Blown away, cold records, expectations met

Randall and I were supposed to play volleyball in Fort Myers Saturday. The forecast for the day was not good, a high of 64 and windy. Wind and beach volleyball are never a good combination. It was very chilly. When we got to the beach I was glad I had sweatpants on. It was so chilly that Randall and I went to a local K-mart so he could pick up a pair of sweats. When we got back we saw a huge pack of people gathered around the tournament people. They were postponing the event due to wind. WTF, cancelled due to wind, that is a first. In retrospect it was a good idea, when I walked down to the beach it was a steady 25 mph plus, the sand was whipping me in the face, it would have been miserable. They were moving the event to Sunday, which I could not play because of the 5k. The tournament officials would not give full refunds to teams that could not play Sunday, instead theyonly would refund 20 of the 50 buck entry fee which was total bullshit. Their explanation was they already spent money in securing the event, buying prizes etc… so they could not refund all the money. Well that was ridiculous and enough to make me not want to play one of their events again.

The event was right near where the casino boat launched so I had the bright idea that maybe Randall and I could hop on the boat and spend the day gambling. I called,but was disappointed to hear they cancelled the boat today because of the wind. It was windy enough that when you looked out on the gulf you could swear you were looking at the Atlantic, on a stormy day. So we packed up and just went back to my place where Randall gave Ali and I some Texas Hold Em lessons. He deals cards part time and knows the game inside out. It’s funny how the game itself is simple but there are so many subtleties to it.

Sunday was race day, in a way I was glad I didn’t play vball Saturday because it meant I would be fresher for the run. The forecast was for it to be cold again, upper 40’s cold in the morning. Ali hates the cold and hates running in it even more. We bundled up and headed up to Cape Coral. Once we got out into the brisk air, Ali was pissed she forgot to wear gloves. Both of our hands were numb. We did our best to stay warm, jogging, stretching and moving constantly. Finally the race started. To make things worse, there was some wind on the course, making it feel even colder. We purposely started at the back so we could pass people. Ali’s pace was strong through the entire race. She was struggling with the conditions but she kept her pace steady and fast. We passed a bunch of people early on. With the GPS watch Ali could closely monitor our pace and I think it helped her. We finished the race officially in 28:45, according to the gps watch we actually did it in 28:30 something. Either way, Ali knocked more than another full minute off her time from the race on New Years day. We hoped her time was good enough to place her but she got 7th in her age group. Surprisingly, if she was in the 25-29 age group, she would have gotten 2nd. You never know how many people will show in your age range. It was a great performance by Ali, even with the nasty weather conditions.

On Monday there were supposed to be 2 things happening, our noisy, about ready to fall apart, pool pump was supposed to be replaced and our hurricane damaged water equipment was supposed to be replaced with a new upgraded system. My experience with the service industry since I moved to Florida has been overwhelmingly negative. Far more often than not, businesses over promise and under deliver here. Monday was a pleasant exception. By 11:30 am, both the pool pump and water equipment had been replaced! It was done early, correctly and efficiently. Damn that was cool. Now we can no longer hear the pool pump in our bedroom and the new water cleaning equipment is much lower maintenance, does a better job of cleaning the water and provides better water pressure inside the house. I’ll take some pics of the stuff sometime.

The water cleaner installer had a good line. Evidently he has had some back problems recently. My neighbor was over who just had shoulder surgery and they were comparing old age, body breaks down stories. The installer said , referring to how things go downhill quickly at a certain point “After 50, every year is like a dog year..”

We watched European Gigolo over the weekend, not as good as the first one, but tolerable. I played some more of the games that are on my Xbox, Gun, and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. Gun is a FPS that I could totally get wrapped up in, it’s a bit different because it is a western type format but very cool. Mortal Kombat is simply awesome. The graphics are unreal and the violence you impart on the enemies is as graphic and brutal as you can imagine, damn is it fun. I need to take a break from WoW once in awhile to come up for air. I hardly realize there are other games out there.