#7

It really looks like this weekend will be Trot Nixon's final days playing for the Red Sox, which is sad but how it is in professional sports.

Below is from the red sox web site:

Trot Nixon has had some magical performances in Boson. In honor of his uniform number, here are the top seven.
July 24, 1999: The rookie right fielder puts his name on the map by belting three homers at Detroit in an 11-4 win over the Tigers.

May 28, 2000: Nixon snaps a scoreless tie in an epic Pedro Martinez-Roger Clemens duel at Yankee Stadium by taking the latter deep for a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth. Martinez goes the distance to earn the 2-0 win. The next night, the Red Sox return to Fenway and Nixon gets a huge ovation in his first at-bat.

Sept. 1, 2003: A wild and emotional comeback struggle at Philadelphia finally goes in Boston's favor when Nixon snaps a 9-9 tie with a grand slam in the top of the ninth.

Oct. 4, 2003: A loss in Game 3 to the A's would have swept the Red Sox out of this best-of-five Division Series. Instead, Nixon belts a walk-off homer off Rich Harden in the bottom of the 11th, sparking the win, and, eventually, a series comeback in five games.

Oct. 15, 2003: Nixon jumps on a Gabe White pitch and launches a two-run homer into the upper deck in right at Yankee Stadium in Game 6 of the ALCS, icing the 9-6 victory that forces Game 7.

Oct. 18, 2004: Down 4-2 in Game 5 of the ALCS, red-hot Hideki Matsui steps to the plate with the bases loaded and hammers a laser toward right field. It could have been a series-icing two-run double. Instead, Nixon makes a sliding catch to get the Red Sox out of that top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Nixon belts a hit-and-run single to move Dave Roberts to third. Roberts scored on a game-tying sacrifice fly. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in 14 innings, and wind up becoming the first team in postseason history to rally back from a 3-0 deficit.

Oct. 27, 2004: Nixon opens up some breathing room for Derek Lowe in Game 4 of the World Series, unloading on a 3-0 pitch for a two-run double, leading the Red Sox to a 3-0 win over the Cardinals, and the clinching victory of the club's first World Series championship since 1918.

3 more to go

Only three more weeks of training before the Marathon. Last night after class(I have been taking an introductory computer programming class Wednesdays after work), I did the long run for the week, which this time was 14 miles. And I figured something kinda cool out, even though I am slower now than 3 years ago when I started running, I rarely walk anymore, I ran the entire 14 miles without every walking and I made sure to go slowly for most of the first half so I had more energy and could run FASTER for the second seven miles, which really was a great great feeling.

At home we got the furnace cleaned this morning professionally and also had a switch installed to prevent the air conditioning air flow/freezing problems we had this summer from hopefully ever happening again.

The girls learned a poem this week for their Saturday Polish school, Nicki painted a wonderful massive painting at her kindergardne class and had Aga hand it right next to my chair in the kitchen, it looks really nice. Yesterday they had no school and Aga took them to Goebberts Pumpkin farm out in Barrington- it has a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a hanuted house, they did most things but not the haunted house, Julia wanted to do it but Nicki did not, so the three of them decided that Julia will go with me to the haunted house and Nicki will stay with Mom, they just need me to take a day off from work to go to the pumpkin farm with them. I have been there once a few years ago and loved it, always a blast to see the girls having so much fun. And they have great corn on the cob there!

Aga's birthday was lowkey she was awfully tired, we all went out to a Polish restaurant for dinner. She likely will get herself a new pair of shoes with the $ I gave her as a present.

So I need to just buy a new pair of running shoes probably and soon, my feet are starting to really hurt after these runs even though I am wearing two pairs of socks. I like how Nike running shoes look but they do not offer too much support, I think I need to get a pair of Brooks running shoes.

The run was really good though last night, and I carried a bottle of cold water with me and sipped from it very sporadically, stretched it out for 11 miles in fact. In the driveway near one of the potted plants I left an ice cold red fruit punch big Powerade which was about half full, when I was done with all 14 miles I guzzled that down.

Tonight after the girls go to sleep Aga and I are planning on watching the movie "The Lake House" with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Many years ago my sister Jen was on an airplane with Keanu Reeves and wrote him a letter and he wrote back to her! I think of that every time I see one of his movies, I think he is a good guy from what I recall of him repsonding to my sister. I mean, he did not have to do that and yet he did which is pretty cool.

So anyway. Three more weeks, but only two more big long runs- next week is 20 miles then it is 12, in addition I need to do a bunch of 5 mile runs and possibly one ten miler. Starting to think I will actually be able to finish the 26.2 miles again, God willing.

fun fun fun

shucks the weekend is over so suddenly!

Angel!

If there were a place that we didn't know of, and there
on some unsayable carpet, lovers displayed
what they could never bring to mastery here- the bold
exploits of their high-flying hearts,
their towers of pleasure, their ladders
that have long since been standing where there was no ground,
leaning
just on each other, trembling, - and could master all this,
before the surrounding spectators, the innumerable soundless dead:
Would these, then, throw down their final, forever saved-up,
forever hidden, unknown to us, eternally valid
coins of happiness before the at last
genuinely smiling pair on the gratified
carpet?

Newsflash

I just ran the longest run I have done in three years, 18 miles!

Hooray for me!

:)

Sox,cat,run,birthday

Well the obvious is now official- no postseason for Boston this season, the NYY again won the AL East. No Manny still, Schilling was ok I guess last night. I still hope they decide to resign Loretta and Nixon but the way they are they probably will not unfortunately.

I kept meaning to write this but kept forgetting- it really made me laugh. It was dinner time a few days ago and the girls are always told to go wash their hands before sitting down at the dinner table. I followed Julia into the bathroom and watched her and she turned on the water, wet her hands, and then touched the soap still in the soapdish, then water gain, then dried her hands on the towel, It was so cute and so funny.

The cat has been sleeping almost every night lately with Nicki and she is very happy about it. The vet says she thinks she knows what is wrong with the cat but I have no idea how to say or spell it, he gets yet another medicine this time for two weeks I think and then more tests. It amazes me that this cat remains so friendly even after so many tests and trips to the vet. I feel really bad for him, no one likes to be poked with a needle, they have had to test his blood.

Besides the Marathon itself, my training has weekly "long runs" this week is 18 and then it is 14 and then 20, then 12 then the marathon, so tonight is the third longest run I will do this year! And the thing that has been tough lately is the darn weather-it is getting colder and colder out. I ran in the morning the other day wearing my winter coat and shorts!

Next week is Aga's birthday on Tuesday the 26th, she got herself shoes so far. I need to think of something else that is special. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks!

r2

With all of the sc-fi watched over the weekend I neglected to mention we found the bag of star wars action figures and had a blast using them Sunday. R2d2 fills up with water, as do the battle droids and boba fett. We played in the backyard, primarily with r2d2, and rd2d also made an appearance in the bathtub last night, I told the girls it was fine to squirt water just do not aim for the face!

As much as they enjoy sci-fi and doctor who I think they love Star Wars even more.

And Julia is happy that her Jaguars team won again!

They are getting so good at bike riding, a nice long ride was done yesterday along with the little girls across the street, then we watched a tv show called "deal or no deal" for the first time, it was pretty good.

Well as far as baseball goes, the Sox play Minnesota now, Wakefield starts it off, only his second start since his extended stay on the DL, so not sure how he will do. I really like Murphy the rookie outfielder, and from what I gather, there is a strong possibility that Papelbon will be shifted to the starting rotation next season. Which is ok I suppose but who is going to close, hopefully not Hansen, shucks he really doe snot look as good as he was hyped up to be. And does Timlin finally retire? It will be an extremely interesting off season for Boston to say the least.

Artists

Yesterday when I returned home from work I was presented with many fascinating drawings done by N&J, I got a dragon that is green with a red nexk from Julia nd a blue pig with green ears too, and from Nicki I got a card with a picture of doctor who inside. Tonight there is an "ice cream social" at their school and I think Aga will go and after dinner I will play with the girls and watch them.

Wow it is getting cold out, got up early to run this morning and boy oh boy was it cold! About a month until the Marathon......

three things

1. i am so happy the red sox beat the nyy twice so far this weekend, even with the depleted team they presently have, love the new outfielder murphy and starting to get seriosuly worried about the kid drafted last year in 1st round from saint john's-craig hansen, maybe he is just not that good? shucks sorry but just my gut feeling. I mean, if the plan is to have him close next season rather than papelbon, ok, but still...what exactly has hansen done to justify faith in that assignment? not much from what I have seen. I would rather stick old man foulke in there, and sad to say I AM SERIOUS.

2. I was sitting in the kitchen and I had turned on a vintage doctor who video(Warriors of the Deep) for the girls and I heard Nicki just say "hey Julia, look... sea devil warriors! how she knew that...I can only imagine.

3. it is raining like mad today and I am so happy, because every time it rains that means there is no need to water the new bushes in the backyard!

:)

extra thing - finished "the daemons" today doctor who circa 1972 and that might possibly be the best pertwee episode we have seen to date, it was better than "inferno"

extra extra thing- we are drinking regular lemonade today and have unanimously decided that in fact PINK lemonade triumps.

extra thing times three - I need a powder blue Tomlinson jersey he is dominating my fantasy leagu eyet again and I will win easily just like last week, thank the Maker!(obscure c3po reference!!!)

Youkilis, polish school,park,walk,oh my!

Youk had a nice game today and the Sox beat the dreaded NYY 1st game of a doubleheader, 2nd game it is tied 5-5 in the 7th inning at the moment.

Aga was cancelled again today from work so we both drove the twins to their saturday polish school, then after lunch we went to the forest preserve for a long walk and also played with those parachute plastic guys who have tiny parachutes, kinda like miniature kites. Julia's was green and Nicki's was blue, they enjoyed tossing them in the air and running around after them. After the forest preserve we went to a local park and they played on the slides and we also played tag, after dinner we all went to Polish mass.

Finished a novel called "Whiteout" which was ok, about terrorists stealing a virus from a lab and wanting to release it in a theater in London. I got it from the library.

I highly recommend anyone who has iTunes download the new version because you can now get all of the album cover art put on both your computer and iPod, which is really cool.

Oh and in the morning while they were at school, Aga went shopping and after getting my dsl repaired, I read a lot of the book and watched episode one of doctor who in "the daemons" which I have never seen before, it is scary but naturally very enjoyable.

Not sure what the plan for tomorrow is, and not too sure I can persuade N&J to watch football yet again with me, but who knows?

Julia wants it to be known that her favorite team is the Jaguars, and for Nicki is is the Dolphins.

I am torn between the Dolphins and the Patriots, also rooting for the Chargers and of course the Bears. I just love football it is probably the only sport I can watch any game and enjoy, unlike baseball!

Loretta,running,weekend oh my!

I really like Mark Loretta, it kinda looks like the Sox will not keep him next season which I think is dumb. He's been very steady in the field and at the plate. I was happy for him getting the game winning hit last night.

The running is going well but I still have not yet bought the new running shoes, I need to do that within the next week at the latest to get them broken in. The Marathon is October 22nd. I did 11 miles last night was supposed to do 12 and my body felt like it could, just I needed to get home.

Weekend will be interesting, the girls have their second class of Polish school Saturday morning (9am until 1230) and so after dropping them off I have some free time. I will likely have breakfast, make coffee, drink it, do a small run, if it is not raining I will read (have two books to finish, one quickly as it is a library book due soon)on the newly stained backyard deck and enjoy the new landscaping. Those new bushes that look like mini spruce trees to me really are something else. With all of the rain lately they sure are getting adequate water!

Oh I forgot to mention that Aga got me a croton plant, with red, yellow, and green leaves, kind of like a christmas poinsetta I have always thought. It's nice, we used to have quite a few of them in the apartment in Chicago.

The cat has the same problems though he is eating again so that is a start.

Oh and I just remembered I have tickets to go see Roger Waters/Pink Floyd in two weeks, the 29th!

Wakefield, movies, and twins oh my

I thought Wakefield pitched ok for having been out so long, without Manny in the lineup though, teams pitch around Big Papi and the Sox can't muster much offense. Not sure what I think yet about Pedroia, he's ok but not great. And it look slike no more Schilling and Papelbon for the remainder of the season, two of my favorites, oh well. Hopefully they will focus on signing some stud pitchers for next year.

We watched two movies this week- Memoirs of A Geisha which was good though depresing in places, and Without Schmidt starring good old Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates- I thought this was a great movie, especially the many times he writes letters to his Tanzanian foster child, Nguyu. Excellent movie and worth a rental, good life lesson in it I thought.

The twins are in good spirits, now Nicki has mastered the art of bicycle riding and she is so proud of herself, it really is wonderful to see.

12 mile long run tonight for me.

School days

We went to school last night, met the girls kindergarden teacher and the principal. They have a few field trips this year, to the zoo and the pumpkin farm. They started ballet class Monday, and I think soon they also start ice skating lessons again.

About 5 more weeks until the Marathon.

Update

Took the girls to a birthday party for their friend Madison Wednesday night and it was really touching to watch how interested they were in whether she would like their presents for her. Before the singing, cake, and presents all of the children made mini "treasure" boxes. They painted them purple and then added butterfly, heart, and star stickers. I was struck by how quiet Nicki is with other kids, shw is so cute. I am not a good enough writer to explain how she looked but I will try. She looked reflective, like a bird on a fence poised to fly but tentative and remained grounded.

Julia is so fearless and so fast, she fell off her bike and scraped her elbow pretty badly but she did not cry. She's tough. Both girls can now ride bicycles without training wheels! After they did this on their own for the first time I got a phone call at work they were so excited about it they could not wait to tell me!

Tonight I am taking them to the circus and then tomorrow morning they start "Polish school", which is near the hospital where they were born. In addition to langauge, they learn hostory and culture about Poland so that should be very good for them. They all ready are great with speaking the language. I believe the class is from 9am until noon.

Well the cat Binky is still very sick, so much so that he has not eaten on occasion, it might be that he has a parasite in his stomach. Now he is on antibiotics for a week that unfortunately need be administered at the vet which involves a half an hour drive. This weekend I need to be responsible for that.

So I have run 34 miles so far this week. I did 13.1 Monday, 5 Wednesday, and 16 last night. So far so good.

And football season started so yet another sport for me to follow.

Hopefully there will be time to finally finish time traveller's wife this weekend.

The other news is that one of Aga's friends from Poland will be visiting early October for a week, her name is Beata.

Take care, more later.

Running=Longevity

Below is courtesy of Hal Higdon's website, Hal is an elite masters marathon runner, I have been training for this year's Chicago Marathon alone unlike before when I trained with a running group. And, I have ended up using tips and the training schedule on Hal's site as my guideline. I found the below fascinating, hard evidence that running leads to extra years of life.

"The Mother of All Longevity Studies, the one most quoted by those promoting exercise, is that conducted by Dr. Paffenbarger on Harvard Alumni. Dr. Paffenbarger's data suggested that if you started exercising at age 35, you extended your life 2.51 years. For all ages between 35 and 79, the extension averaged 2.15 years. Also, longevity was dose related. As you increased energy expenditure from 100 to 3,500 calories a week, your risk declined. How you exercised also affected longevity. "The dose-response relationship of exercise vs. coronary disease," reported Dr. Pafffenbarger, "was not merely a matter of total energy output per week but also reflected intensity of exercise."

What is the best, most convenient and least expensive exercise for most individuals? One involving some intensity. Walking is good; running is better.

How do you get from the two-plus years in the Harvard study to the six-to-nine years suggested above? Dr. Paffenbarger concedes his projections were conservative. As an epidemiological researcher following a paper trail, he dealt with numbers as much as people. In contrast, at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D. has hands-on data involving 80,000 patients, seen by his staff of 18 physicians over a span of three decades."

Chicago

k back home. We hit the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum, the dolphin show and the wild reef exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium. We just had dinner and soon the twins will have their bath and go to bed. I need to go do a seriously long run and it is supposed to rain unfortunately.

The King Tut was very impressive, lots of artifacts, lots of gold, and lots and lots of hieroglyphics and information.

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick was awesome, they played "Voices" which I had never heard live before. The girls had lots of fun.

Now we are getting ready to drive into Chicago to go to the Aquarium and possibly the Field Museum.

WEdding Bells

Right.

I am getting tired of writing about the Red Sox because it is starting to thoroughly depress me. One of my favorite new pitchers, jon Lester, who is just 22 tears old, was diagnosed with cancer Thursday. He is in my prayers.

Better things.

The twins and I attended my friend Tom's wedding yesterday and it was lots of fun. The girls were a big hit and even participated in one of Tom's familys traditions. Also, I finally met his brother Mike who has been emailing me for the past 2 years, we talk a lot of sports naturally. And Tom's Mom knew all about me as I too married a Polish girl. The twins were one of the highlights of the party, no wallflowers they, they were dancing for hours on end. They hid in the ladies room when I tried to get them to go home and the bridesmaids (who also wer Polish) talked with them and then spent another hour dancing with them, and letting them wear their sashes from their gowns. the food was excellent of course and the dancing was lots of fun.

Just overall I was so pleased to witness good people in such a state of bliss, and I know their future is bright, what more can any of us ask for?

In other news tomorrow is a big day as I need to do my long run of 15 miles! The Marathon will be here soon. Soon I need to buy my "Marathon running shoes". Nike or Brooks.

Aga got the back yard landscaping just about finished- all of the old bushes are removed and new bushes, that are reminiscent of minature pine trees, are in, and wow they look so so beautiful. I am very happy about it. Thrilled, actually. My family and I keep talking about how amazing they will look in winter with snow on them.

Tonight I am taking the girls to meet our friend brian to see Cheap trick in concert outdoors, we can't wait!