The River Green

You know how when you look back at a particularly momentous occasion in your life, you can remember the main details very vividly, but the surrounding details are a little fuzzy? I've been having a few of those moments for most of the week.

I'm not one to leave any details out, so I thought I might record the 'fuzziness' for future reference.

I think it was Monday of this week that I found an old friend on Facebook who I lost touch with several years ago. That I found this friend is the momentous occasion. The fuzzy comes with the emotions I experienced when I got her first set of updates and saw how her life changed. It is exciting... it's like looking at an old photo album and hearing the stories that go between what this person or that house looked like then and what it looks like now. Even though I saw all these pictures on her profile, in this particular case, a word is worth a thousand pictures. Who, after all, carries their camera around and takes a picture at each and every moment of life? Pictures are good for some things, new things, maybe. But it cannot capture the emotion that can be expressed in a conversation of how the changes occurred- weather by email or even a simple wall-to-wall update. I can't wait to hear more.

The other momentous occasion is that one of our closest friends looks to be starting out on a new relationship and it looks pretty serious. That she is starting a relationship is the momentous part. The fuzzy seems to be how happy Marieke and I are that she is happy. I mean seriously happy. For the first time in a very, very long time, she is grinning and we are grinning right back at her. She is grinning so much that her cheeks are revealing the rare and hidden double dimples. We are also finding the occasion to revisit some of the feelings we had when we first started our relationship. It is very exciting and we are so happy that she is happy. Another fuzzy is that we got a virtual play-by-play via text during the evening while we were at work. We did so little work while we were texting. But that's ok... work owed us a few and we took one tonight. So now work only owes us a couple.

The fates, it appears, have chosen to give us a reason to only observe, but not obsess, over the impending unpleasant anniversary through the happiness of, and re-connection to, our friends. That is the best kind of reason I could imagine and I am actually spending this week being happy instead of being sad. It is a privilege and I am grateful to have the opportunity to dwell on happy things this week.

So, to friends and friendships. We gain so much from them and realize it so little.

Labels: friends

In almost all cases of unlikely and random events, the occurrences number three. They are usually connected somehow and generally manifest within 24 hours or so, with the occasional overlap and pauses no more than 36 hours in length (you know... for the real doozies) here and there.

16 February was my birthday. Of all the random things to happen on my birthday, three utility trucks of varying sizes pulled in front of the house bearing the markings of Dominion People's Gas Company, followed much later by a backhoe. The quiet of my birthday morning was jackhammered away by three of twelve people intent on removing large portions of asphalt which until then constituted my parking space.

Just before moving the car to a safer location, I found out they were investigating a gas leak. One of them was smoking.

This is random in that there was a very low probability that this would occur on my birthday. It is accompanied by two other random events which happened the next day at work.

For those who do not know, my duties at UCSUR largely involve dialing a phone and conducting survey research on mostly unsuspecting people who may or may not fall within one or more ambiguous demographic or another. The particular research we are conducting presently is nationwide. Since I have worked for the University of Pittsburgh in one form or another after leaving college, I'm familiar with the habit of dialing '9' and then '1' to procure an outside line; dialing at UCSUR, I assumed, was no different. As a newer interviewer sat next to me, he shared an unusual tone with me that I immediately recognized as that which results from failing to dial the appropriate prefix in order to get the outside line. I instructed him to dial '9' and then '1' before the area code.

The look on his face was a mix between astonishment and disbelief. I came to find out that he had never dialed the '1' in any calling he had done for the research. After finally convincing him to dial the damned '1', the call went through with no problems. Curious as to how he could possibly have not been dialing the '1', I tried myself and found that it in fact worked. How strange. There existed a healthy balance of people who both dialed the '1' and those who did not throughout the office.

My curiosity was satisfied inasmuch as it allowed me to continue with my own assignments without worry of further course in the matter.

Remarkably, when I then dialed my next record with the '1', the phone produced the familiar tones as would any that failed in obtaining an outside line. Owing to my own slip, I tried again, paying close attention to the numbers on the base. No luck. Just then, the new guy said that he was getting the same tone. The survey managers then announced that long-distance dialing was down for the entire University. Opps.

I am not normally one to suggest that mere actions can have such wide-ranging consequences, especially in this situation... but it was, of course, our fault. For the next 45 minutes or so, the new guy and I pondered the connection to our actions and the phone melt down at the nation's 25th largest university. One of the managers did not quite understand the significance of our involvement and I decided it was for the best.

Seriously, though... what are the chances?!

The third random event to occur is only tangentially related by dictionary definition to the first RA of the previous day: construction and the presence of a backhoe.

Nearly an hour before my shift was due to end, I went outside for a smoke and discovered that the fire alarm in the neighboring building was active. An ominous voice warning against the use of elevators accompanied a blaring that could be heard clear over to Posvar Hall. The building is undergoing renovation and the alarm seemed to go unnoticed by any sort of emergency personnel.

I realize that these random events play no outstanding role in my life, but it is helpful and ultimately cathartic to document them.

Labels: random events

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of the Boston Red Sox. There is a particular reason that I have such a deep admiration for the baseball team and their fans in Beantown.

Having said that, there is no love for my own hometown baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Through the 2008 season the Pirates have had 16 consecutive seasons with a losing record—tying a United States professional sports record. How does one 'rah' to that, exactly? One of the Pirates' better hitters, Jason Bey went to the Red Sox in 2008.

One often wonders if the Pirates are merely a joke.

Given the newest additions to the Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 Spring Training roster, the argument is now academic: Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, both from India. The fact that these two are the first Indians to ever sign with an MLB franchise is not the OMG factor here. The OMG factor lies with the fact that they are in Bradenton, FL as a result of the Indian reality TV show 'Million Dollar Arm'. Yes. A reality show. Other than the fact that they can throw 93mph fastballs, they have no notion whatsoever of how to play baseball. Billed as 'Baseball's 'Slumdog Millionaire' Story,' the signing has been hailed by the Pirates' owner Robert Nutting as a way to usher in a new path to an untapped market.

If this works, and the Pirates make it to October, I shall purchase and don a Pirates hat in place of my beloved 'B' for the entire post season (yes, even in the highly unlikely event that the Red Sox and Pirates will be playing in the 2009 World Series!)

PS- Because I do not post about the Pirates, this has been filed under Red Sox.

Labels: Red Sox , sports

Long into the wee hours of February 2, 2009, there were still cars zooming through the streets of Pittsburgh, horns a-blare. There were still buses being loaded with rowdy celebrants on East Carson St. There is a palpable, physical excitement that lasts to this day. Pride scarcely describes what we, Steeler Nation, feel even six days after the win.

Until just this morning, I was still trying to decide which of the three major plays of the game was the best- James Harrison's 100 yard interception return (now dubbed the immaculate interception), Larry Fitzgerald's runback touchdown or Santonio Holmes' winning touchdown.

Since his football career gained national attention at the University of Pittsburgh (and ended there without the Heisman Trophy- much to everyone's collective shock), I've been a fan of Fitzgerald. Were the game to have ended with a different score, he could very easily have been the MVP. Alas, it was not to be- but he is still an amazing player and I will continue to be a fan. If I've learned anything about him, it's that titles mean little and lack of them only steels his resolve. Good for him if he comes back next year and plays better.

The last Pittsburgh play of Super Bowl XLIII left Steeler Nation breathless for what seemed like an eternity until the ref signaled touchdown and then again until the official review confirmed the ruling on the field. Pittsburgh won its 6th Super Bowl championship. In all honesty, I had convinced myself that losing the game was not the end of the world; I didn't think he had it until I saw the replay. But, no, Santonio Holmes had his feet in the endzone with possession and we won the game.

The longest play in Super Bowl history was the 100 yard sideline dash interception return by James Harrison. If you saw the game, the replay, a photograph, heard about it, it was spectacular. Harrison said in a locker room interview that he didn't think he was going to make it, but then saw that the endzone was closer and closer and he thought, '...aw hell, I might as well go for it'. He went for it, alright. With all the makings of one of the greatest plays ever, Harrison's record setting interception return was the greatest play of the game.

Perhaps some of the best stories of the game come from hundreds and thousands of miles away from Raymond James Stadium: fan support. Steelers fans are prolific at every away game we play during the regular season and are even more so during the Super Bowl.

Tokyo, Berlin, Johannesburg, Buenos Aries are just a few cities outside the US to have a Steelers bar filled, on Sunday, with the faithful. That make me smile because no other team has such an international following. Some of my favorite pictures are those of fans who have taken their Terrible Towels to different places around the world.

Nothing gets me going more than to see our men and women in uniform, fighting in wars on land sea and in the air, waving the Terrible Towel. At airbases, Naval bases, on submarines, ships, fighter planes, the Terrible Towels were flying:

U.S. Army Lt. Julie Glaubach, 30, center, Staff Sgt. Michael Sauret, 23, left, both from Pittsburgh, Pa., Maj. Thomas Spagel, 42, from Erie, Pa., second right and Spc. Justin Snyder, 21, from Mechanicsburg, right, cheer for the Steelers as they watch the Super Bowl XLII on television at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. The Super Bowl aired on satellite television in Iraq beginning at 2 a.m. American troops in Iraq were allowed to drink beer without fear of court-martial for this year's Super Bowl, an exception to a strict military ban on drinking alcohol in combat zones. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this photo released by the United States Navy, Sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at the South China Sea, react to a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009 during Super Bowl XLIII. (AP Photo/United States Navy, Matthew A. Ebarb)

On February 5, 2009, the USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720) returned stateside to their homeport of Gronton, CT- her crew having only heard the game on the radio. This video brought a tear to my eye:



What a game. I'm still trying to absorb it all.

When my Uncle Mike was in Hong Kong, I kept him updated on the Steelers progress with text-message scores. The most recent text message to him was simply: 'That's 6'. The only regret I have about Super Bowl XLIII is that I could not watch it with him. Maybe next time.

Labels: sports , Steelers