PuttView Technology

I went over to a friend's new golf studio yesterday to check out the PuttView technology.  It's pretty neat! Although I have to say - the test of 36 putts did take quite a while, and it was just a tad tricky as I couldn't really see/read the putts very well.  Not sure if perhaps it was the lighting?

In any case, the technology is still pretty amazing!

This is the practice mode where you can see the line of the putt (based on slope, if any) and also your feet alignment:

Check out this video - where you can practice pace of your putts as well:

So after going through the test putting, here's my handicap!

Looks like my putting stroke/pace is a bit slow and I have a tendency to miss left.  I guess I shouldn't argue with technology but now that I think about it, it's probably true!

More stats!!  Hmm, -1.6 strokes gained.  I had to read up some more on this terminology. So first off, I really shouldn't be in the negative range! It basically means that in a round of 18 holes, I lose 1.6 strokes on average to the field. 

I may try out some of these games next time. Looks like fun!

It will be interesting to see how my putting improves with some of the training with PuttView. I'll be sure to update with more data next time!

Boys baking

I'm not sure how this came about, but all of the sudden - the boys would just decide to bake something after dinner. On this particular night, Graham decided he wanted to bake soufflé.  And he doesn't even like to eat eggs!  And then, Charlie came into the kitchen and said he wanted to bake something as well (and really just want to beat Graham in whatever he's doing - talk about sibling rivalry!):

Their personalized aprons are a bit small now but I'm glad they are still able to wear it.  And off they go!  Graham is trying to hand-whip his egg whites to create peaks:

Charlie, in the meantime, is making some sort of recipe for a "Sad cake"? I'm not sure why it's sad but he's suppose to use Bisquick.  And for whatever reason, Bobby says that he can substitute Bisquick with just plain flour:

So anyway, by the time I figured out what was going on with Charlie's dough, we had him dump some baking powder and butter into his mixture.

In the meantime, Graham cooked his souffle on the stove.  It came out so fluffy!

And best part is that he actually tried some!  And he didn't mind it. Makes me so happy! :-)

Charlie's "sad cake" ended up not being so sad after all. It actually did rise and with a scoop of ice cream, it was pretty tasty!

Well done Graham and Charlie!  

Recent happenings

We are off to Ikea - to buy a new mattress for Charlie.  We have some guest visiting and we needed an extra mattress, and Charlie has been complaining about his.  And somehow, this shark stuffed animal ended up in the cart as well.  These boys, I tell you:

And Bobby is getting too soft to saying "no" these days??

Weird cloud formation along the horizon.  Is there a storm coming?

I know Fall is definitely coming.  Love the change in the colors!

Time to bust out those half-gloves.  And weirdly enough, I can't seem to find these anymore. Where can they be??! :-/

Having to sort through the inventory of junior golf clubs at work.  This is only at one out of the two locations. Yikes!

I don't even want to know how or why Graham is up on top of the hood of the truck.  Ha!

I did find a cheese curd waaaay under the seat in my car.  Thankfully I found it during my regular truck washing/cleaning:

OMG, raccoon by the back deck in broad daylight!  It was drinking up the water that had collected on the tarp from the previous rain:

In the meantime, I'm struggling in the kitchen with this spout from a new brand of soy milk that I purchased recently:

Are you kidding me?! This spout is obviously broken!

And speaking of broken, more time at home means more home projects.  Too many new cracks on the garage floor.  NOOoooo...!!

Other project around the house include - figuring out why the gas fireplace pilot light is not working:

There's suppose to be batteries in the receiver, but somehow not??  Wait, found it!!

Thank goodness I still had the phone number of the service guy that installed the fireplace. And he was nice enough to provide me with some direction over text messaging. Brownie points for him for sure!

Tada!!  Fireplace working again. Yay!  It's been getting cooler but we might have a slight warming trend again early next week.  Weather has been fairly warm I think in comparison to previous years.

Boys' bathroom light is still acting up:

I opened up the switch and the light fixture and everything looked fine.  I changed out the light bulb and then the flashing stopped?! But this old light bulb has been working well for months!  So weird:

And now our kitchen light just went out.  Arghh...!!

Time to decompress - I bought an all-white planter and decided to paint it:

Probably a lot more painting than I had anticipated.  Ha!

Not too shabby?

I think the plant is definitely happier in a bigger pot!

Some more painting - although this one I used acrylic markers:

The markers are suppose to dry but somehow it's still smudging.  So I may have to spray it with a layer of glaze.  I can't figure out how to do it yet, but in time - this will finally get to our neighbor!

Parent-Child event ~ Oct 18

We are back playing the Parent-Child golf event again! This year, I partnered up with Graham and Charlie partnered up with Bobby instead.  Here are our team photos:

Graham is definitely looking taller than me here! And Charlie is also catching up in height:

Family we-fie! I just love how we are able to connect on the golf course together - while we still can:

And Graham doesn't normally like to play, so I'm glad he agreed to play today:

Charlie is still very motivated to try-out for the high school team next year. I hope he continues to practice this winter!

Graham and I ended up with a 2-under scramble score and came in 2nd in his group category.  We won a $75 gift card for the golf shop.  Woo hoo!!  Just bought him a nice rain/wind jacket and I bought another pair of sunglasses as mine was rolled over by a golf cart. And no, I did not make that up!

Recent visits

We hosted some visitors in our home recently.  First of, my friend Lynn and his wife Heather.  I've known Lynn since way back when - when we used to work together.  We met in "lovely" Morgan City, Louisiana, when I was there as a computer programmer:

And funny enough, Lynn and I share the same birthday too! Maybe that's why we get along so well. And him and his wife are our postcard buddies. We mail each other postcards during our travels. It's such a fun exchange!

And then, we have Charlie and his 2 friends over for dinner as well.  Teenagers, I tell you!

And then, not long after that, we had Sammy.  Awww, she just loves to snuggle up right next to me in my chair.  Sometimes it's just a tad difficult to work on my computer.  Ha!

Look at those puppy eyes!  Nope, not getting any human food off the dining table.  Good try!

Sammy just bounces off from one chair to the next, basically to whomever that will give her some attention.  She's definitely made herself very comfortable in our home, to say the least :-)

I was suppose to invite the neighbors over but now that the house is back to being messy again after Lynn and Heather's visit, we might have to wait just a bit longer.  And, I'm actually having to host the Youth Committee meeting next Wednesday, so we will be in clean mode again very soon!

Malaysia trip (Nov 2023) ~ More photos

More photos during my trip back to my hometown of Kota Kinabalu.  This was back in 2023 - yikes, 2 years ago now!  It's crazy to think that Dad has now been gone for almost 2 years now (by this December).

Simple yet so delicious - ground pork and bbq pork with noodles and a glass of warm barley drink:

Can never go wrong with satay with peanut sauce:

More noodles - with fish balls.  I remember it being so busy at this restaurant we had a random lady sit at our table and we were all chatting like we'd known each other for years. Ha!

Catching up with some high-school friends:

Another gecko that appeared out of no where and onto the windshield while I was driving. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me!!

Loving all the local batik print.  Didn't end up getting one for Bobby though:

Lunch on the go!  Yummy dim sum/shu mai:

Homemade "pau" or meat buns. We eat them with bites of raw garlic. So delish!

Tom yum soup noodles with prawns (or what they call shrimp in the US).  So good!!

There are even cherries for sale now in the supermarkets.  RM260 for 2kg worth - looks like they were flown in from South Africa?? 

So, let's do some math here.  RM260 for 4.4lbs = RM59/lb, which rounds up to almost US$15/lb.  That's possibly double of what we would pay here!

Can you believe it? I was walking back to my dad's apartment from the parking lot and this bird pooped right on me and got poop all over my bag too!

And you know what that means, time to go buy some numbers!! 

Unfortunately, I didn't win anything, but worth a try :-)

Dinner out with my brother and his wife.  Of course, they chose an expensive Italian restaurant.  If it's not local, it's expensive!

Packing up some local goodies to bring home :-)

Some more Indian food before heading home:

Yummm, so good.  Empty plate = Happy belly!

Yup, still looking for shade under the same big tree at the hospital parking lot:

Pretty flower:

By the beach, you can see a couple of islands near by:

Some fish for dinner.  Bobby would never be able to eat this - not when the head and bones are still attached.  LOL!!

A few more dinners with my brother and his wife, and my late Dad's wife:

Ooooh, this soup was so yummy.  Haven't had this in ages.  It was a treat with my uncle (Dad's younger brother).  It's a soup with fish and vegetables and tofu.  So delish!

Oh no, it's time to leave Kota Kinabalu.  One last meal of kaya (coconut jam) with toast and teh tarik (hot tea with condensed milk) at the airport:

Totally forgot we were still wearing mask just 2 years ago during travel??

Landed in Kuala Lumpur and one more visit with my caddy, and this time with his wife too:

Flew back via Istanbul again.  This airport is SOOO huge!

I remembered it took me a good 20-25 minutes at a decent pace just to get to my gate when I arrived the first time.  I wish I spotted the scooters then!

Busy airport!

It was a red-eye flight and now I am just watching the sun rise:

Largest air purifier ever!

Breakfast.  Gosh, I'm already missing my local Malaysian food by now:

Still waiting.  Hmmm, what ever happened to these pair of pants of mine - they are super comfy. Probably hiding towards the back of my closet!

I really don't remember what this is now - some sort of snack before getting on the plane:

Hmmm, more food - I guess I had to try the chicken sandwich from Burger King.

There was obviously too much time to spare at the Istanbul airport!  I think I had over 12 hours??

Graham and Charlie would have loved this!

Home sweet home!! Some nice shirts for the boys. Awww, look how small Charlie was - and that's only 2 years ago:

A nice local print for Bobby too:

So happy to see my boys again!

Ahhh, back in my chair and catching up on my TV series:

Unfortunately, I didn't stay home for too long. Dad's health deteriorated pretty quickly after I returned home. And so, my sister and I flew back for Dad's funeral in December. RIP, dad. Still missing you!