Happy Thanksgiving and A New Friend

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We have a turkey in the oven and are beginning preparations for stuffing (I used to call this "dressing"), gravy and rolls. Other people are bringing a ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (yuck), cookies, pies...Ooh...I hurt already!

The coolest thing happened the other night.

We have this food delivery place in our area, called Dine-In Delivery. They have access to 10 or so local restaurants (real ones, not fast food) and they will deliver hot, fresh food to your door (for a small fee, of course). But it's a very cool service, and we use it quite a bit.

Monday night, we ordered Italian food from Zio's for dinner. The guy showed up with our food, and as he was running our debit card, Stephanie said, "Hey, he's wearing a Boston Red Sox hat!" I looked up and, sure enough, he was. He looked cautious, as if he were thinking we were going to bash him for that, when I kind of lifted one leg and pointed to my Red Sox logo pajamas that I was wearing.

As is customary, there was an instant bond between us. That's all it takes for Red Sox fans, especially ones who are hundreds of miles away from Boston.

Now here is the really cool thing. In our brief chat that ensued, he mentioned that he, too, made it to Fenway for the first time this year. When asked when he was there, his reply was July 4th week.

Hey!! That's when we were there. What game did you go to??

Turns out, he was at one of the two games that we were at! We went to Sunday afternoon and Monday night. He was at Monday night and Tuesday night.

Hahaha...how cool is THAT? Then I asked him where he was sitting.

"Behind home plate," he said.

*massive jealousy!*

How??

"Friends of the family..."

Wow. He was actually in the old blue seats a section up from the field, but those are the oldest seats in any ballpark in the US. Possibly the most uncomfortable, too.

I was wondering if I could be their friend, too. Hehehe...

We are planning another trip this year. I never dreamed we could do it again, but my wife is all for it. So, we are looking at the week of August 10th, when the Rangers will be up there, starting on that Wednesday.

Good times.

Oh, and most excellent news...Mike Lowell has signed back with them for another three years. That means that the Red Sox will have virtually the same lineup for 2008 as they had this season.

Twofers, anyone??

TTFN, y'all!

Update on Christi and Baseball

I took Christi to her first follow-up doctor's visit yesterday (November 16). It went very well. They took X-rays, which they said looked really good. She is cleared to ride in the car and even drive some if necessary. She is also cleared to return to work for at least partial days the week after Thanksgiving (which is next Thursday). It was a great report. She was also told that she doesn't need to wear the hard neck brace any more, so we picked up a cervical soft foam collar on the way home from the doctor's office.

In other news, (I haven't talked about baseball in a while) dear old A-Rod now says he wants to remain a Yankee. This is fine with me, in fact, I'm ecstatic about it. That means he won't be coming to Boston or even back to Texas. Let him stay in New York. Let the Yankees keep his baggage. Once again, look at the record. Yes, he will likely break the all-time home run record some day if he stays healthy. But no team has won with A-Rod on the roster. Not even the Yankees.

Barry Bonds is being indicted!!! Yay and Hooray!!!! Now, maybe he will go away!

Kenny Rogers has fired Scott Boras!! People, this his HUGE news! Especially in light of the fact that A-Rod had negotiations with the Yankees without Boras, as well. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the "devil of baseball." I keep saying that all of the major league owners/GMs need to just refuse to talk to Boras. He is singlehandedly attempting to destroy baseball as we know it. Free agency may be not such a bad thing, especially for players, but representation by an agent is bad for the sport, especially an agent like Boras.

The Red Sox are still in negotiations with now free agent Mike Lowell. They have offered him a three year deal, but he seems interested in a four year deal. One of two things needs to happen. Either the Sox need to go ahead and give him what he wants, or he needs to have some loyalty and do something unique in the baseball world by not just going for the money. Either way. The Sox need Lowell. The Red Sox Nation would love to see basically the same team take the field on Opening Day as the one that left the field at the end of game 4 of the World Series.

I think they need to work on a good shortstop. That has been the weak link for years. Lugo and Cora are adequate, but neither one of them can be compared with the likes of Youk, Pedroia and Lowell.

Oh, I almost forgot. It has been announced that they will be adding at least 800 new seats to the legend that it Fenway Park for next season! All in the ongoing work to keep Fenway alive. And we may get to go back again next year. I may have actually made a Red Sox fan out of my wife, now. Hee!!

Well, Thanksgiving is next week. I have to go get some groceries today so we can start preparing for the big meal. We will be cooking a turkey, some dressing, and the ubiquitous grean bean casserole. Plus I am making a sopapilla cheesecake for church tomorrow. I've never tried that one before.

TTFN, y'all!

Surgery Update

Thanks for the prayers to everyone who did.

Christi's surgery went well. It took about a half hour longer than planned, but we aren't sure why.

We were actually delayed several hours getting started. We arrived at 5:30, as instructed, sat in a pre-op room for over an hour, wondering what was going on. Then we finally were told that they had had to put another surgery in front of us that morning.

They came and moved Christi in to holding at about 9:30, at which point I had to leave her side and go to the waiting room. No visitors in holding or recovery. My parents showed up shortly after that, which is nice, because the wi-fi that was available in the pre-op room was not available in the second floor waiting room. Not sure why. So I had someone to talk to during the next four-plus hours.

They didn't actually begin the surgery until 11:30-ish (?!) At 2:00pm, they called to let us know that she was being moved to recovery. At 2:30, they called and gave us the room number to which she would be moved. We went on up to that room, and at that point, I decided to go ahead and leave to pick up Stephanie from school.

We got back to the hospital at about 4:30 and Christi was in her room, doing well, feeling pretty good for someone who had just had surgery.

It is now three days after, and she is feeling some better each day. She feels that the surgery definitely helped her lower body. We are still waiting to see if it helped the numbness in her hand. She said sometimes that takes several weeks to go away.

I'm trying to make her as comfortable as possible. She's trying not to drive me crazy. *smile* We make a pretty good couple.

There will be more updates later.

TTFN, y'all!

Surgery Tomorrow, Prayer Requested

Christi will be having surgery tomorrow (that's my wife for those who don't know me) on her upper back/neck. She is having two herniated discs removed and replaced and some arthritis cleaned out. It's not supposed to be serious, but in my book, anytime there is back/spine involved, it is pretty serious. We appreciate your prayers. I'll post as soon as there are results to post. I'll be off work tonight and tomorrow night. I'd take off more, but I work for jerks. Pft.