west of philly - bob

[Rieferman]

glad you liked the pics

lots of exercise last couple days. Needed to clean out the gully and this swampy area on back of property. Did it all with a weed wacker and it took about 3 hours. Very tiring. In a few weeks (yes another project, but I swear, this is the last one this summer!!!!!) we'll be installing an underground drain pipe that will make the area non-swampy so that it can be mowed normally. So this was preparation for that.

Tonight, I have a meeting with the township. There's a nearby concrete plant that our neighborhood feels is breaking noise ordinances, particularly at night time. So I wrote a research paper on the topic, and even took professional grade sound readings. The meeting is to discuss compromises that will improve the situation.

Anyhow, since that's tonight (my normal kicking night), I kicked last night. I was so tired, but played pretty well. Did a ton of osis and variations such as pixie op osis, pixie same osis, stepping op (or same) osis, diving/ducking op or same osis. Even the left osis is hittable on these things which is a far cry from where that foot was 3-4 months ago. Also did a lot of stepping set. That's getting really good. Stuff like ripwalk > infinity > repeat x 3.. Then do the other side. Or blur > op butterfly > repeat x 3. Or ripwalk > stepping butterfly > couple infinities > try to repeat on other side (that's my weak stepping butterfly and not consistent yet). Hmmm, what else? Lots of swirl practice still. It's getting better despite that I rarely hit it very well. I can tell it will be hit and a good concept for me ultimately, probably a few more weeks til that happens. Been doing some atomic too.

After kicking, and after putting kids to bed, I used my new mower to do the lawn. I had to do some raking first, but I still was finished in under an hour. New mower = love.

This weekend, we have a family vacation. Friday - Sunday, so it's really a mini-vacation. Going to a lake in the poconos (mountains in upper PA). My best buddy and his wife/son are coming with us. The house we rented has a pool table so that's cool. And there's a playground and swimming/boating area so we can really keep Keegan busy. Should be a lot of fun. No footbag or house work this weekend. Just chilling.

Vanguard interview next Wednesday. Maybe I told you that already, can't remember. Very exciting. That would be huge for me if I got that. Huge.

[Rieferman]

Had a good/fun practice last night. Continuing to spend a lot of time on finesse items that never got enough attention from me previously.

Specifically, osis, swirls, dyno, and smooth links incorporating spins and ducks/dives and bops.

I don't think I did a single pixie or stepping trick last night and I still had lots of stuff to work on and have fun with.

I hit dyno bsos for first time last night and hit many weakside dynos overall, so that was good progress.

Hit 60% strong swirls, but none of them were into a run or out of a run, just single trick practice. Hit some weak swirls - though they're mostly misses, the misses are getting better if that makes any sense.

Strong spin clipper are pretty much never miss, so I've been adding spinning butterfly and spinning pdx mirage etc. back into the mix there. Weakside spinning clipper is improving quickly. Interestingly, my weakside spin is my nearly-never-miss gyro mirage. Hmmm. I'll take it.

Vacation tomorrow! No footbag, no email, no mowing, nothing until Monday. Swimming, boating, drinks with my buddy and his wife (and meg of course) after kids go to sleep. Yeah!

[Caleb]

Have fun on vaca and good luck with your interview!

[mc]

yeah! boats and brews! that sounds awesome!

Today's the big shred day in Buffalo, so I've got a different kind of vacation going on

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Vanguard interview next Wednesday. Maybe I told you that already, can't remember. Very exciting. That would be huge for me if I got that. Huge.

Is that the mutual fund business?

Glad to hear you're having so much fun with Osis. Have a great time on vacation

[Ian Brill]

Quick advice of dynos:

from clipper I recommend setting really low and doing the trick fast, like a swirl. Setting sort of with the support leg sometimes seems more efficent, as it can set the bag close, not too high, and with a pop.

I think this is the way to go. It made my atomic dyno look almost "play-out-able".

I'm jealous of those spins and gyros. I can do 'em but they have major arcs.

I read this post and practiced swirls myself. Keeping those arms up really helped me freeze the stall. Enough to link reasonably out of. I think I learned a new level of value for my arms, regarding balance, because of swirls.

[Rieferman]

wow, look at my busy little blog! Nice surprise to see some comments

Vacation was great. Kids did great and were happy and cute. Swam a lot, kids all loved that. At night, did the fire pit and beers thing, adults liked that. No footbag or cell phone or anything all weekend, I liked that. Back home and getting ready for Vanguard on Wednesday (yes, mutual funds.. basically Fidelity and Vanguard are the 2 biggest in US.. my role would be marketing strategy, so I'm not a financial guru or anything like that.. no trading etc. just strategy stuff). After interview, I plan to take kids to YMCA pool and just enjoy the day. Then, the waiting game begins.

[Drew]

Will you be around Saturday? I've already cleared with the rents, have a car if you want to shred some in the afternoon.

[C-Fan]

Hoop looks sweet.

My comments on your video (finally):

1. You look lighter on your toes, which is great.
2. Your flip pdx mirage doesn't look as fluid as strong side. I think you need to use your hips more, and really turn into it earlier.
3. I'd like to see more spins and swirls.
4. I'd like to see you play more downtime. I know you can pixie and step, but I find it more interesting when you don't use sets. I think you could develop a good, flowy downtime game like Nasty Nate if you skooled that.
5. Paradons are cool. More would be great.

[Rieferman]

Unrelated to anything happening in my blog: Wow, the "ignore" feature is something I just discovered when I saw Nasty write something like "I unblocked you for this?". I was like "what the heck is unblock?". Nice, I'm gonna go on a blocking streak. Will make the forum much easier to read.

ha ha, I guess that sounded really negative. Wasn't intended to. Recently I wrote someplace that the footbag community is like any community.. There are good and bad parts to it. The difference here is that the good parts are sooo good, and the bad parts can be sooo bad. So the whole blocking thing is one way to help resist the urge to give the bad parts a chance to sour the good ones. There, that sounded a little more like what I meant to express.

It's funny, because when Peter B. was at my place he was picking on me for a couple of my posts (I think they were in my blog). He was telling me that behind the scenes people were like "Damn, Riefer is harsh" etc. Which is really funny to me because I'm really actually a very nice guy if I do say so myself. And even funnier because some of the stuff I pick on in my blog are things that I was guilty of at one time. I guess as you get older you THINK you're wiser (maybe you actually are) and sometimes spout off a bit too much. So I'll try to watch it a little. Then again, sometimes things need to be said.

Damn I'm wordy sometimes.

-----------------
Ken, thanks very much for commenting on the vid. You know from my comments to you over time that I really respect your game and your knowledge of the game.
- Hoop IS sweet! I still say you should try to put me on your travel agenda at some point. Would be a fun day. We even have a free guest pass to the YMCA pool so we can head there after.
- Lighter on toes.. Well, losing about 40 pounds has definitely helped. And reducing the hunching tendency has forced better footwork. I'm glad you can tell.
- flip pdx mirage.. You're totally right. Will work on that.
- Did basically an entire practice on swirls, dynos, torques, ducking, diving, spins last night. I think that will be my practice for a bit because...
- Ken wrote

I'd like to see you play more downtime. I know you can pixie and step, but I find it more interesting when you don't use sets. I think you could develop a good, flowy downtime game like Nasty Nate if you skooled that.

Cool, that's one of the nicest footbag encouragements I've received. The idea that I could play like Nasty feels awesome. He's one of my favorite players (and personalities). As noted above, the practices that I'll work on will focus here - I've been putting it off and putting it off, but this is a good time to do it. Funny thing is that you say "I know you can step" which is actually a super hard concept for me. But your comment made me realize that my stepping has come a long way and is pretty decent now.
- Paradons.. Shoot, I forgot to play those last night. note to self.

----------
edit: Had a blast playing hoops last night too. Was so nice out, all my chores were done, kids asleep. And I'm skinny enough to play shirtless now, which is the only way to really enjoy shooting around in my opinion. Was hitting shots and mocking 1 on 1 moves. Just so worth it to have that hoop there.

edit 2: oh yeah, had the Vanguard interview on Wednesday. Went very well I tihnk. Long interview, exhausting, but I really think I'm a good fit for the position. The issue that I can see is that I'm competing against people far older than myself that are willing to take this position, at a similar salary to me, due to the economy right now. Vanguard is known for hiring for long term benefit, so hopefully they will look at my young age, upside potential etc. and choose me over those guys. Waiting game begins again.

[slapdash21]

seriously bob you're such a jerk.




i think i come off as an absolute dumbass on modified...ive had more than one person at a tournament tell me they expected to dislike me in real life because of how i act on modified.

[Rieferman]

kicked with drew (duffelbag) today (drew, I'll do my best to capture some of your stuff so you can learn from it). I was a teense out of practice but played pretty well overall. More spins for ken, but spin trick selection isn't that great yet.

anyhow, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHJnE3OFjFE

[max]

Wow Bob.. I can't beleive how much your game has improved! I'm really impressed.

Here are some challenges for some cool links if you're interested:

Drifter > gyro mirage (BS)
Merkon > magellan (BS)
drifte > whirl > osis [rpt]

Props

edit: and osis > gyro legover because you can zoom and that link is awesome!

[Rieferman]

Thanks Max That's a really nice compliment, I'm glad you can see some progress. Long ways to go still, but that's the way it goes with this game right? Thanks again!

edit, and thanks for the challenges, I'll definitely try them out. I think I've hit some of those but will have to try again.
----------

Had a really nice father's day weekend.
- Friday night just chilled out with meg and had a few beers,
- saturday slept in, had a footbag session (video above), a barbecue at a neighbor's house, and chilled out some more / watched US Open (Tiger is amazing)
- sunday slept in, was treated to massage at local spa, watched a little more golf, took kids to swimming pool, good dinner, chilled out watched more golf (Tiger is amazing) and some NBA (watched on porch and enjoyed nice weather).

Today, back and bored at work. Waiting game is in effect for Vanguard. Could be weeks. Could be days. Impossible to tell. Ah well, whatever.

Seeing myself shirtless in last vid makes me happy about how many pounds I've lost... but also makes me want to lose 10 more. Damn it. Keep working at it.

[Rieferman]

Good practice last night. My weak osis is about equal to strong side now, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but considering I'd never hit a weakside osis in any of the vids you've seen so far (and for good reason.. it sucked) I'm happy about it. Weak spinning clipper is nearly 'hit every time' good. Spent a lot of time on swirls. They still suck, but they suck less. That will be a good concept eventually. Did a lot of different variations of spins and ducks/dives too. Worked weak spinning legover and ducking legover, weak ducking pdx mirage. Hit spinning pickup an ducking and diving pickup. Spinning pdx mirage steadier on strong, not there on weak yet. Gyro mirage not there on weak yet. Overall, just a fun session, beautiful temperature last night. Plus the Celts won the championship.

[Rieferman]

Drew was nice enough to fix up a few bags for me. I had 3 nicely sewn bags that were all either different weight, or incorrect amounts of fill for my liking. So he right-sized them all for me and mailed them back already (it's only been a few days!). Plus, I bought a gumball patterned bag that he made. So I have the bag I've been using, and 4 other sweet, ready to play bags now. Talk about rags to riches! Can't wait to kick tonight!

[Rieferman]

Hit my goal weight as of yesterday. 38 pounds lost. I've immediately set a new goal weight which targets about another 10 pounds lost - I did this because I can easily see that as my body gets in better shape it wants to be even lighter. So, I'm 200 right now, and aiming for 190. To put it in perspective, I was 185 as a senior basketball star in high school, and 189 when I got married in 2001. Given that I'm stronger than I've ever been, am juggling career and family etc, 190 is a place I can maintain.

The proudest thing about this for me is that I started a lifestyle (NOT a diet) in September 2006 with a goal in mind. I worked hard, and have found that my program is reasonable and sustainable and something I can do for a lifetime. And now I've seen the results. My joints feel better, my shred is better, self esteem is better. Better. Healthy. So yeah, I'm really happy about this.

Weight gain really had 2 initial starting points. 1) College drinking leading into post-college drinking. 2) 1999 heart surgery. And then 2 later points really pushed me over the edge. 1) grad school. 2) home rennovations. I feel confident that weight issues are behind me now. I understand how my body works now, understand what to eat (and am satisfied with what I eat), drink like a normal person, grad school is done, home rennovations are done, etc.

SHIT YEAH! GO ME!

ha ha, sorry for the self-patting-on-back. It's a big milestone.

Anyhow, kicked last night. Gyro mirage bsos (which made me happy as hell because weak gyro mirage was only hit a handful of times previously and I hit it many times last night), lots of stuff ending on weak toe (ducking legover, spinning legover, dlo etc.). Fair amount of paradon links on both sides. Swirl progress on both sides (strong side will come around very soon.. weak shouldn't be too far behind). Shoot, forgot to do spinning and ducking pdx mirages. Will do those tomorrow.

[C-Fan]

Props on reaching your goal Bob! I'm currently working on paring down my drinking and eating healthier, because even though my body handles it well now, I know I won't always be getting this much exercise. Habits are important.

Crossing my fingers for you on Vanguard.

[Rieferman]

what a nice weekend. Spent so much time in the yard with the kids. Had all sorts of sprinkler toys out and Keegan just loved running through getting soaking wet. Emi is starting to walk now - she can take about 6 steps and lunge into your arms now. Really cute. Played a lot of footbag, had a camp fire with Meg, got all prepped for my other drainage project coming up this weekend.

Footbag highlights:
- gyro mirage bsos
- spinning clipper > blur > paradon on both sides
- Lots of tricks ending on weak toe
- lots of swirl and dyno practice
- stepping to stepping practice
- weak dlo and drifter should be mid-run ready by end of this week
- just generally feeling smooth with good string length

[Zac Miley]

Props Bob! I never really post in here but I read it quite a bit.

Good luck on the next 10 pounds.