Golf, the Universe, and Everything

I've been to Costco hundreds of times but nothing prepared me for my trip to Costco today. The crushing reality of the pandemic has slowly started to set in. 1) When I drove by the front, there was no line. By the time I parked and ran to the front, there were 4 people in line. About two minutes later, the line was nearly around the building (timing is everything). 2) Everyone in line was at least 6 feet apart, marked by posts. 3) There were employees on walkie talkies monitoring the number of people entering and exiting and keeping the numbers constant. 4) When I finally entered, I had a freshly cleaned cart issued to me. 5) Walking around the inside, it was just a different vibe. It just felt tense. There were no greetings, no socializing, people trying to maintain the proper distance, and just had tunnel vision to the things they needed. Also, it was quiet... Like only 100 or so people in the store at one time quiet... But I appreciate all the efforts. 6) There was n...

There is a saying, "men can never win arguments with women because men need their arguments to make sense." The day came for the golf tournament and I was excited. Well, not exactly a tournament, more like an outing. And even the outing portion was cancelled but they left some tee times open and Joe got us a foursome. But, as the news of Coronavirus got worse, my wife got more and more concerned. I tried to placate her with good solid facts about golf: 1) Golf is the perfect social distancing sport. The average hole is at least 350 yards long and 50 yards wide. Plenty of space to keep six little feet apart. 2) The clubhouse was closed off so no need to run into anyone 3) No 19th hole (I don't drink anyway) and only cold food was available to go (doesn't matter, I had my own snacks and water) 4) I was going to walk (no need to share a cart) 5) No touching of the flag and the cup was raised so you don't all have to reach in the cup 6) We all have our o...

In my 40+ years on earth, I've said some pretty stupid things, some mean things, some funny things, some touching things, and some downright wrong things. One particular time sticks out for me. I was in college, sophomore year (or second year to all you UVA students) and we were ready to take our first test in Mass and Energy Balances, the first class all Chemical Engineering undergrads have to take. I learned from the older students in the major that the professor, Dr. Conger, graded on a curve. So, in a more arrogant and bombastic version of me (still basically a teenager), I tell the rest of the class while we're waiting in the hallway to go into the exam, "Guys, I know only half of you actually want to be engineers and a even smaller percent of you actually want to be chemical engineers, so I want you all to forgo any partial credit you may get answering a question partially and just fail completely. You need to "take one for the team" and lower the aver...

Stardate: 2020-03-22 (Thought it might be good to have a date) Finally caught up to posting at the end of the night instead of the morning after.  Pretty full day for a Sunday.  My lovely wife braved the socially distant crowds and went to the grocery store (soy milk!!) Had a great four-way chat with my mom, sister and wife on Facetime, without realizing that such a thing was possible! Did the See 10, Do 10, Send 10 challenge (pushups!). Check out my instagram feed (entaroadun) Yum! Made a pretty awesome Instant Pot chili. I did not have tomato paste and briefly considered the 1.5 mile walk to Food Lion but just used good old fashioned tomato sauce and it worked out just fine. #displayadaptability Had another swing evaluation. My tempo sucks but this time I have video! Off to work tomorrow and my 27 step commute. I will say I don't miss my old commute, but I do miss the water cooler conversations and the random team leader / group dire...

First a solemn rest in piece to Kenny Rogers. Every time I step up to a poker table, I'll always think of "The Gambler." "Every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser and the best you can hope for, is to die in your sleep." On the Fantasy Front, a bittersweet week for the Eagles. We release Malcolm Jenkins and he signs with the Saints (don't they have enough talent?) and Nelson Agholor signs with the Raiders. Ryan Weiss said it best. " Nelson Agholor has one of the most difficult legacies to explain in Philly. He spent 5 years with the Eagles. 4 of those he was one of the biggest headaches ever. But that one year it all came together he made it all worth it. Thank you Nelly!" On the Golf Front I finally got the practice net up and the Sherman Hybrid and Iron Teaching Studio is open for business. Open for Business! One golfer at a time with proper social distancing... No advertising budget necessary, everytime someone hits a bad ...

One of the many benefits of teleworking is when you log off for the weekend, your commute home is very short... Even shorter if you're already dressed for the weekend! Which will involve a whole lot of staying in, watching my son and watching a lot of Netflix with the wifey. As for the most disturbing news of the day, I'm at a loss on who to be more mad at, Senator Richard Burr for using his position to make himself a buttload of money (illegally no less). Or the teenagers jackholes who filmed themselves coughing on produce at a grocery store... Basically they watched the YouTube video another set of jackholes in a grocery store who filmed themselves opening an ice cream container, licking it, and putting it back in the freezer and said, "Hold my Beer." We need to bring back public flogging... Put that on a YouTube video and disseminate it around middle and high schools. WHY STOP AT FLOGGING MOLLY!! In golf news I did not get to set up the backyard driving ...

What passes for an eventful day in these times. Took the whole family out to drop off supplies (very carefully) to my in-laws. I think it did their hearts good to see Carson, even though it was from six feet away. Oh the cruelty of social distancing... Also snuck a good walk around the block with the family as well. 72 degrees!! The home gym is now in full operational mode, complete with weights, kettlebells, medicine balls, and of course, wipes!! It gets sweaty down in the basement! Now we need a name for it. The lab? The cave? The pit? We have at least a month to think about it... Wife has had multiple workouts down there and I had my first one yesterday. If I manage to lose weight and gain muscle, bye bye gym membership!! In golf news, the practice net is about to go up in the backyard and I will hit actual golf balls for the first time this month... Did I mention it is the 20th??? I'll have a full report by tomorrow morning on "The State of the Swing." Six days...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Considering this is my second post of the year, I'm way behind on my resolution to post more. But thanks to a certain pandemic, I will definitely have more time to write, or at least more time to spend in front of a computer at home that can open Blogger... If there has ever been a year where a rewind or fast forward button was needed, this is that year... So many terrible things (and a couple of good things) have happened since the year began that it would completely fill this blog entry (and March isn't even over yet!). But Wikipedia has done all the hard work:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020 When 9/11 hit, at least we had sports to get our minds off the madness, anger, fear, and trepidation. With the Coronavirus, there are no sports to get our minds off the crushing reality of the pandemic. But admittedly, it is rather entertaining to watch ESPN scramble to fill the airwaves with sports content when no new games are taking place. ESPN is t...