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.