Who Dat?... and Other Weekly Short Takes

Wow, guess I was wrong about the Saints-Colts match up. Honestly, the first quarter played out exactly like I thought the whole game was going to play out. Colts march right down the field, score, get the ball back, march right down the field, score. But wow, that onside kick sure changed things, didn't it? And then the one thing I was sure wasn't going to happen, Peyton making a HUGE blunder, actually happened. But congrats to the Saints, for sure. That team is going to be strong for a while. Too bad I'm a Tampa fan, cuz that division is going to be tough to compete in for the near future.

Another good week at poker. Won my Tuesday tournament, and then had a couple of nice winning sessions in cash games, both on Full Tilt and on Absolute. I think AP is going to be my new home for cash games. The players there are as bad as the players I used to abuse on Pacific Poker. I was in a game the other morning with two guys that would have made Lucas or Linus look tight. Just scary bad play. I was just happy that they were both kind enough to make large donations to my bankroll.

Baseball starts tomorrow night, with a coaches meeting. Tryouts next weekend. Practices probably starting the week after that. I'm getting excited. I know it will completely monopolize my time for the next few months, but I get so much out of it, that it's totally worth it. It will be difficult when I have conflicts between baseball and poker. I'm already wondering about the WSOP satellites that I'll be running here, because they will be on weekends where I'm most likely going to have games. Hopefully it will work out okay. Don't want to short change either group of people.

Finished the new Laurell K. Hamilton/Anita Blake book in two nights. Of course, it helps that it was only a little over 200 pages. I wish she could churn out four or five books a year. Why can't she write like James Patterson, and give me a book every three to four weeks? Is that too much to ask? At least I get two books a year (three this year!), which is better than some of my other favorite authors, who only give me one every year or two. Or, in the case of Heinlein, Ludlum, Clarke, et. al. none per year, since they're dead. Take what blessings I can, I suppose.

My weekly reminder that if you're not watching Archer, you're missing the funniest show on television. I thought Family Guy pushed the envelope, but damn, this show is cutting edge with the humor.

Started putting all the CDs back into iTunes this weekend. Damn, I'm going to hate that process. Other than losing all of my writing, this was the most painful thing about my hard drive crashing last year. Always back up your hard drive, people. Trust me. You might bitch about the cost of an external hard drive in the short term, but it is worth it just for your iTunes music. You do not get to re-download stuff from Apple for free. If you lose your hard drive, it's gone. Even that I was okay with, because I had only actually downloaded 30 or 40 songs. It's just the time of putting in 1600 CDs. I just keep a pile by the computer, and have them going in whenever I'm sitting here. It is, at least, a good way to keep listening to a random assortment of music. My own little mini-Pandora.

AIPCO next week, wish me luck.

So, more government at work... I get an email from Worksource Oregon that they have a job I qualify for. Government job, too, so I'm interested. Get the email on 2/11. Go to the website, the job closes on 2/12. So far, still okay. So, I go through the application, get it all done. Submit it. Then, it tells me what additional documentation I need. They need to have an official copy of my college transcript before the closing date. Okay, we won't be getting that job. Bummer too, since I would have enjoyed it. Tax Fraud Investigator for the IRS. Who knows, maybe they'll take pity on me. In the meantime, I started the three week process of getting a few official copies of my college transcripts to have on hand for this type of situation.

This of course followed on the heels of last weeks news from the TSA people that they would need a copy of my change of name certification, since I had Rob on my application and Robert on my forms. Um, yeah, you see, Rob is short for Robert. No, really, it is. We'll see if that has been cleared up yet or not.

Reminds me of one of my all time favorite stories about names. I call information, trying to get the number of the guy who works for my dad. His name is Art, his wife's name is Teri. So I call information, say I need the number for Art and Teri, living at xxx Ada Rd, in Westlake. The guy says, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. The only people I have living at that address is an Arthur and Theresa." "Tell you what, why don't you give me their number, and I'll see if they know Art and Teri." "Oh, okay, sir. Good luck." I so wanted to do the Bill Engvall. "Here's your sign."

High Stakes Poker is back on TV on Sunday nights. Just started this week. Hellmuth lost $200K and quit in the first half hour of the show. Ouch.

Hey, Canada, you might want to do a test run or two on the mechanics for the centerpiece of your opening ceremonies. Watching Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash try to keep a smile for three minutes was painful. I do love the Winter Games, though. I actually enjoy them more than the Summer Games. Short-track speed-skating has to be one of the most amazing sports to watch.

Speaking of that, nice job Korea. Thanks for gifting us two medals.

You know the economy is hitting everyone hard when even the Daytona 500 has potholes. Damn, people, you only have a couple of races a year, how hard is it to keep the track in decent shape.

Am I the only person out there that just thought Zombieland was "okay"? Watched it for the first time this week, and thought, yeah, Woody was funny, but the rest of the movie was kind of mediocre. Certainly not as good as I expected it to be, given all the hype from both critics and the general public about how amazing it was.

I said all I need to say about Valentine's Day yesterday. But don't you think it's funny that a "holiday" about lovers is abbreviated VD?

Okay, until next time, folks, I'm outta here.

Love you all.

Minimum Effort for Maximum Reward

So, I was reading up on wikipedia about Saint Valentine. Turns out there were a bunch of them. Was a pretty common name back then. There's also all kinds of debate about when and how the whole Valentine's Day celebration, which used to be a feast, turned into a celebration of lovers. Many attribute it to a poem by Chaucer, the Parliament of Foules. It does seem as though the general theme of the "holiday" changed around 1400, so that would fit the timeline for Chaucer.

I have always had a problem with the "holiday" myself. I'm single this year, so it isn't a big deal to me. Last year I was with someone who expected a big tribute on the "day of love". Of course, Becca expected things more than most. Virginia used to spoil me for an entire week leading up to Valentine's day. It was cute, but unnecessary. I enjoyed it, but I felt the same way about her doing that as I did about the things that I have done for others.

What it boils down to more than anything else is this... If you need a special day to tell someone that you love them, your relationship is doomed. I have always treated the women that I have loved like they were the most beautiful, amazing, kind, generous, sexy, wonderful person on the planet every single day. This is someone that I love. This is someone that I potentially want to spend my life with. As such, I'm going to treat them that way every day.

So, when February 14th rolls around, I'm supposed to go out and buy them something, to show that I really meant it all the other days of the year? Seriously? And it has become expected? I think not. Sorry ladies, I take this one off. I'll treat you just as well on February 14th as I do the other 364 days of the year. You will know that I love you just as much that day as you do any other day. And you don't need a dozen roses (which I give to you randomly throughout the year) or a box of chocolates (which you will get randomly throughout the year) or jewelry (which you will get randomly when our budget affords it) to tell you that on this particular day, that I really really really love you. If you haven't been able to figure it out from my actions throughout the year, you don't deserve a special day.

The thing that I find truly sad is that there are women out there who justify a year's worth of poor behavior by their boyfriend/husband, simply because he does something nice on Valentine's day. They so desperately want to believe that their significant other is capable of being romantic, that they cling to absolutely anything that they can. Sure, he cheated on me twice last year, but look, he bought me FLOWERS!!!! Yeah, he doesn't trust me, and is constantly paranoid about me going behind his back to the point that I can't even have a male friend, but he took me out to our favorite restaurant for Valentine's day, so he CAN be romantic, see? It's terrible.

The guys out there that are just complete bastards use the "holiday" as this year long hall pass. It's like going to confessional. The bigger your sins in the previous year, the bigger your Valentine's day has to be to be absolved of them. Were you just an insensitive lout for the year? Flowers should do it. You cheated on her? Flowers, a nice dinner out, and maybe some jewelry. Did you do something really terrible? Forgot her birthday perhaps? Okay, that's going to require the big guns: tickets to the ballet and/or opera, and a weekend at a bed and breakfast. Okay, that's it, you're covered. Go back to being an ass for the next 364, and then we'll do this again.

Honestly, though, I don't know which is worse: the guys who are assholes and think they can make it up in one day; or the women who actually let them off the hook for a whole year simply because they do one special thing for them on Valentine's day. Seriously ladies, you need to be accountable here too. I know that for the most part, you tend towards the romantic. You WANT to believe that he can be good. You WANT to believe that he will be more romantic in the future. I applaud that. It is part of what makes women better people overall than men. You are always looking towards the positives. Guys see the negatives all the time. But you seriously need to start looking at the fact that your actions are empowering the guys you are with. If the only three days of the year that you get any attention are Valentine's day, your anniversary that you had to remind him of, and your birthday that you had to drop hints about, shouldn't you be moving on?

Let me let you in on a little secret. Guys will work hard at a relationship... if they absolutely HAVE to. (There are those of us who work hard at it all the time, but this blog isn't really about us). Guys will do the least amount of work necessary to get the job done. Period. Romance is too much work. Foreplay is too time consuming. About the only thing guys will put in the extra effort on is dinner. Yes, I want the crab cake appetizer, thanks. Otherwise, it is the minimum effort for maximum reward. So, if you let him slide on all of his transgressions, simply because he can turn up the romance when Valentine's day rolls around, that's all he's going to do.

It's up to you to call him on his shit year round. It's up to you to let him know that you want more, need more, expect more. He'll do it, or he'll move on. If he moves on, it's his way of telling you that you're not worth the effort. Yes, that stings. But seriously, can you look at yourself in the mirror and honestly say that it stings more than being treated like crap most of the year?

You deserve better. You deserve everything your heart desires. You deserve to be treated like a princess, a queen, a love goddess, a lady, a seductress, a best friend, a confidante. You deserve everything you are willing to give, and you are willing to give a lot. What you don't deserve is a box of chocolates and a diamond necklace simply because the calendar says you do.

A New Weekly Habit

One of the things that first got me into a writing mood this year was doing a "recap" of sorts, of the things that I learned, was thankful for, and would rather forget about 2009. (If you're interested, you can find it on my facebook page, which you can access through my profile on here). When I wrote that list, I was thinking that I had a ton of things that I had forgotten throughout the year. I still did a pretty good job of it, but there were just so many things that transpired in my life in 2009, and I knew that I wasn't doing it justice.

This week, I also realized that I have a lot of things on a daily or weekly basis that I just want to get down on "e-paper" but that aren't really worthy of an entire blog. Short takes, as it were. So, I thought, I will do a weekly column of all the things that meant something to me in the previous week. Sort of a weekly version of the end of the year list that I compiled.

So, I will try to do this on Sundays for the rest of the year, and then I will compile a sort of "best of" those weekly columns to use as my 2010 year in review.

Without further ado...

Looks like I will be coaching baseball again, finally. Arbo has decided that he is done with his coaching sabbatical, and called to see if I wanted to be his pitching coach again. The thing that will be really, really hard to get used to is that we're going to be coaching for North, rather than Churchill. After all those years as rivals, it will be hard switching sides. But I look forward to working with the kids again, it is something that I have truly missed in the past couple of years.

Had my biggest win ever in an online tournament this week. So, so close to being much better, but I'll take it. $385 for taking 3rd out of 211 people in a $15 buy-in. I'm sure many of you are saying "Really, $385 is your biggest win?" The thing is, I rarely play in multi-table tournaments online. I play a lot of sit-n-goes and a lot of cash games, but rarely the big multi-tables, just because I'm too antsy online. I have no problem sitting down at AIPCO, or out in Pendleton, or our WSOP satellite, and playing for 5-, 8-, 14-hours. But on the computer, it just feels like work to sit for that long and concentrate. There's no laughing, camaraderie, etc. when I'm at the computer, unlike I get elsewhere. So while I've won $3K in some of the bigger live tournaments that I have played, I've never won more than about $100 or so online until the other night. But I might have to give more of them a go. The play was atrocious, and if that's the level of competition that I'm going to be facing in those tournaments, I really should be playing in them more.

Came across a recent picture of Becca last night. Holy crap she's gotten big. She sent an email to Kim that said she had gained about 70 pounds (which would put her in the neighborhood of 200 or so). I figured she was exaggerating, but now I'm not sure. It was only a face shot, but the first thing I thought of was Martin Short in "Pure Luck" when he was bitten by the bee.

Almost made me feel bad enough to finally respond to her email, but I still managed to refrain.

Why are there so many guys who are assholes to nice women? There are a couple of my women friends who just seem to get shit on regularly by the men who "love" them. Some of them have moved on, but were so devastated by the betrayal that they still can't move on. Others just stick around waiting for more crap to be piled on top, because they still want to salvage things. While I don't really have as much empathy for them if they can't stand up for themselves, I am disgusted by the guys who can't realize what special women they have in their lives. Just makes me that much more determined to be the type of guy who is an example of what can be, rather than what is.

I'm thinking that the Colts are going to slaughter the Saints tonight, but am hoping for at least a competitive game. We've had some great ones in the last decade, after the continuous blowouts of the 80's and 90's. Let's hope that trend continues.

I've still been working out regularly, but find it much harder this time around to curtail my eating. I'm just fucking hungry all the time, and never for anything healthy. So I seem to be alternating between Lean Cuisine, and healthy things to go with it, and then I'll break down and order a pizza and wings. I have lost 4 pounds in three weeks, but know that it would be better if I hadn't had about a half dozen godawful unhealthy meals thrown in there.

Finished the new Steven Brust book the night before last, as well as finishing an old Elmore Leonard book the same night. (Yes, I read more than one book at a time) I really like Elmore Leonard, but Steven Brust is about as good an author as I can find. For me, not necessarily for you. But if you're basically just a sarcastic drifter (which I am), there is not a better author on the planet than Steven Brust. I resolved to go back and reread the early books in the Vlad Taltos series, because it's been so long now.

Have really reconnected with Melody over the past couple of weeks. It finally feels like it did when we first met. Three years now, which is a little mind-boggling. But this is the first time that I've really felt as though that initial connection that we had is finally back. I have resisted pursuing things in the past, simply because it seemed as though that spark wasn't there. She's probably coming for a visit in the next month or so, and I suppose I'll know for sure then. But right now I'm certainly enjoying the feeling.

I think the key to winning the weekly poker tournament at "The Rob" is to simply have me diss your play. I was talking to Mel on the phone the other night, about poker, and mentioned how a certain person (since this will eventually become public, I won't reveal names when I'm slamming someone [unless it's someone who deserves it, i.e. Becca]) was just a terrible poker player, who had only cashed here a couple of times. So, of course, two nights later he wins, and knocks me out in 3rd in the process. D'oh!

Will be doing the computer testing for the TSA job in two weeks. And should have another run at the 911 testing this month too. Not sure that I really want to work, but until I win the lottery, I suppose I should try to find something.

At least the don't get sick health plan is still holding up. Knocking on wood as I type.

You know, I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but damn, it's tough to avoid those prices when you're unemployed and pinching pennies. $1.49 for a pound of Tillamook butter. That's less than half the price at Albertsons.

$3,000 back on my taxes. Finally, the last of the Becca debt will be paid off of the credit cards, and I can go back to living a debt free (well, other than the mortgage, etc.) lifestyle.

Archer is one fucking funny show. If you're not watching it, you should be.

Okay, I'm done for the week. Regular blogs will resume shortly.

Viva La Revolucion

I was poking around on my facebook page last night, when I came across a post from a friend of mine. He and I don't generally see eye to eye on political topics. That's fine with me, I believe everyone should have the right to pursue whatever beliefs they choose to have. I do, generally, have a problem with people who are misinformed, and try to push that misinformation upon others, though. That was the case with his post, which I wrote a fairly detailed response to. He had put up one of the popularized photos of Che Guevara, and said something to the effect that he didn't understand why people would have such affection for a dictator and mass murderer. I won't go into that much here, other than to say that I corrected his misinformation about Che, as well as pointed out the numerous reasons why he is still loved around the world. Anyone who can have Nelson Mandela refer to them as "An Inspiration" can't be all that bad.

However, the topic did get me thinking on a much deeper level about the very nature of politics. Being a history major, I am quite aware of the overwhelming ability for history to be "written by the winners". You don't hear opposing viewpoints very often, unless you are specifically searching them out. This, I have always felt, leads to a homogenization of history, which clouds not only our past, but our future, as we have fewer viewpoints from which to turn to for guidance.

Che was a truly brilliant mind. Even though I don't believe in all of the things that he did, I can respect his opinions, and I do see many of the truths that he held dear. We have a tendency in the U.S. to feel as though our way of doing things is the only way that things should be done around the world. That's incredibly arrogant, not to mention the fact that it is patently untrue. I'm glad that I live in the U.S., and feel extremely fortunate to be an American. But our system of government should not be the gold standard that the rest of the world should strive for.

One of the major reasons that the U.S. always wants to create capitalistic democracies in other countries, is that it allows us to exert the economic neocolonialism that we have been fond of since the cold war. We go into countries, mostly African and Latin American, use our influence over the IMF to put those countries into our debt, and then take over their economy from the ground up. We then slap a shiny new coat of paint on it, and declare them ready for democracy. But honestly, they aren't ready for it, and never will be. On top of that, they're now in our debt, and only have our support for as long as we are able to keep pulling resources from them.

To be fair, the U.S. isn't the only country doing this, but we did show the world how to go about it. China is now the second largest player in Africa, after the U.S., and they are even more brutal about it than we are.

The early years of this type of policy was what spurred Che into the actions that he took. When he was in Guatemala, fairly early in his life, there was a corporation called the United Fruit Corporation, that had major ties to the U.S. The secretary of state at the time, John Dulles, was not only a stockholder, but the attorney for the company. This corporation was the largest landowner in Guatemala, and created terrible working conditions for the average peasant farmer.

This is where the U.S. policy gets just a tad (oh, okay, EXTREMELY) hypocritical. The president of Guatemala was a man named Arbenz. Guatemala at the time had a democratic government, and Arbenz had been elected by the people. He wanted to end the system that had allowed UFC to control so much of the land, and give that land back to the people. Needless to say this made him very popular among the peasants, and not so popular among U.S. stockholders. (Did I mention that the secretary of state was one of those stockholders?) Che, being the Maoist that he was, wholly supported Arbenz' goals, and became somewhat active in his government. However, the U.S. decided that democracy didn't really work for them in this instance, and instead sent in a CIA sponsored private army, which overthrew Arbenz, and established a dictator by the name of Armas. Corporation saved. The people.... eh...

The difference is subtle, yet oh so distinct. There are democracies, and there are capitalistic democracies. We're fond of the latter, not so much of the former. The problem is that the U.S. can't make any money if there isn't a basis of capitalism that is driving the economy of a given country.

So, to keep it all straight... If there's democracy that suits our needs, then we're for it. Democracy that works against our economic interests (Arbenz, Sukarno), we're against it. Dictators that work against us (Saddam, Castro), we're against them. Dictators that preserve our interests (Armas, Chiang Kai-Shek, Kabila, Suharto), we're for them. Third world countries that are suffering abuses, which also have natural resources that we need (like say, middle eastern oil), then we're ready to fight for you. Third world countries that are suffering abuses, but are controlled by China (Sudan/Darfur) and/or don't have natural resources (Somalia), well we're kind of busy elsewhere.

Given our track record, I really don't think that we should be telling anyone else what they should or shouldn't be doing with their governments. The fact is, there are places in the world where other forms of government work. The Sukarno/Suharto situation in Indonesia is another great example. Sukarno was democratically elected, passed lots of popular reforms, and by most accounts was a very good leader. But he was also a communist, or at least leaned that way. So the U.S. comes in, helps Suharto overthrow him, and then stands idly by as Suharto kills a million plus in his first couple of years, and then spends thirty plus years being a tyrant.
Eventually, 30 years and many millions of deaths later, there's enough worldwide outcry that we finally say, "Okay, I guess, maybe, we kinda did something that wasn't so great. Ish." If we had just let the communist rule, the people would have been a lot happier.

The governments for most third world countries can't function in a U.S. style of government. Their economies just won't support it. Just because socialism, or Marxism, or Maoism, or communism doesn't work here, doesn't mean that it won't work elsewhere. We just have to get to the point where we can acknowledge our own flaws. And anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past couple of decades SHOULD be realizing that we have plenty of flaws in this country. We're not perfect, and neither is anyone else.

How about this? Lets fix our own problems, both in our government and our economy. Lets make it so that we truly are the shining beacon of hope that we make ourselves out to be. Then, maybe, we can start encouraging (not telling, just suggesting) the rest of the world to be more like us.

Choosing Our Own Path

So, I've been trying to watch some older movies lately. That's one of the great things about Netflix as opposed to Redbox, or even your local Blockbuster, you can get damn near anything from them. So I've been watching one "classic" movie for about every four or five new ones. This week I watched a movie from 1975 called The Passenger. It starred Jack Nicholson, and was obviously overshadowed that year, because that was the same year that One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest came out. I read somewhere that it is one of the few movies that Roger Ebert has ever gone back and changed his mind on. Having hated it at first, and eventually, years later, come to enjoy it quite a bit.

I don't plan on making this blog a movie review site, so I will simply say that I thought it was good, not great, with an ending that could have been much better. But it did get me thinking as to the way that we look at ourselves, and our lives. The movie is about a journalist, working in Africa, who has the opportunity to become someone else, literally. He takes on someone elses identity, and goes about living that person's life.

There is something extremely powerful about the allure of just chucking it all, and starting over as someone else. It is, in a way, the ultimate grass is greener scenario. It seemed to draw me back to a train of thought that you will often see running through my writing. The quest for happiness.

Most people in the world don't see much happiness on a daily basis. They should, because it's right there in front of them. All they have to do is open themselves up to it. But most people either wander through life with indifference and apathy, or if they're actively looking for something, it is something to complain about. The act of enjoying the simple things in life no longer applies. And I truly believe that it is getting worse. More and more people struggle with money, which causes stress, which causes them to be more unhappy. It is a cycle that becomes more difficult to break out of on a daily, monthly, yearly basis. So who wouldn't jump at the chance to pitch it all, and become someone else?

I believe that most people fail to see the forest for the trees. It is so hard, sometimes, to remain positive when there is so much tearing us down on a daily basis. But no matter where you are in your life, you can always make it better. It doesn't require wholesale change, but simply an opening of our minds to allow for a new viewpoint.

My favorite films are movies where the lead character truly "finds" themself. Lawrence of Arabia, Thelma and Louise, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Legends of the Fall... movies where the lead character(s) were lost souls, but were able to look inside, and change themselves for the better. Contrast that with The Passenger, where he so desperately wanted out of his life, that he would rather jump to the unknown problems of someone else, rather than face his own demons.

The problem for most of us, of course, is that we aren't given the choice to jump to someone else's life. We have to make our own fate, choose our own path to happiness or despair. I chose long ago to make myself a better person whenever the opportunity arose. I have certainly stumbled along the way, more than once. I've made some hideous choices, but have always owned up to them as well. And in the end, I never let those choices deter me from the personal growth that I always want to occur.

We have the opportunity, all of us, to grow, to learn, to advance ourselves, every day of our lives. It isn't easy, and it isn't always as immediately rewarding as we would like. But if you can walk that road, when you do get to the end of it (hopefully many, many years down the road for all of you), it will have been worth every hardship.

Be the change you wish to see in the world--Mahatma Ghandi

Who am I to try and say it better than that?