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!!

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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!!

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December 14, 2009 by admin.

Just found an article about the company I used to work for selling solar water heaters, I am glad to have left when I did since it seems they have had even more setbacks since I left and now this.

clicky clicky

Solar water heaters are great and there are many perks with saving money being a key factor, but the way things were done just didn’t make me comfortable so I left the job. This article is about a lying salesperson and is a bad representation on all sales people, this man could have been in any industry and brought shame to it. He straight out lied to this lady and I feel bad for it, especially since it was from our branch and I probably met this person.

Can’t wait to volunteer at a hospital and turn this Karmic wheel around!!

January 13th 2010 Edit: here is another article about the guy who opened and trained the sales staff for Solar First and it’s sub-contractors, it’s a shame because the guy is super talented and extremely smart. Sigh, if only we could use our powers for good instead of evil!!

click me

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December 11, 2009 by admin.

Just got off the phone with Baptist Downtown, which is where I stayed mostly for the corrective neurosurgery when I was paralyzed, and will be receiving an application in the mail shortly so that I can register to volunteer. This idea came to me last night as I was laying in bed watching TV as usual wondering just what I had become and how to make things better, I think I was  watching “My Name is Earl” which is about Karma and doing the right things in life.

I’ve been looking at their list of opportunities to volunteer and it seems that they need quite a bit of help, I hope they can use me.

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November 7, 2009 by admin.

Recently I took up training to work for a solar water heater company based here in Jacksonville named Solar 1st, training wasn’t paid but our trainer is AMAZING and I learned so much that it was a crime that I wasn’t paying them!!

Anyways, I went on my first lead last night and was coming directly from the training class to their house so I was nervous and excited to say the least. The name was wrong on the lead sheet and I was a little late leaving the training class, plus when I got there the Mrs. of the house was already cooking dinner. Immediately I started sweating since I knew my time was limited and I was about to get roasted, his shirt announced that he worked for the electric company and I late and called him by the wrong name already.

In the first 5 minutes of me being there she had said “we can’t afford anything”, “I’m unemployed”, “we don’t have any money!!”………so by that time I was for sure standing in a puddle of my own sweat. The demo we are supposed to do is about 20-30 minutes long but I threw that out the window and got straight to financials. Their house was as already efficient as could be especially since the Mr. of the house built it and he knew every trick in the book, there was really only one thing that could improve their electric efficiency and I focused on that.

To make a long story short, instead of the 10-15 minutes that I thought I had since they were sitting down to dinner shortly I wound up being there for over 4 hours and even sitting down to dinner with them. Here is a couple that makes their money from electricity and plumbing, she doesn’t have an income right now and planned to eat dinner at 5:15pm when our appointment was at 5pm. I am the most surprised out of anyone that I sold them anything and am happy to have met them for any reason, they are great people and obviously very generous and kind.

We gave away quite a bit in the deal so the commission won’t be the greatest but closing my first lead was great especially with the factors involved.

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