Hello ALL!!!!

**ArtVandelay** · 08-02-2009, 12:35 AM

I got a PM e-mail from The Kingpin asking where I was, and thought I'd pop on and give a quick update on my going-ons.

I've been very busy lately, so much so I don't know how to really explain it. I work for a large, well known bank (who shall remain nameless), and as some of you MAY HAVE HEARD we are currently in a recession. What does that mean when you work for a bank? It means you had better work harder than anyone else, because if lay offs have to happen, the slackers will more than likely go first. Thankfully, the bank I work for is doing much better than other banks, so job security is there, but it's never a guarantee and not something I am willing to take for granted.

I guess my main concern is, King Pin was afraid something on this site may have caused me to leave. This simply isn't the case at all. If you want the honest truth, this forum is new to me. I used to check it at work from time to time (just never posted at work...) to keep up, but these days I don't do much of anything at work that doesn't involve work. I actually enjoy my time on this site, although I admit the censoring was a little annoying to me.

The sad truth of the matter is, bowling is not my favorite sport. I've only been bowling for about 5 years now, but I've been a Red Sox fan since I was born and my Grandfather made sure I had little Red Sox infant clothes. The Red Sox have one of the best known sports forums, if NOT the best known, called Sons of Sam Horn. I've been a member there for years and years. It has actually had Red Sox players come on and post before, most notably pitcher Curt Schilling. ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons is a regular poster there (VERY funny writer, by the way. You can find him on page 2 of espn's site. He's well worth your time, I've never read an article that didn't make me laugh). It's so dedicated to the Red Sox, it has two forums. One forum is for what they call "lurkers," which are people who join, but aren't granted membership yet. The main forum is for full members only, and trust me when I say, you have to live, eat, breathe and LOVE the Red Sox beyond all else to gain full membership. I am a full member. There are countless posts there with thousands and thousands of responses. The people there could tell you the names of the people who's ashes have been sprinkled over Fenway (illegally, they don't allow that, but believe it or not, some people are so passionate about the Sox, people actually do sprinkle the remains of their loved ones on the field, which prompted Sox officials to post signs around the park telling them not to do that. Former center fielder Coco Crisp even stated, "It's weird thinking that when I dive for a ball I'm diving into someone's dead grandfather."). It's very hard for me to keep up with that forum as much as I would like, but by the time I'm done reading everything over there, I hardly have any time left to do anything else.

I will be attempting to come on here every now and then to say hi, and whatnot, but until this economy frees up, my time is going to be sparse. It's not anything anyone has done, it's just what's going on! This site continues to grow each week, and as it does, it's harder to keep up with, and I feel I would be doing a disservice to the members to post without reading other people's posts. I think all forums should be like Sons of Sam Horn, with researched, well thought out responses. I think all forum members should respect eachother to the fullest extent, and part of that respect is reading other members posts before posting your own. Nothing is worse than people who post things already said, because in a way it shows that you didn't think enough of the other members to read what they had written. A great forum has great members who have great thoughts, ideas and opinions, and all of them deserve to be read. Sadly, I don't have time for that anymore when it comes to bowling. I don't have it in me to come on this site and just rush post my thoughts, while disregarding others. I've never done that on Sons of Sam Horn, and I will never do that here. The members of this site deserve better.

SO, when I have time, you'll be seeing me, but when I don't, I might be gone for weeks at a time, but that does NOT by any stretch of the imagination, mean this forum has lost my interest. It's just that, work and the Red Sox have a monopoly on my time right now, especially since it's baseball season!!!

-Kevin

**JaxBowlingGuy** · 08-02-2009, 12:39 AM

Originally Posted by ArtVandelay

I got a PM e-mail from The Kingpin asking where I was, and thought I'd pop on and give a quick update on my going-ons.

I've been very busy lately, so much so I don't know how to really explain it. I work for a large, well known bank (who shall remain nameless), and as some of you MAY HAVE HEARD we are currently in a recession. What does that mean when you work for a bank? It means you had better work harder than anyone else, because if lay offs have to happen, the slackers will more than likely go first. Thankfully, the bank I work for is doing much better than other banks, so job security is there, but it's never a guarantee and not something I am willing to take for granted.

I guess my main concern is, King Pin was afraid something on this site may have caused me to leave. This simply isn't the case at all. If you want the honest truth, this forum is new to me. I used to check it at work from time to time (just never posted at work...) to keep up, but these days I don't do much of anything at work that doesn't involve work. I actually enjoy my time on this site, although I admit the censoring was a little annoying to me.

The sad truth of the matter is, bowling is not my favorite sport. I've only been bowling for about 5 years now, but I've been a Red Sox fan since I was born and my Grandfather made sure I had little Red Sox infant clothes. The Red Sox have one of the best known sports forums, if NOT the best known, called Sons of Sam Horn. I've been a member there for years and years. It has actually had Red Sox players come on and post before, most notably pitcher Curt Schilling. ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons is a regular poster there (VERY funny writer, by the way. You can find him on page 2 of espn's site. He's well worth your time, I've never read an article that didn't make me laugh). It's so dedicated to the Red Sox, it has two forums. One forum is for what they call "lurkers," which are people who join, but aren't granted membership yet. The main forum is for full members only, and trust me when I say, you have to live, eat, breathe and LOVE the Red Sox beyond all else to gain full membership. I am a full member. There are countless posts there with thousands and thousands of responses. The people there could tell you the names of the people who's ashes have been sprinkled over Fenway (illegally, they don't allow that, but believe it or not, some people are so passionate about the Sox, people actually do sprinkle the remains of their loved ones on the field, which prompted Sox officials to post signs around the park telling them not to do that. Former center fielder Coco Crisp even stated, "It's weird thinking that when I dive for a ball I'm diving into someone's dead grandfather."). It's very hard for me to keep up with that forum as much as I would like, but by the time I'm done reading everything over there, I hardly have any time left to do anything else.

I will be attempting to come on here every now and then to say hi, and whatnot, but until this economy frees up, my time is going to be sparse. It's not anything anyone has done, it's just what's going on! This site continues to grow each week, and as it does, it's harder to keep up with, and I feel I would be doing a disservice to the members to post without reading other people's posts. I think all forums should be like Sons of Sam Horn, with thoughtful responses, and researched opinions. Sadly, I don't have time for that anymore when it comes to bowling. I don't have it in me to come on this site and just rush post my thoughts. The members of this site deserve better.

SO, when I have time, you'll be seeing me, but when I don't, I might be gone for weeks at a time, but that does NOT by any stretch of the imagination, mean this forum has lost my interest. It's just that, work and the Red Sox have a monopoly on my time right now, especially since it's baseball season!!!

-Kevin

My company deals with like some of the biggest banks/ mortgage companies in the country.. I wonder if we handle your foreclosures and bankruptcy.. hmm

**ArtVandelay** · 08-02-2009, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by StormBowler13

My company deals with like some of the biggest banks/ mortgage companies in the country.. I wonder if we handle your foreclosures and bankruptcy.. hmm

hahaha. Nope, we handle almost everything internally. True, not EVERYTHING, but I can say, without question, that we handle the large majority of any of the problems we might, or might not, have. The good news for us, is we stayed clear of the "Option One" lending that got so many of the other companies in trouble, and our business in California didn't take nearly the hit others did.

So we've got that going for us, which is nice....

**JaxBowlingGuy** · 08-02-2009, 12:51 AM

Originally Posted by ArtVandelay

hahaha. Nope, we handle almost everything internally. True, not EVERYTHING, but I can say, without question, that we handle the large majority of any of the problems we might, or might not, have. The good news for us, is we stayed clear of the "Option One" lending that got so many of the other companies in trouble, and our business in California didn't take nearly the hit others did.

So we've got that going for us, which is nice....

Option One is one of our clients..lol well now American Home Mortgage.. We have like alot of the corporate offices located here in Jax.. Chase Bank.. WAMU (now chase)... Option One (AHMS)...and i wanna say HSBC...

Then our corporate office is Jax as well.. Fidelity National Financial..

**ArtVandelay** · 08-02-2009, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by StormBowler13

Option One is one of our clients..lol well now American Home Mortgage.. We have like alot of the corporate offices located here in Jax.. Chase Bank.. WAMU (now chase)... Option One (AHMS)...and i wanna say HSBC...

Then our corporate office is Jax as well.. Fidelity National Financial..

Yeah, understood. That's why I put it in quotes. hahahaha. Truth be told, I have VERY little to do with the mortgage side of things, but the practices Option One had been using was also used by other companies so we nicknamed that practice. haha.

Crazy times, for sure!

**JaxBowlingGuy** · 08-02-2009, 01:07 AM

Oh yes.. We see some things on our end and just sit there and think.. WHY????

**kev3inp** · 08-02-2009, 08:43 AM

If there's one thing I've learned, there's really no way to figure out the why of anything. Be thankful if you can figure out the what. Good to see you again, Kev. At least your team didn't wait over 100 years for a championship. Right Jord?

LOL!

**NoTapNorm** · 08-02-2009, 07:18 PM

good to see you're still around. Hopefully, we'll hear more after the season's over. Did you know that on a recent trip to NYC, I heard more about the Sox than the Mets???