MARDI GRAS!!!

Happy Mardi Gras everybody, I am currently in LA visiting Carly for the break and figured since I have nothing to do from 8 am to 7 pm I might as well post some of the stuff we have done so far. I got here on Thursday and ended taking up a Shuttle Bus from the airport to the apartment. Yourprobably thinking how is this relevant and let me fill you in, not only was it a 9 person van but it was also filled with all different kind of foreigners, well as I told them driver what address I was going too, 3 of the Russian girls and 2 Chinese people started laughing hysterically, I didnt think anything of it and just kept telling the driver where I needed to go. As I sat back down I kept noticing they were still laughing and staring at me, well the guy next to me filled me in that they were laughing at my accent and for the rest of the ride I felt like I was at a zoo. Back to the weekend. Friday: Carly got off work around 6 and myself, Carly and Brooke all took a walk to Larchmont to go get pizza. (This is the famous walk where Carly saw the "wolf") Luckily no wolves showed up and we had a great Pesto pizza and an Artie Lange cupcake from Crumbs. (Right) The cupcake has a chocolate hard topping, next layer is marsh mellow, then a yellow cake on the bottom. Probably my favorite cupcake at Crumbs. We walked back home and got ready for Saturday. Of course Carly woke up at 7, so naturally that meant I had to get up, well she went to kickboxing and I stayed back and watched Shaun of the Dead. If you guys have never seen this movie it is hysterical, its a comedy/horror movie and one of my favorites. Anyways Carly got back a few hours later and we once again met up with Brooke to go down to Hermosa Beach. Once we got down there we ate at Martha's which is a brunch place right on the water.

I got the cakes and eggs and it was really good. From Marthas we just walked out onto the beach and picked a great spot to begin getting our base tan. The weather was great, 72 without a cloud in the sky!! But also there was a family of dolphins right in front of us who were riding the waves and jumping out of the water, I had never seen a dolphin so close so that was pretty cool.

Here are a few pictures from the day, where the waves are breaking is where the dolphins were playing. Also our friend here on the right stayed by the mouse all day.

After working up a pretty sweet base tan we packed up and did the most natural thing to do after a day at the beach, go eat cake of course!!

We went out to Susie Cakes and did some serious damage. The cake lasted all of 5 minutes and before we knew what to do with ourselves we decided to go to Chin Chin and eat dinner (In case you havent noticed the main theme of the weekend was eating). At the restaurant we had enough food for a small country and I wish I would of

taken a picture of it but I was too busy shoving my face, I did however get a good picture of the view we had from out seats. After a great meal we went home and got ready for Sunday.

We planned on going back to the beach on Sunday but the weather was less then cooperative so we started the day by walking to the store to get panini stuff, after eating a good sandwich we then decided to hike Runyon canyon. I had some of the best pictures I have ever taken from the hike but for some reason I accidentally deleted them, I did however manage to save a few and while not the best, Carly and I are gonna hike it again and I will take a ton more.

This is where we started the hike, you can see the top of the canyon .

Here is one of the views from the top of the canyon, unfortunately I only had my phone to take the picture but you can see where the Hollywood sign is. The other views show the city side of LA, I will make sure to take a few so you can see what I am talking about.

From the hike we met Erin Berlin at BJ's for dinner and ultimately the best thing ever created a Pizookie!!!

That was the week so far, on Friday Carly and I will be going to Universal Studios, I will take plenty of pictures and of course I will take pictures of every place we eat at.

I wish I had more pictures from the week before but the Berlins/Schenckers/Elbergers came down to New Orleans to see me and we had a great time. Here are a few that I remembered to send to myself.

These are the BBQ shrimp at Pascale Manales. There are no words to describe how good these are.

Aftermath of the BBQ Shrimp.

I don't make many recommendations on beer but if you haven't tried the Abita Strawberry Harvest do your self a favor and pick it up at the store. This is also the next beer I will be brewing when I get back to New Orleans.

Tommy John

I keep starting every post with some type of apology of why I haven't posted in forever, but honestly since my last post I have done absolutely nothing with my life, I cried for weeks after the Bears lost, I've attended school/work and continued to rehab my arm. I also am gonna try something new in terms of posting. I usually try to pick what I write as entertaining but since I have had nothing exciting happen to me in a few weeks, I decided to just update from when I had to surgery, to what I am doing now.

It all started almost a year and half ago, I had just made my best start of the season in Peoria and the following day I noticed my elbow was noticeably stiffer than usual, I didn't think to much of it but just went on getting ready for my next start, As my next start rolled around in Dayton, Ohio my elbow seemed to be fine so I just went on throwing as usual, in the 5th inning I threw a ball and immediately grabbed my elbow in pain, instead of taking myself out I threw another inning before the pitching coach decided I need medical attention, I did the standard MRI's, X-rays, etc and was told that there was nothing structurally wrong with my elbow, and it was just some tendinitis that rest would fix. I will stop right there, most of you know what happened after that, and while obviously I was forced out, I don't want to burn any bridges just in case. (I will say this, Karma came back around,)

(Fast Forward to LA) I ended up seeing the Lakers team doctor as soon as I got to LA and after getting several MRI's it was decided that I needed surgery, My UCL was shredded to pieces and apparently had been torn for a long time, my agents then filed a claim in my behalf against my former team, and after 2 months is was decided that they would be held responsible for everything I needed done. During these 2 months, I enrolled back in school, found an apt in New Orleans, set up my surgery with the best orthopedic surgery in the country and set up my rehab specialist. After what seemed like forever, my mom and I set off to Birmingham, AL to see Dr. Andrews. When we arrived the hospital and walked in, it was the most incredible sight to see. We were escorted into the "VIP" lounge, and ended up sitting with Mike Mckenzie who had just received his Saints Super Bowl ring and was having shoulder surgery, after talking to him for a while and looking at his ring we were called into the office. About 10 minutes later Dr. Andrews walked in from surgery and had a look at my elbow. Several things happened here, 1. Usually when you meet someone for the first time, you try not to hit them but after talking for a few minutes he punched me in the stomach and said said lets get you fixed, 2 he wore a lime green suit jacket 3 as we looked at the MRI and he decided what we needed to do, he slapped me in the head and said, looks like we need surgery". So after deciding I would be the first surgery of the day, we were told to be back at 4 30 for pre-op. We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the next day. After sleeping for a few hours we came back to the hospital and led into my room. Here is where the fun started, I had to of course change into the hospital gowns and after putting mine on I realized it was a small, I think you can get a visual of what that means, Next, before I had time to tell the nurse I needed a bigger size, a man walked in and informed me he was shaving my entire body so instead of questioning why I just let it happen (Im kidding, but he did say I will be shaving you then started laughing and said just your knee and elbow) and before I knew it I was in the operating room talking about BBQ, I remember it clearly Dr. Andrews said when you wake up make sure you go to Dream Land BBQ and grab some dinner. After a successful surgery I woke up, then had to prove I could hold down a little food and drink and then I could leave. Of course I still had the small gown on, so while my mom was finishing some stuff up, I had a female nurse helping me get dressed, this really of could not have gone any more awkwardly, I had to sit at the end of the bed and she proceeded to put on my pants on. This wouldnt of been a big deal but since I had on the small gown, you can imagine how that went.

Here is a picture of me just a few hours out of surgery, I had a cast on and could not bend my elbow from that angle.

(I know we have touched on it before but honestly look at that hair, Also my skin, I'm bronzed like a Greek Goddess)

This is from the same time as the previous picture, the new ligament I had put in my elbow was taken from my hamstring and to tell you the truth, this was a thousand times more painful than my elbow ever was.

During the surgery, I had several bone chips taken out of my elbow, not sure why but I was given these as a memento, (if you are squeamish, the below photos may or may not do it for you.

First Time I took off my cast.

After about 6 weeks.

My Knee after taking bandages off

A day after the surgery we left and went back to New Orleans to begin rehab, not really much to say about the beginning process, you learn how to basically re-use your arm and leg. It took me about 4 weeks to be able to do normal things like use a fork, its also really hard to sleep, you have to keep your arm in a mechanical arm which prevents your elbow from bending to far

here is the mechanical arm, you end up wearing it for about 4 months .

After about 3 months I was finally able to begin running and lifting again, there really is only so much you can do but it was better than just sitting there. After about 4 months I started tossing again at 45 feet and gradually worked my way farther back. Currently I am at 120 feet and in a few weeks will be able to get off the mound for the first time. I am not too sure how that will go, but based on the success I have had so far Im hoping it wont be a problem.

I realize this is not like passed posts but in the next month I actually have a ton going on, next week the Schenckers are coming in town so I will be sure to take pictures and will post about that. In 3 weeks I will be in LA, so of course all of the mouse jokes will come out and hopefully I will be able to update you as far as my throwing goes. I will also begin brewing a new beer here in a few weeks so I will keep you up to date on that, and if you guys have anything you want to see I will include that as well. Until next time

MO

BEAR DOWN!

Friends, Family, people from Russia and China who are randomly reading this (true by the way) Come Sunday, several things are going to happen, 1 I will shut off my phone so if you text me or call me don't expect an answer until about 5 30 or so. 2. My drink fast will be broken, I cant imagine not being able to have a few beers during the biggest game of the year. 3. It doesn't matter who wins or loses either way I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry 4. I will be dressed from head to toe in Bears gear And finally the last thing that's going to happen is if the Bears win I will most likely be streaking!

Alright Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me apologize for the longest absence to date between posts, between Houston, Los Angeles and school starting I haven't had as much time as I would like. Also one more apology, I usually have pictures to go with my posts, but because of several reasons I just made up in my head, the pictures were lost at sea, eaten by my dog, not taken, taken from me at gunpoint etc, I have very few pictures to put up. But besides all of that I will backtrack and bring you back up to speed on my life.

Christmas

I know my last post was right before Christmas but I will pick up from there. Christmas Eve is always a great day for our family. I make my yearly appearance at Church, I usually try wrapping gifts but get sick of it and give up and finally we go to Star Pizza with the Shipman's. We have been doing this for years on end and it was another great night. I made fun of Caroline (youngest daughter) and her Boyfriend Cold, We ate great Pizza and ultimately just had a really good time. We were also suppose to have Marisa's new BF join us but he wasn't able to make it, which was probably for the better because I was ready to give the once over if I needed too. (kidding, we met him the next night and I didn't up stabbing him so I would say it was a successful meeting). The next day was X-mas morning and we opened up all of our gifts and instead of just saying I got everything I wanted, I am actually just gonna list every single thing I got, kidding . About 2, the rest of our family came over for our Lasagna Linner, Lunchner, Dinch (combining lunch and dinner doesn't sound as cool as Brunch) But not get ahead of myself, when my Aunt Linda arrived a little early we knew something was going on, but really thought nothing of it but when Monica arrived they broke the big news that she had gotten ENGAGED earlier in the morning. 2 things happened when I found this out, 1. I could not believe my Aunt Linda had held in the secret (I only say that because the image of her laying in our neighbors yard will never leave my head and how do you keep that big of news to yourself?) but also I was extremely happy for Monica and Justin. So now after eating, drinking and eating some more we all opened up more gifts before it was time for them to leave. But wait, I know last time I said I would tell you who gave me the worst gift, and after several pleas from family not to say it was them the decision is here. I received a giant box from my Aunt Linda and was told to guess what was inside, here were the contents, Dentyne Ice and an Itunes gift card. The Itunes gift card was great, but the only reason she made the list is because she told me not to use the gum against her in the blog! (I'm totally kidding, I appreciated everything I got and unfortunately this year there was no clear cut worst gift.) After X-mas I really have nothing really exciting to write about, Carly and I met Alice and Drew for dinner the same night they got back from Paris, oh on New Years we watched the Kennedy Awards! pretty exciting stuff right? That pretty much sums up the winter break, I did a ton of eating, hung out with my Carly, and spent time with my family, so overall a pretty good break.

Birthday

This year I spent my birthday out in LA, I left on the Thursday before (missed a class, always a good sign when you don't even show up for the first class of the year.) and stayed until Tuesday morning. Originally the plan was to arrive in LA, have Carly pick me up, she go to work the next day then we pack up the car and drive down to Palm Springs for every ones birthday. But it didn't quite work out that way but we still had a great time. Friday was pretty much a day to myself, Carly had to work late so we just hung out when she got home and I just made dinner, but Saturday was MY day. I was awoken at 7 18 am to Carly asking me if I was up and if so Happy Birthday, I then walked out to the kitchen where can you believe I had to pour my own cereal? But after Carly made my coffee and served it to me the day officially began. Even though it was MY day, Carly left me to fend for myself while she went to Pilate's, but an hour later she came home to me exactly in the same spot as when she left. So after getting ready we went out to Jack N Jill's to have lunch and just

walk around. After a great meal we came back to the apt to watch a full day of football, (this ended up benefiting Carly because she actually had to work for most of the day) but after watching the Packers destroy the Falcons we walked to Larchmont Pizza for my bday dinner. (quick side story, one day when we were walking to Larchmont, Carly saw a dog jump off of a ledge and convinced herself it was a wolf, before I could realize what was happening she took off on a sprint screaming wolf!) At Larchmont we had a half pesto half cheese pizza and it was phenomenal. After eating we walked over to Crumbs for a birthday cupcake, and usually when we go there, there is absolutely no chance I will get to pick what kind we get, but because it was my birthday Carly let me decide and let me say this, usually there are like 25, 3o different choices to choose from but for whatever reason there was a total of 3 different options 3! So after just choosing one, Chocolate Sunday, Carly sang me happy bday and we devoured the cupcake (surprisingly was really good). Since we had to be up early for the drive to Palm Springs my Birthday officially came to a close at 10:17 pm (Thanks everyone for the B day wishes by the way) Also one last thing, I am pretty sure Carly never wants to host my Birthday again, I thought I was being reasonable, but apparently reminding someone every 2 minutes it was your birthday gets kind of annoying. The next day we woke and left for Palm Springs at about 8 in the morning, the drive was pretty uneventful, we jammed to the Biebs, Glee, T swift, Spice Girls, for about 2 hours and ended up making it to her grandpas house exactly 1 minute before kickoff for the Bears game. After watching the Bears take care of business, we hung out for a little but longer before going out to celebrate Phil and Pearls birthdays (Schenckers grandpa and grandma) We ate at a phenomenal seafood place for dinner and unfortunately before you knew it we had to get back in the car and drive back (Phil, Pearl if by chance you read this Thank you again for everything, I really did have a great time and thanks so much for the jacket!) As we were leaving we happened to pick up another passenger, Bret, driving back was no different than before, the Biebs sweet voice led us safely back to LA.

Monday we all went down to Santa Monica and hung out before driving Bret back to the airport, unfortunately other than J. Bryant Shulof (one of Bret's customers) there wasn't really much going on. We relaxed all day and just had a nice dinner back at the house.

Tuesday unfortunately brought my time in LA to a close, and before I knew it, I was back in New Orleans getting ready for class.

Also just to give everyone an update, rehab for my elbow is going great, I am currently throwing at 75 ft and hopefully will be back to 90 ft in a few weeks, I also just booked a

trip to Dallas for the Superbowl, and also will be visiting the the President of my fan club; Kim Levine, My next post will most likely be about the weekend with the Levines/Budwins(hopefully)/Morgan festival and also about the Super Bowl. I promise to take more pictures and everyone better be rooting for a BEARS win. BEAR DOWN!!

(If there is a way for me to do that to my hair, I will be doing it)

MO