Wednesday, December 31, 2008

MMVIII to MMIX

Well time to say to goodbye to 2008 and welcome 2009.

Top 5 good things about 2008:

1. 5 years of marriage to Shannon. Its gone by so fast, yet it seems like forever (in a good way)
2. The friendships I've developed over the past year: David, Tiny, the Fosters, Bowens & Gillettes
3. Grandma moving down to CA - its been great being able to see her regularly
4. Being "this close" to having school finished - FINALLY!
5. Buying an iPhone - find a place to grab a drink in SF has never been easier.

Top 10 plans for 2009:

1. Continue developing my relationship with Christ
2. Continue to learn to be a better husband (if that's possible - haha)
3. Get better at dealing with Money - I hate budgets and tracking my spending and all that garbage, but its something that must be done.
4. I want to start a business of some sort - I've talked about it for a long time, now its time to make it happen
5. Enjoy life more. Take day trips. Go to the city on weeknights.
6. Gain more knowledge of Whiskey, particularly Bourbon.
7. Start a weekly poker night and dive deeper into the fundamentals of poker. I can already play decently, but I haven't taken the time to learn pot odds, and all that crap.
8. Learn Photoshop for the Mac.
9. Get more tattoos.
10. And Finally - FINISH SCHOOL!!!!


And as a bonus - My top 5 highlights/lowlights of the music world in 2008:

1. M.I.A & Katy Perry - These ladies got everyone and their grandmothers singing along to songs about murder & stealing and being bi-curious
2. Lil Wayne - He proved that even a retarded person can have the best selling album of the year.
3. Kanye West & 50 Cent - Together they showed how ridicously egotistical rappers are, and that no one really gives a damn about them anymore
4. AC/DC - They further proved that they have done nothing but write weak copies of old songs for thelast 20 years, and yet people still buy it
5. Travis Barker & DJ AM - Together they proved that rockstars ,while not invincible, are immortal.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Taking Back The Crown

Santa Poker, the annual charity poker tournament that SCM puts on, was last night. After winning the tourney two years ago, and going bust first last year, I was ready to retake the crown. There was, of course, formiable opponents: The Gantt duo, The Schwaab duo, a number of people that had definitely improved over the past year, and I can't forget Shannon, who always places deep in the standings with these things... There was also rebuys this year. The initial $20 buy-in went to charity, and the buy-ins made up the prize pool. So people could play super agressive and still be able to buy back in if things didn't go their way.

Well, I made it to the final table with a cast of regulars: Shannon, Lori, Karen, Ron along with a few more. Play at the final table went on for well over an hour, slowly whittling off players, unti it was down to the final 2. Myself and Karen. I had a good chip lead, but after a hand that went her way, I was still up but not by the margin I wanted. We decided to call it a night, and split the prize money with my taking just a bit more. So next year I will be defending the title once again - hopefully things don't go as badly as they did last year!

Getting to the real focus of the night, with the tournament, and the Silent Auction that was part of the festivities for the first time, we were able to raise over $2000 for needy families in the area. It was a very sucessful night!

Today Shannon and I are just taking it easy, watching movies, cleaning the house and wrapping Christmas presents.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

V

Yesterday was Shannon and my fifth anniversary. Woo! On to year number 6. We took the day off work, did some Christmas shopping and then in the evening headed out to SF to see Phantom of the Opera. Despite the leg room being rather limited, it was really fun, however the understudy of the guy that plays the Phantom was the Phantom that day, and his performance was a little underwhelming. We had a blast though, then headed back to Pleasanton and grabbed a late night meal at Denny's, one of the places that Shannon and I got to know each other after Fuel so many years ago. Good times.

Today is the Charity Poker Tournament & Silent Auction... I've donated about $800 of liquor among other things to the auction, so hopefully we are able to drum up some good money for needy families.

On a sadder note, my grandma is back in the hospital - it looks like the cancer has returned... so anyone that reads this - please keep her in your prayers!