Props to the kids for setting a new record for dollars raised topping last years number by $800,000.
The total is unveiled to the dancers at the end of the marathon when the cards in the above photo are slowly raised from right to left – thus the million dollar digit is the last to be shown. Usually, everyone has a pretty good idea what the last figure is so it’s not really a shock.
This year was different.
There was a real concern that THON wouldn’t be able to top last year’s $6.6 million number. In fact, a lot of people didn’t even think they’d be able to make it to $6M. When the 490,000 number was displayed, I’m sure that most people thought that they had probably come up short. I’m sure that some even thought that the last number would be a five. When the seven was lifted up the place went absolutely bonkers. No one expected a dollar figure that high.
I’ll post video of that moment when I can find some.
This is my annual post where I talk about the Dance Marathon that the kids at PSU put on every year. It’s the largest student run philanthropy in the world. Last year they raised over $6 million dollars. Given the tough times at the moment, getting that much this year will be a real challenge. All the monies go to fight childhood cancers, hence THON’s rallying cry FTK – “For The Kids”.
Here’s a live link to what’s going on at the Bryce Jordan Center Arena on campus. I’ll probably head up Sunday afternoon to hear JR and Natalie perform – they are traditionally the last band to play for the kids.
THON 2009 Webcam
Rather than rehash what I’ve written before, here are some links to the old posts that I’ve made.
Missed out on a great opportunity today. PSU played Wisconsin in a Sunday afternoon hoops game covered by the Big Ten Network today (unfortunately, we played terribly and got beat). My standard routine for a basketball game is to TiVo it and come back and watch the game afterward.
Another standard routine of mine used to be to get up at half time and walk around the arena to stretch my legs. For most of this season I haven’t done that because walking up (the arena is sunken) the 30 some steps from my seat to the concourse was just exhausting. However, within the last two weeks I’ve resumed my half time exercise routine.
So after the game I come home and am watching the game replay. Just as the second half is about to start, the TV camera gradually zooms in on the fans behind the Wisconsin bench. They zoom all the way down to one fan who is standing by himself as the announcers talk about him. It was two time US Open champion Andy North who is a HUGE Wisconsin basketball fan and catches as many games as he can. The cameras zoom in so far that the only thing that fills the screen is Andy’s upper torso and the two empty blue seats behind him – my seats.
I was literally seconds from sitting back down. Blown opportunity to get some TV face time.
I thought you should get to see, and this time, hear them. I stumbled across this YouTube video of JR and Natalie recorded at the Cafe 210 on New Year’s Eve.
I kind of hoped that I might be in the video somewhere because New Year’s Eve was actually my first real night back out in public. Shortly after I got out of the hospital, I made it my objective to make it to the band’s New Year’s Eve show and I did (even if I did run out of gas and leave shortly after midnight). Unfortunately, I didn’t make an appearance in the video (or at least a visible appearance). I was actually standing on the other side of the state almost directly opposite the person with the camera so I’m somewhere there hidden in the shadows.
Here’s another clip from a night that I wasn’t there.
Back in the early 70’s a few of us here at PSU got a great idea. Â We decided we’d celebrate Groundhog Day with a party and a trip to Punxsutawney. Â Feb 2nd fell on a Friday that year (which with a little quick internet research tells me that the year was 1973). Â About 30 of us signed on. Â One of the guys was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and he arranged for the use of the fraternity party room. Â We also chartered a bus from the local bus company.Â
One keg rental and we were good to go. Â The party started about midnight and went until about 3:30 AM when the bus showed up. Â We all piled onto the bus, dragging the keg with us and headed to Gobbler’s Knob.
Gobbler's Knob
Punxsy is about 80 miles from PSU but in those days it was all back roads and probably well over a two hour trip. Lo and behold disaster hit us about 45 minutes out when our bus broke down. We had to wait almost an hour before a backup bus was located to fill in for the disabled one (rounding up a bus and driver at 4:30 in the morning evidently isn’t the easiest thing to do). With that delay we knew it was going to be a close call as to whether we would make Phil’s appearance or not.
Punxsatawny Phil
Sure enough we got to the Knob just in time to see everyone come pouring down the hill. Amazing no one seemed to mind (probably a result of the alcohol). On to phase three of the escapade – the Punxsutawney Country Club where we had reservations for the annual Groundhog Day Breakfast and where we got to meet the Groundhog Day Queen. We were treated like royalty by all the Punxsy folk – this was well before the movie and before it became a really huge deal to head to Punxsy – they thought it was great that a group would come all the way from State College.
Despite the amount of alcohol that we all had consumed, we were all on our best behavior and there were no incidents (I honestly don’t think we could do the same in this day and age – not to sound like an old fogey but every weekend here I see kids that just don’t know how to handle their alcohol). However, by 10:00 am or so, we were all pretty much exhausted. Word came that it was time to go and we all piled back onto the bus.
The ride back to State College was pretty quiet as the whole crowd tried to grab some shut eye. We pulled into State College and exited the bus in front of the fraternity house. I was at the back of the bus and was the last one off. Waiting at the bottom of the bus steps was my friend Chuck Gambone, who was basically the driving force behind the whole trip (Chuck was in grad school but worked part time for a travel agency during football bowl season so he knew all the ins and outs of making the trip arrangements).
Chuck’s first words to me were “Where’s GW?” (GW was Chuck’s roommate). I looked at him inquisitively. He repeated “GW. Wasn’t he in the back with you?” “Nope” was my answer. A little bit of panic spread across Chuck’s face at that moment as he realized that he had left his roommie in Punxsy.
We later found out that GW had gone to the bathroom just as we all piled onto the bus. When he came out he initially thought that we had just pulled the bus away for a bit to pull a joke on him. It wasn’t until 10-15 minutes passed that he realized that we really had left him behind. There weren’t any cell phones in those days so he had no way of alerting us to the problem.
Chuck was really upset but didn’t really know what to do. He figured he’d better hurry home guessing that GW would probably be calling often. Chuck raced home, walked into the apartment and was promptly greeted in a not so friendly manner by GW who was already home.
Fortunately for GW, his new Punxsy friends had taken good care of him. As soon as they realized that he’d been left behind they took him over to a table where the local Punxsy morning radio personality was doing his show. The host relayed the story about GW being stranded and asked his listeners if anyone was headed to State College that day. Within minutes someone had called in and offered GW a ride to SC. He actually wound up beating the bus home.
Chuck still lives in State College and whenever I run into him around this time of year, we have a good left about the failed Punxsy trip.
Just got an email from Lisa on an unrelated subject and she asked how I was feeling which made me realize it’s probably time for an update.
As I told her, I still have some minor issues but am getting better. Â Specifically, I have four issues, only one of which even concerns me in the slightest.
The first issue is my endurance. Â I basically have none and am easily winded. Â Once the weather turns nicer, I’ll start going for walks/runs and that should fix it.
The second is my strength (or lack there of). Â It’s really amazing how much strength I’ve lost. Â A week or so ago I decided to see how many push-ups I could do (actually, to be honest, I wanted to see if I could do ONE). Â I got in a push-up position and quickly realize that if I were to try to lower myself, I crash onto my face. Â So not only can’t I do a push-up, I can’t even do a lower-down. Â My doc suggested that I join a gym and start lifting weights. Â I’m not a big fan of gyms but I might have to take him up on his suggestion.
The third issue is one that I think that I have mentioned before. Â I have a numbness in my ring and pinky fingers on my right hand (it feels just like a permanent hit on the funny bone). Â At first I thought it might be carpal tunnel syndrome from sitting at my computer too much but a little internet research uncovered that carpal tunnel never affects those fingers, it’s the other three that are impacted. Â My doc gave it a fancy name, which I forget, but it’s basically a nerve in my elbow that’s getting squeezed or pinched. Â He said that what’s most likely is that all the sudden weight loss has caused things to shift around in my body and undoubtedly something is pinching the nerve. Â He said to give it a few months to see if I put the weight back on, which probably would fix it, or to see if things naturally shift again. Â If it doesn’t clear up on it’s own, he said he’d send me to a neuro guy who should be able to quickly fix it with minor surgery. It’s been a month and nothing’s yet happened (my weight is 175 so I’m keeping it down). Â I’ll give it another month or so before I make arrangements to have it checked out. Â Â
The fourth thing is the only one that I’m not sure what’s happening. Â There’s something fishy going on around my lower right rib cage. Â It’s like I have a muscle pull or something. Â Occasionally, I’ll make a sharp turn with my body, or rollover in bed, or take a sharp deep breath, and I’ll feel a slight stabbing pain. Actually, pain is probably too strong a word. It’s more like a discomfort. Â If it’s just a muscle pull like I think, it should heal up on it’s own so I’m just going to wait a while before I do anything about it. Â
Other than that, everything is fine. Â No more coughing at all which is the real good news. Â Everything else appears to be just a matter of time coupled with a little effort on my part.
Really had a good week. Â This is the first week where I’ve pretty much been able to do almost whatever I want without having any issues. I got winded on Monday scraping the snow and ice off of my car but didn’t break into a coughing fit despite the cold weather.
I spent most of the week at Tom’s house and was able to carry on conversations with him all week without them turning into a bunch of coughs – that was a first too.Â
I was out shopping this afternoon wandering around stores for about three hours without an issue – usually one trip around a store will wear me out but I walked all through Target, WalMart, and Best Buy without a problem.
I’m targeting New Year’s Eve as the rebirth of my social life. Â My favorite band, JR and Natalie, are playing at a local bar and I’m going to head there for the night (after my obligatory stop at the Tavern).
My friend Tom Minsker took these shots. I Â spent the last few days babysitting him. He had a hip replacement on Monday and needed to have someone stay with him until he was self sufficient. I’ve heard stories about how quickly people recover from hip replacements and always thought they were slightly exaggerated but now that I’ve witnessed it, I am truly amazed.
Tom had his surgery midday Monday. I picked him up at the hospital Tuesday afternoon about 24 hours after his surgery. He was in a little discomfort Tuesday but had no trouble sleeping through the night (which is a surprise unto itself because he often has sleep issues). Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the surgery, he was walking around his house with the aid of walker. By Thursday, he had gotten rid of the walker and was just using a crutch. Today, he was walking around without the crutch (although he did use it when we went to the grocery store this evening). Just unbelieveable.
I probably could have left him by himself after the first night because he was 99% self sufficient then. The only thing that he had problems with was bending over far enough to put his support stockings on (he has to wear supports for four weeks to prevent blood clots). This afternoon he mastered that so I left him on his own (but I will check in with him daily).
