Brandi and I got married on Friday, October 20, 2023!
Married
Mtn Dew: 2023 Voo-Dew
Another year and another Voo-Dew mystery flavor from Mountain Dew. After a second or two I definitely get memories of some kind of childhood candy, which I can’t place. It’s tasty though and I had no issue finishing the bottle. I’ll give the 2023 Voo-Dew an 8/10.
Hard Mtn Dew
I’ve been interested in trying out the Hard Mtn Dew ever since I heard about it. Last month we finally saw it on our road trip to Tennessee, so we bought the variety 12 pack with four flavors. Of course I had to try the original first.
It tastes like Mountain Dew Zero Sugar, which is not a good thing. Diet and Zero are nasty. This has 5% alcohol, but I didn’t taste any. I can only give it a 3/10. I hope the other flavors are better, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
The Idea of an EDC
I really like the idea of an EDC.
Everyday carry (EDC) or every-day carry is a collection of useful items that are consistently carried on person every day. The main reasons for having EDC are utility and preparedness; to help individuals overcome simple everyday problems, including possible emergency situations. Some of the most common EDC items are wallets, key rings, phones, watches, knives, flashlights, multitools, notebooks, and pens.
Wikipedia
I have a stack of Field Notes and tried carrying one around for awhile to jot things down. It didn’t last because firing up a notes app was more convenient. I have a nice pocket knife from my brother’s wedding and I like the idea of carrying a Leatherman. I work from home though and over 90% of the time I’m wearing joggers or gym shorts, which are not great for carrying items around all day.
My EDC is my iPhone and the iPhone Mag Wallet with my credit card, driver’s license, and debit card. Since my Tesla Model Y uses the Tesla app as the key and I don’t need a physical key to get in the house, I don’t even carry a set of keys.
Here are some EDC YouTube videos from creators I enjoy watching:
Similarly, Matt Mullenweg, our CEO at Automattic, has a series of posts categorized In My Bag, where he shares what he carries around with him. I always find something new and useful from those posts.
The Practice Manual
I’d been itching to read The Practice Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Golfers to help me improve where I spend my time with driving range sessions.
This book was a much slower and tougher read than The Four Foundations of Golf. The majority of the book focuses on how we learn and theories. I kept getting tempted to skip some of these chapters to get to the good stuff. I pressed on, hoping all of the pieces would fit together and make the read worth it.
Unfortunately a lot of the practice ideas felt much more suited to practice time on a simulator where you can measure distances and accuracy. Those are very difficult to measure on a driving range. Having a sim at home would also make it much easier to have short practice sessions of 15-30 minutes. In order to do that at the driving range requires well over an hour to pack up the vehicle, drive to the course, get range balls, loosen up, practice, and drive home.
On page 365 of 385 I was surprised to read the following.
…this book is aimed at aspiring tour players, as well as coaches who are teaching players who spend their lives on the practice rounds.
Quite different from the back cover stating, “The book everyone has been waiting for” and “If you love golf, you will love this book.”
As I read more and more of the book, I got the feeling it was not written for typical amateurs. Had I known this, I wouldn’t have bought it. I do not recommend reading it. The information I found most useful in the book was presented in The Four Foundations of Golf, which I believe would benefit every amateur golfer.
Mtn Dew: Baja Passionfruit Punch
DEW® with a blast of natural & artificial passionfruit flavor. Perfect for a tropical summer.
I’m not sure what passionfruit punch is supposed to taste like, but it’s not good. I don’t know if it’s the color tricking me, but I get a slight grape taste. It’s not a good flavor and only gets 4/10 because I could handle finishing the bottle.
Mtn Dew: Baja Caribbean Splash
DEW® with a blast of natural & artificial guava flavor. Vacation in a bottle.
The Baja flavors are usually pretty good and this one is no exception. You can definitely taste the guava. I’m not sure I’d buy another one, but I’d drink one. Solid 7/10.
Another Blanket Ladder
Back in November I made a ladder for our fireplace and Mom commented on my Facebook post.
So I whipped one up for Mother’s Day. Very similar process and dimensions. I used pieces of old oak flooring and stained it.
My new sliding miter saw has a depth stop, so I used that to the dados and cleaned them up with a chisel. Can you spot the huge mistake though? I marked and cut the dados the same way in both sides of the ladder. Since everything is on a 10° angle, I couldn’t rotate the pieces to work, and ended up with two left sides. Milled up a board for a new right side, which went much quicker.
The Four Foundations of Golf
Last summer I blazed through my first read of The Four Foundations of Golf by Jon Sherman and loved it. I just finished my second reading and will likely read it once or twice a year. The information is so good.
Jon has been golfing for decades and does a wonderful job presenting everything in an easy to read format. He runs the Practical Golf site, where a lot of the same information is presented in different ways. His Twitter account is a great follow as well.
A big part of the book focuses on strategy, which many of us get wrong. Here’s a taste…
Similar information from Adam Young here…
Last year I started using the Golfshot GPS and scoring app on an Apple watch for the first time. I switched from using a range finder to zap the pin on each hole to using middle and back of the green distances, which I get from a watch. It’s really changing my game. After reading Four Foundations I realized I needed more stats to help me determine where I could improve the most. I bought the new Shot Scope X5 watch, which provides all of the strokes gained data I need. I’m looking forward to putting in more practice time this year to see where I can take my handicap.
It’s probably not a coincidence that Jon and Adam have a podcast together, called The Sweet Spot, which you can find on all of the podcasting platforms. I’ve started reading Adam’s book, The Practice Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Golfers and am learning a lot more about the physics of golf and how to use that information to determine what is happening when I hit the ball. You can bet I’ll post a review when I’m finished with the book.
“The Four Foundations of Golf” is a must read for every golfer.
Mtn Dew: Summer Freeze
Is it just me or do they release a lot of blue flavors? Maybe I have a memory bias because it’s my favorite color.
B thinks it tastes like the bomb pop Faygo, but that was the 2022 Voo-Dew. I don’t get that and I’m having a hard time placing the taste, but the initial wave of aftertaste is very familiar. Overall it’s a solid flavor I’d drink again if someone gave it to me. I don’t think I’d buy one, so it gets a 6/10.
Nick Momrik 