Everything and Still Lost

This is going to be a long blog. I haven't written for while and feel like going on and on tonight. First of all I am just going to jot some golf goals down for this year, so mom you might want to skip reading this part. It is basically for me to remember and keep in the back of my mind this golf season. I have loved the game of golf for many years now, but I really haven't improved. I have scored good here and there, but I have never had a swing that I was really confident with. I ended this last year with a handicap of 11.3 or something like that. That is a really good handicap considering my swing was horrible. In the winter months I am stuck in the house peering through the windows just hoping for the snowy months to fly by. This winter and every winter I watch golf on the television and think of how to improve. I start the new year with a new swing and hope that it is better than the previous year. This has indeed worked the past two years. My handicap was extra horrible three years ago at 22. I have been so frustrated that I have taken a lesson or two from the local pro shop pros. I have taken probably 4 lessons in the past three years and only one tip has helped and it really didn't improve my score because it was my swing that was the most wrong and not too much on the grip. This was what the local pro helped me with one day. He said my grip was wrong and indeed it was, but my swing is what I wanted to fix. I took another lesson about a year later and again no real help? Two separate pros saw my swing, tried to get me to think about this and that, but ultimately said I had a nice swing.
I am a person who can usually figure puzzles and problems out on my own. I feel that the golf swing is a puzzle that I haven't been able to figure out. If you were to think about the golf swing as a jigsaw puzzle you would see that I have the border taken care of, much of the picture is even filled in as well! However in the process of putting the pieces together I had lost a few and even forced some pieces into incorrect spots. After watching golf on the telly these winter months I am sure that I found the pieces that I kicked under the couch and most important I noticed how these pieces fit into the spots of other pieces that I forced into the wrong spots. So, I am confident that I will be a better golfer this year. I have some goals that I think are attainable with this new swing.
I would first of all like to drop my handicap down to at least a 6.5. I want to get at least 10 eagles this year. That is a lofty goal considering I have only gotten one in my life before. As well I want to shoot par at least 5 times. I have never shot par on 18 holes. I have done it before on a front or a back 9, but never a full round. If my swing is going to be as good as I think it is, then this 5 rounds of par shouldn't be a problem at all. I usually golf with my Uncle Henry and he isn't too bad a golfer, but is too stubborn to take a lesson. He will never improve to anything better than what he is now and that is a 13.1 handicap. He is lucky to have that low of a handicap and I know I have mentioned how lucky he is in the past. This year it isn't going to matter how lucky he is. If my new swing works the way I hope, then all the luck in the world isn't going to help him win! Thus my last goal is to not lose a single round to him all year. I am not going to tell him about this goal because I find that a bit rude. Him and I play skins for only a dime a hole. This last year I won enough money to make up for his hole in ones and eagles that he slopped in. I have told him this year I am not going to bet him the simple dime a hole like usual. I informed him that if we play skins we have to do it fair. In order to do it fair we have to introduce handicap differences into the mix. Thus, if I have a handicap of 9 and his is at a 13, then I would have to give him 4 holes where he would have an extra stroke. So, if there is a par 4 where he has an extra stroke and he scores a par on that hole and I score a par as well, he would win the hole and the skin because he has that extra stroke. Those are my 4 golf goals for the year.
Drop to a 6.5 handicap.
Score 10 or more eagles.
Shoot par at least 5 times.
Never allow Henry to win.

I mentioned that my birthday was last month. Sheri was going to get me something, but it fell through. After opening my mom's present (Deron Williams, signed autograph, patch rookie card) we went to the card shop to purchase a Beckett. A Beckett lists the prices and values of pretty much any basketball card made. The card shop was closed so we went to Barnes and Noble to see if they had on there. They did in fact have one and I also wanted to see if they had this poker book in stock. It was a book that talks about how 20 of the top pros became who they are today and how they were introduced to poker. They didn't have this book and I was bummed. They did have this other book that I was also interested in, but decided to pass on purchasing it because of the price. It wasn't too much the price as much as it was I only wanted to read a certain part of the book and didn't feel like spending $35 on a 1000 page book to only read 190 pages. We left the book there and only got the Beckett. I found out that the card my mom got me was worth $80! That is a lot to spend on a card! Three years ago it was worth $150. I have no reason why it dropped so much in value, but I know that it will go up again. For one, Deron was voted into his first allstar game as a starter above Chris Paul who's same card is worth $300! He isn't as good as Deron and he has been injured for the past 3 months, so I don't know why his card is still worth so much? It has dropped to $300 from $400 three years ago. Anyway, back to this poker book. Many of my friends think that I am a good poker player. I thought that I was good and understood a lot of the game, but I knew I wasn't as good as they thought I was. Sheri had a doctor's appointment the day after we picked up the Beckett. I texted her and asked if she would stop by Barnes and Noble to pick up that book after all. Barnes and Noble is across town and her doctor's office is on that side as well. I am not a person who likes to spend money, but I figured that if this poker book didn't help me then it would be the last one that I ever bought. I have bought many books on poker and most have said the same thing. I started to read the section of this book that I thought might improve my knowledge of the game and I am glad I decided to have Sheri buy the book. It has helped me so much. Of all the books I have read and studied these 190 pages of this book helped me the most. My poker confidence is at an all time high. I haven't taken too much time to play because I don't like it taking away from family life, but the few times I have played it has worked. I have a goal in poker now as well. I have mentioned that I win money online, but as soon as I win enough I start losing. I think as soon as I hit a number where I know I have enough to buy something nice for Sheri or maybe a new bowling ball for myself I start losing and cash out so I can buy those gifts. I don't necessarily lose on purpose, but subconsciously I think I might. I see that money and I want it. Well, I cashed out a bunch and used it all and more to buy Sheri's Christmas. I paid to have a remote start installed in her car. It is way nice to not have to step into the freezing cold to start the car and let it warm up. As well it is going to be nice in the summer to start it and let the A/C cool it off for a bit before getting in it as well.
I mentioned that I had run 4 websites up and just over $80. I probably have posted about poker since then because I did indeed find a way to lose some and I cashed out money on 3 of the 4 sites. I would have cashed out on all 4, but I didn't have enough on one of them to do so. I cashed out all but around $10 on three of the four sites. I like to leave myself some money to try to run back up after losing or cashing out. I left myself $16 on Pokerstars, that is now at $22. I was down to $3.50 on Doylesroom, that is now over $150, but $20 of that was from bonuses that I earned and for some reason they gave me another $60? Of course I didn't complain about the $60 who would? I left myself $9.54 on UltimateBet and that is all gone, so I have nothing on that site.
I wasn't able to cash out on Fulltilt because you needed $100 to do so and I only had $93. I tried to get that last $7, but wasn't able to. I in fact became so upset that I was ready to lose it all and start all over. I lost all but $15 of that $93. I have played here and there, but wasn't able to get it over $60. I would run it up to $77 and lose it back down to $34. It would come back to $60 and that seemed to be the constant. This was up until I read this book. With this new style I have only had one losing day out of 8 or 9. I was up to $80 or something like that and had my first losing day which dropped me down to $60 as a low. I hate being down from a high and I also hate being stuck on a certain number ($60). I played the next night and won my money back from the losing session and have an all time high on Fulltilt of $111.00. I have been winning with this new style and my goal is to win $100 a month on online poker. If it wasn't for Doylesroom making a mistake and giving me $60 I would have had my first losing month on online poker in over a year for January.
With this new style of playing I am sure that $100 a month will be easy. The only thing I have to do is play. I am afraid of losing. Thus if I am up even a little bit for a night I quit! Like tonight. I played for about 19 minutes and won $4. I quit playing even though I had a bunch of time to play. I hate being a chicken! That last losing session I had when I lost almost $30 I had to force myself to quit playing. I was tired and wasn't playing smart. I won my money back the next night in a little over an hour and quit. I was happy with being even or a little bit above. This is something I need to fix. If I can just keep playing I know I will win. That is why I am going to have this goal of $100 a month. If I have a goal I will want to accomplish it. I have almost made the $100 for February, but I will need to make up for January's loses throughout the year as well. I need to keep playing even if I am winning. I have already won enough to pay for the book. I am obviously glad that I bought the book, but one thing that I won't let poker do is take away from family time. I hardly ever play poker at home. I go and play a live game once a week with another uncle of mine, but other than that it doesn't take away from time with Sheri or Triton.
Sheri is the best wife, she understands my love for poker and golf. She understands that those two subjects alone dominate a lot of my thoughts. She not only allows me to indulge in these activities, but she also supports me. I bother her about how I am so unlucky at both. I show her my new thoughts about my golf swing and she helps my by listening and agreeing with me if I am right. I do want you to also know Sheri that even though you constantly see me shadow golfing or telling you about poker all of the time that I do think about you a little bit too. I have hopefully shown you how much I do love and think about you by not playing poker at home. By not going golfing twice a day in the summer. I want you to also know that when I am taking part in these activities that I am constantly thinking of you and wishing that I hadn't gone. When I am with you I may be thinking of golfing or poker, but when I am golfing or playing poker I am thinking of you!
So, on with Lost. I am all caught up with the world and am forced to wait week to week now to see new episodes! This last season has only answered one of my questions. I am kind of disappointed to see this new season playing out with a Matrix type of feel. It seems as if there is/has been a competition between The Architect and The Oracle. Jacob and this other character? Maybe it is just me, who knows? I guess we will see. Season 4 was not too good. I liked Season 3 the best and season 5 wasn't too bad either. I still am wondering about the stupid Dharma thing and one other scene that was shown at the beginning of season 3, I wonder if they forgot to tie that up and never will? There was a scene where Jack was watching Juliet from the comfort of his car and it looked like Juliet was a teacher leaving a school? That hasn't made sense yet. As well as the Jin thing where he seemed to be alive and well, away from Sun while he should have been on the island? I think those are the only questions that I have besides the new one about the temple and the huge statue that is only a foot now? If those questions are never answered then Lost blows! I have all of those questions still looming and the only one that I wondered about that has been answered is the one about the monster.

Why Manning Sucks

I had to sleep through the Superbowl this year, but I did record it and was able to watch it at work. I also recorded the end of golf to see if Steve Stricker was going to hang on and win. He was able to do just that. I was able to watch the last hour of golf and then the Superbowl. I have to say that golf was probably more entertaining to watch. Steve Stricker is the man! I mean 5 years ago this guy was about to give up on the game of golf. He rededicated himself after losing his tour card in 2005 by hitting golf balls in the snow! He hit golf balls out of a back of a trailer in the winter months for practice. He was most improved player of the year two years running and is now number 2 in the world! He won his first tournament of the this year yesterday to move into the number two spot in the world. In an interview that was given by Stricker after sinking his winning putt on the 18th green, he was asked how it felt to now be the second best player in the world. The person that asked him this question did in fact talk about his struggles and how he did indeed practice out of the back of a trailer before that question. Stricker teared up and couldn't control his emotions as he explained how good of a feeling it was to see his hard work and dedication pay off. It is admirable to see a nice person like Stricker win.
Then I watched the Superbowl! It was pretty dang boring if you ask me. I really don't like Peyton Manning. Why? Because he is such a great quarterback, but can't win big games. He is a hundred times better than the worthless Tom Brady. Tom Brady! Now there is a person who fell into the right team at the right time. Everyone thinks that Tom Brady is a great quarterback and even talks about him like he is as good as Joe Montana! I hate to tell anyone who is a Patriots fan, but any quarterback in college or the NFL, heck maybe even a peewee league quarterback in the 5th grade could have made that team a winner. That was a great team and that is it! It wasn't Brady! He was a just a person to wear a jersey on that team. This brings me to the reason that I don't like Peyton Manning. I think he is one of the greatest and can in fact be in the same sentence as Joe Montana. However, he just isn't up to the task in the big moments.
He should have 7 rings instead of just one! Brady should have none! Manning just can't hack it in the big games! Brady for sure can't either, but he didn't have to because of the team that he was on. If Manning played for the Patriots and Brady played for the Colts for the past ten years it would be a much different story! Manning would have at least 7 rings. Had Brady played for the Colts for the past ten years nobody would even like the Colts! They would be a team that might win 50% of their games and would pray to be a wild card contender each year. Brady would have never have had a championship ring and people would have never thought he was great.
I watched last night's Superbowl and saw the Colts take a 10 - 0 lead and wondered how the Saints even made it to the playoffs let alone the Superbowl? I thought wow, maybe Manning is going to man up and be the quarterback that he should be! The Saints didn't play any sort of good defense the whole game yet Manning still couldn't win? When the Colts regained the lead in the 3rd quarter I knew that the game was over. I knew that if the Saints scored again that Manning would throw an interception. With the clock ticking down and the game on the line the pressure builds. When the pressure builds Manning folds, it has happened time and time again. It happened again last night. They were marching down the field again like they had all game and then Manning caved! He threw and interception and the game was over!
I haven't watched much football for the past three or four years and it is obvious why. People idolize donkeys like Tom Brady. Manning can't handle the big games and there just aren't any great quarterbacks anymore. Brett Favre used to be a great, but he hasn't had a team to play for except this past year. I liked watching Favre play this year. That is until his last throw! It was a rookie mistake that he made and he is 80 years old for crying out loud! Might have been Alzheimer's who knows, but it was horrible.
The NFL has been a joke to watch ever since the Patriots won their first Superbowl of the 2000s. Why? Because of Brady's tuck rule against the Raiders the the AFC championship game in the 2001 - 02 season! He fumbled the ball when struck by another player from the opposing team. The referees or whoever was paid to make sure the Patriots won that year overturned the call and that is how the Patriots of today became the best. You can easily say that it isn't Brady's fault! He was just playing the game and the referees made the mistake! That might be so, but would the Patriots have ever had been so great if they didn't receive the confidence they had by winning that Superbowl? I doubt it. This one bad call made it obvious to me that games can be fixed. I am not even a Raiders fan, but they deserved to win that game. This was the year of 9 eleven when everyone became a Patriot! Not on the team of course, but when the U.S. found out that we weren't invincible. Everyone in America united and for a short time. How fitting was it that the Patriots won the Superbowl that year? It was a bit staged for me. Players should be the ones that win or lose a game. A team shouldn't be robbed because their team colors weren't red white and blue. A team shouldn't be handed the one of the greatest trophies in sports just because their name is the Patriots. This is how Brady came to be. He was nothing but a puppet. He was a false idol for some 7 or 8 years, and it is great that he isn't anymore!
Okay sorry about venting on the NFL. It is time to vent on the fans now! I can't stand fair weather fans. Fair weather fans are people who only like the teams that are winning. It must be nice to be a fan of the Lakers, the Saints and the Yankees this year! Who will they like next year? We can only wait and see who wins to find out. I can't stand people that say they have supposedly been Saints fan for years. Especially when they were Steelers fans the year before and then the year before that they were Giants fans! People like that are a sad excuse for even being called a fan. My team is the Detroit Lions! Why would I even admit to such a thing? A) because when (in 400 hundred years) they are good I can be a person who can legitimately say I have been their fan for many years and B) they had the greatest running back of all time on their team. Barry Sanders was the reason I started watching and loved the NFL. He obviously played for the Lions and thus they became my favorite team. It is going to be real sad when these people that are fair weather fans say "I have been a Lions fan for years!" I know of three other people that are Lions fans in my city, so unless you are one of those three people you can't say it without proof! At least I can print this off and say, "Well, I have proof you fair weather donkey!" I can say I was their fan even though they never won a game in a single season. I was their fan when you were a Patriots fan you fair weather donkey! Barry Sanders pictured above was only 5'8" tall. He won the Heisman Trophy and was the only reason the Lions were ever in the playoffs. There has never been anyone like him in the NFL and I doubt there ever will be again. He would make moves that would boggle the mind. He was the greatest and he played for the Detroit Lions, my favorite team!
Sorry if you were bored on this blog mom, I just had to comment on football after the Superbowl. I probably won't have to ever blog about football again because it is obvious the way I feel. Unless someone can pay for the Lions to win the Superbowl I will think that the game is fixed! So, until then....watch golf!

Lost

Well, when the television series Lost debuted I didn't want to watch it. It just didn't seem that interesting to me! I also saw a couple of minutes of one of the first episodes and saw a part where a polar bear was killed in the middle of the jungle! With that unlikely scenario I never batted an eye at it again. I think I was more interested in watching another show that was on the same day on another channel. It was a series called Surface which wasn't too bad, and it only lasted one season anyway.
Preston, a friend of mine from work, is always watching everything on television. He has good taste and I trust him on picking something out that isn't going to make me want to kill myself. I think he has almost ran out of stuff to watch. There will be a side story on that in a minute.
I arrived at work to relieve him at the end of his shift a few weeks ago. We were talking about something and he mentioned Lost. I told him that I hadn't ever watched it and gave him a sour look after he said that I should. He said that he had all of the seasons on DVD and he would let me borrow season 1 and see if I liked it. I told him that I would let him borrow a series that my mom had just bought me for Christmas. It is a series that on SciFi and it was called Firefly. It is the premise for the feature film Serenity. Except it is better than Serenity. I am not a big fan of Scifi series and haven't ever watched a full episode of Stargate, Star Trek or anything of the sort. The only reason I liked Firefly so much was because my other friend Mikey J encouraged me to give it a try as well. It was great and it is also a major bummer that it was only one season as well. My mom found out that I liked it when we visited her in November. I was surprised that she even knew what it was because a ton of people never heard of it.
So, the following week I bring in Firefly for Preston and he brings in season 1 of Lost for me. Funny story on that though! Remember how I mentioned that Preston has seen everything and was running out of stuff to watch? Well, I come into work to find that he was watching season 1 of the O.C. on DVD! Now that is sad! I told him that watching Firefly would make him feel more like a man. I feel sorry for him when he is finished watching that and is going to be stuck watching the O.C. again. Well, I am now finished watching seasons 1 - 3 of Lost. I found it wasn't that bad. The story isn't horrible, a bit far fetched in a few areas. It wanders from here to there an awful lot. It never answers certain questions that should be. I am hoping that by the last season it will answer all questions, but other than that it isn't too bad.
Season one was horribly slow as far as character development too, but that is always expected. Season two wasn't too bad, did bring in more characters, so it was a bit slow as well. Season three was good, it had a dang good cliff hanger for a season finale. I haven't seen season 4 yet and haven't started because Preston didn't work this week. I feel like he is my drug dealer because I am able to finish a season pretty quickly and then I have to call him for my next fix! He is probably getting sick of me calling him every week. I actually drove to his house which is maybe 20 minutes out of town just to pick up season 2. That isn't too bad you might think, but I was extremely tired. It was my Friday and I had only gotten 7 hours of sleep in two days, but I needed to get it from him that bad. So, I guess I am stuck on Lost for now.
I love watching movies and I can get into some shows that are on television as well. A downfall that I have though is that I have to watch it all! I think that there is only been a hand full of movies that I haven't finished watching once I started. A movie has to be ultra horrible for me to not finish watching it once I start. So, if you are wanting to watch Lost if you haven't already don't take my need to see it to the very finish as your reason for watching it. It is pretty good and there are a few characters that are really likable, but it does meander quite a bit.

300, Not The Movie

I have a friend that I have been bowling with for a little over half of my life. He is one of my best friends and I have mentioned him before in earlier blogs, his name is Mikey J. He has been bowling great for the past 2 - 3 years averaging anywhere from 205-216. He and I have a birthday 26 days apart and he is now 31. Last year when he was bowling good I told him that he was going to bowl a 300, because it would be cool to have your first three hundred game when you were thirty! I don't know why it would be cool, just thought that it would be. I had bowled my first three hundred game when I was 19 years old. I had another two years later and haven't even come close since. It is because I am in a slump and can't control my release. I might get it back some day, but I will always know that I was good enough to bowl a 300.
There are a few bowlers in the city that have three hundred games that shouldn't. A small portion of a perfect game in bowling has to do with luck. There are a select few in the city who have a 300 simply because of that! There is another factor for some people bowling a 300 and it has to do with the bowling alley they did it in. There is a house in this city where we bowl that is extremely easy and people probably average 10 - 20 pins higher than if they bowl at another house. I bowled both of my games at the hardest house in the city. Thus my 300s were harder earned that some who have slopped on down or gotten one at an easier house. Mikey and I are on the same league (not same team) on Friday nights at the hardest house in the city.
Mikey J has always been a descent bowler, but I have always had the edge on him until these last three or four years. I am happy that he has been improving and his attitude has gotten a lot better as well. He has bowled a lot of games in the past three years where he has started a game with the first 9 or 10 strikes but that 11th strike has always eluded him. He struck the first ten shots of his first game. If you know nothing about bowling, a perfect game is 12 strikes in a row! Now in the tenth frame if you strike in the first shot you have a chance to shoot again on the same lane. League play rules state that you alternate lanes every frame. In the tenth frame there is a chance to score three strikes. It is only on frame so you simply finish that game on the same lane. I say this because most people who have struck their first shot in the tenth frame stand and wait for their ball to return and finish the game. Mike struck his first shot in the tenth frame like I said, but he stood there for a second and returned to his table to get a drink of beer. I knew that he was nervous and hoped that this unorthodox style of finishing the tenth frame didn't throw his game off.
Another sad fact is that I have always been a hex to Mikey for the past 2 - 3 years as well. Whenever my friend has had the first 7 or 8 strikes in a game I would go down to his set of lanes and watch his next ball. It seems 9 out of 10 times he would throw a split or obviously not strike. His mom has been telling me all year to stay away when Mike is making a run for it because she wants him to bowl a 300. I of course want my best friend to bowl a 300 too, but I would like to see it. It has been a joke for the past couple of years of how bad of a hex I am on him. The sad thing is that he doesn't even know I am behind him watching. Last night was funny, I walked down behind him when he was throwing his 8th ball. I told my uncle Henry who is on my team that Mikey is done for I am going to watch his next ball. He did throw the ball bad and I knew it was bad right when he let it go. I was like yep, I did it to him again. Well, he himself knew that he threw a bad shot as well, but his ball some how hit enough of the head pin and he did in fact strike. I have wanted him to bowl a 300 for so long, but just didn't know if he had it in him because he never seemed like a pressure player. I have always been good under pressure. I want the ball with the clocking ticking down, I want a chance to win the game. Mikey never seemed to have that drive, or so I thought. He still might not have that killer instinct and pressure mindset like me, but maybe, just maybe him calling a time out on himself is a way of dealing with that pressure?
He returned to the lane that he was finishing on and retrieved his bowling ball from the rack. Stood up on the approach just like any other ball. Mostly everyone was watching him, and for that I was nervous for him. He threw the ball and it was a good shot, just had to basically see if all the pins fell down. Regardless of how good you are and how well you threw a shot in bowling there is always a chance of one pin still standing. This time they all fell. For the first time ever he started a game with 11 strikes in a row. Then the lane broke! A minor fix, it actually wasn't broke, it was just jammed. Regardless he would have to wait for the desk clerk to walk back and fix it. What a time for this to happen! So, Mikey himself calls a timeout to wait and throw the 11th ball, but now he had to wait no matter what. I think this might have helped his anxiety because if he was nervous throwing his 11th ball he would be more nervous over the last and final ball for a chance at his first 300. It was my turn to bowl on my set of lanes 4 down from his. I took his broken lane as an opportunity to bowl my frame and return to watch his last ball. I bowled quickly and ran over behind his set of lanes about ten feet behind him. He threw his ball and it was perfect! All the pins fell and everybody of course cheered. It was a great moment for Mikey. I am so proud of him that he finally did it. Everyone was walking up to him shaking his hand. His mom, who is on his team, of course hugged him. She then ran over to me and hugged me, even before I congratulate Mikey! This almost made me start crying because she and I have seen him come so close so many times. Time and time again we would see disappointment on his face. I know that he had to wonder if he would ever do it. I doubted that he would! It is a mean thing to say, but it was a thought in my head because of that pressure packed moment. I knew he was a good enough bowler to do it. I just didn't know if he would be able to finish a game off. When he took his time in the tenth frame he said it was because when he had been there before he kind of rushed himself on his next shot. There is nothing wrong with him taking that little break in between shots. It was his way to deal with that pressure and I now know that he can handle the situation. He might not handle it the way I would, but he found a way to cope with it. I am so happy for you Mikey! Even though I had my doubts I always wished that you would bowl a 300. I don't doubt now that it will be your last and you are not just one of the lucky ones in the city to get one. You earned and deserved yours!

Holy Moly

I conned my mom! Here is just a little background for this story.

My parents were divorced when I was 5 or 6 years old. My mother gained custody of me and we were on our own. My mother had boyfriends here and there, but nobody treated her the way she deserved. Plus I probably chased off a few of them! My mom worked as a waitress for most of my childhood years. She would also work other jobs on the side as well to provide for us. My dad didn't pay child support for the longest time as well. Nonetheless I was a spoiled brat. This last Christmas I mentioned in a card to my mom how much I miss spending Christmas morning with her. She always found a way to purchase what I wanted every Christmas. I also mentioned this in her card. I think I told her that I feel sorry now for asking for such expensive gifts all of the time. Reflecting back and seeing how much my life is blessed, I am now grateful for any gift I receive for Christmas. I might ask for a bowling ball here or some cologne I like there, but usually I only tell everyone to get me socks. I keep my expensive gift ideas to myself in hopes that I can buy them later myself with poker winnings.

I guess for some reason my mom has felt sub par in her gift giving to me? She probably feels this way because of all the expensive crap that she had to buy me in the past! After growing up and realizing how spoiled I was I don't want her to spend anything on me now. Plus right now and for the past 5 years or so we have lived in her house basically rent free. So, for the past three or four years I have only asked my mom for socks for Christmas and my birthday.

My birthday was the other day and a couple of weeks ago she called and asked me what I wanted. I of course told her socks. She had also said that she had already gotten me something.

When we visited her in the beginning of November I found a basketball card in Seattle that I wanted. I hadn't been able to find the card here where we live, so I remember there being a card shop right next to her work in Seattle. We stopped there on our last day right before going to the airport. Sure enough they had this rookie card that I wanted. I didn't get a chance to purchase the card for myself because I had a personal issue to attend to. Actually it was an attack of the number 2 alright. I had to rush out of the shop and race next door to where my mom works and use the restroom. For some unknown reason I told my mom if she wanted to she could get me this card. It is a Deron Williams rookie card. Deron is the point guard for the Utah Jazz and he is amazing. I like to collect cards, not overly obsessive about it, but I like to have certain rookies that I know will increase with value over time. I told her that the card was like around $20, but if they had like a $5 one to just get that one instead. There are a ton of different kinds of cards out there now days and you can find the same person's rookie card as low as maybe $5 all the way up to $1,000. I was just hoping that they still had this card that I saw or maybe any other rookie card around the same price or cheaper.

She called a few days before my birthday and informed me that she stopped by the card shop, but they didn't have the card. I didn't doubt her because everyone has to be catching on about how good Deron Williams is going to be. She called the day before my birthday and asked if I had received my gift yet. I informed her that it hadn't yet arrived. She was told by the person at the post office that it should arrive the day before or the day after my birthday. She called me on my birthday and asked again if it arrived. It hadn't arrived on that day either, she wasn't too pleased! It did arrive the day after my birthday and I thought of calling her as I opened it. I figured I would open it and hope that she was just joshing me about the card shop not having the card. The package in the mail was light in weight and was too small to be socks, so I was extra syked that it might be my rookie card.

I opened the padded envelope and inside was another little envelope securely wrapped in tape. I was for sure that it was his rookie card.

I opened it slowly and peered into the envelope and saw a card in a thick case. I was expecting to see a normal rookie card worth somewhere between $10 to $20!

When I was a teenager my mom had gotten me a Barry Sanders rookie card for Christmas. One of the expensive gifts that I had hinted at probably a million times that year! She of course bought it for her spoiled brat. I think that she spent around $50 or $60 for it! I remember her not being too fond of spending that much money on a card. I was extremely timid about asking her for another sports card, but felt safe since it wasn't as expensive as that last card she bought me many years ago. I have treasured that card for many years now. It is my favorite card, or at least was my favorite card!

I pull this card out of the envelope and see that she spent way more than $20! I look at this card and see that it is not only a rookie card, but an autographed patch rookie card! Autographed is easy to figure out, it is obviously a rookie card that Deron Williams himself signed. For those of you out there that don't know what a patch card is I will explain. Sports cards have come a long way in increasing the value of trading cards. There are hologram cards, better quality made cards, numbered cards (in which there are only a certain amount of certain cards made) autographed cards and patch cards. Patch cards are about 4 t0 6 times thinker than a regular card. They are always numbered, and have a piece of clothing (probably the jersey that was worn by that person during an actual game or photo shoot) placed in a tiny framed area within the trading card itself. A rookie card is worth more than a card that is made of that same player in the following years . Thus, this rookie card that she got me is worth a lot simply because it is his rookie card. It being a patch card along with it being his rookie card probably triples or quadruples the value of the card. Now with the card being autographed on top of that it probably doubles or triples the value on top of that as well! I don't know how much she spent on the card, but I can look up the value (which I will do mom)! She didn't pay the guy full price for the card and she was a bit proud of that. I guess he looked up the value and told her how much it was. She asked him if that was his final answer, which he must have responded with a lower number, but she also talked him down just a tad more than that as well.

Like I mentioned it is now my favorite card, and I love it. But I think I will just tell my mom to only buy me socks from here on until the end of time! I love you mom so much and not just because you have always gotten me everything I have wanted. I love you because of who your are, because you are a great example to me. I have grown to learn that giving is a lot better than receiving. I have grown and learned to be grateful for everything that I have. I am most grateful that you are still here and are just about finished with this stupid cancer!

Close call

This last Friday night Sheri, Triton and I had a very close call. We had just left the house to go to bowling, Friday nights are our league night, when a moron tried to kill us! Okay not on purpose, but is was still a bit scary nonetheless. Less than a block from our house I was just about to attempt a left hand turn into an old abandoned parking lot. The nearest street light that we would have to go through forces you to sit at a red light for 5-10 minutes even when there is very light traffic. Thus, the reason that we were cutting through an old abandoned parking lot. The roads were still a bit icy so I was taking it slow. I was easing my way up to the entry spot for this parking lot when I noticed a car exiting the same lot. I slowed even more to make sure that the guy/girl wasn't going to just pull out in front of me. My turn signal was on and it was apparent that this person wasn't going to pull out in front of me so I proceeded with my left turn.
There was probably two car widths of area to the right side if someone where to approach from behind and want to pass. Any person who has a brain would know not to pass a person on the left hand side when they have their blinker on and are in fact beginning to turn left. Well of course if you can't see where this is going, that is in fact what this person decided to do. Out of nowhere this person came speeding up this hill on icy roads and tries to pass us on the left. He barely clipped the front end of the car. I think I put the car in park at that moment because I was assuming this guy would hit his brakes. He did not, and that was when Sheri said he was just going to keep going. If he had applied his brakes I would have gotten out and made the guy leaving the parking lot stay as a witness. However, when it looked like this moron who hit us wasn't going to stop I put it in drive to chase him down to at least get his license plate number. I pulled up about another 50 yards and saw that he was pulling into a gas station. I then stopped in the middle of the road again to flag down this person who was in a Neon (that was the car exiting the parking lot) so he could tell the police what he saw, but this idiot just drove off as well? It was apparent that everyone on the road that night was a complete donkey! So, we pulled up next to this guy who hit us and Sheri was already calling the police. This Hispanic kid who was probably no older than 22 comes over to my side of the car and is immediately asking how much. It was obvious that he didn't want the police involved. I speak a bit of Spanish and informed him that I was sorry, but we needed to call the police. I couldn't understand him because he was speaking fast and I only know a bit, but I tried to ask him why he was going to fast. He responded, but of course I didn't catch what he said. The police arrived and talked with me about what happened. The police officer only spoke a bit of Spanish himself so he didn't understand this other kid either. We then had to wait for a translator officer to arrive as well. They spoke to him and took down his side of the story. We were sitting in the car for almost 45 minutes when the officers had finally finished their report.
We were sitting there assuming that this Hispanic guy didn't have insurance and might even be an illegal. I mean why else wouldn't he want the police to come? The first policeman finally came over to our car and informed us that his story somewhat matched ours and that he was receiving the ticket. The Hispanic kid was in his sister's car who does in fact have insurance. We found out that this Hispanic person didn't have a driver's license. It must have been the reason that he didn't want us to call the police. I guess the kid who hit us told the officer basically what I told him but instead of passing us he was trying to make the same turn as we were! The officer then asked if that was what happened. I responded to him by saying he wasn't making that turn unless he was doing it at 30 miles per hour.
We had been in an accident just after we were married and that moron didn't have insurance so we of course had to pay to repair the damages to the vehicle. So, when we were talking about him not having insurance Sheri was getting pretty upset. She was saying well worst case scenario is we lose $500 because we would have to pay our deductible. I had to remind her that worst case scenario wasn't that we might lose out on $500, but that we were just blessed instead. I mean if I had started to turn a second earlier we might have all been injured including the baby that isn't here yet. A second earlier and the impact would have been directly at my door. The jolt would have probably given all of us whiplash. I for once saw the positive side of things. I am a pessimist for sure, but on this given night I actually saw the experience as a blessing in our lives. I of course was upset at the idiot who didn't know how to drive and it was apparent why he probably doesn't have a driver's license, but I was most grateful that nobody (even him) was hurt!

Too Long

It has been way too long since my last blog, sorry to any of you that read it. I mentioned in my last blog that I would show you what Triton did as his first act of rebellion. So here it is, I was spacing out watching a program on the television when I heard Triton over by the computer. I figured he was trying to get a movie. All of his shows are on top of the computer desk. I didn't pay too much attention because like I said he never gets into anything he usually isn't supposed to. I woke up from the trance I was in and finally decided to see what had him distracted and out of site for so long. I walked around the corner to see this!Who could get mad at that face though?
We had a really great Christmas. Triton says thanks to all of you that helped in spoiling him. He received a bunch of cars and Mickey Mouse stuff just as we suspected. Those are two things that he loves. He also got a few new Tom and Jerry movies that he loves. Thank you again to all of you that spoiled all of us. I missed you mom and am glad that you seem to be in much higher spirits since your chemo is over!
Even though I haven't blogged in a long while this is going to be a short one for now. Here are some pictures of Triton and Kelbi. Kelbi is the girl of a young man that I have known for many years. He and I have known each other from bowling together on and off for the past 15 years or so. His daughter Kelbi is about 6 months younger than Triton. They are still cute when they are around each other. Her older sister Tamara ,who is probably around 9 or 10 years old, chases Triton around and tickles him. Kelbi is learning from her sister and is almost to the point of chasing him around on her own. We bring Triton's DVD player with us to help keep him occupied. Kelbi will come over and make sure that she is directly in front of the movie and Triton will nudge her a bit or turn the player in his direction instead of hers. Even though they are sitting right next to each other both of them wants the edge. It is more funny when we break out his snacks (fish and cheese nips) because we of course will let Kelbi have some, but Triton doesn't like that. He knows that he will be reprimanded if he doesn't share so he tries to shove as much as he can into his mouth. He does that normally when he is eating on his own, but when she is there to eat his snacks it is a bit extreme.Here he is driving his car. This is the video game that he is always at if he isn't running up and down the bowling alley on Friday nights. He thinks that she is trying to tickle him, but it is still a cute picture.
This last picture is of him making a face. I guess a little over a month ago, Sheri caught him making faces at himself in the mirror. I think this is one that he came up with himself, I might have down him, but I can't remember. He isn't scrunching up as much as usual, but you can see he is for sure making a face.