Wednesday I got to the gym and wasn't really impressed. When you walk in they have a big 'buy stuff' section and then they had some really odd cardio equipment that I couldn't figure out how to use. I also couldn't find anything to stretch on and it looked like the aerobics class area was really small. Since I didn't have a towel I didn't get a chance to get in the hot tub but it looked a lot smaller than the one in Sandy. I met up with Lauren in the mid morning time frame and we had second breakfast at Taco Cabana and then went and saw 'Don't Mess With the Zohan'. Like most Adam Sandler flicks it had a nice message to it once you waded through a lot of garbage. I really didn't need to see that many close ups of his 'package' or his bare butt throughout the movie. I think I'd give it 2 out of 5 stars if I'd rented it on Netflix. Afterwards we went to Jamba Juice and then I dropped her off. When I got back I called Uncle Bob and he picked me up and we went to Starbucks for some coffee and chatting. That evening I went bowling with Chris and Candy. My first game wasn't that great (116) and Chris won with a 118. The second game I sort of hit my stride and ended up with a 169. Not as good as the 203 I got last time Melanie and I played but pretty respectable. After I got home I played dominoes with Lyndel and Carmen again and got whupped.
Yesterday just flew by. I started the morning off by going for a run and then came back and tried to setup some stuff for the online benefits company I started with some buddies. That was an exercise in frustration. I am NOT a systems admin and really hope that I never have to do that job. I ended up having to submit a help desk ticket to figure it out and then I had to rework my project. Anyways, major pain. In the middle of that I met up with Vicki and Lauren for lunch at Napoli's. It was pretty good but the portion size was really too big. Chris came by in the afternoon and we headed out to finally go creeking.
Creeking is the term I use to describe what we did growing up where we would go down to the creek and just explore it for hours on end. It helped me keep my sanity when I was younger and was a great way to bond with my friends. We got into the water in the same place as I did when I was younger and headed upstream. It gets pretty deep right off the bat so we had to walk through this oddly placed bamboo forest to get back into the creek where it was semi-shallow. Along the way we saw a bunch of frogs jumping into the water. As I remember it from my youth, the creek went up a little ways after the deeper section and then widened out where there was an old railroad trestle. Well, there's a railroad bridge there now but it's way higher and they've blown out the side walls of the creek and then dammed it up so there's a nice retention pond for the development they are doing there but no way to walk up the creek. Yet another piece of my childhood obliterated :( We tried to go back to the old house I grew up in and get down to the creek. I guess I didn't realize how much work went into keeping that area cleared but it's just a huge jungle now. All the trees have grown together and it's pretty clear that nobody tries to get down to the creek anymore because it's all overgrown with brush and crap. We fought through the brush only to find that the creep was covered with pollen and looked super gross. I decided to give up so we worked our way out of the brush and back to Chris' car. We came back home and rinsed off and changed our clothes for the rest of the evening which entailed going to see the house Chris and Candy are buying and then going to the Plano Tavern. The house seems to be nice...the neighborhood certainly is but we didn't get to go inside. It's in one of those master-planned communities with hike/bike trails and a nice clubhouse (they call it a lodge) and a pool. At the tavern we met up with a bunch of Chris' friends from work to eat and watch the Lakers and Celtics game. I had a promising chipotle chicken fried steak but the gravy was disappointing because it tasted powdery. The game was good and I finally got that Shiner I'd been wanting since seeing it on tap in Washington D.C.
Today I started off by going back to the gym. I had a more thorough look around and decided it was pretty nice. Instead of having a large aerobic class area that basically has a large 'viewing area' (wall of see through glass), they only have a small portion visible through the obscured door and then the rest of it is hidden from the main gym. They actually have several stretching stations...not sure how I missed that one. And the hot tub, while not as big as the one at home, is a lot deeper and the waterfall was pretty neat to see. When I got home Uncle Bob had called and after I showered up and threw some laundry in we went out to lunch at Bennigans. This time around I didn't have the monte cristo and opted for the somewhat healthier turkey sandwich on a soft pretzel which was really quite good. It came with fries but for once they just gave me a reasonable portion.
After lunch we went out driving to the boonies and saw the new landfill for Richardson and Plano and also drove through the town of Anna. We got into a subdivision where the builder had 8-10 houses in various stages of construction that were abandoned. I'd never seen anything like that...it reminded me of the ghost towns in the west. On the way back we stopped at starbucks and shot the breeze some more and then came back to the house. I took some pictures and we said our goodbyes. Hopefully he'll be able to make it out to Salt Lake some day soon (hint hint!).
Chris and I were supposed to meet up around 6:30 so since I had forgotten to get a picture with Vicki and Lauren the day before I went over there and we took a couple of pictures and I said my goodbyes. Lauren might come visit later this summer if she can handle hanging out with a bunch of OG's :)
Afterwards I met up with Chris and Candy at Taco Bueno. I usually like the food there but I didn't think it was as good as Taco Bell to be quite honest. I guess my taste buds have changed a bit over the years. Because of the salmonella scare they weren't serving tomatoes and I think the last time I was there the nation was suffering from a big tomato shortage so they didn't have tomatoes that time either! After we got back to Carmen's house I took a group picture with Chris/Carmen/Lyndel/Candy/Me. Chris started looking for a football for us to throw around and stumbled across his old baseball cards so we reminisced a bit about that and then went out to play putt putt golf one more time. Chris won the first game handily and had the second one in his grasp but lost his focus on the back 9 so I ended up winning by 2 strokes. I think I was the only person to get a hole-in-one (a feat I achieved once in each game). Since we were there I figured I'd give the batting cages another shot so I bought some tokens (the cashier 'accidentally' gave me 4 tokens instead of 3...whoops) and Chris and I hit the cages. Since we'd sucked so pitifully last time in the 60 mph cage we stepped down to the 50 mph cage and both were pretty successful there. I decided to give the 60 mph cage again (I keep typing mpg instead of mph btw...) and did pretty well there too. I'm not sure what the difference was but this time I pulled the annoying face guard down more so I could see everything more clearly. That couldn't have been the only difference because the ball did not seem to be going as fast as it was the other day. Even without my gloves I was able to hit the ball pretty well so I was stoked about that.
After coming back home Chris and Candy left to get Chris packed for his trip to Vegas tomorrow and Lyndel, Carmen, and I played 2 last games of dominoes. After getting pounded in the first game I won the second so I get to go home a winner :)
D
2 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time in Dallas. I think your bowling score of 169 would have still obliterated the scores I got last time we went bowling. :)
To think - you are an OG while I am a YG in an OG body. Sounds like a great trip so far.
Post a Comment