End of the Month

I haven't forgotten you. I want to write but have been working the class on Taxes and it is taking all of my time. I want to play poker but it is important to me right now to see if I can land this job. It would be good. Parttime and then will have some offtime.

Great Night Back

I haven't played in a Casino for six weeks. Too many things taking up my time. My mind hasn't been focusing on playing the game I like. But last night everything changed.

Knowing I haven't been in the casino for 6 weeks I didn't know what to expect. I have been continuing to study from the WSOP and hoping that I remembered everything I put into my brain. There were two tables playing last night and the tournament structure had changed. This was a Bounty Tournament and we started with T$10,000 in chips and the rounds were 15 minutes. For each person you busted out of the tournament you would get $10. To bust four people you would make your money back for the tournament. I just wanted to make it to the final table and let the other stuff happen if it happens.

On the first table I waited till the 2nd round of play with the blinds at 50/100 before I got involved with any of the pots. My first big hand was a flush and got beat by Full House. The second one was my set against another Full House. I didn't start out well but I figured if I was patient and not go all in eventually the cards will come my way. And they did. Before I left the Table for the Final Table I was well up over T$13,000.

At the final table anything can happen. I remained patient and played my big hands. I got JJ and was beat by AA. A little bit later I had AA and beat the same guy with 88. I told him I was letting him hold my chips until I needed them again. In the end 1st place was nice. Getting back to playing after 6 weeks off I still had the ability to play good.

My first week of Tax Class is done and now we are starting to get into the meat of taxes and should be fun. Got to keep up with the homework. We watched the instructor do a tax return online and it looks like what I have been doing for years with Turbo Tax. Just a different application. In class it is Theory and all the different scenerios we will be seeing during the tax season. Lets hope it works out alright.

I need to interject some stock trading here at some point. Need to get back to reading charts in the evening and set up some trades.

I will say this that Alzheimers is an ugly thing to watch someone go through. You add Cancer to that and it is rougher to watch. Will be looking for some guidance soon on what to do with my Mom.

Have a fun weekend. Keep it green.

Over the Hill

Yes, I went over the hill. I went to the west side of the state yesterday. Got up early and took off for a class at 1230. I arrived at 1100 and ended up sitting for an hour and a half. The weather was cloudy but no rain in Bellevue. I had made a video of Mt. Rainier up on Manastash Ridge and I lost it trying to put it on the computer. Better luck next time.

I attended a class on trading from Rich Dad group. When I got done with the class I ended up purchasing the information and another three day seminar. I think this will just engrain into me what I already know as well as help me get started with my trading and finding the stocks I want to trade. I am still looking at the ETF Sectors for the SPDR. What I did was just create more study that needs to be done and more time that will be spent. I guess if I throw enough darts on the board something will stick.

I attended my second day of the H&R Block Tax class and so far so good. My homework was done and proved to be correct. Yes, I can fill out a form now and figure income and taxes. Now we get to the meat of the forms and all of the extra stuff you can do to get deductions etc. Will work on Chapter 3 and the related homework for Friday.

It has been nice the last few days getting up and going somewhere in the morning just like days of old. I like being home but I also enjoy the ability to meet people and talk with others. Not my usual. I don't like meeting new people but once I am in a situation I will make the best of it and talk.

I did play live cash and on the very first hand I got 94 and since I already paid the BB and when it came around to me I went ahead and put in a raise and both the SB and BB folded. I didn't play another hand for 12 hands. I had A9 and I put in a raise being the first in. Someone raised all-in after me so I folded. Two hands later I got QQ and bet and was called. I bet each street and was called each time. I really felt I had the best hand and he was letting me bet for him. Usually this means they have a strong hand and will entice me to just check it down. He ended up showing AK and I won the pot. That was the last hand I played for this session. The table started to break up so I went ahead and left the table as well.

Today is the day that we visit the physician for my Mom. We will find out what will be the next plan for the Cancer.

Have a good day.

I want to hide

I keep saying that I want to go up to the mountains and sit looking at Mt. Rainier. It is such a peaceful place where one can sit and just think about how enormous this mountain is and the power it has available within itself. I do the same when I get around the rivers or ocean. Look at the power it has and what it can do within nature. The creator is great and allows us to see these magnificant items in our little planet. We are reminded we are not in control.

This week is going to be a very busy week for me. At least it is suppose to start out that way. Tomorrow I will start my first day in Tax class. This will go on for 2 months. I am hoping it will go well. So many other things are pushing for my time and I am wondering if I will make it through. The last time I tried to take this class I was working as a Respiratory Therapist and was called to go on a Neonatal Transport and it happened a couple of times in a row and I could not complete the class. Now I have the opportunity but will everything else allow me the time.

Tuesday this week I am headed to Seattle to attend a Stock Trading class. I am also going to try and meet up with some friends from my hospital days. There is a possibility another class may come out of this one. We will see. I want to attend the Tuesday session first and evaluate the program. I am presently working on trading the ETF Spyders. If I work with the sectors I will not have the fluctuations as just the company stocks. This will be more like working with mutual funds without the mutual fund type rules.

One area that I have tried to keep out of the blog is the family portion of what I am dealing with. My mom has cancer and alzheimers and working with her and my dad to get through this part of life. Sometimes I have to be the person taking the unkind words from my dad on not doing enough. Thats alright since I have to remain strong for both of them. We will visit a doctor on Wednesday for more information on cancer. I am working on placement for my mom for the Alzheimers but I have to keep in mind the cancer and how we are going to approach this as well. Where might be the best place for her? Do I separate Mom and Dad at this point? Stress is back and my BP is starting to show it as well as my blood sugars. I will eat under stress and that is what is happening right now. I will sit and eat my comfort food which is Popcorn and Nachos. I have been known to do both in one night.

Poker is really taking a back seat at this time. I try to continue to play some live cash to keep my BR up. I will need to start working on tournament play again for the Fall Roundup in Pendleton at the Wildhorse Casino. I really want to do well at this tournament. Remember I was 80/245 players last time and I want to do better and get into the money this time. If I give myself small goals in poker I will achieve them easier. My goal for live cash is to try and get 50 hands in a sitting. I will keep working on that one. This also allows me to get my mind in a different spot and concentrate on something else other than the issues that are in front of me. I have three new chapters to complete from the WSOP Academy to continue my goal of poker certification. When I am done I could possibly coach some and help others with their game.

Have a good week.

In the Box

My eyes slowly open when I notice the morning light. When I get up I notice I am in a box. This box has everything a person needs. I can move around and do what I want as long as I am in the box. I am now in the front of the box and I hear a ring coming from within the box. This ring is from a smaller box. Each box has a line that goes from the big box and seems to go to other boxes. I would wonder if this is a way for them to communicate.

The voice on the other end wants me to visit another box. If I leave my box am I safe and will I be able to find my way back. I go deep into my box and prepare to venture out and see if I can find this box they are talking about.

I find the small hole in the box that allows me to venture out and I see a lot of boxes in a row. Each box has a little box in the front or on the side. If you get into these little boxes they will move. It seems they move on some type of rail or by some type of guidance mechanism. Mine moved slowly and got out of the small box area and I was moving toward bigger boxes. These bigger boxes were huge. I wonder if anyone ever gets lost in these big boxes.

When my little box stopped I got out and moved toward one of the big boxes. Wow, this was a big box. I could even see into this box from the outside. I knew I was outside because of the bright light that was shining. I moved closer to the box and the box opened up on its own. Why would it open by itself and no one around? Will I be safe going into this box.

When I stepped inside of this box it was empty and was very big. I could now see out of the box and it had a different feel to it. I looked around and I saw another person sitting on a little box. I looked the other direction and there was someone sitting behind a box. I figured since this person was closer to me I would try to communicate with her and see what I was supposed to do in this box. She asked me for identification and opened a box in front of her. She kept looking at the box and then said she may have to move to a bigger box to keep working and looking at it. She even pulled out a smaller box and talked into it like I did earlier. Someone showed up and they talked and I was told to sit on a box and wait.

This same person came back and got me and we walked through this box. This box had little passageways to bigger areas within the box. This person would use a little thing around his neck to open boxes and we would walk through. I was taken to a little box and I was asked to take all of my identification and put it into a box. What are they going to do with my identification in this box? Am I safe to be here? We walked into a little bigger box with some type of humming machine. I guess it could be a box. I was told to lay down and put my head between these two items and he placed little boxes over my ears. He also put something over my neck and this pinned me down so I couldn't move. What kind of box is this? It makes noise.

I was slowly moved so I was inside this box and was told to not move. I was there about 20 minutes listening to noise coming from the small boxes on my ears. This machine kept making loud noises around me. Was this box talking to me? I opened my eyes and could only see a light coming from the box right in front of me. I was eventually let out of this box and was told I could leave. Was I brainwashed? What did they see? Into my body and soul? Would I be the same as when I left?

I was able to get my identification back. It looked alright. All of the boxes were still around. That box they had me in was the only thing that I could see that could be a problem. I seemed to be alright. I was still thinking and I could speak so it must have been alright. Time will tell.

I left the big box behind and got into my smaller box which for some reason knew how to get me back into the area of smaller boxes. It even found the box I had left earlier and I was able to get back into my box. Everything now looks familiar. I have my own box with all of my boxes around me. I must be home.

Is this the Matrix? How do we know it is not just a computer program we live in?

My 201st Post

I cannot believe that I have now put in over 200 posts on this blog. I really have fun writing and that is something I never thought would happen.

I remember the days in High School where I was in the last period of the day and it happened to be English. English and I just never got along. As you can see I still have issues with punctuations. Maybe someday I can get better with that. I used to sit in the back of the class and when the teacher would go to the office then a group of us would sneak out the window that was open and then ditch class. Was that smart? No. I did pass the class and that was with the help of the secretary for the teacher. I would go into the office and stand behind her and look at the answers to the tests and then would do well in the tests. Ok, not a good idea but at that time that is what I did. Enough of the past.

I decided to sit down and play on FT last night and I got into 27 player SnG. I have a strategy of playing in these tournaments and it does well for me. I will also write down all the hands that are given to me so I can review what I did and when. We start out with T$1500 and I end up playing the 10th hand into the tournament. I was given 10K and was in the Hijack seat. Everyone was checking it down and we made it to the river and this is what was on the board. 26AJ6. I know I didn't hit it but it seemed no one else wanted it either. I bet and was called and the person in the SB had an A to win the pot. I am now at T$1280.

Nine hands later I got 88. I raised it 3 times the blind and immediately won the pot. No one wanted to play. Two hands later I got JJ and raised it 3 times the blind and ended up going all-in with it and the other player had 1010 and my Jacks held up to get me to T$2275.

Two hands later I get 33 and end up folding. The very next hand I got AK and win the hand and now I am at T$2255. We move forward five hands and I get 22 and when the flop came out I did not get the set I was looking for so I folded. Four hands later I get A6 and I call with this hand. I ended up with a draw and made a bet at the pot and did win the hand. I know move to T$3490.

I didn't see another hand I could play for eighteen hands. My last hand of this tournament was AQ and ended up playing against a person with AQ and we ended up being all-in and he made a flush. I was out of the tournament in 8th place three from the money.

I am spending time working on my poker studies with the WSOP Academy.

There is so much going on right now it is hard to keep up. I was called by the hospital today and asked if I would do my MRI today instead of tomorrow. I went in and it was done. They are looking at my Spine to see why I am having pain in my shoulder and down my arm. I tried to pick up one of the grandkids the other day and couldn't do that. Hopefully they will find something since this hurts in my shoulder and spine.

Today was yard mowing day and putting some water on the grass. Take care.

Walking

Can you believe it, I am walking down by the river. In fact here are a couple of videos I have taken.



This was taken at the beginning of the walk this morning. The next video will show the stopping point and where I turn around.



The temperature has been nice the past couple of days. It was my turn at the doctors yesterday and now it is time for lab work and I will be getting a MRI on my spine. I think I have a possible pinched nerve. It is hard sleeping with the shoulder and back in pain. It is always something.

Nice Weather

We have finally reached September and school has now started. This only means one thing and that is Fall and Winter are on their way. I have never been a fan of Fall and Winter because it reminds me of the nice green leaves now turning brown and dying off. Cold weather and snow. Trying to maintain a positive outlook has always been hard during this time of the year. This year especially I will have to work real hard at it and see if I can maintain a positive attitude about everything.

Today I decided to take a walk along the river. It was very nice outside and when I got there this is what I found.



I sat along the river for a while and watched the boat and the goings on aboard. It is called the Spirit of 98. The banner was CruiseWest.com so when I got home I went and took a look at what they do. They have seven day trips on the Columbia and Snake river. Wouldn't that be fun and be able to get off at the towns along the way and sight see. That would be a fun vacation.

We continue getting not so good news about Mom and I am afraid to go to the next appointment since I am very sure about what we are going to hear. I really think we are way to far behind doing something for her. We will continue hope that they can do something with hormones and put this into remission. I am having a hard time being positive for parents and yet realistic in what we see. The appointment is scheduled for the middle of the month. That is why I think we are too far behind. If there was something that could be done I would think they would be doing something now instead of waiting.

Right now my poker has taken a back seat to everything. I try to continue with my challenge for live on PS. I am now up to 847 hands. I didn't have a positive session on this last one. I continue to learn. My worst hand was when I had QQ and a Qxx8x and the other person had Q8. It was hard coming back from that. I did manage to come back a little but ran out of time. I would like to get back to tournament play but I can't right now since my mind is not into it with other things going on.

This month I have finished my three months of Stock Training. I seem to understand more than what I started with but now it is putting the Capital to work. Finding a good strategy and the correct stocks to work with is important. I will also be starting a two month class on Taxes in two weeks. So many things going on right now.