Ned Storm

I met Chris Barnes the 10-pin bowling champ from the USA. He was a very nice guy and my son and I engaged in a 90-strong contest to beat Chris.

He was a bit off with some bad form at the start but made up for it later with a series of strikes to get a score of 220 which placed him in 5th position.

We played the American style where the players switch sides of the alley each time they bowl.

One guy using an extreme spinning technique was very close to having a perfect game. This technique involved holding the ball in both hands and bowling it rather than using any of the finger slots.

Normally, you grip using at least 3 finger slots, but to get high spin velocity and hence hook, it is easier to remove at least your thumb from the slot. But it strains your wrist so I guess the double-hand grip fixes that problem?

Chris played amongst several people in the first 3 games and the competition was rounded off with a tournament of the best 15 amateurs.

Now Apple are offering a free iPod engraving service when you order a minimum of 50 iPods. These could be used as rewards for outstanding achievement by your best performing employees or given out at conferences where the ipod is pre-loaded with presentation content.

The iPods can be gift wrapped and include a personalized greeting card. This applies to the iPod and iPhone.

The Wii is a great way to destroy your home. It reminds me of my Wood Turning class at school where the teacher told us not to stick a chisel hard into the rotating wood since it may get stuck and be thrown across the room.

The Wii controller is not as dangerous as a chisel but it can break glass such as windows or lamps. So you want to make sure you have plenty of space around you when using your Wii and ensure that the strap is firmly attached to your arm.

Getting over-enthusiastic with a Wii may be a recipe for disaster. Playing indoor sports is not a great idea I think since you are not getting much exercise and not exercising your eyes. They are remaining with a fixed focus so you will end up getting fat and needing glasses if you are not that way already.