Trying A New Golf Swing
Thursday, July 28, 2005
I decided that I don't want to take anymore golf lessons for the full swing so I bought a little book instead about hitting down and through the hitting zone. The book is called "Hit Down Dammit" by Clive Scarff.
It only focuses on one part of the swing which is the part I think I'm having the most trouble with (angle of approach). The best part is that it's a minor tweak not a whole overhaul of my swing.
I think at impact my hands aren't in the proper position and that the angle at which the club head approaches the ball is also incorrect. The author is Canadian and pretty funny so it was an easy read. Anyway it is a little different from what most instructors have taught me. I guess with golf people will tell you the opposite of what someone else teaches you. You just have to decide for yourself what is best for you.
I think the number one thing he gives you a great visualization of how the swing plane should look and techniques to use to stay on plane. It is not what I was doing or was ever really taught properly.
The book mainly focuses on swing plane and where to generate power along that plane. It has changed the angle at which I aim at the golf ball...something I already know I don't do correctly.
He gives four drills that are easy to do at home. The good news is that one of the drills is one we did constantly at golf school but now I have a new way to approach it. The other good news is that I understand what each drill is trying to accomplish.
So far things seem pretty good on the practice mat at home but we'll have to see how everything translates on the driving range and then on the course.
My goal is to have a nice compact swing that is easy to repeat. I don't care to much about distance right now. I just want to be able to consistently get the ball into the air, rather than rolling it down the fairway.
I am missing my little book of notes from golf school which would be helpful as well.
Now I just have to convince Andrew to play a little more golf.
posted by aforward @ 2:35 PM,
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OC Transpo Pet Peeves (and a few good things)
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Things that bug me about riding the bus in Ottawa:
-moms who bring gigantic strollers on the bus during rush hour (that's why they made minivans people)
-the wonderful smell of transients
-people who take up two seats when the bus is full
-people who sit with you when the bus is empty
-those hook things that are supposed to help you keep on balance when standing up (if you are short like me they make you look a moron trying to keep on balance)
-seats that don't face the front (if you have motion sickness like me you will understand)
-why on some busses you can hop in the back and others you can't
Cool things about OC Transpo:
-OC transpo is a great transit system, you can go just about anywhere you want
-The City of Ottawa is sooooo clean they even wash the the bus shelters
-transfers are good for either direction. (they don't have this in Hamilton)
posted by aforward @ 12:28 PM,
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On Ricky's Return...
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Ricky Williams returned to Dolphins training camp yesterday.
Here's my take:
I'm glad he's back but I was never really mad at him in the first place. Kudos to him for taking a sabbatical.
I don't think he'll make much of an impact:
a) He's not playing for the right reasons...he's playing because he is in debt and needs the money.
b) He has to sit out the first 4 games (in NFL time that is quite a bit)
c) Fitness...I don't think he'll be at the same level
Anyway new coach, new offense, new defense and as usual no franchise quaterback. 'Phins will never go anywhere until they have a quaterback who puts some fear in the opposition.
posted by aforward @ 10:51 AM,
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Back to Vegetarianism
Monday, July 25, 2005
Well Andrew and I decided to make a healthy lifestyle choice this weekend. And will stop eating meat for the next little while. He was a vegetarian in University and I had stopped eating red meat for a while, but we both started eating all kinds of meat recently.
This time I want to cut out chicken as well as red meat. I like seafood so I won't cut that out. Especially since we don't eat it very often anyway.
The point is to force ourselves into eating a healthier diet, more veggies less fast food.
I was a little surprised he was willing to give up hamburgers,we will see how it goes.
posted by aforward @ 9:51 AM,
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Another Wedding Weekend
Had our second wedding of the season on Saturday. This was a soccer friend so we went with some other soccer friends and promptly got lost on our way to the reception/bbq/bonfire. We missed a turn off due to some poorly structured directions, then we followed some ribbons which were to the wrong event. Andrew asked a senile old man for directions, which we laughed at, but in hindsight now realized he was poinitng in the right direction (ie: not his backyard...). Anyways Andrew figured out where we may have gone wrong and an extra hour in rural Quebec and we were back on track following the right signs now.
We felt a little overdressed,because it was a bit of a "hippie wedding". the first people we saw were three teenage boys in jeans with a case of beer they had brought themselves. Considering when we left we thought we would be underdressed should give more of a visual.
We arrived and there was both an ultimate match and a soccer match being played. The soccer match was being played with bales(sp?) of hay as goals. The only way you could tell it was a wedding was that the bride was in a pretty traditional wedding gown. In fact she was the only person who looked out of place.
Anyway the important thing is that I have gotten away with wearing pants to two weddings this year...snap!
posted by aforward @ 9:39 AM,
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A Day at The Cottage...
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Andrew and I decided to take a day off work and we spent some time at the cottage. My family is spending the week there so we had some time to visit with them also.
It was nice to have a little break in the middle of the week.
We went out on the boat, relaxed, drank some beer, ate some home cookin'. Also filled in a few crossword puzzles. I'm thinking of bringing up my painting stuff, now that we've decided to visit more often.
Now that the Cuba plans have fizzled we may hit St. Lucia in December instead. Well my summer Holidays have just been one big train wreck.
On a side note, Andrew received another promotion today. He's starting to surpass people who have been there much longer than him. He's also getting ready for the next release for one of his side projects.
posted by aforward @ 10:30 AM,
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Hotel Rwanda
Monday, July 18, 2005
Andrew and I found Hotel Rwanda in our movie case and what a lucky find.
I was really engaged by the movie. At first I felt really stupid and ignorant about not really knowing any of the details of Genocide that happend in Rwanda. The only excuse I came up with is that it happened in 1994 when I was in Grade 10. I don't remember hearing about in the school.
The only detail I really knew was that Canadian General Romeo Dallaire played a major role in the UN Peacekkeping mission. And I only knew that because I watched that World's Greatest Canadian series.
Anyways it is a great movie (very sad). Don Cheadle does an excellent job in a very tough role, deserving of the Oscar nomination he received.
And Nick Nolte was good too. My brother once had to hold Nick's head while he was drunk in Toronto, so that is the only picture I have of him.
posted by aforward @ 8:32 PM,
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ProBlogger Earns Over $10,000 from 1 month of Adsense
I often visit problogger.net by Darren Rowse. I love his blog...it is about making money with your blog.
He was recently slashdotted because he posted his earnings from adsense, which were a hefty $15,000 for one month.
Anyways people started flaming him, calling him a sellout for having adsense on his blog and for boasting about his earnings.
Some of his more loyal viewers came to his defense.
What I don't understand is why people on the web are so mean to each other. I don't think I've ever been on a forum where people weren't arguing about soemthing.
Can't we be more productive.
Kudos to Darren for making so much cash are I hope people lay off him. He personally responded to an email I had sent him awhile ago, so I do think he is in it to help people.
posted by aforward @ 8:23 PM,
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Quote For The Day
Thursday, July 14, 2005
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up" ~Thomas Edison.
posted by aforward @ 11:57 AM,
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We have wasps...
So it would appear some wasps have infested a wall void on our patio. The good news is that I think they are paper wasps and they don't seem very aggressive. The bad news is I don't want to eat dinner next to a wasp nest.
We have a few choices I guess.
- We can try to destroy them with sprays
- We can try to trap them with traps
- We can call a professional
- We can try to take out the nest (but it is in an awkward spot) and could result in multiple stings
Apparently hanging a fake nest deters them. It seems the most humane way to go about it.
Of course I have also learned that wasps are a good deterent to other critters in the backyard like spiders, caterpillars and other creepy crawlys and that it is good to have them around.
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posted by aforward @ 11:40 AM,
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Trying to Relax More...
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I'm not normally a very stressed out person, but I do get uptight. My job isn't very difficult. Homelife is super...husband and I get along swimming-ly.
But I need to take up more things that will help me relax. Sitting in front of tv is not a very fulfilling hobby.
So off I go to find stuff that makes me happy, and forget about the things which make me uptight.
posted by aforward @ 1:33 PM,
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Graf Returns To Tennis Court
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Steffi Graf, the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion (and notably my favourite athlete of all-time) is interrupting her retirement on Tuesday to play with the Houston Wranglers of the World Team Tennis Pro League.
For reference the WTT is same league that features tennis "great" Anna Kournikova.
Hope we get some coverage here in Canada.
posted by aforward @ 10:37 AM,
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Rich Dad, Poor Dad - From Another Perspective
Friday, July 08, 2005
I came across John T Reed's web page with an analysis of Kiyosaki and his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Anyways I thought it was quite interesting reading his perspective.
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
What struck me was when he notes that the only reason that Kiyosaki's book became a best seller is because of his connection with MLM and the book was distributed through these network marketing companies. I actually know this as a fact because we had somebody come to our house trying to sell us into a pyramid type-network marketing scheme. Which we declined of course. (i mean we give a lot of money away to people we don't know but we are not really into pyramid schemes). Anyways he said as part of the monthly fee you get resources like investment books...such as "The Cashflow Quadrant". This caught my eye so I kept reading...interesting stuff.
I also enjoy his attempt to find out if "Rich Dad" actually exists.
The guy owns “convenience stores, restaurants, and a construction company.” I guess I can imagine a guy who owns convenience stores and a construction company. It’s odd, but not impossible. However, I cannot imagine a restaurateur who also owns a construction company. For one thing, the restaurant business is extremely management-intensive. At good restaurants, the owner is usually there almost all of the time. Same is true of construction. Plus restaurateurs that I’ve known are very different kinds of people from construction guys.
Reed also posts info on meassages he receives from his readers:
One quoted "The 48 Laws of Power" (Viking, 1998) in describing the power strategy Kiyosaki likes to follow:
"Law 27 - PLAY ON PEOPLE'S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULTLIKE FOLLOWING. Judgment - People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking.
Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power." (p. 215)
I agreee with the points he makes here:
Can the ordinary person get rich? Yes
Is it as easy as Kiyosaki makes it sound? Not even close.
Can it be done as fast as Kiyosaki says? Nope.
Is education as worthless as Kiyosaki says? Every pertinent study has shown that the more education you have, the higher your net worth and income. Also, educated people live longer, have fewer divorces, better health, and so forth.
posted by aforward @ 11:30 AM,
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Fix For Harmony 659 Remote Excessive Battery Drain
Thursday, July 07, 2005
We have the Hamrony 659 remote and love it but were having some major problems with excessive battery drain. Low battery warning would come on after about a week or so of use.
We tried out a few things but nothing seemed to work and after spending about $60.00 on new batteries we eventually decided to send the remote back for a new one as the warranty was still good.
New remote...same issues.
So we decided to try one more fix, that was to take the glow off. We haven't had any problems since and this last set of batteries has lasted over 2 months so far.
1. Log-in to your Harmony Remote account Logitech Harmony
2. Click on my remote preferences
3. Click on Settings
4. Set:
Glow Timing: 6 seconds
Glow Set up: None
A bit of an inconvenience but you can just hit the glow button whenever you need backlight.
posted by aforward @ 10:48 AM,
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I'd Rather Be Here: Part II
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Camping, mountains, nature
posted by aforward @ 1:03 PM,
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Kobayashi takes fifth straight hot-dog eating crown
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Kobayashi, 27, captured the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Monday, gobbling a nauseating 49 dogs in 12 minutes -- but missing his own world record of 53, set at last year's July Fourth competition.
The runner-up was Sonya Thomas of Alexandria, Va. -- known as The Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit.
posted by aforward @ 9:40 AM,
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Wimbledon Weekend
Monday, July 04, 2005
What a great weekend of tennis. Got to watch Venus's comeback and the magnifigance that is Roger Federer.
Some athletes have just re-defined the way we view sports (just like how HDTV will). My generation has been lucky to have known the likes of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods and Steffi Graf in their prime. Now we meet Roger Federer, who I think will have the same effect as these athletes before him.
He's elegant, classy, flawless etc. In fact he reminds me of well...me : ). Just teasin. But there are similarities.
I was never very good at one specific thing on the soccer pitch, but instead I did a lot of things very well. I was never the best header or goal scorer, I was never the fastest player, or most techinically skilled player. I was never the fittest player or strongest player. But I would probably be in the top three of most if not all of those categories. And more importantly I was able to master the mental aspect of the game. I was a thinker first, player second. I could read the game very well and that I think came from watchng a lot of soccer. I was never in a situation when I thought an opponent was better than me. I had a lot of confidence when I played and I never made myself an opponent.
I like that about Roger. He does a lot of things very well.
He doesn't have the fastest serve, but it is a weapon not a weakness.
He can hit winners from either side but he's not the hardest hitter on tour.
He can play great defense...but he is no Hewitt or Agassi
And where is he the best:
The mental game...he is so cool, calm and he understands when a point needs to be won. This is so important in tennis, when a few points mean the difference between winning a set and losing a set.
And then there are the intangibles:
He loves the game
He is a naturally gifted athlete
He can take what you think are your strengths and then counterpunch those strengths destroying you and your confidence.
Keep it up Roger...finally another gift to sports fans!
posted by aforward @ 11:46 AM,
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