CARDRUNNERS

Football started up last night. This year is the first year I've played Fantasy football seriously. I played it a few years ago but didn't watch much football and didn't care at all. I've really gotten into fantasy sports in the last year. I played NBA and was terrible. It was probably because I didn't watch enough NBA games and I really didn't know what I was doing. I then played MLB. I started off just as bad as basketball and was in last place after the first few weeks. I've watched a lot of baseball these year and I've really read up on Fantasy strategy. I've learned a ton and I manged to take 5th in my league and make the playoffs. That's not great, but I'm pretty happy with it. Most of the other people in the league know a lot more about baseball than me and they have played fantasy baseball before. I've been reading up on Fantasy Football and I think my two drafts went pretty well. We also got NFL sunday ticket, so I know I'm going to watch a ton of Football this season. The great thing about Fantasy is that it makes every game actually mean something.

I decided to start playing more poker. I basically didn't play for 2 weeks and I've been getting the itch to play again. I've also been developing quite the spending habit lately and it would be nice to pay for these expenses with poker money and not money made from CR or elsewhere. So far I'm up about 5k on the month in pretty limited playing time. I've been running well and playing good but not great. My play has been between 2/4 and 5/10. I've been hoping around looking for good games. My goal is to average 20k/month for the remainder of the year. My biggest obstacle these days is actually putting in the hours at the tables. I keep pretty busy with Cardrunners and my personal life these days. I'm going to do what I can to play as much as possible.

Here is a picture of the last bike I owned.



Of course that bike cost me 5 euro from a junkie in Rotterdam, Holland. The junkies would steal bikes and them sell them to students like me. Needless to say, it wasn't a very good bike. It only had 1 gear and the brakes were awful.

I'm looking to get a road bike in the price range of $300-500. I don't know much about bikes these days and I'm looking for some suggestions. I'm planning on starting to bike to work when it's nice out. It will help me get some more exercise and I'm pretty sure I can make comparable if not better time.

The weather is great here today. It's like 75 and sunny with a slight breeze. It looks like it's going to stay like that for the foreseeable future, which is really nice. We also have a pretty big weekend planned. My buddy, Spud, is coming in town on Friday. He's never been to Chicago before, so I'm looking forward to showing him a good time. I'm going to go buy a ton of alcohol tomorrow. We have an empty kegerator, so that needs to be taken care of. I also am going to go buy the liquor that I've won from bets from gambler. I'm up $700 on those liquor bets ($500 from first one which was actually supposed to be two bottles at a vegas night club and then $200 because we settled the other bet early). I plan on putting about $500 towards liquor purchases tomorrow.

One of my friends was at a cubs game yesterday with a bunch of her coworkers. I met up with her afterwards and got to meet a lot of new people. One of the downsides to what I do is that I don't get to meet as many new people as I'd like because it's just me and Taylor in the office. It's nice to get out and meet some of the people my friends work with. It's also really nice that whenever people are at cubs games it's very easy for me to meet up and have a few drinks.

I bought a couple of baseball jerseys the other day. I've been meaning to buy a Granderson jersey for a long time and just never got around to it. I decided to get an authentic Tigers jersey. I also wanted to get a cubs jersey. It's just a lot more fun to wear a jersey to a baseball game. I'm not really a cubs fan, so I didn't know who I would get until Monroe got traded to the cubs. Monroe was a big part of the Tigers season last year. I like him a lot despite the fact that he is a complete hacker at the plate. If only Griffey would get traded to the cubs... I'm pretty excited to finally own some nice jerseys.

The weekend ended up being really fun. I'm glad I ended up going. I really enjoy hanging out with everyone that was there. I had forgotten what it was like to hang out with that group. When I got in Friday night we just ate dinner and went out to a bar. It was a college type bar. I hadn't really been to a collegeish bar in awhile, so that was fun. A lot of shots were drank and a good time was had.

Saturday I woke up to the sound of the Swedes outside getting ready to go to breakfast. I hoped out of bed, opened my door and told them I was in. I was in one of my goofy hungover moods. I basically just think everything is hilarious and talk a lot. Our waitress was an older asian woman who didn't speak english very well. It made for some funny discussions between here and the swedes. Honestly, those girls probably speak better english than me, but they still had trouble communicating with this woman. It's really remarkable how well swedish people speak english. They say it's because they watch a lot of american tv. I never have to explain any slang and they never make mistakes. After that we went to Muir Woods to see the redwood trees. I've done that before, but it was still fun to see them again. Not far away from the woods there is a beer garden up on the top of a hill basically in the middle of nowhere. We got in a little trouble because you aren't supposed to arrive in groups of more than 7 and we had 9. Our friend made the mistake of ordering two pitchers and asking for 9 glasses. They actually threatened to kick us out, but they didn't. It was fun hanging out there just shooting the shit and drinking good beers. When they stopped serving we headed down the hill and went to a nearby beach. It was really a beautiful beach and I enjoyed hanging out there. I feel like I haven't been on a beach in awhile. To finish the night we had some Pizza and went out. The pizza was probably the worst pizza I've ever had. I had trouble putting it down and about an hour later I was very close to throwing up. I never throw up, ever, so that tells you how bad it was. I almost made the walk to the bathroom. My poor friend, Leah, wasn't so lucky. Her night ended early thanks to San Fran Pizza.

I had a bunch of headaches coming home. My first flight was delayed and I didn't think I would make my connection. My dad was taking me to the track the next day, so I had to get home at a reasonable time. I had no interest in getting stuck in Phoenix when I just wanted to get home. I noticed there was one other flight heading back to chicago but I would have to buy the ticket and it was going through Midway and not O'hare. I decided to fuck it and take it anyway, even though I wasn't happy about it. Right around this time my iphone just stopped working. I eventually figured out how to reset it, but it froze 3 more times in the day, so I'm pretty sure I need to get a new one. In the end, I got home fine, but had to spend a bit more money and definitely had more stress than I was hoping for.

My dad was nice enough to take me to the track with him yesterday. A couple times a year he takes his car to a track in Michigan City. Basically you just get track time with an instructor. My dad is an instructor there when he goes, so he is always my instructor. I have gone twice in the past, but it's been several years. I forgot how much fun it is. Honestly, it's probably one of the most fun things I've done in recent years. It's very exciting to whip around a track and even spin out at times. If you can get the chance to do it, I definitely recommend it. Here is the layout of the track.

Ezra is in town this week to get some work done with us. We have a lot to do with the date of new site implementation quickly approaching. It's nice to get back in the office and get a lot of work done. It's exciting to get towards the end of developing this new site.

Oh, and I'm glad my last entry allowed me to receive a lecture about being an ignorant american when I didn't imply anything of the sort. Cheers.

WOW. What a dumb blonde.

I hate flying. I always seem to have bad luck when I fly. Today was no different. I got stopped going through security. When I packed this morning I was pretty damn hungover and not paying much attention so I was a little worried I had something in there that wasn't supposed to be. What you ask? Who knows. Well, it turns out it was just a tube of toothpaste. A brand new one at that. I think it's ridiculous that you can't carry toothpaste through security. Anyway, the woman who searched my bag completely emptied it out. She was nice enough to return everything but my huge ass $150 extra battery. I didn't realize this until I was the last one boarding my 2nd plane in MN. The worst part was that I had a lot of work that I needed to get done and I needed the battery. Not only that, but I brought no forms of entertainment but Nip/Tuck DVDs. I figured I'd be working most of the way and if I finished I'd just pop in Nip/Tuck. Since I had no computer battery, I had nothing to do. I didn't even have a magazine. I figured, "ok, fine, I'll just watch a movie and get some rest." Well that didn't work because the airplane was from 1973 and had no TVs. Then I had a baby behind me crying and his brother kicking my seat. Gooooood times. Honestly though, it wasn't all bad. I slept and just listened to music and had some time to myself.

I'm in San Francisco now. It's really a cool town. I've been here before, but not in awhile. I'm here to meet up with a bunch of my friends from Europe. Two girls from Sweden that I was good friends with when I was there are hitting up a bunch of the west coast over the course of a few weeks. This is the weekend where a few of us Americans and even a Canadian decided to meet up with them. It should be a great time.

I've had some camera issues lately so I haven't posted any pics. In fact, I'm still having camera issues. I finally replaced my lost camera with the same one. The problem was it was discontinued and the only one they had left was on the floor. I figured I'd just take it because I really liked my last camera. I don't think that was a good idea, because the quality is absolutely terrible. Just another thing I need to take care of.

Anyway, I went to a shitload of cubs games last week. I had only been to 3 all year and I managed to go to 4 in 5 days. I didn't even mean for that to happen, but it just did. My friend, Higgins, called me on Monday and said he had an extra ticket for Thursday. I hadn't seen him all summer, so I definitely wanted to go. In addition, it was against the Reds and I'm a huge Griffey fan. On Friday, my buddy, Berra, was in town with a bunch of his friends. We got bleacher seats and got there early. I had never sat in the bleachers before and I loved it. You gotta get there early, but it was definitely worth it. The people in the bleacher are just more easy going and are basically there to drink beer and have fun. Saturday I had won good tickets. They were the best cubs tickets I had ever had. The game was great with a Grand Slam, but it did rain the entire game. On Monday, I got a call from my friend at 1230 and she said she had an extra ticket for the 120 game. I couldn't turn that down. That game got rained on as well, but was another solid game.

A funny story from saturday was that my other friend was supposed to go to the game and sit with his friend and his friend's family. The problem was that the night before had been rough. He got in the game and had great seats. Not long after, he got nauseous and started to head for the bathroom. On the ramp down he turned and started to throw up. This kid does not throw up quietly (we had heard him throwing up earlier today) and there were probably hundreds of people walking up and down the ramp. Pretty funny stuff. Anyway, the grand slam that Ward hit would have been hit directly to him. The kid that caught it was his friend and if you watched the replay you saw him lean to the side where there was an empty seat. Thats where my buddy would have been. We probably saw the replay that included a zoom in of the kids celebrating the catch 15 times that night. We gave him a lot of shit.

Another quick side note. I have pretty much been addicted to messing with my iphone while driving. I was wondering how long that would take to bite me in the ass. When I was driving to the cubs game on Monday, I was sending a text to someone about how I just got a ticket and I managed to run right into a giant Salvation Army truck in front of me. The two guys driving the truck came out and gave me a bunch of shit and then did the same when I ended up next to them at a stop light a few blocks down. Luckily, I drive a shitty neon and other than busting the front light there really wasn't any damage.

Now some pics:


Me and Higgins at cubs game


Bleacher seats on floppy hat day


Random drinking picture with Higgins and Manzo


Taylor's Birthday - all of my friends thought itd be funny to wear Cardrunners shirts.


Lot's of CR shirts


My buddy Uri about 2 hours before he puked his way out of a grand slam ball.

I've barely played any golf this summer, but I've played really well when I have. I can't say I know why. Basically, when I was in high school I was a really good player. I averaged in the high 70s and my golf team even took 10th in the state senior year. We were a small catholic school, that was a pretty big feat in my opinion. As soon as I went to college, my game dropped off. When I say it dropped off, I mean it completely went to hell. The summer after sophmore year I had trouble breaking 100. It was pathetic. I became a complete hack. I remember that summer I played the junior club championship at my country club for fun. The first round i shot 101 and the second round I withdrew when I got to my house on the 6th hole because I was on pace to shoot high 50s on the front nine. Golf was supposed to be fun and it wasn't when I shot that poorly. That led to me playing even less and I wasn't sure if my game would come around.

Last summer I played a bit more and shot more reasonably. I was averaging about 90. At that point, I was more than pleased if I could break 90.

This summer has been completely different. I've barely played, but I've played quite well when I have. I've played 5 rounds. 4/5 of the rounds have been in the 80s and when I've been in the 80s I've shot low 80's. I think I've shot 82,82,83 and 81. I had one lone bad round of about 93. It was very windy out that day and my game was just off.

Today I shot 81. I started off with a birdie and a par but struggled after that on the front nine. I wasn't hitting the ball well at all. Luckily, my misses weren't in the woods, they were just mostly thinned balls that skidded down the fairway. I couldn't get the ball rolling well on the green. I just wasn't putting a good stroke on the ball and missed every putt. The back nine started the same as I was 40 yards out in 2 on a par 5 and made a 6. After that I started hitting and putting very well. Everything just finally clicked. The only boogey I made after that was when I misclubbed my approach and then lipped out the up and down putt.

I wish I had more time to play as I love golf. It's nice to get in a good round when I do play though.

I'm up at my cabin in michigan. It's in the beautiful city of Hillman, MI. It's really a huge hick town, but I love it up here. It's so nice to get away from the busy city. People around here move slow, don't have internet, walmarts, etc. There are a few shops in the closest town - hardware store, 2 bars, grocery store, pizza place, and that's about it. The internet I'm on now is a dial up 33kbs speed. It's god awful slow. I never remember how slow it is until I use it again. It's pretty brutal.

My dad just bought 2 ATVs. My brother has been on him to get those for a long time and he finally caved. They are a blast to drive. We have a few motorcycles up here as well. It's awesome just barreling through the woods in these vehicles.

I'm going to go on a canoe trip tomorrow, go golfing on monday and then go fly fishing on tuesday. Fly fishing is tough, but I really enjoy it. Fishing in general is great. I should organize a fishing trip up to Canada. I'd like to go with some guys my age, just get hammered and catch some fish.

I'm enjoying the break from poker. I'm honestly getting kind of burned out on poker lately. I think I'm going to take a bit of a break when I get home. The other thing is that I haven't been workign out as much as I'd like to lately and my diet hasn't been great. I want to get a good grasp on working out and eating well again and then when I get into a groove with that I can start putting in some hands again.

Gambler and I decided to make a deal and call the bet done. He wanted to get on a stake and I didn't think that was fair since part of the deal was my believing that he would blow up. I knew he'd play 10s of thousands of hands more than me so I needed that on my side. I let him buyout of the deal for $200 of booze and he is now on a stake. He plays much better on a stake so it's good for him and I was fine ending the bet with a decent profit because I wanted to take a break.

I'll be up here until Tuesday night.