The Flying Disk

I have been getting into this Disc Golf and having fun with the challenge.  I played golf for years and never got good at it and when I started having feet problems and had my neck surgery I gave up the game.  I never liked riding a golf car around and enjoyed the walking.  Now that I found disc golf the holes are not as long and throwing a disc isn't that hard on me.  I enjoy walking the course and the challenge of not losing the disc. 

I have only played four rounds so far and par for this course is 54 shots.  My latest is now at 80 shots.  Seems like my golf score all over again.  The discs are really interesting.  I purchase one disc to start out and as of today I am an owner of five discs.  Each one is different in what it will do when you throw the disc.  I am now reading up on each one and trying to figure out what I need so I can purchase a few more that will enhance my game.

Now, I am not giving up on poker to do something different.  I can enjoy being outside right now since the weather as started to cool down.  I start classes again in a month and then I should get back into poker if I can find a good cash game.  I really enjoy sitting down and just playing without trying to worry about the blinds moving up and I can play my game.

Have a fun day.....

Poker Tournament

I was invited to play in an invitation only tournament Sunday afternoon.  This tournament is played on the third Sunday of every month.  The premise is for everyone to have fun and even though you play to win you are having fun even if you lose.  Prizes are given out for the first person to bust out of the tournament and then if you reach the money bubble, and go out, you get a prize as well. 

You start out with T$3,000 in chips and you can increase the amount to T$5,000 by bringing two cans for the local food bank and if you show up early and get signed in on time you get more.  This last one we brought school supplies and if you brought a certain amount you increased your chips.  It was fun and we started with fourteen players.

I got myself short stacked and had to struggle to get back to the starting stack of T5,000 and that is where I pretty much stayed and eventually made it to the final table.  I eventually went out in seventh place.  I had so many all-ins that I was pretty much prepared to go home at any time.  At least I lasted until then. 

Playing poker has taken a back seat right now since I really want to play the cash games but not the ones around here.  I am thinking about taking a weekend and travelling north and playing either the 3-6 or the 4-8 limit games.  I would like to get involved with an Omaha game around here but just haven't done it.  They have a Wednesday and a Sunday game. 

School will start towards the end of September for me and having our house painted and re-roofed was important.  I have been working on the new fence in the back and that takes time as well.  So much to do when you are the home owner.  I keep looking for the landlord but can't find him.

Have a fun day......

Professional Poker Playing

I know the title is just  little bit misleading.  No, I am not a professional poker player and I don't know that I would want to be one.  I have tried to play as much as I can and around here it just wouldn't work anyway.  I don't know of anyone around here that only plays poker for a living.  The games are very clickish and I understand that if you did want to get into the one game of 2-20 spread you would just be eaten alive by the six guys that play together all the time and like to see someone new come in to play.  I wonder if they decide who gets the spoils from the day.  Maybe they take turns depending on the day.

My thought today turns to a guy named Tony.  I found his blog probably over a year ago and I have been following him on a daily basis.  He doesn't blog every day but I do keep up with the comments and I follow him on Twitter as well.  I find it interesting that he is homeless, has around $1,000 to his name and plays poker and likes to play the VBJ machine in Jean, NV.  I have commented a few times to him my thoughts when I thought I had something good to share. 

I believe he would probably do well just playing poker but he likes the machine.  He seems to do well in Omaha and will play the NL games when he feels he has enough money.  Still he will end up playing the VBJ machine and will not do well over the long run.  I believe sticking with poker would be the best.  A couple of weeks ago he had his bankroll up to about $2000 and then left California to head back to Nevada and started playing the machine again.  

My thought is it is a minus EV way of trying to build the bankroll.  I started out playing in the casinos years ago and would play table blackjack.  I love the game but then when I got introduced to poker it was better and now I will only play poker when in the casino.  I don't understand why anyone would want to play a game that benefits the casino.  Yes, you have to look at the rake and the game you are playing but still the pits are house games and they make their money from there.  Of course, if we all played just the non house games then why have the casinos.  To each their own.

I read an article yesterday where a person decided to help a homeless person and gave them an option of $100 or they would train them to be a computer programmer.  The homeless person took the opportunity for education and now is being mentored by this person every morning for an hour and also gave him a laptop computer and three books to study from.  I found it nice to be able to read something good for once and thought what this person is doing is fabulous.

Anyway, I will continue to follow Tony and hopefully he gets his life to where he wants it to be.  We all want to have that life of not working for the MAN.  If I could play and earn an income or at least earn enough to keep going it would be enjoyable but for now I will continue on my path of trying to find a job and going back to school to earn my certificate in computer science.

Have a fun day......

Painting the House

Just a few weeks ago we had the new roof put on the rest of the house.  Two years ago we had enough money to be able to get the front half done. 

One of the things we have done since around 2007 is have no credit cards and pay for everything we need with cash.  If we don't have it then we don't purchase the items.  We can get by with little food since it is only the two of us and we are not trying to feed children. 

We do the same with our house.  We look for the things that have to be done and then we work on getting the money available to finish the jobs we have planned.  Sometimes it takes longer than what we expect.  As in the roof it took two years to be able to complete the job but it is now done.  We also have the painting done as of this week.  Two big projects.

My wife was looking for a "Toupe" color and she was not very successful.  Some of the houses around us have also used this color type and we wanted to be a little different.  We drove around to some of the newer housing areas and looked at the colors people were using.  We found a very nice light greenish color that would go well on the house as well in the neighborhood. 

Yesterday was paint day.  I left to go into town for about three hours and when I arrived back home the house was done but in the brown color.  I was not expecting this and walked into the yard and said it is the wrong color.  We laughed and I said it should be more of a green than the brown.  I figured maybe the green would show up when it dried.

After the painters left I went back out to the side of the house where the paint was located and looked at the labels and found out the main color was wrong.  It was definately brown and not the right number.  Then my wife comes home and she really did not like it.  I called the owner of the paint company and he called the store where he bought the paint and sure enough the paint store did not have the right color listed.  Whoever took the phone call did not write the proper number down.

Now by the end of the day we will have the correct color on the house and everyone will be happy.

I really need to go spend some time playing Disc Golf or play some Poker.

Have a fun day......

Taking Up New Sport

I decided to try something new this past week.  I have some friends that play Disc Golf and I will go out and sit in my truck and watch the players throw the disk around this course.  It didn't look to hard and the course is shorter than a golf course.  How hard can this be?

I drove up to the store that had these discs and decided to purchase one.  These players are carrying around twenty of them, if not more, and I just knew that each disc did something different.  I asked the guy at the register which one I should purchase if I was new at this game.  He pulled down a Mid-Driver and told me I could use this one to get started.  So, with my new purchase I headed out to the course.

I stood at the first tee, not knowing where to throw the disk, and figured it would have to be in this certain area.  Hopefully I could find my way around this course, especially with no one else around to ask questions.  I threw the disk like I would throw a frisbee and it didn't go very far.  I was just hoping no one was watching me trying to learn.  I picked up the disk and could see a pole with some chains on it and threw to hit.  Again it did not go very far. 

As  I was playing the eighth hole I saw one of my friends playing the second hole.  He asked me to join them and he let me use his Driver and then I would use the Mid-Driver for the closer shots.  There is a difference in the disks and they fly different.  Hence the numbers on the disk to let you know what it would do in flight.

I ended up playing about fourteen holes that day and learned quite a bit.  When I got done I asked about the disks and what should a beginner like me use.  My friend told me what to purchase and I went back to the store and purchased a Driver, and something called a Pug for a putter.  So now I have three disks, a driver, mid-driver and a putter.  I am anxious to go back out and try out my new disks.

The house is being painted this week and I have been working on putting up a new fence.  Not a good time to go play some disc golf.

Have a fun day......

Thats a Whole Lotta Years

This past weekend was our Anniversary.  We have been married for 38 years.  We had a two year courtship and so it has been about forty years that we have been together.  I saw her in my Junior year of High School and we went out on one date.  Wasn't a very good date so I figured I would not see her again.  When the Senior year started we started dating.  She is the most beautiful girl in the world.

We decided to head to the ocean and spend our anniversary there.  On our honeymoon we went to the rain forest and traveled to the ocean.  When we got there we could hardly see the ocean due to the fog and the clouds.  Thirty eight years later things haven't changed a bit. 

We arrived at Seaside and it was cloudy and foggy again.  Couldn't see much of the ocean.  We went to Ocean Shores and the same thing.  Our room was facing the ocean and other than the sound you couldn't tell you were at the ocean.  It was fun anyway.  We spent time together and had some good food.  Normally you go to the ocean and have seafood.  We went and I had steak both nights.  On the third night I finally had some Copper River Salmon.  Amazing food at some amazing restaurants.

On our third night we travelled inland and stayed in Auburn and I was able to go to the Muckleshoot Casino and play in the 4-8 limit game.  There were about five to seven tables going.  I wanted to play in the 3-6 limit but they only showed that as an interest game and they had the 4-8 games going.  They started a new table and I immediately sat down in the nine seat.  I played for two hours until the table started to break up and I decided to leave.  I was up in $$ anyway and figured I don't do well in short handed games so leaving was not an issue for me.  It was almost 11pm anyway and I was getting tired.

I haven't been playing very much so this felt good to be playing again and playing a cash game this size was an experience and I would like to do this on a monthly basis.  Maybe go to Northernquest and play in a 3-6 or 4-8 game.

The next day we made our way back home and into the heat of the summer.  I was able to see Mt Rainier as well and that made my day.

Now back to the grind.

Have a fun day.....

More Summer Updates

Once the Re-finance, of the house, was completed it was time to get the two most important jobs done to the house. We decided to finish the roof and paint the house. Two years ago we had the re-roof started and now we can get it done. We have lived in this house since 1992 and have never repainted so now we will get that done as well. I called some contractors to put in their bids and now we will get this done. The roof was first and it looks nice having the whole thing looking the same now. Painting starts next week. Since we didn't get the whole amount we wanted in the re-finance we are limited in what we can accomplish and will work on the rest of the stuff as we go along. I kept telling my wife that I don't snore. She says otherwise. I have been so tired and sleepy for a long time and figured it was all the diabetes. I finally told my doctor about how tired and fatiqued I was and he referred me to a sleep lab. I really didn't like the thought that someone would be watching me sleep. I am glad I did. I was told on the first night that they got some really good information and that I would probably be called back in for another to set up the CPAP machine and sleep with that. I was called a few days later and the next appointment was all set. I went in for the second night and was set up on a machine and the next day I felt pretty good. It was different sleeping with the machine and at times I felt I wasn't getting enough air but it worked out and I wasn't afraid of sleeping with something on my face. My appointment with the doctor was the following week and he came in the room and said I had hit hall of fame numbers for apnea during the night. I had apnea spells as long as 1 1/2 minutes. Wow, no wonder I was tired the following day. I have my machine now and he started it out with minimum pressures to see how I will do with the machine and how I will feel. Today I am headed over to see my Dad and maybe take him to lunch. It all depends on how he is feeling. Have a fun day......

Summer is Here

It has been hard for me to just sit down and write for this blog. I have had a number of things happen and I did not end up putting them down on paper to get it into the blog. The last item I shared was the Poker League I was playing in on Wednesday nights. It was fun and I continued to have some good nights. The second week I ended up going out real early so that brought me back into the field as far as my points. The next three weeks I did much better and got myself into fourth place for the final week and I needed to have a good game, to get myself into the money, which was paying down to third place. I was able to outlast the person in third position but the person behind me outlasted me and I ended up staying in fourth and just missed the money by one spot. I did get money for the first night and that paid for one of the evenings. The end of the quarter came around in June and I was happy to see the summer arrive and I would now get the summer off and start up again in September. Because I am scheduled to continue my classes I will not have to look for work yet. With all of the government stuff going on I will have to pay for my next quarter and will be reimbursed sometime in October or November. I am hoping the state will keep up with their end of the agreement and I can finish what I started. Finding a job will be the hard part when this is done. With all of this going on I have not played poker like I wanted to do during the summer. I missed out on the Summer Wildhorse Casino tournaments as well. Too much going on and the money has not been there for me to play like I wanted. I am hoping to play more live cash games and not play the tournaments. I just have to decide where and when to play. I like the 3-6 limit games and have not looked at anything higher. I may have to take a weekend and go to Spokane to sit in their games once a month. I know that doesn’t get me playing very much but unless I sit in the 2-20 game in town I won’t find what I like or am comfortable with. The other item that has been taking up some time has been refinancing our home. It took us over a month to get this finalized. I ended up redoing the master bathroom so we could get the refinance accepted by the mortgage underwriters. This was my first time doing something like this and I think it turned out alright. I have always stated I am not a construction person, but then again, I did get it done in a week with some help from family members. I am having issues posting pictures and will have to post later. Have a fun day……