/chronicle

Up until 3:00 today it’s felt like I’ve been working non-stop since July 1st.  I did take the 4th off.  But I did some work from home.  So I left at 3:00 today and made preparations to get my truck fixed.  The AC is out and there’s a thump coming from one of the tires.  It’s hot and annoying.

My mom turned 60 yesterday.  So did George Bush.  I never knew they were born on the same day until this past weekend when I was enlightened by CNN.  We celebrated her birthday on the 4th with many people at her house.  We would have gone over last night but I had to ride 30 minutes out to RTP to restart an IIS server.  I need to remember to expense those trips.

I’m playing golf tomorrow if I have to do it in the dark.  I have a 1:00 tee time and it would take a court ruling banning the sport to make me miss it.  Let’s see, what else?

I might have a new cell number soon.  Weird, I know, in the age of portable numbers.  But the new phone will be paid for by Pack Rat so their support calls will quit chewing up the minutes on the family plan we have on Dad’s account.  He didn’t like it that we ran up the bill voting on American Idol.  I feel 15 again.

So why am I so busy? Especially at work. I definately made one sacrifice leaving Dillon Supply and that was the moderately hectic Monday through Friday verses the all out chaos on any weekday at 1-800-Pack-Rat. I left on Friday at 6:15 and decided I would not do a thing involving Pack Rat over the weekend. We went to the beach yesterday. Connor got a little burned. So did I. Here’s a recap of the of the last two weeks outside of work:

The Hurricanes did not win the Stanley Cup (yet).

I bought a Cobra 460 SZ as discussed in the previous post. But I ended up finding a 10.5 degree (preferred) at Dicks SG where they sold it to me for the same price I could have bought it for on-line. I now own a pro driver again and I feel better.

Tiger Woods did not make the cut at the US Open. Which kicks a$$ because Phil Mickelson has been in his shadow for too long and Phil is by far the better player and has been for Tiger’s whole over-hyped career. Look out for Scott Adams in the future. He rocks. And I couldn’t beleive it when David Duvall made the cut into the weekend. Where’s he been?

We got a parking ticket in Wilmington. All so that we could park for a poorly cooked, over-priced meal at the Real Fish and Steak House. It’s cool to drink there but don’t eat. Go to the Dock Street Oyster Bar next door.

Now I have to go cut the grass on Father’s Day. That’s so that I can remain a father because the creatures in the wilderness we call a back yard might eat my child. It hasn’t been mowed since Memorial Day.

Not long ago I bought a Bang 450 driver from 300yards.com ignoring all warnings about it’s open face. This was not smart considering I already have a mean fade (a pure slice really). So I was immediately hurt by the Bang’s tendency to go hard right without making every swing an intentional draw. Infuriated by this poor purchase I went in search of a more forgiving stick to redeem myself.

After hitting more than nine different drivers, some on sale and some not, today I found the one I felt most comfortable with as it has no disqualifying characteristics. Behold the Cobra 460 SZ (SZ for ‘Sweet Zone”…oh ya.)

Unlike the bargain priced Taylor Made 580xD it has a face that is 1 degree closed. I liked the Adams Redline RPM (a real sleeper and a bargain at $119) but I thought the shaft felt long only to find out it is indeed 46″. It’s a very forgiving club. I toyed with some Callaway Bertha’s, also fine clubs but never comfortable to me. I actually like the old Callaway’s better than the new stuff. And I hit another top contender, the Mizuno MX 500, by far the best looking club on the market.

There was one club I would have liked to hit but cannot find in stores anywhere, the Wilson Staff Dd5. It gets rave reviews for it’s shaft, accuracy and address at the ball. But I don’t think there’s a dealer in NC and I’ll be d@mned if I’m going to buy another club I can’t hit first after the Bang disaster.

So out of all the clubs I could hit the Cobra SZ is by far the most complete for me. But there’s one problem. They’re only being sold as manufacturer’s closeout items right now and finding one is difficult. Golfsmith.com has a 9 degree regular shaft on sale for $199. If my pennies come together fast enough, I own one. If not I will continue my quest.

Ever since the first season of America Idol I’ve only watched the first couple of episodes to laugh at the auditions. This season was different. When I watched Chris Daughtry audition in Colorado I started to become intrigued about how far someone with actual talent might go on the show without being voted off by 14-year-old girls who run up their daddy’s phone bills with text messaging. So I started watching every week (not the whole show, usually just Chris’s performances, then I’d do something else or change the station). None the less I became one of those people – an American Idol viewer.

I was shocked to see how far Chris actually made it. He went to the final four this week. Hmmm, I thought, maybe America isn’t so stupid and tasteless. But tonight my suspicions were reconfirmed. Either 25 million American Idol viewers are nothing but stupid and tasteless, or the voting is rigged by the producers (I doubt this as I am not quick to become a conspiracy theorist). And here’s the real kicker: I actually tried to vote last night for the first time. But after 12 busy signals I figured that I’m not as good at it as the 14-year-old’s with tools like DialIdol running on their PC’s to slam the phone lines. And that’s what it most likely came down to. The type of audience that Chris appeals to was just to lazy or indifferent to push the limits of trying to get a vote through.

If anyone claiming any experience in the music industry can explain to me how Katherine McPhee’s performance was better than Chris’s then I will concede my position. But the truth is the girl just sucked last night. If I’d paid for her performance I’d want my money back. And Taylor Hicks is no more than a novelty item. He’s funny to watch, like a drunk wedding singer (as Simon described it). Elliott Yamin redeemed himself and probably deserved to move on even if the boy is hard to look at. But do you honestly see yourself paying to download Taylor Hicks or Elliott Yamin MP3’s off Napster or iTunes?

Chris on the other hand will probably go on to make more money in the recording industry than all of them combined. Just as Clay Aiken made a joke out of Ruben Studdard’s Idol win Chris will be remembered six to ten years from now while Taylor Hicks is out looking for another gig in a piano bar or celebrity wedding.

I will leave you with this: It’s argued that in general American’s are smart and George Bush is President.

I’m sore from going to the driving range seven out of the last 10 days. I’ve hit over 730 balls on these trips because I want my 6 handicap back. Actually I’d love to just get under 80 again by the end of the summer. This would seem to be an obtainable goal if it weren’t for the fact that I’m still slicing 10-20 yards on every drive.

My irons are solid but not consistent for distance. At least I’m not spraying them. They’re all straight. I drove a three iron 240+ yards consistently on Sunday. The guy hitting beside me shot a 78 in a tournament the previous day and he was hitting a 5 iron about 200 yards. I bet he’s not sore. Golf is a superior sport because there’s no such thing as a natural. You only get out of it what you put into it.

That’s how long I’ve been around as of 7am this morning. To celebrate my 35th year on earth I’ve decided to highlight some of the other significant historical events that occured on this date (courtesy of Wikipedia).

• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord – British General Thomas Gage attempts to confiscate American colonists’ firearms. Captain John Parker orders his band of minutemen to not fire unless fired upon. Random shots rang out among the British soldiers. The minutemen promptly fired back. This was the “shot heard round the world.” The British are driven back to Boston, Massachusetts, thus beginning the American Revolutionary War.
• World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
• The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in failure.
• The 50-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.
• Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168.

None of this is as important as the fact that on this day in 1971 I was born on my grandfather’s birthday.  He would have been 100 today.