Guatemalan Trip Fundraising Scramble

I played in a scramble Saturday morning at Shawnee with my friends Jeff, Nate and Nate's sister Emily. While I was definitely the A-player, everyone pitched in and we shot -7. I am happy with that score looking at our group. There were nine teams and we tied for first, but lost in a scorecard playoff. I also won closest to the pin on hole #4. I was the first person to hit the green and I didn't think it would hold.
For the second place finish we each got a trophy (I will take a picture later and post it) and a dozen golf balls. For the closest to the pin, I received another dozen golf balls.
It was fun and hopefully whomever is going to Guatemala will have a safe trip.

Iceland Volcano

I am beyond fascinated with the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Apparently the ash plume has now crossed Russia and the northern Pacific and is now entering western North America. This afternoon the plume had dropped from 50,000 feet to 15,000. However, the late news tonight is the eruption is strengthening again. The impact on the economy and air travel is crazy, but I am extremely curious to see the area around the volcano after the eruption subsides.
I would love to get a bottle of the ash to add to my collection. So if any of you know any volcanic ash dealers, give them my number.

Ten Things That I've "Had it Up to Here" With

1. Sarcastic comments regarding global warming. As in "heh heh, 12 inches of snow in March, so much for global warming." I don't care what your views are or what you think is fact or not, the same worn out lines for the past decade are getting tiresome.


2. American Idol. It's not the show (because I've never watched it), it's the constant updates on the radio and newscasts as well as being made to feel I should know every contestant and winner. Hey "Idol," just die already!


3. Breaking News Alerts. I used to stop what I was doing when I saw breaking news flash up on the screen, but now it seems every mindless fluff piece is breaking news. "This just in, breaking across the wires now, 'American Idol 'updates are coming up next."



4. "Creation Science" or "Intelligent Design." It's not a science. There is no other side in the scientific community, just a few disagreements with the mechanism of evolution. Don't give me this balance bull crap. If this was the case, they would also go after other disciplines like physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy and all their related scientific theories.


5. People who name their kids with the same first letter. Nothing personal, I just find it annoying and very unoriginal...and I have close friends (and a girlfriend) that come from families that do this, but I had to let it out.



6. Bed Bath and Beyond coupons in the mail. Ok, we get it. I get 20% off on my next purchase, but do I really need three coupons a week in my mailbox. How many beds, baths and beyonds do you think I have anyway?


7. Dick Vital, Bill Rafftery, Tim McCarver, Chris Berman, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham (and many many more I'm sure). Blah!


8. No water in restaurants: Most restaurants used to bring you water when you sat down, but now you have to ask for it in most places. Jeez, you'd think with global warming we'd have plenty of water to go around Mr. Al Gore! (See #1)


9. Discovery, TLC and The History Channel. These used to be my three favorite channels. But now unless I want to watch stuff explode, follow a family of dwarfs or watch cryptozoologists track el Chupacabra in the Central American rainforest's it all pretty much sucks.


10. Cigarette Butts. Whether they are flicked out of car windows and bounce off my car, piled up on the median at the stop light or laying on the green at the golf course, I've had it. I have had to resist the urge on several occasions to get out of my car at a stop light when I see someone drop a butt and flick it back into their car. I rank this right up there with dump trucks that have the sign posted on the back "Not responsible for falling gravel."

Straws and Nuts

I eat fast food (especially McDonald's) more often than I should and try to keep my trips infrequent. However, I have noticed a few odd wasteful habits McDonald's has when it comes to the drive through. About once a month I will stop and get a sundae from the drive through. Every time they ask me if I would like nuts with the sundae. I always say "no thank you." However, they always give them to me. I usually tell them to keep them, however, if I happen to get something else, they put them in the bag and I end up throwing them away. Why ask if you are going to give them to me anyway? And why is it when I order sauce for my nuggets, they always forget that?
Another waste is the straw I get in my bag even when I don't order a drink. Sometimes they give me two. If all I order is a cheeseburger, why do I need a straw? Is it so I can use it to by-pass a clogged blood vessel?
While on the subject of fast food, I am a big fan of Chic-Fil-A. The food is good and the service is better than any fast food place out there (even better than White Castle). However, it's almost too good and the service too polite. It seems almost "cultish." But as long as they're not asking me to hitch a ride in the spaceship behind the comet, I'm finewith it.

The Dumb One

Looking at my older brothers and their endless creativity through art, writing and general wittiness, I have come to the realization (and I am sure I am the last one to come to this conclusion) that I am the dumb one.

"Is that your oldest son?"
"Yes, that's Mark. He is an amazing artist, not to mention extremely bright and uncommonly funny. We are so very proud of him! Here is some of his work"
"And this one? Who is he?"
"That's Kevin. He is a very witty and creative writer. Not only that,
but is very well educated and informed. It's hard to pull one over on him."
"And who might this be? Your youngest?"
"Yeah, that's Brian. He likes to hit a ball with a crooked stick and chase
after it. Then find it and hit it again. He's special."

Indianapolis/Butler University

Julie and I attended her old college roommate's wedding Saturday in Indianapolis. It was a nice weekend and I had a chance to meet some of her old college friends. Everyone was friendly and full of frivolity (Maybe that's because everyone took advantage of the cocktail hour and open bar during the reception. Hopefully, everyone took advantage of the shuttle service back to the hotel as well). The dance floor was packed up until midnight at the Ritz Charles. The food was excellent and the stories were plentiful.

Sunday morning we had breakfast in the hotel (compliments of the wedding) and then drove down to Butler's campus so Julie could show me around. It is not a huge campus, but it is spread out enough not to feel claustrophobic. Most of the buildings are made of stone, however some look like they are made of huge slabs of concrete, with high windowless walls. They reminded me of the castle in "Shrek." I saw Julie's old house just off campus (you can see Hinkle Fieldhouse towering overhead), then saw her dorm building and finally her sorority house (the picture of her with the rock is out in front of that house).The houses surrounding the campus are old mansions, the type you would see around an Ivy League School. The fraternity and sorority houses on campus are by far the nicest I've seen, but like ant campus, you can always tell the sorority houses from the fraternity houses simply by the number of beer cans, over turned chairs, sofas and over flowing garbage cans in front of the fraternity houses.

Our last stop was the campus store where we did a little shopping. I bought a navy blue Butler hooded sweatshirt and a t-shirt with the basketball team's 2010 resume on the back.

It was a beautiful day to walk around campus and can definitely see why she loved it so much.

One the way back to Louisville, we stopped in Edinburgh at the outlet malls. I didn't get much, but I think I will probably go back in the not so distant future the next time I need to buy a few items.

(The stone house above is the Kappa fraternity house, not Julie's sorority).

The Masters

I haven't been(and won't be) home much this week to watch The Masters, so I am very thankful for my DVR. I watched it when I got home from playing golf last night and will probably watch the rest of it on Sunday when I get home from Indianapolis.
I like watching Tiger Woods play golf, I admit. However, I think this would have been one of the best first rounds of The Masters even if he wasn't in the field. Anytime you have Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood on the leaderboard, that is a heck of a start. Throw in Tiger Woods and it is definitely the best first round i have seen in a long time. Plus it's Augusta National, and that looks pretty damn good in HD TV.

First Round of the Year (and first since November's Turkey Scramble)

I played Nevel Meade yesterday with a few guys from the Bats. It was our usual foursome. For any of you that have never played Nevel Meade, the entire course basically sits on top of a hill out in Oldham County(with no trees because it is a links course). Even on calm days, there always seems to be a breeze. The temperature yesterday was cool when we teed off, about 55, and the winds were gusting over 20 mph. Add to this my lower back had been having spasms (I was walking like...well...like Dad) and it was my first round in almost 4 months, I wasn't expecting too much. I ended up surprising myself by shooting a 36 on the front and finished 2-over through 16 on the back. I hit the ball fairly well considering I didn't feel like I could make a complete turn. My short game I was most impressed with. From 100 yds and in I played very well and only missed two putts inside of about 6 feet.

Oaks

We bought our Oaks tickets last night on Stub Hub. I checked Churchill's website yesterday afternoon and found 4 seats together for $70 each. Last night, they were gone. I went to Stub Hub and found 4 seats in the same section for a few bucks cheaper (Mom/Dad, they will be delivered via FedEx to your house in my name. I figured there was a better chance of someone being home. They should arrive in 2-3 weeks).
Julie and her friends have the dresses ready and are now working on the hats. I don't think I'll be wearing a suit, but I will probably at least sport a tie. I'm sure I'll have pictures to post afterwards.

First Swings of 2010

I took a ride to the driving range on River Road yesterday so I could finally get in a few swings. While I have definitely hit the ball worse, it was frustrating to feel so out of rhythm. It's the first time I've touched a club in months, so I didn't expect perfection, but still...

I have always had an unorthodox swing. Sometimes I get things to come together and work while other times it's like watching a monkey hump a football. Most times I feel I can pin point one motion or mistake and at least make an adjustment. Yesterday, however, I noticed I wasn't releasing my left side, my balance was poor, my back swing was hitched (as usual), my alignment was off, the angle of descent was either too deep or too shallow, my transition was too fast, my grip felt uncomfortable and my posture was inconsistent. That is way too much to feel when trying to simply swing a golf club.

Here is what I plan to do this year to improve my game (besides eventually getting new clubs). I have always felt watching oneself is the best lesson. Feeling your way through the problem or having someone else tell you what they see is very difficult way to dissect the issue. Being able to correlate what I feel with an actual image is priceless (that's why golf academies charge so much). I now have a laptop with a web cam, so my goal is to set this on a chair behind me a record my entire practice session. Sounds simple enough. This way I can get instant feedback and see if changes I am making are actually occurring, and if so, working.

The good news is I know what to look for. I have been around golf long enough, and know my swing well enough, to make an educated diagnosis. Many have told me they wouldn't change a thing about my swing, but the usually only tell me that when I play well. I am looking for more consistency, and hopefully, lower scores. I want a swing I can rely on even if I don't quite have the feel. Hopefully this approach will work, or at least it will be fun trying.