Saturday 26 September 2009

Dollars for sale

Just a quick note.

I've come back from Florida with somewhere between $1000 and $2000 so if anyone is going in the near future I'll sell them at the current spot rate (we both save on commission and the spread.

Let me know if anyone is interested.

Friday 25 September 2009

Back in the groove

Ever since I came back from holiday I've been struggling with tiredness. I don't know if it is just that I'm not in the habit of staying up later or if it is something to do with the extra driving. I used to work 10 minutes away from home but now I have to drive 45 minutes but, I actually enjoy the drive and so don't think that is it.

I did have an infected bite in my leg last week which needed antibiotics and some antihistamines that had drowsiness as a side effect but I finished that course on Monday.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I have been getting very tired around 11.30 and so, since I came back I've hardly played much poker at all and so this blog post, which wrote out on Monday has also been delayed.

Catching up, I didn't manage to achieve the required number of games to play in the GUKPT freeroll before I went away but I was hoping to finish it off whilst in the villa at night but unfortunately I didn't allow for the ipoker restriction that stops you playing if you are located in the USA.

The holiday was fantastic and even though it was the hurricane season, we were very lucky with the weather – only having rain in the daytime once towards the end of the holiday.

It was good to see England win the ashes before I went away, just a shame that normal service was resumed when it came to their dismal performance in the one day series.

Can't see them doing anything in the champions trophy!

On the football front there's been a few controversial moments recently.

It's disappointing that UEFA bottled their decision over Eduardo's dive in the Champions League. I actually heard his agent talking on Talksport saying that there was the "faintest of touches" and so it wasn't a dive which pretty much misses the point. A dive is a dive, if a feather hits you on the back and you go down, you are cheating. Simple as that.

Then there was Adebayor and his charge up the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans. Now, whilst inciting the crowd should be prevented that doesn't mean that a player celebrating on front of you gives you the fans an excuse to go mad and knock a steward unconscious. Footballers are not the most intelligent of people, maybe he forgot he had been transferred from Arsenal!

Then we had the 'keep playing until United are ahead' show at Old Trafford. I know that match of the day did an analysis showing that the time was only a second out but compare the match to the Chelsea match later in the day. In that game Bassong went down injured for 6 and a half minutes, Drogba was on the floor for 2 minutes making 8 and a half minutes before you even count King's injury, substitutions, goal celebrations and the like that normally add up to at least 2 minutes. So how long did they play? 8 minutes! Less than the time of the 2 major incidents. There needs to be something done to stop this and the only way it will happen is if they take the matter out of the hands of the referee and give it to the 4th or 5th official who have very little else to do. Then, the referee could call time on and time off like they do in the Rugby and then there can be no complaints.

Elsewhere, I'm nearing the end of my Level 2 coaching course and so getting ready for the final assessment of that on October 17th. It's been a good course but I feel that there has not been enough time out on the field coaching, or being given coaching points. It has definitely helped though as there is a huge difference between level 1 and 2 so even if I don't pass it, it has been a very good course to do.

That's it for now, hoping to get some hours in over the weekend.

Until next time….