Did I?

I know that you are all wondering if I got up and got on the treadmill this morning.

You probably even woke up this morning with the question in your head.

Did he get on the treadmill this morning?

I am not going to answer you yet though. First I want to tell you about the awesomeness that is the Nintendo Wii.

I had never touched a Wii remote or controller until I bought it Wednesday night. And since I have this "real" job that requires me to show up everyday, I didn't have a lot of time to play it until last night.

It is as good as advertised. I have 4 games for it. Wii Sports (which comes with it), Wii Play (free $40 remote with $50 game), Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Kart Wii.

I am a mario kart master and have just about every one that has been released. The SNES game was probably the best but the N64 version was pretty good too.

The new one is harder to play though. Using the Wii wheel to steer takes some getting used to. They also put bikes on the game and they are harder to steer as well. An awesome game so far though.

Wii Sports is solid. The bowling and golf are great. The boxing and baseball are solid. The tennis hasn't been tested enough to make a determination.

Wii Play is not as good. But for $10 it is a solid game. Since I was going to buy a second controller anyways, adding the 10 bucks for another game seemed like the thing to do. My favorite games on that so far are the shooting game and the cow racing. That's right you race cows!

I haven't played Super Mario Galaxy yet so I will let you know soon.

Young Buck and Verb came over last night and we played the Wii for about 4 hours straight. It was incredible. I would imagine that I will be having more guests coming over now.

It isn't really a system that you play by yourself too much. I also have a PS3 so I will still get games for that. But when you have people over the Wii is awesome!

Not only is it fun but you actually get a little bit of a workout using it, especially the boxing game. Which may make it so that I don't have to get up at 530 anymore (doubt it but one can hope, right?).

Oh, and I did get up this morning and get on the treadmill. And I actually stayed on for my desired time!!

I am the man!!!!

What should I......

I have now started 3 different blog posts today and have erased all of them halfway through.

Have you ever done that? That is a first for me.

So far on this blog I haven’t had much trouble but for some reason today I just can’t think of anything to really write about.

Its frustrating!

And when I do think of something I get about halfway through it and decide that I don’t want to write that anymore.

Let’s see what I did today and maybe that will give me something.

I got up early with the intentions of getting on my treadmill and jogging for a little bit but didn’t have the energy. Yesterday I got up early and jogged and then I walked home from work which is about 2-3 miles. So I think my legs were just too tired.

I haven’t been getting on the treadmill with any regularity for the past 2 months so maybe that has something to do with it.

I used to work in construction and there wasn’t much work so I would come home in the mornings some days and hope on the treadmill for an hour or so.

Other days I wouldn’t go to work at all and get on and run for a while in the morning.
But now I have a real (boring) job and I work real (unnecessary) hours every (freaking) day. And my real hours are 7:45 – 4:15. But that doesn’t include travel time. So my real day is about 6:50 – 5:30.

Like I said unnecessary and might I add, ridiculous!

So, because I am slightly (comments on this are unnecessary) overweight, I have decided to get up every morning at the awful time of 530 to get on the treadmill for 30 minutes or so.

So far so okay! I have done it everyday this week but this morning I couldn’t do it. I don’t know why but I was on there for 10 minutes and I felt like I was going to fall over right then.

So I got off and said hell with it.

Tomorrow I will be up again at 530 (which is wrong on so many levels) and back to the grind of trying to live to see 70.
That worked. Look at that I actually got a whole post out of that.

That won’t work too often though because I do pretty much the same things everyday.

But it worked today and that’s all I care about. I hope you enjoyed it even though I know you didn’t.

Lessons for today

My second day of training today was actually more boring than the first day.

Like I said yesterday the training was about fraud detection and prevention or something like that.

Every time the instructor/speaker started talking about fraud I tuned him out and did other things. But every once and a while I would pay attention and learn something.

Here is what I learned today:

• the instructor is from Florida, by way of Cuba, by way of Spain, by way of France. That is correct, my instructor was a French Spanish Cuban American!! Cool shit man.


• Young people don't work hard enough or care enough. But in the same argument people were saying that young people get their work done too quick and then have nothing to do. So which way do they want it; young people who work fast or old people that work slow?


• Did you know that mayors, governors, and presidents don't actually do anything? I did but I wasn't sure if all you knew. See they have all these ass-kissers that do all the real work for them. They are just there to take the credit and/or the blame.


• People can't think for themselves. One lady heard on TV one day that gas was going to reach $11 a gallon sometime in the future. She thinks it is going to happen SOON! Unbelievable.

That is pretty much what I learned in training today! Cool, huh.

But last night I learned something even cooler. Did you know that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a hypercane? Me neither.

What is a hypercane you ask. A hypercane is a hurricane and tornado hybrid storm. Cool?

I thought so too until they said "can another hypercane form and kill everything on earth as we know it?"

Well that just sucks to think about doesn't it!

Have you ever actually thought about what would happen if all of a sudden everything just ceased to exist? It is quite a thought and I think you should take 5 minutes (that you will never get back) and think about it tomorrow!

Oh and one more thing. I just got a Nintendo Wii tonight and it is awesome so far. There was only one left in the Harrisburg area and I got it. How awesome am I??

Cruel and Unusual

I had training for my job today. I am not sure you can call it training though because I don't think I learned anything at all.

We were supposed to be learning about fraud but I am pretty sure that all I learned was that 2 of the people are really annoying and how to fall asleep without the instructor noticing.

The second thing I learned I already knew how to do but I hadn't done since high school which was almost 9 years ago. So I pretty much relearned it today.

There were 2 people that kept making comments and asking questions which caused the guy to go really slow. It is a 2 day course and there are 9 chapters and at lunch today we were only at the end of chapter 1. At the end of the day we were halfway through chapter 4 though so maybe we will be done on time.

I wish I could talk to my employer and say that these classes are just a waste of their money and my time but I have only been there 2 months and I don't think they would appreciate that.

I mean really they are RIDICULOUS. We sit there for 8 hours and listen to these guys talk about things they have experienced in the course of their career. And most of the time the only things we learn are personal things about the instructor.

This is my third training class and here is what I have learned:

• the first guy was from Nashville and is a huge Predators fan. He has three kids and actually likes coming to PA.
• the second guy is from Miami and is one of those old people with a young child. He has three kids, two of which are out of college with families of their own and one that is 7!
• the third guy is actually the second guy. But I learned something new about him today, he is really allergic to cats and said that stray cats he finds turn into alligator food in the everglades.

See...I haven't learned anything from this.

Okay, that's a lie. The first guy talked about interviewing techniques and I learned a lot of useful information to help me read people at the poker table better. That training was also 2 days and the second day was all about deciphering a lie. So that was cool.

Today though was something that they should put criminals through. I can tell you this....I wouldn't kill anyone if all I could do for the rest of my life was sit through these training courses.

Believe It!!

I love poker. It is quite possibly the greatest game on earth.

It helps that I am good at it and that I win all the time we play at home. Seriously I don't think I have lost in the last dozen times we have played. And that puts us in like August I think because it is hard to get enough people.

The next test for me is Atlantic City but I need some money for that.

Friday night was fun though. 5 of us bought in and 2 of us bought in again after they lost their chips. So that made the pot worth 70 bucks (I know we are cheap but we are also poor) and myself and Sparky split the pot; 40 to me 30 to him.

I made 30 bucks and he made 10 because he always needs to re-buy.

I will freely admit that I get my fair share of good cards. Sometimes I get more than my fair share. Friday night started out with me getting more than my fair share and then evolved into just getting my fair share.

The difference between myself and say Monkey is that I get as much as I can from my good hands. And I know when to lay a hand down before I lose too much.

I made one bad play on Friday and it cost be a lot of chips. But fortunately for me I had a lot more left. That was the hand that really gave Sparky a chance to make some money.

All in all it was a good night. I played very well. Read the table fairly well with the exception of one time that I remember vividly when I misread Verb’s hand. But a good night all around.

I think we are going to go to AC sometime in the next few months though. So that will give me a real test of my abilities.

The largest tournament I played in was something like 82 people and I finished 2nd. So I think I can hold my own.

And in my opinion, if you are going to be a good poker player than you have to BELIEVE you are the best player at the table and in the world.

And BELIEVE me, I AM!!

Wish me luck!

Wow! I am really bored right now.

The day is just dragging on and on and on and on……..you getting the picture?

I can’t stand my job right now. If I had enough leave time I would be packing up and leaving right now. But unfortunately I had to use a lot of my time earlier this year for an illness so now I only have a few days that need to last the rest of the year.

I don’t really want to do anything right now. Most days I would just sit here and play solitaire until it is time to leave but I don’t want to today. Other days I would blog for a while but I don’t want to (but I am anyways).

Today I just want to go home. Maybe I will leave a little early. Maybe like 3 or 230 or something.

See a year ago I was a partner in my own business and I wasn’t working that much. I would go to work for about 4-5 hours at the most and I would be home by 1 or 2 in the afternoon at the latest.

But the economy has since fallen and it hasn’t picked itself up yet. And the construction industry (my previous employment) is a wreck right now. So here I sit twiddling my thumbs and trying to stay awake because my job is not very exciting today or most days.

Part of my problem is that I am playing poker tonight and I love playing poker and I haven’t played in a while. We have a group of about 7-10 guys that I will call every other week to schedule a game but we can usually only get 4 together so we don’t even bother. But tonight I didn’t care; we were prepared to play with 4.

We were lucky and got a fifth so it should be a half decent game. All of the players are pretty good. I personally think I am the best but I am sure they would argue the same. In fact Sparky has said all week that he will be winning tonight. I keep telling him to bring extra money so he can buy back in but he doesn’t believe it. The other players tonight are Monkey (a solid player when he is focused and wants to be there), Verb (used to be good but has gotten unlucky and a little impatient of late), and Young Buck (far and away the most aggressive player and can take you out at any point).

I am only telling you about them because I intend to include my friends in more posts. Maybe I will even make one of those character lists on the side panel so you know who the main players are. We’ll see.

Verb and Young Buck were the two guys with me when the old man serial killer came at us.

Game time is 8 and I will update you all on how much I win tomorrow.

My first favorite's list

So last night I was talking to the wife and I was pretty much having a two sided conversation with myself. And it reminded me of the scene in Ocean’s Eleven where Clooney and Pitt are sitting at a bar/restaurant and Clooney basically has a conversation with Pitt without Pitt saying anything.

So it got me thinking about the movie which then turned into what are my favorite movies. So I thought about it today and this is what I have come up with.

Top 5 Favorite Movies of All Time:

1. Good Will Hunting - this was the easiest one to come up with and place on my list. Easily my favorite movie of all time. My favorite scene is the bar scene when Will makes fun of the smart Harvard guy. And then the apples line is classic!
2. Ocean's Eleven - I laugh at this movie and enjoy watching it no matter when I see it. If it is on tv I have to at least watch for a while. Two favorite scenes are the one previously mentioned and one before that when they are waiting to get on the elevator and Clooney gives Pitt a speech about why to do it. Great movie. The sequels were good but there is noway to live up to that movie.
3. Shawshank Redemption - Another movie that I have to watch when it is on. It is actually one of the few movies that I won't leave during a commercial. My favorite scene is probably when the warden discovers that Robbins is gone.
4. Finding Forrester - Being an aspiring writer myself I really enjoy this movie. Not so much for the issues touched on in it but just the movie. My favorite scene is probably when he answers Claire's questions on the porch at the party in front of her dad, the dean. He showed that he is not just a basketball player and that he does know something.
5. Lucky Number Slevin - I have never in my life liked a movie right after I saw it as much as this one. I actually applauded, and I was at home watching it. I will admit that the first hour is a little slow but the second hour is incredible. Totally original and incredibly well done. A favorite scene would probably be when Hartnett is killing the Rabbi's son. He warns him that someone is trying to kill him and then when asked who he says Me and shoots him. Awesome movie.

If you haven't seen these movies I suggest you drop whatever you are doing and go rent them. If you have seen them I suggest you drop whatever you are doing and go watch them now. I would and probably will watch them all soon.

Some other movies that almost made my list were Crash, Apollo 13, and Beverly Hills Cop (the first one). But they couldn't quite convince me to drop another movie off the list.

I will continue to do some other favorite's lists in the future but this was my first and it will probably (much like movies) be my best one.