Celebration of Shrinkage

[mmonnin]

Hehe O yeah!

Lakeview Polar Bear Club's 4th Annual: Celebration of Shrinkage is this upcoming weekend on Saturday and I am taking the plunge into Lake Michigan. This will be my first such dive intol freezing water like Lake Michigan.

Why you ask? To help raise money for a needy family. Last year's event raised over $5000 for a family in Libertyville, Il (a suberb of Chicago). The mother of 3 children has since passed away from Breast Cancer.

"This year's event is raising money in honor of Ms. Gloria Tate. Gloria is a hardworking woman who has put the needs of others first. She has taken on the task of raising four wonderful children who came from a neglectful family. These children, ages 12-17, grew up in living in cars and abandoned houses and their situation did not immediately improve once Ms. Tate took them in. They were effectively evicted from their apartment due to the landlord excessively raising the rent; therefore, the family was forced to move into an extra room at a local mechanic's garage. The family recently found a nice apartment to move into, but the costs associated with rent, school, groceries, and other living expenses has put them on the verge of being back on the streets. In spite of life's challenges, Gloria has continued to work hard, support her children, keep her faith in God, and she has one of the most positive attitudes I have ever come across. There are many fantastic charities that raise money for good causes, but I am excited that we help specific families, the Tate family in particular."

The above paragraph is one that my parents recieved from my older cousin, Brian Marchal, who is in charge of the whole Polar Bear Club. He's a great guy with a good head on his shoulders and a great personality.

So a week from now on Saturday at noon I will be jumping into a freezing Lake Michigan to help raise money for Ms. Tate and her children. Donations this year will be tax deductable since the First Romanian Fundamentalist Baptist Chrurch (F.R.F.B.C.) is allowing the Club to donate through the church. I myself will be donating $50 and I have recieved $50 from my parents to jump in as well. Heck I might even dive completely under if someone pays me to. (I had an uncle dive in 2 years ago for an extra $100.) All donations are welcome and will mean the world for Ms. Tate and her Children.

Brian has a website set up with some pictures of the previous year's activities here. (http://www.geocities.com/brianmarchal/PolarBearClub.html)

If anyone would like to donate you can contact me or him or if anyone would like to be crazy enough and go in with me that would work as well. The more the merrier.:)

-mmonnin

[EgoShowcase]

Oh at first look at the title I thought you where celebration what happens when you get in a cold pool.

[entropy]

Lol. A few of my friends all went and did that last weekend. Though they all did it in ridiculous clothing, just for fun. I would've gone to watch, but that's just insane lol.

Have fun you psycho! ;D :thumbsup:

[mmonnin]

Well thats whats going to happen, except like 100 times as worse. Think of the water temps that Lake Michigan will be at this time of year.

[mmonnin]

Lol. A few of my friends all went and did that last weekend. Though they all did it in ridiculous clothing, just for fun. I would've gone to watch, but that's just insane lol.

Have fun you psycho! ;D :thumbsup:

I will be in a bathing suit, just like swimming at the pool. Brian Marchal went in a Men's Speedo two years ago.

[primesuspect]

Dude, I'm in.... YGPM

[mmonnin]

Dude thats awesome. Any of the other locals want to come along? Come along and watch us freeze our nuts off.:D

[Leonardo]

Oh at first look at the title I thought you where celebration what happens when you get in a cold pool.Yeah, that's exactly what I thought at first, too! Marc, unlike the title's implication, this is a big :scratch: thing.

YGPM

[Nomad]

If I had a car and/or could fly and shoot lasers I'd be there, unfortunately someone else would need to drive me. NOTE THIS DOES NOT IMPLY I'M GOING TO JUMP INTO THE WATER.

[mmonnin]

OK the Potter is in.;) Brian is coming. Want to ride with him? I am not sure how he is getting there yet tho.

[EMT]

That's really cool, I wish I could go. Have, uh, fun!

[mmonnin]

Anyone else want to pledge? Brian, his kids and I are meeting up with QCH later saturday if anyone else wants to pop in they can.

You can always donate after. Like so much per second or per minute that we stay in. Anything to help out a needy family.

[Leonardo]

Like so much per second or per minute that we stay in. A minute? ;D I mean, how much is hypothermia worth to you? :eek:

[Clutch]

Oh at first look at the title I thought you where celebration what happens when you get in a cold pool.

Like they say, great minds think a like.

I think they are all crazy myself, but if it is for a good cause then I can understand.

[QCH]

Ladies and Gentlemen... The winner for the longest (or most shrinkage) goes to ......

.....

.....

MARC MMONNIN with a time of 6 minutes & 30 Seconds.

Coming in at 15th place (or so..) none other than Brian Primesuspect with a time of like 3 minutes...

Here's a few pictures to tide you over until Brian and Marc can review them and determine the ones to post...

[EgoShowcase]

Its nice to see all those people coming to the rescue of that pore whale in the middle. ;D


j/k prime please don't hurt me :mouldy: :respect:

[QCH]

Its nice to see all those people coming to the rescue of that pore whale in the middle.

[Banstick]

Oooo this is gonna hurt.... :shakehead

[Leonardo]

Did you immerse, or just dally in the shallows? :mad:

[leishi85]

only standing there in the shallow water??

pshhh :D

[GnomeWizardd]

psssssssssh I am a floridian and i woulda went under just to say i did

[QCH]

I was the cataloger of images.... Besides, someone had to watch and be able to recue them if they needed...

[primesuspect]

Well, after 3 hours of sleep last night, waking up at 4:00 AM, driving 4.5 hours, JUMPING INTO LAKE MICHIGAN in 15 DEGREE WEATHER, hanging out in chicago for the day with QCH and daughter, driving BACK for 5 hours, and 20 straight hours of wakefulness, I can say:

I feel pretty good. The water was cold. My legs are sliced up from ice. Marc Monnin is a superstud (SIX AND A HALF MINUTES OMG), or a complete ass, depending on how you look at it. (Nobody else got to see him with the shakes, I was the one who drove him home), Q and Sam (his daughter) are great tour guides, and most importantly:

I WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR.

I am going to drop dead of exhaustion now. I'll post pics tomorrow.

:thumbsup:

[primesuspect]

Its nice to see all those people coming to the rescue of that pore whale in the middle. ;D


j/k prime please don't hurt me :mouldy: :respect:

tsk tsk tsk.... so mean, and after all I've done for you :rarr:

[GnomeWizardd]

pfft if i had the money i woulda had u write " I voted for GW " ;D

[TheGr81]

pfft if i had the money i woulda had u write " I voted for GW " ;D
omg! ;D ;D ;D

[leishi85]

/me close this thread and goes to browse the babe thread instead.........

[primesuspect]

Alright here we go.

When the rest of the guys saw what me and Marc were up to, they were shocked (and appalled).... But they were enjoying the show anyways :eek3:

Poor marc... I'm still not sure how he felt about this whole thing, but I kind of handed him the marker, took my shirt off, and said "go to it". ;D

Here he is writing Ego's message.

[primesuspect]

Do I love this site, or what? Who else would subject themselves to this kind of embarrasment?

[primesuspect]

"Healyclan prayers for Tsunami victims"

[primesuspect]

I warned him. I really did. I gave him plenty of time to get his message to me. I told him that if he didn't get the message to me, I would pick my own message.

Thus, "Pseudonym was here".....

[primesuspect]

Gotta advertise for the team. It said "F@H Team 93" - thanks to Q for the pledge for that one. He sure does love our team :)

[primesuspect]

Shorty, thanks for the pledge. However, NO THANKS for not giving me a message :rarr:

Here's your name, written on a slab of flesh, for all eternity ;D

[primesuspect]

"www.shelvingsource.com - for all your shelving needs"

Yes, it's true.. I got corporate sponsorship. What can I say, I'm a damn hero. Be sure to visit shelvingsource.com if you are in the market for shelving. They make some things that would be great for the F@H "farmers" here. Baker's racks and things like that. You gotta at least give them credit for creative advertising.

[primesuspect]

Two of the clowns that made the jump with us.

[primesuspect]

Yes, it's true.. We were lawbreakers. Strangely, no one called 911 on us.

There were a few brave souls walking near the beach, in full bundles of winter clothes, scarves, etc...

And then there was us, in our bathing suits. We got some REALLY strange looks.

[primesuspect]

It was... inspirational.... Almost like watching "the right stuff" :rolleyes:

[primesuspect]

Ahhh.. Nothing like a sunny day at the beach....

So what if it was only 15* F out.....

[primesuspect]

obligatory group shot - although some of the jumpers weren't in this pic...

[primesuspect]

Marc strikes a pose on the beach

[primesuspect]

This was another Mark. This guy was also a stud. We get to the beach, he whips off the pants and BOOM, unleashes the speedo on all of us. What a hero!

[primesuspect]

That Mark, and our Marc, these two were incredible. SIX AND A HALF MINUTES in the water. Hypothermia anybody?

[primesuspect]

Here are the heros:

[primesuspect]

Mmonnin had icicles in places none of you have ever had icicles before.... Such as his happy trail :eek3:

[primesuspect]

Not only did he stay in the water for that long, he also GOT NAKED ON THE BEACH.... Does this man's courage know no bounds? :ninja:

[primesuspect]

Not only was the shoreline frozen, but so was the sand... And the seaweed...

[primesuspect]

QCH and his daughter, Sam...

Next year, Q is going in whether he likes it or not :rarr:

[floppybootstomp]

OMFG! :eek:

Prime mate you're a star :D

You have really got some bottle.

Good luck to you and big respec :thumbsup:

[profdlp]

Not only did he stay in the water for that long, he also GOT NAKED ON THE BEACH.... Does this man's courage know no bounds? :ninja:
Looks like this lady is interested. :)

[primesuspect]

That's his aunt ;D

Here's a shot of everybody making the run

[Kwitko]

Looks like you guys had a blast. Poor Speedo dude, it looks like he had some shrinkage before he even entered the water.

[pseudonym]

I warned him. I really did. I gave him plenty of time to get his message to me. I told him that if he didn't get the message to me, I would pick my own message.

Thus, "Pseudonym was here".....

/me hangs his head in shame...

Sorry about that, things were pretty hectic last week (Grandpa passed) and I just forgot about it. Did you run out of marker though?? It looks like it says "Pseudonym was her" !! ;D

[primesuspect]

:(

Okay, now I officially feel bad...

Hey, talk to Marc... My guess is that he was so anxious to quit writing on me that he just left the trailing "E" off.....

[profdlp]

...My guess is that he was so anxious to quit writing on me that he just left the trailing "E" off.....
Probably ran out of room. You can blame it on the temperature if you want. :vimp:

[pseudonym]

:(

Okay, now I officially feel bad...

Hey, talk to Marc... My guess is that he was so anxious to quit writing on me that he just left the trailing "E" off.....

lol, don't feel bad you couldn't know, cause I didn't tell you!!

[GnomeWizardd]

OMG I gotta figure a way to get up there sooner or later and meet u brian. Seems like no matter what u do you make it fun ( even if it is freezing ur nuts off ) Ur like a shorter more umm.. rounder version of me! :mullet:

[Nomad]

Good Lord D:

[mmonnin]

I am pretty sure the E was there but it doesnt look like it in the pics.

I got back home a little bit ago and the whole weekend was a blast.

Got up at 3AM and left at 4 totally forgetting the time change part way thru Indiana so Brian and I both could have slept in an extra hour. After the 5.5 or so hours of driving I got there. I about feel asleep numerous times on the way there since I got like 2.5 hours of sleep from the time I laid down to the time I got up.

Went down to the beach and waited for some people to get there. QCH arrived while we were wating and then we were in!! Brrr it was freakin cold. I had some flip flop sandle things on but one came off like me first 2 steps in. I tried to put it back on but I didnt have much feeling in my feet already so I said screw it and went splashing in, barefoot and all.

Before I knew it there were only like 4 people left at about 1:30 or so. At that time I just stood there. I couldnt feel anything below my waist. The 2 of us stood out there for awhile until we both decided to go out together since we were both freezing.

On the way in I took a dive in and went totally under. I think he did as well but I dont know, I went under first. When I dove in I got a cut right below my eye from the pieced of ICE IN THE WATER. I have cuts on my knees, legs, and both sides of my feet as well.

And yes that is my aunt there. I had my boxers on already. If you cant tell those are my jeans I have in my hands so I was covered. She was a nurse and was afraid I would get hyperthermia.

Later that night was awesome as well. Went to a bar that a cool irish guy owns. Awesome little place. $25 for all you can drink well whiskey, or bottled beer and that includes $1 for a raffle ticket and a small donation. So that was pretty dang cheap. Ooo that was fun.;)

Since I was a champ I got a robe and so did the other Mark. Good thing they made 2 this year. It has the Lakeview Polar Bear Club logo on it and everything.

Anyone is welcome to come next year. Brian and I will be there.:)

[primesuspect]

And next year, we'll remember the time zone change ;D

[Leonardo]

On the way in I took a dive in and went totally under. OK, you answered my question about immersion. You are a hero. Please PM the address for PayPal, and I'll honor my donation pledge! :thumbsup:

[tcith]

I am in awe - our little winter swim club has nothing on this.
Getting cuts from the ice is just something I can't even imagine.

When we go for a swim here at our club (http://www.icebergs.com.au/) we have to throw ice in the water and it's easy to last well beyond 30 minutes so our water is still warm compared to yours!!!!

:respect:

[EMT]

Impressive... nice going :thumbsup:

[Clutch]

Brian, you are one hell of a team player :thumbsup:

[TBonZ]

You guys are nuts! ;D

SPEEDO!!!! WOOOOO!!!! :shakehead