west of philly - bob

[Ian Brill]

You're welcome, Bob

I had pretty horrible session today (string-length-wise) but I did hit my first drill of paradon-pm, repeat, in the manner that you showed me. The right way.

So thanks again, and congrats on the progress!

(oh, and since it seems like a common courtesy rouond here, sorry for stealing the top of this page )

[Rieferman]

Happy new year modified. My buddy Pat was in town to stay with us for a few days - we were best friends in high school, and then roomed together in college, then he was best man in my wedding. He lives in Boston now, so it was really fun to have him around. Keegan had a fever yesterday, so the wife and I had to play doctor til about 5 a.m. last night, so that was really rough. Really rough. He sweat through his bedding and threw up once. Urgh. Before that happened, we managed to watch a movie and sit around having some drinks. We even stayed up for midnight, although my wife missed the actual moment by about 40 seconds because she was giving a bottle to our daughter. Ha ha... It's funny how New Year's has changed for us over the years. We used to get together with a whole crew and rent a place at the shore and party our asses off. Now we sit home and go to bed at 12:01. It's worth it though - our kids are awesome. I'm so tired today though because of Keegan's up-all-night shenanigans. He seems to be himself today though so that's good. No footbag today, I'm just too tired. Back to work tomorrow. Back on my "good behavior" diet too. I probably gained 5 pounds over the break. I'm not too concerned though because it's just water weight etc. I'll get back on the right track tomorrow. Happy new year

[Rieferman]

The company line on raises was communicated to the managers today. 4.5%. That's pretty good since many companies just give a standard cost of living increase of (say) 3%, or no raise at all. What's frustrating, is that some of us (not to pat myself on the back, but I'm one of them honestly) have exceeded a 4.5% increase in performance by quite a bit. My boss has the authority to shift percentage points around a bit, but he won't ever do it. For 10% increase, I'd consider staying one more year. At 4.5% I'm going to continue my plans to push on. I have at least a 100 resumes out on the streets right now, and I have my extended network of past co-workers/managers/friends etc. working on getting me visibility to top companies in the area. Job market here goes to sleep at year end, and then wakes up again in Jan/February traditionally. I hope that's the case here too, because I'm ready. Getting bored and frustrated. Boredom and frustration tend to breed laziness and I don't want lazy habits forming.

I also find out today about my 2nd bonus (1st bonus was the company bonus last week, this one is our department's manager bonus). This bonus comes in the form of gift cards. Sounds cheezy, but it's actually pretty nice usually. For example, last year, I got over $1000 in gift cards to the store of my choice. If it's similar this year, I plan to get Dick's Sporting Goods cards and Best Buy cards. I want to buy the Goaliath basketball hoop (54" glass backboard, adjustable height, square pole for more stabilty, pole pad, ball catch net so ball doesn't go rolling down the hill all the time, suspended light system for night play) at Dick's. I have money set aside to pave the area behind my barn this spring and I'll have about a 1/2 court basketball area. I'm even going to paint the lines etc. I can't wait for that. Will be a good place for the kids to ride their trikes and for me to footbag too. This will be the nicest hoop I've ever had. The best buy cards will be used to get a small flat screen TV for our bedroom. The wife and I like to watch the news or whatever in the morning and sometimes to wind down at night, so this will be a luxury.

I feel like I should write my strategy for 2008 for my team at work. I know what it is basically, and just need to get timelines and milestones set. But the aforementioned lethargy is preventing me from even caring to try. I'll force myself just in case I end up stuck here for another year, but with proper motivation I could really kick ass this year.

That's what companies don't understand... A company’s sustained success is really about the people, and motivating those people. I say “sustained successâ€

[Rieferman]

I think the fact that we have a vid clip of our recent session might have been lost on the last page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F6XLer9oj0

A bunch of you have indicated that you're reading, and although I hate my game in this video (see my comment on previous page for explanation), I'd still be interested in feedback if you have any.

Also, I began using chinups officially in my morning workouts this morning. Holy shit are chinups hard. They are going to make me so much stronger.

edit: you know, it may be hard to comment because my runs are so short in this vid. I'll take them anyways if you can. But tonight I think I'll finally hook up my old computer (which is setup to capture video already) so I can put some drills and single components and some runs up for comments. Like, maybe I'll show you a bunch of makes and misses to get more constructive feedback etc.

[C-Fan]

I want to buy the Goaliath basketball hoop (54" glass backboard, adjustable height, square pole for more stabilty, pole pad, ball catch net so ball doesn't go rolling down the hill all the time, suspended light system for night play) at Dick's. I have money set aside to pave the area behind my barn this spring and I'll have about a 1/2 court basketball area. I'm even going to paint the lines etc. I can't wait for that.

I really need to come visit you.

[Rieferman]

I'd love a visit Ken! You seem like the type of guy that would really genuinely have fun with my kids too. I think I remember reading you'll be in DC soon, so a weekend trip would be doable.

I played and video taped last night. It was 13 degrees F out, and my heat tent was maybe 45 degrees. So I was playing in leggings and a long sleave shirt. Plus, I'm still recovering from vacation sort of. My shred space is so small I can only get the vid cam to capture the lower 75% of me, so I can't see my posture as much as I'd like but I think it will still be useful. This weekend I'll setup my upstairs office (have been putting it off for months) and try to capture the tape. It's basically a tape of me missing tricks that everyone on modified can hit. I really realized yesterday how not good I am right now. But then again, I feel like I'm working on things properly, and that I'm so close to being very good at just about all the components. And then in my last shred session, I thought I played pretty well. So it's a confusing time for me right now. I think watching my misses on vid will be very helpful. I'll try to post it on youtube so I can get everyone's feedback on things I can do differently.

[janis]

I'd love to see a solo video

[Drew]

Yo Bob. That clipper drill you gave me has been helping, whenever I'm standing around waiting or idle I bust out a bag and drill clippers. I hit drifter B2B few times last night and smoother clipper transitions, I think that drill improved my clipper game some already.

Charlie is absolutely nuts, he hadn't played in 4 months and he was hitting thing I don't even know. He's good, it makes me wish I'd started at a young age like he did, but now it just makes me want to shred that much harder and more often.

Up for shredding again sometime?

[Rieferman]

Yo Drew! Glad to hear you're improving. I'm going to have to pass on shredding for awhile - I have too much to work on to indulge in shred sessions for a couple weeks. I'll keep in touch though, let's shred in February sometime.

Put in a solid hour 20 minutes today. I watched my vid from last session last night - I watched the entire thing in slo mo and found a lot of helpful things. I taped over that first tape today and played hard. I worked just about every concept I've been practicing and will analyze tonight. After a couple more sessions like this I'll try to post something for review/help from the modified folks. I think I can fix a few things on my own, so I don't want to post yet (b/c I'll just get pointers that I probably already know at this point).

[Rieferman]

I unpacked the Goaliath basketball hoop today. I wanted to verify all the pieces were there and in good order. They are. That thing is gonna be a complete pain in the ass to put together, but it's awesome. I can't wait until weather warms up and I can get that project underway. I'll have a 3 point line from straight away and about 30 degrees in either direction. Along the sides, I'll have 16 feet (3 pt line is 19'9") for the first few feet, and then it gets more and more distance until there's enough room for the 3 pt line. I'm actually going to paint the lines (including free throw line). The hoop has a really nice light kit that suspends a really bright light way above the hoop so you can play at night. The nice thing is I can use that light to play footbag under too. I can't freaking wait.



Today, probably no footbag. I'm sore from yesterday's mega session and I have chores to do. I have to take down all remaining x-mas decorations outside, insulate my chimney in the kitchen (we rarely use that fireplace and it's drafty), and setup my attic office finally. Plus I'd like to hang with the kids/wife as much as possible. Oh yeah, and watch playoff football. Steelers lost last night. Too bad. Ben R. was horrible in the first half (then I went to sleep).

[Rieferman]

I had an encouraging day of footbag. I've studied my last two sessions on video tape in slo mo. My windows are really small because although I'm tall (6'2") my height is in my torso - short legs relatively. Also, my leg length comes in my lower leg, not thigh area. I guess that's why things like paradon come more easily than (say) atomic set.

In any case, on vid, I saw that just about all my success came from setting the ball perfectly and usually closer to my body. There's zero room for error in my dexes such as stepping set or atomic set. Kind of frustrating because as I was watching, I could tell that with just slightly different body, many of my misses would be makes. On the other hand, it was also encouraging because I could see why things were missing.

So, I applied that research to my practice tonight with good results. I also decided that rather than building my practice in terms of difficulty, it makes more sense to warm up, do a hard/energy sapping concept, then something easier, then hard again etc. This way I'm practicing difficult concepts while my body is rested rather than practicing the hardest things at the end of practice when I'm most tired. Big benefits from that too.

Highlights:
- I wanted 5 hits of DATW and I got them in my first 5 attempts
- I footed weak DATW 3 times well enough that I would almost call them hits.
- Whirl still doesn't work, but I know the problem, and had some success in applying the solution.
- Many weak DLO's including 1 midrun
- Many strong atom smashers including 1 midrun (first time I think). Tonight was the first time where I felt like "Boy, I'm going to be able to hit atomic tricks"
- Good progress on weak atom smasher. It's all about the set. Lift my knee to set.
- Many blurs both sides
- Many ripwalks both sides
- Run that included ripwalk > ripwalk and both blurs

[Rieferman]

tonight's session was basically like last nights and I don't feel like typing so that's about all I'm going to write. I did hit weakside DATW for the first time ever which I consider a big accomplishment. That's a trick that really requires coordination in my opinion, so being able to do it on my weak leg means to me that my weakside work is really doing something.

[C-Fan]

Weak DATW is like the hardest trick ever.

[Rieferman]

Cool, thanks Ken! I wasn't sure if I was the only one to feel that way.




OK.. Request for you modified. My big sister just moved to San Fran. She's living in a youth hostel until she figures out what she's doing for work etc. She's a singer by trade, and a super nice person. I've already got a message in to Brat and Tu Huge. But, if you know good people in the San Fran area, I'd be interested in a PM about that. Btw, anyone know where the hell Ethan Klein went?

[Rieferman]

no kicking tonight as previously planned. I got home too late

On a brighter note though, I got home late because I was picking up Piggy at the vet. He had his surgery and is doing really well. Tail wagging and everything. Lump that was removed is just a fatty tumor, not cancer. And, we switched vets. Instead of $700 as quoted at previous vet, this ended up being about $400 including the 2nd opinion visit. They're my new vet. They were so nice to Piggy. Yeah!

And now he's wearing one of those lamp shade things on his head, and that's just funny.

[Rieferman]

I usually don't play on Friday nights because I'm pretty beat from the week by now. But I couldn't play last night, so I did tonight instead. Pretty weak overall, but here are highlights

- midrun atom smasher. I think that's the first time midrun.
- good progress on weakside atom smasher.
- My stepping set is beginning to be really midrun reliable, especially on ripwalk. Blur is still being worked out.
- Another weakside DATW
- My pixie is so much better when I catch deeply and go slower. Lots of weakside smears.

Had a beer in the barn after practicing and it was delicious. I think I'll have another.

[Outsider]

Had a beer in the barn after practicing and it was delicious. I think I'll have another.

Booyah, baby! THATS the Rieferman I know and love! I just finished kicking and lifting as well, and now that you mention it, I think I will also have a beer. Got some very tasty Belgians in da fridge. Personally, I think a little booze is a pretty good way to reward yourself for a good hard workout. In fact, the two (workout and booze) make an excellent and healthy pair. For proof, just seem my recent topic in the "Health and Injuries" sub-forum:
http://www.footbag.modevia.com/footbag/ ... hp?t=17898

And don't worry 'bout da calories. There is more to being healthy than simply making yourself skinnier.

[Rieferman]

Practiced today. Good day. I'm not hoping my way through tricks, I know I can hit them. Sure, I miss sometimes, but I'm surprised when I miss most of the stuff. So that's good.

I video taped and analyzed my practice. First of all, I look thin and strong. Very happy about that. And the improvements I've been trying to make are happening.

Going to tape again tomorrow. I'm ready to start working on combinations instead of single tricks.

[Rieferman]

I was sooo tired today, but played for an hour.

Weakside barrage, lots of attempts and a few hits. Strong side same thing, though more hits. Will see on vid how 'the' they are. Pretty the I think, but vid will help me repair.

Tons of stepping set. Strong side is popping up past my waste band on my shorts. Weakside doesn't pop at all. But I have a lot of vid to study to figure out why. It's funny b/c my weak/strong side on stepping switched sides in the past month. I can hit tricks on my now-weak side, but they're not with ease like on my former weakside (now-strong side).

Did a lot of midrun pixie practice too. I can hit weakside smear midrun now. Like blur and atom smasher, I think smear is the hardest basic pixie trick, and therefore the best one to master first. If you can do that trick, all the other pixie tricks are easy comparatively.

Didn't practice combos as much as I wanted because I was tired. I did hit paradon > pm repeat a few times starting on both sides. Hit blur > paradon both sides. Hit paradon ripwalk both sides.

edit: oh, so you can see from the combos I'm putting together that the point is to build 2 piece combos that can be put together into bigger things. Also, I remembered that I hit a bunch of strong atom smashers and mid run as's too. The weakside wasn't practiced today because I decided beer and football was more fun at that point. But I saw on my vid from yesterday that on the weakside, my form is good I just need to set the ball higher. My form on my strong side I'm very pleased with. Thank effing goodness. 10 years in the making. If you can video tape yourself, do it. do it do it do it. So helpful. Especially slo mo

[Rieferman]

I was reading Jorden's epic post on page 33 of his blog. My responses are more a reflection of my beliefs than responses that would be of interest to him or his blog readers, so it didn't make sense to post them in his blog. But I thought it was interesting to keep here. NONE of this is meant to start a debate, I'm just recording my thoughts for my own sake. If I somehow offend you, get out of my blog

- About being social: I want 4 good friends (or so). I have 2.5 (Pat, Gabe, Sean), the .5 being Sean because we're neighbor friends rather than real share your heart and soul friends. I'd like a 4th because Pat and Gabe live hours away and I find it important to have a friend in my life on a regular basis. Of course, my wife counts as my best best best friend, but only kind of. There's a difference for me between guy and girl friends. Guys relate on a different level. I had a post someplace on the importance of guys having guy friends. Whatever. Beyond this amount of friends I'm social on special occasions, or mostly for appearances or to network etc. Like if I choose to go to a footbag event this summer, I'll be social, and I'll catch up with people, and that will be fun. But when the day is done, that is that. 3-4 friends take up enough energy, and any other friendships are mostly superficial and based on an activity, rather than based on getting to know someone at a deeper level. And I think that's an OK way to do it - I'm not saying you can't be friendly with people and enjoy their company, it's just that most of these types of relationships don't develop to anything more than that. Outside my couple close friends, I meet up with other people because of a specific shared interest for the most part. That's fun and worth it, but it doesn't need to be more for me. Jorden wrote “Investing loads of time in generic people is kinda like, "why bother".â€