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Bruce Brakel's Blog (65)

Byron Big D Doubles is NOT going on July 12

Byron Big D Doubles is NOT going on July 12. Sorry. Pre-reg was too slow to give the golf course the guarantee they wanted. We can do it in the fall without guaranteeing anything. Watch for a new date.

Dunkin Doubles is going on in GR if you really want to play organized tournament doubles that weekend.

Tracy and I might go out early Saturday to mark permanent tees.

Added by Bruce Brakel on July 9, 2008 at 4:34pm — No Comments

Byron Big D - Going or Not Going?

Pre-registration for Byron Big D has been anemic. I'm trying to use every means possible to let disc golfers know that if I don't get some serious pre-reg by this Friday, three days from now, we're going to have to cancel this. We cannot close the golf course to golfers if we don't know we have a decent number of players.

You can pre-reg by going to the www.pdga.com discussion board in the Ann Arbor Area section in the Byron Big D thread and posting your name, your partner's name,… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on July 1, 2008 at 8:55pm — 1 Comment

No Camera

I've been dying some discs but the cameras are in Arizona.

Jesse Cahill gave me a pale pink Champ Firebird at Crystal Lake to put a Pistons logo on it. That's done. It came out fine, but the colors were not quite as rich as I would prefer. Otherwise it was pretty much bleed-free and I got complete coverage of the elements. I think this one gets a B+.

I did a Red Wings, a Pistons and a Tigers D on Star Wraiths. I did these in one evening baking them at 170 for 20 minutes.… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on June 27, 2008 at 10:21am — No Comments

This and that

Anyone else notice how extra fragrant the Russian olives are this spring? Maybe it is just because my allergies have been lighter and I can breathe through my nose. Anyone else having lighter spring allergies?

We had 107 and 110 players each day for IOS #2. My crazy idea for how to split the divisions, or Mike Krupicka's idea if I'm just stealing credit here, has turned out to be pure genius. Half-in is working good too, even if Mike and Jon have problems with the math. Ties make it… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on June 2, 2008 at 11:56pm — 6 Comments

Toboggan

Kelsey spotted and I played the Toboggan today. I shot a 68. There just aren't any easy holes out there. It was a lot easier to shoot a 68 being 30 pounds lighter!

Added by Bruce Brakel on May 24, 2008 at 8:52pm — 8 Comments

Diversity training

I attended mandatory diversity training today. It is important that a person in my position be diversity trained because my average day is spent alone in my office in the basement reading, summarizing and analyzing legal arguments. 90% of the phone calls I receive are wrong numbers. The other 10% are my wife and kids calling me to come home for lunch or to drive someone to ballet or karate. Dealing with the public or pretty much anyone other than my boss is just outside of my job… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on May 17, 2008 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

Two Lucky 1000+ rated rounds

I always wanted to throw a 1000 rated round in a sanctioned tournament. At my age with my rating it did not seem likely. In seven days I've now thrown two of them.

At the Pennsylvania State Championships I played Am Master and we had a very close match for 60 holes. After 54 holes I was in second, 2 back. At the beginning of the fourth round I started to make a move. I birdied three of the first four holes before getting a bogey. The other leader and I went back and forth for a… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on May 11, 2008 at 9:19am — 7 Comments

For Trade

If you're going to be at Austin's Collision, I could trade two ESP new anything for one of these. 175 Tee-Bird, 168 Wraith, 166 Eagle. All Star… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on May 9, 2008 at 1:03pm — 2 Comments

Austin Collision Challenge Trophies

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Added by Bruce Brakel on May 7, 2008 at 8:34pm — 3 Comments

Aaron Birdsall's Fish

If you know the guy and have e-mail info for him, tell him to check this out:

Aaron I have not forgot about your disc. I've been cleaning up the artwork so i can get the mask professionally cut. Here's an image of the almost clean artwork:

I've got your contact info on the bag the disc is in. It will be worth the… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on May 2, 2008 at 12:53am — 3 Comments

More Recent Stuff I've Done

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Added by Bruce Brakel on April 28, 2008 at 1:05pm — 2 Comments

Recent dyes

Most of this stuff is re-runs. You've seen other discs with the same thing on them. I've also been doing some free hand stuff but none of it has gotten in front of the camera. Maybe tomorrow the camera girl will get some of the others.

If you are not a fan of the Buckeyes, just notice how crisp and clean the dye turned out. Be a fan of the technique!…

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Added by Bruce Brakel on April 25, 2008 at 12:10am — 5 Comments

Hot stamps

I've been busy dying discs and working up new hot stamps for our tournaments. I like hot stamps that are pleasing to the eye and have nothing to do with disc golf. This one is the labrynth at Chartres:

If you click on the pics you jump to a bigger version at glowfoto.com, btw. We did it on Surges, Forces, Buzzzes and Predators. If you gotta have one, I only gotta get $12 plus shipping off… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 24, 2008 at 11:30pm — No Comments

IOS #1

#1 volunteer, Becky Brakel, blog posted about IOS #1 so I thought I would too. Becky is the #1 volunteer because she runs the registration table and does it error-free most of the time.

I played like crap. I threw two recreational rated rounds. I just could not hit the lines in the woods. I played well at my last two tournaments so I think it is the stress of playing a tournament you're running.

The half-in thing was well received and far more complicated than anticipated.… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 22, 2008 at 10:36am — No Comments

Bee Zee

I've been too busy to post.

I've dyed up a lot of discs for IOS #1, this weekend in Kenosha. I'll put up pics maybe Monday if we have time to take pics. I need to rinse and peel a lot of discs tonight.

I did some of my style of tie dye. I use a wheel to make cirles but I don't spin the dye. I use various styli [styluses?] to manipulate the dye. You'll see. They sell well. They make for good eye candy too. When I had some of my dyed stuff in a chain of stores in Chicago, my… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 17, 2008 at 5:16pm — No Comments

Still losing weight

I'm still juice fasting most of the time. I'm still losing weight. I'm not sure anymore where I started or how long I've been doing this. It has become the horse with no name. I took a break for Bowling Green.

No, March 17 was day 22. So March 31 was day 36. Today is day 40?

I weighed in at 220 this morning at home, and 221 and 222. The home scale likes to give lots of answers. I think I'd be 230 at the doctor's office. I'm down 27 pounds from my heaviest. I'm down ten… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 8, 2008 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments

Tournament Post-Mortem

[Read the Chocolate Bunny Game to understand this post entirely.]

On Thursday it rained several inches in Byron. The course was flooded. On Friday the owner and groundskeepers decided that carts could not go on the course. I did not find out until Friday night when I was setting up. I did what I could do. I told every player before they signed up that the course was too soggy for carts. Fortunately I had the lake on hole 1 as a convenient prop to make my point. Normally there's no… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 6, 2008 at 12:32am — 4 Comments

This is the Force

I take PayPal.

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 4, 2008 at 12:56pm — 5 Comments

The Chocolate Bunny game

These are the rules for the chocolate bunny game at the tournament tomorrow:

The Chocolate Bunny Game

There are chocolate bunnies on the course for a side game. During the tournament rounds, if your disc land in the hoop or touching the hoop, you win the chocolate bunny in the hoop. He’s yours. Take the bunny and leave the hoop. Once the hole is completed, it is too late to try to win the bunny. Unless you get lucky on a drive or approach shot, you pretty much have to… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 4, 2008 at 11:53am — 2 Comments

Dreambagging

I wrote this as a response to a sandbagging thread but it could be its own blog post with a little work. Jonah Goldberg does this all the time, turning blog responses into LATimes columns!

I run tournaments and play a lot of tournaments in a broad area across the midwest. I see basically zero sandbagging. What I see a lot of is Rec players playing Advanced, or Am 4s playing Intermediate, and then complaining about "sandbagging." We need a derogatory term for that. I propose… Continue

Added by Bruce Brakel on April 3, 2008 at 10:28am — 5 Comments