Yet another useless toy...

After I moved down to Tampa, I decided to put my money where my mouth is... since I always claimed that I never watch TV (or hardly ever), I decided not to get cable. Despite missing it badly on some football weekends, I'm actually at peace with it. I've been putting in 60-80hr work weeks so I generally don't have time to watch TV and when I'm not working, I'm either working out or going out.

Unfortunately, the side effect of this is that my 46 inch LCD is just sitting there, looking pretty but collecting dust. Now unrelated to not having cable, I also have a PS3 which I got when I got what's called a "spot bonus" at Capital One which was essentially just a little bonus to tell you you did a good job on something small. Anyways, my spot bonus was literally a $250 gift card on amazon and since I never buy anything there, I bought a PS3. I have also had a Wii that I hardly ever play... basically, I just have these high demand gadgets, all collecting dust.

For a while, I also had an ipod touch but I realized that that thing is completely useless to me. First off, if you need wifi to connect, no matter what the other Ipod Touch lovers will say, it sucks. You can't connect whenever you want... so if I'm gonna go that route, I would have an iphone. Of course, I detest AT&T and so I will obv never have an i-phone and I'm actually ok with that. My dad has one and he uses it like crazy... has apps for all the little shit that I would never use. Tip calculator, measurements from here to Pluto, how to say bicycle in 15 different languages, etc etc... ok, so I'm making it up. I really have no idea what other apps there are and nor do I give a shit. When I had the ipod touch, I never used it. So basically, these gadgets are not for me. (I also don't listen to music while I work out... oh my god, what am I!?)

Anyways, so now that we established that gadgets are useless with me, I can move on to the actual story...

Last week, I saw a notice from UPS saying they attempted delivery and I wasn't home to sign it. These things always put me on tilt. Like who the fuck is home at 3pm on a weekday. Well, so, I signed the back of the thing and posted it back on my door, just to see it be ignored and find the second delivery attempt post on my door... Motherfucker. Of course, another weekday, another delivery attempt. After 3 delivery attempts, they make it available for you to pick up the item. The thing is, the whole time, I had no clue what was trying to be delivered to me. I haven't ordered anything. It's not my birthday. I got the Clif bars I ordered from Amazon. So what the hell could it be!?

This morning, I finally went to the UPS place to pick it up... and this is what I find...



A freakin ipod nano that I totally forgot I ordered when Pokerstars was having that super discount sale in January of all the stuff you can get with your fpp points. *sigh* I mean it's a good use of points because of how much this was discounted (if normally, 1 fpp = $0.016, this was like at a rate of 1fpp = $0.032, I think). And no, that's not a type, it is 1.6 cents. Anyways, so I got it.

I guess the question now is, how long will it take me to take it out of this box. Probably fairly shortly... and then it will probably just lay around after 1 or 2 uses. I don't hate music but I just never have the occasion to be immersed in my own music...

Oh my god... what am I!?

Man vs Woman... not really...

Last night's post was not intended to be a "women aren't physically capable" or anything like that. It was just my way of appreciating a woman who believes in herself and sticks to her guns no matter what... now, of course, I wasn't really clear about that but I was tired, it was late, and so I was kinda short and didn't feel like explaining.

I'm heading out shortly so this will not be long either. However, the comments on my blog made me want to write a short note...

A) If a woman is competing amongst women in sports, I see no reason why something should be "womanized" for a lack of better term. For example, in golf, why are there red tees? It's not like the women compete with the men. I mean recreationally, I understand completely. But for the pros, why have red tees... actually, nix this because I actually don't know if the women's pro golf events start with red tees or not so this might not matter.

B) Push ups - I actually am opposite with Jordan on this one. If the girls were competing against the guys in the actual number of push ups done, I think it's ok to have that handicap because for pushups, I have to believe men are naturally stronger (I could be completely wrong, I don't scientifically have any evidence, just my opinion). However, if the women are competing against themselves and men are doing their own thing, why do the knee version?

Both of these things actually tie back to CK's post on women's events in poker. How? Well, if the sex is not a factor (in both examples above, competing amongst women takes away the "which sex is superior" factor out), why have the red tee or the knee push up, etc. In other words, why diminish the actual game?

Same as poker. Poker is supposed to be a game where the sex of the player doesn't make him/her superior to others... so, if that's the case, why have a woman's event as if that's the only way a woman can win a bracelet?

To Peaker's point... of course there are women who are physically more capable than other men... but my argument has always been that physically, given the same level, men are superior to women (in sports). Like a professional male athlete in that particular sport would be better than the professional female athlete in that particular sport. A college level male athlete in a sport would be superior to a college level female athlete (assuming similar college - I'm not talking TN or CT woman's bball program vs some D3 men's bball... and even then, I'm not convinced that the females would beat the male equivalent).

Not sure if I explained myself clear enough.

Bayne, I'm gonna take that challenge. Picking up a chair... two hands or one hand?

One in a million

I am a very demanding guy... in everything I do, I demand a lot. As a leader of the team, the bar I set for the team is very high. For all the women that I meet, the bar that I set for them is also very high. CK's recent blog about women's poker events was very interesting to me because I was always making the comment about how if you create a forum for just women to "even out the playing field" then you can never claim equality... to some, I just come across as a jerk. At my new company, they have this fitness test thing going on. One of the events was how many push ups you can do. I tanked at 67 consecutive push ups. The most that the girl could do was 74. Respectable. Until I found out it was the "girl's" push ups. You know, the one with the knees on the ground. I realize the physical make up is different. But I'd have a lot more respect for a girl who refuses to do the girl's version of a push up and be able to do like 40 rather than a girl who gets upset that she couldn't beat me by tanking at fifty-something when in reality, it was a bullshit version of the push up.

But that's neither here nor there. I guess what I am saying is that, I have as high a bar for women as much as I do men. Why should they be different? Believe me, you want equality, I bring that. I act it, I live it. That is why I have very few female friends in my life because I truly believe that the society cripples them. But those that are my friends are ones that I respect tremendously and bring more than most people (men or women) bring to the table.

I saw this episode of House, and my god, I never thought much about Cuddy until this episode, but this is the type of woman that I idolize.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/125174/house-5-to-9

Yeah, I know... it's made for TV. And not many are like that in real life. But I know they exist. I married one for crying out loud. It may not have worked out for me the first time... but they're out there... kicking ass and taking names... and I dig that.

This made my day

Tonight, I received an email from a former colleague of mine. He finally got his promotion which I denied him at the time and wanted to write me a note to share the good news as well as giving me updates on the MBA programs that he's trying to get into (which I wrote recommendation letters for).

The promotion for him was well deserved and a year overdue. However, back in December of 2008, I felt that he wasn't ready. Now he was the top performer amongst his peers and he got a rating that people rarely get. However, I am always fair on my performance evaluation and people know that. An excellent senior associate doesn't necessarily translate into a good supervisor level. I felt that he needed about 6 more months... roll forward 6 months, I am no longer in that group (I was in a different group at Cap1) and his group went through a budget freeze... so his promotion was further delayed. At the time, I remember feeling extremely guilty. I don't second guess my decision. It was the right decision at the time. But I felt bad. I felt that he deserved the reward that came with the promotion.

So, to get the news that he finally got his promotion made me very happy. But what he said in the email made my day.

"Seriously though, you've been very helpful, and I hope your new team will come to appreciate your management style the way that I have."

I've always been very fortunate with people who were on my team no matter where I've been. I still keep in touch with many that worked for me and I get great joy out of seeing them grow in their careers. To get such feedback is just an icing on the cake.

Funny how I still get fired up

As I prepare for tonight's Superbowl, I decided to warm up by watching what I felt was one of the most intense, emotionally exhausting game I watched as a Steelers fan... well, I guess I did that last night when I watched the 20 minute recap of last year's superbowl but this was the other game... the divisional playoff game against the Colts in 2005. As the 6th seed (felt like playoffs since week 13 when so many things had to go right for the Steelers to even make the playoffs) going up against the heavily favored Colts, we all knew it was gonna be a tough game. And sure enough, the game lived up to the hype.



So many things rushed through my head when I watched the recap but even before this, I remembered two big things... One was the Polamalu interception that got inexplicably overturned (well, clearly, the refs had money on the Colts - that's a bullshit call and Pete Morelli is lucky that the Steelers ended up winning... I'm fairly certain he would be dead by now if the Steelers ended up losing that game).

The other was obviously the goal line fumble by the Bus that resulted in Nick Harper running it back, only to be tackled by Roethlisberger leading to the choke job that is Mike Vanderjagt. Thank god for that.

Seriously, that was an extremely emotionally draining game and watching the recap just made me live through that excitement/nightmare again. It's funny how exciting it could be despite knowing what happens.

At least tonight, I can just enjoy the Superbowl for what it is - just another football game. It's so stressful when your team is actually playing in it. Tonight, two teams that I couldn't give two shits about are playing. But I'm tired of the whole "I want New Orleans to win because they need this after Katrina" bullshit so of course, GO COLTS!!