Last hours at 31

Lord, this is the last night of my 31st year on Earth. Thank you for the joys and pleasures I have known this year. As I experience more, I want to remember them better and I want to acknowledge you as the source that they come from. God, I have so much to work on still and I know I always will. I hope you understand. I pray too that my friends would be understanding of me just like they would want me to be understanding of them. Please let me have some peace of mind and more purpose in this upcoming year. Amen.

ROH World Title Tournament

So for the first time in Ring of Honor history, the World title is vacant due to Jay Briscoe's shoulder injury. A 17-man tournament will be held during the summer and early fall, which will culminate in September in Philadelphia. The winner will become the new ROH champion. Here are the first round matchups and my predictions for the full tournament.

First round
Adam Cole vs. Mark Briscoe
Pick: Cole

Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt
Pick: Lethal

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Silas Young/Adam Page
Pick: Ciampa

Michael Bennett vs. BJ Whitmer
Pick: Bennett

Karl Anderson vs. ACH
Pick: Anderson

Michael Elgin vs. Paul London
Pick: Elgin

Roderick Strong vs. Matt Taven
Pick: Strong

Brian Kendrick vs. Kevin Steen
Pick: Steen


Second round
Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal
Pick: Cole

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Michael Bennett
Pick: Ciampa

Karl Anderson vs. Michael Elgin
Pick: Elgin

Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen
Pick: Steen


Semifinals
Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Pick: Cole

Michael Elgin vs. Kevin Steen
Pick: Elgin


Finals
Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin
Pick: Adam Cole


My rankings on who will win.

1. Adam Cole
2. Michael Elgin
3. Tommaso Ciampa
4. Jay Lethal
5. Kevin Steen
6. Mark Briscoe
7. Roderick Strong
8. Karl Anderson
9. ACH
10. Mike Bennett
11. Brian Kendrick
12. Paul London
13. BJ Whitmer
14. Matt Taven
15. Sonjay Dutt
16. Adam Page
17. Silas Young

Shutdown mode

1) I think my mission of the last 24 hours has been to catch up on sleep. After getting back from the Warren Dunes in Sawyer, Michigan, I slept seven hours, then late this afternoon, I slept another two hours.

2) And what a trip it was. I left home at 7 am and arrived around 10 (Eastern time zone). About 20 of us from group came. I got to hike up the dines and sprint back down and warp speed. We spent a lot of time floating in Lake Michigan, tossing the football and Frisbee around. Later, we spent some time walking down this stream that goes from the beach that leads into the woods. And against the sides of the stream, gray clay forms. So we painted each other up in clay and hiked down the stream through the rocks and trails and pits. Five of us, Faustino, Jason, Clarissa, Hilary, and myself went much farther, we probably hiked in the stream for about two hours. We all slipped and fell a few times, but thankfully, no one got too injured. I did lay out in the sun for an hour, and despite my best efforts to keep re-applying my 30 SPF, my shoulders and upper back still turned red. I'm so glad that someone invented Solarcaine.

3) We left the beach around 5 pm and headed to the Greenbush Brewery for dinner. I actually arrived about 45 minutes before everyone else in the group. I explained we had about 30 people coming and I don't think this place could seat more than about 50. But they eventually made room for us and we had a great time. I enjoyed an amazing turkey bacon melt. The turkey was brined in root beer and put on multi-grain bread with Michigan white cheddar, bacon, spicy remoulade, and some ancho chile. An absolutely tremendous sandwich. Along with two pints of locally brewed Emptiness beer, I only paid $15.50; there was no tax!

4) After a quick run across the street for some ice cream (I passed), we went back to the beach, hoping to catch the sun set. We arrived around 9:30, just a little too late. The park closed at 10, so we didn't have a whole lot of time. I remember it took us till about 10:20 to actually figure out who was going to be riding back with who. Eventually, it was decided I would drive back Luke, Jennifer G, and Hart. Talk about a dichotomy of personalities. A playa, a conservative girl, a borderline playa, and me. But the ride went quite well. We actually had a pretty good talk about topics like sex before marriage, adultery, past loves, traits we all wanted in our future partners, etc. After a quick stop for a tank of gas and a cherry Coke, the 90 minutes passed very quickly. Luke and I will never be best friends, I don't like what an obnoxious flirt he is, but I'll admit it wasn't that bad sitting next to him.

5) Rev. James Meeks of Salem Baptist Church is just an amazing pastor and speaker. We got to hear him speak at Willow Creek this morning on why our prayers matter so much to God. A very unique, vivid, and educational message. And his choir and band came as well to lead worship and they had us very active and worshipping with a lot of passion and energy. I didn't expect to run into my ex, I'd never seen her at Willow, but hey, I guess crazy things can happen. The meeting lasted five seconds, which in retrospect, feels about as long as our relationship!

Overdue NHL recap

So I made both regular season and playoff predictions for the NHL...how did I do? Well, I correctly predicted 5 of the 8 playoff teams in the East and 7 of the 8 playoff teams in the West. I picked Pittsburgh to beat Boston in the Easter Conference Finals. I got the teams right, although Boston won. the West...well, I picked San Jose and St. Louis and they won one playoff round between them.

As for the playoffs, I predicted seven of the eight first round series correctly and then all four second round matches and both Conference Finals correctly. In the finals, I had the Bruins over the Blackhawks, but credit to the Hawks for winning their second Cup in four years.

It still feels like the season ended two weeks ago. And I don't really miss it. I'm in total baseball mode right now, even if the Mets aren't really in the mix to make the playoffs.

The Latest NY recap-Part 2

I popped out of bed around 7:15 am and within 30 minutes, I was on my way to the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan with Adam G and his son Michael. Throw in the other company, and I was totally surrounded by Yankee fans in the van, not my ideal situation. I wore my blue Mets cap and blue Gary Carter t-shirt.

T-Mobile was sponsoring the MLB Fanfest and they even designated a line specifically for T-Mobile customers. So since one of the people in our party of five had a T-Mobile phone, we actually got to stand in their Jump line, allowing us to enter before the masses could.

We entered and immediately saw the World's largest baseball, which has been autographed by many legends of the game. As Saturday was Heritage Day, Mets legend Edgardo Alfonzo welcomed us to the event and used a pair of oversized pink scissors to cut the pink ribbon, signaling the start of the festival. I immediately got his autograph, which was great, it saved me from standing in line for an hour! Then, I saw several staff workers handing out mini-Mookie Wilson bobblehead dolls. There was zero organization to the process though, it was just dozens of people maneuvering around each other and fighting their way to the boxes. As I was nudging my way through the pile, I was just relieved I didn't get stepped on or trampled.

I had my photo taken with the cardboard cutouts of the 2013 Mets and then I headed over towards the WFAN radio booth, which was right next to the stage where Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson would be signing autographs. The line wound up taking almost 90 minutes to get through. During that timeframe, I snuck over to the batting cages, where the machine gave me nearly every pitch high and outside, the last spot I wanted the balls pitched. I've always been a low ball hitter and this was just ridiculous. I also went to an MLB network booth, where my photo was taken in front of a set with Citi Field as the backdrop. I put on a black sports coat and sat at the news desk. When the picture came out, it looked like I was broadcasting with Al Leiter!

Back in line, we listened to the last hour of Boomer and Carton, who led us in a chorus of "Take me out to the ball game." They also went out into the audience to meet some fans and sign autographs. After they left the air at 10 am, Mike Francesa came in to do his show. For autographs, he had two errand boys run back and forth between him and the seekers. The boys would hand him baseballs, programs, pictures, or whatever else to sign. Little bit of a different dynamic!

So I met Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson and they were both very nice guys, especially when I told them I was a Mets fan from Chicago. They both signed my Mets baseball and it was really a cool feeling.

I hadn't eaten all day, so I stopped by the cheesesteak stand parked in the middle of the concourse. The recap on this one...Dry roll, meat that had been sitting under the heating lamp, no provolone cheese, only Whiz, and onions and peppers that were barely cooked at all. Plus a large lemonade that tasted more like water with a lemon slice thrown in. $17. Total ripoff.

Anyway, we went over to the Hall of Fame exhibit, where I saw so many amazing items such as Mike Piazza's bat when he broke Carlton Fisk's record for the most homers hit by a catcher, RA Dickey's uniform from when he won his 20th game as a Met in 2012, and the glove Tommie Agee wore when he made his amazing catches in the 1969 World Series. Plus, the Hall of Fame was having a NY baseball trivia contest. We hung around for two games and I have to say, I remember the questions being pretty hard. There must have been a lot of pressure on the contestants to sit on the stage in front of over a hundred people and answer some challenging trivia.

 

I headed back over towards the WFAN stage where Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts were doing their show. When we got there, they were in commercial and there was this tall blonde kid sitting next to them. I figured he was a production guy or maybe a volunteer. Much to my shock, it was Noah Syndergaard, the prized pitching prospect of the Mets! I didn't get to Noah for an autograph, he got hustled out of the building before he had a chance to sign anything. I did meet Joe for the second time and Evan for the first and they both signed my ball. I was happy Joe remembered meeting me at Wrigley Field a few years ago. All I had to do was remind him how cold it was that May evening and he knew it was me!

 

I shopped in the MLB Clubhouse which had so much cool merch to pick from. I think if I didn't already have my All Star game polo shirt, I would have got something. I looked over by the registers and saw Steve Garvey just signing. There wasn't much of a line, just ten or so people around. I jumped on the chance to get his autograph too.

Over at the XM radio booth, Casey Stern and Cliff Floyd hosted a show all afternoon. they interviewed Fonzie and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets outfield prospect. Unfortunately, neither Floyd or Nimmo signed. It was like Noah, the XM people just hustled Nimmo out of the room. Very disappointing.
 

So then, I wanted to another exhibit instead of seeking more signatures. I wasn;t exactly dying to meet Rollie Fingers or Rafael Santana, with all due respect. So I went to Steal a base, where people were racing 90 feet against either Matt Kemp, Derek Jeter, or David Wright...of course, the players were on a screen. I signed my waiver that I wouldn't sue or anything if I got hurt, emptied my pockets of my camera, wallet, phone, Chapstick, etc into my backpack, and stretched my quads, calves, and hamstrings as I prepared for my race. Now I wanted to get a really good start; I saw one or two people actually fall down halfway through and their pants wound up around their butts. So I took a short lead off the base and as soon as the pitcher on the screen began his motion, I took off right along with David. Within seconds, it was over. As I always did when I played baseball, I easily slid in headfirst into a black cushion, popped up, and coolly slapped a couple of high fives from the staff workers. That was so much fun!
 

Then I headed back towards the entrance area. I checked out memorabilia like old cards, gloves that were used 100 years ago (they looked more like boxing gloves), pins being sold for ten bucks each, and banners. I looked towards the entrance and saw a camera guy. This tall dude was interviewing random fans, I went over to get a closer look. My mouth dropped at what I saw. The guy conducting the interviews was stand up comic Pete Holmes, who was my floormate during my freshman year in college. I had not seen him in 13 years, so I got closer, hoping he might know me. After he was done asking a bunch of goofy questions to one of the fans, I said "Hey Pete. Gordon College, Ferrin Hall." He looked at me for maybe two seconds, then raised his eyebrows. He said "Adam, right?" I couldn't believe he still knew me! So we caught up for about three or four minutes and we gave each other a hug before we parted ways. Quite the surprise reunion!
 

So then, we went to the Robert Mazzino art gallery section. This guy is a world-renowned 3-D artist. He had amazing pictures of stadiums, batting helmets, posters. He even decorated two old Field level seats from Shea Stadium in festive colors. And since I have a connection with Fran who works there, they gave me a small replica 3-D pic of Citi Field to take home. It was so amazing, it must have been worth $75. I mean, it was just one amazing thing happening after another.

We also saw wall displays of every cap from MLB down to rookie ball trophies. We took photos of various baseball awards and trophies such as the WBC title, the Jackie Robinson award, the Home Run Derby trophy, and of course, the World Series trophy. It was right next to the ESPN radio booth, so I got to see Ryan Ruocco and Don LaGreca broadcasting for a few minutes.

So it was 4:30. And after standing eight of the last nine hours, I was ready to leave and sit down somewhere. So we left and walked by the Manhattan Center, right near Madison Square Garden, and took the C train from 34th St up to 103rd, St before walking to the Baconery on the Upper West side. Their special of the day was the caramel apple bacon donuts. I planned to get one and split it, but was going to have my bacon pecan pie immediately. Sadly, the pecan pies were all sold out already. So I got two donuts, one for me and one for my friend and we wolfed those down on the C train heading downtown. Little chunks of apple, the caramel sweetened the bacon, and the donut tasted so moist. Just an amazing donut. I also ordered a bacon marshmallow bar (it wasn't mini, in case a certain someone was wondering), two bacon chocolate chip cookies, a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, and a bacon blondie, which is like a brownie, only made with maple instead of chocolate. I took all of those to go and gave them to my church small group back in Streamwood the next afternoon. Suffice to say, they were very appreciative! They even mentioned me bringing the food in the group prayer! Maybe bacon does have a spiritual aspect to it, I don't know.

Anyway, back to Saturday! We planned to take the B down to the N to the J trains. Well, little did we know the B was not running at all that weekend. So feeling hot, sweaty, and exhausted, we waited 15 minutes for a train that never came. And with each of the other two trains, we got to the station just as they pulled out. Just a crazy amount of waiting.

 

We got home to Middle Village around 8 pm and had some Rosa's Sicilian pizza and salad for dinner. I was done by 11 and woke up at 6:45 to catch an 8:50 flight back home to Chicago. Yeah, my hair gel got confiscated at security, but that's ok. I guess six ounces was just too large a size.

The Latest NY recap-Part 1

So after "A Night of Hoopla" with Ring of Honor, I got home from Marionette Park, IL around 11:45 pm. I probably got into bed around an hour later and woke up at 3:15 am. So I was going to live my Friday on less than three hours of sleep, something I almost never do. Throw in the airplane and going all around Manhattan, I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well!

 

As I always do, I parked at Blue Sky and took the 6 am plane, landing in NY around 9 am. Ellen and Angelo picked me up and dropped me at the house, where I changed clothes and cleaned up. I sure needed some extra hair gel! Then Angelo and I took the M train to the J line; I got off at Fulton St, near the lower east side of Manhattan.
 

I wanted to try a new place for lunch, and I decided on the Sandwich House on Ann St. It was a tiny cafe, maybe six tables and a counter, a very easy place to miss. I ordered a half sandwich on country Italian style bread with prosciutto di parma, arugula, sliced tomato, shredded Asiago cheese and a splash of virgin olive oil. It was less than five bucks, and tasted really fresh. A very solid light lunch.

 

I walked a few blocks west around Ground Zero and near the 9/11 tribute site. But I really wasn't willing to spend $17 to enter the memorial so I took a few pics and headed north to Modell's. Over there, I bought a David Wright shirt for a friend as well as one of those squeeze stress balls and an official Mets baseball for myself. Then, I headed over to Starbucks to charge my phone and read my Donald Miller book for an hour. At 1:15, I took the 6 train north from Brooklyn bridge to Union Square, and I then walked five blocks northeast to Lantern, a local Thai restaurant.

 

I saw Nona for the first Tyne in twelve months and as soon as she laid her brown eyes on me, she popped up from her seat and gave me an enormous hug. I also met her friend G, he's a French guy, whose real name I can't spell or pronounce. Jeanne showed up soon and we shared different experiences with travel, dating, men vs women dynamics, etc. I ordered drunken noodles with shrimp, Thai chicken wings, and a green salad with peanut dressing. It all cost about 17 bucks.

 

Then Nona wanted to buy us dessert and we went to Starbucks, which would not have been my first choice, with all the great bakeries in NY...not to mention juniors cheesecake. But I had a piece of coffee cake and an iced peach green tea lemonade.

 

With the rain coming down a little harder, we decided to just see a movie. I wanted to see Pacific Rim or White House Down, but World War Z was what the group chose. $14.50 for a depressing, freaky flick. I'm not into zombies anyway, but when humans become the zombies, it's even more uncomfortable. Also, it's still not easy to watch New York get attacked, not matter by whom. And on top of that, at the end, there was zero resolution, it felt like the sequel was coming any day. Brad Pitt's character himself said the war was just beginning...the movie was well made, I just hated the basis.

 

After that, we met with their friend Dan, who lives on the east side. Nona had a weird desire for corn muffins or corn bread, so we had to satisfy that first at a convenient store! We ran though the now very heavy rain from 2nd avenue to Park and went into a decent bar, where we ordered some apps and shared some goofy conversions. I drank a pint of Yeungling, since they were on special.

 

Around 10 pm, I gave some hugs, said good night, and grabbed the 6 downtown to Bleecker street, where I transferred to Broadway/Lafayette, where I caught the M train back to Middle Village. Once I got back to the house, I ate a couple raw oysters with a cold beer and watched the last hour of the Shawshank Redemption before I went to bed.

Crazy times!

1) The Fourth of July was an amazing day. For one thing, I didn't expect to see my ex show up, but without going into detail, at least we were cordial. After having no contact for nearly a year, I really didn't know what to expect. But I now feel more at peace than I did, so that's important.

2) After about my fourth beer (mostly Sunset Wheat with a little Sam Adams summer ale thrown in), I suddenly felt like dancing. Between the Rockette lines and conga dances (and I may have thrown in a little riverdancing), we tore that Itasca lawn up! I loved dancing up to this one tall blonde named Karen, who's like a decade older than me, but she's really funny, engaging, and beautiful. I got to talk to her again and I I enjoyed it so much. I still have no idea how she has never been married.

3) It was also good to see my friend Jeanne, who's in town from DC for a wedding. We had a nice dinner at Weber Grille before walking back tot he Palmer House hotel for a drink.

4) I really like having a new Ipod, one that lasts longer then an hour without charging it. I got six years out of my last one, hopefully, I have even better results this time. Oh, I think I'd better be careful not to put the new Ipod in the washing machine, after what happened to the last one.

5) Time for bed. Getting up for my day trip to Milwaukee in four hours. Let's Go Mets!

P.S. JM, AC, NC, NM, MM...they all close out in the last month...Something about June, I don't know...let's see what happens in July.