Quiet at Home

I am home this evening. Susan has gone to Washington DC for 2 days, returning Wed night late. So it is Sarah and me. I picked her up at school early to go to the orthodontist. But it was a different visit - closing out. Dana the office manager gave us the before and after pictures and the plaster molds. Amazing how S has changed since the 6th grade. She commented she thought she looks better now (don't we all?)

As usual at school none of the kids seemed to be in class. Found out that the IB seniors (only 42) finished some test early so they were all hanging out waiting for the next class. Lots of freedom there.

I expressed my freedom by parking in the superintendant's spot. I thought it was silly - how often could be come there? Turns out, more than I thought since they have various meetings there. Lucked out this time - perhaps a good way to meet him?!

Quick update

Sunday I participated in a screenplay reading for a potential movie. A former client of mine is now writing a screenplay and he not only had consulted with me on it while writing but also asked me to read the part of the lawyer "Conny". So that was fun. We started about 2 and ended about 4:30. He got a good, diverse group of people together.

I thought it was a good effort from everyone. Now I'm excited to give my feedback and see what happens next. Financing, production, marketing, I'm thinking positive. I'm already picturing myself at the premiere!

Gotta Love the Aggies!

From SI.com - Aggie Yell Leader Casey Schaeffer

http://vimeo.com/7176852

Saturday Oct 24

Today I went for a 14 mile training run for the Houston Marathon. Left at 0600 with friend Kristi and it went fast. The weather was nice. On the return loop she needed to use the restroom so we were right by the Embassy Suites. On the way out, she suggested we run up the ramps of the parking garage. So that added a hill to the workout and kept the boredom factor (more prevalent when running along) to a minimum. Finished about 0900.

Last Thursday former President Bill Clinton was in town and so we attended the Clinton Foundation fundraiser at the Cantu Residence. Even Bill joked at what a big house it was. We got our picture taken with him due to Susan's outstanding fundraising efforts. Someone joked she should do it full time.

He gave a talk outside in a familiar manner:

We had a nice time. We went with friend Todd & Elena (just married this year) and Brian who we had drive us all in his Suburban. Parking was limited.

Friday, Sarah was not feeling well in the morning so she stayed home from school and went at 11:30. Nice to have flexibility with the IB program. Afterwards our friend Marissa had a luncheon for her birthday that I was invited to. As one of the few men in a roomful of beautiful women (including of course Susan) I was quite the charmer/the charmed life. That was fun.

Friday night was the Memorial v. McAllen High rivalry game. Lots of offense and little defense made for a high scoring game. Memorial scored a touchdown to go ahead with a minute left. Then McHi ran back the kickoff for a touchdown to go ahead. With about 10 seconds left Memorial took the kickoff and ran it back, fumbling, lateraling, running toward the end zone for the winning TD with no time left when... he was tacked at the 4 yard line. Game over :(

Great game though.

Tomorrow I am participating in a screenplay reading for a potential movie. My friend James wrote this screenplay this year after some consultation with me about the lawyer role. So he is getting a group together to read it aloud together. I'm reading for the lawyer, "Connie" (because he's a con). Kind of Body Heat meets the Bucket List.

Baby Back

My car arrived today from San Antonio with a new ABC system (pretty much). New hose, new pump, new fluid, new valves. ABC stands for Active Body Control, or basically a hydraulic active suspension that can raise/lower the car as well as balance it out in sharp corners and redirect power to avoid skids and spins.

The driver Mario said it was a pleasure to drive and that he left right on time and found the McAllen police station easily with his GPS system. I was glad I had cleaned out the rental car, gassed it up and got some cash for a tip for which he seemed appreciative. He took off in the Ford and I was quite happy to have my M-B back, hence my "baby back/baby back/baby back" (think Chili's commercial).

I am certainly glad that I bought the extended warranty to cover the many expensive repairs as well as the long term rental car. My kind of wager. I'll leave the Vegas wagers to others.

Monday Oct 19

I was in Dallas these past few days arriving Sunday. I changed my flight to play a round of golf with attorney Steve G. who we had been talking about playing together. It was a nice round of 5 people. We started in the dawn hour at 7:04 am which was particularly early after staying up til 1 am to pick up Sarah from the Pigskin Marching Competition (where the band earned a top score of 1).

I arrived in Dallas about 8 pm and met Jeff for dinner. He brought in an older woman... who was his mother who I had not seen since we were in high school. It was great to catch up with her. She had moved to Pennsylvania for some years to look after her father, who was a Brewmaster (what an interesting job!). After his death, Jeff moved her to Dallas and she seems pretty happy there. She has travelled to a lot of cool places, flown over the Himalayas, been to the Pyramids, the Gallapos Islands and many others.

As it turned out Jeff had a rare week off from work so he agreed to play golf with Randy and Eric and me on Monday. I went by the local office of S-W and after a business meeting went to the golf course, the Tribute.

The course was based on many different British Isles courses. It was a links style course but being on the shores of Lake Lewisville, was a great location. I thought the holes were well done. I particularly like the last 3, which were from Turnberry, and St. Andrews. The last hole, patterned after the 18th at St. Andrews was memorable. Jeff drove the green of this short par 4 and made a 6 foot putt for a rare eagle 2. He was very happy about that. I had a good time on a nice course with very nice weather the whole day.

Afterwards, Jeff suggested we go for steak. I recommended Texas de Brazil and he was up for it. Great dinner! It was not too crowded during the week and we had a nice time. It was really a special occasion for we had not played golf together in several years. Who knows when we'll do it again?

Monday night I went to my friend Bill's house in Highland Village, Texas where he recently moved. I enjoyed seeing their home. It was very up to date and modern, high ceilings, granite counters in kitchen, nice courtyard. Today Tuesday we went to the Corner Bakery where he has become a regular. I left about 9:15 for the airport and barely made the flight, the 2nd to last person to get on. But I made it.

We are getting a new air conditioner. Of course, when I go out of town, things tend to go wrong. The car is coming back tomorrow from San Antonio after 4 weeks in the shop. Welcome home!

Finally a weekend home

Back in McAllen I did enjoy this weekend home. Friday night we had the Memorial v. Rowe High School football game. I went with my friend John S. whose son Alex is also in the band. We enjoy the games (particularly the band) together. Memorial scored with a nice pass play right away and won 63-33.

Early today I went for a 11 mile run (at 0500) with my running friend Kristi. We had to go a bit early because I had agreed to assist our church in some painting starting at 0745. We had a group of 6 and went to another local church to assist. That church has an aging population and doesn't really have a group like ours to assist. So we painted 7 door different colors. Got a lot of paint on my hands.

I joked that I was doing my community service. "Paying your fines?" asked Father Philip. I had a good laugh since we give out so much community service in court.

I got home in time to watch the end of the UT/OU game which the Horns won. I dozed off and slept a good part of the afternoon. Then I got up because Susan and I were going to dinner and then the Pigskin Marching Contest which the Memorial band has been working towards all year. Dinner was good and it was fun to be together. We got some coffee afterwards and drove the 20 minutes west to La Joya. The band did great, weather was cool and the band scored a top mark of 1. So everyone was very happy. They are partying til 0100 tonight.

Tomorrow I'm playing golf early and then heading to Dallas for a business meeting and a business round of golf at The Tribute

For the Love

I have just returned from Houston for the funeral of my brother in law Rick Ryan. There were many questions asked this past week, the most common being:

Now was this your sister's husband?

Rick was married to my wife's sister Janet from 1981 to 2004. Together they had three children. As I like to say, this isn't the Royal Family. Once you're in, you stay in.

He died Thursday October 1 after suffering a stroke that previous Monday. I went to Houston on Oct 2-4 and had a good visit with my nephews, two of his sons Damon and Joel. Damon's wife of 12 years Lisa was there as well

That Saturday we made arrangments with the local Addison Funeral Home for cremation. That Sunday, Damon and Joel and I took a break to attend the Houston Texans v. Oakland Raiders NFL game. We all enjoyed that, particularly the good club levels seats I obtained from one of my clients in McAllen.

Sunday night I drove over to San Antonion where I spent Monday in San Antonio for car repair and made the most of the trip with some good business meetings. Tueday through Thursday I had municipal court and Thursday was a very fast paced day to catch a 1:55 pm flight back to Houston. I saw Rick's other 2 children nephew Zachary and niece Olivia that night.

Friday October 9 was the funeral date. As if in the movies a cold rainy front blew in. More questions: will the funeral be in the rain? I thought that this could not possibly be the first time it had rained at the cemetery.

The service was held in a Committment Shelter which is were the services are in the Houston National Cemetery. No graveside ceremonies. The shelter was about 20' x 20', open on 3 sides, with benches and also a pedestal for the coffin or in this case the ashes which were covered by the US flag. The local VFW performed the honors. A local chaplain said a few Bible verses and Psalms. I spoke for about 2 minutes for the family.

We all got together that night including Janet for dinner at El Palenque for about 25 people. That is a good local spot that Joel and I have gone to several times. Everyone enjoyed the night out.

Saturday I stayed with my parents. I did a good marathon training run that morning and had lunch at the club with my mother and her friend Sue, who was very interesting having just returned from Macchu Picchu in Peru and the Galapogas Islands and Ecuador. Those are all places I'd like to go. I caught a flight back that afternoon late and made it back just in time to see the Memorial Band perform.