Month: January 2023 (Page 2 of 3)

Thursday, January 12, 2023. (Court Day #572)

My lower back left molar has been hurting for a few days. It’s been mild, but enough that I made a DDS appointment yesterday for tomorrow. I feel like my teeth are constant battle. When I get my checkups and cleanings, they say I’m doing a good job brushing and flossing, but, boy, that doesn’t keep roots from cracking or other problems. By this time next year, I’ll have three implants. As long as this doesn’t require another! Sheesh.

Wrist

My right wrist has been bugging me the last couple of days but not enough to keep me from playing.

Today was a dry day, it’s supposed to rain again tomorrow for another stretch of days. But when it came time to leave work this evening, I felt exhausted. I was ready to go home and my right knee was hurting a little bit from my PT appointment this afternoon and also played Tuesday night. Regardless, I decided to play anyway.

With my knee not feeling the best, I went ahead and opted to wear the knee brace that I have on loan from Ted. My PT doctor Matt, when I asked him about it last week, recommended against wearing it. But I felt that I needed the extra support tonight. Maybe Matt thought that I meant wear it all the time . . . that would definitely be bad . . . the knee needs to strengthen.

Skypark

I arrived at Skypark shortly after 6:30 p.m. and they were eight courts going. It was nice to see all the courts full again—it’s been a while.

I spent every game this evening playing with Matt B. and Paul W. and assorted fourth partners. There was one game where Matt tapped out to allow someone else to play but that was it. He was back in afterward.

There were some really good games early on with Nate in the mix as well as Tim, the tennis coach. About half the evening were games like that and then later it was a mix of lesser-skilled players to be the fourth in the doubles games with Paul, Matt, and myself.

The last game was Paul and the tall fellow named Marcus, who lives in Redding. Marcus came down to visit his family and I partnered with Stair. Markus went to Soquel High School and has siblings that live in Aptos and mid county and his parents live down in Corralitos. Marcus is playing better than I remember him playing the last time that I was on a court with him some months back. He played pretty well tonight.

We finished up that last game and a few minutes later the lights clicked off at 9:30 p.m.

Another Local League

Afterward, Paul, Matt, Larry and myself hung out for a few minutes and Larry was talking about a league that he was playing in that he referred to as a “beta league”. It has nothing to do with the league that Hugh and Conner are organizing that hasn’t started yet. Larry says that his league—which he is organizing with a guy named Ken—would be wrapping up their initial test at the end of this month, and then everyone would be invited.

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Monday, January 16, 2022 (No Play)

Yesterday, it rained overnight and there was no sun to dry the courts so I canceled Sunday club play at Derby.

I got an email from Mike Ballard, who moved to Texas. He said he misses us and he has to drive at least an hour to get challenging players. That must be a complete bummer. Around here, getting good play isn’t nearly that difficult. I hope to get to play with and against Mike again someday.

Number of days on a court: 572
Number of total hours: 2,550.5

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Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (Court Day #571)

I had a physical therapy appointment this morning for my right knee. Matt, my assigned PT, couldn’t make it today due to road closures so my appointment got rescheduled for 15 minutes earlier with Alea at 9:30 a.m. She said one muscle (of the four muscles) in my quadriceps was very tight. She gave me another exercise to do. From PT, it was off to work.

My wife texted later and let me know after the rain this morning, there would be a enough of a break that I could play pickleball tonight. At lunchtime, I went home and picked up my gear so I’d have it after work.

Tournament?

Today, Binh texted me asking if I would be willing to be his partner for a tournament in mid-March in Templeton. This was contingent on Shante accepting or turning down Binh’s invitation. When I asked, Binh said that he was giving Shante until the 15th to decide, which is only five days away. The tournament is still two months away.

Skypark

I had some duties to finish, so I didn’t get the Skypark until just before 7 p.m. There were just two courts in use, though all were dry. Perhaps the chilly winter temperature kept people away. On one court was Kiko and Evan (who is Nolan‘s partner partner) and two additional players who had been there last night.

On the near court was David and his girlfriend Minori playing against Mark Dettle and Avery. When the game was done, Minori kindly stepped out and let me take her place.

Games

David and I played against Avery and Mark. Honestly, I can’t remember who won that game.

Once it was done, Mark Dettle headed home and Avery and I played against David and Minori. In the first game, they won by a significant margin. David is a banger and it took me a while to readjust to his style of play. We switch sides and played again, this time Avery and I won.

Then we switched sides once more and went for that “best of three” game. Avery and I won the last game as well.

Avery needed to go, so at 8 o’clock we called it a night. Everyone else had left. Such a shame leaving with still an hour and a half worth of lights left. But one hour of play is better than nothing!

Speech to Text

I have to share this. A few months ago, I started using voice to text to start writing my blog entry while driving back from Brommer or Skypark. (Driving home from Derby requires more focused city driving.) This is what got transcribed by my phone:

“Initially, I was very unhappy with my play. My drop shot trailer heading into the net we’re going to I am becoming quite a Taco Bell shots but sometimes send it to Rowley in our opponents favor. But I felt better about my play the last two games.”

Here’s a more accurate interpretation of what I was saying…

Initially, I was very unhappy with my play. My drop shots were either heading into the net or were going [I have no idea what I actually said here!] but sometimes sent it too high in our opponents favor. But I felt better about my play the last two games.

Aches & Pains

When I got home, the outside of right knee was bothering me. Also my right wrist. I’ve been looking into wrist supports that don’t cover the palm and consequently affect my paddle grip.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2022 (No Play)

I’m not happy at all where the level of my play is right now. Maybe it’s the infrequency of getting on a dry court.

Number of days on a court: 571
Number of total hours: 2,547.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Monday, January 9, 2023. (Court Day #570)

Today, there had been a rash of flash flood warnings since the San Lorenzo River that runs through town is getting very full after the large amount of rain we have been receiving in the last week or so. But with our family business in the flood zone, after I arrived at work to open and got a rather serious alert on my phone, I decided to go the way of safety and remain closed for the day.

Invitation

Matt Babb texted me about 5:30 p.m. asking if I would like to join him and his friend Paul at Skypark between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Matt said Paul checked the courts and that they were dry enough to play on. I asked Matt if he had a fourth player lined up for the game and he said that he was waiting to hear back from Mike. When I asked if he wanted me to check around, he said yes, so I did. It was very short notice, those I contacted were busy or didn’t want to stay up very late—or were injured. I contacted Rob, the fire fighter, and he asked who the other two players were and I let him know. He said that he would come and play but had to arrive closer to 6:40 p.m., which I passed along to Matt.

Skypark

When I arrived, I was surprised to see the parking lot pretty full and three courts in use. Jane was there again, this time with Cathy (who is Kim‘s friend) and Dan (who frequents Skypark regularly) and a young Asian player whose name I can’t remember—not David. Larry was on another court playing with Pauly and some others.

Games

Our group played two games of Matt and myself against Rob and Paul. And we split those games.

For the next game, Paul and I joined up against Matt and Rob . We lost both games.

The last two games were Rob and myself against Matt and Paul. Rob and I won by a sizable margin in the first game. It started to drizzle in that game and when we switched sides for the next game, the drizzle continued. It got heavier but it was still drizzle. Eventually, the court surface was covered with water. We were being a little bit more careful. Rob and I kept that second game pretty close and the lead went back-and-forth, eventually we were tied 9-9. The service went back-and-forth a few times with no one scoring. Eventually Rob and I scored two points and pulled off the win, 11-9.

It was about 8:15 p.m. after the second game and we decided we were done. No one wanted to play another game with the wet court.

COVID

This morning when I woke up, I had a strange flutter in my left lung. Extremely unusual. It went away, but I suspect it’s a remnant popping up from COVID. Hard to say. I’m still getting fatigued easier, it seems. But being tired at night is not a shock. It could just be the end of a long day.

Number of days on a court: 570
Number of total hours: 2,546.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.