I hate cars, and I hate debt, but I love me some R32! I happened to drive by Billco VW in Wexford on Sunday and saw a beautiful 2004 R32 sitting in the front of their lot. Oh a whim, I turned around and decided to take a quick, harmless look at the car. It was VW certified, in pristine condition, and only had 37,000 miles on it. Hmm. What to do…

The dealership was closed, but the wheels were already in motion. My 2003 Jetta GLI was almost paid off, but I really wanted this car. I had always wanted one but didn’t have the money when it came out, and had since reserved myself to never getting my hands on one of these cars for two reasons:

First, most of the people who bought one of these limited edition – only 5000 crossed the Atlantic – hot hatches have had about 4 years to modify the cars into something far from the near-perfection that the car originally possessed. From different wheels to bad paint jobs. From exhaust mods and chips to body kits, I figured I’d never find an R32 that was as stock as the day it arrived in 2004. Since that’s the only way that I’d really want to purchase a used one, I just wrote the idea off a long time ago.

Second, after four years, you’d also expect most of these cars to be run to the ground. High mileage for their age, destroyed clutches, worn interiors, etc. My Jetta was a great little car in really good condition, so I wasn’t going to downgrade in wear and tear, even if my car had just over 70,000 miles on it.

Fortunately, this R32 crushed those pessimistic thoughts with all 3,400 lbs. of its diminutive, yet awesome self. The leather is intact, the clutch is unaltered and car reacts just as smoothly as my GLI, albeit a bit faster…and with all wheel drive! Frankly, if the odometer didn’t say 37k on it, I would just think I had taken a time machine back to 2004 when the R first came out. I guess that’s what happens when a 60-year-old guy owned it before me. He took great care of it. Gotta love responsible adults!

Since the car has a ridiculous resale value, low miles, a clean record, a VW certification, and a 3-year warranty on top of the near mint condition of the vehicle, I just couldn’t pass it up…so I didn’t. Billco also did the 40,000 mile maintenance already. Not bad.

Also, we got a mini snow storm last night here in Pittsburgh, so I decided to test the car’s capabilities a little before the plows took to the roads. It was awesome! Simply awesome.

And, as a friendly plug, I’d also like to add that Billco Motors is a tight VW/Mazda dealership with a great staff, at least from my experiences there. I’ve been going there for service since moving to Pittsburgh. This process was flawless and they were very helpful in helping me get what I wanted. If you’re in the market for a new or used VW (or Mazda), go check them out and ask for Mike Dixon.

Davis and I were chatting yesterday and he told me that he finally put his Radio Gen1us mix together for Aaron’s podcast web site. Aaron typically does the radio-style podcasts and comes up with themes for each segment. Each installment is typically pretty good (at least the ones that I’ve heard), and usually have some random band(s) that you may not have heard of in the mix. Check it out if you’re ever looking for something new. Anyway, during our conversation, I came up with an idea that might be a little fun, therapeutic, and good practice for my musically lazy self.

I received some gift certificates for Christmas to Guitar Center and MusiciansFriend.com and decided to add some higher-end mic cables, a new mic for my guitar amp, and little tube mic preamp to my arsenal of dust gathering equipment. With Davis’ departure, I didn’t have a computer set up in the “studio” anymore, so I had to relocate my desk/computer back to the office in order to record. After a few months of putting it off, I’ve finally begun setting everything up again. The only problem now is motivation. I need a reason to play and record again, and I’m going to ask you to help give me a reason.

I’m throwing this idea out to Aaron, Davis and anyone reading this. I’m pondering performing/recording a mix of songs by request and forcing Aaron to post it on Radio Gen1us. For example, Davis will probably ask for Shimmy Shimmy Ya by ODB. Hopefully I can recruit Davis or Aaron to take the songs and do the segues to make them truly Gen1us!

You pick the songs, I’ll cover them however well I can. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get people to guest spot on some recordings (like Aaron if he ever gets back out here). Now remember, I hate practicing, and I don’t have tons of time to waste learning Eruption or Cliffs of Dover, so be reasonable. In the end, this should give me a chance to get back in the groove of playing, improve my tracking and mixing abilities, and hopefully provide you with something worth listening to…if only for simple comedic relief.

All in all, I just want to start playing music again. If you think this could be fun (or awful), drop your request or ideas in the comments section, and let’s give it a go. If not, I’ll probably just keep buying Swiffers for my guitars and blogging about my erratic bowling.

What did I learn last night at bowling? Well for one, that there’s a big difference between pretty good and real good. I’m definitely a pretty good bowler, especially given the short amount of time that I’ve taken it seriously, but I’m far from being a real good bowler…really far. I came out and rolled a clean game (211) to start the night. I was feeling it. I had my shot, I had my form, and I had my confidence. I even picked up a 2-6-10 split to keep my clean game going.

My second game started out well, but I couldn’t finish out, leaving an open 10th. I rolled a 174, which is above my average of 170, but not really in the range that I felt I was going to bowl when the night began. I left 3 opens – all of which I should’ve picked up. I was still throwing the ball well, but I just started to leave a pin here and there.

Of course, leaving a pin here and there in game 2, became the only shot I had in game 3. For the first time in a…heck, I don’t even remember the last time…I didn’t roll a single strike. Not one. I hit the pocket with 8 of my 10 throws, but left 6 9s. It was ridiculous. I guess it was even more ridiculous that I failed to pick up 4 frames, but by game 3 it had become “that kind of night”. The only thing that I picked up in game 3 was the humbling reality that I’m way short on experience as I finished the game with a 146. I was bowling with the top bowler in our league (208). He was able to average 230-something for the night, I think. His adjustments and recognition of changes in the lane conditions reminded me of bowling with Davis. He kept talking to me about it, but I couldn’t replicate what he was doing.

So, it would seem that when conditions are at their best, I can bowl pretty well, but once they start breaking down, I just can’t seem to fix my shot. Or…I’m fixing it the wrong way. It’s a newer problem that I think I’m finding as I get better at throwing a consistent ball. It’s just something I’m going to have to figure out with time, and more games, I guess.

Oh well. I finished the night with a 177 average, which was above my 170 average coming in, and we took 5 of 7 points, so I shouldn’t really complain. Next week I’ll come in with a 171. I really need to pick it up, though, if I’m going to make a run for most improved, and if my team is going to repeat as winners in the second half of the league.

Since I went to the Pens/Islanders game last Thursday, I had to roll off for week 6 of my bowling league last Tuesday. I started the week with a 170 average, so my only goal was to continue shooting above that number – a feat that didn’t seem unrealistic, but quickly became unattainable.

I started off shooting well with a 185, but I quickly lost my shot, and then my confidence. My next two games ended up being a 169 and a 150. Now maybe I’m being a bit hard on myself for coming up short on improving my average (168 for the night), but I know I can bowl better than that. Since I was bowling alone, I probably wore down quickly as I ran through my three games. I also was bowling right after another league had just ended, so the shot was going to be a little crazy with the oil dried up and/or displaced a little. I’m just not quite able to make those adjustments yet. All in all, it was not the best night for me. On Friday, I found out that we lost all 7 points. Ouch.

With my underachieving performance still bugging me, a few of us went out this weekend and bowled a couple of times. On Friday, we checked out some Family Fun Fest place off of 28. It was the worst bowling experience for me as there wasn’t even a hint of oil on the lanes. It’s just not the place for a semi-serious bowler. George, on the other hand, bowled a 206. Q and I were totally confused on that one. After leaving there, we still wanted to bowl, and hopefully find a place that actually oiled their lanes…at least a little. So we went over to Arsenal. They were having scoring issues with the lanes, and since we sort of know the manager, John, from being regulars there, he let us bowl for free if we’d just keep our own score and track any issues we had. I didn’t bowl particularly well, but I started seeing a hint of what would follow me through Sunday – 190s and relative success. I rolled a 197, 156, 161, and 190. Not bad, but not great, either.

On Saturday, I met up with George at Shootz to practice up on what little pool skills I possess. We shot pool for about 6 hours, with me taking 16 of our 22 games.

Then came Sunday, where we all met up yet again for some bowling at Arsenal. For some reason I was bowling better than I ever had in my life. I probably only missed the pocket 5 times in 6 games (that’s good for me). Maybe less. I also rolled two clean games, which was awesome since I had only 2 clean games prior. I also bowled my new highest score (258). I bowled 194, 192, 211, 197, 258, and 182. My last game would’ve definitely been higher as I was “feeling it”, but midway through another strong performance, I went to the bathroom and realized that I had relatively large tear in the crotch of my jeans. Upon my return, I was more concerned with not blowing my jeans out completely, than I was with my form, etc. 182 is still respectable, but it definitely sucked as it dropped my average for the day down to 206. Still, I’m back in a good place mentally for this Thursday as we aim to snatch all 7 points to try to regain first place.

Well, I should say I can’t stop getting lucky. I’ve only participated in Fantasy Football twice, and both times I came out on top. Oddly enough, I think I actually beat Aaron’s wife, Suzy, both times in the championship match.

This season, Davis was able to set up a Standard Prize Eligible League for free from ESPN since we all participated in the ESPN Fantasy Baseball League last year, which means I actually received a prize – or trophy of sorts – to show off my luck…uh, I mean dominance.

Now, despite all of my success in the fantasy sports world, I still don’t like it very much, and I’m sure next year, I’ll be just as hesitant to participate as I have been the last couple of times. Why? I just hate the time it takes to follow every player on your team, combing the free agents to fill out your roster or replace underachievers, the debate on whether or not your underachievers could hurt you later if you drop them and an opponent picks them up, etc. It just takes way too much thought and focus for a responsible adult (I’m still debating if that’s me or not). I refuse to spend too much time worrying about my team each year, but it’s inevitable. If your team is in a position to win as the season starts drawing to a close, the very hint of success triggers something in each of us (except for Suzy, I guess), to finally manage our teams like there’s something worthwhile at the end of it all. Something bigger than a bobblehead with Fantasy League Champ painted on it and lame blog entry to accompany the photo.

In the end, although my football knowledge helped me a bit, the success comes down to luck. I mean, here are some simple examples off the top of my head from my two championships of plain luck:

• In the 2004 Season, Aaron drops Mushin Mohammed early on because he’s not performing well. I pick him up and he has a career year. Aaron’s team becomes the laughing stock of his own league.
• In that same season, Daunte Culpepper has his best year, rivaling Peyton Manning’s then record-breaking season. He was on my team…I didn’t participate in the draft.
• Again, in the 2004 season, I trade Ladanian Tomlinson for Jamal Lewis so I could have a Raven on my team. Bad trade that should’ve hurt me, but it all worked out as I lost only 2 regular season games.
• 2004, I have Jerome Bettis on my team per luck of the auto draft. He barely has any yards (as expected), but he scores every close-yardage TD (13) for the Steelers and becomes a huge points guy for me (not expected).
• Brian Davis’ team, who dominated all year, scoring more points than any other team (1454-1133), fails to put up enough points to beat me in the playoffs. My team, who finished with only 4 points more for than against (1134-1130), has their best two weeks. The upset is complete.
• Davis’ team, who dominated our division loses to Suzy, providing me an almost guaranteed path to my amazing “trophy” (below).
• Brian also dumps Roddy White, who I quickly snatch up…he helps lead me to the championship with some big games (26 points over two weeks) to close out the season. I win by 24 (144-120).
• This year, Suzy’s pregnant and traveling with Aaron and doesn’t update her roster for the two-week championship playoff. Her bench was mostly injured, but I think she had 3 starters out on the last weekend, including her starting QB. Again, I win.

I’m sure there are other subplots, but in the end, my point should be more or less proven. Success lies more in the luck of other people and their poor player management, surprise players putting up surprisingly high statistics, and whether or not Jessica Simpson is at the game, than it does in your “skills” as a team manager. This just isn’t my type of game, because I’ve never found success when luck was the deciding factor between winning and losing in anything. I just don’t have any luck. Well, except for in fantasy football…

Below is my “trophy” – a Tom Brady bobblehead. I had the choice between a t-shirt, a banner, or a bobblehead of Brady, Moss, Addai, or Adrian Peterson (the one with talent). ESPN obviously thinks that if your team won, you must’ve had one of these point-crushing beasts. I didn’t have any of these guys on my team, so I went with the guy that was supposed to get his 4th ring on Sunday – even though it bares little resemblance to Brady himself. Thanks, Tom. Now I have a goofy bobblehead of you at my desk and you’re a failure. That should reflect well on me. Thanks a lot. Ha ha.

When I first moved to Johnstown, Hoover and I would go out and shoot pool nearly every single night. I mean, it was Johnstown, so that was pretty much all there was to do – drink and shoot pool. Once I improved to a relatively competitive level, I joined the CTC company pool league which was played over lunch. I think I made the playoffs all 3 times that I played in the league, but I never won the whole “deal”.

With all the league play and practice, I had become a pretty good 8-ball player, but like nearly everything I do, I just got tired of it. I got sick of the smell of the pool hall…you know…that musty nastiness of old men, cigarettes, and fried food. I grew tired of the cocky players who were – borrowing from the Davis book of bowling sayings – “big fish in a small pond”. The whole scene just bored me, so I explored other things.

I joined a dart league and our team almost won both times, we started a band, and we began making the devouring of sushi a new art form. My pool skills diminished quickly.

So when George asked me to join his team in their pool league, I had some reservations. I hadn’t really shot pool seriously in over two years. I had never shot in a team format league. Was it going to be the same old crap? Could I even shoot anymore? Was I willing to commit to yet another obligation? Yes, yes, and probably not.

I’ve yet to commit, but I did go last night. I ended up winning 3 out of 5 games, and should’ve won at least 4, if not all of them, but my rustiness bit me pretty good the one game, and despite running to the 8 on the other, I couldn’t bust it out of the cluster that it was stuck in off of the break to finish. My opponent ran out for the win. Oh well.

I ended with a score of 41, which was tops on our team, but the whole ordeal took basically four-and-a-half hours, and ruined my night. I had expected to be home around 10 to do freelance work, manage my finances, run my rent check down to my landlord’s house, and workout. Instead, I got home well after midnight, ate a quick little meal, and passed out. That meant that I had to take a half day today just to do all of that stuff or spend the day annoyed that I didn’t get to any of it. I hate leagues, and I really don’t know if I have it in me to waste this much time. I’ve committed to the next two weeks as Mike, who’s also on our bowling team, is going to Australia and needs a sub, but after that, I think I’m going to want my Monday nights back. I love bowling league, but bowling’s still new and challenging to me. Pool, like the stench that accompanies the places it’s typically played in, is just stale.

Instead of enjoying the big game on my new TV, I decided to meet up with George and some of his friends at Mt. Lebanon Lanes to watch the game and take part in their Super Bowl bowling special – $1 games, $1 hot dogs, $1 domestic drafts, and $1 soft pretzels. It was definitely the cheapest 4 hours I’ve spent out in a very long time.

I ended up having a really good time. First, no one else showed up to bowl aside from our group, or at least it felt that way. For most of the night, we were the only people bowling, and we were basically only outnumbered by the staff once a small league ended. I averaged 178 for the night on 7 games, but we weren’t really all that focused on bowling as we spent most of the night watching the “surprise” Super Bowl.

The game was simply great. I’ll admit that I was bored for the first 3 quarters. I mean, when you expect a high scoring affair and you get the complete opposite, it takes some air out of the whole thing. BUT, what the game lacked for 3 quarters, made the 4th quarter one of the best I’ve ever watched. It had everything. Brady showed why he’s Brady. Moss showed why he’s Moss. Plaxico didn’t drop the ball. Eli did his best Ben Roethlisberger impression by evading what seemed like a definite sack. Oh, and there were only 3 lead changes.

Eli Manning proved me wrong in every way. I had expected a meltdown by the younger Manning, but he actually managed to back up his solid playoff performances with yet another good game. Now he’ll be the biggest hero in New York even though his head was primed for the guillotine until late in the season. I guess that’s why I hate fans. The guy led a perfectly run game-winning drive that left only 30 seconds for the Patriots to answer. I’ve heard of the 2-minute drill, but the 30-second drill? C’mon…even if the Giants told the Pats exactly how their defense was going to line up, the Pats couldn’t have made anything happen. At least not with the way the Giants were playing.

So as much as I dislike Super Bowls where I could really care less who wins or loses, this one worked out just fine. I’m happy for Strahan, but totally bummed for guys like Moss and Seau. I do wonder how the Patriots will respond next year. You know Belichick is going to be gunning for perfection after this loss, and his players are going to probably react appropriately. Either way, I do see the Patriots getting back to the promised land, but I’m not sold on the Giants…yet.

Of course, neither team will be getting their Super Bowl next year, since the Ravens are going to take it all. Ha ha.

This week we played the first “position match” of the second half of the league, which means we played the team next to us in the standings. That also meant that we were going to be playing my friend Rob’s team, and they’re pretty stacked with decent bowlers, so I expected a good match.

We ended up taking 5 of the possible 7 points, meaning that we should’ve built a tiny cushion for us in first place. I started the night with a nightmare game. It started off well, but then, for some reason, my thumb was sticking on my release. It was either because I had used Q’s resin bag during warm-ups or my thumb was sweating. Who knows, but I had 5 throws stick, and the results killed what had started as a solid effort. On one frame, my first ball went into the gutter, and the second nearly followed but managed to take out 3 pins. Weeeeeeeeee. A 3-pin frame! I finished with a 149 – my second game under my average this league. With my average now set at 167, a 149 almost killed us that game, but my friend Rob on the other team managed to miss the 7-pin on his second ball on the 10th frame. We won by a single pin. Thanks Rob!

I washed my hand of any possible resin remnants and started to use the air obsessively to make sure the ball wouldn’t stick for the next two games. My scores and confidence improved as I rolled a 179, followed by a 210. The 210 marked my first 200+ in this league, and helped save my average from dropping, allowing me to finish with a 179 average for the night.

That means that my average should now be a 170 going into next week – a 31-pin improvement from week 1. I was listed second in the most improved category this week with a 28-pin improvement (I think 33 was tops), so this should only help with my new quest to finish tops in that category. Thank goodness for my rusty 139 coming in. Ha ha. I’m also still on-point for my target of a 180 average at leagues end.