Hello Leggo!

First, I'd like to apologize to any of you who are currently under the influence of marajuana. You clicked to read my blog because you were hungry and I made a joke at your expense.

Second, I've missed you guys lately. It's part of the price I'm paying for doing what I'm doing now. Wow, that sounds cryptic! I thought I'd drop in and let everyone know what's going on in in my currently expanding corner of the world.

• I've been staking and coaching my face off
  
  * My most recent blog post in the middle of WSOP was about staking you guys. Of the many of you who applied, I accepted few. Of those few, all have progressed in their game.
  
  * I've coached over a fifty, maybe even one-hundred, different players. Even with massive experience, the law of diminishing returns rears it's ugly head and people feel I'm no longer worth the price tag around lesson eight or so. I'm teaching my stakees weekly and still getting fantastic results. These guys are hard working and motivated to do what I say and what it takes to get better. The progress is visible week-to-week. Great work guys. Keep it up and keep making us moneys!
  
  * I'm very much enjoying seeing what happens when someone actually does what I say to get better. Don't think I'm including myself in that category as I've relied much on talent and some math to get by the last years and little on elbow grease. These guys have inspired me to grind in many aspects of life, not just poker. Thank you all.
  
  
• Learning A TON about business
  
  * I won't comment too much on this heading because I don't want to let the world know too much about what's going on inside my head at this time as it relates to business. I must say that going into college to major in Philosophy was an interesting and gutsy decision. It's annoying with all the other resources that surrounded me during that time but still fantastically rewarding to have a sense of where I belong in the world. I believe that understanding to be invaluable. While I can spend time amassing wealth and knowledge in other arenas that I'd never find true happiness without my studies in Philosophy.
  
  * I know some of you loved the lip ring *cue crickets*, but I've taken it out and transformed into business Reid. So watch out everyone; because you're about to get got. I am still wearing cardigans like a boss and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
  
  * My feelings can be summed up by the infamous philosopher Wittgenstein as he said, and I'm paraphrasing, 'Philosophy is like a ladder one climbs and thereafter ignores for lack of necessity.' I realize that sounds arrogant and like I know how the world works... but hey, I guess I believe that I do to an extent close to that any person might know such a world.
  
  
  I believe what I'm paraphrasing is in his book The Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, for those interested in some next level ish.
  
  
• Learning about the world that makes everything we take for granted possible: programming
  
  * I took AP CompSci in high school for C++ and for Javascript. Those were both extremely introductory courses and the amount of knowledge and languages out there is astounding. Being able to transform a vision into a product by typing some weird characters is one of the coolest ways to create something I can fathom. You also get to understand all the nerdy hipster hashtag jokes and why people make their poker names LOLOLOLOLOL.
  
  * HTML5, CSS, Javascript, PHP, OHMY! There is so much to learn. I'm putting learning Italian on ultra-hold while I get these guys more or less down. Peccato!
  
  
• Happily ignoring speculation about Full Tilt's (and a LOT of my money's) future
  
  * French guy does XYZ, where's my mon-ey? Nobody knows. Speculators gonna speculate. I love how many people and organizations are becoming active within the poker community and if it takes calling someone a Ponzi, then what the hell?
  
  
  
  * It's amazing how easy it is to spread the word and to sign a letter to a congressman or let someone know your thoughts as a US citizen. Take some advice from Sauce's latest blog: don't dress up like a retard zombie without a reason; learn about a situation and act on it in an informed way. Poker players have nothing better to do now, so we should at least protect our own livelihoods. Below is a picture of some retards:
  
  
  
  
• Taking things one day at a time
  
  * With how busy I've been in web site development mode and in staking and coaching mode, some of my relationships have suffered. I'd like to apologize to my friends here and face to face; wherever you'll hear it. Maybe saying it here will inspire others to notice a similar effect of their new found passion-grind. Each of you are very important to me and more than I could ever say here. Liz, Greg, Joe, Craig, Derek, Evan, John, Haupt, Cheet, Jon, Greg, Will, Ben, and a lot more of you guys... I just hope that you can understand that I truly do feel like what I'm working on is my calling and that the pressure I'm dealing with to turn my dreams into reality isn't something I want to hurt our relationships. You guys are always in my thoughts and I know that that's not enough sometimes. I just hope that you guys can give me a pass for this one and understand that I don't actually hate you.
  

Thank you guys for reading, as always. Hopefully this doesn't seem like rambling. I had some stuff bottled up that needed to be said and I'm a blogger without a home for now!

Reid