Sunday at the ballpark

Today was a lucky day because I got to go to a Royals game.

My friend John texted me Friday afternoon to say he had a couple tickets to this afternoon's game and wondered if I wanted to go with him. Of course I wanted to go with him. But I had to check with the Mrs. first. She said yes. I said yes.

So, after another long and stormy night of having Faye wrestling with Kates and I for room in our bed, I traveled to Kansas City this morning. I picked up John at his place and we headed for the stadium.

I drove through a heavy thunderstorm about halfway between The 'Ville and Kansas City, and the storm found me again as we arrived at the stadium. ... Go figure. Every time I've gone to Kauffman Stadium this summer, rain has followed. And on a related note, I heard this weather stat the other day: During the month of July we received about 17 inches of rain. Our average annual rainfall is around 34 inches. So much for that drought so many people were forecasting for our region this summer.

John and I dodged the rain by going through the Royals Hall of Fame, and the rain had ceased by the time we returned outside. We made a pit stop for some food - I went with a chilli cheese dog with a Mountain Dew today - and headed to our seats in the lower level on the first base side.

Today was Star Wars Day at The K. But it sounded better to me than it looked. I expected, and hoped for, a lot of good people watching. People dressed as the array of Star Wars characters. Lots of storm trooper and Darth Vadar costumes. But it wasn't that way at all, and the most common sight was girls with their hair in buns a la Princess Leia. Slugerrr also was dressed as a Jedi and he participated in a couple skits with Darth Vadar, Darth Maul, and some storm troopers on the field between innings. The Crown Vision flashed Star Wars trivia between innings, too. 

And John took a picture of this guy boarding a minivan, not the Millennium Falcon, in the parking lot after the game.

Obi-Wan Kenobi getting into the Millennium Falcon and heading home after a #kcroyals win!

A photo posted by photogwingsfan (@photogwingsfan) on Aug 9, 2015 at 2:34pm PDT

As for the game, I got to see another good one. Facing the White Sox, the Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom the first inning on a  and a Kendrys Morales home run.

Starting pitcher Danny Duffy seemed to be rolling, getting 1-2-3 innings in the first and second. But he lost his control in the top of the third and the White Sox squared off on him to tie it up. Ned Yost didn't waste any time pulling Duffy and brought in Kris Medlen, who held the Sox hitless for the next 3 2/3 innings.

The Royals went ahead, 4-3, in the fifth inning, but the White Sox tied it again in the eighth. The White Sox tied it just after Mike Moustakas made a diving stop on a Jose Abreu ground ball and threw him out while keeping Adam Eaton at third base. Heck, I hadn't realized Moustakas came into the game; Ben Zobrist had been manning third up to that inning.   

The Royals put it away in the bottom of the eighth inning, though. After Alex Rios got on and advanced to third base, Omar Infante came to the plate and hit a slow roller on the first base side. Jose Abreu fired the ball to home plate, but Rios slid under the tag. Then  Ryan Madson shut down the White Sox in the ninth to give the Royals the 5-4 win and a series sweep.

Here's the game winner ...

And, for the cherry on top, we got to see Salvy Perez dump the ice bucket on Madson.

Here's the view of Salvy's ice dump from where I was standing  ... 



Having watched the Royals win another thriller in front of a blue-clad capacity crowd at Kauffman Stadium -- a long way from the losing ways of just a few years ago -- I'm again left wondering, What world is this?! The Royals are 66-44 with a winning percentage of .604. They are 11 1/2 games ahead of the Twins -- the exact same margin of the five other division leaders combined -- and they are the only AL Central team with a winning record. ... What world is this?!


It also felt really good to attend a game with a friend who enjoys baseball as much as I do and focus on the action on the field. It's been awhile since I've had that privilege.

Meanwhile, after last weekend's escapades and extending their winning streak to eight games today, the Blue Jays still scare the heck out of me when it comes to the Royals and the postseason.

(Updated 08.10.2015) One team I'm not scared of and would love to see the Royals face in, oh, the World Series: the Chicago Cubs, who swept the Giants over the weekend. Sadly, distance and change -- ownership, the roster, Wrigley Field, no more WGN -- has softened my affection for them in recent years, but I still yearn from afar to see them in the postseason and especially a World Series.

Yes, the Cubs made it look relatively easy against the defending World Series champions for their first four-game sweep of the Giants since 1977 — a gigantic step indeed. Not since the end of 2008 — their last playoff season — have the Cubs been 14 games over .500. ...

For the first time since the Ricketts family bought the team in 2009, the Cubs are for real. ~David Haugh, Chicago Tribune

Drenched

We got some rain, and some more rain last night.

It started shortly after we got the girls to bed ... and it. just. kept coming. 

The thunder was some of the loudest I've heard in my life. It sounded as if the lightning was striking the trees in our back yard. Turns out, according to local Facebook posts, the lightning was hitting the water tower on the hill down the road ... So we were close.

The power got knocked out while Kates and I were still up and watching TV around 1 a.m.

All the booms and bangs, of course, resulted in Faye waking up, screaming, multiple times. After calming her back to sleep -- multiple times -- Kates just brought her to bed with us after the power went out. Even then, we pretty much just laid in bed, unable to fall to sleep with the noise of the pounding rain and thunder. ... Phoebe, as always, slept through the entire storm without a peep.

Once again, there's a lot of people clearing water from their basements today, and I thank God we don't have that problem.

Some very impressive rainfall amounts in Northern Missouri from the overnight thunderstorms. Wow. pic.twitter.com/lmSQrtEF2B

— JD Rudd (@jdrudd) July 16, 2015

Fatal heat wave 20 years ago changed Chicago's emergency response

Ah, yes, the Chicago heat wave of 1995.

I was there.

Has it really been 20 years?

My family was living in Kansas at  the time, but that was the week we swung through Chicago for a few days of vacation on our way up to visit extended family in Wisconsin.

It was my first-ever visit to Chicago, and I knew then that I wanted to live in the city, or at least be near it.

We stayed in a hotel on Lakeshore Drive. Walked Ontario Street, visiting my first Hard Rock Cafe and Ed Debevic's. Went to my first Cubs game. Walked Navy Pier on its grand re-opening weekend. And we visited the United Center, where I proudly stood for a picture in front of Michael Jordan's newly erected statue, and we set off an alarm when we tried to enter the arena through a not-so-public entrance.

As I recall, the heat didn't bother us. But it was prevalent.

Aside from all the firsts I experienced, some of my clearest memories of that trip are seeing the images and accounts of the heat wave on the news channels those nights.

There was that, and our drive through the neighborhood near the United Center where we encountered a group of black children playing at a fire hydrant. As my dad drove our minivan slowly past the children, it was him, I believe, who made a comment about the scene being an example of the Chicago culture. About a block later, one of us -- I don't remember who -- suggested we get a picture of it. So my mom, somewhat grudgingly, got out of the van and walked a few yards closer to the children to snap a photo of them playing. When she returned to the car, she muttered, "There, I got a picture of your culture."

It became a legendary moment in our family's vacation history.

Winter fun

While the east coast is getting pummeled with a hurricane/snowstorm, we're enjoying sun and temperatures in the low 60s in The 'Ville. My kind of winter.

As a tribute to what we're missing, my friend John shared this today ... My favorite comes at the 1:50 mark ...

The polar vortex

I was so looking forward to one final day of productivity and winter break relaxation at home before returning to my office full-time tomorrow. At home, alone. In my own world of thought.

It's not happening.

The polar vortex -- I just learned that's what this phenomenon is being called -- has enveloped The 'Ville. 'Life-threatening' cold has settled over Midwest.

The weather app on my phone says it is -6 outside. Or -27 with the wind chill.

The local schools started announcing they wouldn't open today before the sun had even set yesterday afternoon. Thus, Kates and Phoebe are home with me today.

I did have the pleasure of going out this morning and taking Faye to daycare -- which made her very unhappy, having grown so used to spending her days with us the last couple weeks. In the meantime, Phoebe is navigating the house in her gymnastics outfit with a purple tutu and a pair of Kates' high heels.

I'm not sure there's anything I dislike more than cold weather. It makes me crabby the very moment it sets in and distracts me from everything I need to do in that moment.

Here's some Twitter reaction reaction to the thing everyone seems to be talking about today.

The cold weather sure didn't help the Packers yesterday, either. ... I'm choosing to remember the glory of the Pack's regular season finale instead. Here's a good read published in The New York Times prior to yesterday's game.

As for the Chiefs, I called it last weekend when I said I didn't expect them to advance in the playoffs. But I never expected they would blow a 28-point lead in losing. I figured the game was over after the first quarter and the Chiefs were well on their way to proving me wrong. Unbelievable.

WisDOT video shows multi vehicle pileup

Here's today's popular video ...

Watching this makes me embarrassed for Wisconsin drivers ... And for goodness sakes, people, stay in your cars.

March Madness

So I’m officially on Spring Break.

It sure doesn’t feel like it, though. At about 5 o’clock last night, the snow storm weather forecasters had been talking about for days actually arrived. … And it’s still snowing.

This is the scene in our back yard this morning …

And this is Phoebe’s baseball tee. She got it out last weekend and was playing with it while it was 70 degrees and sunny. This morning, it’s buried in white stuff.

We might as well get out the Christmas decorations.

On one hand, I guess it’s a good timing. Most of my Spring Break week will be spent buried in graduate work, finishing my research project and compiling my portfolio. I have less than a month to go.

So the snow is good because it will deter me from wishing I could be doing things outside. And we desperately need the precipitation.

But it's bringing a whole new meaning to March Madness.

* * *

Confession time.

With all the chaos in our lives during these winter months, I’m as clueless about college basketball as I’ve felt in a long time.

Then again, maybe I’m being too hard on myself. After all, I’m aware enough to know there hasn’t been a consistently dominant team this year. I’m also aware enough to know that Louisville, Indiana, Miami and Kansas have been among the best.

Nonetheless, I filled out my bracket with pure guesses Thursday morning – usually I do at least a little research – and went on with my work day. Usually I follow the early games through score alerts and social media, too, but when I left my office around 5:30 Thursday evening, I knew nothing about the outcomes of the afternoon games. Later, we attended Phoebe’s spring concert – she was great, by the way, and sang all of her songs with gusto – and it wasn’t until we arrived home around 7:30 that I was able to finally catch up on some of the scores and highlights.

It was during that time that I also carried on my March Madness traditions of filling out brackets for the kiddos. Building on the precedent set last year, I helped Phoebe fill out her bracket and filled one out for Faye.

Sadly, and just like last year, Phoebe’s bracket was nearly shot up during the first round (I don't count the play-in games) and officially finished off last night. As we filled out her bracket Thursday night, I read off the matchups one-by-one and she picked the teams she thought would win. My theory holds again this year that she picks her winners based on the names with which she’s familiar – or the ones that simply sound fun to her.

Therefore, she picked Wisconsin to win it all. And we all know now that’s not happening after Friday afternoon.

The rest of her Final Four consisted of Pacific, Northwestern State and Memphis. She has a friend at her preschool named Memphis.

Phoebe also picked Iona to advance to the West regional against Wisconsin (oops). And she picked Missouri to advance to the Midwest regional against Memphis (oops and oops). She picked Pittsburgh to win two games – before falling to Wisconsin – because she has a teacher named Mrs. Pitts (oops).

Phoebe, however, correctly picked Florida Gulf Coast to upset Georgetown. Amazing.

She correctly picked 12 of the first 40 games and, after just three days of play and heading into this afternoon’s games, the only teams she has left standing are Kansas and FGCU.

Faye and I are faring much better, thank you very much. Keeping with the tradition established during the magical run that was 2008 (and no, I'm still not tired of bringing that up ... ), the baby’s bracket finishes with Kansas as the national champion. Rounding out Faye’s Final Four are Michigan State, Wisconsin (doh!) and Miami. … Wisconsin was supposed to meet Kansas in the national championship game.

Faye also accurately picked No. 1-seed Louisville and No. 12-seed Oregon advancing to face each other, and she picked No. 9-seed Wichita State upsetting No. 1-seed Gonzaga.

As for my bracket, I have Kansas, Miami, Wisconsin and Louisville in my Final Four, with Louisville and Miam facing off in the championship. Seriously, I really thought Wisconsin, it seemed, had been flying under the radar for most of the season and they were going to have a better showing. One of the talking heads on ESPN – I can’t remember who now – even said as much the other day. … And for the record, I also picked the Louisville-Oregon matchup. The only other upsets – if you want to call them that – I predicted were Iowa State over Notre Dame and Wichita State over Pittsburgh.

Good reads ...
In N.C.A.A. Basketball Tournament, Field Looks Wide Open
Bubbling Up: The Downside of Being No. 1
Darlings of Yore Hear the Cheers, but Not for Them

And whaddaya know, coming up this afternoon, Kansas has a matchup with ol’ Roy Williams and North Carolina.

Bring it. … Sorry, Hitler.

Snow days

Let our Christmas vacation begin!

With the way the holidays fall this year, we’re taking advantage of a full two weeks away from work.

Although, Kates and Phoebe got their holiday breaks started two days early thanks to the snowstorm that blew over Wednesday night.

The weather forecasters had predicted a big storm – but like most storms, I refuse to believe it until I see it. … Wednesday night, we watched the thunderstorm from our dining room windows as we ate supper and thought, “There’s no way this is turning into a snowstorm.”

But when I was turning out the lights on my way to bed late Wednesday night I peeked out the windows, and – lo and behold – the ground was covered with white powder.

At around 3:30 yesterday morning, my phone was ringing and we were implementing our emergency procedures at the university, calling for a late start. Kates' school district, meanwhile, canceled the school day entirely. Needless to say, Phoebe was pretty upset when we broke the news to her yesterday morning, because the school was supposed to have its holiday parties.

The school district canceled school today, too. So the holiday parties will have to wait until next month – after the holidays.

Now, the amount of snow we got was nothing compared to what we were used to when we lived in the great north. We got maybe two inches yesterday. Nothing.

I still hate snow, though. And I hate winter.

I took Phoebe outside with me yesterday morning so she could jump around in the snow while I shoveled the driveway. I finished the job in a matter of minutes.

Still, Phoebe loved every minute of it. And just for that reason, I can stand having some snow on the ground for a few days.

Here’s Phoebe making a snow angel.

Oh, Sandy

So Hurricane Sandy made big news this week. ... Check out this video of the hurricane rolling in.

New Jersey is practically gone.

The presidential campaign is in flux. ... Mitt Romney had no choice but to follow Obama and pull off the campaign trail, or look like a fool. And yet, Obama, in a way, is still very much continuing his campaign as he responds to the crisis, as he is expected to do. He and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are suddenly pals, and all the momentum Romney had in these final weeks is dissipating thanks to Sandy.

Then, there's the story of that dangling crane.

Still, amid the chaos, there's two side stories that I may remember most ...

All of the falsehoods being passed around social media as the storm was brewing and in its aftermath, particularly the image of guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns. (For the record, I didn't bite on any of the false images. ...C'mon, people, do your research before you retweet that stuff.)

And Monday's Late Show With David Letterman. ... One of the weirdest, eeriest television experiences I've ever had. To see Dave on his set, doing a show and surrounded by a skeleton production crew, and a theater of empty seats. Here's EW's recap. ... And here's another, along with some of Jimmy Fallon's shown, on which he also played to no audience.

The heat is on

We've been living in an excessive heat warning for the last week and there's no signs of it ending any time soon.

Temperatures have been consistent in the high 90s during the day time and the low 90s at night.

The heat is on.

So after supper tonight, I took Phoebe outside for some fun in the sprinkler.

Usually, she delights in running back and forth in the sprinkler. But tonight, she was overjoyed just standing there.

Extremely hot and incredibly uncomfortable

For the most part, we’ve been playing this whole Baby 2 thing pretty low-key.

People say that about the second time around, don’t they? That parents don’t show as much concern as they did with the first child, right?

The timeline for our preparation pre-Phoebe is a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure we were well ahead of the pace we’re on this time around. Life wasn’t so hectic and complicated for us four years ago as it seems to be today.

Take Baby 2’s room, for example. I pulled up the carpet and had a good painting spurt a few weeks ago. But the room sat largely untouched until a couple weeks ago when I got a whim of inspiration and set up the crib. And there’s been no progress since.

Now things are getting interesting, however.

Kates’ latest visit to her doctor yesterday resulted in this revelation: She’s 3 centimeters dilated. Doctor said Baby 2 could arrive any day now.

Wait. What!?

She’s in Week 35. Kates wasn't that far along at this stage with Phoebe. D-Day isn’t for another month. May 27, to be exact. And we’ve still got plenty to do before we’re ready.

The news didn’t come as a complete shock. In fact, we expected to hear something similar at Kates’ previous appointment a few weeks ago -- after days of Kates and I looking at each other and thinking, This pregnancy seems to be progressing a lot faster than the way we remember it going the first time around.

Then again, there was a time we thought Phoebe was going to arrive early, too. But that came and went. And Phoebe arrived two days past her due date.

Still, Kates does seem to be more uncomfortable at this stage. Her ankles have been swollen for well over a month now, and she spends the bulk of her time at home on the couch with her feet propped up. Many people have commented that she doesn’t have much room left in that belly of hers.

It also doesn’t help that temperatures are warming and we hit the 90s last week.

Survival

Phoebe didn’t have school Friday, but Kates did. Which meant I got to take a day off with Phoebe.

For me, priority No. 1 was getting rid of the trash bags of yard waste cluttering up our yard.

You see, in K-Town the city had this wonderful facility where residents could take their yard waste between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It was great, and you could even fill a bucket, or the bed of your pickup truck, with a batch of compost or mulch, for free.

Not the case in The ‘Ville. The yard waste facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. … Not the greatest hours for common folk who do their yard work on Saturdays.

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve filled 16 bags of leaves and twigs and grass clippings. Which have sat stacked along our fence and garage, catching rain every few days.

I was determined to get rid of them. The challenge was convincing Phoebe to go with me.

After some prodding and the added incentive that she could take Yellow -- her best friend, also known as her blanket -- and her newly beloved Ariel doll with her, I convinced her. As a bonus, I told her I’d play her favorite songs on the iPod.

I loaded the bags -- Phoebe was quick to point out their smelly stench -- in the Forrester, and we were on our way.

We made four trips. About halfway to our second drop-off, “Pumped Up Kicks” started playing, to Phoebe’s delight. And when it was over, Phoebe shouted, “Play it again, Daddy!”

She delighted in singing her own unique chorus to the song as we listened to it again and again. And again. … As I dropped off the very last bag and drove home for good.

As long as it keeps her happy, she keeps singing the wrong lyrics and doesn’t have a clue about what the song is about, we’re golden.   

* * *

I attended my last graduate course of the spring semester this weekend.

Friday we heard a couple presentations from classmates who missed the last class period (A missed class nets the absentee a 30-minute Power Point presentation about a short book during the next class period. Which is why I will do my darnedest to never miss a class), gave presentations about practicum experiences each of us have undertaken, and did a role playing activity based on our recent textbook reading.

It was relatively painless.

Yesterday we spent the morning observing the research and portfolio presentations of the cohort before us, which is graduating in a couple weeks. And which is what I will be doing around this time next year, if all goes as planned.

I’m halfway done, baby! But the summer session -- and the start of my research project -- is around the corner.

* * *

No matter where we went yesterday, it seemed all of the conversation revolved around the impending storms. The forecasts of severe storms already had stirred Facebook chatter Friday and they made the newscasts Friday night.

During my graduate class, a couple graduate assistants who work in the residence halls were talking about the precautions they were taking for the storms, and I received a message from the university president instructing me to be ready to draft some communication to send out before the storm hit.

After class, I ran some errands around town. The skies were darkening and the wind was picking up. At the checkout counters of the hardware stores, people were talking about the coming storm, too. … One thing is certain, our August storm is still fresh on people’s minds in this town. As of this moment, we have friends who are still making repairs to their homes that stem from that storm.

At home, Phoebe and her BFF Lola -- whom we had over for the morning in lieu of a birthday party --  were at the coffee table coloring T-shirts as Kates supervised. … In the meantime, I headed outside to do as much work as I could in the yard before the sky let loose. I’ve been working on moving and reconstructing a section of our fence.

Aside from the dark clouds swirling in the sky, the afternoon passed quietly. I reconstructed a 10-foot section of the fence and got the gate back up.

As we sat down for supper around 5:30, we got a major downpour. But it lasted all of five minutes. The tornado watch was on, however.

I kept an eye on the Weather Channel and reports started coming in of tornadoes in Oklahoma. Still not much action for us though. … We continued with our Saturday night. Kates worked on the laundry, and I was inspired to finally put together Baby 2’s crib, as Pheebs pretended to take measurements and help me. … As the evening continued, I turned off the TV and tuned into the local NPR station for weather updates. So we were treated to a little "A Prairie Home Companion" for our Saturday night entertainment.

We got Phoebe in bed with little trouble and Kates followed soon after while I agreed to stay up to monitor the weather. … By 12:30 a.m. the local news channels were reporting that the storm was weakening as it approached our region. That was enough for me to call it a night.

A good storm did roll in, though. … Sometime around 2:15 a.m. there was a loud crash of thunder that woke me up and caused me to think, Well that’ll get Phoebe in here. Two seconds later, she could be heard scampering across the hall to our room and she was at Kates’ bedside, saying, “Mommy, I’m scared.”

Phoebe crawled up the bed to her customary spot between us and latched on to me with her arm wrapped tightly around my neck. After a few minutes she loosened her grip, only to tighten up again when another bolt of thunder crashed. 

Phoebe, of course, feeling safe and secure fell fast asleep and didn’t wake the rest of the night. As the storm thundered on, Kates and I hardly slept, and we awoke this morning feeling exhausted.

Update 4.16.2011: The NBC Nightly News tonight had a story about the weekend weather outbreak that included fascinating map of all the tornadoes ... which skirted just around The 'Ville. I'd say we dodged a bullet.

Goodness

So we had our first snow of the year Tuesday night. I caught on when I saw a student tweet a request for a snow day on Wednesday. … I headed for the sliding glass doors at our deck and -- sure enough -- the ground was already covered with about an inch of the white stuff. As much as I hated to admit it, it was a pretty snow.

It was even sweeter Wednesday morning, as I was getting ready for work, when Phoebe came bounding into our bedroom, shouting, “Daddy, you wanna see the snow!?” … She then took my hand and pulled me across the hall to her bedroom window where she pointed out the window. “See!”

For a few moments I gained a whole new appreciation for snow.

* * *

We went to our last ‘Cats football game of the regular season. A 62-21 win.

But the best part for me was spending it with Phoebe.

As we were getting ready for the game, she put on one of my team hats and asked if she could wear it to the game. She was so cute in it, I couldn’t say no. I helped her tie her hair in a pony tail, adjusted the cap to fit her little head and then taught her how to put her pony tail through the back of the cap. To my surprise, she wore the cap for the bulk of the game.

As usual, we started with the tailgate. Today’s buffet was nachos. And the band is better with each week. … Phoebe also couldn’t wait to get to the inflatable slide, a popular destination for the kids at this year‘s tailgates.

After the halftime performance … Kates headed home, while Phoebe stayed with me for the rest of the game. As the ‘Cats ran up the score, Phoebe wanted to go to the park adjacent to the stadium. She ran and played for the rest of the quarter and the first part of the fourth.

With a few minutes left in the game, we headed back into the stadium and watched the rest of the game from a fence behind one of the end zones.

When time ran out, we headed onto the field. We listened in on Coach’s post game talk to the team. And Phoebe was delighted, as always, to be on the field. … We walked home, and she held my hand the entire way.

After checking in with Kates, I needed to run some errands and asked Phoebe if she wanted to take a ride with me. It wasn’t my intention when I took her along for the ride, but about halfway through I realized she had been quiet for some time. I looked at the rear view mirror, and she was asleep. … Back at home, I unbuckled her from her car seat and carried her inside to her bed.

Kates and I woke her up about an hour later so she could eat supper and get her bath. Had we left her, she might have slept through the night.

When we did put her to bed for good tonight, I gave her a tight hug and thanked her for the great day. “I had a lot of fun with you today,” I said.

“Thank you, Daddy. I had a lot of fun, too.”

I can’t think of many things better than that.

* * *

Now Kates and I are sucked into “Serendipity.” … She found it on TV and whatever plans we had for the rest of the night were thrown out the window.

Have I mentioned how much we love this movie?

Judge me all you want.

Clarity

The high temperature today was 71 degrees. It was sunny and gorgeous, on Nov. 1.

If today were a baseball game, I feel like I scored a few clutch hits and raised my batting average. It was a good day.

The iPod is on a roll and totally in sync with my emotions tonight. Mellow rock.

Clarity. I'm feeling it this week. ... If only I didn't have graduate classes to worry about this weekend.

Check out this neat nerd video my friend Darren sent me this morning, featuring a fellow alum of our fine university.

Hello, Winter

So winter showed up today.

The temps were in the 40s as we headed to school this morning. The wind whipped. My face felt like it was going to crack.

I hate that feeling. I hate winter.

Meanwhile, back in our old stomping grounds … I would have paid to see these humongous waves crashing on the Lake Michigan shore.

Storm damage

We had a good storm come through The ‘Ville this afternoon. The kind of good storm that produces some gentle thunder, a steady rain and leaves you feeling refreshed.

Phoebe didn’t see it the same way.

The girl used to be totally unfazed by storms. She’d sleep right through the worst of them.

But ever since the mini-hurricane that hit us in August, not so much.

The town is still recovering from it. Emergency assistance trailers sprouted up in the parking lots the next day and still remain, along with billboards advertising hail damage repair. Conversations about dealings with insurance adjusters and contractors are an every day occurrence. And you can’t take a walk through the neighborhoods without hearing the pounding of workers repairing damaged roofs and siding.

As for Phoebe, at bedtime, every night since that storm, she asks Kates or I, “Can you check the weather?” “Is it going to storm tonight?”

As the clouds came in this morning and especially when the storm rolled in this afternoon, my thoughts were on Phoebe and how she was dealing with the weather.

Under normal circumstances, Phoebe wants nothing than to be free to play. But this afternoon, Kates picked up Phoebe from school and found her sitting on the security of her teacher’s lap.

Oh, hail

Well, last night turned into an interesting one.

It started a little before 7 p.m. We had just finished supper. Phoebe was entertaining Kates and I by leading us in singing the ABCs while she played with her refrigerator magnets.

I was debating whether I should mow the lawn. The sky was darkening, but my take on the weather radar was that the storm would miss us to the north.

Before I could get out, though, some menacing clouds started swirling above our house. The sky was so captivating, we actually stepped onto our deck for a minute to observe. The clouds appeared so low that you could almost reach up and touch them. And they were moving at a furious pace.

Interestingly, there were never reports of anything more than a severe thunderstorm. And the sirens never sounded across town. But, boy, did this storm tear through the city.

Not long after we stepped back inside, the hail started falling. Dime-sized. And it just. kept. coming. I’ve never known a hail storm to last so long. Piles measuring a few inches high started forming on parts of our deck. ... This video hardly does it justice.



Amid all of the commotion and noise from the storm, Phoebe was rightfully scared. We told her the hail was like ice cubes falling from the sky. The answer satisfied her, and she’ll be repeating that to anyone who asks her about this storm for days to come.

Eventually the power went out. While the hail continued. The wind whipped at speeds of 70 to 80 mph, according to most estimates. We watched not only our huge oak trees sway violently, but our basketball hoop, too. … A lot of people today said the storm felt closer to a hurricane than a tornado.


At one point, I even made a valiant effort and successfully rescued the umbrella for Phoebe's sandbox. The wind had pulled it straight from its base and blew it into the middle of our yard, where it rolled around for a few minutes. Then it suddenly shot back toward our back door, allowing me to quickly reach out and snatch it up. 

When it was over, the sky took on an eerie orange. All of our neighbors started appearing in their front yards  to survey the damage. And my phone started lighting up with phone calls and text messages in reference to the damage sustained at the university.

On our street, the road, driveways and lawns were plastered with leaves. Large limbs were everywhere. A couple trees had snapped. One home’s siding had been ripped off.

Fortunately, the extent of damage was minimal at our house. We lost a board from our wood fence and a couple large tree limbs. The hail also punched a few holes through the screen on a garage window.

But in the west, the sky was darkening again. Lightning was flashing, and another round was on its way. For some it wasn’t as severe as the first round; for others, it was worse.

Here's what the radar looked like ...

Our power came back on around 9:30. Phoebe and Kates were already in bed, while I stayed up to keep up with the weather reports and with what was happening at the university. … The storm had punched out several windows in the residence halls, and the 350 or so students on campus were moved to a central building for safety. The storm had knocked out the power on campus, too, along with our computer server, so we spent the night communicating and providing updates to students on social media. Novel! ... In the meantime, those of us on the emergency team maintained communication with texting.

At 12:30 a.m., I finally went to bed.

* * *

And today, the cleanup began.

As I drove to work this morning I got my first look at the destruction, and later I walked the campus with a colleague. There were tree limbs all over the grounds, of course. But it was more heart-breaking to see the broken windows and shingles ripped from the administration building. The beautiful flower gardens throughout the campus had been shredded. Some metal sheeting had been torn from the performing arts center. And, oddest of all, a perfect circle had been torn through the university flag.

Across town, windows were broken. Siding looked as though it had been shot up with machine guns. Downed power lines and trees plugged roadways. On the outskirts of town, barns were destroyed and crops were ruined. One colleague said he hadn’t seen destruction so bad during his 55 years of living in the region.

I was supposed to be enjoying a vacation day today. Instead I was in the office this morning, fielding media calls about the storm and doing whatever else I could to help. Then, I came home early this afternoon and spent the rest of it cleaning up our yard. I filled six trash bags and two full-sized trash cans with leaves, branches and debris -- and that’s just from our front yard.

The chainsaws could be heard all over town this afternoon. There are homes still without power.

But it was also said repeatedly today -- thinking back to the images from the aftermath of the Joplin tornado and what that city went through -- it could have been a lot worse.

Here are a few more pictures … 

Hot, hot hot

If there's one thing I've learned during this round of summer heat: Never underestimate the fun you can have with a sprinkler.

We've had it out the last two weekends and it's created some undeniable weekend highlights.

(Update 8.01.11: After our outside fun and heading back indoors yesterday aftermoon, Phoebe fell asleep in Kates' lap at around 5 p.m. Waking her up later for supper was impossible and we ultimately carried her to bed, where she slept until 7 this morning.)

And to think that six months ago we were snowed in and dealing with bitter cold.

Out to the ball park

So we went to our first baseball game of the year today.

Royals. Cubs.

The plans unfolded a couple weeks ago when I was browsing the Royals schedule, looking for a game opportunity in the next several weeks. Our days of going to four, five or six games a summer are done for awhile. Now, with a young one in tow and a home base that's further from the nearest major league ballpark (let alone one ballpark, compared to three within a two-hour drive in K-Town), getting to at least one game per summer is the goal.

When I saw the Cubs were in town this weekend for an interleague series -- and we had no other plans for the weekend -- it was an easy call. The toughest decision was choosing the Saturday night game or the Sunday afternoon game. The Saturday night game featured Kevin Appier's induction into the Royals Hall of Fame, but it would be a late night for Phoebe. The Sunday game was a Family Fun Day and included an opportunity to run the bases afterward, but I knew the afternoon heat could pose problems.

We opted for the Sunday afternoon game. Happy birthday to me.

So this morning we got ourselves out of bed and hit our goal to be on the road by 10 a.m. We filled up the gas tank on the way out of town, and I had "Go Cubs Go" cued up on the iPod as we hit the highway. ... Save for a couple potty breaks for Phoebe, we made decent time and arrived at the stadium around 12:30 p.m. Game time was at 1:10. I was a happy camper.

After all, I had given in to the idea when we bought the tickets that this was not going to be my typical game day experience. This one was dedicated to Phoebe. With all the kids activities around the stadium, I knew I was not going to be planted in my seat, with a scorecard, in time for the first pitch. Instead, we headed first to the kids area behind left field so Phoebe could romp on the playground, take a ride on the carousel and try whatever other activities drew her interest. She loved it.

As the game got underway, we bought Phoebe a kids meal, complete with her very own Slugger lunch box. We took the long way to our seats, traveling along the outfield fountain deck and taking in the stadium scenery.

There were Cubs fans everywhere, and I was hardly complaining. In fact, when we passed through the gates of the stadium, we ran into a tidal wave of fans wearing cubs shirts, jerseys and hats. The sight caused me to burst into gleeful laughter, while Kates just looked at me and rolled her eyes. We always saw it during our years of watching Cubs games on TV -- the gobs of Cubs fans who filled the stands at road games -- but today we got to see it and experience it in person ... For the record, Phoebe was in her new Slugger shirt, Kates donned a white top and I was in my Cubbie blue.

I saw Starlin Castro single in the top of the first as we were shuffling along the outfield deck, but by the time we got to our seats during the bottom half of the inning, things were going bad -- very bad -- for the Cubs. The Royals went up 4-0, before the Cubs could notch an out.

The crowd went wild -- enough to make you think the Cubs were the home team -- when Geovany Soto hit a home run in the third to put Chicago on the board. The Cubs closed the gap to 4-3 in the fourth, but the Royals crossed two more in the bottom of the fourth. And it stayed 6-3 in the Royals favor until the end.

In truth, it's not going to be a game I'll remember for what happened on the field, aside from that awful first  inning for the Cubs. As I said, I didn't bother keeping score, which I always do as a way to help me stay focused on the game ... Instead my focus for the day was totally on relishing the game day experience with Phoebe and Kates. I missed two innings midway through the game as Phoebe and I fetched a snow cone for her.

And for the most part, it was a glorious day. Until the seventh inning. Up until then, our first base-side seats were fully in the shade. But in the seventh, the hot sun started creeping on us, and Kates and Phoebe retreated to the concourse to keep cool.

Then the fun run around the base paths. For the father in me, there was no part of the day I had looked forward to more -- the chance to run around the bases at Kauffman Stadium with Phoebe. It was the reason we bought the tickets! ... But when the game ended and we found the line for the run, it stretched all the way to the top of the ramp -- on the upper deck level, with no cover from the beating sun. As we waited, Phoebe quickly grew hot and wanted to stay with Kates, who was waiting in the shade.

... So we got out of the long line to wait in the shade.

... As the line started moving, we waited. And waited. And waited until the end appeared and we could rejoin the line, which was now fully in the protection of shade.

... We got all the way to the bottom of the ramp. We just needed to cross the concourse, and then we'd be on the field level.

... Then the inevitable. "I need t'go potty!" Phoebe shouted. Kates walked off with her in search of the nearest restroom, while I held our place in line.

... The line crossed the concourse and my turn came to pass through the doors into the area beneath the stadium that leads to the field. But still no Kates and Phoebe.

... I let others pass through in front of me as I kept watch for my girls. If we made it, we would be the very last ones to run.

... After a couple minutes they showed. Both were clearly done and ready to go home. Our run was not meant to be. To say I was heartbroken is an understatement. The nice attendant who picked us up in a golf cart and drove us to our car on the opposite end of the parking lot was hardly enough to cheer me up.

Phoebe, of course, fell asleep on the way home. ... But the family fun continued when we arrived home. The 'Ville got hit with a heck of a storm. Somewhat of a repeat of last weekend, but with more of a direct hit. Unlike last weekend, we heeded the tornado sirens blaring throughout the city and huddled in the basement. Our house was pelted with marble-sized hail and the rain poured, but thankfully a tornado never materialized.

Tomorrow's a new day.

Condition Gray: Inside the hospital as the Joplin tornado hit

An episode of Grey's Anatomy, or a movie, is one thing.

This story from The Kansas City Star is another. A great piece of writing and journalism about what happened at the St. John's medical center on the night of the Joplin tornado.