The Death Star



Race Report:

I felt strong and excited starting the Red Rock 100k at 7 am. The first 7 miles were fairly smooth with a gradual uphill. The next 8 miles were I little more choppy terrain. I ran into a cactus, a little blood mixing with the sweat on my forearm. At 15 miles I was already starting to get a little worn out with the terrain beating up my legs. The next 5 miles followed route 159 to the tiny enclave of Blue Diamond. I met my crew and ate some chicken fingers for lunch. The next 8 mile section was a big loop around a hill. The first 3 miles into the loop my tendonitis was starting to flare up and the relentless sun and afternoon heat were really punishing. I stopped to really stretch out and loosen my muscles and the pain diminished. The next section started with a long steep climb up the hill we just circumnavigated. After descending the hill there was a long flat runnable section.

Now the sun is finally setting, the most thrilled I have been the see the sun going down the Spring Mountains. My pace has significantly slowed at mile 35. I feel a lot better with the sun down and the temps more comfortable nevertheless my legs are feeling very fatigued. I am only able to run the flat and slightly downhill sections of trail. I am hiking the uphills and steeper downhills. Lots of runners have passed me between mile 20 and 30 but now the field is so spread out I am all by myself. As darkness sets in I see a pack of headlamps in the distance, a pack of runners heading toward the finish that must be at mile 63. I keep up my shuffle and cruise down a hill into the mile 40 aid station at 9:45 pm.

I checked in and met my crew. I am only about 45 minutes ahead of the cutoff time which is the maximum time allowed to continue in the race. I hadn't even really been tracking it up to this point, my intention was the have my crew go to sleep and just battle through the early hours of the morning and finish around sunrise. But we did some math and at my sluggish pace there is very little chance I would be able to complete the course under the cutoff. So I made the rational decision to drop out at this point since this is really the only extraction point at route 160 as the next 15 miles of the course head south into the middle of nowhere. Just for a gauge of how hard the course was, only 21 out of 37 runners that started the race finished.

Some key take-aways:

I think I did well with hydration, had capacity for 100 oz water and 28 oz electrolyte. I only depleted my supply on the mile 20-28 section in the mid-afternoon sun. I actually should have carried less liquids in the morning and after the sunset as I stopped sweating almost immediately. I should have taken in more nutrition and energy gels. With the sun and heat my appetite was suppressed but I should have forced myself to eat more. My training was too focused on flat sidewalks. I should have trained more on hills and tough terrain as well as more daily mileage.

Over all, a fun experience, video forthcoming. Disappointed to not finish but 40 miles is still a personal record. I am going to give the Red Rock 100k another shot next year.

Slab City



Here is one of my paintings



2021 Goals

[436] Run 1440 miles
[63] Work out 180
[140] Eat healthy 324
[7] Upload 72 vids
[116] 360 hrs art
[154] 360 hrs music
[511.5] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[2] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Hey man that is impressive as hell. Fantastic job. SPC has recently gotten into distance cycling. She is currently prepping for a 240 mile event. Are you on strava by any chance?

Congratulations about accomplishing your goal at NL100 online, thats everybit as tough as 5-10 bellagio skillwise, so that is really a nice accomplishment. Theres a noticeable jump at NL200, but still plenty of soft spots. Focus in and im sure youll be able to beat it, especially if you are table selecting. You have my number if you ever want to discuss hands or concepts.

Congrats on reaching 40 miles! I’d struggle to do 5 miles, these days. Sounds like you made good decisions along the way and learnt a few things of value for future runs.

Making patterns with a compass and ruler





I am happy to report I have completed my 20 buy in challenge at 100 NL on WSOP.com had some decent swings but finally crossed the threshold. Going to mix in some 200 NL if I can find decent tables popping off and embark on a 4k challenge.

Nevada has lifted all statewide restrictions, conventions and live music have the green light. Business has already rebounded dramatically over the last 12 months since the Strip first reopened.

Met a cool chick and went on a couple dates. Played some pool and hit up glow in the dark mini golf.

Vegas and 100 NL Challenge Update



Here is one of my paintings



Thanks dude! That's awesome, good for her, it's fun to have a big obstacle to tackle. Yes, I love strava. Great way to track mileage and find new routes and see the sick amount of training the pros do. Even though I typically run alone it keeps my plugged into the local running community exchanging kudos.

Thanks man! Nice to meet ya at Bellagio, hope the rest of your trip went well. I've kept an eye on the tables and the 200 NL+ games seem super reg heavy from what I can tell, a few familiar names from the 100 NL streets. Yep I am humble enough to know my A game still isn't good enough to have a significant edge in tough line ups. Thanks dude, if I have any tough/confusing hands I'll text ya.

Tyvm! It was grueling, but I had a blast despite coming up short on the first attempt.

2021 Goals

[462] Run 1440 miles
[71] Work out 180
[159] Eat healthy 324
[7] Upload 72 vids
[125] 360 hrs art
[175] 360 hrs music
[563] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[2] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

You just dont know until you get in the streets and battle, and you will get better as a result. Even if your A game isnt good enough right now, maybe this is what it takes to get to where it is good enough to win there and that will pay dividends down the line. Its always a little daunting moving up, but its how you grow into who you are supposed to be, i know you can do it

Well done on the 100nl challenge. I'm also very interested in the changes in your art style recently. Have you deliberately tried to have a different style or was it more of just something new to try? The art has always been such a cool addition to this thread and seeing it evolve into other things is cool to see

Keep it up dude, always awesome to see you set goals and work towards them!!

Stardust sat on the plot where Resorts World is built



Resorts World under construction Jan 2019



We just went through a record shattering heat wave, 115 degrees+. The heat actually fried the rechargeable batteries in my amp that was in my storage unit. Trying to stay indoors in the afternoons, anything above 110 is pretty unbearable for long. We actually got a little rain but over all the last couple of years have been very dry and Lake Mead is at historically low levels.

Went on another date, we checked out the pinball hall of fame that recently relocated to be adjacent to the welcome to LV sign. There is a huge selection from some classic 70 year old machines to more modern machines in almost any pop culture theme you can think of. Also used my diamond dinner credit at Bugsy & Meyers.

Brand new poker room opening this weekend at the grand opening of Resorts World, I expect it to be very busy might be extremely long wait times. Hopefully they have enough staff to fire up all 30 tables. First ground up casino hotel on the strip since Cosmo about a decade ago.

Best Beginner Hike in Las Vegas



Here is one of my paintings



Thanks dude! Good points.

Thanks man. Yeah I guess my artistic focus kind of evolves over time. I had a period where I was doing a lot free form intuitive painting based on color interplay and texture. Around 2017 I shifted more into drawing patterns and filling them in. Now I am doing some more rigid geometric patterns which is actually circling back and revisiting a style I worked in around 2010 and in high school. I'll see if I can dig up some old pieces for a through-back Thursday.

A few major influences on this latest shift are following some awesome artists on insta:

@melaniefarris.art

@abstract_zach

@symmetry.in.stars

2021 Goals

[462] Run 1440 miles
[71] Work out 180
[159] Eat healthy 324
[7] Upload 72 vids
[125] 360 hrs art
[184.5] 360 hrs music
[610] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[2] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Glad to see you still trucking brother.

My Grandmother Marge died. Sort of had a hard time after. On thirty days of sobriety now and ready to actually try at poker again for the first time since 2014. I want to win The World Series of Poker this year for her or one of the big tournaments. I'll be in your town for sixty days soon. Lets catch up. I got as big as 240, down to 220 right now, and am 100% interested in doing some hiking and/or boating at Red Rocks/Lake Mead. Might even have two lady friends with me who are getting sober as well.

What level/game you grinding at brother?

Will be buying a piece of your art soon as well.

I've now finished a few short stories and am almost done with my first 300+ page book. I did thirty days in rehab and edited up twenty short stories. I apologize for all those times I wondered why you didn't drink. After twenty years that bug finally bit me.

Resorts world is pretty nice, lots of cool aesthectics. Nice to have brand new tables, chairs and chips. Video forthcoming.

I've done a lot of reflecting about the situation in Afghanistan. It's heartbreaking to see the turmoil. But we were there 10 years too long and I just hope there can be peace and stability in the region. Hope all our troops and allies can withdrawal safely.

I've decided to dip my toes back in the stock market since March and learning about investing and stock analysis. It's fascinating and there are countless parallels to poker. I haven't had any money in the stock market since buying a few mutual funds back in 07-08, I just remember seeing the balance drop every month and eventually gave up and moved it to a savings account which was like 3% APY at the time.

Keeping unused poker capital in cash seems to have been extremely foolish. US stocks have done exceptionally well over the last decade. It's also been a crazy year and a half after stocks dropping 35% then doubling or more. Obviously the harder the party the worse the hangover, low interest rates and lots of stimulus aren't sustainable forever. I wouldn't be surprised to see the stock market take a 20% to 50% haircut in the next year or 2. But long term I think the stock market should do well barring a global catastrophe.

I've got automatic payments set up to dollar cost average into VTI and QQQ in equal weight every two weeks. My target allocation is 90% US based companies and 10% internationally based companies. The core of my portfolio is indexed ETFs

QQQ 25%
VTI 25%
VEA 3%
VWO 3%

Then I've got some individual picks all between .4% and 2% fractional shares. My picks are mostly based on trends I'm predicting for the next 5 or 10 years and also what seems to have high demand right now. Ecommerce, social media, 5g, video streaming, cloud computing, home building, auto sales, healthcare, fintech, semiconductors, steel, logistics, base metals and gold miners.



Also got about 3% in Crypto BTC, ETH, DOGE and MANA. Still pretty skeptical of the space in general, very ponzi/pyramind scheme vibes and the wild west days of pre-regulation might be coming to an end very soon. But I figure I should have some exposure, probably the most likely to go to zero but who knows.

Any thoughts on my current investment strategy?

Red Rock 100k



Here is a throwback of a geometric style art piece from 10 years ago



Sorry to hear about your GM. Good to hear you're still writing dude. Congrats on the sobriety, we all know it ain't easy. Stay strong, keep it up!

I'm still grinding low stakes online and live. Bigger proportion online lately.

Definitely hmu for some hiking when you make it to town.

2021 Goals

[524] Run 1440 miles
[92] Work out 180
[218] Eat healthy 324
[9] Upload 72 vids
[140] 360 hrs art
[236] 360 hrs music
[753] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[2] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Hey man - great coverage of your 100k. Looked absolutely brutal in the desert scape. You should defintietly be proud of your effort as that is something that very few even have the heart to think about attempting.

In it to win it with Steve Barton is a good podcast to listen to if looking into stocks and just investing in general. He's a poker player on the side and very avid investor (formerly known as the heads up poker podcast) and he draws a lot of the same similarities you saw with stocks and poker.

Sent from my LM-V409N using Tapatalk

That 100k looked awesome! Youre really out there. Buy Chainlink dont buy doge. DCA is the way to go

I bought a new lucky coin from the Perth mint. Hoping it will help me hop up the stakes!

Here is a peek around Resorts World, very nice property. Hopefully they can anchor and encourage further development on the north strip.

Resorts World Las Vegas Walk Through



Here is one of my paintings



Thanks, the sun was relentless for sure. Humbling experience, but I gleaned valuable lessons for my next attempt.

Thanks for the tip I'll check it out. Hope you are doing well in FL.

Thanks dude. I bought a little chainlink, cardano, solana. I really have a hard time comprehending the nuances of the crypto/ NFT space. I figure for now I'll just buy a bit of all the biggest market cap coins and let natural selection do it's thing.

2021 Goals

[564] Run 1440 miles
[100] Work out 180
[248] Eat healthy 324
[10] Upload 72 vids
[170.5] 360 hrs art
[299] 360 hrs music
[799] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[2] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Missed your last update, what a challenge, 100k?! Huge props for the attempt and you'll crush it next year. I just moved in with a runner and he said 100k is insane, not even considering in the desert during summer! You're a beast Carl, keep pushing

Black Dahlia Murder



Van Gogh Exhibit



Area 15



WSOP begins today, looking to ramp up the hours and get that volume in.

Went to House of Blues and saw Black Dahlia Murder with After the Burial, Carnifex and Rivers of Nihil. Great show, got in the pit for a few songs and lots of head banging.

Also went to check out the Van Gogh exhibit at Area 15. Many of his paintings are digitalized, brought to life and projected on the walls. Pretty cool place, and there are lots of other exhibits inside so I'll have to come back and check em out.

Fremont Street Concert



Here is one of my paintings



Thanks dude, you gotta be a little crazy to get into ultra running, but it is satisfying to conquer milestones and push limits. Good counterweight to sitting on my ass grinding poker.

2021 Goals

[614] Run 1440 miles
[107] Work out 180
[268] Eat healthy 324
[12] Upload 72 vids
[177.5] 360 hrs art
[323.5] 360 hrs music
[865] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[0] Make 6 friends
[3] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Something about a Van Gogh exhibit in Vegas makes me smile. Being immersed in his paintings would be a decent experience, I expect.

I've been playing mostly at Rio since it is supposedly the last year WSOP will be here, soaking in the nostalgia. My target for WSOP is just to avg 6 hrs a day.

Been ramping up my mileage again, feeling strong, weather is fairly mild.

Got to see August Burns Red at Brooklyn Bowl, glad that bands are back on tour after the hiatus.

Also went to Ren Fair at Sunset Park. There was all kinds of cool stuff there.

Van Gogh Tribute



Here is one of my paintings



And to think, Van Gogh could have no clue his work would be this celebrated a century later.

2021 Goals

[680] Run 1440 miles
[118] Work out 180
[288] Eat healthy 324
[12] Upload 72 vids
[192] 360 hrs art
[350.5] 360 hrs music
[963] 1440 hrs poker
[1] Date 6 girls
[1] Make 6 friends
[4] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

Cliff Shadows



Suicide Silence



Cornerstone Park



Wink World



Been grinding trying to get that volume in online and live. Eeking out the last couple weeks of WSOP fall edition.

Tried a new trail called cliff shadows in the northwest side of town near lone mountain. Nice rollercoaster vert, saw lots of mountain bikers.
Ran a few laps at Cornerstone Park, great loop with a couple medium hills. Got swarmed by a massive flock of mosquitoes at dusk! Legs are feeling strong, ran a couple half marathon+ training runs dialing in my nutrition intake with gels every 4 miles.

Went back to Area 15 for another art exhibit, Wink World. It's a trippy one by the dude who created Blue Man Group. Pretty cool stuff, took a vid.

Got to see another show at House of Blues on Halloween, Suicide Silence and Jinjer.

August Burns Red and The Black Dahlia Murder



Here is one of my paintings



2021 Goals

[764.5] Run 1440 miles
[133] Work out 180
[308] Eat healthy 324
[13] Upload 72 vids
[193] 360 hrs art
[394.5] 360 hrs music
[1049.5] 1440 hrs poker
[2] Date 6 girls
[1] Make 6 friends
[5] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

for trail running, try parking at the end of lake mead road(west side of town) and skirting the construction on the right side to access the cloud9 etc trails. Rugged single track w/some vertical gain thru the desert and great view down on the city. trailforks app has a bunch of good running trails. How have the 5/T+ NL and PLO looked this series? I've barely put in any volume.

go meet some girls brother! But in all seriousness, the work you've put in towards your goals this year is impressive and commendable.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to explore that area more when I get the chance. I don't have a car right now so most of my miles are on surface streets out of convenience. It's a treat when I do make it out to the trails.

Can't give ya a scouting report, 5/10 NL is a little above my pay grade and as for the "great game" I can't even count to 4.

Just broke up with the girl I was dating for 4 months beginning of Oct, so back out there in the mix. Met up with new girl at the Suicide Silence show. Also went on another first date last Sat, dinner and high roller. Set up a few others that flaked, par for the course.

Thanks dude! Some goals are going well others need more effort, gunna try and finish the year out strong.

Lego High Roller



Main Event FT



Small Brag



Peace out Rio



The end of WSOP season is here, and the end of the Rio era. Weather mellowing out a bit but not too cold yet.

I'm going to try to get back into artist mode to make some vids showcasing paintings I completed this year and put together a black Friday sale.

Safe travels to everyone heading home for Thanksgiving, I bet the airports will be hectic.

Goodbye Rio



Here is one of my paintings



2021 Goals

[792] Run 1440 miles
[141] Work out 180
[318] Eat healthy 324
[14] Upload 72 vids
[193] 360 hrs art
[423.5] 360 hrs music
[1084] 1440 hrs poker
[3] Date 6 girls
[1] Make 6 friends
[5] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places

how did it go for you?

nice, would be happy to take one off your hands whenever

this one looks cool

selling online?

2021 Holiday Sale





The most streamlined way to browse my art is instagram.

Instagram: instagram.com/unconventional_art

My art website: unconventionalpaintings.com

My shop: etsy.com/shop/UnconventionalPaint


Pretty meh WSOP for me personally but really cool to see some 2+2ers crush it this year. Tried to put in decent volume but came up short on my target of 6 hrs a day. Played mostly B game, had a hard time getting fired up to play. Didn't socialize as much as previous years.

Valley of Fire



Downtown



The Strip



Went for a hike in Valley of Fire with my buddy Cleo on Thanksgiving. It was the most crowded I've seen it there. Got an early start and came in the east entrance, glad we did because as we were leaving out the west entrance around 1pm there was line of cars a half mile long waiting to get in! We hiked the white domes loop and checked out the petroglyphs at Atlatl Rock. Always a cool place to check out within an hour drive of the Strip.

I printed and sent out a few orders of art prints, super happy to release my art into the world. My art is the closest thing I have to offspring, always brings me joy to know others will be able to enjoy the products of my imagination and creation. I am running the 50% off sale through Dec 23rd, still a short window for delivery before Christmas.

Stoked on a few new albums that dropped in November. Persona Non Grata by Exodus and Worship by Hypocrisy. Brings back memories of back in the day. I remember seeing Exodus at Jesters Pub when I was stationed in Ft Bragg, NC. They were touring on The Atrocity Exhibition Exhibit A which is packed with killer riffs and their new record as very reminiscent. Lead singer Zetro expands his repertoire with some lower range to compliment his patented shrieks. Mad props to drummer Tom who just beat cancer and delivers a crushing performance. They are scheduled to come through town touring with two of their late 80s Bay Area thrash metal peers Testament and Death Angel, won’t miss that!

I remember catching Hypocrisy at a huge show at The Pound in San Francisco with bands like Anthrax and Nile. I must have been about 16 and I had the stamina to go in the pit for every band all afternoon. Their new album is great, very polished production and bearing the unmistakable hallmarks of their signature sound. They are one of the reasons I want to visit Sweden, hotbed of metal that has spawned so many great bands.

Flower of Life Feature



Here is one of my paintings



2021 Goals

[811.5] Run 1440 miles
[146] Work out 180
[328] Eat healthy 324
[16] Upload 72 vids
[199] 360 hrs art
[442] 360 hrs music
[1099] 1440 hrs poker
[3] Date 6 girls
[1] Make 6 friends
[5] Volunteer 12 days
[1] Travel 6 new places