A MILLION WRONG WAYS TO HIT A GOLF BALL

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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Just as there is no wrong way to eat a Reese’s, there is no “right way” to hit a golf ball. This is something I’ve learned after years and years of hitting golf balls (notice I did not say “years and years of playing golf,” because most of my time golfing is spent on the shooting range, hitting balls and doing some chippy-putty afterwards).

In all these years of golf club swinging, I’ve figured out that there is no one “correct way” to hit a golf ball, but there are definitely millions of things that you can be and are doing wrong. I know this because every person who has ever tried to “improve my golf swing” with some hot tip or quick lesson has told me something different that I am doing wrong (and there’s a whole lotta wrong with my golf swing).

My golf career started back in high school. At first I would go to the shooting range with my golfer buddy and hit balls with his clubs. One day, my other “golf buddy” was getting new golf clubs the next day and offered to give me his old clubs. I offered him all of the money in my wallet at the time (which was ten dollars) and my fake Rolex (which I happened to be wearing at the time). I’m sure it stopped working very soon after. It was a great deal (for me).

To this day, these are still my current golf clubs. I did pick up some others along the way, which were also given to me. I added a putter and some woods to my collection, but never a driver. I picked up a sweet golf bag of holding, as well.

Golf lessons are a bigger sham than the McDonald’s Monopoly game back in the 1900’s. If you took a one hour golf lesson with five different people, I’m sure you’d have five totally different critiques on your golf game. Swinging a golf club is like jazz music, it’s not about the things you’re doing right, it’s about all the things you’re not doing at all (that may not make any sense, but maybe it does to a few people who like jazz music).

I think golf can probably be a relaxing activity, if you know what you’re doing (but I would never call golf a sport). Most people drive around in a little cart instead of doing the one part that can be considered a sport — walking. Pros have a bag boy who carries their stuff and tells them exactly what to do. Fans are told to be quiet (in a basketball game, I’m allowed to scream as someone tries to make a free throw, but in golf I can’t make any sound while someone is swinging their club?) There’s a fancy dress code. Sports don’t have fancy dress codes.

There is so much to think about when swinging any golf club, but once you’re actually playing nine or eighteen holes, you need to drop all the thinking and be able to rely on your muscle memory. I haven’t learned how to do that yet, so I will continue to whack balls at the shooting range and play chippy-putty afterwards.

2019 was a Good Year

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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2019 was a good year. I visited Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge twice, and once more at the beginning of this year. I saw some cool movies (Knives Out, Frozen 2, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). Disney+ came out, giving me access to so many old and new Disney movies, series and tons of other stuff. I was a part of many, many improv shows every weekend. I even got my first money for acting in a “talk show” ($5 cash. Thanks, Elaine!).

With Wednesday rehearsals and shows most Thursdays through Saturdays I had many late nights. This has affected my eating habits. I shifted breakfast from the early morning (8 or 9 am) to sometime between 10 am and noon. Lunch moved to sometime between 2 and 4 pm. With a snack thrown in the mix on running and work out days, ending the day with a very late dinner (11 pm or later).

With this shifting schedule and trying to be on-time to rehearsals and shows I discovered a new faster technique to have a snack…

…It all started with one banana

One day, I was running a bit late for rehearsal, since I was feeling particularly lazy that day I didn’t go for a run until almost 6 pm (I’ll normally run closer to 5 pm to give me enough time). I got back and had to take a lightning quick shower, but I needed some sort of fuel to make sure I wouldn’t pass out. I grabbed a banana and ate it in the shower, taking out two tasks with one banana.

I’ve also learned that car bananas are fun, because you get to throw the peel out the window and live in the world of Mario Kart for a few seconds. I don’t think it’s bad for the environment. Someone will eat it, right?

This started my 2019 trend. What else can I eat in the shower? Here are some other things I ate in the shower last year: Microwaveable Protein Muffin, Energy Bars (Rx, Lara, Clif) and Cold Brew. I’m sure there are other things that I can’t think of (like Dum Dums). But these were all the successful shower snacks I can think of.

This whole thing really started in college, but instead of eating in the shower I would sometimes have a drink in the shower, while getting ready to go out. Shower beers are always good (Have you ever had a beer in a pool, while laying on a float? It feels like your life is a Corona commercial). Also, a shower Cider. Anything cold really. A hot tea in the shower may not be as relaxing, but an iced coffee works, too.

I’ve also thought of some things I would never want to eat in the shower: oatmeal, hot soup, salad, a sandwich, yogurt (unless it’s Go-Gurt, but who eats Go-Gurt anymore?)…

What other new things can I try in the shower in 2020? What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten in the shower, or in another strange place? Comment below.

What other new lessons will I learn in 2020? Tune in to find out…

BEER MAKES ME FAT

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Ferdi Rodriguez

From January 6th to February 20th I drank zero beers. I did have some glasses of wine and a few whiskeys on certain occasions, but I definitely had zero beers in that time. This wasn’t a challenge I put on myself, there was just a period where I felt like I was starting to get sick, and I didn’t want to be sick, so I decided not to drink alcohol. I even went to a wedding in this time period and had about 17 glasses of water with zero alcohol in them.

What I learned from not drinking beer is that beer is the main thing that makes me gain weight. And I now know this because in this one month +14 days of not drinking beer I dropped a few pounds and finally made it under 200 (like right under, like 199.9, but it still counts).

Since this one month +14 days of no beers, I had a few beers last weekend and I’m now back over 200 (like 201-204 depending on the morning). And yes, I weigh myself in the morning before I put anything into my body. That’s how you know you’re getting your lowest weight. It’s not cheating if you only weigh yourself in the morning (if you weigh yourself one night then a few days later in the morning and brag about all the pounds you lost, that is cheating. Who are you cheating? Yourself!).

Everyone’s body is different and what works for one person may not work for someone else. And for me not drinking beer seems to be working. I’m not forever quitting beer though, just maybe have it every once in a while (also, going out to dinner and not having a beer can take about 30-50% off of your bill). Next, I just need to work on eating a bit better.

Lately, I haven’t been eating the healthiest of meals, but I somehow still ended up losing weight, so I keep eating not so great. It also doesn’t help when people tell you, “You look like you’ve lost some pounds.” Whenever someone tells me that it makes my brain say, Great! Now we’ve earned some pizza/taco bell/burger king or all of the above. That’s why I rarely tell people they look skinnier, I don’t want to trigger that voice in their brain.

You don’t have to tell me I lost some weight. I know I’m a bit skinnier, and not just because the scale told me so. I know I actually lost some weight because I can now fit into my skinnier jeans.

In my closet, I have my three or four pairs of regular jeans for when I’m feeling a bit hefty. I also wear these when I’m going out to eat a whole bunch of junk. I also have a few pairs of thinner jeans. The ones that are just one size too small. I don’t fit into all of these pairs right now, but I do fit well into at least one of them and that’s a major improvement. When I can fit into all three of my thin jeans, then it will be time to turn those into my “heavier” jeans and buy a pair in the next size down (but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).

Since learning that beer is my Kryptonite, I haven’t had too many. But, I still have been stuffing my gob with some not so healthy food, as you’ve all seen (on Instagram and Facebook). I’m still making delicious burgers, tacos, pizzas and cookies and all kinds of stuff. There’s also all of those late night eats after shows and rehearsals (bagel bites, dino nuggets, pizza rolls and more) which aren’t very shareable and no one sees, but me.

My next test will be to continue not drinking beer, but also to eat a little better and see what that does to my body. John Mayer once said, “Your body is a wonderland,” but that’s not true. All of our bodies are not Wonderlands. In fact, all of our bodies are just little science experiments that we get to borrow while we’re here on Earth. And the best way to find out what works for you is trial and error.

LOW BATTERY

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but any night that I go to sleep with my iPhone’s battery life at over fifty percent is a good night. I think I actually sleep better, and that’s not because of the Melatonin. I feel like I deserve a prize for not spending the entire day playing on my phone.

I’m not one of those people who is constantly looking for a place to charge my iPhone. I don’t carry around a portable battery pack, either (although I hear those are pretty nifty). I do keep a charger and wall plug in my backpack, but that’s more for my iPad. I also have an Apple cable in my car for emergencies, or road trips when I’m running maps, Waze, podcasts and all my apps at once.

I try to only charge my phone in the morning. Once I wake up, or my first alarm goes off, I plug it in until it’s time to go to work. That usually gets my phone to 100% (sometimes I only get to 90%). I used to charge my old phones overnight, every night, but I did notice the battery life getting worse and worse over time. One of my phones ended up having a ghost battery that would jump back and forth between numbers (90% to 30% to 60% to 10% to dead).

Why am I telling you about my iPhone charging habits? Am I some sort of Apple spokesperson?

Most of us are spending too much time on our phones. It’s fine if you’re waiting in line at the DMV or maybe if you’re at lunch with someone you don’t really like. But you definitely don’t have to whip out your phone while at the movies. You just paid over ten dollars to watch this movie, plus popcorn, drinks and other snacks (unless you’re a sneaker and you bring in your own snacks), and now you’re about to spend the whole movie playing on your phone?

Guess what? That bright light is annoying to everyone. Put your phone on silent, do not disturb or just turn it off. No one’s going to call you. And if they do and you answer your phone in the middle of a movie, I will want to grab it and throw it across the theater. Instead, I may just ask, “Is everything ok?” I set my Apple watch to theater mode, just so the light won’t bother me or anyone else.

Of course, any time my phone reaches 20% or less I do have a panic attack on the inside. Also for some reason, I catch myself unlocking the screen over and over for no reason at all. Maybe I want my phone to die.

Although it is scary to have your phone die and be unreachable to the world, it’s also very liberating when your phone dies. I love my Apple Watch, because I can go running with no phone (I have the model 2, so no cellular). I can listen to my music and have no one bother me while running. I am completely free.

A new thing I recently tried was turning off my phone while I sleep. Of course, I don’t recommend this to everyone because some people are doctors, or may receive important phone calls late in the night. I have no important matters happening late at night, so I am fine to turn off my phone while I sleep. I’ll find out what stupid thing the president did in the morning. I don’t do it every night, but if you can afford to do it, you should definitely try it. You may even sleep better.

What did we learn today? Stop playing on your phone all the time. Leave your phone behind sometimes and go do stuff. Leave your phone in the car while you explore, unless you’re exploring the great wilderness and there’s a chance you might get lost or attacked by a wild animal, because you may end up needing your phone in these situations. There was a time when no one had cell phones and guess what?

Most of us survived.

WEIGHT GAIN & RUNNING

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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One thing I learned this week was that it’s much, much easier to gain weight than it is to lose weight. Since the end of November, I’ve been running three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays). I started a running program that would hopefully get me to run TEN miles (all at once) over this coming weekend.

After making it to SEVEN whole miles (all in one run), two weeks ago, I decided to take a week off from running. I don’t know exactly what I did, but it felt like I broke my back. After the SEVEN mile run, I had to lay in bed for two hours with a heating pad on my back just to be able to leave my house that night. During the whole week that followed I also used the heating pad at least twice a day, once when I woke up in the morning and once again before going to bed (sometimes somewhere in between those two times).

Each day, for about a week, I woke up with back pain. That’s why I decided to take one week off. I didn’t run or do any exercise for a whole week. I even abandoned my semi-healthy eating diet (Which wasn’t really a diet at all. I just sometimes would tell myself things like, “Hey, maybe I shouldn’t eat a whole calzone for lunch today.”)

In that one week of eating whatever I wanted and not doing any physical activity at all, I gained about ten pounds (It may have been only five pounds, but it felt like ten).It’s crazy that in one week alone I gained five to ten pounds. However, in the eight weeks of running prior, I had probably only lost less than five pounds (I don’t really know. I haven’t been keeping count). Of course, if I was on a strict diet, I may have lost more weight. But just running and eating whatever I want allows me to remain at the same weight (or lose some weight, very slowly).

This week I got back into it. I did some kettlebell exercises on Monday morning. Ran FIVE miles on Tuesday morning, did some yoga and stuff on Wednesday and Thursday I ran THREE miles in the freezing cold Miami weather (It was like 40 degrees out there). Friday is supposed to be a day of rest, but I will most likely try to do some Runner’s Yoga with Adrienne to get ready for Saturday’s EIGHT miler.

EIGHT miles will be the longest I’ve ever run in my entire life (all at once), and if I succeed it’s not over. I will have to attempt TEN miles next weekend, that’s if this EIGHT mile run doesn’t put me in the same position as the SEVEN mile run did (taking me out for an entire week).

All I really wanted to share is how I learned how much easier it is to gain weight than lose weight. If I really tried I’m sure I could easily gain ten or more pounds in one week (But I am not Morgan Spurlock, so I won’t test this theory).

What’s the most you’ve ever run (all at once) in your life? Comment below or say it to yourself out loud and maybe someone nearby will hear your answer.

HOW POKEMON GO SAVED MY LIFE!

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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Last weekend I installed PokemonGO on my iPhone before visiting (my not-best friend), Worms. He told me he would teach me how to PokemonGO once I got to his house. So, I quickly installed it on my phone while playing MGS on my PS4 and then didn’t touch it until I arrived at his house.

I went to his house and me, Rizzdoggs and (my not-best friend) Worms went walking around the Granada golf course with our phones, two dogs and my beer. After finding a few Pokemon and wasting about half of my phone battery I was addicted, but also hungry. So, I ran back to Worms house for my sushi.

I’ve heard so many people hating on PokemonGO. They’re angry that it’s taking over the scene. There’s one thing all the haters have in common — they haven’t played the game yet. They haven’t even installed it on their phones. These haters are the same people who hate the idea of an all female Ghostbusters movie, but guess what haters… I’m watching that this weekend and I’ll probably play some PokemonGO, too.

Why do these people hate PokemonGO without ever trying it? I don’t know, but my guess is they’re scared. They’re scared of it taking over their life and becoming all that they do. The game has become a curse for some, but that’s because some people are idiots. Don’t PokemonGO while you’re driving in your car on the highway. (1) There’s no Pokemon hiding on the highway, Niantic has conveniently placed them in parks, malls and places where people walk. (2) It’s not safe to stare at your phone for that long while driving a car.

You don’t need to be staring at your phone while PokemonGo-ing. If you’ve run into a pole, wall or other obstacle then you are also dumb. When searching for Pokemon be smart about it. Open the app, and put your phone down, but keep it in your hand, once it vibrates you’ll know that a Pokemon is nearby. There’s no need to walk around with your phone at your face covering the real world. Also, once you find one stay still, look around using your camera, catch it and be on your way. There’s no need to run around behind it, if you don’t move the Pokemon won’t either.

I still haven’t gotten into how PokemonGO saved my life, but don’t worry I’ll tell you about it now. For the past few weekends I haven’t been waking up early to exercise, or doing any type of physical activity at all. I wake up and eat food and play video games and watch TV, all day. But last Sunday that changed and it changed because of PokemonGO. Last Sunday I decided to ride my longboard around Key Biscayne for 2 hours searching for Pokemon. I must have rode my longboard for 5 km (whatever that means in miles) or more, because I incubated a few eggs on my journey.

Since Sunday I’ve also woken up earlier this week to work out everyday except yesterday. The last few weeks I’ve woken up once or twice and slept in the rest of the week. When I wake up early on the weekdays I don’t do it to search for Pokemon (like other people I know), but I have found some in a few places.

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PokemonGO may not be for everyone, but if you’re hating on it without ever trying it, maybe you should try it out. And if you’re playing and can’t drive in the car without using it, maybe you should delete it.

Cuban Food: It’s Out of this World!

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Ferdi Rodriguez

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Being raised by and living with two real Cubans (my parents) for about 80% of my life, I’ve learned that most Cubans aren’t really into trying new food. They most definitely are not fans of anything spicy. And whenever it’s time for a birthday, graduation or a wake it’s always, “Let’s go to Versailles, La Carreta, Sergio’s, Havana Harry’s or any other Cuban restaurant.” Cuban food is magical and was invented to help us all deal with happiness, success and pain.

Another thing I’ve noticed, especially about my dad, is that anytime I do make him try a new place he always gives it the same review, “No es nada del otro mundo” (it’s nothing out of this world or nothing from another planet). I’ve heard this same review from plenty of other old Cubans in my family and some not in my family.

If you’re holding every new meal to that standard, then you’re never going to find something you like. I don’t know what they’re searching for, but whatever it is they probably won’t find it here on Earth. Where do Old Cubans think Cuban food comes from? A secret space station? The Millennium Falcon? Pandora?

Everything we have ever eaten so far has been “from this world.” None of the Old Cubans I know were ever astronauts, so I don’t know what kind of space cakes and moon pies they think they’ll find. I’m sure if we did try the cuisine from Mars or Venus it wouldn’t be very tasty. Did you see how much trouble Matt Damon went through just to grow plants on Mars (in The Martian)? An extraordinary amount of trouble.

I love Cuban food, especially croquetas and vaca frita and tres leches and flan and the bread is simply amazing (with and without butter, toasted and untoasted, it’s always great).

As a young whippersnapper I only ate hot dogs, chicken nuggets and pizza. It wasn’t until I watched Good Burger in the theater that I thought, Hey, I should give hamburgers another try! We went straight to Burger King, where I learned what burgers should taste like (or that’s what I thought at the time). Now, I enjoy trying all types of new cuisine from all over the world. (I’m no Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain, but I’ll try some stuff at Epcot Food & ‘Lines’ Festival).

Attempting to take my parents to a new place is tough, they just want something familiar. Anything not Cuban “sounds weird” to them. They like sticking to old Cuban restaurants or famous chains that they already trust. I feel this may be common in most Cubans who were born on that island.

Maybe someone (aka the government) was trying to poison everyone on the island, so they only ate at places they already trusted. Now, since coming to Miami, they’ve found their few safe restaurants and will continue dining at those and only those few spots.

Another thing with this older generation is that they were brought up on the crappy food pyramid and they have no idea what’s healthy and what isn’t. You try to explain what’s bad and why it’s bad, but they listen to idiots like Dr. Oz, Wolf Blitzer and GMA instead.

I know what’s healthy and what I should be eating. However, I choose to eat what’s not healthy because I am still kind of young and the healthy food isn’t as delicious. In fact, the healthy food usually tastes like butt and life is too short to waste it eating gross, healthy food (like quinoa and kale). But by eating that healthy, crap food you may have a longer life. But it won’t be much longer, so eat what you want. Just make sure to try new things along the way.

If you liked this Learning you should “Like,” “Comment” and/or “Share” it. That way other people will get to enjoy it too… Like DMX said, “Stop being greedy.”

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