Jim, what in the world is this all about?!?

From MajorDC

A New Day

An historic election for our country. God Bless America.

Football Wrapup

I just realized that I hadn't given the final update to the football season. Cole's team was knocked out of the playoffs in round 2 by another Loveland 5th Grade team. The good news is that that team went on to win the CYFL 5th Grade Championship. Go Tigers! They played one more game after that, and Cole got to play quite a bit, plus the coaches were much more relaxed with the playoffs over with.

Zach's team played 3 more games after their playoff defeat, winning 2 and losing the last one.

Both kids are relieved to be done with football practices. Now we get about a month off and basketball season will start up. But that should be much easier to manage, since there'll be one practice and one game per week.

One win, One Loss

Well the past weekend of playoff youth football was a mix of good and bad. Cole's team was victorious on Sunday over a previously unbeaten Lakota team 6-0. Cole and the rest of the 2nd stringers didn't get to play because the game went down to the wire, but it was still an exciting victory. They now get to play another Loveland 5th grade team in the next tournament game, with the winner going to the league championship a week later.

Zach's team suffered a disappointing loss to Mason 28-19 on Saturday. The Tigers started out slow and were down 14-0 about 5 minutes into the game and were never able to overcome that deficit. Zach had a good game personally with a couple of nice tackles on defense. They get to play a couple more non-tournament games, but the quest for the championship is over for them.

Playoff Season

Both boys have tournament games this weekend. Zach plays against Mason on Saturday. Cole plays against Lakota on Sunday. Loveland HS won a big game on Friday night against Harrison. Here's hoping for a couple more nice victories for the Tigers.

Balloon Ride

I just realized I hadn't posted the news on the balloon ride we all took last month. Better late than never.

Back on August 9th, a Saturday evening, the four of us drove up to Lebanon for a sunset balloon ride that took us over lovely Lebanon, OH. I mentioned in an earlier post about our false starts the previous week, but this time the weather cooperated.

It was a fun ride. Pam and I had done a balloon ride before out in Arizona, but it was a brand new experience for the boys. They think it's pretty cool that less than .1% of the population has been on a hot air balloon ride.

So thanks to all my family members that pitched on this gift for my birthday. It was a very memorable gift.

Picture album of all the action is below.

We Have Power

The OH version of Hurricane Ike is slowly fading from our lives after the hurricane force winds it brought us on Sunday.

We got our power back in the middle of the night (around 2am), after it being off since Sunday at 2pm. So it's nice to be back online with everything after 36 hours in the dark, although missing the Bengals game on Sunday was probably a blessing in disguise.

We lost about 60% of the stuff in refrigerators. We kept some stuff cold using coolers and ice. Now we just have to get the roof patched up and we'll be back to normal. We lost about 20% of the shingles off our roof in the wind. Thankfully there's been hardly any rain since then. We're due for a visit from a local roofing company today or tomorrow.

Failure to Launch

For the second time our family hot air balloon ride was called off due to imperfect weather. We had scheduled the first time back in early July for a sunrise flight. That one didn't go off due to threat of thunder storms. Our second attempt was yesterday evening (Saturday). This time it looked promising. The weather was pretty nice, but it was a bit too windy for ballooning - 15 MPH winds, when 10 MPH is about their comfort limit. (The balloon folks were very nice about things though.)

So we are going to try again for next Saturday evening. Wish us some good weather.

Gentle Breeze Ballons

Farewell, Junior

The Griffy, Jr. era is over for the Reds. It's disappointing that he and the team weren't more successful during his eight years as a Red. But hopefully he and the Reds will benefit from the trade. I think he'll be better off somewhere he's not the main media focus.

Dayton Dragons Brawl

This was crazy.

Brawl video from Dayton Daily News.

Luke's Top Songs from 1st Half of 2008

All my traveling and hotel time gives me plenty of time to listen to my tunes. Here's what I've liked so far this year. (click on the cassette tape)

Only 18 days until Football practice starts

Zach's first pre-season game is on August 9th. Cole will probably have one that weekend also. So much for Summer break.

Another Braves Championship

Cole's Braves won their championship game Monday evening, beating the Brewers 4-2. Cole played another excellent game, as he batted in 2 of the Braves' 4 runs, and made a nice scoop play at first to save an out.

So we have another Braves championship to celebrate in the family. Congrats to Cole and his team. It was a fun season, and it's always great to end with a big victory.

Take me out...

To the ballgame.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Reds game

Getting ready for the game, after a couple hour rain delay.

Go Reds. Beat the Nationals.

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Trivia champ

Cole won the trivia game at BW's (with some help from his dad) last night. We went there with the Alkires when the baseball game was called off.

Not finished yet

Cole's game was rained out Thu night. Tentatively going to try it again on Mon evening.

One more game

Cole's Braves lost a close game Wednesday night. They fell to the Brewers 5-4. The good news is that the tourney is double elimination, and that was the Braves' first loss. So they get to play the Brewers again tonight (if the weather allows) in the (real) final game.

Cole played a great game with a double and a fantastic catch for an out in left field.

Good luck to Cole and the Braves.

(Loveland) Braves Keep Winning

Cole's Braves team is following in the footsteps of Zach's team. The 10U Braves beat the Brewers 7 - 2 last night to secure a place in the finals of their end of season tournament. Cole had a very good game belting out 3 hits, including a double, but didn't get a chance to pitch.

They finished in the bottom half of their league, so they are in the consolation tournament, but winning tournament games is still fun no matter who it's against. They'll play on Wednesday night for the title game, against the team from the losers bracket. It's double elimination, so the other team would have to beat the Braves 2 games in a row.

Great Way to End the Baseball Season

As a follow up to the earlier headline, Zach's Braves team finished their season by beating the Loveland Blue Jays 9-8. The Jays were 16-0 going into the game and were by far the best team we had faced this year.

The whole Braves team played terrific. They were even shorthanded with only 9 players, when they are allowed to play with 10 in the field. Zach went 3 for 3, with 2 singles plus a cannon shot that went for a triple. Then he saved the game for the Braves by pitching the last inning. He hit one batter a walked a few, but kept his composure and struck out the last batter with the bases loaded to cement the victory.

The Braves captured the title after being the 3rd seed at the start of the playoffs. They needed an extra inning to win their first playoff games against the Angels, but exploded in the extra frame to win 12-5. Then they had an easier time in the semi-final, beating the Reds 14-4 to get into the championship.

Zach had a great team and they were fun to coach. It all reminded me of the one baseball championship team that I played on back in Buffalo. Dad coached the team when I was about Zach's age. I might have been in 3rd grade, but I was one of the younger kids, and the team was very good. We played the last game at the Red House field, but don't remember what team we beat. I didn't play much in the title game, and didn't pitch the last inning like Zach did, and probably didn't hit any triples. But winning is always fun.

Champions!

Zach's team won the Loveland 8U world series.

Way to go Braves!

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Congrats & Happy Anniversary to Casey McAlister

Lance McAlister is a Cincy Sports Radio Talkshow Host. His son Casey, who is Zach's age, just celebrated his 5 year anniversary of a life saving bone marrow transplant.

Five years ago today, June 20, 2003, a perfect stranger saved our son's life.

Today is the anniversary of Casey's bone marrow transplant. Casey was diagnosed with AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) on July 31, 2002. Casey remembers bits and pieces, but a lot of what he went through is fading away. He went through tests, round after round of chemo, multiple doses of radiation, cat scans, spinal taps and other procedures. His hair fell out again and again. He got fevers. He threw up.

The day he was diagnosed, I did my show from Georgetown for the start of training camp for the Bengals. I was driving home when Kelly called and said they were on their way to Children's Hospital. His doctor said something wasn't right with his allergies. We had grown concerned with the swelling around his eyes and a bump on his forehead. After a night of tests we were told he had leukemia. The bump and swelling were leukemia cells gathering in his sinus area.

Casey was a big fan of Bob The Builder at the time. On the spot, in his hospital room, we created our own saying, "Can we fix Casey, yes we can.". Kelly and I cried that night but said that would be the last time we would cry. We could not change what had happened, but we could work on the future. The round of phone calls to inform family and friends was rough. Each call pounded home the reality of the situation..

Casey stayed at Children's for over 200 days all together....in for 46 days...home for a few days....back in for 38 days and more chemo. On and on it went. We felt as though we were on a treadmill that never stopped. We set up a rotation to always have someone with Casey at the hospital. Most of the time Kelly stayed with Casey during the day. Our parents, who came from Indianapolis, Chicago, Charlotte and San Francisco, or our neighbor, would watch Peyton. On a typical day, I would go to the hospital after work at 6pm, and spend the night with Casey. Kelly would come by in the morning. I'd run home, shower, work on my show, play with Peyton and head to work. Peyton was just a month old at the time and wasn't allowed to visit Casey. She has just recently started asking about why Casey was in the hospital.

I'll never forget what I consider the defining moment of Casey's fight. I was putting him to bed after a day of throwing up. I said, "Tomorrow will be a better day." He looked up at me and asked, "Was today a bad day?" One of the roughest days was when doctors inserted a feeding line. The chemo made eating impossible at times. Doctors had to insert the line thru his nose and into his stomach. It broke my heart to hold him and hear the screams as they threaded the line. He had it put in on three different occasions.

Casey responded well to the initial treatment and after about nine weeks...the leukemia cells were gone and he got to go home. We were so excited. We thought we were through the toughest part. Sadly seven weeks later the leukemia returned. We were playing in the basement when I took the call from the doctors with the news. How do you tell a three year old he's going back to the hospital and has to go through it all again? Casey said we'd just have to knock the "ickey stuff" out of his body again. But this time, things were much more complicated.

The leukemia was aggressive. It had returned in his jawbone. Our only option was a bone marrow transplant. Kelly, Peyton and I were not a match. We were at the mercy of the marrow donor registry of over seven million donors. Doctors could not find a match. They did find a donor close enough to a match to try it. It was Casey's last chance. He was given a 20% chance of survival. The donor was a mother in the Boston area. She had been in the donor registry for ten years and had never been called. She had moved several times and it was difficult for the registry to track her down. They finally did and she agreed to be his donor.

His transplant took place around 6pm on June 20, 2003. I've never been so scared in my life. Yet, the transplant was simple. They hooked him up to a drip line and it took about an hour and twenty minutes. He was wide awake and aware of what was going on. During the transplant he watched Trading Spaces. Midway through the transplant he said he was hungry. He requested spaghetti and meatballs.

We woke up each morning after the transplant checking his skin. We feared Graft vs Host Disease...rejection of the marrow. Eventually he was allowed to come home. But because of fear of colds and germs, he was not allowed out around the public for a year. His body would not have been able to fight off colds and infections. We got creative with getting him out of the house. He loved car washes. He loved driving around the country/farms. We did both...a lot. We'd pull up along fences with cows and he would moo at the cows. Each day we asked Casey if the marrow felt like his own yet and he said no. After one year he finally said yes.

Over the past five years his doctor check-ups/visits have gradually been reduced. From once a week to once a month to now once every six months. The three year anniversary was a huge hurdle for him.. Doctors say there is no longer a reason to believe the leukemia will return. Doctors in general hesitate to use the word "cured" these days. The five year mark is significant. Casey moves from being treated by the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit to the Long Term Care Doctors.

He will face issues from the leukemia and radiation treatments he received the rest of his life. He has bad teeth. They are coming in every which way...and loose. Some teeth have no roots. He had two teeth pulled two weeks ago. He got a bottom retainer last week. He got top front braces this week. He has cataracts. He will have surgery on one eye later in the summer and the other eye around Christmas. He's learning to deal with his vision issues and playing baseball. Some days he gets four hits, some days he strikes out three times. He says the pitches are right on him before he gets a good look at them sometimes. Considering what he's faced, we can all deal with crooked teeth and glasses.

Today we thank God for providing Casey with the strength and support to fight through this. We thank family and friends for the support structure provided. They came to town and stayed weeks at a time to help us. We thank the doctors and staff at Children's Hospital.. We thank listeners to the show that provided thoughts and prayers with calls and emails of well wishes for Casey. And we thank everyone for charity events done to help us raise money for Make A Wish, the Leukemia Society and Children's Hospital.

As much as Kelly and I tried to be a rock for Casey, he set the tone for our family....at age three. His positive attitude inspired us. He never complained about anything. When I'd think I had a bad show or bad day, I'd walk into the hospital room and see his smiling face and he put it all in perspective. I once said leukemia had met its match.. I was right.

Casey is now 8-years old. He will enter the 3rd grade. He loves school, loves math, reading and video games. He gets great grades. He plays baseball and basketball.. It's fitting that we celebrate this day by him playing a baseball game tonight. We are so proud of him. He's our hero. We love him very much. Here's to a Happy Anniversary!

Original post on Lance's Blog

Going to see O.A.R

Pam just kindly bought tickets for Sarah and I to go see O.A.R. on Aug. 12th at Riverbend in Cincy at the new Pavilion, which is smaller than the ampitheater/lawn arena. Should be a fun show.

Here's a sample of what we'll hear...

Wonderful Day - O.A.R. - Stories of a Stranger

Wonderful Day - O.A.R. - Stories of a Stranger

Trip to Sandusky

Back on Memorial Day weekend we took a trip to the northern end of Ohio. We stopped on Friday night to stay with GrandJane, and then spent Saturday to Monday in Sandusky. We stayed the first night with the Schusters. Steve and Val had a wedding to go to Saturday night, so we took our boys and their 2 girls, Caroline and Allison who are 9 and 7, to Cedar Point that evening. Then we went on Sunday to stay at the Kalahari waterpark, which is the 2nd largest indoor waterpark in the world, and the largest in North America. Zach had been saying he wanted to go there for his birthday so we did, and we had a great weekend.

2008-05 - Sandusky Trip

Dad & Zach Campout

Zach and I went to the annual Spring Guides campout last weekend. It was supposed to storm Friday night, but it didn't hit us. We had to run back up to Loveland mid-day on Saturday for his baseball game, so we missed a bunch of the games and activities. But it was great weather and we had a fun time. (I think Cole had a good weekend without his brother, too.)

Here's a link to the pics I took (click on the pic below to go to the full album).

IG Spring Campout

Another New Begining for the Reds

Let's hope this is true...

Walt Jocketty should bring October baseball back to Cincinnati

Wednesday was a good day for the Cincinnati Reds. They didn't just hire a new general manager. They hired one of baseball's most successful general managers.

Walt Jocketty has both credibility and a terrific track record. Years from now, that's the part of the story people will remember. Departing GM Wayne Krivsky might have had his feelings hurt, but that's going to happen when franchises are rebuilt.

Mark it on your calendar. This is going to be remembered as the day the Reds began their climb back to prominence.

Loveland star IU-bound

Bobby Capobianco is a Loveland HS Junior stud hoops player. The Enquirer reported today that he's committed to play for IU after next year.

He's the best basketball player Loveland's had come through since we've lived here. Funny thing is we were just at the local Skyline two days ago and saw him eating with a couple of his friends and I pointed him out to the kids. I've heard he's a really good kid, and it's great he's going to be able to play at IU with Tom Crean taking over there. I hope he has a great career (but not too great when they are playing the Buckeyes). But even before that, I hope he and the Tigers can do some damage in the OH HS Bball Tourney next fall.

Earthquake!

Around 5:30am today a magnitude 5.4 rumbled through the Midwest. Here's the Enquirer's story.

No one in our house noticed it, since we were all still asleep. But some of the neighbors at the bus stop this morning said they felt it.

I remember one hit in Lima when we lived on Oakland Pkwy, but I didn't really notice that one either.

Baseball Season

Well the weather stinks again this weekend in Loveland, about 50 degrees, overcast, and windy. But, that doesn't mean it's not time for Baseball season to start up.

The boys have been practicing (sporadically between spring storms) for a few weeks now. And next weekend, the 19th, they both start their regular season schedule. They will have games every weekend, except Memorial Day weekend, thru Mid June.

Loveland changed their youth baseball affiliation this year, and are now part of Little League, instead of Knothole Baseball. As part of that change, they moved to using Major League team names. And it just so happens that they both get to be the Braves this year, Zach on an 8 and under team, Cole on a 10 and under team.

So, GO BRAVES!

Canton

Our final stop on our Spring Break '08 tour was in Canton to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The kids liked most of the stuff there, but Zach commented that a lot of the stuff was "about old guys". Zach did like finding Anthony Munoz, since he wore number 78 for the Bengals, and that was Zach's number in football last year. The highlight for the boys was that they got to play Madden '08 in one of the interactive displays at the end of the tour. (Never mind that they can play that game at our house whenever they like.)



The Hall had a few exhibits under construction, so we got 4 bonus passes to use later this year. Not sure if we'll be needing to go back that soon, but it was a fun stop to make on the way home from Cleveland.

Cavs vs Hornets

 

In our continuing Spring Break tour, we drove up to Cleveland for a Cavs game Wednesday night against the New Orleans Hornets. Cole won a free ticket to the game though a school fundraiser, and the rest of us bought tickets. It was a weeknight game, but since it was during spring break, it worked out well. As part of the deal, Cole got to go out on the court pre-game and shoot baskets with a bunch of other kids. The 2nd picture is of him shooting, although its mostly just a blur of Cole and ball.

It was a good game, but the Cavs came up short. LeBron had them up 1 with about 10 seconds left, but Chris Paul and David West did them in right before the buzzer.

Spring in KY

We made a quick spring break trip to Kentucky to see a couple of sights. We went with our friends Vic and Laura Villegas and their kids Sara(8) and David(5).

We first went to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Sara is fond of horses and takes riding lessons. It was a bitter spring day, but all of us Hankinses went on a horse ride with Sara and Laura.

After finishing up at the Horse Park we drove a couple of hours and spent the night in Bowling Green. Then the next morning we drove up to Mammoth Cave. Unfortunately, Cole was under the weather that morning, so he and Pam had to skip the tour. Zach and I went on a 3 hour cave tour that included a lunch inside the cave. After we got back, Cole was feeling a little better. We were able to take all 4 of us on a quick self-guided tour of the main cave entrance, so that Pam and Cole could see a little bit of the cave before we headed home.

Easter

We don't normally spend Easter at our house, but did this year, since GrandJane was off getting getting her Ellie fix. (Ellie was much more "Eastery" in her dress than either of our boys were.)

We had the Alkires over for some ham and the kids did a brief egg hunt, mostly so they could get to the treats inside the eggs.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the new Wii we just got. So far nothing has been broken, but it only be a matter of time.

Blizzard

We are socked in this weekend by a serious snowstorm. They've been saying "blizzard warning" on all the tv stations, but I don't think we're getting the 35mph winds that are needed for an official blizzard. Whatever you call it, it's a lot of snow. It started coming down Friday morning and hasn't let up much yet. It should calm down later this afternoon.

I took this picture of our back patio around 11am, while it was still coming down. There were 13 inches on top of the patio table, and I'm sure some of it must have blown off.

The kids are enjoying it, even thought they didn't get to miss any school for it.

Happy birthday, Cole

Mr. 10 year old.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

LOLCATS

Sarah, are you writing stuff for this site? I think you must be (or at least should be.)

icanhascheezburger.com

I'm still on my Vampire Weekend kick

Here's a VW video.

Finally a Pinewood Winner

Zach's Pinewood Derby Car won this past weekend! Well, it didn't win the big trophy, but it did win first place in our Guide Tribe and was awarded a blue ribbon. After 5 years of trying this dad finally brought home a victory in the racing category. The boys have both won awards for decorations, but this was our first actual racing victory of any sort. Zach was very excited (and so was I.) I barely want to mention that this year our tribe only has 6 kids in it, compared to last year's 11 kids, but hey a win is a win.

Pics to follow of the happy car owner.

Pinewood car

Zach's car is slowly coming together for next weekend. Can anyone guess where the color scheme comes from?

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U2 3D Movie

Pam, this looks really cool. We need to go see it sometime. Maybe for my birthday [hint]. It opens at the Rave 2/15.

Vampire Weekend - My Favorite Band (this week)

I've been listening to a few of their songs previously, but Vampire Weekend just released their first full album, which I quickly downloaded from Amazon. And I'm now hooked on it. I have read one description of it being a cross between Paul Simon's Graceland album and the Talking Heads (via Fred Wilson here), and that's a pretty good call. Whatever it sounds like, they are simple, catchy tunes, and I'm digging them. You can hear the 30 second previews on Amazon or iTunes, but you can listen to longer versions at Last.fm.

Rock on.

Update: I just saw these guys are playing a show in Cinci on 2/13. Sadly, that's a Wednesday, and I'll be out of town that day. Sarah, you should go and tell me how they were.

Zach's Basketball

Zach started playing for a YMCA (Blue Ash) basketball team this week. He had his first practice Monday night and his first game is this Saturday. He plays nearly every Saturday for a couple of months.

Here is the schedule we have for his games, which Pam pulled together from the coach's handout.

January 26th – 11 am, court 1
February 2nd – NO GAMES
February 9th - 11 am, court 1 (Zach also has Pinewood Derby for Indian Guides that a.m., so don’t know which he’ll go to, if he has to choose)
February 16th – not going, as Zach (and the rest of us) will be out of town.
February 23rd – 9 am (YIKES…no coffee, as no food or drinks are allowed in gym), court 1
March 1st – 12:00, court 2
March 8th – 11 am, court 1
March 15th – 11 am, court ?? (not on sheet, but I think it should be court 1)

More bonus time @ CVG

Didn't take long to get my first delay of the year.

Flight was delayed because our flight attendant "timed out". I've had computer programs time out before, but that was the first time I'd heard that happen to a person.


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Sleepovers and Bowling with Zach

Cole and Zach both had sleepovers this past Friday. Cole went to his friend Logan's house for the night, where they were joined by another friend Kyle. Cole's report was that they went to bed on Saturday and were up by 6am, so he's been catching up on his sleep since then. When Zach heard Cole was going to be gone, he asked if he could have someone over to stay with him. So, he invited his friend Christian, who lives in the neighborhood. They managed to get to sleep before Saturday arrived (around 11:30) and they slept until around 7, which is still not quite enough shuteye for Zach.

But Zach caught up on his sleep a bit on our way to and from our Indian Guides bowling outing on Saturday. We bowled and ate pizza for 2 hours with the "tribe." Zach would roll the first ball of the frame and I'd finish up. We started slow, finishing last or next to last out of 6 dad/son teams in our group. But the second game, we improved enough to finish first in the group. That probably had more to do with the others teams tailing off, but Zach was excited that we redeemed ourselves. It was lots of fun, and much easier for me this year, since I didn't have to bowl with 2 kids this year.

BTW, Zach's Pinewood Derby will be on Feb. 9th, a Saturday morning, if anyone would like to come by and watch those festivities.

GrandJane Takes a Technology Leap

Today I went up to Lima with Zach for a quick visit to setup our Xmas gift to Mom - her new computer, a new Mac Mini. That's right GJ is now rocking like it's really 2008 as opposed to her old 1.2Ghz clunker!

Not only is she rolling with new hardware (including a sweet 22in flat panel monitor), but she made the leap into Macland. She's got her work cut out for her learning her way around the new Mac, but she was excited to try it. And I think once she gets the hang of the basics, it will treat her quite well. I've not owned a mac myself yet, but I must say they are really easy to set up and use.

So if anyone has delays in getting emails to or from her, cut her some slack as she's in her adjustment period.