|
My player this week is Giulia Sergas
Monday: Giulia wasn't flying in till today so I
took the opportunity to make a few extra bucks. Safeway always hires tour
caddies for their VIP's and, taking it upon myself to make early contact
and arranged some loopers for both Monday and Tuesday, naturally I
included yours truly in the group. A late start due to frost shortened the
morning round to fourteen holes but our afternoon go touched all the
bases. Our pro was Morgan Pressel and of course, Sam was on the bag.
Morgan seemed a bit too into her practice than attending to the amateurs. I've
always thought that it's their day and the pro should forego the homework
and just have fun. You need a day like that every so often.
Super Loopers; Scraper, me, Sam, 'Motorcycle Jim' and
Tex
Tuesday: Another delay and fourteen holes for the
group in the morn once again was the result. Fortunately, it was our time
slot shaving off close to an hour for the round. Afterward, we left the
clubs with Paul the club repair
wizard for regripping and called it a day.
-
Those pesky bugs;
The greens had an influx of nematodes
leaving them looking quite barren in places, especially on the front
nine, even though they're still rolling well.
-
Bundle up; In an
effort to protect these delicate putting surfaces from the extraordinarily
cold weather, a little ingenuity from the maintenance crew was
necessary.
The 18th covered from head to
toe, if it had any.
Wednesday: Plenty
of chipping practice at the end of the range and a late 9 holes was
our day. Giulia's coach tagged along and turned into one of the best
practice sessions I've seen in awhile.
Lights, camera, action!
-
Newbies; Last week Giulia mentioned she
was looking for a laptop and needed some help. I offered my services
and, as soon as I was done with the Monday pro-am, the search was a
foot. The criteria? Bare bones was all she desired. Internet use, DVD
and integrated wireless. Leave the bells and whistles behind. She also
wished to pick it up locally, no online ordering, for around $600.
Exploring the Net didn't take long to find exactly what she wanted.
Circuit City offered an Acer Aspire 3004WLCI with more than she needed
for only $550 after rebates.
As it happens, one of my roommates,
'Motorcycle Fred', was looking for exactly the same thing. Both Fred
and Giulia plopped down the cabbage and picked up their brand new
cyber-ware last night and are off and running. Fred is a geekdom
neophyte, this being his first computer, so I'm loading all the
security necessities and will be tutoring him the rest of the week.
Should know enough to get by after that. Well., maybe. Tomorrow it's Giulia's turn.
We're heading to Gecko Espresso after the round for some coffee and
computing. Their free wireless will make it much easier than the
dial-up I used for Fred's configuration.
-
Do it yourself;
For everyone who is about to get a new PC, or just wish to make yours
more secure, the following is a must.
-
Run Windows Update and set
for automatic. This will download any patches in the background
while online.
-
Make sure the Windows
Firewall is on or even better, install Kerio
Firewall. I'm running it now and have purchased the full
version. Only $15 till the end of this month and $10 yearly after
that.
-
Install anti-virus
software. I'm using the free version of AVG.
Includes daily updates.
-
Install programs to fight
all that nasty mal-ware that may infect your computer. Programs
such as Windows
Defender (runs in real time and has auto updates), Spybot
Search and Destroy (after installing update definitions and
immunize), Ad-Aware
(after installing update definitions) and Ewido
(paid version also runs in real-time) Each of these has a scan
option and should be run at least weekly.
Thursday: Hardly a breath
of wind this morning so 'these girls were a rockin'. The scores are so
low, red may be the official color for St. Patty's Day. We carded a -2
ourselves but if the putts would have fallen early... Well, you know the
story.
-
Frequent driver miles;
Many players live in the Phoenix area and are commuting this week so
one
way trips of 60 miles or more are common. One of the lucky few,
Michelle Estill, staying at a friend's abode, was first out of the
hopper this morning but made it without a problem. All that was
necessary was a 5:30 departure. Heard Tina Barrett may have the
longest trek, living just short of Flagstaff. Maybe it just seems like
it.
-
Go West young man;
That's where we'll be heading in two years. Off to promote another development
on the other side of town.
-
Better off dead than
red; Mark, Giulia's coach, is the proud owner of a communist hating
dog named Otto (pronounced owe-toe). Just the mention of the word and
he goes ape s--t!
-
Beyond help;
'Big Dennis' (looping for Jessica Reese-Quayle) was inflicted with a
severe case of PB this morning. Claimed
it was worn to protect against the cool weather. Yeah, right.
-
I feel better;
Managed to get most of Giulia's necessary software loaded and fixed
Mark's wireless connection to boot. He also added some security
cause he was running buck naked though cyberspace without even a fig
leaf of protection. Like that one?
Friday: Bad day at
Black Rock. One bird and too many bogies. Ba-bye.
-
More nuptials;
Barb Mucha has wed and is now listed as Barb Kolb. Also, Kim Saiki has
taken the plunge but has kept her own name as far as her professional
career goes.
-
Just when you thought it
was safe; Caddie Tom Konapacki has been attacked
by a latent case of 'M's Revenge' and is unable to tote the sack. Same
thing happened to him last year in Morelia.
-
Under the microscope;
Ah! After a hard day on the links your ready for a bit of
relaxation. How about a good soak it a steamy hot tub, just waiting to
soothe away any aches and pains with its massaging pulsating jets. But
wait. Have you read what lurks in that bubbling caldron? You may have
second thoughts after reading
this.
|
|
