Father of Six

I don’t have a really good lead in for this post. The one thing that occurs to me each February/March is a hibernation of sorts. So these things and this formula are what I’ve been thinking about. Draw whatever conclusions you will.

X’s and O’s – NFL Business news and notes
So the free agency season began. The signing I found most intriguing so far was Chester Taylor leaving the Vikings for the in-division rival Bears. I see the Vikes losing about 100 carries and 45 receptions a year. That’s a good sized dent from a reliable back, and a good 3rd down back at that. This might be more about what the Vikes lose, rather than what the Bears gain. Plus, Taylor better not get any designs about my homeboy Matt Forte’s starting job.

Ex Libris – What am I reading, why, and do I like it?
Triathlete Magazine’s Guide to Finishing Your First Triathlon, by T. J. Murray. At various times in my life, I have no doubts that I could have completed a sprint to Olympic distance triathlon. I’ve just never felt compelled to actually enter one. Until now. I picked up a copy of this book to serve as a framework for my preparation. I like the book well enough, but I’m finding that I’ve been writing my own training plan based on my own fitness and experience.

Adult Cartoons – Seasonal Sports, Hockey general
Hockey. There was a free NHL Center Ice last weekend on my cable provider. I watched it all, from Friday evening through Sunday evening. It was compelling enough that I took them up on the discounted remaining season offer and bought the subscription. I have Stanley Cup fever.

I Won’t Say Combo Platter – What did I cook this week?
Thanksgiving. Several times each year, Tami likes to have a full Thanksgiving meal prepared. Works for me, because it allows me to try or perfect my turkey recipes. I stumbled on a new one this weekend, from Alton Brown of Food Network fame, and it was a winner. Here is a hint for all of you who are in charge of turkey preparation at various holiday events: brine the bird. Trust me.

First Down – On an upcoming sporting event – Soccer
The FIFA World Cup Starts soon. There are eight groups of four teams in the final tournament, set to begin round one play in South Africa on June 11th. Looks like Group G, comprised of Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea, is considered the “Group of Death,” which refers to the toughest World Cup group with the strongest teams, thusly making advancement to the second round precarious.

Time Out – What did one of my 6 kids do this week that I found remarkable?
Manda and Becca got jobs at the local Fox & the Hound. Becca is a hostess, and Manda is a waitress. Both seem to like the work. This is remarkable because Becca was the first to gain employment, and then in turn, referred Manda to them.

Second and Short – Cycling
So the professional bicycling season is well underway in Europe. Lance Armstrong is racing, have just finished 7th in the Vuelta de Murcia. He entered the event as a training competition. These early season races are important to follow, if only to gauge how ones fitness is coming. It the most telling stage of the five day event, Armstrong finished 7th, at 1:18 back in the individual time trial, behind the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Denis Menchov, and Andreas Kloden. I read nothing into that performance, but will be filing it away in the memory banks for retrieval after his next competitive time trial.

OctoEchos – What music I’m listening to, why and do I like it? Or just music.
I found a new music store to visit. Second Spin. It carries a massive inventory of used CD’s and DVD’s. I spent an hour in there browsing and came away with two Maceo Parker discs, and one each from Ahmad Jamal, Grant Green, and The O’Jays. The five discs cost me about $30. What a treasure trove that place is.

Man Coverage – Pick One Guy
Michael Owen – striker for Manchester United. I’ve enjoyed following Michael Owen’s career since he made a big splash at the 1998 World Cup. He’s had the injury bug and really hasn’t been fully healthy since his days with Liverpool. Dias aster struck again for Owen in Man U’s Carling Cup final victory over Aston Villa last Sunday. He popped a hamstring again, and this one will require surgery. Poor lad.

Halftime – What exercise did I get this week and how it correlates to a future challenge?
Have I mentioned that I’m training for a sprint distance triathlon? That’s a 500 yard swim, followed by a 12 mile bike ride, and finishing up with a 5k run. Last week, I cycled four times, swam twice, and ran twice in what I would call my acclimation and base-building phase. The event is June 5th, so I am 13 weeks out.

Third and Long – Local Teams
Did you know that the Denver University (DU) Pioneers Men’s Hockey team is ranked number one in the country? Did you know that DU just concluded the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) regular season by winning the league championship?
The WCHA playoffs start this Friday (March 12th) and DU faces off against Michigan Tech. One more note: DU is a NCAA Men’s Hockey 7-time National Champion? 1958, ’60, ’61, ’68, ’69, 2004, and ’05.

Scramble – What outdoors activity have I been up to this week?
So the company I work for decided to give out free pedometers and access to a website that tracks your walking activity and other fitness activities. It’s a neat little tool, and the website encourages you to challenge your co-workers to set periods of performance goals, have you compete against one another. My group of five guys decided to give the challenge thing a try. The goal is to walk the most steps from March 5th through March 26th. I decided to set a daily target of 10,000 steps for myself, and then adjust based on what the competition was doing. After three days of reporting, I find myself in 3rd place, a full 20,000 steps behind the first place guy. Apparently I need to adjust my target a little higher.

Upon Further Review – What sport sucks?
Golf sucks. I can’t say it any better than this guy, and as a couple of people remarked, watching it on TV just might be worse than playing it.

Special Teams – What does my real job have me doing?
A lot of baby sitting, and soothing the savage beasts. I’ve spent the past three to four business days educating people about what my team does, and defending my larger organization while being the least tenured leader in the group. I feel like I might have created a few enemies in the past week, but on principle, I think I can be proud of myself.

4th and … – Who should retire
Chris Chelios. I’ll admit it; there are probably some people who love Chris Chelios. Me? Give me a break. He played for Wisconsin – a rival in the WCHA for DU. He played for the Detroit Red Wings when Scotty Bowman terrorized the NHL’s Western Conference, and in particular, Marc Crawford. I have strong suspicions that Chelios was the reason USA Hockey flamed out in the Nagano, Japan Olympics, and then melted down and tore up a hotel, rock star style. He is still playing minor league hockey at age 48, and the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL (really, there is a NHL team in Atlanta? he asked incredulously) signed him to a contract on March 2nd, “just in case.” In case of what? C’mon son, retire and go open a restaurant somewhere.

Lagniappe – Something extra
I bought tickets to see the Gipsy Kings on July 9th at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. We’ll be sitting in the 14th row, center stage. I hope it doesn’t rain.

That’s all, folks. Have fun.

Wow. I’m pretty lame.

The millions of things I’ve done in the past month haven’t been significant enough to write about? I think everyone would agree that that is complete rubbish. And yet, here we are, the 10th of May, and my last entry was the 12th of April.

Will you trust me when I say to you that I have done some fantastic things in the past month? Can you believe that I’ve seen some beautiful sights, ridden my bicycle, exercised, eaten some wonderful food, watched my children do amazing things, watch it rain from the hotel window, built a fence, laughed at the silliest things, loved, been loved, breathed, sang, danced, and woke in the middle of the night, and still felt like I was dreaming? It’s true.

So here I am again. Writing an entry that doesn’t tell a story, but merely generalizes about the uniqueness of my existence. You should feel ripped off. I do.

Yeah. It’s been that long. Sorry.

I made Chicken Pojarski for dinner today. Served with potato and cheese Pierogies and asparagus, it has become one of our favorite special occasion meals. ‘Round these parts, we call it “Donna Chicken.” Long story.

Here’s the deal.

This is a chicken cutlet entree. You could buy chicken breasts and food process them yourself, but it’s much easier and time saving if you can find ground chicken.

Add the meat to the chilled bowl. Season generously with nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Next add melted butter, quantity varies, depending on how many people you are serving. Mix well.

Return the bowl and mixture to the freezer to chill. You want to be very cold when you shape the cutlets.

I like to do this part the day before the meal, including shaping the cutlets. So while I wait for the mixture to re-chill, this is what I do.

Next, using 1/2 a cup of the mixture for each cutlet, shape them into kind of a egg or pear shape. Football shape works too.

I return the cutlets to the refrigerator overnight.

When you’re ready to cook, you’ll need to prepare a dredging station. 1st flour, then lightly beaten egg, then bread crumbs. Dip one cutlet at a time into the flour, then in egg, then in bread crumbs. Press the crumbs gently into the cutlets then chill them until ready to cook. Warning – it’s a messy job!

Heat additional butter, cut with a little oil, in a large skillet on medium high, and carefully add the cutlets. Saute until golden brown (about 8 minutes) on each side.

I keep the cutlets warm in the oven while I make a paprika sauce to drizzle over the cutlets and pierogies. I also saute the pierogies in walnut oil.

And finally serve the dish with steamed asparagus. Snazzy plates optional.

What a week. I started Monday morning with a 10 mile spin around the neighborhood. Then flew to SJC. Worked Tuesday through Thursday in Sunnyvale. Got a hell of a good spin work out in Tuesday evening at the gym. Didn’t feel so hot the rest of the week, so I bagged my workouts on Wednesday and Thursday.

Denver got a “blizzard” while I was gone. Work and all other stuff was out of whack .

I flew home Friday.

Saturday, I did the grocery shopping, dropped off the laundry, went to work, and went back home. Tami and I went to a birthday party that evening.

Sunday, went to Tim’s and talked about his interview.

Then did a 50 mile bike ride. I hung half a hundred on it.

Later Eric and others came over to celebrate Eric’s 25th birthday.

So …

What it looks like out my airline window on the way to California.

And this is what my favorite recipe – fish in a bag looks like.

This is what it looks like for two hours each way on every flight. – iPod, and the puzzle page.

And this is what Boomer, me, and Eric look like on Eric’s 25th birthday eve.

I put in 112 miles on my bike this week, including 45 in a brutal, seemingly constant headwind yesterday. I think that was probably the worst day I’ve ever had on my bike. In places where I could easily do 25-27 mph, I pushed hard to to 10-12. It was a tough.

We had a good weekend. I took Boomer to the Denver March Powwow Friday morning. Frybread and a new wooden, hand-carved with the face of a wolf, slingshot were the highlights.

Tami and I went to dinner with Tim and Jeanne Friday night at the White Chocolate Grill. The food was fantastic, and as always, the company was even better.

We’re getting a new front door installed today. Tami has been asking for the old door to be replaced for about five years now, and it has finally made it to the top of the home improvement projects list.

I’ve been home for the past two weeks, but that changes tomorrow. I’m off the San Jose for the entire week, and it will be full throttle from now until Amanda graduates and we take our trip to New Orleans, May 25 – 29.

I started my training this week. This was week one of a 10 week cycling plan. I did a long 40 mile ride yesterday, and 103 miles for the week.

What’s the event? I’m still working on it. Remember that it is the 5-Year Diagnosis celebration on 5-17-09.

While out riding Saturday, I plugged in one ear-bud on my iPod and set it to shuffle. You get all kinds of oddities mixed in when you do this. I started with Dude (Looks Like a Lady ) from Aerosmith and finished with Iko Iko by the Dixie Cups. In between I had Shakespeare Sonnets 119 and 126 recited to me, two Lightnin’ Hopkins tracks, a couple of the Philadelphia Brass recordings of christmas carols, Django Reinhardt, Rush, Count Basie, Mozart, Rhonda Vincent, Montrose, Prince, The Rascals, Sly & the Family Stone, Three Dog Night, Eek-a-mouse, Dan Tyminski, Sting, Biréli Lagrène, and Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

One song that particularly resonated with me was The Sun is Shining Down, by JJ Grey and Mofro. It starts with a nice saxophone/trumpet trio, the vocals reminds me of a very soulful R&B lament, and the entire lyrical content just says something to me. I especially like the chorus where he sings, “Hallelujah – I’m alive and I’m feeling, feeling fine.”

Add this to the fact that it was a glorious Colorado Saturday afternoon and, well …

Yeah, I dig that.

Or, My Story of Cancer

I’m approaching my 5-year anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer. In recognition of this date, I wanted to jot down a few things as I remember them in the seven month ordeal, as it were.

1. On May 17, 2004, Dr. Brad Bell, Urologist, called to tell me I was diagnosed with Stage I Seminoma Cancer.

2. This was six days after he had performed a left inguinal orchiectomy.

3. On this same May 17th, Tami told me that we were expecting.

4. How do you suppose I felt, knowing that I had cancer of my reproductive system, and yet I was capable enough to fire a live round, and have it hit it’s exact and perfect target? Pretty damned stoked, that’s what I say. It was also a very good distraction.

5. On May 19th, we obtained medical confirmation that we were expecting.

6. I turned 43, and took my oldest daughter on a graduation trip to New Orleans at the end of May.

7. At the consultation of Dr. Leonard, Radiation Oncologist, we determined to have radiotherapy.

8. On June 8th I went to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center, had my radiation field set and double checked, and received three small tattoos to align the equipment in the same location each time. These are the only three tattoos that I have, and hopefully the only ones I’ll ever have. I’m a big fan of silk-screening and t-shirts.

9. On June 14th, I began radiation therapy. This was the first day of three weeks, five days a week, at a relatively low 2500 rads.

10. I didn’t have many side-effects from the radiation, just tired and a loss of hair in the shape of a rather large block numeral “1.”

11. My last radiation dose was delivered on July 3rd. I rented a jack hammer and removed our back patio that afternoon.

12. When something like this happens to you, I think we all start looking for different anchor points, or lighthouses. As cliché as it might sound, I admired Lance Armstrong’s story, and his perseverance. I read “It’s not about the bike” during this time and was inspired to Livestrong.

13. I went to London on business July 18th through 25th. I had plans take a quick trip to see Stage 19 of the Tour de France in Besançon. I became worried about my well being, and canceled at the last minute. I regret that decision.

14. I began a testing protocol of a CT scan and a chest x-ray every three months for the first year, every six months for the next two years, and once a year after that. They’ve all been clear.

15. I have a few earned nicknames as a result of this ordeal.

16. One Ball. And I’m not crazy, I’m just Half Nuts.

17. On December 20th, I saw someone work harder than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Nothing I’ve ever done comes remotely close to the energy Tami expended when she gave birth to our son.

18. I Livestrong for these seven specific reasons:

19. Tami Kay Feeney Worthington

20. Eric Andrew Worthington

21. Brittany Louise Worthington

22. Danielle Charlene Worthington

23. Amanda Elizabeth Worthington

24. Rebecca Catherine Worthington

25. Alexander Kenneth Feeney Worthington

I have something big, something significant in the works for May 17th, 2009 – my 5 year anniversary. It’ll probably include some kind of physical challenge, as you all know I have to suffer in order to know that I’m alive. And you can count on a party of some sorts.

Details to follow.

The past month has been extremely busy – I’ve only been in town for about 10 days. I’d like to stay home for about a month straight, but nay, I’m off to San Jose tomorrow for the week.

Meanwhile, I caught this moment with Becca running the vacuum in the basement library this morning. Pretty funny that she only had one sock on. Gotta love that kid.

What can I say? It’s been a slow weekend.