Reason for a Change-Mitch’s Blog

I got a lesson in naroclepsy yesterday, I was walking to the Optometry School, and had just come out of the forest near Jean-Paul’s “Adam and Eve” sculpture, and I saw two people walking, a woman and her grown son. I heard the man say “oh-oh”, and she turned around and caught him as he went limp. She was standing there holding him, and that time I and another guy asked if she needed help. She seemed ok, but then admitted that she did. Her son weighed about 250 pounds, and the three of us were able to get him to the ground safely.

She told us he had narcolepsy, and that they were headed to the doctor for a checkup. He soon woke up, and while sitting on the ground for a moment, he gave us the details of what it is like, and why it happens. His body was not secreting hpyocretins, horomones which are made in the hypothalamus.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the newly discovered relationship of hypocretins to naroclepsy: “Orexin/hypocretin neurons strongly excite various brain nuclei with important roles in wakefulness including the dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine and acetylcholine systems and appear to play an important role in stabilizing wakefulness and sleep.”

He can tell when it is coming on, but only by a few seconds; he’s had quite a few concussions. He also said he is fully conscious during the spell. All his muscle tone leaves his body, and he falls, the body is asleep, but his mind is awake.

There was a great crop of mushrooms in the yard at the corner of Ballantine and Hunter, and our maple tree finally turned colors in the last week of October. Speaking of fall, here is a recent gallery of pictures featuring the leaves in Salt Creek Valley, Oct 29, 2007.

After my bike ride to Lake Monroe, I met Eileen at the Bloomingfoods meeting, which was held at the Daisy Garton Farm. We saw a lot of the old timers, folks who have been loyal to the coop for decades, but really not too many new folks. Although the day was perfect weather wise, it seemed there just were not that many people there. The band played for just a short time and then quit for 45 minutes, the sound system was out of control, certainly a low point compared to the party/meetings we have had in the past.The food was great for the setting, 3 versions of chili, hotsauce, cornbread and vegan cole slaw. I also enjoyed the apple crisp and cake that was served. Apple cider and BBC beer, say no more!I had fun playing with Abby and Sam’s twins, they are such happy kids, each different, yet the same. We played rocketship, wear Mitch’s hat, grab the glasses, all the standard stuff.

I had the honor of being the MC for IU’s Cornhole Tournament, as part of the week long Celebrate IU campaign. I took some pictures and videos, which are posted below. I put the pictures on my Picassa account for easy viewing. We were very lucky in that the clouds were piling up for rain, and then about 2 pm started pushing back west, and we had sunshine for the Hutton Honors College dedication at 4:30 pm. The rain held off all through the whole event, and the bonfire burned brightly with no smoke.

The most amazing thing was when President McRobbie tried his luck at corn hole tossing. Before the Hutton Honors College dedication, VC Bruce Jacobs took the president to the playing field, and introduced him to one of the students playing, who showed him how the game was played. As it happened, one back was already draped halfway into the hole. The President took aim, let fly, and he not only dropped his bag in the hole, he knocked the other bag in as well, scoring 6 points on one throw!

I also took a few videos:

I was out walking at lunch, and found the climbing tower set up in the meadow. So I took off my sandals, emptied my pockets, and climbed. The bottom half I just scooted up, but at about 2/3s of the way, I had to stop and think about what was my best move. I got to the top, pulled out my camera and took a couple of shots. It was amazing that so few people took advantage of the wall, I talked to the guy who brought it, and he couldn’t figure it either. We guessed the guys did want to be seen failing, I don’t know. It hurt my fingers a little, but not enough to let go! This is the story of this stage of my life, I can still do anything I used to, it just hurts more to do it! I was feeling pretty good about this, till I read about our friend Richard, who is five years older than me, and works in his spare time setting the climbing routes at Hoosier Heights Indoor Climbing gym