Bown's Opinion

Titlist Vokey Vs. Cleveland Wedges

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:18:00 +0000

So it has been a while since I did the original post. Sorry for the delay.

What was the out come? It is actually pretty mixed. I went out and practiced with both my 56 degree Cleveland and 56 degree Vokey. The Vokey had a lot more bounce than my Cleveland and I was definately a lot more comfortable with the Cleveland. I did hit some good shots with the Vokey however but needed more work with it.

So I decided to take it to the course. Played pretty well with it but still just didn't feel the same as my Cleveland. I hit some good shots again. I could not get it to stop however like I can with my Cleveland.

So I let my buddy hit it a couple of times. He got it to stop first try. He fell in love with the club. I eventually sold it to him and he loves it to this day. He liked my Clevelands and hit them pretty well but was not as consitant stopping them as I am and vise-versa with the Vokey and I.

So basically go out and hit them. Figure out what works for you. For me it is the Clevelands and for my buddy it is the Vokey's. Try em before you buy em.

Florida State Should be Ashamed

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:17:00 +0000

The Florida State boosters and administration should be ashamed for the way they treated Bobby Bowden this past season. The man made FSU football. If it weren't for him and his staff they would be no better than South Florida is, not National Championships, no Heisman winners. They would still be trying to become relevant.

To force the guy out like that when all he wanted was one more season is amazing. I am glad that Bowden said he would not do fund raising for the school. After they way they treated him and then they ask him to go shake hands and kiss babys to get money from people.

In the end FSU football is probably a thing of the past. They can't recruit against Florida, Miami is trying to get back and South Florida is on the way up. That talent that FSU used to get just isn't there for them anymore.

In the end I am not a FSU fan but I do respect Bobby Bowden for what he did there. They will never have a coach like that again.

Husker's '09, Looking Back

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:25:00 +0000

The '09 season wasn't a great season performance wise for the Huskers. Don't get me wrong it was a lot better than most of the teams we fielded over the decade but it was a building year mainly for the offense. The offense was pretty bad most of the season, the Iowa State game was a definite low for the O.

The progression of the Blackshirts is what will be remembered from the '09 season. Ndamukong Suh is probably the best defensive tackle to ever play college ball. The Heisman vote is such crap. It is supposed to be the best college football player that year. That is another post however. To hold OU without an offensive touchdown basically win the Texas game and allow the offense to turn the ball over 8 times in the ISU game and only lose that game by 2 points. That is one hell of a defense, not to mention what they did to U of A. 33 to 0 was a statement.

But the season was not a loss. It was actually a great season going forward. The team seemed to really come together in the bowl, lots of new offense that I hope will continue into next season. The D lost Suh and a few others but there are a lot of young players that have now been in the system for a year. The depth that Callahan could never build. Pelini seems to understand college football and how to build a program. I personally feel very good about the direction of the program.

If the team can get the offense going next year and the D really is better as Bo and Carl say it will be then the sky is the limit. We have Texas in Lincoln with a new quarterback and a chip on Bo and Carl's shoulder. Great way to prove the team is back.

It was a fun team to watch, way to many heart breaking losses but we played with the best that the Big 12 has to offer and a VT team that was very good when we played them and only got better over the season. It would have been interesting to play them in a bowl and see how that went. I think it would have been a really good game similar to the early season meeting, hopefully with a different outcome.

Overall I feel that the Huskers are a lot better off than they were a year ago. I really can't wait for next season.

Rain and lighting at the 500 Club

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:03:00 +0000

Played the 500 club Saturday. Started raining on us on 11 which is a short par 3 that goes way up hill. Got done with 11 and it really started coming down on the tee on 12. So we kept playing teed off, got down to our balls on the fairway and as we were hitting up onto the green a night bolt of lighting cracked just above and to the east of us. Putted out and got under a bathroom until it let up a little and we could make a run for it.

Crazy round. Had a good one going as well. If it weren't for the lighting and the greens turning into lakes we could have kept playing. Still had a good time.

Cleveland Vs. Titlist Wedges

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:01:00 +0000

So I have been playing Cleveland wedges for a couple of months now. Have to say I love them. I bought brand new 56 and 60 degree wedges about 2 months ago and a 52 and 48 shortly there after. Haven't had any issue spinning them or getting them to release depending on what I am doing. I actually tend to spin my clubs 6 iron and up a lot. When hitting a 6 iron or up into a green the ball mark is usually within 3 feet of the ball, my wedges on 3/4 to full shots usually spin back a a few inches to a few feet.

So I have been reading a lot of info online about the different wedges, Cleveland, Callaway and Titlist. The majority of the info I have read is that the Clevelands are the most difficult to generate spin. This peaked my curiosity, so today I picked up a Titlist Vokey Spin Milled 56.8 wedge. I live in Phoenix and the lies are pretty thin usually and I don't leave a lot of divot so the 8 degree bounce is what I prefer, right now.

I have not gotten a chance to go hit the new Vokey wedge against my Cleveland, which is also a low bounce 56 degree wedge. I have done some short chipping in the backyard, they both feel the same. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to hit the range and the chipping green and see how they do. I will also take both with me to the course next weekend.

I'll keep you posted.

(Next maybe a Callaway 56 C-Grind?)

Coyote Lakes Golf Course

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:30:00 +0000

I have been playing Coyote Lakes with a group of friends off and on for the past few months. It is a pretty cool course. A little short, but playing from the tips helps to lengthen it and allow longer hitters to hit more than driver and wedge. The course has been in excellent condition all summer.

It is a desert course and hitting fairways is key. There is little for rough on either side of the fairways and beyond that is some super rocky desert. If don't like beating up your clubs and hit it out of bounds you will be taking a lot of drops.

One of the coolest holes is the 6th. It has a 12 foot cobblestone wall just forward of the green. It is a bit intimidating but a great hole. I have bounced the ball off the wall once and had to hit from about 5 yards from the base. Fun hole.

Golf carts include GPS which is pretty good, freaks out a bit going from 9 to 10 for some reason. They also include coolers on the carts with 2 free waters included. A must in AZ and kind of surprising that more courses don't do the same.

They have a nice putting green and chipping green, the driving range isn't my favorite. Because of space it is short and they use limited flight golf balls. Good for warming up, but that is about it.

I dig the course.

Mesa Boogie -- Made in America

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:17:00 +0000

I have been playing guitar for a long time now, owned a lot of guitars and almost as many amps. By far my favorite amps are Boogies. Actually my favorite is the smallest one I own, a Subway Rocket, that thing sounds amazing! But anyway check out the video below, it shows the time and heart that the guys at Boogie put in.

Golfing the 500 Club Phoenix

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Played the 500 Club this morning. Really cool course, fairways were in amazing condition but the greens were pretty pock marked. Wish people would fix their ball marks!

Over all the course was great, a few really cool holes, water green and some nice long dog legs. Hate it when every hole is straight or fairly straight. Not the best value though, for $50+ you get a round of golf and a cart that is about it. The carts didn't have coolers on them either, which in the summer is a must. Most courses around for $50 you get a small bucket of balls and a couple of bottles of water in the cooler on your cart. They did have water out on the course though.

All and all I really liked playing the course. Had a lot of fun. Balls hit off line were easy to find and most were playable even from the desert. I would play it again but for $50 it isn't an every weekend course.

Micheal Jackson's Funeral

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:52:00 +0000

I can't take it anymore. Are they really renting the Staples Center for this? Come on. The guy had one monster album and a few others that were good. Yes he sold a ton of albums world wide but there are people who have sold more and didn't touch little kids. He is not Princess Dianna!!! I don't care how much his mom wants him to be or how much his dad wants to try and cash in on his son one last time, although Joe Jackson will find many more ways I am sure.

So what is next? They going to put in the something and display him at neverland ranch? Actually I wouldn't put it past them.

"Look son there is Micheal Jackson, did you know he touched me in very bad places when I was your age?"

Ok, so all that aside the guy had issue. Most of them come from the way he grew up and his family. Now in death his family is continuing the BS that caused this very talented man to be such a freak! Have a funeral and bury him (if the state of California will let you put all that plastic in the ground). Honor his memory don't make it something more than it should be.

Bury the guy and throw a benefit concert or something. To parade him around that is just sick. But I guess that is the Jackson family......

XM Still sucking

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:06:00 +0000

Got another bill from XM today. This after they told me I owed them nothing more. I really can't believe this company and their complete lack of customer service. They tell you one thing over and over and then as soon as they get off the phone you start getting bills. Amazing!

Google Adsense for Domains

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:32:00 +0000

So I have been testing out Adsense for Domains. Have a ton of domains and figured I would try to make some money with them. In the past two months I have gotten a reported 529 page impressions and 34 results page impressions but no money. Not sure how you are supposed to make money with this system. But I would recommend using something else.

On to another point to do with Adsense for Domains. Isn't this spam? So Google says that a page should be useful to a user. If you have seen these pages they are terrible. As a person or user of the internet the Adsense for domains pages are extremely un-useful. They just clutter up the internet as do most parking systems. My issue is that Google says don't do this, we will remove you and then turns around and basically builds a doorway page for their advertisers.

I don't get it.

June 25th 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:07:00 +0000

What a day, I can't not blog today. Today Micheal Jackson and Farrah Fawcet died. Crazy that Micheal Jackson is gone. I remember seeing him on tv as a kid and thinking he was bigger than life and he was.

Farrah, well all my buddies had that poster. You couldn't grow up without that poster.

The world lost a lot of talent today.

Chiefs to retire Derrick Thomas's number!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:42:00 +0000

All I really have to say about that as an Elway fan and growing up a Bronco fan. It is about time! Can't think of a player that has played for the Chiefs since that was half the player or game changer that guy was. Nice of the Chiefs to decide to retire his number so long after his death. The guy was the franchise along with Neil Smith on the defensive side of the ball.

It shouldn't have taken this long really!

XM will suck on the iPhone starting tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:32:00 +0000

So starting tomorrow (6/18/09) you can have XM radio on your iPhone. Can't wait for them to start trying to double bill me for that as well. I think that is one iPhone app I will stay away from!

XM Radio and extreme Suckage!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:52:00 +0000

So I got 3 bills this week. All on the same day for the same radio with 3 different amounts on them! I feel bad for you guys that bought the lifetime subscription. If they can't get their billing together better than that there is no way they are going to be in business for more than a year or so.

I heard something about their finacial report and how they lost a large number of customers and blamed it on slowing auto sales. That doesn't really make sense to me, if you are losing customers it is probably because your customer service SUCKS!!! The new car sales being slow would usually mean that you aren't getting new customers.

Really though 3 bills in one day with 3 different amounts "owed" all for the same radio. AMAZING!

Why Dave Mustaine will always be cool.

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:02:00 +0000

There was a point in my life when I thought I was going to be a rock star. I was taking lessons like crazy and taking classes at one of the local community colleges (Scottsdale Community College). I was so intent I got a job at a local music store and the whole bit.

Scottsdale Community College had a great music program at the time, not sure if they still do. But they had recording classes with ADATs and all, at the time that was some pretty solid stuff. So I was taking the Music Business classes and we had a project to write a paper and I was dreading it. So I decided to email Dave Mustaine to see if I could email him some questions and he send them back to me so I could write the paper. At that point Megadeth had their email addresses listed on their website and as it turned out it was really them answering.

So Dave emails me back and said he wouldn't do the q&a but "Maybe, your teacher would like a guest lecturor?". I was pretty stoked. Went to class the next time and the teacher was all for it. Kind of crazy, the teacher was a pretty well known local jazz cat. So I emailed Dave back and forth a bit, he told me to call his manager, I did and we set it up.

The morning of the lecture I was standing outside the building waiting for Dave to show up. All the sudden this guy with long red hair starts walking up. I was shaking be a young kid not far removed from Nebraska. He was super cool, asked me if I was in trouble in class or something. I said "no, why". He said you are shaking. I told him I don't meet rock stars everyday.

So he did the lecture and signed some stuff for the guys in the class. He told lots of stories about how he got screwed on some early contracts and what to look out for. Kind of the classic case of a band getting signed and owning nothing. Megadeth was transitioning labels at the time or had just finished it and he had some insight about all that. Wish I had video taped it.

I was super impressed that he did all of that. I guess he had told another kid he would do a talk at his school but something came up and Dave couldn't do it. He said he felt bad about it and did the lecture to try and make up for missing that other one.

After that the teacher kept bring up that I got Dave Mustaine to come talk and it got kind of old quick and I could feel the rest of the guys in class getting feed up with it as well. So I didn't go to class much after that. Oddly I got an A that semester and the next with going to class only a few times. :)

But got to say, I have met a few rock stars and not sure how many of them would have taken the time to come talk to a class like that. Dave is a really nice guy and it has been years since all this happened, but he still has my thanks for speaking to our class. It is a huge highlight to that period in my life and actually part of the reason I am a programmer now. :)

Thanks Dave!

Got to love it!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:43:00 +0000

You have to love security guys that go all office space on computer gear! Check out their podcast and info @ www.pauldotcom.com and/or the YouTube below.

Safari 4

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:54:00 +0000

All I have to say is WOW! That is a super fast browser. Readying my Google Reader, it always takes a bit for each article to load. Lots of javascript with the ads and all in the RSS. Firefox takes a bit to load each time I scroll. Safari 4 does not have this issue. Facebook is crazy fast. Google Analytics loads super quick.

Not sure how secure it is right now, but it is FAST!

AdSense for Domains

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:37:00 +0000

I set a few of my domains up on Google's AdSense for Domains. After looking at the pages that it produces I am left wondering, isn't this exactly what Google has said for years and years that it doesn't want? Low quality pages with no real content to speak of and a bunch of PAID links?

I guess ad revenue is what drives the big G now days.

Getting Organized

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:31:00 +0000

I am starting to work on a lot of new things so I decided to get organized a little better. Hooked up Google Calendar, made it private and shared it with only a few people, not public which is super important. I sync'd it with my Outlook and iPhone via Outlook. Not so big on Google Mobile Sync right now. I have heard some horror stories. So I put a couple of new items in my calendar.

Also working on an outline for either an e-book or a series of blog posts. Not sure which yet, but am pretty excited about it. Lot of research to do and content to write.

I am working on a couple of new programming projects as well. They are all in the design phase right now but coming together nicely. Good to build stuff for myself. Pretty excited about 3 of the projects. Think they will be solid.

Also working on learning some stuff about penetration testing of applications, unit testing and methods to produce better and more secure products. As well as Java.

This is going to be a good year for expanding my skills. Love learning new things.

Great Technology Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:35:00 +0000

So I have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. One of the best and absolutely most interesting one is from PaulDotCom.com. These guys are pretty damn funny which keeps it entertaining especially since the podcast is about technology security.

As a programmer I have learned a lot about writing better code and tools to use to test the programs and websites that I write.

Anybody that programs, is into security or basically has a home network should check out the podcast and the website.

Got to love their shirts. "Hack Naked"

XM Radio Customer Service SUCKS!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:25:00 +0000

I was supposed to get a call today from a manager from XM radio to talk about the issue I am having with them. Guess what, no call! Amazing.

Earlier I got an email from them saying my account was canceled. So I called them. Talked to a guy that actually wanted to fix the issue this time. So he did what I asked. I got my service for the money that I already paid and working on getting my money back for the over charges.

They do have the worst customer service ever though. Can't see how this company will be in business more than another year or two at this rate.

Actually while I was on the call the guy I was talking to put me on hold because one of the guys behind him was yelling at another customer. Got to love that.

Not happy, but better than yesterday.

XM Radio Sucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:08:00 +0000

So I have had XM radio for almost 5 years. I pay for it a year at a time. Always on time. You would think that they would treat a customer like this well. Nope, not at XM. I sold my old Corvette to my father a couple of years ago when I got my new one. He transferred the XM service to his account, well little did I know that XM didn't take that radio off my account. So they have been double dipping.

I called tonight because I know that my car is paid up. I got an email saying my service would be shut off if I didn't pay my balance. I talked to one girl saw that the '06 Corvette was on two accounts and removed that radio from my account and credited what was "due" back to my account. She then transferred me to another woman who was supposed to look stuff up and figure out the radios and credits. She did no such thing. She told me it is not possible for one radio to be on two accounts. Said I was never double charged. All this without looking at my father's account to see that the same radio was on there and paid through next year.

What she did do was try and charge me another $84 through next May. I paid $77 through November 09 last November. She said I couldn't stay on my current plan because I only have one radio, so I needed to give them another $84. Mean while she was telling me full price for 1 year with one radio is $142 but she is trying to get another $84 which would take my out of pocket for one radio this year to $161. Not to mention the over charges for the other Vette, which according to her can't happen.

So I was explaining my stance on not giving them another dollar till November and she transferred me to hold then another lady picked up. This poor woman gets me and I am really angry now. I kept it cool, but with a stern voice, not abusive to the person on the phone at all.

So I am waiting for a manger to call me. 3 weeks ago when I was trying to solve this issue, a manager was supposed to call. Never happened. So I am waiting for them to just shut my radio off.

I plan to write a letter to the FTC, FCC, my senators and representatives. This is why Sirius and XM should never have been allowed to merge. The new company doesn't care, they have the market and are screwing the customer every which way they can.

Sirus/XM Radio is losing customers left and right, this is exactly why. Last quarter they LOST customers. They said it was because the auto industry has slowed. Guess what maybe it is the complete lack of customer service and accountability that the company is displaying. I guess they must need to pay Howard this month and need me to kick in a bunch of extra so they can keep him around or something.

XM Radio owes me money and an appology for the monster run around. All this today and no resolution. Don't let them have your card to run as needed. They will run it over and over again.

This doesn't even touch the changes of programming that happened where I lost my 3 favorite stations in favor of the crap Sirius version.

I'll blog more about this later if they call me back or if my radio that IS PAID FOR THROUGH NOVEMBER gets turned off. Sirius/XM Radio customer service SUCKS!

Koders -- Search Engine for Open Source

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:06:00 +0000

I have been doing some open source programming lately, actually more of contributing to some open source projects. It is a real change from what I am used to and a lot of fun once that mindset got changed.

Today I found this extremely cool site, koders.com, it is a search engine of a ton of open source code. Very nice tool. They have an addin for Eclipse and Visual Studio so you can search from the IDE. Great idea!

I am excited to use it in the new future.

2009 Indy 500 Month of May

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher W. Bown) — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Since I was a little kid I have always watched the Indy 500 and the month of May that leads up to the race. Over the years the month has shrunk and changes have been made that I didn't always agree with. My issue this year, they moved all the coverage to Versus. I missed pole day completely this year. You know if they had advertised that all the 500 coverage would be on Versus then maybe the guys that don't really care for Indy car racing anymore would know that they could watch 6+ hours a day of Indy 500 qualifying.

I think Tony George has once again dropped the ball but what else is new?