Half-shocked

Watching Leno's last night on "The Tonight Show" and he's doing a best-of Jay Walking, when I notice this huge tatoo on this young lady's arm...orange hair...hmmm; it's Oakland's very own Keyshia Cole. Now if you've never seen Jay Walking, Leno typically makes fun of the people he's interviewing, or rather they make fun of themselves by answering common-knowledge questions - WRONG! Now, the question posed to our beloved Ms. Cole was actually a name-this-person question. Jay was holding a picture of this man












Our dear Keyshia has no CLUE!!! I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but..c'mon!!! I know this man may not have been the most popular figure in (especially) traditional Westcoast liberal politics, or even Black families, but even then, both sides (left & right) could undoubtedly answer the question. And I am a huge believer in being able to recognize our public, and notable leaders. Also I do, however, realize had she gotten it right, that never would have been broadcasted. I would like to ask Keyshia if she remembers that day, and more importantly..."do you now have an answer?"

Liberation

You know...just because someone passes, doesn't mean they're really gone. Pictured above is JP Reddy, father and husband; whose sun has set in our world, but has risen in another. We've only met Four times, and although two of those four were while your daughter Ashleigh and I dated, despite the circumstances, I would have still remembered each occasion distinctly because you had the personality that I am naturally attracted to. Confident, yet doesn't have to be the life of the party and be the center of attention. Saavy, and knowledgable about various topics, like food and my eventual favorite - gambling (21, anybody?). Loving, to both the women in your family, and to everyone around. Respected, in your profession, leader in your family, and friend to all.

The first time we met, or when you saw me, was during move-out Saturday at USF, as I struggled to load my big red recliner into the back of a '02 Dodge Neon (Ashleigh tells me this story haha). I must've invented about 50 different ways to try and get that thing in there. The second, I believe it was at Ashleigh's graduation dinner, where I was so glad (and nervous) to meet the ENTIRE family, but that day, I had to play the 'cool' type. We didn't get to chat much then, probably because I unconciously kept my distance, but your presence was certainly felt. The third was dinner at Mela in San Francisco, which was between yourself, Ashleigh, and I. Turned out like you liked me. You kept the conversation friendly, gushing over the Lakers who were making a playoff push at the time, and gave an excellent recommendation as to what to order. Thank you for not recommending anything too Spicy! haha. And the fourth was during a December 2006 trip where I found myself as a guest in your home. You let me in, and like every other dad, I imagine, you kept a close eye although you had become familiar with me. You may have looked away a few times, but I never left the corner of your eye haha, which is just fine to me. And I still remember the Blackjack tips you gave me...I'll make sure to put those to good use.

I never really knew how to deal with death, as not many close to me have died, not until 2003 when my only-uncle Ricky passed. As I grew older, as you can imagine, more folks have since moved on, and writing these tributes have become my method of how to deal. Thanks Ashleigh for giving me permission to express this, and I hope this helps you, and those closest.

It's a hard road of hope, but bright stars do line the pavement. Wherever you go, I'm positive there will be room for ya! JP Reddy, my brother, you have raised a strong, smart, and beautiful daughter, and have built a wonderful family that I have had the pleasure of meeting several times (Hi! Mom) and cool-as-ever son, and I pray you no longer have any worries, because your job is done. We got it from here. Remember, you are loved...

Read his Obituary written by Ashleigh Reddy

Having one of my creative moments

The return of Alien bug

AJ and I are chilling out, playing some Madden right before we have to head over to Lufkin HS to cover physical exams...that's when this huge ass thing jumps on the window screen!!! I immediately noticed it from the other day, when it was on my other window...I guess it was back looking for another entry point. It's all good, I'll be back in the Bay Area next Sunday where we eat bugs, they don't eat us

Another Obama-inspired piece

"Progress"

• Done with acrylic paint on 9 x 16 x 2 wood block
• Pencil-traced circles done with Maria stencil, a method invented by my coworker, Maria Alvarado
• Used a U shaped wood-shaver to carve around edges of circles, gave it a 'popping' effect
• Shouts to SFA Art Dept. for the supplies and Maria for making it happen

Can't wait til I see the Bay

WTF???!? I woke up, looked out my 3rd floor window for my morning stretch, and damn near pissed in my city-boy boxers when this big azz alien looking creature was on the other side of my glass...I tapped on it and everything, it wasn't afraid of humans.

That's it...I'm converting to Mac

So.........I've been without a computer, or MY computer/laptop, for almost one month now. And I've had it with viruses and bullsh*t like that. What the fu*k is spyware, and adware, and malware, all the gotdamn wares anyway???!?!?!?! Who the f*ck makes all this $&%# to extremely frustrate folks like me? All I'm tryna do is make it through this first year of Graduate school!!! That's it!

I'm telling you...if you're reading this Mr. Spyware-Trojan man-virus making-sonnab*tch...don't let me catch you slippin' G, it's gon be problems

Much props to Julie ;-) for letting me borrow the old Dell jumpoff. It came through in the clutch when I needed it. Hell, I used it to post these entries...

Rotation VIII

Football

Football…for being such a popular sport, why is it such an unpopular rotation? The reason is because it has long been established as the sport which belongs to the undergrads. It’s not the 6:45am start time, because even that isn’t 6:00am. It’s not the tremendous amount of taping because even that is valuable practice we could all use. It’s not even the demanding athletes and their excessive use of profanity, because even they are real cool folks and it turns out, after talking and living with them, you have a ton in common! It’s a sport/rotation where grads will never have the majority control. And that’s perfectly okay. At one point, we were all undergraduates and needed somewhere to start. I don’t believe this to be a problem, it is simply an explanation. It would probably be the same if the tables were turned and a majority of grads were hanging around instead of undergrads. And that is the reason I wasn’t looking forward to football. But, this time, it was different.

Before moving to Texas, I remember browsing SFA Sports Medicine website with Dan Miller, the Head Athletic Trainer from Chabot Community College, and we came across Sandy Miller’s profile. I asked Dan, “What makes this guy a 4x Hall of Fame athletic trainer? If most of the knowledge about treating an ankle sprain is fairly common, what makes him better than you or any single athletic trainer better than any other athletic trainer?”

Dan replied, “I can’t say, but if anything, he is probably a helluva teacher, and can probably get his instructions and message across, so other people can understand, easier and more effectively than other athletic trainers.” I remember this conversation very distinctly because I have since wondered how does one athletic trainer distinguish themselves from others, if they essentially know the same thing.

And over the past two weeks, Dan’s response finally came to light. His answer made sense then, but even more so now, because Sandy does have this unique way of getting things done. Now, I have only known the guy for two semesters, but these past two weeks have allowed me to put Dan’s response into context with Sandy’s personal actions. The first time I had football as a rotation; I only taped ankles, and passed out water. This time around, I still taped ankles and passed out water, but I could tell he trusts me a lot more because we (Jorge and I) were more involved with daily treatments and rehab and entering information onto eSims. Of course, the undergrads were involved with data entry also (mostly Forges), but the pinnacle of the rotation came when Sandy trusts me with a new injury, in terms of setup, patient positioning, application, and taking a detailed enough history to enter into eSims. That was really cool for me because I remember asking Sandy, “Did you say enter him a New Injury, or Update, because I’m going to need the initial impressions, and MOI, details, etc.” And in his subtle voice, Sandy replies, “There he is right there,” implying to get the information from the athlete. So I did. I was a little surprised because I thought that would be something he would want to do, but turns out, it wasn’t. May not seem like a big deal, but it kind of was. The timing was perfect.

It is things like that which made this rotation incredibly enjoyable this time around. I really felt like I could put everything I learned in the classroom to use, especially from the therapeutic modalities class, and upper extremity class, when explaining to an athlete why they are positioned a certain way, or why the treatment will be more effective if there shoulder is in this direction, and not in that direction. I strongly feel I accomplished a lot.