Golfing again

Golf is once again the topic of today's entry. This time it is not because of a great score, but rather a notable event during the round. This past weekend I went golfing as part of a friend's bachelor party (although he was sick and unable to attend the golf portion of the outing). I have been dealing with issues with my driver for most of the summer and this round was no different. After hitting the fairway on the first hole, I played most of the other holes from an adjacent fairway, out of trees, or dropping a new ball near where the old ball was last seen before it vanished into whatever hazard could be found on the hole. I wasn't going to give up on the driver though, that's just not my style. I just kept trying something a little different each time in hopes of finding the trick that made the ball go long and straight. On the 12th hole of the day, I was needing to hit a straight ball as the road (and trees) were on the left and a couple large trees make playing from the right side slightly difficult. I take a big swing and as I look up to see where the ball is going, I catch a glimps of it about two feet in front of my nose. I didn't even think about it, I just reached out, grabbed the ball as it was on it way back to the ground, put it back on the tee. While preparing to swing again I explained to my group that rule number 92 in my rulebook stated that if you catch the ball before it hits the ground you get a free swing (knowing the rules is a real advantage in any sport). Now the free swing was a disaster as hit it way right. I played the remainder of the hole from the adjacent fairway and posted a rather large number for the hole.
So if you didn't catch what took place, here is a summary of the event. On the first swing I topped the ball so severely that I drove it into the ground only 6 inches in front of the tee, the ground being a little soft acted like a trampoline and shot the ball straight up in the air about five feet, at which point I located it and snagged it before it could hit the ground. My next tee shot (the free shot) went to the right to where the trees were looming.
Overall on the day, I turned in a good score for me, as I made up for the failures off the tee with improved iron play and some luck on the greens.

record low

This is just a quick note to share my excitement.
My golf scores have always been less than impressive. 100 has always been a great day until this year. Earlier in the year I dropped my best ever score to a 95. Then yesterday, I was able to drop that record best to an 81 (nine over par), and that was actually a little disappointing considering after 5 holes I was 3 under par and finished the front nine at -1. With 4 birdies and 5 pars I was on a role. Two of the birdies came with chip-ins from off the green, one being a slam dunk (who needs the ball to roll on the green to put it in the cup?). I was glad that my golfing buddies were with me to witness the round because they would never have believed me otherwise.

Not together

I left home in a hurry this morning after waking up a little late. Mary made me breakfast to go, I loaded the softball equipment for tonights game, and was off. A half mile down the road, I had a visitor. Somehow a wasp had found it's way into the cab of my pickup overnight. I am not scared of much, but I do my best to keep my distance from wasps and bees. I am not alergic to them, but am afraid of them just the same. Upon catching a glimpse of the wasp as it was hovering about a foot from my head, my attention went immediately and entirely to the wasp. That would be fine normally, but I was also driving; or more appropriately at that moment, I was in a moving vehicle behind the wheel, really wasn't doing much driving. The wasp disappeared behind my seat before I could open and window and usher it out. Now I just had to wait until it popped out and stung me from behind. This is the point that I realize that I was lucky not to hit the other cars on the road which were all around me. So the first place I can find, I pull off the road, get out of my pickup, and try to find the wasp to get it out of the cab. This was probably a little funny looking at I was poking around and shaking the seats. I found a lot of dust but no wasp, so I had to get back in and go on down the road knowing that the wasp is just lying in wait to attack. Moments later, it appeared (seemingly out of nowhere). This time I was prepared as I had opened all the windows so we would not be in a totally confined space together. This turned out to be a great idea as it found a window to escape moments after coming out of hiding which kept my anxiety from being overwhelming. The rest of the drive to work was uneventful.
It's always interesting to start the day with such a heart pumping, adrenaline rushing situation. It really makes me wonder what is in store for the rest of the day.

Left to Guess

I consider myself somewhat of a problem solver. Give me the pieces and I can usually put things together to find the solution. I am still putting together the pieces of the event this morning. Let me tell you the pieces and then I will put them together with what I think happened.
Mary and I were packing lunches and finding something for breakfast when there was a noise at the front door. It sounded like something (I was guessing a newspaper) had hit the front door. We don't get a newspaper so this would be something new. When I went to the door to see what was going on, the was a hawk sitting at the edge of the landing (a four by six slab of concrete at the front door). I got a good look at him since he sat there for at least five seconds after I walked up to the door. At this point I remember hearing the cry of a hawk just moments prior to the noise that brought me to the door to investigate. After the hawk frew away I took another look to see what had hit the house, nothing there. Well, with the exception of a mole that looked pretty stunned or dead. The mole would have been about three feet from where the hawk was sitting.
Ok. Have you put it together yet? My guess is that the hawk was after the mole and misjudged his flight path, forgetting that the house was a solid object. Actually, I really think he hit the wooden rails which are at the side of the front landing just after snagging the mole. In his dazed state, he dropped the mole and sat recovering nearby. When I walked to the door I scared him and he flew off without his breakfast.
Now, the rest of the story. (Anybody ever listen to Paul Harvey when they were younger?) Mary was not thrilled at having a dead mole on the landing all day and suggested that I promptly remove it. After finding my shovel, which still has a broken handle that I intend to fix someday, I went to make the mole disappear. Walking up to the mole I see that he is stll laying on his back, legs shaking. That is until I get the shovel about a foot from him, and all of a sudden he springs to life, darting every which way. I bet I looked like an idiot trying to catch that sucker. Finally he got off of the concrete and tried to hide in the mulch next to the house. He would have been better off continuing to run in circles as I probably would have gotten tired and given up the case. But since he didn't, we have one less mole to worry about.

I'm done traveling

My dreams of late have been quite interesting. I previously described how I fell in a hole and woke my wife. Last week I again woke her becuase of a dream that came to life. I was chasing monkeys (I think this has something to do with all the monkeys we saw in Costa Rica). When I tried to chase the monkeys away I started to imitate the noise of 'howler monkeys'. My imitation was not confined to my dream, I woke both myself and my wife with my grunting.
That's not the end of the dreams though. This morning I had such a disturbing dream that I had difficulty going back to sleep. Everytime I started to drift off I would realize I was just extending the dream and I didn't want to. So I would wake up, wait a bit, and then try once again to fall asleep and dream of something new. You wouldn't think that a dream where I get to go to Hawaii could be bad, but you don't know my dreams.

My dream:
I got to go to Hawaii with a high school friend. I didn't tell my wife I was going until just prior to departure so that she would not make me feel guilty for not taking her. In hindsite, this was not a good idea. When reserving hotels for the trip I chose the more economically priced room, but my friend upgraded (waste of money I thought). When we got to the hotel, we checked in and found my friends room, a huge room with a beautiful view. I was thinking how great this trip was going to be. We then went to locate my room. After searching for some time we finally realized that my room was an interior room just off the main cafeteria of the hotel, so there would be noise at all hours of the day/night. Not to mention it was about the size of a large closet - barely room to walk beside the bed and I am not entirely sure there was even a bathroom. This was ridiculous, so I went to the front desk to get a new room. They offered me a new room, but I thought it a little odd that the room number was 'C138' and that someone was going to have to take me to it. The hotel was on the harbor and as we walked along the waterfront I thought I was going to get a good room, that was until the bellboy stopped and lifted a manhole looking cover, dropped my bag down, and started to climbing. I decided the 'C' in the room number stood for cellar. We got to the room and although getting down the ladder was going to get black dust on my each trip and the room was again quite small, it did have a wonderful view. The peaceful water came right up to the bottom of the window providing a wonderful view out the window. I got unpacked and a few friends who were also in the area came to take a look out my window, as I had talked up the wonderful view. As we stood looking out the window, the water seemed to be rising, then coming in the window. Soon the room was flooded and we couldn't get out of the room. Then the floor and outer wall broke free from the building and we were floating in the ocean (still standing on the floor of my room). Somehow the chunk of floor and wall that we were grasping to managed to be washed up to shore. So I lost my luggage and everything else that I didn't have in my pockets. At the front desk of the hotel I explained what happened and that I would need a new room (expected to be compensated for my problems). They put me back in the closet that had originally assigned me, despite my efforts to look pitiful and argue for an upgrade. The rest of the trip was not much better, but is a little sketchy in details.
I've decided that I will not be going to Hawaii anytime soon. Already took one trip there and it was a disaster. Not to mention I was in trouble with my wife when I got home. I guess I will at least invite her to go on the next trip.

Waking my wife

Mary and I got married and went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon. Both the wedding and the honeymoon were wonderful. I don't have pictures yet, that's not my department and not the story I want to tell right now.
I have been doing so good lately at avoiding the type of random incidents that make good stories. You know, not doing stupid stuff which tands to result in fewer injuries to tell about. But, on the honeymoon, Mary caught a glimpse of me; well, I imagine she caught lots a glimpses of me, but this one imparticular was indicative of my clumsy nature.
We were sound asleep one night when all of a sudden I lost my footing. Right, I was in a bed, horizontal, and I missed a step. You know the feeling you have when you think there is ground under your foot, you put it down, and it just keeps going beyond where the ground is - so you have to step quickly to avoid falling - that's what was happening. Well, I jerked quite fiercly as I kicked at the covers to quickly find more solid footing and woke my wife. After being so rudely awaken, she of course asked what had happened. I had no idea how to explain to her that I am so clumsy that I stumble even in my dreams, so I just told her 'nothing's wrong, just fell in a hole.' That of course was a terrible explanation which just brought more questions and I had to explain further, but a more detailed explanation was almost embarrassing at the moment.
And you thought this would be about how I got smacked in the face as I tried to wake up my sleeping wife in the morning. Well, luckily I have managed to miss all the flying objects when that happens - which is easy to do when the number of flying objects is zero.

Can good come from misunderstandings?

I have always thought of misunderstandings as events that led to misfortune or fights. You learn something incorrectly in school and though you write the answer correctly as you understand it, the teacher does not give you any bonus for unique thought. In a previous note I talked about the effects of aging. One of those symptoms, loss of hearing, often leads to misunderstandings, arguements, frustrations, and/or lasting jokes at your expense (ask my dad about the difference between homing pigeons and Cummins engines).
However, when you have your ducks in a row and God's in your corner, sometimes misunderstandings can lead to some benefit. I've had this happen a couple times in my life, and these events I feel are worth noting (as they are rare). The most recent happened just about a week ago. I have been playing a game on Facebook called 'Mafia Wars'. In this game you have friends (mafia members) who can help you to progress through the game. They can help in many ways: assist in fights/wars, help to complete jobs, send gifts to complete collections,... To get the help of your mafia members, you need to request it. This request is posted on your facebook profile for all to see and thus provide assistance. One of the more recent additions to the game is the ability to request help to build a 'chop shop'. Once built/upgraded, this 'chop shop' will alloy you to build cars that can be used in the game. To build this shop, you can request that your mafia members assist you by supplying you with the materials: power tools, jacks, cement blocks, ... So I am building my shop and request cement blocks, the post is put on my profile page that I am in need of cement blocks for my 'chop shop'. So far, basic everyday events. About the next day, I get a call from my fiance's father asking if I am ready for my cement blocks. I natually have no idea what he is talking as my mind is racing to put details together so that I can actually have an intelligent conversation (this can be a trick for me at times) instead of saying 'ummm..., well.... ah....'. Turns out, his brother (my soon to be uncle-in-law [is there such a thing?]) had quite a few cement blocks around his property that he was looking to get rid of, saw my post that I was in need of blocks, and was on the phone ready to give them to me if I wanted to get them out of his way. So I hooked on to my trailer and with the assistance of the women in my life, took off down the road to get blocks. We got them home without a problem, although both pick-ups and my trailers were probably overloaded, the tires on the trailer are nearly bald and I forgot the spare (which is a tire I took off already because it was out of balance and cords were showing), and the lights are the trailer are slightly suspect.
My neighbor stopped by not long after the block retrieval to ask what the blocks were for, so I told him, 'I was thinking of building a maze in my backyard.' I could be like one of those test mice. Put food at the end and see if I can sniff my way to dinner. But really, now that I have the blocks, I can put my family to work when they come for my wedding. ;)

Getting older

I have always heard that as you age, your body doesn't work like it did as a youth. Basically the standard things, more aches and pains, injuries occur more frequently (and are more impactful in everyday life), longer recovery time from injuries, can't hear, can't see, not as flexible, memory begins to fail, ...
I am not that old (just 28 by the calendar, 22 in my mind, but my body says ???), but my approach to sports leads to many mornings that I am too stiff to want to get out of bed. But if sore muscles were the worst of this getting older stuff, I would have no issue with it. I would trade some years of wisdom for a little soreness. But all I get is the soreness, without the increased wisdom. Bummer.
Also, I sit and look at a computer every day. I know this is going to have an effect on my eyes after a while. I went to see an eye doctor when I was younger, and he told me I was color-blind. What did he know, I can see all colors! I just get them confused from time to time. People tell me that I should probably go have my eyes checked as a preventive measure. But, if I don't go to the eye doctor, he is not going to be able to tell me I can't see. Now this approach seems to me to be the best preventive measure.
And hearing, I think other people have more to be concerned about than whether or not I hear what they are saying. After all, I can smile and nod with the best.
But the real reason for this topic today. I am beginning to wonder if my memory is failing. Last week my foot was hurting a little when I went to bed, but I didn't think anything of it, until the next morning when I woke up and my toe is red, swollen, and stiff. Jammed? Smashed? Broke? So I think back on the events of the previous day to determine how serious my newest injury may be. I have been thinking about it for days now, still can't remember kicking anything, dropping something on my toe, or doing anything really stupid that would have caused my toe to grow. After several days of trying to remember the incident to determine severity of the injury, I have decided the toe is broken. Not because I remembered what I did (because that memory has yet to be discovered in the depths of my mind), but because it still hurts, is still swollen, and is now even more colorful. Springtime is supposed to be the time for flowers to bloom, I guess my toe got confused and thought it was a flower. It happens!

Short stories

It has been a little while since my last post and I would hate to lose my readers due to lack of stories. Although I haven't done any one big thing recently that has produced an interesting story, I do have a couple little tales to tell.
Last week I was sitting in a meeting and, to be honest, I was not what you would call attentive (probably more in the realm of spacing out, not sleeping though). Anyway, I was playing with my pen as my mind wandered through the empty vastness of space. Then all of a sudden I was brought back to reality as I nearly jumped out of my seat. I had stabbed my hand with my pen! How does that happen? I must have really been out of it. My reaction to the incident was noticed by a majority of the people in the meeting, everyone except the guy talking. He found out though, since at the end of the meeting there were a couple comments made across the table about what I must think of the meeting since I apparently had to cause myself pain to stay awake. I mean, I had to pinch myself regularly when I was in college to stay awake in some classes, but I don't get up that early anymore to be that tired.
Next story. Out to dinner with my 'soon to be' enlaws and the food is being brought to the table. The guy bringing the food looks at me and says something. I don't really hear what he says so I smile, nod, and giggle a little. Seems to satisfy him, so I guess I agreement was the right thing to say/do. Any story worth telling does not end with a smile and nod after a deaf moment. Don't worry though, the family filled me in on what he had said. He had told me that my food had been dropped on the ground, but they would dust it off and get it out to me in a couple minutes. He was messing with me to get a reaction, guess I showed him. I don't even know this guy, who messes with a total stranger? I apparently look like a guy that can be messed with though, because it happens on a regular basis that strangers will mess with me.
I guess that's the two recent highlights. The stories about me falling as I run are likely to be upcoming as softball season is beginning and I apparently still have difficulty with the whole 'one foot in front of the other' concept.

Presentations

Every time that I am preparing to give a presentation or seminar, I can't help but think back to the presentation I gave at the conclusion of my Masters program. During grad school I raced a mini-sprint on Sunday nights. It seemed that every time my Masters advisor came to watch, I had trouble (wreck, part failure, ...) and was essentially out of the race early. So as he introduced me for my presentation, he made a comment about my racing saying something to the effect that when he made it to the track to watch me, I would have problems and when he didn't I ran the whole race (although was never really likely to win). Because of this he said he considered not staying for the presentation, but was afraid that I would go on and on. So he said he would stay and ensure that the presentation would be over in good time. Well, he was right. He stayed and about halfway through the presentation, I hit the button to advance to the next slide and it stuck - the last half of my presenation was over in about a second. I watched the images flash on the screen out of the corner of my eye as I was beginning to talk about the slide I intended to have on the screen. I wasn't watching him during the presentation because I was consentrating and then in shock about what was happening. You think he regretted mentioning my inability to finish a race without problems while he was watching - and then staying for the presention and watching as I had problems?
You don't have to think this is funny, but I do.

Trust Issues

I guess I have a few issues with trusting others. Although I have been aware of this in the past it was brought to light once again this week. I took my pickup to a mechanic to have some work done. The problem: a few teeth had broken off of the starter ring of the flywheel. This requires pulling the transmission and clutch to basically replace the flywheel. Had I been near Mullen I would not have had a second thought about tearing into it myself, but with a lack of the proper tools and my father's assistance, I felt the job was too big for me. It took just over a day for the repairs to be made. The whole time I am wishing I could be there watching/helping/advising (even though the mechanic knows more than I do). When I got my pickup back I had to take it for a drive to reassure myself that everything worked correctly. I am still monitoring all noises and shakes very closely (if I had done it myself I would likely have forgotten to tighten something and it would fall apart after a few miles.) I haven't gotten under it to make a visual inspection of the work, though it was a challenge for me not to do that first thing.
I hope that this trust issue will not carry over into my marriage, but how likely is it for such a problem to be limited to someone else working on my pickup?
(Mary, this is your warning in case you haven't noticed this yet.)

Slip and Slide

I am from Nebraska, I know how to drive in the snow. And I did pretty good during the storm this weekend. The snow is pretty much melted off the roads now, making driving easier for all those who are challenged by the slick roads.
After leaving Mary's tonight I zipped home with no problem. As I am headed down the driveway at my house I realize that the rain we had gotten during the day had frozen on my drive. There is a curve at the bottom of my drive that leads around to the garage. However, being unaware of the ice on the drive and having other things on my mind, around the curve was not where my pickup wanted to go. There is a level spot for about 10 feet off the curve, then a steep slope for 15 feet, leading to a more level area with scattered trees. Don't worry, didn't hit any trees. Actually, I didn't even slide off the driveway, but was a little shocked at the ice on the driveway.
Hope you are having a good day.

Trouble with Directions

I was thinking that I hadn't done anything all that stupid in the past couple weeks, then I allowed my memory to function and, oh ya, there are several.
Twice this week I have failed with directions.
The most recent was on the way to dance lessons. I don't drive in Greensboro much, so before leaving I printed out a map and highlighted what seemed like a reasonable route. It worked well, until I was ready to make a turn, the street was a one-way the wrong direction. Shoot. Well, so much for my planning. Take the next street. For those of you who do not live in this area, streets are not straight and sometimes change names at random intersections. Makes things confusing. Anyway, started down the next street, all is well, then the road has a 45 degree curve and we are no longer headed to our destination. Have to get off the street now, but the next street is again a one-way, and it is not the direction I wish to go. Take a right at the next intersection to hopefully start in the proper direction again and in about two blocks we are at the destination. I guess I got lucky because I was beginning to lose my sense of direction.
The other direction failure was earlier in the week. Mary and I were trying to install a pre-hung door in my basement. I quickly read the directions. Usually I just look at the pictures, but the pictures weren't very good so I actually tried to read. That is, I looked at the big words and filled in the rest based on past experience. I start taking the trim off, Mary says that I shouldn't be doing it that way, that the directions say the door is a split frame and will slide apart in the middle. I have installed doors before, she didn't know what she was talking about. I hate to admit I am wrong, so I usually say "just kidding" and then do it right. So we pull the frame apart and shim the door, nail it into place. As I am putting the frame back together I mention to Mary that there has to be room for the drywall to go behind the trim. It is not until the next day that I realize I am going to have to reinstall the door because I didn't leave room on the first side for the drywall. Maybe I should listen to myself a little more closely OR read all the directions. I guess I learned something from this experience - not sure what it is, but I am supposed to learn from my mistakes, right?

Snowboarding

I have always desired to try my hand at snowboarding, but honestly, was just a little nervous about it. I believe my brother is responsible for planting this fear. During his first few trips he said he spent more time on the ground than going down the slope AND he dislocated his shoulder while boarding. I get injured just walking down the street, increase the risk and my probability of injury skyrockets.
Well, this past weekend I made my first attempt at snowboarding and I walked away in one piece. It wasn't so bad. At first, I did spend a lot of my time not standing, which means I was on my nose or rear. But after a few runs (about an hour) I was feeling confident enough to point the board down the hill and get a little speed. What fun is it to do something at half speed when you can go full boar. Only difference is that the crashes are a little harder if you are going faster. This was no problem as long as nobody was in the way and I concentrated on what I was doing. Most of the falls in the last two hours, which there were a lot, were due to a lack of concentration. The lack of concentration was highly correlated with me singing, which probably didn't sound too good anyway.
The biggest crash was at the bottom of the hill after making a solid run. I caught the back of the board and flipped over backward landing on my head, digging a trench about 6 inches deep and two feet long - good thing I had a helmet. The other crash was a collision with my friend who was learning with me. I fell and was just getting up again, when my feet are suddenly over my head. Didn't really know what had happened until I saw him skidding on down the mountain on his back. He had fallen just behind me and, not being able to stop on the icy snow, slid under me and flipping me. Neither of us was hurt, but I did hear a few oooos and ahhs from the folks just behind us. Guess they got a little entertainment.
But I feel like I can handle a snowboard now. Anybody ready for a trip to the mountains?