I'm Not At All Surprised

Lewes/Rehoboth area restaurant Crabby Dick's is on a web site's list of 40 Unfortunately Named Restaurants. It is posted along with places named things like "My Dung" and "The Chocolate Log." The web site it's on -- Manofest -- is not particularly mature.

Locals will recall the rolling brouhaha this sign caused a few years ago. When Crabby Dick's first opened on Route One about halfway between Lewes and Rehoboth, the sign often featured messages like this. The thinly veiled double entendre (single entendre?) messages generated complaints in the local media from parents who didn't want to have to explain them to car-loads of kids.

The sign eventually settled down to milder messaging a while back. But folks still remember.

And a hat-tip for spotting this, by the way, to the excellent The Grammar Vandal blog.

Tenth Golf Game of 2009

I couldn't help myself. I went out Tuesday evening for a late practice game at Old Landing. I had the urge and so I decided to start after dinner and see how far I could get.

I was pleased with the front nine. I worked at not over-swinging and hitting for the yardage I can get instead of the yardage I wish I could get. I granted myself a few Mulligans -- do-overs -- so take this with a grain of salt, but I did the first nine in 46. I see a pace here that could get me under 100.

The second nine did not go quite as well. It was starting to get dark and the flies and mosquitoes were out in force. As a result, I was rushing my shots, trying to move along and out from the swarms. My scores reflect it.

I had to stop after the 16th and 39 strokes. Had scored under 15 on the last two holes (a par 4 and a par 5), I'd have broken 100. That's possible. But not that night. It was too dark and the bugs were too many.

That's not what chased me off the course, though. I stopped when the sprinklers came on.

Ninth Golf Game of 2009

Andy and I played a round yesterday at Ocean Resorts Golf Club near Ocean Pines, Maryland.

Our two families planned to meet in the afternoon in North Bethany for beach, dinner and fireworks with my parents and several of my siblings, so the two of us planned a mid-morning tee-time that would have us on the beach sometime after lunch.

Like the roads around here on summer holiday week-ends, the course was crowded with tourists -- an unfortunate number of them non-golfers. We made the mistake of not starting off ahead of a foursome who had an earlier tee time, but who had offered to let us go. A mistake of southern courtliness, I expect.

This group was also behind other slow groups, so I can't fault them. And, we eventually played through on the back nine. But the slow pace of play gave us too much time to think between shots, which can be a bad thing.

I lost my fight to break 100 on the front nine, which featured some poorly played holes. On the second, I got cocky and tried to force a driver shot of the tee. On the fourth, which is a devilish hole that fools you, I tried to be too perfect and splashed my second, wasting a decent tee shot. And I tried to get too cute coming out of the sand a penalty and a drop later; I rocketed the ball instead clear across the green and into two-foot tall wasteland grass. That's another and another one-stroke penalty.

On the other hand, I managed a par on the seventh hole. It turns out that a decent, straight drive, and clean approach shot, and careful putting will pay off.

The back nine was somewhat better. I had a birdie on the sixteenth; not my first-ever, but the first in a long time. Otherwise, I settled into a steady mediocrity, which is better than careening between bad and worse, as I have done in the past.

I believe in looking for positives and the positive that I take away from this game is this. In the past, I've noted that, while over-all I play poorly, I would have one or two shots the felt right and flew true and those were "the shots that keep you coming back." yesterday, I had a few holes that I played right and gave myself a chance to do well. Now I have "the holes that keep me coming back."

Sarah Palin: Quitter?

Sarah Palin has announced that she will not run for reelection as Alaska Governor. And she plans to resign from her post later this month.

There is speculation that she plans to start soon on a run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Oh joy.

There's a quote in the NPR story on this that caught my eye.

She said she had decided against running for re-election as Alaska's governor, and believed it was best to leave office even though she had two years left to her term.

"Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she said.

Excuse me? Weren't you elected to do a job? Isn't that job to run the government of the state of Alaska? For four years?

Leaving now, with the job not finished, seems like cheating the people of Alaska; leaving them behind to seek something better for yourself. That's not cool.

Maybe if you were closer to the end of your term, or we were actually in the 2012 cycle and you were clearly going to be the nominee. This early, though, just seems selfish.

R.I.P., Shoe the Cat

A week ago, we said a final goodbye to our older cat, Shoe. He was about 14 years old and his kidneys were failing. We tried to rally him for several weeks, but he gave us clear signals last week that it was time to rest. So we let him go, though it was a terrible moment for all of us.

Shoe came to us when Colleen was about three. We were newly moved into our bay Breeze Estates house, with our first cat, Patches. He was handed off to us by a co-worker of Karen's; a small, thin, black kitten with a large patch of white on his breast. He had already been named by Colleen, based on his having climbed into a shoe when first arriving in the house.

Shoe was a rambunctious kitten. He liked to race around, roll over, play-fight and cuddle. He was long and lean, with an extra long tail. As he aged he kept his playful nature, but more often settled into an elegant repose -- stretched-out long but with head held high and his two front paws crossed gracefully in front of him.

His name changed over the years. "Shoe" became "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo" when the girls were very young. That was shortened for a while to "Shooby." later, we started calling him "Shubert" and eventually "Bert," which is the name he used until the end.

Bert was a great buddy. He greeted us in the morning with a happy purr. He was a great lap-cat, often making his way from person to person in the evening to make sure that he shared time with each of us. He insisted on play-fighting with me each morning before I left for work. his signature move was to head-butt your foot, pressing his head into the top of your foot and rolling forward over the foot and into the "rub my belly" pose.

I should say something about Bert's purr. I have never heard a more hearty purr. At times we worried that he might choke on it. He always seemed to be purring.

We're honored to have spent part of our lives with him. Thank you, Shoe. Sleep well.

Half-Year Books-Read Update

I'm using a site called GoodReads to track my reading this year. At the halfway point of the year, I can report that I have read thirty books so far this year. I'm about half-way through number thirty-one. Twenty-seven of the thirty-one books have been library books. I have purchased four.

Looking back at last year at this time, I see that my pace of reading is almost the same. On June 30 last year I had finished thirty-one books and the ration of library books to purchased books was exactly the same.

I guess I'm predictable.

What's Next? Space?

One of the great things about my little city of Lewes is that it is home to a University of Delaware research campus. It features a constantly renewing population of marine scientists from all over the world. That adds an international spice to the town.

When we moved to Lewes, that campus was The College of Marine Studies -- "CMS." At some point, that got changed and they started calling it The College of Marine and Earth Studies --"CMES." I never could get used to that name and so I didn't use it.

As it turns out, it was prescient of me to not learn "CMES" because CMS/CMES is now The College of Earth, Ocean and Environment -- "CEOE."

How do we pronounce that? See-oh-eee?

A Time of Change

Delaware's fiscal year ends tonight. Many things will be different in my state, and in the state government in which I serve, tomorrow.

We hope that there will be a balanced budget to start the next fiscal year. The legislature had about a potential deficit of about $800,000,000 to overcome. At best, that means I get a pay cut starting tomorrow.

At least partly because of that planned pay cut, lots of people are retiring from state government. And given the budget situation, not all of them will be fully replaced. so it will be a different workforce.

Among those stepping down is the head of the Delaware State Police. Col. Thomas F. Mac Leish was going to have to retire in August anyway. There's an age limit for the State Police.

His replacement -- acting replacement, anyway -- is Major Joe Papili. I have gotten to know Joe Papili somewhat over the last few years. He seems like a good man.

I realize that, while I myself am not rising to the highest levels of state government (thank goodness), many of the people now stepping into leadership are my contemporaries and in some cases friends and acquaintances. It gives me a whole new view of things.

Eighth Golf Game of 2009

I took Friday off this past week to head upstate and join in the hopefully (but generally not) annual Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) golf outing. My friend Sandy Schenck organizes these. They usually involve DGS staff, University of Delaware staff and professors, and assorted Delaware GIS people. Like me.

We played at Delcastle Golf course, which is in New Castle County near Milltown. It's a nice course, with lots of elevation changes and some challenging holes.

I played badly. I'd like to blame the heat, which was respectable. I'd like to blame the elevation changes, which are a real change for me. I might even try to blame the skills of my fellow players, who were dauntingly good. But the bottom line is I played badly.

There were several foursomes. I was playing with a group of GIS-geeks -- joining Pat Susi, the GIS chief for New Castle County, Brian Smith, with a company called GeoDecisions, and John Laznik, a GIS pro at UD. Pat is a solid player; we played together in early May. I've also played with Brian, a very good golfer, at the first of the DGS outings I joined, in 2006. John Laznik was almost a surprise. I had heard he can play, but was not aware of just how far he can crush a drive. Very impressive.

It is true, though no excuse, that I was pressing too hard to try to play like these guys. I was over swinging and making foolish club choices. I stuck with my driver, with less success than in other recent games. And I was trying to do too much with my hybrids; trying to make up ground. My best holes were those where I played within myself and accepted that I wasn't going to hit it as far as any of my partners. Hit it straight, be patient, and take what you can.

So I ended up with a poor 119. Pat broke 100 with a 94. Brian carded an 89 and John an 84.

Seventh Golf Game of 2009 (Second Half)

I had the evening off from my Chautauqua gig tonight so I headed over to Old Landing Golf Course after work to finish the game that was rained-out on Saturday. The two sets of nine holes couldn't have been more different. Saturday was wet and raining and threatening thunder. This evening there were clouds, but clear air and eventually evening sunshine. And my play was different too.

Saturday, I played poorly and shot a 59 on the front 9. Nothing was working well. The weather may have played a role, but I doubt it.

This evening, despite a poor beginning (how many putts can one man putt?), I started to hit the ball the way I want to hit it. I still had some putting problems, and the occasionally topping of the ball on the fairway, but I managed a 49, which is one of my best-ever 9-hole scores.

I scored one par and five bogeys. I have a goal to try to average 18 bogeys someday. If I can do that on a par 72 course, I'd have a 90. And I'm trying to break 100, so...

I was particularly pleased this evening with the 12th hole at Old Landing. This is a long, blind drive, par-5 that curls left from the tee box, over a slight rise and across a stagnant creek to a sloping green. It plays about 500 yards from the white tees.

Usually, I struggle along in the rough, through the trees, and often into the creek before carding something nasty on this hole. Not tonight.

I've reached an accord with my driver. When I hit it well, the ball goes straight, if not hugely long. Tonight I placed my drive about halfway along and in the center of the 12th fairway. My second shot laid-up well to the top of the slope that leads down to the water. Then I put a 7-iron about 10 feet from the pin (the photo above right was the result).

Had I made that putt, I'd have scored a birdie (not my first, but they are still rare). I was too cautious though, and came up short. But I was happy with the par.

Over-all, I think tonight I had more of the shots that keep you coming back than those that make you hang your head. I like that.