In 1999, Jesus Leonardo placed a bet at an OTB window in Manhattan, when the race was over he had lost and threw the ticket on the floor in disgust. But then, all of a sudden there was announced that there was an inquiry and soon the results were changed; now he was a winner, $900 to be exact. Alas, he’d already tossed the ticket into the garbage, and after fruitlessly searching for it, couldn’t find the winning ticket. Despite tearfully pleading with the manager, Leonardo was told there was nothing that could be done. However, the manager suggested that if he wanted to take the trash home and look through it, he was welcome to do so.

Taking her up on the offer, Leonardo took the bag home. He never found his winning $900, but did find 2 other tickets worth a combined $2,000. Ever since he’s been a stooper — “a person who hangs around racetracks and betting parlors picking up tickets thrown away by others.”

“This has become my job, my life,” he said. “This is how I feed my family.”

On average Leonardo makes anywhere from $100 – $300 a day, feeding ticket after ticket into the scanners looking for winners. With the help of some friends, he has branched his operations out, getting the garbage from 5 OTB locations which he then digs through on the lookout for lost treasure. Leonardo says that he makes on average over $45,000 a year, which he pays taxes on. Back in 2006 he had his best single ticket finding a Pick 4 that someone had tossed worth $9,500, not too shabby. According to the New York State Racing and Wagering Board nearly $8.5 million in racing bets go unclaimed each year, meaning that Leonardo is only getting a small slice of the larger pie.

“At first, my wife thought I was crazy, but then she realized I was finding a lot of money in winning tickets, sometimes $200 a day,” he said. “After a while, she didn’t think I was so crazy.”

[NY Times]

Read all about a tale of planetary woe; SumbandilaSat payload activation going well;  astronomy stars and a giant ribbon discovered at the edge of the solar system… (more)

Western Bridge Director, karaoke expert, and loving husband (mine) Eric Fredericksen is rocking the mic tonight at On The Boards.
Call the box office now and get your tickets for this songfest/lecture freak hybrid.

More on SLOG and on Another Bouncing Ball.

“Join Eric Fredericksen (Western Bridge curator and karaoke expert) as he hosts a karaoke party while delivering a lecture on karaoke, the culture industry, and communal popular culture. Come grab a drink and get your songs in early: this lecture requires participation!  Show at 8pm. Karaoke and bar open at 7:30pm.  Note – this is a limited capacity show. Buy your tickets in advance to ensure you get a spot!  A second evening is planned for Mar 17, 2010.”

He’s good at lecturing, and at karaoke. I should know–I didn’t marry him for his looks.  I married him for his mad skills, illustrated here by his performance of “Maybe I’m Amazed” at OTB’s 30th Anniversary Fundraiser.

Last Saturday I had several of my students take first place; K-3U600 Section 1st place Max Strong, Kyle Huber 1st place tie and Open Section Logan Kresl along with the Esparanza team taking the 1st place trophy back to the school. Today another one of my students grabbed the first place trophy in the K-6u700 Section…Stephen Bailey!

Congratulations!

Also congratulations goes out to Byron Xu who also tied for first place with a score of 4.0/4, as well as the Esparanza Kyrene chess team which placed 1st for two weeks in a row!!

Available for download Soon!!!
Release date: October 31, 2009

Stay posted for more info on how to download.

After another early rise I was packed and off to the WA XC State Champs at the Goat Farm. The weather was looking a lot better than Saturday morning, except for a strong wind, but in mountain biking the wind is less of an issue and actually was of benefit to staying cool while out on the trail.

Madrapper and myself arrived early but with no intention of wasting energy by doing a practice lap. We registered and setup bikes for the race. While preparing we heard the reports of what to expect on the course from those who had ridden it already. We were in for some climbing (which is pretty normal at the GF) but this time it was steeper and with a more technical surface (read heaps of rocks & gravel) than usual.

Just after 0930 we started, fairly uneventful with a nice wide road for riders to self seed on. Right from the outset it was climbing, the 1st km was the longest stretch of straight climbing with about 100m of vertical gain. A few riders got a bit of a push around the 1st corner by a keen spectator, while not overly needed it did aid the traction and relax the legs momentarily.

The first lap was just a matter of getting to know the course ready for the next 2 (normally thats what the practice lap is for). Most of the field had taken off and left me tail end which is normally the way on a track like the GF which has a large amount of climbing, I catch them on the downhill though (if they are not too far in front). The course zig zagged across the hill face with a few more ups and downs to mix it up. The GF has some fast sections, but is generally technical in nature due to the abundance of rocks.

After the initial climb I kicked back to enjoy the ride and lapped up every downhill run or change to get a bit or air. I passed thru the start/finish line and swapped my water for a chilled Powerade, ready to tackle the climb again. Needless to say I probably walk half of it. Saturday’s SPR ride had drained a lot of the energy I was relying on for today.

I was relieved to finally reach the top and get into some descending. A few nice switchbacks and little jumps had me feeling good again, but that was all about to change. On a fast sweeping left I went in carrying just a little (a lot really) too much speed, normally this is ok as u can usually use a bit of run off, but this section was different. The corner was off camber and the edge lined with rocks. The largest one I knew about so avoided that, but unfortunately there were many more hidden in the grass. Handfulls of brake did nothing to slow my speed, I went from 30km to nothing very fast as I collected a number of rocks and sailed over the bars, sliding to a stop in the grass. (This would have been quite spectacular to watch as a spectator)

A little deflated

After a moment or two laying on my back checking for feeling I sat up to see where I had landed. In some miracle my body had avoided any rocks on the way down(the bike was another story), and the only damage to me was a number of grazes, bruised shoulder & kit full of pointy irritating grass seeds. The bike didn’t fare quite as good but came out a lot better than expected. I blew out both tyres and twisted the bars and all attached cabling backwards. The rims look alright but will need a good inspection this week. The rest of the bike seems to have pulled up ok, save for a few scratches, but thats normal for MTB, (no flimsy roadie frames here ). Also thanks to the fellow racer who stopped to check I was ok, I must have been in a bit of a daze as he triple checked I was ok before continuing on.

Enjoying the Climb

Once I had gathered my brain and put the bike back into shape it was a nice walk down the hill to the carpark. I loaded the broken beast and headed to the finish line to wait for Madrapper. He ended up meeting me half way there and I snapped him loving the climb back up the hill on his final lap. I hang  round the finish and caught up with Nic and a few of the other lads whom had DNFed as well or finished earlier races. We checked out the new season’s stock of Merida bikes and watched some rounds of the State 4X Champs that were also on at the time. Eventually Madrapper came in and we refueled on sausage sizzle and Coke.

A rather disappointing finish to the season, but I will be back next year to improve and hopefully have a  better season. This was the last XC race for the year excepting the Round Tu-it 6hr & Alcoa Dusk til Dawn 12hr in late November. I hope to make the 12hr work permitting and field a team with Madrapper and a few others.

Course & Stats (at least the lap I managed) *Note the sudden drop in speed at the end when crashing but also the sudden spike in HR when I must have been midair. You can also see how off course I ended up.

Latest Dubstep choon!!!

peep game!

http://rulesofculture.com/Trapp/Dj%20Kaneda%20-%20TrappSetter%20(Dubstep)%20-%20Promo.mp3

My students played extremely well yesterday in the Hootenanny Scholastic Tournament in Phoenix against 250 competitors.

Here are some of their results:

Kindergarten Section;

9th place – Nicholas Wells – RSH

14th place – Carlos Alvarado -RSH

15th place – Vibha Amble -RSH

K-3 U600 Section;

6th place – Byron Xu – 2nd grade – ESPKY

7th place – Akshey Mulpuri – 1st grade – RSH

9th place - Mason McCoy – 3rd grade – ESPKY

11th place – Kyle Hueber- 3rd grade – ESPKY

17th place – Alan Lin – 2nd grade – RSH

19th place – Serena Banghar – 1st grade -RSH

Open Section;

2nd place – Logan Kresl – 8th grade -SHEA

Also in the K-3 U600 section my teams took;

1st place – Esperanza Kyrene

2nd place – Ranch Solano Hillcrest

Special mention to the following individuals who came representing their schools without a team:

Carly Borggrebe – 2nd grade – HVBS

Hunter Carradus – 4th grade -DSUN

Maegan Koonce – 4th grade – MADS

I found this band Tame Impala this morning surfin for free tunes and this video with some stellar animation. If you dig these guys also check out rcrd label and I guess I’m Floating for free downloads everyday. Last night I went and saw a free show outside at the Walker art center and it was outta sight. The band was from right here in MPLS, check em out: SOLID GOLD.

Also on an unrelated note, OTB has a fall catalog coming out very shortly with some new products I am stoked about and I am also already planning winter aka SHRED SEASON 09 & 10 and its gonna be epic. I will post that up on here, facebook, the website etc . . . very soon so watch out! Thanks, I hope everyone has had a rad summer, it’s a shame it’s almost over . . .
Peace!

Friday night started the first day of the 6 week super group training. Here we have a lesson, the kids play a tournament game and then we review the game that they played. I have 6 kids in this group and the focus is on how to find good moves.

8/11/09 Phoenix, AZ

1. d4 d5 2. e4 e6 The French Defense God, how much I hate the French 3. Be3 This is the devious Alapin-Diemer  Gambit 3…Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 Alapin-von Gottschall Dresden 1892 5…c5 6. c3 Qb6 6…Nc6 7.Nf3 is normal book line 7. Qb3?! 8.Qd2 protcting b2 and d4 nicely with the threat f5. -Heidenfeld 7…Qxb3 8. axb3 Nc6 9. Nf3 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Bc5!? 11. Bb5 Nxd4 12. cxd4 Bb6 13. Nc3 O-O 14. O-O a6 15. Bd3 Crafty recomended 15.Rfc1 15…f6 16. Kh1 fxe5 17. fxe5 Nb8 Interesting is 17…Rxf3 18.gxf3 Bxd4 18. Ng5 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 g6 20. Rf6? Here I blunder, better is 20.Rf4

20…Bd8 21. Rxe6 Bxe6 22. Nxe6 Nc6! 23. Nxd5 Kf7 24. Nc5?! 24.Ndf4 was recommended by  Crafty 24…Nxd4 25. Nxb7 Ke6 26. Bc4 Crafty recommended 26.Nc3 Kxe5  27.Nxd8 Rxd8 28.Bxa6 26…Kxe5 27. Nc5 Nb5 28. g3 Nd6! And this move finishes the game for me. 0-1  

Played my first otb (over-the-board) rated game in over a year and won easily. Next week is rd 2.

Hope you enjoyed the Lobsterfest.  If you’ve been used to daily updates, get over it.  I probably won’t have internet access for a few days.

I’m headed to Washington DC today with Brian McCandless.  We, along with about 1/2 a dozen or so other riders will make our way back to Pittsburgh over the next few days.  I am on two wheels, but it is a fixie.  I may put a freewheel on the other side if Iget to it, but I’m probably too busy typing to do so.

If you want to party, we’ll be in Pittsburgh on Sunday at Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe at 2pm.  2518 E. Carson St. for those not in the know.

2pm Sunday the 28th.  OTB Bicycle Cafe.  Be there.  We’d love to have you join the celebration.