I Recall February As If It Were Yesterday

IT'S BEEN LONG ENOUGH, RIGHT?

Please don't ask me what in the hell I have been doing that has prevented me from performing my blogger duties.  Hey, I said DON'T ask me, you there in the back!  The answer, put simply, is not a damned thing.  Not that I have not been deliriously occupied, but I will say that since I am handing out my (treasured) business cards with Robert J.'s Transplant Tribune boldly emblazoned on the top, I should get my s**t together and write something.  Anything.  Except about what I had for lunch today. Hell, I don't even care what I had for lunch today!

Just to bring you up to date, I have gotten deeply involved in several altruistically-inspired projects.  Despite my profound technical inabilities I did assume the duties of Membership Chair for our Bay Area chapter of Transplant Recipients International Organization (TRIO).  Although just yesterday I discovered I was appointed not elected, this small disappointment has not decreased my enthusiasm for the position in any way.  In fact it inspires me to get elected to something, no matter what it may be.  So do feel free to nominate me for an elected position of any sort.  Thank you.

Due to my unqualified admiration for Ana Stenzel and Isa Stenzel-Byrnes, I am honored to report I was allowed to join the efforts to bring The Power of Two here to Livermore.  Wine for a Cure is an annual happening here in our fine city that will this year combine wine, food and film to raise support for Cystic Fibrosis Research, Inc. (CFRI).  If you know Ana's and Isa's story you are aware that it describes their determined battle to survive this horrible disease.

Diana Heppe and Robin Modlin, two CF moms, are, amongst others, the focused individuals spearheading the effort.  The documentary will be shown at 5:00 pm on Sunday, May 20 at Livermore Cinemas.  May I strongly ask you to consider attending?  Tickets can be obtained at www.cfri.org/wineforacure.shtml.  If you are not touched by this story, you must be an emotionless creep, and I will refund your cost of admission (minus a small processing fee) and, further, never speak to you again.  So there.

Moving on, Cheryl and I have joined forces with Team NorCal to compete in the 2012 Transplant Games of America, to be held at the end of July in Grand Rapids, MI.  "Compete" is a relative term in my case, since my last successful athletic endeavor was when I won the 1/4 Mi. run for the Slow Group in my Boy's PE class.  This woulda been my junior year at Dear Old Hamilton High, which is where they used to film Mr. Novak (starring James Franciscus) back in the day.  Anyway, that satisfying victory is memorable in that just after the checkered flag flew, I lost my Pop Tarts from breakfast (Mom always got up early to prepare us a nutritious brekkie) right there on the track.

Uh, sorry for that Moment in Time remembrance.......but we will be gong to Grand Rapids and from what we have seen and heard, it is a seriously moving experience.  Many donor families attend, and recipients will use the opportunity to offer thanks for our donors' decision.  Once more I ask for your support, which you can give at www.teamnorcal.org.  Funds will be used to financially assist donor families who wish to attend, as well as for team apparel, equipment, and meetings.  Thank you
for your interest.

Finally we come to my own favorite cause, the 2012 Donate Life Walk.  We are re-forming Team Ruben and are hopeful we will have all of last year's veterans along with many new recruits.  Once again, Team Ruben-identifying apparel will be provided to all registered participants.  The Walk happens on Saturday, September 8 at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont.  Please see http://www.ctdn.org/donatelifewalk.html to register and/or donate.

Are you sick to death of getting constantly assaulted with causes for which I ask your help?  Yeah, I agree, but they are all of the very highest quality.  And what is more important than saving or improving a life?

SOME FUN PERSONAL STUFF

Beginning with this very minute and working backwards, I was accompanied by two fine Mamas last Sunday in observance of the incredibly wonderful occasion of Mother's Day.  In addition to my amazing wife, Cheryl, I was gratified to be honored by the attendance of our machatuna, Sandy Chaw.  You will need to check my archives for a definition.  We had a very gracious brunch in Pleasanton at Nonni's which I heartily recommend.  Their specialty is smoked salmon, and yes, it is smoked right there on the premises.  Since I don't smoke that stuff anymore, I ordered a different item which was, I am sure, equally good.

Racing was on the agenda the prior day, and no, it definitely was NOT in order to offset Mother's Day, all you wise guys out there.  Along with Two Jeffs and John P., we set a course to Laguna Seca for a six-hour sports car race.  Since we engaged in all sorts of good-natured male debauchery (some including actual lying, exaggerating, and distribution of spent gasses) we were unable to reach the conclusion of the event.  No matter, we were a bunch of happy kids having spent a great day in a favorite location, on a marvelous Monterey day, enjoying the sights and sounds we most adore.  Uh, second only to the sight of our wives and the sound of them saying "get off that damn computer, already".

Exceeding all possible expectations was Cheryl's and my 39th Anniversary Road Trip to Cambria, Solvang and Los Olivos.  We reached these fine destinations via our beloved Honda S2000, largely with the top retracted.  After a magical evening in Cambria enjoying cocktails at Moonstone Grill, we observed with wonderment the Year's Biggest Moon from our room at the Blue Dolphin.  Luckily for everyone, the guy who was mooning us hoisted his trousers and went back to his room, allowing us to clearly see that big round hunk of green cheese in the sky.  Except for some shabby check-in treatment at the Corque Inn in Solvang, it was again a great day of wine-tasting followed by dinner at A Brother's Sides Hardware and Shoes.  I am not making that up, that is the name of the restaurant that previously operated in the famous Mattei's Tavern.  I do recommend it, as well as the other places I have named unless specifically indicated as unsatisfactory (see Corque Inn).

There have been several other adventures since we last spoke, but I will spare you most to relate one more.  We beetled up to Reno to see and (mostly) hear a favored electric blues/rock virtuoso, Joe Bonamassa.  If you've not heard of him and like that style of music, do give him a listen.  The concert was nothing short of excellent and yes, loud.  But this guy can play and sing like you would not believe.  We did dinner, upon Dan's and Carol's direction, at The Hash House a' Go Go.  Describing itself as "Twisted Farm Cuisine,  it grossly violates a long-standing Moss/Cook teaching, i.e. "Never eat anything bigger than your head".  So we obeyed, and took the rest of the cranium-sized dishes back to the hotel where it still is, perhaps.  And I know you think I made up the name of this restaurant, but you are wrong.

ON A SAD NOTE

Recently we lost two important people, one of whom I have known for over 40 years, and one I have merely "known" for 50 years.  Our very dear friends Dan and Carol lost Carol's mom, Gladys, last month.  I first met Gladdy amd Jim back in about '67 when we kids were all at UCSB.   I visited them at several of their SoCal homes and, more recently, in Clayton.  Over all these years they have been the same lovely, gracious and generous people to Cherie and I that have endeared them to all of their many friends and relatives.  We miss Gladdy, and hope the very best for Jim as he struggles to adjust.

I never met Carroll Shelby, but I have felt as if I did, or certainly should have.  As a 12 year-old I devoured magazine articles about the new Cobra, devised by Shelby to join Ford's V-8 engines to a chassis from AC Cars in England.  This started a brilliant career consisting of manufacturing, preparing and racing successful cars for Ford, modifying a long line of performance Mustangs, and establishing Cobra as a supreme world-class sports car.  He cooperated with Chrysler and GM on other concepts including the Viper, not to mention distributorship of Goodyear racing tires, production and sales of many Shelby accessories, and the famous Carroll Shelby's Texas Chili Mix!  What is less well-known is that, like Yours Truly, Carroll was a heart and kidney transplant recipient.

Cobra at Monterey, Shelby autograph on hood

After experiencing chest pain in his own race driving days, he had to stop and turn to the projects described above.  He got his heart in 1990 from a deceased donor, and a kidney from his son Mike in 1996.  As you may know, it is a gift of life that inspires you to do as much as possible to educate and help others who may be in need of an organ or tissue transplant.  In Carroll Shelby's case he created a foundation to use his own considerable fortune and to raise additional funds for many health-oriented causes.  His primary focus was on children, particularly those who, with their families, were enduring that awful waiting time that is a common condition of transplantation.  Now known as the Carroll Shelby Foundation, it is still helping kids and also has extended support for automotive job training to underprivileged adolescents.

We lost Ol' Shel' last week at age 89.  He was one of the longest-surviving heart transplant recipients in the nation.  He was truly a self-made man, legendary in the world of fast and exciting cars, racing, and philanthropy.  I was lucky myself to have owned a '66 Shelby Mustang and have been a lifelong fan.

I will miss both of these fine people.