Tue 17 Jun 2008
Our neighbor Ed got us tickets to the Death Cab for Cutie concert at The Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. We were in the Nokia luxury suite and it was a heck of a show. The photos are terrible because the only camera I had was my cell phone and it doesn’t handle low-light situations very well.
Sat 14 Jun 2008
For the second year in a row, my nephew Cameron Kelsey was down from Oklahoma visiting during the weekend of the “LD in Big-D” long distance boomerang tournament. Last year Cameron, Ace, and I all competed in the tournament, and we were all disappointed in our performances. Cameron showed great promise, throwing incredible distances, but not quite getting those awesome throws to fully return.
This year was different. On Cameron’s first throw, he got what looked like respectable distance, and a very nice return. The official measurement: 118 meters! This was the first successful return of the tournament, and it would stand through all 5 rounds as the winning throw.
We weren’t able to be at the tournament for the second day so we only got in three rounds, but Ace and I didn’t do too shabby ourselves. Ace set a new personal best at 106 meters and I set new personal bests with throws of 89, 94, 100, and finally 107 meters. (Yes, my best beat Ace’s by 1 measly meter.) Not only did we all set personal bests, but we are finally in the “100 Meter Club”. Our results should be up on the LD website, www.baggressive.com soon.
At the end of the second round, Cameron, myself, and Ace were in first, second, and third. This drew some good-natured ribbing and threats of finding something in the by-laws against that kind of family collusion.
We all have to thank the tournament host, David Hirsch for sharing his LD boomerangs with us, and helping tune them between throws. Thanks, David!
Since neither Cameron, myself, or Ace had ever thrown over 100 meters before, we were classified as “Intermediate” competitors. So not only was Cameron the Tournament Champion, he was also the Intermediate Champion. Ace was the Junior Champion, though there were only 2 juniors entered.
There was other excitement too. We had a storm blow in and cause a rain delay. I needed a break at that point, because I had worn myself out by chasing my wind-blown golf umbrella clear off the campus and into an apartment complex across the street. There was a also scary moment when one of my throws hit a range spotter, slicing his pinky finger to the bone. Glad to hear you’re OK, Larry!
I didn’t have my good camera out much, but I did take a few phone-camera shots. A small gallery is available here.
Here’s something I had heard about, but just now found. I don’t know how long this link will remain active, but there’s a pre-tournament news spot video on WFAA’s site here: http://www.wfaa.com/video/?z=y&nvid=253881
Here are the full final results:
Fri 30 May 2008
There’s been tons of stuff on this site about Holly’s athletic accomplishments, but she is also a very good student. On Friday she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Because of the lighting, we couldn’t get good photos of the ceremony itself, but we’ve got some gorgeous photos of Holly both before and after. Click here for the gallery.
Tue 20 May 2008
We’ve been promising the kids for several years that we would get a dog. Andrew’s 16th birthday turned out to be the occasion for finally making it happen. Michelle and Andrew drove over two hours into East Texas to pick up “Scout”, a pure-bred Border Collie. We’re looking forward to years of fun with him. More photos are in the Scout gallery.
Sat 17 May 2008
This is a project we’ve planned for years. There is an area in the front yard where several trees produce enough shade that bermuda grass won’t grow. Whenever I mow the weeds and undesirable grass that does grow there, it is always a dust storm. Finally we have gotten this project underway. We have created a stone border around the shaded area (Thanks for the help, Bobby!), placed several limestone boulders about (Thanks TJ!), and planted several dozen decorative plants (Thanks Tristan, Junior, Leigh, and Dave’s tractor!). Finally we covered the whole thing in with red mulch to match the landscaping in front of the house (Thanks Erick!). More photos are available in the gallery.
Tue 13 May 2008
We had a hail storm roll through this afternoon and I was able to snap some photos and get a short video. The hail stones were between “quarter sized” and “pingpong ball sized”. The storm was quite loud, but didn’t seem to do any damage. There’s a small album with a few photos and a low-quality video on YouTube.
Fri 2 May 2008
For my birthday, I got a new bag and more importantly, some new clubs: The TaylorMade R7 Draw irons (4-SW), and a TaylorMade R7 Draw Rescue 3 Hybrid club. I’m finally done with my 13 year-old “free” White Bluff irons!
I’m really digging the new irons. Definitely easier to hit and more forgiving of off-center strikes. My next purchase will probably be a R7 Draw Rescue 4 Hybrid to replace the 4 iron that came with the set.
My full kit is now as follows:
*aka the “Beer Smuggling System”
Thu 1 May 2008
For a 3rd grade science project, Holly had the choice of doing a video demonstration or an in-class demonstration of anything at all “scientific”. I’m so glad she chose to do a video, because it is so much fun to watch, even four years later. Some of you may already have seen it on boomsmith.com, but I just now uploaded it to YouTube and it is being well-received. Here’s the description:
This is a “How Boomerangs Work” video from the perspective of a 3rd grader. The video discusses some boomerang flight science, shows construction, throwing, and catching.
This video was done for Holly’s 3rd grade science class and was so well-received that it was shown to all the other classes as well.
And here’s the video:
Tue 26 Feb 2008
In Holly’s first-ever track meet, she took first place in the long jump with a leap of 12 feet 4.25 inches. Even though there was a 20-25 mph wind, her jumps were not wind-aided, as she was jumping into the wind. That same wind made the low-40s temperature feel like low-30s. There were lots of near-miserable kids huddled up in blankets waiting for their events to start.
Holly’s second event was the high jump, and this didn’t go as well for her. She failed to clear the opening height in 3 attempts. She hadn’t had much practice, and hopefully will get a chance to do better next time.
Her final event was the 400 meter run (one lap around the track). She says that by this time her feet were nearly frozen solid. She was assigned the outside lane, meaning the staggered start had her way out in front early in the race. I warned Michelle that it’d look like the others were catching her quickly as they made the final turns. Holly took off like a shot, though she looked a little stiff from the cold. It turns out that she took off too fast, not having enough experience to get the pacing right. Holly looked like she had the proverbial monkey on her back after about 2/3 of the lap. Though the other girls were trying to make up the stagger, Holly was able to hold off all but one of them. She finished 2nd in her heat and 5th overall. It was the first time she had ever run that race and I’m sure she’ll improve tremendously with experience.
Despite the cold, she enjoyed herself lots. She didn’t know she’d be hearing her name cheered by so many people in the stands, but I think she liked it. I for one, can’t wait for next week’s meet.
Mon 11 Feb 2008
My web host was hacked and I’ve had to move to a new server. I’m still working on getting things back in order, and hopefully making some improvements along the way. Next time you check back, hopefully things will be in better shape.
Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
