New Year's Eve - December 31

I thought there would be more work going on today but I was mistaken. I'm here but only in body.

The trip to Houston was a good one - too short though. It rained on Wednesday all day so that cut the golf game out. I did take advantage of good nap weather however. I also met up with my friend Glenn who advised me to do 3 20 mile runs in preparation for the marathon (!) So I've got my first one tomorrow. Good way to start off the new year.

I'm working on a new blackeyed pea recipe so I plan to do that this afternoon. Also to hit the golf course. Weather is perfect now!

See you next year!

Monday Dec 27

All good things must come to an end and so, Christmas vacation and family visit end as well. Mom and Dad went back to Kingsville this morning and Greg went back to work. I did some admin work at the court this morning, and after a quick lunch, hit the office.

I let my assistant know we had 2 goals:
Clear off the papers and files
Offload as much work as possible on her :)

We accomplished both. She'll have enough to work on until I return. I got the papers put away. I also got lots of status emails out letting people know what was going on and that I'd be out until Friday. Felt like yelling into the open - not sure anyone was there to listen...

Goals for 2011

Some of the things I'd like to accomplish in 2011

That drive to California - Midland TX too

Might as well see Oregon while I'm there

An extended trip (2 weeks+?)

Top 100 golf - preferably for free as writtten before :) America's Guest is back on scene

Improving skills: guitar, piano, golf, swim, bike, run, triathlon, ... oh yes, law too

See Frank complete the Leadville 100 mile run

Sarah's senior year football season - that is only 9 months away from starting...

Merry Christmas 2010

Last night began our Christmas celebration. I cooked a prime rib roast - my first. Thanks to my friend Eric J for the recipe. He assures me that it is always trustworthy to get food advice from a fat man.

We ate early because we were to go to the hospital to help give our presents to the patients unlucky enough to be there Christmas Eve. There were also many people working so we gave out gift bags of candy to them as well. It was a nice event to help out it. I pushed the cart around and it reminded me of other jobs I had doing that (Texas Eastern - 1988).

We got home and opened lots of presents. Most of them were for Susan and Sarah. Susan liked her diamond earrings and Sarah liked her VIP concert ticket the best I think.

Today was a nice late morning. Susan cooked a breakfast worthy of the J.W. Marriott and I did not get up until after 9. That's one benefit of having a teenager - no need to get up early on Christmas Day. What a nice present!

Closer to Christmas

Today was Wednesday and I had my golf lesson yesterday.

We discussed the following points:

Staying connected
Drill was to hold head cover/rolled up towel underneath left arm swinging back and through

The Transition - at the top - not rushing. Allowing a complete shoulder turn back

Right Arm extension through follow through
Drill using a rod extending from butt end of club underneath left arm - causes right arm to go under and through

Using the big back and hip muscles to turn through the ball. Less arms and hands. Causing a ball flight that is higher but with less spin - penetrating through the wind.

It must have worked because I was sore after yesterday. I went back to work on it today. Hoping to play 9 holes tomorrow.

Personal morning

I took this opportunity today to handle various personal matters in preparation for this Friday and Saturday, Christmas. So I had made a list of things to do and just about did all of them this morning. I also got a chance to see the progress on the plumbing repair at the church school. We are replacing an old cast iron pipe that was 3 feet underground, under the slab. So it is a big job - that is why its being done during Christmas break.

I did get to work after a while and did some good things. I figured out where to start on a new job - at the... end. It worked. This evening I went to the Vipers game and met someone I had just talked to on the phone. Turns out he is also the CEO of the Vipers. Even had a championship ring from the NBA Development League Championship of last year won by the Vipers. We won big by 30 points.

Now I'm staying up late watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Sarah's new favorite.

Just in case you're wondering

Nearly all of the golf courses that I plan to play in 2011 will be as a guest so the cost will be.. you guessed it... -0-

:)

I'm also planning to schedule a trip to play Forest Highlands in Flagstaff, AZ. My friend Lance has a brother who's a member there. This brother is named Scott and I've heard a LOT about him. Probably a good guy to meet. As the #1 course in Arizona, it should be worth a trip. Plus I can visit my relatives in Tucson at the same time.

Maybe that will be the drive out to California that I've been thinking about. On the other hand, maybe just the drive from Phoenix will be sufficient.

Some golf plans for 2011

I'm already working on some various golf plans for 2011. I'd like to expand my list of courses played and the best way to do that is to hit the road.

Clint has a connection to play at TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville, FL. Hopefully in the 1st Q of 2011. His friend works for III Forks so we should have some good food there as well.

Sean and I are going to visit his parent in South Carolina in February. We're set to play Old Tabby Links at Spring Island and Chechessee Creek Club

John R has a coupon to play Dominion Country Club in San Antonio. He said it expires in April. I think that would be a good trip.

In July Sarah will go to an engineering and robotics course at Stanford University and we are planning to vacation in California. So that is the time that I plan to take Susan to the Monterey Peninsula and I'm planning to play Pebble Beach for the first time. There are many other courses there, so maybe I'll play a second round also. More to come.

This year, I've played some fine courses as well. Playing at the McAllen C.C. has been fun and I did score my low round of 86 recently.

Golf at the UT Golf Club this week was a good time. First time I've played 27 holes in a day all year.

We had our traditional family rounds at the Houston Country Club this January and this June.

Of course, visiting Augusta National Golf Club at the Masters this year was a great highlight. Sean and I did get a round in at the Stone Mountain Golf Club.

I had an invitation to play Red Ledges in Heber City UT outside of Park City but I couldn't make that trip happen. Maybe next year.

Shadow Creek in Las Vegas on January 3 this year was a super highlight. A top 100 course. Well worth the trip and the $500 green fee. The limo ride was worth most of that.

Trip to Austin

I went to Austin on Wednesday for a short trip. I left here about 2:30 to drive and got to Austin at 8:15 p.m. I was visiting my friend Clint who is currently "between jobs". He's been in touch more often (more time I guess) and since we were talking about getting together. He closed the deal by offering a free round of golf at the UT Golf Club but the offer expired (his coupon) on December 31. So I planned to take a day off and headed up.

That Thursday we had a delicious breakfast at the nearby Kerbey Lane Cafe and I had this tasty dish called Eggs Francisco. My friend Francisco would be proud of how they used his name: English muffin, topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado and queso.

We teed off at 10:40 and played with John R who we had goine to high school with and another friend of theirs Luke B. who was a pretty funny guy. We played 27 holes which was a treat. After 18 John said "I want to play more" so he stopped in the pro shop and negotiated another 9 for no charge. So I complimented him on his skills.

After we finished, I drove from Austin to San Antonio and had dinner with my friend/client Glenn and we stuffed ourselved with lamb chops and everything else they had.

This morning, I got up from the night at the Crowne Plaza, left at 0600 and back here at 1000.

A Christmas memory

Susan's and my first Christmas was 1989 and that was the year that there was extreme cold across Texas. It snowed a few days before Christmas in Houston. We had just gotten engaged that October 14. On Christmas eve, we spent time with my family and then cuddled up in front of a fire at Susan's apartment and opened our gifts. That was a special night.

The next day was Christmas Day and we got up to drive up to Fort Worth and spend the week with Janet and Rick. I recall that was a relaxing vacation because it was still very cold. In fact her pipes had froze so we had to heat up water on the stove. I had just finished the first semester of law school and my brain was fried, so I just really took it easy that week. It was fun being around there, and everyone was there: Joel ( age 7) Damon (17) Lois, Rick R. Janet, David, JoAnn, me and Susan. A full house especially with no hot water!

Friday done

This week was a busy one but I got as much done as I could. I did make an important arrangement to go to Austin next Thursday for a game of golf. My friend Clint had called and we were talking about getting together. He said he had a coupon for golf at the UT Golf Club (very nice place) but it expired in December. So my motto came into play: Make It Happen.

I'm driving up next Wed. afternoon, then we play Thursday at 10:40. Dinner Thursday night in San Antonio at my favorite spot Fogo de Chao and staying at a Priceline $65 hotel (Crown Plaza) and then up Friday at 0500 to drive back.

Been a While

I knew it had been some time since posting, but I didn't realize it had been all of December.

We decided against the trip to the Cayman Islands this weekend. There is a big event for the hospital this weekend and Susan has been out on travel a lot. So the insurance people said it could wait til next year. Just like the Longhorns - waiting til next year.

It was sad to look at the bowl schedule and not see UT there. Very strange. Also strange, it used to be that a New Year's Day game was a good thing - no more. Cotton Bowl not til Jan 7, BCS championship on Jan. 10. Aggies play LSU in Cotton Bowl. Should be a good one. Heard good news that our friend Nicole was admitted to Texas A&M for next fall, so the Wren family was excited as were we.

Tomorrow I've got court in the morning and then hopefully will get a lot of work done in the office in the afternoon. I"ve got a new project that it pretty challenging e.g. I haven't done it before. Amazing how a client can just gloss right over that. But I'm a smart lawyer so I'll do it.

The Memorial band has their concert tomorrow night so I'm looking forward to that. It's a Christmas tradition to hear the Jazz Band play with the Christmas hats on.

Where are all the bloggers?

One of the things I like to read are the blogs on blogger. com. But for some reason, few people are updating regularly. Can't say any good reason for that. It's free after all.

So I've taken the lead in blog posts. I'll keep the fire burning.

Today, I thought I might get the Christmas decorations down, but I only got a few of them done. I did take several loads to Goodwill. I washed 2 of the cars. Guess whose?

Oh, and I did get a 12 mile training run it today. I saw a friend of mine Chris yesterday and asked "Did you run today?" He said he was going to do 12 miles today and I volunteered to go with him - meet outside his house at 0700. Needless to say, he didn't make it :) But I did.

He'll be sorry he missed this golden opportunity .

Friday after Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday, driving to grandmother's house in the morning. After a little time getting the food together, we all (5) sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. Lots to be thankful for. That afternoon, we took it easy in the evening, we watched the UT/A&M game. The Horns lost but you can't begrudge the Aggies anything. If anyone had to send us to a losing season, it might as well be them.

Today was a fun one. Sarah and I drove back for the Memorial/Cibolo Steele H.S. playoff game. On the way home my friend John S. called about going to the game together. So we rode over there and watched Steele win 48-31. It was not even that close, with Steele leading 42-0 at one point. But it was a good season and I enjoyed all the game.

Hard to believe next year is Sarah's senior year. Just a handful of games left. I'm glad I saw as many as I did this year.

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

My parents like to say that when I went to college, that I drove out of the driveway in August 1983 and they didn't hear from me for 2 weeks. I think that's an exaggeration: I must have called from the road or when I got there.

But it's true that once I was there, I was like Cortez in Mexico, no turning back. They did come to visit for Parent's Weekend. But there were no visits home.

By Thanksgiving we had a week off and I was ready to get back to Austin. I had arranged to ride with a group of friends - the prospect of the group must have been appealing. So 5 of us were in a '72 Buick and headed south. 8 hours later, with me in the middle of the back seat, we were in Nashville, TN for the night.

Now I had tickets to see the Police in concert on Saturday night in Austin. That night I got a call (I was staying with my friend Richard) that the car was broken and would likely not be fixed until noon.

Wait until noon to leave? Miss the concert? Ride 14 more hours in the middle?

I called American Airlines that night and booked a reasonable priced flight for Saturday. Nashville to DFW to Austin. Richard took me to the airport. Home that afternoon. Well worth it!

I was obviously ready to get home and made it happen. One friend Jeff later recalled "We weren't going to get home fast enough for Greg, so he flew". So true.

It was the longest I'd been away at that time. It made it all the special to be home. I guess we would have gone to my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving Day. We did that mostly, if we didn't go to my Uncle Vernon's and Aunt Sharon's in those years. I recall those dinners as particularly large and lots of family there since we were all in Austin.

Car talk

I went to a meeting with another car guy today. Fortunately I'd gotten my car back from the shop - all cleaned up. I got my baby back/baby back/baby back...

"How much horsepower does that have?"

[pause... confirming if he was worthy of the specific answer...]

"604"

[no topping that :)]

So he was telling me about trading the Nissan GT-R for a Dodge Viper and getting an offer to trade the Viper for a Corvette ZR-1.

So it was cool to say, "I've driven a ZR-1. That's an awesome car".

If any women want to find out what is going on in a man's head... as they said on Top Gear:

"Not much"

Sittin on a Bar Stool

Actually, I'm sitting in the Austin Java coffee shop. That old Charlie Daniels song "Drinkin My Baby Goodbye" was on the radio on the way up and it was in my head. It'd be a good one to learn to play - Pour me another one/I'm finished with the other one/I'm drinkin my baby goodbye.

There was a lot of drinking going on this weekend for the Gonzalez Palacios TMLT golf tournament that I came here for. I got here Friday and played golf in the afternoon. The guy I played with Vinny took advantage of the Buy 5 beers Get 1 Free offer on the course - twice. He had some help with them from the other 2 players. Then Friday night they had a nice dinner and the bar was open late. I enjoyed the dinner but snuck out at 11 to get back to the hotel.

The tournament was a lot of fun. I really like the course - reminded me of my old home courses here in Austin, Lions Municipal and Riverside. I played pretty good but there were a lot of good players here. Afterwards we had a mid day lunch - a la Thanksgiving. It broke up about 3:30. I was ready to play golf again (nothing else to do) so I went and got my putter and wedge to go to the practice green about 4:30.

I took a wrong turn and was on the golf course. The green was open so I hit a few shots into it. Looked different. Then there was a trail that led to the tee box through the bottom of a creek bed. Amazing what you find exploring. Then I was on a tee box. Looked different. Hit a shot. Still different.

I realized I was on the other course. And since it was so late, I was the ONLY one out there. So... I proceed to play the other course with a wedge and putter. Stayed out til it was dark. A lot of fun!

REminded me of another song "Sign Says - you ain't supposed to be here!" But I was a resort guest and dressed for the occasion so nobody noticed. :)

I went to see the movie 127 Hours and really liked it. It's probably an Austin thing but check it out if it comes to your town.

Week before Thanksgiving

I'm trying to get as much work done this week before people (such as myself) start holiday mode and will not be around for work. Today, I made a bit of progress. I'll be in Austin Friday so I've only got 2 more days to work with.

My car is in the shop so I've got a rental for the week. A Toyota Corolla which is a midsize car if you can believe that. But most cars are tending to get larger over the years. This one should be a very economical ride up to Austin Friday and back Sunday.

In my spare time today I did get to review my Twitter posts for the past year. They're pretty interesting to me at least. Like a journal. It was interesting that some were pretty wise while others were little sayings that pop into my head e.g. Better to light one single candle than to curse the darkness.

Tomorrow I've got to go to Bankruptcy Court and then I have a 3:00 appointment at the office.

I'm hoping to get a bit of golf practice in before rounds on Friday and Sat. in Austin, but that didn't happen today. Tomorrow doesn't look so good either. Oh well, I'll probably just rely on my 10,000 hours of experience.

Go Mustangs!

I went to Laredo yesterday on the football booster club charter bus to watch Memorial play Eagle Pass in the first round of the 5A Division 2 high school football playoffs. I'm glad I went to cheer them on: it was a great game and Memorial won 28-20.

We left about noon and its a 3 hour drive there. Once we got there, we set up a tailgate party and stayed there until about 4:30 and went over to the game starting at 5:00. I got to see Sarah before and they seemed happy to see me.

The game was pretty exciting. We got off to a 28-7 lead but pourous defense allowed 2 TDs. Eagle Pass missed the extra point to make it 28-20 and then we were able to make a long drive on the ground to run out the clock. Good offense won the game for us.

Afterwards, we rode the bus home and it was great to sleep most of the way.

Today there is a car show at Palmer Pavillion which I am planning to go to. May also see the movie Due Date

Great Friends

Today was a special day. I got an unexpected call from one of my oldest friends Erich who was in McAllen today. That necessitated a clearing of schedule! You'll recall that I visited him in Germany in 2006.

He was in town for a Weslaco H.S. band reunion. They were going to set some record for the largest band marching. So he brought out his old trombone and along with the other 75 :) would be leading "the big parade".

It was great to catch up. He's doing great in his career as a Navy Officer. In fact he recent got a Command - in Hawaii. So he's here tonight and going to Hawaii tomorrow. Another step to O-6 Captain which is very difficult to achieve. But he's on track. So it was wonderful to hear how he was making it happen. I told him about cousin Charlie and he was pretty familiar with that aspect of the US Navy, being a pilot himself.

We've sure come a long way from Kindergarten at Briargrove Elementary, walking to school together, and playing with GI Joes in his front yard. Lots of memories! He was talking about his mother and stepfather Herman and it really brought back a lot of thoughts. I knew both of them pretty well. Now Beverly is deceased and Herman has Alzheimer's. Both very fine people.

I couldn't help but smile hearing him tell about what he was doing. It really made me proud.

I've got the best friends!

Race Across the Sky 2010

I went with my friend Frank to see the movie Race Across the Sky 2010 about the Leadville Trail 100... Mountain Bike Ride.

We were expecting the movie to be about the 100 mile RUN not the ride. Frank has attempted the run twice, getting cut off at 50 miles in 2009 and at 60 miles in 2010. You see, its not enough to run 100 miles, at 12,000 feet altitude, you've got to do it fast enought to avoid the cut off times.

Nonetheless we really enjoyed the movie. Much like the marathon experience, it's all about the journey. You never know what will happen when you line up. A very emotional experience to push physical limits.

Very cool to see an extended interview with "Award Winning Blogger" Elden Nelson - aka Fat Cyclist. I'm a fan of his blog. It was also cool to come home and read his pleasant surprise of finding out that he had a prominent part in the movie.

While Frank (and I) did want to see more of the running, we thought it was great and afterwards, he said "I'm definitely going to do it again" and I agreed that I'd plan to go out there with him. After all, how many people get to do something like that.

So mark your calendar for me to be in Leadville Colorado in August 2011!

Wednesday

It was a nice day. I went to court and then back to the office. I worked there in the afternoon and then headed home at 4:00 to work on my Mayor Prayer Committee work. We've got a big meeting next Wednesday and for some reason, they seemed to expect me as Treasurer to come up with the entire budget, sponsorship profile, ticket prices, menu and everything. So needless to say it required some project time. Which is now underway.

November 2 - Election Day

Fortunately I did not have to brave any crowds for the election day - early voted. Its a good thing today as it was a slow day (for me). Couldn't seem to get going until the afternoon, and that always flys by.

My new assistant Anna was at work today so she got a lot done. I'm looking forward to catching up a bit this week. She'll be back at work Thursday and Friday.

We received two big checks today for settlement of a case, so she seemed impressed at the amounts.

This evening Susan and I met Sam and Lori (yesterday was her birthday) for some Starbucks and it was a nice evening. We had a cool fall wind come in this morning so a very nice evening.

Tomorrow is truancy court, so I'm planning to get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is another day.

Great baseball season

Congrats to the S.F. Giants for the 2010 World Series win. I enjoyed watching all the games and will miss baseball on TV each night. I though the Giants/Braves series was a good one and followed the Giants thereafter. Gotta love the N.L. team!

I found a new web site www.puregolf2010.com about 2 New Zealanders who have been playing a round of golf everyday this year, worldwide. Very interesting and I"ve been reading the blog until late at night. Reminds me of the blog about the guy running across Europe.

Another Monday meant another late start for me but I got the full day in.

Halloween

It warmed up a bit from yesterday. I thought about getting up early but thought against it and slept til 7:30 today. Church at 9 then home and we went to Mauricio and Claudia's house for brunch. That was a good time - she cooked a big Mediterreanean meal (of Lebanese descent) and so there was much good food. We stayed there a while and then made it home. I went to the golf course for a little practice and then came home to get ready for the trick or treaters. We opened for business at 6:30 and closed with no candy at 8:45. It was nice to think that we were fortunate enough give out plenty of candy to all comers. There's lots of people who don't have what we do.

College Night

I went to the Ivy League College Night last Thursday. Sarah did not - she had the homecoming parade and pep rally. I went and watched the parade- that was pretty cool. All the student organizations were there: band, color guard, cheerleaders, football, ROTC, FFA and so on.

It was a nice transition to the College Night. Everyone wanted to know the answer to the question: What do I need to do to get in?

The pat answer was good grades in tough courses. Competitive standardized scores. Good essays. Extracurricular activities that might transition well to college. After all, they've got a football team to fill, a women's swimming team, a Glee club, a student council and so on. And not every place is looking for the same thing.

It's big business now. The average private college is $35K a year tuition plus room, board, fees, travel, extras, and so on. Financial aid may take a piece, but that is another uncertain dark art they practice - "We've can't tell you until after you give us everything we need [everything?]

The good news is that I'd stack the students here against any students anywhere. Lots of motivated, smart students. And they do a lot with not all of the advantages that other students elsewhere might have.

Tuesday

Today I was in court most of the day. And tomorrow should be no different. I did get after the paperwork on Monday at the office. Now the next attack will be on the papers at home. Gotta get on that early some day - because it's too much to do after a full day elsewhere.

Big, big fantasy football win last night. Starting from 16 points back, I had a big performance from Hakeem Nicks, 31 points. To win by... 1 point... on Monday night. It was sweet! Even better, I didn't even have to watch the game because it was boring. I ended up going to Barnes and Noble. That was more fun - driving around.

Sunday

A nice day of rest today. I got up and went to church at 9 then stopped for coffee afterwards and the grocery. I was ready to get outside even as the temperature was heating up. So when I got home, Susan asked me to go back to the store. So I walked back there - it probably took about the same time as driving. Then I cleaned the pool and washed the car. Then I went off to the golf course. I decided to work on the short game and while I was at it, played several holes and made it home by 6 p.m. So I got plenty of time outside.

Golf for the Cure

We had a 12 hole tournament at the club today for breast cancer fundraiser. We played with Oscar and Marissa. It was a lot of fun. The first time Susan and I had played golf together. We agreed: it didn't matter what we shot and we were "flexible" with the rules. So it was good weather, good fun and a good afternoon. We hope to do it again.

Memorial performed in the Area Marching Competition. They marched at 9 am. and we all agreed they did great. Tough competion though. They did not make the final 12, finishing 26 of 38. Sarah was pretty upset, but that's life in a big state. She said "They had worked too hard for this" .
Wait Til Next Year - said Charlie Brown.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Thursday night

Its almost Friday and its nice to be winding this week down. Although I am taking the Skip C. approach - how much work really gets done Monday morning or Friday afternoon? I've scheduled a golf game for this Friday afternoon with my friend Mauricio.

Court on Wednesday turned out allright. I had thought that I might see a familiar face which might be a comfort since I was nervous. I saw two - attorney Mark who let me put my phone in his car (can't take into courthouse) and the court reporter was Karen who I had recently met. Surprisingly the judge listened to my main argument so I think we made good progress. Call it a win!

Memorial plays McAllen Rowe Friday night. Then Saturday is the big Area band competition. Memorial performs in the morning and if all goes well, will make the finals in the evening.

There's a tournament at the club for breast cancer awareness, a couples 9 hole tournament. So I thought that would be perfect for Susan to attend and ride around in the cart. Looking forward to doing that together. I think that will be her first visit to the new golf course.

Tuesday night

I'm watching the game and the Rangers are ahead 5-3, bottom of the 6th. Its nice to have it on, even if we dont' have to catch every pitch.

Big day in court tomorrow. Who knows what will occur? I've been working on it for many years so I'm ready for some action to occur.

Best of all, it should be done tomorrow. I'm already looking ahead to the rest of the week. THere's a little golf tournament for breast cancer research on Sat. afternoon. And I might play on Sunday as well with my new friend Mauricio.

I went to Kingsville Sunday and returned Monday. It was a good trip. Wonderful afternoon of hunting. Got 2 birds but best of all was the perfect weather and the peaceful country. Other than a car going by every 30 minutes or so, there was just quiet country sounds.
Monday I drove back and it certainly was helpful to have worked on Saturday.

Friday night - at home (sigh!)

Actually its a good night here at home. The Rangers/Yankees game is on (who thought we'd say that about the ALCS?) Rangers ahead 5-0 in the bottom of the 6th.

Sarah has gone out for the night. She rushed out as I realized where she was going - to the Donna Corn Maze which is a 15 mile drive away. So that worried me enough to go out and talk to Anthony her friend who was driving everyone. At least she knows him well so I told him "You're in charge" Hopefully he'll hear that for the responsibility it entails. Another "Letting Go" experience.

I had a good day - I went to church and got a copy of the strategic plan for the school. As Susan said, it was where most strategic plans are: rolled up in an out of the way spot that no one really knew about. But I've got it now!

I also went to the law library to do some research for next week. I determined that I'll probably lose, but will buy some time to get the case settled. Keep your fingers crossed - its been 6 years and I hope not to make 7 on this one.

I also went to the golf course after 5:00 and I got some good things done: hit about 25 balls, 1 and a half shag wedges and played #8 and #9. Made a double and then a good par.

Two for Tuesday

It was a good day today as I did several things: went to the municipal court and got some work done. Then an IB school board meeting. Then a drive to Brownsville for a pretrial lawyers meeting. The lawyers office was the old Cameron County Jail so it is really interesting how it was remodeled to be an office while maintaining the historic designation.

The attorney Alison turned out to be from Houston. Her father (parents divorced) lived in the same neighborhood as my parents. When she said where he lived I knew the answer to the question before I asked: "Is he a member of the Houston Country Club?" So it was cool to meet someone with that same background. She said she and her husband called it "Bushwood" after the club in Caddyshack.

It's a good drive back, 1 hr, 20 minutes. The classic rock station had 2-fer Tuesday. I went to the Bushwood of McAllen to get a swim in. Good way to end the day. Now I'm watching the Rangers/Rays. Rangers ahead 3-1 based on good pitching and baserunning. THe right formula for postseason success.

Mondays

There's a good ESPN commercial: Mondays - the worst thing ever! Except Monday Night Football. There's some truth to the benefits of MNF. Great game going on, just finished with Jets over Vikings 29-20. Great game! Congrats to Brett Favre for his 500th career TD.

Unfortunately the TErminators lose this week, to go 3-2. STill doing fine and have a good backup QB David Garrard for Carson Palmer on bye this next week. Also just saw that JAX v. TEN will be on MNF!! Showcase for Garrard!

Congrats also to SF Giants winning a great ALDS over the Braves. It'll be a good series v Phils and I of course will be pulling for the NL to win it all.

I got a slow start today not getting to work until 10. But I made the most of it and worked past 7 so I got the time in. It's not so easy doing it all with no assistant but that is only temporary until the right person comes along.

Tomorrow I've got court in the morning and then a meeting in Brownsville for my new case I got this summer. Its now in Federal Court, just as I predicted. As I said however, "I expect that could occur that the case could get removed to Federal Court and I am admitted to practice there and am experienced in that court."

Ready for anything!

California - Here I Come

As in Ferrari California... My friend Gus just got a new one and I has asked him about going to see it. Of course he traslated that into "I must let Greg drive my new car".

So he came by today, we dropped the top and took off with me behind the wheel for a short drive. He had to go to a meeting. So we drove about 15 miles. It's got the manual paddle shifts - no clutch. Like the other Superamerica, it shifts about 6000-7000 rpms. This one has a kick when you shift. It has 7 gears but I just tried 4 of them - gets up to 80 pretty quick. The whole car is very lightweight, so when you ease off the throttle, it slows down pretty good.

Afterwards we stopped by Starbucks and had a quick latte. He encouraged me to park in the park and park like a pimp "Take 2 spaces". It sounds like he's got a deal working with the dealer to buy them new and sell them back after a while.

Afterwards, it seemed right that I should go for a bike ride on the same route we drove. So I had a good ride and came home and fixed dinner and watched The Amazing Race.

Secrets of the Grown Up Brain

I just picked this book up from the library and this blog is one of them. Write it down on your blog!

I've played several rounds of golf this week and that had two effects: one it improved my game, two it inspired many thoughts of golf, past and present. Both led me to call my dear father. So he asked me "Who did you play with last Saturday?" Of course I couldn't quite remember right off the bat.

Last Sat. I played at 10:00 with a pick-up group, Rick T., Ruben B., Chino M. and myself. That was a betting group and of course, that's not quite my style. -$15 after that day.

Tues. I played withe Steve G. and Yil D. who are world travellers. Yil had just returned from a month in Turkey and Steve just back from a trip to Pebble Beach, CA. Right up my alley! Plus they're both very good golfers so it was inspiring.

Friday I played 9 holes in the late aft. with my friend Larry. He just likes to be out there and moving around quickly. But I did get to use my new shag bag on the practice short game area. That I beleive will really lead to improvement. When I played my best, I practiced the short game regularly at Lions Municipal on the old practice short game area. I don't know why every course does not have one of those.

Saturday it was the Hidalgo COunty BAr ASsn golf scramble. I got invited on the Atlas & Hall team and it was a good culmination. All of my game was pretty well together: drives, irons, wedges, putts. We played -4 which was pretty good for our team.

Since the weather is just right, its been easy to get motivated to get out. Plus its great to have a home course. RIght now the handicap is 15 but as Larry said, "you'll be down to single digits". So that is the 2010-2011 goal. Perhaps by my birthday next year?

Seminar Complete!

I finished my seminar talks today. First was "Opening an Estate in Probate Court". I told the story of Colt McCoy being invited to play golf with Roger Staubach. On the first tee, Roger tosses Colt a ball - "You're up first". Colt was nervous but beared down, and said "When Roger Staubach tells you to hit first, you'd better hit it down the middle". So I followed the advice and got off to a good start.

Later in the day, I spoke on the Laws of Intestacy. The two were big topics, but I tried to keep on schedule and stick to the time allotted. I thought I accomplished my goal. Of course it was a full day, especially since I went for a run at 0530, and now that I'm home, its nice to relax. I did get a power nap in also, so I won't fade too early.

Tomorrow should be a busy day with court in the morning and afternoon, as well as catch up from being out today. Saturday, I'm invited to play in our local bar golf tournament on the Atlas & Hall team, so I'm be in style there.

Sunday October 3

It was another nice fall day here. I was outside checking out the work done on the yard early this morning. Then I went to church for the first time in a while it seems. Afterwards, I went to the early movie to see Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. It was a bit slow getting started as it had to give a history lesson and set the exact date. But it pretty much followed the original. Idealistic young person get crossed with greedy tycoon. Lay down with the snake and guess what, you get bit.

We had a nice dinner at home, cooked out some steak skewers with vegetables and pineapple. Then we watched the Amazing Race together which we like to do Sunday night. All in all, a better way to spend a Sunday that last week, watching a football game for 3 hours during the middle of the day.

Livestrong Day

Today was October 2, 10//2 the day Lance Armstrong remembers as the day he was diagnosed with cancer. So I wore my Livestrong bracelet and a yellow shirt in solidarity. It must be a lonely existence to have to deal with that.

We had a great birthday celebration for Susan yesterday. We had about 16 people for dinner at El Divino and the food was great as was the company. I think that everyone enjoyed themselves and of course Susan had a great time.

Today I went for a 7 mile run with Kristi and finished about 8:30 am. We saw another friend of mine, Kelly and Edna, training for the San Antonio marathon. I introduced Kelly and Kristi since they were both cheerleaders in college, Kristi at Texas A&M Kingsville and Kelly at Notre Dame. They both knew Eva Longoria Parker who was also a cheerleader at TAMUK.

I played golf this morning also. On the 18th hole, I hit a great chip up to 6 feet and ... missed the putt. Too bad. But it was a good effort.

Texas lost to OU today 28-20. I watched the first half and then went to sleep - lots of activity today. Now it is 11:15 pm and of course I'm wide awake watching TV with Sarah. She just got home from a band competition.

Counting Down

Susan's birthday is Friday, so I've been working on setting up a party for her. Sarah asked if it would be a surprise - "No, she likes to look forward to everything and can't do that if she doesn't know about it".

I did some more bankruptcy research on my case that is going on. It looks like the case will need to "withdraw the reference" - that is, the Federal DIstrict Court will hear the part of the case on a jurisdictional basis. Basically the bankruptcy court is an arm of the district court - the district court refers all bankruptcy matters. So if the district court has to hear the case, they "withdraw the reference".

My friend Gary just got back from vacation. He flew to Barcelona, Spain and boarded a Celebrity cruise and went to Monte Carlo, Genoa, Florence, Rome and Pompeii, Italy before returning to Barcelona. It sounded like a great trip, but very busy. Hearing him talk made me think I had not been to Italy, so I'd like to fix that in the next year or two.

Trip to San Antonio - in style

We went to San Antonio Saturday night for the UT Health Science Center gala sponsored by the hospital. We travelled in style - my first trip on a private jet. It was a Citation XLS and it was a cross between a limousine and a sports car. At one point we were going 525 mph at an altitude of 27,000 feet. We got there in an hour instead of the 4 hour car ride.

The gala was black tie to commemorate the founding of the John & Debbie Montford Cancer Research Center. It was also sponsored by GM whose CEO now is Ed Whitacre, formerly of San Antonio and AT&T/SBC.

Afterwards we changed and went to Paesano's for dinner (late). It was a second dinner for us.

The next day I got up and went for a swim at the hotel pool. It was a very nice lap pool, infinity edge, nice view looking south. We then went for breakfast at Magnolia Pancake Haus and then fly back leaving about 11 and getting back at 12. Quick trip when you go so fast!

Uninsured loss

It seems that I left my briefcase next to my car on Monday at 5:00 p.m. when I was leaving to send an overnight package. I drove off with the briefcase still behind.

So when I realized I didn't have it, I calculated what was in it: laptop, city ID, checkbook, and UT football tickets among others.

I've now replaced the first three, and hopefully can get replacement tickets since they were my friend's season tickets. I'm sure this has happened before.

At least it was not worse. Reminds me of friend Roland who got 8 feet of water in his house in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina. He lost everything, including the house which had to be torn down. He lived in a trailer for a year and a half while his family had relocated to Dallas. So I don't have it that bad.

Home remodel should finish tomorrow. Just in time to get everything back in place for Susan's arrival on Friday night. She is in San Francisco this week. Today she walked across the Golden Gate Bridge which I thought was super cool.

New Braunfels 2010

Sarah and I got back from New Braunfels about 7:30pm today. We left to go up there on Saturday morning, leaving at 0415, dark and early. At 0422, I was driving down Trenton Rd. ( 5 lanes with center turn lane when I saw an oncoming car IN OUR LANE! I hit the brakes and went quickly as far to the curb and honked and the other car wobbled back over. It was pretty scary, considering it was so dark and early and I was looking at the gas gauge, radio and such.

I did manage to call the local police to report this drunk driver. Hopefully they caught him and he did not cause any other problems to anybody else.

We got to New Braunfels at 0915. Sarah drove the last hour when it was light. Good timing, since Schlitterbahn opened an hour early (9 instead of 10) for guests staying at their Resort (which we were). So we got to ride the big Master Blaster twice when there was no line to speak of). Weather was a bit overcast and then it rained some that afternoon, but we just went to the hot tub pool for a while). Everyone finished up about 6 but I came back to the room about 5 for a quick nap. We then went to Gruene for dinner at the Grist Mill (a tradition) and then we all fell asleep back at the hotel.

Sunday, we floated down the rapids of the Comal early and then had lunch at Rudy's BBQ before everyone went their separate ways. Sarah and I then went to San Antonio to get a birthday present for Susan and some other things for us, and then we drove home. Sarah drove about 2/3 of the way home. So she's getting more confident. As you can tell, you can't be too careful.

HOU part II

It seems like I just wrote about going to Houston and now I'm back from a second trip. Sarah and I l left on Friday at 7:30 pm. That was a busy flight as we saw several people we knew. Southwest is of course the way to go. We got to Houston, got our rental Hyundai ($25/day) and checked into the Mercedes Benz of hotels, the Four Seasons. I wanted a downtown hotel and surprise, it was really cheap that weekend. Best I can tell, prices were discounted for September 11 weekend.

Saturday the game was at 6:05 so we had plenty of time to sleep in, get lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Works, visit Ed and Kate and Eliz and Vivian and hit the Galleria. Astros lost, based on poor fielding which let the 2 runs needed in.

Afterwards we went to dinner at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse with some friends from the hospital in McAllen who were in town. It was really nice.

Sunday, we were both feeling a bit sluggish (fighting colds) but felt better once we got to the game. Astros won this time, with good hitting. Sarah enjoyed getting a lot of photos by the dugout. We then went straight back to the airport and got home late.

Texans had a big win on Sunday v. Colts. At the Four Seasons, there was a big bus and a van limo. I struck up a conversation with the van limo driver and he said he was driving the luggage for the bus. Turns out the bus was that of Robert Irsay and crew, owner of the Indianapolis Colts. Sure enough, the van limo was full of ... golf bags... one in every seat.

Heading to HOU tomorrow

I'm going to Houston tomorrow for some business and some pleasure. The last time I was in Houston, my client Jimmy said "too bad you couldn't come by" and I said "Next time". So this is next time.

In the evening I've got 4 $25 tickets for the Houston Texas v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (final NFL preseason game). We enjoyed that last year, so I'm doing it again. Taking another client/friend Robert along as well.

Friday I've got lunch planned with my old friend Dick who we started together as attorneys in Clear Lake in 1992. So it'll be good to connect. We do a lot of the same work: city attorney, office transactional.

Friday night I'll be back in McAllen for the Memorial HS v. Edinburg Economedes HS football game (first one of the season).

Home remodel is looking good. New doors installed in closet and front room today.

Last Sunday of August

The last full summer month is coming to a close. I reviewed an old post I wrote about summer and it made me appreciate every day. So today I got up early and went to help out Coach Sandy with the mock triathlon she was putting together for her athletes. Now that I'm in off season, I was happy to help and not participate. I helped figure out the times and enjoyed watching everyone and hearing her advice. Always learning.

This afternoon, I took my friend up on his offer to drive his Corvette ZR-1. What an awesome car. I pulled out of the driveway with 350 miles on the odometer. Like Ferris Bueller, I put some good highway miles on it. Check out this video (scroll down for the video) of the same car on the Nurburgring in Germany. That's a good approximation of the power and speed.

Sarah and I went to the Rice University seminar for high school students this evening. We had a good time and learned a bit more about Rice. She seemed interested.

Friday

Its Friday night and Sarah has gone out so I'm staying up for a while. We all went to dinner tonight at Pepper's, our favorite place and saw all the crew. There were some cool new cars to see there. Our friend Larry has a new Porsche Panamera 4 door. It's a particularly large car, looks very cool.

Then my doctor, Henry was out there looking at it and Larry noted that he had a new Mercedes. Its the SLS AMG, the new gull wing 2 door. Henry went to move it to a new space next to Larry so I ran over to jump in and ride the 20 yards. It's a cool car, different with the doors and how you sit in it. Big bulging hood.

So I told Henry "I'm glad you're my doctor". Only the best.

I also found out his wife Madeline (who had intimated that she was a golfer) was the Washington State girls junior champion in the 70s. Wow! State Champion! She sounded like she'd easily outdrive me - good !

So it was a cool night out. I had a good day at work and got some good things done, including setting up a settlement meeting on a new case for Monday.

Tomorrow is the big Fantasy Football draft and I am ready. My new partner Joby will bring a lot to the table. Starts at 2:00 p.m. CST. Check your local listings. In the morning I'm taking my old car :) to a car wash fundraiser for my triathlon coach's son who is going to Budapest for the World Junior Championship Triathlon on the USA team.

Friday here

Late Thursday night at least. Tomorrow is the end of the this first week of school. Sarah's enjoyed the return and has some new friends. But the studying continues. So she's actually gone to bed a bit early.

We're doing some remodeling at the home. The guest room will become the exercise room. The dining room a study/guest room with enclosed walls and french doors. Upgrades on master closet and Sarah's closet. So its looking good, drywall now up and TFT (texture, float, tape) tomorrow. Next week, paint.

Saturday is the fantasy football draft. I have a partner this year, Joby. He comes from good football stock - two of his brothers are college football coaches. One even interviewed with Pete Carroll at USC and had a good shot before Carroll decamped back to the NFL.

Susan's in Austin tonight. Its becoming a regular thing to fly there to the state capitol for various meetings.

Sarah has her first college meeting on Sunday night. We're going to Harlingen for the Rice University talk. Pretty exciting, but I'll be working to keep quiet while I'm there. :)

Friday before school starts back

We're heading to South Padre Island for the hospital fishing tournament, Fishing For Hope to benefit the Hope Clinic, a free clinic. No fishing for me this year, but I look forward to enjoying the festivities. When you're no good as a fisherman, it can be more like work.

We're even leaving early today, so I'm heading home shortly which gives me a few free minutes to update you. I got all my to-do list items done on the work list, so I'm feeling good about that.

I went for a run this morning, my first of the week. I've been enjoying some well earned rest after last week's triathlon. I finished in 1:50 and my coach noted that my swim was the best event. So I really improved this year and am already planning next year's event. See the results from the Gator Bait Triathlon. I'm in the 45-49 age group.

School starts Monday so this is Tax Free Weekend - no sales tax in TX on back to school items: clothes, school supplies, backpacks. I'll look to buy some clothes under $100 myself, preferably at the surf shop.

Getting ahead

Its Sunday again, looks like the last time I posted was last Sunday.

Yesterday I was in Boerne TX and completed the Gator Bait Triathlon, my last of the season. It was a good time and I met my goal of under 2 hours. Both the bike and the run course were uphill going out and downhill coming in so I made up some time on the back end. My time was 1:57:58 or so.

Today, its another hot day and it seems like I'm doing everything I can to avoid breaking a sweat. Even staying inside is not easy to stay cool. I'm going to the movies again - only drawback to that is the hot car. Can you tell I'm ready for a little cooler weather?

I'm planning to finalize my paper tonight on will and probate and email it tomorrow morning. I'm ready to complete that and work on some other matters. I had to let my assistant go, so I'll be on solo voyage for the few weeks or so. So more paperwork around the office.

Monday August 9

Today was 8-9-10! I was thinking that yesterday was 8-8 which is always a good day for me for whatever reason. 3-3 or 2-2 just don't have the same ring.

On 8-8, which was Sunday I went to church and then went out with Susan for her Sunday midday errands she likes to do. We got home and relaxed and then Sarah and I saw Dinner for Schmucks which was better than I expected. Not completely slapstick so it was good.

Today I went to court for my friend Anthony. He was probating his deceased wife's estate. Then I had a meeting at church. Our new interim rector seemed surprised to see me on the board. He's got some things to learn... We also have a new head of school. She was formerly at my former church, St. Thomas the Apostle so it seems she was ready to make a move. Very smooth.

That meeting lasted nearly 2 hours. I did get my new photos for the office so they turned out great. Such a fine subject! I worked on my probate presentation most of the day so I'm getting ahead on that. I should turn it in on Monday August 16, a day ahead of schedule.

First week of August

and it is really HOT! I went out for 9 holes of golf at 5:00 p.m. and I was spent at 6:45 p.m. Thanks heavens for hitting the showers like a knocked out pitcher before heading home. It seemed I could not get out of the sun. Interestingly the thermometer on the car read 131F when I got in. But it couldn't have been over 115 :) Phoenix style!

The River Cities Triathlon was a lot of fun as was the long weekend in Dallas. I finished in 2:09 and hit my main goal of staying strong on the run. When I got home, I've taken a bit of "vacation" from the tri lifestyle. It can leave you in a mild fatigue state a lot of the time. Plus the mental side is tough to maintain as well. Know thyself.

Work is going OK. I'm doing a seminar on wills and probate in October so I'm working on that material. Like a school term paper I don't want to wait until the last minute. Did that a lot when I was young and dumb.

I'm working also on clearing out some files and getting some extra billing done. Some of the cases stay around a long time and the large files make it hard to quickly start work on something. So I made good progress.

It's nice to be home for a weekend. Hope to see a movie this weekend.

July winding down

It seems like things are quiet this week maybe because people are on summer vacation. I did sign up a new client today. Another publicly traded company. I always thought I'd be able to have some as clients and I do. It is interesting that the bigger the company the more people are involved. You're not dealing with the officers but you're still with people with responsibility for their areas. Very Important People

My friend Todd has been saying "You never call" so I caught up with him today and we had a drink and dinner. It was a good time. We have similar ways of thinking. He took me afterwards to pick up Susan's car from the airport. She's driving back from San Antonio tomorrow.

I met the other S 65 Mercedes owner in town tonight. Saw his car and him at the HEB. We had a good discussion about our favorite subject. I had seen the car there before and even thought it was mine. I had wondered "Why did I park here?"

On Thursday I head up to Dallas for the big triathlon with Jeff on Sunday, the River Cities Triathlon in Shreveport. I've heard about it from him for some time so it will be fun to do it together. He's been a real inspiration to me with his marathons and triathlons. We'll stay with his/our old friend Joe Haynes who is the local TV meterologist in Shreveport.

July update

Sarah has been in Houston on vacation this week. She comes back tomorrow. There's a lot going on when she's here and now... it's kind of quiet. So I'll look forward to seeing her.

I've been getting some good golf in this week. Shot an 87 today which was a pretty good score. Held up to the pressure by a birdie on 15, scrambling bogeys after bad tee shots on 16 and 17, and a nice par on 18. So I had a good day. Also played 13 holes after work Tuesday and 9 in the evening Friday. So I'm putting in some time.

Also had a good training day for triathlon purposes. Swam for 25 minutes this morning followed by a 2.5 mile run. Held a pace half way with Larissa who is in college and ran on the UTPA Cross Country team. Then she pulled away but I finished pretty strong.

Next week I've got a dinner Tuesday night with an attorney from Dallas. My local contacts from Merrill Lynch helped set it up. Then Thursday I might go to South Padre Island to see an old friend before leaving for a weekend in San Antonio on Friday. Busy week coming up.

Back from vacation

After a seminar followed by vacation followed by a holiday weekend and a personal day, I was ready to come back to work and earn some money. I started by returning lots of calls, paying the bills, signing up the new clients. It was a good break. I'll have to do it again like this - first time I can remember being so rested. It really helped to get away from it all.

Key West was a great vacation spot. We enjoyed a trip in celebration of our upcoming 2oth wedding anniversary. Its a place we had always wanted to go. We went scuba diving one day, shopping and dining another day, beach and massages one day, wave running, and touring. There was a good book there: Quit Your Job and Move to Key West. A great sentiment.

4th of July weekend seemed a little much after the time off, but it is my favorite holiday so I rallied and had a good time at South Padre Island. We enjoyed the beach, the fireworks, the holiday party. Monday my sister Elizabeth and my 3 nieces came so we stayed until Tuesday night and enjoyed the visit.

Father's Day

It was a good day and good weekend when you get to spend Father's Day with the family. We went to South Padre Island Friday night and stayed until today. Friday night we watched fireworks. Saturday Sarah slept all morning. I went for a run (hot!) and then in the pool. We went shopping in the afternoon and had shrimp for dinner and then met up with Bridget & Ronnie for dinner again later at the condo they were staying at next door.

Today I went fishing with Luis and Dennis. Caught a skipjack and a catfish (no keepers) but I did get to bring back the trout filets they caught.

We got home and I promptly went to sleep. I've got to get to bed soon as I have a 7:30 am. meeting tomorrow before flying to Houston for the week.

Sunday June 13

I was reminded that today was the 2 year anniversary of my car accident. Sounds worse than it was. Again it was no real worry since I had good insurance and no one was hurt. Only some crumpled metal and broken plastic.

I've got a week to finish up the work for the month of June and then I head to Houston for a week and then on to vacation. Throw in the 4th of July and it will be a while until I'm back to schedule. Perhaps that's a good thing.

I read a good book, Breakthrough Triathlon Training. It talked of the importance of rest and recovery in order to free the mind for top performance. Made good sense to me, particularly in light of the long "vacation" I've taken from the triathlon training. But I have re-upped for the remaining 2 triathlons this summer and will continue working on that starting... tomorrow.

Wednesday June 9

Summertime is here and it seems that everyone is thinking about things other than work. Me included.

With my triathlon over, its resulted in a lull. I'm scheduled to do 2 others, but have not been training regularly. Its been hot, I've been resting, etc. excuses. Today the excuse was that the pool was closed at noon due to local flooding that caused dirt from the park to flood the pool. Maybe tomorrow.

Susan is leaving for Los Angeles to receive an award on behalf of the hospital. Sarah and I plan to see "Get Him to the Greek" tonight. We watched the prequel "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" last night - reminded me that it was not a particularly good movie but it was better than watching basketball.

Quiet night

Both Susan and Sarah are out doing different things tonight, so I'm home. I was going to watch a movie but I've been blacklisted at Blockbuster. They claim I haven't returned 3 movies. Can't seem to find them around the house so...

Life's little rules apply

When youre ready to watch TV, there's nothing good on

When you have money, there's nothing you want to buy

When you want to go out, you can't find a date

And so on....

End of school

Today was the last day of school (10th grade) for Sarah. She's now 16, has a driver's license and goes by herself just about everywhere and will be a junior in high school. Best of all, she has no plans for the next few weeks except to watch 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy.

I was kind of at loose ends today. Trying to get back into the swing of things. Without any training to work towards, I had a lot of extra time I didn't know exactly what to do with. I did get many personal tasks done and will continue those tomorrow. I've got some bills to send out as well at work.

Friday, I'll be heading to Austin by air for a seminar on Lawyers's ASsistance Program which I look forward to learning more about. Its a program to assist/intervene with lawyers with substance abuse problems. I'm thinking of getting on the state bar committee, but i wanted to learn more first. Go and see as they say at Toyota.

I signed up for another Triathlon in Shreveport LA on August 1 and am also planning to do the Longhorn 70.3 Half Ironman in October. So this week is a little break before... more training!

16th Birthday

Today was a big day for the whole family. Sarah turned 16 and we went to the DPS office this morning and she got her license. She' s the newest driver in Texas. Afterwards she dropped me off and drove to school, drove home with her friend Danielle, they stopped at Barnes & Noble and she came home. Whew!

I was carless part of the day since the M-B is... still in the shop. Insurance will cover a rental so I expect to have it another week. I've been joking they come up with a new excuse every day... technician had a death in the family... part not in... backed up with work.... found another problem... insurance adjuster needs to come. And that is just one week.

Being carless while Sarah was driving around remind me of my dad taking the bus to work while he let me use his car sometimes. One of my friends tried to make fun of that situation. Little did he know what a generous gesture that really was on behalf of my dad. What a guy!

Today I walked down the street for lunch since no one wanted to come pick me up. Its amazing what a short walk it can be when youre a distance athlete (like me)

The big Sweet 16 Party is this Sat. night. Ed and Kate are coming in tomorrow so we're planning to golf in the afternoon.

Friday May 14

This month is certainly a time of transition. With Sarah's birthday right around the corner, she'll be driving soon and that should mark more time for me to do... well, that is the question of transition. I'll hope to fill it up with good, productive things.

Decision made: I'll be trading in the M-B after it gets out of the shop with warranty work. I can handle the deductible costs but the downtime is the biggest costs. It's been there all week after having to be towed in and we are expecting it to be out next week. 1 day regular car in shop = 1 week for this one.

This first week of May

Has been a good one. I decided to take off Friday for an afternoon golf game with my new friends who ususally play Fri. afternoon. So as I told Marie, we have to get all the work done since we (she too) are not working Friday. Giving her some extra time off is a backdoor form of a raise, so she likes that as well.

Sarah's Sweet 16 is coming up and getting planned nicely. I'm to look for some baby pictures so that's my project.

I'm watching the Spurs v. Suns tonight. It is a good game so far.

Thursday April 29

May is just around the corner!

Of course that means Birthday! Mine. Sarah's. Lots of others. May babies are the cutest, said a former girlfriend. I do recall her birthday was May 2. Pretty good for the 30 days or so that we dated back in 1985.

Susan got back in town from Florida so its nice having her back. We watched the Spurs beat the Mavs to advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Go Spurs Go! First time a 7 seed has beaten a 2 seed.

I've gotten a lot of work done this week - eliminated a backlog of sorts. Now, I've got to fill it up again.

Monday is the Chamber of Commerce golf tournament so all the more reason to get the work done today.

Saturday night is the MORP (prom backwards) at IB. I've been informed that I'm to do all the driving Sat. night. Glad to be included I guess.

Sunday April 25

It was just Sarah and me today. Susan is in Florida until Tuesday. Last night I took Sarah to Alyssa's Sweet 16 party. It was at the Cornerstone Grill. They rented out the whole restaurant so it was fun to have it all to ourselves. There's a back room that was set up for the DJ. There were about 10 adults and 25 teens. Everyone including me had a good time.

Today I did some more yard work and it looks good. Temperature heated up to 95 F so I was inside for a while until I felt like going out. Of course it was the heat of the day, 3:00 p.m but I wanted to run. I went to the park and took it easy only staying out about 30 min. and going my share of walking.

In the evening, I cooked out fajitas and guacamole and we watched the Amazing Race. Best reality show on TV. I like Phil Keoghan. I read his book No Opportunity Wasted and it was motivating to get your life list down and start working on it.

I'm Back

I've been a little delinquent with the blog lately. With my triathlon training, I've either been working or resting it seems. Not a lot of extra energy in the evenings, which is when I usually write.

Today was no exception. I decided I needed to rest and sleep a bit more this morning which I did. I was planning to run in the evening but.. it was hot! 95F today. So when I got home, the pool was beckoning. A nice swim and nap poolside. Guess I needed it.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to cycle with Heriberto. I also invited Dan but he had to work. He did stop by the office today for a nice visit. Marie liked him. She's got a good sense of who's a good person and .. who's not :(

I did get the items at work done off the checklist so I thought I ended the week OK.

Susan is going to Miami tomorrow until Tuesday for a conference so I'm in charge of Sarah full time. We're planning to go to her friend Alyssa's 16th birthday dinner tomorrow night. A welcome night out for us. A special one as a couple.

Hoping to catch the movie Kick Ass this weekend. Sarah not interested however. My co worker who claimed she hated summer last year also said she didn't watch comedy movies. She's just doesn't know a good thing when it's right there.

A short one

Today was the Monday after the BP MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin. It was my 9th straight year - never easy but always fun. I rode again with Team Southwest - very well organized. Our friend Brad in La Grange came through again with private showers at him home (no high school locker room showers this year). Followed by drinks on the patio - a highlight.

Sunday we got a late start so we rode a van to the mid point and rode the 45 miles in. Then a bus back to Houston and I got up at 5:00 am today to drive back to McAllen. Got here for my noon meeting just as the bells were ringing.

Needless to say its late now. More later

Masters Week

Tuesday I left MFE at 1:00 to fly to Atlanta via Houston. In Houston I met up with Sean and we boarded the Continental 1.5 hr flight to ATL. We got our "full size" rental car - a Chev HHR - basically a little station wagon.

We went to met Dan at the Highlander which is a place I saw on Diners Driveins and Dives and it did not disappoint. Let's see: I had the Jamaican Jerk Chili, the slider, the Greek Salad, the corn fritters, and the Pasta-Rella sticks. I'd say I sampled the best they had.

We then proceeded down Ponce De Leon (Ponce Duh Lee-ahn) not "Ponce Day Lay-own" to Stone Mountain Park where we got up the the next day dark and early to drive to Augusta GA.

We checking into the Stone Mountain Inn and went straight to bed. 0530 was coming early.

We got up in the dark and quickly left and drove about an hour to Greensboro, GA where we had breakfast at the Waffle House. Then we pressed on to Augusta. Arrived to a bit of traffic but found the parking and walked in.

Right away we saw a lot of buildings, permanent bathrooms, ticket stands and the concessions, which was a big store with everything you could think of, from clothes to coasters to golf tees, bags, etc. I bought a tie! We then dropped the bags off at a bag check and walked in.

We walked straight to hole #12 and 13. I had asked Sean what holes he remembered as the best when he played there and he said 13 and 15.

Now I thought that was a pat answer, but after watching, those were THE BEST. It was amazing to watch the pros play them. World class. We stayed at those two holes mostly in the morning and then walked in to see those holes. We met up with Ed and Kate and had lunch. Along the way we met up with some other people, one of whom knew a W&L classmate of mine, Joe Luter.

In the afternoon we saw the rest of the course and then made our way to see the Par 3 Contest. We saw the trophy presentation to Louis Oosterhuizen (written 12/22/2010 - who would go on to fame winning the British Open that July 2010). Afterwards we had a long walk back to Gate 4 where we were some of the last ones out. A great full day. We had dinner at Carraba's and then drove back to ATL. Late night!

The next day we were up early again for a 8:00 tee time to play the Lake Course at Stone Mountain Golf Club. It was appropriate to get a round in after watching great golf the previous day. We played through a little rain. I liked the course and it was a good deal for $65.

We then left to head to the airport and flew home. A quick Tues-Thurs. trip.

More Driving

Today I went riding with my friend Brad in his "new" 1986 Mercedes Benz 560 SL convertible.

Bright red, tan interior, a true classic. Fast too. Its got a big V-8 that had a lot of power. The weight of the car makes it glide down the road. We went riding north and then south, stopping for a glass of iced tea and watched Anthony Kim win the Shell Houston Open in a playoff.

I'd like to play the Redstone tournament golf course in Houston. Another one for the list.

Leaving for Augusta GA on Tuesday. Looking forward to hitting another Diners, Driveins and Dives place in Atlanta just like Joe's Farm Grill in Phoenix.

Another life goal DONE!

In the past 12 months, I've really been making some headway on the Life List, all those things you'd like to do. I credit ready Phil Keoghan's book No Opportunity Wasted (NOW) in which he talks about writing these goals down, letting others know of them, thereby getting more

involved who can help.

For example, my trip to South America: my friend Oscar was glad to take me as his guest to Colombia. Lots of people still afraid of that.

When I got back, I let my dad know that I was interested in going to see the Masters. A week later, he had tickets.

Today, I achieved another goal. "Drive a Ferrari". My friend Gus took me for a drive and I got to drive his 2005 Ferrari Superamerica. Details from Wikipedia below:

Superamerica

2005 Ferrari 575M Superamerica

Ferrari 575 Superamerica Hood

The Ferrari 575M Superamerica was an innovative convertible version of the 575M Maranello; it featured an electrochromic glass panel roof which rotated 180° (both are production car firsts) at the rear to lay flat over the boot. The Superamerica used the higher-output tune of the V-12 engine, rated at 540 hp (403 kW) and Ferrari marketed it as the world's fastest convertible, with a top speed of 199 mph (320 km/h). The GTC handling package was optional.

A total of 559 Superamericas were built; this awkward number followed Enzo Ferrari's philosophy that there should always be one fewer car available than what the market is demanding.

Top down, it was a unique driving experience. Unlike any car or motorcycle. Best comparison would be a fighter jet.

The car does not even comfortably shift until 7,000 rpms. 80-90-100 mph in great control. Lots of poise as Gus said.

A real treat!

Monday

I'll be in Dallas for business and to see my friends Jeff and Bill B

The weekend in review

I can't remember what I did Friday night to start. I'm sure I was at home - actually I was waiting to get Sarah from a birthday party. I ended up working late that night - got home about 7:30pm.

Saturday was my rest day from triathlon training. I didn't get up until 8:45 am and made breakfast at home - delicious! Then I had a meeting at 11 with Ralph and Elena and then went to play golf with Armando. We had lunch with Larry and Barry so it was a good start. The golf ended up being cool and windy and it was a tough day. Piecing together the score was a 95. I've got to get back into the swing - these 90s are not impressing anyone especially me.

Sat. night Sarah was home so we decided to see the movie "The Bounty Hunter" Two stars. Has Jennifer Anniston ever made a good movie? She plays the same dingbat from Friends every time (and I still see them!)

Today I did a 45 minute bike ride followed immediately with a 10 minute run. Tough but got it done. Church at 11. Then we went to Peppers for lunch where Javier was trying out some new dishes. There Oscar asked me to play golf so I went and played another 9 holes. Much better weather, 70 and clear. I still shot a 48 so I guess I'll keep practicing.

Thursday March 18

I listened to a conference call today about "Rainmaking" and it was a good one. It stressed that a one time client would not make you money but cost you. So I took the advice and got rid of a client who had been nothing but trouble. It was a good feeling. Not easy but the right thing to do for everyone.

This eve I went cycling with the Team McAllen. It was a tough ride (having ran this morning) but I kept up doing 18.9 mph for the loop. Then I came home and had a good recovery dinner. I've been working on eating better with my triathlon training going on.

The swim lesson was yesterday and I learned a lot. When you find out the right way to do something, it sure seems easy thereafter. Tomorrow more swimming from 12 to 1.

We had a good trip to Austin last weekend. Susan wanted to stay at the Domain so I booked a hotel room there at the Aloft. When we got there, it was like a dorm. Not good for us at all. Everyone was displeased but it was midnight by the time we got there. The next morning we checked out and into the Westin next door which was MUCH better.

We had a good steak dinner at Flemings and also enjoyed seeing UT beat Iowa in baseball Saturday 3-1. We also watched 2 good movies on the pay per view, Blind Side and Up in the Air (again for me)

A Tuesday

Today was a relatively easy day for whatever reason. I got to work at 0830 and got ready for tomorrow's cases. I came home for lunch and went to work then to a guitar lesson. I did some more work and picked up Sarah. Back to work and then back for Sarah. We went to the grocery store and I was inspired to make some tasty veggie burritos with sweet potatoes and black beans. Lots of good fiber.

I guess today turned out as it did because it was a good cash day. As I heard, when you are busy you're not making much money. When you're making money, you usually not that busy

Spring is springing

I started my triathlon training today so it seem appropriate to see that the trees are started to bud out and the weather is mild - spring is here.

I did what Coach Sandy said to do: warm up jog for 6 minutes, main run for 10 minutes, cool down for 6 minutes, counting the laps on the track. I ran my usual pace the first 2+ laps, a harder pace for >4 laps and then a slower pace for the last >2 laps.

This past weekend I played in the McAllen Country Club championship. As the new man, I was plugged for an 18 handicap and put in the last flight. I shot 98 the first day with several balls in the street. I knew I'd do better the next day, just a question of how much. I shot 91 the second day and that was 41-50. I had a 9 (+5) on the 13th hole and the pressure really got to me after that. Just like the old days! But it was a decent showing for the the first time and I'll look forward to a big improvement next time.

Week going fast

I'm here at work now (taking a little break to update you). I"m working on a bankruptcy case and have just about gone as far as I can before getting the clients in to go over everything and get it signed and filed.

I'm getting my bike back from the shop today. Maybe I'll get a ride in on Saturday morning. I'm playing in a golf tournament on Sat. and Sun. so I'm looking forward to trying my skills with a true rules environment. Hopefully I'll rise to the occasion. Then we are seeing Tim McGraw in concert Sat. night. Sarah is bringing her friend Ashley who is already counting the days.

I've been watching The Office on DVD and it's a funny show. A bit uncomfortable at time - like Seinfeld. They share a lot of common people in the mix.

My guitar lessons are going great. The new instructor Brooks is a real student of theory and has a lot to teach. Perfect for me. I'm learning a lot.

Back from Houston

I was in Houston on Monday and Tuesday. I actually flew from McAllen MFE to Houston IAH on Continental so that was different. I probably could have got all the work done in one day but 2 days made it a nice trip.

Monday morning I met with Robert to discuss our mediation. I had thought we might go to lunch thereafter but he had a 1:00 meeting so I went down the hall where John worked (convenient eh?).

We went to Chipotle (one of my favorites) & then we stopped by his house. He let me stay there to make call, use the computer and work. That worked great - working while the door was open to the nice day outside and the dogs hanging with me.

Dinner was at Ed and Kate's and I stayed there. We ended up playing some new games for me, dominoes and bridge so the night went by quickly.

Today, I got ready for the mediation from 9-12 and the case did settle. As the mediator put it "pay whatever it takes to get rid of this case". The usual 50% settlement. Then we had a nice lunch and a long one, at Maggiano's. They had a special for 2 people for $40 and he joked it was like a Valentine's Day special.

Then I stopped by a store I like where I got a nice jacket this last Christmas. Its actually a cigar store - the proprietor is nice so we had a good visit. Then I headed to the airport, and flew out.

Another weekend here

Perfect weather today Saturday for... working at the office.

I did play golf yesterday Friday afternoon so I'm making the time up. Yesterday was great weather too. Shot a 91. I'm now going to get a handicap started.

Watching season 3 of The Office, which show was recommended to me. So far its pretty funny. Surprising how I can miss 5 years of a show on TV. I guess watching TV is not that important, with the exception of Monday Night Football, Seinfeld reruns, Morning Joe, Jay Leno on occasion, Flip That House, Diners Dives & Drive-Ins, L A Ink, and my favorite Man v. Food.

I took a guitar lesson last Wed. so I've got to work on those skills this weekend in preparation for the next one.

I'm going to Houston for a mediation on Tuesday, leaving here on Monday. So I expect to be at work tomorrow as well to get ready to be out of town. Lots of little urgent things to get on.

Fine Weekend

Looking back at what I wrote Thursday, I did play golf on Friday afternoon with 5 other people. I figured out why you always see so many carts. Lots of people at the country club have their own carts.

It was a cloudy day with a little mist of rain, but I figured if I didn't play then it would not happen. A good decision. I birdied the first hole to get off to a good start. Again fatigue set it as it was a long day swinging. Conditions were wet, cool, windy so I didn't hit the ball very far.

When I got home, I had to take a short nap to recover. Sarah went out that night so I watched some of my new show The Office on DVD.

Saturday I slept late (for me) and came to work and worked on my tax returns. We had dinner at home Sat. night. Susan & I watched the Hangover on DVD. I had seen in this summer in the theater (still had the stub from June 7).

Sunday I went to church but did n't play with the band. I went for a bike ride about 15 miles afterwards and hung out at home in the afternoon. I got a new book from the library, washed the car and we watched the Amazing Race together last night.