1.3.22
Hi everyone and welcome back. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.
Golf Update:
My last round of the year was also one of my best. Thanks to another unseasonably warm December day, I was able to shoot over to Skyway for 9 holes on New Years Eve. It had been two weeks since I have picked up a club so I really had no expectations - and maybe that helped. After a sloppy bogey on the easy first hole, I played the final 8 at level par, highlighted by a birdie 2 on hole 4. As I mentioned on an earlier blog, my game tends to come and go with the driver and putter. And on Friday, both were working well. I only hit 3 out of 6 fairways, but the three I missed were kept in play. As a result, I hit 7 of 9 greens in regulation:
My iron play was only average. But since I was putting myself in good position off the tee, and because my putting was super solid, I was able to piece together a nice score. It was nice to play 9 holes without a double bogey and that will be the key to lowering my scores going forward. I make a similar number of birdies and pars as a low handicapper, but way more double and triple bogeys. I think a lot of that is mental; I tend to check out too soon when I get into trouble on a hole. But getting up and down for bogey is all the same as getting up and down for par, when you add em all up at the end…
Hole of the day - #4, Par 3, 125 yards. Birdie.
Although its a short hole, the green on #4 is well protected and very undulated - so I have made by share of 5s and 6s. With the pin being in the back, I had 130 yards with a touch of helping wind - a perfect number for my gap wedge. I find that when I have a number I really like, I am way more likely to put a confident, aggressive swing on it, which usually results in better shots. I hit this one pin high, about 16 feet right of the pin. The putt was dead straight, and uphill. I got it online and knew it was good about halfway to the hole. Money.
Swag Spotlight:
A few weeks back I noticed a tear forming in my golf bag - a Titleist Player 4 Stand Bag. I really liked the bag, but figured it would only last so much longer with duct tape holding it together, so I purchased a Stitch SL2 Standbag, which arrived earlier this month.
The first thing you notice with this bag is the material. It’s not exactly leather, but it has a synthetic leather / pleather type feel to it. This is not to make it sound cheap feeling - in fact just the opposite - the material feels super high quality, and Stitch claims it to be water proof. To be seen how well it holds up over time, but for now, it looks and feels super high end. This applies for all the zippers, straps and handles as well.
As far as storage - its a bit limited. There is a main balls/tees pocket, a larger gear pocket, and then a smaller, felt lined valuables pocket. All three are pretty tight. As someone who walks a lot, and prefers to keep his bag light weight, this is not a huge issue for me. But if you are the type of person to keep 2 dozen balls, rain gear and 8 Bud Lights in your bag, then this ain’t for you.
Personalization options are available. You can see the quality of the material and zippers here…
Verdict - if you are looking for a lightweight, minimalistic, high end golf bag, then this is for you. I should call out the high price point - currently Stitch is selling it on their website for a hefty $388. I would never pay this much for a golf bag, but Stitch frequently runs sales, so I was able to get it at 40% off ($232). Still pricey, but overall a good deal for a bag of this quality. If you are interested, I’d recommend waiting for the next promotion.
Fitness / Training:
As someone who obviously loves golf and has done Crossfit for the last 4 years (no big deal), I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across “GolfWOD”. For those not familiar, WOD stands for “workout of the day”, and is common vernacular in the Crossfit world. GolfWOD is a fitness app with daily Crossfit style workouts, geared specifically towards strengthening the muscles/movements needed for a powerful golf swing.
They post a new workout each day, accompanied by a 5-6 minute video demonstrating the movements. Here is an example workout:
I’ve done 4 of the work outs so far and they are hard! It’s a lot more rotational movements than I am used to and relies heavily on banded resistance which I like. Its been a while since I have switched up my exercise routine, so its fun to incorporate some new movements. Here is me doing the split stance med ball slams:
I am going give it a shot for the month of January, and then decide if I want to stick with it longer. I’ll continue with my normal running/stretching/mobility routine as a supplement.
Baby Update:
We hit one month! Somehow it was the shortest and longest month of my life simultaneously. The fact that she arrived on December 1st was ideal - after I used a week vacation, we went into holiday mode at work, which allowed me to cruise a bit and spend as much time with family as possible. Julia’s first Christmas was great, albeit uneventful. Due to the recent Omicron surge, we were very limited as to who we could see, so both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were small affairs - the three of us, plus my parents and sister. In reality, its probably exactly what we needed, as we were able to lounge around in sweatpants for 48 hours, without having to stress about travel or hosting. Plus my Mom, Dad and Sister Liz couldn’t get enough of Julia, so our responsibilities as parents were a little lighter as they were willing to change, feed or soothe her whenever we asked.
Photo Credit - Sister Liz
Big thanks to everyone who got Julia Christmas presents. Our car was packed to the gills on our way back to Hoboken, and it wasn’t mom and dad gifts (save for Loral’s absurdly large J Crew haul). Safe to say that Julia has everything she could ever need and more, and we are so thankful to have such generous family and friends. Really puts things in perspective and reminds you to be thankful for everything you have. Also, shout out to my brother Pat and his girlfriend Lauren for this hilariously perfect secret Santa gift:
I am embracing the dad lifestyle. These are left permanently by the front door as my “take out the trash” shoes. Perfect
Julia experienced her first New Year’s Eve (we were all asleep by 10:30 pm) and suffered through her first Penn State football game on Jan 1:
She’s crying because she knows we have 10 more years of James Franklin. Also how sweet is that mustache???
It’s been really nice to have time away from work and I am trying to enjoy the last few days before back to the grind in January. I know Julia is too young to appreciate or understand the Christmas season, but it was nice to have her around.
Here is what we are working on now:
SLEEP TRAINING - Up to this point, our sleep schedule hasn’t been terrible, but it could be better. According to Loral’s research, sleep training can start around 1 month. Up to this point, we have been sleeping “opportunistically”, sleeping the hours she allows us, without a ton of thought about how to get her on a schedule. Usually that results in about 6-7 hours of sleep, in stretches of 2-3, sometimes 4 hours. But the goal is 12 straight hours by 12 weeks old, so we are getting more serious about our routine.
The focus right now, is establishing a consistent bedtime. The challenge is getting Julia to go to sleep at bedtime; conversely, she goes down pretty easy after mid-night feedings. We are making an effort to start the bedtime process earlier, and more consistently, in the hopes that we can have her sleeping in the 10pm - 2am window.
I am also learning that being “overtired” is a real thing. I never quite understood how one could be so tired, that he/she is unable to sleep. Well with babies, being awake for more than a few hours at a time can trigger stress hormones, making it even harder for them to calm down. This is why a consistent nap schedule is so important. As an adult, sleeping too much during the day can make it harder to sleep at night, but the opposite is true for babies, especially new borns. So we are also trying to establish a more consistent nap schedule during the day…
Odds and Ends: Disclaimer - the next section is a follow up on my post about the Beatles, and gets very music nerdy. If you aren’t interested, then ok to end here. But if you are into pop music, read on…
So last post I wrote about how I fell into a Beatles rabbit hole - mostly due to the fantastic Get Back documentary on Disney+, as well as the book The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson. I took this as an opportunity to dive deeper into their catalog, so I began firing up Abbey Road or Revolver on Spotify during my daily walks with Barkley. None of this is groundbreaking or original, but maybe my perspective as a 32 year old can shed light for my fellow millennials. Here are my thoughts:
In the past, it never really occurred to me who wrote or even sang a particular song. But after watching Get Back and getting a glimpse into the songwriting process as well as the personalities of each band member, I found myself trying to identify the singer/songwriter for each track. I never really thought about it before, but one of the many things that made the Beatles unique was how there wasn’t one (or even two) driving creative force behind the material. When I think of other mega rock bands of the 60s, 70s and 80s it seems like the lead singer / lead guitarist wrote most of the material; I’m thinking Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, Steven Tyler/Joe Perry, Axl Rose/Slash, etc. But the Beatles were unique in that they had 3 members capable of writing both the music and lyrics for a masterpiece song. Even Ringo proved to be a capable songwriter.
I’ve always knows that the Beatles were super influential on everything that came after, but again, didn’t really know what that truly meant until deep diving their music. It’s a little harder for me - a 32 year old - to truly grasp, since most of the music I was introduced to at an early age came out after the Beatles broke up. But if you consciously remind yourself of this fact, it gets a bit easier to identify some of the innovative stuff they did and where that materialized in the bands that proceeded them. A couple of examples that jumped out at me:
Helter Skelter off the White Album, 1968 - so apparently the Beatles invented heavy metal. Distorted guitars, frenetic pace, wild vocals - this song is awesome. I don’t think I could have previously drawn a line from the Beatles to Metallica or Motley Crue (who covered this song at one point by the way), but the influence is undeniable. I’m sure you could dedicate an entire book to the White Album, but this was just one example that really struck me.
Strawberry Fields Forever released as a single in 1967 - This song is really weird, but in a good way. I can’t really speak to the specifics, but there is a lot of innovative technical/recording techniques going on here, that give it a dream like effect. The most obvious influence would be on bands like Pink Floyd, Cream or Grateful Dead but I think you can make an argument that it still can be heard in new music today. I’m not super plugged into the current hip hop scene the psychedelic, surrealistic vibe created by the Beatles in Strawberry Fields sounds a little bit like Juice World or Travis Scott (if you listen hard enough).
Abbey Road Medley off Abbey Road, 1969 - My first impression here was that the Beatles were such good songwriters, and had such a vast reservoir to pull from, so they took 8 songs good enough to stand alone, smushed them down to 2 minutes each and combined them into a 16 minute medley that closes the album. My second thought was that they kinda invented the rock opera. Do we ever get Bohemian Rhapsody without Abbey Road? I don’t think so. The last four “songs” - She Came in Through the Bathroom / Golden Slumbers / Carry that Weight / The End - are epic, and created the template for 70s rock. I feel like you could pick any classic rock standard from the 70s and attribute it directly to one of those four.
The output and as well as the evolution across 8 years is staggering. The Beatles put out 10 or 11 full albums between 1962 and 1970. I can’t think of any modern day artist close to being that prolific, while maintaining some level of quality. They went from writing relatively simple pop songs - Love Me Do, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, to incredibly complex, layered compositions - Day in the Life, Happiness is a Warm Gun - in just a few years. I can’t think of any other artist to evolve this quickly or this successfully.
All of this got me thinking. Has there ever been another band that can match the quantity and quality of the Beatles catalog? Does anyone even come close? Are the Beatles actually my favorite band ever? To answer these questions, I started to pull the catalogs of some similar artists as well as some of my personal favorites, and bucket their songs into categories, in an attempt to quantify the “greatness” of the Beatles. Here are the contenders:
The Rolling Stones - the most obvious comparison point for the Beatles due to their style, timing, career arc, songwriting, etc
Led Zeppelin - The hard rock, evolutionary Beatles
U2 - The Beatles invented “arena rock”. U2 may have perfected it
Bruce Springsteen - one of my personal favorites, and of course needed some Jersey representation
Red Hot Chili Peppers - again, another one of my favorites - a band now spanning almost 40 years with at least 4 distinct evolutionary phases.
Here is how I am bucketing the songs. Note that this rating is based on my personal preference and not the critical consensus picks. Obviously there is a lot of overlap, but these ratings reflect my personal taste. My ratings system is based on how likely I am to listen to a particular song if it were to come on Spotify shuffle in my car.
Pass - this could mean that I actively dislike a song, or more likely than not, I am just not familiar with it. I love both The Rolling Stones and U2, but after 50 years of making music, there are just a lot of songs I don’t know.
Good - I like this song, I’ll let is play on shuffle, but I am not going out of my way to seek it out and put in on. The “deep cuts”
Great - I love this song, I’m turning up the volume when it comes on. If I am curating a playlist, its the type of song I will actively search and add.
Classic - The blue chips, cream of the crop, best of the best. The songs I always return to.
So let’s start with an overview:
U2 - 2% classic, 3% great, 4% good. Total = 9%
I think the issue with U2 is that they just put out so much music, it’s tough to have a high conversion rate. I like/love 27 of their songs, which is way more than most bands, but when you put out 300+, there is going to be a lot of clunkers. Especially their newer stuff. Also, the Beatles never preloaded my iPod with their music (although I probably would have liked that). The classics:
Rolling Stones - 2% classic, 6% great, 5% good. Total =13%
Similar story with the Stones. 300 songs is a lot, and there is probably a lot more out there that I didn’t capture. Also important to note - most of the 39 songs I like/love came between ‘69-’72, which not coincidentally, aligns with the murderers row of Let it Bleed / Sticky Fingers / Exile on Main Street. I don’t think I liked a single song after 1981, which raises an interesting question - would I hold the Beatles in as high esteem had they continued on for another 40 years? Here’s the classics:
Bruce Springsteen - 5% classic, 7% great, 10% good. Total = 22%
As one of my favorite artists, the Boss comes the closest to the Beatles in terms of classics. But this is due to the fact that he made one stone cold perfect album - Born to Run. I would also argue that he has evolved just as much if not more than the Beatles - Jersey Teen Bruce, Rock God Bruce, Sad Folksy Bruce (Nebraska), 80s Synth Bruce, post 9/11 patriot Bruce, boomer nostalgia Bruce - but that took 50 years, whereas the Beatles took 10. Still, a 22% hit rate, with a catalog approaching 200 songs is impressive. The Classics:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - 3% classic, 7% great, 12% good. Total = 22%
Another band that crossed genres and reinvented itself on numerous occasions. They started as a true funk band, incorporated elements of hip hop and rock, brought it altogether in the 90s with two absolute classics - Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication. They might have been the biggest band in the world after 2006’s Stadium Arcadium and have continued to put out good (but not great) music to this day. At this point, I only see there hit rate going down, by 22% puts them level with Bruce.
Led Zeppelin - 8% classic, 22% great, 26% good. Total = 56%
By far the highest hit rate, but also by far, the lowest song total. Led Zeppelin owned the 70s, and they did it by releasing less than 70 songs. I think they are the best example of trimming the fat, all killer, no filler. Most of their albums top out around 8 songs, but I wonder if that was because of meticulous quality control or simply out of necessity. Unlike the Beatles, many of Led Zep’s song stretch out 6, 7, 8 minutes - so maybe the song count was lower simply because they couldn’t fit more on a record. They have 36 songs I like/love, and what is impressive is that they span their entire career (not limited to 2-3 albums like the Stones)
The Beatles - 5% classic, 12% great, 18% good. Total = 35%
The Beatles have 73 songs I like/love, by far the most of any of the acts on my list. (next closest is Bruce/RHCP, both with 41). What is even more amazing is that I probably have listened to the Beatles less than any other act on my list. Their songs are so well written and memorable, it only takes one or two listens for them to burrow into your brain. I also think they have the most variety - pop songs, ballads, rockers, doo-wops, epics. I’ll list all three categories, since I am trying to make a point. The classics:
The Great:
The Good:
And the thing is, the more I listen to the Beatles, the more likely this list will grow. Most of the songs in the “pass” bucket are simply songs I don’t know yet. I don’t think I came across one song I actively disliked, just ones I haven’t heard yet. Which is exciting!
Everyone has his/her own favorite band, but I think what we choose is more about making a statement on our personality rather than identifying our favorite music. The truth is, The Beatles are my favorite band, and always have been. And they are probably your favorite too.
