Measure up Monday - Week 8

We're enjoying a little weekend getaway for the holiday, so knowing I'd be away from my scale and tape measure, I took these measurements on Sunday morning instead of the usual Monday morning. I'm still maintaining good progress towards my goal. In fact my goal is finally in sight, figuratively. If you can imagine the old style bathroom scale with a round dial in a little window, my goal weight will have finally appeared at the left side of that little window. I just need to move it under the line now.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
3/31/08	237	---	48.5	43.5
4/7/08	232	-5	48.5	43.0
4/14/08
4/21/08	230	-2	47.5	42.0
4/28/08	228	-2	47.5	42.0
5/05/08	226	-2	46.5	42.5
5/12/08	226	0	46.5	42.0
5/19/08	222	-4	45.5	41.5
5/26/08	220	-2	45.0	41.5

Joke Friday

I've been busy, and didn't have time to search for a good joke until this evening. It's still Friday so it qualifies. Here's a little chuckle about running to cheer up Colleen.

Last year I entered the New York City Marathon. The race started and immediately I was the last of the runners. It was embarrassing. The guy who was in front of me, second to last, was making fun of me. He said, "Hey buddy, how does it feel to be last?" I replied: "Do you want to know?" and I dropped out.

Measure Up Monday - Week 7

Last Monday's weigh in must have caught me in a temporary weight fluctuation, because this week's 4 pound loss happened without making any changes in my activity or calorie intake. I just hope this one isn't a temporary loss. :)

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
3/31/08	237	---	48.5	43.5
4/7/08	232	-5	48.5	43.0
4/14/08
4/21/08	230	-2	47.5	42.0
4/28/08	228	-2	47.5	42.0
5/05/08	226	-2	46.5	42.5
5/12/08	226	0	46.5	42.0
5/19/08	222	-4	45.5	41.5

Wild Wisconsin Weekend

We made a trip up to Green Bay this weekend for Zoe's dance recital. The recital was fun to watch, as usual. Zoe was in a lot of routines, and looked very cute in her various costumes. Once again, Kevin did a dance routine with her, this time to "You're The One That I Want" from "Grease". But the biggest surprise was a country music tap dance number that featured several dancers' moms, and Zoe's mom Karen was up there dancing.

















Beware, boring blackjack blogging below.
We spent Friday night at the Radisson that is connected to the Oneida casino, and so I had a chance to play a little blackjack. I looked around for a poker room, but didn't see one, so I settled for a double deck blackjack game. I bought in with 20 bets, and proceeded to start losing right from the start. I promised myself that I'd quit if I got down 10 bets. I never got down that far, but I stayed negative for a really long time. Then things turned around and a couple of fortunate splits and doubles got me up into the black. So now instead of a loss limit, I started thinking about a win goal. I set my sights on an 8 bet win, and when I was up 7 bets, I gave serious thought to stopping then. I don't know how many times I've come within 1 bet of my goal, only to have my luck turn south again. But I stuck another bet out there, and as luck would have it, I got a double down hand. Now I'm facing either being up 9 bets, or falling back to only 5 up. I stuck to my basic strategy and it paid off when I won the hand. I should have said "Yippee, I'm up one more bet than I was hoping for!", but the gambler in me said "Play it, and either go home with 10 or the 8 you were hoping for." I lost that hand, but held firm and walked out smiling with an 8 bet win.

Standby, silly slot story soon.
I don't usually play slots, but on my way out of the casino, I passed a bank of Wheel of Fortune machines, and decided to risk $10 on a chance at a life changing progressive win. These machines were $1 machines however, and to qualify for the progressive, or even a bonus spin, you have to play 3 coins, so $10 was only going to buy about 3 spins. I decided not to play those machines, but having already mentally committed myself to losing the $10, I headed over to a bank of 25¢ Wheel of Fortune machines where I could at least get about 13 (how's that for a lucky number) chances to win big. I put in my $10, and started hitting the Max Bet button. Every spin was coming up nothing. Not even a little teaser win. I was down to 4 quarters when the next spin came up with a bonus wheel spin. My bonus spin paid 40 quarters, which put me right back where I started. I thought briefly about cashing out with my break-even slot experience, but gamblers don't play to break even. I hit max bet again, and got another bonus wheel spin. The bonus wheel started clicking around as I hit the spin button, and started to slow as it approached the coveted 1000 coin space. I knew it was just a tease, and that it was going to stop on one of the neighboring 25 or 40 coin wins. I think my mouth literally dropped open when it stopped on 1000 and the machine began its applause and music routine. At that minute, I had no idea how much 1000 quarters was, but I knew I didn't need to try for any more. I hit the cashout button and took home a tidy $250 slot win!

Joke Friday

A man walks into a bar and notices a poker game at the far table. He is surprised to see a dog sitting at the table. He walks closer and sees cards and chips in front of the dog. The dog acts in turn with all the other players, calling, raising, everything the human players were doing.

Finally the man couldn’t stand it and he quietly said to one of the players, "I can't believe that dog is playing poker, he must be the smartest dog in the world!"...

The player smiled and said, "He isn't that smart, when he gets a good hand, he wags his tail."

Professional Poker Player?

On my trip to Las Vegas last January I played some blackjack and I played some poker. I didn't do very well at blackjack, I did better at poker. In fact, had I only played poker, I would have come back with some pretty nice winnings. As it was, my poker winnings and my blackjack losses pretty much offset each other.

Shortly after returning home, I got an email from PokerStars.com saying they were once again accepting deposits from U.S. players. Remembering my good poker results in Vegas, I decided to deposit just $100 into PokerStars, and see how I did with it. If I ended up losing it, I wouldn't reload.

The kind of poker game I played in Vegas and at PokerStars is a no limit, texas hold'em, single table tournament, commonly called a Sit-and-Go. Interested players put their name on a list, and when there are enough (usually 9 or 10) players on the list, the game begins. Each player buys in for the same amount, and each is given the same number of starting chips. They then play a no-limit texas hold'em game until one player has won everybody else's chips. The casino keeps a portion of the buy-in money, and the remainder is split between the 1st, 2nd, and (sometimes) 3rd place finishers.

At the Mirage in Las Vegas, the buy in amounts for these games start around $70. I think the highest buy-in was just under $300, and was probably limited there so the final prize split per player would be below the $1200 IRS reporting limit. At PokerStars, the buy-ins (and resultant winnings) are much smaller. I decided to play at the $22 level ($20 to the prize pool, $2 to PokerStars). Prizes at the $22 level are $90, $54, and $36 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. That means if I take 1st place, I can afford to lose 3 more games and still be ahead. If I take 2nd place in a game, I can afford to lose 1 more game and still be ahead. If I take 3rd place, well, at least I'm still ahead.

Since I started with my $100 in January, I've played over 120 games without ever reloading. I started thinking, (hypothetically, of course) "Gee, I wonder what it would take to make a living at this?" So I added up all my winnings, and divided it by the number of games played, both won and lost. It turns out that my average earnings are about $2 for every game played. Sit-and-Go's last about an hour, and I could probably play 2 at a time on-line, so in an 8 hour day I could make $32. What about if I play higher buy in games? PokerStars offers a $55 game. If I could guarantee (not likely) the same win/loss ratio at that level I could make $80 a day. Ok, what if I could win as often at the (highly unlikely) $110 level? Then I could make $160 a day. Of course that doesn't include paid vacation or health benefits.

I guess I won't be quitting my day job any time soon.

Measure Up Monday - Week 6

No loss to report this week. But there was no gain either, so the news isn't all bad. I had been thinking earlier this week that now that milder May weather is here, it's probably time to add some exercise to my program. Had I done that, I probably would have shown an additional loss today. I still have 4 weeks and 9 pounds to make my goal. If I step up my activity level, I should still be able to make it.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
3/31/08	237	---	48.5	43.5
4/7/08	232	-5	48.5	43.0
4/14/08
4/21/08	230	-2	47.5	42.0
4/28/08	228	-2	47.5	42.0
5/05/08	226	-2	46.5	42.5
5/12/08	226	0	46.5	42.0

Joke Friday

I usually try to get these up first thing Friday, but it's been a busy week.

Health Benefits of Being Overweight
A new report shows that being overweight is not as harmful as is commonly believed, and actually confers some surprising health benefits.

Being five to ten pounds overweight could protect people from ailments ranging from tuberculosis to Alzheimer's disease, research indicates.

Those carrying 15 to 25 extra pounds are better able to recover from adverse conditions such as emphysema, pneumonia, and various injuries and infections, states the report.

Thirty to forty pounds of flab could help fend off breast, kidney, pancreatic, prostate, and colon cancer. And an extra fifty pounds on the scale may improve eyesight, reverse baldness, cure the common cold, and reduce global warming.

In general, the report concludes, overweight people are happier, more successful in business, smarter, and friendlier. "This just goes to show that conventional wisdom is wrong," said a spokeswoman for the study group. "Not to mention the hundreds of studies that came before!"

The study was funded by a research grant from McDonald's, Burger King, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Domino's Pizza, Starbucks, Haagen Dazs, Sara Lee, and Krispy Kreme.

Measure Up Monday - Milestone

I launched my weight loss endeavor on March 31, with an initial goal of losing 20 pounds in 10 weeks. This is week 5, the halfway point. I also crossed the halfway mark in pounds lost this week, with a 2 pound drop for a total of 11 pounds.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
3/31/08	237	---	48.5	43.5
4/7/08	232	-5	48.5	43.0
4/14/08
4/21/08	230	-2	47.5	42.0
4/28/08	228	-2	47.5	42.0
5/05/08	226	-2	46.5	42.5

Joke Friday

I laughed out loud at this one.

Road Rage