Tag: Boston Red Sox

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Why Did I Write a Book? To Save My Life!!

(If you are looking for the Beaver Path Finder, you will need to go over to the side bar on the right and click on the “Subcribe to my newsletter,” icon, and then put in your email address. The first Path Finder will come out by Friday.)

This heading may seem a little sensational. It may look like I made the title up to get you hooked to read further. I did not. I wrote a book, and it did save my life. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter to find out why the book saved my life, and read what it is about.

It is not for the faint of heart. It is uplifting, but it talks about self doubt, fear, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety.

I know, how could a book be uplifting when the topics are self doubt, fear, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety?

To give a one sentence synopsis of the book:

I was on the verge of suicide, and God showed me a way to overcome it.

I do hope you will subscribe to the newsletter. It only takes a second. There will be other pages/links in the newsletter.

There will be a sports page/link where I share news from Oregon State University sports. There will be other sports discussed too. The very first newsletter will be coming out this week. The wait is over. I am putting the fnal touches on it, and it should be out before Friday of this week.

There will be a page/link where I talk about all of my travels. I have been all over Asia, and traveled many of the United States following the Beaver’s football team. There are some very outstanding views in this country. There are some very funny stories. There will be thoughts on what I saw and how I felt when I stood on the actual last big battle ground of the Civil War.

Other discussions will be of countries like: Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan.

I was able to pet one of the most famous winning Kentucky Derby horses of racing history; meet some wonderful people in Louisville, Kentucky; thought I was going to die riding a bus along highway 101; walked through Hearst Castle; watched a football game with a huge crowd of 109,529 people; had people yell at me that I was tiger bait; walked down Bourbon Street in New Orleans with beads being thrown down to me; had a hot springs for a swimming pool; almost got thrown off a dock for not wanted to pay the dock fee, and was amazed at all the history in Boston, Mass.

This is just the top of the iceberg of what the traveling page/link will have. I have many good memories, and some bad memories to share with you. Subscribe, and the adventure will begin.

There will be a resource page/link that I will use to post actual articles from newspapers from all over the world, pertaining to your mental health.

This is finally a reality of a long time dream of mine. I have wanted to write a book about my afflictions, share my travel adventures, AND be able to talk about OSU all at the same time. This website, and my newsletter are doing just that.

This area will slowly be transfered over to discussion of the book, Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind Through Bumper Stickers.

Yes, there will many times when I discuss other things. I have some articles I have written. Some have been published in magazines. The title of my latest artice in, The Christain Journal Magazine, was called, Stop the World and Let me off, I am Tired of Going Round and Round. It told the story of the lowest time in my life. I will be posting that article here soon.

I suggest you also sign up for the RSS feed. When you do you will get notices of when I have posted on this site. Then you can come here and read what I have written. The RSS feed is at the beginning of any post including this one. You just click on it and follow the directions. Your notices will come at the head of your Explorer or Explorer Express Favorites on your email page. It will just to the right of the word “Favorites.” It may come from other places if you do not have Explorer.

Some of the other articles that I will be posting are very timely with the Holidays coming up:

  1. The top 5 ways to Face the Dark Side.
  2. The Top 10 Ways to Turn That Frown Upside Down.
  3. The Top 5 Ways to Always get up After you Fall.
  4. The Top 5 Ways That Success Does Not Guarantee Happiness.
  5. The Top 5 Ways to Support Someone in Need.
  6. The Top 5 Ways to Eliminate Negative Thoughts.
  7. The Top 5 Ways to Stop Tearing Yourself and Others Down.
  8. The Top 5 Ways to Relieve Stress.
  9. Showing Sympathy Can Uplift Even the Most Downtrodden,
  10. How to Move From Your Home of Depression.

I have many other articles to share.

Be sure to subscribe!  Do it now, along with the over 200 hundred people who have done so far in the first month of existence. The first newsletter will come out this week, and if you haven’t subscribed you will miss out on the very first exclusive newsletter.

Beaver fans!!! Do not walk away because you are uncomfortable with what the topics could be on the website or newsletter. When you subscribe you have the choice of immediately going to what ever page you want. There are links there. You also have the choice to opt out anytime you want.

First of all, the website or newsletter will not bite you! It is good stuff to help you and others that you feel will benefit from it. If you know of someone who needs reassuring, tell them to come to this site. I have had people email me at my blog at, www.depressionsuppressed.com and tell me that what I shared was just what they needed.

Got to run…. I have a busy day ahead of me putting the finishing touches on the first newsletter. Sign up now!!

OUT!

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The Cougars are Roaring into Town, and we are Ready!

The Cougars are coming town, but they will be leaving with their hide laying in front of the fire place.

The Beavers are going to start out carefully, but I think by the end of the half, the starters will be playing checkers on the side lines. If I am right, (and I usually am), this will be an excellent game to give some of the back-up players some real game experience.

WSU has one win against a lower division school, (Portland State). That will probably be their last win. They were blown away in most of their games: Oklahoma State, 39-3; Cal. 66-3; Baylor 54-17 and the Ducks, 63-14. They put up a gallant fight with UCLA, but still lost 35-3.

However, We will have to cover Brandon Gibson . Remember that name for the game. He is # 2 in the PAC-10 for catches, with an average of 6 a game. He averages 76.7 yards a game. He has caught a pass in 29 straight games. We would love to break that record.

WSU leads the PAC-10 in one statistic they don’t want to lead in. They have an incredible 19 turn-overs in six games. OSU leads the PAC-10 with the fewest at 6 in five games.

I have already given out my prediction of 34-3 with the 3 quetionable. We have a 30 point winning spread according to the odds makers. That is a record spread for the PAC-10.

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The final chapter of my travels to Pennsylvania:

When we were in the Gettysberg area we stopped at Dwight Eisenhower’s home, which was a nice farm. It has 186 acres. He invested into it towards the end of his career. He raised cattle on it. He had special things added to the farm. He had his own skeet shooting area. He also raised pheasants on the farm and then released them to hunt. He had a special area built just for him to practice golf. He had a green with sand traps placed around it. He had a fishing pond.

His home is what you would expect for a home back then in the farm area. It had a large living room that Mamie decorated with things from the white house. They had a special mantle at the fire place that IKE liked in the White house. They brought it to his home and installed it onto his own fire place. He had live in maids. He had a forman for the workers, who was also an expert herdsman. He lived in a 1797 house on the farm. His name was Bob Hartly. IKE became very close to Bob through the years.

IKE was an avid painter. He started painting in 1948. Many of his paintings were displayed by Mamie. Ike’s golf cart, jeep, and station wagon are still in the garage.

They have a guest house. Young David Eisenhower stayed in that house, and worked one summer as farm hand.

________________________________________________________________________

OK!

It’s off to Boston, to see the Boston Red Sox play Tampa Bay. We got to the Hotel Buckminster, which was built in 1897. We wondered where the park was. The guy working there said, “Look out the window.” It was right across the freeway from us. This hotel is where Babe Ruth stayed when he played for the Red Sox. Ted Williams also stayed there. It was also the hotel where “Shoeless Joe,” Jackson, supposedly took the bribe that cost the team the World Series. You could almost hear people talking out in the hallway about how much they would give him to throw the series.

It was game day, and I was really excited. We got to the game, and my world went back over a hundred years!! Fenway park stood right in front of me, and I was about to go in! We went in and the building looked old, because it was old. Many of the seats where still the ones used back 50 or 60 years ago.

Charlotte and I hunted for our seats, and we kept climbing. Up went went through the bottom section; then the next section; up and up. We finally got to the very top row, AND it was ours. There were no seats behind us. There were standing room only people right behind my shoulder drinking beer and breathing down my neck. I decided that it didn’t matter. I was at Fenway Park ready to watch the Red Sox play. BTW……The park was named Fenway Park because….They were in the Fenway district of Boston. Nothing romantic, or exciting there.

Two really large (huge) guys sat right in front of us. They were brothers, and they knew how to drink beer. As a matter of fact the stands were full of people who knew how to drink beer. They all went down and brought two beers at a time, and it was just for them.

The game got started, and the huge young man right in front allowed about four inches for clear viewing space. If he moved his head to the left, I was cut off. There were posts there . But no! I would not get upset. I was at a Boston Red Sox’s game!!!

Jacoby Ellsbury was the player that all the OSU fans around the park wanted to see. He didn’t start!! He had a pulled muscle in his leg, and he was benched. The game went fast. It was exciting to sit there and realize where you were. You dream of going to the old parks before they were tore down. Well, we made it to this one. I was sitting where I was looking right at the “Green Monster.” The plays I remember way back when I was a kid that happened off of that wall still are visions in my head.

It was a close game down to the end. The Sox were behind one run coming into the last inning. A player got a hit, and……..you got it! Jacoby came in to pinch run. It didn’t take him long. On the second pitch he took off for second. The throw was wide and got through the shortstop. It didn’t go far, but Jacoby was already on his way to third. “SAFE!” You could hear the unpire way up where we were in the stands! The crowd let out a roar that was ear splitting. Jacoby was only in there about 30 seconds, and he was standing on third. It was for naught however, the next player flew out to right field. I called him David Ortiz. I was quickly corrected.  One of the brothers in front of me said, “People from these parts call him popie. You must be from out of town.” I said “Yup, but I am a big fan of the Red Sox.”  I got a big hand shake, and I made a new friend.

The boys liked Charlotte and I so much that earlier in the game they said they would trade seats with us for the rest of the game so we could see better! Boston people are my favorite people, have I ever told you that?

Jacoby gear was selling for more than the other palyers’ gear. He is the most popular player on the team. Of Course he is…he’s a Beaver!

The next night we had much better seats! Down close, and on the first base side. We were sitting with six or seven people from OSU that also got tickets through Tom Huggins, of Eola Hills Winery. He arranged the whole thing including getting us tickets. Eola Hills does a wonderful job of planning trips. They take care of everything from the time you get to the airport until you land again back home.

This game didn’t go any better. The Tampa Bay team is for real, and now you see that they are playing Boston again to see who goes to the World Series. Should be a great series.

As I looked at all the numbers around the field, I could see they were numbers of great players of the past, There is the always famous #42. That was Jackie Robinson’s number. He was the first black man to really make it big in the majors. There was the number for Carlton Fisk. Can you vision him trying to coax that ball going down the left field line? His hands gestures point where the ball should go, is still shown many Years later. Of course there was also Carl Yastrimsky. (sp) Yaz was one of the greatist hitters in Boston Rex Sox history, but the real number belonged to Ted Williams. He was the greatist hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox and some say the major leagues. They have a bronze statue of him looking down at a little baseball fan, and he has his hand on the boy’s head, in a loving gesture. There were other numbers up there. Boston had a history that could have me typing all night, but I am weary, and I have rambled on enough.

I hope you enjoyed going on this journey with me. I travel a great deal, and I will be sharing what I saw and my thoughts while there, when ever we do travel.

Have I ever told you that you need to subscribe to the the newsletter if you haven’t already? Just go up to the right hand corner of this site at the top of the side bar. You can see the subscription form waiting for you to say hi to it  

I am hoping that you enjoyed this newsletter tonight. It will not be here in this spot much longer. It will be going to the Consant Contact emailing companies email program.

I have a rough draft going on the first newsletter. Do not wait another day. You do not want to miss that first one. You will like what you see as far as graphics, structure, and better spell checking. 🙂

The subscription form is working great now. We put in a new program. It has been fine ever since.

So hop to it pilgrim!!

OUT!!

 

 

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The Rest of the Story, Part III

 

I feel like I am making a movie like, Rocky 16. This movie has drama. This movie has conflict. This movie has tragedy, and it could have a happy ending.

 

The tragedy has just happened, so let’s look at how it happened:

 

1.     Late in the game I saw two different Beavers go out of bounds when they could have gotten a first down with one more step. I saw another Beaver go out of bounds when he should have stayed in bounds!

2.     We are back to tackling like the other teams are greased pigs.  3.     The special teams are faltering at key times. One extra point missed, and two tries for two points missed. If one of those had been successful, game over.

4.     I would swear I saw some ball placements by the officials that helped Utah get first downs. I can’t say that though since I have officiated football for 25 years.

5.     This is another one of those games where we had better statistics in almost every department, but still lost the game. 

6.     The crowd was almost as loud as we were when we beat USC, which caused us to have 5 or 6 false starts.

7.      I can’t blame the offense for this loss, but the defensive secondary must have gone to McDonalds to eat during the game. We did have an interception by Al Afalava that resulted in a touchdown, but other than that Utah was wide open many times for passes.

So, where does this leave us? I will go from game to game for the rest of the year, and suggest what might happen:

 

  The next week, Arizona State is coming to town! Coach Erickson will be hunting for Beavers! The fact is that it is at home. I suggest we may win it in a close game.

 

·        Our next game is with Washington State at home. They are probably the worst team in the PAC-10. Any questions?

·        Then we play Washington at their place. We should win that considering that their start quarterback is out with an injury.

·        Guess who’s coming to dinner the next week end? You got it! Coach Erickson and Arizona State. They are a pretty good team. I think if we can play good defense, we could win that one.

·        We travel to UCLA the next week. We have had no luck at beating down there for years. BUT! This year they have started out awful! They lost to BYU 59-0. If we can keep them with less than 21 points, we will win big.

·        We then play Cal. We seem to play well against Cal. They are coming to Corvallis this year. They are ranked, but we can win this one if our defense doesn’t falter because our offense will score points.

·        We then travel to Arizona. That could be a very tough game. They have started out fantastic. I can’t come up with a good suggestion here.

·        THEN, the Ducks come to say hello to us. We are on a roll with them. We have beaten them the last couple of years. Can we make it a threepeat?

 

      Somewhere in there we have to beat either, Cal. Arizona, or Oregon. It can be done!!

 

 

Before I go any farther, I want to plead with you again to subscribe to the newsletter. So far we have 68 people that have subscribed. That is good for only two weeks of subscribing, but there are 723 of you! That means that several hundred of you will be left out, eventually, if you do not subscribe.

 

There will not be this long of a newsletter coming in the future. This is long because I am trying to get the rest of my trip back east done.

 

So go to www.dougbolton.com right now, click on “newsletter,” and subscribe.

 

(BTW…. we may have the form on the home page this weekend. We are working on it.)

 

 

Let’s finally get to Boston, from the traveling I did when we went to the Penn State game!

 

When we got to Boston, it immediately transformed our thinking to the beginning of our country. I will be giving you the highlights in short sentences, or very little comment. There was just too much to write about. I am pretty sure you will know what I am talking about when you read each sentence.

 

·        We drove by a tavern called, Bell in Hand Tavern. It got that name because the town crier owned the tavern. There was a nice gentleman that lived upstairs making candles during this time. His name? Ben Franklin.

·        I was at the spot where Paul Revere gave his signal that the British were coming.

·        We drove by the spot where the Boston massacre happened.

·        We saw a Golden Kettle sign. The oldest sign in the United States. It was a place to come and drink tea, I suppose, since it had steam coming out of the tea kettle. It is now a Starbucks!

·        We went by a grave yard that had Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and the parent of Ben Franklin buried there.

·        John Adams was the first to say, “Everyone has the right to a fair trial.” He said this while he was defending a man no one liked.

·        We drove by the John Quincy Adams, and John Hancock homes.

·        The term “Mutual Funds,” was first said in Boston. A man that needed money to invest in the Market, contacted several men, and they had a “mutual,” agreement to pool their money together to invest.

·        We drove through the oldest residential area in the United States. It even had some of the original gas lights.

·        We went by the home of JFK at 722 Bowdon St.

·        There are tall spires with clocks on them on churches all over the city.

·        The oldest church in the U.S.A. is in Boston. It was there in 1723, 53 years before 1776.

·        We went by the infamous Boston Commons, the oldest park in the United States. I say infamous, because there were people hung there because the people thought they were witches.

 

(A side bar, to list some interesting observations, but do not need comments.)

1.     Went by the oldest library.

2.     The oldest fire station.

3.     Largest Apple Computer store. I mean huge!!

4.     Saw the Old South Church where lanterns gave people signals.

5.     Gas prices in Boston when I was there: $3.49

6.     Saw the home of Phillip Brooks. He is the one that wrote, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

7.     Saw a church that had real Tiffany glass in its windows.

8.     Went by the original, Cheers Bar, on Beacon St. “Where everyone knows your name.”

9.     Saw where the Boston Tea Party took place.

10.                         I was able to see something I would rather not have seen. We drove by the spot where the Coconut Grove night club was. Remember it? That is where a fire broke out and no one could get out.

11.                        We rode the first double decker bus in the U.S.A. We were on top of course. “Front row seats!”

12.                         Drove by the oldest underground railway. There is still an entrance that leads to nowhere.

13.                         Saw the Bunker Hill tower. That is the spot where 1,000 British were killed in one day. They eventually still won the hill.

14.                         There are 260,000 students in the city of Boston. (Boston College, Harvard, and many other colleges are there.)

15.                         Speaking of Harvard, there is a grammar school that is just across the street from Harvard. The people that graduate from there can say they graduated from Harvard.

16.                        The first anesthetic was invented there. (I know about that stuff!!)

17.                         There is a hotel remodeled from an old jail. It still has the bars on the windows.

18.                         When Harvard first opened up in 1636, it was a divinity school for future ministers.

19.                         Harvard has the largest college library in the world.

20.                         There was a store selling Tiffany glass. It was wired by Thomas Edison.

21.                         The first barber shop was in Boston.

22.                         Saw Longfellow’s home.

 

Back to some longer thoughts:

·        In the Civil War area, there is a sign that says, “Here lays the arm of Stonewall Jackson.” He had to have his arm cut off. He wanted it buried right outside of where he was operated on. Wouldn’t that be a strange tombstone?

·        The owners of the Boston Red Sox, and the New York Yankees were drinking buddies. I saw the bar where the Boston Red Sox owner talked the Yankee’s owner into buying the contract of Babe Ruth  for $100,000 dollars, because the Boston Red Sox owner needed money to fund his play called, No, No, Nanette. The play was a success, but it was a very bad deal for the baseball team.

 

 

In the next newsletter, I will finalize my trip with my thoughts while standing on the deck of the USS Constitution. I could feel the drama that happened on that ship. When I went down below, I imagined the Captain shouting, “Man your cannons! This is not a drill!”

 

Please remember that this newsletter soon will be going only to the people who have subscribed. Take time right now to sign up by going to www.dougbolton.com click on newsletter, and subscribe.

 

(There may be a subscription form on the home page this weekend. We are working on it.)

 

OUT!!