Monday, October 31, 2005

49ers

The 49ers won yesterday! And I was at Candlestick Park to see it. Being that this is the only pro-football game I've watched all season, and they won, must mean that I am good luck.
Considering they went into the game 1-5, my hopes weren't high. I was almost hoping they'd get their asses kicked so we'd be able to cut out early and beat the traffic getting home. We walked into the game with 11 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. Yes, we did not see the kickoff, because I was way too busy putting back various cold beers, grilling ghetto burgers and shooting the shit in the parking lot. And yes, that IS more important than football. Especially since the niners won in less than spectacular fashion. Well, any win for these losers is somewhat spectacular I suppose. Especially when the tickets were acquired for freeeeeeee.
However, despite my cool buzz, I did buy (2) $8 beers, which ironically was quite a buzz kill.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Poker

One bad call cost me the tourney last night.
Chips two buddies Johnny and Tim took 1st and 2nd in last night's tournament at my house. We had 10 players: Tim, Johnny, JoeO, ScottO, Nate, Chip, Chad, MikeM, Joe and SamD, $30 buy-in. freezeout. I played tight for the first 3 levels, catching mostly shit cards. I managed a steal here and there and finally took a huge pot with middle pair from JoeO. As the blinds started to punish me, I took a shot at a pot, with a middle pair semi-bluff. Unfortunately a horrible read on Tim, who'd been playing really fishy poker all night, pushed all my chips into the middle. He slowplayed a set of tens and killed my tourney.
Overall, I played really decent until that hand. I made several great reads, and one or two big bluffs. I'm really dissappointed in not making the money and I am itching to redeem myself.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Fun with Guns



Originally uploaded by !Habit Forming.
Happy 30th to me.
And to celebrate, Destroy some shit!
Here's a pic of me blasting a rabbit (clay) to shit! BTW, I nailed 6 out of 6 at this station.

Karl organized an awesome time doing my new favorite hobby. Sporting clay shooting!
Me, my brother, Luke, Rob, Utz, Karl, and Sean took our turns blowing away clay after clay at Coyote Clays in Morgan Hill.
For $50 a piece, we got the "experience" package: an instructor
50 rounds of shotgun shells, 50 clays, ear and eye protection and golf cart rental, as well as shotgun rental.

We shot clays in a variety of configurations, down to up, left to right, up to down, right to left, launched from a tower, lanched on the ground and a combo of either or.
I ended up winning the round completing 37 out of 50 clays.

So now I have to figure out how I'm going to acquire a shotgun of my own. All I need is $4000 for a Browning 525 field shotgun.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Turning 30

It's my birthday today.
Turning the big 30!

Damn, I remember being 17, thinking about what I'd be doing at 30.
Optimistically, I imagined being a successful designer or illustrator. I may have imagined being a photographer. But most of all I imagined that I would be old. Not rickety-old, but old. I imagined I might be married, maybe with a lil'Joe or two running around. I might've fantasized about being rich and famous (still do).
Actually, my life isn't too different from how I imagined it. I'm not "old," but I feel much more ,... experienced. Not married, no kids, but I'm with a woman I love. We have 2 cats and an old dog, which are sorta like lil'Joes (lil'punks). I'm not a successful designer, but I did just design a logo for a chiropractor. I'm not rich or famous, but I'm a professional artist (a small newspaper photographer counts right? kinda?).

30 years of life. It's a miracle. I'm short a mom, one grandpa, one grandma and an aunt. I've gained a million friends, zero enemies. I make a living, albeit barely. I create art. I learn something new amost everyday. I have a thousand hobbies. I'm a winning poker player, albeit in small stakes. I am a valued employee at my place of work. I earn a living. I'm a competent skier. I can spend multiple days in the wilderness with only what I carry to sustain me. I can make an argument for or against nearly anything. I love animals, and they love me. I've rated 2,824 movies on Netflix. I didn't vote for the Dubya.

Most of all, I have no desire to kill myself, so life can't be that bad.

Bullshit

I fail to understand why lawmakers feel justified in cutting spending on Medicaid and Medicare, while refusing to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy (and constantly giving themselves pay raises). How can they feel good about reducing medical help for the poor and elderly? That's the most amoral, unethical bullshit legislating I've ever heard of.

Conservatives continue to demonstrate themselves to be ruthless toward the less fortunate. While large corporations reap massive rewards in the form tax cuts from the government, the poor and unfortunate get a whopping $50 billion in benefit CUTS by the government.

One thing I do know. Something is terribly wrong with the leadership in the country.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Too much TV

I was up late last night watching the ole boob tube. Too much good TV to miss.

Frontline
First was Frontline. They featured an in depth story uncovering the accusations of abuses and torture which took place at Abu Ghraib prison and at Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay).
It was a very eye opening story indeed. Frontline is percieved to be a mouthpiece for the liberal agenda. That may be true to a certain extent, but it seems that PBS actually makes an attempt to tell many sides of a story, unlike SOME news shows. it showed the perspectives of detainees, soldiers at all levels, politicians, activists, administration officials and anyone else willing to speak to the producers. All in all the entire show was fascinating, informative, fearless and inspiring. Kudos PBS.

Nip/Tuck
Another twisted episode.
This one was the most satisfying episode yet. Christian is arrested by police (his GF's GF/detective/cop) who accuse him of being the Carver. Christian meets his estranged mother, who tells him his dark history. The end of the episode had a twist so satisfying, I almost needed a cigarette. Almost.

WSOP
The World Series of Poker Epsiodes 3 and 4 premiered last night. It was an excellent show, highlighting Mike the Mouth's blowup, dropping several F-bombs costing him 40 minutes in penalties. That's right, in this year's World Series of Poker, any dropping of the F-bomb, or as I like to say, "FUCK", resulted in a 10 minute penalty. Unfortunately they avoided the hotshot players like John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Chau Giang's table like the plague. So I didn't get to see very much of the real greats playing in the game. Probably because they are too cool headed to be the highlight, unlike The Mouth.
Overall, an excellent episode. Great TV.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Arnie in Rio



I found this on Caffeineguy's Livejournal. The picture is so funny, I had to steal it.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Odog


Odog
Originally uploaded by Joe_13.
My boy.

Poker night

Took third in my home game last night. $30 buy-in, 8 players.
Motuy won the thing in his first time playing at my pad. AaronM bullied his way to second place, after rallying back from some very questionable plays early on. Motuy played solid tight aggressive poker all night long. I played alot tighter than usual. Mainly due to being mostly card dead, and adjusting to AaronM's unpredictable play. I was able to double up with Cowboys when Thumbs overplayed his QJ preflop. From there I skated to the money when the two maniacs, AaronM and Luke, took turns tangling with each other and trading chips. Eventually Luke's constant bluffing attempts got the best of him when he made a ridiculous all-in call with Queen high. Then Thumbs self-destructed on the bubble, leaving me in the money.

Overall, I only made two bad plays last night. One was not going all-in as a shortstack with A8, which would've tripled me up. And the other was the last hand I played: I pushed all-in shortstacked on the small blind with Ten8 of clubs, instantly got called with KQ suited. Of course I didn't improve while Motuy caught a K on the flop to seal my fate.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Birthday wish

Oh, by the way, my birthday is coming up (Oct. 20th) and in case anyone out there is ridiculously wealthy and want to get me what I really need...

20D para mi

Did I mention that I have acquired a Canon 20D for work? The old D30 I was shooting with was falling apart. So I requested to the boss that we upgrade the camera. After three months of hinting that the old camera was about to die, they gave the thumbs-up. Now, I am a proud new user of a 20D.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Breakfast

Saturday morning, I made my special breakfast. Breakfast in bed for my GF who successfully completed her first session of nursing school.

String beans scramble over crispy potatoes

Here's the recipe.

3 potatoes diced
3 eggs
a handful of string beans
1 diced tomato
3/4 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1/2 stick of butter
salt pepper
hot sauce

Directions:
Melt butter in microwave
pour melted butter over diced potatoes and mix thoroughly
throw in a couple pinches of salt and pepper
Spread potatoes evenly in one layer on a baking sheet coated with vegetable oil,
Bake in 400º oven til golden brown turning once (15 minutes)

Sautee string beans in a saucepan with a tsp of vegetable oil, (4 minutes).
Mix eggs in a mixing bowl, add salt and pepper, pour over string beans and scramble til egg is mostly cooked.

Remove egg/string beans from pan. Place golden browned potatoes in skillet or oven safe casserole. Put eggs over potaotes, tomatoes over eggs and sprinkle cheese over everything.

Bake in 350º oven until cheese is melted. Garnish with chopped parsley or chives.
Add a dollup of sour cream and splash some Frank's Red Hot (or Tabasco). Serve.


Feel free to add crispy bacon, sausage, steak, chicken, or other assorted cooked mammals to this recipe to make it edible to us non-vegetarians.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Birthday plans

I've decided that for my birthday activity this year.
Guns. Lots of guns.

Coyote Valley Sporting Clays!
http://www.coyoteclays.com/


Gun rental, clays, ammo, ear and eye protection, and an instructor, all included for a measley $50. Hell, I can lose $50 playing online poker in about 10 seconds. $50 barely pays for one round of drinks.

Anyone who reads this ridiculous blog is welcome to join in on the carnage.
Saturday, October 23, 1:45pm at Coyote Valley Sporting Clays.

It's killin' time!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

All the food

One thing I love about San Jose, besides the weather, is that there is EVERY possible type of food in the world,... right here.
Within a half hour drive will get you ANY kind of food you can think of. OK, there might not be an obscure cuisine like Sudanese food here, but, I bet I can find something really close to it around town.
American food: BBQ, Western, Southern, Eastern, fusion, pizza, pasta, plus...
Chinese, cantonese, shanghai, szechuan, hunan, dim sum, taiwanese
Japanese, sushi, soba, teppanyaki, sukiyaki
Hawaiian
Thai
Korean
Vietnamese
Cambodian
Indian
Pakistani
Greek
Middle Eastern
French
Irish
British
Italian
German
Portuguese
Russian
Mexican
Cuban
Brazilian
Ethiopian
Spanish
Malaysian
Peruvian
Jamaican
Carribbean

I know that there isn't that kind of variety in Nevada, so my assumption is that only the major cities would have access to the eclectic choices that we have here. Just make note of the fact that I can literally have any of these cuisines at any reasonable time I want.
How dope is that?

Nip/Tuck

Who's addicted to Nip/Tuck ?

I know it's totally a guilty pleasure. But this show is so freaking entertaining, I can't resist. Most of the story lines are totally absurd, the "family" is completely dysfunctional, the characters are over-the-top, the son looks as old as the dad (and looks like a scarier version of Michael Jackson), and there is an overload of gratuitous T&A and a whole bunch of disgusting graphic surgical procedural reenactments.
It's a twisted look at the life of two plastic surgeons who have everything going right and wrong at the same time. And it's very addictive.

I have to say, F/X is making strides in the forward progress of TV programming. While the networks are pushing shit/crap like Seventh Heaven, Everwood, Three Tree Hill and various other garbage, there is hope for people who like their television filled with grit, violence, sex, drugs, and nudity.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Monster



I'm almost finished reading Monster: The autobiography of an LA Gang member. Monster is a memoire written by one of South Central LA's most notorious killers. As a member of the Eight Tray Gangster Crips, Monster Kody Scott popped many-o-caps into the bodies of his enemies and since ended up behind bars. What makes his story so unbelievable is the fact that he did much of his killing before the age of 16. In his book, Scott tells about being shot at while riding his ten-speed down the street, and unloading shotgun blasts in school yards, about chopping off an enemy's arms at the elbows, being ambushed and nearly killed and getting sent off to juvenile hall, then to jail.
This book is one soldier's account of life in a war-torn America. He describes this dangerous world as a combatant, an insider as candidly as possible. He transforms himself from a ruthless murderer filled with hate and ignorance to a preacher of black unity. Through education, with role models, Scott transcends the ghetto mentality. But it is too late.
This book is the product of one guy's lesson learned from a life of crime.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Proscuitto Ad

An idea for a commercial.

Dude1 and Dude2 are looking at a halfed loaf of bread topped with lettuce and tomatoes on a countertop. They are looking at it, seemingly confused.

Dude1: What IS that?
Dude2: uh, ( squints and looks closer ) .. Hm, I don't know.

Dude3 walks up and places a few slices of proscuitto on it.

Dude2: OH!
Dude1 and Dude2: It's a sandwich!

Joe's Lunch Meat,... It makes a sandwich.