Memorial Day became a great opportunity to hit famed Little Creek Golf Course. Here's the lowdown:

The good - Don't let the clunky, rusty appearance fool you, tack on the $1.25 pull-cart rental fee every time and you'll play an extremely leisure round of golf.
The bad - Most courses have sand traps next to the greens, but Li'l Crick figures sand on the putting surface would be a greater challenge. I have to agree with them.
The ugly - Pop cannot be purchased in the clubhouse or on the course for less than $1. Taking a water bottle is essential.

SportsCenter highlight - Mark out-driving the green on the 93 yard, par 3 16th. He teed off with his putter.

My final tally - 0 birdies, 4 pars, 8 bogeys; final score 80 (21 over par). I consider zero scores higher than 6 to be my greatest achievement of the outing.

Labels: Little Creek

The rash of celebrity athlete sightings continues...

We all read about Todd's encounter with Darwin Walker earlier this month on Todd-tastic. Meeting an Eagle DT is always huge, and Darwin impressed TK mightily.

Now, I hear about Chris Kochansky's sighting of future hall-of-fame soft-tosser Greg Maddux in Chicago:

"We saw a Cubs game last Friday - froze our butts off. Monday we did some shopping, and went to a Nike store that had over 3 floors. We walk in and sitting there is none other than Greg Maddux getting sneaks. I basically start hyperventilating... Telling Amy who this guy is. I chickened out over asking for an autograph or telling him how Yuck greatly needed him to keep pitching well. I regret it now, but it was cool."

It seems like anytime you have an opportunity to communicate directly with one of your fantasy players, you should take advantage. Maybe feel him out for any discomfort he might be having in his throwing arm. Maybe give him a little pep-talk and reassure him that he's on your personal "do not cut" list. Maybe just thank him for turning out to be such a great value pick.

But I think Chris actually played this one right. A few years ago at Eagles Training Camp, I witnessed this awkward exchange:

Some kid: "Hey, David Akers... you were awesome on my fantasy team last year."
Akers looks and smiles.
Some kid: "You scored alot for me after my starting kicker got hurt."
Akers: "You mean you picked me as a backup?"
No response.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this rash of sightings started last summer when Flood and I saw Chantel Tremitiere at Popeye's. Or maybe it was when Mark saw Jevon Kearse in a restaurant. Or maybe it was Kochansky's first celeb-sighting, Theo Ratliff (he has a web site - not a good thing in this case) at an airport?

The least interesting American Idol season has finally ended. Taylor Hicks will go down in history as the only gray-haired champion. Good for him... he's okay. But overall, I just couldn't get into this season as much as the last few.

Nevertheless, there was a party. Here's a rundown of some of the highlights of the Bender's AI Finale Party:

• Tamyra Gray makes her 32nd special guest appearance on AI by working the crowds.
• Daughtry and some other dudes... I know I'm supposed to get excited because their from York and all, but what's good about these Live fellas?
• Mark's Berman-esque Taylor "Braxton" Hicks nickname takes life as he sings with Toni Braxton.
• The Brokenote Cowboys put on a pretty good show, out-performing the likes of Meatloaf and Toni Braxton for sure.
• Welcome to the party soon-to-be SusCom Idol Pool winner Sean Kirby.
• Prince's performance is strange... 10 minutes prior to the ending of the show, no Idol sharing the stage, singing something new nobody knows. Thumbs down to the obvious self-promo and alleged ego trip.
• Easy, Mark - it's just Hasselhoff!
• "We're proud of you Taylor Hicks." - MJ

Next up: What will Chris Daughtry do?

Labels: AI, tape-delayed blog, tv

Everything everyone needs to know about my new job at The Institute...

• Gotta like the title - Internet Marketing Specialist
• Mary J Blige would appreciate my extension - 411
• Having a trash can is extremely convenient
• CampusPortal could save me from a lot of "I can check with a programmer on that."
• This monitor is huge

Labels: work

• Smooth Jazz 92.7
  I recently discovered this station while reprogramming my car stereo. I like their blend of true jazz tracks and pop songs with jazz influence. Plus they had a Chill Hour last night - "chill" is a more electronic genre of jazz and I always like themed radio programming.
  » web site
  
  
• Trutech DVD Recorder
  I picked this up a few weeks ago so that I could transfer the movies I stored on my DVR to DVD. I could then clear the recorded movies off my DVR and load up some more before I lost my free movie channels. For $99, I figured if I successfully transferred 20 DVDs, it would already have paid for itself. Well, I'm getting close to 20 and have found the recorder to be fairly easy to use. The Trutech namebrand is prevalent at Target.
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• Dr. Pepper Berries & Cream
  The Dr. never disappoints. The original DP flavor may never be topped, but the Berries & Cream version is a more versatile can - one my wife and I can both agree on.
  » web site
  
  
• The Ellen Degeneres Show
  The past few week's rare exposure to daytime TV hasn't done much for me, but I must admit that the Ellen Degeneres Show is pretty entertaining.
  » web site
  

Labels: vouchers

It's taken me awhile to get re-connected, but below are some photos of our new little bundle. First though, in true Blah, Blah Blog form, some stats:

Mallory Elizabeth
Birthday: Wednesday, May 3rd at 1:32 AM
Weight: 8 lbs., 12 oz.
Length: 21"
Most common nickname thus far: Mally Lizzy

Labels: Mallory