Jeff's Bachelor Party, Wedding, IBM Bowling Championships, and IBM Golf League!

Jeff's Bachelor Party:

Jeff's bachelor party was in Austin in January, the second time I've been to Austin for a bachelor party.  However, this time we stayed on Rainey Street (where we were closer to 6th Street for Chris's bachelor party).  The entire weekend was pretty much what I expected: lots of bars, lots of drinking.  When we arrived at our AirBNB apartment, we literally just walked across the street to a line of bars and started drinking, playing bags, ring toss, etc.

One of the highlights of this trip was finding quite possibly the best BBQ places  in Texas: Ironworks BBQ.  On the first day, I didn't know what to get, so I got a sampler of brisket and beef ribs.  The brisket is comparable to Rudy's, but man, those beef ribs were the best I've ever had.  We would end up going back the next day (them a 3rd time on Saturday; I tried to go Sunday before I left but they were closed).  If you're ever around Rainey Street in Austin, do yourself a favor and go to Ironworks and grab the 3-rib deal.  The mac 'n cheese was also phenomenal.

Everyday in Austin was drinking at the bars.  I consumed over 20 beers on Thursday alone, so on Friday I felt the need to switch to something other than beers, finding myself drinking Rainey Street Mules instead.  I proceeded to get very hammered that night, where we ended up on 6th Street eventually...a 10-minute walk from where we were staying.  Come Saturday, I was hurting and barely drank anything, even when we were at the strip club for over 4 hours.  I was glad to be going home on Sunday, because my liver and stomach just couldn't take anymore.  But alas, another great bachelor party for one of my oldest friendships.

Jeff and Ashley's Wedding in Tempe:

Jeff and Ashley got married the weekend of February 18th.  I drove up on Friday for the rehearsal and drinks at Dos Gringos.  I ended up crashing the entire weekend at Jeff's house, and in exchange for his humble hospitality, on Saturday morning I helped him move all of his wedding booze out of his backroom and into the kitchen for easier pickup by truck.  Some 20 bottles, cases of Kiltlifter, and High Life, so I was definitely getting a workout in.

Jeff and Ashley would later get married at the Eisendrath estate, where it ended up raining on their wedding day, but fortunately the tent situation was decent and it only rained during the ceremony.  We'd end up dancing away the rest of the night and eventually making it out to Gilligan's in Old Town Scottsdale.  The only thing I couldn't remember from that night is how I ended up with a huge gash down the center of my left hand's palm...  Anyway, congrats to Jeff and Ashley!  I'm really happy for them and was honored to be a part of their wedding party.

I've been trying to keep track of my wedding participation numbers, and I believe this was the 21st I've attended, 8th I've been in...so far.  Two more to come at the end of March and another in early April.

IBM Bowling Championships!

I haven't talked much about bowling this season, as it's been a rough year for me.  My average ended up about 17 pins lower than I have been the past several years.  I attributed a lot of my bad season to arm fatigue.  The Raytheon basketball season, playing golf once a week, it was starting to take a toll on my body.  Nonetheless, despite how bad I was bowling this year, we found ourselves in the Championship rolloff at the end of the season, which was just last Thursday!

As far as the rolloff goes, 4 teams compete and whoever has the highest total (scratch + handicaps) across the entire 3-game series at the end of the night, wins the championship!  In addition, there are prizes to whoever bowls the best handicap series for the night.  My teammate Chris ended up with a 614 scratch series and with his handicap, was the highest of the night.  Yours truly rolled a 607 series and took the 2nd highest handicap series.  With both of us bowling well, we were able to take the championship by about 30 pins and walk away with our 5th title in the last 8 years or so!  Woohoo!

While I'll miss bowling, I'm looking forward to the offseason and giving myself a little bit of rest...but not really, because up around the corner is...

IBM Golf League!

While the IBM Golf League has been around a while, it wasn't until last year that I really started getting into golf.  The league will be held Wednesdays starting next week and 20 teams of 2 are signed up.  We'll tee off every week around 3:30 on Wednesdays for 9 holes at Randolph golf course here in Tucson.  It's match play, but as a newbie, I still have a little to learn about the league rules and system.  Fortunately for me, there is a handicap, which I'll surely need! :)  I'm looking forward to another league, which will end around June.


So life is going well for me!  Lots of activities, friends, the usual business.  I know I haven't been blogging as much lately, but I will continue to try and keep it up about once a month.  Until next time!

Damn You Fox!

Tonight at the bar where I play pool league every Tuesday, they finally changed the Tuesday drink special... No longer will we enjoy $2 Snakebites (half Guinness on top of Angry Orchard).  Nope, they will now be $4...*sigh*.

I've done the math, and I actually think it's better to get a 22oz Snakebite for $5.75 with my All-Star Card "mug access" over the $4 14oz "pints".  I can understand why they no longer offer the special, they were probably losing profits on me drinking them out of house and home.   I always knew when this day would come, I just wanted to believe it never would.

C'est la vie, I guess things could be worse!

More blog content to come in March...lots of stuffs coming up this year already!

In Memory Of...

A forewarning for my readers today: this is a sad post upcoming.  If you're not in the mood to read about tragedy, then I ask that you come back another time, or later when I'm back to posting about positive content.

I'd like to take a moment to write about my friend Pamela who was involved in a terrible accident last month and did not survive.  Pamela is the wife of one of my best friends, Matt, and you may recognize their names from their blog that's linked on the right over there at Hesselblogger.  Ironically, it was Pamela who got either Matt or myself into blogging to begin with.

I don't really know where to start or what is appropriate to say.  I'm just going to start talking about my feelings.  I guess my goal is to reflect on the fond memories and amazing character that was Pamela, one of the most remarkable women anyone could ever have the pleasure of meeting.  Maybe someday Matt's kids will read this when they're older.

I met Pamela a couple years after I met Matt while I was attending the University of Arizona.  Matt is an attractive man, so it was no surprise that the girls he dated in college were also attractive, and Pamela was easily the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen him with.   I believe Matt started dating Pamela around our senior year of college and while it wasn't as serious yet, I remember her being around for some of the big parties my friends Richard, Justin, Shahruq, Sam, Chris, Eric, and Marty would throw.  It wasn't until after I graduated from the U of A that I learned Matt would be sticking around in Tucson at Raytheon, so we begun to hang out often, sharing in that brand-new after-college lifestyle.  Matt had been seriously dating Pamela for a while now, so I befriended Pamela and drew closer to the two as years passed in Tucson.

So many fun memories with both of them.  Going out to "the Risky Cactus for some Moon Business" and watching Pamela be selected as a winner of $100 in the DJ's picks for best dancers of the night. Countless nights of playing video games over at Matt's house or partying at Pamela's apartment.  It was Pamela that even got me into watching Grey's Anatomy, which I'm sure she had abandoned after the first few seasons but is still a show I watch to this very day.  Pamela also came up huge and would help drive me to physical therapy, months after I had surgery to repair the torn ACL in my right knee.  After a few years of watching Matt and Pamela together, I would joke about how perfect their relationship was and I was so proud and happy for Matt when he finally decided to marry her, making the best decision of his life.  I was honored to be a part of their wedding, which I still remember memorizing Frankie Valli's song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" to sing for Pamela at the reception.

It became a little more difficult to hang out with Matt and Pamela when they eventually moved to Phoenix, but since my parents live in Scottsdale, I'd still try and visit them occasionally throughout the year when I was in town.  Also memorable are the trip to Cabo they planned and invited me along, multiple wakeboarding weekends to Apache Lake, cabin trips to Payson, 2010 New Year's eve at Angels and Outlaws and 2012 in Las Vegas just a couple years later.  While we lived in different cities, our friendship remained just as strong by keeping in touch throughout the many years.  Matt and Pamela gave birth to two wonderful children: their first-born Ryan and their daughter Audrey a couple years later.  Honestly, there's only a few friends of mine who I can say I was truly jealous of their great life and family, which makes what comes next one of the most depressing things I've ever experienced.

On the night of Saturday, November 12th, I received a phone call from Jon, a mutual friend I met through Matt.  When he first told me the news, I was simply in shock.  I didn't believe it was true and kept saying out loud, "no way, this is not real."  Moments later, for the first time in about a decade, I cried for an hour, realizing that she just wasn't going to be around anymore.  I've been pretty fortunate in my lifetime so far, and up until this point, I've never been close to anyone who died early for unnatural reasons.

I got a chance after a couple days to see Matt while his kids were recuperating at the hospital.  Pamela came from a huge family and everyone was really helpful getting Matt through the process, spending time with Ryan and watching over Audrey.  I didn't really know how to help or what to do when I was there, I guess I just wanted to be there and to see him.

A couple weeks have passed and I hear that Ryan is doing much better, walking around and playing again, living like a normal 3-year-old should.  It seems like he'll be just fine.  Audrey has awakened from a coma and has been moved out of intensive care, but I still worry about her overall recovery, since she took a big blow to the head during the accident.  Matt remains hopeful, and fortunately for both kids, he is one of the strongest, most responsible, intelligent, and caring fathers anyone could ever have.  The kids will be alright...

In one dark moment, this family's life was completely changed forever.  It's depressing and no matter how I think about, it just sucks.  I guess my take-away from all of this, is that you really do need to appreciate the preciousness of life and the relationships you have with others, because who knows at what point any or all of that can be taken away from you in this world.

Rest in peace Pamela, you will be forever missed.

In loving memory of Pamela Anne (Kieran) Hesselbacher, 1985-2016.

Quick October Updates

Not a whole lot of excitement going on these days, so I'll just give some quick updates on my extracurriculars and routines. 

Mondays:

This year for Raytheon basketball we are 5-2 so far in the B league.  We had to forfeit a couple weeks ago when I was out traveling to Colorado Springs for SNIA.  Last week, we played shorthanded (5 guys made it, no subs) and lost to a very good team.  It's been harder this year than previous years as there are a lot of byes due to having 11 teams (so 1 team is always sitting each week), forfeits, and holiday schedules (like no games on Halloween today).  Regardless, it's fun to play with my fellow IBMers and we remain one of the teams (if not the team) to beat!

After basketball league, I sometimes go to Fox and the Hound to play 9-ball, since my team is still playing on Mondays.  I can usually get there by 8 or 9pm after my basketball game, so it's not too bad.  I just go straight from the Sporting Chance Center and play in my gym clothes.  Our team is doing alright and I'm currently 3-1 on the year.  Still a 4-speed in 9-ball. 

Tuesdays:

Still got 8-ball league on Tuesdays, also at Fox and the Hound.  Our team has struggled in recent sessions, but I've had a lot of roster changes to deal with and players moving up in skill.  We're currently in 3rd place this session and I'm 3-3 on the year.  Still a 5-speed in 8-ball. 

Wednesdays:

My one true "night off" of the week is Wednesday.  I have almost nothing ever planned on Wednesdays and will use this day to get in time at the gym or play video games.  Some games I've been playing recently are: Left 4 Dead on PC with some combination of Wes, Ryan, Tyler, Johnathan, and Beth; Division on PS4 with Jeff; or Dragon Quest Builders on PS4.  I still play Diablo 3 when the new season is out and I haven't been playing much StarCraft 2. 

Thursdays:

We're about 8 weeks into the bowling season.  We lost Tony this year (he's raising a new child), so we have two girls rotating weekly as our 4th player.  We are off to a slow start, as both myself and Chris are below our expected averages.  It's been hard to bowl big games this year for me, I wonder if all the additional extracurricular activities are affecting my game.  *shrug*  If I want to be a top athlete in all the sports I participate, I need to adjust and increase my endurance.  And I'm sure most of it is mental. 

Weekends:

Friday through Saturday have been pretty consistent for me.  I still find to hit the gym, go out with friends, and play a round or two of golf on one of the days.  There's NFL to watch on Sundays and the NBA season has also started!

Life is going well and I'm keeping busy.  No out-of-town trips planned for the rest of the year.  'Til next post, take care and thanks for stopping by!