As has been the case for more then 3 years, I am celebrating my personal Friday today, on Monday. I enjoy 3 days off every week, and while I would like the financial gain of a fifth work day, there are many benefits to a 4 day work week. If things have been difficult at work that particular week, it gives me plenty of time to recharge and come back on Friday refreshed. It also gives me plenty of time with Jasmine and Asher, as I pick Jasmine up from school 4 times a week, as well as dropping her off in the morning 4 times each week. Asher and I spend my days off hanging out together and generally we have a great time. Come Friday when work calls once more, I am usually pretty exhausted from 3 and a half days of chasing after an active 16 month old little man. This morning as I quite literally danced my way through the morning routine at work, it dawned on me just how lucky I am to have the job I have. Now, financial considerations aside, it is quite uncommon for a job to have so many positive aspects as the one I have. There are plenty of things that need doing at work that adhere to structure and guidelines provided by the common that I work for. I need to assist the guys in a safe manner, ensure they are well fed, cared for, and supported. I spend time encouraging the guys to try tasks that they are capable of doing, and when something is out of your scope of capabilities, I am there to help with that. As usual the morning routine of getting ready started at 800 when I wake one of the guys and ask him to use the washroom, I assist with showering, getting dressed and I make breakfast for the 3 of us. I don't rush the guys, as there is nowhere that we need to be on my morning shifts, so the routine usually lasts until 1030 or even 1100 some days. Today, due to an unusual amount of pep in my step, the guys were ready to face the day by 945. One guy is in the living room as per usual, and this morning he is dancing to the music I have playing on my ipod. The other guy often gets upset in the morning as he is not a fan of the morning routine. He generally doesn't like taking a shower, and he particularly detests shaving. Today, after shaving a particularly bushy beard he had going on and helping him get dressed, he was red in the face but something was different about his mood. Within minutes he was sitting in his recliner, and promptly fell asleep. I realize that my good mood and my lack of anger while assisting this morning may have contributed to his not getting as worked up, and I am going to actively try this in the future. Anger begets anger as they say, whoever they are.
Now, to the reason for my good mood. With Sheila and the kids down in Quesnel to visit our families, I took place in the poker game as I usually do on Sunday afternoon. The Sunday game is usually fairly quiet as the tight regulars are often playing, and there may be only 1 or 2 loose cannons sitting down. A buddy of mine was sitting, and he likes to gamble as he so aptly puts it. I like to get involved, and if the table is generally passive, I will take the opportunity to play more hands. Within 30 minutes, the first big pot came my way.
In late position I tossed in $12 with 79 offsuit. I am looking to take control of the hand, buy the button, and take the pot down either right away, or on the flop. I get a call from my buddy in the big blind, and one of the limper. 3 handed to the flop, and I have the button. The flop is 885 2 spades. Checked to me and I fire $20 and recieve a call from the loose big blind. His range is so wide here that I have no clue where I should put him. He could be floating with high cards, he could flush drawing, he could have just the 5, or of course he could have caught trips. As I beg for an offsuit 6 in my mind, I recieve the card I want, 6 of diamonds. The big blind check calls $35, and when a harmless 3 of clubs comes on the river he check calls $50 and I announce straight. This caused a stunned pause as everyone realized that I had raised preflop, with someone saying: "well, I didn't have that hand in your range" in a playful manner. Little did I know that this was a sign of things to come.
In the next orbit, I tossed in $2 with Q9 diamonds from the cutoff, and paid another $10 when it was raised from the blinds. It was 5 handed to the flop with a pot of $60. The flop came down A 9 6 with the 6 of diamonds giving me middle pair and a back door flush draw. When the first 3 players checked to me I decided to bet. I felt that the 2 players who had limped in early position and just checked the flop likely did not hold an ace. If they had a weak one and had chose to check it, I might get them to fold to my flop bet, or to a bigger turn bet. I settled on $40 and tossed it into the $60 pot. A solid, tight player was behind on the button and he gave the spot some thought. He know me well enough and told me later that he couldn't see me having an ace as I had played so passively preflop. He decided to fold eventually. The small blind, who was the original raiser and the same villain from the previous hand, called the $40 and we were heads up after the others folded. The turn was the 3 of diamonds. I lit up inside as this was a very exciting card that allowed me to continue my line. After the villain checked I eyed up his stack which was about $180 and the pot was $140. Knowing that I was going to bet, I wanted to make a bet size that would still allow me to fold if he indeed went all in. At the same time, I didn't believe he had an ace as he checked the flop after raising preflop, and then just check called my flop bet. The most likely hand was 87 I felt, with a 9 also possible. He could hold a medium pair and have called the flop bet to see if I would shut down. I went with a $70 bet, half pot. This left me room to fold, but was also large enough that it may have convinced the villain that I was not folding to a push. He called the $70 quite fast and we had a $280 pot to the river. The 8 of clubs peeled off. At this point I was looking for a check down as any other play would have required some deep thought. I still wasn't convinced he had an ace, and I was still leaning towards 87, but it was entirely possible he had some combination of 2 pair. He contemplated his options a while, then checked. I checked behind and he announced that he had an 8. I tabled my Q9 of diamonds and dragged the pot, as he showed his 85 of diamonds, seemingly relieved that we hadn't found a diamond on the river. This was one of the funnest hands I have ever won, as I really doubted my chances of holding the winner. As if that wasn't enough, the session managed to get even better.
I had won a few more hands in the mean time through either value betting made hands, having solid starting hands hold up, and riding my high horse to a stack of around $600 from the $200 I started with. I was holding K9 off this hand in the small blind. Early position player made it $5 to go, and I completed along with 5 others. I made a joke saying: "I gotta flop the nuts to continue. This isn't the type of hand you want to catch a piece with." Sure enough the flop is K96 with 2 spades. I fire $20 into the $30 pot. I get a call from the same loose cannon as he seems determined to get me back for the other two hands. A call from the small blind sends us to the turn 3 handed. The turn is the 9 of hearts, completing my full house. I decide to get cute and make a small bet that may entice either loose opponent to go over the top. I bet $20 into the $90 pot. I was trying to tell them I was holding a K, but not one that I was proud of. Sure enough, the guy in position min raises to $40. The small blind called quite quickly. Here, I wasn't sure of my next move. Knowing I had the best hand I could just call and hope to get a ton of money on the river. There wasn't a card I feared much on the river, but if a scare card came it might stop the opponents from putting more money in. I settled on a raise, but one small enough that the guys would have a hard time tossing their hand away. I made it $100, $60 more then the raise I was facing. Without hesitating, the villain was all in for $350. The small blind stepped aside and I called showing my full house. The villain had the case 9, holding 97 offsuit and he was drawing dead. My stack had hit $1000 and we hadn't been playing for 2 hours at that point.
It was a great feeling to have solid play and a ridiculous amount of luck come together in a perfect storm type of situation. I have been feeling really good about my game lately, and I am confident in my abilities at the table. Knowing the regulars really well is helpful, and I rely on what I know about the opponents to maximize my winning spots and reduce the size of my losses against tighter regulars. Putting the proverbial pen to paper in this space and discussing specific hands, or the game in general has helped me keep everything in perspective. Support from my family has been great also, as I think Sheila has accepted that poker is a source of income for me and for her, Jasmine and Asher. I have read significant material on the game, and that has really helped me develop an understanding of the finer points of the game, some that are way beyond anything my opponents are thinking about. As I finish up work for the week, I can't stop smiling about the Sunday afternoon poker game that resulted in my biggest winning session ever. After more the 5 years playing live cash games, I would never have predicted that in a million years.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Inspirational Music
As I wait for the guys to get up for the day here at work, I found myself on you tube and eventually found myself playing one of my favourite videos. I can't help but feel very warm inside when I play this particular video, and it usually leads to me playing a few different videos that I have a soft spot for. Judge me if you'd like, but Susan Boyle's story is inspirational for me. All of these videos speak to me for a variety of reasons, and I thought I would share them with you this morning.
Susan Boyle's First Appearance:
I don't usually watch any of the talent shows on television, but I do like to view clips of the auditions on you tube. Susan Boyle is one of the reasons I started doing this.
Bruddah Iz - Somewhere Over The Rainbow:
After reading a book in 2010 on the history of surfing and the Hawaiian culture, I was lucky enough to discover the wonder that is Bruddah Iz. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Hawaii, and quite frankly he might have the best singing voice I have ever heard. This song gets to my nearly every time.
Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am a Man Of Constant Sorrow:
No explanation is needed here. This is likely one that many people can relate to, a powerful song overflowing with emotions.
Cas Haley - Walking On The Moon:
A great find from the American version of "America's Got Talent", Cas went on to finish second in the competition. As his career continues to grow, his self titled reggae album is an absolutely gem and anyone interested in the genre should take a listen.
Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans - I Wanna Be In The Cavalry:
Purely Canadian, this band has an incredibly authentic sound and some of the best songwriting I have ever come across. This track is the one that I am currently digging, but Corb Lund and his supporting cast have a slew of great songs that speak to me.
General Degree - Traffic Blocking:
As I get on a roll here, I come to my first ever reggae song. Yes, in my sheltered life I saw this music video on Much Music when I was 14 and it was my first exposure to the genre. There was and still is a serious lack of reggae content in the mainstream media, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the genre. In high school some of my favourites along with General Degree were Mr. Vegas, Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Beenie Man and more. I still enjoy reggae and along with the above artists I now enjoy Matisyahu most of all.
Northern Touch All-Stars - Northern Touch:
This is the first "favourite rap song" that I can remember, a great collaboration from the who's who of Canadian rap in 1997.
I hope you enjoyed my little journey through my You Tube favourites. As a bonus, I now have these all collected in one place for easy access when I am looking to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Susan Boyle's First Appearance:
I don't usually watch any of the talent shows on television, but I do like to view clips of the auditions on you tube. Susan Boyle is one of the reasons I started doing this.
Bruddah Iz - Somewhere Over The Rainbow:
After reading a book in 2010 on the history of surfing and the Hawaiian culture, I was lucky enough to discover the wonder that is Bruddah Iz. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Hawaii, and quite frankly he might have the best singing voice I have ever heard. This song gets to my nearly every time.
Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am a Man Of Constant Sorrow:
I absolutely love the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?", and the soundtrack is one of the biggest draws for me. The storytelling folk-style speaks to me, and this is the best song of the bunch.
Johnny Cash - Hurt:
No explanation is needed here. This is likely one that many people can relate to, a powerful song overflowing with emotions.
Cas Haley - Walking On The Moon:
A great find from the American version of "America's Got Talent", Cas went on to finish second in the competition. As his career continues to grow, his self titled reggae album is an absolutely gem and anyone interested in the genre should take a listen.
Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans - I Wanna Be In The Cavalry:
Purely Canadian, this band has an incredibly authentic sound and some of the best songwriting I have ever come across. This track is the one that I am currently digging, but Corb Lund and his supporting cast have a slew of great songs that speak to me.
General Degree - Traffic Blocking:
As I get on a roll here, I come to my first ever reggae song. Yes, in my sheltered life I saw this music video on Much Music when I was 14 and it was my first exposure to the genre. There was and still is a serious lack of reggae content in the mainstream media, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the genre. In high school some of my favourites along with General Degree were Mr. Vegas, Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Beenie Man and more. I still enjoy reggae and along with the above artists I now enjoy Matisyahu most of all.
Northern Touch All-Stars - Northern Touch:
This is the first "favourite rap song" that I can remember, a great collaboration from the who's who of Canadian rap in 1997.
I hope you enjoyed my little journey through my You Tube favourites. As a bonus, I now have these all collected in one place for easy access when I am looking to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Body Movin'
In the news yesterday, the world learned of the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of Beastie Boys fame. Sadly taken before his time, Yauch was just 47. I have been a fan of rap music since I was about 14, but unfortunately for most of that time I lacked the ability to recognize the varying degrees of quality within the genre. Much of this time found me listening to trashy stuff, with a focus on fast paced spitting style rap. I also focussed my listening time on the present, generally listening to albums that were current in a pop music fan type of way. The Beastie Boys album "Hello Nasty" was released in 1998 when I was 15, and I was totally digging the video for "Intergalactic" at the time. Being ignorant to all of the colorful history, and admittedly I still am ignorant, I appreciated the album for what it was in singularity, and not as a part of a greater body of work. The Beastie Boys were a great group for a few reasons. They didn't fit into the stereotypical mold of what a early hip hop artists was. They started as a punk group, and through a maturing process and an incredible abundance of talent they were able to succeed in an entirely different genre. They released 8 full length albums over a career spanning 25 years, both benchmarks of longevity in a genre that is devoid of such feats. They number of rap or hip hop artists that can boast of 8 successful releases is remarkable short, and the others on the list are legends in their own right. I felt sadness yesterday when I heard the news of Yauch's passing because despite my ignorance I am aware of the important role he played in moving hip hop into the media, and helping the genre gain legitimacy in the music industry. Even the most ignorant rap fan can appreciate that, and for that MCA I thank you.
This brings me to my fitness update. I haven't felt better pounding the pavement then I did yesterday morning. Asher was all bundled up and ready to go in the stroller while I did my stretching. I found my Beastie Boys collection on the ipod and away I went. My running route that I have gone on at least 50 times in the last 2 years is a leisurely 3 km route on flat terrain. I was feeling motivated last week and devised a route that would still take me in a circular route back to our house, but it would be closer to 5 km total. As I near the location where the routes split I have to exert significant will power to propel myself towards the longer route. I nailed the 5 km on Wednesday while pushing Asher, and with little hesitation I hit it again on Friday. With the only Beastie Boys album that i've ever given proper respect to playing in my ears I easily plowed through the approximately 5 km route in about 24 minutes. It felt great. Asher and I made it home, showered up, got dressed and went to daycare and on to work. As I had stated some pretty lofty physical activity goals in this very space last Sunday, I am proud to say that I pretty much nailed it.
The week started off a little slow, on Sunday Jasmine and I went for a short bike ride in the evening, and afterwards I chose to catch up on sleep after watching the Amazing Race with Sheila. Monday was also quiet as I was busy chasing the kids in the afternoon and working in the morning. Tuesday things began to pick up. Jasmine had the day off from school and after puttering around in the morning we went to pick up an air filter for my car and grab some fresh tennis balls. I splurged on a new $15 racket as well, and tennis was urgently added to the agenda. Unfortunately the high school kids were busy using the court so we headed home. Jasmine helped nicely as we spent an hour raking the yard. We went in and Jasmine baked cookie with little help from me. Asher took a nap, so I was able to get in my hamstring and glute workout. Admittedly, the week's efforts really took off on Wednesday. I was up at 715 to see Sheila off, and spent time with Jasmine and Asher before walking Jasmine to school. Asher and I took the long way home, the brisk walk really wakes me up and provides great motivation for the rest of the day. I completed my ab workout while Asher played around me, then took care of a few chores while he had his nap. When he woke up we got ready and went for our 5 km jog in the sunshine. After picking Jasmine up, we headed straight to the tennis courts. Jasmine was playing for only the third time, and she just loves playing. She often misses, and we struggle to get any kind of rally going. We don't worry about making sure the ball is in the lines, or that it only bounces once. Though she is just starting, I got a great workout as I was busy chasing wayward balls and of course Asher who was busy running around the court. Most of the time he was occupied by the extra racket I brought for him that he dragged behind him as he ran around the court. As tennis fell right during his normal nap time, I wasn't surprised when he actually laid down on the court at one point with eyes nearly shut. As we were enjoying ourselves, we actually ran out of time to go to the swimming pool as we had planned. To finish the day Jasmine and I headed down to pick up the soccer jerseys for the coming season. As we headed out we were going to bring our soccer ball and play a little but it was flat, then the basketball couldn't be found, so we headed out the door without either. After picking up the stuff, we found ourselves back at the tennis court for another game. Exhausted from the day, I fell asleep easily and awoke well rested. Thursday included a chest and tricep workout and a family swim at the pool. Friday as mentioned above consisted of a morning back and trap workout and a 5 km run. This morning I finished the week with soccer coaching and a 3 km run without my son which felt odd as I have gotten used to pushing the stroller and seeing his wispy hair flapping in the wind as I go. The greatest success of the week has to be my discipline with my diet. I have been eating relatively clean for the last 3 or 4 months, but this week may have been my best week yet. Jasmine made a batch of cookies, and I did have 3 of those. Sheila made another batch, and I got away from that after eating only one. The only other cheat was a handful of chips today. Most of my snacks have been bowls of cereal, or a banana, and I had a few protein bars as well. I have been solid with my portion sizes as well, eating until I am satisfied, not stuffed and bloated. Perhaps I will post my plan for next week ahead of time so I can gauge my success once again. Here's to another great week!
This brings me to my fitness update. I haven't felt better pounding the pavement then I did yesterday morning. Asher was all bundled up and ready to go in the stroller while I did my stretching. I found my Beastie Boys collection on the ipod and away I went. My running route that I have gone on at least 50 times in the last 2 years is a leisurely 3 km route on flat terrain. I was feeling motivated last week and devised a route that would still take me in a circular route back to our house, but it would be closer to 5 km total. As I near the location where the routes split I have to exert significant will power to propel myself towards the longer route. I nailed the 5 km on Wednesday while pushing Asher, and with little hesitation I hit it again on Friday. With the only Beastie Boys album that i've ever given proper respect to playing in my ears I easily plowed through the approximately 5 km route in about 24 minutes. It felt great. Asher and I made it home, showered up, got dressed and went to daycare and on to work. As I had stated some pretty lofty physical activity goals in this very space last Sunday, I am proud to say that I pretty much nailed it.
The week started off a little slow, on Sunday Jasmine and I went for a short bike ride in the evening, and afterwards I chose to catch up on sleep after watching the Amazing Race with Sheila. Monday was also quiet as I was busy chasing the kids in the afternoon and working in the morning. Tuesday things began to pick up. Jasmine had the day off from school and after puttering around in the morning we went to pick up an air filter for my car and grab some fresh tennis balls. I splurged on a new $15 racket as well, and tennis was urgently added to the agenda. Unfortunately the high school kids were busy using the court so we headed home. Jasmine helped nicely as we spent an hour raking the yard. We went in and Jasmine baked cookie with little help from me. Asher took a nap, so I was able to get in my hamstring and glute workout. Admittedly, the week's efforts really took off on Wednesday. I was up at 715 to see Sheila off, and spent time with Jasmine and Asher before walking Jasmine to school. Asher and I took the long way home, the brisk walk really wakes me up and provides great motivation for the rest of the day. I completed my ab workout while Asher played around me, then took care of a few chores while he had his nap. When he woke up we got ready and went for our 5 km jog in the sunshine. After picking Jasmine up, we headed straight to the tennis courts. Jasmine was playing for only the third time, and she just loves playing. She often misses, and we struggle to get any kind of rally going. We don't worry about making sure the ball is in the lines, or that it only bounces once. Though she is just starting, I got a great workout as I was busy chasing wayward balls and of course Asher who was busy running around the court. Most of the time he was occupied by the extra racket I brought for him that he dragged behind him as he ran around the court. As tennis fell right during his normal nap time, I wasn't surprised when he actually laid down on the court at one point with eyes nearly shut. As we were enjoying ourselves, we actually ran out of time to go to the swimming pool as we had planned. To finish the day Jasmine and I headed down to pick up the soccer jerseys for the coming season. As we headed out we were going to bring our soccer ball and play a little but it was flat, then the basketball couldn't be found, so we headed out the door without either. After picking up the stuff, we found ourselves back at the tennis court for another game. Exhausted from the day, I fell asleep easily and awoke well rested. Thursday included a chest and tricep workout and a family swim at the pool. Friday as mentioned above consisted of a morning back and trap workout and a 5 km run. This morning I finished the week with soccer coaching and a 3 km run without my son which felt odd as I have gotten used to pushing the stroller and seeing his wispy hair flapping in the wind as I go. The greatest success of the week has to be my discipline with my diet. I have been eating relatively clean for the last 3 or 4 months, but this week may have been my best week yet. Jasmine made a batch of cookies, and I did have 3 of those. Sheila made another batch, and I got away from that after eating only one. The only other cheat was a handful of chips today. Most of my snacks have been bowls of cereal, or a banana, and I had a few protein bars as well. I have been solid with my portion sizes as well, eating until I am satisfied, not stuffed and bloated. Perhaps I will post my plan for next week ahead of time so I can gauge my success once again. Here's to another great week!
Friday, 4 May 2012
Do You Like Action? Poker Action?
I am beginning to feel more and more like a blogger. There was a few occasions this week where I had the proverbial light bulb go on above my head and I found myself thinking to myself, "Ah ha! Now that would make a great blog post!" Of course, this is prone to happen when even the most minor thing occurs and I soon realize that I hardly have a post at all, but merely a musing of some importance. I intend to include a number of these observations in an upcoming post, but for now I would like to focus on my second job, recreational poker.
I refer to poker as my second job for a few reasons. At first, it was a running joke with Sheila who didn't like it when I said it because "Work isn't suppose to be fun!". Of course, it doesn't function like your typical job where you punch in at the same time on the same days of week and every two weeks a meagre pitance is placed in your bank account as compensation. No, poker most certainly doesn't work that way. With a mere flick of the wrist and a spray of chips I can easily win or lose a day's wage from my first job. I have played enough by now to keep most of my emotions in check while playing, and I manage to direct most of my anger while playing at myself so as not to offend anyone else playing. This does not always work exactly as stated, but I do fairly well with this. I feel like I have earned the right to call poker a job at this point, as I have posted modest to solid profit rates for every year since 2009. There are many reasons why the game I frequent proves profitable for me, and it starts with a familiarity with the opponents. There is only one poker room in town, and on most nights there are only 1 or 2 tables running. I have a very solid memory, one that allows me to remember details about everyone that play with. Chances are, if I have seen you before at a poker table, I will remember you. This leads to many nights, like last night where I recognize all or nearly all of the other players at the table. Some of you might be thinking, isn't that a bad thing? Not exactly. Just because I recognize the players does not mean that they are good or even decent at the game. This casino seems to have a large number of regulars who stink at the game, and conversely refuse to do anything to get better. In fact, a handful of guys I regularly go up against are getting noticably worse as they go along. So, to last night's session.
This post sprung directly from one hand in particular that I will attempt to recreate here in proper detail. I am 3rd from the button for this particular hand. There is an under the gun raise to $12 from a looser player, with a stack of approx $100 total. 2 flat calls in front of me, and I decide to call with JJ. This was a toss up for me, a lot of the time I 3 bet here, but in this situation, knowing the original raiser, I felt that any sized raise will just induce him to bet all-in and I would be hoping for a race. 1 of the 2 callers in between is a poor player, overplays marginal holdings and is prone to stack off very light. This man plays every single day, and continually makes mistakes. Let's call him Mr. Regular. I didn't want him to go away, as I could easily win a big pot against him with a low flop, or a flopped set. At this point I had $260 and Mr. Regular had ~$300. The hijack also calls for $12, then the button goes all in for $49. As I suspected, the original raiser moves in for $110. One fold beside him, then after some hesitation, and Mr. Regular calls the $110. Now, I really felt that this was an easy decision for me, if and only if this third player hadn't got involved. I would have slid my $110 in the middle and hoped to win a race, preferably against the $110 stack. When Mr. Regular called, I had to take pause. I know he game very well, having played with him dozens and dozens of times, and I soon started to realize that yes he is indeed capable of just flat calling $12 in this spot with a monster pair, but his call of the $110 told me to discount the AA-QQ type hands and focus more on the medium type pairs, and of course your AK-AQ holdings. This particular players puts lots of chips in the pot, but is the type of guy who doesn't want to shove his entire stack until he has a made hand. Also, he was probably thinking that I would just go away, I was 1 of only 2 more to act behind him, and really, if either of us had strong hands, we would have 3 bet the first chance we had. I don't usually take a long time to make poker decisions, but I must say this was a new spot for me. I had not encountered this situation at any point in my poker playing time. As I thought, I was getting the feeling that this was making Mr. Regular quite uncomfortable. I had enough chips that I might just have him fold to me, but I was leaning towards him calling the extra $150 do to the size of the pot already. Ultimately, I pushed my stack over the line as others at the table mumbled about the ridiculous pot being created. After recieving no immeadiate call, I relaxed a bit. Even if I was dominated by the other players, as long as I could take the second side pot I would come out ahead. After asking a couple of times for clarification in regards to the pot sizes, Mr. Regular said something like "There is just too much in there, I guess I have no choice." He hadn't called, but this seemed like a damning statement. A couple of others at the table piped up as if he had already called, kind of annoying, as it seemed like this was the last push he needed to call. I announced: "Gee guys, I hope I wanted that call," as I exposed my jacks. The guy with $110 calls for help, showing his AQ off. The $49 stack who I didn't know exposes AK off, and to complete the perfect storm, Mr. Regular flips over AK off as well. A stunned silence followed, transitioning to significant discussion as the 6-10-6-3-3 board played out and I scooped the pot. My stack went from $260 to ~$700 in the one hand. All told, one of the most exciting hands I have ever been a part of.
The stakes were the same they always are, $1/$2 no limit with a $200 buy in. As I have played in other casinos, I have come realize just how wild my local game is. I wouldn't doubt that a number of players out there would have found themselves folding in this spot. But relying on a heavy local knowledge helped me make the correct decision. The action in this game borders on ridiculous as a $17 preflop raise can often lead to a 5 way flop. I've seen a $75 preflop cold call with KJ off. I watched a guy 4 bet shove for $350 with 86 suited, only to get called twice by AK and AK. When he hit his 6 on the turn and scoooped for $900 it was just par for the course. When I play anywhere else, be it Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary or the different games in Las Vegas, I have been painted as a maniac. Unfortunately, I enjoy this role so much that I often get carried away with it. I find it difficult to adjust to out of town games and unknown opponents because I am so used to the level of action in my local game. Here in town, I feel that I have made a strong transition from being fairly nitty, to being a selective LAG type player. This transition has been quite succesful as many of my opponents still view me as fairly tight and refuse to adjust to the way I now play. It has proven both enjoyable and profitable as playing more hands can lead to more opportunities to be creative and generally is a more exciting style to play. I enjoy being the guy on the draw once in a while as opposed to always sweat the straight or flush draw. I'm in a great place right now with my game, and I hope to continue playing focussed, solid poker as the profits pile up. Until next time.
I refer to poker as my second job for a few reasons. At first, it was a running joke with Sheila who didn't like it when I said it because "Work isn't suppose to be fun!". Of course, it doesn't function like your typical job where you punch in at the same time on the same days of week and every two weeks a meagre pitance is placed in your bank account as compensation. No, poker most certainly doesn't work that way. With a mere flick of the wrist and a spray of chips I can easily win or lose a day's wage from my first job. I have played enough by now to keep most of my emotions in check while playing, and I manage to direct most of my anger while playing at myself so as not to offend anyone else playing. This does not always work exactly as stated, but I do fairly well with this. I feel like I have earned the right to call poker a job at this point, as I have posted modest to solid profit rates for every year since 2009. There are many reasons why the game I frequent proves profitable for me, and it starts with a familiarity with the opponents. There is only one poker room in town, and on most nights there are only 1 or 2 tables running. I have a very solid memory, one that allows me to remember details about everyone that play with. Chances are, if I have seen you before at a poker table, I will remember you. This leads to many nights, like last night where I recognize all or nearly all of the other players at the table. Some of you might be thinking, isn't that a bad thing? Not exactly. Just because I recognize the players does not mean that they are good or even decent at the game. This casino seems to have a large number of regulars who stink at the game, and conversely refuse to do anything to get better. In fact, a handful of guys I regularly go up against are getting noticably worse as they go along. So, to last night's session.
This post sprung directly from one hand in particular that I will attempt to recreate here in proper detail. I am 3rd from the button for this particular hand. There is an under the gun raise to $12 from a looser player, with a stack of approx $100 total. 2 flat calls in front of me, and I decide to call with JJ. This was a toss up for me, a lot of the time I 3 bet here, but in this situation, knowing the original raiser, I felt that any sized raise will just induce him to bet all-in and I would be hoping for a race. 1 of the 2 callers in between is a poor player, overplays marginal holdings and is prone to stack off very light. This man plays every single day, and continually makes mistakes. Let's call him Mr. Regular. I didn't want him to go away, as I could easily win a big pot against him with a low flop, or a flopped set. At this point I had $260 and Mr. Regular had ~$300. The hijack also calls for $12, then the button goes all in for $49. As I suspected, the original raiser moves in for $110. One fold beside him, then after some hesitation, and Mr. Regular calls the $110. Now, I really felt that this was an easy decision for me, if and only if this third player hadn't got involved. I would have slid my $110 in the middle and hoped to win a race, preferably against the $110 stack. When Mr. Regular called, I had to take pause. I know he game very well, having played with him dozens and dozens of times, and I soon started to realize that yes he is indeed capable of just flat calling $12 in this spot with a monster pair, but his call of the $110 told me to discount the AA-QQ type hands and focus more on the medium type pairs, and of course your AK-AQ holdings. This particular players puts lots of chips in the pot, but is the type of guy who doesn't want to shove his entire stack until he has a made hand. Also, he was probably thinking that I would just go away, I was 1 of only 2 more to act behind him, and really, if either of us had strong hands, we would have 3 bet the first chance we had. I don't usually take a long time to make poker decisions, but I must say this was a new spot for me. I had not encountered this situation at any point in my poker playing time. As I thought, I was getting the feeling that this was making Mr. Regular quite uncomfortable. I had enough chips that I might just have him fold to me, but I was leaning towards him calling the extra $150 do to the size of the pot already. Ultimately, I pushed my stack over the line as others at the table mumbled about the ridiculous pot being created. After recieving no immeadiate call, I relaxed a bit. Even if I was dominated by the other players, as long as I could take the second side pot I would come out ahead. After asking a couple of times for clarification in regards to the pot sizes, Mr. Regular said something like "There is just too much in there, I guess I have no choice." He hadn't called, but this seemed like a damning statement. A couple of others at the table piped up as if he had already called, kind of annoying, as it seemed like this was the last push he needed to call. I announced: "Gee guys, I hope I wanted that call," as I exposed my jacks. The guy with $110 calls for help, showing his AQ off. The $49 stack who I didn't know exposes AK off, and to complete the perfect storm, Mr. Regular flips over AK off as well. A stunned silence followed, transitioning to significant discussion as the 6-10-6-3-3 board played out and I scooped the pot. My stack went from $260 to ~$700 in the one hand. All told, one of the most exciting hands I have ever been a part of.
The stakes were the same they always are, $1/$2 no limit with a $200 buy in. As I have played in other casinos, I have come realize just how wild my local game is. I wouldn't doubt that a number of players out there would have found themselves folding in this spot. But relying on a heavy local knowledge helped me make the correct decision. The action in this game borders on ridiculous as a $17 preflop raise can often lead to a 5 way flop. I've seen a $75 preflop cold call with KJ off. I watched a guy 4 bet shove for $350 with 86 suited, only to get called twice by AK and AK. When he hit his 6 on the turn and scoooped for $900 it was just par for the course. When I play anywhere else, be it Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary or the different games in Las Vegas, I have been painted as a maniac. Unfortunately, I enjoy this role so much that I often get carried away with it. I find it difficult to adjust to out of town games and unknown opponents because I am so used to the level of action in my local game. Here in town, I feel that I have made a strong transition from being fairly nitty, to being a selective LAG type player. This transition has been quite succesful as many of my opponents still view me as fairly tight and refuse to adjust to the way I now play. It has proven both enjoyable and profitable as playing more hands can lead to more opportunities to be creative and generally is a more exciting style to play. I enjoy being the guy on the draw once in a while as opposed to always sweat the straight or flush draw. I'm in a great place right now with my game, and I hope to continue playing focussed, solid poker as the profits pile up. Until next time.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Movies.
I woke up this morning ready to blog my ass off. As a joyful consumer of cinema I occasionally feel the need to share my experiences with others, particularly when they are positive. Allow me to give a few thoughts on some of the fare I have seen recently.
I attend the cinema once a week usually for work and I am fully aware of how ridiculous that sounds. In my role as a support worker, myself and another staff member assist two friends in going out to the movies. The men get a deal through the Easter Seals so the price is reasonable and due to mobility issues, its one of the activities that we can partake without much difficulty. As a reward for our hard work, the staff also get to enjoy the movie playing that week, and I won't be caught complaining.
American Reunion: We went to this one just last Friday, and I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Knowing that the movie was being panned by most, I still felt compelled to see it after enjoying the original movie and to a lesser degree the first few sequels. They jokes all involved sex in staying true to the formula. I think the win came with the balance struck between referencing the first 3 movies, and keeping things fresh to a degree. I described the movie to someone as being "the best they (the director) could have done with the material handed to them." As it turns out, it was directed by the team of Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz who also teamed up on the 3 Harold and Kumar movies that I thoroughly enjoyed. Considering the cast they had to work with here, almost entirely devoid of acting talent save for Sean William Scott, Eugene Levy and perhaps Alyson Hannigan, the effort put forth was comendable.
The Three Stooges: On a slow week at the theatre, we found ourselves watching this one, along with about 15 other people, who were all in small groups with at least one kid to each group. I had pretty low expectations, but was intrigued by the possibilities of what the Farrelly brothers would do with the material. I'm too young to have enjoyed the stooges as a kid, but knew the premise going in. Cheesy slap stick, ridiculous physical gags and mild g rated punchlines were all on the card, and the Farrelly boys didn't disappoint. I thought their use of Larry David as a crabby old nun was great. Sending the guys off to the big city to encounter Sofia Vergara's character was well done. I could have done without the children at the orphanage, all the acting was awful and the scenes were awkward. All in all, I did find myself laughing a few times though I couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness while I watched. Not the vibe you want to give viewers as a movie maker.
The Hunger Games: The hype for this one was off the charts, and being that I haven't read any of the teen book series, I was initially unmoved by the hysteria. After the movie had been out for a few weeks, we felt it was safe to check it out, without the chance of being trampled by overly excited teens. As it turns out, the movie is worthy of the hype. I thought Jennifer Lawrence's performance in "Winter's Bone" a couple years ago was top notch, and she was great again here. I also have a soft spot for Woody Harrelson and he played a memorable supporting character in this one as a former winner of the Hunger Games. I really enjoyed the spectacular scenes involving the opening ceremonies for the games, and the extravagant costumes that went along with it. This is one you should check out, regardless of whether or not you fit the teen target group.
21 Jump Street: Anyone who knows me has heard me proclaim my hatred for Channing Tatum's "acting" on a number of occasions. The guy is just absolutely painful to watch, and he is always starring in the romantic drama genre which I usually strain to get through at the best of times. When one of your best acting traits is your abs, you likely are devoid of real acting talents. On the other hand, I really like Jonah Hill's work and with him on the writing team I figured this one had to be a winner. A string of solid reviews flowed in the first weeks after release, so I had to drop my Tatum hate and check it out. In the end, I was left eating my proverbial hat as the movie was the funniest comedy I have seen in 2012. Channing Tatum proved he does have some acting chops, and if I were to give him some career advice I would say the comedy genre will be a good fit for him. Some really funny hijinx when the guys get their fake names mixed up and Hill ends up playing the jock while Tatum's character is in the band and ends up making friends with the chemistry club. A fun time at the movies was had by all for this one.
That's my time, moving on to other things for the day.
I attend the cinema once a week usually for work and I am fully aware of how ridiculous that sounds. In my role as a support worker, myself and another staff member assist two friends in going out to the movies. The men get a deal through the Easter Seals so the price is reasonable and due to mobility issues, its one of the activities that we can partake without much difficulty. As a reward for our hard work, the staff also get to enjoy the movie playing that week, and I won't be caught complaining.
American Reunion: We went to this one just last Friday, and I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Knowing that the movie was being panned by most, I still felt compelled to see it after enjoying the original movie and to a lesser degree the first few sequels. They jokes all involved sex in staying true to the formula. I think the win came with the balance struck between referencing the first 3 movies, and keeping things fresh to a degree. I described the movie to someone as being "the best they (the director) could have done with the material handed to them." As it turns out, it was directed by the team of Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz who also teamed up on the 3 Harold and Kumar movies that I thoroughly enjoyed. Considering the cast they had to work with here, almost entirely devoid of acting talent save for Sean William Scott, Eugene Levy and perhaps Alyson Hannigan, the effort put forth was comendable.
The Three Stooges: On a slow week at the theatre, we found ourselves watching this one, along with about 15 other people, who were all in small groups with at least one kid to each group. I had pretty low expectations, but was intrigued by the possibilities of what the Farrelly brothers would do with the material. I'm too young to have enjoyed the stooges as a kid, but knew the premise going in. Cheesy slap stick, ridiculous physical gags and mild g rated punchlines were all on the card, and the Farrelly boys didn't disappoint. I thought their use of Larry David as a crabby old nun was great. Sending the guys off to the big city to encounter Sofia Vergara's character was well done. I could have done without the children at the orphanage, all the acting was awful and the scenes were awkward. All in all, I did find myself laughing a few times though I couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness while I watched. Not the vibe you want to give viewers as a movie maker.
The Hunger Games: The hype for this one was off the charts, and being that I haven't read any of the teen book series, I was initially unmoved by the hysteria. After the movie had been out for a few weeks, we felt it was safe to check it out, without the chance of being trampled by overly excited teens. As it turns out, the movie is worthy of the hype. I thought Jennifer Lawrence's performance in "Winter's Bone" a couple years ago was top notch, and she was great again here. I also have a soft spot for Woody Harrelson and he played a memorable supporting character in this one as a former winner of the Hunger Games. I really enjoyed the spectacular scenes involving the opening ceremonies for the games, and the extravagant costumes that went along with it. This is one you should check out, regardless of whether or not you fit the teen target group.
21 Jump Street: Anyone who knows me has heard me proclaim my hatred for Channing Tatum's "acting" on a number of occasions. The guy is just absolutely painful to watch, and he is always starring in the romantic drama genre which I usually strain to get through at the best of times. When one of your best acting traits is your abs, you likely are devoid of real acting talents. On the other hand, I really like Jonah Hill's work and with him on the writing team I figured this one had to be a winner. A string of solid reviews flowed in the first weeks after release, so I had to drop my Tatum hate and check it out. In the end, I was left eating my proverbial hat as the movie was the funniest comedy I have seen in 2012. Channing Tatum proved he does have some acting chops, and if I were to give him some career advice I would say the comedy genre will be a good fit for him. Some really funny hijinx when the guys get their fake names mixed up and Hill ends up playing the jock while Tatum's character is in the band and ends up making friends with the chemistry club. A fun time at the movies was had by all for this one.
That's my time, moving on to other things for the day.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
I woke up this morning feeling fresh and alive.
A funny thing happened this morning. As I rolled over and woke up at 545 with my alarm, I was immeadiately aware that something was different then the previous handful of mornings. I was feeling rested and energetic even before I stepped in the shower. On my drive to work I was alert and focussed, glad to be free of the cold I had over the last week. When I arrive at work I have a little downtime before it is time to wake the guys are start the day. During this time, generally 630-800, I fight to stay awake, mostly surfing various webpages on the computer, and doing a small amount of preparation for the day. If I pick up a book during this time I fear that sleep might envelope me because books have this effect on me regardless of how much I am enjoying the material. This morning I read some of my current novel, and while enjoying it, realized that I was being overwhelmed with things I wanted to share with others. So here I am, doing just that.
Currently, I am making a concerted effort to read more of the classic novels that I have missed out on. I have scoured the modernlibrary.com list of 100 best novels as mentioned in my last post, and set out to tackle some of the novels that interest me. Some of the novels on the list I have considered reading before and never got around to it, but the novels that most excite me are ones I have never heard of. After thoroughly enjoying "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, number 5 on the list, I went to the library and took out 6 more novels that hold a place on the list. My first project is a 570 page tome, complete with a 35 page introduction, bringing it 605 pages total. "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison is at number 19 on the list and I have been thoroughly impressed through the first 250 pages. Set in the United States it follows a young black man's struggle to understand the current climate while facing segregation and prejudice in the early 20th century. Vague on details about the main character, then focus of the work is more on the situations he encounters and how he reacts to them. I always enjoy a different style of writing and I like the unique way that this novel is structured. I keep getting the impression that more details will eventually be revealed about the protagonist, but ultimately the story is being spun in a way that may make those details irrelevant or at least unimportant. I will share my thoughts about the novel in a later post after I finish reading it.
I love sports. It's been said in this space of the blogosphere and it has been said regularly throughout my life. I don't love sports commentary unless it is done well. Overly polished discussion where nothing of consequence is said does not appeal to me. I don't want a sports television personality that is afraid to say anything opinionated. I'd rather hear something I didn't agree with then be forced to suffer through nauseating regurgitated crap from a former coach or a former player. My motivation in discussing this topic was a quote I heard the other day on The Score. The third string sports network in Canada, The Score struggles to keep up with TSN and sportsnet with what appears to be a very tight budget. Holding the rights to almost no live sports, they manage to survive on the strength of their personalities. For many years they boasted what was my favourite sports highlight show duo, Sid Sixeiro and Tim Macallef. Their dynamic duo has since moved on, and they now have a variety of lesser known personalities delivering their nightly highlight packs. This leads me to one of my all-time favourite sports personalities, Cam Stewart aka The Raging Redhead. He first appeared on The Score a few years ago alongside loose cannon Gabe Morency on their show "Drive This". I loved the loose format, less structure led to more opinionated diatribes from both men. They discussed all sports, and usually all discussions were focussed on betting the sports they were discussing. Both men had a penchant for saying things that may be considered out of line, and I couldn't imagine they would have found a home on either TSN or sportsnet. Anyway, Cam Stewart has found a new home on The Score's morning show, where along with Renee Paquette he discusses the relevant sports topics from the night before. I don't know when the show was developed, but I believe it is recent creation, and it works. Renee plays the proverbial straight man while Cam peppers the show with humour and extremely well informed sports commentary. In 10 minutes of the 30 minute show I was laughing multiple times. First, they discuss a bet they made about the Clippers/Grizzles playoff series, if the Clippers win, Renee wins and Cam has to go to hot yoga in spandex while Renee and a film crew catch every minute. If Cam wins, Renee has to take him to eat at a seafood buffet of his choice. They discuss the Nashville Predators/Phoenix Coyotes series and Cam peppers us with a few plays on Renee and Rinne, Rinne Paquette, Pekka Renee and so on. Then they move on to discussing whether or not they know anyone who cheers for the Coyotes, and Renee mentions that she got a barage of emails from Coyotes fans after their last show when she said there was no Coyotes fans outside of Phoenix. Cam drops this bomb: "I told you Renee. There is a bunch of Coyotes fans living in their mom's basements cheering every Mike Smith save. Some of them even have their own apartments!" This had me laughing so hard that I am still thinking about it 4 days later. Thank you Cam Stewart for being real.
On another sports topic, I have held my tongue long enough. I pick a fantasy team with a good friend of mine in what is evolving into a pretty competitve league. This is year 2 of a 5 year keeper league, and we are off to a blistering start. Some of this can be attributed to circumstance as points are gathered based on weekly matchups and we got lucky when our opponents didn't perform very well. Some of our success can chalked up to some solid drafting and good manuevering prior to the draft where we lined ourselves up with lots of higher picks and were able to draft depth at most positions. This league involved keepers, where we kept 9 roster players from last year and 2 farm players. We had significant depth last year, so we parlayed this into a few trades that provided higher picks for the draft, hence the depth again this year. Our blazing start through the first 3 weeks has been fun but I realize that the season is long and many ridiculous things can happen. I will enjoy the success for now, thank you very much.
As I lose steam with this entry, I want to put to paper my ambitious plans this week for physical activity. I have had a few slow days here due to my cold knocking me down a bit, but starting today I have a renewed energy that I hope to translate into a solid week of fitness. First and foremost I need to get back to my weightlifting routine, which will involve 5 workouts over the next 7 days. I want to get out jogging a few times, I have no excuse as Asher has really taken a liking to his stroller and smiles throughout when I take him jogging. Jasmine has been talking excitedly about learning tennis, and she is even more gung ho after we went and hit a few balls last week. I plan to take her again on Tuesday as she has the day off from school. Asher can run around the court and chase the balls that get away. We will see how that goes. We always swim on Wednesday afternoons. I plan on taking Jasmine out for a bike ride or two, and if all goes well maybe a time or two on the basketball court this week would work. I know this all sounds overwhelming, but I would love to get this all into one week. I will update this space at the end of the week and let everyone know how I did. Until next time.
Currently, I am making a concerted effort to read more of the classic novels that I have missed out on. I have scoured the modernlibrary.com list of 100 best novels as mentioned in my last post, and set out to tackle some of the novels that interest me. Some of the novels on the list I have considered reading before and never got around to it, but the novels that most excite me are ones I have never heard of. After thoroughly enjoying "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, number 5 on the list, I went to the library and took out 6 more novels that hold a place on the list. My first project is a 570 page tome, complete with a 35 page introduction, bringing it 605 pages total. "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison is at number 19 on the list and I have been thoroughly impressed through the first 250 pages. Set in the United States it follows a young black man's struggle to understand the current climate while facing segregation and prejudice in the early 20th century. Vague on details about the main character, then focus of the work is more on the situations he encounters and how he reacts to them. I always enjoy a different style of writing and I like the unique way that this novel is structured. I keep getting the impression that more details will eventually be revealed about the protagonist, but ultimately the story is being spun in a way that may make those details irrelevant or at least unimportant. I will share my thoughts about the novel in a later post after I finish reading it.
I love sports. It's been said in this space of the blogosphere and it has been said regularly throughout my life. I don't love sports commentary unless it is done well. Overly polished discussion where nothing of consequence is said does not appeal to me. I don't want a sports television personality that is afraid to say anything opinionated. I'd rather hear something I didn't agree with then be forced to suffer through nauseating regurgitated crap from a former coach or a former player. My motivation in discussing this topic was a quote I heard the other day on The Score. The third string sports network in Canada, The Score struggles to keep up with TSN and sportsnet with what appears to be a very tight budget. Holding the rights to almost no live sports, they manage to survive on the strength of their personalities. For many years they boasted what was my favourite sports highlight show duo, Sid Sixeiro and Tim Macallef. Their dynamic duo has since moved on, and they now have a variety of lesser known personalities delivering their nightly highlight packs. This leads me to one of my all-time favourite sports personalities, Cam Stewart aka The Raging Redhead. He first appeared on The Score a few years ago alongside loose cannon Gabe Morency on their show "Drive This". I loved the loose format, less structure led to more opinionated diatribes from both men. They discussed all sports, and usually all discussions were focussed on betting the sports they were discussing. Both men had a penchant for saying things that may be considered out of line, and I couldn't imagine they would have found a home on either TSN or sportsnet. Anyway, Cam Stewart has found a new home on The Score's morning show, where along with Renee Paquette he discusses the relevant sports topics from the night before. I don't know when the show was developed, but I believe it is recent creation, and it works. Renee plays the proverbial straight man while Cam peppers the show with humour and extremely well informed sports commentary. In 10 minutes of the 30 minute show I was laughing multiple times. First, they discuss a bet they made about the Clippers/Grizzles playoff series, if the Clippers win, Renee wins and Cam has to go to hot yoga in spandex while Renee and a film crew catch every minute. If Cam wins, Renee has to take him to eat at a seafood buffet of his choice. They discuss the Nashville Predators/Phoenix Coyotes series and Cam peppers us with a few plays on Renee and Rinne, Rinne Paquette, Pekka Renee and so on. Then they move on to discussing whether or not they know anyone who cheers for the Coyotes, and Renee mentions that she got a barage of emails from Coyotes fans after their last show when she said there was no Coyotes fans outside of Phoenix. Cam drops this bomb: "I told you Renee. There is a bunch of Coyotes fans living in their mom's basements cheering every Mike Smith save. Some of them even have their own apartments!" This had me laughing so hard that I am still thinking about it 4 days later. Thank you Cam Stewart for being real.
On another sports topic, I have held my tongue long enough. I pick a fantasy team with a good friend of mine in what is evolving into a pretty competitve league. This is year 2 of a 5 year keeper league, and we are off to a blistering start. Some of this can be attributed to circumstance as points are gathered based on weekly matchups and we got lucky when our opponents didn't perform very well. Some of our success can chalked up to some solid drafting and good manuevering prior to the draft where we lined ourselves up with lots of higher picks and were able to draft depth at most positions. This league involved keepers, where we kept 9 roster players from last year and 2 farm players. We had significant depth last year, so we parlayed this into a few trades that provided higher picks for the draft, hence the depth again this year. Our blazing start through the first 3 weeks has been fun but I realize that the season is long and many ridiculous things can happen. I will enjoy the success for now, thank you very much.
As I lose steam with this entry, I want to put to paper my ambitious plans this week for physical activity. I have had a few slow days here due to my cold knocking me down a bit, but starting today I have a renewed energy that I hope to translate into a solid week of fitness. First and foremost I need to get back to my weightlifting routine, which will involve 5 workouts over the next 7 days. I want to get out jogging a few times, I have no excuse as Asher has really taken a liking to his stroller and smiles throughout when I take him jogging. Jasmine has been talking excitedly about learning tennis, and she is even more gung ho after we went and hit a few balls last week. I plan to take her again on Tuesday as she has the day off from school. Asher can run around the court and chase the balls that get away. We will see how that goes. We always swim on Wednesday afternoons. I plan on taking Jasmine out for a bike ride or two, and if all goes well maybe a time or two on the basketball court this week would work. I know this all sounds overwhelming, but I would love to get this all into one week. I will update this space at the end of the week and let everyone know how I did. Until next time.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
It's Been A While
The grand plan for this blog was to encourage myself to write, be it whatever style or topic I chose. I have been out of the writing game for a few years now and I wanted to get back to it. When I did write it was always for a school assignment and often I was writing on topics I didn't particularly enjoy. Now, throughout the years I thought of myself as a solid writer, someone who had a decent grasp on the english language, but without putting these skills to use they were likely deteriorating over time. It is funny how we prioritize our lives. I use to take all of my "leisure time" to, very literally be at leisure. When I was at my least motivated I would go out of my way to create more leisure time for myself. Looking back, I am quite embarassed about all of the lost time. Gradually, my priorities are changing. I realize now that leisure time can be used in a positive way, and even though you are working hard, being active, etc. you can still be relaxing and/or enjoying yourself. I have been following a workout plan since Christmas and I have been very happy with the changes in aesthetics and in my mood. It feels weird to not be active, and quite frankly, that feels great. I haven't had a day that I can recall without some type of activity. I lift weights 5 days per week, focussing on particular bodyparts depending on what my schedule calls for. I don't schedule abdominal workouts or cardio sessions, so it is up to me and my willpower to make sure these are accomplished on top of my scheduled workouts. This desire to keep active has manifested itself in many forms and has led to fun times with my family, and has also scored me some serious points with Sheila.
Yesterday morning, Asher, Jasmine, Sheila and I were all up by 8 am and eating breakfast together at the new dining table that we procured through Kijiji the week prior for $150. We had been actively shopping for some new home furnishings for a few weeks after deciding that our modest tax return should be used for this purpose. After annoying Jasmine and Sheila with various activity proposals we decided to walk over to the school (about 3 blocks) and shoot some hoops and play on the playground. By 9 am we were enjoying the sunshine and the very quiet atmosphere of 9 am Saturday morning at the local school. Jasmine was frantically throwing herself back and forth across the monkeybars. Asher was busy either running around the basketball court after the ball or slowly plodding throwing the pea stones of the playground, getting a kick out of the sinking sensation of each step. Sheila and I were locked in a game of 21, she is quite competitve and has a very solid shot, which leads to some close games. I have only shot the ball a few times this spring, but I can already tell that the strength I am adding is beneficial to the game of basketball. I have more spring in my step, making it easier to get off a good shot, and fatigue wasn't hitting me nearly as quickly as it usually does. During our game Jasmine came running over and took a few shots, showing off what she learned during her first basketball season. Now the outdoor hoop is higher then the one they played on, but she had no problem sinking a few shots, including 3 in a row before she ran back over to the playground. We made our way back home and we in the house by 1030, a great way to start the day. I wanted to get my workout in, as it was a scheduled shoulders and biceps day, and of course this would give me time to watch a little baseball and peruse my fantasy team. I have made a habit of taking long breaks during my workouts, but trying to avoid this, I completed my workout in around an hour with a few sports related distractions. I came upstairs, saw the carnage left over from breakfast and decided to tackle the mess. Realizing that doing the cleanup scores points with Sheila while also providing a good workout, I am beginning to change my view of these types of tasks. I even managed to garner a compliment from Sheila about how often I am helping out, something that made me feel very good. It might be my first compliment scored ever in regards to frequency of help. Yes!!! After this was completed, I headed outside to pickup the grass and branches from the front yard that I had raked the day prior, enlisting Jasmine's help. As we worked we made plans for a picnic spot under the big pine trees in the front yard. "Asher needs to stay out of the sun! It would be nice and shady for him under here Daddy!" The garbage can filled, I decided I better leave the last couple piles for another day. I went inside and showered before heading out early to go to work. I had finished my book the day before and wanted to have time to stop by the library to replenish my supply of reading material. A successful stop later I was at work. Saturday afternoon at work is our scheduled pool visit time, and as my friend soaks in the hot tub, I get a little time in the sauna and hot tub to recouperate from the days activities. I had a great week, as most of my days had been productively filled like this.
When I haven't been busy with exercise and child minding or some combination of both, I have been reading beaucoup material. I have enjoyed a few classics lately, as I read "The Catcher in the Rye" and "The Great Gatsby" in recent weeks. Yesterday, I completed "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I had been given this book by my sister at Christmas and she had nothing but good things to say about it. The book finds itself at #5 on modernlibrary.com's list of the best novels of all-time, and this listing is anything but misplaced. One of the strengths of the novel is that it's main theme can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways. I was intrigued by Huxley's development of the "ideal world". His use of the character's reactions to illustrate the different pros and cons of this ideal are well placed and thought provoking. A blind happiness is created where one is happy simply because they don't know any better could make for a very efficient society. No one would waste time looking to fulfill themselves because as far as they know they are fulfilled already. The use of drugs to maintain this happiness spoke deeply to me. For all I know Huxley's point may have been that the idea of true happiness is a foolish notion, one that simply can not be. You can't create what only exists in your mind. Happiness is a personal feeling. Creating the exact conditions that should produce happiness or at least a positive environment will not have the same effect on every person even if they have been genetically conditioned to respond in such a way. At times disturbing, this novel is a testament to a great mind and I look forward to reading more of Aldous Huxley's work.
I am busy looking forward to the coming week. I have a soccer game this afternoon, the last one of the indoor season. I plan on playing tennis with Jasmine as she has been bugging me to do so. My bike has been repaired, (thanks Ian!) and I hope to get out for a few rides. Asher has really been enjoying going for jogs in his stroller, lots of smiles and laughs from him, he seems to be over his initial fears. I started a new book yesterday, Ralph Ellison's classic work "Invisible Man" and at 570 pages it should keep me busy. Sheila has been after me to see this new Nicholas Sparks movie, and she is pretty insistent so we may be on our way to that this week. I have some more work to do to get the yard ready for spring, so that will keep me busy as well. Swimming as usual on Wednesday and perhaps Jasmine and I can get out to swing the golf clubs later in the week. Here is to a good week ahead!
Yesterday morning, Asher, Jasmine, Sheila and I were all up by 8 am and eating breakfast together at the new dining table that we procured through Kijiji the week prior for $150. We had been actively shopping for some new home furnishings for a few weeks after deciding that our modest tax return should be used for this purpose. After annoying Jasmine and Sheila with various activity proposals we decided to walk over to the school (about 3 blocks) and shoot some hoops and play on the playground. By 9 am we were enjoying the sunshine and the very quiet atmosphere of 9 am Saturday morning at the local school. Jasmine was frantically throwing herself back and forth across the monkeybars. Asher was busy either running around the basketball court after the ball or slowly plodding throwing the pea stones of the playground, getting a kick out of the sinking sensation of each step. Sheila and I were locked in a game of 21, she is quite competitve and has a very solid shot, which leads to some close games. I have only shot the ball a few times this spring, but I can already tell that the strength I am adding is beneficial to the game of basketball. I have more spring in my step, making it easier to get off a good shot, and fatigue wasn't hitting me nearly as quickly as it usually does. During our game Jasmine came running over and took a few shots, showing off what she learned during her first basketball season. Now the outdoor hoop is higher then the one they played on, but she had no problem sinking a few shots, including 3 in a row before she ran back over to the playground. We made our way back home and we in the house by 1030, a great way to start the day. I wanted to get my workout in, as it was a scheduled shoulders and biceps day, and of course this would give me time to watch a little baseball and peruse my fantasy team. I have made a habit of taking long breaks during my workouts, but trying to avoid this, I completed my workout in around an hour with a few sports related distractions. I came upstairs, saw the carnage left over from breakfast and decided to tackle the mess. Realizing that doing the cleanup scores points with Sheila while also providing a good workout, I am beginning to change my view of these types of tasks. I even managed to garner a compliment from Sheila about how often I am helping out, something that made me feel very good. It might be my first compliment scored ever in regards to frequency of help. Yes!!! After this was completed, I headed outside to pickup the grass and branches from the front yard that I had raked the day prior, enlisting Jasmine's help. As we worked we made plans for a picnic spot under the big pine trees in the front yard. "Asher needs to stay out of the sun! It would be nice and shady for him under here Daddy!" The garbage can filled, I decided I better leave the last couple piles for another day. I went inside and showered before heading out early to go to work. I had finished my book the day before and wanted to have time to stop by the library to replenish my supply of reading material. A successful stop later I was at work. Saturday afternoon at work is our scheduled pool visit time, and as my friend soaks in the hot tub, I get a little time in the sauna and hot tub to recouperate from the days activities. I had a great week, as most of my days had been productively filled like this.
When I haven't been busy with exercise and child minding or some combination of both, I have been reading beaucoup material. I have enjoyed a few classics lately, as I read "The Catcher in the Rye" and "The Great Gatsby" in recent weeks. Yesterday, I completed "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I had been given this book by my sister at Christmas and she had nothing but good things to say about it. The book finds itself at #5 on modernlibrary.com's list of the best novels of all-time, and this listing is anything but misplaced. One of the strengths of the novel is that it's main theme can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways. I was intrigued by Huxley's development of the "ideal world". His use of the character's reactions to illustrate the different pros and cons of this ideal are well placed and thought provoking. A blind happiness is created where one is happy simply because they don't know any better could make for a very efficient society. No one would waste time looking to fulfill themselves because as far as they know they are fulfilled already. The use of drugs to maintain this happiness spoke deeply to me. For all I know Huxley's point may have been that the idea of true happiness is a foolish notion, one that simply can not be. You can't create what only exists in your mind. Happiness is a personal feeling. Creating the exact conditions that should produce happiness or at least a positive environment will not have the same effect on every person even if they have been genetically conditioned to respond in such a way. At times disturbing, this novel is a testament to a great mind and I look forward to reading more of Aldous Huxley's work.
I am busy looking forward to the coming week. I have a soccer game this afternoon, the last one of the indoor season. I plan on playing tennis with Jasmine as she has been bugging me to do so. My bike has been repaired, (thanks Ian!) and I hope to get out for a few rides. Asher has really been enjoying going for jogs in his stroller, lots of smiles and laughs from him, he seems to be over his initial fears. I started a new book yesterday, Ralph Ellison's classic work "Invisible Man" and at 570 pages it should keep me busy. Sheila has been after me to see this new Nicholas Sparks movie, and she is pretty insistent so we may be on our way to that this week. I have some more work to do to get the yard ready for spring, so that will keep me busy as well. Swimming as usual on Wednesday and perhaps Jasmine and I can get out to swing the golf clubs later in the week. Here is to a good week ahead!
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