Supplies for the ride

So, I just got back from Osco. I had to grab some supplies for the train ride. You are allowed to take alcohol on with you. Well, I called an audible. I was looking at the vast array of bottles on the wall and saw that seagrams was only $10.99 for 750ml and it came in a plastic bottle. I was sold. Even Jim Beam is $14.99. It was too much of a difference for me in price to go with anything else.

So, below is the list of items I bought:

-750 ml of Seagrams
- 2 liter of Diet 7 up
- 1 liter bottle of water
- 1 liter of grape propel
- two small bags of cashews
- one large bag of beef jerkey
- one pack of gum
- three different meal replacement bars
- one small bottle of hand sanitizer

I think I am ready to roll!

A few details of my trip

Below are the stops, time of arrival and departure and miles between stops.

Train Stops:

Chicago, IL (CHI) - 3:15 pm DP- Mile 0 (like Key West)
Naperville, IL (NPV) - 3:50 pm AR - Mile 28
Mendota, IL (MDT) - 4:39 pm AR - Mile 83
Princeton, IL (PCT) - 5:01 pm AR - Mile 104
Galesburg, IL (GBB) - 5:53 pm AR - Mile 162
Fort Madison, IA (FMD) - 6:57 pm AR - Mile 220
La Plata, MO (LAP) - 8:06 pm AR - Mile 298
Kansas City, MO (KCY) - 10:11 pm AR - 10:55 pm DP - Mile 437
Lawrence, KS (LRC) - 12:32 am AR - Mile 477
Topeka, KS (TOP) - 1:09 am AR - Mile 503
Newton, KS (NEW) - 3:25 am AR - Mile 638
Hutchinson, KS (HUT) - 4:00 am AR- Mile 671
Dodge City, KS (DDG) - 6:00 am AR - Mile 782
Garden City, KS (GCK) - 6:45 am AR - Mile 832
Lamar, CO (LMR) - 7:06 am AR (New time zone…8:06 CT) - Mile 932
La Junta, CO (LAJ) - 8:15 am AR - 8:30 DP - Mile 985
Trinidad, CO (TRI) - 9:50 am AR - Mile 1066
Raton, NM (RAT) - 10: 56 am AR - Mile 1089
Las Vegas - (New Mexico), NM (LSV) - 12:38 pm AR - Mile 1200
Lamy, NM (LMY) - 2:24 pm AR - Mile 1265
Albuquerque, NM (ABQ) - 3:55 pm AR - Mile 1332

Have a great weekend.

All aboard!

Happy leap year day everyone! Today, I jump on an Amtrak train headed for Albuquerque. Yes, I am taking a long train ride for the first time in my life. The train is scheduled to take 25 hours and 40 minutes. Luckily, they let you bring your own "supplies" on.

A few random thoughts before I head on my journey.

1. I am bummed that I did not get to pre-bowl for Sunday. I went there last night and all the lanes were being used. They did not have open lanes until after 10 pm.
2. The US postal service shocked the world yesterday and delivered something EARLY! I have my 2008 Baseball prospectus book to read on the train. YESSSSSSSS!
3. It will be between 50 and 60 for the three days I am there. Should I have packed shorts or jeans?
4. What should I buy for the train? Beam? Jack? Makers? I still have not made a decision.
5. I am super excited to ride the train and thankful that I am flying back.
6. I can not wait to play some cards!

A final note. I plan on keeping a live journal of the train ride. I am not going to edit it at all and I am afraid I will have to write some of it old school with a pen and paper (not too many plugs on a train). Look for it this weekend. Uncensored, unedited consciousness of thoughts...this does not seem like a good idea.

The Shield

If you have never seen the Shield or do not watch the Shield, well, quite frankly, what the hell is wrong with you? The Shield is just an amazing show that was a trend setter. If you ever get the chance, the re-runs are on Spike. Well, the last 13 episodes ever will run this year on FX. They were supposed to air in March but thanks to the writers' strike, they will not run until September (even though they have all been filmed).

Here is my source.

This makes me very sad. My Vic Mackey fix can not wait this long!!!!

Also, I have the first four seasons on DVD if you interested in picking up the show.

Rocky movies

Okay, new poll! Which Rocky movie is your favorite? I will even add a option of not liking the Rocky movies...trust me there are people out there that do not like the Rocky movies. I know. It sounds crazy. I want everyone to vote!

I, myself, am going to have a tough time figuring out which one I like the best. I do not want to sway votes so I am just going to vote. Enjoy!

Edit: I totally left out Rocky Balboa in my poll. You can not change a poll once the voting has started. So, if you want to vote for Rocky Balboa...i have no idea why you would...i added another poll. Sorry about that!

484 - SWEEEEEEEEP!

Tuesday night league is a money league and as of last night we are in 2nd place. At the end of the night, we are now within two points of first place. What made it a good night is that I totally saved us and almost killed us the last game!

So, I started off in practice on fire. First ball I was tapped and picked up the ten. The next five were strikes. So the first game starts off with a spare...of course. I was throwing the ball well. I actually had a 107 in the 5th frame. My first open was in the 7th and then 8th. I ended the game with a 182. It should have been better. I missed the 5 pin in the 7th. We won that game by about 50 pins.

The second game was a disaster for me. I was struggling but not like Sunday. Actually Sunday's debacle really kept me from stessing...nothing could be that bad. I opened five times though and ended with a 132. Luckily, one of the guys on the team started with the first 7 and rolled a 247. We won this game by 130 pins.

The last game I was just missing but was not losing focus. I had a 60 in the 6th and we were down about 30 pins. Well, I ended up with a 170. I spared the 7th frame and proceeded to throw five strikes in a row. Did that feel good! I haven't done that in MONTHS! It was huge too. We were down about 10 pins when I bowled in the 10th frame. We won by 30.

Thursday I am pre-bowling for the Sunday night league. Hopefully, I can keep improving. I made a few changes to my game last night.

1/6th (16.67%) of your goals

We are four days away from being 61 days into the year. That puts us at 1/6th of the year. A lot of people start off the year with goals for the year. If these goals are linear (like mine), you should be 1/6th of the way there!

Five movies guys must see!

Mike and Mike this morning were discussing movies that all guys must see. There are many angles here that you can go. You could be talking sports, comedies, action, etc. I thought about this and the first movie that came to me was Cool Hand Luke. So, I think this would be my list of five. Please leave comments if you wish to put your list on there.

In no particular order...

1. Cool Hand Luke (Newman at his best)
2. Animal House (Ultimate college movie)
3. Dirty Harry or A Fistful of Dollars (Clint Eastwood movies must be on this list)
4. Die Hard (amazing action movie)
5. Slap Shot (need a sports movie in here)

How have I left both Sly and Arnold off the list??? I need your help people!

Crap...I left off Rounders and Swingers!?! and Big Lebowski?!?

Okay...I left off the Godfather...not sure if I can do that either.

I orginally had Hoosiers on there and took it off for Slap Shot. Now, I have two Paul Newman movies...you can see who my favorite actor of all time is...

Happy birthday Craig!

Well, my wife alredy posted about this. I just wanted to give my bro a shout out on his birthday! Happy 37th!

Rock Bottom ~350

Sunday night of bowling was an all-time low for me. I am pretty sure I was pre-teen the last time I bowled this bad.

A guy I bowl with on Tuesday nights warned me before the game. He told me that I should just use a house ball and throw it straight down the lanes. He bowled earlier in the day and he said that everyone was missing single pin spares.

Well, my first ball never got on track. I could not keep it on the right side. My spare ball was even worse. I swear I was just missing everything pick up. If there was three pins left, i would get 2. Nothing worked. My 2nd game was a 96...yes, a 96. The last game I just threw a straight ball from the right gutter in. I left a few splits doing that and bowled a 117. My first game was in the 130s. This has to turn around right?

Luckily my team swept. So in the end this could be a blessing for the team.

Sunlight

We are still in February. There is still snow on the ground. It is still pretty darn cold outside (not too bad today) but I am smiling. You see I know the end of cold is coming quickly. The sun gives it away every time.

The winter solstice in 2007 was on December 22. On that day there was only nine hours and twenty minutes of sunlight. Today, February 22, there is almost 11 hours of sunlight. YESSSSSSSSSS! Stacia wrote about this earlier in the week. I could not agree more. I love looking out of the windows by my desk at 5 pm and seeing the sun going strong. Summer is around the corner.

On the flip side, June 20 is the day with the most sunlight. After that we start heading down hill.

Happy Friday everyone!

Chris Paul vs. Lebron James

Wow. Just wow. Everyone knows Lebron James and I wrote many blogs ago about how Lebron is that good and probably better than most people think.

Well, Chris Paul is someone that you could argue is the best player in the league. I love Lebron but I am just trying to let you all know that this kid is ridiculous. If you have not noticed, New Orleans has the best record in the West. Last night against Dallas, Paul has 31 points, 11 assists and nine steals. Of course, Lebron has 31 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists last night.

Anyway, everyone knows about Lebron (and rightfully so). Everyone needs to start giving more credit to Chris Paul. He is that good.

1989 NFL Draft

I always equate this with the giant mistake Green Bay made drafting Tony Mandarich. Most people know that Barry Sanders was drafted next. Ouch. What I did not realize is that the whole draft was loaded. Here are the first five picks.

Round 1
1. Dallas - Troy Aikman, QB UCLA
2. Green Bay - Tony Mandarich, T Michigan State
3. Detroit - Barry Sanders, RB Oklahoma State
4. Kansas City - Derrick Thomas, DE Alabama
5. Atlanta - Deion Sanders, CB Florida State

My goodness! Not only did they pass on Barry but Deion and DT as well. Worst pick ever! Also, there were some more players in the first round like Trace Armstrong, Steve Atwater and Andre Rison. Here is the whole first round.

Now I know why Ron Wolfe is so popular. Expectation are a little low when taking the GM job after this blunder.

490 - Getting better

So I rolled a 490 last night. I will take it. I did open the tenth frame in the first and second game. I should have been in the 500s. My games went as follows: 151, 168, 171. I only had one double the whole night and that came in the 3rd game. However, I realized that if I release the ball closer to the ground, my thumb problem becomes more controllable.

On a sad note, we lost two games but we won series. All three games were really close. They were all battles. Actually, we won the first game relatively easy. They won the 2nd game relatively easily and the third game came down to the last bowler on each team. Regardless of the outcome, these are great games to participate in.

We were tied for first...

2008 Dunk Contest

Dwight Howard put on quite the display this weekend in the dunk contest. If you did not see it, you should watch it (superman, mini-hoop). I could not find the one off the wrong side of the backboard and the one that he pushed the ball off the backboard with one hand and slammed it with the other. That last one I thought was his best one. There were a few years there were the dunk contest was just dying. No one really wanted to do it and it was not very good. Let me tell you. This years was great. There were great dunks all around but no one was better than Dwight. We have not seen a big man that has a vertical leap like this. The kid can play!

White Castle

As many of you know, I am a huge White Castle fan. In fact, if I was pushed to rank my favorite fast food, I would say White Castle is number one. I just love slyders and sacks of onion rings!

Well, St. Thomas was a stop we made on our cruise. We took a boat ride over to St. John to hang out on the beach that happened to be where Kenny Chesney got married. Anyway, on the boat ride over, the tour guide was pointing out who owned what house. Well, there was a white house and part of looked like a castle. The tour guide said that the person that lives there is the founders of white castle!!!!!!!! I paid for part of the house! I made Michelle take a quick picture. It is a little blury.



Now, he could easily have made this up but I live a happier life believing Mr. White Castle lives there.

I bet he can make slyders in his kitchen!

Lesnar vs Mir

Not to sound too much like Bryan but I am going to post a little bit about a UFC fight. This is not for many, so I will not be offended if you skip it.

The fight was just awesome. It happened about 10 days ago but I was on a boat and missed it. Lesnar weighted in at 265 (he probably was 275 at the time of the fight) and Mir is 255. Both are 6'3" except Lesnar has the span of 81". Lesnar is just a genetic freak. He is so big. Miir says that he is too strong to put into a arm bar. That is crazy!

Here is the fight. It takes 6 minutes to watch.

Two things that I think are seen from this fight. Lesnar is unbelievably quick for his size and he is extremely strong. He will dominate UFC once he learns to stay away submissions. There is no stopping him.

Mir is one of the best heavyweights if not the best (right now) and it shows. I do not know much about UFC but I have to think there are not many heavyweights that are smooth at putting guys in submission. He is very comfortable fighting on his back. It was impressive how he got Lesnar into the knee bar.

I am done talking about this...you can rest easy.

Lunch time round up

So, my cell phone was broken in the back. One of hte four prongs that my battery connects to is broken. Yesterday, I went to the Verizon in the train station and they were very mean. I let them have an earful.

Today, I set out to find a bigger (and different) verizon store. I found one on LaSalle between Adams and Jackson. They were very nice. They had a tech department. Tech was very cordial and I was to them. I took my old phone in to switch back to. It was supposed to cost $20 to have them tranfer the numbes and activate the phone. The guy charged me nothing.

Also, after having a late night with an old friend (Jonesy), I decided I needed a big juicy burger for lunch. So I stopped at McDonalds. I ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese and the chicken selects. Well, you are only supposed to get three chicken finger. I got 4. I think my day is turning around!

SWEEEEP!!!!

So, we are tied for second place in Tuesday night league. We are one point behind first place. We were before last night in 3rd (due to tie breakers). Well, last night was position rounds. 1 plays 2. 3 plays 4...you get the idea.

We swept the fourth place team and the #2 team swept the #1 team so now we are tied for first.

I did not do much to help. I continue to drop the ball...not good. I rolled a 137, 157, and 165 for a 459 (153 average). I opened the 9th and 10th of the second game. I opened the 8th and 9th of the third game. Both of those games should have been around 180. Oh well, we are in first!

Giving Blood

So I gave blood this afternoon. I was done pumping blood out of my body at 3 pm. As most of you know, I have a hard time with not needles but watching blood leave my body. So I just have them cover up my arm so I can not see it. It seems to work and I feel like I did a good deed for the day.

Big Negative: Of course, I did this in my right arm not thinking about bowling tonight. So, there is a chance I squirt blood all over the lanes. Talk about messing up the oil patterns!

Big Positive: Hello, I am bowling. That means I will be having a few beers...less blood means higher blood alcohol level faster. Plus, I am meeting Jonesy, Fubar and whoever else at Four Shadows after bowling.

In all honesty, I went in there thinking they were going to kick me out since I was out of the country last week and in the UK within the last 6 months. That did not stop them and I ended up doing a good deed.

El Conquistador

El Conquistador is name of the golf course that Vic, Tom, Bill (my father), and I played at on 2/6. The course is easily the nicest golf course I have ever played. Here is a link to the website.

When we approached the golf pro on the boat, he warned us that there was a 1.5 hour cab ride to and from the course but he said that it is easily the nicest course of the week. He said the course has 15 signature holes and he was right. I was actually nervous because I am not very good and have no business being on a course that nice.

One last thing, since the course is so far away, the golf pro can only take a maximum of 7 people on the exercusion. Well, we ended being the only four so the golf pro brought his assistant pro and the guy who runs karaoke. They played ahead us on the back nine and behind us on the front nine.

Here is a picture of the four of us with the first hole behind us.

Here is a pic of my dad and I with the hole behind us (I was enjoying myself) and also a pic of Vic and Tom on 17.

Here is a pick from the turn and also a closer look at the 10th hole where the golf pro hit his 3 wood about 335 yards straight. He just missed the green.

What is a golf course without hazards...i found this water more than once!

This is a view you may never see again. I will let Vic explain that one!

And of course, here is last hole. I missed a par putt on this hole. Can't complain about that. I will take bogey any day of the week!

I'm back baby!

So I have a few random thoughts from last week.

1. I am sad Romney dropped out.
2. I golfed easily the nicest course I have ever been on.
3. Shaq got traded??? Holy smokes! I love him but he needs to retire at the end of the year.
4. I got four workouts in on the boat. I am as shocked as you are.
5. NE lost! AWESOME! Manning back to back...shocking.
6. I need to shed some pounds and get back to some serious lifting.
7. I love the number 7. John Elway is my hero.
8. I bought irons and had them fitted and now I am in negative weather. I have never been this excited to golf and I have to wait a few months.

Michelle will definitely give good details about the trip. It was amazing. I will probably put one post up around golf since she was not there.

Random Thoughts

So, I made it down to Florida. New Jersey was okay (hell, it is better than New York City...well not really).

New Jersey was in the low 40s, not too bad but Florida is in the low 70s! Now that is more like it.

Not sure if it is a good sign for the Republican party that Obama during the democratic convention gave McCain a shout out. Could be a democrat - democrat election?

Am I understanding this right? Both Obama and Clinton want to give amnesty to immigrants and give free healthcare to people who "can not afford it". So, my tax dollars are going towards people who are here illegally that need medical coverage. Some random will break his leg climbing the fence at the border and get free treatment in the US (and social security if it is old enough). And people wonder why I have gone to the right.

And another thing, these people who can not afford healthcare or rent but have satellite TV and the NFL ticket. That makes sense.

Why wont the American people or at the minimum, the Republican party unite behind Romney? You want better healthcare? Look at what he did in Massachusetts. It is not perfect but it is a step in the right direction.

I am looking forward to the cruise. It should be a good time.

Well everyone, I will not be posting until I get back. Lets hope Romney does better next Tuesday.

GO LU!

Nice job Tracy!

Tracy Robinson hit a three pointer at the buzzer to beat Youngstown St on Thursday! I wish I was there. I wish I could have seen that.

Lets hope that this is Tracy's break-out game. He can be the best player on the team if he wants to. He just has to realize it.

I hope this is a turn in the season!