Thursday Yet

Can't wait to play some this Thursday. League shouldn't be a tough team, but it has been two weeks or so since Ihave played.

Is it Thursday yet??

No Pool

Since beggars night was last night the team organized a make up week last week after the regular league night I missed and played this weeks round last week.

Essentially, that means no pool for me and I am sad....

A win is a win?

Last week we were playing a team of young guns. The up and coming teenage group. In one particular shot, my opponant drew the cueball back a short distance with lots of force and fouled on the end of his cue. My team saw the foul, but I didn't say anything. The kid ended up winning by running out after the fouled shot.

Now, giving due consideration to the fact that he didn't know he fouled, I think that he did know, but didn't acknowledge the fact. When is a win a win?

The game of pool is wonderful in the respect that you are really competing with yourself. I guess I have always tried to play the game as fairly and squarely as possible and with the notion that in the long run, cheaters never win. I guess this game is always ready to test a persons character.

And the pool room is always full of characters....

Poor practice

will lead to poor performance.

Couldn't really get it into gear last night. I focused on some different shots and played a slowly methodical game of 9-ball, but couldn't really get a lot of focused practice in. Maybe tonight will be better. A short two weeks until league play, and maybe one more stop at the Big Dog 9-ball tournament before the season gets underway.

May all your banks be true, snkr147

Holy Cow!

Has it been a while or what?



I don't think the workload has slowed down any. It seems that my inability to let a good thing pass will probably be the death of me. I spent most of last night tossing and turning with my mind racing 100 mph. Thoughts of school, pool, some to do lists ---- I'm surprised I sleep at all sometimes.



The IAAE Presidency is going well, although I don't have a great frame of reference. So ignorance is bliss, I guess. Linkin Park is currently pushing my mood as I sit here getting ready for the Iowa FFA Foundation meeting. The third week of the month is designated for meetings, I swear. County Fairboard last night (caught up on all the good rural news), Foundation tonight, plus a few I am forgetting.



Pool is in the air! I think tonight was the league organizational meeting that our "Pocket This" team captain is at. With some luck, I will be able to stop in tonight to see what the word is.



I feel woefully inadequately prepared for the start of league. I have played well, probably the best I ever have lately in competition, but I am not sure how it will transfer to league play. Sometimes I can't believe the difference between gambling (Not much experience), league, tournament and just 'fun' play. Mental, I'm sure, but different all the same.



I think that I will cronicle my year as the IAAE president more, but definately keep the pool log running as well. I want the ability to look back and see if there was any improvement as I continue on this journy.


See you on the tables, or at the meeting; LOL

Horse Results

Thought I would post an update. The team finished 4th in the state at the horse judging contest. One of the girls was the fourth ranked individual and the others came in somewhere in the top 50. There were 33 teams and over 120 kids judging.

So needless to say, a good showing, but the potential is still there for them to improve for next year. Lots of pink ribbons (4th place).

Rolling stone...

gather no moss. Or at least from what I hear. I haven't much experience in the stone rolling department.

I do seem, however, busy from day to day. Guess that's just a hazard of the job.

Big Dogs is holding an handicapped 8-ball tournament on Saturday that I would like to play in. I need to work on some stroke issues and really get some good practice in this week. I am anxious to see if the recent success(for me) in 9ball will translate.

League will be starting in a couple weeks and I hope to make a good transition to 8ball with the hopes of a good performance in the ISPA state tournament in April.

At the FFA Horse judging contest today and had a minute before the results room gets busy. My team has all the potential in the world and we will see if the summers' practice with Angie will pay off for them. I would guess top ten, maybe a top five if were lucky. We would have to have a stellar day to be in the hunt for the top spot.

Greenday is soothing right now....

Back in the Saddle again

Well, the first day of school has come and gone and I can't say that I have missed it much. :-) I also should tender the fact that it came the next day after our marathon 15 run at the Iowa State Fair. Tired is something I have become used to. Managing fatigue is probably key to any Ag teacher. LOL

It always baffles me how some kids are with it, some are clueless and many are in between; yet in the end they all mostly turn out fine. Maybe it just comes with age, maybe it has something to do with the educational process. I would like to think that we play a small yet tangible role in that process somehow.

I think it will be another year of interesting twists and turns.

Meats and Livestock judging is on Saturday and my birthday is on Sunday. I think all that I want for my birthday is a nap.

FWIW - ME

State Fair

"U gotta Love it" :-

Were in day 3 of the fair. While it has it's perks, it has it's grinds. My chapter students are helping at the Animal Learning center. They love it. The students get to assist in all kinds of animal husbandry practices that many of them, unfortunately, miss out on. It also gives those students with notions of becoming an animal practitioner some hands on experience and interaction with some real vets and vet students. Such a great experience. It is settling down now as well and the students are into their routines and are my two student supervisors are exceptionally talented this year, so things are going smoothly.

Ran three out Thursday night for a 30-0 start in league night. They were gracious enough to hold up the show until I was able to free myself up from my responsibilities. (Most of pool is contrary to a responsible life.) And ended up with a 69 point night. (possible 90) One more night and a positioning round and we should be able to pull off the top team award. As long as no one trailing me makes a nine on the break, I will still hold the lead at '4'. I have been breaking well lately, but no nine balls in league lately.

Brad brought up an option for adding a strong player to our '5' for the state tournament. While I would like to play all the time, I also think that a strong "6th" would be an asset to cracking the top echelon of the tournament. Something that just occurred to me, but I am not sure we would want to break up the team if we ended up winning the entire tournament, nor am I sure we want to start playing in the Master Team level either. I will ponder this more for a while before I get my final thoughts together for Brad. Always something.

More from the fair in the future.

Banquet

Well, everyone was impressed with my 'man-bag'. In fact, I had many compliments.

The second day of the conference went well. The formal banquet was tonight and went fine. I was very nervous as the MC and made several mistakes. Most I think were just because of nerves and hopefully no one cares. Now that I have done it once, I would be able to do it better next time.

The President's reception was fun and the leather furniture in the suite was comfy. Next year, I look forward to this perk.

I watched the finals of "Farmer Wants a Wife" and the girl that I picked on day one, WON! I don't think I win anything, but it was nice to pick the winner.

One of the sales reps wants to play some pool in the future, so that might be a fun event.

Everyone headed out too Karaoke tonight at the local watering hole. Since I am feeling tired and run down, I decided to stay in and go to bed early after some online poker. The responsibility of it all is nauseating.

Later

Man Purse

The dubious honor of being the first person eliminated from the Texas Hold-em tournament. Pretty good for the future president, huh. So I earned this very nice flowerd and jeweled 'man-bag'. I think I will use it tomorrow to carry my stuff around for the conference. It seemed to make everyone's day that I took so much pride in my "Prize". Pocket 8's will get you killed everytime.

Later

IAAE - Day 1

Getting ready to start the first day at our IAAE convention. As president-elect, I have plenty of duties (I think I should have read the job description before I said yes), but few responsibilities. I'm not so used to that. It feels like things are way out of my control, but I think that is the way it is supposed to feel. At any rate, it looks to be a busy day, capped off with a steak dinner in the park(YUM) and maybe some poker tonight at the 'recreation night' at the hotel.

Later

Back in the saddle

Well, Region III was a great time. We finished up on Thursday and after a short five hour scoot home, I had some unscheduled time to kill before heading to the FFA Foundation meeting that evening. After the Foundation meeting, I scooted over to the Twisted Parrott for our mid-season positioning round.

Brian, Tom, and I were scheduled to play the second place team - 3's Company. It was a sad state of affairs, at least from my perspective. I went 1-8 over the course of the night. It was a shadow of what I hoped to be. Especially for a playoff night. And to be frank, 3's Company will make you pay for any misses that you make. We ended up a 3-1 rounds loser, and avoided the skunk, by the grace of a tie-breaker criteria. Brian should be credited with coming through with the clutch win to secure the tie and then subsequently tie-break. Tom also came through in the next to last game to help put us in position to make a run for the lonely win. Sheesh. No help from me, and dead weight is the nicest thing I can say about my performance.

Sunday night - I got a chance to play in the Sunday Night 9-ball tournament at Big Dog Billiards in DM. (Race to 6 on winners, 5 on losers, winner break) Usually a high calibur tournament, it usually draws the best players in DM and I am usually a two-and-through, although I have made some break through performances. Perfection is the key, as any minor imperfections (and in my game there are many) will be fatal, as these guys (and girls) take no prisoners and will make you pay with losses. And then they have the next break and usually tack on a run of two or three (or more) racks(games).

Overall, I was happy with my performance. I ended up tied for 5/6th place in a 30 person field. A couple nice wins, and a couple could-have-beens. I was particularly happy with the performance given Thursdays 1-8 game.

1st game was with Duane and after some trading of poor shots, I ended up with a 6-4 win.

This advanced me to the next round on the winners side against Jamie F., who is the best player in DM in my uncles' opinion. I tend to disagree, but he is no doubt a top quality player. I won 6-2, in no small part to several non-typical misses by Jamie and a couple of shots that I made that I usually don't. Nothing spectacular, but he made mistakes and I didn't. A good win, but nothing to get excited about, because he crushed me last time 6-0.

If I get one good win per tournament, I consider it a good showing. In this tournament, I got two, but not in a row.

Third round front side -- Mike A. -- IMO, the best player in DM. We went to 3-3 ,with some good break and runs, and I got a couple of good games in. In the 7th rack, I missed a chance at a run out and for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. And true to form, Mike got out -- broke and ran three for the win. I get the rack and 4-3, with a break and I might have had a chance at something, but it was somewhat closer than our matches have historically been. Maybe it's an indication of a small improvement.

Back side matches -- I won over Anthony after being up 4-0 in a race to 5. He came back to 4-4 after a couple nice run outs, and an early combo. In the final game, he missed the 5 or 6 and I ran the last three for the win. Into the Money -- and it had been a long time since.

Next game was the title fight for the Pride of Home Town bragging. -- Jim P., a long time pool player from the old town. I have never beaten Jim and he historically plays way better than I do (or used to). After a 5-1 win, I couldn't believe it. He missed a couple routine shots that we somewhat un-characteristic, and I played well. I will say that the work on my break is paying off as I usually made a ball or two and had position every time in that game. It is nice to have some confidance in that portion of the game, especially after some hard work.

In the last game (and I got to run, so will cut this short) I lost to Tom, who I shouldn't have. up 4-1 and ended up on the hill. he missed the seven, leaving me a short cut shot to play. After hitting the ball going to the far end of the table and back for the nine. I played for perfect shape instead of getting close, left the cue in the jaw of the pocket, leaving an thin razor cut on the nine into the opposite corner pocket. I made the shot, but typical of that shot, scratched in the opposite end of the table, opposite corner. By one ball length, any easier and I would have been good. A chance at 3rd place and locking up 4th.

Even though, a good night and a good finish.

Later

New Laws

I am pretty sure that Karaoke should be outlawed at conferences. After hours there was some 'singing' that surely made the dogs within hearing range cringe. With probably less pause than I will admit too in public, I joined the crowd for some rousing renditions of David Allen Coe.

We had some wonderful tours today (Wednesday) at the conference. We went to Organic Valley, an organic milk/cheese/ etc producer that had just put up a new cold storage facility that was very impressive. 11 stories high stacks running two computerized stacking cranes and a 11 bay dock for out loading.

The second was at the fish experiment station that was in Minnesota. Their fish lab was very impressive and had many varieties in studies. Lake Sturgeon was the one that I liked the best, but they had some 8 year old blue-gill that would make any pond fisherman happy.

This AM - Thursday - we have the final business meeting and my presidents report (was less then stellar) was given since Brian was unable to be here. Not exactly my favorite part of the conference, but since it was part of the position.... I really need to start reading these job descriptions before I sign on.

Heading home this afternoon and an FFA Foundation meeting this evening upon my return, before making my way to play our play-off game tonight.

Rolling stones gather no moss, I guess.

Region III

Spent today at the Region III Ag Teachers conference in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

We enjoyed a round of golf this AM and Peiffer and Fisher were great companions on the course. I hit the ball well enough, and had several shots that would pass for good, but as the round wore on, it was apparent that I don't play enough golf to hit the ball for 18 holes. There were train tracks that bisected the course and we had several close-up looks at the freight train as it passed through.

This evening we enjoyed a ride up the Mississippi river on a river boat to the lock and dam north of LaCrosse. It was a nice trip and we all enjoyed the company and conversation with fellow Ag Educators from across the Region. (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska) (Not listed in order of importance) :0)

Just finished a social outing this evening and the 29 pepsi's that I have contributed enough caffeine to my system to stimulate an elephant. I suppose I should turn in and be able to function tomorrow as we start the meeting portions of the conference. A couple tours in the PM should be interesting and showcase some of the unique agriculture in this area.

Till then....

PS - Got to play some pool tonight at the 'Library'. I mostly played lefty to keep things sociable and actually enjoyed the time at the table more than I thought I would.