Greg

Golf with strategy? Surely that will never work :)

I shot my best nine of the year in this week's golf league.  Not necessarily just the score at the end, though I think it may have been my best in the last few times out, but more because it was the first time that I can remember really playing with strategy. 

It probably stems from the fact that I've started reading the first golf book I've come across that really talks about strategy of a round and each hole instead of just focusing on the specific stroke or type of shot.  Amazing what you can do when you're actually look at things with a plan :).  In the past my strategy/plan has been "hit it as far as I can towards the green, try to land in the center of the fairway".  That's repeated until I'm actually on the green.  This time I tried to actually read the hole and what angle is best for coming onto the green towards the flag, where I should be to set that shot up, etc.  Much more thought is required and obviously you need to come somewhat close to executing on it, but it definitely seems to help.

Sure, it probably won't last through the next round I play but at least I'm optimistic at the moment :)

excuse me sir, road rage much?

There have been two very random road-rage incidents that I've witnessed in the last week or so which stands out because I don't think I've really seen anything that I would call road rage in a while.  And yes, I was kind of part of one :(.

The first incident was a few days ago on the Microsoft main campus.  I was at a four-way stop and after waiting for the cross traffic to proceed started to enter the intersection (I was going straight through) when the person in the left-hand turn lane opposite me sped through.  I didn't beep or give him the bird, but did give the arms lifted "hey, what are you doing gesture" at which point he STOPPED in the middle of the intersection.  Seriously, he managed to make it through the interview process (or so the parking permit indicates) and then stopped like he was going to get out of the car and fight me when HE entered the intersection while I had the right of way?  Is there anywhere in the US that the person making the left-hand turn doesn't yield to the person going straight?  Both Clodagh and I were baffled.

The second occurrence was earlier this evening and I didn't see what sparked it, but I looked over on the 520 bridge span and noticed that a guy on a motorcycle was gesturing wildly at the car in front and the guy in front was gesturing back.  Suffice it to say that neither was gesturing in the "wow, you're a great driver - call me" kind of way :).  It really makes me wonder - does the motorcycle realize how vulnerable he was?  If the guy in front decided to play the standard road-rage "oh look, I need to brake short" game and the motorcycle hit him, the motorcyclist would be in a world of hurt.  A car would have minor fender damage at best.

As Clodagh periodically reminds me, there's enough stupid people out there who are willing to pull a gun for a perceived traffic slight (or hit you / let you hit them) that it's better to just let these things go.  Getting somewhere 15 seconds earlier isn't really worth going to the hospital or dieing.  I guess we need more Clodaghs in passenger seats to calm down the crazies out there :)

boy is this a clumsy week

I already wrote about the first clumsy incident this week - cleaning a wine glass and crushing it in my hand.  Well, I've just topped that.  I was taking a steak off of the grill and went to close the top without looking at what I was grabbing - yep if you're cringing then you guessed right.  I grabbed it the top iteslf instead of the handle and burned two of the middle fingers on my right hand.  Yes, this might make my day job working in the computer industry and needing to type constantly  a bit more painful :(

sometimes you don't know your own strength...

I had a "Man of Steel" or "Monster from Young Frankenstein" moment last night while I was washing some wine glasses.  Our wine glasses don't fit in the dish washer, so I had them lined up ready to go to be washed by hand.  Until I gripped the first one I was cleaning a little too tightly and *snap* it broke in my hand.  And no, as far as I know I haven't been slipped the cream or the clear.

a brush with celebrity

We spent Friday with a bit of a different entertainment than usual - a Broadway musical.  Well, watching a soon to be Broadway musical.  Young Frankenstein is running in Seattle for a few weeks before it opens in New York (Seattle Times article).  I'm not a big musical person - in the last six years I've been to three: Chicago, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and now Young Frankenstein...  What'd I think?  Highly recommended if you like the Mel Brooks style of comedy.

Speaking of Mel Brooks - that brush with celebrity I mentioned?  Mel Brooks was sitting in the seat in front of me!  Apparently he has been attending the show all week taking notes and trying to figure out the tweaks before the show debuts on Broadway.  I didn't have a chance to say anything or ask for an autograph since he scooted in and out while the cast was on the stage.  He definitely didn't want to be recognized or stopped - the man in the row in front of Mel realized who was behind him during the standing ovation at the end and shook his hand at which point Mel promptly exited stage left.  Oh, and don't worry, the fact he was a celebrity didn't stop either me or Clodagh from accidentally kicking his chair a few times during the show...

hey look, I'm a throw-back to the 70s and 80s

I had my first tennis lesson in probably fifteen years last night.  And my first sports injury in years.  What happened?  Within the first few minutes of hitting I went to hit a backhand and drove the butt of the racquet into the side of my right kneecap.  I managed the rest of lesson without too much problem, but going up and down stairs is a bit painful :(

Other than that, the lesson was enjoyable - I had been wondering whether or not I was doing anything wrong with my strokes since I hadn't really played much in the last ten or fifteen years.  Apparently I hit with the classic stroke taught in the late seventies early eighties - I think the exact comment was that my strokes "...looked like they were taught in the 70s".  Unfortunately it seems like stroke fundamentals have changed drastically since I last played seriously.  No longer is getting wristy a bad thing - people are actively trying to do this.  Federer in slow motion is a pretty good visual of what I'm now supposed to be trying to do :)

So apparently a sport doesn't stand still when you put your participation on "pause" :)