Grit and determination

Game three against the Timberwolves this year today. Last two games the Kings had good leads going in to the 4th quarter only to have 37 and 36 points scored on them respectively in the 4th quarter of those 2 games to lose. So, playing in Minnesota today, I didn't predict a win. Then, we find out that not only is Peja not going to play again today, but Webb is going to sit out with the sore knee too. Add that to no Mo Evans who is still on the injured list, plus of course no Bobby and it doesn't look good at all. Then, Mobley starts limping in the first play of the game. Ok, how much are we going to lose by today? Luckily, Mobley gutted it out. So how did it go? Well, the Kings won of course. HUH? The Kings put on, and I am not exaggerating, THE best hustle, teamwork and help defense I have EVER seen them play. Yes, they have allowed less points before. Yes, they have made nicer passes before. But consider everything that they had going against them from the beginning of the game added on to the fact the T-Wolves were at home and riding a 5 game win streak, I can't think of a better team effort. And no, it is NOT because Webb didn't play. Some critics will say that it is because Webb did not play that made them play such great team ball. You won't get me saying that as I am still a big Webb fan. If you don't like him, then you can take off the wins against the Bucks and Rockets this year where he hit the 3 pointers at the end of the game. That is not even counting the other games this year where he has been clutch in the 4th. The rest of the team just made a solid commintent towards everything they have been lacking this year and it paid off. It was beautiful hard-nosed basketball.

Two of my three lowest students in my class left this week. One I am SO happy about, one I am disappointed. Student 1 was a basket case who had no respect for authority. He talked back, didn't try, and just didn't care. He is going to be home schooled. Good bye looney. The other one was quite low also, but I feel bad for this kid. He came to my school a couple of weeks in to the school year. It was like his 5th school in 3 years or something. Once he got here, he got in all kinds of trouble with both me and other students. I had to suspend him for fighting. Plus, he was just very low. But somehow, after a few months, I got to this kid. He started working harder, he was getting out of trouble, and we were seeing progress. Unfortunately, now he has to pack up and leave again. It is some custody thing. I don't think either parent wants to take responsibility for him. It is sad really. How is a kid ever going to succeed in a situation like this? How is he ever going to have a stable life? How is a teacher ever going to have success with him if he keeps getting new ones every few months? I feel really bad for him. Good luck little dude.

Played poker with Duncan and Jason on Friday night during the game and actually won. Man, I forgot what it felt like. Yes, I only beat two other players, but I just felt like everything was going my way and was going to go my way no matter what. I only won against two players, good players by the way, but it is a good confidence booster going in to the big tournament next weekend. With 80 people, being good isn't going to just cut it. I am going to need some luck as well. I needed that win on Friday.

Take some responsibility damnit!

Major bad mood right now because of work. Apparently, a parent of one my students went to complain about me to the principal because she feels that her child has not progressed at all since the beginning of the year. A background on this girl: she is VERY low; probably a few grade levels behind. So basically, she is nowhere near 4th grade standards. She has a learning contract called an IEP which states her learning goals for the year since she is far behind. Basically, a, "We know you are far behind and are not going to make it all up in this one year. Let's try to get you from point A to point B by the end of the year." Usually this is in one or more academic areas. She has it in ALL areas. She is very low. Mom is not happy with this. I understand this. However, I still am going to give her some 4th grade material to see if she is learning any of it. Well, the majority of it she is not. But, she is progressing on her IEP goals which is what we want. I have told the mom this, but she doesn't seem to understand the concept. She sees her child getting bad grades and is focussing on that. I tell her, "Yes, she IS getting bad grades but she is not at 4th grade level yet." Instead of seeing the positive steps, she is looking at only the negative. She thinks because of her bad grades at FOURTH GRADE level, that I am not teaching her. Lady, I just said she is making progress in her goals, but not at what she should be at yet for someone her age. So basically, she was going to go talk to the prinicipal today to complain about my teaching. Part of the problem is that her teacher the year before (very nice lady) sugarcoats grades and report card comments a little. I look at what she wrote about this student and I KNOW, that it is not entirely true. She lets emotions get in the way and doesn't tell it how it is all the time. A parent compares the comments on that report card to what is happening now and of course thinks it is something to do with my teaching style Really? Well, why don't you look at my state test results for my students the last two years compared to how they did the previous year. They make a huge jump. I don't care if this is bragging or not, the results show that my students make HUGE gains when they come to my class. I wouldn't say if it I didn't have evidence to back it up. And it is not that 4th grade is easier. Ask any teacher and they will agree that the transition from 3rd to 4th grade is probably the hardest. Despite that, the majority of my kids kick ass by the end of the year. And this BITCH thinks I am not teaching well enough? What are you doing at home for her? Last week, I asked the girl about her weekly failed spelling test(she gets only 10 words while others get 30). I asked her, "Doesn't your mom work on these with you?" Of course her answer was no. How the FUCK do you expect your child to succeed in my class if you are not even working with them at home? So fine, move her to another classroom if you think that is the answer. Keep up the good work on the homework help too jackass. There are so many more thoughts running through my mind right now, but I can't seem to get them down properly because I am so pissed. Man I hate this fucking job...

Movin' on down

Weigh in day today and there is good news to report. I lost 2 pounds last week. I wasn't super good last week diet wise, but I did get in almost as much exercise as I wanted. I really think with me it is the exercise that really helps. True, I am eating better, but still not perfect. Friday night we went out to Fresh Choice for the wife's stepmother's birthday. Seeing as how I don't eat salad, it isn't exactly the most nutritious place for me. Then after that, we had homemade lemon cheescake at home. Sure, it is a cooking light recipe, but I am sure it is still stuffed with all kinds of calories. I am sure there were other nights where my diet was also less than stellar. But I did exercise, and I did lose. So here are the totals:

Weight last week: 240.5
Weigh in today: 238.5
Total loss after three weeks: 5 pounds

I am doing okay for my pound per week goal. Let's see if I can keep it up...

Going in reverse

Wow, not only did I get no luck last night in my poker game, I actually lasted even shorter than usual. Nothing really to complain about though. Whenever I tried to play the feeble hands I was dealt, someone always had something better. I had a pair of aces and kings, someone had a straight. I had three queens, the other person had three queens also with a better kicker. The best two hands of the night were the hands where I lost all of my money. That is the way it goes I guess. My wife thinks that I need to make an offering to the poker gods. She might be right. Next time I play is in two weeks and it will be a big tournament - about 80 people. So obviously, if I do well there, all this will be forgotten. But it will take a heck of a lot to get that done.

Poker tonight

If you can find it in your best interests Poker Gods...Give me some friggin' luck tonight!!! They owe me after what I have gone through on the table lately...

The list and how it works

Ok, been promising this post since I first started this thing. Basically, this comes from an old Friends episode, probably the 2nd season. In this particular episode, Ross and Rachel make a deal that they can come up with 5 celebrities that, given the highliest unlikely of chances, they are allowed to sleep with without repercussions. So everyone on the show talks about their lists and of course hilarity ensues. My wife and I thought this was a funny episode and decided we should come up with our own list. Basically, it is all in good fun, but it was still quite a task to come up with the golden 5. I mean, you don't want to leave off the wrong people. Now, over the years, this list has undergone many changes. Many girls have been unceremoniously dumped from this high honor. But as it stands, here is the list on 1/22/05 in NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

1.Britney Spears - she has probably been on this list the longest. Also, she is the only blonde girl to make an appearance on this list. What is it about her? She's just super hot. However, if she continues down the path she is currently on, she might be the next one gone from this list. She should also cut her hair back to right above shoulder length like she had on the Rolling Stone cover a couple of years ago.

2.Natalie Portman - Just a very, very cute girl. Saw Garden State yesterday and she was so amazingly good and cute in it. Check out the movie, it is excellent and highly recommended.

3. Jennifer Garner - You know what the funny thing is? I have never even seen an episode of Alias. I guess the commercials and awards shows were enough to convince me of this cutie.

4. Jessica Biel - Just so damn sexy! I have yet to see Blade 3, which I am very upset about because pictures show that she looks amazing in this flick. Plus, she was a soccer player before she hit it big. Bonus points!

5.Evangeline Lilly - Ever since I saw episode 1 of Lost, I have been hooked on this girl. Obviously, she is the newest member of this illustrious class. Funny thing is, before this show, I had seen her before. Have you ever stayed up really late and that commercial for Livelinks comes on - you know, the number where you can chat with someone local and hook up? Well, she is the girl in some of those commercials. I guess you can say she has taken a step up.

So what about my wife's list? Hers stays more consistant. Basically, it usully is this:
1.Brad Pitt
2.Colin Farrell
3.Mark Wahlberg (she is getting tired of him though)
4.Vin Diesel
5.LL Cool J

She doesn't change hers nearly as much as mine. So if anyone reads this post, PLEASE post your list as well. Let's see if we can get some other lists on here. Not too happy with where the pictures ended up on this post. Got to figure out how to work with this.

Oops

Ok, so compared to last week, I ate a little more and excercised a bit less. What does that add up to? 1.5 pounds not in the right direction. Yes, I gained weight last week. I kind of suspected it because of the above reasons, but it was still disappointing to see. I am kind of glad that it happened this early though. It shows me that I just can't cakewalk through this and only be good whenever I feel. I need to stick to this. And yes, I need to exercise. The funny thing is, I actually enjoy exercising. It makes me feel good. I just couldn't get off my ass to do it. This shows me what it is I need to do. Damnit, I iwll lose weight this week. My goal is to lose the 1.5 I gained back plus one more. That would put me at -5.5 for three weeks. Right now my totals are this:
Start weight at beginning of last week: 239
Last week: +1.5
Current weight: 240.5
Total loss after 2 weeks: 3 pounds

So I am still a pound ahead of my 1 pound a week schedule. Just wish I wouldn''t have backtracked. I know now though. Let that be a lesson.

Evangeline Lilly was Just on the Ellen show (Umm, watched it with my wife). Man she is super hot. I need to write that article on my top five girls. I will make it my goal to do that this week.

Confirmation

Well, as my wife figured, she did indeed have a miscarriage. She took a blood test on Wednesday and the results came back that she was in fact pregnant. Now, we know that she wasn't far along, but it was still tough to swallow. My wife is so great though. Instead of still focusing on the negative of the whole situation, she has been able to find a bit of light in this darkness. She is of the opinion that at least this miscarriage showed that she CAN get pregnant. Bless her heart for finding something positive after all this. We just will have to try again.

If you read the comments from my last post, you will see that a fellow blogger read AND commented on my blog. The word is spreading. Soon, the gospel that is Manuel's View will be taking over. I won't say that I will be bigger than Jesus like the Beatles did, but I am poised to explode. 4 different people have commented on this site. It has started...

Finally, a salute to Doug Christie who got traded by the Kings this week. He was nothing but a class individual for the organization and gave everything he had each and every night. Kids should be idolizing the hussle that he brings to each game rather than the showboating of most of today's young and up and coming players. Sacramento truey lost a great individual and I hope that everyone appreciates what he brought. We will miss you Doug...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

You know what? I am very proud of the title for this one so don't knock it. Hmm, which one should we start with? I guess I will go in order so as to not confuse the readers. Oh wait, I think only 2 people are reading this- my new (and ironically old) best friend Kelly who is the first person to leave a comment on this page (Thank you SOOO much) and my wife. So first the good...

239.0 pounds!!! Yes, I lost 4.5 pounds this last week. I am happy because I really worked hard. Well, I worked hard on the weekdays. I did have a nice sourdough burger on Saturday night and a Subway sandwich on Sunday night. But, since I was good the rest of the time plus I exercised, I got to see the results I wanted. Yeah me! One week in and I am 3.5 pounds ahead of schedule. Now if only I could be that far ahead in everything else I do. Why can't my quest to become a professional poker player go that quick? Oh yeah, poker gods have some vendetta against me.

The bad next and really, the word doesn't do it justice. For the last week, my wife and I were pretty sure that she was pregnant. No, that is not the bad part. In fact, we have been trying for months now and we were sure that it had finally happened. She was showing some very recognizable symtoms according to her (and her being a nurse, I trust her). She was going to do a blood test when she went in to the doctor's on Wednesday. Well, come Saturday, she started bleeding. A lot. WAY more than usual. It continued yesterday and on to today. She talked to some people and she is pretty darn certain that she miscarried. She is certain that it was not just a period, and again, I trust her based on her educational background. So, we had a nice week of huge optimism and it all came crashing down this weekend. She had a good cry as we were about a week away from spilling the beans about our good news to everyone. So, she'll talk to the doctor about it on Wednesday when she goes in. So, most people won't call it a baby after just a couple of weeks, but to us, we lost ours. A very sad time for us.

And now the ugly. C'mon, you didn't think I was going to let that Randy Moss incident yesterday go did you? In case you don't know what I am talking about, let me recap. Randy Moss plays for the Minnesota Vikings and he was playing the Green Bay Packers. He scored a touchdown and then it got UGLY. He proceeded to turn his back to the Green Bay fans, and pretended like he was mooning them. Classless. Totally classless. He was disrepectful and totally out of line. I was simply appalled. My friend Duncan put it best when he said, "You know, the guy just doesn't get it." And it's true. When they interviewed him after the game about it, he didn't seem to be at all apologetic about it and actually thought it was quite funny. Not really a shining citizen. Let's compare this to if it happened in basketball. Let's say Doug Christie dunked on Kobe Bryant at Staples Center and then turned around and pretended to moon the crowd. Ok, what would happen? Multiple choice:

a)he gets a technical
b)he gets thrown out of the game
c)gets fined
d)some guy on the team smacks him so hard the next time down the court that his wife feels it

Well, he better pray that b happens to him because if not, D will definitely happen. The Lakers would kick the shit out of him and I mean physically. It will be interesting to see if anything happens to Moss next time he plays Green Bay. He is a punk, and he deserves any hard hit that comes his way. Too bad there is a rule about excessive hits because this guy needs a good one. It may not come next game, but trust me, it is coming.

So there you have it. Good, bad (really bad), and ugly. And, I still need some kind of signature ending. Help me come up with one...

The poker gods can BITE ME!!!

@#&! &%#* #@*% !!!!! As you can see, all of those are 4 letters. Yes, that is how my night of poker went tonight. And you know what is a pisser? There isn't a single thing that I did tonight that I wouldn't go and do the very next time I play. I am satisfied with almost every little single hand I played. Hmm. Lets run down the hands I lost big money on shall we:

1. Ok, Jason would be the prick on this one. I have pocket aces and bet a good amount of chips. He calls. Ok, he must have something good right? So the flop come out 4-4-9. I say ok, I have two pairs, and it probably is higher than his because he wouldn't have any low cards in his hand if he called my initial bet. Right? Absolutely- friggin' wrong! By the time we flip over our cards, I have put in a lot of money and he flips over the monstrous, never beatable, amazing super poker hand of......... 2-4. WHAT!!!!!!! YOU CALLED MY VERY FIRST BET WITH A 2-4? WHAT THE HELL! So of course, his three 4s beat my two pair. Ok, losing to a three of a kind is not so bad. Happens all the time. But losing to it because he stayed in with 2-4? I almost quit right then. Apparently I should have.

2. Bastard Vic. I am dealt K-Q. Ahh, looks like this will be the one that could bring me back up. I bet chips as I should. He goes all in as he has less chips than me. Hmm... maybe he has pocket Queens or Kings. More likely it is a low pocket pair like 7 or 8 (No wait that is later). I call because I like my odds. He has Q-4. YES! Now I am really liking my odds. That is until nothing comes up but a 4. Yes. That bastard 4 that did me in in the last example. You mutha humper! So he wins with his monster 4s.

3.Victor again (Who just happened to be a lucky sunnuavabitch tonight.) This time I am dealt A-K. Even better than the last example. I have to make a good sizable bet. Victor goes all in again. I say no way the poker gods can do this to me again tonight. I call him. He flips over a pair of sevens. Ok. So he had a hand. But I have two over cards and I am due for a break. First three cards are 2, J, 8. No help to either of us and I start to worry. Next card is a 9. No help and I am really sweating it now. This can't possibly happen again. I need a A or K next PLEASE!!!! Nope. No luck and I hold my head in shame. Wait! Not only is it not an A or K, but to add insult to injury, it is another 7. The poker gods conversation went something like this: "Hey, this guy has had absolutely NO luck the last 2 months. He's an overall good guy. Maybe we could just give him the card he needs. On second thought, lets just put him out of his misery and make him feel so bad that it feels like his favorite team lost in the championship, his dog got run over, and cheeseburgers cease to exist anymore all while some big guy named Bubba bends him over at San Quentin. Yeah, that sounds about right. Give Victor another 7." Yup, that is pretty much how I imagine it went, and my ass is still hurting.

Like I said though, I don't think I would do anything different. The luck is just not on my side. Granted, you have to hand it to Vic and Jason, they took the risk and put their chips in against my clearly superior hands. But please, can I just get a break? Can I take any solace in my play? Sure, all of the hands were good decisions, just bad luck. At least I wasn't Duncan that did this to me. That might have been the final nail.

Ok, it is 1:30 in the morning and I need to go to bed so that I can pick up my wife at 7:00 from work. Did the nice husband thing and dropped her off tonight. Monday is soon and I can write how my weight loss thing is going. Oh, and sorry about the whole San Quentin ass imagery. When I get going, you never know what is going to come out of my mouth...

Long time no blog

Wow, is that as lame a title as I think it is? I haven't written in a while. The main reason is that I have been on vacation and basically, I didn't do anything that whole time. Well no, that is not true. I did find time to watch movies on DVD and play my Playstation 2. Productive? No. Fun? Absolutely. I am on vacation. Why should I have to do anything? Not a whole lot going on in my life though. I did go see Lemony Snicket at the movies and I was quite disappointed. They changed way to much from the book. You know, that just ruins a movie. If a book hasn't been read, then it is probably ok. However, this was one of the worst book to movie adaptations I have ever seen. It didn't even capture the feel of the book. Oh well. What pisses me off is that I went to go see that instead of Blade 3 which I still haven't seen. Damnit, I need to see hottie Jessica Biel!

I started a diet today. Well, a half diet. As long as I do portion control, don't eat out so much, and do a little exercise, I am usually ok. The hard part is just sticking to it. My goal is to lose a pound a week for the entire year. That would make it 52 pounds which is quite lofty goal. So I will say that my goal is to lose 40 pounds. That may seem like a lot in a year, but I am determined to do it. To help me stick to it, I am going to update this site with my weight every week so that at least I have to show my progress to others. Not that anyone else is reading this damn site! At the end of each post, there is a little thing that says comments. Would it be too hard to ask someone to comment so that I know this is being read? I glanced at other people's blogs and it does seem that the only blogs that even get any comments are blogs where people talk about their sex lives. Is that the only way people will respond? Is that all people are interested in? Well, I guess that is the society we live in. Maybe, just maybe, someone will read this blog and have something back to say. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So here is the beginning weight: Try to not be too shocked - 243.5 lbs. Let's see what it is like next week. God, I hope I can stick to this.