The Machine Guns!!

Ok... so there is the original Machine Gun and the Machine Gun Masse. Lets start off with the one that you can do in ANY pool hall!!

Here is the table layout: Ok.. I couldn't get the 9ft table to work at www.pool.bz so this is a bar table layout, and I actually hate how the table comes over now.. I'm sorry they are so small now.

As you know... I always try to shoot off of the 5 ball. Kind of my thing. I like the brightness of the ball and can focus on it really well. First line up balls from the middle diamond to the middle of the corner pocket exactly one ball width away from the rail. The number of balls varies with with size table you are playing on. Every ball in this line NEEDS TO BE FROZEN to each other. Once they are all in a nice straight line... you are going to move the first two balls out a little further from the rail to create a sort of 'funnel' for the cue ball. The last ball in the line needs to be a little off center also, but this ball can not be too far off center or it will kick the ball next to it into the 'make ball'.

Next, place two balls, about a chalk width apart from each other, surrounding the first diamond on the short rail. In the above picture this is the 5 ball and 8 ball. Don't forget to put a ball in the pocket ... I watched a player once do a similar shot to this at The Masters, they forgot their make ball and hit the shot. No points. The shot was good too, but the player was not rewarded and had to continue on to his second attempt. Aaahhhem... we won't mention names.

The cue ball placement in this shot makes or breaks it. This isn't just a force follow shot... you need to FIRST hit the 5 ball, clear it out, and THEN hit the 8 ball clearing it out... AND THEN your cue ball will carom and skid down the rail into the line of balls. This angle is critical. if too steep, the cue ball will come off the rail to sharply. If the angle is too shallow, it might not clear out the 8 ball or not enter the line of balls.

Do not crush this shot. Hit this too hard and it just doesn't flow. You don't get massive force follow by using your muscles, you get it by a smooth stroke at the top of the ball. This goes in your game also. If you notice even when you are hitting the ball hard and you aren't getting follow - it's probably because you are jamming your stroke. Let it flow. LOVE the ball. Don't hate it.

This shot looks hard... but trust me... a few tries and you'll be close. A few more and you'll get it.

Now.. let's step it up to the harder Machine Gun Masse shot:

Cue ball gets placed on the long rail at the middle diamond. Three balls are frozen to it toward the corner pocket on the rail. I use the 1,2,3, ball for the balls next to the cue ball on the rail. I think it's a trick shot artist thing. But notice... the 5 ball is in the mix :) You need the four ball next to the one ball. Frozen. From the 4 ball, a line of balls is frozen to it all the way to the side pocket. Every ball is frozen to the next and EXACTLY a balls width away from the rail. You get this exact width away from the rail by placing balls along the rail as you are making the 'machine line' and removing them after the balls are tapped into place.

Tapped. Not 'pound the shit out of', TAP. If you want a ball to stay EXACTLY where you put it (sometimes the cloth already has an imperfection or is flattened already and the ball will roll from where you put it), you need to hold the ball in place and TAP the top of the ball. This makes a slight indent that is very temporary in the cloth and the ball will 'settle' into this 'divot'. You've all seen the idiot players that take the 8 ball and pound the shit out of the head ball in the rack because they can't get the ball to stay on the spot. THIS IS SOOOOO WRONG. DO NOT be this idiot. A small light tap is all that is needed. Sometimes a small light tap twice.. but you get my meaning.

Again... don't forget to place your make ball in the side pocket. Now elevate your cue and hit the cue ball on the 'edge' behind and left. This is so hard to describe. You know where the cue ball sits on the rail. As you are looking straight down on it (as per the above set up picture) you are going to hit the right and slightly down (toward the rail) edge of the cue ball. Stand at the table and try to get my perspective. Hayner and a lot of other players put their leg up on the table and bridge off their leg, so their view of this set up is slightly different from what I just described. (To see pictures of this move on to my blog about bridges :)

Me? I'm short as hell and just old school air bridge and hit the snot out of the ball. Oh. Yes. You do indeed need to hit the shit out of this shot. A masse stroke is different from other strokes you use on the pool table. Depending on your grip type, you throw or use the weight of the cue to make the stroke, or you use a little more 'arm' and stroke down not moving your shoulder. I guess truly you don't have to hit the crap out of this shot, but it sounds much harder than other shots because yes indeed, your cue comes through the ball and slams into the slate... making a well known 'BAM' noise that every single pool hall owner can recognize. Over loud music. Over turning around to get someone a beer. Over outside grabbing a smoke. TRUST ME.. you will be caught. So unless you have the prior authorization to bang up some pool hall owner's tables... do this only at home.

This shot is harder than the first, but totally within your wheelhouse if you try. I know Hayner is the exception to almost every single person I've ever seen pick up a cue... He listens. He doesn't question when being told something mechanically new. He thinks. He tries... over and over. Within a week of meeting him.. and the 1st day he ever tried a masse stroke, I had him hitting this shot. He got it on his 3rd try. He can step away from the table and not play for months and he can pick up a cue and hit this shot within 3 tries all day. Once you get this shot... you have it. Forever.

Of COURSE I have a pic of Hayner's first make on this shot. ;) Click.

Ok. I rarely do this. But wanna' see me making this shot??? Ok. Ok. Twist my arm. Here's a link to the shot on the Golden Cue youtube account.

http://youtu.be/8EAXoUkUd24

Bear, Ninja, Hunter

This is how my friends Hayner, Kervin and Doc were trying to decide who goes first in a game of ring 9 ball. Basically, what pool players do when they are bored. :)

This was taken at the Golden Cue in Albany, NY

http://youtu.be/iqSCQKSSqD0

Bullying

That girl you just called fat? She is overdosing on diet pills.

That girl you just called ugly? She spends hours putting makeup on hoping people will like her.

That boy you just tripped? He is abused enough at home.

That man with the ugly scars? He fought for our country.

That guy you just made fun of for crying? His mother is dying.

Think.

The Golden Bridge

Or should I say bridges?? There are oh so many more bridges than the standard TWO most people talk about. OK... so there really is only two (open and closed) but those two HAVE to be adapted to almost every shot! And NO ONE talks about it!!! Leave it to me to talk about it! ;)

First and foremost I'd like to thank Mike Hayner for playing the part of male model. HA. I have a male model.. WOOT. Actually he shoots INSANE so I'm lucky he helped me!

OK. Let's start with the open bridge. First you lay your hand on the table flat with all of the fingers touching. Next, keeping the base of the thumb tight to the forefinger, stick the top of your thumb out. This actually creates a 'V' grove for your cue. Like this:

See how only the top part of the thumb is sticking out in the picture to the left? That's what you are looking to do. Next, spread out your fingers for a nice comfy stable base.

NOT LIKE THIS!!!!

Keep in mind that the most important part of an open bridge is the side of the thumb to the first joint staying tight to the hand. I tend to tuck my pointer finger under because of my smaller hands. This creates a guide for the cue on the left side. Depending on the height of the bridge needed sometimes other fingers will be used to raise or lower the bridge. Note in the picture to the left that Hayner has his middle finger tucked under to raise the cue to hit a follow shot.

Let's be honest. An open bridge is really NOT meant for beginners. It's for the player that already has a straight stroke. Period. No joke. I am not kidding. Unless you can go up and down the table (foot spot to head spot to rail and back to foot spot) and hit the tip of your cue 10 times in a row... you are hereby NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS BRIDGE. Unless you play snooker... totally different story. (Balls are smaller, cues are smaller... it's a view thing...) Also, if you are putting draw on the cue ball... you are not allowed to use an open bridge. And, if you are putting force follow on the cue ball... you are not allowed to use an open bridge. Oh.. and if you are putting massive right or left on the cue ball... you are not allowed to an open bridge.

I know, I know. When are you allowed to use this bridge? Center ball, stop shots, 1/2 tip of follow, and 1/2 tip of right and left. That's about it. Unless you are Alison Fisher... give it up, this bridge is NOT for you. And don't bother to argue, you can do whatever you want... you'll just continue to shoot bad.

So what bridge can you use? That would be a closed bridge. I don't want to hear about how small your fingers are, how uncomfortable it is.. blah, blah, blah. Hayners hands are literally a whole joint bigger than mine... and I can do it. It was so important to learn that The Black Widow had this unfortunate accident with duct tape. (Buy and read her book ... it's an awesome story!)

These are correct closed bridges:

This is a draw closed bridge.

This is a follow closed bridge.

Do you see the difference in Hayner's hand in the above pictures? To elevate his cue to hit the follow shot, he has actually moved the tips of his fingers closer to his palm. Put your hand up, palm out and 'wave' using just your fingers. See how your fingers get closer to your palm? THAT'S what you do on the slate to raise up the closed bridge. As your finger tips get closer to your palm, it will bring UP your thumb and forefinger that are creating the loop of the bridge. Note how the shadow in the above pictures change as Hayner's thumb raises off the slate.

I have small hands, so sometimes I even tuck my middle finger under to get a little more height, just like I explained in the open bridge section. But just because I tuck my finger under does NOT mean I raise my palm off the slate. Never never raise your palm off the slate unless it is an open bridge.

This is an off the rail closed bridge.

All masse bridges are closed, but some float and others do not. A floating masse bridge tucks the elbow tightly into your side... there should be tension because your hand is FLOATING thereby NOT ON ANYTHING!!! Without the elbow pulled in tightly, your bridge will wiggle.

Now.. the next masse bridge can only be used by... ummmm... slightly TALLER people. ie: NOT ME!! Actually... I can if I stand on something.. which I'm allowed to do in the trick shot tournaments!!! Judge me on my shots not my height! Ha! The following masse bridge is insanely stable and should be used whenever possible!

Let's talk jump shots. The most important part of a jump shot is the back hand. I teach the dart grip, because it is indeed the better form for jump shots. I personally use a overhand grip (regular pool grip), but this is a 'do as I say, not as I do' lesson. Deal. I did take other pictures of Hayner using the dart grip but I just had to use this one. I'm pretty sure the reason is self evident.

This is an open high bridge on the rail. The cue is elevated and it is an open bridge... it's safe to say that this is indeed a jump bridge. He's aiming (from his point of view) at the middle of the cue ball. A jump shot shoves the cue ball into the slate so hard and fast that it rebounds back into the air. A jump shot is NOT A SCOOP. In order to jump, you have to hit DOWN on the ball. The higher the cue is elevated, the more angle the cue ball will leave the table (more vertical.) The harder you hit the cue ball, the farther and higher the cue ball will travel. Since you have to hit down on the cue ball, the hardest shot to hit on the pool table, hands down, is the jump draw shot. In order to hit a draw shot, you have to hit low enough for the ball to spin backward. But in order to jump a ball, you have to hit in the middle of the face. So there is obviously a very fine line here. Hit too low and you shove the cue ball forward before it jumps which means it'll take off late, which means you've probably just hit the ball you were trying to jump. If you don't hit low enough, when the cue ball is done jumping... it will not draw back. So. What's the solution? Practice. Sorry. No short cuts here.

Let's get tricky. To the left is a slightly different back hand grip than the jump grip I showed earlier. This grip is for a one handed jump shot. Just have confidence... and do not try this at your local pool hall. Consider yourself warned.

So lets talk rail bridges. There are three basic rail bridges. The one you use depends solely on the distance the cue ball is away from the rail.

The first is just an open bridge that is placed on the rail. This is used when the cue ball is pretty far from the rail but you still can't put your hand comfortably on the slate.

This bridge is used when the cue ball is closer to the rail, but not resting against the rail. Lay your hand flat on the rail palm down. Rest the cue next to your thumb. Now bring your pointer finger over the cue. The thumb must be on the 'inside'... it acts like a guide.

This is the same bridge as above except it's used at an angle on the rail.

Remember that the whole idea is to keep the bridge at a comfortable distance from the cue ball and to keep your cue LEVEL!!! The following bridge is for when the cue ball is actually resting against the rail.

This is almost just like an open bridge on the rail. Place the tips of your fingers on the edge of the table. Then tuck your middle finger down and push it against the table. A lot of people do this bridge without the finger pushing against the table, so go ahead and try it that way... your whole hand moves up and down very easy. Now tuck the middle finger against the table and all of a sudden you have a VERY stable bridge. Having the cue ball directly on the rail is one of the most hated shots. Admit it. You hate it!! This bridge will help. Oh.. and see how Hayner can get a wicked level cue? That's what you should be striving for!

Now lets talk about bridges in a pocket. Sometimes where to make a bridge and which bridge to use can get confusing and awkward. Note how Hayners fingers sometimes rest on the slate AND rail at the same time!

The last bridge I'm going to talk about is the hated high bridge. I saved the best for last. This is an open bridge. And everything I wrote earlier about open bridges applies. This is a bridge you use when the cue ball is up close to another ball.

The strongest shape in the world is a triangle. Therefore... you should have THREE points of contact on the slate. If you stick your hand out and look at it, you'll notice that your middle finger is the longest finger. Which means... you can NOT just go up on the tips of your fingers with this bridge. How could you? Your fingers are all different lengths and your bridge would be so wicked unstable. To compensate for the differing lengths of fingers... tuck under the middle one. Some guys even tuck under two fingers, their middle and ring finger. Look at the picture to the left and notice that Hayner has his middle finger tucked under. 1. This makes the bridge stable because his actual palm is supported now. And 2. He can actually get his hand closer to the 5 ball to make it easier to get up over it.

See Hayner's ring finger in these pictures? It looks funky right? Yeah... well... it is. Not funky bad.. but as in funky odd. Hayner has found this position more comfortable rather than tucking both his middle and ring fingers under. He also has really long lanky fingers. And I'm totally ok with this weird funkyness. No two bridges are going to be alike. The main thing is to have a stable.... let me say it again... stable... one more time for good measure... S.T.A.B.L.E. bridge. His is dead stable, so he's good.

I can not also stress this enough: THE MINUTE YOUR PALM LEAVES THE SLATE YOU HAVE TO USE AN OPEN BRIDGE. None of this funky 'up on finger tips and closed bridge loop' crap. 'Cause that's exactly what it is. CRAP. JUNK. You need the pointer finger for the stability of the base not to loop around the cue.

So. That's about it. Any questions? Ask away. I'll answer... probably. And Thanks goes out to Hayner for all the help ;) click!

You didn't think that was it did you??? Here are pictures of Hayner's and my FAVORITE (as in sends us into eye rolling laughing fits) BAD, DO NOT DO, HORRIBLE, TOTALLY WRONG bridges. None are made up. We've actually seen each and every one of these bridges in action. Cover the kids eyes.... this is gonna' get ugly!!! This is like a bloopers reel for pool.

Ok. I'll start out easy and nice. This is a closed bridge that is ALMOST correct. You can really see the problem in the right picture. Hayner has not turned his wrist and has not spread out his fingers. Your middle finger must be under the cue shaft. Go back and look again at the correct bridges above.

Remember how I told you that the minute your palm leaves the slate, you should be using an open bridge???? Yeah... the above and below are perfect examples of someone NOT following that rule. The above picture shows the thumb on the slate, the one below has the thumb tucked up. I know they look the same, but really they aren't. At least the one above is trying to become a stable bridge, whereas the one below is wicked unstable.

This is such a typical bar shooter bridge. We've seen this one a million times.

Again... pretty typical. Someone that knows that the finger should be over the top of the cue.. but really has no clue as to why or how.

Ummmm...... yeah.

Really... I can't say enough.

This is not a joke. We've seen this. More than once even. It blows the mind.

This one is a fairly typical open bridge. Not bad... but again not good either. Without the base of the thumb tucked tight to the first finger, there's no groove for the cue to follow so it will wiggle sideways in this bridge.

A friend of mine shoots with this bridge. Shoots PROFESSIONALLY with this bridge. No lie. His nickname is The Praying Mantis. He plays great and shoots unreal... with that said, Do. Not. Do. This. I'm pretty sure no one out there is teaching kids to swing like Jack Nicolas... so again... Do. Not. Do. This. Thank you.

I don't have words for this. But again... we aren't making it up.. we've seen this.

This one I call 'Death Rail Grip.' And we've seen it like a million times. I guess it's better than just shooting the ball one handed with no bridge at all... but only barely.

Last... but FAR, FAR from least... we have the behind the back shot. This does NOT make you look cool... it makes you look like an absolute TURD. Hayner and I go to unreal lengths to get each others attention when someone is about to attempt this stupid shot. And it's the whole thing... from swinging the cue around to get it behind the back... 3 out of 5 times the cue gets whacked on the table next to them... to the actual shot.. which 9 out of 10 times is missed horribly. And the people taking this shot??? ALWAYS, ALWAYS thinks they are cool. The person that attempts this shot almost always also 'twirls' their cue like Tom Cruise in The Color Of Money. The MINUTE Rocky installed ceiling fans... this became MUCH MUCH more enjoyable to watch. Inevitably the look on the poor smucks face when the cue goes 'BANG' on the fan and gets thrown out of their hands is so freaking funny.... it's all fun and games 'till someone loses an eye... and since that hasn't happened yet... please, please keep doing it.. it makes our night!!

Whoever sent me an email about the BOE... Your email is blocking my reply... try again!

Definition of the word Bully

bul·ly
/ˈbʊli/ Show Spelled [bool-ee]
Noun:
1. a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.

2. Archaic . a man hired to do violence.

Verb: (used with object)
3. To act the bully toward; intimidate; domineer.

Verb (used without object)
4. To be loudly arrogant and overbearing.

Those of you following this whole sorted mess, know where I'm going with this, those that don't... don't worry... we'll get back to pool shortly ;) click!

The term bully is really quite the buzz word lately. From concern over children acting out to children killing themselves over being bullied is all over the news lately. But what happens when the person being bullied is a child, but the bully is an adult????

Take for instance, February 14, 2011, Lansingburgh School District, Rensselaer Park Elementary School, second floor, afternoon. A child, 10 years old, is walking down the hallway to his classroom. The adult that he has a court order of protection against is walking down the hallway towards him. The adult stops and stares at him as he walks by, is this an act of a bully?

Oh.. ok... twist my arm. The adult was, of course, Kelley Bristol- infamous school board member of Lansingburgh School District, who has charges currently pending against her in the Town of Schadicoke which led directly to a court order of protection against her for a 10 year old child. Since criminal court only meets once a month, she has successfully avoided court for two months, so far, by adjournments. Eventually, however, Judge Arnold will become annoyed, as he always does from too many adjournments (oh... by the way Kelley.. you should meet his dog.. he has the MOST beautiful dark German Shepard I've ever seen- spot on trained too- you could probably learn something from him!)

So, you ask, how does she manage to get into the school? Well, normal court order of protections do not cover situations such as school, especially if the person has children attending the same school. Fair enough. Really. I'm totally and was totally fine with her being in the school to go to her children's class parties, plays, picking her children up from school, or what have you. I was assured by the principle that was the limit as to her being in the school.

For the last few weeks Kelley has been overheard in the hallways saying (add AS MUCH tone as you can here...) "..I'm not allowed to walk around the school..." So, instead of taking her lumps and doing what was right, she asked the school board (remember... she's a member of that school board) to allow her total freedom in the school. Please... look above to the definition of a bully again. Within three days of this new found freedom, she stops and stares down the 10 year old that has the court order of protection against her. Again.. please refer to the above definition of bully.

At 2pm on February 14, 2011 I removed my children from the school. I had no choice. I can not be in both of my children's classrooms at all times and the Superintendent refuses to limit Kelley Bristol's access to my children, so I sincerely had no choice. Both teachers are working with me, as far as work goes, and I bring them in for any testing and wait outside the classrooms.

Instead of Kelley Bristol waiting for this whole thing to be done, and suffer the consequences of her actions in the meantime, she pushed and pushed and now the only people suffering consequences of HER actions are my children. Again. Look at the definition of bully.

A judge normally does not change a court order of protection once it is issued, however the District Attorney is going back to him to see if it can be changed to also cover school, so my children can start attending again. So, instead of being happy with the access that Kelley had to the school, she could be looking at a full order which would not even allow her on school grounds. Ever. Is this what I wanted? Nope. Is it what I want now? Yup. Why? Because she pushes and pushes... she honestly thinks that chasing down a school bus, boarding it and confronting a 10 year old is perfectly ok.

She actually thinks it's her RIGHT to walk around that school intimidating a 10 year old! Imagine that!!! Seriously! Imagine if it was your child that had to walk down hallways hoping he wouldn't run into the very person the police would arrest if they got close to him outside the school!! The school should be a safe zone for children, not a place to cause panic attacks!

On February 14, 2011 I informed the superintendent, George, that I was removing my children. His response? Well... mind you... he's the worse kind of $108,000/year puppet I've EVER seen, he hadn't conferred with the school attorney or the school board so all he kept saying over and over was "I'm not discussing this now." And "She's allowed to walk around the school." Over and over.

At one point I even put my hand on my sons head and said "George, this is Colin. Would you like to apologise to him directly for what happened on the bus?" His response? "I'm not discussing this now." No joke. You'd think that for over $100,000 per year he'd be able to realise that him saying "I'm sorry Colin that you had to go through that." Does not imply guilt. It just shows empathy for a child, in his school district, that went through and outrageous experience. Over $100,000/year and the man can not think for himself. Why bother? He retires this year, the board should just keep the 100k, skip the middle 'puppet' and dictate to the schools directly.

Oh right, there are laws governing against doing that. Just like the laws that the Commissioner upholds... by the way Kelley.. He's waiting with baited breath for your conviction so he can remove you from the school board. The longer you wait, the longer it will be before you can run again. Good by me.

By the way. Mary Sweeney, the Chairman of the School Board, 'followed' me on Twitter, to read my tweets, and then 'unfollowed' within the hour. Too bad she didn't realize my tweets aren't protected and she could have read them without the 'follow'. Although, I fully appreciate the 'follow' so I got an email as to her 'following' me. Weird right? Why would she do that? Who's pocket is she in?

By the way, all of the isp addresses for all of the threats left on this website have been traced by a private detective and all of the information has been handed over. Hope it was worth it! People really are dumb. Anonymous doesn't actually mean anonymous in the computer world.. how do people not know that?

I can not promise that this will be my last post on this issue.. however... I can promise that my next post will start covering bridges. And if you don't know what that means.... why are you reading this blog?????????

Peace Brothers ;) click

Short and Simple

Here it is short and sweet. Not once have I EVER said my child was perfect... he's far from it in fact... thank God. But that is not the point. I really don't care what the kids did on that day. That's not the point. Here's the point:

Under NO circumstances is it ever ok to get in your car, chase a bus for a 1/4 of a mile, barge your way onto the bus, and confront a child that is not yours. NEVER. Don't tell me it's in defense of a child... that starts the whole she did- he did crap. Besides, the child was home safe and then BROUGHT BACK ON TO THE BUS. (I won't go into what that actually teaches a child.) That's it, that's my point. You CAN NOT CHASE A BUS FOR A 1/4 MILE, BARGE ON TO IT, AND CONFRONT A CHILD THAT IS NOT YOURS. In other counties in NYS the minute she stepped foot on the bus she committed a crime- which is exactly the same law I want statewide. The school board has told her that if she does it again they will press charges... which means THEY COULD HAVE THIS TIME!!!

Stay on topic folks. She could have come to us at ANY point and said she was angry and she is very sorry... instead she chose to sedans (sedans???!! Lol keeping it!! iPhone auto corrected 'defend' into sedans.. classic!!) the act of getting on the bus. Nope. Doesn't fly.

Posting Comments

New rule. If you can't/won't use your real life name in a comment and feel the need to hide behind some screen name... perhaps you shouldn't be making the comment. I work and make a living in the public eye- if I want this hill to be the one I die on, so be it... but if YOU want to portray me as something... you better get it right. Liable can only be proven in court of the person has LOST something. If I suddenly find a sponsor that says they won't back me because of YOUR comment.. that could be THOUSANDS. #1 Female Trick Shot Artist in the World. This isn't a joke. Think.... is this the hill YOU want to die on? Comments can all be tracked back to isp's- you can't do anything on here without leaving a trail, and seeing that I live in the pool world, trust me when I say I can find lots of people that can do the tracking.

My blog... my rules... ENJOY!!

;) click

WHAT IS GOING ON????!!!

Why is this happening?? This chick, MRS. KELLEY BRISTOL, jumps on the school bus, screamed and yelled and THREATENED MY SON and instead of me and the school against the _____ that threatens a 10 year old boy, it's the school AND the _____ against me.... PERHAPS it's because the ______ is on the school board???? MMMMMmmmmm... maybe.

My son has a court order of protection against this woman. So... how is it that the woman is still serving on the school board???? No. Really. I want to know. There are CRIMINAL charges pending against this woman.. and she's admitted to EVERYONE that she got on the bus... why has she not been removed??

NOT ONLY has she NOT been removed, but the Lansingburgh School District is willing to SHELL OUT MY TAX MONEY to have former Albany County Court Judge Larry Rosen conduct a MEDIATION PROCESS!!!! WHAT???!!!! WWWWAAAAHHHTTT?????!!!!!! OMG WHAT????!!!! Is this a JOKE??? There are CURRENT CRIMINAL CHARGES PENDING AGAINST HER! And mediate WHAT??? There is NO mediation to be HAD here. There would only be US letting HER off the hook... WE didn't do ANYTHING WRONG! What EXACTLY is there to MEDIATE???? Quote from our letter from Mr. George Goodwin (Superintendent) "The session would be held at the District Office, and all expenses associated with the session would be borne by the District." He also states in it "... and offer you a few more days to consider it before rejecting it out of hand." OUT OF HAND???? Ahhhh. NO. Not 'out of hand' out of 'I have a brain and you aren't going to run all over my family because you think we are stupid.' How's THAT George?????

Holy God. They have the AUDACITY to SPEND OUR MONEY ON THIS????? She's admitted to EVERYONE that the bus driver actually had to threaten to call the police before she would remove herself from the bus... MEDIATE???!!!!!! Does the entire DISTRICT know that they want to spend their hard earned money on this?????? NO. Why? Because I can't get TV coverage of this. Why? Because... ahhhh... actually... I don't know. The Times Union researched this... THEY printed it. But imagine what would happen if this actually got TV time. I would HAVE to believe that the people of this school district would be APPALLED to find out that they have a sitting BOARD MEMBER who CHASED DOWN A BUS, GOT ON IT, AND SCREAMED AT A 10 YEAR OLD!!!!! All over a God damned GAME, no less.

If ANYBODY... ANYBODY... other than a board member did this.. not only would they probably already be in JAIL... but they definitely wouldn't be being DEFENDED BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT. If in the future I have a beef with some OTHER parent in the school district... are they going to pay for mediation then also????? You know, I wasn't going to sue the school. But. Acting the way they are... causing THIS MUCH STRESS (especially after just losing my Grandfather and then my good friend) I'm totally thinking about going after them. They did NOT have to do this THIS way. I think THEY think they are covering their asses... what they are actually doing is driving me to an early grave. Stupid, stupid lawyers.

She admitted to the act. They aren't scared of HER.. they are scared of ME. Can I please, PLEASE sign something saying I won't sue so they can STEP UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING?????? I've NEVER.. NOT ONCE.. gotten an "I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened to your child." NOT ONCE have they said that the ACT of getting on a school bus is WRONG. NOT ONCE!!!!

This is NOT a 'she said, she said' thing like GEORGE likes to tell the press. There is no 'she said' about the woman chasing the bus for a 1/4 mile to a different neighborhood and getting on it... SHE ADMITS TO IT!!!!! She admits to not getting off the bus until the bus driver threatened to call the police... WHAT is 'SHE SAID' about that???

I'll end with.... I wonder if it's obstruction of justice to offer 'mediation' in an ongoing criminal case without letting the party know about the legal consequences of such an act??? MMMMMmmmmm.... dig, dig, dig.... bury yourselves more....

In Memory Of Frosty

Recently a good friend of mine died unexpectedly. He was only 42 years old, and he will be greatly missed. He started the organization named Quicksticks. Here are a few pictures that I hope everyone will enjoy.