Happy 2014!

Written on 1-9-14.

    Well, hello 2014. Happy to be here after all that brain surgery stuff that took place a while back.  It will be three years this June.  I checked the Caring Bridge web site recently.  It’s up to almost 10,000 views now, so somebody’s reading it.  Don’t know who, though.  That was some of my best writing, in my opinion, but the material was excellent fodder.  Not like this diary/journal, although it does have a drama all its own. 
    I’m still writing in here.  What is the deal?  It started out as a way of just keeping my confidence up while learning how to play golf.  It still is.  After all, I am still learning.  The truth is, I enjoy it, the writing.  I have found an unlimited amount of writing material here. 
    Another great side effect of the writing, so to speak, was the recording of our lives since 1999.  It only shows up every once in a while, between the descriptions of games and birdies that take place on the various golf courses I play, but, they are written down, recorded for all eternity, and I am so glad for that.
    Speaking of non-golf related material, here’s a slice...

Beginning of the Official Birdie Count

    We are about midway through our Christmas break now.  James and I watched the latest Hobbit movie this afternoon, The Desolation of Smaug.  James has a large group of friends over right now, and it's just like old times.  As they play games in our living room and dining room, Belinda and I are resting in our bedroom, but we are also listening and laughing at how much fun they are having out there.      
    Danielle is out for dinner with her boyfriend Robbie.  They are coming up on a year and a half of dating this February.  His family completely spoiled her with gifts this year.  They love her over there, no doubt about it. 
    It was a fantastic Christmas!  For golf, I got some more (two dozen) of my inappropriately titled, yet favorite golf balls.  I also got some new golf tees (two bags worth), so I am set on tees and golf balls for a while. 
    As this year winds down, I am continuing to figure out my...

25th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Adam Vincent

    The post below was written just before school got out twelve years ago.  Back here in the present, we are just three days away from school getting out for Christmas vacation.  The biggest news I see from this post is that I was able to see Adam Vincent soon after his birth.  We have kept in touch with Colin and Trish throughout the years, so this was a pleasant surprise to read.
    I have begun a project I hope to have finished by the end of the upcoming break.  I am starting an official record of how many birdies and eagles I've acquired over the course of all these years and journals.  I will post it here once I get it all figured out and finished, of course.  

Written on 5-29-01.

    I just got back from Lakewood yesterday.  I went with James and Danielle to visit over Memorial Day Weekend.  Belinda stayed behind to visit with her mother who came up from Phoenix.  Curt was able to get us all free tickets into the World Arena in Colorado Springs to see the United States play Brazil for mens’ Olympic volleyball.  It was fun.  
    Brazil embarrassed the U.S.A. in three quick games, and it wasn’t a very exciting match.  I did get some stuff autographed for Spike Doctor, though.  I also got to see Colin and Trish’s new baby, Adam Vincent.  We also saw the movie Shrek.  Everyone really enjoyed it.  It was a great weekend, but...

24th Excerpt From My Original Golf Dairy-Inspiring Stuff

    I like this one too where he writes about his teacher Jack Grout.  
    He said, “Jack Grout was the most fortunate thing that ever happened to me (thing?) in terms of golf, and the reason was that he would not, under any circumstances, allow me to get really down on myself. In this respect he was relentless.  ‘Come on, Jackie boy,’ he’d urge and exhort me, ‘you’ll get it, stay with it, keep at it.  You’re the best, Jackie boy, you’ve beaten ‘em all before and you’ll beat ‘em all again.  Okay, you lost it for a while, but forget that, put it out of your head.  It’s another day, and there’s another tournament coming up.  Now, let’s get out there and go to work.  Come on, let’s go hit some balls, there isn’t any time to waste.  Now, don’t you forget, it’s right there inside of you and we’re going to find it.  Jackie, young fella, you’re going to be unbeatable… you hear me… Un-beat-able! Now, let’s get out there and start playing some real golf.”
   
    Wow, I get inspired just reading it and typing it here.  I think I’ll turn Jack Grout’s voice into my own inside voice.  I can hear the guy who played Rudy in the movie Rudy saying those words up on that little stool in the Notre Dame locker room, “We’re going to get out there and win, win, WIN!”  Inspiring stuff!

James Has a Rough Break...or Two and Two Birdies on #1

Written on 11-29-13.

    I am sitting in the Sundance Dental waiting room.  James is having his two front teeth temporarily crowned.  Geesh! 
    He’s had a rough break...or two.  He received a traffic citation for going through a red light in Aztec.  He looked down to change the heater setting, looked back up, and then the light changed.  He has a court date for when he returns over Christmas break.
    Then he fell on his face, or rather on his two front teeth, while ice skating in Durango the other day.  He chipped both of them, one halfway and the other at least a third.  The prognosis is...