Newks Weekend...!

This has been a busy, busy week. The owners of the country club where I work have been making many capitol improvements to the tennis center. My sweet wife was feeling under the weather on Wednesday so I took Elijah to work with me all day Wednesday... It was fun, and Elijah had a very good time... Yesterday I had lessons in Clear Lake during the day and then here at Columbia Lakes last night.

Then late last night Connor helped me at the tennis shop with stringing a racquet while I worked on hanging the new wind screens. I'm actually going back to the tennis center in a little while this morning to try to complete the work I started last night. The rest of the morning will be packed with trying to tie up loose ends and preparing to leave for a trip to New Braunfels for a state tennis competition.

We're hoping to leave this morning by 11 AM. Monica, Connor, and Elijah are coming with me. I'm very much looking forward to this trip... We haven't taken a weekend trip away from home in a long time...!

That's about it... I probably won't post again until Sunday evening or Monday morning. Bye for now... Coach Sam

Tournament Time..!

Chris Reese pictured above in the blue shirt is among the 32 contestants competing in today's one day singles tournament....! This photo was taken earlier this year at our Columbia Lakes Spring Open where Chris Reese and his cousin Chris Rice won the mens doubles title.

Today I'm hosting a tournament. It's the first tournament under the ownership of the new owners of the club. I had hoped for a little bit larger turnout but it will still be a great event. Work crews have already started painting at the club and power washing everything. It already looks a whole lot better...!

I went to the chiropractor yesterday for my knee injury. He helped me do some deep stretches on my hamstring and quad muscles and I have been virtually pain free since then. My issue has always been flexibility.

And of course I'm currently in the worst shape of my life. My weight is hovering around 220 lbs and I'm too injured to exercise very much. Still, I'm encouraged by the results of my last doctor's visit. I'm going to focus solely on my flexibility the next week or two and see here I'm at a week into October!

That's it for the morning report... I've got lots of stuff to do to get ready for my tournament.

Bye for now... SC

Two of our other children...

Here's a photo of two of our four cats... Towards the back of the chair is Hobbes. He's our oldest cat. Gabriel (in front) is his 'Apprentice'... Not pictured is Lucy, our youngest. And Peepers lives at the tennis shop... Yes, we are a four cat family!

Today, Thursday, September 21... I have a jam-packed day... I have to leave for Clear Lake by 9:45 AM at the latest and then I have lessons from 11 AM to 2:30 PM. Then I get back here by 4 PM and have lessons at the club this evening and need to work on times for my tournament... I'll be done by 7:30 tonight (about 13 hours from now...)

Between now and 9:45 AM I have a ton of correspondence to complete so I need to close here...

Bye for now.... SC

Breakfast at Arno's

Here's the family enjoying breakfast at Arno's during our recent California trip.

Today I'll be hanging out at the tennis center quite a bit as the club will begin it's renovation and refurbishing of the facility, building, and grounds. That's exciting...!

And I'll be spending most of that time working on my upcoming tournament this weekend. It's looking pretty small right now, but I'm going to have it, none the less... And hopefully I'll have more people contact me to sign up today!

I hope Monica rests up today... She's been pretty exhausted lately. I'm going to try to keep Elijah as much as I can today to allow her to get caught up on things here at the house, and to rest...

I'm going to start a new section of my journal called 'looking back'...

Looking Back 5 Years Ago: Five Years Ago I was just quitting Bay Area Racquet Club for the second time in my life... (I should have learned well enough the first time...) I was attending Clear Creek Community Church and had just started dating Monica... Ten years ago I was working at Windsor Court in Friendswood. I was still in pretty good shape and was playing open level singles and doubles. Most of my free time ten years ago was spent looking after my mom who had numerous health issues... I had two computers and IBM 286 and an IBM 486. One still ran on a dos operating system and the other was the new windows 95... I remember that I hated making the transition from dos to windows...

Wow... I've come a long way in ten years....! Who'd have thought I'd be where I am now...?

OK, it's a little after 8 AM... I need to close here and start getting ready to go to the tennis center. Monica is not even up yet... That's good!

Talk to you later.... SC

A little Over Two Years on Blogspot

Here's a fun photo of Elijah and I this past spring.... It's amazing how much he's grown...!

I just realized that I have been blogging on blogspot for over two years now. Prior to my debut on Blogspot I journaled on AOL for sometime and of course I have volumes and volumes of hand written journals going back to my college years (over 20 years ago).

Journaling has been a way of life for me for most of my life. Journaling is quiet time, reflective time. Journaling requires discipline. I want to journal every day. But sadly, I've been too busy this past year to make faithful daily entries.

You know, life wasn't meant to be so busy. But having a teenager, a baby, and running one's own business pretty much takes up all a man's time... Sigh...

Still, whenever I get the opportunity to carve out little moments like this and just take time to let the words flow I feel better. Journaling is definitely good therapy. So why don't I just do it regularly...? Well, like I said... Life gets in the way...!

For instance, Monica's been ill for a couple of months now. She can't keep up with her normal routine. So I'm trying to get up a little earlier so I can journal and do my email correspondence and website updates before she gets up. That way I can be free to watch Elijah in the morning allowing Monica time to either rest or get caught up on her backlog of work.

I'm setting my alarm for between 3:30 and 4 AM every day. Some days I just can't get up... especially if the baby has had a bad night. That's when journaling falls by the wayside.

I told Monica that we still had a year or two of no or little sleep before things started to smooth out. Hopefully the track will be shorter than that...

Well, that's going to have to be it for this morning. I do need to get on with my day. Monica has just left to take Connor to an orthodontic appointment in Houston...

I have to order t-shirts for my tournament today.... I need to pick up some supplies for the tennis center... I need to work on getting a few more entries for the tournament.... And that's just the tip of the iceberg..

A quick catch up...

I wasn't able to blog yesterday because just I was starting my post Elijah awakened and I needed to spend time with him. And I'm not complaining... NO, No... In fact, there's really nothing I like to do more than just hang out and play with Elijah. He's such a sweet baby boy... But he's growing up a little more every day. I'll post more about him later this evening in his own blog.

This has been a busy week... Monica has still been feeling poorly with her chest condition. And my job has me going in three different directions...!

Today I'm spending a big chink of time on the phone trying to get people to register for my tennis tournament that is going to be held next weekend I have three entries so far and one of them is Connor... I'm hoping for seventy-five entries so I really need to get on the ball...! It sounds like a stretch, but I think I can pull it off... Well, that's my goal...

Connor played his first football game this past week. He was the quarterback... It rained the entire afternoon and the game was shortened and ended up in a 6-all tie...

Hobbes (one of our cats) got hurt in a fight and had to go to the vet... He's OK now, but will have to be on medication for a couple of weeks...

That's about it... My knee condition was really stressing me out earlier in the week but it seems to be recovering nicely now...

Well, I need to start getting ready to head to the tennis shop. Bye for now.... SC

Healthy Again...!

I replaced my old shoes yesterday and my knee is feeling much better today. It's really a dramatic improvement....! But I can't blog right now because Elijah is up early and I have to watch him so Monica can rest...!

More later... SC

Coach Sam's Family

Here's a fun photo taken Mother's Day 06. It was a very special day for our family. After church that day we went to Wharton for a nice meal and just kinda hung out. In this photo we were at the river park in Wharton. Connor is making his famous bunny ears, Monica is being sassy, and Elijah must have seen something interesting on the ground right as I was snapping the photo.

Today, Sept 11, 2006... Wow, today's date sure brings back memories. I devoted my prayer blog this morning to the memory of the trade center attacks. I hope and pray that today will be a day of peace in the world....

It has been a tough night for Monica... Elijah did not sleep well. I tried to get him to go down for almost an hour between 3 and 4 AM but was unsuccessful. Finally, Monica got him to go to sleep. poor Monica has not been sleeping well for some time... We're trying to take turns resting, but I wasn't any help this morning.

I have quite a few lessons today. I'll stay busy, that's for sure... And Monica's got a busy day lined up, too. She's going to take Hobbes to the vet this morning because he's sick. She may have to take Elijah in the Doctor, too. And she has bible study today at 12:30 PM...

I'll be working at the club stringing racquets. And I might be getting high speed internet in the tennis shop today... The new club owners are trying to help me be more successful by upgrading my work environment. That is very exciting...! Once I have internet in the tennis shop I'll be able to be lots more productive...

I didn't wear my new orthotics yesterday at all and my knee is much better today. It's not 100 % yet but I can definitely tell a difference, If I would have continued wearing the orthotics I'd eventually end up in a wheel chair. What I plan to do now is to get my knee healed up, then just start wearing the orthotics about an hour a day then work up to two hours and continue the progression until I'm wearing them all day.

I just started out wearing them for too long and my body could not adjust quickly enough. But remember back when I was complaining about my foot hurting all the time...? Well that pain is gone. I guess it's a trade off....

My pain meter is about a 5 on a ten point scale. Two days ago it was a 9...!

Well, that's about it for now... I'm going to publish a photo on connor's blog... You'll like that one... OK... See ya...

Coach Sam

The Marines Have Landed...!

On a much smaller scale I feel as the Europeans must have felt when the allies stormed the beaches on D-day during world war II....

Friday morning I learned that the place of my employment had been sold. The previous owners were in place for something like 18 years. Although I have only been working here as a contractor for 3 years I have come to call this place my home. I love this area, the people, and the way of life. This is living out in the country. It's a small community. People know your business. People care. My wife and I have bought a house in the community and have planted roots. I have a very strong vested interest in the success of Columbia Lakes Country Club.

Any way... I am under new management. I am happy. This is the start of a brand new day...!

Yahoooo....!