Another year under the belt

One more alumni game is over.

Notch another win for the good guys. We won 2-1 in a game that the team requested be shortened (though i can't think of a good reason why).

The game didn't play as close as the score shows. They had only two decent chances and we had 10 or so, but we are old, so we get more tries apparently.

My assumption would be that the team is going to be in for a long season, but I hope they can find a way to prove me wrong.

Further Removed

As the years pass, my outlook on playing in the North Central University alumni game changes dramatically. It has gone from hoping I lose, to hoping its competitive, but now that i haven't had any contact with the team this year, I hope we (the alumni) blow the current team out of the water.

There will be no remorse if we win and win big. I likely will be disappointed if we lose, even though we shouldn't have a chance to win. We are only getting older and more out of shape, and they should have a huge advantage over us in that department, along with the fact that we have to sub our entire line-up pretty consistently means that they should be able to wax the floor with us.

Fortunately the last couple of years that has not happened. In fact, we have been beating them in close games. Tomorrow, I hope it isn't close.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

I had a good idea today. I thought I'd go for a run (good idea when you are training for a marathon). I decided on 6 miles.

Bad idea... I thought I'd go for a run (bad idea when you are still recovering from a sickness). My legs were fine with 6 miles. My congestion was fine with 6 steps. My stomach was fine with 3 miles, where it then induced my vomiting reflex. My head was fine with 5 miles where it then gave me a pounding headache.

The 6 miles ended up being not so fun today, but the shower afterwards sure did feel good.

Spider-Boy

Here is what you need to know about spider boy. Spider boy is not a super hero. Spider boy has no powers. Spider boy, isn't even a single person. Spider boy is a disease and I've encountered one of its victims.

A couple people I know (one witnessed today) fall victim to spider boy syndrome. Every time they see a spider, they revert from their manliness to a scared little boy. They won't go near it, they won't try to kill it, they won't even swing a 5 foot broom at it. They can be 5 feet away from something that is like 1 thousandth their size and fear for their life.

As I documented the case this afternoon, I told my friend I would share this phenomenon with the world, in which he replied "and then I'll tell everyone how it almost ate my entire face off."

He was never within a 5 foot span of it, but convinced that it almost ate his face off.

Sorry for those of you who suffer from spider boy syndrome. At least it isn't contagious.

Nerd Sleepover

The best friend spent the night tonight.

Jenny's laptop got returned to us today.

After she went to bed, the two of us sat on the same couch, each with a laptop, proposing fantasy football trades to each other electronically, while viewing them on separate computers and occasionally talking about them in person.

These are the things guys do during sleepovers just before the football season.

Is Together Better?

A week ago, Jenny got sick. We tried our best to not have the germs pass to me, but as of this morning, my throat has been soar.

I'm wondering if it would have just been better to live normally instead of avoidingly, and pass the germs right away. That way, little would have been changed and we would have been sick at the same time, instead of me starting to feel sick as she is starting to feel better.

So what do you think. Would together have been better?

Defined Success

My brother is getting married in October. This has brought the opportunity for many firsts for me. One of those is dress shopping.

Until recently I had never in my life been dress shopping. However, Jenny wanted to get a new dress for Jason's upcoming wedding which meant I ended up dress shopping.

After two unsuccessful hours at the outlet mall last week, we headed to the largest mall in America today to try again. And try we did. For another two hours. By the end, I was exhausted from dress shopping. I couldn't take it any longer. Here is what is funniest to me, we left today, with no dress, but with the success of knowing what outfit Jenny will wear to the wedding (unless she takes the liberty of changing her mind). That even meant she bought something new, from the first store we looked in (which for a man would have meant we only would have made it into one store).

I've been learning a lot about shopping from Jenny with the shoes and dresses she had needed recently. I don't actually hate going, and sometimes even enjoy it, though i'm convinced that guys are more efficient shoppers than girls.

Feel free to give your own opinions.

448

Whether people like the show or not, I've always stood by the fact that the writers for The Simpsons are the best show writers in America. To have a show go on for that long, remain popular to every new generation, and rarely lose a viewer is amazing.

They have always found quirky ways to poke fun at all aspects of life. One of my favorites was when they decided to poke fun at t.v. shows celebrating their milestone episodes. The 100 or 200 episode shows that are done for long lasting sitcoms was punned in an entire Simpsons episode devoted to celebrating their 186th or 187th (somebody fill me in on what it was exactly) episode. It always amused me.

So here I am. Celebrating post number 448 on this blog. Many of you have read all of them, I'm impressed. Your boredom astounds me. To think that things I randomly think of and type have become part of daily routines for some of you to read is beyond what I ever intended from a blog.

So here it is, number 448. Congratulations me.

Sleepover Time

I got last minute roped into another fantasy football league today.

That means I'm sleeping over in Eagan (after our live draft) so I don't have to drive far tomorrow.

My mind is jumbled with football mess right now and has nothing worthwhile to say.

Returning to High School

As I sit here and type this, I feel like I've gone back to high school. Jenny took her computer in to get some repairs done under warranty this afternoon, so I'm now using a computer that isn't our normal one.

This one has an apple on the top. It reminds me of all my days in high school when all computer activities and classes done on the school grounds were done on the school macintosh computers.

I spent some of the evening configuring this one to my liking and will spend the next week relearning all the mac hotkeys so that by the time school rolls around, I'll be ready to take notes and surf the internet with maximum efficiency. Not to mention, I need to get used to the keyboard as it might be what I use to write my papers in under an hour.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I'm supposed to be spending my last few weeks before school starts again doing things like running outside and golfing. The rain is ruining my plans.

The clubs that we received for being part of the golf lesson (ESPN 3 Club Tour) earlier this month showed up this week.

I went to the driving range once with mine, but even that day was a wet one. I was just too giddy to care.

I'm looking forward to some good weather so I can try them out on a course somewhere.

Somebody make the rain stop.

It can come back in September.

That Time of Year Again

Football season is quickly approaching.

In fact, i had my first fantasy football draft this evening. It was a league i didn't plan on joining, but an hour before their draft, they were still one short so i joined to make it even for them.

I drafted 6 runningbacks. You only get 15 players and can only play 2 runningbacks each week, but I have 6 of them on my team.

There are 4 solid teams of the 12 in our league (if you count mine) and one team that will be real streaky (either the high or low score each week).

7 of the teams seemed not to know how to draft properly (not saying everyone needs 6 runningbacks, that is just how it ended up for me), that might have done better if they were auto-drafted by the online site we were using.

The league I actually care about more drafts in a week and a half at a house. That will be much more fun.

Confusing the Little Ones

"Jenny... How did Uncle Nate get through the window? Can you go through windows?"

These questions were asked to Jenny by me niece this weekend while we were away babysitting. Let me set the stage.

6 kids, 3 boys 3 girls. 3 kids from each of two families. The kids are all cousins and three of them were the three kids in our wedding. Jenny and I were tasked with babysitting. I was tasked with the boys.

For a while, this became a 6 on 1 wrestling match while Jenny would prepare meals. I would chase the kids, grab one of them, hold them, and the other 5 would try to get that kid free, only succeeding when i decided it would be fun to change what kid I was holding onto. Eventually, they would ask me to count to 10 and then chase them again.

Often, they would say the inevitable "I bet you can't get me now."

The last statement had taken place while two of the boys were playing playstation. It was me, chasing one boy and three girls. A slight problem is that they ran into one of the bedrooms and locked the door. The boy, stepped out on the deck off of this room. A deck, with no door besides the one to the bedroom, no stairs, and on the second level of the house. I ran to the door to wait them out, eventually getting bored.

After informing Jenny of my plans, I went out the front door to ready myself for climbing the deck. I got in position and immediately realized one thing, I'd be too slow doing this if the boy was still on the deck. He could easily get too far away. After waiting about a minute, he re-joined the girls in the bedroom and they looked for shadows by the door to see if I was still waiting there. Jenny had gone and filled my position there, so they were not leaving the room.

I then noticed the second thing. Climbing this deck was about to be an extremely unsafe adventure, but I didn't take off my socks to stop now. The ground, and deck were wet, the footing at first (and landing place if I fell) was rocks. Not landscaping rocks, large retaining wall rocks. The places to hold were, well, moving. The railing was small iron pipe like structures, that spun when held. I just hoped all the boards would be stable.

It began. Jump and grab. Walk the legs up a corner beam. Stick one foot between deck and railing. Pull self up enough to grab top of railing. Place other foot up. Pull body up. Jump over rail. Open door and shock the daylights out of the kids looking the other way.

It worked wonderfully. It sparked curiosity. How did you get up there? They looked to see if it could be climbed, and decided it couldn't. They then saw a window from the living room that led to the deck and was convinced that somehow I went through there, though the screen had not been taken off.

I wasn't about to tell or show them how it was done (like I said, it was unsafe).

In fact, my dad (reading this) is probably mad I even did it in the first place.



What can I say? I go all out for the kids enjoyment while I'm babysitting, and even kept the children's safety in mind.

Bye Bye

I'm off for a weekend of dress shopping and babysitting 6 kids.

I won't be updating this through the weekend.

Wish me luck.

Fried

My brain is exhausted.

7 sermons in the last 24 hours that I listened to and 4 hours of vegging in front of a television while Jenny worked on sewing a shirt and there isn't much left my noodle can do anymore.

Couple that with reading 20 some odd golf articles (a magazine with the name of the people who lived here 2 years ago came) and a couple of sports news articles (Beckham got his first American soccer start and first goal today) and i've got nothing to say.

My brain is fried.

The Stupid Candy Aisle

It was time for dessert. We didn't have any (read: Jenny finished the sherbet without me).

I had $4 in my wallet and a mission. Get the most I could with my money and nothing but junk food.

After careful evaluation of the candy aisle, the cookie aisle, the ice cream aisle, and the little debbie display, I was finally ready.

$1 on sale can of pringles BBQ. $1.39 box of little debbie Zebra Cakes. $1.59 bag of sour patch kids (my favorite candy). I had done it. $3.98 on my $4 budget. It was time for the self check-out aisle.

Total $4.09. What? Ahh, stupid candy aisle comes with a tax. Dangit. "Jenny, get this voided i'll be right back." Another quick run to the candy aisle to pick up a bag of gummy bears to replace the sour patch kids and we re-checked out. $3.98. Yes, victory is mine.

There are no more gummy bears. They didn't make it an hour.

Too Much Air Time

Sometimes, weather men (and women) get too much airtime when a storm is going through. I understand the importance of informing people of the severe weather that is coming through... but I don't know why they feel the need to stay on the air to the point where they are talking nonsense.

Here is the one that put me over the edge tonight.

"This is one of those storms where you want to stay at home. If you are at home, stay there that is the safe place to be. If you are driving in your car, you might want to begin looking for shelter, or return home."

What?..... "If you are driving in your car...." I've never seen a car capable of playing network television. I've seen dvd players, and vcrs, even video game systems, but never have I seen a car watching network television.

I was thankful that Fox, respected the finale that was being shown and at least put people back to their show for 45 seconds to see who won (congratulations Rock on winning Hell's Kitchen).

Otherwise, these weather people get too much airtime.

Double Standards

I haven't decided yet what I think about this double standard. I don't know that I really even want it changed, just acknowledged that there is a double standard.

Yesterday, I fed a baby for the first time (my nephew Luke). He was also fed earlier in the day. Here is what caught my eye (or brain, or whatever).

Luke ate, then quickly fell fast asleep, and was encouraged to do both in that quick of a succession, yet whenever I get hungry at 11:00 at night or something, or I begin to cook late at night (read: pop popcorn) I get comments about eating right before sleeping.

There is a double standard. Babies are encouraged to eat and immediately go to sleep, sometimes even to eat while asleep, and adults are often encouraged not to eat "x" hours before going to bed.

It feels wrong to me, and I kinda think we should all be on the baby standard, but haven't researched any health reasons enough yet to know if i stick by changing the standard or not.

Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged as a double standard.

Inquiring Minds Wanted to Know

There is quite a history behind the golfing terms bogey, par, birdie, eagle and albatross. The modern meaning is basically the American use of these words.

Bogey

"Bogey" was the first stroke system, developed in England at the end of the 19th Century. The full history is given in Robert Browning's History of Golf 1955.
In 1890 Mr Hugh Rotherham Secretary of the Coventry Golf Club conceived the idea of standardising the number of shots at each hole that a good golfer should take, which he called the 'ground score.' Dr Browne, Secretary of the Great Yarmouth Club, adopted the idea, and, with the assent of the club's golfers, this style of competition was introduced there for use in match play. During one competition Mr CA Wellman (possibly Major Charles Wellman) exclaimed to Dr Browne that, "This player of yours is a regular Bogey man". This was probably a reference to the eponymous subject of an Edwardian music hall song "Hush! Hush! Hush! Here Comes the Bogey Man", which was popular at that time. So at Yarmouth and elsewhere the ground score became known as the Bogey score.

A 'bogle' was a Scottish goblin as far back as the 16th Century and a Bogey-man was a widely used term for a goblin or devil. Golfers of the time considered they were playing a Mister Bogey when measuring themselves against the bogey score.

In 1892, Colonel Seely-Vidal, the Hon Secretary of the United Services Club at Gosport, also worked out the 'Bogey' for his course. The United Club was a services club and all the members had a military rank. They could not measure themselves against a 'Mister' Bogey or have him as a member, so 'he' was given the honorary rank of Colonel. Thus the term 'Colonel Bogey' was born. Bogey competitions are still played at many clubs.

Later Bogey was used as the term of one above Par (See history of Par below).

Par

Par is derived from the stock exchange term that a stock may be above or below its normal or 'par' figure. In 1870, Mr AH Doleman, a golf writer, asked the golf professionals David Strath and James Anderson, what score would win 'The Belt', then the winning trophy for 'The Open', at Prestwick, where it was first held annually from 1861 to 1870. Strath and Anderson said that perfect play should produce a score of 49 for Prestwick's twelve holes. Mr Doleman called this Par for Prestwick and subsequently Young Tom Morris won with a score of two strokes 'over Par' for the three rounds of 36 holes.

Although the first noted use of the word "Par" in golf was in Britain and predates that of Bogey, today's rating system does not and the Par standard was not further developed until later. It was the American Women's golf association, who, from 1893, began to develop a national handicapping system for women. It was largely in place by the end of the Century. The Men's association, founded in 1894, followed suit a few As golf developed, scores were coming down, but many old British courses did not adjust their courses or their Bogey scores, which meant good golfers and all the professionals were achieving lower than a Bogey score. This meant the US had an up-to-date national standard of distances for holes, while the British Bogey ratings were determined by each club and were no longer appropriate for professionals. The Americans began referring to one over Par as a Bogey, much to the British chagrin.

By 1914, British golf magazines were agitating for a ratings system similar to the US. However the Great War 1914-18 intervened and it was not until 1925 that a Golf Unions' Joint Advisory Committee of the British Isles was formed to assign Standard Scratch Scores (SSS), to golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland. Today, this committee is known as the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU). It is the Golf Unions of each country (and not the Royal and Ancient) who determine Pars and Handicapping.

Birdie

In common with others, the Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms (1993) believes that "Birdie", meaning a score of one stroke under Par on a given hole comes from the 19th century American slang term "bird", meaning anything excellent.

The Country Club in Atlantic City lay claim to the first use, as mentioned on the USGA website. In 1962 the US greenkeepers' magazine reported a conversation with Ab Smith. He recounted that, in 1898/9, he and his brother, William P Smith, and their friend, George A Crump, who later built Pine Valley, were playing the par-four second hole at Atlantic City, when Ab Smith's second shot went within inches of the hole. Smith said "That was a bird of shot" and claimed he should get double money if he won with one under par, which was agreed. He duly holed his putt to win with one under par and the three of them thereafter referred to such a score as a "birdie". The Atlantic City Club date the event to 1903.

Whether this claim is an exaggeration or not, the word Birdie is certainly derived from the American vox pop term 'a bird of a score' and hence a Birdie.

Eagle

"Eagle", a score of two under par for a given hole, was clearly the extension of the theme of birds for good scores from a "Birdie" (see above). It would be natural for American golfers to think of the Eagle, which is their national symbol. A score of two under Par is, in some ways, a 'big birdie' and an Eagle is a big bird. Ab Smith said that his group referred to two under as an 'eagle'.

Albatross

From there, the 'bird' theme continued. Three under Par is a very rare score and an Albatross is a very rare bird, and now three under Par is generally referred to an "Albatross". However nobody knows exactly when the term was coined and it appears to be quite recent. At late as the 8th April 1935, a day after making an albatross on the par-5 15th hole at Augusta in the Masters, Gene Sarazen referred to his shot as a "dodo". Ab Smith said his group used the phrase 'double eagle' for three under.

Double and Triple Bogeys

So far no particular terms for 2 or 3 or more over Par have become standard. They are just double and triple Bogeys. Some golfers use the term Buzzard for a double Bogey and some use terms from bingo for particular numbers. For example, an eight is a 'Snowman' because of their common shape. In a Stableford, a null score (two over net Par) is sometimes called a 'Blob', because of the visual similarities. Depending upon how good you are, anything over 7, 8 or 9 will be a 'Blow-up' or a 'Disaster'. However, none of these have yet become recognised terms.
It seems clear that golfing terms came into popular use in much the same way new words are being invented and used on the Internet. If they sound good, people start using them. What we do not hear about are the terms that never made it because they did not catch on. Only the future will tell which of the terms we invent will still be being used in a hundred years time.

Don't Close Them All

Most drive-in movie theaters haven't made it into the current day. The ones that have, at least around the twin cities are in pretty rundown shape.

But Jenny and I will fight for them.

We thoroughly enjoy a night spent at the drive-in, which we took advantage of for a date night tonight, seeing The Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers. It was a great movie night.

We look forward to being able to do it again sometime, but for that to happen, we can't let all of the drive ins close down.

The Runaround

I only got one "odd" question from yesterday's blog. It wasn't even odd, it was more of a "let's get this thing in gear" kind of question.

Nonetheless, it is one of the only 3 things that can't be found on the internet. I didn't read the question until 11:15 at night, which also left me unable to call in. I did send an e-mail to get the answers MSK, is looking for though, so I'm hoping that when I wake up tomorrow (it'll likely be afternoon before I wake up) that the answer will be waiting for me in my inbox.

Unless one of you knows what the permit and inspection requirements are to turn an unfinished attic into a master suite.

I've Always Wanted To Know

What are the kinds of things you've always wanted to know?

I don't have any schoolwork I need to do for over a month now, which means, I've got plenty of time to do silly research to answer interesting questions.

Is there something that you've always been curious about?

Like, why do they name the scores in golf things like, birdie, eagle, bogey etc.?

Or, how did April Fool's day start as a tradition?

What kinds of questions do you have that I can research for you?

Finding It Pleasurable

I'm a week clear of having done any homework.

That also means I'm at least a week clear of having to read any books just because I am forced to for class.

Reading sounded like an enjoyable entertainment activity again this evening, so I'll likely read a couple of the books I've been waiting to read in the next couple days.

I'm always looking for good book recommendations as well, so fire away.

Routine Hassle

Jenny's wallet got stolen today.

We thought it might have just been misplaced, but checking some online statements showed charges to three accounts on credit and debit cards that weren't from us.

This is a routine hassle in my life. My wallet was stolen in college, and shortly after that time, I gave my "process speech" for my public speaking class on "What to do if your wallet and/or identity is stolen."

It didn't take long to make all the proper phone calls. Some of the smaller detail things will need to be taken care of in person tomorrow, but overall, this is just one of life's hassles.

An unfortunate one at that.

Proper Priorities

There are few things that can get me away from my soccer games.

Especially if I'm in town.

My wife is one of those things. Today, her best friend got married.

Whether Jenny wants to admit it or not, she's a great public speaker (she gave the matron of honor speech).

She always makes me proud.

Way better than playing soccer.

She Left Me

Jenny chose a sleepover with her best friend that is getting married tomorrow and lives in CA, but is in town, over a normal, nothing out of the ordinary night with me.

I feel depressed. I think I need comfort food. Frozen Ice Cream Snickers Bars and Popcorn here I come.

Sore in the Morning

The golf instructor today mentioned that we would likely all be sore in the morning.

For me, he might have been wrong. I haven't begun to feel any soreness yet, despite today being the day in my life that I have hit the most golf balls.

I won't know for a while how many strokes he got off of my scorecard, if any, but I can say that he fixed some of the kinks in my swing and definitely got me excited about the club I wouldn't even take out of my bag.

If you are any kind of regular golfer, I'd recommend ESPN's 3 Club Tour.

18 Strokes, 3 Clubs

Tomorrow, my father, brother and myself are spending the day at one of the ESPN golf schools.

This particular school is called the three club tour, so named because you focus on putting, chipping and driving (full swing). As a perk of the club, you get to order premier Nike golf equipment (a putter, wedge and driver) to be shipped upon placing the order.

It would be nice to end up improving my game by 18 strokes or so, but it is highly doubtful that would happen. I know for sure, i'll at least end up with some clubs I need.

Finding Out Who the Worriers Are

If you live in MN and turned on a t.v. yesterday, or if you live out of state but watched your news, you probably heard that part of a freeway here in MN collapsed over the river today.

As i heard, I briefly scanned those who are close to me and could think of no occasion that would have put any of them on the bridge at that time. My concern for loved ones never made it much further than that.

45 seconds later, my father called to make sure Jenny and I were okay. An hour later, my brother called. In between there, I got text messages from 2 other individuals, one of whom I haven't talked to for almost 9 months.

I guess some of us are just wired to worry, and some of us roll with the punches. I'm much more a roll with the punches kind of guy.