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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.