My new spam filter

This topic could probably go under my "General Annoyances" entry, but since it's something I will likely have to deal with every day (except Sunday and holidays) for the rest of my life in the US, I thought it deserved it's very own entry.

If I had a spam filter on my physical mailbox at my house, I would likely have 3 extra minutes of time every day. It's beyond ridiculous all of the crap that I get. If I accepted all of the offers I get, I would likely have 150 Capital One credit cards, I would have refinanced my house 124 times since I bought it (almost 2 years ago), and I would have 10 different lawn services working in my yard.

It's definitely at the point where that mail is almost completely worthless to me. Aside from the occasional magazine I get to which I subscribe or get for free, I have no need for it anymore. Invariably, nearly everything I get is immediately thrown in the trash, most of it without even reading it....bills, take care of them all online....checks, direct deposit....letters, get them on e-mail...nothing else worthwile. The only thing that I can think of that I don't get online is a water bill, which of course is a 3x5 index card which I never seem to get anyway as it's probably stuck in the Gardner White mailer that I receive 3 times a week. I honestly can't recall paying a water bill in a long time. It sure isn't because I quit using water.

Oh well, there is no good close to this topic, so that's it.

I need some Derby scratch...

Since the Super Bowl, I've been running bad, betting bad, etc.... Through some frivilous spending and poor budgeting, I've allowed my bankroll to slip to the lowest point it's been in over a year.

So basically, I need to build up some money. The first step is to win/earn some spending/gambling money for the Kentucky Derby in less than 2 weeks. To do that, I've decided to go back to my bread and butter, and exclusively play the $200 SNG's on Partypoker. I also decided to give the regular SNG's a shot, foregoing the faster and more frantic Turbo version of the SNG's. I realize that I may be sacrificing my hourly rate by doing this, but I also think I will be able to decrease my variance and improve my ROI (return on investment). I haven't played any SNG's for a few weeks (aside from a few cheapies with the girl on her account), so I feel re-invigorated.

Before I started last night, I had an abstract goal of 2K in earnings by the Derby. Assuming a conservative 10% ROI, this would require playing 93 SNG's. Possible, but not likely, especially being the non-speed variety. So I guess I just have to run good.

I played about a 2 hour session last night, keeping 3 SNG's open at a time. The first one I made a miscalculation and moved in with Ah9h on a 6 high flop. Too bad my opponent had 99 and eliminated me in 7th. I won the next 2 that I finished, then grabbed a 2nd, finished 7th when my KK ran into AA and grabbed third (losing with AA to 99 all-in preflop). All told I played 6 SNG's with 2-1st, 1-2nd and 1-3rd for a nice $1700+ profit.

Generally I will get more than 6 of them finished in 2 hours, but I tried to keep extremely focused, and only kept 3 of them open.

Hopefully I can build on this result in the next few days and go on a major heater. I will be happy just meeting my goal, but after nearly getting there in 1 day, it will be a disappointment to not build on it further.

The honeymoon is over

A few weeks after the "Boston Lobster Feast" crab leg fiasco, I decided to roll the dice and have some crab legs along with my steak at "Outback Steakhouse". As the title indicates, the honeymoon is definitely over, and me and crab legs will be taking an extended break from one another. Within 4 hours of eating them, I had severe stomach issues. Part of it was our last week of basketball, with the gym very hot due to the warm weather and the fact that it's an elementary school gym, but I would say the crab legs were the straw that broke the camel's back.

General annoyances

I've been kicking around starting a bitching blog, about certain things that just annoy the piss out of me. This list will constantly be added to as more things come to my mind. After a month or two, I should have a pretty good list, and realize that I probably shouldn't socialize with people.

• Traffic lights that are out - 4 way stop signs aren't that complicated, and people handle them with ease every day in residential neigborhoods. So what is it about the 4-way stop being on a main road that causes all hell to break loose
• Construction - I realize that living in Michigan makes it a living hell every Summer, but is every project an 8 month long fiasco? The construction is made worse by the assholes that ride in the left lane all the way down to where it narrows. This is a civilized society, chances are you are less important than me so wait your god-damned turn. They should make a Budweiser Real Men of Genius commercial for the guy that plays sheriff with his large truck/SUV and blocks the 2 lanes of traffic to stop these dildo's from cutting in line.
• Customer Service - Customer service in retail outlets continue to go downhill as people get more and more lazy. I am a very easy person to speak to in a store, generally when I go there, I know what I want, how I want it, what I'm going to pay, etc....in essence I do my homework before I get there. All that I require is a brief acknowledgement of me being in the store, and perhaps the associate pointing me in the right direction. What I don't need is you sitting on your fat ass behind the counter, chatting away with your co-workers pretending I'm not even there.
• People who park 2/3 or more shaded to one side of the line, forcing me to either match their parking job, or risk having all of the paint removed from either my driver or passenger side door. Is parking really that difficult that you can't park straight???? Trust me, you aren't that important that you can't take an extra 30 seconds and straighten your shit out.
• People who "must" back their cars into their parking spot. This usually happens at work, and invariably, they are the ones who can't park straight in the first place.
• Restaurants that insist on having their employees sing some stupid Happy Birthday song to a middle aged person. You can tell the dishwasher in the back who is just mouthing the words doesn't want to be there. You can also tell that the annoyingly perky waitress in the front loves this part of her job as well. (This annoyance is not as valid when dealing with a child's birthday.