Billiards And Trucking = B.A.T.

Think B4 U Shoot, then Shoot without Thinking

2009-12-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my friend, Sean Lane just the other day about the impending 9 ball match that we were expecting to play that evening. The discussion started out with us agreeing that it was important for us both to play our best, to not only win both of our matches but also to win our match by as much a margin as possible.I mentioned to Sean that I knew how to win my match if I could just avoid those stupid things I too often wind up doing.
Sean explained to me that I should look over my shot, decide how I needed to hit the shot to make the object ball and to get the necessary cue ball movement to obtain an acceptable leave on my next shot. Determine the speed, the spin, the angle the stroke etc. Sean suggested that I make all those decisions then forget about position and focus on striking the cue ball in the proper place with the correct speed and stroke of which I had just decided was necessary to accomplish my intended result.

Guess what! BAM! That is exactly what it means to "Think before you shoot, then shoot without thinking!" I often forget to think of this very simple rule to playing good pool, yet every time I find myself remembering that very same rule a little while before playing a match, I play exponentially better in that match.

That trend continued and I played one of the best matches I have ever played. I wound up beating a very good skill level 8 with a score of 55 to 21 (Match score of 16-4). Another interesting thing was that Sean also won his match with a match score of 16-4. I would like to think that Sean gave me some excellent advice and maybe by doing so he subconsciously took his own advice and it helped him in a similar way that it help me. Imagine that!

14.1 Continuous Straight Pool - My new obsession

2009-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

A while back I ask the question on several pool and billiards forums "How do I practice break out shots?" and almost with out fail the answer came back from everyone and everywhere "Learn to play straight pool!"

I have been a closet fan of 14.1 since I first saw Oliver "The Machine" Ortmann beat Steve "The Miz" Mizerak in the U.S. Open or maybe it was actually referred to as the BCA Open Championship match at the Pick Congress Hotel in Chicago in 1989! The actual name would not and still does not matter that much to me, I would have gone regardless of what they called it!

I sat in the stands very close to Connie Chung who was a famous T.V. news personality in Chicago at that time. Of course she nor anyone else knew who I was. I went to see this match by myself using a free ticket which was given to me by a friend. (My friend bailed at the last minute in favor of some other engagement and I decided to not let that spoil my opportunity to witness my first pro pool match ever!) My friend Denise would probably be shocked to learn how my life has changed over the past 20 years since I saw that match. I have not seen or talked with her for almost 20 years now either.

Eleven years later in the summer of 2000, my wife and I met a couple playing pool on a bar table at a pub in Thousand Oaks, California. They ask us if we would join their APA 9 Ball team and we jumped at the chance to play league pool and the rest is history as they say...oops.....I have digressed....!

Here it is 2009 and I am learning to play 14.1 continuous straight pool and I have, as of August 28th, managed to make my first 25 ball run and I also managed to record that run on video. I NATURALLY uploaded it to youtube.com because I was so danged proud of myself for doing it. When I upload a video to my YouTube.com account now it is automatically announced on my Facebook.com Profile, my Twitter.com page and should also be linked to my blog here on Google Blogger.com. Nothing like tooting your own horn, huh?

So these videos got the attention of the gentleman who is responsible for the CueTable.com forum and Wei in return ask me to post my videos on his forum so we could talk about the shots. Naturally I jumped at that opportunity and got right on it. As a result of putting those videos up on CueTable.com another gentleman noticed. Non-other than David "Blackjack" Sapolis of DeadStrokeUniversity.com.

BlackJack and Wei both commented on my videos and gave me some excellent pointers on how to improve my game of 14.1! Now I need to get back to the table and start applying some of the advice these two super players have so generously supplied to me.

My next goal is to break 30!

Defensive Pool Shots in the APA

2009-08-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

We were playing 9 ball last Thursday in our APA league match and I was scoring while on the other team there was a skill level 5 scoring.
The other teams player was a skill level 4 and was hooked pretty badly. He proceeded to shoot an amazing 3 rails around the table and made contact with the proper object ball just barely after which the object ball touched the rail making it a perfectly legal hit and a great shot.
I mentioned to the skill level 4 that I was marking a "D"....that comment caused his captain to spring out of her chair and proclaim "That is ridiculous! He was just trying to hit the ball, he was not playing "D"!" I responded that because he did not hit the object ball hard enough to expect to make it or any other ball on that shot that it should be marked as a defensive shot.

I have heard this same discussion take place many times durning APA matches so I was extremely happy to see this great video show up on YouTube.com today. It is by none other than APA Co-Founder Terry Bell and it is extremely well done. Thank You Terry and all of the APA for your efforts in making this instructional video.

Chris Malta's 2009 Scambuster Road Trip

2009-08-18T14:39:00.001-07:00

I used Chris's advise regarding drop shipping long before most of the get rich ads you see on TV now.
He is really a smart guy so listen to this little video and then decide for yourself. Just be ware of all those scams to get your money if you do nothing else.
Chris Malta's 2009 Scambuster Road Trip

Shared via AddThis

Life and Pool

2009-07-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

I woke up a little after 6 AM this morning and could not go back to sleep so I decided to relax in the Jacuzzi for a little while and watch the sun climb into the sky.

As I sat in the 100 plus degree water and felt my aching joints loosen up and my slightly old muscles relax my mind began to drift back to the "good old days when times were hard". I started to remember a lot of the things my Mom used to tell me when I was a kid and we were dirt poor. My Mom has been gone for just a little over a year now and it is hard for me to believe, even now, over a year after her passing away, that she really is gone from this earth. I used to call her on Saturday or Sunday morning while I sat in the Jacuzzi and we would reminisce about the "good old days when times were hard" so it just seems natural for me to think of that and of her as I sat there in that warm, soothing, bubbling water.

I play a lot of pool and while I enjoy playing pool I have begun to relate the game of pool to life. I have heard many good pool players say that pool is more than a game, it is a way of life. Some of the older and greater players have said "The game of pool is like the game of life." The more I play the game and think about it in those terms the more I see just what those wise old pool players are trying to say. Maybe Tom T. Hall should have included pool in his song along with "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine....".

Pool is a game that is win or lose. It is a game that for there to be a winner there must also be a loser. As long as we play pool we will always have to accept that we will not always be the winner so it is simple logic that we must sometimes be the loser. As in life, the game does not always go the way we would like and we don't always have the ability to control the outcome. We are sometimes the fortunate recipient of an easy or lucky win so we must accept that sometimes we will be on the other side of that coin and be dealt an unlucky or unjust loss and we must know this will happen before it happens.

My zodiac sign is Libra and that supposedly means that I seek balance in all I do. I have come to believe that balance is important in all things and that is true in life and it is true in pool too. Me must have a good offensive game balanced by a good defensive game. We must win and we must also lose. We must pursue our dreams and all the time protect those things in life that are important to us. We must find balance between our commitments to family, career, personal growth, spiritual growth, present concerns and plans for the future. The Chinese have known these simple truths for thousands of years and call it Yin and Yang. Scientist refer to a law of physics that requires that for each action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. The Bible teaches us about the forces of good and evil.

In pool, as in life, we tend to learn more from the hard times or loses than we do from the easy times or the wins. That very well may be human nature but I sincerely believe that we can learn good lessons when we win and even better lessons when we lose. The real trick is to focus on the correct portions of the game or focus on the correct portions and events in life. Our life is what we focus on and there are good things happening even in bad times and so goes the game of pool.

APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championships - Sunday June 14, 2009

2009-06-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

It took a while to get the video and slides put together because I had a lot of challenges to over come that have absolutely nothing to do with pool or the APA.

Hopefully this little video is worth the wait. With no further ado, here is the recap of the "Terminal Velocity" run for the gold!

Meanwhile, my wife, Carol and I have survived a pretty rough fall on our patio last Saturday, June 20th which resulted in us both going to the emergency room at Simi Valley Hospital for treatment. Carol had 3 fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone and a fractured clavicle plus a small cut and bump on the back of her head. I managed to compile a broken nose and a pretty nasty cut that required14 stitches to my forehead and nose. That was all on Saturday afternoon so we both spend most of the day on Sunday just trying to rest and recoup.

I then on Tuesday June 23, 2009 did this to remember just how that fall happened. Guess who's silhouette this is and NO it is not Michael Jordan's!

APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championships - Saturday Matches

2009-06-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

The APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championship turned out to be a true pool player's tournament in all aspects of the game this past weekend at the Arena Sports Grill and Bar in Simi Valley, California. Pool players from all around the area converged on the Arena and the Grand Vista Hotel for a week end of fun and games but there were some very serious faces in the crowd too. Everyone was focused on the pursuit of a coveted APA National Championship qualification that would get their team admission to the once a year gathering of APA pool players from all over the United States and even other parts of the world as the APA continues to grow like a weed sprouting up all over Canada and now in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other parts of the world.

Here is a little quote from the APA National Web Site:
"National Team Championships
August 21-29, 2009 Las Vegas, NV
The culmination of weekly APA League play is the APA National Team Championships, held annually at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. This event consists of three individual National Team Championships: Open 8-Ball, Ladies 8-Ball and Open 9-Ball"

I have to tell you up front, I spent all my time watching as a spectator because neither of my teams qualified. I would much rather have been playing and I am reasonably sure my teammates on the Maximillians would say the same, but I enjoyed the next best thing.

That was cheering for friends and I specifically followed the efforts of "Terminal Velocity" because 5 of the 8 players were former and current teammates. I have watched them grow into some really good pool players and each one exhibits a unique view and perspective of the game. I am proud to call them my friends and seeing them win would be very close to "as satisfying" as being in the winning circle with the Maximillians. I was not the only spectator though! A lot of players were there to cheer for their friends and family.

There were smiles all around and everyone enjoyed the competition and companionship of the like minded. Pool players are not that different from anyone else but it does take a special gene to enjoy a sport like pool that dishes out the agony of the long hours mixed with the tenseness of stiff competition under the watchful eyes of your friends, teammates, opponents and league management all at the same time.

The matches heated up as the day went by. Phil and Taz had their hands full trying to keep all the tempers in check, but they always do a great job. Some players competativeness can blur their view of the rules, their actual vision or their perception of the events right in front of them.
The league operators are ready and willing to offer a cool head and a keen eye to help keep everyone moving along on the straight and narrow. Skill levels got adjusted and team captains had to rethink their strategies if they wanted to be still in the trophy chase on Sunday.

A few cocktails were consumed and great food was eaten, cheers and applause were made on good shots and moans could be heard following a bad roll or a close miss. Teams won and teams lost, laughs were heard from happy players and some tears were shed over loses. In the end all had a great time and most of them will be in that race again next year. Only a few can brag about winning and that is exactly what makes it all worth the effort for most.

Here is a short video that captures some of the good times:

The APA 8 Ball South Coast Championships

2009-06-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

The South Coast Region of the APA held the 8 Ball Championship at The Arena Sports Grill and Bar in Simi Valley, California this past week end of June 6-7, 2009. The 9 Ball Championship will follow next week end and also be held at the Arena. The Arena just happens to be my home court but my teams were not fortunate enough to make it this season and so The Maximillians have been relegated to the postion of spectators and sometimes cheer leaders for our friends who did make it. That is not all bad, but I believe I am safe to say that most of the players on The Maximillians would rather have been involved in all the sweat and stress that goes along with the race for those coveted spots at the APA Nationals.
A lot of 8 ball teams arrived at the Arena Saturday morning all full of excitement and anticipation. The prize for the 4 winning teams would be a trip to the APA National Team Championships in Las Vegas, NV Aug. 21 – 29 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, and of course a lot of the cost of that trip is covered by the APA South Coast Region. When the clouds of chalk dust cleared only four lucky 8 ball teams would be making their plans for that trip in August. That means that, mathematically speaking, one team out of 8 would make it. Those are not bad odds either, so there was good reason for every single player there to be looking forward to the next 12 to 36 hours or so of 8 ball battles.

Of course pool would not be pool if there were not a few cocktails to be consumed. Heather had the situation well under control on that battle front. Double wielding a couple of Buds, Heather backed them up with a great smile as she did her part to lighten the mood of the competition which managed to get heated to a boiling point on several fronts at a time any way. The entire staff of the Arena ran around waiting on pool players and spectators non-stop with cold beverages and great food from the kitchen of the Grand Vista Hotel which is conveniently right next door to the bar.
Dan was on hand to make sure that APA members and other customers were all taken good care of as he ushered in a birthday party group and did what ever else it took to keep thing moving along smoothly. I even noticed him sweeping up some spilled pop corn from the floor at the end of the bar while the bartenders were busy catering to customers. Dan has gone above and beyond in making the APA welcome at the Arena and has encouraged many 8 ball and 9 ball teams (my own included) to make the Arena their home.

Taz and Phil were both there making sure the all the players and matches moved along according to schedule, at least as much as humanly possible. They really have these tournaments down to a science. While some players are kind of slow pokes and some matches drag on beyond belief it all seems to work out in the end when Phil and Taz are holding the reins. The DJ Booth seems like it was made for Taz and she takes full advantage of the control booth like setup to keep the tournament information updated and on target. She keys into her trusty laptop computer, the most recent match results and then post that info on the main Bracket Posters out on the patio where everyone and anyone can follow their own team or like in my case the team of friends who were still in the competition. In the APA all players handicaps are recalculated immediately after every match allowing the league to keep players and matches properly rated according to the APA Equlizer System even as matches develop throughout the day and evening hours.
Since there are no full time referrees on duty during these championship matches, someone has to be the judge when there is a possible rule infraction about to occur. Phil and Taz, as "Tournament Directors", share in the responsibility of over seeing the matches and either of them can be summoned by a player to observe a close hit. They must position themselves in a way that allows them to observe the shot then judge, based on APA rules, as to the legality of the hit. Some times a game, a match or even the championship itself can hang in the balance of outcome of a single such shot and it is very important that the call be made within the APA rules. As you can see in Phil's expression, it is a duty taken very seriously.

2 Year Old Pool Shark - Youngest APA Member

2009-06-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

This kid is only 2 years old and is already featured on ABC News and touted as the youngest member of the APA (American Pool Players Association).
He appears to have his own miniture pool table that is more his size but he also makes amazing bank shot (or kick shot) on a full sized pool table in this video.
Imagine having to play this kid when he reaches 21.

He is on YouTube too:

And of course he has his own web site to called Poolprodigy.com:

Of course with this kind of talent, this kid also played at the Rivera Hotel and Casino during the APA Tournaments in May of 2009. The local TV station picked up on Keith Odell and here is a piece they did about him.
http://www.ktnv.com/global/Category.asp?c=164911&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3726344

Billiards And Trucking = B.A.T.: The APA Skill Level 9 - What does it take?

2009-06-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Billiards And Trucking = B.A.T.: The APA Skill Level 9 - What does it take?

APA South Coast 8 Ball Tournament of Champions

2009-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Eighteen APA 8 Ball Teams converged on The Arena Sports Grill and Bar at the corner of Enchanted Drive and First Street in Simi Valley, California this past Saturday May 30, 2009.
The APA South Coast 8 Ball Tournament of Champions got under way at 9:00 AM and everyone there had high hopes of finishing in the money plus locking up a berth in the following weekend's APA South Coast Regional to be also held at the Arena in Simi Valley.

League operators Phil and Taz Brooker were on hand to run this event in their usual efficient manner. Phil and Taz are a couple of the most dedicated and respected APA league operators in the nation. Phil proudly advertises the APA by driving a Pontiac wrapped in the APA Logo, Slogans and web addresses. The usual announcements about rules etc. were made then table assignments were made and the battles began.
All the teams worked hard to get here and they all pretty much felt that they were the team that would come out the winner. That is the way pool players think, after all! That is also one of the things that makes playing pool so great and playing team pool is a step up from just playing individually against your peers. Many times in events like this the team has to come before the individual and that is as it should be. "The good of the many must outweigh the good of the one." Of course there is a little bit of peer pressure when your team gets to participate in an event like the Challenge of Champions. Egos and reputations were worn on the sleeves for all to see and others to consider ways to meet the challenge.
The APA is an amazing opportunity for newer pool players to benefit from the knowledge and experience of many highly skilled players. There is the opportunity for newer players to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Both are in abundant supply and ripe for the harvest by those lucky enough to compete.
Win or lose the game of pool is full of rewarding memories and should be viewed as a life time challenge to improve and become the best you can be both on the table and off. Friendship bonds are made over a pool table that can last a lifetime as well.

Of course winning is always more fun than losing and when a player pulls out a particularly tough match you can usually see the results in his (or her) face. Look at Mr. Moss of the "Tuesday's Gone" team. Can you tell he just won his match by looking at the smile on his face? His team went on to lose the match over all but for the few moments following his match the whole world was coming up roses. (**Note**I have been alerted by Marty - The Captain of "Tuesday's Gone" that their team did win that match and went on to collect the $1400 prize...Congratulations to the team and sorry about the error. Best Wishes in the Regionals, Tom)There were smiles all over the Arena because the pool was only part of the reason people gathered there. Competition on the pool tables was fierce for sure but the things most people will remember may not be the pool but instead simply the good time they had socializing with friends, family and even complete strangers who will some day become friends or even family in some cases. The smiles were plenty and they were not all just about winning either. Speaking of smiling faces....you have to know that bartender Christina manages to provide great service with a great smile to everyone. She doesn't even have to play pool to smile (although she does play a pretty mean game of pool too).

She has that smile for customers simply because she likes people and she doesn't have to win a game before she is able to share the smile with customers. It is people like Christina that make the Arena a great place to relax and enjoy your well earned leisure time.

Back to the challenge matches that heated up on 4 of the six 7' bar boxes at the Arena. These matches were for more than just qualifiers, there was some real money awaiting the victors. This is an excerpt from the APA South Coast web site about the Challenge of Champions:

"In addition to qualifying for the South Coast Championships, the top eight finishers in the Tournament of Champions will receive a good-sized monetary award. In each format, the top four teams will receive $1400 and each fifth-place team will receive $600!"

Finally we do have all those pool table warriors battling it out for the top dog spot and it would be impossible to describe all the tension, the excitement, the nail biting and the sheer joy of being involved in the competition regardless of which side of the action you found yourself. I have put together a small video to try to capture some of the stuff that make competing in the APA Challenge of Champions in 2009 so much fun. You can see why the spots are so coveted.

Although it may be hard to recognize many of the players in the video due to lighting I am sure that most of the players who gave me their expressed permission to include the footage will recognize themselves. Anyone else shown who may wish to NOT be included can contact me and I will edit them out of the footage with my sincere apology and utmost respect for your wishes.

CueTable Billiard Contest 2009 05

2009-05-30T15:21:00.001-07:00

This was a tuffy but I finally finished the video for the CueTable Billiard Contest 2009 05 this morning. Now I anxiously await the next challenge!

How much is a BILLION dollars?

2009-05-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Dan and I were talking about this very subject the other night after our pool match and today he emailed me this little thing that he found somewhere. It is so good I didn't feel right just sending it to the email recycle bin so here it is preserved for posterity on the World Wide Web.

Feel free to copy it or link to it here or pass it on to your friends and family and even to your favorite politician who could learn a truly good lesson if only he would.....

This is too true to be funny . . .
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR taxmoney.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases:

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors wereliving in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...let's take a look at New Orleans ....It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans ... Interesting number...what does it mean?

A. Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (everyman, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.

B. Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your homegets$1,329,787.

C. Or... if you are a family of four...your family gets $2,066,012.

Imagine, now $700 billion bailing out banks in the US.
That's enough to fund complete medical care for every man, woman and child currently alive in the US for 11 years !

50 billion to bail out the auto industry ?
Washington, D.C. <> Are all your calculators broken ?

Accounts Receivable :
Taxes
Building PermitTax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax(Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee (Tax upon Tax)
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Income Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY???
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world...
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened ?
Can you spell 'politicians!' ?
And I still have to press '1' for English.

I hope this goes around the US at least 1 billion times then we can talk about "How much is a Trillion Dollars?"

Pool and Billiards - Darts and Collectibles

2009-05-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

We have a whole new look at BigRigToys.com!

BigRigToys.com was established way back in 2002 as a computer science class project. My Instructor at Cal Lutheran required all of us computer science majors to create an E-Commerce site as our final class project in pursuit of our BS in CS degree and BigRigToys.com was mine.

Almost 7 years later and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears later BigRigToys.com has been given a face lift to bring it into the current world of E-Commerce with a big bang and a little bit of flair.
Thanks to Nadine at NoFlakes Web Design we are not all about looks either. Behind that beautiful face lift are many new features that you will want to try out. The one we are particularly proud of is the "Shop Cues by Price" Section. We are all on some kind of budget and sometimes it helps to be able to see everything in one place that fits into that budget...doesn't it?...Take a look for yourself. You may fine that your budget will allow you to get a special cue that you had not previously thought possible.

Don't hold your breath too long because we are not done yet. We have plans for the future and we will be adding more products within the categories of Pool and Billiards, Darts and Dart Boards (both soft tip and steel tip) and Collectibles too. We already have collectible die cast trucks in the 1:64 scale model variety and collector plates depicting "Gone With The Wind" and "The Sound of Music" but we still plan to add more product and more variety too.

Then we also will be doing all kinds of little things behind the scenes to enhance your experiance when you visit us online. You should try out the BAT Forum right away. It's FREE and you can discuss your favorite topic with folks just like you or you can get some free advice on improving your pool game. Pool players and Truckers have always had a lot in common. Trucking is what we do for a living but pool and darts are some of the many things we do for fun. You will find a group that understands the work we do and enjoys the games we play. Give it a try, I'm sure you will meet people that will amaze you in one way or another.

Woopra - Lastest in Web Analytics

2009-05-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

I have web pages and I have a couple of blogs! If you do too then you have to see Woopra.

I have only known about Woopra for a few days now but let me tell you, it will change the way web masters analyze their web sites.

Woopra allows the web master to monitor in real time the visitors to a web site. It is so amazing that I will not even try to describe it here my self. I am embedding a video produced by Woopra to do that much better than I ever could.

See this for yourself, you will be amazed! Even if you are not into web building you will still find it mind blowing what can be done now with a little imagination and a whole lot of hard work behind the scenes by these folks.

Here is the Woopra 1.3 video:

Explanation of the current U.S.Tax System & Bail Outs

2009-03-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Charlie, in Chicago sent this to me and it really is the best explaination I have ever seen.

Give credit to economist Mike Gasior. Explains our current tax system.

A TERRIFIC ILLUSTRATION OF THE CURRENT U.S. TAX SYSTEM
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would
go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day
and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw
them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going
to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost
just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what
about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the
$20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share? They realized
that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up
being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be
fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded
to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20', declared the sixth man. He pointed
to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right', exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!'
'That's true!!'shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I
got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat
down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between
all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

This wonderful illustration of the current tax system in the United States
was created by the Dr. David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. who is a Professor of
Economics at the University of Georgia. I like his explanation very much.

CueTable Billiard Contest 2009.03

2009-03-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

This pattern has to be one of the toughest I have played in this series of 9 ball run out contest.
I had to bank the one ball with high left to kill the cue ball and to also NOT move the seven too far and into the 9 ball area.
I then slow rolled the 2 ball and excepted the long cut down the rail on the 3 ball.
Next I shot the 5 with a pretty hard draw shot to get the cue ball off the side rail and back over for another long draw shot on the 6.
There is something about that long draw shot on the six that I almost always shank it and I did again...then I got lucky and it came around the table and into the corner where I was standing plus the draw on the cue ball gave me the shot I was looking for on the 7....after that it was an easy out on the 8 and the 9.
Great challenge pattern and thanks goes to Cuetable.com for coming up with this contest.

CueTable Billiard Contest 2009 02

2009-02-28T15:10:00.001-08:00

Finished this one this morning and it was a tricky one. Routine shots but the various shots necessary to make ALL 9 consecutively turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected. Great exercise in 9 ball. Try it for yourself if you don't believe me. Thanks to CueTable.com for presenting these contest and doing all the work to make them available to us all.

LA or LB - Temporary Access Permit for Occasional Truckers

2009-02-22T22:07:00.001-08:00

Temporary access permits for long haul truckers are now required by the Ports of Long Beach, CA or Los Angeles, CA if you are not affiliated with what the ports now recognize as "CONCESSIONAIRES"!

The temporary permit cost the trucker $100 and can be purchased online at the web site set up just for the purpose of collecting that $100.

It almost seems that the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles want that web site to NOT be to easy to find so I have been trying to get the link out on several of my sources so that at least truckers who read or visit any of my regular haunts will at least know where to find a link.

Temporary Access Permit Web Site

This link is on my other web sites as well.

Learn to Play Pool in Ten Minutes -- billiards instruction

2009-01-28T08:53:00.001-08:00

Mike Page has done an amazing job of condensing the basics of the greatest game on earth down to 10 minutes. He clearly describes and illustrates important fundamentals of pool that I did not know after playing pool for over 30 years. When I finally did learn some of these things at the young age of 50+ years my game took on a whole new life of its own. You don't have to play for 30 years like I did to learn these things. Just watch this video and 10 minutes from now you will have a great leg up on most pool players who have not seen it.

CueTable Billiard Contest 2008 12

2009-01-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

This is my latest entry in the CueTable.com Video 9-Ball Run Out Contest. Even though I have already won and am no longer eligible to win the prize I still like the challenge. Doing this kind of video is great practice for me and has helped me improve my position play a great deal. Try it, you'll like it too.

Government Bailout & My encounter with Bloomberg News

2008-12-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

I recently responded via email to Bloomberg News regarding a story they were running on the internet about the U.S. Government's efforts to do a bail out of Citi Group.

Well, just a few days ago I received an email from a Bloomberg News reporter indicating that she wanted to ask me some questions about my email....I was elated that someone actually had read my original email....much less, would bother to contact me for more information or ask me for more information concerning my view and maybe even my opinion.

I agreed to a telephone interview and jumped into it with both feet!

I spoke with that reporter and basically spilled my heart and soul out to her. I was so passionate about my views that I was later concerned that I may have overstated my case. I then spent quite a bit of time contemplating whether or not I had done the right thing. I was concerned that I may have given the reporter the wrong impression of me and maybe even come off as some kind of radical nut. After a lot of soul searching about our conversation I finally came to the conclusion that it was probably not worth worrying about because I would probably never hear any more from Bloomberg News or that reporter anyway. I just put it out of my mind and literally forgot about it all together.

This morning I received an email from that reporter asking for my permission to quote me. She included the quote that she wanted to put in her story. The quote was probably 100% accurate but the one line she intended to use would give any reader a totally different impression of my view than what my view truly was. I immediately emailed her and questioned the intent of the use of that quote. I ask why they would want to use only that and not the balance of the comment which would make my idea and my view more clear. Why would they want to use the words out of context. That reporter either could not or would not answer that question. When I did not get a reply to my email I call her directly and ask her the same questions on the phone. She still either could not or would not answer me. She simply offered to remove the quote from the story and she referred to our conversation as an impass.

I told her that she DID NOT have my permission to quote me in the story if she insisted on taking my words out of context. I certainly did not want people to read her story with my name and my company name attached to that one line comment that would make Citi Group out to be the bad guy exclusively.

I suggested that she could quote me with my name and company name if she included the complete quote, not just the one liner. She indicated that she could not do that so I told her "Fine, do not use any part of the quote then." She agreed to take it out of her story.

That means that the readers of the Bloomberg News will probably never hear this suggestion unless they read it here on my blog. Here is the suggestion that Bloomberg News could not bring themselves to publish for what ever their reason......

I suggested to them:
If the U.S. Government feels they need to help Citi Group they should offer those billions of the tax payers dollars as loans to all the credit card and mortgage holders that owe money to Citi Group.

The government could stipulate that the money MUST be used to pay the credit card or mortgage debt owed to Citi Group. The tax payer could then pay the government back at the same 8% that they claim they are going to charge Citi Group.

Every one would win!
The tax payers would get relief on their mortgage or credit card debts.
Citi Group would get their money and could stop worring that people would stiff them by going bankrupt.
The U.S, government would get 8% return on the bail out money when the tax payer pays back the loan.
The whole U.S. economy would get a shot in the arm because fewer people would consider bankruptcy, people would have the opportunity to get back on their feet while still paying their obligations.

The government could then do the same kind of bail out with all the big car makers like GM and Ford and even extend this idea to the banks with troubled mortgages like WAMU, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and any other large company where they are concerned that the mortgage fiasco is going to put them out of business.

Folks, I am afraid that the U.S. Government will just hand over our tax dollars to those FAT cats at the credit card companies, those companies will continue to charge you and me ridiculous interest rates. Many of us will have to consider bankruptcy as a way out.

We will all lose if that becomes our only way out of this mess.

Wake up America.
Contact your congressman, you senator, your governor, your mayor, your representative who ever you believe them to be and ask them to do right by you. After all that is why you voted them into office in the 1st place, isn't it?

Musts vs. Shoulds: The Power Of Clarity And Purpose

2008-12-04T07:52:00.001-08:00

Hi,

I want you to take a look at: Musts vs. Shoulds: The Power Of Clarity And Purpose

Tom

CueTable.com Video Contest - 9 Ball Run Out - I Won!

2008-10-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Finally I have actually improved my 9 ball positioning to a point that I can claim victory in a contest hosted by CueTable.com!
This was not an easy pattern and to make it even more gruelling I the temperature in my garage/pool room was about 90 degrees. Notice me wiping my forhead a few times before shooting...that was because I didn't want a drop of sweat to drip into my eyes while I was down on the shot. I have posted this video on The Bat-Forum, it is posted on YouTube.com and also it is posted on CueTable.com and now it is posted here. Am I proud or what? Well, in my defense two of those post were as per the rules of the contest but I am proud of having completed this run out as per the rules and even if I had not managed to win I would have been bragging about this accomplishment. That is what us pool playing computer nerds do!

I am still an APA 9 ball skill level 7 but am working on getting back up to 8 then on to a 9 someday.

BigRigTom's Billiards Buds Map

2008-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is a really cool trick from the world of Google Maps and GSP technology.

Get Your Frappr GuestMap!
Powered by Platial

Transferred My Domain & Closed My Yahoo Store

2008-07-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

I bought and opened my Yahoo Store site back in 2002 with great expectations of being a prosperous online merchant type person someday. Shortly there after I also purchased my domain name BigRigToys.com from Yahoo and pointed that domain to my Yahoo Store. I proceeded to build my dream web site. Kind of like that certain little ant, I had "High Hopes" but the rubber tree plant known as Yahoo has since dashed those hopes to pieces over and over and over and over....and over.....well you get my drift.

I finally reached the end of my rope on June 17, 2008 when I received an email from Yahoo Store notifying me that my Yahoo Store Plan monthly pricing would increase from $49.95 to $99.95 with my next monthly billing statement. That was on top of all the other charges Yahoo was already dinging me for every month. My total payment to Yahoo was averaging around $200 per month (often more than that) and had been for quite a while now. That extra $50.00 was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. NO WAY was I paying that! I called Yahoo Store Customer Support and after the usual wait on hold I finally talked to a customer rep who was polite but who ultimately told me to just accept the increase. There is nothing they can or will do about it. Even though I explained that I may have to close the store, his response was "Sorry to hear that."

My first thoughts were, "I will either find an alternative to Yahoo Store or I will close it down completely!" Screw all the hard work for the past 6 and 1/2 years! Screw all those dreams of someday really being a successful online merchant! Screw the good feeling from owning my own, online business! Screw Yahoo Store and all they have become! I was mad as hell and I wasn't going to take it any more! I started searching and as I searched I began to calm down and slowly but surely I started to think clearly and rationally again. I was and am still determined to learn from these experiences and improve my situation, overall.

I searched the Internet high and low! Where else is there to look for a website hosting company, anyway? I considered briefly a lot of options but what I was looking for specifically was someone who could just transfer my site in-tact to a different host and then give me a reasonable and stable monthly hosting cost. I needed shopping cart support. I needed some expert guidance. I needed someone who was willing to do it for a reasonable fee. I did not want a long term commitment. I did not want to wait days and days for someone to get back to me on the phone or worst yet via email. I did not want a big mouth sales person trying to convince me he was "God's Gift to Online Merchants". As I suspected that was not a small quest but like any blind squirrel looking for a nut I finally found one. At lease I thought I had found one. They claimed on their web site to be one. All the sales pitches on their web site said they could do it. The web site even claimed to be affordable and specializing in the transfer of Yahoo Store type e-commerce sites.

I skeptically contacted PowerfulHosting.com via the phone and BAM! I Got lucky on the 1st try. I got Dave Drekter in Santa Monica, California. Wow! I could drive down there if I REALLY needed to. He cautiously walked me through some of his recommendation on what to do and what I could expect. He took a quick look at my web site and further commented on what he thought would be a reasonable expectation on my part. Dave did all this without any pressure to make a decision on my part. It was like discussing the possibility with a friend who really didn't mind taking the time to explore all the possibilities. I was very impressed.

I took Dave's advice and continued to ponder the various options at my disposal. I continued to shop the web for other alternatives. I looked even higher and lower on the net for options. I just kept coming back to the offer made to me by Dave at Powerful Hosting. I kept thinking about the fact that I liked the way he handled my inquiries and everything sounded like exactly what I originally started out looking for.

I then received a message from Dave saying that her did a test down load of my site which I could look over and see if it looked like something I wanted to get more involved in. NO CHARGE! He want me to be sure before taking the leap. How great is that?

Still suspicious by my nature, I slowly began looking deeper into Powerful Hosting and began to study what Dave had done toward getting me started. On several occasions I called Dave and he actually answered the phone. Then he also answered my questions, no BS! I had several situations where I emailed Dave with questions, provided links and examples of issues and he responded so quickly that I again was amazed. Being the skeptic I am, I was just simply suspicious because I was raised to be suspicious so I kept pondering and procrastinating and then pondering some more. Through all of this and all the questions, emails and phone calls Dave was always responsive, patient and respectful while NOT pressuring me to make a decision and NOT trying to SELL me. I could not find anything I didn't like about the way this was going and that made me reluctant. I kept thinking, "I must be missing something! This is just too good to be true."

I decided to read up on the procedure for cancelling my Yahoo account and transferring my domain to another host. I wanted to be absolutely certain that I was doing the right thing and I didn't want to rush to a decision that I could later regret. Over several days of continued pondering I kept going back and looking up more information. I kept reading other peoples comments about Yahoo store and looking for advice on what I should or should not do.

While wandering around like Little Red Riding Hood in the deep dark forest, I stumbled across a page on the Yahoo small business that describes the basics of how to transfer your domain away from Yahoo. I am providing a link to that page for anyone who feels they need to read everything about the subject and try to gather all the facts. I am sometimes that kind of person, myself.
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/cancel/cancel-04.html

Of course you will have to visit another page to read about cancelling your store plan. The link to that page is:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/cancel/cancel-01.html

Then again it directs you to another page with somewhat obscure instructions to click the "Cancel Plan" link under the plan you wish to cancel.....in other words you must sign into your store manager first but don't expect it to be that easy. I don't know how many links you'll find on your store manager page but I counted 65 on mine. There was NOT a "Cancel Plan" link anywhere to be seen. You must click the "Store Account Information" then scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll see the statement, "If you would like to close your store, please click here."! That is what they consider the "Cancel Plan" link and they hide it five levels deep and at the bottom of the page and then label it with "click here" which if you check on Google's advice regarding link tags....they tell you specifically that "click here" tags provide NO information to the search engines so they strongly recommend you use some kind of descriptive text tag if you want the link to be properly indexed and findable in the search engines. Maybe Yahoo would prefer you DON'T find that particular link....but they did feel some obligation to provide a link of some kind.

I clicked that "click here" button finally.
I closed my Yahoo Store!

I was then informed that I would be charged another month because I did not provide 5 days notice according to the "TOS Agreement" and they would take that money right away, close my store right away and in essence I got NOTHING for that last payment except the satisfaction of knowing it was the LAST PAYMENT to Yahoo! It was almost worth the cost. Peace of mind is priceless, after all!

A few details that I learned in this adventure are as follows:
1.) Yahoo sells domain names but they don't actually host them. That is done by a company name Melbourne IT at http://www.melbourneit.com.au/ Yep, that is correct they are in Australia!

2.) Yahoo Store does not directly provide credit card processing either. They usher you to a merchant account provider and depending on what you ask for this can get very expensive. Do your homework first. Be very careful when you choose a merchant account provider they ARE NOT all the same. The Merchant Account provider then takes you through what is called a "gateway provider". You still have to also have your own business banking account who can accept and work with that gateway. Thanks to Dave at Powerful Hosting I now am going through Authorize.net as my gateway to Wells Fargo who is my Merchant Account Provider and my bank. The Merchant Account Provider and the Bank do NOT have to be the same company, you may prefer to use different ones. Wells Fargo doing both simply works great for me but you should talk with several banks and other providers before you take that leap. The fees can be very complicated to compare and for me the big thing was how long does it take for the money from a credit card transaction to actually be deposited and available to me in my business bank account. Wells Fargo does the whole thing usually within 48 hours of the approved transaction. If you have a tight cash flow like I do, that can be a great benefit.

3.) Yahoo upgraded their store plans to what they now call merchant plan and are slowly pushing everyone toward that upgrade. Eventually anyone having the legacy store plan like I had will find it almost impossible to resist the upgrade pressure. That upgrade cost more which is just a fact of life so go into it with open eyes toward the future.

I received that notice from Yahoo about the $50 per month rate increase on June 17, 2008. On July 23, 2008 I notified Dave at PowerfulHosting.com that I had made my decision and I want to transfer my Yahoo Store to Powerful Hosting. It is now September 17, 2008, exactly 3 months later and ALL of the hard stuff is done.
My web site http://www.bigrigtoys.com/ has a new home. It is moved in, unpacked, all settled in and set up now we are ready to start to remodel it's new home. My sincere thanks goes to Dave for all his help in making the move an almost painless experience and the savings alone makes it a very worthwhile trauma that I do not regret in the least. There have been an enormous number of little tweaks, adjustments, minor modifications, re-organizing, uploading, downloading, re-writing and just plain old fixing stuff that didn't quite work right so don't think it was not a lot of work...it was! The important point I would like to make it that the move was absolutely necessary and critical to my site survival. Dave Drekter and PowerfulHosting.com of Santa Monica, Ca. made the whole thing possible. They also took most of the pain out of the process by doing a great job in every aspect of the transfer. I got everything I was looking for from the beginning and it has been a very satisfying experience from which I have learned a lot.
I hope if you have read this far you too will benefit from my experience.

BigRigToys.com is now set to move forward and if we succeed or not is entirely up to us now.
I don't regret having used Yahoo Store because I would have never been able to build my store the way I have if I had not gone through that process. I just would like to tell everyone "There is a better and less expensive way to achieve the same thing, you just have to believe it then go out and find it." It took me over 6 years to finally wake up, I hope you will be able to benefit from my experience and do it a lot quicker than that.

Update to this adventure which I thought was over....It is now October 3, 2008 and would you believe, I have had to contact American Express and dispute a charge to my account from Yahoo Small Business? They charged me another $89.00 on September 7th, 2008. When I called Yahoo to clarify the charge they informed me that there was a problem in their system which caused them to incorrectly access a charge to me on my credit card and because of the error in their system I may inccur additional charges! Can you belicve that? The customer service representative was polite and courteous whilc she told me she would escalate the issue to the systems engineers and she had no clue as to how long it would take to solve the problem. Meanwhile she could not refund the $89.00 either.
I told her if they would not refund, I would notify American Express to do a charge back to them and refuse any future charges from Yahoo. She again very politely told me that she could not do anything so if I wanted to notify American Express that may be my best bet. After spending over 45 minutes on the phone with Yahoo I then called American Express and in less than 2 minutes they solved that problem. WOW! That is all I can say. Hopefully my experience with Yahoo Small Business has finally come to a conclusion. I am now a completely independent web merchant with my fate in my own hands.....I think.....time will tell.

The APA League One Minute Time Out

2008-07-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

The One Minute Time Out is probably the hardest task to accomplish for both the coach and the player in the APA League. It doesn't matter who calls the time out, the situation is almost always one that requires two people to agree on what the problem is and what the best solution is given the multitude of variables and possible courses of action.

There are a couple of books on the market that might help coaches and player refine and condense their communication skills to the level necessary in these short time outs. "The One Minute Manager" by Ph.D. Kenneth Blanchard (Author) & , M.D. Spencer Johnson (Author) immediately comes to mind but then when I think more about it maybe the sequel is more appropriate. Take a close look at "The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey" by Kenneth H. Blanchard (Author), William Oncken (Author), Hal Burrows (Author) . Unfortunately it is not always clear when discussing a pool match situation, who is the manager and who is the monkey.

Very often in the APA, the time-out will be call by the captain and the player must take it even if he doesn't want it. When the shooter ask for a time out the captain (or coach who may or may not be the team captain) can refuse the player's request and "NOT" allow the time out. Either way the scenarios are often difficult to explain in word but usually pretty easy to demonstrate in a video. Here is where YouTube.com becomes a true asset to anyone willing to use it creatively.

I am one of those people who wishes that YouTube.com had been around when I was 12 and just strating to learn the game of pool. With that in mind I have started my own series of short videos on YouTube.com and Links to those videos will also be available on The BAT-Forum where the subject has it's own Forum now called "The One Minute Time-Out"

For those of you who can't wait here is the 1st installment of the series:

As my skill level went up in the APA I became increasingly aware of the value of the time out. There is a necessity for quick, concise, accurate and complete communication between two people. Often these two people are not necessarily on the same wave length. Most newer league players hate the time out with a passion. They often complain that it breaks their rhythm, it is distracting, the coach does not see the table the way they do, their shooting style is different than that of the coach, and on and on. While all these things may be true to some extent, the time out is still viewed as a necessary evil. Any serious player as well as the coach should learn to use the time out like the valuable tool it is. When a time out is properly applied to a game situation it can make the difference between a win or loss of not only a game but a match and sometimes even a trophy &/or championship. Never underestimate the value of the time out, just learn to make the most of it. You never want to waste a time out but keep in mind that you can not save them either. It is the classic "Use it or lose it!" scenario. That does not mean to call a time out for no reason, it does mean that both the player and the coach should think ahead, become familiar with situations the warrant a time out, be prepared to take full advantage of the proper timing of calling the time out and know going in that the player and the coach may have totally different ideas as to why a time out has been called.

The reason for the time out is the very first communication that should take place between the player and the coach. Two people can not solve a problem until they have agreed what the problem is. Once that agreement is reached then both can concentrate completely on what is the best solution. It should also be made clear to the player that a time out is NOT a penalty but instead an opportunity to advance his chances of winning and learning and developing skills that will forever serve him in future matches. A time out should be looked at as "A Good Thing" for the player and for the team.

Once the player and the coach begin to look at the time out as the opportunity it is, both can benefit from and take full advantage of the one minute allocated. One minute can be very valuable when both people are pulling in the same direction with the same destination in mind. It is not the problem but the solution that should be the focus of the discussion. Try to devote 10 seconds to identifying the problem then the next 50 seconds on agreement as to the best solution. You may find you have time for a pat on the back and some encouraging words for each other all within that one short minute. Keep it all postitive and let time outs become a good thing on your team. You and your team will be glad you did.

Pool and Billiards - The Mental Challenge

2008-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pool is as much a mental and psychological challenge as it is a physical challenge, maybe even more so. When ever the subject of pool matches come up you will hear phrases like: "I need to sike myself up...." or "I need to put on my game face....." or "We need to bear down and be ready for....:. These are all about the mind games we play in pool. We play the mind games with our own mind and we compete against the opponent in that invisible realm of posturing and expressions and attitude projecting. You can literally win or lose a match in that neather realm before the the first ball is struck.
Just about anyone and everyone can play pool but to be a really good player and compete with the better league players in the Southcoast APA, it is an absolute necessity to develop the mental and psychological part of one's game. It is difficult to win when the competition gets stiff like it does near the end of the season approaching the playoffs. It is tough to win in the playoffs against the best teams in the league. Winning is always tough, but losing is often even tougher in many ways especially when you realize that you lost because of a weakness in the mental game. That happened to me personally last night in the final match of the Spring Season Finals. I mentally was not prepared to play the match that I had to play. I lost badly a match that I should have won easily. I was not ready mentally or psychologically. I let the team down and now I sit here on the morning after trying to objectively assess what happened. I need to learn from the experience and a painful experience it was too.

Because I am (according to my wife, Carol) addicted to and obsessed with pool, I play APA 8 ball and 9 ball both and I practice a lot. My company Big Rigs Inc. in conjunction with The Arena Sports Grill and Bar sponsors both teams and the two teams share the name "Maximillians" since our golden retriever is our mascot and his AKA registered name is "Lord Maximillian of Azure Hills" the name seemed fitting.

Max is a well balance and intelligent mascot who really loves his bone more than he is concerned about the pool teams named after him. I probably should take a lesson from him about how to take life's ups and downs in stride. He is always happen to play but is just fine with sitting out or taking a nap.

The entire Maximillians 8 ball team arrived at Moorpark Family Billiards by the 7:00 PM start time and we all had "High Hopes" of breezing through the playoff finals and moving on to the Southcoast Challenge of Champions then on to the Southcoast Regionals and maybe the APA Nationals in Las Vegas. It all looked so easy at 7:00 PM last night.

We lost the coin toss and the opponents chose to put up a player in the 1st match who was an APA Skill Level 4 and thanks to our doing our homework earlier we knew he was a tough 4 who also had finished the season as the top shooter in the 4-5 skill level bracket. We chose to put up one of our toughest 3 and it worked beautifully. We took that first match 2 to 0 in a 2-3 race.

It was then our turn to put up so we elected to post our 2nd toughest 3. This match was a little tougher actually because both players were pretty nervous but it work out in our favor and after a hill-hill struggle our tough 3 beat their tough 3 with a score of 2 to 1. That put our team out front with a 2 to 0 score in a race to get 3. We were on the hill and we just needed to finish them off...no sweat.

It was their turn to post a player and they chose their highest ranked player who was a young skill level 6. We matched him with a solid 3 and got the 5 - 2 match we were hoping to get against their best shooter. That proved not to work as our three took it on the chin with a 5 to 0 loss. Our player played really good but their 6 came to win and though he was struggling at times he persevered and came out on top.

No sweat, we were prepared for that and we put up our player who had dropped from a 5 to a 4 this season but he was currently playing great as a 4 and we figured we should have the advantage no matter who they decided to match up against him. They chose to post their captain who was also a skill level 4 and a really tough competitor who plays a defensive match and has been in the league for ever. He seemed to know all the moves. Although our newest player was previously a 5 and had dropped to a 4 and we felt that he should have the over all advantage in what we expected to be the final match. It looked "in the bag" when our player won the first 2 games in a race to 3. Our 4 was on the hill and playing great with a lot of confidence. It was the 4th match and starting to get a little late for a pool room that quits serving at midnight but it should be fine if we could just get that last game. IT WOULD BE OVER!

It was not meant to be....the other 4 won a hard fought game, then the POOL GODS seems to turn away from us and began to favor the other team. They won another game and it was now hill - hill and their player was starting to gain confidence and our was struggling a little bit. All the rolls were going their way but we still fell it was our night so, still, NO SWEAT!!! Right?
Because it was getting late we agreed to split tables and start the 5th match while the 4th match was still in progress, just in case it became hill-hill over all. Things continued to spiral downward and game 4 went hill-hill while game 5 was just getting underway. I was up in game 5 matched against a pretty tough skill level 2 making it a 6-2 match for me to win if game 4 did not end in our favor. I started the 1st game of my match in a sort of half hearted way because I was sure that game 4 would fall to Maximillians. I was so sure of the eventual outcome of game 4 that I had trouble concentrating on my own match. I would shoot a shot then look to see how the things were progressing in game 4, shoot another shot and check game 4. When I was not shooting I was watching game 4. Me head and heart was more in game 4 than in my own match because I simply knew that my match would not be necessary once game 4 was decided in our favor and Maximillians could declare victory.

I played fairly adequate but that was about all. I LOST! In hind site I almost had to lose if I did not play my best and so I did lose. My opponent played great. He made shots not normally expected of a skill level 2 because he wanted to win. I wanted to win but I was not totally committed to winning in my match since match 4 was the important one. I needed to be totally committed, I needed to be focused 100% on the task at hand. I needed to realize that the match was NOT in the bag. I needed to play with the fierce competitive spirit which I am capable and I did not do that. The ultimate result was, I lost!

I have learned a very difficult lesson. It is embedded deep in my competitive spirit and I plan to use that newly gained knowledge many times in future competitive situations. The lesson I learn here can benefit me in many walks of life but especially in competitive sports that I love such as pool, ping pong, racket ball, tennis, golf and even horse shoes. The old adage of "It ain't over til it is over!" rings true in my subconscious and I will endeavour to keep it close enough to the surface of thought to be readily available when needed the next time. I will use it to its fully and it will help me to rise above the mediocre performance of last night.

The APA Skill Level 9 - What does it take?

2008-04-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have been contemplating the subject What does it takes to rise to a skill level 9 in the American Poolplayers Association (APA). The APA, claims the distinction of being the largest pool league in the world with over a quarter of a million members. It has developed what it calls the The Equalizer® Handicap System and utilizes an infamous rule that has become know throughout the APA as the "23 Rule". The team environment dictates that there be various skill levels of team members and additionally due to the infamous "23 Rule" members must always be adding new members and constantly building the team with new inexperienced players who will have a low skill level or high handicap. When all these factors are considered, the Skill Level 9 in 9 ball is quite a lofty accomplishment. The Nine is the best of the best in the APA.
My question is, what exactly does it take to be a Skill Level 9 in APA 9 ball? The answer is, many things that does not immediately come to mind when thinking about what it takes to become a highly skilled pool player or even a pro pool player. A skill level 9 must be highly skilled in pool, both offensively and defensively. That is a no-brainer and the pool shooting skills are very close to those of a pro pool player. In some cases the shot making ability and defensive play ability may even exceed that of many pro players. The pool playing ability however is only the tip of the ice berg. The APA Nine must develop himself in many areas that may not be immediately apparent to the untrained observer of a pool match.
League play is a social animal. Social skills are required that go far beyond playing pool with players of somewhat equal skills in the game. Pro pool players will usually be playing their competitive matches against other pro pool players. The APA 9 will often have to play against a complete novice who would be ranked as a 1 or 2. This means that the Nine must sink enough balls to score 75 points before the One gets 14 points or 19 points if the opponent is a Two. He also must try to do this while remembering that his opponent often will be an emotional mess when and if he loses....which he most often will lose to the Nine. The Nine must beat the crap out of his opponent while trying to NOT hurt their feelings or at least trying to not scar them for life! These One's and Two's are the life blood of the APA and it is not likely they will look forward to playing in league next week after being trounced on by an insensitive, boisterous, loudmouth, so the Nine must win while reminding humble, polite and supportive of his lesser skilled opponent.

At the other end of the spectrum, APA Nines must be ready to play other APA Nines. When an APA league match is between two nines it is a race to 75. The match will have all the aspects of a match between two pro players. A small mistake by either may make the difference in who will be the winner. Momentum can shift at any instant and the winner my become the loser very suddenly and without mercy. The tension and stress endured by a nine in a match of this nature can be enormous. He must perform in front of his teammates who look up to him as the expert of the game while he is confronted with an opponent of equal skills and talents yet neither do this for a living. Both players are very human in all respects. Either is capable of making errors, small or huge, that can potentially cost him the match. Both are capable of making amazing shots and strategic moves that leave their teammates with smiles and gaping expressions while at the same time stunning both his opponent and his opponent's teammates. All the time the members of the two teams may be good friends, co-workers and sometimes even family members of their opponents.

Unlike the matches played by many pros against fairly equal talented other pros, the matches played by the APA Nines are usually on a 7' bar box. Some of the bar boxes are not well maintained or even cleaned regularly and sometimes the balls are dirty and pitted while at other times the equipment is of the best quality, clean and well maintained. Sometimes the venue is a poorly lite and over crowded bar and the time is late night or in the wee hours of the next morning. Usually the APA player has to get up early the next day and go to work. Most of the APA Nines have extremely demanding professions that have absolutely nothing to do with playing pool.

All these factors play heavy in the ultimate outcome of matches and the outcome of the matches determine the skill level of the players. The skill level of each of the players is adjusted after every match according to the rules of the APA. The skill level rules are all within the previously mentioned system called The Equalizer® Handicap System. It is no small accomplishment to make it all the way to the top of anything in this world but the APA Skill Level 9 is a position that must be built on a multi-layered foundation. It is not enough to be a great pool player. Anyone aspiring to be a Nine in the APA must also have strong interpersonal skills like a world class diplomat might hone in himself. The Nine must learn how to teach and coach at many levels and be able to fit in with groups of diverse personality types. He must be a team player and yet must be able to play at the extremes of the competitive scale against all skill levels from 1 through 9. He must play men and women, sometimes cold sober opponents out for blood and sometimes near drunk opponents who may not even know for sure where they are. The Nine must be able to endure long hours and late nights that take their toll physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally. He may have had to first endure a long hard days work and he may be looking at a long hard days work the day after the match of his life, yet his team of friends, co-workers, and relatives are all depending on him to win for them while they look on with personal pride at merely knowing him at what ever level they do know him. Being an APA Skill Level Nine in 9 Ball has its rewards in the form of respect and admiration from lesser skilled players but at the same time it is a gigantic responsibility and is simply not a road to be tread by just anyone.

The Herding Instinct vs Independent Thought and Leadership

2008-04-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

People have a tendency to seek out other people like themselves. That results in the various divisions of society. These divisions are apparent in varying degrees and sizes of groups like countries, states, counties, cities, communities, neighborhoods, families and friends. As you can see the groups often overlap and some groups are parts of other groups. Maybe you don't think about it much but this is the reason for clubs, churches, companies, organizations such as unions and co-ops and just about any other group you can think of where people get together in groups of 3 or more and tend to have the same pursuits or goals.
The thing that got me thinking about this was when I went to Costco yesterday (Sunday) and decided to get gas since I was there already and I know theirs is the best price. The fueling area at Costco looked like the 1970's. There were 6 or more vehicles in everyone of 8 lanes. I was sitting there thinking "Wow, the prices must have gone down for the lines to be like this!" but when I finally got to the pump the Premium 91 octane I have to put in my Lexus 400h was $3.819 per gallon. That is ridiculous! Why were all these people lined up for prices that are obviously not worth waiting in line for? The only reason is "The Herding Instinct"!
I pride myself in NOT submitting to the herding instinct and yet there I was in the middle of that herd with nothing to do but wait and think about "why am I here?". That brings up the next thing which is the economy and again the economy is in the toilet mostly due to the herding instinct.
I went searching for an explanation of this type of behavior and in Wikipedia there is the example of the everyday event being influenced by this very thing.....here is that excerpt......

Everyday decision-making
Benign herding behaviors may be frequent in everyday decisions based on learning from the information of others, as when a person on the street decides which of two restaurants to dine in. Suppose that both look appealing, but both are empty because it is early evening; so at random, this person chooses restaurant A. Soon a couple walks down the same street in search of a place to eat. They see that restaurant A has customers while B is empty, and choose A on the assumption that having customers makes it the better choice. And so on with other passersby into the evening, with restaurant A doing more business that night than B. This phenomenon is also referred to as an information cascade.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia full description:

All my life I have conscientiously resisted the herding instinct and any efforts by others to invoke it in me. I have often put down items in the store and walked out because the line at the register is too long. I have driven away from gas stations for the same reason. I have chosen to not go into restaurants when they are over crowded and often my wife and I will go out to dinner at 5:00 PM because we know at around 6:00 PM the herd will begin to arrive at the trough. We often joke about how we are the 1st in a restaurant but the restaurant is always beginning to get crowded by the time we leave. We figure that everyone followed us into that restaurant because they know we have good taste in food and wine.

When I look at this even further I realize that I refuse to watch some TV shows because they are considered the in thing to watch. Examples of these are Frazier, Seinfeld, Friends, Mash, and the newest trends of CSI or reality shows like Survivor and American Idol. It should be noted that I actually enjoyed Mash, Friends and Seinfeld but refused to watch them while they were the in thing out of pure stubbornness. As they began to lose popularity among the masses I began to watch and now I even watch the reruns and enjoy them too. I still don't understand what people see in Frasier! Some things just require a specific taste and some times I simply do not have the taste required for it.

Here is the ultimate reality of this whole thing....a line is referred to by some as a queue, pool is played with a cue and I love playing pool but I hate standing in lines. How does that work? Groups are sometimes referred to as pools. I love playing pool but I often avoid groups and once again we have that weird sort of cross refference in the English language that does not mean anything except to us weirdos! I prefer independent thinking and so I will continue to go my own way and lead the pack if they choose to follow. Does that make them a herd when they choose to follow someone like me as I go my own way. Does that make me a leader if I am simply going my own way out of selfish choice and independent thought but in the process I lead the herd who will follow just about anyone that is out in front and moving in a direction which is away from the herd? The herd is a group mentality and the pool league that I belong to is a group so in a way it is a herd. I want to resist the herd mentality so I need to be out front but I don't want to be in the groups or herd of leaders either so I am the co-captain of the team. I am not the leader but I am also not just a follower but wait there are co-captains on every team so that makes me a member of a group or herd of co-captains so the quest for independence continues. F@@@ it Dude, lets go play pool.

Work - Making Money, Mortgages - Spending Money Helping Friends & Family - Priceless

2008-03-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I had an extremely hectic day, today.
Work has been slow lately so I called a friend to get the phone number of a good mortgage broker so I could look into re-financing our home. Immediately I left my number for the broker to call me since I was, at that time, having a quite day. My friend wanted to fill me in on all the stuff that has happened in his life for the last few years since we had not talked for a while. While talking with him a 2nd friend whom I consider my best friend called me for help with his computer. After all I do have a degree in computer science. While I attempted to explain to my best friend the ins and out of IP (Internet Protocol), ISP (Internet Service Provider) and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and Proxy Servers and how they may relate to fixed IP address as opposed to dynamic addresses, etc, etc, etc., my daughter calls needing help for her friend, then a customer calls with work which I have needed badly for some time now, then a driver calls to do the work, then the mortgage broker calls me back and my best friend reports that he is having more trouble with his computer. The driver is having trouble picking up his load. My customer is having trouble coordinating the info necessary for me to help my driver. My daughter's friend is having my daughter coordinate his purchase of a pool cue but the one he wants is out of stock and back ordered so we have to play phone tag on that for a while. My friend with the computer issue is setting up a new office from which he is trying to communicate on his cell phone which goes dead in the middle of a sentence. My customer is having trouble communicating with their vendor because of the vendor's union difficulties.

YUK!

It is finally 5:30 PM and I am done with all this for the day and I am going to play pool but I have to get cleaned up and run to Thousand Oaks and pickup the league paperwork. GREAT!

What a day! But I do get to play 8 ball tonight with friends and I am 1 point ahead in the Top Shooter Standings so all is well with the world. Life is good and it still beats the alternative!

Why use a Pre-Shot Routine for Pool or Billiards

2008-02-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

What is a pre-shot routine and why is it so critical to playing good pool?

A pre-shot routine is a series of elements or acts that a pool player should strive to walk through before each and every shot. The idea is to develop good habits that will improve your consistency. When you do the exact same thing over and over it becomes second nature and you no longer have to think about what you are doing. Similar to driving a car, or even like breathing. You don't need to think about how to breath, you just do it with out conscious thought. The pool player must develop his own unique pre-shot routine. It is OK to emulate your favorite pro or any very good player but in the final product the routine just has to be made your own. It will be your own because you are the only one who has the ability to create it, modify it, improve it, trash it, alter it in any way, adhere to it, abandon it, swear by it, curse it, nurture it, depend on it, honestly assess it's value and the list goes on and on.

The pre-shot routine is an absolute necessity for any pool player who wants and expects to develop a consistent game. Every pro has one, every top league player has one, everyone who wants to be a good consistent winning pool player MUST have one or start to develop his own RIGHT NOW! There is simply no way around it.

Until a couple of years ago I had never even heard of a pre-shot routine although I had been playing pool most of my life, so don't think you are the only one who doesn't have one if you in fact don't have one. There are lots of pool players who manage to play very good pool and still have no pre-shot routine. The one common denominator among those players will be their inconsistency. Ask them for yourself and you will find that if they do not use a pre-shot routine they will have days, matches, games, shots etc where they absolutely can NOT understand why they were not able to execute to their own expectations.

I have a favorite saying which I got from a regular poster at the Chalk Board Forum on the Billiards Digest web site; "Think before you shoot, then shoot with out thinking!" This is a perfect place and time to see the value of a pre-shot routine. If you think before you shoot you will undoubtedly make a number of decisions and choices with regards to the shot you are about to attempt. In this thought process you will consider (or at least you should consider) stance, speed, top or bottom, english if any, bridge, angle, target (cheat the pocket and how much?), approximate odds of making the shot and getting position, what happens if you miss, are there alternatives to this shot and is this the best shot available at this time for you...

That probably sounds like a lot of things to be thinking about on every shot but there are probably additional things I have not even mentioned and you must think about all of this stuff before your bridge hand touches the table. Once you make all those choices you still must execute the shot. If you make the choices and feel confident that you have chosen wisely you should then quit thinking and let your instincts carry you through (shoot with out thinking). Shooting without thinking will help you to avoid the doubts and second guessing that often creep in right at the last second as you pull the trigger on the shot you have decided to attempt.

How you determine what elements you want to include in your pre-shot routine is and should be a very personal choice. Some players like to shoot fast and loose while others are very methodical and play at a much slower pace. You have to find your own pace and rhythm then use the elements that will lock in your consistency and feeling of confidence. Things like visualizing the shot from a standing position, sensing the speed you need to apply to the stroke on the cue ball, aligning yourself on the shot, positioning your feet and determining the distance from the table to stand before leaning into the shot are all things that you must feel for yourself. No one else can tell you exactly what will be comfortable for you.
You should know whether or not you have a dominant eye then notice if that eye is over the cue and lined up with the shot. You must notice if your head, shoulders, cue and arms are all lined up properly for the shot you are attempting. When your bridge hand touches the table you need to notice if the your stroke arm is at a point that will cause the tip to strike the cue ball exactly when you forearm reaches a point that is perpendicular to the floor while the cue is as level as possible.
Your eyes will be moving from the cue ball contact point to the object ball contact point to the target and back again until at the correct instant before you make your shot you will want to be sure your eyes are locked on to the proper point, usually the contact point of the object ball you chose earlier.
How many practice strokes do you make before finally stoking the cue ball. If you watch pool on TV you will sometimes hear the commentator say "He's one stroked that shot!" and you will almost always hear that comment because the player has either missed the shot or he has not achieved the optimum position for the next shot. The tendency to "one-stroke" a shot is usually a result of rushing and not staying with the pre-shot routine. Another comment you hear from pool players is "He dogged the shot." and that will often come after you see a player miss a shot that he is normally confident that he will make or he will make the shot and come up short on the position. Either way that player was most likely still thinking about the various elements of the shot as he pulled the trigger and was most likely second guessing some aspect or element of the shot. He had not made all the decisions he should have made before pulling the trigger. He was not committed to all of the elements !
of the shot which usually means that his pre-shot routine was not followed completely.
The conclusion you must arrive at when you consider all the things going on in the head of a really good pool player when he plays pool is:
There are too many things that can go wrong on any shot for a pool player to not have a plan in place that he can depend on to maintain his consistency through out a large variety of situations. Every shot is different, every game is different, every match is different, every table is different, and every opponent is different. The one thing that should be and can be the same on every shot is your plan called the pre-shot routine. Develop your own pre-shot routine and never, ever quit improving on it's elements. Your game can not help but benefit and as you use your pre-shot routine it will become routine to a point that you will no longer need to think about most of it. You will find yourself dropping into position and shooting with confidence and rhythm like you never have before and all those doubts you used to struggle with will vanish as you coolly run the table with poise.
Good luck and shoot straight all ways.

Chicago Bears and the Season that wasn't

2008-01-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

The Chicago Bears have been my NFL team since I started following any pro football in about 1967. While watching Gale Sayers run the ball against the L.A. Rams at my friend's house in Fyffe, Alabama I developed a serious case of Bear fever.
I later moved to Chicago to get work and it was a natural to also become a Bears Fan. It took Walter Payton to make me into a Bears Fanatic and it was good to see Sweetness survive the ridiculous offenses put up by the Halas and McCaskey clans during the 1970's and early 1980's.
Finally Papa Bear got sick and tired of those days and brought in Mike Ditka to save the day. Mike Singletary likes to describe the day that he started to believe in Mike. Ditka told the team that those who survived and would believe in him would go to the dance in just 3 years....that speech was in 1982....every football fan in America knows what happened in 1985. It was the Bears over the Patriots 46 to 10!
Just twenty years later the Bears have a new wannabe savior in Lovie Smith. They got to the Dance last year but couldn't even come close to the shuffle the 85 Bears made famous. After and explosive 1st half the Colts turned up the lights and did the Payton Manning Rumba all over the Bears.
Promising "We'll be back!", Lovie and his bruised bears went home to a very cold February in Chicago. All the rest of the winter and spring the Bears Fanatic's like myself hibernated and dreamed of August 2007. The preseason came and went and the Bears showed a lot of promise. Opening day in September was in San Diego and the Bears were ready to maul the Chargers but wait....what happened....LT was stopped just like Lovie said he would be but the Chargers still won. Well that's not too bad, the Chargers are in the AFC and it wasn't that big of a deal to lose to them. The Bears went to KC and kicked some KC butt as a tuneup for the Cowboys.
Chomping their jaws the Bears welcomed the Cowboys into Chicago where they would be fresh meat for some very hungry bears....oops....that didn't happen either. All of a sudden Tony Romo was a seasoned mastermind and the Bears defense was clueless.
As it turned out the Cowboys were really the end of the Bears, 3 great players hurt, the whole team was demoralized and the 2007 season was history and it was only week 3! The slumbering Bears did not really wake up until December 23rd when the already eliminated Monsters of the Midway decided to give Brett Favre and the Cheeseheads of Greenbay an early Christmas present before they went into the playoffs. They then followed that up by stomping on the New Orleans Saints for the second year in a row just to prove the Bears are not totally dead so don't start measuring the family room for a bear skin rug just yet. The Bears were resting this year and next year they will come out of hibernation fully recouperated and have a whole new perspective on the next season...after all it will be next year! Are you Bear Fanatics ready? Sure we are, we have already started to forgive the Bears for the 2007 season and can't wait for 2008!

Halo 3 by Bungie as seen by a 57 year old

2007-12-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

My son and I have been playing 1st person shooter games since Doom came out back in the early 90's. Just this past weekend Eddie got a new X-Box 360 and so we immediately ran to BestBuy to get Halo 3. After all, why else do you want an X-Box 360 except to play Halo 3?
I had to play pool that same night so it must have been last Thursday December 13th, that this all came down. We set up the X-Box 360, we set up our profiles and we played Halo 3 for about an hour and a half. I then had to switch to practicing pool for my play off game and it was not easy to break away from Halo 3 even as much as I love to play pool. I did manage to win that 9 ball match last Thursday night, beating an APA Skill Level 8 with a score of 55 to 38 which gave me a match score of 16 to 4 over that 8! I give Halo 3 partial credit for instilling in me the killer instinct...he he.
The graphics are great and playing this game in HD is like no other video game I ever played. The creators have truly created an amazing experience in video action games with Halo 3. I am so amazed at the improvement that I have to just wait a while longer to talk about the specifics. Once I have played enough to actually have an educated opinion on the subject I'll write more about it.

Billiards And Trucking = B.A.T.: Making Soup

2007-12-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Billiards And Trucking = B.A.T.: Making Soup

Making Soup

2007-12-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my friend Rich last night over a pool game at the Moose Lodge here in Simi Valley, Ca. and I related to him a story I heard years ago while I was in Amway. He suggested I share that story on my blog so here it is.

A farmer walked over to his neighbor's house and ask to borrow his ax.
The neighboring farmer said: "I'm sorry but I can't loan you my ax."
The 1st farmer said: "Well, why can't you loan me your ax?"
The neighboring farmer said: "I can't loan you my ax because I'm making soup."
The 1st farmer said: What in the world does your making soup have to do with loaning me your ax?"
The neighboring farmer said: "Actully, my making soup has nothing to do with loaning you my ax but if I don't want to loan you my ax, one excuse is just as good as another."

The question is how many of us don't do something because we are "making soup"?

I have told that story over and over now for more than 30 years and it still fits many a situation where someone is procrastinating or gold bricking or just plain not doing something that needs to be done and when it comes right down to it they are really just "making soup". Aren't they? Are you making soup right now?

I especially think of that story when I suggest to someone that they should do something to improve their pool game or just to improve their chance of winning this match. This happens a lot when I coach our lower skilled players in an APA match. They start telling me why they don't do what is necessary to improve or they'll tell me why they don't want to play a safety shot. I sometimes think to myself, "They are probably making soup." and then I just let it go.

Billiards and Trucking Forum

2007-12-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

I have spent several hours this weekend creating a NEW discussion forum called "The BAT Forum"! Go ahead and click that link and check it out now if you like. It will load in a new browser window and you can then come back and finish reading my thoughts and plans about this new forum.
Registration and membership is FREE! That's right! That's what I said! It's absolutely free to any and everyone who wishes to take the time to register. Anyone can read the information but if you wish to post yourself you must register. In the profile page there are lots of options so you can be as detailed or as vague as you wish.
The purpose of "The BAT Forum" is to promote camaraderie among the truckers who play pool and the pool players who have an interest in trucking or the transportation community. I have provided a place to post your billiards equipment or trucking related equipment for sale to other members too.
I have never run a forum before so I have no idea what I'm in for as the administrator but I have participated on other boards for years and I know a lot about what I don't want and I have some idea what I do want. The rest will be flying by the seat of my pants.
I was so proud to get it up and running I immediately went to several of the billiards related forums where I have been a member for years and announced my creation. WOW! I wasn't expecting it but I almost immediately got blunt messages from a couple of people saying that my moral compass was off for having the audacity to post my new board's web address on that competitors board. Ouch! It never occurred to me that they would feel that way about me offering a FREE service to them. You can't even give some people something, I guess.
So anyway, I edited those post and removed the link I had created just to be on the safe side. There was no intent on my part to offend anyone by offering them a free service but I guess in this PC world you can offend someone somehow no matter what you do or what your motivation....GOOD LORD! WHAT NEXT?

The "World Cup of Pool" (2007) from Rotterdam

2007-12-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

I watched The "World Cup of Pool" (2007) from Rotterdam, Netherlands yesterday thanks to my digital video recorder (DVR) and Direct TV. This particular match was the Philippines vs China and I am still shocked to have seen the two youngsters, Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo, from China upset Efrem Reyes and Francisco Bustamante of the Philippines! China went on to win the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup by defeating Japan! Wow!

I think the world of pool has to take notice of China now. The Philippines, USA, Europe, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands are no longer able to dominate the big tournaments. The most spectacular new talent is coming out from the most populated nation of the world. With names like Xiaoting Pan,

(talent and looks too!) breaking onto the pool scene and now Fu Jian-bo and Li He-Wen taking the World Cup we may be seeing the proverbial "Tip of the Ice Berg". If the tiny nation of the Philippines can produce so many great pool players just imagine what the potential of a country like China must be.

There is a lot of talk on billiards forums about all the equipment for the pool and billiards industry coming out of China. It seems only natural that China will also start produce an almost unlimited supply of great players. Capturing the World Cup may be like taking the finger out of the dike and the flood will now begin. Everyone who loves the game of pool should hold on for a fantastic ride as China emerges to take over the pool world.

Luck and playing APA League 9 Ball

2007-11-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

Luck plays a big roll in 9 ball and especially when you play 9 ball according to the rules established in The Equalizer® Handicap System of the American Pool Player's Association. Our APA 9 ball team "The Maximillians" played at Moorpark Family Billiards last night Thursday, November 29, 2007 and we managed to win 3 of the 4 matches we played then forfeited the 5th match because our last player couldn't make it.
I commented to my opponent after our match (I won 55 to 59 resulting in a match score of: us 12 them 8) that I had benefited from some lucky rolls and his reply was "Yes! You did!".
That comment has stuck in my craw a bit. I have been trying to reconcile it all day today. My opponent recently was raised in skill level from a 7 to an 8 while I have been a skill level 7 for a couple of seasons now. This particular opponent and I have matched up several times in the past and he has won some and I have won some. He is good and in my opinion his skill level is well deserved and I feel that I will soon be also raised to an 8 if I can continue to play as well as I have this past season. All that considered and when I think back over the match last night I know I had some lucky breaks but I also had some bad rolls. He also received some good and bad rolls. We both played well and we both made mistakes. It may well be that he made the last mistake and I received the last lucky roll....regardless....my victory was not ALL LUCK! That is what kinda bothers me. His comment seems to me that he thought he lost because I was more lucky and that is just not the case in my opinion. There! I have gotten that off my chest now and I feel better for it.
I now have dug into the subject of Luck and playing Billiards. I found this interesting article called "Things That Matter in Billiards - Temperament" and it describes my feelings
better than I could myself. For those readers who may not wish to read that whole article I have taken the liberty to insert this brief excerpt to emphasize my point.

There is no such thing as luck in billiards, in which lost and safe balls, kisses, and covers should be foreseen and provided against. But he is scoring half his points from flukes! Then he is hitting hard and is to be pulled up and cooled down by a gentle position shot and a nice sustained sequence.
In brief, if success is to be achieved in billiards the temperament must be controlled. This applies both to the too confident and the too-easily-depressed temperament. Many a commanding lead has been lost by players who have presumed upon their advantage and many a game might have been won against odds by ignoring the score board, taking no unnecessary risks, and carefully utilizing all chances.

I have a saying that I use a lot and I'm not sure where I first heard it but I find it applies to this situation so here it is:"The better you play the more lucky you get!". I also know that I never quit trying to win, and I pride myself in playing my best right to the last shot. I have good days and bad days, just like everyone else, but even when I am not performing at the top of my ability I still try to get to that level from where I am. I have won many matches after my opponent has me counted out and so I can speak from experience on this subject. As long as I have another turn at the table I have not lost the match....period.

Conclusion:I am always lucky because I am not lazy.

Carol Makes a 15 Ball Combo

2007-11-29T11:19:00.001-08:00

I set this shot up according to an article in Billiards Digest, Carol walked into the garage just as I finished setting it up, I ask her if she wanted to shoot it and she said she would give it a try. She made the shot on the 1st attempt! Wow!

Trucking during the Holidays

2007-11-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

The holiday season for most of us truckers begins with Halloween and goes right on through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Holidays are great and then they are not so great. It is wonderful to get time off from the daily grind but then trying to schedule pickups and deliveries between the holidays is always a stress that we all could do without.

In the almost 40 years that I have been in the trucking industry I have heard a lot of stories about the drivers trying to get home for the holidays. I have even heard a few where drivers were trying to get AWAY from home for the holidays and then of course there are all those in between. The really fun scheduling comes when the driver wants to be in one city for Thanksgiving but another city for Christmas and even a third for New Years Eve. Driving a truck is the life isn't it? There are a many bald headed dispatchers out there after trying for years to figure out their holiday schedules....just imagine how hectic Santa's schedule must be when he has to make all those deliveries in one evening and finish before the first toddler come bouncing into the family room on Christmas morning at about 5:00 AM, I would not want to do his routing for him!

Pool Player's Equipment

2007-11-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

Pool like any other sport or game has various pieces of equipment that will be required to play the game. Some equipment is common to all players and some is specific to the individual player.
Some examples of those items which are common are the pool table, balls, rack, lights, scoring mechanism such as counters on the table or beads on a overhead wire, the mechanical bridge is often an item that is shared by the players even though a player may have his own and similiarly the chalk is usually left on the table to be shared but many players have their own preferred "chalk-on-a-stick" or some variation of a personal chalk holder.
The equipment that is usually specific to the individual player and most advance players will own their on preferred version of these are: The pool cue (many players have several types such as playing cue, break cue, jump cue), glove or talcum product, chalk and holder(as described above), mechanical bridge (as described above), cue case, shooting glasses, tip shaper & or tapper, towel, shaft slicker, and then there are some players who have special attire like a hat, shirt, pants or shoes that they feel give them an added edge over their oponent.
If you talk with any serious player you'll find there are a number of training and practice aids used when trying to learn or practice the various facits of the game. It is truly impossible to know all these but to list just a few there are: The Rempe Practice Ball by Jim Rempe and the Elephant Practice Balls by Tom Simpson, the Stroke Trainer by Doug Carter, The practice drills, videos and sharpshooter table decals by Joe Tucker, books such as "The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards" by Dr. Dave, "Play Your Best Pool" by Phil Capelle and "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool" by Ray Martin. The list of books goes on and on and gets more and more into the various aspects of the game, for example you can even get a book called "How To Be The Captain Of A Winning APA 8-Ball Team" by John Loftus.
As a pool nut myself, the above equipment and training aids are just some of the stuff I personally found beneficial. There are many more that I have not had the pleasure of actually using but I am sure that someone will find them beneficial and I will undoubtedly find new gadgets my self as my search for perfection continues in the world of pool and billiards.
Technology is impacting the game of billiards just like it is everything else in our lives. There are now laser aiming devices and laser speed measurement devices. The Sardo Tight Rack has revolutionized the act of racking the balls resulting in many professional pool players changing the way they break. Some say that when the rack is near perfect it allows a practiced professional player to do a soft break and make certain balls with such regularity that they are calling for a change in the official rules regarding the break. The latest in pool cue design has almost eliminated the problems caused by deflection, squirt, and swerve which in turn result in the advanced players having to rethink their aiming techniques and practices.
The game and equipment used in the game will continue to evolve and so must the rules of the game. The players of the future will be better equiped and the game will be a more precise game if you can believe that possible, but like other great sports the game of billiards is up to the task of living long into the future and will continue to gain popularity among the masses. Rightfully so too, since pool can be played the intire life span of anyone (male or female, young or old) who wishes to emerce themselves in the varied and colorful history and future of the game in the United States or around the world. There is no end in site for pool and billiards.

Pool, Tournaments, Football and Thanksgiving?

2007-11-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

Going into my 8th year as a league player in the APA I am thinking about the pool tournaments being held this weekend and I realized that an American Thanksgiving used to be about Family, Friends, Turkey, Football and even a Turkey Bowl where friends and family play football. Several members of my family and a lot of my friends play pool and many of us like football and we pretty much all like turkey so if I consider the ratio of those who like pool vs those who like football and consider that some like both what is the answer? Hmmmm!
I am a transplanted Chicago Bears fan now in Southern California where there is no NFL teams so I don't have much to cheer for in football this year, that means I personally will lean toward playing pool instead of watching football. Now if I can find a few of my friends and family that agree with me I could forgo the traditional Thanksgiving and shoot in a pool tournament this week end. Is that a sacrilege? Maybe it is and maybe the whole dynamic is shifting for me and my family. We are not what you would call a traditional family but that is not always a bad thing. Change is sometimes good....right?
I must honestly say I am not a big advocate for change in most things but I do like to see improvement anywhere possible. My immediate family is all the family we have in this area of the country. My wife's relatives are all in the Chicago area as is our oldest son and his wife and 2 kids and then the rest of my relatives are all in the the tri-state area of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. When we get together as a family here in Southern California, it is great while everyone is enjoying themselves but that doesn't usually last too long. We all start to wander in different directions of our own interest and that is not really a bad thing. We enjoy each other's company for a while then move on to what ever the pursuit of happiness means to us each.
That all means that I will usually turn to pool at some point during the holiday week end. Speaking of pool means I will usually get onto the subject of the APA, either 8 ball or 9 ball or both. Our 8 ball team "The Maximillians" played last night at Moorpark Family Billiards and won 3 to 2. Since we are in 3rd place and only 4 points out of 1st and we are trying to climb to 1st in the next 2 weeks ... that was a significant win last night. We are hoping 1st and 2nd did NOT fair as well.
Here is where I left off yesterday regarding the APA system of membership retention. If we do get 1st place it does not end there, we will still have to make it through the play offs for the season by 1st beating the wild card then taking on the winner between the 2nd and 3rd place teams. Success in that endeavor will give us the division championship for the winter session and qualify our team for the South Coast Regionals in June of 2008. Then the team membership rules come into play. Our team of 8 must retain at least 4 of the original members and then when we compete we must be able to meet the requirements of the 23 rule and our handicaps will continue to change according to the APA The Equalizer® handicap system.
That will mean playing for 6 months and hoping that all your lower skilled players stay good enough to win but don't improve enough to rise in skill level. This is where I have a bit of a complaint....if a player is near the top of his skill level, which is calculated by a secret formula, and he enters a higher level tournament and proceeds to win he is subject to a skill level increase which automatically puts him at the bottom of the next skill level for the rest of the event....causing him to almost certainly lose the rest of the matches he plays in that event. I have seen this happen to many a player in the last 7+ years in the APA.
This is the problem that promotes the thoughts of sandbagging and some players will use it as an excuse to try to cheat the system. The thought process goes something like this.
" I have a fairly good skill level 5, if he plays all season like a 4 he will lose most of his games but will be available for the play offs at skill level 4, I hold him out of the 1st round to protect his under ranked status the bring him out for the game winning match in the 2nd round where he will most likely win. His skill level will go up to 5 but since he is really a 5 anyway it should not hurt the team and he will be able to play effectively in the 3rd round as a 5 plus winning should not cause his level to increase again."
If a team can engineer this scenario with 3 or more players they have a good chance of going all the way...assuming they are not caught by the Handicap Committee and disqualified from the tournament. There is always that club over everyone's head.

Black Masons, Google, Blogging and BigRigTom

2007-11-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Blogging has been something that has interested me since the first time I heard the term and looked into the meaning.
Today I looked up "Black Masons" on Google because I have heard that term many times over the past 30 years and it finally got to the center of my attention and I HAD to know if anyone knew if there really was such a thing as a black mason. I must also admit that my son's scepticism and ridiculing of my comments about the Black Masons also had to do with my needing to know if they really existed.
Turns out they do!

I recently started an account with Google Adsense in and effort to make money on my websites above the current earnings...which are meager to non existent. While learning about the various uses of Google Adsense I kept reading about how to place the ads on your blog. I didn't have a blog so I had to look into making a blog. Here I am, blogging!

I have a sort of love hate relationship with pool, pool leagues and the American Poolplayers Association (APA). I have played pool since I was 12 years old but I only started to get serious when a couple of friends asked my wife and I to join their APA 9 ball team back in the summer of 2000. We had played on a small in house league team while we lived in the Chicago area but had never belonged to a truly organized league like the APA.

It started out great! Our team won the division and qualified for regionals, did well there but got knocked out fairly early. We of course had to stay on the team so we were eligible to participate in the regional and by the time we were knocked out we were half way through the next session and looking forward to the play offs again. Unknown to us this was and is by design, APA design that is. Team captains in the APA have to continuously recruit new members because the design of the handicap system requires a team to meet the "23 rule" as described in the APA Rules and Team Manual and as defined in the Equalizer Handicap System .....all just in order to qualify..... for everything from a weekly league match all the way up to and including the team nationals held in Las Vegas every year. Most people who continue to play pool get better, their skill level continues to rise and eventually they will cause the team to no longer qualify under the "23 rule" so new blood is necessary.

This is the 1st of many comments about the APA and the "23 Rule". It is both good and bad and is always relative to the position you choose to take at the time and the circumstances which surround the position from which you view the situation.....thus.....Love or Hate!