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

Sweat Lodge

Halloween has come and gone. The guys from Mexico and Nigeria didn't know what trick or treating is so I told them the story behind it and said, We have to go out. It is Halloween. So we went has ninja turtles while Carl went as a nun. Lately I have been Mountain biking even though it is starting to get too cold for it. I went to kettle Morraine state forest. I was very impressed by it. It was a lot better than what I was expecting. It had a touch of everything. Hills to climb, Pine forest, evergreen forest, prairie lands, Granite rocks, thick woods, ponds, lakes, bridges, mud spots, sand spots and more. It was a great ride. However I wasn't too thrilled that I has to first pay to get on state forest land and then I had to pay just to use the bike trail. I have never been to a state like that. Most states you don't even have to pay to get on state forest property. The leaves have mostly fallen which made some parts of the trail tricky because I didn't know what was underneath it.
I brought my bike into a shop because my front wheel can't hold air more than 24 hours. Needed a new stem. They said come back in 30 minutes. I decided to walk to St. Josephats basillica. Beautiful church. An old polish church. Huge, Old, and very detailed paints and mosaics. Very impressive. When I was walking back to the bike shop. I'm not in the greatest area of town. I was wearing my Sweden Jacket. Some one threw a glass bottle at me as they were driving by in a car. Suddenly the glass exploded at my feet. I didn't even flinch. I thought really are you kidding me. Who tries to throw a glass bottle as a drive by on a person with there back turned to the car. Either God is looking out for me that I didn't get hit on the side walk or this guy has really bad aim. I was probably only 12 feet away.  Well I didn't get hit so I let go.
 
I went Mountain biking at Crystal ridge ski hill. It is basically a tiny 200 ft hill that goes down into the woods. Maybe 5 miles or less worth of trail. Not much but it is something. I gave a presentation on Tanzania for a Retirement community up here. The old folks seemed to really enjoy it. I answered questions and some people wanted to donate money to support the community in Tanzania. Classes are going well. Turned in another Philosopher paper on Plato's the Meno and analyzed his theory of Recollection.
Sunday I attended the Congregation of the great Spirit. It is a Catholic church with Native American traditions. I really enjoyed it. To start off the mass there is a small drumming circle behind the altar. They drum and chant in Lakota tongue. Then they do a smudging for everyone and the altar with sage, cedar, tobacco. We then Chanted to the four directions in Lakota. Then the Mass started. It was a very neat mass. At the end they did a blessing for a young native going into the marines. An old Native former vet gave him a blessing. He smudged the young man with the different herbs and waved an eagle feather at him and talked about the challenges and difficult , violent reality he is about to faith. He said, "They will break you down. But remember the spirit is always with you". Then every one came up at once and put a hand on the young man and did a final blessing. It was a very powerful, strong sense of community. They deeply care for each other. It was a beautiful experience. I then went with Ben to think it is was called Katy's diner and had the Cornbeef and hash for breakfast. It was the same Meal Hilary Clinton ordered when she was there in 2008. They had pictures all over. It was very good.

On monday I went to a sweat lodge. The man who started the sweat lodge back in the 70's is in the hospital and they did a sweat for him. Infact there starting another sweat right now during his surgery. The sweat on Monday was for his and everyone's suffering. They blessed each of us by smudging green sage and then did it to the lodge. We then one by one crawled into the the lodge. They rolled in 14 grandfather rocks which have been sitting on the fire for 4 hours. It was black in there with glowing rocks. They sprinkled tobacco, sage, and cedar on the rocks and they crackled and sparked. The first rock they did a chant for all there ancestors , whether they have, two legs, four legs, wings, or fins. They were singing in Lakota and pounding the drum. They kept splashing the water on the grandfather rocks. It got hotter and hotter. After a while I really got absorbed into the Native singing and was trying to participate in the chanting. I was dripping with sweat. They gave me sage to put behind my ear. They said if you start to feel really bad put your head down and sniff the green sage. I never had any problems but I was glad when they open the door flap in between rounds and let the cold wind blow in. The next round was for our prayers we had. While the signing and drumming was going on a rattle was passed around and when you recieved the rattle you would shake it and say your prayers tot he great spirit. They had also added 7 more rocks at that round to heat it up more. The third round they passed around a shupa or a peace pipe. They passed the peace pipe to each person around the circle. One would grab the pipe touch it to each shoulder then head then raise it to the sky for the great creator then you would take 4 to 5 puffs and then pass it to the next person. After that they rolled in 7 more grandfather rocks. This was the thanksgiving round. We sang the loudest during this round and everyone raised up what ever they were thankful for. Then it was over before I knew it. Two hours went by so fast. I was dripping with sweat. I crawled out into the 29 degree whether with the wind blowing. The ground was really cold on my feet. I cooled off really fast. Infact I started to freeze. I thanked eveyone. We then headed inside to the American Indian school for a feast of Venison, summer sausage, Bread, potatoes. It tasted good. There was 8 of us. 1 Lakota who lead it, 1 Mohawk, 1 fondu Lac, and the rest white guys. I felt like I was floating for the next hour. Very cleansing experience. I look for to the next time I get to participate. It is a very powerful way to pray if you ask me. I feel we are missing a lot of these important rituals in our society today. I feel it really forces one to get in touch with Nature and the creator.