Saturday, November 12, 2011

Worst. Bowling. Ever.


Not for me personally.  I didn’t have too bad a series.  But the events surrounding the outing caused me some consternation. I was the only regular on the team to show up; the others needed subs and one of those was a noob.  I was responsible for the captain’s duties, including changing the names and handicaps on the scoreboard and collecting the weekly fees.  The newbie was the only sub to show up on time.  I had to pull another one out of the bar once league play started and the third arrived just as I was planning on updating the scoreboard with her absence.
Adding to the turmoil was the rather impatient elderly woman on the other team.  She was already in high dudgeon as half my team were still putting on their shoes at the start of Game 1 and she spent the rest of the evening directing people to “just go up and bowl” or we risked “being here all night.”  It didn’t help that the ball return on the lanes we played would frequently fail to return balls.  So, we weren’t at the lanes all night, but we were the last teams to finish.
Unsurprisingly, my nerves were frayed to the point where I was intolerant to the behaviors of the players around me.  In short, people were annoying the hell out of me.  One such player was on another team to the right of us.  I will call him ‘Bob’ to protect his anonymity . . . What?  Bob won’t read this?  Okay, his real name is Steve (still not his real name) . . . and he works in the Corporate Credit/Accounting department, so he already lacks some social graces.  Bob-Steve looks like an 80’s adult movie actor, complete with porn-stache, and has a reputation of skeezing on some of the younger female co-workers.  We had a recent college grad on the Parts Accounting team and Bob-Steve would often visit our end of the building, which is on the complete opposite side from his cubicle location.  I don’t remember ever seeing him on my side of the building in the first 18 or so months I worked there before the college grad was hired, and haven’t seen him since she quit this summer.  You do the math.


Winter is Coming


I wandered far afield for lunch the other day, driving around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet.  All the signs of late fall were showing, the trees bare, and the Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board had made their preparations for the winter.
The Tin Fish has been shuttered.
Sail boats pulled from the lakes.
Ride Share bikes gathered for storage.
The fountains drained and boarded.
And the Rose Garden put to bed.


It’s not all bad as the holidays are coming and so is the first snow fall.  When it comes, the three of us are going to Beard Plaisance to go sledding; a hill second only to Beachland Park from my hometown for a downhill run.  I think we should buy new toboggans to commemorate the occasion. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Asshole Driver 002


It was at this intersection a few blocks east of downtown Minneapolis that I had a run-in with an asshole driver that made me think of having a bunch of photo copies of the bubble blowing toy in my glove comparment to put on careless drivers' windshields.

As you can see by the sign I circled, the right hand lane is for going through the intersection or turning right.  The left lane is to make a left turn.  On the day in question, I was behind a car in the right lane.  There was an SUV with Kansas plates in the left lane.  I had a feeling the Kansas driver was going to go straight when the light turned green, and I was correct.  I didn't take offense as I have made the same mistake, and at this very light.

What really pissed me off, was the red, late 90's Jeep Cherokee that sped past both me and the car in front of me in the left lane, traveled 20 yards in the left turn lane of THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC (no cars were coming at the time), and dodged in front of the car in front of me.

The Jeep was able to make it through the next light at Hennepin Avenue and I thought I missed my opportunity to glare menacingly at the driver.  When the light changed in my favor, I turned into some slow traffic on the Hennepin Avenue bridge.  As I made my slow progress to the 'Nordeast' section of Minneapolis, I saw the red Jeep in the far left lane.  Unfortunately, I was in the far right lane with a third lane in between.  I kept the Jeep in sight as we crawled a couple blocks.  Then he turned into the parking lot of Surdyk's, a gourmet wine, beer, and cheese store.  If I had my printed pictures handy, I could have gone around the block and put one under his windshield.

You won this round, red Jeep Cherokee asshole!

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

Sunday, November 6, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

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.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

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.
1st Inning – “Hey, Lackey!  Wanna beer?”
2nd Inning – “Was that last pitch a spitball or chicken grease?”
3rd Inning – “Lackey is named ‘Hoss’ cuz of his teeth.”
4th Inning – “Lackey’s Ex survived 2 cancers:  breast & clubhouse”
5th Inning – “I Hate John Lackey.” (I need to think of something more clever)
6th 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.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

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.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

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