Ok, with the demise of Pirate Master we were looking for a brainless show for the summer and we've found it. Rock of Love on VH1 is The Bachelor in Skank-town starring Brett Michaels of Poison fame (hair band of the 80's for you youngsters out there). He's looking for the love of his life and has been provided with 25 strippers, rockers and whores from which to choose. I'm not saying these girls were nasty but... uh, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. First episode and they're comparing their breast implants!
It's like watching a car wreck in super slow mo, over and over again. Perfect summer viewing.
3 episodes have aired thus far, we've only watched the first but looking at the previews for the rest of the season I'm jazzed to watch more. I believe you can get video on VH1's web site.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
New putter
For the past year I have used an Odyssey White Hot center shafted belly putter to various degrees of success. I have putted better and with more confidence than I have in the past but I'm still having times of struggles and I'm not really lowering my number of putts per round. I really love the face on the Odyssey but the angle that I putt at made keeping it square very difficult as it was always toed up. This changes the angle the ball will come off the face and cause you to pull left often. I tried compensating by always aiming a little right. All in all, not a great way to approach it.
Saturday I went to Golf Galaxy and tried all the different Odyssey's as well as many other brands until I picked up the new
Odyssey White Hot XG Marksman Blade.
It felt unbelievable. I started draining putts left and right. The balance was amazing and I loved the look standing over it. But that was just the start. I was fitted for it which involved adjusting the length, lie and loft. It didn't take very long but I was amazed at the results. The shortened it an inch, adjusted the lie 6 degrees flat (so it's not toed up any more) and increased the loft by 1 degree (from 2 to 3 degrees).
I went out and practiced with it Saturday night for a half hour or so, enough to get a feel for it. I played Sunday at a course I'd never played before but I putted ok with it. I left a couple of 10 footers 6" short but I always had a pretty good line and I made everything inside 5 feet which was the one thing I was worried about most in giving up the belly putter.
It does make a huge difference in getting the putter fit to how you use it. Like the guy at Golf Galaxy said "there's not a single putter on the shelf that would work for anyone as is."
I certainly can't blame the putter for my poor performance yesterday. I did ok on the front nine, getting 5 pars but 3 doubles and a bogey for a 43. I then went on to lose 4 balls in 5 holes on the back and shot a 49 for 92. Didn't hit a single good drive until 17 and 18. I think I was trying too hard to hit a perfect drive and when I finally relaxed and just let it go I hit two bombs. Just gotta relax, it's not that hard of a game.
Friday was just plain ugly. Played the Bridges from the Blue tees which totally changes the look of that course, increasing every hole about 50-70 yards and turning a fairly pedestrian course into a 6,900 yard monster. I struggled with everything and shot 47/51 for 98. My first 9 over 49 in a very long time. I lost 6 balls that day too. Good thing I picked up some more at Golf Galaxy while I was there. I've been very happy with that store. Always someone knowledgeable to help me, unlike Nevada Bob's where we were putting for 20 minutes and not once did anyone ask if they could help.
Saturday I went to Golf Galaxy and tried all the different Odyssey's as well as many other brands until I picked up the new Odyssey White Hot XG Marksman Blade.
It felt unbelievable. I started draining putts left and right. The balance was amazing and I loved the look standing over it. But that was just the start. I was fitted for it which involved adjusting the length, lie and loft. It didn't take very long but I was amazed at the results. The shortened it an inch, adjusted the lie 6 degrees flat (so it's not toed up any more) and increased the loft by 1 degree (from 2 to 3 degrees).
I went out and practiced with it Saturday night for a half hour or so, enough to get a feel for it. I played Sunday at a course I'd never played before but I putted ok with it. I left a couple of 10 footers 6" short but I always had a pretty good line and I made everything inside 5 feet which was the one thing I was worried about most in giving up the belly putter.
It does make a huge difference in getting the putter fit to how you use it. Like the guy at Golf Galaxy said "there's not a single putter on the shelf that would work for anyone as is."
I certainly can't blame the putter for my poor performance yesterday. I did ok on the front nine, getting 5 pars but 3 doubles and a bogey for a 43. I then went on to lose 4 balls in 5 holes on the back and shot a 49 for 92. Didn't hit a single good drive until 17 and 18. I think I was trying too hard to hit a perfect drive and when I finally relaxed and just let it go I hit two bombs. Just gotta relax, it's not that hard of a game.
Friday was just plain ugly. Played the Bridges from the Blue tees which totally changes the look of that course, increasing every hole about 50-70 yards and turning a fairly pedestrian course into a 6,900 yard monster. I struggled with everything and shot 47/51 for 98. My first 9 over 49 in a very long time. I lost 6 balls that day too. Good thing I picked up some more at Golf Galaxy while I was there. I've been very happy with that store. Always someone knowledgeable to help me, unlike Nevada Bob's where we were putting for 20 minutes and not once did anyone ask if they could help.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Losing streak hits 3 games
No, I'm not talking about the Brewers, though they have lost 6 of 9. They just stink on the road.
I'm talking about my hockey team. We lost another nail biter 6-5. After giving up a goal early in the 3rd period to fall behind 4-1 we mounted a fierce comeback to eventually tie the game at 5 but a freak bounce gave them a break away with 4 minutes left that turned out to be the final tally.
I got to play forward the entire game. First 2 periods at left wing and the final period at center. I think we did a lot better when I was at center instead of my off wing. It gave our banger a chance to get to the front of the net where he eventually scored.
I had plenty of chances. Early in the game I got a rebound out front and pulled it to my backhand and rang it off the inside of the near post, just missing the far post. In the 2nd I got a rebound as I was crashing the net hard. The goalie had slid left and it was just me and a defenseman. I ripped it towards the open net and drilled the defenseman in the thigh. Sheesh.
And to make it worse I was shoved from behind and crashed into the goalie and in trying to brace myself I somehow bent my right thumbnail back. It didn't break but it was bleeding pretty good. I iced it later but it's pretty sore this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to swing a golf club as I don't really use my right thumb much.
My fantasy baseball team is taking quite a hit this week. I still have a sizeable lead but my star players are dropping. First on Sunday, Hanley Ramirez dislocated his shoulder swinging the bat. Tuesday night, ERA leader Chris Young strained an oblique warming up for the 3rd inning. Now last night, all world 2b Chase Utley suffered a broken hand when he got hit by a pitch and is out until late August.
I really don't have replacements for those 3. I'll have to find a way to tread water till they return.
I'm talking about my hockey team. We lost another nail biter 6-5. After giving up a goal early in the 3rd period to fall behind 4-1 we mounted a fierce comeback to eventually tie the game at 5 but a freak bounce gave them a break away with 4 minutes left that turned out to be the final tally.
I got to play forward the entire game. First 2 periods at left wing and the final period at center. I think we did a lot better when I was at center instead of my off wing. It gave our banger a chance to get to the front of the net where he eventually scored.
I had plenty of chances. Early in the game I got a rebound out front and pulled it to my backhand and rang it off the inside of the near post, just missing the far post. In the 2nd I got a rebound as I was crashing the net hard. The goalie had slid left and it was just me and a defenseman. I ripped it towards the open net and drilled the defenseman in the thigh. Sheesh.
And to make it worse I was shoved from behind and crashed into the goalie and in trying to brace myself I somehow bent my right thumbnail back. It didn't break but it was bleeding pretty good. I iced it later but it's pretty sore this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to swing a golf club as I don't really use my right thumb much.
My fantasy baseball team is taking quite a hit this week. I still have a sizeable lead but my star players are dropping. First on Sunday, Hanley Ramirez dislocated his shoulder swinging the bat. Tuesday night, ERA leader Chris Young strained an oblique warming up for the 3rd inning. Now last night, all world 2b Chase Utley suffered a broken hand when he got hit by a pitch and is out until late August.
I really don't have replacements for those 3. I'll have to find a way to tread water till they return.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Adubya vs. Retro
To my surprise, I went head to head with Retro in league last night. I gave him a stroke on 6 holes but luckily it came down to putting and I made a few while he 3 putted 4 times. He did manage to make a nice 10 footer on the last hole to win his 3rd hole to my 6.
I ended up shooting my best back 9 at Door Creek ever, with a 38. 5 pars, 3 bogeys and a birdie on 17. Missed a couple of putts that could have gone, but I'm satisfied with how I played. Retro had a 49, about average for him. I took home $10 for low net in the league with 31. That's my 3rd time this season.
My USGA handicap is the lowest it has ever been, down to a 14.0. Until this year it had never been below 17.2. Hopefully I can continue this for the next month as the club championship is August 18th and 19th. I'd really like that parking spot with my name on it!
Did anyone see the Reds player get beaned in the face by Brewer reliever Matt Wise last night? Oh, that had to hurt.
Also, the Brewers traded 3 minor league pitchers, including their 3rd rated prospect Will Inman, to the Padres for reliever Scott Linebrink. Linebrink will take over the set up role, previously held by scatter brained Derick Turnbow.
Linebrink has appeared in 44 games, pitching 45 innings. He's 3-3 with 1 save, a 3.80 era and 1.222 whip while striking out 25. He's struggled at times this year and the one scary stat he does have is an 11.17 era with runners in scoring position. Also, he had a 2.52 era before the all star break but has a 9.35 era in July. Hopefully he'll return to form with the Brewers.
I ended up shooting my best back 9 at Door Creek ever, with a 38. 5 pars, 3 bogeys and a birdie on 17. Missed a couple of putts that could have gone, but I'm satisfied with how I played. Retro had a 49, about average for him. I took home $10 for low net in the league with 31. That's my 3rd time this season.
My USGA handicap is the lowest it has ever been, down to a 14.0. Until this year it had never been below 17.2. Hopefully I can continue this for the next month as the club championship is August 18th and 19th. I'd really like that parking spot with my name on it!
Did anyone see the Reds player get beaned in the face by Brewer reliever Matt Wise last night? Oh, that had to hurt.
Also, the Brewers traded 3 minor league pitchers, including their 3rd rated prospect Will Inman, to the Padres for reliever Scott Linebrink. Linebrink will take over the set up role, previously held by scatter brained Derick Turnbow.
Linebrink has appeared in 44 games, pitching 45 innings. He's 3-3 with 1 save, a 3.80 era and 1.222 whip while striking out 25. He's struggled at times this year and the one scary stat he does have is an 11.17 era with runners in scoring position. Also, he had a 2.52 era before the all star break but has a 9.35 era in July. Hopefully he'll return to form with the Brewers.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Golf, the way my ancestors intended
The Scots have the right idea on golf. 3 1/2 hour rounds or they'll kick you off the course. Here in the states the accepted norm is 4 1/2 hours (or about 15 minutes per hole). Unfortunately at more crowded links you can see 5 and even 6 hour rounds which is just freakin' excruciating.
Dr. Mike and I decided to see if we could do a Scottish round. Of course, the only way to do that around here is to be the first ones out. So, at 6:15am yesterday we teed off. Made the turn in an hour and 40 minutes and played the back nine in an hour and 20 for a 3 hour round. Very nice. We even ran into a 4-some on the back nine that they put out in front of us. Fortunately they let us play through. We then ran into one guy that was playing 4 or 5 balls (um, that's not right) but he let us go through as well (after he gave me my ball back that he "accidently" hit).
I put myself in bad spots repeatedly early, having to just punch out or lay up 4 times in the first 6 holes. I putted ok but couldn't quite sink any par savers and finished the front with 7 bogies and 2 doubles for an 11 over 46. Back nine was better as I managed to start hitting a few fairways and greens and ended up shooting 42 with 2 pars and a birdie. Mike should have beaten me as he shot 44 on the front but a 9 on the par 4 12th was the difference (first tee shot in the corn field, 2nd one in a pond), as I beat him 88 to 92.
And getting home before 9:30am was an added bonus as it was like I was never gone. Cdubya and I then went out to lunch and saw the new Harry Potter movie. I liked it. They cut out alot of the cruft and just focused on the important stuff. Cdubya is reading the new Harry Potter book and I'm re-reading the 6th book since I totally forgot what happened in it. Interestingly it will not be on the New York Times best seller list as it is considered a "children's book" and those don't count. Weird.
Dr. Mike and I decided to see if we could do a Scottish round. Of course, the only way to do that around here is to be the first ones out. So, at 6:15am yesterday we teed off. Made the turn in an hour and 40 minutes and played the back nine in an hour and 20 for a 3 hour round. Very nice. We even ran into a 4-some on the back nine that they put out in front of us. Fortunately they let us play through. We then ran into one guy that was playing 4 or 5 balls (um, that's not right) but he let us go through as well (after he gave me my ball back that he "accidently" hit).
I put myself in bad spots repeatedly early, having to just punch out or lay up 4 times in the first 6 holes. I putted ok but couldn't quite sink any par savers and finished the front with 7 bogies and 2 doubles for an 11 over 46. Back nine was better as I managed to start hitting a few fairways and greens and ended up shooting 42 with 2 pars and a birdie. Mike should have beaten me as he shot 44 on the front but a 9 on the par 4 12th was the difference (first tee shot in the corn field, 2nd one in a pond), as I beat him 88 to 92.
And getting home before 9:30am was an added bonus as it was like I was never gone. Cdubya and I then went out to lunch and saw the new Harry Potter movie. I liked it. They cut out alot of the cruft and just focused on the important stuff. Cdubya is reading the new Harry Potter book and I'm re-reading the 6th book since I totally forgot what happened in it. Interestingly it will not be on the New York Times best seller list as it is considered a "children's book" and those don't count. Weird.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Back on Top
I was surprised to find out that Balderdash and I were in first place after the opening week of half 2. It wasn't much of a lead as we had only taken 11.5 out of 20 points but we're where we need to be.
Unfortunately we split our matches last night right down the middle with B having a rough time on a couple holes. He ended up with a 48 while I had a 42. Once again I didn't play very well, save for 2 nice drives and sticking a wedge within 2 feet on a par 3 for birdie. B had the best birdie ever on that hole. His tee shot was well short but landed on the rocks next to the water and shot up in the air, landing on the green about 20 feet away and he calmly dropped it for 2. Team birdie, baby! Of course, I had the brilliant idea we should do a fist bump and he nearly snapped my wrist with that hamhock he calls a hand. New rule, no more fist bumps with 300 lb men.
Unfortunately we split our matches last night right down the middle with B having a rough time on a couple holes. He ended up with a 48 while I had a 42. Once again I didn't play very well, save for 2 nice drives and sticking a wedge within 2 feet on a par 3 for birdie. B had the best birdie ever on that hole. His tee shot was well short but landed on the rocks next to the water and shot up in the air, landing on the green about 20 feet away and he calmly dropped it for 2. Team birdie, baby! Of course, I had the brilliant idea we should do a fist bump and he nearly snapped my wrist with that hamhock he calls a hand. New rule, no more fist bumps with 300 lb men.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Freakin' Moron
You'd think that I would check to see if the outlet in the garage that I have the frig plugged in to was a GFI one or not before just assuming the frig is broken, but I guess I'm not that smart.
When I got home from work yesterday I checked the battery station that charges my battery packs for my yard tools and sure as shit, not working either and it's plugged into the same outlet as the frig.
I finally pull the frig out and yep, it's a GFI outlet and the button is out. I push it back in, plug the frig back in and vroom, off it goes. I smacked myself around for that one for awhile.
On a happy note, Cubs Lost! Cubs Lost!
Brewers won their 4th straight 1 run game to extend their lead back to 4 1/2 games. On the down side, Ben Sheets has a slight tear in the tissue surrounding a tendon in his middle finger and is out 4-6 weeks. Only positive I see from this is that I can put Yovani Gallerdo back in my fantasy rotation once again. The kid can pitch.
When I got home from work yesterday I checked the battery station that charges my battery packs for my yard tools and sure as shit, not working either and it's plugged into the same outlet as the frig.
I finally pull the frig out and yep, it's a GFI outlet and the button is out. I push it back in, plug the frig back in and vroom, off it goes. I smacked myself around for that one for awhile.
On a happy note, Cubs Lost! Cubs Lost!
Brewers won their 4th straight 1 run game to extend their lead back to 4 1/2 games. On the down side, Ben Sheets has a slight tear in the tissue surrounding a tendon in his middle finger and is out 4-6 weeks. Only positive I see from this is that I can put Yovani Gallerdo back in my fantasy rotation once again. The kid can pitch.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
And woosh, it was gone
Oh golf gods, why do you torment me so? Everything was going so well, felt like I was on the verge of breaking 80 for the first time in my life. It was right there, I could feel it. And with a wave of a hand the gods have slapped me right back to reality.
It all started Saturday. Cdubya and I were playing with Bubba and his wife at Door Creek. Playing from the blue tees, I started with a double bogey (bad drive) on the first hole and then went on a bit of a tear and finished the front nine at 2 over 37, my best for the front there. At the turn I let my mind wander to what could be... 75, 76? Easily I will break my best score of 82, I only needed a 44 on the back to do that and most of the time I can shoot low 40's there without too much of a problem. I thought I should have a beer to help me relax, knowing my mind would be my undoing.
And I started out pretty well. I hit the fairway, just missed the green and hit the pin with my chip to save par on 10.
Ran into a little problem on 11 when I didn't hit a good tee shot and left myself behind a tree with only a punch out possible. Double bogey.
Ok, no problem. Good drive on 12, just missed the green. Chip, 2 putt, bogey.
Then came 13. Wednesday in league I drove the front edge of the 314 yard par 4 13th from the white tees. This time playing from the blues, the angle is not as nice, have to either hit a big fade around them or go over 100 foot high trees. I'd been hitting the driver beautifully the whole day so I got a little over-aggressive. I decided to go over the trees. And it almost worked. I hit it great, but it caught the very top of the highest branch and where it went from there is anyone's guess. I ended up having to take a drop and hit it in the bunker. Bad sand shot barely got me on the green and 3 putted from 70 feet. Triple bogey.
Ok, breathe... it's ok. One bad hole cannot ruin a round if you just recover on the next hole... 14th is a par 3, only 141 yards from the blues. I pull out the nine iron and oops! Hit it thin, flew over the green and into a hazard. Drop, bad chip, damn it, another triple bogey.
I recovered to par 15, then bogey 16 but hit into the trees again on 17 and took a double. Finished 18 with a bogey for 49... 49! My dreams were crushed. Instead of 76 I had another 86. Not bad but definitely the most disappointing back 9 of my life. I was up most of the night replaying what should have happened and how I let it get away. It was making my stomach ache.
I resisted all urges to go out and play again on Sunday and instead ran some errands and pressure washed the house.
Monday comes and I'm subbing in the company league again, this time at the Oaks. Playing the front 9 we started on the 2nd hole (shotgun start). I hit the green and 3 putted for bogey (very difficult green) and then decided to hit 3-wood off the tee on the par 5 3rd hole. Aiming for the right half of the fairway, I hooked it so hard that it ended up in the rough clear on the other side of the 1st fairway! I hit an iron back to the fairway where I chunked a wedge short. Another bogey. Good drive on 4 but thinned a 5 iron into a bunker. Good sand shot got me on and I made par.
Par 3 5th I thinned a 7 iron this time way right down a big hill into the fescue. Luckily I had a decent lie but couldn't even see the pin I was so far down the hill. Miraculously I hit a sand wedge to 6 feet and made the putt for par. Ok, I'm playing like shit but I'm only 2 over after 4 holes. Decent drive on 6, but again, thinned a pitching wedge right of the green. Bogey. Sort of thin 6 iron on the 180 yard par 3 7th and a bad chip and then a lipped out putt gave me a double bogey. Good drive on 8 but again, thinned a wedge clear over the green. Again, a bad chip and another lipped out putt ended with another double. 9th hole I hit a good 3 wood and another that went a hair right. This time I slowed down my swing with my wedge and hit it ok but not hard enough and left it short. Chipped it well past the hole however (what the hell happened to my chipping???). But fortunately this time I didn't lip out the putt and drained it from 20 feet for par. Back to the first hole to finish up. Good drive, wedge hit pretty well left me about 15 feet uphill for birdie. Missed it just left, leaving myself about 2 feet straight down hill for par. And once again I lipped it out! Bogey. Another guy in our group had the exact same putt and did the exact same thing so I don't feel horrible. But, man, 3 lip outs, and some extremely horrible iron play and chipping left me feeling like my game is completely gone. The only thing I can take away from it is that despite all that crap I had a 44 which isn't the end of the world. And my drives are working well.
Oh, and to make matters worse, the guy I was playing (and the guy I beat 12-8 last week despite giving 4 strokes) decided he would exact his revenge on me and shot a 40 while getting 3 strokes from me this time. He whupped me 17-3. Not sure I will be asked to come back and sub again!
Oh yeah, remember how my electronics are failing? DVD player, a/v receiver, router and coffee maker so far. Well, you can add spare refrigerator to that list now. When we bought a new fridge a couple years ago I moved the old one to the garage (it's only 7 years old) and use it to store beer and pop mostly. Well, I go out Sunday night to grab a cold Hacker Pschorr and the fridge light is out. Ok, light bulb problem, right? Hmm, the freezer light is out too. And the other lighting doesn't work. And it's feeling a little warm. Oh crap... it's dead. Anyone know anything about fridges? Is it fixable? And what the fuck is going on in my house??? Honestly I'm starting to get really concerned here. How long before I have $6,000 worth of dead tv's?
I'm sorry to whomever I pissed off that's causing this!
It all started Saturday. Cdubya and I were playing with Bubba and his wife at Door Creek. Playing from the blue tees, I started with a double bogey (bad drive) on the first hole and then went on a bit of a tear and finished the front nine at 2 over 37, my best for the front there. At the turn I let my mind wander to what could be... 75, 76? Easily I will break my best score of 82, I only needed a 44 on the back to do that and most of the time I can shoot low 40's there without too much of a problem. I thought I should have a beer to help me relax, knowing my mind would be my undoing.
And I started out pretty well. I hit the fairway, just missed the green and hit the pin with my chip to save par on 10.
Ran into a little problem on 11 when I didn't hit a good tee shot and left myself behind a tree with only a punch out possible. Double bogey.
Ok, no problem. Good drive on 12, just missed the green. Chip, 2 putt, bogey.
Then came 13. Wednesday in league I drove the front edge of the 314 yard par 4 13th from the white tees. This time playing from the blues, the angle is not as nice, have to either hit a big fade around them or go over 100 foot high trees. I'd been hitting the driver beautifully the whole day so I got a little over-aggressive. I decided to go over the trees. And it almost worked. I hit it great, but it caught the very top of the highest branch and where it went from there is anyone's guess. I ended up having to take a drop and hit it in the bunker. Bad sand shot barely got me on the green and 3 putted from 70 feet. Triple bogey.
Ok, breathe... it's ok. One bad hole cannot ruin a round if you just recover on the next hole... 14th is a par 3, only 141 yards from the blues. I pull out the nine iron and oops! Hit it thin, flew over the green and into a hazard. Drop, bad chip, damn it, another triple bogey.
I recovered to par 15, then bogey 16 but hit into the trees again on 17 and took a double. Finished 18 with a bogey for 49... 49! My dreams were crushed. Instead of 76 I had another 86. Not bad but definitely the most disappointing back 9 of my life. I was up most of the night replaying what should have happened and how I let it get away. It was making my stomach ache.
I resisted all urges to go out and play again on Sunday and instead ran some errands and pressure washed the house.
Monday comes and I'm subbing in the company league again, this time at the Oaks. Playing the front 9 we started on the 2nd hole (shotgun start). I hit the green and 3 putted for bogey (very difficult green) and then decided to hit 3-wood off the tee on the par 5 3rd hole. Aiming for the right half of the fairway, I hooked it so hard that it ended up in the rough clear on the other side of the 1st fairway! I hit an iron back to the fairway where I chunked a wedge short. Another bogey. Good drive on 4 but thinned a 5 iron into a bunker. Good sand shot got me on and I made par.
Par 3 5th I thinned a 7 iron this time way right down a big hill into the fescue. Luckily I had a decent lie but couldn't even see the pin I was so far down the hill. Miraculously I hit a sand wedge to 6 feet and made the putt for par. Ok, I'm playing like shit but I'm only 2 over after 4 holes. Decent drive on 6, but again, thinned a pitching wedge right of the green. Bogey. Sort of thin 6 iron on the 180 yard par 3 7th and a bad chip and then a lipped out putt gave me a double bogey. Good drive on 8 but again, thinned a wedge clear over the green. Again, a bad chip and another lipped out putt ended with another double. 9th hole I hit a good 3 wood and another that went a hair right. This time I slowed down my swing with my wedge and hit it ok but not hard enough and left it short. Chipped it well past the hole however (what the hell happened to my chipping???). But fortunately this time I didn't lip out the putt and drained it from 20 feet for par. Back to the first hole to finish up. Good drive, wedge hit pretty well left me about 15 feet uphill for birdie. Missed it just left, leaving myself about 2 feet straight down hill for par. And once again I lipped it out! Bogey. Another guy in our group had the exact same putt and did the exact same thing so I don't feel horrible. But, man, 3 lip outs, and some extremely horrible iron play and chipping left me feeling like my game is completely gone. The only thing I can take away from it is that despite all that crap I had a 44 which isn't the end of the world. And my drives are working well.
Oh, and to make matters worse, the guy I was playing (and the guy I beat 12-8 last week despite giving 4 strokes) decided he would exact his revenge on me and shot a 40 while getting 3 strokes from me this time. He whupped me 17-3. Not sure I will be asked to come back and sub again!
Oh yeah, remember how my electronics are failing? DVD player, a/v receiver, router and coffee maker so far. Well, you can add spare refrigerator to that list now. When we bought a new fridge a couple years ago I moved the old one to the garage (it's only 7 years old) and use it to store beer and pop mostly. Well, I go out Sunday night to grab a cold Hacker Pschorr and the fridge light is out. Ok, light bulb problem, right? Hmm, the freezer light is out too. And the other lighting doesn't work. And it's feeling a little warm. Oh crap... it's dead. Anyone know anything about fridges? Is it fixable? And what the fuck is going on in my house??? Honestly I'm starting to get really concerned here. How long before I have $6,000 worth of dead tv's?
I'm sorry to whomever I pissed off that's causing this!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Apple Extreme Basestation Draft N
I forgot to mention that I went ahead and bought the new Apple Extreme Basestation from the Apple store online. It arrived last Saturday. It was a snap to set up and I'm able to go back to letting it do DHCP for me instead of having to assign static IP addresses for all the computers. In addition, I was able to put Cdubya's iMac back on wiresless instead of directly wired via an ethernet cable. (sorry to my non-geek readers for the geek talk)
It is working flawlessly but there were a couple things that I didn't know about that made me a touch pissy. First, the 802.11n capability is only available on Mac's that have the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The "2" is extremely important here. I have Intel Core Duo processors in both the iMac and my MacBook. Those are not supported. I didn't read that clearly enough. Could have saved myself some money there by just getting an 802.11g router.
Secondly, one of the coolest things about the new basestation is that it has a USB 2 port on it. It's designed to make a regular printer (that has a usb connection) a network printer or you can add a portable hard drive to it to make it a network drive. That's what I was really excited about. I could take the usb drive that I had connected to the iMac and move it to the basestation and get access to it from all the computers.
And it works, don't get me wrong, I could access it from everywhere quite easily (software install required for mac's and pc's to add a disk utility to mount the drive). Unfortunately there's one HUGE issue with it. For some reason, which doesn't make sense to me, streaming video from it is near impossible. At least running 802.11g anyway. Bringing a video up on my laptop or Apple TV took forever to load and even after it loaded it would pause every 30 seconds to re-buffer. I sure hope Apple gets this fixed. I ended up moving the hard drive back to the iMac and everything's working fine again. The Apple TV needs to go through the iMac's iTunes library anyway so that was no biggie. I was just hoping to be able to stream from the Macbook and pc without going through iTunes. Not a huge deal since I can still stream from the shared iTunes library. I'm planning on adding another usb drive to the basestation just to use for backups. Should be fine for that.
All in all, I'm happy with the ease of use and setup and the performance seems to be pretty good. We'll see as time goes by. I feel like I spent way too much ($180) for an 802.11g router but I feel good about taking another step towards my goal of converting my house into an Apple house (yes, I have had the kool-aid and I like it).
It is working flawlessly but there were a couple things that I didn't know about that made me a touch pissy. First, the 802.11n capability is only available on Mac's that have the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The "2" is extremely important here. I have Intel Core Duo processors in both the iMac and my MacBook. Those are not supported. I didn't read that clearly enough. Could have saved myself some money there by just getting an 802.11g router.
Secondly, one of the coolest things about the new basestation is that it has a USB 2 port on it. It's designed to make a regular printer (that has a usb connection) a network printer or you can add a portable hard drive to it to make it a network drive. That's what I was really excited about. I could take the usb drive that I had connected to the iMac and move it to the basestation and get access to it from all the computers.
And it works, don't get me wrong, I could access it from everywhere quite easily (software install required for mac's and pc's to add a disk utility to mount the drive). Unfortunately there's one HUGE issue with it. For some reason, which doesn't make sense to me, streaming video from it is near impossible. At least running 802.11g anyway. Bringing a video up on my laptop or Apple TV took forever to load and even after it loaded it would pause every 30 seconds to re-buffer. I sure hope Apple gets this fixed. I ended up moving the hard drive back to the iMac and everything's working fine again. The Apple TV needs to go through the iMac's iTunes library anyway so that was no biggie. I was just hoping to be able to stream from the Macbook and pc without going through iTunes. Not a huge deal since I can still stream from the shared iTunes library. I'm planning on adding another usb drive to the basestation just to use for backups. Should be fine for that.
All in all, I'm happy with the ease of use and setup and the performance seems to be pretty good. We'll see as time goes by. I feel like I spent way too much ($180) for an 802.11g router but I feel good about taking another step towards my goal of converting my house into an Apple house (yes, I have had the kool-aid and I like it).
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Homer rules
The Simpsons movie comes out 2 weeks from Friday. Is there anything funnier than Homer? I don't think so. Even the trailers have me busting up. "Spiderpig, spiderpig, does whatever a spider can". D'oh!
In hockey tonight we had a hell of a game but we came out on the short end of a 5-4 total. We were really peppering the goalie, especially down the stretch but couldn't get lucky. I played D for the first 2 periods then moved up to center for the 3rd and scored my first goal of the season, rifling a wrister off the inside of the right post, just missing the defenseman who provide a nice screen for me. Unfortunately I missed a pretty open net on a scramble earlier when I hit the left post. Oh well, it was still fun.
Baseball got underway for the 2nd half tonight. I finished the first half of the COJ league with a 7 point lead in first. Unfortunately I already lost 3 points off that lead thanks to no hitting and Jeremie Guthrie of the Orioles getting lit up by the White Sox. I've never won the league but finished 2nd last year. Hard to believe I'm still up there considering I had Prince Fielder last year and let him go. Of course, who can fault my keeping The Mighty Pujols over The Prince, even if his manager won't let him play in the all star game.
In hockey tonight we had a hell of a game but we came out on the short end of a 5-4 total. We were really peppering the goalie, especially down the stretch but couldn't get lucky. I played D for the first 2 periods then moved up to center for the 3rd and scored my first goal of the season, rifling a wrister off the inside of the right post, just missing the defenseman who provide a nice screen for me. Unfortunately I missed a pretty open net on a scramble earlier when I hit the left post. Oh well, it was still fun.
Baseball got underway for the 2nd half tonight. I finished the first half of the COJ league with a 7 point lead in first. Unfortunately I already lost 3 points off that lead thanks to no hitting and Jeremie Guthrie of the Orioles getting lit up by the White Sox. I've never won the league but finished 2nd last year. Hard to believe I'm still up there considering I had Prince Fielder last year and let him go. Of course, who can fault my keeping The Mighty Pujols over The Prince, even if his manager won't let him play in the all star game.
Your results may vary
Balderdash said I'm only posting once a week now so I figured I better post this morning, just to show him that he doesn't know anything. :)
Just finished 3 days straight of playing 9 hole rounds, with some varying results.
First, Monday, subbing in the company league, playing the back 9 at the Bridges, where I typically struggle on the first 2 holes. I ended up playing pretty darn well and shooting a 39 that included 2 penalties for lost balls and I missed 2 birdie attempts that stopped on the lip. I did make a 30 footer for birdie on a par 5 though.
Tuesday, Cdubya and I went to the Door Creek executive 9 (par 30). My tee shots were pretty bad the whole round. I never hit a green off the tee, but I did drive the last hole, a 225 yard par 4, with my 3 wood, stuck it 7 feet from the hole, but proceeded to 3 putt for par. Shot a 36.
Wednesday was golf league. While I was playing pretty well with my irons, I thought my driver was failing me too often so I went to the range and hit a bucket of just drivers until I felt like I had a good shape to them. So, I got up on the 10th tee knowing I would hit a draw. 10th is a dog leg left that has a pond well past the fairway if you drive through. I've been in it before on shots that land and bounce over a cart path and down a hill into the water. This time, however, we were playing straight into the wind and knowing I would draw it around the corner, I aimed right down the middle. And of course, wouldn't you know it, it didn't draw very much and it went right where I was aiming. That's ok, it's a pretty stiff wind, right in our faces. It'll stop, right? Right? Shit... into the pond on the fly. Huge splash... sheesh, how does that feel? You hit the ball perfectly and what do you get? 1 new ball, gone.
I proceeded to hit 2 more ponds and played pretty poorly, shooting a 45. Highlight of the round was on 13, a 314 yard par 4 over a creek at 200 and uphill to the green. I usually hit a 5 iron and lay up. But this time the wind was at my back so I pulled the driver and hit it sooo sweet. It flew down the right side of the fairway, drawing back right at the green and landed on the apron, took a couple bounces and stopped 6 inches from the green on the fringe. Of course, in my infinite wisdom, I didn't play enough break on the putt from the fringe and left myself a 6 footer for birdie which I missed. Very disappointing.
Every other drive I hit was awesome. The others, not so much.
The interesting thing for me is that for some reason, probably because I'm hitting them more consistently, my iron distances have jumped up 15 yards. My 9 iron went from 135 to 150. My 5 iron from 175 to 190. It's taken me a week or so to get used to that but I think I have it down now. One thing that has done for me is make my 3i hybrid club meaningless. It was my 205 club when my 4 iron was 185 but now my 4 iron is 200 so I don't really need the 3i. I'm thinking I will take it out of the back and get a 60 degree wedge instead. Golf Galaxy is having a sale on Callaway Forged Wedges, which is what my sand wedge is. Only $50. I was really wanting to replace my sand wedge with a Mizuno that went with the rest of my set but maybe this is a better way to go for now.
Tonight is hockey night, luckily the temps have dropped from the 90's back into the 70's so the ice shouldn't be too slushy.
I'll probably play 9 on Friday afternoon. Cdubya wants to try 18 holes this weekend, maybe Saturday afternoon we'll try that.
What else is going on? Seems my life is all about golf and work. Oh, I watched a bunch of movies last weekend, including Snakes on a Plane. Totally stupid movie, but worth it just to hear Samuel L Jackson say "I'm sick of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!" Nobody says mother fucking like Sam...
That's what she said.
Just finished 3 days straight of playing 9 hole rounds, with some varying results.
First, Monday, subbing in the company league, playing the back 9 at the Bridges, where I typically struggle on the first 2 holes. I ended up playing pretty darn well and shooting a 39 that included 2 penalties for lost balls and I missed 2 birdie attempts that stopped on the lip. I did make a 30 footer for birdie on a par 5 though.
Tuesday, Cdubya and I went to the Door Creek executive 9 (par 30). My tee shots were pretty bad the whole round. I never hit a green off the tee, but I did drive the last hole, a 225 yard par 4, with my 3 wood, stuck it 7 feet from the hole, but proceeded to 3 putt for par. Shot a 36.
Wednesday was golf league. While I was playing pretty well with my irons, I thought my driver was failing me too often so I went to the range and hit a bucket of just drivers until I felt like I had a good shape to them. So, I got up on the 10th tee knowing I would hit a draw. 10th is a dog leg left that has a pond well past the fairway if you drive through. I've been in it before on shots that land and bounce over a cart path and down a hill into the water. This time, however, we were playing straight into the wind and knowing I would draw it around the corner, I aimed right down the middle. And of course, wouldn't you know it, it didn't draw very much and it went right where I was aiming. That's ok, it's a pretty stiff wind, right in our faces. It'll stop, right? Right? Shit... into the pond on the fly. Huge splash... sheesh, how does that feel? You hit the ball perfectly and what do you get? 1 new ball, gone.
I proceeded to hit 2 more ponds and played pretty poorly, shooting a 45. Highlight of the round was on 13, a 314 yard par 4 over a creek at 200 and uphill to the green. I usually hit a 5 iron and lay up. But this time the wind was at my back so I pulled the driver and hit it sooo sweet. It flew down the right side of the fairway, drawing back right at the green and landed on the apron, took a couple bounces and stopped 6 inches from the green on the fringe. Of course, in my infinite wisdom, I didn't play enough break on the putt from the fringe and left myself a 6 footer for birdie which I missed. Very disappointing.
Every other drive I hit was awesome. The others, not so much.
The interesting thing for me is that for some reason, probably because I'm hitting them more consistently, my iron distances have jumped up 15 yards. My 9 iron went from 135 to 150. My 5 iron from 175 to 190. It's taken me a week or so to get used to that but I think I have it down now. One thing that has done for me is make my 3i hybrid club meaningless. It was my 205 club when my 4 iron was 185 but now my 4 iron is 200 so I don't really need the 3i. I'm thinking I will take it out of the back and get a 60 degree wedge instead. Golf Galaxy is having a sale on Callaway Forged Wedges, which is what my sand wedge is. Only $50. I was really wanting to replace my sand wedge with a Mizuno that went with the rest of my set but maybe this is a better way to go for now.
Tonight is hockey night, luckily the temps have dropped from the 90's back into the 70's so the ice shouldn't be too slushy.
I'll probably play 9 on Friday afternoon. Cdubya wants to try 18 holes this weekend, maybe Saturday afternoon we'll try that.
What else is going on? Seems my life is all about golf and work. Oh, I watched a bunch of movies last weekend, including Snakes on a Plane. Totally stupid movie, but worth it just to hear Samuel L Jackson say "I'm sick of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!" Nobody says mother fucking like Sam...
That's what she said.
Monday, July 09, 2007
We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave
Ok, I'm now realizing I could never live in the south. After a scorching weekend with very high humidity I'm sick of it. I barely left the house this weekend, choosing instead to close all the blinds, crank the a/c and watch movies. On the plus side, I did catch up on a lot of movies but I didn't get to go golfing except for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (haha).
Friday was ultra frustrating. For some reason the Oaks really knows how to piss me off. I called Tuesday for an early bird tee time and got 7am. No mention of anything else. I get there Friday morning and there are 80 kids, I shit you not, scattered around the putting green and practice range. WTF! Oh, it's a pga junior tour event! Thanks for telling me fuck-nuts. They started them in big groups on 6, 12 and 18 just after we teed off. Well, of course we caught them on 10 and after a 2 hour front nine it took us 3 hours to play the back. In addition it was hot and the beer cart girl doesn't start till noon. She met us coming off the 18th green. No water, no gatorade, no beer, nothing. I hate that place and they are not getting my business again. If they had just told me that they had that tourney I would have gone somewhere else and probably would have come back there another time. Now, fuck no. I ended up shooting 92, putting ok but chipping horribly.
And to make things worse, Friday morning my coffee maker died so we had to go buy a new one. Let's recap. DVD player, a/v receiver, wireless router and coffee maker, all dead in less than a month. What in the hell is going on in my house?
The new Apple Store in Madison opened Saturday. I managed to go over there and wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in. Got a free t-shirt for showing up. Cdubya and I played with the iPhone for about 10 minutes. Pretty damn cool.
Looks like the heat and humidity will continue for today and tomorrow before we get a break on Wednesday and should be nice the rest of the week.
And you want to talk about pain? I thought you would. Try getting a cardboard cut deep under your fingernail! God that hurts! I hate it when that happens.
Friday was ultra frustrating. For some reason the Oaks really knows how to piss me off. I called Tuesday for an early bird tee time and got 7am. No mention of anything else. I get there Friday morning and there are 80 kids, I shit you not, scattered around the putting green and practice range. WTF! Oh, it's a pga junior tour event! Thanks for telling me fuck-nuts. They started them in big groups on 6, 12 and 18 just after we teed off. Well, of course we caught them on 10 and after a 2 hour front nine it took us 3 hours to play the back. In addition it was hot and the beer cart girl doesn't start till noon. She met us coming off the 18th green. No water, no gatorade, no beer, nothing. I hate that place and they are not getting my business again. If they had just told me that they had that tourney I would have gone somewhere else and probably would have come back there another time. Now, fuck no. I ended up shooting 92, putting ok but chipping horribly.
And to make things worse, Friday morning my coffee maker died so we had to go buy a new one. Let's recap. DVD player, a/v receiver, wireless router and coffee maker, all dead in less than a month. What in the hell is going on in my house?
The new Apple Store in Madison opened Saturday. I managed to go over there and wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in. Got a free t-shirt for showing up. Cdubya and I played with the iPhone for about 10 minutes. Pretty damn cool.
Looks like the heat and humidity will continue for today and tomorrow before we get a break on Wednesday and should be nice the rest of the week.
And you want to talk about pain? I thought you would. Try getting a cardboard cut deep under your fingernail! God that hurts! I hate it when that happens.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Grinder House
I can't believe the weekend is over already. How does it go so quickly? I swear to god the summer feels like it's almost over and I'm spending every minute doing something and still I don't think I'm getting anything done. I finish one thing and there's 12 more waiting to get done.
The weekend started Friday with golf (ok, so I'm not actually getting things done because I'm golfing all the time but hey, ya gotta have some "me time", eh?). Played 18 at Yahara with King Erik and Retro with Dr. Mike joining us for the back 9. I came out firing with an eagle putt on the first hole (missed but got the birdie) and ended up birdieing 3 of the first 7 holes, the first time I've ever had more than 1 birdie in a round, but I also threw a double and triple in there and ended up with a 42 on the front. I followed that up with a 45 on the back for 87. Erik played awesome and shot 84. Retro, well, he's Retro... 103.
Saturday I had to replace a couple shrubs that had bought the farm. Didn't do much else, even though I felt guilty for not getting other chores done.
Sunday morning we were invited to play the course that Grinder built his house on. It's an interesting course, but there are definitely some oddities. For one, it seems to have been carved into existing farm land and some of the course is still being farmed. Secondly, there are no trees on the course, which makes it a little confusing as to where the holes actually are. Third, the layout is strange, especially on the back 9 where you seem to have to go 500 yards between holes, including crossing a highway to play the last 4 holes. Plus, there are no par 5's on the back, so it's only a par 34 (36 on the front).
We went by Grinder's house on the 16th hole. You'd have to hit some sort of god-awful shot to hit his place. It's set back a ways and is less than 100 yards from the tee box. We all managed to miss it. The 18th hole is definitely the hardest. A ravine runs down the entire right side so you can't miss there. But on the left side houses come within 20' of the course so you can't miss there either. So basically, hit it straight or pay. Plus it's 410 yards so you can't just hit an iron off the tee. The green is tucked back behind the ravine so it's pretty hard to get there. I managed to hit what was called for, a 5 yard fade off the left bunkers and somehow landed in a fairway that was about 10 yards across. I hosed my 5 iron shot and went towards a barn where it stopped under a couple of boulders.
I ended up shooting 86 (45/41) with 1 birdie, 3 pars, 3 doubles and all the rest bogies. This time I beat King Erik by 3 so we ended the weekend even. Hopefully we can continue to play decent and win the 2nd half of golf league.
Afterwards we were invited to Grinder House for burgers, brats and beer. The house is quite nice and the basement is huge with enormous potential. Amazingly, he has almost the exact same layout as Dr. Mike's house, only Mike's basement is finished and the kitchen set up is a hair different.
So anyway, back to work today and tomorrow then I'm off until Monday. Not sure how I'm going to spend my time, I guess probably golfing most of it. I still have some work around the house I should do but you know how that goes...
Have a nice Monday.
The weekend started Friday with golf (ok, so I'm not actually getting things done because I'm golfing all the time but hey, ya gotta have some "me time", eh?). Played 18 at Yahara with King Erik and Retro with Dr. Mike joining us for the back 9. I came out firing with an eagle putt on the first hole (missed but got the birdie) and ended up birdieing 3 of the first 7 holes, the first time I've ever had more than 1 birdie in a round, but I also threw a double and triple in there and ended up with a 42 on the front. I followed that up with a 45 on the back for 87. Erik played awesome and shot 84. Retro, well, he's Retro... 103.
Saturday I had to replace a couple shrubs that had bought the farm. Didn't do much else, even though I felt guilty for not getting other chores done.
Sunday morning we were invited to play the course that Grinder built his house on. It's an interesting course, but there are definitely some oddities. For one, it seems to have been carved into existing farm land and some of the course is still being farmed. Secondly, there are no trees on the course, which makes it a little confusing as to where the holes actually are. Third, the layout is strange, especially on the back 9 where you seem to have to go 500 yards between holes, including crossing a highway to play the last 4 holes. Plus, there are no par 5's on the back, so it's only a par 34 (36 on the front).
We went by Grinder's house on the 16th hole. You'd have to hit some sort of god-awful shot to hit his place. It's set back a ways and is less than 100 yards from the tee box. We all managed to miss it. The 18th hole is definitely the hardest. A ravine runs down the entire right side so you can't miss there. But on the left side houses come within 20' of the course so you can't miss there either. So basically, hit it straight or pay. Plus it's 410 yards so you can't just hit an iron off the tee. The green is tucked back behind the ravine so it's pretty hard to get there. I managed to hit what was called for, a 5 yard fade off the left bunkers and somehow landed in a fairway that was about 10 yards across. I hosed my 5 iron shot and went towards a barn where it stopped under a couple of boulders.
I ended up shooting 86 (45/41) with 1 birdie, 3 pars, 3 doubles and all the rest bogies. This time I beat King Erik by 3 so we ended the weekend even. Hopefully we can continue to play decent and win the 2nd half of golf league.
Afterwards we were invited to Grinder House for burgers, brats and beer. The house is quite nice and the basement is huge with enormous potential. Amazingly, he has almost the exact same layout as Dr. Mike's house, only Mike's basement is finished and the kitchen set up is a hair different.
So anyway, back to work today and tomorrow then I'm off until Monday. Not sure how I'm going to spend my time, I guess probably golfing most of it. I still have some work around the house I should do but you know how that goes...
Have a nice Monday.
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