RIP Ray

Lost a long-time friend the other day. Cancer sucks.

Reading this right now

In Focus, Psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman, author of the #1 international bestsellerEmotional Intelligence, offers a groundbreaking look at today’s scarcest resource and the secret to high performance and fulfillment: attention.

Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus delves into the science of attention in all its varieties, presenting a long overdue discussion of this little-noticed and under-rated mental asset. In an era of unstoppable distractions, Goleman persuasively argues that now more than ever we must learn to sharpen focus if we are to survive in a complex world.

Goleman boils down attention research into a threesome: inner, other, and outer focus. Drawing on rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business, he shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, and explains how those who rely on Smart Practices—mindfulness meditation, focused preparation and recovery, positive emotions and connections, and mental “prosthetics” that help them improve habits, add new skills, and sustain greatness—excel while others do not.

I need to put down the phone/tablet/laptop and FOCUS. Focus on losing some weight, on exercising, on eating healthier, on passing the Google certified trainer tests, etc. My mind is going full speed in 10 directions at once lately. A thought will come into my head, say, something I need to add to a to-do list at work, and as I'm looking for the list, the item slips my mind. I'm hoping this book will help with that, among other things. 

Tournament cash and Thanksgiving

Had a decent T-giving dinner. Food was great, but it was me, mom, brother, and sister-in-law. They ate and ran so they could go shopping. Unreal. So after they left I popped the cork on some wine. I happened upon Tisdale Cabernet at my local supermarket for $4 a bottle, and originally got it for cooking, but this wine is damned good! I've had $30 bottles that were not as good. Very smooth.

So Black Friday I played Julie's $100 deep stack tourney, and finished 4th out of 28. Got sucked out on the last hand when Luckbox Linda lived up to her name, shoving preflop with 7-8 suited against my AK suited. She got a flush. NH. I would have had a monster chip lead with about half the chips and 3 left. Ah well. Paid $300. I then sat at the $.25/.50 cash table for 30 minutes and raked in $40. Not bad.

So what did I do with my profit? Sunday after watching the Browns lose a game that should have been cake, I saw a Microsoft Surface tablet on Craigslist pretty cheap, and made the guy an offer. It was brand new in unopened box. For about 24 hours, I HATED this thing. I still wouldn't recommend it to the casual user, but I am getting the hang of it, and it's pretty slick in many ways. Gonna sell my Samsung laptop to cover the cost. That will leave me the Asus laptop, the Surface, Nexus 7, and a desktop I never touch. Wouldn't mind trading the Samsung, Nexus, and Surface all for a Yoga 11 or even Surface Pro 2. Very cool.

I think we finally got the fleas off the dogs! Had to dip them s few times and stay persistent with washing their bedding and spraying the floors.

Oh, and check out the pic of the Browns app for Win RT. I don't think those stats are accurate. Pierogies in the pic were for a potluck at Amvets for the OSU-MI game. Killer! And what a game that was!

A wee bit of food porn

Just this...

New Facebook page!

I have created a FB page to promote awarenes of Big Retail's encroachment on our holidays. It's getting quite a few Likes already! See it here:

https://www.facebook.com/takebackyourholidays

Who knows how far it will go, but if it takes off, I'm gonna try to keep it going year-round to also help persuade people to quit buying shit they don't need.

I also want to email the managers responsible for deciding to open their doors on Thanksgiving. Just awful.

Words of Wisdom

Someone posted this on FB...good stuff

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/a-simple-but-powerful-way-to-kick-the-worry-habit/

Slow weekend

Not much to report from the weekend. Getting ugly outside. (BTW, the new jacket has arrived, woooo!)

Played Caryn's Saturday tourney. $150 deepstack with $50 bounty. Great structure. Played well but chased a few hands down the stretch that didn't pan out. Later doubled up with QQ, then busted when my KK lost to Nicole's pocket 10's. Aww well. I wanted the call and just got unlucky. I like the big $$ bounty though.

No Browns game this weekend. Barely left the house actually. I did buy an 18.5" barrel for my 12ga, should be here in a few days.

Here's a pic of me and the Pup from a camping trip this fall.

Gun range with mom

Mom did well with the P22. The head shot group in the pic is mine. I had some trouble with the Sig, every 2nd to last shot failed to load. I'm thinking it's the magazine. Gonna try to add some tension to the existing spring before plunking down $40 for a new mag. Gonna give it a real good cleaning as well. Might need to polish the feed ramp too. Raegen went with us too, she shot well also. I forgot to get video/pics.

The laser on the Sig was a bit off, and I was quite a bit more accurate with the Walther. Need to shoot it some more to really check it out.

Mom's in much better shape after her back surgery.

Firearms shuffle

Trying to sell the PT111 that I loaned my mom so that I can give her something with a light on it so she can see if something goes bump in the night. I ended up buy a used Sig Mosquito with a laser, which I have yet to shoot, but it seems like a nice little .22 plinker. I put a light on my Walther PK22 and will loan that to mom. It holds like 11 rounds, is easy to handle, won't deafen you, and should do the job if really needed. I ordered some CCI mini mags to go into it.

So, I have yet to sell the PT111, and I'm now thinking about trading it to TK for his S&W Bodyguard .380 with laser. Caprice wants something with a laser and it might be decent for carrying. Definitely thinner than the little PT22 I have for her now, although it only holds 7 rds. We'll see. I'll do some more homework on the S&W.

I've also added a pistol grip to my 12ga, and will add a shorter 18.5" barrel when I can. Toss in a sling, ammo clip, and maybe a cheap light and I'll have a nice little zombie slayer/hunting combo gun. I've hunted with it (like 25 years ago) and it's really accurate.

So, winter is coming and I've been thinking about getting a new coat. I really miss the old  L.L. Bean parka I had many years back, so I looked it up and they still sell it, but it's $200! So I dug around the site and found one on clearance for $129. Only thing is that it's almost identical to my old one. They only had the 1 color left in dark navy/black. Screw it, I loved that jacket! Can't wait for it to get here. My old one needed an additional hoodie and was heavy as shit, so this will be a sweet change of pace.

Check out the awesome pumpkin I carved this year!

House party, poker, Browns, etc

Had a house party last weekend, made some pretty good food, and had a good time. Watched Sharknado. As good as it gets! House looks great with the refinished floors.

Took a booze cruise to Kelly's Island to watch the Browns lose to DET the weekend before that. Had fun and even hit a $5 square in the last quarter to win $125!

Bought a full truckload of slabwood for $30! It's not quite seasoned but it worked well for the backyard fire for the party even though we didn't hang out outside because it was pretty wet. We also bought a cornhole set. Instead of sports, I decided to get a custom set made, and asked for the A of spades and K of hearts on contrasting backgrounds, and red/black bags. See the board we got? He also didn't have the bags but we should have them this week.

Mike Doughty show at the Beachland on Tuesday was great. ALL Soul Coughing!

Meeting friends at Crocker Park to see The Counselor tonight. Looks like a good movie.

Another win

Decent win at the Shoe the other night! Won a big side pot in a hand where I actually lost with JJJQQ vs QQQQ...another guy nearly had a royal, so we were dancing around the $225k BB jackpot. The 8 of diamonds hits again.

Saw Glenn Schwartz last night. Still sounds great but he's not looking good. Krazy Mike even came in from PIT to see the show.

My mom just had back surgery. She's in some pain but will be able to walk with much less pain once she heals up. They scraped arthritis spurs from her spine...ewwww. Makes me kinds nauseous to think about it.

Camping last weekend

Some pics

Vine

I've been playing with Vine for a couple days now, and it's a blast. Here are a couple I've put together. I recommend following Jeffrey Gray, he's damn funny.

Poker!

I used to keep the 8 of diamonds in my wallet for good luck. It was a numerology thing I either got from my ex wife or some online poker blog/website. I stopped carrying it for a very long time. Last week, as I was walking in to work, I found an 8 of diamonds right outside my office door, and put it in my pocket.

About a week later, yesterday as a matter of fact, I got a text about the evening poker game in Brecksville, Matt G's little berry patch. I had played with these guys twice before and the action was amazing, but hadn't won. A few of the guys are real assholes. Anyway, I decide to go since I'd bailed the last 5-6 weeks in a row, and didn't want to get pulled from the player list. We started at 7:15 and by 8PM I was up $600+, but really couldn't leave so quickly, as hit and runs are really frowned upon in home/private games, especially single table games where a couple people dropping out can kill the entire night. Oh, I forgot to mention that James the Horseshoe poker room manager was there also. I'd played against him on several occasions a few years ago at LF's game, and had pretty much owned him. Somethings never change. I ended up stacking him 3 times for about $1700 total. Rivered a set with KK, turned a set with QQ, and flopped the nuts with 9-10. We were in a $2400 pot around 11PM.

I was up over $2200 (this is a $1-2 NL game) at 11:30, and locked my chips down after that. At about 1AM, I lost $200+to2-3 off suit as bingo hour was getting underway. I got 5-6 callers with AK when I raised it to $25 preflop. They all wanted me to double them up, so I decided to cash. You should have seen the look on their faces. They whined and cried, but screw them, I was up $2002 on a single buy-in. Best $1-2 cash EVER. I think the 2nd best was around $1400-1600 way back when Coleman was hosting.

Moral of the story...the 8of diamonds works! Go Tribe!

What a weekend!

First off... Breaking Bad is over  :(  What an amazing show, and it had to be ended, and they ended it well. No hint or possibility of a sequel, although I've heard rumor from Bill Burr's podcast that there may be a PREquel starring Saul the lawyer. Walter White/Heisenberg is dead. Jesse is free! He got kicked around so much. 2 weeks until Walking Dead!

A couple movies I want to see:

The Counselor and The Fifth Estate look really good.

Machete Kills and Runner Runner are also on the list.

We went camping with the kids and dogs at Findlay this weekend. Perfect weather, though damn cold at night. Great for star gazing. I even saw a shooting star. Pup did a ton of swimming and has been whipped ever since. She's limping a bit but hopefully she'll be OK soon. I need to give her another oatmeal bath. Will be the 2nd in 2 weeks but she's still chewing herself like crazy.

SPORTS!!! Browns beat the Bengals, and BAL and PIT both lose! CLE is now tied for 1st and the Stillers are 0-4 for the first time since the year I was born!

To top it off, the Tribe is in the playoffs! Post season play begins Wednesday. I may have to scalp some tix, although the Browns play Thursday night too. Hmmm.

1 episode left

Who knows what's gonna happen, but it's gonna be BAD

Moon

Check this out http://www.space.com/22825-mesmerizing-moon-rotation-video-created-from-orbiter-images.html

File this one under WTF

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/23719230/colts-trade-firstround-pick-for-trent-richardson

New (old) Soul Coughing!

Old songs re-imagined. They're fresh and light, but I think I still like the funky/groovy stuff better. Either way, we'll be checking him out next month!

Breaking Bad

The most intense TV episode I've ever seen last night. I personally guarantee they get the Emmy for best TV drama. Gonna be a bummer to see it go, but they are at their absolute peak.

Weekend update/gun talk

Almost finished a new computer lab on Friday. We have so many labs now. I think we have 15 total, not counting mobile carts with laptops or netbooks.

So, Friday evening started with selling my XD-40. Pretty much got what I paid for it, and threw in the rail light, box of ammo, some defensive rounds, and spare light battery. Caprice and I got grinders from Bellacino's at Cobblestone, then went home and watched Pulp Fiction with her oldest daughter, who'd never seen it. Still my 3rd all-time favorite, behind LOTR trilogy and Goodfellas.

Picked up the new XDs-9 on Saturday. The guy that owns White House Artesian Springs also has an FFL and sells out of his office. Nice guy.

Hit the range about noon on Sunday to test out the XDs. 60 flawless rounds! Accurate enough, though I shot to the left, but I think that was me and not the gun. I ordered a new rail light for the XD9 sub compact that will become the new bedside firearm. Gonna also need a new holster for the XDs. I went though the gun safe and found all my .40 ammo to sell, along with a few other items from guns I no longer own, to sell and help cover the XDs cost. It came out to $532, I sold the 40 for $450, and should make almost $100 for the other stuff, so it will be a wash.

After the range...Browns game. Season over.

Went to Veronica's soccer game after that. Actually more exciting than the football game, and they won!

My dream car

Not a Ferrari or Lambo, Lotus, or Maz...just a 1967 Mustang convertible.

My DVD library is now complete!

Caprice picked this up yesterday. Best movie ever. A guy is killed by a shark in his living room. Enough said. We are gonna show it for our 3rd annual fall bonfire/movie night.

Check out the pot of peppers I made last night. Turned out great. Local produce. Got some tomatoes, squash, and sweet corn too. Fenik's has excellent corn but they are pricey at $5/doz.

Also, saw this big guy on the kitchen window.