Chicago trip from hell report

[youngstown]

6/26:
Bill Smith posts about having access to a beautiful rare Brunswick Alexandria for 6k. His comments below really got my attention, as a player of his caliber (I got the impression he is or was a top 3C player) means more to me than someone who doesn’t play serious pool.
“Perfectly restored”
“Pictures don’t do it justice”
“I should have posted this for 8k”
Then he posted the table was sold, so I thought that was the end of it.

 

[youngstown]

Chicago trip from hell report

7/10 (Wednesday):
I found the same table on Facebook listed (by a guy named Bob) for 5k. It seemed the buyer backed out and the price went down so I was interested again. I inquired more about it and after texting back and forth with Bob, I decided to pass. I felt it was going to be silly to not get a top playing diamond table at that price. As beautiful as it looked in the pictures, I wasn’t sure how it played.

 

[youngstown]

Chicago trip from hell report

7/11 (Thursday):
The seller reaches out to me saying he contacted a mover who said it would be $2200 to move to Ohio and he would pay half. I wasn’t interested but saw an opportunity to make a really good deal. I eventually talked to him on the phone and he explained that he was a realtor and the sellers of the house he sold were giving him the table. He said he had a deal that fell through and now he scrambling to find a buyer at the last minute because the house closes on Monday. He was either going to keep it himself and have it moved to his other house, or just give it to the buyers of the house and call it a house warming gift. I couldn’t believe he was just going to give it away. We agreed that I’d come get it myself for 3k. I figured at that price I could still get a top mechanic to give it some love and make it play as good as possible, then have the best of both worlds. I texted Ben Smith about it and he gave me Mark Gregory’s cell number. I texted Mark about that model table before I went to bed.

 

[youngstown]

Chicago trip from hell report

7/12 (Friday):
I was scheduled to play in a 36 hole golf outing, so the plan was to drive halfway to Chicago afterwards, then do the rest of the drive in the morning. This would give us plenty of time to take down the table, then go play pool Sat night.

During the first 18, I got a reply text from Mark Gregory:
“...that’s a table for looks not playability but I can fix the rails to play much better than they ever have....They’re beautiful tables for sure and look beautiful in the house.”

In between the first and second 18 hole rounds, i went to the my bank to w/d 3k in cash.*

During the second 18, I wasn’t able to make arrangements despite some effort.* The first two places I called didn’t have moving trucks or closed too early, and they wouldn't move the truck to the location that was open late, then tried to get a one way rental car at a place that didn’t have any cars available, and I gave up because I was in contention to win the tourney, and it was distracting and difficult making calls down the stretch. I decided to make arrangements and drive Saturday morning. BTW, I won by a stroke with a comeback on the back nine.*

 

[youngstown]

Chicago trip from hell report

7/13 (Saturday):
I woke up early to book a moving truck one way, then had trouble with the Hertz website and decided just to call and finish the reservation over the phone while I was on the way to pick up Jamie.* I told him the night before I'd be there between 930 and 9:40.* He woke up as I was pulling in his driveway at 9:28, and when he came to the door, it looked like he pulled an all-night session*playing poker.* No biggie, because I was expecting to start out driving anyway.

However, while trying to make rental arrangements using mobile apps and over the phone from his kitchen, the local Hertz didn’t have any cars, and the one by the airport in Cleveland wouldn't let me use my debit card.* The one in Boardman was very expensive.* Jamie ended up booking the car from Cleveland with his CC.* This process had taken an hour and a half, but at least Jamie got a shower and looked like he was ready to go.* We left his house around 11am.

We got the rental car, then had to find a place to par my car.* We drove to the brown, where the gate was closed and a sign said "Lot Full", then drove to the blue lot, which was also full, then finally got the last parking spot in the red lot.* Whew.
Jamie wanted to start out driving, which was fine with me, and he drove most or all of the way to the rental car place in Chicago.* We stopped once at a service stop to get gas and food from Burger King.

Jamie drove most of the way, then i drove the last 90 minutes or so.* We returned the rental car, then Ubered to Home Depot to get the moving truck.

 

[youngstown]

Chicago trip from hell report

7/14 (Sunday):
We started out planning to put the same cloth back on the table
Ended up getting new felt, reflected the bed and rails
Took moving truck back to Home Depot, switched reservation, got $340 refund, so only ended up costing $110.
Took worst Uber in history to rental car airport location, lady hit the brake every 4 seconds.
Ordered deep dish during ride to rental car place, person said no dine in,only carry out
Jamie’s CC got declined so we couldn’t get a car
Took Uber to Giordano’s, driver pulled out right in front of a bus and I lost it.
When we got to the restaurant we saw they had a full restaurant so wanted to dine in while we ordered an Uber to another rental car. They kid at the register said that he would have to reverse the transaction so we could dine in. Jamie just laughed and walked out. I said Fine. So we walked out the carry out door and walked in the restaurant, talked to the hostess, who said she’d tell our server.
We sat down and waited. And waited. So we got the attention of a waitress and asked her to bring out our food. She disappeared. Another waitress came out with menus. Ugh. I explained again our food is ready. She disappeared. Finally I went back to the carry out window, and asked the kid if I could just get it carry out after all. He came back with the box and drinks, then said “So you didn’t dine in?” I lost it and said “It’s right there! You’re holding it, how could I have dined in?”

(To be continued...)