The First Round

Today was the day...my first 9 holes on a real golf course. It was GREAT! I had so much fun. I shot a 51, which I have heard is pretty good for the first timer. I did hit a couple of good shots, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I almost can't wait to go again to see if I actually can get better. Is tomorrow to soon? :-)

And then...I went back to work. It actually was a good end to a stressful week. I made my boss laugh a lot this afternoon, which was good for everyone. Lately, it has come to my attention that I am quite the comedian. My brother called me at work about two weeks ago and he said, "I hate to call you at work. I never know if you are in some big meeting, or in the middle of telling a joke." I never realized I was that funny. Maybe my boss just laughs at everything.

Amid all the pretty good golf shots, there was one that I would like to highlight. In fact, I don't know that anyone has ever made this shot at the Orchard Golf Center. I am at least one of the very few who has made a shot into the open garage door of the maintenance shack. I was not aiming for it, but maybe somewhere in my subconscious I knew it would be the funniest shot of the day.

Tiger, the wing-man

Tonight, Tiger and I went out to dinner with my nephew Johnny. We went to Plump's Last Shot, a bar in Broad Ripple where you can take your dog and sit on the deck. Plump's is in an old house and is owned by the family of Bobby Plump, basketball player from Milan, Indiana who made the winning shot for the 1954 Indiana State High School basketball championships (as depicted in the movie Hoosiers).

Very nice weather tonight in Indy and the deck at Plump's was full of people and dogs. But you know my Tiger, he is a looker. No less than 10 very pretty girls came up and asked Johnny if they could pet his dog. I'm sure if I wasn't there, he would have ended up sitting at a table with a bunch of them. Even he agreed.

I always tried to get my nephew David to take Tiger to the dog park to see if he could meet a girl, but he would never do it. I just don't think he realized the power of the Lucky Dog.

The Last Dose

Tomorrow morning will be my last dose of the awful medicine for poison Ivy. Poison Ivy makes me crazy, and this medicine makes me just slightly less crazy. The whole ordeal has been 3 weeks, but it really seems like longer. I've been through several tubes of Zanfel, some Cortaid poison Ivy wash, and 2 rounds of this medicine.

The medicine has side effects. I've gained 12 pounds, had a low blood sugar episode, and had lots of energy. The energy has helped some, because I've been super productive at work, but really still not worth it.

My Mom cut an article out of the paper for me about Poison Ivy and a holistic remedy that you take in March and April before the leaves even come out. I'm going to have to research that a little more to see if that will work for me. I may be willing to try. I will be willing to get someone else to trim around the house next year. I will also be sure that the June roundup step is never again skipped.

I'm hoping I never have poison ivy again. But, as you know, hope is not a plan. I need a plan.

My Life as a Drummer...

Tonight was a very special night. I have always dreamed of being a drummer and really figured that you readers would find out that little known fact by reading some sort of "quiz about me" on Facebook or something. But here I am blurting it out, because I had so much fun tonight pretending to be a drummer!

Tonight I cooked for some friends at their house. I made Calzone, and there are pictures now on the host's website. It was pretty good eats. Chris at the Goose hooked me up with some amazing meats, and I always get my sauce from the Goose too. Very good dinner, followed by a fiery dessert!

After dinner, the hosts broke out the Wii, where they have the "Rock Band" set. I got to be drummer! It was hard, but they say for a beginner I did okay. I kept wanting to do an Elvis song or something. But, I don't think any of those will ever make it on a Wii or any other brand of game. I had a great time. I know that I am no drummer, but it was fun pretending for a night.

Unfortunately, this was probably one of those "one night only" performances. So if you missed it, I guess you are out of luck.

Losing the Battle with Poison Ivy

I've been staring down my poison ivy most of the summer. I had about 5 dots of it that would come and go on my left wrist which I refused to scratch. I even had my wrist rest at work replaced because I thought I may be re-infecting myself everyday.

On Wednesday, I cut down a small tree in my yard (not even sure really what to call it) that was growing near my fence and air conditioner. I probably should have taken care of it earlier in the summer, but Wednesday seemed to be the day. So now as I look at the poison ivy websites (of which there are many), I can't figure out if it was a tree that I cut down, or some sort of poison sumac tree. It doesn't really matter, because I had to go to the doctor yesterday and start the yucky medicine that will stop it. In the words of Dr. Z, "It doesn't really matter what it is, but you've got to take the medicine to turn it off." So, I will be taking a medicine for the next 12 days or so that tastes bad, may make me a little crazy, and may prevent me from sleeping well.

So today, in just a few minutes actually, I'm headed out to trim the bushes in my front yard. They need it, and I figure if I am already doped up on this medicine, I may as well do it now while I am already taking the antidote for whatever I may be allergic too.

Otherwise, I had a great weekend. Diane was in town for weekend before she starts school in a few weeks. I love my sister-in-law! We got to do some shopping yesterday and hanging out. And we had a great dinner on the deck last night. The picture is mainly for Marianne. Almost everything we ate (including beer) came from The Goose.