firehill's now in Las Vegas

Firehill's in Las Vegas now. I arrived Las Vegas this morning from San Francisco. Pics are a golf course in west Las Vegas, The Strip from the air and Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas, where I had a dinner and bought a T-shirt. I joined ALL ACCESS membership of Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco. I also got free beer glass and shot glass today. I will be here until Mar 2. Of course this is a business trip, not for casinos. But I don't know after five.

firehill's now in San Francisco

I'm in San Francisco now. I arrived San Francisco on Wednesday. I visited my clients in Carmel and Monterey on Wednesday, and those in Sutter Creek, Lodi and Sacramento on Thursday, both 100 miles away from San Francisco. Today, Friday, I set up our booth at Moscone Center South in downtown San Francisco. I will stay here until Tuesday next week.

Pic is firehills at Carmel beach. My back ground is, you know, Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Dixie Chicks

Neil Young was nominated at 49th Grammy Awards but he didn't get any awards as I expected. I believe he doesn't have any interest in such kind of awards. Dixie Chicks got Record of The Year, Album of the Year and Song of The Year. Wow! I listened some of samples at Amazon.com, but I didn't have any interest at all. Sorry!

Into White/Carly Simon

I'm listening to Into White/Carly Simon. I was a fan of her long time ago. I found this CD at Starbucks. Her voice is not like hers in the past, but I'm enjoying this CD. Tunes are so good, like "Oh, Susanne", "You Can Close Your Eyes", "You Are My Sunshine", etc.

The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm

I had a lower back pain but when I was surfing Internet to look for golf courses in Atlanta, I found The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm in Woodstock this morning. It takes about 30 minutes from my apartment without highway. Of course Woodstock, Georgia is not Woodstock, New York which all music fans know very well. I live in an apartment along Roswell Road. Of course Roswell, Georgia is not Roswell, New Mexico, known for the purported July 1947 UFO incident. I drove through fine residential zone in Roswell and arrived Bradshaw. This is a nice semi-public course, play fee for non-member is just $62.54 including electric cart. I know some of semi-public courses in northern California but usually they cost more than $100. Atlanta is really good place for golfers.

Temperature today was high 52F, but very fine day and almost no winds. My shots were so so. It was because I played from black tees at White Course and Blue Course, 5844 yards. I realized that I don't need to play from back tee. Average golfer, like me, had better play from front tee. I didn't have much pressure at the tee shot, I could use middle or short irons at par 4s, I could reach in 2 at short par 5s. Anyway my score was 43-46 (37 putts), not bad? This is a hilly course but playable from good lies. I hope I will try Red Course next time.

Chateau Elan GC

I teed off at Chateau Course, Green tee, 6484 yards, par 71, at 12:12pm in Chateau Elan GC. First time for me, and this is real nice championship course with 36 holes in Braselton, Georgia. Play fee was only $69.55 (incl. tax). Very reasonable price on this kind of champion ship course. Course was very good but my score was just very average with 8 on No.5 and 9 on No.17, front 9 46 and back nine 47, total 93. yes very very average score for me. Pic is 17th.

Dr.John Plays Mac Rebennack/The Legendary Sessions Volume Two

I am listening to "Dr.John Plays Mac Rebennack/The Legendary Sessions Volume Two". This is a Dr.John's piano solo album, recorded in New York in 1982. No one like recent grammy nominees can follow him. I met him at Yoshi's in Oakland, California in 1999. Above pic is his autograph on "Gumbo", which I got after the stage.

Garbage truck crashed against electric pole

Our office had an unexpected blackout at around 12pm today. A garbage truck crashed against electric pole on the road in front of our office. It was too dangerous to stay in the office, and it seemed to take a whole day for recovery, so all employees went home at around 1pm. I came back to my office after 2pm, but still no recovery. I came back again at 5pm. Crashed car was removed and electricity was recovered. I started to work again, but I was too exhausted to stay late, so I went back to my apartment at 6:30pm.

Chequers Seafood Grill

Firehills went to Chequers Seafood Grill at Perimeter in Atlanta for dinner this evening. This is a real nice place for seafood. Of course price is expensive but food is very very good. I had a glass of beer, Bass、then a glass of wine, Sterling Vineyards' Cabernet in Napa, California. I found my most favorite wine, Silver Oak Cellars here. It is not Napa's but Alexander Valley's. $88 for a bottle is very reasonable price, I think.

Neil Young Archives Massey Hall

Neil Young Archives Massey Hall

Amazon started pre-order of Neil Young Archives Massy Hall, available Mar 13 with DVD video of performance and High resolution Audio.

River Pines GC & Hanwoori Korean & Japanese Restaurant

Today, I went to River Pines GC, which was not my favorite course because this course was very hilly. Temperature was mid 30 degrees and very windy and I had some lower back pain. Score was too terrible to tell you.

Director of parent company in Japan, president of US subsidiary and I went to Hanwoori Korean & Japanese Restaurant for dinner. It was so good for freezing body.

TOP 10 INTERNATIONAL RESORTS

Golf Magazien (Feb) shows Top 10 International Resorts. It excludes resorts in the U.S. I have never been to these courses, but I really want to visit sometime in future.

Casa de Campo Resort
(La Romana, Dominican Republic)

Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa
(St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland)

Mission Hills Resort
(Shenzhen, China)

The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs
(Matauri Bay, North Island, New Zealand)

Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate
(George, South Africa)

The K Club
(Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland)

Fairmont Banff Springs
(Banff, Alberta, Canada)

One & Only Palmilla
(San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico)


Westin Turnberry Resort
(Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland)

Sandy Lane Resort
(St.James, Barbados, West Indies)

One of my friends in Japan came to Atlanta

One of my friends came to Atlanta today. He is a top senior swimmer of all Japan. It is true. He is/has been one of my fellow golfers in Japan/Silicon Valley. I picked him up at his office and went to Circle Sushi with his colleagues, Mr.A, a Japanese in Los Angeles and Mr.B an American in Atlanta.

Most interesting topic of conversation was how to get a ticket to Masters Tournament in Apr. Mr.B has been to Augusta National Golf Club to see Masters these two years in a row. But he didn't tell us a secret to get a ticket. He said it would be possible to get a ticket in front of the course from those who was scalping the tickets. I don't know its price.