The Ryder Cup does not runeth over

After watching the "best" US team in history get trounced by a bunch of no name Euros that played outstanding golf for three days…I retired to my front porch with the latest issue of Cigar Aficionado, a glass of Wild Turkey Russells Reserve on the rocks and a La Flor Dominica Reserva Especiale. churchill.

The cigar was one of the last sticks from the bundle I received when I went to the Las Vegas Big Smoke 2002. Glad I went, but it will likely be the one and only I ever attend. I had a good time, especially at the daytime events, but the evening event that I had high hopes for was disappointing.

• It was a fucking mad house of guys running from table to table to get their cigars from the manufacturers there...
• the food and drink lines were ridiculously long...
• there was nowhere to sit...
• and at every booth you were asked to register for give aways.

The problem was that each handled their own drawings, rather than CA making a big presentation out of it, so if you weren't standing at the booth when your name was drawn you were shit outta luck. To top it all off, one of the caterers of the event registered and won a big humidor...what the hell is up with that!?!?!

My wife has been making noises like she'd like to go back this year, but if I just keep quiet about it she'll forget until it's too late to get tickets. I'd rather just head back to Vegas and save the $495 ticket price for gambling.

Speaking of gambling, was the World Series of Poker great or what?! Another nobody wins the big prize again this year…not that the guy didn't know how to play. I just finished reading an article about Greg Raymer. He's a seasoned poker player and this was his third try at the WSOP. Still, makes me think with a few dozen internet tournaments between now and next year (plus the $10K entry) I might give it a try in 2005...yeah right.

PC Build 1.0

Holy Crap! I have been a psuedo-geek for a long time and now that I've decided to build my own desktop, I'm finding out there are multiple layers of nuance in PC components. The first part I've purchased is the harddrive...which may seem like I'm putting the cart before the horse, so please allow me to explain.

It's all about compatibility and I've already decided on the type of processor and motherboard I intend to get. Purchasing a HDD before buying, or at least deciding on a processor and motherboard is folly.

I had three flavors of HDD to chose from: Ultra ATA 100 drive, one of the newer SATA drives or a SCSI. After reading a bit about very geeky stuff like maximum data transfer rates, I decided on the UATA. It's an older standard, but still compatible with most motherboards and I got this Great Deal at Outpost.com on a Seagate ST3160023A-RK 160GB. With the rebate it was only $49.99 (shipping not included), which is just too good to pass up. It was delivered today...only two days after placing the order.

I'm trying to buy all my parts using deals & coupons. I'm shooting for an all-around desktop for $1,000 or less including a monitor. This may be impossible, but that's the task.

Stay tuned for PC Build 1.1 coming soon.

Lost in transition

I have come to an astounding revelation now that I'm in my forties...I'm getting older.

In my twenties I still felt like I was a kid. And in my thirties, although I got married & had a son, I still didn't feel like I was aging...but something about 40 brought it on. My 40's haven't been bad though. I haven't lost anymore hair, since I didn't have anymore to lose. My weight hasn't been a problem either. I'm one of those people that can eat anything I want and so far *knocking wood*, it hasn't caught up with me...much to my father's surprise. What I have started to notice is the age of the people with which I work. They are all sooo young. When I reflect back on things I did in my life and they look back to the same period, it puts things into perspective.

I got my drivers license before some of them were born. I was flying Navy search and rescue missions while they were potty training. I was playing the field while they were playing Chutes & Ladders. I got married and they got their first kiss. Where did the time go and why didn't I spend it better?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed with my life. Could I be doing more, sure...couldn't we all? Have things turned out how I thought they would 30 years ago...not even close!

Fourteen years old, lying on the shag carpet of my parent's den, staring at Jacques Cousteau on the TV, I knew one day I'd be a world famous oceanographer...exploring the sea Jacq and his son. If not that, then I'd eventually take Jim Fowler's spot on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. At 14, those are the things a young boy in the 70's thought about doing with his life.

Now in the 00's(?), I've decided to Blog and I'm really not sure why. Will my blog ever become as popular as Wil Wheaton's.. not likely. But there's something cathartic about blogging your thoughts that private self reflect doesn't achieve. In my case, I feel an obligation to be more honest here, for some reason, that I can't really explain.