As a follow up with the Alyse, it seems she has a good foundation in Baltimore to start a new life. The funny thing about a "divorce" is that you can only really analyze the nature of a relationship meaningfully once your out of it. Some of the details I've gathered about what happened down the line are pretty fucked up, but a relationship can turn into a battle of attrition, and when it starts to go that way all bets are of. Probably the most fucked up thing is that the last time I saw her she looked incredible ( hopefully she's so depressed shes not eating). I would have prefferred a psych ward or like a 40 pound add on, or at least a drug habit or something.
The Dave house never worked out. I got sick during his "crunch" time and he was antsy. I suppose this is a character trait I should have predicited. Over/under on Dave moving to Wilmington: December 31, 2009. I'll take the under.
I'm living with Vinny right now and its working out pretty well. Our apartment is half a block from Rooney's and we are paying considerably less than our old place. Vinny is pretty deep with his new gf so its really like having 2 roomates instead of one, and I think if it was anybody else there would be a lot of tension. I wish them the best of luck, but at the same time I see things in thier relationship that reminded me of how our relationship dissolved and its tempting to intervene and explain where things will end up if x behavior continues. Def not my place though.
New job is actually working out pretty well. Its probably the first time where Ive actually felt comfortable with my coworkers and expectations in a long time. One thing I have come to realize about sales, and particularly the kind i'm doing, is that it isnt just a "you have a good personality and you'll be fine" type of job. As any job, it requires a lot of learning and training to be good at. Obviously, I'm the type of person who doesn't listen to anybody about anything, and I feel like if I had listened to someone who really knows this business a while back I would have made a lot more money this year. Only in the last few weeks have been utilizing the input of my mentor and my performance has gone way up. Dave made a good point the other day: "I'd rather hire someone smart and motivated who doesn't know anything than someone set in thier ways who is good for average output." I understand why but the prequisite is that the person will actually listen lol.
For anybody who plays online poker, which I have gotten back into pretty considerably in the last two months, I have two suggestions. One is Pokerstars. They have by far the widest game selection and more importantly the most fish. It is quire easy to deposit (bank # and routing #), and withdrawal is just as easy (check once a week, no fee). Second suggestion is to check out SharkScope.com. Thanks Ari for the referral. You can type in anybodies handle, any poker room, and find thier ROI, total profit/loss, stakes played, and a number of other straightforward variables that will clearly indicate who is a donk and who isnt. One thing I found interesting from thier site is that 2/3 of SNG players are not profitable. That indicates to me that there is a lot less luck involved in these SNGs than you might think; the more luck involved the closer that number would be to 50% given the huge sample size.
In 9 weeks of 5 days a week gym I have lost about 15 pounds and brought my bench from 185 to about 250. My suggestions for results: concentrate on one muscle group a day, high weight, low rep, 4 reps for 3 sets. Finish up with cardio, and load up on proteins when you get home. Also, whatever you do, do not start up at the gym with high weight; spend a week doing low weight, high rep stuff so your body will start to remember the motions you will use later. I've done it a million times where you go in superfocused on getting into a routine, go hard for two days, and then pull something or get super sore and give up.
Sports thoughts:
1) I really think someone should step in with an interesting, less passive sport than baseball to take up nights (and gambling) during this dead period before the NFL season. Maybe MMA can step up, maybe televise the WSOP live. The only thing going is the golf majors, and that certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea.
2) Speaking of golf, start the final round of the U.S Open at 3 on Monday, not 9. It was apparently exciting but no one is going to watch that. Didn't Tiger last year start later?
3) Good for Kobe I guess but Orlando prob shouldn't have been there. They shot 58% I think from three range against Cleveland. Ray Allen, the most accurate 3 point shooter of all time, has a lifetime average of 40. That's like Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP a couple of years ago. It was a lucky fluke, and the series would have been much more interesting with Boston or Cle.
4) Incredible what missing Ibanez has done to the fighting Phils. Beat the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets back to back to back, lose Ibanez, and then lose 6 straight to Toronto and the Orioles (cough)
5) You can't tell me Boldin for that second round RB from Pitt would not have been a good trade for the Eagles. They have the salary cap room.
Other notes:
1) The Hangover is the only good movie I have seen since the Oscar rush. Total classic
2) Speaking of total classic, Artie on Joe Buck was easily one of the awesomest things i've ever seen. Very rarely does the smarmy company man lose to the crazy, human, completely uninhibited guy on live TV on the smarmy guys' homecourt.
3) Two bands and singles you gotta check out: "The Dirty Projectors - Remade Horizon" and "Phoenix-1909". I think everybody will know about the latter pretty quickly.
4) I am a huge Bill Simmons podcast advocate, and I've finally come around on the Adam Carolla podcast. the ACP is selectively totally hilarious with the right guest (Duse with the credit). Check it out: www.adamcarolla.com
5) For the first time since about 2005, I have some money, time, no real responsibilities, and a flexible job. If anybody has a good idea to do something crazy and outside of their comfort zone, let me know, I'm all for it.
6) Congrats to the Hills doing the law school application process the exact right way. If anybody is seriously thinking about law school, talk to them about they got in the position they are in with the schools they are going to and the money they aren't paying. Patience paid off big time there.
7) Is there anything on TV right now worth watching? I'm all ears.
