I wrote this on March 30, 2018, age 52 so there are 52 items here. A reverse list is thinks already done, so it's a type of gratitude list.
Bicycling in Medellin, Colombia
Paddle board in Maui
Drive a Ferrari
Hike Kenai Fjiords National Park, Alaska
Own a dream car - Mercedes AMG
Speak at Hidalgo County CLE
Represent a Fortune 500 company
Be a City Attorney
Fly in a private jet
Ride a Harley in the Texas Hill Country
Play guitar in a band
Sing in church choir
Settle a sexual assault case for a victim
Ski at Deer Valley
Jet ski around Key West
Dance with Sarah at Sweet 16
Get name in New York Times
Swim onto a Caribbean island from a boat
Drive the Autobahn
Watch the sun come up in Madrid after staying up all night
Attend a 2nd high school prom
Make Dean's List
Golf at Cypress Point and 2 under par after 6 holes
Nearly make a hole in 1 on my birthday
Renew wedding vows after 25 years of marriage
Meet Oliver North
Helicopter ride over Grand Canyon
Ride a double decker London bus
36 holes in 1 day at Sand Hills
Visit Mount Rushmore
Go to Mayo Clinic
Get sober
Write a book
Make a movie review blog
Make a movie
Drive to California
Sit for Board Certification exam in Tax Law
Surf
Ride in MS 150
Learn tactital shooting
Make a YouTube video
Refinish a rifle
Run a marathon
Complete Ironman 70.3 triathlon
Build a garden
Attend Masters golf tournament
Crash a wedding
Be on the evening news -positively
Climb a 14er mountain
Bench press 155 lbs
Visit Mall of America
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
My favorite golf courses
Having just returned from TPC Sawgrass, I would rank that a 5 star course and in my Top 10.
What are the other 9 you say? Glad you asked,
Shoal Creek, Alabama - all around tops. US Womens Open just played there last month.
Brackenridge Park, San Antonio - such great history of Texas golf
Houston Country Club - where I learned the game
Prairie Dunes, Kansas - a unique experience. Also home of many championships
Olympic Club, San Francisco - a fine test of golf, not easy but fair
Bali Hai, Las Vegas. Just a really fun place to play
Austin Golf Club
CommonGround, Denver
Sand Hills, Nebraska - best course in the USA? I'd say yes.
All places I could enjoy playing regularly.
What are the other 9 you say? Glad you asked,
Shoal Creek, Alabama - all around tops. US Womens Open just played there last month.
Brackenridge Park, San Antonio - such great history of Texas golf
Houston Country Club - where I learned the game
Prairie Dunes, Kansas - a unique experience. Also home of many championships
Olympic Club, San Francisco - a fine test of golf, not easy but fair
Bali Hai, Las Vegas. Just a really fun place to play
Austin Golf Club
CommonGround, Denver
Sand Hills, Nebraska - best course in the USA? I'd say yes.
All places I could enjoy playing regularly.
Friday, June 29, 2018
TPC Sawgrass golf
Ranked as a top course in the USA, Tournament Players Course at Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Florida is a true bucket list course. It's home to the 5th major, the Players Championship, the most famous hole in the country, the Island green 17th, and a course that anyone with the $$$ can arrange to play. I teed it up at 12:30 on Thursday.
The course did not disappoint. It's a dedicated track so the visual of it is very striking, expansive, manicured. Similar look to Augusta National, down to the wide expanses and the pine straw. It's at home in Florida, with water and palm trees. Designed by Pete Dye, the noted architect in the 70s, what was cutting edge at the time (pot bunkers, large mounds, crowned greens, sharp angled water hazards and bunkers) is now mainstream. It also reminded me of another Dye course, my old home of Austin Country Club.
Conditions were excellent. I played from the White tees and it was just challenging enough without taking all the fun out. Good driving, sharp iron play, tricky putting. It is a fitting place for true players like winners, Tiger Woods, Davis Love, Calvin Peete and Webb Simpson this year.
Hard rain and lightning cancelled the back nine, so I didn't play the famous 17th. But I got plenty of the taste and would rank the course very high on my list. I would recommend it as a Must Play.
The course did not disappoint. It's a dedicated track so the visual of it is very striking, expansive, manicured. Similar look to Augusta National, down to the wide expanses and the pine straw. It's at home in Florida, with water and palm trees. Designed by Pete Dye, the noted architect in the 70s, what was cutting edge at the time (pot bunkers, large mounds, crowned greens, sharp angled water hazards and bunkers) is now mainstream. It also reminded me of another Dye course, my old home of Austin Country Club.
Conditions were excellent. I played from the White tees and it was just challenging enough without taking all the fun out. Good driving, sharp iron play, tricky putting. It is a fitting place for true players like winners, Tiger Woods, Davis Love, Calvin Peete and Webb Simpson this year.
Hard rain and lightning cancelled the back nine, so I didn't play the famous 17th. But I got plenty of the taste and would rank the course very high on my list. I would recommend it as a Must Play.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Happy Father's Day
Thinking of fathers today, I guess I am qualified on the topic. In addition to my own father Ed and my own daughter Sarah, there seem to be many other fatherly figures that deserve a mention today:
In raising my own daughter, I am thankful for the others dads that were there at those points in time. All of "my tribe" the Indian Princesses of the E.A. Smith YMCA made a big difference in those formative years. All the parents from Grace Christian School, North Pointe Elementary, Gonzalez Elementary, Cathey Middle School and IB Lamar.
My father in law David, my grandfather Wilton, my uncle Vernon, gone but not forgotten.
Family friends when I was growing up: Fred, Glenn, Bob C., Bill N., Tinsley.
It takes a village. A lot of fine men through the years. I hope to carry on the noble tradition.
In raising my own daughter, I am thankful for the others dads that were there at those points in time. All of "my tribe" the Indian Princesses of the E.A. Smith YMCA made a big difference in those formative years. All the parents from Grace Christian School, North Pointe Elementary, Gonzalez Elementary, Cathey Middle School and IB Lamar.
My father in law David, my grandfather Wilton, my uncle Vernon, gone but not forgotten.
Family friends when I was growing up: Fred, Glenn, Bob C., Bill N., Tinsley.
It takes a village. A lot of fine men through the years. I hope to carry on the noble tradition.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Summer of 1988
There's an old Seinfeld episode where Kramer is getting after George for doing nothing with his life:
"You got a job?" No
"You got any money" No
"You got a woman" No
"Do you have any prospects?" No
"Do you have any conceivable reason to get out of bed in the morning"
"I like to read the Daily News"
Thinking of the Summer of 1988, I didn't have that much going on either. I had graduated from college in June 1987, but a year later, was back living with my parents, didn't have a job, but I was studying from the LSAT which I took (and aced) in early summer.
I then signed up for 2 classes at the University of Houston. That was in hindsight kind of a waste of time since I was really not that interested in making any career out of 1 accounting class and 1 computer science class. As a commuter, I didn't really meet anyone that month. The best I could do was to find out that this one girl worked at a club. I went there one time looking for her, but of course she wasn't there.
So I had no job, no money and no woman. One thing I remember is going to this local sports bar in the evenings after dinner, when I would have a beer or 2 and watch the Astros on cable TV, which we didn't have at home. There was a rookie catcher breaking in that summer named Craig Biggio, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career.
After that class ended I started looking for a job and did find one after about a month and started around August 15, working downtown for Texas Eastern Corporation. That turned out to be a decent job and then I got into law school and started moving forward.
But the summer was not all bad. I do recall that I had a date with a lovely lady. We went to see the movie Bull Durham. I also got invited to a couple of parties and met some recent UT grads and other people from Houston. I was able to use the Houston Country Club on a reasonable basis. That summer the course was closed due to a renovation, so my dad and I went to the local driving range a lot and he arranged us many golf games at local courses: Brae Burn, Westwood, Weston Lakes, Lakeside, River Oaks, Lochinvar. I've probably not played any of those courses since.
We also played in a partnership tournament in Austin at the Hills of Lakeway and Barton Creek and had a record day, coming in second place which was exciting. I even got set up on a date, which was fun and ended up at the Deep Eddy Cabaret, which ironically is still the same all these years later.
All in all, it was not a bad summer. I had just moved to Houston and still getting my feet wet. After August of 1988, I knew things would be OK there.
"You got a job?" No
"You got any money" No
"You got a woman" No
"Do you have any prospects?" No
"Do you have any conceivable reason to get out of bed in the morning"
"I like to read the Daily News"
Thinking of the Summer of 1988, I didn't have that much going on either. I had graduated from college in June 1987, but a year later, was back living with my parents, didn't have a job, but I was studying from the LSAT which I took (and aced) in early summer.
I then signed up for 2 classes at the University of Houston. That was in hindsight kind of a waste of time since I was really not that interested in making any career out of 1 accounting class and 1 computer science class. As a commuter, I didn't really meet anyone that month. The best I could do was to find out that this one girl worked at a club. I went there one time looking for her, but of course she wasn't there.
So I had no job, no money and no woman. One thing I remember is going to this local sports bar in the evenings after dinner, when I would have a beer or 2 and watch the Astros on cable TV, which we didn't have at home. There was a rookie catcher breaking in that summer named Craig Biggio, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career.
After that class ended I started looking for a job and did find one after about a month and started around August 15, working downtown for Texas Eastern Corporation. That turned out to be a decent job and then I got into law school and started moving forward.
But the summer was not all bad. I do recall that I had a date with a lovely lady. We went to see the movie Bull Durham. I also got invited to a couple of parties and met some recent UT grads and other people from Houston. I was able to use the Houston Country Club on a reasonable basis. That summer the course was closed due to a renovation, so my dad and I went to the local driving range a lot and he arranged us many golf games at local courses: Brae Burn, Westwood, Weston Lakes, Lakeside, River Oaks, Lochinvar. I've probably not played any of those courses since.
We also played in a partnership tournament in Austin at the Hills of Lakeway and Barton Creek and had a record day, coming in second place which was exciting. I even got set up on a date, which was fun and ended up at the Deep Eddy Cabaret, which ironically is still the same all these years later.
All in all, it was not a bad summer. I had just moved to Houston and still getting my feet wet. After August of 1988, I knew things would be OK there.
House Park Hill
I went to a high school graduation party last week. It was held in an outdoor venue and a very nice affair with lots of family and friends. The graduate played volleyball and everyone had pizza and cake and soft drinks and water. Some of the adults had a drink or two.
It made me think of the very different Austin High Class of 1983 graduation party, held at Saagerunde Hall. Joe King Carrasco played some of his early mosh style music. We were graduates and it was not a school party so going back and forth to the parking lot for beer was common. One of my friends rolled through the Party Bar on Guadalupe with the graduation tassel hanging from the rear view.
After the party, I rode with the late great Aaron Kluth to some afterparty. As was common then, Aaron was speeding westbound on W 15th street when after crossing West Ave., there was a crest of the steep hill before going down over the overpass of North Lamar. The plan was to time the green lights just so to hit top speed while going over the hill to get "airborne".
Now Aaron was feeling it. He probably hit about 65 mph at the top of the hill. We hit the crest and bounced up in the seats so high I hit my head on the top of the roof. No seat belts of course. We probably came an inch or two off the ground and then came crashing down. Miraculously he maintained control and we barrelled down the hill hooting and hollering.
The things we did back then are hard to believe now: jumping off the Mopac bridge, boating at night, top speed on Loop 360, midnight swimming. It wasn't all fun and games: Trey Thorn fell off the back of a motorcycle and died. Lara Tatum died when the roofless Blazer she was riding in flipped over. We even had a suicide in 1980 or so of a classmate's brother.
Austin was smaller then than it is now. I guess like any town the kids eventually get bored. Glad that our party here was more low key. She's now on a graduation cruise. So all is well.
It made me think of the very different Austin High Class of 1983 graduation party, held at Saagerunde Hall. Joe King Carrasco played some of his early mosh style music. We were graduates and it was not a school party so going back and forth to the parking lot for beer was common. One of my friends rolled through the Party Bar on Guadalupe with the graduation tassel hanging from the rear view.
After the party, I rode with the late great Aaron Kluth to some afterparty. As was common then, Aaron was speeding westbound on W 15th street when after crossing West Ave., there was a crest of the steep hill before going down over the overpass of North Lamar. The plan was to time the green lights just so to hit top speed while going over the hill to get "airborne".
Now Aaron was feeling it. He probably hit about 65 mph at the top of the hill. We hit the crest and bounced up in the seats so high I hit my head on the top of the roof. No seat belts of course. We probably came an inch or two off the ground and then came crashing down. Miraculously he maintained control and we barrelled down the hill hooting and hollering.
The things we did back then are hard to believe now: jumping off the Mopac bridge, boating at night, top speed on Loop 360, midnight swimming. It wasn't all fun and games: Trey Thorn fell off the back of a motorcycle and died. Lara Tatum died when the roofless Blazer she was riding in flipped over. We even had a suicide in 1980 or so of a classmate's brother.
Austin was smaller then than it is now. I guess like any town the kids eventually get bored. Glad that our party here was more low key. She's now on a graduation cruise. So all is well.
Saturday, June 9, 2018
IDEA Alamo - talk to students
I had the honor of speaking to a group of seniors at the IDEA Alamo charter high school on May 31, about writing my book Hideaway. Here's a recap of what I told them:
You each have a unique story to tell, unlike anyone else's story. And there is a hunger for original content. No one needs to give you permission to write it
So set a short goal. Share it with someone else. Settle in for the long haul.
I then read from the chapter where Thomas tells Harvey about his problem and Harvey tells him the temporary solution to go to the Hideaway.
I talked about what the criticisms I expected and how the response was very different:
When I thought it was only a fiction story, I heard "I felt like you were talking"
When I thought it was too short, I heard "I liked that it was a fast read"
When I thought I didn't know enough technical detail, "That's exactly what it is like"
When I thought the characters were too closely based on real like, "You have a vivid imagination"
and
"Which one is me?"
When I thought there were small mistakes, "I didn't notice any"
I told them about publishing on CreateSpace.com and Amazon. The costs is basically zero: no minimum order, no setup fee, no artwork fee, no editorial review. You can choose to pay for these, but you don't have to. They also liked hearing about the royalty structure (30% to Amazon, exclusive sales channel for 90 days, and recoup of the cost of printing, as well as the costs of shipping. The printing on demand concept was intriguing as well.
I think they were most interested in that business end of things and how the costs worked.
Thanks to Ms. Marisol Garcia for setting up my visit.
You each have a unique story to tell, unlike anyone else's story. And there is a hunger for original content. No one needs to give you permission to write it
So set a short goal. Share it with someone else. Settle in for the long haul.
I then read from the chapter where Thomas tells Harvey about his problem and Harvey tells him the temporary solution to go to the Hideaway.
I talked about what the criticisms I expected and how the response was very different:
When I thought it was only a fiction story, I heard "I felt like you were talking"
When I thought it was too short, I heard "I liked that it was a fast read"
When I thought I didn't know enough technical detail, "That's exactly what it is like"
When I thought the characters were too closely based on real like, "You have a vivid imagination"
and
"Which one is me?"
When I thought there were small mistakes, "I didn't notice any"
I told them about publishing on CreateSpace.com and Amazon. The costs is basically zero: no minimum order, no setup fee, no artwork fee, no editorial review. You can choose to pay for these, but you don't have to. They also liked hearing about the royalty structure (30% to Amazon, exclusive sales channel for 90 days, and recoup of the cost of printing, as well as the costs of shipping. The printing on demand concept was intriguing as well.
I think they were most interested in that business end of things and how the costs worked.
Thanks to Ms. Marisol Garcia for setting up my visit.
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