eBay is the best thing that ever happened to anyone

eBay is awesome. I can't even describe how great it is. I'm a man who loves deals. It was something I learned from my father. He always told me "there is no need to buy brand new when you can get barely used for half the cost". That is so true, and there is no better place to find barely used but at half the cost than eBay!!! I've been in the market for a new driver for a while now since my old driver is almost a decade old now and really outdated as far as technology goes. Unfortunatley I have a really high swing speed and that means that I have to install an aftermarket shaft that is extra stiff so it can keep up with my swing. Of course I have my sights set on the $300 shaft that is top of the line....So I'm searching around on eBay and I come upon this basically brand new 2009 TaylorMade Burner TP driver and it has.....the top of the line $300 shaft in it already!!! So I look at it not expecting it to be in my price range, but lo and behold I'm the top bidder at an astounding $150!!! It has another 4 days left before its over so I don't expect it to last but it only goes up another $50 and I won it!!!!! If I were to go into the Golf Shop and build this club on my own with all the specs that it came with I would be paying more than $750....for one club! Man I can't even tell you how excited I was to get this. The club is just beautiful. I'll let you enjoy it now:

I know right????? It's gorgeous. I can't wait to crush my drives 350 yds with this baby. What a beautiful thing. Man I love golf. By the way, this is the hardest program to post things on. It's not very user friendly and this took me like half an hour.

The San Antonio Riverwalk

I finally got to see this much talked about Riverwalk in San Antonio. Its this little river with restraunts and hotels lining it. You can eat dinner and look out at the river. We chose to sit inside and eat where it wasn't hot and then we took a stroll down the side of the river.

After walking by the river we went in a roundabout way back to our car and ended up going right past the Alamo. Its not very big and I'm not quite sure of the story behind it, except that its in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I know its part of some battle or war and people survived in it...I don't know, but here it is.

Can you find Mack?

Haha, he's to the right of the door. I was tired of being in all of the pictures, but this was as close as he let me get of him. It was nice getting some of the sights in of San Antonio before we head out in a couple weeks...yay!!

Another Puzzle

Since I finished the puzzle of Times Square so fast (750 pieces), Mack surprised me with another puzzle of the Las Vegas strip which was 2,000 pieces!!!!! It is like 3.5 feet by 2.5 feet. I thought it was going to kill me. Don't let the picture fool you. It was full of crazy roads, pieces I swear did not belong anywhere, and windows up the waa zoo.

It took me a little over a week. I usually worked on it a couple hours a day so maybe between 15-20 hours total. Now Mack wants to get me a puzzle of The Last Supper he saw at the store...but I said no thanks.

I told Mack that now he has to take me to Las Vegas to see the real thing... his reply, "Haha, oh yeah? With what money?"

Puzzle Mania

During the day I get really bored and restless. Mack and I went to Barnes and Nobles to find me something to read so I wouldn't be so bored. Mack got a golf book and I wasn't feeling anything. I'm just not into reading when I don't feel like it. I have to be in the mood. I was looking at the kids' books and I got the idea of a puzzle. I love to do puzzles and they take a long time so it was perfect to keep me occupied. Usually I do them with my mom, but seeing that she is not here, I did my first one by myself. It was only 750 pieces, of Times Square in New York.

I started this puzzle on Sunday and finished it on Monday. Haha, so much for keeping me occupied. But here is the puzzle all done.

Two of My Favorite Things

Mack here. Been a while since I blogged so I thought I would write a bit. I have been missing something in my life for the last few years since my mission and since the multiple knee surgeries but it has found new life. Golf. I LOVE golf. I played daily in high school and have played with the same clubs for about 7 years now so needless to say, it is time for a new set. So I've been playing with this TaylorMade 320ti Driver that back in the day was awesome but there has been some amazing progress in technology since 2002. So I go into the golf shop here in San Antonio looking around for a driver. I had done a bit of research and grabbed one of the drivers I wanted to try out and I go into the simulation booth to test hit the driver and I start crushing it. I average about 300-315 yds. with my older driver which is still long but I hit this newer driver 340 yds! I was really happy about that but the golf pro started watching me and asked what club I was hitting and he said "hold on, that club can't keep up with you, let me grab you something" So he came back with the new TaylorMade Burner and he said "hit this". So I grab it and hit it 375 yds! The golf pro was amazed and then told "just grip it and rip it as hard as you can" So I swung as hard as I possibly could while keeping good form and I set the record at the golf shop with a huge 405 yd. drive! The golf pro couldn't believe it. He said "well I think that you have found your club" I went over and grabbed the ball to hit it again but I found that I had cracked the ball right down the middle! They had me sign this little towel that they kept by the simulator with all of the records that they had seen and they let me keep the ball. It was pretty sweet.

I love to play Chess and have played since grade school and even taught a bit in high school. So I thought that I would teach my lovely wife how to play the game I love. So I went on the internet and bought a $7 chess set similar to the ones that I played on in high school and over the last couple weeks have taught Bre a bit about the game. She has caught on quckly and we've already had some fun games. It's been fun to play again and I'm sure in no time she is going to become quite adept.