Fore!

Shot my best golf ound of the year on Monday on a rather difficult course - 79. VERY excited because I have a trip to Trump National Golf Course (Westchester NY), Cape Cod tournament and another outing the following week all on tap.

Snow-What?

I don't care if its 41 and there's a cold northerly wind. I'm going golfing. Now where are my snow-shoes?

I Mean, Seriously?

Predictions of 2 to 5 inches of snow today, tonight and into tomorrow have me asking:

WHAT

THE

FUCK?

It was 73 on Friday. I payed my golf club dues and golfed over the weekend. Grrrr.....

Money on Fire

I went into Golfer's Warehouse over the weekend to follow-up on something I'd been meaning to do for the longest time; get fit for my (or other, if needed) golf clubs. The process is pretty cool. They have you hit balls in front of an optic monitor thingy which measures club speed, ball speed, ball spin, launch angle, etc. My fitter was a great guy who after analyzing the datat told me that I would always struggle with the setup I had. He said my swing was pretty sound and thought I could really benefit from some after-market shafts.



That all rang pretty true with me. I just never seemed to have 100% confidence that my equipment was correct for me. I work terribly hard at the game yet lately, I haven't been seeing the improvements I thought I deserved. He said my ball flight had too much spin for the launch angle and it wouldn't be true to me and would eventally cause me to "correct" it in the next swing making matters worse since it was caused by improper equipment rather than improper swings. Its all very technical but fascinating to a number freak like me.



He also measured my "grouping" which is the general area where my shots were landing - yeah, the computer can compute all that - and promised me he could tighten it up with new shafts, i.e. make the circle smaller. So, if my average miss was 18 yards, he could make it like 12. That's a big deal! Furthermore, he LOVED the club-heads on my set, so apparently, the deal I got last year was an actual deal. He merely thought the shafts I was playing were not correct for my swing-type.



I trusted the guy and the data. He could have sold me new gear but he felt I was best served by the stuff I have after I tweaked it. He actually talked me out of new gear because nothing in store would have had the shafts he felt were perfect for me. Plus, without me even hitting one of my hybrids (new-fangled 3 and 4-irons, which I hate) he told me there was no way I would be able to hit them consisetently. And I can't. Hence the reason I hate them.



So I spent some money but not too much. I have all my newly shafted clubs and I'm eager to put them to the test. The driver shaft was rather pricey at nearly $200. But believe it or not, they have a $2200 driver shaft in store. Good God! And a new driver, again without the perfect shaft could run about $400. He also suggested shortening the driver shaft back a bit after taking into account my swing arc.



Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about it all, but probably a rather boring blogger. But, if I could take 3 strokes off my game this summer, throught equipment and short game improvements I'd be a happy camper.



Now, if only this damn snow would melt.

You Give Me Fever

Temperatures today are in the mid 40's with even warmer forecast through the weekend. Spring fever's running rampant and its all anyone can talk about. We're down to about two feet of standing snow now. Perhaps I will be golfing by Memorial Day afterall.

And I also recently received softball league information.

Time Flies

Number One Son is now over 3 months old and starts preschool on Tuesday. Mrs. Nouveau has already shed a tear or two about that. For some reason these "stepping stones" don't affect me in that way. Classic difference between men and women I guess.

In any event he's growing like crazy. He's basically all smiles and wonderment. Never fussy for more than a few seconds but incredibly wiggly and curious about all that surrounds him. Makes for an easy and fun baby, for sure.

My other one is growing like a weed too. I noticed all the kids at her bus-stop had done so. Amazing how fast kids can grow in 3 shorts months when you havent' seen them. She's a third-grader now. Nearly an upper-classman at the K through 5 elementary school. She's sassy and stubborn and even moody at times. But damn near perfect! And she's kicking my ass at ALL the Wii games except for golf. That seemed to happen over night.

The Mrs. has been home since May 19 and returns to work on Tuesday. She's not looking forward to going back. I hope from this, she realizes that the place survives without her. She doesn't need to be there until 7 or 8 at night so often.

In other news: Hurricane Earl is heading up the East Coast but probably won't impact us too much since it will stay far enough east of here.

My team won a golf tournament yesterday in the 98 degree heat. That was cool and HOT at the same time. I couldn't even drink beer it was so hot.

We've now had 33 days over 90 degrees this summer. Second hottest all time. Sort of looking forward to fall at this point.

Blah-blah-blog

So, here's me again complaining I have nothing to blog about. I keep thinking that, so I don't blog. That and I'm quite busy lately. So, just to stay in the loop, some tidbits:

• I'm really getting too old for softball. 43 years old and boy am I feeling it. It might be my last year, but the problem is I'm hitting the SHIT out of the ball. I just struggle to run and field. I need to find a team where I can DH fulltime and have a runner. Nah. Then I'd be bored. Dunno, but contemplating having this year be my swan-song.
• Damndest thing recently. My knee - my good knee too - began killing me the other week. Aching like nobody's business. And I didn't hurt it but it got so bad that I started dreading stairs of any kind and I had to skip a game. It went on for nearly 2 weeks and I was getting close to a doctor visit but then, overnight, it got better. Almost no pain at all. What's up with that?
• The family vacation this year is to a resort hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On the ocean. Indoor and outdoor pool. The whole shebang. Long drive there but plane tickets are riduculous right now. We're going to make both ways two-day drives. In any event, I'm really looking forward to it. Only two weeks away. Will I bring my golf clubs? Yes. Have I told the wife? Ummmm....I don't believe its come up. Shame too, because the tee-times are prepaid.
• The newest addition to my family continues to amaze us with his mellowness. He is just so not needy. I have yet to hear him cry for more than 5 or 6 seconds in length. And he's 5 weeks old. He eats like a champ so he does get up at night, but once he's fed he's content to chillax and watch the world unfold. We can't wait to see how he turns out.
• Of course we're trying to give as much attention as possible to our 7 year old who's been quite fantastic about the changes in our lives. She attempts to be helpful and cooperative. What can I say? She's terrific if not cleverly sassy. Hard to get too mad at her sassiness when its back with so much wit and humor. But we try. Taking her to the GHO golf tourney this week, then she has golf camp next week, then our vacation, then to my parents in Maine for a week, then another golf camp, and a visit to Cape Cod. And many many day trips to the pool. Summer's should be great for kids, shouldn't they?
• My new truck is still awesome. Not a hiccup whatsoever. I love the space and the towability. 2000 more payments and that bad-boy will be all mine!
• Golf this year has been okay. My new swing is taking its sweet time to come around, but then if Tiger took 2.5 years for his swing to take affect, how long should mine? He probably hits 1000 balls a day! My job gets in the way of that. But I am seeing glimpses of improvement. That, or I'm hallucinating. As long as I think its improvement, that's all that matters.
• How about that weather lately? Hot, chilly, torrential rain, drought? We're having it all here this year so far.

Pretty boring stuff, eh? Sorry about that. Its my life. Not so boring to me.

Tiger Who?

I can't root for Tiger Woods anymore. I used to be a big fan, but I just can't root for him.

Although, I was riveted watching the Master's on Sunday and was rooting for Phil Mickelson the whole time so I was VERY glad when he won. Especially given all his wife and mom have been through.

But. Enough Tiger already. Please. There's plenty of good golf stories that don't involve him.

Life Is Good.

Played some late season golf at a terrific club yesterday with some friends. Brisk out but tons of laughs and the course was most impressive. We followed it with some pizza, beer and blackjack at the Connecticut's other casino. I won $35 too. Life is good!

Weekend in a Life

Since hours are down for dealers at the casino I've been giving away my Friday nights to have more "weekend". In other words, the casino business is slow, so they've cut many dealers hours to 3 or 4 nights which means those that depend on dealing for their livelihood are always looking to pick up days which makes it easy when I want to give one away. I've given most of mine away since July. Now that the weather's crappy, I won't be giving as many away.

This past weekend went quite typical to most of mine lately:

Friday night I picked up The Little One from her after school program and after cleaning up the kitchen and living room we got into a game of Monopoly. She wanted to play in front of the TV since some show was on that she wanted to watch but I know she would be all distracted and the game would take forever. She acquiesced. It didn't even take an hour and just as we were finishing up Mrs. Nouveau came in from work. We had plans to shop, eat and see a movie but she was later than expected; as usual. No real biggie.

Anyway, my new truck doesn't have built-in GPS like my Honda did so we went out and purchased a portable one. Turns out, she wanted to buy me one for my birthday, which was the beginning of September. However, she ended up giving me some money and I picked up the balance since the one I wanted cost more than what she planned to spend. Or me, for that matter. Its nice though.

Then I treated them to Friendly's for dinner. I told TLO that their food is "for kids and old people" and she thought it was absolutely hysterical. Really, I don't care much for their food, but the girls were pretty happy with the decision, so I went along with it. And everybody loves Sundae's right?

We skipped the movie because it was already 9:15 by the time we got out of there.

Got home, watched a bit of baseball and hit the hay a bit early - even had some "quality time" the older female in my life *wink*.

Played golf Saturday morning. Even though it was about 39 degrees out, I like playing this time of year. There's few players on the course and its usually just my brother and me and we fly through the round and have a bunch of laughs in a less "competitive" atmosphere. Which was a good thing, because I played crappy.

Once home, the Mrs. went shopping with her mother for the afternoon which I thought was pretty cool. TLO and I had to exchange the GPS because something was wrong with it, so that took awhile and when I got back I tried to nap but the fucking phone would NOT stop ringing. TLO loves to answer it too because I would usually let it ring through to the answering machine. I really hate that thing. After failing to nap, TLO and I played another game of Monopoly. I LOVE playing with her. Its so much fun.

Then it was shower time and dealer time. I was tired Saturday night at work so I wasn't as hyper as usual. I did have one asshole player who I rooted against. He kept buying in for more so as I pushed the chips towards him, as usual, I said "good luck" but each time decreased the volume because he was down over $2000 in less than 30 minutes. He told me "no more good lucks! There not working". Like THAT was why he was losing. Douche Bag! Also, I hated how he talked to his wife. "Go away! I can't concentrate! Can you just leave me alone!" Therefore, in my mind, every time I drew to 21, I chuckled. Fuck him. He didn't seem the type to tip anyway. A guy I had later won over $6000 and he tipped me $200. Now there's a guy I can root for!

Home at 5 am, slept until 11:30 which is pretty late for me on a Sunday. It was rainy and snowy and miserable out so a good day to sit around and veg out. Mrs. N. took TLO to see the movie - Where the Wild Things Are. I really didn't have much interest in seeing it and the reviews I saw kind of killed it, so I begged out. Give the Mrs. and TLO some quality time together. The report I got was the movie wasn't that great anyway (at least from the adult perspective).

What's a guy to do when he has the house to himself? Why, turn up the amplifier and wail on his guitar for a bit. Then watch football and eat greasy Monte Cristo sandwiches. Really, that sums up my day. I dozed off watching baseball around 9:30.

Exciting huh? Typical weekend for me.

Checklist

Extra Huge Bag-O-Tees: $5.99

New GPS SmartPhone Application (that doesn't work on two courses I'm playing) $32.50

Two dozen golf balls: $40

Hotel, greens and tourney fees: $380

Headed for Cape Cod tomorrow for 5 rounds of golf with friends and family: Priceless

I Love Technology

I love all things technology.

When car stereos came out with the digital station display (105.9) I had to have one. Now they're all like that, but I paid a pretty penny for mine at a time I couldn't really afford it.

CD players, digital cameras, portable phones, cell phones, DVD players, hi-def television, satellite TV, car DVD players, surround sound, GPS, Blue-Ray players, etc. I got them all at the front end of the technology. Stupid really because the costs do come down, but I had to have them.

I was a little late into the Smart Phone thing though. You know, I-Phones and the like.

However I recently got a Blackberry Storm and so far love it! Now, I love it even more. I downloaded an application so that it charts the golf course for me. For instance, it tells me how far to the hole, to the front, middle and back of the greens. It tells me how far the water is away and how far to carry it. And likewise for bunkers and other hazards. (I'll get this prettier version when its available: http://www.golflogix.com/WebSite/blackberrystorm.html)

Man! I LOVE IT! It makes things so much easier and its all on one device. I don't have to purchase a separate GPS handheld designed for golf. I just use my phone that I have with me all the time anyway.

Think they'll come up with an App that will read a green for me next? Or find my ball in the woods? I'll be in line for that too!

What I Did This Summer

Kayaked at Cape Cod
Visited beautiful Niagara Falls
Went on an overnight canoe trip in Maine
Saw the Creed concertAnd, of course, played some golf

Weekend Update

Played a lot of golf. Weather was great at least.

**

Taught my Little One to ride a two-wheeler bike in less than 10 minutes. The three or four times she fell, I caught her. She's been off and running since.

**

I put in a little gym in my garage. A bench, some free weights over a nice pad. Its nice and I really think I'll give it some use.

**

My wife has been so.........HAPPY. News of the pregnancy has just put a complete spring in her step and its awesome to see. I bet it doesn't even taint her 40th birthday coming up in a few weeks.

I Still Suck

I still suck.

In the cold, windy rain I shot 47 last night and got beat 6 1/2 to 2 1/2. I'm pretty embarrassed by my play now.

Oh well, softball starts tomorrow night.

New Enlgand Weather

Let's see. First half of last week: Cold and rainy. They even had spits of snow in some sections.

Then Friday, pretty nice - about 70 and sunny. Beautiful Spring day.

Saturday, 92! Sunday 88. Yesterday 89. Today 88. Summer? Woah! Hold on a minute.

Tomorrow - 60 or so. Rest of week, high 50's and showers.

You never know around here, but I'm off to play my first round of golf for my new golf league (we were rained out last week).

Wish me well.

I'm Still Here!

I've been popping in but haven't been posting much. I look at my blog and say to myself "boring!". I look at my very limited readership and say "Yep! Boring other too". So when I get an idea to blog, which seems rare lately, there's not the fire to do so.

Anyway, I've been busy. Working my two jobs. Moving the Little One's bedroom and helping make her older, smaller one, into a craft room for Mrs. N.

I went to Connecticut's other casino with Mrs. N. Wednesday as we both took the day off and The Little One spent the day with her Grammy. Mrs. N. won $70 or so. I lost about $240. We had a good time though.

I've been playing decent golf and have joined a Tuesday night golf league. Softball's around the corner too, but I'm winding down to just one team I think.

Oh, I have 4 yards of mulch to move and place this weekend but the weather will be in the 80's so it will be nice to be outside.

That's all for now. Ta ta!

Golf Holiday

Next week I disembark with 35 other guys on my annual Cape Cod golf outing. Casino and other responsibilites have drastically limited my number of rounds this year so I'm not holding out too much hope for playing well.

We'll be playing Bass River, Bayberry Hills (twice), Ballymeade (one of my personal favorites) and Cape Cod Country Club.

Success in golf often comes from confidence, as do many other things I suppose.

One thing frequently preached about golf is being committed. As in, be committed to the shot and your club selection. Good golfers know they can hit the shot they want and are therefore committed to executing it. Bad golfers are not and often think of what might happen if they hit a bad shot. Good golfers are also committed to club selection. They know the club in their hand is the correct one wherein perhaps bad golfers are not.

Commitment reminds me of an old coaching phrase (which I recently heard on the radio). The phrase is "Be Committed". Simple, huh? But they break it down further. "Say you have a bacon and egg breakfast. Sure, the chicken was involved. But the pig was committed. Be the pig!"

So next week, can I be the pig?

Dirty Words, Sports and Beer

I need more cool words or dirty words or whatever. It seems my most common hit parameters are "funny movie quotes".

****

I went to two parties over the long weekend. One I couldn't have much fun for two reasons: it was wife's work friends so it was all talk about their job, people at their job, bosses at their job, etc. (*yawn*). The second reason: I had to work at the casino that night so I couldn't drink more than a couple beers which may have made reason one more tolerable. Having said that, they were all very nice, pleasant people.

****

The second party was more fun if not for the mere fact that not one, not two but three people went headfirst into the sliding door screen with one particular woman blasting clear through it in front of 10 or 15 people. That was good for a laugh since she and the screen were fine.

It was a long day of partying but the company was great, I ate like a total pig and I thought I was particularly funny, if I do say so myself.

****

On Sunday I hooked up with my buddy and his friend for a round of golf that was an absolute blast! They are the best company one could ever hope for and we had so many laughs we stuck around waiting for the ranger to clear so we could sneak out for an extra nine holes, making 27 total.

****

Softball season is winding down. My "main" team is not playing well at all. Our defense is horrible and our hitting is suspect. We are 2 and 10 with two games remaining. I'm so frustrated that I'm seriously considering not playing next year. I know, though, that come April I'll be changing my mind.

My co-ed team, the one that won it all last year, is 5 and 3 and sitting firm in second place. We have beaten the three best teams and lost to two of the worst. Apparently, we play to the level of our competition. Despite for a hamstring pull, resulting in me playing infield for a few games, I've played pretty well for both teams, so personally its going okay, but my competitiveness wants more to be more competitive.

****

My golf game you ask? Shitty! I'm not playing much and when I do I can't stay away from the big numbers on 1 or 2 holes. I've shot 39 and 41 for nine holes recently, but that's about all I can hang my hat on on that front. I've had way more than my share of 48, 49's and 50's. Ugh!

****

Otherwise, not too much going on and that's why my blog sucks and I need to insert more dirty words. Boobs, penis, panties, ass, sex........hmmmmmm......maybe that's not such a good idea.....

PIssing Wedge?

Pissing Wedge? Seriously? They're not kidding? I've spent a lot of time on golf courses in my life. Usually they will have a rest room or two installed so that they're reachable from 6 or more holes. In lieu of that, nature, too, has installed many a restroom throughout the course. Its called a tree and they're not too hard to find.