The View From Wisconsin

My Dad is doing a bit better, but is still up at the hospital. He's been through two surgeries - one to remove a chunk of his intestines, the other to remove a benign tumor on his kidney.

He hasn't been looking so great in recent days, but it looks like his "innards" are starting to work again. Hopefully he'll be able to get off the NPO restriction and get that tube out of his nose, which has probably made him sound (and feel) worse than he really is.

Next step for him is to start eating and drinking. If he can do that and keep it down, he might be out by this time next week. Keep praying for him.

Ah, the joys of being an alum of an urban high school:

My alma mater, Racine's Washington Park High School, had to play their first round WIAA Division I football game without their starting tailback, Damonshay Pitt. Why, you ask?

He was charged with attempted armed robbery in a drug deal gone bad. He is in jail pending bail, and will probably not play again for the Panthers.

• Since I purchased my Wii, I've struggled a bit with the Wii Sports game that comes with the console. I've done a pretty fair job of being able to use the remote in baseball, but in Tennis and Golf - ugh.

Then, I found the Nerf Sports Pack for Wii. Basically, it's a hard plastic "handle" in which you put the remote, and it has three attachments that connect to the handle. One is a foam baseball bat; a second one is a tennis racket head; the other is a small golf club.

Believe it or not, the golf club has helped my Wii game immensely. I've actually hit par my last few times playing Wii Sports Golf. I have not, as of yet, used it on Super Swing Golf, but anticipate it to be just as helpful. Of course, my expectations are very low - I have so many snowman scores on SSG that I got no Pangaya points from my first round on the course.

• Giant Revive bike update: I had a minor problem add up to a medium-size one, and now it's a major one. I decided to try one last trek down the Lake Country Trail along the southern shore of Pewaukee Lake. This required me to put the bike on the carrier and drive over to the trail head by Country Springs Hotel.

As I started off down the trail, I inadvertently reset my bike computer, and had absolutely no idea how to re-program it for the right wheel size. Both of my guesses were wrong (I forgot the simple circumference formula of 2πr in my calculations), so I got the odometer and speedometers all messed up.

It got cold, so I didn't go as far as I wanted; I ended up turning around by the church on the lake and came back to the trail head. That was where the fun began: in trying to get the bike back on the rack on the back of the car, I cracked the chain guard plate. It's now in two pieces, which forced me to drive over to Wheel & Sprocket to see about a replacement. I also told them about my inability to get the bike on the rack. I purchased a bike "bar" that allows the bike to sit on the rack for transport... but there was about three inches of clearance between the front wheel and the road.

This wasn't entirely a huge issue, of course; the front wheel has a quick-release hub which allows it to be removed for such a situation. However, to release the wheel, you have to release the front brake as well. Doofus me didn't watch as the tech at the Delafield W&S undid the brake clamp, so I now have an inoperable front brake on the bike.

• Dad update: He got through the second surgery okay, this one to remove an apparently-benign tumor on his kidney. The doctor who removed it was pretty sure it wasn't malignant, based on his past experience and that he didn't see anything else on either the scans, the x-rays or when he was doing the surgery.

He's been trying to get up and walk a few times today, and it looks like his bowels are trying to start back up again - though it's difficult with nothing for them to work with. Today was the first day this week I didn't go up and see him, since I needed to have some time doing stuff for myself and I wanted him to rest.

• The diet hasn't been doing so well this week, mostly because of the situation with my dad. I'm back over 160, but I'm also back on the diet and on the physical activity bandwagon, as was seen above.
  

In a strange change of events, I actually had a grilled chicken snack wrap from McDonald's today - and forgot to special order it without the lettuce. For anyone that knows me, this is a huge thing. Not that I actually ate all of the lettuce, of course, but I did eat most of it.

• The cable went out suddenly after the top of the third in game one of the World Series last night. It was off for a good chunk of the night, and came back intermittently the rest of the night. Good thing, because it really sounded like that first game was a stinker after about the fifth.
  

What I haven't seen is why a good chunk of Waukesha County lost their cable signal for that length of time - nor why I still had my Road Runner account still up and going. Normally, RR is the first thing to go when there's an issue with the TV picture. RR was still working (as far as I could tell).

I'd planned on this being a "Wanderings In The Desert" blog, but plans changed.

• My dad is doing better after a second surgery to remove a growth on his kidney. It was a benign tumor that they found incidentally when they were doing surgery on his bowels for a blockage. He's actually managed to pass some more solid stuff, so that means the works are actually starting back up. Now to get him on to liquids, then solid stuff, then out the door.
  
• I would like to talk to the guy who does VMS times for the Milwaukee Area Freeway system. Nine minutes on I-894/43 from about 76th Street to Ryan Road on I-94 - when there's construction at the 20th Street overpass that is blocking one lane right before the Airport Interchange. I had to get off at Loomis Road to bypass the construction. Yeah, right, nine minutes.
  
• Guilty pleasure: Jalapeño Corn Bread rolls. Had them a couple of times over the last few days at St. Mary's (pardon me: All-Saints Medical Center Spring Street Campus) cafeteria, and they were yummy. My stomach, though, probably isn't liking the OD in OC.
  
• If the Rockies can beat Josh Beckett tonight in Boston, watch out. Though it's not likely they will do it (Beckett is 4-1 lifetime with a one-something ERA vs. the Rox), they could surprise people - especially since that one loss was just this year, and handed Beckett his first loss of the year.
  
• I'm having bye-week nightmares in my Yahoo Public Fantasy Football League. Of course, my team is a nightmare, as I'm obviously playing for the first pick in the entry draft for 2008...
• It felt really good to do some walking today at my dad's condos. The brisk fall air made for some interesting times for my nose (and the roads are a bit uneven), but it wasn't too bad of a day. I need to find someplace around here where I can do some walking so I don't get out of it from this week - and I have overindulged this week.
  

Any of you who are wondering why my posting has been erratic as of late, here's the reason:

My dad went into the hospital on Monday the 15th (three days after his 67th birthday) for a blockage in his intestinal tract. He was throwing up over the weekend, and they couldn't figure out why.

As I type this, he is in surgery at All Saints Medical in Racine (the hospital formerly known as Saint Mary's). I have no idea what is going on, since they won't tell me what's happening over the phone. Guess what that means - yep, road trip time.

We were scheduled to fly to Arizona next week Tuesday to his trailer in Mesa; I'm not 100% convinced that we will be doing that now.

This is a difficult time for me, obviously. My father and I are the only ones left from my family, considering my mother died many years ago and I was an only child. Keep him and us in your prayers.

That time of year again - the 2007 Major League Baseball Standardized Runs All-Star Teams.

The Standardized Runs formula:

SR = {OBP x [TB + .55 x (SB – CS)]} / SRF

SRF is a major league constant that changes from season to season; it is major league totals in the brackets {} above, divided by the total number of runs scored in the major leagues. The 2007 Standardized Run Factor = 1.03627.

OFIB, by the way, is the player's Offensive Fibonacci Wins total (Offensive Wins times Offensive Won-Lost percentage, plus Offensive Wins minus Offensive Losses).

AMERICAN LEAGUE
CA – Jorge Posada, NYY (113.5 SR, 11.92 OFIB)
1B – Carlos Pena, TAM (121.9 SR, 14.16 OFIB)
2B – Brian Roberts, BAL (106.0 SR, 10.95 OFIB)
3B – Alex Rodriguez, NYY (157.7 SR – best in majors, 17.42 OFIB)
SS – Derek Jeter, NYY (109.7 SR, 7.90 OFIB)
LF – Carl Crawford, TAM (100.6 SR, 7.62 OFIB)
LF – Manny Ramirez, BOS (89.2 SR, 9.89 OFIB)
CF – Curtis Granderson, DET (122.4 SR, 13.50 OFIB)
CF – Grady Sizemore, CLE (114.0 SR, 14.79 OFIB)
RF – Magglio Ordonez, DET (148.8 SR, 16.57 OFIB)
DH – David Ortiz, BOS (147.0 SR, 18.53 OFIB – best in majors)

NATIONAL LEAGUE
CA – Russell Martin, LOS (93.7 SR, 10.85 OFIB)
1B – Prince Fielder, MIL (134.9 SR, 16.82 OFIB)
2B – Chase Utley, PHI (120.5 SR, 13.83 OFIB)
SS – Hanley Ramirez, FLA (141.3 SR, 15.28 OFIB)
3B – David Wright, NYM (139.0 SR, 17.62 OFIB – best in NL)
LF – Matt Holliday, COL (152.5 SR – best in NL, 17.37 OFIB)
CF – Aaron Rowand, PHI (114.3 SR, 10.08 OFIB)
CF – Carlos Beltran, NYM (103.0 SR, 12.08 OFIB)
RF – Brad Hawpe, COL (103.3 SR, 11.59 OFIB)
DH – Jeff Cirillo, ARI (22.0 SR, -0.47 OFIB; Cirillo spent most of '07 in the AL)
PI – Micah Owings, ARI (13.8 SR, 1.91 OFIB)

CY YOUNG POINT ALL-STAR ROTATION

The Cy Young Point total formula is discussed elsewhere on this blog; it basically is a measure of the "real" number of wins a pitcher contributes towards his team, based on winning percentage, relief points and pitching performance.

AL Rotation:

• Josh Beckett, BOS (27.8 FIB, 15.0 CYP)
• C.C. Sabathia, CLE (25.9 FIB, 14.4 CYP)
• Fausto Carmona, CLE (24.4 FIB, 13.3 CYP)
• John Lackey, ANA (22.9 FIB, 12.4 CYP)
• Chien-Ming Wang, NYY (25.9 FIB, 12.3 CYP)

AL Bullpen:

• J.J. Putz, SEA (130 REL, 16.9 CYP)
• Joe Nathan, MIN (115 REL, 8.4 CYP)
• Francisco Rodriguez, ANA (126 REL, 7.3 CYP)
• Rafael Betancourt, CLE (17 REL, 6.5 CYP)
• Joba Chamberlain, NYY (7 REL, 6.4 CYP)
• Joe Borowski, CLE (133 REL, 3.1 CYP)

NL Rotation:

• Jake Peavy, SDP (27.4 FIB, 18.0 CYP)
• Brad Penny, LOS (24.8 FIB, 13.7 CYP)
• Cole Hamels, PHI (21.3 FIB, 11.2 CYP)
• Aaron Harang, CIN (21.6 FIB, 10.6 CYP)
• Brandon Webb, ARI (19.6 FIB, 10.5 CYP)

NL Bullpen:

• Takashi Saito, LOS (119 REL, 9.5 CYP)
• Jason Isringhausen, STL (104 REL, 8.4 CYP)
• Russ Springer, STL (14 REL, 7.1 CYP)
• Chad Billingsley, LOS (14 REL, 6.3 CYP)
• Carlos Marmol, CHC (11 REL, 5.2 CYP)
• Jim Valverde, ARI (135 REL, 3.9 CYP)