WSOP blog

I've decided to make up another blog for anyone to look at for my 2006 WSOP experience. The address is http://jpsatthe2006wsop.blogspot.com/ . Anyone and everyone please feel free to leave comments.

Lots of stuff for a regular Monday

1. shared some ribs with people at work, mmm

2. bought $165 shoes for Vegas (on sale for $50!)

3. bought swimsuit for Vegas

4. got rear-ended on the way home (!)

5. on another note, felt refreshed after being up for 35 hours straight saturday-sunday

6. got another day closer to Vegas

7. I'm trying to think of something to put here so it makes my Monday look even more eventful, but I'm blanking

Rested

Damn it feels good to sleep until your body wakes up, rather than having a BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP go until you slap a stupid box.

I was gonna go rollerblading with M, but something came up at the last second... Lumberjack Days in Stillwater. I don't seem to get out much anymore (booooooo) and don't get to go to another city to party a lot, and I can rollerblade anytime. Yeah, I go through that whole weighing options things when making decisions, and it was a clear decision this time... I'll just whip M some other time :P I do plan on doing a quick lap or two around the neighborhood right now so I get in SOME exercise today.

Tomorrow I have two racks of ribs to make, and I already have overcome a huge step in cooking them. If you want my secret, well, ask me or something, it's really easy.

Man, getting 12 hours of sleep if f'ing fantastic. Hope tonight is fun...

Counting down

One of the nights for VIP is set at Body English in the Hard Rock, I'll have a host waiting for me at the door. Pretty cool, I cannot wait.

During these past few days I have felt horrid, I don't know if it's the cold or my nerves setting in or a combination of both. Yesterday I could barely stand, I can't believe I didn't give up at work and go home. I crashed immediately when I got home at around 7, then woke up feeling quite refreshed... at 11:30 pm (!)... my roommate didn't have to work today and another buddy was over, and they asked if I wanted to hit the cas with them, so I did. So yeah, went to the cas at midnight last night, won enough to cover Perkins afterwards, then went to bed again at 5 am. I'm feeling a little better today, but I'm still going through kleenex (well, toilet paper, I used up pretty much all the actual facial tissues in the office) like it's my job. I really, really really really, really hope this crap is out of my system by the time I board the plane next Thursday.

This weekend...

Saturday: 3 laps around Lake Calhoun with M on blades, should be fun and I'll actually get to do something athletic with, whoa, another person!

Sunday: 2 racks of ribs to make, yesssss

Other than that, I'll try to make a few more bucks before the trip. So psyched...

Getting sucked in by Dan Brown again

Yesterday I finally started The Da Vinci Code after whipping through Angels and Demons. Looks like it's gonna be another page turner... Maybe I should wait to read the rest for my plane ride to help pass the time... but I don't know if I'll be able to resist.

Had a good blading session yesterday with a highlight, I whipped past a family that was walking to have one of the kids go "WOW!" Yeah, I'm fast :)

Saturday night recap

Had a friend from the air force back in town, so it was a downtown night for sure. A dozen of us started at our place for drinks; I started with a bottle of wine. Stupid me, I forgot to take my B vitamins and paid for it on Sunday. Anyways after getting things going at our place, we 3-cabbed it to Brothers (blah) to meet, then we got split up. SOMEHOW each of my two roommates got kicked out of the bar they went to for no good reason. One went to the Lodge, paid cover, then instantly got grabbed by bouncers and shoved out, losing his sandal in the process. I wasn't there to witness it but all I can think of that would get him thrown out like this would be that he got mistaken for someone else or he just looked too drunk, I don't know. Anyways that sucks, he asked for his sandal back and they threw it at him. At the other bar, my other roommate was waiting outside a bathroom for his gf on a chair, and apparently he wasn't allowed to sit there. So, he got kicked out too. Maybe I missed something in both these instances but I think some bouncers get too much of a power trip out of their jobs... real tough guys. 'Twas a fun night for me at least, got to move a little and see some faces I haven't seen in awhile. So yeah, just another night out.

Groggy blog

After screwing up my sleep schedule this weekend I felt groggy this morning, so I decided to hit the coffee for once. I was a coffee drinker for about a year as a sophomore in college, but since then it's only once in a while. I quit for two reasons, one being that it was a hot drink so it made me sweat if I was already warm at all, and the second being the fact that it stains teeth. It's helping today, that's for sure.

I would have rollerbladed this weekend had I not slept the entire day away Saturday and if it wasn't a thousand degrees out. I'm easily fatigued by hot weather so I wasn't really prepared to die this weekend. Hopefully it will be cooler out this week so I can gear up for a marathon on blades. Yikes, I hope I don't die.

This week I'll try to make a few more bucks for the big trip and work on my potato chips. Yes, yesterday I made potato chips, no reason, just randomly decided to try. I probably shouldn't do this often as I wanted to eat all of them right away, mmm. I'm trying to figure out how to make the sea salt and vinegar flavor, because just adding vinegar after frying doesn't add the tang I want... I'm guessing I'll have to marinate the sliced potatoes for awhile? I only googled this for a few minutes, maybe the answer is out there somewhere.

Man, I can't stop thinking about Vegas. 10 days and counting...

OMG what just happened?

It's just about 6 pm, and I JUST WOKE UP. I hope this is because I slept my cold away. Man, I haven't done this forever. Well, since I wasted the entire day, I had better make up for it tonight. I'm still in shock, 6 pm??!!

Blank weekend, etc.

No plans at all, and if none come to me I'm just going to try to make some extra money for Vegas. I also HAVE to play now since my work paychecks don't cover all of my bills for a month. Hopefully I'll get a raise someday and then that won't be an issue... Am I a bit disgruntled at this point? No comment... It's just hard to listen to friends with degrees from smaller schools that make 50% or more than I do. It's also hard to listen to them tell me about their 6-month reviews and their $5,000 and $7,000 raises, and no I'm not exaggerating one cent. For now I'll sit here and take this, but I won't sit here forever. Well see what happens more toward the end of the year. End rant.

I'm almost over this cold I think, thanks to a lot of rest. I didn't get to work out or rollerblade once this week, so I'm feeling a bit sluggish. I'll try to get back on that track this week, which should be easy as I have nothing else to do currently.

Man, it seems like this week was a drag looking at my last few blogs, nothing but pessimism or forced optimism. I hope this changes this weekend. Or else it will just make Vegas that much sweeter.

Okay, let's end this pessimistic blog streak

I can't wait for this weekend, I WILL be over this cold, and I WILL enjoy the hot hot weather.

One thing I've noticed lately is that I've lost the constant urge to go downtown every weekend, I don't know if I'm getting old or what. I'm still getting used to the fact that my future isn't a plan set in stone, like going to school (sort of) was. I go to work every day so I can make money to save for big things... like eventually buying a house, paying off my car, supporting a (gulp) family of my own (someday), stuff like that, rather than go to school and look toward the next semester. Will I continue to move up limits in poker? Will it become my main source of income? Or will I make some major career advancements? Will I go back to school (I doubt it, but it's possible)? Will I continue to keep in shape? When (not if :) will I meet that someone? When will I stop this paragraph of rambling? Just a few random questions to get out so I can wonder about the answers.

What's going on here

Okay, so I took some Nyquil at 9 pm last night. I'm in bed by 10:30, but I cannot fall asleep. Last time I saw the clock was at 2:30 am, and I had set my regular alarm and six alarms on my phone to make sure I got up. Turns out I didn't need any of them, my roommate's alarm woke me up at 5:45 (grumble...). So much for a good night's rest. I really hope this summer cold thing goes away soon so I can go back to enjoying my summer.

UGH

I feel like crap.

This sentence will be the last one talking about the stuff I'm hacking up and the horrible coughing I'm experiencing, so time to move on positive stuff for when I get over it.

Vegas. Constantly on my mind. I'm going to have plenty of people to hang around with too. Roommate and 4 peeps from San Diego (transplants from the Madison/MN areas) will be there the first weekend, M for a day the first weekend, the San Diegans go home then 3 more buddies from MN fly in on Tuesday. There may be more too. I'll be sure to conk myself out with some Nyquil at about 6 pm on Sunday night so I'm fresh on Monday. Actually that probably won't happen seeing I'll be in VEGAS, but a reasonable bedtime will be in order.

I made some good mac and cheese today. I've been trying to get something close to the mac and cheese made by North American Rotisserie in Madison, but I had previously not come close at all. Today's batch may start to rival it, but it's not quite to where I'm satisfied. I found one secret ingredient, however, and if you ask me what it is I might tell you :P

I had better feel better tomorrow, as I used up my last sick day today. I don't really feel like going unpaid for a day, so no matter what I'll go in tomorrow. But first, a trip to the drugstore is in order. Off to Walgreens I go...

A great* start to the week

* = denotes sarcasm

So I had to wake up a little early to take my car in to get my antenna and dents fixed. Fine, no problem. But I get there and they say I don't have an appointment set, which was supposed to be set by my roommate who works there. So I'm standing there looking like the idiot that came in twice without an appointment. This happened last Monday which wasted 2 hours of my time and got my blood boiling. Well if this was gonna be deja vu... I called my roommate and after transferring a few calls back and forth to different service guys there it worked out, but FUCK I was mad, the stall made me late for work and this shit happened last week. Plus I feel like shit hacking up crap but I don't think I should be taking sick days before I take a week and a half off in a few weeks.

Okay okay sorry for the profanity but sometimes I just have to steam a bit.

The day can only get better from here right?

Music job

It's great having a new computer and all, but man is it a lot of work to put all of my music back on. I've discussed this with a number of people and they all agree that it takes days of work to get it all organized. I'm also near getting a free 60 GB iPod from pokerstars, which I'll have to put all of my music onto as well. 60 GB is so much, I'll have to get some movies to put on there. To me that's just crazy, portable movies and all. That's gonna make traveling (when I'm not driving) so much easier, whenever that happens. Hopefully I'll have it before I leave in 3 weeks, that would be sweet.

The big "what if"

I'll admit it's kept me awake later on some nights. What if, just what if, I did well in the WSOP? It would change my life. Even enough to pay off all debts would be life-changing. Of course I'm not counting on it to happen, but it's not out of the question. I've been reading up on experiences of people who are in my position, people who won their seat and never would have dreamed of paying to get into such an event. I have read that they get off their games and are intimidated by all of the pros who have been there and when they finally catch on a bit it's too late and they're out. I think one of my main focuses has to be to not be afraid to go out anytime I'm in a good position to increase my position, even if it means risking being knocked out. I'm not talking about those 50/50 confrontations or even those 60/40 favorite confrontations. Say I'm 80/20 but it requires me to put it all on the line, I can't think to myself "don't do it, just stay and last" or something like that. If I'm a set against an overpair on the first hand, I'll do it. Man I can't wait.

Much better

Out by 10 pm last night and woke up at 8. I cannot remember the last 10 hour sleep I had. All I know is that I'm gonna be bouncing off of walls today (!).

Only weekend plans include UFC on Saturday. I suppose I'd like to clean up my house a bit too, maybe get a haircut. I could use a grocery trip too. And I need to get some dry cleaning done. Well, maybe I have more to do than I thought. Amazing what a clear head does for remembering things.

Worst night of sleep

...if you can call it that. Napped from 8:30-9:30 pm, then tried to fall asleep around 1 to no avail. 3 am rolls around without a wink of sleep, so I get up to work out. I finally hit the brick wall at 6:30 this morning and sleep until 7:30. So, I feel like crap, look like crap, smell like crap. Just kidding, don't worry I showered. But I do feel and look like crap.

Look away, I'm hideous

4th of July weekend blog

I'm pooped from this weekend, lots to blog about...

Geez I'm sitting here trying to remember what I did Friday, it seems like it was a long time ago... wow what the hell did I do? I'll fill in Friday later I suppose.

Saturday: A spur of the moment cabin trip at a friend of a friend's cabin up north somewhere (I think the Peqout Lakes area or something). The ride up was super fun as I got to ride in a brand-new Mazda Miata Speed series convertible. The weather was perfect to ride with the top down which messed up my hair pretty badly, but I didn't care. Really I didn't :P We had a two-car train, the other being my friend's '05 Mazda 6 Speed series, so we had two zoom zoom cars. This apparently attracts car-loving hicks... somewhere about 2 hours into the drive up there a white Subaru with some work into it finds us on the road as we're pulling into a gas station. Just one dude. He pulls up beside my friend's car and asks if he can ride with us for awhile. What? So as we pull out he comes with us, and as we pick up speed on the highway he zooms by us. Hmm. We're just minding our own business and we pass a few cars and pass him as well, then he zooms by again. This happens about 5 more times, then finally he turns around and heads back to wherever he came from. I don't know, maybe we made his Saturday night or something. Just weird.

We finally get to the cabin around 9 pm and find that it's a newly acquired cabin that is going to be torn down to be replaced by a suped-up cabin, so this cabin is completely empty. (Oh yeah, I remember what I did Friday now, went to my friend's new house in St. Louis Park, which had absolutely no furniture in it yet, making it pretty dull....) There's a mix of old and young standing around chatting and enjoying the lake view and bonfire. As it gets later only the young are left, and then it's time to head to the bar. But oh, this was different. Everyone piled onto a pontoon and we headed across the lake to a long dock along the shore, where there were a ton of other boats that had carried others to this bar. We unloaded and went up some wooden stairs to find a completely packed bar deck full of sunburned young people. Wow. So this is what goes on up north eh? Not too sure what happened after that but when we got back my roommate decided to start tearing down the cabin with his bare hands and when I woke up the next morning the two doors on the cabin were all busted up. Hahaha, that's about all I can say about that.

After a long and very hot drive back, I took a much needed nap then headed to the Taste of MN to meet M and some cheese curds, lemonade, and ribs. Very tasty, but I have some work to do for that later this week. M ended up jousting and I got to see some of her fighting skills... note to self: don't mess with M :P Some fireworks ended the night and a great weekend. Well, that was the end of the normal length weekend...

Monday: Superman at the IMAX! Wow it was awesome. The 3-D parts were especially sweet, and my roommate and another friend kept the glasses. Wow what dorks, although I wish I had kept mine too after I heard their plans to attract nerd girls with them. Too bad they both broke them later. The night ended at a friend's house on Forest Lake with some dangerous playing with fireworks. Beer + fireworks + already crazy friends made me keep my distance from all of that :) Don't worry nobody got hurt, I think...

Tuesday: Swimming at a friend's house on an absolutely perfect day. The pool and weather couldn't have been better. Night came and we fell back on last minute plan which was to grill at our place. My roommate hit the keg store and I hit the grocery store. Lots of steak, chicken, ribs, veggies, and pasta salad. Mmmm, 'twas good. Didn't exactly drink a lot though, as today I'm working :( No biggie though, it's a short week and I have UFC to look forward to this weekend. And Vegas in a few weeks :)