Dare I say... en fuego baby!!! and some nonpoker stuff...

I'm not gonna bore you with the details tonight but I just wanted to pass the word that I just came in 5th out of 57 players (top 6 qualified and again, after that, it was an all in fest so it really didn't matter - I hate that FullTilt doesn't just automatically end it when it's down to everyone who qualifies) in the $69+6 tournament to qualify for events #1, 5, and 8 (monetary value of $648). Couple that with last night's qualifier and I'm now in 4 of the 10 FTOPS events. This is very exciting for me. I really want to do well. My main concern though, is that I really had to get lucky a few times in order to win. One major one was when we were down to like 11 players and I was relatively short stacked, I raised from late position with AJ suited, got reraised by a fairly aggressive but solid player. At that point, there are only 5 of us at the table and the blinds are coming around fast, obviously, so I felt like I had to call. I did, he flips over KK but I catch two pair to win. Without that, I'd be sitting here talking about how I came close again, etc etc. BORING. Anyways, I need to brush up on my omaha and limit hold'em skills.... see if I can qualify for those also.

Ok, the past few posts have been mainly about poker and since my blog is so appropriately titled, I guess that's ok but I'm gonna veer off topic here once I mention one more thing... I just like to point out that I'm an idiot sometimes. Since I pretty much accomplished my goal for qualifying for all the hold'em events in FTOPS, I kinda want to take a few days off from playing online poker. The problem is, they have this promotion. And they have it every month and like a sucker, I fall for it every time. They have this iron man challenge where if you accumulate certain amount of points per day for x number of days, you qualify for a tournament. There's a different level depending on how much you play and obviously, the more you play, the better the payout on these freeroll tournaments. So, even today, while I'm furiously concentrating on the satellite, I have two $1-2 NL tables open, bleeding my money away like an idiot, content to be down $50 after being down $100 early between the two tables, and actually happy that I got my 200 points (that's the max level) for the day. But whether it be points on poker sites or miles on credit cards, I'm just a sucker for those things...

On to nonpoker related portion of this blog. Yesterday, one of the guys from the Tuesday night poker group mentioned he got a PS3. Very nice! I can't wait to get mine also. It's actually funny that only a few months ago (and I guess it won't be funny for those that either stood in line or was held at gun point), people were held at gun point to hand the PS3 over... I mean they only waited like 5 days in line to get it. Ridiculous. Reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman is like going back and forth in front of the store uttering "30 more days till the Nintendo Wii comes out!" And now, PS3 is like all over the place. I saw it the other day at Best Buy, just stacks of them on the floor. The guy said he got his at target. Errrr excuse me, his girl got it for him at target. WOW. That's a keeper, dude. But, before I buy my PS3, I gotta upgrade my TV which I am planning on doing soon.

So, if anyone is actually still reading this post, I need some help. Please send money to "new plasma tv for alan so he can buy a PS3" fund. Just kidding. At the rate I'm playing on Tuesdays, I'll never have a TV. Well, actually, I have a decent TV downstairs but all my video games, surround sound system, etc are all hooked up on the 3rd floor and the TV up there is just not up to par. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of paying $600 for a PS3 where the main attraction is the awesome graphics if you have a black and white tv. Ok, it's not that old but it's not HD. Enough said. Anyways, so in all honesty, here's where I need the help. I've seen all these things about LCD, plasma, and DLP. Which one should I get? I probably want to stay in the mid-40 inch range. As for the money... well, I like to keep it under $2,000 but if I have to fork out another $500-$1000 for a truly exceptional jump in graphics, I'm willing to do it. It will take longer for me to get it because I am planning on cashing out from Full Tilt to buy it so it will take me a little while to come up with that extra cash (or I might never get there). Anyways, so if you guys have any opinions, feel free to comment or email me. I think all of you who are reading this knows what my email address is.

Another big purchase we are looking into is this. Actually, it's more my better half than me but I'm not totally opposed to it is we're looking into buying bowflex. Has anyone heard of anyone using it? I mean I see it on commercials all the time. Here's the situation. Instead of paying gym memberships to a gym we don't go and on rare occasions when we do go, we have to share equipment, we thought maybe that if we had bowflex at home, we'd actually work out. Yes, I realize that this could turn into the most expensive clothes rack and actually that's my argument against it but Costco has one on sale for like $600 and the similar model on bowflex (and it is actual bowflex, it's not a copy or I don't have to buy 10 of them or anything) website has it listed at like $1,200. That's quite a bargain, it seems. So if anyone knows anyone else that uses it or if anyone actually uses it or if anyone has it, uses it as a clothes rack and would love to get rid of it, please let me know.

Wow, this is getting long. One last thing. Last night, my friend emailed me a link to the apple store to show me the new iphone. And I have to admit... I'm a sucker for electronic gadgets. Hell, most of you know where I'm originally from. Of course I'm into electronic gadgets. We invent that sh*t. Anyways, so I take a look and that is cool. I mean I'm just looking at the demo and I'm like wanting that phone. Phones these days are amazing though. They come with all these features and I don't use like half of them. At least I'm not one of those guys that keep that stupid blue tooth ear piece on all the time. I hate them. I can't stand people who eats at the dinner table with those things on. I remember when I was a kid, I got yelled at if I answered the phone while we were having dinner and proceeded to have conversation with my friends. My parents were like "finish your dinner and tell them you'll call them back!" Now, people are like "yeah, and did you see the game last night? That was freakin awesome. Oh. Wait. Hello? yeah, it's me. Hey what's up man? Yeah, we were just talking about that." DUDE! Pay attention to people you are with and not some douche bag calling you in the middle of a meal! Ok, I digress.

Well, once again, it's freakin midnight, I really should be going to bed. If it's not poker, it's blog, or video games.... man, I need more time. Video games are so addicting too. And I get into all sorts of games. I mean I love sports and my favorite game is NCAA 2007 right now but I also get into those Age of Empires type games as well as Final Fantasy games. So, I could totally relate to that other South Park episode (they had the South Park marathon and I just saw like 4 episodes so they are fresh in my mind) where the 4 of them decides to train and do nothing but play video games in order to level up so that they could beat this total nerd loser who's like conquering the world of whatever that game that was. But I could totally relate to it. Playing outside and working out is overrated. Let me just sit on my arrrrrrssss and play my video games. Alright, f*** the bowflex. I'm getting the PS3. I'm out.