I’m heading to Tampa from Wednesday to Friday so there is a good chance the blog will not be updated.  Just so you know.

I had a rough Monday where my brain was not able to function properly.  I tried to Pedialyte my way to a normal day but it didn’t really work.  Blogging was not a possibility.  It’s especially bad because not only could I not form multiple thoughts but the day goes by incredibly slowly.  Being able to think about multiple ideas at a time makes the day go by faster.

I’ll hopefully check in sometime within the next 3 days.

This is the 2nd highest score I’ve been on the same lane as and it was done by the same person.

My favorite part about games like this is that the other people in the group know that a picture will be taken and that they better man up to not look bad. What this indicates is that I was rolling pretty well and the Wads was the donk of the group. This would be untrue.

The main bowling area at South Bowl on Front Street and Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia 

After 4 games (the pic was the 4th), Wads had a 174 avg, I was 175, and the Weens was carrying a 186. In the final game, the Wads rolled a career high 240+ to overtake the high avg and best bowler of the evening as well as $20 of my hard earned dollars.

South Bowl’s lanes are actually pretty true. Weekday nights are the best time to go because it’s $2 PBR’s (it used to be Philadelphia Brewing Co) and half price pizzas.  If i didn’t invite you and you read this blog, sorry.  Don’t take it personal.

30 yard FG to win a 4 team teaser (Saints +4) and hit the Cowboys +3.5 (a hedge to make sure the teaser didn’t go unprofitable)….doink. My weekend was wrapping up to be nice and profitable and then Zack Hocker clanked it. Not to mention I was playing against CJ Spiller who unleashed an 80 yard TD to dash any hopes of winning a fantasy game. That’s life.

My DraftKings essentially pushed after I put together a few really nice teams. This will go down as my first profitable week of the season so hopefully I can ride some momentum. My fantasy teams are also struggling with my 4 leagues being 0-4, 1-3, 2-2, and 3-1. I’m pretty happy with my teams but it certainly hurts when you miss guys like Devontae Freeman.

Enough football talk for now especially because I lost my Eliminator pick.

When you’re 21, 16 doesn’t feel that far away.  When you’re 31, 16 feels like a lifetime ago.  A few memories stick out to me throughout my high school experience that leave me shaking my head.

kinder-modell released

Being a hotel manager – When I was in 9th grade I had a guidance counselor named Ms. Young who was actually old.  When she asked me what I liked for some inexplicable reason I told her that I thought managing a hotel was a cool idea.  Oddly specific but she ran with it.  Every subsequent time I saw her she’d ask me if I wanted to learn how to manage a hotel.  I can’t even explain where the idea came from let alone my fascination with it.  I have a feeling it may have been her dream and she projected it on me.

Perfect attendance –  Sam wrote about sick days and I kind of can’t believe I never missed a day of school.  I didn’t get sick enough to the point of ever missing it.  If I was applying to college nowadays I’d talk that up to ridiculous proportions.  You looking for someone who will always be there?  Shit, I didn’t miss a day of school for 13 years.  That’s dedication…Or being an idiot.

Learners and non-learners – My 12th grade English class had one of the most bizarre teacher student interactions that I can remember.  The teacher decided that there were some students in the class who didn’t want to learn.  She told us to separate the class between non-learners and learners.  3 of us (Phil, Seidmon, and myself) sat in the very back of the class and didn’t do shit for every single class.  We would play TI-83 games or go to sleep while the class learned about stupid shit.  I ended up getting an A in the class.  I’m actually pretty proud of myself for not being a conformist idiot and still working the system effectively.  Granted I had already been accepted to college and the class meant nothing to me.

This was about 10 days of growing out my facial hair. Towards the last couple days I started feeling different with the beard. It’s like it was still me but the people talking to me were talking to bearded me. I got a few compliments but I’m fairly certain most people were indifferent. What do you think?

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…and I’m still at work.

Today was a complete catch up day after being out of the office for 4 days.  It was non stop from 8am until the end of the day.  I’m not even sure where to begin.

Typical Vacation Day:

7am – Wake up feeling great.  Run to Wawa to grab some coffee and pineapple.
7:30 – Mom makes me eggs and bacon while I peruse the papers JC bought.
8:00 – Scan Rotoworld, Fantasy Pros, and make sure all my fantasy and DraftKings teams are up to date.
8:30 – Read whatever book I feel like reading while listening to whatever music I feel like listening to.
10:00 – Hang out by the pool, swim laps, play rummy, general relaxation.
11:00 – Go for a run.
12:00 – Eat lunch.
1:00 – Relax on the beach.
2:00 – Play golf.
6:00 – Eat dinner.
7:00 – Watch TV, drink beer, and play games until I get tired and want to go to sleep.

I did this for 5 straight days. I enjoyed myself each and every day.

My Work Day Today
7:45 – Wake up feeling pissed off that I know today is going to be a nonstop work day.
8:00 – Listen to 30 messages on the answering machine.
8:15 – Process all of the orders that came in over the break.
9:00 – Ship out all of the orders.
12:00 – Respond to all people who desperately needed the product yesterday.
1:00 – Pay bills that pile up over the week.
2:00 – Invoice.
3:00 – Create PO’s for items that were depleted.
4:00 – Update cash sheet with current position.
5:00 – Cry.

I don’t think there was 1 minute of today that I could say I actually enjoyed. Sure I feel refreshed but the only part I keep going back to is how much I was enjoying doing whatever I damn well pleased.  I didn’t even get to read Evan Silva’s matchups which is pretty much a top 5 part of my week.  I will hopefully add an in depth football preview tonight.  But just in case, here you go Rob Kelly.

Back in school there was a guy whose favorite phrase was “Sweet Livin”.  He also liked “don’t break stride” which I didn’t completely understand but he also used it when crossing the street.  He got hit by a car.

Today is Thursday and it’s 8am.  I woke up at 6:10 to take a few pictures of the sunrise with my camera on the beach.  Jeff and Julie met me down there and I’ll post them when I get back home because I don’t have the mini USB cord.  They came out pretty cool though.

I’ve really embraced this no work life.    I’m relaxed and stress free.  Eating good and working out.  Actually enjoying this week compared to trudging through a Monday through Friday that I do 51 times a year.

Yesterday we golfed in one of the most spectacular rounds I’ve ever been a part of.  In my nearly 2 decades of golfing I’ve never seen a 16 carded.  Yesterday I saw 2!  Granted the course was too hard for the talents of the group but this will go down as a memorable round.  The night concluded with a few rounds of Wits and Wagers and dizzy bats.

Don’t worry Rob Kelly, tomorrow will be a day where I divulge my DFS lineups.  I’m more confident this week because of the data from last week.  I’ve reviewed all the matchups and targets from last week and am ready to get off the schneid.  I’m also shifting my strategy with regard to which tournaments I enter.  I’ll still play the 2 million tournament but then I plan to down my playing fields to less than 20 and as low as 5.  Props to Evan for cashing first in a $270 20 man.  I’ll also drop Fanduel because Bud clued me into a 2 TE approach in DraftKings that I think has at least a minor edge.

Tomorrow I’ll be back at work for a catch up day but I know it will still feel like vacation.  Either way, I’m happy.

I’m reading a book of interviews by Judd Apatow and there was a part where Harold Ramis says that he did an exercise of describing himself to the person across from him in 2 minutes.  As he started the exercise he found the person he starting describing wasn’t him.  Then he did it with another person and was still missing the mark.  I just tried it a minute ago and found it was harder than expected.  I’ve given this some thought (much more than 2 minutes) and this is what I came up with.

I want to be completely independent.  I strive to acquire new skills in order to adapt to the ever changing world.  I’m constantly trying to improve myself as an individual with regard to physical well being, how I treat others, and having a high level of respect for what I intend to accomplish.  I will be philanthropic as soon as I can achieve my personal levels of success.  I’d eventually like to have a family but cannot do so until I feel my growth is where I want it to be combined with meeting a person who shares a similar outlook.  Settling is not my motive.

Sam beat me in a race today!

Toying with the Chromebook and adding an image for the sake of an image.

Considering I haven’t beat Sam in a race since he came out of college this isn’t actually an exclamatory sentence.  The only reason I phrase it like that is because it was on the beach.  My toe running has given me such huge calves that I just don’t lose on the beach.  I beat an in shape Sam about 3 years ago in an 800 which was the upset of the century.  Today, however, the tables were turned.

There is a pier like structure that is what I thought about 1 mile away.  Sam eyeballed it and said he could run there and back in under 5 minutes.  I said it couldn’t be done in 1o.  Much to my dismay, he did it in 4:39.  Here is where it gets interesting.  Sam was trucking pretty hard at the end and probably wanted to finish it under a time just because that’s what the Stortz family does when put up against the clock.  I decided to give his time a challenge.  I finished in 4:41.  Now, this can’t be construed as a head to head race but I wasn’t slacking either.  Kudos to the victor.

What’s really fun about vacation is that there is a 200 meter track about 3/4 a mile away.  I’ve taken this vacation and look to improve my physical shape.  Today I ran 2 miles back to back (6:14, 5:58) and then did one all out after a bit of a break (5:33).  I feel great.

Without work life feels much more relaxed and I have more time to do whatever it is I want to do.  I’ve almost finished Colin Cowherd’s book and am still reading up on football.  I’ll post my picks and teams but just know that I do it under a losing first week.  Even still, I’m going to try to play some golf tomorrow and enjoy the next 2 days because I catch up on work Friday.

This computer is a pain in the but to post pictures with the touch pad so sorry if the post format isn’t as clean as it usually is.

Today is the real beginning of a week long vacation down in Avalon with my family. We moved our vacations from prime time Summer to the first week after Labor day for scheduling reasons. Although there isn’t as much action down here during this week, it’s peaceful and more enjoyable.

Yesterday was the first day of the football season and I spent it watching every game on Red Zone. My fantasy teams fared OK yesterday with at least 1 win and 3 games to be decided tonight. My DK and Fanduel teams also decide on tonight but I was underwhelmed for how much work I put into it. Adams and ODB were team killers. I put through a survival team (Jets, #1 pick) and was pretty average against the spread. We’ll see how tonight goes with my fate being decided by J Jones, Bradford, and A Pete.

With my obligatory football post out of the way, I’ll get further into this vacation. I very much enjoy days like this. Jeff, Sam, JC and myself went golfing today and it was pretty entertaining. I shot an 88 and had one of my best driving days of the year. Golf is so much different for me when I’m not golfing on the weekends feeling like a POS. JC was great too for someone who was golfing for the first time in a year, his expectations are sky high which leads to hilarious results because they shouldn’t be. Sam is improving and Jeff didn’t have is own set so was off his game.

After golf, Sam and I played a ridiculous game in the pool with a frisbee and a tennis ball. Then I went for a run, worked out, and am now typing this post before the Birds game.

It’s a lot different not working. Part of me feels guilty when orders come in and I can’t ship them but another part of me says nothing will be any different in life if the order doesn’t ship same day. It’ll take a bit to get used to but I’ll figure it out.

It also makes me realize that this is how life would be if you didn’t have to work for a living at all. Every day could be exactly like this one. Get up. Golf. Work out. Watch football. Repeat. I don’t know how much I’ll post when I’m down here but it’ll be at least once more.