June 6, 2010 by admin.

Sorry for not posting for a couple of months, I’m SURE that people missed my posts right? Ha ha. Even though this blog is more for my piece of mind than for reading material I try to post consistently which hopefully helps keep me sane by venting and sharing with the Interweb.

Over the last couple of months I have spent working at my new job at Cue and Case Sales Inc. in Saint Augustine, they manufacture Lucasi Hybrid, Players, Rage as well as carrying the majority of popular brands/ models of cues, cases, accessories and  such. They’ve been around for decades and were the reason why Clawson Custom Cues moved from Clawson Michigan to Florida and changed the name to Predator Products. There is a long history between the two companies which makes it interesting for Shane Sinnott, Daniel Hicks and I working there now. It’s been 3 years since I left the industry and at first it’s what i thought I wanted, but now I can tell you with no uncertainty that this is where I belong and I’m lucky to be where I am now.

That means that I am playing with some new technology in the form of Lucasi Hybrid cues and shafts, they are great hitting cues and after some adjustment I am playing at 95% of my potential (someone else’s words). They have a solid shaft construction which makes for a solid hit while keeping deflection to a minimum and providing radial consistency by splicing the shaft in 8 pieces.

They have a great/ well rounded team of 7 including me which is awesome, we have a good time at work when time permits and the brainstorming sessions are constructive instead of a platform for someone trying to showcase their skills. In fact we all have a certain strength as no two people are really in the same category, we are all different and have a positive influence on the company in our own ways. It’s hard to find a good team and I’ve been lucky to have been a part of a couple of them at different companies and it’s nice to be working with some familiar faces now.

Since I knock the balls around every once in a while they asked me to pick out some new equipment to play with, they have a nice selection of high performance cues and shafts to choose from. But they asked me to do something that I have never been asked for before……….design my own cue. While we all have ideas on what a cue should look and feel like I never would have guessed that someone would want my feedback in the highest degree, which is to design my own cue including what dimensions to build it to. Since I have had experience building cues over the years I had some very specific principles for them to follow when making my cue. It’s very different when working with “production” parameters meaning cost, design, materials and capability all have to be taken into account when building a cue. It’s hard enough picturing one for yourself so you have to take your hat off to the companies that build multiple lines of cues when they may have 20-40 cues in each line!!

All in all I feel very lucky to be working again especially back in the industry, making a decent living, playing in more events and traveling again. It’s been difficult since leaving Predator, working in different industries and positions,  and I feel like I learned so much from that experience which will help me at Cue and Case. It’s coming up on my 90-day review in a couple of weeks and things are coming along very nicely so I hope to be here as long as they’ll have me. If anyone has any questions about Lucasi, Players or Rage cues or any of the popular manufacturers/products please email me at neilf@cueandcase.com or take a peek at www.cueandcase.com, you can also reach me in the office at (800) 835-7665 ext. 101.

Take care everyone!!

Posted in work, random, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

March 29, 2010 by admin.

This weekend we kicked off the 2010 Season with the opener at Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, Kelly and I drove up early on Friday to get settled in and check things out. Even though they touted that it was close to a full field they only ended up with 38 players, they said 20 or so players canceled at the last minute.

It was great to be there for Kelly’s first event and we had a great time talking to everyone as I tried to introduce him to all of the cool/top players in the event that he wanted to meet. He played very decently while keeping composure and even though he didn’t win any matches his motivation and focus is high, it was awesome to watch him handle the pressure well.

My tournament went a little better but not much, lost my first match to a kid who was playing in the biggest tournament of his life. Actually, twice during this trip my opponents told me that it was their 1st big tournament so they were very nervous and I’m starting to think it was to shark me. After that loss I played Jason Ritchko on the streaming table and got out to big lead since he was playing like poop, then I started missing and he picked up the pieces to make the race close. In the end I lucked out after hooking myself and kicking in the 10-ball out of turn, I felt bad but those are the rolls you have to take the good and the bad.

For some reason Wade Crane didn’t show up for our match so I won by forfeit which was a first for me, it’s an interesting feeling because while I am happy to win I wanted to play and possibly beat Mr. Crane since he is/was a great player. Well after such an easy match I got matched up with a very difficult one to even things out………had to play Corey Deuel. Lucky for me we played just after he lost a nail biter to Johnny Archer just minutes before so he wasn’t in the best mood, I took advantage of that and won 7-5 after being down 2-5. This match was great to win since it advanced me to the next day and into the money rounds, so of course we celebrated by getting hammered and going singing with friends till the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday we got up in time to pack up and head to the pool hall for the first match of the day where I normally don’t play very well, this time was different though and I actually won the match. My opponent said he got sharked by the tournament director since he was asked to remove his hat while playing, the TD didn’t say anything about his jeans and sneakers though so my opponent should be happy just having the hat mentioned. Before we began the match he said to me “You ever get the feeling like you don’t belong someplace?” and mentioned how nervous he was, judging by the Budweiser he was drinking I believed him to be very nervous being surrounded by top players in a pro event.

After that match was over it was back to the streaming table to face off with Tommy Kennedy once again, it seems that we meet in EVERY tournament we are both playing in. Our record is somewhat even but I think he might be up a set or two, we compete hard against each other but always have fun, respect each other’s game and the matches are always close. This match he played rather well and he won 4-8 missing only one ball I believe, two miscues and two scratches on the break didn’t help either.

Ended up finishing in 9th place which isn’t bad but not great, overall I played okay with flashes of brilliance and decent safety play.  Actually I was happy to finish kind of early since we still had 6.5 hours of driving ahead of us and Kelly has to drive another hour after dropping me off. Not to mention we were still a little fuzzy from the previous night’s festivities where we stayed out till 3am after munching on some Waffle House pork chops.

A decent weekend with old friends, some new friends and a little pool tournament thrown in the mix, if only they were all this much fun!!!

Posted in weekend, tournament | Print | No Comments »

March 19, 2010 by admin.

Simply awesome!!

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

Posted in random | Print | 1 Comment »

March 15, 2010 by admin.

Posted in random | Print | No Comments »

March 9, 2010 by admin.

Well, lot’s of things ha ha. In follow up to the post on February 12th I will now be bringing the mini-lathe in to Bankshots every Sunday or whenever there is a decent sized tournament. Jeff asked me to do so and it went really well yesterday, did a good amount of work to make a little money and did clean-ups and tip reshaping for free in the hopes of future business.

It caused me to lose my first match I believe though since my mind was all over the place when I tried to play and I subsequently lost 6-7 to William who is a solid player, he played well and deserved the win. That started the long road on the “B” side on which I traveled from coast to coast ending with a break and run out with the score at 8-8 in the finals against David Grossman.  This is only the 3rd time I can remember winning this tournament after losing my 1st match, it’s pretty hard considering there were 51 or so players this week which makes for a long day.

Jeff announced that they are also going to be hosting a Saturday tournament to mirror the Sunday tournament, which bring in players from further away since they can play two added money events staying only overnight. It will bring down the numbers on Sunday but I think the new tournament will do well, I hope they get 40 players in each instead of the 50 like it is now. Lately it seems the room owners are trying to host more weekly events but nobody is adding the money like Jeff is adding money, it’s amazing that room owners can’t see past the “I’ll add money if we get a full field” mentality so it’s no surprise that people don’t show up to their events.

Had another lesson with Neil Rashba of Rashba Photography (www.rashba.com) today which went well and also have 3 other students this week. Two of them are new students and over the weekend I spent time talking to even more potential students which is GREAT, I never would have thought that lessons would be going so well and that this many people would want to be taught by me. It’s really the most rewarding thing ever   and it’s helping my game incredibly, I also just finished reading “The Mental Edge” by Kenneth Baum which came recommended by some great players. Since I’ve finished reading it I have won basically every tournament entered so I guess it works, if anything I feel very good about the process and confident in my pre-shot routine.

Can’t wait to hit the Seminole Tour in Atlanta later this month and kick off what hopes to be my best year yet, going with Kelly is going to be a great experience for both of us and I hope it brings his game to the next level!!

Posted in weekend, tournament | Print | No Comments »

February 27, 2010 by admin.

Oh how I used to marvel at miniatures and the awesome special effects in movies, these days it’s all computer generated with no actual physical model building or animation. Here is a great example of models, miniatures and tilt shift photography.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Posted in random | Print | No Comments »

February 12, 2010 by admin.

Recently I have acquired a metal mini-lathe and will shortly have a Unique Products (http://www.uniqueinc.com/home1) leather wrap jig, I’ve wanted these tools for years and finally have them. That means I can do the majority of common repairs on shafts and install leather wraps, all with precision and a caring touch.

Tiger Products (http://tigerproducts.com/) will provide the leather wraps, tips and adhesives along with much of the tooling needed, prices will be listed on my website soon. Here are pictures of the new toys:

Please contact me if you have any questions or comments, I can do most shaft repairs and will be ordering materials for different kinds of ferrules. In stock I have Sabre T ferrules and the whole line of Tiger tips (http://www.tigerproducts.com/store/home.php?cat=108), the most popular being the Tiger Hard tips as they are what I play with and prefer even compared to Moori or Sniper models. It’s so much fun doing repairs and working with my hands, I thank Tim Padgett and Ariel Carmeli for teaching me how to build and repair cues over the years!!

Posted in work, random | Print | 1 Comment »

February 5, 2010 by admin.

Wow what a trip, it was 10 days of intensity and fun all rolled into one!! Great pool, great people, a great drive and of course great fun!!

The trip up:

Mitch Noble and I left early on Thursday morning and headed to the Nashville area to visit some of his family to deliver a couple of rocking chairs with some other items, the drive was immediately intense with HEAVY rain. We made it safely though and in good time, had dinner with his some of his family at a great little neighborhood restaurant then I headed off to JOB’s in Madison. It wasn’t 30 seconds after arriving that I ran into Grace Nakamura and another friend which was nice, the pool world is so small but I didn’t plan on running into anyone I knew  so quickly.

We spent some time the next day around downtown Nashville and roamed around looking at the sights and eating great food at Jack’s Bar-B-Q which was a famous local favorite. It was nice and cool up there and little did I know it was going to get MUCH cooler shortly, we were on the road shortly after lunch and walking around downtown for a bit. It wasn’t a long drive to Elizabeth Indiana and the drive was easy and we even went to a little “welcome center” place near the Ohio River dam which showed a lot about this history from the prehistoric era to the present which was great. We were the only two people there which was nice and we even paid the $4 to watch the short video about the area, to my surprise there were snow flurries flying around when we went to leave.

The tournament:

Wow what an event!! So many great players and huge turnout to boot, it was great to be a part of the crowd of players and see so many familiar faces. Saw some friends from long ago and made many new friends in the process, it was a constant time of shaking hands, telling stories and hanging out watching matches. I’m not a very social person normally but it’s hard not to watch matches with friends and just have an all around good time………oh and shoot some pool too ha ha.

We didn’t plan on playing the banks so we arrived late in the day and signed up for the one pocket and 9-ball events, in hindsight it was dumb to not play all of the events. It was great to watch the banks event since I have never seen it played at such a high level or by so many people, they had over 350 players!! Efren ended up losing in the finals to John Brumback in an epic battle where Mr. Brumback fired the last long rail bank in at light speed. Between the two they have won the event more times than anyone else in the last few years and for good reason, it’s amazing to see the control and imagination they have when coming up with shots.

The one pocket had 250+ players and I actually won 3 matches before losing to “The Weatherman” from Atlanta and Charlie Williams. It’s the first tournament I have ever played so cashing in it was awesome and I learned quite a bit from the experience, the two latter matches I won were against one pocket players and the last guy was a really good player so I am very proud to have beat him. As usual I didn’t play very well against Charlie Williams and got exactly half the balls/games needed to win the match, it’s hard playing against a ball pocketing machine.

In the 9-ball I won 2 matches before losing to Alex Pagulayan 6-7, in the hill-hill game I made 3 balls on the break and played a great safety and got the first open shot. Then I ran to the 8-ball with no issues and proceeded to super dog it by rattling the pocket leaving him an open table for the win. In hindsight I really should have taken more time shooting it but I was confident and felt good but that ended very quickly when the ball popped out of the pocket and my mouth fell open. I really should be mad about dogging it but I thought about it and realized that I hadn’t been competing much or successfully in the past few months so I am happy with how I played overall, sure I would have loved to win but there is always another event.

After that match Chris Szuter put me away with a combination of great shooting and favorable rolls, he was embarassed by the luck he was having but backed it up by not missing anything really so he steamrolled me 7-1. The days were long and as I had no ride back to the hotel I was staying in I had to hang around the event for 10-13 hours a day with no chance to rest, it took me two days to really recover from the tournament and 13 1/2 hour drive back home. Next year I will definitely have a car so I can take naps throughout the day before the next round begins, saving $70/day is great but not when you are walking around like a zombie and trying to compete that way.

The ride home:

It snowed for the last half of the trip and that meant we had to drive home in some of it, it was the first time I had really seen snow and definitely the first time I got to drive in it. Roderic and I took turns driving but I was the one lucky enough to get all of the snow to plow through, it was nerve racking especially since we were driving his nice shiny Civic and the last thing I wanted to do is play bumper cars with it. We made it home without any incidents though and had a great time conversing the whole trip, when the passenger wasn’t passed out of course we were both really tired and took turns napping/ driving.

We stopped a couple of times for gas and food which was great when we went to a place called Fazioli’s, it’s like fast Italian food which was tasty and affordable plus they didn’t give you 4 pounds of food which was nice. Roderic and I ate together quite a bit over the trip and had a great time together, he is a super nice guy with a great sense of humor and I’m glad we had a chance to get to become better friends this way. We might even go to a tournament or two in Atlanta in the future and he is lending me some books that I really want to read, I am lucky to have good friends like him.

Summary:

Overall it was a great trip though super expensive, having a car while there is paramount if you aren’t staying at the venue but paying $119/night is a little steep for my measly pocketbook. Even with sponsors helping me with entry fees and expenses I barely made it home, I brought a cue to sell just in case but wasn’t able to move it unfortunately. Spoke with Charlie Williams while eating with Stevie Moore about playing in the All Japan Championship later this year which he said he might be able to secure a spot for me, that would be a dream come true and will try my best to make it happen. Stevie and I spent a decent amount of time together too since he was my ride to and from the motel a few times since he was staying across the street, he is another great guy and superb player whom I feel lucky to have gotten to know bettter also.

Next year I will try to play all of the events and be more prepared for the different games, this year I was kind of unprepared since I was coming out of a little bout of depression and not playing the best the last few weeks. It was a great experience though and wouldn’t change a thing, there were more players and money than you can shake a stick at. It is said to be the best tournament to attend for the action and I believe it, there were some huge late night sets being played but I won’t delve into that since the Indiana Gaming Commission is not very happy about some of the happenings in The Action Report room.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the trip as I am sure I left out a whole bunch of crap, if you have the chance it’s a great event to attend and think ANYONE would benefit from playing in it!! Ciao for now!!

Posted in tournament | Print | 1 Comment »

February 3, 2010 by admin.

http://www.kinektdesign.com/

So cool!!

Posted in random | Print | 1 Comment »

February 3, 2010 by admin.

Just because of the size and that they have a button that make them pop into action:

http://gizmodo.com/5462301/first-foldable-rc-cars-are-wallet+sized-wonders

Posted in random | Print | No Comments »