one more post before the month is over



so it finally looks like my back is showing signs of improvement this week to where i'm not limping into the office. and maybe by next week, i can start slowly making my way to the gym again. every time something happens to my back, i have to take about a month off, and i feel like my muscles are whitering away and turning into soft jello. too bad it happened at the worst time of the year...twice this summer. i always look forward to not having to wait around in rimac. hopefully this exercise fad has blown over some and people will be doing diets like atkins or the likes off to where they won't need to come to the gym. no disrespect to the ones who are committed to the gym on a long term basis. i'm only complaining about the ones who make it to the gym every day for the first week or two, wear themselves out, then never come again...achieving nothing while crowding the gym for everyone. well, i'll have to see how my back feels next week.



i'm not 26....wow...that's 2 years older than people who i used to think was really old when i was about 16 years old. i celebrated my birthday at pampas argentine grill. 22 people including myself and erik and judy's baby were able to make it. pampas used to be a place where you could get a prime grade filet mignon for about $22....an awesome deal, and now they charge $30 which is what you expect to pay, and makes that restaurant just another restaurant you can only go to on special occasions....not when you're craving filet mignon. pity. the restaurant has new management...and it just happens that the new owner is nguyen's friend at his other work...who has been given this restaurant by his aunt. wow, i wish i had an aunt that gave me my favorite steak house as a gift. can't blame him for the price increase, and it doesn't look like it hasn't really hurt their business at all. i just can't see myself going there any more than once or twice a year.



another place i've been frequenting is sycuan for their prime rib buffet. it used to be $12 which used to be a steal, and now its $15, which is still good deal for all you can eat prime rib (certified angus prime grade meat). now that the casinos are smoke free, it just makes it all that much better. another reason i will go here other than bully's is that i'm tired of their shit for service. i've figured out how to get what i want from bullys. first you gotta go there, put your name down. then when they try to seat you in the back patio, you gotta tell them you want a booth instead. they used to give you pretty good bread. then they decided to not make fresh bread any more, and give you some day old bread whenever possible. now you actually have to pay for bread, and people usually say yes when they ask you if you want garlic bread before you had a chance to look at your menu's. the garlic bread is fresh, but surprise, you are paying for it. then when you order meat, only chance you have is to order it rare. you want it medium rare? they are happy to take an old piece from some roast, microwave it, then serve it to you medium well. they figure, either you won't care, or you won't complain. they have done this to me 2 out of 3 times. when they bring it out, it is obviously apparent without even cutting into it that its no where near medium rare, and its a piece that's been sitting out for a while. what i do is cut into it, then let them take it back. i gotta give them some negative incentives for doing this every time some way or another. so the second piece is always usually up to par in what they should be serving. when you compare the two side by side, you scratch your head and wonder what the fuck are these jokers trying to get away with? since i do enjoy both medium rare and rare when eating prime rib, i usually go with the rare, so that they know they won't be able to get away with pulling that shit. and even still, they try. and its easy to convince them that you didn't get what you ordered when they serve you a medium well piece when you asked for rare. they just have no grounds to say something like "that looks rare to me". i'll still make them place it on the table, and cut into it and make sure no one is getting this piece. so this is the "routine" i have to deal with every time i go to bully's. and ever since i've found out about the prime rib at sycuan, you can see why i haven't been to bully's since. i gotta admit that the prime rib at sycuan is half the times too overcooked. but the other half the times it is fantastic. and for what they are charging and no bullshit, i'll gladly take that instead.



so i went off on a tangent a little bit. had a great time at my birthday dinner. played poker afterwards at travis' place. here's my critique on some early eliminated players. eric was surprisingly agressive like a pro, but should have been more selective on the opportunity on when to be agressive. for example, if you get dealt pocket A's every time, when you try to buy out every pot, people will call you with nothing, and hit a nice flop to take probably most of your money. also, even though you have a good hand, you gotta know when to fold when you know you're beat. nik and barbara weren't in the position to play their A game since they couldn't stay long. but its not like the chips were folded to me. at the end, while holding pocket Aces, there was a 50/50 chance I would have lost, and they would have had an overwhelming chip lead when they were both 1 card to go for a flush (different suits for babs and nik). so even with half the deck against me, i won the 50/50 coin flip, and pretty much doubled up. and from there, i was up to about 50% of all the chips in play. after that, everyone played a solid game...except for maybe the last hand in play heads up. i ran into some serious luck hitting pocket aces 2 more times where it held up and paid off where i was able to finish 1st place. i guess the turnout couldn't really have ended better.



one thing i realized when i was at a birthday party was that i need to get on the ball and find myself a gf. i think it all boils down to laziness. i look around and half of my friends are very well matched with their significant other while i don't have a clue where to start looking. i don't want to be the "family friend" that needs to make rounds for holiday dinners because i'm the only one without my own family when i'm 35. that's definitely not where i want to be in 10 years. i'm not saying i'm aiming to get married any time soon, but i at least have to go through this process of trial and error, also known as dating to find out what i'm really looking for. same thing for my career. i don't see it going anywhere if i'm just continuing to be reactive rather than proactive and just letting the day pass by. where is my hunger for success? this is a puzzle that needs to be solved.



next post, i'll get to posting my trip to australia in detail with some pictures that i've been meaning to get to.