Not a whole lot of excitement going on these days, so I'll just give some quick updates on my extracurriculars and routines.
Mondays:
This year for Raytheon basketball we are 5-2 so far in the B league. We had to forfeit a couple weeks ago when I was out traveling to Colorado Springs for SNIA. Last week, we played shorthanded (5 guys made it, no subs) and lost to a very good team. It's been harder this year than previous years as there are a lot of byes due to having 11 teams (so 1 team is always sitting each week), forfeits, and holiday schedules (like no games on Halloween today). Regardless, it's fun to play with my fellow IBMers and we remain one of the teams (if not the team) to beat!
After basketball league, I sometimes go to Fox and the Hound to play 9-ball, since my team is still playing on Mondays. I can usually get there by 8 or 9pm after my basketball game, so it's not too bad. I just go straight from the Sporting Chance Center and play in my gym clothes. Our team is doing alright and I'm currently 3-1 on the year. Still a 4-speed in 9-ball.
Tuesdays:
Still got 8-ball league on Tuesdays, also at Fox and the Hound. Our team has struggled in recent sessions, but I've had a lot of roster changes to deal with and players moving up in skill. We're currently in 3rd place this session and I'm 3-3 on the year. Still a 5-speed in 8-ball.
Wednesdays:
My one true "night off" of the week is Wednesday. I have almost nothing ever planned on Wednesdays and will use this day to get in time at the gym or play video games. Some games I've been playing recently are: Left 4 Dead on PC with some combination of Wes, Ryan, Tyler, Johnathan, and Beth; Division on PS4 with Jeff; or Dragon Quest Builders on PS4. I still play Diablo 3 when the new season is out and I haven't been playing much StarCraft 2.
Thursdays:
We're about 8 weeks into the bowling season. We lost Tony this year (he's raising a new child), so we have two girls rotating weekly as our 4th player. We are off to a slow start, as both myself and Chris are below our expected averages. It's been hard to bowl big games this year for me, I wonder if all the additional extracurricular activities are affecting my game. *shrug* If I want to be a top athlete in all the sports I participate, I need to adjust and increase my endurance. And I'm sure most of it is mental.
Weekends:
Friday through Saturday have been pretty consistent for me. I still find to hit the gym, go out with friends, and play a round or two of golf on one of the days. There's NFL to watch on Sundays and the NBA season has also started!
Life is going well and I'm keeping busy. No out-of-town trips planned for the rest of the year. 'Til next post, take care and thanks for stopping by!
Monday, October 31, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Getting into.....GOLF!?!?
Anyone who's ever played golf with me knows one fact: I am really bad at golf.
However, my friend Anthony works as a financial manager at JW Marriott at Starr Pass here in Tucson and is encouraged to take advantage of the resort's golf course. He's allowed to invite up to three others to join him for free, which is an amazing perk to have as part of his job! Since late 2015, we've been going almost every weekend to take advantage of free golf and I'm very lucky to be invited. Anthony had never really golfed before he got this job, so it was nice that we both started out around the same level.
The golf course at Starr Pass is arguably the most challenging in Tucson. There are 27 holes (3 sets of 9 where you'll play 2 of the sets in a round) and the course spans through several mountains and washes so there are many chances to go out-of-bounds if you have a bad hit.
Because I've been going almost every week (even during the hot summer days and yes, I'll actually get up early if it's to go play golf), I have an innate desire to want to be better at any sport I'm playing regularly. I had a set of old Powerbolts that my friend Matt gave me as a groomsman's gift some 7 years ago. They were an entry-level set of clubs, rightfully so because a bad golfer doesn't need good golf clubs nor was I using them that much. My first step in getting into golf was to invest in a new set of nicer clubs. There's a TaylorMade Outlet Store that just opened up in Tucson where Anthony purchased his clubs. They run older models from a few years ago, but everything is still brand new. I was able to trial a few of their irons and ended up liking the Speedblade set. The set of irons (includes 4I, 5I, 6I, 7I, 8I, 9I, PW, AW) ran for $300 new. I also picked up an SLDR Driver and a Daytona 12 Putter. Because the outlet store is new since 2015, they were running a special where almost everything in the store was 25% off. They also had an additional promotion for "buy one club, get one half off." Altogether, my first purchase was in June for $440.
I would continue to play every Sunday, not really improving my game, but at least I had some fancy new clubs to swing with! I also had bought some new golf shoes to go with my TPC Jasna Polana shirt and shorts that I got from being a groomsman in Chris's wedding. For the most part, whenever we went to Starr Pass, we'd do a 2vs2 best ball. Sometimes we'd take individual scores and for the most part I would hit around a 112. Anthony can break 100 occasionally and Tyler averages in the mid 90's.
As I continued to play, I realized that my irons would not go far enough on some of these holes. The internet says a 4-iron should on average go 170 yards and I could actually hit maybe 20 yards less than that. However, some of these fairways still had 200+ yards to go to the pin. Tyler and Anthony suggested that I invest in a fairway wood and hybrid, and after picking the brains of my elite golfing friends Matt and Chris, I decided to purchase 4 more clubs for my birthday in August: a 3-wood, a 3-hybrid, and a couple 56° and 60° wedges. The promotion for "buy one, get one half off" plus an additional 25% off was still running, so I got the 4 clubs for $260. Altogether, I now own a 14-club set of brand new TaylorMades and if you count the bag as well, everything ran me $800. Matt claims this is the first sign of golfer's addiction, which is spending a pretty penny on a new set of clubs!
So now that I had the equipment, it was time to start learning to play the game properly. Growing up, I had never learned how to play golf. My dad never played and when I rarely played with my friends, I was not serious enough to learn the fundamentals. While Anthony and Tyler are better than me, I wasn't sure if they actually knew how to play the right way. I figured it was time to consult friends who were more educated or been playing for a lot longer than me.
Over Labor Day weekend, Matt met me at Top Golf in Scottsdale while I visited Lucky (who now works there) to help give me some instructions on posture and address. I am a firm believer in the fundamentals of any sport. I know from experience from other sports (e.g. basketball, bowling, and pool) that proper mechanics is very important if you want to improve the performance of your game. Matt has been playing for 20 years and is really good golfer, so I tried to absorb every ounce of advice he gave me. I've only tried my newly correctly swing a couple rounds out, but already I can feel a difference. As you can see from the picture below, I' still have a lot of work to do, but before the lessons I would stand straight up and have my arms fully extended, which I now know is incorrect.
My goal is to get out there every weekend with Anthony and then every other week I'll try and play another course a second day in the week. So we're looking at maybe 6 rounds of golf a month. I've also been watching more YouTube videos and golf channel, watching what others do and their approach to what is a very difficult game.
I've definitely gotten really into golf lately. Now that we're in the fall season, there'll be cloudy days where the weather is a cool 70-80° out and all I'll be thinking is "man, it'd be such a good day to go golfing." Another sign that I'm getting addicted. Hopefully if keep it up enough, I'll see improvement and not be so embarrassed to be out on the course with guys like Matt and Chris! :)
However, my friend Anthony works as a financial manager at JW Marriott at Starr Pass here in Tucson and is encouraged to take advantage of the resort's golf course. He's allowed to invite up to three others to join him for free, which is an amazing perk to have as part of his job! Since late 2015, we've been going almost every weekend to take advantage of free golf and I'm very lucky to be invited. Anthony had never really golfed before he got this job, so it was nice that we both started out around the same level.
The golf course at Starr Pass is arguably the most challenging in Tucson. There are 27 holes (3 sets of 9 where you'll play 2 of the sets in a round) and the course spans through several mountains and washes so there are many chances to go out-of-bounds if you have a bad hit.
As I continued to play, I realized that my irons would not go far enough on some of these holes. The internet says a 4-iron should on average go 170 yards and I could actually hit maybe 20 yards less than that. However, some of these fairways still had 200+ yards to go to the pin. Tyler and Anthony suggested that I invest in a fairway wood and hybrid, and after picking the brains of my elite golfing friends Matt and Chris, I decided to purchase 4 more clubs for my birthday in August: a 3-wood, a 3-hybrid, and a couple 56° and 60° wedges. The promotion for "buy one, get one half off" plus an additional 25% off was still running, so I got the 4 clubs for $260. Altogether, I now own a 14-club set of brand new TaylorMades and if you count the bag as well, everything ran me $800. Matt claims this is the first sign of golfer's addiction, which is spending a pretty penny on a new set of clubs!
Over Labor Day weekend, Matt met me at Top Golf in Scottsdale while I visited Lucky (who now works there) to help give me some instructions on posture and address. I am a firm believer in the fundamentals of any sport. I know from experience from other sports (e.g. basketball, bowling, and pool) that proper mechanics is very important if you want to improve the performance of your game. Matt has been playing for 20 years and is really good golfer, so I tried to absorb every ounce of advice he gave me. I've only tried my newly correctly swing a couple rounds out, but already I can feel a difference. As you can see from the picture below, I' still have a lot of work to do, but before the lessons I would stand straight up and have my arms fully extended, which I now know is incorrect.
I've definitely gotten really into golf lately. Now that we're in the fall season, there'll be cloudy days where the weather is a cool 70-80° out and all I'll be thinking is "man, it'd be such a good day to go golfing." Another sign that I'm getting addicted. Hopefully if keep it up enough, I'll see improvement and not be so embarrassed to be out on the course with guys like Matt and Chris! :)
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Work Travel: Portland
You may recall in my May blog entry that I accepted an additional job responsibility at IBM that now requires me to travel quarterly for work. Last month, they sent me to Portland, OR, a city I've been wanting to see for a while now.
I arrived on a Saturday evening to get some extra time to see the city and hang out with my friend Chapin who lives in Hillsboro. On Sunday we played some disc golf and got drinks at a nearby Pokemon stop - err at local bar for Sasquatch Brewing Co.
On Monday I had to be up for an all-day conference at the Marriott in downtown Portland. Those are always long days but they definitely fed us well...a little too well. There was a buffet breakfast at 8am, buffet lunch at 12pm, and buffet snacks and desserts at 3pm, lol. Later that night, I met up with Chapin again for some drinks at Fat Head Brewery.
I was pretty much done with the conference after Monday, but I decided to stay for the social dinner event Tuesday night. I've been getting into golf lately (that'll be a blog topic for another day), so I decided to play a course while out in Oregon. I woke up early on Tuesday and drove out to Lake Oswego to play a short par-3 walking course. The weather was perfect: 65 degrees, overcast. Such a nice day to play and it was a great opportunity to work on just my irons game.
On Tuesday night, the first part of the social event was a beer and cheese pairing at The Upper Lip for an hour. They had 5 cheeses that they paired with 5 beers. Man, I loooove cheese and I loooove beer, so this was a perfect start for me. Then we walked over to an Asian-fusion restaurant called Saucebox. The dinner was set up family-style, where they brought out dishes that everyone shared. There were 4 appetizers, 5 entrees, and a couple desserts that everyone got to try from.
Needless to say, I definitely eat (and drink) very well when traveling for work. My next trip for work will be back to Colorado Springs in October on which I will visit Denver in the meantime!
I was pretty much done with the conference after Monday, but I decided to stay for the social dinner event Tuesday night. I've been getting into golf lately (that'll be a blog topic for another day), so I decided to play a course while out in Oregon. I woke up early on Tuesday and drove out to Lake Oswego to play a short par-3 walking course. The weather was perfect: 65 degrees, overcast. Such a nice day to play and it was a great opportunity to work on just my irons game.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Andy Lin's Lickity List (Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson)
Welcome to Andy Lin's Lickity List! Only restaurants
that are unique to Tucson can be found on this list. The other great
part is that it's all very cheap - around $10 for an amazing meal! I usually
stick to the same item off the menu at these places to satisfy the
craving of a meal I haven't had in a while.
This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!
Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson
Ikkyu
2040 W Orange Grove Rd
Tucson, AZ 85704
Date Visited: Jun 25, 2016
Style: Japanese
Go-To-Lick: Tonkotsu Ramen
Price: $8.33 including tax
Raves: A trendy new Japanese restaurant called Obon opened in downtown last year. The ramen was expensive and the noodles tasted undercooked. It was a big disappointment, especially having tried authentic ramen in Japan. I asked my friend Jenny what she thought about ramen in Tucson and she raved about this place called Ikkyu. I finally got a chance to check it out and it did not disappoint!
My Go-To-Lick here is the Tonkotsu Ramen. It says it's made spicy, but you know me, I have to add my spicy powder to get it close to my spice tolerances. The restaurant is small and they are really busy when they only serve ramen between Thursday-Saturday, but it easily resembles an authentic Japanese ramen noodle house.
I haven't tried anything else other than the gyoza potstickers and they're solid, but a bowl of ramen should be more than enough to fill you up. Finally, a decent ramen place in Tucson! Thanks Jenny for introducing me to a great find.
Lindy's on 4th
431 N 4th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85705
Date Visited: February 29, 2016
Style: American
Go-To-Lick: Two Finger Peek-a-Boo, single patty
Price: $10.29 including tax
Read this review.
Indian Frybread - Manna from Heaven
1118 W St. Mary's Rd
Tucson, AZ 85745
Date Visited: December 23, 2015
Style: Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Indian Taco, Wednesday special (with ground beef, no beans, and red/green chili)
Price: $7.84 including tax
Read this Review.
Sher-E-Punjab
853 E Grant Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: September 24, 2015
Style: Indian
Go-To-Lick: Lamb Vindaloo with Basmati Rice
Price: $12.44 including tax
Read this Review.
BK Tacos & Hotdogs
5118 S 12th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85706
Date Visited: August 21, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Large Caramelo Asada
Price: $6.78 including tax
Read this Review.
Saing Thai Cuisine
9136 E Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ 85747
Date Visited: June 19, 2014
Style: Thai
Go-To-Lick: Pad Kee Mao
Price: $8.59 including tax
Read this Review.
Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax
Read this Review.
El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705
Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax
Read this Review.
Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is a not food connoisseur. He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly. Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.
This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!
Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson
Ikkyu
2040 W Orange Grove Rd
Tucson, AZ 85704
Date Visited: Jun 25, 2016
Style: Japanese
Go-To-Lick: Tonkotsu Ramen
Price: $8.33 including tax
Raves: A trendy new Japanese restaurant called Obon opened in downtown last year. The ramen was expensive and the noodles tasted undercooked. It was a big disappointment, especially having tried authentic ramen in Japan. I asked my friend Jenny what she thought about ramen in Tucson and she raved about this place called Ikkyu. I finally got a chance to check it out and it did not disappoint!
I haven't tried anything else other than the gyoza potstickers and they're solid, but a bowl of ramen should be more than enough to fill you up. Finally, a decent ramen place in Tucson! Thanks Jenny for introducing me to a great find.
Lindy's on 4th
431 N 4th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85705
Date Visited: February 29, 2016
Style: American
Go-To-Lick: Two Finger Peek-a-Boo, single patty
Price: $10.29 including tax
Read this review.
Indian Frybread - Manna from Heaven
1118 W St. Mary's Rd
Tucson, AZ 85745
Date Visited: December 23, 2015
Style: Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Indian Taco, Wednesday special (with ground beef, no beans, and red/green chili)
Price: $7.84 including tax
Read this Review.
Sher-E-Punjab
853 E Grant Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: September 24, 2015
Style: Indian
Go-To-Lick: Lamb Vindaloo with Basmati Rice
Price: $12.44 including tax
Read this Review.
BK Tacos & Hotdogs
5118 S 12th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85706
Date Visited: August 21, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Large Caramelo Asada
Price: $6.78 including tax
Read this Review.
Saing Thai Cuisine
9136 E Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ 85747
Date Visited: June 19, 2014
Style: Thai
Go-To-Lick: Pad Kee Mao
Price: $8.59 including tax
Read this Review.
Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax
Read this Review.
El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705
Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax
Read this Review.
Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is a not food connoisseur. He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly. Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.
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