Flip Mode Squad (Kat bet pic)

I've been listening to a lot of Mos Def recently, as I'm in the middle of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy five-set, and Mos plays the role of Ford Prefect in the movie. Here are some links to Mos on Real Time with Bill Maher if you're unfamiliar:





There are plenty of links to Mos Def's music on YouTube, but most don't let embedding occur. Busta Rhymes and Mos have a few collaborations, and I had a few Busta Rhymes cd's growing up, hence the Flip Mode Squad title. Also, the flip mode squad title has to do with this post being a little flip from the norm... usually I see that I haven't posted for a week and do a lame list of what I've done during the past week in chronological order. It sucks because I don't remember the fun details from seven days ago, and by the time I get to yesterday, where I actually remember the things that happened, I am ready to wrap up the post. Today I'm going to try a reverse chronological order list from now to last week. It doesn't sound much better from the normal list, but hey~

Today I had two great motorcycle rides. The first was a quick loop down and around downtown Seattle to drop off my substitute information to the Seattle School District. I got on the express lanes into the city and I was the only vehicle the entire four miles into the city--it was awesome. On the way back I took 99 up along the water and was treated to some amazing views.

Later, Jared and I finally got out on a ride together. He bought a Ninja 250 about a month ago and my bike has been in the shop the whole time he's had his. We rode over to High Bridge Road, but the road was closed four miles into it. We got a few curves in, and the back roads we took to get to High Bridge Road were a lot of fun. It was great to get out on the bike and not have it assplode on me!

Here are a few pics, and one that fulfills my obligation to post a glamor shot (ugly mug shot) of me and my bike, sigh.





I've spent the last two days volunteer tennis coaching at my old high school. Tryouts started yesterday and the varsity coach did not have any help, and he offered me the JV job if I wanted it (I coached in 07'). I was torn. I don't have a job, but I really need and want a teaching job first, and a coaching job second. Right now I have very few strings holding me in any one place, and I applied to a job up near the San Juan Islands. I wouldn't be able to take that job if I get it, if I coach. I was struggling with my options, not wanting to give a half-assed commitment to coaching, but also not wanting to leave the varsity coach hanging. It all cleared up today though, and he found another ex-player to coach the JV team, so I'm off the hook!

The past week has been pretty stressful on the job front. Besides trying to figure out exactly where I want to live, and if I want to coach, there is a camping trip scheduled to depart tomorrow that I've been flip-flopping on. The trip sounds amazing, but I feel like I should be spending the time job searching during this crucial time to get a job. One option is to just do the camping, or just do the backpacking portion of the dual-trip. Coaching was getting in the way until today's discovery as well. I was flip-flopping on a lot of things, and being quite flaky with a lot of my friends, and that sucked.

The more I worked it out today, the more I think a camping trip is exactly what I need. I just need to get out for a few days, clear my head, and focus on what it is I need to do and not worry about the rest. I hope to be enlightened at the end of the trip, which is par for the course after a hiking trip for me :)

Well now I've gone off track and I'm back to today--oh well, flip mode squad has been vanquished. I'll pour one for my homies and say that I played softball, racquetball and went rock climbing a couple times last week--in chronologically reversed order.

All Hail Blaargh!

The man (?) is a genius, folks. Not only in comedy circles around the globe, not only on the poker felt, but he is even a genius when he's dropping a deuce.

The comedy prop-bet in the inaugural Summer Bankroll Challenge was a close race between both Blaargh! and Dr. Chako. Both had multiple posts that made me laugh, but in the end I had to vote Blaargh! the winner. Dr. Chako and I share the same sense of humor and the stuff he wrote had me rolling, but Blaargh!'s sense of humor is out of left-field, the stuff that makes you go, "what the... where did he come up with that??" He kind of reminds me of this goat I know...

Ba-doop

This week was a lot of fun. Wednesday was a fun and productive day. I started out with a round of golf at Wayne, which has a great Monday/Wednesday morning deal of $14 for 18 holes. The backside is short, with four par-4's and five par 3's, which is one part of the cheap green fee.

I don't really consider this golfing prep for the Winter Gathering, but the more I hear about it, the more I want to make the trip down to Vegas. A spot at CK's place might seal the deal! We can toss the disc, it'll be grand. I think I was +17 over 14 holes, because I skipped a few holes on the backside to breeze past a clog of golfers. Averaging slightly over bogey for a round of golf is a great round for me, probably my best.

After golf, I visited five middle schools near where I'll be moving at the end of this week. I dropped off a substitute page with my picture and contact info, and a resume, and talked with a vice principal at one of the schools in regards to coaching opportunities. I was well-received at all of the schools, and I hope they'll call me up for subbing once the school year gets underway.

Wednesday night I threw a little shin-dig which involved six boxes of pizza and ended with me and three bikini-clad women in the hot tub trying to catch glimpses of the meteor shower through the clouds (we didn't have much luck). Good times.

Thursday was spent with Dr. Chako. First, we hiked Rattlesnake Ledge and had some good views, although a bit cloudy:



(Mt. Si, with the peak covered in clouds)

After our hike we hit Snoqualmie Casino and played some poker. I got reamed playing 4/8 and won one pot in an hour of 7-handed play, and I only won the blinds. Not only did I only win one hand, I had a lot of second-best hands, or best hands until the river, and then second-best hands. It was frustrating, and I am glad I set a stop-loss at $100 before I tilted the rest off.

I took a breather from poker and wandered the casino for a bit. The Snoqualmie Casino has a really nice setup, and as Dr. C pointed out, I think it is the first casino I've been in that has windows you can look out! The view is great north through the Snoqualmie Valley. I did a lap of the casino to see what games they spread, and I was looking for a Pai Gow table to waste some time at and hopefully not lose much money, and let Dr. C play more than just an hour of poker. I found a $3 blackjack table and played for about 20 minutes and only lost one hand. The dealer must have bust six times while I was there, and the whole table was loving it. I got out while I was ahead, and watched Dr. C go nuts on his last orbit at 3/5 no limit to just about double his stack.

We left the casino to get back to Seattle in time to play softball, but it started POURING when we reached Seattle, and we changed plans to racquetball instead. He whooped me in the first game, then I won the second game when he served to my forehand every point, then he won the third and fourth games handily. It is always fun playing with Dr. C, because I always learn a lot, and usually play up to him and get better--and then go whoop up on my friends the next week :)

This weekend was ECC/Spawnfest, a large ultimate frisbee tournament with some of the best teams in the world. One set of fields hosts teams from all across the world--Japan, Colombia and Australia were all teams I saw. At my set of fields were more local teams from Victoria to Portland. We went 3-1 on day 1, putting us in the bottom of the A pool. We lost our first game today to the #1 seed, and then lost our second game and headed back to Seattle.

Spider Meadows

If this post looks familiar, I did this same hike just under two years ago with my dad. This year, I intended to go up Friday and make it up to Lyman Lakes, but was ill on Friday. Instead, I made the trip up Sunday with a few friends for a long day hike. We ran into my original hiking buddies, Tom and Joe, on the way up the trail, and they thanked me for the recommendation!

The day hike turned out to be about a 13-mile hike, and we were all dog tired by the end of it. We recharged our batteries by stopping at Lake Wenatchee on the way back to Seattle for a beer and a swim.

Take Two

Well, I had intended to be gone all weekend backpacking, but I woke up yesterday morning at 4am with some pleasant explosive diarrhea and dry heaving. I think it had to do with a combination of the strenuous hike, eating berries on the hike, eating a roast beef sandwich bought at an IGA store, only drinking one nalgene of water for the entire day, and all that followed up with two strong gin and tonics.

I could barely move, and slept for 25 of 36 hours between Thursday night and this morning.

Joe and Tom continued on schedule, and I've commissioned a few friends to join me on what is now a day hike on Sunday instead of the planned two-night hike. Barring any other unforeseen obstacles, I'll be back at Spider Meadows around noon tomorrow, but probably won't have enough time to check out Lyman Lakes.

Gone Hikin'

I did a day hike today with Tyler and Wheezy, and I'll be hiking Spider Meadows and possibly Lyman Lakes until Sunday. Adios!

Six-card Royal Flush!

I found Dr. Chako at the tables tonight, and decided to join him for some limit O/8 action. I wasn't very positive about my chances of winning, but then this hand happened. Not only did I flop a K-hi straight flush, but it turned into a Royal on the turn, and the guy to Chako's right bet. The river paired the board which filled up Dr. Chako. I was really hoping for the 8h on the river for the 7-card royal, but Dr. C had it... not a friend!