This won't interest most of you, but I just added a Letterboxing section to my website. You'll need to find it yourself. This coincides with my new listings today of 3 disc golf themed letterboxes (out of an eventual series of 5 boxes).

Labels: disc_golf, letterboxing

• Darah's home-based childcare notified us that they're suddenly shutting down. We had to find a new child care pronto and were lucky to find an ex-teacher who just received her license to open up a new home-based childcare. Darah begins going to her new child care on Monday.

• Since last year we've been planning to make a trip to New York to go to a game at Shea Stadium before it's torn down at the end of the season. This week we finally purchased our airline tickets (we already had the Mets tickets lined up). So now it's official that we'll be in New York this August. This will be the first time I'll be in New York in several years, and the first time during the summertime in ten years.

• Today I played my first full game of disc golf all year. Perhaps my first game all year shouldn't have been in a tournament. I started poorly but finished strong so maybe that's a good trend for next time.
  

Labels: Darah, disc_golf, New_York

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Here's what's been going on over the past week that wasn't really worthy of dedicated posts.

• I didn't play disc golf for a full month because of the incredible heat we've had in Charlotte all of August. On Thursday I played in my first tournament in 6 weeks, and I took 4th place, my highest finish yet. I won't bore you every time I win plastic (the prizes are new discs), but I will post if I ever come in first.
• Last week we finally got part of our house repairs taken care of. The first floor ceiling was finally patched and I'm not satisfied with the popcorn finishing they did. We're still trying to get the master bathroom floor fixed but nobody is willing to take the job because the "first response" people who came in to dry everything up did more damage to the sub floor than necessary. It's all a freakin' mess that I wish would just go away already.
• I'm now back to working 6 1/2 days per week until December. Joy. Even better is the fact that my non-NFL job (which I don't identify) stopped paying overtime, which really sucks after working what sometimes ends up being a 14 hour shift.
• Ending on a positive note, I am the guru of fantasy sports. I am in the championships in both of my fantasy baseball leagues, which is a huge achievement in one league since I started without a winning week for the first 5 weeks of the season but came back to end up with the 2nd best regular season record. And now it's football season too. In the three leagues I'm in, I'm a combined 6 wins and zero losses (2-0 in each league) and I'm in first place in 2 of my leagues. Booya!
  

Labels: disc_golf, fantasy_baseball, fantasy_football, home, work

I played in another amateur disc golf tournament earlier tonight. On the 8th hole I lost my preferred putter, a red 172g Aviar. You rarely ever see anybody lose a putter but somehow I managed to either drop it or just stupidly leave it in the basket. At the end of the round I shot a 3 under par (only with my handicap) which was good for the final winning spot - my first placing. My prize by pure coincidence was another 172g Avair putter. Great! Unfortunately this one is hot pink :(

Labels: disc_golf

Today I played in my first ever disc golf tournament. No, I'm not that good (yet). It was a friendly, amateur-level tournament played every Thursday at Sugaw Creek. I was one of three first-timers to sign up. In fact, this was the first full round of disc golf I've played with anybody other than Maegan in years. They asked me how long I've been playing and I told them I began playing 23 years ago... but took 20 years off. One player joked that my hiatus from the sport was like The Natural (my absolute favorite movie of all time), but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Beginning the tourney on the 9th hole, I started off like crap. One-overs are common for me but I double-bogeyed an embarrassing 5 of my first 8 holes. Most of my drives and approaches were descent but my putting just sucked. But then I got in to some sort of a groove, parring 5 of my final 10 holes. In the end I would have come in near last but I placed just a few strokes out of "the money" (new discs) because of my scoring handicap.

It was a lot of fun and I hope to make it out there again a few more times this summer. The more I practice the better I'll get.

Labels: disc_golf

It's technically winter but the temperature was over 80° in Charlotte today. At lunch time I took advantage of the great weather to check out the Sugaw Creek Disc Golf Course for the first time. I only had time for 8 quick holes before I had to get back. Nearly half my shots were off line. Many shots hit trees or veered off into the woods, but on the 5th hole I sailed a beautiful 80 foot putt right into the basket. Sweet! Just like 'regular' golf, one great shot makes all the frustrating shots worth it.

Labels: disc_golf

One day (hopefully not soon) I'll have the world's most deceptively impressive epitaph. Stuff that sounds amazing but gives you a totally false impression of my real life: Emmy Awards, NFL Official, Movie Actor, etc. Well now I can add one more title to my list, "Golf Course Designer". Yes, I've designed a real golf course and last night my plans were approved to be built. Oh, did I mention that I'm talking about a disc golf course.

I met with the Board for my Home Owners' Association last night and presented my proposal to build a private 9-hole disc golf course in the neighborhood's common area. They liked the idea and gave me the go ahead to proceed. After a few modifications, construction should begin in the next couple of months and half the course should be ready for play by summer.

Soon Maegan and I can slip in a quick round of disc golf by riding our bikes down the street instead of driving 20 miles to Fewell Park in Rock Hill. (There are many closer courses but Fewell is a small but very nice course that's perfect for beginners like Maegan.) I'll be able to play every day after work during the summer. Yea!

In the next few months I'll be posting development updates on the new Southbridge Forest Disc Golf Course.

Note for local disc golfers who read this post: Sorry, but for liability reasons, the SFDGC will be a private course for community residents only. (Guests accompanied by a resident will be welcome too.)

Labels: disc_golf

I found this both interesting and surprising as I discovered that a movie is currently being made about the sport of disc golf. Chains is a film about "the fastest growing sport you never heard of". It's set for a winter 2007 release date, and if it is released in theaters at all I'm sure it will be shown at only a select few. Either way, if you watch the trailer you'll see that is a very well produced documentary (so far). They've done a good job adding some ESPN-like excitement to the sport.

I love playing disc golf. I began playing the sport as a kid at summer camp in Massachusetts, way back in 1984. I played just about every day. I used a 165g Frisbee^® brand disc (I'm not sure whether or not specialized disc golf discs existed back then) and the 18-hole course used marked trees instead of baskets.

After a 20-year hiatus I introduced Maegan to the sport this past spring. Disc golf is very popular around the Charlotte region and the US Championships were recently held at Winthrop University in nearby Rock Hill, SC. I still only get out on the course a handful of times each year but I've actually submitted a proposal to our HOA to build a small course around our neighborhood park. No official word yet but I've heard that board members liked the idea. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to walk just down the street with Maegan and play every day like I did when I was a kid.

Anyway, back to the movie. Look what the successful documentary Mad Hot Ballroom did for dancing in 2005, so why not a movie about disc golf? It looks very interesting and I look forward to seeing it.

Labels: disc_golf, movies

Today I introduced Maegan to the sport of disc golf. For those out of the loop, disc golf is a sport played just like regular golf, but played with a flying disc. Just like "ball golf", you play holes on a course, trying to get the lowest score. But instead of trying to hitting a ball off the grass with a club into a hole in the ground you throw a flying disc through the woods into a disc catcher.(you notice I'm not calling it a Frisbee)

I actually started playing disc golf way back in 1984. As I got older I think I played only three times between 1990 and 2006, but I thought this would be a perfect sport that Maegan and I can play together. I used to love playing every day and now that I'm older I can certainly use the exercise.

I took Maegan to Fewell Park, a very small but very nice 9-hole course in Rock Hill, South Carolina. All holes are par 3's and only a few are over 200 feet long so this is the perfect place for Maegan to just have fun and learn the game. Maegan can't throw more than 50 feet so it's also good that the good disc golfers don't play this little course. Maegan loved playing and she can't wait until we come back to play again.

Labels: disc_golf, Maegan