west of philly - bob

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 27 May 2009 04:54

nice, first shred in the barn last night. And it was great. The space is totally big enough. I think a 3 person shred would be about the limit comfortably. Last night was just Brian and me and it was really comfortable.

I have 12 interlocking mats down. They slid around a tiny bit, but that will go away once I'm finished. I plan to add a row of mats on both sides (so instead of 3x4 mats locked together, it will be 4x5 mats.. about 10 by 10ish). Those will sit on top of a non slip backing, and will be covered with a light colored, low-pile carpet. Very nice footing, easy on the joints, and the light color will make it easy to see the bag.

The walls will be cream color in the end to make it bright in the room and to make for better vid taping as needed.

Two additional windows are being installed in the room, so tons of natural light. And, 3 overhead four foot flourescant light fixtures will provide for zero shadows.

I was also able to save a ceiling fan from a previous project, so good air movement.

The TV will be hooked up to the Fios (cable TV basically but better picture), and my surround sound Infinity speaker system (with subwoofer) will power the room's music. Mini-fridge will keep the water (cough cough beer) cold.

Meg's running machine will fit nicely against the one wall and will not interfere with the playing area. My situp board folds and hangs, so that will be on the wall out of the way. Free weights (etc.) will have a built in cubby to keep them out of the way and off the floor.

Seating under the double windows for relaxing between shreds and for cooling down afterwards.

And that's that.

Anyhow, shredding in there was really fun. I'm getting back to normal pretty quickly. I've been dropping way earlier than I am used to. I think: starting all runs with weakside, focusing on doing weakside within every run, working to eliminate easy links, new lavers, and just plain old being a little rusty from sporadic play... but I also think I'm right **there** for really taking off better than ever.

edit: what an excellent post for a new page

edit: for the first time in YEARS Sunil and I are talking again. Whatever the old stupid reason, our older selves seem to be pretty content to just forget. That's really cool, we always had a blast hanging out. edit again: OH, and he's going to be in Philly and wants to hack with me

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 27 May 2009 05:07

Rieferman wrote: I was also able to save a ceiling fan from a previous project, so good air movement.

If you need an extra one for the shred barn, let me know.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 27 May 2009 05:51

Your shred space sounds awesome. Like the kind of thing I always wanted to have but didn't realize I wanted until just now.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 28 May 2009 06:30

well, brian video taped first shred in the barn and made a vid, but I'm not posting it in here. I'm going to sound like an asshole explaining why, but I'm just being honest:
- I'm not a fan of the music selection. it really kills it for me.
- brian's eye for what a good run is made up of isn't very well developed, so the runs on the vid are often not the ones I'd pick to put on there.
- as any of us would do if we're the one doing the work, brian tends to load the vids with his own runs.

On top of that, I'm still getting back up to snuff.

In any case, seeing the vid was really basically a bummer for me this morning for all those reasons. I'm going to ask him not to include me on any more of his vids, I'll just take my own vids when I feel like it.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 29 May 2009 04:07

nice, took 15 steps out my back door last night and into my barn... and got my shred practice on. just like that. easy peasy.

I'm a radio station right now "all weakside, all the time". ha ha. really though, I had no energy for atomic, so I did so much pixie and spinning. and just in general tried for long runs of that stuff. I'm ready to get back to not dropping the ball. Losing the project weight will help me there too. I'm at 210 right now, need to be at 200 again.

then went to lowes to get the lumber for building the barn stairs. 16 foot long 2"x10" boards are big and heavy. But the stairs will be rock effing solid. with stairs in place, I can set meg about getting second story organized enough for now, and I can get the barn boards that I saved up and out of the way (currently taking up half my basketball court)

tonight, probably garage door framing if it's not raining. If it's raining, probably stairs.

my sawzall had to go back to the manufacturer for a switch repair.. so I'm sort of on hold on some projects because you must rip down before you can build up.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 29 May 2009 09:31

Rieferman wrote:nice, took 15 steps out my back door last night and into my barn... and got my shred practice on. just like that. easy peasy.

I'm a radio station right now "all weakside, all the time". ha ha.

That's cool that shred is that accessible.

I like your honesty in the previous post. very admirable.

pretty soon there will be no weakside

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 30 May 2009 14:54

pretty soon there will be no weakside

we can only hope

my barn has stairs now AND i was able to practice footbag today too.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 01 Jun 2009 05:38

what a fun weekend again. amazing weather too.

friday night, got started building the stairs you see above. the bevel square (also called bevel gauge and a bunch of other things) made finding the angle for the stringer cuts very easy. Perfect, first try (thank goodness because those long boards ain't cheap). Built a template to set each tread, and then just plugged through it.

Meg meanwhile was cutting blocks for me on the chop saw. Which was cool because she's never used any of these tools before, and it helped me go faster.

Saturday, woke up and hung out with the kids all morning. Footbag practice after lunch, followed by finishing the installation of the stairs. YAY stairs. Then more family hanging out in the nice weather. After kids went to bed, Brian and his girlfriend came over and we had an epic camp fire in my fire pit and stayed up drinking until 1 a.m. Really fun evening.

More about the camp fire.. I've removed as little barn wood from the barn as possible (else why even renovate?) and what I've removed, I've saved as much as possible for re-use later. But I had one 3 foot piece of 8" x 8" post that was rotten and bug ridden and not worth saving. So we made that the backdrop of our fire all evening. It burned for 5 hours straight. It was like opening a fine bottle of wine - you enjoy it, but are a little bit sorry that once you open it, it's on its way to being gone. Anyhow, I figure the piece of wood was in the barn for about 105 years, and was probably about 100 years old when it was cut down in the first place.. So we burned a 200 year old piece of wood on Saturday night. Pretty cool.

Sunday, feeling somewhat rough in the morning, but not too bad. Played "camp out" in the back yard all morning with the kids while Meg was at church. We had the tent up, bug catchers, the whole nine yards. After lunch, Brian came over and we shredded in the barn. I'm showing flashes of being good again as weak side becomes less weak and as rust wears off more and more. Fun session.

Then just hanging out the rest of the day, went to the park with the kids etc.

Lots of footbag, barn progress, tons of family, great weather. What a great weekend it was

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 02 Jun 2009 06:40

my sister in law came over yesterday (I wasn't home at the time, but my wife told me afterwards). She's a realtor and had looked at the barn before any renovation. Though she didn't say it at the time, you could tell by looking at her that she was firmly in the "why don't you knock it down" camp. Well, she went in yesterday and my wife tells me her jaw nearly hit the floor, she was very impressed and can suddenly see the vision.

I'll never get tired of that reaction.

Anyhow, last night, framed the garage door. Went really well, time to install the garage door next.

But tonight I'll practice footbag.

mattbeall · Post by **mattbeall** » 02 Jun 2009 14:43

Hot damn, son! I just pm'ed you, and now I'm posting in your blog. That's like calling someone's phone while you're pulling into their driveway. Haha.

The barn is looking killer! Hahahaha, oh man, well done! I can't wait for the finished product. You gotta go buy a nice bottle of wine to smash on it (you know, like when christen ships and whatnot). Hahaha.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 03 Jun 2009 05:00

The barn is looking killer! Hahahaha, oh man, well done!

THANKS!

I can't wait for the finished product.

Tell me about it... Everyday I wake up so sore and so wiped out. I think I have permanent damage in my right shoulder, neck, and countless other more minor areas. But, I will forever be proud of the work I've done, and will enjoy the hell out of the space. Plus, I just can't help myself - our bodies and minds are meant to be used, what would I be saving them for anyways?

You gotta go buy a nice bottle of wine to smash on it

Will definitely drink some wine in it

---
Shredded in the barn last night. SO COOL and novel still. Just walk out back. Great tunes, great lighting, plenty of space. Nice and private so I can work on stuff that I really suck at without being embarassed.

Oh, and one of my vendors from work is sending me really nice mats FOR FREE for the floor. My old mats were sliding around too much, so I'll use them in the workshop as anti fatigue flooring instead. I have some really nice wide ribber floor runners that I'll put over top to make it really nice to move around in there.

but the mats from my vendor are going to be SWEET. can't wait for them to arrive.

anyhow, weakside weakside weakside. well, it's getting significantly less weak. specifically, lots of weak toe work (mostly pixies and dlo's) tons of weak spins/gyro (I think weakside will actually be my strongside on spins when it's all said and done), and tons of atomic on both sides (brian gave me tip that I was setting forward instead of straight up.. that helped a lot actually).

right now, I'm just starting each run with a weakside trick of some sort, and with some notion in my head of trying to hit certain things. and then I just let it run out as long as I can. I want my string length back, but with all this added variety and difficulty.

when I was shredding with brian the other day, I was really happy with link creativity and difficulty. just not string length

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 04 Jun 2009 05:09

shredding tonight in the shred barn!!!

that's all I have right now - just really continually happy that I can easily enjoy my hobby.. never knew what that would mean to me really

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 05 Jun 2009 06:01

shred barn how I love thee.

seriously, I'm going to obsess about this for like the next 10 posts at least. Last night, same thing.. walked out back and had a great time shredding. I just never knew what it would be like to really have an ideal spot to play. Rain or shine, warm or cold, day or night. That's an amazing thing to have.

Unfortunately, I'm 32 years old already.. ha ha.. I'm shooting for playing til I'm 40 though at the minimum. So whatever. I have like 8 years.

To put it in perspective, Brian (who you've seen recently in videos) is 37 and he's getting better still and plays at a high level.

But I digress. I just wanted to have a "love the shred barn" message today.

Lots and lots and lots of weakside still. Same practice as recent ones I've written about. It's all getting better.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 08 Jun 2009 05:51

what a great weekend

friday night, I picked up my best friend Pat at the train station. He was in from Boston to visit with us for the weekend. After some time hanging with the kids, Grammy comes over to babysit (aka, watch TV while kids sleep) and Pat, Meg, and I go to the bar. This bar has a couple hundred beers worth of choices, so it's really a fun place to have tasty drinks. We get home, and chat til late night.

Saturday, waking up a little rough from previous night, but we have a nice morning. While kids have their mid-day rest time, Pat and I get the garage door built and in place - just need to add the track system this week. After the kids are up again, we're soon on our way to Tyler Arboretum (sp?). What a beautiful place. They have a tree house exhibit where local architects and artists and builders all made these amazingly unique and interesting structures. The kids climbed them like crazy (as did we). We were the only ones there and it was one of the nicest weather days of the year. Just an amazing trip really. That night after kids were asleep, we had an excellent camp fire and the neighbors came over. We drank our faces off actually. That's what happens when my buddy gets together with us, we all just get along so well.

Sunday, really feeling rough by now, but it's beautiful out again. Lazy morning. Drew comes over to shred around 2 p.m. I continue to shred like ass, but my weakside is getting much stronger so I don't think this annoying phase will last much longer. As promised, I started every run of the day with a weakside trick, and did about 60% of all my runs using the weakside. It makes me way less consistent right now, but it will pay off.

I'm ready to get thin again. I think I said that a page ago, but I'm really ready now. Projects in the barn are chill enough that I can focus on it again.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 10 Jun 2009 05:10

well, so far, project "get thin again" is off to a good start. Back into the schedule that treated me well for over a year, and was able to do barn stuff on top of footbagging last night too. Within 2 weeks or so I'll feel good.

Been quit smoking for over 7 months now, I can't remember if I updated about that recently.

anyhow, footbagged in Shred Barn last night. Continued to love the space, but really looking forward to having mats to play on because the concrete is pretty damn hard.

Very happy with how consistent weakside pixie has become. My test is smear - I can now do smear midrun on weakside. That means weak pixie is comfortable for me.

Spins and some other stuff are still annoyingly inconsistent, but I'm at the "holy shit did I really just miss that?" phase which usually comes just before the "I never miss that" phase. It'll start coming together quickly, losing the weight again will really help with quickness too.

Hit a lot of atomics last night too. I'm at the "it now only takes 5 tries to lock in the motion for the day" phase which comes after the "it takes 25 tries to lock in the motion for the day phase". And after this, I'll move on to the "holy shit did I really juts miss that?" phase. And so on. ha ha

weakside stepping some improvements. Pushing myself to work on trick that require a straight set rather than cheater angled set like you can get away with in ripwalk. Like stepping mirage, stepping ss clipper, stepping ss butterfly, blur. All are improving nicely.

weakside zoomed for awhile. It's actually not nearly as awkward as I thought it would be

should have the garage door finished tonight!

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 10 Jun 2009 05:19

my post above got me thinking about the phases I go through

- boy I'd like to be able to hit that (alternatively, fuck that concept, I'll never hit that)
- holy crap, that's hard, I'll never hit that
- damn it, I have to try though
- hmmm, this is possible actually
- arrrrrrgh, I'll never get it!
- hmmmm, it's getting better
- arrrrrgh, I'll never get it!
- hmmmm, I'm getting pretty darn good at this
- arrrrrgh, I'll never be consistent at this
- damn it takes like 25 tries to get this locked in for the day
- nice, it only take like 5 tries to get this locked in for the day
- sweet, I can start a run with this reliably
- Alright! I can do that midrun
- holy shit did I really just miss that?
- I never miss that and if I do, I should do pushups as punishment

Of course, for truly talented players, it's more like this
- Boy, I'd like to hit that
- Yep, got it. Next?

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 10 Jun 2009 05:41

Enjoyed that last post. I feel like I go through that process for some things (flip spinning!), but not for others. It was fun to see the whole process written down.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 12 Jun 2009 04:39

Ken, I'm going to give you a wedgey next time I see you for that comment.. you're totally one of those guys that's like "Hmmm, I want to learn whatever" and no matter what it is, you have it perfect like 3 weeks later.

ha ha, teasing

(except I am going to consider the wedgey)

---
played in the shred barn last night. I really need to complete my next couple steps in barn renovation soon. It's very humid and getting into the hot season here. I will need insulation and AC soon. I'm on schedule to start framing the room, and running the electrical next week. Hope to have that stuff done by end of June.

Anyhow, my practices are wierd. It's like all runs, no drills. But at the same time, I'm getting in really really high number of reps on stuff. Weakside specifically. I take every other practice off from atomic because it hurts me to learn that (literally hurts my neck.. old injury), but otherwise, lots of the stuff I've been talking about. most of it on weakside.

Had a couple runs last night of over 30 contacts. And I was very happy with my BOP ratio being very low. Most of my runs are 2-3 tricks, bop, 1-2 tricks, bop etc. So it starts strongest and then tries to incorporate combos along the way.

Like kevin said "pretty soon there will be no weakside" (or similar, I forget exactly). That's becoming more true every time.

Ian Brill · Post by **Ian Brill** » 12 Jun 2009 09:12

Yo, +1 on the wedgie

I know exactly what you mean!

Challenges:
*Get that AC in before it's way too hot every day
*ripwalk-simple swirl rpt
*Double pickup- smear rpt

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 12 Jun 2009 09:35

I hit 6 b2b drifters the other day, does that count for anything? ha ha

your challenges sound awesome, I will give them a try.. though those are not my usual comfort zone... actually, scratch that.. BECAUSE they are not my usual comfort zone, all the more reason to try them!

thanks buddy