1 Year

I’ve just completed 1 full year with having only 1 parent. I always got along in different ways with each of them. You know when you call home and mom answers the phone so you talk to her a while and tell her the stories you’d tell your mom. Then she passes the phone to dad and you talk about dad things like golf, weather and food. I miss having those conversations. They were never really deep but they were important. It was how I stayed connected. Of course I visited a few times during the year but it was the phone calls that were the most frequent interaction.

I haven’t been playing much golf lately but when I do, I think about making that call and recapping the round. Maybe I had chipped in for birdie or maybe I just played horribly. Either way, it was how we related to each other.

The word CANCER comes up every day. Either you see it on TV via the pink soled shows of an NFL player or you hear it out loud from nearby conversations. Cancer wasn’t new to my family but I was too young to remember how awful it was when it took my grandfather.

My mother has been incredibly strong in the year after losing her husband. It’s quite impressive actually. She has always been the strong rock of our family and that includes her brothers and sisters and in-laws. We talk a lot on the phone now. It had been a gradual increase in phone calls starting back about 5 years ago. I look forward to her next visit to Austin and to having her cook some meals around the holidays.

If you’ve lost a loved one to cancer or similar disease, I hope that you’ve found a balance between sadness and peace.

Botanical Garden

My Canon 7D arrived earlier this week and today I got my first chance to check it out. I had my 100mm f/2.8 macro lens and headed over to the Zilker Botanical Garden.

There were quite a few people walking around with everything from pro Canon and Nikon gear to the $150 ultra-slim portables that you throw in your pocket. We also a nervous bride who was trying to find some shade while not letting her husband to be see her in the dress.

There was an orchid show going on inside and a lot of blooming flowers in the garden, all of which made my eyes itch and my nose run.

Here are a couple of the shots that I liked. I haven’t had any time to edit, so be gentle in the comments :)

Timothy James Boyd (1948-2009)

Tim Boyd was born on September 22nd, 1948 and before the age of 23 he married my mom, Beth. 5 years later, I was born and my brother Brad followed 5 1/2 years after that.

 

With just a high school education and a year in a local vocational college, Dad only had 2 jobs after the age of 18. He spent 18 years working for the City of Opelousas Power Plant followed by 22 years as proprietor of B&T Kwik Shop in Nuba, LA.

In July of this year, mom and dad came to visit me in Austin. I was planning on putting my house on the market and they were gonna help me clean it up some. Dad spent 2 days with a pressure washer and a blower cleaning the entire outside of my house and clearing out my gutters. When he started a job he finished it and when he was done all he wanted was some cold beer and good dinner. I took them to a Brazilian steak house and they both enjoyed it.

Dad came to Austin about once a year for the nearly 10 years that I’ve lived there. Mom and dad even made a surprise visit for my 32nd birthday party and when I walked into the waiting area at Chuy’s they were both already there.

I wasn’t really aware of how bad my dad’s health was declining. Mom told me that his back was hurting him and he had lost some weight. My uncle Willy called me on Tuesday the 13th to tell me that I really should come home to see dad. I drove home on Thursday and I think the following image of my dad will be the one I remember forever. Dad was lying in his bed on his back. As I walked into the room he lifted his right forearm while keeping his elbow on the bed and pumped his fist in a motion similar to arm wrestling. His arms and legs were very skinny and the 30 lbs of weight that he had shed during the previous 2 months left him looking very aged.

On Friday morning, we got up and took dad to the hospital for some blood work and to do a bronchoscopy. Having to roll your 61 year old father in a wheelchair because he’s too weak to walk just 10 weeks after he seemed so strong and healthy was a heart breaking task. I’ve never liked hospitals and as positive and hopeful as I wanted to be, I knew there was a chance that he wouldn’t be coming back out of those doors alive.

There was one problem after another, either his platelets were too low or his heart rate was too high, so it would be 4 more days before they would even be able to do the bronchoscopy. On Saturday, dad was still very alert and they had started an IV to give him some fluids and nutrition. At times he would say a few loony things but he was on several heavy pain meds. I talked to him and tried to make him comfortable. He was worried about his store and kept asking questions about invoices and deposits. I told him that mom and Uncle Mike had it all taken care of and that he should rest. I held his hand and rubbed his head and tried to be strong.

I went back to Austin on Sunday with plans to return later in the week. When I got back on Friday morning, I spent a lot of time with dad at the hospital. His condition had worsened and he was almost too weak to make any sounds. I could understand some words but mostly I tried to do the talking. Dad was having trouble breathing and had been in and out of the ICU. On Saturday, they had to put a mask on his face to help his oxygen levels and he kept trying to take it off. A few hours later, they changed out oxygen masks and dad was still having trouble breathing. He didn’t want the mask on his face and I held his hand so he wouldn’t take the mask off and I told him that he had to have it on because it was helping him.

They again changed masks and this time to one that sealed around the edge of his face and really was pushing a lot of oxygen into his lungs. They took him back into ICU and were trying to get him to a point where they could begin the chemotherapy. Because of the limited visiting hours in ICU it wasn’t until 10am on Sunday that I got to see him again. I stayed with him until 1pm when they began the chemotherapy. They let my mom sit with him in the ICU. I had lunch with my uncles, aunts and cousins and then packed my car and headed back to Austin.

I got home at 10pm on Sunday night and was hoping to hear good news in the morning that the treatment had helped and that dad was showing some signs of improvement. Instead, the news was bad and I quickly packed my car with new clothes and headed back to Opelousas. I arrived just after 4pm at Opelousas General Hospital and with my mother standing between my brother and myself at his bedside we watched him die. The ventilator continued to fill his lungs with air and you could see his chest rise and fall but he was dead. The man that loved my mother, who taught me how to throw a baseball and taught me how to safely handle a firearm was gone.

These last 2 weeks have gone by so quickly and have left me with a heavy heart and watery eyes. I hated to see my dad in such a terrible state of health. He was a good man to so many people and he lived a happy and simple life. He loved me and my brother and I loved him for exactly the person he was, an honest, hard working, unselfish father.

  I hope my nearly 3 yr old niece will remember her Pa Boyd. She was his only grandchild and it was so amazing to see my dad spend time with her. He would play puzzles and games and read books with her and whatever she wanted she got.

I hope my mother finds peace in the absence of her husband. They shared over 38 years of marriage and have always provided for me and my brother with everything they had.

 

Dad, I love you and I’m forever grateful for everything you did for me. Rest in peace.

Ticket Stubs

I’ve had this box in my closet for years now. It started out as a big empty box and as of now it’s a big full box. You’ll find Christmas Cards from my mom, an old LSU Tiger stuffed animal, notes from girls back in high school and ticket stubs.

One of the things I like about blogging is it helps me to remember things I’ve done or places I’ve been or people I’ve seen. So I decided to create a Flickr photo set for all of my old ticket stubs. I’ve uploaded all of the ones that I’ve pulled out of the box so far and have even included my most recent one. Snow Patrol played at Stubb’s BBQ tonight and my friend Rachel had an extra ticket. I’ve never listened to any of their music but I did like the show and plan on putting a few of their songs on my iPod.

Here’s a link to my Flickr set. It starts out with an LSU vs. Tulane ticket from 1938. Obviously, I wasn’t at that game but it was found in a box that my grandfather had.

Enjoy,
Logan

I Remember My First Time…

I remember my first time in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium for 2 reasons. The first reason being that I was there less than 24 hours ago and the second and bigger reason being the 180 foot wide screen that sits above the field.

I drove up to Dallas early on Saturday morning to watch LSU beat Georgia in a last minute comeback.

Texas A&M was playing Arkansas in the Southwest Classic in what would turn out to be a blowout by Arkansas after A&M fell apart after the first 26 minutes of clock time.

As you can see from my iPhone snapshot here the video screen is very impressive. Even though I had heard and read lots about the size of this screen, it still very much shocked me with it’s size.

We had tickets in the club level 200 seats right at the goal line. When the ball was on our side of the field I found myself watching the field but as soon as the ball was beyond the 50 yard line and often beyond the near side 30 yard line, I found myself watching only the big screen.

The screen is great for replays and for seeing each down a little bit better if your seats are in the nose bleed. Stretching between the 20 yard lines, the screen measures 180 feet wide. Sitting at home and watching my 55” (diagonal measurement) flat screen HDTV, I feel like I now need an upgrade!

Summer’s Gone

Summer 2009 has come and gone and it was definitely in my top 5. I enjoyed so many days on the lake and nights in downtown Austin.

  

Austin is starting to make up for all of the rain that didn’t fall over the past few months. As central Texas starts to get colder and wetter, I’m starting to think of the places I’d like to go. I did get to travel to Miami and spend some time in the sands of South Beach. It was also the first year that I made 2 ski trips, getting to ski on the slopes in Lake Tahoe as well as Winter Park, Colorado.

  

I’d like to take some quick weekend trips and I’m planning on going to New York, Chicago and Baton Rouge in the next couple of months.

I don’t get to see my friends as much as I used to, so I decided to come up to Dallas today. With Randy and Barbara’s twins (Cecilia and Alex) being almost 6 weeks old, I figured it was time to come visit. I’d like to get out to North Carolina and visit Micah and maybe even get out to Germany to see Travis too. It all depends on work and money at this point but things seem to be going well. So let it rain and let the cold fronts move through. I’ve enjoyed the past few months so much and I’m looking forward to hitting the mountains for a couple of ski trips this year, just as soon as I find the right ski boots!

Turning 33.3333 years old!

On September 18th, 2009, I was 1/3 of a century old. I decided to make a t-shirt, invite a bunch of friends to go out downtown and make the most of this faux birthday celebration.

Thanks to everyone who came out to have fun. Here a few of the pics.

Logan is Cameron, Cameron is Logan

 
Alan Ruck...

Alan is the guy who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

People fairly often point out that they think I look a lot like Cameron.

 

Nike+ Human Race, Austin, TX 8.31.2008

	Lance Armstrong at the start of the Nike+ Human Race 10K
Lance Armstrong cooling off as he runs past the Bob Bullock Museum	Sea of red shirts running through a cooling station on Congress Ave
Matthew McConaughey after the finish of the Nike+ Human Race 10K	Ben Harper playing after the race

Do I Look Like This Guy?

They say things always come in 3s but yesterday I had something happen twice. Maybe today it will happen again and round out my theory.

The first incident happened when my friend Randy relayed some information to me from his mom. She's been watching the Olympics like Billions of others have and apparently thinks that I look like Michael Phelps.

Now I'm a pretty good swimmer, heck I was even a lifeguard for 3 summers, but I have no gold medals to date for that.

A few hours later, while out at a customer site, a guy named Alan says, "you know who you look like? Michael Phelps" to which i proclaim, "that's the 2nd time today someone has said that"

For the past many years I typically get told that I look like Alan Ruck, the actor who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off but this Phelps thing is new to me. Personally I think he has huge ears and a slight speech impediment but I'm guessing most girls would overlook that at a chance to hold his 10+ Gold Medals!

I did my best to imitate him below, tell me what you think... Long lost brothers or just bizarre random coincidental thoughts.