I guess I have been busy...

...playing around on Facebook instead of updating this blog. It's no excuse it is just what it is. I have been living life not really playing much poker. Been training hard in Tang Soo Do because I have my big test coming up in less then a year. Trying to find a way to make it all pay off and enjoy doing it as well. Most of what makes me the happiest these days is going to the beach with my daughter and seeing her dive for rocks to bring home for her mom, having a quiet evening on the porch with a good beer, good book and a good cigar.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

I haven't played poker in awhile but I will be playing in this

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 541964

Hope to see you at the tables!!!

Busy Living or Busy Dying

I always seem to be killing time at nights especially since it seems I haven't had the undying urge to play poker online. I have been giving it a rest and I have to say I have missed it a bit but not enough to play and then fret over the fact that I didn't do this or pushed a hand to far or not enough, the very least is that I have been sleeping better instead of having these thoughts invading my slumber. I will get back to it eventually but for right now it's not to be.

The class at the Y has been going well and as I have said before I really am enjoying teaching martial arts and to feel a real passion for something that I haven't felt for in a very long time or ever. I think this has been what has been missing from my poker game. Like poker I know that I am not the best Tang Soo Do practitioner out there but it does not effect my bottom line like it does in poker. Seeing my students under me grow and develop a passion for the art like I have. Sharing my knowledge with other people is what it is all about. If I could just find a way to generate more interest in what we are doing and have the program really grow.

I am learning everyday that I teach something new about myself and it's giving me a deeper understanding of what it means to be a true practitioner of the art. Everyone that studies martial arts is ultimately looking to earn a black belt and feels that is a great accomplishment. I have to say that it truly is and I felt more satisfaction earning my first Dan (degree) then I think I did in getting my college degree. The reality of it is that I it is just the beginning and you don't really understand that until you have been studying for many years as a black belt. I going on a decade of having my 1st Dan and I feel that there is still so much that I can still learn. I am doing such advanced techniques but there is always something to gain from doing the first form you ever learned. When you stop taking something new away from that you should think about doing something else in life because that has lost all meaning to you. The idea is simple you should learn something new everyday of your life because that is what keeps you interested in living. If you have it all figured out you have nothing to look forward to and you might as well quit living. As Stephen King wrote in "The Shawshank Redemption" "You either busy living or busy dying." So growing everyday from finding something new to spark your mind is being busy living. I hope I never figure it all out because then that night that I go to bed I will have nothing to look forward to when I wake up so I might as well just die in my sleep. Our black belts are actually Midnight Blue becuase Balck is finality and death and the midnight blue is symbolic to allowing more growth.

Poker, Pallin, Soccer and Martial Arts

I have been rather silent in the past few months and I just don't know what to say. Nothing much is happening on the poker front. I have decided to take a bit of a hiatus from online play it just wasn't as much fun as it had been in the past and I think I was putting to much pressure on myself to have positive results in the form of monetary return and I wasn't getting the results that I liked. I played live a bit back up at Foxwoods and had I good result at the low limit tables but I blew most of it playing a Sit'n go where I bubbled out in fourth. I thought I had been discplined enough to resist the siren call of the sitn'go but alas I was weak and paid for my sins.

I have been gathering an interest in following Soccer and have been sucked into caring about the matches from many different leagues. English Premier League, Scottish Premier League(being part Scot I just have to), La Liga, Barcalona looks like the team for me, UEFA league Championships and yeah even MLS even though I know they are the red headed step child of world soccer. I have settled in on Celtic for the SPL even though it seems like I am a winner picker there but my Grandmother was form Glasgow and for some reason the Rangers don't seem to speak to me. EPL I haven't settle on a team a friend of mine is a Man U. nut but I am not committed to them I think I am leaning towards Liverpool but haven't made a public commitment as of yet. For the MLS I am a glutton for punishment because like every New York fan who roots for teams that play in Giants Stadium it's feast or famine and nothing in between so I have to say I am a Red Bulls fan and maybe they will have better luck once their new Soccer specific stadium is built and they are in there own home. Even though if they can't win on the road they will never make the playoffs. With World Cup qualifiers happening as we speak there is a bunch to be excited about and to hold my interest.

When it comes to politics I am very disappoint in the whole lot and am very afraid for this country that we live in. The latest example is the Sarah Pallin fiasco yeah that's the way to be the mavrick McCain appeal to the wacko religious right and delude yourself in thinking the women of this country will give in on every important value that is dear to them that this Moose shooting pit bull of a politician thinks should be taken away will give them votes because she has a vagina and are pissed off at Obama because he beat Hillary fair and square and didn't pick her as his running mate. Talk about being out of touch. Oh since I don't believe I am part of the media I will say what everyone is thinking, Pallin's failed policies of absentience only sex education came to bite her in the ass and to think that her daughter decide to have this child is something to be proud about and having marry this yahoo is the best think for this innocent child that is cooking in her uterus is one of the biggest piece of hipocracy when no one out there is condemning her for having premarital sex to begin with. Enough ranting I think I have say all I can without my head exploding.

I personal note I have been teaching my Tang Soo Do class for almost 6 months now and I seriously considering opening up a private studio as soon as I feel I can make a go at it. More to come as that develops.

Doing my part, are you?

I long for the days when I would drive around town and try to find the gas station that had gas at less the a $1.30 a gallon? I know I maybe dating myself but that was less than 10 years ago. Now I am searching online to find gas that is as close to $4.00 a gallon as possible. Now in the ten years since my salary has not increase 4 fold to keep up with this. So what is this one man to do? I could win the lottery but I actually think I'm not the only one trying this tact. I could telecommute but first I would have to find a job that would allow me to do that. I could sell it all and move to an island and start bartending at a beach bar, I haven't discussed this with the wife but I think she would be down with that.

Seriously what I am doing is finding other modes of transportation. My hours at work are not the most conducive to taking the bus even though it is a short walk to the bus stop form my house. I only live less then 3 miles from my job so I have decided to ride my bike. I bought the bike about 4 years ago and never really used it as much as I would have like to. I have always like going on bike rides and I have always said I would rather ride ten miles on a bike then jog one mile. The only problem with the bike riding is that I get off of work at 10:30 in the evening and it is mostly up hill on the way home. I have the requisite lights, the bright head light and the blinking tail light and reflective gear, a crazy yellow reflective vest you can see from the moon if there is light shined on it. I have been doing it for about a week now and I am actually enjoying the time that I am alone on the road. It has been very healthy for me both physically and mentally. The best part is that I am barley using my car and I have stretched out the times between fill ups. I may not put an end to the OPEC cartel but damn its making a difference in my wallet. So as my bank account gets bigger my waistline is getting smaller and the oil companies aren't getting richer and that is something.

What are you doing?

Do I really need a new something else to worry about?

I have never been much of a sports fan. I really just didn't care enough. I always thought that there were more important things to care about in this world, like world peace, AIDS, Crack and Bernie Getz. I was a music geek in High School and knew more about Beethoven, Benny Goodman and Billy Joel then the Yankees or any other professional team. I was in the marching band and went to every football game for my years there. When I went to college to study music I joined the pep band and even the fraternity that organized it, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia a professional music fraternity. In going to all these game I rooted for the home team like nobody's business, but I never care much about the great American pastime, never memorized players or stats. I was only interested in one world series that was the '86 Mets/Boston because my roommate was a crazy ass Mets fan. The scary part of what is happening to me right now is that I am actually caring about soccer.

I work with a kid that is a Manchester United freak and I have been following his ups and downs throughout the season this year and I was truly disappointed that I wasn't able to watch the whole Chelsea/Man U match on Wednesday. I was able to get to a TV during the extra time and shoot out and Holy shit that was some serious edge of your seat cardiac inducing action. The last couple of World Cups I would actually try to follow the teams and when the US made it as far as it did the last time I actually watch the final and witnessed the headbutt heard around the world. So I'm not completely ignorant.

The problem I am having is following the EPL is that I can figure out how all the qualifying for the European cups works and who gets automatic entry and who doesn't let alone know who plays for who. What I really like is relegation because you actually care about the competition at the bottom of the rankings as well as the power houses at the top of the league. This is something that I think should be introduced in the US. Can you imagine if the Yankees have a really shitty season that the would have to play Triple AAA and some farm team moves up to the Majors, now that would be excitement. I know the European Cup is about to begin and I will watch with interest but I think I am starting to care about the New York Red Bulls and the MLS. I know they are the red headed stepchild in the world of soccer but what the hell. I just might not tell my Man U freak friend he may not understand.

Holy Crap...

It's been over three months since my last post and I don't think anyone noticed. That's ok because it is mostly mental masturbation for me and it is really just a creative outlet to clear the monkey brain that is my mind.

Let me sum up:

Poker sucking and I have lost some passion for online play. Haven't gotten up to Foxwoods since last post anyway and seriously craving some live action.

Work is just going, no better no worst. The new Karate class is coming along, I just wish I had a few more students but that all may change soon. Something is in the works, more once I know.

Munchkin is great as always, the wife is good as well and has come to the conclusion that we need to do something about the environment that we live and I am all for that even though it means a bunch of manual labor on my part.

If anyone out there cares about what I have to say just drop me an email or a comment so I can decide if I have to be truly creative or just write to amuse myself.

Goodnight and Good Luck!!!