Showing posts with label Poker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poker. Show all posts

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Come Back Tomorrow...


Listen - I ain't doin' shit today...

It's my birthday - my champagne birthday at that - so I'm taking the night off to play some poker, hang out with the sleepy little dog and watch some Grey's while Sarah is at work.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new soundtrack song for the One Year Anniversary post.

Until then - have a drink for me!
* * * * * * * * * *

For anyone who is wondering - turning 30 is no different than turning 29... it's just another day folks.

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

10 Things I Learned This Week

Week #1 in the new digs has been hectic, entertaining and a little nerve rattling at times. It has also been educational and here, as always, is what I learned.

1. A Bar is a Bar is a Bar
Filled out all my Kelsey's paperwork Wednesday and dove in head first working a training shift Thursday. Low and behold, pouring beer is the same in British Columbia as it is in Ontario. Who'da thunk it? Right now, the place is a ghost town, but I'm getting hours and that's the key for right now. The people will come... hopefully.


2. Making Sushi is Easier Than You Think
So we learned last night and let me tell you, it was delicious. An old friend of Sarah's and his girlfriend gave us the tutorial and helped us down the loads of rolls that amounted from four of us spreading rice on nori for the better part of an hour. Now, our rolls didn't look quite as nice as the ones you'd pay to have made for you at your local sushi bar, but this was our first time. Like everything else, the first time is kinda dicey and you get better with every try.

3. Stuff Everywhere
The truck arrived yesterday afternoon with all our goods and now there is stuff everywhere in our condo. That's not such a bad thing, except that, well, where the hell do we put this crap? With the landlord's gear still sitting around here for another week or so, it's kind of hard to fully establish our setup with bedrooms full of furniture and cupboards full of leftover food. Good thing we never eat at the dining room table - it's now become the storage center.

4. Still...
This place is really starting to get that home feeling. The kitchen is full of our stuff, the dog has finally realized that this is his house and not just some place we're shacking up for a week and we're all ready to get started on the office once the bunk beds go. We've got the new desk, some artwork for the walls and a whiteboard so we can continue to pretend that we're an organized couple that adheres to schedules.

5. UFC 90: Letdown
Not only did I have a horrible night predicting the fights - I think I managed three winners on the whole card - but to have the Anderson Silva / Patrick Cote fight end the way it did was an utter disappointment. Cote became the first man to make it to the third round with "The Spider," only to blow out his knee advancing on Silva to open the round. One thing everyone needs to take away from last night though is that Thiago Alves is legit! He hammered Josh Koscheck from start to finish.

6. No Word of a Lie...
There are deer everywhere. I know I've mentioned it over and over and Sarah has started to think I'm a total nutcase because I'm so fascinated by these stupid creatures, but they're literally everywhere and it still amazes me. They don't even flinch when you approach them. In fact, they turn and face you, sizing up whether they want to take you on or not. I need to get over it and I know it, but for one more week, I'm still awestruck by Bambi's peeps roaming my neighbourhood.

7. Smoke Free
10 days, no darts. That's the longest stretch in some time and I actually haven't had a single moment where I've thought, "You know, I wish I had a smoke right about now." Not one. How awesome is that? Now I just have to get back to the exercise portion of things and we'll see if I can't shed this spare tire that resides around my midsection.

8. The Big 3-0 Doesn't Bother Me
I was asked last night if I'm nervous or scared about turning 30 on Thursday and I thought I would share my answer with you here. I've got the girl of my dreams, a career aspiration that I'm passionate about, another job that I actually enjoy that keeps some money coming in, a great dog and a killer place. I actually love the way my life is right now and hitting some supposed aging milestone couldn't change that.

9. Back at the Virtual Felt
Since we're not quite at the point of setting up the office - stupid bunkbeds - I've taken to wasting time back at PokerStars on Sarah's computer. Cool fact: she installed it herself because the future Mrs. Kyte likes her some poker too! Seriously, I got me the best woman in the world - we spent the afternoon unpacking watching football and the WSOP.

10. We're Watching 13 Going on 30
Honestly, I love Jen Garner; she's cute, she's fun, she's usually entertaining. This thing? Horrible. Might actually crack my Top 10 for Worst Movies Ever. Cute little premise, but I mean really... horrible. This is me returning the favour for an afternoon of football and poker.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Soundtrack of My Life


Song: Up All Night (Sleep All Day)
Artist: Slaughter
Album: Stick It To Ya (1990)

Why Slaughter?

Besides being totally rad when I was in like Grade 6, this song is the perfect theme song for my house right now.

Both Luke and Sarah do a pretty good job of living this song to the fullest, just like Jeff Sanislo and I did that one night I slept over at his place and we played Nintendo all night while eating candy from the Beckers around the corner from his house.

And then there is me.

It's 3:03 AM and I just started a tournament on PokerStars. Sarah's at work, Luke is roaming around the house randomly barking at anything and everything and my eyes are bugging out of my head from staring at this screen for the last (doing mental math) three and a half hours of poker-y goodness.

Up all night tonight, sleep all day tomorrow.

See? It fits.

(P.S. Fly to the Angels still rocks to this very day...)

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Monday, July 14, 2008

Back At The Table, Digitally Speaking


I don't know what it is, but I'm back playing Hold'em at PokerStars again.

Every couple of months I just get this urge and all I want to do is sit down and play tournaments one after the other. The fact that it's all Play Money makes it a little easier to swallow.

So instead of getting any work done so far today, I've spent the past two hours playing poker and winning a tournament - 300/20 buy-in of 27 people. Got some good cards, but made some good plays too.

I think it's the competition angle of it - trying to outfox some random person on the other side of the world when you've got K-8 off suit and you want to make your stand.

The funny thing is that the competitive side of me wanes after a few hands of people sucking along and catching a flyer on the river. Sure this happens in real poker every once in a while, but the zero money invested aspect of PokerStars.net and those like it sometimes leads to really crappy poker being played.

Much like my writing - and pretty much everything else I do in life - I play poker to the best of my abilities and always want to do it the right way. For me, that means no sitting in with 2-7 off suit hoping to catch another seven on the river to beat someone. I know the money doesn't matter, but it's just bad gamesmanship really and I have no time for that.

Which is why I don't mind wasting some time over the next couple days bug-eyed at the computer, clicking away at the mouse. I know in two or three days I'll be so sick of bad beats and bullshit calls that I'll uninstall PokerStars once again and get back to wasting my time with Baseball Mogul 2008 and the 43-7 Toronto Blue Jays.

Or I could always just do some writing...

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