Got to golf league last night only to find out that we lost the first half by a single point. Turns out the 3rd place team totally anhilated their opponents and past us. I wasn't worried about them at all, but I guess I should have checked before announcing our win. Oops...
Last night was fun night in league, we played a 4 man scramble with teams being divided equally. We finished at 2 under par, good for 3rd place and 5 bucks. I played very relaxed and hit the ball very well, especially off the tee where I crushed every drive down the middle except for on the 9th hole where I was trying to drive the green and put it in a greenside bunker. We just missed a few putts or we would have won it. Next week starts the second half.
In the Circle of Jerks baseball league, I took over first place yesterday. Hopefully I can build on it. My pitching has been very strong as of late and that's been moving me up the standings. Unfortunately, it appears that Brewer rookie hurler Yovani Gallardo will get stuck moving to the bullpen after the all star break, which will force me to bench him and play a different starter.
That really sucks but I understand. He's young and has never pitched more than 145 innings in a season. They don't want to burn him out (can you say Mark Prior?) and want him fresh in September and for the playoffs. Playoffs and Brewers, don't get to say that very often, but the way they're playing right now I sure wouldn't bet against them. For the 2nd day in a row, their catcher comes through in a big way. On Tuesday it was Johnny Estrada's grand salami that opened the floodgates for a 9 run 6th and yesterday it was backup Damian Miller's 3 run walk off homer in the 11th to win it. Speaking of grand slams, they had zero last year and already have 5 this year (Estrada, Jenkins, Hardy and Bill Hall twice). This team could be good for many years, assuming they can hang on to their young core, especially the infield of Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and Braun. Add in Gallardo, Hall and Corey Hart and they have a ton of guys under 27. There's excitement in beer land once again. They head for the friendly confines of Wrigley field tomorrow for a matchup with the equally hot Cubs with a 7 1/2 game lead.
There's something funky going on with the electronics in my house. A couple weeks ago my dvd player went tits up, just wouldn't load any dvd's. I junked it and replaced it with the one in the bedroom we weren't using much anyway. Then last Thursday my Yamaha a/v receiver wouldn't stay on. I'd hit the button it would turn on and immediately off. I took it in to American TV to have it looked at. Got a call Tuesday night. The dolby digital board is dead and needs a new one. It will cost $218 plus tax to fix it. In the meantime I bought a basic Onkyo receiver that was on sale for $180 at Circuit City. Now I'm faced with a dilemna. Do I spend the $218 and get the Yamaha fixed, and hope that it will stay working or do I just forget about it and when I need another receiver just go buy a new one for about the same amount? It has always been more receiver than I needed. It has more video and audio inputs than I need and is a 7.1 channel receiver and I don't have the speaker set up for more than 5.1. I'm leaning towards just junking it. Feels like electronics are now disposable.
Also on Tuesday night I open my laptop and notice I have no network connection. I go upstairs and my cheap-o Belkin router has no power. I unplug it for a bit, plug it back in and it seems to be working. Computers are working, etc, but I bring up Apple TV and all appears fine until I attempt to stream Shrek and I immediately lose the connection. I go back upstairs and it's off again. I go through the same steps and once again it dies when I try to stream a movie through Apple TV. I got it restarted again and stopped trying to stream and it's stayed on for a couple days now. Looks like it just can't handle the load trying to stream that much data. I'll have to get a new router now too. I'm leaning towards the Apple Draft N wireless router. It's supposed to be super fast and awesome, but it's $180 too. One of the things I really like about it is that it has a USB 2 port on it that can turn any USB printer or external hard drive into a networked one. I would move my Western Digital My Book drive to it instead of being connected to Cdubya's iMac so that I could access it from any of my computers. It's where I'm storing all my video files for the Apple TV.
I can't help but wonder what's going to die next...
Peace, out.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Red Admiral Butterflies
While out golfing Friday I noticed hundreds of these black butterflies with orange stripes and white spots on their wings. Then on Saturday morning I got up to find even more of them completely engulfing our Ash tree in the front yard. It was even hard to mow as I was getting bombarded by these little dudes and small birds chasing them around like fighter jets. It was amazing.
I took some pictures of them this morning. I did some research and found that they are Red Admirals. They don't show up in this abundance for about 10 years. I'm not a big "butterfly guy" but I thought they were cool.
I took some pictures of them this morning. I did some research and found that they are Red Admirals. They don't show up in this abundance for about 10 years. I'm not a big "butterfly guy" but I thought they were cool.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
You can call me Mr. 3-Putt Bogey
Talk about ruining what could have been a decent round. I hit the green in regulation the last 5 holes and 6 of the last 7 and what did I do? Yeah, 1 par and 5 3-putt bogies! I was ready to wrap my putter around my neck. I had 22 putts on the back 9 and only 21 other strokes for a 43, coupled with a 46 on the front that included back to back triple bogies on 7 and 8, for an 89. I gave away so many strokes it was sick. I truly am the worst putter on the face of the earth. I can't believe I had more putts than regular strokes on the back, that has to be a first. Ended up with 40 putts total, my worst of the season. Back to the drawing board...
I could blame it on lack of sleep as I had late hockey on Thursday and didn't get to sleep till about 1am and then was up at 5:45 and started working at 6 from home. To make me even more exhausted, we were short handed and went with only 2 D for the entire first period, I was one of them. We got 1 more player in the 2nd and I played wing for that period then back to D for the 3rd (with 3 defensemen). Ended up playing about 45 out of 63 minutes of ice time, I was dead. Too old to do that crap. We ended up losing 2-1.
My Yamaha a/v receiver took a dump on me Thursday morning too. Just 2 weeks after my Toshiba dvd player died. What's going on here? Is it a revolt? I took the receiver in to American TV for service, $40 deposit, they'll send it back to Yamaha. If it's less than $95 to fix, they'll just do it, otherwise they'll call. I'm hopeful it's just the transformer. In the meantime I found an Onkyo on sale at circuit city so I bought it. If/when the Yamaha is fixed I'll put it in the pub room and move the one from in the pub room to the workout room. I was one short anyway.
As I type this I'm installing the first Apple TV software update. As far as I can tell the only thing in it is the ability to browse and play YouTube videos. I will see shortly. I plan to watch Caddyshack on it shortly as well.
Oh yep, there are the YouTube menus. Well, going to check it out now.
Later
I could blame it on lack of sleep as I had late hockey on Thursday and didn't get to sleep till about 1am and then was up at 5:45 and started working at 6 from home. To make me even more exhausted, we were short handed and went with only 2 D for the entire first period, I was one of them. We got 1 more player in the 2nd and I played wing for that period then back to D for the 3rd (with 3 defensemen). Ended up playing about 45 out of 63 minutes of ice time, I was dead. Too old to do that crap. We ended up losing 2-1.
My Yamaha a/v receiver took a dump on me Thursday morning too. Just 2 weeks after my Toshiba dvd player died. What's going on here? Is it a revolt? I took the receiver in to American TV for service, $40 deposit, they'll send it back to Yamaha. If it's less than $95 to fix, they'll just do it, otherwise they'll call. I'm hopeful it's just the transformer. In the meantime I found an Onkyo on sale at circuit city so I bought it. If/when the Yamaha is fixed I'll put it in the pub room and move the one from in the pub room to the workout room. I was one short anyway.
As I type this I'm installing the first Apple TV software update. As far as I can tell the only thing in it is the ability to browse and play YouTube videos. I will see shortly. I plan to watch Caddyshack on it shortly as well.
Oh yep, there are the YouTube menus. Well, going to check it out now.
Later
Thursday, June 21, 2007
We are the champions, my friend
Unbeknownst to me, King Erik and I took over first place from Retro and his dual partners last week in golf league. I had written off our chances of catching them for the first half but when we took 13.5 points to their 4.5 we ended up jumping 2 points ahead of them. I believe we held them off last night with me winning 6.5 and Erik getting at least 4. Their opponents beat both of them so I think we're safe. First half is over, fun night next week (probably a scramble or something).
I ended up shooting a 40 for the 2nd consecutive night. Now if I could just put those together in 1 18 hole round I'll be happy. I just missed out on winning $30 last night. First, I was about 12 feet from the pin on the first par 3 that was a closest to the hole flag prize and was good until the last group when roofer Bob beat me. Then I find out that I lost low net by 1 stroke to a young guy getting 17 strokes. Then I had a pair of queens in the card game and lost to 2 pair (Aces and Kings). So close...
Retro had a 51 but had probably the best shot I've seen from him on 15. He was in the fairway bunker off the tee shot and sitting about 230 out. I said something about being too bad he didn't have a hybrid yet (he's planning to buy one) and he said I think I'll hit my 3-wood. I was like ok, if you think that's smart, go for it. Amazingly he crushed it out of the bunker and landed on the green, rolling to the back fringe. His eagle putt missed by 4 or 5 feet and he made the putt for birdie. Unfortunately the rest of his round was doubles and triples. I told him he's the only guy I know that can consistently turn a 3 into a 7.
My Yamaha RX-V650 a/v receiver wouldn't work this morning, so I'm pretty bummed. For some reason every time I turned it on it shut off a split second later. From the little troubleshooting I could do online it may be the transformer or it could be a bad speaker or bad speaker connection. Not sure how that could happen overnight while we were sleeping and it was off because it was working fine when I went to bed. Looks like I'll be spending some time trying to figure it out tonight. I had to figure out how to turn the tv speakers back on so we could actually hear the audio this morning. And of course that means getting a different remote and going through all that crap. What a pain. I hope it is something simple, I figure the repair costs might be so high that I might have to buy a new receiver.
I'm going to hope for the "it magically started working again" cure.
I ended up shooting a 40 for the 2nd consecutive night. Now if I could just put those together in 1 18 hole round I'll be happy. I just missed out on winning $30 last night. First, I was about 12 feet from the pin on the first par 3 that was a closest to the hole flag prize and was good until the last group when roofer Bob beat me. Then I find out that I lost low net by 1 stroke to a young guy getting 17 strokes. Then I had a pair of queens in the card game and lost to 2 pair (Aces and Kings). So close...
Retro had a 51 but had probably the best shot I've seen from him on 15. He was in the fairway bunker off the tee shot and sitting about 230 out. I said something about being too bad he didn't have a hybrid yet (he's planning to buy one) and he said I think I'll hit my 3-wood. I was like ok, if you think that's smart, go for it. Amazingly he crushed it out of the bunker and landed on the green, rolling to the back fringe. His eagle putt missed by 4 or 5 feet and he made the putt for birdie. Unfortunately the rest of his round was doubles and triples. I told him he's the only guy I know that can consistently turn a 3 into a 7.
My Yamaha RX-V650 a/v receiver wouldn't work this morning, so I'm pretty bummed. For some reason every time I turned it on it shut off a split second later. From the little troubleshooting I could do online it may be the transformer or it could be a bad speaker or bad speaker connection. Not sure how that could happen overnight while we were sleeping and it was off because it was working fine when I went to bed. Looks like I'll be spending some time trying to figure it out tonight. I had to figure out how to turn the tv speakers back on so we could actually hear the audio this morning. And of course that means getting a different remote and going through all that crap. What a pain. I hope it is something simple, I figure the repair costs might be so high that I might have to buy a new receiver.
I'm going to hope for the "it magically started working again" cure.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Nice Surprise
Got a surprise last night when I got home from work. Cdubya said she wanted to go play golf! Awesome, I said. We walked the dogs first and head to Door Creek to play the executive 9. Unfortunately it was full with an outing (who does an outing on the freakin' exec 9?) till 6:30 but I was told the regular course was wide open. I asked her about it and she said ok as long as no one was with us (she gets nervous) and we could take a cart. I said ok.
We teed off about 6:00, beautiful night, nice breeze, upper 70's, nice and quiet. We'd seen a couple teenagers tee off in front of us but that shouldn't be a problem. Cdubya whacks her first drive right into the fairway, about 130 yards, very nice.
We get to the 2nd tee and have to wait just a bit for the kids in front of us, no problem.
We get to the green and notice that the kids have joined up with 2 other guys that are waiting. I glance left and notice a group of 4 looking for lost balls in the creek on 3. I figure it's a slight delay. We get done, they're still looking. The 2 guys behind us get done and the 4-some in front of us still hasn't teed off yet. Ok, this is getting ridiculous.
Finally, they're able to hit, they play quickly, we go, play quickly. Get to 4 and it looks like it's opened up again, we only have to wait a minute.
On 5 (par 3) we wait a little as the guys in front of us are putting. No problem.
We finish (Cdubya hit it into the water but had a nice chip from the drop zone but 3 putted for a 6) and the guys in front of us still haven't teed off yet. Once again, just like on 3, we get backed up 3 groups waiting to hit.
And that's how it went the rest of the night. Luckily we weren't in a rush but that one group was horribly slow and it took us 2 1/2 hours to play 9.
I played nice and relaxed golf, hitting my irons easily and they were straight and dead on. Unfortunately I didn't really take my time putting, just walked up and hit them so I 3-putted for bogey 3 times. Still, I shot 40 with 4 pars and 5 bogies. Could have easily been a 35. In addition to the 3 3-putts I missed a 10 foot birdie putt by a millimeter. Amazing how easy the game is when you just relax and swing easy.
Cdubya only hit 1 bad drive in 7 and it was on the last hole. I think she ran out of gas a little and couldn't really do much on that hole, getting an 11. She struggled with her fairway wood and long hybrid (harder to hit of course). She chipped really well with her wedge and she made a bogey on the 8th hole, putting her tee shot on the green and 3 putting.
I think she shot about a 70, we didn't take great care in keeping track. I'm just glad she's having fun and it gets me on the course more, a win-win!
Golf league tonight, hope I can keep it up.
We teed off about 6:00, beautiful night, nice breeze, upper 70's, nice and quiet. We'd seen a couple teenagers tee off in front of us but that shouldn't be a problem. Cdubya whacks her first drive right into the fairway, about 130 yards, very nice.
We get to the 2nd tee and have to wait just a bit for the kids in front of us, no problem.
We get to the green and notice that the kids have joined up with 2 other guys that are waiting. I glance left and notice a group of 4 looking for lost balls in the creek on 3. I figure it's a slight delay. We get done, they're still looking. The 2 guys behind us get done and the 4-some in front of us still hasn't teed off yet. Ok, this is getting ridiculous.
Finally, they're able to hit, they play quickly, we go, play quickly. Get to 4 and it looks like it's opened up again, we only have to wait a minute.
On 5 (par 3) we wait a little as the guys in front of us are putting. No problem.
We finish (Cdubya hit it into the water but had a nice chip from the drop zone but 3 putted for a 6) and the guys in front of us still haven't teed off yet. Once again, just like on 3, we get backed up 3 groups waiting to hit.
And that's how it went the rest of the night. Luckily we weren't in a rush but that one group was horribly slow and it took us 2 1/2 hours to play 9.
I played nice and relaxed golf, hitting my irons easily and they were straight and dead on. Unfortunately I didn't really take my time putting, just walked up and hit them so I 3-putted for bogey 3 times. Still, I shot 40 with 4 pars and 5 bogies. Could have easily been a 35. In addition to the 3 3-putts I missed a 10 foot birdie putt by a millimeter. Amazing how easy the game is when you just relax and swing easy.
Cdubya only hit 1 bad drive in 7 and it was on the last hole. I think she ran out of gas a little and couldn't really do much on that hole, getting an 11. She struggled with her fairway wood and long hybrid (harder to hit of course). She chipped really well with her wedge and she made a bogey on the 8th hole, putting her tee shot on the green and 3 putting.
I think she shot about a 70, we didn't take great care in keeping track. I'm just glad she's having fun and it gets me on the course more, a win-win!
Golf league tonight, hope I can keep it up.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Long and Hard (that's what she said)
Well, I made it through the weekend and I'm still alive. I guess that's a good thing.
It all started Friday afternoon when I had to mow in a 90 degree heat index and then I attempted to stain my fence after that.
I found what appeared to be a great new product for staining fences, called "5 Minute Fence Stain". The promise of a super easy stain job seemed too good to be true but I figured it was worth a shot so I bought 4 containers of it, supposed to be more than enough to handle the amount of fence I have. The idea is that it is a stain concentrate with the water removed. You hook it to your ordinary garden hose and spray, the water mixing with the stain.
Of course, anything that seems too good to be true usually is, and that was the case here. For one thing, it sprays out hard and very wet, splashing all over the place. For another it runs out way quicker than I would have imagined. It took me 3 bottles to do half the fence and it was way too light. I used the 4th to go back over it as best I could but I think it looks like crap. Never got to do the backside of the fence either. Now I think I'm going to have to do something completely different for the back, hope I can find something that matches closely to what's already there or I'll have to redo the entire thing.
On Saturday, Retro and I played in the 27 hole challenge at Door Creek. First 9 is best ball, 2nd 9 is combined net and 3rd 9 is a scramble. Of course, like idiots we walked in the excruciating heat. We kicked ass on the front 9 and shot an 8 under par 27, with Retro shooting a 43 and me a 40. That was good for a 3 way tie for best which netted us a whopping $14.25 after the split. The heat started getting us on the back and we stumbled quite a bit, with Retro dropping to a 52 and me a 47. After a quick bite to eat we went to the executive 9 for a scramble. We struggled mightily there too, coming in with a 35 (par 30). I'm not sure where we finished, somewhere in the top 15 I think.
Then on Sunday, dad and I played in the father/son tourney in Baraboo (his home course). It was an interesting format. Both father and son hit their tee shots, then played each other's second shot (so I was hitting his ball and he mine after our first shots). From there it was an alternate shot through the hole. We didn't play very well at all and shot 44/44 for 88. I did win 2 flag prizes for closest to the hole on a par 3, which netted me 2 sleeves of Top Flight balls, ooh boy. I should have had long drive on 18 too, blew by the marker by 40 yards but was 10 feet into the rough.
Got to watch episode 2 of "John from Cincinati" last night on HBO. I like this new show from David Milch (Deadwood). It's very different from other shows and intriguing.
It all started Friday afternoon when I had to mow in a 90 degree heat index and then I attempted to stain my fence after that.
I found what appeared to be a great new product for staining fences, called "5 Minute Fence Stain". The promise of a super easy stain job seemed too good to be true but I figured it was worth a shot so I bought 4 containers of it, supposed to be more than enough to handle the amount of fence I have. The idea is that it is a stain concentrate with the water removed. You hook it to your ordinary garden hose and spray, the water mixing with the stain.
Of course, anything that seems too good to be true usually is, and that was the case here. For one thing, it sprays out hard and very wet, splashing all over the place. For another it runs out way quicker than I would have imagined. It took me 3 bottles to do half the fence and it was way too light. I used the 4th to go back over it as best I could but I think it looks like crap. Never got to do the backside of the fence either. Now I think I'm going to have to do something completely different for the back, hope I can find something that matches closely to what's already there or I'll have to redo the entire thing.
On Saturday, Retro and I played in the 27 hole challenge at Door Creek. First 9 is best ball, 2nd 9 is combined net and 3rd 9 is a scramble. Of course, like idiots we walked in the excruciating heat. We kicked ass on the front 9 and shot an 8 under par 27, with Retro shooting a 43 and me a 40. That was good for a 3 way tie for best which netted us a whopping $14.25 after the split. The heat started getting us on the back and we stumbled quite a bit, with Retro dropping to a 52 and me a 47. After a quick bite to eat we went to the executive 9 for a scramble. We struggled mightily there too, coming in with a 35 (par 30). I'm not sure where we finished, somewhere in the top 15 I think.
Then on Sunday, dad and I played in the father/son tourney in Baraboo (his home course). It was an interesting format. Both father and son hit their tee shots, then played each other's second shot (so I was hitting his ball and he mine after our first shots). From there it was an alternate shot through the hole. We didn't play very well at all and shot 44/44 for 88. I did win 2 flag prizes for closest to the hole on a par 3, which netted me 2 sleeves of Top Flight balls, ooh boy. I should have had long drive on 18 too, blew by the marker by 40 yards but was 10 feet into the rough.
Got to watch episode 2 of "John from Cincinati" last night on HBO. I like this new show from David Milch (Deadwood). It's very different from other shows and intriguing.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Ok, Putting is better but now....
I can't seem to hit things straight. This god damn game is so frustrating, I want to tear my hair out sometimes. I only had 16 putts and no 3-putts so I feel better about that, but my iron shots were either left or right and my driver hooked left a few times that I wasn't expecting. The difference between me of a few years ago and now is that even when I'm doing that now I can still manage to shoot a 43. Couple years ago that would have been a 50.
Our really nice temps are going to give way to slightly higher but much more humid weather for the next few days. That's not really what I need right now with a very busy staining and golfing weekend.
Tonight is the start of summer hockey season, kicking off with a 9pm game tonight. Those are always so tough because I'm normally in bed by 10/10:30 and up by 5:45. I won't get home till 11 and then the adrenaline won't let me sleep till 1am. Tomorrow should be pretty rough.
For those of you unmarried guys that think it might be ok to hook up with an ex-girlfriend, let this story be a word of warning for you. A guy in London is now facing life 1 nut light after meeting up with his ex at a party and taking her home. They were just about to get busy when he decided it wasn't a good idea. She went nutso and ripped a nut right off and tried to swallow it! Fortunately she choked on it and had to spit it out. Unfortunately they couldn't reattach it. Her statement: "I'm not a very violent person." Uh, yeah, right psycho...
Our really nice temps are going to give way to slightly higher but much more humid weather for the next few days. That's not really what I need right now with a very busy staining and golfing weekend.
Tonight is the start of summer hockey season, kicking off with a 9pm game tonight. Those are always so tough because I'm normally in bed by 10/10:30 and up by 5:45. I won't get home till 11 and then the adrenaline won't let me sleep till 1am. Tomorrow should be pretty rough.
For those of you unmarried guys that think it might be ok to hook up with an ex-girlfriend, let this story be a word of warning for you. A guy in London is now facing life 1 nut light after meeting up with his ex at a party and taking her home. They were just about to get busy when he decided it wasn't a good idea. She went nutso and ripped a nut right off and tried to swallow it! Fortunately she choked on it and had to spit it out. Unfortunately they couldn't reattach it. Her statement: "I'm not a very violent person." Uh, yeah, right psycho...
Monday, June 11, 2007
Pressure Washing a fence is hard...
Going into this weekend, my goals were simple:
Friday: Golf 18 holes.
Saturday: Trim, mow and pressure wash the fence.
Sunday: Stain the fence.
No problem...
Well, it started out ok. Got the golf in, beautiful weather... unfortunately horrible golf, shooting 46/46 for 92 with 38 freakin' putts, including 6 3-putts. Disgusting wouldn't even come close to describing it.
Saturday morning I got up raring to go. Trimmed and mowed then put the pressure washer together (gas powered, just bought it). Unfortunately I misjudged how long it would take. 3 hours later I'd only done one side and just the outside. Took me 6 hours more on Sunday to finish and I was toast. Missed a few spots with the sunscreen too so now I've got a few places that are pretty f'ing red.
So, now I'll have to wait. Looks like Friday before I can get to staining. Going to my nephew's baseball game tomorrow, golf league Wedneday and hockey starts again on Thursday.
The weather is at least cooperating as it will be mid to upper 80's all week. I have not 1, but 2 golf tournaments this weekend too. Saturday is the 27 hole challenge at Door Creek, with Retro as my partner for the first time. Mike is going on a motorcycle trip to West Virginia so he's not available. Sunday is the father/son tournament at Baraboo. We took 2nd last year and my dad is jacked up about it, wants to win. We'll see... probably not a chance the way I'm playing right now.
Oh, Cdubya got her first birdie yesterday! A robin...
Friday: Golf 18 holes.
Saturday: Trim, mow and pressure wash the fence.
Sunday: Stain the fence.
No problem...
Well, it started out ok. Got the golf in, beautiful weather... unfortunately horrible golf, shooting 46/46 for 92 with 38 freakin' putts, including 6 3-putts. Disgusting wouldn't even come close to describing it.
Saturday morning I got up raring to go. Trimmed and mowed then put the pressure washer together (gas powered, just bought it). Unfortunately I misjudged how long it would take. 3 hours later I'd only done one side and just the outside. Took me 6 hours more on Sunday to finish and I was toast. Missed a few spots with the sunscreen too so now I've got a few places that are pretty f'ing red.
So, now I'll have to wait. Looks like Friday before I can get to staining. Going to my nephew's baseball game tomorrow, golf league Wedneday and hockey starts again on Thursday.
The weather is at least cooperating as it will be mid to upper 80's all week. I have not 1, but 2 golf tournaments this weekend too. Saturday is the 27 hole challenge at Door Creek, with Retro as my partner for the first time. Mike is going on a motorcycle trip to West Virginia so he's not available. Sunday is the father/son tournament at Baraboo. We took 2nd last year and my dad is jacked up about it, wants to win. We'll see... probably not a chance the way I'm playing right now.
Oh, Cdubya got her first birdie yesterday! A robin...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Rain, Rain, Stop!
We got lucky for golf league last night as a big rain storm passed through and it stopped raining just as we got to the course, leading to a very nice night as the sun came out and it was in the mid-60's with a light breeze. Beautiful night for golf.
Unfortunately the golf wasn't as beautiful. For some reason I wasn't hitting the ball very crisply and missed all but 1 green in regulation. On the plus side I was making some long putts and 1-putted 5 times. Of course, I angered the golf gods by stating that my putter was hot before teeing off on the 17th hole and while I just missed reaching the green in 2 (par 5) I managed to 3 putt for bogey. Why can't I keep my mouth shut! The golf gods will get you every time you say something like that. For instance, one guy we were playing with stood on the 13th tee box and stated "I've played every hole with this one ball" and proceeded to land his tee shot in a creek. You can't say shit like that.
I ended up shooting 44, missing a 6 footer for par on 18 that would have won my match. Instead I settled for a tie, with him winning the holes 5-4 but I won total (he shot 43 and gives me 2 strokes), for a 5-5 tie. My partner won as his opponent was a no-show, but I don't think we can make up the 7 points we're down to Retro and his partner(s). Only a few weeks left in the first half.
Speaking of Retro. He killed himself on the first hole with a 10, fighting with the sand traps and ended up with a 53. There's always a little regression as you improve. 2 step forwards, 1 step back.
We play again Friday and this weekend I'll be pressure washing and staining the fence, finally. Should be a gorgeous weekend in the mid to upper 70's.
Unfortunately the golf wasn't as beautiful. For some reason I wasn't hitting the ball very crisply and missed all but 1 green in regulation. On the plus side I was making some long putts and 1-putted 5 times. Of course, I angered the golf gods by stating that my putter was hot before teeing off on the 17th hole and while I just missed reaching the green in 2 (par 5) I managed to 3 putt for bogey. Why can't I keep my mouth shut! The golf gods will get you every time you say something like that. For instance, one guy we were playing with stood on the 13th tee box and stated "I've played every hole with this one ball" and proceeded to land his tee shot in a creek. You can't say shit like that.
I ended up shooting 44, missing a 6 footer for par on 18 that would have won my match. Instead I settled for a tie, with him winning the holes 5-4 but I won total (he shot 43 and gives me 2 strokes), for a 5-5 tie. My partner won as his opponent was a no-show, but I don't think we can make up the 7 points we're down to Retro and his partner(s). Only a few weeks left in the first half.
Speaking of Retro. He killed himself on the first hole with a 10, fighting with the sand traps and ended up with a 53. There's always a little regression as you improve. 2 step forwards, 1 step back.
We play again Friday and this weekend I'll be pressure washing and staining the fence, finally. Should be a gorgeous weekend in the mid to upper 70's.
Monday, June 04, 2007
I dread the end is near
For a year now I've been playing golf with Retro and who is going to win has never really been in doubt. He's struggled and while I have continued to bash his need to practice every day and take thousands of swings in his living room, continually threatening the well-being of his children, he has proved that practice does help.
I always told him that I would have to kill myself if he beat me (I was joking, hope he's not worried about me), and now I fear the time may be coming soon. He's actually starting to play well.
His first 3 weeks of golf league were a joke: 57, 53, 60. Then we go to Whistling Straits and while he wasn't god-like, he did shoot a 51 on the front nine and he was actually hitting the ball pretty well. We get back to league Wednesday and he fires a 47! Luckily I had a 40 so the outcome was still never in doubt.
Then we go out Friday to play nine and after 8 holes we were tied! I didn't panic and when he drove his tee shot into the bunker I knew I was safe. But just to make sure I hit my drive 270 down the middle and hit a 3-wood 225 to 4 feet. Of course I missed the eagle putt but made birdie and he made 7 and I won 44-47. But again, he shot 47! This is really something for a guy that regularly was well over 50 and his best 9 ever is a 45.
Once again we head out to play 18 Sunday morning, this time with Dr. Mike joining us. Mike decides he loves the number 6 and proceeds to have 8 of them on the front 9 (only marred by a par 3 on the 8th) and shoots 51. Retro continues his torrid pace and fires a 46, bested only by my 44. Now Mike is nervous... he's got a bet with Retro (2-1 odds on a case of Guinness) that Retro won't have a lower handicap come September 30th. Mike starts playing better on the back and Retro comes unglued for 1 hole, as he usually does, and shoots a 10 on the 11th hole. He recovers but Mike plays well enough to take advantage and when he bogeys 17 to Retro's double he makes up the 5th stroke and they're tied. I'm maintaining a slim 3 shot lead over both of them.
We head to 18 as ominous black clouds gather over head. Mike hits first and hits a short drive but he's in the fairway. Retro rams one well right of the fairway and I hit a bomb about 30 yards short of the green. We all miss the green on our second shots with Mike in the rough and Retro and I on the fringe. Mike makes a good shot but it rolls past the pin onto the back fringe. I putt up close and tap in for par. Retro putts well right of the hole and leaves himself 10 feet. Mike somehow makes his 12 footer from the fringe for par leaving Retro his 10 footer for the tie. I don't think he knew it at the time though and snuck the putt in the left side for the par and the tie. The finished with 94's (Mike 51/43, Retro 46/48), the best I've seen Retro shoot for sure. I managed a 47 on the back for 91, barely hanging on to beat him by 3. A far cry from the usual 20 stroke wins I've been having.
Now I'm the one that's nervous...
I always told him that I would have to kill myself if he beat me (I was joking, hope he's not worried about me), and now I fear the time may be coming soon. He's actually starting to play well.
His first 3 weeks of golf league were a joke: 57, 53, 60. Then we go to Whistling Straits and while he wasn't god-like, he did shoot a 51 on the front nine and he was actually hitting the ball pretty well. We get back to league Wednesday and he fires a 47! Luckily I had a 40 so the outcome was still never in doubt.
Then we go out Friday to play nine and after 8 holes we were tied! I didn't panic and when he drove his tee shot into the bunker I knew I was safe. But just to make sure I hit my drive 270 down the middle and hit a 3-wood 225 to 4 feet. Of course I missed the eagle putt but made birdie and he made 7 and I won 44-47. But again, he shot 47! This is really something for a guy that regularly was well over 50 and his best 9 ever is a 45.
Once again we head out to play 18 Sunday morning, this time with Dr. Mike joining us. Mike decides he loves the number 6 and proceeds to have 8 of them on the front 9 (only marred by a par 3 on the 8th) and shoots 51. Retro continues his torrid pace and fires a 46, bested only by my 44. Now Mike is nervous... he's got a bet with Retro (2-1 odds on a case of Guinness) that Retro won't have a lower handicap come September 30th. Mike starts playing better on the back and Retro comes unglued for 1 hole, as he usually does, and shoots a 10 on the 11th hole. He recovers but Mike plays well enough to take advantage and when he bogeys 17 to Retro's double he makes up the 5th stroke and they're tied. I'm maintaining a slim 3 shot lead over both of them.
We head to 18 as ominous black clouds gather over head. Mike hits first and hits a short drive but he's in the fairway. Retro rams one well right of the fairway and I hit a bomb about 30 yards short of the green. We all miss the green on our second shots with Mike in the rough and Retro and I on the fringe. Mike makes a good shot but it rolls past the pin onto the back fringe. I putt up close and tap in for par. Retro putts well right of the hole and leaves himself 10 feet. Mike somehow makes his 12 footer from the fringe for par leaving Retro his 10 footer for the tie. I don't think he knew it at the time though and snuck the putt in the left side for the par and the tie. The finished with 94's (Mike 51/43, Retro 46/48), the best I've seen Retro shoot for sure. I managed a 47 on the back for 91, barely hanging on to beat him by 3. A far cry from the usual 20 stroke wins I've been having.
Now I'm the one that's nervous...
Friday, June 01, 2007
Pirate Master
The debut of Pirate Master on CBS was last night. First episode was kind of slow but that was expected as they need to introduce you to the game and understand how it's going to work.
On day 1 they sailed near to an island and were divided into 2 teams. Each team was given a map and compass to a treasure. They set out in long boats to begin their search. The winning team discovered a treasure chest that was filled with $40,000 in gold coins. They were then told that they would decide who the captain of the ship would be from their team. They ended up going with Joe Don despite John, the scientist/exotic dancer's protests that he, not JD, did everything and should be captain.
Immediately after the majority vote for Joe Don they were informed that the captain would get half the treasure ($20,000). He was then told to pick two officers and they were informed that the officers would get $5,000 and the remaining pirates would get $2,000 each.
Of course everyone was like "WTF? Half for the captain?" And Joe Don took his captain role to heart and became a complete prick to everyone. He and the officers were also given much better sleeping quarters and upon seeing them he said "Would you look at my bed?" completely rubbing it in before slamming the door so the others couldn't look into his room.
JD was then told to pick 3 pirates to be given the "black spot" and the remaining pirates would vote for one of them to be "cut adrift". Or they could vote to mutiny the captain, but it had to be unanimous for that to happen. As it turns out, John was such a douche bag that everyone voted for him and JD was safe as captain for the time being.
The show has potential, especially now that the introduction is over and we can see more of the interactions between the contestants. I can't wait for Christian "The Nigerian Nightmare" Okoye to body slam the first person to order him to scrub the toilet.
In other news, today is Retro's last day here at our client. He's going to work on other projects at his contracting firm's office. So, as is tradition, we went out to have a bunch of beer after work. On the way there he told me that 2 or 3 beers was his max and he'd become a lightweight. Of course, once we're there and people are buying him drinks it became a different story. After a couple hours he'd had about 5 Guinness and a shot of Jamison's. I had to drag him out of there or he would have been barfing. He's not looking so good this morning but at least he got off the mat and answered the bell.
On day 1 they sailed near to an island and were divided into 2 teams. Each team was given a map and compass to a treasure. They set out in long boats to begin their search. The winning team discovered a treasure chest that was filled with $40,000 in gold coins. They were then told that they would decide who the captain of the ship would be from their team. They ended up going with Joe Don despite John, the scientist/exotic dancer's protests that he, not JD, did everything and should be captain.
Immediately after the majority vote for Joe Don they were informed that the captain would get half the treasure ($20,000). He was then told to pick two officers and they were informed that the officers would get $5,000 and the remaining pirates would get $2,000 each.
Of course everyone was like "WTF? Half for the captain?" And Joe Don took his captain role to heart and became a complete prick to everyone. He and the officers were also given much better sleeping quarters and upon seeing them he said "Would you look at my bed?" completely rubbing it in before slamming the door so the others couldn't look into his room.
JD was then told to pick 3 pirates to be given the "black spot" and the remaining pirates would vote for one of them to be "cut adrift". Or they could vote to mutiny the captain, but it had to be unanimous for that to happen. As it turns out, John was such a douche bag that everyone voted for him and JD was safe as captain for the time being.
The show has potential, especially now that the introduction is over and we can see more of the interactions between the contestants. I can't wait for Christian "The Nigerian Nightmare" Okoye to body slam the first person to order him to scrub the toilet.
In other news, today is Retro's last day here at our client. He's going to work on other projects at his contracting firm's office. So, as is tradition, we went out to have a bunch of beer after work. On the way there he told me that 2 or 3 beers was his max and he'd become a lightweight. Of course, once we're there and people are buying him drinks it became a different story. After a couple hours he'd had about 5 Guinness and a shot of Jamison's. I had to drag him out of there or he would have been barfing. He's not looking so good this morning but at least he got off the mat and answered the bell.
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