Bowling for Hollahs!

Obviously, I haven’t been on the grid as much as I would like, so I’m a little behind in my bowling updates.  I can’t say there was anything remarkable the last few weeks, just a solid showing between the high and low game scores I have had this season.  The team itself has been doing very well, holding a strong third place for the first half.  If all the players can pick up their games just a little, we can make a push to the top.

October 13, 2011

Game 1

X, 72, 7/, 7-, S72, 9-, X, X, S72, XXX = 155

Game 2

S72, 8-, 8-, 9/, 9/, S81, S8-, X, X, X8- = 155

Game 3

6/, 62, 8/, X, 8/, 9-, 9/, X. 7-, 9- = 145

Series Total:    455

Series Avg.:     151

Season Avg.:    138

Season Hdcp:   55

October 20, 2011 (4 Year Wedding Anniversary!)

Game 1

5-, 63, 9/, 7-, 9-, 9/, 8/, 81, 81, S8/9 = 120

Game 2

8/, 8/, 8-, X, 8/, S8-, X, 8/, X, 8/X = 170

Game 3

X, 7/, 8/, 9-, 8-, 7-, 9-, 8-, X, 8- = 124

Series Total:    414

Series Avg.:     138

Season Avg.:    138

Season Hdcp:   55

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 11-06-11

The thought occurred to me that the stock market is a lot like a car driving on a damp road in the winter.  It appears to make cautious progress then BAM!  It hits a patch of black ice and fishtails while overcorrecting.  Oddly enough, I use the same language in both situations.

Even though I no longer have a position in Boston Beer (SAM), I like to keep tabs on it.  Imagine my surprise when I saw the stock price went up over $12 a share to close at $99.01.  I had to grit my teeth as I thought of the missed opportunity, but remembered the stock was at around this price this time last year and the last 52-weeks were a roller coaster.  Plus, the stock doesn’t pay any dividends.

Polaris (PII) announced its next quarterly payout (good), but it was half of the previous dividend before the stock split (bad).  I made a comment on other stock post about how I wished I took my analysis of the stock a step further and bought 20 more shares than I did.  These additional shares would only have helped me if the dividend stayed at $.45 a share.  So, I wasn’t as smart as I thought or could have been.

However, Polaris reached a new 52-week high and I was about $1600 in the black for only owning the stock for 60 trading days.  In order for me to get a full share every quarter I would need to buy an additional 193 shares; and at $64.61 per Friday’s close, that’s a whopping $12K+ investment.  I’ll have to be satisfied with my 1/3 of a share on November 15.

The Forecast Calls for Locusts and Toads: A Photospective

I was going to title this blog post something more poetic like “Summer’s Lament,” but I thought, “where’s the snark in that?”  This picture was taken on September 22, the final day of summer, and the season ended as drearily as it began.  The next day was the autumnal equinox, but the signs of fall were already showing.  The leaves had started to lose their luster by changing their greenish hue from gold to brown, effectively lighting the wick to their final fireworks display.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love autumn, October being my favorite month of the year, but the feeling is always bittersweet when you know the summer has come and gone.

I’m hoping this fall will be the start of more pleasant and tolerable weather, since the previous three seasons were a parade of misery.  Minnesota was lucky enough not to have suffered much from tornadoes, drought, heat waves, wild fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes like many areas of the country, New England especially; but we did have our own special dose of suffering.

The start of the year was a carryover from the frequent snow storms we had at the beginning of winter in 2010.  On many occasions I would say this would be the winter that would kill me or make me stronger.  There were times when I was in the middle of shoveling snow hills like the hump of Moby Dick that I was sure my heart would give out.  Fortunately, our neighbor had a snow blower and a generous spirit and plowed much of our driveway and front walk.  What remained was still daunting and had to be shoveled repeatedly.

John Lackey and the Red Sox Post Mortem

Before John Lackey was relegated to the permanent disabled list for 2012 with Tommy John surgery, I was hoping he would be traded to the Twins.  Not that I think he is the crafty veteran the Twins pitching staff needs as a leader, but I was imagining I could have a dozen or so home starts to show Lackey what I think of him.  My plan was to bring a half dozen signs, sit as close as possible behind the Twins dugout and be in his line of sight each time he came off the field.

1^st Inning – “Hey, Lackey!  Wanna beer?”

2^nd Inning – “Was that last pitch a spitball or chicken grease?”

3^rd Inning – “Lackey is named ‘Hoss’ cuz of his teeth.”

4^th Inning – “Lackey’s Ex survived 2 cancers:  breast & clubhouse”

5^th Inning – “I Hate John Lackey.” (I need to think of something more clever)

6^th Inning – “Made 6 signs cuz Lackey can’t go 7.”

Extra (when Gardenhire pulls Lackey after 5 1/3) – “See?  I told you!”

Obviously, there has been a never-ending stream of what the Red Sox need to do to improve the team for next year.  There have been more bad ideas than good, like blowing up the team and starting fresh or trading away prospects like Ryan Kalish and Will Middlebrooks for more established players.  I believe team chemistry stems from playing together for a long time.  Players who knew each other in the minors can reconnect in the majors and that builds unity.  One of the problems of the 2011 team was there were too many new parts.  However, I agree there are some players that need to go away.  After the jump, I give my take on many of the players on the roster.

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 10-12-11



Today marks the second full year of having my Dirty Dozen IRA account with Sharebuilder.  All in all, I’m pleased with the progress of my portfolio, but there are still changes I would like to make.  I will probably make my next moves tomorrow, or Day 1 of my third year with the portfolio.

Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) announced its next quarterly dividend with additional good news.  They will be increasing the dividend payout by $.01 a share.  The ex-dividend date is 10/28/11 and the pay date is 11/15/11.  Factoring in the shares I could receive with reinvestment, this equates to over $5.00 in additional dividend revenue over the next four quarters.  The stock has performed well since the announcement and reached the best profit level since I first purchased shares mid-January of this year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) continues to see its stock price increase and achieves new 52-week High prices just about every other day.  If the stock price can keep from growing by $.95 by November 1, I will receive another full share and have another $.33 in cushion for the next quarter.  If the stock continues to grow like it is, I won’t be able to get a full share every quarter, which really isn’t a bad thing in the long-term.

In other good news, Mattel (MAT) reached its highest profit level in the near full year I have owned the stock.  Similarly, Polaris Industries (PII) has reached its highest profit level.  A. Schulman Inc. (SHLM) has also achieved its highest profit level, but only since the August retool.

Asshole Driver 001

This is a picture of an inappropriate bubble blower I saw in Las Vegas, but I had an idea to put the image to good use.  I'm going to print about a dozen of these and keep them in my glove compartment.  Every insensitive jerk who has parked across two spaces or whips past me to take a spot in a parking lot will get one of these tucked under his windshield wiper.

What made me think of this was a run-in I had with an asshole driver, who, surprisingly, was not sporting a Wisconsin license plate.  I had turned onto the street pictured below and was heading toward the highway.

As you can see, the street is a simple two lane road, the area by the curbs designated for parking.  On the right side of the picture, there are some warehouses and the curb sides are used to unload flatbeds.  There were no trucks or cars parked on that day I can tell you!

I looked into my rear view mirror and saw a cherry red blur whip out of sight.  Fortunately, I was able to get a second look as a mini-van sped past me - on my right!  It was like he was using the shoulder to pass me on a highway.  My shock lasted mere moments as I laid into my horn and flipped the offender the bird through the windshield.

Results Were Mixed

I had a very slow start to my bowling play the other night.  Like a pitcher who can’t get a good feel on the ball to throw his off-speed pitches, I couldn’t seem to find the right angle to throw my hook.  I left a lot of slop on the right side of the lanes and had the hardest time cleaning it up.  I was able to get three marks through 17 frames before going to Plan B, which had me go back to my roots and throw a straight ball.  I was able to set a new single game high score for the season in the third game.

Handicap at start of play:  59

Game 1

9 -,S8 -, 8 1, 0 7, 7 2, X, 9 -, 7 2, 8 -, 8 1 = a bag of shit (95)

Game 2

9 -, 9 -, 8 /, X, 9 -, 9 -, S8 1, X, X, 9 / 8 = 151

Game 3

9 /, 8 1, 9 /, 8 -, X, X, X, 7 -, 8 /, X 8 / = 174

Series Total:  420

Series Avg.:  140

Season Avg.:  135

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 10-08-11

For someone who claimed he wouldn't recommend people follow his stock market advice, I’m certainly speaking a lot about it of late.  I like the system I’ve worked out from the couple years of study and trial and error and I like patting myself on the back.

I acted on the tactic I spelled out a couple weeks ago regarding selling a portion of my A. Schulman (SHLM) stake to purchase more shares of Paychex (PAYX).  I sold more shares of the former and purchased less than the latter so that I could get the proper position of a new dividend stock.  I’ve abandoned my plans to repurchase shares of Boston Beer (SAM) as I am more focused on collecting dividends.  Plus, SAM suffers from a roller coaster of price fluctuations that is hard to stomach.  I was able to find a small cap stock that filled in my First Month of Quarter dividend group (M1Q).  I now have four stocks for each month of the quarter.

Hot Topic, Inc. (HOTT) is a specialty retailer for teenager clothing.  I asked my daughter about the store and she turned up her nose.  Hot Topic seems to have a lot of clothes for the Emo/Skater demographic.  Be that as it may, the dividend is $.07 per share and the minimum shares I needed to cover the 52-week High price were 125.  The ex-dividend date is 10/14/11 and the dividend payout will be on 10/31/11.  I sold 70 shares of SHLM, purchased 20 of PAYX, and used the remainder for HOTT.  My moves improved my estimated yearly dividends by almost $20. 

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