Wanderlust

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the life we are living here in Cedar Rapids. We live in a comfortable home, we have good jobs, we have a great if unconventional little family unit, and we have good friends. Yet for me it seems as though there should be something more to it.

Since I was little my parents always struggled to make ends meet. For a long time I believed that it was perhaps that they just really didn't make enough money. We lived a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle that my parents still live, always just barely ahead of the bill collectors. As I've grown older I've realized that most of that came out of plain old bad money management, but when I was young one of my biggest goals was to get away from that lifestyle and into one that was more comfortable than merely just scraping by. To some extent I have met that goal. Though Shel and I still carry a significant amount of school and credit debt (paid off sometime next year, finally), we have managed to carve out enough to go on a nice trip once in a while and afford a few other luxuries such as a new car, a new (though quickly deteriorating) couch, a new recliner, a new computer, a Xbox 360, and some spurious shopping trips to Williamsburg.

Yet the question lingers, now what? I have a wife, a child, a dog, a Terry, a job, a house, and a car. What's next?

The summer after my junior year in high school I went on a backpacking trip with my church youth group, the original plan was to whitewater raft, and go backcountry backpacking for five days. It was my first trip to Colorado and the first time I had ever seen the Rockies. Though the trip out turned out to be a partial bust, we only ended up backpacking for three days due to what I will call stupid people syndrome, Colorado had me at hello. The majesty of the mountains was simply overwhelming. I decided right then and there that someday I wanted to live there. I've never forgotten about that, it has always been in the back of my mind.

So here I am, leading what most would call a perfectly normal life, yet every few months my mind slips out west and I kick myself for being here in Iowa. I've always lived in Iowa, but I don't feel like it's the place for me. I need to go.

Once in a while I work up the courage to talk to Shel about this. In our household this a hotly contested issue. It has been discussed before, and will be discussed again. I know how she feels. Shel likes the routine and consistency. She doesn't deal well with change. She likes to be close to family. She likes life here and questions why we would dispose of everything we have here on the chance that things will be better in an unknown place far away from family, but if it is really what I want she would do it for me. I am highly adaptable, and although I love my family I have no overriding need to be particularly close to them geographically. I like to roll the dice once in a while and step out of myself and see what happens, good or bad.

We would have to find new jobs. We would have to sell our house. A lot would change. I want to go, so I will do research, I will pore over web sites, we will save our money, I will convince my wife that this is a good idea and then, when the time is right in two to three years, we will go west, into the setting sun and to something new, something different, and something that will be life-altering.

Cinderella and Tony sitting in a tree

Although I do it rarely, I believe that one of the best ways to absorb a basketball game is via the radio. One March weekend when I was in elementary school, Mom took us to Chicago to the Business and Industry Museum, we saw all the sights and had a fun day. That night we drove home. On the way home the radio fell to a basketball game. But not just any basketball game, Duke versus Kentucky, regional final, Phildelphia, Christian Laettner. One of the greatest basketball games ever played. I heard it on the radio, and the excitement of listening to that game still gives me chills.

Funny how life works. Today we were driving home from Des Moines after seeing Mom. On the way out of town I tuned into a game already in progress. George Mason versus Conneticut. The game ebbed and flowed, both teams playing at a high level. The stakes were high, and the tension kept rising, both on the court and in my mind. After an amazing game George Mason prevailed. An 11 seed in the Final Four. There are much better scribes writing about this in much more eloquent terms, but I was giddy, moments like that don't happen all that often. There is a reason its my favorite tournament, and it is exactly for the times when Cinderella not only crashes the ball but makes everyone stop in their tracks and really take notice just like a fireworks laden WWE entrance routine.

I have my favorite for the NCAA championship and I WILL be watching the Final Four. Go GMU.

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During the last couple of Sopranos episodes the crew has been grappling with Tony's like or death situation after his shooting at the hands of Junior. It is almost a cruel parallel to recent events in my family. For those of you wondering what it may have been like for us with my Mom, just have a look, that's pretty much how it has been going for us. It's hard to see someone you love hooked up to a ventilator.

ISU: Where the second you are down, we say "sweep the leg"

I'm pretty upset right now, because something sinister appears to be happening at my alma mater. Over the course of the last two days a number of disturbing things have happened to our beloved basketball team.

First, this scheduling thing. It certainly sounds fishy from the angle of this company that ISU hired to schedule games. But for ISU, who paid a the company to get it games there certainly appears to be nothing wrong with that. I firmly believe that ISU runs a clean program and that any improprietary actively occurred solely on the part of this D1 Scheduling company.

Second, Stinson and Blaylock decide that they are NBA caliber players and leave. I enjoy watching Stinson and Blaylock play. They play athletic and hardnosed basketball with passion and joy, and they are great to watch. That said, I doubt they have great futures in the NBA, they are certainly not 1st round draft picks and neither has what Hubie Brown would call "tremendous upside potential." What are they thinking?

Third. This morning I was awakened to the news that ISU is going to fire Coach Wayne Morgan and his whole staff. For what? The reasons haven't been made entierely clear yet. Initial word indicates the reason to be that ISU Men's Basketball is expected to be the flagship atheletic program for ISU and that the team isn't performing to expectations. If that is the real reason then I say fiddlesticks! I've heard the comparison that the only coach who had a better first three years at ISU was Tim Floyd. What do they expect? The tournament every year? Even the great Eustachy couldn't get back to the tourney the year after the Hampton fiasco. And the much beloved Orr? How many times did his squads make the tourney? I don't know the answer but it certainly wasn't every year.

The truth is that in sports ISU is a middle of the road school in a power conference, they have some good years and they have some bad years. Would I like if they were a power team, year in year out, yes. The teams of 2000 and 2001 were great and it was and awesome feeling knowing that they were going to win nearly every game. But that doesn't happen every year. Morgan's teams certainly had problems with consistently playing hard from the get-go game-in game-out; last year it took a miraculous win streak to make the NCAA's. What I do believe is that Morgan had acquired a stable of players that would work well in his system was really only missing a serviceable big man to make this years ISU team a contender in the Big 12. Another year to deepen his bench and develop a big man would have produced wonders. Why does Morgan have to go? McCarney is still here, still thriving in mediocrity, unable to win the games that would put ISU over the hump, yet Morgan is the one who pays, what a shame.

So what happens now? Do we have a basketball player exodus? As it stands the only significant player we will have left is Rashon Clark. Does he stick around? I doubt it, and I wouldn't blame him one bit after what has happened here. Who do we get to coach at ISU after the way they have dismissed Eustachy and Morgan? When they hired Morgan it was because they couldn't get anyone to come in a take the helm after the way the fired Eustachy, Morgan was pretty far down the list of candidates, and yet he stayed and did the job and provided a fun and exciting basketball team to watch, win or lose. And now, seemingly out of nowhere they fire Morgan, what kind of message does that send to anyone who would come in? Seems to me it's a bit like Tony Soprano asking you to come for a ride in the country with him, Sil, and Paulie. I wouldn't want to be in the backseat of that car.

So Jamie Pollard, ISU adminsitration et al, how exactly do you expect Daniel to win the All Valley Karate Tournament if you have exterminated Mr. Miagi?

Actual conversation

Right before bed time in the Flores household.

C: You ready for bed Mama?
M: Yeah, just a minute, I'm reading this biography of the Undertaker. It's really in depth.

And yes, tonight Michelle of her own volition watched a recorded episode of Friday Night Smackdown! That's my girl.

Baby play time

This weekend during our travels we stopped by to see the Jones'. Here are some pics of the boys having play time.

Greed Diet

Ok, I haven't talked a lot about this here, but it is over now so I am going to share some thoughts. For the past eight weeks I have been on the Greed Diet. I've been trying to eat less, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully, and I have been working out alot (lots of basketball).

Eight weeks ago I weighed in at 280.5 and today my weight was 248.75. I am now down to a weight I was last at during my first semester of college, if you're counting that was nearly 9 years ago.

So without further adieu can I get some harumph from the peanut gallery. Harumph, harumph, harumph!

Whirlwind

"It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" just won an Oscar. Sweet Action.

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The last week has been trying to say the least. We've been to Des Moines twice. Spent numerous hours in the hospital. We've been trying to get as much information together on all aspects of this accident as we can. This has meant starting and keeping "A Blog To Heal" up to date, a lot of people are checking on that for information on Mom's status. That has meant getting as much contact info from as many people who are concerned about Mom as possible. That has meant that Gabe and Dad (our point men) have been religiously documenting all their conversations with doctors, police, insurance agents, lawyers, etc. That has meant lots of housework here in CR during the week so that we can be gone all weekend. That has meant making sure that everything is squared away with Mom's finances, bills paid, paycheck situation addressed (she's going to be getting workers comp), and setting up money to keep track of all that. That has meant making sure things are running smoothly at Mom and Dad's house, getting some groceries for the fridge, doing the dishes and the laundry. That has meant Dad getting approved fro FMLA leave. That has meant trying to keep Mom up to date on her condition and making sure that she is being taken care of. That's figuring out what the hell we are going to do with our already planned Disney vacation in June. Most of all is just meant a lot stress and worry that's probably not going to go away anytime soon.

I worry how well Mom is going to recover. I worry that my Dad and Gabe aren't asking enough questions of the doctors. I worry that my Mom isn't getting enough information. I worry that my Dad hasn't been taking showers everyday. I worry that Luka won't ever know what Nana was like before the accident. There's a lot of worry going around.

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In other news, today I ran into Andy Stone, one of the missing friends from a previous post, in the parking lot at Babies R Us. Suz and he have moved back to Iowa from St Louis and they are now living in Ankeny with their two, yes I said two, boys. I got his email address and I plan on emailing him and getting together sometime. Email me if you want the address. That was actually really exciting.

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That's about all I got. Don't forget that no matter what happens to you it will always be hard out there for a pimp.

Vin Diesel

I heard a great poem today, a literary masterpeice even. Apparently it has been around on the Internet for a while. It goes something like this:

Vin Diesel had a little lamb,
it's fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Vin went,
the lamb was sure to go,
so he killed it

A Blog to Heal

For anyone interested in the latest news about Mom, we have created a new blog that we will keep current with relevant information.