Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like BOOM BABY! Although the Ryder Cup didn't end the way we wanted, the play was superb. American Jeff Overton spun an approach shot back into the cup and created an awesome new golfism:



That was an amazing shot. So amazing that I'll probably never pull it off. But to honor the awesomeness of this shot, I will shout "BOOM BABY" after each time I sink a putt, no matter the length or difficulty of the putt. The best part of this clip is the reaction of Overton's playing partner, Bubba Watson: "I CAN SAY IT TOO! C'MON!"

This week, I love match play golf. This head-to-head format, as used in the Ryder Cup, can be very exciting. I think a match play tournament would be a much better alternative to the current playoff system used by the PGA Tour.

This week, I don't like foggy sunglasses. We've had a preview of fall with cooler temperatures here lately. I occasionally leave my sunglasses in my car overnight. They get very cold when the temperature drops. When I put them on my warm head in the mornings, the lenses fog up! Boo, Science!

BONUS CLIP:

Here's a cool video taken by Ian Poulter of the European Ryder Cup Team. This was from the closing ceremony and he shared via his Twitter account once the Twitter ban was lifted. See? This is the kind of cool stuff we missed out on thanks to the Twitter ban.

New Blog

Many of you already know that I started doing calligraphy a few years ago.  It started off as a desire to simply know how to do it but has turned into a side business!  Over the past year I have started getting more and more requests for samples and pricing so I thought creating a blog where I could post all of my information would be a good idea. 

I am still working on adding informaiton and pictures, but for the most part it is ready to go!  The address is:
www.calligraphybyjulie.blogspot.com or you can simply click the "Calligraphy by Julie" image on the sidebar.

I have just finished up my largest job (over 600 invitations)!!!  Now that I am done... I will have a little bit more time to devote to the blog.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Alumni Weekend at Huntingdon College. Julie joined me for the annual alumni event down in Montgomery last weekend. Huntingdon has changed a lot since I graduated (for the better) and the most noticeable change is the addition of a football team. I really, really like the gameday atmosphere that the Hawks have established on campus. The stadium is directly across the street from the dorms, the alumni association had a huge tent to welcome graduates back and the field was in pristine condition. Too bad the Hawks lost to Birmingham-Southern! It was a great weekend though and I'm glad my wife was willing to go with me!

This week, I love the Royal Red Robin Burger. While in the Gump, Julie and I had lunch at Red Robin. This burger instantly caught my eye because it features a fried egg, among other wonderful toppings. I destroyed this hamburger. Not only did it taste good, it also symbolized the end of carefree eating for me. Julie and I vowed to start being more aware of our nutritional intake after the trip. Obviously, items like the Royal Red Robin Burger won't be on my menu in the future so I enjoyed every last morsel while I could. Look at that photo. I want one of these things RIGHT NOW.

This week, I don't like Tweet bans. Julie and I share a Twitter account and both get lots of enjoyment out of posting witty quotes and updates. Twitter is so, so much better than Facebook. Little known fact: professional golfers make up the largest group of athletes that use Twitter (per capita). The Ryder Cup (only the biggest golfing event other than the annual major tournaments) is this weekend and the teams have decided to ban Twitter use during the course of the event. Boooooooo! I can think of 6 Twitter users on Team USA (players and coaches). The European team features almost as many users. I guess I understand their thinking but the Ryder Cup would be a lot cooler if we could have access to behind-the-scene photos and comments.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like taking my lunch to work. Brown-bagging it every day not only saves money, it also helps me keep my sanity. I work in the Riverchase area of Birmingham. Lots of workers here. Lots of single-passenger cars here. Lots of single-passenger cars trying to go to lunch at the same time here. Plus it's still pretty hot outside. Personally, it's not worth sitting in hot car in a long line of traffic to just to go get something to eat (that probably isn't good for you).

This week, I love my debit card. Though I don't have much money to speak of, you will rarely find cash on me. From paying for gas to buying movie tickets online, all of my transactions are performed with my debit card. There's A LOT of people out there that still carry cash and part of my job is to promote my employer's debit card service. I was recently trying to think of new and creative ways to enlighten people about debit cards when it hit me: there's only so much you can say about a debit card. It's like this: if you are under the age of 32 and carry cash as opposed to a debit card, there's no hope for you and no, I would not like to supersize my order. If you are between ages of 33 and 70, you have a window of grace because you most likely grew up in a cash-only world. If you're age 70 or above, you are scared of technology and there's probably no chance of getting you to convert at this point. Plus, actually remembering the presidency of the guy on the $20 bill gets you off the hook. Regardless of your age, debit cards are time savers and once you cash-carriers die off, the US Mint will likely shut down and paper money will be no more.

This week, I don't like insurance. I don't mean health insurance or automobile insurance. I mean the concept of insurance. Where you might argue that insurance helps us afford visits to the doctor or car repairs, I counter by saying the price of visits to the doctor's office and car repairs would not be so expesive if insurance never came to be. The existence of insurance has spawned an upward spiral of costs and has only help pad the price of medicine, car repairs, etc. Think about it this way...if everyone canceled their insurance policies, then we wouldn't be able to afford doctors visits/car repairs, right? Ah, but if no one can pay for their doctors visit/car repair, then the doctors office and collision center have two options: close up shop or reduce their prices. I think that if push came to shove, you would see prices fall overnight. President Obama's proposed health care plan touts that it will make it possible for more Americans to have affordable health care insurance. But what we really need is fewer Americans with health insurance.

So my point is...having to factor insurance into our everyday expenses robs us of the ability afford the nicer things in life.