Friday Fever
Don't get COVID. Turns out ...it's kind of a bummer.
On March 16, 2020, lockdown in the Bay Area began. I had just been in Los Angeles for a golf weekend that was surreal as news was happening literally almost by the minute of another sports league shutting down, another celebrity who had tested positive, cases springing up in our counties back home… and yet, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We still went into restaurants, golf clubhouses, etc. We were told to “socially distance” but we didn’t really know what that meant yet.
I remember the date pretty well because of this trip. And now, I can remember it for another reason, which is that three years to the date, exactly, I tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time
.Yep, I made it three years through this thing without testing positive. Plenty of scares, I’m sure tons of exposure (my wife and daughter both had it last May and I avoided it), and plenty of worry about what COVID would be like if and when I finally caught it.
Well, I’m here to say - it’s not great! But, I say that as someone who (at this point) has had a very mild case. My buddy Dean brought me over a box of Paxlovid he’d never had a chance to use thanks to Walgreens being Walgreens. His loss, my gain. (And I could have easily gotten it by contacting my doctor.) Since starting on that, my cough has almost disappeared, and my congestion absolutely has. My strength is still not ideal and I have yet to try to exercise since contracting this, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be okay in short order. (After all, I have an island to golf around in a few short months!)
Anyhow, in case you hadn’t heard the news - don’t get COVID-19. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
In other news:
Did you know that quarters changed? Yes, quarters changed. Why? It’s impossible to say. (I know they’ve been doing different things on the backs, but did not know the front of the quarter had swapped.)
One of my favorite subreddits is r/McMansionHell. It’s kind of mean, but man there are some really, really ugly homes out there that cost too much. One trend that is featured there are homes with gargantuan garages that are overdesigned, and I don’t think anything takes the cake quite like this:
I mean…what the hell is going on? I get three car garages, but what is that garage? Why are the ceilings SO high in a gargage that is not really connected to the house? And then, …what is happening in the house with all those windows? By the way, this house sits off a fairly major road in Michigan.
If we’re gonna show the bad, we’ll show the good. This is a room highlighted on r/RoomPorn, and it’s a Brooklyn penthouse, clearly in a building with a clock tower. It’s … amazing.
The Masters is heading our way shortly, and one of the traditions is to show what the reigning winner (Scottie Scheffler) will be serving at the Champions Dinner. My favorite part is that he’s starting with cheeseburger sliders (served “Scottie style” which I have to think means with nothing else on it whatsoever) as an appetizer to … steak. He also has firecracker shrimp, which makes me feel pretty certain that Scheffler absolutely LOVES eating at Chili’s.
But it also brings up what other champions have served in prior years, and this list is just a delight. I think the absolute winner is Hideki Matsuyama, but the way some golfers seem to feel like they need to prove who they are through their choices is hilarious. Patrick Reed chose the most stock “Texas MAN” kind of a meal I could make fun of, ever. Danny Willett chose cottage pies and Yorkshire pudding, and Canadian Mike Weir chose “Elk, wild boar, Arctic char (that’s a fish), Canadian beer.” Good, good stuff.
The Bay Area has been ravaged by rain this winter and while I know the rest of the country that deals with blizzards and hurricanes and all sorts of nasty weather, we’ve had substantial problems. While trees falling has been the biggest risk, this frontage road in Novato - that was recently built - is a photo I won’t soon forget.
March 25th marks the return for the final season of Succession. Some are amiss at the fact the show is ending, but I’m encouraged that - presuming they went into the season knowing this - it will wrap a bow up on a show that’s main premise simply means this can’t last forever. It’s such a good show - probably the best on TV right now - and I gobble up content where I can get it. That’s why when I heard that No Laying Up (my favorite source of golf and golf adjacent content out there) had released a “Perfect Club” episode of The Trap Draw talking about the show, I was geeked. When I realized it was also featuring Rory McIlroy? Chills, baby. Take a listen here
