Today, the final round of competition, was brutally hot. I was playing with the same South African guys that I played with the previous day because we started right around the same scores and finished with about the same scores. Today went well, but towards the end my concentration faltered and I finished up with a +7 80. Overall, my scores were 77-78-75-80 for +18 through 72 holes. This week my "natural rate" was a bogey every four holes, which isnt bad for a graduate student that doesnt play much, but I know I left at least a dozen shots out on the course. Most of these shots left out there were putts between 3 and 12 feet that a better putter would have sunk.
In case your interested, here's the breakdown of how I saw my game this week:
driving: approximately 5 drivers hit in 4 rounds of competition two of which went in water on hole 10, approximately 45 3 woods hit. no balls lost with 3w, approximately 96% success rate of 3 woods including punch shots under wind, draws, fades, and high shots when wind directly behind. A/A-
irons: lack of command of distance control, 52 degree gap wedge habitually going left, few excellent shots but yes a couple, some semi skulled, some fairly fat, some left but more right and short. B
chipping: thank you Dave Merkow for your tips, excellent chips all four rounds. none skulled, none fat. good direction control. distance control good to quite good. many excellent chips to two feet or less. A/A-
bunkers: made one birdie from fairway bunker, 100% successful splash rate, mostly excellent bunker shots, several near hole outs. A+
putting: goodness gracious, er badness gracious. bad distance control. poor command of putter head. some pulls, countless pushes, several back to back three putts, lack of confidence, lack of green reading aptitude. day 2 made 0 putts >3 feet C-
course management: gave up distance for accuracy all week with success. occasionally short sided on irons, always confirmed wind direction, speed, exact yardage. A-/A
attitude: only one upset moment on course in four days, on day 3 where the driver on 10 went into water, knew as soon as i hit it. fair amount of mini successes from a sunk putt or two, solid chips, bunker shots. kept level head at all times, no screaming, yelling, cursing, throwing of clubs, etc. A
overall: B+/B+/A-
USA team 1 took home the gold, led by David Merkow who won the individual gold with a stellar (understatement) 6 under round of 67 including a missed 6 footer for birdie on 18 when the victory was already clinched. David is someone who plays with pride for himself and for his country and my hat is off to him.
My dad was also one of the winners of the day, taking home the gold medal for the USA Masters team who beat out several other teams. I am thrilled for him. He was pretty satisfied I think, but was also completely wiped out by the scorching weather.
Happy New Years to all my friends and family, and blog readers. 2007 was a memorable year in many ways, and life is great. Fantastic even.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Competition Day 3
Woke up early and got on the bus to the course. Started on time and played with two South African gentleman. Started out -1 though 4, but had a bad stretch where I was +5 from holes 5 through 10. After that, I regained my concentration and finished strongly at -2 for my last 8. Shot a 39-36 75, (-1 on the backside after bogeying 10 because I hit my only driver in the water again) and I was pleased to improve my score. I had two three putts in a row on the front side which threw me off, but I take pride in the fact that I am level headed on the golf course and don't let mistakes like these affect me negatively though I am trying to use my mini successes on the course to build positive momentum.
Tomorrow is the final round of competition. I expect USA Team A and USA Masters to take gold, though the open team medals are still anybody's game. Will it be South Africa, USA, or Argentina taking home gold? I am excited for my dad and some good friends of mine who not only are great people, but are also in line for some nice hardware.
Tomorrow is the final round of competition. I expect USA Team A and USA Masters to take gold, though the open team medals are still anybody's game. Will it be South Africa, USA, or Argentina taking home gold? I am excited for my dad and some good friends of mine who not only are great people, but are also in line for some nice hardware.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Competition Day 2 + Los Olivos + Alejandra
Apologies for not posting yesterday, but I really wasn't feeling it and I wasnt around the computer very much, apart from it being the day of rest. The bus left from the hotel at 9:30 and headed toward Hacoaj (pronounced hock-oh-ugh) It had poured earlier in the morning and we were stuck with a 90 minute delay.
Finally, we teed off in the same groups as yesterday. I'm a day removed now from the round so I can talk about it now without complaining, whining and whatnot. I shot a 78, one worse than the day previous, but in my mind I played better in the second round. 77-78 places me at a respectablesque +9 through 36. I hit great drives (all three woods besides one driver which went kerplunk in the water on a 320 yard par 4 with water crossing the fairway) and also was very happy with the chips I was hitting. I couldn't score because I didnt make a putt outside of 3 feet, and I really wish I was exaggerating about that one. I also finished the round with three bogeys and an especially disappointing bogey on par 5 18 where I hit two great 3 woods landing me pin high in two. I then hit a chip which turned out unlucky when it hit the upslope of a drain and didnt release down the hill towards the hole...then I had my only three putt of the day. Something tells me most readers of this blog aren't here for the golf stats so I'll leave it there.
We waited another two.five hours for the bus to leave finally, getting out of la municipalidad del tigre at 9. On the way back we picked up the Argentine youth soccer team and I was speaking spanish with all the kids and it really was another great time- I traded our yellow golf shirt for a blue and white striped Argentine AFA football jersey. I feel sort of privileged that I can communicate with another 500 million people apart from english speakers.
7 rolled around and it was time to call Ale. She had given me 15 numbers starting with 011 and 12 more and well they didnt work. Tried the 12 without the 011 and those didnt work. There was another 1 after the 011 so i figured maybe she was drunk and put the extra one in by mistake. That didnt work. At this point my friends were like well she clearly gave you the wrong number. But i was steadfast. I emailed her from Josh's Blackberry and told her the issue. Then Aiden was like hey man Argentine numbers are 8 numbers why dont you just try those. So i tried em and boom she picks up. We chatted for a bit, and unfortunately she said that dinner would be tough tonite because she was working late and was pretty tired, but that hopefully we could get together before she goes home to Mar de Plata.
We got back to the hotel and it was a quick turn around for dinner as we didnt get back until about 10. I asked the concierge about a good restaurant and was told about and were planning to go to La Caballista which probably would have been pretty good but one of the guys on my team decided that he would make the decision for us and we headed out to an Italian restaurant of which I can not and don't want to remember the name.
We got there, sat down, and the lights went out. Took a little while to order drinks and then another 20-30 minutes for them to come, and we were a pinprick away from getting up and changing restaurants. In fact, the esteemed restaurant picker of the night was the first to say we should get up and leave. I was trying to figure out the right word for that, but I'm having trouble. If you know it, please leave a comment. So finally we ordered- I ordered a mixed salad and then the bife de chorizo (strangely the only steak dish on the menu). The salad wasnt all bad, but the beef was just grotesque. I ordered it al punto (medium rare) and it came well done to past well done. The meat was shitty quality and I was forced to cut it with a butterknife. At this point, I wasnt too happy because honestly it was a wasted night, but oh well.
Got back upstairs to my room after some chilling in the lobby at 2:30 and noticed a message. Dad says: be downstairs at 8 for golf at Buenos Aires Country Club. Hmm, ok.
I get a call from Dad at 7:30 saying be downstairs in 20, and 5 minutes later a call from Dad's buddy Bruce Z. saying heya! im early, come down now please. Went down and we headed over to the Hilton in a private car to pick up Dad. On the way we found at that BACC was having a tournament so no playing there. Instead we played at Los Olivos, a pretty nice course as well. Long story short, I had a 77 with a near hole in one on the 210 yard 17th against the with with the yes 1 iron. And i did make the birdie.
Highlight of the round was using the computer in the clubhouse, checking my email and boom...email from Ale. She says I work at Unicenter and you can come visit if you'd like. So we got back from Los Olivos, passing Unicenter on the way . Got back, to the hotel and hung out with some golfers downstairs in the lobby and had a burger. Then Billy shows up and super quickly give him the run down. About 86 seconds later we're in a cab to Unicenter. (pause for laughter........)
We get to Unicenter ($12 USD for the cab, would have been at least 40 or 50 in NYC) passing one of the coolest street sculptures in the world. It is a fantasically enormous metal flower whose petals are solar powered and open completely during the day and close at night. I'm really going to try and get a picture of it, it's damn cool. Unicenter is a three story mall much like any mall in the US, only its way out of the tourist area and not a person speaks english.
Billy and I looked at the information booth for the Samsung store and couldnt find it. Then we visited a bunch of kiosks thinking she's be at one of those cell phone stores in the middle of the halls. Everyone said there was no Samsung store. Hmm. Only slightly discouraged, we went to the public phones, called her up, and Ale picked up sounding pretty excited that we were there. Turns out she works at a store called Gregoria (or something like that) a big store selling TV's, refrigerators, air conditioners, and the like. Immediately we see her, and wow Skokie, Illinois do I wish I took a picture of her...but it would have been bad I was told by Billy as this is her place of business. Well she was wearing some extremely tight pants with the Samsung logo down one of the legs. Enough said about that. She was happy to see us, we chatted for a while.
Soon the other employees began to take notice as here in the store of 50 something normal looking people is this fantastically gorgeous Alejandra talking to two gringos. Her manager came over, and we chatted with him for a little. Some customers came over for a little and we walked around the store a little. I'd go into the conversation, but this post is getting pretty long and it's getting late. Billy asked if he could give a gift of his really awesome Argentina Futbol Maccabiah shirt but she said that in Argentina it is bad form to give someone a gift that was already a gift to you. We said we needed to do a little shopping and we'd be back. She seemed sad to hear that.
We went to Adidas where Billy bought Ale a very similar shirt to the one that he tried to give her (only Adidas and not Maccabiah). Then I went to a casual men's store and billy went to get an ice cream. Wow it's strange being the only english speaker in a store. You get stares because your spanish your spanish is gringuesque, and whatnot. Oh yeah and my tan line. I'll post that pic, lol.
We went back to Ale where Billy gave her the gift and she was very very thankful although she said that gifts are not important to her. Billy told me to tell her that it's not about the gift, its about something to remember him by. Honestly, these two are perfect for each other, and I hope they keep in touch, though to be honest, the odds are kind of against her having a boyfriend, their living in different continents/hemispheres, not speaking the language/being able to communicate without me etc. Anyhoo, we are all going to keep in touch.
Billy and I took a cab back and had dinner at the McDonalds Wifi place, La Chacrita (see previous blog). Dinner was good and we headed back to the hotel. Several hours have passed since then and nothing happened that is either interesting or that I can blog about so there you have it. This is what happens when I skip a day of blogging in Buenos Aires Maccabiah 2007, loooong post.
On a side note, I'd like to think my devoted readership for their visits, if it weren't for you I would still blog, but your visits push me a little harder to make it sort of interesting (the blogs not my time here). Whether youre visiting from Westchester, California, Florida, New Mexico (sup max), Georgia, Pakistan, Portugal, Turkey, Portugal, even my buddy from Kentucky, I thank you for your visits.
DS
Finally, we teed off in the same groups as yesterday. I'm a day removed now from the round so I can talk about it now without complaining, whining and whatnot. I shot a 78, one worse than the day previous, but in my mind I played better in the second round. 77-78 places me at a respectablesque +9 through 36. I hit great drives (all three woods besides one driver which went kerplunk in the water on a 320 yard par 4 with water crossing the fairway) and also was very happy with the chips I was hitting. I couldn't score because I didnt make a putt outside of 3 feet, and I really wish I was exaggerating about that one. I also finished the round with three bogeys and an especially disappointing bogey on par 5 18 where I hit two great 3 woods landing me pin high in two. I then hit a chip which turned out unlucky when it hit the upslope of a drain and didnt release down the hill towards the hole...then I had my only three putt of the day. Something tells me most readers of this blog aren't here for the golf stats so I'll leave it there.
We waited another two.five hours for the bus to leave finally, getting out of la municipalidad del tigre at 9. On the way back we picked up the Argentine youth soccer team and I was speaking spanish with all the kids and it really was another great time- I traded our yellow golf shirt for a blue and white striped Argentine AFA football jersey. I feel sort of privileged that I can communicate with another 500 million people apart from english speakers.
7 rolled around and it was time to call Ale. She had given me 15 numbers starting with 011 and 12 more and well they didnt work. Tried the 12 without the 011 and those didnt work. There was another 1 after the 011 so i figured maybe she was drunk and put the extra one in by mistake. That didnt work. At this point my friends were like well she clearly gave you the wrong number. But i was steadfast. I emailed her from Josh's Blackberry and told her the issue. Then Aiden was like hey man Argentine numbers are 8 numbers why dont you just try those. So i tried em and boom she picks up. We chatted for a bit, and unfortunately she said that dinner would be tough tonite because she was working late and was pretty tired, but that hopefully we could get together before she goes home to Mar de Plata.
We got back to the hotel and it was a quick turn around for dinner as we didnt get back until about 10. I asked the concierge about a good restaurant and was told about and were planning to go to La Caballista which probably would have been pretty good but one of the guys on my team decided that he would make the decision for us and we headed out to an Italian restaurant of which I can not and don't want to remember the name.
We got there, sat down, and the lights went out. Took a little while to order drinks and then another 20-30 minutes for them to come, and we were a pinprick away from getting up and changing restaurants. In fact, the esteemed restaurant picker of the night was the first to say we should get up and leave. I was trying to figure out the right word for that, but I'm having trouble. If you know it, please leave a comment. So finally we ordered- I ordered a mixed salad and then the bife de chorizo (strangely the only steak dish on the menu). The salad wasnt all bad, but the beef was just grotesque. I ordered it al punto (medium rare) and it came well done to past well done. The meat was shitty quality and I was forced to cut it with a butterknife. At this point, I wasnt too happy because honestly it was a wasted night, but oh well.
Got back upstairs to my room after some chilling in the lobby at 2:30 and noticed a message. Dad says: be downstairs at 8 for golf at Buenos Aires Country Club. Hmm, ok.
I get a call from Dad at 7:30 saying be downstairs in 20, and 5 minutes later a call from Dad's buddy Bruce Z. saying heya! im early, come down now please. Went down and we headed over to the Hilton in a private car to pick up Dad. On the way we found at that BACC was having a tournament so no playing there. Instead we played at Los Olivos, a pretty nice course as well. Long story short, I had a 77 with a near hole in one on the 210 yard 17th against the with with the yes 1 iron. And i did make the birdie.
Highlight of the round was using the computer in the clubhouse, checking my email and boom...email from Ale. She says I work at Unicenter and you can come visit if you'd like. So we got back from Los Olivos, passing Unicenter on the way . Got back, to the hotel and hung out with some golfers downstairs in the lobby and had a burger. Then Billy shows up and super quickly give him the run down. About 86 seconds later we're in a cab to Unicenter. (pause for laughter........)
We get to Unicenter ($12 USD for the cab, would have been at least 40 or 50 in NYC) passing one of the coolest street sculptures in the world. It is a fantasically enormous metal flower whose petals are solar powered and open completely during the day and close at night. I'm really going to try and get a picture of it, it's damn cool. Unicenter is a three story mall much like any mall in the US, only its way out of the tourist area and not a person speaks english.
Billy and I looked at the information booth for the Samsung store and couldnt find it. Then we visited a bunch of kiosks thinking she's be at one of those cell phone stores in the middle of the halls. Everyone said there was no Samsung store. Hmm. Only slightly discouraged, we went to the public phones, called her up, and Ale picked up sounding pretty excited that we were there. Turns out she works at a store called Gregoria (or something like that) a big store selling TV's, refrigerators, air conditioners, and the like. Immediately we see her, and wow Skokie, Illinois do I wish I took a picture of her...but it would have been bad I was told by Billy as this is her place of business. Well she was wearing some extremely tight pants with the Samsung logo down one of the legs. Enough said about that. She was happy to see us, we chatted for a while.
Soon the other employees began to take notice as here in the store of 50 something normal looking people is this fantastically gorgeous Alejandra talking to two gringos. Her manager came over, and we chatted with him for a little. Some customers came over for a little and we walked around the store a little. I'd go into the conversation, but this post is getting pretty long and it's getting late. Billy asked if he could give a gift of his really awesome Argentina Futbol Maccabiah shirt but she said that in Argentina it is bad form to give someone a gift that was already a gift to you. We said we needed to do a little shopping and we'd be back. She seemed sad to hear that.
We went to Adidas where Billy bought Ale a very similar shirt to the one that he tried to give her (only Adidas and not Maccabiah). Then I went to a casual men's store and billy went to get an ice cream. Wow it's strange being the only english speaker in a store. You get stares because your spanish your spanish is gringuesque, and whatnot. Oh yeah and my tan line. I'll post that pic, lol.
We went back to Ale where Billy gave her the gift and she was very very thankful although she said that gifts are not important to her. Billy told me to tell her that it's not about the gift, its about something to remember him by. Honestly, these two are perfect for each other, and I hope they keep in touch, though to be honest, the odds are kind of against her having a boyfriend, their living in different continents/hemispheres, not speaking the language/being able to communicate without me etc. Anyhoo, we are all going to keep in touch.
Billy and I took a cab back and had dinner at the McDonalds Wifi place, La Chacrita (see previous blog). Dinner was good and we headed back to the hotel. Several hours have passed since then and nothing happened that is either interesting or that I can blog about so there you have it. This is what happens when I skip a day of blogging in Buenos Aires Maccabiah 2007, loooong post.
On a side note, I'd like to think my devoted readership for their visits, if it weren't for you I would still blog, but your visits push me a little harder to make it sort of interesting (the blogs not my time here). Whether youre visiting from Westchester, California, Florida, New Mexico (sup max), Georgia, Pakistan, Portugal, Turkey, Portugal, even my buddy from Kentucky, I thank you for your visits.
DS
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Gift of Gab
I'll start this post by saying I am rather shy...not around my friends, but around strangers I don't just start conversations, or walk up to people and start talking on the street, in elevators, or at restaurants, but my buddy Billy sure does. While it's definitely an ice breaker being at the Sheraton where people from Maccabiah crowd the lobby and elevators, Billy is ruthless in his pursuit to meet everyone and give everyone an impression, Maccabi athletes and locals alike.
What does it take to go up to random people and not get blown off, a blank stare, or worse? Lots of things. It's knowing the right thing to say, being funny, finding any connection and exploiting it in a positive way, and it doesnt hurt to have a friendly looking face too.
Tonight, Josh, Brian, Bill and I went towards the pier to grab a bite to eat at any steakhouse. We went out at around 9. Two and a half hours later, we had not eaten a single bite. It wasnt that we couldn't find a restaurant, but that while walking down the pier, passing a concept bar called something like RadioBar, Bill found a group that he wanted to chat up. Josh, Brian, and I were all hungry at this point and looking for the right restaurant for some steak, but Bill went up to this group and started talking.
I wasn't in the mood to be tremendously outgoing (as usual) with these strangers while Billy was doing his stop n'chat, maybe partially because I 90% of the time wouldnt appreciate someone coming up to me while I was out with my friends/coworkers, but also because I'm from New York (think Borat on the train). So I grabbed a seat on a nearby bench and waited for his latest stop and chat to end so we could eat.
Ten minutes or so passed, and the water was beginning to look really boring, and Billy was controlling the group as usual, so I decided to head over to see just what was up. Keep in mind, Billy speaks about 20 words or Spanish, doesn't drink or smoke, and this is a group of young Spanish speakers doing tequila shots at an outside table. So finally, I go over and Bill tells me to pull up a chair. Bill found a lady named Alejandra, totally stunning, (will post pic tomorrow) by far the most beautiful Argentine we have encountered. Billy was making the group laugh with his attempts at Spanish and were chatting a little in their limited English.
Billy starts asking me to translate a few questions for him, and it was off to the races. Bill asked me questions to translate to Alejandra, and she would answer and I would translate back. Questions included: what do you do for a living, (studing to be an interior designer and working for Samsung) what is most important to her in a man, (family and a lifelong commitment) would your mom like me (dont remember the answer to that one), want to come visit me in Florida (little early for that one), etc. As a single Floridian, Bill was most supremely interested in this chica, and I was playing the role of the wingman (en espanol no less) like a seasoned professional about to earn a top tier year end bonus.
Soon, the conversation shifted from Billy's directly asking me questions to translate, to a conversation between Alejandra and me. More specifically, about the Argentine and Alejandra's perceptions of Americans and the differences between her and their image of us as Americans and what she believes her country to be in contrast, all while Billy looked on and occasionally asked a question. I will tell you, it was probably the most interesting conversation I have ever had. I now better understand foreigners' perceptions of Americans.
Alejandra's perception of Americans is that we are a cold people, who distrust our neighbors, whose population is deeply divided and discriminatory, whose children shoot up schools, whose army murders innocent people, whose government uses terrorist attacks to invade another country. These are true-ish are they not? I tried to explain to her that while these may be somewhat truthful, no good news about America is reported on Argentine news, and American movies are just a caricature of true society. The Americans I know are just the opposite and I did my best with my near fluency to articulate these points. Rather deep concepts right? Believe me it's not easy for a gringo like me with just a few years of Spanish under my belt to convey these ideas, but somehow I managed. I explained further that America is made up of estados azules y estados rojos, liberals and conservatives, coastal states, and interior states. That we and so so many believe that Bush is an idiot who has mangled our country's reputation and set us back decades with respect to being known as good people, liberators, and respected the world over for being a country of immigrants who coexist peacefully.
Between the political talk, I was also wingmanning for Billy, helping him build a potential relationship with this gorgeous Argentine. Was she interested? Well, in a word, yes. She was very interested actually. Oh yeah, but she has a boyfriend. And she felt the need to explain to me about their relationship. That he is a womanizer (she showed a pic of him...yes pretty good looking) and goes with other girls, probably tonight in fact, while Alejandra was out with her coworkers (promoters for Samsung cell phones). I explained to her (and I was getting very confident with my speaking at this point) that if her bf is a womanizer today, he will be tomorrow, next month, and next year, and that someone like her with incredible looks and a great down to earth personality deserves someone of her level...Billy of course! I swear to you, I saw tears in her eyes like she knew inside what I was saying was true (and believe me it is). She even said she is going to break up with him very soon. Truth.
Meanwhile, Josh and Brian were buying shots and drinking with the jefe (boss), supervisor, and 4 other co-workers (2 girls 2 guys) (also realize this would never ever happen ever never ever in America that the boss, supervisor, and co workers in a 1:1 girl/guy ratio would go out and drink together) while Billy and I kept chatting with Alejandra. Oh and we were still famished.
Finally, after two hours, we exchanged email and phone numbers and we are having dinner and going out with them all tomorrow at 10PM! Alejandra tells me she is working until 8 but to call her at 7, and we will all go out at 10. Now this is the point in the blog where I tell the love of my life Sara that I was 10,000,000% only wingmanning for Billy, though I was definitely not complaining about the view, and while this girl has goddess like looks, my focus was tonight and will be tomorrow to get my friend Billy a wife, shiksa may she be. We took some pictures, and it was off to the steakhouse where we had a good but fairly unmemorable meal. Boy am I excited for tomorrow's experiences. Oh and if you skipped this blog because it's a bit long, now is the time to go back to where you started skipping and read on.
DS
What does it take to go up to random people and not get blown off, a blank stare, or worse? Lots of things. It's knowing the right thing to say, being funny, finding any connection and exploiting it in a positive way, and it doesnt hurt to have a friendly looking face too.
Tonight, Josh, Brian, Bill and I went towards the pier to grab a bite to eat at any steakhouse. We went out at around 9. Two and a half hours later, we had not eaten a single bite. It wasnt that we couldn't find a restaurant, but that while walking down the pier, passing a concept bar called something like RadioBar, Bill found a group that he wanted to chat up. Josh, Brian, and I were all hungry at this point and looking for the right restaurant for some steak, but Bill went up to this group and started talking.
I wasn't in the mood to be tremendously outgoing (as usual) with these strangers while Billy was doing his stop n'chat, maybe partially because I 90% of the time wouldnt appreciate someone coming up to me while I was out with my friends/coworkers, but also because I'm from New York (think Borat on the train). So I grabbed a seat on a nearby bench and waited for his latest stop and chat to end so we could eat.
Ten minutes or so passed, and the water was beginning to look really boring, and Billy was controlling the group as usual, so I decided to head over to see just what was up. Keep in mind, Billy speaks about 20 words or Spanish, doesn't drink or smoke, and this is a group of young Spanish speakers doing tequila shots at an outside table. So finally, I go over and Bill tells me to pull up a chair. Bill found a lady named Alejandra, totally stunning, (will post pic tomorrow) by far the most beautiful Argentine we have encountered. Billy was making the group laugh with his attempts at Spanish and were chatting a little in their limited English.
Billy starts asking me to translate a few questions for him, and it was off to the races. Bill asked me questions to translate to Alejandra, and she would answer and I would translate back. Questions included: what do you do for a living, (studing to be an interior designer and working for Samsung) what is most important to her in a man, (family and a lifelong commitment) would your mom like me (dont remember the answer to that one), want to come visit me in Florida (little early for that one), etc. As a single Floridian, Bill was most supremely interested in this chica, and I was playing the role of the wingman (en espanol no less) like a seasoned professional about to earn a top tier year end bonus.
Soon, the conversation shifted from Billy's directly asking me questions to translate, to a conversation between Alejandra and me. More specifically, about the Argentine and Alejandra's perceptions of Americans and the differences between her and their image of us as Americans and what she believes her country to be in contrast, all while Billy looked on and occasionally asked a question. I will tell you, it was probably the most interesting conversation I have ever had. I now better understand foreigners' perceptions of Americans.
Alejandra's perception of Americans is that we are a cold people, who distrust our neighbors, whose population is deeply divided and discriminatory, whose children shoot up schools, whose army murders innocent people, whose government uses terrorist attacks to invade another country. These are true-ish are they not? I tried to explain to her that while these may be somewhat truthful, no good news about America is reported on Argentine news, and American movies are just a caricature of true society. The Americans I know are just the opposite and I did my best with my near fluency to articulate these points. Rather deep concepts right? Believe me it's not easy for a gringo like me with just a few years of Spanish under my belt to convey these ideas, but somehow I managed. I explained further that America is made up of estados azules y estados rojos, liberals and conservatives, coastal states, and interior states. That we and so so many believe that Bush is an idiot who has mangled our country's reputation and set us back decades with respect to being known as good people, liberators, and respected the world over for being a country of immigrants who coexist peacefully.
Between the political talk, I was also wingmanning for Billy, helping him build a potential relationship with this gorgeous Argentine. Was she interested? Well, in a word, yes. She was very interested actually. Oh yeah, but she has a boyfriend. And she felt the need to explain to me about their relationship. That he is a womanizer (she showed a pic of him...yes pretty good looking) and goes with other girls, probably tonight in fact, while Alejandra was out with her coworkers (promoters for Samsung cell phones). I explained to her (and I was getting very confident with my speaking at this point) that if her bf is a womanizer today, he will be tomorrow, next month, and next year, and that someone like her with incredible looks and a great down to earth personality deserves someone of her level...Billy of course! I swear to you, I saw tears in her eyes like she knew inside what I was saying was true (and believe me it is). She even said she is going to break up with him very soon. Truth.
Meanwhile, Josh and Brian were buying shots and drinking with the jefe (boss), supervisor, and 4 other co-workers (2 girls 2 guys) (also realize this would never ever happen ever never ever in America that the boss, supervisor, and co workers in a 1:1 girl/guy ratio would go out and drink together) while Billy and I kept chatting with Alejandra. Oh and we were still famished.
Finally, after two hours, we exchanged email and phone numbers and we are having dinner and going out with them all tomorrow at 10PM! Alejandra tells me she is working until 8 but to call her at 7, and we will all go out at 10. Now this is the point in the blog where I tell the love of my life Sara that I was 10,000,000% only wingmanning for Billy, though I was definitely not complaining about the view, and while this girl has goddess like looks, my focus was tonight and will be tomorrow to get my friend Billy a wife, shiksa may she be. We took some pictures, and it was off to the steakhouse where we had a good but fairly unmemorable meal. Boy am I excited for tomorrow's experiences. Oh and if you skipped this blog because it's a bit long, now is the time to go back to where you started skipping and read on.
DS
Competition Day 1
Today was the first day of competition at the par 73, 6800 yard Hacoaj Campo de Golf, and overall I was pleased with how things went. I slept for a little less than three hours and on the bus ride to the course. My entire body was hurting until I drank an espresso which did the trick and woke me up.
I played with Josh from team USA and Michael Barnett, the Jewish national champion from South Africa, an excellent player. I started on the 11th hole and was quickly four over par after double bogeying the 11th and bogeying two of the next three holes. I began to get it together though as I focused on thinking my way around the course, hitting solid shots, and on chipping and putting.
I only pulled the driver out three times, and didnt touch the butterknife (1 iron). I did three putt either two or three times during the day unfortunately, but sunk two fifteen footers for birdie, one on the last hole in front of both jefes. The greens are turbo slow and have very little break despite some moderate undulation. On the greens at this course it's about hitting the putts hard enough to reach the hole- more difficult than it seems. Once you get the speed right, most putts are drainable. I ended up with a +4 77, keeping it even for my last 14 holes. I only know half of the scores from the open U.S. golfers since the rest of the team started in the afternoon. It's mildly frustrating having been placed on the clearly weaker of the two U.S. teams, but I remind myself I didn't come to Argentina for the hardware.
Tomorrow I start at 12:13 off of hole 1 and I'm hoping to play the same game as I did today with conservative fairway woods off of the tee and solid iron play. The key to scoring as always will be the chipping and putting as it could be the difference between a 70 and an 80. Tonight, I'm going out to the pier with some team members to enjoy another Argentine steak while I'm still here.
I'm attaching two videos- first, as promised, the horse sledding experience at the estancia, and second, the torch lighting from the opening ceremony last night. As always, thanks for reading.
I played with Josh from team USA and Michael Barnett, the Jewish national champion from South Africa, an excellent player. I started on the 11th hole and was quickly four over par after double bogeying the 11th and bogeying two of the next three holes. I began to get it together though as I focused on thinking my way around the course, hitting solid shots, and on chipping and putting.
I only pulled the driver out three times, and didnt touch the butterknife (1 iron). I did three putt either two or three times during the day unfortunately, but sunk two fifteen footers for birdie, one on the last hole in front of both jefes. The greens are turbo slow and have very little break despite some moderate undulation. On the greens at this course it's about hitting the putts hard enough to reach the hole- more difficult than it seems. Once you get the speed right, most putts are drainable. I ended up with a +4 77, keeping it even for my last 14 holes. I only know half of the scores from the open U.S. golfers since the rest of the team started in the afternoon. It's mildly frustrating having been placed on the clearly weaker of the two U.S. teams, but I remind myself I didn't come to Argentina for the hardware.
Tomorrow I start at 12:13 off of hole 1 and I'm hoping to play the same game as I did today with conservative fairway woods off of the tee and solid iron play. The key to scoring as always will be the chipping and putting as it could be the difference between a 70 and an 80. Tonight, I'm going out to the pier with some team members to enjoy another Argentine steak while I'm still here.
I'm attaching two videos- first, as promised, the horse sledding experience at the estancia, and second, the torch lighting from the opening ceremony last night. As always, thanks for reading.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Opening Ceremony
Yes, it was epic. It's nearly one and the bus leaves tomorrow for the first day of competition at 6AM. Quick run through of the day up until the opening ceremonies. Woke up very early, had breakfast, went to the course for last practice round, started out double, bogey, double, finished out the round pretty much even.
Got back to the hotel with two hours before we had to leave for the opening ceremonies. Showered, changed into our super baller outfits, went to the conference room and got ready for the trek to the stadium, where 20,000 spectators were
waiting for the arrival of the countries.
We got to the stadium via another heavy police and helicopter (two this time) escort and we for the first time got to see all of the countries' delegations at once. From my memory, the teams were: USA, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, South Africa, and some others. The absolute highlight of the day was going around meeting all the different people from the countries and trading our gear for theirs. There were pins, hats, jackets, shirts, shorts, bags, etc. that people were trading as we were mixing and mingling. I ended up with a Venezuela hat and shirt, a warmup jacket from Argentina, warm up pants from Brazil, and lots and lots of pins. We took lots of pictures, met the young and old from everywhere and took lots of pictures.
Then it was time to make the entrance. We were one of the last countries to enter- Israel is first followed alphabetically by country with Argentina being last. The feeling of entering a stadium dressed in my country's uniform with 500 other athletes with tens of thousands of fans is honestly indescribable. We walked around the stadium and then waited and watched the other countries enter- Venezuela then Argentina. Then, it was some speeches by the president of the Maccabi games, an official from Argentina, and then the torch lighting ceremony.
I feel bad packing the past 6 hours' experiences into just a paragraph, but I do tee off in 6 hours and 37 minutes. Yikes. I will post video as soon as I can. After the ceremony we went back outside and traded goods some more and finally walked back towards the 50 some odd busses to take us back to the hotel. Here I am now in the hotel lobby stomach grumbling wondering if I can get a bite to eat or just forget it and try some sort of breakfast in the 10 minutes I'll have before the bus.
This post is kind of weak, but I hope the pictures will speak for themselves...
How do you spell talent?
I took these two videos while we were waiting for the bus to return to the Sheraton. Please note: both videos are the FIRST TAKE.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Thank you McDonalds Wifi
We're out at a restaurant now, and I picked up free wifi from the McDonalds across the street. I was downstairs using the internet when the junior golf team some open players came by on their way to dinner. We had the lomo (tenderloin) for 5 and papas three ways and it was absolutely fantastic.
Earlier today we played on the competition course, and I played pretty well. Had a birdie and a made a few nice putts, but I was most pleased with my irons hit directly into the 30 mph wind. I only played ten holes because the bus was leaving at 2. Tomorrow we LEAVE for the course at 6:15, and the opening ceremonies starts at 6. If the trip so far is indication, the cermonies should be epic. Epic.
On a side note, Billy Goldfarb is the man, and he predicts that the US (thanks to me) will bring home the ORO. Since this is turning into the non sequitor paragraph, I'll say that I've been practicing my Spanish like a banshee. On the golf course today, Alejandro my caddy and I chatted it up about pretty much everything and about 80% of what he said I could understand perfectly, and what I couldnt understand, I was able to ask him a question or two about what a word meant or asked him to say something in another way and we could communicate. Also, at dinner tonight, I was the only person who spoke conversational Spanish which put me in the position of table captain and head translator. Anyone who had a question asked me, and I translated, and listened, and translated back to english. And I'm speaking pretty fast too, and using subjunctive and past and future tenses!!!! Senoritas Guthrie, Naughton, Driscoll (ugh) from HM, and McCaffrey, Bolig, and Sullivan from Tulane would all be proud.
Also, today was a record for number of hits on my little blogita, with a visitor from Karachi, Pakistan and from Istanbul, Turkey. Hope everyone has been enjoying my writeups, and they should get a lot more interesting (from their already high level of interestingness) once the competition starts.
BTW, time of my life.
DS
Earlier today we played on the competition course, and I played pretty well. Had a birdie and a made a few nice putts, but I was most pleased with my irons hit directly into the 30 mph wind. I only played ten holes because the bus was leaving at 2. Tomorrow we LEAVE for the course at 6:15, and the opening ceremonies starts at 6. If the trip so far is indication, the cermonies should be epic. Epic.
On a side note, Billy Goldfarb is the man, and he predicts that the US (thanks to me) will bring home the ORO. Since this is turning into the non sequitor paragraph, I'll say that I've been practicing my Spanish like a banshee. On the golf course today, Alejandro my caddy and I chatted it up about pretty much everything and about 80% of what he said I could understand perfectly, and what I couldnt understand, I was able to ask him a question or two about what a word meant or asked him to say something in another way and we could communicate. Also, at dinner tonight, I was the only person who spoke conversational Spanish which put me in the position of table captain and head translator. Anyone who had a question asked me, and I translated, and listened, and translated back to english. And I'm speaking pretty fast too, and using subjunctive and past and future tenses!!!! Senoritas Guthrie, Naughton, Driscoll (ugh) from HM, and McCaffrey, Bolig, and Sullivan from Tulane would all be proud.
Also, today was a record for number of hits on my little blogita, with a visitor from Karachi, Pakistan and from Istanbul, Turkey. Hope everyone has been enjoying my writeups, and they should get a lot more interesting (from their already high level of interestingness) once the competition starts.
BTW, time of my life.
DS
Monday, December 24, 2007
Best Steak for the Dollar
Went to a restaurant about 4 blocks away with most of the golf team and their girlfriends/wives/friends. What a fantastic place. We got there and there were people waiting outside, and the door was locked. Yes locked. All signs pointed to fantastic food, and we were not disappointed. I had the bife lomo, or tenderloin, and it was just fantastic. Juicy, fresh, perfectly cooked, and just what the doctor ordered. I can say that it blows away Outback Steakhouse. We were a party of 14, and we ordered about 6 bottles of vino and about 20 bottles of still water. Still, with everything, it was $30 per person. WOW. Almost out of battery, so more updates soon.
Juegos Maccabeos Panamericanos Day 2
Woke up this morning at 6:30 and hustled downstairs for breakfast. I had few croissants, some Argentinian strawberry yogurt, a bit of scrambled eggs, and some fruit. I also used one of Mom’s favorite tricks and took a few pastries and croissants and wrapped them up in a napkin for later. Oh, I also had a few glasses of OJ, but was a tad disappointed that it was Minute Maid from concentrate and not fresh squeezed. Of course, fresh squeezed OJ is a hugely popular hotel breakfast item, and also a profit center. I think our FSOJ at the hotel in PBG in Florida was something like 5 bucks a pop. Imagine how much $ of FSOJ 700 Jewish athletes would go through in two weeks of breakfasts. Remember, no expense was spared in the maintaining our security, but they did skimp a bit on the breakfast amenities if you ask me…(very minor complaint).
We boarded the bus and drove the 45 minutes back to Hebraica, sans police and helicopter escort this time. Inside the compound/country club we drove a little deeper and saw some of the minor roads and houses which sort of reminded me of Scarsdale without the hills. The houses are all very nice and you can nearly taste how close knit the community is. Even the stray dogs are friendly and well mannered.
The course was a bit cow pasturesque with narrow fairways and without much undulation or character. Today I played with Raffi from California, Mike from Chicago, and a very nice lefty doctor from Boca Raton (the name will come back to me)We headed up to the 10th tee without hitting any balls and set off. The secretary/starter told us (at least I remember his telling us as do Raffi and Mike, and the good doctor) that all yardages were in meters, meaning you multiply distances by 1.0973 or so give or take to get the true distance.
Anyway, perfect drive down the middle on the 10th hole par 5 and I was 195 supposed meters away, or 215 yards or so, with a stiff tailwind. Out comes the 4 iron, which usually flies 195 or so, but launched in the air with this wind should go about 21. Boy did I pure that 4 iron, and I was tracking towards the green, towards the pin, and well kept rising. The ball came to rest about 30 yards over the green and somehow I made par. I rationalized this anomaly by saying uh yeah well you know the ball travels farther in the summer. Two holes later, a similar thing happened where my eight iron from 135 “units” flew the green by 25 yards. Later in the day we learned all distances were in yards, lol. The course was pretty unmemorable overall and we actually only played 10 holes because we were leaving to go to the estancia at noon and I wanted to practice a bit more on the chipping and putting green.
I was still having issues with the distances on my chips so I decided to annoy Mike (+3 handicap out of Muirfield Village) and pepper him with a few questions about what he thinks about over the ball…do you look at your target landing spot or the hole? Etc. A few minutes later, Dave Merkow (if you remember the bagel spread reference from a few days ago) came up to me and basically showed me what was up…what I was doing wrong, and what was the right thing to do.
In most simple terms I think, I was hooding my 56 ̊(de-lofting the club by moving my hands way forward to keep the ball closer to the ground) which caused a much steeper angle of attack towards the ground. To avoid chunking the ball I was not allowing my wrists to break after the swing. This kept me from chunking lots of chips, but also made it really difficult to control the distance. Dave came over and showed me what I was doing and also the fix. Twenty minutes later, I was satisfied that my chipping woes were for the most part over. Usually you’d have to pay hundreds for this kind of lesson.
We re-boarded the bus and headed towards the estancia where the USA team would spend the afternoon. Let me tell you, what a unique and amazing time we had. First, we went to an area between the horse um oval? and a covered performance/music area where they served us pre-appetigres. There was so much food, you’ll realize why these were pre-appetigres. For us, they had out some nice cheese cubes, olives, and some other light snack items, as well as a soft drink booth. I did try this Argentinian soda that tasted exactly like thin cough medicine.
I walked over to the horse area where the gauchos were giving us a cool show. They played this game where two gauchos would each ride his horse a.f.a.p. towards this frame of a soccer goal off of the top of which hung a string with a silver dollar sized hollow ring dangling. The object was to sort of spear the ring with a sword looking thing while riding side by side at full speed. They were successful most of the time. Then it was time to do a version of cowboy water skiing. The gaucho hooked up a cowskin toboggan behind the horse and then took off dragging the brave one behind. Yes, I did try this, and yes Dad took video.
Next we were driven in tractor drawn carriage (most had horse drawn carriages) towards the eating area. Wow what a spread there was there. These were the real appetizers. I had some beets, a hard-boiled egg, marinated mushrooms, this interesting eggplant and sun-dried tomato sandwich, corn, and lots of other stuff. After the second round of appetizers, some men came around with different kinds of beef hanging off of swords which was fantiggitytastic. My favorite was the classic roasted beef which was pretty indescribably delicious. There was also “pasillo” which was an interesting skirt like cut, sweetbreads, chicken, and other cuts, most of which I did not try because I was so full at this point…I didn’t even have dessert. I’ll also mention the roast beef came with skin…mmm good.
After the meal, the group of golfers went outside and chatted amongst ourselves and with a soccer playing Lindsay Lohan-ish look-alike. Billy G, 33, on the open team, and owner of jmerica.com and jcards.com, was in absolutely top form making everyone laugh again and again, and again. I was honestly taking mental notes at how to absolutely control a group. Impressive Billy, impressive. Anyway, after this we boarded the bus to go back to the hotel.
This blog is so long because I’m writing it in my room where I’m not connected to the internet. I’m going to run downstairs in 20 minutes and hop on the intarweb and post this as well as some pictures and hopefully a video. Gotta budget time smartly with only 30 minutes of web time per day. Tonight, we are bypassing the Maccabiah group and going out as a team to a steakhouse (methinks) and a bar. (me at a bar?) Can stranger things happen? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update. Thanks for reading (although if you didn’t read every word, I don’t blame you one bit)
DS
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Juegos Maccabeos Panamericanos Day 1
Wow where do I begin? Firstly, I am having a fantastic time. The games are a cultural, social, and athletic experience (in that order) and I am really soaking it up. The golf team is a group of talented and super people and I am truly honored to be a part.
Let's back up though. In Miami, I found my seat around row 35E which put me in the middle seat of the middle row (2-5-2 configuration) which definitely wasn't ideal but i was sitting next to a very nice guy Kenny from Atlanta and we chatted for a while. As we jetted into the night, I was eager to press the little button and recline my seat a bit...but then tap tap..."yeah you cant do that" says a teenage swimmer. Blink. Blink. "Um," I say, "The woman in front of me reclined her seat and I'm gonna do it do I dont understand the problem." The conversation ended there, but not 30 seconds later I felt a push. How nice, my seat was back unreclined. Okay, no problem...press the button...re-recline...and i get pushed back forward again. Finally, I turned around, and through gritted teeth I said, "Listen bud we can play this game all night, but I'm going to be comfortable and that's just what's going to happen." I really think I was as nice as I could have been. Anyway, no major airplane news besides that.
Ten hours later, we entered a misty, cool (68 degs) Buenos Aires. Dad and I picked up our bags and found our way to where we needed to go. We boarded different busses as Dad is basically on a completely different trip and staying in a different hotel. We had to wait another hour because "for security reasons" (a very popular phrase today) the busses had to leave together.
An hour later we left with a full police escort. Maybe you don't understand exactly what I mean. We left the airport with 3 packed tour busses. In the front was a police car with machine guns drawn and sticking out the windows left and right. Between each bus was a police car, as well as behind, and we were also flanked by motorcycle cops whose job it was to stop and clear traffic from all around us. Believe me, we were stared at. Oh, I forgot to mention, A HELICOPTER was also following us, and would go to about 500 feet and in front of us and then down to literally 50 feet hovering protecting us from possible ambushes. Believe me, no expense was spared for the protection of these invading jewish warriors.
An hour later, we were at Hebraica, a community/country club with 700 houses, tennis courts, golf courses, gyms, etc. where lunch was waiting. We ate delicious meat empanadas and bubbly Argentinian water. After lunch, we went to orientation where we saw a video and listened to the director tell us a few things about what to do and what not to do. After this, we had some dessert, and it was time to go back to the Sheraton.
Our bags were offloaded and we filled out a form at the hotel to get our keys. I went upstairs, (btw i am being a bit terse tonight because i only have 30 minutes of free internet each day) unpacked, took a shower, and it was time to go to the cruise! A five minute bus ride brought us to the marina where we boarded the boat and cruised around the harbor for a few hours. A fun band of a tuba, accordion, guitar and drummer was playing Jewish favorites and good time was had by all.
Tomorrow we leave to go back to Hebraica at 7AM to practice and play. More updates to come.
Let's back up though. In Miami, I found my seat around row 35E which put me in the middle seat of the middle row (2-5-2 configuration) which definitely wasn't ideal but i was sitting next to a very nice guy Kenny from Atlanta and we chatted for a while. As we jetted into the night, I was eager to press the little button and recline my seat a bit...but then tap tap..."yeah you cant do that" says a teenage swimmer. Blink. Blink. "Um," I say, "The woman in front of me reclined her seat and I'm gonna do it do I dont understand the problem." The conversation ended there, but not 30 seconds later I felt a push. How nice, my seat was back unreclined. Okay, no problem...press the button...re-recline...and i get pushed back forward again. Finally, I turned around, and through gritted teeth I said, "Listen bud we can play this game all night, but I'm going to be comfortable and that's just what's going to happen." I really think I was as nice as I could have been. Anyway, no major airplane news besides that.
Ten hours later, we entered a misty, cool (68 degs) Buenos Aires. Dad and I picked up our bags and found our way to where we needed to go. We boarded different busses as Dad is basically on a completely different trip and staying in a different hotel. We had to wait another hour because "for security reasons" (a very popular phrase today) the busses had to leave together.
An hour later we left with a full police escort. Maybe you don't understand exactly what I mean. We left the airport with 3 packed tour busses. In the front was a police car with machine guns drawn and sticking out the windows left and right. Between each bus was a police car, as well as behind, and we were also flanked by motorcycle cops whose job it was to stop and clear traffic from all around us. Believe me, we were stared at. Oh, I forgot to mention, A HELICOPTER was also following us, and would go to about 500 feet and in front of us and then down to literally 50 feet hovering protecting us from possible ambushes. Believe me, no expense was spared for the protection of these invading jewish warriors.
An hour later, we were at Hebraica, a community/country club with 700 houses, tennis courts, golf courses, gyms, etc. where lunch was waiting. We ate delicious meat empanadas and bubbly Argentinian water. After lunch, we went to orientation where we saw a video and listened to the director tell us a few things about what to do and what not to do. After this, we had some dessert, and it was time to go back to the Sheraton.
Our bags were offloaded and we filled out a form at the hotel to get our keys. I went upstairs, (btw i am being a bit terse tonight because i only have 30 minutes of free internet each day) unpacked, took a shower, and it was time to go to the cruise! A five minute bus ride brought us to the marina where we boarded the boat and cruised around the harbor for a few hours. A fun band of a tuba, accordion, guitar and drummer was playing Jewish favorites and good time was had by all.
Tomorrow we leave to go back to Hebraica at 7AM to practice and play. More updates to come.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Next stop Buenos Aires
Where to start? I'm here sitting with Dad at gate E11 waiting for a few more hours until boarding. It's been a stressful last few hours, but I believe i'll get to that in a few paragraphs.
We woke up, ate breakfast and headed to the PGA National course just a few minutes from the hotel where we met some more teammates and got onto the Squire course- the weakest of the five courses on the property. I was paired with three other guys on the open team, every one of whom is a very strong player.
Mark, one of the players on the team from Chicago, has a brother Jon who graduated Tulane business same year as me (we even had a few classes together), a work colleague who went to Horace Mann, and a relative who is a member of Metropolis Country Club. The triple whammy!
After a shaky start where I doubled the second hole by chipping from greenside over the green and into the bunker and then blasting from just 12 feet from the pin to 35 feet on the green, I started to come around. I hit a 500 yard par 5 in two and birdied after a fairly prodigious 250 yard three wood. Nothing too exciting after that besides closing the round with 10 straight pars and shooting a 76. Overall, my drives and irons were much better today, but my chipping is still pretty poor and I need to improve quickly.
We finished up the round and hustled back to the hotel to shower, change, pack and get the heck out of there before they charged us for another night. At this task, we succeeded, and it was time to head towards the airport for our 11:20 flight. Needless to say we had a little time to kill. First stop was Outback Steakhouse where I made it a perfect 3/3 with respect to steak dinners in Florida.
Then we decided to take a pitstop in Boca Raton for the great though expensive tin of gold wrapped chocolate covered oreos meticulously laid on top little cardboard frizzlies. As we turned onto Camino Real and entered the roundabout the sends you toward the hotel, memories of family trips of old popped into my head, but sadly they didnt last.
We pulled the car up to the new guard station where an oh so very important looking security guard asked us our business. I said, "Evening good sir, we are trying to run into the gift shop for a few minutes to make a purchase or two before we continue our journey towards Miami." To this we were responded to: "sorry but if you do not have a reservation or an appointment, you cant pass. however, i am not asking you to leave the property right now, [hands me laminated card that says: for more information call this number] if you'd like to call the number on the card and make an appointment, i'll be glad to let you in." I picked my jaw up off of the floor, pulled a yooie, and headed toward the roundabout and down Camino Real towards the highway.
If my disappointment isn't apparent from the above, let me tell you- that interaction for sure disappointed me. Not that I don't believe in rules, or that rules should be followed and all that bull uh stuff, but again, what is the world coming to when one cant even approach a hotel to go to the gift shop without being told to make an appointment?? We decided that the hotel did not deserve our patronage that night, though I havent officially blacklisted it like the American Hotel in Sag Harbor. Apologies to my wonderful sister who was looking forward to these deliciousities.
So after this disappointment we continued south on 95 until we approached the airport. At this point the plan was to gas up, drop the car off and take the shuttle to the terminal. Wow was this a difficult plan to execute. We took a bunch of wrong turns and twice ended up on a dead end driving right towards a fence...nice. Finally we found a station, asked for directions and got to the right place.
Somehow in moving the bags from the rental car to the shuttle i touched or rubbed something with my left hand that did not agree. I looked down at my hand and found a few bumps...then a few more...then i was literally watching bumps appear on my left palm. These bumps are still there as I write this.
We met up with Gil Travel, got our paper tickets, waited on line, checked bags, brought the bags to security, went through personal security where Dad's nice green repair tools were almost though luckily not confiscated, and walked to the gate. Writing it now, it doesnt seem stressful, but until I sat down and played a few important tunes on my computer, my blood was boiling. Sometimes I really need to take a few deep breaths, count to ten, and just calm down.
I think readers can empathize with the turbo frustration that comes along with traveling, getting lost on dead end streets around an airport, your palm suddenly breaking out in hives, or whatever, but it is a special person methinky that can take a step back and realize the power we have over the way we feel. Frustration, anger, etc. are essentially chemical reactions. How about that- emotions are just chemicals mixing in your head? Kind of takes some of the humanity out of it doesnt it?, but looking at it in this way i think can have a positive effect- maybe reducing the time we experience the negative emotions and expanding and elongating the good ones.
Thanks for reading.
DS
We woke up, ate breakfast and headed to the PGA National course just a few minutes from the hotel where we met some more teammates and got onto the Squire course- the weakest of the five courses on the property. I was paired with three other guys on the open team, every one of whom is a very strong player.
Mark, one of the players on the team from Chicago, has a brother Jon who graduated Tulane business same year as me (we even had a few classes together), a work colleague who went to Horace Mann, and a relative who is a member of Metropolis Country Club. The triple whammy!
After a shaky start where I doubled the second hole by chipping from greenside over the green and into the bunker and then blasting from just 12 feet from the pin to 35 feet on the green, I started to come around. I hit a 500 yard par 5 in two and birdied after a fairly prodigious 250 yard three wood. Nothing too exciting after that besides closing the round with 10 straight pars and shooting a 76. Overall, my drives and irons were much better today, but my chipping is still pretty poor and I need to improve quickly.
We finished up the round and hustled back to the hotel to shower, change, pack and get the heck out of there before they charged us for another night. At this task, we succeeded, and it was time to head towards the airport for our 11:20 flight. Needless to say we had a little time to kill. First stop was Outback Steakhouse where I made it a perfect 3/3 with respect to steak dinners in Florida.
Then we decided to take a pitstop in Boca Raton for the great though expensive tin of gold wrapped chocolate covered oreos meticulously laid on top little cardboard frizzlies. As we turned onto Camino Real and entered the roundabout the sends you toward the hotel, memories of family trips of old popped into my head, but sadly they didnt last.
We pulled the car up to the new guard station where an oh so very important looking security guard asked us our business. I said, "Evening good sir, we are trying to run into the gift shop for a few minutes to make a purchase or two before we continue our journey towards Miami." To this we were responded to: "sorry but if you do not have a reservation or an appointment, you cant pass. however, i am not asking you to leave the property right now, [hands me laminated card that says: for more information call this number] if you'd like to call the number on the card and make an appointment, i'll be glad to let you in." I picked my jaw up off of the floor, pulled a yooie, and headed toward the roundabout and down Camino Real towards the highway.
If my disappointment isn't apparent from the above, let me tell you- that interaction for sure disappointed me. Not that I don't believe in rules, or that rules should be followed and all that bull uh stuff, but again, what is the world coming to when one cant even approach a hotel to go to the gift shop without being told to make an appointment?? We decided that the hotel did not deserve our patronage that night, though I havent officially blacklisted it like the American Hotel in Sag Harbor. Apologies to my wonderful sister who was looking forward to these deliciousities.
So after this disappointment we continued south on 95 until we approached the airport. At this point the plan was to gas up, drop the car off and take the shuttle to the terminal. Wow was this a difficult plan to execute. We took a bunch of wrong turns and twice ended up on a dead end driving right towards a fence...nice. Finally we found a station, asked for directions and got to the right place.
Somehow in moving the bags from the rental car to the shuttle i touched or rubbed something with my left hand that did not agree. I looked down at my hand and found a few bumps...then a few more...then i was literally watching bumps appear on my left palm. These bumps are still there as I write this.
We met up with Gil Travel, got our paper tickets, waited on line, checked bags, brought the bags to security, went through personal security where Dad's nice green repair tools were almost though luckily not confiscated, and walked to the gate. Writing it now, it doesnt seem stressful, but until I sat down and played a few important tunes on my computer, my blood was boiling. Sometimes I really need to take a few deep breaths, count to ten, and just calm down.
I think readers can empathize with the turbo frustration that comes along with traveling, getting lost on dead end streets around an airport, your palm suddenly breaking out in hives, or whatever, but it is a special person methinky that can take a step back and realize the power we have over the way we feel. Frustration, anger, etc. are essentially chemical reactions. How about that- emotions are just chemicals mixing in your head? Kind of takes some of the humanity out of it doesnt it?, but looking at it in this way i think can have a positive effect- maybe reducing the time we experience the negative emotions and expanding and elongating the good ones.
Thanks for reading.
DS
Friday, December 21, 2007
Florida Golf
Today was a good time. We woke up at 9:30 and went downstairs and had breakfast in the hotel. From there we drove 30 minutes to the golf course "The Falls" near Hypoluxo Boulevard. We hit on the range for a little while until our host showed up and said it was time for lunch...OK...two meals in two hours no problemo.
The club had such a great spread for lunch. Besides all of the jewish favorites like gefilte fish, herring, and potato salad, there was all sorts of different salads, soups, a carving station with turkey and pastrami (yum) and an omelet station. Delicious.
I'll elaborate on my teammates later but everyone was very, very nice. One fellow is a +3 handicap which basically means he could probably spread me on a bagel and eat me for breakfast on the links but i guess we will see about that soon. Another guy was all set to go to Tulane ('09) as he was moved in and everything...until Katrina hit. His parents didnt let him return and he now goes to Miami. We also have a common friend Matt who is in the MFIN program at Tulane with me.
Golf went pretty much as expected today. I havent played for two months so I was expecting to have some problems with chipping and putting which ended up being the case. I had a mid round lapse where I hit a few grounders (yikes) but was quickly reminded by Dad about tempo and things improved from there. I shot an 83 which not particularly good, but in line with my expectations for being out of practice. I expect to improve a bit for the round tomorrow, but we'll see.
After the round we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at Ibis CC with two of Dad's college roommates from Brandeis. Ibis is one of those gated housing developments with 1,800 houses, with golf courses, tennis courts, gyms etc. and is about 25% full time working people/families and 75% retirement folks, and about 50/50jewish and non-jewish.
Dinner was delicious. Started with a canapé from the chef of pistachio crusted bleu cheese with a sliced grape and cabernet sauce. then was the caesar salad, a peach sorbet cleanser, and a 20 oz bone in cowboy ribeye. Yumsters.
Tomorrow we have another round at PGA National. After that, we'll return to the hotel to shower and get ready for our midnight AA flight to Buenos Aires. I'm attaching the best pictures of the day. Enjoy.
The club had such a great spread for lunch. Besides all of the jewish favorites like gefilte fish, herring, and potato salad, there was all sorts of different salads, soups, a carving station with turkey and pastrami (yum) and an omelet station. Delicious.
I'll elaborate on my teammates later but everyone was very, very nice. One fellow is a +3 handicap which basically means he could probably spread me on a bagel and eat me for breakfast on the links but i guess we will see about that soon. Another guy was all set to go to Tulane ('09) as he was moved in and everything...until Katrina hit. His parents didnt let him return and he now goes to Miami. We also have a common friend Matt who is in the MFIN program at Tulane with me.
Golf went pretty much as expected today. I havent played for two months so I was expecting to have some problems with chipping and putting which ended up being the case. I had a mid round lapse where I hit a few grounders (yikes) but was quickly reminded by Dad about tempo and things improved from there. I shot an 83 which not particularly good, but in line with my expectations for being out of practice. I expect to improve a bit for the round tomorrow, but we'll see.
After the round we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at Ibis CC with two of Dad's college roommates from Brandeis. Ibis is one of those gated housing developments with 1,800 houses, with golf courses, tennis courts, gyms etc. and is about 25% full time working people/families and 75% retirement folks, and about 50/50jewish and non-jewish.
Dinner was delicious. Started with a canapé from the chef of pistachio crusted bleu cheese with a sliced grape and cabernet sauce. then was the caesar salad, a peach sorbet cleanser, and a 20 oz bone in cowboy ribeye. Yumsters.
Tomorrow we have another round at PGA National. After that, we'll return to the hotel to shower and get ready for our midnight AA flight to Buenos Aires. I'm attaching the best pictures of the day. Enjoy.
Roots Part Deux
Thanks to my oldest brother Andy who put this slideshow together. In the slideshow are my grandparents Eleanore and Danny, Picasso himself as well as his wife Jacqueline, and agent/wholesaler Kahnweiler. Enjoy.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
And away we go!
Greetings from JFK Airport. We have about an hour until we board so I thought I'd exercise my fingers.
First: I am long the dollar against the euro right now. Since around thanksgiving, the dollar has come back nearly 6 full pennies. To put it most simply, a month ago $100 bought you about €67, and today the same $100 will buy you about €70. If that doesnt seem like all that much of a difference- go ahead and "Buffettize it" and add 9 zeroes. I did the math for you and a billion dollars buys you nearly 28 million more euros than it did a month ago. That's a lot of croque monsiours and expensive taxi rides.
Second: This is my first time at the Delta terminal of JFK but i noticed something interesting about the bathrooms. While there used to be about a foot of space for your um feet between the floor and the bottom of the divider, now there is about 3 inches. It seems that some manager made the decision to unhinge all of the stall dividers and move them toward the floor- made obvious because of the now unused holes where the old bolts used to be before they moved the dividers down. Coincidence or is this the result of an airport terminal manager trying to keep peering eyes and shifty feet from under-stall exploration in a post Larry Craig world???
Third: We fly to Miami today where dad and I will pick up our rental and head to the hotel. We'll try to pick up a pair of white sneakers for me so I'm not the only invading jewish warrior not in white sneakers during the entrance procession (more details on this later) and a bathing suit. I declined purchasing one in the Polo Men's Store of Bloomingdales because I cant compromise my morals and pay $95 for a bathing suit...i just cant...and you shouldnt either. I figure average temperature and price of bathing suits are negatively correlated so if this analysis is correct, Miami should be a great place to pick up a suit.
I believe that is all for now. We may hit some golf balls later today before we have dinner at our perennial favorite, Outback Steakhouse. Stay tuned for updates with pictures and more easy reading commentary from sophisticate yours truly,
DSaidenberg
First: I am long the dollar against the euro right now. Since around thanksgiving, the dollar has come back nearly 6 full pennies. To put it most simply, a month ago $100 bought you about €67, and today the same $100 will buy you about €70. If that doesnt seem like all that much of a difference- go ahead and "Buffettize it" and add 9 zeroes. I did the math for you and a billion dollars buys you nearly 28 million more euros than it did a month ago. That's a lot of croque monsiours and expensive taxi rides.
Second: This is my first time at the Delta terminal of JFK but i noticed something interesting about the bathrooms. While there used to be about a foot of space for your um feet between the floor and the bottom of the divider, now there is about 3 inches. It seems that some manager made the decision to unhinge all of the stall dividers and move them toward the floor- made obvious because of the now unused holes where the old bolts used to be before they moved the dividers down. Coincidence or is this the result of an airport terminal manager trying to keep peering eyes and shifty feet from under-stall exploration in a post Larry Craig world???
Third: We fly to Miami today where dad and I will pick up our rental and head to the hotel. We'll try to pick up a pair of white sneakers for me so I'm not the only invading jewish warrior not in white sneakers during the entrance procession (more details on this later) and a bathing suit. I declined purchasing one in the Polo Men's Store of Bloomingdales because I cant compromise my morals and pay $95 for a bathing suit...i just cant...and you shouldnt either. I figure average temperature and price of bathing suits are negatively correlated so if this analysis is correct, Miami should be a great place to pick up a suit.
I believe that is all for now. We may hit some golf balls later today before we have dinner at our perennial favorite, Outback Steakhouse. Stay tuned for updates with pictures and more easy reading commentary from sophisticate yours truly,
DSaidenberg
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
You may return from running screaming from the hills
My view from the Giants game this past Sunday
My wonderful sister and I
My wonderful sister and I
Monday, December 17, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Roots
First, shout outs to the wonderful Sara, who is currently in "dub town, I land" at the guinness storehouse drinking a beer and enjoying herself. come home soon :)
It's a good day when you learn something about your history that you never knew, or never saw with your own eyes. My family (aside from the immediate ones) is very musical. My dad's father Danny and his brother Teddy were both born in Canada and spent their childhood learning to master the cello and piano. Years later, they reached the top of their respective fields, testament to the amount of talent and dedication these men had.
Fast forward to 2007, and youtube.com, and a random search of "Saidenberg," and out pops an extremely rare video from 1939 (potentially the only that survived) of my great uncle Theodore (Teddy) playing the piano and possibly one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century Emanuel Feuerman playing two songs together.
While not a classical music fanatic, I certainly appreciate the mastery and beauty behind the performance. Watching it gives me chills as when they pan over to Teddy playing the piano, I can see a part of myself nearly a half century before I was born. thanks youtube.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Rest and Relaxation
Hopefully not practicing at all for a month before the Maccabi Games will help rather than hurt, but who knows. Since I've returned to NYC, I've done lots of resting and relaxing and visiting with the family. It's great to be back home seeing everyone :)
We are in the middle of a project in the apartment. Apparently, carpets become dust magnets after fifteen years, so we are in the process of tearing up all of the carpets in the apartment followed by a redesign of my room. Who knew my room had hardwood floors under the carpet!
In the next few days (exciting i know) I'm going to be going through my room seeing what needs to be thrown out, what should be kept, and how I want to rearrange my room to a more "grown-up" layout. It should be mentioned that my room has not been fiddled with for well over a decade, so its definitely time to make some improvements. On the list is a TV (never had one in the room) and a new bigger bed (finally) and maybe some other doodads and knicknacks.
Not much poker lately, just havent been feeling it, although Ive played about 30 minutes each of the last two days to try and earn my year end bonus of about $600. Add that to the rakeback (20% of the money I pay to Full Tilt in terms of buyin fees and cash game rakes comes back to me once a month), and I should return from argentina with about $1,500 extra in the account.
Over the next few days, I plan on working on my room, meeting up with some old friends, and doing some more r+r before things get crazy down in argentina. steak anyone?
We are in the middle of a project in the apartment. Apparently, carpets become dust magnets after fifteen years, so we are in the process of tearing up all of the carpets in the apartment followed by a redesign of my room. Who knew my room had hardwood floors under the carpet!
In the next few days (exciting i know) I'm going to be going through my room seeing what needs to be thrown out, what should be kept, and how I want to rearrange my room to a more "grown-up" layout. It should be mentioned that my room has not been fiddled with for well over a decade, so its definitely time to make some improvements. On the list is a TV (never had one in the room) and a new bigger bed (finally) and maybe some other doodads and knicknacks.
Not much poker lately, just havent been feeling it, although Ive played about 30 minutes each of the last two days to try and earn my year end bonus of about $600. Add that to the rakeback (20% of the money I pay to Full Tilt in terms of buyin fees and cash game rakes comes back to me once a month), and I should return from argentina with about $1,500 extra in the account.
Over the next few days, I plan on working on my room, meeting up with some old friends, and doing some more r+r before things get crazy down in argentina. steak anyone?
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
the good thing was
The good thing about today was the fact that in every important tournament I played today (the $163 55k, the 20 rebuy, the 75 25, and a few 45 person sit and goes), I took bad beats to bust out. While its slightly painful for about 3 seconds when you lose, that "pain" is much less than having busted by making bad plays.
That being said, lots of money was left on the table tonight. I wound up taking 4th in the 20 rebuy for $1k and change, took 15th or so in the $163 for about $500, and took 4th in a $75 45 person. I also played some more 3/6 and 5/10 pl omaha today was up nicely as well. I lost in a few multis too, but to cash in 3 multitables in one night is definitely running better than expectation.
In the 55k, i hung on absoltely forever between 15k and 22k and never really got anything going. I doubled finally from 10k with QQ against AJ and several hands later got it in with JJ vs KQ and lost.
in the 20 rebuy i played some great poker for a long long time. i found myself with 375k out of about 1m with 4 left after winning a huge blind vs blind hand AA vs KQ on a Q22 board with lots of betting and raising preflop and all the money in on the flop. I blinded off and made my only bad move of the entire damn tournament by calling rubbersoul, a great player with A10 after he pushed from utg. I had called him earlier with KJ and he had Q9 and won the pot, so I figured i could be good or 50/50. yadda yadda, I lost and kept blinding down until I lost a big hand I dont recall right now and dropped all the way to 35k still with four left.
somehow i grinded back to 200k when my bust hand came up. i found qq in the bb and got all in preflop against UTG with AKo and I lost to A on flop. Better then flop than the turn or river, but it happens. All told, up about 2k on the day.
That being said, lots of money was left on the table tonight. I wound up taking 4th in the 20 rebuy for $1k and change, took 15th or so in the $163 for about $500, and took 4th in a $75 45 person. I also played some more 3/6 and 5/10 pl omaha today was up nicely as well. I lost in a few multis too, but to cash in 3 multitables in one night is definitely running better than expectation.
In the 55k, i hung on absoltely forever between 15k and 22k and never really got anything going. I doubled finally from 10k with QQ against AJ and several hands later got it in with JJ vs KQ and lost.
in the 20 rebuy i played some great poker for a long long time. i found myself with 375k out of about 1m with 4 left after winning a huge blind vs blind hand AA vs KQ on a Q22 board with lots of betting and raising preflop and all the money in on the flop. I blinded off and made my only bad move of the entire damn tournament by calling rubbersoul, a great player with A10 after he pushed from utg. I had called him earlier with KJ and he had Q9 and won the pot, so I figured i could be good or 50/50. yadda yadda, I lost and kept blinding down until I lost a big hand I dont recall right now and dropped all the way to 35k still with four left.
somehow i grinded back to 200k when my bust hand came up. i found qq in the bb and got all in preflop against UTG with AKo and I lost to A on flop. Better then flop than the turn or river, but it happens. All told, up about 2k on the day.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Introduction
Welcome to my blog. In a few weeks, I will be in Argentina competing individually and for the United States in the Pan-Am Maccabi games. Golf is my game, but I haven't exactly been practicing much because of the rigorous Master of Finance program at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Check out the schedule for exactly what is going on each day, and expect frequent updates in late December with pictures and hopefully video too. Enjoy.
I also play poker semi seriously, and if anything exciting happens in that realm, I will post it here.
Check out the schedule for exactly what is going on each day, and expect frequent updates in late December with pictures and hopefully video too. Enjoy.
I also play poker semi seriously, and if anything exciting happens in that realm, I will post it here.
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