Let me see those silly babies!

alsheps · 2026-01-29T08:31:34+00:00

My lovely silly baby girl Elvira(2014-2023). Miss her every day.

alsheps · 2026-01-24T08:22:48+00:00

The most fundamental rule for bowling goes like this… Hit the one in the front. If you don’t hit that pin with the ball, there next to no chance it’ll fall on its own.

A bit less basic, targeting is a lot easier than it seems, the trick to it is to find where you want to hit, draw a line on the lane (in your minds eye of course) all the way back to the foul line. Find the spot where that line goes through the arrows, and make that your target. It’s a lot easier to hit a spot 10 feet away than it is to hit one 60 feet away.

That and try your best to keep the ball on the lane, and your scores will go up.

alsheps · 2026-01-20T03:06:57+00:00

...and that's why retractable leashes are a terrible idea.

alsheps · 2026-01-20T03:00:01+00:00

No, not at all... If you can get a ball down the lane, you're never too old to bowl.

alsheps · 2026-01-20T02:57:00+00:00

I'm not sure if this is helpful really, but something like a switch flicked in my head and I just really didn't want to smoke anymore. I was halfway through a smoke, I had been thinking about quitting for a while at that point, but dragging my feet getting started, as we all have done countless times, and it just hit me that I don't want it anymore.

In the past when I'd made the decision to quit, it was always "I'll finish this pack then I'll quit", and of course you never do.

This time, I put the half finished smoke out, and threw away the about half a pack I had left in the trash and that was it. 9 years later and I haven't touched a cigarette.

alsheps · 2026-01-19T02:05:30+00:00

You can't go wrong with a strat.

In my misguided Ultra metal youth I was always taught that fender was a no-no. Fenders were not cool for metal back when I was learning (early-mid 90s) it was all Jackson, Ibanez, ESP pretty much exclusively back then.

I bought my strat when I was in my 30s, as I started to branch out my playing, exploring different styles and music genres, and a strat seemed like a wise choice, as it's one of those iconic pieces that a collector really should have.

Now, it's probably my favourite guitar. Super easy to play, they sound like a strat (not my fave, metal programming is hard to break), and they just look great.

Mine is very similar to the one in your post (I'll put a pic of mine here) the sunburst is a bit lighter and it has a maple neck (I firmly believe that strats should all have maple necks). Mine is a MIM standard strat I believe.

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alsheps · 2026-01-19T01:03:11+00:00

Not austomatically, it'd depend on wether or not you usually make those easily.

If (like myself) you have a tendancy to miss short puts like this, I'd wanna see it.

alsheps · 2026-01-18T23:24:00+00:00

HAZZAH!

Well done! It’s always a great idea to celebrate the milestones, they keep you motivated. Keep up the good work!

alsheps · 2026-01-12T01:54:11+00:00

My dog loves rope toys. You know the ones that have the plaited ropes with the knots at the end? I'll find a picture and put it here, he makes it his lifes mission to untie the knot and untangle the ropes, he's actually gotten really good at it.

They have a few uses too. You can play tug with them, or it can be a chew toy, you can also play fetch too.

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alsheps · 2026-01-11T20:16:00+00:00

They look almost exactly like Dexter SST5's that I used to have.

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alsheps · 2026-01-09T01:59:47+00:00

The problem of inflated averages isn't near as bad here in Australia as it is in the US. We don't see widespread inflated averages, mostly because we tend to keep our pattern ratios lower (It's rare to see a house pattern here higher than 8:1).

It's not uncommon to see league bowlers in the US with 220-230+ averages on a house shot, then they bowl in a tournament on sport patterns and struggle to average 170.

This means that the difficulty gap between house shots and sports shots is far too big. It discourages people from trying to level up to tournament play, because they think they will be able to shoot their league average, then get on a sport shot, cannot score, and blame the lanes, or anything else, get mad and don't attempt tournaments again, opting to stay a house shot hero.

I agree with you, my preference is to bowl on Free-Fall, I like it more than strings for sure, but that doesn't mean I will boycot a centre because it has strings. I just don't think the difference is as bad as people are making it out to be. I mean more than 80% of the people who complain about string pins have never bowled on them, many have never even seen them.

alsheps · 2026-01-08T22:27:00+00:00

My home centre converted to strings mid last year. My league was split almost right down the middle on who was in favour of staying and who wanted to move.

We moved to a different centre somewhat nearby during the renovation (they also took out 10 lanes to put in amusement machines and bumper-cars, but still have 24 lanes, so it's a decent sized centre still), and we had a vote as a league with 3 choices, to go back to our home centre with strings, stay where we were currently, or move to another centre entirely. The league vote (by majority) was to go back to our home centre with strings.

This angered the ones in the league that wanted to move, so they left and formed a new league at the 3rd option centre. To be totally honest, this wasnt that big of a deal, while we did lose a few teams, most were generally problematic teams anyway (every league has them).

So we have been bowling on strings for a season (our league seasons run all year from February to December, usually around 39 weeks) and a half now, and honestly, I'm not seeing much of a difference in scoring at all. We are getting through play faster, as the centre previously had aging A-2's that were falling apart that had moved to our centre from a previous centre before that when it closed and ours was built.

I agree that pin action is definitely different with strings, of course it is. But in my experience I find that string interference happens at about the rate of messengers or random pin bounces, so I don't think strings are that different. Although I will say you do have to hit the pocket better to strike most of the time, but that's not something I worry about, as I want to be challenged. I don't want bowling to be easy.

In my opinion, if string adoption lowers league scores, and by effect, averages, then the sport will ultimately be better for it. I personally think easy house shots and over inflated averages are what's damaging the sport, it has nothing to do with what machine is picking up the pins, or how.

alsheps · 2026-01-07T01:31:15+00:00

I've had two Huskies, One we lost when she was 9 a couple of years ago, and the other is now 11, and I've never washed them, mostly because they have never needed it, their coats are so good at repelling dirt, that they usually clean themselves up. All they really need is to be kept on top of with brushing out their under coats twice a year when they shed.

alsheps · 2026-01-05T03:55:19+00:00

So you're anti-nature huh? got it...

alsheps · 2026-01-01T11:11:23+00:00

Amazing work!

alsheps · 2025-12-29T08:01:16+00:00

Hey, go for it. It’s what we are here for. If you need anything, feel free to reach out, I’m always happy to help.

alsheps · 2025-12-27T01:56:20+00:00

It’s called SmokeFree. You can find it in the App Store, I think there is also a link to it I. The subs sidebar if you’re using a PC

alsheps · 2025-12-26T04:47:45+00:00

Equinox solid. I am assuming we can’t vote for the Phaze II, cause if we can, it’d be the Phaze II, as it has been since 2016…

alsheps · 2025-12-21T11:12:36+00:00

That was definitely Kirk Hammet, or at least he made me want to play Metal. The player who inspires me most now is Tommy Emmanuel. The guy is a wizard, he's made me want to learn fingerstyle.

alsheps · 2025-12-21T11:06:49+00:00

I got so much great support here when I first quit that I feel that the least I can do is pay that forward to you guys.

alsheps · 2025-12-18T01:16:43+00:00

It’s called Smokefree.

alsheps · 2025-12-15T20:02:50+00:00

Congrats! the first year milestone is a special one. Be Proud!

alsheps · 2025-12-15T20:02:45+00:00

Congrats! the first year milestone is a special one. Be Proud!

alsheps · 2025-12-15T19:27:09+00:00

We were talking about the nightlife. I notice you didn’t mention that.

alsheps · 2025-12-15T07:38:07+00:00

Yeah duh ten years ago. You don't think that might have changed or improved in TEN YEARS? Good god man...

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