One week until baseball starts

One week from today I will be sitting at U.S. Cellular Field, next to Mike, waiting for the first pitch of the 2010 White Sox season to start, just like we have done for the previous 6 seasons since we have been together, and for Mike it’s the 10th year in his season seats. This is a day that we have waited for since baseball ended in October.


To start, Mike and I have what many would see as a very strange relationship. We have been dating for almost 6 ½ years, with pretty much no pressure or pitfalls of most normal relationships. We are just happy being us, while we think about the future we don’t have deadlines and dates set, we just live our lives, and let things progress however they do, there is no pressure. Also many of our likes/dislikes, political, religious, and life views are completely opposite each other, including things we like to do. There are three major items (Major Items) that we have in common, our love of TV and movies, baseball, and the decision to agree that most things in life we will not agree on. It really is something unique, that I don’t think that anyone outside of us gets. On that note, while we spend most of our time together, we both still have friends who are close to us that we spend vast amounts of time with that have never met each other. I have friends, whom I spend a good amount of time with, who have never met Mike, and vice versa, but that’s just because we don’t force each other on our friends or to do things that we might not be particularly comfortable, or like doing. I like to say that our lives are separate but together. It’s a rare occasion where either of us feels forced to do anything. While we don’t spend a lot of time talking to each other about our future plans during the course of a normal day, week or month, there is one place where most of our life decisions have been made. That is in Section 158 of Sox Park.

It seems like in our relationship, opening day is like a fresh start to a new year, finally getting back to our summer home. So much of what makes us, US happens when we are sitting at the ballpark. We get to talk with old friends, laugh about long time "inside jokes" and make new memories every year. This year will be different since one of the old friends has moved away, and we do hope that we get to see him at least at a game or two this year, but even if he can't make it back to Chicago, we will be thinking about him.

Sox Park has become a place of refuge, and a summer home that we look forward to all winter. Finally breaking us out of our shells and sometimes mundane day to day life, forcing us once or twice a week to get out and enjoy the outdoors and the greatest sport ever played, together.

The White Sox have had a huge impact on our individual lives as well as our relationship.

I was a Sox fan before Mike was a part of my life, my grandfather used to watch or listen to every game while I was growing up. I remember being downstairs with them, playing while the game was on in the background. Thinking back now, it seemed that the Sox games were the background noise of most memories with my Gramps. My grandmother, who is an inspiration to us all, still watches all of the games, and she yells and the players and the umps with as much passion now at 95 that she did when I was a kid.

I always enjoyed going to games, and would pay a small amount of attention to what the White Sox each day, I’d crack a smile when they’d win, but not get too upset when they lost, I paid attention their record and players before Mike, but he is what made me truly love the game, not just the team.

With Mike we have shared many highs and lows. Being a fan of a particular baseball team is not about winning the World Series every year, it’s about being happy when your team does well, being ecstatic when your team does better than even you expected. 2005 was truly a memorable year, I will forever remember the feeling I had watching each game of that playoff run, and the conversations that were had sitting in the park at game 1, Paul Konerko’s Grand slam and Pod’s walk off to end game 2, the most unexpected home run I can ever remember. I remember the announcers talking about Huston pitcher Brad Lidge giving up a walk off in his last appearance, and that the chances were slim to none of that happening again, but it did. I remember sitting with my cousins in the garage in game 3, Geoff Blum’s homer to score 2 runs in the top of the 14th inning, another unlikely at bat. I remember being with Mike at Healy’s in Forest Park watching game 4, just counting down the outs and when it happened being filled with so much relief followed by happiness. Yes 2005 was a great year, but not the only one.

2008, the Sox had come off of a dismal 2007 season with a record of under .500, still splattered with some greatness (Bobby Jenks tying the record for batters out, Buehrle’s no hitter) they were not expected to do much of anything that year, but when it came down to it a young inexperienced pitcher wound up being our savior. They were faced with winning three games in three days to get into the playoffs, the last one of which was a playoff game with our longtime rivals, the Minnesota Twins. They dubbed the game a “black out” every Sox fan in the place wore black, and it was a site to behold, and Ozzie put everything into John Danks’ hands that day, and it paid off, and we went to the playoffs. Of course Tampa Bay was having a great year that year and knocked us out in the first round, but at least we won 1 of those games. Still the Black Out game was one of the greatest games we ever experienced, and made 2008 another great and memorable year. 2009 of course as another dismal year, that had its greatness, Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, Jim Thome hitting his 600th home run, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko getting there 300th home runs back-to-back. Through all of this, the good and the bad, it has made us a better couple. And I have to than the White Sox for their part of that.

Some say hope springs eternal. Opening day is hope, and home.

GO WHITE SOX!

Health care for all Americans. This is CHANGE I do belive in.

I've been working on this post for the past week. I think I am ready for the final draft.

The health care bill has finally passed through the House and signed by the president. The Reconciliation bill has been passed through the Senate and the final fixes are in place. I have two points to make about this:

1. it’s about time

2. It hasn't gone far enough, but it's a great start.

This is one of my three major issues for voting for a candidate. We have needed health care reform for a long, long time. The system has been bad and has gotten progressively worse as time has gone by. The government needs to regulate it. I have so many stories and experiences that I will go into here.

My first out of college/ real job was at a major insurance company, I worked as an admin in the life sales division. I would work regularly with the underwriters, negotiating prices and payment plans for our sales reps and their clients. I saw upfront and personal how these rates were created, I saw how people were sold into purchasing these policies, and I felt dirty going to work and dealing with this. Pressuring people to buy more insurance that was actually needed, because they could afford it, not because it was needed. Selling short term policies with high rates to young people instead of policies that would cover them for their whole life and used when needed at a lower rate that it would cost when they were more at risk of needing a payout. It was a horrible system.

I also had friend who worked in the health care claims department, they were given strict guidelines and rules to deny coverage for most procedures until the customer came back and fought the denial. That would be when they would use the "Dr. Office or hospital used the wrong code, go back to them" line. After much back and forth on the client side they finally would approve the claim, in the hopes that most people would just give up and pay out of pocket.

My most recent experience with the health care system was 2 years ago. To anyone that might not know I had stage 4 melanoma when I was 25 had a few surgeries and all of the cancer was removed. Yes I was very lucky that it didn't spread, and I am very lucky that I did not need further invasive procedures. I am thankful everyday for that.

A little over two years ago I lost my job, didn't have any savings, and could not afford the COBRA payments. I decided to try to get private health insurance. I was looking for emergency only coverage, you know the just in case coverage, so that if something happened, like I broke a leg or something like that I would not lose everything and owe tens of thousands of dollars in the process. Because I had cancer three years earlier I was tagged as uninsurable, even if I tried to add a rider that melanoma or even any cancer would not be covered by the policy, I could not get coverage. So here I was 28 years old, fairly healthy, and not able to have insurance. I did not find a full time position for almost six months, during that time I was scared to death that something would happen and I would not be able to pay for it, and therefore not be able to get help. That was not the first time that healthcare got personal.

That happened on August 9, 2001 when my cousin Diane Alaimo passed away. That was the first time that I realized that health care is only for the privileged few, it's not a right that is open to anybody.

Diane was a wonderful, caring, loving person. She was a standup comic by profession; she did not have access to employer sponsored health care. She had some minor issues which after that she was dropped and marked uninsurable. By the time that she found corporate employment with local radio station, and had access to healthcare it was already too late. She had major heart surgery on August 6, and was on machines for three days, after which her heart gave out, she was 46 years old. Had she had insurance and access to health care she could have still been with us. We would have still been laughing with her instead of crying and remembering the wonderful person she was. I still think about my cousin every day.

Now that within the next four years, every American will have access to affordable healthcare, hopefully less people will be saying goodbye to people they love because they can't see a doctor, and get the care that they need. Because in the next 6 months the insurance companies will not be able to drop its clients because they get sick, and they cannot deny a client because they happened to have ever been sick.

So how's that hopy changy thing working out?

Well because of this CHANGE, I have HOPE for our future.

Thank you President Obama, and Madame Speaker Pelosi, Thank you for helping to make America a country that I can be proud of again.

76 days and counting

Can't believe that I haven't posted in over 20 days, I really need to get back on track. So much to talk about right now. First of all I am now 76 days into quitting and I am doing great! Had a few close to weak moments, but have still not given in. Just need to make to it 100 days. I don't know what happens then, but I have convinced myself that it'll be better by then. I have been off the gum for over a month as well, so I'm nicotine free. I feel normal now. The first few weeks I noticed everything tasting and smelling better, but now it just feels normal. I am enjoying my life a lot more now that I am not taking smoke breaks from it. Now to work on losing weight.

55 days, and it's finally spring

Today is 55 days! Also I've given up the gum for quite a while already too, so I am finally completely 100% nicotine free!


Today I really thought was going to be a challenge. The first quazi warm sunny day in Chicago, the first sign that spring is coming. It was 40 degrees, and beautiful, no coat, no scarf, gloves or hat, just wonderfulness of melting snow. Usually my favorite thing to do on a day like this is to get in my car, put on some warm summery music and drive to an outdoor mall. This drive entails having the windows down and smoking; it was something I looked forward to all winter. So today I had to go to the mall anyway to take back some of the massive amount of clothing I bought for myself with my tax return. I got in my car, turned the radio up, rolled the windows down, and drove, and didn't smoke and it was still as wonderful as it always is, maybe even better.

Actually it did get better because on my way home I was able to turn on the radio and listen to the White Sox spring training game, nothing says warm and sunny like listening to Ed Farmer and DJ. This is going to be a good year for the Sox, and I can't wait for the real season to start and be at opening day. Summer is almost here!