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The score is now Crosby 2, Ovechkin 0.

And I'm sorry, but hockey involves more than just scoring goals and racking up points.

But I digress. Despite the title, I wanted to talk about the USA vs. Canada game. I think that, if the U.S. was to lose, this is the only acceptable way (for me, as a Pens fan) to lose: by having Sidney Crosby effectively do the last athletic thing in the Olympics, period. The guy's had the weight of the world (well, of Canada anyway) on his shoulders for a decade now, and he keeps delivering.

No doubt the NHL will find a way to screw it up. They've got to have more interest in hockey now than ever - even non-hockey fans I know were watching and the game was GREAT - but part of that starts with getting Versus back on DirecTV so millions of people don't miss the goddamn playoffs.

Dave's voice is gone. He can barely whisper. His sinuses have been dripping into his throat for days now and it's not good. At least he's not actually sick.

Our 1:30am flight left on time. So did the other flights. I managed to grab about 2½ hours of sleep on the first leg of the flight, but stayed awake for the rest. Yippee. Fortunately, 2/3 of the flights (the two legs with three seats per side) weren't very full, so Dave and I were able to sit with an empty seat between us. That does wonders for your ability to get comfortable.

I returned home to a driveway we couldn't drive into due to all of the snow. Two feet of nicely packed snow took half a gallon of gas and 90 minutes of snowblowing (with a 12 HP snowblower that usually cleans up in 10 minutes). Just what I wanted to come home to after spending three glorious days in the sun! 🙂

I'm going to crash now. What a relaxing - and yet invigorating - couple of days.

P.S. I could go for about 50 of those P.F. Chang's pork rolls right about now.

We're taking the redeye later tonight (1:30am) so we're staying up late. I'm writing this from a Barnes & Noble near Kierland in Scottsdale. I picked up a copy of The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment thanks to a comment on this post. Thanks Brad (or Brad's friend).

Today was a bit of a fluky day. I wanted to play golf, but since I'm not in control of the rental car's keys, what I wanted was irrelevant. 😉

At any rate, since we figured we had all day and just wanted to practice, we lollygagged around a bit in the morning. We drove around, we ate breakfast, we settled a bill at Grayhawk, we had lunch, and we finally showed up at Troon North at 1:30 to hit balls. Problem: they closed the range at 2:15 to pick it. D'oh.

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Wake up 6:30. Shower. Eat some Wheaties "Fuel" (it's pretty good - and very dense). Pack up in the car and head off to Grayhawk where, despite arriving at 8:00am for a 9:00am clinic start, some students are already there. Hey, I can't blame 'em - I'd be there early too.

The clinic is a golf school, specifically one organized by Dave Wedzik, with Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett. Thirteen students were signed up, with one observer. Another instructor or two was there, and I was there to take photos (and, when not doing that, to listen, observe, and to help by recording some swings).

First, notwithstanding how great it is to be in the presence of someone (two people) who have done a lot to revolutionize the golf swing swing, several things stood out about the day.

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Today's a bit of a "free day" in Scottsdale. We don't have anything to do until tomorrow. Well, nothing terribly serious, anyway.

The four of us wake up and shower at about 6:30. Four being me, Dave, Steve, and Charlie. We head out to a Starbucks where, when I order a bagel, they don't even have a toaster to toast it. Gee, thanks. I drink some sort of protein juice thing that's a bit chalky but quite tasty.

Then we head to "Crackerjacks" - a fun center with a driving range, mini golf, bounce houses, water balloon fighting areas, a small arcade, batting cages, etc. We're there to meet Kirk, who has been teaching himself the Stack and Tilt swing. His swing is impressive and intriguing - he's one of the few people who seem to have gone too far in doing some of the particular moves, and he's over-drawing the golf ball. He's also a lefty, which I'm happy to notice confused Dave and Steve into saying "right" when they meant "left" and vice versa as often as I said it in my mind.

After that, we wandered over to Grayhawk Golf Club to meet the guy responsible for helping to set up the clinic/school tomorrow. We had lunch while Peter Kostis sat at the next table. Steve was tempted to say something, but chose not to. The burger wasn't very good at all.

We asked to hit balls on the range "for an hour or so" and ended up staying for five. Oh well. 🙂 My own swing has progressed to where my position at P2 is pretty good and so I started cleaning up some things at the top of my backswing. Elbows closer, push away with the left arm, no cupping. PGA Tour player (and major winner) Rich Beem hit about 30 balls next to us.

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I'm typing this on a plane 1:30-ish flight out of Erie (it was only about $10 more than a flight out of Buffalo) to Detroit. When I land, I'll have an hour or so to catch a flight to Scottsdale, AZ.

I'm heading to Scottsdale with Dave Wedzik to photograph and observe a Stack and Tilt golf clinic (on Thursday). I've got media passes for the WM Phoenix Open taking place there, but I don't know that I'm going to use them. I'll play that by ear.

$25 per bag to check the luggage, and I've brought the clubs because we'll have time on Wednesday and Friday to play golf. Or practice. Knowing Dave and another guy, Steve, it's gonna be spent hitting balls and not actually playing golf. 😛

Dave and I are going to use the longer leg of the trip to talk about what we're dubbing "G1" publicly - the video analysis software we're planning to build and sell.

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So my kid's sick today. Great day for the Xbox 360 to go belly up, eh?

Three red lights. The wife called me (iPhone to iPhone) from downstairs to ask me why the Xbox was blinking with red lights. She wanted to stream some movies from Netflix on the TV.

Pfffft. Hey, it lasted longer than most people's, huh? The thing never moved. It's in great shape. I hope I get a good one back, and that they take care of the license transfers and everything.

As I walked in to the UPS building, the guy said "Xbox?" I said "Yep. Howdja guess?"

His response: "I've shipped probably 10,000 of them back. Ever since they started makin' em. Get a hundred a week."

Yeah. Way to go, Microsoft. Consoles often lose money that companies will make up for with software, but this one must be a real drain.

Anyone got any good recipes? Easy to make? I'm a meat and potatoes type of guy - don't like a lot of vegetables (except as seasoning, or "plate veggies" like corn, green beans, peas, etc.) and I'm not a huge fan of sauces.

We've been eating at home a lot more lately, so if you've got a fairly good recipe, post a link to it in the comments (or post the recipe) and we'll have a look and perhaps give it a try.

Who in the heck believes in the End of Days? You have to be a fundamentalist Christian to believe that, don't you? Or do other religions really talk about it quite a bit.

2012 is said to be the "End of Days" in the Mayan calendar, or something like that, and they weren't Christians, but it seems to me that the two concepts aren't necessarily related to each other - the Mayans just ran out of calendar or something while the Christian concept really has no set date (and is, most likely, just a concept that shouldn't be taken literally).

But if someone can tell me more, by all means, I'm interested in hearing it.

P.S. The End of Days is essentially a concept in The Lost Symbol, so I don't doubt that's why it's on my mind.

This is a bit of a follow-up to my post from yesterday…

I've read (or will read in more depth) Dan Benjamin's posts on Buddhism, but they're more so about meditation than Buddhism in general.

I'd like to read a bit about Buddhism - not so much the ancient stuff, any conflicts, etc. - but about modern Buddhism and how it can be applied in a Western world. I'm aware that there are several variations of Buddhism, and I'd like to look at those and see if one stands out as "making more sense" (and/or being more practical). What separates the variations?

Meditation will likely follow, as it's a part of every form of Buddhism (so far as I know), but for now it feels like I'm getting ahead of the game. Is there anything like the "Dummy's Guide to Buddhism"?

I didn't expect The Lost Symbol to change my life. I just started reading the book a few days ago, but as is the case with escapist type literature, it's best read in large doses so that you can remember the details and really almost transport yourself into the story. It's not the type of book you need to put down and think about.

If you've not read the book but want to some day, you may want to stop here.

However, the denouement contains some interesting tidbits that really say a lot - to me - about Christianity. These parts essentially put forth the idea that 99.99% of Christians have it wrong - that there really is no "God" per se. Rather, "God" is the "global consciousness." That each person is a god or is capable of becoming a god. There are several passages in the Bible - and many other religious texts - which refer to the body being a temple, and to look within yourself, and to become "one" with some sort of spiritual force.

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FWIW, I chose "a little" because I rarely post, though I check the home page and two other pages (both golf-related) several times per day. Quickly.

I don't use any real applications and I typically hide everything I can, like gifts and other apps people are playing.

Yesterday afternoon I called in, at 4:30 as directed, and listened to the message. My heart sank jut a little: the number printed on my jury summons was well within the range that was obligated to report the following day.

I reported at 8:30 with a copy of The Lost Symbol on my Kindle and a copy of The Golfing Machine in hard cover.

I found my way to the proper room - room 211 - without any trouble. I told them my name and they gave me form to fill out along with an "Erie County JURY" button I was told to wear on my chest at all times.

I wasn't asked to produce ID. In fact, at no point in the day was my ID confirmed.

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DSLRU is now in private beta testing. If you'd like an invitation, get in touch with me. The invitations I had previously have been accepted.

One of the main goals? To populate the forum. The forum is 100% free, so if you're looking to get in on a new photography forum, this could be a place for you to quickly become "one of the old timers." 🙂

There's no obligation to buy anything at this point (nor will there ever be).

We're going to officially launch when we're comfortable with the feature list and bugs. I don't know when, but sooner is preferred over later, obviously! 🙂

P.S. If you're interested in selling any courses, you really want to get in touch with me. As with the App Store, it should be good to "get in early" and claim some potentially valuable courses.

Months after buying it, I'm finally going to get a chance to read The Lost Symbol. Though I'm sure a good portion (not to say even 50%) of the "stuff" in the book is grounded in fact, it's still basically purely escapist reading. I wonder, too, if the book follows the same paths as the others: old well connected guy found dead, beautiful daughter/niece helps solve puzzle that takes Robert Langdon all over the world. We'll see.

On the golf forum there's a thread going on about Christianity and I'm impressed with how respectful it's been to this point, though I've got a light trigger finger and will close the thread if it gets out of hand at any point - we don't need to get a bunch of people mad at each other.

But, away from that, some of the points being made in favor of religion are, well, they're stupid. One guy has said that he believes the earth is only about 20,000 years old because "it's common sense." Others are using the Bible as proof of other things in the Bible. They'll then claim - when their logical error is pointed out - that others are relying on books as well (referring to science books, articles, etc.).

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