Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Moving on

A couple years ago, I was half drunk and half naked sitting in a room with similar people and among the adult questions and games, there was a question about one's biggest regret.

All of a sudden a light clicked on in my head. Though I could babble on the many bad memories throughout the years, a revelation occurred.

Living the first 25 years of my life thinking that was all I was going to have.

I have been asked many times by others and myself "What happened?" Having a 1% intellect I often wondered how I ended up where I am today.

Once I realized when I was going to die, the idea of caring what would happen in the future was gone and acted as such.

After cheating death the weekend before 25, I realized, "what now" and eventually out of sequence with most learned about life.

In my late 30s, I discovered what is known as fandom and spent the next decade plus at scifi and gaming conventions and partied the way I wish I did when I was younger.

Today, due to pain and medication, can no longer do that. Even the idea of sitting down for a concert is now difficult. Even if my computer was still working, I would be unable to cast anymore due to pain from sitting.

Fortunately my body can handle disc golf. Since I am moving while playing, it is ok. In 2018, I decided to focus most of my spare time to my game and the results show. Most players regress as they get further in their 50s. My rating is 54 points higher than it was the day I turned 50 three years ago.

Granted, 2018 was mostly healthy for me and it shows as my game is five plus shots better than it was.

It makes sense in 2019 to try to continue my success especially with the PDGA AM Worlds next July. I also know that I am one bad move from problems as getting off a couch, getting off the floor, or even a bad dream has caused an issue.

This weekend is the yearly event where the thing referenced at the beginning happened and there will be three uniquely wrapped presents.

For me, no drinking, no partying, no games that would involve clothes being removed. I am going to thank anyone I know there for putting up with me and leave anything crazy for my now 18 year old daughter.

It will likely be the last time I ever see some of those people since I don't see myself at anything similar in the future because thinking like 1% but realizing that is wrong are two conflicting concepts that roll through my mind and going has become too much work since fighting instincts is too difficult.

Unlike those who were opponents and teammates, I will still follow them because I do care about what happens to them in the future.

I trust those there with my daughter and unless there is a need for me to be a parent, have no desire to know what she did.

Dashing in December

It was expected to hear December music playing in a Portillo's where I had to get food for a delivery. What was noted was the agonizing slow version of Silver Bells that was playing. Though the vocals were normal, the music sounded like a record player on the wrong speed.

Since I was working for Door Dash at the time, I had to restrain from "singing":

Suck my balls ... Suck my balls...
Then let me play with your titties.

I could imagine what could happen if I did that as well as with the following song:

There's no thing like blow for the holidays...
when you're tired or ragged or slow.
Just set up and knock out a couple lines... (make sniff sounds)
*sing fast* for the holidays you have get up and go.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

The quest for 500

The one big thing I was looking forward in 2015 was the PDGA World Amateur Championship since I was qualified to play in the 50+ divison.

In late February when I confirmed that I was eligible, I went to secure vacation for the week long event but found out that the Friday was taken by someone who could not be off the same day as me.

Since he had the day first and after hearing that he needed it to bowl in an event where he could win a whole lot of money, I agreed to not go.

(Two years later I found out he went to the event to WATCH others bowl)

The next year I had the dates off but with my injury did not want to spend money when there was doubt I could play.

For 2017, I was all ready but ... the PDGA changed the qualifying requirement for my division as in 2016 there were 10 times the eligible players for the division and the ones who played were those who were able to register right when it opened.

Every player earns points playing in a sanctioned event depending on what division, what type of event, and how many players that person either beat or tied.

In '14 and '15, I played in a half dozen events which were enough to qualify for '15 and '16 as the points needed were 50 and 75.

For 2017 they made it 500. That means those who qualify play at least 10 events including large ones and also generally finish in the top half of the fields.

The PDGA wanted their am worlds to feature deserving players and not just the ones who were able to get on the site first and in '16 and '17, I was among those justifiably excluded from being eligible.

My first tournament round in 2018 was rated higher than any I played in 2017. (No doubt being at 10 AM on the first Sunday in March at the course for the following week's event and not in a hotel 450 mines away helped.)

My initial goal was the other major held in May which was open to any player 40 or older and I played by two best lifetime rounds there.

I then struggled in summer but in late August through September, started to get better.

During my first week at the new job, I showed someone the picture on my player page and noticed something. 433 points.

Granted the major helped but with finishing in the top half of 7 of the 9 non major 50+ events, I got more points than expected.

We were so busy I was asked to work on a Saturday which there was an event but I realized that 500 was doable so I declined and played.

Earlier today by finishing tied for 11th out of 20 in a rating restricted division since the event did not have a 50+ division, I got to 500 points and will be eligible for the 2019 Am worlds in York County, PA in late July. I will make sure I get vacation first so I will attend and my 2019 goal is to make sure I can go there.

To be honest, I did not really deserve to play in the worlds until 2019 but after looking at the ratings of rounds where I felt like I struggled, I do believe I belong there.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Circle 2

The longer commute to my new job gives me time to think.

I do not want to stop blogging and tried to come up with a title for a new blog but the one I have fits so well.

I then realized it would be for the best to just continue anyway since it would be easier to find and maintain one blog.

Deal with it.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Full circle completed

Though I initially composed this shortly after finding about my work situation as well as starting to write this shortly after, this is being posted on my last day working at Madden after over 23 years. All my work is complete and similar to a Bloomington, MN hotel the Monday after Marscon, it is time to go.

I did get an offer from the company that will be doing most of the printing that did not go to a competitor and will be starting there on Monday. After touring their facility 4 of the 5 pressman said I could make things there run much smoother like I did here. I do appreciate that compliment and I hope to be able to provide similar value to what I did at Madden.

In 2014, while packing after our house was foreclosed, my wife and I got into an argument about her refusal to find a regular full time job since that is what sparked the events that caused me to decide to abandon the house and move. After she said a real, full time job is boring, she stated that I must love my job since I have been there so long.

I recommended that she call the company main line, ask to speak to a random person, and ask who is the most miserable one there. While making deliveries over Labor Day weekend, I was thinking about things that happened at Madden and all I could recall were bad memories. I am ok with that. It is work.

The good memories from the past 23 years were the ones I have been able to make due to the long hours, weekends, and difficult days. For the first 3 months, I took a bus and a train to work since I didn't own a car. I have driven a car I have owned over 275,000 miles while employed, driven rental vehicles including what became known as the "Marscon Fun Bus" over 20,000 miles, and also flown over 12,500 miles on an airplane and all of this is due to what I made at Madden.

While at Madden, I participated in:

4 Cook County Amateur (ball) Golf tournaments.
30 Scrabble tournaments including the 1998 National championship.
8 conventions solely for comedy music
5 different comedy songs that appeared on the Dr. Demento Show (including one I co-wrote)
17 gaming conventions
50 sci-fi conventions including Marscon for many years.
400 hours broadcasting on Dementia radio as the "Madman on the Loose"
41 PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournaments including the 2018 US Masters Championship

I also with tickets from Madden saw:

The White Sox hit five home runs in a game
Jeff Gordon win the Food City 500 in Bristol (TN)
Dante Hall intercept 4 passes in one game.

(I rejected a chance offered by Madden's VP of production in 2006 to watch in person the 1-5 Dolphins beat the 7-0 Bears 31-13 as I boldly predicted for a month but I was worried about my welfare had I attended. They play in 9 days but with the Dolphins offensive line losing multiple players and the Bears defense, I don't expect Miami to score in double digits)

I also got to meet and talk to some amazing people as well including the people who played or voiced:

Chewbacca
Boba Fett
Tasha Yar
Counselor Troi
Neelix
The Iron Sheik
Winston Zeddemore (Ghostbuster)
Kaylee Frye
Inara Serra
River Tam
Susan Inavova
Frank Poncherello
Walter Peck and Richard Thornburg
Pavel Checkov
Squidward Tentacles
Phillip J. Fry
Tom Servo
Crow T. Robot

As well as:
Joel Hodgson
Adam Savage
Grant, Tori, and Kari, the Mythbusters build team
Eddie Olczyk
Chris Hardwick
Wil Wheaton
Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor)

and of course;
Dr. Demento
Weird Al Yankovic

There is one other encounter. At a local Star Trek convention in 2006, I was there as a "roadie" with the Great Luke Ski who was performing later that evening. We went to a crowded room where William Shatner was talking to the crowd and I stood on the side. Luke then called me to go backstage since he needed me to watch his backpack while he made his way through a narrow corridor. I then realized that stoically sitting on a table with his head down less than 5 feet from me was Leonard Nimoy who had already spoken for a half hour and was going to join Shatner on stage soon.

Since I was backstage at an event I did not pay to attend let alone pay an extra $150 (yes $150) to take a picture with Nimoy and Shatner, I realized that it would be wrong to speak to him unless he said something to me first. I can take solace that by respecting his privacy that I made his life easier for a few minutes.

This list does not include all the other wonderful people who make and support comedy music many of whom I consider friends and as someone who used to only have teammates and opponents, it was a new experience to care about their lives and not just the common interest shared.

Without the early mornings, long days, and weekends, most of that would have not been possible and during times I had to "sell a memory" due to my duties as an employee, knowing that this would help me get to the next big event made it easier.

I am also grateful that when my responsibility as a spouse, parent, or for a few months in 2012 a son became more important than the one I have as an employee, I was able to leave without repercussions even when after a phone call, I had to put on my coat and run to my car without explaining that my 2 year old daughter bumped her head at day care and was dizzy. I am also grateful the four times I had to go on disability for about 10 total weeks due to minor surgeries did not affect my status at Madden.

I also learned about myself. I realized that my brain is like a computer running Linux in a world filled with Mac and PC users in that it is capable of superior function but filled with weird bugs along with compatibility issues when dealing with Mac and PC users. I had a supervisor say that the statement is an example of itself.

Another supervisor (of my supervisor) helped me understand something important. Due to an issue, I had to fill out a report, take out my carbon copy (yes, this was a while ago), and give him the original. After he read it, he had a confused look on his face and then asked me who wrote it for me since I was not "smart enough to write this well".

After getting over the initial shock of the statement, I started to think about why he felt that way and realized that due to the way I speak, act, and appear, he thought that I am stupid. I realized that though it is important to be able to learn and know, having the ability to explain your thoughts and ideas are as important since my bad habit of changing words mid sentence has caused my message to get lost in babble way too many times. When I think about working at a new place, I worry about being able to adapt to others and them to me as I think  unlike others. Even a couple of weeks ago, a person in a toast at a bar made a similar reference to what was said 20 years ago.

I then started applying the idea of watching what is being stated to written work and started to notice a whole lot of poorly written things most notably apostrophes used to pluralize words as well as starting to pay closer attention to what was printing.

Much of what was printed was for alcohol and often the advertisements would tie into a specific time of year or into the world of sports. The idea of these advertisements is to subconsciously cause the consumer to decide to purchase the advertised product over similar ones when they experience what is listed in the ad. That is why sports teams have official products.

I believe when an advertisement that connects to a specific sport or team has an error in the information, it can create the opposite effect and consciously cause a consumer to not purchase a product. Unlike most who work in the printing industry, I look at a printed ad from the point of view of the consumer who is reading it and not the printer. I found so many factual errors over the years in what we were printing (or even going to print), that I was occasionally told to ignore any if I see it in a product since it was already approved by the customer.

I want to thank everyone who had to deal with me over these last 23 years especially the supervisors who more often than they should had to call me to their office to ask what the **** was I thinking as I either annoyed or angered a fellow coworker.

One other thing I should be thankful for Madden is this blog itself. A blog by other coworkers called Fresh Nugget was the thing that inspired me to initially post charts, maps, and graphs about my life and it evolved into more in the close to 10 years since I started. The other reason I created this is for my daughter (who also was a benefit from what I made at Madden) to eventually look at this since she could learn about me more than she already knows.

If the first post I made to make sure everything works is ignored, this is the number 360 and since this whole thing was started and inspired by others at Madden, this blog is ending on my last day here with full circle being 360 degrees. (I did create two other posts after this one started so that is why this is #360) Though some from Madden will be working at the other company, it will be different.

Thank you for reading this journal where I have documented my not so normal world.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Looking for a pattern

I have completed 11 disc golf tournaments at this time in 2018 and a few weeks ago, I noticed an unusual thing.

Every round played at an event gets a rating based the scores by all players in the event. Though I do not know exactly how the rating of the player with the best score of a round is determined, I know that for every shot worse than the best player there, the rating is lower (from what I have seen) 8 to 12 points per shot and the exact number is based on the difficulty and number of holes played in the round.

An easy course with 18 will be close to 12 per while a difficult course with more than 18 will be close to 8. Anyone could take a rating from one round or event and compare to other rounds or events played to see how the player would have scored or placed.

Of the 11 events I played in from March through September, six of them had an average between 841 and 850 while the other 5 had an average between 883 and 894. That is over a 3 shot gap between the 6 below average events (for a player whose overall rating has been close to 860 since May) and the 5 significantly above average ones (including a 4 round and a 3 round event).

The next step is to figure out if there is a common theme to one set or the other so it can either be avoided or incorporated in future events. For weather, days off work before the event, weeks between events, past performance at the course, and level of opponents, there were good events and bad ones in all situations and I could not figure it out.

While driving home after event #11, had a thought. There were three below average events from early June through July 4th weekend and I realized the timing. The extra money made last year was spent and my long term situation at work was not well due to the announcement about a lost customer and things got better with my game after I started to make more money making deliveries and found out about that I now have somewhere to work.

It makes sense that the idea of not having immediate financial concerns can make my play better and with 7 of the 11 rounds since I started making deliveries being 875-911, the theory seems valid at this point. Three of the below average rounds could be attributed to fatigue (the cart I got will help) and the 4th was from poor disc choice and strategy decisions.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

One day, two crazy accurate predictions

January 27, 1991.

The National Football league held its 1990 season championship game (Super Bowl XXV) at Tampa Stadium.

I was at my sister's apartment for the game and in pregame Budweiser was advertising the third version of what they call the Bud Bowl where bottles of Budweiser faced bottles of Bud Light featuring Chris Berman, Don Meredith and Keith Jackson calling the action.

I stated Bud Light would win by returning a kickoff for a touchdown in the final play of the game after multiple laterals and going through the Budweiser band.

Bud Bowl 3 video

After it was shown, I raised my arms in triumph as all the others in the apartment were stunned. Apparently they did not remember the 1982 Stanford/Cal game where the same thing happened and I correctly guessed they would copy it.

The other prediction was based on what happened before the game. A mediocre pop star named Whitney Houston did a rendition of the National Anthem that was painful for me to hear. To be nice, it sounded like she was being erotically stimulated while under the influence of narcotics.

What surprised me was that due to the first invasion of Iraq the country was over the top patriotic and that version become so popular that she became famous. The radio station at my job was replaying it every day for 3 months and it became widely played since.

The worst part is that today many try to repeat her fame by overdoing that song. It has gotten to the point when while watching a game on TV, I will either pause or change the channel for the anthem until they get off the playing field stating that I turn on the tv to watch a game. (If I am attending, I will stand quietly out of respect for the ceremony.)

The prediction came a little while later when I announced at my job that on the day Whitney Houston is found dead in a hotel bathtub, there will be one hell of a party that I will be at with a whole bunch of alcohol and a whole lot of "adult fun" in celebration of her demise.

I was ridiculed by my coworkers as I was a virgin at the time I made that announcement.

So where was I on February 11, 2012 when her death was announced? On my way to the Westin North Shore hotel for a local sci-fi convention called Capricon.

Where did I spend much of that night? At a party sponsored by a group called Barfleet. Though I will not provide details, my prediction definitely came true though not completely as unlike most who were on a "away mission" for the U.B.S. Abandon (ship), I was celebrating the death of an enemy on that crazy, wonderful night.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

The ending of a long chapter

The idea of my company when I first started there in the mid 1990s was to help organizations distribute information to its clients across the country about products, pricing, promotions, and displays. They would send us the information and we would print it, make it how they wanted it to look, and ship the correct information in a professional style manner to the correct people. Today, that information is usually sent via email and people whose jobs were focused solely on this part were laid off years ago.

As their customers' needs changed, my company changed its focus this decade on design as well as on printing products that are visible mostly at gas stations, stores, and bars and after our computer system was upgraded a few years ago, much of what happens in the plant runs through me and after I was gone for a few months working at the other facility, my importance was realized and my wage finally was at the point where I felt that it reflected the work I do.

With the extra made from working a significant number of hours/days last year as well as extra per hour this year, things were in recovery mode though there is a significant amount of recovery needed after many years where income fell below expenses. Things changed at the end of May when it was announced that one of our customers due to a lowball offer joined a former customer into having their work done by a competitor. The person whose last name is on my badge announced that they will examine the situation and by the end of August announce the future plan as far as the shop is concerned.

Hearing that information changed my summer. The only tournaments I played between the US Masters in early May through the first half of August were ones I had registered before the announcement and there were a couple that I could not justify registering due to the uncertainty at my work. It was also difficult to not give money to people who needed it not knowing if I would become a needy one in 2019. The only reason I played in an event in late August and have plans to play in September and October (as the injured arm is good enough to play) was due to the extra money I have been making delivering food and I registered for them before the upcoming August 30th announcement.

Those who work in the plant just finished a meeting with the person whose last name is on all our badges and he stated that the plant will be closing and my final day is currently slated to be Oct 2. However, much of the work here will be done by a different facility and they will be hiring people at similar equivalent pay and honoring vacation status. The interview process starts next week and I have already signed up to do so.

The announcement was not a surprise as the question of the plant closing in most minds changed from if to when a while ago but finding out about the time frame of this was shocking. If I don't get hired at the other company with severance and deliveries I should be ok financially for at least 4-6 months following my last day and I already planned on renewing my health club membership to avoid going bad physically if that becomes the case. The hardest part will be trying to start over somewhere else after 23 years here.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Now what

Though I had my third career ace on Sunday on a shot shorter than a field goal I kicked in a game at McKinley Park in 1987, my overall game was not good as putting was an issue. (I still count the ace) Last Wednesday, between deliveries, I stopped at a park to practice putting taking 5 putters out of my trunk and throw them all at a basket in groups of 5 from varying positions and distances.

On the 5th round, I felt a pop in my right arm similar to what happened 3 other times in the past two years. I threw a couple more putts and left. When I checked my arm strength the next morning, it was not just a little sore like it was those three times but similar to what happened to my arm in 2015 when my season ended in June and I had to go through physical therapy the following March to finally end up playing in June 2016.

The following evening, I tried to see if there was a way I could putt let alone play and confirmed there really isn't. I am wanting to play in an event in 5 days but that is highly doubtful. The only good thing about this is that is happened the day before I was going to register for three events in September.

Today at work, I have been more pissed off than normal even for me. I am hoping when the depression hits that I am not in a place where I could do something permanent.

Had I injured my arm trying to get an extra 20 feet on a shot, by throwing a forehand, or even after playing too much over a short time, I could understand. This happened on a shot that was thrown only 20 fucking feet on a day after being off for two. I do admit that trying to conserve medication so I could make it last longer if my company makes a decision which would be understandable was a factor as well. Before that my 32 oz cup of soda felt "heavy". I wonder if that was a sign I ignored.

So what do I do next? I have already been doing rehab exercises like I did a while ago and I figure that I could be tournament ready again by the end of the year or even Thanksgiving for the event in Silver Lake but all my plans for September are gone. Others have suggested other things to do. I popped a tendon in my elbow. No joint manipulation or other type therapy is going to help. If I was a professional athlete, I might even have surgery but since I can still do my job, that won't happen.

When the thing that gives reason to get up at 5:15 is not there, it gets tough.

I see stage 4 is making its way through me now.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Dashing for dollars

After a couple weeks wait, I was accepted as a driver for Door Dash which is a service to deliver food from multiple restaurants. From what I could tell, the pay per delivery is solely determined by the total expected distance a driver is expected to drive to make the delivery plus additional dollars for busier times. Customers are also allowed through their ordering app to tip drivers as well. The money made is decent but not great.

My only issue is that due to their map/setup, I can't start working for them until I drive a couple miles from either my work or home even though I was assigned an order from the parking lot at where I live.

Over the past weekend (Thu-Sun) I had 23 calls:

8: For a fast food franchise
5: For an American based restaurant
2: For a Mexican based restaurant
2: For an European based restaurant
3: For a far Eastern based restaurant
1: For an Asian fusion restaurant
1: Did not get to me due to a bad signal and was reassigned to a different driver
1: For a McDonald's location that was permanently closed and the order was cancelled.

Been to the same Wing Stop and same Red Robin twice and two different Taco Bell and two different Portillo's locations.

Of the 21 I delivered, 11 were from places that I would not consider eating

12 were to a house
4 to an apartment including one to the 4th floor where I had to take the stairs to deliver to two guys who were playing a game on their tv
4 to someone working at a retail business
1 to a commercial business

One of the businesses was my pharmacist a half mile from where I live and another was a block from my house where I almost fell while carrying a large chocolate malt with my bag. I also delivered two high end Italian dinners at 10 PM and the man who answered the door was wearing boxers and covered in sweat.

I am mostly surprised by the amount of people who use this service instead of going themselves or making their own food. Granted last weekend was rainy so that could be a factor as well.

I have also realized that one of the best things about this is that while delivering, I am not alone in an apartment.

Monday, July 9, 2018

"mad"man vs "Mc"Beast

Over last weekend, Paul McBeth played what many called the "greatest round ever played" at a tournament in Milford, Michigan. I played two rounds in an event on Sunday and decided to compare.

Note: the pics in the chart are the ones on the PDGA website player page.




Yes, I know that the last comparison is the one that should matter most.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Things never change

From my day:

Miles driven to get to cousin's house having to pick up two people: 70

Time taken to get there: 2 1/2 hours.

Extra time driven since a rogue priest decided today is the day to block a major Chicago expressway I only take a handful of days in a year: 45 minutes.

Times I said "not plausible" to a person or display either in the same car or within 15 feet of a nun: 4

Cousins there: 8

People who touched me from behind on purpose: 3

Sandwiches eaten: 3

Deserts eaten: 2

Time sitting in my large lawn chair set up facing downhill so I can get up without being laughed at: 45 minutes

Questions asked about me or my daughter about anything over the last 2 years: 0

Questions asked about something I used to do before: 1

Questions asked about the same person whose constant inquiries prompted me to get drunk at a company outing last December: 0

Questions to my sister's family about sports that I heard: 5

Time someone else used my lawn chair after I got up to pee causing me to eat standing up and be alone and miserable: 3 hours

I have to admit that this situation put me out of my comfort zone and I had zero idea how to properly react so I just brooded until I had to let those know why I was no longer sitting with them as I asked for it back while leaving.

Monday, July 2, 2018

The waterdrop way of driving

A few years ago, I discovered that in large cities roads generally go into or out of a central point. I imagine the city being a pond and a drip in the central point. When going either with or against the wave, you are fine but crossing them is not.

My aunt lives on the north side of Chicago near the lakefront while many cousins on my mom's side of the family live in the far south suburbs and my sister and I reside just west of O'Hare Airport. Those who live south think it is easy for us to get her compared to what they would have to do.

If you imagine a drop of water at State and Madison (0 N/S & E/W), I have to cross the waves to get there while those who live where a party is being held on Saturday don't.


Though the ride is 18 miles shorter, it is only 11 minutes shorter and far more aggravating due to multiple stop lights and traffic.

I have to pick up my mom anyway on Saturday as well so it makes sense for me to go and the drive to 159th and Cicero will need to be a different route as well since a south side priest is planning on blocking the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94) on Saturday.

Friday, June 29, 2018

multi-discing

Similar to my other week long vacation this year, disc golf is the agenda. There were 6 events in the 9 days off that I would play and there are five different formats within them:


For handicap singles, players get from +4 to -6 adjusted from their regular score based on how well they have shot this year. In the 5 events I have played with the club, I totaled 16 over par (with a max of 6 over per round) so I get 3 shots taken off my score to figure out prizes.

Doubles seems self explanatory.

When there are an odd number of players in a doubles event, one of them plays what is called California style to compensate for the lack of a partner as they can rethrow one shot per hole.

In most sanctioned events, there are 4 divisions of regular amateur play plus female and or age based groups. I play in the 50+ group. For one of the events, the top and bottom divisions are expanded to create six divisions so technically a 15 year old boy, a 70 year old man, and a 35 year old woman with similar ratings can be in the same division.

Since my right arm went "no" at work, I am not sure what events I will be able to play. *sigh*

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Next checkpoint reached

This morning, I stepped on the scale at work and weigh below 255 for the first time since 2011. After being 295lb in Jan '16, this is another checkpoint reached and if I can get to 250 by my doctor appointment in 2 weeks, I can officially be declared heavy instead of obese and I could possibly use this to lower my life insurance premium. Since I won't wear shoes on the scale, it is possible.

What is interesting is that 16 days ago, the scale read 8lb heavier and that had me wondering why the large change in such a short time.

1) clothing: Because today's high temp is forecasted for 85, I am wearing shorts as opposed to jeans and I only wear a t shirt as opposed to my regular pocketed shirt.

2) FuMPFeST: I was off the 5 days before the first scale reading mostly around FuMPFeST and while I was off work ate at about 10 different places (including Portillo's and a stand alone ice cream place on Monday after a practice round) as well as too much candy, cookies, and chips in the snack room. In spite of that, the weekend this year was better than the one I had there in 2016 where I gained 4lb but the first day back at work did produce a temporary high point for weight.

3) Being smart about food: I realized last year that when I don't eat at the places where I could walk in, pay between 3-15 dollars, and walk out with something to eat, my weight goes down. On the 3.5 mile drive home from work, there are over 20 places that don't serve just Mexican food within one block of my drive where I can do that. (There are about 10 that do). Except for 2 gas station hotdogs last Saturday and a mid tournament sub sandwich and post tournament burger on the 3rd, I have avoided those places in that time frame including the outdoor vendors at the music in the park one block from where I live whose food I can easily smell.

4) changing my badly obsessive attitude about food: For way too many years, I would worry too much about my dinner being eaten and would get real upset when it was. I would see 1,200 calories of breaded food in the oven for one person and panic then make sure I am able to get my share. I would purchase food that would not be eaten by others so I would not have to worry about it being eaten. I know that the places that have food readily available will 99% of the time have what I want and if they didn't, I know there is another place that did. I would make sure that I would eat the food I purchased since I knew leaving it behind could mean it would go missing.

I have joked about not standing in the way of a fat man and his food but it is very true.

However, that situation has changed and there is no longer the obsessive need to make sure that I have something to eat. I know that if I was planning on making something specific for dinner that it will be there and that has allowed me as much as anything to eat more normally.

Anyway, I also know that it is easy to fall into bad habits again and that even if I do get to 250, that is not a goal but another checkpoint, though for me a significant one. I also know that as the weight decreases, it becomes more difficult to continue losing weight since the body requires less than it does when heavier.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Scheduling

While printing football schedules, had a pressman state things changed in how they are determined and wanted to bet me money on it. The long time season ticket holder was mislead into thinking that every time the Eagles play the Vikings that they play the Bears, Packers and Lions as well.

One season in every three, that happens. In the other two seasons including this one, the first, second, third, and fourth place teams in those divisions play each other and since the Eagles and Vikings finished first in 2017, they play in 2018.

I even showed him this chart which shows what teams the Eagles play and why. He still did not understand.



The blue teams are division opponents they play twice, the yellow teams are the ones from the divisions they play every three or four years and the orange ones are the conference teams from the other two divisions with the same place.

He refused to pay me.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Making it special

I took the ratings from the last two rounds played at the PDGA US Masters Championship and applied them to every two round tournament I played on 2017 and the one in 2018 in MA50.

In the 13 events:

Won: 9
Tied for first: 2
Second one shot out of first: 2

I know that the comparison does not always transfer to other courses and my rating from the Masters when applied to last year's three round event at the same place would have had me finish 3rd six shots out.

What made the weekend so special was that unlike any convention that I attended, I was a full participant and not a spectator.

Similar to those who make music at Marscon and FuMPFeST or run an RPG at Gencon, that weekend for me was something that I had to prepare and dedicate myself to do the best I can and to see it turn out the way it did was amazing and beyond any convention I ever attended.

Since my computer has failed, I no longer do a show. As I don't anymore need to drive a bunch of people to conventions, help with the physical things my body now struggles to do, or even help with merch or props, I have mostly become a spectator which for me physically is more a struggle as sitting upright for a long period of time is more painful than walking while carrying a 25lb bag stopping to throw golf discs.

Yes, I updated the map that explains what food places are open what times and hopefully will have the nerve to perform my dumb parody idea on the main stage speaking into a mike (which I have NEVER done) at a music convention and will help others when needed but I feel more left out all the time.

My performance of Track 24 at Marscon 2014 was in a side room and not the main stage.

18 years ago today, I first met the people who became a big part of the third quarter of my life and I will see many of them in the same place I first met them next weekend.

Though these people have become more than an opponent or teammate and I care about what happens with them in the world, right now, FuMPFeST 2018 feels like it will be a thanks and good bye for me.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Being the outlier

As mentioned in the two previous posts, my scores on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were the two highest rated rounds I ever played in a tournament and the Sunday round was the best I ever played anywhere.

Of the 38 rated players in my division, the ratings ranged from 757 to 946. Though my rating of 853 was almost exactly the middle of the range, only 18 of the 38 had a rating below 900 and only 5 were worse than me. Generally 10 rating points equals one shot for most 18 hole rounds as was played that weekend.

The following pic is of the ratings of the top 20 players in my division from rounds 3 and 4:

 

The scores in the boxes are mine. A person with my rating was expected to be 14 total shots worse than I did for those two rounds. On Sunday, 18 of the top 20 players were among the 20 whose rating going into the event placed them in the top half of the field.

One of the two unrated players finished 5th having the type of game to do so. The person whom I referenced in a post made 3 years ago as he beat me by 29 and 31 shots in two round events was one shot better than I was on Saturday and shot the same score as I did on Sunday.

The next thing is to determine how did this happen and how can it be repeated in future events.

First of all, those in my division came from 13 states, Ontario, and France. 60% of the division had to travel multiple state lines to Crown Point, IN and were not as familiar with the courses as someone who has played multiple events there in the previous 13 months.

Second, the course setup and conditions were favorable since the rain made the grass higher than normal which helps a low thrower on approaches. On the blue and red courses, there are three different holes with two tee pads and all three favored my game as the 2 par 3s that I could reach were not backed to the point where I couldn't and one par four was extended was to the point where those who could easily get there in two shots (unlike me) couldn't. There is also one hole which had an OB line in the events last year but not this year and I took advantage of that to get a birdie.

Third is the plan. Having the whole week before the event off work was a tremendous benefit as it allowed me to look at the new holes on Monday and focus other practice on specific shots rather than learning the course as well as having the physical ability to get extra practice on Friday after the round.

Fourth is the player. There have been glimpses of this type of performance since November 2016 but injuries and work have prevented them from appearing over a longer term. Keeping the weight down (especially after gaining 3lb during the week off) is a must as well as maintaining fitness.

Unlike many rounds I played and like the best rounds I have played in the past, there were no real spectacular shots made over the whole event as I put one in from 80 feet on my first practice hole on Sunday morning. There were no long puts made, no long shots that either went in or even bounced off the basket. It was just full of good, solid shots with no major mistakes and no bad breaks.

To be honest, the Saturday round seems more repeatable than the Sunday one.

When I look at a disc golf course, I determine what is the theoretical best score I could shoot on it without making a shot over 50 feet or having a shot go the maximum distance under an ideal condition. This is how I look at the Lemon Lake Blue course I played on the Sunday round:


There were only 4 holes where I did not get my minimum score. On 9, 16, and 17 I was less than 30 feet but had a shot around a tree or bush (two of which I hit the front of the bucket) and on 13 I decided to not try to reach the basket from 245 feet since I had a small gap with OB if I missed left and bushes down a hill missing right so I put a shot to 80 feet away and another 5 feet away to get my 5.

Most players in my division have a lower theoretical minimum score due to their ability to throw a disc farther than I do reaching holes I can't so my margin of error is definitely lower than others even though I throw a disc farther than I did 3 years ago.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

My Masters by the numbers

Days spent at Lemon Lake Park in Crown Point, IN: 5
Total miles driven to and from event: 485
Average fuel economy: 32.9 MPG

Total players: 258
Total pro divisions: 7
Total amateur divisions: 5
Total states represented: 34
Total countries other than the US represented: 3

Total in MA50+ (my division): 40
Total states represented: 13
Total countries other than the US represented: 2

Different discs used in the 4 rounds: 18
Discs brought with me in my bag that would be needed for specific situations but were not used: 2

My rating: 853
Expected round score of someone with my rating: 65.5/70.5/64.5/63.5
My round by round score: 66/66/58/56
Score to par for each round: +7/+5/-1/-4
Each round's place in division: T35/T25/T16/T13
Total birdies/pars/bogeys/double bogeys: 13/43/12/4
Par 3 average of 50 holes: 3.04
Par 4 average of 21 holes: 4.23
Score on one par 5 played: 5
Shots better than expected rating: 18

My expected finish from my rating: 34th
My finishing spot out of 40 in the MA50+ division: 25th
Shots out of first: 30
My score's placing out of 27 in the MA60+ division: T8
My score's winning margin in the FP60+ division: 5
My score's winning margin in the MA70+ division: 2
My score's winning margin in the MP80+ division: 50

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Post game analysis (part 1)

Earlier today, I finished the fourth and final round of the 2018 Tim Selinske US Masters Disc Golf Championship held at Lemon Lake Park in Crown Point, IN.

When I signed up for the event in January, my right knee was still not completely functional from the injury suffered in October and due to working many long shifts in Kenosha, WI and developing bad eating habits, my weight was over 270 lb.

Due to almost 4 months of effort, my knee regained function and my weight was back in the 250s (which is still fat) and with mostly being smart about playing too much, was able to compete.

When I arrived on the Monday before taking the whole week off work, the signage was starting to be up and I had a huge smile on my face even after getting a thorn filled branch stuck to it.

On Thursday, more was up and being at the players party was amazing to behold. There was so much nervous energy in me when I started Friday afternoon, it could power tournament Central especially after birdieing two of the first three.

However, reality kicked in and I finished poorly. After dinner, I spent a half hour putting and when I started the next day badly missing three putts, was down.

From that point, I was able to slowly rebuild confidence making one birdie putt and after tearing up my legs on a thornbush, put a drive next to the basket and had a respectable round.

Following lunch, I was putting things together and beat my best score on Red by 6 shots which was 8 better than the day before. The rating was also a personal best.

Sunday was the long but open blue course which puts a shorter thrower like me at a disadvantage. My approach game was on. Only twice on the 13 that require an approach, did I have a putt over ten feet and made them both. I birdied two of the other five and with two difficult birdie putts around a tree just miss off the front of the cage and a third around a large bush land next to the basket.

The rating was even better than the previous round and I finished 25th out of 40 as I should have ended up 34th.

I enjoyed that awesome feeling all the way home even with traffic and after a nap tried to figure out how I managed to shoot 18 shots better than expected.

I realized the answer:

I WAS OFF WORK THE WHOLE WEEK BEFORE THE EVENT AND MY LEGS WERE NOT TIRED FROM MY JOB!

That took the smile off my face as I realized that this situation is not really repeatable. I am not George Costanza and I can't spend the summer unemployed and playing disc golf.

On Tuesday, I need to be back at work.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

No longer funny

After seeing a poll I saw where over half did not know, I asked my daughter if she knew what Auschwitz is. She correctly guessed what it is as well as knowing what the Holocaust is.

I then showed her the pic I took at Windycon 2008 (that I posted to this blog at that time) where dressed as the Blues Brothers, we ran across a group of people in fake Nazi outfits as the con theme was military and there was an anime with a similar dressed group. When it happened, everyone was laughing and wanting to take pics of us due to the irony of the situation and it was fun.

My confused daughter asked me why I would be posting a picture with anyone looking like a Nazi. I then had to explain what happened in the movie and the crazy timing of the situation.

For most of my life, Nazis have been displayed in movies and on TV as bumbling idiots like Col. Klink, Franz Liebrind, and the unnamed leader played by Henry Gibson in the Blues Brothers or psychopaths like Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Krieger and are designed to be funny but things have changed since that November evening almost 10 years ago.

Multiple times over the last 10 years, a president was displayed in pictures as wearing the mustache sported by the Nazi leader by those who were unhappy with what he is.

Inspired by the 2016 election, people started to proudly march and rally displaying that flag along with the Confederate one proclaiming that they will overcome as well as seeing the US president attempt the same things that were done to bring the Nazi party into power in the 1930s.

Those references and events have made many including me realize that the Nazi party is not really funny anymore and thinking about it, it should have never been. Today, the encounter that happened in 2008 would likely not happen since today con staff would hopefully ask those in the Nazi type costumes to change or leave. To be honest, it is better this way.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Another reading from the book of work

It was an unusually cold early April morning and the frost on his car reminded the Madman of the time a coworker who fell hook, line, and sinker for the non plausible concepts of a creator and everlasting salvation decided to draw holy symbols on the frost of his car thinking that it would melt before he saw it.

Though a former coworker, he works for a supplier of materials and he happened to stop by the same day. To avoid confrontation, the Madman ignored him and continued with his work but while passing him, the former coworker queried,

"How did you celebrate the resurrection of ourLord and savior Jesus Christ last Sunday?"

Had the question been worded respectfully or even not by him, a courteous reply would have been given. However, the Madman, who was expecting that ignorant question, was ready and immediately stated, "My friends and I sacrificed a baby to Satan then drank its blood."

These are the words of the Madman.

There can’t be a “god”

Friday, March 30, 2018

Outthinking myself

One of the biggest things I noticed about fantasy football players who fail is their reluctance to take players from teams they despise or to play those going against their favorite team. Many times I have taken players from teams I hate and have them in the lineup against the Dolphins especially since the team has mostly not been good this century.

Due to an offer to try to get players to play other sports than football, I have a free entry for a game that corresponds with this years Masters golf tournament. My first thought is that I am only going to take right handed golfers from the northern hemisphere whose country speaks English that are not named Tiger Woods since that is who I root for in tournaments.

I then looked at the list of champions and realized that of the last 21 Masters, 18 of them were won by either a left handed golfer, someone from the southern hemisphere, someone from outside the US, or Tiger Woods. Not having any of them in my lineup would likely cause me to not win even though 8 of the top 20 players on the site (as well as 37 of the 87 in the event) fall in my preference.

I then entered a lineup with those I don't want to see win. I was seriously considering putting Tiger Woods in the lineup even though I really don't want him to win but his game cost was higher than I was willing to pay and went with a different option.

During the round on Friday, my lineup was in the top .5% of entries but by the time the tournament ended, I was out of the money barely in the top third. Ironically, the top three finishers of the event were right handed and from the US. The last time this happened was in 1998 when the top 7 (including 58 year old Jack Nicklaus) were right handed from the US and Tiger Woods tied for 8th.

Friday, March 23, 2018

christmas has changed

For a decade, the sci-fi convention known as Marscon was referred to as my christmas (lower case intentional) and I have posted in the past explaining why.

What would see to happen every year is that in late January/early February, things at my job would go haywire and there would be a 2-3 week period where everything I did turned out wrong.

Last year, that did not happen except for when I sprained my knee the weekend before the event which I did not attend.

This year, the problems that happened at that time in the past did not happen.

Last Monday, I woke very stiff in my upper right side of the back and could barely turn my head. Had another coworker not been on vacation, I would have considered calling in sick. The whole week has turned into an exercise of futility. Four of the five days, my break was interrupted because someone else needed my help with something and there are times I feel like I can't do anything right.

What does all this mean? The major disc golf event I play is in 6 weeks which is about the same time frame things happened bad before Marscon. So yes, my christmas in 2018 will be in Indiana in May and not Minnesota in March.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

How to stop those who kill many

Too many times recently have there been stories about people trying and occasionally succeeding in killing multiple people. I have realized that every person who attempts to kill others has three common facets.

1) The desire to kill. Whether the victims are random or specific, all who choose to kill want to do so. Every person who attempts to kill either one person or a group of people makes a conscious decision to do so and once that choice is made and actions are taken, there is no turning back. Many who do that have an escape plan or an alibi but that does not always work.

Preventing the desire would require a world where there is no desire to kill as well as recognition, treatment, and possibly preventative actions towards those whom seem likely to do so. That would require a complete change in society to fully work.

2) The opportunity to kill. A highly trained soldier has fallen to a person who had the benefit of surprise. There are many places where people gather in life where a person with the correct equipment could easily kill many.

Preventing the opportunity would require that all public places where many could gather be closely monitored at all times to prevent one person or a small group of attackers from being successful. Doing that fully would turn the country into a police state.

3) The equipment to kill. Many can kill one or two people quickly under the correct circumstances with only their bare hands or a simple hand weapon but killing many requires something more. Though bombs and vehicles have been used, guns have been the most popular choice in the US due to technology and availability since other methods that succeeded became regulated and more difficult to use shortly afterward.

Limiting access to guns with the capability of killing many in a short time has been done in many countries with positive results and seems to be the most easily attainable of the three solutions.

Monday, March 19, 2018

The time to post is now

I initially wrote this two years ago and decided today to edit to make it current and post.

While driving in March 2016, was listening to the Devo Spice Manic Mondays podcasts from the previous couple of weeks which included the episode featuring the Logan Award winners which were presented the first weekend of March. My daughter's mood turned sour and she later confessed that it was from the result because Insane Ian's #1 song from the Dr. Demento Show, Benedict Cumberbatch, did not win. I was also wanting it to win as well.

I then explained how I agreed with only one of the twelve winners from the previous four years and what I thought should have won instead and then explained four reasons why winners might be different since I have heard many former jurors and people who make nominations talk about their ideas with voting as well as the votes themselves with follow jurors when I was one of them.

1: A track can be eligible for a song as well as a video.

I have heard people state they would not feel comfortable voting for the video and the song it is from and have to decide which one. That situation has likely split the vote for a song preventing either from winning. I have experienced only one track from this decade which I felt was worthy of the award for both the song and the video and it won neither likely due to this situation.

2. The same artist can have multiple deserving entries in the same category.

I have also heard jurors state they feel obligated to vote for only one song per category per artist. Once again, it can split the vote among numerous songs from the same artist.

3. Jurors can vote for less than five songs in a category.

I had that issue when as a juror as I felt obligated to select five for each category and had to decide between entries that I felt were lesser than others.

Since all votes are equal voting for fewer makes those that get votes count more.

4. There is only one round of voting.

I have heard active jurors state they were waiting for the second round of voting among those in the top five.

I am not saying the winners are not deserving of their award but these points should be mentioned to future jurors to make sure their votes reflect their opinion on the nominees and not the procedure within them.

Soon the jurors will need to listen to a lot of songs and watch a lot of videos and I know how difficult that is. I wish them good luck.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Family circus driving #13

I am proud of my daughter in that she is willing to donate blood which is something that scared me when I was her age. Granted, her donations helps fill her community service graduation requirement but as someone who had to stop donating a few years ago (and wishes he would have been able to donate more than he did), I am glad she is able to do so.


The blue filled line is the GPS directed path to take to the center which is located just west of Stratford Square Mall. The yellow line at the bottom of the picture is Illinois route 64 also known as North Avenue.

According to my daughter who was frantically texting me since they were lost and worried about missing her appointment, they ended up on North Avenue TWICE.

They got there before the center closed and since her blood is on the thin side, like me, the donation went fast.

The last two days have been difficult for me due to many reasons I am not going to state. The desire to do something instinctive which can't be undone is significant. I can picture them happening as I often consciously and unconsciously have done in the past.

There are things that people do to avoid acting on their instincts. I just have to do that today just as I have done in the past without hurting myself as well.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Second time not around

In early January, I had to choose to attend one of two major weekend events in 2018. Since both events require a large amount of money to attend as well as over a week of vacation time and attending the first one would make the second one more difficult as far as weight, a choice needed to be made.

Since I have never attended a major disc golf event before after missing out in 2015 and 2016, I registered for the 2018 Tim Selinske United States Masters Disc Golf Championship being held at the Lemon Lake disc golf facility in Crown Point, IN May 3-6. (FYI: In disc golf Masters means 40 or older and I will be playing in the 50+ men's amateur division.)

I know that my winning the championship is highly improbable as out of the 45 currently registered for the event, I have the 37th best rating and the top players in my division would be expected to beat me by at least 30 shots even at a place which I have played before. Thirteen of the other players have a rating that is higher than my best ever rated round. Similar to many that competed in the Olympics and others in "ball golf" major tournaments, I am going for the experience.

When I registered, I knew that meant losing weight since my right knee failed in the fall of 2017 and though I have lost 8lb since I registered in January, I still need to lose more. Attending Marscon would definitely be difficult for someone who is trying to lose weight as I eat poorly over 5 days most notably at Kahn's Mongolian Buffet.

To be honest, it was difficult last year to not attend Marscon especially with how bad my knee was. Though it was not the first time I did not attend a con after 10+ years, it was different. As I was thinking about it today and after looking at past posts about Marscon, I realize there are two major changes that have made Marscon not as special as it was.

1) Parties: The party floor at Marscon is always done well with many amazing decorations and themes. Between music, beverage, and college level "fun", there were epic moments. As much as I want to list some of them, the fact that this is written for my daughter, I won't but damn, there were fun times.

However, in 2018, the now 52 year old man takes medication that has been used in chemotherapy to make his white blood cells less aggressive to allow him to function with minimal pain. Alcohol with that medication or the pain medication that is occasionally needed does not mix and the idea of staying up past midnight now seems late.

The last time I was at a con party was the weekend I turned 50. On Saturday shortly after midnight, I felt old and realized no more.
2) Music: For 10 years, Marscon was the place to see a weekend of awesome comedy music being performed and it was unique and worth the 400+ mile trip and I am grateful for the work Luke Ski does to make it that way. Now there is FuMPFeST which is only comedy music. No real parties. No media GOH, no other items on the schedule to force comedy music sets to be cut short.

It is nice to see one hour sets of awesome music as opposed to a rushed 30 minutes as well. Even though recent Marscon GOH Rob Paravonian, Luke Ski, Judy Tenuta, and Brentalfloss are fine, they are not the Arrogant Worms, Paul and Storm, Henry Phillips or the Four Postmen (who are the 2018 GOH for the event held Memorial Day weekend). 

While Marscon for me is an uncomfortable 400+ mile drive or ride each way possibly in winter weather, FuMPFeST is a 5 mile drive for me in the summer and I have literally walked the direct 4.5 miles from my house to the hotel. Attending FuMPFeST is significantly cheaper for me and I get much more music for the money since I don't need to stay at a hotel.

In spite of all that, had the 6 horse won the 8th race at Hawthorne Race Course on Feb 19th allowing me to win $1,008 in an off track betting pick 6 pool, I would have seriously considered trying to find a way to get to and stay at Marscon.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Happy to be wrong

As most who read this know, I will watch any sport at any time. In November 2003, I woke up at 3AM on a Saturday morning and paid $30 to watch Jonny Wilkinson make a drop kick in extra time to lead England to the Rugby World Cup championship over host nation Australia. I streamed Sri Lanka finally winning the D20 cricket title over India in 2014. I can name the men's soccer world cup champions the same way that I do the Super Bowl Champions.

Of course I was happy to see curling added to the Olympic lineup in 2002. I would have to figure out when and what channel the matches were being shown since the main coverage would be focused on events that were more popular in the US most notably those where a person gets a score based on a perception of a performance. Even though the US won bronze in 2006, there was not much coverage and often that coverage would be preempted to show other events.

In 2010, the coverage increased and there was optimism since the lead from the 2006 team, John Shuster, was the skip (captain) who threw the final two rocks (shots) for the team and the coverage of the regular matches increased. What that meant was that in 2010 many saw Shuster fail multiple times on shots any Olympic curler would be expected to make and it got so bad that he was demoted then benched from a last place squad.

What I started to do (as well as the person who created the shustersucks Twitter handle) was use the word "shuster" to describe a person screwing up at the end of a sports event. Another poor performance from Shuster in 2014 with a squad that finished 9th out of 10 kept that phrase relevant. When I blew a 5 shot lead with 5 holes to do in a disc golf tournament in November 2016, I said that I did a "shuster".

During FuMPFeST 2015, Canadian guest of honor The Arrogant Worms made a reference in their song "I Ran Away" describing in technical terms how bad a person was at curling which I immediately responded, "so he is John Shuster". No one around me understood what I meant but when I later mentioned that to Mike McCormick, the band member who did the rant, he laughed.

Apparently the US Curling Federation was not happy with Shuster's Olympic performance either as they sponsored 10 other curlers to try to get a more competitive team in 2018. When I was watching Curling Night in America, I was relieved to not see him in the US lineup. However, to my disappointment I discovered that Shuster was able with a new squad win the US Olympic trial and represent the team in 2018.

For the first week, things went as expected and after two bad games over the weekend, I mentioned that a sick coworker on Monday must have watched the matches. The next day, I was surprised to hear that the US beat Canada and when I saw the difficult last shot that Shuster executed to win the match, I was shocked. The next two games, he was even better and the US qualified for the semi-finals against Canada.

Again, he played a top level match perfectly executing the type of shot to win the match that he likely would have missed in 2010 and 2014. Though Shuster missed a couple shots in the final after making a great one early, the Swedish skip missed some too including one that allowed Shuster to make a relatively easy shot to take a huge lead to win the gold medal.

I was up until almost 4AM to see everything live and 10 hours later, I am still in disbelief over what I saw. 

Friday, February 23, 2018

Missing a miracle

I am writing this shortly after the expected finish of the gold medal men's curling match between the US and Sweden (which I did not realize at the time was going to be held 15 hours later). I do not know the result and am hoping to not know it when I watch the broadcast after I get home from work today.

Yesterday, I knew the result of the semi-final match against Canada right as it ended since due to multiple circumstances, I was in the car listening to sports radio at the time. During the day at work, someone who knows I have been following the sport since it became an Olympic event 16 years ago mentioned it to me (and was informed that it was NOT a good thing to do) and during the day I saw three FB posts about the match.

I still watched the match when I was home but much of the thrill was gone since I knew how it was going to end. The last shot of the match that decided who wins (a shot every Olympic curler would be expected to make every time but is not made 100% of the time) had no drama for me since I knew that the US had won.

Watching that semi-final match reminds me of the 1980 US/USSR Olympic men's hockey championship pool game. Though it was played at 1:30 PM local time and not in the evening as the movie Miracle portrayed, it was not broadcast in the US until that evening and since there was no internet, most people had no idea what happened until that evening.

I was a freshman at St. Rita H.S. at the time and the boys' varsity basketball team was playing De La Salle which was a big deal for me since the starting center for St. Rita was a sophomore who was a teammate of mine in grammar school and De La Salle finished 4th in the state in 1979.

As I was getting ready to go, my mom mentioned the hockey game that was going to air and I stated that I don't want to see the USSR blow out the US again like they did 3 weeks before in an exhibition. I had no idea at the time that the Soviet players partied hard (what I now refer to as Hope Solo style) with the pairs gold medal winners the night before and were so hung over that they lost to the US. During the 4th quarter of the basketball game, the announcer mentioned the result and there was a standing ovation from the overflow crowd.

I have seen the "miracle on ice" game played multiple times since then but always with the knowledge that Mike Eruzione scored a late third period goal to lead a bunch of college amateurs to victory against one of the best teams in the world missing out on the real experience of the event. If there was one thing I would want to change in my life that would not have future consequences, me staying home to watch that game would be it.

Monday, February 12, 2018

Ten percent

As many of the best winter athletes in the world compete in South Korea, it is time to revisit complaints about the 2016 games in Rio. I do agree the stories that were presented (which I purposely pause then fast forward through) had a male bias and am hoping that those which I will ignore this year won't.

However, I have to disagree on two other points many have made. One is the talk about what the athletes are wearing. Many who only follow major sports events don't realize that team uniform designs are often discussed in the world of North American professional sports. In 2016, the person who started the MLB All Star game was suspended by his team after he took a scissors to a bunch of jerseys that he did not want to wear since he claimed that the style of them was distracting to his pitching. In Facebook, I have in the 18 months since the games made 6 posts about jersey colors or designs teams wore in certain situations including the NFL color rush jerseys for Thursday night games and the pink/blue uniforms baseball teams wore on mothers/fathers day.

What surprised me the most was reaction to my comment stating that men perform in sports 10% better than women on an elite level. I am not saying that I can beat my younger sister who is a triathlon racer in any footrace nor even come close to beating #1 women Paige Pierce in disc golf or even a local area female pro. I am referring to world record times in events where men and women compete under equal conditions. (In the 2017 US disc golf championship Paige Pierce finished 87th out of 99 players 54 shots out of first.)

Here is a chart of some summer and winter sports world records by men and women:


The one big surprise was the shot put which the female record was established by a Soviet athlete in the 80s. 6 of the other 9 were within 1.5 percentage points of 10%.

Another issue with sports that I have arguments over is the definition of a female athlete. I grew up seeing East German and Soviet female athletes that look more like men than women as well as Renee Richards who could not compete on the men's tennis circuit and tried to join the ladies' one after a sex change. Unlike in all other parts of life, I don't consider identifying oneself as female good enough to compete as a female in sport. I know there are people who have far more medical insight than me on the subject and have either established a guideline or a test or will do so.

All members of the Professional Disc Golf Association have a player rating based on how they performed at tournaments over the past year. Out of all the 50-59 year old male amateurs, my rating is tied for 1,219th best. It is also better than all 105 female 50-59 year old amateurs. No, I don't think Candace Sherlock would work.

Friday, February 2, 2018

prop time 2018

What I would bet for the NFL Championship game on Feb 4, 2018:

NE -4.5 (-115) 460 X
NE -7.5 (+155) 100 X
Under 48.5 (-115) 345 X
First half Phi +3 (-125) 125 W 225
MVP Brady (-130) 260 X
Under 44.5 (+140) 100 X
NE wins 7-12 (+400) 100 X
NE wins by 10 (+1,400) 100 X
First TD Agholor (+1,600) 100 X Jeffrey
First score is PHI TD (+230) 100 X PHI FG

Phi scores first (+110) 100 W 210
First TD jersey under 32.5 (-110) 110 W 210
Team that scores first does not win game (+140) 100
NE scores last (-135) 135 X
Less than 5.5 TD in game (-115) 115 X
Less than 2.5 PHI TD in game (-115) 115 X
PHI less than 21.5 pt (even) 100 X
Less than 3.5 FG (-115) 115 X
More than 1.5 INT (+120) 100 X
Brady throws INT (+115) 100 X

Brady more than 26.5 com (-110) 110 W 210
Brady more than 294.5 yd pass (-110) 110 W 210
Gronk first rec less than 13.5 yd (even) 100 X 17
Hogan first rec more than 8.5 yd (-110) 110 W 210
White scores TD (+260) 100 W 360
Amendola scores TD (+190) 100 X
Hogan scores TD (+220) 100 W 320
Gostowski more than 1.5 FG (-130) 130 W 230
Harmon INT (+400) 100 W 500
Foles over 22 com (-110) 110 W 210

Agholor first rec over 9.5 yd (-110) 110 X 5
Agholor over 43.5 yd rec (-110) 110 W 210
Agholor has over 16.5 catch (-110) 110 W 210
Agholor over 3.5 rec (-110) 110 W 210
Agholor scores TD (+190) 100 X
PHI no rushing TD (+110) 100 X
Mills INT (+500) 100 X

Total wagered: $4,690
Winnings: $3,525
Loss: $1,165

Monday, January 8, 2018

Squaring the Super Bowl

Some people are already collecting dollars to get a Super Bowl square and some already have their numbers.

For the few that don't understand, There is a 10 x 10 grid where people pay money to sign their name on one of the squares on it. Once all money is collected, numbers from 0-9 are randomly assigned one to each column and row and one team is assigned to the column and the other to the row. Winners are determined by the last digit of the teams' scores during certain points of the game and always based on the final score.

Generally, the draw of the numbers always produces bickering among those who have numbers that are less likely to appear in football than others since teams generally score 3 or 7 points at a time.

In the 51 previous games, there are 102 finishing numbers. Here is the layout:

 

I was surprised by how few final scores were a 3 and double checked to confirm that is the case.

There have only been three times when the margin of victory was 10 points yielding a 6-6 in SB8 and a 7-7 in SB17 and SB30.

One thing the person who runs the pool usually tells people who draw a 2, 5, or 8 is that there can be a 2 point safety which can produce weird numbers. That is WRONG. There have been 9 safeties in Super Bowl history. Here is a list of the final scores by the teams that scored one.


How have the unusual numbers happened?

The games ending in 2 were twice caused by scoring more 6 TD than FG, once due to a kicker missing 2 PAT, and once because of a 2 point conversion.

The games ending in 5 were caused 4 times by a team scoring 5 more TD than FG and once due to a 2pt conversion.

The games ending in 8 were caused 5 times by a team scoring 4 more TD than FG and once due to a 2pt conversion.

The games ending in 9 were caused 3 times by missing PAT, twice by a safety, once by a made 2pt conversion, once by failing two 2pt conversions, and once by a team scoring 7 TD.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

The scribbles of life

Being mechanically inept shows in ways others don't even think about. No matter how many times I tried over the decades, I can't "loop the loop" in tying shoelaces. It also shows when I write or print. I am fortunate that in the 21st century that I can express myself from a keyboard or a tablet since using a typewriter on this paragraph would have taken 45 minutes due to corrections in thought and typing.

Over the past three decades, I have worked in a place where I often have to sign my name multiple times during a day. I state that if I ever became infamous that my autograph would not be worth much due to this. In the early 90s, I once received a phone call at work from a lawyer since I signed for three cartons of bowling balls four years earlier from a company that was suing the Professional Bowlers Association.

Signing my name has become less a hassle than it used to be. In the past, I would often hear a comment about my last name from someone who seemed to think that they were being funny. One time while making an appointment to get medical clearance for life insurance, the person on the other end said "You will get a call from a nurse Mr. Holmes" and then laughed before hanging up. (15 minutes later, I had a new company for insurance. I do make references about others last names but if I was dealing with that person as an employee of my company, I would not do that.)

I figure that being older has caused others to realize that I have heard it before and it is not worth the hassle.

Last week, I had to sign for a delivery that was late went to their website to screen shot to show others what time it was delivered. The driver entered the name Ken Shamrock. *sigh*

Last January, I got on a roll at the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield on a old video game called Gorf. When I was done, I realized that I finished with a score that was the third highest ever achieved in that place. Excitedly, I scribbled my name and gave them my phone number just in case they had an issue.

When my daughter visited the place a few months later, she asked me if I was making a joke since the only thing that matched my last name was the "S" and told the person about it. When I visited it last Saturday after hearing others were there, I noticed the name was corrected thanks to Carrie who mentioned it and then I beat the score making the sign incorrect again.




The 50 minutes on Gorf was not all I played that Saturday:

Monday, January 1, 2018

Pandemic Legacy Season 2 part 1

January log:

Life on the three havens Hyperion, Salvation, and Orion has become a struggle. Forecasts state we will run out of supplies before the year is over due to raids by the Hollow Men. Our leaders have become missing during their annual meeting so it is up to us now.

With a farmer named Slim and a designer named Lena, we are heading out to the land to re-establish supply lines. Fortunately we got information about North America and after giving Lena information, we established a supply center in NYC and then connected to Chicago.

While supplies were being used, we got a center set up in Lagos and then we're setting things up in Tripoli when the plague hit there. Fortunately we had a med kit or else Slim and I could have been infected.

Though the centers were eventually destroyed by the Hollow Men, the population increased in the cities and London stayed the same even though the plague hit there. Lena also figured out a way to build a supply center easier.

Instructor Bill "Coop" Cooper