Another Cypress

Saturday

I headed into the office this morning but couldn't get in. I was lucky to get into the building at all but someone was moving office so the front door was open. However, although my electronic pass was set up for access over the weekend, the front door of the office was physically locked and a key was required as well.

I hadn't organised golf as I was expecting to work at least part of the day. I called one of the courses I was interested in but they were busy and so I called Cypress Lakes and was able to get a tee time about 90 minutes later. There was an on-line slot available about an hour after I called but there was no way I would have made that time.

This is the third Cypress named course I've played here. Cypresswood is also here in Houston and Grand Cypress was in Florida.

This course was what I'd call a parkland course, some thing like Collier Park and similar courses in Perth. It was pretty much mown grass from edge to edge although this was that Velcro grass which I was told today is Bermuda Grass. (No wonder they have it in Florida). There were occasional clumps of reeds and a lot of conifers but again no rubbish underneath those tress.

There were however a number of Lakes, living up to the course name. I lost 2 balls on the 2nd hole which did not bode well if it had continued. Fortunately there were only a couple of others later in the round and I did find 3 or 4 balls so more or less even on that score.

Speaking of score, I was reasonably consistent with bogies today but had a few pars which more or less compensated for the few doubles to finish with 89, my second round under 90. I played with 2 friends (ex workmates) off the white tees which were the second longest on this course. The course boasted that it had been voted best greens in South East Texas and they were pretty good and quite fast.

We got around the front 9 in 1:50 but were held up a bit more on the back 9. Still, 4 hours after tee time I had loaded the gear in the car and was heading out the carpark, so it was a good time.

The route from the tom tom to get there was reasonable but there was a lot of roadwork so I tried one of the google suggested routes on the way home. I avoided the road works but we seemed to go all over the place until I recognised the main road to the Woodlands mall.

I wandered through Macy's, some mall shops and finally Sears where I bought a dress and 2 pairs of slacks for under $70 in total. The slacks will work for golf or the office.


Picked up some more crab clumps for dinner, this time the Dungerness variety.

China golf

Saturday

Since I had change my depature to today, I had to have an early tee time. I played on a public course near Conroe, less than 30 minutes away.

This was the Wedgewood course and from the back tees has a slope of 130 and a rating over its par - ie quite hard.

My original time was 9-30 on my own, but I actually hit off just after 9, since there were no other bookings when I checked in. The starter pointed out the green and said this was one of the few holes where you could actually see the green from the tee. (Par 3s excepted) he was pretty right as many holes had doglegs whent over a hill or both. There was also a lot of water about, creeks, lakes and so forth.

I had driven off, right down the fairway and was on my way to the ball when I realised I hadn't taken a photo. I drove back for that and a pair had arrived and we joined up. They said they weren't very good but as there were 3s and 4s in front it didn't really make the round any slower.  We did fall a bit behind and a single caught up to us on the 5th. The others were happy to let him through so I joined him and we played as 2 pairs. We soon caught up to the group in front and were waiting almost all of the time after that. Interestingly, the 2 I started with never quite caught up to us.

I was starting to look at the time after about 12 holes. I was hoping to finish no later than 1-30 and preferably earlier. In the end, It was just before 1 when we got to the 18th tee. The group in front was still waiting as the group in front of them had not even played their second shots. I decide this was enough and skipped the hole, leaving the carpark at 1.

 Unfortunately, about the 14th hole, after showing some photo to my partner, I dropped my camera and it hit the cart path. It never turned back on so I used the iphone for the rest of the round.

The course was indeed challenging. I lost a couple of balls, found a few so pretty even. Because of the doglegs etc, many of the views from the tees were relatively uninteresting and it wasn't till later that you got the view of the lakes , bunker,s elevation changes, swales etc that made the course and the pictures interesting. Quite often the best view was looking back from the green.

I mainly had bogeys with a few pars and some bad holes, so would not have broken 90 if I'd finished the round. I did however play from the longest, hardest tees.

The earlier finish meant I was back at the hotel, showered and packed by 2pm. This gave me time to see Tony and Lisa one last time. They had returned from their Porsche club trip and hour earlier after being delayed a day due to a flat tyre. I took some birthday cake and a few left over items.

I was back in the hotel in time for the limo pick up and in fact we left a bit earlier than scheduled. No locked keys in car incidents this time.

Despite getting into the lounge in Orlando the United people didn't class my ticket as an acceptable criteria for entry. They did tell me I would have access in LA - big deal I was expecting that anyway.

I headed for the lounge and found that there was free internet anyway so was able to do a few things there. It was quiet and I realised I was 1 gate too far. There were still plenty of people in the boarding queue but obviously it had started some time earlier.

The first class in the US is more or less the same as business class within Australia. 2 seats instead of 3 and we did get a meal, and drinks. I had a bloody mary and 2 whisky/cokes.There was a film but this plane did not have individual screen as in the flight to Houston and I wasn't really interested in it. I watched some stuff on the ipad, had a bit of a nap and the time passed quickly enough.

The NZ lounge in LA was fine. It did take a while to get there since I had to change from terminal 7 to 2. There is a shuttle bus which I took. I have been through LA 4 or 5 times and never realised it was available and always walked.

The Business class seats on this flight were in the herring bone pattern - ie diagonal - so everyone has aisle access. Cathay has a similar layout but different seats. Once we were airborne I tried to get it to lean back and was surprised to find it didn't go that far. The Cathay beds just recline all the way back to flat. NZ has a different approach with the seat back folding forward to complete the flat bed with the foot rest at one end. This eliminates the problem of dips and joins between sections when the chair is folded backwards.

We had a nice meal, a few more drinks and I watched a number episodes of Episodes. This comedy was on OZ TV but I missed the first series and saw only some of the second.  I watched the first 6 episodes and then changed to the bed layout about 1am LA time (3am Houston, 10pm Auckland).  I had a solid 5 hours before I woke. After that I dozed a bit, watched more episodes and so forth till they turned the lights on for breakfast. One of the stewards reset the seat configuration and asked why I hadn't used the mattress. I thought it was an extra thick doona.

We had a delayed take off because a couple of unfortunates lost their passports and weren't allowed on and their bags had to be off loaded. Consequently we were late in with some people missing their connections. Since I have 6 hours, this is not an issue for me.
 I had a look for a replacement camera in the duty free but it seems you can get one on line in Oz for much less..

Let the celebrations begin

Friday

This was my last day in the office so I decided it was close enough to take a birthday cake along. My final party is Saturday week so it is a Birth-fortnight this year, not just a birthday.

I just got the cake at HEB the supermarket but is was surprisingly good, despite the spelling error.

While I was there I notice the king crabs were on special so that was an easy choice for dinner.

I finished tidying up the improvements I had made by lunch time so the afternoon was relatively stress free. I fixed a couple of small bugs and thought about some further improvements but did not start anything.

I put through a last load of washing in the evening and pack 80% of my stuff ready to go.

About 10-30, I thought I'd book my seats and found that this last ticket had dropped my flight to LA from First to economy class. 3 long phone calls to AirNZ (who issued the ticket but couldn't access the first class seats) then United, who could access the seats and release them to NZ and then NZ again who said United hadn't changed anything. I said sort it and went to bed. An email arrived about 12-30 with the changes made.

Pining Away

Sunday

Another boring but necessary morning completing those edit forms before heading out for a game at Gleannloch Pines. I had called them on Saturday without success so tried again and got an early afternoon booking. Or at least I thought I had.

When I turned up they said they hadn't anything recorded and I thought perhaps I'd mixed up the numbers and I had a booking at a different course.
When I got back later I checked and I had called them, so they stuffed up not me.

Anyway they were quite accommodating and gave me the same tee time I thought I'd booked on the phone. I played with 2 father-son pairs. The elder pair were Jim and Jimmy. Jim was a marshal at the course and was in his 70's. The other was 8 year old Pax, who was practising for a tournament to be played on the course in a few weeks and his Dad who was caddying for him. He hit a nice ball but his pre-shot routine was a bit slow.

I played off the golds with Jimmy and out drove him as often as not. Both Jims were impressed. This was one of my best rounds with an 84. I had only 2 6s on the front 9 and was trying to have none on the back, but bogeyed the last which was a par 5 after over-shooting the green. I did have a very long eagle put on the other par 5 but 3-putted, so couldn't even manage the birdie.

The weather was much better than Saturday. The course was also in great condition and, though more open than some others, still had some water to contend with. They have 27 holes and we started on the Loch. It was terribly slow with everyone waiting almost every shot. Pax left us after 9 and we headed to the Gleann, since all those groups that were in front of us earlier were playing the Pines. We were much faster on the back but still well over 4 hours all up.

Week days

I stopped in at the mall on the way home and bought some tops at JC Penny's - $5 each - then another slightly more expensive one at Sears, using up the $5 gift card from  the previous purchase. I saw some well priced trainers but was wearing sandals and they had no Try-on socks available. I went back on Wed and bought them and by then the racks of cheap tops were gone, so timing was fortunate. Of course they are closing out heir summer range so it is a great time for me to be buying for our summer.

Tony has the week off and he and Lisa Headed off Sunday on a Porsche club rally that finishes Friday.  Brandon senior is in Norway and Brandon junior had a surprise rush trip to Abu Dabai. Andy, the boss was off for a 4 day meeting at headquarters, so suddenly the 4 people I have been working for have all disappeared for the rest of the week. Junior gave me a list of priorities and we worked out what was required. I still had to call him in AD to sort out the final details.

Tuesday was of course the election and I watched the coverage till late in the evening. Mostly CNN but flipping to other channels now and then. It was interesting that the state of play (ie how many electoral votes each candidate had) varied so much between stations. Eventually they called it for Obama again a different times but between 11 and 11-30.  since then it has been recriminations in the Republicans and joy amongst the democrats. About 7 or 8 Republicans who shot their mouths off about rape all lost, much to the glee of most women and a lot of men.

It is now Thursday night and I have just about wrapped things up. Some items never got started but at least I have an idea of what to do when I get home. I did some more shopping tonight so my suitcase will no doubt be full. Surprisingly, apart from some T shirts and caps bought on course, I haven't bought anything for golf. I did try out the RBZ 5 wood and broomstick putters at Golfsmith last Friday but couldn't convince myself they were worthwhile.

I have a birthday cake ordered for tomorrow and some of the guys who are here said they'd come for drinks.
I have change my flight home to a day earlier so will leave on Sat afternoon and get home Monday. I seem to already have a meeting organised for Tuesday.

Completing the triangle

Saturday

After working on those repetitive tasks on Sat morning I needed a break and called around for a tee time. I tried a number of courses without success due to tournaments or bookings. I am trying to played courses I have not played before but did try a couple that I had played last year. In the end I played at Grand Lake thus neatly connecting Grand Cypress and Cypress lakes that I have already played this trip.

It was about 1/2 hour to drive there and I almost missed the turn off to the course. There was no grand club house there but a very large shed with a pro's office in one corner. The carts ran on petrol. Last time I used one of those was at Wolf Creek, where the hill were too steep for normal carts. However I suspect the reason for their use on this course was that it didn't require them to be recharged.

I was the only booking for 1/2 hour but before I was finished getting ready a guy pulled in so we plated together. He played there quite often, which is always a help.

The course itself was good with hard, fast greens. The first few holes are tree lined but then it opens out into a more Links type course. You do need to cross roads several times and the outer holes wind between houses.

I was intending to play off the golds, second longest and walked past the rear most tee on the first. My partner said he'd play the White which are the second shortest of the 5, since he was nearing 60 and knew his limits. As it turned out I actually played off the black and decided I'd do the whole course from them.

My front 9 wasn't anything special with no pars and a 50. My partner left on the 8th, saying he had to meet up with someone. Maybe this was true or maybe he knew what was coming.

I actually played the par-5 9th quite well, with a long carry need to reach the fairway followed by a good 5 wood to a short distance from the green. The hole had a big dogleg to the left and the green itself was a huge boomerang. (see left) The pin was at my end but you could have been on the other end and not been able to putt at the hole. My chip was just short and I only managed a Bogey.

The next was a par 3 and I could only just see the flag from the extreme left of the tee. I did a great 4-iron to hit the green and then had regulation pars on this and the next 2 holes. The 4 in front of me let me play through on the 3rd of these and then the rain cam down. I did have an umbrella - in the car boot, since it was sunny when I started. Water proofs came on though. I got thoroughly soaked over the next few holes and there was lightning all around. I was counting the time between the flash and the thunder and it was 10 - 15 seconds so it was a long way off, but it was still a bit worrying. I didn't know where I was relative to the club house so I just kept playing, taking breaks when the rain got too heavy and eventually finished the round. By then it was clearing up anyway. A 44 on the back gave me a less than impressive total but it was from the "tips'.

Even with the rain delays I was round in about 3 1/2 hours.

I had intended to go straight to Tony's from golf but with the early finish and being soaked, opted for the hotel a shower and a change of clothes.

Week 2

This week was pretty busy at work. There was a list of tasks to do sent to me a month or so in advance, another discussed when I arrived. The enhancement that has kept me busy for several days wasn't even on it. Still it was deemed important and eventually was finished, along with a number of other items that were on the list.

Tony and Lisa had me over for dinner a couple of times and I even had some of the free meals provided on Mon-Wed at the hotel. The two experiences were polar opposites. Lisa always puts a lot (and I mean a LOT) of effort into her meals and they are quite delicious. The hotel meals however are cheap and basic  Hamburgers, macaroni and the like. I did eat out a few times as well. I had prime rib and a cocktail called a Maverick at the Saltgrass Steakhouse one night.

I also got to the shops and bought a dress and 2 pairs of pants at Sears in the sale. About $75 all up including tax. The pants are good enough for the office and comfortable enough for golf.

As I was expected to work over the weekend I bought home the extra monitor I use at work. This makes programming much easier than trying to do everything on one screen. The unscheduled enhancement resulted in 69 tables being updated and the screens used to display and edit the data also needed to be updated. Very easy but repetitive and boring, hence the reason I left it to the weekend.

Up the river

Sunday

After a late night watching the final of the golf in KL, I finally was up and about by 10am. I called River Plantation, who were full yesterday. Today they were wide open, with a group of 3 I joined at 11 and the next group at 11-30.

They were a family. Dad plus son and son-in-law. The latter lives on the 9th fairway of the first 9 we played. They self identified as not very good golfers. Accurate but we still had fun. WE played off the gold tees today. These were again the second longest but overall the course was quite a lot shorter than most if not all the others I've played on this trip.

This course has 3 9 hole courses and we played the Biloxi and Charleston. The course had some of the characteristics of the last 2 course I had played. Some of it was parkland and part was narrow and tree lined.

The first 9 had 5 holes with water but today I managed to avoid losing any balls in the lakes. I went out in 42 with 3 pars. I started the second with 2 doubles. I had visions of a repeat of some of those Florida games but today I got back on track and had only bogies and a couple of pars after that.

This 9 had one of the trickiest holes. It was a par 5 with a sharp right hand dogleg at the start guarded by high trees. I hit a 6 iron the the corner. There was a deep creek bed along the left side that then ran across the fairway in front of the green, so I played a 5 iron to lay up. It wasn't till I got there that I could even see the green. A gap wedge landed on the green but then, after such a carefully played hole, I 3 putted.

Despite not being held up we were quite slow mainly because of the erratic shots of the others. A group caught up at the end of the front 9 so we had an extended break and bought some lunch so they could play through, but they decided to play the other 9 anyway. After 6 holes the guys had to leave to make a meeting in another part of the city, so I played the last 3 on my own. It was much quicker and quieter as well. Even so It was well over 4 hours for the round.

On the way home I went back to the mall. The dress I bought yesterday did not have its security device removed - a dye cylinder that would rupture if removed in correctly. Why they did this for a $25 dress in the first place is a mystery. They were happy to do it so it was a quick visit.

I then did some work on applying the changes to the planning or Surge and Swab to the measured data option. As usual, it raised as many questions as it answered so I'll need to discuss the implications tomorrow.

 Dinner was a tuna roll in the room.

The working week

Friday

I do enjoy these trips. I normally work at home on my own and although I have frequent emails with clients it is not the same as face to face contact.

There have been some interesting discussions this week as we have thrashed out some enhancements to different parts of the program. A number of times someone has said something like - we'd never been able to do this using emails.

I have mostly been eating at the hotel. They have free meals early in the week but I also had a lobster cooked up - While-you-wait - at the super market one night.

I decided to eat out tonight and finished up at the Mexican a few 100 m from the hotel. I had quesidillas and I could not finish them all.

Lunches , on the other hand have been as usual far too fattening. A couple of group lunches in restaurants, 2 order ins to the office and the other day I got some seafood chowder from the supermarket.

I get high

Sunday

I was late getting up this morning which is a good sign but by 10 I was ready to plan the day. I decided to try to get a game at High Meadow Ranch, which I seemed to recall was one of the courses I'd looked at on my last trip but didn't get around to playing.

They had a multitude of tee times from about 11 onwards but I booked for 12.04 since that put me with some other players rather than on my own. It was a good thing as well since it was a good 3/4 hour drive from the hotel. I did have time for some putting practice before the others turned up, a guy who was the manager of the course associated with Texas A&M uni and his 19 year old son. Both were quite good players, the father fairly steady and the son a big hitter. WE played of the gold, which were the longest tees available.

This course is a bit different since it is laid out in 3 loops of 6 holes rather than 2 9's. Even the card has 3 lots of 6 for scoring and the starting tees are 1, 7 and 13. The course itself is cut through a pine plantation so each hole seems to be bordered by pines on both sides. Not really any temptation for panorama shots today, except for one hole with a lake along one side. The holes do go up and down a bit and there are some creeks that cross the fairway.

There are a lot of large houses on large blocks along the course including one which belongs to Beyonce.

I started poorly with 33 on the first 6, improved to 27 on the next and settled on 30 for the last for a 90. Not too bad. It was quite warm all day and a bit on the humid side as well.

Tony and Lisa had invited me to dinner but I enough time to have a quick swim and cool off after I got back to the hotel. Her parents were over, and I met them for the first time. Lisa, as usual, put on a very fancy dinner, which was delicious, and we had an enjoyable time. I left around 10.

Houston - more problems

Saturday

Well it seems as though I spoke too soon earlier. After putting my suitcase in the boot, making sure the car was unlocked and the keys were in my pocket I packed up my computer and was ready to go, except I didn't have my glasses. Normally these would be by the PC or by the bed. No luck and we searched everywhere, even unpacking the case and checking that as well as handbag and PC bag. Eventually we found then. I'd put them on the end of the bed and folded the cover over them.  10-15 minutes wasted but still plenty of time, and I'm on my way to airport.

Had to fill up the rental car. Americans are obviously a dishonest lot because you always have to pay in advance before you can pump the gas. I spent a few minutes looking for the petrol release switch before remembering you just push the cover in and it springs open. Right, now into the shop. How much. I guess $20 and give them the credit card, this turns out not to be enough so I go back for more. Have to start a new transaction so another $20. Turns out to be $1.33 I offer cash instead but it seems it is impossible to cancel a transaction. I wonder what the fees for all that will be.

Anyway, I arrive at the airport, check in get through the priority lane security and go to the lounge. Wonder of wonders they let me in. Previously I have flown one world internationally and star alliance first class domestically and that just aint good enough for the United lounge. However, since the international part is also star alliance this time I apparently am no longer persona no grata. 25 minutes till departure so I will make sure I actually get on the plane.

Good thing I left early as When I got to the gate there was hardly anybody left. They in fact left the gate 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time, so I guess once everyone is on board there is no point in hanging around. The pilot must have taken a shortcut as we landed 25 minutes early and I was in the limo with all  my gear by the time we were supposed to be landing.

I am in the same hotel as the last 2 trips which is not too far from the office and is reasonably comfortable for a long stay. There is a kitchenette with a hot plate, microwave, dishwasher and full size fridge.

Once I had arrived I headed to HEB supermarket and bought some stuff, including some snow crab legs and vinegar and salad for dinner.

After taking these back to the room I spent some time on the net, unpacked etc. I realised I still had 1/2 till the library closed so I drove back there (it's near HEB) and borrowed some books for the stay.

After dinner I lay on the bed and fell asleep watching TV. Almost like being at home.

Putting on the Ritz

Friday

Today was the last of my Orlando golf games at the Ritz Carlton. It was at 10.10 so I had time to finish packing without any rush before heading to the course. I decided to leave my suitcase at the hotel so I had an empty back seat at the course. No need to advertise you have stuff to pinch.

The course was under 15 minutes away but once again my Tom-tom messed me up. It didn't have the roads that went through the hotel and golf complex (which my iPad did) and took me passed the entrance to the resort.  Still a U turn at the next lights and a bit of back tracking got me there with time to spare. The JW Marroitt hotel and the RC dominate the sky line and the golf course rooms must have great views.

Today's partners were Ron, officially at a conference at the hotel and 2 Norwegians, Arnie and Morten, escaping Winter on a 2 week, 20 game holiday. After some discussion we decide to all play off the blue tees, the 3rd longest. It was again a hot day but we had a cooler with a couple of water bottles and ice and a guy came around a couple of times with iced towels. I spent most of the game with one on the back of my neck. He also took our names an later gave us a bag-tag medal with their logo and our name engraved on the back.

The Ritz Carlton is another course with lots of water on it and a warning not to go into the wetlands because of snakes and alligators. Ron had seen 3 of the latter the day before when he played in the scramble. The GPS was back - juts a phone sized lead with distance to front back and middle and a printed sheet giving pin offset from the middle, so my laser was out all day.

I finally put together a decent round and went out in 41. I then started the back with 2 doubles and I had visions of another repeat of my first round but I had a few pars and finished with an 88, breaking 90 for the first time.

We had a lot of fun with banter springing up quite easily. First, you need to realised that American golf in not like Australian (club) golf, where almost every game is a competition. Hence we have to follow the rules and putt out even short ones. Here they are almost always playing socially, although there is quite often money on the game (or a dinner as the case with the Norwegians). Putts are given all the time, Mulligans taken, lost balls are replaced with a drop on the fairway rather than being replayed and scoring is optional.

On a longish par 3 on the back 9 we had a long wait as the group in front were still on the tee when we arrived. In fact, we waited more today than any other game. When they cleared the green, Ron had teed up and said some thing like "Are we all OK with ready golf?" To which I replied "Are we all OK with hitting off in front of the Tee markers?" These were not lined up square  with the tee box and he was well in front of the line. He moved it back but was still in front when he hit it. This was followed by comments like "he really wanted to play off the whites anyway" and "you can move it back 3 inch from where it lands." ( there was also a comment from Ron about his 3" which definitely could have been taken the wrong way). Ron reached the front of the green with his tee shot and the rest of us had to chip on. Ron then sunk a 20ft plus putt for a birdie and one of the guys immediately asked "did you take it back 3" before you putted?". I followed with, move it back 3" from where it is now and we'll give you the next putt. Morten then sunk his 15footer and I dropped mine from 12ft. Poor Arnie had only 6ft and missed, which resulted in more comments.  It was a fun day.

It was also slow, and it was around 3pm when we got in. I had a drink with Ron and then a quick shower. I packed my golf bag into its travelling case and headed to the hotel. I still had over 2 hours so I thought I was comfortable for the 5:52 flight. It was still before 4 when I got back to the hotel and picked up my suit case. I put it in the boot, decided to pack my jacket into my notebook case and then shut the boot. I immediately realised I'd locked the keys in. I rang the Budget emergency number and they send someone to get them out for me. It only took a few minutes once he arrived but they estimated a 5:05 arrival.

I then rang United to look at changing flights, after 15 minutes of waiting and then talking, I was told there was no later flights that night with any seats so I booked for Sat morning. They got to the part where they wanted to charge me and found it was an AirNZ ticket and they couldn't do it. Probably would have been handy to do that first. I was then talking to ANZ when the rescue guy arrived. I decide to try to catch the flight but was too late. I didn't even take my stuff out of the car but went to check in where they put me through once again the ANZ line. With a long wait to speak to anyone, I decided there was no rush and I'd do it later.

I rang the Mensa lady who had organised the Wed dinner who offered my a bed in her guest room. She lives about 20 minutes from the airport. I extended the car rental and drove to her place and proceed to ring everyone to re arrange the flight, the limo pickup, the hotel etc. Finally I could relax.

We then went out to dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse, where I had a steak and Lobster combo. Quite tasty. Maggie and Eddie eat there often enough to have a favourite server and know some of the other staff. Once back at their home we spent the night chatting, processing the pics from the day and she showed my the jewellery she makes, more as a hobby than a business. I would never have the patience for what she does, it is very intricate with combinations of beads semi precious stones and swaraski crystals.

It was 1am before I got to bed and I slept through to after 7. I had company - one of the 2 young cats. She seemed to think me moving about was a invitation to get patted.

It is now 9 and I leave at 11:29. I should have no problems getting there in time unless I do something stupid again.