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.