Things have been going pretty great for me, I've really enjoyed 2010 so far. I'll just list some life stuff that's been "up" and then talk about some CardRunners things. I don't really talk too much CR stuff in this blog, but maybe sometimes I think it's good to mix that in with life/poker stuff.

So lately:

-I've been sweating college hoops pretty hard. College basketball is my favorite sport and my team, Illinois, is typically pretty good. The last few years have not been good to us but say overall we were easily a top 10 program of the last decade. One final 4, one elite eight, a few sweet 16's, and a tournament appearance every year but one I believe. In January, I was able to score some second row seats to the Illinois Gonzaga game at the United Center. This was one of the better college bball games of the year, as we were down 20 points in the first half, came back to go up by 6 or 7 midway through the second half, gave up the lead, hit 3 with a few seconds left to force OT, then lost by 1 or 2 in OT. I'm a big fan of Bill Raferty, the CBS announcer, and since we were sitting right by the scorers table he came around and bs'd with the fans a little before the game and took some pics with people. He seemed like a cool dude, I can't wait for March Madness and the inevitable "onions" and the even better "early onions" calls by him. A couple weeks ago I went down to Champaign for the Michigan State Illinois bball game, which fortunately turned out better for the Illini. It was cool to see the College Gameday crew on campus and it was overall a fun time. Today the Illini play Purdue and I'm going to miss it due to being at a wedding, boo.

-During the winter, I usually go through stretches of extreme boredom or basically just being unhappy. I've noticed this basically every year since college. I really think it's just because the weather in Chicago sucks so much during the winter. Anyway, the point is, I have felt pretty good this winter. I think it's partially because I am sort of getting over the way life "used to be." I don't really long for being out till 2am 4 nights a week, so it doesn't bother me when I'm missing that. Things on the work front, which I'll talk about later, have been great. Overall, things have just been pretty good lately.

-I spent Valentine's weekend in Las Vegas with Melissa. It was nice to get away and do nothing for a couple of days. We stayed at the Bellagio, which was my first time staying there. We got a chance to eat at Sage at Aria, which I thought was excellent. I got a chance to get a massage at the Spa which was interesting. The only type of massage I like is when they just tear your muscles apart and it hurts like hell. I get extremely bored if I'm just sitting there and it's a light massage, so I'd rather have a bunch of pain so my mind doesn't wander but then feel great for the next few days. I got the Ashiatsu massage, which is the type where they walk on your back and most of the massage is done by the masseuse's feet. It sounds strange, and man can it be painful, but it really leaves you feeling energized. After that massage I just felt great and it really set the tone for a nice weekend. Melissa and I were grinding the roulette tables at the B when I ran into a kid I went to high school with. We had a nice little chat, it was cool to see a random non-poker friend out in Vegas. On the plane home I saw another girl I went to high school with, but only had chance to chat for a minute or so. Two very surprising encounters, to be sure.

-I have fallen off a little bit in my basketball playing. I was playing 3 days a week for about six months, but now it's down to only one or two. Overall I am happy with my level of fitness, it's definitely better than it was a year ago and it is still improving. The biggest difference is just eating better, my gf has great eating habits and just mooching off whatever she is eating goes a long way, instead of ordering delivery every night.

CR related stuff:

So I don't really blog about CR business related stuff all that much, for a few reasons. One, I'm never really sure who finds it interesting. Do my real life friends care? Am I trying to send a message to other people who work in the industry? I don't know, there just doesn't seem to be a huge point to it. I do think that there are a lot of things I could blog about that might be interesting to read or even educational, but I think it might appeal to a much smaller subset of people than currently read my blog.

-We have been working for quite some time on a new version of the CR website. It's going to be a lot better, basically just a better version of the current site with some new bells and whistles. I think it will be better from both a member's perspective and from a business perspective. I'm never shy about admitting that we are in fact running a business, even though most think of CR as a place to hang out and improve their poker game. I think it's key to find that happy balance between doing everything you possibly can to give maximum value for your customers dollar, while also holding the financial health of the company in high regard. Most of the time, the right decisions are good in both scenarios, but there are times when you'll have to make sacrifices on one side for the other. I think that over the past year we have really done a nice job with that mix. Our Truly Free Poker Training promotion is unlike anything else on the 'net and it gives people such a great deal on the best poker training money doesn't have to buy! We've partnered on a FTP rakeback offer (click the red rakeback link on the top nav) that costs us money -- we are giving away free product, 3 months of CR and a HEM license, so that customers can get a great deal that is unmatched anywhere else on the net. I guess what I'm getting at is, I think we're really finding a good mix between doing things that benefit the customers and the company. That was really our biggest guiding principal in the newest iteration of the CR website, which I'm really hopeful you guys like. It should be out sometime in early April, but I don't know an exact date yet.

-I am going to Miami next week for "Camp CardRunners." 8 members of Truly Free Poker Training that earned over 15k FTP points in a month were randomly picked to attend this thing. We're staying at a nice hotel in Miami, and the CR crew is Me, Stinger, Wiggins, Eric Liu, Isaac Baron, Mike Schneider, Irock, and VitalMyth. It will mostly be us having a fun time at the beach, playing golf, going out to dinner, etc., but we'll also do some leakfinder videos and I'm sure talk a lot of poker. It's a pretty cool thing we've been able to do for TFPT members, I mean for no cost whatsoever these people are getting a trip to Miami for 3 days, not a bad deal and I'm looking forward to the trip.

-I'll be in Dublin a week after that for some FTP meetings. We've got a good relationship with those guys and I try to make it out there once a year to hang out, talk about our businesses, and hopefully get out and have some Irish beers.