Check out Brit's new weight loss program to loose those dreaded 2 recurrent lbs. She needs to start marketing it and we would get rich.

I got out for a ride this morning and caught a photo of one of the many dog packs here in Alabama. Fortunately for me this pack was young and harmless. The gas station in the back ground is the one that told me not to buy anti-freeze/coolant from them because it was too expensive.



I also go some photos of this sweet house, the pictures say it all. "Report dope to narcs"? What is that all about? "and come to church Sunday" ok buddy see ya there.

I actually ran across another biker on my ride today.(very rare) He was on a time trial bike and he told me he is a triathlete, nice guy, rode with him for about 10 min and got my first draft in months.

Brit and I went to a movie this afternoon called, The sentinal. It was good. If you like the tv show 24 you will like this movie, it has the same actor. This was also my first movie theater movie in months.

I am still on the look out for some new clubs, I am thinking maybe I'll try Taylor Made RAC LT2 irons if I can find a good deal. My friend Todd got a new pair of Callaway Hawk eye irons for $50 (sweet deal) at a garage sell and they hit a lot like the fusions I just sold, made me want my fusions back.

Who says I don't read

Brittney thinks I do not read much. I would have to say that I have smoked her in amount of reading over the past two years. You see the stack of papers I am holding, I have read every single page and that stack is only for 2 or 3 classes for one quarter and that is not even including the text books. A lot of my class mates' vision has progressively been getting worse since starting optometry school, ironic isn't it. Must be all the reading. Not me though, I'm still 20/15 and 20/10 on a good day.

I got out for hike with Brit and Ella after school today and launched a few golf balls with the new R5 driver. Spring in Alabama is pretty sweet.

New on the blog scene is Slyfox, check it out for some great entertainment.

I captured a few sweet pictures of Ella taking air in the living room.

I got out and rode for longer than the usual 45 min to hour after school today. I had two exams at school today so I thought I would reward myself with an hour and half ride. I did my hour and a half climbing loop (lynn's crossing). It has some short steep climbs that I am glad that my Raleigh cross bike has 36-27 gearing. I also think it has one of the only switchbacks in Alabama. I need more longer rides to get my endurance up.

My Taylor Made R5 dual came today, I am excited to get it out on the range.

Infantsee

For anyone out there that has a child under the age of one, there is a great progam called Infantsee that allows you to have your child's eyes examined for free by an eye doctor. Here is a link to the website where you can find a doctor locator. http://infantsee.org check it out, it is a great service that many doctors are providing. Take advantage of it. If vision problems are detected early it is much easier to manage them and preserve or improve sight.

Another 8 to 8 day at school. I had to stay late for a toric contact lens workshop put on by cooper vision. I got a to put a couple of torics (contact lens for someone with astigmatism) on a patient and evaluate how they fit, not overly exciting.

Ella says to Brittney this morning "mommy, can I have roller skates?" Curious George has roller skates. Guess who is getting roller skates tomorrow? Brittney also asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said pizza, they ordered pizza. I say spoiled, Brittney says loved. I guess can't say much Callaway Fusions, golf school, etc.... She must love me too.

Big news. I sold my Callaway fusion irons and made $175. I sold all my good clubs now I am back to square one and on the look out for a good deal. I did buy a Taylor made R5 driver off ebay, hope I like it.

I did get out and ride my bike yesterday in the beautiful spring weather we have been having. I am trying to stay in shape so my dad doesn't drop me too bad when we go ride the alpine loop this August when I am in Utah.

I came home tonight and it looked like someone had dug a grave in my front yard. I think it must be related to the houses going in at the end of my street. They did the same thing to my neighbor on the next street over and hit a water pipe or something that caused water to start flowing out the toilet and flooding their house.

Demo Day

Yesterday I went to a golf demo day at eagle point golf club. It was awesome, I was there for about two hours and hit tons of different clubs on the range all for free. I may stop going to golf courses and just follow the demo days around so I can hit balls for free. Every manufacturer I have ever heard of and more were there with their clubs. As a result my Sasquatch and fusions are up on the ebay auction block.(check them out on the little-climber ebay link) My drivers of choice were a Taylor Made R5 and Callaway fusion ft-3 in that order and as far as irons go, I still can not tell a difference. Here is a cute photo of Ella I took yesterday.

Brittney got called to work with the young women at church so Ella and I will be hanging out a lot on Wednesday nights now. (golf lessons and bike training)

I watched a good movie last night it is called The greatest game ever played. Highly recommended golf flick.

Golf School

Espn golf school was today. I included a photo of the sweet club house of the private country club it was held at. Only first class for me. Ok, so the Turkey Creek driving range is not were the golf school was held, but is it a local driving range that I get a good laugh at every time I drive by. The owner is aunry as heck and the place struggles a little but the balls are cheap.

Espn Golf school was a lot of fun and I learned a thing or two. It was held at a top notch course call the capstone club. The instructors were cool guys and I hit balls all day, what else could I ask for. and the lunch they fed us was awesome, fish and all the fixings. I did not get a hole in one and win the Lexus. It was nerve racking, everyone staring at you as you make the shot, now I know how the tour players feel. I hit a poor shot that ended up pin high about 25 feet right not on the green.

We had severe weather again today. As I was driving home from golf school there was a tractor trailer turned over across all lanes of the interstate and another one off in the ditch. I am going to a golf club demo day tomorrow and hope the weather holds out. I just cant get enough of this golf stuff.

Severe weather

Brittney and Ella are coming home tonight! Their flight has been a little delayed because of severe weather so I am hopeful they will be able to land. I took some photos of the rain but they really do not do it justice. When it rains in Alabama it means business.

I took a photo of my friend Wayne Stevens. He actually has an upside down eye. Wow, bet you have never seen that before. That's what happens when you grow up in Alabama.( Sorry Wayne I couldn't resist)

I gave a presentation to the young women at church about eyes. It was pretty fun, I dilated one of my eyes and let everyone look at my retina and optic nerve with my ophthalmoscope and that was a big hit. I included a photo of my one dilated eye.

Protect yourself from wild animals

Brittney came across this link that might be helpful to our fellow outdoor enthusiasts.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1850478

I had a big pharmacology exam today, I think I did ok. I studied from 7:00am-noon, every 30-45 minutes I took a break and hit golf balls into my net in the back yard. After the exam I hit the driving range and got the jumbo bucket. The jumbo bucket is huge 100+ balls so I have hit 200+ balls today and my back is starting to feel it. I did a club test with the 3 sets of clubs I have and I can't tell much of a difference, $20 set hits like the $1200 set. Either I suck so bad that it doesn't matter or there really is not difference and I spent the big bucks for no reason. The jury is still out, but the Fusions may go up for sale shortly.

Did I mention it was hot today, my thermometer said 96.8 in the shade, its only april. Brittney told me it snowed in Utah this week. I did get out for a ride today after the driving range and I took some photos. Typical road side scenery for Alabama, if it wasn't for the trash this place would be pretty.

Lonely Easter

I had a pretty uneventful Easter weekend. I studied, rode my bike, hit some golf balls, and went to church. It is getting pretty lonely around here without Brittney and Ella, I am glad they will be home Wednesday. This is what my Easter festivities consisted of, melted chocolate. My mom must have felt bad that I was home alone so she sent me these chocolates and the 90 degree temps melted them in my mail box. I stuck them in the fridge and they were really good. It was a little sad to miss one of the only Gillespie traditions, the annual Easter egg hunt in the orchard, complete with a weenie roast and egg war! I missed blasting Bart with eggs, I hope someone got him good.

I also took a picture of the house and that's my Volvo too. It has been a good place, we have enjoyed it. If anyone plans on moving to Alabama in 2 years, I'll sell it to you, or better yet if you have a house in Provo/Orem I'll trade ya.

Fire eyes

Dredging is scary. In fact, I have never been so scared in my life. I decided to hit the ponds tonight and do a little dredging. It has been a few months since the last time I was out. The ponds have really come alive since it has warmed up ( it was 90 degrees today). The sounds coming out of and around the pond were freakish, I have never heard anything like it in my life. This added a little spookiness to the adventure. So I get started throwing my dredger into the pond and pulling it out, not having as much success as I have had in the past. At one point I happened to glance up the bank and about died from what I saw. Two big firey burning eyes glaring down me. It was as if I was looking at the devil himself. I froze, fear set in, and I wished I had bought that 38 special a few months ago. I couldn't tell what it was but it was checking out my every move. It slowly walked away not taking its eyes off me. I did not move for about 3 minutes, just shining my headlamp at the evil eyes and I still could not tell what kind of wild beast I was dealing with. I decided right then, dredging is over rated. Needless to say I packed up my stuff very quickly and got out of there. I only came home with 30 golf balls but I didn't care because I didn't get mauled. I will not dredging again until next winter when it is too cold for anything to be alive.

If you think the woods in the southeast are harmless check this out http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041302305.html

I did get out for a round of golf after school today and had a great time with the new clubs. The new sasquatch driver is amazing, I hit a few nearly 300 yards. I still stink at golf though, I've got a lot to work on.

Bigfoot sighting

This just in; there has been a sighting of a Bigfoot in Mt. Olive Alabama. It's no lie, I saw it, it was on my porch when I got home from school and now it is in my house! yeah, my Nike clubs came today. Nike Sasquatch driver(Tiger uses this driver), SV wedge and blue chip oz t100 putter. These are the clubs that were included with the ESPN golf school tuition. The golf school is still a week out. I went to Todds house and we hit a few out of his back yard. The driver was awesome, most of my shots were straight as an arrow. I am excited to get these things out on the course. These will make a nice addition to my new Callaway big bertha fusions. All I need now is a 3 and 5 fairway wood and my set is complete.

I hate walmart. I went shopping there tonight and it is just an aweful place, other than the 50 cent clearance golf gloves (I bought 8). It is chaos and pure misery shopping there. I miss the Harmons, Days, Smiths, even Macey's, anything that is not the arm pit shopping center of the world. Believe it or not, walmart parking lot is the cool teenager hangout here in Alabama. Do you think they are stuggling for things to do?

Good news, I got a 94% on my full exam practical.

Photo documentation

I took my digital camera to school today and took some sweet photos. I wasn't sure if it was going to work but they turned out ok. I was really excited. I haven't really found anyone that shares the excitement but maybe you are out there. At least everyone knows what I look at every day. About the photos, they are pictures of my friend, Matt Harper's retina. The circular part is the Optic Nerve, this is were all the neural tissue exits the retina and heads to the brain and also where the vessels enter and exit. Way cool stuff. The last photo is of scleral indentation that I talked about a couple of days ago. Thanks to my friends Casey Brown (patient) and Oakley White (hands) for letting me take this photo.















After school I got an hour bike ride in, put weed killer on the lawn, and took the missionaries out for a little mexican food. One good thing about Alabama is the weather. It has been beautiful, temps in the upper 70's and sunny, can't beat that.

I am glad today is over. I had my full exam practical tonight and it went well, I didn't poke my patients eyes out or anything(not that I ever have). It was stinking long though, an hour and forty minutes. It was more than a full exam it was a super exam, if I had to be in an optometrists chair for 1:40 for a real exam I would die. (ok, I sit as a patient a couple of times a week and I am still alive, barely) For those reading this, if you decide to come see me when I have set up practice in Utah, I can promise you the exam will not be 1:40. Other than the practical exam I studied, hit a few golf balls into my practice net in the back yard during study breaks, took another written exam, and got home at 9:30pm.

Here are some photos of a cool bridge I found while I was out riding on an abandoned rail road track last year. The two on top of the bridge are my parents and the dog, well its Alabama you cant go anywhere without a dog following you. And the last one is a photo of the bike I am selling on ebay right now. I bought it from the missionaries and fixed it up. You can check it out on little-climber ebay link on the side bar. If anyone is in the market for a road bike my dad has a sweet one for sale, check out peachking1 ebay link on sidebar.

The dog is fine

I got out and rode this afternoon and ran across the dog. He chased me again, I guess he didn't learn his lesson. I took some photos of the local Alabama scenery when I was out riding. enjoy.
The first photo is the dog I hit, the two run down buildings a few hundred yards down the road from where I hit the dog in Brookside Al. as well as the bridge. The last photo is of the golf course that I collect a lot of balls from. It is also a really fun course to play it is called mountain view golf course. you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Chance to win a Lexus

After church I was out and about visiting some people and saw the local tornado damage. Apparently a tornado touched down in Gardendale about four miles from my house.

Since Brittney is gone I do not have any food in the house and Todd and Gina were nice enough to invite me over for some tacos with homemade salsa and all. They were dang good. I watched the masters golf tournament for awhile to see if I could pick up some pointers from watching the pros. I am going to ESPN golf school in a couple of weeks and am going have a chance to win a Lexus in a hole-in-one contest. It will be a 165 yard shot. I went out to my driving range and measured out the distance so I can start practicing. Wish me luck.