance (and a bit of traffic) with out much more than a few strange looks. And finally made it to our prop’s final destination of Bryan OH.

The thing about this whole trip is not so much the trouble we had, or the frequent stops. I’m sure given the ‘wrong’ group of people, this could have been a nightmare experience. Anger and frustration could have reared its ugly head. But for some odd reason none of that happened. We joked about it during the trip. We were also saying it would make a good blog post. Who would write about it first. I’m still waiting for more pictures of Audrey bits on the road, or the each of the stops along the way. How about one of our Esteemed admin crawling under the truck to look for a place to tie something?

The trip became an adventure. At least on my part, I had a fun afternoon. The three of us on the trip are still talking to each other. 😉 No fights broke out that I am aware of. And I’m sure whenever the show is discussed, the first adventures of Audrey will be told. Will the story be ‘stretched’? (bad pun considering our bungies). You bet, this is for a theater group. We like good stories. Will there be little Audrey’s growing on the roads between Lima OH and Bryan OH? I wouldn’t bet against it. Will I volunteer for another road trip? If it is with the same people, you bet.

I’m not sure how the play itself will go, but if the first trip of Audrey is any indication, it should be fun. This is a musical, so due to my own idiosyncrasies, I will not be on stage for it. My role, as much or as little as it is will be in an off stage capacity. Theater will be taking a back seat for me. Family is taking over with graduations, weddings, babies and just plain visiting with the daughters, sons and grandkids I don’t see often enough. Theater is now taking a backseat.

Anyway, I did once write about me having a truck and actually using it, so I guess that I did it again. Have truck will deliver, maybe I should make a sign?

Today was an eventful day, and deserves a long involved post. It will take a bit of time to set the correct tone.

So on to more trivial things.

Baseball season: All I can say is I hope things turn around for the Tigers. 1 game out of 4? Ouch! The Cubs are doing better, so that is something. But there are a few things more important than the scores of games and who is in first place. jamiahsh puts the whole thing in perspective. I don’t think there is much I can add.

Friends: It is good to have them. They help in many ways. Sometimes they don’t realize how much they do help. But I guess sometimes I don’t realize how much I help them. It goes both ways doesn’t it?

News: Pirates should only be discussed in Baseball terms, movies and plays. Hearing about pirates attacking merchant ships and having world governments bargaining with them is not right. That type of ‘handling’ of the situation only gives them reason to keep doing what they are doing. So I guess crime pays. Something isn’t right here, but then life is not fair is it?

Movies: Soon the summer block buster season starts. I’m looking forward to seeing a few good ones.

Today, I didn’t forget to help at the theater. Yesterday I did. Time slipped away from me. I would like to say prior commitments prevented me, but I was back in time to help out. I just forgot. Time passed me by.

Now I look at the clock and see it well past time to get some sleep. But I was working on some video editing and sleep won’t come.

Life is all about change. And my life is changing. Time ticks down the events of my life and the life of my friends and family. My family is growing again. For those who don’t know, I ‘adopt’ each of my daughters’ husbands. They are my sons. The good part about this is that they are grown sons, and I don’t have to ‘raise’ them. As long as they treat my daughters with respect, I will treat them as one of my family. Some may say this is an honor, it could also be a curse. Talk to my daughters sometime. I expect a lot from them, and have rarely been disappointed. I’ve always felt that they have made their ways in life because of what was expected of them. I always wanted them to give their best effort in the things they do. Never perfection (that is almost unattainable, until you inherit it. 😉 family joke), but to give their best. I now expect that from my sons (and the ‘future’ son). That way I can expect the ‘best’ for their growing families.

Time, it slips by and things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Life is what you can make it, or so I’ve been told. Time slips by, and things stay they same.

Tonight was an evening of celebration. I had a wonderful time with a bunch of friends celebrating a very special occasion. I’m sure someone else’s blog will give a complete rundown of the events, so I won’t here. But I did enjoy myself. This post is not about that joy and celebration, but more a feeling of loss, when later events happened.

For the past few years, I’ve always had a few bittersweet feelings at wedding and anniversary celebrations. These were events that would remind me of what I lost. This was the very first such event in the past five years that I did not have the deep feeling of loss. Two of my daughters were married and those events nearly knocked me flat emotionally.

It has been over 5 years since I last held my wife in my arms. 5 years when the wedding vows were fulfilled. You never really think about that clause “until death do us part”. At least not until it happens. Today at the celebration, I did not think about the loss I had, only the joy being shared. A good evening.

But then it happened. I was waiting for my youngest daughter to finish up a game, so I did some shopping at the 24 hour place. I ran into a man who I knew and, I haven’t seen him in over 5 years. He did not know of my wife’s death. The question “How is your wife?” blew me out of the water. I wasn’t expecting to have to tell that to anyone in this area. I live in a small community, I really thought everyone knew.

The comfortable day took a drastic turn with one short question. Emotions filled my every thought. I hesitated on the answer. It was like a punch in the gut. We then shared a few memories and parted. Slowly, the flood of feelings calmed. This is the way of life and death. The memories of our past can warm us as well as send chills down our spines. Those we loved live on through us, and in the stories we tell. In that I found some peace

I haven’t written much about baseball this year, but the 2009 season starts very soon. Teams are wrapping up spring training, and the final rosters for the start of the year are being set.

At this time of year, every team has a chance to make it to the world series, everyone starts out in the same place. I am rooting for the Tigers for the 46 year. I will say 46, since I don’t remember really thinking much about pro ball until the year of my 4th birthday. I went to a game before that, but it could have been any game, any time. I was told it was in Detroit and against Cleveland. I don’t even remember who won. I do remember being upset that Detroit traded away Rocky Colavito, I think I was 5 then. I knew Colavito hit home runs, I liked home runs. Funny thing to remember. But I have been a Tiger fan for all the life I can remember. I’m hoping they do well this year. Last year was a bit of a disappointment, but after sticking through some of the years they’ve had, it wasn’t really too bad.

I’m also going to root for the Cubs, unless they happen to play Detroit in inter-league ball, or maybe the Series. I never really had a National League team I liked. I have good friends who like the Cubs, so I will be a transplanted Cubs fan. I hope they do well this year too.

I have another friend who roots for the Yankees. Well, I can’t say much there. I was taught “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.” Well, I guess I hope the Yankees do well when ever they play a Central Division Team that isn’t Detroit. That is really hard for me to say, since I was always had two favorite teams (The Tigers, and whoever is playing the Yankees). 😉

Another friend of mine roots for the Cleveland Indians. I would like them to do well (they are in my home state after all), just not as good as the Tigers. Something has to be said for state pride. Ohio should produce at least 1 .500 team. There are two pro teams in the State, at least one of them should do well. I don’t know any Cincinnati fans off the top of my head.

So check your local listing, schedules and root for the team of your choice. It is a long season, I hope there is some excitement in October.

Seems that the group here on tangents was the subject of an April Fools Joke. Trying to get in to add a post this afternoon, I found that the site was up for sale. Good joke. My own jokes didn’t make it to fruition today. I was unable to get a hold of the intended victims. Maybe they were avoiding calls from their father today. One never knows.

Good joke on us Admin.. 😉 But will you admit my first email did say something about it being on April 1st?

Or an April Fools’ joke. You be the judge

Sick Sea Turtle Checks into Animal Hospital

I really liked the story, and I would think turtles have some intelligence. If this turtle had been treated there before, it knew enough to go back. But today is April Fools’ Day. I tend to take every Odd news or too good to be true news with a skeptics eye today. I didn’t see the regular April fool notes in the story, but there was mention of some other famous turtles. Hmm, it has me thinking.

I also saw a site for a Helicopter Hotel. The link may be gone now, because it was an honest April Fools’ Joke.

I haven’t seen much else. But I am keeping my eyes open today.

The problem digital TV is that you either get the picture or you don’t. I was watching a show this evening when everything went black. I tried other stations and they were black too. I’m fairly certain there is some sort of weather going on between me and the stations antennas. In the old analog days, just a couple of months ago, the stations would have filled with static, and I could have watched the end of the show. Now I just have to wait until I can watch it on the net (and they don’t seem to have fast forward), or catch repeat. I think I’ll just skip it.

I started thinking about this digital drop point. Why should they drop off so quickly? I haven’t studied the technology behind it yet, but I wonder why a digital signal should just drop off to nothing. On occasion, I’ve noticed the pixelated views of the digital signal when the wind starts blowing, or rain falls. I’m thinking that an advanced receiver could capture enough pixels to keep the sound and video going for a bit. A time delay buffer should be able to mix and fill in the missing data. It’s done in digital videos and photography, so why not on TV. Just wondering…

Can this family have much more excitement?

The current list (as it stands now 😉 )

1) 4th Daughter heads out for Show Choir Competition in April.
2) 4th Daughter’s High School graduation in May.
3) 3rd Daughter’s Wedding in June — Play I was in is going to regional competition 🙁 I can’t make it.
4) Family Vacation???
5) 4th Daughter Starts College in August
7) 1st Daughter’s first child due in September

OK what else is can happen? I’m not sure. With the way this year is going, I’m sure there will be something. My life tends to get more complicated, not less.

Could ‘The Lion in Winter’ Go to State competition? I would love that. It was a good part and I would like to play it again…

Weddings, Graduations, College, Birth. I can remember when that was me. It wasn’t that long ago was it.

Of course, I’m sure there will be more medical testing now that I’m 50. That will take some time won’t it. And the fun part is, I don’t know when or what those will be right now. Depends on how the tests go doesn’t it?

What is life without adventure, it looks like I have my days filled with it.