Day: October 1, 2005

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That didn’t hurt a bit!

Hello All!

I’m amazed at how easy registering was (once I received a bit more direction from Larry).

Larry and Gary, great job! You are absolutely right… this will be a great way to keep up with everyone’s life!

I’m suddenly finding myself without a whole lot to say… let’s see….

Well, I recently finished putting on a 200+ person event for work (last Monday) that went over really well. Or at least that’s what they’re telling me. Things were completely changed at the last minute (there is a major difference between a room being 51 x 59 and actually being 41 x 49 when you are setting up a trade show. BUT, while things were insane behind the scenes, the public thought that it was the best show yet (it was our third show and the first one that I’ve run). The Governor came (if I master the picture posting I’ll put one up of him and I) and I mentioned that Lisman has worked at Knoll forever (Governor Lynch is/was the CEO of Knoll). He began asking me a series of questions that I couldn’t possibly answer (what department, what location , how long has she been there, etc.) and I proceeded to smile and say, “I will find the answers to those questions as soon as my family’s blog is set up.” Okay, I didn’t actually say that, but I’m sure I’ll get my answers nonetheless.

Many of you met Brandon while we were in Chicago. I am currently planning his surprise birthday party (Chris, Nick and Mom you inspired me) which will take place on “Stevie Ditka’s” birthday (next Saturday). So far so good… he doesn’t seem to have a clue. Actually, I need to call his father because he’s planning on heading up to Freeport, ME to visit with his dad that evening. Something tells me that not having the guest of honor present that night would really throw a monkey wrench into the whole surprise party thing.

Well, it is sunny and 65 degrees in northern New England and the leaves are starting to turn. It is too beautiful to be inside any longer, so I will venture into the great outdoors. Much thanks to Larry and Gary for taking time to make this happen!

Blog ya later-
Shannon

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Health report

Had a visit with the doctor on Thursday.

He still believes I have a mild case of asthma. The asthma causes my lungs to be susceptible to viral irritation so if I get the flu the coughing can turn severe. Right now, under most circumstances coughing isn’t a problem but laughing triggers a series of coughs – the doc that’s typical and that cold weather might also trigger coughs – guess I have to move to Az or Fla 🙂 .

He told me to stay on the Singulair for the next few months – he thinks my coughing will continue to improve and will likely go away. Recommended that I continue to use the QVar inhaler twice a day like I have been (he says I am on the lowest dosage of the QVar) until we have had two frosts (which could happen very soon since we have a frost advisory for tonight). A couple of frosts will evidently kill any pollen that might be floating around causing me problems. After that he says I should just take the Singulair (thank goodness for insurance – the damn pills are almost $3 a piece but insurance covers $2 of it). Also suggested that I call him in a couple of weeks to get a flu shot.

Unless something changes for the worse, I’m not scheduled to go back to see him for almost four months.

When I first when to see him a month ago, my blood pressure was like 165 over something. He said that was “a little high” and I should watch my salt intake. I told him that wasn’t normal for me at all. When I went in to see him today, my blood pressure was 112 over 60 – the nurse said it was “perfect”. I confessed to the doc that I didn’t believe the first measurement so hadn’t changed my diet at all. He laughed and said “who knows, the problem might have been with the person taking the BP not you.” He’s going to run a bunch of blood tests just to make sure my vitals are alright – I suspect he won’t like my cholesterol when it comes back but I’m pretty sure everything else will be alright.

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Nice work if you can get it

When I was out last night I ran into a friend, Pete Lisicky, who is a former Penn State basketball player and is now playing professionally in Europe. With Pete was another former PSU player Calvin Booth. Calvin has been playing in the NBA for six years, usually averaging about 10 minutes per game. Calvin and Pete are in town for the football game today.

Calvin is in a unique situation. The NBA and their players association recently renegotiated their collective bargaining agreement. A new provision of the agreement was the amnesty player. This was a one-time deal where an NBA team could cut one player from their team without the player’s salary counting against the team’s salary cap – that was the team’s benefit. The team still had to pay the player the remaining money on his contract and the player became an immediate free agent – that’s the player’s benefit.

Calvin was the Milwaukee Bucks amnesty player. He then went on to sign a contract with the Washington Wizards for this upcoming season. That means that Calvin will be getting two paychecks this year. Now I don’t know what his contract with the Wizards is but I do know that the Milwaukee Bucks owe him $13 million over the next two years – not bad for about 10 minutes work 50-70 times a year.

That’s nice work if you can get it.

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Huge win for Penn State soccer last night

I got to watch Penn State’s men’s soccer team take on Indiana on national TV (Fox Soccer Channel) last night. PSU has had a terribly disappointing season to date. They were a preseason Top 25 team but fell out of the national rankings with a 2-6-2 start. Indiana has had their normal fine season. They are the two time defending national champions and had been #1 ranked up until last week when they slipped to #5 as a result of two ties. However, they were still undefeated and the game was being played in Indiana so Penn State was a huge underdog.

PSU pulled out a 2-1 win on a Golden Goal six minutes into overtime.

My buddy David Gray, whom you may remember from my post on the dummy blog, had his moment in the sun when the national TV cameras clearly caught him throwing an elbow at an Indiana player (the ref saw it too and it earned David a yellow card).

This was PSU’s second win over a ranked opponent in 10 days (they beat #6 Maryland here in State College last week) and hopefully will propell them to a successful B10 campaign.