Bowling Championships and Southwest Challenge!

Bowling Championships:

Last Thursday was championship night for the IBM Bowling League.  Since the format of the final night changed from 2 teams to 4 teams a few years ago, our team has not won the league.  The new format features 4 of the 8 teams all bowling against each other in a battle of total pin-count across 3 games.  Obviously, heads up is easier to win since you only have to be better than 1 other team on a given night.

We bowled pretty well through two games, but another team was just bowling better.  We found ourselves down by 91 pins to that team and ourselves well ahead of the other 2 teams.  So basically we needed to make up those pins in the final game to win it all.  A couple of HUGE performances from Matt (220 with a 157 average) and Chris (240 with a 190 average) really helped and we found ourselves winning total pins by 22 pins!  And so we've finally made it back to the champions' pedestal, our 4th championship in about 8 years of bowling.

Once we wrapped up the victory, I drove my way to Las Vegas to get ready for the APA 8-Ball Southwest Challenge.  I made the decision to bowl first then leave, instead of missing bowling altogether.  That turned out to be a key decision since had I not shown up, our team would've had -30 from me missing the night and we would've lost by 8 pins.  In other words, staying to bowl and leaving Tucson late was totally worth it!

Southwest Challenge:

Chris and I arrived at the Riviera in Las Vegas at 4:30am on Friday morning.  Tyler had gotten in around midnight, so fortunately he was able to check us in early in the morning at 7am (yeah, fuck that shit) and attend the players' meeting for us at 8:30am.  We also got lucky, receiving a first round bye and not having to play our first match until 2pm as opposed to 9am.  Chris and I were able to salvage some valuable extra hours of sleep before hitting up an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant for lunch before our 2pm match.

For our first match, we played a team from San Bernardino.  Their 3 beat our 5 (Chris) and Tyler (a skill level 4) lost to a 7.  Fortunately, Southwest Challenge is a single-elimination modified tournament, which means you are guaranteed to play at least 2 matches.  Our next match came at 5:30pm against a team from San Diego.  I (a skill level 4) beat a 5 to lead things off and Chris beat a 4 to send us to the next round for Saturday!  We made it to day 2!  However, we also had to play next at 8am in the morning... (yeah, fuck that shit).

Friday night was fairly low key since we had to be up early.  Chris, Tyler, Tyler's girlfriend Tina, and I walked down to the Palazzo to do some gambling.  The whole night we kept our Cereal Killer shirts on and got several comments and questions...almost too many LOL.  Chris and I played some blackjack back at the Riviera and called it a night around 1am.

I manned up and woke up at 7am to go to our 8am match against a team from Las Vegas.  Tyler lead things off against a 5 but lost, and unfortunately I didn't play well enough to beat a 4.  We were hence eliminated from the tournament and had we just this one match, we would've finished in the money (around $50 for each of us).  Oh well, it was still a lot of fun and I would surely go again!

The rest of the time in Vegas was just partying it up.  It was Tina's 30th birthday and the U of A Wildcats beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.  We pretty much drank all day and eventually made our way out to Fremont street.  The rest of the night was a little bit of a blur as we kept the drinking going on and I actually forgot to eat dinner.  Whoops!

And so ended a fun weekend in Vegas.  As I've gotten older, I'm enjoying traveling more when it's for competition.  It gives you a reason to travel to another city as opposed to just wandering around and sight-seeing.  With that said, the USBC Open Championships will be in a couple weeks in El Paso come early April.  Traveling is also more fun with better comradeship.  Who you go with can really make the trip more enjoyable.

So far 2015 is off to a great start, and it's gonna be a great year!

Clutch Performance!

Thursday night was the final week of the regular season for IBM Bowling League.  Our team had not qualified for the playoffs yet and we were tied for 1st place on the 8-week session. The goal was simple, win 3 out of 4 points against the other team tied with us and we secure a playoffs spot.  In addition, I personally needed a 634 series in order to lock up a 190+ average on the season.

Game 1:
Game 1 was close the whole way through.  I found myself up with a spare going into the 10th frame and our team down by 17 pins.  I threw a good ball that left all but the 10-pin and we had won game 1!  I closed out with a 224.
Score: 1-0

Game 2:
Unfortunately, we got destroyed in game 2, as all of their bowlers bowled well above their average.  It was not looking good anymore.  They had won game 2 and we found ourselves down by 105 total pins.
Score: 1-1

Game 3:
Our season basically came down to this.  Bowl our minds out or go home losers.  The bowling gods must have been shining down on us this night, as Tony bowled a 225, Chris bowled a 249, and I bowled a 268.  We ended up winning game 3 by over 150 pins and thus secured the 3-1 victory!
Score: 3-1

I finished the night with a career best 686 series and it couldn't have come at a better time!  Our team will be playing in the playoffs next on championship night, a chance to get back to the winner's pedestal that we've been missing out for the last couple years!

To make matters a little interesting, championship night of bowling also happens to fall on the same day that Chris, Tyler, and myself need to go to Las Vegas for the 8-Ball Southwest Challenge.  In other words, if I want to do both, I'll have to bowl Thursday night and drive straight to Las Vegas immediately afterwards, which would get me in Las Vegas around 4am in the morning, LOL.  This may be one of my greatest challenges to Make It Happen...wish me luck!

In other news...

You might recall that I recently purchased a 70" HDTV.  This forced the 55" into my bedroom and I no longer needed my 46".  I ended up donating my 46" Sharp Aquos to my parents, who have been stuck on 32" and 34" CRTs for the past 9 years since I've owned this HDTV I gave them.  LOL.  Needless to say, they are quite happy with HD programming.

New DX Racer Chair!

I really enjoy my computer gaming, and as a gamer who will sit in gaming sessions for a few hours at a time, I started to notice my arms and shoulders getting more sore and tired over time.  Perhaps it's just me getting old, but I do believe in ergonomics and being as comfortable as possible, especially when you're staying seated for a while.

So one day I was watching another StarCraft player's stream and noticed his chair and an advertisement for a DX Racer chair.  I did some more research and discovered that many StarCraft players use these chairs, and they're used in professional tournaments around the world.  I currently was using a generic executive chair from like Office Depot, so it made more sense that I should get a chair made specifically for gamers.

I ended up purchasing the M-Series OH/MY07/NR, because it was one of the few models that offered adjustable arm rests and the ability to lock the seat in a rocked position.  I also lucked out because while I was patiently researching their chairs and deciding which one to get since I couldn't try them out in person, they changed their website and offered a 10% discount on all chairs.  Since the chair runs for about $450, this saved me $45!

 

So far I am very happy with my purchase.  The chair is very comfortable and the adjustable arm rests make it so that my arms don't feel uncomfortable when resting on the keyboard on my high desk.  I will say that the only con has been that the arm rests aren't as soft as my old ones, but you can easily add padding to it if you wanted it to be softer.  The adjustable arm rests can go in and out, forward and back, and up and down, so there's a lot of flexibility in finding the perfect position.

And as you can see, Duncan approves.  In fact, he loves it so much that if I even get up to go to the bathroom, he'll jack my seat!

January Updates

No main theme for today's post, I simply wanted to update everyone on what's going on in the life of Andy at the moment.

I last blogged about doing the Palineo diet and I stuck with the change for the beginning part of the year.  I don't purchase any pastas/grains when I go to the grocery store and am eating more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.  I haven't noticed a decrease in weight but it certainly has not gone up either.  We'll continue to keep tabs on my weight as time passes, but for now it's still hovering around 183 lbs.

I'm still doing my usual leagues.  My team won the fall session in pool league and our big money tournament will be in just a couple Saturdays.  We've already qualified for City in the summer, so we'll simply be playing for a chance to win ourselves $1,000.  Along the lines of pool, I'm planning on attending the 8-Ball Southwest Challenge in Las Vegas come March, which is a 3-person per team tournament at the Riviera and can last up to 3 days.

Bowling is reaching the last trimester (there are three 8-week sessions where the winners of each and one wildcard team will play in a 4-team playoff on championship night).  Our team has not fared well the first two sessions.  3 of our 4 players including myself have peaked, so there's not much bonus pins in addition to our handicap.  We also were without a 4th player for a good majority of the first session.  Nonetheless, I feel like I am getting used to the new ball I bought for this season.  My average still sits at around 191, so I'll be looking to finish strong so that we can try and have a chance to play for the championship.  In addition, I've entered the USBC Open Championship for 2015 and will be going to El Paso in early April.

After Hours Gaming League has started and IBM is off to a nice 2-0 start.  I was hesitant to return as captain of the team, knowing we lost 5 of our 7 players from the A-team.  No one else wanted to take over as captain, so instead of letting IBM's team die, I decided to return for another year.  Our expectations certainly won't be as high this season, but I'm still hoping we can be a decent team.  There will be more pressure on my shoulders to do well, so hopefully I don't let the team down.

January was an expensive month for me.  I not only maxed out my Roth IRA's contribution (now entering its 7th year), but I also booked a flight to Osaka, Japan for April and purchased a 70" Sharp Aquos, just in time for my Super Bowl party.

It's a good thing I'm still single.  It makes it easier to afford these not-so-cheap luxuries...