Ryan Fields

Snowboarding

This is a good time of year to be thinking about buying winter sports gear - a lot of the stuff is on “end of season clearance” sale prices!  One of the winter sports my friends and I like to do is snowboarding.  We’ve been talking about buying some new Burton snowboards over the Internet from www.christysports.com.  They have a great selection of winter sports gear, and we saw that they have some clearance specials for about 50% off going on for snowboards, boots, and bindings right now, too!  They offer free UPS shipping on orders over $75, and that’s a good deal, too!

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.

Going on safari

My friend Tom loves to play golf.  But he really loves to go hunting!  He told me just the other day he was planning on signing up for one of those African hunting safari trips he had been reading about in magazines and on the Internet.  He asked me if I wanted to go with him!  I told him that I would really like to go to Australia, so he proceeded to try to talk me into going to Africa with him instead.  He told me about all the nice trophy animals that he could get (or we could get) and how easy it was to sign up for one of the trips.  And the company would do everything else.  He told me about how nice the places are that you stay in, and how knowledgeable the guides are and they knew just where to take us to get whatever animal we wanted to bring home.  He said that all of the fees were included in the cost of the trip, including transportation to/from the airport, accommodations, trophy fees, and daily laundry!   I told him I’d think about it, because I really like to hunt, too!  (I can’t stand golf!)

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!”

My friend’s Camaro

My friend has an ‘89 Camaro.  He basically restored it - all he really needed was to pull a few dents, paint it, and replace the chrome that was worn out.  But he went a little overboard - it had a small block 350 in it and an automatic transmission - when he was done (with the new paint and chrome) he added a big block 454 with a 5 speed standard.  The car is gloss black, but it is still hard to see at night.   You ought to see it go!

For some reason, he can’t seem to keep rear tires on the car, it doesn’t matter which size.  He has a problem leaving the remnants of the tire in the road where ever he leaves from!  Last week he told me the State Police were getting tired of getting complaints about the noise that this car made.  I said “which noise, from the tires, or from the exhaust?”  He laughed and said “both!”  He said that now he has to go down back roads and play with it when he wants to, and we all know what I mean by “play with” - screech screech vroom vroom!  He gave me a ride in it, he’s a real good driver, but I don’t want to ride in it again!

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!

Identity theft

Bryce was quite shocked to discover that when he was buying his new 4-wheeler that someone had tried to open a loan in his name!  He was almost the victim of identity theft.  Fortunately it was caught in time and his credit is ok for now.  But it has upset him enough that he has decided to look into buying the lifelock service that we have been seeing advertised on television every day!  Using the lifelock service will protect him from any future attempts at identity theft being successful.  This was one close call he does not want to experience again!

My buddy’s new 4-wheeler

My friend Bryce has a new 4-wheeler.  Actually, to me it’s a four-wheel drive Cadillac!  It looks like a golf cart, and it’s all enclosed with a fiberglass top, windshield and doors.  It has a full bench seat and a heater that you actually have to shut off even when it is cold out because you get so warm!  It has four big all-terrain tires on it and you can go anywhere in the snow, but the other day, when I went over, to my surprise he had bought a conversion kit and turned it into a bulldozer!  It actually has four independent tracks on it in the shape of a “V” and it really looks funny when you stare at it because the tracks turn independently on the front and you can go anywhere - and I mean anywhere!

The first one I ever saw belonged to the bait dealer in town where I live.  He wanted something that would go anywhere anytime he wanted without worrying about getting stuck.  The kit was an extra $3,000 but he said it was worth every penny.  Now there are two of them in town!  It’s camouflage green, so when you park it in the woods in the summer you can barely see it.  He keeps asking me to come over and go for a ride, he says I can drive it, but I just haven’t had time.  I hope to do it soon!

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!