I'm just under halfway through the month-long work/vacation trip to Georgia, Louisiana, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Dominican Republic. Writing to you today from good old Monroe, Louisiana. In case you are unfamiliar with Monroe, we are the proud home of Delta Air Lines and apparently one of the first locations for a Coca Cola bottling plant (hey Atlanta, why are you stealing all our shit?).
I used to be somewhat skeptical of the Delta claim, as it is not uncommon for people around here to claim grandiose things about the town that aren't particularly true, but are really tough to check out. For instance, once a friend told me, "The Chick-Fil-A in West Monroe is the first free-standing Chick-Fil-A ever." Really? Is that verifiable? And if so, does anyone really care? But this Delta thing, I had always maintained a healthy amount of doubt. Even Wikipedia never fully sated my skepticism (not sure why, because it certainly is clear now). But what really knocked it home was one of those in-flight TVs on a Delta plane from Amsterdam to Mumbai. After having watched Crazy Stupid Love and not particularly caring to endure a screening of I Don't Know How She Does It, I clicked through the little on-screen menus and found a "History" section. And sure enough, right in front of me, the History section explained that Delta used to be a crop-dusting outfit-cum passenger airline from Monroe, Louisiana that relocated to Atlanta in 1942. So all those "Atlanta's hometown airline for 70 years" signs in Atlanta? Yeah, they're a muted nod to good old Monroe, who was kind enough to put the momentum behind Delta. (Also, you know the Delta pre-flight safety video, where the CEO, Richard Anderson, says "Delta had a great founder, C.E. Woolman, and I get to sit at his desk everyday"? Disregarding the uninentional comedy factor of that statement, your boy Woolman? Yeah, he's a Monroyan.) Good work, Monroe!
Anyway, enough about Monroe. Today's plan: close any unclosed items for work, lunch with Dad at the country club, after which we tee off at 1pm. Demoed out a different driver yesterday--the Titleist 910 D3 with 445cc head. Set it to a slightly draw bias (B2, for those of you that care), and sent some screamers down the fairways--shortest drive was 240 into the wind, longest was 270 with the wind with nice, easy swings. Totally took the right-hand rough out of play for me, which is generally where I spend most of my time on the course. On the front 9, hit 6 of 7 fairways and was a respectable 6-over through 8 holes before the storm came in and forced us to an early exit. I'll give it another shot today and let 'er loose on the back 9--maybe I can clear 300 with a good swing and some bounce.
And speaking of the storm, we caught a few heavy gusts of wind as we scurried from the 8th green into the clubhouse. The sky looked ominous and scary, but we're not talking Katrina here. Lost both my scorecard and towel to the wind, a small price to pay for getting to safety quickly. Little did I know that just two miles away, things were MUCH worse. On the way home from the course, we saw 8 downed oak trees, one of which unfortunately fell smack onto our garage. Just blitzed it. Lost some sections of roof and even had oak tree branches puncture the stucco siding of the garage. Also, unbeknownst to us, the wind was so strong that it blew open both the front and back doors of the house and set off the security alarm. Cops called the house, and because no one was home, no one answered. They scrambled to the location and saw the doors just swinging wildly in the wind and papers flying about inside. A bit of a scary moment for Mom, who arrived shortly thereafter, having to walk the cops through the house in search of burglars. Alas, all is well--insurance is on it, the tree crew already cleared the mess from the roof and just has to haul it away now, and reconstruction will be under way in a couple of days. Two hours after the tree fell, the garage was tarped and the tree branches all laid neatly alongside the driveway. That's expediency. (Hint hint, Connecticut Power and Light!)
Ok, lunchtime now. More later.
I used to be somewhat skeptical of the Delta claim, as it is not uncommon for people around here to claim grandiose things about the town that aren't particularly true, but are really tough to check out. For instance, once a friend told me, "The Chick-Fil-A in West Monroe is the first free-standing Chick-Fil-A ever." Really? Is that verifiable? And if so, does anyone really care? But this Delta thing, I had always maintained a healthy amount of doubt. Even Wikipedia never fully sated my skepticism (not sure why, because it certainly is clear now). But what really knocked it home was one of those in-flight TVs on a Delta plane from Amsterdam to Mumbai. After having watched Crazy Stupid Love and not particularly caring to endure a screening of I Don't Know How She Does It, I clicked through the little on-screen menus and found a "History" section. And sure enough, right in front of me, the History section explained that Delta used to be a crop-dusting outfit-cum passenger airline from Monroe, Louisiana that relocated to Atlanta in 1942. So all those "Atlanta's hometown airline for 70 years" signs in Atlanta? Yeah, they're a muted nod to good old Monroe, who was kind enough to put the momentum behind Delta. (Also, you know the Delta pre-flight safety video, where the CEO, Richard Anderson, says "Delta had a great founder, C.E. Woolman, and I get to sit at his desk everyday"? Disregarding the uninentional comedy factor of that statement, your boy Woolman? Yeah, he's a Monroyan.) Good work, Monroe!
Anyway, enough about Monroe. Today's plan: close any unclosed items for work, lunch with Dad at the country club, after which we tee off at 1pm. Demoed out a different driver yesterday--the Titleist 910 D3 with 445cc head. Set it to a slightly draw bias (B2, for those of you that care), and sent some screamers down the fairways--shortest drive was 240 into the wind, longest was 270 with the wind with nice, easy swings. Totally took the right-hand rough out of play for me, which is generally where I spend most of my time on the course. On the front 9, hit 6 of 7 fairways and was a respectable 6-over through 8 holes before the storm came in and forced us to an early exit. I'll give it another shot today and let 'er loose on the back 9--maybe I can clear 300 with a good swing and some bounce.
And speaking of the storm, we caught a few heavy gusts of wind as we scurried from the 8th green into the clubhouse. The sky looked ominous and scary, but we're not talking Katrina here. Lost both my scorecard and towel to the wind, a small price to pay for getting to safety quickly. Little did I know that just two miles away, things were MUCH worse. On the way home from the course, we saw 8 downed oak trees, one of which unfortunately fell smack onto our garage. Just blitzed it. Lost some sections of roof and even had oak tree branches puncture the stucco siding of the garage. Also, unbeknownst to us, the wind was so strong that it blew open both the front and back doors of the house and set off the security alarm. Cops called the house, and because no one was home, no one answered. They scrambled to the location and saw the doors just swinging wildly in the wind and papers flying about inside. A bit of a scary moment for Mom, who arrived shortly thereafter, having to walk the cops through the house in search of burglars. Alas, all is well--insurance is on it, the tree crew already cleared the mess from the roof and just has to haul it away now, and reconstruction will be under way in a couple of days. Two hours after the tree fell, the garage was tarped and the tree branches all laid neatly alongside the driveway. That's expediency. (Hint hint, Connecticut Power and Light!)
Ok, lunchtime now. More later.
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