Twerve Days of Baseball

ERIC:

Right now we are driving through Iowa, where we have hit one MAJOR thunderstorm and are probably due for another. It starts out with what people call "heat lightning," which lights up the midwest plains as far as you can see. The foreboding builds until the first few drops hit. Then the hell-storm follows. I have never seen so many cars pull over in the middle of a rain storm. We were driving about 35 mph on the highway and you could see NOTHING. We probably passed 25 or so cars pulled over. But Nick Skywalker used the force and somehow got us through. May the force be with you, young Skywalker (in the words of Triumph, "I am a huge nerd.") Right now there is another great lightning show with snaking bolts going across the horizon and darting towards the ground. Good stuff.

I also want to reiterate how great Chicago was. It officially made its way onto my list of cities North of the Mason-Dixon line where I would be willing to go to medical school, which previously included New York and Boston. Really a well-put-together city, that seems to have a lot of interesting/cultural/fun things to do, as well as a great party scene, all wrapped up in that midwestern charm. Of course, that's after spending less than 24 hours there.

The Field of Dreams was also a great experience. I got a good chance to break in my glove and do some running around on a baseball field in the middle of a corn field in the middle of Iowa. I actually finished reading the book that the movie is based on, called "Shoeless Joe," by W.P. Kinsella. It's a decent read, but I think the movie manages to steer more towards the sentimental, while the book gets sort of carried away with sentimentality. There's a lot of stuff in there that reads like high school love letters, but it's still a great story about believing in your dreams and the importance of baseball. It also made me think about what it would be like to meet my dad in his prime. I don't want to get too serious in here about my thoughts on this, but it is an interesting question to ponder and something that is almost impossible to imagine.


On our way back on the road from the FOD, we got stuck in the middle of the town, where there were Iowa State Troopers blocking traffic in both directions. What was the problem???? Was there an accident? Was there a crime committed? Heck, no. There was a tractor parade coming right through the main road through the town. Apparently it is a yearly event, which usually features 350 tractors of all sizes, as well as horses, and miniature cars driven by little kids. We caught the last half of the parade, which only had 150 this year, and were waiting for about 20 minutes, as it moved into the town. Definitely something you don't see in New York or Boston.

Major Songs of the Trip:
1. Diamonds - Kanye West - Each time I hear this song it gets better. You don't hear rap songs produced like this too often.
2. Somebody Told Me - The Killers - If you get Biggie requesting a rock song, you know it's gotta be solid.

One final note: It's my birthday! Quarter of a century. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible.

BIGGIE:

"They'll walk out to the bleacher and sit in shirtsleeves in the perfect evening, or they'll find they have reserved seats somewhere in the grandstand or along one of the baselines-- wherever they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes, in whatever park it was, whatever leaf shaded town in Maine, or Ohio, or California. They'll watch the game, and it will be as if they have knelt in front of a faith healer, or dipped themselves in magic waters where a saint once rose like a serpent and cast benedictions to the wind like peach petals."
- J.D. Salinger in "Shoeless Joe" by W.P. Kinsella