2010 - Day Fourteen...

It is O-Dark-30 here in central Texas, and I have been up for a couple hours, just routine stuff. All prepared for class today, just kind of hanging out! Last night, Jody showed me some of the damage we sustained from the freezing temperatures last week. Our HUGE spineless cactus in one of the front beds kind of snapped in a couple places. I am not terribly worried about it, we will just take the pieces that snapped off and stick them in the ground somewhere, and we will have new plants. Not really sure if they snapped because of the cold weather (the weight of the plant may have been too much) or if it was from all the winds we had. Either way, if that is the worst that happens here, we are lucky indeed.

Okay, it is now 10:15 PM or so, and I just got home. It has truly been a long day. My two classes today were well received, and I enjoyed teaching them. I am always happy with new teaching subject matter, and this was a real delight to teach revised Ethics and Legal Updates. Both classes were REALLY LARGE! Over sixty students in each of the classes, and I am confident that some new knowledge was obtained by most of the attendees. I was able to learn a few things myself, which is one of my goals for every class I teach. Mission Accomplished.

It has been a relatively cloudy and overcast day, and it has in fact rained a bit while I was teaching. Once the classes were over, I was off to two personal (not business) appointments. The first was at a downtown restaurant, El Sol Y La Luna, on East Sixth Street. The occasion was sort of a preview party for a cruise I will be going on the first week of February. It will be a seven night cruise leaving from Galveston, and during the cruise, we will be able to take some real estate Continuing Education classes. SO, I am all for that. Take a cruise, take some classes, get a tan. I went on a similar cruise a few years ago, with all the agents in our office, and we had a really fun time. This time, I am the only one going from our office. Jody is not even going with me, he just does not want to go, so I am going to 'batch' it for a week. I am not really that excited about it right now, but I will start getting excited about it pretty soon. The closer it gets, the more excited I will get. I have several friends and colleagues that will be going on the cruise as well, so that will be lots of fun. Tonight I sat with my friends Mark and Shara, and they are a LOT of fun to hang out with, so we are all expecting to have a good time. I think there will be about 80 members of the Austin Board that will be on the cruise. I will be teaching one three-hour course on the cruise, so that is no great sacrifice.

After that, I headed up to La Zona Rosa on West Fourth Street. Since I did not really want to have the hassle of parking my car, I left my car at La Zona Rosa earlier, and Tom (our assistant) took me from there to El Sol y La Luna. From there, I took a cab back to La Zona Rosa. Can you tell me what is going on in our world. I admit, I have not been in a taxi in Austin, Texas for a while, but I have been in a few cabs in other cities within the last twelve months, and never before have I seen a warning about puking in the back of a cab...

Anyway, the function at La Zona Rosa was the kick off party for this years Hill Country Ride for AIDS, and I was the party sponsor. I have been a sponsor of the ride in various ways for several years, and I was one of the founding members of the ride back in 1999. There were LOTS of people at the party, and I knew three or four people in total. Back in 1999, there were a total of 79 rider (I think) and I new everyone (all the riders, all the staff, all the volunteers), but now I know only a few people. The Hill Country Ride for AIDS is the second most successful AIDS Ride in the United States. Last year, the ride raised over $650,000 for the benefit of AIDS related services in and around Austin. The fundraising goal this year is $700,000. If you want more information about the ride, or if you want to 'saddle-up' feel free to contact me, or you can go to the web-site, www.hillcountryride.org. Come on, get registered, have fun! I was fortunate enough to find one friend at the party that I was able to hang with, Steve. Thanks for the good conversation! Another good friend was there, Robert, a 'spoke buster'. If you are a rider, you will know what that means!

Okay that is it for now.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!