Almost Done

Time flies when you are having fun, right?  Not really, I have been very busy trying to finish up this quarter and then to start the new part of my life.  Being unemployed and start looking, with the help of WorkSource, to find a job that will keep me occupied during the day.

A couple of months ago I started collecting sports cards again with the idea I would sell on either Craigslist or Ebay.  So far Ebay has been better and I am selling cards.  This month has been a good month so far.  Not breaking the bank by any means but the cards are selling.  I keep a excel spreadsheet of the expenses and the profits and it is working out.

This is the last week of the college program and I will have a certificate in Computer Science Customer Support.  It will be nice to be done with this and have the certificate.  It has been a year in the making and honestly it has gone by fast.  Sometimes I don’t think so but it has.

I played in the monthly poker tournament and we dressed up in our green hats and shirts.  I happened to be the first one out of the tournament after two hours of playing.  I played a hand I shouldn’t have but the other guy did the same just because he was in position.  The last hand was the same way in that I had AK and the person next to me decided to play her J9 for fun and she got a 9 on the turn and I was out of the tournament.  Got some prizes that were meant for the first out and I took it in good cheer and I got the heck out of the casino.  So far I am staying away from the cash games building my bankroll so that I will be ready to get back to playing when college is done.

Have a fun day….



Round we go......

I went through the day feeling lightheaded and figured it was possibly my Blood Sugar.  I looked at my pump and it said 268 and when I took my Blood Glucose it said 167.  Wow, that calibration is way off.  Can I trust the sensor?  I keep working to get it lower and the pump is saying I am higher than I really am.  I will now start watching the pump and calibration numbers.  I was told from the trainer that the Medtronic One touch was not the best and I should use the Bayer for my finger sticks.  My insurance told me they would not pay for the test strips for the Bayer machine.  Just doesn’t make sense not to pay for something that works better.

I started working on my homework in the database class and going over the lectures the instructor put online.  It has been helpful and to know what is going to be on the final allows me to practice in SQL before the time comes.

I did put in my unemployment claim this morning.  I only have three weeks left before I am unable to get the help.  Of course, I will be done with college and have the certificate and will be looking for some type of job in the computer world.  Finding something will be hard around this location as they are looking for the BA or BS degree.  I have the experience but not the paper.  Being my age I am not going to go after another degree.  I already have an AS and an AAS with this Computer Science Certificate.  I just don’t need more.

I have been spending more time as well watching poker online and am getting ready to start playing in some tournaments and would like get into some live games as well. 

Our yard is starting to turn green and this tells me spring is basically here.  Mowing the yard will be a chore again but having the plants, trees, yards, turning green is great.  Our back yard needs a lot of work.  I would like to make some wooden garden areas and try my ability to raise some vegetables.  I am not sure I have the green thumb but will try.

Have a fun day….. 



Pump Day



The last few days I have been feeling light headed and almost to the point of dizzy.  My blood glucose yesterday was near 400 all day long.  I was so tired and I was drinking a lot of water.  I am hoping today will be different.

The time change has taken place again and I wish they would leave the time alone.  As you can tell I am not a fan of the time change and would prefer it going back to the original.

Since I stayed in the house yesterday I did basically nothing but try to keep my eyes closed so I wouldn’t have to think on anything.  The sensor for my pump went out in the evening so I had to replace it with a different one.  The sticky on the tape just doesn’t stick well and this has turned into a two person job.  Thankfully CI helps me with this and she does most of it to get this on myself.

Looks like I am going to have another card sold and will be getting it ready to mail on Monday.  I have never heard from the person that owes me for the card he bought and I guess never will.  I will put it back into the sale and see what happens.

I am starting to think more about poker and strategy when I get back to the tables.  Probably a little bit soon to switching my mind over but I want to get started again soon and am getting anxious.  Two more weeks of the college class and I set up SQL on my computer to get ready for the final test.  I will start practicing since I know what she will be asking us to do.  (She told us in class.)  My bank roll is getting ready as well.  I have been putting money in my BR bag so it is ready when I need it. 

Right at this time I am interested in playing one deep stack per week and then spend time playing in a live cash game.  Which casino will be the decision that I will need to make.  There are two in town that run in the evenings and they both seem to be the same.  When I start playing, in the tournaments, this will give me a chance to check out the live game. The first of April will be my start date for playing.

April will be the Wildhorse Casino Spring tournament as well.  I will try to play in the Senior tournament and see about playing in their live games as well.

Have a fun day…..

Spring means Warmer Weather

The weather is now turning warm and starting to feel like spring.  I can handle this weather change and looking forward to turning off the heat pump and opening up the doors.  Get some air through the house.

After I bought the new 16 gig USB flash drive I was now ready to load the Virtual Box and get the 8 gig SQL program.  I did get some help at the college in loading the applications and now will try to load it on my computer at home.  If this works it will definitely save me some time as I can play with SQL at home before the final exam in two weeks.  After arriving at home the first thing I did was start the process of loading from the USB the programs.  Amazing that it worked and I was able to play a little bit last night on the computer.   Now I will prepare myself for the final exam.

I am still waiting for the person to pay me for the sports card he purchased from my E-bay account.   It would be so nice if E-bay would do something about these people that will run the prices up and then not pay for the merchandise.  Another thing I have been watching is the amount you have to pay just to sell on e-bay.  They get their cut as well as Paypal and then you have to deal with the post office.  Not much of a profit when you get done with all of this.  Trying to find the best way to send the cards through the mail and make sure they arrive safely.  I like the boxes but they are expensive and I don’t want to spend that kind of money or have the customer pay for that as well.

It has now been a week since I chipped my tooth and I have another week to wait for the dentist appointment.  It won’t take long to fix but I don’t like sitting in the chair and I have to take my medicine just to get in there.  I will wait this out and just look strange when I smile. 

I am getting excited to get this quarter done.  Once it is done and I can start looking for a job and I can also start playing poker again.  I promised myself I would not play poker until I was done since I wanted to make sure I studied and passed all of my classes.  I have been on the Presidents list for the last three quarters and with this quarter I am still holding on to an A and would like to finish this off with a 3.99 or 4.00 session.  At least I am giving myself some leeway.

Have a fun day…..

Spring is coming......



I didn’t get the blog written yesterday so I will try to catch up on what has happened in the world around me. 

I got a call real early this morning from the doctor’s office saying they would like to see my dad today.  I sent them a picture of his finger and the gout he has going.  The Uric acid crystals have just enveloped his knuckle and it just looked painful.  After spending time with the physician he decided against draining the fluid and putting him on steroids.  Then in two months he will put him on some gout medication so he does not get this again.  I, of course, take after him and have been on gout medication for years.  I have gotten this in my toes and the ankle.  Hurt like heck and I just surrender to taking the pill on a daily basis.

I was also asked to purchase a jacket for my brother.  He lives in New Mexico and wanted a Seattle Sounders Jacket.  He is a Coach for a school down there and I don’t know what he will do with the jacket but it looks nice.

I am now travelling back and forth to College with my truck instead of taking the bus.  I need some more time and or lack of time riding the bus to get to Dad and his appointments.  Still working on the database project and now I am preparing for the final exam which will be SQL writing.  I am trying to get the 7 gig program on my computer so I can practice at home.  I purchased a 16 gig Flash Drive and hope that will be enough to download the program.  I do have enough on my computer at home.  Hopefully today I can get that done.

I have been watching the Commerce Main Event streaming online and even though they do not give play by play I can still learn how they play.  I try to be active in watching the play and I can see the cards on the table and try to guess what each person is holding according to the bet sizing.  It keeps me in the game.  In a couple of weeks my plan is to play some more poker weekly and try to find some work as well.  I keep adding to my bankroll so that when I am ready to go will have a big enough bankroll to try and grow that knowing the variance involved.  I am reading books on strategy on the different levels of playing poker.  The Wildhorse Spring Tournaments are just around the corner and I want to be ready for them as well.

Spring is on it’s way…….

Birthday



Today is my birthday.  It is a usual Sunday morning for me I wake up and let CI sleep longer.  I head out and get a newspaper and stop by McDonalds to pick up a sandwich and some hash browns.  I then head on home and sit at the table and read the paper and eat breakfast in the quiet of the house.

Not much is planned for the day.  I get on the computer and check out my usual reading material and go over the blogs I follow.  I then will check out Ebay to see how the sales are doing and will even check out Craigslist to see if there is anything worth looking at.  I would prefer to sell on Craigslist but you don’t have the amount of people looking at the merchandise. 

I changed my insulin pump reservoir today.  It seems I am using a little bit more insulin since I have the sensor on my side but my Blood Glucose levels have been better by me watching the numbers more often. 

This afternoon we headed over to Red Robin to have dinner with our family.  Our three boys attended with their wife’s, significant others, and the grandchildren.  Everyone had fun and I had forgotten they sing happy birthday to you as well.  I didn’t need the chocolate sundae so it was passed around and the kids enjoyed eating the ice cream. 

Tonight the Oscar’s was on the TV and we started watching the program.  CI enjoys watching and it lets us know what movies we need to locate and watch.  We noticed that there seem to be lack of bling on the women.  The show moved along rather quickly and you didn’t have to go through all of the speeches that were made in the past.

I was also watching the play at the Commerce Casino streaming on my computer.  They are having the main event at this time and I like to watch them play and see if I can pick up anything for tournament play.  Always trying to learn something new and when I am done with my classes I hope to get back to playing more poker.

For me it was time to get to bed.  Another day in the morning and I need to get back to studying and finish the quarter.

Have a fun day….

Spring where art thee...

I am usually up by 7:30 in the morning and ready to get my day started.  Today we needed to get over and pick up the grandkids and head on over to the church for Sabbath School.  The kids enjoy having that time to be with friends and learn.  CI teaches in one of the younger classes and puts quite a bit of work getting things together on Friday when she gets done with work.

When we got home from church I had noticed that one of the buyers on Ebay had paid for their card and I wanted to get it in the mail as soon as possible.  I try to get things off as soon as they are paid so they can get the merchandise as soon as possible.  I would want them to do the same for me so I operate my hobby the same way.  I drove over to the post office and picked up some small boxes and then headed back home to load it up and then back to the post office again to send it on its way.   Now that is done and will wait for the next buyer to pay me and I will do the same thing. 

We were invited to dinner with some friends and so we headed over to the restaurant called “Fire”.  This is a new pizza restaurant in town and it is an upscale pizza place.  Wow, the food was good.  I don’t even remember the name of the pizza but it was delicious.  We ended the meal with a big chocolate cookie with ice cream on the top and we noticed that on top of the ice cream was salt.  It was very good and too much for me being diabetic.  I ended up having to give myself more insulin to try and cover what I was eating. 

After dinner we headed over to our friends house and watched “Last Vegas”.  It was a good movie and I enjoy seeing the older movie stars doing these films. 

Overall it was a very good evening and we arrived home and CI put her favorite movie on which is “Star Trek” and we watched that and then headed off to bed around midnight. 

Sunday is my Birthday and will be 58 years old.  It is supposed to snow on Sunday as well and am not looking forward to that.  I am so ready for Spring.

Have a fun day….



Not a Good Day....

I received the call this morning that I was waiting for.  It was from the automotive repair shop and the total price for the work that was done on the pickup was $1.426 and some change.  I was happy with the amount only because it could have been worse.  They were kind enough to not charge me labor in some areas since they were already there.  Since CI left this morning with the car I had decided I would either walk or take the bus.  It can’t be that far to walk and enjoy the day.  It ended up being longer than I had thought. I did find a new trail going down the hill to the road and that was good.  It was nice to walk into the office and pay for the truck and head out to do my errands.

First up was the transfer of funds from one bank to another.  We use separate banks and that has worked out for us for many years.  Once that was done I was headed home.  I ate my subway sandwich for lunch and then headed over to my sons home to help him take his two dogs to the groomers.  Wrigley and Sassy somewhat enjoyed the ride.  Wrigley wants to get on your lap while driving and Sassy sat in the back seat whining the whole time. 

During the morning I bit down on something and chipped my front tooth.  Now I must make a visit to the dentist.  I am not a fan of dentists and I always have to take Valium when I go.  This will be no different since I don’t know what he is going to do.  Chipping this on Friday will mean I will have to wait to call the office on Monday and see when I can get in for him to look at it.  At least this does not hurt and it just looks strange.  Not much smiling going on here. 

When CI returned from work she wanted to go to Walmart and I figured I would go with her.  We did the shopping and I was ready to eat something.  We decided to go to a restaurant called “Bento” and have their plate of Tempura Vegetables and then I would have Kalbi.  As I sat down I started feeling shaky.  I immediately brought out my BG kit and also looked at my pump to see where the Blood Sensor was at.  It read 64 and I took my BG and it was at 64 as well.  My shaking was getting worse and I tried to help by drinking my Tea with sugar.  I have been working on drinking tea with no sugar but in this case I needed something now.  My insulin pump actually hit the Threshold Suspend and stopped giving me insulin until I had corrected the low BG.  Once it started going up I got the pump out of suspend mode and let it start the preset amounts again.  It was nice to have the pump doing its job and now I know what it will do.

I sold two of my Sports Cards yesterday on Ebay.  One of them sold for $15 and the other for $123.  The one that sold for $123 was a Jon Lester card that has only 5/10 available.  Now to have the money in my account before they are sent out to the customers.

Have a fun day….