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December 8th, 2009: Bowling Embarrassment

  
I was driving home from small group today and right before I got to the Little River Turnpike I decided I wanted to go bowling. Being from Cleveland I love to bowl more than most people. There are lanes off the Little River Turnpike exit in Annandale where its $1.99 a game, a good deal after 9 PM. Most people think its odd to bowl by yourself, but its something an independent introvert such as myself loves to do.
 
I don’t have to talk to anyone, I can just bowl and bowl and bowl. I bowled 3 games, as I typically do. Since I am not really breaking, I usually break a good sweat and it’s a real challenge to myself. Some people give me odd looks with this big footed guy bowling by himself. On top of that, my bowling style is one I was suggest no one use, imagine your grandma trying to squat a little like a baseball catcher from the closer dots. The ball also goes slower than all but the most weak girls and children under 16.
 
What I lack in style I gain in precision. As a child I was on a church bowling league with my father and my two brothers, and I became an expert at hitting where I wanted with precision. Due to my slow ball and light weight due to my back problems, strikes were rare, but I was among the leaders in spares, the bulk of the time knocking down every non-split spare opportunity.
 
My precision is still good, but it was better when I bowled regularly. I have a little more speed and a 10 lb ball, the heaviest amount I am supposed to carry, and two pounds heavier than what I used as a child. Today my 3 games were going fine, but not great. With me, any game below 125 is bad and any game above 150 is good. My best game ever was a 191. My two goals are to throw a 200 game and bowl a game where I close every frame, meaning that I get a strike or a spare in each fram.
 
I entered my final frame with a 118, which isn’t great but it isn’t horrible either. I threw the first ball and got a strike, my first of the game. I threw the second and got another strike, which is called a double in bowling lingo. The think about that strike is that it was very late developing. The 6 pin fell so late that the electronic reader marked that it was still up. So I go to the machine and change my 9 to a proper strike. The lane sits there open waiting for a 2nd ball to be thrown with no pins, so I tell the machine to rerack it.
 
I then prepare to try to cap off a mediocre game with a turkey, bowling lingo for 3 strikes in a row. I see the pins are set and I get into my grandma like stance. I take my steps and throw the ball, it feels good. I look up and the pins are resetting again. I put my hand on my head thinking “Oh-no!!!” not because I think I got jipped on a strike but because its going to hit the bar in front of the pins. It does, with an embarrassing bang and my ball starts coming back toward me. It enters the gutter and slowly rolls toward me. It makes it about ¾ back down the lane and it stops. The machine records me getting a zero and it automatically shuts off because my bowling is over.
 
Yet my ball sits there. Normally I would just throw another ball down the gutter and send them both down. I cant do that here and I contemplate what to do. I decided that I might as well just get it myself. So I walk down the lane in the gutter, grab my ball and go. It’s a small bit of shame on what was a relaxing end to my day.
 
PS: I am back blogging, sorry about the break
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September 11th, 2009: Remembering 9/11/01

  
On September 11th, 2001 my life changed. I knew no one in the attacks. In fact, I never heard of the World Trade Center buildings until the day of those attacks. It was a normal day for me, I was in the 11th grade, and line most school age children, I was in school. It was the second class of the day, English, which always was my least favorite. It was taught by Ms. Dobson, a crazy African-American woman who claimed to be a Christian, but I don’t think she was. It was from her I first heard the wisdom, “Men want a lady in the street and a freak in the bed.” Usher would repeat that line later. The next year, Dobson was fired for hitting a parent. Point is, this lady was a bit crazy. In fact, our great school librarian, Ms. Stone, was going from room to room and saying we need to turn on the news now.
 
This happened in schools all over America. It did not happen the way it did in most places in Ms. Dobson’s room, she turned it on, and there was a picture of the 1st World Trade Center building after being hit. Dobson left it on for about 30 seconds, and she said the following, “We need to get back to class, watch it on the news tonight” Her tone was that it was a minor event. I trusted her judgment at the time, though I wanted to see more. Thus, unlike most people, I did not see the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower live.
 
It would not be until my later classes that I understood how important these attacks were. What 9/11 did for me was take an international perspective. Often we hear the terms “pre-9/11” or “post-9/11” mindset” thrown around. For me, it is a lot more than that. Funny enough, it would be just after the 9/11 attacks that I would really start to follow politics. I grew up in a family that never talked about world events, never talked about politics. Thinking about it, I grew up one of the strangest kids ever. The typical side was my relationship with my father in regards to sports. We bonded like my father and son in Cleveland through the Cleveland Browns and Indians. Other than that though, I was secluded to my own introverted world of math, reading and sports.
 
In my high school years I found Rush Limbaugh on the radio one day during the summer. I found him interesting and I started to listen to him every day.  It’s a funny link, but from 9/11 I went to Rush Limbaugh and from Rush I went to politics in general. By the time I graduated from high school, I knew that I wanted to be involved in the College Republicans at RIT.  While at RIT, I figured out I wanted to go into politics.
 
Why do I point of my career path on an anniversary of such a tragic day? I just wanted to show another perspective in how a major event changes our orientation. Events that happen in your teenage years are usually those which influence you the most. It’s hard for me to see an event that shaped my worldview more than 9/11. My thoughts and prayers go out to the affected 9/11 and my thanks go out to our military to fighting the good fight 8 years after this declaration of war by our enemies.
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July 29th, 2009: Death by Chocolate

  
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July 24th, 2009: 2009 Q2 Nicolas Shayko Awards Nominations

  
Only 24 days late, the Nicolas Shayko Awards Q2 nominations are out. The new Q2 nominations are in bold, and the Q1 nominations follow. For those of you new to the site, the Nicolas Shayko Awards are a tradition that started in 1999 where I nominate what is important to me. The biggest award is the Person of the year. Most of the other awards are just cool to be able to look back and see what I was into. Hopefully you like all the links so you can better understand what I like.

Year of: The Ballpark, Unemployment
Person (Personal): Ian Talley (friend), James Smith (friend)
Hobby: Baseball Games, Video Games
Person (Celeb): Zack Hample, Chris Matthews
Video Game: Galaga, NHL 2009
Musician/Band: Kate Nash, Rolling Stones
Website (Personal): Becca Nelson, Kevin Tracy
Website (Popular): Tickerville, Real Clear Politics
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May 12th, 2009: Cell Phone only Households outnumber Landline only Households

  
The CDC has been in the news of late in regards to the swine flu (sorry the H1N1). The polling world though is very grateful to the CDC though for a survey they do twice a year. They do this survey using in-person interviews, as opposed to telephone interviews, which is not really done today elsewhere. The CDC does this because they cannot take the chance of the cell phone problem that all the typically polling organizations do. The cell phone problem is that pollsters can’t call cell phones like they do with landlines.
 
The results of the CDC poll make sense on the face of it. The number of households who only use a cell phone went up, and the number of households that only use a landline went down. The amazing thing is that for the first time, the percentage of cell phone only households (20.2%) outnumbers the number of households with only a landline (17.4%). Look at the graph below
The trend is clear. So is the problem for pollsters. They have been contacting people via landlines for basically 50 years without any huge mistakes. Still, the fault lines are breaking. In the 2008, there were a few mistakes. One can not forget the horrible call made by pollsters after the New Hampshire Primary. While I don’t believe the cell phone problem was the whole reason why pollsters got it wrong, it certainly was a factor.  I think of this problem like a Jenga game. Pollsters are able to fix the problems in the sampling by using weighting. As that Cell Phone only number goes up, they are pulling out more bricks in the Jenga game. I hope that we are able to fix the problem without making a huge mistake like the 1948 election, but the history of polling says we won’t change until a bill egg is thrown on our faces.
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April 15th, 2009: Chris Christie Ads for Class

  
The Two Ads below were created my group in the Campaign Advertising class in the GSPM and George Washington University. I make an apperance in both, so look out for me.
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April 2nd, 2009: Q1 Nicolas Shayko Award Nominees

  
The first nominees of the 2009 Nicolas Shayko awards are out. Here they are:

Year of: Unemployment
Person (Personal): James Smith (friend)
Sports Team: RIT Tigers Hockey
Hobby: Video Games
Event: CPAC
Game: Risk
TV Show: The Office
Person (Celeb): Chris Matthews
Book: “How Obama Got Elected” by Chuck Todd
Video Game: NHL 2009
Song: “Fidelity” by Regina Spektor
Sports Game: Mercyhurst 5 RIT 4 (OT) Atlantic Hockey Semifinals
Musician/Band: Rolling Stones
Album:  “Begin to Hope” by Regina Spektor
Movie: There Will Be Blood
Club/Group: Capitol Hill Baptist Church
Website (Personal): Kevin Tracy
Website (Popular): Real Clear Politics
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March 11th, 2009: The Grocery Game

  
Last April, I told everyone about how I buy groceries. I used to buy for at least a month at a time. Well that has changed since I discovered “The Grocery Game” at http://www.thegrocerygame.com The site was created by a housewife, Terri Gault. What does Terri do? Well, she tells you what to buy at the grocery store. Rather, she tells you what are the best deals at the grocery store and she provides a great service (its more than a 1 woman operation now).
 
I know what you are thinking. Can’t one just look at the circular of your local grocery store in the paper? Well, you could, but the truth is that most of the deals in the ad are not the great of deals at all. For example this week I picked up some Frutis Shampoo. My local giant is running a special where the shampoo cost $3. Now some of the shampoo typically cost $3.30. This deal is minor, and is not a buy. Now some other of the shampoo typically cost $5, so you have a 40%.
 
Now what about coupons? The last key to the grocery game is the coupons that come in your Sunday paper. Frutis had a $1 coupon for their products in a coupon packet on 2/8 that expires 3/15. That drives the price down to $2. Giant (my grocery store) also printed 4 special double coupons in their circular for $1 coupons. Now my typically $5 shampoo cost $1. That is a savings of 80%!
 
So what the website does is they give you a list of possible things to buy. There are blue items, black items and green items. Blue items are the best buys, and are typically at least 50% off their retail price. Black items usually are about 20-49% so you only buy those in dire situations. Green items are the best, they are free! (but rare, but it does happen)
 
See, the magic is marrying the best deals with a bonus card with coupons. The web site makes it so great because it tells you exactly the coupons to pull. It is amazing. Now I am eating healthier because I am getting fresh food every week, and I am paying less because I am saving at least 50% on my grocery bills. It’s also fun cause I never know what I am going to get. Last week I got porterhouse steak 50% off ($4.99lb)! I also got 2 family packs of pop tarts for $1.50 each (typically $3.50). I have not had those in ages. I am spending on average $25 a week, so I am saving money.
 
The website charges $5 a month, but its well worth it. I tried doing it myself, and it can be done, but it’s a lot of work. They do all the work for you and it’s great. I suggest anyone who guys groceries to try the grocery game (they have it for just about every grocery store, including Wegmans for my Rochester friends)
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January 17th, 2009: 2008: Year of Politics

  
2007 was the most emotional year of my life. It had some of my highest highs (Graduation from RIT) and lowest lows (passing away of my Mother). 2008 was also emotional, but on a totally differant level. 2008 seems to be the start of what is my adult life. This year is the first time I ever held a full time job, working for the Tarrance Group during the final months of the 2008 election campaign. The election of Barack Obama and the Republican waxing in the Congress really was the end of 2008 to me.
 
The biggest moment of the year was on the 3rd day of the year the night of the Iowa Caucus. I drove out to Des Moines, Iowa in order to help Mike Huckabee win the Iowa Caucus. On New Year’s Eve of 2007 I sat at a table with Chip Saltsman, Mike Huckabee’s campaign manager, Ed Rollins, Advisor to Huckabee and manager when Ronald Reagan took 49 states in 1984 and friend and fellow blogger Kevin Tracy.
 
The next day was New Year’s Day, the 3rd time I spoke to Huckabee as I sat across a table from him at an event called the “Blogger Bash” which was a dual event of Q&A from bloggers in Iowa and also a conference call with Bloggers nationwide. It was the first day my blog pull over 100 unique readers. The next night was calling people like crazy all day and then an event at the Val Air Ballroom where Mike Huckabee jammed on stage, the building was full, and victory could be tasted.
 
Then was that big day, January 3rd, night on the Iowa Caucus. The GOTV effort was in full force. It was the patchwork of volunteers from around the country that had came to help lead a man to victory that spoke from them, not to them. When it was caucus time, I, like many others moved to the Huckabee Victory quarters at the Embassy Suites just across the river in Des Moines. I thought we would win but I was not certain. I called for a narrow Huckabee win.
 
Instead, Huckabee won by a solid 9 points. Not a huge blowout, but the win was clear. I like everyone else in the room went nuts. I was in the front row of the of the crowd. We all waited the victor, and we treasured that moment so much. When Huckabee came out there was Jubilation in the crowd. I remember the Huckabee speech, but I don’t really remember what he said, other than the beginning, in which he said “I love Iowa.” What remains etched in my brain is what happened after the speech. After a speech, the politican works the rope line signing things, shaking hands and quickly chatting with people. When Huckabee came to me, I just did one thing. I put my hand up high and Huckabee gave me a big old High-five. That will remain with me forever.
 
The rest of the political season was a roller coaster, which I cover primarily though my blog. The first major low point was South Carolina, where Huckabee lost to John McCain by 3 points where in snowed in the northwest portion of the state, where most of Huckabee’s support was. In addition to that Fred Thompson, a walking dead man, was stomping around the state bashing Huckabee and siphoned away just enough Hucakbee votes to seal his fate.
 
After the Florida primary, the republican race was over, though some denied it at that time. There was still that amazing Democrat primary, the best primary race in history. After that was the very interesting General election, which took up basically all of my free time. Then when I got work at the Tarrance group in September, and I was working on all kinds of races. This is why 2008 was the year of Politics.
 
Though overarching the entire year, the election season was not the only thing going on in my life. I became a member of my Church, Capitol Hill Baptist Church. It is the 2nd church that I have been a member of and something I value greatly. The church is Southern Baptist, but it is much more reformed in nature than your typical Baptist church. Most of the hymns sung there seem like they belong more in a Presbyterian church. One of those Hymns, “Here is Love” was my song of the year. Of everything at the church what I value  most is my relationship with my Nicolas Shayko 2008 Person of the Year, Ian Talley. Ian is a friend, but most of all he is someone who I meet with biweekly in order to become a strong Christian. God has used him to help me grow, and I pray that I have helped him. For this, he wins the Award.
 
Also, I got highly invested in the Stock Market. It is something I spent a lot of time on, watch the market every chance I could. In a year that was horrible in the market, I was doing well. Was is the key word because my success would end in July, as I was heavy in Energy, so I was holding on, but it took me took long to get of the energy bubble. Playing the market risky since I am so young, I ended up losing 60% over the year. My favorite book this year was “Real Money” by Jim Cramer, which is a book a recommend to anyone interested in the market.
 
Another big thing was getting DVR. I got the DVR with my DirectTV, which I got in January. I finally decided to get it because I needed info on all these election nights during the primary season. DVR has changed my life, as I am now watch Hardball, Fast Money and Jeopardy! every day.
 
 
Sports was a down year personally, except for the Cleveland Cavs, who lost in the 07-08 in a epic 7 game series to Boston. The beginning of their 08-09 campaign is very promising, as of yet they have not lost at home and have one of the best records for basically the entire season. The Indians and Browns were major disappointments. I did go to a ton of Nationals games, which was a lot of fun.RIT had a solid season but got their clocks cleaned vs Air Force in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs, which I drove all the way up to Rochester to see. The game of the year for me was the Ohio State/Penn State game I went to with my brother. It was a rare night game at OSU, and it was my first OSU game live and while the Buckeyes lost, it was an amazing experience.
 
A good friend of mine, James Smith, now goes to American Univ, so I have been playing a lot more MLB Showdown than I have in quite some time. Also, I played a lot of NCAA Football by myself during the early part of the year, and then with him in the later part of the year.
 
I have come to appreciate more classic rock, and bought a Rolling Stones greatest hits CD. My favorite more of the year was Juno. Let me just say I love Juno, but clearly not the girl I want to marry. I got 2 DC parking tickets, and I forgot to reregister my car and got pulled over for an expired registration. In terms of favorite websites, Sabermetrician and Political Junkie Nate Silver is amazing, and going to his blog 538 was something I did every day, added to my two other usual suspects of Real Clear Politics and Mark Halperin’s The Page. Personally, it was nice getting a totally difference perspective from the blog of my friend Becca on her blog.
 
It’s hard to see how 2009 will be as exciting as 2008. In terms of politics, I highly doubt it. In a year where I finally really do feel like an adult, I look forward to the next one. Who knows, maybe 2009 will be the year I start a relationship with girl I will marry. If 2008 taught us anything, everyone is looking for Hope and Change in some form.
 
Blessings,
Nic
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January 5th, 2009: When It's not Good to be in Tennessee

  
I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia 22.5 hours later than expected. Why? My Car broke down in La Folette, Tennessee. Never heard of it? Neither have I, but its in North Eastern Tennessee, about one half hour north of Knoxville. I was going a hill and it felt like something just dropped out of my car. I was unable to accelerate over 40 mph while going up a hill. My check engine light was blinking. I was still able to drive though, so I checked the GPS and the next exit was 5 miles away. When coming off the exit ramp my car stalled and would not restart. The gas station was just feet away, so I put the car into neutral and started pushing. A large black man and a short white guy driving from Montana with a full beard help me out.

I was then in the fire lane of the gas station, and I was able to start the car but it would not move. It sounded horrible and the engube shook like the crazy. It sounded horrible. A few minutes later I started it again and was able to move it out of the fire lane. The man from Montana was at the station as well because his car was broke, 2 lugnuts came off and he was waiting for Roadside assistance to fix it. I waited for this man and he said it need to be in the shop. I called AAA and I found out that no AAA approved shops were opened on a Sunday. There was one, but it was not AAA place.

I could have the car taken there, but wherever I had the car taken, it had to be fixed there. AAA approved places are checked and rates are set so that they are not screwing you. I called this place, and I asked the guy why they don't take AAA, and he said it was because they dont let him charge enough. I decided that this made be a shady character and took it to the place that would not open till the next morning.

See, the towing service was open, but the garage was not. They were very nice people, and they dropped me off at a local motel called Sharp's. Sharp had no WiFi, so it was a long day. Lucky there was fast food across the street, so I had Subway. After getting little sleep cause I was worried my car was shot, I got to sleep.

I called the place where my car was at 8:30 AM, they did not get to my car yet. At 10:30 I got a car from them, my car was done. After it was all said and done, it only cost me $175, and I was relieved. I left La Follette at 11:00 AM. I arrived in Kennesaw, GA at 2:30 today, an exurb of Atlanta. It's good to be out of Tennessee.
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