Right in our own backyard

Tucked into the southwestern corner of the city of San Francisco is tightly packed campus of San Francisco State University, which sits right next to San Francisco's only true mall Stonestown Galleria. Next to both SFSU and Stonestown is the highly competitive public magnet Lowell High School, one of the top high schools in all the state of California. Also down there is the freshwater Lake Merced which is surrounded by four outstanding golf courses. Two of the four are owned by the Olympic Club, one of the courses is the San Francisco Country Club and the fourth is Harding Park Golf Course. Note that it isn't Harding Park Golf Club for you see, Harding Park is one of two municipal golf courses owned by the city of San Francisco. Harding Park (named after President Warren G. Harding who passed away in the city) having the same terrain and flora as its more famous neighhbors is in itself a highly regarded layout. It regularly held professional golfing tournaments through the 1960's but had fallen on hard times during last couple decades of the 20th century. Five or so years ago, a private firm took over the business aspects of the course and brought Harding Park back to its former glory. The crowning moment of Harding's renaissance was its selection as the course to hole the finale of the World Series of Golf last year.

This morning, Scott and I snagged two spots of his friends foursome and we were off the 1st tee at 10:10AM. The morning started gloriously with bright sunshine and I was in shorts this first Saturday in January.

Scott and our two balls safely on and putting for birdie on the par 3 third.

Both of us three-putted the third green. However, the beautiful sun quickly turned to a steady drizzling rain and by the time we were on the 8th tee, it looked like this:

Rain, rain go away.....

We decided to call it a day after the ninth hole. Even though it had stopped raining, both of us had not brought rain gear so we were both soaked. Scott beat me, but I was able to observe some key differences in the way we approach the game. Scott is a firm believer in warming up by hitting balls on the range and practicing his putting. I just show up on the first tee, take a couple of practice swings and away I am.

Scott is a firm believer in yardage. He looks for the yardage markers and paces to his ball to determine the exact distance he has to get to the green. On the green, Scott is careful to mark his ball and squat down to read the line. Well, you can imagine that I'm the complete opposite.

Scott and I both have testy relationships with our drivers. The result is that Scott plays only with his irons. I pull out the driver every single time I can and let her rip.

We are, however, competitive in ability and agree that honestly reporting one's score is of utmost importance for the both of us even with our huge stylistic differences.

Sucked in by reality television

As the middle of January looms on the horizon, the television studios are getting ready to unveil their mid-season shows. Not all shows are new, but instead some will be commencing the shows second or even third season. In the case of these returning shows, we are often treated to a "marathon" of the previous seasons shows. During this first week of January 2006, Scott and I were sucked into a "marathon." I am going to reveal the show that has become our nightly addiction in the spirit of full disclosure. However, you MUST not roll out of your chair laughing and not finishing this posting. The show that gets us in front of the television every night has been Beauty and the Geek. Shut up. Shut up!

What makes it doubly shameful is the fact that Ashton Kutcher, yes Demi Moore's man, is an executive producer. Oh, the humanity! Now hear me out, please. I have found that most reality television shows attempt to show the action in an objective way, however there is always an aura of contempt for the participants. We're watching them, but making fun of them at the same time.

But this show pairs seven beautiful (and superficial) woman with seven geeky men. They are put into seven pairs and given challenges in which the women must do tasks that they stereotypically are not expected to be able to do, such as change a tire. The men are given challenges like giving a massage. The reason why I find the show compelling is that each person in the pair is helping their partner and in the process breaking down stereotypes and feeling more confident about themselves. It is a bit hokey that "romances" develop, but it's kind of cute.

So Beauty and the Geek 2 begins its run next week. I encourage you all to give the show a chance. You know where Scott and I will be on the Thursday nights.

If I ran the world......

Whenever I go to Trader Joe's the checkout lines are long and they move slowly. The long lines are indicative of a store that draws a lot of shoppers, but the slow moving checkout lines indicate that something is amiss. The bottleneck occurs when a customer reaches the cashier and simply stands there while the cashier scans the groceries and then piles them up on the counter to be bagged by either a bagperson or the cashier themselves. The customer simply stands there and does nothing.

Being the geeky Geometry teacher that I am, I find it fun and a creative outlet to try and pack my groceries into as few bags as possible, while still maintaining the shape of the bread and protecting the integrity of the eggs and fruit. The logical part of me finds it a moral obligation to utilize myself at this time to perform the act of bagging the groceries to minimize the amount of time I spend in the cashier transaction. My line moves just a bit faster.

The cashiers are always grateful by my act of bagging my own groceries. I always reply that were Trader Joe's (or any grocery chain) an economic incentive (i.e. 2% off your bill) for customers to bag their own groceries, it would obviously have the lines move faster, but there would be many more unintended benefits. For example, the company would save money by needing fewer cashiers and bagpeople.

Yup, if I ruled the world.....