Thursday, January 11, 2007

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

And even non-desperate times can elicit ingenuity. We have an old pool table in the church building's rec room/youth center. For some inexplicable reason, at a nonspecific point in the recent past, the #1 billiard ball crossed the Great Divide and is no longer seen by the eyes of mortal men and women. It's gone, in other words. Kaput. Vanished. Missing and presumed lost, even.

Since I found no place (and am doubtful that one exists) that sells individual balls, my only option seemed to be to buy a whole new set of balls. $40 one place, $50 another place, and $100 in one instance, for some high-end brand. It was then that I saw my means of salvation at a lower price (the hope of all mankind.) They sold individually-packaged cue balls!

About 7 bucks for the ball, and another 4 or 5 for the yellow spray paint, and we're in business. I affixed a round sticker to the ball, which will later be the white circle where the number appears. Two coats of "Sunshine Yellow" paint (not quite the school bus/ Tonka truck yellow that the paint can cap indicated, but it's better than leaving it white, some sanding and one more coat to follow, and we'll have a #1 ball again--without spending excessive amounts of money.

I'll try to get some pics to you in the next couple of days.

7 comments:

robkroese said...

Allen - Occasionally I have a million-dollar idea, and I shall impart this one to you: A website for exchanging mismatched billiard ball sets. If you're missing #1, find someone who is trying to get rid of an extra #1. That sort of thing. All I expect is 10% off the top. You're welcome.

Robin said...

I was going to suggest eBay.

Allen's Brain said...

Diesel, I like the idea, but every URL I could come up with sounded like a lame attempt at a dirty joke.

Robin, eBay would've been a good bet. For anyone else out there, I just located a place online that sells individual balls. www.rockwellbilliards.com

Gregory said...

Allen, so sorry I've left you in the lurch lately. (Like the alliteration?)

Anyway, you might want to check to make sure that a cue ball has the same mass and weight as the other billiard balls. It might adversely affect the game, and you don't want your youth group kids hustling any unsuspecting new Christians, do you?

Anyway, just a suggestion.

Allen's Brain said...

Yeah, Gregory! You in-the-lurch leaver! So THAT'S where you left me! No wonder I'd been having trouble finding myself! It also explains that irresistable urge to wear a tuxedo and utter "You rang?" every time I hear a door bell.

Fortunately, my friends at the lab have mass spectrometers and other fun instruments for judging the density of items. I had to return the first cue ball I got, because it turned out to be the egg of an alien species. This new one appears to be solid and of the same weight as the rest of the set.

Gregory said...

Ha! Allen, you kidder.

Allen's Brain said...

"Ha! Allen, you kidder," said Gregory, as he backed away slowly, looking furtively around him for the men with the straight jackets. He had called them over an hour ago, darn it! They should have arrived by now. Where were they?