Music: Newly aquired CDs

It has been a while since I bought some new CDs, (although am sure I bought some more recently than last year ! http://sceaga.blogspot.com/2006/06/music-recent-additions.html)
but have been listening to the 5 CDs I recently purchased in the car over the last few weeks, so can now reveal whether they were sound investments or not (pardon the pun!)

Keane : Hopes and Fears
Good CD. Lots of the songs on it you would recognise..... mainly laid back and some inspirational tracks. Overall well worth the listen and has longevity

Lily Allen : Alright, still
Heard a few Lily tracks on various music shows on TV, etc... so knew some of the songs. The first time I listened to the album, I found it amusing but was worried I'd get bored with it after a few listens... as its quite basic structure to the tracks and quite naive sounding production. I needn't have worried, as after several listens I still enjoy a lot of the tracks (have got bored with some though...) I am just worried about poor lily's state of mind, as the lyrics are quite vicious in places !
Overall a good buy and still happy to listen to it

Hazel O'Conner : Breaking Glass
Always liked this soundtrack, takes me back to my youth :-)
Songs are still relevant today and music is pretty lively in the main. At on £2.99 great value as well

Muse : Black Holes & Revelations
Fantastic album, been meaning to buy it since I saw Muse on TV playing some tracks from this album... Great inspirational stuff....songs are spinning round in my head when not actually listening to it :-)

Arcade Fire : Neon Bible
Heard couple of tracks on radio and TV, slightly wacky but very likeable. Problem with the album is I only like the two tracks that they keep playing on the radio and TV... the other tracks are not all that good (in my view)
The one album of the five I could do without

All in all some great music to listen to, must get my music budget sorted out so I can buy albums more regularly

Poker : So many tournaments, not enough time....

Having had a bit of a "rest" after my so far unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Ladbroke Cruise (http://sceaga.blogspot.com/2007/06/poker-ladboke-cruise-weekly-final.html) I decided this week to have another go, so loaded up my account again. My first evenings work paid off and managed to win half the fee for a daily final. Thursday night I dropped a little but still up so far overall...so progress is slow but steady.....

Next thing I know, I get an email about the next Late Night Poker series qualifiers which look really exciting (http://www.partypoker.com/tournaments/late_night_poker/)

I really want to get into BOTH of these live finals, so am going to have to get creative with my poker playing time (and maybe a bit lucky as well :-) ) Its very exciting to be a poker addict at the moment, with so many quality tournaments to play for.... can't wait to get cracking !

General: Gym Regime

Having suffered last year with "Joggers Knee" (aks Runners Knee http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=438&sectionId=10 .... at least I didnt get "Joggers Nipple!) so decided to join the Gym from January this year and go swimming instead of running on the road.

Unfortunately after several months of swimming 4-5 days a week, I started suffering from "Swimmers Ear" (it is quite funny really, but actually is pretty painful! http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=272 ) so settled on a new regime of mixed activities which will hopefully be easier for my poor body to cope with

I guess I've been doing the new regime around 5-6 months now, so decided to take stock of where I am at....

Monday (Running)
Run at 10 kph for 20 minutes plus 5 minutes cool down. Total of 3.8 km covered. Peak at 154 bpm

Tuesday (Rowing)
20 minutes plus 3 minutes cool down at maximum resistance (the hard seat gives me a sore bum, else would do more cooldown :-) ) Do around 30 strokes per minute and cover 5000 metres

Wednesday (Cycling)
Pedal at around 80 rpm at level 11 resistance (25 is the maximum setting, so a little bit of a wimp) for 20 minutes plus 5 minutes cooldown. Cover 9.5 km and peak at 134 bpm.

Thursday (Swimming)
Swim 20 lengths in around 20 minutes. Do alternate breast stroke and crawl, with 1 minute rest after 10 lengths

Friday (Running again)
Same as Monday

I normally make 4 times a week, but often do all 5 days.

My weight in the morning was 12 st (75 kilo) and my tummy/waist ration was 91cm/96cm = 0.948 (just below the recomended 0.95 !!)

So what does all this mean ? Well, hopefully it means I am fit and healthy... but maybe still need to cut down on the vast qualtity of chocolate for the truly healthy lifestyle (like that's gonna happen :-) )

Will re-check these stats in another 6 months or so to see how I improve (or not)

General: Day trip to Arundel

As the weather forecast was hot and sunny we decided to go to Arundel for the day (http://www.sussexbythesea.com/arundel_general_info.asp?menu=1)

It only took about 75 mins to get there and easily found a parking spot, albeit deciding to pay in the long stay car park ! It was a lovely town steeped in history, so decided to walk round the river first. The towpath was pretty busy with people, but turns out the pub on the river just out of town was having a Bath Tub race and we got there just as they were about to start... seemed like all the townsfolk were there ! As it was so hot, we didn't go on the full walk up the hill and round the lake, and ended up just doing a couple of hours walking by the time we got back to the car, just in time for lunch !

We had taken our picnic so found a nice spot to sit in the shade by the river and had a lovely leisurely lunch with great views.

With the choice of walking round town or going round the castle, Lynn prefered to look round the shops !! Lot of antique shops, 9 pubs and a generous assortment of restaurants and cafes abound, but was old English feel to the town.... especially with loads of Morgans buzzing around the roads as well. Looked like there was a Morgan do on at Goodwood and Arundel seemed like it was a place for all the cars to stop at for some reason.

Was definitely a nice place to visit and was lots for us to do and see... most of it we didn't do or see yet, so will have to go back another day :-)

Cars: Brooklands Club Lotus day

Brooklands held a Club Lotus day, so of course I had to go and check it out !

Got there around 11am, and was worried that no Lotus were in sight.... but rounding the club house, there were some, albeit only 6 cars ! 3 x 7's, an Elise and a couple of Elans

Took some pictures, but bit disappointing turnout... although soon after, some more did turn up so by the end of the day there were around 25 cars there to see and I think most models were reprosented. It was only a static display, but they moved around occasionally so you did get to see and hear them

After lunch we did also go into Merceded world again and sit in the £150 K AMG mercedes :-)

It was a loverly day, with great weather as well, so great day out. Was a little disappointed there weren't more Lotus to see and that they didn't do the hill climb, but you can't have everything I suppose

Looking forward to our next trip to Brooklands

Poker: Home Tournament : August 2007

Slightly down on numbers this month, but also see the welcome return of Colin to the fold.... and Martin also managed to make it as well.... and with only one of the White clan, the evening had a different feel to it.

My tournament got off to a dodgy start... dealt pocket 3's first hand decided to raise... but ended up with 4 players all-in ! Sean took the first hand and went on to start calling with all sorts of rubbish (normal game for him then ;-) )

My chips kept going down, but got a breakthrough against Roger and managed to get a bit of a stack together, but never really got a stack going through the early levels. In the last session before buy-in I managed to accumulate more chips, so went into the break with around 3000 chips (slightly above average) Alex had been struggling all game and had lots of buy-ins so inevitably needed two buy ins at the break (as did Andy)

After the break Alex raised and I put him all-in with my pocket 4's which he called with A-6 Nothing came to help either of us, so I managed to take Alex out. Couple of hands later I put Andy all-in and we had another race, but this time me having two overcards. Luckily one of my cards came and I took Andy out as well... giving me a decent number of chips. Unluckily for me, I then get a good hand and only Sean calls my raise. My AQ looks reasonable with KQ5 flop, but Sean calls my flop bet and goes all-in on the turn. I decide to call and of course he has the K, and my AQ gets turned over by K-6

The final table is with us quickly this evening due to the number of players and only Mick has less chips than me, but at least I have made it into the points. Two players go out in quick succession and I am roaring up the points positions by not playing a hand. I win one small pot uncontested which leaves me with 2000 chips and the blinds 500-300

I look for a place to go all in and soon get a good opportunity. My 76 on BB sees two 7's on flop. Roger bets the flop and both me and Jon call. The 6 on the turn means I want Roger to bet out again, but he checks. Having only 1500 and a huge pot, I go all in and Jon calls me with a straight against my nut Full house.... so nearly tripled up

A couple of hands later I am lucky to take Roger out when I hit a card on the River and I am chip leader and in the money

It is definitely my night tonight, as I flop a straight draw and Jon prices me in to see the turn when I hit the straight. He bets out and then calls my re-raise but he has no hope and I take a massive chips lead. I even manage to dodge Jons AA next hand, although it got done by Dereks K-5

It was soon all over, when I take out both Derek and Jon, so Jon gets another 3rd place but I make my first win of the year !!

I am really pleased especially as I really felt I was up for it this time round.... and didn't play badly (admittedly did get lucky a couple of times, but hey... :-) )

As ever a great game, but have to wait an extra week for the September game, so looking forward to that !

Results posted to http://www.statsgenie.com/Poker/ as normal, make interesting reading...