I had to visit a funeral home tonight, which of course led to the approximately twice-annual crisis of "Whoops, I still don't have a new suit, or at least jacket and shirt that fit."
So I hereby resolve to get right on that. Again.
Good news is my old jacket fits much better now than it did just a couple months ago, but I still need a new one.

The visit was for the passing of Mary Yates, the mother/mother-in-law/grandmother of quite a few of my friends. When I totaled it up I was amazed by how many of her descendents and their spouses and in-laws are my friends.

2010 ended well and 2011 is off to a good start.

I ended the year with a fun round of golf at Quail Chase. I had two cracks at my best nine of the year on the last day of the year. It didn't take much-my best nine was 45. The front nine all I needed was a bogey, but I triple-bogeyed thanks to a stupid decision (if it takes longer than 2 seconds to decide whether you can make it through a gap in the trees, the correct answer is NO.)
The back nine I needed a bogey again. I tripled again, but I plead justifiable distraction. Here's the story:
After finishing on 17 we encountered a golf cart traffic jam before the 18th tee. We saw five carts and nine or ten people all gathered around talking. They were focused on one old man sitting in a cart, and my initial thought was a health problem such as a heart attack or perhaps something less serious.
But when we rode up to check it turned out to be a golf cart accident. Two carts had collided on the crossing paths. The wheels on one cart had been knocked askew. I didn't see it, so I can't really judge, but still....stupid. Carts don't move all that fast, so one or both drivers probably did something very stupid. Anyway, the old man seemed to have injured his arm, but when we asked everyone assured us he was fine, and he really did seem to be okay. And they told us to play through.
We could hear sirens as we teed off on 18. By the time we were in the fairway the sirens were very close, and we joked that they were probably coming to Quail Chase because of the golf cart accident. Then just before I hit my second shot two emergency vehicles rode up the cart path, sirens still blaring. I hit a poor shot. By the time we reached the green two more police cars had also played through.
It was hard to concentrate.
I'm nearly 100% sure the guy was fine. My guess is they called the clubhouse after the accident, and the folks in the clubhouse decided not to take any chances.

2011 began with me doing nothing for several hours, then we went bowling, then several of us decided to go out for dinner at Logan's. I had a delicous steak-and-lobster tail, mainly so that I could say I've eaten lobster every day this year.

Resident Seer Reflects Upon 2010 Births

While the cable news programs have adequately covered (I'm guessing. I don't have cable) the retrospective reflections upon those important folk who, in this great year of two thousand and ten, kicked the proverbial bucket, it appears this humble blogger must step in and fill a shameful void by covering the year's births.

We turned to our in-house seer to provide the goods. So without further ado, here is your year in newborns:

January 4) Anna Nicole Nicole. Teen pop sensation will win multiple Grammies and set numerous sales records before falling into obscurity after 2028. Will star in a short-lived sit com in 2047.
January 11) John Wayne Soterman. Notorious mass murderer will kill 19 people and injure 17 others before shooting himself. Related side note: if you happen to be living in Ft. Worth in the year 2041, April 8 is not a good day to go shoe shopping.
February 13) Barack Obama Sinclair. 58th president of the United States, will be known chiefly for his controversial decision to permanently end U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
April 21) Meng Lau Yow. Developer of orally-administered cancer cure. Cure will first be marketed in 2047. Unfortunately, no one will be able to afford it.
May 3) Artimus 'Happy' Henderman. Star of the successful "Happy" series of movies, including "Happy Joins A Cult" and "Happy and the Hand Grenade."
July 31) Greta Senata. In the year 2043 becomes the first woman to swim from Poughkeepsie to Boston. Dozens of previous attempts, each of course tried after global warming and rising sea levels made the feat possible, all ended in failure.
August 11) General Juan Miguel Santos. Famed drug lord, supreme president (El Presidente Supremo) of Mexico and the New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California territories. China will send troops to stabilize the region in 2054, but will not succeed in overthrowing Santos until his death in 2067.
September 30) Liam Anderson. In the year 2068, Anderson will conclusively prove either the existence or the non-existence of God. But we won't spoil the surprise!

Some other famous people were born October thru December, but my dinner is ready so I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

As it turns out, nothing is wrong.

There, now that I've completely ruined the suspense, here's the story:

I had a routine doctor's appointment Tuesday afternoon which included a routine contribution of various bodily fluids for subsequent testing.

Thursday night at bedtime I realized my telephone had been turned off all day. One missed voicemail message was a request to call my doctor's office.

Well, I thought, that sucks.
I knew very well they didn't want me to call because they wished to congratulate me on my excellent health. Something was wrong.

So I worried about it as I tried to go to sleep, and I started worrying about it again as soon as I woke up. Three hours later, when the doctor's office finally opened, I called to get the bad news, which was: just a mild vitamin D deficiency and I need to start taking a vitamin per day. No big deal.

And for the record, I didn't fret that much. I exaggerated to make the story more exciting. I was less worried about a severe problem than I was about the possibility I would need to go back and give another blood sample or something, thus requiring some schedule finagling at a time when I'm already working 11 and 12 hour days.

Vitamin D, though? I thought it a weird vitamin to lack, because exposure to sunlight pretty much took care of it. Then I realized how little time I've spent out-of-doors since softball season ended and figured that might be the cause. So perhaps the drastic cutback in golf has had some health consequences after all.

I was reading up a bit on the Soviet-Afghan war of the 80's when I came across a picture of the Afghanistan flag circa 1980-1987.
It struck me that the flag's seal looked a lot like Professor Chaos (Butters from South Park).

Anyway, according to the Wikipedia entry, here's what the seal actually represented:
"...a rising sun (a reference to the former name, Khorasan, meaning "Land of the Rising Sun"), a pulpit and the Qur'an for Islam, ribbons with the national colors, a cogwheel for industry, and a red star for communism"

Because I'm quite sure that everyone wants to know what I have been reading (I'm like Oprah in this way), here's a brief update.

It had been a good long while since I read anything noteworthy. I ran into a string of disappointing books and struggled to find anything I liked. Among the disappointments was "Martin Chuzzlewit." I guess I am just not a Dickens fan, but once in a while I give him another try.
Finally I took up the Stieg Larsson trilogy upon a recommendation from my parents. I was impressed. All three books were very entertaining. Two thumbs up.
Yesterday I bought a few used books, including a couple by P.G. Wodehouse. I've heard lots of good things about him over the years and finally decided to check him out. I've made a decent start on the first and I am impressed again.
I expected the humor to be a little dated. It is that, but still he's quite funny. In lots of ways the stories remind me of very old sit coms- the humor is along the lines of Burns and Allen or I Love Lucy. And those were good shows. Plus, since Wodehouse predates them by a couple of decades maybe they were actually stealing his style and material.

The Mad Procrastinating Handicapper Makes His Pick

I'll pick Blame in the Breeders Cup Classic.

Wow. That was easy. I wish I'd thought of making picks after the race a long time ago.

It was a great two days of racing. I don't know who came up with the Breeders Cup idea, but it was a good one. It's a great event every year.

I ended up just a few dollars down for the weekend.

While at work Friday I was a little perturbed because for some reason I couldn't bet by phone. I was even angrier when I lost out on a winner the 2nd race because of it. But it turns out I would have ended up at almost exactly even overall on the bets I didn't get to make, so no harm done.

Then today I lost big for a while, then made a steady rally for the last 3 races to almost break even again. Almost, but not quite.