PLO Style

Wow, can't believe it's been so long.  I guess I've been up to a lot, though it doesn't really seem like it.

Quick update: Spent the summer settling in to my new place and city in Portland.  Spent about a month back East between New Jersey and upstate New York visiting friends and family.  Then it was back to school for me, my daughter and my babymomma.  I'm in grad school for Library Science.  I've been doing that and playing poker here and there.  I adapted a higher variance style and was trying to move up at the same time which didn't work out well for me.  Donked around in some tournaments to no real results.  I'm back at grinding PLO100 now putting more volume than I have in quite a while.

I just watch a National Geographic documentary on Stress.  All about what it really is and how effects our bodies and lives.  It's on Netflix Instant Watch right now. If you have it you should check it out, it was really interesting.  It also hit really close to home for me. 

My whole family has an issue with stress and I'm no exception.  I bring so much of it on myself just by procrastinating and not preparing properly for any number of things including playing poker.  I have trouble managing my time, managing my stress and managing my weight.  It's been this way for a very long time for me and I can see it to varying degrees in my dad, my mom and my brothers as well.  It's kind of scary and ermm stressful.

It really has been taking a toll on me physically, emotionally and psychologically.  I can see the things I need to, or can do, to make the changes that will help.  I've been slowly moving towards those changes for quite a while, but it's been more of one step forward two steps back kind of thing.  I'm feeling very motivated at the moment though and the future is looking bright.

So yeah, now I'm stressing because I feel like I stress too much, go figure.  I've been thinking though and trying to trace it back to why I stress in the first place and how I can combat that.  So I will be more active and proactive thus give myself less to stress about thus feel better so I can potentially do more which can lead to stressing less and so forth.  Get myself into a positive cycle of growth and health instead of a insulated, crippling negative cycle that I've been in.

To bring it all together I think Travis Steffen's Shuffle and Flow series is hitting me at a good time.  I'm getting a lot from it so far and just the overall theme and content are positive and motivating it's kind of all right in my wheel house of things I need to improve, especially time management.  I highly suggest you check it out if you haven't already.

Oh also, life on other planets, HOLY SMOKES! I mean I always figured it was a statistical probability with the amount of stars there are but this is a pretty amazing discovery imo. 

later gator

Finally got around to writing this all up.  Sorry for the delay. 

I was given the opportunity to check out an advanced copy of Tri "SlowHabit" Nguyen's new book The Pot-Limit Omaha Workbook:  Common Spots, Uncommon Profits.  This is a book for honing your skills at Online 6-max PLO cash games.  Probably best suited for someone who has been playing a bit but looking for more of an edge in the current games.  I can't say whether or not the book is worth the money for you, that's a personal and financial decision.  I can say that there is potential to learn a lot about PLO in this book.  I know I did.

My thoughts in short.  The theory section is brief, but interesting.  The HH section is thorough and contains a lot of valuable insight into common situations.  The PLO Quiz is my favorite part and provides a lot of opportunities to test your knowledge and see what SlowHabit has to say about those spots.  The more you've played I think the more you'll be able to get from the various sections since you'll be better able to evaluate the information, lines and answers provided and to determine how they fit your game.  However, I think there is something here for everyone. 

The short opening theory chapters are interesting pieces to consider.  They compliment SlowHabit's first PLO book and seem like good concepts and tools to spend some time thinking about.  The first concept of visibility is a little more theory based and conceptual while the chapter on the stop and go was easier for me to conceptualize and incorporate.  However, I would have liked to see them referenced more in the hand history analyses just to drive the concepts home.

I found after reading just the first few hand histories that I was immediately seeing lines that hadn't come to me before and that I could implement right away in very common spots.  There is a ton to think about here and opportunities to learn how to squeeze value from both less competent and more seasoned PLO opponents.

If you play a lot of hands of PLO you should recognize several spots that come up here.  If you don't recognize them you'll start to the more hands you get under your belt.  SlowHabit does a good job of verbalizing his decision making process and seems to make an honest attempt at assessing his play at the time of the hand, for better and worse.  It's definitely not a bunch of obvious spots he plays well, there are plenty of misplayed hands.  They are all worthy of revisiting and offer learning opportunities that include standard lines to take or to expect from your opponents; specific player-type notes to consider; and consideration of alternative lines. 

While the hand analysis is valuable in itself and consists of both standard and, to me, less standard lines I think the most value comes from the times he goes beyond the initial hand analysis and gets into particular things of note, like reflection on his in-game thought process and alternative lines he could/should have taken.   For example if he should have 3bet pre-flop despite what he said earlier or if check-raising the flop needs more consideration in that spot.

I was bothered a little bit when he simply explained a decision by saying "I often do X action, but this time I chose Y, there is no particular reason why I chose Y instead of X."  Like I usually raise, but this time I called, I have no reason or explanation.  He could probably just say he chose it to mix up his play or at least told us why he one is his standard and how the line he chose affects the hand.  These are usually in less consequential spots and he does go into a lot of detail about most of his decisions.  There are also some typos and small editing errors throughout that can be distracting but don't really take away from the analysis.

The PLO Quiz, this is my favorite part of the book and I think a top notch learning tool.  It puts you in spots with opportunities to consider what you would do and then read a detailed explanation of what SlowHabit thinks is the best play and why.  He also provides many alternative lines, notes and other considerations for each scenario.  Whether you knew the best action or not, you can learn a lot from the analysis in the answer section.  I also like how this sections provides lots of opportunity to consider different boards, hands, actions or opponents in the given scenarios and try to piece together the best actions to take. 

Again I'll say this is a book for honing one's skills at current online 6-max PLO cash games.  Probably best suited for someone who has been playing a fair bit and is looking for more of an edge in the current games.  I can't say whether or not the book is worth the money for you, that's a personal and financial decision. 

I think The PLO Workbook has a lot to offer the serious PLO student.  

Pricing and more information can be found at http://dailyvariance.com/slowhabit-plo-workbook.html

Been in Portland about a week and half.  The move was pretty brutal.  Packing, loading, hauling, unloading, unpacking...more unpacking.  Still unpacking but got most of the essentials going. 

It would be hard to have a sweeter spot, especially for getting the place sight unseen.  Cute little house with a lot of storage and a yard, 2 blocks to Belmont, 4 blocks to Hawthorne.  Could easily get by without ever stepping in my truck.  It's pretty sick.

Had a mellow and fun 4th.  Walked half a block one way to a dinner, then half a block the other way to a park to set off and watch fireworks.  Would have been fun to be back in Oakland though.  A good friend was having another 'Q...same guy who smoked like 30lbs of meat with 3 kegs for his last bash.  I definitely miss the comfort of familiar surroundings and people more than I thought I would.

It's a much different living situation than I'm used to.  In Oakland my baby's momma and I lived at the same address and raised our daughter together, but we had our own separate houses, a house and a studio, on one lot.  So we got real breaks from full time parenting a few times a week.  Now we share the same house and it's more of a traditional family set up where we're both here all the time.  It's harder to find some time to get things done with her and a bunch of kids constantly running around, especially while transitioning to a new place.  I got a little home office set up in my room but I might need to take over the basement and turn it into a man-cave/online poker den and office.  It's unfinished but has high ceilings and could work, I'm not too picky.

Despite all that I finally got back to playing cards today.  It's been a couple of weeks since I've played and it's always a bit of a transition getting back into the swing.  I think I played decent if not a little snug but I find that's best for my nerves and easing my mind and eyes back into it. 

I'll let you all know how it goes and if anything cool comes up.  Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the SlowHabit PLO Workbook.  I have some words on that coming forthwith.

So the time has finally come.  I'm moving to Portland.  It's really real. 

The best thing about moving is goodbye parties.  My friend had a combined birthday bbq/goodbye party the other day.  He smoked about 30lbs of 3 different animals for like 10 hours, 30 #^@%ing pounds!!  and also had 3 kegs of really good beer.  It was a good time.  Of course it's all bitter sweet.  I got to see and party with a bunch of my friends here but I it also reminds me that I actually have made some real friends here and I'm going to miss them. 

At least Portland isn't too far and is a really awesome town that everyone I know wants to visit so I'll have lots of house guests.  I also know a bunch of people in bands who will be coming up here to play shows so that will be something to look forward to.  Speaking of which I know I'll be coming back down to Oakland in the fall to see my friends' band Total BS.  Normally they are a Bob Seger tribute band, and really one of the best shows you'll see but this time around they are doing Total Bruce Springsteen...!!!!!!  I really cannot miss that.

So, that's what I've been up to most of this month and all the past week or so.  Haven't played any poker in about a week.  Barely following the forums or wsop or anything like that.  Which might be a good thing.  While I know I can go without it I haven't lost all interest in it because I've been busy.  I still think about it and can't wait to get back in the swing of things. 

On that note one thing I have been doing is reading the new Slow Habit PLO Workbook.  Somehow I got chosen to preview it which is really cool and what I've read so far I think is pretty good.  I don't know anything about the pricing or when it's being publicly released but I'll have a post with my thoughts on it soon.  Keep your eyes peeled for that and my return to grinding.  I'm about to say EFF YOUUU! to 100PLO and start playing primarily 200PLO.  My plan is to grind 10 or 20k more hands of 100PLO with more 200PLO mixed in as I move along and start to make 200 PLO my primary game by the end of July, barring any standard PLO runbad or unforseen monetary disasters that is. 

The next time you hear from me I'll be a Portland resident, if any of you guys are gonna be in Portland let me know, we'll hit up the Acropolis or something.

Man, if you haven't heard, PLO is a high variance game.  Had you heard that, probably not, but it is, for real, no joke.

My first like 20k hands back playing regularly have been a huge roller coaster.  I started out pretty taggish and ran hot and won at a good clip.  Decided to loosen up and play like 5 tables...this leads to me spewing, not playing terrible but getting pretty laggy (for me) and playing like 33/20/12 and swinging a ton and just relying too much on running good because people don't fold that much especially if you're playing fast.  I went back through my hands and I never really got my money in "bad".  Meaning I always had at least 30% :oP 

So that was yesterday I played like 2k hands, I've been playing a ton more since I quit my job.  Played mostly at deep tables with antes and dropped like 15 or more BI yesterday, but actually wasn't tilting, much, and played pretty solid lag game I thought.  Just ran a little bad, like 12BI below EV if you ask HEM, especially against the other guys who were willing to get the money in the middle.  People play so bad! 

So today I got back to my nitty ways and tagged it up for a bit.  I do much better this way.  I don't get my money in nearly as much, but it's a much lower variance style.  I realize I can play a taggy grind style and still play a smart aggressive game post flop, in fact it gives me more ways to win pots than getting the SPR as low as possible and shipping pair+draws every other hand.  So I'm a better nit than a lag, and as long as I don't let my ego get in the way and try to outplay all the wannabe superstars out there I can grind out a nice winrate and move on up in due time.  On that note despite my little downswing thing this month I feel good about my game. 

I also played a $10 PLO tourney with rebuys on FTP today.  The tourney was actually a breeze but took so brutally long.  Fullring PLO + Tournament PLO = totally weird compared to 6m cash.  I just nitted it up and let people shovel me their chips when I had the nuts.  Seriously nut flush got shoved on by bottom straight on river, top boat shoved on by something retarded, Top set on K9xr flop all-in 3ways vs. 2 big stacks with JQTx hands.  Ended as chipleader a big chunk of last 1/4 of the tourney but lost half my stack deep in the money when a guy peeled a KQxr flop with naked ATxx and hit his gutter vs. my KKxx. 

But I ground out my medium stack to the final table and pretty much just nitted up more and played for ICM and chipped up the money ladder for a while letting everyone else monkey off their stacks.  Actually I literally only got one playable hand the whole time and took down the blinds with it.  I had anywhere from 5-40bbs during the final table.  Doubled up a bunch of times and made to 4 handed where we all traded chips for like 2 hours.  It got to the point where the rotating big stack was 20bbs and everyone else had like 6-12.  I waited for 3 handed and we ended up chopping for ICM value.  Short stack had like 12bbs, I had 14 and big stack had like 18.  It was retarded.  That deal calculator thing Full Tilt has is pretty cool, I had never done a deal before.  I ended up taking home ~$1700 for my $51 investment.  So it's like yesterday never happened! 

So I finished May by quitting my job because I'm moving from here in Oaklnad to Portland, OR in a few weeks.  Spent last week in LA visiting friends and family.  Played one day on my laptop while I was there.  Didn't really play well and ran god awful.  Just took the rest of the time to chill by the pool and drink many beers, like a lot.

An old friend of mine from high school lives in LA we hadn't hung out in like 10 years and we reconnected.  He's an executive chef for Wolfgang Puck and runs one of the Bar and Grills.  His restaurant is right across the street from the Staples center next to the Nokia Theater.  It's pretty sweet.  He hooked me and some family up with a dinner one night.  It was sooo good.  Would have been like $400+ with all the stuff he kept sending out our way, but we just paid for our drinks, like 80 bucks!  So awesome. 

One night when we were hanging out we went to Wurstkuche in downtown LA.  It's a beer bar that has sausages and fries.  Really good sausages, but they don't make them so I don't give them too much props there.  The beer selection is decent, but I'm spoiled because I have had the The Trappist, http://thetrappist.com/, as my go-to specialty beer bar here in Oakland.  Anyway, while we were there drinking and eating sausages none other than Will Ferrell is a table away enjoying some brews and tube steaks!  LA is so weird.

So now I'm just planning on playing as much as I can this month while I pack all my stuff up for our big move.  It's actually pretty sweet.  We found an awesome house right in the heart of the Sunnyside neighborhood right between Belmont and Hawthorne at like 33rd st in SE Portland.  We also got my daughter Ruby into the pre-K program we wanted!  Sometimes things just work out. 

I'll take it.

So I just set up my new monitor, I got an ASUS VW266H.  It's the first 1920/1200 I've ever had.  First I was like, this doesn't look right.  Something must be wrong. But then I realized everything is just way more crisp and clear than anything I've ever seen before and my eyes and brain were just confused.

I'm also amazed that I'm still a winning player according to my database; even after going on monkey tilt and busting my entire online roll a couple months ago. Just started playing again and after a couple weeks of playing, not to mention a couple coaching sessions with John, KasinoKrime, I'm still winning over my last 50K hand sample at 100PLO and over.  All-be-it just about 4bbs/100 I really went on a monkey-tilt bender going so far as to play shallow $5/$10 with my last 1k online.  It was so bad I haven't been able to even look at HEM for over a month.  

Now that I'm back on the grind and things are going okay I'm happy to see that I think I really can beat these small stakes games as long as I can keep my composure.  Something I'm confident I can do as long as I don't do certain things, like play too many tables, make stupid mistakes, lose perspective and get emotionally attached/involved at the tables.  These things are often intertwined and are purposefully vague.  So far so good.

Also really amazed that this is my last official weekend at work.  Next week is my last and then it's a month of packing and preparing to move followed by a month of traveling followed by adjusting to a new life in Portland and a big push to finish grad school.

Looking forward to playing and studying a ton of poker during this time, somehow. 

Also, LOST!  Let's check out these new blog tools Rob announced....sweet!

  I haven't been a huge "Lostie" as they sometimes refer to themselves, but I have watched every season and ever since the end of last season I've been pretty strongly interested in what will happen in the show.  Happy to say I only listened to my first Lost podcast today, and it will also be my last, I hope.  They talked some about the end, like very last scene/image and how it's been determined since season one and how everything has been leading up to it.  Speculation ranges from Locke/Jack on beach ala Jacob/MIB when another Plane crashes, to Jack closing his eyes, to Jack opening his eyes and waking up somewhere/sometime else.  Whatever epic end there is lots of people are going to be disappointed, that, I think, is inevitable.  I think when the story line is over and everyone left alive is standing around exhausted and emotional and quiet, we should just hear a fart noise and everyone turns and looks at Hurley looking sheepish and embarrassed then the LOST screen comes on.

Oh and one more thing.  Fringe!  One of my other current shows.  I think it really came into its own with this epic season.

Favorite new show...Justified.  Simple.  Timothy Olyphant carrying gun and wearing a big hat, get some!

Gave notice at work today. May will be my last month there. I’m moving to Portland, Oregon. Not 100% sure what I’m going to do when I get there but I’ve always loved Portland.

Oakland/Bay area is cool and all. I mean, it’s beautiful here, I love the climate, lots of different and cool things to do and people to meet, it’s not really far from anywhere no more than a days drive to most places you want to go. Thing is it’s also a bit douchey, dirty, crime ridden, over-crowded, and super expensive. I’m kind of over it, although I expect to miss it as well.

The biggest reason we’re moving is my daughter. School’s here are either outrageously expensive; we’re talking more a year than most people pay for college, and that’s just for pre-school and Kindergarten, or you have to live in a more expensive neighborhood to get into any decent public schools. Oh you could “win” a spot in one of the lotteries for the decent charter schools as well. It’s such a headache.

We have a hook-up in Portland and if we move into this family’s neighborhood we can get into a really awesome school. Although the cutoff for school age in Portland is they have to be 5 by September 1st but Ruby’s birthday is Sept. 22nd. So I’ve become all to familiar with an ongoing child development debate of when kids should enter Kindergarten. Do you hold your child in pre-K until they are almost 6, or do you push them into class with kids almost a year older than they are?

As for me I’m going to focus on finishing up Grad School. I’ve taken a 3 semester leave while I was working and going through a bunch of life stuff. I only have like 3 or 4 semesters left tops so I can plow through it. If I can focus on it and get an internship I can do it in a year. That will be cool.

Plan is to stop work end of May. Pack and take it easy first couple weeks of June while Ruby finishes school, move all our stuff up to Portland. Then I’m going New Jersey and New York for a month or so while Nicole stays in Portland and finds us a house to rent. Back to Portland late July or Early August.

So yeah, big move. Exciting stuff.

In other news I’m buying a new PC. I can spend upwards of 1200ish on it which gives me lots of options. I can’t decide if I want a kind of future-proof mega-machine or more of something that will be more than enough but one I’ll want to upgrade sooner like when octocores are the norm. Basically do I go all out for an AMD x6 or i7930 with like a Radeon 5850 or nVidia GTS250 and 6 or 8GBs + big PSU; or do I just get a cheaper decent AMD x4 with like a 5450 and 4GBs? Either will do and then some, it’s just a matter of how much I want to do down the road and how soon down the road I want to do it. I’m not one to build my own, yet, I expect to build my next one; but there are some decent deals out there right now. I just have to pull the trigger on one.

Started playing some cards a little bit tonight. Just a small session of Rush PLO. Started off super spewy but reigned it in and managed to play decent for a while. I can’t wait to put in a bunch of hands this month.

cheers

Yes, it’s true. I’m 31 and I’ve never tailgated at a sporting event before April 25th, 2010. The time-honored American tradition of parking in a shadeless lot hours before game-time and very soon after, if not before, breakfast with a goal of consuming lots of beer and grilled animal flesh has been lost on me until now.

In the past I had spent many an hour in parking lots before concerts, but I find that to be something different. The wandering around looking for the best value on nitrous balloons drinking lots of cheap beer had its own charm, but does not really compare with a full-on barbecue at 10am on a Sunday before going to watch America’s past-time.

Lots of beer was consumed, many a sausage and spicy pulled pork made it lots of fun. I even provided a truck with an actual tailgate to make it even more authentic. It was a really good time.

On top of it being my first official tailgate experience it was also only the 2nd MLB game I’ve ever attended. My first was last years A’s opening day. This year it was A’s v. Indians and the A’s CRUSHED. Ended up being 11-0 A’s. Between the sun and booze I actually slept through the 6th inning. Good times.

Afterword it was off to another ’cue. All-in-all it ended up being a 12 hour marathon meat-beer-fun-in-the-sun-fest. After I helped my friend barely make it home I was surprisingly feeling good and was up and at them for work this morning.

Starting to really feel good. Some big life news for me coming up in the near future once some plans are solidified. Oh and speaking of beer. I’m currently drinking my last beer for 30 days. It’s a Kriek De Ranke, a Belgian sour ale fermented with cherries with Lambic added, it’s a nice last beer to have.

Haven’t been playing very much poker this month. Not enough money online to really grind anything, but that will change next week and I’ll be back at it with a vengeance. I’ve been putting in a lot of time studying, mostly watching vids and reading. Whitelime’s PLO series is awesome and LearnedFromTV’s new series looks pretty epic after watching the first episode over at CardRunners.

So I’m hoping to come out swinging when the time comes.

Well I didn’t get up early today, but I didn’t go to work. Did I forget to mention that I’m not getting up at 5 if I don’t have to be somewhere by 8. Cuz that’s just how it’s gon’be

I did work out though. Just started P90X for the 3rd time. I did for a couple weeks then quit when i had to travel for a couple weeks. Then did it again for about a month and quit when I had to travel again. I don’t expect to travel for at least 2 months so I’m looking forward to putting in some work on that front. Burned 1200 calories in the hour with lots of short rests, definitely couldn’t keep up with those sickos in the vids.

Right now I’m 6’2 ~270lbs, but as some might say I carry it well. Definitely the biggest I’ve ever been. Back in college once I stopped playing basketball my metabolism just plummeted. I went from from a 6’2 170lbs kid who could literally eat anything and not gain weight (trust me, I smoked a lot of pot back then and ate wings and cheese steaks like it was my job) to pretty much a weight gaining apparatus. Without the constant physical activity shit got ugly real quick. Until like 7 years ago I got up to around 260 before I kicked it in gear. Back then I went vegetarian and started running everyday and dropped like 40 lbs.

Stayed about 220-230 for a long time without being very active, I suppose mostly because of my vegan diet. Once I gave that up and didn’t start exercising it’s been a gradual accumulation of heft and once I started into more bad habits and eating fastfood for lunch and eating out a lot shit got real. I’d say I put on close to 40lbs in the past year or so.

Along with P90X I really want to start playing basketball again. It was pretty much all did from the age of 12-16. If I wasn’t playing basketball I was watching it or reading about it or doing ball drills while watching t.v. At around 16 I started partying and then I was either partying or playing basketball, or doing both at the same time. Weekends and Summer days were pretty much; play basketball for about 8-10 hours then get fucked up all night. Rinse and repeat.

Ah, the good ol’ days of, breakin’ ankles, no look passes and hittin’ 3’s off screens. Forty drinkin’ , blunt smokin’, freestylin’ and trouble makin’. Can it be that it was so simple then?

If I do start playing I’ll have to get in a league. I won’t be able to contain myself. I got that basketball jones.

It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own gym like the one I played CYO ball in. Retractable bleachers, locker rooms, little kitchen/concession stand. Make it a community gym. Maybe one day, but until then I might have to join the YMCA or something. Maybe I’ll set a goal for myself to try and dunk again at some point in the future. Right now I just want to feel better and have some fun.

Allll net.

Basically I need to change all aspects of my daily life. All my routines and habits starting with the most basic and broad aspects and moving up to the more specific and goal oriented actions.

My hope, expectations and intentions are that by instilling certain specific and relatively simple actions that they will directly and immediately influence other actions, habits, cycles and routines. For instance getting up earlier in the morning and doing things even if it’s only to prepare for the day by taking a shower, eating breakfast, getting Ruby to school and getting to work on time while including an exercise routine will bring me to be ready for bed earlier and in turn ready to get up early again, so on and so forth. So that’s where I’ll begin.

This is for my weekday/workday routine.

Get up early, or at least earlier. Right now I get up about 10 min. before I have to leave the house, if not 10min. after I should have already left the house. This leaves me no time to do anything properly and just gets my entire day/life off to a sometimes stressful and always unhealthy start. I’m going to start setting my alarm and getting up the first time it goes off.

My plan is to take action at this time in a number of ways. I want to exercise first thing. Then prepare for the day; eat, get lunch ready, etc. I still hope at this point to have plenty of time before anything else needs to happen and so I hope to use this time to study. Helping my daughter, Ruby, get ready in the morning will be mixed in as well so I’ll have to be flexible but I can make her breakfast and lunch while I make mine. Other than that she’s pretty self-sufficient.

The core change here is getting out of bed and doing things before I have to leave the house. This means I’ll have to start getting up around 5am. I may start at 6 and work up to 5, but I really want to start a morning study habit so I want to get that time in there. 5 just sounds so early!

This will lead me to start the day feeling good and already with a sense of accomplishment.

I want to prepare my lunch for work ahead of time and always have healthy snacks and food available. One of my biggest leaks in all aspects of my life is not preparing and leaving myself little time and few options which leads to wasted time along with hasty and often poor choices. Having a prepared lunch and stocked options will be a little thing that will go a long way. It should leave me time to do more like utilizing my free time at work for things like reading, studying, etc.

After work is when I get time with my daughter. Cooking dinner will be a big part of this routine. When I get home we will already have a planned meal and we’ll prepare it together. This is something we often do already and it’s great but doing it everyday will be awesome. Then we’ll do things like work on a project (puzzles, researching something we’ve talked about etc.), do something artsy or creative or go outside and do some kind of physical activity.

When we’re not doing things together, if she’s with her mom or at a friend’s, I want to always be working on ways to improve myself and my surroundings. This means little things like cleaning regularly, doing laundry etc. Reading, studying and writing and/or doing something active and fun, perfect time to go play basketball. This could also be a good time to sometimes get in more hands before I’m more tired. Way less, or zero, putzing around online, wasting time etc. I do that enough at work. ;)

Then we go through Ruby’s bedtime routine which ends with reading books and telling stories in her bedroom. After which I should have about 2hrs for playing and studying before bed.

I also need my own bedtime routine. Too often I stay up watching shows or playing games and pretty much end up forcing myself to pass out because I know I have to be up in a few hours. This means shutting down all electronics. Perhaps read a little, something non-stimulating, no studying or anything just casual reading. Lights out and lay in bed before I’m dead tired and already half asleep. 6-8hrs of sleep and get up the next day hopefully excited and ready, but get up and do it regardless.

It’s a very simple concept and so far in my life has been much easier said than done. I think simple is what I need and implementing these basic changes on a daily basis will lead to large scale life changes. Like just being healthier and having more time to prepare and be ready for whatever the day brings. Being more prepared, even for just the simple things like getting to work and having meals planned should lead to less stress. Less stress leads to making better decisions and having more time to do the things you want with a clear and focused mind. All of these things lead to being happier.

This is my end goal. Just being healthier, in all ways, and being happier. Being a better roll model and example for my daughter.

Don’t get me wrong. I think I’m a pretty good dad, but kids learn so much just by what they see. So, do I want Ruby to see me always running late and eating whatever is easy/quick and always sitting in front of the t.v. and computer or do I want her to see me fresh and ready; exercising, chopping vegetables, doing dishes, reading books, going on hikes, and riding bikes? Yes, being on the computer/internet is a big part of my life, our culture and society and as she grows it will be a huge part of her education and social life, but it has it’s time and place and I think that will be a valuable lesson for her to learn.

So I’m going to make these changes, take these simple steps, to provide some structure to my days and to slowly work on long term goals of self improvement and life-style improvement for me and my family.

It all starts with just getting out of bed.