It Ain't Easy Being Me

It's not always sunny skies, and wide open green fairways for me. To wit...yesterday's round of golf illustrates just how far I am willing to go for our company....it's all about sacrifice.

On a beautiful October Tuesday I was enlisted to play golf with some of our company underwriters - a couple of young guys from Des Moines, Iowa.

Usually I enjoy golf a great deal however yesterday's round was the equivalent of the Bataan Death March (BDM). As everyone knows, the BDM occured during WWII. Phillipino and American troops were forced by their Japanese captors to walk/march some 60 miles in tropical heat....most were tortured, many died.

Okay. So maybe the golf wasn't that bad....but it was still torture. It ain't easy being me.



The younger guy, probably about 24 years old, didn't know how to play golf - or at least he played like he had never played. He started off with a 9 on the first hole and it was downhill from there. When you play with people this bad, it tends to throw off your own game. Contrary to belief, I'm not immune to this sort of play and it affected me greatly. The one guy probably shot a 105 whilst his younger associate EASILY put up 150 shots and lost 2 dozen golf balls. By the 3rd hole, my brain was on autopilot. By the end of the round I was completely caught up on email and phone messages. I even started to make notes for my blog. It ain't easy being me.

Today I was forced to work late and then have dinner with colleagues at Fleming's. The dinner was delayed a bit because the chef wasn't happy with the way my lobster turned out so he boiled up another one. Delays, delays, delays.... I also fear the onion rings that came with the always delicious chipolte sauce may keep me up at night. It ain't easy being me. Burp (audible).





My passion for golf was rekindled during the past couple of weeks...not that there was ever a question of it disappearing, it's just that perhaps the passion has been napping for the past little while.




Last week Davey led our team to a 15 under score at the UNLV alumni tournament at Badlands. A nice first place trophy now adorns my desk. I also enjoyed taking my mom to TPC to watch golf on Friday. This week we teed it up from the tips on Monday and played the same course the pros did on Sunday. That was fun and I shot an 83. Yesterday's round sort of brought me back to reality but it was helpful from a business perspective. Two rounds in a row also made my joints ache something fierce. By bedtime, I had icy hot patches on both shoulders, and my right elbow and had washed down a half-dozen advil with a couple of diet pepsi's.





I also attempted to have Janae adjust my back. This sort of manuever is performed on my person by Dr. Dave all the time. He "releases" my hips, neck and back pretty much anytime Monday - Friday.

Alas, at night and on weekends, I'm on my own....to somewhat comical attempts to "fix dad's back." Jake was always really good at stepping on my back (just as good as the Chinese gals - in my opinion) right as I laid down on the floor and exhaled.....he would use the ball of his foot and push down really hard and quick where one of my ribs met my spine - just off to the side. He would then move up one and do it again and then again on the other side of my spine - it usually took 4 maybe 5 repetitions to nail it. The mid-back area has always the worst part of my backaches since '97. This is when I threw it out hitting my golf ball from the north fairway bunker on #2 at Canyon Gate. On my follow through after the shot, my 9 iron caught the lip of the bunker - the club stopped and all my body parts kept moving. I could feel all sorts of pops. Nowadays, once I get the bones popped back in, I can pretty much release my neck, shoulders and hips by myself as long as Janae or one of the boys backs up the Range Rover and goes over my back real slow in 4-wheel drive. It ain't easy being me.

I have decided to vote early. Janae cast her ballot today since she is leaving tomorrow for St. Louis/NYC/Paris and Dubai. What a life. I am going to meet her in India in November. Taj Mahal baby.

It ain't easy being me.