Recently I saw a commercial that said laughter can add 8 years to your life. If that's the case I'm gonna live to be 150 yrs old.
This kid makes me laugh every day. I was in tears tonight watching him play with his good friend Derek who just turned 1. Happy Birthday Derek!
Every once in a while a website proves it is worth its mustard. How Stuff Works is one of them.
Where else can you go to read interesting articles about how Muppets work and how microwave popcorn can kill you? I've also used How Stuff Works to learn more about mortgages, digital cameras and how golf course greens are kept so perfect. I love the interactive learning features on How Stuff Works and quick links that can take you on tangent after tangent.
It's the perfect site for the curious mind. The only thing that it doesn't explain is women. Forever a mystery I guess.
Editorial Note: How Stuff Works does explain how women work. Funny.
This past Saturday my dad and I played our semi-final rounds at Golfland to stay in the running for the miniature golf Tournament of Champions. 146 putts later we were both on our way to the finals. While a pair of 83's was good enough to get us into the finals, we are going to have to step it up a notch to have any hope of winning the championship on September 29th.
8 finalists from each of the 9 different Golfland courses in the Bay Area will compete in the championship. Luckily, the championship will take place in Sunnyvale, my home course.
The payout:
$5000 First Place
$2500 Second Place
$1300 Third Place
$700 Fourth Place
$300 Fifth Place
$200 Sixth Place
Hot Diggitty!
I'm in a bind. I visited Golfsmith today and was once again disappointed. Golfsmith is perhaps my favorite store to visit despite its generally under trained and unresponsive staff. It's got a huge selection of golf and tennis equipment and decent prices to boot. Apparently they don't spend much on training and personnel though. I believe in good customer service and feel a certain allegiance to purchasing my equipment from the store that helps me make my decision. However, I'm just finding it harder and harder to shop there since the experience has done little to give me better information for my purchase.
Every time I go to Golfsmith I find that it takes forever to get someone to help you and when that finally happens it is unlikely that the person will know how to answer your question.
Today was a different problem though. I was interested in demoing a few iron sets and utility/hybrid clubs (a cross between fairway woods and irons). I'm looking to find the perfect 14th club for my golf bag. Right now I have a need to fill the gap between my 3-wood and my 3-iron. Since utility clubs are all the rage I figured I'd try a few out.
Full list of things I'd like to get (wish list, not need list):
Golfsmith has a club fitting / practice area that includes a launch monitor to help you figure out which clubs you hit best. Sounds great, right? Today those machines weren't working. In fact, they rarely work. Not sure why they don't repair them or replace them. When they finally did get one machine working, it didn't seem to have very reliable feedback so I decided it would be best to visit an outdoor driving range with a demo area. That way I can be sure of what I'm testing.
Should I stay or should I go? Not sure, but my crush on Golfsmith is fading quickly.
I came home tonight from a hard fought tennis match to the sweet smell of blueberry muffin batter. Then I waited curiously as Ashley baked them. Just as the aroma was filling the room she turned to me and said, "Sorry Toots. These aren't for you." I was crushed.
I borrowed the title of my blog from a line in Carly Simon's "You're So Vain". So, I've added Carly and her nifty tune to my sidebar for some easy listening. Enjoy. Side note: Mick Jagger sings backup vocals in "You're So Vain".
It's official. I'm old and crotchety. Not only do I not relate to teenagers these days. They get on my nerves. At least 4 or 5 of them do. I'm in charge of the 14 & 15 year old boys at church on Sundays and I'm an assistant Boy Scout leader during the week.
I thought I just had to get to know the kids. Unfortunately, they're not really growing on me...yet (I hope they'll grow up a bit and I'll soften up a bit). The funny thing is that all the teens I work with are very bright, good natured kids. But they are absolutely the most inattentive and disrespectful bunch I've had the chance to work with.
Has discipline gone out of style? I sure haven't seen any in a while.
Editorial Update: Today in church I led a discussion in a class with these same 5 boys. I am happy to report, that all 5 boys behaved very well and I was quite impressed with their demeanor and participation. I guess I just have to learn to expect a little up and down from these boys. They've still got a little growing up to do, but so do I. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them.
This past weekend I played 4 rounds of miniature golf* at Golfland to qualify for an upcoming tournament. Miniature golf courses have tournaments? It appears they do.
Warning: This is a soapbox post.
As September 11 approaches most of us are reminded of the tragedy of those who lost their lives to senseless acts of hatred in 2001. As the date approaches, I am also reminded that among a population of reasonably sensible Americans exists a subculture of halfwits that think the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks--that some of our leaders actually conspired with members of al-Queda to crash planes into buildings with lots of people in them, then blew them up.
My hope is that the number of people that subscribe to such a theory is minuscule, but my fear is that the percentage is not insignificant. If you happen to be such an individual please don't comment on this post. This is not a debate.
Now, I won't spend time citing reports or discussing structural models of the World Trade Center, but I will say this:
I am sad that some believe that there are those so evil in our government that they would deliberately plot to kill hundreds of their own. I am sad that their suspicion of ill will overcomes their hope for humanity. They soil the good name of the thousands of public servants striving to protect this country from the very acts they think these officials planned.
In a glass half full sort of way, I'm glad that the rest of you have enough sense and hope to believe that our collective government does have our best interests in mind when they make decisions. I know our leaders aren't perfect. Some of them can be incompetent, ineffective and even disgusting at times, but I believe they are generally a good bunch.
Yesterday was the 3rd time I had to fork over items to airport security because they did not conform to FAA airport security policies. Policies put in place after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I hold terrorists responsible for the value of those items and I expect a reimbursement.
Terrorists, please contact me at tylerbcarter@hotmail.com and I will let you know where you can send the check. The following is a list of the items confiscated and their approximate value.
Yesterday, I finally succumbed to the pressure to install a counter on my blog. However, I didn't know which one to use. Ashley uses Bravenet which has cool graphs that trend over time. It creates a better first impression. Site Meter's counter is a bit sleeker (which I like) and while it doesn't appear as sexy at first glance, it seems to have better info. I like knowing where people are visiting from, how long they stayed, etc.
The most interesting thing, however, is that in just two days both counters were different by 14 visitors. Bravenet reported that I had 40 visitors in two days and Site Meter reported that I had 26.
I trust Site Meter's numbers more since they are more conservative and they give me more information about each visitor. I have my suspicions about Bravenet's numbers. I think they double count visitors and their stats (First time visitors vs. Returning visitors) don't always seem to jive. I'm going to go with Site Meter for now.
