Archive for the year 2006
Weekend Woes and the Love of my Life.
Posted on June 27, 2006 by Brian under Life.
Man, what a weekend!
And it’s not over yet either. We bought a new car this weekend, a Toyota Corolla. I’m happy that my wife is getting a new car and the one that she wants to boot. But I hate car dealers and the whole experience has just left a foul taste in my mouth. I have run into more people that I have known for a long time that either had an abundance of car dealer experience and had their 2 cents to put in or actually worked for a car dealer and tried to tell me ways around the system. I just want to get the car and be done with it. It’s being delivered on Wednesday and then we should only have to see the dealer for scheduled maintenance.
 Ok, enough about that now on to the love of my life.
My wife and I had a really nice talk yesterday on the way we have changed and what is important to us and things like that. I told her that before I lost my job I was always wanting everything, every little gadget, every little gizmo, I didn’t care I wanted it. Weather I needed it or not if it was cool and I could afford it (hell sometimes even if I couldn’t afford it) I bought it. Then I lost my job and left T-Mobile (good reddens). And that’s when everything changed; I realized that none of that was important. One of the reasons that I realized that it was not important was due to the fact that we had no money and we were in debt up to our eyeballs. As we talked about that time period I explained to my wife that the other thing that opened my eyes to what was important and what was not is that the last couple of months before I got another job I had realized that I was really (REALLY) close to loosing my wife. The stress of finance and the burden of me were too much, and on top of that she was in school as well. She confirmed (in not so many words) that she was indeed stressed and that she had entertained the thought for a brief period. Since then I have done everything in my power to show her the appreciation that she deserves for sticking it out, staying with me thru thick and thin and holding on to those bonds of marriage that we vowed to on August 10th 2002. I told her that I realized that nothing is more important to me than her and that I wish that I could express the feelings that I had for her more than I do right now. She says that she knows how I feel and that she is never going to leave me. However, I wish that their was a way that I could bottle my feelings and then give it to her to drink like her fruit beer or glass of wine or something like that. Then she could feel the intoxication that she brings over me and the flood of emotion that I have every day. She is the most important thing to me and every day I thank the lord that I found her. We had not really had a talk like that. I told my parents when they asked me why we were getting a new car that Ching deserved it. She is the one that worked hard to graduate from college, she is the one that contributed the most to getting us out of debt, and she is the one that works the hardest at everything she does. I told them that if any one deserved a new car it was her. They saw my point and agreed. I don’t deserve a new car, the only reason I bought that Rodeo was because I was trying to help out my brother who was fixing to have a family and needed a 4 door car. I told my dad that if it wasn’t for that I would still have my Neon and Ching would have gotten a new car long ago because I would have had the Neon paid off already. With all the events that happened with my brother, I regret ever making that offer and giving him that car.  Well I guess that’s enough for now. I started this post on Monday and its now Tuesday. Oh, and an update that you will probably be reading next from my wife. We received the car and on top of that it’s the car that we test drove on Thursday. But that’s another story for another time.
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Reminiscing
Posted on June 24, 2006 by Ching under Games, Life.
This August 8, 1999 journal entry is being republished here in honor of Eli. (If asked for a password, please us reader as the username and oldstuff as the password.)
I forced Jen to play in front of the webcam with me last Thursday. As promised, here are the archived still shots..
The pictures above were taken during the afternoon. Later that night we played a little game of charades with Eli. He was chatting with Jen via AIM and he would tell her words which we would in turn act out.
The images below have been brought to you courtesy of Eli, who has conscientiously taken it upon himself to save the funnier still shots. Many thanks, E.
The following photos are of Jen and I, being goofy. They are still courtsey of Eli.
That’s all for now. Check back later.
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Favorite Football Movies
Posted on June 22, 2006 by Ching under Movies.
Since I haven’t blogged in a while I figured I would list my favorite football movies of all-time. Here they are in no particular order:
I really felt of Mike Winchell. I thought his situation was so sad. Besides that, Billy Bob is a pretty good actor. I like him. Other thoughts were posted on this blog entry that I posted shortly after watching the movie.
This movie speaks about the importance of diversity. It teaches a good lesson and actually succeeds at entertaining. These days movies are either entertaining or profound. They’re hardly ever both. That’s what I love about this movie.
What can you say about Jerry Maguire? Tom Cruise may be really kooky but he makes damn good movies.
This was actually pretty funny. It’s one of the few movies that Keanu Reeves was good in. Brian said that. Actually, I agree. I’m not much of a Keanu fan but I will watch this movie… which actually says a lot. This movie overcomes two major hurdles: I don’t much care for football or Keanu Reaves. For me to actually like it despite these is an amazing accomplishment.
This has got to be the funniest football movie ever. I never saw the original but I would wager this one’s better. Adam Sandler rocks.
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Devastation, Desperation and Great Customer Service
Posted on June 17, 2006 by Ching under Life.
What a crazy day this has been! The day began with an early waxing appointment. I had to reschedule it from yesterday because I had a one o’clock meeting that I couldn’t miss. So anyway, after my waxing I noticed that my left earring is missing. I lingered around the room, carefully inspecting the floor and the bed to no avail. I peeked in the trash, carefully sifting through the less icky stuff on the surface – nothing.
So I told Patricia what happened and I showed her what my earring looked like and pleaded for them to call me if it is ever found. I told Brian what happened and he was really upset. It would have been different if these were just regular el cheapo earrings from Express or Target or something, but these were my Zales diamond earrings. We purchased them almost four years ago back when we were irrationally spending money like there was no tomorrow. They cost almost as much our 32″ TV in the bedroom.
I was totally devastated. I wasn’t going to start crying in front of strangers though, so we paid and returned home. We actually had errands to run but we were hoping that maybe the earrings fell in the house and we will find it on the floor somewhere. So we searched and searched. No such luck.
Brian was convinced that my earring came off during the waxing and maybe it’s in the trash. So we decided to return to Individually Yours to look through the trash in that room. I felt totally ridiculous asking for the trash but we were desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures. (more…)
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I Won First Place Last Night
Posted on June 17, 2006 by Ching under Poker.
So I finally win first place at poker after being in a rut for so long. I didn’t do too well at first session. I was hoping to place in the top 16 and qualify in the ten o’clock invite session. Brian had qualified for it at Heroes last week so he was already in. I usually don’t like having to play in the open side so whenever one of us doesn’t qualify we just go home. Brian doesn’t care either way because if we go home, he has WOW waiting for him.
Neither of us did well. I think my only consolation was I outlasted Brian after having been the one to get knocked out first the last few times we’ve played. My knockout hand was actually pretty exciting. Blinds were at 2K and 4K. I am sitting in the small blind position with a total of 7K in chips after posting my 2K blind. Sandy is sitting across from me. It goes fold, fold, call, fold, fold, fold, back to me. I should’ve known better than to try and steal the pot with Sandy calling but I was feeling pretty ballsy right then. I had a feeling I could get big blind to fold if I pushed all in and I could sense Sandy had a mediocre hand and she just wanted to see the flop for 4K.
I decided to push in my remaining 7K in chips for a total of 9K all in. It is only 5K more to call for big blind. He thinks for a moment and he folds just as I predicted. Now the action returns back to Sandy. She thinks about it for a long time which confirms my guess. She has a mediocre hand. If she had a strong hand like A K or A Q or even pockets she would’ve called much quicker. She reluctantly calls and, before even seeing her A 2, I knew I was beat. I wanted her to fold because I knew that my puny 9 10 would not hold up. I just wanted to steal the pot.
The first card of the flop is a 9 which gives me hope because that puts me in the lead. The other cards come and they’re 9 and A. Set! Nice! The A makes me uncomfortable because that gives her 2 pair and the tides could turn very quickly. I chant, “No ace! No ace!” as the dealer reveals the turn card. It’s an A. Slap! I get a set and she boats over the top of it. Incidentally, the second A gave me a boat too but it was a smaller one.
Anyway, I didn’t mind getting knocked out because I put myself in that position. Besides that Sandy is a great sport. She doesn’t gloat like other people tend to do. She is super nice and she went in with the best hand so it’s not like she called my all in with 7 2. Anyway, what a rollercoaster ride! That was probably the most exciting hand I’ve had in a while.
After I got knocked out and went over to Brian and proceeded to tell everyone about my “exciting” knockout hand. We stayed for the late game this time because Brian was on the invite. He and Dill, who is always on the invite because he plays poker a lot and places a lot, were assigned to the same table. Bill just happened to be on the open side last night, too. We were assigned to the same table. Alan (aka, “The Professor”) sat between us.
The second session was actually a lot of fun. Brian didn’t get a chance to switch to the open side because he didn’t get knocked out of the invite game until after break. He had to sit and wait for me. I went all in a few times after he got knocked out. As luck would have it, I ended up prevailing each time instead of losing and actually started to build a hefty stack. Once I had the chips I decided to start playing to win instead of trying to leave. I felt bad for Brian because he had to wait for me. Having been knocked out before him a few times, I know how boring it can be. Specially if you don’t bring anything to do.
Our table was actually a lot of fun. They were all good sports about it. I actually bluffed a guy out of a pot by going all in with 6 7. What was worse was he wanted to play really badly because he had his favorite cards, 8 9, and they were suited to boot! Bill was laughing because whenever we’d play together he’d always hear other people say, “She never bluffs. If she bets, she’ll usually have something good.” He would just shake his head because he knows better. He’s busted me on some bluffs before.
For instance last night, I raised pre-flop with A J. It’s a decent starting hand and if it’s fold, fold, fold, with only one other person in the pot, why not try to steal it? My mistake was that I was trying to steal the pot from Bill. Flop came Q 2 3. Bill checks and I immediately go all in. The key to winning hands is if you raise pre-flop, you have to continue the aggressive play.
Bill initially put me on a decent pocket pair because the Q didn’t scare me off. That is what I wanted him to believe. I only had A J. I missed the flop completely. I wanted him to think I had something and fold. Bill thought about it and after much scrutiny his gut told him to call. It was a good call because we all know I had nothing. As soon as he called, I knew I was beat. My mind told me that he would not have called if he didn’t get a piece of that flop. If he got a piece of it, no matter how small, he’s got me. Much to my relief, he reveals an A J which is the same hand I have. It was a split pot.
My point is, Bill has witnessed me try to steal pots many a time. He knows I can play pretty wreckless and pretty aggressive if the mood strikes. It’s important to shake it up a bit sometimes. You don’t want to be predictable. Of course, if you’ve played with me a few times I can’t help if you know my style of play no matter how spontaneous I try to be.
Anyway, the semi-aggressive semi-tight play worked for me last night. It took me all the way to the final table and helped me win first place. But don’t feel bad for the guy I bluffed into folding his favorite hand. He took second. =)
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