Fantasy B-ball Joined a league with my bros and his friends. Last year I was in some anonymous league and didn't really start playing for real until my team was already down by a lot. This time around will be more fun with the live draft and playing with peeps I know.

Anyways my draft this year:

1. (7) G. Arenas PG
2. (18) C. Bosh PF,C
3. (31) M. Redd SG,SF
4. (42) R. Felton PG
5. (55) M. Okur PF,C
6. (66) A. Iguodala SG,SF
7. (79) A. Harrington SF,PF
8. (90) R. Foye PG,SG
9. (103) M. Miller SG,SF
10. (114) D. Granger SF,PF
11. (127) R. Gay SF,PF
12. (138) N. Hilario PF,C

I really wanted Wade but Gilbert is probably just as good if not better. The Wizards will really need him down the stretch whereas Miami may just coast into the playoffs. I picked Bosh before learning about his heel problem. Spent the rest of the day reading fantasy articles and making myself feel good about my picks. Apparently the way to go is to get a ton of solid PGs and PFs to win the obscure categories like assists, steals, 3pt. I need Felton to break out this year. Nene is a reach and Harrington is somewhat one-dimensional. Granger, Gay, Foye are my sleeper picks. Regardless I feel good about my team compared to last year where I was playing Mihm, LaFrenz, Kyle Korver.  ¶ 5:44 PM 0 comments

  go xbox! I've started to root for the 360 vs the PS3 as Sony's "you will buy one because we are making it" attitude is starting to wear thin. It would probably be beneficial to put Kuratagi on a leash, especially if the PS3 doesn't end up dominating the world.

Been reading Next Generation lately, which offers refreshing perspectives on the next generation console wars. This without the barrage of flash ads and popups that Gamespot and IGN feature. The articles spotlighting the Japanese gaming scene are a must read. They touch on all the wonderful eccentricities of the Japanese gamer. Lost Odyssey looks absolutely stunning and if Japan doesn't respond to this, perhaps nothing can save the 360 over there.  ¶ 8:09 PM 0 comments

  ho hum I've been spending the past couple weeks recooperating (will go into detail at a later date). Mostly this means trying to arrange myself in a comfortable position on my bed to be able to type on my laptop. Result: there is no comfortable position, beds are for sleeping on. I've also been watching copius amounts of TV shows, which help to pass the time. Heroes is quite entertaining, it's got the Unbreakable vibe, as well as an intriguing storyline. Perhaps the best out of many new Lost-style shows which are all the rage now. Lost itself has started off with a whimper, nothing has really happened yet. Thanks to the online video resurgence, it's now possible to watch the episodes online at abc.com. There are less commercial interruptions and they are available at all times for the most part.

Management was kind to me, only requesting my time for a short two day project. Motivation has been MIA and it's been tough to psych myself up for several future events. I'm ready for the snow though...  ¶ 7:55 PM 0 comments

  first round bust [23:08] kofman23: yo
[23:08] kofman23: edge (Edgerrin James) for a sack of potatoes
[23:08] johnnygboy: no potatoes are worth more
[23:09] kofman23: fuck
[23:09] kofman23: yeah you can make french fries

(I still won my fantasy game thanks to Rex Grossman's ineptitude)  ¶ 11:17 PM 0 comments

  my car crash

In retrospect the damage doesn't look that bad. I was able to restart the car and drive it to the shoulder (car ended up in the fast lane facing the wrong way). I probably could have driven it home, had the officer not insisted that his buddy the tow truck driver drive me back for the fee of $100.

Air bag didn't deploy since only one of the front sensors activated. I was extremely fortunate that this happened late at night with minimal traffic.  ¶ 3:23 PM 0 comments

  CT This weekend I drove down ~2 hrs to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Connecticut. Another incentive to go - Foxwoods is a short drive from their house.

My second attempt at playing poker at the tables went about the same as the first. There's really not a whole lot of strategy in low limit poker due to the fact that people will just call your bluffs to the end. Usually the winning hand is at least two pair. Mindgames aren't as prevalent. People may try to steal the blinds, but other than that, its usually a strong hand vs a slightly stronger hand.

That being said, I made several tactic errors and wound up losing ~$40 in two hours. I need to draw out to the end since the potential payoff is so large in this game vs folding. Improvement will take some more reading and seeing lots more flops to know exactly how to play hands. It takes time to become familiar with all the possible outcomes, so I'll probably start going more often to the local game.

One good hand was having JK vs a J7 with JJ??? on the board. I would get fairly playable hands after each time I won, then be slightly looser with my calls. In another hand I had AA vs someone's 66. I raised at every opportunity but the board came out 345?2, giving them the higher straight. River card got me several times, but that's the nature of the game.

Hanging out with my uncle is interesting. He showed me a lot of his research work that he did in postdoc as well as Pfizer. Lots of publications as well as several patents granted. Definitely a good example of getting extremely deep into a subject, there are probably 20 people in the world with his level of expertise into his field. He also has a lot of stories about him and my dad which are always insightful. I get a better of understanding of what makes my dad tick. My uncle reminds me a lot of my grandpa (who was such a character).

Today we are going to face off in table tennis. Me only having played once in the last few years vs my uncle who practices 3x a week and has gotten top secret lessons from the Chinese national team...  ¶ 6:06 AM 0 comments