Adubya Says

VoiceScreener into public beta

2008-11-24T13:52:00.003-06:00

Today our PR firm provided press releases for our new product, VoiceScreener, which went into public beta today.

If you google Voicescreener you'll find tons of news articles and a nice write-up on Mashable here.

This is what I've been working so hard on for the last 4 1/2 months.

By the way, our new company name is harQen (harqen.com).

It's that time again

2008-11-19T11:12:00.003-06:00

Wow, 2 1/2 months and I haven't said boo.

Such is the life of a lone developer for a startup company. I have no free time for this, but felt like enough had happened that I should give an update.

The new project we're working on is about to go into public beta. We're hoping we get some really good momentum out of it. I'll update more when I'm allowed to... right now we have a ban on all public talk on it.

On the downside, Cdubya got hit in her Acura TL a couple weeks ago. She was minding her own business waiting in a left turn lane, about 4th in line when 2 morons decided to tangle. Woman in about an '83 Olds Cutlass coming straight across trying to beat a yellow light was clipped by a jackass in a Grand Am trying to turn left and also beat the light. The Cutlass went out of control and in her brilliant effort to save it she ended up flooring it into Cdubya's drivers side, completely smashing it to hell.

Fortunately the Acura is a pretty safe car. The side airbags deployed and protected her head from the window and all she got out of it was a sore chest from the seatbelts retracting to smash her against the seat.

But the car was not so fortunate. Over $16,000 in damage (bent frame in 2 places, bent tie rod, damage from bumper to bumper). The insurance company declared it a total loss. And of course, no insurance for the Olds driver and the Grand Am driver fled the scene. Nice... real nice.

So, instead, we get to go buy a new car and there goes our vacation funds on a down payment. We spent all day Saturday looking at cars until we drove a Lexus IS 250 AWD. It as instant car love for Cdubya and we worked out the financing quickly and picked it up yesterday. It's a beautiful car and if you've never had the pleasure of the Lexus car buying experience, it is definitely far better than anywhere else I've ever gone. And the new Lexus of Madison dealership is a thing of beauty.

Lexus seems to go overboard with all the amenities. We got it fully loaded and it is amazing. Just a sampling of the things it has:

All wheel drive (something she really, really wanted after last winter's snow).

Nav system with bluetooth and support for up to 6 phones and 1,000 phonebook entries. All voice activated.

Power tilt and telescoping steering wheel. It also pushes back into the dash when you turn the car off, making it easier to get out.

3 driver memory settings AND 3 passenger memory settings. Never seen that before.

Lighted door sill when you open the door so it's easier to see getting in in the dark.

Awesome leather seating, including heated AND air conditioned front seats.

Manual shift 6 speed automatic with paddle shifters (like you'd see on a formula one car).

and the list goes on and on....

Here are a couple pictures. It's Mica Red.

The Palazzo

2008-09-04T08:08:00.006-05:00

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted in forever... I'm busy trying to become a freakin' millionaire here, give me a break!

I just got back from Vegas where we stayed at the new casino called The Palazzo. It's connected to the Venetian and is all suites and very luxurious. I'm always on the lookout when new casino's open because that's about the only time I can afford to stay at them. I've stayed at the Venetian, the Wynn and now the Palazzo, all for about $150/night. Next time we go I'm sure it'll be about $500/night.

The downside to staying there is that it's usually more expensive to gamble there so we end up going elsewhere. I like the Planet Hollywood, which used to be the Aladdin. It's always fun there. In fact, we played a new blackjack game that was very weird! It's called "Double Exposure". Here's how it works:

The dealer has both cards face up, which is cool. However, to offset that all pushes (ties) go to the dealer. Also, blackjack only pays 1-1 instead of 2-1. Also, you can only double down on 10 and 11, nothing else. The part that really throws you in this game is getting a 20 only to see the dealer get a 20 and you have to hit! I did see a woman on our table actually hit a 20 and get an ace to win! I usually hit a 20 with another face card for a 30, which is a rarity to see on a blackjack table, haha.

Cdubya and I played for about 3 hours. At one point we were both up about $50 each but eventually she went back down to even and quit and I continued to throw money at it hoping for another good run that never came and was down about $75.

I did not have any luck the whole trip. I lost about $150 on craps and blackjack the first day.
Day 2 I decided to put $50 on the Brewers to beat the Mets with Ben Sheets going. Well, he fucked me of course, taking himself out after 5 innings in a 1-0 game with a very minor little groin thing (that's what she said). Gagne eventually gave up 3 in the 8th and they lost. I was not a happy camper. I went on to lost another couple hundred over the rest of the day. Just had no luck at all. I did skip betting on the Brewers again so that helped me as they lost the next 2 games as well. If I'd gotten into Vegas a couple hours earlier on Sunday I would have bet the Brewers with CC Sabathia going for sure but missed it. Of course, the line was -260 which is nuts. -260 means that a $260 bet would have gotten me back $100 ($360 total).

On Tuesday we decided to just spend the day at the pool. Well, 6 hours later, despite our best efforts to stay out of the sun, we were both sunburned. Never really saw or felt it coming as we were mostly in the shade, except for brief forays into the pool. My chest, stomach and shoulders are now a bright shade of red and it hurts like a mofo. And to make things better, I have a hockey playoff game tonight! I may skip wearing shoulder pads. I don't think that would feel too great.

After a painful shower Tuesday we went to see "The Jersey Boys" which is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Great show, highly recommend it. Amazing they could find someone that could hit those high notes like Frankie.

Oh, almost forgot. I tried the "slip a $20 to the person checking you in for a complimentary upgrade" thing and was upgraded to a strip view for no extra charge. I'm 2-2 on upgrades that way now, definitely try it. Only thing is that they will probably try to get you to pay for a much larger upgrade. Just say you're not interested in paying more.

Anywho, here are some pictures of the Palazzo.

Goodbye consulting, hello funny business

2008-07-29T19:23:00.002-05:00

As of this Friday, August 1st, I'll no longer be a consultant. I've accepted a deal with ComicWonder (actually, with the parent company that has no name yet) to be a permanent employee and partial owner (very, very, very small part, kind of like owning one brick in a skyscraper).

Why would I do this, you ask? Well, it was actually a very easy decision to make. Great people, great work, control over how I develop, I could go on and on. It's the best job I've ever had by far. And it's not just about ComicWonder. We are branching out into many different areas that all take advantage of the technology we use for ComicWonder.

Right now we have several big name customers testing out a new application I've been working on that could blow the lid off the Human Resources game. It's one of those apps that you go, wow, how come I didn't think of that? Aren't those always the ones where you're like, duh, that makes total sense and damn, I could have done that. I think it's going to be huge and we're not stopping there. There are several other apps in the hopper just waiting for me to get to them.

Before too long I'm going to actually need to bring on help. As the sole Java developer it's been great. No worrying about someone else's code or what they're working on or merging code. It's just me and I do it the way I want to. Unfortunately I'm only one person and with the amount of work we have coming in I'll need some help sooner or later.

Needless to say I'm very excited about this opportunity and am looking forward to being part of the "family" for many years to come.

By the way, one other side benefit... our bowling team will be sponsored by ComicWonder! I can't wait to see the shirts!

Miller Beer Man

2008-07-28T08:25:00.004-05:00

For Cdubya's b-day Saturday we went to the Brewers game against the Astros. Just so happened it was Miller cooler bag day so we were lucky enough to scarf a couple of those, but the coolest thing was that the Miller beer man from the High Life commercials was there to throw out the first pitch. But that's not all. He was all over the park, always with a big smile on his face as he signed more autographs than any of the players. I think he truly enjoyed every minute at the park. And he wasn't one of those guys that throws out the first pitch then hops in his limo and is out of there. When Ryan Braun hit a 2 run homer to tie it up in the 7th inning he was down in the crowd high fiving all the fans.

Here's a picture of him up in the broadcast booth with Bill Schroeder (left) and Brian Anderson during the game. I swear he got more attention than the game...

And to make it a perfect night the Crew scored twice in the 8th to win it 6-4 and tie the Cubs for first place!

iPhone 3G

2008-07-21T08:44:00.002-05:00

So, as most of you know, I have the original iPhone (2G) and I totally love it. Best phone I've ever had hands down. So when Cdubya says she's sick of her Razr and wants something that can do more I explained to her that she couldn't go wrong with the iPhone. I spend time showing her mine, letting her play with it, explaining all the cool functions (especially the new apps that came out with the new software update).

She's not convinced that's the phone for her. She wants to go to the AT&T store and look around. So we go Friday evening. We talk to Jimmy Chipmunk and he says that you can't beat the iPhone. She says she wants to look around. She looks at all the other phones (almost every one of them costs more than the $199 price of the iPhone and they all have the same $30/month unlimited data plan). After all that she says "Well, that guy said the iPhone is the best, I guess I should get one."

WTF, had I not been saying that for a week?!?!?!? Why would you believe your husband, someone that actually has had the phone for a year and loves it. Someone that works in IT. Someone you should trust...

No, but she'll trust junior at the AT&T store because he must be an expert... sheesh.

So anyway, we're told at the store that they have a wait of about 20 days for one. Wow... uh, ok. We decide to check what that Apple Store has (West Towne). The web site says they have them in stock, so we decide we'll try to get there an hour before they open Saturday morning on the outside chance we might be able to get one. I told her not to get her hopes up, from what I'd been reading it was still very difficult to get one.

We show up at West Towne at 9:15 (10:00 opening) and turn the corner and there's no line out front, cool! We walk up to the Apple Store and it's open already. Weird... ok. We walk in, 2 people are getting iPhones! We are next in line and we get the phone, activate it and are out the door in 20 minutes!

So, moral of the story is the Apple Store gets a LOT more iPhones than the AT&T store and AT&T is not telling people that they have an option (in cities where there is also an Apple Store that is).

Also, the Apple Store has been doing this "soft opening" for a while now so don't be surprised if you can get in before they open.

And yes, the iPhone 3G is all that. I downloaded the iphone sdk yesterday (only a 1.2 gb download!) and made my first iphone "Hello, World" app. Their documentation is very good and they also have video instruction on how to use it. Anyone with an ADC id can download the sdk. If you want to sell your app in the App Store you must pay a $99 fee to join.

I already have 3 or 4 apps in mind to build, now I just need some free time.

Battle of Door Creek Followup

2008-07-03T09:39:00.003-05:00

Last night was golf league time again.

When I got done I was ordering my dinner at the bar and look over and there's the guy. Luckily I don't think he recognized who I was so nothing happened.

However, later on a guy in my league tells me he knows the guy very well and tells me all sorts of stories about when the guy was in high school at La Follette and how he basically had a gang that went around terrorizing people and beating the crap out of them. Of course, I also find out that this was in the late 60's, making him about 57 or so now! Ok, I feel bad I hit someone's grandpa...

Then I find out that he has a brother that plays there too (much younger). Of course, the idiot in my league goes over to him (after the other guy left) and points me out! Sheesh, thanks buddy, needed that. I also find out he told his brother all about it and basically said that if it wasn't for Cdubya coming out there I would be dead. Not beat up, dead. Nice...

I go home and tell Cdubya all about this and then I find out that the last name of her new boss is the same as his... oh great. I do a little research this morning and find out that yep, she's married to the younger brother. Oh boy. So, I got in a fight with her new boss's brother in law. Extra nice.

And to make the world even smaller, that same woman is the sister of my friend Jim. Jim tells me that in the past, yes, I would be lucky to be alive. Nice again. I'm hoping Jim can help ease the tension a little.

Door Creek has just become an uncomfortable place for me.

BTW, I shot a 41 with a birdie on 9.

Double Eagle and the Double Punch

2008-06-26T07:23:00.003-05:00

This is a funny world we live in. You can be on top of the world one minute and be going toe to toe with some drunken buffoon the next. And that's where I found myself last night.

More on that in a sec, but let's go back to the beginning. As most of you know, Wednesday is golf league night. Last night was fun night where we were all divided into 4-somes for a 4-man scramble. After not doing much the first 2 holes I came alive on the 3rd, hitting a 300 yard drive and a sand wedge to 8 feet where a teammate made the birdie putt. Another bomb drive on the 4th led to a par. After parring the 5th we went to the par 5 6th (15th hole, we were playing the back nine). Another 300 yard drive led to a tap in birdie. And again on the next hole, yet another big drive and we par.

That takes us to the 8th hole (#17) at -2. Once again I murder a drive down the middle and we're sitting at about 185 yards out (486 yard hole) after my tee shot. I go first and just play my ball where it lies (side note: in a scramble, everyone hits the ball they determine to be in the best position and can drop anywhere within a club length of it, no nearer the hole). It was important that I played the ball where it was without lifting it or anything, and that's because I took a 5 iron and hit a beautiful shot, just right of the hole, drawing slightly in... I'm hoping it'll be within 10 feet so we have a good look at eagle.... the ball lands, bounces once and rolls slowly turning towards the cup and DISAPPEARS! My first double eagle (2 on a par 5)! I still cannot believe it happened. My friends playing in different groups said later they were wondering who was screaming like a girl... yeah, that was me.

So, my name is in the paper (it's more rare than a hole in one), last name spelled wrong of course...

We win the scramble at -5 by 1 shot. Plenty of congrats in the clubhouse, just a great night.

Then I decide to hustle home about 8:30.

That's where the story turns horribly wrong... As I leave the parking lot I am quickly behind some moron in a red pickup truck that keeps crossing the center line, then jerking it back over and then crossing again, etc. He makes it to the Cottage Grove road stop sign without killing anyone and I'm thinking "man, this dude is hammered".

He turns left on CG road, same direction I'm going. Speed limit is 55, but he seems to mis-read 35 for 55 and I'm behind him giving him the international "what the fuck" symbol. He's not going any faster and of course, keeps drifting over the center line. I get to a passing zone and decide to get away from this asshole as quick as I can, so I blow by him and as I pass I look over and yell "Get the fuck off the road!" and continue on. I only live a mile away but by the time I get to my turn I'm a half mile ahead of him. I turn into my garage and park and get out only to see him pulling up in front of the house.

He comes storming up my driveway and I walk out to meet him. He gets right in my face yelling something about me yelling at him. I said "Maybe you should go back and have another drink before you drive" which is pretty hypocritical of me considering I'd had several Island Wheats myself. He says, to my amusement, "I was on the phone" to which I sarcastically respond with "Maybe you shouldn't be on the phone while you're driving since you obviously can't do both". Now, it's also obvious he's been drinking as well.

He's right in my face and I'm noticing he's got about 6" and 40 lbs on me when he gives me the 2 handed shove to the chest. I step back and come right forward again and all of a sudden he slaps me! Slaps! Like a girl! I dodged around him laughing "Did you just slap me???".

And now he is pissed. He comes storming towards me again and I'm thinking "this dude is not going to just walk away" so as he's coming in I launch a right cross and catch him right on the jaw. He staggers back as I dance around him getting over to the grass where I have more traction (I still had my golf shoes on). Now he's in his Marvin Hagler stance and wants to box. This is where I'm grateful for Showtime Boxing on the Nintendo Wii where I've honed my boxing skills (lol). He comes forward again and I flick a jab and catch him right on the point of his chin. He steps back and takes a wild swing which I duck under.

At about this time, Cdubya has heard the commotion and come out where she begins screaming for us to stop. I'm poised and ready to beat the shit out of this drunken jackass but he stops and just stares at her. She says "You want to hit me, go ahead." He mumbles something about if he sees me again he'll hit me again to which I laugh and say "you haven't hit me yet" and throw in a "douchebag" just for good measure. It's then that I notice the golf glove in his back pocket. Great, he plays league on Wednesdays at Door Creek, I'll probably get matched up with him in the final round of the club championship this year. He gets in his truck and drives away as I stand in the driveway.

Of course, I know what's coming next so I'm a little afraid to go inside... I finally relent and I get the lecture I knew was coming. "How many times have I told you to not do things like that?" "You have to just mind your own business", "You should have just called the police".

And all I'm thinking is "I'd really like to tell you about my double eagle".

Recovery

2008-06-24T08:16:00.004-05:00

Well, after a turbulent month things are starting to get back to some semblance of normality. Drexel Interiors came out Thursday and Friday and put down my new basement flooring. We decided to go with an inexpensive vinyl flooring instead of doing the laminate hardwood again. We got something that can withstand a little water on it without ruining it, just in case. It has a wood pattern and looks fairly similar to the old flooring.

I took some pictures and posted them on my basement finishing blog. You can also compare to the old flooring over there.

Beware of Mitsubishi DLP's

2008-06-16T08:34:00.002-05:00

Late Saturday afternoon I sat down to watch some US Open and the Brewer game on my 57" Mitsubishi DLP tv, only to have it turn off right after it turned on. No matter what I did (unplug, reset, etc), it wouldn't turn on. Then I got a red light for the Lamp indicator. Looks like my lamp is dead. Funny, I've only had it for about 18 months, didn't think it would need to be replaced already.

I purchased the Advantage protection plan from Circuit City so I figured it would be simple to get a new lamp. I called CC, found that I have to call the 888 number for the plan, so I called that. Ugh, only open during normal business hours. Ok, no tv till at least Monday. I brought down my HD monitor from my office and set that up instead. Not quite the same watching the Open on a 28" instead of a 57" but for a day or two I can live with it.

I called the protection plan people this morning and with the help of a Mitsubishi tech they determined the lamp needed to be replaced. Wow, they sure are smart. (that's called sarcasm, kids).

The friendly guy with the plan says it'll be shipping UPS ground this afternoon and should be here in about a week. A WEEK!?!?!?!??! Are you fucking kidding me???? "Sir, I'm sorry but Mitsubishi does not allow us to ship their parts overnight." What the fuck, this has to be a joke. Sorry, sir, hopefully it will arrive in 3-5 days. Sonofadirtygoatfucker....

Then I started doing a little research. Turns out I'm definitely not the only one having problems with the Mits DLP's. There are A LOT of people having problems. And not just with the lamps, but that is a very common one. I'm not looking forward to having the same additional problems that these people are having (multiple bulb burnouts, ballast replacements, light engines, circuit boards, etc).

Consider this a warning if you're thinking about getting a new Mitsubishi DLP. I bought it mainly because I have a Mitsubishi 55" rear projection that I've had for about 6 years with only one minor issue. Now, I'm pretty sure I won't go this route again.

It probably wouldn't be that big of a deal if my basement hadn't flooded. That's where the other Mits is living and since the flooring is going to be installed later this week I've had to tear everything out and it's not hooked up so I don't really have another option.

Roll with the punches

2008-06-13T14:50:00.001-05:00

So called Professionals

2008-06-12T16:09:00.002-05:00

You know what really irks me about some "professional" baseball players?

No, not the millions of dollars they make for playing a game.

No, not the "world owes me something" attitudes.

It's the inability of these people to do the most basic things that we learn how to do in little league. I'm talking about fundamentals like bunting or throwing a ball to a base.

Twice on Tuesday night Brewer pitchers could successfully throw a baseball to first base. These are guys that throw 90+ mph pitches to exact spots 60' away but you give them a bunt where they need to make a 40' throw to first base and they will bounce it half way there. How is this possible? I pitched for over 20 years in a variety of leagues and I cannot recall ever having an issue with throwing a ball to a base.

Do they forget how to throw off flat ground? Do they need to run back to the mound first? I mean I've seen them spin on the mound and throw hard to a base to pick off a runner and they're right on the money. But give them 15 minutes to get a nice easy throw to first on a sacrifice bunt and they one hop it into right field.

On Tuesday Julian Taveras did this in a 2-1 game and ended up giving up 4 runs to lose any chance at winning the game. I came unhinged, screaming at the television.

We need to send these so-called professionals back to little league so the 9 year olds can show them how to do it.

Well, I'm sure you've all heard about the heavy rains we've had which have caused massive flooding (and one lake being emptied). I thought for sure golf league would be water logged out last night but surprisingly Door Creek dried up enough for us to play and I was amazed at how well the course was considering the 8" of rain we had just a few days earlier.

Of course, today we've had another batch of big storms rolling through. It's supposed to end tonight. I have a tournament to play in on Saturday, I sure hope the water drains.

That's it for now, stay dry!

Glub Glub Glub

2008-06-09T09:10:00.002-05:00

That's the sound of the southern half of Wisconsin going underwater as we deluged by rain over the weekend. Well, not just rain; very high winds, tornadoes, hail, etc. What a wonderful spring weekend.

In Madison we had over 4" of rain yesterday added to almost 2" on Saturday. And we got off easy. Just an hour north of us they had over 8" on Saturday and another 7" yesterday. Just crazy. Everything is underwater.

I went by Door Creek at about 1:00 yesterday afternoon and the little creek running through the back nine was about 50' onto the fairway. And that was BEFORE our torrential downpour last night. I'm sure most of the course is under water by now.

This just in: Bridges golf course closed through at least Wednesday.

I'm assuming Door Creek is closed too and that we won't have league Wednesday. I'm more concerned about the 27 hole Challenge tournament scheduled for Saturday. We're supposed to get more storms Thursday and Friday which would pretty much end any hope of playing Saturday.

The Yin and Yang of golf

2008-06-02T10:09:00.002-05:00

Have you ever noticed that when you finally figure out the one thing that's been going wrong in your game that something else will fall apart? The golf gods appear to need you to maintain some sort of balance between good and not so good (evil?).

When I first got the new driver I struggled with it for a few rounds but was still chipping well enough to save myself some strokes. Well, I finally got the driver figured out and am hitting it pretty well (for the most part, never perfect obviously) and now I can't putt. Now, don't get me wrong, I've never been a stellar putter but I was getting better at it (got fitted for a new putter last fall).

Yesterday was a perfect example of how, even if you think you're putting the ball pretty well, it doesn't count unless it actually goes in the hole. I constantly burned the lip, just missed by millimeters, had good speed but misread the line or had the line and misread the speed. It's amazing how many little things have to go right to get that little white ball into the cup.

I actually played the entire round without a single 1-putt. I don't recall ever doing that before, at least over 18 holes. And to make matters worse, I 3-putted 5 times, including 3 in a row on 9-11. 2 of those were understandable. I was 70 feet away (wrong part of the green) on 9 and 11 is just a bitch of a green if you have to putt side hill. Ended up with 41 putts. Almost half my strokes were putts. That, is only good if I'm planning on shooting a 60. I'd been averaging about 34 putts. Just being average would have given me an 83 instead of a 90.

Just goes to show you, drive for show, putt for dough. Looks like I'll be spending some additional time on the putting green this week practicing.

My goal of breaking 80 this year can only be done by reducing my putts. If I don't get any better best I can expect is 83/84.

Of course, if I was to someone magically become better at putting, you know damn well something else would completely fall apart. Such is the yin and yang of this frustrating game.

Lawsonia Woodlands

2008-05-27T08:09:00.002-05:00

Sunday was our group golf outing for the Memorial Day Weekend for this year. We chose to play Lawsonia this year and based on recommendations we chose to play the Woodlands course (they also have a Links course).

The course was very nice, though some of the greens were still showing signs of aeration, mostly around the edges. They were definitely fast and I really struggled getting the speed right. Nothing like blasting a putt 20 feet past the hole to make you leave everything else short. Once again my driver was psycho, not really doing what I wanted it to. Wish I had a little more time before we played to get it in synch.

As for the golf, pretty ugly. I got off to a horrible start and took forever to recover. I went double, triple, triple, triple to start. Pretty damn hard to have a good round when you're 11 over after 4! I recovered a little to finish the front at +16 for a 52. I played a little better on the back and shot 45 for 97, which was good for 3rd place out of our 2 4-somes. My putting and short game in general really let me down I thought. I had 38 putts, 22 on the front nine alone when I 3 putted 4 times. I did manage 3 1-putts on the back which helped a lot.

Comparing Lawsonia to Wild Rock which I recently played as well, I would have to give the edge to Wild Rock. It has more elevation changes, more ravines and canyons to hit over and crazy 3-tiered greens that make putting an adventure (but also exciting).

Both courses definitely attempt to make you hit something other than driver off the tee. They both had strategically placed fairway bunkers just where you might want to land a tee shot. I thought there were more opportunities to drive the ball at Wild Rock while I could have played the entire 18 without my driver at Lawsonia.

Of course, Wild Rock, at $95, is $30 more than Lawsonia. Oh, and you can have a beer at Wild Rock while Lawsonia is dry, in case that factors into your golf outings. We drove about 30 miles to Kelly's Bar in the middle of no where off Hwy 73 to tip back a few.

Anyway, it's over, I survived...

Burner

2008-05-22T08:15:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally did it. I broke down and replaced my trusty Taylormade R580 driver with a brand spankin' new Taylormade Burner. Went to a demo day after my round on Sunday and just crushed that thing like no other. With my discount card at Door Creek I was able to get it for $254 instead of $299. I went to the range with it Tuesday night and just killed it. Couldn't wait for league on Wednesday.

And of course, league comes and I basically hit it like crap, never felt like I hit one on the nuts. First drive goes right and luckily doesn't go OB. 2nd drive I try to cut the corner on a dogleg right and drill it into a huge pine tree 30 yards in front of me (a little low, eh?). 3rd hole I got it in the fairway but it was a low screamer. 4th hole I finally hit it with the right trajectory but pushed it right into the rough at about 260. 6th hole I hooked the living shit out of it clear over to the 4th fairway. 7th hole I hit it pretty good, cut the corner and went about 280. But it still didn't have the trajectory I wanted. 9th hole I swung a little harder but pulled it and ended up under a tree by the green.

I ended up shooting 43 and it wasn't really the driver so much as I 3 putted 3 times. I hit some nice iron shots so I had that going for me...

Anywho, backing up to last week... Last Thursday was our 20th anniversary and Cdubya wanted to go to a Brewer game and then go golfing! God bless her... so we did that. Then Saturday she asks if we can go golfing on Sunday too. She's really getting into it and I think we're getting close to being able to take golf vacations in the winter/spring. That would be awesome. Give us something else to do besides Disney and Vegas. I ended up shooting 85 Sunday and hit 7/14 fairways. Guess that wasn't good enough as I bought the Burner the next day. Hope I don't regret the decision. Guy in our league bought one too and has gone through some adjustments with it but he shot 38 last night and was hitting it well, so hopefully that will be how it works for me.

We're heading to Lawsonia to play the Woodlands course on Sunday, I sure hope I can keep it in play most of the day.

Well, that's it for now, got a pile of work to do. Have a great weekend.

Comic Wonder at Accelerate Madison

2008-05-14T07:31:00.005-05:00

Accelerate Madison is a company that focuses on providing business support for IT organizations. They frequently have guest speakers and last night, Kelly Fitzsimmons, the CEO of ComicWonder, was one of the speakers. She got me in for free so I went and watched. It was pretty awesome.

The entire thing was also broadcast as a webcast and can be watched here. Kelly starts at about 35 minutes in.

The first presentation was by one of the founders of Sharendipity, Mark Gehring, and was quite interesting. Basically they are building a platform onto which anyone can do programming. Currently it's build onto Facebook's API and is mostly about games but it's got lots of potential. They'll be launching in July. They are a local Madison company.

After that Kelly took over. For those of you that want to know what Comic Wonder is really all about and who's working behind the scenes it really is quite interesting. One of the things she does mention is who her husband, Jeff's uncle is. I had no idea but it makes sense now. You'll have to watch to find out, but I'll give you a hint. He's a famous movie director.

The other thing that happened is that she pointed me out a few times towards the end, which was nice. If you really don't want to watch but want to hear my name mentioned, you can jump ahead to about 75 minutes during the Q/A (question about staffing).

Oh, and another thing I did not know that I found out before hand when Kelly was talking about a possible deal with Playboy for us to provide the audio component of their party jokes section, was that Kelly's mom was a Playboy Bunny! How funny is that? I had no clue...

Anyway, watch the webcast. I found it very interesting.

Oops, sorry

2008-05-12T07:50:00.002-05:00

Just realized it's been 2 weeks since I've posted something... and probably 2 years since I've posted something interesting. ba dum dum.

I can rectify the former, not promising anything on the latter.

Where to start... Our insurance covered the sump pump malfunction and I think we've determined what we're going to do for the basement floor. We found some vinyl flooring that "looks" like wood flooring only I won't have to rip it up next time we get water on it. This will allow us some piece of mind. We'll be getting it installed from Drexel Interiors, but haven't ordered it yet. Some time this week.

My new lawn mower works great. What a difference key start and being rear-propelled makes. Nice to just walk behind instead of pushing, especially on the hills.

In golf land, we started league last week. I shot a 43 but I gave away a stroke on each of the first 5 holes due to incredibly bad putting. I feel like I'm getting closer. I'm driving the ball in the fairway consistently (slowed down, lost a little distance but more under control). My irons are just not doing the job right now. I need to go to the range and work on them.

Saturday we played in a charity scramble at Wild Rock in the Dells. Wild Rock replaced the Wilderness golf course at Wilderness Resort. We finished at a whopping +5, good for 2nd to last. None of us could putt, not really good for a scramble. I did win a hole prize and a 50/50 prize for closest to the pin on the par 3 4th hole. I got really lucky. It was about 180 yards, water along the right the whole way and the pin tucked back in the corner over the water. I just happened to hit a 5 iron just left of the pin and it rolled right down to about 10 feet or so. Of course we all missed the birdie putt. I picked up a Wild Rock windshirt and $44 for my $3 entry into the 50/50.

As for the course, it still needs a little work but it's a really cool set up. Massive elevation changes and the greens... well, there's not a flat spot on them and every one has at least 3 tiers. You definitely need to hit to the right tier or you're looking at a near impossible 2 putt.

Thursday marks Cdubya and my 20th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it was 20 years ago when two young kids travelled to Kauai and got married in a beautiful setting. It still makes me laugh to look at our wedding pictures. Thank god I cut the mullet off...

Well, I better get to working. Catch you all later.

Water is not always your friend

2008-04-28T08:47:00.005-05:00

The majority of today's post can be found on my Basement blog

That's pretty much my entire weekend except for 2 other things.

1) We won our hockey championship Friday night, 5-0. I had the first and last goals and finished the season with 26 goals and 43 total points in 22 games, leading the team in both. Here's a team picture.

2) I bought a new lawn mower (mine died last fall). It's a kick ass rear propelled model with variable speed and a big engine. It also has a high vacuum bagging system. About as good as you can get in a walk behind without going to a pro model. Sears had a big sale Saturday that I couldn't pass up.

Kohler Cup 2008

2008-04-21T09:40:00.003-05:00

Well, we didn't win again but that didn't stop Pat and I from having a good time golfing. While the weather in Madison was awesome all weekend it wasn't quite that great on Lake Michigan up north. Saturday was about 46, cloudy and windy at Whistling Straits. That seems to always be the temperature up there, I don't know what's going on with that.

We played Saturday at even par, which was pretty disappointing because we didn't play that poorly. It always seemed that Pat and I would get birdies on the same holes and bogeys on the same hole. If we'd just switched that up a little we could have been 4-6 under par. We went into Sunday in 53rd place out of 93 teams.

Sunday we didn't get off to the great start we needed and faded poorly at the end shooting a 3 over par. Once again there were 6 holes where neither of us did worth a crap and cost us.

All in all, a great weekend despite not winning. Can't wait till next year.

Quick catch-up

2008-04-18T08:28:00.002-05:00

I haven't been in the mood to blog lately. I think a lot of it stems from being busy but also I'm finding that I have nothing to say. Nothing really happens around here. Work, bowling, hockey and now golf are about it for me.

However, I guess there are a couple things. On Sunday we had our first Comic Wonder full team meeting in Milwaukee (of course, scheduled during the final round of the Masters so I didn't see any of it). It was really good and lots of great energy and ideas to make the site great and other ways we can make use of the technology. After that we went to see the new office space that we'll be getting May 1st. I still won't have to go in very often but it's cool we have a space to get together in. It's right by the Milwaukee river with a good view of downtown. It also has a basketball/tennis court next to it and one side has a big garage door so you can really open up the space. Kind of an industrial thing.

This weekend is the Kohler Cup. I think the 3rd one I've been in. Mike can't make it this year so Pat is taking his place. I went to play 18 on Wednesday afternoon to get in some more practice. I did ok, considering the wind was gusting to 35mph! Shot a 92 (46-46). The wind was amazing. On one par 5 dead into the wind I hit 2 straight 3-woods, each about 115 yards! They were rising shots that just went up and up and up and then back and back and back! I swear it was like a boomerang, thought I'd have to catch the ball as it came flying back past me. I ended up parring 3 of the last 4 holes so I feel ok about this weekend. I found the key was to relax and not try to swing hard. We'll see how it goes.

Weekend forecast calls for some showers tomorrow with possible t-storms in the afternoon. Of course they also said it was going to rain all day yesterday and it didn't rain at all until almost 10pm. Sunday is supposed to be great, mid-60's and sunny.

What else is new... oh, hockey playoffs. We won our first 2 games and are in the championship game next week already. Somehow I have no goals and 2 assists in 2 games though I did play better last week than I did the previous.

That's about it, lots of work to do today. Have a great weekend.

Is this the beginning of the end?

2008-04-09T08:11:00.002-05:00

I meant to post this Monday but I was too depressed. I'm starting to wonder if, at the ripe old age of 43, my natural athletic ability has left me.

It all started Friday night with our first playoff hockey game. I arrived early and got plenty of warm up time (too much, maybe). No signs of what was to come a short time later.

The game starts and for some reason I keep tripping, stumbling, basically acting like I hadn't ever done this before. Then I started having good scoring chances and either losing the puck or shooting a weak ass shot into the goalie. No signs of the guy that lead the team with 23 goals during the regular season. I don't think I could have played any worse and while, personally, I was quite down on myself, at least the team picked me up and we won 7-1.

Then Saturday comes around and it's time for our first golf round of the year. We head out to the Oaks and I hit pretty well on the range so I'm feeling pretty optimistic. I keep forgetting the old "good on the range, shit on the course" adage. And that's pretty much what happened. I hit a few decent drives but my iron shots were, for the most part, horrendous. I kept chunking so many shots.

I probably can blame some of that on 1st time out. Stuff like flying a lob wedge 15 yards over the green is mostly just a lack of playing time and re-learning my distances again. But I was taking 20 yard chip shots and hitting them 10 yards into a bunker, taking divots big enough to start my own lawn sod business, etc. I also managed to hook a hybrid on the par 5 15th over a fence and land it in the middle of the road, luckily between 2 sets of cars or I might have caused a major pile-up.

And to make matters worse, Retro beat me for the first time, 104-106 (yes, I had a freakin' 106).

There were a couple bright spots, mostly long drives, but I did birdie the par 3 7th hole with a nice 6 iron from 175 to 12 feet. Of course, that was sandwiched by triple bogey 7's on 6 and 8. Oh well, tough day, but at least it was sunny and warm in the mid 60's (tapered by a good 15-20 mph wind however).

None of that is why I felt depressed come Monday. It was the fact that I was winded walking a golf course (pushing a cart no less) after 8 holes. I'm so out of shape I think it's finally starting to catch up with me. Outside of hockey once a week I really wasn't doing much (I did play basketball 3 times in 3 months too). So, this week began my quest to get back into shape and not be that beer belly toting inactive putz that can barely waddle his way to the kitchen for another bucket of ice cream.

I'm not a fat guy mind you, but at 5'8" tall I should be in the 155ish range and I'm over 20 lbs beyond that. 20 lbs, amazing what that little difference can do to you. Of course, it's all in the gut region and no, I'm not going to quit drinking beer so it's going to take some actual body movement to do this. My goal is 156 (20 lb loss) by my 20th anniversary (May 15th). That gives me 6 weeks to lose it, a little over 3 lbs per week. I did it once before about 4 years ago but put it right back on. However, until recently I never went much over 170. I think working at home and having access to a continuous flow of snacks is not helping as I'm heavier than I've ever been in my life after only 2 1/2 months of doing it.

So now my weekdays begin with a vigorous 30 minute workout on the elliptical machine and some upper body weight work. Now, staying disciplined and doing it every day is where I've always failed so I'm going to have to be stronger and fight through on those days when I just don't feel like it.

Wish me luck...

Let the games begin!

2008-03-31T08:46:00.002-05:00

Brewers are scheduled to open the season at Wrigley against the scuzzball Cubs today at 1:30. However, there are some pretty strong storms headed this way and I have a feeling it's going to get washed out.

On the hockey front, we won again Friday night 9-5 to win the regular season. I had 2 more goals, ending up with 23 goals and 14 assists in 18 games. We start the playoffs this Friday.

On Saturday we went out looking for a 2nd club chair for the pub room and somehow ended up buying a new sofa sectional for the living room. I'm never sure how these things happen but I always wanted more seating for the living room and we found a really good deal on one that we both liked. It will be delivered Wednesday.

And of course, as I was looking at the current configuration of the living room I realized it really would give us more space if I flipped where the tv was. Sounds simple, right? Yeah... sure.

I ended up having to run 2 new coax lines (50'), splice a new phone line, rewire my surround speakers and put in a new outlet box on the wall. And of course, since I finished the basement, I had to pull ceiling tiles out and work around the insulation in the ceiling. Hardest part was getting the cable lines run through the ceiling about 25'. Ended up being able to push them about half way and then had to pull another ceiling tile so I could reach up and feed them the rest of the way.

Then I drilled holes in the ceiling up into the wall cavity where the other cable outlet was and feeding the new lines up there. I used a remodel box to put a new outlet in the wall near the original one. Once I got it all set I had to move the giant table with the tv on it over to the other side of the room. I ended up putting pieces of cardboard under the legs and sliding it across the floor so I wouldn't scratch the flooring. I was shocked when I fired everything back up and it all worked on the first try! That only took about 6 hours to do...

It looks pretty good but I still have several things to finish. The wall behind the tv had a big picture on it which now has to go somewhere else. Also, that wall is really dirty and needs repainting. I also need to lower a painting that was above the tv, it's too high now.

I'll take some pictures once the new sectional is here. We're giving our current sofa and big chair to my brother (he gets most of my old stuff).

Yeah, my bracket sucks too

2008-03-28T08:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm tied for 55th place out of 128 in the ncaa pool I'm in. Needless to say I'm toast. I guess that simplifies my life as I can just focus all my rooting energy on the Badgers instead (6:10pm CDT tonight). I'll also be rooting for Michigan State over Memphis. Would be great to get 2 Big 10 schools in the final 4 to prove all those nay-sayers wrong.

Badger hockey team also managed to snag themselves one of the 16 ncaa tourney spots and will be playing Saturday at 5:30 (locally on channel 14, MyMadison). If they win they'll play Sunday at 6.

That's all I got for now, but I'll leave you with this joke that almost made diet coke shoot out of my nose yesterday.

100 inches? That's what she said...

2008-03-24T09:19:00.003-05:00

Yep, we finally passed the 100" mark in snow fall this year yesterday. We needed 0.3" and got about an inch I guess. That coupled with the 7" from Friday put us over the top. Remember, the all time record was about 76.5" so this is likely to stand for ever or at least until next winter.

40's this week so hopefully it will all melt soon.

And on to the Sweet 16 for the Badgers as they completely dominated Fullerton on Thursday and Kansas State on Saturday. I hope they just keep on kicking ass to prove the freakin' idiot national media and all those bloggers who last saw the Badgers play in 2000 under Dick Bennett wrong.

This is not Bennett's team and while yes, they do play incredible defense leading to holding teams to the lowest average point total in the nation, they also have a well balanced offense and have scored in the 70's both games.

How come when UCLA scores in the 50's it's because they played a tough game but the Badgers score 72 and it's still boring? Honestly, it's a total joke. And for as much bashing as the big 10 has taken this year, how does a 5-2 record for the tourney look now? Only team that lost in the first round was an Indiana team that gave up when their coach got shit canned. I really hope Michigan State keeps winning and the Badgers meet them again in the final 4.

Oh, and for those of you who think Stephen Curry and Davidson will be able to hang with Bucky, I have 2 words for you... Michael Flowers. Have Curry ask Drew Neitzel and Eric Gordon how they liked trying to get shots off with Flowers up in their grill or how Kansas State did shooting 3 pointers (uh, can you say 0fer?).

Wow, that went on a little longer than I meant. I'm not really that angry, just frustrated at the lack of respect for one of the premier college hoops programs in the country.

On the hockey front, we won 10-3 in possibly the most boring game of the season. We had to shut it down half way through the 2nd period as it became apparent we were on our way to 20 goals. I don't think I even broke a sweat. I had one goal and just stopped shooting in the 2nd period.

We have 1 regular season game left and have a 2 point lead over the 2nd place team, plus we hold the tie breaker with them as we're 2-0-2 against them this year so we have first place sewn up. All that means is we get first choice of goalies for the playoffs.