Austin trip

We went to Austin for the UT - Kansas State game on Saturday. This was a difficult trip to plan because, when I decided to get the tickets weeks ago, we didn't know what time the game would be (11, 2, 7?) and we didn't know if Memorial would be playing that Friday night. We assumed they would and they did.

So that meant that we were driving to Austin very early on Saturday. While that was a good plan in the daytime, by the time the game started that evening, everyone was coming down. Next time, we don't do that.

We did get upgraded tickets from our friend Carlos Z and not only were they good tickets, the parking pass was spectacular. We parked right across from the UT Band Hall where the drum line was performing before the game. That was an up close and personal show. I got to talk to some of the band members and their parents. Not too far off from the high school band experience.

Our tickets were on the 35 yard line, lower level, under the overhang. So we saw all the plays very well. UT had a chance to win at the end after they put in Case McCoy, but they had to score a TD and they couldn't. Final: Kansas State 21, UT 17.

New blog

I've set up a new blog for my law practice

It is...

GTurleyLawCenter.wordpress.com

I'll be posting original new material that will also be appearing on my new website at

get-attorney.com

One of the previous problems I've had with websites is that its too hard to upload new stuff. But in the Web2.0 era, uploading is super easy with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

By the way, I've also got a new Twitter feed for the law practice

Twitter.com/turleylawcenter

Hope you enjoy!

Sunday

Less than 2 weeks until I go on the big golf trip. Three top 100 courses in one shot, plus a tough 4th course, Karsten Creek, for good measure. Maybe I should be practicing golf? Hasn't happened so far. Plenty of work to do at the office makes it hard to decide to leave for a morning or afternoon. Then the weekends has other good things to do. This weekend: Friday night football game, slept late Saturday, Lector training, shopping, church, grocery, cycling and car washing. I guess I could have fit some golf in: maybe next week.

LSU football game to forget

My friend John went to see an LSU football game and our other friend Robert found out about that. Robert's daughter is now a freshman at LSU. Robert asked John, "Did Greg go with you?" and John said no, but he was invited.

I suppose I'm due to go back and do it right this time. I did go to one LSU game in the 80s. It was November 1986 as I recall, probably the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend or probably the weekend just before. They were playing Notre Dame. I was dating an LSU student long distance and we had arranged this weekend visit.

It'll be so fun...we'll go to the game and sit in the student section.... lot of drinking and partying... everyone will be there. So I got my friend Clint to go with me. I guess we drove from Houston but it may have been Austin. As can expect it is a LONG drive there.

So the game was Saturday night and I guess we got there Saturday. First thing was that since I was not an LSU student, I needed an LSU ID to go with a student ticket. I of course had neither. So the half-baked plan was that there was 1 student ticket and the other person would buy a regular ticket. Being the Nice Guy, I got the regular ticket. I was then supposed to walk into the student section by some complicated handoff/switcheroo. Then, everyone would be standing so there would be no seating issues. What a great time it would be!

This was of course long before the days of cell phones. So we immediately got separated, security was wise to the handoff/switcheroo trick, and I found myself on the outside looking into the student section. After realizing that I was stuck, I went to my lonely seat by myself. To make matters worse, I was surrounded by Notre Dame fans in the upper deck. I never watched a game that I enjoyed less. By the third quarter I'd had enough and left. I figured I'd go back to the apartment. Of course no one was there, so I had to wait outside.

When everyone got back ("What a great game!") I found out that Clint while driving my car had "hit something" which I later gathered was a curb and gashed the tire. So the donut spare was now on. That of course was not part of the planned weekend (note ironic reference). So the next day we had to look around for a replacement tire as close to the original as possible, so as not to tip to my father as to this mishap. Again, this was before the days of Discount Tire, Big O Tires and Goodyear stores, so we had to look around for a Shell station to get that kind of tire (and charge it on the my Shell card).

We got the tire, stayed through the weekend and then left on the long drive home. By this time, we literally had no money between the two of us. Not even McDonald's money. So we made it back on the trusty Shell card, so desperate that we had to eat a sandwich at the Shell station from the cooler. And we were happy to have it.

John and Paul had a much better experience. They stopped and got LSU t shirts on the way to fit it. They got invited to a tailgate party with lots of good food. The game was during the day and LSU won, keeping their #1 ranking. And they had a decent hotel to stay in. I'm guessing they even had cash in their pockets for the drive home.

I guess we have these experiences so we know what NOT to do in the future.

Blogging

I've been inspired to do more writing lately. There are those that don't understand the purpose of blogging - usually those who don't like to write. But for those of us who do, its like free money. Practice, practice, practice. Things always look a bit more interesting when they're on paper (so to speak).

Today I had a meeting/event at 10 then 12.15, then 2.30. What that meant is that I was busy, and that I didn't have much time for anything else. After the last meeting, it was about 3.30, about 92 degrees and I was about done. Tired! So I came home to change clothes... and just stayed there. Figured I could do as much work from there as I could driving to the office. I was right!

The 10 am. was a ribbon cutting for the bank, so it was a good opportunity to see a lot of people. I was most pleased that when I found out about the ribbon cutting (since I had worked on the project), I let the architect know of the event. She was there, was most pleased that I told her about it, and they even mentioned her in the introductory remarks. So it was my good deed of the day.

Monday

The highlight of the day work-wise was to work on figuring out the jigsaw puzzle that is the multi-acre development (name withheld by request). There is an easment, then there is not an easement, then we want to make an easement again. Lots of complexity in a paperwork sense.

Fortunately I had read some good advice that you should not keep multiple copies of things. So after I cleaned those out, the final package looked very straightforward.

After work, our Maniac group had a tire pull exercise. What that means is that you strap on a harness attached to a tire dragging on the ground. Then you run 400 meters dragging the tire behind you. Then you run 400 meters back to where you started. Repeat 6 times.

I actually felt like it was a good workout. Then I got home and made a nice vegetarian dish, stir fried tofu and vegetables. Who knew that was so good?

Sunday

Today was the first day of return from Daylight Savings, so it was nice to wake up when it was light outside. About 7:45 with the time change, falling back. I had planned on not doing much this morning since yesterday, I got up (in the dark) to go meet the group for a 65 minute run in Cimarron, 20 minute drive away.

The other night we were going out and I went out and got some fast food. The Outlaw Spicy Chicken Sandwich. It was good - a calorie bomb as expected. What was not expected was that the next day I told Susan I felt hung over when I got up. "That Diet Coke must have been pretty strong!" she said. But after the day ended, I thought it was a food hangover and we agreed that the calorie bomb must have had something to do with that.

So I've been enjoying some good meals at home and have felt much better. Without the triathlon training, I've been burning less calories and eating less. So it's nice to get active again, after a 2 1/2 week break.

There was supposed to be a meeting at church today. While I thought it was a 1:30, turns out it was a 12:00 so I got there right as people were leaving. I was kind of mad, not really at anyone but myself and the situation. But I stayed and got the information across.

On the bike ride today, we rode into a very stiff wind, and I was only going 9 mph and pedaling as hard as I could, with still keeping the ability to keep going. It was tough, but it reminded me of going up the mountain in Colombia. 6 mph up, 36 mph down. That was worth the effort!

We finished the evening with a good dinner and watching the Amazing Race. Lake Malawi looked a like a very cool place. Next week they go to Denmark. It's cool the local events they find for everyone to do.