After coming up just short in three overtimes in last March’s Class AA state championship game to Eden Prairie, the Hounds have unfinished business. With very few holes to fill, East looks to be one of the top teams in Minnesota this coming season. Coming so close last season will only supply added fuel to the fire. Here is a look at what we can expect:
This was written ten years ago, on the tenth anniversary of the Halloween 1991 Megastorm which buried Duluth in 37 inches of snow.
For those who lived in Duluth ten years ago, we all remember what the Halloween storm in 1991 was like. This was an event which had never happened before (and likely never will again), and it brings back some fond memories (for the most part) for me even today.
Try to imagine a 37-inch snowfall in one storm. Drifts were much higher due to the fierce winds which whipped the barrage into massive drifts. For three days, virtually nothing moved in Duluth. Certainly not normal modes of transportation, such as cars, trucks and busses.
Marinade Ingredients:
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup honey
3 Tb red wine vinegar
2 Tb finely snipped fresh parsley
2 Tb grated peeled gingerroot or 1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp pepper
1 medium garlic clove, minced
3 skinless chicken breast halves (about 12 oz each)
Cooking spray
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless sirloin steak
Cooking spray
1 Tb Sesame seeds
6 oz. fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Ingredients:
1 Tb canola oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
4-boneless chicken breast halves (6 oz ea.), rinsed, patted dry & flattened to 1/2 inch thickness
1-lemon, cut into quarters
Ten years ago today, many peoples’ lives changed forever. Many of those lives ended tragically. The idea of two jumbo jets being used as weapons of mass destruction would have been deemed impossible prior to that sunny morning in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
By request, I’m going to post some recipes which we have started making since my heart attack. These are designed to be 1) low in saturated fats and 2) low in sodium.
Plus sixteen days, actually. 
I thought I’d take a look back at where I was, and where I’m currently at.
Physically, I’m in pretty good shape. My resting heart rate is often under 70 and nearly always under 80. My blood pressure has usually been around 115-120/80. I’ve lost eight pounds in the past two weeks with at least fifteen more to lose. Ideally, I’d like to lose 30 more pounds but Patty thinks that would be too much. For now, I’m taking the weight thing day by day. I weigh myself first thing in the morning and have lost weight nearly every day since leaving SMDC. I’m able to walk up to two miles at a nearly normal pace without being winded and while keeping my vital signs within normal ranges.
Not much going on today; after a couple phone calls to and from folks at work, it was just a matter of hanging around, walking around the floor, getting somewhat bored. A cardiac rehab guy came by today, and took me for a brief walk including a walk up a flight of stairs, to see how my vital signs responded to a little work. They were fine. Eventually the IV was taken from my left arm (damn, that tape hurts when removed because they can’t just rip the tape off due to the IV still sticking out of the vein–he had to remove the tape slowly over a hairy section of my forearm, not fun), and I was allowed to take off the portable heart monitor and get dressed.
From there it was just a matter of Patty getting off work and coming by to pick me up. We arranged to meet at the Duluth Clinic Pharmacy as I had five new prescription to get. $$$$!
Wednesday night rather bled into Thursday morning, so I’ll start with having breakfast served to me just before 8 a.m. I hadn’t eaten in 17 hours, and this will always make hospital food taste good. Afterward, it was a morning of waiting; waiting to be released to the post-cardiac unit (or whatever the hell it was called). I was still hooked up to two machines, so there was no walking around allowed, just standing. Saw the Champlain and then my cardio doctor. His statement that my heart function was “significantly diminished” stunned me a bit until I realized he was talking about current function rather than capacity or potential function. It was the first time I fully realized that this whole thing was going to be a process. Surviving the heart attack and having the blockages cleared up was just the start.