Back Again

I haven't been updating my blog a lot lately. My apologies readers. There isn't too much to report, honestly. My occupation is keeping me quite busy lately. I just came back from Vegas. My apartment had atrophied quite a bit and I hadn't seen Sandy in about 10 days. Given all of that, time to update has been sparse.

As I type this, I'm playing some $2/$4 hold 'em on Party Poker. I'm up $6 in for my half hour at the table. It could be better. A positive result is a positive result though. I've had a great January on Party. It's been my best month ever monetarily at the poker table. Unfortunately though, in the past week I've hardly had time for any play. I guess that just leaves room for improvement in February.

Vegas was a great time. Theoretically, I'm not supposed to really talk about it too much. You know that crap about "what happens in Vegas..."? Actually, I'm kidding. That's the biggest line of crap. I don't know anyone, including myself, that ever goes to Vegas and doesn't come back and go into all kinds of rambling narratives about their excursion.

My Vegas trip in a nutshell -

1. I played a bunch of poker. We even had a private $2/$4 game set up for us late one night at the Monte Carlo. This was a good time. Net result at the poker table: +$
2. I spent a lot of time in the sports book. Good results here were predicting both the NFC and AFC championship games correctly, going 4 for 4 on the NBA one day, and the yearly Illinois/Stanford hoops parlay. Bad results were the day after the 4 for 4 in the NBA (stupid Mavs!)), Blackhawks wagers, Arizona and Duke basketball. Net result in the sports book? +$ (Thanks again gambling Gods)
3. In a couple of moments of idiocy, I got sucked into some casino war. Miraculously, this didn't end badly. Net result at casino war: +$
4. I ate like a pig. I had way too much Sbarro, Fatburger, and other horrible foods for my health. I also drank too much or not enough depending on how you look at it. Net result in the food court: +lbs.

Overall, I'd say it was a good trip. I do wish Adam would have spent a little less time at Bible study, but that's just him. It's always great to see my Bourbonnais crew as a whole. They are all great guys. This trip is one we make annually, and I anticipate that tradition continuing indefinitely.

Anyway, I felt I owed at least a small recap of the voyage. So, there it is. If you are looking for a Super Bowl prediction, bet on the Steelers. That's my advice. Oh, I almost forgot. Before I sat down at the computer, I caught Kobe Bryant on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith. It was a strong interview. It actually changed my outlook on Kobe a little bit. If you care and the replay is available, I recommend checking it out.

A few congratulations are also in order. Ali Nasim has fish that can swim. Congrats to you sir! My man DB in the MKE is rollin' out of ACN. That's about the smartest move anyone can make. I'm proud of the man and excited for him.

A few other things as my recommendations portion of the site is slow in coming, here are some ratings:

Four Brothers- C
Hustle & Flow- B+
Freakonomics- A-

Okay, I'm wrapping up this blog and my poker session. I'm at the 1 hour mark on the poker. Clearly I didn't spend that much time on this post! I'm up $44.50, if you are interested.

Tagged

I not so recently had the honor of being "tagged" by the Betty Rocker Music Pantry. Due to my Vegas trip and a busy time at work, it took me a little while to respond. Here are my answers though -

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life:

1. Insurance Company Receptionist
2. Chemistry Tutor
3. Feminine Care Product Research (Maxi Pads)
4. eBusiness Marketing Manager

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over Again:

Just 4? I could go into the hundreds so I'll cheat a little.

1. Karate Kid I, II, III
2. The Godfather I and II
3. Menace II Society
4. Gattaca

Four Places You've Lived:

1. Tomagene Drive - Bourbonnais (my 'rents crib for about 15 years)
2. Champaign-Urbana all over the place
3. An Apartment in Milwaukee (Oak Creek actually, the other O.C.)
4. My current crib in the Chi.

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The 4400
3. One Tree Hill
4. World Series of Poker


Four Places You've Been On Vacation:

These are my favorites...

1. Las Vegas (it's a 2nd home at this point)
2. Ireland
3. Montreal
4. Maui

Panama City Beach, FL almost made that list.

Four Blogs You Visit Daily

1. Betty Rocker's Music Pantry
2. Gaper's Blog
3. Waiter Rant
4. Daniel Negreanu

Four Of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Dried Mangoes
2. Fuji Apples
3. Properly Prepared Japanese Eggplant
4. Bacon-wrapped Dates

Four Albums You Can't Live Without:

Tough question. I think you need diversity here but it's tough to do.

1. Louder than Bombs by The Smiths
2. Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star by Sonic Youth
3. The Blueprint by Jay-Z
4. Give Up by The Postal Service

Four Vehicles You've Owned

I've driven many things, but I've only owned one. All other vehicles were
owned by my parents.

1. 1999 Toyota Camry

Tagged
I would tag some people, all of the serious bloggers that I know (there are like 2),
have already been tagged. If you are reading this though, answer the questions in
the comments, if you are so inclined.

Kobe's 81

Kobe threw up 55 in the 2nd half alone against the Raptors. Is it completely inconceivable that he drops a C Note on someone by the end of the year? I think not. That's 100 points people. I'm saying he could get there.

By the way, what the hell is Phil Jackson thinking here? Phil has always been the ultimate team coach. He can't possibly believe this strategy is the best way to win. He got Jordan to stifle his game for the greater good of the team. The Bulls won 6 championships. Jordan was always the primary scorer, but he played within the triangle and only occasionally cast it aside in favor of some isolation play for himself when he needed to tear someone's heart out. So what the heck is up with Phil here? Why doesn't the MJ technique apply?

This is what I think is at work here with Phil. Kobe is more stubborn than MJ was so he has to go a different way in order to get some buy in. It's kind of like Days of Thunder when Robert DuVall first got his hands on Cole Trickle. Cole just liked to drive the bejesus out of the car and wreck the tires. He didn't drive smart. DuVall sent him out on the track and said run it your way. He timed him. Then he had him run it the smart way - DuVall's way. Guess which way won?

I don't know if Phil has seen Days of Thunder and it's hard to believe I just referenced it. If he has or not though, do you think that he's capable of just playing an entire season out in Kobe ball hog mode? Would he do that just so he can say to him at the end of it, after they get crushed in the playoffs, that it just doesn't work his way and they are going to have to change things up to win again? I think he is capable. I hope that's the plan. It's either that, or he's just decided to take a back seat to Kobe and collect his $10 million/year. I know Phil is a business man but that thought is just depressing. I have too much respect for the man to believe that is what is at work here.

The Perpetually Disappointing Colts

I don't want to talk too much about football here, but I fear I will. How great was it when Vanderjagt blew that field goal? I don't wish bad things on the Colts, but Vanderjagt is a moron. I was happy to see him choke. Maybe I shouldn't wish bad things on others? I don't know. Maybe a kicker shouldn't call out his quarterback for being unable to get it done in the playoffs? I mean, it's true. Still, the guy is a kicker!

Anyway, when did the Colts fall apart? Was it the James Dungy death? Was it the loss to the Chargers? Was it even before that because Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy are destined to choke in the playoffs every year? Maybe it was the last one but I say no. They fell apart the day Dungy talked about resting his guys. As soon as they pulled the plug on winning every game, even just mentally, they lost their edge. Next thing you know, they are turning in a lackluster effort against the Chargers and playing Jim Sorgi in the remainder of their games. This is the NFL. If you have an edge, you hold on to it. You take your foot off the gas, even if it's just in your head, and when your foot goes looking for the accelerator again, it might not be there.

Oprah's Book Club

Are you following this controversy with A Million Little Pieces? I think it's fantastic. As someone who intentionally avoids books recommended by Oprah and her freakin' book club, I couldn't be happier about it. Thank you James Frey. Thank you for being a fraud.

MLK Jr. Day

Apparently, this isn't important enough of a holiday for my employer. We're working tomorrow. To those of you with the day off, have a cocktail for me.

Sometimes the gambling Gods smile on you....

I'm off to Vegas this Thursday for 4 days of fun with my Bourbonnais crew. I'm very much looking forward to this voyage. It's a trip we take every year and it's always an incredible time. My internal organs suffer for a few days during and after, but it's worth it.

Anyway, we typically would have gone this past weekend. It's a good weekend for us. We typically sit around a sports book and wager on the four NFL games on Saturday and Sunday and see how things turn out. I have a long history of betting on the Colts against the Patriots, which has clearly not gone well. I do tend to make up for it in the other games though, so it's alright. Right now, I don't think I'll ever wager on any game involving Peyton Manning again. He's really good at hosing me completely.

As I watched the four games this weekend, I thought about what my wagers would have been. I would have probably only bet 3 games. I would have left the Seahawks game alone as I would have wanted to stay away from the 9.5 points the Redskins were getting. I would have bet Seahawks (the right choice) if I had to bet the game, but I would have avoided it as I wouldn't have really felt confident. I would have definitely bet on the Pats against Denver. Any chance I get to bet against Jake Plummer in a big game, I can't get my money involved quick enough. I would definitely have bet on the Colts also for the sake of tradition. I felt good about Indy in that game also. I would have to back my own team too, of course. I definitely would have bet the bears. I would have lost big. That would have been a big fat 0-3. I would have needed a strong showing at the poker table to offset that.

Thankfully, one of our critical trip attendees had a wedding or something this weekend. This really saved me some cash. Hopefully, things will go better with the championship games this Sunday. I think I like the Panthers and the Steelers, but we'll see. I'm feeling sort of like it's house money at this point though.

What happened to the Bears?

Well, quite simply the Bears defense couldn't shut the Panthers down. This is baffling to me. I actually wanted to play the Panthers this round, because I felt like the Bears could beat them up like they did the last go round. Even if we coudn't totally dominate, our offense is improved this time around with Grossman. Now that said, I did see a couple of things we needed to improve on. Last time against the Panthers, we got to Delhomme all game but he still hit Steve Smith for about 200 yards. We also couldn't really throw the football.

So pretty much, going in to this game I would think we would try to do two things on defense. First, we'd try to shut down the run game in the same way we did last time. I thought there would be no way that DeShaun Foster would be hitting us for the 150 yards he ran for last week. I was correct on that. We did a pretty good job against the run in this game. The other thing I was sure we would have to do, is have two guys on Steve Smith at all times. We would need a safety cheating to his side of the field on any routes he ran deeper than 10 yards and we'd have to pay constant attention to the guy on every play. With our front four, we should still be able to keep pressure on Delhomme and force him into some mistakes. I think pretty much any fan of the game could have watched the film of the last game and come to this conclusion. However, the coach of the year and the rest of his staff decided on many occasions that leaving Smith one on one with our corners was a good idea. I'm still trying to figure out how the heck this happens. I was half-expecting to see a Dave Wannstedt on the sideline for the majority of the 1st half. We've been well-coached all year. So how does a guy that hit us for 200 yards receiving last time around, hit us again for 200 yards receiving? Did he just sneak up on us? I don't think so. Brutal.

This loss had nothing to do with a young Rex Grossman at quarterback. I think Rex played a heck of a game. He made some tough throws and played great for a young guy in his first playoff game. If Orton plays in this game, I think we're out of it before the 4th quarter begins. So as far as that goes, Lovie clearly made the right decision.

There's not much of anything that I can say to put a positive spin on how this season ended. I am optimistic about the Bears future though. We have the D under contract for the next year, pretty much in it's entirety. Grossman looks like an NFL quarterback. The tailback position is solid. We're improving at wide receiver. Berrian has improved quite a bit. Mark Bradley was looking great before he was lost to injury for the season. Hopefully, he comes back fully recovered. We have to be favored to win the division next year. We're in good shape for the future. That's something. Still, I'd like to win a freakin' playoff game in our house. Our inability to do that kills me. Still, if you told me this is how the season would end up during the pre-season. I would have taken it, so I can't complain too much.

Resolutions

I don't think resolutions work to well for me. I'm sort of giving them up this year. I am however, working out more and eating healthier at the moment. I'm in a wedding in 5 months and I don't want my fat head preserved for eternity. Outside of that, I'd really like to play 15 hours poker/week. I would go for more, but it's somewhat unrealistic for me currently. The last couple of weeks, I've hardly played at all. I'll pick up the pace next week. We'll see how it goes. I've come to the realization that I'm pretty much a happy guy. I'm just going to try to enjoy my life as I've laid it out. That's pretty much my only true resolution this year. Now, if the Blackhawks could win a frickin' game. That would help me out a lot.

Here's a good point...

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

I just saw that. Fantastic.

Read this for solid tips about ordering wine. Good blog.

New Year's was cool. I'm on a diet. It sucks. I hope you are eating whatever you want and not working out! Things are so much more fun that way.