February 27, 2010
Stick a fork in me... I'm done.
Not with the blog (but I do have to take some time off -- more on that in a bit), but with bowling... at least this season.
Turns out that my average has been dropping steadily this season not
just because I work the third shift, but because my flat feet can't
take things anymore. Knew of this all my life, but dealt with it as
best I could. Got to be where the pain was so unbearable that I
couldn't even make the approach to the line (and as my fellow league
bowlers on Frito's remember, can't even slide on two feet anymore).
So... gonna take the rest of the year off from kegling. Just had
injections done in each ankle plus a prescribed oral steroid (on top of
a heavy-duty anti-inflammatory). If that doesn't work, then I get
braces on each foot. After that... surgery.
Figures... when this happens, the USBC does a move like allowing
beverages at the USBC Open for the first time. We're not talking
water... REAL beverages (read: wait service). Theresa let me know of
this last week (Of course, my spam e-mail filter sends anything USBC to
the trash, so I didn't get it. And, since I can't navigate the "new"
usbc.com as easy as previous years, I hadn't a clue.) Bottom line for
the USBC? They need to finance their new digs (opinion of me, not
necessarily that of Towne & Country Lanes, Merrill, Lorraine, TJ,
Jerry, or even Cotie). Economy is in the tank, & they laid off a
portion of the staff in "World HQ" (but the facility HAD to be built
there, again opinion of me, not necessarily etc...) By the by, they're
also cutting back on some scale room stuff, particularly during the
minor events. Be warned... bowl a national honor score during minors
and your equipment will go under the microscope like you haven't seen
in 50 years.
Ok... The scores. Although they have been updated on the website for
each league, they aren't here. I apologize. Just need some time to get
a few things together. Two of them are my feet. (Wait, that didn't
sound good.) Plus, I'm off to Vegas for the annual ritual. Was
initially supposed to go to Reno, but the "fifth bowler that was
supposed to retire, unretired himself". Just as well, I won't be
letting my teammates down.
Well, I'm off to go pack. I probably will be doing something that is
certainly blogworthy (hope I lose any teeth this year), so perhaps I'll
jot down a few ideas and throw them your way in a future episode. Take
care everyone. Where's my ice, now?
/brian
PREVIOUSLY IN THE BLOG...
February 6, 2010
Did I ever mention how much I hate Windows Vista?
Had my report from last time, as promised, ready to be posted on this
fine bandwidth when you folks (the men, at least) got back from
Merrill's squad at State. (Hope all of ya did well.) Then, as I got
done, I decided to play an online game (Qix, the old arcade game from
the 80s or thereabouts). Played that sucker for a good three hours in
the wee AM last Sunday. Hand cramped from working the keyboard, I
decided to take a powder and quit.
Then the popups began. Not from Internet Explorer... but the
CALCULATOR! Had about 45 of them up at one point. Needless to say, I
got infected with a helluva virus. Eventually rolled back my computer
to sometime in the Bush administration to stop the carnage. Ultimately,
it also cost me my report (which was saved on hard drive but was lost
in the rollback -- something Windows claims shouldn't happen). Thanks,
Bill Gates!
As a result I am jumping ahead to the most previous week. Before I do
that, I do want to congratulate Jeff Hartlage for his 300 game in the
Thursday Businessmens League on January 21st.
Off to more current stuff. Because I got the league scores recently
updated, we're covering January 31st through February 5th. Again, my
sincere apologies for anything I missed because of my day job, computer
issues, or the creeping crud.
We'll start out with the "Couplings" section, hit the Youth Leagues,
then roll on down the entire week. First up: the Friday Night Mixed:
Lynda Schlitz 613/234, Shannon Hutchinson 545/201/116 over avg-series,
Mary Appenzellar 211, Bob Hutchinson 612, Gary Harvey 582/238, &
Gary Ranke 228. In the Saturday Bowling Bunch: Barb Wengel 468/188,
Kathy Tritz 449, Shannon Spencer 170, Gary Exner, Sr. 735/256/117 over
avg-series, Jim Wengel 650, & Steve Cramer 249. From the Saturday
Night Couples: Jenny Briggs 510/179, Jaclyn Salemi 438, Candy
Schweitzer 170, Dennis Laplant 595/224, Richard Brower 578, & Daryl
Salemi 223. In the Rockin' Rollers: Ellie Mack 504/180, Lori Melahn
472, Gail Vukodinovich 173, Dave Melahn 707/241, Dale Grampo 679/238,
& Ryan Pringle 237. In A League Of Our Own: Butch Liz Arterburn
484, Mandy Sekey 475/185, Johanna Kretschmer 177, Dale Arterburn
652/242, Ken Kretschmer 546, & Tom Bishop 212. From the Sunday Odd
Couples: Jane Dulisse 486/194, Millie Miller 466, Linda Gums 184, Josh
Basso 749/258, & Scott Bourassa 671/289. And, from the Sunday
Mooners: Karen Jannene 565/225, Anna Naber 500/186, Bob Meade 531/234,
Chad Held 531, & Bob Hoff 214.
The kids went nuts in the Thursday High School league (good thing,
since their big matches are coming up soon!): Taylor Melahn 617/223/155
over avg-series, Kim Brown 554/221, Katelyn Miller 208 (also 108 over
avg-series), Tyler Struebing 663/248/159 over avg-series, Cotie Holbek
655/276, Joey Dietz 233, Jordan Hintz 210, Eric Highes 205, Nick Gort
202, WIll Bourassa 200 (110 over avg-series), & Cody Lamarr 126
over avg-series.
Tyler Struebing (who started the day with an average in the mid-180s)
went full-blown GONZO nuts on Saturday in the Youth Majors, cranking
out a 280 game on his way to a national honor score of 803 (which is
also 96 pins over avg-game and a staggering 251 pins over series).
Congratulations, Tyler! Other tops in the Majors: Taylor Melahn
552/201, Katelyn Miller 527, Elizabeth Kramer 182, Cotie Holbek
671/266, Drew Liner 610/221, John Siboda 236, Teran Goldschmidt 234,
Jordan Hintz 226, Clayton Moss 211, Zak Ruff 203, & Joey Dietz 201.
Meanwhile, in the Preps: Rachel Briggs 645/138, Kelsi Harris 337,
Amanda McGrew 125, Tim Dunford 426/157, Kyle Foulke 412, & Zachary
Chernouski 154. And, in the Bantams: Marissa Piccolo 170/89, Ashton
Campbell 112/83, Russell Glessing 179/94, Jesse Stanosz 178/96, Joey
Skiba 90 game, & Matt Vandegenachte 88 game.
Off to the Adult leagues now. (Thanks for waiting patiently.) Starting
with Monday... in the ABC league: Lorraine Draper 462/158, Joanne Dames
410/153, Mike Engel 664/235/100 over avg-series, Bob Friend, Sr 595/115
over avg-series, Al Blum 215, & Merrill Draper 215. In the
Adult/Junior league: Elizabeth Kramer 454/155, Cheyenne Hill 321/119,
Cotie Holbek 724/269, Drew Liner 639/255, Trent Turzenski 116 over
avg-series, Carrie Bartz 451/157, & Kyle Ketterhagen 746/285/152
over avg-series. And, in the Majors: Brad Willis 743/270/104 over
avg-series, Dave Melahn 727/269, Fred Finster 718/264/100 over
avg-series, Chris Wagner 702, Adam Gebel 687, & Alec Cowan, Jr. 121
over avg-series.
Tuesday: From the Super Six: Wally Pelican 712/251/148 over avg-series,
Gene Shannon 645/233/117 over avg-series, Bob Hutchinson 236, Randy
Ludwig 235, & Jerry Smetana 232. From the Ladies' Social: Kristin
Stam 530/204 & Jackie Heilgenthal 518/191.And in the Ladies'
Industrial: Theresa Riemer 674/252, Dawn Geddes 665/235, Lynda Schlitz
648/227, Bonnie Schmidt 605/207, Lindsay Winkelman 223, Kristi Dangutis
& Mae Boeger 212 each, Millie Umnus 202, & Betty Wilson 201
(also 140 ovcer avg-series).
Wednesday: In Kaffee Klatche #1: Elaine Phelps 504/188, Barb Hintz
499/182, & Margaret Molle' 490/182. From Kaffee Klatche #2: Linda
Karow 532/210, Cori Wesolowski 192, & Jean Anderson 516/192. In the
Tri-B league: Brian Marzahl 705/258, Jim Steffens 678/255, Gary Exner,
Jr. 671/258, Norm Swanson 667, Gary Exner, Sr. 665, Jeff Hartlage
662/254, Larry Marzahl 661, Kerry Schafer 651/279, Kyle Keeker 268, Tim
Adams 256, & Willie Langford 111 pins over avg-series. Tops in the
Bowlettes: Beth Thode 647/235/149 over avg-series, Bonnie Schmidt
587/246, Tiffany Zeisse 587/223/107 over avg-series, Mary Niederer 221,
& Andrea Fay 205.
Thursday: Waking up with Frito's Thursday Morning: Lorraine Draper
587/223, Theresa Riemer 526/204, Norm Swanson 706, Todd Oswald 680, Ron
Kuchenbecker 654, Don Vandesand 652/256/112 over avg-series, &
Ronald White 242. From the Businessmen's: Al Zirbel 714, Kyle
Ketterhagen 685/279, Tim Cashmore 684, Sid Hess, Sr. (affectionally
known as Sonnyyyyyyy) 678/279/103 over avg-game/150 over avg/series
(now go buy a MegaMillions ticket already), Roger Peters 669/268,
Dennis Dunn 665, Kerry Schafer 663, Steven Gerth 651, Chris Hartlage
650, Chad Crayton 269, Dave Dreyer 265, & Andy Ross 254. Tops in
the Powder Puff league: Polly Burright 618/236, Melanie Slak 587/225,
& Karen Jannene 204. And, in the Gooseberries Classic: Lynda
Schlitz 592/202, Mike Miles 737/267, Randy Clark 689, Gene Toboyek 673,
Nathan Michalowski 659/267, & Jim Wengel 255.
Finally Friday: In the Jolly Seniors league: Marilyn Ligocki 507/198,
Beverly Tess 503, Shirley "Mrs. Lippy" Lipinski 502, Jean Andersen 203,
Gary Harvey 594/214, Jack Olson 577/209, Bob "Lippy" Lipinski 216, Don
Schrack 211, John Brensinger III. 203, Al Blum 201, & Kat Ken
Cramer 200. From the Mens Industrial: Greg Geddes 676, Kyle Keeker 642,
Don Nellen 256/115 over avg-series, Chuck Mayotte 247, & David
Heinz 119 over avg-series. Rounding things up for the week is the
Challenge league: Peggy Peterson 572/246, Tracy Weber 537/191, Jerry
Riemer 682/277 & Chris Hill 674/268.
That's all I can muster for this week. Talk at you folks next time. Good luck everyone!
Oh yes... a little buzzard (namely ME) discovered that those
handy-dandy links at the page top did not work right. They do now. I'm
gonna go sit in the corner until next time...
/Brian
