Ramblings

There have been no posts on this blog for a while. The fact is that my life is utterly mundane these days. There is no point in rehashing my daily routine (a very basic one at that), so I decided to leave it blank.

That said, I’m thinking about restarting my work out log. My finger is still not healed all the way, which is unfortunate. I climbed a bit when I shouldn’t have and I might have messed it up. I’m still not going to go to the doctor (at least yet)…we’ll hope it heals on its own. (The only thing I can really think of is a tendon tear or something and surgery being needed).

With that said, I’ve been doing a ton of cardio lately. I briefly flirted with the idea of training for a triathlon. In the end, I probably don’t have enough dedication to do so though. I’ve started to swim again and I’ve really enjoyed it. The endurance part is tough, but it’s an incredibly good exercise. I’ve also been doing some yoga and I’ll hopefully go once or twice a week.

As far as options go for my future, hell, your guess is as good as mine. I’ll probably start working part time at the rock wall, which should help out for some park ranger jobs that I could possibly get. Though, the demand for said jobs is pretty insane, so who knows.

I’ll start a work out log. Might as well keep my progress on something.

Sustained the second climbing injury in my climbing career today in my right tendon. The first injury I sustained was a long standing finger sprain which took weeks to heal. It wasn’t until I went to South America and I stopped climbing for a while that it healed. Today I heard a pop and my ring and middle finger both hurt alot right now. I don’t really feel it’s a tear as I can still do some slight movements with it (type/etc)…but I’m in pain when I try to climb or grip things.

My friends have sustained the same injury before and they said it took about a week of recovery time. This is insanely annoying for me, as climbing is my main form of workout. I suppose I’ll have to do treadmill/bike and such for this week break.

Sad part is that I can’t even really type that well right now. I can’t click my mouse that great either, which is a damper on my starcraft 2 play. Maybe this is for the best, and I’ll go and read some books/do other things for the time being.

I’m sure I’ll post some random shit throughout the week. Just really frustrated from my dumb injury. I can’t even imagine having a 6-month + long injury. Ugh…

I’m currently a poker software tester and consultant at mindsport5 Poker, a new Facebook app. It’s an app that allows players to play poker for free with the chance to win real money prizes each and every day (with a weekly leaderboard prize as well). I was quite hesitant to take this job and I still am questionable about the success of this company. Not necessarily in the sense that this is a poorly run company, but in the sense that it’s a startup in a heavily saturated market.

Zynga dominates this current market, generating hundreds of millions a year. If mindsport5 can even get a small piece of it, I think that there will be some decent potential. The fact that ms5 pays real money is somewhat appealing to the general population.

So yeah, I’m not really sure about it. I guess I figured that, even with a decent potential of never getting paid, my time is still worth very little right now. So if it turns out that ms5 goes to hell, it won’t be the worst thing in the world.

As for other jobs, I still hope to one day be a park ranger. The process is difficult though and I’m still learning more on how I should format my resume/etc.
——————————————————————————————-

I think I might start doing a workout log again despite not needing any extra motivation for it. I still work out 5x a week on average, mostly climbing stuff with 1-2 cardio days. I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing today given it’s rainy outside. I thought about going to Yoga but we’ll see. I’m fairly happy with how I’ve been climbing lately and I’m getting decently stronger.

————————————————————————————————

Cool links:

Alex Honnold, a free soloer-

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383158n

Wingsuit Flying- (closest thing to flying right now, fantastic)-

http://youtu.be/LhmzmOwkRuM

No real updates. Sorry for the lack of posting, I just haven’t had anything meaningful going on lately. My standard routine is pretty boring: Wake up around 10-11am, sit on my ass for a few hours. Mix in some computer games and reading while at night working out.

I’ve been doing some more coaching the past few weeks and I’m happy about that. Despite not playing much the past few months, I still feel sharp enough to discuss and coach small stakes NL. Maybe it’s like riding a bike, I dunno…just seems so easy to discuss some of the topics/theory.

As for the dumb question that I receive every 2 seconds – “So what are you going to do now?”- I have no clue. I’d like to pursue a different career path for the time being in a National Park Ranger. But in order to do so I need to actually finish up my resume. I’m insanely lazy and things are moving slowly.

I’m working on a stupid little project right now that is totally unproductive and a waste of time. HOWEVER, it is something I enjoy alot and enjoyable. Enter Barcraft, a stupid event that groups starcraft 2 players around the world in bars, where they can enjoy watching starcraft 2 tourneys while drinking with friends. Novel idea, right?

Anyways, I’m organizing this event with a friend in Council Bluffs, IA/Omaha area. I got a local professional sc2 player to commit to the event, so I hope that he comes through with it. I’m excited (and a tad nervous) for this thing to go down and it will be interesting to see.

Our Facebook Page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barcraft-in-Council-BluffsOmaha/112809512158734

So yah, good stuff.

I’ve decided to hold off on martial arts for right now. Being out of work right now has really made me more conscious about my money and spending. While martial arts isn’t a huge burden financially, I am trying to trim down on some expenses as well as improve a bit more on rock climbing. Workouts have been fairly good for the most part though; I’ve started to run a bit and also reintroduced swimming.

Anyways, that’s all. College football is back and I suddenly have something to look forward to every single weekend. Fantastic. Oh, and more FTP news came out today- apparently they are more scummy than we originally thought. Check out any news media outlet for that stuff. GL GL GL

This post is a reflection on the death of a fellow poker player. Thuy Doan was only 25 when she died a few days ago. She was very well known throughout the poker community and will be missed greatly.

I met Thuy a few years ago in Vegas, at a Leggo Poker party. My friends and I just thought she was some random chick at the party, unaware that she also played poker. Hearing that she actually did play was a surprise to us. Seeing a female play competently is a rare sight in the poker world, and over time, Thuy gained the respect of men and women alike.

Her death has affected me in numerous ways. Though I wasn’t close to her, Thuy’s death has made me realize how short life can be. She was courageous in her fight through cancer and documented her journey through her blog and twitter.

(her blog is here- Thuy Doan Blog)

I mean, how fucked up is this entire situation? You just wake up one morning and you find out you have a tumor in your leg. The tumor grows and soon you’re dead in like…2 years from the discovery. Unreal.

Sometimes I forget how good I have it. Not only are there millions around the world struggling each and every day to survive, but there are also people like Thuy, who get fucked for no reason whatsoever.

What an awful situation. It sucks when you see something like this that you can’t control in the least. You want to think “oh, I’ll try really damn hard and I’ll beat this thing.” But it’s not even up to you or your courage or your stamina- all of that probably has little effect in the grand scheme of the problem.

Thuy touched hundreds of lives in the poker world. She will be remembered. RIP Thuy Doan, life is too short.

September 2009 from her blog- “This is a tough spot but don’t feel bad for me. My life is still great. I have amazing people in it, a profession that I’m passionate about, and the potential for an incredible future. It’s a life worth fighting for and this cancer is just a hurdle. I won’t let it destroy me. I will beat it. Just watch.”