Good to be Wrong
2008-01-04, 5:00 p.m.

Day 1230

Yep. Screwed up on the bowling predictions. Last weeks good results moved us up a notch to 4th. This week, we ended up taking all 8 points while the1st and 2nd place teams each only took 2. Have no idea how 3rd place guys did. Now the separation from 1st to 4th (us) is less than a weeks worth of points. Position round next week, then we start the 10 week mad dash to close out the season. We�re in a much better position than we were this time last year. Now we�re in line for around $120 a guy end of season payoff for being in the top tier of teams, versus the measly $100 a guy we got last year for finishing 20th out of 24.

Personally, I also missed out on my predicted score. What�d I guess � 638 or something? Made it all the way to 569. I blew two silly spares that cost 22 ish pins. Outside of that, the score kinda reflects how I bowled � ok but not spectacular. Beat my average by a whopping 11 pins. After 51 games, that translates to a 0.2 pin increase. Whoopee. Baby bro had a really good night. 224, 215, 258 for a 697 total. If I had to pick someone, I�d say he was the reason we took all the points last night. Lefty and I just kinda showed up and held to our averages and let the kid (he�s 40) tow the load. About time too. We�ve been dragging his ass along all season.

Hmmm. Maybe I�ll use that huge bowling payoff to get new pedals & shoes for my bike. It�s that or toss it in towards getting new brake/shifter levers. I desperately need to change handle bars and swapping out the shifters is the costliest portion of that. Handle bars are relatively cheap but those shifters! Even on Ebay the prices can get a little staggering. Forget buying new at a bike shop. I paid less for my entire bike than what they�re asking for new shifters.

Yeah, I�ve thought of that too � just gettting a new bike. Not sure how well that would go over. Cindy is teasing me with thoughts of re-doing our kitchen and spending time riding would be counter-productive. Normally, in a kitchen job, producing a counter would be good, but somehow I think she�d fail to find the humor in this situation.

The teasing is coming from the possibility of shutting down an account The Bob inherited from an aunt last year. He really doesn�t need the scratch, Cindy�s brother would be more than happy with the split. We�ve been wanting to remove the wall between the �dining� room and kitchen for years. It would allow us to embiggen the kitchen and re-arrange the space a bit. As big as the kitchen already is, the traffic flow sucks and positioning of appliances could be improved.

Fer instance. If I�m busy slicing & dicing veggies for a meal I like to do it with the sink to my immediate right. First, it�s easy to flick all the non-used veggie bits into the sink. Second, there�s some very nice under cabinet lighting available right there. Downside? That kinda makes me stand right in front of the dishwasher. For some reason that completely eludes my reasoning, the time when I�m deeply involved in chopping onions for my jambalaya is right when Cindy gets the urge to empty/load the dishwasher. And use the sink. We both agree that this situation must change. We could really use to upgrade our range too. We have a decent 4 burner gas range, but it�s too small. Some meals are just a pain to cook because you can�t have more than 2 decent sized pots on the stove at once. They just get in each others way. The table is in the only place it can be, but it seriously disrupts the traffic flow. If someone is in the fridge for something, no one can get in or out of the kitchen � between the table and fridge door, there�s no place to go. And the floor � oh the floor. In the summer, the parquet tiles all pop and make little tepees all over the place. That�s my fault � didn�t leave any expansion room.

So all these little things add up to us wanting to trash our kitchen and re-do it. Again. Just did it 7 years ago. The good part? We�ll re-use the cabinets. Just re-arrange them. Need to also move a window and move the patio doors. Rip out the flooring, put in new sub-floor and go from there.

We�re actually kind of finalizing plans even now. I wouldn�t want to start and window/door moving till mid March. It�d be nice to have temps in the 30�s and 40�s for that � it was 6 here yesterday morning � that�s a leetle cool for poking large holes in the exterior walls.

But that�s what�s in the works. Maybe I�lldo some before/during/afters. I�m kind of excited by the prospect of getting into a nice big project like this. Means I get to buy a now toy. I mean tool. Yeah, a tool. That was a deal we made years ago. New big project? New toy, I mean tool, to make the work easier. Having a little problem deciding on what to get this time. I�m thinking compressor, cuz then I can get a nail gun too. Got to do the roof soon, and a nail gun would come in VERY handy for a job like that. That might even be the summer project. After moving the pond and re-doing the steps to the patio. And re-surfacing the patio. And . . . maybe I should just become a contractor?

Gah. Got to go and finally pick up Zach�s Christmas present. It finally arrived in the store yesterday. He wants to get it set up before Jill gets back from studying for her boards Saturday night. Poor guy has been bacheloring it (at my place no less) the three nights she�s been gone.

Later folks.

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