The Packers are going to the Superbowl!!!

OK, not really news by this point.  Still, I wanted to write a quick note about the Packers, although the notes I wrote last week were more important.  Superbowl XLV will be played in Dallas, TX next Sunday.

Obviously, Sarah and I are excited about this.  

So, rather than carry on about this, I thought I'd put just a few thoughts and links.

1) Truthfully, I'm shocked - I thought their season was over when they lost to the Detroit Lions and New England Patriots weeks 14 & 15.  Just making the playoffs was really surprising to me, all things considered.  Just look at the injuries they have sustained this season.  Ryan Grant, Mark Tauscher, Nick Barnett, Jermichael Finley, Brad Jones, Brady Poppinga, Brandon Chillar, and a promising rookie in Morgan Burnett is a huge list to overcome.  Still, the way AJ Hawk and Desmond Bishop stepped up, I hope they are the core of the inside linebackers moving forward.  Sam Shields and Tramon Williams stepped up huge as well, and the Pack may just have a running game in James Starks.


2) I really want them to win this Superbowl (obviously), for Donald Driver.  Driver has been my favorite player since around the time Favre started waffling 5 or 6 years ago.  Who's shirt did I wear when I got to go to Lambeau this season?  Oh yeah, #80 - Donald Driver, picture here.  He has a very interesting life story, a great foundation, and he writes children's books that help kids deal with adversity - something he is an expert on.  (BTW, definitely click the link on 'life story.')   All of these things are amazing, but we can't forget just how talented he is, and how tough.  He has been consistently willing to go across the middle and get hit by linebacker after linebacker for his entire career, and he always pops up with a smile.  DD plays the game the right way, and he is fun to watch.  Fact.

Dave sent me the link to this video.  It is probably the best song parody I've ever seen.  You'll likely laugh and be impressed with some of the great catches that are easy to forget over time.

My sincere hope is that the Packers win, and Donald has an MVP winning day.

3) The Packers hate cancer.  This was illustrated to me firsthand right here.  It still gives me pause to read the warm, hand-written note from their community outreach department and look at the gifts they sent me.   Ryan Grant especially hates cancer in Part 1 of a story of a young boy with Leukemia.  Part 2 is even sadder, click the link for some tears.  What a fan!  The boy actually died in his Donald Driver jersey.  I feel fairly certain that Ryan Luxem and I would've gotten along just fine, and it is special to know what the organization and Ryan Grant did for him in his last days.  I've said it many times, but I really believe this is the classiest organization in sports.

5) Green Bay will be the "home" team for the Superbowl (it alternates yearly, and this year is the NFC's turn).  As such, they get to pick their uniforms, and have opted to go with home greens.

That is the jersey Greg Jennings will wear.  It still needs the Captain C.  I'm a little disappointed they didn't choose the road whites that they had so much success in over the last 3 playoff games.

I subscribe to the Crash Davis philosophy of streaks, although admittedly, two of their last five games were in the home greens at Lambeau.

BTW, a great blog about Packer uniforms can be found here.  I've clicked over there often lately.  It is the official blog of the Packer uniform database.  How much can you possibly say about Packer uniforms to necessitate a database and blog?  - Click over to see.  It is a wealth of interesting information.  (seriously!)

6) Speaking of streaks and uniforms, since I do believe in that sort of thing, I'll be wearing my white #12 jersey and Packer hat sent to me in the care package.  I would rather wear the #80 jersey shown above, but I won't mess with this streak.  That said, I have been known to change mid-game when things aren't going well. (They're working on curing my cancer, not my neurosis). 

7) For those of you with iPads - this app is a must have.  It is the Superbowl XLV program.  Just like the $15 book you can order from NFL shop, only with sound and video.  It is a big program, but well worth it.  I was lucky to find it.

8) As a last thought...."Josh, your list doesn't have a number 4."  Yep, I do realize that.

NEITHER DO THE PACKERS!!!!!

This is Aaron's team now.  They win and lose with Mr. Rodgers.   Hopefully, they win one more!

GO PACK GO!

A Request for Thoughts, Prayers, Positive Energy, Whatever you may have

I have mentioned my friend George on this blog a few times.  He and I were diagnosed at approximately the same time.  Unfortunately, he has "failed the lumps and bumps test." In other words, the ABVD was not completely successful and the lymphoma has recurred.

I can assure every one of you that this is one of the biggest fears of any cancer survivor out there.  I'd be lying if I said I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on this possibility.

Still, Sarah and I had dinner with he and Susan this week, and they are doing as good as can be expected.  In fact, his tumors have already responded dramatically, which is great.  George looks great to me, and he still is running and biking.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he got more in this past week than I did.  It was a very fun evening at a terrific local vegetarian / vegan restaurant, and we had some drinks and of course swapped cancer stories from the trenches.

I have every confidence and sincere hope that his current plan will work for him, but I'd ask anyone reading, if they have any extra thoughts, prayers, positive energy, karma, ju-ju or whatever to send it his way!

What Cancer Cannot Do

My Aunt had given me this poem, which I am sure most of you have seen at one point or another previously, when I was diagnosed.  She had another friend diagnosed, but the place she bought the little bookmark with it was out.   It is worth posting here yet again.   Since it is plagiarized all over the internet, I figure I won't get into trouble.

What Cancer Cannot Do 

It cannot cripple Love 

It cannot shatter Hope 

It cannot corrode Faith 

It cannot destroy Peace  

It cannot kill Friendship 

It cannot suppress Memories 

It cannot silence Courage 

It cannot invade the Soul 

It cannot steal Eternal Life 

It cannot conquer the Spirit. 

-Author Unknown 

One year later...

It has been one year since my diagnosis.  1/11/11.  What an easy date, and yet the realization of 1/11/10 didn't hit me until tonight.  At a local Livestrong Colorado meeting tonight, we eaqch went around and discussed our connection to cancer.  That's when I realized what today meant.


They say cancer patients never forget their dates, and I guess I technically didn't, but I sure didn't wake up and have it on my mind all day.  I consider this both great and disappointing at the same time.  


I had thought to maybe quietly mark today somehow, although I never really finalized how.  I didn't have big plans, and as I noted in October, today means far less to me than my remission day or last chemo day.

I don't really feel the same way about my diagnosis day.  It certainly wasn't a "take charge attitude" sort of day.  Maybe quiet acceptance in my case.  Having said that, it seems appropriate enough to designate a day to raise awareness.  Granted, the "cancer community" has a lot of these types of days, but, let's be honest:  we need them all.  I likely won't do much to mark my own diagnosis day, but I do have big plans for my remission day, and probably my last chemo day.  

So the day never really got marked beyond going to a Livestrong meeting, which was coincidental.  I'm not sad to see 2010 go, for obvious reasons.  Only 11 days in, 2011 is already much, much better than 2010 was.  So much has changed in a year.  I couldn't even begin to catalog all the changes.  As Sarah has also noted several times - "it almost doesn't even seem real."   This too is both great and very sad.  If I sit and think about it, it is unbelievably real.  Unrelated to my diagnosis, today I did reflect on some very long meetings at work where I could barely hold myself together due to extreme fatigue, nausea, and taste changes.  I don't think I'll ever forget what those chemo days were like.  There are still foods I won't eat, and I haven't  had a ginger ale, my previous miracle, since probably 1/2 way through chemotherapy.  I probably could get one down, but there is no part of me wanting it.  At the same time, it does feel like it was so long ago as to be another life, and in a sense it was.


I haven't blogged in a long time:  not much to say, despite a ton of things going on.  I do have a race coming up, and participating with Team Livestrong means raising some money, which I'll be doing soon.  I also recently spoke on the phone with Jonny Imerman of Imerman Angels.  I have been trying to get set up as a mentor for months, and now it is all finalized until they find someone for which I can be of help, and so I'm very excited about that.  One of our good friends continues his fight with cancer, which has made me scared and angry.  The rumors are true:  my career has taken a very sharp turn down a very different path which I am excited about.  Sarah and I are finally taking a much needed relaxing vacation to a place which is very important to us next month.  Lucy is now a year and a much mellowed-out boxer, and technically an adult dog we are told.  Where was that when Sarah was at her wits end between the dog and my uselessness?  I'm still riding, and have been trying to learn a new discipline on the bicycle.  My next oncology follow up is in February, and I'll let you guys all guess how the anticipation of that goes.  In other words, I've been living, or as a family friend likes to say, "Life goes on."  Thankfully, that is true for me.