"Vegas Day 4"
Today was a pretty good day. My buddies Sean and Brent made it into town. They’ll be here the rest of time I’ll be here too. If you’d like to follow their twitter antics, you can follow them here:
http://twitter.com/brentap
http://twitter.com/sean_price
I woke up today and for some inexplicable reason, I felt like playing in the $30 1pm tourney. I played in the $20 tourney the day before. And it was basically a luck fest. But while the $20 was an $18 + $2 tourney (The “house” gets $2 from every entry,) this was a $25 + $5 tourney... which is *worse*. The blind structure and starting chips are the same. But there I was... paying $30 to get in.
Session 1: Excalibur Tourney $30 buyin
I’ve always been an aggressive tournament player. That’s what probably makes me pretty successful at tournaments. With such a quick tournament structure, aggressiveness isn’t a style option, it’s a necessity. If you find yourself calling more than a small percentage of the time in fast tournaments, you’re probably doing it wrong. Outside of the blinds, I think I entered two pots that I didn’t raise.
This worked fairly well at the beginning. I stayed above the chip average (it’s nice to have stats available to you on the fly when you’re at an electronic table) through most of the early rounds. If I caught a decent Ace or a face card and another card that was sorta close (KT, QJ, K9s, Q8s etc.) I’d raise four to five times the BB. If they lead out, and I had missed, I’d fold. If they checked to me or I sensed any weakness, I’d make a 1/2 to full pot-sized bet. It worked really well until the blinds were so high that the only move that made sense was All-In.
So about the 4th or 5th round I became Mr. All-In. I wasn’t short stacked, but I saw no reason to raise anything less when the blinds were 600/1200 and people had like $4000-8000 chips. I had around $12000 and was the chip leader on a small table of about 6 players. We started with 4.5 tables and by this time we were already down to about 15 players on two tables with my table being the smaller table.
My table began to fear me. I stole blinds quite often, and when I did get a caller, they were up against my AT or my small pair. I knocked two people out and were down to the final 10 players. They told us to take a 10 minute break after which we’d come back to the final table.
I started watching an old Cowboy’s game in the sports betting room, and became a little too engrossed in “Emmitt’s Greatest Game.” I ended up rushing back to the poker room just in time for the game to resume. I looked at the chip stacks and saw that my $17k was good enough for 2nd biggest stack at the table. One guy had $18k and the rest were between $4k and $12k. To give you an idea of how short stacked you are in this tournament, every player started with $3k in chips and there were around 45 starting players. The blinds at the final table started at $800/$1600 and the biggest stack was only $18k to start. Not a lot of wiggle room. Every hand ended up with the winner being the new chip leader.
I decided that I wasn’t going to slow down and was going to continue putting people All-In. I want to amass a huge lead and pound the smaller stacks into submission. I wasn’t about to try to fold myself to 5th place so I can win $55. I put the smallest stack pretty early on and lost a coin flip. I was down to about $11k. I put in the next guy and lost another coin flip. Now I was a short stack. I was down to about $5k and in the $1600 big blind. I announced to the table, “Don’t even think about calling. If you’re coming in, you might as well put at least $5k in there because I’m not letting you see a $1600 flop.” They all got a kick out of that, and all but one guy obediently folded. Raising to $4k when I had $5k was stupid, but at least he raised. I looked down at QTo. I pushed. He called with a pair of eights in the hole. A coin flip! Better than I thought! Yeah, no. I lost. Oh, well. I played for 2 hrs, and it was pretty fun pushing those guys around for that long. 10th place.
My next session was another 50c/$1 cash game.
Session 2: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold ‘Em
I only played in this session for about 30 mins before I got a seat a the $1/$2 game. Not much to say. I bought in for $100 and cashed out $122. Moving on…
Session 3: Excalibu $1/$2 NL Hold ‘Em
I’d been buying in for the table max of $300 at every Excal $1/$2 game and decided to go with that again because only one guy was at $300-ish. Everyone else was $150 or below. Just like I like it.
Like most sessions I’ve been playing. I start out by being pretty aggressive from the start. This allows me to feel out the table and if anything sets me up to look like a table bully... buying in for the table max and starting to raise everything out of the gate. If it works, I continue to go with it. I’ll raise with stuff as low as J8 from middle position and almost anything in late position. If I catch a lot of resistance and re-raises or check raises, I slow down and tighten up.
Well, at this game, I didn’t get a lot re-raising, I was getting a lot of callers. Way too many. The kind that just won’t fold. I tightened up pretty quick. It worked pretty well. I was up about $100 or so for most of the time.
The most memorable thing about this table was the talkative and getting-increasingly-drunk player at the opposite end of the table. He was doing well and playing loose-aggressive. He was also showing almost every hand too. He hated that me and another player never showed. His rationale was that he showed every hand, we should to. After yet another gripe about how the other dude didn’t show, I finally called him out on it. What did he want us to do? Show every hand because he wanted us to? He started to get belligerent and went off on how this was a low stakes and and it was ‘just cards’. And I agreed, it was ‘just cards’ so let us play however we wanted to. He go a little nasty, and I very nearly called the floor on him. He came off looking like a total douchebag to the table, and he knew it. But at least it worked, he finally shut up about it.
Inevitably, after a couple of hours, the game started to get short handed. I didn’t really wanted to be around Mr. Douchebag anymore, so I got up and took my $130 in profits with me.
By this time, Sean and Brent’s plane had come in. They had tickets to go see NIN at Planet Hollywood a few hours later, so we decided to have dinner at Rain Forest Café and head over to Planet Hollywood so they could see the show, and I’d kill time playing $1/$2 in their poker room.
Session 4: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL Hold ‘Em
I started this game with $200. The table max was $300. I’m not sure why I choose to buy in for less than table max at places other than Excal. Comfort level? A feeling of familiarity at Excal? Dunno.
The first thing I noticed is how pissed off and annoyed our dealer was. The table I got on was just starting. Our dealer was not happy to have been assigned this brand new table. It’s pretty common to come across dealers that complain about being overworked or on a 14 hour shift, but this guy wasn’t even attempting to hide it. That’s what I wanna see. This is why I love live poker with live dealer’s right? Electronic tables suck! I want real dealers like this guy... pfft. Luckily, after we all got our chips, another dealer showed up and relieved him before he dealt the first hand.
I started off aggressive again and met immediate resistance and re-raises from a guy at the far end. Plus, there were two Brit friends sitting next to each other that loved action. Before I knew it, I was down about $70 in about 20 mins. Tighten up time. I dunno if I’m contagious or what, but when I’m playing tight, my side of the table tends to tighten up. Either that or the loose players that sit next to me bust out, and I end up sitting next to tight players longer because, well, they last longer. In any case, my side of the table was running pretty cold. After about 2 hrs, Mr Bad Attitude dealer came back. Oh, no.
Still looking pretty grumpy, Mr. BA counted up the box, mumbled something to himself, took a deep breath put on the fakest smile ever, and started dealing. I’m was thinking... dude, if you’re gonna psyche yourself up and paint on a fake smile, do it BEFORE you get to the table. We all saw you.
Still down about $50, Mr. BA dealt me my first AA in a long time. There are two things that I’ve noticed about my Vegas trip so far. I’m not getting dealt AA very often, and my % for hitting sets on the flop is waaaay below the average. I’ve hit some full houses, but they’ve been with two unpaired hold cards. I think I’m due for a lot of sets pretty soon. Anyway, I got dealt AA and one a decent sized pot. Then the next round, I got dealt AA again. Both time I had them in the Small Blind and both times I took down decent pots. By the time Mr. BA left, I was up over $100. I forgive you Mr. BA. I forgive you.
Within 30 minutes, NIN let out. I cashed out up a bit over $150. Not bad.
By now Sean and Brent wanted to play poker. We decided to head back to Excal so they could check out the electronic poker tables. I gave Sean and Brent the tool of the room and introduced them to the poker room crew. They still have about 6-8 people running the room. Most of which I recognized from the old days. Anyway, after getting them situated, I was able to get into a $1/$2 game.
Session 5: Excalibur $1/$2 NL Hold ‘Em
This game was a tough one. In fact, all my $1/$2 games at Excal have been tough. It’s like the 50c/$1 game is equivalent to the $1/$2 games at other places, and the $1/$2 is like $2/$5. Which makes me wonder, why don’t I just play $1/$2 and make more at other places? Well, I know the answer, I keep winning at Excal. ;)
Anyway, this game was up and down for a while. I somehow managed to get to +$23.50 after a couple of hours and was happy to have it. Again, it was 4 handed before too long, and I got out of there.
I was up $400.50 for the day. My best day so far. Time to start Day 5 now. Until next time...
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Vegas Day 3
"Vegas Day 3"
Well, this sucks. I'm at Krispy Kreme and they seemed to have locked the WiFi network today. WTF? I can see the connection, but I can't get an IP. Fucking lame. And that's cuz I bought a donut and a juice from them because I didn't want to just mooch off their connection. I don't even like KK donuts all that much. Anyway, I'm writing this into Notepad for now. I plan to find a WiFi connection later and cut/paste it into blogger.
Friday was an All-Excal day. I've been having enough success that I thought, "Why fuck with what's working?" I mean, I want to play in bigger games for more money, but I also kinda don't wanna lose, you know? The 50c/$1 game here is ridiculously easy. So why not build my bankroll a bit? I'm not looking to get rich, right?
Session 1: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This session started early. 8am. There is only a single table of drunks and hardcore low-limit poker addicts left. They're playing a short handed game with about 5 people. I don't actually remember a whole lot about this session to be honest. It was short. 45 mins according to my logs. My logs also say that I was in for $200 which means I busted and rebought for the full amount. Sooo, I guess that's what happened. About the only thing I remember is that in this game was there was a huge Asian dude (like muscle huge) that looked more than a little mentally challenged, and he never said a word. Hmmm, now that I think about it more. HE was the one that busted me. Yeah, I remember now. I busted to him on a bluffed AK that whiffed to his flopped baby flush. The other dudes were calling him the Silent Assassin. He said not one single word in 45 mins. It's coming back to me now. On my 2nd buyin I raised with JTs (remember this is like 5 handed) and Mr. Assassin called me. This wasn't too surprising. He had been catching big cards, and in my opinion he was not a bad player. But his one fault was that he called big bets (like my AK bluff) with marginal hands (like his baby flush when there were 4 diamonds on the board by the river.) The flop came JT4. I bet out $25 and he called. Turn came a blank. I went all in for like $100 more and he called. He showed QJ. River was a blank, and was back in the black. I ended up with $275... up $75.
The reason this game broke up is because two of the five players left the game to play the $20 9am tourney. Yes, $20 tourney if you can believe that. With no cash game left, I decided, fuck it, I'd play in a $20 poker bingo game.
Session 2: Excalibur $20 NL Hold 'Em Tournament
This went about as well as you'd guess: horribly. You started with $3000 with $25/$50 blinds and 15 minute rounds. Yay. The only nice thing about this was that since we were playing on Electronic tables, you got a LOT more hands per round. We figured that playing 15 min blinds on the electronic tables equated to 20/25 minute blinds at a live dealer table. Also, the casino took less for the house because they didn't have to pay any dealers. Still, the blinds came up fast, and I found myself going All-In with QJs with less than 10 BB's left. I got called by QQ. Haha. Oh, well. I actually flopped two hearts, but the flush was not to be. I think I finished in the high 20's with 40 people registered.
I've been keeping a log of all my expenses... for food, shopping, entertainment and transportation. I *nearly* put down that $20 buyin as entertainment because I really didn't consider it poker. :-) In the end, I logged it as a hit to my poker roll though.
After the tourney, there were enough people wanting to start a cash game. So there I went, right back into a 50c/$1 game.
Session 3: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This wasn't too exciting. I basically played for 4 hrs and made a little over $100. I ended up leaving this game because they announced that a $1/$2 game was starting. I moved to the new $1/$2 table, but it ended up just being 3 dudes just looking at each other for 10 minutes. The game didn't make. I intended to go grab lunch, but ended up going back to my room and sleeping for about 9 hours.
I headed back downstairs around 11pm. Lo and behold... a $1/$2 cash game at Excal!
Session 4: Excalibur $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em
I sat down to a nearly full table. Biggest stack was just a hair over the Maximum $300. I decided to just buyin for the Max amount myself. I played rather conservatively for the first hour or so when the table was full, but the game slowly started losing players. I mixed it up with the short handed table for a while and was up roughly $40 or so. Then about 2 hours in I caught my first big pocket pair: two black Kings. I was on the button, and the aggressive player to my right raised to $17. I didn't feel like adverstising the big pair in my hand, so I just smooth called him. The blinds folded, and it was heads up. The flop came a pretty uninteresting 973. I don't recall the suits, but they didn't come into play, so whatever. The guy leads out for $25. I immediately raise to $75, and he quickly goes All-In for about $100 on top of my $75. Now, I know what you're thinking: "He's got Aces! It's obvious!" Well, it was NOT obvious. If you had played with this guy for 2 hrs you would have quickly called too. But, yes, he had Aces. He doubled up, and I was down to about $140 bucks from my $300 buyin. I added back on to bring myself up to $300 again, but now I was in for $463.50.
I kept playing well, but the short handed table was not very easy. It was probably one of the hardest tables I'd played on actually. Two of the guys were intently talking about their online playing habits. How they play 12-14 tables at a time, Poker Tracker stats, etc. etc. Definitely not newbies. While I didn't feel like the fish at the table, I knew it was going to be rough making my money back. Everyone had between $200-$700 on the table. I just had to wait for someone to make a mistake and pounce. I battled my way back to $414. Then I took a string of 3 bad hits to the same guy.
This guy was the weakest player by far. He wasn't bad, but the other 4 of us were clearly better than him. In hand number one, I raised with QTs. He calls. I flop an open ender. He checks and I make a 1/2 sized pot bet. He calls. On the turn, I hit my straight. He seems really disinterested in the pot, so I make a small bet. He calls. River comes, and it puts a possible flush on the board. He leads out for about 1/5th the pot. Yay. I make a crying call. He's made his flush. Very next hand. I have 33. I call the $2 blinds and the it's three of us to the flop. I flop the first set I've seen all day. 783. Everyone including me checks. Turn comes an 8. Full House! I lead out for like $7. The pot was only like $6. One guy folds. My nemesis calls. River card: 8. Yes, ANOTHER 8. I'm not left with 8's full of 3's. He leads out for $10. Great. If the guy had flopped a 7, I'm done. I make another crying call. The guy's got Quad 8's. :-/ VERY next hand. I get AKo. I raise to $10. My nemesis calls me again. I flop top two: AK9. I bet $15. He calls. Turn comes a J. He checks, and I check. River brings a 3rd heart. He checks, and I bet $10 and say, "I guess you can pay me a little back with my flush now." He says, "You really have a flush?" then calls. "Cuz I have a straight. Queen Ten." Ugh. WTF.
I'm down to barely $300 again. After some time, I end up with 24s in the small blind. Aggressive guy to my right (the AA guy) raises to $6 and I call. I flop a pair of 4's and a flush draw. Guy bets out $15. I call. Turn comes a blank. The guy bets $15. I call again. River comes a 2 for two pair. The guy checks. I bet $25, and he calls. He had flopped a pair of Kings. There's some of my money back.
About 20 minutes later I have AKo. Same aggressive guy bets out $15. I call on the button. We're heads up. Flop comes A55. He bets out $25. I call. This guys does all my betting for me if you haven't noticed. The turn comes a 9. He bets $25, and I call again. River puts three hearts on the board. He checks. I mention that I made my flush and bet out $50. He's agonizing about a call. I started thinking, "Why the fuck did I say anything?" Too late. After a couple of minutes, he makes the call. I win. He says "I had pocket Kings." Whew. He owed me though.
In the end, I cashed out $443.50... down $20. Of all my sessions, that was probably my hardest one so far. The player skill level was pretty high. I really had adjust my play. But I never went on tilt, and I felt I played passively, aggressively, loosely and tightly at mostly the right times.
After this game, I figured I'd try the 50c/$1 game again.
Session 5: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This was a quick session. 45 mins long. Only one memorable hand. Fairly early on, I had KQs (spades). I raised to $4 and got a couple of callers. The flop came Js Ts Kd. Not a bad flop, huh? Top pair, Queen kicker and an open ended straight flush draw! I led out for $12, and got a quick call from a dude with about $130. I had started with about $100 myself. The turn was a dud: 2h. I bet out $25, and the guy's like "Fuck it! I'm all-in!". So I start thinking, I'm either way ahead or behind but drawing to the nuts. I call. He's got J7 of clubs. WTF? I end up hitting a 4s on the river to make my flush, but I didn't need it. I doubled up to a bit over $200 and stayed there for the rest of this short session. What an idiot.
So after 2.5 days, I'm up $533.25. Not bad. Nothing earth shattering, but I'm having fun and making a little money. Nothing wrong with that, right? :-)
Until next time... I keep hearing them adverstise the 50c/$1 NL game over the loud speaker. I'm sure there are pleny of casual players waiting to buyin for $20 and $40 just wanting to hand it over to me with J7s. ;)
Well, this sucks. I'm at Krispy Kreme and they seemed to have locked the WiFi network today. WTF? I can see the connection, but I can't get an IP. Fucking lame. And that's cuz I bought a donut and a juice from them because I didn't want to just mooch off their connection. I don't even like KK donuts all that much. Anyway, I'm writing this into Notepad for now. I plan to find a WiFi connection later and cut/paste it into blogger.
Friday was an All-Excal day. I've been having enough success that I thought, "Why fuck with what's working?" I mean, I want to play in bigger games for more money, but I also kinda don't wanna lose, you know? The 50c/$1 game here is ridiculously easy. So why not build my bankroll a bit? I'm not looking to get rich, right?
Session 1: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This session started early. 8am. There is only a single table of drunks and hardcore low-limit poker addicts left. They're playing a short handed game with about 5 people. I don't actually remember a whole lot about this session to be honest. It was short. 45 mins according to my logs. My logs also say that I was in for $200 which means I busted and rebought for the full amount. Sooo, I guess that's what happened. About the only thing I remember is that in this game was there was a huge Asian dude (like muscle huge) that looked more than a little mentally challenged, and he never said a word. Hmmm, now that I think about it more. HE was the one that busted me. Yeah, I remember now. I busted to him on a bluffed AK that whiffed to his flopped baby flush. The other dudes were calling him the Silent Assassin. He said not one single word in 45 mins. It's coming back to me now. On my 2nd buyin I raised with JTs (remember this is like 5 handed) and Mr. Assassin called me. This wasn't too surprising. He had been catching big cards, and in my opinion he was not a bad player. But his one fault was that he called big bets (like my AK bluff) with marginal hands (like his baby flush when there were 4 diamonds on the board by the river.) The flop came JT4. I bet out $25 and he called. Turn came a blank. I went all in for like $100 more and he called. He showed QJ. River was a blank, and was back in the black. I ended up with $275... up $75.
The reason this game broke up is because two of the five players left the game to play the $20 9am tourney. Yes, $20 tourney if you can believe that. With no cash game left, I decided, fuck it, I'd play in a $20 poker bingo game.
Session 2: Excalibur $20 NL Hold 'Em Tournament
This went about as well as you'd guess: horribly. You started with $3000 with $25/$50 blinds and 15 minute rounds. Yay. The only nice thing about this was that since we were playing on Electronic tables, you got a LOT more hands per round. We figured that playing 15 min blinds on the electronic tables equated to 20/25 minute blinds at a live dealer table. Also, the casino took less for the house because they didn't have to pay any dealers. Still, the blinds came up fast, and I found myself going All-In with QJs with less than 10 BB's left. I got called by QQ. Haha. Oh, well. I actually flopped two hearts, but the flush was not to be. I think I finished in the high 20's with 40 people registered.
I've been keeping a log of all my expenses... for food, shopping, entertainment and transportation. I *nearly* put down that $20 buyin as entertainment because I really didn't consider it poker. :-) In the end, I logged it as a hit to my poker roll though.
After the tourney, there were enough people wanting to start a cash game. So there I went, right back into a 50c/$1 game.
Session 3: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This wasn't too exciting. I basically played for 4 hrs and made a little over $100. I ended up leaving this game because they announced that a $1/$2 game was starting. I moved to the new $1/$2 table, but it ended up just being 3 dudes just looking at each other for 10 minutes. The game didn't make. I intended to go grab lunch, but ended up going back to my room and sleeping for about 9 hours.
I headed back downstairs around 11pm. Lo and behold... a $1/$2 cash game at Excal!
Session 4: Excalibur $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em
I sat down to a nearly full table. Biggest stack was just a hair over the Maximum $300. I decided to just buyin for the Max amount myself. I played rather conservatively for the first hour or so when the table was full, but the game slowly started losing players. I mixed it up with the short handed table for a while and was up roughly $40 or so. Then about 2 hours in I caught my first big pocket pair: two black Kings. I was on the button, and the aggressive player to my right raised to $17. I didn't feel like adverstising the big pair in my hand, so I just smooth called him. The blinds folded, and it was heads up. The flop came a pretty uninteresting 973. I don't recall the suits, but they didn't come into play, so whatever. The guy leads out for $25. I immediately raise to $75, and he quickly goes All-In for about $100 on top of my $75. Now, I know what you're thinking: "He's got Aces! It's obvious!" Well, it was NOT obvious. If you had played with this guy for 2 hrs you would have quickly called too. But, yes, he had Aces. He doubled up, and I was down to about $140 bucks from my $300 buyin. I added back on to bring myself up to $300 again, but now I was in for $463.50.
I kept playing well, but the short handed table was not very easy. It was probably one of the hardest tables I'd played on actually. Two of the guys were intently talking about their online playing habits. How they play 12-14 tables at a time, Poker Tracker stats, etc. etc. Definitely not newbies. While I didn't feel like the fish at the table, I knew it was going to be rough making my money back. Everyone had between $200-$700 on the table. I just had to wait for someone to make a mistake and pounce. I battled my way back to $414. Then I took a string of 3 bad hits to the same guy.
This guy was the weakest player by far. He wasn't bad, but the other 4 of us were clearly better than him. In hand number one, I raised with QTs. He calls. I flop an open ender. He checks and I make a 1/2 sized pot bet. He calls. On the turn, I hit my straight. He seems really disinterested in the pot, so I make a small bet. He calls. River comes, and it puts a possible flush on the board. He leads out for about 1/5th the pot. Yay. I make a crying call. He's made his flush. Very next hand. I have 33. I call the $2 blinds and the it's three of us to the flop. I flop the first set I've seen all day. 783. Everyone including me checks. Turn comes an 8. Full House! I lead out for like $7. The pot was only like $6. One guy folds. My nemesis calls. River card: 8. Yes, ANOTHER 8. I'm not left with 8's full of 3's. He leads out for $10. Great. If the guy had flopped a 7, I'm done. I make another crying call. The guy's got Quad 8's. :-/ VERY next hand. I get AKo. I raise to $10. My nemesis calls me again. I flop top two: AK9. I bet $15. He calls. Turn comes a J. He checks, and I check. River brings a 3rd heart. He checks, and I bet $10 and say, "I guess you can pay me a little back with my flush now." He says, "You really have a flush?" then calls. "Cuz I have a straight. Queen Ten." Ugh. WTF.
I'm down to barely $300 again. After some time, I end up with 24s in the small blind. Aggressive guy to my right (the AA guy) raises to $6 and I call. I flop a pair of 4's and a flush draw. Guy bets out $15. I call. Turn comes a blank. The guy bets $15. I call again. River comes a 2 for two pair. The guy checks. I bet $25, and he calls. He had flopped a pair of Kings. There's some of my money back.
About 20 minutes later I have AKo. Same aggressive guy bets out $15. I call on the button. We're heads up. Flop comes A55. He bets out $25. I call. This guys does all my betting for me if you haven't noticed. The turn comes a 9. He bets $25, and I call again. River puts three hearts on the board. He checks. I mention that I made my flush and bet out $50. He's agonizing about a call. I started thinking, "Why the fuck did I say anything?" Too late. After a couple of minutes, he makes the call. I win. He says "I had pocket Kings." Whew. He owed me though.
In the end, I cashed out $443.50... down $20. Of all my sessions, that was probably my hardest one so far. The player skill level was pretty high. I really had adjust my play. But I never went on tilt, and I felt I played passively, aggressively, loosely and tightly at mostly the right times.
After this game, I figured I'd try the 50c/$1 game again.
Session 5: Excalibur 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
This was a quick session. 45 mins long. Only one memorable hand. Fairly early on, I had KQs (spades). I raised to $4 and got a couple of callers. The flop came Js Ts Kd. Not a bad flop, huh? Top pair, Queen kicker and an open ended straight flush draw! I led out for $12, and got a quick call from a dude with about $130. I had started with about $100 myself. The turn was a dud: 2h. I bet out $25, and the guy's like "Fuck it! I'm all-in!". So I start thinking, I'm either way ahead or behind but drawing to the nuts. I call. He's got J7 of clubs. WTF? I end up hitting a 4s on the river to make my flush, but I didn't need it. I doubled up to a bit over $200 and stayed there for the rest of this short session. What an idiot.
So after 2.5 days, I'm up $533.25. Not bad. Nothing earth shattering, but I'm having fun and making a little money. Nothing wrong with that, right? :-)
Until next time... I keep hearing them adverstise the 50c/$1 NL game over the loud speaker. I'm sure there are pleny of casual players waiting to buyin for $20 and $40 just wanting to hand it over to me with J7s. ;)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Vegas Days 1 & 2
"Vegas Days 1 & 2"
Yes, my first day was so full that it spilled over into two days. I woke up at 6am on Wednesday to work for 4 hrs before heading out to the airport. I didn't end up going to bed until 6pm on Thursday. Even then, I meant to only take a quick nap... and 11 hours later, I woke up. ;-) It's probably for the best. I needed the rest. I do kind of regret missing poker's 'primetime'... late evening.
Speaking of Poker... how was it for the first 36 hrs? Up and down, as expected. But mostly up. I had 4 sessions.
Session 1: Excalibur - 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
Yes, that's right. 50 CENTS - 1 dollar. Lowest limits in Vegas as far as I know. Why did I come all the way out to Vegas when I play in a 50c/$1 pot limit game on Wednesdays in Austin? Well, the answer is: I didn't. The Excalibur has some of the softest games in Vegas, and they used to have a $1/3 NL game. Then they switched to $1/2 about a year ago, and finally this passed August, the abandoned their traditional poker for all-electronic Poker Pro tables. While I wasn't too thrilled about the limit changing to 50c/$1, I was sorta interested to try these new electronic tables.
What I found was that the table was eerily quiet. Not much talking and very little action. The min/max is $20/$100. I expected people to be going all-in every hand with so little on the line. But nope, everyone was tighter than an Asian Catholic school girl. One of the nice things about playing on the electronic table was that you can see your stats for the game. I was seeing only 12% of the flops myself. I played for a little while, got up about $25 and then decided that rather than adjust to the tight play, I would go grab something to eat as I was starving by this point. Plus, I could revisit the game later. I'm here for 11 days after all.
Dinner: Hooters Casino
I ordered a Buffalo Chicken sandwich. I was so hungry that I asked for some fries as an appetizer just to get something on the table quickly. The food was OK. The sandwich was a little tough, but whatever. My hunger satiated, I walked across the street to the MGM to try some live $1/2.
Session 2: MGM Grand - $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em
Nothing special about this session. I'd played quite a few times at the MGM. While Claire used to prefer Excal (she hasn't played on the new Electronic tables yet), I tended to prefer MGM in our first Vegas visits. My last trip out here though, I did much better at Excal, but MGM was still my 2nd favorite place. The poker room at MGM is usually quite lively. I played for about 4 hrs and made a paltry 40 bucks, but at least I didn't lose. The most exciting thing that I saw here was while I was waiting for a seat.
I strolled by the $2/$5 table and saw a couple of people were All-In (at the MGM, when you're all-in, the dealer puts an All-In marker in front of you for the cameras to see.) One guy was in for about $400 and another guy was in for about $500+. The only reason there hadn't been a flop yet was because there was an old man standing in their way. I came in late, but from the looks of it, the swanky douchebag looking TypeA player to the old man's right had raised, the old man made a big re-raise for about $150, and next guy went all-in for $400ish. When it got back to swanky Douchbag, he went all-in as well. The old man was left thinking about the $1000+ in the pot... $150 of it being his own money. This is were I came in. Douchebag was showing everyone else but the old man his cards. I mean everyone. He was calling over people from off the table to show them his cards. He was being an annoying dick. He had Aces of course. The old man was a curmudgeonly old fuck. Somber and grizzled... about 110 years old. He was not pleased. With about $1500 in front if him, he called. Before anyone had flipped, I knew the 1st all-in guy had KK. I could tell by how annoyed he was seeing Douchebag flaunting AA around the table. But what could the old man have? AKs? QQ? Another pair of pocket Kings? Nope. 9To. Yes, Nine Ten offsuit. The old man flopped two pair, and the turn and river were blanks. Wow. The old man promptly raked in the giant pot and told the other two players to get off his damn lawn. The KK guy was pretty upset, but Douchebag took it rather well. I guess he was rich. Or maybe he wasn't such a Douchebag after all... Naw, I'm sure he was just rich. ;)
After the MGM session, I headed out down the strip. After walking for a short while, I came to Planet Hollywood. I strolled in started Session 3.
Session 3: Planet Hollywood - $1/$2.
I sat down to a full table. The only other tables running were for a 2am tournament that had just started. I got a couple of big hands early and took them down with aggressive betting. I started with $150 and got up to about $200. There were about 4 friends at the table. Young guys in the early to mid-20's. All Canadian. One guy looked almost exactly like Nick Papagiorgio (Ethan Embry's alter ego in Vegas Vacation). He was dressed up in a loud yellow loose fabric blazer with a dark T-shirt underneath. he even had the gold chain going. He must have dressed this way as a gag because all his friends were calling him "Papagiorgio" all night. They were a fun bunch. Papagiorgio and the older man on my left started playing prop bet games based on which cards hit the board. This was more entertaining than the hands I was getting dealt. I ended up staying until it got down to 6 handed. I was playing EXTREMELY tight, and they all definitely noticed. I used this to my advantage. I took down almost every single pot I entered with agressive betting. Even when I whiffed completely, they all had me on large pocket pairs. A couple of times I got them to fold made big pairs to my bets. In the end, I made a little over $100 in that session. Nothing too special.
After this, I started to get hungry. It was nearly 7am. I wanted a something cheap and quick. I found a scuzzy old McDonald's further up the strip.
Breakfast: McDonald's
I'm not a big fan of breakfast foods. But McDonald's only serves breakfast during the morning. This is extremely annoying. Whataburger rocks. Anyway, I ordered a chicken biscuit meal. I pulled out the chicken and pretended it was a giant chicken McNuggest. I ate the hash brown as a giant fry, but I had my orange juice as a just a regular sized orange juice. Cuz, you know, it was regular sized. I spread some strawberry jam on the biscuit halves as dessert. See? Who says you can't get lunch during breakfast time at McDonald's?
I strolled over further up the strip. I saw the Rio and though about walking that way, but it's hard to cross streets in Vegas. You have to plan it right to get to the overstreet walkways. I didn't, and by the time I realized it, it was just easier to just keep walking down the side of the strip I was on. I tried to find a game at the Paris hotel, but I couldn't find the poker room. They might not even have one. If they do, they don't advertise it very well. Then I walked into Harrah's. I did find their poker room, but it was very early in the morning and they just had one game: a $1/$2 NLHE short handed game with everyone having about $600-800 in front of them. No thanks.
A little further up the strip, I found the Venetian.
Session 3: The Venetian - $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em.
This was by far the worst session. I had to wait for seat, and after about a 5 person wait list, they started a new table. I started out with great hands, and went up over $200 pretty quickly (I started with $150.) Then the game filled up, and I made some bad plays. I got caught with Q9 hitting two pair against a flopped flush. And with AJs I flopped top pair Jacks Vs. QQ. Not good. I ended up dropping $250 there. It sucked. Rather than rebuy again, I decided to think about my mistakes and walk down the strip to cool off (literally and figuratively.)
I walked all the way back to Excalibur. I was pretty tired. It was already about 10am on Thursday. I'd been up over 30+ hours.
Session 4: Excalibur - 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em.
There were a few reasons why I decided to play at Excal again. The biggest reason was that I was getting tired and my room was at the Excalibur. I didn't get a room Wednesday cuz I knew I wouldn't sleep that night. But I couldn't check into my room yet because Check-In time hadn't arrived. So I figured I'd kill time at the Excal poker tables. The other reason I decided to play at Excal next is because the limits are low and the amount I have to risk is lower. I figured I could just play for a while and try to make just some of my $250 loss from the Venetian. I ended up making much more than that!
I bought it for the Max of $100 and proceeded to crush the table. I started 5 handed because they had a tourney going on. As people busted, they'd take a seat, I'd crush them and they'd leave. Another tourney player would show up on tilt, I'd crush him and he'd leave. It was great. After a while, I built up to about $200 and people got scared of me. The game was still very very tight, but I had loosened way up and got really aggressive. It felt as if I could basically take down any pot I wanted. They were so meek. I purposely didn't play some hands and mixed stuff up with checks and folds, but everytime I got aggressive, I won. I checked my stats on the electronic table.. I was playing 45% of the hands! I never play that many hands. What was even weirder was that it shows how many rivers you saw and how many you won. I was at 8/8 wins at the showdown. People would call my raise preflop and then try to call me down with anything. As I was about to leave I got KK and raised to $10. A pretty big raise at 50c/$1. I got called by at a guy with just over $100. It flopped T high. He led out for $15. I raised to $50 with my Kings. He called! I was like... WTF. Don't you know who I am? ;-) Anyway, the turn comes garbage and he goes All-In. I have like $250 now, and he's all in for about $50. Of course I call. He's got KTo. haha. I'm up to like $460. With that win, I decide it's time to check into my room. So not only did I make up for that $250 loss, but I made another $100+ in profits. Whew.
I'm up now to about $300 in total profits.
After getting to my room and showering, I decided I was pretty hungry. I hadn't eaten since 7am, and it was almost 6pm. I laid down on the bed for just a bit, and woke up at 3am. ;-) It really felt like 15 mins. I don't remember dreaming or anything. I thought for sure the clock radio was wrong. But I checked by phone... yep, 3am.
I re-showered and talked to Claire for a bit, now I'm down by the Krispy Kreme donuts in the Excalibur. It's the only place to get free WiFi in here. ;-)
If you are enjoying my antics, you should subscribe to my Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/RobNava
I post updates to Twitter in real time. I also post pictures and updates with my GPS location. Go check it out!
Until next time...
-Rob in Vegas
Yes, my first day was so full that it spilled over into two days. I woke up at 6am on Wednesday to work for 4 hrs before heading out to the airport. I didn't end up going to bed until 6pm on Thursday. Even then, I meant to only take a quick nap... and 11 hours later, I woke up. ;-) It's probably for the best. I needed the rest. I do kind of regret missing poker's 'primetime'... late evening.
Speaking of Poker... how was it for the first 36 hrs? Up and down, as expected. But mostly up. I had 4 sessions.
Session 1: Excalibur - 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em
Yes, that's right. 50 CENTS - 1 dollar. Lowest limits in Vegas as far as I know. Why did I come all the way out to Vegas when I play in a 50c/$1 pot limit game on Wednesdays in Austin? Well, the answer is: I didn't. The Excalibur has some of the softest games in Vegas, and they used to have a $1/3 NL game. Then they switched to $1/2 about a year ago, and finally this passed August, the abandoned their traditional poker for all-electronic Poker Pro tables. While I wasn't too thrilled about the limit changing to 50c/$1, I was sorta interested to try these new electronic tables.
What I found was that the table was eerily quiet. Not much talking and very little action. The min/max is $20/$100. I expected people to be going all-in every hand with so little on the line. But nope, everyone was tighter than an Asian Catholic school girl. One of the nice things about playing on the electronic table was that you can see your stats for the game. I was seeing only 12% of the flops myself. I played for a little while, got up about $25 and then decided that rather than adjust to the tight play, I would go grab something to eat as I was starving by this point. Plus, I could revisit the game later. I'm here for 11 days after all.
Dinner: Hooters Casino
I ordered a Buffalo Chicken sandwich. I was so hungry that I asked for some fries as an appetizer just to get something on the table quickly. The food was OK. The sandwich was a little tough, but whatever. My hunger satiated, I walked across the street to the MGM to try some live $1/2.
Session 2: MGM Grand - $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em
Nothing special about this session. I'd played quite a few times at the MGM. While Claire used to prefer Excal (she hasn't played on the new Electronic tables yet), I tended to prefer MGM in our first Vegas visits. My last trip out here though, I did much better at Excal, but MGM was still my 2nd favorite place. The poker room at MGM is usually quite lively. I played for about 4 hrs and made a paltry 40 bucks, but at least I didn't lose. The most exciting thing that I saw here was while I was waiting for a seat.
I strolled by the $2/$5 table and saw a couple of people were All-In (at the MGM, when you're all-in, the dealer puts an All-In marker in front of you for the cameras to see.) One guy was in for about $400 and another guy was in for about $500+. The only reason there hadn't been a flop yet was because there was an old man standing in their way. I came in late, but from the looks of it, the swanky douchebag looking TypeA player to the old man's right had raised, the old man made a big re-raise for about $150, and next guy went all-in for $400ish. When it got back to swanky Douchbag, he went all-in as well. The old man was left thinking about the $1000+ in the pot... $150 of it being his own money. This is were I came in. Douchebag was showing everyone else but the old man his cards. I mean everyone. He was calling over people from off the table to show them his cards. He was being an annoying dick. He had Aces of course. The old man was a curmudgeonly old fuck. Somber and grizzled... about 110 years old. He was not pleased. With about $1500 in front if him, he called. Before anyone had flipped, I knew the 1st all-in guy had KK. I could tell by how annoyed he was seeing Douchebag flaunting AA around the table. But what could the old man have? AKs? QQ? Another pair of pocket Kings? Nope. 9To. Yes, Nine Ten offsuit. The old man flopped two pair, and the turn and river were blanks. Wow. The old man promptly raked in the giant pot and told the other two players to get off his damn lawn. The KK guy was pretty upset, but Douchebag took it rather well. I guess he was rich. Or maybe he wasn't such a Douchebag after all... Naw, I'm sure he was just rich. ;)
After the MGM session, I headed out down the strip. After walking for a short while, I came to Planet Hollywood. I strolled in started Session 3.
Session 3: Planet Hollywood - $1/$2.
I sat down to a full table. The only other tables running were for a 2am tournament that had just started. I got a couple of big hands early and took them down with aggressive betting. I started with $150 and got up to about $200. There were about 4 friends at the table. Young guys in the early to mid-20's. All Canadian. One guy looked almost exactly like Nick Papagiorgio (Ethan Embry's alter ego in Vegas Vacation). He was dressed up in a loud yellow loose fabric blazer with a dark T-shirt underneath. he even had the gold chain going. He must have dressed this way as a gag because all his friends were calling him "Papagiorgio" all night. They were a fun bunch. Papagiorgio and the older man on my left started playing prop bet games based on which cards hit the board. This was more entertaining than the hands I was getting dealt. I ended up staying until it got down to 6 handed. I was playing EXTREMELY tight, and they all definitely noticed. I used this to my advantage. I took down almost every single pot I entered with agressive betting. Even when I whiffed completely, they all had me on large pocket pairs. A couple of times I got them to fold made big pairs to my bets. In the end, I made a little over $100 in that session. Nothing too special.
After this, I started to get hungry. It was nearly 7am. I wanted a something cheap and quick. I found a scuzzy old McDonald's further up the strip.
Breakfast: McDonald's
I'm not a big fan of breakfast foods. But McDonald's only serves breakfast during the morning. This is extremely annoying. Whataburger rocks. Anyway, I ordered a chicken biscuit meal. I pulled out the chicken and pretended it was a giant chicken McNuggest. I ate the hash brown as a giant fry, but I had my orange juice as a just a regular sized orange juice. Cuz, you know, it was regular sized. I spread some strawberry jam on the biscuit halves as dessert. See? Who says you can't get lunch during breakfast time at McDonald's?
I strolled over further up the strip. I saw the Rio and though about walking that way, but it's hard to cross streets in Vegas. You have to plan it right to get to the overstreet walkways. I didn't, and by the time I realized it, it was just easier to just keep walking down the side of the strip I was on. I tried to find a game at the Paris hotel, but I couldn't find the poker room. They might not even have one. If they do, they don't advertise it very well. Then I walked into Harrah's. I did find their poker room, but it was very early in the morning and they just had one game: a $1/$2 NLHE short handed game with everyone having about $600-800 in front of them. No thanks.
A little further up the strip, I found the Venetian.
Session 3: The Venetian - $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em.
This was by far the worst session. I had to wait for seat, and after about a 5 person wait list, they started a new table. I started out with great hands, and went up over $200 pretty quickly (I started with $150.) Then the game filled up, and I made some bad plays. I got caught with Q9 hitting two pair against a flopped flush. And with AJs I flopped top pair Jacks Vs. QQ. Not good. I ended up dropping $250 there. It sucked. Rather than rebuy again, I decided to think about my mistakes and walk down the strip to cool off (literally and figuratively.)
I walked all the way back to Excalibur. I was pretty tired. It was already about 10am on Thursday. I'd been up over 30+ hours.
Session 4: Excalibur - 50c/$1 NL Hold 'Em.
There were a few reasons why I decided to play at Excal again. The biggest reason was that I was getting tired and my room was at the Excalibur. I didn't get a room Wednesday cuz I knew I wouldn't sleep that night. But I couldn't check into my room yet because Check-In time hadn't arrived. So I figured I'd kill time at the Excal poker tables. The other reason I decided to play at Excal next is because the limits are low and the amount I have to risk is lower. I figured I could just play for a while and try to make just some of my $250 loss from the Venetian. I ended up making much more than that!
I bought it for the Max of $100 and proceeded to crush the table. I started 5 handed because they had a tourney going on. As people busted, they'd take a seat, I'd crush them and they'd leave. Another tourney player would show up on tilt, I'd crush him and he'd leave. It was great. After a while, I built up to about $200 and people got scared of me. The game was still very very tight, but I had loosened way up and got really aggressive. It felt as if I could basically take down any pot I wanted. They were so meek. I purposely didn't play some hands and mixed stuff up with checks and folds, but everytime I got aggressive, I won. I checked my stats on the electronic table.. I was playing 45% of the hands! I never play that many hands. What was even weirder was that it shows how many rivers you saw and how many you won. I was at 8/8 wins at the showdown. People would call my raise preflop and then try to call me down with anything. As I was about to leave I got KK and raised to $10. A pretty big raise at 50c/$1. I got called by at a guy with just over $100. It flopped T high. He led out for $15. I raised to $50 with my Kings. He called! I was like... WTF. Don't you know who I am? ;-) Anyway, the turn comes garbage and he goes All-In. I have like $250 now, and he's all in for about $50. Of course I call. He's got KTo. haha. I'm up to like $460. With that win, I decide it's time to check into my room. So not only did I make up for that $250 loss, but I made another $100+ in profits. Whew.
I'm up now to about $300 in total profits.
After getting to my room and showering, I decided I was pretty hungry. I hadn't eaten since 7am, and it was almost 6pm. I laid down on the bed for just a bit, and woke up at 3am. ;-) It really felt like 15 mins. I don't remember dreaming or anything. I thought for sure the clock radio was wrong. But I checked by phone... yep, 3am.
I re-showered and talked to Claire for a bit, now I'm down by the Krispy Kreme donuts in the Excalibur. It's the only place to get free WiFi in here. ;-)
If you are enjoying my antics, you should subscribe to my Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/RobNava
I post updates to Twitter in real time. I also post pictures and updates with my GPS location. Go check it out!
Until next time...
-Rob in Vegas
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Vegas Day 0
"Vegas Day 0"
Well, here I am. The day before my Vegas trip, and my sleeping schedule is already jacked up due to poker. For the last couple of nights, I've been waking up at around 4am. All due to my marathon poker session that started on Saturday night.
By tomorrow evening, I'll be on Day 1 of 11 in Vegas. Everytime people ask me how long I'll be in Vegas, and I reply "11 days," they inevitably cringe. "That long?! You're going to get sick of it!" they scoff. They don't understand. They go for Cirque du Soleil and a little blackjack. I'm there for poker. A lot of it. In the last 25 days, I've logged 86.5 hours of *live* poker. That's 3.5 hours of poker every single day. Voluntarily. The only reason it was not more was because I had to work and spend time with family. Not that I don't enjoy time with my family. :-) But the point is that I played as much as possible, and it wasn't enough. So 11 dedicated poker days in Vegas? Yeah, trust me... not a problem.
Some people might say that I have a gambling problem. But I say it's only gambling if you lose. :). Sure, that sounds cocky, but I'm very confident that over the course of the trip, I will be profitable.
Stay tuned to this blog for at *least* once a day posts from Sin City. Track my progress here and on twitter.
http://twitter.com/RobNava
-Rob
Well, here I am. The day before my Vegas trip, and my sleeping schedule is already jacked up due to poker. For the last couple of nights, I've been waking up at around 4am. All due to my marathon poker session that started on Saturday night.
By tomorrow evening, I'll be on Day 1 of 11 in Vegas. Everytime people ask me how long I'll be in Vegas, and I reply "11 days," they inevitably cringe. "That long?! You're going to get sick of it!" they scoff. They don't understand. They go for Cirque du Soleil and a little blackjack. I'm there for poker. A lot of it. In the last 25 days, I've logged 86.5 hours of *live* poker. That's 3.5 hours of poker every single day. Voluntarily. The only reason it was not more was because I had to work and spend time with family. Not that I don't enjoy time with my family. :-) But the point is that I played as much as possible, and it wasn't enough. So 11 dedicated poker days in Vegas? Yeah, trust me... not a problem.
Some people might say that I have a gambling problem. But I say it's only gambling if you lose. :). Sure, that sounds cocky, but I'm very confident that over the course of the trip, I will be profitable.
Stay tuned to this blog for at *least* once a day posts from Sin City. Track my progress here and on twitter.
http://twitter.com/RobNava
-Rob
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
"Days 14-18"
Happiness Level: Varied
This experiment sucks. I've stopped drinking only water. I did not call my sister this past week. I stopped reading to Maddie (though I do spend time with her... of course... I just gave up on reading.) I'm not adhering to specified bedtimes. I haven't exercised for shit. And last Tuesday, I got so pissed off at the people playing poker that I want on an hour long tirade and someone actually got up and left right in the middle of the game. The funny thing is that he wasn't even one of the people I was yelling at.
Has the experiment been completely useless? No. A few positives have come out of this. I am consciously eating less, maybe not half, but certainly less, and consequently I've felt less "blah" than I usually do after meals. I'm also eating after 10pm a lot less often. The heart palpitations have subsided, and that's definitely a good thing. I'm not sure if them going away is due to my eating habits, but it's still a positive. And finally I've also been talking with my parents a lot more. All good things.
Frankly, any positive changes are good ones, regardless of goals. None of the previous changes would have happened without attempting this experiment so I'm going to continue doing what I can.
Happiness Level: Varied
This experiment sucks. I've stopped drinking only water. I did not call my sister this past week. I stopped reading to Maddie (though I do spend time with her... of course... I just gave up on reading.) I'm not adhering to specified bedtimes. I haven't exercised for shit. And last Tuesday, I got so pissed off at the people playing poker that I want on an hour long tirade and someone actually got up and left right in the middle of the game. The funny thing is that he wasn't even one of the people I was yelling at.
Has the experiment been completely useless? No. A few positives have come out of this. I am consciously eating less, maybe not half, but certainly less, and consequently I've felt less "blah" than I usually do after meals. I'm also eating after 10pm a lot less often. The heart palpitations have subsided, and that's definitely a good thing. I'm not sure if them going away is due to my eating habits, but it's still a positive. And finally I've also been talking with my parents a lot more. All good things.
Frankly, any positive changes are good ones, regardless of goals. None of the previous changes would have happened without attempting this experiment so I'm going to continue doing what I can.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
"Day 13"
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Due to a time conflict with Claire, I ended up having to meet her at Taco Bell for lunch. An order of steak taquitos, a chicken fiesta burrito and a Pepsi... eaten. Dinner was part of an awful, awful brisket sandwich from Bill Millers, a side of Pinto Beans (not so awful) and some Pepsi. I ate so little at dinner that I ended up picking up a grilled chicken salad from Whataburger on the way home from poker at Matt's. I ate half of that and drank most of that medium Coke.
Exercise? Pfft. What's that? I'm failing miserably on the exercise front
Talking to parents? Well, I talked with my mom ever so briefly the day before, and she gave me a call today, but I was in the middle of a poker game. I will for SURE call her tomorrow.
Maddie time? I had dinner with her, but that's about it. :-(
Yelling? I yelled at Claire a good amount in the morning. I was pretty pissed off at her. I was plenty calmed down by lunchtime. I played a new .50/1.00 pot limit game over at Michael A's friend's house (Matt) last night. I tried my best to stay calm. It wasn't too hard as I didn't really get sucked out on too badly. I ended up cashing out $70 off of a $20 buy-in. Yes, I realize that $20 is an awfullly low initial buyin for a .50/1.00 game, but when in Rome...
Palpitations? Yep. Kept me up again for hours. They're not painful, just uncomfortable. My family doctor didn't seem to concerned about it. It's probably cuz I'm so freakin' out of shape. I *really* need to make an apt with Dr. Black.
I'm soo tired right now.
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Due to a time conflict with Claire, I ended up having to meet her at Taco Bell for lunch. An order of steak taquitos, a chicken fiesta burrito and a Pepsi... eaten. Dinner was part of an awful, awful brisket sandwich from Bill Millers, a side of Pinto Beans (not so awful) and some Pepsi. I ate so little at dinner that I ended up picking up a grilled chicken salad from Whataburger on the way home from poker at Matt's. I ate half of that and drank most of that medium Coke.
Exercise? Pfft. What's that? I'm failing miserably on the exercise front
Talking to parents? Well, I talked with my mom ever so briefly the day before, and she gave me a call today, but I was in the middle of a poker game. I will for SURE call her tomorrow.
Maddie time? I had dinner with her, but that's about it. :-(
Yelling? I yelled at Claire a good amount in the morning. I was pretty pissed off at her. I was plenty calmed down by lunchtime. I played a new .50/1.00 pot limit game over at Michael A's friend's house (Matt) last night. I tried my best to stay calm. It wasn't too hard as I didn't really get sucked out on too badly. I ended up cashing out $70 off of a $20 buy-in. Yes, I realize that $20 is an awfullly low initial buyin for a .50/1.00 game, but when in Rome...
Palpitations? Yep. Kept me up again for hours. They're not painful, just uncomfortable. My family doctor didn't seem to concerned about it. It's probably cuz I'm so freakin' out of shape. I *really* need to make an apt with Dr. Black.
I'm soo tired right now.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
"Day 11"
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Reading over my entries, it's apparent that I talk about food the great majority of the time. This is probably why I'm overweight. Although there are a multitude of things I should be doing besides watching what I eat this month, I tend to focus on the food elements. As evidenced in this blog, I associate the parts of my day with the meals I eat. So in an effort to stymie this line of thinking, I'm going to greatly reduce the importance of food in my daily blogs. Hopefully this will transcend over to my daily way of thinking.
That being said...
I had Pluckers for lunch. Grilled Chicken sandwich, a few fries and about 1/2 of a Coke. Dinner was yummy. Home-made beef tostadas, side of mexi-rice and a bottle of water.
I called my parents today. I started with my Dad. He was literally surprised to hear from me to the point that he called me on it. Saying something like, "I'm looking at the phone number calling me, and I can't believe it!" Yeah, that's how often I call my parents. I asked him how he was feeling. I knew he and my mother had caught a cold recently. He said they were both nearly fully recovered from the cold, but that my mother was at home sick with a stomach ache and that I should call her.
So I called my mom. No answer. I left a message knowing that I probably wouldnl't call back... at least not today... and also knowing that as soon as she'd see the message that she try to call me back like 20 times until I answered. So, I told her in the message that I was going back to work and that she probably wouldn't get ahold of me. That didn't stop her. She called back within a hour. I didn't answer. I'll call her tomorrow.
I don't know why I hate talking on the phone so much, but I do. My parents have gotten used to it. They don't like it, but they're used to it. That reminds me. I need to call my sister this week.
On the way home, I had plans of going jogging. Once home, I fell asleep. :-(
At least I spent a good amount of time with Maddie. She loves nothing more than to sit on my lap while I'm at my computer. I play a movie for her in one monitor and go about my business on the 2nd monitor. I guess some people might call that 'non-quality' time together, but fuck those people. My daughter loves me. At this point in her life, she probably wants to be with her Dada more than anyone else in the world. It kinda makes Claire sad, but she chooses to be with me more often than anyone... even her. I'm sure it's a temporary phase, but it's nice to know that at least for one tiny portion of her life, I had my daughter's heart completely. And whether we spend that time together watching Backyardigans for the 21st time or me reading the Bible to her, that's our business.
The worst part of day was actually late night. After Maddie and Claire were sound asleep, my heart began those annoying/scary palpitations. Worrying about them kept me up for hours.
My sister lived with me for a bit before she moved to Florida. While she was here, she worked as a nurse. As a nurse, she owned a stethoscope. You know, the tubey thing that they use at the doctor's office to listen to your heartbeat. Anyway, she left one here. And when I get freaked out by my heart beats, I like to listen to it with the stethoscope. It soothes me to hear it when it starts beating normally. It makes me realize that my hearts fine, and that I'm overreacting.
Last night, I couldn't find the stethoscope. :-(
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Reading over my entries, it's apparent that I talk about food the great majority of the time. This is probably why I'm overweight. Although there are a multitude of things I should be doing besides watching what I eat this month, I tend to focus on the food elements. As evidenced in this blog, I associate the parts of my day with the meals I eat. So in an effort to stymie this line of thinking, I'm going to greatly reduce the importance of food in my daily blogs. Hopefully this will transcend over to my daily way of thinking.
That being said...
I had Pluckers for lunch. Grilled Chicken sandwich, a few fries and about 1/2 of a Coke. Dinner was yummy. Home-made beef tostadas, side of mexi-rice and a bottle of water.
I called my parents today. I started with my Dad. He was literally surprised to hear from me to the point that he called me on it. Saying something like, "I'm looking at the phone number calling me, and I can't believe it!" Yeah, that's how often I call my parents. I asked him how he was feeling. I knew he and my mother had caught a cold recently. He said they were both nearly fully recovered from the cold, but that my mother was at home sick with a stomach ache and that I should call her.
So I called my mom. No answer. I left a message knowing that I probably wouldnl't call back... at least not today... and also knowing that as soon as she'd see the message that she try to call me back like 20 times until I answered. So, I told her in the message that I was going back to work and that she probably wouldn't get ahold of me. That didn't stop her. She called back within a hour. I didn't answer. I'll call her tomorrow.
I don't know why I hate talking on the phone so much, but I do. My parents have gotten used to it. They don't like it, but they're used to it. That reminds me. I need to call my sister this week.
On the way home, I had plans of going jogging. Once home, I fell asleep. :-(
At least I spent a good amount of time with Maddie. She loves nothing more than to sit on my lap while I'm at my computer. I play a movie for her in one monitor and go about my business on the 2nd monitor. I guess some people might call that 'non-quality' time together, but fuck those people. My daughter loves me. At this point in her life, she probably wants to be with her Dada more than anyone else in the world. It kinda makes Claire sad, but she chooses to be with me more often than anyone... even her. I'm sure it's a temporary phase, but it's nice to know that at least for one tiny portion of her life, I had my daughter's heart completely. And whether we spend that time together watching Backyardigans for the 21st time or me reading the Bible to her, that's our business.
The worst part of day was actually late night. After Maddie and Claire were sound asleep, my heart began those annoying/scary palpitations. Worrying about them kept me up for hours.
My sister lived with me for a bit before she moved to Florida. While she was here, she worked as a nurse. As a nurse, she owned a stethoscope. You know, the tubey thing that they use at the doctor's office to listen to your heartbeat. Anyway, she left one here. And when I get freaked out by my heart beats, I like to listen to it with the stethoscope. It soothes me to hear it when it starts beating normally. It makes me realize that my hearts fine, and that I'm overreacting.
Last night, I couldn't find the stethoscope. :-(
Sunday, June 10, 2007
"Day 10"
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
I was so tired. I slept through most of the day. At about 4:30pm I woke up to a pair of KFC Buffalo Snackers sitting in a bag bedside. And the requesite bottle of water, of course. Claire's awesome. But as good as those things are, I think I'm done with them for a while. The last batch was too salty. And that's saying a lot cuz I loves me some salt.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals was going to be on in the evening, and that was as good a reason as any to grill up some fajitas on the patio grill. Some homemade charro beans and a side of mexi-rice... soo good. I even had a rare Coke (at home, anyway) with my meal to puncuate the 'special occasion' of eating freshly grilled fajitas while watching the Spurs obliterated the Cavs. Ahhhh.
I didn't do much other than that. I spent a little time with Maddie, neglected to run again and finally played a little bit of online poker before bed, but overall, it was a pretty chill day.
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
I was so tired. I slept through most of the day. At about 4:30pm I woke up to a pair of KFC Buffalo Snackers sitting in a bag bedside. And the requesite bottle of water, of course. Claire's awesome. But as good as those things are, I think I'm done with them for a while. The last batch was too salty. And that's saying a lot cuz I loves me some salt.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals was going to be on in the evening, and that was as good a reason as any to grill up some fajitas on the patio grill. Some homemade charro beans and a side of mexi-rice... soo good. I even had a rare Coke (at home, anyway) with my meal to puncuate the 'special occasion' of eating freshly grilled fajitas while watching the Spurs obliterated the Cavs. Ahhhh.
I didn't do much other than that. I spent a little time with Maddie, neglected to run again and finally played a little bit of online poker before bed, but overall, it was a pretty chill day.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
"Day 9"
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I hate Wendy's. They suck so bad. Claire brought home some Wendy's for lunch. I was pretty disappointed. Normally I don't mind their spicy chicken sandwich so much, but today I just couldn't stand the sight of Wendy's food. I was really fucking hungry though. So I ate most of the sandwich, but only after I added a lot of hot sauce to it. Why is 'spicy' food rarely spicy?
I actually gave Claire a lot of shit about brining me Wendy's for lunch, and I shouldn't have. She knows I hate Wendy's, but I have eaten it on occasion without too much complaining. And to her credit, she did try to get me something I might like. She was simply in a hurry because she was on her way home from work and was late to take Maddie to a birthday party, and we have the misfortune of having a Wendy's located in the shopping center right in front of our house. I did make it clear that I don't ever want to eat anything from Wendy's ever again though. Especially not their dreadful fries.
Dinner was rushed. It was almost poker time, and Claire had fallen asleep with Maddie for a good part of the late afternoon/early evening. Aaron had come over early to play some video games before poker time (I suspect because his Xbox 360 is currently broken.) Judy had accompanied him. Once Claire woke up, she and Judy headed out to Rudy's to pick up some Dinner. I ate quickly and probably a tad too much. Oh, well.
Not that it makes up for a bit too much Rudy's BBQ for dinner, but I finally went jogging/walking this afternoon! I got winded a bit too early, and I didn't have enough energy to complete 4 laps, but I did do 3. It wasn't my muscles or even my lungs that held me back. I literally didn't have enough energy to do 4 laps. It was probably because I had so little for lunch... just part of that chicken sandwich and some water. In any case, I felt good that I did it, but my body wasn't too happy with me. I'm far more out of shape than I appear.
I spent most of the early day with Maddie. Her ability to communicate has been improving rapidly. That makes spending time with her so much better IMHO.
Poker sucked. We had such a big turnout that we had to run two tables. It didn't matter. I still ended up -$17 for the night. I played very tight, but probably not aggresive enough. We had 5 new people show up, so I felt that I needed to be patient and see what they were like. One guy was a freakin' leprechaun with multiple horseshoes up his ass. He couldn't lose not matter what he played. But he only hit me once... when he got runner-runner flush after he made a call on the flop with a 'pair draw.' Idiots.
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I hate Wendy's. They suck so bad. Claire brought home some Wendy's for lunch. I was pretty disappointed. Normally I don't mind their spicy chicken sandwich so much, but today I just couldn't stand the sight of Wendy's food. I was really fucking hungry though. So I ate most of the sandwich, but only after I added a lot of hot sauce to it. Why is 'spicy' food rarely spicy?
I actually gave Claire a lot of shit about brining me Wendy's for lunch, and I shouldn't have. She knows I hate Wendy's, but I have eaten it on occasion without too much complaining. And to her credit, she did try to get me something I might like. She was simply in a hurry because she was on her way home from work and was late to take Maddie to a birthday party, and we have the misfortune of having a Wendy's located in the shopping center right in front of our house. I did make it clear that I don't ever want to eat anything from Wendy's ever again though. Especially not their dreadful fries.
Dinner was rushed. It was almost poker time, and Claire had fallen asleep with Maddie for a good part of the late afternoon/early evening. Aaron had come over early to play some video games before poker time (I suspect because his Xbox 360 is currently broken.) Judy had accompanied him. Once Claire woke up, she and Judy headed out to Rudy's to pick up some Dinner. I ate quickly and probably a tad too much. Oh, well.
Not that it makes up for a bit too much Rudy's BBQ for dinner, but I finally went jogging/walking this afternoon! I got winded a bit too early, and I didn't have enough energy to complete 4 laps, but I did do 3. It wasn't my muscles or even my lungs that held me back. I literally didn't have enough energy to do 4 laps. It was probably because I had so little for lunch... just part of that chicken sandwich and some water. In any case, I felt good that I did it, but my body wasn't too happy with me. I'm far more out of shape than I appear.
I spent most of the early day with Maddie. Her ability to communicate has been improving rapidly. That makes spending time with her so much better IMHO.
Poker sucked. We had such a big turnout that we had to run two tables. It didn't matter. I still ended up -$17 for the night. I played very tight, but probably not aggresive enough. We had 5 new people show up, so I felt that I needed to be patient and see what they were like. One guy was a freakin' leprechaun with multiple horseshoes up his ass. He couldn't lose not matter what he played. But he only hit me once... when he got runner-runner flush after he made a call on the flop with a 'pair draw.' Idiots.
Friday, June 08, 2007
"Day 8"
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I went to the doctor today. As I suspected, I got a referral to see Dr. Black for my palpitations, some blood drawn for a cholestorol/liver check, and a prescription for more cholestorol meds. Nothing too surprising.
I had Dot's for lunch. I hadn't had that in forever... namely because it had burned down a few years ago, and it was rebuilt a bit too far from work. Luckily, it's nearer my doctor's office.
Dot's is one of the few places that I know of that makes all their stuff from scratch. Well, maybe not the condiments, and I'm pretty sure then don't gather their own sea salt or make their own Coca-Cola, but all the entrees, sides and desserts are home-made from scratch everyday. Pretty yummy stuff. I had beef tips over white rice, potatoes, mac and cheese, and dinner roll and a fresh lemonade to drink. I shared my meal with Claire so that probably kept me from overeating.
Dinner was quite yummy as well. Claire made some awesome home-made tacos, rice and beans. Since I was at home, I was able to drink what has become my favorite water, Aquafina, with my meal. I was only going to eat two tacos, but damn, they were so good. I had three. :-(
After Dinner Claire and I went to Mike's Friday Night Poker Tourney. It was our worst performance ever there I think. I got 4th in the tourney. Claire ended up 5th. :-(
Other than some time after work, I didn't see Maddie much today. I do love that little girl though. She's getting so big too!
On the brighter side of familial relationships, I did talk to my Mom for a bit today. She called me asking if I wanted to buy some contacts from a friend of hers who was selling some. Out of the trunk of her car I imagine. That was a rather odd call. I declined and reminded my mom that I wore prescription contacts. My mom is weird sometimes.
I didn't jog again. God, do I hate running/jogging/walking for exercise. Seems like the only reason I should be running is to run after something/someone or away from something/someone. I guess if I wanted to be all inspirational and shit, I could say that I'd be running away from obesity, but that sounds pretty lame. Tomorrow... tomorrow.
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I went to the doctor today. As I suspected, I got a referral to see Dr. Black for my palpitations, some blood drawn for a cholestorol/liver check, and a prescription for more cholestorol meds. Nothing too surprising.
I had Dot's for lunch. I hadn't had that in forever... namely because it had burned down a few years ago, and it was rebuilt a bit too far from work. Luckily, it's nearer my doctor's office.
Dot's is one of the few places that I know of that makes all their stuff from scratch. Well, maybe not the condiments, and I'm pretty sure then don't gather their own sea salt or make their own Coca-Cola, but all the entrees, sides and desserts are home-made from scratch everyday. Pretty yummy stuff. I had beef tips over white rice, potatoes, mac and cheese, and dinner roll and a fresh lemonade to drink. I shared my meal with Claire so that probably kept me from overeating.
Dinner was quite yummy as well. Claire made some awesome home-made tacos, rice and beans. Since I was at home, I was able to drink what has become my favorite water, Aquafina, with my meal. I was only going to eat two tacos, but damn, they were so good. I had three. :-(
After Dinner Claire and I went to Mike's Friday Night Poker Tourney. It was our worst performance ever there I think. I got 4th in the tourney. Claire ended up 5th. :-(
Other than some time after work, I didn't see Maddie much today. I do love that little girl though. She's getting so big too!
On the brighter side of familial relationships, I did talk to my Mom for a bit today. She called me asking if I wanted to buy some contacts from a friend of hers who was selling some. Out of the trunk of her car I imagine. That was a rather odd call. I declined and reminded my mom that I wore prescription contacts. My mom is weird sometimes.
I didn't jog again. God, do I hate running/jogging/walking for exercise. Seems like the only reason I should be running is to run after something/someone or away from something/someone. I guess if I wanted to be all inspirational and shit, I could say that I'd be running away from obesity, but that sounds pretty lame. Tomorrow... tomorrow.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
"Day 7"
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
Other than being super tired from lack of sleep, I felt OK today.
I had grilled chicken fajitas with corn tortillas and a coke for lunch. Here's the thing with the soda: tap water tastes like shit. I'm having a *hard* time drinking tap water from restaurants, and I'm pretty much saying 'fuck it' from now own to having to drink water at restaurants. If the tap water sucks, I'm not drinking it. I'm having a soda or a lemonade or something instead. Honestly, I've never been a huge soda/cola guy, anyway. I have some with my meals, but I hardly ever have a soda outside of that. When I'm really thirsty, I'd much rather have purified drinking water. Sodas are too damn sweet. Too bad I can't stand diet sodas at all. They're worse than tap water.
Speaking of water... I'm finding that purified drinking water like Aquafina or Dasani tastes waaay better than spring water like Ozarka or any of those 'bottled from the natural spring of [insert exotic location here]' bullshit waters. You know what that makes me think of?... that natural spring claim?... Fish shit. All I can think of is fish shitting in that natural spring and then it going right into my $1.50 bottle of water. Fucking gross.
And here's another revelation I've had: jogging on poker nights is nigh impossible. Well, of course its possible, but it's highly improbable. I get out of work at 5:30pm or so. We go pick up Maddie at 5:45pm. Head straight to dinner at around 6:00pm. After I eat, I'm not exercising for at least 2 hours... and that puts us at 8:00pm when poker starts. Poker goes until 12:00-1:00am and then there's no way I'm jogging because I'm too tired. I *HAVE* to jog on M/W/S/S's when there isn't any poker.
I have an appointment to see my family doctor tomorrow. The heart palpitation crap was getting to be too much. Of course, since now the appointment has been made, I'm feeling no more palpitations. Not that I'm complaining. I hate palpipations, and you should too! In any case, I need to get my cholestorol checked and get a new prescription for my cholestorl medication. I suspect that I'll also end up with a referral to my cardiologist. Ya hear that? *My* cardiologist. How many people have a cardiologist that they see regularly enough to call them 'my cardiologist'? Probably not too many outside of those that have had heart attacks. I'm being safe. I'm thinking I just might go ahead and have that ablation done to my extra nerve ending in my heart so that it doesn't randomly start beating at 200bpm for no good reason. Sounds scary, but he's told me before that he's done over 1,000 of them with 100% success rate. Can't ask for better odds than that, right?
I didn't read to Maddie tonite nor did I spend much time with her. That kind of sucked. I plan to take her to a play park this weekend.
Didn't talk to my mom today.
Oh, I forgot about dinner. We went to Logan's. I shared a chopped steak, grilled veggies and a baked potato with Claire. Super exciting, huh?
Poker went alright I guess. I made a lousy $1.90. Wow. I probably played about 25% of my hands. I was playing really tight because the Spurs game was on, and I was more interested in watching the game than playing crap like KTo to a raise. Being selective pre-flop didn't help much. When I did go in with great starting cards, I'd miss horribly and had to fold or get sucked out on. The one time I had KK, I ended up all-in vs. Hanley's QQ which naturally hit another Q on the river. I also had a nice triple club flop while holding 2c 3c. I raised and re-raised on the flop and turn and then proceeded to lose to a K high flush after a 4th club came on the river.
My biggest winning hands were two suckout hands. On a pre-flop all-in, I held AQ vs Pat's AK. I hit a Q while he missing completely. That was very early on and for little money. Later in the evening, I hit a flush draw on the turn after I pushed all in with the nut flush draw on a seemingly crap flop. Claire was the victim that time as she had flopped a set of 7's.
I guess I'll have to make it up at Friday's tourney at Mike's.
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
Other than being super tired from lack of sleep, I felt OK today.
I had grilled chicken fajitas with corn tortillas and a coke for lunch. Here's the thing with the soda: tap water tastes like shit. I'm having a *hard* time drinking tap water from restaurants, and I'm pretty much saying 'fuck it' from now own to having to drink water at restaurants. If the tap water sucks, I'm not drinking it. I'm having a soda or a lemonade or something instead. Honestly, I've never been a huge soda/cola guy, anyway. I have some with my meals, but I hardly ever have a soda outside of that. When I'm really thirsty, I'd much rather have purified drinking water. Sodas are too damn sweet. Too bad I can't stand diet sodas at all. They're worse than tap water.
Speaking of water... I'm finding that purified drinking water like Aquafina or Dasani tastes waaay better than spring water like Ozarka or any of those 'bottled from the natural spring of [insert exotic location here]' bullshit waters. You know what that makes me think of?... that natural spring claim?... Fish shit. All I can think of is fish shitting in that natural spring and then it going right into my $1.50 bottle of water. Fucking gross.
And here's another revelation I've had: jogging on poker nights is nigh impossible. Well, of course its possible, but it's highly improbable. I get out of work at 5:30pm or so. We go pick up Maddie at 5:45pm. Head straight to dinner at around 6:00pm. After I eat, I'm not exercising for at least 2 hours... and that puts us at 8:00pm when poker starts. Poker goes until 12:00-1:00am and then there's no way I'm jogging because I'm too tired. I *HAVE* to jog on M/W/S/S's when there isn't any poker.
I have an appointment to see my family doctor tomorrow. The heart palpitation crap was getting to be too much. Of course, since now the appointment has been made, I'm feeling no more palpitations. Not that I'm complaining. I hate palpipations, and you should too! In any case, I need to get my cholestorol checked and get a new prescription for my cholestorl medication. I suspect that I'll also end up with a referral to my cardiologist. Ya hear that? *My* cardiologist. How many people have a cardiologist that they see regularly enough to call them 'my cardiologist'? Probably not too many outside of those that have had heart attacks. I'm being safe. I'm thinking I just might go ahead and have that ablation done to my extra nerve ending in my heart so that it doesn't randomly start beating at 200bpm for no good reason. Sounds scary, but he's told me before that he's done over 1,000 of them with 100% success rate. Can't ask for better odds than that, right?
I didn't read to Maddie tonite nor did I spend much time with her. That kind of sucked. I plan to take her to a play park this weekend.
Didn't talk to my mom today.
Oh, I forgot about dinner. We went to Logan's. I shared a chopped steak, grilled veggies and a baked potato with Claire. Super exciting, huh?
Poker went alright I guess. I made a lousy $1.90. Wow. I probably played about 25% of my hands. I was playing really tight because the Spurs game was on, and I was more interested in watching the game than playing crap like KTo to a raise. Being selective pre-flop didn't help much. When I did go in with great starting cards, I'd miss horribly and had to fold or get sucked out on. The one time I had KK, I ended up all-in vs. Hanley's QQ which naturally hit another Q on the river. I also had a nice triple club flop while holding 2c 3c. I raised and re-raised on the flop and turn and then proceeded to lose to a K high flush after a 4th club came on the river.
My biggest winning hands were two suckout hands. On a pre-flop all-in, I held AQ vs Pat's AK. I hit a Q while he missing completely. That was very early on and for little money. Later in the evening, I hit a flush draw on the turn after I pushed all in with the nut flush draw on a seemingly crap flop. Claire was the victim that time as she had flopped a set of 7's.
I guess I'll have to make it up at Friday's tourney at Mike's.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
"Day 6"
Happiness Level: 4 of 10
I've been feeling those weird heart flutters (palpitations) for the last couple of days. It's been worrying me. I keep thinking that they are going to lead to a WPW episode... which are always really sucky and scary. I'm set up to see the Doctor on Friday. It pretty much overshadowed the raise I got at work today (it was a small one, but a raise nonetheless.)
Don't feel like writing much today. I'll just sum up:
Lunch: Fried Chicken, small fries, water (Made me feel like crap.)
Dinner: Mr Gattis buffet. Modest salad and some pizza/pasta. (Felt more crappy.)
Snacks: None
Exercise: The big zilcher. Aaron came over to play some Shadowrun after dinner and then I spent time with Maddie and then it was bedtime. :-(
Communication: Talked to my mom for a bit. She called me. Unfortunately, it was right in the middle of dinner so we didn't talk too long. She and my dad have a pretty bad cold right now. :-(
Sleeping Schedule: I've been totally ignoring this. I actually forgot that I had made some restrictions regarding bedtime. Last night I probably would have been OK, except that my heart palpitations have been getting worse, and that kept me up until about 5:45am. :-( I'm soo tired.
Temper: I got pretty upset because I didn't get to exercise again, and I actually really wanted to this time. I got pissed because Claire fell asleep super early which meant I had to watch Maddie (who's been refusing to go beddy bye at a decent hour) during the time I wanted to go jogging. You might say that it was actually still my fault because I could have gone jogging in the early evening, but you'd be wrong because I can't run/jog/exercise for at least 2 hours after a meal. My stomach will not negotiate that point. I hate it when I try to wake her up, and she just goes back to sleep. I hate it.
Happiness Level: 4 of 10
I've been feeling those weird heart flutters (palpitations) for the last couple of days. It's been worrying me. I keep thinking that they are going to lead to a WPW episode... which are always really sucky and scary. I'm set up to see the Doctor on Friday. It pretty much overshadowed the raise I got at work today (it was a small one, but a raise nonetheless.)
Don't feel like writing much today. I'll just sum up:
Lunch: Fried Chicken, small fries, water (Made me feel like crap.)
Dinner: Mr Gattis buffet. Modest salad and some pizza/pasta. (Felt more crappy.)
Snacks: None
Exercise: The big zilcher. Aaron came over to play some Shadowrun after dinner and then I spent time with Maddie and then it was bedtime. :-(
Communication: Talked to my mom for a bit. She called me. Unfortunately, it was right in the middle of dinner so we didn't talk too long. She and my dad have a pretty bad cold right now. :-(
Sleeping Schedule: I've been totally ignoring this. I actually forgot that I had made some restrictions regarding bedtime. Last night I probably would have been OK, except that my heart palpitations have been getting worse, and that kept me up until about 5:45am. :-( I'm soo tired.
Temper: I got pretty upset because I didn't get to exercise again, and I actually really wanted to this time. I got pissed because Claire fell asleep super early which meant I had to watch Maddie (who's been refusing to go beddy bye at a decent hour) during the time I wanted to go jogging. You might say that it was actually still my fault because I could have gone jogging in the early evening, but you'd be wrong because I can't run/jog/exercise for at least 2 hours after a meal. My stomach will not negotiate that point. I hate it when I try to wake her up, and she just goes back to sleep. I hate it.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
"Day 5"
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I ate crap for lunch: a single whole Whataburger and sip of Claire's soda. She'll tell you that I drank over half of it, but in reality, I just had a sip. She exaggerates. Anyway, I looked up the nutritional information on that sucker and sans a large Coke and fries, I only ate about 650 calories or so. The problem is that a lot of them were fat calories and the burger had a fair amount of cholestorol in it. I definitely can do with less cholestorol.
For dinner, we went to Chili's. I had some chicken pasta and my share of the skillet queso. Sooo good. Since this is a restaurant in Round Rock, I had to get a soda. Sue me. At least I didn't feel like I overate at dinner. So that was good.
Right before my 10pm deadline, I ended up eating a Little Debbie cupcake and drank some more water. Sounds like I ate a lot today, but I still ate less than I normally would have for the day. If I could just start exercising...
Speaking of which... my legs started to feel better today. I think Wednesday will be my first day around the neighborhood. We'll see how that goes. My hearts been feeling funny lately. For those that don't know, I have Wolff Parkinson White syndrome. And that sucks.
I totally forgot to call my parents, but I did talk to them two days in a row... Sunday and Monday, so I don't feel so bad. I owe them a call tomorrow.
I actually got through a whole book with Maddie, but it was just the Itsy Bitsy Spider which is just like 1 sentench a page and like 8 pages. ;)
Poker was OK, but I felt I could have done better. I was up $22 for the night. I guess it could have been worse.
And finally, the financial stuff I was worrying about has been pretty addressed. I feel a bit better about that now.
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
I ate crap for lunch: a single whole Whataburger and sip of Claire's soda. She'll tell you that I drank over half of it, but in reality, I just had a sip. She exaggerates. Anyway, I looked up the nutritional information on that sucker and sans a large Coke and fries, I only ate about 650 calories or so. The problem is that a lot of them were fat calories and the burger had a fair amount of cholestorol in it. I definitely can do with less cholestorol.
For dinner, we went to Chili's. I had some chicken pasta and my share of the skillet queso. Sooo good. Since this is a restaurant in Round Rock, I had to get a soda. Sue me. At least I didn't feel like I overate at dinner. So that was good.
Right before my 10pm deadline, I ended up eating a Little Debbie cupcake and drank some more water. Sounds like I ate a lot today, but I still ate less than I normally would have for the day. If I could just start exercising...
Speaking of which... my legs started to feel better today. I think Wednesday will be my first day around the neighborhood. We'll see how that goes. My hearts been feeling funny lately. For those that don't know, I have Wolff Parkinson White syndrome. And that sucks.
I totally forgot to call my parents, but I did talk to them two days in a row... Sunday and Monday, so I don't feel so bad. I owe them a call tomorrow.
I actually got through a whole book with Maddie, but it was just the Itsy Bitsy Spider which is just like 1 sentench a page and like 8 pages. ;)
Poker was OK, but I felt I could have done better. I was up $22 for the night. I guess it could have been worse.
And finally, the financial stuff I was worrying about has been pretty addressed. I feel a bit better about that now.
Monday, June 04, 2007
"Day 4"
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Most of my day was spent worrying about financial matters. That boat trip really kicked my ass. I figured we spent between $425 and $450 on Saturday. And we're still recovering from some 'surprise' payments I had to make. Things are looking horribly for the next two weeks, financially speaking. That's got me pretty down.
I had a decent lunch. I ordered 1 Cowboy Taco from Taco Deli and shared Clarie's grilled chicken salad. We learned from last time we ordered it that it's way too much for one person. I had water to drink. As an afternoon snack, I had about 1/3 of a bag of animal crackers. Why is it that any brand of animal crackers other than that Barnum & Bailey brand with the circus train box is just utterly bland? They taste like slightly sweetened cardboard. Maddie didn't seem to mind though. She took care of the rest of the bag later in the day.
For dinner I had some Rudy's brisket. I had less than I'd normally have, but more than 1/2 of my usual. So that probably wasn't good. To top it off, I can't bring myself to drink Round Rock tap water. Screw that. So I had to get some Powerade to drink. I'm letting that be known right now, if I'm eating in a Round Rock restaurant, ain't no way I'm going to drink tap water. Blech.
In the evening, around 9:30, I made myself a PB&J as a snack, but after one bite, I looked at the crust of the bread and got grossed out. It looked like it had this whitish stuff on it. It was probably meant to be that way (it was fancy wheat bread with lots of natural nuts and crap in it), but it reminded me way too much of white fuzzy mold. I spit out the bite I had taken and rinsed out my mouth like 10 times. I swore it tasted sour, but honestly, it was probably all in my head. One time, as a kid, I woke up screaming because I thought there was a huge rat laying across my legs. Turns out it was just the folds in the covers and some crazy shadows. Anyway, I wasn't taking any chances. I tossed the bread and the sandwich and made do with a few Ritz crackers instead.
The reading-to-Maddie thing still isn't going too well. Or rather, it's not going as expected. I keep wanting to actually read to her, but she never lets me get too far before she just grabs the book and plays "Daddy, what's this?" with every illustration. Also, the reading was supposed to be putting her to sleep. Instead, it invigorates her. It's playtime, not bedtime when I pull out a book. Perhaps I'll read/play with her before it's time for her to go to bed. In any case, she loves spending time with her Dada.
Legs were still too sore to run/walk around the neighborhood. I can't even make it down the stairs without grimacing. I suck at this being-fit stuff. I'll see how my legs feel tomorrow.
Happiness Level: 5 of 10
Most of my day was spent worrying about financial matters. That boat trip really kicked my ass. I figured we spent between $425 and $450 on Saturday. And we're still recovering from some 'surprise' payments I had to make. Things are looking horribly for the next two weeks, financially speaking. That's got me pretty down.
I had a decent lunch. I ordered 1 Cowboy Taco from Taco Deli and shared Clarie's grilled chicken salad. We learned from last time we ordered it that it's way too much for one person. I had water to drink. As an afternoon snack, I had about 1/3 of a bag of animal crackers. Why is it that any brand of animal crackers other than that Barnum & Bailey brand with the circus train box is just utterly bland? They taste like slightly sweetened cardboard. Maddie didn't seem to mind though. She took care of the rest of the bag later in the day.
For dinner I had some Rudy's brisket. I had less than I'd normally have, but more than 1/2 of my usual. So that probably wasn't good. To top it off, I can't bring myself to drink Round Rock tap water. Screw that. So I had to get some Powerade to drink. I'm letting that be known right now, if I'm eating in a Round Rock restaurant, ain't no way I'm going to drink tap water. Blech.
In the evening, around 9:30, I made myself a PB&J as a snack, but after one bite, I looked at the crust of the bread and got grossed out. It looked like it had this whitish stuff on it. It was probably meant to be that way (it was fancy wheat bread with lots of natural nuts and crap in it), but it reminded me way too much of white fuzzy mold. I spit out the bite I had taken and rinsed out my mouth like 10 times. I swore it tasted sour, but honestly, it was probably all in my head. One time, as a kid, I woke up screaming because I thought there was a huge rat laying across my legs. Turns out it was just the folds in the covers and some crazy shadows. Anyway, I wasn't taking any chances. I tossed the bread and the sandwich and made do with a few Ritz crackers instead.
The reading-to-Maddie thing still isn't going too well. Or rather, it's not going as expected. I keep wanting to actually read to her, but she never lets me get too far before she just grabs the book and plays "Daddy, what's this?" with every illustration. Also, the reading was supposed to be putting her to sleep. Instead, it invigorates her. It's playtime, not bedtime when I pull out a book. Perhaps I'll read/play with her before it's time for her to go to bed. In any case, she loves spending time with her Dada.
Legs were still too sore to run/walk around the neighborhood. I can't even make it down the stairs without grimacing. I suck at this being-fit stuff. I'll see how my legs feel tomorrow.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
"Day 3"
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
Pretty tired today. I slept most of it. Claire was pretty supportive. Lots of times I feel that if I sleep too much on a weekend or take an evening nap during the week, Claire gets frustrated with me. I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something instead of just laying in bed. But I have to say that this Sunday she was pretty supportive... especially considering she was pretty sunbeat herself. I don't even know how she was able to go to the pool today. I'm done with water for a while.
There was no way I was doing the run around the neighborhood today. Just no way. My legs feel like total crap. I have a feeling they won't even be good to go tomorrow. I'm going to have to be realistic at the risk of sounding lazy. My legs just won't go right now.
I did call my parents. They were still in Florida visiting my sister. Apparently my dad and mom developed a cold. They were concerned that Maddie might have caught it too since they spent a lot of time with her before they flew out to Florida last week. Luckily, Maddie's fine. I also got to talk to my sister for a bit. She happened to be around when I was talking with my dad. She seems well. I promised to send her updated pictures of Maddie. I'll have to take care of that soon.
I didn't overeat today. That's a good thing. I always feel like crap when I overeat. That pizza last night was kiling me. Ugh. My first meal today started off with Claire waking me up with a homemade hamburger for lunch. She makes great hamburgers. I had a few light potato chips on the side and my requesite bottle of water. That hit the spot. A few hours later while they were at the pool, I got a little hungry and made myself a PB&J sandwich. I almost didn't eat that, but I was hungry dammit. To make up for it, I simply had some tortilla soup from Chuy's and another bottle of water for dinner. It's a good thing that Chuy's is stingy with the chips and salsa when you get food to go because I would have probably eaten way too many chips with salsa otherwise.
Maddie was being quite fussy in the evening. Again I attempted to read to her. And while I did get a bit further this time, she again grabbed the books out of my hand and just wanted me to indentify people (or in Sesame Street-land, monsters) and objects for her while she repeated them. Since both Claire and I were still exhausted, we attemped to put Maddie to bed early. Unfortunately, she took a late afternoon nap with Daddy, and that screwed it all up. She would have none of it and stayed up until past midnight... despite being in bed with us at 9:30pm. I ended up watching a lot of cartoons with her on Boomerang, but in the end, she outlasted me. Claire, who'd gotten some rest while I watched TV with Maddie, ended up finally getting her to go to sleep. I'm ready for a new week, please.
Happiness Level: 6 of 10
Pretty tired today. I slept most of it. Claire was pretty supportive. Lots of times I feel that if I sleep too much on a weekend or take an evening nap during the week, Claire gets frustrated with me. I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something instead of just laying in bed. But I have to say that this Sunday she was pretty supportive... especially considering she was pretty sunbeat herself. I don't even know how she was able to go to the pool today. I'm done with water for a while.
There was no way I was doing the run around the neighborhood today. Just no way. My legs feel like total crap. I have a feeling they won't even be good to go tomorrow. I'm going to have to be realistic at the risk of sounding lazy. My legs just won't go right now.
I did call my parents. They were still in Florida visiting my sister. Apparently my dad and mom developed a cold. They were concerned that Maddie might have caught it too since they spent a lot of time with her before they flew out to Florida last week. Luckily, Maddie's fine. I also got to talk to my sister for a bit. She happened to be around when I was talking with my dad. She seems well. I promised to send her updated pictures of Maddie. I'll have to take care of that soon.
I didn't overeat today. That's a good thing. I always feel like crap when I overeat. That pizza last night was kiling me. Ugh. My first meal today started off with Claire waking me up with a homemade hamburger for lunch. She makes great hamburgers. I had a few light potato chips on the side and my requesite bottle of water. That hit the spot. A few hours later while they were at the pool, I got a little hungry and made myself a PB&J sandwich. I almost didn't eat that, but I was hungry dammit. To make up for it, I simply had some tortilla soup from Chuy's and another bottle of water for dinner. It's a good thing that Chuy's is stingy with the chips and salsa when you get food to go because I would have probably eaten way too many chips with salsa otherwise.
Maddie was being quite fussy in the evening. Again I attempted to read to her. And while I did get a bit further this time, she again grabbed the books out of my hand and just wanted me to indentify people (or in Sesame Street-land, monsters) and objects for her while she repeated them. Since both Claire and I were still exhausted, we attemped to put Maddie to bed early. Unfortunately, she took a late afternoon nap with Daddy, and that screwed it all up. She would have none of it and stayed up until past midnight... despite being in bed with us at 9:30pm. I ended up watching a lot of cartoons with her on Boomerang, but in the end, she outlasted me. Claire, who'd gotten some rest while I watched TV with Maddie, ended up finally getting her to go to sleep. I'm ready for a new week, please.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
"Day 2"
Happiness Level: 7 out of 10
Man, that boat trip kicked my ass. I'm a bit sunburned, but not too bad. Sometimes having fun is simply exhausting. ;)
First the bad news. I've already failed a few things. I didn't call my parents today. So that's 0 for 2 days. I'll have to call them tomorrow for sure. I also think that I ate passed 10 o'clock. We ordered some pizza and I started eating before 10pm, but I'm pretty sure I continued eating passed 10pm at some point. However, I will fully admit that on Friday night I started eating at 10:05pm or so. I didn't get to eat dinner, and we got stuck at HEB buying food for the boat trip until almost 10pm. So I *had* to eat something, right? I dunno. I think that giving a few minutes grace after 10pm is fine. I mean the point is really to keep myself from eating too late. I'm not Cinderella or a Mogwai. My coach won't turn back into a pumpkin at 12:01am, and I won't morph into a Gremlim if I eat passed 12:01am either.
I still haven't jogged/walked around my neighborhood so far, but I figure I got more than enough exercise on the boat trip today... as evidenced by my entire body being sore. I'm truly out of shape. I easily doubled or tripled the amount of exercise that I would have gotten if I would have just gone a few laps around my neighborhood. So my conscience is clear there. Again, the point is to exercise, not to run around the neighborhood because it needs to be run around.
Poker's got me a bit bummed. I've had a horrible week. That's negative happiness right there. I've had to finally use the writing-shit-down-on-a-piece-of-paper-when-I'm-pissed trick because of the poker game. My luck is just shitty. All-in. AQs vs ATo. AQs should win about 75% of time time. Unless you're me. Of course I lost. The rest of the night went downhill after that.
But let's get back to some good news. I'm glad that I did manage to read to Maddie tonite. Of course, she didn't go to sleep after I read to her, she just got more riled up. But I'm glad I got to read to her anyway. Actually, it was more of an 'attemped' reading. She kept grabbing the books out of my hand after I'd get about half-way through a page, and then she'd start randomly flipping through the books poiting at things and having me identify them for her: That's an apple, Maddie. "Abbel". Yes, that's Elmo. "Ehmo!". That's a cookie. "CookCook!" Yes, a cookcook. I guess at this point, it's more helpful for me to assist her in learning new objects and people than it is to explain to her phonetics. It might be a bit early for that. In any case, she was happy, so that's all that matters.
Happiness Level: 7 out of 10
Man, that boat trip kicked my ass. I'm a bit sunburned, but not too bad. Sometimes having fun is simply exhausting. ;)
First the bad news. I've already failed a few things. I didn't call my parents today. So that's 0 for 2 days. I'll have to call them tomorrow for sure. I also think that I ate passed 10 o'clock. We ordered some pizza and I started eating before 10pm, but I'm pretty sure I continued eating passed 10pm at some point. However, I will fully admit that on Friday night I started eating at 10:05pm or so. I didn't get to eat dinner, and we got stuck at HEB buying food for the boat trip until almost 10pm. So I *had* to eat something, right? I dunno. I think that giving a few minutes grace after 10pm is fine. I mean the point is really to keep myself from eating too late. I'm not Cinderella or a Mogwai. My coach won't turn back into a pumpkin at 12:01am, and I won't morph into a Gremlim if I eat passed 12:01am either.
I still haven't jogged/walked around my neighborhood so far, but I figure I got more than enough exercise on the boat trip today... as evidenced by my entire body being sore. I'm truly out of shape. I easily doubled or tripled the amount of exercise that I would have gotten if I would have just gone a few laps around my neighborhood. So my conscience is clear there. Again, the point is to exercise, not to run around the neighborhood because it needs to be run around.
Poker's got me a bit bummed. I've had a horrible week. That's negative happiness right there. I've had to finally use the writing-shit-down-on-a-piece-of-paper-when-I'm-pissed trick because of the poker game. My luck is just shitty. All-in. AQs vs ATo. AQs should win about 75% of time time. Unless you're me. Of course I lost. The rest of the night went downhill after that.
But let's get back to some good news. I'm glad that I did manage to read to Maddie tonite. Of course, she didn't go to sleep after I read to her, she just got more riled up. But I'm glad I got to read to her anyway. Actually, it was more of an 'attemped' reading. She kept grabbing the books out of my hand after I'd get about half-way through a page, and then she'd start randomly flipping through the books poiting at things and having me identify them for her: That's an apple, Maddie. "Abbel". Yes, that's Elmo. "Ehmo!". That's a cookie. "CookCook!" Yes, a cookcook. I guess at this point, it's more helpful for me to assist her in learning new objects and people than it is to explain to her phonetics. It might be a bit early for that. In any case, she was happy, so that's all that matters.
Friday, June 01, 2007
"Day 1"
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
Today is Day 1 of my little social experiment on myself. The goal is to see if I can literally control my level of happiness. Or more accurately, the goal is to see if I can up that happiness level by making some key changes in my day-to-day actions. A lot of the changes are health-centric, so I suspect (hope) that I will feel less sluggish as the month goes on, but quite a few of the changes are meant to actually make me 'feel' better about myself and the people I associate with.
There might be a major monkeywrench thrown into my plan though. I very well might be changing jobs soon. I don't plan to leave the company, I'm not fired, and I'm not being laid off, but my current project is winding down and both my manager and I feel that I should get out and acquire some new experiences within the company. I've been in the same place for too long. It's always scary leaving your comfort zone, and it will probably negatively affect my happiness level until my new destination is confirmed. And then maybe even after that I might not be comfortable for a while. In any case, we'll see.
I had Taco Deli for lunch. Normally I have two tacos, rice, beans and a MexiCoke. I decided I'd start off easy and just go with two tacos and water. Not quite my plan of eating 1/2 of what I'd normaly eat, but still an improvement. It probably would have been OK had Claire not ordered a Grilled Chicken Salad and left many of those tasty morsels of chicken laying atop their salady bed. I couldn't resist, and I mean, it was grilled chicken so it wasn't like it was unhealthy, right? ;) In any case, I still believe my meal was healthy if a bit too much in volume.
I've not yelled today, but I need to remember to carry a pocketsized notepad around with me just in case I need to 'yell into it.' The plan is to write down all the stuff I'd normally yell out loud. I think I watched too much Bob Newhart on Nick at Night (Bob Newhart played a pychiatrist on TV in the '70s.)
Happiness Level: 7 of 10
Today is Day 1 of my little social experiment on myself. The goal is to see if I can literally control my level of happiness. Or more accurately, the goal is to see if I can up that happiness level by making some key changes in my day-to-day actions. A lot of the changes are health-centric, so I suspect (hope) that I will feel less sluggish as the month goes on, but quite a few of the changes are meant to actually make me 'feel' better about myself and the people I associate with.
There might be a major monkeywrench thrown into my plan though. I very well might be changing jobs soon. I don't plan to leave the company, I'm not fired, and I'm not being laid off, but my current project is winding down and both my manager and I feel that I should get out and acquire some new experiences within the company. I've been in the same place for too long. It's always scary leaving your comfort zone, and it will probably negatively affect my happiness level until my new destination is confirmed. And then maybe even after that I might not be comfortable for a while. In any case, we'll see.
I had Taco Deli for lunch. Normally I have two tacos, rice, beans and a MexiCoke. I decided I'd start off easy and just go with two tacos and water. Not quite my plan of eating 1/2 of what I'd normaly eat, but still an improvement. It probably would have been OK had Claire not ordered a Grilled Chicken Salad and left many of those tasty morsels of chicken laying atop their salady bed. I couldn't resist, and I mean, it was grilled chicken so it wasn't like it was unhealthy, right? ;) In any case, I still believe my meal was healthy if a bit too much in volume.
I've not yelled today, but I need to remember to carry a pocketsized notepad around with me just in case I need to 'yell into it.' The plan is to write down all the stuff I'd normally yell out loud. I think I watched too much Bob Newhart on Nick at Night (Bob Newhart played a pychiatrist on TV in the '70s.)
Thursday, May 31, 2007
"Experiment for June"
I'm going to perform an experiment on myself. I'm going to see if I can improve the quality of my life by following the rules below for the entire month of June. I'll be posting to this blog at least once a day with an update. You can also follow my goings on more closely at http://twitter.com/MrKatsu
Health
Relationships
Maddie
Finances
I'm going to perform an experiment on myself. I'm going to see if I can improve the quality of my life by following the rules below for the entire month of June. I'll be posting to this blog at least once a day with an update. You can also follow my goings on more closely at http://twitter.com/MrKatsu
Health
- See the doctor for a checkup.
- Get on cholestorol medication. Take it everyday.
- Excercise. Jog/Walk 4 'big laps' around the neighborhood at least 3 times a week.
- Eat approximately 1/2 of what I'd normally eat.
- Except on special occasions (Boat Trip, etc.) only drink water.
- Do not eat after 10pm.
- Go to sleep no later than 1am on Tue/Thu. 12am on Mon/Wed/Sun. 2am Fri/Sat.
Relationships
- Remind my wife that I love her everyday. Don't just say the words.
- Call my parents every other day. Just leave message if they don't answer.
- Call my grandmother this month.
- Be more patient with idiots.
- Don't Yell. Carry a notepad and write shit down instead. Read it later.
Maddie
- Take her someplace every weekend: SA Zoo, Ready Set Play, Sea World, Kids Day Park BBQ
- Spend at *least* one uninterrupted hour a day with her doing what she wants to do.
- Read to her before bedtime whenever possible.
Finances
- Don't buy a new game unless I finish an old game.
- Eat dinner at home 4 times a week. I'll even cook if I have to.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
"The 4th Annual Lake Travis Boat Trip 2007"
Update (5/30/07): Well, not enough people followed through so we're now doing 1 large new deluxe boat instead of 2 smaller older boats. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We get a nicer boat, for one. So that's good. We're also still doing the two wave runners, so don't worry about that. The bad part, for us anyway, is that now the $75/person won't even cover the rentals completely. It'll come close, but instead of bothering with raising the fee a few bucks, Claire and I will just take a loss on the rental cost. And as promised, we'll still make good on buying food and beer. It's only fair. However, if you wanna help out with bringing more food/alocohol, please let us know. In the end, it'll all be good times.
Update (5/22/07): Due to less than 34 but quite a bit more than 17 people signed up, we're going with two 12 person boats now instead of 17 person boats. Nothing else will change. List updated BTW.
Update (5/17/07): The 1st Boat is filling up fast! Get those payments into us ASAP. If you need a mailing address. Just email me or Claire.
Time: Saturday, June 2nd. 12noon - 8pm.
Where: Daybreak boat rentals near Carlos & Charlies on Lake Travis
Price: $75 non refundable. Paid up front to hold a spot.
It's coming! Girls, stop eating. Guys, start working out. The Annual Lake Travis Boat Trip 2007 is June 2nd! If you've never been to one before, you're in for a treat. If you have, I know you're already on your way to us to lay down your cash to reserve a spot. It's *that* awesome.
Here's the recipe for fun: Preheat your lake to 72 degrees. Taketwo one pontoon party boats and two fast as shit wave runners and place them carefully in the warm lake water. Peel 34 20 people down to 1 or 2 articles of clothing and evenly sprinkle them across the boats and the wave runners. Add lots of food and alcohol and let everything simmer under the hot sun for 8 hours. Enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. What's included for $75?
A. A spot on the pontoon party boat. Access to the wave runners. Food and Drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.) Basically, 8 hours of fun! That's less than $10 an hour!
Q. Can I bring my own food? How much food is provided?
A. Yes, bringing extra food is welcomed and encouraged. The fact is that 100% of the $75 is going directly to rental fees. So don't go expecting lobster and champagne. However, we should have enough snacks (chips, dips, cookies, fruits, etc.) and food (sandwiches mostly) for everyone.
Q. Will you be providing enough beer/alcohol cuz I can drink a lot of PBR!
A. Probably not, Hueby. We will be bringing quite a bit, but it's always hard to gauge how much is enough. Also, if you want a certain type of drink, it's safer just to bring some of your own.
Q. What happens if 24 don't sign up? *UPDATED*
A. That depends. If we're shy like 1 person? Nothing. If we're shy like 4-6 people, we either have to raise the price (not really wanting to do that) or cut it down to the first 12 and just do 1 pontoon boat and 1 wave runner. So get signed up and paid up ASAP, and there won't be a problem! (OK, this actually happened. We were short 4 people so we're now on 1 big new boat instead of 2 smaller older ones. However, the price didn't go up and the waverunners will stay at 2 cuz we're fucking nice and just ate the loss.)
Q. How many did you have last year?
A. 23
Q. When's the Deadline for signing up? *UPDATE*
A. We're going to take an official tally of the paid partipants on May 20th. (It's done passed.)
Q. Will I be assigned to a specific boat? *UPDATE*
A. No. Both boats will travel *together* and anchor near each other so that people may swim/change boats at their leisure. (We're just on one deluxe boat now, so this questions is N fucking slash A.)
Q. How will using the Wave Runners work?
A. The Wave Runners will be running constantly. They sit 1 or 2 people. Typically people take them out for 10-15 minutes at a time and then come back to the anchored pontoon boats to trade out with someone. Once everyone has had a go 'round, we start all over again. There has never been a problem with sharing these. 10-15 minutes at a time is plenty. Trust me.
Q. What if I need to get there late?
A. The boats leave at 12 noon. So you'll have to be at the docks no later than 11:15 in order to allow for moving your shit onto the boats and taking part in the Wave Runner lecture that they have to give you before we can rent the Wave Runners. If you *know* you're gonna be there late (Kids have a soccer game that morning, etc.), we can send a Wave Runner back to the dock to pick you up. Note that even though Wave Runners have water tight storage compartments, they aren't that big so keep that in mind if you need to get picked up. If we *absolutely have to*, we can send back a pontoon boat for you, but that'll piss of about a dozen or so people.
Q. What if I need to leave earlier than 8pm?
A. We'll get you back to the dock via Wave Runner/Boat at whatever time you need.
Q. What does Claire, i.e the Marketing Dept, say about all of this?
A. "Keep in mind this is the sickest sweetest gathering you will go on this year."
Q. Who's signed up so far?
A. As of May 30th, 3:40pm... The FINAL List:
1) Rob - Paid in Full
2) Claire - Paid in Full
3) Bizzy - Paid in Full
4) Banni - Paid in Full
5) Brian - Paid in Full
6) Serg - Paid in Full
7) Evaleen - Paid in Full
8) Dave - Paid in Full
9) Dave's Friend Brad - Paid in Full
10) Aaron - Paid in Full
11) Judy - Paid in Full
12) G - Paid in Full
13) Hueby - Paid in Full
14) Holly Wood (I'm not even kidding.) - Paid in Full
15) Kolchak - Paid in Full
16) Kolchak's Friend Matt - Paid in Full
17) Dave's Mystery Friend #1 - Paid in Full
18) Dave's Mystery Friend #2 - Paid in Full
19) Lindsey - Paid in Full
20) Johnspeed - Paid in Full
Removed from List (i.e 'Jerk Stores'): Will, Marc, Mike, Amy, Nick, Sean, Jet, Ed, Christy
First to pay = First to Secure a Spot!
Remember that this is just the signup priority.
Update (5/30/07): Well, not enough people followed through so we're now doing 1 large new deluxe boat instead of 2 smaller older boats. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We get a nicer boat, for one. So that's good. We're also still doing the two wave runners, so don't worry about that. The bad part, for us anyway, is that now the $75/person won't even cover the rentals completely. It'll come close, but instead of bothering with raising the fee a few bucks, Claire and I will just take a loss on the rental cost. And as promised, we'll still make good on buying food and beer. It's only fair. However, if you wanna help out with bringing more food/alocohol, please let us know. In the end, it'll all be good times.
Update (5/22/07): Due to less than 34 but quite a bit more than 17 people signed up, we're going with two 12 person boats now instead of 17 person boats. Nothing else will change. List updated BTW.
Update (5/17/07): The 1st Boat is filling up fast! Get those payments into us ASAP. If you need a mailing address. Just email me or Claire.
Time: Saturday, June 2nd. 12noon - 8pm.
Where: Daybreak boat rentals near Carlos & Charlies on Lake Travis
Price: $75 non refundable. Paid up front to hold a spot.
It's coming! Girls, stop eating. Guys, start working out. The Annual Lake Travis Boat Trip 2007 is June 2nd! If you've never been to one before, you're in for a treat. If you have, I know you're already on your way to us to lay down your cash to reserve a spot. It's *that* awesome.
Here's the recipe for fun: Preheat your lake to 72 degrees. Take
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. What's included for $75?
A. A spot on the pontoon party boat. Access to the wave runners. Food and Drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.) Basically, 8 hours of fun! That's less than $10 an hour!
Q. Can I bring my own food? How much food is provided?
A. Yes, bringing extra food is welcomed and encouraged. The fact is that 100% of the $75 is going directly to rental fees. So don't go expecting lobster and champagne. However, we should have enough snacks (chips, dips, cookies, fruits, etc.) and food (sandwiches mostly) for everyone.
Q. Will you be providing enough beer/alcohol cuz I can drink a lot of PBR!
A. Probably not, Hueby. We will be bringing quite a bit, but it's always hard to gauge how much is enough. Also, if you want a certain type of drink, it's safer just to bring some of your own.
Q. What happens if 24 don't sign up? *UPDATED*
A. That depends. If we're shy like 1 person? Nothing. If we're shy like 4-6 people, we either have to raise the price (not really wanting to do that) or cut it down to the first 12 and just do 1 pontoon boat and 1 wave runner. So get signed up and paid up ASAP, and there won't be a problem! (OK, this actually happened. We were short 4 people so we're now on 1 big new boat instead of 2 smaller older ones. However, the price didn't go up and the waverunners will stay at 2 cuz we're fucking nice and just ate the loss.)
Q. How many did you have last year?
A. 23
Q. When's the Deadline for signing up? *UPDATE*
A. We're going to take an official tally of the paid partipants on May 20th. (It's done passed.)
Q. Will I be assigned to a specific boat? *UPDATE*
A. No. Both boats will travel *together* and anchor near each other so that people may swim/change boats at their leisure. (We're just on one deluxe boat now, so this questions is N fucking slash A.)
Q. How will using the Wave Runners work?
A. The Wave Runners will be running constantly. They sit 1 or 2 people. Typically people take them out for 10-15 minutes at a time and then come back to the anchored pontoon boats to trade out with someone. Once everyone has had a go 'round, we start all over again. There has never been a problem with sharing these. 10-15 minutes at a time is plenty. Trust me.
Q. What if I need to get there late?
A. The boats leave at 12 noon. So you'll have to be at the docks no later than 11:15 in order to allow for moving your shit onto the boats and taking part in the Wave Runner lecture that they have to give you before we can rent the Wave Runners. If you *know* you're gonna be there late (Kids have a soccer game that morning, etc.), we can send a Wave Runner back to the dock to pick you up. Note that even though Wave Runners have water tight storage compartments, they aren't that big so keep that in mind if you need to get picked up. If we *absolutely have to*, we can send back a pontoon boat for you, but that'll piss of about a dozen or so people.
Q. What if I need to leave earlier than 8pm?
A. We'll get you back to the dock via Wave Runner/Boat at whatever time you need.
Q. What does Claire, i.e the Marketing Dept, say about all of this?
A. "Keep in mind this is the sickest sweetest gathering you will go on this year."
Q. Who's signed up so far?
A. As of May 30th, 3:40pm... The FINAL List:
1) Rob - Paid in Full
2) Claire - Paid in Full
3) Bizzy - Paid in Full
4) Banni - Paid in Full
5) Brian - Paid in Full
6) Serg - Paid in Full
7) Evaleen - Paid in Full
8) Dave - Paid in Full
9) Dave's Friend Brad - Paid in Full
10) Aaron - Paid in Full
11) Judy - Paid in Full
12) G - Paid in Full
13) Hueby - Paid in Full
14) Holly Wood (I'm not even kidding.) - Paid in Full
15) Kolchak - Paid in Full
16) Kolchak's Friend Matt - Paid in Full
17) Dave's Mystery Friend #1 - Paid in Full
18) Dave's Mystery Friend #2 - Paid in Full
19) Lindsey - Paid in Full
20) Johnspeed - Paid in Full
Removed from List (i.e 'Jerk Stores'): Will, Marc, Mike, Amy, Nick, Sean, Jet, Ed, Christy
First to pay = First to Secure a Spot!
Remember that this is just the signup priority.
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