Yes, 186

We had another outing this past Sunday at Kennedy Bowl with the church group. We've started going there semi-regularly because they have a great deal on Sundays after 4:00 for $2.00 a game.

Unfortunately it seems to be quite popular. Sid tried to book a couple of lanes for 4:00, but was told the earliest we could get was for 5:30. It wasn't a big deal for me. I was coming from my boarding home visit.

To kill a bit of time beforehand I had my hair cut at the $6.00 place at Victoria Park and Lawrence.

The time wasn't so convenient for some of the others. It pushed into dinnertime so they weren't able to come. In the end it was just me, Sid, Willy, Steve Chong and Ed.

Ed and Steve joined the black bowling shoe club each buying a pair from Rodney's Pro Shop before the game. Now six of us (Ray, Sid, Willy, Steve, Ed and I) have the same pair of bowling shoes.

Steve came a bit late because he had to take his son to his hockey lessons I believe. The rest of us started first.

I found the same ugly, green 14 pound bowling ball that Willy and I used last time. I like the spacing between the thumb and fingers. Ed found a slightly lighter ball which he and Willy shared.

It was nice bowling two people per lane. The game went much faster. You could stay in rhythm much more easily.

Steve joined us after we all finished our first game. To catch up he bowled on both lanes.

I did quite well in my second game scoring a total of 161. That's my highest score since we started a few months ago.

On our next game Willy bowled a stellar 166 to beat my previous high. The pressure was on.

Normally we only bowl three games. But we decided to go once more. That's when I really got into a groove. In my first four frames I scored a spare, strike, strike, spare before bowling a clunker of 7 and 2.

I got back on my horse and bowled another strike, spare, strike, before the wheels fell off again and I bowled a 5 and 2.

Luckily I finished off with two strikes and a 7 for 186. Not too bad. I think I was fairly consistent throughout the evening bowling in the 120s, 130s, 161 and 186.

I sure hope I can keep it up.

Just Bowling

Willy's the man behind our bowling outings. For the past few months we've been going to Club 300 up in Markham to bowl every 4 to 6 weeks. Usually he manages to round up 5 or 6 guys. From pastor Tom to Winston Ling and everyone in between.

We've probably gone four or five times now. It's becoming a regular event. Most of us are beginners. Though, Tom, actually took bowling in college when he was back in Illinois. I guess they offer it in school in the U.S. Not so much here. He even has his own ball and shoes.

I don't know if that's what gave us the idea of getting our own shoes or not. Either that or we just worked the math out in our heads... if we were going to continue going this many times and we rented for $3.50 each time, how many times would we need to go before we could actually buy our own shoes?

Sid and Willy looked into buying shoes first. Sid found a couple of places in Mississauga. One was selling shoes for $40 a pair. I think I saw their website too. A couple of days later he told me he found a place in Scarborough at Lawrence and Kennedy. The store was in a bowling alley on the lower level of a strip mall. After talking with the owner a bit he bought a used ball and a pair of shoes.

Before our next bowling event Willy and I went there too. It was Sunday afternoon and we were actually on our way up to Club 300. We scoped out the alley and saw that they had a Sunday afternoon special - after 4:30 p.m. you could bowl for $2 a game. Wow... cheap!

We walked into the small store which was located right by the stairs where you enter. The owner remembered, Sid (who had yet to pick up his re-drilled ball with new custom-fit holes). We talked to him and he told us about bowling balls. Instead of buying a cheap new ball, he recommended getting a good used one for about the same price. It spins better he told us.

He also told us that heavier balls were better. We told him we liked using 10 or 11 pound balls. He said that's what the ladies used. Guys were supposed to use balls that were at least 14 pounds or more. Oh well. I guess I'm going to be bowling like a girl now.

We told him we were interested in getting shoes too. He showed us his cheapest pair at $60 before tax. They were the same ones Sid bought. We tried them on. They felt fine to me. I had no idea what they were supposed to feel like. We bought them.

We took them up to Club 300 where we immediately put them through their paces. Our first game wasn't very good. All five of us (Ray, Steve Chong, Sid, Willy and I) barely scored over 100. We took turns bowling for Tom who came late. He actually ended up with one of the top scores of that game due to our collective bowling prowess.

Our second game was slightly better. I improved the most bowling 152 if I remember correctly. Ray gave me a bit of advice about trying to hit the head pin on a slight angle. Ideally you would do it by spinning the ball. Since none of us could do that I stepped to the right a bit and tried to hit it from the side that way. It seemed to work. I got a number of strikes and spares that game.

19 more times... that's how many outings we have to go before we get our money back on our shoes. See you at the alley!

The Past Three Weeks at Work

The past three weeks at work have been pretty crazy. Our boss, Sid, was away on vacation in China. He hired a new fellow, Peter, from our church to take over his everyday duties. Unfortunately he didn't get very much training beforehand.

There are a lot of things to do when you have a small business. You're in charge of everything from finances, to supplies, to making sure all the equipment is working properly.

One of the first problems Peter had to deal with was one of the machines that wraps the hot towels wasn't working well. Again. This machine has been acting up for a long time. Sid gave Peter a quick go through on how to fix it, but he couldn't seem to figure it out on his own.

Another problem we had was the late delivery of materials to make the wet towels. I believe we got the shipment before Sid left, but we were still playing catch up while he was away.

To make matters worse, the machine that makes the rolled wet towels stopped working. I guess something broke and it needed a new part. Peter called someone to make it and the machine sat idle for four days putting us even further behind.

Then there was the problem with the hot towels not being cleaned well enough. I'm not sure why that was. Whatever the case there was a mountainous pile of towels deemed unclean enough to use by Mrs. Li sitting in the middle of the floor.

Peter went to buy some replacements, but even they weren't enough. Near the end of Sid's vacation I was having to skip customers because I didn't have enough towels to deliver. If I could, I would go back the following day but, of course, that totally screwed up my schedule.

With all these extra distractions Peter was having a tough time keeping on top of things in the office. We were late with deliveries so people were constantly calling and complaining. He was getting really stressed out.

To top things off Peter was supposed to pay the company's GST at month end (end of November). But he couldn't get the numbers to come out correctly and there was no one to call for help. Sid was out of the country and Joseph (Sid's son), who had come in to lend a hand a few times, had gone away somewhere at the end of the month too. So they might have to pay a penalty for submitting it late.

Anyway, Sid is back now. I don't know if things are completely under control yet. But I think they're slowly returning to normal. Hopefully.

My Trip to Chicago - Day 2

Trump International Hotel & Tower on the left; Wrigley Building, centre

The following day Sid and Pauline dropped me off downtown again. This time is was at West Roosevelt Road west of State Street (pretty much on the bridge over the south branch of the Chicago River). We were driving into the city when I saw a great view of the Willis Tower from the south. So I asked them to drop me off there so I could take some pictures.

After snapping a bunch of shots there I headed east along Roosevelt towards Lake Michigan. I ended up at Grant Park (where Buckingham Fountain is). I was at the south end where the large metal statues/sculpture of the legs/feet were.

From there I walked north on Michigan Avenue taking pictures along the way. I made it up to the Bean at Millennium Park (at Michigan and Madison Street). That's when I went into the Chicago Cultural Center (which I had missed the day before because I arrived just before it closed). Built in 1897 it was Chicago's first central public library. It has a beautiful stained-glass dome on the upper floor. Located on the south side of the building, it's the world’s largest stained-glass Tiffany dome - 38 feet in diameter with some 30,000 pieces of glass.

Afterwards I followed the route I had planned on going on the day before. I saw the Monadnock building at West Jackson Boulevard and South Dearborn Street; the Rookery building at West Adams Street and South La Salle Street; the Willis Tower at South Wacker Drive, south of West Adams Street; and 333 West Wacker, right at the bend/fork of the Chicago River.

By now I was back at Marina City and the Trump International Tower & Hotel at West Wacker and State Street. So I took more pictures of them and the surrounding city views along the river. It was only 4:30 p.m., but I decided to call it a day.

I texted Sid (with Pauline's Blackberry again) and arranged to have them pick me up at the Dunkin' Donuts across from the Trump hotel. Those guys went tire shopping and had a AYCE sushi lunch near the hotel before Sid took an afternoon nap.

We went to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner. I can't remember where it was. The food there was pretty good though.

My Trip to Chicago - Day 1

Millennium Park - Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) by Anish Kapoor.

My friend Sid and his wife, Pauline, were going to Chicago for a trade show and asked me if I would like to go along. I believe I mentioned a few times in the past that I wanted to go, so he knew I had some interest. Even though it was late in the year (so the weather was cold and it got dark early), I figured I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We went on Thursday, October 27th after work.

Sid did the driving. I thought he might want a break part way through, but he drove the whole way down (and the whole way back). Since we left fairly late in the day we decided to stop at the Best Western Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan. We would continue on to Chicago the following morning.

We left the hotel at around 8:30 the next morning. The remaining drive to Chicago would take about three hours. The plan was to drop me off in the city while Sid and Pauline attended the show at McCormick Place convention centre. We would meet up later...Well things didn't quite work out that way...

When we got to the convention center it was surprisingly empty. The only people there were a couple of security guards. Sid pulled up and asked them about the trade show. The one fellow said it started on Sunday. Oops... Sid got the dates wrong.

Our original plan was for them to attend the show on Friday and maybe Saturday while I would wander the city on my own. We would leave Chicago on Sunday morning, stop at an outlet mall in Michigan to do some shopping on the way back and arrive with plenty of time to spare. That would be thrown out the window. Instead they dropped me off in the city and drove off. They didn't know exactly what they were going to do yet. We just agreed to meet later for dinner.

My first stop was at Marina City. It's a mixed us residential/commercial complex on State Street just north of Wacker Drive (just north of the Chicago River leading out to Lake Michigan. Designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg the complex was completed in 1964. I think they look like two giant corn cobs. Very unique.

I wandered along the river between State Street and Michigan Avenue for awhile. Not far from Marina City was the Trump International Hotel and Tower (hotel and condos), the Wrigley Building and the Tribune Tower (Chicago Tribune newspaper). All beautiful landmarks.

Next I wandered down State Street a bit. I took some shots of the Chicago Theatre there (just south of Lake Street). I also tried to get a few shots of the El (elevated subway) trains as they passed by.

After a bathroom break at the Macy's (on State Street) between Randolph and Washington Streets, I headed due east to Millennium Park where I took shots of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) and the Jay Priztker Pavilion designed by famed Canadian architect Frank Gehry.

Next I headed south to Grant Park to take photos of Buckingham Fountain (as seen in the opening credits of 90's TV show Married With Children). It was empty. I guess that's what you get for coming in late October.

Since it was sunny out I decided I'd better continue my tour of the Chicago outdoors (instead of following my original plan of going to a bunch of buildings in the downtown area). I headed to Navy Pier next.

When I arrived at Navy Pier the first thing I saw was a temporary children's petting farm with camel for rides. It was set up outside the grounds. Cute animals.

I didn't really know what to expect at Navy Pier. I thought it would be more of an amusement park with a bunch of rides. They only had about three rides there - a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round and "Wave Swinger". There was also an 18-hole mini putt course. I believe there are also restaurants and theatres there. Not anything that really caught my attention though.

I headed back into the Loop (downtown) area after. It was already 5:00 p.m. and getting dark.

Eventually I wandered back to Millennium Park, took a bunch of evening shots then BBM'd (Blackberry Messenger) Sid (with Pauline's Blackberry which she lent me) to arrange a pick up at our arranged time of 6:30 p.m.

We had Chicago-style deep dish pizza for dinner at the Giordano's (pizzeria) near our hotel (another Best Western) close to Midway Airport, about 1/2 hour outside downtown Chicago. It was pretty good.

Job?

As most of you know I've been out of work since June of 2009. After going to Imperial Buffet with a few of my friends on Monday night one of them, Dickie, mentioned I should go drive a delivery truck for one of our other church friends, Sid. Sid owns a business called Wet Towel International. They supply hot towels and wet towels to restaurants and dental offices and other businesses.

I went in briefly to see the facilities off Eglinton, east of the DVP on Tuesday. Sid showed me around then gave me a short "road test". It just involved me driving around the parking lot in the panel van and backing it down the narrow path to the door we pick up cases of disposable towels from.

After that we made a run down to Union Station to drop off 36 cases of cloth towels to Via Rail and pick up the dirty ones. That particular run is a little more involved than most. Not only is the volume of towels higher, but you have to navigate a maze of hallways to get to the place to drop the towels off because of the ongoing renovations there. We brought a heavy duty dolly which allowed us to transport 12 cases at a time. A great time saver for sure.

The next day I made my first solo run. It was out to Stratford and St. Thomas. I was to deliver 15 cases of disposable towels to Kings Buffet in each town. Now I rarely venture out of Toronto, and never in that direction. But, we printed out maps from Map Quest online the day before and I went home and drew some more detailed versions out. It helped a lot. I'm happy to say I didn't make one wrong turn.

The weather conditions weren't great when I went out. There wasn't any snow on the ground, but it was really windy. It pushed the van around quite a bit along the highway (401). And when I got out close to Stratford there was a lot of blowing snow which cut visibility to near zero in places. So that was kind of unnerving.

The first run from Toronto to Stratford took about 2 hours and fifteen minutes. I dropped the cases off in the back kitchen area of the restaurant and had the manager sign a receipt saying he received the goods.

Driving outside of the city can be nice. I really don't like traffic at all I have to say. And being this far out you're able to avoid it for the most part. But, it did get boring at times since the drive was so long. I listened to the radio part of the time. The Toronto FM stations cut out after you got too far from the city. So I had to listen to 680 News (AM) part of the time. It was better than nothing. A CD or MP3 player would have been nice though.

The second run from Stratford to St. Thomas was slightly quicker. It took about 1-1/2 hours. I took Highway 7/8 west to Embro Road and headed south to the 401. From there I traveled west to Exit 177A and got off on Colonel Talbot Road which pretty much went straight to the restaurant some 13-14 kms later.

I dropped the towels off where the waitstaff put the dirty dishes just outside the kitchen. I had to cart all the cases through the kitchen to get there. Three trips with five cases each on a dolly. Again I got the manager there to sign a receipt and I was done. I took ten minutes in the van to eat some noodles I had brought for lunch and set off for Toronto.

According to Google Maps, the drive back is 220 kms and is supposed to take 2-1/2 hours. I was pretty close to it because I had gotten a fairly early start in the day. After loading the boxes onto the truck I was on the road by 9:30 a.m. Still I hit some stop and go traffic near Highway 427 coming back into the city. It was probably about 3:30 p.m. by that time. Rush hour never seems to end. I noticed it was worse going westbound, so I shouldn't complain.

I believe I got back between 4:00-4:30 p.m. Sid was still at the office. His son, Joseph, was there too. He was loading some towels into his car. I suppose he was going to go out to deliver them. Dickie was there too. He was doing some work around the facilities. He's been helping out a bit there since he stopped working regularly at the church.

Before I went in I called the guys out to show them something I discovered about the van. The day before Sid told me to be careful with the doors to the back of the van. He said that if they ever closed on you you'd be locked in. He mentioned that happened to him once. And it happened to his son (I believe) and one of the other workers there. When that happened, he said, you had to bang on the window to get a passerby's attention so they could open the door from the outside to let you out.

Well, after looking at the locking assembly on the back door I noticed you could open from the inside by sticking your fingers on this mechanism and pushing it a certain way. I guess it was good news for everyone. No more worrying about a gust of wind blowing the doors closed and anyone getting stuck anymore.

We went back in after and discussed when I might come in next. Sid said to come back next Tuesday (six days later). He was trying to figure a new route out. This one would probably involve a lot more stops, but be slightly closer to Toronto. I might go up to Barrie and do the Union Station run after that.

Sid's other workers have the two vans on other days to make their deliveries. I suppose I'm sort of the back up guy for now. I don't mind. I guess I still feel like I'm in "retirement mode".