Come Oct. 1...

Here's the latest in my monthly lifestyle experiments. Sober October will begin on 10/1/08. It's pretty simple. I will not drink alcohol for a month. I can still do the chicken dance, eat bratwurst, and enter a Stein holding contest...just no delicious German lagers.

"Well that's boring," you might say. And perhaps it will be. I really have no way of knowing, since I don't think I've gone 30 days without a drink...well...since I started drinking. That was likely somewhere in my mid-teens.

I'm blogging this one early, as the days leading up to the month long abstinence period will likely be intentionally filled with debauchery in a "binge and purge" effort before the long test.

Stay tuned.

FAIL

Again, pure exhaustion will keep this post short.

Oppressive heat will force me to run the 10k indoors. I am going down to the gym here at the Rio to hop on the treadmill. I will just set it at 6.2 mph. I'll let you know how the knee holds up...but it feels pretty good.

$10,000 playing poker with only a $500 investment? FAILED. I am loser on the trip and have already invested more than $500. Sigh. I had been riding an up and down roller coaster throughout the trip, but yesterday was particularly cruel to me. I will waste no time or energy in detailing the specific hands. It's just variance. When you consistently fall victim to the negative side of variance...that presents a problem, because see...you need money to play poker, and if you keep losing...well...you won't have much money for too long. I will try again next year.

I have the rest of the day to think about what I would like to accomplish in July.

Reeeeally quick.

In vegas. Been here since thursday night. I am down...but barely...on the trip. What a roller coaster. I will detail it more when I get back. I am just too tired right now.Another chance in a tournament tonight.

Woo. Gonna end up running the 10k here. Tomorrow.

HOKAY....SO

Here's the deal. I have not run the 10K yet. I will have to do it while I am in Vegas. Yes, it will be very hot. I leave tonight at 7:15

Redneck Hubris

I pwned that piece of clay.

Pics

Frustration

After having rested the knee for over a week, I took it out for a test drive yesterday at lunchtime. I probably got about 1.5 miles at a very gentle and slow pace before I felt the knee start to flare up. Its a sort of radiating "heat" on the outside part of the knee...the side. I stopped before it really started to hurt. I walked back to the gym and got on the Precor for 15 minutes, but the irritation had already begun as a result of the jogging and I had to stop after 15 minutes. Sigh. I'm no doctor and I am reticent to self-diagnose, but after talking to a lot of people, this really sounds like an MCL strain. I'm told that if I had actually torn the ligament, I would know it, and the pain would be much more intense. In any event, I am still looking for a sports medicine guy if any of you runners or injury-prone readers know of somebody good.

Also, if anyone has a brace that I can use to knock out this 10k, I would appreciate that as well. If running it proves to be more damaging than positive, I will simply hope on the Precor and get it done that way. I know its not the same (the pain and impact involved in running was a big part of the challenge) but I'm not going to just give up and do nothing.

More bad news on the poker side of this little challenge. I lost another $220 since I last updated the total. It was at my home game on Wednesday. I was up and down all session and sailed off my stack a few times by making big hero calls truly based on my read of the situation. It proved to be correct (the read) on two occasions, unfortunately my hand was not strong enough to beat my opponent's bluff. In these situations if you are sure of yourself and want to continue, it's obviously better to raise. Unfortunately both times I was in a position where I didn't really have enough raising chips to push my opponent off just in case they had a tiny piece of the hand and felt committed to a thin call. So, what does that all equal? JUST FOLD DUMMY! You don't have to try to pick off every weak tell you pick up on! It's called "picking your spots" and its something I continually fail to do at the home game. There is a very interesting dynamic in that everyone is playing metagame...since we square off against the same opponents week in and week out.

Despite all that, I managed to get my stack back to around par but then lost with JJ vs. AQ AIPF. That makes me about 3-9435 in coinflip confrontations. And then later I flopped a set and got snapped off by a J high flush draw that had been betting the whole way and got there. Sigh.

Well, the last stand will be at the WSOP next weekend. Maybe I will cash right before the stroke of midnight on the 30th. :)

MPH

Imagine one afternoon you are driving home from work, and just as you approach your house, a car smashes into you. At first glance it really appears there was nothing you could do about it. You were on a narrow street that you had to traverse to get to your destination, and even though you might have seen the car coming, there was absolutely no way to avoid it. You’re not hurt badly, just a few cuts and scrapes, but your car is all smashed up. It costs you money to get it fixed.

So, you go and get it fixed, but one week later another car smashes into you. Again, you are not badly hurt and the only real damage is monetary, but you have insurance so it’s not going to break you.

Amazingly, the very next week it happens again. You become understandably annoyed. Even with the insurance, this is starting to become expensive and troublesome. It is also unpleasant, and despite your best attempts, you begin to feel unfairly targeted by misfortune. So, despite logic…you begin to drive a different route. It takes longer and is not the best way to get home. It reduces your efficiency, but because of this string of incidents, it feels like it may be prudent to change something to try to break the cycle.

A week or two passes with and things seem to have returned to normal. But then one day you’re cruising along, it’s a beautiful day…BAM! ANOTHER CAR SMASHES INTO YOU! You can hardly believe it, but what can you do? You got get it fixed. You decide that there is no reason to be less efficient by driving a different route if you are just going to get crashed into anyways. You lament your frustration to your friends. They too have been in crashes, and offer that it is merely coincidence…but nonetheless they refuse to let you ride in their car for fear that they will get smashed into merely because of your presence.

You consider stopping driving altogether. But when you analyze the situation you can find no real reason why you should get involved in more of these accidents than anyone else. Nevertheless, you and others notice the unusually high frequency of occurrence and are perplexed by it. You become frustrated and feel put upon. As you are driving along one morning on your way to work, now completely paranoid and frazzled, concentrating all your efforts on being defensive, you watch as another car driven by a coworker goes zooming by you with the radio blasting swerving across 5 lanes of traffic at 110 mph. At one point he actually goes into a spin but somehow recovers it and gets to work 10 minutes before you. Upon arriving at work, you learn that he just got the raise and promotion hat you had been trying for.

Apologies for not posting

Well, its been awhile since I posted. I had been waiting for the professional pictures from the Mud Run, but the Pendleton site hasn't posted the photos from our day yet. I have some here that Scott took, and I think there a bunch from after the race that were on somebody's digital camera.

The Run was a lot of fun. I know...waking up at 6 am, so you can drive to Oceanside, and then sit in single lane traffic for over a hour after getting on base, so you can park and then take a bus to the race area...all so you can run 6.1 miles in the mud might not sound like fun...but somehow it was a blast. We will definitely be going back next year.

There was a group of us running together and because of the slower than normal pace that I took, I wasn't too affected by the side cramp. My knee however, is a completely different story. I'm not sure when or where the original injury took place (I seem to vaguely remember twisting it during a snowboarding trip either last year or further in the past) but its certainly something that has bothered me from time to time for awhile now...but nothing like this. I literally limped through the last mile or so, sometimes skipping along to try to keep as much weight off it as possible. After getting home I iced it down for hours. The pain persisted for a few days.

Suffice to say, I have not run on its since. Even light exertion makes it flare up, as I experienced at JBC on Sunday. I did get on the Precor elliptical trainer at the gym yesterday and put in a good 30 minutes with no pain at all...so that's good. I plan to get my stamina back up that way while taking all the stress off the knee. Obviously, I should get it looked at, but I need suggestions as to who to see. A Sports medicine doctor? Honestly, Ive never been to anyone for anything like this, so I don't know where to start. Input is welcome and greatly appreciated.

Will this stop me from this month's goal? No way. Unless someone tells me that I am running the risk of serious permanent damage, I will gut it out and get it done. I will just get a brace or band or whatever I need to hold everything in place.

On the poker front...well things were going along smoothly and I hit a losing streak yesterday and the day before. I had been very swingy, playing a lot of Omaha 8/b online. People play WAYYYY different online and its very spastic. There is almost no reason to ever limp/raise in Omaha preflop unless you are just a gambler and want to pump the pot. The fact is there is almost no way to really get a good assessment of where your hand is until after you see a flop. Even AAK2 double suited can get counterfeited in an instant. Oh well, it was a juicy game both days and I believe I was +EV. An unfortunate thing happened yesterday in the game where I was obviously a victim of collusion. A player actually typed into the chat box telling another player that he had a "low", after the other player hesitated to call a bet on the river. Sure enough the opponent made a super thin call with only two small pairs and took the high portion of the pot, while Mr. "Low" took the bottom end. I reported it Full Tilt as it was an obvious case of collusion where the cheater accidentally typed the information he was providing to his buddy into the poker window instead of his instant messenger. I lost $400 in that game. Who knows how many times I got squeezed out...lame. I'll be staying away.

I played some live cash last night as well. It was an 8/16 holdem game and I was running poorly. Many missed draws in a wide open game half full of fish, and then one guy that flopped set after set and hit every two pair imaginable to stack up more than half the chips in play (he eventually left with 7 racks). I eventually cut my losses after hours of grinding down and went and sat in a NLHE game. I promtly tripled up there and then added a little more to get me positive for the session. But then I flopped top pair a few times against short stacks and had to double them up. This is where game selection becomes soooo important. Two action players left the game to play at a higher stakes table and the action dried up...along with the money at the table. This is not a good scenario as you too often will have to open up your starting requirements and then get trapped/priced in when a short stack moves on you. I even texted to my buddy that the game had dried up, but yet, I continued to play in it. MISTAKE. I stopped the bleeding and got up a $175 loser for the session. At first glance it looks not so bad seeing as how I was in for over $400 at my low point. But a second examination shows that i was actually positive $150 and allowed myself to sit in a shitty game with lots of "gotcha" problems that I know enough to avoid. That's bad. There is always another poker game another day. Dont stay in a bad one just becaause its late and you're looking to make a score before bed. Bad, bad, bad.

So here is the long and short of it. I was up $2375 for the month prior to this losing streak. This knocks me down to $1655. I owed myself money (quick explanation when your poker bankroll gets to $0 you have to replenish with your own cash) and I had to pay myself back. That leaves me quite short...and honestly without enough cushion to play much live action. So...its back to the tournaments. I can still do this! It's just one or two final tables away!

Setback

Well I ran the Camp Pendleton 10K Mud Run on Saturday with Melina, Frankie, Steph, Sean, Scott, and others. It was a really fun time. They had obstacles, walls, mud pits, river crossings, serious hill climbing, etc. I definitely did not go non-stop, I walked a few times to wait for the rest of my group. So, nope, I have not achieved that goal yet. Many pictures were taken, I just haven't gotten them yet. I will edit this post and include them when that happens.

I hurt me knee again. Its one of the ligaments...ACL or MCL or something. I don't know which one. Its been bothering me off and on for over a year, but I really messed it up this time. I really have no idea when the original injury occurred...but it was probably snowboarding. Anyhow, I was laid up all day Saturday and Sunday with ice on it. It feels pretty good today, but suffice to say, its going to make my goal of a non-stop running 10k this month quite difficult if its doesn't heal quickly. I should really get an MRI and see whats the matter, but I've got to find out what kind of portion I would have to pay outside of my insurance coverage.

The poker remains as it was since my last post. I played last night and broke almost dead even. I'll likley play some more tournaments this week. I'll keep you "posted".

Cheers

For June

Let's just start a whole new blog for this month.

Click here to go to 10K June.

Early progress.

Just a quick update. I'm easily running a 5k in about 22 minutes now. That's nothing to brag about, but its an improvment. I had another nice jog around Washington DC yesterday. I am still plauged by the side stitch. The point at which it strikes me varies, but it shows up eventually. I have two friends that are distance runners, and I'll try to utilize their expertise and see if I can do something to stop it or avoid it. Some people say "you just gotta power through it." That does not work for me. When it strikes, its a matter of minutes before it becomes absolutely debilitating. I can hardly walk, much less breathe.

I've been running hot in online poker tournaments lately. I've had 3 final tables in the last week, but I will exclude any results before I set my goal...(conveniently since I lost most of it back in cash games) So, last night I invested $20 in a tournament. There were 653 entrants, and I finished 6th. That was good for $956. The blinds were huge at the final table and I had to go broke with KQ suited after I made a button raise and got put all in by the BB. At first I was very disappointed in myself for going broke with that hand, but after I ran it through a few times, I realized it was almost unavoidable in that situation. It's still very disappointing though as I was average in chips before the hand began...and first place was $4700. Ouch. That would've put me halfway to my goal really early.

Ok, more later.

Reflections

Well, I will not make this too long or dramatic. $500 May was a success for the first time since I started doing it a few years back...likely because this is the only year I really took it seriously. I finished with $34 to spare. Next year it will be $466 May. I'm sure I can beat it. I missed out on a public transit subsidy that my company provides...and I definitely splurged towards the end.

So what did I learn? Well, nothing that I and you probably didn't already know.

1) Walking is good for you. The skating and nightly trek up the hill on top of my normal exercise has strengthened my legs and increased my stamina. You also see more when you have the time to look around. And apart from the chances of a random sliding SUV running you down...its probably safer too.

2) Eating out is really really expensive. Just taking my old eating habits into consideration, I saved about $800 on food this month.

3) We (most of us) eat too much. Having to ration out my servings left me hungry at first. But once I got used to eating normal portions, I realized I just don't need much food.

4) Driving is overrated. Am I giving it up completely? Of course not, unless I get another speeding ticket and the court forces the issue. Riding to and from work takes more time...sure...but if you budget it properly you're really not losing it. If anything it affords you the opportunity to more of those things you've "been meaning to get to." I read 4 books, and caught up on lots of sleep. Oh and another thing. No road rage...ever. Sit in the back and kick your feet out. You can't get annoyed by the people on the road if you can't see them.

5) Schedules aren't a bad thing. "Break free. Don't be bound by social conventions." Without discounting those ideas, I can say that having to be at a given corner, at a given time, every day, instills reliability...not to mention a courtesy that seems to be absent far too much 'round here'.

6)Documentation. Writing for all of you, helps me. It allows me to gather up my experiences and reflect upon them in a meaningful way. That's it. I promised I wouldn't get dramatic.

So its a new month and the blog gets a new name. 10k June. It's a duel goal.

1)Run a 10k without stopping. I've gotten close in last few months, but sooner or later the debilitating side cramp gets to me. There simply has got to be a way to get around that. I will have my first opportunity this weekend at the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. Likelihood of a non-stop completion: a very optimistic 30%.

2)Win $10k playing poker, without investing any more than $500. I know it sounds grandiose at first, but I know its possible. I've gotten to a point where I need to acheieve a goal like this ( or get close) or seriously think about just hanging it up. I've got far too many leaks that will continue to break me if I don;t make major changes. Hopefully the same sort of dedication that I applied to my last goal will carry over to this one.

It should be noted that the first goal is the more important of the two.

Getting off track...I guess I need another day to reflect

The summary of $500 May will have to wait a bit longer and June is starting off with other interesting stuff that is occupying my mind.
I'm in Washington D.C. I flew in last night and will be here til Friday attending a course put on by the NAB. It runs from 8-30-5 everyday, so I wont get to go to many of the museums. I did take the opportunity to go running around the capital today. I haven't been here since I was a kid, but my internal compass sort of brought me the right direction. Here is the route I took.

May 31st

I celebrated my last workday in May with a little fiesta at lunch. We keep a grill out back by the HVAC equipment. I grilled up some chicken and had a Coors light. Yay. I grabbed a party hat out of the supply closet and sat in the breakroom eating my Sriracha Chicken and drinking a beer. Surprisingly I was given no funny looks.



I had no occasion to ride the bus today, so this tattered and torn pass has only sentimental value now. I am still debating as to whether or not to buy another pass for June. It seems to only make sense with gas prices rising through the stratosphere, but I've has reservations because I will be out of town for much of this month. I will definitely continue to shop for my meals. I had never really quantified just how much money I was flushing down the toilet by eating out every day.

I spent more money today. In fact, I spent the most money on a single meal on the last day of the month. $20 went towards my tostada salad, calamari, and dos equis at the Jolly Time restaurant in Old Town. That leaves me with $34 and 3 hours to spend it. I just might.

I'll offer my final insights on this little experiment from the road. I am leaving for Washington DC tomorrow at noon. I'll be there all week.

Amtrak Vs. Trolley

Amtrak win. It's more faster.

Well, it's day 30, I have $53 left, and one day to go. I could have driven to work today, as I still have gas in my tank from my purchase yesterday, but you know...I figured it just wouldn't be right to not ride the bus in on my last day. I don't know if more and more people are starting to ride MTS because of the gas prices, but the bus was more packed this morning than I have ever seen it. And it was hot. I suppose the weather was so agreeable for the whole month I never realized that the bus either 1) is not air conditioned 2) has a broken air conditioner.



I brought a couple pieces of chicken and some beers with me today. The plan is to have a little fiesta at lunch and toast the upcoming end of $500 May. But I will offer no eulogy or epilogue yet. We still have another day to go.

Cheers.

Day 29

Gasoline is $4.25 per gallon at the Shell station by my house. I know this because I bought some gas this morning. It was unavoidable. I have to pull a strange shift at work that is going to leave me here very late. There is no route that runs at 3:30 in the morning that is really practical, so...I drove into work again today. I put $20 worth of gas in the car to make it go. I also spent $7 last night at a Chinese restaurant. So, the splurging continues. $53 and 2 more days.

I is tired.

The Home Stretch

To recap the weekend: Melina graduated Cum Laude from SDSU on Saturday afternoon with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. I attended with her family. Afterwards, we immediately hopped in my car and drove to Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage to spend the Memorial Day weekend with friends. The house we rented was massive and very accommodating. I took a video, but the file size is too large to post on blogger, so I uploaded it to youtube. It should be finished uploading by the time I'm done writing this.




All I can say is that the weekend was as relaxing and as perfect as I could have hoped for. I really can't wait to go back. There is something about the desert that instantly puts me at ease.


Gas was almost exactly $60 for one tank (thank you..come again), and bills were almost precisely $150, so the numbers posted in the previous entry are mostly accurate. That leaves me with about $80 and 5 days to go. At this point it is hard to think that I would go over. I've noticed that this has brought about some level of complacency, so I've decided to try and finish up without spending another dollar. Its seems plausible, as I have enough food to last me through the week (even after bringing a whole bag of chicken to share in palm springs) and no more planned expenses. I suppose I should plan some kind of mini-celebration for the 31st...

Very quickly

I'll make a real quick blog post here while im on vacation. Its sunny and 80 and Rancho Mirage and im anxious to get back out by the pool. I'll make a more complete post tomorrow or Tuesday. The pictures tell the story. CLick on any of them for a higher resolution.

This one is gonna be close!

As I was standing at the bus top at around 5 pm yesterday, a co-worker stopped and asked me if I wanted a lift. I kindly refused but then he mentioned that he lived near me and that it was no problem. "Besides" he said, "this way I can use the diamond lane." How can I argue with that? On the way home I mentioned that I had to go to Costco later and get a bit more food to last me through the month. He said he had to grab some stuff too, so we just went straight there. They didnt have the same awesome value for a giant bag of frozen chicken as the last time, but they had something similar. I picked up two bags of chicken and a 6-pack of egg-whites for a total of $39.89. I bought the Coca-Cola Zero (as in ZERO flavor) a bit later for $4.97 I will bring one bag to Palm Springs with me for the weekend, along with 3 cartons of egg whites (I will be the breakfast guy). The rest will easily last me through the last week of May. So, since I last posted numbers I have made a few purchases and paid bills. We were at $352.26. Since then I bought a $0.42 stamp, two $0.65 snickers, $15 on a night out, $44.86 on the food items pictured, and today I will spend approximately $150 on cable, internet, electricity, gas, and water. That leaves me at about $140.68. I will spend at least $60 on a tank of gas to get to Palm Springs and back. So its gonna be close! I drove my car today. It kind of smelled like gas for a bit when I first started it. Is that normal after its been sitting for awhile? I took it becasue I have to fill up the tank tonight before leaving for vacation tomorrow. And while I really do enjoy being able to sleep or read on the way to work...this isnt a bad way to go either.

Full disclosure

I will put all of the photos I've taken this month here...and try to keep it updated.

$500 May

In other news I plan on paying utility bills today. I will be back shortly with a total.

Picture this...

Apologies for no photographic evidence on this one, I let the battery die on my camera. It's in the charger now, but I'm kicking myself for not getting a photo of something that happened on the ride into work today.

The bus was unusually packed when I boarded at Old Town. Also, we had to wait a little while before getting on because an enormous man in a motorized wheelchair had to be accomodated. The way this works is that the bus actually "kneels" down using air bags, and then deploys a ramp to allow the handicapped person to roll on. Once on board, the seats in the front are folded up and the wheelchair is secured by the driver using safety straps that are built into the floor and frame of the bus. This effectively removes 5 seats. All the other seats on the bus were occupied, and for the first time since I started riding transit, I had to stand for nearly the entire ride to work. Hey, no big deal, I'm happy to use my legs and grateful that I have them.

One of the stops before I get off is the VA hospital in La Jolla. This is where the majority of the passengers disembarked, including the massive man in the wheelchair. The driver got up and unstrapped everything, but the chair wasn't budging. The driver tried and tried but the thing wouldnt move. The chair itself had malfunctioned and was broken. The man in the chair started to offer advice on how to find a handle that would release the brakes...a sort of "manual override". But the poor driver just couldn't get it to work. Frustrated by the driver's ineptness, thats when the 400lb.+ man STOOD UP, picked up the motorized wheelchair by one end(had to weigh over 100 lbs.) and shoved it down the ramp. My mouth agape, I watched as he exited the ramp, flipped some knobs and switches on the chair, sat back down and sped away.

And the rest of the story

Saturday night took me over to Grantville and to a friend's fully catered home poker game. The food was fantastic. The company was great. The game was action packed. My luck was shit. I learned a new phrase from another player, "Eating like a bird and shitting like an Elephant." I mounted a significant comeback towards the end of the night, but didn't make it all the way back. I hope I will get another opportunity to try. I got rides to and from the game...thanks...so I did not need to ride transit, though I had planned on it originally. So, I spent $0 on food and transportation. The next day would hold more of the same.
Sunday was another gorgeous day. We started it out by boarding the Hornblower Inspiration for a 2-hour brunch cruise around San Diego Bay. I had been out on the evening "booze cruise" a few times, but in all the years I had never gone out for the brunch edition. I definitely recommend it if a leisurely cruise around the harbor and a buffet meal is the kind of thing you enjoy. Not more than a few hours passed before I found myself eating yet again, this time at a friends backyard BBQ/pool party extravaganza. I should be clear that i am not actively seeking out free meals. It just happened that way.

MP debut and mail.

After weeks of excuses, I finally got up on stage and "performed" at the open mic night under the name "Moon Patrol". People briefly wondered where the rest of the band was. I played a cover of a Lemonheads song, and two originals...concluding with the soon-to-be smash hit "Swimming in the Sky". I was really surprised by how nervous I was. My stomach was in knots and my voice wavered. On the first two songs I sang everything an octave low for fear of being screechy and off-key. Instead, it ended up being a sort of a flat quiet mumble. I relaxed by the third song and felt more comfortable on stage, enough to move my eyes from the microphone (where they had been transfixed) to the faces in the crowd. I forgot the last line of lyrics (how do you forget your own lyrics?) but ad-libbed something that worked and actually rhymed. Oh, and I think I also booked the all-time lowest "Fingers" score ever. I'm not...uh...I'm not...I'm not good.

On Friday night, I splurged and spent $15 on dinner and drinks. I knew I would be eating like a king for free in the upcoming days so it was not a irresponsible decision. Saturday was a gorgeous day and the early part of the afternoon was spent at the beach. The marine layer was hanging over the coast so the sand by the bay would have to suffice. What a wonderful, 100% free, way to spend a day. There happened to be a car show going on at the park that we chose. I certainly hit my quota for Corvette viewing for the year.
The IRS recently contacted me and asked for back taxes from a poker tournament win in 2006. I neglected to claim it on my return that year because the Rio failed to send me a W-4 or 1099G or whatever for they should have sent me. I figured that they didn't report it so I didn't write off my losses. Turns out they did. So I had to mail the IRS an amended return claiming the losses that would offset the winnings. This required me to purchase a stamp. I honestly cannot remember the last time I used the mail to send something, so I had no clue that a regular first-class postage stamp now costs a whopping $0.42. Jeesh. I scrounged for two quarters and went by the midway post office to make my purchase from a vending machine.

The rest of the weekend a bit later.

Admission is free, pay at the door. Pull out a chair and sit on the floor.

I almost caved in today. I was tired and in a bad mood and just did not feel like waking up early and getting to the bus stop. I was just going to take my time and drive my car whenever I was ready to leave. I was very close...but at the last minute I pulled myself together and got down to the bottom of the hill on time.

Last night was Wednesday poker night. The first part of the evening was mostly entertaining. Later on, a tragic comedy played out that I will not detail here. Let's just say it left me questioning many things, not the least of which is the subconscious impulses that many let take control of them on a regular basis. So , yes, that is why I awoke tired and disenchanted.

I'm halfway through the month and have about $350 left. I'm definitely going to spend more money on food this weekend, enough to last me through till the end. I will have a more solid idea of where I stand after that, but things look optimistic that I will come in well under $500.

Mercury...

I've heard about high levels of mercury in tuna...mostly bluefin. Apparently, it pools in the base of your spine and is generally not a good thing to have in your body. I've googled it and most of the articles and posts I've seen are in reference to sushi or sashimi. Can anyone offer me some information on this subject? Is there mercury in my lunch? How much? Is even a little bit too much? Should I stop eating it? For the record this is cooked solid white albacore.

Low blood sugar

I just bought another candy bar. -$0.65. $352.26

Outlook

Today is the 13th and I'm at $352.91. So its looking pretty good. An honest assesment of the food situation reveals that I should probably allocate another $50 or so towards grub. I'm just ripping through those chicken breasts at night. Im eating 2 or 3 instead of the 1 or 2 that I had planned for. I figure one more bag should be sufficient.

Entertainment is going just fine. When you're forced to do things that don't cost any money, you get a bit more creative with your time. I'm doing more reading, writing (obviously), and getting even more exercise apart from my daily walks and skates to and from the transit stops. I'm getting as creative as I can with my photography given the simple nature of my camera. I might be drinking too often. When you don't have to worry about driving anywhere, its easy to drink more frequently. I'm not drinking to excess, mind you, just more often it seems. That might have something to do with the numerous bottles of whiskey I received for my birthday back in March.

I've not considered what to do with the extra money should I come in way under $500. Suggestions?

JBC, Mom's Day, and a drive.

Rigorous exercise on a Sunday morning is probably less difficult when you aren't battling a hangover. I wouldn't know as I am yet to try it. After reaching the point of physical exhaustion through a series of squat thrusts, jumps, lunges, iron crosses, and other forms of medieval torture...the group was then humiliated by trying to walk in a crouch, pausing to balance on one foot, from one end of the park to the other, with our eyes closed. We looked like we were hunting for Easter eggs. Boot camp is free (for now), so another "fun" activity I can participate in without threatening my goal. So, finances...I gained an unexpected $8 the night before, basically wiping out the impromptu meal from the the taco shop. On Sunday I purchased my mother a card...for $4.30. We gave it to her at a nice brunch in Del Mar. I offered to contribute up to $0.49 towards the meal, but was told to just hold onto it until June. We got a free whale watching show out of it as well. A pod swam by while we were eating.
I had to go into work on Sunday night. I was going to be in late, so I checked the routes and was disappointed to see that my way home (the only one available that late on a weekend) would take me almost two hours. Knowing that I would have to be back in early the next morning, I elected to drive my car. It didn't technically cost me anything as there was still gas in the tank. After leaving work, I took advantage of having my car and drove to the Palomar club to play cards. I sat down and rather quickly was up $200. Two hands later I had already lost that $200 in a very silly manner. I was irritated enough by it that I thought it best to leave before I did something stupid out of spite. I left up $12...but that total is seperate from $500 May, as poker money comes from an entirely different pool.

Alternatives

When you're conscientiously avoiding spending any money at all, its amazing how much more you can do with your time. The weekend rolled around and there was tons of "free stuff" to do. First of all it was M's portfolio exhibition at SDSU on Friday night. I would be coming straight from work so...once again, a new route...


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It was my first time on the green line since they put the new trolley cars into service. They are pretty plush. Same can be said for the Transit Center at SDSU. It rolls right into the center of campus and pops you out right by the Aztec Center. Luckily for me the art building was a nice gradual downhill ride through campus all the way from the station. A little bit of searching around and I found the right room. The exhibitionist is pictured at right.

Saturday night and it was time to head off to a reggae show in Ocean Beach. I drank some booze of the free variety from home, rather than pay for beers at the show. However, at one point during the show, the band members were expressing their desire to quench their own thirst in between songs, and I decided that I could allocate a few bucks to the cause. After all...I am ahead of schedule. So I grabbed a beer for me, one for M, and one for Paul, the guitar player. He was very appreciative and I felt good about my decision. The show had a great vibe, and we stuck around until they finished their set. Right about the time that they wrapped up, I looked down at by feet in the spot I had been standing almost all night. Right next to my toes was a $20 bill. Now, I know blogs are self-indulgent, and it probably is starting to sound like I am making myself out to be some kind of a boy-scout.I can assure you that is not the case, but I kid you not when I say that my first instinct was to start asking around if anyone dropped a $20. Of course seconds later I realized there really was no point in doing that as there was very little chance that the bill would find its way to the person that actually dropped it. So...major financial windfall for me! Instead of being down $12 on the night, I actually profited $8. In no way was it depressing.

Tell me you're not seeing someone else....

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Thursday was open mic night in South Park. I knew my route would take so long that I had no time to go home after the gym and wash off...or even eat. So during a transfer I actually had to buy food from a taco shop. The total was $7.14, by far my most expensive meal yet in May. That brings me down to $349.21. The fine folks at Rebecca's said I could bring my smelly carne asade plate inside and eat it there. Within moments this fellow appeared out of nowhere. I asked him, "Does anybody feed you?" and gave him a little bit of steak.

A new guy named Alexander, who just moved to San Diego from Michigan played his alto sax. I think at one point he might've played the theme from Sanford and Son. Later one of the coffee house regulars invited him back onstage to improvise with him. It was by far the best song of the night. And the always entertaining Kellis played as well. I played fingers with these people and tried my best at an online poker tournament. Two Kings is better than two Queens. Usually. I caught the #2 back up into North Park, but the #10 wouldnt be by for another 25 minutes to bring me home. So I skated down University figuring I could get halfway home by the time the bus came by. University Ave has hills. Mostly downhill from North Park. Yay. It was a nice casual ride until I got going a bit too fast and caught a wheel on some gravel going up onto a sidewalk. The skatedboard stopped, and I kept going. I bruised my elbow and skinned up my shoulder. Ow.

This just in.

I just spent $0.65 on a candy bar. So, $356.35 remaining. That is all...carry on.

No Mom, I'm not wearing a helmet. Yet.

Assisted locomotion arrived in the form of a loaned Sector Nine longboard. Yay, thanks to M for providing and delivering. I used it this morning, and while it gets me places faster there are a couple problems. My hill is super-steep leaving my house. I tried putting one foot on the pavement to slow myself, but the grade really is so steep that it would wear the sole of my shoe pretty fast...as can be seen in this hasitly shot and over-exposed video.
Going uphill is obviously only possible on slight grades. I did it this morning. It gives me quite the quad burn, but only in my right leg. And then there is the whole thing that I won't be getting as much exercise...but I suppose there is really nothing to stop me from just carrying it when I feel like taking my time and walking. There are a couple of nice places to skate on the way from UTC to work. One of them is my parking lot. They keep a nice fresh coat of smooth blacktop down all the time.

C'mon Charlie! Come to Candy Mountain!

A scheduled day of training at another building introduced me to a new route this morning. For the first time, I missed a bus. Obviously the buses run on a tight schedule but they are just as susceptible to traffic, weather, accidents, etc. So, sometimes they are late. What I did not count on was them ever being early. So when I saw the #41 coming down the road a good 8 minutes early (I had not yet reached the bus stop) I went running across the intersection waving my hands at the driver. He stopped at the corner, picked up some passengers...looked over at me...turned his head back to the front...and hit the gas. I had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. I'm guessing they probably have to do that, or they would be waiting a lot. Lesson learned.


When you're walking a lot, you get more time to look at everything around you. There are signs literally everywhere, for everything. I suppose I sort of knew this but never paid it much mind. I saw this one today, nicely framed by the trees. As I was taking the picture a blind person walked up to me and asked me which way the Braille Institute was. "Never heard of it" I said, and walked away.

100% chance of high jinks

OMG it's raining! Ahhhh! Actually it was more of a steady mist, but defintely enough to send our skittish San Diego commuter population into a frenzy. "What is this glistening, moist, slippery substance all over everything, and WHERE DID IT COME FROM!?!?" Unlike the light rail or Coaster, the bus uses the same roads as everyone else, so when there is traffic, we get slowed down too. I'll tell you this though, listening to my Ipod and reading a book is great way to sit in traffic.

Once again my walk into work brought me across some things that I stopped to take a look at. (Oh btw I did go and slimjim that guy's car yesterday at lunch and turn off his lights. Forgot to leave a note though.) The wreck pictured here happened just as I was approaching the intersection. The Crown Victoria flat out rear ended the Explorer after skidding a good 20-30 yards because she was hauling ass down a wet street. She smashed into him and sent both cars spinning and up onto the sidewalk. The airbag deployed in the Crown Vic and everyone walked away fine. Here's the crazy part. Just before all of this happened. I had just crossed Genesee and was walking down Executive Drive when I saw a baby rat on the sidewalk. It was breathing and obviously alive, but it wasn't moving and didn't scurry away when I walked up. I thought it was weird so I took a video.



Ok, so big deal. There is some kind of semi-paralyzed rat hanging out on the sidewalk. Well, what was he doing there? Saving me from getting runover maybe. The time I took to stop and record his weirdness is the just about the same amount of time that would've put me right on that corner in time to get creamed by the slippin' and slidin' Fords.

Ty little guy.