Summer of Dan

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLXVI

An amazing man, an incredible woman

It's been almost two weeks since I completed Operation: Nana Extraction. It was quite the adventure bringing Nana home from Florida, one that I haven't had time to put into words and do justice to. That is coming, soon. Life is funny and it gets in the way sometimes.

One of the last things Nana said to Jessie and I before we dropped her off at home was there would be a hospice memorial service for all the people that lost their various battles in the past year, including Papa. She asked if we would want to go and of course we both said yes. 

We both got out of work later than we wanted, I got there in record time, turning a 50-55 minute ride into a 35 minute timewarp. It was important for me to get there for the beginning of it, so I could talk to Nana for a bit prior. She didn't think we would be able to make it but she was pleasantly surprised.

The service was wonderful and when Papa's face popped up on the slideshow it was admittedly hard to hold back the tears. Maybe it was the anticipation, not knowing where he was in the slideshow and seeing all these other people that passed and their faces, wondering what their lives were like and how they lived them and who they touched. Wondering who in the room was representing that person. Wondering if they were able to accomplish everything they wanted, if they were able to become the person they always wanted. It was tough having those questions run through your mind and then seemingly become ambushed by a familiar face. I have pictures of Papa all over - at home on the fridge, at work in my cube, rotating in my wallpaper assortments on my computers.

But this time it was different. I don't know why, but so many memories of my life with him were suddenly there - sitting on his lap when I was no more than 3 with a cake in front of me, being at the lake and him teaching me how to bait a hook, how strong he was with his hands and how much stronger he was with his voice. All in the time it took for his picture to display and disappear.

I spent this Memorial Day at Nana's, the house that Papa lived in and loved for over 40 years. We had some family and close friends over and as our usual, James came over to put in the pier with us. He wrote this on my Facebook, in regards to a post I put up about feeling my Papa there.

"You are right about him being there yesterday the whole time putting in the pier I could hear his voice in my head. Every time we had bolts on the sections I can remember how protective over those bolts he was like they were made from gold! I never wanted to be the one that dropped one in the water on his watch! Yesterday I was more deliberate holding onto a bolt and nut knowing he was watching us."

My grandfather was an awesome, amazing man, but my grandmother is definitely his equal. She's a rock. She turns 80 in a couple weeks and is sharp as a tack. She is incredibly witty, and has a quick wit that if you're lucky to be around even once you'll never forget.

56 years together. Unfathomable.

The hospice counselor said it was important to remember those we love and lost, emphasizing the word 'love' rather than 'loved'. Your relationship with someone changes when they pass away, it doesn't end. I never really thought of it that way but now I can't help but wonder how I ever thought of it any other way...

Papa was a one of a kind, as is Nana. I'm lucky to have been able to have my grandparents with me for as long as I have and see them as often as I did, learn from them as often as I could.

They really aren't the lucky ones. We are.

The King of Weightloss

Look, I'm not sitting here puffing my chest but as you can see with my Calories In vs. Out section I am REALLY REALLY good at losing weight. Like REALLY good.

Or I'm just really good at not putting my info into MyFitnessPal.

Or a bit of both.

I'm just old school, I like to record my info into my little notebook and MFP, but sometimes I forget so MFP loses that battle.

 

But according to my weekly FitBit updates I am WINNING THE WAR. Even if it's not as accurate as it should be I'll let it think I'm the MJoCD (Michael Jordan of Caloric Deficits).

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLVX

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLVIX

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLVIII

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLVII

A gentle giant gone too soon

This is so incredibly tragic. I saw this hit the news about 10 minutes after it was posted and was just floored. Aside from being an incredible player every time you heard any football player mention his name they were talking about him as a person, his character, how amazing he was, how loving he was. It's just so tragic. And senseless.

I've said it many times, I'll continue to say it until the NFL smartens up: they are playing the liability game as far as player safety. They are putting on a grand show with having team doctors clear players before they can go in after they have their bells rung and making sure it appears they care but they really don't. What they care about is being liable.

For lawsuits.

If the NFL honestly cared about player safety, they could be lightyears ahead in the concussion study department by simply mandating that all NFL players must wear a Riddell HITS helmet. Plain and simple. The helmets record every single impact, trajectory, speed, force, everything, for each hit. If you put every player in the NFL in one of those helmets and took all the data from even just one weekend of NFL football think of all the ways that information could help make not only football safer but other sports.

Now go full season.

Take a company like Google, hire them to break down all that information into numbers and things that makes sense and use that information to make the game safer.

Stop changing this rule or that - it's quite clear that those rules are designed to protect marquee players like QBs and WRs. You've never seen a rule put in designed to protect a defender. Ever. And you won't.

Simply put - the NFL wants high scoring games where their marquee players have advantages over the defense (hence every rule change that favors the offense for the last few years) and are as close to unhittable as possible. The evidence?

The Pro Bowl.

And yet, the NFL is talking about scrapping the game, saying it isn't real football: WELL NO SHIT. When you are Ray Lewis and got there because of your uncanny ability to guess the snapcount and blitz up the A gap and blow up the QB as he is handing the ball off to the RB and force a fumble you absolutely deserve to go to the Pro Bowl and use your entire skillset.

But that's not how it happens. They are hamstrung, all defenders are. No rushing in, no pressure. Why do you think players stopped trying in the Pro Bowl this year?? Where is the incentive to show up? There is none. It isn't football, it's a joke. If you want to fix it, make it have the same exact rules as the regular season games, LIKE EVERY OTHER SPORT'S ALL STAR GAME.

But like I said, the NFL doesn't care about fixing the Pro Bowl in the same way they don't care about fixing player safety. I'm hoping that with Junior's death it wakes some people up in the front office and realize that it's not all about the money.

Rest in Peace, Junior. Gone too soon. A Hall of Famer by any measure.

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLVI

Awesome Random Picture Friday - Part CLV