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What are these "ads" everyone is talking about?

It missed Rockford completely. Not a single flake fell yesterday.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 23, 2016 -> 01:06 PM) They're pretty awesome when it comes to discounts. They know anything they get you to pay is gravy. I keep re-upping for 6 month subscriptions for $24.99. I'll call and say I want to cancel, they'll offer me some deal like $99.99 for a year. I'm like, um, how about $25 for 6 months? "Let me look....yep, I can do that for you." When I cancelled I believe their final offer was 5 months for $20. I almost took the deal but hate the idea of going through the hassle of calling them every 6 months to get them to lower the price again.

HS age doesn't always match up anyway. I could have started my first year of college when I was 17. Since I graduated HS in June and my birthday isn't until October. I also know a few people that were still in HS until they were 20.

So I have a question. If some average Joe forgets his pin and tries multiple times to get into his phone and ends up locking himself out of it, how do they deal with that?

Well bowling is pretty much going to take over my life for the next 2 months or so. Tryouts for my daughter's middle school bowling (7th & 8th grades) started last night. Three days of "tryouts" (there are no cuts, everyone makes the team. They just divide them up into varsity and JV.) and then starting on March 1 it will be practice on Tuesdays and matches on Thursdays. There will be a handful of tournaments mixed in as well. The state tournament is in April. This is on top of the traveling Saturday morning league she'll be starting in 2 weeks. Meanwhile I'm still bowling with her on Sunday nights in the adult/youth league and my normal Tuesday league still has a couple months to go. I'll have lots of updating to do in this thread. As for me, I finally broke 600 last night. First game I started with 5 strikes, then opened the 6th frame, 3 more strikes, then got a split in the 10th. Picked it up and got one more strike so I ended with a 243. Second game I lost my line and fell to 181. Third game I found again and ended somewhere around a 220 (I think). I know my series was in the 640 range. We won 3 games but somehow the second place team hasn't lost a game in 3 weeks.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 10:41 AM) What about Costco? They pay pretty solid and have good benefits. There aren't any around us.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 06:17 AM) Obviously they believe two part time employees is cheaper than one full time so don't worry about their decision on the night shift. I don't know about being cheaper or not but it's what they would be forced to do since they'd have 40 hours to fill. We figure that's one of the big reasons they won't move her. Employee turnover at the store is incredibly high. They'd have to find 2 people competent and trustworthy enough to work completely solo every night. She's almost too good at her job and they don't want to have to replace her unless they are forced to. QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 06:17 AM) It does seem legal. She would be moving to a new position, one with different benefits. She'd be moving to a different position with no benefits. She's accumulated enough time to now have 3 weeks of paid vacation. But if they bump her to part-time, she loses all that vacation time. QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 06:17 AM) On the other hand a company that would treat a ten year employee that way sucks. Agreed.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 13, 2016 -> 04:02 PM) yeah i screw up her name, it was feather, it was heather.... dang it is a b**** getting old. IIRC, Heather is Chisoxfanatic on WSI and still posts there. Just look for posts about Canada, winter or hockey.

So my wife has been working as a retail cashier at a gas station for about 10 years now. For most of it she has been on 3rd shift with her core hours being 10P - 6A. We've made it work over the years and she's put up with it but recently she's become increasingly unhappy with her shift. She'd much rather work days like a "normal" person but they've always refused to move her. The only thing she likes is the fact that she gets 40 hours every week and weekends off. The problem is that since Obamacare came into affect, the store no longer hires full-time employees. She and one other girl are grandfathered in as full-time. The only other full-time positions are management. So if she switched to days, they would have to get 2 people to cover her current hours. The manager insists that she would have to go to part-time, lose her weekends off and all her vacation time. That not only seems wrong but something that shouldn't even be legal. You'd think having more seniority than every other person in the store besides the manager would mean something. I probably make enough to cover 99% of our bills. Her paycheck mostly covers our "fun" stuff like bowling and camping in the summer. Her plan is to be out in some way shape or form in the next 5 years, which is when our youngest will graduate HS. I'm not sure what options we have though. AFAIK, most retail places aren't hiring for full-time hours anymore.

Our precarious hold on first place is looking like it might be in trouble. There were 3 teams tied for 2nd a few weeks ago, but suddenly one team has pulled ahead and is currently only 4 games behind us and 3 games ahead of 3rd place. We only won one game this week. Every single game was close though. Within 20 pins or less. My first game I was doing fine. Not great, but I was over my average. Second game everything fell apart. I kept hitting the pocket but I was just leaving random single pins. The 9 pin, the 6 pin, the 8 pin... It was really odd. There was also 4 times where I nearly got a pocket 7-10 but then one of the pins would fall at the last second. Ended up somewhere around 165 or so. Walking around and listening to people, it seemed like almost everyone was complaining about the lanes and the pin action that night. Even one guy that has a 220 average couldn't find his line. I actually ended up switching to my old ball which is a 20 year old Zone. Surprisingly, it was hooking more than my brand new ball.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 12:31 PM) #1 that trend is reversing, with more people leaving cable than ever before. People are leaving cable for things like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. They are still spending money to watch TV, just a different format. Getting to watch TV (especially MLB games) for "free" is just not an expectation most people have anymore. That was why Sportsvision failed. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 12:31 PM) #2, the problem is with the networks themselves not being picked up by rival cable providers, not with people not subscribing to watch the Cubs/Dodgers/Astros etc. Fans literally don't get a choice. IF the Cubs do this, that could be a big reason they fail. BUT, if they are able to come to an agreement with the networks, there will be no shortage of people willing to pay to watch the games. There are already millions of people paying somebody to watch the team now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 09:21 AM) And for most of Chicago, they won't be able to watch the game at all, because the teams network won't be picked up by most TV providers in Chicago. Remember Comcast has zero incentive to pick up the network as it is competition. Look at LA and Houston's numbers for great examples. The Cubs will be on millions less TVs if they start their own network. I'm not completely disagreeing with you. It could be a massive failure. I'm just saying people are much more willing to pay for TV now than they were in 1981.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 04:07 PM) With social media there are more ways than ever to follow a baseball game in real time without needing to pay for it. In fact the trend has long been towards chord cutting. But to actually watch the game live, you typically have to pay for it. Whether it's cable, a satellite provider, mlb.tv, etc... Back then paying for any type of TV was unheard of. Sportsvision wasn't really a bad idea, it was just a few years too early.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 09:45 AM) So if the old theory that SportsVision destroyed the White Sox is true, a standalone cable network should destroy the Cubs, right? Even places like LA can't their network into the mass audience, and seeing as Comcast isn't going to help them in Chicago because they have deals with the rest of the teams in Chicago (exept for the Bears), it shouldn't see a full viewing audience. It's certainly a possibility. But I think the biggest problem with SportsVision is that people simply weren't used to paying for any TV channels. These days there are multiple ways to pay to see an MLB game broadcast and many don't think twice about it.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 12:07 PM) I don't think it's official. When I checked a few weeks ago when the story came out, that Deadpool account didn't have many followers. Now the account is near 10,000 followers. I'm actually more offended that someone started a petition to make a PG-13 rated film. Are parents today that afraid of telling their kids "no"?

I remember when I bowled in HS. I was happy if I shot 250 for a single game. Local HS Kid has 252 average He is the grandson of John Sommer who is in the USBC HOF and is part of an ownership group that owns nearly all the bowling centers in the Rockford area. So he has a pretty good pedigree and quite a bit of access to all the equipment and practice that he could ever want. I'm guessing you may see this kid on TV someday. What's interesting is that I also know one of his teammates named Brandon. I've watched him and his younger brother bowl on Saturday mornings with my daughter for many years. I thought he was pretty good with a 223 average. I had no idea there was another kid in the area that was that much better.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 11:08 AM) It makes me feel old to think an entire generation of Sox fans is growing up not having been to a game there. IIRC, I'm not that much younger than you and I never made it to the old ballpark.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 03:32 PM) Chipper Jones ARod (If eligible) Josh Hamilton (outside chance) Adrian Gonzalez Joe Mauer (outside chance) David Price (outside) Stephen Strasburg (outside) Bryce Harper (outside) That's 8 (possibilities) in 20+ years.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 09:20 AM) The MLB draft is as a big a crap shoot as any tanking in the MLB does not work. This. Just looking back at the last few HOF classes, the only player drafted #1 overall was Griffey Jr. The only other player drafted in the top 10 was Frank Thomas. Looking through a handful of recent drafts, there are a ton of names in the top ten of each year that never made much of an impact in MLB.

Had one of my worst nights in a really long time. My high game was a 175. I think the other 2 were 173 and 165. For some odd reason the left lane was just giving me fits all night long. First game I started out strike, open, strike, open, strike. I was getting tons of splits and couldn't even pick up my easy spares. Luckily my teammates held me up and we won 2 games plus series. The one game we lost was only by 2 lousy pins. My average dropped down to 192. I'm still doing great on my Sunday night league though. I have a 203 average there.

They did an animated series in the early 90's. I think for the most part, TV shows based off movies don't do real well. Fargo seems to be one of the few exceptions.

My average is up to 193 in my Tuesday night league. Bowling 2x a week has actually seemed to help me. I'm averaging 200 in my other league but we are only 3 weeks in. I should have had a 600 series last night but my shoe started sticking on the right lane only for some odd reason and I couldn't even pick up a spare for the first 3 or 4 frames. I think I ended up in the 580 - 590 range. One of my teammates got a new ball over the summer and is obsessed with how much it's suppose to hook. It's a top of the line $200+ ball but he hasn't been happy with it all year long. He insists that it should hook more than it does. When he throws it normally, it does hook, but not a whole lot. With his natural throw he doesn't get a whole lot of lift or a lot of RPMs either. I'm about the same way though. I don't care how much it hooks, as long as it hits the pocket. A lot of times though, he'll throw without his thumb in the ball. Then he gets a ton of lift and RPMs and can make it hook from gutter to gutter. He's supposed to go in sometime this week and have the pro shop guy look at it. I typically don't like having a real big hook because they can be so hard to control. For the most part, I line up on the leftmost dot and shoot for the third arrow on the right.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 10:20 AM) You should be able to buy directly from the manufacturer, online, etc. That's something Tesla has been fighting for a few years now. States keep passing laws to prevent it. http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/17/tesla-motors-us-sales/