Miniature Golf Is A Serious Sport

Beth's post about our recent Miniature Golfing Trip to Myrtle Beach told only part of the story, so I thought I'd... embellish.

Seth demonstrates his commitment and dedication to the sport with his stance.

David, while deviating slightly from the serious image we golfers typically portray with his pink ball, demonstrates an admirable level of concentration in this challenging finishing putt.

Beth's Dad (Grandaddy) is the epitome of concentration. As Seth is being stalked by a ferocious dinosaur, he is keeping his cool and lining up his putt.

I had two recorded Holes In One during the game and this would have been my third, if I had nudged it a bit harder or if the wind had remained constant. I took the wind into account using my handy dandy slide-rule, but Mother Nature isn't as constant as I am.

More juicy details:

• Grandaddy stomped us all royally the first round. He was only a few strokes over par and more than 5 strokes better than any of the rest of us. Grandaddy was the best overall because he was both accurate and precise (he only deviated by one point between rounds and stayed very close to par in both). I'm appalled that my darling wife would have the audacity to laugh at such a fine specimen of a golfer as the Magnificent Grandaddy.
• I came back in spectacular form (if I do say so myself) to beat everyone by 1 or 2 strokes the second round. I won the title of the Most Improved by making up 9 strokes between the two rounds.
• Seth and David both dominated their respective age classes.
• Seth was the only other one in the crowd who had a recorded Hole In One.
• David was heroic in saving my borrowed hat from certain peril. The wind took it but David, leaping across the raging creek in a single bound, caught it before it got to the outer fence. Such gallantry!

And that, my friends, is something MUCH closer to the real story.

Fun with kids

One of my favorite Jack Handy quotes is "The face of a child can say it all- especially the mouth part of the face."

A few nights ago I was putting Carolyn to bed. In the middle of her prayer, she sits up and says, "Wait, I gotta bless somebody. Mom told me about... Never mind, I don't remember."

I then escorted Carolyn to her bed, tucked her in, and leaned over to get a hug. I had shaved my head just a few hours before. She reached her arms around my neck and said "Good night, Daddy. Where's your hair?"

Carolyn is very much like her Grammy (Beth's Mom). We saw Grammy the next day and the first thing she asked me was, "Rob, where's your hair?" I forgot it in my other pants.

One morning I heard the kids playing in another room. I heard Seth say, "Get in the bag." At first I was concerned- kids and plastic bags don't mix- but I decided to keep listening. He kept insisting, "Get in the bag," and I heard Carolyn disagreeing. It sounded to me like he was telling Carolyn to climb into his sleeping bag. He then stuffed a balloon into the sleeping bag and said, "There, see? There's a balloon in the bag. It's a party. There's a party in the bag. Get in the bag." I was grateful that I was in another room so that they couldn't hear my laughter.

Rubiks Cubed

Beth got me a Rubik's Professor (5x5x5) for Christmas. I had a Rubik's Cube Icon (3x3x3) and a Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4) already. So now I have quite a cool collection.

The colors on the Rubik's Cube Icon are white, silver, light gray, gray, dark gray, and black. It's the same as a standard 3x3x3, but essentially grayscale instead of the other color palette (white, blue, red, green, yellow, and orange)

I came up with a blog post idea the other day and decided that Sunday afternoon would be a good time to get it done. However, I was asleep for most of Sunday afternoon (I could make another blog post just about that, but this is not the time) so I went for Sunday evening instead.

I am NOT interested in a speed record. As you all know, I have 2 speeds- slow and backwards. I only put the clock in the background so that you could see that it really can be done and in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, not a single photo time span was uninterrupted. Besides solving the cubes, I straightened up the den a bit, sang some songs with Seth, dressed Kaitlyn after bath time, took the pictures, participated in various conversations with Beth, and generally fulfilled my normal Daddy Duties.

I'm also not trying to brag. I just wanted to showcase one of my Christmas presents. I'd be happy to teach anyone how to solve any of them- they're really not as difficult as they look. Just ask if you're interested.

Starting with all 3 cubes thoroughly mixed:


The Rubik's Professor is now "set up", which (to me) means the remaining solution is no harder than solving a 3x3x3.


The Rubik's Revenge is now "set up" as well.


I only meant to solve the top (white, in this case) faces in this picture, but I got a little excited and just about solved all of them. Sheesh. Anyway, all but the bottom layer is solved on all of them.


And, finally, the cubes are completely solved.


And here's a shot of the other sides, just so you don't think I pulled off all of the stickers just for the picture. ;-)