This past weekend my brother Mike and his friends Eric & Nick came down to visit and play in the Lexington Open X disc golf tournament. This is the third time Mike & I have played this event, the second for Nick, and the first for Eric. They are all reasonably good. I am not. However, I have been showing steady improvement. The first year, 2006, I finished last among players who did not meet the following criteria: 1) are children; 2)are women; 3)quit before the tournament ended. My goal for 2007 was to not finish in last place among that group, which I accomplished by finishing in second to last place. My goal for 2008 then, was to not finish on the bottom card (the last 4 players). Again, I met my goal and finished 16th out of 22 in my division. The big difference this year, however, is that there were 2 new divisions, both of lower ranked players. So not only did I meet my goal, but there is now an entire division of players who I am better than! I find this revelation shocking, disturbing, and also very ego-boosting. In fact, I actually won both of my groups on Sunday, which is certainly not something I ever thought would happen. On a serious note, my goal is simply to continue to improve, which I have done. In 2007 I beat my 2006 score by 2 strokes, and in 2008 I beat my 2007 score by 13 strokes, and this is despite the inclusion of a WAY harder course this year. So, from that perspective, I felt very good about the weekend. Am I good at disc golf? No, no I am not. At all. Did I play well by my own personal standards? Yes, I think I did.
From a perspective that doesn't directly involve disc golf, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite weekends of the year. All 3 of those guys are great just to hang out with, and it gives Mike a chance to play with Sophie a little. It really is a lot of fun.
On an unrelated note, you may notice the new picture on the right sidebar. This represents my participation in the Mountain Dew Challenge, which is described on Dan Weiss' blog here. In short, it is a challenge to see who can go the longest without drinking pop. This was one of the things I gave up for lent, and I really haven't been drinking much of it since lent ended. In other words, I don't think this is going to be a huge challenge. And, yes, that counts as trash talk. So, to Dan and all the others, I'm in it to win it!!!! (whatever "it" is)
This coming weekend is the Kentucky Derby, and Nancy & I are fortunate enough to be able to go for our third consecutive year. The first year, I won a nice bit of money (relative to what I was betting, anyway), and walked away confident that I had this "horse betting" thing pretty much figured out. Considering I won pretty much all that money on 1 race and lost all the others, this was a bad conclusion to have reached. I paid for that arrogance last year, both literally and figuratively. I walk into this year's Derby humbled, but with a renewed commitment to study, learn from mentors, get insider tips, but mostly to not make stupid bets that have no chance of winning. It is an ambitious goal, honestly, but my goal is to make enough to pay for our drinks and food during the day. Considering I would be happy to simply break even and have enjoyed a day at the track with my lovely wife and friends, and considering the cost of food and drink at a place like Churchill Downs, this is an ambitious goal indeed. If any of you have any tips or would like me to place a wager on your behalf, please feel free to let me know. I'm sure I'll let the blog-reading community know how I did- if it's good, anyway.
Showing posts with label disc golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disc golf. Show all posts
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
Snow?
So they're calling for a mammoth snow storm today & tomorrow, the likes of which we haven't seen in Kentucky in several years. At the moment, it's raining. I'm not saying that I'm skeptical, but let's be honest, I'm skeptical. Maybe that is just wishful thinking. Anyway, as much as I am soooo ready to be done with winter, I would much rather have a big snow storm than an ice storm, which is where it seems we're heading right now. In any event, no disc golf for me this weekend.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Good for the Soul
-Going to church
-The Coffee Queen literally waiting at the Coffee Times door for today's free coffee-60 Degree days in March
-Fresh Air
-Playing Outside with Sophie
-The year's first round of Disc Golf
-Baklava
-Pizza Night
-New Simpsons episode
-Feeling healthy again
-Weekends
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Catching Up Again
It’s been a while since we’ve written anything substantial in this space, so this post may turn into a lengthy “here’s what we did” type of writing. Feel free to read until you have something better to do, like work.
Last week we went up to Indiana on vacation, this time staying at casa Erickson. The most notable part of the trip was the timing regarding changes in Sophie. The day before we made the trip up, Sophie entered the world of crawling. At the same time, she also sprouted her first tooth. And she learned to stand up without pulling up on anything (sometimes). And she became a world class sprinter when holding on to your fingers. And she decided that she would now like to wave to everyone she sees. Sufficed to say, she was on stimulation overload for 9 days. She hasn’t slowed down since either. We have begun babyproofing the house now, but I fear I may have already trained her too well to be sneaky. So, she has now started hearing a new word, “No.” Furthermore, she has developed a strange fascination with eating my nose. Nancy thinks this is her way of giving kisses, but I think she is just mimicking the fact that I pretend to eat her all the time. In any event, these changes are, in large part, why we have not had time to update blog posts, but also why we haven’t had time to do anything else either. She has only one gear, “GO!!,” which means that for the time being, we are stuck in the same gear. She also turned 9 months old on Wednesday, so we took our now traditional every three month pictures to memorialize the occasion. Here are a few:
On our first vacation day in Indiana, we found out by accident that our former youth pastor Jim Merillat was in Granger for just that weekend. Nancy & I were very close to Jim & Pam and hadn’t seen either of them since our wedding. So, we gave Jim a call to see if we could see him, if only for a little while. He was actually available almost right away and came over to the house for an hour or so. He’s still the same Jim (well, maybe more salt and less pepper in the hair), a man who loves those he serves and is passionate about reaching the lost and helping people grow in their faith. We really enjoyed the short time we were able to spend with him and were blessed by it. We have one picture- please keep in mind that I hadn’t showered yet, because, well, seriously…
My brother Mike got a puppy while we were in town, a Vizsla. He wanted to give it a foreign language name that was disc-golf related, so he turned to our resident linguist, Nancy. She scoured Hebrew, Akkadian, Egyptian, Sumerian, French & Greek for any variation of “disc” or “basket,” but none of the names were any good. Finally, we grabbed a German dictionary and the name jumped out, Scheibe (pronounced Shi-ba), which means disc. Vizslas are naturally pointer-style hunting dogs, so Mike plans to train Sheibe to track the discs he throws and go point them. What he doesn’t understand is that he needs to train Sheibe to find my discs, not his.
I also had the pleasure of again seeing Dan Weiss on my visit and then also having lunch with Mark Troyer. I am dismayed to say that Dan may never play disc golf again after his visit to Safetyville, but I hope that he had as much fun as I did. Dan is as solid of a guy as I know, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Plus, he’s about the only person I’ve ever actually beat in disc golf… I found my lunch with Mark to be somewhat cathartic for both of us. We are at a place in life that is almost completely different, yet also strangely the same. That was quite rewarding- Thanks Mark!
After spending several days in Granger, we packed up and went camping with the Dayton clan. This was the first time in several years that we had the whole family together, and the first time that we had met Audrey or that Brian & Boualoy met Sophie. Sufficed to say, we were all properly introduced. As with our other camping trip, Sophie seems to be a natural. I get the distinct impression that she is going to be the type of girl that is into adventure activities. I get the sneaking suspicion that I am going to have to do something crazy like go skydiving with her on her 18th birthday. Anyway, we really enjoyed having everyone together. It only seems natural for Dayton family activities to be in the woods or on a boat and generally outdoors. Timothy & Audrey are two of the cutest future Cub fans I have ever seen.
I did manage to squeeze 2 books in on vacation. My Mom picked up “Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot” by Mike Greenburg at a garage sale. This is exactly
what I think of as summer vacation reading in the sense that it requires no real thought or emotional investment of any kind. OK, that’s never my idea of great writing, but I enjoy him on the radio every morning and got pretty much the same shtick here, only in book length (and not about sports). The closest equivalent I can think of is Paul Reiser’s “Couplehood,” both in terms of writing style, subject matter, and general neurosis. The other book I read was from my reading list, and was my “popcorn” selection, recommended by my Mom. “The Devil in the White City” is a history book, as well sourced and cited as the best of text books, yet written in a style that almost makes you
think you’re reading a novel. It tells two contemporaneous stories, both involving the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The first story is of the lead architect of the project, Daniel Burnham, and generally describes the amazing process of building an entire city in about 2 years. As someone who has done construction project management, I was absolutely blown away by what they accomplished there. Furthermore, it was a great pleasure to discover that some of my favorite buildings in Chicago are either remnants of this event or were designed by the same architects. The story is interlaced with that of H.H. Holmes, who is considered by some the first serial killer in the United States and the first documented sociopath. He performed his evil deeds at the time of that same World’s Fair, taking advantage
of the chaos provided by that event. Why Erik Larson chose to tell these stories together is anybody’s guess, but they do provide a fascinating counterpoint to one another. I enjoyed this book on a lot of levels, but mostly I enjoyed learning about the history of one of my favorite cities and look forward to visiting Chicago again soon with a new-found appreciation.
So, if you’re still reading (don’t you have a job?), let us close by saying we really enjoyed our time with our family & friends and anxiously await our next opportunity to see you all again.
Last week we went up to Indiana on vacation, this time staying at casa Erickson. The most notable part of the trip was the timing regarding changes in Sophie. The day before we made the trip up, Sophie entered the world of crawling. At the same time, she also sprouted her first tooth. And she learned to stand up without pulling up on anything (sometimes). And she became a world class sprinter when holding on to your fingers. And she decided that she would now like to wave to everyone she sees. Sufficed to say, she was on stimulation overload for 9 days. She hasn’t slowed down since either. We have begun babyproofing the house now, but I fear I may have already trained her too well to be sneaky. So, she has now started hearing a new word, “No.” Furthermore, she has developed a strange fascination with eating my nose. Nancy thinks this is her way of giving kisses, but I think she is just mimicking the fact that I pretend to eat her all the time. In any event, these changes are, in large part, why we have not had time to update blog posts, but also why we haven’t had time to do anything else either. She has only one gear, “GO!!,” which means that for the time being, we are stuck in the same gear. She also turned 9 months old on Wednesday, so we took our now traditional every three month pictures to memorialize the occasion. Here are a few:
On our first vacation day in Indiana, we found out by accident that our former youth pastor Jim Merillat was in Granger for just that weekend. Nancy & I were very close to Jim & Pam and hadn’t seen either of them since our wedding. So, we gave Jim a call to see if we could see him, if only for a little while. He was actually available almost right away and came over to the house for an hour or so. He’s still the same Jim (well, maybe more salt and less pepper in the hair), a man who loves those he serves and is passionate about reaching the lost and helping people grow in their faith. We really enjoyed the short time we were able to spend with him and were blessed by it. We have one picture- please keep in mind that I hadn’t showered yet, because, well, seriously…
My brother Mike got a puppy while we were in town, a Vizsla. He wanted to give it a foreign language name that was disc-golf related, so he turned to our resident linguist, Nancy. She scoured Hebrew, Akkadian, Egyptian, Sumerian, French & Greek for any variation of “disc” or “basket,” but none of the names were any good. Finally, we grabbed a German dictionary and the name jumped out, Scheibe (pronounced Shi-ba), which means disc. Vizslas are naturally pointer-style hunting dogs, so Mike plans to train Sheibe to track the discs he throws and go point them. What he doesn’t understand is that he needs to train Sheibe to find my discs, not his.
I also had the pleasure of again seeing Dan Weiss on my visit and then also having lunch with Mark Troyer. I am dismayed to say that Dan may never play disc golf again after his visit to Safetyville, but I hope that he had as much fun as I did. Dan is as solid of a guy as I know, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Plus, he’s about the only person I’ve ever actually beat in disc golf… I found my lunch with Mark to be somewhat cathartic for both of us. We are at a place in life that is almost completely different, yet also strangely the same. That was quite rewarding- Thanks Mark!After spending several days in Granger, we packed up and went camping with the Dayton clan. This was the first time in several years that we had the whole family together, and the first time that we had met Audrey or that Brian & Boualoy met Sophie. Sufficed to say, we were all properly introduced. As with our other camping trip, Sophie seems to be a natural. I get the distinct impression that she is going to be the type of girl that is into adventure activities. I get the sneaking suspicion that I am going to have to do something crazy like go skydiving with her on her 18th birthday. Anyway, we really enjoyed having everyone together. It only seems natural for Dayton family activities to be in the woods or on a boat and generally outdoors. Timothy & Audrey are two of the cutest future Cub fans I have ever seen.
I did manage to squeeze 2 books in on vacation. My Mom picked up “Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot” by Mike Greenburg at a garage sale. This is exactly
what I think of as summer vacation reading in the sense that it requires no real thought or emotional investment of any kind. OK, that’s never my idea of great writing, but I enjoy him on the radio every morning and got pretty much the same shtick here, only in book length (and not about sports). The closest equivalent I can think of is Paul Reiser’s “Couplehood,” both in terms of writing style, subject matter, and general neurosis. The other book I read was from my reading list, and was my “popcorn” selection, recommended by my Mom. “The Devil in the White City” is a history book, as well sourced and cited as the best of text books, yet written in a style that almost makes you
think you’re reading a novel. It tells two contemporaneous stories, both involving the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The first story is of the lead architect of the project, Daniel Burnham, and generally describes the amazing process of building an entire city in about 2 years. As someone who has done construction project management, I was absolutely blown away by what they accomplished there. Furthermore, it was a great pleasure to discover that some of my favorite buildings in Chicago are either remnants of this event or were designed by the same architects. The story is interlaced with that of H.H. Holmes, who is considered by some the first serial killer in the United States and the first documented sociopath. He performed his evil deeds at the time of that same World’s Fair, taking advantage
of the chaos provided by that event. Why Erik Larson chose to tell these stories together is anybody’s guess, but they do provide a fascinating counterpoint to one another. I enjoyed this book on a lot of levels, but mostly I enjoyed learning about the history of one of my favorite cities and look forward to visiting Chicago again soon with a new-found appreciation.So, if you’re still reading (don’t you have a job?), let us close by saying we really enjoyed our time with our family & friends and anxiously await our next opportunity to see you all again.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Reunited!
Only poetry can capture the joy of being reunited with a long lost love, so here is my latest Ode to Red (you can read all about his adventures, again, here and here).
A Red, Red Disc
O my Disc's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Disc's like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my rounded friend,
So deep to throw am I;
And I will throw thee still, my disc,
Till a' the creeks gang dry:
Till a' the creeks gang dry, my disc,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will throw thee still, my disc,
While the sands o' life shall run.
My apologies to Robert Burns
A Red, Red Disc
O my Disc's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Disc's like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my rounded friend,
So deep to throw am I;
And I will throw thee still, my disc,
Till a' the creeks gang dry:
Till a' the creeks gang dry, my disc,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will throw thee still, my disc,
While the sands o' life shall run.
My apologies to Robert Burns
Monday, June 18, 2007
Camping & Disc Golf
This weekend we took Sophie on her first camping trip. Bowling Green, KY was our choice for this trip for 3 reasons:
1. Bowling Green is apparently a major hub for disc golf. They have a bunch of very nice courses in the area and in March hosted the biggest tournament ever (the Amateur Championships) with over 700 participants. I was curious to check this out.
2. Bowling Green is a relatively central meeting point between Lexington and St. Louis, where Mike Grove now lives. This made for a good meeting place to get together, camp, and throw some disc.
3. Carrie & Brian Powell (& Corrie) live in Bowling Green, which meant that Nancy & Sophie would have friends to visit while Mike & I were playing endless rounds of disc golf.
With this information in mind, we packed up the RAV (no small feat in and of itself) and headed off. As the weather report called for the conditions to be dry and very hot both day & night, it naturally rained at the exact moment I am putting the tent up and then was actually a bit chilly at night. It was however, very hot during the day time, so Nancy & Sophie were very fortunate to be able to go hang out with Carrie & Corrie. I need to send a big thank you out to them, because Nancy & Sophie would have baked at the camp site during the day. Thanks Powells!
I needed this trip. It was great to hang out with Mike, play too much disc golf, sit around a camp fire, talk about life, and see my daughter, like her Mother, take to camping like a fish to water. This weekend wouldn't have been possible had Nancy not been willing to basically be a single Mom in a strange town so that I could play a silly game with a friend. So, most of all I need to thank her for that. Thank you super-hot almost Dr. wife! You're the best!
Sophie making friends...
1. Bowling Green is apparently a major hub for disc golf. They have a bunch of very nice courses in the area and in March hosted the biggest tournament ever (the Amateur Championships) with over 700 participants. I was curious to check this out.
2. Bowling Green is a relatively central meeting point between Lexington and St. Louis, where Mike Grove now lives. This made for a good meeting place to get together, camp, and throw some disc.
3. Carrie & Brian Powell (& Corrie) live in Bowling Green, which meant that Nancy & Sophie would have friends to visit while Mike & I were playing endless rounds of disc golf.
With this information in mind, we packed up the RAV (no small feat in and of itself) and headed off. As the weather report called for the conditions to be dry and very hot both day & night, it naturally rained at the exact moment I am putting the tent up and then was actually a bit chilly at night. It was however, very hot during the day time, so Nancy & Sophie were very fortunate to be able to go hang out with Carrie & Corrie. I need to send a big thank you out to them, because Nancy & Sophie would have baked at the camp site during the day. Thanks Powells!
I needed this trip. It was great to hang out with Mike, play too much disc golf, sit around a camp fire, talk about life, and see my daughter, like her Mother, take to camping like a fish to water. This weekend wouldn't have been possible had Nancy not been willing to basically be a single Mom in a strange town so that I could play a silly game with a friend. So, most of all I need to thank her for that. Thank you super-hot almost Dr. wife! You're the best!
Sophie making friends...Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Howl for Red
About two weeks ago, I lost a good friend- again. I have been struggling with my thoughts and feelings and am only now able to put into words what is echoing in my soul for my dear friend Red. For those of you unfamiliar with Red, I wrote about him last year, here.
"Howl for Red"
I saw the best disc of my generation destroyed by branches, carving hysterical paths,
rolling himself through the tree-lined paths at dawn looking for a chain to hit,
anhyzer dippers turning for the ancient heavenly connection to the shiny links in the middle of basket,
who poled, treed and tattered and hollow-centered and high sat up sinking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water lakes or floating across the tops of grass blades contemplating aces,
who passed through obstacles with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Kentucky and Duncan-light tragedy among the players of golf,
who cowered in unkempt bushes in underbrush, burning my money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror in my voice,
who got found in a public course returning through Tates Creek with a spot of mud on him for New York,
who vanished into nowhere Zen Lexington leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Veteran’s Park,
who wandered around and around at all hours in the disc golf course wondering where to go, and went, leaving my broken heart,
who disappeared into the forests of Indiana leaving behind nothing but the shadow of cargo shorts and the leafs and sand of poetry scattered in fire place Chicago,
who reappeared on the West Coast of the creek investigating the teenage kids in shorts with one big red eye sexy in his translucent skin passing out incomprehensible leafs,
who made me howl on my knees in the fairway and was dragged out of the bushes being waved gently and manly,
who sat in bushes breathing in the darkness under the bridge, and rose up to slide out into the light,
who was thrown watchful off teeboxes to cast my ballot for Eternity on the course,
who made me fall on my knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for his salvation and light and hills, until the soul illuminated his where for a second,
with the absolute heart of the poem of life butchered out of my own body good to toss a thousand throws.
My apologies to Allen Ginsberg.
"Howl for Red"
I saw the best disc of my generation destroyed by branches, carving hysterical paths,
rolling himself through the tree-lined paths at dawn looking for a chain to hit,
anhyzer dippers turning for the ancient heavenly connection to the shiny links in the middle of basket,
who poled, treed and tattered and hollow-centered and high sat up sinking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water lakes or floating across the tops of grass blades contemplating aces,
who passed through obstacles with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Kentucky and Duncan-light tragedy among the players of golf,
who cowered in unkempt bushes in underbrush, burning my money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror in my voice,
who got found in a public course returning through Tates Creek with a spot of mud on him for New York,
who vanished into nowhere Zen Lexington leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Veteran’s Park,
who wandered around and around at all hours in the disc golf course wondering where to go, and went, leaving my broken heart,
who disappeared into the forests of Indiana leaving behind nothing but the shadow of cargo shorts and the leafs and sand of poetry scattered in fire place Chicago,
who reappeared on the West Coast of the creek investigating the teenage kids in shorts with one big red eye sexy in his translucent skin passing out incomprehensible leafs,
who made me howl on my knees in the fairway and was dragged out of the bushes being waved gently and manly,
who sat in bushes breathing in the darkness under the bridge, and rose up to slide out into the light,
who was thrown watchful off teeboxes to cast my ballot for Eternity on the course,
who made me fall on my knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for his salvation and light and hills, until the soul illuminated his where for a second,
with the absolute heart of the poem of life butchered out of my own body good to toss a thousand throws.
My apologies to Allen Ginsberg.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Disc Golf
My brother Mike came down for the weekend to play in the Lexington Open disc golf tournament and brought his friend Nick Nowak. As I like to look at all of life as a chance to learn something, here is what we learned:1. I am bad at disc golf, but have flashes of being OK.
2. There are a lot of very good players out there who take these events very seriously.
3. Mike learned about point 2 first hand when he was forced to play in the advanced division. Let's just say that we both have a lot of room for improvement.
4. Nick had a pretty good tournament and I think this event may have lit a fire for the sport inside of him. Go Nick! Win one for me!
In last year's Lexington Open, although I did not technically finish in last place, I was last among those who: 1. did not quit, & 2. were neither kids or women. So, my simple goal for this year was to finish in NOT last place among that group, which I accomplished, although by the very slimmest of margins. Sometimes when you set your goals low enough, you can actually accomplish them...
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
the weekend
In Dan's words (Re: the Ice Bowl,) "It was cold and we did bad." (But they obviously had a good time.) The next tournament is in April.
Sophie sported a Bears t-shirt on Sunday (compliments of Grandpa Allen) long enough for Daddy to take a picture but the rest of the night she was rooting for the Colts.
A friend (Kelsey's boyfriend's Aunt, I think) gave us this cute handmade sweater and hat. Sophie doesn't really like to wear hats--hence the disconcerting look.
Flying...
Sophie sported a Bears t-shirt on Sunday (compliments of Grandpa Allen) long enough for Daddy to take a picture but the rest of the night she was rooting for the Colts.
A friend (Kelsey's boyfriend's Aunt, I think) gave us this cute handmade sweater and hat. Sophie doesn't really like to wear hats--hence the disconcerting look.
Flying...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Our Year in Review
For those of you with nothing better to do...
January
January is typically Dan’s busiest month at work (so many companies, so many year ends…) and Nancy was trying to get her teeth into her final semester of classwork as a PhD student. Mostly, January in Kentucky is cold (but not too cold) and drab. There is a reasonable chance you don’t see the sun for the entire month. Good times.
In church news, after opening our new facility on Christmas Eve, we began a Saturday evening celebration in January. Nancy and I had been among the team to “plant” the early service several years earlier, so we thought it would be fun to do the same for the Saturday service. Although it started out a bit slow, we have really come to enjoy going to church on Saturday nights!
February
In the first weekend of the month, Nancy’s parents came to visit, and a wonderful time was had by all. Later in the month, there was Valentine’s Day, and in what I can only imagine is a coincidence, Nancy got pregnant.
March
On the first Saturday in March, Nancy & I were fortunate enough to have tickets to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. They played a mixed (read: somewhat random) selection, but it was well performed and we enjoyed getting a little culture for a change.
As a follow up to the February entry, March was the month that we received the wonderful news that Nancy was pregnant. Although we had been trying for a while, I was nonetheless surprised to hear the news on that Sunday morning. The rest of the week can only be described as “blurry.”
April
For the first weekend of Spring Break, Dan’s Mom and sister Kelsey came down to visit. The highlight was undoubtedly Mom’s first trip to the disc golf course. For several years now she had heard Dan & Mike talk about their new-found love for the game and she wanted to see what it was all about. She had a reasonably successful first outing, and she is now a (somewhat) regular playing partner with Mike.
On April 19 Nancy had her first doctor’s appointment with her OB/GYN since we found out she was pregnant. Not only did Doctor Slone confirm the pregnancy, but we were surprised that we also received an ultrasound at this early stage. At best, the baby could be described as some sort of strange looking peanut. The word that seemed to most appropriately describe her appearance at the early state, however, was “blob.” Thus was born Sophie’s first nickname. So well did this appellative stick, that she was referred to as “The Blob” until quite literally the day she was born.
On April 22 & 23 the Mikes (Erickson & Grove) came down to Kentucky. We played in a Supertour Disc Golf tournament, which may have been a bit much to bite off for our first tournament. Of course, we played in the lowest division available, which helped to minimize the embarrassment. Mike Erickson actually finished high enough to get prizes (in this case, discs and disc paraphernalia). Mike Grove finished somewhat in the bottom half of the middle. Dan, however, had the very prestigious honor of finishing last among the adult players who actually finished the tournament. Apparently I am only better than kids and quitters. Sheesh.
May
The big news in the beginning of May was Derby weekend. Through some business friends, Dan was lucky enough to be able to buy a box for the Derby. So, splitting the box with Jan & Drew Deener, we decided to go for it. We knew that Nancy’s sister Amy had for years longed for a chance to go to the Derby, as horses have been a passion of hers since she was a little girl. It was our pleasure to be able to invite her along, and an even greater pleasure to see the look in her eyes at the event itself. In advance of the Derby, Dan was also invited to spend the day with work friends at the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. Between the two days, that was a once in a lifetime type opportunity that I will never forget (although I certainly hope that it won’t be once in a lifetime!).
To celebrate Nancy finishing her PhD coursework, we spent a weekend at the Tussey’s lakehouse in Danville. We love to sneak away there for the occasional weekend and can’t even begin to thank Lyne & Bob enough for letting us use it. The best part of the trip is always sitting in their enormous screened in porch at night. It is a little cool at the lake at night, and it invariably rains at least one night while we are there. As we sit on the porch, all we hear is the mooing of unseen cows echoing off of the limestone cliffs that make up the shoreline of Herrington Lake. As the cows fall silent, we get the first smell of the advancing storm. Nancy & I sit close together on the covered couch in the eclectic collection of patio furniture and soak up every minute of the storm. In these moments, time has no meaning. A weekend at the cottage is like a week anywhere else.
June
On June 3rd, Dan celebrated his first annual 29th birthday. Nancy claims that Dan ate all of the birthday chocolate birthday pie, but I specifically remember her getting at least one piece. In any case, you are all invited to Dan’s second annual 29th birthday party next year. I think with some positive word of mouth, we could really turn this thing into a real event.
Later in the month, we made a brief trip to Indiana and Michigan. In a few short days, we witnessed the wedding of Nancy’s cousin Steven to his lovely bride Yvonne, visited South Haven (where we honeymooned so long ago), hung out at the beach, played disc with Mike & Mom, and celebrated Dan’s step-brother Nick’s high school graduation.
At the end of the month, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. As we fancy ourselves both traditional and modern we split the difference and got each other both iron and wood gifts. I was hoping this would mean a complete set of golf clubs for me, but it was apparently not meant to be.
July
We spent the first 5 days of July camping with Nancy’s family at Turkey Run. As far as I can recall, Dan won the annual fishing contest. Strange that there are no pictures of me with any fish, but I’m sure I won… We also celebrated Nancy’s cousin Faith’s half birthday, celebrated Nancy’s 28th birthday, reintroduced Nancy’s family to disc golf (Dad had to walk extra far that day), played croquet, and most certainly did not play any Jarts. That would be illegal.
The highlight of the month was the ultrasound on the 11th. Not only did the Blob resemble a human person, but we received the wonderful news that she would be a she. Although we briefly toyed with “Blobette,” we decided that Blob was a gender indeterminate name and would continue to work just fine.
Late in the month, Dan spent most of his time at the annual Fifth Third Tennis tournament. This is a Challenger level pro event that Lexington is fortunate enough to have in town. As the presenting sponsor for the doubles, Dan presented the trophies and tried not to act like a goofy sponsor type and talk peoples’ ears off. Dan’s Mom, Allen, & Kelsey were in town during part of the event and got their first taste of pro tennis.
August
On August 9, always a surreal day for me, we had our next ultrasound, which included the amazing 4-D ultrasound. This was the best 45 minutes of television I have ever seen. That weekend, we saw an opportunity to sneak away, and made another short lakehouse trip. Well worth doing while Nancy still could!
In the middle of August the Cincinnati Masters Series tennis tournament takes place. Aside from the Grand Slams, the Masters Series are the biggest, richest, and most prestigious tournaments in professional tennis. Every player in the top 50 in the world is required to play them. Although Dan has spent at least one day at this tournament for many years now, we began a new tradition in 2005. Dan typically takes a busload of members from the Tennis Club up to the tournament. Nancy will drive up later in the day, and after seeing the members off, Dan will join her for an evening in Cincinnati. We’ll then spend the next day at the tournament together. It’s a good time with tons of amazing tennis.
September
We kicked off the month with our final vacation as a childless couple, and chose Chicago, an old stomping ground of ours. Nancy made her second trip to Wrigley Field, although it was her first actual Cub’s game. The matchup was a classic- the Cub’s &Pirates were the worst and second to worst teams in the league. Still, a night game at Wrigley field is better than a night doing anything else.
I’ve always said that Nancy is a dork. As she is apparently a career student, this always seemed a defensible position, and as I work in sports and played sports, I must then be a jock. This trip proved, however, that we are both dorks, as we both spent and enjoyed virtually every minute of it trying to learn and soak in as much as we can. We spent one entire day at the Field Museum (very highly recommended), another day at the Adler Planetarium (incredible), and a day at the Brookfield Zoo. Of course, we also made some time for Chicago’s fine dining establishments, as well as the not so fine dining at Navy Pier, and a small chocolate shop very near our hotel in the heart of the Magnificent Mile.
On the back end of the trip, we spent several days in Indiana. Nancy was showered with baby gifts from our families, and I spent the day tailgating and watching Notre Dame’s only truly impressive outing of the season, as they whooped up on Penn State.
Two weeks later we spent a Saturday being educated on the ins and outs of childbirth. For those of you who have not spent 8 hours on a beautiful Saturday in September learning about effacing, dilating, & pushing, rest assured that it is every bit as boring as it sounds.
October
By the time most women are 8 months pregnant, they typically begin to slow down a bit. Nancy however, had it in her mind that this would be the ideal time to sit through 3 eight hour long comprehensive exams (Hebrew/Biblical Criticism, Akkadian, & History/Archaeology). Most students who finish their coursework in May, as Nancy did, wait until at least March of the following year to take their exams (and most do not pass all 3 even then). With the pregnancy, however, she wanted to try to squeeze them in before the baby came. I suppose that if someone continues to do amazing things one should no longer be amazed that they do, but we were nonetheless amazed when her results came back. She received a High Pass grade (a significant achievement) and is now officially ABD (All But Dissertation).
After passing her dork tests, Nancy was showered with gifts from friends at church and we had a couples shower with friends from the Tennis Club. Many thanks to Amber & Jan organizing the showers and also to everyone who came or sent gifts. Our baby is officially spoiled thanks to you all!
November
Finally, the month we had been waiting for all year arrived. This was to be the month when the Blob turned into a real person. Sure enough, we found ourselves heading off to the maternity ward in the middle of the month, but NOT to have the baby! Nancy was involved in a head-on collision just two weeks before the baby’s due date. Of course, the doctors wanted her to come in to monitor the baby, and they ended up keeping us in the maternity ward overnight. Although it was a disconcerting day, it did give us sort of a “dry run” at the hospital, which gave us a comfort level for when the real deal actually arrived.
And arrived it did. After a follow up appointment, Dr. Slone determined that the Blob was ready to make her grand entrance to the world. Nancy was quite simply amazing through the entire birthing process, which ended up as a Caesarian Section delivery. Almost a Thanksgiving baby, Sophie Lyne Erickson was born November 22 at 11:45 pm. By 11:46 pm she had me wrapped around her little finger. A belated apology to all of those whom I called at 12:30 am on Thanksgiving morning, but there is some news that one can simply not keep inside.
As it was Thanksgiving, Nancy’s parents were coming into town that night anyway to spend the holiday weekend with us. Having them there the very next morning to see us and (let’s be honest here) Sophie was wonderful. As joyful as the birth of a child is, I couldn’t imagine going through that experience without family close by. We love Kentucky, but we miss sharing our lives with our families, so having them there to see us in the hospital on Thanksgiving morning was so special for both Nancy & me.
The Dayton’s left on Sunday morning and passed Dan’s Mom, who was making her way down to Kentucky the same day. Not only was she a wonderful help, but she glowed with an unrestrained excitement that helped keep our energy up in those early days.
December
Nancy’s Mom was back to help out for the first few days of December. Not only did she keep us well fed while she was there, it will take us the rest of the month to go through all of the food she prepared for us and froze.
Both of our Mom’s were such a big help in those early days. Most importantly, they freed up Dan to get back to work and let Nancy have no responsibility other than learning to be a Mommy. Maybe it’s because Sophie was born at Thanksgiving, but we can’t stop being thankful for her and for all the help and support we’ve received from family and friends. We love you!
If you’ve made it this far (and if you have, you have too much free time), thank you for reading about our adventurous year. It’s been easy to see God working in our lives, both in the previous years and in this one. I know we will enjoy, and hope you do as well, celebrating the birth of our savior this Christmas. For the first time, it will mean something even more special to us.
January
January is typically Dan’s busiest month at work (so many companies, so many year ends…) and Nancy was trying to get her teeth into her final semester of classwork as a PhD student. Mostly, January in Kentucky is cold (but not too cold) and drab. There is a reasonable chance you don’t see the sun for the entire month. Good times.
In church news, after opening our new facility on Christmas Eve, we began a Saturday evening celebration in January. Nancy and I had been among the team to “plant” the early service several years earlier, so we thought it would be fun to do the same for the Saturday service. Although it started out a bit slow, we have really come to enjoy going to church on Saturday nights!
February
In the first weekend of the month, Nancy’s parents came to visit, and a wonderful time was had by all. Later in the month, there was Valentine’s Day, and in what I can only imagine is a coincidence, Nancy got pregnant.
March
On the first Saturday in March, Nancy & I were fortunate enough to have tickets to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. They played a mixed (read: somewhat random) selection, but it was well performed and we enjoyed getting a little culture for a change.
As a follow up to the February entry, March was the month that we received the wonderful news that Nancy was pregnant. Although we had been trying for a while, I was nonetheless surprised to hear the news on that Sunday morning. The rest of the week can only be described as “blurry.”
April
For the first weekend of Spring Break, Dan’s Mom and sister Kelsey came down to visit. The highlight was undoubtedly Mom’s first trip to the disc golf course. For several years now she had heard Dan & Mike talk about their new-found love for the game and she wanted to see what it was all about. She had a reasonably successful first outing, and she is now a (somewhat) regular playing partner with Mike.
May
The big news in the beginning of May was Derby weekend. Through some business friends, Dan was lucky enough to be able to buy a box for the Derby. So, splitting the box with Jan & Drew Deener, we decided to go for it. We knew that Nancy’s sister Amy had for years longed for a chance to go to the Derby, as horses have been a passion of hers since she was a little girl. It was our pleasure to be able to invite her along, and an even greater pleasure to see the look in her eyes at the event itself. In advance of the Derby, Dan was also invited to spend the day with work friends at the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. Between the two days, that was a once in a lifetime type opportunity that I will never forget (although I certainly hope that it won’t be once in a lifetime!).
June
On June 3rd, Dan celebrated his first annual 29th birthday. Nancy claims that Dan ate all of the birthday chocolate birthday pie, but I specifically remember her getting at least one piece. In any case, you are all invited to Dan’s second annual 29th birthday party next year. I think with some positive word of mouth, we could really turn this thing into a real event.
At the end of the month, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. As we fancy ourselves both traditional and modern we split the difference and got each other both iron and wood gifts. I was hoping this would mean a complete set of golf clubs for me, but it was apparently not meant to be.
July
We spent the first 5 days of July camping with Nancy’s family at Turkey Run. As far as I can recall, Dan won the annual fishing contest. Strange that there are no pictures of me with any fish, but I’m sure I won… We also celebrated Nancy’s cousin Faith’s half birthday, celebrated Nancy’s 28th birthday, reintroduced Nancy’s family to disc golf (Dad had to walk extra far that day), played croquet, and most certainly did not play any Jarts. That would be illegal.
August
On August 9, always a surreal day for me, we had our next ultrasound, which included the amazing 4-D ultrasound. This was the best 45 minutes of television I have ever seen. That weekend, we saw an opportunity to sneak away, and made another short lakehouse trip. Well worth doing while Nancy still could!
We kicked off the month with our final vacation as a childless couple, and chose Chicago, an old stomping ground of ours. Nancy made her second trip to Wrigley Field, although it was her first actual Cub’s game. The matchup was a classic- the Cub’s &Pirates were the worst and second to worst teams in the league. Still, a night game at Wrigley field is better than a night doing anything else.
October
By the time most women are 8 months pregnant, they typically begin to slow down a bit. Nancy however, had it in her mind that this would be the ideal time to sit through 3 eight hour long comprehensive exams (Hebrew/Biblical Criticism, Akkadian, & History/Archaeology). Most students who finish their coursework in May, as Nancy did, wait until at least March of the following year to take their exams (and most do not pass all 3 even then). With the pregnancy, however, she wanted to try to squeeze them in before the baby came. I suppose that if someone continues to do amazing things one should no longer be amazed that they do, but we were nonetheless amazed when her results came back. She received a High Pass grade (a significant achievement) and is now officially ABD (All But Dissertation).
After passing her dork tests, Nancy was showered with gifts from friends at church and we had a couples shower with friends from the Tennis Club. Many thanks to Amber & Jan organizing the showers and also to everyone who came or sent gifts. Our baby is officially spoiled thanks to you all!
November
Finally, the month we had been waiting for all year arrived. This was to be the month when the Blob turned into a real person. Sure enough, we found ourselves heading off to the maternity ward in the middle of the month, but NOT to have the baby! Nancy was involved in a head-on collision just two weeks before the baby’s due date. Of course, the doctors wanted her to come in to monitor the baby, and they ended up keeping us in the maternity ward overnight. Although it was a disconcerting day, it did give us sort of a “dry run” at the hospital, which gave us a comfort level for when the real deal actually arrived.
And arrived it did. After a follow up appointment, Dr. Slone determined that the Blob was ready to make her grand entrance to the world. Nancy was quite simply amazing through the entire birthing process, which ended up as a Caesarian Section delivery. Almost a Thanksgiving baby, Sophie Lyne Erickson was born November 22 at 11:45 pm. By 11:46 pm she had me wrapped around her little finger. A belated apology to all of those whom I called at 12:30 am on Thanksgiving morning, but there is some news that one can simply not keep inside.
December
Nancy’s Mom was back to help out for the first few days of December. Not only did she keep us well fed while she was there, it will take us the rest of the month to go through all of the food she prepared for us and froze.
Both of our Mom’s were such a big help in those early days. Most importantly, they freed up Dan to get back to work and let Nancy have no responsibility other than learning to be a Mommy. Maybe it’s because Sophie was born at Thanksgiving, but we can’t stop being thankful for her and for all the help and support we’ve received from family and friends. We love you!
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
The Brotherhood of the Traveling Disc
The Brotherhood of the Traveling Disc
Dan Erickson #29366
While I was ecstatic to once again have Red in my bag, there was a new dynamic between us. I sensed that perhaps he was not pleased about the addition of
On the day before the April Lexington Open, I was out with my brother and best friend, both named Mike, playing a practice round to prepare for the tournament. It was a miserable day, rainy and windy, but warm enough to keep us out on the course. On hole #8, which has a large river on the left, Red once again made a move towards his freedom and went straight towards the water. We could barely make out an outline of Red in the river, and were unable to get to him, but not for lack of trying. While we were trying our rescue attempt, another player, Seth White whom I had met only a few days earlier, appeared and began to help us get to Red. On the day I met Seth, we were both playing a round and got stuck behind an extremely slow foursome. I joined his group, and we played out the remaining holes together. While we were waiting for the group ahead of us to finish a long hole, I explained to them the miraculous story of losing Red for an entire winter and the strange circumstances that brought him back into my bag. Now by my side at the edge of the river, Seth clearly remembered Red’s journey, and was anxious to help me again get him back. After many unsuccessful attempts, our group decided to move on, leaving Red stranded once again. Seth stayed behind to fish out a few other discs from the river.
Five holes later, as our group was preparing to tee off, Seth came running up at our tee box, soaked head to toe, with Red in hand! He had finally dived into the murky and stagnant river to rescue Red. Furthermore, he made a point to run it up to us, despite the fact that he was no longer even playing his round. I was quite impressed that he had gone out of his way to both retrieve Red and hunt me down to deliver him. After offering my profuse gratitude, I tried to convince Seth to play in the tournament with us the next day, but he did not think that he would be able to. Thanking him again, he went on his way.
Still the same day, we found our way to the second tournament course to get in another practice round. Of course, I found a way to lose Red again. As I do not frequently lose discs, this was quickly becoming absurd. This time we managed to find Red, hiding way up in a tree. He had apparently come to the conclusion that hiding on the ground didn’t work, hiding in the river did’t work, and his only option was to hide in a tree. I was beginning to develop the theory that Red was no longer happy with me as his partner and was trying to abandon me. Sufficed to say, I did not throw him the rest of the round.
At the tournament the next morning, the first person we ran into was Seth. Apparently he had found time in his schedule to play the tournament (as he finished in the top 10, it was clearly a good decision). After exchanging pleasantries, we went to our respective holes and did not see each other again, although he did play a round with my brother.
In the weeks following the tournament, it appeared as though my relationship with Red was beginning to improve. He hadn’t tried to escape and was again finding proper paths around trees on his way to the basket. I thought that perhaps he had made peace with
That confidence was short-lived, however, as Red once again tried to run away, this time on Hole #1 (The first hole! What impatience!). Red left my hand and hit a tree a short 30 feet away and appeared to fall straight down. As Red traveled so little actual distance, I did not anticipate any trouble finding him. I should have, as I could not find him anywhere. Evidently, he had been recruiting help from various trees and underbrush in his plot to evade me. No longer willing to play his game, however, I gave up my search after a short 10 minutes. I had a strange feeling that someone was going to find Red and get him back to me, perhaps while I was still on the course. Although Red was good at hiding, I had learned that he was not good at staying hidden.
Although no one found my disc while I was still on the course, I received a phone call the next afternoon. “Hey Dan, this is Seth from disc golf.” Yes, that Seth. “I’ve found your Leopard… again.” Clearly, Seth had become Red’s unofficial caretaker. I’m not sure if this makes Seth Red’s Godfather, Patron Saint, or Guardian Angel, but he plays some sort of role in Red’s life. Perhaps I should add Seth’s name and cell phone on Red’s back, as he clearly prefers Seth to me.
As I once again thanked Seth for finding Red and hunting me down to return him, Seth encouraged me: “Don’t worry Dan. Every time I find your disc, I’ll get it right back to you.”
I have no doubt.
Dan with Orange (Shhh... Don't tell Red!)
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