Remember that time when I said I was going to try and make a substantive post every two weeks? Me neither.

So, here’s what’s been up since my last post:

Well, obviously, we’re more than SEC Champs these days. Since we whooped up on OSU, we’ve become the first school to hold both the basketball and football National Titles in the same calendar year. I don’t have much to say about that except that it’s great to be a Florida Gator. Oh, and I feel we’re a strong favorite to repeat in basketball… and look out for us in football next year.

Speaking of next year’s football team, it looks like Urban Meyer is a recruiting genius. But we don’t have a chance next year because we’re losing so much on defense, right? I don’t think so. I think our defense was great this year because we had a lot of talent, but also because we were so well coached. I think after spring practice and our first couple games this fall, we’ll be back on track. Also, our schedule is much more favorable this year and our offense is going to put up some serious numbers. I think our coaches will have the defense ready (though maybe not quite as good as last year), and our offense is going to put up better numbers this year. I think this year’s offense will make last year’s look pretty timid.

Moving on, um… I’ve been reading a lot. I recently finished reading Tipping Point. It was excellent, and it helped me have a new perspective on causality. It was interesting to get a better picture of what can make things “tip”. Here’s the analogy that comes to mind for describing what a “tipping point” is: Paper burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit; it doesn’t burn at 450 degrees (in theory, or whatever). It’s not that 450 degrees isn’t hot, but that 450 degrees isn’t hot enough to cause the paper to burn - to tip. At 450 degrees, the paper is just hot; at 451 degrees, everything is on fire. But there’s not much difference between the two numbers. That one degree is just enough, in addition to the previous 450 degrees, to make a bunch of stuff happen and finally catch the paper on fire. And so it is with social epidemics - things will often be going on as they always have, and then some small thing suddenly causes those things to become something bigger and much more obvious. The book basically tries to break down the individual factors that contribute to something reaching its tipping point.

I am currently reading Fast Food Nation, which is pretty boring, but educational. I guess I’m learning a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in the “food industry”. The book goes through a brief history of “fast food”, then goes into the specifics of where most of that food is produced, who produces it and how very evil the whole process and industry is. Ironically, I keep finding myself craving a good hamburger while I read it. That ain’t right.

I’ve had a good run playing poker online recently. I spent some time working on my cash game, had a really, really good run, then took a break when the law of averages roundhoused me in the face (but still ran at about 5BB/100 hands for about 5K hands). I jumped back into MTTs and recently had a pretty big score in a $30 tournament. There were 113 people and I took 2nd for $678. Normally, I’d be very pleased with that finish except I battled back from a 2-to-1 chip deficit to a 10-to-1 chip lead (over about 25 minutes of solid heads-up play)… but then I lost a coinflip (AKs vs. TT), a 70-30 (King high vs. QQ), then lost another coinflip (all-in on a QTx flop with two hearts - I had KJo, he had 8h7h and flushed the turn). By the time all that was over, the blinds were so high we were just gambling. I lost one more flip and that was it.

Anyway, I’ve been to Jacksonville several times over the past couple months and I’ve enjoyed being able to get home so easily. I’ve seen my family several times and I’ve spent time with some friends too. It’s nice to be able to head up to Jax whenever I want, and it’s especially nice that I don’t have to burn vacation time or like $500 a trip. As I think back on my time in Dallas, it really seems like it was just an extended internship or something. I never really felt “at home” there, and I was always in a “wait and see” mode. I knew I’d either move west to pursue acting, or I’d move back east to be near my friends and family. Texas was never really a long-term option, and I’m really glad I ended up back in Florida. It’s hard to describe the overall increase in my quality of life since I moved, but it’s pretty drastic.

I bought a digital piano a few weeks ago. It’s a Kurzweil PC88 and it’s in pretty great shape, especially considering it’s probably 10 years old. I have been surprised how much dexterity I still have, and it’s been fun playing “by ear” instead of just reading sheet music. I can tell my musical ear has definitely matured since I’ve been playing the guitar. It’s nice to be able to just sit down and play something that’s in my head (at least a slimmed-down, easy version). Hopefully I’ll stick with it and become pretty decent.

I think that’s about all I have for now. I’ll try to make it back before April.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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).

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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 trailors 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.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

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.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I’ve accepted a job offer in Gainesville, FL and I’ll be moving back in a couple weeks. I don’t have too much to say about it now, but I’ll write more soon.

UPDATE: I’ll be leaving Dallas on Monday, October 2 and should be arriving in Gainesville on Tuesday evening. My original plan was to work through Tuesday or Wednesday, but I decided there’s just not much to do here, so I figured it’d be easier to pack and load the truck on a weekend.

The rest of my time here will go by very quickly. I’ve already started packing my stuff into boxes (my bedroom and closet are essentially done) and I’ll continue packing throughout the week. Friday night, I play a local Tournament of Champions, which is a single-table tournament with a $50 buy-in and an additional $2500 overlay. I’m positive I can win this tourney and it’s a deepstack event, so that makes it even more likely. Saturday morning, I’ll pick up my moving truck and start loading it up. I’ll work on loading the truck through Sunday night. Monday morning, I’ll start heading back to Florida. Right now, the plan is to stop off around Jackson, Mississippi on Monday night.

Once in Gainesville, I’ll start unpacking pretty quickly and hopefully be done moving in to my new place by Thursday. Then I have to do all the usual “new resident” stuff like getting my car registered in Florida and eating at Newberry Backyard BBQ. Saturday is our Homecoming game (homecoming indeed) against LSU. Sunday, I’ll probably visit a church and rejoin the basketball league I played in while at school. Monday and Tuesday will be more of the “new resident” stuff and I’ll probably start work on Wednesday, October 11 or so.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I’ve noticed a disturbing fashion trend here at work: lots of dudes’ pants are way, way too short, or they’re hiked up way too high. I don’t pretend to be a fashionista (indeed, I have a pretty unique “style”, but it centers almost exclusively around comfort and largely ignores aesthetics), but I do try to make sure my pant legs cover my socks. I just think it looks a little odd when some guy shows up to work with a nice shirt and tie, capris pants ensemble.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

A friend of mine recently called to ask if I would recommend some books for him. He wanted me to recommend good stuff that he was probably supposed to read in high school, but didn’t. He also mentioned that he wanted to read stuff that might be be fodder for allusions and pop-culture references. Finally, he’ll be listening to these books on audio books, which he’ll borrow from the library. Here’s what I recommended:

• Animal Farm – Very short political allegory about the Russian Revolution.
• A Prayer for Owen Meany – Long, but an excellent, excellent story. Occasional language, but not much at all.
• Catcher in the Rye – Medium length, good, classic story. The language is occasionally kind of rough because it’s written from the perspective of a teenage boy.
• 1984: This is a pretty long book, but it’s referred to a lot (both directly “Man, that’s straight out of 1984!” and indirectly, “That’s totally Orwellian!”). It’s very interesting, but dry reading.
• Fahrenheit 451: Shorter book, and a pretty interesting read. It’s about censorship and how governments try to control people… I think one of the more interesting aspects of this book was that it was written in the 50s as a futuristic book, and some of the author’s predictions into future technology are spot-on.
• Scarlet Letter: This is prototypical “Early American Literature”. It’s a medium-length book, pretty dark story. This is alluded to pretty frequently (I just saw it referenced on a TV show a couple nights ago).
• Catch-22: This is a very, very funny book. Heller’s sense of humor is almost exactly like mine (very dry, sarcastic), and he’s a fantastic writer to boot. It’s basically a satire of the American military. It’s pretty long, but very good. I think there may be some mildly “dirty” content… it is about soldiers after all!

I was careful to let him know when a book might contain cuss words or otherwise risqué language because he has two young kids and I’d hate for him to be cruising along with his two-year old, listening to Catcher in the Rye when Holden drops an F-bomb, dirtying up junior’s vocabulary forever.

That is all.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites