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.