HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well in the light of the darkest and scariest path I have ever walked I plan to splurge the mind with some lighthearted banter.  The thing I am most thankful for this thanksgiving is that I do not have to even think about drinking human piss for my job (I think I would quit if this were the case as well although going to work at my old job did feel allot like drinking human piss everyday in a more spiritually disgusting way however):

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/waterrecycler.html

I try to be as earth conscience as possible but if they are doing this to my tap water I am switching to bottled water (and I even have a filter/purifier on my tap).  I mean what genius did nasa probably pay 6 + figures to dream up the idea to turn piss and sweat into water to drink (probably cost a lot more since they have been dreaming up this idea since the 1980’s and they have working position for – Bob Bagdigian, the Environmental Control Life Support System project manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.  I mean I am sure conservation in space is on a heightened scale but come on there must be other ways to save.  Also we have been going to space for many years so drinking water must not be that big of a problem.  This seems a little extreme.  If I was an astronaut I would resign.  I mean it is one type of human experience to piss next to your fellow man or woman at the great urinals and stalls that make up sporting stadium bathrooms but thinking you are going to go back to your seat and drink that persons piss as your water to sober you up would be a little spooky (and not in the Halloween sense).  A few days ago i read a follow up article that read the system was malfunctioning.  Great now you not only have to drink piss but have to worry if it was converted right or not.  I am not sure if nasa is run on taxpayers dollars but if so I wish we could spend the money on something different then turning piss into water.

Okay enough about that.  So the las vegas kid is of course in Las Vegas.  So lets look at the pick of the day and what I will be putting my money on.  Here is my current public record and pick.

W/L (Wins/Loses) 5 -3 R/R (Risk/Reward Ratio) 9.48/8.55 Total Winnings 2.1

Golden State (5-10) -11 1/2 at Cleveland + 11 1/2 (12-3)

PICK GOLDEN STATE –11 1/2

Reasons Why:

-Golden State is a good team proven by them almost beating the Celtics last game.  They can and expect to compete with the best teams in the league.

-Golden State plays the Cavs well on the road and matches up fine as  a team on a whole with Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette and beat them the last time time they played the Cavs in Cleveland.

-The cavs have been resting Lebron a lot lately and this game should be no different.  They have also one a ton in a row at home (8) and should stumble soon.  Golden State has dropped three and are hungry for a win.

-A 11 1/2 points is a lot of points for any professional team to cover.  Betting the underdog in these types of situation should prove profitable in the long run.   At least your winning when the game starts!

I like the under on this game at 212 1/2.  But leave this degenerate betting up to me and play Golden State straight with points.

Well one thing I have never understood is why search engines do not have a top ten category link list or something (I am sure there is one out there that I just do not know about).  Well if anyone has noticed I have been making a few pages on top of my posts.  A cool page the my readers might want to keep checking back on will be a top ten category link page mostly starting with my interests and expanding from there.  So check out my various pages as they will be getting bigger and better.  The first top ten category I will create is PUBLISHING/WRITING A BOOK.  Since this is what I hope to be doing shortly this is what is the freshest research on my mind (still have a long way to go).  So here is a page preview:

PUBLISHING/WRITING A BOOK:

#1 Link – http://www.copyright.gov/forms ( http://www.wikihow.com/Copyright-a-Book)

These are the two links you will need when understanding how to copyright your work.  It does not matter how much you write, how great your works our, how much you publish or how on point your business is if it is not backed by a U.S. court it means nothing and in the end some can steal it. You must learn how to copyright your book/art or pay someone who does.

#2 Link – http://www.myidentifiers.com/

This is the company that creates ISBN’s and bar codes.  It is also the place retailers and distributors can find your works. It also has many various publishing affiliates and tools.  If no one can find you or sell your copyrighted work then enjoy watching it sit on the shelf or reading it by yourself.

#3 Link – http://www.authorhouse.com/

This is the best one stop for self publishing that I am aware of.  Although I have not used the majority of there services everything so far has been very professional.  I plan to use more and will provide updates.

If anyone has any suggestions for links in this category or to start another category on the page that will be created for this then let me know.

So a quick update on all things of focus in life:

Exercising – Has not been going at all.  I need to pick this up and if I can get to Vegas anytime soon it seems like the gym and workout situation would be way better for me there then in LA (as I am hoping to have one in the condo we initially rent for the first 6 months).

Reading/Writing – Writing is going great and my management book is flying along.  I still want to sell pieces of action on the success of this book so if anyone is serious about making an investment let me know and we can review the business plan and the product.  Reading has been going really well as well and also helps tremendously with letting my own writing flow.  I will finish two books this week and already have my third to read picked out (see my book page for details on this madness).

Eating – Eating has been going okay.  I have not been eating out or eating any fast food which is a huge improvement.  At home though I am still eating not so healthy frozen dishes and snack type foods.  This will hopefully change soon and as with all of life the change is on me.

Drinking – Perfect none.  Sometimes I feel that his makes up for the lack of exercise and not so great eating as this is ahuge healthy lifestyle improvement for me as I was probably drinking too much and not drinking for long periods of time has never been that easy for me.  I plan to keep the not drinking going for very solid as now everything is on the line and I need to stay sharp and focused.

Finding a renting tenant for the house until it can be sold is not going so well.  Working hard but no leads yet.

Giving and selling the majority of stuff in the house to most importantly become less materialistic and also to make the move much easier has stalled but I plan to intensify this today.  I will heat up by my second attempt to give away my sleeper sofa and I also want to sell this old lexus es250 that engine blew up and now sits in my driveway.  I owe like $600 on it still and would be willing to sell it for that.

Job Hunting – Will pick up on Monday.

Well as you can see it is back to updating the blog regularly with lots of new and exciting stuff coming.  So send me love or send me hate but most importantly just keep reading and tell your friends and the world mfw1’s blog is the goods and the nuts.  I plan to do the run hot in sports betting so another hot pick should be coming tomorrow for you my readers and to pad my bankroll being intensely guarded by the Las Vegas Kid.  Tomorrow I also plan to try and figure out if I can load music up on this thing and also share a song lyric or two of mine.  Stay real, happy reading and just holla at your boy!

degenaMATT

EXPECT THE WORST

Well my Grandma and Aunt were telling me to pray for the best and expect the best.  I have always looked at it as pray for the best and prepare for the worst.  After thinking about what they told me I jumped on the forget the worst and expect the best bandwagon (power of positive thinking baby).  Bad bad idea.  Yesterday I found out that someone stole 3k + in cash from me.  Now the money means little and even less now that it is gone but that money had so much more meaning then the dollar value.  It was a chance for a new lease on life.  An opportunity to relax and enjoy some of my hard work.  It was the beginning of new happiness and a new path at a time when life should be full of fun.  It is my nephews birthday, my anniversary, my birthday and thanksgiving and X-mas and that money was going to be used for all of those things plus more and now it is all gone.  I have really nobody to blame but myself.  I expected the best and did not prepare for the worst.  I trusted others and forgot to trust myself.  I let my guard down and got my ass kicked.  So now Vegas is put on hold for who knows how long, selling the house rather then trying to save it has almost switched to the only option, rather then looking at jobs I would like it is almost do whatever now and suffer and most likley this will cause a lot more problems that will reveal themselves shortly.  One I can see is we really only needed one person to work and one car would do the trick between my wife and I.  Now it is manadtory that my wife and I go to work immediately but we only have one car and no money to get another.  Life went from great to miserable in a flash.  Oh well it is what is.  I almost fell apart yesterday and inside my entire system is numb and confused with nothing clear falling from my brain.  But despite getting some of the worst news I think I could have ever got I am pulling myself together on the outside and hopefully this will not break me.  Back to always preparing for the worst and the way I run in life I should expect the worst and whatever little small tidbits of lifes grandeur’s and bliss bless me I can revel in them that much more.

Here is a good story about how fleeting life is.  So my wife and I had this bottle of really expensive body wash that is hard to find but smells and feels oh so good.  So we had the bottle for the longest time and rarely if ever used it.  After a while of sitting in the bathroom (I am somewhat obsessive about things sitting around not being used as I would just as well get rid of it or throw it out).  So after a few months I kept telling my wife lets use it in the shower.  She always say oh it is so expensive and we can get it that easy and she would never use it.  So there it still sat and we would have this conversation of using the stuff (always joking and lighthearted).  So a few months later my nephews were in the bathroom playing around and knocked the bottle of a ledge and cracked the bottle in half spilling about half the wash.  We propped the bottle up next to the sink to try and save what little was left (about half).  Shortly after I was brushing my teeth and forgot the bottle was there (as it is usually not) and I knocked it over spilling the rest.  So after months of saving with little enjoyment and even trying to prepare to use it up the wash was gone in a few moments and never used all while trying to expect the best.

After yesterdays debacle my misery level almost drove me to losing all touch with reality but somehow I manage on a moment to moment basis to make it through.

I stopped drinking – It has been two days and I feel great (it is moments like the above that make me want a drink but not taking one in these moments will make life so much easier in the future – so far so good).

Exercising – exercising went great yesterday.  I did some push ups and stretching.  Nothing major but I will ease myself in.  Exercising is about comfort-ability and routine and this is what I will focus on first.  Jump roping and stretching will be the focus for today.

Eating better – This went well yesterday too.  I had a bannana and some pasta and chees and drank water the whole day.  Felt great and I will get better at this with practice.

Reading/Writing – Started a new book and finished a few chapters.  Also worked a lot on my management book so this went well.

Still need to figure out how to get some more rental income for the house.  Although I was not planning this so much now I need to find a job asap. I need to try to figure out how to better protect my assets so people can not just steal tons of money from me.  I am trying to sell my book business as well and also trying to get rid of as many things in the house as possible.  Although life has taken a dramatic turn for the worst hopefully I can fix my flat tire and get my car back on the right path (who knows I might have to sell that too).  Again thanks to everyone that reads.  There will never be a dull moment and updates will be coming regularly so check back often.  Holla at me if you need anything.

Regards

degenaMATT

THE LIST

Well I took a week off and although i missed reaching out to my readers (all 1, my wife) I had a blast just relaxing and taking life very very easy.  I want to give a big thank you to my boy smalls buffet who helped me wrap up my nice relaxing weekend by taking me to the Colts vs. Chargers Sunday night footbal game yesterday in San Diego.  The game was great, the seats were good the company the best and the only downfall of the whole trip was that the food sucked.  We miss-planned this as usual and wound eating stadium food with is always over priced and not very good.  I had $6 dollar nachos outside of teh stadium which were terrible (should have waited untill game time as the nachos are much better on the inside.  Then I had a $6 slice of cheese pizza (which was delicious) but small and come on $6 for a very samll piece of pizza (yikes).  The beers were like $10 each and small as well.  There were 70,000 people at the game and nobody looked like they were worried about cost.  After attending a few NFl football games I think I am leaning towards them being the best type of sporting event to watch in person.  First it seems that the pre-game partying (tailgating) is unmatched on a weekly basis (big college games might be better but it simple is not week in and week out maddness for the same team like pro football seems to bring.  I should be updating my blog almost everyday now so check back more often if you are reading.  Today (even though I am still working at my old job) I am making as my official get your life in gear and start heading in the right direction day.  I was going to make my birthday (this thursday) that day but figured starting early and getting in a few practice days will not hurt.  I want to turn into a machine of goodness and positive energy that will flow into health, wealth and happiness for my family.  The things I need to focus on are going to include:

Eating healthier – My wife and I eat terrible food.  This must change.  I plan on cooking more (should be easier with more time), focusing on eating healthier and also lat but not least spending less money by going out less and watching what I eat.  My wife I can assure you will hate this change especialy when head out to vegas very soon (I will always leave at least one night/day a week) to go out and get sinful grub.

Finding a renter for a room in my house – Never easy and usualy makes life less fun as it is just more people using up the limited space/resources we have in LA and the added bs/stress of throwing someone you do not know into the fire that can be created when two unaccumstomed lives collide.  This will allow for some much needed income to come in and possibly make selling the house and the transition to Vegas much better.  This one is up in the air and I have been working about a week on accomplishing this with no luck and it will be a delicate balance because we do not want to upset our other roomate who is so cool and nice.

Working out – I used to work out a ton and need to get addicated to this mentality again.  A healthy body and mind will let me advance so much further.  I will start slow on this with no expectations.  Jump roping and pushups will be a daily routine untill I can think of something else to add in and untill I build up a little strength and conditioning.

Writing – Will focus a ton on writing and it will be on three things.  My blog, a book I am writing on management and a book of short stories I am writing on various life lessons.  I will also need to find a writing collaberator as this will speed the completion process up and most likely with the right person will make the books/writing so much better.

Reading – Plan to start reading alot.  I will let you know which books I will be reading and what I think about each.

Looking for a job – Most important.  Need to find a new job ASAP.  Have to pay the bills and have strucutred responsibility.  We will see how this goes.

Bunch of other small stuff on the list to start working on and I will discuss more soon.  The blog should be updated almost daily now and once we get out to vegas in a week or so things shoul start spicing up.

stay tuned

degenMATT

LOST MY MIND, MY JOB and MY 30th BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MYSELF

It’s all fun and games dancing with the devil but when the music goes off and it is time to pay the piper it can be nothing nice.

 

Well in true degenerate form and with little regard for sanity I quit my high paying and easy finance job in LA today with hopes and dreams of starting a better life soon in Neveda.  That’ right this blog is about to get a whole lot more interesting.  My whole life I have been a risk taker and this is nothing short of probably one of the most (if not the) riskiest decision I have ever made in my life.  How this mess got started and spurs that have running entail a portion of the following.  I have worked for my company around 7 years and have had little to no issue dealing with management, corporate politics and all the other fun that comes along with working in the cogs of the wheel at big powerful corporations.  Every year the praises of my work were sang, promotions ensued (although they mean nothing at my work – its just a title) and miniscule pay raises and bonuses fluttered there wings every once in a stock that outperforms expectations (insert blue moon if you know that saying).  Of course there were issues with my employment and work comfortableness but they always seemed to work themselves out or were at least reasonably solved by management.  Around 4-6 months ago a new manager was put in charge of my group who clearly to what I think is all in the group (a group of about 10-15 people) does not know what he is doing in his job and in turn has no idea what everyone else is doing in theres.  There is another manager (my immediate manager) who I admire and respect a ton and he know exactly what he and everyone else is doing at all times.  He is truly amazing at his job and works even harder everyday to become more amazing.  I now realize he has no power and no say in anything at the company employee related.   It is clear however that lazy dumb manager has all the power and can essentially do whatever he wants.  So the short is this guy’s thing is to have a daily meeting with everyone in the group and each person must detail what they have done for the day and what they will be doing for the rest of the day.  He writes it all down (forgets it all by the next day but he has another meeting to remind him) and then steals and represents it as his own whatever pieces of information he deems will be the most valuable to himself.  So I attended these meetings everyday like a little soldier just like they asked me and gave them the information they wanted.  As the meetings piled up, got more boring and useless and clearer that the boss just uses them so he does not have to do any work or even his job for that matter I started to find relaxation in just closing my eyes when it was not turn and attentively listening to all that was being said.  If I was asked a question or something was requested it was answered or completed immediately.  Well two days ago and in front of all my collegues this manager while I was resting my eyes my manager yelled across the meeting room at me “do you have a problem”  I politely stated no.  He then asked me “if I was tired”.  I politely stated no.  After the meeting and again in front of everyone he told me to see him in his office.  When in his office he demanded that I never close my eyes or put my head down in a meeting again or I would be let go.  He then questioned me on if I was working my full 8 hours (which is totally outlandish because it is clear and tracked that I do) and told me I would be forced to take my lunch and break at new times that he designated (despite two years of taking the exact same break and having the exact same schedule).  I said no problem and went on my way.  I then sent an email to his boss stating that this manager just changed my work hours and that I could not work during these new hours (I work early in the morning from like 3 am – 12 am take a break from (9:00 – 9:40 am and leave work at 11:30 am – as I have said I have been doing this for two years and everyone I work with is well aware of my schedule and I do at all times make myself available for working overtime and am always reachable on my personal cell phone for work).  I asked the bigger boss given my new hours if I could work 8:00 – 5:00 like everyone else in the company since these new forced hours did not work in the schedule I have been using for two years.  In a nutshell he told me to go screw myself.  So in honor of the screwing of myself I decided for my 30^th birthday and per the big bosses wishes to quit my job and explore new opportunities that life has to offer.  As mentioned stay tuned because this is going to get crazy good.  I would also like to give a big thank you to the government for having no clue how to manage money and essentially screwing all of its citizens by making bad decision after bad decision.  I am praying for the best and expecting the best and will be in Las Vegas living a much less stressful life if all goes well.  Now its time to go sell some of my ish so I can pay some bills for the next few months while I sell my house.

 

“Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous … Chuang-Tzu.”

 

Till next time if I am not dead or living on the streets

 

I finally quit my job and this is my 30^th birthday present to my self.  Happy birthday Matt!

 

degenaMATT

THE GLASS CEILING:

Well lets get the ugly out of the way first and pour some jungle juice out for the sports betting deities as New Jersey along with my bank account got its ass kicked (New Jersey lost to Edmonton at home and were essentially shut out by a third string rookie goalie on the road – Oh friendly brethren on the East Coast between the stock market and devils you guys are killing me).  The record is still looking profitable in the long run and confidence is running high.  No picks for a few days because as usual after a loss we need to hit the research hard in search of the winning picks.  The new season stat are:

 

W/L (Wins/Loses) 5 -3 R/R (Risk/Reward Ratio) 9.48/8.55 Total Winnings 2.1

 

As mentioned previously my Dad is a pretty famous and comfortably rich doctor in the very specialized medical field of Nuclear Medicine.  He however comes from a very humble and moderate background.  He is truly self made and paid his own way through school by joining the Air Force.  His parents have helped him very little (if at all) after he turned 18.  One side note is that when his dad died he did get a huge chunk of money that he kept to himself (he did give a little to his sister) and does help out his mother a fair amount.  I grew up in an environment where I could see and feel how hard work and higher levels of education truly pays dividends.  My parents when I was younger always emphasized schooling and I usually found myself in private schools that supposedly had the best educational practices.  Mostly studied under the Montessori and catholic (Jesuit) systems.  I value education as much as my parents and always tried to get the most out of my educational experiences.  My parents sent me to a great undergraduate school and I graduated on time (4 years), with very high honors (Magna Cum Laude) and in one of the hardest degrees (Finance) all the while enjoying many extracurricular activities such as the business ethics club and entrepreneurial club.  The next step I assumed would be law school or business school (mba) or both.  My parents had different plans.  My dad (I am an only child) happened to paying (for what reasons I have no idea – oh yeah I know his evil two headed stubborn beast of a wife – oh yes my mom and this lady for being 5 feet and under a 100 pounds is nothing to mess with when it comes to what she wants – poooooor dad) for two of my cousins college educations.  Which these two guys decided to go to college out of their state (Colorado) costing him an arm and a leg and also they each took 5 + years to graduate (they gave 10 + years of higher education to kids that are not even theres and stiffed me out another 2 – I could have got my MBA in 2 since I did so well in my undergrad classes).  I think because of this but whos know the reason my parents were like no more school for you.  Essentially get a job, pay your own bills, leave us alone type of idea.  No problem.  I did not understand but whatever you have to do what you got to do.  I also want to note that they helped me greatly in finding my job and giving the me the tools and necessities to do so (so it was not just like kicked out of the house do not call us anymore type of thing).  So after a few years working and getting a feeling that the industry I was in required a higher level of education again I asked my parents if they could help me get my mba and again the answer was a resounding no.  I was like well when granpa died (I was his only grandson and hung out with much more in his later years then his son did) what happened to all the money he gave you (he went crazy in his old age and essentially left all the money to my dad and nothing to his daughter or wife a truly old fashioned man’s man).  I was like well maybe if you had not sent two other kids that are not yours to college there would be money to get my mba.  They could have cared less told me to stop being selfish and otherwise leave them alone about this matter.  Now my dad spent ½ million dollars in cash on his house (oh yeah and this is a house that I am not allowed in because my mom thinks I am selfish – this coming from a women who has not worked in over 35 years and had everything paid for) and still no love for his son.   Lately at my work all they have been hiring is MBA’s, PHD’s CFA’s etc.  These are kids who are coming straight out of being in school until like age 29.  They get more respect, higher wages and are faster tracked.  They get in 6  months what has taken me 6 years to get all because of degrees nothing else.  I am more experienced then them, better at my job then them, out work them and often am even smarter then they are (remember it is not how smart you are but how you are smart).  Plain and simple I am stuck in a path to nowhere fast.  I look up at a glass ceiling to see all the people with higher degrees climbing the staircase while I am stuck in the basement with no hammer to break the glass.  Who is to blame?  My parents? My company?  Most likely and in all situations I have no one to blame but myself.  My life is my life.  It is what it is and is no ones responsibility to change it but myself.  So this is an ode to the everyday quest of trying to figure out how to break through the glass ceiling of life (this story can be morphed into almost any life obstacle).  If anyone has a big hammer and knows how to break double pained glass (the pain part is a pun – had to add at least one in).  Another morol of the story is that if you make the money you can spend it on whatever the hell you want and it does not have to be on your kid or your family.

 

Love you Mom and Dad

 

Next post we will pick back up the degeneracy and hopefully get some crazy dialogue going.

 

“To me, success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry any ideas and values into the world, that I am able to change it in positive ways … Maxine Hong Kingston.”

 

degenaMATT

THE DEGENERACY ENSUES:

Well since I am turning thirty in a few weeks and this is when I plan to turn “my life and luck around” I think my brain has switched into extra degeneracy mode. Lack of updates are due to long stretches of gambling (big losses, they hurt, wont share the numbers as they are too depressing right now) basically doing the usual just loozing then boozing. My family and wife are great and that is all I can ask for. I want to give a shout out to another Matt who sent me positive comments and has a great blog himself. Below is his info. Matt if your reading, the blog roll exchange is no problem and I will holla at you on Monday and set everything up when Im back in grind mode. Right now I still got gambling on my mind.

http://www.matwolf.com/blog

Well as usual I can lose any amount of money playing cards. Sports betting on the other hand I get it in real good and have absolutely been crushing. So onto to my new stats and the hockey pick of the day. My public sports picking gambling record is now:

W/L (Wins/Loses) 5 -2 R/R (Risk/Reward Ratio) 8.38/7.55 Total Winnings 3

Edmonton (6-6-1) -105 at New Jersey -105 (7-4-2)

PICK NEW JERSEY –105

Reasons Why:

-New Jersey is the better team. If you can find better teams as dogs/even at home I say stick the money in.

-Both teams are having goalie issues but Edmontons are deeper. Last game they had to play there No. 3 goalie, rookie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and that is just bad.

-Edmonton is playing a ton on the road. They are tired and frustrated as they are not doing well. Even money to watch there woes continue is great value for betting on New Jersey.

-New Jersey has better offense and Zach Parise just started to heat back up last game snapping a goaless streak and now has an astonishing 10 goals on the year. Edmonton has been scoring too much and is bound to cool down as they were in the regular season. Todays the game they do so, so pick New Jersey.

If you have not been winning money off me then you have no one to blame but yourself. Just betting 1k a unit you would already have made 3k off my publicly recorded picks. That would be something to be thankful for. I dream to be the economy crusher and stimulator.

 

Speaking of me winning money for other people I think I have some pretty amazing ideas on how to do so over the long run. My dad and I were rapping the other day and he was babbling about how he did not know where to invest his money any more (since the economy is basically like the old vegas just not the same and he is losing his bank strings in the stock market + he just spent a ½ million in cash the last year remodeling his house). Granted unlike me who is wondering how I am going to pay my next light bill my dad is wondering what custom famous architect is going to design him a new lighting system for his house. The dude is rich but worked hard for it and his thoughts about money revolve quite possibly only around saving it for himself (investing it and making more money) and doing what his wife tells him to do with it. Back to the irrelevant point. I was thinking if he (or anyone else for that matter – taking deposits now for the degenaMATT hedge fund) would give me lets say 5-10k how could I guarantee at least a 10% return a year with some creative investing. We will start small and look at a 5k example. This might be the most well diverse and safest fund a small investor could put his money into.

1k – The first 1k I would let be invested in my used book selling company. Profit margins are around 40%, rising, guaranteed, backed by about 20k in hard assets, proven 3 year track record and the paper work to prove it. This would be the bread and butter of the investment and would let you own a piece of a successful company. The company has enough cash on hand to buy 1k out at anytime making this a very liquid investment as well.

1k – The second 1k I would invest in three metals in this order (Gold, Silver, Platinum). If you have read my past blogs I have a friend who is one of the best in the world at buying/selling metals. I would tap into his knowledge and network and leverage my partner’s money in this market. I have expert inside knowledge of this game, access to the best resources in the world and like the used books the investment is palpable so it is not going to just vanish. It is a hard and proven asset that is highly liquid. Not a murky balance sheet or a stock brokers words flimsly waving in the air ready to melt (metal reference but not sure it can be considered a pun and is more thought then I want to put into my creative writing at this time – Im thinking about creative investing baby) at any given pint in time.

I am not exactly sure what type of return would be expected on this as it would vary with length of investment time but I have never not seen it profitable and workable within a larger investing framework ever.

1k – The third 1k I would put into a paypal account that currently earns 2%. This is fixed and flexible money. This money would be backed by my own and not only is it as liquid as cash but it will often times be used to move around other investment vehicles all the while earning 2%.

1k – The fourth 1k I would invest in various sports memorobilia/cards. These items hold or rise in value very well if you purchase the right pieces. I have been investing in this stuff all my life and have done fine. It is a tangible asset as well and very liquid. I have also put into production the buying of sports items in bulk and then breaking them down into smaller lots and turning a 10%-20% profit, which will also fall into this category.

1k – The final 1k I would use to sports bet in vegas with. There are a lot of hedging and value plays in sports betting. Just my public record this year alone is up 300% (my personal record more) so although volitile if managed at at the very least a 50-50 risk there can be some serious hedged returns to be had with the right strategy and research knowledge.

This most likely could be one of the most diverse portfolios you could put your money into (hoepfully this greatly diversifies the risk). This is a way to invest a very small amount of money and see how it goes/grows. If anyone has an extra 5k around and wants to try the above let me know. I estimate with the above strategy averaged out every year a 10%-15% is a reasonable expectation.

I love to read blogs on things that interest me (bad thing or a good thing for them that my work about 2 years ago blocked any website related to gambling). I remember that being one of the saddest professional days of my life. No longer could I make bets at work nor could I waste hours reading about the latest news in the world that is gambling. Now I have to do all of this from home and actualy work the whole time I am at work (this is for various other reasons as well – like angry managers and poor attention to company resources). When I am at home I do make the time to read the blogs at www.cardrunners.com and I will post the top 10 ten blogs I like and a quick reason why.

#1 (IversonXX3’s blog) – This is a young baller on the east coast. His blog is great because he updates almost daily (new stuff everyday on a blog is unbeatable). He talks tons of NL poker strategy and is one of the best low limit grinders in the game. He parties hard and has a blast in life with tons of friends and tons going on and reminds me a lot of me when I was much much younger. I know him personally and we chat on the phone every once in a while.

#2 (Daivd B’s blog) – This guy is a talented writer. Plays the highest stakes he can find. Eats and lives healthy. Updates regularly and pretty much lives an interesting life and always is an interesting read. Has a lot to say and a great perspective on life.

#3 (Brian’s blog) – This is the first blog I ever started reading consistently period so it has sentimental value. He plays high stakes poker and is famous in the poker community. Some questionable life decisions, lack of regular updates and unwillingness to share many details of his life lands him at number 3 and probably dropping. This guy does play some high stakes and talks about it so it is an okay read.

#4 (Schneids’s blog) – He plays mostly fixed limit poker and is one of very few bloggers on that topic or carreer path (which is what I play a lot although pot limit Omaha is my new passion (and way to get my ass kicked)). He tells it like it is, comes to my neck of the woods sometimes (los angeles), loves sports and seems like an all around great young guy. Plays high stakes and crushes it as well.

#5 (Stinger885’s blog) – Probably one of if not the best high stakes Omaha players in the world. Blogs a little and is a good read if he is in the right mood. A better place to see how his quest is going sometimes is www.highstakespokerdb.com . You have to read about the best in the world at your favorite game/pastime.

#6 (Eric Liu’s blog) – Plays poker and travels around the world. Lives in Cali where I live and plays poker at nosebleed stakes. Plays both cash and tournaments and is honest and captive about the life of a poker player. A great read and not updated enough.

#7 (gordo16’s) – Rarely updates his blog so his stock is dropping but lives in Southern California and plays high stakes pot limit omaha (my passion). He keeps it real and when he writes its good.

#8 (Taylor’s blog) – High stakes pro. Owner of cardrunners. Great writer with great thoughts. Something to check out.

#9 (cts’s blog) – Him and taylor do not seem to far apart in all things life.

#10 (zimba’s blog) – Has very intense insights in to life. Loves to write and is older and wiser then most. A family man who truly brings a vastly different life perspecitve then all of the above minds.

Another great place to read gambling blogs is www.cardplayer.com . All of there blogs are worth at least one read.

I am Catholic and Green Peace. Although I rarely talk about religion or politics I found the below on another blog I read religiously (puns are always intended) and found it too funny to pass up especialy as a Catholic. My wife is Budahist so she could probably care less about this stuff but the below is funny and plagarized from only God knows who (seriously).

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15 :19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

My brother has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? – Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted fan,

Katie

Holla at me with comments and if the world needs anything.  The updates are coming !! Read past blogs as they are grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat and expect the freshest and craziest writing to be hitting hard on this blog weekly.

Regards

degenaMATT

TURNING PRO

Well I always hope some day soon I can pay my bills from writing. I plan to make considerable strides and hope to get a chance for once in my life to let my creativity flow. Writing can take many forms and I enjoy almost all variations. I have numerous book ideas (a few started), have written two full length movie scripts (along time ago), completed a lot of small paid/free writing assignments and lately have been writing up tonrnadoes on my blog and the storms plan to continue (I also love to write rap/poems as well plus a slew of other genres). In my more mundane life of sitting in offices or serving tables I have ran through an innumerable amount of managers. Most were terrible and only a few were good. I have also been a president of a company (totally failed – the company, not me as a manager but it had to have something to do with it) and had to manage 5-8 people everyday myself. It was also one of my majors in college. After thinking about and having a tremendous amount of life experience with the management topic I think this is one book I could write with some great ideas. Sometimes I always wonder why great managers do not think of their work as essentially like running a winning football team. We will take one minut peak into this concept. The basics. It is about teams of people trying to outplay other teams of people (insert any business idea/goal for the word outplay or leave as is). Now each team should have a quarterback. The quarterback is essentially the employee who is hands on everyday. He knows the game, the players and has the whole playbook memorized (even with a few audibles and trick plays up his sleeve). This is a person everyone at the company respects, is comfortable with and will follow their lead. The quarterback is willing to take the blame for failure but credit everyone else for success (one of the greatest managers I ever had always takes the fall and he always says victory has many fathers but defeat is a lonely child (this must be quoted from someone so whoever I give you credit)). The quarterback must play injured and be a role model at all times. Execution must be precise and they have to want to go for it on 4^th down and believe they will make it. Are you a quarterback? More management analysis and successful company infrastructure building dialoge coming…………. GO GO Peter Drucker Now back to some gamfooling

Carolina (6-3-2) +110 at Toronto -120 (5-4-3)

PICK CAROLINA – +110

Reasons Why:

-Carolina is the better team. If you can find better teams as dogs I say stick the money in.

-Cam Ward is back and I believe in Cam. Sick goalie and the power of positive thinking baby!!!

-Carolina rolled over Toronto last time they played. Toronto is not a great home team. Let the rolling continue.

-Vesa Toskala sucks in goal against Carolina. Stick the money in fellas.

In continued tradition of the management writing theme above below I paste some of my writing on management over the last few months:

Management is simply defined as manuevering a given set of resources to optimal production and efficiency withing a given set of ethical and professional bounderies.  Like every human being management theory and practice is constantly evolving.  It is an ever morphing merger of humanity and the mind in a results oriented bubble of interaction.  Management is one of the most difficult and forever burdeoning  costs companies must face.  Like a shy dancer at the strip club great managers are hard to come by.  Like a great dancer at the strip club an amazing manger will make you lots of money. I have not read many management books in my life.  Maybe three to five good ones and five to ten bad ones but I was never one to keep a close eye on the numbers.  The research for this book is inspired by experience, leveled thinking and gambling.  A renaisance man with a rambling mind.  My experience questionable.  My leveled thinking even more questionable.  My gambling

A wise man once said “it is not how smart you are, it is how you are smart”

THE REPATIVE FACTOR:

Like in Rain Man or with sex repition can be mind boggling good.  Doing the same task over and over will have great results.  Michael Jordan and Dustin Hoffman already read that chapter.  We are not talking about the movies or basketball however.  We are toggling through high level management decisions with millions of dollars at stake.  At least we can say that basketball, the movies and management have the millions of dollars in common.  Something a little dishearting is millions of dollars are thrown away on all three endeavours due to poor management all the time.  In a beautiful world we might all be able to read a few books, save a few million and create a more utopian corporate environment.  The world though remains ugly and demands repition to be managed with the utmost attention. It all started at only one neccesary action.   A story:

A job started with 1 goal.  Satisfy the client.  If the client was happy, the boss was happy, the employee was happy and work flowed as long as client satisfaction was rreasonably met given resource capacity.  The boss soon became unhappy at not knowing everything or being able to communicate the information to anyone.  The solution is to track all work on the computer in a clear and concise manner for the entire company to see.  The clients remained happy, the boss found a new level of happiness but employee satisfaction diminished.  The employee was being paid the same, was given the same workload and was expected to now do the same work twice.  Once for the client and once on the computer per the boss’ guidelines and expectations. As mentioned earlier I was never one with numbers or math as computers will be forever better then essentialy every human at both but it is worthwhile to pause the story and review some simple math to illustrate how this change without clear thinking is a terrible management decision.  If you give an employee 40 hours to do 40 tasks that take 40 hours to complete and then ask them to do 80 tasks that take 60 hours to complete in the same 40 hours you have either managed to accomplish one of two things.  One is squeezing an extra 20 hours of work out of your workforce.  The second is to cause employees to question math equations that do not work out in there favor.  Given the tunrover ratios and general discussions I have seen under these type of conditions the second occurence is always the dominate characteristic.  This topic of discussion will be for a later chapter as we are focusing on the cost of managing repition.  As with all things new adaptation and elevation soon smothers employee dissatisfaction.  Time forged client, boss and employee satisfaction to new levels of success under this method of repetitive management.  Once doing the same thing twice was managed well a value was found that Inevetibly employee training and communication needs grew and and workers found themselves doing the same task now three times.  For each singular task the employee was resolving each problem with the client, the boss and collegues.  We have already revied previously how this formula just does not add up.  The cost of repition is exponentialy growing.  For reasons speculation might not due justice the boss’ manager needed everything explained.  An employee for each individual piece of work it was required to do the work with the client, the boss, collegues and a manager.  This is where repition crosses the line to stupidity and absurdity.  Shooting the basketball a million times has a distinct management advantage.  Telling four different people your pencil is sharp comes at a blinding management cost.

Lets look at a hypothetical corporate scenario using this real world based story.

You have 12 employees that make an average of $50,000 each per year =

The effectiveness of reptetiveness can be related to the the limits of human satisfaction.  I always think back to alchhol or brownies.  One side of chocolates and booze is close to almost all human hearts.  Eating one chocolate or taking one shot  feels great to those managing the relative joy to each task.  As each task is repeated in teh same given time happiness diminshes as cost increases.  This very simple concept applies to managment  at an alarming rate.

Personal lives can be very repitive.  Mine especially.  Every human must manage themselves in some capacity.

We will leave with one final thought on reptiveness as related to my gambling.  I will never drive to the casino four times to play in any single game to make the same amount of money.

Oh yeah and read my other blogs beyaichessssssssssssssss!

degenaMATT

HALLOWEEN AND LEARNING

A basic t-shirt from the clothing company I tried to start. A great example of the logo and name.

Halloween went great and kids were nice and in cool costumes.  We live in a popular trick or treating neighborhood so we get a lot visitors and went through like 50 some odd bags of candy with trick or treaters still coming at 10:30 pm.  My wife did most of the candy distribution and I and the Las Vegas Kid did all the sports watching (Canucks vs. Ducks sick game with an overtime shootout, then the spurs vs. trailblazers game went to the wire then flipped to the clippers game all the while flipping some patron shots).  The highlight of the night (or weird moment – it was controversy the wife said weird the Las Vegas Kid claimed highlight) was when a girl dressed as I believe (and some one can correct me if I am clueless which I often am but I have no idea about the Rocky Horror Picture show) Magenta (from Rocky Horror Picture Show) and she had us hold her candy and she did the time warp dance which was ,unexpected at times impressive and at the very least downright creative.  Well I am still working hard to try and make this blog better and am making great strides in readership.  I plan on this blog being more read then prison library law books (wonder what the over under on this # is?).  So two blog revelations were made today.  The first was how to post pictures.  The second was how to spell check.  This blog is going to start getting good!  I got crushed by the sports book last night and this was the worst pick of the year Dallas lost 3-5.  My new stats are:

 W/L (Wins/Loses) 4 -2 R/R (Risk/Reward Ratio) 7.38/6.45 Total Winnings 2

Today I am super busy as this is the month I will be turning 30 (liver turning 60 and brain turning 90) and I have all these grand plans of what I want to do in life (oh man I feel the mid-life crisis setting in and yes I will be lucky to hit 60 with all the degeneracy I put myself through and if I find a million dollars I might only live another 60 days).  All morbidness aside, hey it was Halloween, expect some juicy content daily.  Watching the Texas vs. Texas Tech game on in a few minutes is first on the list and then a trip to the goodwill and then cleaning the house and then playing with the nephews and then attending a dinner with the wife and some good friends with a bunch of sneaky stuff eeked in between.  I thank all my readers and blow yall many kisses – spread the word were heating up!  Obviously I love reading and writing and I was flipping through the new People magazine and noted something I thought was weired.  Out of all the entertainment genres (Music, Movies, TV etc.) only books received the best 4 star rating. They are:

The Snowball – Warren Buffet and the business of life by Alice Schroeder (I have to read this.  If anyone wants to send me this book I would be grateful.  Hey I’m broke, not above begging and I can write a mean book review).  Warren if your reading and want to send me a million I am all for that too.

The Longest Trip Home – a memoir by John Grogan

As always still looking for a book deal so hit me on the hip, break out the bank lets make a few hits and break the bank.  Till tomorrow and please read some of the previous posts as there is some good stuff.

Stay tuned for sick prop betting thoughts, millionaire business ideas, more sports picks and random baskets of delicious mental fruit.

Hopefully my sports betting will not have me feeling like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest (taking a break today to study and should make a sick NBA pick tomorrow, stay tuned)!

Holla at me with comments or if you need something in LA or if you think I can help with anything let me know.  I am here for the world.

The degenerate kid,

degenaMATT