Nat Turner

My trip to Augusta, April 27, 2008

This has to be one of my favorite posts. On Saturday I flew down to Augusta, GA with two friends, David Brussin and Adam Victor, to meet up with my cousin, Turner Simkins, and his family. Turner is currently heading up the Hammond's Ferry development, which is a really cool new urban project building an entire community on the river in Augusta. Definitely check it out. After we arrived, we drove to Turner's parent's riverfront house.  Roy and Sarah own property that runs down the river, and it has some amazing swamps, creeks, forests, and views:

The big thing on the agenda for our trip? Playing the Augusta National golf course. For those of you who don't play or follow golf, Augusta National is the home to the annual Master's Tournament, and is arguably the most famous and without question one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. One of the founders of the course was Bobby Jones, one of the best golfers to ever play the game.

How was it? Unbelievable. I have only been playing since about last summer, so I wasn't expecting to play well, and I think David and Adam were on the same page.  We teed off around 11:15am on Sunday the 27th, hoping to beat out the weather that we were told was in the area. The front nine was absolutely incredible. The greens? As advertised. It was like putting on hardwood floors. A light tap with the putter and the ball rolled 15 feet, often in the opposite direction (at least when I was putting).

Lunch was waiting for us at the turn, and we heard our first thunder.  After the 10th hole the fun really begins, if it hasn't already, as you enter Amen's Corner. These three back-to-back-to-back holes are absolutely breathtaking, with the par three hole #12 (Golden Bell) probably being one of the most famous holes in all of golf.

After surviving 11 and 12, Turner and I already teed off at 13 when the weather siren sounded, suspending play. We stuck tees in the fairway for our two shots, and then decided to head over to check out Hammond's Ferry during the suspension.

About an hour and a half later we were back on the course, greeted by our caddies. My caddy was Al, who knew exactly what to tell me when I needed to hear it.  My favorite quote from Al of the day, "Well, that was the right club, but the wrong body." He knew that I could really only hit 7 and up irons, so he always handed me clubs for laying up instead of going for it (which paid dividends during the round). My first shot after the rain delay was with a 3-wood on the par four 13, which surprisingly ended up being one of my best wood shots of the day, landing 10yds from the creek in front of the green, ideal for a 20yd pitch.

However, my favorite shot of the day came at 17, when I flirted with danger with the Eisenhower Tree, barely missing the branches. After being stuck about 165yds out in the left rough, Al handed me a 6-iron to approach. I don't know what happened (maybe I kept my head down?), but I cranked the shot and put the ball on the edge of the green in front of the pin, for a birdie putt (my fourth opportunity of the day, and probably closest). Alas, I wasn't able to sink the put, but settled for par. Here's a shot of David outing from the bunker on 17:

We then proceeded to 18, when our nerves from teeing off on the first hole returned. In those two situations, you can't help but imagine that Jack or Arnold are watching on.  We all successfully teed off, and proceeded up the fairway, approaching the clubhouse as we got closer. We all ended, with some of us having more trouble than others (including myself). Here's a picture of me teeing off on 18.

How did I do? I had a great round (for me), breaking 100 with a 99.  I only used one ball, which I almost more proud of, with only one sand shot (thank god). Both that ball and my scorecard are promptly going on my wall in a green-trimmed frame with one of my favorite photos I took that day:

To view the entire photo album, visit my Flickr set.

Classic April fools joke

from http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

#71: Michigan Shark Experiment

In 1981 the Herald-News in Roscommon, Michigan reported that 3 lakes in northern Michigan had been selected to host "an in-depth study into the breeding and habits of several species of fresh-water sharks." Two thousand sharks were to be released into the lakes including blue sharks, hammerheads, and a few great whites. The experiment was designed to determine whether the sharks could survive in the cold climate of Michigan. The federal government was said to be spending $1.3 million to determine this. A representative from the National Biological Foundation was quoted as saying that there would probably be a noticeable decline in the populations of other fish in the lake because "the sharks will eat about 20 pounds of fish each per day, more as they get older." County officials were said to have protested the experiment, afraid of the hazard it would pose to fishermen and swimmers, but their complaints had been ignored by the federal government. Furthermore, fishermen had been forbidden from catching the sharks. The Herald-News received a flurry of letters in response to the announcement.

Welcome new Invitee's!

Still working on our generic team name :)

We're hiring the best and the brightest at Invite Media, and today is no exception.  I'd like to officially welcome three new team members to Invite:

    Mark Chadwick
    Toby DiPasquale
    Drew Sudell

All three are joining our tech team and have stellar backgrounds.  We're extremely excited to see their contributions to the team! Welcome all

In related news, we're still hiring! If you're smart and know a lot about online advertising, shoot me an email (nat [at] invitemedia [dot] com).

Quote of the day

From Warren Buffet in the 2007 Annual Report Letter to the Shareholders:

"You may recall a 2003 Silicon Valley bumper sticker that implored, “Please, God, Just One More Bubble.” Unfortunately, this wish was promptly granted, as just about all Americans came to believe that house prices would forever rise. That conviction made a borrower’s income and cash equity seem unimportant to lenders, who shoveled out money, confident that HPA – house price appreciation – would cure all problems. Today, our country is experiencing widespread pain because of that erroneous belief. As house prices fall, a huge amount of financial folly is being exposed. You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out – and what we are witnessing at some of our largest financial institutions is an ugly sight."

Quote of the day

From my insurance professor today in class:

"A long time ago, there was this professor of insurance here at Wharton, someone we looked up to almost as an icon.  He was involved in the Supreme Court.  He lectured all the way up into his 80's, and would shuffle into class like this [demonstrates it]. We were always scared he wouldn't make it to the podium.  When he finally got there, he would bang his fist on the wooden platform to start class, and would say 'Gentlemen! A man who dies without life insurance does not die, he absconds!"

Favorite current album

This is a runaway for me, Stephen Stills, "Just Roll Tape."  I purchased this album on iTunes without knowing any of the album's history.  I think it's important to know:

"The back story goes something like this. Stills was deeply in love with Judy Collins, but the feelings were largely unrequited. He was playing back up on her recording sessions for the album Who Knows Where the Time Goes. After the session ended, Stills paid the engineer a couple of hundred dollars and told him "Just Roll Tape"

and then from Wikipedia...

Stephen Stills was at a Judy Collins session in 1968, and when she was finished, Stills reserved a studio and recorded a tape of new songs. Stills left the masters in the studio, and they were almost discarded when the facility closed in 1978. Musician Joe Colasurdo, who was rehearsing there at the time, was told by the owner that he could cart off any tapes he wanted to before they cleared the place out. After seeing Stills' names on several of the boxes, Colasurdo kept them safe until he could find a reel-to-reel machine to play them on.

Joe began attempting to get the masters safely back into Stills' hands, an undertaking that took 25 years. In 2003, he was connected to Graham Nash after happening to meet a close friend of his. Nash received the tapes, passed them on to Stephen, encouraging him to release them.

The album has some amazing songs, including the first version of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (made famous by CSNY), "Treetop Flyer", "Black Queen", "All I Know Is What You Tell Me."

Definitely worth checking out

Welcome new IM team members!

Today I'd like to officially welcome three new team members to Invite Media: Gilad Buchman, Brian Clapper and Steve Sapovits.  All three will be joining the engineering team and we're all extremely excited to have them on board!

P.S. We're still hiring! Visit the jobs page of our website for some awesome jobs

Quote of the day

While campaigning for the Democrats in the 1968 U.S. Presidential election, [Paul] Newman would rent a Jaguar on the weekends. When he found out that opponent Richard Nixon, who was known to his naysayers as "Tricky Dick", was renting the same car during the week, Newman left a note in it saying "This clutch is tricky, so you won't have any trouble with it.".

Great report on VC activity

Fenwick & West has released a great report that details activity in venture capital. Click here to visit the report

I've started a tumbleblog

I've started to use Tumblr, and it's pretty slick. Here's my tumbleblog, natsturner.tumblr.com

I'll be posting a lot of quotes, photos, and whatever else catches my fancy there. I'll also be making my own pretty design too :)