Cold Soggy Start

Agggh...! The weather is yucky today. But I'm heading to Columbia Lakes in a few minutes anyway. The radar shows a gap in the rain around West Columbia, although it's sure to get some rain a little later. I know I'll have a few students if it is dry. Plus, I've got 5 racquets to string today and lots of paper work I can do. Monica's going to come with me today, too. She's going to work on some art projects.

I weighed in today at 228...! Another Agggh...! But for some reason I've got a good feeling the weights going to come off quickly. Monica has promised to help me. We're going to really work hard at encouraging each other through our weaknesses...

I'm so fortunate to have such a sweet, loving wife...!

I slept in a little this morning, so I need to close here. But I'll be back this afternoon with an update...! Thanks for checking in on my journal.

Try to stay warm and dry the next few days... Bye for now,

Coach Sam

Weekend Recap

I went to Columbia Lakes every day this week except Thursday. That's a record for me.

I played 3 sets of singles on Saturday afternoon and my feet are starting to bother me again. I've been having trouble walking today. Man, I've really got to lose some weight quick or I won't be able to function on the tennis court...! I was really good with my diet all day today...!

We've been having trouble with Monica's Jeep again. And the first place we took it too kept it for 3 days and couldn't fix it so we dropped it off at a Jeep dealership near our house early this morning. Then we went to church in Clear Lake, then drove to West Columbia for a little afternoon tennis event. We got home at 9:00 PM.

I'm going to watch a little TV and then get to bed for an early start tomorrow. There's a good chance of rain tomorrow. I may have a long office day. That wouldn't hurt my feelings...!

Well, that's about it for now. I'll check back tomorrow morning.

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Still Swamped...!

I haven't had much free time to write lately. Today will be my shortest day. I had a few lessons cancel this morning so I don't have to be at Columbia Lakes until 10 AM. I've got one group lesson then lunch with my wife who's joining me today... Then a little singles practice for Coach Sam...!

Yesterday I spent the entire day at Columbia Lakes Monitoring a High School tournament that was being held on our courts. I made a lot of good contacts, but it was an all day effort and I was worn out by the end of the day...!

I'll write more later tonight....

Bye for now...! Coach Sam

Big Week Update...

You read about my big week back on the 24th. Well, I'm just now able to post again in my journal. It's been THAT busy. Last night I didn't get home until 11 PM and I was able to sleep in this morning until 8 AM...! Woohoo...! I feel pretty good now but I was wiped out last night.

This morning I'm at home working on the computer all morning until about Noon. I've got things to sign up for online, emails to send, reports to make... Then I have to head down to League City for my afternoon lessons.

Its' just a BIG Week... Like I said earlier...!

The good news is that it might rain Friday and Saturday which would lighten my load a little bit. Unfortunately it would lighten my wallet, too...! But I definitely have a slower day next Tuesday...! Yea...! I can look forward to that...!

Well, I gotta dive into some other projects this morning. Thanks for reading my journal. Bye for now.

Coach Sam

Big Week...!

The next seven days are big...! I've got lots of lessons all week and two school tournaments at Columbia Lakes. One on Tuesday and one on Friday. Today is especially a crucial day. I need to lay the foundation for a good and productive day. There is a ton of stuff for me to do... I need to start by packing up and preparing for a full day away from home. I'm contemplating spending the night at Columbia Lakes to get caught up on everything I need to do this week. We'll see about that...

Anyway, I'll probably log in with an update this afternoon. I need to journal frequently to keep my sanity. Plus, believe it or not, there's many people that like to keep up with my schedule and my thoughts. Occasionally I'll write something funny, and every now and then I may even write something profound. (Although that occurence is extremely rare is does happen sometime...!)

Sorry that so far today hasn't been one of those funny or profound days yet. But cheer up, the day is still young...!

Thanks for reading my journal.

I'll CATCH YOU THIS AFTERNOON WITH AN UPDATE~

Coach Sam

Sunday Night Update...

Sigh... It has been a long day. I don't know where to start... I'm wiped out... At least the tournament was completed and without any problems.... I've got a busy, busy week ahead of me... Starting with an early morning tomorrow!

I may log back on later, but if not... Then I'll be back in the morning.

Thanks,

Coach Sam

Updating the Tournament...!

4:45 PM I'm at home and getting phone results from the various sites from the tournament. At the moment I'm waiting for a call back from two different sites... I'm also helping Monica with housework. So I'm triple-tasking for those of you keeping score...!

5:00 PM... I'm back to waiting for results again... I should have pretty much updated everything by 6 PM then I'm going to take Monica out on a date tonight...!

5:42 PM... I've almost got everyone's results... There's just a few more matches left...! I'm taking a break....

Coffee Break

1:52 PM... I'm taking a few minutes off from the tournament to have a delicious Cafe Mocha from Diedrich's...

The tournament is going well so far. And I've taken a few photos to remember the event with.

Tomorrow's supposed to be cold. I hate that for the players, but that's tournament tennis...!

I'm about to pack up and head back out... More later...!

Coach Sam

Tournament today.

I'm helping with the Bay Oaks Junior Gran Prix today. I'll post a full report this evening...!

Have a nice day and thanks for reading my journal...!

Coach Sam

Monica at 12 weeks

At 12 weeks Monica is just starting to 'show'

Sam at 12 Weeks...

Here's me at the same stage of Monica's pregnancy. (12 weeks) Note that I am trying to push out my stomach as far as possible. So far I'm leading in the big baby belly contest...!

Friday Afternoon At The Coffee Shop...

Ahhhh.... I've had a few minutes to relax and check my messages and just chill out for a bit. I've been on the court this morning from 8 AM to 11:30 AM, then had a meeting at Bay Oaks, then lunch with my friend Eddie, and then off to a tennis supply whole sales shop and now I have an hour to spare before my next lesson. That really translates to only 15 minutes because I need to run an errand before my lesson starts, but hey... That's the first free 15 minutes I've had today.

I've got two more lessons this afternoon, then Monica and I are going to a small group bible study after that. It'll be a late night. But a good one...!

I'm encouraged. I've had a good day today. Busy, but good.

I think I'll close here and post the baby belly photos.

At the time of the photo I was 224 lbs. Monica's exact weight is not going to be published. At 12 weeks my belly is considerably larger. But hopefully we'll see a nice contrasting progression of Monica's belly growing and my belly shrinking in the up coming weeks...!

So much for the ground rules in week one...!

Well, I needed to get up at 4 AM and I had a bit of a restless night.. I awakened at 1, 2 and 3 AM but went back to sleep. The alarm went off at 4 AM and I started my morning prayers but dozed off and didn't wake up again until 4:35... Now I'm rushing around trying to get everything done before I need to leave at 6:45 this morning to head off for my morning Nassau Bay lessons.

I have a lot of touching up to do on my tournament draws and then I need to publish them to the internet and then print up a few reports before I head out. I need to get right on that but I will have a little gap in my schedule this afternoon so I'll log on later and publish the baby belly pictures...!

Bye for now... Have an Awesome day... Coach Sam

Bad Day for the Pine Tree...!

Here's the tree guy. His name was 'Rick'. He spoke in a very loud volume. It must be that he spends too much time around chain saws.

Funny, the tree looked more substancial than this when it was standing up...

Here's all that's left. I'll see about getting a stump grinder later on... 

Day One: New Ground Rules

Well, Yesterday was the first day of my new rules to rest more and have a sane schedule. Unfortunately, I already broke the rule by getting home at about 11 AM. I had too many distractions yesterday at work to get all my projects done so I stayed a little later and finished up. At least I compensated by sleeping in a little later this morning...

I got out of bed at nearly 7 AM today....! That's pretty good for me...! I'm about to plan my day after I write a few words of wit. I'm listening to RC Sproul in the background on my laptop as I compose today's journal entry.

My day stacks up like this... I have between now and about 11 AM to work out of the house. Then I need to head toward Clear Lake and League City. I need to wrap up any tournament business at Bay Oaks, then head to League City for my afternoon lessons. I teach today from 2 to 7 PM then I head home. If all goes well I should be home a little after 8 PM tonight. I like the thought of that...!

Today I posted a few pics of the tree coming down. This tree was dead. Killed by pine bark beetles before we even bought the house. Some of the other trees near by have the same condition but I think we can save them. I need to get some treatment to spray them soon.

Tomorrow I'm going to post some stomach photos of Monica's pregnancy. She's 12 weeks along, today! I'm looking out my window at the sunrise. It looks like it's going to be a nice day.

Thanks for reading my journal. I'll check you later.

Coach Sam

OK, Some New Ground Rules...!

Alright, here I go. I've got to get a handle on my insane schedule once and for all. Especially in the area of sleep and rest. I'm just not sleeping enough. I've got to really manage my time better. I need to work some set hours, period. I just need to do the best I can and be satisfied that I gave it my best effort in the time I had. I can't keep trying to stay up late and getting up early to get caught up. I'm only staying run down and less productive in the over all process.

I like my morning routine. I get up around 4 AM to have quiet time. I like to start my day with prayer and conversation with God. Then I like to come right here to my journal and pour my heart out to the world in this forum. I don't know how many people read these lines and that doesn't really matter. I think my wife reads me daily. And so do a few friends and family. Sometimes I'm writing for you guys, but mostly it's just for me. This is how I get my act together and organize my thoughts. How I stay Sane...!

Recently I've been under the conviction that I'll one day have a new journal subscriber: my future son or daughter. I am now constantly aware that everything I do and say and write will be under the scrutiny of the next generation of Chadwell's one day . Well, they'll find out that Coach Sam was a mess at times. But he tried hard to get his act together.

And hey, don't get worried here, I'm not writing my eulogy or anything. I'm just aware that when I am finally gone from this earth, that my child will read my journal to find out what kind of man his dad was. That's 'kinda' neat.

I wish my dad would have left me more of a legacy like that. I really can't say I knew him very well. Isn't that sad..? Well, I'm not going to have that for my child, no way.

So... How to get a handle on the schedule...? Well I haven't completely got that figured out yet. It might eventually mean moving closer to work and church one day. It might mean eventually taking on an assistant professional to help me with my lessons load. It definitely means better and more complete planning out every day and not having any wasted precious minutes during the time that I am clocked in. And it definitely means clocking 'out' at a certain time every day and getting enough rest.

OK, it's 7:08 AM. I'm allowing myself two hours to journal every morning and my prayer journal took up more time than I thought it would, but then I didn't get as early a start as I had intended, either. But regardless, I'm out of time here.

Thanks for reading my journal. I'll be back with another report tomorrow morning...!

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Nice Weather we're having.

I certainly can't complain. It's been a little cool here and there, but over all, I'm having the best January I've had in a long time...! Yesterday was a particularly good day. I'll elaborate a little more later, but right now I need to work on the Bay Oaks Tournament. I need to publish first round match times and site directions on the internet.

I'll be back in a little while.

Bye for now... Coach Sam

TIMBER...!

Yesterday I had a big pine tree in our front yard cut down. It was deadened had been dead since we moved in. It was a victim of the evil Pine Bark Beetles. We need to treat our other trees so they don't meet the same fate. Anyway, I'm glad it's gone now... It was a real safety issue!

Let's see, working backwards here... I raked a bunch of leaves in the yard yesterday. We've got a lot of leaves but nothing like last year. I think we had something like 50 bags of leaves last January because the previous owner hadn't done yard work in a long time.

Monica and I also made a trip to home depot so we could start some more home improvement projects. We started our day with church and it felt very good to get back into our normal Sunday routine again.

Today I have lessons all day in West Columbia. I need to do some billing before I head out so I need to close here. I'll be back tomorrow with a full report.

Bye for now... Thanks for reading my journal. Coach Sam