One Week Later

Movie quote from last blog post is from Aladdin by the way. Genie responds with that after hearing Aladdin tell him that he would wish him free after using his first two wishes.

Last Saturday the 19th, Henry and I had gone golfing at Sage Lakes. I had mentioned that he and I have no other side bets this year, just the dime a hole for the skins game. Well, I guess there is another bet I forgot to mention because of it's unlikeliness to happen very often. This bet being $5.00 per eagle if we are to in fact able to do succeed in such a task. He and I have never eagled a hole except for one time, he attained the score of eagle on a par 5 at Sand Creek

at the end of last year.

Henry had been golfing pretty bad up until this week, he had gone a couple of times on Friday and figured something out. I wasn't too worried and figured he still wouldn't be able to beat me. Boy was I wrong! I won the first hole, we tied the second hole so that dime is carried over to the next hole. Well, he putts in a birdie from like 40 feet from just off the green. Birdies count as double, not just for that given hole, but also any carried over from the previous. Thus he wins .40 on that one hole. That is fine, stuff like that happens from time to time. I had done the same thing to him like a week before. The next hole is where this day's events really starts. He hits a drive on number 4 and has about 110 yards left. I drove it inside of him, walk up to my ball to watch his next shot. He was off to the right of me. He hits a decent shot just left of the green and a bit short. Watching his ball in the air I figured he might be able to two putt and get par. Out of nowhere his ball takes a crazy bounce the opposite way it was headed, bounces a couple of more times, then eventually takes a dive into the hole. He scores an eagle, and I am down $5.60 on 4 holes. The skin itself is only worth .20, but the eagle is an extra $5.00. The day wears on and that is all he was able to muster from me as far as skins. He birdied another hole and won some skins, I birdied one hole and tied for the other skins. So, I lose the $5.60 on the day. His best score for 18 holes of golf previous to this day was an 8 over 78. My best score was (at the same course) 7 over 77. He ended up scoring a 76 and the best round between us! I didn't mind losing the money on the day, but to lose the best round score between us? That sucked. I was actually happy for him and I was a much better sport about the days events than I would have been last year. Why was I a better sport? Well, because I am golfing better this year and figured that I would win the money back and (hopefully) the best round before the end of the year. Good for you Henry!

That brings us to this last Friday. I was able to get in a nap before having to bowl our last night of league night for this year. We ended up taking first place on that league which of course we were all happy about. I go to work after bowling then we are set to golf at 9:15 the next morning. I was wicked tired from no sleep, but I love to golf and hadn't been for a week, so I still went of course. Our tee time was also pushed back to 9:45 because of frost. I par the first three holes, bogey the next two, par, bogey to be three over par after 7 holes. We arrive at the tee box on 8 which is a par 4. I hit a pretty good drive right down the middle of the fairway. Henry is up one skin and we have two carry overs up to this point. Henry hit his drive to the right behind some trees and was forced to pitch back out into the fairway. I knew if I didn't do anything stupid that I should win this hole and be ahead for skins. I had 140 to the pin and decided on 9 iron. Pin in the middle. I setup and told myself to clear my left side so the ball would travel the distance it was supposed to. I hadn't been clearing and was losing yardage all day. I hit the ball, and watching it in the air I knew that I wouldn't lose the hole. The ball was going directly at the pin. The ball never landed on the green! Barbara then says that the ball went in? I never heard a noise and the wind wasn't blowing hardly at all, so I just assumed that I hit the ball too far and it was over the green. I figured it was going to land on the green, but maybe I got a hold of it and it carried the green. The other three finally get to the green area and are still insisting that the ball is in the hole. I walk my bag to the side of the green and start toward the hole, just to check. I can see the edge of the hole as I am walking up and no sign of a ball maybe hitting directly at the cup and tearing up the hole a bit, so I still don't think that the ball is in the hole. I pear in and don't see it, but can only see the far edge, I lean over a bit more and the ball is in the hole! I score and eagle! $5.00 back to me. I honestly didn't think the ball was going to be in the hole, but of course I was hoping. The ball never made any noise, didn't tear up the edge of the cup, but dove directly in the hole and didn't bounce out! All three things just seemed to be a little too weird to find the ball in the cup! I was one over after 8 holes with that lucky eagle and off to my best round at Sand Creek ever. Which was kinda weird in it's own right because I had mentioned to Henry the week before that I only golf good at Sage Lakes. I have never scored anything close to decent at Sand Creek and for sure not Pinecrest. I bogeyed 9 which was pretty dumb, but was very pleased with a 38 (2 over par) on the front nonetheless.

Number 10 at Sand Creek is the hardest hole on the course. Trees left and right and it is en extremely long par 4. I hit my drive left and figured to be behind trees, it wasn't and my second shot was short left. I chipped up and drained an 8 footer for par. Yeah, I parred the toughest hole on the course. This is when I started to think about beating Henry's previous weeks best round ever of 6 over par. Hole 11 is a par 5 that is pretty easy to par. I hit my longest drive ever on the hole and hit my second shot on the green. I was putting for an eagle. I misread that putt, but knocked in a two footer for birdie. I was one over after 11 holes, my best start ever and it wasn't at Sage Lakes? I parred the next three holes and had a 15 footer for birdie on 15, but I three putted! Earlier before our first hole I was on the putting green and for some reason I couldn't get the speed down for putts that exact length? I hadn't thought about it until after hitting the first putt about 4 feet past the hole. Yikes, I am way fatigued by now and I have to hold it together for three more holes. I am two over with three holes to play. I should have the best round ever in the bag. I bogey the next hole after missing the green right. My drive on 17 goes right into the trees! I was able to barely have a swing and was able to muscle up a shot just short of the green. Chipped up and putted in another 8 footer for par. 3 over and one hole to go. As long as I did not get an 8 on the longest hole in the city I would beat Henry for best all round score. My swing had turned to crap and I wasn't comfortable at all. I was reverting back to my old swing for the last three holes and I knew that if anything went wrong an triple bogey 8 wouldn't be that far fetched. I hit my drive perfect, one shot down. Henry was about 20 yards behind me and mis-hit his three wood and had about 150 left to the green. I am for sure not comfortable with woods as you may have read from previous blogs, so I played it safe with a 4 iron. I hit it pretty chunky and ended up directly in front of Henry middle of the fairway. I had about 140 in, uphill and played an 8 iron. I bladed it, but it ran up on the green about 35 feet from the pin. I had a birdie putt and the best round ever. I shorted the birdie, missed the par putt left and shot a 4 over 76. Par for the course at Sand Creek is a 72, whereas par for Sage is a 70. Walking off the course with Barbara, Henry had already driven off to their vehicle in the golf kart, I inform Barbara that I just beat Henry for the best round ever. I wasn't too sure if I added everything correctly and knew Henry would have it added up by the time I got to the car. I was loading up when he asks "76, Jason"? I say if I added correctly that is what I came up with. Barbara chimes in with her question towards Henry at this point "Isn't that what you shot last week"? Henry confirms that our scores were indeed the same. Of course I let him know that his score was a 6 over par, and mine was a 4 over par, thus beating his best round by 2. I figured I would beat his best round ever, but I had no idea that I would better it the very next time out. I figured that I would win the $5.00 back. I didn't figure it to be by holing out on a par 4. I made $5.90 on the day, even though he tied my birdie by slopping in a birdie on the same hole. Thus, there wasn't double pay out for skins on that hole. It was a good week for him and a better following week for me! Congrats Henry, and sorry you couldn't bask in the glory of having the best round ever for more than a week!

Short Weekend

Today is my Friday for this week as I have a rotating schedule. I usually have 5 days off during this rotation, but I agreed to work this weekend for the other person who shares the same shift. I only have two days off this time, come back to work Friday and Saturday night, then I am off for another two nights. Poor me huh? I then work another three days after that, then my 5 days off is back on.
How is my mom doing? I have no clue, she won't call me, hint hint mom! The last I had heard was that she was going in for another biopsy in her other breast. Doctor's were concerned about a group of cells that showed in some scan and wanted to make sure it too wasn't cancerous. This was the Friday before last. They sent her on her way and afterwards she was going to have her third chemo installment. I guess her white cell count was too low so she wasn't going to be able to have chemo, upon getting ready to leave she notices that she is bleeding from her biopsy incision. Not a little, but a ton. I guess they didn't stitch her up properly or something and she ended up losing a lot of blood. I guess it was an amount that was just above needing a transfusion! Yet another great example of how our overpriced medical treatment is in this country! She of course doesn't blame the doctor's who stitched her up because they couldn't apply a certain kind of tape to the wound because it affects her skin, also she says that she might have been overdoing it? Well, it wasn't like you were doing aerobics mom, so it wasn't your fault. Okay enough of poor medical treatment before I completely blow up again. I guess she went home afterward and felt horrible and almost fainted a few times. Hmm... would it have been a bad thing to give her a transfusion if her blood was that low? Okay I really have to stop. I am guessing that she had her third chemo session this last Friday? I haven't heard from her, so I will try to hopefully get a hold of her today.
I have a few monthly goals as far as online poker is concerned. The last six months of the year is very unlikely and lofty, but the first six months isn't too bad. I was hoping to make a certain amount every month. The first two months I was hoping to make the same certain amount, then the next two months double that amount each month. Example; if I had made $5.00 in January and February, I would want to make $10.00 in both March and April. So on, and so on. Well, I have another goal to simply raise each website up $10.00 at a time. This latter goal is a much simpler goal, that will enable me to not try so hard. If a person tries too hard to win at poker he or she will most likely lose. Expecting too much too fast in any sport or game can cause a downfall, but probably more so in poker. This all brings us to this last week in online poker excursions.
I really hadn't played hardly at all this month, a little on Fulltilt to capitalize on a promotion they had going on. It earned me another $5 to play two tables at a time for like a half hour a day. I had to play 5 of the 10 days to earn $5. If you were to play all ten days straight they would give you $25 instead of only $5. I lost the chance to make the extra $20 because of the stupid state bowling championships. During the little 5 days of playing for about a half hour a day I made about $8 or so then they gave me the extra $5. So it was nice to profit from trying to take advantage of the promotion. My uncle Phil was able to get his 10 days straight in and earn himself the full $25, good for you Phil. This was basically all I played for this month until this last week. Every site was over $50 except for the dreaded Pokerstars. I used to hate Fulltilt the worst, but as of right now it has to be Pokerstars. I had a little over $44 dollars and wanted to get it up to $50 so I could play the other, much nicer sites. I played for 4 hours on the first day where I was down to almost $40 before making a small profit on the day, raising it up to $46. It was a discouraging day despite making a profit because of a few hands where people hit a couple of miracles on me. I played the very next day hoping that Pokerstars wouldn't allow the same miracles to happen against me. Well, it was way worse than the day before. I again dropped down to just above $40 and decided to call it quits after another 4 hours of play losing just under $3. Played again the next day lost about 70 cents before the internet decided to go down. How horrible of luck can I have? I play for over 8 hours and lose, only to have my internet go down? It could have been a blessing in disguise, because who knows I might have lost more had the internet not gone down. The other night I decided to play for a bit, in less than an hour I made $6 and called it quits while I was ahead. I could have made probably double that had I not been so skiddish from the two sessions previous. I played a few hands way too cautiously and only made the minimum from them. Had Pokerstars not treated me so badly the days previous I would have made maximum, but all is well I ended the day at about $47. Once I am close to getting to a decade mark it is easier for me to sum up the gumption to play. I only needed to win a little over $2 and I would be at $50. I waited an extra day to play again because I was tired and you never want to gamble when tired. Played for about 50 minutes and won almost $2.00 and decided to quit before Pokerstars pulled a fast one on me. As I have mentioned in the past, Pokerstars has been the only site that I have lost money on. I am currently making profit on Pokerstars again as of passing the $35 mark. If you were to think about it, how can I be a loser on one site? I have made over $2,000 on one site (Doylesroom), only made small profits on two others and lost on Pokerstars? I guess I am just lucky on one website huh? Get this though, I have probably over the last 5 or 6 years played twice as much on the other three sites than I have on Doylesroom. Like I have said in the past, online poker is rigged. It can still be beat, but I wouldn't put any of my own money back into the game. I play for 18 minutes on Pokerstars last night and finally, finally leaped over the $50.00 mark. Each site is now over %0 dollars. I might reach this months (monthly) goal, but unless I can spark up the desire to play more, the next two months and months following will come up way short. If I were to have that simple goal starting from $5 for January and February as mentioned above, I would still have to make $160 in both November and December which would give me a profit on the year of $630. That isn't bad at all, and I would be happy with that as a year ending result. My goal is only a bit higher, but cashing out is the worst temptation. It is just so hard to not cash out and buy a new bowling ball, or a birthday present for the wife or something at all. Once you have a little extra money you can always think of something to buy. The thing is that since all of my money isn't on just one website like in the past it is going to be harder for me to cash out. I don't really want to subscribe to another online bank website like Neteller again, because in the past they have tried to rip Sheri and I off. In the past Neteller had allowed something to go wrong and someone was able to take $900 from our account if I remember correctly, which was basically everything we had. Our bank was way nice and refunded our money and as it turns out Neteller actually lost
out on that money. Good thing too, because even after researching and finding out who hacked into our account they still never refunded the money. After cancelling Neteller and having nowhere for my profit to be transferred to, I was having to order a check from the website itself. This is fine but costs $10 per check. Thus if I were to cash out $100 it would cost me $110. I have over $200 online right now, each site is only at $50. Each site has a minimal amount of $50 to order a check, so I don't even have enough to order a check to be delivered because of the additional $10 charge to process a check. If I were to have all of my $200 on one site it would be tempting for me to cash out most of it and have that money in my pocket right now! That is the main reason why I don't feel that I would be able to reach the double profit every two months goal because money is money to me. The great poker players who are pros have all said that they don't think of it as money. There are millionaire kids online right now who earned their money from online poker, and I have no doubt that I am ten times better than they were when they first started playing. They were just able to turn off the (it's money) switch that I probably will never be able to.
I took Triton to the park yesterday to play on the toys. We were in the back yard on the trampoline and I decided he might have more fun at the park. It wasn't too busy when we arrived, but 45 minutes later it was pretty hectic. He is a crazy boy. I help him on on the toy the first time after he checks everything out from the ground. He couldn't find a place to get up because he of course walks to the biggest part of the playground equipment. He then goes down the steepest slide in the whole park. There are five different slides on this on toy and he slips down the steepest one. He finds a place that he thinks he can climb up after that. This being a plastic cargo net that is about 4 feet high and probably 90 degree incline the last couple of steps. I help him up and he goes down the tallest slide in the park, it is the corkscrew kind, but regardless he is fearless. He treks back to the cargo net and tries to climb up again, this time he
climbs a bit higher before he decides I can help him. I climb up with him this time to get a different camera angle and he heads for the cork screw slide again. He descends and heads for the cargo net again. I didn't really want to slide down the slide so I video him from the platform
above him as he walked toward the cargo net. He starts climbing as soon as he touches it, so I hurry down some other opening to help him. I make it down just in time to see him making his last push to the top of the cargo net. He catches on quick and doesn't slow down for anything once he has completed a certain task. Maybe that is why he walked at an early age? I guess as soon as he succeeds at a task the past failures exit his thought process. He slid down another steep slide and up the cargo net he went. I stood behind him in case he did slip, but up and away he went. I pushed him in a swing for a few minutes before we took a walk and I decided to leave. He was none too happy about leaving. He doesn't like ending an activity on anyone Else's time but his own.
On the days that I have had to work, I have been giving him a nap in the morning from 10:30 to 1:30 anywhere in there. Then Sheri returns home from work and I go to sleep from 5:00pm to almost 11:00 when I go to work. Thus, I get a short nap when Triton naps, then I get another short sleep before work and this is how it is during the weeks that I have to work. It wears on me and I am drained by the end of my work week. Well, this last week I have discovered that Triton will stay awake as long as possible. The day before yesterday he stayed awake until 2:00 and I put him down for a nap at 2:30 and I was able to basically sleep 7 and a half hours. I didn't sleep that long, but I could have. Yesterday I tried it again. I could see that he was getting pretty tired around 1:30, but he was okay as long as we were doing something together. I had not eaten so I had some chips and salsa so that woke him up enough before laying him down at 2:15. So, I might have discovered a way to give myself more sleep on the days that I have to work and therefore won't be drained so much at the end of my work week? Who knows? Here's to hopin' <--- movie quote quiz? Hint, it's an animated movie!

Sports

The NBA playoffs have begun and I love to watch basketball. Favorite team is the Jazz of course, but pro basketball all around is a blast to watch. Utah doesn't have a chance to beat the Lakers in round one, but they should squeeze out a game or two. Lakers aren't really that great this year, it is just the Jazz have no big men in the center to protect or rebound against Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum. It doesn't matter anyway, I don't think that the west is going to take the championship. I just don't think that the Lakers have the over the top package to take down the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James should capture his first MVP of the league this year, which is kind of funny if you think that Kobe Bryant just took his first after how many years in the league? Kobe is a great player and always has been, but once he grew up and didn't try to prove he was the best was when he was finally awarded the MVP honors.
This is true in any sport. The day that any great or even mediocre player drops the chip from on top of his or her shoulder is the day they grow. It is that day when everything will fall into place. If you were to watch golf, you would know of Sergio Garcia. You would know that he is a great player, a great player who will never win more than one or two majors in his lifetime. Why? The chip on his shoulder, he is always blaming someone, something or anything else for not winning. The day, if it were to ever happen, he stops whining and just plays the game and let's the game come to him is the day he breaks out of being a whiny wuss.
I used to be like Sergio when it came to bowling. I am not great by any means, but there was a time when I was way worse. Even when I thought I was good, I was not. Just before graduating high school I was in the adult leagues. Back in my time there wasn't much to be gained from junior bowling like there is today. There were not any scholorships to win, and no money for sure, that is why I joined adult leagues way before most youth now days. I wanted to win money. Well, during my first couple of years bowling adult leagues my average never really reached over a 185. I was always betting this one gentleman, who was on our team and it seemed that he would always have all the breaks. The pins would fall his way, and of course they wouldn't fall for me even when I was the better bowler. I probably really was a much better bowler than him at the time, it was just the chip on my shoulder wouldn't let me be that bowler. If you go into any competition with the mindset of losing, then you will find a way to lose. I don't know when or what happened but the day that I basically stopped letting the bad breaks get me down was the day that my average went up 20 or so pins. I can't remember if it was before or after this gentleman stopped bowling, but my highest average when betting him week to week was maybe a 188 shortly after he stopped bowling, or shortly after the chip on my should was gone my average went up to a 213. The 213 average was before the bowling funk have you. The day when I woke up and didn't know how to throw a ball. It was maybe like Space Jam when the aliens took all the pro basketball players talent? I of course would never be even close to them in bowling as far as their basketball talent, but it was similar nonetheless.
Point of this blog, I guess, is to not let the little things hinder you from enjoying the moment. Whether it is sports or a simple game of cards with the family, don't sweat the small stuff. Life is too short. You will never be who you want to be if you get wrapped up in how other's are playing the game. This is what is going on with me in poker. Over the last 5 years it has been how everyone else has been luckier than me. The chip on my shoulder is still there as far as poker, but I am trying to kick it. I always have been a winning player, but the day that I can grow and not let the luck boxes get to me is the day that I start winning a ton more. When that day comes, watch out!

MacGyver

An uneventful week really. Did, however find out when my cousin Brandon is going to be in town. Brandon, who is in the marines, is leaving Iraq and visiting us on his leave time next month on May 17th for three days. It is going to be great to see him again, he has never seen Triton except of course in pictures, and I have never met his wife. They are both coming to visit for a bit and then he will be off again.
Oh I guess I can update you on Triton's speech evaluation. Back in December, Triton's doctor suggested that we get him in to speech therapy at age two if he hasn't started spitting out three to five word sentences by that time. He is not quite two yet, but Sheri wanted to get him in early just in case it could help his advancement. We took him in last Tuesday and the first session is all about evaluation and seeing how far along he is or isn't. The lady visited with us and Triton, of course he was preoccupied with the toys that were in the room, she must have been okay with where he was because she said that she wasn't too concerned at this point. She said he was a bit behind, but nothing too drastic and too bring him back in six months to see how he is going then. So, you booger, you have six months to start spitting out new words. Basically one new word a day. She gave us some helpful hints on how to coax him into talking more, so hopefully that will do it.
Onto the MacGyver story. Yesterday, Sheri had a meeting to go to at church before our actual time to go to church. She left and Triton was being a jerk. He is hardly ever fussy when alone with me during the weekdays, and in the past after Sheri has taken care of him on the weekends he would regress and I would have to get him back on track Monday morning. This hasn't happened for quite sometime, and Mondays he has been pretty good. This weekend something must have happened, because Sunday morning he was being a fussy monkey. He is always way more fussy when around his mom, so I was hoping once she left for her meeting that he would settle down. He did not, so I decided to give him some alone time in his room to let him cool off. He is almost climbing out of his crib now, so we have been locking a gate in the door jam. If he climbs out of his crib fine, but his room is upstairs and I don't want him falling down the stairs. He can go downstairs just fine, but waking up all groggy I just don't want to chance it. I put him in his crib, locked the gate in place and decided to slam his door a bit to show him how unhappy I really was with his attitude. As I was shutting his door on top of locking the gate I had a small thought in my head, why am I closing his door? About fifteen minutes passed when I decided to save him from his prison. He stopped crying basically the moment his door shut, but I wanted him to cool off maybe get a short nap in before Sheri took him to church. I returned to open his door and discovered that it locked. I knew that he was in his still in his crib, and that the door must have been locked when I shut it. Triton hasn't yet climbed out of his crib, so there was no way to lure him over to the door to try to unlock it. I wondered if his window was locked, if it was unlocked I would be able to get in that way. I decided to try the old credit card through the door knob trick. I of course didn't use a credit card because the door jam/molding was in the way. I paused and thought of something that might work. I trucked downstairs and looked through my tool box and was delighted to find these small flexible blades that attach to a saw, they are about 14 inches long. I figured they would flex around the molding and I would be able to jimmy the lock and open the door. It wouldn't flex enough so that idea was flushed. I really didn't want to break the door or the handle in order to get in, so I thought of scaling the wall outside to see if his window was indeed unlocked. I decided to seperate the molding from the wall and get to the lock that way, it worked I was able to get the flexible blade in between the molding and the lock, but wasn't able to jimmy it enough. I never panicked, those who know me can believe that I hardly ever panic. Sheri did return home though and after a minute or two started up the stairs. I hurried to the top of the stairs to stop her. She asked what I was doing, and I told her not to worry about it and to go back downstairs. After she started back downstairs I informed her that Triton was locked in his room. I checked the lock on the door downstairs to see how to tackle the situation and found that I was trying to get the lock from the wrong side. For those who don't use a dead bolt on your home, you may want to start. After discovering how simple the problem was, I returned upstairs with a simple compact disc "CD". It literally took 3 seconds to break in after discovering how to attack the lock. Start using your dead bolts in your home, if you don't have one get one! His window was indeed locked so it was a good thing I hadn't tried that.
Even though it really wasn't my fault, I am figuring on catching some crap from family and friends for this one!

Finally

Well, today is my Friday and in two and a half hours my weekend will begin. Last week we learned how horrible a lane condition Burley's bowling alley has. I was excited to bowl league night on Friday. It was going to be on a lane condition that actually uses oil, it was going to be in my hometown, and it was going to be at the bowling alley that I grew up bowling at. Walking in the bowling center I learned that we were going to be on lanes 11 & 12! Yikes! Those lanes are the worst in the house. I have only bowled on good game on those lanes in my life, that being a 290. It was some 9 years ago maybe? Lanes 11 and 12 always seem to cause havoc. If you know anything about bowling, you know that hitting the pocket is the place to attack the pins. Well, it seems 11 and 12 do not understand this theory. To me, they have always left me with pocket 9 pins, pocket 8 pins and pocket splits. I knew for certain that I have never bowled a 700 series on those lanes and have been rewarded when bowling good.
Burley really upset me the week before. On the drive home I decided that I might not even want to bowl a league at all next year. This piece of crap bowling center in some po-dunk town forced me to doubt the joy that bowling sometimes brings. It made me doubt any hint of talent that I thought I had, and it also made me think that my new style of bowling wasn't going to work. So, back to hometown bowling and oil on the lanes. My first game was a 217, nothing too great, but over average on the worst pair in the house so I was pleased. Game two was a bit better, had an open after missing a ten pin, but managed to score a 245. The guy that I was bowling against on the other team was probably bowling his best all year, but was mad that I was winning. He wasn't expressing his displeasure to me, but I over heard him talking with his team about it. On this league (handicap) I had to beat him by 20 pins a game in order to capture a point for my team. The first game I beat him barely and the second game even though I bowled the 245 I had to strike all three in the tenth to beat him for he had already posted a 221. He struck in the first frame of the last game and I spared. I then overheard him tell his team that if he bowls a 300 I couldn't beat him. He fell way off the pace and I strung together 4 or 5 strikes and going into the tenth frame I needed a strike and a spare or a 9 spare and strike to get my first 700 series of the year. I struck my first ball and needed only 9 pins to get a 700. I needed 9 pins in two attempts of throwing the ball. I hit the pocket and left a ten pin, finally with three weeks left for this year's winter league I hit a 700. I picked the ten pin and hit a 239 for a 701 series. I had been close three other times before during this crappy year shooting a 694 and two other 697s. Friday night gave me hope that my new style might work, and maybe just maybe give me incentive on bowling another league next year. We will have to see how I feel after Nationals in July?

Escape From The House

The sun has finally melted just about all the winter snow in the valley. Triton has been trapped indoors all winter. This crazy spring weather has only allowed him 1 or 2 days outside for a short amount of time. Monday I decided while Triton was taking a nap that I would setup the trampoline. He had never been on a trampoline, so I was quite stoked to see his reaction. After he woke up from his nap I fed him like always and then dressed him to play outside. I setup the tramp and moved it to the back of the house where the sun won't beat down on it very much and hopefully where the neighborhood kids won't have enough guts to try to kill themselves on it. I knew that Triton would walk around the side of the house and I wanted get his reaction on film. He knows that there is still a bit of snow in the back yard, thus he would have to walk right by the trampoline to get there. I captured the little scenario on film, but he didn't even care about the trampoline? He saw it and walked right on past it, on his way to the snow. We still have a small pile of snow where the garage roof was shoveled off and the sun hasn't melted it all. He uses the pile of snow as a tee for his golf balls and tries to hit them with his golf clubs. I was disappointed that he paid the trampoline no attention, so I figured that if I showed him what it did then he would be excited to do it as well. I jumped a few times, but he made no sort of acknowledgement that he wanted to do the same. I then placed him on top of the trampoline, he wanted to take his golf club up with him, but I only allowed the golf ball to go with him. He played on it for only about a minute and decided that the snow was more fun. The video above was probably his third time playing on it. He thought that he was way cool or something, because just before this video when the camera wasn't on, he was half jumping/walking and then strutted over to me to give me a high five. We call it slapping hands. He will respond to that saying more than gimme 5. So, he does his little cool thing and slaps hands with me. I turned the camera on in hopes that he would do it again, and he did. He also gave the camera a kiss and if you can turn up the video loud enough he says "ah oh, spaghettios". He has only been saying "Ah Oh" for the past two weeks, so I became sick of hearing that a million times a day, so I started adding on the Spaghettios in hopes that he would learn more words and stop with the one saying. He did pickup on it, but of course cannot pronounce it, but it is way cute nonetheless.

Watched three movies this week, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Bedtime Stories and Yes Man. All were okay and rentable if you had the desire to do so? Bedtime Stories and Yes Man are classic Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey movies. Nothing special, but for sure not horrible either. Out of a ten I would rate them a 6. The Day The Earth Stood Still was better than I thought, because I had heard it sucked, but it too wasn't that bad. Somewhat short in length with the story line and content, but it wasn't terrible. It too is probably a 6. Triton really like Bedtime stories though. He usually only watches Little Einsteins or Sesame Street for more than 10 minutes at a time, but he watched probably the first 40 minutes of Bedtime Stories with me, gave up and became a bit fussy and finished watching the last 20 minutes again with me. So, Triton probably gave it an 8?

Bowling, not good...

Well, no 300 for me, high game was a 226 and averaged 190. Saturday I awoke just before my alarm. Of course I thought that I had slept in since I didn't wake up from the alarm itself, gotta love that feeling. I laid there, hadn't checked to see what time it was and a minute later the alarm chirped. I get ready, drive over and pick up Mikey J, and we are on the road by 6:15. It had snowed a bunch the day before and I was a bit worried about the roads. They were actually dry and we were able to maintain the speed limit until just about 30 miles before Burley. Then the roads were nothing but ice for maybe 10 of those remaining 30 miles. Speed dropped to 50 at times, and I thought I might have felt the car slide just a bit this one time, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure. We arrived at the bowling alley at about 8:15 and our other teammates pulled in just about 5 to 10 minutes later. Barbara (Uncle Henry's wife) asked if we had seen the wreck? Puzzled, I responded negatively. Come to find out there was a rollover that had happened with that little 5 to 10 minutes of time that we were ahead of them on the road! More scary! Mike gave me a little tap on the shoulder and issued his gratitude for delivering him to our destination safely.
So, back to the bowling. It was the worse lane conditions I can honestly say I have ever bowled on. It was as if they didn't even want to make the shot challenging like you see on TV. They just didn't put out a shot at all? There was no oil on the lanes at all. Obviously I am not going to be cashing a check from state. We drove back after finishing our 9 games (3 games for team, 3 games for doubles, and 3 more for singles) and arrived at home about 7:00pm.
Sunday, I decided to go golfing since Henry had a tee time. I have only been able to go once this year, so I jumped at the opportunity. I golfed like crap, couldn't really drive the ball all that well, and for sure couldn't putt, scored an 86 with 3 birdies and took $2.00 from Henry. I felt bad, beating him all but 3 of the 18 holes, because I guess he was sick the night before. After returning home from state championships, I guess Henry was throwing up. He thought that it was either food poisoning or the flu. I doubt that it was food poisoning, because we ate at Burger King and I had the same thing he had, but you never know I guess. I almost had my first ever eagle on number 9 at Sage Lakes, just didn't hit the putt hard enough and it stopped about 2 inches short of the hole, center cup! I felt like Phil Mickelson, because I had 5 three putts. The first putt on each of the 5 holes was longer than 5 feet, so I didn't mimic Phil in his exact style.
Okay, my turn to retaliate from my wife's one and only blog. Okay no retaliation, just an enhancement on the whole reading thing and my college English teacher's remarks. That is a funny story, and I am glad that Sheri brought it up so I can document it. I haven't finished college or anything like that, and didn't attend for many years after high school. When finally going back, I of course was scared of finding out that I was retarded. I am retarded, but that is besides the point. So, it was mid terms and in our English class, we had to meet with the professor one on one and talk with her about any concerns and find out how we were doing. I was doing well, either an A- or a B+, can't remember exactly. I do remember the meeting with the professor though. She wasn't concerned with my performance at all and gave me grade up to date, and that was all she basically had to say to me. She did ask me if I had any concerns or questions. I explained to her that I didn't know how to write! She had a bewildered look on her face and questioned my statement. I informed her that I didn't know how a sentence was formed, as many of you reading my blog can probably see. I told her that I understood basically what a verb is and maybe the subject of any given sentence, but I didn't understand anything else. I still don't understand and she wasn't any help at all. I mean, I go to college to hopefully learn something, and when I am thinking that I might learn something, I receive no help at all. She responded to my concern with the best statement/question ever. She says "you write so well, I don't understand how it can be that you don't understand anything, you must read a lot huh"? At the time, I might have read maybe a dozen books in my lifetime. I agreed with her, and she sent me on my way telling me it really doesn't matter if I didn't know anything as long as I keep writing the way I do! Sad, huh? I haven't read that many more books, since, but I do read a lot. I read a few blogs online. I read poker books/magazines, and other such periodicals, so it isn't like I can't read or don't want to. As a matter of fact about a year ago, my mom asked me if I had gone to the theater and seen The Ruins. I informed her that I hadn't and asked her why. She said that she had read the book and it was one of the most scary/gross books that she had ever read. My mom doesn't like gore at all, but like me relishes scary movies and books. The movie wasn't due out for video release for like another three weeks, so I drove to Barnes and Nobles to purchase the book. I read it within a week, so there, it isn't like I can't read. About the book and the movie, the book was of course better than the movie, but both sucked. I knew, while reading, the parts that grossed my mom out, but to me they were lame. I am pretty much immune to gore because of watching Saw and other such films. Had to tell my mom that she was a wanny after I read the book. She did finally watch the movie and said that it too was pretty gross, but nothing like the book. Thus, don't waste your time with either.
We took Triton swimming tonight and he was being a brat. He has been whining a lot lately if he doesn't get what he wants. He was cute though and actually started kicking his feet on his own for the first time.

Sheri "talking"

I guess it is about time I write something. The main reason I haven't written before is that Jason does such a good job with the blog and has time at work late at night to write. He had a college professor say to him, "You write really well, you must read a lot." To anyone who knows Jason very well might laugh at that, like we both did when he told me what the professor said, because he reads very little. Not that that is a bad thing. It just made us both laugh. He did very well in that class. He just has this way with writing. One of the talents he was blessed with. I think another reason he writes well is that he isn't a big talker unless you know him really well and even then at times he is quiet. His has always preferred to write when he can instead of talk.

One of the reasons I decided to write now is that for the second time since Jason started this blog he told something not exactly right that made me thing I should write to correct it if you will. It isn't actually a correction just that no two people are going to tell a story the exact same way. I don't remember what the first instance was but the second was in the spider story. He did a pretty good job telling the story for someone who wasn't there. It didn't happen exactly like that but you get the idea. There was one thing I felt I needed to rectify if you will. It is true that I hate spiders, but not all of them. Jumping spiders for example I have no problem with. I don't want them killed inside or outside the house because I have been told they aren't harmful to people yet are an enemy to the Hobo. It is just the know dangerous spiders that I despise and am fearful of, and the scary looking ones that I don't know if they are dangerous. I still wouldn't purposely touch any spider, but there are some I wouldn't freak out about if they happened to touch me or see them around.

On a different topic we are going to schedule Triton to see the speech therapist that his Doctor told us about. We waited because his doctor gave us the referral early as the wait time to get in can be long. And he had 6 months to make more progress from that appointment with the doctor. One of the things that could be a factor is that Triton isn't around other kids very often. Jason is able to watch him during the day. Which we felt had more advantages and why not if Jason is home anyway. He is saying a few more words than the last time Jason wrote about this topic, but he doesn't quite finish off pronouncing them. He is smart though, at least it seems like he is to us considering he isn't talking much and not saying any three word sentences. But he is our first and only child so we don't have anything to compare it to, so maybe other kids his age can talk and do these other things that make us feel he is smart. For instance he understands a lot of things that we say to him like, you need to go and put that back in the cupboard. That isn't the best example, but all I can't think of a better one right now. He also recognizes pictures of some animals. When reading a book and we turn to a page that has a dog or bird I will ask him where the animal is and he will point to it on his own. We aren't worried that he won't figure it out, he is just taking his time with it that is for sure and may need a little boost.

In other Triton news, he has been whining, fussing and crying a lot the last three evenings. The picture above is a little snipet of that. Not sure what is going on with him, but I am having one of those parent moments of this needs to end. Part of it may be that his eye teeth are coming in. They broke thru at least a week ago, but they may just be tender right now?? He will be two in June so maybe it is just the onset of the terrible twos as the saying goes. One thing he does that is way cute, is when he says, "No, no, no" as he shakes his finger. I know at some point this will change, but for now it makes me smile every time he says it.

I think he is ready for winter and cold weather to be over; as are a lot of people in this area. He loves playing outside and when a lot of the snow melted he started trying to get to the front yard. And the few days he got to play outside so far has definitely fueled that desire. The weather for next week looks promising right now. I am crossing my fingers.

Well that's all for now. Not sure when I will write again, but you can count on hearing from Jason soon.

Time For Bowling

Well, hate to say it but, Seven Pounds too was a disappointment. Will Smith was of course great, but the movie promotes something that I don't agree with. Those of you who have seen it will agree with me on my opinion. Can't tell you what it promotes because it would give away the ending. It really wasn't that much of a mystery either. I had seen an interview on some show with Rosario Dawson and she said that it was mysterious in the first hour of the movie and by the end everything is wrapped up. Well, hate to tell you but the beginning gives away the end?? I just don't know if scripts now days are underestimating the intelligence of the American audience, but nothing is a mystery anymore. The last movie that actually sparked some sort of thought was The Prestige.
Sheri and I debated back and forth about whether or not Christian Bale's 2 parts in the movie were him as a twin or a clone? I thought that he was a clone, because his twin didn't have a part in the beginning of the movie. Also when his twin/clone was buried alive and Christian was forced to give Hugh his secret of the illusion, he gave the name Tesla. Hugh's character then tracks down Tesla, and that is when he discovers Tesla invented and made the machine that clones animals, objects and people. Sheri's argument which is a valid one is why would Christian's character surprised when Hugh is able to pull off the same illusion after visiting with Tesla? I still don't understand the premise of that movie?
As for Seven Pounds, you really don't need to waste the time or the money. I just don't understand why people say a movie has a surprise ending? It ruins a movie for those who are going to see it, by first telling them to expect the unexpected, second by having them look for what the mystery of the movie is instead of just letting them enjoy the movie itself! Seven Pounds wouldn't have been any more entertaining or any more of a mystery had I not watched that interview with Dawson, so I wasn't bothered by seeing her interview at all. I don't usually care for Rosario Dawson as an actress either, but she was pretty good in this film.
Today is Friday and it is my last day of work for a few days. I am off at 8:00 in the morning, get to go home and take care of Triton, he will maybe give me a two hour nap from 11:00 to 1:00. Go to the doctor for a visit/checkup at 2:30, hope to then get a nap before league bowling tonight at 7:00. Go to sleep after bowling. Wake up at 6:00 and drive to Burley to bowl from 9:00am until probably 4:00pm and drive back home. Going to be a busy next couple of days. Just hoping to get in enough rest to bowl good. Usually after my last day of work I am drained after catching up on sleep, so hopefully I will not get too much sleep that it drains me? Next blog will hopefully indicate that I bowled a 300? Yeah right, I am on to a new style of bowling that is going to make me more consistent, I am just hoping the pins fall if I am as consistent as I hope to be. As many of you know I have bowled 2 perfect games in my life, but those of you may not know that for almost 4 years my ability to bowl good left me. Honestly, it is the weirdest thing! I watched a program about professional athletes who just wake up one day and can't perform. This is what it felt like. Example might be, I can't remember his name, but there was this great baseball player who woke up one day and wasn't able to throw the ball to first base. This happened to me with bowling, I woke up and wasn't able to throw the ball correctly. It was
after I married Sheri, dang women anyway, right? Just kidding, I am sure it was a combination of a couple things. One being that I woke up one day and had a crinked neck, I bowled anyway, and it messed up my timing. Reason number to was having someone else drill my ball. I had a local gentleman drill up a new bowling ball, and he threw in his two cents about drilling the ball this new way I tried it and hated it. So, with those two things my average went from a 216 to 175! I was so mad this one day after bowling horribly in this tournament that I almost threw my 300 ring out of my car window while driving. Those 3 1/2 to 4 years of bowling like that sucked so bad. It finally started coming back within the last couple years, but there are those nights that I feel that I don't have a clue. Hoping this new style is going to click and I can be much more consistent.

This Week At The Movies

I just finished watching two movies that were released on video this week. Slumdog Millionaire and Marley and Me. Let's start with Marley and Me, it was okay, really nothing special. You would think it to be a cute movie about a dog right? It really wasn't, it was basically about life, and that just seems boring to me? It is a good movie for young teens to watch. Young teens in love who think that life is going to be a cake walk just because they are in love...cough my brother Zack and his fiancee Elaine...cough. Excuse me there, heehee... Just kidding, Zack isn't that way. I know that even though he hasn't graduated high school yet, he knows what he is in store for. He is aware of how cruel life can be, he has had to take care of my dad for heck sakes.

Slumdog Millionaire was a great movie. It was superbly filmed and the story was terrific, but it too lacked something. Why it won picture of the year has to be the fact that people are looking for hope, and this is what this film offers a ton of hope. I guess with a lack of movies to compete with ought to be the real reason it won picture of the year. Nothing really stood out this year in movies, aside from Ironman or Black Knight, but how often do big money making movies win? Titanic has to be the last movie was a huge blockbuster that won best picture right? Slumdog Millionaire was a good movie, don't get me wrong, it just didn't wow me? The story and the directing was the best part of the movie. I love movies, and I have grown to look at a movie through the eyes of the director. I admire the way a movie is filmed, camera angles, sounds, music etc. Thus, movies that a lot of people hate, I think are great simply from a directing point of view. If Slumdog Millionaire won best picture of the year for that, then great, it probably was the best picture of the year.

Another movie was released yesterday, and it is a movie that I have been wanting to see for some time now. We rarely make it to a movie, the wife and I, so we are forced to wait for their release on DVD. This next movie is one that I of course wanted to see in theaters, but wasn't able to escape to see it. It is Seven Pounds with Will Smith. I am hoping to view that today and am hoping not to be disappointed with it. Not sure if I will get in trouble for soliciting, but if you ever want to check on a movie to see if it is appropriate for your children, or even sometimes yourself, visit kidsinmind.com. It will tell you ratings on violence, sexual content, and profanity. It even counts out the number of certain three and four letter words in the entire film.

On a more heavy topic, my mother went in for her 1st round of chemo this last Friday. She had a tube installed so that she might be fed the chemo week to week. She is also taking pills and with all that happened on Friday I didn't hear from her until an email on Monday. I called her Sunday to see how she was doing and no answer, called her Monday again and no answer. I then receive this email that says this chemo and/or pills she is taking caused her much irritability, so it might have been a good thing she didn't call. I do not want to have to argue and yell at sick person!! Joking of course, sorry mom that you were grumpy butt! You can call anytime, maybe call just to have us put Triton in front of the web cam, he might be able to cheer up a grandma who isn't feeling well. We love you and hope you are feeling better as the week goes on.