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One Down, One To Go
2006-08-21, 1:43 p.m.

Day 729 One Down, One To Go

One little note on the ring saga: Haven�t re-acquired the original ring yet. After it was returned, it had to be �re-tagged� and was out getting that done. The store knows we want it, but I do not know if Cindy has asked them to call if/when it is available. Unfortunately, that ring guard thing actually cost more than the original. More unfortunately, the store only offers store credit on returns. I am not much at all on jewelry for myself. Looks like Cindy just got herself a new bracelet or necklace or something. Maybe we�ll use it to get Jill a B�day present. Who knows.

Race Saturday morning went well. Temperature was great, upper 60�s, but humidity was up just a tad. So humid, it started raining about 15 minutes before the start, maintained a nice steady drizzle all through.

Saw a few old friends, got a kick out of their reactions when they finally recognized who I was. We moved from there 13 years ago. Even then I was a more portly 230 � 240 lbs, so sneaking in there at my current weight caught most everyone off guard.

Race wise, turns out isn�t not too bad running in the rain. Seems that the old home town has slightly larger hills than I remember. The race was basically a loop around the villages main drags, with maybe a 500 ft overlap right down Main St. Uphill start, uphill finish. Ugh. Still, logged my best time yet for a 5K. Have yet to run the kind of time I thought I could at the first race back in May, but I�m sneaking up on it. Also scored another nice workout t-shirt and have another bib number for my office wall collection.

Got Eric all situated in his new apartment Saturday too. He�s in a huge old house near the campus in Fredonia. Four bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 gravel driveway and who knows what kind of insulation. Eric and his roomies are on the 2nd floor which can be nice in the winter (free heat from downstairs) but so far the first floor is not rented out. Kinda bummed about that, might mean slightly higher heating bills for the winter.

One of Eric�s room mates is his girlfriend Kelly. Don�t know how all that is going to work out, but let me add that I�m glad I have boys. Not too sure I�d be thrilled with the idea of my daughter rooming with a bunch of guys, or even sharing an apartment like Zach & Jill did last year. I�m not sure how the girls parents feel/felt about it, but I suppose you have to take the attitude that they�re all 20+ and fully capable of making their own decisions. We�ve done what we can so far, just have to have faith in the kids making the correct choices.

By the time we got there (noonish), got the van unloaded, did lunch, decided that Eric needed a desk, went and got that plus a load of groceries, built the desk, arranged the room, tried to get the place liveable for them, stopped to take a breath and saw it was past dinner time! Shared another meal with Kelly�s parents � got to know them a little better. Nice folks. Both boys have found themselves great girls with parents to match. So far, Cindy & I get along great with both sets of parents. Looking forward to spending a lot of time with all of them in the future.

Sunday was an interesting day. Gathered up all the empty bottles & cans, finally returned them for their nickel deposits. During that same trip, I also dragged along my glass gallon jug that was half full of assorted coins. I�ve used this jug as a coin container for years. Financed one of those half day fishing trips for the boys and I from what it held one year. This year, I was intending to get an Amazon e-certificate, cuz then Coinstar waived their 8.9% �sorting fee�.

I had the bottles & cans loaded up in a cart, ready to head into the store. Decided that the coin jug would be better off hiding between the front seats and the center console in the van. As I was moving the jug into position, swinging it by the front of the drivers seat, the jug decided it had had enough. Starting somewhere along the midpoint of the side wall, the glass jug just split open like a balloon, dumping literally thousands of coins & glass all over the floor of my van. Nice mess.

Closed up the van, went in and did my bottle return. Got $13, a nickel at a time. Really have to not delay so long next time. Did my shopping, restocking on fruits mostly. On my way out of the store, I snagged one of those little hand baskets. Ended up pulling all the glass shards out of the coins, dumped the coins into a spare shopping bag, using the hand basket for support. Worked great. Now I have mucho dinero to go spend at Amazon on what ever I want.

After finally getting the garage in a condition where we could park two whole cars inside, Zach and I decided to celebrate by going golfing. Timed it perfect. Got to a local course just as a tournament was finishing getting started. We had a nice little gap between us and the group in front, and nobody behind us all afternoon. Didn�t shoot all that well, with two very notable exceptions. Ninth hole. Hit a horrible drive � very long, but waaaaaayyy to the right. 340 yard hole, had maybe 90 yards to the green, and I was on the far side of the neighboring fairway. Grabbed my trusty pitching wedge, hit a little more than a � swing. Ball hit the green 20 or so feet in front of the pin. Zach was watching from where his ball was (in the correct fairway!!) and had turned to me and started to say �you�re going to like this one� when he saw me jumping in the air yelling. I could just see the ball as it rolled up the green, curved slightly, slowed down and dropped into the cup. For the first ever eagle I�ve ever scored. Par 4 hole, I�m done in 2 shots. Very weird. Later, on the 18th hole, a very similar chain of events took place. Drove long & right again. Grabbed the wedge again. Full swing this time, dropped the ball right in front of the green, 30 feet from the cup. Walk up, hit a little bump & run shot with the trusty 7 iron, watch the ball hit the green, settle, roll, smack the pin and drop into the cup. Again. Only a birdie this time, but twice in one day finished holes from off the green. Weird. Couldn�t do anything else right all day long, but did hit two shots absolutely perfect. Outrageously lucky. Except for those two holes, Zach & I scored pretty closely. They really made the big difference in our scores. Now I have to call Eric and brag on him a bit � first that he missed a chance to golf, then that he missed seeing an eagle. Poor kid.

Nice work out this morning. Broke in the new t-shirt. They suck at absorbing sweat when they�re new. Must be some sort of finish on the cotton that makes it repel liquids. Thought I was swimming. Sheesh.

Busy day today. More code due soon. Might be spending some longer days getting it knocked off. Might have to tone it down here this week too � at least shorter entries. Could be a week of bullet lists. Oh boy.

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight: 185.0 on 8/21/06 #$*&^ scale pointer has helium in it!!
Next weigh in: 8/28/06

New target � 8/22/06 to be at 180 (hey � only missed by 5!!)

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 8/21/06: 674.73
Miles with cool down: 741.67
Target for 2006: 1000 miles
Plus 60+ miles biking so far.



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