TE QUIERO

a.k.a. "I love you" in Spanish.

A couple things have happened today that are worth talking about:

1. Spain beat Portugal. My guys pulled through, and if anyone knows my high school swim coach, Rob Hale, you may know the phenomenon he talks about called "goofy poops". Usually an event associated with your own athletic competition, I was thinking this was going to happen to me at various points in our first round of the tournament today because I was so nervous for the game. I made sure no one told me the score and just watched it in bed. 1-0, goodbye Portugal, hello one step closer to Spanish world champions.

2. I have been told that I will stay on with the internship until September 8, so the tournaments I will get after that August 15 weekend are in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Williamsburg, VA, and West Virginia at Greenbrier. It'll be great because I will be in Mexico for my birthday and then, the day after I get back from Atlanta will...

3. go to Scotland to drop my sister off at the University of Edinburgh where she will be starting as a first-year student. Dad and I will deposit her, we'll all travel, and maybe I'll find a job while I'm there?

That's all for now, I am going to bed to be fully rested for setting the tees on the whole course again tomorrow morning (this is my least favorite morning job and I did it today too) and for the big second round!

Does anyone even read this?

Why Do Golfers Stand on One Leg?

I read a great picture book when I was little, called Why Do Ducks Stand On One Leg? and it was just a Chinese proverb-like story. What I realized today during the qualifier round was that golfers do this too! Not sure why, if you have any thoughts, send them my way.

We're here in Rome, Georgia, a really pretty little town in northwest Georgia where parts of the movie Sweet Home Alabama were filmed. Some were even filmed at the Coosa Country Club where our tournament is! Tomorrow I have the day off and am thinking I will explore Berry College and a great restaurant I discovered the other day called the Honeymoon Bakery... moral of the story? Rome, Georgia has the best breakfast sandwiches I've ever had, at this bakery and at the qualifier golf course (Stonebridge Golf Course). The course was beautiful and full of herds of deer and beautiful houses that I want to base my future home off of. The best was on the right side of number 8.

Even though I can sleep all day tomorrow, I am too tired to stay up any longer so I will sign off now, but keep commenting! I miss everyone and hope that everyone is having a good summer. I can't believe still that I will not be going back to school in two months... scary!

I LOVE SOUTH FLORIDA!

I never thought it would be possible. I'm a Maine girl with a Minnesota education, born and raised and dependent on seasons for my happiness. Cool summer breezes that keep me from needing Air Conditioning to sleep. Winters with enough snow to drown an elephant, but that make tearing down Comp Hill and Narrow Gauge possible. And plenty of rainy, fluctuating seasons in between. And being in Sarasota last week didn't make me too keen on spending any more time in Florida, with the outstanding amount of wealthy retirees and passionate (and wealthy) golf families.

But then we got to Weston, the Jewish retirement capital of the world and neighbor to Fort Lauderdale, not historically known as my most favorite place in the world. But today, on my day off, we spent the day exploring, discovering an amazing outlet mall with really nice places like Lacoste and BCBG and then (after going to the beach we lounged on every day on the swimming training trip in Fort Lauderdale) moved south to the Miami area. We got some Cuban food and guanábana juice for lunch, which we shared with a very nice Dominican man who we discovered eating by himself. Then we drove around areas full of Cuban and every other type of international food opportunity you could imagine. It's hot, the architecture is decidedly Spanish/Latin American, and there are people of every single walk of life and from every place you could imagine. Oh, and did I mention there's a great beach and that our new friend told us there are 20 blocks in Downtown Miami with 300 bars and clubs?

We got ice cream at the famous Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor ($4 for one scoop, but they make it all right there and they can't understand when you order Coffee Fudge that you wanted it for the coffee -- I ended up with fudge, lost in translation. In our hotel parking lot we have a Peruvian restaurant, a Colombian restaurant where we grabbed cookies and sweet bread (pan dulce) tonight before watching Harry Potter, an Argentine restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, and a bar called Flanigan's. It's an exciting place and the course we're working on this week is really exciting. It was home to a tour event (Honda Classic) and we have the same course for the qualifier and tournament, which will really cut down on our setup and breakdown duties. And did I mention we've only been here for two days and have already had two storm delays?

It's an exciting place, beautiful cars, close to incredible amounts of culture and beaches, and there are even places where you can spend $80 to take a one-day cruise to The Bahamas with a breakfast buffet, a dinner buffet, and 4 hours in The Bahamas. Randi and I were planning on doing this today, but had to help the team and get the oil changed on our truck, Ox. It's okay, that let me buy two skirts that I have no real need for at J. Crew to pretend to replace the clothes that were lost at the Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club last week. Ergh. Updates should be a little better this week, but for now, enjoy the post I wrote while on my Delta flight last week and the tidbits here.

(this was written on Saturday when I had the day off and the internet was broken)

Thanks, Delta, I Didn't Think Graduation Would Be Fun Anyway

So when you cancel my flight from Pensacola (I know, I should have known. Flights from dead-end, dead-beat cities are always cancelled) and put me into Minneapolis the next day, obviously I'm not going to be TOO upset. Not like I cared about this graduation. I mean, they happen all the time right? I know I was planning on graduating again someday, so really it's not a big deal. The Hilton Garden Inn was a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the exciting and lively world of Pensacola, and getting to watch the entire World Cup Preview show on ESPN2 while I waited for the Celtics to beat the Lakers was pretty great, too. And those two $6 vouchers to feed me were awesome. Thanks for telling me that I needed to stay in the airport to eat dinner. Instead I went to the hotel to find that the hotel wouldn't feed me, they'd only give me a really nice bed and Neutrogena shampoo and let me watch 6 hours of their LG flatscreen TV programming. So I used the dinner voucher for breakfast when I caught my re-booked flight and then used the breakfast voucher in Atlanta at Starbucks and made sure to use as close to the full $6 as possible. I'm taking all I can get from you, Delta. The ladies at Starbucks don't like you anymore either, we all decided me missing my graduation because of your mechanical issues was not alright. Kesha at your Online Help Desk was great, though. I mean, I am only missing 1/2 of my graduation, so it only makes sense that when I ask for you to pay for my flights this weekend, you give me about 1/3 of what I paid to be able to be back to graduate. Yeah, that's totally fine. I've talked y'all into about $300 so far, and man is it far from over. I will spend my weekend getting everything I possibly can from you. Kesha did offer me a hotel in MSP, but I told her it's coo'. I will get your money somewhere else. Like by telling all my friends never to fly with you. And on my flight from ATL to MSP you were kind enough to seat me with two recent graduates who you screwed over, too. That makes sense. You wouldn't want our complaining about your company to infiltrate the rest of the world. We'll lock ourselves over here and whine about what you've done to ruin our weekend and not let anyone else know what you've done. Doesn't bother me, everyone else will know soon enough. It's really just too bad that you acquired or merged with Northwest because if I remember correctly they were actually one of the worst airlines in the world. They got rid of every convenient direct flight ever made and then charged at least $700 for a flight to one of their hubs. Yeah, you're on the track to success now and Northwest is definitely the one to take you there. Congratulations.

So, while I head back to school to beat my parents there by about an hour, I am just glad that I don't have to be in Sarasota right now. Oh wait, if I were there I could be helpful, mark a golf course, be outside, and possibly even help my team finish early so we could spend some time at the beach or something. ATL was cool, though. Nothing like spending your Friday morning in the busiest airport in the world, missing half of what you intended to be there for for your own graduation, and getting everything you can out of Delta... two $6 meals in airports where food costs twice that and a $100 voucher when you spent $300 under the impression you'd be home to graduate. No worries.

Week One: Done and Done.

The south probably describes the way Team 2 does things best... "Git 'er Dun." Funny. Motivated. A little gritty around the edges. What started off as a great group at training turned into a group with a great sense of humor as we hit the road and then became an incredibly fun, hardworking, and successful team on the road. In summary, we rock.

So much has happened in the last week that I will just summarize and give some highlights.

Sunday was the qualifier. We played it at a different course than the tournament course and had a rain delay as the three remaining groups on the course approached their final green. So they waited an hour for one chip and one or two putts. Once we were finally out of red alert, they got out there and finished only to find that we needed a playoff for the top spots for the tournament. It started with 5 guys for 4 spots and ended up with two guys battling it out through the first hole EIGHT TIMES in order to determine a winner. I felt really bad when the guy that lost came the next day to the practice round because he was an alternate, but didn't end up getting to play. This may not make too many people upset, but I had to be a rules official for a group with a player that feigned illness and told me my rulings were wrong even after they'd already been called into the head rules official. And he may have been cheating, but I have no proof. Jerk. It's times like these when the spoiled rich kids that tend to have the opportunity to play golf really come out and make me wonder how I could ever be interested in working in golf.

But then I follow groups with the most polite, well-behaved, wonderful kids I've ever met, despite being given everything their whole lives. I had quite a few great kiddos, all ones that I hope to see at other tournaments this summer.

The other great part of the week is the volunteers that come out for it. Most of them are over the age of 60, some with great stories and some with great health problems and a lack of understanding of the game. Some players don't like their balls to be searched for if they hit a provisional ball. Sometimes you wonder what's wrong with someone when they look at you like you're doing something wrong while they are the one standing on their golf cart's horn. Sometimes you don't want to be told that your job isn't real and that you don't do anything. And sometimes you just gotta laugh when the ball spotter volunteer is using his binoculars, spots a ball he thinks is coming his way, yells "oh shit!", and runs back into the woods while the ball bounces up the opposite side of the fairway. It happens and it's why we love what we do.

I laughed a ton this week, sweated more than I thought was possible, realized how much I love 12-18 year old and will never understand 60-75 year olds, and discovered that golf is a great sport and this job, while being incredibly demanding on my sleep schedule, body, and focus, is also incredibly rewarding and I hope that I will feel this way the whole summer.

And for now, as I lie in my Hilton Garden Inn bed that Delta is paying for in Pensacola, Florida, I am happy to have my first tournament under my belt and hoping I will actually make it back for my graduation on Saturday. And if not? Well, Delta better get my family down to see me in Sarasota this weekend.

Crazy Old Ladies

Two stories here; one from yesterday, one from today.

1. Our trailer can't fit in the very exclusive entranceway to the Steelwood community, which is basically a ghost town anyway these days. It won't be soon, when the players and their families come to town, but for now, the ivy and vines winding over the archway next to the entrance house are the only company the old, graying woman inside has all day. So naturally when I came running up to her door, not in a vehicle, while she was on the phone, she was caught off-guard. I asked if she could open the exit gate so the truck and trailer could come through there because we don't fit. She kindly told me that because she was on the phone, I would have to go stop traffic myself. So I went to tell the truck that I would guide them through. Meanwhile, she finished her conversation and came out, telling us to go in directions I didn't know had an entrance to the course, but I sent the truck in that direction because she pointed there. She came running after me, yelling about how she told me to have the truck come through and how she "has tons of cars backed up over here! I told you to stop traffic!" So I got the truck through, only to find three lonely cars waiting with her on the other side. Yep, tons of cars here in Loxley, Alabama. But, needless to say, the drama she threw in to direct us around the house was so much that I sent the truck in the wrong direction, yet another sign that the poor woman sitting in the gatehouse does not have enough to do these days and wastes her energy on hand motions that make no sense to people from out of town. So today when we went through and I took one for the team again by going up to the house to ask for the exit gate to open I was very relieved to find the nicest older man I've met yet, who just pushed the open button and let me work my magic. In less than twenty seconds I had thanked him, gave the truck the thumbs up, ran to the other side to stop the hordes of people I knew we would inevitably meet (TONS! Oh wait, zero.), and hopped back into my seat to ride to Headquarters. Phew, what a tough job.

2. Yesterday we were told that black snakes are good, brown snakes are bad. Today I decided to try a painting techniques of the Tournament Assistant who runs along with the paint gun to have a straighter line and to get it done faster. One second I was running along, carefree, all alone on the left side of the 11th and the next I was yelling over the radio to poor Aaron, the Indiana Jones snake-fearer in our group that I had spotted the first brown snake of the tournament and that they DO exist. Might have been a rattler, I'm pretty sure. I'm alive, but we'll see who doesn't make it through the week...

Snakes and Dead Bodies? Well, We ARE in Alabama...

The day started like any other. The four of us at the hotel ate our continental breakfast with deliciously strong black coffee and way too many helpings of OJ and met up with the rest of the team at the qualifier course, TimberCreek. Three of us stenciled the first 15 holes with distances to the green, with me naturally ending covered in spray paint and unable to use a Bushnell Rangefinder to save my life. Luckily, a large cell of thunderstorm moved in, forcing us into the cart barn and clubhouse where we met a junior who will be playing the tournament this weekend. And since he hails all the way from the land of crumpets and double-decker buses, naturally the relatives he is traveling with enjoyed a nice cup to tea to take the chill off from the strong Alabama downpour outside. Yeah, you guessed it, I want to be friends with this kid.

But once we realized the storm was not about to pass soon, we moved back to the Steelwood course to our HQ to pack Registration (Reg) bags... one of my favorite things to do. It involves organizing product, putting them into bags, and organizing these bags into boxes to give to the players. Organization and separation, now that's something I can enjoy.

When the thunder and lightning was gone we were sent out on the Steelwood course where the actual tournament rounds will happen Monday-Thursday and I was part of the crew marking the course for hazards. This course is so spread out and tough that we basically finished off 2 cases of red spray paint circling every hole to show the hazards. That's not even the good part yet. I almost got malaria, I'm sure, based on the number of mosquitos swarming around me out there and wearing my rainpants through the high grass only made the heat worse. But it gets better. Aaron on my team is scared to death of snakes and one of the members out playing this afternoon decided to tell him there are rattlesnakes out here. So we were warned to be cautious of the brown snakes but that the black ones are OK. So we saw about 7 snakes and the other crew working on the Out-of-Bound markings saw a 'gator in the cartpath. Then I was marking a water hazard in front of the tee on the 7th hole and going through some really swampy area when I came upon an area just saturated with flies. I took a breath and realized that it smelled like something was rotting. I looked ahead and saw a black mass, with flies hovering around it and quickly took a different turn with the yellow paint, messing up my line, but avoiding what I thought was a dead something. Another intern on my team came around when I radioed out about it and she verified that it was definitely a dead snake on top of something else that is dead too. So, welcome to Alabama, y'all! It's pretty much living up to expectations thus far, though I'm not sure where everyone who lives at this course makes/made their money.

Rain delays, empty roads, malls, crazy ladies yelling at me (I'll try to remember to include that in tomorrow's post), and dead bodies while I sweat through my rain gear and get some mosquito-borne disease or a snakebite... sounds pretty close to what I dreamt of when I looked at maps of Alabama in the atlas with Dad when I was little. No surprises here.

Welcome to Steelwood

So, it's about 110 degrees here always. And humid. This ain't no Texan heat, this is sticky, thick, HOTHOT heat.

The course the main rounds will be played on is BEAUTIFUL, but very difficult, so we will be setting up the qualifier course today at a different course, but we have a great headquarters at the main course, Steelwood, in a big "lodge" where we will spend most of our time even though I am one of the 4 staying at the Holiday Inn Express because there isn't enough room. At least I get a continental breakfast?

Leaving Town.

Now that we've spent the weekend running our first tournament with all 53 of us together with tons of full-time staff on hand to help and following just one group of players for 18 holes, we are heading out on the road in our 8-person team to start the real fun. We'll be driving to Loxley, Alabama in the morning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxley,_Alabama) and will ride the course and go out to dinner with our team and the Tournament Director and Assistant before we start the real work on Thursday of marking courses, picking hole locations, and getting ready for the qualifier round on Sunday. I will be sure to take pictures of the dirtydirty whenever possible and if I see a duck covered in oil, I will be the first to whip out my little scrub brush to clean the little guy.

In other news, I almost took my ability to wear golf attire (and that we're required to do so 98% of the time) too far tonight when I nearly bought a pair of plaid patchwork Sperry shoes. I didn't, you'll all be glad to know, but it was close and I fear I won't be holding my resolve much longer. It just has to be done. 7 Polo uniforms make it really hard to avoid...