Interesting question that was posed to my group about whether we should continue with print ads? Varied replies came across my screen. Some yes and some no. I took a pretty direct line of response. I believe we still need print ads. I would agree that over the last three years, we have seen the effectiveness of them generating leads go to zip and zero.
About two years ago....I began to use them to drive traffic to Opens and to dedicated websites for my listings and my business. I rarely get calls from my ads, but I do get business. 30% of my business came from my Opens last year and 50% so far this year. I would not be getting the traffic to the Opens or the websites if I was not running the print ads.
I'm generating showings for my listings both on the internet and with my Opens. I've double-ended one of my listings this year which accounts for the higher stats for this year. Other agents are not out there showing and by generating leads from the web and getting clients in to see my listings, I am netting results for my clients. You have to work harder in this market. Internet marketing is key and so are Opens.
Will we need print ads three years from now....I would guess so....but who knows. There are people who like to read that Sunday paper and look at all the retail ads and go to Open Houses on Sunday! The local newspaper is really only a distribution mechanism for these retail marketers, however it does also provide a source for that Open House hunter on the weekends.
I'm for keeping the print ad for now. It's paying off for me....but then I have something to drive traffic to....do you?
I am Jeanean Gendron and you can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit our websites and learn about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.

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A report out of Washington showed real estate sales down in most states including Bend Oregon but not in California or Nevada.  The California real estate market is a leading indicator for the Oregon real estate market.  The better the California market does the better the Oregon market does.  4 out of the last  6 sales my partner and son Matt Johnson and I have made have been to California buyers.  One was to a local buyer and one was from local school teachers teaching in Dubai and spending summers in Bend.
News that the California market is picking may be a good sign.  I have 4 buyers scheduled to arrive in Bend in the next couple of months and 1 in November to buy property.   4 are from California and one is from Montana.  Price ranges are between $250,000 to $800,000.  Golf course lots and golf course homes are being looked at.
I do read on California real estate blogs that there are still plenty of short sales and bank foreclosures in certain parts of California.   That will indicate that prices in these areas will remain depressed for a while longer.  Over all though Bend Oregon real estate prices are looking very attractive to many out of area buyers.  Even the Portland market has remained fairly strong.
There are many well priced homes for sale in Bend making for some great buys for the out of town buyer as well as for the local buyer.

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Realy terrific speedboats to be won at contest websites. 3 hours ago a Belgium company has started with a dutch online contests. Many more sweepers are choosing to enter online sweepstakes. Everybody can win absolutely fantastic Hummers every 11 months at contests by windeprijsvraag. Sweepstakes are generally easier and quicker to enter than contests.

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The All Inclusive resort is becoming a major staple in the travel industry. Years ago the idea of all inclusive meant Club Med. You may remember - the party atmosphere, the uninspiring food, the plastic pop beads used to pay for drinks. Your other option for an “all inclusive” was the Catskill resort in the film Dirty Dancing! Things have changed!
Your choices for an all inclusive resort now can be an island retreat, the Mexican Riviera or the Yucatan Peninsula. All Inclusive resorts now emphasize customer service, outstanding food choices and a wide choice of activities. But is the All Inclusive right for you? Maybe – sometimes – depending
Continue Reading Is An All Inclusive Resort Right For You.

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Houston is not a pretty city. On the surface it’s a sprawl of congested freeways, strip malls, and apartment complexes, which is exactly why I was opposed to moving there five years ago. I also wasn’t too sure I’d like living amongst Texans either. And I certainly wasn’t going to start saying “y’all”.
But now, y’all, I’m here to say that I love Houston. I still don’t appreciate the sprawl or the more recent obsession of tearing down older houses to make room for brand new townhomes. I don’t like sitting in traffic and dread to think what’s in the air I’m breathing (although that smoggy air does create some splendid sunsets). It’s what’s underneath the ugly surface. It’s the beautiful people and fantastic food! So I keep going back. Oh, it’s other things as well, but the people are why I went back for ten days last month.
I’ll admit I was a little nervous about visiting this time around since the close friends from college who I normally stay with had just moved. Did I have other close enough friends to ask to stay with for at least a week? Yes, people were more than willing to open their homes to me (and lend me a car)! And I spent ten solid days doing what I love doing – visiting, talking, conversing, dialoguing. It was exhausting to pack so much into a short period of time but at the same time refreshing and fulfilling to discuss stresses of Texas public schools over tea at Taft, the migration of humans and development of Africa over tortilla soup at La Mexicana, the challenges of marriage over margaritas at Taco Milagro, the similar educational needs of students in Houston to students in Moz over homemade pasta in a friends’ dining room, to laugh at a friend’s young daughter splashing in a fountain in a new park downtown, to question and pray about vocational challenges and relationship heartache in a friend’s living room. These moments of sharing friends’ lives are blessings to me.
On my last Saturday, I woke up in the morning with a wide open day except for hopefully a coffee meeting in the morning and a bubble tea break in the afternoon. I planned for the rest of the time to sit/nap in a park, have quiet time with God and prepare for my radio interview the following day. I also planned to get to sleep early that night since every night previous had been well past midnight (I’m a person who is typically in bed by 10).
I met my friend in the morning for a couple hours. Then I tried to get a little bit of work done at the coffee shop but ended up chatting for awhile with a new friend who invited me to a BBQ that evening at another new friend’s house. The BBQ was at 7 which meant I could still get a good night’s sleep. I left from the coffee shop to meet my other friend for bubble tea. She let me know that a group was going to a country dance hall that evening. I love country music and dancing! (Yes, something I unashamedly picked up while living in Texas.) After bubble tea, I thought I would go home and sleep for the rest of the afternoon before the BBQ and dancing. Sleep was a pretty high priority that day.
When I got back to the friends’ house where I was staying, another friend was there trying on Indian clothes for a Bollywood party she was attending that evening. Of course we all got to talking and then sharing photographs and talking some more. Then my hosts had to go out, so my other friend and I continued to talk and talk. We both said we had planned to spend time with God that day, but I think He was right there in that conversation, especially when we took the conversation to Him in prayer. Better than an afternoon by myself, better than personal quiet time with God, better than a nap.
Shortly afterwards, as I was getting ready to go to my BBQ, I received a message that some friends I hadn’t really seen yet were hanging out and did I want to join them. Yes! So I went to the BBQ, then to Onion Creek, then to Wild West. What a great Houston evening enjoying food outdoors in someone’s backyard, then a patio bar conversation at a picnic table, and finally a little bit of two-stepping. At 2am I finally crawled into bed.
I sometimes question why I left Houston. I also question if I could ever move back there permanently. God only knows. He knew I needed that time there in July with those people and those moments, those interactions, those conversations. And as long as Houston will have me, I hope to keep going back for more.

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One of the many reasons people are moving to Bend Oregon is for the golf.  Central Oregon’s spectacular high-desert landscape and ideal climate, four-star resorts, public, semi-private and private courses have been rated 23rd in the world as a golf destination by Golf Digest. Choose from more than 25 unique courses, some easygoing to championship layouts like Sunriver’s Crosswater course, designed to challenge even the lowest handicappers.
Black Butte Ranch, Eagle Crest Resort and Sunriver Resort offer golf courses on-site. Nearby, golfers can choose from more than a dozen public and semi-private courses in the Bend, Sisters and Redmond areas. Within an hour of Bend, Quail Run in La Pine, Meadow Lakes in Prineville, and Crooked River Ranch near Terrebonne offer unique high-desert golf experiences.
Central Oregon’s world-class golf courses host many national and regional tournaments, including the Pacific Amateur Golf Classic.  There are several golf course properties available in the Bend Oregon real estate market.  Pictured above is Rivers Edge Golf Course which is a public course.

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This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 4th Annual Fernburner at Lucky Mud, an almost overwhelmingly positive experience. I say experience, because while the Fernburner is technically a tournament, it amounts to so much more. Youre can stay at the inn or camp out on the course, are fed ample amounts of great home cooked food, and have plenty of opportunity to kick back, take a deep breath and lose yourself in serenity of your surroundings. Not to mention, youre surrounded by a group of great people who all likeminded and share a common love. Sure, the competition is there if you want it, but it just seems to be one facet of this gem.
On the Sunday following the tournament, some of who camped out had a round of casual random draw doubles. My partner was Jenn, the only woman playing in the doubles. My game was simply not there in the morning, and Jenn had to do the majority of the work for us. And you know? Im not embarrassed to admit that. The girl has game. Shes a solid player that could give a lot of guys a run for their money, and would probably do very well in PDGA tournaments. Id even go so far to say shed quite possibly dominate in the WA State Series, were she to play in it. But no, she only plays one tournament a year, and thats the Fernburner. More on If not tournaments, then what.

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I headed out to the range today to practice the drills I’d been assigned in my last lesson at GolfTec. My focus has been my backswing: keeping it controlled, not turning too far back, keeping my lower body stable, and keeping my left arm straight and out away from my body. Focusing on all these aspects at once and incorporating them smoothly into a swing is next to impossible. Assimilating tons of corrections at once has to be one of toughest parts of being a beginners, when just about everything about the swing needs to be fixed. Following are some of the drills my instructor gave me to help with this challenge:
• Making “L’s” with the arms/wrist at the back of the backswing, and again at the front of the swing. This has helped quite a bit, especially when I remember to make a deliberate effort to include it in my backswing.
• One-handed swings with the right and left hands separately. This is done with the gripping hand choked up with the index finger touching the metal past the grip. There should be “L’s” at the back and front of the swing and the idea is to get a sense of how the forearm rolls over through the swing in a natural motion. This did help me get a feel for what the right swing should feel like naturally, with both arms completing this motion in tandem. I struggled to do this while I was focusing on L’s on the backswing and keeping my left arm straight. Maybe just too many things to remember at once.
• Stopping the back swing when arms reach perpendicular around waist level, then resuming the back swing in a controlled manner to the top and finishing the swing as normal from there. This is supposed to help keep you from going too far on the backswing and preserve the power of your swing. I felt a stronger “wind up” at the end of the swing that should translate into more power. This also ties into keeping the lower body stable – in my case, not letting my hips turn practically 90 degrees on the backswing. However, I found that breaking up my swing made it hard to make good contact with the ball. I messed up most of the shots I attempted with this, but I recognized the body position I was supposed to learn, I think.
My takeaway from all this… golf is going to be a lifetime pursuit, and I have nowhere to go but up.

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A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.
Its important to endeavor to teach your kids how to save a portion of their earnings. This helps them understand the concept of investment and money early in their childhood. This will help prepare them to have good money management skills as they grow old.
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Thanks for joining me today!!
Let’s talk GOLF!!
I am so Happy to see that golf is finally being recognized as a challenging sport. I leaned to play golf as a child and I am so grateful. I may not have loved it then (I was also a competitive swimmer) or later in my “Intense” workout days ”When I taught and ran aerobic programs)…..but I always knew it was a great way to connect with nature, be out of office and meet like minded people.. I am sorry for those who still “bad mouth” the game.
I also think golf can be one of the most challenging games there is. It seems so easy until you get out on the course and are at the mercy of the “elements”! Traps, Hills, fast greens, wrong club…………………..
What is your biggest golf challenge??
I want to know more about you and your golf interests.
What are your favorite Southern California courses, especially in Orange County??  Why is that your favorite?? We will explore courses in other areas at another time.
 The best thing is to own a house on the golf course so you can watch all the other golfers play….and then say “I am not soooo bad after all J .
For golf course properties in So Cal…..contact me.

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My experience at Ernie Els Design is a fair reflection of what is happening in the golf business as a whole. We’re busy in locations like the United Arab Emirates, China, Bahrain, Mauritius and the Cape Verde Islands.
The area that is emerging fastest is the Gulf region—United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The Gulf obviously possesses vast energy resources, but perhaps more importantly, leaders of these countries recognize the importance of diversification. The region has the world’s most creative and iconic real estate developments, which have helped push golf to the forefront.
Dubai alone provides us with an example of the possibilities. Just 40 years ago it was little more than a fishing village surrounded by sand. Now it has skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. I’ve been going there for 15 years, and the changes I have seen in that short period are incredible.
Trust me, this is only the beginning. This area is determined to compete with established golf destinations such as Spain, Portugal, Scotland and Ireland. There’s no doubt in my mind they’ll succeed in whatever they set out to achieve. It really is that kind of place.
Having the necessary vision is obviously important, but execution presents the greatest hurdle. As we discovered while building the Dunes at Victory Heights in Dubai, constructing a golf course in the desert is not without its unique challenges. Working with dirt is easy; shaping sand in the exposed desert is another thing. You can put it in a certain place one day—and overnight the wind shifts it elsewhere.
I’ve made six or seven site visits, and my senior design associate, Greg Letsche, and I determined from the start to embrace the environment and incorporate natural dunes and native plant material into the design—to work with Mother Nature instead of against her, so to speak. This philosophy gives the course one of its strengths: We were able to blend “out of play” areas with the residences to create an almost seamless look.
There is a genuine sense that you are playing in the desert, as opposed to an artificial oasis. We created feed-in areas to the greens, almost like Australia’s Royal Melbourne, one of my favorite courses. Alister MacKenzie was one of my early design influences, as were Harry Colt and modern architects like Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye. Ultimately, though, you develop your own style. In this business, you have to look forward, not always to the past.
I want my courses to be challenging enough for the pros, but one of my philosophies is that you have to give members and guests a chance to get the ball in play. I’ve played in too many pro-ams where guys have lost six balls on the front nine. We believe you can make a course challenging for the best players, but at the same time memorable and enjoyable for everyone else.
At the Dunes there will be little to no rough, aside from some containment areas, so the ball will run. This way, you can make up your own mind as to which shot to play as opposed to the course dictating a specific style. I feel this sort of creativity makes for the most enjoyable golf, no matter where you are in the world.

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LocalGolfConditions.com (LGC) is dedicated to serving the Mid-Atlantic golf communities with a comprehensive database of all area public golf courses in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. Our goal is to create a forum for local golfers; interactive databases where people can offer fair honest reviews and submit updates of course conditions. At its core, LGC is a website for the public golfer, by the public golfer.

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This is a guest post from Carl, a 17 year old Blogger who teaches you how to Become a Better Blogger. He is also 2-handicap golfer who plays golf every day and would like to share his golf tips and advice with you.
Association and Disassociation
Why are the professionals as good as they are? You seem to have a good game going and youre building your confidence as you roll in a birdie putt and then all of a sudden, bogey, double bogey. Ouch! Where did that just come from? You ask yourself this whilst having raging thoughts running through your head. Then another double? ARGH! and maybe even a bogey on top to put a stop to your wonderful round? Golf over for the day. Your head drops and your confidence falls straight back down.
Something Ive developed over the years Ive been playing golf is the ability to manage my mental side of the game and deal with the bad shots. Im no expert and I have my hard days but this is something you notice with professionals. Tiger Woods is a prime example of pure perfection of his management. Hardly will you ever see his head drop and within a flash of anger youre seeing him rebuild his mind ready for the next shot.
This is what I move on to in this post, the ability to associate and disassociate yourself within your golf game. Its the art of gathering thoughts in your mind and placing them and finally removing them for your next shot. Lets have a look at the whole process in the order you should be thinking about things:
Association is being within yourself. You need to feel the feelings you get when you get angry at a shot and let your head get down.
Now its time to disassociate yourself and look at the shot as if you were watching yourself.  You will be able to see your actions much more clearly this way.

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Playsport Scotland, which will open in March next year, will be home to Scotland’s first ‘tribute’ golf course, based on some of Great Britain’s most famous links holes, and designed to cater for fans of the sport’s latest innovation, PowerPlay Golf. The complex will also feature a 220,000sq ft sports hub housing a wide-range of world-class sports and leisure activities.
The project will create around 200 new jobs and is the result of a partnership between Playgolf Holdings plc, South Lanarkshire Council, and Kilmartin Property Group.
Playgolf Holdings is the organisation behind the award-winning Playgolf Northwick Park ‘Majors’ course in London, inspired by some of the most famous holes in the world of golf (including the 12th and 16th at Augusta). The company also has other facilities in Hendon and Manchester, and was instrumental in the global launch of PowerPlay Golf, the two-flag game rated by many as golf’s equivalent to Twenty20 cricket.
The East Kilbride project is Playgolf’s largest and most ambitious venture to date. Sporting superstar Sir Ian Botham, for one, believes it will be something special.
Botham, a spokesman for PowerPlay Golf, said: “The PowerPlay Golf course at Playsport Scotland is going to be spectacular. It will appeal to seasoned golfers, plus it will bring a lot of newcomers into the game.”
The state-of-the-art multi-sport venue will cover an area roughly the same size of London’s Canary Wharf and will feature:
• A unique ‘tribute’ golf course, designed by former British and World Amateur champion Peter McEvoy, permanently set up for Powerplay Golf
• A 58-bay two-tier heated and floodlit driving range
• The UK’s largest indoor tennis centre
• A 25,000 sq ft state-of-the-art health fitness centre
• A 25-metre swimming pool
• 2 x 7-a-side and 8 x 5-a-side football pitches
• A 36,000 sq ft Kids’ zone
• Over 20,000 sq ft of retail space and restaurants.
The famous British links holes which were used by golf course architect Peter McEvoy OBE as inspiration for the layout at Playsport Scotland are:
1st hole - the 2nd hole at Turnberry
2nd hole - the 4th hole at Muirfield
3rd hole - the 4th hole at Royal Lytham St Annes
4th hole - the 16th hole at Carnoustie
5th hole - the 4th hole at Royal St George’s
6th hole - the 13th hole at Muirfield
7th hole - the 11th hole at St Andrews Old Course
8th hole - the 17th hole at St Andrews Old Course
9th hole - the 9th hole at Royal Lytham St Annes
The Scottish Government’s Sports Minister, Stewart Maxwell, said:  “If we are to increase participation levels in sport and improve the health and wellbeing of the nation, it is essential that we offer quality facilities that are affordable and accessible. I welcome this innovative partnership between the public and private sectors in delivering a wide range of facilities that will be attractive to those who wish to participate in sport and also those who just want to exercise and increase their fitness levels. I look forward to hearing about the success of the Playsport Scotland facility in getting people of all ages involved in sports such as tennis golf in the area.

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Your Turn: Would you pay to see Jose Canseco in a boxing match?
By Bernard Fernandez
Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA - This is a story about America . . . about what this country is and the golden beacon of opportunity it still represents to so many around the world.
It is a story about a father and a son, from a faraway land, who dreamed of coming here and fulfilling a shared destiny that might not have been possible had they remained on their tiny South Pacific island. It is also the story of a retired American prizefighter who provided the inspiration that brought a poor family to these shores to find the better life they imagined could be had, because, well, every person in these United States is free to become whatever he or she wants to be, right?
If you choose to dismiss Saturday night's celebrity boxing match between Philadelphia's NBC 10 sports anchor Vai Sikahema and Jose Canseco in Atlantic City's Bernie Robbins Stadium as meaningless fluff, go ahead. But take a look at the beaming father from Tonga and the ex-heavyweight from Utah, an improbable reunion that was 35 years in the making. Consider the son standing inside the ring, the now-grown-up Tongan kid with the big heart who was supposed to become a champion boxer but got sidetracked by another vision and became a Pro Bowl punt returner instead.
Sometimes the American dream doesn't work out quite as planned, but that doesn't mean there aren't other avenues to success for those with ambition and a strong work ethic.
"You know what? The dreams I had when I came to America have all been fulfilled," said Loni Sikahema, 68, Vai's father. "I love my neighbors in Mesa, Ariz. They treat me like a real American. I just want to express my love and appreciation for all the people in this country, but especially the people in Philadelphia who have taken such good care of Vai.
"Vai, to me, is the man of Philadelphia. He is not the man of Tonga anymore. He is not the man of Mesa, Ariz., anymore. He is the man of Philadelphia."
But if Vai Sikahema, 45, no longer has an identity crisis as to who and what he is, he realizes there is one last piece of the puzzle that needs to be snapped into place before he finds total contentment. His father came to the United States - indeed, brought the family here in increments in the early 1970s - so that Vai could evolve into the next Rocky Marciano, the next Joe Frazier.
Whittling down the 6-4, 240-pound Canseco won't accomplish that goal, but, hey, it's a reasonable substitute at this stage of an adventurous life.
"My father trained me to be a fighter. It was his dream," said Vai, who played eight seasons in the NFL, the last two with the Eagles in 1992 and '93, and earned trips to the Pro Bowl with the Cardinals in 1986 and '87.
"See, they don't play American football in Tonga, but they do fight. Boxing's an international sport. My dad's intention was to train me to become a world-class fighter someday.
"Would I have been? Nobody knows. Clearly, I would have turned pro at some point in my life had I not started playing football."
The Sikahema family's obsession with boxing traces back to the 1950s, when Chuck Woodworth - the Salt Lake City heavyweight who posted a 14-7-1 record, with seven knockout victories, from 1952 to '59 - arrived in Tonga as a teacher at Loni's high school. The final three bouts of Woodward's career took place in New Zealand, a comparative neighbor of Tonga in the vast Pacific Ocean.
"Mr. Woodworth taught those of us who wanted to learn how to box," Loni said. "I wanted to learn. I quickly came to love boxing."
That's boxing, as opposed to fighting. Tongan boys fought all the time because . . . well, just because.
"We played rugby, and sometimes fights would break out before the rugby started," Loni recalled. "There did not have to be a reason."
Woodworth figured it would be better to channel all that pent-up aggression into an organized activity, so he formed a high school boxing team that competed against other schools in the Tongan archipelago, a chain of 169 islands south of Samoa, 36 of which are inhabited.
Loni Sikahema was one of Woodworth's quickest studies. Certainly, he was not lacking for confidence whenever he tugged on the gloves.
"I was not a professional, but I was not afraid of anyone," he recalled. "I believed that if I did become a pro, I would beat all of them."
But Vai came along to Loni and his wife, Ruby, altering Loni's focus. It would have to be the first-born son who did all those great things in the ring Loni had thought he might do.
Lacking the funds to bring everyone along just then, Loni moved to Hawaii by himself. Ruby came next, leaving Vai and his two younger siblings with grandparents. Loni then relocated to California, then to Utah, and finally to Mesa, which he concluded was just the environment for a world-champion-in-the-making.
"I had too many Tongan friends in those other places," Loni said. "In Hawaii, whenever I had to take Vai to the gym, my friends wanted me to go with them to a barbecue, to go swimming. This is the reason I don't want to stay in Hawaii. I needed to find someplace on the mainland where Vai could become a world champion."
He found it, in a Phoenix suburb called Mesa. Vai said he had "between 80 and 90" amateur bouts between the ages of 7 and 14 and acquitted himself quite well, but by then he had developed a fascination with football.
"One day he say to me, 'Dad, I want to play football. If I play football, I will become one of the best,' " Loni recalled. "I said, 'Vai, how will you make a living?' I did not realize then that there was such a thing as professional football."
For a time, Vai split his schedule between boxing and football. But after two all-state seasons at Mesa High, he was offered a football scholarship to Brigham Young and that basically was that. He was through with boxing forever.
Or maybe not. After scoring an Eagles touchdown on a punt return against the Giants in 1992, Vai celebrated by pummeling the padded goalpost with a flurry of textbook-perfect punches. It was the stuff that highlight reels are made of.
That would have been our fleeting glimpse of Vai Sikahema, the onetime boxer, except for the intervention of Damon Feldman, who was promoting a series of celebrity boxing matches. Feldman figured Vai could reprise his goalpost-pounding routine for real.
"Damon first approached me 10 or 12 years ago, after I had gotten out of football," Vai said. "He wanted to put me in with Frank Bialowas, the resident tough guy with the Phantoms. We were all set; we were going to do it. But Bialowas blew out his knee late in the season and the fight never came off."
For a time, Sikahema admits to getting a bit "fat and soft," so he returned to the gym to whip his body back into shape. And that's when Feldman, somewhat fortuitously, came calling again.
"Damon said, 'I got this crazy thing going with Danny Bonaduce. Would you be interested?'" Vai said. "Hey, timing is everything. I told him I'd love to do it. I thought it would be fun. But that didn't come off either. Bonaduce (the former "Partridge Family" kid) didn't want to do it. But Damon did pair me with David Cruise, a local disc jockey."
Sikahema won that one, and now he's about to throw down with the Cuban-born Canseco in an exhibition that is really quite serious business, when you consider that both men are proud former professional athletes. And so what if Vai, only 5-9 and 200 pounds, is giving away 7 inches and 40 or so pounds?
"I don't have the reflexes to get in the ring with Bernard Hopkins or Oscar De La Hoya, but if you put me in with someone my age (Canseco is 44) and who is not an experienced boxer, I should do all right," Sikahema said.
"I'm banking that my skill level, power and ability to close the distance will offset the size differential. He'll have to punch down and find me. It won't be easy; I'm not going to stand still. I'm going to bob and weave, work my way inside and find out if he can take a punch."
Vai is bringing in his father and also Woodworth so they can share the moment. And why not? In a way, this is their moment, too. It's also major news on a patch of earth halfway around the globe, where this otherwise meaningless exhibition bout is the pugilistic equivalent of Louis vs. Schmeling, Ali vs. Frazier, Tyson vs. Holyfield.
"I think I can safely say that 105,000 Tongans are well aware that I am fighting Jose Canseco," Sikahema said. "I do not intend to disappoint them.

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I don't remember exactly when I became a fan of Alison Bechdel's comic Dykes to Watch Out For -- I started reading it when it ran in the Minneapolis-based gay and lesbian paper Equal Time, then after that folded it continued on to a lengthy stint in Boston's Sojourner (until that folded) and now I read it in Washington's Off Our Backs (which often talks about folding but has managed to hang on so far).

The strip follows a cast of characters -- Mo, Lois, Ginger, Toni, Sparrow and Clarice, among a number of others -- through relationships, children, jobs, and politics. There are lots of jokes about academia, too, which I've particularly appreciated at certain points in my life. I've been following them around for about 20 year now, I guess, so in honor of that long history, I decided today to add Alison to my all-time favorites list.

If you didn't see it, her graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is well worth reading. (She grew up in a funeral home, hence the name.) While we all tend to think we've got dysfunctional families (what family, after all, is fully functional?) the book is likely to make you realize how functional your family is! Fun Home is an exemplar of why graphic long-form books are not comics, but are instead a new type of literature that fully integrates words and pictures.

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After the snow melts and I get a chance to go and check the course out, one thing that stands out in my mind is how messy the course is. Fallen branches, late falling leaves, pine needles, and pine cones are very prevalent around the golf course property. Also, winter tree trimming leaves a big mess especially when there is a lot of snow because it makes it tougher to get all of the branches. This results in a lot of cleanup.
Getting the around the clubhouse and the entryway are usually the first things that are taken care of, because its the first thing people see as they enter the property and it should be clean when members drive into the club. Clean up around the tees and greens usually follow as the winter covers come off. This unfortunately is not something that can be done in one day, mostly because it is a lot of raking and the lack of Springtime workers.
The greens need to be completely clean of debris because the turf is so short and fine that if it were to be mowed with sticks on it the chances of damage to the green is great because those sticks can easily get caught in the mower and it leaves very visible drag marks that need to time heal and look very bad. When grass is mowed as short as a green it doesnt take much to damage it. Tees and fairways are about the same height of cut and can easily be blown off with the Buffalo turbine blower.
Along with cleanup, everything that was brought in from the course needs to be put out again. Benches, yardage markers, tee markers, ball washers, and probably most importantly the cups and flag sticks. This is a great indication to the grounds crew that we are close to seeing the golfers back out there.
Winter is the time when everything brought in, comes back looking new, because of cleaning or new paint. I think many people would be surprised how badly the things sitting outside on the golf course look after spending the summer with the sun beating on them and also being handled by so many people. Colors fade, paint gets chipped, dirt accumulates, and some things just wear out from overuse. My opinion is that everything should look great to start the season and hopefully that great look lasts as long as possible.
The objects that we cant bring in every winter like out-of-bounds (OB) stakes get repainted along with all of the water hazard stakes. Other things that get painted are ball washer posts, tee sign posts, driving range posts and the driving range shack.

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