California 2014

Once again its that time of year. I head out west down to The Jay Swanson Memorial 9- Ball tournament. If you can't make it down to check out the action live check out on line here at POVPOOL . That about it for now really just 8 hour of work and a few hour flight and I'll be in sunny LA.

2014

Its been awhile...  (Sidebar it is very hard to type with a cat FORCEFULLY sitting on your lap)
Much has transpired since last I posted and I may one day go back and post about events  (I wouldn't hold your breath, just saying) but for now onward.

A new pool hall opened up in Winnipeg recently "Crazy 8 Billiards and Lounge" I recently headed down to check it out.  Now I'm glad a new pool hall has opened this is a good thing, not so happy that is on the other end of the city, so this place isn't going to become my new hall but hopefully it will thrive and flourish and other pool halls will open hopefully in my end of the city.  So back to the new hall, it a nice place out by the airport and bus depot, lots of parking, and near to bus routes. Moving inside we have 4 - 3.5 x 7 coin ops and 8 - 4 x 8 Olhausen tables.  A well stocked bar and Half Pints on tap! ALL FOUR count them FOUR main flavours on tap, mmm local beer.  It was fairly quite when I was there but it was a Monday and about minus HOLY F**KING COLD!!!




Cold you say how cold is it? Well let me tell you, Winnipeg does have a bit of a reputation of being one really frosty place to live but when the news papers start saying that its colder then it is ON MARS!

Luckily come February I will be once again escaping this frozen rock for sunny LA and the 18th Jay Swanson  Memorial 9 - ball Tournament. So as per usual I have about a month to whip my 9 - ball game into shape.


And now some Blue Rodeo from their new album to wrap things up for now

S.D.and S.T.F.U!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet (It's take way to long to figure out how to do this diplomatically so here it is)

Ladies, Gentlemen, Kids of all ages when playing pool whether it be 8 ball or 9, serious or for fun, RESPECT plays a big role. Today I'd like to talk about respect for your opponent. So

Sit

Down

and

Shut

The

F*ck

Up

Simple concept look I shoot, you shoot, and back and forth till some one wins, I don't need you to tell me that "I made a good shot" or "oh that was a nice try" My ego isn't so fragile that I need affirmation that I'm doing a good job. 

Further more I'm not asking you to come to the bathroom to shake it off for me so when its my turn at the table plant you ass in a chair and wait or in a spot that will not hinder my turn at the table since I am affording you the same curiosity 

Well that is all for now, I'm working on getting motivated to post more but in a toss up between blogging and pool well playing pool wins. I now leave you with a video from Winnipegs own  The Weakerthans

 

Blink And You'll Miss It

So its been a while between post (again I know...) So lets see whats going on.

Prairie Pool Player has deleted and since restarted his blog Re-branded as South Dakota Pool Player 

Mean while over at the OMGWTF page Shes working on a multi-post tale. Seriously good stuff go check it out.

If you follow my twitter / facebook you know the past week I was trying to drum up support for Katimavik on the Aviva Community Fund site.  

And finally once again this crazy Canuk is heading south come February to do battle at the 17th Jay Swanson Memorial Tournament. Last year was out in 2 so this year I'm confident I can do as good if not better.

Well peace out for now. 

This Is A Hedgehog

Alright its thanksgiving (Canadian) so I figured why not do a "cooking" post? What follows is a fairly quick and easy appetizer I give you The Hedgehog (with pictures)

Step 1:
 Ingredients

le ingredients and some of the tools

 2- 250g bricks cream cheese
1 packet Hidden Valley ranch dressing
Pinch or more dill
approx. 200g whole almonds
1 cup "ish" of mayo or Miracle Whip
(trust me use the Miracle whip)
Bacon-bits

Step 2:

Cut up cream cheese and put in to mixing bowl. This will make it easier to mix

Step 3:
 add "whipped Dressing".  Now this is a tricky spot the amount of Miracle whip you use is dependent on what you want the out come to be, but 1 cup is a good bench mark.  LESS and you will have a firmer hedge hog that will be harder to mix and less ideal for out right dipping crackers into.  MORE and you will have a softer hedge hog ideal for dipping but will take more time in the fridge to "set" and you may need to put in a bowl

Step 4:

dump package "Hidden Valley ranch dressing" (side bar any powdered ranch dressing mix will work hell you could go all hard core and add your own mix of spices and what not)






Step 4.5:

Sprinkle dill liberally

Time to bring out the big guns

Step 5: Now if you look at the above picture in the top left hand corner you will see a potato masher and my trusty wooden scraper. That is how I started out mixing every together.... but that takes alot of arm strength and time so I called in the big guns Le Black and Decker Power Pro and when to work.  if using an electric mixer you are going to want to use the lowest power setting you want to mix all the ingredients but not to the point of beating the crap out of them.

Step 6 (oops should be step 4.75)

add bacon bits

Step 7:
Remove from mixing bowl and start placing on plate







Step 8:

Shape blob in to a spherical shape. This is where if you used more miracle whip you may run into problems with it retaining a spherical shape.

Step 9:
Add almonds and arrange in an order conforming to your brand of OCD

Grand Finale

Le HedgeHog

You may want to put in the fridge for a while to "firm" it up but for the most part break out the crackers and your ready to go.  

Tips Ahoy

Tiger "Onyx" on a predator 314 two shaft

And so a new pool league season is just around the corner. So on that note I headed down to ye olde pool supple shop (AVO Billiards) to get some new tips affixed to my shafts. Now for a while now I've been wanting to try the Tiger "Onyx" tip but every time I went in they were sold out not this time. So I had them affix it to the 314 (see left) more on that later.

Kamui Tan

For a while I've been toying with the idea of playing with a hard tip so since I was there I got them to put a Kamui "Tan Hard" on the Z (see right). It was that or a LePro or Triangle and nothing against those tips, I've used them before and like them but I've got a Kamui hard on one of the break shafts and shot a few racks with it and wanted to give it a full try out on a playing shaft. 



Like many things in life "the proof is in the pudding" so today I headed on down to Bourbon St. Billiards to give the tips a test run {so I stopped writing and picked this post up a few days later thus "today" yesterday" things like may not be 100% accurate}

So first up the original 314 shaft that came with the cue with the brand spanking new "Onyx" tip {also for the record I did really do any "test " shots or anything for the most part just racked the balls broke and went from there}  it felt nice not "mushy" or "soft", it imparted a "crisp" feel to most shots and when I was done it didn't seem like I need to shape it or pick it before next time I used it.... side bar I was/ still am a fan of the tiger "sniper" tips but always felt they had a bit of a break-in period that you had to pick and shape and generally monkey with till BAM it was good to go and lasted a good long time. So all in all I'll give it a gold star for getting the job done.

Next the might predator Z shaft with the "kamui hard" tip.  When I first started playing pool after bar cue I moved on to a half busted half fixed Duffrin cue with a hard tip and then a Viking with a hard tip (the shaft had a weird "twang" to it but that's another story) and then before for the most part moving in to the world of layered tips another cue with a you guessed it a hard "triangle" tip. Something about the sound it makes when you hit the ball and not having to really do anything to it maintenance wise, I think this tip and shaft combo could be a real winner for me.

Well now that that is done and only took a freaking week to do..... league starts next week woo woo.  A new team, a new level "Cash +" Here's hoping, I mean if I can finish with an about a 50/50 win lose ratio I'll be happy.

Alright time to put this to the presses

peace

Please Hold For Station Identification

I swear there it a new post and "tip" review coming its just taking a bit long than anticipated to get up but..... should be done  by tomorrow night I swear.... maybe... no seriously tomorrow night. Until then watch this video

 

 

 

and then this one....