A week ago Monday I got that annoying little tickle around my adenoids and I muttered to myself, “s–t…”
It progressed quickly and soon overtook my body.
The flu–I got the seasonal flu shot early last fall–reminded me how the body goes its own way at times, most of the time, despite our best intentions. Continue reading
My brother told me about this PBS documentary which airs tomorrow (Wednesday) night.
If you are interested here is a link which describes the program.
Also, here is an interview by Doug Fabrizio of Radio West with the documentary producer, David Grubin.
I just finished watching Tiger Woods’ press conference.
Unlike those television commentators I have listened to so far commenting on Tiger’s “A+” performance at his Masters’ press conference, I wasn’t very impressed with Tiger’s performance and the quality of the questions asked by the journalists in attendance. (Weak, fearful questions.)
I didn’t see much of change from his written statement to this unscripted questioning. (So how much have you paid Elin to stay in the marriage? How much have hush money have you paid to your non-marital sexual partners? Does Elin support your return to the golf tour to play in The Masters? You reference your therapy a lot, but can you be more specific about how Buddhism will help you clarify and recenter your life? You say you weren’t in that “place” before your crash to deal with your pathology properly, but honestly, if you hadn’t crashed/been caught, would you have acknowledged your need to change? Why should we believe you are committed to changing since you didn’t initiate the process on your own?) Continue reading
As a cat lover, critic of heroic mythologies, and observer of masculinity in general, I have a few thoughts to air prior to Tiger Woods’ unscripted press conference today at 2:00 pm ET at the site of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
One of the characteristics that highlight the feline personality in a somewhat stereotypical way is the seeming inscrutability of the animal. The relative lack of facial expression, compared to other domestic animals like dogs, that might expose the physical or emotional or psychological state of the creature that is relied on in the evolutionary struggle for survival might be a key to the animal’s predatory success especially in more “wild” natural settings where signs of weakness and vulnerability can be especially dangerous. Continue reading
I continue working outside and around the house, performing a variety of manual labor.
Yesterday I dethatched, overseeded and fertilized the back lawn which struggles to thrive because of competition for sunshine and ground nutrients from numerous trees. I hope the extra care will effect positive growth.
I repaired a toilet leak that my father noticed in our half bath. Couldn’t find the right gasket to replace the one that wore out, so I replaced the entire fill valve (which didn’t cost much more than a new gasket or would have).
I reshafted a few golf clubs–two Ping hybrids and two custom wedges–in preparation for the upcoming golf season. Previously I reshafted two drivers and two three woods (Ping G5 and Cleveland HiBore XLS). The metals were reshafted with Rapport Ultralites (regular flex, 60 gram, low bend, med-soft tip), a nice shaft for $14. I used the new UST iRod graphite iron shafts for the two custom wedges (r flex, 74 gram, mid bend, med-soft tip, 3.9 torque). I just need to put on the grips for the wedges and hybrids today. Continue reading
This past winter’s labors were light by any standard.
The fresh bag of snow melt, opened late last year and used only a handful of times, yearns to understand its neglect.
The snow shovels still propped against the tool shed yawn from boredom as if to say, “Put us away for another season already!”
The still naked deciduous peer down on the dry ground, look up at the cloudy, ambivalent sky waiting for something wet to fall.
Stripped and cut branches hang out along fences’ edges, serving as a playground for bored cats and reminder of yard work yet to be done.
Spring’s labors are but a compensation for winter’s idle, cold, dryness, a reaction to last year’s inattention to detail and order and beauty. Continue reading
I didn’t do much work in the yard last year. Mostly mowed the lawn. Didn’t trim bushes or prune trees. But pruning and trimming were activities I contemplated off and on during the winter because trees were gradually transgressing, going beyond their limits.
They were overhanging onto neighboring roofs, encroaching other trees’ reach, scraping the top of my 5′ 7″ height when I would walk underneath them.
So I took the plunge in order to make the work as easy as possible.
I purchased a telescoping tree pruner with saw and limb cutter. And I went to work and couldn’t stop until I’d fully addressed the sins of my trees! Continue reading
I didn’t watch the NCAA basketball tourney very closely on Saturday or Sunday. I wasn’t surprised by Kansas State’s convincing win over BYU, actually feeling good about my revised prediction (KSU by 10; actually winning by 12). Maybe if I spent more time becoming familiar with the teams involved once the seeds are made my predictions would be more solid.
Regardless, my ESPN ranking improved to around 300,000 after Sunday’s games from 600,000 after Saturday’s games. A lot of folks took big hits with Kansas’ and Nova’s loss, as I did, but yesterday my picks did better. Wisconsin, Louisville, and BYU were examples of “ignorance” picks.
Only two of my original picks for the final four are still playing (Kentucky and Syracuse). And just under half of my picks for the sweet sixteen have survived. Continue reading
NCAA hoopster junkies:
I’m enjoying the games this year, more than usual. Maybe because I actually tried my hand at predicting outcomes in a formal format.
My outcomes yesterday improved over Thursday’s by three. Only two incorrect picks: Oklahoma State and Marquette lost. Also, one more of my picks, Louisville, won’t reach the sweet sixteen making that total two, for now.
Through most of the evening I thought I might get all sixteen games right.
My standing in relation to overall contestants improved quite a bit: points/250; pct/96.6; rank/160,151; PPR/1560. (leader so far is: pts/310; pct/100; rank/1; PPR/1600)
As for today’s games: Continue reading
For basketball fans of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament:
Best time of the year for basketball viewing! Despite the big money involved and exploitation of student athletes, it’s still pretty pure, really intense competition. It’s great to see smaller schools compete favorably against larger, big money schools.
I haven’t paid real close attention to college hoops nationally this year, focusing more on regional competition. When I decided to enter the ESPN bracket contest 45 minutes prior to the first contest yesterday, I had no clear sense of the various team profiles and strengths/weaknesses. I took ten minutes to fill out the bracket and crossed my fingers knowing that in some way it’s something of a crap shoot as it has been historically. Continue reading