Work

Overall, I've adjusted well to my new schedule. I've been sleeping well, and had a decent attitude about everything. This week I did have trouble getting to work on time, and I'm going to try to start leaving even earlier. I am supposed to report at 8:13am.

Monday: 8:13
Tuesday: Worked off site
Wednesday: 8:15
Thursday: 8:14
Friday: 8:04

Work Arrival

I am re-centered myself and my attitude at work. Those of you following along know I am supposed to report to work by 8:13am.

This week my arrival time:
Monday: 8:04
Tuesday: 7:50
Wednesday: 8:13
Thursday: 8:10
Friday: 8:06

I left late on Wednesday, but fortunately traffic was good and I still made it.

Poker Outline

My friend Matt asked me for a little poker lesson before he enters into a charity event tomorrow evening. I just prepared this outline for tonight:


Hold ‘em Lesson: Level 3
Successful full-table play

• Starting Hand Selection
• Position
Preflop/ Post-flop
• Number of players involved
At the table/ In the hand
• Pot Size
• Common Odd Approximations
• Bluffing
Sparingly/Semi-bluffing
• Going All-in/Playing Short

Champions of Life

A couple years ago I started captaining an ultimate team in the spirit league. I managed to get together some great people. We now have a terrific group of friends and have a little bit of history. Each season we've changed our team name depending on the theme of the league, but we've kept our yellow shirts. I've contemplated early retirement because of my knee, but right now my knee feels okay, and I'm enjoying the team too much. After our tournament victory this Saturday Alex sent the team the following e-mail:

Hola Team Vincent/Leinenkugel/Sally Ann Thunder Ann That's a lot of Ann's,

Good job today and congrats.

While excited by the win, I just wanted to tell you how proud I was to play with each and every one of you today. Everyone ran at 110% and stayed positive throughout. We constantly encouraged each other to shake off the drops, play hard D, and do our best individually but also as a team. Winning is nice, but even if we had lost I would have walked away feeling like we hadn't.

More than ever I can't help but feel that frisbee is a metaphor for life. Those teams that leave it on the field and challenge each other to move forward using positivity end up on top. We saw the alternative twice today. Y'all are awesome. I'd play with you any time, anyplace. Not to lose perspective, this is spirit league, and while a win always feels nice, it's only a small part of our world. I hope you all know that in the game of life, you are real champions.

Proud to wear the yellow,

Alex

Sleepless Blogging

I was at Sean's house the other day. I was talking about my insomnia issues. He said, "I have a suggestion for you. Next time you can't sleep get up and write another blog post."

He was right. Once a month seems very infrequent.

Laundry

I walked across the street to the bank to get some quarters for laundry. It isn't my bank so I wasn't making a withdrawl, just a cash exchange. I handed the teller a $100 bill and asked for $60 in twenties and $40 in quarters.

Later I was thinking that I doubt they get very many people walking in to the bank with hundred dollar bills that need quarters for laundry. I would also imagine most people getting quarters for laundry don't ask for forty bucks worth.

My Morning

A week and half ago I had a disagreement with my boss about the time I was arriving to work. Typically, I was arriving between 8:25 and 8:35, and occasionally I would get there a little later. I know this is past my scheduled time, but I don't have a first period class and my first class doesn't start until 9:30. I'm only officially scheduled to work until 2:45 and I'm here until 4:30 or 5:00 every day. So I asked my boss if I could just shift my official time later and he did not agree.

So for the past two weeks I've had trouble sleeping, but I've been making it to work by 8:13, my scheduled arrival time.

The weather has gotten colder, but there is a problem with my heater so I'm been using a little space heater. The last few days it has been bouncing back and forth between my bedroom and living room. This morning I knew I needed to make breakfast and lunch and would need some time in the kitchen so after I showered I plugged the heater into the kitchen.

As soon as I turned the microwave on to heat my oatmeal I blew the breaker in the kitchen. So I moved the heater back to the living room, and tried to figure out what to do to get my fridge working again before I went to work. I have one extension cord that runs from behind my bed out to a couple lights so I dug that out and brought it out the living room. I rearranged the television and managed to get the chord to run out long enough to reach the fridge.

Then I brilliantly decided to finish heating my oatmeal first without unplugging anything else from the living room. So I plugged in the microwave and proceeded to blow the power in the rest of the house.

Now, I'm really stressed out because I have to make it to work by 8:13. My boss said I could e-mail him under extenuating circumstances and let him know I'm coming in late, but I would really prefer to use those on my bad insomnia nights, and not to get my fridge working again. However, I can't even e-mail my boss anyway because the power thus the computer is not available.

I go down to the garage and play with the circuits, but it didn't help. I knock on the new landlord's door, but she does not answer. So I called my dad and he gave me some instructions. I played with the switches again. I went back upstairs and the power was back on. Now I hurriedly finished making my breakfast and lunch.

In the process I managed to knock over a glass and break it. Which of course I attribute this to being rushed by an unnecessary start time and the broken pieces of glass in my kitchen are now a result of work stress. I picked up the largest pieces. There are still a few little glass splinters on the counter and floor I will have to get when I get home.

I finished my food, finished getting dressed, and left work. I arrived at 8:06.

It is good that I am arriving to work on time, because it gave me time to write this blog. Also, I didn't have time to make as much food for lunch as I had planned so I'm thinking about running over to Subway. Once I am at work on time it is okay for me to sign out and leave to go get something if I really need to, but not okay for me to get something before (or something like that).

It is 8:31 now, and I got to work on time.

Modern Technology

Modern phones are so amazing. It is incredible what they can do. Phones now you can say what you want to say and it will transcribe it for you into text and send it to someone as a text message. They can read it, and then speak back into their phone, and send a text message back to you. Then you can have an entire text converation and neither person has to type in anything; you can do it all just by speaking.

Oh... wait...

Don't Judge a Driver by His Honk

Let me try to describe the scene: I turn in to the first driveway of the parking lot. Then I roll through along the top of the lot. There is a pickup signaling left from the main road and two pedestrians along the sidewalk. I can tell he is waiting for them to finish crossing so I make a right into the parking lot. As he turns in behind me he lays on the horn. I hurriedly find a spot down that row and he parks several lanes away, but still going to the same grocery store.

I look out at his truck and his lights are still on and I see a guy pulling two shopping carts as he walks towards the store. I'm thinking maybe it is a store employee, but I don't see anyone else getting out of the truck. Still mad from being honked I walk right up to him and say, "Are you guy driving the truck?"

I recognize most people wouldn't get this worked up about the incident. I also recognize that most people wouldn't want to cause a confrontation with someone that just honked at them. But sometimes I'm not like most people.

We had the following exchange:

"Yeah."
"What are you honking at me for?"
"You jumped in front of me and you scared me."
"I assumed you were waiting for the pedestrians to cross first."
"You had had a stop."
"I don't think I have a stop sign there."
"Yeah, it is on the road."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"No problem."

Did I mention it was raining and this guy was bringing in shopping carts just to help out? He turned out to be a real sweetheart.

Stolen Plate

I had my back license plate stolen. Maybe they just needed the tags or maybe they planned on committing me a crime. I called the police to report. The officer told me if I left the plate missing off the back I may get pulled over and have to explain that it was stolen, but already had been reported. Or I could move the front plate to the back and I would be less likely to be pulled over, but could possiblly be pulled over, yanked out of the vehicle, cuffed and thrown to the ground.

I moved the plate to the back; I don't feel like getting pulled over.

Not Luck

Sometimes when I play poker I play poorly and still end up wining. Sometimes I play well and still end up losing. However, usually when I play well I win, and when I play poorly I lose.

I just went and played poker for the first time in two months. I played poorly.

Quote

I just watched my first episode of American Family. The woman was shelling at her husband:

Where I come men cherish women. It goes

Wife
Mistress
Dog.

Dog is always at the bottom.

Not tipping the scales

I don't own a scale, but every couple workouts at the gym I weigh in. Literally, every time since I've started this diet 6 weeks ago my weight has gone done. Not sometimes fluctuating up and down depending on the time or whatever. Nope. Every time it has been lower. And I'm not even trying to lose weight.

This isn't an easy diet, but I think I found something that would help people lose weight.

Now, I have to figure out how to eat healthy and still gain some back.

But I'm a Christian

E-mail I just received:

I am Teresa Hernandez, a Christian.I have picked your email address for an inheritance of Ј 3.2 million Pounds.Please contact me for more details

Oh, a Christian. I will contact her right away now.

Lost in Translation

This is an direct quote from one my student's status updates yesterday (she is 15):

OMFG my sis or sumbdy khuldv died bra dat khar is fuhkd up Im bouta krii. Wow bluhd! Thank god!!

Levels of Dreaming

I looked into the mirror and my eyes zoomed into my mouth. All I could see was the focus of my chewing gum. That's how I knew I was dreaming. I didn't chew gum. It was like a scene right of inception. I realized I was dreaming because of my sign (the gum) and so I thought to myself, "you don't chew gum, so you know this is a dream." Then I woke myself up. Then I went back to sleep and still had the gum and once again cognitively processed that I was in a dream.

So excited by this discovery I woke up and contacted a few of my friends to share with them that I was able to do this. It was kind of crazy that I was suddenly able to have such awareness. Maybe I could learn to control my dreams or ask questions in them. It was fun to process this with others.

Then I woke up.

I'm not kidding. That was all the this morning. Then I woke up and realized that I had never really woke and realized all that stuff that I had realized.

Moneyball

I'm not promoting the movie here, but I did here. However, this is great.

Watch this:



Now watch this:

Too Much Moneyball

Grandpa

I remember one late night during the last years of his life I was sitting at the kitchen table with Grandpa just before he headed up to bed. He was eating a bowl of ice cream as he usually did. I glanced at the bowl and he responded:

They say I shouldn't be eating this all the time. I say, "What's it gonna do, kill me?"

My grandfather lived to the age of 92. His marriage lasted for an amazing 68 years.

Fireworks

Quote from Kerry last night as she looked out the window in the direction of Sea World, "Fireworks are even better when I'm drunk."

A Possible Beginning Strategy

I just had a girlfriend ask me to e-mail her some poker strategy for her game with her boyfriend on Wednesday night. She didn't know if it was a cash game or tournament and estimated 6-10 players. So I typed out and e-mail for her, and I thought I would share it here too. It gives you a place to start if you are fairly new to poker.

I told her to read this first just so she would understand the e-mail.

Preflop strategy:

If your not on the blind you will always be able to choose to either call, fold, or raise. If your hand has a 2,3 or 4 in it fold (even if your other card is high). So don't play K3. Also usually, fold hands with a 5, 6, or 7. If both your cards are 8 and higher you can probably go with it.

If you raise pick an amount and always raise that amount. For example the blinds are 5 cents and 10cents. So you either call the 10cents or raise to 30. If you raise to 30 with a lot of different hands then they won't be able to know you only raise with hands like AA.

I would choose the raise to be 3 times whatever the big blind is.

I would raise with all of the following hands: and two cards queen and higher (ex: AQ, QK, AK, KK) pairs ten or higher (TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA) and any suited cards that are 8 or higher (As8s, KhJh...) That way you have some variety in what you are raising with.

If someone raises before you act. Then you have to tighten up significantly and only play if you are really strong.

Post-flop:

If you make a good hand always bet it, and sometimes bet it even if you don't. For example you have KJ and the flop comes KT7. That is a great flop. Make sure you bet. Typically a good bet on the flop is about half of whatever is in the pot.

Bluffing:

Choose your bluffs when there are less players involved. You're more likely to get one or two people to fold than 4 or 5.

Don't Show:
Don't show your cards or tell the other players what you had. It is fun and friendly when everyone is doing this, but it will give them information about you. So if you bet and they all fold throw your cards in face down and happily scoop in your pot (regardless of the size of it). If they ask you what you had you can reply something like "I forgot" or "You'll have to pay to see."

Have fun.

Diet Goals

Tomorrow I'm starting a new diet program. It is crazy. I will be cutting most foods out of my diet with the goal of learning how my body reacts to it after it is added back in. It is a 21-day program. Below are my goals for the program.

My main goal:
To learn more about diet and how it affects my body so that at the completion of the program I can create a healthy diet for my life.

Other goals:
Decrease my body fat.
Improve my cooking skills and cook healthier meals at home.
Become more aware of how the food I’m putting into my body is affecting my body.

BTSA

I'm so happy to be done.

Today

Things I did today:

2 loads of laundry
Touched up the paint on the walls in my bedroom and kitchen
Went to Staples
Went to Aaron Brothers
Had the tires rotated
Went to Chiropractor
Went downtown and got my parking pass
Contacted the traffic court
Listened to the Giants win
Went to a night class
Borrowed a tent
Picked up a tent
Dropped off both tents
Cleaned my living room

It is good to have days off.

Time

I saw online that the Red Sox turned their first triple play since 1994. Then I heard on TV they turned their first triple play in 17 years.

That's when I realized 1994 was 17 years ago.

Emotions

Yesterday, I had an epiphany.

It was the first day that office staff reported back to work, and it was the first official day of our new principal. I went to work to talk to him.

I walked in and saw familiar faces in the office. I realized it. I want to keep my job. Not just teaching, but teaching here. I was happy to be back, and it felt right. I take a lot of ownership in my school. I want to be there, and I want the school to be successful. I am part of something, and I want to be part of it.

This was a big deal for a few reasons. One, it is nice to have my job back. But also I was proud of myself for making an emotional decision and reacting to my feelings about something. I am always very rational and make my decisions rationally, so this was a big step for me.

So I'm keeping my day job, and I'm excited about being back. (At least one more year.)

Nightmare

I have a reoccurring dream where I am chewing gum and I'm not able to get it out of my mouth. It is stuck in my mouth and I'm tearing at it trying to get it out, but I can only get out little bits of it at a time.

I rarely chew gum. I don't understand the dream.

Carrying Cash

Yesterday I made the largest cash deposit I have ever made at the bank. It broke my previous record that was set way back on Thursday.

On-line Poker Scandal

In the past people occasionally asked me if I was nervous about cheating while playing on-line poker. They were insinuating people at the site could control the cards coming out. I dismissed that as improbable because the sites were so profitable I thought it was unlikely they would do this. A few times playing heads up my opponents accused me of cheating insinuating that I could see their hole cards. I would just respond something like, "thank you." Unusual cards coming out is part of poker. To me I didn't see anything more unusual on-line that I did in regular games. However, my judgments were based only on the sites I played on in the games I played.

I just now came across the story of a major on-line poker scandal. I'm surprised I don't remember hearing more about it.

A couple nights ago I was at a final table with Charles Woody Moore and his wife, Rebecca Makar. Apparently, he is a pretty well-known poker player and I thought I should look him up. We ended up splitting the money five ways, so the couple managed to take 40% of the prize pool. Rebecca was still alive with 24 players left in the main even the following day too, so apparently she knows a little poker too.

However, it was my research on Woody that led me to read stuff about Rebecca, who is associated with the scandal. Very interesting that I was just at final table with both of them a couple nights ago. For the record they did not conduct in any suspicious activity at the table. They both rarely played so the fact that I never saw them in a pot against each other did not seem unusual. I was shocked to read about how Russ Hamilton and others cheated on-line players out of millions of dollars.

Also, this article about Woody not only caused me to read more into the scandal, but also led me into looking up plenty of other images of model Victoria Moore.

This Week's Trip to Reno

Last week in Reno I did the following (more or less in chronological order):

Big BBQ dinner at the house.
Lost a lot of money at poker.
Attempted to play outdoor hockey with the kids during the hottest time of the day.
Had outdoor movie night.
Went to the gym twice.
Ran outside before the gym twice.
Ate ribs on the 4th.
Saw a fantastic fireworks show.
Had a pizza picnic with my nieces and nephews on the floor in my hotel room.
Observed a game of hide and go seek in my hotel room (places to hide were limited).
Went to the pool with the family.
Had my back waxed.

And I wasn't even there a whole week.

Thinner

I just recently saw my ex-girlfriend for the first time in about 3 months.

Her: You look thinner.

Me: Thank you.

Her: I didn't say it was a good thing.

Morning 2

This morning Noah came in a little later than yesterday. I was still in bed sleeping and he walks in and asks, "Do you want leeto McBright?"

"What?"

"Do you want leeto McBright?"

"What does that mean?"

Noah explained, "If it is really dark you let in light so you can see."

He continued, "I just came in to give you a little more light."

The room I'm in does an excellent job at blocking out the light, so he came in a propped the door open for me. I'm guessing so I wasn't scared of how dark it was.

He then asked if I would bring the nine dollars and 99 cents when I came for his birthday. I told him that it was my money. He continued, "but will you bring the 99 cent part?" (Yesterday I told him I would do that part).

Then he said enthusiastically as he left, "Bye bye. Have fun sleeping."

The visit was not near as long as yesterday. Gratefully, I could now sleep with some light in my room.

Noah

I'm staying at my sister's right now. This morning someone came into my room and woke me up.

Half-asleep I asked, "What time is it?

"It is 9:12," answered Noah my four and half year-old nephew.

I responded, "What are you doing in here?"

"I came in to snuggle with you."

I said okay and he hopped in the bed with me and hung out a while until we both came out for breakfast.

During our conversation he asked, "You know what I'm going to do when I grow up and I'm a grown up?"

With great anticipation I asked, "what?"

"I'm going to definitely hang a poster on my ceiling."


Okay, kid. Keep the aspirations high.

We talked about a lot more things like how he calls mom "mama" now,the two motorcycles he is going to buy as a grown-up, and how he was going to save up nine dollars and ninety-nine cents to buy a light saver.

So far he has three pennies saved up.

Within Realm

I was having lunch with a friend today. Here was part of our conversation:

Me: After this I'm going to be buying some art.

Brumby: Nothing you say really surprises me anymore.

Dream

So last night I had my first poker dream of the season. I was sitting in seat 3 or seat 4 and I had 49o. The flop came out 994. I end up going all-in on the river heads up against the girl in seat 7. She calls the bet (I think she had AQ and there was an ace on the turn.) After it is shown that I have the best hand she points out that I was covering my cards illegally. The dealer calls the floor and he rules that she is to be given the pot. (I don't know what I was doing for some reason I had a cover chip and they were slightly fanned or not fanned or I don't know. Whatever it was there is no such rule, and it made no sense. However, in the dream the rule somehow existed and I just didn't know it.)

Also there was another female in seat 10 (who I think was also a dealer, but was playing this game) and she had discreetly signaled to her to look at my illegal card covering. This made the girl in seat 8 aware of it and then pointed it out.

I go ballistic. I call the floor. I'm arguing with the floor but to no avail. Then I'm pleading that we split the pot. I take my plea to the floor first and then when it is clear that it won't be ruled in my favor I go directly to the abusive culprit in seat 8 and I ask her to be reasonable and give me half of the pot. She refuses to share the pot with me in any way. (During all this I was also asking the people involved to explain the rule to me, because clearly I was ignorant and didn't understand it. This was sincere gesture on my part as I wanted to understand my offense even though simultaneously I thought the offense was ridiculous.)

But after when I'm arguing with her about the pot she ends up coming on to me. We kiss. We make plans to both leave the game and go back to my house. Despite this interaction she refuses to share any of the pot with me. (And I had the best hand damn it.)

Who wants to interpret this one?

Dating Advice

I was chatting on-line with a girl last week and she was about to go out on a first date with a guy and she was asking me for some dating advice. After an extensive conversation she summarizes my thoughts and says, "Basically, look good, be myself, and have low expectations."

Yep. I think that was a pretty good summary. Maybe I should start charging for this stuff.

Poker Tour

So I'm less than one week into playing poker. So far in four days at the tables I have had a positive return at the cash games each day. I didn't place in the only tournament I've played. Overall, it has been going well. I feel like I'm playing better as the week has gone by. Also, having one drunk guy and a couple bad players in the game tonight helped. I'm not sure how many poker stories I will post here, because I'm not sure even the small audience I have here would be interested. However, I will share a couple stories that I think would be interesting to the general populace.

Wish me luck at the tables.

Or Matt Damon's character would say something more like tell me to play well and stay focused.

Or something like that.

My Students

I was talking to a couple of my former students and said casually that it would be fun to teach at the high school next year, and if I did I would want to teach sophomore AVID. Then I got a couple e-mails from students that said, "I heard your teaching sophomore AVID at Rosemont next year."

I told one girl, who is a current sophomore, that it probably wasn't really going to happen.

She added, "I would get held back just to take that class."

Math in the Workforce

On a recent assignment involving vocational discovery on of my students included the following line in her paper:

I can't think of not one job that doesn't require math.

Me neither.

Courtesy Talk

At the end of my massage the therapist almost always says to me, "take your time getting up." But they usually have another client booked right after me. So I wonder if they should be saying something like, "Take your time getting up, as long as the time it takes you to get up and get dressed does not exceed 3 or 4 minutes."

Moms

As she was about to leave the wedding last night Debbie approached our table.

Debbie: Have you guys seen my purse?

(Brief pause. I checked under the table.)

Debbie: It’s beige.

Adonna: Is this it in your hand?

Debbie: Yep. And I’m the one driving.

But the Colors

Heather stopped by this morning to pick up her wallet. We just had this conversation:

H: Nice pajama pants.

M: Thank you. I just got them.

H: Good, manly colors.

M: Uh... They're Mickey Mouse.

Encouragement

My students finished the math section of the CST yesterday. One of the kids said to me, "I aced that math test, Mr. Burrill. When the questions got hard I did what you said and imagined you yelling me, and then I was able to figure it out."

Made me proud.

Nothing at All

I wonder how this guy found the motivation to write and produce this song.

Frozen Money

Earlier this week I had the following e-mail conversation with my friend Sean:

Sean: BTW, I was going to email you to tell you that they discussed online poker on Talk of the Nation today. You should listen to it online. I only heard a little bit but it was interesting.

Me: I looked it up. I've been listening.

Me: I actually found out something extremely interesting. They are making a deal to get me my money back. That was very nice to know.

Sean: How much was in your account?

Me: Present tense Sean. How much is in my account. Not was.

Sean: Let me rephrase that: How much is in you--now inaccessible--account?

Me: Thank you for rephrasing. Two grand.

Time Management

My cousin, Luke, decided not to participate in any of his fantasy baseball leagues this year, because it took too much of his time.

He told me this week that he thinks the change has been real good for him. He said now instead of coming home and watching MLB Network for 3 hours he has more time do other things he would rather be doing like watching the NHL playoffs and talking to his wife.

Good job, Luke.

Marketing

I have rejoined mainstream society and ordered television. Along with television comes television marketing. I have a confession to make. I still try to avoid commercials, but when I was fast-forwarding through the commercials and saw this one-- I backed it up and watched it.

Talent

The other day the Comcast guy was here and he looks out my window and says, "Look at this guy." There was a guy walking across my parking lot (this was 4pm in broad daylight) peeing. I've never seen it before. Sure I've seen plenty of guys over the years pick a spot in public. Against a wall, near a tree, but not this guy. Notice I didn't say standing in the parking lot. Nope. Walking. He was walking across the lot leaving a stream behind him. I guess he didn't want to take the time to stop and pee. I thought that would be more difficult, but maybe he's practiced.

Garden Gnome

Earlier this week the Redding Phillies had a Ryan Howard garden gnome giveaway. Including one lucky fan will win a life-size Ryan Howard garden gnome. Tony Bruno while on the air with Gary Radnich added, "It is a still Ryan Howard with a bat on his shoulder taking a called third strike to end the championship series. It is very authentic."

Cooking

My parents stopped by yesterday. My mom noticed a dish when she opened the fridge and asked, "Did you make that yourself, or did someone make something for you?"

I pretended like I wasn't insulted.

Extra Innings

Yesterday, a guy saw my shirt and asked me about the Giants game from the night before. I said the game was crazy. So he asked me if it went in to overtime. He quickly caught his error, but I still discounted his credibility for the remainder of our conversation.

Vonnegut and Drew Carey

As a public educator our work e-mails are on public record. Regularly we do get spam targeted toward teachers. Today I received an e-mail titled "Vonnegut and Drew Carey."

Yeah.

I did not further investigate their company. I'm guessing they have yet to find their niche.


The e-mail read:
Visit www.izzit.org/products/ and choose titles featuring Drew Carey, Kurt Vonnegut (‘2081’, adapted from ‘Harrison Bergeron’), Scott Bakula and more.

Negative Boy

I have a college student volunteering in my classroom. I told her that I had a fun lesson and she may want to take notes. She recorded it from her phone instead. This is the story of Quentin Frederico. This is what I wrote on the board that you can't see in the video.

Opening Day

Thursday Anastasia said to me, "Happy Opening Day."

We lost, but I still appreciated her comment.

Yeah, happy opening day to everyone.

Giants Over/Under

Making predictions for the Giants 2011 Season. Let me know if you choose the over or under for each of the following:

Team Wins: 92

Huff Homeruns: 23.5

Brandon Belt RBI's: 70

Zito Wins: 11.5

Giants SP with double-digit wins: 4.5

Sandoval HR's: 12

Lincecum K's: 230

Posey Hits: 180

Cain Wins: 15.5

Aaron Rowand still on the big league club on Aug 1st

Sandoval's weight September 1st: 254 lbs

Tie Breaker Question: Exact number of team wins

Predictions due by midnight on 4/4.

My Fantasy Team

Case Ace
1. (9) Ryan Braun (Mil - OF)
2. (16) Ryan Howard (Phi - 1B)
3. (33) YOUK
4. (40) Joe Mauer (Min - C)
5. (57) Cole Hamels (Phi - SP)
6. (64) Rickie Weeks (Mil - 2B)
7. (81) Matt Cain (SF - SP)
8. (88) Roy Oswalt (Phi - SP)
9. (105) Francisco Rodríguez (NYM - RP)
10. (112) Ian Desmond (Was - SS)
11. (129) Carlos Lee (Hou - 1B,OF)
12. (136) Mark Reynolds (Bal - 3B)
13. (153) Daniel Hudson (Ari - SP)
14. (160) Jose Tabata (Pit - OF)
15. (177) Jorge De La Rosa (Col - SP)
16. (184) Craig Kimbrel (Atl - RP)
17. (201) Carlos Peña (ChC - 1B)
18. (208) Joe Nathan (Min - RP)
19. (225) Jake Peavy (CWS - SP)
20. (232) Reid Brignac (TB - 2B,SS)
21. (249) Brandon Webb (Tex - SP)
22. (256) Stephen Strasburg (Was - SP)
23. (273) Brandon Beachy (Atl - SP)
24. (280) Coco Crisp (Oak - OF)
25. (297) Jake Westbrook (StL - SP)

Fake Team

I joined a public league just to do a little experiment. I pre-ranked my players in about 10 minutes. You might be able to tell my goal:

Gutshot7
1.	(2)	Tim Lincecum (SF - SP)
2.	(23)	Matt Kemp (LAD - OF)
3.	(26)	Matt Holliday (StL - OF)
4.	(47)	Matt Cain (SF - SP)
5.	(50)	Jason Heyward (Atl - OF)
6.	(71)	Brian Wilson (SF - RP)
7.	(74)	Aramis Ramírez (ChC - 3B)
8.	(95)	Pedro Alvarez (Pit - 3B)
9.	(98)	Delmon Young (Min - OF)
10.	(119)	Jonathan Sánchez (SF - SP)
11.	(122)	Madison Bumgarner (SF - SP)
12.	(143)	Carlos Lee (Hou - 1B,OF)
13.	(146)	Brian Roberts (Bal - 2B)
14.	(167)	Barry Zito (SF - SP)
15.	(170)	Joel Hanrahan (Pit - RP)
16.	(191)	Jhonny Peralta (Det - 3B,SS)
17.	(194)	Kevin Gregg (Bal - RP)
18.	(215)	Carlos Ruiz (Phi - C)
19.	(218)	Adam Jones (Bal - OF)
20.	(239)	Jake Peavy (CWS - SP)
21.	(242)	Cody Ross (SF - OF)
22.	(263)	Johan Santana (NYM - SP)
23.	(266)	Sean Rodriguez (TB - 2B,OF)

I don't plan on investing much energy into this league, but at least for a while I plan on starting all five of the Giants starters.

New Boy

I got a new student last week and all the girls think he is really cute. I told my students to shake his hand and welcome him to the class. Ashlyn, sitting next to him, was first to shake his hand. After the handshake she says to him, "I'm never going to wash this hand again."

What?!!!?

Can someone find her a hint of timidness please?

Cleaning out the Closet

This is what my closet looks like:




This is what my living room looked like during the closet project:



This is what my living room looks like now:



I'm glad it is done.

You Too

I left Subway yesterday and said to the kid behind the counter, "Have a good one." I'm not going to comment on the quality of my farewell colloquialism. It was his response I found interesting.

"Have a good one."

"Will do."

I mean who responds like that? Maybe we should more. Next time the stewardess says "Enjoy your flight," maybe instead of "thanks" you should go with something else:

"Don't mind if I do."

"I plan on it."

"Damn right. I'm gonna enjoy this flight."

Thanks for reading. Have a good one.

(Brian Regan's "you too")

Memory

Last month a girl I didn't recognize sent me a friend request on Facebook. I saw that we had several mutual friends from Cal Poly so I was assuming I knew her in college, just not well. Today I saw her on-line and decided to bring it up.

Me: I have question for you

Her: Yes?

Me: What was our relationship in college?

Her: What?

Me: How did you know me?

Her: Oh, not to worry we didn't meet in college.

Me: Oh.

Her: I saw we had a lot of friends in common so I sent you a request. :)

That makes me feel a little better.

Coincidence

Prior to yesterday I don't have any recollection of eating at an establishment that was entirely vegetarian or vegan. Really, I'm not even sure I knew those places existed.

Yesterday afternoon I go to Gio's and he suggests a vegetarian place in old Folsom so he can get a certain milkshake. Then at night a group of us went to vegetarian place downtown for dinner.

I find this really ironic that the day after I break up with my vegetarian girlfriend I end up at two vegetarian restaurants.

Weird.

Cleaning the Closet

Ever find old stamps and then have to stick on two because you don't want to drive to the post office to buy a two-cent stamp? Well I just found some 33 cent stamps. I figure if I wait long enough I can just put on two without losing money.

I also found a tax-refund check from the state of California in the amount of $67.00. It is dated 4/25/2005.

Processing

Late one night just before Christmas I finished watching American Beauty. I jotted down my thoughts before I went to bed:

The movie ended. We stood up. My brother-in-law turned to me and asked, “What did you think?”

I responded, “I’m not sure yet.”

The movie: American Beauty.

The next day I thought about it and went back to him and acknowledged that I liked the movie. That was over ten years ago. Now, without cable and internet at 1:30 in the morning I just finished watching it again. Alone. For the first time since I’ve seen in the theater.

What did I think?

I’m not sure yet.

After I read the cover and among the descriptions it read the movie was “wickedly funny.” What does that even mean? Is that like some New Englander telling me, “That movie was wicked funny.”? Or is it actually wicked?

The movie left me thinking a few things:

Do I need to sell my car?

Should I try to avoid watching movies alone?

I need to get internet again soon.

I need to go to bed.

The next day I woke thinking about the movie, and (just like I did after the first time) decided that I really did like it. Incredibly well-done movie. However, it was a lot to process.

Give it a day.

Feeling the Love

In response to this column on January 26th:

Recently, as an exercise in self-control, I cancelled my T.V. and Internet. Among other things it has made writing my blog a little more difficult. I know I have tens of thousands (or at least tens) of regular readers that rely on me for part of their weekly entertainment. Despite the growth of readership being slower than I anticipated there are signs that growth is taking place.

I'm going to take an indefinite amount of time off, but when I return I will return with a vengeance (and I will intentionally try to self-promote my blog). I would like a few weeks off.

I'm thinking of returning once I have had ten different people comment, call, text, or e-mail me something positive about my blog, or at least that they noticed that I haven't been writing. It is an entertainment column. Hopefully, I'm not just entertaining myself. People, I need some affirmation every once in a while.
Extra credit if you mention a specific column that you particularly enjoyed reading.

I hope you are enjoying your 2011 so far.

--Kevin


I got all of these responses:

Carla Ardian said...

I read your blog everytime you post something new. Got a feed on my own blog so I won't miss a thing.

But yeah, I understand the need of knowing if people read your blog. So here is one comment. :)

January 26, 2011 7:05 PM

Astrid said...

I just found your blog but I've already gone through most of your archives. So you are officially entertaining ME! I will definitely be sharing a link with a few of my friends.

On another note...I willingly quit T.V. sometime ago and it doesn't bother me a bit, but I liked to of walked right off the roof during a recent experiment in lack of internet! So good luck!

January 26, 2011 7:12 PM

The Bailey family said...

I'm a little sad that you're taking some time off, because you are my Monday morning meeting entertainment - something to read and make me laugh inappropriately during boring meetings! So I'll be bored and sit quietly and appropriately during my meetings for the next few weeks... and good luck with no internet, we rarely watch TV but definitely rely on the Internet for daily news, communication, etc.

January 27, 2011 7:14 AM

Nicole said...

I definitely enjoy your columns, especially when they're about travel or students. Good times! Been missing them recently, but I'll be strong and persevere until your return. =)

January 27, 2011 8:09 AM

Anonymous said...

I bet you would get a lot more readership if you reposted a link to each blog entry on Facebook. I never see you do that.

January 27, 2011 3:43 PM

Anonymous said...

Hey Kev, love the blog, stop chasing the ladies in the new convertable and get back to more writing and more poker, those are true art forms. Dave

January 27, 2011 4:23 PM

Anastasia said...

I always read your blog and am sad when there isn't anything new. Please come back! It's very entertaining.

January 28, 2011 9:13 AM

Bre said...

I enjoy reading your blog, especially when it contains entertaining stories about your friends and students (kids these days)....keep it up!

January 31, 2011 2:21 PM

Anonymous said...

I find your blog very entertaining, but I understand the need for a break. Validity, and other funny life stories.

January 31, 2011 2:44 PM

R said...

Umm...I need you to blog. Other than Playboy, it's the only worthwhile thing I read these days.

February 1, 2011 6:03 PM

Anonymous said...

Dam bro. I subscribed for a year. I want a refund so I can buy a Playboy.

February 3, 2011 8:04 AM

El Super said...

i like your blog

February 7, 2011 12:05 PM

Snow White said...

no come back! I just found your blog yesterday and i love it. I actually laughed out loud during lecture while reading.... i got some stares but it was worth it :)

February 10, 2011 8:55 PM

I even got Four more just letting people know that I would be coming back on 2/28.

4 comments:

Astrid said...

Thanx! :D

February 12, 2011 2:55 PM

Silk said...

Yay!

February 13, 2011 9:43 AM

The Bailey family said...

very glad, my monday morning meetings have been so dry without some good humor to read!

February 14, 2011 7:02 AM

Snow White said...

yayyyy!!

February 14, 2011 8:50 AM

Thanks for the support.

--Kevin

Dreaming

I went out late last night. I went to bed about 3am. I woke up the first time at 6:30, but went back to sleep. In those morning hours I was doing quite a bit of dreaming.

My last dream:

I was in some kind of fancy McDonalds in a college town. They had TV's up all playing the same show. They also had this glass case thing where three mannequins came out dancing in sync with the television program. I was there a while noticing the other patrons, and noticing these dancing mannequins that looked very real. Finally the dream climaxed with the whole restaurant getting up and dancing in sync with our robotic friends leading the moves. Then the dance number in the show stopped and it went back to a dialogue scene, along with a collective groan from our McDonalds crowd.

Or something like that.


But before that I had this dream:

I was with my girlfriend at some kind of casual food place on a Saturday morning. We are about to leave and I notice this fairly attractive girl crying. I say something friendly to her and we strike up a mild conversation. My girlfriend mentions our plans for the day and I think to myself, "I don't recall agreeing to any of that." Then I ask the girl if she is going to be okay. She says no. I ask her if she would like me to stay with her for a bit, and she immediately nods yes. It was a facial expression that said, "yeah, that would really be nice for me." I say to her that I will stay. Then I said in a voice I think intentionally a little too loud, "I'm not sure that it is okay for me to just stay with you." My girlfriend responds, "Uh... I can hear you right now." She shoots me this look that says, "You better not dare stay to hit on this girl right in front of me." I signal back so the other girl can't see to say, "She is crying," She responds letting me know that she was well aware of the crying. The implication was, "I know she's crying, but it would be totally inappropriate for you to stay with this girl probably just cause you think she is attractive..."

I look back at the girl and say, "I'll stay with you, but just for a little while." My girlfriend leaves mad. And I offer to play catch (with a Frisbee I had with me for some reason). She accepts the offer and we stand up to toss. (Then I woke up).

Who wants to explain that one to me?

Jury Group 0225

Just got my internet back and the first thing I did was log on to find out my jury duty status.

Good News.