Random thoughts...
It seems that things that have happened to me or that I did before I was 25 can easily be excused by the statement, “I was young.” I know I’ve used it on more than one occasion. To some, I’m still considered “young.” I know I'm young at heart. I can usually pass as much younger than my age (though I certainly don’t always feel young after a long day of practice). Makes me thankful for being Asian.
Is it too late to keep using this excuse? Can I excuse myself from a bad decision last week because I was "young???" I'm gonna try it.
I just flew in and boy are my arms tired!
Okay. Just kidding. I didn't fly anywhere. Well, I
will be flying back to
MN on Wednesday morning, but my arms are tired from all the leaf-blowing yesterday. I had no idea it was such a production!
Since I have
the biggest tree on the block and believe at least 70% of everyone else's leaves are from my tree, I really needed to do something with my
leaves before
I leave again (haha). So, I stopped by Lud's next door to see if I could borrow his leaf-suck'em-upper / mulcher thing. Unfortunately, he wasn't home. So, I grabbed my trusty rake and began doin' it the ol' fashioned way. That is, until Jeff, from two houses down, noticed and offered me his leaf blower.
I walked over to his garage to get it. He started it up for me and having never used (or probably seen, for that matter) one before, I was afraid to turn it off in fear that I wouldn't know how to turn it back on. So, I walk back to my house with this (what feels like) 60 pound leaf blower blasting everything in site from his house to mine.
Initially, I had no idea what the secret was. Do I start in the front? Work my way to the back? Make piles and work in layers??? I dunno. I think I was creating a bigger mess than I started with. Leaves were flying everywhere.
Eventually, I pushed most of them to one half of the yard and after almost taking a break, I didn't give up. I just sucked it up and kept blowing. About an hour later, I was done. My fingertips were tingly and numb all at the same time and today my forearms and left bicep are pretty sore. I'm just glad it's all done...
Boy! Leaf blowing sure works up an appetite. Actually, it just left me with a serious hankerin' for some
Boba, so later that evening, I met up w/ Nis for some boba and discovered, "You shoulda called me. I would've come over to help you blow the leaves!" Lesson learned... I think...
Blowers can't be choosers???...
Oh well, until next time...... zzzzzzzzzz......
I was topless today!
It's a gorgeous fall day today.
Since I got rid of the
weather pixie I had to look up the temperature.
It's 70 degrees but the Colorado sun makes it feel like it's 80! I drove home from my practice today with the top down. YAY!
41,285 Miles in 2007!!!
I counted up the total miles I have & will be traveling in 2007 and here's the grand total:
| Date | Trip to: | Start | Finish | Miles |
| Jan-26 | Hunter Stop (Austin) | Denver, CO | Austin, TX | 1,039 |
| Jan-29 | Home | Austin, TX | Denver, CO | 1,039 |
| Mar-2 | Hunter Stop (Lake Jackson) | Denver, CO | Lake Jackson, TX | 1,164 |
| Mar-5 | Home | Lake Jackson, TX | Denver, CO | 1,164 |
| Mar-14 | Super Billiards Expo (Valley Forge) | Denver, CO | King of Prussia, PA | 1,703 |
| Mar-19 | Home | King of Prussia, PA | Denver, CO | 1,703 |
| Mar-22 | BCA Midwest Regional Tournament (Minneapolis) | Denver, CO | Minneapolis, MN | 922 |
| Mar-26 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 922 |
| Mar-30 | Hunter Stop (Magoos) | Denver, CO | Tulsa, OK | 695 |
| Apr-2 | Home | Tulsa, OK | Denver, CO | 695 |
| Apr-27 | Hunter Stop (Bogies) | Denver, CO | Houston, TX | 1,095 |
| Apr-30 | Home | Houston, TX | Denver, CO | 1,095 |
| May-11 | BCA Nationals (Riviera) | Denver, CO | Las Vegas, NV | 766 |
| May-19 | Home | Las Vegas, NV | Denver, CO | 766 |
| May-25 | VNEA Nationals (Riviera) | Denver, CO | Las Vegas, NV | 766 |
| Jun-2 | Home | Las Vegas, NV | Denver, CO | 766 |
| Jun-20 | BCA Tradeshow (Sands Convention Center) | Denver, CO | Las Vegas, NV | 766 |
| Jun-25 | Home | Las Vegas, NV | Denver, CO | 766 |
| Jun-28 | Midwest 9 Ball Tournament (Shooters) | Denver, CO | Olathe, KS | 688 |
| Jul-2 | Home | Olathe, KS | Denver, CO | 688 |
| Jul-25 | Mike's House | Denver, CO | Minneapolis, MN | 935 |
| Jul-27 | Hunter Stop (Magoos) | Minneapolis, MN | Tulsa, OK | 714 |
| Jul-30 | Mike's House | Tulsa, OK | Minneapolis, MN | 714 |
| Aug-6 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 935 |
| Aug-14 | Mike's House | Denver, CO | Minneapolis, MN | 935 |
| Aug-17 | Hunter Stop (Corpus Christi) | Minneapolis, MN | Corpus Christi, TX | 1,404 |
| Aug-20 | Mike's House | Corpus Christi, TX | Minneapolis, MN | 1,404 |
| Aug-27 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 935 |
| Sep-6 | Hunter Stop (Billiard Den) | Denver, CO | Richardson, TX | 873 |
| Sep-10 | Mike's House | Richardson, TX | Minneapolis, MN | 958 |
| Sep-19 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 935 |
| Oct-12 | Hunter Stop (Bogies) | Denver, CO | Houston, TX | 1,095 |
| Oct-15 | US Open (Chesapeake) | Houston, TX | Virginia Beach, VA | 1,404 |
| Oct-21 | Home | Virginia Beach, VA | Denver, CO | 1,758 |
| Oct-25 | Mike's House | Denver, CO | Minneapolis, MN | 935 |
| Nov-1 | US Amateur Championships (Mr. Cues) | Minneapolis, MN | Atlanta, GA | 1,141 |
| Nov-5 | Mike's House | Atlanta, GA | Minneapolis, MN | 1,141 |
| Nov-8 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 935 |
| Nov-14 | Mike's House | Denver, CO | Minneapolis, MN | 935 |
| Nov-15 | Northern Lights Shootout (Rugby) | Minneapolis, MN | Rugby, ND | 449 |
| Nov-19 | Mike's House | Rugby, ND | Minneapolis, MN | 449 |
| Nov-23 | Grand Casino Tournament (Hinckley) | Minneapolis, MN | Hinckley, MN | 79 |
| Nov-25 | Mike's House | Hinckley, MN | Minneapolis, MN | 79 |
| Nov-27 | Home | Minneapolis, MN | Denver, CO | 935 |
|
| GRAND TOTAL: | 41,285 |
Holy Moly!!! Looks like I've been pretty busy.
And there's more to come.
“Checked in online – Carry on only”
I realized yesterday that I’ll never again be able to use the short, quick “Carry on Only” lines at the airport as I can’t imagine I’ll be going on any trips without my pool cues, at least not anytime that I know of.
I’m currently writing from Atlanta, GA where I’m in town competing in the US Amateur Championships.
I have actually become quite familiar with, and pretty fond of the MSP Airport. It’s sort of like that second favorite sweater that isn’t your favorite, but you’ve come to love it just the same.
As Mike always reminds me of when he drops me off, turn left and look for the yellow flag. The yellow flag is where I check my bags in when I’ve already checked in online (when Mike’s checked me in, rather).
From there, check in is usually a breeze and the security lines are never usually too long. Most people are Minnesota Nice and with as much air traveling as I’ve done in the past twelve months, I have my shoes off and my laptop out by the time I reach the security bins.
Amongst my carry on observation, I also made a few others whilst at the MSP International Airport…
Here are a few of my personal favorites, unlike DIA where there’s food in the center when you get off the tram and maybe a gift shop, chocolate shop, or pretzel joint half way down the corridor to your gate, MSP has the widest selection of food choices I’ve ever seen! On my concourse alone, there were 17 places that offered food/drinks. That’s unheard of!
My MOST favorite thing about MSP is that even though it’s easy to find a Starbucks or other local coffee shop, at most gates, you can always put $1.25 in the vending machine and buy a pretty decent cup of hot chocolate or other froufrou coffee drink. They don’t come in those great poker hand coffee cups though, like the kind I used to get at the library vending machine when I was in high school. (I would get the chicken soup there!) They’d show you your poker hand and you could replace one card with the card shown on the bottom of the cup. They were great! I think 9 out of 10 were winners to keep you coming back. Marketing geniuii! You do get more drink this way though.
Well, wish me luck this weekend. I’ll be back soon!
