Weekly Update, July 26, 2021

Howdy internet friend and welcome back to this weekly update post. It’s been a few weeks since I did a real update, so I figured I would take some time today on my lunch break to write up some stuff for y’all. So without any further adieu, let’s get into it.

Black Lives Matter

As most weeks, there isn’t much I want to say on this subject except to reiterate that Black Lives Matter! There is no place in American society for racists and bigots! If you are reading this (and a palm colored American person) do yourself and our greater society a favor and follow more Black content creators and really listen to what they have to say. That’s all I have to say on the subject for this week.

Politics

I think it’s hilarious that the Republicans are not changing their tune and after a year and a half decided that they should be encouraging their people to get vaccinated. Is it that nine out of ten people dying from COVID since the vaccine has been made widely available are Republicans part of the issue? Perhaps. Is it that they are concerned that a class action lawsuit might be filed against them by the families of people who died from the virus? Could be!

Ultimately I don’t really care why they are finally getting around to encouraging people to get vaccinated, but it’s about time. I wish that Joe Biden would get more serious about using some of his Presidential power of the bully pulpit to get more change, but I’m also not surprised at all.

Anyway, I don’t really want to say any more about politics, so let’s move on quickly.

Professional

Back to work after taking time off to deal with personal issues. It has been difficult but I’ve got some techniques for dealing with stress and they are somewhat working.

I don’t really want to share much more about work, so I won’t.

Personal

It rained last night, the hardest that it has rained since we moved to the desert. My wife and I were awoken at 3:30 this morning with a flash flood warning on our phones, and it rained off and on until early afternoon. Growing up in Washington state, I love the rain and it was delightful to be able to get out and get rained on while taking Bruiser for his morning walk.

Now Bruiser is a desert dog and he does not like the rain! He doesn’t really like any weather besides sunshine and he was in a mood all day. Eventually he calmed down but he had to take an early nap for bad behavior.

While some readers may not like what I am going to share next, I also wanted to say that I played my first round of golf in three years yesterday. My wife encouraged me to buy some clubs (she said I’ve been talking about it as long as we’ve been married) and I finally bit the bullet and got some clubs. I invested in some used Ping irons, a new Ping putter, a used Taylor Made driver and a bag.

I try to play municipal courses as much as I can, and I found one nearby that only charged $30 for a round, which included renting a driving cart. It was an “executive course” – which is code for a par 3 only course. I got turned around and skipped a few holes by accident the first time I played, but they only charge $8 to replay the course, so I ended up playing 36 holes.

I am proud to report that I shot an 18 over 54, which is bogey golf for those in the know. Having not played for years, I think this is a tremendous result! I had four pars and four double bogeys and I don’t think I had one three putt green.

Now for those who have known me for a long time, they know that I played two years for my high school golf team and played my first round when I was only twelve years old. I shot the best round of my life when I was playing five days a week at least nine holes, and I shot an 86 at a tournament when I got to play a varsity match. However, anything over a double bogey we would pick up (because you can’t score points for anything over a double) and so that wasn’t a “real” score, since it included pickups.

I am firmly of the opinion that not only should golf be a sport that is open to everyone (and hence why I play mostly municipal courses), but also that it is 100% mental and only 10% physical. I should not have been able to go out and shoot bogey golf without playing for three years if the physical part of the game was that important. Instead, I spent most of the money on the new clubs on an excellent putter and my entire game was made on the green.

There is much more I could say about golf and I agree that there are probably too many courses. I think some of them should be converted to more sustainable purposes, but I also think that cities should be able to maintain municipal courses for people who want to play but don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for a round.

Anyway, so between skateboarding and golf I had myself an interesting weekend. I wonder how many other people both skated and golfed in the same weekend?

People to follow (on Twitter)

Bernice King - The daughter of Dr. King

Martin Luther King III - The son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

@cetolyne - great friend, awesome programmer, super helpful!

@blenster - cool maker, very positive, well worth a follow!

Marley - first place champ! Marley is one of the best on Twitter!

Null Coder - another awesome person to keep an eye on!

@EvilMog - creator of the DC MUD and an interesting person to follow.

TrakoZG – an internet friend who tweets excellent things

Sofia Rune – brilliant scholar who shares things that are both insightful and valuable

MildThrone – up and comer with a small following for now, but I think this account is on the rise!

Johnny B. Ill – Brilliant musician with wisdom to share for those smart enough to listen

Tiffany Collins - This is my wife, who is making cool art and is well worth a follow!

My music project - This is my music project, Dude and the missing rugs (I know that I link to it below, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to list it twice).

One last thing – for the music and art lovers

If you want to find what I am doing on other platforms, this is my TikTok here is my YouTube channel and here is the music project Twitter. Finally, if you want to listen to the full songs that I’ve recorded, you can check out my Spotify or search most music platforms for, “Dude and the missing rugs.”

My wife is making incredible art, and this is her website where you can buy her prints/stickers, here is her TikTok she is also on Instagram and Twitter. Finally, if you like her art you can support her on Patreon as well!

That’s it for this week, internet friend! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week.

Cheers!

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