QUALIFYING - Day 1

I got down to Stadium first thing this morning to watch the 9:00 and 12:00 squads. See if I could learn something. The "A" squad scores were really low with only 11 bowlers over. Then "B" squad hit the lanes and had to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes before they could begin their practice due to a computer malfunction. The tournament director then made a decision to start tournament play, but each pair had to be hand scored. Talk about a total nightmare. I thought the train derailment that I went through in Baton Rouge was bad. We finally got our squad started at 4:30. It took about 20 minutes to get the computers up and running. Well worth the wait, as I did not want to have to do hand scoring. One of the best things about the whole day was being able to watch Kevin Croucher bowl. He was totally awesome, and his game is incredible right now. He is throwing the orb so well and his confidence level raises his game to the next level. Kevin started on lanes 37-38 and I started on lanes 41-42. Kevin was a great help to me today, I just wish I could have bowled better in game 3 and I would be right in the mix. I have a lot of work to do over the next couple of days. Here is a recap of my games today.

GAME 1:
I bowled a 214 right out of the gate. I was bowling really well, just taking my time making good shots. I left two 7 pins, two 6 pins, a 10 pin, a 4-6 split and had six strikes. I was playing the gutter and my timing was really good. The change in my mechanics allowed me to stay down at the line and not rare up causing the ball to go high or brooklyn. Good start.

GAME 2:
I bowled a 194. Started off the game making a bad shot. Had to wait on the next pair of bowlers. We had three to our pair and the pair we went to had four bowlers. I just hate that. So, I just had to make sure to slow down even more so the wait would not have to be so long between games. I had four strikes, left two 7 pins, one 10 pin, two 4-7's, and two 2-4-7's. This pair was a little tricky. I was fighting high-light the entire game. After shopping the 2-4-7 I stayed clean. So after two games I am plus 8 and have only one open. Really good start.

GAME 3:
I bowled a 149. OUCH. This pair sucked. I could not get comfortable. I washed out in the first frame. I had a hard time today starting off my games as you can see from my scoresheet. I left one 7 pin, had three strikes, two 6 pins, a 2-7 split, 2-4-7 and a 3-6-7. This is the worst I would bowl all day. Just did not match up to the pair very well. All three of us on the pair did not do well.

GAME 4:
I bowled a 202. Started off with the 3-6-7 split and picked it up. I then threw three strikes and a bunch of 9 pin spares. I had one 3 pin, one 2 pin, one 4 pin, two 7 pins and I had three strikes. I feel really good how I did this game after coming off a horrible game 3.

GAME 5:
I bowled a 183. Started off the game missing my first single pin spare. It was a 7 pin that I missed to the right after sticking on the approach. I then left another one in the next frame but was able to shake it off and pick up my spare. This lane was a lot different then the other 3 pairs I bowled on today. Did not have a good reaction at all. So I changed balls to The One that I had sanded with 2000 abralon. That seemed to do the trick as I struck on the next four shots. Now I am back on track. I then left a 1-3-7 washout that I picked up. That led me to the tenth frame where I went high and left the 2-7 split again. I never picked this up all day. I either went high into the 2 pin or the ball would not hook up and all I would get would be the seven pin. This combination hurt me all day. If I could have picked this up I would have had at least 50 more pins. That would have put me even for the day. So, after day 1 I am a little disappointed, yet feel good about the number of quality shots that I made. It was a good learning experience and I am hoping I can make better shots over the next couple of days. The lanes are going to get tougher as I bowl "B' squad tomorrow and then "A" on Wednesday. Realistically, this should have been the easiest of the 3 squads. So, you see, I have some work to do to get myself back in contention. It can be done as you can see from the standings, it is very tight, top to bottom.

My total score for the day is 942 (-58). I am currently 146th out of 296 bowlers. Real close to the cut score. I am 83 spots out of the cut and but only 56 pins shy. This is why every spare and every mark is so important. I had eight opens on the day. Five of the eight opens were in the first and tenth frames. I now know where my concentration needs to be today. I need to get off to a good start and finish stronger. Not too bad, but I did not get enough doubles to make up for them. So, if I stay clean for the entire day, I would have been in the TOP 30. No small task on this very demanding lane condition. Mark Roth is currently at 62nd with a 999 score. They will be taking the top 63 into Match Play on Wednesday night.

Lesson, Sweeper, Practice

I got up early today. Could not sleep very well last night. I was too excited about all of the bowling that was going on today. I got to the Stadium at 11:30 to give me plenty of time to get settled in before my lesson with Mike Jasnau. I hadn't picked up a ball in a couple of weeks and it showed. The lesson turned out great. There were not a lot changes that were made in my game. Two of my biggest problems - muscling the ball and raising up at the foul line have been corrected. The first correction was made in my first two steps. I was basically pushing away on my first step and then carrying the ball in my second step which caused me to muscle the ball in my third step to get me in time. All of this caused me to rare up at the foul line at the time of my delivery. That has all gone away. Mike now has me holding the ball a higher when I start and on my first step I hold the ball until my second step where I am now pushing off and letting the weight of the ball carry me into steps 3,4 and 5. I am now posting the shot at the foul line. The coolest thing is that the video analysis that was done shows the difference in both deliveries and I can now practice this and check back to the video to see how I am doing. It feels a little awkward, but I like the changes that were made in my game.

So, it was now off to the sweeper. The sweeper started at 2:30, only 1 hour after my lesson. The sweeper did not start out so well. First ball was a 4-6-7 split. OUCH. Way to take those lessons and apply them. For the next couple of shots I was trying to get comfortable on the lanes and use the adjustments in my game that were made by Jasnau. I ended up shooting a 168 with a couple of other splits. The scoring was very low, so I knew that I had a chance if I could bring it back it games 2 and 3. We then moved 10 pairs. Yes, that is correct. I started out on lanes 35-36 and had to move to lanes 55-56 for game 2. Needed oxygen to get to the next pair. What a jaunt. I started off with the front 4 and then went back to back splits. The lanes are really dry in the heads and if you pull it just a board or two, the ball goes through the nose. Of course, there is also out of bounds outside of the five board. Not an easy condition at all. I then struck on my next three balls and finished with a very respectable 223. I then had to move to the other end of the house on lanes 7-8. MORE OXYGEN PLEASE> I started out really good again with a spare and a double. I am looking really good until I lost ball reaction for a couple of frames where I left the big four on one shot and then had a washout in the tenth and ended with a 185 game. I ended up shooting 576 with the cash cut score being 588. I finished 32nd out of 97 bowlers. All in all not a bad start, just wish I would have thrown a couple of better shots when I needed them. Especially in the tenth the last game when I washed out. All I had to do was stay clean and I would have cashed. I don't feel to bad considering I just went through a pretty major change in my game.

Kristi and I then went to dinner and got something to eat before my practice session at 8:00. This went very well. I could really start concentrating on my new delivery and I am really anxious to get started tomorrow. I was throwing the ball really good in practice. I just relaxed more and told myself that I can make good shots and it showed. I hope I can stay that relaxed tomorrow in qualifying. If so, I feel I have a decent shot at shooting some good scores. It is really cool to hang out with Croucher. He knows all of the touring pros and it was fun to be around him just talking bowling. Mark Roth, Tom Baker, Bob Handley, David Ozio and Dave Soutar are just a few of the pros that I was able to talk with today. What an experience.

Sorry, there are no pictures today. Just my boring blog. I will try and get some pictures posted tomorrow with my qualifying scores.

07-07-07

For the most superstitious, the luckiest day ever has arrived. The wedding chapels are packed as well as the casinos in Reno. The Blues Festival is going on right down Virginia Street. Blues, Barbeque and Beer. What a combination. It is literally a can of sardines. There are beer and food booths galore. You buy tokens to try out the many different microbrews that are on tap. You buy the mug and 16 tokens for $20, and you get a 4 ounce sample of any beer that you want. The lines were long, so I skipped that and just purchased a 16 ounce cold one instead.
We started out the morning going to the movies. We went to Evan Almighty. We both liked it and it helped us stay out of the heat until we walked over to the Blues Festival. We grabbed a couple of cold ones and purchased a rib dinner with bar-b-que beans. The meal was awesome. The ribs were really tender and the beans were very spicy. After we ate, we hung around one of the stages to catch the Elvin Bishop concert. For those that are not familiar with him, he is famous for the song "Fooled around and fell in love." If you can't remember how the tune goes click on the link and it will take you to a short clip of the song. Just click on the play button and the song will start playing. Enjoy!! By the way, Rod Stewart did a remake of this song as well. I still like the original version.
http://www.last.fm/music/Elvin+Bishop/_/Fooled+Around+and+Fell+in+Love

We found some shade for awhile, but that soon disappeared. So we decided to head into Silver Legacy and sit down where it was cool and play some slots and of course have another beverage.

After a lot of walking we decided to head back to the trailer to kick back for the evening. The sun gets you really tired and I would like to rest before tomorrow. It is going to be a long day of bowling. Can't wait to get started.

Reno Rumblings

Well it's official. It was HOT yesterday. Set an all-time high. This reminds me so much of the trip we took to Disneyland when the kids were little. The day we went to the park, Los Angeles set an all-time heat record as well. Not sure what this is telling us, but if anyone needs their city to heat up any, just give us a call and we can make a visit.

We went into Reno this morning and checked out the casinos a little. Parked at the Silver Legacy and walked down the strip to the new casino Siena. Not before a quick stop to the Bowling Stadium. It sure looks different than when we were here in April for Nationals. After all of the walking around we stopped for lunch and then made it back to the truck where we drove around the block and checked things out. There is a lot of stuff going on this weekend. First, the Eldorado BBQ and Blues festival is tomorrow on Virginia Street. There will be plenty of Bar-b-ques, beer and blues. Should be a fun day if the weather cools off a little. Tonight, there is a boxing event being held outside at the Eldorado. One of the fighters was a contestant on the Contender series.


We started heading home to the RV Park when we noticed a lot of people in a park. They were carrying inner tubes. So we found a place to park the truck and walk down to the water. Here are a couple of pictures of what was going on.



Just when I thought I had seen everything, you have got to check this car out that was parked on the side of the street where we parked the truck to go check out the water. I cannot believe how much "stuff" is on this car. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Happy Birthday from Melissa

Melissa. Thank you for the card and presents. It was a great surprise to wake up this morning and find the presents you left for me. I now have a new favorite "Tequilla Sunrise" glass. I will put it to great use. The coasters are very funny as well.


BEFORE



AFTER

We made it to Reno

We left Eagle Lake around 11:00 and took it really slow. We only had one adventure along the way. We were cruising down the road and a truck met us with his flag out the window. All of a sudden a log cabin on wheels turned the corner and we just missed it. It took up most of the road and I had time to move to the side of the road. We stopped at Bordertown to have lunch. We made some turkey sandwiches, had some chips and drank some water before we pushed forward into Reno. The RV park was real easy to get to and our space is right next to the pool. The pool will be a popular hangout as it was 109 degrees today. OMG I cannot imagine what it must have been like in Vegas where it was 121. I remember my first Mini-Eliminator that I bowled in Vegas and it was only 110. LOL

We are just kicking back now after a swim and a cold shower.
Here are some pics of us at Shamrock RV. We will be here for 10 days. Now the bowling begins.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Wishing everyone a fun day on the 4th. Be safe out there. Reno is having a bunch of fires and the authorities are nervous about more fires that may result due to the fireworks tonight.

I don't think Eagle Lake is doing a fireworks show. Too dangerous. I am sure Susanville will be doing something but we do not want to drive back there today. So, this will be the first 4th in a very, very long time that we have not been at a fireworks show.

Trek to Susanville

Today we left around 11:30 to head to Susanville. It is 31 miles from Eagle Lake. It was good to travel the winding, downhill road so I could get a sense of what it was going to be like pulling the trailer to Reno on Thursday. After we got to Susanville we went to Wally World and picked up a few items that we needed. The store was packed and the aisles were really narrow. I thought I would never see a town that moved as slow as Roseburg does but I have now. Filled up with gas ($3.31 per gallon) so we could head straight to Reno with no stops. By the time we headed home it had warmed up to 94 degrees. So, we stopped at TCBY and picked up a couple of smoothies. Kristi got the multiberry and it was full of seeds. I am still picking them out of my teeth after she couldn't drink anymore.

Today's pictures are a little boring, but these are the only ones that I could find of interest. Since I work at a credit union and we are doing more and more express branches, I found a credit union branch at a strip mall. I stopped in and said hello and noticed that they were running digital signage technology at their teller counter. Our CUSO will be selling a similar product called "Flashcaster" very soon. I inquired as to the name of their product, but the tellers did not know. I wonder if Helen will let me write the trip off now as a business expense? Golden One Credit Union is based out of Sacramento and is the largest credit union in California. They have 74 branches, 679,000 members and have $6.3 billion dollars in assets. I wonder if they have an annual meeting?

For all of the "old farts" running around town, here is their McDonalds. Would you like to SUPERSIZE that order Ma'am? LOL

Drive around the lake

We just got back from a drive around the lake. There are some beautiful homes on the water on the south side. We are camped on the north side. Here are some pictures we took along the way. I still have a quarter of a tank of gas and hopefully that should get us to Susanville. Mostly downhill. It is a good thing because gas at the lodge is $3.89 per gallon. OUCH!!


These RV'ers are dry camping on the lake front. Not sure how they got them down in there, but they have great access to the water.


I had to slow way down as the "Beer" were busy crossing the road. Almost hit a heineken but slammed on the brakes to avoid the head of it.


I found my vacation home and it only needs a little paint. The property on the lake runs about $200,000.


This house was made out of rocks that I am sure they found on their property. With the price of real estate, who can afford lumber.


This is a wood carving of some fish that a property owner has at the base of the driveway as you enter their house. Very cool.

Walk to the lake

Just finished a two mile walk. Kristi has been walking everyday after work so she thought we should get a walk in. People must have thought we were crazy as it was very warm out and not as much breeze as there is at the campsite. Oh well, felt good to get the heart pumping and smell the frest mountain air. There were some awesome looking homes on the lake. Here is a picture of the lake. The color of the lake is really green and I have heard that the swells can get 3 to 5 feet in the evenings. Glad I didn't bring the inflatable boat to go out in. I was going to try and get some fishing in but decided against it. I didn't feel like getting up at the crack of dawn. Sleeping in feels really good. The lodge attendant said they are catching some fish, but at about 50 ft. in depth. The fishing really picks up in October when the water is a little cooler. The average size of the fish are between 3 and 5 pounds with some around 15 pounds. The trout are native to this lake only. Here is what I am talking about.


Here is a picture of some rentals that are on the lake. They are only about 550 sq. ft. and I think they run for about $100 per night. Most have hot tubs and satellite TV.

The trip begins

We started out Sunday morning and pulled out of the RV storage park at 9:30 a.m. Pretty good considering Jeff and Holli came over Saturday night for pitchers of margaritas and nachos. We got to K. Falls around 1:00 and had to stop for gas. I made a major mistake and did not check out the entrance and exits before I pulled to the pump. I am so used to pulling in my car for gas I forget I am pulling a trailer behind me. As I left the gas station I had to circle around the back and there was only one exit and it did not give me enough clearance to turn the trailer. I had to jump the curb to allow enough clearance to get the trailer to make the turn. What a moronic exit this was. Live and learn. I was wondering why I was the only trailer at the pumps. Add this one to the list of things to remember. We found some nice shade and had a sandwich before we headed on to Eagle Lake where we are staying until Thursday. We got to Eagle Lake around 4:30. When I went to check in, the lady at the reservation desk had changed our site number. I asked her why and she didn't know why that had happened. We had checked out the sites in April when we went to Reno for Nationals and had picked this site because we liked that it had lots of trees for shade and was real private. Well it all worked out and we got our original site and set up was super. I was able to pull through even though the site was rated as a backin.


Here are some pictures after we got all settled in.

Another new bowling ball (oops - I mean two new ones)

Well today I went down at lunch and had the first of two new balls drilled that I am taking to Reno. The first ball is replacing THE ONE that had cracked completely around the surface of the ball. Luckily, Ernie Backer at Strike City had one in stock that he was able to drill. I drilled it exactly like my ANGULAR ONE, which has been one of my go to balls. Ernie, thanks for bailing me out and getting these done on such short notice.

Tomorrow I will be going back to get the second new ball drilled. Rick Guined came down after a quick trip to Portland to lay out a Rico drilling on a TOTAL NV. Rick, thanks for all your help on laying out equipment for me. I really appreciate it.

I am really looking forward to throwing these two nuggets. I just love a new bowling ball and I will need all of the help I can get to help with the carry at the Stadium.

More surprises

Just when I thought it was safe to go to lunch I get another surprise. Helen and Pat had mentioned that they wanted to meet with me at noon to go over some items that was discussed at last weeks Board Meeting. When it came time to meet with them, I found out that there was more fun and excitement to be had. As I went out in the hallway I was greeted my none other than the OREGON DUCK. As you can see by the expression on my face, I was totally in shock. How cool was it to get the DUCK to visit you on your birthday. I got to hang out with the DUCK and high five each other and just goof around for a couple of minutes.
He then led me to the lunch room where there was still more to come. The lounge was full of employees, friends and family. They had gotten me a cake decorated like a membership card to AARP. That was way cool. It was such a nice surprise I really didn't know what to say. I just want to thank everyone involved who made my 50th birthday a very special day that I won't soon forget.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

What can I say. I was totally surprised when I came into work Wednesday morning. I thought I was going to make it through the week without having to endure the punishment of a 50th Birthday Bashing. But, to my amazement, my office had been totally remodeled. For starters, when I opened my door a cup full of confetti came crashing down on me. When I turned on the lights - you can see exactly what had been done. Black and green streamers as well as black and green balloons had taken over.

I had to low crawl to get to my desk. When I arrived at my desk I found that my chair had been removed and replaced with a wheelchair. I probably shouldn't say this, but it really was quite comfortable.
As I looked around the room I notice a BUNCH of sticky notes all over the place. My entire office decor had been labeled, as if I couldn't remember what the items were. As an example, you can see what the saying on my globe said. Some of the other items that had sticky notes on them were all of my pictures, books, stapler, phone, tape dispenser, chair, mouse, keyboard (you get the drift). It was totally hilarious.
All of this before I had my first cup of coffee. How was I going to make it through the day, let alone the next hour or so. Throughout the day, I would get lots of visitors looking at my office and laughing with astonishment. I felt really bad for the new cleaning service for our building. Confetti had made it down both hallways by the end of the day. As I was leaving my office for the night, I met the cleaning service supervisor and told her that I was sorry for making such a mess. She was very understanding and wished me a happy birthday.

The Schedule

Here is the schedule for this years event. I will have my scores posted by squad for all of you to look at. As soon as my squad has finished, I will post a scoresheet with the equipment that I used so you can see how well I bowled. I am on "C" squad on Monday, "A" squad on Tuesday and "B" squad on Wednesday.

2007 Tentative Schedule
Sunday, July 8 Sweeper side tournament at 2:30 p.m. Practice beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Monday, July 9 – Qualifying round 1 Squads at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m. (5-game block)

Tuesday, July 10 – Qualifying round 2 Squads at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m. (5-game block)

Wednesday, July 11 – Qualifying round 3 Squads at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m. (5-game block) After 15 games of qualifying the top 63 players join the defending champion in double-elimination match play.

Wednesday evening – Match play rounds 1 and 2. All 64 players bowl at 7:30 and 9 p.m.

Thursday, July 12 – Match play continues beginning at 9 a.m.

Friday, July 13 – Match play continues. Final four players determined for championship match at noon

Building My Arsenal

I will be working this week on deciding which equipment I will be taking with me. I don't want to bog the trailer down too much. Today I went in and talked with Ernie Backer about drilling a couple of new balls to take with me. My ONE has cracked and I would like to replace it before I leave. It is one of my favorite balls. Rick Guined will be laying out the Rico Drilling for a new Total NV that I want to drill as well. Nothing carries better than a new bowling ball. I will be saving these for the tournament.

Pre Tournament Thoughts

Well, it is a week away before I depart to Reno, Nevada to bowl in the USBC Senior Masters. I have been anticipating this event for a very long time. Not sure this is the first event that I should be bowling, it just happens to be the first tournament that I am eligible to bowl. I will be very nervous knowing that I will be competing against many bowlers who I grew up watching and admiring. I understand that it will be on very demanding lane conditions and that I should have put in more practice than I have over the last month since leagues have been over. I had a good year and have been bowling a PBA Experience League at Emerald Lanes trying to prepare myself for the tougher lane conditions that I will bowling on. I have a lesson scheduled for Sunday - July 8th with Mike Jasnau at the Bowling Stadium. I am looking forward to his critique and hope it gives me some things to work on and improve my game. After that I will jump into the Sweeper at 2:30 and then I am off to the practice session at 5:30. Well, I guess that is it for now. More updates to follow over the next couple of weeks.