Part 3: Ryan C. (Far Right)
Well, the feature of the week is good old Ryan C., and just for Ryan, I'm going to make sure that all spelling and grammar errors are corrected before publishing this post because frankly, this post is dedicated to him, and he would like it that way. (Run-on sentences are still fair game because that's how I think, damnit!) Ryan, if you find any errors, just post a comment, and it will be fixed right away.

So, I've known Ryan C. since the 7th grade. We didn't speak much, and we never hung out all throughout high school. Ryan was a quiet type, but he always had a girlfriend. I always though Ryan must be a cool guy since he is so good with the ladies. Anyways, I went off to college a year early, and I came back to attend the high school graduation that I should have walked with. Turns out, Ryan had become good friends with my long good friend, Kevin R. Really good friends, but that is the subject of another blog. So I befriended Ryan at graduation since he was one of the only other guys in our graduating class that was going to UT. What started as a casual friendship, became a torrid basketball affair. That's all we did. I'm talking 2-3 hours basketball, some Gatti's pizza, and then some more basketball. I often refer to that as the best time of my life. Although Hawaii is some strong competition, there is just something about basketball that's hard to match.

After a good fun year of college and basketball, Ryan decided he needed to drop out of college and move to the woods. I must admit that year in the woods served him well because he came back a mad genius. He lost his ability to useful stuff like math, but he could rip apart a Nietzche text. After that year he wanted to go to UNC at Asheville, and I thought that would be the end of Ryan C., but then the reality of the cash difference between UT and UNC kicked in, and UT it was. Ryan managed to put this decision off until two weeks before school, I wanted to hang out with Ryan and save some money, so I offerred him half my room, and then the Rob, Ryan, Nick alliance formed.

Nick was our other roommate, and he had a habit of skipping a week of class and showing up at 5 in the afternoon in his tidy whities after an all night session of War Craft. Needless to say, Ryan hated Nick, but that worked out pretty nice for me as all anger about our living situation was taken out on Nick. I was pretty messy, and Ryan was clean for the most part, but we managed to never get in a yelling session. Unfortunately our basketball heights were never again reached as we were both taking more serious classes and Ryan had a girlfriend, but it was good times.

Two years later, Ryan scores in the top .5% of his LSAT, and goes off to Harvard Law, I'm sure this will be the end of him, but then he comes back for one last summer to work at the capitol and be with his girlfriend. Well Ryan, we've parted ways for the third time, and this time, I don't think we'll be showing up in the same city again, but you did surprise me the last two times.

Nice things to say about Ryan: Ryan is an asshole. I know this sounds like an insult, but in my book, it's a complement. At the courts, you never knew when Ryan was going to get in a fight with somebody over a double dribble. It may sound trite, but IMO, it brings some excitement to life to get in a fight over dribbling a basketball. Why not right? I guess the nice way to put it would have been to say Ryan is a passionate man, and this passion spills over into all parts of his life. He goes for what he wants, and another interesing thing about him: you never know what he will want next. Another thing about Ryan - he is the smartest person I know. Now there are A LOT of people who could vie for that position, but Ryan beats them all out because he is the one person that is using it to his fullest extent. Ryan's so smart, that when John Roberts got nominated to the supreme court, I asked him what he thought so I could create an oppinion.

Well there it is, Ryan C. Give me a fourth surprise. BTW, I gave up on the punctuation after the first paragraph, but feel free to send me corrections.

The Secret Tunnels Hike - Kauai

This is definately the experience of a lifetime. Certainly the hardest hike I have ever been on, but at the same time, quite fun. There are pictures in this post but for high quality go to www.netpimpz.com/bigrob/kauai05

We had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to be able to do the whole hike in time. We arrive to the trail at 7:15 a.m. To get to the trail you walk down a muddy road, climb down a 5 foot drop off, and cross the first river. Then you enter the bamboo forest, and hit a 4 foot drop off. Then you walk on ferns! Not even a real path, just trodden ferns. Well then you cross the second river and realize that you have gone the wrong way. Back track to the bamboo forest, take a different path, make it back to the second river, realize you've gone the wrong way again, and that the second river is actually the first river.

Well by 9:30 a.m. we had finally found the right path, and were off. Well this is the most over grown path I've ever been on.

Here's Scott coming out of the overgrown path. We missed a lot of good pictures of the shitty path for haste, but basically there are long stretches of bending to avoid the trees, and one part where you actually have to crawl.

Well, after 2.5 miles of a hellish hike, there's a big puddle of water and then you come around the bend and

We do a little celebration, take some picutures, and enter the tunnel

I think we need a new word for HARDCORE!

6'6" in the tunnels

That dot in the Center is the end of the tunnel. Well you get out of the tunnel and immediately to your right are some beautiful waterfalls.

Ok, so it's not that impressive. It hadn't rained in days so we missed out on the beautiful waterfall, however we also got to miss out on the knee deep mud, which was nice.

After that you take a quick 100 yard hike to the next tunnel.

They have these beams in the second tunnel. I hope they aren't holding anything up though, because thanks to years of water logging, a nice little judo chop would break right through these things.

Exit the 2nd tunnel, then you climb this man made wall in the middle of nowhere. Follow the overgrown trail to this damn. At the damn you are no more than 100 yards from the 3 tunnel. Unfortunately, it ain't easy to walk upstream, and we could never spot the tunnel. We are running out of time and decide to head back just in case. I'm a little upset that I'm going to have to go on this hike the next time I go to Kauai because it sure as hell ain't easy. Here are some pics that I just had to add. For high quality check out www.netpimpz.com/bigrob/kauai05 Download time is a little slow.

View of the mountains in the mourning

Scott has a pretty serious beard in this picture.

We boldly go where no man has gone today.

Yeah, i don't go nowhere without Tony Chacheres.

We climbed up the side of this damn, never to find the 3rd tunnel.

Woke up at the crack of 10:00. Somehow, I slept through 4 other people, making coffee and breakfast. As I woke up late it was straight to the hike on the Na Pali coast. It was quite a fun hike with some good climbs. I had a doughnut before the hike, so I was pushing a pretty fun sugar high. I kept freestyle hiking which involves random 360's and skateboardless Ali's. Yeah, that's right. I AM hardcore. Anyways, pictures to be added later, but the Na Pali coast supplied one of the best views you will ever see in you life. It was certainly one of those moments where you look around and say a camera just does this no justice because their is magnificent beauty all around.

Well, after that we got back to the house and Scott qualified for the qualifier for the qualifier of the EWSOP. Good luck. Honestly it was a $5 lotto ticket. But he is nice enough to let me play the qualifier. This is a raw deal for Rob. But I say this now and hear me later. I will split the profits 50/50 with Scott. I mean we are practically talking about a lotto ticket here. Why the hell not have some fun with it. BTW, It is such a raw deal, I paid for his entry, I told him what hands to play, and he clicked the buttons. He did play one hand that i told him not to and outflopped his opponent. Either way, I don't really care. Even if we win the whole thing. Scott is my best friend, and I'd be glad to split the profits. It'll be loads more fun with him there too.

After that the Pliszka's treated me to quite the nice steak dinner. BTW, going out to eat is quite expensive in Hawaii. Well, I've got a $200 bet on the over/under of 75 points on the Northwestern/UCLA game. If I win that, I'd love to take them out and buy a meal with the winnings.

Then it was time for some gin rummy. I swear to god, I am a pro poker player, and I can't beat a few drunk people in rummy. Just joking, it was a fun game.

Anyways, I've been writing quite a few e-mails during the christmas vacation. I wrote one to my old boss at IBM, but I decided to press the send button when I have more time to think about it. Well, during writing it, I hit a major realization. Since day one of college, 7 years ago, I've sat on the fence between Med School and Engineering. (Ryan knows this better than anyone). But here's the why. If I never chose one, I can never fail at either. Yeap, spent the last 7 years trying to not fail at something I've never done. I've pretty much spent a lot of time thinking and not a whole lot of time doing. I'm constantly in fear of what's going to happen. Hell, most of my friends have heard me complain their ears off. I'm sure it's quite a boring story. It's pretty much the soap opera that is Rob. I'd love to say that this realization has pushed me in some inspiring direction towards life, but you know what, the truth is a nice consolation prize. Rather than telling everybody my next half assed plan in life, I can just say, I fucked off 7 years of my life thanks to fear, and now I can go back to being good old Rob whatever I decide that may be.

Let's see, I don't know who read the ultra boring post about what I do everyday, but I just remembered one thing I wanted to add in there. Most days, I wear nothing but my underwear all day long. Scott comes home bout 5:00 everyday and I'll throw some clothes on before he makes it home, but besides that it's me in the boxer shorts on the couch. We go hiking on the weekends, and when I put on shoes and a shirt, I consider that to be really dressed up. I do put on a shirt to go to the beach, but shoes! That's classy.

Besides that, it was a Merry Christmas on the beach, and a great crab dinner. I haven't had anything that good in months, which isn't saying much, but I know it would be good to somebody who eats good food regularly.

Called the fam, and talked to the niece, Naledi. God, if there is one thing I miss about Texas, it's good old Naledi Khabele. Unfortunately, I'm missing out on so much. I'm pretty sure the best thing in life is watching a person grow up and become who they become.

The Ocean beats upon the shore
Good night
-Rob

Christmas with the Pliszkas, Well I made it out to the great Island of Kauai today. I don't deal well with going any place I haven't been before, much less a completely different island. So I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up all night and then took a cab in the mourning. I was so happy when my plane landed, and I didn't forget anything. I didn't lose my wallet, all was clear.

Well, I get to Kauai, get to the Pliszka's, and Scott's dad makes the mistake of jokingly offering me a beer at 9:30 a.m. because I aceppted it. Had a beer and breakfast with a view of the ocean. It was quite nice, here's the view.

Well, a good breakfast, and it was time for the beach, and time for me to finally go to sleep. I got a nice little four hour nap on the beach. Then it was back to the house for a nice Hawaiian sunset. After sunset, we had an early christmas, and boy were the gifts good.

If you want to make Scott's day then give him a funny t-shirt. Although he was quite conflicted about wearing pink, the message certainly made for an extra day in Scott's 7 day wardrbe.

Ah, the clapper. I have wanted one of these forever. I'm sure there will be many fun fights to come thanks to that magical clap. And yes I am a degenerate for not wearing a shirt, but hey, I packed short.

Finally Dan Harrington's No Limit Tournament Holdem strategy. I was quite happy when I saw Volume 1. I was surprised to see which volume they got me, but when I saw Volume 2, it was pure joy. Well, this may turn out the best christmas present ever, but as in poker, I guess we'll see.

After that we had a light supper, and drinks on the patio. Just some good conversation and a lot of laughs. As a kid it was always fun to go over to the Pliszka's because their parents were always having a good time. Well, as an eleven year old I never put the 100 bottles of wine and the good time together, but it sure was fun to finally party down with the Pliszkas.

Well time to hit the sack as I listen to the waves beat upon the shore.

So how is life for a pro poker player in Hawaii? What is it like? You may be wondering, and in this post, I'll let you know.

Well, I wake up at about noonish. I need my beauty sleep to keep on the edge when i play poker. Now, I don't oversleep, I generally hit the sack at about 3:00 a.m. So I wake up, and then I usually just sit on the futon for a little bit. I'll reach over pick up the computer and check my e-mail, but I generally just sit there for a good 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing, just staring off into space.

Then it's time for an egg sandwich that I eat every single day. Take a bike ride down to the beach. Some days I jog, but I always get in a good 1k swim. Now today was the busiest day I've had since I've been in Hawaii, which isn't saying much and by not saying much, I mean not sayng anything. But nonetheless, going to the beach was the top priority. All those errands that I need to do before going to Kauai tomorrow might never get done, but my ass is going to the beach.

After the beach, I get home for spaghetti that I eat every single day. Then it's time for a good 2,000 hands of poker. I play 4-8 tables at a time. You're probably thinking 2,000 hands! That's a shitload of poker! The sad thing is that even my pro friend, Eston, gawked at the number of hands that I play. I have played 3,000 hands in a day. Then it's time for a tuna sandwich and some popcorn that I eat every single day. Noticing a pattern? I eat the same meal every day, and have been doing this for two and a half months. Every once in a while I change it up, but not often. Apparently, Jinx cooks and will change things up, but the sad thing is that I will still eat the same thing every day, and I will just add the fourth meal.

Well after that I watch Heat. I've watched it every night for the past week. Good movie. Well, there it is . . . my life in Hawaii. Nothing exciting, as a matter of fact, it's probably the most boring story you will hear from anyone who moved to Hawaii to have a good time, but hey, I've got the beach, and that's all I need.

[picture to be added later for now this will do]
Part 2: Logan.
Good old Logie. Most 6'8 guys get nicknames like Bubba, but you're always looking for an affectionate nickname for Logan. I featured Logie second because he's the best friend I made in college, and because he can dunk a basketball. Well, Me and Logan went to the same high school, although somehow I missed the 6'8" giant in the two years our classes overlapped. It wasn't until college where we met through Ryan. The first time we met, I had an afro, and went by 'Robby.' I was really quiet in my younger days and I was shy around everybody I ever saw, and I was quite intimidated by playing basketball with good basketball players. In the mean time, All he ever did was hang out with his girlfriend.

So three years later, I'm working at IBM. All that IBM cash was soon to be spent on booz. Logan comes back from Africa a single man, and me, Ryan, Jeremy, Eston, Bryan, and Logan are all finally 21 and we all discover 6th street. We all liked 6th street, but me and Logan really had an insatiable thirst for 6th street. I mean every night there was the possibility of a different girl. And for Logan, it wasn't just a possibility. I, on the other hand, never got past the possibility part. At least not with an attractive girl that my picky ass would go for.

Well, a few solid months of 6th street and no permanent position at IBM, I decide to go back to school and room with good old Logie. During this time Logie became a serial dater, and fell in love with and out of love with a different girl each month. He smothered the ones he liked to the point of them leaving, and he disliked the ones that idolized him. A bit of a vicious cycle. I don't know if it was the 6'8" thing, the good looks, or the genuinely good guy personality, but he picked up his 2nd to last girlfriend while crying in a bar over the previous girlfriend. His sister brought her over to cheer him up, and two dates later, he was in love again.

Nice things to say about Logan: Shit man, I'm thinking about, and there are sooooo many awesome stories from that first 6 months we lived together. Jesus Christ, something was always happenning. Well, I could list off all the things other people say about him like he's the nicest guy in the world, but he's not the nicest guy in the world. Don't get me wrong, he's got your back, and is always there for you, but I could say that about any of my friends. I think what captures Logan best is just that he is an impulsive person. Now, the impulsiveness is a double edged sword, as it might land you in the middle of an argument or a long conversation about what he should do about his girlfriend. But all in all, that trait leads to some pretty good times. He's the one person who is always up for a good time.
Rob: "Hey Logan, you want to go get some drinks"
Logan: "Nah I have a final tomorrow"
Rob: "Come on, dude"
Logan: "OK, ROBBO! Let's do it! Let's get waisted!"
You can always count on Logan for a damn good time. And really that example is not even a slight exageration.

2 days - 4,300 hands of poker - $1500. Yeah, that's right. I just may be the best 2/4 limit grinder ever. Definitely not just luck. Well, I've been sitting pretty at 2/4, taking it easy with now worries. The last time, I couldn't wait to get a piece of 3/6. Now, I'm preceding with caution. Last time I moved up I lost $1400 in 3 days. Well, I'm a much better poker player now, and the juice is worth the squeeze.

We all know that I lost $478 in one day once. That day has been permanently seered into my head. And it isn't uncommon for me to lose $250 in a day, so it all evens out to where I'm making $15-$20/hour this month, but I've gotta say, I feel like a fucking high roller. When I go to McDonald's, you'd better believe, I'm gonna supersize it. The mcfreeze is no expense to Rob. Hell, the mcfreeze's are on me the next time we go. No, I won't have a water to drink. I'll have a coke. CURLY FRIES! I always want the curly fries, but can't justify that 50 cents for a different shaped fry until now.

Seriously though, I think I might treat myself to a night on the town.

$820. That's right $820. Now my pro friend Eston has won 5x this amount in one night plenty of times. But I'm a grinder . . . a true grinder. The stakes I play are a small fraction of the stakes Eston plays. However, this is quite an impressive day for someone at these stakes. A person needs $1200 to play successfully at the level that I play. I just made 2/3's of that in one frickin day. I've never seen anything like it, I know Eston has, but I sure as hell haven't.

Anyways this day has inspired me to write a poker intensive post on the biggest pot I ever won in Limit Holdem, and how I didn't actually make that much money in the long term. BTW this post could be quite boring even to people who like reading about poker. I know you are probably going to read it anyways especially since I warned you not to, so I apologize for wasting your time in advance.

I'm on the Big Blind with 7c2c. 3 people limp, and the small blind completes. Pot=5SB, $10. With this hand I get a favorable flop like 12% of the time. So I clearly lose money right away. Flop is 5c4c3c. Flopped a flush with the 6c and Ac to give me the stone cold nuts straight flush. All 5 of us cap it. Turn:2s. I'm sure it improved my opponents with the 4 card straight, but unforunately for them it only hurt them. We cap again, all 5! Now I must fear a bigger flush, however remember, no preflop raise - this decreases the number of hands that could beat me. River: Jh. This card means nothing. I bet, intending to just call a raise, and one guy folds, but the others call. Leading to a $143 , 38BB pot. (BB-big bet or the number of bets put in the pot). My friends showdown (6c, Ah)(Ac, 9s)(3d, 3s) a straight, a straight with a good flush draw, and trips. Turns out the two cards for the stone cold nuts, Ac, 6c, were in my opponents hands.

On the flop the trips beat me to make a full house 38% of the time, and the flush draw improves 29% of the time, the other guy is dead. (These calculations assume that the guy that folded doesn't hold anybody's outs. He sucked so he could have had anything - probably the Kc for a flush draw. And they take into account all the cards that everybody showed down, and that only 41 cards are left in the deck). So that makes me the winner a whopping 33%. So .33*25SB-5SB=3.25 SB. I make $6.50, long term on the flop, not the $40 that my opponents put in. Explanation of the calculation - I win a certain percent of the time multiplied by the total number of bets put into the pot minus the number of bets I put in the pot.

On the turn, things are looking MUCH better. Trips improve 25% of the time, and the flush draw improves 15%, making me the winner 60% of the time. So .60*25BB-5BB=10BB . I make $40 long term on the turn, not the $80 that my opponents put in. Not bad, and by not bad I mean very very good.

On the river everybody is dead, and I make 3BB, $12, all the time.

Well, I made $113 that time, but long term, I'm not winning this pot all the time. Plus there are certain occasions where I'm the one drawing slim. In this occassion, I had 4 idiots in the pot. Given the texture of the board, I'm certain I'm live often enough to cap that turn. Plus it was 3-bet to me, so why the hell not cap it.

Anyways, hope I didn't bore you too much.

Well, the feature of the week is good old Ryan C., and just for Ryan, I'm going to make sure that all spelling and grammar errors are corrected before publishing this post because frankly, this post is dedicated to him, and he would like it that way. (Run-on sentences are still fair game because that's how I think, damnit!) Ryan, if you find any errors, just post a comment, and it will be fixed right away.

So, I've known Ryan C. since the 7th grade. We didn't speak much, and we never hung out all throughout high school. Ryan was a quiet type, but he always had a girlfriend. I always thought Ryan must be a cool guy since he is so good with the ladies. Anyways, I went off to college a year early, and I came back to attend the high school graduation that I should have walked with. Turns out, Ryan had become good friends with my long good friend, Kevin R. Really good friends, but that is the subject of another blog. So I befriended Ryan at graduation since he was one of the only other guys in out graduating class that was going to UT. What started as a casual friendship, became a torrid basketball affair. That's all we did. I'm talking 2-3 hours basketball, some Gatti's pizza, and then some more basketball. I often refer to that as the best time of my life. Although Hawaii is some strong competition, there is just something about basketball that's hard to match.

After a good fun year of college and basketball, Ryan decided he needed to drop out of college and move to the woods. I must admit that year in the woods served him well because he came back a mad genius. He lost his ability to useful stuff like math, but he could rip apart a Nietzche text. After that year he wanted to go to UNC at Asheville, and I thought that would be the end of Ryan C., but then the reality of the cash difference between UT and UNC kicked in, and UT it was. Ryan managed to put this decision off until two weeks before school, I wanted to hang out with Ryan and save some money, so I offerred him half my room, and then the Rob, Ryan, Nick alliance formed.

Nick was our other roommate, and he had a habit of skipping a week of class and showing up at 5 in the afternoon in his tidy whities after an all night session of War Craft. Needless to say, Ryan hated Nick, but that worked out pretty nice for me as all anger about our living situation was taken out on Nick. I was pretty messy, and Ryan was clean for the most part, but we managed to never get in a yelling session. Unfortunately our basketball heights were never again reached as we were both taking more serious classes and Ryan had a girlfriend, but it was good times.

Two years later, Ryan scores in the top .5% of his LSAT, and goes off to Harvard Law, I'm sure this will be the end of him, but then he comes back for one last summer to work at the capitol and be with his girlfriend. Well Ryan, we've parted ways for the fourth time, and this time, I don't think we'll be showing up in the same city again, but you did surprise me the last three times.

Nice things to say about Ryan: Ryan is an asshole. I know this sounds like an insult, but in my book, it's a complement. At the courts, you never knew when Ryan was going to get in a fight with somebody over a double dribble. It may sound trite, but IMO, it brings some excitement to life to get in a fight over dribbling a basketball. Why not right? I guess the nice way to put it would have been to say Ryan is a passionate man, and this passion spills over into all parts of his life. He goes for what he wants, and another interesing thing about him: you never know what he will want next. Another thing about Ryan - he is the smartest person I know. Now there are A LOT of people who could vie for that position, but Ryan beats them all out because he is the one person that is using it to his fullest extent. Ryan's so smart, that when John Roberts got nominated to the supreme court, I asked him what he thought so I could create an oppinion. BTW, I'm still waiting on Ryan to tell me what my oppinion is on this one.

Well there it is, Ryan C. Give me a fourth surprise. BTW, I gave up on the punctuation after the first paragraph, but feel free to send me corrections.

Another shitty day in Hawaii. Well it's Scott's last day in Oahu, so he didn't want to go any place special, so we rode our bikes (Not much has changed since 7th grade) down to Ala Moana, and did a 1K swim. The sand is real course at Ala Moana and it kinda hurts to walk on it. The visibility is only like 1 foot, but there are no sharks. It was kind of a so-so day. Just went to the beach in December and swam in the ocean. You know, nothing special.

Part 1: Scott
Well I'm starting a 100 part series on the blog about all my friends. Ok so it'll be something more like an 8 or 9 part series, but nevertheless it's a series. I figured who better to kick it off with than the 6'6" Polack sitting next to me. I mean look at this picture. I think we only had 2 or 3 beers at the time of this picture too. Also, I'm starting with Scott because he checks blogs 5 times a day. As a matter of fact if he didn't read my blog all the time, I would probably never update it. It is pretty sad that we have conversations about our blogs. We ask each other if we have checked the blog yet. The other day Scott read his blog to me because I hadn't gotten around to checking it yet.

Allright so where to start with Scott. First off, I've known Scott since I was 11 years old. I moved from the small town of Liberal, Kansas to the big city of Houston, Texas. Now, Scott had spiked hair with MC hammer stripes, and a rat's tail. 3 seperate hair styles, that I had heard about in Liberal Kansas, never seen in person, and here they all are displayed on a 5'6'' foot tall 11 year old kid. I was a little surprised, but I figured, I'm in the city now, and that must be a a normal hairstyle in Houston Texas. Come to figure out later, it was just Scott. Although, I must admit that I did think it was pretty f'in cool at the time.

Well come 11 years later (You missed out on the $250 broken glass table, a call from the D.A., and a visit from the FBI) Anyways, come 11 years later, Scott decides to up and move to Hawaii. I'm thinking there is no way he is just gonna leave everything and move to Hawaii, but the date of his flight came, and he was gone. He became the story of my friend who moved to Hawaii. Needless to say after a couple years I followed him out here. Initially to visit and then to stay. Worked out pretty freaking nice for me.

So, nice things to say about Scott: Well, people who vaguely know him, always refer to him as quite witty. Don't know if he knows that since we are talking about him behind his back. What else - The kid can drink some beer. I guess it takes something to take out a 6'6" guy, but the guy can put down a 12 pack like it's nothing. You should see the Natty wall. And then there's the moving to Hawaii. Successfully pulling the 9-5 in Houston Texas, and then going off and making an adventure out of life. Don't tell him this, but I was pretty impressed by that. He's very musically talented. It's quite fun to come home and play musical instruments, and drink beer, rather than watching T.V. and drinking beer. Oh yeah, and he can get stuff off the top of shelves.

Well that's Scott. I could go on for another 10 pages, but I don't have that much of an attention span.

And Remember - YOU MAY BE NEXT!

MMMKay. . . This weekend. So last weekend was pretty hardcore. We swam to the an Island off the coast of Oahu. This weekend we swam to an Island and then hiked 400 feet to the top. Imagine being the only people on the entire Island, and being at the very top. It was pretty nice. Then Scott and I mooned all of Oahu, because WE KICK ASS! Well, the swim was another scary one minus the rain, thunder and lightening. You see, this section of Oahu is known as shark breeding grounds, and Scott and I were the only ones swimming in the water. Yet again the water is mirky, and yet again Scott neglected to tell me until 5 minutes in. Only this time we stopped like 5 times trying to figure out if it was a good idea or not. Oh yeah, one other detail I left out: The sharks tend to swim around the continental shelf where the ocean suddenly drops to very deep levels. And you don't notice this until you get to the top of the island, but the continental shelf is only like half a mile away from that Island, but I'm still alive, so it all worked out ok. Scott is too, BTW.

Well, Tuesday-Sunday, I played 5 days - 9558 hands, and made a whopping $28.77. For those that are as worried by these results as I am, do know that I made $200 in rakeback. (Basically I get some of the money I pay the casino back from every hand I play). I've gotta admit I finally took Scott's advice and "Quit while I'm ahead." It's a terrible concept that I completely disagre with. Basically you should quit while the tables are bad, and keep playing while they are good. BTW, that's a bit of a poker oxymoron. Good players = bad table. Bad players = good table. Anyways, I figured, it's Sunday night, the tables are gonna die down soon, and I've almost played my goal for weekly number of hands. I've come back from a $500 downswing. Might as well take it easy the rest of the night.

Better luck next week

So Palestinians built a tunnel from the gaza strip to Israel. Check it out
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/10/gaza.tunnel/index.html

My schpiel on this (yiddish not intended) is where do these guys get the energy. I mean, I'm sure they had nothing but shovels. If I were Palestinian, I'd get off work, go home and tend the cows or whatever they do for fun. If I were upset, I might write in my Journal (they don't have Blogs in Palestine. I don't know how they get by) about how much I hate Sharon. I just don't see where these guys get the energy to dig a huge tunnel. I would get 5 feet and then get bored with the whole thing and quit. And think about this, are you ever really mad, go for a good work out and blow off all that steam. Forget why you were even so pissed in the first place. I'd imagine digging a tunnel is the same way. You dig a good 10 feet, get done, have a drink of water, and then you're not even think about President Sharon's pull out policies anymore. You're thinking about where are you gonna find a mate for your pet goat. You think, "Well, Backa Lacka down the street has a goat, but his goat has the mange, and you would rather find a healthy mate for your goat. "

Freaking Palestinians. I guess I just don't know what makes them tick.

So I was gonna do this publish this post a month ago, but I guess I got depressed about the issue and decided to drop it. But due to todays events, I decided to revisit this issue.

[November 11th]
Well, I finally told the Mom about my tru intentions of squeeking out a living in poker, and bumming around the beach for the next year. I also confessed to losing $1000 in poker. Needless to say, she didn't take to kindly to that talk. Gave me a nice little lecture about how I won't get into med school and yada yada yada. It was a bit of a depressing speech.
[Edit: That's all I wrote. I guess I got bored or somthing.]

[December 9th]
Ring Ring (my cell phone actually vibrates)
Mom: Hey Rob! blah blah blah
Rob: hibbidy hibbidy goobledy goook
Mom: fashizzy my nizzy forizzy
Rob: What?
Mom: Oh I said how's Hawaii?
Rob:It's great. I love it out here.
Mom: How are you paying for stuff?
Rob: Oh you know, playing poker.
Mom: POKER! teh weeeell.
Rob: (thinks I though we went over this already)
Mom: Well, I really think you should get a job.
Rob: click click (check, call, dealt AK)
Mom: You know you spent a lot of time in school and if you don't get a job it devalues your education
Rob: Yeah that's a good point (flop: 882. Damn, that flop missed me. Should I bet to protect my Ace high, or check call to draw to my top pair, or check fold) Rob bets
Mom: After Christmas I really think you should start looking for a job.
Rob: Yeah that's probably a good idea. (Turn: 6. Well that didn't help him. I guess I should bet again to protect and then fold to a raise)
Mom: Are you still thinking about medical school?
Rob: Well, you know, right now I'm just having a good time and seeing where things go. (River: 4. Well that didn't help him at all. I guess I should just check though.)
Mom: Well you know if you don't act on this kind of thing the desire dies down.
Rob: (thinks jesus christ how many times is she gonna ask me to get a job!) Yeah Mom, I understand. Things are great in Hawaii, and me and Scott are having a good time (Yes He had AJ. I can't believe my Ace high held up. YES!)
Mom: Well ok Rob. Have fun. I love you. By. OH YEAH, AND GET A JOB YOU LAZY BUM!
Rob: By Mom, love you too. STOP ASKING ABOUT A JOB. NOT GONNA HAPPEN! AND YES I AM A LAZY BUM! Well, that's that.

Luckily all this job talk won't start back up again until after Christmas.

Friday night ACTION!.
Well, today i played poker for 12 hours in which I played 4,000 hands and won $300. $300 may sound good but that's a meager result for that number of hands especially on friday night, but you take into account the fact that AA (no limp-reraising) won 64% of the time, and my straights, flushes, and full houses won 75% of the time, then maybe my play wasn't all that bad, and it was just bad cards. For the nonpoker players, 85% or better is normal. At least I think that is normal as I have yet to play enough hands for solid data.

Anyways, after tonight I can't see straight. I have never played that much consecutive poker in my life. And I was playing 4-8 tables the entire time.

Well, the real problem is that in the past 4 days, I have played 8,000 hands and lost $78. One of those days, I lost $478. And this is all at $2/$4. I'll tell you this, it's a normal day for me to lose $100-$200. Often times I can pull myself back up, and actually make money that day, but $478! Man, I thought I had built some poker muscles. I thought I could take a downswing, seeing as I've been through some rough ones. Last week, I started every single day by losing $100, and on one day I lost $290, but I was still able to pull out a $500 profit by the end of the week. So I'm thinking, man, I can take anything. The upswings, and the downswings. I know what it is all about. And then this $478 hits me in one day in about 1,000 hands. I guess I'm just working out my poker muscles. I hope I've seen it all though.

[Edit: Andy has informed me there is no reason to read this post if you already read Scott's, but I think I tell the story well, so give it a go if you are bored.]

Well, it's been a pretty good week here in Hawaii. Hiked 3000 feet up a mountain, and swam half a mile to an island. The good news: Scott and I plan on doing the same thing next weekend, just a different island, and a different mountain. Anyways, Scott and I go to swim to ths island on Sunday, and it's raining. Being the Billy Badasses that we are, we decide to swim to the island anyways. Mind you it is lightening, and this is the first time Scott has seen lightning in Hawaii in the 2 years he has been here. But we are in the ocean and the lightning needs to travel to the ground to make a closed circuit leading to electric shock and cardiac arrest. (I am a computer Engineer, and the last sentence may have sounded good, but it was complete BS.)

Where was I? Yeah well we are swimming out to this island. The first time we swam to the island, I didn't exactly know how to swim, and I basically doggy paddled the whole way there. I hid it pretty well, but I was actually a little scared I couldn't make it, so that fear carried over just a tad even though I swim everyday now.

Little recap - A. I'm not a great swimmer. B. It is lightenining and thundering. So we are swimming, and about 5 minutes into the swm, Scott decides to mention that the water is a pretty mirky, and sharks swim toward the coast in mirky water because they can't see and they are confused.

Right about then I completely freak out on the inside. Get that feeling where your throat falls to your stomach. Then I look at Scott and say let's do it. BECAUSE WE ARE HARDCORE!. And then I kind of wade around for a couple more minutes trying to decide if we should go or not, but eventually, I decide we should swim to the island. I spent the next 5 minutes looking out for sharks in my 3 foot range of visibility.

A good f'ing weekend.