May 10 - I'm moving...

...to another blog place =) I finally put wordpress on my splitsuit.com website, so I will be moving this blog over there so I can consolidate info+blog. So I will be done posting here, and you can follow me right over to www.splitsuit.com and enjoy the new site with me =)

And for those that read me through RSS, I have a new feed address:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/SplitSuit

See ya'll on the flip!

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May 7 - In Vegas!

So I finally got to Vegas a day ago. I did 13 hours of driving on the Monday, and then finished up the last 12 hours of driving on the Tuesday. The drive wasn't that bad actually. Most of the trucks minded their lane, and my car has no real issues. I still had to putter through Colorado and parts of Utah because my car doesn't agree with the altitude there, but it managed. I did just about all my driving during the day while listening to the greatest playlist so I got some really good views of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. It's not really stuff that you can take pictures of, it's something you really have to experience. So I suggest it for anyone who likes scenery like that...

So got set up yesterday, and started working as well. I am such a workaholic sometimes. I actually had lots of time to think about business stuff while I was driving, so I've been working at getting some of my ideas on paper and doing some deeper research. We have a few good ones to roll with, so we'll see what comes of it.

Other things...I plan on redo-ing the splitsuit.com website. I want it to be easier to do on the backend (although you probably think not many things happen because it only changes a few times a month, it's a pain to do). So I will probably get started on that sometime soon, so if you notice the site is down, that is why and I appologize in advance. Also related to my site, I finally had my 5,000th unique visitor. Now, this is a very small site so having 5K unique people visit it is really cool to me. So hopefully you all are enjoying it =)



Oh, an odd story before I wrap this up. I was in Colorado after having driven straight through from Chicago (about 13 hours or so) and it was getting dark so I decided to pull off at a stop and get a nap in. So this was at about 11p, and when I got set up in my area, there was only a semi-truck with me. So I woke up at 2a, and I should note that my car is facing the curb which is overlooking a forest full of trees. It was also about 30*F, so I turned my car on to get some heat before figuring out if I wanted to drive more or nap more. About 3 minutes later a car comes into the rest stop (the headlights do not look like a cop car) and pulls directly behind me, trapping me in. I get fucking paranoid (rightfully so in the middle of no where, just waking up, and by myself right?) and immediately grab my knife. I thought for sure I was getting robbed. About 4 minutes later (I've been trapped in this whole time and debating whether or not I want to ram this car and gtfo) this cop comes up to my window and we have a 2 minute conversation before he leaves (and I never did anything more than open my window about an inch). Scary shit when you are still groggy and paranoid as hell. For anyone that ever gets in this situation, make sure you don't open your door and keep your car running.

So that was my excitement on the road. And on that note, I'm going back to work. Hope all is well with everyone!

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May 3 - Goal Recap and Travel Update

Ok, so because I have been traveling I have been lazy on the blog thing. Lo siento. So here is my goals/recap and also what is going on post.

Goals for April:

[x] 2 new students
[x] 80 hours of work (I will be on vacation for about a week this month)
[_] Write more of my book
[_] 1 new video for my site
[x] Produce 1 new song
[/] Launch this website and maybe the next one
[_] Get up to 175 push-ups/day

So did some of my goals for April. Though I will admit that I was pretty lazy the last half because of packing and prepping for my trip. I got in my car on Friday afternoon and started my trip. Went to Syracuse for dinner, which turned into a 4 hour dinner at Fuji (the best/worst Chinese/Japanese buffet ever), and then got back on the road. My ability to drive long distances has seemingly disappeared sadly. I almost wanted to take a nap about 3 hours into my trip (lol). So did Cuse, then drove out...didn't even get through NY before taking a nap. Though to my defense it was terrible rain and construction and I was having a hard time seeing, so I figured sleeping through that would be beneficial.

Did that, slept for 2hrs, jumped back on the road, and then feel asleep another hour later (night driving is not my thing at all). Did a 2hr nap, woke up when the sun was out, and then did a straight push out to Chicago (about 9 hours). Did dinner with my friend, slept at her place, and then got a shower. Have plans for lunch with some highschool friends and then i'll get going again and hopefully get to Nebraska before night. I am about ½ way to Vegas right now, and excited to be done driving. Almost there!

Other than driving, I have been getting some action on my stake. Have about 4 offers right now, and will hopefully be able to make a decision by Friday. Feels good to know that I can get staked if need be just in case anything ever goes wrong in the future. So hopefully you will all see me playing some bigger live games in Vegas in the near future =)

Alright, on that note, I need to get some food and then start doing things. Hope all is well!

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April 28 - Almost time for Vegas!

So for some odd reason I decided to pile a bunch of stuff on my plate before I left, so I have been pretty busy since I got back. I scheduled a bunch of students this week so I have been very busy coaching. Feels pretty good actually since I didn't do any coaching while I was on vacation, so no complaints really. Have 5 more sessions booked and then I'm packing and leaving for Vegas. I will try to pack a bit lighter than I did for my trip last year, but when I am moving I tend to pack pretty heavy. O well...I'm a life nit.

Actually have gotten some really good poker theory stuff done lately. I wrote my paper for 2p2 and posted it. It seemed to get pretty good results, though it seemed people wanted to bicker about a point that was made as an example, lol. O well, if it even helps just 3% of people who read it I will be happy with it. Also had a coaching session today that was just an hour of poker theory and situations, which was a lot of fun. I like being able to add in that session along with sweats, classroom, etc, so my brain has been in overload lately with poker theory, not that that is the worst of things.

So being my brain has been on fullblast lately I am trying to come up with some new business ideas. I have a few though they are following a model that isn't well equipped to make $1M in 2 years...so I am looking at some other things. I may take advantage of some smaller projects that can do residual income of like $2-$5K/mo, require minimal work, and give me lots of time to focus on a cornerstone project. I really just need cost of living taken care of so I can work on something big. I know a ton of people my age say they don't want to work past 30, but I really think I have the capacity for it...so fingers crossed.

On a very unrelated note...I am looking for a live stake in Vegas for the 'series. I am very flexible to contracts, meetings, deals, etc...but I would like a 2/5nl or 5/10nl stake if possible. Feel free to email at splitsuit@gmail.com. I can provide all the references and stat sheets you'd like.

Hope all is well everyone!

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April 24 - Vacation recap

Well I really wanted to get a blog post done every day I was on vacation, I however failed miserably, lol. So let's recap by day:

Tuesday:

Woke up at an unGodly 6:30a...snoozed it until about 7a, and then went into rush-mode to ensure I had everything together. Put on massive amounts of sunscreen, smashed a bagel in my mouth, and ran down to the dock to ensure I got on the 7:30a catamaran. Ended up being myself, my sister, her friend, my mom and Ray. We boarded, went over to customs (the catamaran went from the US to the British side of the Virgin Islands, so we had to declare that), loaded up another 25 people, and then headed out.

The catamaran was pretty cool actually. For those that don't know (and I didn't either before getting on one) a catamaran is a two hull ship (see the pix). So we drove out for about 45 minutes and then anchored up for about an hour for some snorkeling. The water was pretty rough going against current (which of course you had to do to see things that were worthwhile)...but I managed. Saw some more awesome fish, another jellyfish (though no stings this time!) and another turtle. However this turtle did not seem very happy, so I left him alone. Boarded the boat again and started over to Foxy's (some bar/shop place). (I got lost looking for a bathroom and ended up behind a restaurant, and randomly ran into a donkey. I laughed so hard when I saw it (given the picture from the previous post) that I had to take some pix...donkeys are funny)

Did that for a half hour, re-loaded, and then took another 45min ride to a place called “The Soggy Dollar Bar”...well named actually because there are no docks so you have to park your boat and then swim about 30 yards to get to it...so your money is quite wet when you get in. I am very fortunate that I have learned to swim over the last year a bit better and I didn't struggle too badly getting in. It would have sucked if I couldn't swim in, lol

Grabbed a quick lunch (flying fish sandwich ftw), took an hour swim, and got back on the boat to head home. When stopping through customs I was actually embarrassed. The US customs agents there are just compete assholes. To think that that is the first thing someone entering the US might encounter is just disgraceful. So got back in, have some new stamps on my passport, and got a nice buzz from the all day open-bar on the trip.

Got back to the hotel, did dinner, and passed out pretty quickly. Now, I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I often times wear a write brace for my carpal tunnel symptoms. So I put it on before I went to bed not even thinking that this could be bad.



Wednesday:

Wake up nice and late (10a), get a quick shower, and realize that my hand has turned a funny color (and I'm colorblind, so being able to see this color is impressive). Turns out when you mix mild sun-burn, salt water, and a hand brace, that your skin hates you. So my hand was in hellish pain and is like this bright purple while being swollen as hell. Damn skin!

So get some sunscreen on, get the family ready, and jump down to the dock to catch a boat over to St. Thomas (the “main” island from what I could tell) for shopping and lunch (the shopping is pretty cheap because of the duty-free stuff). So got to St. Thomas about 45min later, took a quick taxi over to the shopping center, and went nuts.

They have this huge section under a tent that has a whole bunch of local artists' work and crap like T-shirts. I ended up buying a picture I liked (I like supporting local art when given the chance to do so), some T-shirts, and then realized there were a ton of jewelry stores. So I spent the next 2 hours practicing my negotiation techniques (the best I got was 60% off a decent watch, but I didn't want it...I just wanted to negotiate, lol). Finally found a Rado dealer, and ended up buying a 20BI watch because I feel I can either flip it for a 10+BI profit, or enjoy the crap out of it. I'm an absolute watch whore, so I was very smitten with my purchase.

Did lunch (swordfish sandwich ftw) with my sister's friend's family who were down there for the day on a cruise. Then walked around a bit longer, the girls got their hair beaded, and we went back to the hotel on the 5:15p boat.

It was the 22nd, which is my brother's birthday, so we celebrated that (awkward to celebrate a passed sibling's birthday) with a dinner of his favorite foods and birthday cake. Everyone passed out pretty quickly afterwards and being that it was 10:30p I watched Oceans 12 and then the Jimmy Fallon show before passing out. Btw, I was amazed that Jimmy Fallon has a show. His opening monologue, besides being about 1/3rd the time of Jay Leno's, was horrendous. It reminded me of watching an awkward moments reel of The Office or something...minimal applause, and a whole lot of forced smiling just trying to get through it. I never liked him on SNL that much, and really just felt bad for his show.



Thursday:

Get up at 7:30a to go jet-skiing. Accidentally hit the snooze and sleep through it, and then get up finally at 9:30a. Get some breakfast in me, get a few screw drivers as well, and get to the airport at 11:30a for my 3p flight (the boat system isn't very convenient like that). So ended up finishing the paper I wanted to write for 2p2, read some more of my SEO book, and just relaxed. Get to Philly after a 4hr flight, grab a quick bite and wait for my 8:50p flight to Providence, RI. My stupid ass thought my ticket said gate A2, and I was very confused when at 8:20p there was no one sitting in that section. Turns out my lazy ass didn't see that it was A22...and I had to high-tail it across the airport to board just as it was finishing boarding. Uneventful flight to Providence, and all is well.

Went to my friend's that night, relaxed, and got back home this morning (now Friday). Just got a shower and shave, got my office set up again, and it feels good to be back. I did realize how badly I need to start traveling more. I am traveling cross country again next week, so maybe I can make better use of that...but I certainly want to do Europe in the next year for sure. I have actually gotten some offers from students who would be happy to put me up in various locations in Europe, so maybe I will take a Europe trip and spend a few days with each student...that could be dope =)

Alright, I'm off to proof-read my paper and maybe post it today. Hope all is well with everyone!

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April 20 - St. John thus far...

So in my effort to be a better blogger, I decided I would write up a quick post about vacation thus far. Got to the airport at 3:45a the other day. Waited until 4a for the ticket place to open up, then waited 30min for them to finally find my reservation. Got through security around 4:40a and then waited till 6a for my flight. Slept for the hour it took to get to DC, grabbed a quick bite, and then boarded my plane to Charlotte. Slept the 1.5h hours to get there. Waited another 1.5hrs for my flight to St. Thomas, and slept the 2 hour sleep. Sleeping through flights is awesome!

Got to St. Thomas and waited about an hour for my taxi to take me to the boat to take me to St. John. They dropped us off at the boat dock which had a bar so I grabbed a few beers before getting on the St. John boat. I'm pretty sure that I am an idiot as I broke the seal right before I jumped on the 45 minute boat ride and regretted that very much. I waddled as fast as I could off the boat and had never felt so relieved. And as soon as I was done with that I was finally able to see the awesome view that is this place. It really is something else.

Woke up early today and took a taxi down to the beach. It's pretty cool, they cut the back off of a truck and install seats and a roof. I forget the word they use for them, but they are an adventure by themselves. So drove through downtown St. John (quite a slummy place imo), around a whole bunch of hills, past some awesome views, and then finally got the beach. You know the Corona commercials with the really blue water that is see-through? Yea, that was this. Fucking gorgeous.

So swam most of the day, got a nice sun tan, and did some snorkeling. I had never snorkeled before and it was a pretty cool experience. Ended up seeing a ton of fish, got stung by baby jellyfish (which burned like hell, but at least it wasn't a big jellyfish), and saw a huge ass turtle. Did the beach until about 3p, then went down to “Woody's” (apparently a very well known restaurant) and grabbed some beer and lunch ($1 beer FTW). Got back home, and just relaxed for the rest of the day with my younger cousins (8 and 4). Took some pictures around the day that I will attach for your enjoyment. I'm waking up insanely early tomorrow (6:30a) for some boating and more snorkeling...so off to bed I go.


Hope all is well with everyone!

(also, random side note...I ordered flowers for my friend so they would be there when she finished her marathon (she ran the Boston today). I woke up to a phone call from the flower place telling me they can't deliver them because of the marathon. The woman on the phone didn't see to understand why that might be ironic)



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April 18 - Catching My Plane Soon...

So I figured I would write up a quick blog post before I pack up and get out of here. I am going to St. John in a few hours and will be on a beach by tomorrow afternoon. I spent just about all day reading and prepping my iPhone (sifted through the music on my computer to pick my “best” 10GB) so I need to get to packing. But being I'm just bringing a backpack full of clothes and books and my laptop bag, there isn't too much to do.

I'm not 100% sure where my head is at recently. I've been having a hard time with the “practice” side of things. To counter-balance that I'm trying my ass off to solidify my “theory” side to ensure that I am at least doing something right. I blame this all on it being April...so hopefully I can sweat this out of my system and get my 100%grind back ASAP.

I realized I wanted to watch something on the plane when I'm traveling so I decided to DL my favorite show from Adult Swim. In case you haven't seen it before, “Perfect Hair Forever” is amazing. It's a cartoon made to completely mock anime and is hilarious in doing that. They only managed to get 6 episodes off before it got cut, but it really is 6 episodes of pure genius. Each episode is like 11 minutes, so if you get bored and want to rot your brain, YouTube it and have a blast =)

Also, I have it planned to write something for 2p2 soon. The working title is “what makes me different from you” and it will be a run down of some of the things (both tangible and intangible) that one needs in order to be LR successful at this game. It will be pretty long I would imagine, but we'll see how it flows out. If it doesn't come out natural I will scrap it, but I've been jotting down some notes all week because lots of 2p2 posts are giving me good ideas to run with.

Alright, I'm out to pack and then off to the airport. Hope all is well everyone =)

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