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Friday, 7 September 2012

Ross in his 30th year!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yup - 29 years ago today, our youngest came in to the world at Simpson's Maternity, Edinburgh - and I was just about to start a new job - and a new life - at Clipper Seafoods, Aberdeen. Where has the time gone?

Jo was out last night and I was idly trawling the internet, looking at potential flights to USA next year - using our (Avios) air miles and the BA Companion Voucher we have (which was due to expire next year). I tried Los Angeles first - no dice. Nothing at all in June/July/August. Same with San Francisco - and Seattle. The next big west coast(ish) airport I could think of was Las Vegas, but I didn't hold out much hope - but there they were - departing Wednesday 10th July, returning Monday 5th August - Business Class. I nabbed them, without further consultation.

So our plan would be to spend a few nights in Vegas, recovering from the journey and perhaps taking in a show or two, then fly to Reno on Sunday, where, hopefully Scott and Lucy would pick us up on their way to South Lake Tahoe, where we're all spending a week at the Marriott timeshare.

We'd have to sort out logistics to get us back from Reno to Medford, then from there back to LV at the end of our holiday, but that shouldn't be insurmountable.

I feel relieved this morning, having sorted out our dates for next year already - I was concerned we wouldn't get to use our air miles and companion voucher before they expired.

Tomorrow looks good, weather-wise and I've got golf in the morning and then Gary and Luca are over at lunchtime after Gary has completed his 10K - http://www.stoneystomp.org.uk/Stoney_Stomp/homepage.html

On Sunday, I'm off to Castle Stuart (http://www.castlestuartgolf.com/) on the Moray Firth, where they held the Scottish Open. It looks spectacular - hope the weather holds. Then on Thursday, it's a return to the Lake District for a weekend of hiking/hill-walking.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

More press

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I got quoted in today's Deeside Piper article about the lack of a decent swimming pool in Banchory - check out http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/news/local-headlines/calls-for-new-pool-in-banchory-1-2510659

Following on yesterday's comments about my annual health screen, despite the predictable adverse comments on my diet, I think overall I was pretty much in range for most things - in fact, pretty good on some of them, like BP and Cholesterol. The adverse ones included the fact that I was dehydrated at the time of the test - no surprise as it was taken first thing in the morning after over 12 hours of fasting with no liquids. This too could have contributed to the trace of protein they found in my urine - often caused by a concentrated sample.

My weight and BMI are also rising - but I knew that.

The bad one was my liver function tests which showed a raised Gamma GT - 127, when the recommended range is 10 to 60. It's almost identical to last year's screen result, but these 2 results were much higher than in previous years. I blame the Lesinas - we had just returned from a month's holiday in USA. Mental note to self - get screened before we go off on holiday next year.

Talking about holidays, we got one of our exchange requests coming through, so we know we're going to South Lake Tahoe for a week in mid-July - http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/rnotl-marriotts-timber-lodge/

Must get on with booking flights now. We have Avios points to use and a Companion Voucher too, but no doubt there'll be no availability for Air Miles bookings at that time of year.

Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Autumn Almanac

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Would you believe it? I've suddenly discovered some form again at golf after a whole season of playing rubbish. The magic started last Wednesday on the final night of our season long Quaich competition when I scored 43 points - what does that mean you ask? Well, it's 7 under par for my handicap - pretty good, I can tell you.

I didn't quite do as well at the Terry Edmonds' Memorial at Aboyne on Friday - I only finished second! I soon corrected that at Grantown and Boat of Garten on Sunday/Monday however by winning the trophy again on our 54th outing there.

OK - enough of golf - well, maybe not - the sun's shining - I may disappear soon.

In between all this golf, Jo and I took the bus down to Potarch on Saturday morning and, after a beer and a spot of lunch, we walked back along the Deeside Way - read all about it at http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's one of Jo en route:


Saturday night we watched the modern version of True Grit - not bad, we thought.

My medical results are in - shall I save the bad news for another day? Here's a sneak preview of their analysis of my diet:


That's enough for now.

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