Just One Week of Bowling This Time

What do you know, I just have one week of bowling to talk about this time.

I don’t know what the deal is, but traffic has gotten bad if you are trying to leave work at 5 on the dot.  The first few weeks I had to do that for bowling, it took me 10 to 15 minutes to get to the bowling alley – not bad for that time of day.  Recently, it’s been taking me 20 to 25.  And since we start at 5:30, that leaves me running in and trying to get ready.

I say all that to justify my first game of the way.  Once again, I barely broke 100, hitting 103.  I only got two marks, both spares, and the first of those in the eighth frame.  But I did break 100, so that made me happy.

And I bowled better the next two games.  I bowled a 146 the second game and a 137 the final game, which is much closer to my average.

As a team, we lost the first two games and then won the third.  Those first two games were close.  One more mark from anyone on our team would have won us the games.  However, that third game we won by a wide margin as all three of us had great games.

Yes, I’m still having fun, but I find my sub-par games to be frustrating.  I just hope traffic is better for these last three weeks so I’m not as stressed trying to transition into bowling.

A Month of Bowling

Yes, I’ve still been bowling for the last month.  It’s still a bit hard to get there at 5:30, but it is nice to have a reason to leave at 5 and get into work a little earlier.  More importantly, I’m still having lots of fun.

My scores have been averaging 137, but I want to point out that is an average.  My high (from four weeks ago) was 180.  I have a couple of games where I’ve been lucky to break 100.  Being consistent would be nice.  But I will take these scores.  Especially that 180.  And, since my team was in third going into last night (rankings haven’t been updated yet), I’m happy overall.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling this is the last bowling league my work will sponsor.  There have been big issues with people showing up, and the poor person who organizes it is always scrambling for subs.  One week, my team and the team I was playing were both down a person.  Of course, we got done very quickly that week.

So I am savoring it will I can.

Word Association for February 15th

Here's my word association for the week.

1. Haunting :: Ghost
2. Mattress :: Sleep
3. Speculate :: on the Market
4. Climb :: Mountain
5. Diana :: Lynch (character in the Trixie Belden series)
6. Runner :: Me!
7. Grim :: Serious
8. Nightmare :: Scary
9. Kitty :: Soft
10. Chrome :: Google

Word Association for February 8th

No, I haven't completely abandoned this blog.  It just looks like it, right?  Here's this week's word association.

1. Online :: Internet
2. Balance :: Beam
3. Grunge :: Hatred
4. Beacon :: Light
5. Laughing :: Happy
6. Comedy :: Funny
7. Animated :: Disney
8. Campaign :: Election
9. Heather :: Girl
10. Comma :: Pause

Back to Bowling

I made my work’s bowling league again for the winter league.  They opened it up to more people, and they said they would prioritize those who hadn’t been in the league in the fall, but I still got in.  Actually, a lot of us who bowled last time got in.

I missed the first week, which was last week.  It was the night before a major deadline, so I couldn’t get away.

So last night was my first night with the new league and the new team.  Yep, they mixed things up, and I’m bowling with a couple of people I don’t know.  They are very nice, and we were having fun, so that’s nice.

The teams are three people each this time, so the games go faster.  We are also starting earlier, at 5:30.  It means I get home earlier, which I love, but I was enjoying eating out and reading some before we started last time.  Oh well.

I did my usual jump out to a great score and tapper off.  I got a 155 the first game, including a turkey in the tenth frame, followed by 135 and 116.  I know, I blew it by one pin in that final frame.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.  It sure was great to be out there again.

Travels for Work

Just like last year, I had a work trip to close out the year.  I drove back from Christmas with my family and flew out to North Carolina the next day.

I made three stops in the state while I was there, visiting all three of our locations.  And these are not close to each other.  I was driving at least an hour and a half to each location.  Fortunately, I was only trying to visit two in one day.  Then, after visiting the third the next morning, I flew home.  So it was a whirlwind trip with lots of driving and work and not any time to sight see.

On the other hand, I got most of an audio book listened to while I was driving.

I work with our locations in North Carolina, so it was nice to meet these people and see our locations there.  I certainly could have planned my hotels better, but I will fact that into my next trip for sure.  I stayed as far away from the clinics as I could while still being in the same city I think.

And I did have time my first night to eat dinner with a Trixie friend, which was lots of fun.

This also meant that I was out of the office for a week.  Granted, I was working three days (with a holiday and a vacation day in there), but it was still very odd to be out of the office that long since I so rarely miss work period.

But when I got back it was peddle to the metal as we have been closing out the fiscal year as well as the month of December.  Got to love this time of year.  Our deadline is Friday, so I will be very busy until then.

Wonderful Christmas

I’ve been busy for the last couple of weeks, but it’s been good.  It started with a busy but fun Christmas.

Naturally, I drove north to spend time with my family.  I drove up on the 23rd, enjoying my new car the entire time.  It rained about half the way up, but it wasn’t a bad storm.  And my car gets better gas mileage and has a larger tank, so I was able to go almost all the way home before I had to get gas.  In fact, I probably could have gone the entire way up if I wanted to.

I had three full days up there visiting with family.  My uncle and aunt were over for part of the time, and I got plenty of time with my parents, my brother, and his family.  We spent much of Christmas day with my brother’s in-laws which was fun as well.  Plus we spent some time Christmas Eve with good family friends.

We were always doing something, so it wasn’t exactly restful, but it was super fun.  I wouldn’t change any of it at all.  It was so nice getting to spend all that time with people I don’t get to see nearly often enough.

New Car!

And just like that I have some news.  I bought a new car last night.  I went with a 2016 Honda CR-V, replacing my 2001 CR-V, which I bought in November of 2000.  Hey, if it lasts 16 years, why fix it?

I’ve actually been wanting to replace it for a few years now.  The AC went out about two and a half years ago, and that’s no fun here in Southern California in the summer.  Of course, now it’s winter, so I won’t get to experience the joy of having AC in my car again for a while.  My transmission went out about three years ago, and it was feeling shaky to me again, although my mechanic says it is fine.  And it was shaking pretty badly on the freeway.  All told, I would have had to spend some serious money to get it fixed.

Not as much as I spent on a new car, of course, but it is nice to have something new again.

Plus I have all the news bells and whistles, like Bluetooth and a backup camera.  Not sure how I feel about that last one yet, but I’m sure I will get used to it.

My old car was a pretty green, but they don’t make many green cars anymore, so I went with blue this time.  It’s really pretty as well, but not as nice as green.  I just wanted something other than white/tan/gray, which is what the majority of cars I see are.

So I will be enjoying that new car smell for the next couple of months.  And interest rates are so low thanks to promotions that I won’t be paying much interest over the next few years while I pay it off. 

Word Association for December 13th

It's been over two months since I did word association.  I think we need to stop this trend, don't you?

1. Patients :: Doctor
2. Intentional :: Decision
3. Envelope :: Mail
4. Fear :: Scared
5. Confidential :: Secret
6. Mixed up :: Signs (as in Mr. Pine's Mixed Up Signs)
7. Years :: Behind Us
8. Branded :: Merchandise
9. Biography :: Book
10. Provoked :: Anger

Pretty Quiet

I’m not holding back on posting.  I haven’t been up to much recently.  I did some Christmas decorating, but then I stalled out.  I really need to get more done tonight.  I’m probably not going to do too much more, but it would be nice to finish it up with enough time to enjoy it.

I’m mostly done with my Christmas shopping as well.  I need to order my aunt’s Kindle books tonight, and then I’ll be done with family.  I have a couple of friends and then I need to figure out what to do for my co-workers this year.  That will be the real challenge.

I looked at new cars for a couple of hours on Saturday.  I think I’m going to go with a Honda CR-V again.  Now to decide if I want to get a 2016 or wait until the redesigned 2017 comes out.

As you can see, my life has been a non-stop thrill ride, which is why I haven’t posted much of anything.