A Peek at Life as a Natic

Ryan sent me an IM a few weeks back about a charity golf event that he was a sponsor for and asked if I could go to.  I took the day off of work on Friday and met him at his house to head to Villa Rica to play a round.  He gave me a Wiresix (his company) embroidered golf polo and we headed out. 

It was a great time!  There is no better way to start a weekend than to play golf all day on Friday with great weather!  Nathan and Craig also came out to play and man was it a blast. 

Thanks for the invite Ryan.  It was freaking HILARIOUS and we had a great time!  We all have to play again sometime soon!

I am sorry loyal readers I have not updated in over a week – so here is a quick update.

On Friday night I caved in a decided to go to take Alisha to Maggianos. Ryan and Andrea also joined us for the evening with Nico. We had a great dinner and took some time to catch up. Unfortunately, I regretted eating it like crazy so I sent all of my leftovers home with Ryan and Andrea. I just felt terrible after eating so I decided it was not a good idea to eat it again for lunch on Saturday. I am sure Ryan didnt mind taking a little extra home that night

On Saturday we had a busy day. Since we are going on our cruise at the end of May we remembered that we REALLY need some luggage. The luggage that we have has unfortunately not weathered the storm and has fallen apart. This time we decided to get some higher quality stuff and see why some costs more than others. We were not looking to go top of the line by far but wanted better than we had picked out last time. Andrea had told us to head over to Macy’s to check out theirs as they ALWAYS have sales. She was totally right! We headed out there and picked up 2 medium sized rolling lightweight bags, a carry-on bag, and a garment bag. Thanks Andrea! We needed it badly!!!!!

In the afternoon we headed over to Myrna and Louis house to celebrate their children’s accomplishments in the Catholic Church. We had a good time hanging out with friends and family as well as eating some Spanish foods. mmmm.

After hanging out there for a while, we headed up to Twisted Taco in Roswell to meet up with a number of our friends for Krystle’s birthday gathering. We spent a few hours hanging out and having a great time with our friends before headed home for the night.

On Sunday, I unfortunatley left Alisha for most of the day. In the early afternoon I met my dad at the shooting range to shoot a few rounds. It was his first time ever shooting and we had a great time doing so.  We had been wanting to go for a while but because of the shortage of ammo these days it was very difficult to go.  It is total bullshit that you cant find any ammo anymore. 

After the shooting range I headed over to the other type of range to meet the Solanas for a round of golf at Old Atlanta Club!  I had a great time playing with Joe, Carol, and Joey.  It was a blast and they always kept me laughing.  Sunday was a perfect guy day although I wish Alisha would have come. I had a great time and it was one of the best Sunday’s I have had in a while!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of  our time at the Driving Range with Chris at pictures.neilnatic.com  or here.

Chris and I at the Driving Range

Last weekend I found out that Chris had ordered a set of clubs online and decided to try to take him to the driving range today.  It was supposed to rain but as you know the weathermen in Atlanta are totally full of sh1t!  It was supposed to rain all day and it did not rain a single bit. 

We got to Lanier Golf Club and I gave Chris a quick breakdown of the basics knowing that it would be pretty tough to catch onto.  While he was giving it a shot my dad and I also hit a number of balls.  We were slicing the crap out of them unfortunately, but I was okay with it because I think I am finally beginning to actually get ahold of the balls now opposed to always topping the crap out of them.  Chris began to get a little frustrated when he could not hit them as far as we were but we reassured him of how hard it actually was to hit them any distance worth noting.

Before the end of the day he was doing MUCH better.  He NAILED some balls for over 100 yards and was very proud of himself.  He has a nice swing and with some time he will be destroying balls far more often than he thought that he would be.  Before we killed all of the balls, we headed over to the sand trap to have him hit there as well as the putting area.  If we had 15 more balls he would have been consistently hitting them over 100 yards.

All in all we had a great time out at the range.  We will have to do it again sometime!  I love golf!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of day with Chris at pictures.neilnatic.com  or here.

I got a call from my youngest brother Chris during the week asking if we could hang out sometime this weekend so we carved out our Sunday to take him out and keep him busy.  We headed over there around 2:00 or so and took him out to lunch.  We went to get BBQ but unfortunately the place next to my rents house had closed – damn economy!  We then decided to check out Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles.  I had never been there and like many others have heard quite a bit about it so we decided to stop by and check it out. 

Chris LOVED it.  He really enjoyed his chicken fingers and fries.  I ordered the Midnight Train which is their signature dish of 4 chicken wings and a waffle on the same plate.  Chris loved this as well!  It was actually very good.  Alisha got the fried catfish with a side of Mac and Cheese and she liked her meal as well.  We had a waiter by the name of Lee which I would recommend to ANYONE.  He was a VERY nice guy and was very intent on making our lunch there great.  He took the time to speak with you, highlight parts of the menu with us being first timers and was just very kind.  Ask for him if you go!  You wont be disappointed. 

After lunch we told Chris that we wanted to take him to play mini golf and invited my rents to come along as well.  They decided to tag along and we all headed to Pirates Cove in Duluth to play.  On the way my dad decided that he needed to fix his hair and had nothing but a fork…. it was pretty funny.  Pirates Cove was pretty busy but we still had an excellent time there.  Chris really began to pick up on the whole thing towards the end and when he took his time he actually did well.  Since guys are competetive about everything, I made sure to beat my dad even though we didnt show it until the end to make sure that Chris had a good time playing and didnt worry about when he missed a putt. 

After playing we headed back to my parents house to pick up the rest of the boys and headed out to Longhorn Steakhouse for a nice dinner.  Once we got back my dad helped me make my last part for brewing beer (wort chiller) and then we headed home to get some much needed sleep.

The weekend was once again busy and a ton of fun.  Egh… Monday again

This weekend has been one of the best ever!  We have stayed so busy it is crazy.  On Saturday night Kevin said that we should play golf so Bobby and I agreed and made plans to play on Sunday morning.  We left their house at about 1:00 am and woke up at about 8:00 am to head up to Kevin’s to play at Hampton.  We froze our ASSES off.  Holy crap was it cold!!!!!  It was cold and windy but we still had a great time. 

After playing golf we met Alisha and Ash at Kevin’s house as they returned from their shopping spree and headed out to Edwin and Geni’s house to celebrate Reagan’s 30th birthday.  Her birthday was on Saturday but they had made dinner plans and we did not get to see them. 

This was a great wrap-up to an awesome weekend.  I wish every weekend was this good.

Valentines day was this Saturday.  Hopefully you remembered   The guys decided that it was a perfect opportunity to go out and play some golf.  Spencer works at a local golf course and was a hell of a guy to allow Kevin, Grant, and myself to come along.  We had such a great time.  It was so great to hang out with all of the guys again and play some golf.  The course was totally empty which was awesome as we were not rushed at all.  I guess we are the only guys to leave our wives on Valentines Day to play golf?  Weird.  Who would have known? :crackup:

After playing golf we headed to Taco Mac to grab some beers and some lunch.  Before too long Ashley and Alisha met up with us to hang out before going our separate ways for a bit.  Alisha and Ashley had met up with Laura to go look at her wedding dress and Ashley’s Bridesmaid dress.  After ohhhing and aweing they went to Maggianos for lunch – SO jealous! – before doing some more shopping and meeting up with us.

After Taco Mac, Kevin wanted to head over to Dicks Sporting Goods (trust me – their website is not Dicks.com.  Don’t ask me how I know) to look at some golf stuff.  He picked up a pair of shoes and I drooled over another that was also on sale.  I decided to hold off and look online to see if I could get mine cheaper with full plans to purchase them.  I really liked em!

We went back to our house for a bit, picked up Envy, and then headed to Kevin and Ashley’s to eat some quesadillas and watch a movie called Righteous Kill.  It was a good movie.  After the movie our old ass bodies gave out and we headed home to pass out.

Thanks a ton Spence for getting us on the course.  We had a really great time man.

Friday was my last day at Opteum which led to celebration on its own but to top it off, much of Mike’s family was in town for Sandy’s wedding.  Since everyone was there, they decided to get the guys together and play some golf.  Mike gave me some heads up so that I can try to make it there as well.  Fortunately, it worked out great as it was my last day at Opteum.  I took off a few hours early and met up with Mike, Jamie, Dan, Abe, and Jessie for a round of golf at the Hamptons Golf Village (Kevin’s neighborhood).

We had a hell of a good time out on the course.  After our 18 holes, we headed out and went our separate ways for a few hours.  Mike and Aubree had planned to come out to dinner with us so we met up with them a little later for some Italian food.  Jamie stayed home to watch the Boston Red Sox play but Dan decided to come out.  We met up at Provino’s in Cumming for some much needed grub.  We had a great time eating and joking around with our waitress.  She was quite cool and really added a great time to our dinner. 

After dinner we headed out to Taco Mac for some drinks… wow what a trip this was.  Our waitress… well.. was not quite all there unfortunately.  Dan ordered a drink first and I asked her to print my list (like I always do).  She comes to the table with Dan’s beer and looks at me like I need to order so I ask her if she printed my list.  She says she forgot and goes to print it.  5 minutes later she comes back and says that my card says that I have used it for the day (6 max per day) although I had not been to Taco Mac.  I ask her to try again and to see if she can fix it.  She comes back and says she got it to work… and looks at me to order… I ask once again… can I have my list.  She goes back to print it and I finally get my beer.  Like 2 minutes later, she puts our checks on the table.. WTF?!!?  No one asked for our checks at all.  So i just left it there untouched.  She kept coming back to collect it but I never even moved it.  Then to top it off I order another beer.  She says yeah of course, and then when she brings the beer, brings an updated check… WTF?!  I was amazed.. never seen anything like it!

It was great to hang out with the Sasso’s again and to see everyone for golf, dinner, and drinks.

Aubree was going to a briday shower for a girl that was at her wedding and had asked Alisha to come along.  Since the girls were going out to do their thing, Mike and I decided to go golfing.  Before doing so, we went to Aubree’s parents so that they could break the news to Aubree’s parents that they were pregnant! 

We originally wanted to use our rain checks from Hampton’s golf course but they were booked for the day with a tournament so we just stayed out in Kennesaw and went to a local par 3 course and played there.  We had a blast!  It was a tight game the whole way through but Mike pulled off a victory as I missed a 5 foot putt for birdie to tie the game L   I still need to recount it!  I don’t believe the numbers ha ha ha.  After our game, we headed to Taco Mac for a drink and then met up with the ladies.  Because we had such a long night and Mike and Aubree were heading to the Sasso’s we just headed to the house so that I could get some work done for Natic IT. 

Today was the day that I had planned to go get my beer brewing kit with the guys.  We had plans to get up and head to IHOP for breakfast, go buy a beer kit, hit the driving range, grab some beers, and then meet up with the ladies to hang out.

This morning I got up and got ready to meet up with Hector, Bobby, and Mike at the IHOP on exit 14.  After a great breakfast we grabbed out clubs and headed out to Beer Necessities to look into picking up a beer brewing kit so that I can give homebrewing a shot.  This took a good amount of time while we looked through the options that they had and had them get the ingredients.  After buying the whole kit, we then thought about how the hell we were going to fit it in the TL with the four guys and a full trunk from golf clubs.  :crackup:

After getting the beer kit, we headed over to a golf club in Alpharetta only to find out that they were private.  They directed us to another golf course that was not and that would allow us in with our very casual clothes.  After arriving there we loaded up on a golf cart and headed to the range.  It was windy as hell out there!  After blowing through the 2.5 full buckets I hit, i believe that i figured out what I may be doing wrong.  Lets hope that is the case.  I would really like to get out to one more range session before I hit another course again, but I am definitely feeling better than I did in the past. 

After wearing ourselves out at the range, we headed over to the Taco Mac on 141 so that Hector can get his Thomas Creek beer that he was craving.  After a shit-ton of cheese dip and a few beers we headed out to meet up with the ladies.

Alisha’s day involved some running around with Kara as well as good amount of fun.  In the morning they went to Old Navy to get some shopping done before taking Danielle to a friend’s birthday party on the lake.  Since they were in the Gainesville area they stopped by Wild Wing for lunch and then went to a Putt Putt gold course for Paul.  Alisha then headed back to the house so that I could meet up with her for the rest of the evening.

Bobby, Jen, Hector, and Reagan came back over to our place to chill for a little while before we took the ladies out for dinner.  Hector had recommended that we grab some sushi at a relatively new Sushi restarant right on hwy 20 called Kaya.  What a great choice that was!  the atmosphere was excellent and the food was even better!  They actually give you stainless steel chopsticks which I found quite amusing!  The Super Crunch Rolls – AMAZING!  They were freaking delicious!  I was absolutely stuffed and could not stop eating them.  Even Bobby, who doesn’t eat sushi, loved them!

The day was jam packed and was a bunch of fun!  We are looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable Sunday with my parents tomorrow.

That’s how many hits it takes for me to get the damn ball more than 10 feet from the freaking tee box!  :fu:

Yesterday afternoon I headed from work and went to play a round of golf.  The weather was beautiful and the course was nice and empty which was excellent.  I learned some new stuff, which is great, but I am still far from decent.  My hits are very inconsistent and I flat out cant drive.  I don’t get it.  It absolutely infuriates me.

I am going to go to the range some more before I start hitting a course again as it is too expensive of a hobby to suck so bad.  I am okay with how i use my irons.  Yeah I have plenty of total screw ups but I have a few decent hits as well so I am cool with that.  I just have to learn to drive.  With my woods, if I use them and connect it usually is a nice shot, but man is it rare.  It is just like my driver.  I flub the hell out of it as i always come over top of the ball a lot.

What i noticed towards the end of the day is that I am swinging through with my right arm instead of leading it through with the left which causes me to swing too much like a baseball bat.  I really noticed that when I do this, that i never actually skim the grass on the practice swing which leads me to come overtop of the ball when I hit.  Makes sense.  When i lead with the left arm, I do skim the grass and therefore i make nice contact.  The issue is that I can really only make nice contact when i have a damn iron in my hands.  For some reason that driver just will not come low enough. 

Either way it is a ton of fun just being out there and I had a great time.  I really look forward to getting out there some more and hope that I do begin to get much better.  It is a really fun sport when you are not so frustrated about sucking so bad

While I was out with the guys, Alisha met up with Ash to head to the outlet malls to find some decorations for the office.  As usual, she found plenty After their round of shopping they picked up some dinner for me and Kev and headed to the house to meet up with us.

Thanks for the food babe!  I needed it.

On Friday we had made plans to get the guys together for a guys night out on the golf course.  This was mostly a distraction so that Kevin did not find out about his birthday party that was set to happen at his house.

We had a large turnout for golf as Kevin, his dad, Jason Weber, Ryan, Shawn, Paul, Jason, JR, Schwappe, Brett, Mike and I all got together at Lanier Golf Club for a 6:00 tee time.  Phil, thanks again for your help in arranging this.  We cannot thank you enough!  Although I totally suck, I still had a really great time.  After a nice round of golf, we all headed back to Kevin’s house to celebrate.

It was a great turnout for the party and it was good to see many of the people that we have not seen in quite some time.  Happy early B-day Kev.

After a long day and night of golfing and hanging out, I woke up early again to golf with Alisha’s dad, Jason, and Marty (from North Pole Air).  After playing so terribly yesterday I decided to meet Jason beforehand to get some swings in at the driving range.  With a few pointers, I was finally able to get some decent hits off with the driver.  We then headed over to the course and began our full round. 

I played a bunch better this time than I did on Saturday, but not great for sure.  I finally got some decent hits in and am feeling a little better about it all.  I will certainly need a bunch more practice at the driving range and would actually like to start playing a little more.  I never realized that golf would actually be a pretty good time.  Yeah its hot, but it is still a bunch of fun even if I do suck.  I don’t know what it is, but I come over top of the ball far too often and it kills my shots with all clubs especially the damn driver.  I will need to work on that big time.  I get so pissed that I cant get a decent shot off for shit.  When I finally get a hold of the ball it is a huge relief from all of the frustration from previous holes.  Most of the time, I end up coming over top of the ball and it just either skates over top of the grass, or it kicks off to the right HARD.

While I was out playing golf with the guys, Alisha, Dan, Shawn, Chrisy, Kara, and Paige all went to IHOP for breakfast (2 days in a row for Dan).  After breakfast everyone but Dan headed over to Kangaroo Bob’s which is a bounce house place up hwy 20 to let the adults Paige play around on the inflatable slides etc. 

Shortly after Chrisy and Shawn got a disturbing phone call from a relative that their house looked like it was broken into.  The door was kicked in but nothing seemed to be missing.  They decided to head home immediately to find out what happened.  Fortunately for them, there was a fire downstairs and the fire department kicked the door in to make sure that everything was okay in their apartment.  Nothing was damaged at all. 

After we played we headed over to Alisha’s parents house to relax.  I was absolutely beat and was ready for bed by the time we got there.  Two full days in the sun and 2 rounds of golf just killed me.  I was sore as hell all over and was just totally worn out.

Alisha was equally as tired so we headed home relatively early and I just passed out when we got there.

It was a great weekend.  I wish they were all as fun!

This weekend was Hector’s bachelor party to celebrate his addition of a ball and chain.  :crackup:

The plan for the day was to play some golf in the morning, grab some lunch and some beers, head out on the lake, and then play it by ear for the evening festivities.

We all met at IHOP by my house at 8:30 to have some breakfast before we hit the course.  We then grabbed some golf balls and headed out to Crystal Falls in Dawsonville for our tee time which was set for 10:30 AM.  We finished up around 4:00 but unfortuantely as soon as we finished it began to rain and we had to scrap the boat outing.  We decided to just head out to Taco mac for some lunch and drinks and play it by ear.  We talked a bunch about going out and heading downtown, but Hector was wiped out from playing golf so we just kept it a chill night and stayed at Taco Mac.  We wrapped it up there at about 11:00 PM and called it a night.

We had an absolute blast and really enjoyed just all being together to talk and chill.  Can’t wait until next weekend for the wedding!

While the guys were out having fun, Alisha hung out with Kara, Chrisy, Shawn, and their daughter Paige.  They went to Discover Mills Mall first to stop by the Sanrio store so that Chrisy could return to her childhood .  They also stopped by the Lego store for a while to play with all of the fun stuff they have these days.  After being children, they headed to Johnny Rockets to grab some lunch and then headed out to Phipps Plaza to check out the Tiffany store there.  They then went across the street to the two story Target which proved to be highly amusing as they have an escalator that takes your shopping cart to the 2nd story as well.  Apparently it was pretty cool!  They then went back to the house to relax by the fire.  They headed back to the house to eat and then head off to the neighborhood pool.  Me and Dan met them at the house shortly after and we all called it a night….especially Dan who was dozing off sitting up :crackup:

Friday night we had Kara, Shawn, and Chrissy come to the house to stay for the weekend.  We decided to grab some dinner and beers over at Taco Mac and then head back to the house to chill by the fire with some s’mores. 

While at Taco Mac me and Shawn enjoyed their variety of beers as I introduced him to one of my favorite draft beers, the Left Hand Milk Stout. :drool:  Shawn certainly agreed that it was a very tasty beer and even went for seconds.  After we ate dinner we headed over to Jax to grab some more beer and take it back to the house.  Once we got there I headed straight to the beer to get some new selections to try.  I grabbed a six pack of an interesting beer and as I did i hear a loud BAM!, I look down and notice that my pants are absolutely soaked from my upper thigh all the way down to my shoes with beer   Apparently, when I took the six pack of beer off of the shelf, a single (but larger than normal size bottle) beer had gotten caught on the six pack and fell to the ground making a total mess in the store.  I felt so bad :crackup:  Fortunately while we were checking out, someone else made the same mistake as we heard the same crushing crash of another bottle hitting the ground. 

So now that I was totally soaked in beer, we headed to the house to relax.  As we were turning onto 20 I made Alisha aware of a cop on the opposite side of 20 in case she was going to be going faster than the speed limit for some reason.  Shortly after doing so what do we see… cop lights.  So he pulls us over and Alisha is freaking out because she thinks that she will be getting a ticket for her tint meanwhile the car must absolutely wreak of beer from my jeans being totally soaked in it from Jax.  Long story short, the cop didn’t even notice the beer (that we know of) and was only pulling us over because Alisha forgot to turn the headlights on.  That is the only thing about the Acura that I don’t love.  The lights on the dash are illuminated whether your headlights are on or not Anyway, he let us go on our way after running her license and we continued on home.

Once home, we started up the fire and got ready to make some s’mores, drink, and relax.  During all of this, I received a phone call from Jason Lucas letting me know that him, Alisha’s dad, and a guy from work were going out to play golf on Sunday morning and wanted me to come along.  I mentioned that i was playing on Saturday and said I would have to pass…..until Alisha’s dad called me up.  :crackup:  He talked me into it and I told him that i would see him Sunday morning to tee it up again… now I will have to show everyone two days in a row that I suck at golf!  I have never played a day in my life, and now I have to do it two days in a row.