These posts from time to time help me track my status because I’m not using anything sophisticated like Excel.

I went into the third week  5-11 down $180 dollars betting NFL.  I was 6-3 in College up +87.  My fantasy teams had won exactly 2 games out of 8 and I was even in Fanduel betting.

My tweeted bets on the Packers and Giants split, the Saints pushed, I lost a 4 team teaser, lost on the Broncos and won on the Steelers.  All of this action ended in a net loss of $18.  It extends the record to 7-13-1.  I had the most money on the Saints and the Giants.

On Saturday I pushed the college record to 8-4 with wins on Virginia and Clemson, losing Florida for a net win of $17 dollars.  Betting games this weekend broke even including all juice going into Monday night.

It was my best showing in fantasy as I have already won 2 games and have 2 pending.  I need Alshon to go over 15 points and B Marsh to go under 12.6 for a perfect showing.  I had one coaching mistake by sitting Kniles over Colston which I forgot because I was waiting on news about Charles.

Fanduel was a different story this week.  I joined 6 tournaments and only have a shot of winning money in 1.  Shayne Graham, Pats D, Khiry Robinson, Calvin Johnson, and Larry Donnel were in many of my lineups and they were all duds.  If B Marsh goes over 8 points and Cutler doesn’t score 12.4 more than B Marsh, I’ll salvage $67 dollars after starting with $150.  If he goes over 38 I’ll win more but that’s doubtful.  Po0r showing.

I woke up at 5am on Wednesday morning for a trip northward.  My trip entailed visiting some slate quarries, a foundry, and a few of our dealers.  I dressed in a polo shirt instead of a button down because these places are not exactly fit for nicer clothing.  I stopped at a Wawa in Pottstown to get gas, a 2-$3 Sizzli deal, and a coffee.

What a foundry looks like.

I arrived in Slatington, PA at around 7:30 and visited my first stop. It was a quarry in PA that produces slate.  Pennsylvania slate has come on hard times and this is one of the few operating quarries.  I got the full tour and understood more about production issues.  I left and headed to a few local dealers who are in the slate trade.  After that I traveled north through Wilkes-Barre and onward to a cast iron foundry in Oneida, NY.  I’ll spare the details but I got a full tour of how a foundry operates and how castings are produced.  The day finished at around 4:30 and I was pretty tired.

I decided to drive east to get myself lined up with the quarries in Vermont.  I stayed in a city called Utica, NY which was unheard of to me.  I paid $67 dollars for a room at the Red Roof Inn, spent $8 dollars for some Taco Bell for dinner, and $3 dollars for 2 Glacier Ice Gatorade’s.  I also went for a run along the Erie canal which was nice but I fell off course at some point and ran through some dingy area that was unexpected.  I fell asleep at around 8:30 and woke up at 6am the next morning when disaster struck.

I still had time to take a picture of the sun while driving with one eye open.

When trying to get my contact in the next morning I realized that one contact ripped.  I blame this shitty yellow contact case that was given to me by the optometrist.  Either way I only had sight in one eye and had many miles to drive.  I was pretty irritated at this point because I was unsafe on the road.  I started immediately by almost driving up a one way and then nearly hit someone merging off a ramp into a lane.  To make matters worse, the sun was rising directly in front of me and the fog was terrible.  I drove an hour to Schenectady, NY where a few customers were.

I entered a Walmart with a vision center and realized it didn’t open until 9am.  I had about an hour to kill so I made 2 business stops with one eye.  At 9am the Walmart opened and couldn’t help me out until I got a form faxed to them by my optometrist with the contact info.  My eye doctor didn’t open until 10 so I was stuck again.  I drove to Granville, NY which is a tiny little town in New York, and was able to get my info faxed to a kind old lady who hooked me up with a contact.  It was horrible to say the least getting around with one eye and ruined the morning.

What a slate quarry looks like. Notice the trucks in the back for size comparison.

I did my business in Vermont seeing the various quarries and left at about 3pm.  It’s about a 5 hour drive so I was pretty tired when I got back.  I put $22 dollars on the Falcons which hit (I also won the Eagles on Monday for $36) and that puts me at 5-11 for-$180 for the season.  I’ve got the half marathon on Sunday so I’m expecting a pretty boring weekend.  Non-drinking though will give me plenty of time to take on a few activities that I’ve been delaying ie) Photoshop, German, reading Moby Dick, and watching Dallas Buyer’s Club.

The odds of me going to 2 Phillies game in a weekend are very slim.  I don’t like baseball that much and the game bores me.  Things fell into place though as I met up with CK4, Nikkii, and Jkash at Chickie and Pete’s to see a game on Friday night.  I scalped a ticket for $10 bucks and have to give credit to JKash for telling me to walk away from a $15 dollar ticket instead opting to get it from a trustworthy fellow in a blue Gumby shirt.  The Big Dawg and JK were also there so we watched the game from our seats to start and then met up with them.  We watched the walk off homerun which could be one of the first games I’ve stayed all the way through.

Baker taking a snap.

On Saturday our rec football league was supposed to start at 2pm but it was raining and there was uncertainty whether we’d play or not.  The league didn’t call off the game and our team straggled to get to the game on time but eventually did.  The Wevs forgot his cleats which was fairly comical.  Not quite as comical as JKash’s cleats breaking during the first series causing him to play in running shoes.  Bake threw a pick on the first series but was pretty sharp in the rain thereafter.  We blew the team out 30-6 or something.  It was messy and wet but quite fun.

I went to Ck4’s company’s tailgate party after that where they had nice catering, a magician, cornhole, and beer.  We had a good time and then entered the game to watch a few innings.  I was pretty beat while watching the game and went home in about the 7th inning.  I could have gone out but I was happy I didn’t because football Sunday was near by.

A Pete beating his child and my chances of winning a championship.

I had action all over the place in the games and rather than go play by play I’ll break it all down quickly.  I went 2-4 in NFL betting that lost me $53.  I’m now 3-11 on the season for a loss of $-237.  I also lost one college football bet which puts me at 6-3 for the season up $87.  My fantasy football was again poor with another 1-3 week.  My teams are becoming decimated by injuries (A Pete & Knowshon) and poor play (Colston & Torrey Smith) and a long season awaits.   I have a little bit more action on Fanduel that will conclude tonight but aside from putting one good team together in a 50k person tourney, I didn’t do much.  I’m in 1,400 place currently which will win 100 dollars and I have one more league that if Foles, Shady, Wayne, and Vinatieri  go for 50 I’ll pick up another 60 which puts me at roughly even money for the season.  Billy Horschel’s win was a saving grace through it all that won me +170 because I decided to put a 30 dollar hedge on Rory to win on the 4th day.  The Bird’s play tonight so I’ll be happy to give a pick that you’ll want to choose the opposite of the way the season is going.  I’m still pretty happy with the results though because I feel like I’ve been particularly bad to start the season so good times ahead.

I ran 10 miles yesterday at a pace that I was pretty pleased with.  I have a decision on if I want to play football next Saturday because I felt pretty sore today and I want to be in top notch shape for the half on Sunday.  If I can put in 2-3 more solid training days before the race I think 1:18 is a possibility.  This is the easiest post to write but I know it’s not the best.  I’ll try to deliver a few dynamite posts this week.

So my 0-7 streak on betting NFL is over.  I hit the Ravens -3 last night for $30 dollars to win $34.  That puts the record at 1-7 (-$186) for the season.  Since I didn’t tweet the bet it’s hard to count as official but I have the screen shot to prove it from Bovada.  This brings me into this weekend where some action will be taken.  Picks will be placed throughout the weekend and I’ll put them on Twitter if you wish to do the opposite.

I also entered a $55 FanDuel tournament against 3 people which is a different strategy than I’ve been implementing.  I was doing a smaller buy in with more players but this may prove more effective.  My start though wasn’t ideal as I listened to the FanDuel guru Evan and played Torrey Smith last night.  He was a bust but at least I had Justin Tucker to offset him a tad.  It’s still playing behind the 8 ball but I’m not too worried.  I also want to add that I have no problem with a person suggestion a player who does poorly as long as they had conviction and logic behind it.

I got some inside info from the Shee on who to pick in the FedEx tourny for 10 million and he said Billy Horschel.  I did this:

He fired a 4 under yesterday to sit atop the leaderboard after round 1.   Should be fun heading into the weekend.

These are the easiest posts to write because they don’t require me to think, only rehash reality.  Being the case, I should add that I’m almost ready for the half marathon as I’ve been able to run 8 miles without stopping in decent time.  In 2 weeks I’ve improved significantly.  I was in good 5k shape but nowhere near half shape when I started.  The first day of training I ran 7 straight miles with 6:45 being the fastest.  2 days ago I ran 8 with 6:18 being the fastest.  I still have 9 days so I’ll try to get 10 straight without stopping at around this pace and then I can feel confident I’ll at least be able to finish 13.1 without dying.

I also watched Good Morning, Vietnam which stars Robin Williams.  It was one of his first full feature roles and received 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.  I liked it but one scene in particular stole the show.  Without ruining anything, Williams is quitting his radio gig due to the lack of appreciation he is getting from his superiors.  This scene reminds him why he does what he does. Starts at 7:13.