Bye Bye Duram, Welcome back Roberts, Last 2 Times at the Ball Park

Last Sunday, my dad took all of us to a Giants game for his birthday. What a guy. Happy late birthday dad. Love you. We had a great time. It was absolutely a wonderful fun time even though the Giants lost. The age range was well represented with our clan. My 93 year old Grandma and my 5 week old nephew attended. My sweet niece, can cheer just like the rest of us. All of us were decked out in our Giants fan wear.

Early that day I heard that possibly the Giant's 2nd baseman, Ray Duram was going to be traded at the end of the game. This saddened me a little because Ray Ray was beloved by the fans. I have two favorite memories of Ray Ray. One time he hit a walk off home run. The stadium came unglued and we all stood and hooped and hollered for about 20 minutes. It was soooosweet. Someone (will remain nameless) who I know well used to work as a bouncer at MoMo's across from the ball park. This person knows of my love of the Giants and liking Ray Duram. Ray Ray came in after a game and spoke with my friend. My friend got out his cell phone and had Ray Ray give me a call. Sadly, I had my phone on silent when he called but he left a message. It was a fun message. I saved that message for about 2 years. It would have been nice if the Giants played Ray for his last game with the Giants. The fans would have given him a proper goodbye. Bye, Bye Ray Ray.

Here are some pictures from the day we all went. The picture above is of my loves in their Giants gear.

Here's Jen, Joe and my mom (in the back ground) holding baby Joey. Cute picture J & J.

Mom you are the best Grandma ever. Trin Trin loves you so much and Baby Joey loves you too!

Amy and I went to a day game on Thursday. We had a great time and this time the Giants won.

Here we are at the ball park after the Giant's won. Always a good day at the ball park when the good guys win. See the giant Coke~Cola bottle in the back ground? Some of you know this, some of you don't but there are 4 long slides inside the bottle. 2 are curvy and the other two are a straight shot down with a couple of dips along the way. On Sunday, Amy and I had a race down the slides. Each time I got to the bottom first. She claimed it was her jeans that held her up. I know better.

At Thursday's game Dave Roberts returned from being on the DL. It was good to have him back and he stole the show, literally. He made two fantastic plays in the outfield and hit a base hit to knock in the lone Giant's run and the only run of the ball game in the 8th inning. Welcome back Dave.

As you can see Amy got attacked by a giant spider on our walk down the water front.

Here is a random picture of an old street car. Thought it was cool. I think it still is in operation.

Body Worlds Exhibition

Yesterday I went to the Body Worlds Exhibition in San Jose and was amazed. Since my anatomy and physiology days in college I have been fascinated with the human body. This exhibit was a millon times better than my discecting anatomy days. Body Worlds is the first anatomical exhibition of perserved human bodies. Focus is the education of the human body, it's functions, diseases and physical changes. The preservation of the deceased body donations uses a process called plastination. Here it is explained by the Body Worlds web site:

The Method of Plastination
Plastination is a relatively simple process
designed to preserve the body for educational and instructional purposes.
Plastination, like many revolutionary inventions, is simple in
concept:

1. Embalming and Anatomical Dissection
The first step of the process involves halting decay by pumping formalin into
the body through the arteries. Formalin kills all bacteria and chemically stops the
decay of tissue. Using dissection tools, the skin, fatty and connective tissues are removed in order to prepare the individual anatomical structures.

2.
Removal of Body Fat and Water
In the first step, the body water and soluble fats are dissolved from the body by placing it into a solvent bath (e.g., an acetone bath).

3. Forced Impregnation
This second exchange process is the central step in Plastination. During forced impregnation a reactive polymer, e.g., silicone rubber, replaces the acetone. To achieve this, the specimen is immersed in a polymer solution and placed in vacuum
chamber. The vacuum removes the acetone from the specimen and helps the
polymer to penetrate every last cell.

4. Positioning
After vacuum impregnation, the body is positioned as desired. Every single anatomical structure is properly aligned and fixed with the help of wires, needles,
clamps, and foam blocks.

5. Curing (Hardening)
In the final step, the specimen is hardened. Depending on the polymer used, this is done with gas, light, or heat. Dissection and Plastination of an entire body requires
about 1,500 working hours and normally takes about one year to complete.


Some of my favorite parts of the exhibit were of the Skate Boarder, the
artificial joints and implants, the arm with only the blood vessels to the
smallest of the capillaries, the exhibit called the Ponderer, the display of
smoker's and non-smokers lungs, the fetal exhibit, the brain that had been
affected by Alzheimer's Disease and the letter from President Reagan to the
American people, and the display of the human body into layers. The more I
study the human body and am exposed to incredible things like Body Worlds,
my heart and mind is pointed to God and His awesome incredible creative
ability. Everything is so precise and purposeful.

I greatly would recommend this exhibition for you to go and see. The exhibition in San Jose closes this weekend, but I do know that there is one opening in Los Angeles in March running through September. I might even go and see the one in LA. Here are a few pictures of some of the things I saw.

Hip Replacement Surgery

Today at lunch while eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I performed a hip replacement surgery. If I would have had more time I would have replaced a knee too. The surgery went well, especially since it was my first orthopedic surgery. A full recovery and return of range of motion is expected for the patient. Live the orthopedic surgeon dream in you, check out this site for performing a virtual hip replacement.