The end of 2013...it was a good year.

Greetings and salutations.
I had to get on here and throw down some thoughts on how the year went for me and to set some expectations for 2014.
Poker has really taken a back seat, I live through Gulf Coast Poker.net and some friends in Vegas.  I truly plan to get back into action in 2014, slowly but surely.  My action figure business did not get off to a good start and following up on that with my other responsibilities hurt my slothfulness.
I found golf again and I have really gotten into it but I SUCK right now, my last score was a 115 last month...I need to practice, but do not get out there to do it, so that will be part of my weekly life.  Getting back into poker is going to help supplement my golf outings and practice, I am going to try to become a scratch golfer in two years...glass is half full!
I got back into the gym and was very consistent until November, but I dropped an official 34 pounds in 2013 and plan to get 80-100 pounds in 2014, I have a great game plan and with the results of this past year I need to piggy back that and get better into the new year.  Also, less weight will help with the golf game and the ability to stay at the tables longer if needed.
Work, was good far too many items going into block and quality and I had to write off, that will affect my review and bonus but I have identified some items within myself that need to be fixed in order to have a better year.  Power walks need to happen daily, pre-shifts on a daily basis, follow up on all PIT inspections, break down the safety topics, stabilize the inbound process and control block and quality.  These keys will drive a consistent workforce and get my small building back into shape, not saying we are that bad off but if you do not expect the best, mediocre becomes the worst.
I have a new employee so I have some expectations for him and my floor lead, who is very young, will have some lofty goals but attainable, they will keep him busy.
I started coaching 11-12 year old basketball and my team won one game.  I am coaching again in 2014, we have had three practices and my team looks great.  Our first game is this Saturday and I expect a win.  I hope that I can teach these kids a bit about basketball as I am channeling Coach George Diaz and Coach Cordova, my eighth grade and ninth grade coaches.  I played varsity in high school and could have gone and played basketball in college but I had more success as a football player.  However, I learned most of my basketball from these two great men, we dominated the scene as 8th and 9th graders.  Flashback over.
It was great seeing all the good people who I call friend and who I know have healthy babies and I hope that they grow into great conservative adults who push the small government viewpoint when they are our age.
With my family, more time.  More time is what needs to applied to all of them and with that continue to show them the correct values and to walk the Christian path.  Always more love, right?
So it looks like, poker, weight loss, better golf game, healthy work ethics, successful basketball season and more love to the family, never enough love for the family.
Hope your 2013 was a good one and looking forward to a great 2014!
Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Realization

Greetings.  Not that it matters to many but it matters to myself.  As I am watching the Barclays and switching from it to the football game I realized what my buddy J.P. meant when he said I was opening too soon when I drive the ball.  We had a text conversation about a week ago, he told me what he saw after reading my blog and looking at the video.  I went back and looked at it myself and did notice that I was casting a bit but I could not see where I was opening up too soon.  It somewhat frustrated me but it was not until today as I watched Stadler, who is leading, hit the ball that I realized that I am not always on the right plane and that is why my shoulders are opening up too soon and why I am casting at the ball, probably creating an outside in motion which pushes the ball to the right.  I JUST REALIZED that as I took some practice swings with a diet dr. pepper bottle.  I noticed that my right shoulder was not lower than my left when I was swinging through and that my left shoulder was opened and my hands followed and I saw the cast!  Wow!  Now I need to get on the range and hit some balls to get the right feel and get that muscle memory involved!  Thanks J.P!
J.P. Stadler is doing work even with that gut!
Enjoying the WSOP Main Event coverage.  Maybe one day I will get to play in it.  Quick and sweet!  You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

My pursuits in life

Well met!
Got a few things going on in my life along with fatherhood.  I started getting back into the gym regularly after tipping the scales at 374 this past January, after my doctor's visit, to make sure everything was ticking okay.  Well here it is August and I am down to 327, 47 pounds!  Nice but not where I want to be.  Goal is to be under 300 before the end of the year and by next August to be at 240-250, my playing weight when I was at PITT.  I plan on doing two a days in the next week or so, running in the morning and weights in the evening.  I just need to get to bed a little earlier.
The other thing I have gotten back into, since the weight loss, is golf!  Oh, how I missed it.  Funny thing is my wife continued to hammer me about getting back into golf, to get me away from all the poker.  I told her that golf is more expensive than poker and I do not want to do that right now, that was four years ago.  Now she understands that it is expensive, with the range balls and rounds of golf, the new (used) clubs (from ebay, finally have my 14 that I like) in the bag.  Now I want this mizuno bag with samurai warriors fighting each other, of course this is a vanity item like my superman putter cover, so I may have to wait for it.
Well, those are the two things that I have gotten into, the weight loss got me into golf and golf is my new sports love, more than football!
I have not given up on poker, I do not get many sessions in because as a father of four, three still at home and a husband, your time must be allocated accordingly.  Also, hitting the gym and playing golf sucks up the free time.  There fore, my sleep time is used to play a lot of Black Ops 2.  Yes, I am a video game geek as well.  My kd is 1.14 and my wins are at 1.15.  More of a first person shooter guy who used to enjoy rpgs but because of the lack of "TIME" they are not purchased as much.  I did enjoy the newest Assasin's Creed.
Here is a video of me playing at Bayou Barrier on the West Bank, unfortunately the same weekend that Kidd Kraddick passed away after he played some golf at the country club nearby.

Work, right now is becoming a challenge only because of the fact that we are dealing with loads that have damaged units and it is out of our control and very frustrating but I truly enjoy my job and plan to be here for a long time.  This blog is about how my poker life coincides with my real life and real life has swallowed up poker.  No doubt, poker will always be there and some of my plans to develop a good bankroll have gone to the wayside of procrastination or just not doing them.  But there is a plan in place and my wife is on board.  So I plan on using this to track poker, my weight loss and my golf game, and life as I move forward.  I do not have many readers, one or two, so it will be a journal of sorts for you all and myself.
All right you all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

What a life...

Greetings and salutations!  I have been in the middle of living the life.  Just got my bonus and I did not get Chevy Chased, so I am now painting different areas of the house.  We finished the kids bathroom and now are working on the girls room.  Going to paint it pink and purple, their favorite colors.  What is it about the color purple?  I understand pink but so many females love the color purple almost as much as they love pink.  Moving along.  Got my review from my manager, who resides in Dallas and I crushed it.  The one opportunity is going to be an easy fix, it will involve a lot of hard work but when we get it going on a consistent basis...easy street!  Tax time was generous, my wife is going to college so we got to use that and it was good...of course in about three years we will have student loans to pay off.
Poker...had my second home game and a neighbor won it all.  I was in the chip lead but made a couple of bluffs as the eventual winner, who would not lay down after raising with 7-2, missing on the flop, firing on the flop and turn and having to fold to a significant river bet.  I was out two rotations later and watched him march to a very nice victory.  My wife hooked up the snacks, the fellas brought over the beverages and most left intoxicated and not hungry.  I had a pretty good talk with a buddy of mine who I met in the poker rooms and he now lives on the other side of the lake close to me, invited him over and he came over.  We talked about how these young ones are that much better because of the internet and how they are playing the person versus their cards and how well they get it.  We thought back on ourselves and laughed at how bad we were but thought we had it.  Still it is the dream and I will continue to chase it.  Playing pro football will not happen, but hey, poker, still a possibility.
Life is good.  Disney trip is coming sometime in May.  I am pretty pumped as I never got to go there but even more pumped because I can take my family. I might be able to get some real poker in sometime between this writing and the trip but I hope to be back on to blog about it.  Heh.  My little girl sat on an alligator and held it's jaws up...I would not do it...she's pretty awesome...well my whole family is pretty awesome.

No worries in that smile huh?

Alright, until next time.  You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!