Monster

While in junior high my uncle and his two children lived with us for a few years. Josh and Shalee (aka Monster) are my cousins. Monster is seen to the left with Triton on her lap. Why monster? I can't remember why my mother came up with the nickname, but it fit. My mom first came up with Shweezal Monster, but later on it simply became monster. Josh and Shalee were the cutest kids. I was a single child, so having them live with us was more than welcome. I was able to fight with them like brothers and sisters do. Able to tease them and make them believe anything.

One of the best stories about that time in our lives has to be the cereal story. Again, monster was a wicked cute girl probably around age 5. Henry must have had to work early hours because my mom was stuck with the job of getting us up and ready for school each day. My mother and I are not morning people. I inherited the same morning attitude from her, which is leave me alone, don't talk to me and while we are at it don't even look at me. How can a girl as cute as monster possibly upset my mother? I guess Shalee wasn't being so cute from an obeying stand point. She and my mom were having differences. Shalee didn't want her cereal and of course my mom knew that she needed to eat it. This must have caused the two of them to be late, but my mom isn't the kind of person who is going to give in. On this day she gave in, but I can guarantee Shalee probably wishes that she would have just ate her cereal. I also hope that Triton never makes me angry enough to pour the cereal bowl on top of his head. I wish that I could have been there to witness the happenings, but I wasn't fortunate enough. I guess of course Shalee cried and was forced to then change and clean up before being dropped off at school, late. The two of them love each other very much, and maybe this bonding moment aided in that love?

Uneventful Week

Worked 7 days straight and took care of Triton. I work late night shifts and take care of Triton during the days while Sheri is at work. My birthday is coming up, and for those who have sent cards know that I haven't opened them as of yet. I decided to wait for my birthday to open up cards and gifts. Thank you in advance, but I will of course also call and thank you again when I open them.

Why did I work 7 days straight? Well, Sheri is having surgery tomorrow and I worked a few extra days in order to have the next 5 days off to take care of her while she is recovering. I did watch a couple of movies this past week. Let's see, what was it last week? "My Best Friend's Girl", so funny but vulgar for those who don't like the F bomb and a ton of sexual innuendos you will want to skip this one. If you think such things are funny, then by all means rent this one, it is hilarious. "Mirrors", with Kiefer Sutherland, not too bad. Only one scene was gross, but had a different story than I expected, so it wasn't too bad. Then just yesterday a few movies came out, but I only rented two, they were Max Payne and Saw 5.

I am not a fan of the Saw series because, hey, it was supposed to be over with 2 movies ago. I liked the 1st one, it had a great story and wasn't too gory. The second and third installments were disappointing simply because they weren't that gross. If a movie is supposed to make you cringe then that is fine, but if it isn't going to do that, it could at least have a good story. This is where number 4 comes into play. It, like 2-5, had no story line that was worth mentioning, but it had a grotesque feel to it and that was what made it tolerable. Thus we get to 5, it had a couple of gross moments like any of the others, but not as much as the 4th one, and of course it is the same old story. Skip Saw V unless you are like me and simply needed to watch it because you wasted your time on the last sequels. I am not a fan of the blood and guts, but I had to watch it. I can't stand watching a surgery on T.V. or even watching a skateboarder give himself road rash because they both make me cringe, but I can watch Saw, Hostel and other such movies. Key word is movie. Ever since being a child and watching scary movies my family pounded into my head that it is just a movie. That is all that it is, if you are in the middle of watching a scary part of a movie or a thriller that has you at the edge of your seat and you can't watch, all you have to do is tell yourself that it is a movie and you will be fine.

My cousin Josh and I do the same thing just before a scary part of a movie. When either of us are at a theater and we are viewing a scary film and it is obvious that there is going to be a scary part of the movie coming up, we clinch our teeth together. This is something that I have been doing ever since I was probably 15, but I didn't know that anyone else pulled the same trick. Why clinch your teeth together? So you don't accidentally bite your tongue! I don't know who I found out that Josh did it as well, but when I did I thought it was wicked funny.

Max Payne wasn't that bad wasn't that great either. I think that Mark Wahlberg is a stud, and he did great in this film, however the story wasn't that great. I imagine that the next movie, if they have one, will be better because this opener seemed to only have character development. I never played the video game so I guess I could be missing something, but that is what the movie lacked for me, something! If you like Mark Wahlberg rent it, if not then you can save your money.

Follow up on the poker blog "Man Blog" below. I had mentioned that my biggest loss was some 5 or so years ago of $270.00. It was just about then that I started to realize how bad my luck was. Anyone who knows how to play poker knows that luck is a small part of the game. There was an actual court case that went as high as the Supreme Court where a professional poker player received a ruling that poker is a game of skill. Those who don't know how to play or just think they do will disagree with that statement. I agreed and always will agree that poker is a game of skill, however I felt cursed. I knew a lot about the game and always got my money in as a favorite, but wasn't winning the proper percentage of times that I should. This is when the night of $270.00 begins. I was over at a friends house playing poker, when we decided to stop playing a live game and play online. I wasn't going to make much money off him maybe $5 - $10 and after that night I wish that was all that would have happened. He had one computer, but we played poker on two different sites so it didn't matter we could both play at the same time. He played a tournament with 50 people and I played a cash game on DoylesRoom (DR). Every hand he was involved in I heard "what should I do?", "what would you do?" I didn't mind helping him because he didn't have a job at the time and this was the only thing that was passing his time and making him money too. I became agitated when he won this 50 person tournament playing my style of poker, asking me every other hand what he should do, yet I wasn't winning at my own table! It was late and I left his house angry as could be at how bad my luck was, because he wins a 50 player tournament and I was stuck $20.00. Yes I know, $20.00 isn't the big loss. I went home, played a bit more online, and the rest is history. I basically gave away my last $250.00, bad play and of course bad luck, all because I wasn't in the right frame of mind. Thus, lesson for those who ever take up poker or any sort of money risk game, never play when you are mad. Never play when it is late and you are tired. I played maybe a total of three hours this week and took UB up over $20.00 and gained another $1 on PS. I imagine I could have won more, but once I am ahead I always quit. Isn't the smartest move, because you can usually win more when you play while ahead, but for now it is raising my confidence level and my bank roll. Slowly, but surely.

That Kind of Parent

Grandma Betty (Triton's great grandma) had given me a gift certificate to Sports Authority for Christmas. She had also given me some golf balls as well, so I didn't know what to spend the money on. I searched on their website for junior golf clubs, but wasn't able to find any.
Saturday we decided to drive over to Sports Authority just to double check. If they didn't have junior clubs, then maybe they would have a miniature basketball hoop and stand. I was pleased to see they did indeed have junior clubs and sets. The sets were a little more than I wanted to spend and a bit more than the gift certificate as well. This Nike putter was the first club I looked at. Triton has a couple of homemade clubs at home for the summertime, however he usually carried around one my old full size clubs when we were outside in the yard. Maybe he doesn't like the duct tape on the homemade clubs? I had been wanting to get him a small putter though, since putting in a hole will most likely be the first thing he enjoys practicing. Of course we have no holes in the floor at home, but you can see he is still trying.
I am not expecting him to be the next Tiger Woods and I am not going to be one of those parents who force anything on their children. I am going to encourage him to be active and take part in sports and athletics, but I will not discourage him from any other extracurricular activities. If he wants to play the trumpet and learn to tap dance then so be it. His life is going to be his. I am not going to be one of those parents to lives vicariously through their children. Maybe when he bowls his first 300 I will, but only then. That is another thing, if he doesn't ever want to bowl that will be fine by me. I imagine that he will want to do the things that his dad does, but if there is a day that he changes his mind and says he doesn't want to bowl anymore, that will be okay with me too. He is not my son as an object, he is my son as a blessing. He is my son who I am going to learn from. He will teach me more than I will ever be able to teach him. One thing that I would really love to teach him is that it is okay to lose. I hate to lose, I am a graceful winner, but the sorest of losers. That is the one thing as far as competition that I will push on him. It is okay to be a gracious loser, it is okay to not win. As long as he wanted to participate and tried his best then the outcome doesn't matter. What more can you do, when put forth your best effort and still lost? Nothing.

A Man Blog

Those who aren't familiar with poker might want to skip this blog because that is all that it is going to be about. Gambling in particular, but mostly poker for now.

I am pretty sure that my betting began as a junior bowler. Bill, Mike and I would always bet who would have the higher game ever since the sixth grade. Bill was a couple years younger than Mike and I, but he would donate his money just the same. Just kidding, I think we pretty much always broke even. After bowling, I think it was betting on football (NFL, can't stand watching college ball) that came next.

Quick story on the Football wagers. Back in high school I was working at The Stardust restaurant. I would bet on games weekly with this dish washer who was working there. There was a Monday night game coming up between the Broncos and the Raiders, I asked if he wanted to bet on it. His response was, "no, you always win, I have to give you money every week". I hadn't a clue that he was upset about giving me money every week, but I guess he was. I asked him again later if he was sure, he gave in and said "okay, but I get the Broncos"! I said that was fine, he then changed his mind and said, "no, I get the Raiders instead". I said that also was fine with me. He changed his mind again and said that the bet was off, he wasn't going to bet me anymore. He honestly thought that I had a hidden talent for knowing who was going to win, like I was psychic or something? That was probably the last of my small time gambling addiction until one year after high school. It was the same year that Brandon was visiting before he was to head off for the Marines.

The year was 1998 when a movie was released called Rounders. Those who haven't seen it need to go and rent it today. Starring Matt Damon and one of my favorite actors Edward Norton. Brandon and I attended a screening. After viewing the film we decided we wanted to play poker. We didn't want to play for a living or anything, we just wanted to play that night. We drove over to Jeff's house, Jeff was my mom's old boyfriend, and we talked him into playing with us. We only played for coins, and that night I won everything that Brandon and Jeff had. Again it was only our coin banks that we played with, but I think that I won maybe $12.00 or so. I was hooked. We talked Todd (bowling buddy) and his friends into playing later that week as well. That is when I knew that the game would go on without Brandon. He was leaving soon, so it was good that he was here when he was, for I might not have ever fell in love with the game. Games were still hard to come by though. Todd and his group of friends would play in spurts, we would get a game going every weekend for like a month, and then nothing for a few weeks to another month. This went on for a couple of years, and I think the last game I played with them was just before Sheri and I started dating.

After that most kids moved and a lot didn't want to play with me, because I hardly ever lost. I started working at Center Partners and after a year of being married a poker game was basically impossible to find. This was before the big poker boom have you. The game you see on the television today (No Limit Texas Hold'Em), was the game that I loved to play. Todd and his friends coined that game the name "Jason's made up game" because they thought that I honestly made it up. They loved to play the games where there were 4 to 8 wild cards in one deal. I hated wild card games, but still seemed to always win anyway. I would ask anyone and everyone if they wanted to play, or even if they knew of anyone who wanted a game. Then there was finally a break through. It must have been just after the big televised win of Chris Moneymaker's in 2003. A friend of mine found out about a game in Shelley, a small town about 15 minutes away.

I had finally received an invitation to this game after emailing this Joel character. I showed up at this house not knowing what to expect. I didn't know if I would know anyone, but didn't care. I wanted to play. It turned out that I knew a bunch of people that were there. It was a regular game every week. I was loving it. I was winning and becoming good friends with Joel. Joel was the gentleman who ran the game. He was a better poker player than I. He suggested a couple of books to read, which I did. I was mostly surprised about what was written in the advanced sections that I had figured out on my own. Joel knew that I was a much better player than the others. He helped me because he wanted to get me going with online poker. I was hesitant about playing online, because I didn't trust it. I still don't trust it, but that will be addressed shortly. This is where my luck takes a huge change, I had changed my style of play to mimic Joel's. He was a winning online player and had now talked me into playing online, so I figured if I played his style I would win too.

He played on a site called UltimateBet.com. I deposited $100.00 to start with and played a combination of his Joel's style along with my own. I doubled my money early, but lost it quicker than I gained. I ended up losing it all. I deposited another $50.00, lost all but $3.00. I talked to Joel and he made me realize that I was playing at too high a money level. With my three dollars I played penny tables. They actually have penny tables online and I was able to turn my luck around. By playing at the correct level for the money that I had, I didn't lose a lot of money when I did lose. I was able to make back the money I lost and was actually turning a profit. However, it seemed no matter what I would hit a wall at $300.00? I think it was a combination of playing Joel's style, lack of patience, expecting to win bigger amounts and the websites themselves. Regardless of what is said, I believe that online poker is dealt to promote action. Action is what is going to get more money in the pot and this is where the websites themselves make the money. The house (websites) takes a percentage of every pot, this is known as the rake. Thus, if there are more and more hands that promote action the websites will make money quicker. There are also hackers that can make programs to play a certain way, and thus you aren't even playing against a person but a computer program, and there have been instances where people can see exactly what cards you are holding.

Why play online at all is what you might be asking? Well, there is a simple truth to that too. There are still ways to win. There are ways to win money online without depositing money at all! Security is growing and cheaters are being outed.

Back to the story above, I had mentioned hitting a wall whenever reaching the $300.00 mark. I became sick of it and transferred my last $150.00 over to DoyleRoom.com, where I found out that my luck wasn't any better over there either. I soon realized that I didn't want to play online poker anymore because of all the above reasons. I cashed out all that remained and was willing to be a loser. I cashed out $97.00, but wasn't able to cash out the change left over. This left me 96 cents. Since then I have turned that 96 cents into over $2300.00. I have cashed out a bunch here and there, and also lost a bunch here and there. Overall though, I am probably at the moment a $2300.00 winner. My biggest lost was $270.00. One of those nights of frustration and being certain that I was cursed I decided I was going to win big or lose it all, and that is what I did. I lost it all. I had lost my remaining $270.00 on Doylesroom, this was about 5 years ago. I have since gained it all back and cashed out more here and there of course and lost again and again.

There are 4 websites that I have money on as we speak and I have won all the money on them through freerolls. Each site has freeroll tournaments where you can earn real money for free. That is how I have been able to rebound without redepositing so many times. There is Fulltiltpoker (FT) where I have $35.00, UltimateBet (UB) where I have started playing again $14.00, Pokerstars (PS) where I have $25.00, and the last is the best site DoylesRoom (DR) where I have $30.00 as well. I say it is the best because most of my $2300.00 profit is from that site alone. I will leave updates in some of my future blogs about how I am doing on each website. As of right now, my goal is to raise each website in $10.00 amounts, equally. Thus I am playing only on PS and UB right now until each of those is up to $30.00 then I will play all of them. Hopefully raising them to $40.00 then $50.00 and so on. If I somehow lose all of my money on UB, then I will drop that website for the time being. Only leaving me three to try to run up.

I have given up on Joel's style of play in the last couple of months and have switched to my old style mixed in with some new techniques, but for sure leaving Joel's style behind. I am hoping that it will enable me to keep my patience and discourage the idea of being cursed with bad luck. There is always going to be luck in poker, but it is only a small amount. With Joel's style the luck factor was much bigger and thus the reason for my big loses and discouraging moments. With my new style mixed in with the old, the luck factor isn't nearly as big, and my loses should be much smaller. I will keep updates on my progress or lack thereof in future blogs.

How Did We Meet?

Recently I had written about my cousin Brandon who is in the Marines. I have never met his wife who is pictured below (Xmas in Iraq, post), not even emailed or spoken to her. I had requested her email address from Brandon, and once I had it, I emailed her. She of course seems way nice and asked how my wife and I met. I had planned on sharing that for some time and what more of a signal do I need?

It really isn't that special of a story, but to me it is. Just out of high school, I was working at a bowling alley. I didn't go to college because I was happy to be done with high school, plus I am a lazy bum. There were a few friends of mine that were attending classes down in Pocatello at Idaho State University who were also bowling with me on a summer league. One of these friends, I hate to say was a bit overweight, yet seemed to always have a pretty girl at his side. I had had my share of girlfriends, only one serious girlfriend in high school, but after high school I was planning to be alone. Not by choice have you, it was just nobody was keeping my interest for more than a week or two. Those who I know would keep my interest weren't showing any sort of reciprocating signals (Salma Hayek). From time to time these friends would come up and bowl on Friday and Saturday nights. On one of these nights I was working and they all came in. I was in the back of the bowling center repairing something that had malfunctioned, when they arrived. They had already retrieved their bowling gear and were walking down into the bowling area. I noticed that my co-worker was busy at the counter so I said a quick hello as they passed me on the stairs. I didn't notice the last girl with them as I turned to head up the stairs, and there I was face to face with (how can I say this?) yum yum? I remembered at that moment thinking, how does he always get the finest chics? I had thought that she was dating my slightly overweight friend who always had the prettiest girlfriends. She started showing up with those guys during league nights along with the occasional Friday or Saturday night as well. I would just admire her and think why him and not me. Reminds me of the song "Jessie's Girl", by Rick Springfield, maybe that is why that song is in my top five favorites of all time? One of the saddest parts of the story was the fact that I wasn't bowling good at the time, so I couldn't even impress her with my somewhat superior bowling ability. As if that is what girls look for right? Well, these were things that were running through my mind as I stole a glance at her any time I could. I don't think that I ever said a word to her, because I was mega shy when it came to girls, plus I still assumed that she was with this other friend of mine.

At Todd's house one day playing basketball in his driveway (Todd was this other guy's best friend and was also on the same bowling team), I finally summed up the courage to ask him if those two were together? He informed me that they weren't, and even admitted that he himself had gone on a date with her before. My hopes were lifted, as I learned that she wasn't with any of them. I told him to hook the two of us up, or to give her my number at least. No phone call transpired and no blind date was ever setup. This is where the story is most special to me. Even though we hadn't spoken to one another, for some reason I had the strongest feeling that her and I would be together. Be married even. How juvenile or crazy does that sound? Sure I had these same feelings toward Salma, but she still wasn't returning my calls. I remember one league night having a cousin of mine with me, and I told her that she (as I pointed to Sheri) was the girl for me. That was the first night that I had an interaction with her. As my cousin and I were leaving the bowling alley I waved to Sheri and she waved back.

Back in the driveway of Todd's house a few days later playing basketball, I asked him if he had given Sheri my number? He responded that he hadn't because it had slipped his mind. I told him to get on it and quit slacking. I still had doubts that he wasn't going to set us up, and it was going to be the last time that I brought it up. I was going to give up on the whole ordeal. It wasn't but a few days later, either when I was working or after a league night, that Sheri's friend had slipped me a note with Sheri's number on it. Word must have gotten around that I was interested. I called her, setup our first date and the rest is history. We were married on March 3rd, 2001 in the Idaho Falls Temple. About a year and a half after our first date.