What Tha Followup

In response to my previous post I figured I'd provide an update on at least one front. As I mentioned, my driver became broken stuff on Friday afternoon so I had to get one today in preparation for the two work golf outings this week. This morning I headed to Carolina Custom Golf and went straight for help in picking out my new toy. I was sufficiently clueless as to what I needed as far as head size, shaft length, and shaft stiffness so the guy put me on the swing monitor which records with a high speed camera and computer how you hit the ball and your mechanics. After warming up I proceed to hit the ball very well my first drive and shot an 89.9% which pretty much is an A. The guy said there's not much room for improvement and I warned him that I'm definitely not consistent, a fact he soon realized. Overall I hit decently well for an average of 270-280 yards which is about 20 yards farther than normal. I hit five different drivers and ended up selecting a Nicklaus airMax DPT 460 driver which was the first suggested by the salesman. He says he uses that one and I tried some that cost twice as much and I hit the Nicklaus more consistently and I liked the price so I went with it. We'll see how it works out on the real course on Monday afternoon.

This afternoon Emily came over to see my apartment for the first time since she just finished summer school at Carolina and his headed home to Carrollton for the next month. She wanted to check out a ski store that was having a big clearnace sale in search of a winter coat but didn't have any luck. We then headed to Hillsborough Street to eat at El Rodeo which was good as always. After luppper we hit Cameron Village in search of mom's birthday present. We were successful on our first stop at Talbot's where we bought her a purse. I also lucked out and found a couple of casual dress shirts on sale for a great price and I also bought a pair of pants. I'm officially old now since I own Talbot's clothing (but it does look good and received Emily's approval). After shopping Emily headed back to the Hill.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, Fayetteville Street reopened this weekend and ther was a big bash with bodacious fireworks. I didn't go to the party since Emily didn't want go but I was sitting on the couch as the launch time grew closer and decided to go watch them and try to take some pictures. I googled Raleigh skyline photos and found the perfect suggestion, the Boylan Street bridge. I rushed out the door to hit up Target for a cheap mini tripod and bought some golf balls too, then headed downtown again. I arrived and found a place to park about 9:00 and there were probably 15 other people on the bridge watching but as the time passed probably 100+ showed up for the perfect view. This was by far the best fireworks photography I've done (only tried twice) and it definitely helped to have the D20 so I could see what I'm doing with some test pics (the lcd control panel light also is very handy). Though I knew the photos wouldn't be anything to write home about since I didn't have a cable release and was using the mini tripod I figured I'd try. Here are three of the best shots. My next two camera acquisitions will definitely be a cable release and tripod.

While on the bridge the fireworks weren't the only entertainment I ended up meeting some people and talking with them awhile before they started, one of whom was a man in probably his 50s that was definitely drunk (brought his beer with him too but entertaining. He liked to talk about all the construction work and the sawdust he generates and not knowing what to do with it. I suggested he make mdf and he went off about that stuff; he only uses real wood. The other person was a nice 30 y/o lady name Teresa that waitress at the Capital City Club and just moved back to Raleigh from ATL. Overall a very interesting and entertaining experience. You never know who you'll meet. It turned out to be a pretty good, though expensive, day.