"Life is like poker, Eventually you are dealt a new hand"
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Thursday, September 15, 2011

California Trip Update (With pictures)

Well it was a pretty productive trip here in Cali as far as work, but there wasn't much of an Entertainment aspect. I did get to eat at a few good places and also went walk by the beach which was interesting seeing some characters but nothing way out of the ordinary compared to a nice stroll on Bourbon St. It felt like I was at the retirement spot for Californians as there wasn't the California babes....Even though I'm married I can still look lol. Mostly Old men with their shirts off, multiple people walking their dogs, and the occasional attractive chick but nothing jaw dropping, sorry guys.
Their Facilities.."had waterfalls, benches, a place to sit and eat their lunches, it was rediculous and I was super jealous"


Erick "Easy E" Velasquez for NavCom. I told him to throw the "west-side" sign, I don't think he was that gangsta.

I went with a master technician who didn't really want to do anything but just go home back to Louisiana right when we got there so unfortunately there was no spectacular stories from bars, Hollywood, no trip to the Commerce. I also didn't really have the funds to play in a session if we would have made a trip to the casino anyway meh. The Facilities at Navcom were really nice and put our office and lab in Lafayette, LA to shame but I guess when you're a division of John Deere then you can have the money to splurge on facilities. Their Company Kitchen was the size of our working facilities and their Bathrooms were made of Marble...from Floor to Ceiling! Oddly enough they had single ply toilet paper, so atleast our office had them beat with that busting out with the Charmin Ultra Strong!! I took some pictures of the outside but didn't get to take a picture of their personal park they had in the middle of the building. had waterfalls, benches, a place to sit and eat their lunches, it was rediculous and I was super jealous, but nothing will compare to the food we have back home. They had no idea what Tony Chachere's was and one guy kept calling crawfish mini-lobsters haha.
There were a bunch of restaurants at the Pier.



Redondo Beach was awesome and there was a Pier with a little boardwalk full of small restaurants and gift shops etc. It was pretty cool. If you continued to walk (there was a street for pedestrians by the beach alongside a street for cyclists, skateboarders, and Rollerbladers) You could see the mountainside in the distance and it looked like something of a Portrait or painting. The weather was nice and sunny with a cool breeze all day and I went dip my foot in the water but it was waaaaaaay too cold for me to even think about going later on in a bathing suit haha but needless to say by the time we got off work each day the sun was setting. Which I'm sure If I wanted to bring a date to the beach during the sunset, I would get laid instantly. It was like a pimp's haven...speaking of pimps there were massage parlors everywhere. Not normal massage parlors, but Thai Massage parlors where I'm pretty sure you can get a nice happy, joyous, excited, climatic ending as well.

The Pier was cool and had some characters haha

I love the view.

Shot of the beach from the road

The walkway along the beach

Torrance, California was a decent suburb of LA where even though they might not be overly friendly if you wave to someone walking on the street or say hello if you walk by them, (they much rather give you a stupid look lol) but when we would go eat, there was exceptional service and the food was pretty good too I might add. Every where you looked, you could find the likes of either a sushi restaurant, Volkswagen hippy van, Mercedes/Lexus luxurious vehicle, Jogger every block, or skateboarder hipster kid. For the most part
I would love to come back and vacation and maybe sight see a bit more sometime in the future and bring someone to enjoy it with me....like the wife and future kid(s) and now have a bit of an idea of what to look for!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Business Trip to California and Ragin Cajuns 1st Win of Season



Didn't play much poker other than our last Regular Season Game for the APP League. We played 2-7 NL Single Draw and I can admit that I am not familiar with this game at all. Luckily not many others were either which allowed me to make the FT of 12 (which wasnt too hard to do) and Lock up my $100 for most Final Tables of the season. My Fight for Most Overall Points and Mixed Game Point Leader ($100) were crushed when I lost a good size pot for half my stack when someone out bluffed me (Luckbox Leprechaun...who else lol) Then I tried to bluff as well when I raised and got the blinds calling as well as one other person. First person drew 3, Next person drew 2, I drew 1 and the last person drew 1. The SB and BB both check to me and I also pick up that the player behind me didn't get the card they needed to improve (I had 9 7 4 2 ...discarded a Q and got a 7....shit) I decided to shove for my remaining stack and got 2 quick folds then the BB tanks, then ends up calling and shows 9 7 6 3 2. He said he got the 3 and 2 from the discard....Sick. That knocked me out at 7th and Killed my chances at an extra $100 but my spot in the top 9 is clinched so I wasn't stressing. I Do want to Congratulate Travis Creduer for getting the mixed games point leader bonus and Overall Points bonus for $200 to go along with whatever he wins in the Championship FreeRoll, Enjoyed the competition with you all year boss. Also Congrats to LuckBox Leprechaun aka Jimmy Rogers for earning the Most Cashes Bonus $100. Me and Travis had more cashes but since we already won a category he was the runner up as he cashed 6 times out of 18 games and all 6 cashes he finished either 1st or 2nd which is very impressive!




Going to Torrance, California Early Monday and I have to say I'm really excited as I have never been out that way (suburb of Los Angeles). I'm going on Business to the NavCom Technology headquarters where they manufacture the DGPS systems that I work with. I might beg my supervisor to make a 30 min trip to either the Bicycle Casino or The Commerce Casino (Heard that place is awesome) but idk if he will be down to go. I know our hotel that we're staying in will be Awesome and hopefully we will do SOMETHING entertaining because I'm pretty sure he's never been out that way either. But I am bringing my laptop and if I do happen to be lucky enough to go play at the Commerce I will definitely write about it and share my experience with y'all as I have heard there is alot of cash to be won as well as huge selection of games.

When I get home I have decided to host a Heads Up Tournament with 24 people. If I fill up, First will win $600, 2nd $300, 3rd $200 and 4th $100. I think I'll be able to get a good turnout and Hoping for some good competition but I also plan on playing pretty good as this as many don't have much heads up experience that plan on making it. As long as I can avoid a retarded bad beat or 2 I should be able to at least cash this tournament. But I am shooting for the win and adding the money to my tiny bank account.

Fantasy Football finally got under way and I am getting destroyed in one of my leagues but in the other 2 I am holding my own pretty well. I am a bit disappointed that Arian Foster couldn't start week 1 but Cedric Benson was a nice back up, so I can't complain too much.


Defense + Rain = Winning
UL's best kept defensive Secret
#5 Bill "Dwight" Bentley

I know I live in Louisiana but I am NOT an LSU fan. I am actually a University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns fan. I am proud to say that they got their first win of the season yesterday vs. Kent St. Golden Flashes (Whatever the hell a golden flash is.....makes me think of the wrestler Gold Dust having his way with a prostitute.....bad images in my brain, make it stop!) Well for the most part both offenses played horrible last night and the disgusting weather did not help at all but the Cajuns had the lead the whole game and never looked back. At one point there was an hour long rain delay due to lightening and when the game finally got started again the momentum that the Cajuns once had was gone.Well The defense continued to Dominate (Bill Bentley #5 and Derrick Dean #90 had to have hurt 2 players each) and I have to say it was the most impressive Defensive performance I have seen from UL in a long time. Next week Sept. 17th will be their first home game and they are hosting Nicholls St. Colonels which is a FCS school in Thibodaux, LA and I am expecting a Huge crowd. Can't wait to Tailgate as well!! Bringing the Father in law to open his eyes to Cajun Country and hopefully convert him from being a LSWhoo? Tiger fan.

God Bless the American People and our ability to unite through hardship!
Matt Stroud