This past week the family and I went on vacation to California where we hung out at the beach and the pool while getting sunburn. We also tried out a few new restaurants and my wife and I taking our traditional trip to Downtown Disney so that we could eat at Jazz Kitchen.
Overall it was a fun time and now here I am back in Vegas, back to the work grind and back to working on our personal goal of saving up for the down payment to our house.
Over the past few weeks it's been on my mind again that I need to get back on the weight loss bandwagon. Sometimes I have jumped into it full throttle and other times I have slowly lead into it. Each time I've come up with a reason to have it fail.
However, if the wife and I can focus on our financial goals for so long with so few hiccups there is no reason why I cannot focus on this goal with the same intensity.
We did all we could to get out of debt.
We continued to work at it to get an emergency fund in the back so that we never have to use credit again.
We are now saving towards a down payment so we can buy a house next year.
We don't make excuses, we just do it.
So, why can't I do this with my weight loss?
I can, I just have to want to do it.
So, here I sit working on Phase 1.
Every time I have done this I left the hardest thing, for me, for last. And usually when I get there I give up and relapse.
Soda's and Energy Drinks.
Josie told me this shit only belongs in my toilet, and only to clean it at that.
These things are bad for you - I know this and yet I have never cared. They are delicious and I love the taste.
So, This time Phase 1 is me cutting these out of my life as much as possible.
I talked to the wife about it a little over Vacation and I made myself a promise on the last day of our vacation.
I promised that when we got back I would go a week without a soda or an energy drink.
Some of you Scoff at this but these are my biggest struggle. If I can get these down to just something I occasionally do socially then I win. Currently they are part of my daily diet. They cut into my budget.
Here I sit, 2 days free.
It sucks - I am not going to lie.
I am currently entering day 3 of working overnights at work.
Normally Overnights meant that on my way to work I would buy 2 Energy Drinks just to get through the night and I'd probably down a Dew during that time as well.
I've survived the first two nights.
It bloody sucks.
I've got a headache.
I'm tired.
I'm Thirsty and it's a thirst Gatorade and Water isn't quenching.
I WANT a Fruit Punch Rockstar and this want burns in me.
If there was one in front of me at this very moment I would have a hard time not drinking it. I'd probably chug it and tell myself that I'll start over again tomorrow.
However, I am 2 days deep and will be 3 days strong by the time I wake up tomorrow after work.
This first week is a struggle.
In two weeks I will face another real struggle as I will end up working Inventory at work which is a 5 day stretch where I have to work earlier than I want to be awake and on those shifts it is HABIT for me to hit up 7-11 on the way to work for an energy drink to make it through my day.
This is the HABIT I am breaking.
I am forming new habits.
I am kicking my addiction to Soda's and Energy Drinks.
It sucks but when I get through it I will be better off.
My last energy drink was the first day of vacation when I drove to California. I consciously didn't drink any while I was out there. I cut way back on Soda's.
I capitalize random words for no reason.
When I came home from vacation I was at 264 pounds. This is far from my worst weight but it is still far from where I want to be. My ultimate goal is to get to or below my wedding weight by the time my 5th anniversary rolls around and I take my wife back to Hawaii.
Goodbye Soda
Goodbye Energy Drinks
I need a nap.
I know it has been a while since i have posted regularly but I want to try to get back to that.
I plan on detailing my journey.
Hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers from the old days.
Let me know if you are reading.
Give me tips, advice, yell at me and call me fatty.
I'll be back.
Soon.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
My first Failure of 2017
For those following along you know I have had a challenge going on for myself to get a min8of 10k steps in every single day.
Today is March 25th and I am experiencing my first Failure.
Today I was lazy all day as I had a trying day yesterday that ended up giving me a huge stress headache.
Today that headache refused to go away and I am currently over 24 hours and not feeling any better.
It sucks and I have no desire to leave my bed let alone accomplish anything.
Tomorrow is a new day and I will get back on track but for the sake of accountability I wanted to put it out there that today was a loss.
Healthy 2017 - February
***Somehow through the Chaos that has been March, February did not get posted until near the end of March... My bad. However, below is what I had written and now will be posted. Please continue***
I was very happy with the way January worked out for me and now that February is done I feel justified saying that I am bloody stoked about how the month went.
So lets look back on February and see how everything worked out for me based on the goals I had set.
1 - Not have any days below 10,500 steps.
- I failed on this as on Feb 19th I had 10,175 and it was a horrible bloody struggle just to even get that and make sure I was over my 10k min for every day this year. I believe that I was sick and run down and the rest of the family also wasn't feeling well. I put on my best face and went for a little walk at the end of the night just to get over 10k and I collapsed knowing I was going to fail this goal but at least still hit the main objective for the year.
2 - Two days over 20,000 steps.
- Flying F'n Colors man. Feb 7th was my first day over with 20,016 and I pushed myself at the end of the day because I was so close to the 20k mark. Feb 12th I racked up 22,323 and hit my goal for the month. Then as the month went on I added 20,024 on the 15th, 21,813 on the 16th 20,127 on the 17th (3 days in a row), 21,329 on the 22nd, 20,149 on the 25th and 20,114 on the 27th.
- In total I had 8 days over 20k steps for February which I would have thought was out of reach for at least a few more months.
3 - Raise my Average to 14k per day and I achieved this as well.
4 - Stretch goal of getting to 15k per day and I also nailed this one.
So, before I get into my total - a look back at the years I have had my Fitbit.
February 2014 - 331,817
February 2015 - 260,749
February 2016 - 312,897
February 2017
464,492 Steps
16,589 steps per day
Shawn who is playing the Home Game and is my frequent competitor on Fitbit put up 410,878 steps in the month of February. This averages out to 14,674 steps per day which is higher than he had in January.
So, I'm sorry that this is not that good of a post.
Somehow I forgot to post it when I should have and then when I dug into it I realized that half the post was missing. I don't know if I typed it up elsewhere or if I just didn't save.
But, for those following along at home:
Steps so far this year
Serge: 896,965
Shawn: 841,969
Both of us will have over 1 million steps by the end of March.
Will our averages have gone up? Gone down? Stayed about the same?
Tune in in just a week or two to find out.
I was very happy with the way January worked out for me and now that February is done I feel justified saying that I am bloody stoked about how the month went.
So lets look back on February and see how everything worked out for me based on the goals I had set.
1 - Not have any days below 10,500 steps.
- I failed on this as on Feb 19th I had 10,175 and it was a horrible bloody struggle just to even get that and make sure I was over my 10k min for every day this year. I believe that I was sick and run down and the rest of the family also wasn't feeling well. I put on my best face and went for a little walk at the end of the night just to get over 10k and I collapsed knowing I was going to fail this goal but at least still hit the main objective for the year.
2 - Two days over 20,000 steps.
- Flying F'n Colors man. Feb 7th was my first day over with 20,016 and I pushed myself at the end of the day because I was so close to the 20k mark. Feb 12th I racked up 22,323 and hit my goal for the month. Then as the month went on I added 20,024 on the 15th, 21,813 on the 16th 20,127 on the 17th (3 days in a row), 21,329 on the 22nd, 20,149 on the 25th and 20,114 on the 27th.
- In total I had 8 days over 20k steps for February which I would have thought was out of reach for at least a few more months.
3 - Raise my Average to 14k per day and I achieved this as well.
4 - Stretch goal of getting to 15k per day and I also nailed this one.
So, before I get into my total - a look back at the years I have had my Fitbit.
February 2014 - 331,817
February 2015 - 260,749
February 2016 - 312,897
February 2017
464,492 Steps
16,589 steps per day
Shawn who is playing the Home Game and is my frequent competitor on Fitbit put up 410,878 steps in the month of February. This averages out to 14,674 steps per day which is higher than he had in January.
So, I'm sorry that this is not that good of a post.
Somehow I forgot to post it when I should have and then when I dug into it I realized that half the post was missing. I don't know if I typed it up elsewhere or if I just didn't save.
But, for those following along at home:
Steps so far this year
Serge: 896,965
Shawn: 841,969
Both of us will have over 1 million steps by the end of March.
Will our averages have gone up? Gone down? Stayed about the same?
Tune in in just a week or two to find out.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Retro Rewind - Double Dragon
Hello Everybody, Back again with another companion piece to the Nintendo Dad's RetroRewind series and this time around it is the amazing masterpiece that is Double Dragon.
In order to prepare for what might be your favorite gaming memory you should start with the cinematic masterpiece which is the Double Dragon Movie, at least that is how I started preparing.
For simplicity sake I will just embed the YouTube video right here for you, unless you want to run out and buy the VHS, DVD or Blu Ray version of it so you can add it to your permanent collection.
The Double Dragon Movie is only 82 minutes long and in theory that is long enough to beat the entire Double Dragon game multiple times over. In theory the game is probably only 20-30 minutes long which is a common theme for games made in this time frame.
However, in actuality the game is much longer because of amped up difficulties, multiple deaths and limited continues.
With that said, when I first started this Journey I got as far as the second stage before I had to start all over from the beginning. My second and third play's went very similar and after that I decided that I wanted to beat the game so I had to become a Save State Warrior....er... Abuser.
Playing this game brought back great memories from when I was a kid. Double Dragon was one of my favorite games growing up because of the replay-ability. I loved Side Scrolling beat-em-ups and this was a game you could enjoy with buddies for hours (and never accomplish much).
Ever forget how much you absolutely hated something until years later?
Abobo.
Screw this big bald muscular destroyer of hopes and dreams.
Yeah, sure, after you figure a few things out again he becomes much easier but this guy, and the Mean Green version of him caused me a lot of heart-ache both as a child and then again a month ago as an adult.
Ugh.
Too bad the movie version was primarily comic relief, because he didn't do the game version justice.
So, there I was abusing my save states, Reload-Reload-Reload-Re... oh, did I just beat that section without taking any damage? Excellent.... Oh crap, I just died and forgot to do a save state..... summabich.
Slowly advancing. Saving every time a new stage loaded or reloading to see if I could get to that next part taking less damage or taking no damage when finally I get to the ending portion.
For those of you who beat the game I am sure you can feel my frustration when I (re) discovered that if you die on any of the bad-guys in that last section (before the final Big Bad Reveal) that you start over at the beginning of the whole sequence of fights (which, oddly enough, includes about 300 Abobo's) instead of starting where you died.
And when you find out that this doesn't change when you are fighting the guy with the BF Machine Gun.....
And, then to top it all off, You (I) finally work my way through that line of fights (half a billion reloads) to get to the final boss (and I was not surprised because I remembered my gaming youth) only to beat the Final Boss on my second attempt....
The pain in the arse was getting to him, not beating him.
But, in the end, was it all worth it?
I got the girl, so I guess so.
Clocking in at only 2 hours and 23 minutes I beat Double Dragon and I am happy to put it away again. I played this on the 3DS at home before bed and during my lunch breaks. It was frustrating as hell at times but it brought back a piece of my youth that I didn't know was missing.
Sometime this year I plan on playing the rest of the games that were released just to see if they share the same feeling that I didn't even know I was missing with this game. I know as a child I played 2 and 3 (I think 2 introduced two player) with friends and put countless hours into them.
Sadly, I'm having trouble with next month's RetroRewind because I have a new Zelda Machine that is dominating my time, all of it. It won't let me go.
Hope you all enjoyed playing this as much as I did and I'm damn glad I found that horribly cheesy 80's movie to go along with it.
In order to prepare for what might be your favorite gaming memory you should start with the cinematic masterpiece which is the Double Dragon Movie, at least that is how I started preparing.
For simplicity sake I will just embed the YouTube video right here for you, unless you want to run out and buy the VHS, DVD or Blu Ray version of it so you can add it to your permanent collection.
The Double Dragon Movie is only 82 minutes long and in theory that is long enough to beat the entire Double Dragon game multiple times over. In theory the game is probably only 20-30 minutes long which is a common theme for games made in this time frame.
However, in actuality the game is much longer because of amped up difficulties, multiple deaths and limited continues.
With that said, when I first started this Journey I got as far as the second stage before I had to start all over from the beginning. My second and third play's went very similar and after that I decided that I wanted to beat the game so I had to become a Save State Warrior....er... Abuser.
Playing this game brought back great memories from when I was a kid. Double Dragon was one of my favorite games growing up because of the replay-ability. I loved Side Scrolling beat-em-ups and this was a game you could enjoy with buddies for hours (and never accomplish much).
Ever forget how much you absolutely hated something until years later?
Abobo.
Screw this big bald muscular destroyer of hopes and dreams.
Yeah, sure, after you figure a few things out again he becomes much easier but this guy, and the Mean Green version of him caused me a lot of heart-ache both as a child and then again a month ago as an adult.
Ugh.
Too bad the movie version was primarily comic relief, because he didn't do the game version justice.
So, there I was abusing my save states, Reload-Reload-Reload-Re... oh, did I just beat that section without taking any damage? Excellent.... Oh crap, I just died and forgot to do a save state..... summabich.
Slowly advancing. Saving every time a new stage loaded or reloading to see if I could get to that next part taking less damage or taking no damage when finally I get to the ending portion.
For those of you who beat the game I am sure you can feel my frustration when I (re) discovered that if you die on any of the bad-guys in that last section (before the final Big Bad Reveal) that you start over at the beginning of the whole sequence of fights (which, oddly enough, includes about 300 Abobo's) instead of starting where you died.
And when you find out that this doesn't change when you are fighting the guy with the BF Machine Gun.....
 |
| This might be why I am now balding |
And, then to top it all off, You (I) finally work my way through that line of fights (half a billion reloads) to get to the final boss (and I was not surprised because I remembered my gaming youth) only to beat the Final Boss on my second attempt....
The pain in the arse was getting to him, not beating him.
But, in the end, was it all worth it?
I got the girl, so I guess so.
Clocking in at only 2 hours and 23 minutes I beat Double Dragon and I am happy to put it away again. I played this on the 3DS at home before bed and during my lunch breaks. It was frustrating as hell at times but it brought back a piece of my youth that I didn't know was missing.
Sometime this year I plan on playing the rest of the games that were released just to see if they share the same feeling that I didn't even know I was missing with this game. I know as a child I played 2 and 3 (I think 2 introduced two player) with friends and put countless hours into them.
Sadly, I'm having trouble with next month's RetroRewind because I have a new Zelda Machine that is dominating my time, all of it. It won't let me go.
Hope you all enjoyed playing this as much as I did and I'm damn glad I found that horribly cheesy 80's movie to go along with it.
Monday, February 06, 2017
Healthy 2017 - January
January has come and gone and as some of you are aware I made myself a goal to hit 10,000 steps at a minimum every single day for 2017 in an effort to get more healthy.
Now that January is Over I can say that I have achieved this goal every single day for the first month and I know I will continue to achieve it every day for the second month.
There were a few days that were hard to get through and I had to push myself at the end but the important part is that I actually did push myself to get those in.
Also, I informed friends that I was going to be doing this and two of them have decided to join me.
One of them started about a 3rd of the way through the month and the other started right at the beginning of the year.
So, January.
I had a total of 432,473 steps in January which breaks down to an average of 13,950 steps per day.
I had 6 days under 11k steps but none of those days were under 10k steps which was my ultimate goal.
I had 8 days over 16k steps.
My best day was 19,583 on January 28th and my worst day was 10,072 on January 8th.
January 2016 I had 297,812
January 2015 I had 289,282
January 2015 I had 327,296
So, as you can see this January was by far my best start to the year.
My buddy Matt did 301,919 steps in January and started using his Fitbit on January 12th.
For his 20 days he averaged 15,095 steps per day and is leaving me play catch up.
Shawn started on January 1st with the goal of having Zero days under 10k steps as well and did 431,091 steps averaging 13,906 steps per day - almost the same exact step count I had with just 44 steps less per day.
For February my goals are to not have any days below 10,500 steps and to have 2 days over 20k steps. I want to raise my average steps above 14k, ultimately I would like to reach 15k average but February might be too early in the year to accomplish that (because then I want to maintain it and get better every month).
February 2014 - 331,817
February 2015 - 260,749
February 2016 - 312,897
2 out of the 3 years that I have had a Fitbit I have done more steps in February (with less days in the month) than I have done in January.
My ultimate goal would be to do 420,000 steps in Feb which puts me at 15k steps per day.
However, looking at 14k per day I would be at 392,000.
I will be happy as long as I fall somewhere in between the two.
Now that January is Over I can say that I have achieved this goal every single day for the first month and I know I will continue to achieve it every day for the second month.
There were a few days that were hard to get through and I had to push myself at the end but the important part is that I actually did push myself to get those in.
Also, I informed friends that I was going to be doing this and two of them have decided to join me.
One of them started about a 3rd of the way through the month and the other started right at the beginning of the year.
So, January.
I had a total of 432,473 steps in January which breaks down to an average of 13,950 steps per day.
I had 6 days under 11k steps but none of those days were under 10k steps which was my ultimate goal.
I had 8 days over 16k steps.
My best day was 19,583 on January 28th and my worst day was 10,072 on January 8th.
January 2016 I had 297,812
January 2015 I had 289,282
January 2015 I had 327,296
So, as you can see this January was by far my best start to the year.
My buddy Matt did 301,919 steps in January and started using his Fitbit on January 12th.
For his 20 days he averaged 15,095 steps per day and is leaving me play catch up.
Shawn started on January 1st with the goal of having Zero days under 10k steps as well and did 431,091 steps averaging 13,906 steps per day - almost the same exact step count I had with just 44 steps less per day.
For February my goals are to not have any days below 10,500 steps and to have 2 days over 20k steps. I want to raise my average steps above 14k, ultimately I would like to reach 15k average but February might be too early in the year to accomplish that (because then I want to maintain it and get better every month).
February 2014 - 331,817
February 2015 - 260,749
February 2016 - 312,897
2 out of the 3 years that I have had a Fitbit I have done more steps in February (with less days in the month) than I have done in January.
My ultimate goal would be to do 420,000 steps in Feb which puts me at 15k steps per day.
However, looking at 14k per day I would be at 392,000.
I will be happy as long as I fall somewhere in between the two.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The Work Scoop
So, as promised, a few more details.
First I want to say that when rumors started spreading I panicked. I got pretty worried pretty quickly because now that I have a family I have to be a reasonably responsible adult instead of not having a care in the world.
The reason for the panic was two fold:
1 - Rumors were around about changes happening but none of the higher ups were willing or (as I found out eventually) able to speak about it.
2 - Incomplete information.
To start out, somewhere around 1 - 1.5 years back my company started doing some pilot programs in certain markets to see how new staffing structures would work out.
The main one that they did was in Chicago where they ran a program that got rid of every person in my position (which is usually 11-15 people per store) and replaced them with 5 newly created positions. So you have 15 people being condensed into 5 people and everyone else who did not get one of the new positions was fired on the spot with a severance package to help until they found something new.
So, when rumors started spreading that something was about to go down everyone immediately jumped to the company rolling out this test program nation wide.
If you all remember I just changed stores to a new location about 6 months ago which means that I am one of the newest people in my position and there are others who have been around a good long while who have already built up a great repor with the senior staff in the store.
Not knowing where I stand in the grand scheme of things is scary when you are looking at potentially not having a job and not being able to provide for your family within a matter of weeks.
So, I figuratively shit myself and started asking friends if there workplace was hiring. I was making plans and trying to figure out how to not lose income so my family did not suffer in this time of transition.
So, secret Store Manager Meetings were held. Emergency Conference Calls were held. Rumors spread and then people started finding out the truth.
Through the companies Social Media and shared among forums on the net where you can post anonymously information began to leak out and all of that information was not only more positive but it slowly became verified through other annon sources.
Yesterday, in meetings across the company that were all coordinated to run at the exact same time no matter what time zone you were in, the information was officially released to us and it happened to be almost exactly what we all had been reading for the previous week down to the names of the new positions and what happens to those that don't get them.
So, here it is. Much like what rolled out in the test market the position I am currently in will no longer exist come January 27th.
Starting today everyone in my position has the option to be considered for one of the new positions or they have the option to step down.
If you want to be considered you get an interview and on the 27th our Store Manager will announce who got which of the new positions.
Everyone who does not want to be considered and everyone who did not get one of the new positions will be stepped down to another new position. This position was created just for this situation and is temporary.
You have 12 months to find another, permanent, position within the company (or outside of the company if that is the route you choose to take). If, after one year, you have not found something then you will be let go.
So, the gist is that I will either receive a new position with more responsibility and a slight boost in pay or I will be given a year (at my current pay rate) to find another job within the company. While it is not ideal it is very fair and it has set my mind at ease as I have applied for (and received) many positions over the years.
So, while those positions might be lower than I currently exist and pay a little less it still allows me to continue the career that I have chosen and go back to working my way up the company ladder again.
I have been here a long time and I do not want that to change.
And there you have it.
A story about what is going down in my retail life.
First I want to say that when rumors started spreading I panicked. I got pretty worried pretty quickly because now that I have a family I have to be a reasonably responsible adult instead of not having a care in the world.
The reason for the panic was two fold:
1 - Rumors were around about changes happening but none of the higher ups were willing or (as I found out eventually) able to speak about it.
2 - Incomplete information.
To start out, somewhere around 1 - 1.5 years back my company started doing some pilot programs in certain markets to see how new staffing structures would work out.
The main one that they did was in Chicago where they ran a program that got rid of every person in my position (which is usually 11-15 people per store) and replaced them with 5 newly created positions. So you have 15 people being condensed into 5 people and everyone else who did not get one of the new positions was fired on the spot with a severance package to help until they found something new.
So, when rumors started spreading that something was about to go down everyone immediately jumped to the company rolling out this test program nation wide.
If you all remember I just changed stores to a new location about 6 months ago which means that I am one of the newest people in my position and there are others who have been around a good long while who have already built up a great repor with the senior staff in the store.
Not knowing where I stand in the grand scheme of things is scary when you are looking at potentially not having a job and not being able to provide for your family within a matter of weeks.
So, I figuratively shit myself and started asking friends if there workplace was hiring. I was making plans and trying to figure out how to not lose income so my family did not suffer in this time of transition.
So, secret Store Manager Meetings were held. Emergency Conference Calls were held. Rumors spread and then people started finding out the truth.
Through the companies Social Media and shared among forums on the net where you can post anonymously information began to leak out and all of that information was not only more positive but it slowly became verified through other annon sources.
Yesterday, in meetings across the company that were all coordinated to run at the exact same time no matter what time zone you were in, the information was officially released to us and it happened to be almost exactly what we all had been reading for the previous week down to the names of the new positions and what happens to those that don't get them.
So, here it is. Much like what rolled out in the test market the position I am currently in will no longer exist come January 27th.
Starting today everyone in my position has the option to be considered for one of the new positions or they have the option to step down.
If you want to be considered you get an interview and on the 27th our Store Manager will announce who got which of the new positions.
Everyone who does not want to be considered and everyone who did not get one of the new positions will be stepped down to another new position. This position was created just for this situation and is temporary.
You have 12 months to find another, permanent, position within the company (or outside of the company if that is the route you choose to take). If, after one year, you have not found something then you will be let go.
So, the gist is that I will either receive a new position with more responsibility and a slight boost in pay or I will be given a year (at my current pay rate) to find another job within the company. While it is not ideal it is very fair and it has set my mind at ease as I have applied for (and received) many positions over the years.
So, while those positions might be lower than I currently exist and pay a little less it still allows me to continue the career that I have chosen and go back to working my way up the company ladder again.
I have been here a long time and I do not want that to change.
And there you have it.
A story about what is going down in my retail life.
Healthy 2017 - Week 2
This is coming a little later than I wanted, as my plan is to update my previous week every weekend.
However, it is that time of the season where it is Playoff Football and when my options are sit at a computer and type or watch some awesome football games, the computer will lose out every time.
As of the end of week 2 I am still getting in my minimum of 10k steps every single day and I have started a vlog to help keep me motivated.
My last one was walking around with my son and talking about the playoff games that just happened because: 1 - I am a huge Steelers fan and 2 - He is a huge Cowboys fan.
In fact, it was the Cowboys vs the Packers that finally solidified to me that he indeed does like football and the Cowboys because after the game he was crying with disappointment. It hurt my heart to watch that because as die hard fans we have all been there at one point or another, especially when we were young and it was harder to keep our emotions in check.
So, because I have been walking and talking to help keep myself motivated he really wanted to join me because he dreams of becoming a famous Youtuber some day and he just thinks it is really awesome to take videos and put them on Youtube.
So, this is something he and I will continue doing in some capacity - most likely after the next set of playoff games and then after the SuperBowl. Once football is done our conversations will become Video Game related because that is our common interest and it could be a lot of fun for the two of us.
Here is a link to my channel for anyone who wants to follow along and play the home game.
More specifically here is a link to the first video I made with my 11 year old and if he could get a comment or two (even if it is just about the game, especially from Cowboy fans - Looking at you Nick) he would be tickled pink (is that still a phrase?).
Ok, back to the task at hand.
I'd already reported week one results here, so on to week two.
Week two I finished with 97,656 steps which was less than the previous week but it also didn't have a 30k step day like the previous week did so I feel like this is a good solid win.
While my current goal is 10k every day and January 2016 was my lowest month of last year I do know that as this goes on I will have to step it up a notch if I want to beat each and every single month this year.
Come February I will still have a goal of 10k every day but I will also make a secondary goal of hitting 100k every single week. This will force me to either walk a longer path on my days off from work to up my step count that way or to take a walk after work one or two days a week to hit my goals. Either way this will up my activity level and that is a win for me.
Best day of the year so far is Friday, January 13th with 17,779 and worst day of the year is Saturday January 7th at 10,072 where I had to force myself just to get that number.
So, here is hoping I report 100k next week!
Hope you all are having a happy and healthy 2017
However, it is that time of the season where it is Playoff Football and when my options are sit at a computer and type or watch some awesome football games, the computer will lose out every time.
As of the end of week 2 I am still getting in my minimum of 10k steps every single day and I have started a vlog to help keep me motivated.
My last one was walking around with my son and talking about the playoff games that just happened because: 1 - I am a huge Steelers fan and 2 - He is a huge Cowboys fan.
In fact, it was the Cowboys vs the Packers that finally solidified to me that he indeed does like football and the Cowboys because after the game he was crying with disappointment. It hurt my heart to watch that because as die hard fans we have all been there at one point or another, especially when we were young and it was harder to keep our emotions in check.
So, because I have been walking and talking to help keep myself motivated he really wanted to join me because he dreams of becoming a famous Youtuber some day and he just thinks it is really awesome to take videos and put them on Youtube.
So, this is something he and I will continue doing in some capacity - most likely after the next set of playoff games and then after the SuperBowl. Once football is done our conversations will become Video Game related because that is our common interest and it could be a lot of fun for the two of us.
Here is a link to my channel for anyone who wants to follow along and play the home game.
More specifically here is a link to the first video I made with my 11 year old and if he could get a comment or two (even if it is just about the game, especially from Cowboy fans - Looking at you Nick) he would be tickled pink (is that still a phrase?).
Ok, back to the task at hand.
I'd already reported week one results here, so on to week two.
Week two I finished with 97,656 steps which was less than the previous week but it also didn't have a 30k step day like the previous week did so I feel like this is a good solid win.
While my current goal is 10k every day and January 2016 was my lowest month of last year I do know that as this goes on I will have to step it up a notch if I want to beat each and every single month this year.
Come February I will still have a goal of 10k every day but I will also make a secondary goal of hitting 100k every single week. This will force me to either walk a longer path on my days off from work to up my step count that way or to take a walk after work one or two days a week to hit my goals. Either way this will up my activity level and that is a win for me.
Best day of the year so far is Friday, January 13th with 17,779 and worst day of the year is Saturday January 7th at 10,072 where I had to force myself just to get that number.
So, here is hoping I report 100k next week!
Hope you all are having a happy and healthy 2017
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Retro Rewind - Super Mario Bros 2
On my drives to and from work and while doing my walks I have been listening to a lot of gaming podcasts and one of the ones that I really enjoy is NintendoDads.
As the name dictates they pretty much only talk about Nintendo and their games and every month they do a "Retro Rewind" where they all play an Old School Game and then record a podcast about it after the month is over. In December the Retro Rewind game was Super Mario Bros 2 and I decided to join them in this journey.
I will start by stating that when I was young I really didn't like Super Mario Bros. 2 very much, but I think it was more because of circumstance and not because of the actual game itself.
My first experience with SMB2 was a friend letting me borrow it over the weekend during the school year. That weekend I was sick and couldn't get out and do much and so I spent the entire weekend doing nothing but playing the game. As a result, in a 2 day period I beat the game and found it ridiculous that I could beat it in such a short period of time and thus formed a negative opinion about it. I gave the game back and didn't return to it until a few years later.
So, when the NintendoDads declared this as the game of the month I jumped all over it and downloaded it on my 3ds.
Replaying games from my youth lead me to the realization that I am not the gamer I once was. As such I ended up abusing the awesome save state feature that the Virtual Console offers me so that I could play through the entire game and beat it.
In total I spent 3 hours and 52 minutes playing through most of the levels and beating the final boss.
There were a few areas where I died a ton and there were some areas I went though without problem. I was never able to get the hang of the end level mini game to earn extra lives as I remember getting tons of extra lives when I was young. I don't know if it is just harder in it's emulated state or if I am just bad at the timing, either way it was not that big of a deal.
Overall I had a great time with the game and enjoyed getting back to some old school platforming. Much like when I was young I only used Peach as my character because her floating ability makes her overpowered. I remembered where a bunch of the hidden things were including one of the warps.
I still feel that this was a good Mario game with a new take on the characters (I know I know, it originally wasn't a Mario game, Mario was just skinned on it) and I feel like it was a great transition to what would eventually be released in Super Mario Bros. 3 which took the series to amazing heights.
This is not a game that I will continue to put any type of time into, SMB3 still has my heart and I am determined one day to beat SMB: Lost Levels. However, since I am a family man and a parent I generally don't go back to old games that I have beaten a lot of times and instead I focus on games that I have never played before for whatever reason.
For instance, I am currently running through Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on the GBA and am absolutely loving it.
January's Retro Rewind is Zelda: A Link to the Past which I will most likely download on my WiiU so that I can put a few hours into. However, I have never been a big Zelda gamer and only have beat one of the games over the course of my life (and can't remember which one it was, but I think it was on SNES).
I hopefully plan on doing a monthly blog to follow along with the Retro Rewind to help keep me motivated to play (or replay) some old games and just keep gaming in general.
Until then, much thanks to the NintendoDads for having one of my favorite podcasts.
As the name dictates they pretty much only talk about Nintendo and their games and every month they do a "Retro Rewind" where they all play an Old School Game and then record a podcast about it after the month is over. In December the Retro Rewind game was Super Mario Bros 2 and I decided to join them in this journey.
I will start by stating that when I was young I really didn't like Super Mario Bros. 2 very much, but I think it was more because of circumstance and not because of the actual game itself.
My first experience with SMB2 was a friend letting me borrow it over the weekend during the school year. That weekend I was sick and couldn't get out and do much and so I spent the entire weekend doing nothing but playing the game. As a result, in a 2 day period I beat the game and found it ridiculous that I could beat it in such a short period of time and thus formed a negative opinion about it. I gave the game back and didn't return to it until a few years later.
So, when the NintendoDads declared this as the game of the month I jumped all over it and downloaded it on my 3ds.
Replaying games from my youth lead me to the realization that I am not the gamer I once was. As such I ended up abusing the awesome save state feature that the Virtual Console offers me so that I could play through the entire game and beat it.
In total I spent 3 hours and 52 minutes playing through most of the levels and beating the final boss.
There were a few areas where I died a ton and there were some areas I went though without problem. I was never able to get the hang of the end level mini game to earn extra lives as I remember getting tons of extra lives when I was young. I don't know if it is just harder in it's emulated state or if I am just bad at the timing, either way it was not that big of a deal.
Overall I had a great time with the game and enjoyed getting back to some old school platforming. Much like when I was young I only used Peach as my character because her floating ability makes her overpowered. I remembered where a bunch of the hidden things were including one of the warps.
I still feel that this was a good Mario game with a new take on the characters (I know I know, it originally wasn't a Mario game, Mario was just skinned on it) and I feel like it was a great transition to what would eventually be released in Super Mario Bros. 3 which took the series to amazing heights.
This is not a game that I will continue to put any type of time into, SMB3 still has my heart and I am determined one day to beat SMB: Lost Levels. However, since I am a family man and a parent I generally don't go back to old games that I have beaten a lot of times and instead I focus on games that I have never played before for whatever reason.
For instance, I am currently running through Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on the GBA and am absolutely loving it.
January's Retro Rewind is Zelda: A Link to the Past which I will most likely download on my WiiU so that I can put a few hours into. However, I have never been a big Zelda gamer and only have beat one of the games over the course of my life (and can't remember which one it was, but I think it was on SNES).
I hopefully plan on doing a monthly blog to follow along with the Retro Rewind to help keep me motivated to play (or replay) some old games and just keep gaming in general.
Until then, much thanks to the NintendoDads for having one of my favorite podcasts.
Healthy 2017 - Week 1
I know that millions every single year talk about how they are going to get healthier for the new year and most of them give up after a few weeks, that will not be me.
I have gone through this journey before and I am committed to doing it again. So, for 2017 I have decided to get more exercise in through walking (I am dedicated to 10k steps every single day) and I will eat healthier. I am also cutting out nearly all drinks that are not water (well, not cutting out beer, I love beer) in order to help with this.
Now that the first week is in the books I am proud to say it was successful.
My total steps for the week was 111,940, though this does count my 30k step count for New Years Eve since that was the first day of the week.
During this week I had two soda's and both of those were while I was at my parents and on the same day. I have gone out to dinner with my wife and had just water and I am drinking a lot of water at work and at home in order to get more healthier.
I also started a vlog that I will use to keep me motivated to take walks and I've only recorded 2 but one was deleted before it ever made it to posting.
The first one can be found here.
And of course I plan on documenting it weekly here.
January 1st I weighed 264.6 and on the 6th (last day of the week) I weighed 263.2 - so while I only lost a little over a pound I'll take it for my first week. As I get in better shape I expect that I should have no issue getting down to my initial goal of 220.
I have gone through this journey before and I am committed to doing it again. So, for 2017 I have decided to get more exercise in through walking (I am dedicated to 10k steps every single day) and I will eat healthier. I am also cutting out nearly all drinks that are not water (well, not cutting out beer, I love beer) in order to help with this.
Now that the first week is in the books I am proud to say it was successful.
My total steps for the week was 111,940, though this does count my 30k step count for New Years Eve since that was the first day of the week.
During this week I had two soda's and both of those were while I was at my parents and on the same day. I have gone out to dinner with my wife and had just water and I am drinking a lot of water at work and at home in order to get more healthier.
I also started a vlog that I will use to keep me motivated to take walks and I've only recorded 2 but one was deleted before it ever made it to posting.
The first one can be found here.
And of course I plan on documenting it weekly here.
January 1st I weighed 264.6 and on the 6th (last day of the week) I weighed 263.2 - so while I only lost a little over a pound I'll take it for my first week. As I get in better shape I expect that I should have no issue getting down to my initial goal of 220.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Goodbye 2016 Hello 2017
I am typing this on my phone after having a few beers in me. If I miss some errors feel free to point them out in the comments.
I will be saying goodbye of 2016 the same exact way I said hello to it, on the Las Vegas Strip with the love of my life in my arms and slightly under the influence of alcohol.
A lot of you, my friends, are happy to see 2016 fade away like a bad fart. A lot of you think that 2016 was one of the shittiest years on record.
I had an amazing 2016 personally.
I celebrated my 2nd anniversary with my soul mate.
I got to watch my baby go from barely mobile to running amok and developing into the amazing person that he will be.
I have hung out with friends visiting my tourist destination home and I visited friends back home and watched both the Penguins and Steelers live, at the stadium.
I caught up with a friend who I had not seen in probably 15 years and it felt like almost no time had passed.
The wife and I paid off all of our debt (except the house I own where my parents live).
We then saved up a 6 months emergency fund just in case we need it.
2016 was amazing in the grrouch house and 2017 will be even better.
In 2017 we will be saving up a down payment on the house we will buy to raise our children.
We will save money up so that I can upgrade my old car into something more family friendly and economically viable.
And because we have proved to ourselves (and will hit our other goals without worry) we have decided that 2017 we will focus on our health as well because we want to be there to watch our children grow up and raise their own families.
We will be eating healthier and work on losing weight.
My wife will mainly focus on the eating healthier part as she does the grocery shopping and cooking. I will eat what she makes.
I am working hard on cutting out energy drinks and sodas to an occasional, social, thing instead of an everyday habit.
I am dedicating myself to walking a minimum of 10000 steps every single day.
I am working my way towards drinking a gallon of water a day and cutting out any junk food except on social occasions as well.
I am going to keep track of it and want to write about my progress in a weekly blog update, since I miss writing so much.
I've got other personal entertainment goals that I would like to do as well but saving those for another post.
And while it might seem that I am ripping Mr Subliminal off I have had this longstanding idea about a running commentary about a homeless Poker player trying to work his way up in the food chain that is solely based on my current bankroll and what can be afforded off of that.
However, I feel that my poker playing will be once or twice a month, at best, until after we hit a couple of our other financial goals.
Looking forward to saying goodbye to 2016 but only because 2017 looks to be greater from where I am standing.
I will be saying goodbye of 2016 the same exact way I said hello to it, on the Las Vegas Strip with the love of my life in my arms and slightly under the influence of alcohol.
A lot of you, my friends, are happy to see 2016 fade away like a bad fart. A lot of you think that 2016 was one of the shittiest years on record.
I had an amazing 2016 personally.
I celebrated my 2nd anniversary with my soul mate.
I got to watch my baby go from barely mobile to running amok and developing into the amazing person that he will be.
I have hung out with friends visiting my tourist destination home and I visited friends back home and watched both the Penguins and Steelers live, at the stadium.
I caught up with a friend who I had not seen in probably 15 years and it felt like almost no time had passed.
The wife and I paid off all of our debt (except the house I own where my parents live).
We then saved up a 6 months emergency fund just in case we need it.
2016 was amazing in the grrouch house and 2017 will be even better.
In 2017 we will be saving up a down payment on the house we will buy to raise our children.
We will save money up so that I can upgrade my old car into something more family friendly and economically viable.
And because we have proved to ourselves (and will hit our other goals without worry) we have decided that 2017 we will focus on our health as well because we want to be there to watch our children grow up and raise their own families.
We will be eating healthier and work on losing weight.
My wife will mainly focus on the eating healthier part as she does the grocery shopping and cooking. I will eat what she makes.
I am working hard on cutting out energy drinks and sodas to an occasional, social, thing instead of an everyday habit.
I am dedicating myself to walking a minimum of 10000 steps every single day.
I am working my way towards drinking a gallon of water a day and cutting out any junk food except on social occasions as well.
I am going to keep track of it and want to write about my progress in a weekly blog update, since I miss writing so much.
I've got other personal entertainment goals that I would like to do as well but saving those for another post.
And while it might seem that I am ripping Mr Subliminal off I have had this longstanding idea about a running commentary about a homeless Poker player trying to work his way up in the food chain that is solely based on my current bankroll and what can be afforded off of that.
However, I feel that my poker playing will be once or twice a month, at best, until after we hit a couple of our other financial goals.
Looking forward to saying goodbye to 2016 but only because 2017 looks to be greater from where I am standing.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Poker
I miss playing poker.
I miss having the extra money available when I want it and I miss meeting up with people as they come into town to visit and play.
So, since all of my real money has places for it to be I decided to give this whole Online Poker thing a shot again. One of the reasons I quit years ago was because it got really really boring, especially after Black Monday or whatever it was called.
So, I downloaded WSOP and loaded it up with pocket change and am going to work on building my bankroll up from nothing, well close to nothing.
My hope is that by the time we have enough saved up to buy a house that I'll have some sort of starter fund so that I can start playing regularly at the casino's again.
I have not made any rules for myself yet. I realize that I have to survive through variance from my starting point just to build up enough that I won't have to worry about going broke or risk looking like the idiot at my tables who keeps buying in for 40 cents every few minutes and going broke again.
So, what did I do?
I put $10 into my account and got a sweet $1 bonus - so my starting point is $11.
I am only going to be playing the 1 cent 2 cent No Limit games for now and as I am buying in for the max of $2 currently I am starting with a whopping 5 and a half buy-ins.
First goal, get myself to 10 buy-ins and minor breathing room.
Let the....uh.... fun? .... begin.
I miss having the extra money available when I want it and I miss meeting up with people as they come into town to visit and play.
So, since all of my real money has places for it to be I decided to give this whole Online Poker thing a shot again. One of the reasons I quit years ago was because it got really really boring, especially after Black Monday or whatever it was called.
So, I downloaded WSOP and loaded it up with pocket change and am going to work on building my bankroll up from nothing, well close to nothing.
My hope is that by the time we have enough saved up to buy a house that I'll have some sort of starter fund so that I can start playing regularly at the casino's again.
I have not made any rules for myself yet. I realize that I have to survive through variance from my starting point just to build up enough that I won't have to worry about going broke or risk looking like the idiot at my tables who keeps buying in for 40 cents every few minutes and going broke again.
So, what did I do?
I put $10 into my account and got a sweet $1 bonus - so my starting point is $11.
I am only going to be playing the 1 cent 2 cent No Limit games for now and as I am buying in for the max of $2 currently I am starting with a whopping 5 and a half buy-ins.
First goal, get myself to 10 buy-ins and minor breathing room.
Let the....uh.... fun? .... begin.
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Just a bunch of Random
I decided to fire up my computer mainly because my phone is running out of usable space.
So, my main intent was to just plug the phone in and transfer a bunch of files to hard drive and go back on my merry way.
That led me to you.
Earlier today we took the baby to the Farmers Market at Downtown Summerlin. Downtown Summerlin is becoming one of my favorite places to go. It has a bunch of fun little shops that we like to look at. It's a nice and easy walk and has a lot of good eateries. We recently discovered a place that has Frozen Custard which we have been enjoying. Not to mention that they have a Dave and Buster's coming soon plus a Maggiano's and more.
And, lets not forget, lots of Pokestops! Kind of important there.
So after we did that we met up with Linda Lou and her husband for lunch and had an hour of good food and great conversation before heading home.
I decided to take a nap when we got home because starting tomorrow night I have to work an entire week of Overnight shifts before Inventory. It is going to suck but after two weeks of hell (the overnights plus the week of inventory) I'll be able to get back into a normalized routine and soon after it will all be a distant memory.
I just deleted nearly 14 gigs of pics and videos from my phone's camera alone. Not too shabby.
So, tonight my goal is to stay up late so that I can sleep in so that the overnight's don't kill me. Doing one is no problem, it's by the time you get to the 3rd or 4th and you haven't slept well that I am worrying about.
I've also started a new diet and after the first week I am down 4 pounds. I've lost the weight before but keeping it off is the big issue. I'm going to just self diagnose as having food addiction and admit that I have horrible impulse control when it comes to eating.
I can eat great for a week but then I'll have one slip up where I grab a piece of cake or some chips and next thing you know I've inhaled a pizza and drank a gallon of BBQ sauce. I've got issues.
But, I'm working on it and working on getting back down to my wedding weight.
So 1 week in and 4 pounds later I will accept this week as a win even though it could have been more and I could have done better. Baby steps.
I feel like I have asked this before, but does anyone know how to sync your phone pictures with your blogger account?
On Writing -
I've been trying to write. I have a few random ideas in my head but I really feel as though my skills as a write suck. I can type up a few pages but when I go back and read what I wrote I feel like it is lacking or needs lots of improvement.
It is possible that I'll still finally do it and churn something out just for the sake of doing it but I hate being overly critical of myself in that regard and thus never progressing.
On finances.
As of this past Friday the wife and I are officially 2/3rds of our way through saving up our Fully Funded Emergency fund of 6 months living expenses. Our original goal was to have the money in Savings by October 31st pay check but we are actually on pace to hit our goal slightly before that.
However, there are some big spending coming up like my trip to PA with our 11 year old. That one is going to cost me and set me back a bit. I've been putting it off but I really need to mail my buddy a check for the tickets and I have to buy the plane tickets as well.
Since I'll be up late maybe I'll look into those plane tickets tonight.
And, that is enough random for the rest of the night.
Hope y'all had a great night.
So, my main intent was to just plug the phone in and transfer a bunch of files to hard drive and go back on my merry way.
That led me to you.
Earlier today we took the baby to the Farmers Market at Downtown Summerlin. Downtown Summerlin is becoming one of my favorite places to go. It has a bunch of fun little shops that we like to look at. It's a nice and easy walk and has a lot of good eateries. We recently discovered a place that has Frozen Custard which we have been enjoying. Not to mention that they have a Dave and Buster's coming soon plus a Maggiano's and more.
And, lets not forget, lots of Pokestops! Kind of important there.
So after we did that we met up with Linda Lou and her husband for lunch and had an hour of good food and great conversation before heading home.
I decided to take a nap when we got home because starting tomorrow night I have to work an entire week of Overnight shifts before Inventory. It is going to suck but after two weeks of hell (the overnights plus the week of inventory) I'll be able to get back into a normalized routine and soon after it will all be a distant memory.
I just deleted nearly 14 gigs of pics and videos from my phone's camera alone. Not too shabby.
So, tonight my goal is to stay up late so that I can sleep in so that the overnight's don't kill me. Doing one is no problem, it's by the time you get to the 3rd or 4th and you haven't slept well that I am worrying about.
I've also started a new diet and after the first week I am down 4 pounds. I've lost the weight before but keeping it off is the big issue. I'm going to just self diagnose as having food addiction and admit that I have horrible impulse control when it comes to eating.
I can eat great for a week but then I'll have one slip up where I grab a piece of cake or some chips and next thing you know I've inhaled a pizza and drank a gallon of BBQ sauce. I've got issues.
But, I'm working on it and working on getting back down to my wedding weight.
So 1 week in and 4 pounds later I will accept this week as a win even though it could have been more and I could have done better. Baby steps.
I feel like I have asked this before, but does anyone know how to sync your phone pictures with your blogger account?
On Writing -
I've been trying to write. I have a few random ideas in my head but I really feel as though my skills as a write suck. I can type up a few pages but when I go back and read what I wrote I feel like it is lacking or needs lots of improvement.
It is possible that I'll still finally do it and churn something out just for the sake of doing it but I hate being overly critical of myself in that regard and thus never progressing.
On finances.
As of this past Friday the wife and I are officially 2/3rds of our way through saving up our Fully Funded Emergency fund of 6 months living expenses. Our original goal was to have the money in Savings by October 31st pay check but we are actually on pace to hit our goal slightly before that.
However, there are some big spending coming up like my trip to PA with our 11 year old. That one is going to cost me and set me back a bit. I've been putting it off but I really need to mail my buddy a check for the tickets and I have to buy the plane tickets as well.
Since I'll be up late maybe I'll look into those plane tickets tonight.
And, that is enough random for the rest of the night.
Hope y'all had a great night.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Late Night update
For those of you who follow me on the Book of Face you will know that within the last couple of months I have, once again, changed positions and stores within the company that I work for. This makes my 6th store (5 in Vegas) and like 30th position change....
Hold on....I know this....
Cashier (1), Head Cashier (2), Cash Office (3), Flooring CSA (4), Appliance/Cabinet Team Leader (5), Appliance CSA - Transfer to Vegas (6), Flooring CSA (7), Flooring Specialist (8), Plumbing/Electrical DM (9), Appliance/Cabinet DM (10), Appliance/Cabinet/Flooring DM (11), Cabinet CSA (12), Paint CSA (13), Cashier (14), Flooring CSA (15), Flooring Specialist (16), Millwork Specialist (17), Flooring Specialist (18), Installed Sales (19), Millwork Specialist (20), Installed Sales (21), Plumbing/Electrical DM (22), Electrical DM (23), Admin DM (24), Appliance/Cabinet DM(25)....
Ok, so only 25.... My guess was pretty close for being off the top of my head....
Where Was I?
Oh yeah, so I have changed stores and positions again and I can say that so far I am really enjoying things again. Much like everywhere there are always issues, it is the nature of the best. However, where I am now does't make me want to quit and change companies like my previous position did.
Life is improving, work is improving.
One of the negatives is that when I close I work later than I am used to and because I am further from home I get home a lot later than I am used to. This basically puts me at home nearing midnight or later every time I close and everyone in the house is already sleeping.
Except the dog. He thinks I am a mass murderer coming into the house to steal his toys and food and because of that he decides that he should wake the entire neighborhood up.
Tonight I'm not overly tired so I decided to have a beer and find something to do.
Problem is I have not found anything to do and so here I sit typing away but not really saying anything.
In a couple of weeks our 10 year old leaves to Mexico for 3 weeks - FREEDOM!!!!
We will be taking a 3 or 4 day vacation to San Diego to hit up some beaches and probably that place where they keep all the live stock that weird people like to visit (weird like my wife). She says the baby will enjoy it and who I am to argue with her?
I am mainly looking forward to the beaches, to not being in the Vegas 105 degree heat, to not having to take anyone to soccer games or practice. To waves and chill.
After that it is back to work and to 2 weeks of overnights preparing for inventory then a week of inventory and then..... well.... then back to the routine.
When the 10 year old gets back school will be upon us and then we will start to get a little bit of freedom during our weeks and I am really looking forward to that.
In terms of life, we are half way to having our Emergency Fund fully funded which is nice. We should be able to hit it by our original deadline even though we have had a couple of minor setbacks in the form of my car deciding it didn't like to run.
I had the Alternator replaced since it decided to die while we were out and about one night.
Then when I was on lunch at work the battery decided it wanted to be replaced.
Shortly after that I started getting error codes because my gas-cap decided it was no longer going to seal properly and ......damn did the dealership rape me for such a simple little piece that needed replaced.
So, currently I am running my car for a few more days to see if any other problems will arise because all of this fun and excitement keeps delaying my registration renewal which was due at the end of last month before all this started happening and pushing it back.
So, fingers crossed that the wrong cop isn't all pissed off and decides to pull me over because my tags say June and we are not in June. Lets just make it until I am off on Monday and I'll go try one more time to see if I can pass my emissions test.....
Did I just jinx myself?
My Blue Moon is now empty and I have to make an important decision.
Go to bed and get some sleep or open another bottle and find something else to distract myself with...
Hold on....I know this....
Cashier (1), Head Cashier (2), Cash Office (3), Flooring CSA (4), Appliance/Cabinet Team Leader (5), Appliance CSA - Transfer to Vegas (6), Flooring CSA (7), Flooring Specialist (8), Plumbing/Electrical DM (9), Appliance/Cabinet DM (10), Appliance/Cabinet/Flooring DM (11), Cabinet CSA (12), Paint CSA (13), Cashier (14), Flooring CSA (15), Flooring Specialist (16), Millwork Specialist (17), Flooring Specialist (18), Installed Sales (19), Millwork Specialist (20), Installed Sales (21), Plumbing/Electrical DM (22), Electrical DM (23), Admin DM (24), Appliance/Cabinet DM(25)....
Ok, so only 25.... My guess was pretty close for being off the top of my head....
Where Was I?
Oh yeah, so I have changed stores and positions again and I can say that so far I am really enjoying things again. Much like everywhere there are always issues, it is the nature of the best. However, where I am now does't make me want to quit and change companies like my previous position did.
Life is improving, work is improving.
One of the negatives is that when I close I work later than I am used to and because I am further from home I get home a lot later than I am used to. This basically puts me at home nearing midnight or later every time I close and everyone in the house is already sleeping.
Except the dog. He thinks I am a mass murderer coming into the house to steal his toys and food and because of that he decides that he should wake the entire neighborhood up.
Tonight I'm not overly tired so I decided to have a beer and find something to do.
Problem is I have not found anything to do and so here I sit typing away but not really saying anything.
In a couple of weeks our 10 year old leaves to Mexico for 3 weeks - FREEDOM!!!!
We will be taking a 3 or 4 day vacation to San Diego to hit up some beaches and probably that place where they keep all the live stock that weird people like to visit (weird like my wife). She says the baby will enjoy it and who I am to argue with her?
I am mainly looking forward to the beaches, to not being in the Vegas 105 degree heat, to not having to take anyone to soccer games or practice. To waves and chill.
After that it is back to work and to 2 weeks of overnights preparing for inventory then a week of inventory and then..... well.... then back to the routine.
When the 10 year old gets back school will be upon us and then we will start to get a little bit of freedom during our weeks and I am really looking forward to that.
In terms of life, we are half way to having our Emergency Fund fully funded which is nice. We should be able to hit it by our original deadline even though we have had a couple of minor setbacks in the form of my car deciding it didn't like to run.
I had the Alternator replaced since it decided to die while we were out and about one night.
Then when I was on lunch at work the battery decided it wanted to be replaced.
Shortly after that I started getting error codes because my gas-cap decided it was no longer going to seal properly and ......damn did the dealership rape me for such a simple little piece that needed replaced.
So, currently I am running my car for a few more days to see if any other problems will arise because all of this fun and excitement keeps delaying my registration renewal which was due at the end of last month before all this started happening and pushing it back.
So, fingers crossed that the wrong cop isn't all pissed off and decides to pull me over because my tags say June and we are not in June. Lets just make it until I am off on Monday and I'll go try one more time to see if I can pass my emissions test.....
Did I just jinx myself?
My Blue Moon is now empty and I have to make an important decision.
Go to bed and get some sleep or open another bottle and find something else to distract myself with...
Friday, June 17, 2016
National Beer Mile - Las Vegas
You know, at some point there has to be something out there to get me motivated and do one of the 3 million "runs" that come through the town.
Being a general fat-ass, with asthma, I've always been against doing them because.... well, because i pretty much can't physically run without my body trying to kill me by stopping the breathing function that it has.
So when the National Beer Mile came across my book of face I thought it was perfect.
I signed the wife and I up for the event (when they were running a 20% off promo because I'm a cheapass).
We can totally walk a mile, drink 4 beers and enjoy an open bar after party.
Totally.
I do believe Stump will also be participating in this event but I'm sure with his whole super healthy super fit new being he'll be one of those rat bastards who actually runs the mile.... so boring.
I've already got the day requested off of work and I'm super stoked.
The best part is, this is the same day as my parents anniversary - so I'll get drunk by 5pm and then enjoy a nice dinner!!
Now, my only issue is sneaking 4 beers into my gym so that I can practice this event on the treadmill and/or elliptical.
Being a general fat-ass, with asthma, I've always been against doing them because.... well, because i pretty much can't physically run without my body trying to kill me by stopping the breathing function that it has.
So when the National Beer Mile came across my book of face I thought it was perfect.
I signed the wife and I up for the event (when they were running a 20% off promo because I'm a cheapass).
We can totally walk a mile, drink 4 beers and enjoy an open bar after party.
Totally.
I do believe Stump will also be participating in this event but I'm sure with his whole super healthy super fit new being he'll be one of those rat bastards who actually runs the mile.... so boring.
I've already got the day requested off of work and I'm super stoked.
The best part is, this is the same day as my parents anniversary - so I'll get drunk by 5pm and then enjoy a nice dinner!!
Now, my only issue is sneaking 4 beers into my gym so that I can practice this event on the treadmill and/or elliptical.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Confessions of....
Here I sit, broken hearted
Came to shit but only farted.
I have been intending to blog more often, I really have.
However, family life....
I know a lot of you have families and still blog. My issue really isn't the family but more-so the littlest member of the family, my nearly 17 month old baby boy, the love of my life.
You (u) see, when I am not working I am at home spending quality time with the family. I do attempt to pick up one of my hobbies from time to time but he makes things difficult with his constant want of attention and need for me to join it. Currently he is sitting on my lap and drinking a little bit while trying to slap the keyboard and not allow me to put my words in an order without all those extra letters that he is pressing.
So, while I don't get to game or blog nearly as much (or almost not at all) as I would like I am absolutely in love and wouldn't change it for anything.
I was going through my computer because I wanted to set up a spreadsheet for some other thing I wanted to do when I found a folder labeled simply "Confessions of."
I had to look, obviously I made it - but what was in it.
It was broken into 7 different text documents and when I saw it I knew it was one of those random books that I was working on. Not because I have any disillusions of becoming famous and selling a million copies and get rich, but just because I like to type and tell stories. The goal was to type up a crappy little book, force someone to edit it and then self publish it. Just because I could really.
(I am going to point out that sitting at the kitchen table with a baby in my lap and typing is hard, but luckily I put his Youtube Songs on the TV and he is mostly distracted - he has only made me delete things 2 or 3 times.)
As I am reading over the things I have written I realize that just 4 short years ago I had a lot of anger
in me and I feel like I am a completely different person now. Time flies and things change. It is hard to tell how much they change until you can objectively look back on them. Looking at the things I was writing (and probably will keep writing now that I found this random folder hidden away on my computer) I am sure that once I am done it will seem as though two completely different people wrote the different "chapters."
Now - to the participation part of the blog. For those of you who use blogger - You can click on the thing above when doing a post to add an image - (it is right beside LINK). There is a tab to use photo's from your phone. Last year I upgraded my phone and now my most recent photo's no longer show up for use. Does anyone (without me having to go to google to figure this out) know how to get my phone sync'd with the blog again so that I can use recent photo's that are on my phone? (I do the blogging from a computer or else this would not be an issue).
Eh, it appears as though I now have to pack my lunch and head to work.
Hi Ho
Hi Ho
It's off to work I go
My Name is Rick
Got a Giant Dick
Hi Ho Hi Ho
Came to shit but only farted.
I have been intending to blog more often, I really have.
However, family life....
I know a lot of you have families and still blog. My issue really isn't the family but more-so the littlest member of the family, my nearly 17 month old baby boy, the love of my life.
You (u) see, when I am not working I am at home spending quality time with the family. I do attempt to pick up one of my hobbies from time to time but he makes things difficult with his constant want of attention and need for me to join it. Currently he is sitting on my lap and drinking a little bit while trying to slap the keyboard and not allow me to put my words in an order without all those extra letters that he is pressing.
So, while I don't get to game or blog nearly as much (or almost not at all) as I would like I am absolutely in love and wouldn't change it for anything.
I was going through my computer because I wanted to set up a spreadsheet for some other thing I wanted to do when I found a folder labeled simply "Confessions of."
I had to look, obviously I made it - but what was in it.
It was broken into 7 different text documents and when I saw it I knew it was one of those random books that I was working on. Not because I have any disillusions of becoming famous and selling a million copies and get rich, but just because I like to type and tell stories. The goal was to type up a crappy little book, force someone to edit it and then self publish it. Just because I could really.
(I am going to point out that sitting at the kitchen table with a baby in my lap and typing is hard, but luckily I put his Youtube Songs on the TV and he is mostly distracted - he has only made me delete things 2 or 3 times.)
As I am reading over the things I have written I realize that just 4 short years ago I had a lot of anger
in me and I feel like I am a completely different person now. Time flies and things change. It is hard to tell how much they change until you can objectively look back on them. Looking at the things I was writing (and probably will keep writing now that I found this random folder hidden away on my computer) I am sure that once I am done it will seem as though two completely different people wrote the different "chapters."
Now - to the participation part of the blog. For those of you who use blogger - You can click on the thing above when doing a post to add an image - (it is right beside LINK). There is a tab to use photo's from your phone. Last year I upgraded my phone and now my most recent photo's no longer show up for use. Does anyone (without me having to go to google to figure this out) know how to get my phone sync'd with the blog again so that I can use recent photo's that are on my phone? (I do the blogging from a computer or else this would not be an issue).
Eh, it appears as though I now have to pack my lunch and head to work.
Hi Ho
Hi Ho
It's off to work I go
My Name is Rick
Got a Giant Dick
Hi Ho Hi Ho
Friday, May 13, 2016
A family life update
As of last month my wife and I are practically Debt Free.
I say practically because she still has one outstanding bill in collections and the collection agency isn't willing to meet our offer yet.
She owe's $600 from a douche bag ex who wouldn't pay the bill and she has called offering $300 for them to settle. Their counter was $520 and after escalating it to a Supervisor his counter was $480.
We hung up and will try again every month until they cave.
The other debt I have is my Amazon credit card which I use for some miscellaneous purchases because those purchases give me cash back to use on Amazon thus making a bunch of my extra
spending free.
My wife, being from the school of Ramsey, isn't excited about my continued use of this card (even though I pay it off, in full, every single month) because "no one ever got rich from their credit card points" but she is willing to accept my use of it as long as I am not getting out of hand with it.
So, barring those two minor items we are debt free and are going to live a debt free life style from here on out.
To that point we just recently got back from a little get away to California where we took a short vacation to celebrate our second anniversary. We paid for this trip entirely in cash from our lodging to our daily trips to the beach, Downtown Disney, Universal City Walk and meals. It was truly a freeing experience to be able to take a vacation and only spend the money we brought. Our vacation did not follow us home and we won't have monthly reminders about what we spent while we were on vacation coming from companies wanting more money and charging us horrible interest rates.
Life is good.
We are now currently saving up for anything we want to do and anything we have plans for. Our current major goal is to get an emergency fund in the bank. We have a goal of 6 months worth of living expenses and then we start saving for a down payment on our house for next year.
And now, the hellion is awake and wants to smack the keyboard and get into stuff, so my time has come to an end....
I say practically because she still has one outstanding bill in collections and the collection agency isn't willing to meet our offer yet.
She owe's $600 from a douche bag ex who wouldn't pay the bill and she has called offering $300 for them to settle. Their counter was $520 and after escalating it to a Supervisor his counter was $480.
We hung up and will try again every month until they cave.
The other debt I have is my Amazon credit card which I use for some miscellaneous purchases because those purchases give me cash back to use on Amazon thus making a bunch of my extra
spending free.
My wife, being from the school of Ramsey, isn't excited about my continued use of this card (even though I pay it off, in full, every single month) because "no one ever got rich from their credit card points" but she is willing to accept my use of it as long as I am not getting out of hand with it.
So, barring those two minor items we are debt free and are going to live a debt free life style from here on out.
To that point we just recently got back from a little get away to California where we took a short vacation to celebrate our second anniversary. We paid for this trip entirely in cash from our lodging to our daily trips to the beach, Downtown Disney, Universal City Walk and meals. It was truly a freeing experience to be able to take a vacation and only spend the money we brought. Our vacation did not follow us home and we won't have monthly reminders about what we spent while we were on vacation coming from companies wanting more money and charging us horrible interest rates.
Life is good.
We are now currently saving up for anything we want to do and anything we have plans for. Our current major goal is to get an emergency fund in the bank. We have a goal of 6 months worth of living expenses and then we start saving for a down payment on our house for next year.
And now, the hellion is awake and wants to smack the keyboard and get into stuff, so my time has come to an end....
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Starting off in a hole
I have a leak in my game where I like to start off well into the negative so I can spend the rest of my session trying to get back to even.
Sometimes these starts are because I have poor luck and some of these are because I play too loose and don't have the skills to cover my ideal play style (I'm not oblivious, good thing I play for fun).
The last time I went out to play I ended up at the Mirage. Lately I've just kind of been driving around and when a casino happens to strike my fancy that is where I end up playing. I almost parked at Treasure Island because I noticed a sign at the entrance to their parking garage making a dig towards MGM Properties and advertising FREE PARKING.
On this occasion, less than an hour into my session I was wishing that I would have ended up somewhere else.
I started my session at 7:50 pm and I had the dealer deal me in right away because people who wait for the blinds to pass are fish and practically draw attention to themselves "Hey look at me, I probably read this in a book somewhere that it's negative variance to play right away." Screw those guys.
My first hand, as a reward, is Ace Queen. I raise and make cautious bets to the river and win a pot when my pair of queens with top kicker was good.
When the second dealer sits (about 15 minutes after I did) I was up $47 and it was all thanks to the AQ hand. This is when things go south for me.
Dealer number two must have been contacted by the Poker Godz upon seeing me play before waiting for the blinds as he immediately deals me AA which I raise and win about $7 with and then he deals me aces again (back to back hands).
The 2nd pair of Aces, by the time the action got to me there was already a raise to $11 and I made it $31. The only person to call is the original guy who raised and we see a flop Queen high. By the time the hand is over I have put about $150 into the pot and I watch all my chips slide over to him because he flopped a set of 8's against me.
Somewhere around 6 hands later I give him, that same bastard, the last hundred or so that I had let in my sack as we turn a Flush over Flush situation where his cards hold substantially more value than mine do.
I always love re-buying before I even play 30 minutes.
By the time the 3rd dealer sits I am down $272 and it hasn't even been 45 minutes. I'm pretty pissed at my plan to go to the Mirage and wish I would have done my original intentions which was to park at Bally's and walk over to Planet Hollywood.
Over the course of this Dealers down I slowly gain about 120 of my money back and on his last hand I piss $40 of it away as I turn 2 pair against a guy who flopped top two. It wasn't a substantial loss because the board was pretty creepy and nobody wanted to invest a lot.
From 9 until about 10:30 I hovered at about negative $200 until I started to hit a few hands.
At this time I am sitting in the 1 seat and there is a guy in the 6 or 7 seat who has been playing fairly aggressively. If he is in a pot he raises it up, usually a small raise to 7 or 8 and if his hand has more power a larger raise (I didn't discover this until later, but I had a hunch).
I had watched him play post flop and his betting patterns were very consistent. One hand that I played was a limped pot (rare). I bet the flop and he called. On the turn I checked because neither of my draws got stronger and I was still pairless. He bet $15 and I called. On the river I checked and he bet $30 - and he did it using a Green chip and a Red chip. I went away not willing to commit more money to a hand where I wasn't even playing high card.
A few hands later I am in a blind and he raises to $7 and gets two callers back to me so I come along with 63s. I flop a pair of 6s on a Jack high board and I have back door flush and straight draws. He bets $10 and I come along.
The turn gives me a chance at a flush to go with my pair, I check and he bets $15 which I call without thinking.
The River doesn't do anything. I check and he bets $30. This is the 3rd time I have seen him do $15/30 on the Turn/River and I think about it for a few and mostly am just curious what range of hands he is raising with and then making these bets so I end up calling.
He flips over something like 57 diamonds and I can't see where he connected with the board at all so I flip my hand over calling a pair of 6s and the pot is pushed to me.
Guy gets pissed that I just callecd him down that light and the guy to my left comments that "I guess sometimes you just feel it and go for it huh?"
Two hands later the guy who I just pissed off gets stacked and rebuys for $300.
The next hand I play against him I have 24s and call another $7 pre-flop and hit a pair of 4s. I bet the flop and he calls. I turn a 2nd pair and check to him, he bets $15 and I call. On the River he best $30 and I raise, he calls. His irritation with me grows.
The next hand I play against him I flop a pair but no one bets the flop. I turn 2 pair and lead out $15 into him, he calls. A blank river and I throw out $30 just imitating his bets and he calls. I can tell he is really getting tired of me.
A few hands later He and I are heads up and I lead out $15 and he just auto mucks his cards sending them across the table.
Slowly but surely climbing my way out of the hole and mostly thanks to one guy who probably thinks I have a horseshoe up my ass.
At 11:30 I've been here longer than I had wanted to but I'm still down $76 at this point and really wanting to get even so that I can book my 3rd winning session in a row.
Half way through the down I look down and see Pocket Kings. The table has been pretty tight at his point and the guy before me raises to $10. We are early/mid position and I know if I re-raise it will probably just fold around so I decide to just call. One other guy in late position comes long.
The flop is Jack high and he leads out $25 into me, I raise it to $70 or so. Late position folds and the other guy auto calls.
Turn is a blank and he checks it to me so I just slide the rest of my chips out (I have him covered). He thinks about it a big and calls.
The river is a Queen, I flip my Kings and I never get to see what he had because it was a quick muck after looking at my cards. My guess is AJ.
At this point I look at my chips and I am up $33 on the evening. I fold 2 more hands and leave when the blinds hit.
My new Bankroll after this marvelous session is $435.
Sometimes these starts are because I have poor luck and some of these are because I play too loose and don't have the skills to cover my ideal play style (I'm not oblivious, good thing I play for fun).
The last time I went out to play I ended up at the Mirage. Lately I've just kind of been driving around and when a casino happens to strike my fancy that is where I end up playing. I almost parked at Treasure Island because I noticed a sign at the entrance to their parking garage making a dig towards MGM Properties and advertising FREE PARKING.
On this occasion, less than an hour into my session I was wishing that I would have ended up somewhere else.
I started my session at 7:50 pm and I had the dealer deal me in right away because people who wait for the blinds to pass are fish and practically draw attention to themselves "Hey look at me, I probably read this in a book somewhere that it's negative variance to play right away." Screw those guys.
My first hand, as a reward, is Ace Queen. I raise and make cautious bets to the river and win a pot when my pair of queens with top kicker was good.
When the second dealer sits (about 15 minutes after I did) I was up $47 and it was all thanks to the AQ hand. This is when things go south for me.
Dealer number two must have been contacted by the Poker Godz upon seeing me play before waiting for the blinds as he immediately deals me AA which I raise and win about $7 with and then he deals me aces again (back to back hands).
The 2nd pair of Aces, by the time the action got to me there was already a raise to $11 and I made it $31. The only person to call is the original guy who raised and we see a flop Queen high. By the time the hand is over I have put about $150 into the pot and I watch all my chips slide over to him because he flopped a set of 8's against me.
Somewhere around 6 hands later I give him, that same bastard, the last hundred or so that I had let in my sack as we turn a Flush over Flush situation where his cards hold substantially more value than mine do.
I always love re-buying before I even play 30 minutes.
By the time the 3rd dealer sits I am down $272 and it hasn't even been 45 minutes. I'm pretty pissed at my plan to go to the Mirage and wish I would have done my original intentions which was to park at Bally's and walk over to Planet Hollywood.
Over the course of this Dealers down I slowly gain about 120 of my money back and on his last hand I piss $40 of it away as I turn 2 pair against a guy who flopped top two. It wasn't a substantial loss because the board was pretty creepy and nobody wanted to invest a lot.
From 9 until about 10:30 I hovered at about negative $200 until I started to hit a few hands.
At this time I am sitting in the 1 seat and there is a guy in the 6 or 7 seat who has been playing fairly aggressively. If he is in a pot he raises it up, usually a small raise to 7 or 8 and if his hand has more power a larger raise (I didn't discover this until later, but I had a hunch).
I had watched him play post flop and his betting patterns were very consistent. One hand that I played was a limped pot (rare). I bet the flop and he called. On the turn I checked because neither of my draws got stronger and I was still pairless. He bet $15 and I called. On the river I checked and he bet $30 - and he did it using a Green chip and a Red chip. I went away not willing to commit more money to a hand where I wasn't even playing high card.
A few hands later I am in a blind and he raises to $7 and gets two callers back to me so I come along with 63s. I flop a pair of 6s on a Jack high board and I have back door flush and straight draws. He bets $10 and I come along.
The turn gives me a chance at a flush to go with my pair, I check and he bets $15 which I call without thinking.
The River doesn't do anything. I check and he bets $30. This is the 3rd time I have seen him do $15/30 on the Turn/River and I think about it for a few and mostly am just curious what range of hands he is raising with and then making these bets so I end up calling.
He flips over something like 57 diamonds and I can't see where he connected with the board at all so I flip my hand over calling a pair of 6s and the pot is pushed to me.
Guy gets pissed that I just callecd him down that light and the guy to my left comments that "I guess sometimes you just feel it and go for it huh?"
Two hands later the guy who I just pissed off gets stacked and rebuys for $300.
The next hand I play against him I have 24s and call another $7 pre-flop and hit a pair of 4s. I bet the flop and he calls. I turn a 2nd pair and check to him, he bets $15 and I call. On the River he best $30 and I raise, he calls. His irritation with me grows.
The next hand I play against him I flop a pair but no one bets the flop. I turn 2 pair and lead out $15 into him, he calls. A blank river and I throw out $30 just imitating his bets and he calls. I can tell he is really getting tired of me.
A few hands later He and I are heads up and I lead out $15 and he just auto mucks his cards sending them across the table.
Slowly but surely climbing my way out of the hole and mostly thanks to one guy who probably thinks I have a horseshoe up my ass.
At 11:30 I've been here longer than I had wanted to but I'm still down $76 at this point and really wanting to get even so that I can book my 3rd winning session in a row.
Half way through the down I look down and see Pocket Kings. The table has been pretty tight at his point and the guy before me raises to $10. We are early/mid position and I know if I re-raise it will probably just fold around so I decide to just call. One other guy in late position comes long.
The flop is Jack high and he leads out $25 into me, I raise it to $70 or so. Late position folds and the other guy auto calls.
Turn is a blank and he checks it to me so I just slide the rest of my chips out (I have him covered). He thinks about it a big and calls.
The river is a Queen, I flip my Kings and I never get to see what he had because it was a quick muck after looking at my cards. My guess is AJ.
At this point I look at my chips and I am up $33 on the evening. I fold 2 more hands and leave when the blinds hit.
My new Bankroll after this marvelous session is $435.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Story Time
Well, not really - at least not right now.
For those of you who follow me on the Book of Face I made a post a little while ago about how I want to write a story or a series of stories (you can find that post and comment on it here) about a poker player who probably isn't all that good but is willing to do odd jobs to earn buy-ins.
I enjoy writing and at times I can be creative (seldom as they may seem) and I've always really wanted to write a book no matter how much it might actually suck.
I just never go through with it.. .or I never start it or whatever.
So, since I have been reading and listening to a lot of audio books I have been getting that itch again and recently I might have stumbled onto what might have been one of my biggest problems over the years. I generally have a story idea but I just don't know how to flesh it out because I really have no experience with my idea.
I read somewhere that you should write what you know and that all stories should have some basis in reality. So, this is why I chose to base my story loosely around poker. Or with Poker as at least a small focal point, starting point, something something something words words words.
Either way - I'm going to attempt it and in this day and age of social media my main character is going to be given his own presence on the net.
I haven't decided if I'll post the information here of if I'll start a secondary blog just for the story information.
Either way I am trying to challenge myself, force myself to write more and work on creativity.
Also, I would totally appreciate if you all would make sure to pick apart, insult, tell me why it sucks as stuff gets posted because after getting to know you guys over the years I wouldn't expect anything less.
grrouch out
For those of you who follow me on the Book of Face I made a post a little while ago about how I want to write a story or a series of stories (you can find that post and comment on it here) about a poker player who probably isn't all that good but is willing to do odd jobs to earn buy-ins.
I enjoy writing and at times I can be creative (seldom as they may seem) and I've always really wanted to write a book no matter how much it might actually suck.
I just never go through with it.. .or I never start it or whatever.
So, since I have been reading and listening to a lot of audio books I have been getting that itch again and recently I might have stumbled onto what might have been one of my biggest problems over the years. I generally have a story idea but I just don't know how to flesh it out because I really have no experience with my idea.
I read somewhere that you should write what you know and that all stories should have some basis in reality. So, this is why I chose to base my story loosely around poker. Or with Poker as at least a small focal point, starting point, something something something words words words.
Either way - I'm going to attempt it and in this day and age of social media my main character is going to be given his own presence on the net.
I haven't decided if I'll post the information here of if I'll start a secondary blog just for the story information.
Either way I am trying to challenge myself, force myself to write more and work on creativity.
Also, I would totally appreciate if you all would make sure to pick apart, insult, tell me why it sucks as stuff gets posted because after getting to know you guys over the years I wouldn't expect anything less.
grrouch out
Sunday, April 17, 2016
A short session at The Orleans
I know that there currently is not anything interesting that I can say about my poker sessions, poker wise. I've been out of the game for entirely too long and my game is rusty. I've been talking with a buddy in Pennsylvania about both of us picking a night or two during the month to head out to the casino and text back and forth any information or updates from our sessions. Kind of like a little challenge to go with someone and see who does better.
So far this has gone as far as agreeing that we should do it, we have yet to actually do a session.
My thought is that the texts back and forth along with random Facebook and Twitter updates along with my notepad (whether on physical paper or on my phone/tablet) will provide me with information to jog my memory so that I can make blog post updates.
I love writing and I miss it, it's just that when I feel like writing I am usually at work or not near the house to do it. When I have downtime at home I really don't feel like writing. It's a bit frustrating at times.
So, let's get into my last session which I took notes on.
Hope you like it.
Before I even make it to the casino to play some poker I say fuck this place.
On the bottom floor of the parking garage some douche bag speeds up to pass me because 20 feet in front of me are his two old as fuck hippy douche bag friends walking in the opposite direction. So in order to stop and pick up these friends we risk an accident and block traffic in both directions for 2 minutes instead of just fucking waiting.
Fuck The Orleans.
On the walk to the casino, after parking, an old Asian broad bugs me asking where the entrance was. I pointed in the general direction and she bitched that there weren't any close parking spots because, you know, we'd hate to actually have to walk any sort of distance before we went and blew all of our money playing Pai-Gow or Baccarat or whatever the fuck it is that old Asian fucks blow there wad at these days.
Fuck the Orleans.
Thirty seconds later a Mariachi performer walks by me. What is wrong with this world? Who performs Mariachi at the Orleans? I hope he got some good tips but probably not as he looked anxious to get the hell out of there.
The Elevator smells like baby shit. It doesn't quite hit you until after the doors close and you start moving and I am sure this is on purpose so that you don't change your mind and leave for someplace more upscale.
At this point I am not exactly sure what had drug me to this dog forsaken place and more importantly why the hell did none of the above give me the idea that I needed to leave an go someplace better.
Walking into the Poker Room there is one guy watching movies on his tablet. I observe another table where three people are wearing headphones and another is constantly holding a napkin over his mouth as if this will allow him to not catch the rampant zombieism that is transferred from one person to another by just simply breathing the same air at The Orleans. You can almost feel their souls being sucked out of their bodies in order to go find something more fun to do.
Why the fuck did I come here again?
9:25 PM - The, I can only assume, torture begins.
I got seated at a table that has one guy younger than I am, one guy in my age bracket and the douche bag watching movies. There are only two sets of headphones being utilized at this table but there is one guy who looks like he is waiting o die or for aces, whichever happens to come first. He also looks like he was big into chewing tobacco as one side of his jaw sits substantially lower than the other. He is wearing a hat that says Purple Heart and has a Purple Heart pin attached to it. Maybe his jaw got shot in Nam...er... WW1.
The guy to my right just called for the Ace of Jacks as the next card and used the word, and I mean word as in singular, youknowwatimean?
The young guy is short, not in stature but in stack, keeps his eyes on his phone and is wearing either shades or really dark corrective lenses. Ace of Jacks is drinking and wearing shades as his future is probably pretty bright.
The Cocktease waitress shows up and I ask what is bottled. She tells me most anything. I ask for a Blue Moon and she tells me that they don't serve wheat beers, fucking beer racists. I get a Sam Adams and pray for a quick double so I can get the hell out of here. grrouch: 0, stupidity: 1.
Slack Jawed Grampa raises to 17 and gets 3 callers, I figure he probably stacks off if I set. however I am 97% sure he flops top set with an Axx flop. I fold as he bets damned near pot. Next hand he gets to the river by calling down with a pair of 3's in his hand and rivers a set. Maybe Grampa isn't 100% as tight as I thought.
After being here an orbit Tablet has played one hand. He was in the big blind and Redneck raises to $11 in late position. Tablet pushes all i for $111. No Flop Allowed.
Gradpa flops top set and Redneck pays off every bet as he thought he flopped a straight. He even looked at his hand post flop and still somehow thought he had a straight. Da-Fuq?
10:03 - Down $26 after the first dealer. Won one very minor hand against the young kid and folded a lot of random hands.
It is at this point that someone fucking farted. I don't know if it was someone sitting at the table or if it was someone who was walking behind me. What I do know is that it was a horribly obnoxious fart that rivaled the smell in the elevator. What is wrong with people. If you feel like your ass is going to explode you need to walk away from the poker room to the casino. Then you expel your ass gas and come back. Everyone will be happier because of it.
I've got my blue tooth headset half on/half off. One ear is listening to Mycroft Holmes and I point this out because my headset just died. I did bring a pair of regular headphones at the last minute as a Just In Case and I have never done that before. Was I telling myself subliminally that I was going to need a distraction from this hell hole?
I fold a hand as Tablet bets, I don't trust a guy who pauses his movie to play a hand.
I wish I would have remembered that I don't particularly like Sam Adams and ordered something else. And with no Blue Moon I just don't know what I want for my next brew. Maybe they have some fruity brews?
Redneck limped Aces early, did not get a re-raise opportunity.
The cocktease waitress shows up and I ask if they have any Redds Apple Ale and she responds with "We have New Castle and Guiness for Dark Beers." I am now Oh for Two ordering beers and this chick shows her intelligence.
Instead I order a Mich Ultra as I watch Redneck double a guy who flopped an obvious flush but he just couldn't get away from his Aces. Redneck leaves and I am sad. Others are sad as well but I really don't give two shits about their feelings.
I take Rednecks vacated seat. A new guy sits in my old seat and first hand he gets aces and doubles up against a bad player.
Fuck Poker.
Fuck the Orleans.
10:31 - A new dealer Arrives.
I won two hands during the last down and am now down only $25. I had an enormous $1 profit during that last half hour. King of the World yo!
Another way of looking at it, my beers are currently costing me $12.50 each - but that way is more depressing so lets not go there right now.
Grampa raises, gets a few callers and everyone goes away on the flop when he continuation bets. I guess everyone is set mining the guy they all consider to be a horrible nit. If Grampa loosened up he could just walk over all of us.
11:01 - New Dealer
Down $50. I was up to only down $4 after winning the only hand I won and I think the only hand I played. However a shorty calling my raise pre-flop with J8 off put the kabah on that comeback.
Still hating it.
Still praying just to get to even.
Tablets movie must be over because out of the blue he decided to hold a conversation with the two people near him. After the conversation is over he leaves the table. I would love to know what amazing conversation such a guy has after watching an entire movie and not saying a bloody thing the entire time.
There is a random guy walking buy calling himself The Drunken Monkey saying that the table he just left doesn't want him bak. It appears that his parting prose involved telling someone at the table to perform the role of a vacuum on his testi, much like they just performed the same role on his chips.
The Drunken Monkey.
I just played a hand against Grampa instead of the guy who is currently occupying the seat. That cost me a few bucks. When did Grampa leave? Furthermore why had I not noticed.
I am tired and my attention stopped being paid. I need to cut out soon before I donate my entire stack and go home depressed, and not just for going to the Fucking Orleans.
11:30 - A new Dealer sits and somehow I count my chips and find I am up $8. I'm not 100% sure what happened that has me on the positive side. That isn't a good sign.
11:32 I rack up and quit when the blinds hit. The hand before I quit I flop a flush and milk a few chips off a guy who finally violently folds when the 4th flush card hits thinking I just trumped him.
Plus 53 bucks.
So my actual poker bankroll stands at $53 bucks and some money I borrowed from living expenses just to get out and play for a bit.
Balla
So far this has gone as far as agreeing that we should do it, we have yet to actually do a session.
My thought is that the texts back and forth along with random Facebook and Twitter updates along with my notepad (whether on physical paper or on my phone/tablet) will provide me with information to jog my memory so that I can make blog post updates.
I love writing and I miss it, it's just that when I feel like writing I am usually at work or not near the house to do it. When I have downtime at home I really don't feel like writing. It's a bit frustrating at times.
So, let's get into my last session which I took notes on.
Hope you like it.
Before I even make it to the casino to play some poker I say fuck this place.
On the bottom floor of the parking garage some douche bag speeds up to pass me because 20 feet in front of me are his two old as fuck hippy douche bag friends walking in the opposite direction. So in order to stop and pick up these friends we risk an accident and block traffic in both directions for 2 minutes instead of just fucking waiting.
Fuck The Orleans.
On the walk to the casino, after parking, an old Asian broad bugs me asking where the entrance was. I pointed in the general direction and she bitched that there weren't any close parking spots because, you know, we'd hate to actually have to walk any sort of distance before we went and blew all of our money playing Pai-Gow or Baccarat or whatever the fuck it is that old Asian fucks blow there wad at these days.
Fuck the Orleans.
Thirty seconds later a Mariachi performer walks by me. What is wrong with this world? Who performs Mariachi at the Orleans? I hope he got some good tips but probably not as he looked anxious to get the hell out of there.
The Elevator smells like baby shit. It doesn't quite hit you until after the doors close and you start moving and I am sure this is on purpose so that you don't change your mind and leave for someplace more upscale.
At this point I am not exactly sure what had drug me to this dog forsaken place and more importantly why the hell did none of the above give me the idea that I needed to leave an go someplace better.
Walking into the Poker Room there is one guy watching movies on his tablet. I observe another table where three people are wearing headphones and another is constantly holding a napkin over his mouth as if this will allow him to not catch the rampant zombieism that is transferred from one person to another by just simply breathing the same air at The Orleans. You can almost feel their souls being sucked out of their bodies in order to go find something more fun to do.
Why the fuck did I come here again?
9:25 PM - The, I can only assume, torture begins.
I got seated at a table that has one guy younger than I am, one guy in my age bracket and the douche bag watching movies. There are only two sets of headphones being utilized at this table but there is one guy who looks like he is waiting o die or for aces, whichever happens to come first. He also looks like he was big into chewing tobacco as one side of his jaw sits substantially lower than the other. He is wearing a hat that says Purple Heart and has a Purple Heart pin attached to it. Maybe his jaw got shot in Nam...er... WW1.
The guy to my right just called for the Ace of Jacks as the next card and used the word, and I mean word as in singular, youknowwatimean?
The young guy is short, not in stature but in stack, keeps his eyes on his phone and is wearing either shades or really dark corrective lenses. Ace of Jacks is drinking and wearing shades as his future is probably pretty bright.
The Cocktease waitress shows up and I ask what is bottled. She tells me most anything. I ask for a Blue Moon and she tells me that they don't serve wheat beers, fucking beer racists. I get a Sam Adams and pray for a quick double so I can get the hell out of here. grrouch: 0, stupidity: 1.
Slack Jawed Grampa raises to 17 and gets 3 callers, I figure he probably stacks off if I set. however I am 97% sure he flops top set with an Axx flop. I fold as he bets damned near pot. Next hand he gets to the river by calling down with a pair of 3's in his hand and rivers a set. Maybe Grampa isn't 100% as tight as I thought.
After being here an orbit Tablet has played one hand. He was in the big blind and Redneck raises to $11 in late position. Tablet pushes all i for $111. No Flop Allowed.
Gradpa flops top set and Redneck pays off every bet as he thought he flopped a straight. He even looked at his hand post flop and still somehow thought he had a straight. Da-Fuq?
10:03 - Down $26 after the first dealer. Won one very minor hand against the young kid and folded a lot of random hands.
It is at this point that someone fucking farted. I don't know if it was someone sitting at the table or if it was someone who was walking behind me. What I do know is that it was a horribly obnoxious fart that rivaled the smell in the elevator. What is wrong with people. If you feel like your ass is going to explode you need to walk away from the poker room to the casino. Then you expel your ass gas and come back. Everyone will be happier because of it.
I've got my blue tooth headset half on/half off. One ear is listening to Mycroft Holmes and I point this out because my headset just died. I did bring a pair of regular headphones at the last minute as a Just In Case and I have never done that before. Was I telling myself subliminally that I was going to need a distraction from this hell hole?
I fold a hand as Tablet bets, I don't trust a guy who pauses his movie to play a hand.
I wish I would have remembered that I don't particularly like Sam Adams and ordered something else. And with no Blue Moon I just don't know what I want for my next brew. Maybe they have some fruity brews?
Redneck limped Aces early, did not get a re-raise opportunity.
The cocktease waitress shows up and I ask if they have any Redds Apple Ale and she responds with "We have New Castle and Guiness for Dark Beers." I am now Oh for Two ordering beers and this chick shows her intelligence.
Instead I order a Mich Ultra as I watch Redneck double a guy who flopped an obvious flush but he just couldn't get away from his Aces. Redneck leaves and I am sad. Others are sad as well but I really don't give two shits about their feelings.
I take Rednecks vacated seat. A new guy sits in my old seat and first hand he gets aces and doubles up against a bad player.
Fuck Poker.
Fuck the Orleans.
10:31 - A new dealer Arrives.
I won two hands during the last down and am now down only $25. I had an enormous $1 profit during that last half hour. King of the World yo!
Another way of looking at it, my beers are currently costing me $12.50 each - but that way is more depressing so lets not go there right now.
Grampa raises, gets a few callers and everyone goes away on the flop when he continuation bets. I guess everyone is set mining the guy they all consider to be a horrible nit. If Grampa loosened up he could just walk over all of us.
11:01 - New Dealer
Down $50. I was up to only down $4 after winning the only hand I won and I think the only hand I played. However a shorty calling my raise pre-flop with J8 off put the kabah on that comeback.
Still hating it.
Still praying just to get to even.
Tablets movie must be over because out of the blue he decided to hold a conversation with the two people near him. After the conversation is over he leaves the table. I would love to know what amazing conversation such a guy has after watching an entire movie and not saying a bloody thing the entire time.
There is a random guy walking buy calling himself The Drunken Monkey saying that the table he just left doesn't want him bak. It appears that his parting prose involved telling someone at the table to perform the role of a vacuum on his testi, much like they just performed the same role on his chips.
The Drunken Monkey.
I just played a hand against Grampa instead of the guy who is currently occupying the seat. That cost me a few bucks. When did Grampa leave? Furthermore why had I not noticed.
I am tired and my attention stopped being paid. I need to cut out soon before I donate my entire stack and go home depressed, and not just for going to the Fucking Orleans.
11:30 - A new Dealer sits and somehow I count my chips and find I am up $8. I'm not 100% sure what happened that has me on the positive side. That isn't a good sign.
11:32 I rack up and quit when the blinds hit. The hand before I quit I flop a flush and milk a few chips off a guy who finally violently folds when the 4th flush card hits thinking I just trumped him.
Plus 53 bucks.
So my actual poker bankroll stands at $53 bucks and some money I borrowed from living expenses just to get out and play for a bit.
Balla
Monday, February 08, 2016
Back to the Gym says the Fattie
I'm sitting here listening to what ultimately is my Favorite Iron Maiden album mostly by virtue of nostalgia as it was the first I ever owned and the one I listed to the most, No Prayer for the Dying.
I just got back from my first trip to the gym this year which will be the first of many. I'm still not close to the 300 plus pound buffoon that I was a couple of years ago but I am also not close to where I was when I got married less than 2 years ago.
So, it is once again time to buckle down and work towards being where I want to be.
For the most part, like previously, I'm just going to be doing cardio - 99% on the elliptical. I don't want to be slim and muscular, I just want to lose weight and keep it off. I want to be healthier for my family so that I can enjoy watching my kids grow old. I mean, shit, I'm going to be close to retirement by the time my boy graduates high school for crying out loud.
With that in mind I want to be able to get myself to the point where I can do half a marathon on the elliptical before the year is over with the ultimate goal being the ability to do a marathon on the elliptical in the distant future. DISTANT, as in I'm not even quantifying how far away it is under current circumstances.
I'm going to use the first couple of weeks to ease myself back into it and as such today I decided that I was only going to go for 30 minutes and I did 2.5 miles give or take. I'm going to work myself back up to doing 45 minutes to an hour consistently.
From there I'll work on getting my lungs better so that I can endure a couple of longer workouts from time to time.
Since a 5k is just a little over 3 miles I know that I'll be able to easily do this before February is over.
My major goal for Feb is to be able to do a full hour without killing myself.
After that I'll figure out how to work towards doing 10k (or 6.2 miles).
What is everyone else doing this year to get into shape or stay in shape?
I just got back from my first trip to the gym this year which will be the first of many. I'm still not close to the 300 plus pound buffoon that I was a couple of years ago but I am also not close to where I was when I got married less than 2 years ago.
So, it is once again time to buckle down and work towards being where I want to be.
For the most part, like previously, I'm just going to be doing cardio - 99% on the elliptical. I don't want to be slim and muscular, I just want to lose weight and keep it off. I want to be healthier for my family so that I can enjoy watching my kids grow old. I mean, shit, I'm going to be close to retirement by the time my boy graduates high school for crying out loud.
With that in mind I want to be able to get myself to the point where I can do half a marathon on the elliptical before the year is over with the ultimate goal being the ability to do a marathon on the elliptical in the distant future. DISTANT, as in I'm not even quantifying how far away it is under current circumstances.
I'm going to use the first couple of weeks to ease myself back into it and as such today I decided that I was only going to go for 30 minutes and I did 2.5 miles give or take. I'm going to work myself back up to doing 45 minutes to an hour consistently.
From there I'll work on getting my lungs better so that I can endure a couple of longer workouts from time to time.
Since a 5k is just a little over 3 miles I know that I'll be able to easily do this before February is over.
My major goal for Feb is to be able to do a full hour without killing myself.
After that I'll figure out how to work towards doing 10k (or 6.2 miles).
What is everyone else doing this year to get into shape or stay in shape?
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