2009

Jon and I are attending the Blue Skies Over Texas disc golf tournament. We met pretty early at Starbucks to car pool down there.

The unique thing about this tournament is that we play Mary Moore Seawright course twice. For the first time, we play it normally. And then, after lunch, we play it in reverse. The tees are placed where the baskets normally are and vice versa. Notice the backward spelling for the second round on the score card?

We practiced a little bit before the tournament started and I got a couple of birdies. An auspicious start indeed.

I had fun at the tournament. The only negative thing about the day was that it was quite hot out there. I must have drank four liters of liquid during the day. It was also dry and dusty. So when I finally got home and showered, the water was running dark brown.

Disc Golf 09/06/2009

I went to Old Settler’s Park for some disc golf today. It looks like another tree is down.

And two more trees were removed on the hill. Sadly, with these mando trees gone, the hole is much easier. So someone moved the tee to a new location.

And is there a new tee for the winter variant?

Apparently, there is a new Kelli attraction in the park.

I finally got a birdie on hole 16. Leaving me +2 for the round.

After a hot round, I cooled off at La Selva. Mmm, agua fresca and Mexican ice cream…

iPhone FAIL

My iPhone unexpectedly had a software problem today. Unfortunately, it exposed a catastrophic flaw. This morning, as I was out playing disc golf (using the phone: recording scores and taking pictures), I noticed a strange message on the phone. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the message or record it. But the gist of it was that it could not authorize itself and it needed to connect to iTunes. I was able to still take notes and take pictures while it was in its problem state. But the message was worrying me. So, I thought that if I turned it off and then turned it back on, it might clear itself of the hiccup. Boy that was the wrong move! Now the phone wouldn’t even finish booting up! And it was now a very expensive brick.

So, when I finally got home, I connected my iPhone to the computer and tried to sync it. This was what I saw. My phone is locked with a passcode and it will not allow a sync. Normally, when the phone boots up, it requires you to unlock it with the passcode before it completes the bootup sequence. Well, I guess it checks for authorization BEFORE it allows you to unlock it! Now I cannot connect to it. Argh!

So I searched online and found a process to get it into recovery mode. You have to power it off forcefully (press and hold the power button and then slide to power off) and then press and hold the home button when you plug in the iPhone to the computer.

Great, my iPhone is in recovery mode. Now, all I need to do is perform a recovery option in iTunes and we are all set. Wrong! I cannot restore it. The helpful error message of 23 is my only clue. Sigh. By this time it is getting late on a Saturday. So I race down to the Apple store to see if something can be done. The store was freakin packed! And it looks like the genius bar is full for the day. But I hang around and an employee walks up to me and asks me if I need help. I explain my problem to him and he checks it out. When he comes back, he tells me that the USB connection is broken and that they have replaced my phone for me. Yea! One thing went right today. Well almost. I had been a bad person and not been performing regular syncs with my phone. So when I went back and restored my phone, I found out that the latest backup was a month old…

Cloud formations

Here are some interesting cloud formations.

Moonie’s burgers

I tried Moonie’s burgers today. They had good sweet potato fries. But would only cook their burgers to well done. Sigh. Why can’t hamburger places have confidence in the quality of their meat supply? Is it that hard in our day and age?

Yogi tea

I experimented and tried making some tea that Yoga Yoga serves after class. They helpfully provide the recipe here. I have copied it down here just in case it might disappear.

2 quarts water
15 whole cloves
20 black peppercorns
3 sticks of cinnamon
20 whole cardamon pods (split the pods first)
8 ginger slices (1/4″ thick, no need to peel)
1/2 teaspoon black tea leaves (we use decaf)

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a 3-4 quart pot. Add cloves and boil for one minute. Next, add cardamon, peppercorns, cinnamon, and fresh ginger root. Cover and boil for at least 30 minutes. For best flavor, cover and simmer for 2 to 3 hours! When ready, remove from heat, add black tea and let cool. Strain tea. When ready to drink, add soy or dairy milk and sweeten to taste with agave nectar.

Thumbs up! It is pretty spicy! And you have to give it bonus points for using peppercorns.

Freezing homemade lemonaid

When I made lemon/lime aid this time, I made enough for two servings. I froze half of juice for a later serving. Which worked out well.

I bought 12 lemons for 3.99 and 30 limes for 5.00. This turned into 56 ounces of juice. Which was perfect for two 28 ounce servings.

To make the lemon/lime aid, combine 28 ounces of juice with 56 ounces of water and 350 grams of agave nectar. This just fits within my plastic serving container.

I checked on the prices for fresh squeezed juice in Central Market. They sell 16 ounces of lime juice for 3.49 and 16 ounces of lemon juice for 3.99. So it it certainly cheaper to do it myself. Plus, I don’t have to drive all the way down to Central Market. Too bad they don’t sell frozen juice concentrate without sugar in the grocery store.