Bowling night

My bowling league starts tonight. Now, before you go thinking that bowling leagues are only for overweight drunks that just want to get away from thier families, remember, there are some skinny guys in my league too. It is nice to have a night to get out and hang out with the guys. It is a bit of a bummer because the kids are usually in bed before I get home, but it is a great way to blow off some steam. Our team name is 'Big Knockers'. You may think that it is a reference to large breasts (which it is a little bit) but in reality, it is based off of Major League (the movie) when Cerano crushes the ball and the manager says 'big knock baby, big knock!' We consider a strike to be a 'big knock'.

A few bummers about this year though, my buddy Jon has quit the team. He is a great guy and I really like hanging out with him. He's in a relationship with a woman that like him to stay at home a lot. We think that she's a bit controling, but the bottom line is that he's happy with her.

The second bummer is now I live 20 minutes away from the bowling lanes instead of the five minutes away I was before our move. That means less drinking. Or, after much drinking, going to Roosters for a late night snack and sobering up. That means being out super late though. It's ok to do that sometimes, but too many times I feel bad for leaving Jessica home alone with the kids. And I miss them too. It won't be as bad after I start working from home because I will be able to see everyone throughout the day.

One of the fun aspects is that Jesse, a guy on my team, and I always put a $20 bet on who will have the highest average by the end of the year. I usually win, but it adds a little spice to the mix. We both love to trash talk with each other.

We also have a small poker game with every game we bowl. Basically, everyone puts in a dollar and for every strike or spare you get, you draw a card. Split pick ups and rolling a turkey (three strikes in a row) earn you a bonus card and if you roll a gutter ball on your first ball of the frame, you add a dollar to the pot. At the end of the game, whomever has the best poker hand wins the pot. It adds a bit more fun to the night.

This year my goal is to bring my average up to 190. I've been around 175-180 for the past few years, but I think I'll be able to get up to 190. Some guys in my league average over 200 per game. There have been a couple guys that have rolled perfect games too. There are some crappy bowlers too. A couple guys averaged under 100. My biggest problem is consistancy. I can roll a perfect ball, but not every time. It's frustrating.

In Buckeye News, apparently, Troy Smith is going to be the all time starting QB for the Buckeyes. Although I think it is good to have one guy all the time, I don't think that Zwick got a fair shake. He turned the ball over less that Smith and had a lot of his passes dropped. Well, hopfully things will get back on track this weekend against San Diego State. In all reality, the Buckeyes should crush them. I just hope that they figure out how to 1. get the ball in the end zone and 2. get the ball to Ted Ginn. He didn't touch the ball nearly enough against Texas.

In more personal news, I am leaving work early today to go have a chat with Noah's teacher. He hasn't done anything wrong (that we know of) we just want to meet with the guy to ask some questions and try to get some help from him. Noah was not a very good studant last year. He didn't do half of his work and his grade cards were crap. So, we held him back in the fifth grade. There is no way that he'd be able to keep up in sixth grade in a better school district. His math skills are severely lacking. We figured that it would be better for him to repeat this year in the new school district rather than moving on and possible failing and having to repeat sixth grade. So, we are just going to chat with the teacher and see what he can do to help us monitor Noah's progress and motivate Noah to work to his potential.

Jessica's birthday is tomorrow. I have no idea what to get her. Maybe I'll just cop out and get her some flowers and a card. Maybe I'll take her out if we can find a sitter. She'll be 30, so I wanted to do something nice. I guess nothing will beat her 27th birthday when I bought her her diamond ring. I would get her a bowling ball drilled for my hand and hith my name on it, but that would just be too obvious.

I've been seeing Serenity commercials on TV. That makes me glad because the producers are thinking that it will be good enough tat they actually want to promote it. Of course, they also promote movies that are crap, but the previews for Serenity look great. I am much looking forward to going to see it.