musings

Irons

I will say this:

My crappy play coincided with selling my callaway x-16's and moving to the Nike ProCombo's. Hard not to notice that -- scores went up RIGHT after that. In fact, I have had only 27 decent holes with the nike's:

Pebble beach

and

the back 9 at plat last week.

So, the big debate: suck it up, stick with them or:

1. Do something like try the mp-30's
2. Go back to my x-16's and apologize for getting rid of them after having had lowered my handicap with them....

Vote, my friends, vote!

The Struggles Continue

Another plus 100 round of golf for Rick, though I can only post a 98. It's becoming a set thing now -- my scores are consistently 10 shots worse than they were a few months ago. Just not getting the job done. Putting today was an evil thing. I had three putts die at the hole, and one lip out. That signals you that the day isn't going your way and you just deal with it. :)

Paul and Chris had their new fancy Ignite drivers today. They sound weird, but get the job done. On hole 10, Paul hit his driver 300 yards (!!!) and, shock of shocks, I hit mine 270, which was a pleasant surprise. Chris hit his 320, but had a lot of cartpath help. Of course he did, he's Chris. :D

After golf, I met the family for lunch at the Plat, hit some balls with the kids (who got bored very quickly), and then we went to get the kids bikes and ice cream.

Now we move on to teaching them out to actually ride them. :)

Two Golf Games

Well, I had a very strange day of golf. Was out with Chris today, and we played the plat. Weather was perfect; I think it got to 70 degrees. Was nice to play on a course that wasn't sopping wet.

The front nine was tough for me. I had both my worst and best nines today. Let's go through the front:

Hole 1:

Slice the tee shot with Mr. Driver and find myself behind a tree. No way to go down number 9 fairway, so I decide to chip out and play my own. In retrospect, this was a poor choice. So I chip out, then take my 2 iron to hit a nice shot over the crap. Hit a low topped ball into the crap. Walk up, drop. 4i. Top it into the crap again. Hit 4i again (in anger) and slice it. Fly over the green with my Lob Wedge (too many wheaties), chip up, finish putting. 11. Not a great start.

And so it went with me hitting some good shots, and a lot of poor ones, but counting on nothing. I abandoned hitting 3 wood and driver and stuck to the 2i. On 9, I broke my rule, grabbed the driver, and sliced it. I then hit an amazing three iron back up into the middle of the fairway, 130 from the hole. Pin is back, I feel good about getting a par and moving on. Instead, I hit a HUGE fattie (I think I scraped China it was so fat) and into the crap that ball went. Drop, hit again, fly over the green, chip, putt out for an 8. From certain par to a triple.

My other triple came from duffing a tee shot out of bounds on six. I then hit a wonderful 2i to the end of the fairway. From there, I should have hit the green, but missed it, chipped, two putt -- triple.

So I left the front nine with a 56 on my card. YECK. WORST EVER.

Upstairs, get a light beer, calm down. Come back out for the back 9.

Hole 10 didn't start out well as I hit a big pull-fade into a fairway bunker. I then took a 9i out of there, landed on the green too far, but got my two putts out for par.

Hole 11: 2i off the tee again, 2i from the fairway, 4i from 190 out and ran through the green. Poor chip, two putts, bogey.

Hole 12: par (freebie as the hole had been messed with)

Hole 13: 2i into the middle of the fairway, pitching wedge to right next to the pin. Of course, miss the birdie putt.

Hole 14: 2i again (trusty bastard that it is) into the fairway. From there, 4i uphill to right off the green. Chip, putt, par.

Hole 15: I am this hole's bitch. Par three, all carry. I hit my 7i, and stubbed it. Land in the crap, but get to drop on the other side since I had hit there then rolled into the crap. Whew. That saved me some serious strokes. Still got double because of a poor chip that left me a hard downhill putt. Double bogey.

Hole 16: 2i that I pull hook. Yikes. I'm up in an area that I'm never at. I go up there, have a good lie, take my 4i again, and land right next to the pin. Of course, again miss the birdie putt. Par.

Hole 17: 2i (not trusting driver or 3 wood at this point). Land in fairway. Hit 4i to just off the other fairway, pitching wedge to green, 2 putts for par.

Hole 18: 2i to fairway. Six iron that fades heavily and lands off the green. I hit a not so great chip and 2 putt from there to get bogey and end the back nine with a well earned 40. My lowest score on any 9 at the plat. Of course, if I had just gotten a birdie or not hit that double.... :)

So I had to post a 91 because my handicap doesn't allow me to post the 11 as a score.

Afterwards, I gave Chris a pointer that had him booming drives to the back of the range. I fear I have created a monster there. ;)

Chris was money on the putting today.

FedEx Blows Ass

Let me just say that I really do hate FedEx. They used to be a great organization with fantastic customer service, but not now. Here is the deal:

Order some computer stuff. Pay to have it delivered Friday.

Friday, AM: fedex says "hey, it's on the truck to be delivered to you today." Wife sticks around to get it.

Friday Afternoon: no package.

Friday Later afternoon: call fedex -- where is my package? "Um, we don't know. let's call you."

Friday later than that: no call.

Friday evening: call back -- wtf is going on? Nobody can tell. Can I pick it up on Saturday? No. And on Monday? Your wife has to be there, sir, or we can't leave it.

It's at this point that you know you're dealing with a really stupid organization.

So, moral of the story is: Fedex really sucks. Customer Service was ass. No resolution. No help to me.

Arrrghghghghghghghghghghghghgh.

Death Be Not Proud

So yesterday was difficult. Obviously not as difficult as it was for Mark and Sharon, but difficult in a different way. To sit in a room, look at this small casket, the toys, the giant photo and wonder how something like this could happen...it's like it's not happening. A movie of sorts and you just happen to be in it.

They had two pastors, one of whom was South African. He actually said some great things, chief among them that even the best tended gardens, by the top botanists, have roses that never bloom. Amber didn't bloom. They then showed this photostory that had us all crying, and we had a small reception there, then followed it later with one at their home.

One doesn't know what to say to a friend going through the worst thing imaginable. There just are no words.

And the entire episode has really gotten me to think about what's important and what is not important. I left work today at 4 so I could go watch Will in his first practice for baseball. I stood off to the side and watched from afar. That boy is just so full of energy, full of life. That is where my focus should be.

Work is what I do. This, however, is my life.

Having something like that happen really makes you think about all the times you chose to stay at work late when you could have been reading your kid a story. How many times did I put a project that ultimately didn't matter ahead of my kid. Will he remember that? Will Katie remember that she and Amy had to go to Omaha because I lived at work for a few months while we shipped the first Java VM? And then a few months after we shipped it, we killed it in a deal with Apple? Was it worth it?

Ultimately, no. And I think that's the takeaway. If I were my friend right now, would I be regretting every time I made the work decision over the kid decision?

Obviously, it's not that black and white. When I was doing the VM, it felt like what we were doing mattered. Ultimately, it really didn't matter, but we didn't know that then. I hope that what I work on today matters. I believe it does, because it goes to our basic values, but I will approach it differently now. I will still work hard, I will just be smarter about it.

Going Insane

Over the past few months, Katie, Galen and I have traded strep throat back and forth so much that it's making me crazy. It is the worst kind of sick, because I am NOT SICK. I feel fine, just my throat that feels like ass. It was so bad the other night, that it woke me up.

This all started with me when I was about 15 or 16. I caught something and my throat was so messed up that they had to give me this liquid to gargle with in order for me to eat. It essentially numbed the throat completely (like a super version of that spray you use today). Since that point, I have easily caught crap. And having kids is like having petrie dishes living in your house -- they catch crap at school and bring it home for you.

Oddly, Amy and Will have proven to be invulnerable to this particular strain. Katie, Galen and I also have the bad skin, so whatever gene that I had that was "messed up" passed to those two and Will escaped.

I am checking with my doctor to see if I can go to work. Without a home office, I am not accomplishing a lot here from the kitchen table.

I had so many meetings scheduled for Mon-Weds this week that I had to move, that it's making me crazy.