Bowling, Baseball, & Poker OH MY!

Christmas is coming soon.....

2009-12-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

Just three days away, and it will be Christmas. Normally I really like this time of year, but this year with being unemployed and just working at Dominos, I don't have much in the cash department to do much for anyone. I did get a little something for my niece, but other than that..... well I'll have to scrape something together for the rest of the family and friends.

Speaking of money (and unemployment), no luck on the job front....well this week I am taking a break as I don't think anyone will be in the rush to hire someone during the holiday season (unless you're UPS of course). So in the meantime, I've been looking into some home based opportunities to put a few extra dollars into my pocket. If you look over to the right, you'll notice a few banner ads that I have added to my site. One of them seems to be a little sketchy to me so I won't pay anything to upgrade my membership and see what happens. The other two seem to be very reputable companies, and I think I'll look into possibly making a small investment and see how it goes. Which one is the sketchy one? Put it this way.... they are in order of how reputable I think they are. So if you would, sign up (it's free) and check things out. You never know.

Other notes..... we won our semi-final baseball match 13 - 3. I didn't see any playing time (nor was I expecting to)and we easily shut them down. I did get one at bat, but popped it up to first base to end the inning..... just got a little under it or I may have driven in the game ending run. The championship will be in a couple weeks against the team that beat us badly in the regular season. I hope we're up to the challenge this time!

That's it for now..... Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!

Year End....

2009-12-17T02:11:00.000-08:00

It's almost Christmas, and soon after will be the end of 2009. Personally I can't wait to start a new year..... be able to forget all the goals I didn't make and time to come up with a few more that maybe I won't make again.

As for last year.... I wrote all my resolutions on my white board and took a picture (I had just gotten a new camera for Christmas, and I was having fun with it). On it were the following goals:

No more scratchers: Kind of succeeded..... didn't buy that many throughout the year, although every once in a while I bought some of the new ones just to see what they were like.

Set aside $10 - $15 each work day: Not so much.... pretty much spent my money as I got it.

Reach goal weight (225) by Nationals (July): Succeeded. Although I did put it all back by the end of the year.

Graduate June '09: Succeeded. Got my AA, and working on transferring.

Out of Debt Nov '09: Not so much..... see above on spending.... although I didn't get any further behind.

Not too bad for the year actually. Next year will probably have similar resolutions, or I may just resolve not to make any resolutions at all ;)

Other notes of interest from 2009:
Hit my very first home run in my entire baseball career, and it was a GRAND SLAM to boot.

Wow.... I think that was my only note of interest this year. We made the playoffs, but due to rain, we're still in a holding pattern.

That should do it for now (until another 3 months), check out the PTC links over there on the right somewhere.... seems pretty interesting, we'll see how it works out.

UPDATE - 3 Months Later

2009-10-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

Wow.... talk about your infrequent posting. Someone needs to remind me why I decided to start one of these things anyway.

OK.... updates..... WEIGHT LOSS project.... well got down to 225 (or so) then stopped caring and spiked right back up to 270something. Guess what?? Time to get back on track. Smaller goal this time.... 240 and we'll go from there.

Bowling.... I've been sucking something fierce the last few months. Pretty much ever since I got back from Nationals in Vegas. My Tuesday night league ended (and I'm not going back) and I didn't do well in sweeps, and my Thursday morning Christmas Club league I've got to see my average plummet about 10 pins or more. That league ends in a month then I am putting everything in the closet for a little while until I head to Reno for Nationals in June. I really, REALLY need the break.

Baseball. Spring/Summer season came and went, and I batted a miserable .199 (or something like that) and we missed the playoffs by one game. I just couldn't make contact with anything. For some strange reason they wanted me back for the fall and in 5 games I've gotten a total of 10 plate appearances. Overall I am 2 - 6 with 4 walks, 3 Ks, a single and a HOME RUN....a GRAND SLAM no less. Batting .333 right now. Let's see if that keeps me in the lineup.

Poker..... ummmm not so much. No time, no money. Heck, no job either. Planning to go down to Pechanga on Thanksgiving morning for the 10am tournament. Would be a nice break.

More to come later.... but right now I need sleep. Doing homework at 2am is not good for the sleep cycle (it can't be good for the grades either).

2009 USBC LAS VEGAS REPORT

2009-07-08T02:25:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the long story of what happened this week while in Vegas. Yes, I was in Vegas for a WEEK!! I did manage to come home with some $$$ so it wasn't totally bad.

I left last Sunday night around 11pm after work and arrived at Buffalo Bills somewhere around the 1:30am mark. My goal was to get a room (using my slot points) and drive in later in the morning. As luck would have it, they were sold out due to some concert. So I gambled a little bit then headed to the Orleans where I was staying at about 5:30am. Once I arrived I promptly sat down in the keno area and tried my luck at live keno. Guess I didn't have any luck at all. After playing around for a couple hours, I was able to go check in and head up to my room. Once I went upstairs and put things away I separated my "play" money from my "bracket money" and proceeded to head back downstairs and play some more. After losing for a bit, I finally got some luck as I hit a 6 of 6 keno machine for $800. That got me closer to even. About 2 hours later I hit another machine for the same thing....yup another $800. Now I am at about even. I played for a little longer before heading up to the room to get some sleep for the High Roller tournament tomorrow morning.

Tuesday morning I get up and head on into Sam's Town. I head down to the center just in time for a little bit of practice to get a feel for the lanes. The shot seemed very playable and I was feeling good about my chances. The first VIP tournament starts up and I shoot a whopping 210 game. Needless to say, that didn't cash for anything. My first match wasn't until 1pm, so I went upstairs and decided to play a little bit more. As luck would have it, I hit ANOTHER 6 spot on a keno machine for ANOTHER $800. Now I am ahead for the couple days and feeling pretty good. My start time was coming up aso I headed back down to the bowling center for my first match.

Match 1: 234 - 188 I win
Match 2: 210 - 195 I win again. Should have lost this one, but my opponent whiffed a 5 pin in the tenth to give it to me.
Match 3: 246 - 176 I win again. This was the money round, and the winners were now guaranteed $1000. For those in the know, I was bowling against PBA PRO Michael Fagan's wife Amanda. She just couldn't get lined up and I caught some good breaks. Michael seems like a pretty nice guy as I was chatting with him for a few after the match.
Match 4: 234 - 181 I win again. The winner of this round gets into Saturday's finals and can not re-enter any other round 1 slots to try to make extra money. Now I am guaranteed $1100 plus $250 from a refund check for the unused re-entry I had pre-paid when submitting my entry. I really must have gotten under my opponents skin as I opend wit ha spare then a four bagger, the first two were solid BROOKLYN strikes, and he never got going. I did apologize after the match. I realyl hate beating someone like that when they are throwing a better ball than me.

Now here's where I get really STUPID! Knowing that I have about $1400 coming to me on Saturday, I began gambling like an idiot and BLOW all my winnings right out the door with the exception of the bracket & mini-eliminator money I had. Nice move eh? Anyway, so I get up early Wednesday morning and check out to head home to pick up my car and turn in my rental. Probably a good thing as I probably would have blown ALL the rest of my money on Wednesday.

So Wednesday morning I drive home and pick up my car and drive back up Wednesday evening. I get to the Gold Coast about 11ish and am able to check in a day early. I go back out to my car to get my stuff and nothing is working. Lights won't come on or anything. After about a half hour of messing around with it, I notice the connector for the battery cable to the battery is loose.... once I tighten it down, no problem and it's back to running as usual. So back in the casino I go and guess what..... I BLOW EVERYTHING ELSE I HAVE. Yup, I am officially an idiot. All I have left is a couple credit cards that I can purchase food on. So that's what I do all of Thursday. I was hoping Friday would bring my unemployment check in, but that didn't happen either (good thing too) so Friday was more of the same.

On Friday, I wandered over to the Rio to watch the World Series of Poker Day 1A. On the way down the elevator at the Gold Coast, WSOP 2007 Main Even Champ Jerry Yang gets in. Why would someone want to stay there instaed of somewhere a little more upscale is beyond me. Anyway, he's a very friendy guy and I chatted him up for a min or two and wished him luck as I continued over to the Rio. I managed to get a spot right above the featured table when play began. There were four empty seats at the start (guess people were late or something) and one of the late comers was Alan Cunningham, so I snapped a picture there. After an hour of watching boring poker, I headed out to the exhibition hall. I saw Humberto Brenes who was with his wife and he was carrying a large rubber shark (about 7 inches in length) so I snapped a couple pictures there. Also doing a little Q/A discussion was Phil Hellmuth & Johnny Chan (snap snap with the pictures). Then I headed out. Kinda interesting to see, and I can't wait to see the opening rounds on TV.

Saturday FINALLY comes around and it's back off to the Roller for my round 5 match. Winners here are guaranteed $1400. I win this one 222 - 202. My opponent gave me another gift by missing right badly and leaving a six count washout (he needed a double to beat me). Moving on to round 6 where the winners are guaranteed $2250. I was leading by 20 going into the 8th frame when my opponent left the 7-10 split. I really thought I had it in the bag there....then HE PICKED IT UP! I wound up opening in the 8th and sparing in the 9th which forced him to punch out to lock me out. He did that and I opened again in the tenth to lose 228-203 and recieved $1400 for my finish. I don't hold anything against the guy for picking that up, since he shouldn't have left it anyway and was throwing good shots the whole time. I cash my checks (now I have some money for brackets) and head back to the hotel.

SUNDAY TEAM EVENT:
Before I head out to Cashman, I stopped off at another keno machine (YEAH YEAH I KNOW) and hit a 6 of 6 and 7 of 8 at the same time for $800 and cash out and leave (there's something new eh?). I hang out for a little bit until the rest of my team shows up and I try to find out if someone is being backed for brackets or will we be on our own. Nobody is able to decide anything, so I invest $1000 of my money and hope for the best. I have a pretty good line, but can't get it left too much or squeeze it in. I maybe have three boards to play with and that's it. I shoot 212 - 211 - 215 for a 638. At this point I am hoping for just my $750 back (the other $250 was in Super Brackets which won't be done with until the end of the tournament). Once the payout screen comes up, next to my name is $2095!!!! I almost TRIPLED my money!!! We head down to Binion's to pick up the cash and myself and one other from our team decide to have dinner at the steakhouse there. It's on the 24th floor, a bit pricey but well worth it! After dinner and a little playing (I dropped only $100) I drop my teammate off at his hotel and head back to mine. I should have gone to bed then, but didn't and ended staying up until 3:30am gambling (only lost $250).

MONDAY SINGLES & DOUBLES:
After getting an hour and a half "nap" I head back to Cashman for singles & doubles(the 7:00am squad). I decide to invest $750 into brackets and keep my fingers crossed. I don't know if it was because I was tired or the lanes were crap (more than likely a combination of both) but I bowl lousy in doubles 197 - 172 - 182 = 551 (partner shot 549) We move pairs and I have a much better shot as I go 244 - 195 - 193 = 632 for singles and finally get my 30 clean!! I'm hoping for $300 for this and get shocked as I get $483. Still a loss, but smaller than I thought. Same routine as yesterday, go to Binion's, pick up the money, and head out. I drop of my teammate again, and start to head out of town. I'm pretty tired so I swing into the South Point and manage to get a free room for the night. I probably should have just drove straight home, but didn't, and wound up gambling about $700 or so away. Left Tuesday morning and here I am now. Had to bowl tonight.... 211 - 217 - 225

Came home with a little under $2000 (right about my starting point) and should be getting a check in August/September for about $750 or so.

That's it for this trip.... too bad I can't control my gambling LOL OH well..... get to do this all over again next year in RENO!!! :)

2 months later......

2008-12-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

This year is just about over.... and I've made what.... about 10 posts?? Whatever Kevin.

Anyway.... first off. Lost my morning job right before Thanksgiving (or somewhere around there). Was laid off due to cutbacks. Shit happens. It's giving me a great opportunity to go back to school and finish up some loose ends. So it's Domino's & unemployment for income. Have to cut back a bit on bowling and other spending. I think I'll survive.

Been dieting since August. Started at 315 and got down to 272 doing the low carb thing. Switched to Weight Watchers about 1 month ago and today (day after Christmas feasting) I am down to 260.7 I think it's going in the correct direction!!!

Got a new camera for Christmas, so I might turn into a shutterbug for a while... we'll see.

That's about it for now. Surprised I remembered my login info for here!!

Last post was WHEN?

2008-10-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

INCONSISTANCY!! Look it up asshole!

Anyway.... it's been a while so let's catch up.

Baseball.... we finished 3 - 12 (or something like that) with a win in our final game. The Cards won't be back next season... I was planning on taking over but it doesn't look like the interest will be there so I may just go to tryouts and take my chances.

Bowling.... Albuquerque was great. Finished in 42nd place in doubles for $800 and cashed very nicely. Will be with a new team next year in Vegas where I'll be bowlign the High Roller and possibly be in the WSOP (one of the side events). That's gonna be an experience.

Out of debt project.... looking like Summer 2009 (roughly) Need to stop going to Vegas LOL

Weight loss..... started back up in August. Was up to 315. Now I am at 277. Will try to get to 250 before switching to Weight Watchers.

Jobs..... looking into getting the management position at Domino's which will allow me to quit my other job and go back to school.... keepin my fingers crossed on that one.

Enough of updating for now... hopefully more later.

New month....same crap...

2008-04-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

Gotta love two weeks between posts. If people were reading this, then I might post more, but since nobody does.... I'll update it whenever I damn well please.

Went to VEGAS again..... good trip.... GREAT food. Came back with about $300 less than I life with. If it wasn't for the 6 hour car trip back (and being uncomfortable in the back of Bri & Ang's car) it might have been better. Bowling didn't go according to plan either. The new ball I got did the exact same thing as everything else I have....and my problems were I got hit with our damn drop rule and I couldn't carry. Add those two together and you get a very mediocre 653 set and get blanked in EVERYTHING!! At least my gambling made up for it a bit. I even hit two 4-of-a-kinds on the fortune pai gow within 1/2 hour of each other. Can't beat that too much.

Now to get ready for Albuquerque at the end of June. Should be fun!!!

Weight loss...... went off the diet for Vegas and am going to start back up next Monday.... just get through the weekend. I've only put back about 5 pounds and am still under 300 (for now).... I think my new goal is to get to about 270 before New Mexico.

Baseball.... well we lost our first game 14 - 2. Apparently it wasn't all errors this time... so I'll take it for what it is.... next game is this weekend against a team that has been mercied twice in a row.... BADLY! Should be an interesting game!

Poker.... played a little in Vegas, and haven't played much of anything else since. While in Vegas, Bri & I sat a $2/$4 table and for the first couple hours I could barely play a hand for two reasons..... not getting any cards, and to jackasses to my left who would raise on any two cards or call ANYTHING!! Needless to say I couldn't get involved much, but when I finally did, I took down some decent pots and walked away $60 up. Then I turned $20 into $250 on a penny Star Wars slot. THAT was fun!! Stayed up for almost 40 hours straight up there from Thursday - Fri night/Sat morning.

Enough for now.... time to head on home (well the other job)and make some money to go to the NM fund for June!

Another Week.... another post

2008-03-19T16:21:00.001-07:00

These are getting less frequent all the time.... I really need to commit more to some things.

Anyway..... got back from Vegas with pretty much what I left with. I bowled pretty good, but a lot of corner pins (and missing some of them) really cost me. I made about $650 in brackets & sidepots, and managed to come home with that...partly thanks to a quarter machine I hit for $600 and a nickel machine for $400. Let's see if I can repeat that in 8 days when I head back up for more!

Baseball.... after beating an 18A team 10 - 8, we got stuffed in that damned 18Open division again.... not what we wanted to see. Our first game though, got rained out so we won't play til the 30th... the day I am coming back from Vegas... I'll prolly miss that one too.

Poker.. had my Full Tilt bankroll up to about $110 before starting to donk it off a bit. Last night I managed to final table the 2 90 person SnGs that I was in and made a little bit back.... hopefully I can keep that streak going for a while.

Still on track to be out of debt (minus car & rent) by year end.... can't wait for that to happen!!

Enough for today... hopefully I'll post before I go to Vegas.... or maybe even while I am in Vegas!!!

Some catching up.....

2008-03-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hmmm nothing for two weeks..... sounds like I am slipping a bit.

Anyway....

Bowling.... I think I finally pulled my head out of my ass. Shot well in Vegas and last Sunday. Let's see if I can keep it up for 3 more weeks at least. Vegas wound up going 212 - 267 - 216 for a 695. Took first place scratch sidepot (game 2) and first place scratch series. Cashed in a good chunk of brackets and our team shot 3400+ to take team event. Wound up with about $659 for sweeps. I also hit a quarter slot for an additional $600 and turned $100 into $400 (before dunping $100 back) on a nickel slot. Came home with about $700. Pretty good trip if you ask me.

Baseball... two scrimmage games the last couple weeks. We lost the first one 7 - 1 against the IE Pirates. We played pretty good just had no batting. Last Sunday we played the Alta Loma Angels and beat them 10 - 8 in a very windy condition. I think we should be just fine. Season starts this weekend (I hope).

Poker.... not so much going on. A couple cashes here and there online. Last night went out in 10th (money was at 9th). I keep finding a way to run into someone else's poket aces. Oh well.... I'll prolly try again tonight :)

Got work to do and start saving up more for then end of the month when I go back to Vegas again. Can't wait for that trip!!!!

Off to work.... and then home to SLEEP!!! I'm still catching up from Vegas and Daylight Saving Time (I didn't save anything.... I lost another hour dammit).

Poker news plus some

2008-02-27T01:29:00.000-08:00

I keep amazaing myself. I played in a 90 person $10 + $1 KO SnG the other night and after eliminating roughly 8 people (at $2 a pop) I wound up in 5th for $58 and change. The real defining moment that allowed me to get deep was during blind levels of 400/800, I was sitting on about 19,000 in chips and was in 1st at the time . I was on the button and drew AJs. The guy who was first to act shoved his last 600 in, and the guy next to him raised it up to about 1900. Action folded around to me and after deciding that if I made the call and missed, I'd still have a decent lead. So I called. Flop comes up J6J. BINGO!!! Mister raiser instantly pushes his remaining 8000 or so chips in.... I called and he flipped over AA BINGO again!!! My hand held and I went up to about 36000 in chips and just eliminated 2 people (at $2 each) Once I got to the final table I just could catch any cards and wound up going home in 5th.

Tonight.... I sat down for the same tournament. I managed to make the final table without eliminating anyone. I caught some good hands at the right time, and coupled with some people being over aggressive, I finished in 3rd for $100.80. Now if I hadn't donked off my stack last night, I'd be cruising along.

Off the poker subject.... I get my new teeth tomorrow, Well not al of them, just that damn 5 piece bridge that's taken them so long to get made. At least I'll be able to eat and smile again and not feel self conscious about it.

Bowling tonight 696. Not too bad.... finally felt good throwing the ball. Just need to work on my accuracy.

Diet is cruising along. Down 10lbs in one week. I may stray a little bit while in Vegas next weekend, but I will try to behave myself. Don't want to wreck things now.

OK bed now.... teeth in the morning.... or maybe one more SnG tournament.....

Full Tilt WIn

2008-02-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

All I can say is amazing. After a few tournaments and getting knocked out when I was ahead by a 2 outer on the river, or just plain running my lower pocket pair into A-A or something like that.... I entered a $3.00+$.30 90 person KO Sit-N-Go. I personally knocked out about 7 or 8 people at $.50 a head (that took care of the entry) and proceeded to wind up with this hand heads up.....

which in turn prompts this:

Not a bad piece of change if I do say so myself. It only took a couple hours. Now that it's 6 AM, it's time to get some sleep so I can be fresh for Saturday night.

It's that time again.....

2008-02-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Oh yes.... it's that time again..... time to try the evil 4 letter word we all hate..... DIET. Yup, finally starting on the one resolution I hadn't gotten to yet. I went to the store last night and got all my supplies, and today is day 1!! I checked the scale this morning..... 315!!! YIKES!!! So here's to getting to 280 by end of March and down to 250 by the time my Albuquerque trip comes around at the end of June. Lofty goal..... but I've done it before....so here's to doing it again!!!

We had our first practice for the Beaumont Cardinals last Saturday..... and boy am I stiff!!! Talk about being out of shape!! I am sure it helped contribute to my awesome 510 set last night.

I did manage to get my new car!! Exactly the one I wanted (a first) although it's missing a couple options (of course) but I can deal with it and upgrade it myself. The dealer experience was interesting. After I walked in and test drove the vehicle, I was sitting in the saleswoman's office while they appraised my trade in. She came back in and said that I owed her one. Since my mind is in the gutter and she is attractive, I had a few things running in my head, but when she told me that they got me approved WITHOUT my trade in..... well stunned was about the look I had on my face. What the heck would I do with TWO car payments?? The whole point was to roll the negative equity into the new car. Then the jackass of a sales manager got involved. He turned out to be the biggest prick in car sales history. He proceeded to berate me, and try to make it seem like I wasn't doing anything to help them out..... let's see here.... I budget myself for a $500 max payment, and the only offer you guys can come up with is $1000 down for 72 months at $599 a month for a payment WITHOUT trading in my car? Ummm do the words "go eff yourself" mean anything to you?

After about 30 mins of this nonsense, I decided I had enough and had to leave (cause of baseball practice) and walked out to the service lot where my Nissan was. I talked to my salesperson and apologized for wasting her time and asked for my keys. When she returned with my keys, she told me the sales manager had one last offer and I should go talk to him. When I walked in his office, he told me to put out my hand..... his offer.... $1250 down, $519 a month, 13.9%, WITH my trade in.....finally a deal I could accept. Wonder why he didn't do that in the beginning?? Although a few days later I had to go back and sign a new contract due to HSBC not wanting to finance me.... new contract 16.7%, $573 a month, 72 months.... not great, but I can manage it. My insurance is only $88/mo as well. I just need to put aside about $15 a day from my tips to cover the difference and I should be golden!!

Vegas in a couple weeks!! Can't wait!!! Live poker!!!!

Been playing on Full Tilt a lot recently.... the last $50 I loaded in is still there plus about $18 right now. Been playing a lot of the $1.25 9 person SnGs and the occasional 90 person $3.30 knockout tournaments. Been cashing in both of those enough to keep me going and also build up my bonus account to release what I have there. So far so good!!! :)

That's it for now.... diet (YUCK), bowling (eh), poker(woohoo), and VEGAS (YIPEE!!!). Fun times ahead!!!

Just some thoughts.....

2008-02-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well Super Tuesday was really interesting. Possibly the first time I can remember being very interested in propositions and candidates. One glitch for me though.... apparently I am a registered Democrat... OOPS!! So my vote got tossed to John Edwards. Would have rather voted for Romney, but now since he has dropped out, I am hoping McCain teams up with Huckabee. It doesn't look great on the immigration front, but I will keep my fingers crossed.

Propositions 91, 92, & 93 all went down!! WOOHOO Propositions 94 - 97 all passed!! another WOOHOO!!

Possibly getting a new car this weekend.... 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS...all depends on the financing end... kinda iffy credit if you know what I mean.

Baseball season is coming up and we have our first practice this weekend. That plus our draft. I'm looking forward to this season, and I may get a shot at pitching..... yeah I've heard that one before.

Got my new bridge in my mouth.....well it's the temp one. The real one is next Tuesday. It's awesome to be able to SMILE again and not feel like I need to hide it.

Valentines Day....... BLECH!!! Unless something changes...... BLECH!!!

Still no progress on weight loss..... need to get MOTIVATED!!

Been playing online poker too much..... costing me some sleep. Will I quit?? Doubtful!

Vegas in a month!!! WOOHOO This first trip is a Saturday turnaround and Brian is goin with. So while I am bowling, he'll prolly be drinking. Then I get to drive us home! LOL

So far so good..... 2008 is being a decent year to me...... now all I need to do is win the lottery!!

Dell Resolution

2008-02-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention....DELL.... they still FREAKING SUCK!!!

I actually was able to get an order to go through (back on MLKJr Day) and the next day they cancelled it. I have since paid it off, and took them up on the offer to re-apply.... and guess what....DENIED!! For the last two years I've been paying on time. I swear the customer service over there SUCKS!!! Computers are good..... but they need to stop outsourcing to India.

Oh well..... I'll wait a couple months and try again.

One down.... Eleven to go

2008-02-01T12:07:00.001-08:00

January is finally over!!! Not that it's been a bad month... just time to move forward (and maybe reflect on a few things).

Resolution update: Still no weight loss. So that's progress eh? Although I plan on tryingto start on the 4th.... that'll give me a month to shed some weight before Vegas at the beginning of March.

Clean and sober now for 31 days. I have bought absolutely no scratchers, daily 3, or fantasy 5. I have bought a couple $5 quickpicks for the Super Lotto, but only if the grand prize is over $50 million....and of course you HAVE to get into the office pool. I don't want to be the poor sap who decides not to get in and then the office wins and you're still working..... not gonna be me! Haven't been really saving my tips.... I've put most towards bills and gas, but generally I always have a little $$$ on me so that's a good thing.

Been playing a little poker more online. I guess that's where some more of my tips are going. On the cash tables last night, managed to get my chip stack from about $30 all the way to $110 then plummet back to $18..... new motto: QUIT WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD!! I suppose that's the gambler in me though.

Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. Patriots vs Giants. Pats going for the perfect season and are favored by about 12. Take the Giants & the points. The 'ol Super Bowl square pool, I have 0 - 0 & 9 - 4. I think I stand a decent shot this year..... not that I'll be watching.... I get to work delivering pizza that day. Should be a good tip day, and since it isn't night time I won't be staring hard trying to find address numbers!!!

Oh well.... lunch time and more work... here's to a great weekend!!!

Dell Revisited and other stuff

2008-01-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

Well after that experience with Dell customer service, I decided to do a little research myself. I managed to find all my past statements (well most of them) and it appears I did skip some payments (or made really late ones) back in the beginning of 2006. It still doesn't explain why everything says I have credit available, but at least I can drop it for now. Besides they'll be paid off next week.

Super Bowl should be boring. It shouldn't be a question of who will win, but a question of how mnay points will New England win by. Too bad the Chargers didn't put up much of a fight... doesn't matter anyway.... I'll be delivering pizza during that time. At least I'll be making some money.

I'm taking up a new venture in hopes that I'll make some extra cash instead of spending it. I just launched a new internet store called K.E.G. Electronics What's the E for? Well KG Electronics was already taken. Brilliant eh?? Go check it out and buy some crap from me so I can make some money or something. :)

Bowling tonight..... 193 - 269 - 166 yup.... I hate the third game.

So far I'm doing well with my resolutions except forthe losing weight one..... well who ever does good with that one? So far I've managed to stay "clean & sober" for 21 days and have saved over $300. I think that's a good start.

OK.... laundry calls. Then bed. It's Monday tomorrow.

Credit woes

2008-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

As much as I like their computers, DELL FREAKIN SUCKS!!!

Lemme explain....

A few years back I opened a Dell Financial Services account..... and they even gave me a $1500 limit which I promptly rang up with a purchase of a new laptop. I began the tedious task of paying this off by barely paying more than the minimum....then purchasing some other stuff to ring it back up. Fast forward a few years later..... Dell is offering some deal where you can pick up a decent system for about $399 and with a few add-ons you can get it out the door for about $800. According to my statements, the online account access, even the phone information line, I have about $1060 credit available. I go to make the purchase with my DFS account, and surprise surprise.... I can't use it. I email customer service and they tell me my account was closed due to delinquency and they cannot reopen it.....but can re-apply once I pay this down to zero.

WTF?!?!?

I don't ever recall failing to pay at least the minimum on this EVER! Even after speaking to their customer service (once I got around the lady from India whose English SUCKED!) I got the same response. I have now requested a complete history of my account and we'll see where I wind up then. I don't even think once I pay this off I'll be able to get another account..... my credit somewhat SUCKS!!!! Funtimes eh?

Just ordered that Internet Speedway thing for online business... it's a gamble (and the reason I wanted a new computer) but if I can make it work.....and I'm sure I can.... I can ditch Dominos and enjoy myself a little more.... maybe even go back to school!!

Bowling last night... 254 - 247 - 239 (or something like that) Not bad except we lost 3 points and I was trying to throw off a little.... yeah that worked out huh?

Poker and baseball hopefully this weekend..... then more bowling..... I sense a pattern here.....

A few tidbits....

2008-01-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

Interesting weekend to say the least.

Chargers upset the Colts (I would have taken the Chargers anyway) and the Giants "upset" the Cowboys. (How touching...a tearful T.O.) I'm predicting (as most of America) a Packers - Patriots Super Bowl. Would love to see a Chargers - Giants game though..... yeah.... that'll happen.

Couldn't make Pechanga to test out my new look and see how many times I get carded.... maybe next weekend. My poker playing (at least online) seems to be going well. I just need to start tournaments earlier in the evening so I don't get tired and do something stupid (push all in with 7-2 suited).

Bowling.... ummm yeah 207 - 255 - 164 huh??? Average control or just lose your line.... take a pick.

Baseball practice this weekend... see how my arm is. Still doubt I'll pitch at all this season.... but hey.... couldn't hurt to dream.

Don't you hate it when someone invites themselves to go with you on a trip and brings their ill-behaved child with them? Glad I had other things.... I think that would have been miserable.

Domino's stupid BFD deal. $14.00 out the door for a large anything you want on it pizza. Tips seem to go down for those orders to $1.00 maybe $2.00 if I'm lucky. Cheap bastards.

Congrats Brian on your new job.... enjoy your Mo Val - Costa Mesa commute for the next couple weeks..... I feel your pain.

OK.... productivity calls.... gotta do something here.

A new year and a new look

2008-01-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hey lookie here..... two posts on back to back days!! Must be bored at work or something.

I'd been threatening to do it, and last night finally did.

Now that could leave a lot to the imagination...... but....

I finally shaved off that goatee and the rest of the facial "growth" that I had let go for the last month.

All it took was finally getting an electric razor so I can keep it up on a daily basis without having to break out the regular razor & shaving cream.

I now know what I can do for Halloween this year..... grow it all back and do the lumberjack thing.

Other thoughts.... it's been 10 days and still no scratchers.... or other California Lottery products for that matter. I wonder if I can make an "AA" style chip to put on my keychain once I get past 30 days.

Might play some poker this weekend and see if they card me with my new look....should be fun!!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

Wow.... from October til now and no posting.... yup, I think I have a commitment issue. Could be a reason why I am single.... other than I am about 80 lbs overweight, living at home, balding, and missing two front teeth...... yup..... funtimes there!!!

Well since it is the new year and everyone does it, I've also got a few resolutions.

1. STOP PLAYING THE F#$%*NG LOTTERY GAMES. Mainly scratchers. I decided to give up on scratchers and the daily games. I'll still play Super Lotto when it gets up there and still get in the office pool. That should keep some significant change in my pockets.

2. The perpetual lose weight resolution. I would like to try to get down to 270 - 280 before heading to Vegas in March and down to 250 by the time I go to Albuquerque at the end of June. What do I weigh now? I haven't looked at the scale, but I am guessing about 310.

3. Put $25 per day of my tips aside and SAVE!!! I figure if I can follow through on this, I could have about $6000 by the end of the year. I know I'll wind up dipping in there sometime for something, but it would be nice to have some sort of emergency fund.

4. Complete my "get out of debt project". I'm currently on track to have everything paid off by around June - July this year except for my car payment and rent.... possibly some residual IRS payments too. I also learned that I can live off my paychecks without screwing around with my witholdings. Here's to a nice refund next year!!!

Back to last years stuff.....

We finished the baseball season by going 5 - 4 - 1. Made the playoffs and lost in the first round to the same team we had beaten the week before to get in. Great game and I am really looking forward to this upcoming season. I'll be back with the Cardinals again, but this time we'll be in the 18R division where we belong. Apparently, our coach agreed to being in the Open division knowing we'd get killed so we would be more coachable this season. I don't know how many people would want to come back after that, but it seems there's a lot coming back. Practice should start this weekend as long as the fields are dry after last weeks rainstorms.

Played and made the final table at Pechanga on Christmas Eve Day. We could have chopped and took home $299 each, but we had one hold out who "just wanted to play a little more" and I wound up in 9th for $60. If you want to play a little more.....GO PLAY THE EFFING CASH TABLES!!!! Upset?? Me?? Nahhhhhh.

That should be enough for now.... let's see how well I keep up with everything (posting, resolutions, etc...)

Here's to a great 2008!!

It's already October?

2007-10-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Yup.... another in a long line of infequent posts. What exactly was the reason for doing this? Oh hell I forgot.

Anyway..... baseball just started back up for me. New team, new division, and thankfully new results. Averaging .286 right now and we are 1 - 0 - 1. We're playing good....have pretty good pitching and we never give up. I don't think I'll be pitching.... but you never know. Speaking of baseball..... Angels made the playoffs by winning the west..... and as I type, Boston is up 1 - 0 on them. It's only the first inning.... so hopefully Lackey gets his crap together.

Bowling has been up and down and all over the place. Had back to back weekends in Vegas at the end of September. The first weekend was more of a turnaround for me. Up Friday night back on Saturday afternoon. Sweeps went very well....started with the first 17 before sparing and finishing off the sheet for 300 - 279. Fell on my nose for the last game and wound up with a 192 for second place. Still made about $1000. The next weekend I shot 717 scratch which wound up being good enough for first and made another $900 (left $800 in Vegas). Got a $10 6-team parlay card on the way home and got the first 5 correct before the Pats - Chargers scored too many points (52...I took the under at 46 1/2) Oh well eh?

Played some poker in Vegas at Buffalo Bills.... a little 2 - 6 hold-em. Lost $100 pretty quick, bought in for another $100 and almost got it all back. Back to back pocket Qs and took down some pretty good pots. Played some craps there too and made about $300 in one sitting. I even got my hands on one of those little purple $500 chips they have over there. As soon as I can figure out how to post a picture, I will.

Enough for now.... got to root the Angels on.... so I can see them in the ALCS (got tix for home game 3 today!)

...3 months later.....again

2007-09-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Talk about your infrequent posts! Oh well.... Lots to catch up on.

Baseball.... well we finished 3 - 12 (or something like that). Funny thing is that 2 of the 3 were by forfeit. Wound up with about a .168 batting average but at least I had a .538 OBP. For the fall, we aren't playing so I am picking up with another team. We'll be in the 18R division, and I'll even get to log a few innings pitching.

Bowling... well Reno was a blast. Made some money in every event. Even cashed well in the super brackets. If it hadn't been for a couple 179 games I might have made more. The C.A.T.S. lesson I took was very interesting. I learned a lot about my game and what issues I have been having. After putting the things into play that I was taught has really been mind blowing. Not only has my game improved a little bit, but my arm doesn't hurt when I make longer throws on the baseball field..... who knew!!

Poker.... haven't played that much lately. There's just been no time to do it. I made a few final tables on online freerolls which made me feel like I've been playing good, and I finished in 26th out of 594 at Pechanga's Memorial Day tourney. Maybe I am getting better... or maybe just getting luckier. We'll have to see how long I can keep that roll going.

Heading out to Vegas tomorrow for Sunday sweeps and again next Friday for Tuesday sweeps. Should prove to be interesting.

Myspace..... who knew!! Who knew that everyone else I know actually have pages.... now they got me going. That's a first that someone else got me hooked with something to do with computers.

Gotta run..... packing and VEGAS calls!!!

Cards win & Reno update

2007-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well this almost counts as a regular post.... not that anyone other than me reads this thing.

Last Sunday we had a rematch against my old baseball team.....and WE WON! The last time we played them, we lost 8 - 6 by self destructing in the last inning. This time we were up 2 - 0 before the game even started. They weren't ready to go at start time and league rules state that if a team isn't ready to field a team, they give up 1 run for every 15 mins delayed. So we started up 2 - 0 and with them down two players (they played without a shortstop and a right fielder). After about 3 1/2 innings, the score was tied 4 - 4. You can imagine the optimism on our team thinking we should be able to pound them since they were missing two guys and we were only tied. After the two missing players showed up is when we broke the game open. Final score was 17 - 4 with me keeping my batting average at an impressive .000 I did walk, dropped a bunt (turned into a fielders choice) and struck out (but reached base due to the catcher missing the ball). My OBP is pretty impressive at almost .500 This week we get to play a team from the 28+ division..... yup...we should lose that one!!

Played an online play chip tournament on Pokerstars the other night (500+30 entry) and out of 2300+ entries I finished in 32nd. Not too bad....then again for play chips, there was a lot of loose play and I shouldn't count it as how good/bad I played. Enjoyed it, even though it kept me up til almost 4am on a work night. (YAWN!)

Only 11 more days til Reno. Got a better rate for my room (saved about $40 total) and found out that our team coordinator is on the same flight out as I am. At least I'll have someone to talk to on the way (or I could just fall asleep!)

Enough for now...... I'm outta here.

2 weeks and counting

2007-06-07T16:54:00.001-07:00

Still trying to remember why I started this in the first place and why I don't post more often. One of these days I'll actually be more consistant.

So from April til now.... really not a whole heck of a lot. Bowling has been falling off at Riverside ever since they changed the shot and it's been taking me forever to figure out exactly what they did. I'm sure I'll eventually get there. Played a poker tournament at Pechanga over Memorial Day weekend for the first time in a couple months and actually lasted well past the break.... just not long enough to cash. My chip stack got under the big blind by $500 and I went all in with pocket 10s. Unfortunately the two people that called me (including the big blind) had pocket Jacks and the other had 10 - 7. Needless to say..... I went home. At least I made about $50 on the slots while I was heading out.

Baseball..... wow.....we still SUCK! We had 3 weeks off due to 2 holidays and one cancellation and played like we had 3 months off. I misplayed 3 fly balls that helped contribute to the opposing team's 5 run first inning en route to a 24 - 2 decimation. I was 0 -1 at the plate with a walk, strikeout, and a run scored. It also marked the first time I played center field.... that was interesting.

Reno is coming up very soon ( 2 weeks actually ) and I am almost set to go. Got the car, flight, & room taken care of. All I need is about another $500 for brackets & sidepots and I'll be set.

Enough for now.... more work calls!!

K

A lot of catching up....

2007-04-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

Holy crap.... haven't posted since December? I think I need to look up the word "commitment" in the dictionary and refresh myself on it's meaning.

Let's see here..... New Year's.... nothing special.....and that leads up til now. Exciting eh? New baseball season has started up..... and we SUCK!! Errors galore. In fact, my batting isn't there either. Haven't gotten a single hit after two games, and my defense hasn't been great either. I missed our third game while I was in Vegas bowling right handed.... another interesting story there. We lost that one too.... more errors. Last week was rained out.... in the middle of April... what's up with that???

Back to the right handed thing. I managed to dislocate my pinky finger on my left hand trying to catch a poorly thrown football.... so I switched. Went to Vegas with a 158 average, and after the first two games, I was looking really good. 159 - 205. The third game started like the first two....mark - open - open - mark - mark then the wheels came off..... actually I was throwing the ball well, just my luck decided to go home early. In the 7th frame I left a pocket 8 - 10 split. OK, shit happens and we move on.... 8th frame a marked again... 9th frame I left a pocket 7 -10. Great.... that's gonna hurt.... but if I could manage a double in the 10th I should be OK..... I step up in the 10th and a perfect pocket shot resulted in ANOTHER pocket 7-10. I let out a rather large vulgar obscenity and wound up shooting 138. That killed any chance I had at cashing. Oh well, that's the last time I am bowling right handed. We started the new season last Sunday and I returned to bowling left handed. 259 - 255 -257 = 771 Nice start eh? We'll see how long that lasts!!

Saturday I played my first NLHE tournament in a while. Did you know that J-7s beats A-Jo? Blinds were 100 - 200 or 200 - 400 and a guy in really early position pushes all in pre flop for about 1200. I look down and see A-J and decided to call. Probably not the best move, but I hadn't seen very good cards and hoped that this would be a good chance to get some more. He flips over his J7 and I thought I was in good shape. Flope comes up J68 rainbow.... good... his flush draw is gone, turn shows a 9, which gave him a few more outs.... and wouldn't you know... the turn was a 7 giving him 2 pair. Oh well.... at least it wasn't online. That's gonna happen from time to time, and I'm sure I'll do it to someone else as well. Just would have been fun to actually win that hand and stay alive a little longer.

Other than that...same crap just different days. Now I'm just getting ready for Reno in June. Need to put tips and whatever aside and that should give me enough to enter all the side events and have some fun money after.

Enough of this tonight...... hopefully I can post a little more a bit more frequently that once every 3 months or so :)

K

Sunday night....

2006-12-03T23:20:00.000-08:00

Well looks like I am still blocked for the time..... gotta get them to unblock me or I will throw some sort of hissy fit over here.

Well bowling didn't go well... we got killed and my sub par isn't going to help my team or my virtual team at all. At least I made a little cash in brackets. Also on the news front, I just got this wonderful piece of email:
PokerStars Tournament #37294495, No Limit Hold'em

Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50

18 players

Total Prize Pool: $90.00

Tournament started - 2006/12/04 - 00:51:39 (ET)

Dear Gopher0001,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.

A $36.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

Well it took about 1 1/2 hours and the defining moment of this one was I called the big blind heads up with 5 - 6 off... flop comes up 4 -5 -6 rainbow. I checked, BB shoves a hefty bet in, I re-raise all in and got a call. He only had A-10 and didn't catch..... it just took a few more hands to polish him off. Just warming up for Wil Wheaton's Tuesday night funtimes. That should be a hoot!!!

OK off to bed now....work in the morning, and if this thing isn't unblocked soon I may need to fire off an email.

ALL IN!!

It's the weekend!!!

2006-12-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while since I have posted anything....about a week actually. Damn site thinks I am a spam blog, so this might not show up until they release it... guess that's what I get for using a free site.

This week kinda sucked... would up with a tooth infection in an OLD ROOT CANAL that was done a while ago. Oddest thing ever if you ask me. Went to the dentist and they took a full mouth xray then put me on some antibiotics and then sent me to the endodontist. They couldn't do much there cause of the infection....so they numbed me up really good and cut into the swollen area to drain it.....fun fun fun there. They swelling has gone down and I feel better. Won't be doing my second job this week cause I have to go back to the endodontist for them to play with that old root canal. More funtimes there.

I'm just playin a few tourneys on Poker Stars right now to get ready for Sunday's round 3 Moneymaker millions..... top 120 cash, top 9 get trips to the Bahamas for some huge poker action there. I'm just hoping to cash and go from there.... so send some mojo my way if you don't mind (like there's anyone reading this LOL)

OK I'm out! Hasta!!!

Zero Hour Pt 2

2006-11-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

Well I am back from baseball and bowling. Don't think I could have had a better day.

At baseball, we won 2 games.... sort of. The team we were originally scheduled to play wound up forfeiting due to lack of players. So we ended up playing another team that showed up due to a scheduling snafu. We won that game 12 - 6 and I think I had one of the best games of my not so historic career. I went 2 - 4 with a RBI and two runs scored and played solid "D" (although that's nothing new to me). We secured a place in the playoffs and are just waiting to see who we're going to play next week. Bad part is that I have a round 3 NL Hold Em tournament at 11am next Sunday. Should prove to be interesting.

Out on the bowling lanes, I surprised myself by going 232 - 300 - 259 for a pretty nice 791 set. Best part was that I did it without my glasses on!!! So all things considered it was a pretty good day.

Tomorrow I start the Nutrisystem thing and we'll see how well this goes.

Shouldn't have said GO NINERS art the end of my last post....... they lost DAMMIT!! Oh well, as long as the Raiders lose and the Chargers win (which was sweet tonight), I think I can sleep soundly.

No second job tomorrow, so if I can get up early and get to work early I can leave early (there's a trend there somewhere) and MAYBE head to Pechanga for a little Hold Em action..... hmmmmm

Peace!!

Zero hour approaches

2006-11-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well I managed to survive Thanksgiving without lapsing into a total tryptophan (sp?) coma. Didn't gain a ton of weight and was very satisfied. Pretty cool to see my sister and her husband again, although he just loves to pick on me. That's OK.....I can dish it out as well as take it.

What's zero hour you ask? Well, I am starting my diet tomorrow. I have a goal to drop down to about 220 by next summer. Since I am 6'4", I think that 220 would be just about right for my height. I am attempting the Nutrisystem diet. Thing is I am an extrodinarily picky eater. I don't know if I am going to be able to hold out on this stuff, and may just go back to the low carb thing. At least that way I know I can do it and the weight comes off pretty quick.

Not much of an update for now. I am on my way out the door for my baseball game. This game is pretty meaningless since we are already in the playoffs, but ot could help our standings a little bit so we don't have to play the #1 seed (although I do want to take them on again).

More from the baseball diamond and the bowling lanes later.

GO NINERS!!

First Entry

2006-11-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

Stardate..... aww hell.... I couldn't calculate a stardate if you paid me to do it, besides I'm not that big of a Star Trek geek.

A little introduction about myself and why I decided to do this:
My name is Kevin. I am 34 years old and live in Norco (aka Horse Town USA) in California. I honestly think the town just came up with the name to try to put themselves on the map. I know for a fact there are other cities in this country with a lot more horses than us.

I currently enjoy a wide vairey of interests, baseball, bowling, golf, poker (my current obsession), geocaching.... yup you may call me a geek, nerd, dork... I've been called worse than that.

What is my purpose here? I'm sure there's no interest in my life by the outside world, but I wanted somewhere to write what's been going on with my life as I head to one of my goals..... The World Series of Poker 2008. Yes 2008. Put it this way, there's no chance I can come up with $10K in a couple months..... so I figure '08 would be a good goal.

Another purpose is to track other ambitions. I've already mentioned that I play baseball. I'm a pretty solid outfielder, but my batting....well SUCKS!!!!

Another thing to keep track of is my current weight loss program. Since Thanksgiving is past us, I figure it's a good time to start trying to get in better shape before I have a heart attack or something.

Also it just seemed like an interesting this to do. I've been reading a couple other blogs and it just sorta inspired me to do the same. Eventually I may learn enough about HTML and post some pictures and other crap.

So here's my first entry to the blogging world..... I hope that if I get some visitors, that they leave comments as they see fit. I may not tell the most interesting stories (yet), but you never know what you'll find here. You may just see me on ESPN with a shiny new bracelet for playing poker :)

Out.