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Post by Dave Chaffee on Feb 25, 2009 15:58:40 GMT -5
I think it's time for an investigation/audit on this Tim Lewis character? Who is Tim Lewis, REALLY, and what is his purpose? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) I heard he once took on 10-12 gangbangers in the hotel lobby at ROTN!?!? By himself!!! Did he really armwrestle 100 cowboys in a row at the Sundance in Fort Collins, without losing once? Are any of these myths true? And the Legend begins............ I asked Tim if he was Batman but he deinied it.
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Post by ryanconstantino on Feb 25, 2009 16:01:04 GMT -5
So the Dark Knight he is not? Then what/who is he?
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Post by Dave Chaffee on Feb 25, 2009 16:20:26 GMT -5
It still remains a mystery.
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Post by Anthony Snook on Feb 25, 2009 16:33:51 GMT -5
Craig, when do you, Daryl, Zac, and Byron train? ![:-X](http://www.maine-armwrestling.com/emoticons/vomit.gif) I haven't got an invite in probably 18months ![:'(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cry.png) Tim is one motivated, dedicated character. When he says he's coming to practice, I know he'll be there. Except for that one time he ditched me to train with a 16 year old kid ![:-/](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/undecided.png) He's cool to shoot the $h!t with too.
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Post by Stephen Pickron "Pic" on Feb 25, 2009 16:42:14 GMT -5
I think it's time for an investigation/audit on this Tim Lewis character? Who is Tim Lewis, REALLY, and what is his purpose? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) I heard he once took on 10-12 gangbangers in the hotel lobby at ROTN!?!? By himself!!! Did he really armwrestle 100 cowboys in a row at the Sundance in Fort Collins, without losing once? Are any of these myths true? And the Legend begins............ Tim Lewis the MAN , the MYTH , and the LEGEND!!! ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Post by Coley Jones on Feb 25, 2009 16:42:21 GMT -5
Ahhh be careful....that whole gang incident sounded like a rough time. ![:-X](http://www.maine-armwrestling.com/emoticons/vomit.gif) I see Gary has an interview up for him now. Nice work, Tim.
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Post by Willie Reagan on Feb 25, 2009 16:50:00 GMT -5
Tim Lewis is Dave Chaffees Idol!!
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Post by Neil Robinson on Feb 25, 2009 16:54:22 GMT -5
Alot of people out there will be shocked. But the truth is Tim lewis is Dave chaffee. ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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Post by Craig Stevenson on Feb 25, 2009 17:05:56 GMT -5
HAAAA, this video made me crack up. Hey Tim, I am also an amateur armwrestler and a math teacher. I am doing the same thing you are. I finish up my masters from Virginia Commonwealth University this may. I just got accepted to the PhD program at Kent state up in Ohio so maybe i will be the first armwrestler with a PhD in math.
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Post by Willie Reagan on Feb 25, 2009 17:21:10 GMT -5
Craig, when you get to Ohio, look me up and you can come and train with us. Kent State is a very nice school. Good luck to you.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 17:36:18 GMT -5
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Post by Craig Stevenson on Feb 25, 2009 17:59:26 GMT -5
thanks Willie, I hadn't started thinking about that yet ( got to worry about graduating first) but its awesome to know that theres a group out there to train with.
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Post by Tim Lewis on Feb 25, 2009 18:02:07 GMT -5
Wow a three page long post (already) about me!
I did a segment on this when Gary did an interview with me on ArmTV 2 weeks ago in Philadelphia but it's not up yet. I don't tend to be that good of a public speaker so let me try and explain a little bit about me and who I am and how I think about life, etc. because I get these type of questions a lot from lots of different people and I want to clear all this up.
There are three main reasons why I can do what I do. No I am not superman, batman, I don't have a trust fund or anything like that. I'm just an average guy. You need three main things to be able to do what I do and I'm going to address each one separately.
1) TIME---this is the super easy one for me. Most people don't understand this one because they are in a working, family, "real life" type atmosphere. In order to understand, you must put yourself into my frame of reference. I don't do 9-5 (not really my scene). Heck most days I'm not even out of bed until around noon. I have class from 12PM-3PM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That's 3 classes. I am going to graduate school (getting a master degree in math) in Denver, CO because the school is paying for my entire education. In addition to that, they pay for my health insurance. I also get a stipend of $15,000 per year for "living expenses." This stipend technically is a job and in return for that I have to "work" for them. But the work is just busy work. I grade freshman calculus paper b/c the professors have better things to do. On paper I "work" 20 hrs a week, but realistically it's about 5-6 hrs a week because they don't really give that much work and I have it down to a science. So 9 hrs in class, 6 hrs of that, and say about 5 hours of homework a week and there you have my total school commitment about 20 hrs a week. This includes, class, work, and schoolwork.
I set my own schedule, work my own hours, no one tells me I have to do anything. As long as I get my stuff done for that week, that's all that matters. I get a lot of stuff done at night, Monday nights, Wednesday nights (from like midnight-5AM sometimes), then sleep from 5AM-noon, plenty of sleep for me.
All my family is in PA so that doesn't get it the way. Don't have to worry about spending time with a wife or girlfriend, etc. So I have plenty of time.
Because I am paid a "stipend", there are loop holes built into the system where Uncle Sam doesn't get any of that money. They also don't take any Social Security or Medicare out either. Now I do have to pay state taxes on it but that's it.
I also bartend one night a week. That's like $200 a night in cash most night. This is fun money. It never sees my bank account. I spend it on whatever the hell I want. I can fly to a tournament twice a month anywhere I want just on that and not even sneeze.
2) SIMPLE LIFE--Things that are inconvenient for most other people or "crazy" to the point where they just wouldn't do them don't bother me. Examples: My "apartment"--if you want to call it that. I live in a room about 12X12 with NO cable, NO internet, NO kitchen, and I share the bathroom with the other 6 rooms on the floor. It's not a dorm room but it's set up just like one. (ask Ryan C. he knows he slept on my floor last week) Why? CHEAP, $350 a month, no utilites AT ALL, it's only 1/2 block from my classes and office at school so if I want to go online I don't mind throwing on a sweatshirt and going in the lab (I get 24 hr access to the school buildings since I'm a grad student) An actual apartment would cost me $700-800 and to me having something look nice is a waste of time and money I could be spending having fun.
My car gets 35 miles to the gallon. I don't need a big gas guzzler, just something dependable that gets me where I need to go as efficiently as possible. I also don't pimp up my car, I believe a vehicle is to be used for one sole purpose, transportation, PERIOD.
Driving doesn't bother me. You know how people like taking a walk, or sitting around watching TV, or listening to their Ipod to relax.
Well I don't have an Ipod, my get away time is me driving in my car. I can drive 8, 10, even 15 hrs at time with the radio on and not even think of sleep, and I actually enjoy it.
Sleep schedule--I get the proper amount of sleep, but I don't have a schedule. Sometimes I'll stay up all night. Sometimes sleep all day, sometimes at night. It all depends on what I feel like and what I have to do that day. It's just my lifestyle.
3) MONEY--money management is more the correct term here. Like I said I make $14000 a year from the school and like another $5000 a year from a summer job. That's not that much money. (okay I do have the bartending money but still) Now expenses: Rent 350X12 = 4200 Insurance about 1000 a year Car Payments about 3000 a year Total: $8200
That's it. No more. Okay I gotta eat, but I don't cook. I eat out every meal. Spending like $10 a day on food on the average only brings that total up to about $12000.
I don't shop, rarely buy clothes and I don't have a lot of random stuff that I buy like lots of other people do.
The bartending money alone is another $4400 a year not (11 weeks a semester) included in what's left. So can I devote about $2500 to arm wrestling travel each year, sure.
I'm also horrible at saving money, so I'd probably end up blowing a lot of that money at the bar anyway if I just stayed in town.
Another thing that helps: Location. Denver is centered such that if you are willing to drive up to 10 hrs, you can go lots of places (Denver, Salt Lake, Vegas, Deadwood, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas City, Omaha, Nebraska, South Dakota)
Having one of the 5 biggest airports 20 minutes from your house don't hurt either. Denver flights are cheap. I can fly almost anywhere in the country round trip for $200 or less. (Not to mention the frequent flyer rewards and free flights tend to add up a lot too). My school gives us a free bus pass and I get ride a bus for free to the airport so I don't have to pay to park at the airport either. Southwest also has no change fees so I can book I trip if I see a low price and if I back out later I can use those travel funds towards a future trip or visit to the family for the holidays.
I also try and avoid rental cars unless there is no other option. I will look at whether there are airport shuttles, metro-bus or train routes from the airport to the venue. Or I'll try and catch a ride with someone. If it's not too far, I'll drive instead of fly.
If it's a great party scene, I'll stay at the host hotel (Tahoe, Hawthorne, etc.), if not I'll look for a steal.
e.g. Motel 6's have a policy like no other hotel chain. Suppose I'm driving to a tournament 600 miles away. I will drive all night on Friday, arrive at the Motel 6 at 6AM check in then since they already closed their books from that night and go to sleep for like 8 hrs before the tournament. Check out is noon on Sunday so essentially I am getting 2 nights for the price of 1. And the rates are already cheap, so I'm getting 2 nights for like $39. What a steal! Not many people know about tricks like this.
I'm on the east coast over the summer so that's why you see me over there.
There's also other creative ways to get to events. For example whenever I'm planning to drive home for the summer/winter to PA I'll plan my trip around an arm wrestling tournament that might be on the way (or no more than 3-4 hrs out of the direct route). That drive is very boring if you have nothing to look forward to (trust me I've done it 7 times, soon to be 8 in May)
I'm currently interviewing for jobs so if a company wants to fly me somewhere, I'll check to see if there are any tourneys in the area that weekend. (e.g. Chicago last weekend for interview went to Wisconsin tournament, when I was at Battle of Beach in Florida I was on business in New Orleans for my summer job)
Traveling also gives me an idea of where I might like to live/work permanently come May. I get to see places where I might want to live, places that are fun to visit but I couldn't see myself there permanently, and places that just aren't me at all. I'd never know what the culture of these places are like if I hadn't been there before, so now I will know what to say if I get job offer X in some town somewhere I wouldn't have known anything about otherwise.
Will all this change in May? Probably, this sweet little deal I'm getting from this school has an expiration date of May 8th. I feel sometimes like I've been on vacation since August 2007.
After that, who knows. I'm going to get a real job, make some real money, hopefully find someone special to put in my life, and have a place (somewhere) that might me more than just a place I "call home" by address only. I can't stand boring life though. I couldn't see myself switching careers 3 or 4 times. Nothing bothers me more than being bored. I need action and excitement.
I'll still travel to tournaments. Not as much as now mainly because of the TIME factor described above. I'll have to do 9-5 probably even though I think it sucks and I won't be able to do lots of things I'm doing now. I'm a realistic person and I realize that, maybe I'm even a little afraid of the future.
But until May, I'm living the dream and being the Tim Lewis that I wan to be. The most exciting thing about traveling is much as I do is knowing that no matter where I go to start my career, I will have friends in that city or thereabouts from the sport.
Also, by just doing the same local tournaments year after year, there is too much routine. It's the same people all the time, you get to know who you can beat, and who usually beats you. It becomes like practice too much.
Pulling new opponents, meeting new people, beating people you haven't beat before, these are the things that you get from traveling. When I went to college before grad school, I was limited to tournaments in the northeast due to time and money.
But now since summer 2007 when I became able to travel much more, I feel I developed a lot as an arm wrestler. I still have a ways to go, but I would not be become what I am not if is wasn't for traveling.
The moral of the story is: If you want to do something bad enough, you'll find a way to do it. Right now next to school, arm wrestling is next in line in my life.
Just like people that play golf as a hobby put money and time into their play, arm wrestling is no different. Some people play golf every week, some people only play 3 times a year. It's all about how dedicated you are and how busy you are with other things in everyday life. Right now, my responsible are minimal, this will certainly inevitably change as time goes on.
In closing this is where you guys will see me this spring:
Feb 28th, Logan, UT March 14th Oregon State April 4th St. Joseph, MO April 18th Orlando, FL May 15th, Lake Tahoe
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Post by Justin Mynatt on Feb 25, 2009 18:03:24 GMT -5
I pulled Tim Lewis at the last Top Roll Tournament . Nice guy, seems really dedicated. He just didn't have it in him to compete with me that day. I think it was all that driving wore him out LOL.
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Post by Justin Mynatt on Feb 25, 2009 18:08:55 GMT -5
I was writing my post before you posted your response.
Hey Tm if Math Teaching doesn't work out for you , sounds like you would make a he!! of a truck driver LOL!
Hey, can't wait to pull with you again, I bet you'll have a little more fire in you next time.
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