Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Do you have any idea how good this feels? If not, I’ll tell you. It feels really really good.
Now, I pride myself on not being a competitive player, but when things are getting tight on the court, I get a little nervous. I play harder and see if I can pull myself out of the hole. That’s what I did tonight.
I won the first set 7-6. We had to play a tiebreaker. Tiebreakers are never fun, because that means the set was really close. People try to win sets by a few games. Oh well; at least I pulled through.
I won the second set 6-3 and that was the match. Since it was still early, we decided to play another set, which I won 6-3. It sounds like I am bragging here, I know, but all the beating up that I do on myself, I think I deserve it.
There was one thing I worked on since my last ladder match and that was my “mental game.” I have serious problems with that (along with every other tennis player out there having the same problem). I read up on it and got some tips which really helped out tonight. Needless to say, I don’t talk smack on the court anymore. That really wasn’t helping my game. The more I take things seriously, the better I play.
I have a clinic in the morning. We’ll see how I do there.
Related posts
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
This was something I was totally unaware of, so I am guessing many of you are unaware of it too.
After the tennis clinic this morning, I stopped by Whole Foods to grab some sushi. I also got some ice cream and whipped cream. I have been jonesing for a warm brownie sunday. I mean, I really want one. I explained this to Laura in great detail last night. Ruby Tuesday makes the best one I have ever had, but I am not at Ruby Tuesday, so I have to handle this myself.
I got what I needed and was ready to go to the checkout counter, when I realized that I was a little thirsty. I usually just drink water because buying drinks is a huge rip-off, but I figured that since the sushi was going to cost so much anyway, what’s wrong with treating myself to a little juice? I walked over to the juice area and lifted my hand to pick up a small “Pom” pomegranate bottle. My hand got about half way to the product, when I noticed that the little bottle cost $3.89. What??? That was out of the question. Then, I saw another store brand pomegranate drink and actually picked this one up. It was only $2.99, but still a very small bottle. I decided to put that back down when I saw a 2 quart bottle of black currant juice for lest than $3. That was more along the lines of what I was looking for. I basically bought it because the label said that black currant is high in anti-oxidants.
Currant Affair - Black currant juice
After I left the car and started driving, I cracked that bottle open and gave my new juice a taste. It tasted different, but pretty good. I continued drinking for the rest of the ride.
When I got back to the house, I decided to do a little research on the health benefits of the black currant. As it turns out, the black currant is a pretty healthy food to eat.
Now, let me be clear – the black currant is very healthy, but the drink that I got has a lot of sugar in it. I’m sure if I spent a heck of a lot more money, I could have gotten a more “pure” juice. For my purposes, this did the job.
You can read up of the blackcurrant over here and check out the health benefits here, but let me just tell you that it has an extraordinarily high vitamin C content, good levels of potassium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B5, and a broad range of other essential nutrients (I got that from Wikipedia). It treats diseases, ailments and aches. From what I read on Wikipedia, it’s pretty neat.
I really wish you would read about it. There is a long story about how the black currant was banned from being grown in the U.S. because of the threat it was to the logging industry. It’s pretty interesting reading. Who knew that a fruit was banned from being grown over here? Now that it’s back and grown in New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Oregon, it’s getting some traction again, but still remains fairly unknown.
Well, there you have it. A new food that is really good for you. Next time you are in that expensive juice aisle, you might want to check out the black currant.
Related posts
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
…and lost.
It was fun though and now I am sucked into doing this every week. The club likes to get its members involved. The only bad part about it was that I missed “Lost.” If I had any idea that Lost was on, I certainly wouldn’t have played tennis.
If you care to remember back, yesterday’s clinic was canceled because of the weather. As it ends up, a gentleman at the club needed someone to play in the tennis ladder. They gave me a call and I accepted. Out of about 27 people who participate in the ladder, I think he ranks about 20. I now hold the esteemed position of 27. I should get a jersey with the number 27 on the back of it.
He was pretty good and had a lot of good shots. I played well, so I really have nothing to complain about. I just didn’t play as well as he did. Toward the third set, I started getting warmed up. Unfortunately, the match is winding down in the third set.
I think I am going to get a lot of good experience playing in the ladder. Now, when I go to the clinics, I know what I need to practice, instead of randomly hitting with the rest of the people. If I had my way, I would be taking lessons once a week again. I really want to do that.
Related posts
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
If you live in the northeast and haven’t looked out the window yet, let me be the one to tell you that it’s snowing again. Ah yes, the snow.
I was talking to my sister last night and mentioned that I have pretty much isolated the things I don’t like about winter. I told her it’s the darkness and the overcast skies. The past week has been cold and sunny here and I have been totally fine. Neither the snow nor the cold bother me in the least. The main thing that gets me down is the darkness and it is actually starting to get lighter in the evening now. Come March and daylight savings, we’ll be back in business.
I crawled out of bed this morning and was really hoping to play tennis. I took one look out the window and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t happening. I began my usual morning routine with tennis completely out of my mind. Then, the phone rang. It was the tennis club asking me if I would be coming to the clinic if they could gather enough people. I said yes and hopped in the shower. I was excited to drive in the snow again and to play some of the game I love so much.
Well, while I was in the shower, the tennis club called back and informed me that there would, in fact, be no clinic this morning. That’s a shame, because I really enjoy the Wednesday clinics.
The lady who called me was worried that I had already left, because I didn’t answer the phone. She showed such concern and sincerity. I loved that. She is really nice anyway, and I really like her. I gave her a call back to let her know that I was only in the shower and for her not to worry. She chuckled, I chuckled. It was like a chucklefest.
So, that’s my story. I almost played tennis today.
Related posts
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Since my last tennis post, my forehand has been getting better. It still doesn’t feel right though. It kind of feels like I switched hands and am now trying to learn lefty. I have to admit, I don’t think I’ll ever get it.
I have decided to go back to my natural “open stance forehand.” This is the way I have been playing for years, before attempting to learn this sideways stance forehand that I am having all sorts of trouble with.
I thought it might be a good idea to show you both tennis strokes here, so you know what I’m talking about.
First, take a look at this traditional forehand tennis stroke. Notice how the body turns and the left foot comes forward.
Now, take a look at what’s more natural for me. This is the open stance forehand. Notice how the body stays open and the right foot guides the body.
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
Just to let you know, tennis is one of those games where old habits die hard. There are a lot of new players using a more extreme Western grip and open stance forehand and getting tremendous results with them. The pros don’t like to teach that way of playing for some reason.
Related posts
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
Today’s clinic was pretty fruitful, if I don’t say so myself. There was actually a point when I said to myself, “Okay, this is where it clicks.” Strangely enough, it did.
Why I have trouble with my forehand, I’ll never know. This is supposed to be the “natural” stroke that everyone picks up the fastest. The backhand and the serve are what usually gets people into trouble. Nope, not me. I am fine at those two, it’s the forehand that troubles me.
I now have the proper grip. It’s the full western…the one I used to use 12 years ago when I played at the Carmel Fitness and Racquet club in Carmel, NY. I played with younger people, so their grips were much more exaggerated. Young people watch the pros a lot and like to copy them. As players become more mature, they tend to hit safer, more conservative shots. I always liked the exaggerated gameplay, so I think I’ll stick to that.
There are two things I am working on; the first one is keeping my elbow closer to my body. When I don’t do that, I get a big, loopy swing. Changing my grip from the semi-western to the full western grip has helped with this. Also, holding a tennis ball to my body with my elbow reminds my to keep the elbow close.
The second thing I am working on is extending my swing more. Usually, after I make contact with the ball, I pull up too fast, when I should be moving the racquet forward more. They like to call this the “windshield wiper” swing. It’s not as bad as the big loopy swing, but it is annoying. The way I avoid this is to keep my left hand out in front of me, and after I make contact with the ball, I catch the racquet with it. This helps put more pace on the ball.
There are so many videos out there on YouTube showing people how to practice their forehands, but many of them are for beginners. I did find one that really shows some helpful tips on how to swing and some good exercises to practice. For the record, I would like to say that I absolutely love the facility these players are practicing in.
Related posts
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
I played a little tennis this morning. I didn’t know if I was going to make it, because the weather was kind of rough out there. I gave the club a call about 45 minutes before the clinic started and they let me know it was “on.” If I tell you one thing today, let it be that I love all-wheel-drive. This is like the tenth time I spun all four wheels going up the driveway. I keep doing it because it’s so much fun. This X5 freakin’ rules. I drive around in the snow like it’s nobody’s business. It also has descent control, so when I want to get back down the driveway, all I do is push a button.
I showed up on time, but the others were late. That was fine with me, because it gave me a chance to become acquainted with the ball machine. Man, about 5 minutes with that thing and I was whooped. I really need to get out there more. The older I get, the worse it becomes.
Laura has been talking about a treadmill lately, so I have a feeling that is going to be making its way into the basement. There are days when we can’t walk because of the weather. I tell her that I have an allergy to the whole “exercise at home” thing. I have seen basements full of rarely used equipment all my life. I have to give her credit though, she is beating up that Bowflex. I have never met someone who actually does what she says like this. Amazing.
Tennis was fun. There were only three of us, plus the pro. Small groups are always a good time and we used our time wisely. I am still practicing my forehand, so things are a little weird, but I expect to get it one of these days. I remember back when I was on the swim team over at the town beach. I was the worst one in the whole group at freestyle. I was doing 22 second laps. I went to visit a family friend in Long Island with my father one weekend and practiced swimming in their pool. When I came back, I was doing 16 second laps. I remember the look on the coach’s face…”WHAT?” That ended up being my best stroke. I’m tellin’ ya Mike, I’m tellin’ ya.
In between other things for the past few days, I have been painting the purple room. If you forget what the purple room looks like, you can check it out here. It’s the one that’s purple. I decided to get off my duff and start painting upstairs of the house. It took a while, but I’m doing it. I cleaned out the room, painted it and then moved my office in it tonight. Here, you can take a look…
Office
Oh, you know I went down to the flooring place in town. I was going to go all out with the top floor, one room at a time. I was first going to put down new carpeting in each room, then I lost heart at during my visit. I brought back samples of pre-finished hardwood. It only took a few hours for me to completely change my mind and lose all motivation to turn this into a multi-week project. If we ever want to re-do the floors, we’ll do them. For now, we are only going to worry about paint.
By the way, can you believe I have that much stuff in the little office? Geez.
Now that the old office is cleaned out, we can start painting in there. After that, the bedroom and finally, Laura’s office. It will probably be spring by that point, so I’ll be outside for the rest of the season.
After I was finished moving all the furniture, I went downstairs to grab myself a glass of Brandy. I must tell you, after tasting that Scotch, I have admitted that I am a Brandy man. It’s the whole, “after dinner” thing, I think. It’s just the way I am. I don’t need any more hair on my chest.
I did a little looking around and decided that perhaps someone should buy me a nice bottle of Christian Brothers XO Rare Reserve Brandy. I would really like that. If you want to just drop it off, cool. If you want to meet me someplace, I can do that, just let me know when.
Finally, let’s talk about music. I am done organizing my albums into nice, neat folders on my computer (backed up, of course). I have a whole slew of them and they are mixed with most of Laura’s. She still has a while to go. As I was sitting here in the new office tonight, drinking my Brandy, I decided to cruise through some of the folders. I knew what all my albums were, but there are some of Laura’s that I really am not all too familiar with.
I first listened to one of my favorites, Christopher Cross. Then, after that was done, I opened one of hers. I listed to the first part of the first song and decided to give it a chance. I was in the middle of working, so I didn’t notice all that much after that, until the third song. It was “Days Of The New – Enemy.”
Now, I know you are chuckling under your breath, mumbling that I am not as “hip” as you are when it comes to music. You’re probably right, but I have already gotten over it. I really like the song and I would like to share it with you. Enjoy. (You’ll have to click here to see it. They disabled embedding.)
Related posts
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
If you have read any of my tennis posts, you would have seen me writing about this guy I play tennis with. You know the guy…if I tell him my leg is hurting, he hits me in the leg with the tennis ball. He is vicious on the court, a true competitor.
Well, as it turns out, he is also famous. I’m not sure if I ever told you this, but this fella (Mike) is in the golf business. He manufactures and sells all type of golf equipment out of his Hartford warehouse. He primarily sells online through Ebay and his online store called Linksman Golf.
Recently, Mike was on TV. How he gets all over the place and ends up on TV, I’ll never know. Some people just have it, I suppose. You gotta check him out by clicking here.
Michael Blair and Fox News reporter
Golf equipment at Linksman Golf
Linksman Golf online
Now, I wonder if I should post those videos I took of Mike’s tennis serve on YouTube. Hmmm…
Related posts
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
My buddy called me up yesterday morning and wouldn’t take no for an answer when he asked if I wanted to play tennis last night. I tried to explain to him that tennis was part of my morning routine, but as hard as I tried to speak, there was this little nagging urge to smack a tennis ball as hard as I could across the court. It truly is an addiction, as well as this sort of aggressive release.
A few days ago, I began hitting with a full Western grip. I know, that seems to be the grip that high school kids use to get more spin on the ball. Perhaps that’s why it feels so good for me…I used it years ago when I used to play. The Western grip puts a large amount of topspin on the ball and makes you feel really good when you hit the perfect shot. It also speeds up the gameplay and gives the rally kind of a resulting rush. There is a small problem with using that grip though…broken strings.
Synthetic gut tennis strings
The day I started using this new grip, I broke my strings. Good thing I have a backup racquet. They are both made by Prince, so they feel quite similar. The biggest difference between them is the price.
The reason many people break their tennis racquet strings by using the full Western grip is because the strings act as little “saws” against one another. When the racquet is strung with less tension, the strings are more free to do as they please. The tension of the strings lets them slide more easily.
Needless to say, I had to get the racquet restrung. As soon as I broke the strings, I ran up to the front desk and handed the racquet to the desk person. There is a fellow who comes by every morning to do racquet stringing. It’s not like me running up to the front desk made any difference…the guy comes by every morning, and I had already missed that day’s pickup. I ran because I had to get my backup racquet out of the car and I was in the middle of a lesson.
When I showed up for last night’s match, I had a little surprise waiting for me. It was my racquet all repaired and ready to go. This time, I had it strung at 63lbs, instead of 58lbs. Lower string tension offer slightly more power and less stress on the arm. Higher string tensions offer significantly more control and slightly better spin. I like control, so I went with the latter.
Back to the match…I have to say, my buddy and I are improving tremendously. He has such motivation and I just love the game. It’s like golf…it’s one of those sports that you will never be great at, and that’s what keeps you going.
We had a great match and are getting much closer with scoring. I would say that out of the 18 games we played, about half of them ended up at deuce, which made winning them even more exciting for the both of us.
It was a great night and we both had a lot of fun playing.
I think I am going to stick to my morning playing from now on. It’s really fun getting out there at night, but that’s when I work a lot and it’s hard to tear myself away from what I get myself into at times.
Related posts
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Hey, guess what guys and gals? Yes, I found another beer. Before I begin, please let me know if I ever repeat any of my beer posts. That would be a little embarrassing.
Ok, I was up in Whole Foods this evening doing a little food shopping. I have this great vegetarian cookbook that has the most excellent recipes. Tonight, I made herb pizza. It knocked my socks off, just like my socks were knocked off in my previous post. Tomorrow night, I am making kidney bean and mushroom burgers.
You know, I have often considered writing blog posts describing the things I cook. I am just starting to get good at it, but I would tell you if what I made was bad. I’m honest like that. I will have to think about that one. The problem with taking pictures of the stuff I make is that the pictures would come out terrible. It takes a very long time to set up those real pictures for cookbooks and stuff, and I fear that my singular reputation as a master chef would be tarnished and I wouldn’t view myself as one any more. I would still cook, but it wouldn’t be as much fun as it is now.
Anyway, back to my story. I was food shopping when I passed the beer area, again. I know, I know, it’s my weakness. Don’t worry mom, I don’t drink too much. This beer area was near the bakery. for some reason, they keep the seasonal beers over in this area, while the regular beer is kept over in the beer aisle. I browsed through the bakery beer area for a while looking for something good. There were mainly ales and lagers, which don’t do it for me. I decided it wasn’t my night for beer and I moved over to the cheese area.
I did most of my shopping when I wandered over to the real beer aisle. I chatted it up with some lady who was trying to surprise her husband with a new beer that he hasn’t tried yet. She mentioned that he liked the Sam Adams Oktoberfest. I told her that I just saw some Oktoberfest in the other area, but by a different brewery. Maybe he would like that. She thanked me and hurried off. That was my good deed for the day and made me think to myself that I was an angel. Remember the last time I thought I was an angel?
As I was now looking over the entire selection all by myself (just the way I like it, hehe), I noticed a six pack glaring at me. It said “Chocolate Stout” right on the side. “Hmmm,” I thought, as I was picking it up and putting it in my cart. That’s a much as I thought…just “Hmmm.”
Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout
Check ‘er out.
I finished up and left. When I got back to the house, I unpacked all the food and started up my process. The first thing I always do is crack open a beer before I start cooking. It makes things glide. I took a few sips and decided that this “Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout” is exactly what my next batch is going to taste like.
Did I mention that I am making chocolate stout next? I have all the ingredients. I was thinking about adding coffee to it, but I think I better not. I like to drink my beer at night and I fear the coffee will make me lie in bed staring at the ceiling. That’s not good for my tennis game.
Speaking of tennis, today was a fantastic clinic. I truly think I am getting better. My buddy and I hit for about a half hour after the clinic and we came to the conclusion that we have both improved considerably. This dude is like a wall at the net, so I don’t mess with him there, but as for ground strokes, we are lovin’ it. Believe it or not, we are signed up for cardio-tennis on Monday mornings now. We’ll see how that goes. I think I’m more into smacking tennis balls than running around, but I’ll get back to you with the verdict.
That’s all. Good night.
Related posts
TYSM I read this one and decided to try it out on my ACER (See, its not always HP with the problems)...