Airway Lanes

Information may not be reliable

Last update, this page, 11/12/10 NEW AIRWAY email address: bowlingisbest@airwaylanes.com

My apologies to everyone. As of this writing, I have not sent out the November Coipon. I am just that far behind in getting caught up on everything. Lots of issues with the various business insurances, and UCI payments. Those have just been awful and keeping me busy. Hopefully, it will be out this weekend!
Airway is still running the $4.79 special on Sunday mornings. This is a very popular way for the family to come in and bowl a lot, inexpensively. It is also a great way to practice.Airway's email address - bowlingisbest@airwaylanes.com . That comes directly to me. Please use it for suggestions, complaints, comments or just plain silliness.

I would like to thank Oakland Press reporter, Carol Hopkins, for the great story, and photo (left) about Airway Lanes not being sold. The request came out of the blue and my family and I were thrilled that this happened. It was published on Wednesday, May 6th, and came hard on the heels of Mark Martin's bowling column, published on Friday, May 1st, stating the same thing. Carol's column is available at
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/05/06/business/doc4a015f89b4ab9349136086.txt for those of you that missed it and would like to see it. copied 9/9/09While we did get a really incredible offer, Sheryle and I decided to turn it down. We are here to stay, and will keep it in the family. They will bury my ashes under lane 32 when the time comes. I have worked at Airway since 1961, Sheryle since 1970. We have a lot of 3rd & 4th generation bowlers here, and also 4th generation family. A lot of you have become family friends. To even consider it was one of the toughest things we have ever done. When I started making the announcements, it was like a ton of bricks was lifted from my shoulders. Stay with us, we are staying with you.

Still going green! This summer we added more energy efficient lighting, electrical timers, and machinery power savers. Every bit helps. (7/21/10)
Going green -- what a concept for a business. When I came back to Airway after 4 years at Ferris State College, one of the first things I did was replace a bunch of 150 watt flood lights (above the bowlers area) with two 40 watt flourescent tubes. The original "bar service lights" were actually another row of 150 watt floodlights. Those floods were not needed when I put in the flourescent lights. I put in 25 watt lamps in that 2nd row, put pull strings on them and , viola, we had "bar service lights". For those of you that can remember back that far, they were not actually behind each pair of lanes. Some were off as much as a lane to the next pair. The row of flourescent lights down the center of the upper concourse was yet another row of 150 watt lamps. Yup, more flourescent fixtures. Another thing I did was to replace the 9 1000 watt mercury vapor parking lot lights with 400 watt high pressure sodiums. The sodiums actually put out more light. I also replaced incandescant lamps all over the building with flourescents. I have used more energy efficient motors where possible/practical. At one time I even had units on the pinsetters that would shut the motor off when the machine was inactive for over 45 seconds. Those all burned out and were not being remanufactured. I presently have 4 new style, electronic, ones, with plans to get more. Since the '70's, I have managed to keep my electric bills fairly level. Proof that I have cut consumption. Just recently, I have started replacing more incandescant lights with CFL's. The new concourse bathrooms have motion actvated toilets/urinals, faucets and hand driers. It all helps. The flourescent lights outside, under the carport and the sidewalk overhang, were originally incandescant lamps. I am stil looking to replace bulbs with CFL's. copied 9/9/09!

If you are a fan of "Car Bowling", here is a great video, and a fun thing to watch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q-p545tD-I

Here is a "Bowling Backwards" video. Don't try this at home -- or Airway, for that matter!

To see the greatest play ever made in Major League Baseball, click on the link below. Turn on your audio.
mms://a1503.v108692.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/10869/v0001/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/library/open/features/monday_flag_350.wmv?media_type=wms&av_type=vide o&event_pk=486348&product=gen_video

Here is a link to a neat place: "How bowling pinsetters work". It talks about the Brunswick GS-10 (the latest, but not many out there) sequence of operations, but the theory is similar to the Brunswick A & A2, and the AMF series of units. Take a look at http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/pinsetter.htm. If you go to the sites home page, it will link you to sites that show how almost anything works. It is really neat. Another neat site is at the "Bowling Tracker". Here there is a ton of info regarding bowling. At this link, you can create a page to track your own bowling (with several profiles, even). Try this at http://bowlingtracker.no-ip.org:2222/personalstats/
If any of you have a favorite bowling web site, notify me and I will add it to my page; and, if I have a link that doesnt work, let me know that, too, so I can remove it.
We are doing a booming business in birthday and corporate parties. The smaller kids, especially, love to bowl and the mess stays here. The older kids -- and adults -- like the comeraderie during their parties. And, for your company, it is an inexpensive way to reward you employees. Call us for more information, or to set up your party.