Smalls' Journal

Been awhile, eh?

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 01:03:29 GMT

1. Reply with your name and I will write something I like about you.
2. I will then tell what song reminds me of you.
3. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, I'll tell you what it would be.
4. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you.
6. I will tell you what color you remind me of.
7. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. Put this in your journal.

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 05:16:54 GMT

Running again. It's going well.

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 06:42:00 GMT

One month until I can run again. So close, yet so far away...

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 03:02:41 GMT

Got my stitches out on Monday and moved back to the apartment. I can drive now and go back to work, so thats a plus. I was getting bored at home, its cool for the first week or so then it gets really old. I still can't run until March, but I'm going to run again so I got that going for me. I can't lift or swim then, it'll be a couple more weeks for that. My neck is still a little sore and my arm still hurts, but that should go away i'm told. Well thats all from me, peace out all.

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 04:33:19 GMT

Well, I'm out of the hospital now. Surgery went well, took 6.5 hours instead of 4 though. There was more scarring than they anticipated and they had to remove my cerebellar tonsils because they hadn't been working in years and were causing alot of the blockage. They're the part of the brain that tells you when to stop your hand when you're reaching for something. They're related to depth perception, but I've been compensating for years. I was pretty swollen when I got out, they pumped about 5 mL of extra fluid in me for surgery so that was fun to wake up to. I also took enough morphine to kill a small horse when I got out, but I'd say it was worth it. Now I'm at home, chilling out being bored and getting fat. Thanks to everyone who called or visited or who wished me well. Hope everyone is doing well.

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 18:19:57 GMT

Surgery date was confirmed: Jan. 7th, 2005 at UM. I don't know what time yet though. I'll be in the hospital for 4 days after surgery if all goes well. They said I'll probably feel like garbage for a week or two afterwards, so I got that going for me. But I should be back to normal life within a month after surgery and running 2 weeks after that. Hopefully all goes well and I can get back to normal life. Happy New Years and all that shit.

Wed, 08 Dec 2004 05:19:58 GMT

Been awhile since I've updated this, I've been pretty busy doing all the things I've been putting off. So it looks like my surgery is being moved to Jan. 7th and its also being moved to UM. They have a specialist in what is wrong with me. This means I have to get another MRI, this one up at UM, so thats no fun. In light of all this, I've decided to take next semester off school. Break ends the 10th, so I wouldn't even be out of the hospital by the time school started. Taking next semester off will help me get save up some money, which is something I really need to do.
I'm actually kind of glad that the surgery got moved, now I'll be able to enjoy Christmas and New Year's.
Well thats all from me, good luck to everyone on their finals.

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 06:37:21 GMT

Been awhile since I've updated, not much has changed since the last update. Only big thing is that my grandpa had to go the hospital Tuesday morning. He said he was having a weird dream and when he woke up the EMS was there. My grandma said he got up and was stumbling around and didn't know where he was and wasn't making much sense when he talked, so she called EMS. Turns out his blood sugar was really low, and that is what caused it. He's been diabetic for awhile now, but he never checked his blood sugar or anything. He controlled it through diet and never had any problems. They ran a bunch of tests with a cardiologist and a neurologist to see if he had any problems, but nothing came up, which is good. He got home this afternoon, and now he's on insulin. Hopefully this won't happen again.
In light of the recent events in my life, and those coming up, I truly am thankful for all the people in my life. You've all touched my life in more ways than I can count and I love you all. If we've haven't talked much lately, or at all give me an IM or call me. I'd love to catch up with you.

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 17:37:57 GMT

So I have my brain surgery December 20th. If all goes well I'll be home on Christmas Eve. I don't know when I'll be back to doing normal things, the doctor said it's different for everybody. He gave me a rough estimate of about a month until I can get back to normal life and six weeks until I can run. Maybe outdoor track won't be a complete wash afterall...

I Feel tired...

Mon, 08 Nov 2004 22:27:26 GMT

Toledo St. Francis de Sales, 8th in the state. Go Knights! Its track season now...
Saw Friday Night Lights on Friday, not a bad flick. It was your typical highschool football movie, but pretty inspiring.
Saturday was the State meet, we didn't do as well as we had hoped but top 10 in the state is nothing to be ashamed of. Too bad those assbags from SJJ beat us, ah well.
Saturday night I went to Gina's costume party and Grant and I were the McManus brothers from the Boondock Saints. Our costumes looked sweet especially with the tatoos Alex drew on us. Kos came out and partied with us, that was pretty sweet. He even let Grant and I execute him and we got it on camera, good shit.
After we left Gina's party we went to the soccer party, which was decent. Kos and I got our shit wrecked in beer pong twice, and I played another game with Sarah. I didn't make a single shot, I'm awful.
All in all it wasn't a bad weekend.
Had my MRI today, hopefully that brings good news.

Regional champs bitches!

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 03:14:34 GMT

So this weekend was good. Friday night was pretty low key I just hung out with Grant, Alex, Stacy and Brynn. We sat around and talked and bullshitted. Ok, I played Def Jam Fight for NY most of the time, but thats neither here nor there. Saturday was just awesome. The kids I coach not only made it to the State meet, they won the whole Regional meet. They beat teams ranked 1,5, and 10 in the state. The teams ranked 1 and 10 didn't even make it out of the region. This was only the 3rd time in the history of the school that SFS has won the regional meet, so its big stuff. I admit that I'm a little jealous of the guys, but at the same time I'm really happy for them. Since I couldn't actually run to get this for the team, I guess helping coach them to the title is just as good.
Saturday night I went up to EMU for their Halloween/MAC party, and it was a blast. I got to see everyone again and got pretty drunk. Played beer pong for the first time ever, its a decent game. After we pregamed at the apartments we went to Donnie's house for the real party. That party was crazy, people were everywhere. After we left that party, I met up with Mandy and Mel and hung out with them. We played some drinking Jenga, hid from some crazy kid, and had a good time.
Today I raked my Grandparents' yard and sat on my ass mostly. Great weekend, good to see all of you again.

Sat, 30 Oct 2004 04:28:17 GMT

So I saw Dawn of the Dead last night. It was a good movie, but not as scary as people have been making out to be. It was more like "wow, that was pretty crazy" than scary. Makes me want to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the original Dawn of the Dead now tho.

Yay, more surgery

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 03:27:22 GMT

So I have to get another MRI, this time to see how my cerebrospinal fluid is flowing. Then I get to have more surgery. Who's excited? not me.. Argh, all that training down the drain. I could deal with not being able to run if it was something I did to myself, or something in my leg or foot. Not running because of something in my neck just makes things that much harder to take.
So my boys won districts, on a tie breaker. A win's a win, right? Ah, well we're going to Regionals, so we're already doing better than last year. Plus our guy won the race, so that was sweet.
Grant turned 21 on friday, so we went out thursday night to Jed's to celebrate correctly. Which meant getting him wasted out of his mind, and we did. I was up til 5am making sure he didn't die, good times. Friday night we had another party but it was pretty lame. We brought home alot of beer tho, so it wasn't a total loss. Saturday night I watched Van Helsing with Josh, Alex, Danni, and Michelle. Awesome movie.

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 02:51:39 GMT

So the guys I coach went toe to toe with the number 7 team in the state at our league meet and came up a little short, 38-42. They ran a hell of a race and we put 5 guys under 17 and 7 under 17:15. We had 4 guys first team all league and the other 2 were 2nd team all league. Normally when you have 4 guys in the top 10 you win the meet, but not this time unfortunately. They've got nothing to be ashamed of, but I understand how disappointed they are. No worries, it'll be awesome when we send SJJ packing at regionals.
This weekend was pretty slow outside of the race, I worked sunday. Thursday we had a bunch of people over to chill, so that was fun. I'm still a bit peeved that I didn't get to talk to the neurosurgeon, but there's nothing I can do about that so I guess I'll just deal.
Friday I took a Chem test and a Math test. I'm pretty sure I failed the chem test, but I got a 95.5 on the Math test. I'm actually kinda pissed about the Math test, I should have gotten 100% but I made a dumb mistake that cost me 4 points and I missed half a point for not putting units. Ah well, its still an A.
I'll be up to EMU on Friday for a bit, and I'll be up on the 28th for the Halloween party with the track/XC team. Catch me on my cell on one of those days if you wanna hang out.

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:59:50 GMT

So I don't have cancer, thats always good news. Its just a cyst and I go to see the neurosurgeon on Friday to see what we're doing about all this. Hopefully it gets resolved soon.
EDIT: The doctor called in sick, so I have to go in next Friday. Boo to that.

Mon, 11 Oct 2004 05:40:22 GMT

Well I had my MRI on Friday and it was pretty boring. I had to lay there for 2 hours without moving, and after the first hour I had to go to the bathroom. I'm getting results late monday or early tuesday, so I'll keep you all posted.
On Saturday the guys I coach won the Ypsilanti Invitational over 3 Michigan schools and an Ohio school. They also won the JV race with 18 points, 15 points is the best score you can get. Cities is going to be very interesting now since our top guy showed that he can hang with the top guy in the City league. Fucking baller.

Wed, 06 Oct 2004 15:26:03 GMT

So I found out that I don't have a herniated disc, good news right? It turns out I have a cyst in the middle of my spinal chord, and no Will, its not a tumor. I have to get another MRI on Friday to make sure its not cancerous, but my doctor assures me that the chances of this being cancerous are as good as me winning the lottery. Its going to require surgery to remove, not looking forward to that.
And the award for worst timing ever for something good goes to the UT Cross Country team. I got an email from the coach today that said I'm actually eligible to run right now and don't have to sit out at all. Great news, but awful timing. The coach emailed me and asked for my number so we could get things going, so hopefully I can run with them over the winter and maybe even join their club team.
Thats all from me, hope everyone is doing better than me.

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 03:04:23 GMT

So its been a week since I've run, and it sucks. I have a pinched nerve in my neck and my doctor thinks it might be because of a herniated disc. I hate my body. I had an MRI on thursday to see if everything was ok, hopefully I get a call tomorrow about it.
School is going, I managed to fail my chem test pretty badly 43% go me :/ Everything else is going well, so that's good.
My highschool guys are running very well, the Varsity placed 2nd this weekend to SJJ again. Our JV won though, which was sweet. All in all we didn't race all that badly considering our top guy ran terrible compared to how he's been running this year. That means the rest of the team really stepped up for us, which is what we needed. Our league meet is coming up in 2 weeks, and I'm really excited for it, even though we're the underdogs I think we can pull off the victory.
This weekend was pretty laid back, friday night I worked then watched Rounders, pretty good flick there. Saturday night we had some people over, it was a good time.
Congrats to Will for running a PR this weekend, keep up the training bro.

Sun, 26 Sep 2004 04:35:08 GMT

So we finished 3rd today behind teams ranked 4th and 10th in the state, not bad if you ask me. We had two sophs make it into the sub 17 club for the first time and quite a few other guys make the sub 18 club, also pretty sweet. We got to run 2 teams at this race and our 1-7 split was 54 seconds and our 1-14 split was 2 minutes, if thats not fucking depth I don't know what is. The team that finished 2nd today is from our league and they only beat us by 20 points, our league championship could get very interesting. Especially since we put 9 in front of St. John's 7th (thats our rival and the team ranked 10th in the state), and 5 in front of their 4 I believe.
My running is going well, I took today off with all the driving I was due for one anyways. Plus my shoes have like 580 miles on them and I don't want to risk injury. I think I'm close to breaking that 16 minute mark off the track, and I know I'm definitely going to run sub 30 at the classic. That 30:16 was bullshit, I'm fucking pumped now.

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 03:46:08 GMT

So this weekend wasn't bad, pretty low key actually. Thursday was the big party night, I went to a huge party and then ended up staying out til 2am. It was fun, ask me about it sometime. Friday night I saw The Girl Next Door, pretty good flick. Saturday morning I got to play "head coach" but not really because The Guru was there too and he pretty much ran the show. Its cool though, we ran pretty well. I had our JV team and we were competitive with the varsity teams there, as we took 3rd out of 5 teams there. We were closer to 2nd than 4th which is always nice. The Varsity finished tied for 10th but lost on the 6th man in their race. They ran against 30 some teams, all very tough. Saturday night was another low-key night, playing poker and hanging out with Grant's friend Jenn for her 20th. I guess we came after everyone left, which is booty since we got there at like 11:30. Today was the Race for the Cure. I timed myself at 16:17, but the chip time was 16:28. I'm not sure where the 11 seconds came from, but I'm gonna go with my watch on this one. I finished 5th overall, but the 3rd place guy wasn't registered and I got bumped to 4th overall and 3rd in my age group. Thats a new off-track 5k PR for me, so I'm really pumped. Jim, the guy I coach with, had a hell of a race too. His goal was sub 18 and he ran 17:10, which is awesome.
Its time for me to get serious with my training now. I've had 2 weeks at 60 so now its time to start adding some real strength work and bumping my mileage up a bit. I haven't heard back from the UT coach, but I guess he's not real big on guys walking on after their freshman years. I'm debating calling him, but we'll see what happens.

It's go time

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 02:32:58 GMT

Congrats to the EMU men's XC team for their win at Indiana State University, and to Corey on his win and to everyone who ran personal bests. Big props to Will on his 26:18, you raised the bar but I'll match you. Probably not in Cross, but I'll be in some serious shape for Track.
My other team, the SFS Knights, were in action this weekend as well. We took 2nd in the B race at the Tiffin Carnival, with Graham taking 3rd overall and our top 7 under 18. Our 8th man was 18:01, so we're looking really solid. I'm excited for the rest of the season, this bodes really well considering one of our top guys didn't even run.
My running is going well, I hit 61 this week with no pain in my hip or calf. This might excite me more than anything, because now it's time to start putting in some serious work for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons.
On a related note, I've decided to try to run for UT's cross country team. My plan is to use this season as my probation season, and run for them next fall and the following fall. I figure I've got 3 years of eligibility left, I might as well use them. I don't want to get out of college and wonder what I could have done at the collegiate level, so I'm gonna take a chance. Hopefully the coach emails me back and everything works out.
Well thats all from me, hope everyone is well.

Big Gulps, huh? Well see ya later

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 04:15:27 GMT

This weekend was pretty good I guess. Friday night I saw Dodgeball, fucking hilarious. Saturday's race went badly, I'm not sure what I ran or where I finished, but I know it wasn't any good. The rest of Saturday was spent in Will's apartment, watching TV and movies. We watched Equilibrium, which was pretty sweet. Later we went to Bob's for Celia's surprise party, that was alot of fun seeing everyone again. Saturday night when I got back to Toledo was probably the highlight of the weekend. I got back and there were 3 very cute girls in my apartment, all of them cool as hell. We all just chilled, they kissed the penguin and played with the air pistols, it was cool. Sunday night we had a party and I drank far too much and passed out by 11:45, I'm an idiot. Today I woke up half drunk, went to SFS and ran 18x400. Good thing my pace wasn't too challenging, or that could have been bad. That was a good cure for my hangover though, I felt great afterwards. The rest of today I just sat around and played Final Fantasy X, good shit.
Tomorrow brings a morning run and alot of school and work, yay. Goodnight all.

First week down

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 05:15:20 GMT

So my first week of school is done, yay for that I guess. Classes this semester seem pretty boring except for one. Chem is going to rape me I have a feeling. I didn't do all that well in Chem I, I'm kinda lost and its only the first week. Trig shouldn't be bad, but its still boring as shit. My english class is going to suck, I hate writing classes. My intro to exercise science class seems like it'll be a repeat of Intro to Sports med that I took at EMU, so I don't forsee any problems there. My online class is medical terminology, so I think that won't be bad.
Running is going better, there's less pain when I run and going fast doesn't seem to aggravate it as much anymore, even when sprinting. On wednesday I go to get my orthodics rechecked and run on the treadmill and all that. Hopefully we resolve this nonsense quickly. This saturday I'm running an 8k race, just shy of 5 miles. I'm not sure what to expect, seeing as my training has been shit lately. Based on my previous races this summer, I should be able to hold roughly 5:20 pace for 3 or 4 miles pretty solidly. If I can average that for 5, it'll be almost a minute PR, which could be saweeeeet.
This weekend was interesting. Friday night I went to a country-western bar to watch my friend sing. That was an experience all its own. Saturday night I participated in the flashlight relays at my high school with the kids. We had 4 teams of 4 people and we ran a relay in the park at night with flashlights as batons. It was a good time, as always. After that I went to a party that was pretty big, but all 8 kegs were cashed when we got there. After this Grant and I tried to get 2 cute freshmen girls to come back to our apartment and drink the some of the 2G's worth of liquor in our apartment, but it didn't happen (I'm not bullshitting either, ask me if you wanna see the pic of our liquor cabinet). We did get one of the girls' number, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. Wait, yes it was. Ah well, it was fun anyways. After that travesty Grant and I got lit and watched Memento, not a bad flick.
Well thats all from me, catch you all on the flipside.

Oh, Back to School...

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 05:02:33 GMT

So school starts tomorrow, I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Saw Club Dread the other day, I found it quite humorous, but not as much as Supertroopers. Running is going better than before, there's not as much pain when I run and it comes on later in the run that before. Ran a 5 mile, 2 person relay on Saturday, I ran about 13:40ish for my leg went 5:07, 5:42, then finish decently that last half mile. We ran the race with Notre Dame's team, one guy and one girl, it was alot of fun. I paired up with their head coach, a pretty solid runner in her own right for being 40ish. We came in 6th overall and won our age group, so that was exciting.
Saturday night was our Hairy Buff party, we mixed a fifth each of 151, Bicardi Dark, and vodka and half a fifth of Limon, and some melon liquor with about 4 gallons of fruit punch. We soaked fruit in the liquor mixture for 30+ hours before adding it to the fruit punch the night of the party, that fruit was pretty letal. That party was awesome, we had like 25 people in here and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Well I'm heading to bed now, since I have class tomorrow at 10. Take her easy everyone, and if she's easy take her twice.

GO KNIGHTS!!!

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 05:16:35 GMT

This weekend was awesome. Friday was Joe and Kristin's wedding, which was alot of fun. I got to see everyone again, and the wedding and reception were great. I really miss all those guys and just kicking it with them all the time. I guess I'll have to settle for seeing them once a month or so, its better than not seeing them at all.
Saturday morning was the Alumni Run, which the Alumni won 21-34. I came in second, again, to Frey. He always beats me, its like a mental block. He let me do all the work breaking the guys on the team, then just blew by with half a mile to go. I'll get my time someday.
Saturday night was the Bryan Cup, which was AWESOME. Nothing better than getting together with friends, drinking beer, and running a 4x4. Too bad Sean and I fucked up the hand-off, cuz Rick and I battling that last leg would have been awesome. Hey, we broke the meet record as well as the winners, so I can't complain too much. 59.2 after around 5 beers, which I drank in like half an hour, is pretty solid I'd say.
Well, I'm heading to bed, long day of running and working tomorrow. Hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer.