Busy

What a busy month March was. Had a fun St. Patrick's day parade in Chicago. It was a long crazy day. It was great having Matt and Sarah in Chicago. I went to Minnesota for Holy week. Attended Easter Vigil With Ryan and Kristy who went through RCIA. Had Easter with the Ouderkirks which was really nice to spend time with them.  Been very busy with school. Last week I had a Philosophy paper on St. Anselm. He is so confusing if you ask me. His argument just goes in circles if you ask me. “That than which nothing greater can be conceived”. I’m glad it is done. I went to a bucks vs the Timebrwolves game and the wolves won. That was cool. When I was in Minnesota my friend Dan took my clay pigeon shooting on a course in Hudson Wisconsin. The shoot gun gave me a good bruise. I was 5 for 25. Not bad I think. Basically one month of school left. It is really getting to be crunch time. I have already been assigned one final to start working on. I have a research paper that I am working on which the topic is inculturization. So it feels like a lot is coming at me. Today I went for a hike in Kettle moraine state park. It is really good for me physically and psychologically to get out in nature for a couple hours.  So that is what’s up. 

Pulled Groin

Well. On my second to last day I pulled my groin as Fantasy camp. I was leading off at 1st. My brother hit a grounder to third and I pushed off as hard as I could running to second. I was thinking I am going to beat out the play at 2nd. That was my 7th game of the week. Bad move. But I had the trainers wrap me up and played in the last three games. I finally saw a doctor a week ago. Partially torn adductor muscle. So I have physical therapy twice a week now. It's been almost 4 weeks and my bruise is starting to go away now. There doing electrode therapy with stimulating the muscle and then massaging the area with an ultra sound machine.
School is going well. In Catholic Doctrine 2 we are reading Dei Verbum. Its fairly boring. It is Vatican 2 documents. Scripture foundation is very interesting. Were talking about people who interpret the bible literally and about the numerous contradicting stories in the Bible. There is one psalm talks about smashing babies heads against rocks. I never knew that was in there. Interesting stuff. Fundamental theology is interesting. It is all about "What is the purpose of life. What is the purpose of studying about God." I find it intriguing. I am also taking hispanic devotions which is learning about the traditions of the hispanic communities. Then in Medeval Philosophy were reading St. Augustines Confessions. It has warmed up today. It has been really cold. That is it for now. Just doing reading and keeping up on classes. Can't exercise so I am playing a fair amount of ping pong and pool.

Sorry if the picture grossed you out

Twins Fantasy Camp

Wow Twins Fantasy Baseball camp was unbelievable. I had such an incredible time. The guys were so friendly and down to earth. It was a really cool feeling walking into the Twins Locker room and seeing my uniform hanging in my locker. It gave me chills. Unfortunately the first day was a rain out. I was so excited and antsy to play that I couldn’t sit still. Frank Viola said “You need to settle down I bet you are going to come home and sleep in your uniform.” I had a smile on my face the entire week. Lee Stange said to me, “Hey smiley do you ever not smile?” So I was smiley for the rest of the week. The second day we started out with stretching with Bill soup Campbell. Then it was Batting Practice with Rick Aguilera. I was ripping the ball. He said, “What’s your name and what position do you like to play”. At that point I knew he was going to draft me. Next was injury prevention with Milt cuyler. Then more batting cages with Kent Hrbek. I ripped a ball and hit the back pipe in the cage and Hrbek yells out , “Jesus this kid can hit”. It sure made me smile. Then it was infielding with Frank Quilici and Ron Coomer. They shared some of there stories about playing ball. Then it was catching instructions from Tim Laudner and Phil Roof.  Timmy is a funny guy. Then it was pitching with Bert Blyelven, Juan Berenguer, Frank Viola and Dick Stigman. Talk about a group of Characters. Then it was outfield practice with Gene Larken hitting fly balls to us. Then the rookies scrimmaged.

Matt and I got drafted by Rick Aguilera and Phil Roof. Are team name was the warriors. First game was my best hitting game. I went three for three. I played mostly short stop and Left center field. The third game I pitched a complete game and we won 2-1. It went down to bases loaded, two outs bottom of the seventh. I struck him out looking with an outside fast ball. It was awesome.  I felt redemption because in game two it was bases loaded two outs last inning and I hit a ground ball to 3^rd base to end the game.

Our team won the consolation championship. We won the game at Hammond field which is the twins spring training stadium. It was a fun atmosphere to play in.

The rookies got to face the pros in a game. I batted against Bert Blyelven. I decided to swing at the first strike he gave me. I wish I would have waited for his curve ball just to see it. I hit a grounder to third. I then I pitched against Ron Coomer, Milt Cuyler who juiced the ball off me. I then threw my knuckler to gene Larken and he said, “ I dare you to throw that again” So I did and ripped it. The best was I threw a split finger to Juan Berenguer. He said “Oh shoot aiyi aiya”. He hit a weak little grounder. I then got to face Frank Viola. I thought the same thing. I better hit the ball before he throws me a curve ball. Well I hit the ball but it broke my bat and they threw me out. He stopped the game and asked for the bat. He signed my bat and game it to me. He said, “you made my day. I haven’t broken a bat in 20 years”.  We lost but that doesn’t matter. It was a fun game. It was a game I’ll never forget.

It was also very cool having the pros around to tell stories. I hung out with Camilo pasquel, Tony Oliva, and Julio Becquera in the lobby a couple of times. I was chatting with Bill Soup Campbell by the pool and about his baseball career. It was neat to have all these guys around and telling there stories.  Bert Blyelven is hilarious. Very funny guy. I chatted with Hrbek about fishing lake Vermillion because it is his favorite place to go. Real guys that are down to earth.

It was fun week with amazing memories. I was lucky to share it with my brother, with my parents and my aunt and uncle.  

Whirlwind

 Bisbee mine

 Hike in Colorado

 Drive to Pagosa Springs

 Matt and I at Wolf Creek

 Johnson Christmas eve

 Danny wearing spiderman

 Ryan and Keegan at chuck e cheese

Kellen Edlund and Parker Canyon Lake

What a crazy month. I traveled to Tucson for 10 days. There I saw lots of friends and spent time with Mom and Dad. Fernando and I went to a go cart track. These go carts go 40 mph. They were really fast. I had such a good time it was a whirlwind trip. I saw numerous friends in Chandler. I swear I saw everyone I knew in Tucson. Took a quick side trip to Parker Canyon Lake and Bisbee. It was a great trip. I then shot up to Colorado and spent 5 days with my brother. We drove down to Wolf Creek and ski / snowboarded with the Swanson family. Lots of powder. It was fantastic conditions.  Then shot over to Minnesota for Christmas with all the Johnsons . Lots of cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. Tons of food. It was exciting. Then I had Christmas with Sarah’s family. I spent the rest of the week visiting my MPA my old high school. Saw lots of friends I grew up with, high school friends and college friends. It went very fast. I appreciate everyone I saw and spent time with me. It was an incredible Christmas and New Years. Thank you everyone.

Finals are done

Well I'm glad to be done with finals. My final Aristotle paper took way to much time but it is done now. It was a busy week. At the house here we celebrated Christmas and did a secret Santa. I had a really good soccer game on Wednesday. Scored a hat trick and scored the winning goal with a minute left in the game. It was indoor and I was cherry picking infront of the goal keeper. Got the ball off a pass and poked it in. Well i'm keeping this short. I am very excited because I'm going to the Vikings vs the Bears on Sunday and then I am flying to Tucson. I will be in Tucson until the 19th. I am going to try and see everyone in Tucson. Well I hope everyone is enjoying advent. Don't let Christmas time stress you out too much.

Tucson

Well I attended a funeral on Friday for Fr John Gorman. I also attended the burial. I haven't been to one in a long time thank God. On Saturday I went to a warrior retreat in Darien IL. It was very interesting. The person who led it is a menonite pastor from Indiana. He is also a black belt in Taekwando. He talked about the warrior archetype and how it is ingrained in males to fight in battle or for a cause in which they believe in. Sounds like no days we get into our warrior mood through sports. He taught us some Taekwando and incorporated it into the retreat. He also talked about Peaceful warriors such as Ghandi. He said One time someone broke into Ghandi's house and attacked his wife with a knife. I guess Ghandi grabbed the guys arm, took him down and it scared the so much that he shit himself. Then Ghandi cleaned the guy up and he left. I never would have guessed. He talked about Martin Luther king and many others. As far as taekwando he just taught us some self defense. I really enjoyed it.

 The cousins got into the stickers in the back of the Calendar

Well I then flew down to Tucson on Tuesday for Thanksgiving break. My brother and his wife flew down from Colorado. That afternoon I played baseball with my dad and brother. Then that night I played in a softball game with my old team. I hit a homerun and a game winning triple. It was a really good day. I got in 3 rounds of golf in which I played two of them wife my Uncle and Brother. My Aunt and Uncle flew down from Minnesota. My cousin Lindsey flew down from NewYork and my other cousin Laura who is teaching in Florence AZ drove down for thanksgiving. It was a good full thanksgiving. That night the Johnson's went to Margarita Bay for Karoke. We weren't the greatest but we aslo didn't make peoples ears bleed. So spent a lot of time with family which was good. Camped for a night. Took Fernando to a shooting range. Said Hi to all the neighbors and before I know it I am flying back to Milwaukee. Quick trip. Beautiful whether and didn't want to leave tucson. Of course I will be back December 9th. Looking forward to it.

Pictures of Congregation of Great Spirit