We Don't Walk Slow

About Tom Stortz

Enjoying my last few responsibility free years left.

Ultimate High to Ultimate Low

Lot’s of events in my last few days that I’m not sure how to tackle all the info. I’m going to break it up into segments.

Saturday Bar Crawl

I started at 11am and went too hard, too early and was stumbling home at 5pm. 2 Fat Tires before breakfast, a Sazerac at breakfast, a hard cider and Flying Fish IPA at the Firehouse, Union Jack IPA at Rembrandts, Racer 5 at Urban Saloon, 1 more beer I can’t recollect and then 2 shots of whiskey is where I stopped remembering. I never stood a chance with the setup. What I should have done was ate an early breakfast and then ate lunch at 12 instead of brunch at 11. Doomed to fail from the start and I’m happy I safely completed the day.

Sunday Bowling and Poker

Weens showed up to bowling practice in bad shape. It was him and I and we lost to Evan and Sam in a 2v2. I pounded a pitcher by myself while everyone else was re-hydrating. I was off of 16 hours of sleep so I felt ok. After bowling Evan and I went to play some poker. I played 1-2 and had a few notable hands.

I called a raise with Q 10 and the flop came JK2. I checked, Irish bro checks, a bro bet 15, I called, Irish popped to 30, call, call. Brilliant Ace on the turn. I masterfully check, Irish goes all in for 100+ and I call and get it in having my opponent drawing dead.

I was dealt KK and called 15 not to lead on that I had a huge hand. A new player in seat 4 makes it 55, 2 guys call, and so do I. In hindsight I probably should have raised AI PF but I had 600 in front of me and didn’t want to run flat into AA. The flop comes Q72. Great flop for KK in my mind. The first player makes it 75 and has about 65 behind. My gut told me he had QQ, and the guy behind me had AA. With 200+ in the pot I couldn’t fold to the 75 bet even knowing that the guy behind me was going to push if he had me beat. I called (once again should have pushed) and shockingly the guy next to me CALLS the 75 too and I thought I was toast at this point and was ready to lose the money. The turn wasn’t a scare card and player 1 bets his last 65 which I begrudgingly call and the other guy folds saying he had JJ. I scooped the pot having no clue what the other guy had but didn’t really care. I played a little while longer hitting everything under the sun but wasn’t getting paid off because I had a 900 in front of me. I walked away with a nice $600 profit and decided to play a tournament.

Sunday Sugarhouse Tournament

I’m running out of pictures.

I joined an $85 tournament in the first level because I think it’s easy to get chips against horrible players rather than join late and push fold. I played incredibly tight to start and watched maniac after maniac push with bottom pair and flush draws. I knew my time would come. At the 50/100 level (starting stack is 12k) I made it 250 from the button with A8 suited. The flop came 679. I think it checked around and the turn was a 5. I bet 2,500 and a guy pushed 8k into me which I gladly called and beat his pair of 6’s to double up which was crucial.

The next few levels went by with little action from me before we got to push fold mode. With a mere 1 double up I got to the final table (started with 30 players). Blinds probably got to around 500/1000 and I was down to 12k. I pushed A6 suited and doubled up against 55 which was a huge boost. Next level I pushed AK and got called by 88 and doubled up to about 40k. This got me down to about 5 players and I started getting short again. I was stealing very infrequently (I also wasn’t picking up hands) so I was getting respect and not getting called light. With 4 left, I made a call on a maniac trying to steal my button with KQ and had him dominated against KT. I won and then called the 3rd place guy with A9 when he had 83 and was down to heads up. I had about 40-50k and the other guy had 260k and I declined any deal. We played heads up and I won a nice hand with A8 vs his K8 and then finished him off with KJ vs his A high for a $1,044 dollar win.

The Work Day From Hell

The tournament ended at around 1am on Sunday night and I had been drinking beer throughout. I woke up on Monday feeling like death. I went to work to find that my dad had inadvertently upgraded to Windows 10. This messed with some of the security features and the accounting software and prevented me from printing on networked computer. This had me on support calls for most of the day trying to figure the problem out. In the meantime I was getting phone calls from the worst kind of customers to go along with my body feeling like a turd. I was here until the last possible minute with people looking for me to next day air them shipments and the like. It was seriously one of the worst days of my existence.

Snakes on a Lane vs Strike You

I’m going to add some further info to Sam’s post about our bowling match last night. Our record is 16-12 in 6th place and Strike You is 17-11 in 3rd place. Their team 4player team avg is 783 to our 643. With the people who rolled, we were getting 92 pins. Sam recapped the games fine but I have a few more points to add. They definitely dominated the warm up time. Trevor also shot the 10 pin on his first ball and then threw a strike ball during warm up. They will hit some splits but they rarely missed a single pin which is where we still struggle. I had at least 1 blown 10 pin and 2, maybe 3, 7 pin misses. I also think their experience in late games helps as their anchor was big at the end of games, specifically rolling strikes into the 10th. Either way I think it was a big confidence booster to our team that we can hang with the best bowlers in the league.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-15T14:43:46-04:00March 15th, 2016|My Life|0 Comments

Joywave – Swish

Joywave is a band I like. Now is my favorite song by them and even though I got tired of Tongues, I liked it when it was new. They released an album today with the hit song destruction being the 1st track and I was surprised.

As I sat doing my work I noticed that Destruction had been playing for a while. I looked at the list and indeed each track was playing. I thought Spotify must be messed up. I went to the trouble of tweeting @joywave, “your songs are all playing the same on Spotify, pretty sure that’s not what you want.” Then I thought that like most tweets I send, I should see if I wanted to send it.

I looked through the tweets on their wall and I realized this is the way they wanted their album to be. Every track is destruction and the words of the title produce “destruction, why be credible when you can be (part 2) incredible.” Clever.

I heard an interview on AltNation with Joywave and they wrote how all bands today were utilizing big drum sounds and making chorus’s with people screaming in the background. I’m probably not describing it the way they would if I could listen to their reason again but I’ll summarize it by saying they thought today’s music was a joke. They then came out with this album which is another rebellious move.

This is a prank album with a bigger purpose (of which I’m not sure) behind it obviously. Naming it Swish is also a pretty nice title for anidea you consider a perfect attempt at what you’re accomplishing. However, I was more disappointed than impressed because I wanted to hear their new music. At least I’m writing about them and listening to their old stuff so I guess it worked..

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-11T09:48:54-05:00March 11th, 2016|Music|0 Comments

Jordan Spieth is Alright By Me

Jordan Spieth won Valspar last year in dramatic fashion by nailing a 28 ft birdie putt on the 3rd playoff hole to beat Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair in a playoff. This tournament started his run of 5 PGA tour wins, including 2 majors, to be the #1 ranked golfer in 2015. He opened the 2016 year at the Hyundai Tournment of Champions in 2016 and won by 8 strokes. Safe to say everyone thought that this year would be another year of Spieth domination. Not so.

A 76 was not how he wanted open up the first round today at Valspar. Being surrounded by guys like Brian Gay and Michael Kim is not a good look. I wouldn’t worry too much though because Jordan Spieth has a way of defying odds. At John Deere last year after an opening round even par (the leader of the first round was -8), he fired a 64 (-7) and then went real low with a 61 (-10) to get back in contention. +5 on a course where the leaders are -4 is no biggie.

Power in the hairline

I tend to dislike winners because there’s always someone else to root for that isn’t the favorite. However, I watched Spieth on Feherty and he’s a likable human being. I enjoyed hearing how his mind works when competing on the highest level. He was describing an instance where it looked like a putt was going to break a certain way but he knew from previous rounds that it wasn’t what appeared. On the 17th hole of the Masters last year, he TRUSTED that his read was right and dropped a sick putt. I’d recommend watching him on Feherty because he’s a mature kid for only being 22 and his wisdom is worth listening to.

I know not many people care about golf posts but I’ll let you live vicariously through my Draftking team this week.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-10T16:58:49-05:00March 10th, 2016|Sports|0 Comments

WordPress Error – “The Image Could Not Be Loaded”

For 2 months and 8 days, I have struggled to understand why when I clicked on the links of my pictures, an error message that read “The Image Could Not Be Loaded” would pop up. Jeff alerted me on Jan 21st that the images wouldn’t load and I did some research and couldn’t pinpoint it but thought it had to do with the characters in the file name. Much to my chagrin, as I continued to read forums on WordPress, I couldn’t find a permanent fix. Until today that is.

Amazingly I stumbled across another person’s thread and naturally felt like an idiot when I found the answer. When you click “add media” on the WordPress page, you must link it to the media page and not the attachment page. Who knows how much traffic I lost because of this error. Millions at least. Either way, I’m proud to say that this will no longer be an issue an you can enjoy rnningfool with the images loading from here on out. Now I have to correct 68 days of mistakes…

Click to enlarge. I swear it’ll get bigger.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-09T15:48:41-05:00March 9th, 2016|My Life|0 Comments

Response Time = Importance

Laura brought this up to me a few weeks ago and I hadn’t looked at it in the light she presented. She said, and I don’t quote, “the faster you respond to an email, the more important the person is / feels.” Email tricks and tips are a dime a dozen (the first person in a list of people you write to is the most important) but it never occurred to me that response time, like rapid response time, is noticed.

This is why you buy from Stortz.

I understand that people expect immediate responses to texts. I’ve taken a position on texts that I’ll respond to them when I can. Sometimes I’m on a run and don’t have my phone or at dinner and don’t want to be rude. Emails I’ve never looked at as urgent. HOWEVER, after Laura told me this, I’ve been replying to business emails in an incredibly timely fashion. If I’m sitting at the computer and I see your asking for copy of the invoice, BAM, sent. I drop what I’m doing at that moment to take care of business immediately. The results have been promising. I handle work more efficiently and people seem pleased. Perhaps all of my readers already treated emails this way but I’m offering some advice from my desk after looking at these charts.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-09T15:30:44-05:00March 9th, 2016|My Brain|1 Comment

Hottest Songs Right Now – 3/9/16

You should trust me when I write these lists. I’m WAY ahead of the game. Previous example, the song Unsteady by X Ambassadors, was mentioned on 7/14/15 and it was spun the most times on AltNation this past week. Ideally I’d make a post within a week of the song being released but I’ll use these posts to share some of the songs I’ve been listening to in the past month.
You’re Not There by Lukas Graham
When I posted 7 Years by Lukas Graham it had 395k Youtube listens. Today it has over 30 million. Once the artist starts to become more famous predicting hits starts to become easier but I’ll throw it out there because it’s a good song. You’re Not There is sitting at 84k YouTube hits and even though I don’t think the song is as powerful as 7 years, it’s still quality. I personally like the line “You’re not there to celebrate the man that you made. You’re not there to share in my success and mistakes.” I have to imagine the song is about his parents.

Shovels and Dirt by The Strumbellas
Spirits is currently getting airplay so looking for another jam by the same group is wise. The pace of Shovels and Dirt will slow down its ascent but the song has a cool twang and the line “it ain’t worth livin’, if you don’t get hurt” makes an impact.

The Sound by 1975
I added this to my playlist on 1/26/16 so we are past brand new at this point but I don’t hear it getting much airplay. 2.8 million listens on Youtube also has me scratching my head on where it’s being played but I suppose the answer could be globally or else I’m never around when it’s being played on the radio. I initially thought their sound was cheesy and childish with the songs The City and Chocolate but I enjoy The Sound. I wouldn’t put this up there in terms of a meaningful song but it’s easy to listen to in a pop atmosphere.

I Need Never Get Old by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
Not a new song but far, far better than SOB. I assume it’s already getting radio playtime but you’ll want to listen to it if you have never heard it. What I find especially interesting is that the clip below is from 2013. I like the synth in the beginning on the recorded track more but that’s because I’m a synth guy. I also heard, I can’t remember where, but Rateliff has been releasing music since 2007 and for whatever reason it started to go mainstream.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-09T15:29:11-05:00March 9th, 2016|Music|0 Comments

Not Getting Hurt in Rec BBall

Priorities change as you age. Your body also has to be handled differently. Basketball is one of those sports that can wear you down.

Tonight I played in a game that meant exactly 0. About 10 minutes into the game I caught a pass and made a nice spinning cut to the baseline to beat a defender and then passed the ball to the opposite corner. After getting beat, the defender spun around and in catching up to me, drove me right into the wall 5 feet under the basket. It hurt me 0 but was completely unnecessary. I made a comment that it was a dick move and he said to stop being a little bitch (which is what people who are on steroids looking to fight usually say).

This got me to write this post that I understand competition. Playing your heart out in rec leagues is admirable and worthy. I am passed that point though. My goal in leagues is to not get injured. I can’t get sidelined in real life. It bothers me too much. (Sorry Adam if you read this). My knees feel like they could pop anytime and I’m pushing my luck.

I didn’t work out for the last week and truly felt bad about myself 7 days later. I have to exercise to maintain my body. It’s not about getting overweight. It’s that I’ve set a standard for myself that I want to maintain. Not doing so is letting myself down physically and then mentally. This is why I like bowling and golf. Can’t get injured.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-08T23:04:25-05:00March 8th, 2016|My Life|0 Comments

Do I Feel Bad for Erin Andrews?

Yes and the one mistake she made.

Yes

Invasion of privacy – no one should ever get spied on in their hotel room.
The hotel is moronic for giving a stranger a room near her which would make me want to take revenge on the hotel.
After 16 million people have seen your naked body, it’s hard to feel like that isn’t in the back of their mind every time they seen you.
People never forget and she constantly get reminded of this.
The money is pretty negligible to her considering the damage. It’s more trying to clear her name and punish the a-holes.

Her Mistake

She cried on the stand and said she felt embarrassed and ashamed. Oh what? This is where I believe she should have embraced what happened ala Kim K and Paris. She has a banging body and nothing to be ashamed of. Of course it’s going to be horrible to live with the thought that everyone saw you naked but when your as beautiful as she is, this can be passed. I’ve read people think she set it up herself (Pres) and it seems unlikely in my view. This is one of those events that she cannot control and has to push past as hard as it may be. I’m sure she tried too with MNF and Dancing with the Stars so I don’t doubt she tried.

The Court Case

Erin Andrews was awarded 55 million.

She most likely won’t get anywhere close to that amount. 51% of the blame was on Michael Barrett, the peeping tom, and 49% on the hotel who gave out Erin’s room info. Barrett owes her 28 million and the hotel owes 27. Michael Barrett has spent the last 2 years in jail and most likely has nothing close to 28 million. I’d bet closer to 28 dollars. On the flip side, this is a subsidiary hotel and not the actual Marriott and they have no where near as deep pockets. Toss in lawyer fees and I’m sure she’s make a few mill but nowhere near her pain and suffering.

“You don’t really realize how long four minutes is until it’s your naked body, you getting dressed for a football game. I look at the Marriott as more damaging because it’s 4.5 minutes of my personal private time, absolutely naked, that everybody sees,” she said.

It was actually 4:57 minutes

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-09T15:31:23-05:00March 8th, 2016|My Brain|0 Comments

The Sinking Blog

I’m aware I haven’t been posting to this marvelous website. My last post was exactly one week ago and that’s a decent amount of time that I’ve taken off. I strayed a course that I could feel people didn’t care about and decided I needed a break. This was in combination of not having the time to blog. I honestly don’t even have the time to write this but I’m sneaking it in to let people know I’m still here on this planet.

I have posts lined up about Billion and Better Call Saul which I’m fairly certain are the best shows on TV hands down. I have new music that I’ll share after the Alternative Addiction list is posted tonight. I have a post on response time, chapstick, crossword puzzles, and not working out that I can write about. Bowling has taken a decent amount of my time with both teams are making a playoff push. Nicer weather is coming in as well and that opens the door to many more activities. Do not fret, this blog will be back as I’ve probably written many times previously.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-08T09:13:46-05:00March 8th, 2016|My Life|0 Comments

Muslim Points

I was in Dunkin today and oversaw a Muslim woman’s smart phone text. She wrote to her friend,” S/O to these drinks because they get me 50 rewards points!” I’d guess S/O means shout out? Anyway, I can’t wrap my head around how this person’s beliefs align with Dunkin reward points.

Her values are so strong that her face won’t see the light of day but Dunkin points light up her life. Here is the Muslim law – Wearing of the hijab was enforced by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan required women to cover not only their head but their face as well, because “the face of a woman is a source of corruption” for men not related to them.

I understand following a religion by the book but I doubt the book has a section on smartphones because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be for them if your face is “a source of corruption.” I promise that the phone and its infinite wisdom has far more corruption than a face. The Koran hasn’t been updated to include these sins. It feels fake.

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-01T15:10:58-05:00March 1st, 2016|My Brain|1 Comment