Thinking how it used to be…

I’ve been wanting to post this for quite some time now but my lips have been sealed.  Here it is:

G4 ANNOUNCES NEW DOCU-SERIES

“2 MONTHS, $2 MILLION” PREMIERING AUGUST 2009

“2 Months, $2 Million” (“2M2MM”) Follows Four 20-Something Math Whizzes Determined to Make it

Big this Summer in the World of High Stakes Online Poker

Los Angeles, CA, May 18, 2009 – This summer, “geeks are wild” as G4 takes viewers inside the world of competitive high stakes online poker in a new series that follows four young high IQ friends who join forces and set up shop in Las Vegas. Their challenge for themselves? To collectively earn $2 million dollars in only two months using their own money. Viewers will go inside the “war room” of this interactive dream team who play poker nearly 24/7 and experience first hand the excitement of winning big money and the agony of losing it all in a single hand. The four guys, Brian, Emil, Jay and Dani, are math whizzes turned professional poker players whose fast-paced lifestyles go well beyond the typical 20-something’s daily activities. These guys are not pursuing the usual goal of landing a 9-5 job, instead they are seeking the thrill of “the flop” and trading in the daily grind for the online grind. When they do step away from the web, it’s about experiencing all that Vegas has to offer from exclusive parties to beautiful women. The new 10-episode half-hour series “2 Months, $2 Million” (“2M2MM”) debuts August 2009 on G4.

“What makes ‘2 months, $2 million’ intriguing is the duality of the guys” said Neal Tiles, President, G4. “On the surface each comes across as just your average G4 viewer…but in reality they’re ‘sharks’ playing for keeps with big money and living a lifestyle our viewers can only dream of. This is what we intend to capture.”

Brian, Emil, Jay and Dani all met online playing on various sites and they share a passion for poker and an enormous desire to succeed. They have competed against each other many times online and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the game. Despite having raked in loads of prize money individually, they believe that by teaming up they have a better shot of reaching their aggressive earnings goals.

Brian is 26 and is the “elder” friend and mentor to the younger players. He likes his cars fast and his poker action faster. Brian plans to take this summer to add to his already considerable fortune and designer wardrobe. Emil is a recent NYU graduate with a degree in finance and statistics. He consistently cashes in on some of the world’s biggest poker tournaments and attributes his devastating game play to a deep understanding of statistics and game theory. Jay has been a professional poker player for the last four years and is the founder and creative director of his very own successful online training community. Jay was the biggest online winner in no-limit cash games from 2007-2008. Dani, a New York City native, is the youngest member of the team and has always been very competitive. He started like most with a $5 deposit on an online poker site and has never looked back, building his bankroll until he was playing for some of the biggest stakes around.

“2 Months, $2 Million” is produced by Park Slope Productions in collaboration with G4. Paul Reitano and Terrance Sacchi serve as Executive Producers for Park Slope Productions. Laura Civiello is Executive in Charge of Production for G4.

For more G4 programming information, please visit: http://g4tv.com

About Comcast Entertainment Group

Based in Los Angeles, Comcast Entertainment Group operates E! Entertainment Television, the 24-hour network with programming dedicated to the world of entertainment, and E! Online; The Style Network, the destination for women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable, inspiring and transformational lifestyle programming; G4, offering the last word on gaming, technology, animation, interactivity and “geek culture” for the male 18-34 demo; and FEARnet, the world’s premier horror and thriller destination on demand, online and on mobile devices. E! is currently available to 96 million cable and direct broadcast satellite subscribers in the United States. In 2006, E! launched the E! Everywhere initiative underscoring the company’s dedication to making E! content available on all new media platforms any time and anywhere from online to broadband video to wireless to radio to VOD. The Style Network currently counts 62 million cable and satellite subscribers and G4, the #1 podcasted cable network in America, is available in more than 65 million cable and satellite homes nationwide. FEARnet is a joint venture between Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate. FEARnet.com ranks as the number one horror web site and FEARnet On Demand is one of the top five VOD networks.

I’m not allowed to say much but all four of us are super psyched to be doing this.

Well done pokerrow, the last song was indeed pinball wizard by the who.

Here’s an excerpt from Dan Baum talking about New Orleans.

“It’s the American way to focus on the future—we are dreamers and schemers, always chasing the horizon. Looking forward has made us great, but it comes at a price. (Mexican immigrants often describe life in the United States as puro reloj, or “nothing but the clock.”) New Orleanians, on the other hand, are excellent at the lost art of living in the moment. Étienne stopped at our house one afternoon to drop off some papers he wanted me to see.

No, he said, he couldn’t stay; someone was waiting for him downtown. But we got to talking, and gradually moved to the chairs on the porch. We had a beer. The shadows lengthened as the day cooled, the jasmine across the street smelled sweet, and a few houses away someone was practicing the saxophone. Margaret brought out a dish of almonds. We all had another beer. It was dark by the time Étienne left. And here’s the true miracle of New Orleans: the person waiting for him downtown no doubt had an equally pleasant couple of hours, and Étienne surely paid no social penalty for being late.”

Well done Rasputin for guessing the lyrics from here comes the sun by the beatles.

So I’ve randomly decided I’m going to title some blog posts with lyrics from a song.  Try to guess the artist/song.  No cheating/googling please.

One of my friends who went to school in the south always insists on how much better everything is down there including the weather, people, food, culture, etc..  I always argue with him and tell him to stop being biased.  I’m not yet willing to concede that the south is a better place to live but my friend is definitely right on one front.  Simply put, people are nicer down there.

I was in suburban Atlanta for a few days this past weekend for my cousin’s engagement party.  This is the second time in the past year I’ve been down there and I’ve been overwhelmed by how friendly everyone is.  We’ve eaten out maybe four or five times and all of these were pretty ordinary restaurants.  The service at each restaurant was incredible.  They seemed to go out of their way to make us feel comfortable and at home.  I’ve had awesome service at some top NYC restaurants but it was awesome in a different way.  It was more geared towards extensive knowledge of the menu, wine list, etc. rather than friendliness.  I don’t know what it is but you should take a trip to the south if you’ve never been there and you’ll notice it too.

I saw this last night and thought it was outstanding and definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen recently.  I’m no movie critic but I have good taste in movies.  Go check it out if you get a chance.  It’s available on movies on demand.

It’s really not that big of a deal.  You should really only be concerned if you’re really old or really young or have a weak immune system.   I’m no doctor nor have I done any serious research outside of google but I saw some people wearing masks outside and that is pretty ridiculous.  One of the things that most affects your immune system is stress so the more you’re worried about catching the flu, the more likely you are to actually catch it.  Let’s stop being hypochondriacs!

I don’t know if it’s just me but I find it absolutely necessary to shower immediately after getting a haircut.  My face, back, neck, and head are all covered in really itchy, irritating small pieces of hair.  I throw whatever shirt I wore in the laundry when I get home.  I think my hair is pretty average in most respects so I can’t believe I’m the only one.  I just know so many people who can go see a movie or go shopping right after getting a haircut.  I just don’t understand how this is possible.

It’s only 15 games into the season.  We have a great team.  There is no need to even bring up talk of firing or demotions to AAA (with the exception of Gary Sheffield and Livan Hernandez).

I was sent this link by a friend - http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/04/23/2009-04-23_mets_eye_major_shakeup.html

“Now, a more significant shakeup may be looming, with coaches on the firing line and Mike Pelfrey’s, Oliver Perez’s or John Maine’s rotation spot perhaps in jeopardy, the Daily News has learned.”

I find it laughable that three guys who are very clearly better than Livan Hernandez have their spots in jeopardy.  What about Livan?  The league hit over .340 against him the past couple of years.  He had a 1.667 whip last year.  Watching him pitch yesterday was painful.  There was simply no chance he was ever going to get Albert Pujols out.  He’s like the unathletic coach who tried to throw batting practice in little league.  Now, I have nothing against Livan Hernandez as he’s had a tremendous career and a memorable playoff start with the Marlins but let’s wake up and understand that Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine are a solid notch up from Livan Hernandez.

Also, Oliver Perez was the guy most pollsters wanted sent down to AAA.  Let’s assume that Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine are all of close to equal skill level for 2009.  Baseball prospectus’ projections confirm this.  Why would you want the most inconsistent guy to be the one pitcher who gets sent down out of three pitchers who are going to post approx. 4.0-4.4 era’s?  I’ll take the guy with the most variance and least consistency everytime.  Why?  Because you can pull the plug on him early on days where it looks like he simply doesn’t have it and let him work deep into the game when he’s got his good stuff.  For argument’s sake, let’s take two pitchers who if they started every game would pitch 200 innings and end the year with a 4.2 ERA.  One guy goes 6 1/3 and give up 3 runs every game.  The other guy is Oliver Perez.  He’ll get rocked in the first inning some days and he’ll pitch a complete game shutout other days.  You could probably take the worst manager in baseball and have him manage Oliver to a sub 4.0 era.  Sure, you’ll need more innings out of the bullpen, but you can’t have five Johans on your team.

Why must websites insist on forcing you to answer one of their security questions?  This is almost always a bigger security risk than simply not having them.  No one is going to guess my password.  Ever.  It’s got funny symbols and is not a word and adheres to all criteria required for a strong password.  I am the only person on this planet that knows it.  However, there are probably 100 people who know my first car, 10000000 people who know my mother’s maiden name, etc. etc.  I have stopped answering these questions accurately so hackers don’t even bother.

As previously mentioned, I’m a huge fan of pizza and am on a mission to try out pretty much every top pizza place in NYC.  A friend, who has equally good taste in pizza, told me there was a new place that opened up a couple of years ago in Carroll Gardens so we went to check it out yesterday.  Every pizza is made by the same guy.  I think it opens at 6 and you have to be there on the dot to put your name down or you won’t get a table.  If you show up at 7, they will be booked for the night.

Usually what happens with me is I’ll end up going to Patsy’s or Grimaldi’s or Lombardi’s and I will have a spectacular pizza and then start to question if that is indeed the best pizza I’ve ever had.  I’ve never done good pizza back to back to back or anything so the taste isn’t remembered enough for me to determine which is the best.  The pizza I had at Lucali’s is hands down the best I’ve ever had.  I still have not been to Di Fara’s in Brooklyn (it’s a trek) but I’ve tried all the other popular NYC places.  Lucali’s is a solid notch above the rest and probably a 1/2 notch above Grimaldi’s.  If you live in NYC, you absolutely must go here.  If you are visiting NYC, you must go here.

I like my eggs scrambled and cooked well.  While I’m sure there are some of you who like them soft, is there anyone that likes them liquidy?  I can’t count the number of times I’ve been served eggs and there’s like a puddle of egg below the cooked portion.  I think that’s disgusting.

I am a huge fan of pizza and have tried pretty much all of the popular pizza places in NYC including Joe’s on 6th and Bleecker, Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn, Lombardi’s in Little Italy, Patsy’s (I’ve been to the one on university place and the one on the UES), Artichoke, and a bunch of others.  I think Grimaldi’s probably gets my vote as the best of the bunch although Joe’s is definitely the best pizza by the slice.

One thing I’ve been surprised by in my few trips to Europe has been the quality of the pizza.  I’m not talking Italy or a culinary giant like France either.  I had spectacular pizza in Germany and Copenhagen.  While the quality is probably half a notch below that of the places I mentioned, it’s significantly above average and better than most of the random places in NYC.  I also should mention that I didn’t go to any place known for their pizza.  I merely ate pizza at a bar while watching a “football” match in Germany and some random restaurants on the street in Copenhagen.

Dean sent me some deep dish pizzas in the mail from Giardano’s.  I am heating it up in the oven as I write this and will give feedback once it’s done.

In other news, I had a brutal leg workout at the gym today.  My trainer completely kicked my ass.  I was able to squat 195 lbs for 6 reps which is a PR.  I think I’m in excellent shape right now but I’d like to pack on maybe 10 lbs of muscle before our tv show starts filming in June.  I will have to scarf down as much food as humanly possible.  On Monday, I ordered 100 cupcakes from this incredible cupcake place in SoHo called Baked by Melissa.  I know 100 seems excessive but that was the minimum amount for delivery and the lines get pretty ridiculous so I didn’t want to wait.

I am pretty pumped for the elite 8 games tonight.  In one of my hsnl $1k brackets, if I get a Missouri/UNC final, I win the pool regardless of who wins.  A Missouri win is huge for me and to a lesser extend, Purdue over UConn would be nice too.