83RD OSCARS

Today was rest day and after partying last night, I was glad. It didn't really matter if it wasn't rest day, I still probably would have rested. So, I didn't really do much today.

I spent the afternoon working on getting things together for the Nepo Bros III video. I still need hand histories from two players. It's been a year and I still haven't gotten them from them. That's what happens when you don't follow-up with people.

I also spent some time talking to my cousin about love and life. The poor girl just needs a shoulder to cry on and it's a little tough when you've never spent much time being a shoulder.

Then it was Academy Awards time. It's kind of fun when you've got money on the line. We had a little Oscars pick contest with about six people throwing in $10 a piece. Initially, I thought I was out of it since a lot of my picks weren't coming through. Then, half-way through the awards, I just hit a streak. At the end of it all, I think I won by one pick against Jansen. Show me the money!

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
- Lena Horne

During the awards, Janet finally replied to my apology text. It turns out she isn't much interested in continuing our friendship; she considers it too intense. It's one of those points in a relationship where you can break it off without too much damage and hurt, rather than letting it continue. I suppose it's similar to putting down an animal for its own good, rather than for your own.

But I spent the weekend thinking about the two of us and I guess I kind of convinced myself that maybe we have something that is worthy of exploring. The main concern is that we seem to bicker a lot and that is never a good sign. The question is whether we can work through these little fights and figure out where they come from.

So I told her that I would not allow her to de-friend me without first playing some tennis together. At that time, I hope to be able to share my thoughts to see if she feels the same way. We'll see if that ever happens.

COUGHING UP THE HILL

My friend Dennis' housewarming party was last night, but I had a run on my schedule so I decided to take it to the streets. I ran to Golden Springs and up Grand Ave. to get to the library. Scott Pilgrim is on hold for me but the library closes at 5PM and it was about 4:20PM when I started my run. I thought it was plenty of time, but as it got closer to 5PM and I still had the run up Grand left, I began to worry a little and picked-up the pace.

I wanted to run to the library, but I had to cross the street so I made my break at the stoplight. I was huffin' and puffin' all the way up the hill. I wanted to push myself and I did. By the time I hit the light, I was coughin' like I had taken a huge rip of something. It might have been the cold air or my body reacting to the hard work, but I got past it.

I picked-up my book and walked the rest of the way back. I noticed our local Blockbuster store had a huge sign that said that it was closing. It's really amazing how the Internet and competition just destroy these brick and mortar places. They couldn't compete and now they have to close. That's what you get when you don't respond to $1 movies at Redbox or streaming movies on demand from Netflix.

After dinner, Jansen picked me up and we went to James' apartment. We hung out there, picked some things up, then left for Dennis'. He lives in a really nice area close to the Hollywood Hills. Thankfully, there were actually plenty of people at the apartment. But it's small, and not like his other apartment with Brian. It was crowded, and it was tougher to mingle because people were sitting around the couches or standing around and just not moving. We saw Sammy there and his friends, but that was pretty much all we knew. It was funny because once two girls left the party, the ratio got bad and changed the mood of the party. Still, I'm thankful it wasn't a sausage fest.

Then we went to King King and partied till about 1:30AM.

FRUSTRATING CONVERSATION

I slept on the couch again. I swear, I love couches. I think it's the support they give me, but I always feel like my sleep is excellent on couches. I don't wake-up with any aches or pains.

I had leftovers for lunch and just watched tv all afternoon. I guess that 15-hour day took a toll on me because I didn't really feel like doing anything. Then again, that's probably true most of the time.

But I did yoga and during my yoga, I was texting my friend Janet and Jansen so there was some time to relax during certain poses. I have much more stamina now with yoga than when I first started, but each time I do it, I feel like it's still a challenge.

Janet is an interesting woman I met at King King. I think we think very much alike, but I'm not sure that's a good thing anymore. It seems like ever since we decided to be friends, every time we've talked, we seem to argue. I wonder if it's because of the way we are or because there are unresolved feelings. I'm not sure what it is. We seem to like each other, but I guess we're just not in the same place and that difference may be another factor.

I felt bad about the way we ended the conversation because I told her she was stubborn. I'm just as stubborn as she is and we seem to butt heads a lot. On the other hand, there are a lot of things I like about her so I guess we'll just have to see where our friendship goes.

After talking to her, I called Shirley as she is having some problems with her friends. We talked about it awhile, and I found that talking about my problems helped her not to have to think about hers. I think I spend so much time talking about other people's problems, it's easy not to have to share mine. I guess I can work on sharing my feelings and problems with others too.

LOLA #16

I slept on the couch in a half doze kind of worrying about waking up in time. I got up around 5AM and left about 5:30AM and arrived at LA Center Studios about 6:10AM. I had time to spare so I hung around the lobby of one of the buildings before my 6:30AM call time arrived.

It was freezing cold outside while we waited for John, one of the set PAs to arrive and hand out the vouchers. He knows my name now so it's a cool thing when they are happy to see you. Thankfully, the wardrobe trailer is right next to our check-in table so we don't have to walk all the way down the street to get to it.

After approval, I headed down for some breakfast. I had a weird feeling like I needed to take a dump, but it was a similar feeling to what I got in the Philippines the last time I was there. It was like bad water or something where you feel like taking a dump, but nothing really comes out. I felt like I could push something out, but there wasn't enough time to do it. So instead, I just ate some juevos rancheros and the standard buffet breakfast items like bacon, a sausage patty and some hash browns.

Then we were off to stage 6 where all the magic happens. We worked a scene a little, then spent some time in holding. It was either working or holding and reading or holding and napping. Then it was lunch time and my stomach wasn't feeling so great. It felt good enough to eat some salmon and spare ribs though, but I knew that it was time to take care of business.

After I eat, I headed over to one of the bathrooms on the other side of the stage. I thought it would be less busy, because for some reason, I need privacy when I'm taking a dump. Unfortunately, in the middle of my dump, a crew guy came in and sat right next to me. I could hear all the squirts, strains and other disgusting sounds that come from taking a shit. After a few worthless minutes of sitting there, I'd had enough and gave up.

I wonder if it was the steak I had yesterday (or some other food) and I wonder if the yogurt I ate exacerbated the situation. Whatever it was, it sucked, so I drank some diet 7up to help calm the storm that was happening in my gut. I actually thought the yogurt would help since it has all those active cultures that are supposed to be good for the gut.

We worked for a pretty long time and as usual, I felt sorry for the crew guys (but particularly the PAs) who have to stick around to the very end. We ended up wrapping at 8:30PM which translates to a 15 hour day including lunch. I don't know how the crew does it, but they do and they probably get paid very well.

Afterward, I headed to Ashley's and hung out there for a bit. Her place is looking real good. It seems that she's added a few things. And as usual, I probably over-extended my welcome and she had to kick me out to go to bed.

IPAD RESTORATION . . . AGAIN!

I didn't go to Beejay's this morning. He didn't call me last night so I decided I wouldn't bother going to his place. I had a message in the morning from him telling me that he forgot about his daughter's field trip this morning. I had a feeling something like that would happen.

After lunch, I took a nap. I wasn't even that tired and almost kind of forced myself into a lull. It was really cold and I didn't bother putting a blanket on. It wasn't the best nap, but good enough to give me some rest. I watched some Ironman on the DVR and got motivated to workout.

It was biceps and back today and the workout was pretty good. I just love the pump I get from the bicep exercises but I always wonder if they're getting any bigger. It takes time and I think they will eventually.

Unfortunately, the iPad died again today. I had to restore it and I'll now need to download a bunch of cracked apps again. I don't mind it so much considering it's free. But now that I have a bunch of space on the PC, I can now just keep all the cracked apps stored in there so if it ever dies again, I won't have to download everything all over again.

OH LECATES YOU FRUSTRATE ME SO

Had In-N-Out for lunch with the girls and moms. Then headed off to San Gabriel to meet-up with my friend who has a chiropractor there. We decided to hit-up the Monrovia Canyon Park trail that leads to a waterfall. For some reason, everything looked very familiar and it was only half-way through the trail that I realized I'd been there before.

Probably 20 years ago, my old friend Rick and I walked this trail when we were into exploring our surroundings. The walk up actually worked my calves and it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but still relatively easy. During the hike we discussed my friend's values and hook-ups and I don't think we will ever agree. It was frustrating, but I'm sure she was as frustrated as I was.

Afterward, we went to Baccali in San Gabriel. My friend doesn't really like Chinese food but I wanted to see if she'd like this place. She didn't and I took home all the leftovers.

Then we headed to Al's in San Gabriel for some drinks. It's a dive bar and there really weren't many people inside the bar, but we ordered some drinks nevertheless. My cousin Binggoy came over for a visit after work and he bought us the second round. We had some interesting conversations about threesomes, hugs (with and without boners) and happy endings. All-in-all a pretty fun time and this night was example that it's not always the surroundings, but the people you're with that can make life enjoyable.

TACO NIGHT

I woke up with the door bell ringing. I opened it half-asleep. It was my brother, Amanda and the kids. My brother and Amanda took off for the track, while we waited for lunch.

We had sinigang and these little fried fish that were tasty. Then I took the girls to H&M to finally get the right sized hoodies they wanted. I went to Trader Joe's to pick-up some protein powder. Afterward, we went to Forever XXI.

Then it was time to get the tacos going. I overcooked the meat I had and there wasn't really that much of it. So moms had to cook some steaks to add to the meat. All in all, we ate pretty good, but I feel like something delicious was missing.

Jared took off with Marissa, Adam and Kelly back to their house while the girls and I ended-up watching Mother and Child.

JAREN IS ONE

After lunch, I went to Charlotte and Brian's place for their son's first birthday. I think Charlotte mentioned his actual birthday is on the 10th, but I don't quite remember.

I got there early before anyone was really there. Only the family crew was there cooking. Charlotte and Brian were still at the store. So I just had a few Thai iced teas with boba to keep me entertained. When they got back, they had purchased a few things from the store.

It's funny how life can be separated between those with families and those without (or those with kids and those without). Everyone that began arriving all had families, and the single people were the ones left cooking or helping around. Most of the family folks hung around socializing and watching their kids play.

I was bored and after eating a few things, I told them I had to go since my friend Rome was in town from the Bay Area. It was a white lie, but it didn't really matter. There were plenty of people there that would keep them busy. I felt bad about missing the birthday cake song, but not so bad that it kept me from leaving.

I brought some food back and moms and I ate it for dinner. Then I basically chilled and waited for Rome to get back from eating Korean and from some shaved ice place. I left for Brea late, probably past 11PM and we went to the local pool hall.

It was actually pretty cool with plenty of folks to look at. But the drinks weren't that cheap and there was a $5 cover. We hung out there for awhile, then closed the place out and left when everyone else was leaving.

See you up in the Bay Rome.

RUNNING ERRANDS

I didn't feel so great when I got home last night. I felt like taking a dump but nothing was really happening. It was like one of those diarrhea feelings that never materialize. I actually went back downstairs after trying to go to bed and just snacked on some Pringles and waited. And nothing happened. So I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke-up, I felt ok and went back upstairs.

When I awoke, I felt thirsty and still had some lingering twinges of last night's bender. After lunch, I played poker. Lately, my limit micro-level poker usually falls into three categories: 1) I win quickly and quit, 2) I play for a fairly long period and win and quit or 3) I play for a long time and lose. Today was a #2 day and after the win, I was motivated to go out and do my errands.

First was a trip to Walmart to purchase some wiper blades and air filters for my car and my mom's. I was surprised that the line wasn't long at all and I got out of there fairly quickly. Then it was off to H&M to return some Christmas gifts I purchased for my nieces. I got them sizes that were way too small for them, and I'm a little worried that what I got them this time are a little too big. Oh well, they can always return it if it doesn't fit.

I thought about going to Target for a gift card, but I decided I'd just give Jaren cold, hard cash tomorrow. When I got home, I was hungry, but the snack I had in the afternoon helped keep me from starving. So I was able to do my P90x workout.

Rome hit me up and told me he was in Pasadena for some bowling, but I didn't really feel like driving out there to bowl. Tomorrow we might hang out after Jaren's birthday party is over.

ROMIE IN THE HOUSE

Notable things that occurred yesterday:

- Got oil changed. Purrfect Auto disappointed me again. First time was changing radiator hoses that didn't need to be changed. Second time was George the tech that said they ran out of oil for the $15 oil change coupon I had so I had to come back the next day. Third time was manager guy saying coupon was valid only for 10w 30 oil and my car used 5w 30. I'm done with them and I will report this to the owner who deserves to know (but may already know these practices).

- Ran four miles. I don't know what ever happened to my watch, so I just used a stick to scrawl how many times I completed a lap. It was pretty cold outside so the run wasn't very difficult but it did get increasingly difficult as the laps wore on.

- Watched final Jeopardy! episode that showed Watson the super computer defeat human competitors.

- Went out with my old friend Romie who was in town for Foot Locker business. Jansen and I took him out to downtown Fullerton. We got our drinks on.

ARE WE PROGRAMMED?

I could not sleep last night. It was the bed and probably the pajamas I had. They were too hot and the damn bed is too soft. Combine that with having napped yesterday and you've got a low form of insomnia. I kept tossing and turning and then woke-up just a few hours later.

Unable to sleep any further, I went downstairs and had breakfast. Then Beejay called me to discuss his case. After encouraging him to go for it and fight the power, I finally fell asleep again. I caught up and woke-up for lunch. It felt good.

After lunch, I had a long conversation with my cousin Rachelle. We can get into pretty philosophical discussions and this one centered on how we react to external stimuli, or more specifically, how we react to people in our lives. Are the genes we carry so strong that we are unable to react differently than how we want? Or are we able to control these impulses and make choices that are different than how we are?

I brought up Star Wars because I felt it was a perfect example. The Force can be used for good or evil. It's Luke's decision to become a Jedi while his father's was to be a Sith. But Darth Vader is Luke's father, so does that necessarily make Luke evil? Of course it doesn't.

But I have to admit, I was pretty surprised that my cousin had such strong feelings about people in her life. It surprised me because I finally realized that she has always had strong feelings - she just doesn't express them very much. This trait is interesting because it can be a lot more difficult to understand than someone who is outspoken. And at the end of the day, all I'm really trying to move toward is understanding.

Then I went to get an oil change. I went Purrfect Auto in Diamond Bar and the asshole guy who ripped me off was there. This guy changed my radiator tubes when they were perfectly fine so I gave him some shit about doing it. So when I asked for an oil change, he asked which one I'd like, good, better or best which ranged from $20 to $40. I showed him the coupon I had from the Pennysaver and said I wanted the $15 special. He said that they didn't have any more of that kind of oil and that I had to come back tomorrow.

I left and went to another place where I'd gotten my oil change but they were charging $30 for a standard one. I left again and thought about driving to Brea, but decided I would just go home and go to Purrfect again tomorrow. I hope that guy isn't there so I can ask if they did indeed run out of that oil.

When I returned, I started working on backing up all the photos that were on the PC's hard drive. I couldn't figure out how to burn a DVD though. It was really easy transferring everything to the network drive, but burning a DVD had some issues. I had to download some program that allowed the old-ass Sonic RecordNow! to recognize the DVD burner. For some reason, the DVD burner wasn't being recognized it. After running the program and re-starting the PC, it worked! I love it when a plan comes together.

After backing-up all the photos, it was time to play some poker. I had breached the $90 mark again last night and was anxious to get it up even further. Unfortunately, after an almost three hour session, I ended up crashing down to $83. It's not a huge loss, but when you're playing limit at these micro-levels, it's big on a relative scale.

I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand times. Limit poker is incredibly frustrating at times. No matter how good your hands are, you still need to get lucky and without a good flop, you're pretty much screwed. I need to work on limiting my losses in limit poker because I'll sometimes get these bad streaks that I just keep fighting against. Perhaps it's just better to take a loss and move on, just like in golf. The thing about golf though is that you have another hole you can play, whereas in poker, you just have to quit to stop the loss. That means no more hands as you wonder what the hell just happened.

POKER RUN/WALK

Sometimes I hate poker and sometimes I love it. I loved it yesterday because I got over the $90 hump again. After coming in 2nd in a 90 person tourney, I got to $95 and became over confident and subsequently lost and went back down to about $87 in just a few sessions.

Poker is frustrating and exhilarating at times. Unfortunately, you can not choose when it decides to be one or the other. I'd hate to be like this in my person (i.e. bipolar). The ups and downs are a killer, so it really does take a lot of patience to be successful at it longterm.

I had a terrible sleep last night and felt like I needed a nap in the afternoon. When I woke-up, I was groggy and still sleepy. So I turned the Ironman Triathlon on and watched it to get geared up. It definitely helps seeing people fight through pain and conquering something so difficult. It's a motivator. It's kind of like watching someone do something and knowing that you can do it too. Of course, you don't watch the professionals, you watch the amateurs. But there's still something about watching pros kill it that gives you that will or "ganas" to strive toward something great.

After the leg workout, I finally installed the network server I got for my birthday. I can finally clean out the hard drive on the PC. Unfortunately, I won't be able to connect to it my mac as it runs Tiger and the network drive only supports 10.5 and above.

NEW WINDOWS

I had a tough time getting up this morning. I don't know if it was the bed, the achy back or maybe the weekend, but it was tough. I kind of creaked my way down the stairs and had lunch.

Then I got a call later in the afternoon from the window company. They had finished installing the windows at the Pomona duplex. So I headed out there to just make sure everything was ok. The windows looked great because the bars were no longer there and the windows themselves are fairly large. It's amazing how much they changed the look of the property. All it needs now is a new paint job and the outside of the property will look great.

When I got back, I started-up the yoga and although it was relatively easy, I felt like I couldn't stretch as much and my back was still very achy.

During dinner, we watched Jeopardy! It was the first episode when Watson, a super-computer, went against the highest money-maker and the guy who had the longest winning streak. After the first episode (one of three), Watson was ahead.

I haven't discussed this in my previous posts, but Mubarak recently stepped down from the Presidency of Egypt after 30 years. First Tunisia, then Egypt and now other middle eastern states are protesting their conditions. It reminds me of the People Power revolution of the Philippines. But even now, the Philippines is not much better. Will the same thing happen to the middle east?

SLEEP, OH TOO MUCH SLEEP

Slept till about noon yesterday. When I woke-up, I ate the leftover sinigang I made yesterday. Then I got Greenberg out of my car and we watched it till we fell asleep. I just couldn't shake-off the sleepiness. It was like what they say, if you sleep too much, you feel sleepier. How ironic. Then, when I got home, I felt sleepy and just wanted to sleep. Which is what I did.

CELEBRITY REHAB PARTY

I woke-up early to see if Janet and I could still go to the TreePeople workshop late. When I looked at the information a little more closely, I realized pre-registration was required and that I hadn't pre-registered. In a way, I was ok about it because it meant I could go back to sleep since I had only six hours of sleep.

When I woke-up, I had lunch and chilled-out a little before heading out to Culver City. Then Janet and I went to the Baldwin Hills State Park that has an amazing view of Los Angeles. It's not as high as Griffith Observatory, I don't think, but the view is just great. I was supposed to do the P90x yoga today, but I suppose the great big steps at the park were good enough. At least I got some exercise in.

Then we went to Trader Joe's for some grocery shopping. I gave Janet the choice of adobo or sinigang, and since sinigang has more vegetables in it, she went for that. Trader Joe's doesn't really have a great choice of meat, so I had to go for baby back ribs for the sinigang. While we waited for the stew to cook, we watched I Love You Phillip Morris. It's one of those stories that show you that truth is stranger than fiction sometimes. When I read this story, I was amazed that something like this actually happened. It's pretty amazing. The movie was good too.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the party Janet was telling me about, but I decided that I might as well. I figured it was a good chance to see what kind of people Janet hangs out with. It was a smallish party out in North Hollywood that was pretty tame. However, there was plenty to drink and plenty to smoke so had the party been larger, it would probably have been funner. We played flip cup in the backyard, then Apples to Apples and then even later in the evening, the Wii was turned on for some Mario Cart. It's not the kind of party I'm used to, but hey, new experiences are my thing.

NO HEAT IN THE HOT TUB

I was surprised that all that chicken last night didn't give me as much trouble in the bathroom as I thought it would. I think staying up late and messing your sleep cycle could have more of an effect than eating terribly. But who knows? Maybe it's a mixture of things?

I got to work out and then headed-over to Jansen's for the hot tub and swimming pool party he was throwing. All the usual suspects came over but unfortunately, the hot tub just wouldn't get as hot as we wanted. We looked at everything, tried nearly every combination, but in the end, we just couldn't get it to work. It was warm, but not super hot the way we wanted. We figured there must be some kind of switch or valve that we couldn't see that had been turned the wrong way.

I left around 1AM because I wanted to attend a workshop that TreePeople was conducting about native plants, less water use, and other hippy stuff like that.

200 CHICKEN WINGS

While I was setting-up the pc system upstairs, Jansen called to tell me that Allison, one of our friends and Tyler's girlfriend, won 200 wings at Hooters in Anaheim. I wanted to workout but since I had to be in Brea within an hour, I didn't have enough time. So I just finished-up changing the way the devices were plugged-in to the power chords. When I was done, I had so many more plugs that were open and it seemed like I was missing a device or two.

We waited about half an hour before we could sit down. The Lakers-Celtics game was on so there were more people than usual. Even though it's Hooters, I couldn't help but remark how our waitress Megan had a badankadonk. After our initial orders, the wings began to come. It was wave after wave of wings and after about 20 of them, I couldn't go any further. I like to always say that I sometimes reach diminishing marginal utility. My economics teacher taught us that utility was the pleasure you received from something. The example he used was eating burgers. The first few burgers would give you pleasure, but after a certain point, you wouldn't want anymore. Therefore, their marginal utility would diminish.

Looking at the quantity of wings still left on the table made me feel ill. Well, not really, but I couldn't eat a single bite and the thought of eating another wing was not appetizing. I stopped before my stomach was super bloated, the way it gets sometimes when I eat way too much.

Then we went to Jansen's and played online poker all night till the early morn'.

TOUGH RUN

After purchasing some groceries at Super H, I started the slow cooker for some sinigang. The slow cooker I have isn't that large though, so I couldn't really fit that much meat in the thing. I smashed it all in there though and the soup was almost overflowing.

Then I went for a bike ride and run at Lorbeer. I was pretty tired or at least I felt that way. I can tell when my body feels tired because it feels like I get a little warmer. It's almost like my body is beggin' me for a nap. I thought that by the time I warmed-up with the bike ride to the middle school, I'd get over it. But that's not what happened.

During the run, my body felt tired. It wasn't like the run I had a few days ago when I wasn't tired and the only thing that felt tough was the pounding on my back. Instead, I felt physically tired, my body felt weak and my stamina was low. I figured I'd take it easy so after every mile I took a breather and rested.

When I got back, I checked on the sinigang and realized it wasn't even close to being cooked. The meat was still tough and the onions and tomatoes were still whole. Usually, I like cooking my sinigang to the point when the onions and tomatoes have broken down and the meat is super tender. So I took everything out and put them on the stove and just cooked them normally. I suspect that if I were to do this again in a crockpot, I'd have to cook it for half the day.

I made my first teaser bet today which is basically another way to play a parlay. But instead, you also get additional points on the bet but the payout just isn't as great. I think I'll start experimenting with this method. It seems way too easy.

Then I watched a very interesting episode of Nova ScienceNow. It was about how smart animals are and the different experiments that attempt to determine what level of intelligence they have. Neil deGrasse Tyson always finishes with a cosmic perspective and this particular episode's was a good one.

YIDDISH EXPRESSIONS AND WORDS

I ran into this today. I was trying to figure out what a female, non-Jewish chick is called in Yiddish and it turns out you can call them shiksas.

The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should Know

CROCKPOT SHEPHERD'S PIE

It was time to cook dinner and for some reason, I've had a yearning for shepherd's pie. I get this strange want for certain foods from time to time. The last one I had was for Tommy's and I got my fill when that happened.

I didn't want to have to keep my eye on the pie, so I decided I'd use a slow cooker to cook it. Slow cookers really don't cook as much as heat constantly, so most recipes tell you to cook the meat separately and then add it to the pot. After scrounging around on the net, I decided to use Stephanie O'Dea's recipe that she posted on her blog. It's from 2008 when she went on a rampage to cook a meal every day of the year in a crockpot. That's quite unusual, but I guess she was successful enough and has had quite a number of visits from people.

Rather than using leftover mashed potatoes, I decided I'd make my own and used Cook's Country's recipe for garlic mashed potatoes. I'd done this before and it was pretty good. The problem this time is that I used low fat milk instead of half-and-half and I kind of ran low on the milk.

So I set it on high and let it do its work for about three hours. Then I took the lid off to allow the potatoes to dry-up. This is the time I wish I had some kind of device that can easily upload pictures. Oh well. Anyway, it came out pretty good. I will probably not use the variety vegetable frozen pack since it contains water chestnut and I don't really like the smell of water chestnuts for some reason. Additionally, I doubt England has water chestnuts, though isn't shepherd's pie from Scotland? I also felt the broth could have been thicker but I'm not sure how that could be done. Maybe some thickener can be put into the mixture?

THE DAY AFTER (SUPER BOWL)

Jansen came over to kick it and we spent the afternoon watching The Disappearance of Alice Creed, a movie he'd rented from Redbox. I wish I would have invested in Redbox. I think I still will though I think it's priced pretty high right now . . . . Hmm, interesting. Redbox is actually private so there's no stock to purchase. I guess I kind of meant Netflix too. It is priced at 217.62 at the time of this writing. I wish I would have bought it in 2008 when I purchased a lot of my stocks. At that time it was around 27 or so.

The movie was pretty cool. Only three people were in the movie so it's one of those movies that require big acting chops since one bad actor would lead to a disaster. It was pretty good but just so so in my mind since I don't know any of the actors and the story was really about relationships between the three characters more than anything else, even though it was a kidnapping movie.

I suppose the movie put us in sleep mode because we took a pretty long nap in the afternoon. I wanted to get up at 5PM to workout, but I woke up with a terrible headache. It was probably due to not eating enough for lunch or the nap or a combination of both. The headache went away as soon as I had dinner. So unfortunately, I didn't workout, but I suppose I could have used the rest.

Then I went over to Charlotte and Brian's place to pick-up the Xbox Brian fixed for my nephew. Their son is getting to be a big boy and he was asleep by the time I got there. We just kind of chit-chatted about work and stuff like that. The repaired Xbox now runs louder but Brian says he mods the fan so it will stay cooler. I'm not sure I like that, but the drawback is a hotter system that is prone to overheating.

SUPER BOWL

I knew it would eventually happen. It's been two days since my last post because I was too tired to write anything Sunday, and just forgot to write anything last night.

Super Bowl Sunday was pretty fun. Jansen and I went over to my cousin's place in Rancho Cucamonga. It was a small Granflor party and it was nice to see a lot of the family I hadn't seen for some time. Unfortunately, not all the Granflors were there, but only one family was missing since I heard they had their own football party.

There was a lot of poker and a lot of food. I brought over the Jack Daniels lil' smokies, but no one really seemed to like them too much. I think they are better warm, and all the food was out so they got cold pretty quickly. Also, the smokies were put in a dark tray so there wasn't much contrast between the dish and the plate. It just looked like a black hole.

A taco man was there and he served chicken, beef, tongue and cabeza which are the meats on and around the head. I tried them all except the chicken. Good stuff, but the salsa wasn't that flavorful and the meat could have used more spices, especially salt. The tortillas could have been better too, but hey, I ain't complainin', just bloggin'.

I got home at a decent time after Jansen and I both got knocked out of the final tournament of the night. It took some time to get sleepy after having drunk all that beer. I'm feeling like beer is not my drink and would much rather drink cocktails due to the fullness and flatulence I seem to develop after too much beer, not to mention the feeling of dehydration.

LONG RELATIVELY SPEAKING RUN

I went on a pretty long run yesterday. It was only four miles, but I hadn't run that distance for quite some time. After all was said and done, the only thing hard about it was the pounding that I felt on my knees and back. My endurance was good though. I didn't feel fatigued and I didn't feel thirsty at all. Maybe the temperature had to do with that. It was pretty cool and getting colder. As the sun came down, I actually felt cold each time I was in the shade.

My lower back felt most of the fatigue. It wasn't painful really, it was more like the feeling you get when your muscle is tired and wants to rest. What I don't get is why my lower back would feel that. But I guess that's just part of what I'll be experiencing when I run that half-marathon. The four miles was on a track and that was only a third of what I'll be running. I began to think that the half will be tougher than I imagined.

I spent some time at Home Depot before the run. I was looking for some parts to finish that henna lamp I have as well as some replacement parts for the metal door that's in the Pomona unit. It was nice to shop around and look, but I always hate having to leave without buying anything. It feels like I just wasted time.

After the run I picked-up some smokies for the Super Bowl party at my cousin's out in Mira Loma or wherever it is that they live. I bought some Jack Daniels and went to their website to find an authentic recipe. This is the first time I've made these smokies. Usually my friend Dennis has these puppies at his parties. He uses a slow cooker, but I cooked mine in a little pot. My mistake was adding too much Jack. The recipe on their site is really more of a glaze and adding that much Jack thinned the sauce out too much. Oh well, it's still pretty good.

276 HANDS

I chased. I admit it. I wanted to get that stupid money back and wanted to get to mid-90s on my PS account. So I played some limit and I played 276 hands just to get back to where I was. It took that many hands and at the end of it all, I still lost $0.51.

This lame amount of money and all these bad beats really pissed me off. As I've shown in my poker blog, limit hold 'em is incredibly frustrating. But I'm determined to beat the damn game because I know I can do it. I'm not sure I can do it live, but I know I can do it online because the vig is not nearly as large and because I've done it. I've beaten the game, but the goal is to get past $100.

I don't know why I get so pissed-off because it's only a number and it's not even a lot of money. Additionally, although I'm close to the $100 mark, I got there from a mixture of cash games and tournaments. So technically, I didn't get there just by playing limit. But that really doesn't matter to me. The goal is to break $100 and I'm determined to do it.

I'll bang my fist and yell and scream, but I will do it.

GREED

After coming in 2nd in that 90-person tourney on PokerStars, I went into chase mode. That's how I would describe the feeling of wanting to win again. As they say, winning never gets old, but in poker, winning can put you in a dangerous state - almost as bad as going on tilt.

What happens is that hubris kind of gets into you. You believe you can win again and that you can't lose. You start to play looser and before you know it, you're playing way too many hands and losing them. Then you get back into your normal "smart" state, start playing tight again and begin trying to recover your losses. It's dumb and I always seem to do this.

After yoga this afternoon, I picked-up the rent from one of the tenants. She couldn't afford the entire rent and asked if she could pay the rest next Friday. What can you say when they need extra time? Times are tough and these tenants have rented for over 15 years. That's a seriously long relationship and too long to penalize them.

When I got back, I just swept the floor and prepped it for a wet mop just because the floor feels dirty when I walk around on my bare feet. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

NAPPY PAPPY

I love naps. They are just so refreshing, especially after lunch. Get me in a horizontal position and forget about it. I will be asleep in no time. I guess it's just the natural rhythm of the body. What I don't like, however, is sleeping too long or not sleeping well. After bad naps, I'll wake up and want to sleep more or just not feel very good.

Today's case was a good one. I woke up feeling pretty refreshed. Maybe it had something to do with the huge lunch I had. Well, it wasn't that huge, but relatively speaking, it was more than I normally eat. My cousin was working in Pomona so he hit me up and asked if I wanted to do lunch.

I was glad he chose Indian because I'd been wanting to try Diamond Palace Cuisine of Indian ever since my old high school friend took me there. I haven't found an Indian joint that didn't do a buffet during lunch and Diamond Palace was no exception. The cool thing about the restaurant is that each of the buffet items had a name. Unfortunately, I don't have Internet access on my phone so I wasn't able to look-up what each dish was exactly.

The items were all pretty good though. What made me really happy was that we got some naan with our meal. I love this stuff because it's like bread and is so soft and tasty. My cousin likes to workout and he had to get back to work, so unfortunately, we didn't get much time to pig-out.

After my nap, I did my P90x back and biceps workout. I felt like I was close to my exhaustion point, though it could have been the giant lunch I had that was trying to sneak out of my stomach.

Then I had dinner and watched some basketball. The Lakers lost to the Spurs and Cal beat Arizona State. If Cal can win a few more games, they have a shot at the Pac 10 title. It'd be a surprise, but obviously a pleasant one if it happens.

NEVER SATISFIED

We're always taught to be grateful for the things we have. Well, when it comes to poker, I'm never satisfied. I had a really good chance to win a $0.55 90-person turbo sit-and-go on PokerStars, but instead I came in second. Second isn't bad, but it's not first. I won a little over $8 but had I come in first place, I would have won $12 which would have put me close to (if not over) the $100 bankroll mark. I think I played way too passive and should have taken some chances. Instead, I would fold almost everytime I was raised and that's not winning poker. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

After lunch, I spent some time calling different manufacturers of remote controls. The TV upstairs had a giant remote but it died, so I wanted to see if a universal remote control could be programmed to operate not just the TV but the digital converter that is plugged into it.

Universal Remote Control said that as long as you have the old remote, their remote can be taught the same code. I wondered if that was true. Then I called Magnavox to see if they sold any remotes that could control the digital converter. They said that the digital converter does not have any codes and that other remotes can not be programmed to operate it. Sounds like a challenge to me! Is it worth it to purchase a universal remote control to see if it can be programmed? I didn't think so, so I just programmed the old cable remote from downstairs. It does everything that's needed; it turns on the tv and controls the volume.

Then I went for a bike ride to the local Korean market Super-H. I bought some carrots, celery, ginger and green tea. When I walked away, I realized I only picked-up the carrots and green tea. I went back to the aisle and asked if the celery and ginger were still there, but I think the people who were behind me picked it up by accident. They got some free ginger and celery while I had to go back and get the same items. They were cool about it, but heck, it was probably only two bucks.

I'm feeling like my endurance is pretty high right now, but the bike ride was still pretty tiring on my leg muscles. I noticed my left knee wasn't in pain though I could feel it tweak now and again. I wonder if the glucosamine and chondroitin supplement I'm taking is helping repair it? Does it repair or just help keep pain down? I don't know and maybe it's all placebo? I'll have to look at some of the studies.

Funny thing about last night. I made this small bet yesterday and accidentally chose the Trailblazers to beat the Spurs. But the fortunate thing was that the Blazers actually won! How lucky was that?

After the poker tourney, I filled-out a claim form to get $1.00 from my old auto insurance. The cost of a stamp makes me wonder if I should have even bothered. I wish there was a way to just donate it to the State of California or some kind of fund. Hmm, maybe I will try leaving a comment on the State's website about how they should allow people to donate money the State is just holding for them.

PLANTING AND POTTING

Moms purchased some ranunculus bulbs last year when we visited The Flower Fields. I'd been meaning to plan them since November since they like to start growing in the winter. But I guess I'd been busy (and lazy) and I only finally got around to doing it today.

I decided they would go where some iceplant-like bushes used to grow. They were cleared out by the gardeners so there's an empty space on the plot right at the front of the house. I cultivated the plot first using a long claw. Then I tried to take out as many of the rocks that were in the plot and used a shorter claw to even-out the soil. The soil seemed a little too muddy so I added some potting soil to hopefully allow it to dry-out between waterings.

The instructions said 8" apart, but I read some stuff online that said 4"-6". Since I didn't have much room, I went with the 6" spacing. The instructions also said 1" deep, but I put them down a little bit further, about 2" max. I covered them up and watered them so we'll see what happens in a few months.

Before all this, I also re-potted some plants I had. I never had any potting soil so I just never did it. I finally did and I think some of the plants that I haven't paid attention to are near death. Two succulents that I got from a workshop are really hurting, but hopefully I got to them in time. I don't think succulents really like potting soil, but it sure beats being left out with no water. There was another plant that I got from the workshop that is probably dead because I never watered it.

The pine tree my mom received from plant a tree day is still holding tough. I think it's a pine tree because it's leaves resemble pine leaves. I never watered it either, but I guess there was enough moisture in its container to allow it to live. It should be happy now that it has been re-potted.

Then there's the oldest plant I've ever owned. This baby has been with me since I inherited it from my friend Shirley. It's a tough lady because when I left it outside my brother's place in San Jose, he never watered it. When I returned, she was still clinging on and I took it back and have cared for it since. That was probably 15 years ago. I think it's a Ficus elastica, commonly known as a rubber plant. After I re-potted the thing, she just looks so much better.

I felt energized after all this and was enthusiastic about working out. Unfortunately, while warming-up, I tweaked my right calf again. This time, it was lower on the calf and wasn't as severe as when I was jogging. I'm not sure what is causing this. If it's age, I'd just like to know. I suppose to should stretch more and warm-up more carefully.