Obligatory New Years Post

It is the last day of the year and it seems as though all bloggers are posting a wrap-up of the year. I will also do so.



I did not complete all of my 2007 resolutions, but I think I did well enough to call 2007 a success. I think I learned enough in 2007 to make good in 2008.



From a fitness perspective I did pretty well. I am able to do 10 pull ups now. I wanted to be able to do 20, but that didn't happen. I think I will get there in 2008. I have been riding my bicycle more and my aerobic capacity has increased. I never did ride a century though. I am not sure if that will be back on the list for 2008. Overall I am much more fit that I was a year ago.

I did find a new job, I think. We have agreed on everything other than a start date. After Jan 1, I need to give Richard a call to see where we are.

The year was not good from a financial perspective. I did not pay off enough debt. This has to be a focus of 2008. This will take a lot of work, but I really must get a handle on my credit card debt.

Poker has treated me well. Aside from a few tilt-fests, I am playing pretty well. I still need to work on concentration and situational play, but overall my results were good.

I went to Canada, San Francisco, London and Bethany Beach. All great trips, but also a reason my debt did not get paid down. I am planning to go to Vegas and Bethany Beach, but without the other two trips, I should be in better financial shape.

My relationship with my daughter is great. I would like a little improvement in my relationship with my wife and that is my fault I guess. That is something I should pursue in 2008.

I did a crossfit total on Dec 26. I scored 625, which is above my goal of 618. I was pretty stoked. After I easily beat the amount I needed to squat I think my mind went on to autopilot because the rest of my lifts were not as strong. Oh well, I met my goal.

This morning I was able to bang out 10 str8 pull ups. This is the second time I have been able to accomplish that feat. I wanted 20 by year end, but that did not happen. I will have to make that part of my 2008 goals. It SHOULDN'T be too hard. I only have to add one per month (with lee-way to miss two). So for 2008 my fitness goals will be a crossfit of 675, 20 pull ups and a 24 minute 5K.

Back from Holiday time off

I am back to work after a nice holiday break. I will provide a brief description of the activities over the last 5 days.

On Friday we had a wine-tasting party with some friends. It was plenty of fun and we ate great food. This particular friend is a dietitian, and she cooks fantastic food. As far as the wine goes, I am not much of a wine drinker, but it was fun anyway.

On Saturday I took my mom to the airport and then went to the new poker room. Everything I have heard to date is correct. The room is very nice and the players are very bad. That is not entirely true. The players are not that bad. I had a very nice win rate 4.5 BB's/hour. Mostly from a few big pots. I played pretty tight, but I adjusted to the table which was fairly loose. Many hands had 6 players pre-flop.

As I was driving home I wondered to my self if I was a mean person. There was a homosexual at the table who happened to be fat, from Cleveland, and quite smelly. I started to needle him early on and did not let up. On the other hand, I did tell an attractive girl next to him (after he moved to escape my barbs I think) that I would be leaving shortly and she could have my seat. Also, when I left I said goodbye to the table and it was handshakes and Merry Christmas's all around like a friend leaving. So I think that is just my style. I tend to be very friendly between hands, I never talk when the cards are out but I needle certain people in a friendly banter way to exploit them. I guess it is not mean, just one of my weapons.

On Saturday night, we went to Smokey Bones for dinner. It was ok.

On Sunday I took Abby to the Westmoreland Museum of Art to look at the toy and train exhibit. The have 2 arts/crafts rooms and she seemed to enjoy them. We then finished our Christmas shopping.

Monday was Christmas Eve, and I went to the Strip District with Uncle Ed, EJ and Andrew. I was pretty much the usual. Which is a good thing. Jane and Abby met us around 11 and we had lunch. Jane and I cooked a nice meal after Abby went to bed.

On Tuesday (Christmas) Abby woke us up at a reasonable 7:45 and she opened her presents. It was amazing to see how she believes. She enjoyed her presents, mostly the American Girl doll, Nicki. After a nice bike ride, we went to the in-laws for dinner.

Yesterday I loafed with Abby. We visited the Cemetery and Target and then we went to our cousin's house for another party. More food, beer and cigars. I need a break.

Pittsburgh Tri-fecta

The Pitt basketball team, the Steelers, and the Penguins all won last night. It was a great showing. I watched all three games in a bar, and unfortunately I feel like crap because of it. I wish I didn't drink as much beer as I did, oh well.

I should finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow.

I hate dumb people bitching

In my office, I can hear the usual conversation of two of my employees. It is usually mindless dribble, but many times, it is pure crap. This morning was one of those pure crap time. The conversation was on the price of gasoline. They have discussed the topic many time, but have not come up with a solution. That is one thing that bugs me. They don't talk about the root cause of the high price of gas, they just blame in on the President. They also don't look at the grand scheme of things. Gas is not that much more expensive. As a percentage price increase it is, but lets look at what it really means to the average driver. Assuming the average drive drives 10,000 miles per year and has fuel economy between 15 and 20 mpg their weekly increase in fuel cost is between 19 and 14 dollars. The less someone drives, the less their increase is. In the long-term, if people drove cars with better fuel economy the overall price of gas would decrease. What bugs me about these discussions is that people just complain. They offer no solution.

The bash guard, chain and rear cog for the bike are in. If I had the chain ring, I could start on the bike this weekend. Maybe it will come in today or tomorrow. If it comes in, I will start the rebuild either Saturday night after the Bruno party or on Sunday.

The Crossfit WOD was 9 sets of back squats with the final 5 being single rep. I got up to 225. I think I could have went heavier if I was on the rack with the pins in case I failed. Calculating it out, I think I can perform a crossfit total of 618 by year end. I am going to attempt it on December 31. My goal is squat 235, dead lift 275 and press 110. I am pretty confident I can get the squat as it is only 10 pounds heavier than I was today. The dead lift and the press should also be no problem. There is a shoulder workout scheduled for crossfit soon so I should be able to gauge my likely number there. I will include a dead lift session soon as well. CF total 618, here I come.

The Fisher is completely stripped of all gearing parts. Now it is a wait for the parts to come in. I ordered the rear cog and the chain before I ordered the chain ring and bashguard. I wish I had reversed that order as the front chain ring must go on first so I can line up the cog. Oh well, I should use this time to adjust the brakes as it will have to be done anyway. Truthfully though I am not too worried about that.

Yesterday's WOD, Angie, was killer. I am really feeling it today. Tomorrow is 9 sets of back squats. That should be fun as well.

The Fisher Rises

I have started my single speed conversion. I was able to removed the rear cassette. Today I will order the conversion kit. I hope to strip off the gearing stuff this weekend. This will allow me to get the rear wheel on next weekend. I am still debating on what to do with the front sprocket. I am now thinking about buying a new bottom bracket, crank set, and single speed chain ring. A bike repair stand would come in handy as well. Perhaps I should buy one now. It couldn't hurt I suppose. I must check the budget. It looks like I will get to ride a single speed by New Years Day.

single speed dream

I have recently become infatuated with converting my Fisher into a single speed. I can't really explain why I want to do it. Maybe I am caught up in the single-speed wave that has washed over bicyling. What ever it is, I am going to do it. There is a kit that for $20 I can convert the bike plus I will likely have to buy a tool. But, I think it will be cool. Plus, I can monkey with the fisher in other mechanical ways. This could be a cool winter project.

UB doom switch is off

UB finally turned off the doom switch. I played 2 s-n-g's last night and took second in on. Thus, I had a positive night. I played a little this morning and also won. So, I think the kill switch is off. The funny thing is that I saw a str8 flush last night before my luck turned around. This is the same omen from a few summers ago when I started to win again. LOL

Now I have to concentrate on building my bank roll back up. It has been pretty much destroyed over the last few weeks. I will take it slow and steady and hopefully I can build it up to 1k by the end of 2008.

I played 2 HORSE tournaments last night and did not cash in either. The first one I missed a big score when I folded a RAZZ hand that I would have won. I thought I might be good, but on other player called so I second-guessed myself even though the pot was offering me 8:1. I only needed to win the pot 11% of the time for it to have been a profitable call. That fold crippled me. In the second game, I flopped the nut str8 and some moron called me to the end on won on the river with some donk impossible draw. The thing with these HORSE tournaments is the importance of winning just a few big pots. My results will be pretty good if I can get through the first round even and then look to win a few big pots and then get into the money where I can open up my play.

UB hit the Doom Switch

I cannot win on UB. I think they hit the doom switch on me. I do not know why. I have been playing there lately, an I cannot win. I have moved down in limits, and I just cannot win. I think I am playing well, but I am just not winning. I must stop for a while to see if I can pull the nose up on this crap.

I have had trouble sleeping this week. This has kept me from waking up and crossfitting. Last night I had trouble falling asleep and when I finally got to sleep at 1:30, I did not sleep very long until Abby woke up with stomach pain. I talked to her for a little while and then we went to the bathroom and she pooped. Anyway, by the time I woke up it was 6:30 AM. I have to get some sleep so I can wake up to work out.

I found two tractor tires at PV Park. I think I am going to attempt some tire flips with them this weekend.

After my last post, I made some adjustments in my play and it paid off. I played better and started winning again.

I ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday, and had a personal best. Well, not totally, but better than I have run in 3 years. Crossfit and cycling have really paid off. I took over 3 minutes off my time from 2006. Next year's target is sub-28 minutes.

We played poker at the Shuster's last night. I think I played well in the first game, but did not catch any cards. In the second game, I caught cards and was the chip leader for a while. Then, for some reason I called off a bunch of my chips on a draw. From an odds perspective, it was a good move, but from a tournament-play perspective, I think it was a mistake. I had chips so why risk unnecessarily on a draw. I don't know.

The goal for the week is to crossfit.

I have lost my mind

I cannot explain it, but I know how to play poker. I also know where my weaknesses are. I also know where I spew money in poor bankroll management situations. For some reason though I do not stop. I have heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results. So here I am, playing short-handed, playing two games at once, calling more than I should and expecting to win, when I never have under those scenarios. Also, I stay up late and then do not wake up for the gym. I repeat this pattern because either 1)I do not care about my poker bankroll 2)I think I can change the results 3)there is some addiction drawing me back to the unhealthy behavior. I am going to go with the addiction answer. Which is probably a combination of 1 and 2. I do care about my poker bankroll, and when I lose part of it, I desperately want it back and convince myself that I can win it back quickly. The truth is I cannot. I must stop this or my bankroll will be gone. When I play within my capabilities, I can win. I must start building my bankroll back up with smart play. I will start today. No more crap poker.

We have our big budget meeting tonight. This is my last one. I can't say that I am looking forward to it. I will have to endure the comic imbecility of Tony R and I will have to spend many hours with people that I really do not like. Tony set the schedule and it makes no sense. We have too much time between dinner and the start of the actual meeting. I told him so, but of course he did not listen. Also, he prepared a half-baked capital additions schedule that does not agree to our budget. I probably will get some perverse pleasure in watching him try to explain it. I really do get a kick out of Tony trying to explain things. He is so inept, and I take pleasure in it. That is truly a sign that I must go. In the meantime, I will at least get a free meal out of tonight.

I won 1st in a HORSE sng last night. I wasn't going to play, but a few beers with dinner convinced me to give it a go. I placed first. I was very happy with my results. I was patient and concentrated on reading my opponents. In all, it paid off. With some good play over the next few days, I can eke out another winning week.

I did not crossfit this morning. I set my alarm for 6:20 instead of 5:20, which considering the fact that I was up late playing poker is probably not a bad thing. I am really looking forward to my next crossit, a combination of rows and double unders. It will have to wait until tomorrow.

I am still playing the HORSE tournaments, but I am not doing so well in them. I am calling when I know I shouldn't. I think I will take a few days off and get back on it this weekend.

I won a $5 S-N-G last night. My play was pretty good, but basically it was just str8forward play that paid off. I also played a few HORSE S-N-G's, but I did not play too well in them. I found myself calling bets that just had no value. I knew better, but I just kept it up. Why, I do not know. I just need to focus on getting better. To that end, I bought a book on tells and a OHLO book. I will begin studying them after I finish Barry's book. I will then go back through Barry's book.

There is a manual carwash in town that is up for sale by owner. As it turns out, the owner works out at my gym. He is a real nice guy. I would like to discuss this opportunity with him to see if I can make some money. I always wanted to own a small business and this may be my first foray. I do have to wonder though why he is selling it if it makes money.

Movin on up...

Richard and I reached a deal. The money is there, so I am going to start working with him. We have not set a start date, but that will come next. This is a huge scary relief.

On Saturday, I played at a charity tournament. I played pretty well. Not great, but OK. The big mistake I made was not observing my opponents. I was stuck on level one thinking. I overplayed a flush and two pair and lost those hands. I lost a big hand with pocket kings that I thought I played perfect and my opponent made a mistake and called with AT to pick up 3t's on the flop. I then mis-played QQ. I raised PF only the button and the SB called. The flop had an Ace. The SB checked, and I checked instead of going for a continuation bet. The SB called and I folded, I was afraid of monsters under the bed. In limit, I would have probably bet out, but in this case after my Kings were beat, I was a little gun-shy. So, my main mistake was playing too passively. I guess the good point to all of this is that I know where my game is weak right now, I can improve it. I just need to think about what other players have.

Donkalicious

So after losing some money last night, I logged on this AM to play some poker. I sat at a SH limit poker game. I had AQ0 and the flop was A67 rainbow. I called a flop bet and a turn bet. I should have raised the turn bet as I felt the villain had a weak ace. River was a two and I was check-raised. Of course, he made Aces up with A2. I should have checked river sensing what he was up to. Later I had AA on the button . It folded around to me, so knowing that I should raise, I just called. SB completed and BB checked. Flop 445. Check, Check, so I bet. SB calls, BB folds. Of course here SB has either a 4 or 5, which I let him in with because of not raising PF (never, never pass up a raise with AA). Turn is a king. SB checks and I bet. I get check-raised here. So of course my earlier read was correct and he has a 4 and I am left with 2 outs and am getting about 5 to one on my money, but I need 7 to one. Of course I call turn and river. Villain has 45 for a flopped full house. My two major mistakes here were not giving my opponent credit. 45 may have folded to a raise PF. The weak Ace in hand 1 would not have folded and I don't think the call on the end was bad. I should have saved some money on the second ha

Last night was Halloween. I played the movie "Halloween" on my garage door and drank beer with my neighbor as we passed out candy. Afterwards, I went to a house party where I won the beer taste-off. I guessed the most beers correctly. The clincher is when I went against the grain and chose IC light instead of Coors Light for the light beer. I also made $15 through a side bet we made on the contest.

We (Chris, Joe and I) went for a night right last night at PV park. It was cool, but fun. I was crushing on the up hills. I was a riding machine. Lately when I ride, I really like to push myself climbing hill. I was able to drop even Joe. He probably wasn't trying too hard, but it still felt good. I did have a scare on the one hammer section. I was moving down the trail very fast when I hit a rock or log and my bike launched with the rear tire gaining more height that the front. I thought that I was going over the bars. Somehow I managed to ride on the front wheel while I brought the back wheel down. It was exhilarating

Still loving HORSE. I played some last night both a ring game and a SNG. I played a little too loose in Stud and Razz, and I knew it when I did it. I just lost focus I guess. I think the game will make me a better player overall. With the small stakes, I can afford to piddle around for a while without much damage to my bank roll. Although, I am a winner thus far. I do need to modify my tracking spreadsheet as I will not be able to track hands played. I will add a sheet, similar to my tournament sheet that is for mixed games only.

I got a call from Richard yesterday. We have tentatively set up a meeting for Wednesday with his CPA. Hopefully we can get something definite hammered out. I really would like to work for Richard.

I finally got back to the gym last night. I have 2 gym memberships because of my regular gym closing for a while in the spring. I have been giving serious thought to not rejoining my original gym. But after last night, it is nice to have a gym that is open late. I like the fact that Deans has a rowing machine. I also like the clientele better at Deans. I may just keep both memberships. I guess I have until January to decide. I can then postpone again until May when my Dean's membership is up.

I finished the week up a small bit of money and have had a positive month thus far. I think I have reversed the trend. An odd thing though is that I couldn't win a SNG to save my life this weekend. I think it is because I multi-tabled and thus did not pay attention to my opponents. I will have to stop that.

I started playing HORSE this weekend. I love it. The challenge of the different games is a real thrill. Because of my unfamiliarity with some of the games, it also makes me play very tight. At the small stakes I am playing, this makes perfect sense, (tight is right). Razz, in particular, is fun. I also think that most other players are really bad at that game. The goal is not to play great, but to play better than the other people at your table. I think I will play a little HORSE this week

Since I have returned from San Fran, I haven't worked out at all. I just have slept through my alarm clock. This morning I was actually in bed with my daughter as she is sick and cried in the middle of the night. I was up late last night anyway, so the sleep was probably needed. I do need to get back on track before I slide into being a complete lard-ass.

The biking in San Fran was great. The wife and I did a tour on Thursday morning that started around Fisherman's Wharf, took us along the water on the bike trail, went across the Golden Gate Bridge, and finally dropped us in Sausalito. The ride was fun. Our guide, Chris, was very knoweldgeable and the other couple on the tour was very nice. On of the drawbacks of the trip was that I realized how unfit my wife is. She couldn't make it up any of the 3 hills on the ride. I guess it is no surprise as she looks at my workouts as odd because I actually talk of exertion and exhaustion whereas she talks about how Curves is great because it is easy. This bothered me because of my disdain on unfit people.

On Friday I took a self guided tour on a rented carbon-fiber road bike. I rode down Lombard Street in the rain. It was exhilarating, but scary. After Lombard, I rode along the main street to AT&T Stadium and back to the bike store. I really enjoyed seeing the city from a bicycle.

There has been a lot of things that have happened since I last posted.
1 I went to San Francisco for a wedding
2 I bought a new poker book on limit hold'em by Barry Tanembaum
3 I got rejected for the job by the coal company

I will start in reverse order

The head hunter that set me up with the coal company called yesterday to tell me that I finished in second place in a two person race. The position went to someone with a coal and steel background. In one way I am disappointed, but in another I am not. I am disappointed because it is rejection, and a rejection that I face too often. I do not have relevant industry experience. I have spent too long in governmental accounting and when I compete with other candidates, my relevant experience is a handicap. I keep hearing this, so I must figure out a way to either mitigate it, or use it to my advantage. Really though, I do not think I wanted the job. It was far from my house, and I don't know if I was really "into" the product.

I am depressed right now and I have to refocus on this search, or decide if I really want to search at all.

I am reading a new poker book. This book is going to lay the groundwork for my attempt at the limit hold'em tournament at the WSOP. It confirms one of my known issues, and that is that I was playing too loose. It advocates a much more aggressive style though. I have used some of the techniques and have thus far seen a better win rate. It is early in my reading, so I will keep posting about it.

I will keep San Fran in future blogs.

On Friday night I managed to climb back from the hole I dug earlier in the week to be ahead for the week. Feeling good about that, I entered into a 400 person re-buy tournament. I made it until the bubble, with good conservative play. The hand that did me in was K9s which I played in late position on the cheap. The flop came 349, with 2 spades. It was checked around to me so I bet. Only the BB called. I was pretty happy when the river was a 9. The BB bet and I raised. He re-raised and I had him on a worse 9. Plus I figured my flush was good (9 outs) plus any 3, 4 or king would give me a FH 2+2+2, so I figured I had 15 outs if I was behind, so I went all in. The BB tabled pocket 3's, so I had 8 outs and none of them came. So I busted out in 100th place, but that wasn't too bad.

I decided to sit down and play a little last night. For some reason I sat at a 2/4 Ohilo game. I went up $16 fairly quickly and then a spiraled downward for the next hour and a half eventually losing $79. That killed my week and lessened my chances of having a positive month in Oct. I need to play winning poker for the next two weeks in order to finish positive for the month.

In Ohilo, I play too many hands. I am now quite patient in hold'em but I have trouble playing as tight as I need to in Omaha. I need to go down to the micro-levels to practice patience with a hand ranking chart to practice.

We leave for San Fran on Wednesday, so I only have 2 days to play.

2 steps forward, one step back

This week I am losing some of the money I won last week. Again it is the usual culprits. I have to focus this weekend on winning some back with solid play.

There is nothing new on the job front. I am getting down about the whole thing. I think things will work out with Richard, but I must be patient. I will call him on Tuesday before I leave for San Francisco.

I finished strong last week, having a solid win for the first time in many weeks. I was playing good poker.

This week is not starting so good, and I am down some $. I do know the problem and hopefully I will correct it. I am not paying attention when I play. I have been playing distracted as I finish up some extended tax returns. I know better.

Chris and I went for a night ride last night. My new light worked out well. I am glad I bought the Stella over his Dinotte. The beam pattern was more spread-out on the Stella, giving me better visibility. I still might like the Cat-eye for the bike. I'll probably wait until next year.

I have only been to the gym twice this week. I just have not been able to wake up do to the fact that I have been staying up late. I have quite a few things going on and hopefully once I get some things caught up, I can get back to being in the gym regularly.

A quickie

I am terribly busy right now. I have some tax stuff due shortly, I have the budget at work, and I am leaving for CA in a few weeks.

For now, I am winning and working out. I feel great.

More later.

WTF

am I doing? I cannot win a SNG right now. I am getting down far, but I just cannot get into the money. I am surfing the web, and doing other things to distract myself AND I just can't win. Wait a minute....I think I have found my problem.

We are off the the mountains this weekend. Some mountain biking/fishing/and of course poker. Hopefully it goes well.

I have heard that when you continue to do something that you know you should not do, it is because you get some short-term reward for doing it. This happens with me and heads-up poker. I know I should not do it, see my post from yesterday, yet I still do it. Last night after losing 2 SNG's, I decided to play a ring game, and I played it badly. So, to win back the money, I played a heads-up match. I quickly lost my buy-in. I was looking to win back what I lost, and I guess I know that I can get it back quickly HU. I ignore the fact that I can lose. Luckily for me, I won it all back later in the evening. Still, in the long-term if I want to be a successful card player, I must fight these tendencies.

Holy Crap, I suck

I can at times play brilliant poker. At other times I can play really bad poker. A few months back I was playing heads-up 2/4. I did not really have the skill or bankroll for it, but I did it anyway. I did it with the same feeling that I had when I played on-line Blackjack. I knew I shouldn't do it, but I did. Last night I sat down to play a little HU 2/4 against my better judgement. I then won 1 buy-in from my opponent who quickly reloaded. At this point I decided that even though I should just bank my winnings I could take more off this clown. Of course, I lost it all plus another 15 and then he left. I than proceeded to donk on a complete buy-in when I jumped in another game and was out classed. I managed to win most of it back with subsequent ring game play, but the lesson here is simple. DO NOT play heads up, unless it is cheap S-N-G's for practice. I now have a $30.00 hole to dig out of this week.

The weekend was pretty good, but I ate too poorly, drank too much, and generally did not do much. So much for the getting things done mentality. I need to really get on the stick.

I had a second interview last Thursday. It went well and the headhunter called to say that I did well. Again, I do not know if I really want the job, but the exploration is fun.

I finished last week up a few dollars. Not much really, but I was able to dig myself out of a hole by winning a $10 S-N-G. I have found my groove again in SNG's by just playing tight and not betting on coin-flips in the later rounds unless I have to.

I went to Philly for a bachelor party on Friday. It amazes me that I have been drinking for probably 23 years now, and yet I still cannot do it right. I still drink too much at times even though I feel like crap afterwards. I guess the price I pay is less than the reward I get. I don't know exactly what the reward is though.....

Life Tilt

I have hear that expression from Hammer Player. I feel that I am in life tilt now. I am not sure if I am playing poker the way that I am because I am in life tilt, or if I am in life tilt now because of the way I am playing poker. In any case here is what is happening, I sit down to play for an hour or so and end up losing a SNG because I am not paying attention to what I am doing. I then play another one and realize that it is past the time I wanted to go to bed. I rationalize that I can wake up on time to get to the gym. I then play ring games over my head and lose a chunck of money and then go to bed after midnight. Only I cannot sleep because I have just pissed away a portion of my bank roll. I then repeat it the next night. I cannot explain why I do this, but I must stop. I have made a list on backpack of my bad habits and I am going to concentrate on stopping said behaviors. I need more balance in my life.

I had a horrible run of cards last night. I managed to have a good night Saturday and was only about $4.00 down for the week, so I figured I would make it up last night. I then proceeded to get slapped in the face by the deck. I couldn't catch a card. To make matters worse, I played two S-N-G's simultaneously. Of course I know better, but for some reason, I ignored my own better judgement. I then proceeded to donk off 50 in cash games. I just sucked last night. Instead of going to sleep, I proceeded to play. By the time I went to bed, I was shell-shocked and unable to sleep, thus I also missed my workout this morning. I have to start climbing back this week and focus on having a positive week.

We got together with some neighbors last night to discuss the poker tournament for our neighborhood. We are going to have it at our community center. I think we have the details worked out, and I will be playing the part of the tournament director. Basically, we are going to have a 40 buy-in tournament with 20 going to the house. I figure that we can make 2-3 hundred there. We will also have side games which should raise a few bucks.

I played when I got home last night. It seems that I keep getting sucked out on during tournament play, but I am sure it only looks that way as we all get bad breaks. I just need to keep getting my money in with the best hand, and the results will take care of themselves.

I did not work out this morning. The combination of 3-in a row workouts, beer, and poker, I did not feel like waking up. I am going to try to squeeze in a run tonight, to the filthy fifty at the gym tomorrow and ride on Sunday.

I played a SNG last night and ended up 4th. Just out of the money. There were a few times that I had pocket pairs that I folded to a raise early on, and I am not sure I should have done so. Possibly I should have reraised, or called to see the flop. But it is essentially a coin-flip and I try to avoid those situations early on. On the hand that took me out, I called a raise with AK0 and flopped AXX with one spade. The original raiser bet and I went all-in. He had A9s, so I was way ahead. He caught runner runner spade to beat me with a flush. I was pissed until I realized that I wouldn't have even got that far if my A9c did not suck out on a AQ0 earlier. I guess that is just the way it goes.

Last night at our Council meeting, I proposed allowing night-riding for mountain bikes in one of our remote parks, and surprisingly I got support. I will write up some regs and it will be presented for a vote at the next council meeting.

We had a nice holiday weekend. I rode mountain bikes with a friend on Saturday. We went to the pool. We went to a cook-out at my brother-in-law's cottage and then went for a bike ride at Ohiopyle yesterday. So it was quite action-packed. I smoked some ribs that did not turn out too good. The wife and I also had a fire on Saturday night. I did not play much poker. Only Friday night.

This week I plan on focusing on GTD and seeing where that will take my life.

Last night a played some SH limit hold'em. I played 1/2 which is a little higher than I like, but I did it any way. My first session was horrible. I don't think I played poorly, I think I just had bad luck. My QQ lost, as did my trip K's. After I was finished, I played a 2/4 SH limit game on UB. I know, I shouldn't throw good money after bad. I did manage to win back what I lost plus 10 when My full house on the river completed another players flush. In the end, everything regressed to the mean, as it should.

I slept in this morning. There is no real reason other than the fact that I've been tired and I stayed up talking to my wife after she got home from her one day trip to NY. I will WO tonight immediately after work.

I had a phone interview today. It went well and it seems to be an interesting opportunity. We agreed to move on to the next step and we will meet next week for lunch. I will call Richard on Tuesday just to see where that is going.

I had planned on doing pull ups while I was in Canada. Unfortunately, I did not do them. I did a modified CF workout and that seems to have kept my strength as I can do pull ups without much pain. I did a workout consisting of 5 sets of 5 of the 3 exercises from the CF total. In all I think my highest CF total was 450 (165+100+185). As these were sets of five, I was quite happy with the number. I think I will sprinkle this workout in periodically to improve my overall CF total. I also did some chain pull ups. They are pretty cool, and even if they only offer marginal help, I enjoy doing them. Now, I just need to get my diet back on track and I will be back on the road to a CF 618 by December 31.

The WOD is a 5 K run. I think I will take the daughter to the park by the school tonight and do some pull up/push up combo 10 sets of 5/15 and then run 3 miles at the track after my wife gets home.

I was dead-dog tired last night and for some reason decided to play poker instead of sleeping. This mistake was bad enough, but I compounded it by multi-tabling. It was a big mistake and I lost some $. Fortunately, I was playing at micro-limits because of my free absolute $. Hopefully I will not make that same mistake tonight.

Back on the Grid

I am back from my fishing trip. It was mostly fantastic. The weather, fishing and accommodations were great. Mike D got on my nerves though, and that usually happens when he is camping with us, so it is not great shock. Also, the drive sucked. We are able to fly to Red Lake, so next time I am going to do that. It will cost only a few hundred more. I am going to start planing that trip now for 3 years out. I captured everything from the trip in my journal, and one day it may be a best-selling book.

I am back into work mode now and am reading GTD. I may become a disciple of that work. Who knows. I do want to be more productive and it seems to help.

There is nothing new on the job scene. I will call Richard in the next few days to see where we are and what our next step is going to be.

Heater

After my bad day yesterday, I went on a mini heater and got back to only 12 down for the day. I played in my determined SNG to see if I could chip into the deficit. Things did not look good early on when I got down to less than $400 with all players still in. I managed to play very restrained poker looking to take no chances. I doubled up twice as was back up to $1,500 with 5 players still in. Two players got knocked out and I made the money. One player had about 10k, the other player and I both had roughly 1,500. I went out in third place, which considering I played almost the whole tournament as the short stack was not too bad.

At that point, I decided to play a little cash game to see if I could chip away at my deficit a little more. Alas, that is where I made my mistake I lost $13. So now I am down 22 for the week, with not much more playing time to make it back. I will try though.

My final preparation for Canada are underway. I have a few supplies to buy tonight and then I will pack it up and hit the road tomorrow.

cooler

I played a lunch and lost 35 bucks. In an effort to win some back I settled in for some afternoon poker and won back 10. I then proceeded to lose that and more than another 20 before flopping a flush and ending up only down 7 for the afternoon. Still, I am down 41 for the day and not much time left to turn the week positive before I leave. I will play one SNG tonight and hopefully I can win enough to chunk back part of the loss

I ran pretty deep in an O8 limit MTT on Friday. 32nd place out of over 400 people. I was pretty happy with the result.

Overall it was a good poker week, other than a stupid drunken episode on Friday night where I tried to play 2/4 heads up limit. I play well, but sometimes do stupid things. I guess many of us do. I just need to realize and limit this.

My crossfitting has gotten off track a bit lately. I have not been waking up early because of Jane's work schedule. I will have to get back to the routine after I return from Canada. This weeks work load looks fantastic. I will do Monday's WOD on Wednesday. That should smoke me for a few days, perfect. Plus, I have thought up a few workouts for Canada and if I can do 4 or 5 times, I shouldn't lose too much.

We had terrible rains yesterday that caused major damage to our municipal infrastructure as well a flooding and wind damage to many resident's property. The Mayor declared a state of emergency and because the Council President was out for the week, I am the acting president and I had to sign the ordinance. I spent a couple of hours at the emergency control center, and I found it impressive. It was amazing how cool and under control the operation seemed to be. I guess that is what happens with proper planning and training. A lesson can certainly be learned from all of this.

I did not work out last night as the gym was without power, as most of Murrysville was. I did make it this morning and did 'Nicole'. It was a combo of running and pull up. It was enjoyable. I am really going to concentrate on doing many pull ups this week in an effort to build up a base that will dwindle while I am in Canada.

I have had a great crossfitting week. I am able to do 7 pullups again and with very little pain. I worry that when i go to Canada, I will lose some ability. I will try to do pull ups every day until I leave and hopefully I can find a door frame or tree to do some pull ups while I am away. My form was pretty good on last nights cleans, and I look forward to the challenge of tonight's snatches.

I played two SNG's last night and in both cases, I got all my money in with the best hand and lost both times to terrible suckouts. I more than made up for it though in cash game play. I am positive for the week thus far. I will take tonight off and play on Thursday and Friday.

I signed in Friday night for a little poker. I won a $10 SNG which then left me only $6.00 down for the week. I was confident that with a little cash game action, I could erase that deficit before I went to bed. I stayed up until 2 losing another $40 instead. I had great cards that just kept getting beat. This clown to my left just kept chasing and hitting on the river. It was a real downer. After my run before the beach, I thought my luck turned around. At one point, I knew that I wasn't playing my best, but I kept playing knowing that I could eventually beat this guy, which of course did not happen.

This week is a new week, I will play a little and see if I can win back what I lost last week.

And the beating continues...

Happy with my comeback this morning, I signed on for some more lunch poker. I was treated to a nice bowl of "I can't play poker anymore". I called when I "knew" I was beat, bluffed when I "knew" I was going to get called. So I lost most of my winning from this morning's session.

I then went to Poker Stars, where I won back most of it. I need to win 9 dollars a day over the next 4 days to have an even week. Again, I can do it.

Yin and Yang

I guess there is a natural law the Everything regresses to the mean. In the morning, I was setting PR's on my bike and casting my new reel like a champ. By evening, I was bleeding cash like crazy in some of the worst poker I have played in weeks.

I reloaded on FT to take advantage of a reload offer. I cannot seem to win on that site for some reason. I know it is not the site, but my actions when I am on that site. For some reason, it turns me into a donkey. I have at $37 deficit to dig out of in the next 4 days. That is only 9.25 per day. I can do it.

Because of the above, I failed to wake up to work out so it was a double loss. I go to bed late thinking I will indeed wake up at five, but it never happens. That should tell me something.

PR's all around

Last night I went to the gym expecting to do the WO called Linda. A power-lifter guy was on the squat rack doing squats. I knew that he would be there for a long time, thus I would have to wait at least a 1/2 hour to do pull ups or even cleans and deadlifts in the area. I decided to just do the CFWU (sans pull ups) X's 3 and then proceed from there. When I finished, he was still loading the bar and squating so I decided to do 7 sets of dbell bench press. I started at 55 pounders and progressed up to 75 pounders. I do not ever rember using such heavy dumbells, so I think it is a PR.

After I finished pressing, I decided to do some pull ups on another bar. I again noticed that when I attempted a pull up, my back muscles were very sore. This is the kind of pain I had when I first started CF. I also experienced it at the beach when I was doing door frame pull ups. I think I just have to work through it. Maybe some Gravitron pull ups at the beginning as it loosens up as I go.

The second PR was in my bicycle TT. I made two laps under 9 minutes. The main reason for this success was climbing Logan's Ferry road in the middle ring. I will keep this in mind when I attempt it next week.

I am still purging my "piles" at home and at work. It feels great, and I will soon start reading "Getting Things Done" to move to the next step, after I come back from Canada.

I was able to pull off another winning week. Yahoo. It took until Sunday after some horrible play, but I did make it. The biggest help was patience. By taking some time away from the game, I was better able to play when I was there. This is the "less is more" phenomenon. By constantly playing, I get complacent. If I pull back and get balance in other aspects of my life, I seem to be able to focus better on playing. This probably has carryover in other aspects of life as well.

I have been practicing my casting with my new fishing reel. I love it!!! I am getting much better and can actually cast pretty backlash free now. I think I will use this reel as my main reel when I go to Canada. I will spool my ultra-light with 6-pound test and my Cardinal with 18-pound test. Now I need to pack my tackle box. I will take my other spinning reel as a spare, but I will not string it. I have some Spiderline that I will take, just in case.

I stayed up late playing poker last night and could not get up for my workout today. I did make some money last night, so it wasn't a total lost. But, I slipped back into playing poorly this week, making calls that I know I shouldn't have, so I needed the win. I am down 12 for the week, so I should be able to make it back. An interesting hand that I will dissect here is one from at SNG I played last night. We were 3-handed and I was the chip leader by alot. I raised on the button with 99. The small blind went all in for about 2k. I had about 7k left and I made the call. I think at this point I made a mistake. I was in a commanding position and could have let the other two fight it out for second and third place. What could this guy have to go all-in against the chip leader? An A, a pair, two Broadway cards. Against an unsuited ace, I was about 70% to win. Against an unsuited ace with a J, I was only 56% to win. In any case, this may have been a marginal call. I was probably only slightly more likely to win than in a coin-flip and given my chip-lead, I should have just folded and let him fight it out with the other guy. I went from chip-leader to out in third.

I am getting ready for my trip to Canada. I bought a new bait casting reel. The last time I went to Canada I bought one that did not work so well. I have never used one, and my spinning reels work quite well, so I don't know exactly why I bought it. It just goes to my competitive nature. I want to be able to use a casting reel. Anyway, the new reel is fantastic. The braking mechanisms and anti-backlash features work like a charm. I was able to cast pretty good last night during a practice session. I will take it to a lake sometime soon to see how it works on water. In the meantime I will keep using it in the yard.

Less may be more

Ever since I returned from the beach, I have been concentrating on improving the balance in my life. Basically, I have been spending more time on my priorities instead of fritting away as much time playing online poker. As a result, I have actually been winning. I think I can attribute this to better thinking while I am playing. Instead of being bored or distracted, I am able to concentrate on the task at hand. Mainly, I am concentrating more on the probable contents of my opponents hands. Of course, this all could be normal variance, but I like to think I am playing better.

I now intend to keep this focus thing going to improve the other important areas of my life. I have just purchased "Getting Things Done". I plan to work through that book to help me make further improvements in my life.

I took the wife out for her birthday dinner. We went to our favorite local restaurant. The meal was great, as was the service and the company. We had such a good time, we got carried away with the wine, as my wife is prone to do. The sex afterward was fantastic. I missed my morning workout though. I was supposed to wake up and do fight gone bad. There is always tomorrow.

I am making some positive steps toward leading a more productive life, I just need to tighten my discipline. I will be reporting on that in the coming weeks.

In poker I have been running well this week. My results are mostly positive. The layoff did me wonders. The thing that I am doing now that I was not before my break, is just playing better. I am making better decisions because I am taking my time and thinking. I think about what my opponent likely has. Before my vacation, I was playing too much and I was distracted while playing, so I was not paying attention. Hopefully this weekend I will add some winnings to this week.

On the fitness level, I made it to they gym 3 times. Not great, but not bad. I will shoot for 4 times next week and attemp all cross-fit WOD's. If I can ride this weekend, I will consider it a good week.

After a long break, I am back to the blog.

After my massive poker tilt, I took some time off, over a week. My play has gotten better as while I was off, I thought about poker, I just didn't play. I have seen the error of my ways. Let me just see if I can continue.

On the job front, there is not much new. This place gets more dysfunctional and I get more desparate to get out, but I still do not have anything concrete to get me out. I have recently talked to Richard and I meet next with his CPA to get a better understanding of the business, so I think it is moving, albeit slowly.

Tilt

It is not often that I tilt, but it did happen last night. I played a SNG, and finished in 4th place, that sucked, but it is par for the course lately. Afterwards I played in a heads up SNG that lasted one hand. I was on the winning end when my AA beat two pair when the river paired the board. I then went on to play a heads-up shoot out. I dispatched of my first opponent quickly and was well on my way to defeating my second. I had him covered about 2-1 when he moved all in. I had AQo so I called, he showed 49o, yes 49o. Of course a nine flopped and no Q's or A's, so I steamed pretty bad which the lead to a loss. I then joined a short-handed cash game and lost $20 through complete donkishtiltshit play. I knew that I wasn't at my best, but I still played. Again, I know whey I am making these mistakes, I just need to quit making them.

I have been making some donkish moves on the poker table lately. What is really donkish about them are that they are leaks that I know about, but keep making anyway. At least that way I guess I can look at them as know weakness that are much easier to fix than unkown weaknesses. First and foremost is that I am playing multiple talbes. I know that this reduces my concentration and lowers my overall win rate. I guess I do this because I am bored. I must stop playing more than one table. If I am bored, I should just quit playing for the night. The other two are less clear cut. I think I am playing to loose/passive. I must simultaneously tighten up and be more agressive when I am in a hand. These have been a repeated mantra of mine. Who knows, maybe someday I will heed my own advice.

If I wrote a sit-com about the place I work, it would fail. It would be like Three's Company without the sexual tension or good looking girls. Every freakin day it is the same thing. I have an incompetent boss that bemoans the fact that as a company we are failing. He bemoans that his staff does not do what he wants and that they do not hold their staff accountable for performance. I usually point out that this is easily remedied by holding his staff accountable for whatever it is that they are not doing. On the one hand, he cannot mention specifically what he wants on the other, he claims that he cannot hold his staff accountable. I must hear this shit twice a day. It is just like Three's Company in that the plot is the same every day.

I am at a complete loss. How can someone be so far over his head that he does not know he is drowning and cannot swim? Perhaps he does know and that is his frustration. Anywho, we have our regular "We are going to change things around here because we aren't doing them right.....never mind the fact that I cannot tell you what the right things are or the fact that in six months I will abandon this program anyway..."

I have to get out of this place.

The circle of life

When a boy reaches a certain age, usually around 13, the only reason he gets out of bed is because when he wakes up, he turns and there is no girl there beside him. So, he gets out of bed and either goes to football practice, band practice or a job in order to impress a girl and hopefully get her back into his bed. This chase goes on for many years, with the boy waking up and leaving his bed so that he can lure some girl back there. At some point, he catches one and she does indeed sleep in his bed. Hopefully at this point it is a different bed, not the same one in his parent's house. When he finds this girl, they spend many days in the bed. But, at some point he realizes that he must again get out of the bed and do things to keep her in that bed when he wakes up, so he works harder, saves some money, and does some planning. That is the cycle of life, men only get out of bed in the morning so that they can get a girl in there when the wake up. So it goes for me. I have reevaluated my life insurance situation. I currently pay approximately $40/month for life insurance to protect the lifestyle of my wife and daughter. After some re-evaluation, I have decided that I need more, so I am working with my insurance agent to get a new policy. For a preferred rate, it will cost me $90/month. For the super-preferred rate, it will be $75/month. I did not qualify for the super-preferred rate last time. I am not sure why, but it could be combination of early death of my father and grandmother and the fact that my BMI is border-line overweight. I am going to see what I can do to qualify for the super-preferred rate. Next week I am going on a kashi-broccoli diet. I'll keep you all posted.

I went to a road ride on Saturday Morning that was great. The weather was fantastic. I had done a crossfit workout on Friday that fried my legs and they were heavy in the morning when I started my ride. Of course, I rode mostly up hill for the first 20 minutes. After I got warmed up, I really moved. I am getting more confident in my handling of the roadie.

I am going to try to ride on Wednesday morning. I am going to do the Sardis-Logans Ferry-Forbes Trail loop as many times as I can in 1/2 hour. This will be in addition to a Wednesday night ride in PV park with Chris.

I smoked a brisket on Sunday. It turned out well. I also took some sliced brisket meat and wrapped it in foil with some rub and trimmed fat and put it back on the smoker for 3 hours. It pulled very easily after that. It was a cool experiment.

No news on the job-front. I am not doing much, and as a result not much is happening. If I want something to change, I must go after it.

I was supposed to go for a night ride last night as part of my renewed fitness quest. I made the mistake of asking Chris to join me. It wasn't really a mistake as it would have been fun and smart to have someone with me riding at night. The problem was that I asked him too late and he did not have a light. So, I charged a handlebar light that I had and we were going to ride after all. Unfortunately we did not get started promptly at 9. Instead, we were dallying in the parking lot rigging up the lights when the police showed up to inform us that the park was closed and we would have to leave. Had we been there at 9 and had we installed the handlebar mounts on the bike properly, we would have been in the woods before the heat ever showed up. I am still going to try to ride there next week, but this time I am going to park somewhere else.

Played in a cash game at Billy's on Friday night. I made some good reads and some not good reads, I called when I had odds, I bet enough to not give proper odds, and I came home $1.00 richer after 7 hours. At least it wasn't a loss.

I rode the new section of the mountain bike trail in the park near my house. It was pretty good. I think I might actually start riding it at night once a week. This would give me two days of riding per week. I could also be sure to add one run, so I can have at least 3 days of cardio. The key is to get to sleep early enough that I can wake up to train. I want to hit the beach at 145.

A new leak

Most poker players develop leaks in their game from time to time. I have been fully exploring my newest leak. I have been playing 2/4 heads-up at full tilt. The reason that this is a leak is that I am not good. If I was average, the rake would eat up most edge. Since I am not good, I just spew money. This must stop. As an added disadvantage of this HU's play, I seem to play too loose. I will limit my HU play to low level S-N-G's just to gain practice as this will reduce my overall variance.

I had two interviews this week. One was with a university and the other with a public accounting firm. Both interviews went well. I do pretty well when I can get an interview as I am good at dealing with people. I just need to get more interviews.

Dallas

I got back from Dallas $1,000 richer. I went to a conference in Dallas and played much poker. I played both online and live. In a casino and in home games. The group I was with had a one-table tournament and I walked into a cash game hosted by a group of insurance salespeople that were also using the facility. In all, I won over 1,000 with $870 coming from the insurance guys. They may have been good at selling insurance, but they were terrible at cards.

Oh my aching back

I do not know why or how, but my back was killing me on Tuesday. As the day went on, the pain subsided. Still, I took a few days off from the gym. I have a meeting tonight and I will try to hit the gym afterwards, time permitting. If I cannot make it, I will do some Yoga.

The election went as I had envisioned. Even though the results were what we thought they would be, the election party was kind of sad as we did not pull as many votes as we thought we would. Dennis was truly out to remove Nancy from Council. Nancy and the Mayor were out to get Dennis voted out. So, there was a battle. I was on Nancy's side, and we lost that fight. Dennis used some dirty tactics and they worked. The party was kind of a downer though. It was quite different from two years ago when we were all big winners.

I spoke to Richard on each of the last two evenings. While we discussed nothing specific, he told me he is going to call me either today or tomorrow.

Yesterday was an up and down day with the cards. I fell into the trap of playing heads up poker again and lost $50. That sucked big time. I then played HU later in the evening and won $136. I then proceeded drop $53 playing O8. I just couldn't get the cards to come through, plus I play a few hands more than I should have. On top of it all, I did not work out this AM as I stayed up too late playing cards. I am going to try to workout this evening between working the polls and the post election party

Meatfest was a great success. The imu pit worked out like we knew what we were doing. The ribs were very tender and the chicken was cooked (maybe a little too overdone though) . The food though did not have any smokey flavor, but I guess that was easy to predict as it was steam cooked really. I think the next time we will marinate the chicken in italian dressing. The ribs were tastey though. The pork shoulder could have been done a little more (the temperature probe said 194 degrees, but after letting it rest, I took a reading and it was in the 180's so I do not know how accurate it was. It did not pull as easyily as I would have liked. We had 5 babysitters. Julia brought 3 friends, who can come back any time. They were great and were a real help watching the kids and helping the adults unload cars and other manual labor tasks. The race wasn't that exciting as Hard Spun dashed to the front and stayed there most of the time until at the end when he was passed by a hard charging Street Sense who ultimately won. Overall a good day.

I am starting to get back into the groove as far as my workouts go. My old gym is still not open, so I continue to go to the new one. It is not open as early as my old gym, but I can still get to work on time. I am really disappointed that the gym is not open as I feel I have gotten ripped off of two months worth of dues. I will have to wait to see what happens.

I have an appointment with a head hunter tomorrow. On the one side, I am not too excited as I have not had any leads from the two head hunters that I have previously spoke to, but maybe this one will be different. I will have to me more on top of this one.

The week is finally over. My motivation is starting to come back. I have a meeting with a head hunter next week. I will either redouble my efforts to find a new job or just quit looking a try to make this one better. For now though, I will concentrate on Meatfest 2007.

I bought my meat last night. 6 racks of ribs, 12 pounds of pork shoulder and 6 pounds of chicken. I will cook the chicken and the ribs in the pit. That will be an interesting experiment and hopefully it will work out this time. I am sure that it will. I rubbed the pork shoulder last night and plan on starting the cook sometime tonight. When the temp hits 200 tomorrow, I will foil it and put it in the meat cooler. I will also do a few fatties for snacking during the preparations. Tonight I will get the smoker ready and do some shopping.

I am starting to come back around. I have been in a funk over the last few days with the realization that the job at Richard's company may not materialize. The funk is starting to lift. I am now stuck somewhere between the two choices of seriously looking for something else, or just plugging along here. I am tilting towards looking for something else. I need to find out what it is exactly that I want to do and then I need to design a plan to get there.

That issue though has really been central to my physce for a long time. I really do not know where I want to go. I don't think it is here. There is no way for me to leave where I am though without knowing where I want to go. Some people may be able to remain stationary, but I am not one of those people, so I feel the urge to move forward. The problem is that I do not know where I want to move too, so I get frustrated. I constantly try to reinvent myself but never follow through with the plans. So, I am either lazy or I don't really want to go where I say I do. This just compounds my feelings of despair. I may be both

Slipping Away

I talked to Richard yesterday to inquire where we were in the job process. I was disappointed in the outcome of the call, to say the least. He informed me that they had to work through all of the details in staffing yet so they weren't sure where exactly where we stood. He also told me that my asking price was at the higher end of the range that they imagined. He said that he will be talking to Bruce by the end of the week and I should know something more by then. I am quite disappointed because I thought this was a slam-dunk offer, and apparently it wasn't. While I guess it isn't over, I do have to start looking in earnest again.

Looking for a job sucks. I feel so inadequate on the one hand, and on the other hand I feel that this whole process is my fault. I feel that I am stuck where I am because of the choices I have made that have lead me to my current position. My experience is in governmental accounting, and I think that is hurting my chances of finding something outside of that field. If I had made better choices and managed my career better, I would not be stuck where I am. Instead I took the easy road and here I am.

I have two choices. One, I can suck it up and continue what I am doing. Or, two, I can get back to finding a new job. My instinct is to just stop looking and continue to do what I am doing, but deep down I do not think that is what I want to do. The problem is that I do not know WHAT I want to do. My discontent may just be my normal disposition. I guess that is my next step.

I had my big meeting with Richard's partner on Friday. It went pretty well and I gave him my demands (the Salary I desire plus I expressed my interest in owning a piece of future ventures). He is to talk to Richard and they will get back to me. i told him since I am leaving for London on Wednesday to either call me by Tuesday or to get back to me next week. I really think that this is a great opportunity for me.

My workouts have slacked a bit as Jane has been out of town so I haven't really had much time. I will take some running shoes to London and hopefully I can run 2 times when I am over there. I also must take better care of my diet. Once I return home, I can get back to some serious crossfitting.

The stock market has been treating me well the last few weeks. In particular, I bought some Merk call options that have zoomed.

I have my big meeting today with Richard's partner. Most interview books and experts tell you to get a good night sleep before a meeting such as this. I instead opted to go out for beers last night and to go into the meeting with a slight hangover. I figure that I work that way from time to time and my perspective employer should see me in my usual light. LOL no really it was just a mistake in judgement that I must live with.

I had luch with a local guy that owns a construction company. His wife told him that I was looking to make a job change and he wants to hire me. He is at the point in his life where he is going to spend less time in the business as his 2 partners do more. They have several items on the plate for the next couple of years and that should set them all up. They want to reorg. the business and they want me to be the CFO for the gig. At first I wasn't too geeked about it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is exactly what I want. His partner is supposed to call me so we can set up a meeting this week or next to see exactly how this reorg. would take shape. If I can get assurance that there would be ownership possibility in the future, AND they can pay the salary that I need, I will take it. This could start the next chapter of my life.

Gym is still not open. So, I am still going to gym #2. I am just working on my CF warmup with a 5 set-5 rep excercise from CF total. I may do a CF total on Sunday Just to check against my bench mark. Gym Friday, run Sat, Gym Sunday-CF total sounds like a plan.

With the Kentucy Derby only a few weeks away, we are getting our invitations sent out. I like to add a little pizzaz every year, so this year I am looking for a unique way to smoke some ribs. I have many ideas and I will post them here shortly.

The gym is still not open. So, I joined another gym for a month. It was twice the price of my old gym, which sucks. Also, there are no bumper plates or chains. I really like the bumpers for OLY lifts, but they are not really necessary. Also, the old gym seemed more conducive to crossfitting. The fact that it is open is a plus. I am going to work for a month on the CF warm up and Olympic lifts. I will get back into serious CF'ing in May.

Taxes are all about done. I have a few more to finish up, but I think I can get them done before the deadline.

I am going to miss the opening day of trout season this year. This is the first time that I have missed in recent memory. I will go maybe next week, but this week I just need to focus on getting my tax work finished.

It only gets worse

So after getting emotionally devastated by the large food company yesterday, I went home for some more abuse. As I was finishing up some work, my wife came in to the office to ask for my help cleaning up the house. See, we have a cleaning person so we have to clean the house before she comes. This of course pisses me off as since we are cleaning anyway, why not just put in some extra effort and finish the job. When I got downstairs, my wife informed me that she somehow lost my JCU class ring. Somehow, she picked it up with my wedding band and my watch and inadvertently threw it in the garbage. She searched and could not find it. I looked too, but did not find it. That is why I never move her belongings. So yesterday, I was told that I was not good enough for my perfect job, and I lost a sentimentally important object. Yesterday, I really hated my life.

What worries me most is that I may not find a job that pays me what I need. My experience is in a low-margin field and now I am filled with self-doubt. I bought a book and I will go through the program contained in said book. I have to get out of this job, but first I have to get out of my mental slump.

A big kick in the nuts

I just got a call back from the recruiter from the perfect job. He said that they are going to keep the interview process open a little while longer as they are looking for someone with a little more auditing experience. He said that they both really liked me, but they were looking for someone with more audit experience. He said that I was still in the running, but I know that is most likely BS. This sucks so bad. I was feeling great about this possibility, and now I know that it is not going to happen. I wanted to so bad and it was so close, it just slipped out of reach. I have to step back and evaluate and replan.

I got my call back from large company HR guy. We talked money, and I think we are getting close. The two decision makers were supposed to talk either on Wednesday or Friday as the number one guy was out of town for the week. HR guy let me know that I was the favorite and the money did not seem to be an issue. As of yet I haven't heard back, but that is par for this course. I just want to hear because I am so done with this place.

I suck at poker. After a great start to the year, I have started to play like crap. I need to tighten up considerably. My aggression is there, but I am playing too many hands. I played heads-up this morning and got my lunch absolutely handed to me. I made the mistake of playing a full ring game while playing a heads up match as well. In heads up, you need ultimate concentration, and with two games going on, I couldn't give it so the end result was inevitable.

The gym is closed for the rest of the week so they can prepare to move to the new location. I think I will do some creative workouts like running in the park with pullups on the playground equipment

I'm so freaking nervouse

I just got an email from the large company that I interviewed with last week. The head HR guy wants me to call him. A phone call, that is usually good. From what I remember, you get flushed by a letter and hired by a phone call.

It is amazing. Even though I knew to expect a call and I am now even money to land the gig, I now am super nervous to even call the recruiter back. I guess when life altering choices present themselves, we all get a little shaky.

I'll report back after I call him.

The wife was away, so I had the daughter all to myself for the Saint Patrick weekend. We missed the parade as I told her that there would be fire trucks and she did not want to hear the noise so she refused to go on Saturday morning. It had snowed Friday night, so I cannot say that I was disappointed as I really didn't want to go through the hassle of taking her.

It seems like I spent the entire time preparing meals and cleaning the house.

I did manage to play some poker and work on taxes. I am climbing myself out of my backlog and now I see some light at the end of the tunnel. The money is starting to come in and that makes it a little more enjoyable. With Dave and Sarah coming in for a visit next week though, it will likely put me behind again. So I really have to push this week and next to get things done.

Interview

I had my interview this morning. I think it went extremely well. The VP of Accounting seemed like a "typical" accountant, but I think it went pretty well with him. His main concern was computer skill and technical knowledge. I stressed my ability to research and implement accounting pronouncements and gave examples of PICPA teachings to illustrate the point. The second part was with Ken, who would be my new boss. He seemed like the kind of guy that I could work well with. He was very laid back and pretty much said that as long as the job got done, he didn't really interfere with how it got done. That is pretty much the kind of guy that I would like to work with. The final meeting was with the senior HR recruiter. He told me about the company and the office, and it seems like the kind of place I would like to work.

We had a crazy meeting last night. Actually, we didn't have a crazy meeting. We had a meeting scheduled and one Council member objected to the fact that it was not being televised. He skipped the meeting knowing that another member was not going to be there and a third would probably not make it. Given the vacancy, that meant that we did not have a quorum. He sent the old Council President to object to the meeting and since we did not have a quorum, we had to cancel the meeting anyway. Many of my counterparts were upset, but as it was a successful tactic, I was impressed. I guess that goes hand in hand with my sense of gamesmanship. I hate to loose, but if I am outplayed I really respect the other party.

I have made it 3 days in a row to the gym. I am impressed with myself.

My big interview is tomorrow, I will finish my prep today. If anyone is reading, please wish me luck

I am so behind in my taxes, the stress is starting to get to me. At the heart of it all is that I am lazy. I think everyone is lazy to some degree, but I pisses me off that I am. I should get caught up this week, or at least that is the plan. I will be difficult as my wife is going away with the girls over the weekend.

I got completely wasted on Saturday night. It's just one of those things that happen (especially to me). It is odd that I have been drinking now for 24 years and still do not know when to stop. To that end, maybe I do as I don't get drunk nearly as often as I used to and it is just part of my personality.

I have an interview on Friday. I really want the job. I really just want any job other than the one I have. This place is killing me mentally. I feel myself getting dumber every day.

I did not hear from either of the companies that I spoke of in my last post until Tuesday. I heard from the large food processing company and I have an interview next Friday. Maybe I have a touch of manic depression as my highs are really high and my lows are really low. I know that I don't have it, but sometimes it just seems as though I do. It is my belief that all mental illness is really just normal thoughts that get taken to the extreme. I cannot know what causes this extreme, I just know that it happens. So, any one of us could end up in a mental institution if our normal thoughts just went too far.

Any way, I heard back from them and I have an interview on Friday. I will practice for it with the goal to impress. I will also call the bank today to see where that one stands.

Two Nibbles

I have received 2 nibbles on new jobs. One is for a large food company and the other is for a large bank. They are both in the area of Manager of Financial Reporting. On Thursday and Friday I talked to the recruiters for both positions and they are supposed to get back in touch to set up interviews. Of course, as things work, I have not heard from either. I guess I shouldn't worry as that seems to be how they work.

Highs and Lows

On Friday I responded to an online job posting for a job that seemed PERFECT for me. I found the posting by doing some basic "Parachute" fact finding. A recruiter emailed me Friday night and told me to call him on Monday (yesterday) morning. I have to tell you, I was absolutely excited. It seem like destiny. I just happened to find the perfect job opening and BAM the recruiter wanted me to call him ASAP. So I cleared my desk and mentally prepared and called him at the appointed time and....I reached his fucking voice mail. If it's one thing I hate, it is lack of promptness. OK, I figured maybe he was just away from his desk so I waited by my phone. By 9:30, I realized that this clown was not calling me back. I left him an email at 10:30 just stating that we must have missed each other some how. After not hearing from him at all, I was fairly disappointed.

I struck me as odd at how I reacted to this. I was so disappointed I think I reached the part of anger. I am nervous that I will not be able to find a job to match this one in pay. My self-doubt doesn't show itself much, but it is there and showing itself in my search for a new job. I really have to get a grip on it.

Hopefully he will call me back today

what a beating

After having a great week, I decided to take a shot at a 2/4 game. I then proceeded to turn my great week into a mediocre week. I donked off $100 through a combination of bad beats and even worse calls. My AA got cracked by a flush on the river, the other guy had odds after a marginal PF call. And then the same guy cracked my QQ when he caught a str8 on the river. Oh well, I have too much work to do over the next couple of days to play anyway so I will take a few days off.

The job hunt has heated up. I have a plan now and I just need to follow it. I am basically following the "What Color Is Your Parachute" book of identifying your skills, finding companies that can use them, and then actively trying to get in with those companies. I submitted an online application with Delmonte on Friday afternoon and a recruiter wants me to call him today. The job is right up my alley so I am excited

I met with a recruiter last Friday. I did not expect much and was not disappointed. With my current job level and salary, it will be difficult for someone a run-of-the-mill recruiter to place me. They specialize in less senior positions. It was disappointing and a waste of my time. I should have talked to him on the phone first. That being said, I know that it is up to me to get the fuck off of this sinking ship. I no longer have the motivation or the stomach to keep dragging myself into this office. I must finish Parachute and find a way to move on.

My poker play has risen to a new level. I am playing well and had another successful week even thought I devoted most of my playing time to tournaments. I can win on every site except Full Tilt. For some reason, I just can't seem to beat the players there.

I had my body fat tested this weekend and it measured 14.5%. Not too bad of a result, maybe I can get it down to 10%. I am 150 pound and 21.25 of that is fat. I would need to lose 6.25 pounds to get it down that far. That does not seem unreasonable.

I ran good this weekend. I placed 8th in a 180 person tournament and 44th in a 803 person tournament. My play is much better as of late. I am being more deliberately selective-aggressive and not calling bets as often. I also am spending more time reading players.

It is damn cold out side.

One thing that I have noticed from Cross Fitting, is that my body is responding well. I am seeing physical changes that are impressive. Overall it is a positive workout. I wish that I could do more pull ups and had better form on the Olympic lifts. I do find however, that I am making small improvements. For instance, I am able to do an overhead squat better than I had been able, my front squat form it getting better, and I am getting the hang of kipping pull ups. I need to keep incorporating longer distance aerobic work (biking and running) into my overall program.

Poker over the weekend was horrible. I couldn't win a hand. The table was loose-passive. I should have been able to beat the game, but I played to passive/aggressive. I would take shots with speculative hands and then get aggressive and get beat. I would also make an aggressive play and then get passive when played back at. I played so well on line, but the live game is so different. I really have to adjust my style. I hate losing.

My job has pushed me over the top. I work for a boss that really should not be in his position, but politics being what it is, he is. He has no clear vision of where we are going and he is upset that we aren't there. I have to find a new job, but I am so out of practice it is difficult, but I will find a way out. 12 years ago when I took this job, it was a great escape from where I was (or at least I thought it was). Looking back, it was a mistake to take this job. There is a finite path here, and that does not suit me. I should either have stayed where I was or moved on to a company with a better career path. I could have made the move while I was still in an entry-level position, which is much easier than where I am starting now. Oh well, another challenge....

A lot has happened since I last wrote.

First, the DOJ has started to supeana bank records and Neteller has shut off US customers. This will put a hurt on online poker. I think it will get harder to play online. The good news is that WV has introduced legislation to allow table games. I hope it passes as then there will be live poker withing an hour of my house and hopefully PA will follow soon.

I am still doing Crossfit. I think that my level of fitness in increasing. Now I just need to stop playing poker so late at night that I cannot wake up in the morning in time to workout before work.

A friend of mine informed me that he is running for State Senator and he has asked me to be his campaign treasurer. I don't think that there is any pay for this position, but if he wins, there should be some quid-pro-quo so I should be able to make money from the gig.

My f**ing roof is leaking

After an abysmal night of poker on Friday to cap of an abysmal week of poker we went to a AA league hockey game in Wheeling. The game was loads of fun. On Sunday afternoon, I went shopping with the wife and daughter, and that too was fun enough to recharge my batteries. After dinner on Sunday night, we were watching football, when I notice that the ceiling had a sizable wet spot. Upon investigating I noticed that the roof was leaking in the attic. This is why I hate owning a house. It is constant work. Many people say that a home is your largest investment. I say these people are wrong. An investment grows in value and eventually pays you back. A home costs money almost constantly. And you can't really sell it to make money for you will need to replace it. If it were truly and investment, I could sell off part of the garage for the $3,500 I will need for a new roof and the garage would grow back. As it is now, I have to find a way to get $3,500 to throw down the drain.