Smashing, Ole Boy, Just Smashing.
The original entrance to the oldest continuously used Alley in Indianapolis
Well Sunday is a memory now. A lot of memories actually. A lot of them from the Sport Bowl bowling alley on East Street.
What started out for me as another lazy day and another lingering in the sack ended up as a 6 game whirlwind bowling marathon.
David Andrichik of the Chatterbox held another customer appreciation event at the bowling alley in question. The turnout was good, the level of competition was good and the pizza and beverages were top notch. Those were all at the Chatterbox's expense, so to be sure that everything was on the up and up David bought in is personal accountant Kristy Newcomer to help with the deductions. Kristy and her friend Katie Brose also bowled. Many of this Chatterbowl events Bowlers are in the 10 for 13 beer and pizza leagues also.
The Chatterbox is responsible for putting together 4 teams plus a pool of subs for these leagues, so it is no surprise that many of the Chatterbowl attendees were on hand for todays funstivities. Rich Culy took it upon himself to encourage some of the bowlers who, with some guidance and constant refinement may not end up being a complete embarrassment to the Chatterbox. Some of the bowlers even though not really regulars in a bowling alley are already making great strides with a few simple suggestions.
Rich is captain of Tuesdays Beer league Chatterbox 4 team but I subbed for him last week, I had a 528 series in Rich's place. Rich watched today for a full game before donning an elbow brace and stepping into the fray for two games. He bowled down on the end with the host and the accountant and her friend, as well as Kay and John Gentry and others I am afraid I can't name (their parents should have taken that responsibility and I do not wish to become involved in others family matters.)
I had a team high 508 series, followed by Will's 479 just over average effort, Davids 468 exactly on average and Mel's 367 slightly under average.
During the pre-curricular Chatterbowl session earlier I had a decent series of 479, but my series was no match for Chris West's 555 or Kristofer Bowman's amazing 600 efforts. Chris can thank Rich for some of the good fortune since Rich was guiding Chris a bit, as I mentioned earlier. Oh, and I only bowled 3 games in the warm-up (for fun) event, Kris and Chris both bowled 4 games to achieve their series. Did I not mention that earlier? I know the boys would want the record set straight.
Other Chatterboxers on hand that I may have failed to mention or name (lets not reaggrivate that wound); Pam Sipes, Amanda Ferrell and Lonnie, Margaret Brown and her boyfriend Chuck S., David Sherry, Emily Stage, LeAnne Bailey, Patrick Wasson, David and Mary Ann Beuke, Ericka Embry and her old high school pal Max, and one or two who I don't really know including a guy I think was named Eric, but...
All The Way Down From The Hump
Here I am in the valley of the hump mountains of eternity. Like the undulating peaks and vales of the sea serpents back each perfectly spaced the weeks are a journeys from the valley of the weekend to the peak of the mid week, then the downhill climb back to the valleys, never ending never changing never altering in their consistency. This particular Saturday I am off from my job which I alternate every other Saturday with Michael Novak. I have been sleeping poorly again the last few days and took the luxury of sleeping in until almost 11:00 with but a brief interlude of dog walking at around 8:00 am. The day outside is gloomy. Grey sky chill and dead-brown earth patches between unmelted checkerboards of cold blue-white snow are the mute colors of late January. The house seems more like a holding cell than a haven from the dreary. The time clicks and ticks and slowly the midmorning is mid afternoon and midnight seems no more pleasant or welcome, that is unless I am asleep which may or may not be the case. If this is what it is like to have one week without football I can not happily await the absence of the game for the next 8 months. I will have other distractions for sure. and Vacations and such but the truth is those are just breaks in the scales of the sea-serpent. The bowling leagues of Friday and Sunday are two thirds decided, and only ten more weeks remain to see us through these distractions as well. Then of course the Nascar Sprint Cup season will be well underway, and the challenge of a Fantasy season competition will fall into those very valleys again for 36 weeks. But today all that seems so very far off in the distance. Too far to be counted on more like places or times of legend or mythology.
Walked and Talked
Nothing beats a healthy trash talk like a good drubbing. Ouch.
No really all in good fun, and for the love of the game, and I was just the better man this day, next time it could easily go the other way, and we will be back, and On any Given Tuesday!, and, and and...
Smack.
I subbed in the Tuesday beer league for Rich who is sporting a cantankerous elbow right now. He came along to (coach) give the women on the team lessons (yeah, right). I came along to sub and give everybody else lessons. We were near the main entrance of Sportbowl, and to the north of us Chris West's boast and game were going south. I didn't even have to trash his game, Rich being more or less the emissary of my mastery was doing all of that he could. I ended with a 528 series and a 155 worst game (which Chris matched as his best game of the evening I think).
Even his pins couldn't get ChrisWested in the third portion of the nights kegling kalamity!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Smack.
I subbed in the Tuesday beer league for Rich who is sporting a cantankerous elbow right now. He came along to (coach) give the women on the team lessons (yeah, right). I came along to sub and give everybody else lessons. We were near the main entrance of Sportbowl, and to the north of us Chris West's boast and game were going south. I didn't even have to trash his game, Rich being more or less the emissary of my mastery was doing all of that he could. I ended with a 528 series and a 155 worst game (which Chris matched as his best game of the evening I think).
Even his pins couldn't get ChrisWested in the third portion of the nights kegling kalamity!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Unexpected Notes
Kienle Machine heads and hand. Chuck Pace ©2008
Last nights scheduled event at the Chatterbox ended in an unscheduled event at the Chatterbox. Being a Holiday Monday there is usually a small crowd, and so no music is scheduled. There was definitely a small crowd. There was definitely music.
With the gu'ment and the schools out, a lot of the business that happens on Monday don't. The smallish crowd I encountered at the Box had some regularity, and lacked a lot of regulars. Nicci was there in an unofficial capacity, Kris Bowman, Patrick Wasson and Christ West were there without getting incapacitated. Mel Shoffner, Rich, David A. and Kay, Jeff and Marylou acted as capacitors of conversation. Rich has a two beer limit as he was driving to Brownsburg to assist Dave Gansert with something, so he missed the eventual event.
Top: Burns on home skillett. Next: Bruker on bass.
Chuck Pace ©2008
I leaned in and said, "What?" Hoping for praise to be steeped in greater verbosity than a one word exclamation of my mastery.
Sure enough soon there was Dave Bruker with an amplifier, followed closely by Paul Berns with clicky-claky things and Peter Kienle with six strings of magic. My hands were retired as DeAnne called David (now at home) and asked if there was music (a now familiar theme)? He said it was o.k. to have music and there was music. I grabbed camera and took a couple of great shots out of 55 snaps. The evening was fine the music like wine.
Oh yes, there was Music.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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On The Road Again
That was the best night of the season, records were made tough opponents challenged, and it all came down to the wire. Unfortunately while all that was going on at the bowling alley the NFC championship game was being played in Green Bay on the truly frozen tundra. The best post-season game is over and I missed most of it, I was bowling my season high series and tying my best score of the season too. But when I got the opportunity I would step onto the crowed bar/lounge a the alley and catch a play or two and the score. What I saw was inspiring. What I saw was old school Football, in the cold, open air of a real football city.
I have nothing to win or lose in this game. My team is out, I just want to see an opponent step up and take on the evil empire. I just want an NFC team to take the pretty boy regime and the underhanded cheat to task and make a game of it in two weeks. Either team would work if they can bring it. A fan of the game wanted Brett to return to the Glory. To make his third Championship appearance. That same fan wanted to see the little brother walk in the shadow of his hall of fame destined big brother no more. I was rooting for a game. A good game where the winner is considered worthy, honorable and deserving. That was the game I saw snippets of. That was the game I wanted to be, wanted to see. The best game of the post season. That game has decided a final match-up. It wasn't the love of the game guy, the 17 year veteran, the sentimental favorite guy. This time it was the little brother.
Archie and Olivia can say that their progeny has made it to the Championship game two years in a row. Not the same progeny though the NFL siblings, the AC older and the NFC younger. Peyton last year, Eli this year.
To the NY Giants credit is a bit of history already made. The Giants won every game they played on the road this season. 8-0 in regular season, 2-0 in post season so far. For the final challenge, in Glendale Arizona, the Giants are once again the away or visiting team.
Meanwhile I was at the bowling alley. I was trying to repeat Friday nights performance, to excel on the hardwoods. I started with a 188 game which tied my best effort on either league this season. I followed that with another average crushing 166, still near the pinnacle of my game, then for the third game I bumped it up a half notch again and finished with a 172, and captured my first 500 series of the season in either league.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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I have nothing to win or lose in this game. My team is out, I just want to see an opponent step up and take on the evil empire. I just want an NFC team to take the pretty boy regime and the underhanded cheat to task and make a game of it in two weeks. Either team would work if they can bring it. A fan of the game wanted Brett to return to the Glory. To make his third Championship appearance. That same fan wanted to see the little brother walk in the shadow of his hall of fame destined big brother no more. I was rooting for a game. A good game where the winner is considered worthy, honorable and deserving. That was the game I saw snippets of. That was the game I wanted to be, wanted to see. The best game of the post season. That game has decided a final match-up. It wasn't the love of the game guy, the 17 year veteran, the sentimental favorite guy. This time it was the little brother.
Archie and Olivia can say that their progeny has made it to the Championship game two years in a row. Not the same progeny though the NFL siblings, the AC older and the NFC younger. Peyton last year, Eli this year.
To the NY Giants credit is a bit of history already made. The Giants won every game they played on the road this season. 8-0 in regular season, 2-0 in post season so far. For the final challenge, in Glendale Arizona, the Giants are once again the away or visiting team.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Daily Grind? Not So Much.
01/20/08 10:26 AM | Permalink
You would think that in the 3 plus days since my last post I would have something interesting or informative to say. You would think that. I would have thought that as well. Sure things happened. Time didn't exactly stand still (our perception of the passage of and weaving of existence through it, that is), the world didn't come to a grinding halt.
Question? What would the world grind against? If the world came to a grinding halt we would be long gone before it happened. I think the gravitational effects of something approaching to within grinding distance would have already decimated the living things on the orb. The tides would most surely have been sucked into turmoil, the tectonic plates and the volcanoes would have crushed, rended and liquified and spewed.
When I was only a lad, in my early teens, I read the captivating book When Worlds Collide by Edwin Balmer and Phillip Wylie. Written for serialization in 1932 and 1933 (the year my father was born) for Blue Book magazine and made into a novel in 1933. It told a tale of two rogue planets entering the solar system and on a collision course with the Earth. One planet, Bronson Alpha was to pass close enough to Earth to cause all the catastrophic problems I mentioned above, the second planet, Bronson Beta will take a stable orbit in the place of the Earth which will be destroyed when Bronson Alpha comes back from a trip around the sun. Scientist Cole Hendron built two large ark spaceships to take some of humanity to Bronson Beta to see that some of mankind survived. After I read that book I got the sequel 
After Worlds Collide also by Wylie and Balmer written in 1934.
A couple years later, while I was in high school, I read another sci-fi on Terraforming Venus but I can't for the life of me remember the author or title. It involved seeding the atmosphere with bacteria to convert the sulfuric acids and CO2 elements to more Terran friendly conditions and sending colonists to start over and making a more utopian beginning. There was no collision or grinding of planets involved in this one but the ideas no doubt stemmed from the earlier works of Wylie and Balmer. I saw similarities in concept when I was geeking on this fiction, now some 32 years later I fail to remember its title, but I know if I leave it for now it will come back to me like a love released only to return stronger.
Speaking of old books, and it turns out that I am, have been or was; Friday night Miss Kay brought me a tidbit of history that is right up my creek (you expected alley, you had a right to expect alley, but wait for it, just read on intrepid explorer of thoughtspuked for pleasure, just read on.
Friday at work I felt my phone vibrating. I was on the sales floor where I'm not supposed to take personal or cell calls, so I walked into the empty purchasing office to receive the call, it was from Kay (as even the dullest bulb should have guessed by now). She said she found a family heirloom of sorts, a book that was given to her granddaddy by a family friend. An autobiographical book on and about growing up in the covered bridge capitol of the world,Parke County Indiana and of course covered bridges and is thus titled, "The Covered Bridge." The book was written by Carl E. Killion, Sr. and was published by The Journal Printing Company of Carthage Illinois in 1966. Kay told me that the family simply called Mr. Killion, "Killion" and brought it to me later that same day at the kegling center where a book on the Covered Bridge would actually really be right up my alley. Between frames I told Kay and Rich about the destination of the Mystery Vacation, and they took a vow of silence on the subject in Jenni's presence.
Back on the oil patterns I was bowling like a man possessed, with my first three game series over average in at least a month. I ended the night with my best series of the league, just three shy of 500. Apparently the man who possessed me while I bowled was not much better than I am because even with his cohabitation I am still the beneficiary of "the Gumby" for next weeks opening game as my final effort was still weakest among my Copies Plus team peers.
Tonight I bring my new heightened bowling savvy to the alleys again as a member of Mel and Them, then apparently I am now bowling on Tuesdays at 7:30 as a member of team Chatterbox 4. My memory loss concerns me yet again, I don't remember signing up for a 9 week commitment of bowling but I guess I will give it my all. I will probably remember the Book and Author from 1976 before I remember this. I often find it funny how The Brain works.
You would have thought that in the 3 plus days since my last post I should have something interesting or informative to say. I hope I did. As is often the case after I got going, I kind of got going. So I hope you finished reading the post instead of deciding that it was nothing worth a bit of your time.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Question? What would the world grind against? If the world came to a grinding halt we would be long gone before it happened. I think the gravitational effects of something approaching to within grinding distance would have already decimated the living things on the orb. The tides would most surely have been sucked into turmoil, the tectonic plates and the volcanoes would have crushed, rended and liquified and spewed.
A couple years later, while I was in high school, I read another sci-fi on Terraforming Venus but I can't for the life of me remember the author or title. It involved seeding the atmosphere with bacteria to convert the sulfuric acids and CO2 elements to more Terran friendly conditions and sending colonists to start over and making a more utopian beginning. There was no collision or grinding of planets involved in this one but the ideas no doubt stemmed from the earlier works of Wylie and Balmer. I saw similarities in concept when I was geeking on this fiction, now some 32 years later I fail to remember its title, but I know if I leave it for now it will come back to me like a love released only to return stronger.
Speaking of old books, and it turns out that I am, have been or was; Friday night Miss Kay brought me a tidbit of history that is right up my creek (you expected alley, you had a right to expect alley, but wait for it, just read on intrepid explorer of thoughtspuked for pleasure, just read on.
Back on the oil patterns I was bowling like a man possessed, with my first three game series over average in at least a month. I ended the night with my best series of the league, just three shy of 500. Apparently the man who possessed me while I bowled was not much better than I am because even with his cohabitation I am still the beneficiary of "the Gumby" for next weeks opening game as my final effort was still weakest among my Copies Plus team peers.
Tonight I bring my new heightened bowling savvy to the alleys again as a member of Mel and Them, then apparently I am now bowling on Tuesdays at 7:30 as a member of team Chatterbox 4. My memory loss concerns me yet again, I don't remember signing up for a 9 week commitment of bowling but I guess I will give it my all. I will probably remember the Book and Author from 1976 before I remember this. I often find it funny how The Brain works.
You would have thought that in the 3 plus days since my last post I should have something interesting or informative to say. I hope I did. As is often the case after I got going, I kind of got going. So I hope you finished reading the post instead of deciding that it was nothing worth a bit of your time.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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It was all in my head
I dreamt music. I heard music but I didn't dream. I took the music to bed and it kept my lover awake. I took my music to the couch and it and the dog kept me awake. I dozed, and rolled and tangled in the wires that kept the silence at bay. I woke and languished in the sonics that kept the dreams at bay. It was all dreams not black and white. It was all dreams not in multifarious color, it wad dreams recreated and reshaped by Tangerine Dream. It was travel at the speed of light it was, it was gentle and serene, it was motion and emotion, it was concern and terror. It was transport away from all thoughts of the here, it was respite from the actual; and the now. It was four and a half hours of deep immersion into synthesized, computerized, mp3 stream of unconsciencenous, syncopated escape. It was 70 songs out of 107, without a word spoken, it was a favorite artist, it was my night last night. It was time standing still for a spell. It was a spell.
I dreamt music
Arm of a couch,
Breath of a dog,
Cocoon of a quilt,
Presence of damp log,
Glow of an LED
Tail of a cat
Rotations over lasers
Second pillow for a hat.
A Tangerine spell
cast inside my head
the music contained
on a couch for a bed.
I dreamt.
I heard Music.
"I dreamt music"
"I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons. I don't know if its me or Tyrell's niece."
"You Play beautifully."
Chuck Pace © 2008
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I dreamt music
Arm of a couch,
Breath of a dog,
Cocoon of a quilt,
Presence of damp log,
Glow of an LED
Tail of a cat
Rotations over lasers
Second pillow for a hat.
A Tangerine spell
cast inside my head
the music contained
on a couch for a bed.
I dreamt.
I heard Music.
"I dreamt music"
"I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons. I don't know if its me or Tyrell's niece."
"You Play beautifully."
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Can't be Wrong.
I stay in bed extra long. I can't move again, this time it's because the covers are warm. This time the eyelids are heavy, this time the pillows and position are just right. I'm in my comfort zone and it is heaven.
She comes out of the bathroom after her shower, after the blow dryer has cooled after I should have already been up. I have a head as vacant as a junkies bank account. Need erased. Need eliminated. Sleep erased. Sleep eliminated. Sleep purged.
Jenni says, "Seventeen right now."
Click! Synaptic switches are tripped and I don't have time to pick them up because I'm off to the race. The vacuum is running and filling up quick. Wake Up Demonstrations! Seventeen can't be wrong. Seven o'clock tick tock , follow me fall on me! I'm up and dressed and Richard Butler is in my head.
Who? You say.
Mr. Psychedelic Furs, Mr. Love Spit Love, Mr. "Isn't she pretty in pink!" Richard Butler with his distinctive voice. I can't get a moments peace until I have it looked up 'til I'm listening to it, 'til I'm putting the lyrics on the post.
Yeah I know it's cold outside, it's 17° outside. I've been told. But inside its Sunshine and youth and rebellion.
"Seventeen", by Love Spit Love written and sung by Richard Butler.
Wake up demonstrations
Said silence is the wrong word
I'm gonna keep the names
That i use for myself to myself
A summer sun is shining
What will it be tomorrow?
I want to watch the world
From the edge of my seat
When it burns
Seventeen can't be wrong
Seventeen cannot see
I can't believe
It's been so long
Seventeen follow me
I want to walk the outside
They're burning down the houses
I'm gonna keep my eyes
On the ground
When i walk where i walk
I can't believe
It's been so long
Can't believe i can't see
Seventeen can't be wrong
Seventeen fall on me
Never stop never mind
Can't get good times
Summer day sunshine
Feels like anodyne
Phone jams gridlock
Standing at the bus stop
Ten'o clock tick-tock
Look at what the world's got
Please her please me
Gonna make a big scene
Here comes faith comes
Banging on a tin drum
Don't try you can't fail
Can't win you can't play
Ten'o clock tick-tock
Look at what the world's got
Sleep, look what you've done to me.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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She comes out of the bathroom after her shower, after the blow dryer has cooled after I should have already been up. I have a head as vacant as a junkies bank account. Need erased. Need eliminated. Sleep erased. Sleep eliminated. Sleep purged.
Jenni says, "Seventeen right now."
Click! Synaptic switches are tripped and I don't have time to pick them up because I'm off to the race. The vacuum is running and filling up quick. Wake Up Demonstrations! Seventeen can't be wrong. Seven o'clock tick tock , follow me fall on me! I'm up and dressed and Richard Butler is in my head.
Who? You say.
Mr. Psychedelic Furs, Mr. Love Spit Love, Mr. "Isn't she pretty in pink!" Richard Butler with his distinctive voice. I can't get a moments peace until I have it looked up 'til I'm listening to it, 'til I'm putting the lyrics on the post.
Yeah I know it's cold outside, it's 17° outside. I've been told. But inside its Sunshine and youth and rebellion.
"Seventeen", by Love Spit Love written and sung by Richard Butler.
Wake up demonstrations
Said silence is the wrong word
I'm gonna keep the names
That i use for myself to myself
A summer sun is shining
What will it be tomorrow?
I want to watch the world
From the edge of my seat
When it burns
Seventeen can't be wrong
Seventeen cannot see
I can't believe
It's been so long
Seventeen follow me
I want to walk the outside
They're burning down the houses
I'm gonna keep my eyes
On the ground
When i walk where i walk
I can't believe
It's been so long
Can't believe i can't see
Seventeen can't be wrong
Seventeen fall on me
Never stop never mind
Can't get good times
Summer day sunshine
Feels like anodyne
Phone jams gridlock
Standing at the bus stop
Ten'o clock tick-tock
Look at what the world's got
Please her please me
Gonna make a big scene
Here comes faith comes
Banging on a tin drum
Don't try you can't fail
Can't win you can't play
Ten'o clock tick-tock
Look at what the world's got
Sleep, look what you've done to me.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Maybe It's NOT the Shoes!
Sure, just put that on my Mastercard! Chuck Pace © 2008
What a rough day, and even rougher night. The sense of loss is as palpable as the loss. The dream ends. The hope of a repeat glances off the outstretched hands of Dallas Clark, and dies on a field that itself will never see another season. The roar of a crowd becomes an echoing whoosh, the deconstruction of the stadium will be like a murmur in comparison. I stay home with my thoughts. I half expect a call from my Pop but that call is never received, and I'm sure that in Old Town Florida he sat there half expecting a call from me. What is there to say. We both saw the thing, saw it in high definition no less. The passes tipped and intercepted, the primary receivers blanket covered the check-down guys shadowed as well, the running backs struggling for inches when yards are needed. That was clear. Still, like a Reggie Miller Knick-Killer last minute comeback we can't look away, can't believe, can't accept that the buzzer has sounded, that the game and the dream is over until the fall.
I did get a call from Florida, but it was from the miraculous Meredith my daughter. She was working while the dream expired, but she got to see the last three minutes in the Magnolia Theatre room, she saw the end of days for the RCA Dome in brilliant high-def five feet across, larger than life but still a tiny bubble when compared to the dream.
I didn't sleep well, Meredith called again and talked to Jenni, freshly returned from a Night of Kegling. I finished two chapters in the next Tech-Editing job. I went to bed and didn't sleep well at all. I woke more than I dozed, in the twilight from the XM radio I felt the crushing weight of disappointment, I couldn't move, I couldn't breath. I thought I might never be able to watch another game, that I had seen my last snap. Finally I got my arm from under the covers and shook her shoulder and said loudly for the moment, louder than the whispers of voices in her dreams, louder than the FM voices in her earphones, "Hey, Jenni! Roll over the other way you are crushing me!" A great weight was lifted, but still I couldn't sleep, the first alarm went off before the reset music from the XM ended, it times out every two hours and I had turned it back on twice more during Jenni's rest and my wrestle.
Yesterday the gloves came off and so did the Championship shoes. They will be added to the wall and a half of team paraphernalia and pride that still lives and breaths , they will add their whisper to the collective whispers of the totems. They will begin the chant "This Year" in August, and just maybe they will be heard.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Home then
Win or go home baby! That's where I am now. Home. Poorly executed kageling done I am now at the hacienda de'loser. I needed to bowl in the sighted leagues, but I took my blind game to the alleys today. I was trying to remember why I bowl, and even more harder to remember when I last had a good night and enjoyed the whole evening. I'm not sure that Meredith wasn't still in high school when those planets aligned.
With 5 minutes left in the first quarter the Packers are struggling to hold on to the ball as the weather, which should favor them is starting to become a factor.
Being a fan of Football I have to be a bit biased to Brett Favre and the Pack. Just because he brings heart and fun back to the game. O.K. I gotta go it looks like the Packers are going to, no wait, just did score to bring in to an extra point to tie. And so it is. Those 14 points matching Seattle's 14 ties an NFL post season record.
The 2nd quarter starts as an even match-up again. Fun!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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With 5 minutes left in the first quarter the Packers are struggling to hold on to the ball as the weather, which should favor them is starting to become a factor.
Being a fan of Football I have to be a bit biased to Brett Favre and the Pack. Just because he brings heart and fun back to the game. O.K. I gotta go it looks like the Packers are going to, no wait, just did score to bring in to an extra point to tie. And so it is. Those 14 points matching Seattle's 14 ties an NFL post season record.
The 2nd quarter starts as an even match-up again. Fun!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Ties that Bind
I am done here.
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Gamey this Weekend
Blanks. Across the board it is blanks. I've truly got nothing.
Maybe this... There is bowling tonight, and I am at least for game #1 Gumby Tie Free. I finished strong last week. After struggling in the first two I was over thirty over average in the final contest. I never mentioned either of those. Now what. I have Saturday off from work so, I'll be attending the Mega-Cash tournament at the very same alleys on Saturday as well. I qualified two weeks ago in the Sunday league by bowling at least 35 pins over my average. So I got that going for me.
Then there is this thing called football. Divisional playoff weekend is almost upon us. I should be home well before the Green Bay Packers /Seattle Seahawks game at 4:30. I may even have time to stop and pick up a Maurice Jones-Drew jersey before the Jaguars 8:00 contest at the contestable Patriots.
Then there is Sunday, Sunday Sunday. When the San Diego Chargers come to Indy to face the Colts. One of our three regular season losses, and by less than a touchdown we face the Bolts looking for vengeance . Our first loss was here at the Dome against the Pats. If the Pats lose this weekend and we win our last game at the Dome could be another AFC Championship. More likely we head into Foxboro for the final AFC showdown before the Championship game in Arizona.
Wish me luck tonight and tomorrow.
GO COLTS!
One Game at a Time
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Maybe this... There is bowling tonight, and I am at least for game #1 Gumby Tie Free. I finished strong last week. After struggling in the first two I was over thirty over average in the final contest. I never mentioned either of those. Now what. I have Saturday off from work so, I'll be attending the Mega-Cash tournament at the very same alleys on Saturday as well. I qualified two weeks ago in the Sunday league by bowling at least 35 pins over my average. So I got that going for me.
Wish me luck tonight and tomorrow.
GO COLTS!
One Game at a Time
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Monday, not so Manic
I'm through the first 4 chapters of my next tech-editing job. I did two last night. I have 4 more on hand to do. This one is the Canon Rebel XTi which I handle everyday at work. I started right in when we got home from work, two chapters two hours total. Observations corrections and suggestions offered. As a reward? Two more episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nine down lucky 13 to go in season 3, and season 4 waits in the wings.
Yesterdays compu-confunding kept me from enumerating the crowd at the Chatterbox. It was a full house to be sure, the combination of workers returning after extended vacations, the unseasonably warm weather and a whole bucket of nine to five Monday brought about a harmonic convergence of sorts. The first people I saw after crossing from my parking place in front of the Three Dog Bakery were sitting outside. Tom Woody, David Andrichik and Chris West, and like a carnival huckster David was polling each entrant about their willingness to participate in the 10 week Chatterbowling leagues that he is forming. Being found worthy , Jenni and I passed inside and took our places with Mel Shoffner, Mike Wilson and Rich Culy already assembled and awaiting batteries (or brews) to get the ball rolling. Andi Short and Phil Smith were near the end of the bar, book-ended by Matt Theobald and Nicci H. Next were the Beuke's, Monica, Jody Frick, and Andy Krull. Then still at the bar, three guys I didn't know at all, no really it's true, our party across from them at the tables, some early 20's crew a couple tables closer to the door who left just in time to surrender their spots to the ACT crew, Jeff, Jerry, Mary-Lou and Lisa and one other semi-regular Cabaret character I can't re-name for lack of memory.
Looks like I'm a Mac I'm a PC are downloading after a busy day. Chuck Pace © 2008
Kay arrived and joined us and more fellows joined the three wise men I didn't know and stood behind them blocking access to the facilities, Nicci and Andi went outside to enjoy the tempting temperate treasure and the conversation flowed inside like honey in wine. Travis appeared on the patio with Mr. West and Andrichik for the duration of one Miller Lite and then he was done like the Christmas goose. We finished up and made our own way home after a brief detour to fast food just because we both deserved a fresh juicy burger concoction, the the inevitable Slaying session again. The drawing above is of two of the three stranger guys talking to each other while their keystone was attending to a nature call. This was on a bar napkin and is now on the web. Bam!
Bam! Zonk! Splatt! The Super-Hero Museum is now closed! The location? The overwhelming sense of evil? The Customer flow? Yep.
That did it. Golly jeepers, now I'll never get to use my two Comp tickets to get in with Jenni! Drat. Holy closing calamity caped crusaders.
Yesterdays compu-confunding kept me from enumerating the crowd at the Chatterbox. It was a full house to be sure, the combination of workers returning after extended vacations, the unseasonably warm weather and a whole bucket of nine to five Monday brought about a harmonic convergence of sorts. The first people I saw after crossing from my parking place in front of the Three Dog Bakery were sitting outside. Tom Woody, David Andrichik and Chris West, and like a carnival huckster David was polling each entrant about their willingness to participate in the 10 week Chatterbowling leagues that he is forming. Being found worthy , Jenni and I passed inside and took our places with Mel Shoffner, Mike Wilson and Rich Culy already assembled and awaiting batteries (or brews) to get the ball rolling. Andi Short and Phil Smith were near the end of the bar, book-ended by Matt Theobald and Nicci H. Next were the Beuke's, Monica, Jody Frick, and Andy Krull. Then still at the bar, three guys I didn't know at all, no really it's true, our party across from them at the tables, some early 20's crew a couple tables closer to the door who left just in time to surrender their spots to the ACT crew, Jeff, Jerry, Mary-Lou and Lisa and one other semi-regular Cabaret character I can't re-name for lack of memory.
Looks like I'm a Mac I'm a PC are downloading after a busy day. Chuck Pace © 2008
Kay arrived and joined us and more fellows joined the three wise men I didn't know and stood behind them blocking access to the facilities, Nicci and Andi went outside to enjoy the tempting temperate treasure and the conversation flowed inside like honey in wine. Travis appeared on the patio with Mr. West and Andrichik for the duration of one Miller Lite and then he was done like the Christmas goose. We finished up and made our own way home after a brief detour to fast food just because we both deserved a fresh juicy burger concoction, the the inevitable Slaying session again. The drawing above is of two of the three stranger guys talking to each other while their keystone was attending to a nature call. This was on a bar napkin and is now on the web. Bam!
Bam! Zonk! Splatt! The Super-Hero Museum is now closed! The location? The overwhelming sense of evil? The Customer flow? Yep.
That did it. Golly jeepers, now I'll never get to use my two Comp tickets to get in with Jenni! Drat. Holy closing calamity caped crusaders.
Troubles
A frustrating morning begins badly. And Now the Trash man commeth. I sit down to a sluggish computer, I attempt to post my little post and nothing comes up in the body of the beast. The text entry pane (pain). Several frustration tries and I get the thing to show something, but it was not editable. A restart and now it works but there is no time to make with the posty post.
Fuudddggeee!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Fuudddggeee!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Slay Ride
The pairings are set, I don't think anybody is surprised by the AFC match-ups, its the #1 seed vs. the #5 on Saturday and the #2 vs. the #3 on Sunday. The NFC had the little shake up with the #6 seed beating the #3.
Jenni and I sat through all four of those games and 5 more episodes of Buffy, and almost never left the house this weekend. Oh sure I went to work on Saturday, but the 1st game was on when I got home. Sunday morning I went to the store and Jenni crafted a huge pile of Zzzz's, but come pre-game and game time it was, well it was Game on. Maybe it is too much Buffy, maybe it's the weather and the time of the season but I have noticed changes in Jenni, and I'm feeling a little different myself.
Newly born TV Zombies Basking in the Glow of LCD-TV
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Jenni and I sat through all four of those games and 5 more episodes of Buffy, and almost never left the house this weekend. Oh sure I went to work on Saturday, but the 1st game was on when I got home. Sunday morning I went to the store and Jenni crafted a huge pile of Zzzz's, but come pre-game and game time it was, well it was Game on. Maybe it is too much Buffy, maybe it's the weather and the time of the season but I have noticed changes in Jenni, and I'm feeling a little different myself.
Newly born TV Zombies Basking in the Glow of LCD-TV
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Eli's Coming, and choppin' Cotton!
01/06/08 03:50 PM | Permalink
Two Manning's will be playing in the Divisional Playoffs next weekend. One a Giant, the other even Larger than life. The words "after further review" just killed the dwindling hopes of Chuckie and the Bucs. R.W. McQuarters interception of Garcia's pass, initially called an incompletion sealed the deal, and sends the Giants to Dallas next weekend.
In his third post season appearance Eli has now advanced his team to the next level.
Scenario: As long shots go this one is very long, but we are closer to seeing the Manning boys in a Championship contest against each other than we have ever been before. Next week its cotton country for Eli, and tall cotton indeed against the Number 1 seed Cowboys. But stranger things have happened my friends, strange days indeed.
Back to today: Next up the Titans at San Diego. With the Jaguars already advancing and the Titans coming in as the 6th seed in the conference the AFC South is clearly the strongest division in the NFL. The Colts may face the Jaguars next week if the Titans can do what the Giants have just done. More likely the Chargers will be playing in the RCA Dome Sunday, and if a little good karma prevails next week and the Pats are beaten (for the second year in a row in post season) the Colts could host back to back AFC Championships. Time is all but up for me now as the posting process had eaten up the CBS pre-game show and it is just minutes from game time again. I don't care much which team wins, though I would like to see the Titans advance just because we know them better than the Bolts. But that would bring the Jags here. It is a Coin toss really. The evil you know or the one you don't?
Speaking of coin tosses...
Play.
GO COLTS! Bring It!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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In his third post season appearance Eli has now advanced his team to the next level.
Scenario: As long shots go this one is very long, but we are closer to seeing the Manning boys in a Championship contest against each other than we have ever been before. Next week its cotton country for Eli, and tall cotton indeed against the Number 1 seed Cowboys. But stranger things have happened my friends, strange days indeed.
Back to today: Next up the Titans at San Diego. With the Jaguars already advancing and the Titans coming in as the 6th seed in the conference the AFC South is clearly the strongest division in the NFL. The Colts may face the Jaguars next week if the Titans can do what the Giants have just done. More likely the Chargers will be playing in the RCA Dome Sunday, and if a little good karma prevails next week and the Pats are beaten (for the second year in a row in post season) the Colts could host back to back AFC Championships. Time is all but up for me now as the posting process had eaten up the CBS pre-game show and it is just minutes from game time again. I don't care much which team wins, though I would like to see the Titans advance just because we know them better than the Bolts. But that would bring the Jags here. It is a Coin toss really. The evil you know or the one you don't?
Speaking of coin tosses...
Play.
GO COLTS! Bring It!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Playoff Layoff
So the second season is upon us. The NFC Saturday Wild-Card game is underway, just into the second quarter. Seattle, the home team is leading the Washington dermal coloration indigenous peoples team 10 to zip. This game while meaningful to the outcome of the whole is a lot less meaningful to those of us who bleed blue (or Black and Yellow) on the AFC side of the League. The second game of this Wild-Card weekend is the AFC match-up of the Jags at 11-5 in Pittsburgh against the steelers at 10-6. The jags are the stronger team on paper but are the lower seed because the Steelers won their Division. The Colts won the AFC South division again (and are the only team to ever win the AFC South division I might boastfully gloat) so Jacksonville is the visitor. Phil Gibson who bleeds Steeler Yellow and Black hopes that the Jaguars are not the team he thinks they are when that game starts at 8:00 p.m. EST. I could go either way, but would like to see Pittsburgh advance. The Colts, the second seed will play the highest remaining seeded team next Saturday, and the number one seed Pats will face the weakest seeded team. The only team of the AFC WC weekend that the Colts definitely won't play next week is the last seeded Titans.
I love Football.
GO COLTS! 13 down 3 to go!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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I love Football.
GO COLTS! 13 down 3 to go!
Chuck Pace © 2008
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Previously...On Lost
01/05/08 06:50 AM | Permalink
Waking up this morning I had a dozen different ways to start this post. Now that I am actually at the keys it is more difficult than I imagined in my sleep hazed transition. I used the wrong title for yesterdays post for sure. If any post ever deserved to be called "Off The Grid" it is todays, but I will make due. Yesterday at work, right after I said it must be a full moon, Rich said, "You might be right because you'll never guess in a million years who I just talked to" In two guesses I had traversed time and space and reemerged in my own body with the correct answer. An elusive creature had made contact with its past, Rich coaxed it out of the wild with the promise of beers at the Bowling Alley, saying "I can guarantee at least one beer from me and I bet Chuck is good for one too." Like dangling turtle eggs in front of an otter the bait was too irresistible, and he made an appearance.
Scuffed leather jacket, stained hoodie, cap? It Is Alive! Chuck Pace ©2008
Like the classic Sasquatch photo, slightly out of focus, the creature is definitely there if you look hard enough. After initial contact was made, and trips of guilt laid down he began contacting others who were concerned about his fate. As the evenings bowling exercise came to its conclusion Ed and Pam Sipes even made an appearance to confirm the siting. Pam herself, barely seen above ground from November 5th through February 13th as she burrows too and from work and the grocery store was a sight for sore eyes, or maybe it was just the smoke from the bar/lounge at the alley. At any rate we were all overjoyed to see John David among the living. Admittedly, after 48 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I was a little disquieted that he made his appearance after dark, but then I remembered that he called Rich during daylight hours, so I left my stake in the trunk and gave the big doofus a hug.
Remember that the last time any of us talked to JD was September 27th. He disappeared quicker than Jamie Lynn and Britney's virtue. We are glad that at least he is back from the abyss.
Chuck Pace©2008
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Scuffed leather jacket, stained hoodie, cap? It Is Alive! Chuck Pace ©2008
Like the classic Sasquatch photo, slightly out of focus, the creature is definitely there if you look hard enough. After initial contact was made, and trips of guilt laid down he began contacting others who were concerned about his fate. As the evenings bowling exercise came to its conclusion Ed and Pam Sipes even made an appearance to confirm the siting. Pam herself, barely seen above ground from November 5th through February 13th as she burrows too and from work and the grocery store was a sight for sore eyes, or maybe it was just the smoke from the bar/lounge at the alley. At any rate we were all overjoyed to see John David among the living. Admittedly, after 48 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I was a little disquieted that he made his appearance after dark, but then I remembered that he called Rich during daylight hours, so I left my stake in the trunk and gave the big doofus a hug.
Remember that the last time any of us talked to JD was September 27th. He disappeared quicker than Jamie Lynn and Britney's virtue. We are glad that at least he is back from the abyss.
Chuck Pace©2008
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One off the Grid
In my categories I have nothing for total relaxation so I chose Toil It for todays. The theme of the categories is obviously the same as the site my regurgitation the events of the previous period since I last posted. This is just me being (or thinking that I'm) clever. Since I had a spa and sauna day yesterday I am going in the opposite direction for the Category. Here in detail is how I did nothing all day.
I awoke again at about 9:30 (I woke to Jenni's goodbye kisses before she went to work earlier), I did breakfast and then, made a pot of coffee in my carafe, put creamer in a thermal cup and took a handful of sugars into the chamber. I gathered my current book "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon, the laptop (Mobile Command center), cell phone, home phone and iPod Nano. I turned the wall mount heater up in the master bath and went to lazy land. At between 3 and 4:00 Charlie wanted to go walkies to make ploppies, I put on loose pants over my lounge pants I had been wearing, ear wrap, coats and went beyond the bedroom for the first time since breakfast. I got the junk from the mail-box, read it, made my own e style mail to people of all climates, paid some bills on-line and finally slept again. At 6:18 Jenni woke me for the third time in on day. I got up and we finished watching the first disk of the third season of Buffy.
I never put on my watch, and I didn't have the TV on until Jenni reemerged from the fog, but I always had a decent idea of the time from the internal chu-clock.
Boy that was as exciting as the first Transporter movie wasn't it!
Chuck Pace©2008
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I awoke again at about 9:30 (I woke to Jenni's goodbye kisses before she went to work earlier), I did breakfast and then, made a pot of coffee in my carafe, put creamer in a thermal cup and took a handful of sugars into the chamber. I gathered my current book "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon, the laptop (Mobile Command center), cell phone, home phone and iPod Nano. I turned the wall mount heater up in the master bath and went to lazy land. At between 3 and 4:00 Charlie wanted to go walkies to make ploppies, I put on loose pants over my lounge pants I had been wearing, ear wrap, coats and went beyond the bedroom for the first time since breakfast. I got the junk from the mail-box, read it, made my own e style mail to people of all climates, paid some bills on-line and finally slept again. At 6:18 Jenni woke me for the third time in on day. I got up and we finished watching the first disk of the third season of Buffy.
I never put on my watch, and I didn't have the TV on until Jenni reemerged from the fog, but I always had a decent idea of the time from the internal chu-clock.
Boy that was as exciting as the first Transporter movie wasn't it!
Chuck Pace©2008
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Only 5 at 6 on the 2nd
Another blanket would be nice. A hot cup of tea and some chicken soup. I talked to my folks in Old Town Florida last night. Warned them of the deepfreeze they are in for today, now. The projection for that part of the eastern states was 19° this morning. Five hundred miles further south in Stuart FLorida, Meredith is expecting low 30's. But here in central Indiana Mr. Freeze is out doing himself. The projected low last night (at least on some of the meteorological dart boards games) was 9°, well in deathly cold games of chance a 5 under is a loosing bet (and toes and fingers too if you are not lucky). That blanket? The fluffy white one that started in the wee hours of the 1st, the one that was stinging my face yesterday morning? That's not the blanket I was looking for.
What did you do on the 1st? Jenni and I had a marathon DVD session again, we had no choice but watch The Bourne Ultimatum, obviously, then we watched the last 7 episodes of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer all the while huddled under blankets with lap cats and/or dogs as additional barriers to the cold air inside. Well' I need to wrap this up, wrap myself up and start the Mädchen and get her internals warming for about 10 minutes before I subject her to her first "out of garage" experience of 2008.
Don't for get to take your chill pills this morning. Have a good 2, I have 3 off again before working 4 and 5 to get to 6.
Chuck Pace©2008
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What did you do on the 1st? Jenni and I had a marathon DVD session again, we had no choice but watch The Bourne Ultimatum, obviously, then we watched the last 7 episodes of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer all the while huddled under blankets with lap cats and/or dogs as additional barriers to the cold air inside. Well' I need to wrap this up, wrap myself up and start the Mädchen and get her internals warming for about 10 minutes before I subject her to her first "out of garage" experience of 2008.
Don't for get to take your chill pills this morning. Have a good 2, I have 3 off again before working 4 and 5 to get to 6.
Chuck Pace©2008
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Shoveling Out
First Impressions on the first impression. Chuck Pace © 2008
Snow is snowing. Blow is blowing. Sharp cold, white gnats of frozen sting are darting sideways in an air far from arid. The ground, warmer than its blanket remains wet, and seeps up moisture in the foot prints of the heavier of the two of us as we do our rounds of relief. Charlie, my canine companion acts immune to the cold as he douses each clump of hibernating flora with golden elixir. The cold, itself immune to my barriers of clothings, seeks and finds entry points and caresses goose flesh hillocks with flagless hair masts declaring loyalty to no king or country.
We are back inside after the familiar territories are reclaimed, boundaries and markers re-established and a new mound of "earth" rises waiting for the air to cool it, the snow to hide it. Charlie has done his duty to his Master, King and country and awaits with tap-shoe toe nails making cadence on linoleum as I retrieve his reward. "Kneel Sir Canight and take this morsel as a token of your Kings appreciation for your fealty, supplication, and service to the realm of the Trellis-Arbor."
First Impression then.
This time-space marker "2008" is cold and bitter. Still I welcome it as a change from the previous solar rotation and its rewards and challenges. It can not but be better. I await new challenges and surprises.
New day, First Day
Bluss then bluster
Blow away the bitter
Soften the ships, hard.
Bring days of memory
Renew Reshape
Revive
Sting your passionless poisonless sting
Micro moisture missiles
Awaken the sense
Along with the senses
Give me days that give
Not more to just make through
Renew Reshape
Rescue
-Chuck Pace © 2008
I am shoveling out of 2007 regardless of what the weather is or brings.
Chuck Pace©2008
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