Between the years 2014 to 2020, I was heavily active on this website. I posted regularly and it consumed a significant amount of my time and attention.

The topics I wrote about were extremely random. I wrote about politics, sports, word games, music, family life, spiritual issues and even art. I even threw in some fiction and off-beat satire. The only thing these topics had in common is that I was interested in them. Other than that, there’s no reason for them to have been on one website. The pinnacle of this randomness was the review I wrote of a cinnamon danish I bought from a vending machine.

From the beginning, I knew this randomness was not ideal for a blog. On the contrary, it’s better to stay on a specific niche or topic and establish yourself as an expert on that topic.

But I did the opposite and I knew I was doing it. I was all over the place. And I didn’t really care. I enjoyed the writing and the interactions that came from it. It was all good and fun. That is…until my time became extremely limited…to the point where there was no time at all for random writing. Gradually, my posts became more infrequent and I eventually shut it all down. My last post was more than three years ago.

Writing to Woodworking

One of the last articles I posted was about the woodworking business I had created. That business, in addition to my family and full-time job, were the main reasons why I had so little time.

But I was happy to make that trade. I never made any money from writing. Woodworking, on the other hand, was putting real money in my pocket. With minimal marketing effort, I gradually got to the point where I could be as busy as I wanted to be. I could fully occupy my available time with orders that earned me a respectable hourly rate.

The income wasn’t enough to justify leaving my day job. It still isn’t. I’ll elaborate on this in future posts. Nonetheless, the orders and the revenue served my interests quite well. They enabled me to…

• bring in extra income to pay bills (super helpful during hyper inflation)
• acquire new and better tools
• improve and evolve my products, designs and catalog
• establish a successful online profile and reputation
• create a long list of clients who now trust me and my work

Those are some modest yet tangible achievements. I’m proud of them. But the thing I’m most excited about – more so than anything listed above – is the knowledge and experience I gained while doing it all. It’s far more valuable to me than all the money I made in exchange for doing the work.

My plan is to continue full-steam-ahead with this knowledge to advance my woodworking business and also create more businesses. This effort is not the “big new endeavor” I’m referring to in the title of this post. But rather, it refers to my attempt to document my execution of this plan. I’d like to transparently demonstrate what I’m doing and how I’m doing it while articulating the thoughts that lead to my actions.

Documenting the Journey

All that to say…I’ll be posting regularly on this website again. But not with the random aimlessness with which I always posted before. No more satirical commentaries or silly fiction (although those were so much fun!). Instead, I will hone in and focus on my entrepreneurial efforts

This is the right time to mention that I don’t consider myself an expert on these topics, nor will I present myself as one. Of course, I certainly know more about this stuff than those who aren’t doing it at all. To them, I may appear to be an expert. And there may be some entrepreneurs out there who are at different stages of the journey. Maybe they’re just getting started or they don’t know how to start. Something I post here may help them along their way.

I don’t want to falsely imply that I’m doing this with purely altruistic motives. Obviously, I do hope that others get something out of this content. But I must honestly acknowledge that I also need to gain something from it. What will I gain from the time and energy I set aside to share my thoughts here? Whether that means clients, orders or subscribers…I don’t know. But it must provide me with some kind of return…otherwise I just can’t afford to do it. But I’ll figure that out later.

What’s clear to me now, as it always has been, is that I need to chronicle this effort in one way or another. I have to get these thoughts and actions on paper or on a screen … even if I don’t share it with anyone. That’s just the way I’m wired. Writing organizes everything in my mind and it helps me to align my efforts with my priorities.

Pivoting to the Goal

As for those priorities, they’re all aimed at one set of goals; build successful businesses, create wealth and make a significant impact in the lives of those who join me in this journey.

There’s obviously so much to learn from those who have already succeeded, from those who already walked this path and achieved these goals. But I would suggest there’s an entirely separate value in watching someone who’s still on the path … someone who’s still trying to make it.

I recently read a biography about Elon Musk. And yeah…it was super interesting. It tells you everything he did and how he got to where he is today, great. But it’s all written from the present-day perspective in which you and I and everyone else knows who Musk is and what he’s done. How interesting would it have been to read Musk’s personal blog from 1995 to 2005 and then see him rise over time to where he is today? I’m not sure if he wrote journals or chronicled any of those years but what a treasure they would be if he did.

I miss writing. I spent the last three years building my products and selling them…hundreds of them. I wrote very little about it. Aside from my wife, hardly anyone knew what I was doing or what I was aiming for. At times, not even I was aware of what I was aiming for. I was just doing it. And I could very well spend the next three years doing the same thing.

In the last year, however, I came to the realization that something has to change in a big way. My present routine won’t get me to where I need to be. I have a corporate job from 8 to 5 (which I like). I have a family (I like them too). And as I mentioned, I also have the woodworking business on the side for which I’m very grateful. It’s all good…I’m very blessed.

But the current outlay of my time won’t get me to my above-mentioned goals. A drastic change is in the works. I’m not ready to reveal it all now. But if you’re interested in what’s next, that’s a good reason to occasionally check in here and follow along.

The post A Big New Endeavor appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

Everyone’s expecting her to use this weekend to make it all come together, to make things right. And perhaps she should. That would be the responsible, adult-like thing to do. But enough is enough. Exhausted and confused, a small thought came to mind as she fumbled for her car keys in the parking garage;

get away…far away.

By the time she arrived to her neighborhood, the decision was already made. She would go inside, throw some clothes in a bag along with a toothbrush and her journal. The life-controlling laptop which always accompanied her was notably not invited to wherever she was going. There would be no point in going far away if that device came with her.

Far Away

Everything she was doing was counter-intuitive. Her tired body was pleading for her to flop on the couch and recover some of the sleep she had missed throughout the week.

But she knew exactly how that kind of evening would play out. She’d wake up sometime around midnight…disoriented, hungry and still wearing the clothes she put on 20 hours prior. Upon getting up and walking to the fridge, she would see a dozen reminders of things she needed to do. And she would spend the wee hours of Saturday morning trying to do them.

Not this time. Not this weekend.

As she headed east on the freeway, the tall buildings of the city gave way to the complex piping of the refineries. Beyond the industrial maze, metallic structures gave way to wooden fences, open fields and seagulls. She was close.

As she crossed the bridge which brought her to the island, she opened the car window to take in the sea air. By now it was getting dark. She briefly made arrangements over the phone with Gabriela, the owner of the cottage where she planned to stay. It was called Haven By The Sea. She remembered going there a long time ago with her folks when she was a little girl.

Haven By The Sea

She always thought the word “haven” on the sign was a misspelling of “heaven.” Every time she and the family went there, she referred to it as “Heaven by the Sea” because it certainly was beautiful and heavenly. Not only did her parents not correct her, but they also called it “Heaven by the Sea.”

She figured the owner of the cottage was just lazy and didn’t want to fix the sign. Years later in a classroom, she learned that a haven is a place of safety or refuge, a place to escape to. From then on, that’s the way she thought of that cottage. She went there all alone on several occasions when life was giving her more than she could handle.

Only once did she bring a friend along to her little getaway. That was a mistake. Her friend didn’t appreciate the serenity of the location, but instead wanted to visit a local bar and meet people. That’s not what this place is for, she thought. This is a place to rest.

Gabriela knew why the busy young woman repeatedly stayed at the Haven. She knew to leave a couple of extra pillows and a big thick blanket on the bed. She knew to leave breakfast on the table outside the door no earlier than 11am. And she knew that no daily housekeeping in the room would be necessary.

It’ll All Have to Wait

The young woman entered the cottage and found it exactly as she expected. A little card on the nightstand simply said “Welcome Back.” She lowered her belongings onto the bench by the door and began to undress. The hot shower with heavy water pressure was luxurious. And she would’ve appreciated it even more if she wasn’t so tired and weak.

With her hair still wrapped in a towel, she pulled back the covers, got beneath them and pulled them back over her. Every movement was exhausting. She was totally spent, but there was no place on earth where she’d rather be.

Every concern and every decision would have to wait. Every email that awaited a reply would have to go unanswered. The only thing on the agenda for the next several hours was sleep. And there may be even more sleep on tomorrow’s schedule.

Her problems pressed on her mind as she pressed her head into the thick pillow. As urgent and critical as they were, she was done and could do no more. If the long, quiet drive out to the coast didn’t clear her mind, it certainly wasn’t going to happen during these last few moments of the night. Tomorrow, she thought…it’ll all have to wait until tomorrow.

A New Day

It took awhile for her to remember where she was and why she was there. It was cold in the room. She was too tired last night to even think of setting the heater. But it was plenty warm under the thick blankets, under which she’d hardly moved throughout the night.

It was a beautiful morning, although a little overcast. The tranquil sounds of the ocean and a few squawking birds was all she could hear. She likely had many missed calls on her phone and people wondering where she was. Everything she should’ve done yesterday had carried over to today. But at least she was rested and in a beautiful place.

The room had a heater, but she went ahead and lit up a log in the fireplace instead. The crackling sounds of the burning wood mixed perfectly with the distant waves and birds. With the blankets from the bed still bundled around her, she made a cup of tea and brought it to the couch by the window which overlooked the sea. She put her pens and journal on the old rustic coffee table. It had a worn, distressed style because it had actually been used and distressed over the years.

The sun was out there somewhere, but you couldn’t see it. The clouds had full reign over the sky this morning, spraying misty cold rain here and there. It was the perfect weather for cozy contemplation on the couch.

She scribbled a few thoughts in her journal, nothing too significant. But the words eventually poured forth in one affirming statement after another;

“It’s ok to not have all the answers.”

“I don’t have to accept other people’s panic and emergencies.”

“I don’t have to make this decision until I’m ready and sure.”

“Everything’s gonna be alright.”

The Sun Is Out There Somewhere

Somehow, these reassuring statements were making a difference deep in the heart of this young woman as she lounged around in her haven by the sea. They didn’t solve any of her problems. They didn’t alleviate the pressure that was coming from friends, family members and her fiance. But repeating these phrases effectively reset the mentality of her soul. She would no longer make any decisions from the urgency of all her deadlines. Instead, with a clear head, she would patiently explore every option from a place of security. No decision would be made until she had the peace and faith to move forward. All the plans would have to be delayed, postponed or cancelled otherwise.

The tea had warmed her on the inside, but it was still too cold in the room to do anything else but lay by the fire. She sent a few text messages to her most important people, assuring them she was ok. And then she fell asleep again. She knew she had a hundred things to do. But since the sun was in no hurry to make an appearance on this lazy day, she figured she also had permission to remain out of sight.

Rise & Shine

The extra sleep made a difference. She needed it. It was the really deep kind of rest that recalibrates the soul and makes it easier to breathe. She ate a little from the breakfast that Gabriela had left by the door. It was still a little warm under its silver cover.

She still hadn’t walked along the beach, as she usually did. She hadn’t even gone outside. But she could no longer avoid the to-do list that was waiting for her. The sun was finally up and about, shining through the window. First things first, she made another cup of tea and sat at the long kitchen table. She soaked in the warm rays of the sun.

She dutifully opened her schedule and laid out the priorities from highest to lowest. There was no way of crossing tasks off this list without making a few phone calls. They wouldn’t be easy. But at least now she wasn’t dreading it.

There was warmth and peace in her body, in her mind and throughout her soul. She was several steps closer to being the confident young woman she knew she was. She simply had to get away from everything for a while and recover in her refuge…her haven by the sea.

The post Haven by the Sea – A Short Story appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

There’s no way I could’ve established or maintained a real woodworking business with such an inconvenient setup. There I was, applying polyurethane out in the open wind with flies and mosquitoes landing on my work. Everything was always dirty. It was a big unworkable mess.

But then in March of 2018, I got an incredible job offer in Houston. I accepted the offer and moved there with my family. Months later, my wife and I found and bought a house we liked in Pearland, just south of Houston.

A Blank Slate

There’s a lot that we like about our new home. But the only part of the house that matters in this post is the 1-car garage. I’m gradually making it into a fully functional workshop. And the purpose of this post is to chronicle the evolution of this garage from a simple, empty space to the workplace I need it to be. Here it is when I moved in…just a bunch of paint and materials from the previous owner and a few of my tools. It’s a blank slate with unlimited potential.

At first glance, I’m sure you’ve already noticed a few things which make this garage an ideal working environment. First of all, it has nicely painted walls with insulation behind them. This is critical during the hot summer and the cold winter. It won’t be any fun to work in this garage if it’s uncomfortable. The window in the back will help with ventilation.

Also, as you can see, it’s a deep garage. It’s only 8 feet wide, but it extends more than 24 feet from the front to the back. That amounts to 200 sqft of floor space and 1600 cubic feet…and I intend to maximize every bit of it.

A Humble Beginning

I have big plans for this space and I’m really excited about it. In this post, I’ll chronicle the development of this garage from this humble beginning to whatever it becomes. The most recent updates will appear at the bottom. In September, I filed the paperwork for Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Company. Click here to read about the ongoing development of this new business.

As for this post, this is all about my workshop. I’ll lay out my plans, list my tools and honestly explain what’s working and not working. I still have some considerable tool purchases to make. But as I make those purchases and build work stations in this garage, I’ll faithfully update this post with pictures and a summary of all that I did.

I understand that maybe only woodworkers will be interested in a post like this one. But that’s ok with me. I understand woodworkers because I’m one of them. And it’s only after spending hundreds of hours alone on projects that you can begin to understand the importance of a proper workspace. Thanks for joining me on this journey. I’d appreciate your feedback. Feel free to comment down below.

The Evolution of My Woodworking Shop

July 2018 – Although it’s incredibly hot and uncomfortable here in Pearland this summer, nothing can dampen my enthusiasm for making this garage into a super-productive woodworking shop. Since we just moved in a few weeks ago, however, there are many little projects I must attend to first.

I went ahead and bought a $400 Honda lawnmower at Home Depot. It’s the first lawnmower I’ve ever purchased. There were others that were cheaper. But I figured I’d go ahead and get a good one, take good care of it make it last a long time. $400 is nothing when you consider the cost of paying for a lawn service month after month, year after year.

The real drawback to owning a lawnmower, aside from the maintenance and the price, is that it takes up so much space. I can’t put it on a shelf or hang it on the wall. It occupies 10 square feet of the limited floor space I have in this garage. As a result of this, I’m already thinking about building some kind of shed in the backyard that would hold the lawnmower and other big items for the lawn. Although I’d like to own a wheelbarrow, for example, there’s no way I’m going to keep one in this garage.

First Project

Critical project #1 is to build some kind of shelving for our master closet, which currently has nothing; no shelves, no rod, no paint. When I get a chance, I’ll write a post about that project (here’s the post).

It’s actually good to do a couple of projects in a garage where nothing is set up. It slowly reveals the arrangement that’s going to make the most sense. For now, I put my sawhorses against one of the long walls and laid some 2 x 12 boards on them. And then I hung a bright light above it. That’s my setup so far. It’ll probably change 100 times.

Free Wood!!

Wow, great news for me. It turns out that a lot of wood is thrown away where I work. The thing is…lots of parts and equipment arrive to our facility on pallets or in crates. They end up reusing a lot of it, but most of it just gets thrown away. Therefore, if I see material in the dumpster that I can use, I’m free to take it. Oh man, this is great. Several times already, I’ve brought material home that would easily cost more than $50 if I bought it at the store.

Of course, some of the wood is loaded with nails and have been exposed to the sun and rain for a long time. But that’s perfectly fine with me. Some of the stuff I plan to build will specifically require worn material. Check out this awesome crate they gave me:

Too Much Free Wood

Oh man, I sorta got carried away with all the free wood at work. It’s now taking up a huge section of the garage and it’s in my way. Ironically, because I’m spending so much time removing nails from these boards, I don’t have any time to build anything with all this free wood. I guess I’ll have to hold off on bringing more wood home.

If I see more great pieces in the dumpster at work, however, I won’t resist taking it home. It’s simply impossible for a woodworker to refuse good, free wood. If you can’t relate, imagine seeing a $20 bill on the other side of the street. It’s inconvenient for you to cross the street, but you’re gonna do it anyway. Twenty dollars is twenty dollars! And when I see awesome wood in the trash, I see dollar bills!

The post The Evolution of My Woodworking Shop (My Garage) appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

I now have a garage to work in, a luxury that many woodworkers take for granted. It’s only a one-car garage, but you won’t hear any complaints from me. I love being in my new workshop. I’ve already made a total mess in there. I love it!

During my last two years in Florida, I set up two other businesses which had nothing to do with woodworking. Due to some complex reasons, however, I was never able to launch them. I have LLC’s, bank accounts, websites and social media accounts for those two businesses, but no clients. Honestly, I didn’t even try. I was reluctant to do any marketing for those businesses because…if I had gotten a client for either one of them, I would’ve been locked into a commitment of maintaining a service for those clients.

While I was still deciding what I was going to do with those businesses, a new job opportunity in Houston fell into my lap and everything changed. We’re now settled into our new house and I work in the garage whenever I have free time. The creative bug within me is alive and thriving with new ideas. Of course, Aniela has several projects for me to work on for the house (see Master Closet Makeover). But aside from all that, I’m chomping at the bit to make stuff and sell it. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do with my new business; Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts. Co.

My Woodworking Business

Unlike the two businesses that I started in Florida, I’m a whole lot more qualified and capable of running a woodworking business. The garage enables me to make furniture, wall décor, crafts and other creative items which I can sell all over the internet. I’m only limited by my creativity and my willingness to put in the work.

I’ve already put a lot of thought into the steps I would take to establish this business. I recently began to take a few of those steps.

First things first, I had to figure out a name for the new business. Once the name is settled, all other decisions and setup steps would flow. Perhaps by default, I considered “JAG Woodworks” or some other variation which uses my initials. I went ahead and purchased the domain jagwoodworks.com.

JAG Woodworks?

Later on, however, when I checked to see if “jagwoodworks” was available as a username on the major social media platforms, I was surprised to find at least half a dozen businesses on Facebook that are using the name “JAG Woodworks” or some variation of it. None of them appeared to be very successful and most appeared to be inactive. If my business became the success that I plan for it to become, I could easily stand apart from that group.

But then again, I simply don’t want a name that so many other businesses already have. So I let go of the idea of using “JAG.” And now that I think about it, JAG is simply too impersonal and ambiguous.

Harmony Woodworks?

For about a minute, I considered using a phrase which doesn’t include my name at all, something like “Harmony Woodworks.” Many years ago, I considered “StrongCraft Company of Texas” when I was thinking about forming a woodworking business.

But those impersonal names just don’t feel right. I’m certainly not going to sweat and slave all evening in the garage for “Harmony Woodworks.” I had to get back to my name somehow. But how? Namechk.com is usually where I go to research the availability of names for websites and social media platforms. After trying a few combinations of “Joseph,” “woodworking,” “woodworks” and even “crafts,” I finally realized that the right name was right under my nose; “Joseph’s Woodwork.”

Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Company!!

I don’t want to lose you in the details, but the arrival to this name was a big breakthrough for me. First of all, obviously, Joseph is my name. Names are important whereas initials are not. Adding the apostrophe and “s” to “Joseph” creates a possessive quality in the name which conveys that this is “Joseph’s business” and these products are the result of “Joseph’s work.” This makes it personal, human and approachable. There isn’t a machine out there that’s spitting out these products. On the contrary, they’re handcrafted by a real person…and his name is Joseph.

And now that I’ve added an “s” to Joseph, dropping the “s” from “woodworks” is another important detail. “Woodwork” alone implies a plurality of products in the same way that “Dow Chemical” implies that they work with a variety of chemicals. And then when I realized I wanted to add “& Crafts Co.” to the name of my business, it became essential to leave the “s” off of “Woodwork”. Otherwise, there would be too many ‘esses’.

Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Co. is the resulting title of the business and I’m very happy with it. I already went ahead and secured a corresponding username on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Etsy and eBay. I already bought the domain josephswoodwork.com and started working on it (click here to visit the site).

The next thing to do is get an LLC and a bank account so I can properly accept payments via Stripe and PayPal. I’m excited :)

I’m in Business!!

9/7/18 – I got the LLC from the Brazoria County Clerk’s Office on Tuesday and I just got my EIN number from the IRS today. I still need a bank account, but aside from that, this business has officially begun! Oh I’m so excited about it. I cannot wait to start making products that I can sell. I have hundreds of ideas for products.

The post Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Co. appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

In the top of the 9th inning, with the Astros trailing 1-0, Marwin Gonzalez hit a 3-run homer off reliever Will Smith to give the Astros a 3-1 lead. Reliever Hector Rondon entered the game and finished off the Giants in the bottom of the 9th. Rondon got the save. Osuna got the win. Morton got a “no-decision.” Here’s the box score for the Astros’ pitchers;

Looking at it another way, the guy who threw 5 pitches in 1 inning gets all the credit for winning a game in which another man threw 97 pitches over 7 innings. Why? Because he just happened to be the active pitcher before Gonzalez drove in the go-ahead runs. And if you think that doesn’t make sense or that it doesn’t seem fair, I’d agree. In this post, I’ll suggest a few significant changes to the way wins, losses and saves are attributed in baseball so that credit is properly given where credit is due. The goal is to make these stats better reflect who was responsible for what happened.

27 OUTS

To win a baseball game, you have to score more runs than the other team and get them out 27 times. The first 3 outs are just as important as the last 3 outs and all the outs in-between. Any of the pitchers you use in a game can give up a bunch of runs and make it impossible for your team to win.

But if all your pitchers do their part in suppressing the opponent’s offense in a winning effort, I suggest that the credit for that collaborative effort should be shared among them all. In other words, the win should be split among the pitchers who earned it.

Splitting the Win

Charlie Morton deserves .777 of the credit for the Astros’ win in the above-mentioned game. He pitched 7 of the 9 innings and collected 21 of the 27 outs. Therefore, I’d say he deserves .777 of the win. Osuna and Rondon, who both pitched 1 inning and collected 3 outs apiece, should both get .111 of the win (1 divided by 9). The addition of Morton’s .777, Osuna’s .111 and Rondon’s .111 is .9999, or in other words, 1 win for the team. Here’s the box score again with an extra column which shows the breakdown of the win;

This is the fairest, most accurate and sensible way to attribute wins to pitchers. The current rule, though long-established and accepted, is nonetheless arbitrary and disproportionate. There’s no justification for giving the full win to the guy who pitched only 1 inning. If the guys who pitched before and after him had not gotten their outs and kept their team in the game, the one-inning pitcher would’ve gotten nothing but a little exercise.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

In every other area of baseball, the old and new old statistics are clearly designed to give proper credit where credit is due. If a reliever comes into a game with men on base, the previous pitcher is on the hook for those baserunners, not the incoming reliever. If they score, those earned runs (ER) are attributed to the guy who let them get on base, not the reliever who was brought in to get the team out of a jam. That’s fair.

Wins Above Replacement

One of the newer, more nuanced stats is WAR (Wins Above Replacement). It reflects the number of additional wins that a team has achieved above the number of expected wins they would have if the player in question were substituted with a regular Joe Schmo who also plays that position. Look up the WAR stat on Wikipedia and you’ll find that this daunting formula is how a player’s WAR is calculated;

Wins Above Replacement formula (Wikipedia)

First all, this formula is ridiculous. It takes me back to my quantitative analysis courses in college. Only a computer could ever figure it out. But the more important thing to consider is that this new stat and several others reveal a genuine interest in baseball to truly evaluate a player’s individual performance and his contribution to the team. So therefore, it’s very surprising to me in this hyper-conscious era of stats and Sabermetrics that we’re still wrongly accounting for something as important as wins and losses.

The current system certainly does provide a rough idea of who deserves credit for a win and who deserves blame for a loss. A pitcher who wins 20 games clearly had an awesome season. But why should we settle for “rough ideas” in our measurements when a fairer, more accurate way of determining wins and losses is right there in front of us? It’s been under our noses the whole time.

A Winning Formula: IP / 9

Wins should be calculated by this simple formula: IP / 9 (the number of innings a pitcher pitched divided by 9 or the total number of innings played). Or you could divide the number of outs he got by 27 or the total number of outs achieved in an extra-innings game.

As I alluded above, there may be several “winning pitchers” in one game. But that one win will be proportionally divided among them according to how many outs they achieved. After all, outs are the valued output of a pitcher. Batters are all about hits, runs, RBI’s, etc. But as for pitchers, they want to strike them out, ground them out and fly them out. Outs are what matters.

The winning pitchers will each collect a percentage of a win. For example, the guy who pitched 6 innings gets .667 of the win. The guy who got the next 5 outs gets .182 on the win (5 divided by 27 total outs) and the guy who got the last 4 outs and ended the game gets .148 of the win (4 divided by 27 total outs). Once again, add up their percentages and they amount to 1. Pitching all the innings in a complete game is the only way for a pitcher to get full credit for the win.

Starting pitchers will obviously accumulate the most wins throughout the season because they pitch the most innings. On the other hand, relief pitchers will pick up little portions of the wins here and there…depending on how many outs they get. At first glance, this may seem unfair to relievers. They will certainly accumulate fewer wins in my proposed system than they do in the current system. But this change underscores the basis for the new system; relief pitchers don’t deserve full credit for a win.

Although relievers may not like a system in which they’re unable to collect as many wins as they did before, they will certainly like my suggested changes to the way that saves are allocated.

How Are Saved Determined in Baseball?

The current method for determining who gets the save (S) in a baseball game is even more convoluted than determining who gets the win. Here are all the conditions a pitcher must meet to earn a save;

1. He must be the team’s last pitcher of the game
2. But not the winning pitcher
3. He must get at least one guy out
4. He meets one of the following conditions;
   a. He enters the game with a lead of 3 runs or less and pitches for 1 inning
   b. He enters the game with the potential tying run on base, at bat or on deck
   c. He pitches at least 3 innings

What a convoluted mess. I’m willing to bet that even the most ardent baseball fans couldn’t name all these conditions if you asked them to. Aside from how confusing it is to determine who gets the save in the current system, the bigger problem again is that it doesn’t properly allocate credit to the pitchers who protected the lead and wrapped up the game.

post continues below pic

Look at this picture. Look at these brave strangers who formed a human chain and worked together to rescue a dog from the bayou. Tell me…who saved that dog? Was it only the last guy who physically held onto the dog? Or don’t you think that everyone else in the chain deserves a portion of the credit for saving that poor animal? That’s certainly the way I see it. And that’s exactly the way I think that saves should be attributed in baseball. Click here to watch the full video of the dog’s rescue…it’s an awesome display of humanity.

Saving the Game = Protecting the Lead

After your team takes the lead in a game, from then on, you are protecting that lead. I’ll call this the “save period.” You get a few outs, the next guy gets a few outs and the last guy closes out the game. Your portion of the save, in my opinion, should be determined by dividing the number of outs you achieved by the total number of outs it took to protect the lead and finish the game.

If somewhere along the way you lose the lead, the save you were working for is obviously blown and your team must try again to reclaim the lead. And once it does, a new save period starts. Only the pitchers who get outs in the save period will get a portion of the save.

So let’s say your offense gives you a 6-1 lead in the top of the 6th. You take the mound in the bottom of the 6th and you get all 3 guys out. A “setup reliever” takes over for you in the bottom of the 7th and also pitches the 8th. And let’s say he allowed a few runs so now the score is 6-5. Your team is still protecting the same lead. Then a closer comes in and get the last 3 outs. Here’s my suggested division of the game’s save:

.250 for you for getting 3 of the 12 outs in the save period
.500 for the setup reliever for getting 6 of the 12 outs
.250 for the closer for getting the last 3 outs of the save period

A Save Is a Team Effort

Once again, add up the portions and you get a total of 1 save. After all, a save is a team effort. And therefore, the save statistic should accurately reflect that reality of the game.

If you’re still reading this long post, I’m sure you’ve already figured that my suggested changes to wins and saves could result in a scenario where one pitcher gets a portion of the win AND ALSO a portion of the save. This of course could never happen in the current system. But my reply is this; why not? If we’re just looking at the meaning of these terms, it’s perfectly accurate to say that one pitcher contributed to the win and also protected the lead.

Sharing the L

Well, I’ve come this far in my suggested overhaul of baseball pitching statistics. I might as well go all the way and suggest a change in how losses are determined. If my other suggested changes are any indication, you already know what I’m going to say; losses should be shared by the pitchers who gave up runs. That’s it.

If you lose 1-0 and you’re the pitcher who gave up the 1 run, then the full loss is on you. But if you give up 1 run in a game in which 10 runs are scored against your team, you should get only .100 of the loss. The terrible pitcher who gave up 8 of those runs will get .800 of the loss. Someone else will get the last .100

The loss shouldn’t fall on just one pitcher. It should fall proportionately on all the pitchers who allowed the runs which caused the team to lose. Let’s say a starting pitcher comes out of a game with his team down 2-1. He allowed those two runs. But then the next guy comes in and allows 5 more runs. So the score is now 7-1. Obviously, it’s going to be hard to overcome this 6-run deficit. But let’s say they put a few hits together and get a few runs, but not enough to win. The final score is 7-6.

In the current system, the starting pitcher will get the full loss even though he allowed only 2 of the 7 runs. The reliever who allowed 5 runs is mostly responsible for this loss, but this fact won’t be reflected whatsoever in the game summary. This is neither fair nor accurate. In my proposed system, the starting pitcher would get .286 of the loss (2 divided by 7) and the reliever would get .714 of the loss (5 divided by 7).

Number Lovers

Don’t even try to tell me these percentages are cumbersome or hard to keep track of. Are you kidding me? Baseball is a goldmine for statisticians and number lovers. Regular fans like myself and the managers of fantasy teams pour over these numbers with enthusiasm and delight. Why? Because for the most part, baseball stats tell a story. They indicate who is doing what. Who’s performing well, who’s in a slump, who’s a detriment to his team and who’s a contributor to his team.

And of course, baseball stats allow us to compare. This is the never-ending joy of baseball fans and talk-show hosts…debating who was better. How does Ted Williams’ .344 batting average compare to Tony Gwynn’s .338? We fixate on leaderboards. Nolan Ryan has the most strikeouts (5,714) while Randy Johnson is a distant second at 4,875.

But the lifetime and in-season tallies of wins, losses and saves has never seemed quite right. We know they’re not right. One guy often gets too much credit or too much blame while other guys who affected the game get nothing.

Recalculating the Past

The great thing about my proposed system is that it could be retroactively implemented to the beginning of baseball…or to whenever baseball stats were started. We can just as easily apply my system to a game played in 1918 as we can to a game in 2018… so long as we have the box score. And if a person or a computer were to take on the daunting task of converting all of baseball’s past to this new system, I believe we’d get a more-accurate view of the history of pitching in this wonderful game.

To me, the need for this change is very obvious. It’s so apparent that I’m sure I’m not the only person to have proposed it. However, I’ll say with perfect honesty that all the thoughts and ideas I proposed in this post are my own. They originated from my own observations after 4 decades of watching baseball, collecting baseball cards, comparing stats and thinking about the game.

As for the name of this new system, I suppose it could be called Merit-Based Pitching Statistics until a better name is determined. Unfortunately, I have little hope that the MBPS will ever be used in a league which is so slow and reluctant to change. If it took MLB so long to accept interleague play, they might never get around to implementing the radical ideas I’ve suggested here. But they should.

The post RETHINKING WINS, LOSSES & SAVES IN BASEBALL appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

Just to be clear, the decision wasn’t due to any problem I have with the game itself. As I mentioned, it’s a fun, challenging game with short-term and long-term goals to achieve. A player must have great racing skills to add new cars to his personal garage. I have 56. And then it takes months, or perhaps even years, of adding parts and materials to those cars before they reach their maximum level of performance.

And even with a maxed-out Koenigsegg CCX or a Ferrari LaFerrari, you’re still gonna get smoked by some kid who has all the time in the world to perfect his racing skills.

Lots of players whine and complain like sissy boys to the game developers that the game is unfair, too hard or too expensive. But I have no such complaints. The developers (Firemonkeys & Electronic Arts) made a fun game with brilliant graphics. They regularly come out with updates, challenges and new cars. They reasonably try to make money with in-game purchases which can expedite the development of your cars. I spent an average of $10 per month on this game.

It’s Not You, Need For Speed No Limits, It’s Me

It’s not you, Need For Speed No Limits, it’s me. My reasons for quitting the game are based on my own issues. And I had these issues long before I ever started playing your game. The main thing is that I just don’t have time for games. Of course, there are plenty of short moments throughout the day – on the train or in the bathroom – when it’s perfectly harmless to pull out the phone and play around with a few apps.

But never in my life have I ever limited my gameplay to those short moments. I get super-obsessive with my games. In the ’80s it was Super Mario Brothers and Mike Tyson’s Punchout. And then it was Madden NFL and other sports games in the ’90s. In recent years it’s been word games like Scrabble and Words With Friends. And in the last 19 months it’s been this racing game. I get compulsive over my games. I steal time and attention away from important tasks to get better at playing. And I don’t even bother trying to impose limits on how much I play because I know I won’t stay within those limits. The name of this racing game is literally No Limits.

Another post you may like

Gaming Addiction

From ’02 to ’04, my roommate had an Xbox in our apartment. Imagine you’re addicted to crack and your roommate leaves crack rocks, pipes and lighters all over the coffee table…that’s kinda what it was like for me to have a game console in my home. Of course, my roommate and our friends played responsibly. They played Halo, but only when we were all together. I never was too good at Halo, so I never really got into it.

But one day I found myself alone at a GameStop (big mistake). Next thing I know, I was walking out the door with an Xbox version of MVP Baseball 2004 (Albert Pujols on the cover). I knew I shouldn’t have bought that game. I knew that I wouldn’t control it. And I knew that the game would suck my time into a vortex of wastefulness.

But I bought it anyway. And unlike my responsible friends who played socially on the weekends, I played all alone, every night…often late into the night. I played entire baseball seasons which included 162 games each. No one was using the term “gaming addiction” back then. But I knew I had a problem.

And the problem wasn’t just that I was wasting time. Compulsive gaming really messed with my head and weakened me morally. When you spend countless hours ignoring the conviction to stop doing something, it gets easier and easier to ignore convictions in general. And then you eventually don’t hear or feel those convictions anymore. No one ever leaves a gaming binge with more discipline or more self-control than they had before the binge. Gaming was eroding me from the inside.

Smart Phone, Dumb Guy

After that time in my life, I bought a few games and game consoles. But I always eventually gave them away or threw them away. I just couldn’t handle them. And then smartphones got smarter. In 2007, Electronic Arts had an excellent version of Scrabble for Blackberry phones…and I played the hell out of it. My addictive device was no longer at the house, next to the TV, waiting for me to come home and play it. No…it was in my pocket all day long. I often played more than 20 games of Scrabble a day. And make no mistake…I became a pretty good player with a highly-developed vocabulary.

But once again, I was wasting away on a frivolous game. Phones got even better and so did the apps. I transitioned to Words With Friends along with most Scrabble players and I played it like it was my job…for years.

And if that wasn’t enough, I ended up joining a Words With Friends community in which we played an endless number of tournaments. I eventually created a Words With Friends league of my own which became so time-consuming to maintain that I no longer had any time to play the game itself.

Something’s Gotta Give

I got married 3 years ago and became a father 3 months ago. I work a full-time job with a long commute and run a business on the side. Plus, I maintain multiple websites and write regular blog posts (like this one you’re reading) on my personal site. I also read books and listen to audiobooks.

Yet somehow, on top of all that (and my undiagnosed addiction to Twitter), I still managed to work in a few dozen races on Need For Speed No Limits EVERY SINGLE DAY. I literally don’t remember the last time I went a whole day without playing it. It has become – in every sense of the word – an idol in my life. All the time I’ve spent playing that game – countless hours – if I had spent that time doing something productive instead, I’d already be an expert at it. Unfortunately, I wasted all those hours and now I’m just “pretty good” at racing imaginary cars.

And if there wasn’t already enough activity jammed into my weekly routine, I started working out again a few weeks ago. I’ve been going to the gym almost every day lately. I already feel better and look better. If I don’t make it to the gym before work, I go during lunch. And as I sit there doing one repetition after another, one singular thought keeps going through my mind:

Something’s gotta give

I gotta cut an unimportant thing out of my life in order to free up more time for the important stuff. And I needed exactly zero seconds to figure out what I should cut; Need For Speed: No Limits. But you and I both know that habits aren’t easily changed and addictions aren’t easily abandoned. Or are they?

What If…

Last week, I was on a Need For Speed: No Limits forum, reading and writing about racing strategies (don’t judge me). I figured out a smart way to maximize an All-Access Pass during which you can acquire a ton of parts and materials for your cars. The trick is that you’d have to activate the pass at a specific time on a specific day. Also, the pass lasts for only one hour, so you’d have to complete dozens of races during that hour to pull this off. It wouldn’t be easy. You literally cannot be distracted or do anything else but race during that hour.

For about a day, I thought about when I should try it and whether or not I could do it. And then…this past Sunday…in the afternoon while brushing my teeth, a series of hypothetical questions came to mind;

“What if…instead of doing this thing with the All-Access Pass…what if…instead of doing it…you just DIDN’T do it?”

This thought made no sense to me because I fully intended to maximize an All-Access Pass and I already had one that I could use. And then another question came to mind;

“What if…instead of continuing to play this game on a regular basis…instead of continuing to do that…what if you just sorta stopped playing it altogether?”

Again, I had already dismissed the question as soon as I thought it. In fact, I actually started a race. It was going to be my first race of the All-Access Pass which I had just activated. I had one hour to play it and no time to waste. The thought of walking away from the game was still on my mind. But in the meantime, I figured I would knock out these races and think about quitting at a later time. But then, in the middle of that first race, the last question came to mind:

“What if you didn’t even finish this race? Also, what if…instead of thinking about quitting this game in the future…what if you have already raced your last race? What if…right now, you’re already done with this game and you never play it again?”

Already Done

I thought about it for a second or two as I raced a Dodge Viper around the sharp corners. And then, quite suddenly, my decision was made. I purposely crashed the Viper into a wall. The 3 cars I was leading flew past me towards the finish line. I pressed the settings button and quit the race instead of finishing it. Therefore, that wasn’t my last completed race. My last completed race, which I don’t remember, was sometime earlier that day.

I was done. Entirely resolved to never play NFSNL again, I removed the game from my phone. I even unfollowed @NFSNL on Twitter so that I wouldn’t be reminded of it again. The 56 cars in my virtual garage…which took me hundreds of hours to earn and maintain…will simply sit there collecting virtual dust.

Deep down, this abrupt, final decision is what I wanted and needed. I just didn’t think I could do it…didn’t think I could quit cold turkey. Several times this week, I’ve had the impulse to pull out my phone and race. But when I look at my home screen, the NFSNL icon is no longer there. And I didn’t fill that spot with another app. I just left it empty to serve as a reminder than I can do something else – anything else – with all the time I was about to waste.

Gamer Productive Person

Every moment of this week when I would’ve been racing, I used that time instead to write this post. Instead of developing a meaningless garage full of imaginary cars, I created something permanent which might encourage or help someone. That possibility makes me happy…happier than I’ve ever been while playing a game. And if you would comment below with your thoughts about this post…or if you mentioned how it relates to you, that would make me happy too. Thanks for stopping by :)

Why I Quit Playing Need For Speed No Limits by Joseph Gonzales

The post Why I Quit Playing Need For Speed: No Limits appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

The greatest batters in baseball history are those who successfully got a hit on 30% of their at bats. In other words, for every 10 times they came up to bat, they succeeded 3 times and failed 7 times. Nonetheless, in spite of that frequent rate of failure, these hitters are celebrated and are usually inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Baseball’s best hitter of all time is Ty Cobb, whose batting average was .366 over 24 seasons.

This aspect of baseball has always been encouraging to me and many others because it underscores that no one is immune to failure. Even the best among us frequently fail, lose, get rejected, strike out and wipe out. In fact, the argument is often made that people become successful because of their many failures. The following quote is attributed to Michael Jordan, who is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Failure Is Part of the Process

These dynamics are a big reason why sports are so motivating to us, even though most of us don’t personally play any sports anymore. We’re busy with other endeavors. We’re trying to launch businesses, not baseballs. We’re trying to make sales, not baskets. Or we’re striving to achieve something professionally or creatively. Whatever it is…failure is part of the process. And if we don’t have a proper perspective on failure, we might quit or conclude there’s something wrong with us.

I’ll admit that I’ve battled these self-doubts many times over the years…wondering whether any of my efforts would amount to anything. And in those gloomy moments of defeat – while dark clouds of discouragement are all around me – my nearby failures are the only thing I can see.

I haven’t been in one of those dark valleys for a long time. I’m actually quite optimistic these days about many things. That’s not to say that I’m standing on the mountaintops. I’m just saying that I can see some good things on the horizon…some visible reasons to have hope. (Polar bears are coming up soon, I promise.)

Don’t Believe What You See

But if I ever fall back into a valley of despair – surrounded by my failures on every side – my plan is to rely on what I know rather than what I can see. Failures are part of the process…and they’re leading me to my success. Not only must I know this truth, but I must also cling to it tightly because everything I see and feel will contradict it.

I’ll do my best to remember what successful people have said about their failures. I’ll try to remember the frequency of failure in baseball and other sports. But perhaps the most motivating, most inspirational thing to consider is something I recently learned from a documentary;

19 times out of 20, a polar bear’s hunting efforts end in failure.

Whatever it is a polar bear is trying to catch, it somehow eludes him 95% of the time. These hunts often require a lot of a polar bear’s time and energy, his two most important resources. He needs to eat as much as possible while there’s still plenty of Arctic ice. The ice helps him to get around. Also, seals often sleep on the ice, which makes them visible and vulnerable to bears. But once the ice begins to melt, so do the polar bear’s chances of catching a seal. He can no longer see them…nor can he outswim them.

Also, for every day a polar bear goes without food, his fat is depleted. That’s the source of the energy he needs in order to hunt. For as long as he’s unsuccessful at hunting, he becomes skinnier and weaker. A polar bear’s desperation for food will sometimes lead him to take dangerous risks. But he has little choice…the alternative is starvation.

Getting Desperate

If only we’d consider the rugged perseverance of these magnificient creatures, we should never be discouraged again. How could we? They’re such an inspiration! These bears fight for survival every day. A mother bear goes around looking for food while her little cubs trail behind her. She’s just as concerned about the survival of her cubs as a human mother is for her babies.

With each hunting failure, a polar bear’s time and energy are spent. But they don’t mope or whine about it. Bears don’t analyze their mistakes or wish they’d done things differently. They don’t complain or throw blocks of ice in frustration. And even if they could complain, there’s no time for that. They must forget about the prey that got away so they can find the next target.

I doubt that anyone who’s reading this is at the point of starvation. I certainly hope not! But at one point or another, we may all find ourselves struggling to avoid a big consequence. Or we may be desperate to rise out of the same status where we’ve always been. Whatever it is…whether it relates to money, a business, health or some other personal goal, we’re going to have some failures…maybe lots of them…maybe even years of them. They’re just part of the process. And in the same way that a bear must fail in order to learn how to hunt, we also need our failures. The lessons and skills we learn in failing are what qualifies and prepares us for the success that is to come.

Keep Trying

I’m still very motivated by hard-working athletes who overcome their failures to achieve greatness. But let’s be honest…when pro-athletes fail, they still get to drive home in their luxury cars to their big mansions and sleep in their fancy beds. The only real consequence of their losses is that they don’t get the pride and glory of winning a game.

After watching this documentary (link), however, I realize that polar bears are the real heroes. They’re also on a field, playing a game. But the stakes in their game are much higher. They’re not fighting for trophies or for pride, but rather, to live. Of course, this not only applies to polar bears, but to every other wild creature in the animal kingdom. Their perseverance should be an example for us.

Having learned all this about my new Arctic heroes, I realize we have no basis for discouragement and certainly no justification for complaining. So your many efforts to launch a business were unsuccessful…so what? Try again. Keep trying until you figure it out. Don’t jeopardize your future with any big, irresponsible risks. But definitely forget about your failures and keep trying. Your failures are not reasons for you to quit. But rather, they’re the reason you’ll eventually succeed!

Bear Tenacity

So people aren’t responding to your ads, to your offers or the products and services you offer. So what? Change it up. Try something different. If a polar bear were running your business, do you think he’d quit after a few disappointing phone calls? No way! He’d be out in the streets, knocking on doors with his big bear paws, trying to make sales. Of course, polar bears can’t talk, use phones or make sales, but you know what I’m saying!

Develop the tenacity of the polar bear. Never give up at the thing you’re trying to do. If 19 employers reject you, get yourself ready for employer #20. That’s what a polar bear would do! Your failures may be big, but your resolve must be bigger. We have one life to live and no time to waste.

Failure Perseverance & Polar Bears

The post Failure, Perseverance & Polar Bears appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.