Derek's Hobbies page

Most of the time we love them. Occasionally we hate them. And for certain purposes we need them.

Without question, they are far less complex than we are. For them, there is work, and there is play. This is Derek's "play" page.

I can say without hesitation, that Derek is an awesome pool player. He is among the 10 best all-around players in Michigan, and in 1993 was briefly ranked #26 in the world on the Men's Pro Tour. To put it into perspective, an extremely conservative estimate, based on a U.S. population of 280,000,000, says that he is in the 99.9999965th percentile, meaning that he can consistently beat 99.9999965% of the population of the U.S. He has numerous local and regional titles to his name and has beaten several of the pros you see on TV, including Johnny Archer, Alex Pagulayan, Jeff Carter, and (the late) Tony Ellin, in local and regional events.

Although I am very proud of Derek's pool accomplishments, I am most proud of his reputation. He is noted on the Detroit pool scene for his honesty and sportsmanship. Go into any pool hall within 100 miles of Detroit, and ask for "Ann Arbor Derek"...they will tell you he is a stand-up guy (with a very cool girlfriend). :o).

Derek has been playing pool since he was a little boy, when his parents bought him one of those mini-pool tables with golf-sized pool balls. He became more serious about it as a teenager, and by his early 20s was playing at a competitive level. His best game is 9-ball, but in the last decade or so, he has grown especially fond of One-Pocket. In that game, each player has a designated, predetermined pocket. The object is to pocket eight balls in your pocket, before your opponent pockets eight balls in his. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it's not what you might expect. Since pocketing eight balls is so easy at this advanced level of play, in reality this game is highly defensive. You almost never see a player shooting toward his pocket; instead, he attempts to *not* leave his opponent a shot toward his. Games often take an hour or more to complete, because of the high level of defense. You have to watch this game to get the best understanding of it.

The place to go for pool action around Detroit is unequivocally Hall of Fame Billiards at 13 Mile and Mound. If a "player" comes through Michigan, you'll find him at Hall of Fame. Aside from the great players you'll find there every day, there is an open tournament on Thursday nights that has gotten the attention of renowned greats like Alex Pagulayan, Marcus Shamat, and Scott Frost.

Derek in the Hall of Fame tournament

Hall of Fame 2

My favorite pool picture of Derek

Derek finished in 3rd place over 100 players at the annual Winter Classic bar table championship at The Garage in Jackson in March 2003. He repeated his 3rd-place performance in January 2004, against a very tough field of players from around the region. Our friend, Sandi, had her digital camera at the 2003 tournament, and took some really nice candid/action shots:

A favorite event of ours when we first started dating was the Glass City Open in Toledo. It died out in 1994, but two Toledo area promoters, "The Two Toms," revived it 2002. It's the only pro event in the Michigan / Northern Ohio area, so we planned and hoped for this to be a perennial November vacation. Sadly, though, the promoters put all their time and effort into it for three years, but it was impossible to break even, so its last occurence was 2004 (maybe 2005). Here are some pictures of Derek in the GCO throughout the years:

Four pictures from the 2002 tournament--the first year of its "new millennium" revival:

Warming up for his 2003 match against "Kid Delicious" (2003, D lost a nail-biter, 10-9) and a few more pictures from that event:

It's quite simple: there are really only two things that Derek obsesses about. In the cold months, it's pool. In the warm months, it's golf. And for a brief period in Fall and Spring, it is both. While his tee-to-green talent can't rival his prowess on the indoor greens, Derek is a pretty good golfer--around a 14 handicap.

His home course when we lived in Ann Arbor was Leslie Park (City of Ann Arbor). However, we now live just 5 minutes from a lovely course called Pine View, so he bought a season pass there. He goes about 3 nights a week, although usually only to the range. He plays a full round twice a week when he's not too busy.


Nice shot out of the sand trap in the U.P., '91	City Golf Championship 2001	Another shot from the City Golf Championship	At the driving range, summer 2005	Betz at the driving range. "Your swing doesn't look too bad," says Derek. High praise indeed.

While we were in the UP for my cousin's wedding and a family reunion, we had a little time one of the days, so we took advantage and went to the toughest course in the UP (probably one of the toughest in Michigan), beautiful Timberstone:

For 43 years, Derek didn't give a crap about the yard or how it looked. But suddenly he became obsessed with it. This was initiated, I'm sure, by seeing both of our neighbors' lawns, on which every blade of grass is perfect and weedless. When we bought our house, unfortunately, we inherited a crappy yard that was previously a corn field, and the owner did not invest any money in landscaping or grading. So in the spring we usually have a foot of water out back, and after it dries up, mowing the lawn is like riding a pony (bumpety bumpety bump). And the grass is not really grass, but an amalgam of green weeds. His Mom cautioned us not to apply too much weed control product for fear that we'd be left with nothing green at all.

So he's been working on it pretty diligently for several years now, and it is finally looking quite good. We still have the grading issue, but that will be a huge investment if and when we tackle that problem.

We are both movie buffs and amateur psychoanalysts. (Nearly everyone we know, we have decided, is insane). But back on the subject....we originally listed our favorite films here, but the list grew too long. Instead, you might want to check out Derek & Betsy's Movie Ratings Page, where we both rate every movie we've ever seen (the list is about 10% complete) on a scale of 1 to 10.

But still, some of Derek's favorites deserve listing. After all, this is HIS page. These are all the films he deemed worthy of a "10" on the Ratings page. Please remember, films are rated against other films of the same genre (hence, Ace Ventura and Kingpin rated 10s when compared with other sophomoric, toilet-humor comedies).

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

All About Eve

American Beauty

American President, The

Big Lebowski, The

Casablanca

Chinatown

Cool Hand Luke

Fahrenheit 9/11

Fargo

Godfather, The

Godfather, Part 2, The

Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The

Jaws

Juno

Kingpin

Lawrence of Arabia

Lost in Translation

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mystic River

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Pan's Labyrinth

Religulous

Shawshank Redemption, The

Sicko

Singin' in the Rain

Star Wars

Usual Suspects, The

Wedding Crashers, The

Witches of Eastwick, The

Wizard of Oz, The

Derek considers himself a whiz at garage shelving and organization, and has a self-appointed degree (MDES): a Master of Domestic Exterior Storage. He takes great pride in organizing his garage and trucks for efficiency. I think he just uses it as an excuse to spend hours and hours in the garage with power tools.

Derek is also a connoisseur of floor cleaning implements. We share most of the housework, but floors are "all him."

This really shouldn't be in the "hobbies" category, since it's his livelihood and he probably wouldn't choose to lay shingles just for fun. But I felt it should be mentioned somewhere on this website. Need a roof? Derek's quality can't be beat. We've just recently started a website for his company, Ypsi-Arbor Roofing. It's just one page so far, but here, go have a look. E-mail YpsiArborRoofing@comcast.net if you need a roof and would like a free inspection and estimate. He's been in the biz for almost 20 years and is fully insured.

The Isuzu (it says GMC on the front, but it has an Isuzu diesel engine) has provided so many benefits for his business that he reinvested in another one, specifically for tools, compressors, and plywood, in summer of 2005:


Here's the new Tool Truck, only a week old. It is highly customized... the only truck exactly like it in the world.	It has garnered plenty of "oohs" and "ahhs" from roofers and other tradesmen, who are generally hard to impress in this fashion.	Derek looks back at these pictures now (2 years later) and says, "Wow....look how new it was." It's a utility vehicle, that's for sure!	Here it is on the job.


Swiffering	Vacuuming (Ciara snapped this photo quickly, as she and Angela were delighted by this display of domestic fortitude).	He vacuums other things besides the carpets. Snooker LOVES to be vacuumed!


Dump truck, 2001	Dump truck again	Simonie gives the truck her seal of approval.