Vida

Sunday Mike:  I might need you to do the baseball draft for me today.  It's at 7:30.        If possible. Me:  Oh boy.  Remind me what the goal is.  Hits, runs? Mike:  All around.  It's like a real draft. aka he had no idea      You can pick all Cardinals if you want. Meanwhile: Me:  Dad, I'm going to need some help with Mike's fantasy thing! So, like I said, I have never done the fantasy thing, but I think it helps to know what the ground rules are all about.  I'm going to assume its all about offense.  I'm sure I'll overlook someone.  Everyone agrees Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are outstanding players.  Paul Goldschmidt the first baseman at Arizona is sort of a sleeper.  Prince Fielder at Texas, Robinson Cano (the former Yankee 2nd baseman now with Seattle) I heard on the radio today may have a big year.   McCutcheon at Pittsburgh.  Carlos Javier Correa, t he shortstop at Houston, Lindor at Cleveland, Posey and Crawford at San Francisco.    For C

Baseball season starts on Sunday and I'm pretty excited over here. Even if the Post Dispatch seems to only be printing bad news and a negative outlook on the season.   Peralta's out until at least the All Star Break.   Oquendo's out for the season to recover from knee surgery.  (It's their job.)   We still have things going for us.   Molina's back in the starting line-up.  That wasn't a guarantee after that Cub slid into him last year.  (I just realized I was at the game Waino went down and Yadi last year....I'm not going to read into that because I want to keep going to games.) Martinez is having a pretty good spring.  I fought for him in Mike's fantasy draft and I think we'll see big things from him this year. Garcia seems to be getting more comfortable. Waino's back ! I'm excited for Sunday!  I'll be watching!

I just have to write about this book: It's definitely written from a perspective I have not read from before and it's so touching.  It made me cry multiple times so make sure you're okay with that.  People on my buses probably thought I was crazy. We all have stories where doctors made mistakes.  And they're usually big  mistakes, which is why we keep telling the stories.  And I know there are doctors who consistently make mistakes, this book will definitely make you think twice on quick judgments of doctors, in the first part.   Then it makes a transition.  To the doctor becoming the patient. There are times it gets a little doctory...he is a neurosciencetist, but they're short paragraphs. And I just can't describe how much I like the book.  It is a quick read and worth it.

MOM!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday to my dose of reality.  Mom always makes me think about things in a different way, which is good for me.  People have been knocking her down lately and I hope she has a wonderful day because she deserves it! I'm lucky enough that both my parents birthdays fall near holidays so I get to celebrate with my mom in person this weekend!

Yesterday Mike & I were meandering down Damen after some delicious brunch (and lots of coffee...for me). I asked if we could stop in a store I've been eyeing.  And enter my new love of Marine Layer .  It's made from lots of natural ingredients (renewable ingredients) seriously, responsible manufacturing, the clothes are super, super soft, and...it's expensive. Cue a conversation between Mike and I, 'Is it worth it?' My stance is if it lasts forever and fits like a dream.  Worth it.  If it fits like a dream but dies a few years in.  Not worth it. I walked out giving Mike a list of items I want.   I made no purchases...this time. Pictures show you the clothes are cute, but go in and feel them and you're sold.

I have become a big fan of growlers.   (I am not a big fan of some breweries charging you extra to fill a different brewery's growler, but maybe that's a legality?) Let's break it down though. Growlers provide you with fresh beer, straight from the keg ... and ... they are good for the environment! The beer bottling process takes a lot of water and resources.  Using growlers, you cut down on the water used to clean all the bottles and the glass.  Yes, glass is recyclable, but how nice is it to not even use the resource in the first place.  No need to use energy to recycle (please tell me we don't need to step back to make sure you're recycling) if you're just using your growler again. I think you get about 5 pint glasses from a growler...?  It's something like that.  And you should try to drink it quickly.  I've heard once opening at home you should drink it in 4-6 hours.  I have never finished a growler in 4-6 hours.  Never.  But it's good

I have not bothered you with one baseball post this year.  Not one. I have been following spring training and reading all the reports that the Cardinals will be dethroned this year.  And I'm still excited. Then The NY Post put together this article . “The pitchers are very good, but the guy behind the plate is a baseball genius,” Warthen said. “No one in baseball does what he does. He reads swings or reads hitters’ minds, but he always knows what they are looking for. I love to watch St. Louis. I would watch them play every day just because of him. He totally shuts down a running game and pitchers believe in him every time he puts down his fingers. It is a game changer.” Note:  please get better, Yadi.  Those silly Cubs messed up your thumb. Opening day is in 19 days.  P.S.  I don't have a problem with the Mets. P.P.S. Other notes:   Skippy is retiring :(     Peralta had surgery       I like Gonzales so much     I also love Pham    Happy to hear about our frien

Happy World Kidney Day! Now that I am learning A LOT about kidneys and FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome.  We get to celebrate a day of awareness.  It's World Kidney Day. The organization I work with just completed five awareness videos and the first one was released TODAY!  (Appropriate no?)  And we start with our star video...   The others are about other patients, child patients, life as a care giver, and those are coming up later... P.S. This article is a bit long, but when you get to the bottom with the patient on dialysis that's what many patients have (some I met a couple weekends ago).  Luckily, Aries Merritt's body did not reject his sister's kidney in the video above.  That doesn't always happen.

Who's seen the Color Test floating around? It's just for fun, but look what I got! Does everyone get that??? Whatever, it made me feel good.  Happy Tuesday!

With my transition to working from home, I've found myself working from coffee shops a couple days a week (I expect this to increase as the weather improves and I can sit outside).   I've also found myself getting into podcasts.  So far I've dabbled with Lena Dunham 's, A Few Things and Major League Podcast ( Cardinals ).   I like having some noise in my place.  Usually it's music, but podcasts are nice too. Any podcast suggestions???

I recently tried NatureBox snacks and oh man. First of all, I had a real struggle choosing which snacks I wanted.  I had to stop reading all the options and I went with dark chocolate berry trail mix, dark cocoa almonds, aged cheddar lentil loops, salted caramel pretzel pops and mango almond bites. So who wants a free box?  You just pay shipping.   Go here .