Ryan Fields

30 days television show

My wife and I enjoy watching the television show 30 days.  It is a summer replacement show, I think this is the third year it has been on.  Anyway, my wife tells me that tonight is the season premiere of 30 days, and we are going to have to set up the VCR to tape it - it is on at 10pm, which is past both of our bedtimes!  The topic is something about living and working as a coal miner in West Virginia for 30 days.  Sounds interesting!

ENGOBI’s Guitar Hero video contest

ENGOBI, the company that produces snacks that combined flavored chips with caffeine has announced a cool contest called “Don’t Be a Piano Hero” showdown.  The contestants compete to win a variety of prizes, including an Xbox 360™-enabled, customized Fender® Stratocaster, ENGOBI gear and other prizes.

The contestants have to make an energy-packed video of themselves and their friends “rocking out” and then upload the video ENGOBI.com. 

As part of the launch promotion, the ENGOBI van will be touring the east coast and southern cities with the ENOGBI girls, who will be handing out ENGOBI gear, bringing samples of the snacks, and giving people the opportunity to play the Guitar Hero game van-side with their friends.

Golfing in Las Vegas

A pleasant surprise to me is that my friend Tom and his wife are going to be in Las Vegas the same two weeks that I am going to be there.  He loves golf, and has set up several Las Vegas golf tee times for when we are out there.  He immediately asked me if I wanted to drive the cart.  I said as long as there’s a big cooler to keep our frosty beverages in!  He said “I’m sure there is!”  I told him I might even try some of these crazy games that he likes to play.

We are going to book a reservation to stay a week at one of the golf resorts that we found through lasvegasgolfing.com.  That way we can be nearby the golf course and relax in a peaceful setting while still being close to the Las Vegas strip.

My understanding is that the prices are right and the courses are magnificent.  Of course, I also understand that you can buy special golf balls that when you hit them they go a mile, or so it seems!   The whole idea is to make them go straight!  I’ve seen pictures of the courses on the Internet; they’re beautiful!  I think that just walking on the fairways and greens of these courses is enough enticement to go there.

If you think you’d like to book some time at a world class golf resort, check out the resorts at www.lasvegasgolfing.com.

I’m getting my vacation lined up

I finally got my schedule arranged so I know when I can take my vacations.  Obviously, one of them is going to be in Las Vegas (I want to see Cher!)  They have several celebrities that are going to be in the area while I’m down there and I plan to see as many of them as I can.  This will probably be the only time I get to see these people, including listening to Wayne Newton.  I found several shooting ranges which also happen to be right beside some great golf courses (which I’ll get into later.)  These golf courses all have liquor bars on wheels!  Several of my friends are also going to be down there.  I told them I’d be more than happy to drive the golf cart.

Tom’s got a new gun

Yesterday I stopped over to see my buddy Tom.  When I walked in the house I asked her where Tom was.  She says “oh, you mean the big game hunter?”  I said “yeah, whatever.”  He came out around the corner, wearing a big fancy hunting hat and a carrying a new elephant gun.  I about fell over backwards, laughing!  As soon as I gained my composure, I asked him “what the heck are you doing?”  He said “I bought a new gun!”  I said “I guess you did!”

Cher fans

My friends and I have been longtime Cher fans.  We’ve been mesmerized by her ever since her debut in 1965 as the talented half of Sonny and Cher.  I’m pretty sure the first time I saw her was on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I really couldn’t swear to it.

I bought lots of the Sonny & Cher albums, and then when they split up and went their separate ways I bought a lot of Cher albums.  Eventually I bought a lot of Cher CDs.  I have enjoyed watching her in several of her movies, including Mermaids, Moonstruck, and Mask.  I think that she is one of the most talented women of our times!

Yesterday I was shooting pool with some of my friends, listening to one of my Cher CDs.  One of my friends was talking about how Cher’s farewell tour had turned into her “never can say goodbye tour” and that now Cher is performing at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas!  I thought she wanted to retire!  I guess I was wrong!  Anyway, my friends were suggesting that we go to Las Vegas for a weekend this summer and try to see Cher perform.  I’ve never actually seen her perform live, that sounds like a great weekend!  I’m going to go online and buy Tickets to see Cher in Las Vegas as soon as I can figure out my upcoming vacation schedule.

Practicing pool techniques

I’ve been practicing my pool techniques lately because I’m getting ready to enter a couple of amateur tournaments coming up next week.  There’s a lot of shots I’m a little bit rusty at, and some that I’m real good at.  But I haven’t played for a couple of months, and I need to sharpen my skills.  Because if I do good enough, they have several tournaments out of state next month that pay money.  As I won a tournament last year I would like to win it again this year!

I just bought a new stick and a new set of balls.  What a difference they make!  I’m not sure if it’s the stick, or the balls, but I seem to be shooting a lot better!  All I can do is practice, practice, practice and hope for the best!

Big Brother and almostgolf

I have a friend, Bill, who signed up for the “Big Brother” program a few months ago.  His “little brother” Tim is interested in playing golf, so Bill has been taking Tim to the driving range when he has the chance, to practice his swing.  Tim wants to participate in junior golf, so Bill plans to work with Tim as much as possible to get him ready for it.

Bill found out about a new type of practice golf ball called the the Point3 ball.  That Point3 ball is a CO2 pressurized ball that delivers real ball flight and performance.  This ball is neighborhood safe.  Although it performs like a real golf ball in terms of how it acts when hit by a club, it only goes 1/3 of the distance of a regular “real” golf ball.  And it doesn’t break windows or dent cars!

The Point3 ball is sold by a company called “Almost Golf.”  I was checking out their website and was reading about their new golf ball and saw that they were suggesting ways to incorporate their new ball into a variety of games that they were calling “Almost Golf games.”  The games sounded like they could be a lot of fun to play for either kids or adults who want to practice their golf swings without having to go to the golf course or to the driving range.  They called the games a variety of names, such as target golf, traditional golf, travelling target golf, and almostgolf catch.  The site talks about setting up your own urban course and setting up your own almostgolf events.

I’ve never really been interested in playing “real” golf, I thought that it took way too much time and I don’t  want to luga bag full of golf clubs around a golf course.  But this “almostgolf” suggests using only one or two clubs, and since the balls only fly about 1/3 of the distance, the courses would much shorter.  It sounds like I would enjoy this a lot more than traditional golf.  Maybe I’ll tag along and participate!

New motorcycle

One of my friends just bought a Honda motorcycle - a 900RR.  It’s bright red, black and white graphics.  Just sitting still it looks like it’s going 100 mph!  It’s registered for 170 mph and he says it will do every bit of it!  Better him than me!  He just got done changing the exhaust over because it wasn’t loud enough.  There again, he was questioned by “the authorities” but he produced a legal sticker and they told him to “cool it” and let him go.  That’s a joke!  But still, what a nice bike!

Patriot’s Mini Camp

The New England Patriots had their first rookie minicamp today for their seven draft picks and 11 undrafted free agents. The team invited 9 unsigned players to the minicamp, too.  Coach Bill Belichick watched the workouts with team Vice President of Personnel, Scott Piolo.

After this first week’s minicamp, the draft picks and selected free agents will return to Foxborough in mid-May for the team’s conditioning program. I’ll be watching the draft pick, Jerod Mayo to see if he was worth the first round spot.