The Spartan Invitational

For a few years now buddy Teevan and all his uncles have been organizing a golf weekend as an excuse to hang out, catch up and play a lot of golf. While they have traveled to a bunch of different cities over the years to execute this weekend, for the past two years it's been here in San Diego.

So for the last two years I have had the pleasure of taking part in the Spartan Invitational...albeit a small part. While these guys play 18 holes on Friday and 36 holes on both Saturday and Sunday, I've only managed a total 33 holes over the last 2 years. Not an average of 33 holes...just 33 holes.

With that paltry total I am not eligible for the Spartan Invitational Trophy but I do qualify for all the fun. This year that meant getting to golf with a pair of old friends that were just as bad at golf as I am, which made for plenty of laughs and a very enjoyable few hours...despite playing the worst round I have played in 4 or 5 years.

Of course that's all the Spartan Invitational is really about...that and the hardware I suppose.

The Clarke's

Towards the beginning of my Freshmen of high school we moved to the 100 block of H Ave in Coronado, half of a block away from a yet unknown 7th grader named Trevor Clarke.

Turned out Trevor was a soccer player and a few years later he and I were part of one of the greatest soccer teams to ever come out of Coronado High School. I'll spare you the details of our glory days for now and just leave it at this, we've been friends ever since.

The reason I bring all that up is because now it's not just Trevor and I that are friends, now that my in-laws and his family have "broken bread" together, we're all friends. Because Trevor's Dad helped my in-laws find a place to rent for the month, he and my mother in-law got to talking and before long we were all invited over for dinner.

It was a night filled with good wine, strong scotch, delicious food, plenty of laughs and great company. It's always fun when you see two groups of people that you really like get together and end up really liking one another.

In fact come to think of it, that might be why the whole concept of arranged marriages came about.

Laundry Day

I know this isn't a novel declaration, but I hate doing laundry. Even worse, I hate that I hate doing laundry...and not because I'm some hippie that thinks that folding laundry should be therapeutic. I hate that I hate it because it's so easy. I mean really all you have to do is throw a bunch of cloths in one machine, wait for it to make a noise, put the close in another machine, wait for another noise and then fold them. How hard is that?

I mean it wasn't that long ago that doing laundry was pretty much the worst thing ever. You had to wash everything by hand, hang everything to dry on a clothes line and you'd be lucky to get it all done before the sun went down. Now laundry does itself in the background while you do more important things like check facebook or update your blog.

I hate being this soft...I mean not enough to get ride of our washer and dryer, but you know what I mean.

Big Win

The 24th ranked SDSU Men's Basketball team had lost 3 games in a row coming into Wednesday nights contest with the Wyoming Cowboys. Suddenly they were on the verge of slipping out of the Top 25 and maybe falling out of contention to receive an NCAA Tournament bid this March. But that is not why the Aztecs 67-58 overtime victory was so important tonight. No, the reason this was a big game is because I am doing a story on the team tomorrow for the Mountain Sports Network.

Laugh if you want, but the prospect of having to do a piece on a team that has just lost 4 in a row, including a must win at home, is not exciting. In fact, it's down right depressing.

Lucky for me, and the Mountain, the Aztecs dug deep and pulled out a victory when they needed it the most. Did the team play harder because I was in the building, tough to say, but if I had to guess my answered would be "of course". What else could it have been?

You're welcome Aztec Nation.

The Brew Crew

During the mid-2000's I had the pleasure of being a part of one of the most dominate coed adult kickball teams in the land, the San Diego Shockers. In word...we were champions. As it so happened, some of my fellow champions also played on a softball team in the winter. In a word...they were not champions, but they certainly seemed to have a lot of fun.

Fast forward 6 years and I am proud to say I have finally become a member of the Brew Crew softball team...albeit on a trial basis. We had our first game on Tuesday and after years of waiting on the sidelines, I admit it, I was a little nervous. I was however able to take solace in the fact that I was the 1991 JV baseball Most Improved Player at Coronado High School...unfortunately 1991 was more then 20 years ago now.

My stat line? 0-2 with 2 pop outs, zero put outs, and no assists.

Looks like someone is on track for the 2012 PB Softball League Most Improved Player Award.

Namaste

So I just discovered this new fade from the Far East, it's called yoga...pronounced with a soft "J". Apparently you just stretch...for an extended period of time. It's wild.

On a serious note, yoga is something I have been intrigued by for years and tonight I finally took my first class. It was something called "Intro to Heated Power Yoga" and it was tough.

First of all it was set in a heated room, which does not bode well for whoever got to use the rented yoga mat after me. I'm the kind of guy that can work up a lather in a walk-in fridge, put me in a heated room doing the warrior pose and look out.

Second of all, though I consider myself athletic and pretty limber (hello ladies), these yoga posses are not the kind of body movements I was used to. More then once I could feel my muscles start to shake.

Finally, I did not wear the right kind of shirt. My theory was I should wear something loose fitting and non-restrictive. Makes pretty good sense, right? Not necessarily. Every time I did a "downward dog" I was breathing right into my shirt. My hot, sweaty, humid shirt. It was like trying to breathe through a wet towel (again, hello ladies).

Bottom line I loved it and can't wait to go again tomorrow!

What's Up Doc?

Sometimes too many words can take away from the impact of a particular picture. I think this is one of those times.

So with that I will simply say, "Enjoy".