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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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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.

Disappointing 40

I shot 40 in league last night and was very disappointed. I hit about as well as I ever have and could have had a much better score. Unfortunately I 3-putted twice, missing 3-footers both times (one for bogey, the other for double) and couldn't get up and down from a bunker on 8 (the other double). The other 6 were pars. I missed several makable birdie putts. Really feel like I missed a golden opportunity. At least I hit the ball well and hopefully I can build on that.

I ended up shooting 33 net, but that wasn't even close to winning low net for the night as Retro continued his good play from Whistling Straits, shooting a 47 for a 27 net. He won't be getting 20 strokes next week, that's for sure. Should be in the 13 range.

Not sure about playing this weekend, maybe Sunday, we'll see how it goes. On Saturday we're taking my mom to Mama Mia at the Overture Center, then rushing home to meet up with my sister and her husband to go to the Brewers/Marlins game. Gonna be a hectic day. Cdubya was a little disappointed that Dontrelle Willis isn't pitching Saturday night as the D-Train is her favorite pitcher. He's pitching on Sunday instead.

Toe Socks

Japanese baseball players have brought many things to American baseball, such as bowing on the field, increased sushi sales and now these things. Apparently they are great for wearing your shower thongs and American players have started wearing them too, citing increased traction and a more snug feeling...

Maybe I should check into these for golf and hockey.

4 ounces is too much to bear

Saturday was our trip to Whistling Straits. The day started out beautifully, blue skies, 60 degrees, couldn't have been nicer. I decide at the car that carrying my rain jacket, all 4 oz of it, was overkill, it wasn't going to rain (despite the forecast calling for rain). No reason to carry that extra weight for 5 hours, so I toss it back in the car. 3 hours later I was dreading that decision as a cold rain and wind blew in and, wearing only shorts and a dry-fit golf shirt, I was freezing my ass off. Shivering between shots, I didn't fare too well on those last few holes. I ended up shooting 50-52 for 102, good for 4th out of 8, with Dr. Mike beating me by a stroke and winning most of the money.

The best golfer among us shot 86, while Jim had a 92 and Mark a 96. Retro played the best I've seen him play ever, until the 14th (his nemesis) where he took a 10 and came unglued and finished with a 111. Still, it was enjoyable to see him hitting the ball consistently.

Cdubya and I have been talking about her starting to golf again and I went to take a look at her clubs yesterday morning and they just aren't what she needs. It's a full set and she doesn't need all those clubs or all those hard to hit irons. I started doing research and found that Adams makes a 7 club set made for beginning women that looked perfect. It has a driver (460cc head, 13.5 degree loft), a fairway wood, 3 hybrid clubs (called "long hybrid", "mid hybrid" and "short iron"), a wedge and a putter. Also comes with a bag and they come in pink. Here is a link to the set.

We went over to Golf Galaxy and she tried them out and hit them pretty well, especially considering she hadn't picked up a club in at least 3 years. We got them, some new shoes and a push cart. We then went out to the Door Creek Executive 9 (par 30) to give them a try. Retro came along. She started out the first hole (108 yards) by hitting her driver over the green. She played pretty well, considering, but struggled with the putter a little. We'll need to go practice some more (which she doesn't really like doing). She ended up shooting a 60. I had a 36 and Retro had a 42. I didn't really hit any good shots but putted and chipped pretty well. I made a 25 foot putt from the fringe on the first hole to save par and chipped two others to within a foot. I hit only 1 green. Oh well, it was fun to have her back playing again. Now I have another excuse to go golfing!

Whistling Straits take 5

Tomorrow will be my 5th trip to play the Irish Course at Whistling Straits since last spring. We have our typical group of 8, with a couple of new additions this year. Unfortunately, with the Grinder's impending move of death, he will be forced into skipping this year.

I'll be attempting to better my 98 from September. It all comes down to not taking a 12 on the last hole! That thing has kicked my ass every single time.

Weather forecast looks a touch iffy but I think we'll be ok.

Retro and I are heading out to play 9 at noon today as another tune up (god knows he needs it! and yes, I know he'll read that, I'm trying to make him cry). The Titleist whore bought another Titleist club yesterday at Dick's, a 3 wood. Seems like every time I go to buy some more golf balls, he gets another club. Personally, he couldn't hit it straight with a baseball bat, not sure how these clubs help him. :)
(you crying yet, Retro?)

The Big Bet

My friend Retro has been scuffling on the golf course and even went so far as to cancel playing last weekend and went to take another lesson.

He was sure it paid off and his swing was working great. In fact, he was so jacked up about it he was convinced he would crush me in league last night. So convinced, in fact, that he was willing to bet a pitcher of beer on it. I was not quite so convinced and said I would give him some strokes. We agreed on 5 1/2 (I had beaten him by 13 each of the first 2 weeks).

We teed off the 10th hole and Retro hammered one right down the middle and was almost giggling like a school girl who just heard a juicy secret. I followed by cutting the corner and getting about 50 yards closer, not quite in the fairway though. His second shot went left and I put mine on the fringe. Unfortunately I ended up 3 putting and we both double bogeyed the hole.

On 11 I bogeyed and he doubled again. On the 12th tee box I whispered to Pat that it was time for the implosion and sure enough Retro hooked one into the pond, took a drop and hit it god knows where and had to take another drop. I 3-putted again for bogey while he took an 8.

I gave him an opening on 13 as I hooked my tee shot into the pond and then hooked my 3rd shot into the high grass and lost the ball. Meanwhile he duffed his second shot then hit his 3rd into the high grass but I happened to see his while I was looking for mine. Unfortunately for him he hit it short then over then back over again, finally managing a 9 while I had an 8. We both doubled 14 and then it all ended.

I went double, par, par, bogey to finish while he threw some big crooked numbers up and when it all ended I had posted a horrendous 49 (with 5 3-putts) but it was still enough to beat his god-awful 60.

I guess it's time to go back for another lesson.

He gets another chance at me on Friday as we'll play 9 as a warm up to Whistling Straits on Saturday. There's an outside chance he could shoot over 130 Saturday. I can't wait to see that. :)

By the way, I have renamed Thursday to be "Day of a thousand excuses". So far, he's only had 2: (1) "I was off my game" and (2) "I was distracted by the beer cart."

Update: One more excuse: "I was too nervous".

Also, I failed to mention that my league partner, King Erik, crushed me with a 46. About time he started playing better, my back was getting sore from carrying him! :)

Everyone gets the NFL Alumni Gear

I totally forgot to mention something about Friday's golfing.

Since we were only a 3-some they added a single to our group. Walking to the tee box I see a ginormous black man waiting. I introduce myself, his name is Art. He has a golf shirt, golf bag, golf towel and assorted other goodies that all say "NFL Alumni".

So of course, I'm thinking this dude played in the NFL. I'm not stupid... :)

After a couple holes of guessing, Barry asks him about it. He said he played for the Falcons and was a Badger in the 80's and a linebacker. He hits the crap out of the ball, still in excellent shape. I put him at about 45-48 years old.

But of course, did any of us ask his last name? Nooo... so, on to google I go when I get home. It took a LOT of digging but I found him.

Art Price. Played 1 season for Atlanta in '87 but didn't play in any games (or at least didn't register any stats). He played 4 years for the Badgers and signed as an undrafted free agent.

In 1992 he was part of the America's Cup sailing crew. His bio there says he was an ex-NFL player, current firefighter and professional model.

Some more digging and I found that he is currently a division chief for the Madison Fire Department.

But he still has all that NFL gear... so I guess that's his greatest accomplishment.

He had to quit after 9 holes to go pick up his kids from school. I guess the NFL Alumni Association doesn't provide free limo service for their players' kids.

Hitting Greens, Missing Putts

As my friends know all too well, I am not a good putter. I tend to miss easy short putts and turn birdie attempts into bogeys far too frequently.

That trend continued this weekend as I had 35 putts Friday (20 on the front with 4 3-putts) and 37 Saturday. On the bright side I seem to be doing well 2 putting from a long distance and my long putts are not that bad. On the down side, I seem to have no ability to make a straight 5 foot putt, including one for birdie Saturday.

I did read something this morning that might indicate what my problem is. Basically getting my arms too far away from my body which makes them go every which way instead of being locked into a single unit with my chest and shoulders. I'll go practice keeping my arms in tight and see if that helps some. I know that the short game is an area where I can improve greatly and cut a lot of strokes off my score and I do practice it more than I practice hitting full shots so it's not for a lack of effort.

Both days I shot a 94 (48-46 Friday and 47-47 Saturday). I thought I played much better on Saturday, playing a course that's a little more difficult. I hit 7 fairways, 8 greens in regulation and had 7 pars. Unfortunately the other 11 holes pretty much stunk. Averaged double bogeys there. If I turn them into bogeys I shoot 83. I tried 3 times in a row to tee the ball high and hover my driver behind it, trying to make sure I swept the ball off the tee and all three times I rocked back and ended up topping all 3. Went back to my normal tee height and went back to bombing drives. My best 2 drives were a long par 5 dogleg right where I cut the corner big time and left myself only 148 for my 2nd shot and the 18th hole where we had the wind at our back and I hit one 325.

As for the new irons, I am crushing most of them way farther than I expected. On Friday I hit a 5 iron dead into the wind uphill from 163 and flew over the green. On Saturday I had a 133 9 iron and a 148 8 iron that both flew well over the green. I think maybe I wasn't taking the wind into consideration enough on those. My gap wedge is a little short right now, still trying to figure out what the full distance is for that. All in all, I love hitting them, love the trajectory and the ball flight, it's all good, I'll get it figured out.

This Saturday is our 8-man trip to the Irish Course at Whistling Straits. Time to get my shit together.

Stupid Rain

All day I watched the radar as the weather prognosticators were predicting late afternoon and evening scattered t-storms. It looked like it was going to be close and of course, a pretty good storm hit right about 5:00 when we were supposed to start golf league. By 5:30 all was clear and the sun was out but by then all the leagues had canceled for the night.

We ended up going out anyway and playing 9. I was itching to get out with the new irons and have a whack with them. I hit a really nice 4 iron from under a tree on the first hole and had a few good shots with them. I hit a few shots that hooked more than I expected and I did shank one on a severe downhill lie that was a difficult shot. I'm anxious to get right back out again and will be playing Friday and Saturday.

I parred the first 2 holes then 3 putted for bogey on the 3rd. I ended up shooting 45, taking a triple bogey on the last hole as I was rushing because I had to piss like a race horse... oh well, not horrible, not great. I didn't putt well, that's for sure. I need to spend some more time on the practice green.

Pictures of Guinness

Here are a few pics I took this past weekend of our new baby...


Here's one of Guinness and Delaney relaxing in the shade.


I have more but ran out of time to post them.

Mizuno MX-25's

I finally got around to trading in my 2002 Callaway Big Bertha irons for a new set of Mizuno MX-25's. First forged set of irons I've had, I look forward to playing them for many years.

I was fitted for the first time as well and learned that my clubs have had the wrong lie angle all along. I am having these bent 3 degrees flat. Turns out I was hitting the heal first which would explain a lot.

I'm picking them up tomorrow night (just in time for league on Wednesday, yikes).

I also realized that tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary, which somehow I forgot (typical man I guess). I was reminded when Cdubya told me she planned to give me a gift certificate to Golf Galaxy for our anniversary, at which point all sorts of alarms went off in my head. At least I still have today to figure out what to do for her.

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On Saturday, Dr. Mike and I played in a 2 man scramble at Door Creek. We came out blazing, with a birdie on the first hole. Never got another one and shot 78 gross, with a 68 net. We never really made any putts and that's what a scramble usually comes down to.

New Addition

Cdubya was looking around the humane society websites yesterday when she came across a 1 year old female border collie that looked eerily like Sazi. She called and found out that she was a stray that someone found and brought in. They named her Hope. She filled out their application and we went to see her after work.

Delaney has just been a complete mess since Sazi left us. Wouldn't do anything, no eating, no fetching the paper, always scared of everything. She needed a companion.

We took Delaney to go meet Hope and see how things worked. They hit it off right away. Hope was very similar to Sazi in many aspects. She was way more mellow than Delaney and loved to be hugged and petted (Delaney doesn't care for that sort of nonsense). We fell in love with her right away and Delaney, while she didn't show direct affection, you could tell that she felt more "normal" having a sister around her.

We completed the adoption (only $93 and they had her spade and microchipped, plus they gave us $500 in medical insurance in case our vet found anything wrong) and brought her home with us. She, like Delaney, is a great car rider. Hopped right up into the back of the Murano and laid down for the hour ride home.

Once we got her home I showed her the back yard and she explored the fence line (maybe looking for escape routes?). She was very good and got along with Delaney and our stupid cat just fine. I'm pretty sure her old home had a doggy door as she seemed confused by going in through an open door. We'll have to work on that. She did let us know when she needed to go out by banging her head on the back screen door trying to open it. We'll need to work on that. I don't think her old family put much effort into her training. She begged for food a little as we ate (quietly though) and is not really good with her commands yet. Delaney was trying to help her by doing each command as I gave them so she could see what to do. Either that or she was just showing off how smart she is. It's probably the latter.

At night she went and slept in front of the front door and we didn't hear a peep from her the whole night. When I got up though, she was lying in my chair. She's definitely a couch potato and loves to lay in your lap and be held.

I canceled my golf this afternoon and Cdubya stayed home with her to get her acclimated more. Not sure if we'll need to kennel her while we're gone or not, we'll find out soon enough. We'll be going to get her a new collar, leash and tag this afternoon and then taking her for a walk around the neighborhood so she can learn her surroundings. I'm very excited about our new addition and look forward to training her and teaching her to catch a frisbee like Delaney (so far she doesn't seem to be interested in toys).

Oh, I forgot. Since the humane society named her and she didn't really respond to Hope anyway, we decided to change her name. After many discussions I suggested Guinness, of course. We're going to try that for today and see how it takes. I started calling her by that last night and it seemed to work for me.

Here is a picture the humane society took of her. I'll have lots more this weekend.

3 Foot Putt

That's all that separated me from a 39 last night in golf league. And of course, I played it left edge to break right and it stayed straight. My only 3 putt of the night and ended up with a 40, which I'm still really happy with but I told everyone before I left work that I was going to shoot a 39. We played the back 9 at Door Creek.

I started out the night poorly, hitting a tree with my 2nd shot on the first hole and having to take a drop from under a tree on the 3rd hole but I managed to bogey those first 3 and felt pretty good about that.

I parred the 4th hole and bogeyed the 5th before parring the 6th and 7th. On the 8th I made a really nice flop shot from well right of the green (par 5) to get to 15 feet and made the putt for birdie. I knew I just needed a par on the last hole for 39 at that point. I hit a long drive that drew a little left just off the fairway. Hit a nice wedge to about 18 feet and thought I had the putt but it leaked a little left and caught the left edge of the cup but didn't fall, setting me up for the 3 foot par putt for 39. Everyone else had already putted and I saw a break in every one of them. Of course mine didn't and I knew I should have just taken the Erik approach and rammed it straight into the cup. Maybe it was the 4 beers I had while playing that made me think erroneously. Oh well.

I did win the low-net prize for the 2nd straight week ($10), a nice added bonus.

I'm feeling pretty good about my game right now. Playing 18 tomorrow at the Bridges after work and have a 2 man scramble with Dr. Mike at Door Creek on Saturday (Cdubya claims I did not tell her about this and was kind of pissy last night, but it's just her not listening).

And how about those Brewers?!?!?!? Unbelievable. They have a tough next month, we'll see how they look coming out of that.

Rollerblading with Delaney

I hobbled into work today, feeling every day of my 42 years. You see, I decided it would be fun to take Delaney out for a run with me on my rollerblades Saturday morning before heading out to a bowling tournament. As I started down the sidewalk I thought to myself "it would be fitting if I crashed and hurt my wrist or hand right before the tourney."

With that in mind we went on our adventure through the neighborhood. All was going well with Delaney was following right behind me, occasionally running ahead a little and circling me, until we turned back towards home. There was a slight downhill and I was coasting. For some reason Delaney got a little bit spooked (she doesn't like weird noises) and ran out in front of me. I realized we were going too fast and there was a 90 degree turn coming up in about 4 houses. I started to drag my right skate to slow down (I don't have brakes) and that noise freaked her out even more and she accelerated to full speed.

Now I've got to make a split second decision as my dog is running 20 mph towards a sharp turn dragging me along. In hind sight, I made the wrong decision. Something in my brain said skate into the grass. It was almost the right choice but I did it all wrong. I took 2 or 3 big steps in the grass and hit a driveway, at which point I lost the leash and went ass over tea kettle, landing on my hand (of course) and scraped up my knee and smashed my shoulder pretty good.

Delaney, now free of me but with a retractable leash bouncing behind her, freaking her out even more, bolted like she was breaking from the gates in the Kentucky Derby. By the time I got back to my feet (with a guy watching in amazement) she had turned the corner and was out of sight. I scrambled to the corner in time to see her cross one intersection and continue down the street. I took off as fast as I could go down the road screaming for her to stop. She didn't hesitate and raced down the sidewalk, crossing 2 more intersections at breakneck speed as I prayed no cars would be popping out. She continued on all the way home, turned into the driveway and ran right up to the door to the house where she sat, panting and waiting for me. It turned out ok but we had a long talk about not running away and we probably won't be doing that again. We had done it a few times before without incident so it's not like she was confused over the whole thing.

Anyway, back at home I showered and checked out my injuries. I knew the worst was to come as my body doesn't appreciate doing barrel rolls on concrete any more. My hand was not in great shape but I picked up a bowling ball and it wasn’t horrible, so I headed to the tournament.

It was a free tournament for everyone in the area that had bowled a 300 game. If you bowl another one in games 1 or 2 you win $10,000. Of course the lanes were shit and there was no chance anyone was going to get one. I had 2 splits, 2 washouts and missed 2 10 pins in the first game for a whopping 125. Followed up that with a 188, burying a 7-10 split on my last ball and called it a day. There was no reason to continue. At least I didn't pay anything for it and got a free shirt.

On Sunday I got up at 6 to go golfing. I could barely get out of bed. My shoulders and neck hurt so much I had to hang from a door frame to try to loosen up. I popped a few advil and headed out. In the parking lot we saw Green Bay Packer right tackle Mark Tauscher drive up. He ended up being in the group in front of us. We watched him play in the weeds, woods, high grass, the whole day. Good thing he's a better blocker than golfer.

I struggled to get loose but didn't play terribly. Ended up shooting 91 (48/43) with 6 pars. I did hit some very good shots but also had some bad luck with unplayable lies.

After I went home and showered and started to stiffen up. About an hour later I could barely move. My neck and shoulders were so tight it hurt to move at all. So, here I sit, 2 days later, in the same condition.

Good thing I just sit on my ass at work...

Working for the weekend

So far, not enjoying Friday, which is odd since it's always a great day.

I took yesterday afternoon off to take advantage of a free round of golf at Trappers Turn, an Andy North designed course in Wisconsin Dells. Thus I have to work a full day today, which I'm not used to. Golf did not go that well. I opened with triple, double, triple and set the tone for the whole day. Ended up shooting a 97 (49,48). It was pretty ugly.

Looked at the lawn last night, just mowed Saturday and the back is already 6" high. Gotta get on that tonight. :(

Tomorrow morning I'm bowling in a tournament for all the bowlers in the area with 300 games this year. Winner of the tourney gets $500 but the big attraction is that if you bowl another 300 in the first or second games you get $10,000. Unfortunately from what I've heard, the lanes are impossible.

I'm gonna golf again on Sunday morning, hope it goes better than yesterday. Cdubya is always great at not giving me grief about golfing so much. She knows how much I love it and as long as I find a way to get what needs to get done finished she never says a word about it.

Got home last night and Cdubya told me that the vet called and Sazi's ashes are ready to be picked up. That led to her crying again for another hour. Then she says she's been thinking about a new dog and what kind of dog would be a good companion for Delaney. I really do not want another dog. 1 is enough. I told her that there's never going to be another Sazi, and of course she began crying again. I don't think I'm going to win this. I really don't want to get another dog. I think it's definitely too early but I don't know how to get her to see things my way.

Golf league begins

First an update on Sazi. I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and condolences. That meant a lot to me and I do appreciate it and it helped me through a rough stretch. Delaney is still a bit of a mess, especially during down times when we're not actively playing with her. She's a little blue and doesn't understand. I imagine that over time she will get over it and move on.

Again, thanks everyone.

Now onto golf league, which began last night. It might have been the most disappointing 44 I've ever shot. I easily left 6 or more shots on the course. First I missed an easy 6' birdie putt on one. Then I got frustrated on 5 after leaving a birdie putt 3' short and walked up and rammed it past the hole, leading to a bogey.
Then on 6 I hit a bad tee shot, punched out and brain farted a 90 yarder, which led to 3 more bad shots and a triple bogey. Recovered to par 7 but hit into a bunker on 8 and took 2 to get out and then went over the green leading to another triple. Capped it off by missing a 3 footer for par on 9 when I rammed it left when I should have played it slower to get the break to the right. I can easily count 6 shots that I could have taken off that score. Oh well... it's just the first night and no one did well. I did win low net for a $10 prize.

I'll be leaving at 11:30 today to go play Trappers Turn, an Andy North designed course in the Wisconsin Dells. My dad got me a free round for my birthday but I have to use it Mon-Thursday before May 15th. Hence going today. It'll be nice to get off today but that means I have to work a full day on Friday, something I'm not used to.

That's it for now, go Brewers!

Goodbye Sweet Sazi

Sazi has gone to doggy heaven where she no longer has to worry about her seizures. She can run free chasing bunnies and herding sheep with the full use of her legs again. I hope she is watching us from above and waiting for us to join her. She was a great dog and had more love in her than any dog I have ever seen. She loved to lay on the floor with us and snuggle, making soft sounds as if trying to tell you how happy she was.

We will miss her tremendously. That was the hardest decision I have ever met and up until the final moments I tried to talk myself out of it. But the agony she went through every couple of weeks was too much. I still don't know if I did it for her or for us. I tell myself that it's for the best but I still feel like there was something more I could have done for her.

We got Sazi when she was 9 months old. The original owner bought her and a sibling but decided he couldn't deal with 2 border collies (it's not easy and I don't blame him). A co-worker of his took her in but she already had another dog and was single. We saw an ad in the paper for her and went to look at her. We were looking for a companion to Delaney who is full of energy and we thought a 2nd dog would keep her more occupied. Turns out that she had already gone to live with a college student. I knew that wouldn't work so I told the previous owner to call me if it didn't work. A short time later we got the call. We fell in love with Sazi immediately.

Not long after we were startled awake by a violent shaking next to the bed. Our new baby was having seizures. We were freaked out as you can imagine. We went to the vet and were told she probably had epilepsy and it's not uncommon for the breed. We were devastated. We were given some drugs to give her.

A couple months later she started having seizures in the morning and wouldn't stop. We had to rush her to the vet. Her temperature was in the danger zone and he had to put her in ice and give her IV valium to stop the seizures. She had been in one grand mal seizure for 2 hours. She was never the same again. She lost much of the use of her back legs. We took her to the UW Vet school to have specialists look at her to see if there was more we could do. They gave her another drug to try which seemed to help. In the meantime we also found out that her sibling had epilepsy too.

There was nothing more we could do for her than to continue to medicate her and watch her blood levels, continually adjusting the medication. With all the meds, she became lethargic, put on extra weight and couldn't really do much. This continued for the last 4 years.

Sazi loved to lay in the shade in the grass and just watch the world go by. Occasionally she would join in while Delaney and I played frisbee. She was never very good at catching it but she was great and bringing it back and lying down next to me with it in her mouth.

I will never forget the way she looked in your eyes with so much love in her heart. She will be missed forever. Rest in peace sweet Sazi.

Season ending disappointment

For the 2nd year in a row we lost the hockey championship game. This time we got shutout, 2-0. It was quite a game, very physical and hard fought.

Cdubya called me after the game. Sazi is doing poorly again. She started seizing Friday night and it's continued all weekend. She's not moving, just laying in one spot forever. I think it's time to face the inevitable. I'm waiting for the vet to call me back but I think today might be the end. Cdubya is pretty broken up and is at home with her. It is probably for the best. She keeps having these 4 day stretches of seizing off and on and she can't be enjoying life.

On the golf front, I played the Oaks on Saturday and had a good stretch of 4 holes (8-11) but other than that I was off and on. Too many putts for sure (37) and didn't chip particularly well. My 3 wood and hybrids worked really well though. It's encouraging to play well in stretches but discouraging that it doesn't happen more often. Argh, golf is so hard!

NBC HD Hoses me

I tivo'd The Office in HD last night as I do every week. But this time it was an unpleasant experience. 15 minutes into the broadcast the sound completely cut out and it never came back until a couple minutes into 30 Rock. Talk about pissing me off! I attempted to lip read for a couple minutes before just giving up. It LOOKED funny but I have no idea.

The other thing that pisses me off about NBC is that they offer episodes of SOME shows online to watch but not The Office. Earl yes, Office no. Who decides that crap?

Speaking of 30 Rock, it appears Alec Baldwin will not be back next year as he wants to spend more time crafting voicemails to his daughter.

eBay Account Hijacked!

So, Monday, I get an email from eBay that my account had suspicious activity and has been locked. I hadn't been on there in months and I'm not a big eBay'er so I knew it wasn't me.

I reset my password Tuesday and yesterday I got on with live support and they reactivated me and just said there was suspicious activity but had no more details.

After I was reactivated I started checking around to see what might have been going on. No bids on anything, didn't sell anything, couldn't see anything.

Then I went to My Messages area, nothing in the inbox. I clicked on the Sent folder and there were 25 messages sent to all sorts of different sellers. I started looking through them and every single one was the exact same spam email. eBay notified all those sellers to explain that it wasn't me and that my account had been compromised (I feel like I'm on 24).

I forwarded one of the spam messages to my email account and sent it along with a scathing message, containing many 4 letter words that my mom wouldn't be proud of, to the email address listed as a contact in the spam. Haven't heard back yet.

Here's the body of the message:

Dear Sir or Madam,
We are a big company which mainly sell electronic products with outstanding reputation.
The product ranging from Notbook,TV,PC,Camera,GPS,to MP3/MP4 and so on and so forth.
All kinds of electronic products with best quality and lowest price can be found here, what do you thirst for?
Now , You'll find your favorite here on our website: www.violet8.com
So, don't be hesitate to contact us!

Contact us
www.violet8.com
E-mail: violet8_serve@hotmail.com
MSN: violet8_serve@hotmail.com

Feel free to bombard this jackass with crap...

Best Brats Ever

After hearing the Grinder continually espouse the virtues of the new Copps grocery store in Sun Prairie, Cdubya and I went there on Sunday to check it out.

I have to admit, he was dead on. As far as grocery stores go it was top notch. It reminded me quite a bit of Larry's Market in Seattle. The produce, bakery and meat sections were outstanding.

We'll be going back this weekend to pick up some steaks for barbecuing. But last night, I bbq'd brats that I bought Sunday. They were fresh made, jalapeño and cheddar brats, about 8" long that were, in my opinion, the best brats ever. I wolfed down both, enjoying every bite, and announcing afterwards "I will tell everyone I know about these brats." Hence, this post... :)

If you have a chance to get over there and pick some up I give them 2 thumbs way up. They have many different varieties if jalapeño and cheddar isn't your bag.

Mmm, mmm, good.

Golf, Golf and Hockey

Time for the Monday weekend wrap up...

Friday, played 9 at Door Creek with Dr. Mike. We both played ok, good thing we went out before Saturday's tournaments to get used to the greens. They were about 30x faster than the weekend before. My first putt was a 20 footer uphill and I blasted it 15 feet past the hole, yowza!

I was up 2 strokes going into the 9th hole and ended up 3 putting from 10 feet for a double bogey while Mike hit a wedge to 3 inches and made birdie to beat me by 1.

Saturday was the Spring Opener 6-6-6 tourney (6 holes Scramble, 6 Best Ball, 6 Alternate Shot). Neither of us putted very well but we were doing ok plus we had 20 strokes of handicap to play with. We were +2 on the first 6 and +7 on Best Ball but we were still in it. After 15 holes we were sitting at +10. Parring out would have put us at 61, which would have been 2nd place. Instead we went triple, double, bogey and finished with an 87 (67 net), finishing about 15th or so. Alternate shot kills us every time.

Our hockey game yesterday was a do or die game to make the championship next week. We needed to win plus have no more than 2 more penalties than the other team (2nd tie breaker). It was a rough and tumble game that went back and forth. Lots of penalties but they took way more than we did so that wasn't an issue from early on. Just needed to win the game.

We jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the 2nd only to have them come back to tie it at 3 by the end of the 2nd period. We went back up 4-3 but they scored 2 straight to go up 5-4. We then scored to tie it only to have them score right away again to take a 6-5 lead with about 4 minutes left.

At this point we had a faceoff in our own end and we tried a set play that we've attempted many times but never successfully. I was playing center for the first time this year and had to win the draw back to the defenseman behind me. I jumped the draw and won it cleanly to him. He rifled a pass of the far boards to our other defenseman (Jeff) who was streaking up the left side. The right winger (Greg) bolted down the right side as I was following down the middle. Jeff got around the defenseman and fired a pass to the backdoor where Greg one-timed it in the open net to tie the game at 6.

On the ensuing faceoff at center ice our center popped the faceoff past the other center, beat the D and scored to give us a 7-6 lead. We held on the remaining 3 minutes to escape with the W and a chance to win the championship next week.

Yay, it's Friday!

And the temp will hit 68. I'll be golfing at 1:00.

Tomorrow we have the spring opener at Door Creek Golf Course. It's supposed to be 76, what a great weekend we're going to have (79 Sunday).

In other news, I got an email from one of my neighbors yesterday. He's a singer/song writer with a new cd out. His name is Michael Brandmeier. His music is available from his myspace site or from iTunes, among others. Give him a listen.

Have a great weekend!

Hockey Update

I missed our playoff game Sunday due to the golf tournament. I found out that we did win 11-1 (maybe I'm not needed?). The first place team lost in a shootout to the 3rd place team. That means if we beat the 3rd place team Sunday everyone will be 1-1 and it will go to the tiebreakers.

First tiebreaker is goals against in all postseason games. So far, that looks like this:
1st place team: 3
Us: 5
3rd place team: 4

If we beat the 3rd place team by 2 goals we're in.

If we only beat them by 1 we will still be tied with them. If that happens it goes to the 2nd tiebreaker which is fewest penalties. We have 3 fewer penalties than them, so all we have to do is win by 1 and have no more than 2 more penalties than they have and we're in. Piece of cake!

Pirate Master

From my mole at the local CBS affiliate.


CBS ANNOUNCES "PIRATE MASTER," A NEW REALITY-BASED SERIES WHERE 16 INDIVIDUALS WILL COMPETE AS PIRATES ON THE HIGH SEAS IN SEARCH OF HIDDEN TREASURES

The Next Epic Adventure Series From Emmy Award-Winning Producer Mark Burnett Premieres Thursday, May 31

PIRATE MASTER, the next epic adventure reality series from Emmy Award-winning producer Mark Burnett, will premiere Thursday, May 31 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

PIRATE MASTER will send 16 modern-day pirates on a high seas adventure where they will live as buccaneers and travel around the Caribbean island of Dominica in search of hidden treasure that will total $1 million. Over the course of 33 days, these pirates will live aboard a massive 179 foot, square-rigged barque which carries 12, 500 square feet of sail.

Each week, the pirates will embark on extraordinary expeditions where they will decipher clues along the way in search of missing treasure. Gold coins -- real money which the pirates may take with them beyond the show -- will be awarded after each expedition, but only to some. The gold will play a key role as pirates strike deals with each other or plead for long-term security. In addition to claiming the lion's share of the week's riches, one pirate will become the captain of the ship and will assign roles and chores to the remaining crew members, setting the tone for either law and order or betrayal and sabotage, which could lead to mutiny by the crew.

Each episode will conclude on the ship at Pirate's Court, a lively gathering of public speaking and judgment where one individual will be eliminated and "cut adrift." In the end, one will be the first to find the largest booty, worth $500,000, and claim the title of "Pirate Master."

Series creator and executive producer Mark Burnett explains, "Pirate Master breaks new ground in that it's the collision of fantasy and reality. This is a show where, in true pirate fashion, anything can happen with a group of people that live by their own set of rules and usually break them. It's adventure, excitement and loads of treasure. Anyone who ever wanted to be a pirate will love this show!"

PIRATE MASTER is produced by Mark Burnett Productions. Mark Burnett and Lisa Hennessy are the executive producers. Eden Gaha and Page Feldman are the co-executive producers.

Kohler Cup Spring 2007

I have a feeling that I know what it would be like to be hit by a truck. That’s how I feel this morning after hoofing it for 36 holes this weekend lugging my golf bag on my back.

We had planned on riding Saturday and walking Sunday but the carts were restricted to cart path only both days so we walked instead. I was not ready for that. Played all day yesterday in pain.

On Saturday we played the Original Championship course at Blackwolf Run. This is the course the LPGA played a number of years ago for the US Open. It consists of the back 9 of the Meadow Valleys course and the front 9 of the River course. The River course is usually $250 to play while the Meadow Valleys is $150. We got a great deal. I really enjoyed the course layout, much more so than just the Meadow Valleys.

We didn’t play great Saturday but when one of us was messing up the other was doing well so we managed to shoot -7 (64) as Mike made par on 18 and was getting 2 strokes for a net eagle. We were jacked. Finished tied for 2nd after the first round and were 2 shots off the lead. So, what did we do? We got drunk of course. I passed out around 11pm and came to around 4am wonder where I was and what time it was (no clock to be found). Then the sun came up and again, I wondered if it was 6 or 9… Finally just got up and it was 7:15.

We had breakfast, which was hard to eat, stopped at a gas station for Gatorade and beef jerky and headed for Whistling Straits. After warming up for a half hour it was obvious I couldn’t really take a full swing without pain.

Too make matters worse, in a shotgun start we had to start on 18. 18 is a long, long par 5 with a tee shot over a lake and trouble everywhere. It is my nemesis… With trepidation I walked up to the first tee and promptly dunked it into the lake. And then again… I took an 11 to start. Luckily Mike had a bogey for a net par so he saved me.

I stumbled around the course for 5 hours and then birdied the very last hole for my one good hole for the day. The biggest difference on Sunday was when one of us did poorly the other also did. In fact we had the same score 7 holes in a row at one point.

We ended up shooting 76 somehow for a 2 day total of -3 which was good for 9th place (-15 won). Much better than our +20 or whatever it was last year.

After a couple beers and lunch we headed home only to get detoured through a small town because of a massive accident on the highway. That didn’t help matters. By the time I got home my entire body was one huge knot.

Tournament Back On!

My depression lifted yesterday as I realized Kohler did not get nearly the amount of snow we did and the weather forecast for this weekend looks decent (mid 40's, sunny). I called Whistling Straits and they said they hardly got any snow and it was melting fast and they predicted the course would be fine this weekend.

I quickly checked with Cdubya and Dr. Mike and we decided to give it a shot. I called reservations and got back in. We leave tomorrow morning.

And since I wasn't prepared I have a ton of stuff to do today. I'll be leaving at 1:30 to get going on it.

---

Survivor made me mad last night. Dreamz is an idiot and he totally hosed himself and Mookie with his moronic vote of Michelle, which knocked Cdubya out of her pool. This will come back to haunt him when Stacy, Ed and Alex vote he and Mookie out later.

That's all for now, have a good weekend.

How depressing...

Woke up to about an inch of snow and there's no sign of it ever stopping. What a beautiful spring we're having. I'm totally in golf mode now and this is really putting a damper on my mood.

Here's the latest radar (9:10am CDT). Madison is circled in red.
The blue is snow.

Stupid Wisconsin

What the fuck? It's April 10th and they're predicting 4-6" of snow tomorrow. Do they not realize we're supposed to golf in a tournament all weekend? I'm quite angry now, going to have to call and cancel our sweet weekend getaway to Whistling Straits where we were going to drink Guinness, smoke cigars and play 36 holes of glorious golf. Instead I will get to shovel snow...

What a great trade. Al Gore and his global warming can bite my white ass.

UPDATE
Latest storm watch predicts 6-10" of wet, heavy snow tomorrow. I have canceled my reservations.

Brain overload

Well, all the things in my stupid little brain caught up to me last night. Went to bed at 10:30 ready to drop and laid there till after 3am thinking of all the things I have to do this week.

• Fix the part of the fence that fell down this weekend.


• Pay my taxes.


• Oil change and tire rotation on the Murano


• Figure out if I need to cancel my reservations for this weekend for the golf tournament in Kohler because of the weather.


• Pick up the prize money and figure out who gets what for couples bowling league.


• Decide if I want to bowl Wednesday or not for fun night.

Tack on top of all that some major project issues at work that resulted in a 3 hour meeting being scheduled for this afternoon (with about 2 hours of sleep) and I'm feeling a bit stressed. Plus hanging out at my sister's for easter my result in my becoming sick soon since there were sicko's there... sheesh.

I did manage to watch every minute of CBS's coverage of the Masters in HD. It sure was nice to see Tiger not just intimidate everyone in the final round and watch Zach Johnson continue to be clutch down the stretch at a very difficult course. Looked more like an Open championship than the masters the way the balls would roll off the greens. Quite enjoyable to see the pro's actually seem human. Many of the things that happened to them happen to me all the time! Of course, if I played conditions like that I'd shoot 125 so they're still pretty amazing.

Major disappointment

The Masters starts today, always my favorite tournament to watch, especially in HD. Luckily our friends at CBS are showing 3 hours of coverage today and tomorrow in HD before the big coverage on the weekend. I've already got my tivo set up for today and tomorrow's matches.

Speaking of the Masters, I feel a little like Phil Mickelson at the PGA last year this morning. We had the 2nd half bowling title in our hands and we gave it away. Up 2 points going in we got thoroughly whipped all 3 games and lost any chance of winning the championship. We were never in it, never had a lead the entire night. As disappointed as I am, I'm glad it's over. The bowling season goes way too long, I was done 2 months ago. I'm thinking it would be nice to have someone bowl the first and last months for me and I'll just bowl the middle. Wonder how I could work that deal...

Addition by Subtraction

My new Harmony 670 remote arrived last night!

After a mere 3 hours of futzing I have it all set up and I must say it's awesome. No longer do I have to dig through a basket of 5 remotes to find the right one and hit many buttons just to watch tv. It's one button now. I set up 3 activities:

• Watch TV


• Watch a Movie


• Watch Apple TV

With the press of one of these buttons everything that is needed is automatically turned on and switched to the correct input. The beauty is everything is set up through an application on the computer (mac os x included) and you just enter all the devices you have (make and model #) and it does most of the work for you. There are a couple of fine tuning things to program in additional buttons and so forth but it has a learning mode which lets you do that very easily. Once you're done you just connect the remote to the usb port and click the update remote button and you're on your way to tv bliss.

The hardest part was getting the apple tv to cooperate. There aren't any included set ups for it so after googling for some info for awhile I found a way to do it. Basically the set up was similar to a digital music server and there's an entry for Apple in that list. After selecting that and renaming to Apple TV I had to customize the power/stand by feature which requires you to hold the play button down for 6 seconds to go to stand by. Fortunately again, there's a "learn raw commands" option that will learn how long a button needs to be pressed for. I also programmed in the up, down, left and right buttons on the remote for navigating through the apple tv screens. You also have to tell it to turn on your tv and what input it needs, as a digital music server doesn't typically need a tv.

I know that sounds pretty complicated but it's not that bad. And the end result is a thing of beauty. The basket of remotes is now hidden in a cabinet and in it's place is a single shiny remote. Now, the training of Cdubya begins... :)

Poor Start

Hockey playoffs started last night and we got off to a rocky start, losing 4-1 to the first place team. We actually had a 1-0 lead after 1 period and dominated for long stretches but they had the #1 goalie and he made several great saves to keep us at 1.

At the start of the 2nd period, we came out flat and they came out firing, getting 3 quick goals and their strong defense and goaltending never let us get back into it. We did have a goal disallowed late as my left toe was in the crease. I had no idea I was that close and I was on the other side of the goalie, no impact on the goal. It's automatic though, you touch the crease on a shot and they will call it. Of course, they missed about 10 penalty calls as well but I won't go into that.

---

It was a busy weekend at the house. I finally got Cdubya to clean out the big closet in the powder room that had become a collection point for everything she didn't want any more. She filled up 6 large garbage bags and it looks much better.

While she was doing that I was doing some wood work. First I built a U-shaped piece to slide under the tv stand to hide the cables and wires that were visible. I used 1x6s and stained them to match. Looks much cleaner now and when the dogs throw one of their balls under there they bounce back instead of getting caught in the wires.

I also turned a small closet at the bottom of the basement stairs into a new DVD storage area. Click on the My Basement Finishing Project to see the results. Only problem I had was getting the stain to dry with the cool damp weather we had.

---

Watched Lady in the Water on Saturday night. It was better than I thought it would be, but I usually enjoy M. Night Shyamalan movies so I shouldn't have been surprised. Paul Giamatti (Sideways) was very good in the lead role.

Back on Top

We had a good night at bowling last night as we went 5-2 while the first place team bowled with their panties in a bunch and got went 2-5. We're now 2 points ahead of them with the showdown next week. We have to take at least 3 points to win the 2nd half and get into the championship.

I bowled well but ended up disappointed. I was dead on for the first two games, firing 255 and 242, with the only problem being my 2nd ball in the 10th of game 2. I was looking at 256 after striking on the first ball. I started thinking about having more than 500 after 2 games and a shot at the ever elusive 800 series. As I was in my approach I was still doing the calculations and figured even if I didn't get a strike I would still have 245 and have 500 going into the 3rd.... of course what I didn't do was concentrate on the shot and missed badly, getting only 6 and the 242, which put me at 497. Duh... idiot.

The 3rd game I started with 2 strikes and felt pretty good about beating high series in the league at least (743). Then came a bad break with a buried 8-10 split (I never leave those). Another strike and then a buried 9 pin and a 7 pin and a 4 pin. By the 8th my chance at high series was gone. Then came the bad ending. Yanked one in the 9th for a 6-7-10 split, then pitched it way outside in the 10th for a 5 washout and ended with a paltry 178 for 675.

We lost that last game by 100 pins after winning the first 2. I think maybe we drank a little too much and we all faltered in that game. We'll have to be a little more careful next week.

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Watched Lost when I got home. What a wasted episode! Total filler, focusing on 2 people that were basically extras the whole series. It meant nothing, we learned about them, but who the hell cares about them? They keep doing this to me and pissing me off. One great episode followed by total crap. Grrrrr, get your shit together here people, this is why you're losing ratings!

The Fall of Rome

And just like that the HBO series Rome is done. Only 2 seasons and it's over. It appeared to me that they had planned for more seasons and ended up jamming in 5-10 years into the last 2 episodes to get it to end where they wanted it. There were definitely big gaps in time that were skipped right over and many things that didn't make sense. All in all, I liked the show but it was definitely confusing when in one episode a boy was 5 and in the next he was 10.

A week from Sunday (April 8th) starts the end of the Soprano's as well. 9 episodes will make up the final season. Of course, it's been so long since it's been on that I can't remember what happened last season. I wonder what HBO has in store for us next. The reason I have it is for these series, I certainly hope they come up with another one.

After feeling pukey all day yesterday I seem to have recovered this morning after a good night's sleep. Just in time for bowling tonight. We're coming down to the wire, 2 good weeks and we'll be in the championship. Then we can quit the league, just like we did the last time we won. :)

On the Apple TV front, I'm having some issues with keeping it connected to the network and also to iTunes on our Mac. I'm not sure what the trouble is but I'm guessing it has to do with the cheapo DLink wireless router I have. I'm constantly losing my wireless network connection to it on our Mac. I may have to look into getting a new one. Maybe the new Apple draft N router, it sounds like it's really good and much faster than the G I have right now.

I need more control

With the addition of Apple TV to my maze of devices it's become fairly obvious that I need a new remote that can do everything rather than messing with 4 or 5 different remotes in order to get everything just right.

I'm probably going to order the Harmony 670 remote from Logitech. It's easily customizable by connecting it to your computer (mac or pc) through a usb connection. I think it will give me the control I'm looking for. Now if it can just stop time...

Saturday night was the last night of regular league bowling in our couples league. We're near the basement, didn't matter how we did. I shot a 590 but who really cares? Grinders team couldn't come through with him on the DL with a fractured kneecap and lost out on their championship bid.

First round of golf for the year Saturday. Of course it was so foggy we had to wait an hour to get started and the course was pretty wet (of course, we were buried in snow a couple weeks ago). I shot a 95 (48/47) which is ok I guess, for the first time out. Got really tired the last few holes as I hadn't walked that much in a few months at least.

In hockey last night we won our 10th straight to finish 16-3-1-1 but unless the first place team lost we will finish 2nd. The playoffs start Sunday and we play them right off the bat. They will have first choice of goalie, but hopefully that won't affect us. We also had our team party afterwards where we watched the video of our game and laughed at how slow and crappy we looked. I swear not only does tv add 10 pounds, it makes you look like a sloth...

It's going to be 80 today in Madison, should break the record of 76... and where am I? Golfing? Noooo, at work... :(

Apple TV review

Hooked it up last night and did some testing. Here are my initial thoughts.

Set up: Easy, though I did have to restart my router to connect appleTv to it (more of a crappy router issue than anything else).

Music: Sounded great, love the album artwork aspect. I did have a couple of hiccups playing a song but it was also syncing all my photos so that could have had something to do with it. Didn't retry after the photos were done copying.

Video: Video quality for dvd's I had ripped (at full resolution) looked great and played without a problem. However, I have 2 serious issues that have left me with a bad taste.
1) Sorting of tv shows. The menu does not sort by season or episode, despite that information being entered in iTunes. Just a list of shows alphabetically. At least it separates Seinfeld from Saturday Night Live. I'm thinking I will need to rename all my titles to include season and episode number to get it to sort correctly. I would really rather have a drill down menu by season at the very least.

2) Dolby Digital 5.1 support, or lack thereof. My goal with this was to take my 250 or so dvd's and rip them in their full resolution with 5.1 and be able to pull up any movie at any time and get an equivalent or near equivalent movie without having to hunt for the dvd. Not having 5.1 is breaking my heart. I almost cried when it wasn't playing it. I imagine this will be a deal breaker for many people that are looking at this as being the ultimate media solution as I was.

All in all, it's sooooo close but yet not quite there. I'm hopeful that Apple will hear these issues and address them.

Missed Opportunity

We had our chance to take over first place in bowling last night and fired a near miss. I think we wounded them but were unable to apply the knockout shot.

In a very close first game we managed to come apart in the 10th, allowing them to escape with a tie game. In the 2nd game they managed to come through in the 10th late and took us by 5 pins. We throttled them pretty well in the 3rd game to escape with a 4-3 win. We really missed a golden opportunity to go 7-0 and put them in our rear view mirror.

We face the 3rd place team (they're 10 points behind us) next week and then face the 1st place team again in position round the week after that. We still have an excellent shot of winning the 2nd half and then facing our arch nemesis in the finals.

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Shake up on Survivor last night as Jeff instructed the teams to drop their buffs and they picked new teams. Of course, one team ended up with all men and the other had the weaker team with 3 women. And of course, the men got all cocky and stated how great they were and of course, they lost the immunity challenge. I could see that coming from a mile away.

They ended up booting Anthony finally, as he apparently is most "woman-like" and that didn't fit with their manly team. Unfortunately for them, they now get Lisee added to their team and that won't be fun for them as she is a total bitch. Personally, I would have gotten rid of Rocky. He's a total buffoon and jack ass who makes me want to punch him in the neck.

I didn't get a chance to watch Lost since I only had time to watch one show after bowling.

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I have to meet with my accountant after work today to see what the damage is. I have a feeling I still owe another $8,000 of taxes on top of the millions I've already paid this year. Why does my ass hurt after doing my taxes every year?

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I got a call from Roofer Bob this morning. Since it's going to be nice today and tomorrow they're coming out to do my roof now! Good thing it wasn't yesterday as we had a big hail storm at about 1:30 this morning.

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My Apple TV is here! It was shipped from China Tuesday, made it to Anchorage yesterday, Indy by this morning early and is already in Madison and on the truck for delivery! It wasn't supposed to be here till tomorrow. I can't wait to set it up.


That's it for now, peace out.

That'll do it

Midwest region pretty much toasted my bracket for this year. The Badger game was depressing to watch. They did their typical can't shoot in the first half thing again and their strong 2nd half comeback again, only this time they couldn't sustain it and UNLV hit a couple clutch 3's and made their free throws down the stretch to send Bucky back to Madison early.

On the bright side, the Badger women won the NCAA championship for the 2nd year in a row. They finished the season 36-1 and allowed less than 1 goal per game.

And in my hockey game we won again, our 9th in a row. We're sitting at 14-3-1-1 with one game left and 1 point behind the first place team still (unless they lost last night).

We were playing the last place team (2 wins) and found ourselves down 3-2 in the 3rd period. We got a goal to tie it and then with about 3 minutes left they took 2 straight penalties to give us a 5-3 power play. I took a feed at the left point and found our center alone on the back door and just like that we had the lead. Still on a 5-4 power play I stopped a clearing attempt and found the left winger along the boards and he fed the right winger for another goal. Back at even strength I ended up with the puck off the face off and hit the center at the blue line for a partial break away and just like that we're up 6-3 and that's how it ended.

Next week is our last regular season game (and team party) and then the playoffs start.

In other news, we traded in Cdubya's Pathfinder for an '05 Acura TL. Black on black with navigation system. It only had 26,000 miles on it and we got a sweet deal on it. She will be keeping this one.

300 and Round 1

Went to see 300 last night at the IMAX. It was awesome, especially with the giant screen and 12,000 watt sound system. Reminded me a little of Braveheart, underdog fighting against all odds for freedom.

The story is based on Frank Miller's (Sin City and the soon to be released Watchmen) graphic novel and is mostly shot on blue screen (90%) and green screen (10%). The entire thing was filmed in 60 days in Montreal and took another year to create the special effects. The result was a bloody, gore filled 3 day battle of 300 Spartans against a Persian army of well over 100,000. Lots of fun!

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NCAA tourney got underway yesterday. I'm in a couple of pools. I missed on one of my 2 long shots to get to the sweet 16, as Oral Roberts fell to Washington State. I did manage to know that Duke would lose to Virginia Commonwealth but I also missed the Indiana/Gonzaga game and ended up 14-2 for the first day.

Badgers play at 1:55pm CDT today against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Despite their last game I still have them going to the Elite 8 before losing to Florida. I think they have enough experience and depth to make a decent run but their lack of offense at times will eventually be their downfall.

Go Bucky!

Badgers Miss

The Big 10 tournament championship turned out to be just what the big 10 critics wanted, a horrible game that closely resembled a big 10 football game. 2 teams struggling to make a basket, going 5-6 minute stretches without scoring, fumbling the ball, throwing it away, etc. It was disgusting and Ohio State found a way to score more often than Bucky so they won. What a way for the Badgers to get ready for the ncaa tourney.

I didn't want them to get a #1 seed anyway. But I did want them to win. My ideal scenario would have been to thump Ohio State then get robbed with a 2 seed. That would have given them some extra incentive to prove the critics wrong. Now I'm not even sure they deserve a 2 seed. Losing 3 of their final 6 games is not how they wanted to finish the season. We'll see if they can step it up come Friday against Texas A&M CC.

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I continued my horrid bowling Saturday night with a whopping 514 series. I'm fading down the stretch, the season can't end early enough for me. I think bowling 3 days a week for a couple months really wore me out and took away any desire I had to continue this late in the season. Luckily I'll get the entire week off this week to recharge my batteries.

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In hockey we won again to run our streak to 8. We're now 13-3-1-1, sitting 1 point behind the first place team, with 2 games left before the playoffs. The top 3 teams playoff for the championship. The incentive to finish first is you get first choice of goalies for the entire playoffs. Just so happens there is one goalie that is far better than the rest. Doesn't look like we'll get him unless someone else can beat the first place team for us. I'm not sure it will matter though, we're averaging 7 goals a game during the streak and we've beaten the first place team twice with an average goalie.

TV Recap

Am I the only one watching "Rules of Engagement" starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton (Puddy from Seinfeld)? It's on in place of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (strange that one ex-Seinfeld person knocks out another).

Personally, I'm a huge fan of anything Warburton is in. His dead pan humor strikes my funny bone consistently. The show is about 2 couples: Warburton and his wife as the old couple and a younger couple recently engaged and Spade as the single womanizer (I guess now that he's gotten Heather Locklear it's ok to make him out to be attractive to women, but I don't get it).

Warburton is laugh out loud funny as the oaf who isn't too excited about being married and envies Spade's free-wheeling ways. In a recent episode, he had to visit the doc to have his swimmers checked since they were unable to have kids. Here's how that went down:
Doctor: You'll have to give us a sample to test.
Warburton: How much ya need?
Doctor: Just put whatever you've got in this cup.
Warburton: Cool, can you give us the office for 10 minutes?
Doctor: Uh, we have a special room down the hall for that.
Warburton: Nice.
Doctor: There are some reading materials in there to help.
Warburton: Porn?
Doctor: Yes.
Warburton: Nice. Where's the stash at?
Doctor: It's out in plain site.
Warburton: Nice.
In the room... Warburton sits down, puts on his reading glasses and picks up a PlayPen magazine and opens it up.
Warburton: Excellent... an interview with Brett Favre.
Cut to a half hour later and his wife impatiently pacing the hallway outside the room. She finally knocks on the door.
Warburton: Ugggggh!
He opens the door naked except for his reading glasses.
Wife: What happened?
Warburton: I missed.
Wife: What?
Warburton: I had it teed up but you knocked and I shanked it.
Wife: Why are you naked?
Warburton: I had to get the full experience.
Wife: What was taking so long?
Warburton: I was romancing myself. I don't know about you but I enjoy a little foreplay first.
Warburton: I'm gonna need some more time, have to take a catnap.

He just kills me.
Anyway, watch the show if you're a fan of Puddy.

Shows I watch

Drama's:
Heroes is on a 6 week break. How painful is that? I don't get why they do that at all. When they bring it back I will have completely forgotten what was going on.

Lost... Lost and Heroes are following the same path. Lots of gaps and mysteries that are slowwwwwwly uncovered. I thought last week was good but usually they follow that up with more inane bs that means nothing. I'm constantly on the verge of giving up but like when I had 2 Kings and couldn't fold despite knowing I was going to lose, I feel like I'm too invested to give up.

24... rocks as usual. Still the best show on tv.

Medium. For some reason I always enjoy this show.

CSI/CSI: Miami. Visuals in HD are the main reasons to watch. Plus laughing at David Caruso for the accidental humor aspect, he's such a knob.

Friday Night Lights. I feel like I shouldn't be watching these high school kids drinking, having sex, etc... but it's enjoyable.

Shark. Gotta love James Woods.

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Sitcoms:
How I met your mother. One word... Barney
The Class. Not sure why I watch it but it has improved since it's start. Wife likes it.
Christine. Funny, they're bringing it back next week.
Rules of Engagement.
The Office. Wife hates it, I love it.
Earl. Almost always funny and inappropriate.
30 Rock. Love Alec Baldwin's character and of course, Kenneth the page.

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Reality/Game Shows:
Survivor... so far rather blah... next week they're supposed to mix the tribes up. It's been completely one sided so far. Maybe this will breath some life back into this show that feels like it's on life support.

Amazing Race All Stars. All Stars my ass. This show ranks high on the suck factor this season. Just give professional reality stars Rob and Amber the million and cancel the remaining episodes. This is right up there with Amazing Race Family Edition for most pathetic Race.

Deal or No Deal. Usually funny and Lisa (#3) is awesome.

Smarter than a 5th grader. Makes me feel stupid and is too slow. I'm probably done with this one. I don't remember learning any of this stuff in 1st through 5th grades. I thinking I was learning to tie my shoes or something at that age.

That's all, thanks for reading. Got some opinions? Please feel free to comment.

Reaching Burn Out Stage

Looks like I fired my stage 3 rocket and am now coasting to the end of bowling season. After a lackluster night I'm ready for some time off. I started badly and ended the same way, sandwiching a 210 with a 150 and 143. I missed 10 spares which is about 10 times more than I usually do. Pretty sick and I had a very hard time generating any enthusiasm despite us fighting for first place. We ended up losing all 7, mostly due to my shitty bowling and now we're tied for first.

Looks like I may get a night off next week as the Gimp returns from knee surgery, I hope. Turns out I also shouldn't have been drinking as my sore throat and cough returned last night. I always do that, feel like it's over and then overdo it.

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On the plus side, Lost was excellent last night. Possibly the best episode of the year. I won't give it away to those that haven't watched it yet.

Sick and Tired

Well, it's almost 3pm Monday afternoon and I've been asleep most of the day. I woke up at 3am not able to swallow, my head pounding, my body aching... the flu, yuk.

I felt like I was starting to come down with something on Saturday but I attributed that to a long night of drinking and poker playing at Dr. Mike's house. I felt ok as the day wore on. Went out to check out the grand opening of the new Nevada Bob's. They added a bunch of space but they sure filled it up so it's just as cluttered as the old place. I did find a pair of addidas golf shoes I had been looking for but they were so narrow they didn't feel good. Bummer.

After that we went to Dick's Sporting Goods because I had a coupon for a free sleeve of golf balls. I ended up finding that they had their golf shoes on sale and I found a pair of addidas that actually did feel good and bought them for $90. I had a certificate for $80 from my points so they only cost me $10. Now if only the snow would fucking go away! It's March 5th and we're still buried in snow up to my ass.

Even though I wasn't feeling great I went to hockey last night (and got the wife lecture this morning about how I shouldn't have played). We won again, 7 in a row now, 7-4. I got to play forward again, did ok, nothing special. Tried to hustle as much as I could and we did really well in going with quick line changes, keeping them to a minute and getting off. We are still 1 point behind the first place team with about 4 games left in the regular season.

Hopefully I'll be back to work tomorrow as I don't get paid for these sick days.

Five and Two

That's become our mantra for bowling these days. 5 and 2, 5 and 2. We have been able to win by that score each week, keeping us in first. I think we might have had a few 7-0's in there but someone keeps saying "5 and 2" and we always end up losing that game in which he said it.

We bowled the 3rd place team (our arch nemesis who won the first half) last night and expanded our lead on them from 5 to 8 points. The 2nd place team also lost by the same margin and are now 5 points behind us with the 4th place team moving up to 3rd at 6 points back. We have about 5 weeks left of the regular season before position night.

I never did get my average last night but was close and also had a chance at getting the rare triplicate. First 2 games were both 198's and in the 3rd game I needed a spare and 6 in the 10th to get it again. Unfortunately I jinxed myself by saying "I haven't had a split all night" after watching the 13th split show up in that game alone. Of course I left a 6-7-10 split in the 10th, which I just barely missed for a 190. Bummer...

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In other news... I'm thinking about buying a 2nd PS2 for the living room. When I finished the basement I moved my other one down there, and I do like the set up down there but sometimes I need to stay upstairs and would like to be able to play there as well. Since the PS3 is showing no signs of lowering the hefty $600 price tag and I can pick up a PS2 for $129 it may do for now. Plus I keep getting new games at incredibly cheap prices. Last weekend I picked up Fight Night Round 3 and Call of Duty 2 for a combined $31 at Target. I can get 4 games for the PS2 for the cost of 1 PS3 game. It's a matter of quantity over quality at this point.

You might ask, why don't you get an XBOX 360? Well, I have a reason and it does make sense to me. You see, I went through a lot of work to rid my house of the cable company (Charter) a few years back (DirecTV and AT&T DSL internet service). I'm also trying to do the same with Microsoft products. I now have 3 Mac's and just one PC that I need for work. Buying an xbox would be inviting additional evil into my home and I just can't do it.

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Fantasy Baseball Keepers... today I had to turn in my 5 keepers for this season. After having my best ever finish (2nd place) I found it difficult to pick only 5 guys I want to keep. There are at least 10 guys I would love to have back again this year. A couple of guys were obvious. Albert Pujols and Chase Utley are monsters, no doubt on them. I went young with the other 3 in keeping stud Twins catcher Joe Mauer, hot shot kid SS Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins and Angels mid-season call up Jerred Weaver. Draft is March 26th.

Today is also the Brewers exhibition opener against the A's. They have a decent shot at making the playoffs this year, IF the key guys can stay healthy.