Humbled at TCI
I finally had an opportunity to play my home town golf course and in the end I snuck back home with my tail between my legs. For some reason I have been on a golf binge the past week and a half. I have been to four different courses and shot pretty well on 3 of them. Of course, those three have wide fairways, little water and a lot of room for error. So the tendancy is to get a big head and to think that this game is not so hard after all.
But that all changed this afternoon when I played a real man's course. At the Tournament Club of Iowa you can't go left, you can't go right, you can't go short and yes you guessed it, you can't go long... You pretty much have to put the ball in one place the entire course.
Number 2 at TCI
It is without a doubt the most beautiful golf course I have ever played and second only to Pebble Beach in terms of asthetic beauty. I did have a few highlights: I pared number 2, sunk a 50 foot putt on number 8 and hit a 300 yard drive on 18. Those are the shots that keep you coming back for more.
I was recently discussing with one of my Pastors why golf is such an addicting game. We came to the conclusion that every time you play, the average golfer has 80-100 chances to be a hero. Every shot is a new opportunity to do something great. Whether it's a huge drive, an amazing approach, an incredible save from the sand, or an impossible putt, no matter the situation you can always hit the shot of your life. Case in point: I was burried pretty deep in the sand sitting about 20 yards from the pin with only a sliver of landing area. Not only do I have to get up out of the sand I have to land it in an area about the size of my big toe. And at that moment everything came together as I plucked it from the sand and set it gently 8 feet from the hole. Of course I missed the putt after, but that sand save overshadowed my horrible putt.
That is why golf is such a great game.
The iFlea
With all of the my recent hoopla about my iPod, I ran across this hillarious video. I laughed out loud and so will you. Dad, you will appreciate all the puns. Have fun kids!
iFlea Video
State Fair Day
Today, we had our second annual family excursion to America's Favorite Fair...or so they say. It was a tremendous opportunity to eat just about anything on a stick, mow down a deep fried candy bar, see hundreds of live cows, and get ridiculed by a clown in a dunk tank. Wow.
It was pretty hot, but unlike in CO I decided to wear sunscreen. I think Mia really liked the animals. While we were looking at the pigs a cow mooed really loud and Mia stopped dead in her tracks, whipped around and got a huge grin on her face. I laughed out loud. She also got to pet a horse, goat, and kissed a llama.
By far the best thing about the state fair is the food. While I did not get my deep fried donuts this year, I did get a chocolate covered nut roll. I am still buzzing.
We didn't make it into the midway but I am sure if we go next year Mia will want to go.
Interesting side note: USA Today ranked the Iowa State Fair as the number 2 attraction in America that you have to visit, right behind Las Vegas. Now, I'm not sure what their critera was, but we do have a pretty cool butter cow, and you really can eat almost anything on a stick. So make plans next year to come and experience America's Favorite Fair...
You can see more of our fair pictures on Flickr.
Another Cool Mapping Site
I just found another really swell mapping site. This site is using a Flash interface connected with Google and MSN's maps. The experience is a lot smoother then that of Google or MSN earth alone. You can slide in out seemlessly and drag the map in all directions with your cursor. I think the satellite imagery is a lot clearer as well.
Check it out. I think it is the best mapping program I have seen.
New Videos
I have just posted several new videos in the video gallery. Guess who they star? This is sort of experimental and there a few bugs I am still working out - so be patient. The videos are optimized right now for broadband connections. Sorry to those of you with dial-up. I will work on getting a dial-up section as well. For now it is my way of trying to push everyone forward to better technology. The world is so much better with broadband... Anyway, enjoy.
The iPod Cometh
It is finally here. I would have posted sooner, but I was too busy uploading my entire music
library... now what do I do with the other 54 gb?
Needless to say it is a beautiful piece of equipment. My expectations were pretty high and I am glad to say that they have been exceeded. I don't know what I like better, listening to it or looking at it.
The good people at Sitepoint were supposed to send me a 40 gb iPod Photo but unfortunetely they don't
sell the 40 gb version anymore so they upgraded me to the 60 gb version. Very Cool!
The sound is great and it couldn't be easier to use. One of the best things is that I can use it in my car and its a pretty cool thing to have any song available without having to switch CD's in and out. I also like the fact that it displays the artwork for the album of each song. Not a big deal but one of the little nuances that make it hip.
The only thing that I have been disapointed with is iTunes. The program feels very clunky and is not user friendly in my opinion. Maybe I am just used to Windows Media, but I prefer it at this point. I like the layout of WMP better. All of your choices of album, artist, genre, etc are in expandable menus along the side as opposed to iTunes at the top. iTunes is also a lot slower and uses more memory.
The music store is pretty cool and the podcast subscribing is off the charts.
So, all in all I am happy and I am really looking forward to a long relationship with my iPod.
That Thing She Does
It's every father's job to tell everyone how cute and adorable his daughter is and I am no different. As I think back to before she was born and we thought she was he I could have never imagined having a girl. Now I can't imagine what life would be like if she had been a boy. (does that make any sense?)
Nevertheless, in the car tonight she was making a screeching noise. The noise was one that if a little louder could be quite annoying, or if it had kept on, but each time after the warble left her voice she would tell herself "no no" be quiet for a couple seconds, and repeat.
It was one of those time where you smile to yourself and force yourself not to look back. Thank goodness for rear view mirrors.
I hope to post some new video soon of our dancing queen. She's got a routine that gives Napolean Dynamite a run for his money.
You might have noticed that the sidebar on the right is getting a little fuller. I joined google's adsense program. More for the novalty I guess, but maybe I'll make a little money. It is a free program that pays me everytime someone clicks a sponsored link. So if you would like to help feed a hungry mouth...or put little Mia through college, go ahead and click. That's it just click.
I have even come up with a fun game for the ads. Google places ads relevant to the content on the site. So the challenge is to figure out what newsletter entry was the refference for that particualr ad. All right, it's not Frogger but it can still be fun.
And now for the thought of the day........"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and the world laughs harder."
You've been great. I'm out.
Some New Photos
Mia and Regan at the LongsI just finished uploading almost 4gb of photos from the past year and beyond to flickr. There are 4 new sets that were not on the old site.
The new photos include: Caleb's Graduation, Abi's Graduation, Our 4th of July trip to Indiana, and our Summer Vacation to Winter Park.
You can view the photos by going here.
Enjoy!
Something New
The last couple of days have been marked by things that are new. Awhile ago Mickie's bathroom mirror fell off of the wall. Fell off? Yup. And in the
process a big piece was broken off of the corner. This gave her the inspiration to redo the bathroom. She wanted to paint add a new light fixture, some other accessories and of course a new mirror.
The other new thing and really big deal at our house is Mia's swing set. On one of the trips to Menards we found a small swing set with a slide that was discontinued...and you will never see a happier girl.One last item. I placed a subscription field on the right side. If you would like to be emailed whenever the newsletter is updated and don't want to bother with RSS (although RSS is very cool...) enter your email and click subscribe.