Golf.....Again

I've been AWOL from my beloved golf for the past 2 months having played only 1 time in the past 60 days and that was a quick 9 hole jaunt.

The reason of course is that starting a new business requires 100% of my time however yesterday I was thrown into the mix again; a golf tournament with a lot of potential clients and some new friends I've met over the past few months. We had a great time and shot a 61 - finished in the top 1/3 of the pack. There were the usual scores of 55, 57, etc... that were immediately called into question by everyone who shot above that number. A 55 would require a birdie on every hole but one. Suspect? Yeah I think so. No matter, I had a great time, met some wonderful people, picked up some leads and got some much needed relaxation away from the office.

Our little Reese had her first checkup and she's slightly jaundiced but instead of using the lights, she just needs to get some sun. Some natural vitamin D ought to help her out. She's lost a few ounces since birth which is normal and the kids are dealing with the whims of a 4 day old baby. Oh how I don't miss those days!

As the HOA Prez I have my first homeowner issue. Apparently homeowner #1 washed paint and drywall mud in his front yard....it ran down the gutter and pooled in front of homeowner #2's house....this means that everytime they drive into or out of their home, they get white paint/plaster on their tires which treks onto our newly redone streets, into their garage and, holy smokes, into their house.....So now I have to go and bust the balls of homeowner #1 in a nice way and tell him to get his mess cleaned up. We'll see how this goes over.

The best neighbor dispute was at my previous residence. We lived at the end of a cul-de-sac next to a postal worker for about 8 years. As an alltime dog lover, our pack of dogs, 2 chocolate labs (Woofy and Digger), and our Rotty (Roxy) would love to howl at the sounds of fire truck and police sirens. They would also occasionally bark - like dogs will do. This would drive my neighbor crazy to the point where he would put nasty letters in my mailbox. On weekends, after drinking, he would rip branches from our trees that had crept over on his side....our poor trees. He would then toss the branches back over the fence in a drunken heave/fart. Hilarious. Janae would bake him cookies and apologize. Me? I wanted to duke it out with the guy. In fact, on many occasion I felt the strong urge to call people out, even family members, but Janae would always be the voice of reason. Me? Not so much.

Work is going better than expected although the stress of putting business on the books each month will probably never fully go away - it never did before so why expect anything different?

Golf? Now that I got a little taste of playing again, I'll be out tomorrow for sure. And Saturday/Sunday/Monday football? A new grandbaby?

Life is good.

When We Were Young

I have been remiss in attending to my blog. Starting up a new business and the drumbeat of a new granddaughter will do that to you.

I'm happy to report that our first granddaughter, Reese Elizabeth Runyon, was born on September 13th at 12:20am. Hello World!

Of course once a baby is born, everyone, especially the women in the family, gets all jazzed up and out come the old scrapbooks and photo albums to see who the baby resembles.

Guys are different. We tend to think that most babies look the same when asked "Who does the baby look like?" Then go on about our way.....usually back to the game on TV.

My granddaughter has, to this point, 30 pairs of shoes. This is interesting to me since she obviously can't walk. Style points for babies cannot be discounted. I understand a women's need to have their baby, their little daughter, dolled up and dressed to the nines all the time. I guess most guys can appreciate this fact but left to our own resources, babies whould look more like Bam Bam from The Flintstones.....a diaper being the only required piece of attire from birth to age 3 or whenever potty training is complete.

Admittedly, I look forward to seeing my little grandbaby all decked out in matching shoes, dress, a bow and whatever else girls wear at that age. Girls are utterly new to us having raised only boys. The learning curve is short though - we love our little Reese so much and I can't wait to hold her.

I came across photos last night of when I was a young man, holding Alec right after he was born. I know that he too will look back in a quarter century at the photo of he and Reese meeting for the first time.....what a great experience.



Alec and Reese - 2010



Alec and Keith - 1986



Alec and Keith - 1987/First Steps

Further proof that youth is wasted on the young is that Alec attended to his wife and daughter, grabbed a few hours of sleep, and then took a med school exam at 8am the very same day. Ah, the beauty of being young, in love, and with your entire adult life in front of you. I think we can all recall those wonderful, spirited, and carefree days of our romantic youth....enjoy them Alec and Tiffany, they go by fast.

Too fast.

The Dead Zone

We're nearing the end of "The Dead Zone." This is the annual period of time where little or no meaningful sports takes place.

The Dead Zone pretty much ends when the traditional school year begins. Children going back to school. Parents are gleefully happy to see the kids out of the house and out from in front of the television set they have stared at for 3 months eating cheetos and drinking soda pop yet at the same time freaked out that junior is now in middle school or high school. Been there done that. Our sons are 23 and 21 and in medical school and college, respectively. We don't take pictures of them on the first day with new clothes on, hair slicked back, and toting new backpacks although I do miss the ceremony of those days....they went by so fast. Too fast. Like a once cute puppy growing into a monster pet chewing it's way through the house. It just happens.

A harbinger of the end of The Dead Zone is preseason football - it has been going on for 3 or 4 weeks now and the ONLY good thing about preseason football is that it means the real season is about to start.

Baseball's brutal 162 game schedule finally ends in a month and then we can all get stoked for the playoffs. Basketball is just around the corner; college hoops and the pros. The US Open tennis slam takes place now....It's like the planet is back on it's axis again. Oh, I forgot to mention hockey - it starts in a month or so.

Let's get down to the discussion of the proposed 18 game NFL schedule in 2011 or 2012 which is an increase of the current 16 game season. Players are complaining that it's already too long of a season. My response to that is simple: don't play then. There are thousands of athletes who would gladly put on the pads to play in the NFL. Going from 4 preseason games to 2 is fine for us fans and an 18 game regualar season would be awesome. Sure records will be broken by adding 2 more games but that same argument existed when the league went from 14 to 16 games some 30 years ago. That there may be a lockout next year is, frankly, freaking me out and it should freak out the players and owners too. If the players union and owners can't agree on a labor deal, then the future of the NFL and next year in particular is in jeopardy.

This Thursday college football kicks off. Jake and I love college football. We'll watch college football all day on Saturday and then watch the highlights at night until we fall asleep on the couch. College football don't have any preseason games and about the only way to make it to the national title game is to run the table - win all of your games. Until there is a college football playoff (PLEASE....in my lifetime), it's about the only way a team can be assured a crack at the title. Even then, like undefeated Utah and Boise State and Auburn of a few years ago found out, you need alittle luck on your side too.

The absence of a college playoff is astounding considering the revenue it would generate and that a true champion could be crowned and then the debate over who is better would finally be decided. This argument has been going on for years and will continue to go on.....sadly.

We've endured another Dead Zone. Let the games begin.

"Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)",

As a huge fan of music from the 1960's and 1970's I heard The Byrds "Turn! Turn! Turn!" this morning on the way to work and wanted to blog about the meaning of song to me. For those who don't know the song, the lyrics are noted below.

Suffice to say that in Las Vegas, the change of traditional seasons doesn't often allow the perspective that other areas of the country have - we don't go from steamy summers to crisp falls to winter wonderlands to spring thaws. For better or for worse, we live under a scorching sun 360 days a year and the heat that goes along with it. Our 10 days of winter ususally occur in January, following by a week of spring and 2 months of windstorms, then the heat sets in from April to November. Nice.

I am using the heat as a metaphor for absence of change that living in the desert brings. The subtle changes are just that - subtle, slow and often imperceptible to those of us who live here. That's why the song Turn, Turn, Turn had me humming it long after my radio had moved on to Peter Frampton.....

There have been some seismic life changes happen in our family over the past few months and just like the song says, there is a time for every purpose.

As I embark on a new business venture, I've left the weirdness of my past employer behind me. In the wake of that train wreck some relationships became collateral damage and were jetisoned but others were gained in the process. Alec and Tiffany have left Janae's (and mine) "Camelot" (Salt Lake City) and moved to Reno for medical school leaving friends and making new ones where his days are filled soaking up biochemistry, histology, and anatomy lectures that he loves so much. Tiffany is ready to bring their first child into the world within a month while our Jake-Jake is preparing for school at UNLV and to be one of the student team managers for the Runnin' Rebels basketball team that he loves so much. Janae continues to keep us all on track in her own wacky and wondeful way.

The song paints a picture of what life is really all about. Change. If you're not living, you're not changing (I just made that up, haha).

So read the words to the song and realize that stuff happens, shit happens, and then it starts all over again. Life is like that and that's what makes it so wonderful, sad, happy, funny, joyous, and fun.

Words-adapted from The Bible, book of Ecclesiastes
Music-Pete Seeger

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Med School

We attended Alec's white coat ceremony the other day at the Nevada School of Medicine. The cloaking of each student with the white coat symbolizes their entry into the medical profession. The next day Alec was vaccinating kids at a free clinic. Nothing like being tossed right into the frying pan - here's your white coat and stethoscope, go draw some blood and give out some shots.

One of his fellow students fainted while attempting to draw blood so that will be a fun memory......for the rest of his life.

The class is small - only 62 people which is great for the students. I met at least 1/2 that many Deans, Assistant Deans, and professors. I believe this is a good place for Alec. We loved the Reno area too. They live in Sparks which is 15 minutes and a world away from The Biggest Little City in the World. Rolling hills, the Sierra Nevada's to the west, a brilliant blue sky......just like watching Bonanza when I was a kid. The school has two new medical school buildings opening soon; one this month and one next year so the facilities are top-notch. He'll get to experience rural medicine in some small areas of the state and also spend a great deal of time in Las Vegas at University Medical Center which will be a circus - imagine the ER on any night in Las Vegas.....go ahead, think of all the crazy stuff that happens in this town....I can't wait to hear the stories.

The life experiences of the class of 2014 are so diverse; 28 languages are spoken, 19 lived abroad for a period of time, many served medical missions outside of the United States...a neat group of young people. All seemed excited. What a fun adventure lies ahead for each of them.

Runyon & Woodbury

Last week the Nevada DOI made us an official insurance agency.... so we got that going for us.....which is nice. Plus, we also got our name on the door, and on the building directory. No going back now.



Starting a company is an unbelievably tedious process but filled with comical moments, meetings with dozens of people (more comical moments), racing around town in 113 degree heat, and ordering everything from paper clips to office furniture to pizza....Finally, it's about time we got down to the real business of being in business and that is selling insurance. We are thisclose to that time.

I spent a few days in Oceanside but my head was in the surf thinking of all the stuff I needed to do. I spent some good time with the kids, daughter-in-law and wifey-poo before heading back to the circus.

Everyone is starting new stuff...


Jake got his official acceptance to UNLV so he's excited about that new adventure. He will be working as a student team manager for the Runnin' Rebels basketball program so he is more than fired up about that experience.

Alec began medical school TODAY so that is the continuation of his lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon. Their first day? Orientation and a trip to Lake Tahoe to bond. I'm jealous.

Janae as always is holding the fort down. I found it incredibly difficult while she was gone juggling all the things she does for our family from taking care of the 4 cats and 2 dogs to managing the people that come in and out of our lives each day. Man I was beat coming home from work only to have to do more work....and then find something to eat although my mom hooked me up with lots of good stuff.

We're all on a new journey of sorts and that has me mentally re-engaged. I'm excited for what is happening in the Runyon family....change is good.

Grandbaby #1 is due in 5 weeks....+/-

All In

The family is Oceanside as I sit marooned in Las Vegas. I'll be joining them in a day or two however there is a story to tell. There is ALWAYS a story to tell.

I quit my job on a Friday and started my own firm exactly 8 days ago. My business partner and I have used the analogy of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid eluding capture many times since then to describe our predicament. The bandits were being chased by the law and ended up on a cliff with two choices: jump into the water or fight the army that was hot on their heels.

Butch Cassidy: Alright. I'll jump first.
Sundance Kid: No.
Butch Cassidy: Then you jump first.
Sundance Kid: No, I said.
Butch Cassidy: What's the matter with you?
Sundance Kid: I can't swim.
Butch Cassidy: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.
Sundance Kid: Oh, shit...

We jumped

:-)