Mission WSOP

Armed with feedback from my small readership, I will attempt to write a more solid blog entry tonight.  The grind toward $2k continues to bode well as the bankroll went to $233.09 tonight.  That’s +$11.80 for you math wizards out there.  I wish I had more time to devote to playing as I think I could really go higher with my goal.  I hit the nearly $12 mark in less than 40 minutes and am loving playing mostly stud.

So, why the limited time?  Let’s break down a typical day in the life:

9 AM - 10 AM: At some point in this hour, I roll out of bed.

10 AM - 11 AM: Check work e-mail, personal e-mail, send information to store teams (I’m a District Manager for Blockbuster Video), call stores, check voice mail, check work e-mail #2, call more stores.

11 AM - 11:15 AM: Shower, dress, out the door.

11:15 AM - 11:30 AM: Hit Wawa, grab a Red Bull, eat some toasted ravioli.

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Drive, listen to Howard Stern in between calling stores and returning customer complaint calls.

12:30 PM - 4 or 5 PM: Visit a store, log the visit.

5 PM - 7 PM: Varies… sometimes it’s just checking work e-mail again sometimes it’s returning more phone calls.  Tonight it was teaching a New Hire Orientation class until 8:30 PM.  Occassionally, I have to interview, hire or fire someone too.

7 PM - 8 PM: Drive home.

8 PM - 11 PM: Varies (especially the arrival time home).  Sometimes I spend some limited but valuable time with Lisa (my girlfriend), sometimes I get a chance to dig into playing poker early, most of the time it is spent combining one or both of these activities with catching up on my massive DVR recordings.  And somewhere in there I have to eat.

11 PM - MIDNIGHT: Hit the gym.  I try and do 2 miles on the treadmill, exercise my torso and abs and then stop at Wawa on the way home for a pint of milk and a banana.

MIDNIGHT on: If my perfect schedule works out then I’m hitting the online tables at an earlier time than normal.  I catch up on the news through my Newsgator account or on Yahoo and fit in some time to blog and if necessary any work I let slide through the cracks that I can complete at home on my work laptop.

Around 4 AM: Nap… I can’t call it sleep anymore… sleep would be more than 4 or 5 hours.

And this is a less hectic day.  No fire-drill conference calls or issues in stores or the day having to start earlier because I have to drive to a Maryland store or have a debrief with my boss.  I estimate that I have slept 20 hours in 4 days this week.  That’s roughly the amount of Red Bulls and Moutain Dews I’ve had.

I mentioned Newsgator earlier… this is a dream come true for me.  If you are not familiar, Newsgator is an RSS Reader.  Basically, an RSS reader allows you to sign up for various News Feeds (including the Mission WSOP blog) and check in for the latest updates on a daily basis.  Tonight I found that I could link to Norman Chad’s articles in the Washington Post.  His latest article talks about how it is impossible to make any form of gambling illegal because people will always find away to drink, gamble and make whoppee.  His words, not mine.  It’s one of Chad’s less funny pieces but a slam dunk once again.  Chad has to be my favorite writer and I’ve been reading his stuff for at least 15 years.

The Newsgator Feed Reader is amazing because it’s like setting up your very own online newspaper.  Never will I have to worry about accidentally reading an article by Michelle Malkin again. (How am I doing with the links?)  While I’m new to Newsgator, I am an instant fan and recommend it to anyone who is a news junkie like myself who just has failed to find the time to sit down and enjoy a newspaper.

Poor Becks!  It looks like David Beckham is not going to be able to play this weekend where his expected debut with the LA Galaxy was supposed to occur.  The ankle is too swollen and he left just a glimpse of hope for those waiting to see his debut.  The annointed savior of American soccer has said he may step into the game late.  "I’m here for five years.  I’m not here just obviously for the game on Saturday."  Maybe I’m a bit pessimistic but I feel like the Beckham-era will be more prima donna than premiere player. 

More Bad Newz for Mike Vick.  Despite his apology to Falcons’ team owner Arthur Blank, animal rights group PETA is planning to protect in front of the NFL league offices in NY on Friday morning.  Last time a public figure experienced this Don Imus was fired… let’s see if this forces the NFL to take action.  Vick’s new shoe has been shelved by Nike and it probably doesn’t help that PETA has planned to tell its’ 10 million members to boycott Nike, too.

So many roads this nightmare of a situation could go for all parties involved but it would be nice for Vick to ask the team for an unpaid leave while he handles the business of a federal trial but then again, who am I to ask a guy to walk away from $6 million.  The guy hasn’t been convicted yet so I really don’t see how the league or the team can react until due process has been followed.

I’m not sticking up for Vick in any way.  I just think these ultra-sensitive groups consistently overreact prior to all of the facts being sorted out.  The difficult part is that in the end, they are probably right to call for such a swift action taken… it looks bad for Ron Mexico.

The best news of the day was that Vick’s trial was assigned to US District Judge Henry E. Hudson.  Hudson is known for keeping trials moving and US District Court in Richmond is known as the "rocket docket" for getting cases handled quickly.  No word on whether or not Vick has considered Rocket Docket as a name for his next canine purchase. 

Finally, Poker After Dark should be excellent Friday night (well… Saturday).  If you can stay up late or DVR it, the final four of Poker Analyst Week is going on and Gabe Kaplan is the chip leader.  Mr. Kotter is always fun to watch and I’m glad to catch the replay of this since I missed it a few months ago.  Joining Gabe will be Mike Sexton, Phil Gordon and Howard Lederer.  All week, Kaplan has been on point with his play and his humor and it’s been a great week on one of the best poker shows on TV.