Florida Gators: SEC Champs!

I’m still getting used to the idea that we’re playing for the National Championship in a few weeks. It seems as though we’ve been struggling since the second half at Auburn, and yet we’ve done nothing but win since that game. Here are my thoughts on our win over Arkansas in Atlanta last weekend:

We had our best offensive showing since LSU. Hopefully we’ve turned a corner and we can take advantage of OSU’s soft defense.
The final score didn’t really demonstrate how much we dominated Arkansas. We had four pass interference calls on our defense; two of them kept an Arkansas drive rolling and both of those were terrible calls. Both of those bad calls led to an Arkansas touchdown on the subsequent play. Half of their points were on plays that never should’ve happened.
Leak threw two interceptions, but I think both of those were due to Arkansas calling tricky coverage as opposed to Leak making bad decisions. All in all, he played a great game and made good decisions all night.
Our freshmen had a really big night, which is good news for us in the Championship game. If they show up in Glendale like they did in Atlanta, we’re going to be a very dangerous team
Meyer’s fake punt call was probably a “bad” play call, but I love it from a psychological perspective. Our team had lost momentum and we needed something to happen to change the tone of the game. That play was exactly what we needed and it was a very well designed play.
Wilbur is a fantastic punter and he had another good game on Saturday. It was nice to see him make some big plays to win the SEC Championship, help get us into the National Title game and start erasing the memory of the blocked punt at Auburn. It was also hilarious to see him mock Arkansas’ punter at the end of the game.

Now, I just have to see about getting tickets (game and plane) for Glendale. So far, it looks like the trip will cost about $2000 and I’m not sure I want to spend that much money. I’m also not sure I’ll forgive myself if I pass on the game and we win.

Road trips!

Road trip 1: Tonight, for the first time in about three years, I went running (outdoors and everything!). I’ve been doing various cardio exercises–ridin’ the bike, the crazy elliptical thing–for a few years, but I hadn’t gone for a run in a while. It was actually pretty relaxing and wasn’t as tough as I anticipated. I went about 3.3 miles in 30 minutes (nine-minute miles). That ain’t great and it ain’t awful. On the up-side, I did have to run a bit of a hill, so I’ll tell myself that slowed me down a bit.

Road trip 2: Tomorrow night, I’m heading to Atlanta to watch the Gators in the SEC Championship game. When I was a student, we pretty much expected to play for the SEC Title and we were always hoping to get into the National Championship game. Nowadays, playing for the SEC Title is a big deal and I want to be there if we win it. Also, it’s a pretty good excuse to go hang with my friends in Atlanta (I haven’t been since last Christmas). So, I’m leaving right after work tomorrow and I should get there around 10:00 tomorrow night. I’ll be heading back on Sunday afternoon.

Road trip 3: In honor of all the road-tripping, I picked up Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (audio book). I figure it’s just a bonus that Beatniks likely weren’t opposed to partaking of the acid from time to time (of course, that’s speculation based entirely on some stereotype I have for reasons I can’t recall).

Turning over a new leaf

I’ve been posting on my blog for almost five years, and I’m probably the only person who consistently reads what I write. While it’s always been true that my primary audience is myself (more specifically, it’s my future self; Marty?), I know that there are a few others who sometimes read it. Over the past few months, a few of those readers have mentioned that they liked what I wrote before the poker posts infested the place, but that they’ve been pretty bored since then.

My friends’ subtle reminders have reminded me that I should take more time to get my thoughts down, so I can refer to them later. Of course, I enjoy all things poker, so I don’t anticipate I’ll be abandoning the poker posts, but I hope to begin supplementing the blog with some more substantive posts more reflective of my life and thoughts. So, I’m going to start trying to post something meaningful at least bi-weekly (I almost wrote “weekly”, but that seemed a little too ambitious since I’m extremely lazy). I have no idea what I’ll write about, but I’m hoping inspiration will strike at least a couple times a month.

I’ll start working up my first post this week. I think I’m going to write about two financial philosophies I discussed with some friends last night. I’ve also got an almost-finished post I wrote a while back after I finished reading The Prince.

We’ll see how long this lasts.

Crazy week

About a month ago, I moved out here to work for a small software company. I no longer work for that software company… because we were acquired by a larger, public company. At first, I was a little nervous since I’m the new guy and the new guy is typically the first to go if there’s any kind of reduction in force. But, as I thought it over and spoke with my boss, I realized that I don’t have anything to worry about. First of all, the acquisition has been in the works for a few months, so they would’ve had to incur the cost of hiring me, moving me, etc., all while knowing they could let me go. Obviously, that wouldn’t make very much business sense and since I know the people I work for have a lot of business sense (they did just sell their company for a nice chunk of change, after all), I had to figure they wouldn’t make such a costly mistake. Also, a good friend of mine approached me about working there–I didn’t pursue the company so much as the company pursued me–and I couldn’t see my friend leading me to move out here, only to be canned a month later.

So, after a lot of thought and several excellent meals on my new company’s dime, I’m pretty sure I’m good to go. Really, the best thing is that I know have more career options since I now work for an 800-person company rather than a 40-person company. Before, the only vertical potential was basically my boss’ job, and I don’t think he’s going anywhere for a while. Now, there are several places I can go within the company, and I can probably get there relatively quickly since the company is growing very rapidly.

Florida Football winning, but battling silliness

It’s true that we’ve had some close wins against mediocre teams, and we’ve had some close wins against great teams. Our only loss was a close one to a good Auburn team on the road. I haven’t seen the strength of schedule numbers recently, but I’m guessing our schedule is one of the most difficult. So what I really don’t get is why USC is already being anointed as the one-loss team bound for the National Title game. They lost to an unranked Oregon State and they’ve only beaten two teams who were ranked at the time they played. True, if they win out, they will have played a pretty tough schedule, but they still don’t have to play a conference championship game, and they certainly won’t be playing any Top 5 teams in the next few weeks.

We’ve beaten two ranked teams (one Top 10) and our only loss is to a ranked team. We’ll also likely meet a Top 5 Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game. Another thing to consider is that the quality of opponent in the SEC is just better than that of the PAC-10. We’re a stronger conference, but because our teams play defense, we’re being called weak.

I just needed to get that off my chest. If we win out and don’t play for the title, I think we should offer to switch conferences with USC, Texas or some other “big” team for a season. That would be interesting.

Florida Football limping, sputtering to wins

Well, it’s been several weeks since I posted (I guess I’ll need to be more intentional with finding time to post), and the Auburn game remains our only loss. Our wins haven’t been impressive, but they have been wins, and we’re in the driver’s seat. Although a bye might be nice next week, I think it’s good that we’ll have a tune-up game against Western Carolina. We need to work on our offense and hopefully find some kind of rhythm. Our defense and special teams seem to be just fine. Actually, that’s a pretty big under statement… our defense and special teams are pretty awesome. They’re really the only reason we’ve won games since they just don’t allow other teams to put any points on the board.

I’m pretty tired so it’s time to wrap this up. We’re winning games and possibly en route to a National Championship appearance (thanks to some pretty big upsets today). I’ll take it.

Florida Football shoots self in foot

I’ve been meaning to write about Gator football for several weeks, but I’ve been distracted with changing careers and moving back to Gainesville. Anyway, here’s my assessment of the season so far:

We’re good. Really, really good. Our earlier games showed that we’re a strong team with talent on all sides of the ball (I’m lumping special teams in there, too). We’re tough and able to finish games, we have a very potent offense and our defense is stifling. The Chris Leak, Tim Tebow duo is easily one of the best quarterback rotations in the country right now (and is probably one of the better ones in Florida football history). It’s been really fun to watch this team improve and I think we’re the favorite to win the SEC right now.

All that being said, we stunk in the second half at Auburn. Auburn didn’t outplay us, they didn’t out hustle us, we beat ourselves by making several stupid mistakes. I think the first half showed how good we are and the second half showed how dumb we can be. We were clearly the better team and we just melted down in the second half. They brought more intensity, but we were our biggest enemy. Their offense scored only three points in the second half, but our special teams gave up the winning touchdown.

I could rant about that for a while, but the bottom line is we made several stupid mistakes and it cost us. I think there’s a good chance we’ll play Auburn again in the SEC Championship and we’ll beat them by at least two touchdowns if we do (I feel like the magic number is 17 points, but I’m only predicting two touchdowns).

We coulda’ been a contender. We can still be somebody if we can win in ATL in December.

Home, sweet home… When do we eat?

I’ve officially moved to Gainesville and I’m starving. I left yesterday morning around 10:00 (CDT) and I arrived in Gainesville around 3:00 (EDT) this afternoon. I think I made pretty good time considering I was driving a big moving truck with my car in tow. In retrospect, I’m pretty surprised I didn’t hit anything or flip the truck. Also, it turns out I’m pretty competent when it comes to backing up trucks with trailers attached.

Anyway, I haven’t eaten in about nine hours, so I’m going to get some dinner. Hopefully I’ll be able to partake of some kinda’ local food.

EDIT: I ended up eating at Mi Apa Latin Cafe. It’s a nice little Latin place near my old place (which is actually someone else’s old place). It was quick, tasty and their menu is pretty good. They have a lot of different fruit juices for those who like that kinda’ thing. The papaya juice was a little tart for my taste, but that’s probably because I used it as a chaser for my Coke.

I have a lot of updating to do, and I plan to start this weekend. I need to talk about my life since the move, Florida Football (I’ve been remiss vis-a-vis all things Gators lately) and probably a bunch of other stuff. I’ve been sick, so that’s my excuse.

My last night in Plano, TX

Well, after about two years and nine months, I’m leaving Plano to head back east. I’m mostly excited and a little sad to be leaving, but I think all the sad will be gone in the next couple days. I have been feeling very melancholy for a few days, but I think it’s mostly been due to my innate resistance to change and my fear of the unknown. Although I didn’t like it much, I have spent a couple years here making a life for myself and I’m about to leave that life for another. Intellectually, I know this is the best thing I could do; but emotionally, I feel like I’m giving up, like I’ve some how been defeated.

Of course, this is nonsense as defeat implies some enemy, which I don’t have. And I’m not giving up, but fed up and seeking something more fulfilling. I can’t wait to be near my family and friends, to find a church, to not spend most nights planted on my couch. It’ll be nice to have other peoples’ couches as options, too.

Two and a half years ago, I had dreams of becoming an actor, and I won’t concede that those dreams are dead. For now, I feel more inspired to pursue writing, but I haven’t closed the book on acting. As I move back to Gainesville, I’m not going to make any predictions about what I will or won’t do in the future. That being said, I do have some goals: write something meaningful, win a major poker tournament, find a fulfilling career path, and a few others which I can’t really articulate. For now, I’m just focusing on the present as I want to be sure I make this transition as smooth as possible.

I’ve spent the last several days tying up loose ends and seeking closure. I think I’ve done pretty well and I don’t anticipate feeling that I have any unfinished business out here in Texas. I’ve tried to go to all my favorite spots, see all my friends and say goodbye to acquaintances. Most importantly, I’ve reflected on my time here and how it’s affected me as a person. I have a very clear picture of who I was when I got here and who I am as I leave. I’m very pleased with how my time here has gone, and I’m anxiously anticipating the next phase of my life.

Au revoir, Texas. Au revoir.

Tournament of Champions recap

Tonight was the Tournament of Champions (TOC) for one of the groups that I’ve been playing with this year. I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to write up a full recap, but here’s a brief summary:

I was basically card dead all night. That being said, I did pick up a few nice hands, but I never got any action on them. I had AK once and took the pot down with a re-raise pre-flop. I had AA twice, QQ, JJ twice and 33; I didn’t get any action with any of those hands. I busted with AJ vs. K5s when my opponent tried to make a move and I picked him off. Here’s that hand (it was one of the most interesting of the night):

We were three-handed at the 500/1000 level and I started with about 15K chips (I’d been hovering around 15K for a couple hours) and I was the BB. The button limped, the SB folded and I raised to 4K with AJo. The button moved in pretty quickly and I called before he had his chips in the pot. He showed K5o, the flop was AKK and IGHN. The SB said that he had also folded K5o.

That was pretty much it. My best hand of the night was a King-high straight that I made in the first level for a very small pot. I never had trips. I never had two pair. I think I flopped top pair once or twice (once, I had to fold to a raise by a guy who flopped a flush). I made some very good laydowns and some excellent reads. Most of the pots I won were pure bluffs. Once we were three-handed, every pot I won post-flop was a bluff.

I finished 3/10 for $600. I also played a $10 last longer against four other guys and I won that. The prize pool was $2500 and we each put in $50 more to make it $3000. We played for about 5.5 hours.

All in all, I was very satisfied with my play. I doubt I could’ve played any better. I was disappointed to finish third, but that’s just the way the cards fell. I was only all-in once and the best hand didn’t win. As I look back on the year, I’m floored by how far I’ve come as a tournament poker player. I thought I was decent back in January, but I just didn’t have a lot of live experience. I think I’ve played about 100 hours of live tournament poker this year, and my game is much the better for it. More importantly, I played against a variety of opponents and that forced me to be more flexible in my game. Even tonight, there were only 10 guys at the table, but they ranged from ultra-tight to fairly LAGgy. Seeing so many types of opponents has made me much, much better.

There’s still another TOC in December for the other group I’ve played with this year. As of right now, I’m in line to get a seat in that tournament, but there are three more tourneys before the end of the season. If I still have enough points at the end of the season, I may fly back to play that TOC as well.

Bittersweet transition: reflections on my impending life change

Without waxing poetic, I’d like to scribble down some of my thoughts over the past few weeks. These will mostly be disjointed, stream of conscious kind of thoughts:

I’m very excited about my move to Florida, and I know it is a completely positive change for me. Nonetheless, I’ve been feeling pretty miserable for the last few days. I think my problem is that, good or bad, I just don’t like change. Big transitions always scare me, and I really hate moving. I have an intellectual understanding that this change is necessary and will ultimately make me much happier, but I hate the idea of turning my life upside down.

I sent out an e-mail to many of my co-workers to say goodbye, and I was curious if it seemed appropriate, so I asked a friend to take a look at it before I sent it. He gave it his stamp of approval and said not to worry about it, he’s not very good at goodbyes either. That got me to thinking: Is anyone good at goodbyes? I’ve heard people say they’re no good at goodbyes hundreds of times, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone claim to be good at them. I think we’re all really awful at goodbyes because we’re built to create and build relationships, not extinguish them.

I can’t decide whether I should write a detailed account of my last few months at work here in Texas. On one hand, I think I learned a lot of valuable things and it may be good to write them down for future reference. On the other hand, I think it might be a good idea to just let everything kind of fade into the background. Most of my thoughts on the last few months would probably turn into criticisms of some form or another, and I don’t know if I want to write a long, detailed criticism.

A while back, I talked to a co-worker about my transition to Florida. When I told him I was moving back to Florida, he asked if I grew up there and if my family is there. I told him yes, and he immediately said it was good to try to live near family. He told me he’d turned down several job offers around the country because his family is here in Texas. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but then I saw him again today and he said, “You’re doing the right thing. It’s important to be close to your family.” It was encouraging to hear someone tell me I’m doing the right thing. Although I’ve been acting (and even feeling) confident in my decision, I realized that I had been ignoring a lot of doubt about whether this truly is the right thing for me. I didn’t even realize I needed encouragement, but it was nice to be encouraged.

This actually reminds me of my last night emceeing back at school. I had just finished up the meeting, business as usual and, on my way out of the auditorium, a friend just walked up and gave me a hug. This was pretty unusual for me because I don’t exactly give off a “hug me!” vibe. As stupid as it sounds, I really needed a hug and didn’t even know it. I was about to face a big transition and I was very anxious about it, although I didn’t let on. I’m not really sure what my point is… Maybe I’m just realizing that sometimes the little things really matter.