I Shat the Bed



I shouldn’t be so hard on myself (The Wifey thinks that’s one of my biggest flaws).  I had a very strong start to my first game, but choked in the eighth frame.  Once I did, I couldn’t find my groove again.  I did get over 100 in each game, but the results were touch and go through much of them.  Before start of play last night, my handicap sat at 60 pins.

Game 1

9 /, 7 /, 8 /, 9 /, X, X, 8/, 7 -, 8 /, 7 2 = 172

Mood:  YEA . . . awww!

Game 2

8 1, 5 4, 9 /, 7 -, 7 -, X, S8 -, X, 5 1, 9 / 6 = 113

Mood:  WTfffffffff!

Game 3

S8 1, 7 1, 9 -, X, S6 1, X, 0 8, 7 /, 9 -, 6 / 9 = 123

Mood:  Whatev!

Series Total:  408

Series Avg.:  136

Season Avg.:  134

Handicap:  Competitive without the ability

Let's Get Ready to Rrrrrrrrum-Bowl!

The new season of the McQuay mixed bowling league started a couple weeks ago, and this time I’m a permanent member of the team, not a substitute or alternate.  We were allowed to rename the team and I suggested “Gutter Snipes,” which was agreed by the others.  My contributions to the team just continue to grow!  Here are my results for the last three weeks, including last night.

Week 1

Game 1 – 131

Game 2 – 129

Game 3 – 152

Series Total – 412

Series Avg.– 137

Season Avg. – 137

Week 2

Game 1 – 137

Game 2 – 108

Game 3 – 123

Series Total – 368

Series Avg. – 123

Season Avg. – 130

Week 3

Game 1 – 159

Game 2 – 141

Game 3 – 122

Series Total – 422

Series Avg. – 140

Season Avg. - 133

Oh, the (work)places you will go!





One of my ideas for a book was a collection of stories from my work experiences.  I have had several jobs in the course of my “professional” life and with each one there is at least one good story to tell, whether it was funny, disheartening, or shocking.  I was thinking of one such story related to a temp job I had in Minnesota and that lead me to review all of the jobs I had since moving here.

I moved to Minnesota in October 1995 (next month being the 16^th anniversary of my arrival – I have a better anniversary to celebrate in October that deserves its own blog post), and I have had 15 different means of employment.  I held a couple of the jobs in conjunction with other positions, but I’m still amazed at the number.  I’m averaging a new job every 13 months; and considering I held one job for 7+ years, the other nine years must have been spent struggling to find my “work self.”

The map above shows places where I have worked and each spot is numbered in chronological order. The red dots are full-time employment; the blue ones are temporary jobs; and the greens are second, part-time jobs.  You will find there are only 14 dots.  The green “3-6” is the Southdale Mall where I had two part-time jobs at different times.  I numbered the green dots to coincide with when I held a more permanent position.

After the jump, I will provide a brief summary of each job below with the expectation I will regale you with tales of woe (or “whoa!”) as I create a series of World of Work blog posts.  This should be a lot of fun as I have no shortage of material.

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 09-20-11

Not much to update here. 


Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) reached a new 52-week High of $31.64 to close at $31.49.  Also, they announced the next quarterly dividend payout for November 1.


Xcel Energy (XEL) also reached a new 52-new High of $25.59 to close at $25.25, which is a little more than a dollar below the dividend payout I will receive at the end of October.

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 09-16-11

Two stocks reached new 52-week High prices and Pedro Jiminez (played by Trini Lopez in the movie and Boston Beer Company in my portfolio) has broken his neck during the jump.

Hershey Company (HSY) had a new intra-day, 52-week High price of $59.85 and closed at $59.42.  I’m less than $.30 away from my December dividends matching the closing price.  Thank goodness I received that full share yesterday.  I’m tracking a new price level; this one rounding my fractional shares to a full share.  If Hershey doesn’t squirt higher than $63.75 by December, my total position will be a round number and another full dividend.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) reached a new 52-week High with the closing price of $30.53.  I’m essentially 10 shares above where I need to be to receive a full share in reinvestment, so I have a good cushion until I’m paid in November.

Due to some personal expenses, I decided to sell my stake in Boston Beer Company (SAM).  I won’t take the full amount in a disbursement and will have some free cash in my portfolio.  After I make some moves at the end of October, I hope I can purchase a smaller stake in this stock again.

One item I didn’t discuss in my previous post about stocks was the ex-dividend date.  For the uninitiated, the ex-dividend date is the date you need to purchase a stock by in order to be eligible for the dividend.  If you sell the stock after this date, you will still receive the dividend.  This is how I received one or two shares of a couple stocks after the huge retooling last month.

My plan is to sell 50 shares of A. Schulman, Inc. (SHLM) after its ex-dividend date and purchase 25 shares of Paychex (PAYX) before its ex-dividend date.  I have about a week between the two dates.   This will give me more cushion as the closing price approaches the dividend payout and my total dividend income remains the same.  There should be some funds leftover that I can add to what’s left of the SAM selloff to repurchase some shares.

Blackjack, Stock Market, now Poker?! I may have a problem.



My recent post about investments made me think of another one of my forays into gambling – gambling.  Specifically, Texas Hold’em poker.  I tried (pushed) my luck in a local satellite tournament for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) back in April of this year.

I had the narrative already written in my head as I traveled south toward Treasure Island Resort & Casino in the ironically named Welch, MN.  The Cinderella story, coming out of nowhere, suffering through the effects of the flu and denied the chance to practice when the DOJ shut down the US operations of PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com to win a spot at the Main Event in Las Vegas. 

A couple years ago, I had attended an annual sales meeting and the award dinner entertainment was a motivational speaker named Dan Thurmon.  Through the course of my professional career, I have attended several business meetings and have endured the bromides of just as many hired speakers, but I really enjoyed Dan Thurmon’s presentation.  One of his calls to action was to write down a list of everything you want to do in your life, no matter how seemingly impossible they are to achieve.  His point is, once you create your list, you will then start to develop ways to accomplish those goals. 

I imagine my boss thought I established goals like “grow sales by 20 percent” or “close a million dollar deal” or “win 'Distribution Manager of the Year' award," but I wrote down “bowl over 200 in a game” and “get under 100 in a round of golf” and “do stand-up comedy during open mike night.”  One other goal I had was to participate in a WSOP tournament in Vegas.  When I saw Treasure Island had a satellite tournament, I thought it would be my opportunity.

Real Men of Genius

Voiceover (singing):  Real Men of Genius!

Announcer:  Today we salute you, Mr. Two Day Propane Grill Builder

Voiceover (singing):  Mr. Two Day Propane Grill Builder!

Announcer:  After several months of your box of grill parts sitting in the garage, your wife hints heavily she would like to cook outside once before summer ends.

Voiceover (singing):  You can’t put her off forever.

Announcer:  That empty feeling in your gut isn’t the anticipation of grilled burgers, steaks, and salmon.  It’s the realization the instruction manual is the size of a phone book.

Voiceover:  Your story will be better without exaggerations!

Announcer:  After two hours of sweat-soaked effort, you decide to stop for the day once you realize the left and right leg brackets are assembled on the wrong side.  You go from Step 10 back to Step 6.

Voiceover (singing):  It’s like playing a game of ‘Chutes and Ladders!’

Announcer:  After four hours over two days in 90 degree heat with 70 percent humidity and damaging only one part in an expletive-filled tirade, you finally have a working propane grill.  At least, you hope it’s working.

Voiceover (singing):  Better have the wife use it first.

Announcer:  Go ahead and crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Fix-It .  Then you can decide how you are going to get that broken light bulb out of the socket without hurting yourself. 

Voiceover (singing):  Mr. Two Day Propane Grill Builder.

Investing in The Dirty Dozen

I nicknamed my portfolio “The Dirty Dozen” for the 12 stocks in which I have invested.  I don’t want to go any larger than that because it wouldn’t fit well into the spreadsheet I created.  Eleven of the stocks pay dividends, which were selected based on when the dividends are paid so that I would have some income every month.  The twelfth is a nod to my New England roots and favorite beer, Sam Adams, from Boston Beer Company (SAM).

I’m a dilettante when it comes to investing and I wouldn’t insist people follow my advice.  In fact, I have another spreadsheet titled “Stupid Investor” that I bring with me when we visit our accountant every April.  I first got involved in stocks through a Sharebuilder account.  I haven’t tried any of the other online trading Web sites, but I like Sharebuilder and have stayed with it for the last couple years. 

My first big purchase was in shares of Oshkosh Truck (OSK) after the stock lost about 66% of its value in a day.  OSK was a customer of Ziegenbein Associates, the company I was working for, and I knew it was doing a lot of work with military vehicles and had subsidiaries that built fire trucks, emergency vehicles, and refuse vehicles.  I was pretty sure the stock would come back again, and after a while it did.  When I finally sold all my shares, I made about $1,600.

I have recently inactivated that account, but had opened a second one after receiving my pension and profit sharing check when I was laid off from Ziegenbein Associates in July 2009.  I steadily improved my analytics of stocks to create a strategy with which I’m comfortable.  With the recent havoc of the debt ceiling debates in July and August, I had an opportunity to retool my portfolio.