Sunday, 8 August 2010
Week 23: Eat 5 oz of lean protein each day this week.
Good afternoon. I just got done stretching, crunching, and making the floor get close to my face then farther away. It’s hard to come up with new ways of writing push-ups. I’ll be heading out for my walk / jog here in a couple of minutes and then it’s off to work. I really don’t have anything exciting or funny to write about today. Which, in one hand, is a good thing. That means everything is running smoothly. On the other hand, it makes for a boring blog. Even as I typed that last line I was trying to think of a joke or a story, but nothing came to mind. Well, there is one thing. I dealt blackjack last night instead of craps. When you’re a dice dealer and they put you on blackjack for eight hours you start to think to yourself, “Ahh man, did I say something wrong to a box person or a supervisor?” Because let me tell you something, the majority of craps players may be superstitious, grumpy, unhappy humans, but blackjack players complain more than a bingo hall that finds out they ran out of Sanka. Some examples and these are only a few. “I can’t believe you got 21.” “Do you always have to get a face card up?” “When is it your break?” “Does your mother know you do this to people?” “You’re an evil man Barney.” Yeah for some reason people over 65 call me Barney and I go with it. I also have a snappy come back to every one of these little jabs and complaints. When they say they can’t believe I got 21, I say, “Well then it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise when I get it again within the next ten minutes.” Do I always have to get a face card up? “I’m just sooo good looking even the cards with eyes want a peek at me.” When is my break? “NEVER!” Does my Mom know I do this to people? “Are you kidding me? My Momma taught me how to do this and she is soooooo proud of me.” I’m an evil man. “Why yes I am, thanks for noticing. Place your bets so we can do it again.” Ahhhhh, I love my job. Wow I guess I did come up with something to write about…Cool.
I hope everybody has a great day and comes up with something original.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: casino, exercise, work
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Saturday, 31 July 2010
Week 21: Walk/Run 30 minutes, 4 days this week – Walk 10 minutes, (run 1 minute / walk 1 minute) x5, Walk 10 minutes
Good afternoon. I just got in from my walk / jog, and I feel alright, a little tired but alright. I got in early (or would it be late?) from work last night because a few of of decided to play some cards after work. I noticed when you get people in the same room together the subject always go’s to work and it’s usually complaints. I try not to do this. In fact, when I’m not at work I don’t want to think about it at all, especially if it’s in a negative light. If I have a funny story to tell I’ll tell it, but I think it’s human nature to let off steam about this or that.I just dig my job I guess. No complaints for right now. I mean, come on, I get paid to play a game.
I didn’t get Luke this weekend because his Uncle Alex is coming home from the war in Afghanistan, and they’re having a welcome home party for him. I have known Alex since he was fifteen, and I’ve never met a kid who knows so much about computers in my life. After he graduated from high school, he chilled out for a couple of years and then went into the Air Force. When his family heard he was being deployed overseas, obviously there were concerns, but now he’s home safe and again life is good.
You see, that’s what I think about when people start complaining about work. I know there are men, women, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters doing a job right now that they signed up for that has taken them away from their families and put them in harm’s way. If you support the war or not, that’s up to you. Me personally, I can’t believe the word war still exist in our vocabulary, so I’m not a big fan of anything that takes human life. But I do support every soldier who is fighting right now. I hope everyone of them gets a welcome home party and gets to be held by their loved ones again. John Lennon said it the best, “All I am saying is give peace a chance.”
I hope everybody has a great day and gets some peace in their life.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: work
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Thursday, 29 July 2010
Week 21: Walk/Run 30 minutes, 4 days this week – Walk 10 minutes, (run 1 minute / walk 1 minute) x5, Walk 10 minutes
Barry J
Good afternoon. I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing, and it was work asking me to come in on my day off. In a way, I’m glad. I was really trying to figure out last night before I went to bed what I was going to do today. I’m worried I don’t have much of a life when I don’t have Luke and I don’t work. I’m writing a novel so I can escape into that world for a while which to me is better than playing video games or doing what I use to do (which I don’t want to get into or discuss.) I could go for a walk / jog, but that will only eat up so much time, and to be honest, I’m a little behind on that right now. When I get done with work, I think to myself “I’m going to go home and jog.” After the fiorty minute or so drive, I’m just tired and all motivation goes out the window like Chocolate Gertrude Hawk Jordan Crackers. I think that’s why I gained weight in the month of July. That and the E.D.R.. I just have to stay focused. Boy don’t I sound like a great big ball of fun. I’m going to go out and get some air in my britches.
I hope everybody has a great day and stays focused.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: weight, work
Posted in Fitness Goals | No Comments »
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Week 20: Do at least 10 crunches each day this week.
Good morning. I got awakened by Luke running into my room yelling, “Dado Dado Dado” when Mimi brought him home from staying at her house last night, and I’ve got to admit it was one of the best ways I have ever been brought out of slumber. I had to work overtime last night so I didn’t get much sleep, and I’m still not used to not having my boy sleeping under the same roof as me, but these are things that I will have to adjust to.
I filled up yet another tip box again on my blackjack game last night, but tonight I go back to craps and I’m not going to lie to you, reader, I can’t wait to go back to dealing dice. You see, I’m a firm believer that you can take a gorilla out of the jungle and teach him how to deal the game of blackjack, then return him back to his natural habitat, and then five years later go and find that same gorilla and place him behind a blackjack table and he will know exactly what to do as if a day hasn’t gone by. To me, there is no challenge in the game. Now craps, on the other hand, is a whole different entity altogether. If there are extra terrestrials watching us out there, I believe two things: 1) is that they think line dancing is some type of strange ritual, and 2) a craps game is very confusing. Anybody can figure it out eventually, but to deal properly, well that’s a different thing altogether.
I ate very healthy last night and right now as I type this I’m eating a healthy homemade fruit salad breakfast that it quite cooling on this warm July morning. Luke and I are going to head out for our walk and spend some quality time together.
I hope everybody has a great day and gets an awesome wakeup call.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: Family, work
Posted in Fitness Goals | No Comments »
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Week 20: Do at least 10 crunches each day this week.
Good morning. I’m sitting here eating my oatmeal and Jif, slugging down some black Starbucks coffee, and thinking about something I heard about fifty times last night that makes me laugh. When I worked in Atlantic City players would sometimes say when they were not happy with some state law,”Well that’s not the way it is in Las Vegas.” As a supervisor I wanted to scream at the person and say, “You’re not in Las Vegas, Dorothy, but you are more than welcome to take Toto and that scarecrow looking husband of yours, catch the next tornado, and go back to the “All for our country” state. So wouldn’t it figure now that Pennsylvania has table games and different laws people are saying, “Well that’s not the way it is in Atlantic City.” The great part of it is that I am not a supervisor. I’m just a dealer, so when a customer is freaking out like an elephant that saw a mouse, I can just stand back and watch the entertainment. Ahh, life is good.
My healthy lifestyle is going great and I can say I’m feeling about eighty-five percent better. I’m looking forward to going for my walk / jog today considering it has been raining on and off for the past four days which is good for cooling down the heat, but bad for getting outside.
I have the day off unless they call me in to work. There aren’t many crap dealers so we’re in high demand when it comes to people calling in sick or whatever the case may be, and I figured that since I don’t have Luke today I would make myself available. You’ve got to make hay when the sun is shining, right?
I hope everybody has a great day and makes some hay and realizes where they are.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: breakfast, healthy living, work
Posted in Fitness Goals | No Comments »
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Week 19: Eat 1 1/2 cups lettuce/spinach each day this week.
Barry J Juggling Apples
Good morning. Luke and I are starting our day with wheat toast and Jif and some fresh blueberries to boot. How am I feeling, you ask? As I type this I would have to say better. My sister, Barb, called me up after reading the blog yesterday and told me to go get some over the counter allergy medicine that I guess both my sibs swear by. So it has to work, right?
I’ll be getting my push-ups and crunches in after we’re done with breakfast and then we’ll probably go for a walk.
Today is the first day I will be dealing craps to the public. They are having a charity day at the casino where all the profits (after taxes of course) go to the United Way. When I used to perform in a rock band, I was the lead singer and I didn’t just stand in the middle of the stage crooning into the microphone. Nope, I would jump around, escape from straight jackets, dive into mosh pits, break up fights, all in all have a real good time up there in the spotlight. A reporter for a local paper did a review of one of our shows and she called what I did “controlled chaos”. The reason I am reliving my glory days, as Bruce would say, is because one of our Pit Bosses (or as they are called now “Lead Floors”) said that today will be controlled chaos, and it made me think of my rock and roll years. But I believe he hit the nail on the head. It’s going to be a blast. The only thing that is going to keep it slightly tamed is the fact that the powers that be are setting a maximum five dollar bet. So the true controlled chaos won’t happen until Tuesday July 13 when the giddy up is all the way up. Then it’s on like Donkey Kong as the kids used to say in the early double ought (00)
I hope everybody has a great day and enjoys some controlled chaos at least once in their lives.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: work
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Thursday, 10 June 2010
Week 15: Eat 1 cup of cooked whole grains each day this week.
Barry J.
Good very early morning to you for as I make today’s entry it’s 1:08 in the morning. The reason for this is because I just got finished with the last of my 433 things I had to get done, and tomorrow I have to go to my new job orientation that starts at 8:00am and I won’t get back home until 11:00pm. You see folks, the top secret stuff I’ve been doing since March 8th is that I’ve been going to craps dealing school (insert snicker here). When I lived in New Jersey I worked in Atlantic City and my job title was Table Games Supervisor, which is one under a pit boss in the chain of command in the casino business. I left that job when Luke was roughly eight months old because I couldn’t stand to be away from him for five days at a time. Plus there were other things going on in my personal life that I don’t want to get into right now, but mainly it was missing Luke. I knew Pennsylvania was going to get table games and when they gave the O.K. in November, I signed up to be a dealer in the game of dice. Now mind you, I don’t plan on doing this for the rest of my days. I have my goals and I have a plan. If I keep my head down and my eye on the prize, all I set my mind to will come to me. That’s what I believe. So that’s what I’ve been doing at night – going to school to learn a game. A game that I already know, but it’s been a while since I dealt so I was more than happy to take a free refresher. See I told you it wasn’t that exciting, but I’ll tell you what, if you think some of my blogs are humorous now wait until the doors open up at the casino. I could tell you at least a 100 funny stories off the top of my head from the past five years. So who’s to say what the new ones will be like.
The really good news is that the casino has an employee cafeteria where I can eat for free every day as often as I like. The salad bar is huge and always stocked with fresh fruits and veggies so my diet will not only continue, it will be more flavorful. Life is good. I’ve got to get some sleep.
I hope everybody has a great day and isn’t too disappointed that I’m not a spy or something super cool.
Later,
Barry J
Tags: healthy living, work
Posted in nutrition goal | No Comments »
