Impact of Anesthesia

Hernia surgery started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 9:30ish.

After the surgery I somehow got dressed (vaguely remember 2 people helping me pull on sweatpants), rode an elevator down 4 levels, and got home. This is in contrast to the times at Virginia Hospital Center when I can remember everything about the recovery room.

For the rest of the day, I was not allowed to drive or make any financials decisions. But nobody can tell Doug what to do, so ...

I did what any person under the influence of anesthesia would do ... I bet on the Baltimore Orioles!!

Don't Bet While Drunk or Under Anesthesia

Mom's Vacay

 

Grandma Diane was inducted into the West Tech Hall of Fame, 

so Sara met her siblings in Cleveland for the ceremony.

The inductees

             Sara, Anastasia, Jimmy, Diane, Bob, Donna         Pope Francis wouldn't miss it!                                                   

Ana, Bob, Diane, Bev, Susie, David, Jimmy (no whiskey, so he had to drink wine)

Chuck, Donna, Tim (also traded whiskey for wine), 

Chrissy, Leanne, Ellen, Fran, Agnes

Fall Football Fun!

RJ and Sara got tickets to watch NDSU vs. Towson football game. 

Football in shorts and t-shirts feels different!

Julia and Doug hung out with Grandad.

RJ and Thundar 

The players came to thank the fans after the big win.

Luckily, we ate (one of everything!) before we touched all these players.

We used lots of hand sanitizer afterwards too!

 

Cross Country - another RJ sport

RJ and his friend Milo joined the cross country team. Practices were at Overlook Park on Tuesday nights.

Coach Matt addresses team at practice

Trail running obstacles (Oct 23 practice)

After a few practices St. Agnes had their first track meet. RJ ran 2km in 9 min, 12 seconds. That was good for 3rd place among 48 boys. It would have been 2nd place had one kid not taken a short cut.

RJ gets off to a fast start

Finish line!

At practice on October 24, Robert Brandt (Olympic hopeful) provided some motivation.

Team pic with coaches and guest motivator Robert Brandt

Robert and Robert

Soccer - another RJ sport

Golazos Soccer

Today was the first soccer game. Team Golazos won 11-1. The lone green team goal was scored when it was 7 players versus 4 players at the very end.

Coach Joel gives halftime instructions

Season Update

Nov 6, 2021: last game

Team Golazos was a 2 thumbs up experience. RJ (and the rest of the team) begged Coach Joel to organize the same team again in the spring. The team was quite a powerhouse ... winning all games except one. And most wins were by several goals.

Team Picture after the Last Game

Recording Studio

 What's better than Vegas in July? Phoenix, AZ in August. Doug took a trip to Sneaky Big Studios to record a company launch video.

Quiet on the Set!

Charlotte, NC Vacation

For Labor Day we headed to Charlotte, NC to see our old neighbors the Warrens. Christy was having a post-Covid ceremony to celebrate her wedding.

Day 1: Stop at Duke and Mountain Biking

We left around 5:30am. Since we were going through Durham, we decided to pull over and give ourselves a quick tour of Duke and grab lunch on campus.

Coach K's Last Year

While at Duke, I broke more rules that I did at my 4 years going there for college.

• Biked through Duke gardens
• Fed ducks in Duke gardens next to sign saying “do not feed the ducks”
• Biked backwards around the circle
• Filled water bottle with ‘not free’ water from some fancy dining place
• Parked illegally for 30 minutes
• Biked through the main area of west campus during a class changeover (maybe not a rule … but seemed like we shouldn’t be doing it)

Next we went mountain biking at Whitewater near Charlotte. See mountain biking blog post for details.

Next we checked into our hotel before going to see Jim and Liz Suppa for dinner at their house just South of Charlotte. 

Days Inn near Charlotte Airport

One of the biggest disappointments of the trip was not taking any pictures of the Days Inn. If you are thinking of staying in Charlotte, avoid the Days Inn. Here are some reasons:

• Entire hotel smelled like marijuana
• People were smoking in the hallways
• Several cars pulled up, parked for a few minutes, and left (a.k.a. Drug Deal)
• Several "ladies of the evening" were doing business there
• Next door to our room there was a "party" that seemed to last 24x7

For safety reasons, Sara decided we should switch hotels. Because of the Clemson vs Georgia football game, there were no vacancies within 40 miles, so we ended staying at the Hotel Suppa ... which was a great move.

Day 2: Christy's Wedding

The wedding was at a cool venue in a trendy part of Charlotte.

Only 3 kids were there, Julia and RJ played Corn Hole

Placeholder for picture from photographer

Father and Son

Day 3: Warren's Lake House and Chapel Hill

Mr. Jim and Mrs. Laura had people over for brunch the next day. We were early (because we messed up our timing with church), so we went to a park. 

After telling Sara that there are tons of Johnson's in NC, we found this!

 

Their house was on a Lake so Doug went swimming and the kids got to go tubing. 

RJ gets ready for a tube ride

Kids with Jim and Laura Warren

After some Lake fun we went to our hotel between Durham and Chapel Hill. Since we visited Duke before, we decided to get dinner on Franklin Street near UNC.

Near the Dean Smith Center

Hopefully UNC admissions did not see this ... or maybe it would help :-)

Biking at Whitewater

Our first planned vacation activity was biking at the Whitewater mountain bike trails. The trails were top notch and just 20 minutes from Charlotte, NC.

First we tried the Lake trail (green). RJ said it was too easy. Doug rode in the middle. Sara and Julia were troopers. 

Quick picture on the Lake trail

Next, Sara and Julia investigated the whitewater, zip lines, and other activities for a future trip. Doug and RJ went to the South Main (blue) trail. This trail was quite the thriller. I thought we were doing well until a runner when flying by us.

Doug had so much fun that he convinced everybody to go back on Saturday. Julia and Sara dominated the Panda trail. Julia got so good at it that she was able to race around it. If you listen closely at the end of the video, you can hear Julia counting and declaring that Sara was "98, 99, 100 seconds behind."

Doug and RJ explored some longer blue-trail loops. But the "blue" trails were not as technical as South Main from Day one.

The trails were well marked ... but we had to refer to the map once or twice

The rail trail (green) sounded pretty lame, but turned out to be good. We also liked Bandit (blue) and the big down and up on Smokey (blue).