guest book and golf ball counter

I added two new features to my site, a guest book and a golf ball counter. The golf ball counter will keep track of all the balls I find dredging, searching the woods, and riding by the course. To date I am up to approximately 1200.

The tornados past without picking up my house, although the sirens went off at around 1:30am so I went to our safe room and sat in the bath tub for awhile. The storms in Alabama are crazy. The tornados did cause a lot of damage in the region and at least 11 deaths in Tennessee, so they are not to be taken lightly.

Guess where I was most of the day today? Yep that's right, School. It is pretty awful to have to spend your Saturday at school. Todd and I were there practicing for our practical on Tuesday. Afterwards we watched some of the masters golf tournament and hits some balls on Todd's personal driving range. Todd's range is cool because it is his back yard.


todd and me hitting balls and a tall weed

My wounds are almost healed so I am ready to get back on the bike, I hope to get out and put in a few miles next week. Hopefully my rides will be uneventful compared to last week's. I also plan on increasing my golf ball count.

Life is full of hard work

I did not finish studying last night until after 2:00am and I had to get up at 6:30am to get to school. I went to the northern health center today to see patients, each Friday a group of 7 of us are assigned to do eye exams at this satellite clinic. We didn't get back to school until about 12:50, just in time to to take the killer cornea and external disease exam. I got a B on the exam which I am happy with. Following the exam Todd and I started practicing for our full exam practical on Tuesday. The full exam practical is exactly that, a comprehensive eye exam with every darn test you can think of while an instructor is breathing down your neck, watching your every move making sure you do everything just right. It is a long exam, 1 hour and 40 minutes and that is if you are flying. I got home at 7:00pm tonight and I am really tired, I will be heading to bed real soon after I check out the new golf magazine that showed up in the mail today.

I have these exam practicals about once a month on various procedures and they have become my replacement for mountain bike races. In a way they are same, you spend hours and hours preparing and getting ready and when the time comes to take the exam you get really nervous like when you are lined up on the start line but when you start going it is not so bad unless you really mess up and then you are mad at your self, because you knew that you were prepared and could have done better. When you do well and get a good grade it is like placing well at a race. Ok, so it really stinks that this has replaced my mountain bike racing but one day I will be back on the racing circuit and all this hard work will be funding my racing. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am pretty much half way done and am starting to carve my path to where I want to be after graduation and I am excited. It is a lot of hard work but everything worth while in life is: marriage, children, career, church, biking, golf, to name a few.

Birmingham is under a tornado worming tonight, I guess it is going to get nasty. Public school was let at noon today. As I speak the wind is really roaring outside, I better go secure the fortress. The last tornado warning we had picked up Ella's play house and swing set and tossed them into the neighbors fence. Lets hope I will be around tomorrow to add another chapter to "life as a gillespie".

Brittney, Ella, Kyle

Lost Blog

The post I wrote yesterday mysteriously disappeared. My Callaway big bertha fusion irons came. That was the big news of the day. I am missing Brittney and Ella but the Fusions helped ease the pain and they hit great. After I dropped Brittney and Ella off at the airport I slept in the nissan quest for an hour in the school parking lot before I had to go to class. We had to wake up at 4:45am to get to the airport. In school we worked on an advanced technique called scleral indentaion, it is a technique to get a better view of the retina. It involves a probe inserted on the eyelid and pushed back behind the eye which indents the eye to give a better view of the retina. I had a photo of it yesterday but I do not have time to find one tonight. I'll post a picture later.
I have a big exam tomorrow. My friend Todd and I are studying right now and we will be up very, very late. We went to the local podunk gas station to buy a coke and some antifreeze coolant (my volvo was running low) and the cashier told me not to buy the antifreeze because it was to expensive. That was a first, a business owner telling me not to buy their merchandise, only in Alabama. Todd and I got a good laugh. I will post a picture of the staition it will explain a lot. by the way the coolant was peak brand an cost $9.65 and I bought it. The lady was freeking out saying "bless your heart" over and over. ? Wish us luck on the exam.

People care about dogs

I am recovering nicely from the accident, a little sore but no major complaints. A lot of people at school saw my road rash and asked about the accident. Needless to say THE DOG IS FINE. I am going to go check on the dog soon to ease everyone's concern.

I had an uneventful day, studied from 8-12 and class from 1-5. The four hours of class every afternoon is torture. Came home from school to a nice dinner, played with Ella and hung out with Brittney. Those two are leaving for paradise (Utah) tomorrow morning. The will be gone for two weeks, I will miss them. Oh well, I will ease my pain with some Callaway fusion irons. I bought a new set of irons and they should show up tomorrow. These babies are the top of the line clubs, thanks Brittney. If they dont make me better, nothing will. http://www.callawaygolf.com/en.CLUBS.Irons.FusionIrons.html

I got some response about my comments on contacts. The question was, what about contacts for astigmatism? There are contacts that correct astigmatism. The silicone hydrogel lenses are the future for this. There are two manufactures that produce these lenses so far, Bausch and Lomb Purevision toric and Acuve advance for astigmatism. The purevision lenses are approved for 30 days of continuous wear. the Acuve lenses are for daily wear meaning you take them out at night.
http://www.bausch.com/purevision/flash.html

http://promo.acuvue.com/promo/FreeTrial.do?promoId=11&product=AGT&rc=4G&srcid=web

Reason #52: Animal Control

Now that I have lived in Alabama for a year and a half I am used to dealing with dogs on my bike rides. I usually can't ride without being chased by at least one dog and frequently I am chased by packs of up to 5 or 6. Sometimes they surprise me but I learn where they hang out and I get my sprint ready. But today was a little different, I had a head on with a dog! I was going down a steep hill, 30+ mph when when I see a black dog coming toward me from the side of the road which is elevated about 15-20 feet and a very steep incline. Almost instantly I could tell this dog and I were going to meet in the middle of the road if one 0f us did not change our course. I hit the brakes but it wasn't enough,I plowed into the dog and the rest is history. Ouch! I came away relatively in good shape, hip, elbow and forearm scraped up and the biggest blisters I have ever seen on my hand. (lessoned learned always wear gloves) As far as the dog, I am not sure, I am pretty sure it is ok, it was still barking as I peeled myself of the ground. I rode the 2o minute ride home feeling pretty good, the adrenaline must have been pumping. Good news, I can still swing a golf club.

Aside from the run in with the dog I spent most of the day studying for a test on contact lenses and taking the test. I am really excited about contact lenses. If you are a contact lens wearer you should be excited about the advances that are taking place in the contact lens industry to increase comfort, wearing time, convenience, and side effects. The new silicone hydogel lenses are being designed to wear 7 days without taking them out and there is one lens that has been approved by the FDA for 30 days of continuous wear. Contacts are are becoming a low risk alternative to Lasik surgery. These new materials are even making it easier for younger children to be safely fitted with contacts. I am sure most kids would love to get rid of their glasses.

Add some heat to your dish

Brittney makes some killer mexican food, here is one of her secret recipe's.

The perfect marinade for shrimp or steak fajitas.

Let meat marinate at least 1 hour.
Handful of chopped cilantro
¼ C. fresh lime juice
1/3 C. water
2 Tbs. canola oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed
3 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. SALT
½ tsp. Chili powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp ground pepper
Dash onion powder
¼ tsp ground pepper
Dash onion powder