What a day

I had planned to get up early today for cycling, but....

I didn't quite make it up in time and sleep late.

Then I thought I might go to church, but I didnt' want to rush there for the (earlier) 10 am. service.

While out in the front yard, neighbor Brad stopped as he was driving. "Want to play golf today?"

"Yes I do." I replied. "How about right now?"

So off we went. Today was a beautiful day, about 73 F degrees. Neither hot nor cold. We played 9 holes, stopped for a leisurely lunch, then went back out for the final 9. As I was spending most all day outside, I thought there was no better place to be on such a nice day. I hit some shots good, some not so good, but enjoying myself the whole way.

Perfect intro for the practice needed for the November golf trip to 4 great courses in OK and KS, Southern Hills, Karsten Creek, Prairie Dunes and Flint Hills National. 4 of the top courses in those states. And in the country. So I'm ready.

Scotch-Irish

While at my favorite bookstore Paragraphs at South Padre Island, I picked up a new book "The Scotch-Irish" by James Leyburn. I had previously read a book Born Fighting by Jim Webb about "Scots-Irish" (his term) and it referenced "Leyburn" a lot.

As it turns out, Professor Leyburn taught at Washington and Lee University, a noted Scots-Irish institution founded in 1749 in a noted Scots-Irish area of our country. In fact, I spent many hours studying in the Leyburn Library there. During my time there in the 80s, it was simply called the University Library but renamed in 1994.

I believe that I'm part of that Scotch-Irish Great Migration from Northern Ireland by way of the Scottish lowlands in the the 1700's to Pennsylvania, then Virginia, then North Carolina and the Ohio Valley. So the book is an interesting heritage lesson. So far, I've been enjoying it.

Goals coming together

I'm thinking of signing up for the Galveston 70.3 Half Ironman on April 1, 2012. Really! No fooling.

That is 70.3 miles calculated by
1.2 mile swim (1930 meters)

56 mile bike

13.1 mile run

What's the magic of those numbers? They're half of the 140.6 Ironman which was simply started as a bet to decide which of 3 existing races in Hawaii at the time were the toughest. Swim? Bike? Run? Why not do them all? Back to Back!

Timing is good for April 1. That way I'd be in good bike shape for the MS 150 and then be able to take some time off for the high school graduation activities.

Something's got to give and it looks like the Houston Marathon 26.2 miles will switch to the 13. 1 Half Marathon. That would be good practice also.

I anticipate signing up by December 1.

Jury Duty

They say in this day and age that "social media is causing problems in the jury system". If anything, it's shedding light on a dusty corner of the world that is used to doing business in secret.

I won't start to give my opinion of the process today, but just to say that I completed one day of jury duty. I was not picked for the trial in the County Court. But our group was called back for Round 2 on Thursday.

As you can imagine, there's a lot of waiting, a lot of uncertainty and a lot of down time. Hopefully like legislation, the finished product is what really counts.

Footloose

Susan and I went to see Footloose this afternoon. So did Sarah, but she saw an earlier show with her new friend Jack. We liked it. It was probably a little better movie than the original (not too tall an order) but it did not have all the original music of the first. Hard to improve a soundtrack that sold 9 million copies.

I recall seeing the original movie as a freshman in college in May 1984. That summer my sister had the cassette soundtrack so I listened to it a lot. Lots of good songs.

Elizabeth was in town this weekend and it was nice to be together, even if it meant reverting to some old patterns as a family. But I guess those are all good events. They all like the Pigskin Competition as I thought they might. Everyone want everything explained to them but sometimes you just have to see things for yourself. I'm glad they were there.

Another good Memorial weekend

The McAllen Memorial H.S. had another good weekend in sports and activities. Tonight the Memorial Band received the highest rating of Division 1 at the Pigskin Marching Contest. That's their main goal every year and they work hard and focused on that goal. So its great to see success. Several former band members were in the audience as well.

The football team beat Rowe on Friday night. And the Volleyball team beat Donna today.

The whole family is in town: Ed Kate Elizabeth Joanie and Vivian. They've been a little disappointed that Sarah has been busy both nights and today but otherwise its been a nice visit. I think they all enjoyed the Pigskin Contest. It's quite a spectacle.

King of the Causeway Triathlon

Sunday was the KOTC triathlon at South Padre Island. As it is October, there are many things going on all weekend. Saturday night was the City of Palms Marching Contest. It ended about 8:30 pm so I stayed home until Sarah got back. Then I went to sleep and got up at 4:15 am to drive to South Padre Island. No traffic at that time.

I got there in time to get set up in T2 and then drove with Steve E to the T1 area. We had a warm up swim and then our 40-49 mens wave went off about 8:15 am.

I had a great swim and finished with a friend Mike who is a very experienced triathlete. He of course went out much faster on the bike. But I was happy with my bike time of 17.3 mph. Then on the run, at the end I got caught by fellow Maniac Terri and we ran in at a good pace. I told her we needed to sprint but she couldn't make it so I dashed in as usual. Finished the run in 27 minutes which was my best tri run time. So the total time was 1:24 good enough for 5th out of 11 in the Mens' 45-59 category.

During the run we went by the Paragraphs bookstore and I thought "I should go there afterwards". It was funny because the BikeFest was going on with all the Harley people. So among all the beer drinking and hell raising, I was doing my triathlon and thinking about book shopping. Doing it My Way!!

Wednesday

I haven't been on the blog lately - too busy living life I guess. We had a great trip to New Orleans for the weekend and ate our way through. In all the good restaurants we went to, we even hit a BAD one. To make it worse, it was my choice. Looked OK from the outside, but I guess I should have been tipped off by the fact that it was next to a Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville tourist restaurant. And the name was deceiving. Magnolia Cafe in Austin it was not - the was the Magnolia Grill.

Fortunately we redeemed ourselves with lunch at K-Paul's which does change over time, but always remains good. Two great meals at the Palace Cafe ( the redfish was the best thing I ever ate as the show says) and at Dickie Brennan's

This weekend is the final triathlon of the season, King of the Causeway at South Padre Island. I think I'm ready for a little break after this one. One good thing about the triathlon is the week off afterwards.

Memorial plays Sharyland this Friday in the Game of the Week. Two undefeated teams - who will remain unbeaten? Mustangs will have to play hard.

Happy Birthday

Today is Susan's birthday and her mother and father are here visiting. We had a nice relaxing day at home. Last night Memorial beat Mission High 41-14. The maroon uniforms of Mission reminded me of the Austin High Maroons (as well as a dismal football performance).

Today I went with John S. to see the Memorial volleyball v. Palmview. Memorial is ranked #2 in the district and they won. Afterwards we raced over to see the #1 team Sharyland play McAllen High (McHi) and Sharyland won. It was a big event Dig for the Cure to celebrate the October Breast Cancer Awareness month. Look for lots of pink this month.