CRASH BAM BOOM

… is not the sound my truck made as it hit the wall. It was actually more of a crunch sound. There wasn’t a single dry part of I-35 as I made my trek to San Antonio. In fact it was horrendously pouring in some parts. As I entered New Bransfels it was raining hard, but not crazy hard. Nonetheless, I felt the slickness of the roads beneath my tires and decided it best to pay close attention to my truck and the road. Hands at 10 and 2, eyes straight ahead, cell phone out of sight, radio turned down. I felt safe with my speed 50-55mph because I was getting passed on both sides. I drove in the right-middle lane of the four lane section of I-35 and ended up crossing the two lanes to my left before crunching the wall. What happened? I simply lost control. My truck hydroplaned and I was left helpless as I spun a full 360 narrowly missing an 18-wheeler.

The point of impact was my front driver’s side corner. The bumper is crushed in and pressing against the tire. The good news is I am not writing this from a hospital ER but rather from the lobby of Tri-County Collision. Gerry at Tri-County will look at my truck first thing in the morning and I’ll know the verdict then. I am fine and have no pain at all, so no worries there.

The weird part though is my reaction as it started to happen. I can distinctly remember saying to myself, “Well, this is happening” as I begun my spin. I never tensed up at all and I can remember feeling very calm as I spun into the wall. I’m not sure how to feel about my complete lack of fear while this happened. Several people now have said, “wow, I bet that was scary,” and I’ve agreed with each of them. But in fact, I wasn’t scared at all. I wonder why. How could I not be terrified? Wouldn’t everyone else? Weird.

And the Winner Is.... Me

My church's silent auction dinner tonight went much better than expected. My expectations were to make around $800 to go toward mission trip. At best I thought we might clear $1000. When it was all said and done we pulled in $1199 and everyone seemed to have a really good time. But having our most successful fundraiser ever isn't the only thing I'm excited about.

Our crown jewel of the auction was two 7-day passes to the Crown Plaza Invitational at the Colonial Country Club. This, of course, is a leg of the PGA tour featuring some of the top golfers in the world. Last years winner Phil Mickelson will be back again this year to defend in what will likely be an exciting tournament. The listed value on the tickets was $360, but I knew they would sell for much lower than that, giving someone a great value. I hoped they would sell for as little as $150 which is the most my mom was willing to spend on them. But when I glanced at the auction sheet in the middle of the night and saw it was already up to $160,I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. After I called the close of the auction, the sheets were collected and brought to me to read off the winners for each price. "Winner of 4 passes to Rave Theaters... Winner of 2 fun family packs at Putt-Putt... Winner of a $25 gift certificate to Mexican Inn..." and so on and so forth. Obviously I would wait until the end to announce the winner of the Colonial tickets, building as much suspense as I could. In fact my plan was to read all of them, except the Colonial tickets and fake as if that was it and I was trying to secretly steal the 7-day passes. But when it came time for my little rouse, I glanced down to see who the winner really was, and I was completely caught off guard by the name I saw. "Carol Howton - $210" I proudly read off the winning name and followed with an enthusiastic, "Thank you mom!"

So now I am the proud owner of two 7-day passes to a PGA event. Of course the main event is Thursday - Sunday, but there is something going on everyday starting Monday, May 25th. Monday and Wednesday both feature a pro-am event, Tuesday is reserved for the pros to practice (which should offer some uncrowded picture taking opportunities), and then Thursday begins the Tournament proper. Initially I thought I would be giving away half of my passes, but as I think about it, this definitely seems worth it to take off work for an entire week. I can easily see myself hanging out for 12 hours a day being a golf groupie... but now the question becomes, which golfer am I going to follow and obsess over?

My 10,959th Day

I've got a full day planned for my 30th birthday tomorrow, here's a run down of my schedule.

5:00 - Wake up
5:01 - Shower
5:15 - Wake up again
5:20 - finish showering, dry off brush teeth, apply deodorant, get dressed, etc.
5:30 - Leave and go to my mom's house.
5:50 - pick up my mom and take her to Meadowbrook to meet the Road Runners. The bus doesn't leave until 7:00 but my mom is habitually way too early for things.
6:00-6:20 - Wait around with my mom until someone else shows up.
6:30 - Breakfast. Right now I'm thinking sausage rolls for The Kolache Shop. After that I'll chill at my mom's house and watch some TV for awhile.
8:00 - Meet Sam at the job site to spend some quality hours with him in an attic.
1:00ish - Lunch. Something that is fast and food.
4:00ish - Finish working and head home.
4:25-4:40 - Curse the traffic around my apartment.
5:00 - Shower
5:15 - Wake up
5:20 - Finish showering and dry off. Then I'll likely lounge around naked watching TV for awhile.
6:50 - Leave for church and the excitement of a church council meeting.
7:30 - Church council meeting starts.
7:45 - Wonder how long this thing is going to last.
8:30ish - The meeting ends and I begin setting up tables for Saturday's Silent Auction Dinner.
9:00 - I leave the church for home.
9:01 - I call Jessica as soon as my free minute kick in.
9:25 - Arrive home, go to bedroom, and lay down. Continue talking to Jessica and try
not to fall asleep on the phone.
10:00 - Wonder if this is a normal way to celebrate someone 30th birthday.
12:01 - Drink a beer in celebration of my 10,960th day.