Welcome to the Club!



Six weeks is too long a time between blog posts and two weeks is too long a time between bowling sessions.  The league had its first week of the second season yesterday and I feel as though I have carpal tunnel as I type this entry.  I was eagerly anticipating the re-start of the bowling season as I was able to get over 200 pins during the final game (complete with Tebowing) before the holiday break.  This was one of the life goals I had determined for myself after listening to the motivational speaker, Dan Thurmon.  It didn’t take long before my hope devolved into resignation, then into despair, and finally into “DAMMIT!”

Last night, we were able to win the first game, but got our collective asses handed to us in the second, and less so in the third.  The Gutter Snipes will start the second season with a 2 – 5 record; not a particularly strong start from our third place showing in the first half, just eight wins from first place, four from second, and 3 above fourth. 

This was just the first week of 15, so we have plenty of time.  I did get my named mentioned in the list of “High Game Handicap – Men” with a 275, so I’ve got THAT going for me.

The high-low range of games and series for me are 223 – 95 and 509 – 368.

Here is the recap of the last several weeks:

January 5, 2012

Game 1

X, 8-, S81, 9/, 9/, X, 9/, X, X, 8- = 168

Game 2

8-, 9-, 7-, 71, 8/, 18, 9-, 9/, X, S71 = 107

Game 3

9-, S62, X, S62, X, 8/, 9/, 9-, X, 7/9 = 149

Series Total:    424

Series Avg.:     141

Season Avg.:    143

Season Hdcp.:  51

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.