Anniversary Party

Exactly one week ago was my parent’s 50^th anniversary.  So I went home this last weekend.  I actually headed up on Thursday and came back on Monday.  And Saturday, my brother, sister-in-law, and I threw them a party.

It was a fairly simple thing, an open house type of party but many of the people stayed much of the time.  That was a good thing since some of the actual events didn’t take place until the second half since some family coming from way out of town got stuck in traffic.  But no one seemed to mind since they were having fun talking to each other.

We had put together a quiz, and we had some fun going over the correct answers to that.  The my uncle, a retired administrative judge, put my parents on trial for being in love.  Yep, we all found them guilty as charged.  He called up family and friends to be witnesses, and it was a lot of fun.

We used a multi-purpose room at my brother’s church for the event.  It looked great thanks to the decorations my sister-in-law had made and a few I had bought as well.  And we had Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for dessert, which was a huge hit.

Most importantly, my parents had a wonderful time.  Mom was grinning the entire time, and I could tell Dad was enjoying himself as well.  Everyone seemed to think it went well.  I’m just thankful for my brother and sister-in-law in all of this.  They live in the same town as my parents, so a lot of this fell on them, and they did a great job of pulling all of it off.  Not to mention they have much more experience with this kind of thing than I do, so they were able to use that expertise to make sure we had the correct amount of everything.

Summer League Game 3

Monday night was the third summer league game of the season, and the only one not an hour drive away.  I was pumped since I didn’t have to spend so long fighting traffic.  We had another great turn out, and the other team was small in numbers.

Unfortunately, they had great players, who played very well.  It was never really super close, with them beating us 15-7.  It’s hard to point at any particular thing as several people seemed to have off nights.  I know I was about average.  I connected well on a couple of points, and completely threw it away the last time I had the disc.  However, I appreciate the fact that I am getting the disc when I am on the field.  For too many years, I have been ignored, so this is a very positive development.

Our next game is Tuesday.  I think we are due for a win then, right?

Irvine Lake Mud Run 2018

Yep, back to back mud run weekends in June.  Saturday I was down at Irvine Lake for their mud run this year.  They were proudly talking about it being the tenth anniversary.  Sadly, I missed the first one, so I’ve only been going there for nine years.

The weather was cool.  Not so cold that I was cold before or after my shower at the end, which is wonderful, but much cooler than it was the week before at Camp Pendleton.  Usually, it’s the reverse.

The crowds were once again smaller than they used to be.  But that meant the cleanup time at the shower was easier since I didn’t have to wait as long.  And it meant I had less of a walk to and from my car, which was a blessing since the people who were supposed to run the bag check never showed up, so I had to stash my stuff in the car.  I was not happy about that at all, believe me.

But the run itself?  Fun as always.  I love the mud slide, which I went down twice.  They don’t have quite as many mud pits as they used to have, but they have plenty to get us good and muddy.  And the setting is beautiful even if the lake has gone down due to the drought.

Afterwards, I went to hang out with some family friends.  I actually took some back roads to get there, and they were only 20 minutes away.  We grabbed lunch and then watched a couple of movies.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with them.

A Win!

My wish actually happened.  We won our second summer league ultimate Frisbee game, which means we are 1-1.

I actually showed up lateish since I got distracted running errands in town and didn’t leave on time.  I was about 20 minutes late, but we were just getting started.  The game was super close.  We were only behind a couple of times, and then only by one point.  We were ahead at the end 12-10, which was the biggest point gap we had all night.

Yes, games are to 15.  But the lights went out right at 10PM, so the game was called on account of darkness.  A win is a win.  I’ll take it.

There were some truly epic points that went on and on and on.  I wasn’t on the field for any of them, but they were tiring to just watch.  I can only imagine if I’d been on the field.

I played my four points, all of the in the first half this time.  We scored when I was in, and we were able to take advantage of them leaving me poached to get the disc and pass it on.  I don’t remember being involved in any turn overs for a change, too.

All in all, it was a great game.

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 2018

This past Saturday was the Camp Pendleton Mud Run for 2018.  It was a blast!

The weather was warm.  I really can’t believe it was only upper 70’s because it felt hotter than that.  Yes, I was running, but even just from walking beforehand, I was very hot.  Still, it was better than last year when I froze the entire time I was waiting to start.

The course itself was pretty much the same as always.  They did add a couple of new things that prove I’m not good at hitting targets, at least on the first try.  We were supposed to through fake grenades in a box, but I came up short.  And I missed at the targets they set up in combat town.  Oh well.

My left hamstring has been bothering me some off and on for the past few months, so I took it fairly easy.  I walked more than I might have, for example, especially since my desk chair at work is giving me fits.  I didn’t want to push it and wind up injured.  Still, I finished in roughly 1 hour 45 minutes, which beat my time last year and is fairly average for me.  I’m quite happy with that.

And, honestly, I’m thrilled I was able to do it at all.  I had signed up before I got my cancer diagnosis, and I spent a couple of months thinking I wouldn’t get to do it at all.  When they confirmed I had stage one, I immediately put this back on my calendar.  I didn’t feel I was as trained as I wanted to be, but I guess I was wrong about that.

This was year nine in a row.  They’ve already announced that next year it is on June 8, and registration is open.  I need to jump on that to get the lowest price.  I am going for 10 years in a row.

First Summer League Game

It’s the first week of June, so that means it is time for summer league to start up again.  Can you believe it?

And I bet you can guess how my team did in our first game.  Yep, we lost.  7-15.  Seems like I’m going to be in for another long season.

It does sound like we have several women who weren’t there who are very good.  Nothing against our women who were there because they were very involved, but it was obvious that the majority of them hadn’t played much before.  Again, this is how you learn, but too many new players on the field at the same time makes things a little difficult.  Still, as I said, they played very well.

And overall it seems like it will be a good team.  Which is a good thing since there was some drama getting me on a team this year.  Even though I requested Mondays off, I got put on a team that had the majority Monday games.  Fortunately, they were able to switch me to a team with a majority of Tuesday games.  We have just one Monday game, and it actually works perfectly with my schedule.

I just would really like a winning record.  Is that too much to ask?  Or even a break even record with enough victories at the end to go out on a highish note.

Bowling for Rhinos

A month ago, back at the beginning of May, I got to go bowling again!  My friend Angelique recruited me to be part of her team at a fundraiser for rhino care all over the world.  The only down side was that it was the final week of beach league, so I had to race home, shower, and then race down to Glendale.  Otherwise, I might have hung out at the beach.

That aside, I had a lot of fun.  It was crowded with other things going on like raffles and a silent auction.  I didn’t participate in any of them, but I had had fun bowling.

We only got two games in during our assigned times.  The event is so popular they have three different shifts, but a group of kids bowling earlier.  My scores for the two games were 134 and 109.  Once again, started out well and then dipped.

But I had a blast.  I got to meet a few members of Angelique’s family, and they were very nice.  And it convinced me I needed to find a way to bowl again on a regular basis.

Job Update

I’ve almost abandoned this place, right?  Not on purpose, of course.  I’ve just gotten lazy about updating it.

Which is ironic since I wasn’t working for two thirds of May.  However, I have finally been able to start at the job I was waiting for.  It’s a temp job with the possibility of getting hired on.  I’m filling in for someone on medical leave, and since I was out on medical leave myself earlier this year, I fully support them keeping the job open for the person.  (Plus, it’s the law, of course.)

I haven’t been here quite 2 weeks yet.  And I’m in the middle of my first close.  So far, it seems to be going well.  I haven’t had to stay as late as I thought I might, which is wonderful.  And I love my commute – across town again.  That’s one of my biggest desires in a job is not having to commute south of town.

We will see how it continues to go.  I’m hopeful it will turn into a good situation for me to stay permanently.