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B^4 (Bob’s Birthday Bowling Bash)

3 February 2008 · 2 Comments

For my birthday, my co-workers took me bowling yesterday afternoon. I rode my bike there with Paul, Emil, and Finn. The sun was out and I was able to wear the sunglasses I had bought back in October for the first time! The sun was short lived as it actually began to snow while we were bowling. The snow was just as short lived as it had quit and had completely melted before we finished. It was nice to see the sun again. It seems like it had been a while.

The bowling was fun. It had been a long time since I was last bowling. I don’t think any of the others had ever been bowling. Somethings were pretty amusing. Moritz was able to get the ball down the lane faster than all others. Despite its speed, the ball had an amazing ability to find the gutter fairly consistently and rapidly. He did improve throughout the afternoon. After getting either a strike or a spare, Maren would hold up her arms and do Nixon-like ‘I am not a crook’ signals (complete with the Peace sign using both hands). Torsten had this great ability to knock down 7-9 pins on the first throw – usually a throw that was straight and in the center – and then miss the remaining pins. He just became more and more frustrated with time. At the end of the day, he finally got a spare and you could see the relief. The balls that Emil and Finn bowled always just made it to the pins before the gate would come down. I don’t know how that happened, but it did. My claim to bowling fame?? I made Sina’s baby cry immediately after I started holding it.

Here is a video (about 7 MB) showing Emil bowl. Most of the times, he would throw, roll, or drop the ball, look at it for a few seconds then put his hands on his head, turn around, run back and jump the couch (or me), unable to watch the result. This happened time after time. Pretty funny. In the adjacent lane, you see Moritz bowling. Notice the speed of the ball and the time it takes (or distance down the lane) to find the gutter.

Tags: AWI · holidays · Life · Potsdam

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Paul // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:30

    i want to point out that a 9er bowling ball going at a speed of 34 km/h has a momentum of 38.6 Ns. a 13er bowling ball, however, going at the apparently much lower speed of 27.5 km/h, has a vastly higher momentum, namely 45.1 Ns.

    so, if there were some kind of contest, who should really buy whom a beer?

  • 2 Bob // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:39

    Since it was my birthday, I think I should be able to decide (answer) this question. There is only one (and obvious) answer and it doesn’t include “me” buying. My answer is a rewording of the question – who should really buy ‘me’ a beer?

    Seems logical enough.