SALMON LUNCH

If you have the good fortune of finding yourself in Downtown Provo Utah at lunch time, do yourself a favor and stop in at Guru's on East Center Street.  This local favorite has many TIPS FROM A MAN friendly menu items.  Recently I enjoyed this Salmon lunch special.  It was served hot and was cooked to perfection.  The vegetables and rice were filled with flavor.  The portion size was just right.

I am going to keep telling you that it is VERY EASY to find food that is reasonably priced, fast, and that fits the lifestyle choices that you are making.  Not every meal needs to come between two slices of bread.  Sorry to be so preachy today but I keep hearing people saying that it is hard to eat right.  It is only hard until you make up your mind that it is time to take back your health and begin to enjoy life to its fullest.

Really, you can do this.  You are worth it.  Your family deserves a better, healthier you and you deserve that for yourself.

Enjoy life!

OG MANDINO / MOTHER TERESA

"Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."

Og Mandino
1923-1996, Author

 Augustine "Og" Mandino II (December 12, 1923 – September 3, 1996) was an American author. He wrote the bestselling book The Greatest Salesman in the World. His books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into over twenty-five different languages. He was the president of Success Unlimited magazine until 1976 and is an inductee of the National Speakers Association's Hall of Fame.
 ____________________

Some people make a difference in the world.  I believe Og Mandino to be one of these people.  Here is a man that was known worldwide.  He was so very famous.  He did well financially.  Yet as we re-read the quote stated above, he was a kind and caring person.  From what I have been able to gather, he lived his life this way.  He walked the talk.  Success didn't go to his head.  He didn't say one thing and do another.

How can we be more like this?  It seems like the world has conditioned to ask, "what's in this for me?"  Many of us don't do things "just because."  We are nice to someone because we hope it will come back to reward us.  Or we are nice to people because of their position.  We suck up to the CEO but are rude to the janitor.  Can you remember the last time you had extraordinary customer service?  How did that service make you feel?  Will you go back to that establishment?  Now think about when you received bad service.  What was that like?

Here is a TIP FROM A MAN... treat everyone with care and dignity.  Reach out.  Don't try to measure how the kindness will impact your career.  Let's do things "just because."  Read what Mother Theresa had to say:

What a great opportunity each of us has.  We can influence the world one interaction, one person at a time.  Pay it forward.  Others are watching.  Perhaps others will imitate your behavior and be a little kinder, be a little more honest, be a little more compassionate.  

Enjoy life!

TOURNAMENT RECAP

Baseball is a deceiving game.  When you watch baseball it pretty much looks like a bunch of guys standing around with a little action happening occasionally.  No big deal.  Mainly a game of strategy.  But when you are playing baseball it is a different deal entirely.  It is a workout.  The morning after our double header I could barely move.  Because I was unable to do my normal off season training this was not entirely unexpected.  But man my body didn't want to respond.

We played three games: lost two and tied one (due to tournament time limits yes you can tie).  We didn't make the playoffs (which was not a surprise with that record).  I batted .500 collecting four hits in eight at bats with one base on balls.  Nine total plate appearances.  Playing with a huge knee brace was a challenge.  Restricted range and mobility took some getting used to.  I didn't move as well as normal on the bases or in the outfield.  But, I did play and after a few days of recovery time am no worse for the wear.  Tomorrow my MRI radiologist write up and CD goes to the orthopedic guys so we will probably know in a few days what my options are and what they recommend.

Playing hurt is a different deal.  It takes some of the fun out of it when you can't make plays you are accustomed to making.  If I can't get this knee fixed, as bad as I hate to say it, I am probably going to phase baseball out of my routine.  I've always said that I am not going to be that guy hanging on when he should hang it up.  I respect the game and my teammates too much for that.  If I can help the team win, OK, but if I am the guy that makes people groan when it is their turn to bat or when the ball is hit their way, no, not gonna be that guy.

I enjoyed meeting a bunch of new guys who played on our team in the Las Vegas tournament.  A shout out to my new friends from Chicago.  If I walk away, meeting new guys is one of the things I will miss most.

So here is a TIP FROM A MAN... know when it is time to move on.  There are many activities out there that we haven't tried.  We have to listen to our bodies and make adjustments.  If I can't run, then I will ride my bike and swim more.  It's OK to move on to new things and perhaps you and I will find new activities that we really like doing that we hadn't made time for in the past.

Enjoy life.

THE OFF SEASON FROM H E DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS

This off season has been a disaster.  Back in October 2012 I was in seventh heaven playing baseball in a tournament in Phoenix.  Our team had won a couple of games and we were in contention to make the playoffs.  As is typical in tournaments we were short on pitching.  I usually pitch a couple of innings here and there but my focus is usually hitting, fielding and using my speed on the bases.  But when the coach asked me to go nine innings I said, OK, sounds like fun, let's go for it.  We were playing in a spring training stadium of the Oakland A's.  What an awesome facility.  I was pumped up!  All night I was paying close attention to how my arm and shoulder were feeling.  I kept telling myself, "pace yourself, don't over throw, if anything begins to hurt, put a call into the bullpen."  But all was good and I pitched into the 9th inning.  The game was close all night.  The lead went back and forth.  Very few runs were scored.  I pitched good, but not quite good enough to win.

Look at the stress on the right knee

After the game got over at about 9 PM I went back to the hotel and iced down my arm and shoulder.  All is well.  Hated to lose, but that was fun.  That's why I play.  Well the next morning when I woke up I was shocked to discover that my right knee had swollen to the size of a cantelope.  What the heck?  Since I am a lefty the right leg is my plant leg.  I guess it just took way too much abuse over the course of the game.  So I figured, OK, rest this stupid thing for a couple of weeks and get back to work.  Wrong!  This knee just wouldn't heal.  All winter it was weak and would hurt like crazy if I tried to do anything.  Running was out of the question.  Skiing?  Nope.  Walking up a flight of stairs... do I have to?  I had surgery on this same knee a couple of times back in the '90's.  Maybe it is ugly in there.  After weeks dragged on to months and physical therapy, yoga and chiropractic hadn't done the trick, I decided it was time to get an MRI.  Let's just say that the radiologist write up used words athletes don't like to read: "cartilaginous defect," "cartilage appears to be absent down to the bone," "the edges of the defect are sharp and steep," etc, etc.  On the bright side, he said that the ligaments appear to be in good shape. 

So here I am in Las Vegas about to play in a spring baseball tournament.  I haven't prepared at all.  I haven't run a step since October.  I haven't thrown, fielded or hit in the cage.  I am staring at the assortment of knee braces I brought with me.  Wear one of them?  All of them?  None of them?  Other than weightlifting and stretching I've not been able to do a thing for almost five months.  I am usually Mr. Prepared.  I'm that nut out running in a blizzard.  I'm usually the first guy in the gym and always bugging my buddies to go hit.  This is uncharted territory for me.  I am nervous.  After this tournament the next stop is to see the orthopedic doc to see if another surgery is the answer or if this is the beginning of my athletic end.  If I can get this fixed that would be awesome.  If I need to hang up the cleats, well, it has been an amazing run.  How many guys get to play competitive baseball into their 50's?

It's raining in Vegas and the temperatures are unseasonably cool.  Matches my mood.  Yes, Mr. TIPS FROM A MAN faces adversity just like everyone else.  But I am going to take this challenge head on and make the best of it whatever the outcome!

Enjoy life!

RAW

My friend Susan put me on to this site.  I keep preaching about eating foods in their most natural state.  This site doesn't pull punches.  It provides a lot of food for thought.  You may or may not agree with everything on the site.  That is what gathering information is all about.  Study, research, draw your own conclusions and make your choices.  This decision making pattern works for food and also works for every other aspect of your life.

Check out rawforbeauty.com and click on the BLOG button.

Here is a TIP FROM A MAN... follow the decision making pattern as detailed above.  Be strong.  Set your path.  Don't blame others.  Take control.  Make a difference in your own life then make it your life's work to help lift other people.  What goes around comes around.

Enjoy life!