Bad beats and shitty luck

Well, I had my poker party last night. I played well, made the right bets and calls, and was second out. GRRR!! It started out when I had two pair and got beat by a full house. Then, I had a pair of aces and was beat by another full house. The final blow was when I had three aces, THREE ACES, and was beat by, guess what, a FULL FUCKING HOUSE!!! It was the worst night of bad luck that I have ever had playing cards. It's one thing to have no cards at all, but to have good hands get beat by better hands, that's just shitty. The probability of a full house in a Texas Hold'em game is something like 80 to 1. I wasn't called on bluffs. I just got beat time and time again. Frustrating!

Want a Good Read?

Well, if you do, you should really stop reading this blog. It's truely terrible at times. Really. Anyway, as some of you may know, I do have a degree in English Literature. Yes, a college thought I was smart enough to gradjeyate. As a Lit major, I read a ton of books and stories. I still read alot. I thought I'd share some suggestions of things I've read that some of you (that actually read for pleasure) may enjoy:

1. The Yellow Wallpaper - This is a short story (I forget the author. Sorry.) about a woman that is 'ill' and her husband puts her in a room with wierd yellow wallpaper. Basically she kind of goes crazy. I won't get too into it, but it's pretty interesting how the author gets insideof the woman's head as she goes down the road to loony town.

2. The Fall of the House of Usher - Another short story, by Edgar Allen Poe, that is really dark and creepy. The basic story is about a old family manor owned by the Usher family. It is a very old house and a very old family (like it goes back several generations) and there is some creepy dark stuff going on in the house. I won't reveal any of the suprises, but it is a very good story.

3. Shakespeare - I know, I know. It is hard to read Shakespeare because of the olde English language, but once you get used to it, the plays are really excellent. If you ever get a chance to see a play, I'd recomend it. I saw Much Ado About Nothing back in my college days and loved it. It was hillarious! Of course there is Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet as well that are both very good. I remember seeing Romeo and Juliet in Mr Durbin's high school English class and snickering when Juliet's boobie popped out. Good times.

4. The Left Behind book series - If you've never heard of these books, they are religous fiction. I bought the first book because the cover was interesting and the discription on the cover was interesting. It is about the End of Days and the story about several people that were left behind after the Rapture (when all Believers were taken to Heaven and non-believers were left behind to choose between Christ or the Anti-Christ). I had no idea that it was a religous book when I bought it, and I am by no means a religous person, but these books were great. They really make you think about things. No, I did not convert, but if I start seeing some of the things described in the books start happening, I'll be singing a different toon. The last few books start getting a little preachy, but I still highly recommend these books. They are easy to read and written very well.

5. Xanadu - Xanadu is my favorite poem. I think it is by Coldridge, but I may be wrong (I did not have a high GPA as an English major). The poet was on some sort of drugs that made him hallucinate this whole scene and he wrote is all down. It's pretty dark and slightly demonic. If you like Rush (the band) then actually wrote a some called Xanadu that is based off of the poem. I read it first in Mr Durbin's English class in high school and the poem is the reason why I have no respect for that man as a teacher. I wrote a paper on the poem and my interpretation was different from his, so he gave me a C. How can a teacher reduce someone's grade for interpreting a poem differently? I was so mad.

Well, there you have it. There is alot more that I've read and liked, but I don't want to bore everyone. Feel free to chime in with your favorite books and stories. I need to find some new stuff to read.

Sorry, it's been a while.

I guess I'll give Mona's butt a break and post something new. Does that sound as bad in your brain as it does in mine? Anyway, the reasons for my not writing much lately are basically that I've been a little busy and I haven't had too much to write. Right now, I am burning some CDs for in the car. Fun stuff. Actually, Jessica's mom, grandma, and two aunts are here, so I'm hiding out a little. I guess that makes me a bad person, but oh well. Something neat: Jessica's aunt is an antique person (no, she's not an antique, she's into antiques) and she had me look up the china that we got from my mom (it was my Grandma Kenney's) on the internet. Apparently, a tea cup and saucer set is worth $40. We have 12 sets. So, basically, the china we got fom my mom is worth over a grand. Wow. I need to get photos and add it to my home insurance.

Diet update: Depending on which scale I use, I've lost between 15 and 25 pounds and am averaging about a pound a day. At this rate I will hit my goal in three months or so. I doubt it though. It's not good to lose that much weight that fast. I found a picture of me from when I was 16 and can't believe that I actually looked that skinny. I was never skinny, but it is obvious that I've put on a few pounds. All I've done so far is stop drinking alcohol, stop eating so many carbs, and walk on the treadmill every few days. It's been really easy. I miss drinking a little, but that's the worst of it. I've had more energy, no heartburn, and can already notice clothing fitting better. Plus, this is a bit gross so I'm sorry, I poop a lot less. I mean a lot. I should have started this diet years ago.

I've been watching the third season of Alias. It is very good. I have one more disk to watch and then I'll be starting on season 4. The third season isn't a good as season 2, but it is still really good. Lots of twists and turns. We watched The 40 Year Old Virgin last night. It was SO funny. Imagine the sexual inadiquacies of a 14 year old wrapped up in a 40 year old man that rides a bike everywhere and collects superhero dolls. It had some goofy parts, but overall, I liked it. We also got the Wedding Crashers, but haven't had a chance to watch yet.

Mona's Butt

As pay back for posting my crotch on her blog, I am posting a picture of Mona's butt on my blog. I'm hoping that a picture of an attrative girl ass will increase the hits I receive on my blog. Probably not, but we shall see. I also have several more Mona pictures that I can post, should she feel the need to put up any more embarrasing shots of, say, my ass. Some day I may post the nice pictures that I have of Mona and my other high school friends, but it just seems like more fun posting the embarassing ones.

Shopping Spree and Diet Update

It's been five days since I started my diet. That means five days of eggs, meats, and veggies. No more bread, desserts (or deserts), or the hard thing for me, alcohol. Honestly, I am doing OK with it all. I actually feel like I have more energy now than I did before. I can't say if I've lost any weight, but Jessica said that she has lost four pounds since the last time she weighed herself two weeks ago. To help out, we went out and bought a treadmill. I'd rather do my excercise in the privacy rather than outside or in a gym in front of skinny, pretty people. We should get a scale so that we can track ourselves.

On top of the treadmill, I went out on a shopping spree yesterday. Sorta. As I mentioned before, my Xbox is on the fritz. Well, I guess I should say that my OLD Xbox is on the fritz. I went ahead and sprung for a new one. I went to Best Buy, which I was feuding with, and got an Xbox with a game with it. I also went ahead and bought the two year replacement plan. Within the two years, if I decide upgrade to the 360, they will give me the full price of the Xbox in trade towards the 360. So, it's like I put a down payment on my future purchase of the Xbox 360. I just need to remember to upgrade within two years.

On top of the Xbox, I bought seasons 3 and 4 of Alias. I am totally a DVD bitch. It is like an obsession. I know I could get on Netflix and pay a monthly fee to get all the DVDs I want over time, but I am definately a instant gratification kind of guy. I also bought one of the coolest DVD sets I have ever seen. R30, Rush's 30 year anniversary DVD. I havn't watched it yet, but it contains 2 DVDs of live Rush concerts and interviews. Also, there are two audio CDs, I assuming of live music, that I had no idea were in the package. It also included a booklet of pictures and two guitar picks that were stamped with Geddy Lee's and Alex Lifeson's autographs. The only way this package could have been better is if there were some Neil Peart drum sticks included.

general news

Texas Hold'em Party: I am having a poker party this month on the 28th. I don't know why I play. I never seem to win in big games. I won a few games with small groups, but I just can't get over the bubble when it comes to bigger games. I usually play pretty well, but have bad luck or make a bad bet that knocks me out of the game. Anyway, if you read this blog and want to play, just shoot me an email or add a comment to let me know. An email would be prefirible.

The Great Rhodes Reduction: I am starting the South Beach diet. It's time to stop gaining and start losing. I love food. More specifically, I love food that is bad for me. Basically, I am highly reducing the amount of sugar and carbohydrates that I intake. Oh, and I can't drink alcohol anymore. That is going to be the hardest for me. If you have kids, you know what it feels like to just need a whiskey and Sprite. We are also buying a treadmill. I don't know exactly how much I weigh now, but I know that it is way too much. I tell you what, I started this on Saturday, and I already feel like I have more energy after starting to eat healthier. The first two weeks is 100% carb free. Then, you start adding a few carbohydrates here and there. I would like to at least get back to my college weight. I think my high school weight is a bit out of reach. Honestly, anything would be an improovement.

Three Years and Still Truckin': January 6th was my three year wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem like Jessica and I have been married that long. It really puts into perspective just how quickly time moves. On top of that Gabriel is almost four. Before I know it, he and Alydia will be in school and Noah will be on his way to college (if he wants). Wow. Anyway, for our anniversary, I bought a dozen roses for Jess and we went out to dinner. We wanted to go to Bravo, which is an Italian place, but the wait would have been almost an hour. We drove a round to try to find a different place, and about an hour later, we got a table at Chili's We are so impatient. It was still a good dinner. It was like our last meal before starting the diet. I wish it would have been Italian, but the chicken and ribs were still pretty good.

The Basketball Buckeyes lost their first game Saturday to Indiana. It was a two point loss, which is disappointing, since they were up 17 in the first half. Still, it was a great game to watch. I think that the guy that had the last shot for OSU was fouled, but kudos to IU for coming back to win that game. The game definately proves that OSU is legit in the Big Ten this year. Losing by 2 at IU is almost as good as a win at home. IU is tough. The whole Big Ten Conference is going to be tough this year. The experts say that 7 or 8 teams have a shot at going to the NCAA tourney.

Great BCS games

Four BCS games, four good games.

1 West Virginia vs Georgia - ESPN reporters seemed to imply that WV was only in this game because they won their title game and that they did not really deserve to be there. Well, they won. It was a wierd game though. I didn't watch it all, but West Virginia we up big in the forst half and then barely won after Georgia came storming back.

2 Penn State vs Florida - This game was painful to watch. I think that the kickers missed 27 field goals and extra points. It was more like 4 or 5, but it was a poor kicking display. The game could have been over 3 or 4 times if the kickers of each team would have made a kick here or there. It was on until 1:00 am. I didn't want to stay up that late, but I was invested.

3. The BSC title game, USC vs. Texas - This game was pretty good. It went back and forth all game long. I watched most of this game, but turned it off after USC went up two scores with less than ten minutes left in the fourth quarter. I figures that they would win and that I would have to listen to the commentators talk about how good USC is. Apparently, I missed a great ending to the game as Texas came back and won. I'll catch the highlights on ESPN. Leinhert, the USC quarterback, was very whiney and disrespectful to Texas. He said something about how USC was the better team, but Texas made the plays to win. By definition, I think that the better team is defined as the team that makes the plays to win. Actually, this game was an illustration of why Vince Young should have won the Heisman. He carried his team to the win. I'm just glad that USC did not win. I was getting so sick of hearing how good they are. Honestly, I think that Ohio State could have beat both of those teams at the end of the season.

4. Ohio State vs. Notre Dame - What a game. It wasn't as good of a game as the Rose Bowl, in the sense that the Rose Bowl was very dramatic, but it was a great game if you are an Ohio state fan. The Buckeyes basically dominated the Fighting Irish. Over 600 yards in total offense? Are you kidding me? A glimmer of hope for the Buckeyes next year as almost all of the offensive players ae returning next year. Anyway, The Bucks had 617 yards total. The 34 - 20 score could have been alot worse than it was for the Irish, but Ohio State had a few turn overs and had two field goals blocked. Potentially, it could have been 50 to 20 in the Buckeyes favor. The commentators started calling the Fiesta Bowl the 'Tressel Bowl'. The Buckeyes have been there three times in the last four years and have won all three times. Lets hope that they win a fourth next year. If you don't know, the National Title game is in the Fiesta Bowl next year. The final AP poll has OSU ending 4th. If you think about it, they only lost two games. One to the National Champions and the other to number 3 Penn State. Not bad.

One of the fun stories of the Fiesta Bowl was the whole AJ Hawk, Brady Quinn, and AJ's girlfriend being Quinn's sister. The woman was actually given a microphone and asked to do some interviewing of her brother. Of course she said that she was hoping that the Irish would win (her brother was standing right there). She had one of those clever shirts on that was half OSU and half Irish. Anyway, I mention this because they showed her face on TV after AJ Hawk laid out Brady Quinn. It looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. Can you imagine their next family dinner that AJ is invited to? The thought makes me chuckle a bit.

Looking to next year, OSU is losing 16 seniors, including their kicker and their entire linbacking corps. Also, their starting center, plus, junior Santonio Holmes is coming out a year early. That kinda stinks, but if I could make millions of dollars after my junion year of college, I'd do it too. Still, most of the offense will be returning and the linebacker corps next year should still be pretty good. The experts put the Buckeyes in the top five for next seasons pre season poll. I'm already looking forward to it. Most of their big games, including Penn State and Michigan, will be in the friendly confines of Ohio Stadium. The one I worry about is the rematch agains Texas, played in Texas. It should be another great season.

It's on!

It's finally time for the good bowl games to start. Now, I mean no disrespect to the 50 or 60 some teams that went to bowl games like the the Stay Free Maxi Bowl, I made that up, but come on....there are only, like 216 teams. With over all of the bowl games, that means about a third of them get to play in a bowl game. There used to be 12 Bowls. Now, all you need to do is win 6 of 11 games and you get to go to a bowl game. I know it's a money thing. There are enough sponsors out there to fund all of those games and the schools that get invited are willing to play one last game in order to get some more cash. It makes for some pretty boring games though. I say that it is time for the good games to start because the top teams play after or on 01/01. Since New Years day landed on a Sunday, the NCAA seems to have opted to push back the Bowls since the NFL still had some games going on. So far, the Big Ten is not fairing well. They are 0-3 so far. Michigan lost, so we should maybe look for a new coach up in Ann Arbor. Carr is starting to look like Cooper. Anyway, back to the topic. Starting at 11:00, Iowa gets things going against Florida. It does not look good for the Big ten again. Then, at 1:00 Wisconsin goes up against Auburn. Again, I am not too hopful that the Big Ten will get a win. Since it is Alvares' last game as head coach, the Badgers may rise up to the occasion. Then, the big one starts at 4:30. OSU vs the Irish or Notre Dame. I wanted this match up since early November. Really, this is the best bowl game opportunity for the Buckeyes. Both teams are in the top 5 of the polls and, other than playing for the title, this is probably the biggest bowl game of the year. It is hard to look back at this past season without wondering, 'what if?' What if Vince Young hadn't made that final TD pass in the Shoe? What if Troy Smith had been playing that whole game? What if the Penn State game were in Columbus? Both of those games, resulting in a loss by less than 7 points, could have gone just a little bit differently. It makes you think, could OSU beat USC if they had gone undefeated? No one would think they could, but no one thought they could beat Miami hack in 2003. Well, I guess it doesn't matter. The main thing is that the Bucks are in a huge game against a good opponent. It should be a great game. Penn State gets Florida State tomorrow. This should be a good one too, but I think PSU will dominate. As for the Rose Bowl, I really hope that Texas can shut up everyone talking about how great USC is. I am tired of ESPN gushing all over USC for the past month. They're good. I get it. They are going for three titles. I get it. They have a great offense. I GET IT!! Honestly, I think texas is better. Sure USC has two Heisman Trophy winners, but I really think Vince Young should have won the trophy this year. He has carried his team several times this year. Really, he is the whole package at QB. The worst part about him is that he may be back at Texas for another year and OSU goes to Austin next season. Well, back to the point again. The three game I care about:

OSU 34 - Notre Dame 28
PSU 42 - FSU 21
USC 35 - Texas 38