Monday, June 27, 2016

Discing as a numbers man

Yesterday, I got up at 4:30 AM and drove 100+ miles to play in my first disc golf tournament of the year. First of all, the right elbow injury which caused my first event to be this late in the year had NO issues. I did tweak a calf muscle late and cramped my right shoulder changing my shirt in the parking lot after it was over.

Since I was physically and personally unable to play Saturday, I played in the 50+ group as opposed to the Am3 group. Though I had never played the course before, I shot a very good first round and a respectable second round.

How the Professional DISC Golf Association rates tournament and club play is by a number created based on how well the best player(s) that day did and subtracting from that number points for every shot worse than the best player. The amount of points subtracted (anywhere from 6-14) depends on the overall difficulty of the course that day.

My round ratings were 867 and 838 which meant I had by best played event ever. In spite of that I finished 7th out of 10.

The cool thing about ratings is that they can be applied to other events. All I need to do is find the round scores that are closest to my round ratings and that would determine what my game yesterday would have scored there.

In the Am4 division held the day before which I am eligible because my player rating is 819, (best in the world is over 1,050) I would have finished third with the ratings I had yesterday. In what probably is my next event on Aug 13, my ratings from yesterday would have finished third, one shot out of first in Am4 at last year's event.

Though not 100% guaranteed like the time I played Am4 in an event last year where my arm had major issues and I missed cashing by one shot, I expect to cash for the first time at an Illinois Open Series event after not doing so the first 8 times.

I also went to the PDGA site to look at all the 50+ year old players and found the #1 player in Illinois is ranked tied for 21st in the US and my rating puts me in a tie for 881st.

Two women in the 50+ bracket have a better rating than I do but I question one listing as the person is significantly in first, someone who was recently added, and has a first name of James.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Trolling the whales

On Facebook, there was an article about a high school girl who after being shamed about her weight decided to make shirts supporting those like her with a picture of a whale on it. Not liking that, I stated her energy would have better used elsewhere... (like losing the weight)

Replies to that ranged from wanting me dead to commenting on my Power Puff app profile pic, to posting a pic of me from a couple of years ago where I actually weigh less than I currently do.

I was going to comment and then realized I was wasting my time. Had I referenced the famed whale Shamu which I associate with fat due to the Weird Al song, I could understand the hateful response. This is what I was going to write:

Thank you for stating that I am fat. I know. In Jan 2011, I was approaching 300lb and after a whole lot of effort lost over 50 lb and it stayed off until July 2012 when life caused weight to be added as well as in the winter of 2014 when a hereditary medical condition emerged leaving me off and on in a whole lot of pain for a couple of years.

This March, I finally was able to get a working and stable routine with my medication and with that problem resolved, I have been losing weight again though currently I am nowhere near the point I was 4 years ago.

Anyway, I have to put a whole lot of effort into attempting to resolve my weight situation to get results. If I just accepted who I am like the girl appears to be doing, I could easily end up over 350lb. Every day I need to make an effort for my weight. I keep food for work in a desk at work so I don't eat it at home. Currently, there are Pop Tarts, Fiber One bars, bagels, and potato chips in the desk next to me along with the medication I take to offset the heavy duty medication I use to manage my medical condition and I have to limit myself even on days I get hungry or angry or both.

Less than 100 feet from me are vending machines which can transport a dollar or two into something tasty which can also make my day at work a little less irritable. There are also many situations where complimentary food becomes available and I need to manage what I eat when I decide to eat something, figure out what I can do in its place. When I leave my work, I have to pass about 2 dozen places on my 3.5 mile drive that could provide something I can eat.

Managing my weight takes a lot of effort and to be honest, many times I still take the easy temporary gratification of something I know I should not eat because I am tired or angry or bored. Even on a weekend where I walked 36 miles, I gained 2 pounds due to what I ate at a party on Saturday and before, during, and after the multiple walks I made on Sunday.

Right now some of the law creating representatives of our country are attempting to correct a problem instead of dealing with it. I hope that girl and others like her make the difficult choices I try to make every day and instead of dealing with the weight issue, try to correct it.

Monday, June 20, 2016

A madman might have been walking in your town

Every once in a while my brain defaults to the Van Halen video Right Now which among phrases that are right now, is one stating a madman is walking the streets in your town.

My 42 day work step challenge ended June 19 and the results are in. Here they are from my POV:

Total steps/average per day: 755,760/17,994
Total miles/average per day: 356.3/8.48
Total steps on 29 work days/average: 514,339/17,736
Lowest/highest daily total on work day: 14,074/20,590
Total steps on 13 off days/average: 24,1421/18,571
Lowest/highest daily total on off day: 7,286/42,431
More steps walked per day on days I DIDN'T work: 835

Towns walked from home: 5 (Bensenville, Wood Dale, Itasca, Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst)
Towns walked from place I rode: 4 (Elmhurst, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Hobart, IN)
Towns I played disc golf: 7 (Carol Stream, Lombard, Naperville, Elk Grove Village, Hinsdale, Midlothian, Woodridge)
Other towns where I had steps: 5 (Chicago, Stickney, Plainfield, Winfield, Rosemont)

T shirts worn on final day which had a high of 92 and I had 42,431 steps: 5
Pounds gained during the last weekend which I walked 36 miles: 2
Estimated steps not walked on final day since my planned vacation day the one after was needed by my teammate in the company challenge and I could not walk from 10PM to 1159 PM since I had to be at work the next morning at 6AM: 10,000

State highways jaywalked: 5 (IL 19,58,64,83 IN 51)
US highways jaywalked: 3 (12,14,20)
Times illegally crossed railroad tracks: 3
Value of items lost during challenge by wearing gym shorts instead of jeans shorts with decent pockets because I had chaffing issues: $100

Trailers either loaded or unloaded during that time: 20
Steps I take while driving a power jack or a 4 ton forklift while moving that material: 0
Number of times I had to stop while driving a power jack or 4 ton forklift for people who were walking in the warehouse area in an attempt to get more steps: 11

Place in company challenge out of 135 people: 11
Others in top 17 I would have been able to pick out of a police lineup on the date the contest started: 0
Coworkers in Illinois who had more steps than me: 4
People out of about 50 in the building I work who had more steps than me: 0
Steps/miles ahead of second place in my building: 58,281/27.6
Steps/miles ahead of highest placing person I personally knew on the date the contest started: 87,803/41.2

Different people who won gift card: 13
Additional number of steps/miles I would have needed to win: 184,845/87.5
Additional number of steps/miles my "team" would have needed to win: 303,984/143.9
Number of people with more steps than me who did not win anything: 3
Hours wasted for a contest whose prizes reward those who are fit instead of encouraging those who (like me) are not: Too many to figure out as I have already wasted way too much time, energy and effort in the contest and for this post.

Pedometers smashed with a sledge hammer: 1