It's a Good Life

Too often I find myself plagued by negativity these days, or maybe I plague others.  But really when I think about it, life really is pretty good.  I've got a good job I enjoy with people I like, I've got a good wife, the kids are all healthy, seem happy, and none of them are in jail or on drugs.  I got no complaints.  I was thinking about this earlier this afternoon.  It's a hot sunny day, I'm floating in a swimming pool, I feel good and relaxed.  I'm not stressed, I'm not hating work or my life choices or anything else.  It was just a good afternoon weekend and I was actually enjoying it.

Saturday we played golf at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor.  Gorgeous place.  It's where the Valspar Golf Championship is played every year.  Tough course, even the pros struggle on.  I looked at the scores from this past year and only 17 guys out of the 80 or so who made the cut shot under par.  Needless to say I am not one of those 17.  I played not so good.  Drove pretty well, hit crap irons and didn't chip well around the green either.  Not to mention putting.  Those greens are hard to putt.  Everything breaks one way or another.  I shot about 8 shots worse than usual and it could have been worse but I did manage to birdie the 4th hole.  Hit a sweet 7 iron to 12 feet and actually made a putt for the birdie.  Only one for any of us on the day and it definitely kept my round from being a complete waste.  Next year when I watch the tourney and I see some of these pros struggle on the 4th hole, I'll be saying, "I can't believe he messed up that hole, hell I can birdie that one".  I won't mention the 16 or so holes I didn't play well.  Earlier today I went out to the range and hit the irons pretty well.  Some days you just don't have it and I didn't yesterday.

Contrary to local reports, Michelle Wie is not my playing partner

I started playing a little online poker again recently and while the results aren't anything to write home about, I think I've found my niche.  While I love playing Omaha 8 or better, the variance I keep seeing with it just can't be handled with the small amount I have left in my online account.  It got really bad for a while but I found the $3.30 SNG tourneys where the top 3 all get $9 seems to be where I fit in.  I hit the money about 60% of the time.  Relatively small sample size but so far/so good. 

My knee is feeling pretty good still.  Only a little pain occasionally but nothing bad at all.  I have noticed some clicking when walking quickly a couple of times but it didn't hurt at least.  Unfortunately I got a call this week about the xray they took on my knee telling me I also have arthritis in it as well.  Next month I see the orthopedics guy so we'll see what he says. 

That's about all the news fit to print in my neck of the woods.  For me life is pretty good.  Hope it is for you as well.  Say a prayer for the 50 families in Orlando who may not feel that way right now. 

Another week in the books

Its the weekend again.  And it couldn't come to soon.  Work was a chore even though it was only 4 days long.  I'm being pulled in multiple directions at work trying to handle my normal work, answer questions for other people, research some in depth problems and run the point on a new report we're putting together.  And answer phones, handle emails, etc.  It gets a little wearing.  I enjoy a lot of it, especially the research but every day I get questions from 4-5 of my coworkers who don't understand this or that.  And now that a couple of our more tenured people are going to a different department, I expect to get more questions.  I don't mind and I enjoy helping others but it does get wearing from time to time.

Last weekend we played golf at a private course nearby called Bayou Club.  My buddy's dad had won a pass for 4 to play there.  Nice course.  Tough.  Apparently the Chairman of the Board of my company lives there.  Anyway we had a good time.  I was really hitting the ball (for me anyway) on the front 9.  Not scoring great sometimes because I hit it too far.  Had a couple of holes where shots I expected to land short or just on the green ended up hitting the back of the green and going over it.  But it was nice to really be hitting it.  A couple of holes I out drove all of my playing partners by 10 or 15 yards and on one hole it was 50.  That one I really hammered.  Felt good.

By the time we reached the 9th hole there were storm clouds brewing and lightning nearby so we went inside for a while and let the storm pass.  It was really weird.  A little storm sprang up right near the course but there was no other rain anywhere else in the Tampa Bay area.  And the storm sat there not moving for 45 minutes or so then just broke up.  Strange.  It killed my golf game though.  I lost my swing after the wait and everything on the back 9 was a struggle.  I did ok but not nearly as good as on the front and while I thought I would break 90, the back 9 wiped that chance out.  Still we had fun, I hit it well for a while and it was a good time. 

Went to see the Dr about my knee last week.  She thinks I have a bad meniscus.  She referred me to an orthopedic doctor but told me to hold off on going for a month or so.  She gave me a prescription for an anti inflammatory - diclofenac or something like that which has helped greatly.  I started taking it on Thursday and by Saturday the pain was nearly gone.  Didn't feel any pain the next day which is a nice change from how I had been feeling on the day after golfing.  I have to take it for a month and then see where I am after that.  I forgot to take a dose yesterday and I did feel some pain so I'd best stay on top of taking it twice a day.  I have to take it with meals so sometimes I forget when I don't have the pills sitting with me.  Hopefully this fixes me up and I don't need surgery.  Then again it might be better for me to have surgery instead of dealing with this issue from time to time. 

Well it looks like I'm going to get out and play tomorrow so I better head off to bed.  Hope some of you are heading to Vegas for the WSOP.  One day I will but its not gonna be this year.  Till then I'll lead my somewhat hum drum life, soaking up sun, playing some golf, and working like the dog I am.

Well, at least the weekend is here

Well the work week is done thankfully.  I can't say it was the greatest week of my life.  But work went well, I actually got in a little online poker at night, and the wife and kids are ok. Which is pretty big because my younger son was recently in the hospital for diverticulitis.  He spent almost a week in the hospital and of course was not feeling all that great when he got out.  But I saw him on Friday and he told me he was pretty much back to normal.  He had no problem giving his old man a hard time so I figure he is probably right.

We played in a golf tourney Saturday afternoon.  It was hot, humid and breezy, like a normal Florida summer day.  We played pretty well shooting 4 under but it wasn't enough to finish top 3.  And I didn't expect to.  We left a few shots on the course that might have gotten us there but really, to win these best ball tourneys you need someone who can kill the driver and none of us are that big a hitter.  We got one guy who hits it 260 or so but there are some young guys who can really hit it 300 yards or so.  An old guy like me is lucky to get it over 235 yards with a driver.  When I was a young man I used to be able to hit a ball 230+ yards with my 3 wood.  I never used my driver because I had no control over it but I hit the 3 wood very well.  Of course I could swing a club 100 mph back then.    I've played with guys 20 years older than me who can swing faster than that.  I imagine with my weight loss and the fact I'm playing a lot more my swing speed is  bit faster but I doubt its over 85.  So no one expects me to hit 275 yard drives.  Or even 250.  The one win I did have yesterday was in the raffle after the tourney where I scored a gift card to Golfsmith.  I see something new and possibly shiny in my golf bag. 

Watched the Preakness Horse Race last night.  Thankfully it rained like crazy and delayed the race 30 minutes which meant I didn't miss it driving home from the golf course.  And it was a successful race at that.  Saturday morning before I went to the course I dropped by Derby Lane and put down some bets for the race.  One bet I took was an exacta box with Exaggerator with 3 other horses, one of them being the 1 horse, Cherry Wine.  I did not take Exaggerator with Nyquist because the odds were too low on the 2 of them.  It was bad enough getting $30 for a $2 exacta in the Derby but at Pimlico the 2 of them would have paid like $8.  So I took Nyquist with some long shots and I did an exacta box with Exaggerator and some longer shots.  The box pays half of the regular exacta bet but when Cherry Wine slipped past Nyquist and took second, the exacta paid 88 for a 2 dollar bet.  And it paid me 44.  So far I've hit the exacta box in both big races this year.  I am usually lucky to hit one bet in all 3 races combined.  So its all good this year.  And I also cashed a place ticket on Cherry Wine for another 9 bucks.  Woo hoo, I'm rich.  NOT.

Damn my knee is sore today.  I'm afraid there is really something wrong with it as I didn't strain it yesterday but I'm feeling it today.  Tomorrow I'm calling the Dr so I can get it looked at.  One of my coworkers thinks I have a problem with my MCL which wouldn't surprise me.  As long as it isn't an ACL.  I thought losing weight and exercising was supposed to make me feel better, isn't it?  I think I'm paying for the sins of my youth now.  As Paul Newman said in one of my favorite movies, Nobody's Fool, "we wear the chains we forge in life"  (And his ex teacher asked, I don't suppose you know who said that.  Why you did Miss Beryl, all through 8th grade.)  A lot of great lines in that movie done by a terrific cast but I'm sure I've mentioned this movie before.  If you get the chance, watch it.  I'm pretty sure its available on Amazon Prime or Netflix.

Well enough for now.  Not much happening in my world.  Hey I did buy a new pair of shorts today since most of mine are falling off of me.  That's a good problem to have I suppose but it's getting expensive.  I better bet a lot more on the Belmont.  Or stop dieting. I'll know which one I'm doing in 3 weeks. Till then, I'll try to hit them long and straight, or at least straight.

Yes I am still here.............somewhere

Good evening boys and girls from the wilds of the Tampa Bay area of sunny Florida.  And sunny it is.  This might have been the mildest winter we ever went through and while the spring was nice, it certainly was short.  Summer is just about here.

Sorry about dropping off the face of the earth.  My life over the past year has just not led me into wanting to write much and really I haven't much to talk about.  I have hardly played any poker and I'm sure people are not all that interested in my hum drum life. 

What I have been doing over the past year was to change my lifestyle, at least somewhat.  I finally got disgusted enough with the shape I was in and started doing something about it.  I have done this a couple of times in the past but this time I have actually stuck to it.  Its been about 11 months since I started dieting and exercising and as of today, I've lost 95 lbs.  I got a long way yet to go but it's a decent start.  As my wife said, "you've lost a Backstreet Boy".  Probably one of the little whiny ones - which might be all of them.

Another thing I've done is upped my activity level a bit.  Mostly playing golf and walking.  I am playing at least once a week and I usually hit the range a time or two most weeks as well.  I was doing some pretty heavy walking but had to scale way back when my knee started acting up.  That's slowed down my weight loss a bit.  But I make sure I get my golf on as much as I can.  I used to be frequent golfer before the advent of wife, kids, etc but I rarely golfed more than once or twice a year over the past 25 years.
                                                                                                                                                                  About a year and a half ago I started playing with a buddy of mine.  Boy I am not the player I was in my 20's that's for sure.  And early on, I really struggled just to walk from the cart, up a hill to the green and back.  Luckily this part of Florida is not known for being hilly.  So while most courses are flat, I wasn't walking up to a green 30 feet above the fairway.  I went to a golf retailer and tried some clubs mainly to see what it said about my swing speed.  I was shocked to find it was only 80mph.  I used to swing it at nearly 100.  That definitely changed how I played the game but the main thing is I'm enjoying being out there with a group of guys, doing guy things.  And my game has improved a decent amount in the past year or so which makes it even more enjoyable.  I won't be gracing anyone's tv screen anytime soon but I'm fairly satisfied with my game.  Now if I can only break 90 on a full course.  Thought I might do it this past Sunday but the back 9 did me in. 

So don't expect to get a lot of poker content or much gambling news from me.  I will occasionally get my gambling jones on and I do play a little online but not nearly as much as I used to.  But I sure feel better than I did a year ago and I'm happy to still be around and kicking it.  When my knees feel ok.  And I'm still enjoying reading the hijinks of Rob, and Lucki, and Lightning, and PPP.  I can still live vicariously through them.  So until the writing bug strikes me again, keep on doing what you're doing.