Trip To Auberry And USBC Nationals In Reno

It's definitely been a while since I posted here in this blog; I've been spending a lot more of my time lately over on Facebook and on other blogging projects around the web lately. Most notably I've been working on my bowling blog a lot as I've neglected it a ton since setting it up last year.

If you recall I decided to separate my bowling blog posts from this blog and put them on a site dedicated strictly to my bowling related activities. Of course this was simpler said than done as I can't have duplicated posts on both this site and that one and neither can I just delete posts here as many of my old bowling posts touched on things that had nothing to do with bowling.

Anyway, recently I took a trip to Reno, NV for another attempt at the USBC Nationals. If you've made it over to Mounts Bowling you might have been following along already however most of you probably haven't. My latest post over there however is my tournament recap for the event and an index of all posts related to the bowling trip. Check it out if you have the time; there's plenty of video and pictures available for your pleasure: USBC Nationals 2010 Recap.

In addition to hitting up the tournament in Reno I also took some time to stop by my dad's Nazarene church in Auberry which I posted on in December. He's been there for roughly 3 months now and things are getting settled. I met a couple people in the church and took a look at there new logo and sign which is being unveiled in the next few weeks. The church will now be known as the Auberry Nazarene Fellowship.

It looks like I have a new project to start on in the coming weeks too as I'll be whipping up a website for the church and their daycare. I'll be sure to link to it later on to get feedback from everybody.

Anyway, to quickly summarize the trip; I had a great time but I ended up spending about 24 hours in the car over 5 days by myself. Unfortunately Flor was not able to get away from the hospital as she's deeply entrenched in surgery rotations at the hospital. I forgot what it was like to vacation without her and I look forward to her being able to join me again. Next year she better be there! :)

My Disease Is Spreading

Last month while Flor and I were in Vegas for the USBC Open Championships we decided on the way out of town on Monday to visit the Orleans in an attempt to find some good Noodles... unfortunately we didn't notice the Japanese Noodle Bar in the casino until after we settled for the cafe. Grrr! Anyway, instead of just taking off we decided to join the Casino Club (or whatever it's called) and use the free game of bowling they provided for signing for some casual entertainment that afternoon. Of course we are nerds and decided to visit the pro shop upon entering the center and... well, the rest is history. We bought her a ball and a bag to complement the bowling shoes we bought for her last year. I'm pleased to announce, Flor is now officially a bowler. Here's the proof.

Continually Improving My Blog's Template

In my free time the last few days I've been working significantly on tweaking my blog's template to maximize the viewing space for posts while making a navigation menu to make things a little easier on eye. I think I've done some good things; check it out and let me know.

Along those lines, these updates to the template are a part of my grander scheme to make my site more professional and pleasing to potential contacts I may make in the future. In one way I plan on upping the professionalism by organizing my posting a little better. In another way I plan on cleaning up some of my older posts that are not quite appropriate for publication anymore. Until now I've written on this blog about a broad spectrum of personal events, interests, and thoughts; I'm looking now to split up this site by it's main theme's and place some of those themes on a different site strictly devoted to those idea's. For now the only significant change will be my bowling information and commentary. In the future I may start working on a separate site for my financial related commentary but that is another job for a later date.

I have created a new site called Mounts Bowling where I've copied over all of my bowling posts to. Soon I will be deleting the bowling related posts on this site and editing down some of my older posts that touched on bowling as well as other less appropriate topics and opinions. After all I started writing on this site back in 2004 and much of what I wrote back then is not very interesting and/or professional either.

I do still plan on documenting much of my life here however so posts in the style of the the past couple years will likely continue into the foreseeable future.

Book Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Like other things on this blog I have fallen behind in my writing. I finished a book at the end of August Called Blink. I had every intention on writing in length about it because I liked it so much. Unfortunately I cant easily recall as much of the detail as I could have 6 weeks ago but I can say that it was a fantastic read and very worthwhile of one's time.

Blink is basically about the benefit of using snap judgements to base decisions off of so long as those snap decisions are based off the right inputs. Gladwell illustrates the book with stories of professionals that have gotten so good at certain tasks they can virtually read minds or the future because the can focus in on the smallest of details that lead to correct assumptions, decisions, etc.

Honestly, the book is more entertainment based than self-help based because according to his logic one needs an intimate and rich background in the subject material to start making these decisions correctly but assuming you have the experience in some area of your life you can do the same.

For instance, I bowl... a lot. I should be able to decide how I want to play the lanes just by throwing a shot or two with one ball. I should be able to read subtle things such as the amount of oil up lane vs. down lane and inside vs outside in a shot or two to decide which ball is best to use, at what speed is optimal, and which line is most conducive to striking. Over the course of many games I will likely find that my gut instinctual decision after one or two shots will generally allow me to do better than if I were to try and dissect every detail in the lane. I would probably over analyze and make decision based on obstacles that are not as important as others.

Interestingly enough, if you look at my league stats from last year the first game I bowl is better than the second because I'm relying on my gut, the second I'm dissecting, and the third I understand the lane the best and do good again. The same can be said for the Conan league last year, and the summer league 2006. Basically the last 3 hose pattern leagues I bowled in this pattern showed up. I guess in the future to apply this book to my situation I need to remember what the important factors are in my bowling and base my decisions on my them and stick to them.

Anyway, in the end the book was one of my favorites in a long time and it was a quick easy read too. I recommend it with two thumbs!

A Successful Trip to Reno & Yosemite National Park

About 10 days ago I briefly previewed my upcoming vacation to Reno, NV for the 2007 USBC Open Championships and then my subsequent plans to visit Yosemite National Park along with family while basking in the days in which I didn’t have to go to work. Well, those time have come and gone and I’m back to work with new memories safely stored in my brain and in my camera.

Two Sunday’s ago I headed out on the open road to Reno where I was meeting up with Lindsy, Kacy, and David Bonifacini along with John Staley for the team event at the USBC Nationals.

Monday night we bowled the team event and Tuesday night we bowled Doubles and Singles. Unfortunately Flor was taking her final Tuesday morning so I was without her until Tuesday evening when she flew in to meet me for the week.

For more on the actual bowling part of this trip see this post over on Mounts Bowling.

Anyway, after finishing up with bowling way late on Tuesday night Flor and I went back to the hotel and called for a late checkout as it was around 2:30 in the morning. Wednesday we finally got out of the city around 2:30 in the afternoon and drove to Fresno where we spent time with my parents and prepped for a day trip to visit Yosemite National Park on Thursday. Wednesday ended up being a nice day and we had little trouble on the roads but that darned air conditioner on my parents wall might have been better off left off as it might have spelled the beginnings of a cold for Flor as she started feeling it a bit Thursday morning.

Despite Flor and I both waking Thursday morning to slight scratchy throats we, along with my parents, headed up to Yosemite National Park for the day. This we determined was the first major place that Flor and I have visited that she had been to but I had not. We’ve done this the other way around a number of times and things that neither of us had done before but this was a first for us. It was a perfect day too. We arrived in the early afternoon and hiked up to see the Giant Sequoia Groves, had some late lunch in Wawona at the Golf Pro Shop snack bar and then drove out to Glacier Point. I thought this drive was amazing but somehow it put everyone else to sleep. At one point I could audibly hear both of my parents and Flor sleeping in the car as I wound up the mountain.

We finished the day tour with a trip to the base of Bridewell Falls which I found to be the greatest thing in the world. Flor and I went rock climbing right up to the base of the falls and had a great time. This reminded me so much of my childhood as I was always out climbing on rocks near streams bouncing around… only this time I had a hot girl chasing me from behind. It couldn’t have been better.

Finally we made our way back to Fresno… the long and scenic way and crashed hard that night. The next morning I awoke to my mom cooking me a birthday meal 16 days early. That’s right, we celebrated my birthday. We had Manacotti with peas and salad with Apple Dumplings for desert. We then headed out to get me fitted for a suit! My parents bought me a suit for my birthday; so cool.

That Friday evening Flor and I finally left and drove to LA to visit her family and most importantly her dad for Father’s Day. As always we had a great time goofing off with her siblings, niece, parents, and grandma. We all had a great IHOP breakfast on Saturday and then a nice excursion to the mall and finally we began that last leg of the car ride back to San Diego. I swear that last leg was the longest.

It was an awesome week and now I’m back to work and Flor's battling a cold but I'm going to get to relive parts of this experience at least a few more times as my real birthday approaches on the 2nd of July and I get my hands on my tailored suit on the 6th of July in Missouri for my cousin Jessica Mounts’ wedding and then later in July when I get my winnings check from the USBC Open Championships tournament. I’ve got a lot of good stuff to look forward to. And finally, the album of pictures for the week can be found below.

2007 - Trip To Yosemite

What a weekend...

Well this past weekend turned out to be one of the worst weekends in recent memory, although there were some bright spots sprinkled throughout it. Friday I dropped cousin John off at the airport as went on terminal leave as he is getting discharged from the Marines. Good for him! He made it through 4 years of military service including two tours to Iraq; he deserves to get a normal life started.

After that Flor and I started North in the direction of East Los Angeles to attend a funeral for a close relative to her family. This was hard as it came so soon after my own Grandmother's funeral and it was her first funeral for close family. I found it somewhat difficult to remain emotionally stable when everyone around was teary eyed and crying. It was a sad evening. Making it worse was that the burial was moved back to Saturday morning and I wouldn't be able to be there as I was entered into the PBA Regional in Visalia and had plans with my own family for Mother's Day weekend.

So after a good visit with Flor's family and meeting extended relatives of her family we went back to her parents house for coffee and pastries and general togetherness before finally turning in for sleep on the living room couch. I intended on getting up at 7am and getting on the road by 7:30 so as to meet my parents for lunch in Visalia but as I went out to my car I found the doors unlocked, the hood popped open, the back passenger side window busted in and all of my bowling gear stolen! Needless to say I ended up filing a police report, which seems meaningless anymore; do they actually do anything? I don't think so; it's all just purposeless formality... and then I filed an insurance claim. After doing all this I made a call to Gary Mage and let him know that I was coming up and could possibly be late to the tournament. He told me that he could help me out if need be.

Finally at around 12:30 I made it to Visalia, with duct taped windows and everything and I waltzed into the bowling alley. I didn't get to have lunch with my parents because it was so late and I had to bowl in just over an hour. Amazingly Gary introduced my to Eric, the Brunswick Equipment Rep for the tournament and he was immeasurably helpful as he went out of his way to give me a new ball free of charge and have it fitted and drilled for me as I lost all of my equipment. He game me a Brunswick Fury. It was the only ball I had to throw for the entire tournament so I didn't quite bowl up to the level I wished I had but considering the generosity of the gesture and my performance under limited resources I was pleased. Final results of the tournament can be found here, my complete bowling stats page can be found here, and my game by game break down follows:



After the tournament I ended up heading the rest of the way to Fresno where I spent the evening having a barbecue on the Airport Tarmac with my mom and the rest of her TSA co-workers. It was pretty funny, around 9pm TSA announced over the intercom that the security gate would be closed for one hour and at that point a police officer walked up to me and without making direct eye contact said in a low commanding voice: "Follow me."

I got up from my chair and was led out onto the tarmac and around to the backside of a building where there were many airline employees gathered with much food and a big grill full of meat. I had a good time but man, how often do civilians get to eat meat with their mothers on the airstrip of a major airport on Mother's Day weekend.

Anyway, to wrap up, I ended up sleeping that night on my parents couch and going to church with them in the morning. After a hearty Mother's Day lunch at a local steakhouse I started my long trip home in my busted up car. I picked up Flor and did Mother's Day dinner with her and her family and made it home just shy of Mid-Night. Whew, what a weekend. Hopefully the next tournament isn't so stressful and I'm crossing my fingers that insurance comes through for me with the car. Rest in peace, Ramon Salgado.

A Short Vacation... Part 1

This past weekend was a Godsend. I've been horribly stressed at work as of late. Well, stressed isn't the best word for it but busy definitely is. I don't get too stressed by I get tired of being so darned busy. Anyway, despite my inclination to finish things up at work before quarter end I decided to capitalize on Flor's Spring Break and take a couple vacation days to be with her when she's got nothing on her plate.

Saturday we got up around noon and met AJ Buerer for lunch/breakfast at the Mission Cafe in North Park. It is always nice to see AJ and it's even better to see him doing so well now that he's back in San Diego. Anyway, during normal conversation we started talking about the Zoo and the animals and then because of my awesome purchase last month of annual zoo memberships for the two of us, Flor and I decided to make an impromptu trip to the zoo to see the big cats. Unfortunately AJ opted out of coming but next time he will have to join us. Had we remembered we could have gotten him in for free with our guest passes. Ohh well.

The Zoo was a nice afternoon spent although we never got over to the big cats we got caught up in the hype of the Giant Pandas and the Giant Hippo that was extremely active and playing with a big ball. It was pretty cool. I caught a few pictures of our trip on my camera phone, my favorite of which being a close up of the hippo's butt. :)

Anyway, Saturday was just the beginning. Sunday Flor and I headed down to Chula Vista for another attempt on the monthly PBA Tough Shot 5-Gamer Tournaments. This ended up being a bust as the approaches were sticky and I couldn't keep my footing. It was so bad that I just lightly threw the ball one-handed like everybody else with out sliding on the approach at all. This of course did not allow me a chance to score well but guaranteed me that I would not injure myself. Despite my "I-Give-Up Performance" I still managed to beat out a couple people sliding in at a cool -202 for 5 games. Blah! Complete results can be found here. All of my other bowling stats can be found here. I think that I'm going to stop bowling these events. I just don't like the approaches. I know I've bowled well there before but I've never liked the approaches and Sunday they were as bad as I've ever seen.

Anyway, that's just the beginning of the weekend. The second part I'll have to blog about a little later. Flor and I decided to take our vacation together up to Big Bear Lake and Snow Summit. I've got photo and video and a lot to say about our time there... but not until later.

Weekend Update and a Bad Bowling Excursion

This past weekend was a weekend that contained a few first for me along with some entertaining moments, tragedy, and peaceful relaxation. First of all Aaron and I went out Saturday afternoon to Balboa Park and spent the day with another Nice Guy, Daniel Harrison and his fiance. We took their engagement photos and generally had a great time. Aaron tells me the photos came out great but I haven't seen more than just a few. Attached to the right is one of the pictures from the day that I've seen. I just ripped it straight from Aaron's public gallery.

Later on we picked up Flor and we all headed out to Casa de Pico for an evening of drinks and dinning. I had my very first Bloody Mary and I liked it as I am a big fan of Tomato Juice. We had a great time and I am happy to finally say that I know Channin. Until this weekend I had never met Danny's finance and I was starting to wonder if she was a real person. :)

After the evening festivities Flor and I met up with the Tragers for a first for me. We all went out to the drive-in theatre and watch 300. It was an incredible movie; a delight even. Probably the most artistic war movie I've ever seen and beautiful. The drive-in experience was pretty amazing too. I really enjoyed it but the next time I take Flor out there I will insist on coming in our own car as we were very cramped in the back seat for a long time. It's tough on your back! Regardless we did have a good time as always with the Tragers.

Sunday morning I got up really early (on daylight savings morning too, ugh!) and drove up to Mira Mesa Bowl in North San Diego with Flor. I bowled in the annual San Diego USBC Masters Tournament. Flor manned the camcorder for the trip but luckily for me the camera battery was almost dead so she wasn't able to film more than 3 frames. Why is this lucky you may ask. It's because I bowled about as bad as I've ever bowled before. The three frames she captured can be found in the below video and as you'll notice I didn't get a strike in any of the frames and I left two splits. This pretty much summed up the entire day. I shot a -230 for 6 games or a 161 average. Yes the shot was tough but frankly I just stunk and have no excuse.



Anyway, after getting that awful bowling behind me I made the same conclusion I always come to after an outing like this. I decide to quit bowling for good. Of course a couple hours later I was already thinking about my next bowling event so at least I can say I get over my problems quickly. :)

The rest of the day Flor and I relaxed at home. She studied while I played CIV IV. Man, I love that game! All in all this was a nice relaxing conclusion to an exciting weekend filled with many events. And that was my weekend update, it was an enjoyable experience spent with an array of good fiends. I can even now say that Danny's fiance Channin actually exists. :0 Until next time...

Upcoming Bowling Tournaments Near Southern California

UPDATE 5/11/2009: The following post will no longer be updated as I have moved all of my bowling posts and information to my new website Mounts Bowling. For an updated list of upcoming Southern California bowling tournaments see this page on my new site. Thanks. -Brian

*****


For a list of all tournaments that I have participated in along with links to my commentary and other related information please see my Bowling Tournament Results page and of course my career bowling statistics can be found here. Note these pages have migrated to my new site at Mounts Bowling.

Post Christmas Swell...

In case you don't know already I will be moving away from Pt. Loma this week. Tonight I sign my new rental agreement with Racqut Club Luxury Apartments located in La Mesa, CA. I've spent the last 7 and a half years in Pt. Loma and it pains me a little to move away but at the same time it is time to move on. Obviously La Mesa is not that far away (only 15 minutes) but regardless it's quite a setp away from the beach and my college days at PLNU.

I will be once again moving in with a fellow nice guy, Mr. Riveroll, and for the first time a fellow honorary nice guy, Mr. Saddler. This should be a fine time in our lives and we should have much fun living with each other. NGS West meets NGS East.

Well aside from the move it looks like I'm going to be looking to do something for New Years. For years now I've done next to nothing for the holiday and this year I just can't accept doing nothing as an option. I want to have a little fun. Some friends are heading out to Vegas for the weekend, I might join them. I've also got another friend hitting up disneyland for the day, I might join him. I might also entertain a couple other options. I guess I need to decide soon. The weekend is only a few days away.

OK, so I'm not very entertaining in my writing today. I guess I've got very little to talk about oher than basic what's going on in my life news so I'll just bring this to a close and say that I'm 27 years away from retirment. Ahh, can't wait.

US Open Fundraiser Update: I come back from Christmas to find myself with new investors. I'm up to $210 in investments into my fund. I hope you'll take the time to pass this investment opportunity to those that might be interested. I need to raise an additional $790 over the next 4 weeks. I can't wait to fly out and show off. ...and thanks to those that have invested so far.

How To Find A Human

This will probably be my most helpful post ever and I'd like to thank Jonathan over at MyMoneyBlog for his finding and mention of this link.

This link will give you the telephone codes to speak with a human for a huge supply of different companies' toll free numbers. The link is here:

2005 - A Year In Review

January – Gearing up for Change… for the better, no, but change nonetheless.
February – Coping with Change… I bought myself a new car. Is there any better coping mechanism than spending lots of money? I think not.
March – Great anticipation for a new chapter in my life. Spending a lot more money on a trip to Hawaii and why the heck don’t people want to buy my old car!?! Hmm, who’s that over there in the corner near the pool table?
April – Bliss. I feel like I belong and that I’ve got a long road of good things to come. I want to move to Fresno, buy a condo, advance my career and position myself for my bowling travels. I even have fans. Ahh, what dreams may come.
June – There are Beautiful people in this world… and they eat dinner at KFC cant wait for July.
July – Decided I wouldn’t be moving away… and was real happy about it. People are wonderful, my life’s wonderful, business is coming together, my machismo inflated to overwhelming machismo… want to go back to Hawaii.
August – My overwhelming machismo popped… but it went out with a bang. Business is formed, meeting people in the bowling world, and in the business world, can’t wait to get a promotion. Who’d think I’d be in the red tide and 3am?
Sept. – Residue from my machismo has been mopped from the floor… it’s gone, totally. I’m tired but doing what I must. Dull boring month of little consequence.
October – Finally a pick me up. I remember who I am. I bowl and I bowl well. I am a young tyke learning to walk. There may be valleys but peaks and plateaus are on either side. Still wish it was summer. Longing for something… anything, but pleased with what I’ve got.
November – A blip in the radar screen – some fun time were had but nothing of importance happened this month… I want to live by myself. Tired of sharing a room with a dude… hmmm. New roommates comin’. What the heck is happening to me in the short term.
December – Cohabitation: turmoil and peace. Don’t know what to expect in the short term trusting things will come together. Inner turmoil in personal relationships still longing for something better but pleased with what I’ve got. I can’t wait for January! Next month will solve all my problems… I hope. In better news, I know what I want but don’t know how to get it. It’s Christmas; maybe it will fall in my lap. Ha, fat chance. When’s baseball starting up again?

That’s it folks my life. I think I had an equal amount of happiness and longing with very little pain. It’s been a good year. Filled with positive experiences but plagued with what-ifs. If this year is a warm-up for 2006 then I will be happy because 2006 could be the best year of my life! But then again I’m an optimist; I can’t help it.

Regarding my US Open Fundraiser: I need to raise $1,000 by mid January and I've raised $70 so far. I've just got to raise $930 more. Thank you to those that have donated. I you can't donate consider contacting those you know that might be able to. Thanks everyone.

Dog Days of Summer Have Come to an End

What a week it has been. Last week I took Friday off for vacation and went to Vegas with the NGS. We had a great time; I bowled, we enjoyed ourselves on the strip, took in a hypnosis show, etc, etc. I'll leave you to your imagination... just keep it clean. Anyway, we got back Sunday afternoon and I began preparing myslef for the next couple days. Monday night and Tuesday night I spent time with my folks first watching the Pads play the D-Backs at PetCo, it was a lot of fun but it was of course only a warmup for last nights game in Anaheim. Last night my beloved A's took on the Angels in a pivital game and and series for the two teams battling for firsty place. Amazingly enough both teams had their aces on the mond, Zito for the A's and Colon for the Angels. It was a beautiful game, probably the best game I've ever seen in person. I was on the edge of my seat and loved it from start to finish. Anyway, here's a link to the recap. Apparently this game touched the lives of many people... and probably most of all A's fans nation wide. We won after all 2 to 1 in 11 innings. If only they were all this good.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=ratto_ray&id=2147583

Bowling Night, Dreamweaver, & LOR

I've been going through a tough stint in my bowling game lately.  You can read all about it if you want over on my post: A Bad Bowling Pro Bowler.

In other news, I'm starting to learn Macromedia Dreamweaver and would like to learn at least some basics of flash so if anyone out there has knowledge in flash shoot me a line... except for you Aaron... I know where you live.

Lastly, I bumped into an old friend here on LJ last week and I'm pleased about that but the following link is to his friends website, which I found to be one of the coolest things I've seen this side of the new year, check it out and watch the video. I sure wish we at NGS Productions had half the talent that this young man proudly displays on his site.

www.lotsofrobots.com

Toodles

9/24/04 Update

I'm just waiting to leave work. It's been a good day, fun actually, but long. I can't wait to go home. Aaron and I finished tweaking my new website www.BrianMounts.com last night. There's still a few pages to do but it's nearly all up. Aaron is the man in case you all didn't know that. Anyway, bowling has been enjoyable these last couple months too. I'm even planning on going to Hawii for bowling in the near future.  For more on this see my thoughts: Update On My PBA Regional Activity over at Mounts Bowling.

Well some of you have probably noticed how reclusive I've been lately. There's no reason for it other than a lack of desire to go do anything. I've been lazy. This weekend will be different though. I'm making it my goal. Tonight I will go to see Garden State with Abby, Kelli, Schmidt's Gay, Rob, Kathleen Pedro, and others (these persons will be forever called the 38 crowd from now on). Tomorrow I will go to the Cat lounge with Tesfaye late at night but would like to go visit Cara sometime during the day or evening. I also want to make time to go see Mer and Joy this weekend too. I have so many people that I want to see and only two days to do so. I will have to be on my toes. Please friends, call me I'd love to see you to.
Just so everyone knows, I want to leave work now! ...and so I will. Bye bye.

I'm a Professional Bowler!

How amazing life is... I have achieved what one could only dream of, reaching professional competition sports, in this case bowling.

This weekend I will be bowling in the PBA Western Regional Camarillo Open. This tournament will be a small regional event with a top prize of only $2,500 but hey, you gotta start somewhere. More importantly though, I will be generating points that lead to an invitation to the televised ESPN tour. This is kinda like AAA baseball. Gotta go through the minors before getting to the bigs. I'm not in this for the money (yet), I'm in it for the experience.

You can follow along with all my bowling exploits over on my bowling blog and see my results from this tournament here: Camarillo Open 2004 Results.

Bowled This Weekend and Watched the A's Game

I bowled a bit this weekend; to see my scores of this weekend mini-tournament head over to my bowling blog and take a look at my mini tournament results.

Regarding the A's, I enjoyed catching the game tonight. It's just too bad they lost. They played one of the most exciting games in recent memory tonight losing in the bottom of the 14th inning 2-1. What a game it would have been had they won it.

OK, I guess that's a wrap. This'll just be a short post. I have little else to say except thanks for reading and continue throwing 3 questions my way.