Life, Poker, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

2011-01-23T09:09:00.001-08:00

Let's try this again! I figure that everyone has stopped reading, so it's like a new blog. :)

My life is not as exciting as it used to be. I do a lot of different things that I never used to, and choose to keep a much lower profile. I'm no great writer, so don't expect that here either. I just need an outlet to put out some of my ideas, pet peeves and silliness.

I'm headed out soon to take my young cousins to lunch. One is 19 and is willing to try whatever random foods we put in front of her. She now likes sushi, oysters, and pho. The other is 15 and won't eat anything besides pizza, salad, and anything with a ton of sugar. It makes it tough because I love exotic foods and the area they live in has some of my favorite ethnic restaurants. If I invite one, I have to invite the other. If not, tantrums ensure. Why though? I know the 15 year old won't eat the stuff, but she has a fit if she's not asked. Usually she just turns down the invite, but when she does accept, she has a poor attitude in the restaurant. Who knows... I'm so happy I'm not 15 anymore!

Here come the holidays!

2009-12-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

Only two more weeks of work, then I'm off until after the new year. I really need a vacation!

I've always loved Christmas... the way people seem to become more polite, smile more, and tend to be nicer to their fellow man. Time to spoil friends and loved ones with those gifts that they always think about but never seem to get around to getting for themselves. I've found some great stuff for my parents, my one sister, and a few of the nieces and nephews. I still have more shopping to do, but I have ideas about the right gifts.

It also means that Brian and I get to shop for one another. I had a few ideas for him in mind - new Nike ACG hiking boots (his Timberland ones lasted a year, but he wants to go back to Nike), new video games, and a few ideas I'm going to save in case I need to get a gift later. He had his own ideas for things for me. Instead, we decided to get a new TV. It's not something that we HAVE to have, but it falls under one of those gifts that you wouldn't normally get yourself. We're getting it for each other, so it follows the rules. :)

We've been looking at a 52" TV - either a Sony XBR-9 or one of the Samsung 240 Hz TVs. It's hard to decide which one to get. The Samsung ones have been touted as the best mid-range TVs, but their prices aren't too far off of some of the new Sony models. Anyone have some opinions to share on these?

My Bodog poker account is the reason we can get a new TV. Over the last year and a half, I've taken $20 to $1K. It's a slow process - win some nights, lose others. I'm proud of what I've done, and it will pay for about half of the TV. I'm not going to wipe out my account complately for this. :)

I still have a few bucks on Full Tilt too. Which low-limit games are the softest? Where can I get the best ROI for my money?

Maybe I can win some $5 twenty thousand player tourney and win the other half of the money.
One can always dream!

It's time for poker!

2009-12-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, starting at 4 PM EST and running for the next 48 hours, is Full Tilt's Sit-n-Go Madness! If I happen to feel a little sick tomorrow afternoon (*cough* *cough*), I'll be starting right at 4!

Watching the game, drinking a pepsi

2009-10-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

Blogging has been an spotty part of my life for the last year. I think about writing, but I have a boring life. I'm not quite sure who wants to read about work tilt, and the amount of poker I play is negligible most weeks. I'm not the whiny type, and I don't want to come off as being that here.

I figured that tonight is a great night to blog. Just got home from errands after work. I'd stopped home, grabbed the dogs, and headed out along with Brian to do a little shopping. Picked up dog food, the makings of pastrami specials for tomorrow's lunch, and a few white rodents for the wayward snake that's still living in my house. The dogs had a great time people-watching (a favorite of mine too), and their great night continued with a couple of bully sticks to munch on while I made dinner. I love those dinners where you pop a steamer bag into the microwave and park your butt on the couch to wait 10 minutes. It's good for quick nights when the hassle of cleaning up far outweighs the need for finer dining.

I made the mistake of turning on the Phillies game. The first two quick outs were nice to watch. The home run that came next sucked. I love watching the Phillies, but I hate feeling like a jinx. I'll check back in a little bit.

Now it's Beetlejuice. I realized how old I was getting because of this movie. I'd mentioned it to Brian's 17 year old cousin. She'd never seen it or even heard of it before. It was older than she was! Of course, they cut out all the good parts on TV, and nobody likes commercials. Still a good movie though.

The peace will only last for another 10 minutes. Dinner has been eaten. The dogs are still quietly gnawing. While I still can, I need to get some water treated for the fishtank and get their habitat properly cleaned. The laundry needs to go into the dryer and the dry clothes need to get put away. The dogs will need to go out and get fed in about an hour. The kitty will be begging for attention if I sit too long.

Time goes by way too quickly. If I don't jump up and get moving now, time will pass me by. Not just tonight, but every night, every week, every month. I don't want to let too much pass. It's too precious to lose.

It's been so long...

2009-03-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

since I've written on a regular basis. Feels like coming home, but now it's to a different house. Time has changed many things in my life. For better, for worse... just one of the changes in my life. I'm no longer married to Everybody's Wingman. Probably the biggest change in my life. We're still friends, or at least as far as I know. We lost touch with each other somewhere in the middle. We both decided that we wanted different things out of life. I wish him the best... and I still worry about him. I think he'll find what he's looking for one of these days. I hope it's soon.

Work is busy. I seem to have lost touch with my inner party girl. I've spent more time working on the latest software release than being out at the bar. The winter always finds me hiding out, and this year seems worse than usual. I can't wait for spring to arrive! I have so many things planned! Most involve the dog and the outdoors. I have several friends who love to go fishing, and I have the 4-wheel drive vehicle to go in. I've even had to promise to take my little brother fishing this summer. He's dying to go.

I've found more than just great friends while fishing. I found a really great friend who has turned into more. While I was trying to figure out what was going to happen with my life, he was going through a problem situation with his fiancee. We started out as confidantes who could understand what each other was going through. Now, we're pretty much inseparable. He loves to play poker (sometimes a little too much!), has a warped sense of humor (in a good way!), and is an all-around great guy. Maybe its because of what I just got out of, but I like the fact that he rarely drinks and usually dislikes being in bars. He does like hanging out with my random friends in the dive bars I prefer though.

Now, I'm focusing on the positives in my life and building on those. Did I lose the weight last year? No. I focused on quitting smoking instead. I needed that more. I quit August 23, 2008. My lungs feel so much better! My weight is the next goal. I started working on that again this month. Only a couple of pounds, but it's a start. Nothing happens overnight.

I'm also going to spend some spare time working on repairs and upgrades to the house. Mostly little things like fixing the window sill the dog chewed, but I would love to have hardwood floors put in on the first floor. I have friends who can do the work, so with a little bartering for food and booze, I might get away semi-cheaply.

I'd love to say that I could just pay for it all with poker winnings. I'm not in that position yet. I did turn $20 into $600 on Bodog, but it took me a while. Even now, I still have setbacks. I take it one day at a time. That's my LCD TV fund. I still have about another $1200 to go.

I have a lot of positives in my life. I plan on making the most of those. I'm still young. I'm smart. I'm funny. And I can probably still drink some of the other poker bloggers under the table. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to see some of you guys soon to try it!

I love you guys! :)

Evie

I'm baaaaack! :)

2009-02-08T11:27:00.001-08:00

Something new soon, I promise!

Trying to get back on that horse...

2007-05-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

Then again, all I have is a dog. :)

I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures Al has posted of my little Zeke. If I can't have a kid, I figured the next best thing was a dog. The bonus is that you can crate-train dogs... try that with a 3 year old, and you're going to jail. See, it all works out for the best anyways.

After a rocky start, the little mutt has become my pride and joy. I think I've bored everyone to death with the pics on my treo. So I downloaded them and got them ready for posting. I can bore more people that way. LOL! An undescribable amount of thanks goes out to Gracie for pointing me in the direction of the Superpuppy books. I've still got lots of work to do with him, but without the dominance training and a few other little tips, I think I'd be completely pulling my hair out now. I'll never be able to say thank you enough... but I'm sure my cat is cursing the both of us as we speak. He's still not too happy with the addition to the family. Does the book come in a cat version to show Meph how to teach the dog to leave him alone?

Zeke is not a big fan of poker. How do I know this? The amount of time that I have to spend away from the game while keeping him from getting in trouble while he doesn't have 100% of my attention gives me that impression. Live games or online. While playing HORSE on Sunday, I missed at least 10 minutes because he needed to go out. While he was "making pee", he saw his neighborhood girlfriend. Of course, he couldn't go in without wresting around in the grass with her. And it's really hard to explain that I can't let my dog have fun because I'm having to post an ante every hand and I don't want to lose much of my chipstack. (Maybe I just need new neighbors, but...) Luckily, it was an early level and I wasn't hurt too badly. After much time and much luck, I was able to kick Al's butt. :) It's the first "blogger tournament" I've ever won. Of course, with only 17 people (one of which was just donating), I had a much better chance.

Most weekends get spent with Zeke, lately at the beach. He loves the sand, hates the car ride. Not just that he "doesn't like it", but he vomits. A lot. I was given a little advice on how to deal with his little ailment though. Bonine. Motion sickness/anti-vomiting pills. It also helps to give him a pig's ear to gnaw to distract him until his body gets used to the ride. He's getting much better with short rides though. It used to be that he couldn't make it more than a few blocks before making a mess of the blanket on the back seat. Now, I take him to the dog park, the pet store, and McDonalds on a regular basis.

The dog likes food from the golden arches. My Mom's dog can recognize them no matter where they're driving to and goes nuts. Zeke isn't like that, but he knows the paper bags and waits for his double hamburger plain. I've learned that he doesn't eat ice cream though. Or dog biscuits. Or a whole lot of stuff most dogs would die for. He likes his dried chicken (best dog treat ever!), and I get him random assorted leftover cured livestock parts for him to gnaw on. And I do mean random. Who ever thought you could get whole cow hooves and noses at the pet store? He likes pig ears and cow tails too... not the caramel kind... but I've shied away from the lamb ears and some of the other stuff I couldn't identify. I guess I just feel bad for the fluffly little sheep. Kind of silly since my favorite ones are served medium-rare with a horseradish sauce. I think I have issues.

Well, it's almost 10 PM, and the dog and I have to get to bed. He has his pillow, I have mine. Spoiled brat. He deserves it though. Zeke the wonder puppy is definitely a plus in my life. I still haven't made it around to a lot of other stuff I wanted to do, but his company makes up for a whole lot. The rest will fall into place. It always does...

Coming home... to a different address

2007-03-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't been here for a very long time. Since the middle of November, in fact. New blogger software. All kinds of changes. Like the rest of my life.

What I found really funny were the last few comments left on my long lost post by some random nitwits. One was spewing off whatever stream of consciousness rant they decided to rip off from someone who might have been an amazingly creative and intelligent person... but the bitterness and self-righteousness end up making them sounding like a blathering idiot. (Does that make me sound bitter and self-righteous? LOL)

While I was scrolling down, one of the last lines at the bottom caught my eye.

"This is typical of the positioning of the gods. It's crucial that you begin to think correctly."

I didn't bother wasting my time with the rest of it, but that one line was amazingly relavant to me. It's crucial that you begin to think correctly. I'd realized that my vision had been a bit blurred. Much of it was my own doing.

I'd allowed myself to become stuck. I was stuck in a job that had nothing going for it other than a continuing paycheck. I was stuck in a drinking and partying rut that had left me bloated and unattractive. I was stuck in an emotional state that was dragging me down (and most of you know what a happy-go-lucky and smiley person I usually am).

I'm making changes. My job was the first. I'm a full time, permanent employee at my company. I work with a great group of guys. And I'm not using the figurative mode of the word - I'm the only woman in my department, but I'm treated as one of the guys. I get the same respect and abuse as anyone else. I feel like I fit in. Completely.

I've stopped the constant partying. I drink much less than I used to. I'm getting back to doing things I like but didn't have time for when I was out in the bar all the time. I think I'm going this weekend to buy a new fishing pole. Yup, a fishing pole. (There's a sale - yay!) I went a few times at the end of last summer and I remembered how much I used to enjoy it. I have several friends that love to go sit on the beach and enjoy the day while waiting for "the big one" to bite. I love being outside, enjoying the sun. I haven't done that much lately.

I'd gotten out of playing poker because my mind and my mood didn't allow me to play well. I wasn't focused, especially after a few beers or the effects of too many the night before. I'm playing really good poker now. Over the last two or three months, I've dominated the home games I've played in. Both guys from work and friends. One of my co-workers covered my nameplate with a post-it with "Annie Duke" written on it. My next test will be to hit AC and test the waters there. See if I'm really back on track or if I'm just in a lucky streak.

I'm still working on some of my other problems. I'll be going back to THE DIET soon. That will pretty much kill any of my remaining drinking. I need to begin feeling good about myself again. About how I look. About how I think other people perceive me. About what I've accomplished in life and where I'm going. This is going to be my focus for a while. I need to become me again, because I think I lost a lot of that along the way.

It's like moving to a new house. You bring a lot of your old stuff with you, but you're not going to want to bring that torn-up old chair or your collection of one-socks that you can't find the mates for. Not everything gets thrown out, but you need to find what's going to work best for you and go with it. Moving is good... it gets you to clean out the basement. And anyone who's ever been in the basement of my house knows that I just drug everything along. I think it's time to sort through what I have and put things in order.

Now that things are settling in...

2006-11-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Hopefully I'll be back to my normal lackadaisical, blogging self soon. :)

My change in job is turning out to be a very good thing. My manager Bob is a great guy, and he'll be transitioning over everything in the lab to me - including all networking, infrastructure, and hardware. The experience alone will make me worth a ton more money in the job market. I still have a few things that I'm going to need to work on (like getting my boss to work out a deal with me so I'll have a little more time off), but the opportunities at this place are phenomenal. I just finished 3 weeks. I really like the guys I work with, and they've accepted me as part of their team. My comeback skills are sharpening by the day... the abuse that I give and receive has me smiling at work like I haven't been able to for a long time. They've even invited me to be part of their home game every month. You know you're accepted when...

I've also been able to fit in a little more online poker. I'm usually a Full Tilt player. I have been since the beginning. I've built up my bankroll, but it's been slow. It seems that every time I make a substantial gain, I lose the bulk of it over the next few sessions. Anyone that's ever played with me knows that I'm a tight player. (Unless I've been drinking, then all bets are off.) The variance on those tables has always frustrated me though. Maybe it's just the levels I play.

On the advice of a friend, I decided to pull some of my bankroll out of FTP and play on Bodog for a little bit. Just give it a shot. Today was my first day. So far, I'm really liking it! The GUI took some time for me to get used to, and they're missing a few of the features I like (you can't search for your friends). It's only been minor stuff so far. The players are just as loose - they love to call when you have the best hand. I was called all the way to the river when I raised with pocket Ks and caught a set on a K-high flop. The major difference seems to be the cards. Yes, there's still suckouts when someone calls with something they shouldn't and chases to the river. It just doesn't seem to have as many suck/resuck hands. To me, the action seems to be more like live poker. I'm playing a higher limit than I ever have on Full Tilt, and I'm doing well.

I'm sure my suckouts will come, but until that day, I'm going to enjoy the calling stations and what they add to my bankroll.

HELLO.... Hello.... hello....

2006-11-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

Ok...

So, I've started at least half a dozen posts over the last 5+ weeks. I never finished any of them. Even this one was started a couple of days ago. I'm just getting around to finishing it up and posting it now.

I'm still alive. Busy, but alive. A few people have had contact with me since the Bash. I think that more than a few people thought I might keel over that weekend... especially those who caught my cold. Sorry guys and gals. I never thought that the beer pong cups wouldn't be changed after each round. I guess the alcohol can't kill all those germs.

Quick update on things.

1 - I have a new job

Started Monday. Smaller company - about 500 people instead of hundreds of thousands. I'm now working with Solaris and linux instead of HP-UX and AIX. It's Unix, which makes it easier. It's UFS/Solaris 8, which makes it harder. I won't geek out on anyone, but if you have experience with Solaris, you know what I mean about their volume management. Best thing - NO MORE ONCALL! (like the night of the Bash...) I always said that I love challenges...

2 - I'm in more leagues

It used to be just pool on Monday nights. Add shuffleboard on Sundays and another pool league on Tuesdays, and this girl gets busy at the beginning of the week. I like the people on my shuffleboard team, even if one of them is a little overbearing. My Tuesday night partner for pool needs some serious mental help, but he's a good guy. I've been warned not to ask him about the time he was abducted by aliens, raped by Bigfoot (who's female... who would've thunk it?) or his job at NASA. Yeah, he's a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Same pool team on Mondays as last session. I still need lots of practice.

3 - Dealing with family stuff

My sister's having problems with her boyfriend. I'm just playing the role of the supportive big sister. I will always support her in whatever decisions she makes. I want to see her happy though. I wish I could do more, but she has to make her own choices.

4 - Poker, poker and more poker

My addiction comes and goes. Some days, I don't even want to look at it. Lately, I've been stuck on it non-stop. I was doing well for the most part. Some days up, some days down... but staying about the same. I made the mistake of coming home late after a few beers and trying to play a higher level with a friend. Ugh. Big hit on the bankroll. Not unrecoverable, but it hurts to see it go like that. Even though you know you shouldn't be playing as you click on the RAISE button...

5 - Puppies!

It looks like I might be getting a dog. I haven't decided 100% yet. My Mom's dog is pregnant... or at least we think she is. Mom's got a Jug (half Pug, half Jack Russell terrier). Her dog is adorable, but she's high-strung and has the separation anxiety that is a trait of the Jack Russell breed. My brother has a little black male miniature poodle. The two of them loved to play together as puppies. It seems that they somehow figured out new games to play along the way. I'd love a dog, but I don't know if they'll have the separation anxiety problem. I'd have a rough time dealing with that. Plus, I'm sure my cat Mephistopheles would love to have a little bouncing ball of fur chasing him around all the time.

6 - Pregnant friend

My friend Danielle is pregnant. Due in January. I'm so excited! She found out that she's having a boy. I've already bought her a whole bunch of stuff. I'm gonna be a good aunt. LOL I'm trying to be there for her, too. Pregnant women are so hormonal though. Wow... I'm bad enough as it is. Maybe I shouldn't breed. I'd hate to end up in jail for killing someone who said the wrong thing to me.

Ok... this is all I have time for. I have another 2 linux servers that I have to build now, and I have to find install instructions from somewhere. Although I'd love to fudge it, I have to install it from the customer instructions so that the testing gives an accurate picture of what we can expect when we roll the software out.

I'm not ready to give up on this blog yet. It's severely neglected, but I'm going to make a serious effort to post more often. Don't write me off yet... if you haven't already. :)

Before the Bash and other topics...

2006-09-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hello hello dear friends! Welcome back to my little space... I haven't forgotten about it, but I just can't make it back often enough to clear out all the cobwebs. They seem to haven taken over the corners and are now trying to take over the center of my brain. And dammit, I hate spiders.

I've been avoiding the internet and all things computer outside of work lately. I had been playing some online poker, but after getting my ass handed to me on some brutal hands and going on some serious tilt, I stepped back and stepped away from the keyboard. It was a good move. I needed the time away. I'm still only coming back in small steps...

I've taught a few friends to play Razz. I love Razz. I thank Felicia for introducing me to the game and giving me some great pointers to get me started. Such a simple game to learn, but a really tough game to master. And I love introducing new people to it. Teaching someone else makes me feel like I have something to give back to people, instead of always taking from others. I don't think I'm any good, but it's a start!

My Mom came to visit as a combination birthday celebration - both hers and mine. She just turned 60 on Sept. 9th, and I had my birthday on the 14th. (It wasn't a milestone birthday, so you don't get to know how old I am. LOL) My friends took me out for dinners the few nights before my birthday, but the weekend was all about making sure Mom had a good time. Although I had to work on my birthday, I made sure to take her to dinner that night, Atlantic City the next day, and on a fishing boat on Saturday.

Yes, you read right. A fishing boat. Mom loves to fish. She's where I get my lack of respect for propriety when it comes to girl/boy-type activities. Fishing is not just something for guys... and Mom proved it. Although she had a slow start and didn't catch anything for the first few hours, she came back with a vengeance and caught 9 huge bluefish. More than anyone else in our group that went, and probably more than anyone else on the boat. We brought home about 80 lbs of fish. And don't bother listening to Al - if food isn't bacon-flavored, he won't eat it half the time. We finished cleaning the fillets that night and threw a test batch on the grill. It tasted great! (Yes, I made Al try it. He didn't make faces... and he'll probably say he lied to me when he said it was good.)

Mom also ended up being the catalyst for me getting in touch with an old friend from high school. Long story short, she had me searching for someone's profile on myspace from my hometown - who was causing a scandal by starting a soft porn website with her husband. (For growing up in a small town, we sure had some fun!) I found the profile for one of the guys that I went to school with from grade school up. I was never a popular kid, but he was always nice to me. Even though I haven't spoken to him in about 15 years, I sent him a quick email to say hi. He sent back a note saying hi and all the normal niceties. I don't know if we'll end up keeping in touch, but it felt good to reconnect with someone from my past. I've had a lot of stress and change going on in my life recently, and it felt like a grounding force. By looking at myself in the same way he would see me, it made me realize just how far I've come in my life and will help me figure out where I'm headed. Then again, he's got a far more exciting life than I do... I think I'm just jealous. :)

So, it's just a few days before the Bash. So much to do, so little time. I'm gonna get to see so many friends that I haven't seen since the last Vegas trip. It always seems like forever in between visits. It's awesome to see so many people come together to get shitfaced for a good cause. I'm so horrible with linking stuff up, or I'd put in all kinds of great links to the charities and the cool people showing up. I guess you'll just have to trust me - or go to Al's website. See the links on the right... I'm even too lazy to link him up. LOL

Here's to using your powers for good instead of evil! And I'll see many of you in just a few days!

Time to catch up

2006-09-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've started over a half of a dozen posts over the last few weeks. I'd just get into it and something would come up. Work, friends, random stuff... Now it's Friday afternoon before Labor Day weekend. Most of the sane world has today off. Not me... but that would have to mean I was sane or something. LOL

I'm sitting in my office, finishing up last minute adjustments to a brand-new server I built last week. That was a major drain on my time. We had an extremely short timeframe from the point of when the customer signed contract to when we had to deliver a completed server. Anyone who works in a large corporation can attest to how long it takes to get ANYTHING through purchasing. Then, try spending $150K at the end of the fiscal year. Yeah, good luck. It's done though. All that's left to do is yell at Development for doing what I told them not to do (they're on vacation this week) and finish updating my documentation so the next schmuck can do the job when I leave.

I haven't found a new job yet. I'm looking though. I need them to pay me what I'm worth. Or at least the minimum for my position. My immediate management keeps telling me that they're trying to do something. I don't see where there's any question or argument. I'm a level 3. I'm not making the minimum for a level 3. I don't care what the difference is between my current salary and what the minimum is. I'm doing the job, so I deserve it. Actually, I'm doing above my job. I was told by my manager that I'm really doing level 4 work, so they want to give me a promotion. They can stuff their promotion up their asses unless they want to pay me for it. I won't get into my whole reasoning behind it, but if I can't make up the money during the transfer, I'll just put myself (or let them put me) into a deeper hole.

Ok. Enough venting on that. Next topic. :)

I went fishing. I love fishing! A couple of friends had their birthdays in August, on two consecutive days. As part of their birthday presents, a few of us were taking them fishing. (Actually, I really wanted to go, and I knew they'd say yes, so...) Our original day was stormy, so only one of the birthday boys were able to go on the second date. We had a blast! We call caught several fish, but I was the only one who caught a flounder large enough to keep. Chicks rule! My Mom is coming down to celebrate our joint birthdays (hers is Sept. 9th and mine is Sept. 14th), and we're going to take her fishing. I know where I get my fishing genes from... Mom!

The second part of their birthday present was enough to make up for me stealing the fishing spotlight. I cooked for the guys. Now, that doesn't seem like much for some people. The thing is, I can cook. And I can cook well. I made a kick-ass summer dinner grilled and eaten outside on a gorgeous Saturday night in August. I made the guys a dinner of ribs (boneless, fell apart when you put the fork to them), grilled fresh zucchini and peppers, grilled portabella mushrooms with roasted red peppers and fresh mozzarella (even the guy who didn't like mushrooms couldn't stop eating them), and fresh tomato/mozzarella salad. The only thing that was left of the meal was one piece of the 5 lbs. of ribs I grilled.

That was good, but it was the dessert that made the meal. I made a cheesecake. I swear, this thing must have weighed 10 lbs. and was 4 inches thick. My Mom is the queen of cheesecake (she will sell them to restaurants), and I used her recipe and my cheesecake knowledge. It sounds funny to say that, but the recipe is just the starting point. Depending on the ingredients, the weather, the moon cycle, whatever, the batter comes out differently. You need to know how to adjust it by adding in more heavy cream or other ingredients to bring it to the right consistency. It seems that my memory was good enough to make a kick-ass cheesecake. It came out a little brown on top - not burnt, but my Mom's is a perfect cream color - but tasted amazing. I don't know how anyone was able to eat it after the meal, but they did. They keep me around for a reason.

Our pool session ended too. Our team made the playoffs, but we didn't make it past the first round. The team that we played has a reputation for playing dirty and only enforcing rules when it suits their needs. During the tiebreaker match, their shooter called a foul on our guy - a foul which ONLY he saw, even though there were a ton of people watching. That gave the guy ball-in-hand, which meant our shooter lost his turn, their guy could place the cue ball anywhere on the table, and take his shot. With that advantage, he sank his last ball and the 8-ball on that turn. I've been a first-hand victim of their tactics too. The next session starts after the holiday. I need to get some serious practice in. I'm slipping...

Preparations are coming along for this year's Bash at the Boathouse. Go check out Al's website for details. It's his brainchild - and obsession. He and BigMike, along with Bobby Bracelet, are setting up all kinds of great things for two really great charities. Do what you can to help out. It's good Karma. :)

I've been playing poker online, but things haven't changed much. Some days, I get rivered unbelievably badly. Some days, I get to suck-out on people once or twice. (I do my best to always be in with the best hand, but...) I hope to start a couple of homegames with some of the bloggers coming to the Bash. I need to be on the top of my game to play against these sharks. Or at least stock up on LOTS AND LOTS of booze! I have to even the field somehow. And I know bloggers can't resist SoCo and Long Island Iced Teas. Does anyone even remember Brad-o-ween? LOL

It's almost 2 PM here. I think it's almost time to go home. Many people in my hallway already have. I haven't eaten lunch yet... worked right through it. I think I need to take a late lunch. A very long late lunch. Like, until Tuesday morning. I won't let the door hit me on the ass on the way out. It won't even have the chance.

Wednesday morning BLAHs...

2006-08-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've just spent half the night playing with a server hardware issue. It should've been an easy fix. Suspend the hardware and let the vendor replace it. I had their tech lead take a look at the server after and schedule the hardware replacement. It's still not working right after the hardware replacement, and the customer is screaming. This is only the second time I've worked on this type of hardware replacement. It should be easy, but my bad luck seems to be coming into play. The first time, I ended up corrupting a database and it had to be rebuilt completely from backups. I don't want to do something like that again. Especially since its the same customer. :)

I *WAS* having an upswing in cards recently. I'd moved up from .05/.10 NL ring games to the .10/.25 NL ones and had built up my bankroll by 50%. I was feeling quite pleased with myself... and I think that was my downfall. Not to say that I didn't get my share of bad beats (flop a set of Ks, get "bluffed" by A7s, and have them runner-runner a flush - stuff like that), but I think I tilted pretty hard. It's funny because I never thought I tilted. At least not that badly. It seems that I don't know myself as well as I thought I did. I felt calm. I seemed calm. I called raises with TPTK when someone suddenly started betting out of nowhere on the turn or river. It should've been my first clue that they caught a second pair or a straight when I had two pair, but who would play those cards, right? My first tilting mistake: not giving people enough "credit" (!?!?) for their randomness and donkey-like poker playing attitude. Took a step back. Deep breath. Try again a few days later, and came out slightly ahead. Good, good, good. Making progress. Give it a little more time... try again.

I have good news to report too. I'm officially getting better at pool. :) I'm now ranked a 3 instead of a 2 by the APA. I've won my last two or three matches in a row. I still have problems where sometimes I'll need to shoot on the same ball close to half a dozen times before I can sink it, but my defensive shots and ability to completely screw my opponent with my leave (we call that "johnson pool"... it's all about being a dick LOL) keep me ahead of the other person. And if I get behind? I actually play better, believe it or not. I think the extra adrenaline that leaks into my veins when I've got more balls to sink (or when I'm "short-stacked", whichever the game might be) helps me to focus and play better. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. They keep playing me against other women in my matches though. I always thought it was because there were quite a few of us that all started this session and are still ranked as 2s. No excuse now. I'm a 3, and there are plenty of 3s that are male. My low-cut tops that display cleavage are definitely gonna be coming out of the closet! Any legal advantage that can be taken should and will be...

It's all how you play the game. Tilt your opponent before they tilt you. In any game. :)

And now for my next trick....

2006-08-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hey Bullwinkle - watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat! Well, no rabbit, just a post.... but some days, that does seem like magic.

Welcome back to my little corner of the universe! It has been an extremely busy time since we got back from Vegas, but I'm sure it would bore most people... it's interesting to me since I had to live through it. Quick highlights to explain....

- My Mom came to visit the day after we got home. This is a great thing, actually. I love my Mom and never get to see her enough. Plus, she makes me cheesecake. :) She stayed for 3 weeks... and while she has succeeded in making my house a little more girly and looking a little more lived in (I HAVE CURTAINS NOW!), I spend most of my time wth her when she's here.

- The Atlantic City Expressway sucks. I became a gaper delay on the weekend after we got back. My truck got rear-ended twice... since I was the first car of a 3-car pileup. I must say that I was very impressed with NJ's accident response - start to finish, including the switch over to the other side of the road for paperwork, we only lost 20 minutes of our trip. Truck is in the shop now. I'm driving a Ford Focus. Now, if I'd wanted to drive a Focus, I would've bought one. Definitely not for me. And the shop is now saying I won't get my car back until tomorrow or Saturday... even though the original estimate was 3 days and I dropped it off Monday. I'm not happy with them right now.

- I've won my last two pool matches. My pool skills have been kicking butt lately... and its surprising since I haven't been playing as much. Maybe I was focused in too much and couldn't see enough of the big picture. I can't say as much for shuffleboard... we're not gonna make it into the playoffs this session. I guess you can't be a winner at *everything*, no matter how hard you try. I guess I could just blame my partners... LOL

- Speaking of focusing, I've been playing poker again lately. It comes and goes in waves for me. I'm riding the crest of a killer wave right now. I'm still playing low limits since its all my bankroll will support. After losing everything on Full Tilt earlier this year, I decided I wasn't going to deposit anymore. I'd just wait until my advertising credit hit my account and play from there. Over the last 3 or 4 months, I've taken those credits and doubled the amount. My play has been pretty solid, and I'm doing my best not to play while I'm tired for my mind is elsewhere and I can't concentrate.

- Allergies suck. Need 18 hours of sleep when they hit this bad. Can't seem to get more than 7 lately. ...even when I do, I feel like crap. Ugh.

- Work is busy... lots of stuff to do. Haven't heard about a live interview for the other job I was looking at. Very disappointing. Gotta call them today to see what's up. Turns out my friend will probably no longer be working there soon. Who knows... maybe it's for the best. Maybe he can get me in where he's gonna be working. I like to work with cool people...

- Fish is still alive. Officemate didn't kill him. This is a good thing. I spend half my time at work zoning out, staring at said fish. This is a bad thing. ...but he's got such a pretty tail!

Ok... I think my mind is progressing into the deeper stages of poor mental health. Brain dump is complete, for now. Still have more to say, but there's no juice to get it out into this media. Maybe, just for fun, I'll take a picture of the keyboard imprints on my forehead from when I pass out on the keyboard. It will make for a good logo on the blog. Sending best wishes and good Karma to whoever needs it...

Vegas Baby!!

2006-07-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

I'm so far behind in my writeup. Work was hellacious when I got back, and that's always my favorite place to write. My Mom came to visit the next day, so my evenings have been full too. I need a vacation! LOL

Here's my quick writeup... (I'll get links in later. If I don't get this up now, I don't know when I'm gonna have a chance again.)

Booze. I drank a whole lot of it. Stayed away from the shots this time (no more 6 AM tequila shots with Iggy. It's amazing that little body can hold that much alcohol), but the beer was enough to keep me happily buzzed. I tried to pay off my booze by playing the video poker in the bar. The first night, I think I drank enough to pay for it. The other nights, I lost money faster than I can drink. Most people can attest, I can drink pretty fast too. Learned that I can get more +EV at other forms of gambling.

Early morning breakfasts. One after a long Sherwood Forest Bar stint, another on the last night of the trip. The first was with Iggy, Derek, Spaceman, Bobby Bracelet, G-Money and Me. (I think. Booze-fuzzy memory.) Second with April and umm... ugh. Can't remember.

Sherwood Forest Bar. Our bartender Tim looked like BG in about 20 years. He wasn't the most attentive server initally, but he warmed up after a few days of binge drinking and overtipping. He'll definitely remember us for a long time to come.

Poker. I didn't play much outside of the blogger tourney. I did play the night before the tourney. 1-3 spread limit. I suck. Drank, but not enough. Only other time I played, on the last night/morning, I sat next to...

The guy who hit on me last year. When we stayed and played at the Plaza, my last night was spent at the tables to the right of this guy with way too much money for his own good. Same position again. He remembered me, and vice versa. The only reason I sat down at the table originally was that April was telling me about this table asshole that was annoying her. I wasn't gonna play... and then he started annoying me with the come-on lines. I lost my first buy-in to him when he sucked out on my pocket 5s with 98o. He didn't get anything on the board... two higher pair, and he took it with a higher kicker. Got it back and more when my A9 hit two pair. He was playing any two cards, and throwing money around like it was water. I made my money back plus a little... that was all I wanted. I got up and left happy.

Playing Pai Gow. After hearing so much about this game from other bloggers, I learned how to play from an online site (no money involved). On Sunday night, after watching Jen Leo kick butt on Pokerdome, a few of us (Garth, Gracie, and I) decided that Pai Gow was a go. Pai Gow is a drinking game. Lots of pushes, hopefully you don't lose much and come out ahead a little bit, but the +EV is in the drinking. We had more +EV than any other game I'd played during the whole trip! We were joined by other bloggers (Maigrey, Derek) and had a grand old time donking it up on the Pai Gow table. I think that it was probably my favorite time of the whole trip!

Blogger Tourney. I skipped the Roshambo tourney and just played cards. Sat between Pablo and Poker Bitch (The Mark's wife). We had a blast with the people on the table. Although I got sucked out on (Josh's friend got me good!), I played well and lasted down to the final 4 tables or so. I busted out and headed out to drink with Iggy, JoeSpeaker and Maudie. Lots of blogger bonding. We got done and headed back to Excalibur.

Slots. SUCK! When we (Me, Gracie, Pablo, Garth, Falstaff, Byron and ...ugh, can't remember who the 7th person was) got done with dinner at the Luxor, there was a bank of $1 slot machines right outside the stairway. Normally I don't play those, but they had a jackpot of $11.6 MILLION!! Of course I had to play. At one point I was up $3. Probably should've quit there. Nope, had to go for the jackpot. Came up with nothing. That's how all of my slot play went. I'm sure it won't stop me from playing...

Dinner at Luxor. More specifically dessert. I'd gotten this black forest torte-thing. I put one bite into my mouth and almost gagged. Pablo saw the grimace on my face and started smiling. Of course, I can't suffer on my own. I turn to Falstaff, who's on my left. "Here, you've gotta try this!" Of course, he grabs a big forkful and puts it in his mouth. He's trying to school his face into a semblance of normalcy while he's inwardly cringing. I say to him, "Tell me, does that taste as shitty to you as it does to me?" and burst out laughing! Pablo sees the whole thing and starts to giggle. Falstaff starts laughing - he was trying to figure out how I could like the taste of the stuff and how he was gonna lie to me about his opinion of it. Of course, I can't let it go. "Watch this... Hey Garth, you've gotta try this!" Garth fell for it too. Used the same line on him that I used on Falstaff. I almost peed myself at the table! I was laughing so hard that I was crying. The whole table was cracking up. Luckily, the room we were in was almost empty so our noise didn't bother anyone else.

I'm sure there are all kinds of things I'm forgetting, so I apologize to anyone else for anything good I've forgotten. The booze has gotten to the few remaining brain cells I have left. I'll try to remember more and post over the next few days. Feel free to remind me!

I want to say how much I enjoyed seeing everyone again and meeting all kinds of new people. I loved every minute of this trip... or at least those I can remember. :-) I can't wait to see you all again!

Pocket Aces Suck!!

2006-06-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've come out of hiding to vent! I guess it's as good a reason as any... :-)

It's 2:15 in the morning... my "nap" ended up being almost 6 hours, so I'm wide awake. In my infinite (???) wisdom, I decide to sit down and play some cards. What the hell am I thinking?? Playing cards at this time on a Friday night...

I've gotten pocket As dealt to me twice. Both times they crashed and burned. HARD. There's no limping with pocket As either. I come out firing... Got killed by 7To the first time, and 97o the second. Both times, I raise to 5x BB. These people still called. Flop comes out Q high both times. Both times, both catch MIDDLE pair with their high card. I bet the size of the pot or above both times. Not little pots considering the number of big blinds in there. And they catch their cards both times. What the hell are they thinking?

I guess I'm the sucker for playing with these people.

On other fronts, everything has been busy. Still playing pool. Won my last 2 matches, so I'm very happy. Won my last shuffleboard league game. Another good thing. All these high-energy sports... LOL I'm turning into a little old lady. Someone grab me my walker!

The rest of my time is usually spent working, looking for a job, or helping out friends. As rough as I feel some days, I have friends who are fighting some pretty tough battles. I feel good when I can help them out a little bit.

Everything is beginning to get overwhelming lately though. Maybe I need a vacation... somewhere warm. I need palm trees, dammit!

No, I did NOT fall off the face of the earth...

2006-06-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

...but I am all kinds of stressed. I'm hopefully working on a new job that will pay me a whole lot more than I'm making now. I was at a wedding celebration half of last week (which was a completely awesome time! I make the most amazing fires). I have a ton of work to catch up on. I won my first APA pool match. All kinds of stuff going on.

I'd love to say that I have a new job. Still working on it. Hoping! Keep rooting for me... if anyone is even still reading this P.O.S. :-)

The wedding rocked! Bob and Shannon threw a great celebration. I hope we sent them off to their new life of misery... I mean wedded bliss... in proper fashion. There's always stories, but I'm too tired to even try to do them justice right now. I promise I have some stories coming up...

Work sucks. What else can I say?

I love playing pool. I actually sorta look like I know what I'm doing. LOL I have my own pool stick now and all of the wonderful little toys that go along with it. Who knew how many little accessories you'd need for a pool stick? Luckily I have some great friends who are helping me along with the shooting as well as the rest of it. My own cheering section. I had my second APA match against my friend's son. Took 2 of 3 games to win the match. His son was pissed! He hates losing to women, especially when they have their hair up in pigtails and look like they haven't graduated from High School yet. Yup, I did it. I'm proud of it!

My kitty is curled up in my lap, trying to make sure that I can't even reach the keyboard to type up this mess. I think he has the right idea. Time to curl up and relax. He's a smart cat. He learned everything he knows from me.

And since I'm a little behind...

2006-06-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1301401

Sucking out is the RIGHT thing to do

2006-06-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't been playing much poker. I'll admit it. Its a love/hate relationship with me. I love playing. I hate not being able to get better and show progress. It frustrates me to no end.

The worst part of any poker player's experience is being sucked out on. Come on, we all have those bad beat stories. Even if you're Shannon Elizabeth... and your pocket As get cracked by pocket Js on the river. (Right Pauly? ) Any poker player worth anything will always try to make sure that they never put themselves in a position to be behind in a hand. By doing this, you're always the one who gets sucked out on, not the one doing the sucking out.

This is my biggest frustration. Oh sure, I know that their play will pay off for me in the long run. I want gratification sooner though. So I decided that I needed to do a little sucking out of my own...

I went down to the lowest limit SNG Full Tilt has ($1 + 0.25) to play a little hyper-aggressive poker. I didn't play complete donkey poker but I definitely put myself in more coin toss situations. (BTW, I read somewhere that donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. I believe it.)

It felt so good!! I played 4 of them yesterday. I went out 6th or 7th in two of them... and the other two I placed first! It was +EV, however minor to the bankroll. The truly +EV part of it was knowing that I was the donkey. I needed to be the one sucking out on others, not having them suck out on me. I don't have the Luckbox's skill at being able to suck out at will, but I think I did just fine. I have observed the best. heheheh

Donkey poker was my therapy this weekend. I needed it. I wanted it. I loved it!

Hands I Love

2006-05-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some hands in poker are just too good to be true. (I like those stories much better than the bad beat ones.) I took plenty of bad beats this weekend - along with some crappy playing on my part - but hands like these make the game worth playing.

In late position, I find myself holding pocket 3s. I limp, as I usually do with tiny pocket pairs. The big blind raises 2 or 3x the BB. I'm the only one who calls. The flop is perfect - an ace and the two remaining 3s in the deck. Score! Of course, my evil opponent is holding an ace. Big slick, if I remember correctly. After calling his bet on the flop, I raised on the turn (which was crap) and he called. The river brings another ace and he pushes me all in. Poor guy didn't know what hit him, and I couldn't click the button to call fast enough.

My only problem with the hand? I bought in short. Instead of doubling up the max for the table, I only doubled up about half of the max. Live, I will always buy in for the max if possible. Unfortunately, playing online has gotten me to start with half of the max. It's hands like these that make you want to kick yourself for this habit...

I've learned that short buy-ins have their advantages though. Most people will play differently against someone who is short. Players who normally wouldn't call your bets will call if they know that the max they can lose won't break them. If you're well above the max buy-in for the table, people tend to be more aggressive because many players will not call all-ins since they don't want to lose their profit. If you build up your stack to the max buy-in, many players don't realize that you've doubled your buy-in. And when someone with a comparable sized stack sucks out on you, they really aren't taking the max buy-in from you.

I know many people would disagree with that last statement, but I look at my bankroll at the beginning and end of each session. If I have doubled up my short buy-in and lose it all, I'm only losing my short buy-in. If I buy in for the max and lose it, I'm still losing a max buy-in. I try not to take each table's immediate results as the judge of how well I did that day. I use the total sum of the session as an indicator of a good day or bad day.

I've learned I still suck at poker. I haven't been able to concentrate like I should, so I've been staying away from the tables. I think it's better for my bankroll and my general outlook on poker. I know I get frustrated too easily when I have a few losing sessions in a row. I can't consistently win if I'm not focusing on my play. I'm a smart person (in general, no comments from the peanut gallery). Even I can see that I need to stay away. Now let's see how long it takes before I break down and hit the tables for a marathon session...

Bachelorette Parties and Straight Flushes

2006-05-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! I think I need a few days off to recover... The weekend was celebrated in true "CanHang" style.

A friend is getting married next month, and her bachelorette party was this weekend. A Saturday night in Atlantic City with the girls. Great idea. It consisted of 5 girls, which included the bachelorette. We tried to convince her that she doesn't need to get married. Of course, the usual argument didn't work. We told her that once she gets married, her husband would get chubby and go bald, then she'd have to live with it. Since he's already there, it didn't make much impact. Strike one for the married women.

It had to be one of the best bachelorette parties I've ever been to. All of the women besides the bachelorette were already married, so we didn't have the usual problem of finding the party member who ran off to get a little action. All 5 of us got along great - no drama, no fighting, and the bonus of nobody drinking to the point of puking. Its not like people didn't try...

Of course, I can't let everyone in on the full party happenings, but here's a couple of highlights:

- We hooked up with another friend of mine who was in AC for a bachelor party. The guys were fun to hang out with and bought us several drinks. Their bachelor also happens to be a DA in Philadelphia, so we figured we could use their help in case anyone had a run-in with the local law. Always nice to have someone associated with the law around... Just like having a fellow blogger there while in Vegas.

- We decided to take the bachelorette into what was supposedly a really cool club. I paid the $50 in cover charges to get in to find out that although it had really bumping music playing, there was no dance floor. They had tables, but for bottle service only. We had been the first ones in, so we had our choice of locations. We grabbed a prime seat and prepared to order a couple bottles of champagne when we were told that the good table we were sitting at was already reserved. They tried to get us to sit all the way in the back corner. Complete BS. Up to the bar - one round of drinks at double the price of anywhere else. We didn't stay long.

- We went to watch Phil's band Vibe Tribe play at Bally's. They made sure that everyone knew that the bachelorette was there and encouraged everyone to buy her drinks/shots. Music was great and we did a whole lot of dancing.

- The bachelorette made friends with (supposedly) a bigwig of a very very large corporation. If nothing else, he was throwing around money like he was. The bottles of Cristal champagne were a nice touch. His girlfriend was a little creepy though. At one point, he told me that he hoped she wasn't a lesbian. After watching her for a little bit, I couldn't reassure him that she wasn't.

- I had to leave the festivities at 4:30 AM. Unfortunately, I had server work to do at 5 AM. Critical last-minute stuff that was scheduled and I couldn't get out of. I had to call the 24 hour monitoring group and let them know I was going to take down a server. I couldn't tell you how bad I was slurring. While waiting for the server to reboot, I passed out at my laptop for 45 minutes. I woke up, finished the maintenance and let people know the work was done. I logged in again the next morning to make sure I'd worked on the right server. Yup, it seems that booze and work isn't a problem for me. Everyone should try it.

- I woke up after 5 hours of sleep and tried to get out of bed. I couldn't get the world to stop rocking and making me seasick. Luckily I didn't drive - Kenna did. When we started back home at 11:30 AM, she didn't seem to be having the same problems I was. I think that was because she was still drunk and the hangover hadn't started kicking in yet.

The couch was my best friend yesterday. Once I got home, that was where I spent most of my time. I grabbed my laptop and decided to play a little poker. I had a bad run initially and lost two buy-ins within the first 15 minutes. One was a suckout, the other I was outplayed (my nut flush on the river didn't hold up to the pocket pair that caught a boat on the turn). I figured I'd give it one more buy-in before I was done for the day.

I worked back my money slowly, but catching a straight flush helped. I was in early position and had one person calling me. He had a pair of aces on the flop and two pair on the turn, but I'd already made the flush with an OESD on the flop. When the 4th diamond on the river hit, it brought me the straight flush. I was praying for him to have the K of diamonds, but no such luck. When he folded, I had to show my hand. I took down a good sized pot too.

I finished up around 10 BB. Good enough. Even if I only win a little each session, its still winning. I don't know how much poker I'll get to play over the next few weeks though. My side project is heating up, and I joined a shuffleboard league on Sundays to go with my pool league. Trying to diversify my life a little. I think that stepping back has been good for my game and leaves me more focused when I actually do play. I like to win. Now I just have a few different things to win at.

9s are GOOD

2006-05-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

I've actually been playing a little poker lately. Low limits... lower than I've ever played before in my life. I'm rebuilding the bankroll. After losing everything, I decided that I'd wait until my monthly bonus from Full Tilt Poker and work up from there instead of buying in again. I've doubled that money... actually quite quickly, within a week. It's been slower going, but I'm still increasing with every session.

Since I'd stepped back and scaled back my play, I find that I'm much more focused on what I'm doing and how my play is. I'm able to catch my weak spots and bad plays more and try to correct them. I still see plenty of bad beats... bone fide ones, where your AK/2 pair on the flop goes up against pocket 2s and calls your all in on the flop, then catches a set on the river. That happens.

Low to mid pocket pairs have always been a sore spot for me. If I have a pair of 6s or less, I fold 'em on the flop to any decent sized bet if I don't hit a set. Sometimes I won't even call some raises pre-flop with these cards, depending on the bettor, size of the bet and how many people are along for the ride. For the mid pairs, I very rarely raise. I have to be in late position/button and hope that I can outplay the people still in.

For a while, it seemed that any low to mid pocket pair that I had was useless. Couldn't catch a set. The cards were low enough where there were always overcards on the flop. Sometimes the card I needed would come on the turn or river after huge amounts of betting on the flop or pre-flop. I was disciplined and didn't chase.

This weekend, my pocket 9s were gods. They ruled! In a span of an orbit, I had pocket 9s three times. I'd raise pre-flop and get a couple of callers. I'd catch a 9 on the flop for a set. Always get action. Lots of it. There would be an A or K on the flop and people would chase. Or someone would have a lower set - a set of 3s against my 9s. The third time this happened, I even spiked a 9 on the river for quads.

I think I just used all of my pocket pair luck. For the year. I wish I'd been playing at much higher limits than I usually play. On tilt. So EVERYONE would have called me. I could've made a killing! I'm very happy with my wins though.

Taking a step back and focusing on other things is working well for me. I played some pool last night. Ended up winning 4 out of 6 games against the guys helping me improve my game. They all tell me that they know better than to throw a game against me... If I win, I want it to be won fairly. They all know that. They also know I'd kick every single one of them on their backsides if I thought they were doing this. They tell me that I'm definitely getting better - and I see that. Pool league starts in a month. Luckily these guys will be on my team. I'd hate to have to beat them like stepchildren in the league matches. lol

My neighbors the Rednecks

2006-04-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here on the back deck of my wonderful new house. Unfortunately, the reason I'm here and not meeting up with my pool partner is that I got paged for work. Been working on a system for the last 2+ hours, and now I'm waiting for someone to get back to me with some info so I can finish this thing up.

So, I'm sitting here on the back deck. The neighbors decide to come out on their front porch for a smoke. Thank God I don't have kids. They'd know about 15 different vulgar phrases by now. I've heard a whole lot of "Fuck You", "Shithead", "Shut the fuck up, Fuckhead", and just the general use of the word "fuck" as a verb, noun, and adjective. I mean, all you need to do is hear any of them talk and you'll know that their daddy is also their uncle or something similar...

And to think, I spent all this money on the house to have neighbors like this. I guess they're trying to make me feel at home, but the reason I left the backwoods of New York state was to get away from these people!
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OMG!! I was going to end this post, but something just happened. I swear to God... I just heard a FART from across the street. It sounded like a wet, nasty one too. Thank God I wasn't eating... Just think, next party we have, we can have everyone on the deck to watch the rednecks. It will be like a day at the zoo.

My Night at the Bar (or, Why I Drink at a Social Club)

2006-04-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

My posts concerning poker have been few and far between lately. I'd taken a pretty massive hit to the bankroll (like 95% of it), and although I knew most of it was luck and not my play that caused the massive drops, I decided to take a step back. My heart and my wallet just couldn't take anymore. At the risk of alerting the poker gods that I'm starting to wade back into the pool again, I'm happy to say that I'm doing better now and beginning to enjoy it again.

Of course, if I'm not playing poker, I have to be doing something, right? Lately it's been shooting pool. I used to hang out in a pool hall in high school (there was nothing better to do unless it involved booze or sex, and I was a good girl - was...) but it's been a while since I've put any serious time into it. I'll soon be joining a pool league at the Social Club I belong to, and some of my future teammates have been helping me brush up on my skills. I spend lots of time there, drinking and trying not to be the worst person on the team. I may not be able to hit some of the easier shots, but my saving grace is that I leave the crappiest shots for the person I'm playing against. Johnson pool. :-)

Since my shift in hobbies, I haven't been hitting the Boathouse much. Last night, I decided that it would be a good night to go back to the home ground. Thursday is trivia night, and it's nice to have a little competition that pays for your bar tab.

The night started out well enough. Nice weather. Favorite bartender Terri working. (StB's favorite bartender too - she was born in Milwaukee, but I think it's her "geography" that he likes staring at. Hi StB! BTW - did you get my dial-a-shot message?) Night started out slow... beers, a shot or two. Royce had a few of his buddies show up. LOTS of shots.

At some point, Al goes up to visit ScubaSteve. A drunk chick celebrating her 22nd birthday is trying to get into the dj booth, and of course wingman Al comes to the rescue. He offers to bring her back to the bar and buy her a shot. Normally I don't mind when Al does this, but things weren't quite right with her. She kept petting my hair. (I have a friend that plays with my hair, but I've known her for a couple of years.) And she kept telling me how beautiful I was. And wanted a hug or three. I figured she was drunk so it wasn't really a big deal... right?

Time progresses. Team AlCantHang (me, Al, BigMike, and Caucci) kicks ass on trivia. We make it to the final round - up against the second place team. We answer the 15 questions and wait to find out the results. Now, drunk girl is back. More drunk than before. (It seems that she was seen doing a pole dance on a pool cue at some slightly earlier point of the night.) She sees me... I should've run. Nope, I stay where I am and let her stumble up to me. More hugs. This time she goes for a kiss. Not a friendly, on the cheek kiss. On the lips. Not once, not twice, but THREE times. I can only imagine what I looked like, dodging her lips. I look over and the bouncer is staring with slack-jawed interest. (I was going to say he couldn't believe what he was seeing, but I know that's a lie. Interesting stuff happens there all the time. I just don't think he expected me to be in the middle of it!) I can see him laughing at me as I try to extricate myself from her hug. He'll get payback one of these days.

After one more short trivia round, Team AlCantHang wins another week and remains the Boathouse champion! It was a good week - we won 90% of the prize pool. It goes a long way towards covering the bar tab.

It's around 10:30 PM now, and ScubaSteve isn't feeling well. He offers to let me iPod-DJ again. hehehe I love this stuff. I get to play all the music I love and everyone else can all go to hell. Well, not really, but I get to play stuff people haven't heard before. I did this for about 2.5 hours. I introduced people to the Gourds, Elliott BROOD, Rufio, Anberlin and other lesser-known songs and covers. I think I may have a spot for late-night DJ. (I just have to prepare and make playlists next time. It stinks having to be stuck to your iPod for a few hours.)

Royce finally sobers up enough from all the shots he's done to be able to pick his head up off the bar, where it's been for quite a while. It's 1 AM, and he has to be at work in 3.5 hours. Not good. I think the room is still moving on its own a little bit for him. Between the shots and many cans of Red Bull, his stomach has had enough of this crap. He's a hurtin' camper. He's sobering up rapidly though, and BigMike offers to stay a little while longer to make sure he's ok. We head home...

So, that's my story. What would have happened if I'd just hit the Social Club like normal? I would've had a few beers, maybe a shot or two. I'd have played about a dozen games of pool (if I was having a good night - less if I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn) and hung out with the guys. All good people - usually the same group, (mostly) responsible people, always amusing. Instead, I got molested by a drunk 22-year-old chick and got to DJ for a few hours while waiting for drunk boy to sober up. (And yes, just for you perverts, she was cute. At least I attract cute women. Maybe Bobby Bracelet should take Boathouse lessons from me. lol Love ya Bobby!)

So, now that I've eaten my breakfast, drank my tea, and settled in (blogged) for the morning, maybe I should get some work done. Half an hour until lunch, and I'd hate to be late for that. Happy Friday!

Post to come later

2006-04-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

I know I'm still lazy as hell when it comes to posting. Way too much going on.

I had to put this up though. Mom sent me an email with this, and I've been laughing for the last 10 minutes over this. Now, Mom has a problem with forwarding way too many chain letters, but occasionally she passes on a gem like this [WARNING - if you're at work and have easily-offended co-workers, turn off your sound. There's captions, but make sure you listen to the song later lol]:

In what is a not too subtle dig at Bush's subpoena of their search records, Google is getting their own nasty dig at 'W' before the gag orders go into effect.

I don't know how long this will work, but go to http://www.Google.com then type in the search word: asshole

Then, DO NOT press "search," but do hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button right next to the Search button.

The result is hysterical, and I have to admit I absolutely admire Google's nerve.

Hopefully this will still be up so everyone can see it. Happy Friday! (close enough)

Happy Easter (almost)!

2006-04-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's getting late on a Friday before a holiday weekend. The hallways echo when there happens to be someone walking down them, which doesn't happen more than once or twice an hour. I'm the only one left from my group - only two of us showed up today. It's nice... lol

I decided to take this time to say hi to everyone out there and wish them Happy Easter/Passover/whatever holiday you celebrate. I'm a Catholic/Easter kinda girl, so I'll be anxiously awaiting the bunny with the chocolate. Yeah that, and the resurrection too. :-) Can't lose sight of what's important.

Driving up to my parents' house in NY tomorrow. 5.5 hour drive. I used to make a trip like that once a month, but that was many, many years ago - when I first moved into the area. I've settled in quite well over the last several years and I haven't been up there in about a year. I know I'm not missing much.... the area is economically depressed and there's nothing besides some pretty cool scenery to recommend it. Of course, how much scenery can you stare at?

I'll try to catch up with a few old friends while I'm there and probably head up to the Indian reservation casino while I'm there. I know some of you have been to the Turning Stone. It's only about 20 minutes away from my parents' house, and the only entertainment in the area. I played my first live game there - 2/4 limit - and doubled up in about an hour. Maybe it's time for an encore performance. :-)

Speaking of poker... I actually played some poker this week. My bankroll is shot to hell right now. I've been playing baby limit tables to try to make up a little more. And freerolls. I made the mistake of a mid-week PokerStars freeroll in the 9 o'clock hour. Almost 10K people. Up until almost 3 am. Busted out high 40-something. All that time, and didn't get anything. Good practice though.

Here's a question for you statistical-type people. What are the odds of getting pocket 4's three hands in row? With the 4 of hearts in all 3 hands. And the 4 of diamonds in the first and third (the middle hand had to mess it up with the 4 of spades). And not hitting another 4 on the flop, turn or river in all 3 hands? :-)

I'd had a couple of close calls in that tourney, too. I was getting close to being short-stacked and hadn't seen anything good for a long while. I get KJs and push all-in. Get called by the big stack. Pocket As. I got a K on the flop, but I still had to hope for a miracle. I remembered Pauly's move at last year's WSOP and called for a J on the river. I was even pointing to the spot on my screen. In much the same way as Pauly sucked out on Shannon Elizabeth, I caught my J on the river to put me back in a safer place.

We'll see if I have anything to post this weekend. Plus, the area where I'll be in NY is lousy for wireless or high-speed internet of any kind. I'll probably have to use a dial-up (*GASP*) connection if I want to check my mail, etc. I'm going back to the stone ages again.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. Take care traveling. There will be people like me driving the roads. :-)

2006-04-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
--Mark Twain

My reason for not posting much over the last month or two. Besides being busy, I haven't had much to say. Sure, I could whine about some creep hitting my car and leaving the scene without as much as an "I'm sorry" scrawled on a used McDonald's napkin from the floor of their white hoopde car. I guess I could always go on some tirade about how I hate getting old and feeling older than I am. Or that I work too much. Have too much stress. Tired of getting up in the morning to the same old crap. How about I whine about the fact that I need a vacation, even though I just had one less than a month ago? Or worse... write some crap post about a game like poker that I haven't played in a while and definitely don't know much about?

Nah... nobody deserves to have to listen to that. So I don't bore anyone who happens to hit this blog with my ramblings. The person who gets to listen to that is Danielle, since I just buy her beer and get her drunk so I can rant and rave all I want. Only problem is that she's building up a tolerance to beer. I'm going to have to start her on the rufies soon...

Instead - give this game a shot. *WARNING* - You might want to make sure the boss isn't standing behind you for this one. Might not be safe for work. Official warning. And you can blame MY MOM for this. Anyone who wonders about my personality can stop wondering. My Mom can be demented, and she seems to have passed it all right on to me.

I'd tell you all about Big Mike's bar crawl on Saturday, but there are large sections that are a bit fuzzy. I knew I'd have to drive, so I drank early so I could sober up. The middle got to be a complete blur. I don't think I did any shots though. I was lucky enough to have kind people make sure I ate, too. I didn't drink in the 8th or 9th bars and had plenty of water, so I was fine by 1:30 AM when we left the bar. So much for my exciting write-up.

Maybe I'll get the motivation to try for some great masterpiece later... until then, I'm alive. Grumpy, but alive.

I know it was only a freeroll, but...

2006-04-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

I remember why I took a break from playing poker... Luck keeps bitchslapping me. My KQc against K3o - he tried to push me off the hand like he'd done a couple of other times. He was just defending his blinds and pushed all-in. I'd seen him do it way too many times before, and I finally had a hand. Called it, and watched as a 3 took me out. I had 4x the average stack too. DAMMIT!

That's the way the game goes... now, back to our regularly scheduled lack of posting.

[Hopefully I'll have some exciting stuff to report one of these days, but until then...]

Funny but so sad...

2006-03-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm back at work, I haven't had 3 minutes to myself. The posting will go back to its recent sporadic frequency. Sorry, I know my 3 readers will be upset. Or not. :-)

I just had to post this though. My friend Danielle brought this little bit of info to my attention.... something worse than banning online gaming. I think those legislators need to adjust where's they're sticking their nose... and find something useful to do, like picking up trash on the side of the highway. God knows they aren't useful in office.

Good morning y'all!

2006-03-19T10:11:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind right now. It's Sunday morning... I'm not hung over which is a surprise. I am tired, and will probably take a little nap when I get done with this. Today is the day to relax.

So let's catch up a little, shall we?

Thursday started with the best burgers in the world at the Casino El Camino. I took April's advice and ordered a standard burger from the Soup Nazi-like cook in the back. I wanted my burger sometime that day, so I made sure not to piss 'em off. We met up with Ryan and his wife Kim, and hung out with them for a bit. Then shopping, and headed back to April's place to change and figure out transport.

We decided on the bus. April had never taken a bus besides the shuttle to campus, so it was bound to be an adventure. Luckily, everyone was nice and they helped us out. (We'd see one of the guys later on - he was a bouncer at one of the clubs. He encouraged us to come back, but we didn't make it.)

Watched Spoon, then Echo & the Bunnymen at Auditorium Shores. Both bands were awesome! I'll definitely be picking up Spoon's album. We had several dial-a-shots, with those people who could hear us. (BTW - StB, Al didn't put me up to that. I haven't gotten to read many blogs these last few weeks and I didn't realize. I just thought of you when it came to dial-a-shots. lol)

Then we caught another bus down to where the action was on 6th. It gets a little fuzzy here, but we ended up at Stubb's to watch Dresden Dolls. I'd never heard them before, but they rocked! Another band I need to get music from. I tried to leave Al a VM when they played War Pigs, but for some reason he didn't get the message. I was very disappointed at that one.

We headed out from there and got April some food after the Texas Teas tried to wipe her out. Then back to Bourbon Rocks for the Bottle Rockets. They still had the "badges only" sign up. I had enough booze in me where I wasn't accepting that answer. I communicated with the bouncer a little bit... ok, a whole lot of flirting... and when the band before the Rockets got finished, he let us in. Another good show. Maigrey had wanted to learn how to get boys to buy her drinks. She didn't need my tutoring that night. She had one wrapped right around her pinky and was having a blast with it. You go girl!

We finished up there and tried to catch a cab ride home. An hour to find a cab. Then y'all know what happened from my rant. :-)

Ok, so it's Friday now. BBQ at Ironworks. Place was the same as I remembered from 13 years ago. Still awesome food. Stuffed our faces and headed downtown. April drove - found a good spot, which rocked. We headed to Fado's for Irish boozing. Guiness is good. :-) We had a drink or two there with Adam but decided to head out shortly after.

BTW - my favorite St. Patrick's Day t-shirt: Just because I'm Irish doesn't mean you're getting lucky.

Next stop - Cuba Libre for chocolate and cosmo's. Mmmm. The cosmo's may or may not have had anything to do with what happened next.

We were heading down to see some bands, and ended up stopping in a tattoo parlor. It wasn't the first we'd stopped in - Maigrey had to have her earring fixed on Wednesday and I'd found one I liked. Decided against it then. Nope, not today. I found one I liked even better. Maigrey and I start talking. She's always wanted one. I really liked this one. Go for it? Sure. Nobody screamed, nobody chickened out and ended up with a dot like Phoebe from Friends. The strange part about it - I got tattooed by BG. Or at least his double. Looked the same (except for the tattoos and the bolt-things in his ears) and had the same anti-social attitute. I wanted to get a picture, but I missed the opportunity. Maybe we can catch him again later...

Off to see more bands. We weren't able to get in to see the ones we wanted at one place, so we met up with Gus at Mugshots, then headed to another bar to see Soft. We finished the night out there, then headed home. A surprisingly sober night for having just had a needle in my back.

Saturday was the tourney. I suck. Out about halfway through. I think I played well... I knocked one person out with pocket As on a K-high board. Other than that, very few good cards until I went out. I went out in style too - I'm short-stacked and look down to see pocket Ks. Of course I go all-in. One caller - Ryan. Ryan's pocket As held up to take me down. That just meant I got to take a little nap before the night's festivities.

After most of the tourney was done, we dropped Ryan off at his hotel. Maigrey wasn't up for another night of debauchery, so she took the car back to April's apartment after we'd hopped out. Had some good Mexican food and Cactus Juice at the Iron Cactus. Cactus Juice is good - tequila and everclear, how could a person go wrong with that?

We went to see Snowed In, then met Gus at Mugshots again. More beer. I ended up getting into a thumb war with one of the bartenders after he tried to take my beer before I was done with it. Silliness ensued, and it could only be settled with a thumb war. Unfortunately, I lost. :-) We did a dial-a-(nyquil)shot with Gracie, then headed out for the next band.

We ended up on the 18th floor of a hotel for (probably) the last band of SXSW. It was some Canadian band from Toronto. I don't remember the name, but April got the cd and I'll be borrowing that later. They were really good, but I would swear that the guitar player is manic-depressive and was having one of the manic "attacks" that night. Wow - he got into his music hardcore.

The rest of the night was pretty calm, except for the idiot who lit up a pack of firecrackers in the middle of the line to get pizza (the one WE were in). Luckily, it was behind us in line and the cops didn't come to shoot us with rubber bullets or tazers. That would have made a much different story...

Just to top things off, when April dropped me off last night, what song was playing? 3AM by Matchbox 20. So ironic.

Ok, enough babbling from me. The pillows are calling me back to them again. The rest of the trip should be more relaxing, but you never know.

It's 3 AM, I must be lonely...

2006-03-17T01:36:00.000-08:00

Actually, it's 3:30 AM and I'm very happily all by myself (unlike the Matchbox 20 song suggests). All I wanted to do was get up to my room and pass out. I'd had a beer or two (or four or six or...) and I'm beat. It took us almost an hour to get a cab. The guy is EXTREMELY talkative... nice, but talkative. I had to pee. I've had to pee since about 1:45, and it's after 3 AM. He's the Dalai Lama, imparting words of wisdom unto me. I'm ready to pee my pants. Not good. I eventually disentangle myself... it helps that his girlfriend called, and I make my escape.

I run inside (actually, I do the pee-pee shuffle) and hit the button for the elevator. They're not moving. One is sitting on 4, and the other is sitting on 5. I curse loudly and repeatedly. Nothing. I thought about kicking it, but even in the state I'm in I realize it's not going to help. I yell for the desk clerk instead. More cursing.

I give up and find the bathroom right off the lobby. Much better. As I come out, the other girls that were waiting for the elevator call out to me - the elevator's here. They called their friend (they're staying on the 5th floor) to bring the elevator down. Woo-hoo! I don't have to walk all those stairs up to my room on the 4th floor. I get up to my room, unlock the door, and drop everything in my hands onto the floor. It's good until tomorrow. It will still be there.

I must be a geek. One of the first things I do when I get in is check to make sure my laptop is still where I left it. (Always have to worry about housekeeping...) At this point, I decide to vent upon the unsuspecting public. There are much better things to write about - fun stuff, like drunk dials and bands and Heather's free booze. I'll get to that tomorrow. I just had to get this out so I can sleep peacefully. In the middle of my king size bed. It's almost 4 AM, and I miss my teddy bear. :-)

Wanna Make Out? 'Cuz I'm Drunk....

2006-03-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

[Warning - I'm keeping all stories short. It's hard to type with the DTs this early in the morning. I need a beer. lol]

Let's play "guess which drunk blogger said this" - check out the title. hehehe It was just us girls and reader Mike last night, sitting at a cool Irish bar. We'd wanted to catch the Gourds (which we did), but it was a rough trip getting there.

I had a little issue on my flight getting out there. When I booked the second part of the trip, a puddle-jumper from Dallas to Austin, it seems that I goofed. I landed at DFW, and the next flight was from DAL - across town. Luckily I'd built in 2 hours between flights, so a $40 cab ride got me there in time.

After I arrived and met up with April, we had a few beers while waiting for Maigrey to get in. We grabbed her, got ready, and called a cab. We knew there was going to be a little wait. After waiting for over an hour and a half and having them tell us that they didn't know when someone would be coming, we started calling. Luckily, there was a cab from another company one street over. Score!

Interesting cab ride. Cabbie had LOTS of opinions. Overthrow the government. etc, and so on. He was nice though and got us there quick. 100% tip for prompt service.

We found Mike when we got in there. Luckily he'd gotten a table out on the deck - Austin is another one of those places where you can't smoke indoors. Ugh. We then proceeded to get polluted. We were able to listen to the Gourds play, and Maigrey and I actually got decently close to the stage. We listened to a few songs from there before we headed back to the table for more booze.

No shots, but the birthday girl didn't need 'em. A rum & coke and 2 Strongbows later, she had all she needed. We had a running commentary on the crowd. We saw Old Lady Legs, cute cowboy butts, and everything in between. There were dial-a-shots flying everywhere, except that very few people answered the phone. Anyone who did answer was sure to be in for a treat. Anyone who didn't got VMs. Listen at your own risk.

Mike was kind enough to give us a ride to the other section of town - after he presented me with an awesome cowboy hat! He showed me how to properly bend the brim, so I didn't make a fashion faux pas with the new chapeau. (and I didn't even take French in high school)

We tried to get in for one show, but the line was out the door down the block to the corner, then it turned the corner and went down that block. There was no way in hell we were making it in. This was when Maigrey decided to grab the guy for pictures. Check out either Maigrey's or April's blog. They've already posted it. Damn tattle-tales. Posting on me. :-)

We wandered to another bar, stopping on the way so that Maigrey could get some body piercing jewelry fixed (you guess where the piercing is). While there, I found a tattoo I want. :-) I made sure to call Al and tell him what I was looking at. I could hear the resignation in his voice when I told him where I was. Nothing last night, but I can't promise it will stay that way for the rest of the trip.

The next bar we tried to get into was packed too. At that point, we decided not to ruin ourselves and caught a cab back to April's place. I'll let the other ladies write it up, but all I'm going to say is that deaf mute lesbians are funny.

We caught breakfast and they dropped me off at my hotel. On the off chance that I might get lucky, I booted the laptop and found some unsuspecting, unprotected wireless router. (I refuse to get my internet fix sitting at the generic PC sitting in the hotel lobby. I prefer to sit half-naked in my room and do this.)

So, that's day 1. I know there's lots I've left out, but I just can't type anymore. I need some orange juice and maybe a little vodka in it to take the edge off. Stay tuned for more stories of debauchery. At least those that can be released to the public.

Happy Friday!

2006-03-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

I've been saying that to people today... Yes, I do know it's Tuesday. But it's my last day of work before I head to Austin tomorrow. Last day of work = Friday. Most of the people around work know what I'm talking about... I think it's just a quirk of this company. Most of us have worked together for so long (I've been here almost 10 years), we have our own little sub-culture. We're all insane.

I have packing to do tonight. I might take a quick shopping trip with Danielle. I'm making a list of all the stupid little things I usually forget so I can hopefully remember everything I absolutely need. I need to find my extra liver. I can't go on a 5 day bender without my extra liver. I promised April drinks. Hopefully, it's random guys at bars buying them, not me. I want a cowboy hat. Another thing I'm hoping to acquire, not buy. That one's going to be a little harder. A person must have optimism though.

I think I need to make a list of goals for the trip....
1. Free booze
2. Hat
3. Hang out with cool people (and bloggers are the coolest!)
4. Win at poker (? not likely, but it's optimism)
5. See lots of good music
6. Refrigerator magnet (yeah, I'm a geek)

I'm sure there's more that I need to add, but my brain isn't working. Rough night last night. I didn't sleep well... and due to his proximity, I'm betting neither did Al. He said I hit him several times and yelled at him for the attic. Who knows what was going through my brain at that point. I know I was having funky dreams...

I think it's due to the fact Al won't let me have a puppy. Everyone else has one... I think I should get one too. My parents just got a puppy this weekend. I'm jealous. She's a jug... cross between a jack russell terrier and a pug. She's absolutely beautiful. And when she's full-grown she'll probably be less than 15 pounds. Perfect size dog for small yards. How could anyone not love this face?

Then again, it would curb the travel. She'd be small enough to put in a carry-on though. :-)

I refuse to do work today. As it is, I should be in a meeting but I made my office-mate go instead. He can handle it. I'm in vacation mode. Clean up the little stuff, no new projects. Lots of mindless solitaire games. A little blogging to clean out the brain.

Enough blogging. Brain hurts. Need to play more solitaire. Maybe some Slingo. Nothing that requires thought. Happy Friday!

Falling off the face of the Earth...

2006-03-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't yet. It just seems like it. Same old whine... too much to do, not enough time to do it. My job has been going nuts - now I have two development teams bugging me for stuff instead of one. We need this environment by Thursday (um, yeah, they mean today)... we want to order new servers... we changed our minds, we only want 2 servers of this type and now we're going to develop on another O/S so we need different servers... we want to upgrade all of the servers to a new version of the O/S, but I've found that it requires a complete server reinstall... can we go from PA-RISC to Itanium processors? Ugh. Of course, I usually do my blogging from work, so I haven't been able to put anything up here.

So, just in case anyone is worried, I'm still alive. I haven't been put into a padded room so I could talk to my toes. I might welcome the vacation at times, but I have my awesome vacation coming up next week. I'll be visiting April in Austin for the South by Southwest Music Festival. I spent time last week downloading a whole bunch of music from the site, so I've been listening to that for the last few days at work. Some good, some just not my style. I'm making a list of bands... I'm SOOOOO going to enjoy this.

I found what I need to get for Al and BigMike for when I'm gone. Without someone to take care of them, they get themselves into all kinds of trouble. I happened to stumble across this news article yesterday:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The impulse control disorder drug nalmefene, which has previously been shown to be effective for alcohol dependence, may also be effective for pathological gambling, according to a study.

It's kryptonite for Al and Mike... and probably about 95% of the poker blogging community. lol I hope they don't hear about us and try to use us as guinea pigs!

Well kids, that's about all I have time for. I have to grab lunch before this server build completes or I won't be eating anything until dinner tonight... and I get grumpy when I'm hungry.

So, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the bar....

2006-02-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well, actually, it didn't. I got to the bar. I ordered a beer. I got paged for work. Definitely NOT funny. Luckily, the Boathouse has wireless and I didn't have to orphan my beer. I just had to run out to my truck for my laptop. Twenty minutes later, my server is fixed, and I'm ordering another beer. Yea!

I played poker for the first time in a while last night. Played a little NLHE, low limits. I was recognized at the table by (what seems to be) a long-time reader. I didn't know I had any.... lol cudd517 was a really cool person, and we started quite the conversation. I feel bad that I never got a banner up for Pauly's coverage of the WPT LA Classic (which I still haven't caught up on - damn work getting in the way), but I pointed a few people there so they could get all the best poker coverage on the net. I made sure to tell everyone how much I sucked... :-)

I got killed with pocket As. Someone caught two pair on the flop and called my all-in post-haste. Oops. I bought back in as Al stopped by to say hi. I blame him. (hehehe) He was at the bar, drinking away while I was curled up in bed (sick as a dog). He was picking at me, telling me that he was getting the suckout switch flipped for me. I told him to make sure that it was flipped so that I wouldn't get sucked out on but I could suck out on other people. Shortly after, I did. I had AQ on a queen-high flop... and ran into pocket Ks. I bet, he raised all-in and I called. The A on the turn gave me the suckout. Thank God for the suckout switch!

I quit shortly after. Not because I was scared though. It was 9:30 and I was beat. I passed out for the evening. No beer involved. Very, VERY disappointing night.

I'm sitting at the bar now. After logging off the work network, I never shut down my laptop. I'm such a geek. I told Al and BigMike that I'd stay as long as my battery lasts or 8:00, whichever is earlier. I'm headed off to drink with Danielle. She's bowling tonight and needs someone to keep her company (i.e. in trouble).

I have my office to myself for one more day. The guy I share it with will be back from vacation on Monday. I'm actually happy about that... I've been having to cover stuff for him for the last week. He didn't expect anything to come up - and I've had 3 requests so far, along with a problematic hmc. (Don't ask, it's a geek thing. If you don't know, it's not worth the explanation because you probably still won't understand. I'm not being condescending, just truthful.) At least I can shut my door and sleep under my desk for one more day. Here's to Friday!

Happy Bunny Friday!

2006-02-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

Time for the weekly posting! Yeah, I know... should be once a day, but is anyone really that interested in my life? Heck, I'm not even that interested.

I'm in quite a mood today. Why? Not sure. It's Friday, and the hallway where I work is quiet since it doesn't seem like anyone's here today. I don't have a boss right now - not just on vacation, either. He took another position and the guy they have coming in doesn't have a start date. (4 hour lunch, then leave early?)

I was just visiting in a co-worker's office, and he has some cool toys in there. (Not THOSE BOB-style toys, get your mind out of the gutter!) He has a collection of "It's Happy Bunny" stuff, including a little sign book that he keeps on his desk. I don't know if you've ever seen this stuff, but it's hilarious! Designed more for teenage girls, it's all about making fun of others, which of course I'm right there for. Most people have probably seen the shirts or other apparel but didn't realize it. It has this adorable little white bunny with a pink belly and nose. (I'd paste in a picture if I wasn't so completely worthless with this thing.)

My co-worker's desk faces the door, and he's got the sign book facing so that anyone walking through can see it. I picked the saying for the day today. I felt this was appropriate for my mood. It's "have a great day you worthless turd". Don't you wish you could tell more people in your life those sentiments?

On the website where you can get the merchandise, they have a t-shirt where you can put your own sayings. I think I'll be getting one for the tables... I'll find some appropriately dumb poker put-down for it. I think I'll keep the "worthless turd" part... it just appeals to me.

I actually played some poker last night. And I came out ahead! I can't believe it... I didn't drink that much last night, and that may or may not have been part of it. I did lose a buy-in or two here and there, but I had tables where I'd triple up. I went back to NLHE instead of Stud8. I love Stud (what woman wouldn't love a stud?) but I find that I feel the need for variety these days. Maybe it's just that after a dozen sessions of any game, I start feeling like it's all the same. I know I'm not meant to be a grinder, and it's also the reason why I like NL better than limit.

On the tables, I got talking to IlliniFan, and he mentioned their "Suck out on Leukemia" Tournament. It should be a fun tournament for a great cause! Most of us know that we're going to be spending the money on poker anyways, so come play for a good cause. I should be there, if I'm not too hung over from the night before.

I still had quite a time getting out of bed today. I think I just need a vacation. I'll be getting one soon.... Austin, here I come! I've made all my travel reservations for the SXSW music festival in March. I'll be seeing April and the rest of the crew then. They finally put the schedule up!

Ok, ok... people think I should be working or something now. Ugh. I guess if I want to keep this job, I probably should. Even without a boss, people still expect me to get stuff done. Have a great weekend all!

I'm a slacker!

2006-02-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know it's been a week since I've posted... a busy week. Work likes to give me a swift kick in the ass every once in a while, and it's been one of those weeks. It's good though... it means I'll be on the compensation continuation plan here for a while. lol If you're reading this, it means that I've haven't been forsaken completely by the blog-reading community. Woo-hoo!

During the random shifts in my schedule, I was able to fit in a little poker here and there. I still haven't been that interested in NLHE lately. I try every once in a while, but usually it's while I'm waiting for a seat in Razz or Stud hi/lo. I've become addicted to Stud, and not the Bobby Bracelet kind.

The other night, I was two-tabling low limit (.25/.50) on Full Tilt. One table wasn't doing so well, even though I was playing tight. After losing almost 2/3 of my buy-in, I left that one. The other table was rockin'! I took my $15 up to $50... and that was playing tight. I seem to play along the lines of Felicia, nut-peddling whenever possible. I tried for the scoop instead of just high or low in almost every case. I didn't always make it, but I think the starting hand selection kept me from losing money on hands I shouldn't have been involved with in the first place.

Last night wasn't as good on the $$-winning side. I was waiting for the Stud8 game to get going... When I checked the table, it was up to 4 players. The really cool thing about that was the amount of money one person sat down with. At this limit, most people buy in for $10-15, sometimes as much as $50. This person, in his infinite wisdom, thought that buying in for $10K might be intimidating. What happened? I told Al. The inevitable happened. The table became inhabited by bloggers, looking to help relieve him of that money. :-) I love you guys, but... it's not as easy to take money from people who know what they're doing! I was sitting with Al, Maigrey, Penner and on_thg. (Sorry guys, need to find links for ya. I'm SOOOO far behind!)

The $10K guy didn't last long. He stayed around for a bit, but he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere with us. He lost the $10 profit he'd made and a little more before he decided to go.

Maigrey and I kept getting into it. It seems that the girls are the aggressive ones... and I don't hold a candle to Maigrey when she's on her way. I stayed around for a little bit more, but the week was catching up to me and I needed to get home and get some sleep. (Yes, I was geeking it at the bar again.) I finished about $1.50 up, and it was fun to play with the other bloggers. I just don't want to have to fight them for the fishie money all the time. :-)

This weekend, we're supposed to have snow storms. I'm hoping it won't affect my night out on Saturday with Danielle (I'm oncall for work, so it means I won't be completely obliterated), since I'm looking forward to seeing a friend's band play.

My work obligations mean that I won't (shouldn't) be too hung over to play some tournaments on Sunday. Maybe I'll see some people I know playing in the tourneys. I'll be looking for ya!

This came across my desk this morning....

2006-02-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much to post about lately, so when I saw this, I knew what I had to do.

Anyone who was with us during the June gathering in Vegas and had gone to La Salsa knows exactly how true the following statements are.

Enjoy!

____________________________________________

Do you have feelings of inadequacy? Do you suffer from shyness? Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Tequila.

Tequila is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Tequila can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.

You will notice the benefits of Tequila almost immediately, and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past, (well shyness anyway) and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Tequila.

Tequila may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Tequila. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

Tequila. Leave Shyness Behind.

Tourneys

2006-02-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm not great at tourneys. (I suck at poker in general, but tourneys are especially bad.) I have just enough luck to keep me in for a while, then I do something stupid to mess it up. I am trying to get better... so every Sunday, I try to play in at least one if not two tournaments. This past weekend was no exception.

I jumped into one of the $10 tourneys on FTP. I was out within the first half hour. I don't remember how or why, but I got beat. I wasn't happy about it, and at the time I think I thought I made a bad play. Man, I really need to get a better memory or start writing these things down.

I started looking at the tourney list. They had a freeroll coming up at 14:45 - one of the satellites into the Jersey Days Tournament. I was somehow able to get into it, since those things usually fill up within 30 seconds of opening. The remaining seats filled rapidly and we had 1000 people.

Tourney started how most freerolls start - several people going all-in on the first hands. The second hand, I folded 89s. We saw a flop... the remaining three 9s were sitting on the board. I could've easily doubled or tripled up with that hand and put myself in a great position.

I had a slow start, but I was able to build up my stack along the way. [Insert lots of boring folding and a few good hands, a double up in there somewhere, normal tourney stuff.] When we were down to 50 people or so, I made it into the top 10 chip stacks and stayed above 20th the rest of the time. Just before the final table, I'd called a short-stack's all-in with 2 pair but got trounced by a set. So, when we were seated for the final table, I was low. Not the lowest, but pretty darn close.

I ended up making it to 6th place when my decent-size pre-flop raise with AKo was reluctantly called - and my all-in on a 662 flop called - by a guy with pocket 2s. I sensed hesitancy in his pre-flop call, and when he checked post-flop I thought I could take it down. Oops. I ran into one of the few hands that wasn't going to lay it down for anything. I'd been getting respect before... I was hoping that I would this time.

There were probably about half a dozen bloggers cheering me on by this point... thanks guys and gals! Of course, only the top 3 would have a spot in the big tourney for the jerseys. I was really hoping to get one, too.

My whole point of the story (and I could make any short story long) is that if I pay more than a couple of bucks for a tourney, I can't make it past the first hour. If it's free or close to it, I get much farther. Maybe it's just that the good players don't bother with them, but I'll take the practice. One of these days, I'll be able to start making the money on bigger tourneys. One of these years, I'll be trying the WSOP tourneys... hopefully before my 40th birthday! lol

Another Saturday Night in AC

2006-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Man, I'm glad I finished up the last trip report already. This trip was another trip that you had to be there to believe.

We didn't end up getting down to Atlantic City until later in the evening... somewhere around 7 PM. Pauly was still working, but he figured he'd get done much earlier that night since they were just finshing up yesterday's event. They weren't going to start a new event that day because the main event was starting on Sunday.

While we were waiting, we grabbed his brother Derek and grabbed dinner at Noodles of the World again. Their spicy beef noodle soup is always too good for me to resist, and I got the same thing yet again. While Al picked up the tab and was waiting for the bill, I ran out again and tried my luck to see if I could hit another big score on the slots. Not this time. It seems it can only happen once per trip, and since Pauly never left, it was still the same trip for him. Oh well.

After dinner, we went up to check on Pauly. The event had just finished, and some young punk had just taken it down. (Man, I wish I was some young punk. lol) We waited for Pauly to finish up and grabbed the guys for some recreation outside of the Borgata.

Since Pauly's spent the last 10 days in the Borgata, we headed over to Harrah's to the Eden lounge for a little boozing. We probably should've found a bar that had nothing to do with a casino, but it was close and we don't know of any good bars in the area. We wandered in, and Pauly starts wandering towards the back of the bar to one of the quiet little tables there. I convinced him that the floor show was more than worth the slight trade-off of noise. We found a table in the back of the main area with a decent view of the dance floor... and the floor show that always ensues.

We sit down and get the same waitress as last week. She's slow, but she remembered us and our drinks... she gets orders from Pauly and Derek. She seemed to be trying to be a little quicker, and I think our tip from last weekend helped. We settled in for the show.

I pointed out the porno dancing freak to the guys, and we didn't have to wait long before he started "performing". I'm hoping that since Pauly's a much better writer than I am, he can do it more justice on his blog. We watched him for quite a while... Pauly bet me $20 that I wouldn't go dance with him. Under normal circumstances, it would've been a no-brainer but I knew he had his camera. There's no way I was letting him get a photo of me with the freak to post for only $20... I could never live with the reminder (or run for public office) with that floating around.

The first band was good... turned out to be friends of ours. We weren't expecting it, but it was a nice surprise. The second band that came on had 3 chick singers that had these cutesy little choreographed moves. Kinda lame, but we were having a good time drinking.

During their first set, this group of guys sits down at the table next to us. Older guys, with the oldest being in his 60's (by my guesstimation) and the youngest being late 30's/early 40's (also guesstimation). As they were making their way to the table, the oldest guy was dancing to the music as Al was passing. The guy starts dancing with Al, which of course makes us all laugh.

They settle in and start drinking. At some point, they start talking to me. Nice guys actually, all cousins. They get me up to dance a few times over the next hour or so and start buying me drinks. At some point, the middle cousin goes wandering and the youngest goes off to find him. The old guy wanders up to the bar (presumably to get a drink) and comes back with a woman in tow. She was in her 50's, not bad looking but looking her age, in a sweater and black pants. I thought that my new friend had just found a love interest at the bar. He introduced me to her and his youngest cousin when he came back.

It seems that her purpose wasn't "love", per se. After a conversation amongst the guys, the youngest cousin leans over to me and says that he can't believe that his cousin actually picked up a hooker. I said "Really? She's a hooker?" and almost fell out of my chair laughing! We'd had a conversation earlier about hookers and how I couldn't spot them. I'd asked Pauly and Derek to teach me how to pick 'em out... seems that they knew right off. I definitely need lessons...

I also learned that AC hookers seem to get paid well. After seeing the HBO special about the AC hookers, I thought they were the cheap kind. Nope, not here it seems. The cousin was also amazed that she wanted $300. I was laughing too hard to ask for what, but I should've asked "for posterity". Too late now.

Pauly and Derek were tired by this time, so we headed out. We dropped them off at the Borgata and started home. I needed to put gas in the truck and a little bit of food for the ride, so we stopped at the gas station/McDonalds right on the way out of AC. We made it there easily enough and got gas. Time for food...

Warning for anyone in AC around 3 in the morning looking for food... this McDonalds is NOT the way to go. Slow as hell, lines wrapped around the place... and if you haven't been raped, beaten, and your car stolen and/or hit, you've done well. Al ended up having to run inside since the drive-thru line was so long. It was easy to see afterwards why the smart people opted to use the drive-thru. It took Al forever inside, while I waited out in the car. I had the doors securely locked and something heavy within close range of my hands just in case... When the car with most of the passenger side bashed in got within inches of my bumper as it parked next to me, I prayed that Al would come out soon. Luckily, he came out right afterward and I met him with the car at the door so he wouldn't get mugged on the way through.

I made the 2 hour trip home in about an hour and a half. Traffic was cooperating nicely, and we made it home at 5 AM.

It's always an adventure in AC.

Round 2

2006-01-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Since it's already Saturday and we're talking about heading down to AC again, I thought I should probably finish up last weekend. :-)

_________________________________

Ok, we get to Harrah's. Walk in, and there's the "universe puked" carpet. Why do Atlantic City casinos feel the need to find the ugliest carpets possible to grace every square inch of their floors? Sometimes, they pick two or three ugly patterns and mix it up... like one isn't enough? I thought I was going to lose my NoW Spicy Beef Noodle soup. Luckily, I have a strong stomach though.

We walk in and ask for directions to the Eden lounge from one of Harrah's drink girls. She tells us to walk along the wall to the left and we'd find it. We start walking, and walking, and walking. We finally find this place... and realize that we were a very short walk through some slot machines to the front door. At least we know we have a quick escape.

Actually, we hear Eden before we get there. There's loud music and as we get close, we see a bunch of people on the dance floor. Al tries to find Phil while I sit down at a table to the right of the stage and order drinks. There were a few parties of girls dancing around, but I noticed that the gaggles of 21-year-olds seemed to be the exception, not the norm as it is in most of these places.

The small group of girls clear from the dance floor, and that's when I notice them. Three people dancing... and little would I know at that point that they would be the staple of this evening's amusements. They were not young.... they had at least 10-15 years on me, and I'd passed out of my 20's a couple of years ago. Old enough to know better, but didn't. It's not that dancing has to stop when you hit 25 - I love to dance. It's when you try to dance like this.... the guy must've thought porn movies were the best places to get pointers on how to dance, since he'd grind against any women he could get within 5 feet of and make the ass-slapping motions (among others) while grinding away. As the night went on, I almost made Al go out and check on the guy because I swore that he had to be having epileptic seizures at times. The women were no better, though a little more tame. We had to laugh at one of the ladies since her pants were slung low on her hips and her thong was showing... what made it even more amusing were the black pantyhose she was wearing that covered 'em up and made everyone stare to figure out what was wrong with her skin. That's how it started.

Tony and Crystal arrived and settled in, ordering drinks. Then the band came on - the band before Phil's. This was the defining point of the evening. The band was playing all kinds of late 90's crap music - music that Tony had played while in his band years ago and it was crap then. Tony made the comment that the band sounded like they were playing at a wedding... and the jokes started about the bridesmaids and Aunt Sarah making an ass out of herself. We were joined by Phil's girlfriend Melinda, Helixx and Beck during the spectacle. I swear, I've never laughed so hard in my life.

Things went from bad to worse when "Bubba" started dancing. He was a big guy - a few inches over 6 ft. - with a beer belly that would've had people asking if a woman if she was pregnant with twins if she'd had it. The sleeveless blue shirt he was wearing covered it, sort of. It was covered when he pulled the shirt down and stood there. As soon as he moved, the thing rolled up like a window blind in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. When the band started playing "Sweet Home Alabama" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", ol' Bubba just couldn't help himself. We were treated all kinds of belly-jiggling, fist-pumping dancing. Luckily, it was the end of the set and the band was done for the night.

House music comes on... and the stripper wanna-be starts dancing. At that moment in time, she was the sexiest woman on the dance floor. Of course, she was the only person on the dance floor at all but... she just knew that everyone was looking at her. I'm sure she thought because they all wanted her. It was more like a train wreck - what you see scares you and makes you sick to your stomach but you just can't look away.

Phil's band Vibe Tribe starts playing, and it's the same cast of characters - minus Bubba. We've now picked up an old lady that just loves Vibe Tribe's singer. To the credit of the band, they did pull in several groups of younger chicks. Some were cute... others needed to find true friends because any true friends wouldn't have let those people walk out of the house in those outfits. One in particular - a slightly larger chick in a satin tank top and sequined belt. The outfit itself wasn't bad... It was the chick's lack of mammary support that was the problem. As soon as she started bouncing around to the music, so did they. I swear I had to duck a couple of times because I was afraid I was going to get a black eye... and I wasn't even on the dance floor! There were so many amusements, but not enough space in my memory to remember them all.

The band finishes up and we head out. Beck decides to crash with us instead of staying up all night playing cards. Then again, the countless number of beers might have had something to do with it. On the way back to the hotel, Beck and I decide we need to eat. Al declines and we head out to the diner in Absecon without him.

Breakfast is good. Especially after hours of drinking. It seems that all kinds of people like that diner... the "pimps" included. One in a lavendar suit, the other in a pink seersucker suit. Wow... if I thought I could've gotten a picture without getting my ass shot, I would've gone for it. I would've had the guys pose with me in the middle! By this time, it was 5 in the morning, and we needed sleep.

After a short nap, we're up at 11 and get out of the hotel by noon. Al was afraid I'd lose my newly-won money, so he suggests we head home instead of hanging out for the day. Since I'd only had a few hours of sleep, it actually sounded good. We dropped Beck off at the Philly airport on the way through, and I crashed as soon as I got home.

It was a good trip... we'll probably head out in a few hours to go back to AC today. It's a different trip, and Pauly's still there. Maybe I can convince the gods of luck to grace me with another nice little slot win. Plus, we're going to try to catch up with The Blonde and a few others while we're there. Wish me luck!

BTW - Helixx sent me to his MixDepot page to download a few house mixes he's got posted. Cool stuff! We'd been laughing about music in Eden and he was amazed at some of the crap I have on my iPod and the diversity of the music. I've added his stuff to my iPod, plus some mixes from a few of the other guys. This is great stuff for playing poker...

A weekend to remember... or if you're lucky, to forget

2006-01-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

This was actually started a few days ago. Life keeps getting in the way. :-)

___________________________________________

We headed down to the Borgata on Saturday. The original plans were to make it down on Friday night, but I was oncall for work and I had some stuff going on. I ended up finishing my work earlier than I thought. Instead of going home afterward and getting a good night's sleep, I began my weekend with a night out with Danielle. As usual, the beer flowed and we had a good night. It included a stop at our all-night diner for eggs and bacon. (Nothing is better after a night of drinking than breakfast at 1:30 in the morning.)

Saturday morning came way too quickly, but I got up decently early. Once we grabbed showers and pack a bag, we head out to AC. The drive was fairly uneventful, except for a few idiots who don't know how to get out of the left lane. Typical for any highway driving though. We arrived by 1:30 PM and head straight to the Borgata.

We were feeling pretty lucky because there didn't seem to be any traffic snarls anywhere... until we got to the Borgata. It seemed that everyone is too good to park their own cars, so the line for valet parking is looped all the way around and out onto the highway. After getting cut off by 3 or 4 people who felt that waiting in line was beneath them, I was able to get into the lane for the parking garage and find a spot. We ended up on the 4th floor, but we didn't have to park very far out at all.

The Borgata was busy, but it usually is on a Saturday. After a quick trip to the bathroom, we made our way up to the ballroom where they're holding the tourneys. Pauly was hanging out at the media table, and I gave him a huge hug. We met the other media guys and said hi to a couple of people we knew who were playing. After surveying the place, we headed downstairs to see who was playing in the poker room and how long it would be to get a chair.

The poker room was mobbed. I know it's usually busy on any given Saturday, but this was ridiculous. Most of the wait lists had at least 70-80 people on them. With several of the tables in use for event #1, it left very little for the cash game players. At that point, I knew I wasn't playing here at any time during the weekend. We ended up joining Landow in going over to Wild Wild West/Bally's.

The poker room in Wild Wild West was only running single table tourneys. With the high juice (over 30%) and silly blind structures, it was something else I wasn't interested in. Al had gone wandering and came back with Beck in tow. We decided to head over to Bally's poker room where we could get into a nice, relaxing ring game... and play the worst poker of our lives. :-) Luckily, there was much drinking involved. It made the poker seem more natural.

I actually expected Al to get thrown out of the poker room. Those that know Al know that he's usually an extremely nice person. He's very friendly and talkative. The drugged-out donkey on the other end of the table rubbed him the wrong way. Not just a little either. Towards the end, he stood up and made a few choice comments that I was positive would make sure he was escorted from the room. Luckily, Landow decided it was time to go home to take care of the dog... and he dropped us back off at Borgata.

On the way over, we decided that food was a necessity. I love the food at Noodles of the World (NoW). Yummy! We (Me, Al, Beck) took turns standing in line during the hour and a half to get in there, and -EV joined us as we approached the front. Of course, we all looked on in envy at the "black label" line - the special "high roller" line that was always shorter and took much less time to get through. By sheer force of will, I was able to keep from wandering off and playing slots. I hadn't lost anything so far, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Dinner was great, and Al graciously picked up the tab. While the guys waited for the check, I excused myself to go have a cigarette. (Of course, I figured that while I was out of sight of the guys, I could play a little slots and not get razzed for it.) I lit up and sat down at one of the quarter machines. As I'm putting in my $20, I look down and find a "black label" Borgata card. Score! I figured that even if I lost this $20, the shorter line at NoW would be worth it. (I'm not above pretending to be someone else to get special treatment.) I settle in and start hitting the button. I had gone for 4 "pulls" and gotten nothing. On the 5th pull, I get a double-bar in the first column and a 10x symbol in the second. Thinking that this was going to be another cruel slot-machine tease, I ash my cigarette and get ready to pull again. As I look back up, the machine starts making noise. I thought I'd gotten another random bar for 150 credits or so - which is still a nice little win. Nope, another 10x symbol. My jaw dropped and I almost lost my cigarette out of my hand. Of course, everyone starts looking over at me....

While waiting for the floor staff to bring back my money, I look up and see the guys walking out of the restaurant. I'm waving and yelling to try to get their attention (I sure as heck wasn't leaving my machine) but no luck. A nice Borgata server walking by offered to let him know I was trying to get their attention, and Al headed over shortly after. After collecting my winnings, we headed up to see Pauly and took off for Harrah's.

Harrah's will have to wait for another post. I've gone on too long with this... The freak show is yet to come.

Something to pass the morning...

2006-01-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

If you like mindless time-consuming games like the penguin game....

tennis ball toss

Unfortunately, I'm actually busy this morning so I only got to 47. I'll give it another shot later.

In poker news, I found a huge fish in Stud8 last night. Me. Damn, I suck. Actually, I think I was just playing at a level higher than my online bankroll can handle. And playing while sitting at the bar drinking a beer is a bad idea too. My hands should (and probably will) be slapped...

I'm not being rude, I promise

2006-01-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

I was playing on Full Tilt tonight when I had a couple of bloggers stop by to say hi. They were trying to get onto the Razz table I was playing on, but nobody was going anywhere fast. Surprisingly, there were 2 full tables of .25/.50 limit Razz when I left the table and when I checked back later, a third was on it's way to filling too.

That's not where I'm going with this though. First, someone across the table said hi... then never told me who it was. Then TripJax and Jordan chimed in to let me know they were lurking too. :-) I would've loved to play Razz with them, but I couldn't get anyone already on the table to go away. Plus, once they were watching, every great starting hand I had (like 234) went south quickly (QK on 4th and 5th streets). I gave up and watched TripJax and the mystery person play an sng (which TripJax won - nice) while playing a little low limit NLHE.

I found a nice comfy table and sat down. There's a player next to me with the name meangene11. Of course, we all love MeanGene, but is it THE Mean Gene? I was about to ask when he starts talking to someone else he knew on the table. After a minute or two, I realize it isn't the right one. Last night, there was a joemomma - which is the name of Lewey's friend that we always play poker with. Not the right one either.

I don't want people to think I'm rude if I don't say hi when I sit down, but unless I can figure out from your username (i.e. TripJax) if it's you, I usually wait a couple of minutes to try to get a clue. (Yes, I'll admit I'm usually clueless.) Of course, if you want to say hi to me first, it's always welcome. I mean, Al made sure that nobody was going to miss me. I mean, he gave me MrsCantHang.... Not many people miss that.

Actually, that's fine with me. I love when people say hi. Just don't get upset if I don't say hi to you first.

While this is still fresh in my mind...

2006-01-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

When I was playing ring games today, one of the guys at the table was asking me about the tournaments on Full Tilt Poker - what the play was like, etc. It had been a while since I'd played any tourney on Full Tilt, including the sit 'n gos. While talking to him, I started looking at the tourney list. There was a $10+1 tourney starting in under 2 minutes, so I decided to join. My second hand was pocket As - which I didn't get much of anything for - and then went pretty card dead. I played almost an hour and went out about the middle of the field.

When I busted out, I happened to look at the tourney list again and noticed a $1 tourney starting in a couple of minutes. Since I know I need to brush up on my tourney play, I decided to take a shot at that one. I mean, it was only $1, right?

I didn't get much of anything early. I was at an EXTREMELY tight table, which I wasn't expecting from a $1 tourney. Usually, there's 2 or 3 all-ins in the first 5 hands in these things. Nope, after 2 or 3 orbits, there was only a difference of a couple hundred chips between the largest and smallest stacks at the table. I was able to pick up a couple of pots, but I'm still a bit behind. Big stack of the tourney is in the 25K range.

Then came the 2s. I hate playing pocket 2s. You have to hit your hand or you're toast. I see a flop, and it's glorious - 727, rainbow. Someone in front of me bets and I raise - we go all-in and the 67 doesn't get any help. I double up to 5K.

Next time I saw 2s, I wasn't so lucky. Flop comes 2QQ rainbow. As expected, QJ calls. I'm ahead until the river, when a J hits and I'm taken down. (Maybe they took lessons from Pauly and were pointing to that spot on the board, calling for the J.) I'm not crippled, but definitely down.

I get a few hands here and there, and I keep trying to build my stack. Then I get pocket 9s. Doesn't sound like it goes with the 2s stories, right? Nope, the 2s were a major part of it. A pair of 2s and a 4 on the flop, which get checked. The turn comes another 2. Now, since I raised pre-flop with my pocket pair, I was betting that my opponent didn't have the last 2. I push, and they call. Their AQ doesn't get any help, and I take down another 7K pot. Of course the jokes start flying about the power of 2s.

My playing in the last couple of weeks hasn't been good because I've been stressed and distracted. In this tournament, I seemed to have gotten my focus back. Of course, I wasn't playing any ring games at the time, so my attention was focused on the table. ...and some good cards at the right times helped too. I built up a pretty good stack and doubled up and a few opportune times.

Al, being the good guy he is, starts sweating me and cheering me on. I don't know if it was his encouragement or the fact that I didn't want him to see me make foolish mistakes, I continued to play well. When it got close to the bubble for the money (top 53 paid), he gave me advice on how to play and I made the money. Woo-hoo!

Of course, everyone immediately loosened up. I continued to play tight, and made some chips. I watched a lot of the field fall away. When it was down to about 25, I started watching the numbers. The money amounts were starting to pick up, and I know that a $1 tourney isn't going to pay all that much but I figured it might be worth my time if I could make pay a little more.

I picked my battles well, and all of the sudden, we were playing hand by hand for the final table. I'd never made a final table of any big tourney, and I was determined. The money doubled from 10th place to 9th. With a few choice blind steals and decent hands, I lasted until the final table. I wasn't the short stack.... there was one guy with 36K and another with 50K, but I only had about 65K while everyone else was close to or over 100K.

I want to say thanks to Fact Girl, Maigrey, and Shane Nickerson for stopping by to say hi and cheer me on. I needed the encouragement! (and a reminder of the shame of getting caught if I started playing badly) lol

I let the big stacks battle it out for the most part. In one hand, the short stack went out and one of the big stacks was crippled... in a hand that I would have dominated! I was in the small blind at the time. The short stack had built up a little bit, but he went all-in. The huge stack next to him also went all-in, and was called by another guy before it even got to me. Of course, I'm staring down at a beautiful hammer. In this situation, I had to put my better judgement aside and fold it. Worst thing I could've done...

With two 2s on the flop and a 7 on the river, my hammer boat I would have dominated the winning pair of 2s with an A kicker. My cheering section was there to witness the debacle. That'll teach me not to play the hammer again...

I held on as long as I could, but I went out in 5th place. My $1 turned into $42.83 and my best tournament finish ever - 5th out of 659. Of course, it kept me from mopping my kitchen floor, but it was well worth the time.

I need to start playing more of these cheap tourneys. I know I need the practice, and I need to start focusing more on my play instead of how much money I win or lose at the tables. With the tourneys, I put my money in and I can't take it out. I think that distracts me at the tables - sometimes I wonder if I don't make the right calls because I don't want to risk everything I've earned so far.

So, I've learned that I CAN play decent in a tourney. I just need to keep reminding myself that I can play pretty good if I focus. Maybe that's the hardest part of the game...

P.S. Felicia - I was playing Razz today and was getting frustrated with all the stud-quality hands I was getting. Instead of languishing around waiting for good hands, I switched over to stud 8 instead. The first pot I played, I scooped. I played pretty good and finished up a few bucks for my time. Thanks for getting me involved in these games. I love the change of pace!

Monday morning already?

2006-01-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

The weekends pass by way too fast. I will admit that I was a complete bum this weekend. With all the boxes lying around in my basement, you would think I'd get off my lazy butt and try to get rid of them post-haste. Nope. Not this weekend. My most ambitious action this weekend was moving all my music onto my new 100GB mobile hard drive and ripping all of my cds since I now had the room. I've only used about 14-15GB, so I have lots more room. Still plenty of room on the iPod too. I love adult toys... (yeah, let your mind run with that comment)

Since I was having such a lazy weekend, I figured it was a great time for poker. I played quite a bit this weekend. It made me notice a disconcerting trend in my play. I've seemed to get rid of a little of the bad luck... I was actually getting some cards to play. I've also noticed that I'd have 3 or 4 sessions where I'd build up my bankroll, one buy-in or two at a time. Then, I'd sit down and lose anything I'd built up in one session. Some of it is getting outdrawn. Other times, it's just bad reads on other players. It's something I definitely need to work on. One major hole is not being able to recognize when someone has a set with a small to mid pair. It gets me every time... especially when I have a big pocket pair and the flop comes out all low. Just one of the problems...

I've determined that I need to take a look at what starting hands I'm playing and the position I'm playing them in. I'm not sure if I'm being too tight in late position, or too loose in early position. I've limped in early position with small pocket pairs, ATo or even AJ. I don't like to have to act first with these hands, especially after I raise. Some, like AKo, I always raise no matter what the position - unless someone has raised a decent amount in front of me. I mean, do I really need to reraise when someone has already bet the amount I would have anyways? If they have a big-ish pocket pair, it works to my advantage. If I miss the flop, I fold cheaply. If I hit the flop, I have a chance to take down a good size pot.

Another thing... I'm sick of being teased by the poker gods with quads. Yup, teased. I'd fold something like 92o in mid-position, and watch as the rest of the 9s come out on the board. I'd watch as someone bets up the pot with a pair of 10s (high card on the board) and gets beat by someone with a pocket pair of Js when they go nuts on the river. I folded the necessary card for quads at least 3 or 4 times this weekend. I guess I just have to start playing more crap cards. Or become a CJ-style luckbox. If only he could give lessons in it... :-)

P.S. BTW - sorry to anyone who'd posted a comment here over the last I don't know how many days or weeks. It seems that somehow the "moderate comments" checkbox got checked, and I didn't know it. All the comments had backed up, but I've gone and released them all now. I swear, I'd never ignore people. I love my readers!

Am I missing some ritual?

2006-01-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

The poker gods are angry with me. I think I've offended them in some way. Maybe it was the statement that I've been doing well lately and building up my bankroll. They've taken it as a sign of boasting and have determined that I need to be taken down a notch or two... or maybe I didn't sacrafice the required virgin. Whatever it is, I need to change things.

I'd been having sessions where I'd end up a little or down a little, sometimes as much as a buyin or two. More up than down, so I was feeling good about it. Over the last few days though, I can't do anything with the cards I'm dealt. The cards refuse to cooperate. The best starting hand I've gotten is pocket Qs. After many several hours on two tables, you would think I could do better than that. AK, AQ, KQ... flop would come up with a mid to high pair that didn't match mine or 3 of the same suit (of which I have none). Small to mid-pocket pairs and miss the flop every time. Someone comes out firing before it comes to me. Should I continue on? I try the occasional reraise, but in general, I can't see throwing away money on that.

Ok, enough of the whining. You get my point though. I see people playing crap and catching cards. Even mid pair is taking down pots... unless I'm in the hand. Best I can get with my hands is a mediocre pair, a gutshot draw or I miss it entirely. It's not that I'm passive in this whole thing. When I get a decent hand, I raise and use continuation bets to try to get people out of the hand. It works sometimes... more likely than not, they reraise. On occasion I'll call just to see what they have. It's been bad for the bankroll because they seem to have it every time. I mean, who calls a 4xBB raise with a K4o and catches a set of 4s on the flop? My opponents, that's who.

I've tried different times, different tables, different levels. Even different sites - PokerStars and Full Tilt. It's following me around. If anyone has an "in" with the poker gods, tell them I've been a good girl this year and all I asked Santa for this year was a nice long winning streak. It seems like Santa's forgotten this year... does the Easter Bunny ever bring anything besides eggs?

Oh boy! Talk about random hits...

2005-12-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

Out of curiousity, I went to statcounter today for the first time in months to see if there's anyone out there that's even reading the crap I put up. It seems that there is.... but how some of these people get here is mind blowing. Check out this person's path to my door. This blog's the second entry on the page. It's not even time for Mardi Gras yet...

It makes me wonder about Canadians when two people found my page with this. I only made the second page of the search with this one and fifth page with this.

Wow... maybe if I throw in more references to boobs, sex, puking, ugly chicks and the like, I can boost up my numbers even higher! I guess I'd have to actually start posting pictures then. I'll leave that up to Al.

Ugh

2005-12-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

I just spent my day off from work in the last way I thought I would... sitting at work in a lab, hacking at a 10+ year old server that should've been running just fine but wasn't. It wasn't running properly because some not-so-bright individual or individuals decided to take apart this server and move it halfway across the lab. Nevermind the fact that with an old server like this, once those drives spin down (i.e. are powered off and stop), many times they won't spin up again and need service. You could probably overlook the fact that they never even notified anyone that this work was going to be done, so when I went in to find the server, I had to hunt for 10 minutes before I found it. Let's focus on the fact that these individuals decided to do this work on the LAST WORKDAY BEFORE A LONG 4-DAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND, and when they moved it and the server didn't come back up, they LEFT IT TO ROT JUST AS IT WAS.

Heads are gonna roll when I get into work on Tuesday. Not only am I upset because I worked a full day plus some today - with a raging hangover since Danielle and I went out last night - but it's affecting Development's time schedule for a new project they're rolling out. If they think I'm bad, just wait until the development group gets their two cents in. I've already told the development guy I get first crack at the nitwits... I get to vent some of my aggressions, then they can come in for the kill. Yes, mayhem is on my mind today...

You would think this would be a bad time for poker. Not really. I jumped onto Full Tilt Poker and started playing some .10/.25 NL. I doubled up on two tables in less than half an hour. I won one hand with a lucky J (I had the flush draw on the flop and 2 overs to his pair of 7s) and had a beautiful set of Ks that nobody believed. After a few well-played hands where I won with good cards, I could get out my aggressions at the table (selectively, of course) and take down some good-sized pots with garbage or bottom pair. Just because.

There's nothing better in poker than taking down pots when you don't have the cards. Anyone can take down big pots with sets, flushes or full houses (or the wheel, depending on your game). I love the sense of victory that I get from knowing I outplayed my opponents. Fishy though they may be. I'm sure they're thinking the same thing about me though.

This pot isn't going to give the kettle too much grief though. My bankroll is growing slowly. Ever so slowly, but still going up.

A little late for Vegas...

2005-12-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

I never did share any of the stories about Vegas. I had some poker related stories (like how I lost $200 on my first hand of poker at Mandalay Bay, and won it back from the same guy 3 hands later) and some general all-around-fun stories with some of my favorite bloggers. Most of those stories should stay where they are... hidden away in the nooks and crannies of my brain. I'm sure some of the better stories will come up in future posts.

Christmas is finally done. Between the holidays and the house, I've been stressed beyond belief. I haven't even been able to think in coherent sentences, much less write anything. With the stress of Christmas over now, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of writing again.

I've already gotten back to playing some online poker. I was doing pretty good for a while... started playing over at PokerStars for the first time. I had a few good nights initially and was up about $50, then it seemed like I wasn't able to win a hand since. All my hands were second-best, regardless of what I had. Of course, when I'd get pocket As and the like, everyone would fold pre-flop to a raise that was smaller than most. Not much better playing NL at Full Tilt. I've since switched over to limit Razz for a while... Razz is good. lol

I've also taken up baking. Cookies mostly, but I have stuff for cakes and other baked products. I don't know what the heck has happened to me, but I can't help myself. I went to the store with my sister yesterday and bought a basketful of stuff just to make goodies that I won't even end up eating. I have 4 dozen cookies sitting in my kitchen right now that will end up going to work with Al tomorrow (and would've gone today, but I promised some of them to my sister). If anyone wants cookies, feel free to stop by... :-)

Better late than never...

2005-12-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm about 3 days late for a post. Vegas kicked my butt! Then I came back to two days of disaster recovery at work... another whine for another time.

First things first. I may have to take Al's last name - CantHang. Ugh. I want to know what the heck happened to my tolerance! I could use the excuse that I was sick and having problems with my wisdom teeth, but any good drinker would never resort to that. All I know is that Red Bull and Strawberry Stoli tastes WONDERFUL, but a person must remember to eat before drinking large quantities of them. Or a person will pass out even though there's a roomfull of people in the suite. And a person will have a hangover so bad the next day that they will feel like puking the entire plane ride home. Yeah, I must remember that.

On to more fun things... I had a blast! I got to catch up with some of my favorite blogging friends... damn, I miss them. I wish everyone lived closer, but it's probably a bad idea since I'd never do anything but play poker, goof off and drink. It's a great vacation, but I need to earn a living somehow... and my poker playing abilities are not going to "do it" for me.

Plenty of stories coming, I swear. I have followup from the last two days of work and I need to get that done before I can start goofing off at work again. And I plan to do plenty of that tomorrow or Monday. Until then...

Vegas, here we come!

2005-12-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

It's the day before we leave for Vegas... I've been looking forward to this all week. I've finished my work early for the day and I'm just counting down the minutes until I can escape. Woo-hoo!

In an attempt to boost my tolerance back up a little bit, I went out with Danielle last night. The night started off great when I got carded to buy cigarettes. At 32, I take that as a HUGE compliment. We went on to the social club and proceeded to drink many beers... and I swear, I was still sober after all of that. The drive is less than a half mile and I can always get a ride, but I ended up having to bring another friend home because he was in no condition to drive. A good warm up.... and we have a vendor happy hour tonight after work. Always good to be prepared.

Along with happy hour, it will be packing and preparing for tomorrow. We get in before 3 PM Vegas time, so there will still be plenty of time for drinking and carousing tomorrow. I just want to make sure I get plenty of sleep... since I won't be seeing much of the inside of my eyelids in Vegas.

I know a lot of people have published info and advice on the upcoming trip, but make sure you check out the writeup by Otis at Up for Poker.... he refers back to Pauly's great advice and adds a bit of his own. Even with this advice, you still won't believe the trip until you actually complete one. Just be prepared to go with the flow and enjoy yourself. It's worth it to keep an open mind... especially when it comes to shots of Tequila. Mmmm...

Here's to seeing old friends again and meeting up with new ones. There are plenty of people that I've talked to that I can't wait to meet... and here's to Girl's Night Out! If we make it back without an arrest, it's a good night. Remember the buddy system though... NEVER LEAVE YOUR WING(WO)MAN!

See you all soon in Vegas!

The days approaching Vegas

2005-12-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much to write about, or time to write about it. No poker has been played since Mom was visiting. It also meant that all my free time was spent with her and my sister, since Mom doesn't get to visit that often. We went shopping mostly, but with Christmas right around the corner and a new house, there was always shopping to be done.

I also took Mom down to the Boathouse for the Tuesday night freeroll. She was going in with low expectations since she didn't think she'd even won a single hand last time she'd played there. Her luck seemed better since she won the first hand, but she didn't get much for a while after that. I was doing ok - going up and down - but I wasn't feeling well (thanks to my sick officemate - jerk) and ended up just playing hands to get rid of my chips. After I left, Mom doubled up a few times and made it much farther than the rest of us. Al and BigMike were out before I left... Maybe she should be the one to come play in the Vegas tourney this coming weekend.

Speaking of... I hope I'm ready for Vegas. I haven't been practicing my drinking exercises this past week, so I'm a little out of shape on the alcohol side of things. Also, since I haven't been playing poker, I might not do so well in that arena either. Oh well... like any of this has ever stopped me before. I'm going to enjoy the company of everyone there... and that's the most important part of this trip.

Oh, the stories and pictures... that will never go anywhere since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Right? Not with the bloggers... hehehehe Stay tuned.

Bar Poker

2005-11-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

Played in the freeroll again tonight. I swear, my first hand was KTo which I had to fold on the flop, then I went card dead for about 45 minutes. I wasn't getting cards higher than an 8, and even then they weren't connectors or suited. Ugly stuff. I was on a table with Al, BigMike, Lewey, JDub, and a few other friends, so I had a fighting chance to bluff, but the opportunity never presented itself. It kept me from losing money on hands since I wasn't playing much of anything, but the blinds did take me down a bit.

The best thing that happened to me was when I got shifted to another table. There was more dead money on that table than I could believe. Damn, I should've started there! They'd call down ANYTHING... I saw one hand where a guy went all-in for a decent size stack with Q8o when a K84 flop came, and was called by A7o. The A7 didn't improve and knocked her down quite a bit. She went all in the next hand (even though she had more than 100 in chips with 4/8 blinds) with garbage and was knocked out. Table chipleader to out in 2 hands. Ugly stuff. I doubled up plus some when my AJs met Q9s and ended up with two pair. It got me back a comfortable chipstack.

In a twist of fate, I got shifted back to the table that I'd come off of. By this time, blinds are 10/20. I get dealt pocket 10s and raise to 2.5x BB, but nobody wants to play. Next hand, pocket Qs. Yahoo! Again, raise to 2.5x BB, but I get a caller. Flop comes out ugly - AK6 rainbow. I act first, and fire out another 3x BB. Whatever the other guy had, he figured I had something better and folded. Unfortunately, my luck left me at that point and I was back to getting 74o. After getting blinded down, I find AJs UTG and go all in - which was unfortunately a little more than 2x BB. Lewey calls me and BB folds. He flops over AJo, and without a flush we split the pot. Nothing else comes and I go all in when the BB gets to me... and lose. I was out in 10th place, but I thought that was pretty good for the crap I was getting.

No online poker tonight. Fighting with my blog right now... and I think it's' winning. Note the new Full Tilt Poker banner... looks nice, huh? Yeah, but I'm having problems getting it to populate every where I want it. Ugh. I need a crash course in html...

Movin' on up!

2005-11-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

I got to play a decent amount of poker this weekend. Of course, this meant that I didn't buy new couches for my living room or clean out half the number of boxes I wanted to. There has to be a tradeoff somewhere - work or sanity. I chose sanity.

After some tentative past forays into the next level (.25/.50 NL) on Full Tilt, I've moved up there permanently. I am an admittedly very low-limit player on the conservative side. I found that the playing style actually works better for me there, and I did pretty well this weekend. Even taking a hit with some horrible suckouts, I made $120+ in 8 hours or so. The suckouts were ugly - lost $40+ in two hands, one right after the other. AK vs. AJ, and he caught a runner-runner straight against my two pair. If that wasn't bad enough, on the other table I get my AK killed when A2o calls my all-in and catches a 2 on the river. I made all of that up and more over the course of the following couple hours.

The amusing part of the afternoon comes when Al pops onto my table from the Boathouse, where he's watching football with BigMike and some of the other guys. I'd made a semi-questionable play when I did a little chasing for a flush and caught. The individual I was in the hand with took more than a little offense that I stayed in against his naked A (which was EXTREMELY obvious) that had paired. He proceeded to berate me over and over... it wouldn't have been so pathetic if he'd had anything to say other that I was a dumb F U K and that I sucked. If the disparaging comments were original, I might have cared. Obviously, this guy was just an idiot so I let him go. Al didn't. He offered to play the dumb guy heads up and tried to goad the guy into rebuying so I could take his money again. When the guy finally left the table (after many more you and your wife suck comments), Al decided to keep him company on several of the tables. Al is tenacious as hell, especially after a few shots of SoCo.

All in all, a good weekend. If I can get the rest of my stuff unpacked soon, I hope to have many more just like this one....

Sitting in the Waiting Room...

2005-11-18T01:21:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in the waiting room of the Nissan Dealership, where I'm waiting for an oil change and making them check for a few little things that should be covered under my warranty. I should be at work, but I told my boss that I'd bring my laptop and work on some documentation I need to get updated. When I got here, I threw in my wireless card on the off chance that some business or individual set up a wireless network and didn't bother to lock it down. Since my lucky streak seems to be holding (I even found a lucky penny, heads up, from my birthyear in the parking lot walking to my truck), I was able to find a network with an excellent signal. So what do I do... log into work? Hell no! I fire up the browser and start doing personal stuff. Like updating my blog.

My poker playing has been way down lately. I did play for a little bit the other night, but the results have been mixed. Sometimes I'll drop a buy-in (or even two), but I usually make it up plus by the end of the session. I know that the levels that I play at are not conducive to large wins, but they also keep me from taking huge losses too.

I'm wondering if I get too aggressive on hands where maybe I should hold back a little bit. I know that I have to be aggressive to keep people from making their draws, but sometimes it doesn't seem like it does any good. (I know that I want this to happen since I'll be ahead in the long run, but...) Other times, that same aggression gets me in trouble with things like a flopped set with a baby pocket pair... I know I can't help people who slow-play, but if I'm in mid-position with someone behind me, I find that I build the pot for them to take. If I don't bet it, they bet and I can't tell if it's a push-out move or if they really have something...

I did get a compliment the other day from one of the better players who always seems to be up pretty big when I see him playing (which is usually most times I'm playing). After I lost a buy-in, he complimented me on my play and told me that I'd made a great play but there was no way that I could have put him on the hand he had. I don't know if he was trying to placate the fish, but... it was a case of all limpers, big pre-flop raise in the big blind with big slick, and it went to heads-up. Flop comes K 6 4. I have TPTK, bet the pot. Other player raises me 2x my bet. It looked like a scare tactic to me - he had a king but lower kicker and he wanted me out. With that board, I was positive it wasn't two pair. I doubled his bet and he pushed me all-in. I was pot committed at this time and it was only a few more dollars to call. He had pocket 4s... didn't even enter my mind. With the pre-flop raise, I wouldn't have expected someone to call with such a low pair. Did I play this wrong?

So I know I won't ever be winning the World Series of Poker, but at least I'll look cool sitting at the table now... I got my new iPod set up last night. The other MP3 player I bought wasn't an iPod since I'd heard how much of a pain they were to use and set up... their new software fixes a whole lot of that! My pitiful little 2000 songs barely makes a dent in the 60 GB I have to work with. It's so damn cool too! I can put movies and videos on it and have that to watch on the way to Vegas... or at the tables when I'm losing. lol It's only got enough room for 150 hours of video, so if anyone has any cool movies that I can put on here...

Ok, ok... so I'm actually going to get some work done. I can't let my boss think I'm a complete screw-up. For my next post, I'll be working on trying to get the women together for some of our own "events". We're equal when it comes to the poker tables, but the women have a definite advantage at the bar... and we need to plan a "storming" of some of the hot spots/cool lounges.

As long as nobody takes pictures, we should be good. What happens in Vegas...

Quick Check-in

2005-11-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

I have so much to catch up on! I have new people to link up and maybe some actual poker content.... but I'm moving offices today so no time yet.

I just had to share my happy little story this morning. I'd gone out this weekend and bought a pretty cool Creative ZenPhoto 8GB MP3 player... it's supposed to have great sound quality and easy to use. I got it home, all set to install the software when I find out it only works on XP, not 2000 like I have on my laptop. I don't really want XP, but I figured I'd either have to update my personal PC or wait until I got my new work laptop. I hadn't done anything about it yet...

Well, now I don't have to. :-) I got into work this morning and found out that I'd won a prize in a company drawing I'd been short-listed for. I am now the proud owner of a new 60 GB iPod, plus the universal dock and a $100 gift card for iTunes. I know what I'll be doing today while waiting to move.

What a nice way to start a slightly hung-over Thursday morning! Maybe Al will be getting a ZenPhoto for Christmas...

Poker? I don't even know her...

2005-11-08T22:01:00.000-08:00

Haven't been able to play the poker I've wanted to play this week. I did get in a short session yesterday, but it was after I'd gone for a couple of drinks with Danielle. Not good, but for some reason, I feel the need to play poker after I've had a few beers. Maybe I'm just gearing up for Vegas...

I sit down and open up a table on Full Tilt. First hand in, I get pocket Ks. Make a few bucks there. Next hand, big slick - flop comes king high. I had a couple more hands like that, and even without going to showdown, I've doubled up. Sweet! I play for a little while longer, and a few small pocket pairs bring me down a few bucks when they don't hit. I still netted a few bucks.... always a bonus.

I should be at the Boathouse playing poker tonight. Instead, I did the responsible thing and went shopping for some of the million things that the new house needs. I now have 2.5 bathrooms instead of one, so I had to get wastebaskets, soap holders, towels, etc. I needed new trash cans, so I got really cool square ones with wheels so I won't have to carry them anymore. Then, there's always the normal household goods that we need after not shopping for a month and a half. I know I forgot a whole lot of stuff, but I was tired of shopping by that point and just wanted to get home and put stuff away.

Things are going slowly but steadily in the house. We've made dinner here several times, and even had a few guests. I feel bad about people having to sit on the living room floor, but I haven't gotten couches yet. Or a tv stand. Or the washing machine out of my living room. Yes, you're reading that correctly. Long story, but the guys who delivered it were whiners who didn't want to lift it upstairs because "it's too heavy". Wah, what am I paying you for? We're having a couple of friends stop by tomorrow to help us get it upstairs. I'm hoping the couches will be this weekend's purchase. Little by little...

And I'm doing my best not to ignore this little blog. I wish I had something a little more exciting to write about, but nope, just the whining about the house. Hopefully this gets done soon, and I can move on to better topics... like the wild parties that we're having in the new house!

Sick of boxes!

2005-11-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

I couldn't take it any more! I'd had enough... it was a gorgeous day, the temperature was above 70 degrees, and I couldn't stand to be inside anymore. So what did I do? Grab the laptop and head out to the deck for some poker!

I had a great session. I seemed to be able to read most of the players on the table and very rarely was wrong. It didn't mean that I didn't lose a buyin or two, but I turned $10 into almost $50 on one table. I ended up about $30, after all was said and done.

I buckled down and got more work done around the house. After a couple of hours, I decided that it was time for another fresh air break. Back out to the deck with the laptop. I was only able to get onto one .10/.25 NL table, so I figured "what the heck" and scrolled down the list to the .25/.50 NL tables. There happened to be one open, so I bought in for $20. (I've learned that I do better when I don't buy in for the max amount for the table.)

Things were slow at first. Wasn't getting great cards, and those I did missed the flop completely. I dropped to about $13 and thought about just giving up, but if I'm going to try to move up levels, I have to start sometime. I ended up getting pocket 7s, and called a 2x bb raise preflop. The flop comes 733, and life is good. I end up doubling up when someone else has pocket Qs and doesn't catch. I have to wait a little bit for more playable cards and drop down to about $21, then I go back up again when I get some good cards. I wish I could remember the hand better, but I ended up taking out two people when by pocket 10s caught a set and the AK/pocket Qs my two opponents had went down in flames. When all was said and done, I was up $55 for the session on that table.

I felt really comfortable on the tables today. Maybe I just needed a little break from playing (like the time spent moving) to allow the fog to clear. If I have time, I want to try to get two or three more short sessions in this week to see if I'm getting better or today was just an upswing of variance. I'm hoping that I've finally gotten to the point in the learning cycle where I'm making progress again.

Languishing....

2005-11-04T15:38:00.000-08:00

House moving is in full swing! It's been 5 years since we'd moved, and I'd forgotten just how bad it is. If nothing else, it's the chance I've needed to throw stuff away! I've actually gotten rid of more shoes than I've kept... it's so sad.

Only poker I've played is the freeroll at the Boathouse on Tuesday night. I went into it saying that I was going all in soon, so they'd better watch out. I had two good hands early - JTo that turned into a straight, and pocket Js that made a set on the flop. I went up a pretty good amount, then languished (just like this blog) for the next hour or so. Nothing above a J. Not even an A-little. I'd played some suited connectors, but they didn't pan out.

I'm starting to get low, and my friend Danielle calls - she wants to go out. I get my next hand - QJs. I go all in and take the blinds, which were 5/10 at the time. I laugh and say I'm going all in again on the next hand. I look down to find pocket rockets. PERFECT! I go all in, and just one guy calls me. Imagine the surprise on his face... he had KQo and was just about even with me. I knocked him out and figured I'd play for a little more.

Two hands later, I see pocket 10s. We're down to 5 or 6 people on the table, so I push all-in. Get one caller - BB with pocket Qs. I was ahead after the flop with a set, but the BB made a runner runner straight and I was gone.

It worked out ok though. Danielle and I headed up to a little private social club we just became members of, and drank for the rest of the night for free. Yup, you heard me right. The bartenders wouldn't even charge us for a drink. How could you not like that? I left a $15 tip to say thanks, but I paid for it the next day. As usual.

More moving tonight. More cleaning. More buying of stuff for the house that we need and I didn't think about. More aspirin. Just wake me when it's over....

It's official!

2005-10-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

My hand still has cramps from the number of papers I've signed today. After all that, we officially have a home of our own. We've spent all kinds of money and waited 18 months for the place... but I have to say, it's definitely worth it!

The place is beautiful! All nice and shiny and new... and ours. I wandered around the place today a million times, just looking at things. It's amazing... knowing you spent that much on a place, but it's all worth the pain and suffering. Al's already dreading the reduction in bar time, but....

(It's also nice to know that the value has already gone up 25% upon signing. Thanks to our friend for letting us know about the new construction! If you're ever in the area and need a home, let us know... we have a great real estate agent! Have to give her a little promotion...)

I'm beat. I haven't been sleeping well over the last couple of days. I will sleep well tonight... or at least I'd better. There's all kinds of work to be done over the next few weeks. I'm finding that there are all kinds of personality changes when you buy a house... I visited not one but TWO Home Depots today and enjoyed myself immensely! What is this world coming to?

Man, this is rambling... I need to sleep! I promise to post more - with pictures - when I can function normally again. This may take a while... :-)

BEWARE: New Date Rape Drug

2005-10-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Bobby Bracelet was a victim of this one... it could happen to you!

:-)

POLICE WARNING:
Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties and local pubs to be alert and stay cautious when offered a drink from any woman. Many females use a date rape drug on the market called ...Beer. The drug is found in liquid form and available anywhere. It comes in bottles, cans, from taps and in large "kegs".

Beer is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and have sex with them. A woman needs only to get a guy to consume a few units of Beer and then simply ask him home for no strings attached sex. Men are rendered helpless against this approach.

After several Beers, men will often succumb to the desires to perform sexual acts on horrific looking women whom they would never normally be attracted.

After drinking Beer, men often awaken with only hazy memories of exactly what happened to them the night before, often with just a vague feeling that "something bad" occurred.

At other times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life's savings, in a familiar scam known as a "relationship". In extreme cases, the female may even be shrewed enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer term form of servitude and punishment referred to as "marriage". Men are much more susceptible to this scam after Beer is administered and sex is offered by the predatory females. Please! Forward this warning to every male you know.

If you fall victim to this beer and the women administering it..... There are male support groups where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter with similarly affected like-minded guys. For the support group nearest you, just look up "Golf Courses" in the phone book.

953

2005-10-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Damn, did I suck today on the PokerStars blogger tourney or what? I couldn't catch cards today to save my life. Pocket Js were my best hand and I lost on those. I was able to pick up some chips by stealing blinds, but even min bets when I caught a hand made everyone fold. That's the way you lose a tourney I guess. I lost with flying colors!

After the tourney, I decided to play some cash games at PokerStars. I found a nice little .10/.25 NL table and settled in with $10. At first, people were raising on every hand, but then the limping started. It limped around to me with pocket 8s. I raised and was min re-raised, so I called. Caught an 8 on the flop and got all-in between turn and river. The guy showed pocket As, but it was no match for my trip 8s. I went along with the limping on the next few hands - caught two flushes with 89s and 9Ts and was up to 3x my original buy-in. One of the hecklers across the table starts ripping into me, asking me how I liked being a newbie and how PokerStars takes care of their fish. I made a few comments about how easy it was to tell when someone had a hand, especially with the crap I'd seen played for the last two turns around the table. I ended the conversation with "I have some tissues for your crying if you need 'em :-)". I figured that the guy on tilt would be great for the bankroll, but he left nobody else would play with me. Darn...

I know I said this before, but there probably won't be much more poker until after we close on the house. I just went out this weekend and bought a refrigerator, washer and dryer. $2600 in one shot, but that includes warranties, deliveries and taxes. I found some great stuff at nice prices. A little above what I'd budgeted, but they're good appliances and I hope not to have to replace them within the next 10 years or so. (Did I mention that the washer will hold 30 days of laundry detergent so all I have to do is throw in the clothes and turn it on? Whee!) Closing is Thursday, and appliances get delivered on Saturday. I still need to get the phone, cable and other utilities set up. I have to make sure all my paperwork is in and everyone has what they need. I'm surprisingly not shaking in my slippers right now. I'm sure that I'm going to lose my stomach over the next few days, but I'm too tired to worry about it right now.

Anyone who's willing to come over and give a little help - I pay in booze and home-cooked meals. Hint, hint. :-)

Home again

2005-10-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

I made it back to PA. Luckily, the hurricane slowed down and we didn't see any problems with the flight. Only my hangover....

Last night was the closing party for the conference. HP bought out Pleasure Island in Disney until 11 PM, and everything was open for us. I met up with some of the guys I'd made friends with over the last couple of days, and we started in on a long drinking session. Since the games were open too, the guys decided they wanted to "test their strength" on the game where you use the mallet to try to reach the top of the tower. One of the guys had already tried and hit top once. He tried again and was able to do it twice. They convinced me to try next - told me that they tweak down the strength and give me a smaller mallet. I'd already had a few beers by this point, so I was up for it. I walk up, and the guy just stands there holding the big manly mallet. I comment that I guess I'm using the big one. He belatedly offers to get me the smaller one, but I like 'em big. :-) I took my first swing, and I made it about 60 - better than quite a few of the guys ahead of me. By this time, a crowd had gathered and started cheering me on, and I gave a few more good swings. I topped out at 88. Even though I didn't made the 100 mark, the guy still gave me a stuffed monkey. Another guy in our group goes next, and hits a 55. One of the wandering entertainment guys on stilts starts heckling, making sure that everyone knew that a girl had beat him. He hit a 92 on his last one, so his pride came out intact.

Like many other places, smoking is not allowed in the bars. We had the option of either drinking in cool or smoking and drinking in the heat. This was a great dilemma until we hit the cigar shop. The guys needed smokes, so we stopped in and found a nice air conditioned place where we were allowed to smoke. It was right next to one of the beer carts, so there was no problem with the booze supply either. I actually smoked a cigar last night. The guys picked out a very mild one, and I learned how not to inhale while smoking. Very odd concept, especially while drinking.

Many more drinks were consumed, but we all had a great time. We sat around trading stories, then we decided to hit one of the clubs with a bunch of games. Air hockey was played, and I won my games. Time flew by. The bars were closing, and I had to catch a cab back to the hotel. I got back and played some drunk poker (bad, bad, bad) then crashed. Morning and my flight came way too quick.

On a positive note, I got a response to the apologetic email I sent to my new Sun buddy. Luckily, he forgave me and was kind enough to tell me that I wasn't as obnoxious as I'm sure I was. He'll be in the area (sort of) over the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to meet up with him and buy him some drinks. Luckily, my big mouth didn't seem to hurt me this time!

Drinking and being Disney-ized

2005-10-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

I passed my certification test! Woo-hoo! First try. I needed a score of 65 to pass, and I got an 81. I'm cool... Now I have my first certification. If I can use my "free pass" to take another test, I'm going to take the Advanced Administration test. No studying. If I pass, great. If not, I don't care. Plus, I won a $200 Best Buy gift card from one of the vendors! If it was only the new laptop instead... Nonetheless, I achieved my objective for the Admin test, and the conference is a success for me, regardless.

I'm enjoying Orlando, but everything here is "kid-friendly". Dammit. (One of the guys told me that he's staying at a Disney resort and it seems that the only TV channels he has are Disney. He actually heard a bastardization of the adage "Don't shit where you eat" on one of the shows - "Don't work where you food." What is this world coming to?) All family restaurants and the like. All of the bars are parts of restaurants... unless you go to Pleasure Island and want to spend at least $10 on cover charge. Of course, that's where we ended up last night. I've found some of the "cool kids" here at the conference. While having a smoke, I started talking to a guy named Scott from Edminton, Canada. He's got the same sick sense of humor as I do, and I saw him at every smoke break in between sessions. Since I had nothing planned for the evening, we decided to hit a couple of bars to celebrate my certification.

We definitely celebrated. We headed to the Lone Star steakhouse near the hotel for dinner before drinking. The only mistake of the evening. The food was crappy and the steak was overdone and dry as a bone. Since I was already a few beers into it and had eaten a bit of the appetizer, I didn't bother sending it back. His was worse - still overdone but greasy as heck. We decided we needed to get out of the place. We headed over to the other restaurant/bar near the hotel, Bahama Breeze. They have an outdoor deck, so we figured it would be a good place to drink. We also inquired about other bars, but the cabbie said that there was nothing around so we'd have to go into Orlando. The cab fares are outrageous here, so Bahama Breeze it was!

We get settled in and the drinks are flowing. I got a call for a dial-a-shot from Al, and Scott thought the concept was funny but drank his shot all the same. He ordered a different shot - one that I'd never heard of but something he gets in Canada all the time. The bartender made it wrong, so of course he had to try again and we got another free shot out of the deal.

This is where the night gets interesting. A guy sits down next to me at the bar - not an uncommon occurrance. He's wearing a polo with the Sun logo embroidered on it. We're at an HP conference, so we start picking at him about drinking with the enemy. He's a fun guy and we have several more drinks with him (which he paid for at least one or two). He remarks that the scene was kind of dead (which it was), and we agree but tell him we don't have a car to go anywhere else. He says he has a car, but if we'd like to go to Pleasure Island, he'd pay for the cab ride. Score!

At Pleasure Island, we found out about the exorbitant covers for the club - $10 for one club, $30 for a club hopper pass. We just wanted the one bar with a band, so we chose the singe - which Sun guy paid for also. We head in, and Sun guy starts a tab - tells us that his company will pay for all the drinks. Score again! We proceed to have several more drinks, and I made each of the guys dance with me several times - which was like pulling teeth since neither likes to dance, but I was not to be denied.

At one point, we're standing around the bar and discussion gets around to Sun's Solaris product. I open my big mouth and tell him all the things I think are wrong with the O/S. He smiles at me and asks me what I think he does - I'm thinking sales since he gets the company to pay for stuff. He said that he was a tekkie and would bring the suggestions back. Of course, I find out the next day from Scott that Sun guy (according to him) was the lead tech in the development of Solaris' kernel and was the one who wrote all of this. Oops! Put my foot right in my big mouth! He didn't seem to be offended though, and I escaped unscathed.

The bar closed at 2, and we get kicked out. The arcade next to the bar was still open, and we head in for a couple of games of car racing. I lost the first race against Scott, but I won the race against both of the guys - and I was driving stick while the guys were using automatics! Shame on them...

The night ended shortly after, and I crashed. I woke up in the morning with an Al-sized headache, but a couple of aspirin and some water fixed me right up. I got dressed and headed to the conference (after missing my two morning sessions). I didn't realize my next session wasn't until 3:30, so I'm sitting on the outside patio enjoying the warm Orlando weather and writing this. Even with the slight hangover, it's still a better day than being at work!

I'll be doing some shopping later on tonight or tomorrow. They've got an awesome outlet mall within walking distance. One of the guys on the shuttle saw the Polo logo on my t-shirt and started telling me about the stuff he got. They have t-shirts 3/$10 and all kinds of awesome deals. I just can't help myself.

I've also dropped the "business" part of the business casual dress code. Plenty of people were wearing jeans on day one, so of course I have to. It seems to be the trend - everyone's moving to jeans. If I'd only known, I wouldn't have needed to buy the two pair of khakis. Next time, I'm only buying one for the first day!

Hello from Orlando!

2005-10-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in a hands-on lab for system troubleshooting practices. Seems that they've planned it well since the system wasn't prepared for the lab and we're troubleshooting the problems with it. Cable problem. Stuff not set up. Kind of fun - more than I'd probably learn from the lab otherwise. The purpose of this lab is to teach you the process of troubleshooting, not the tools to troubleshoot with. Why did I sign up for this? I was in support for 4 years and know how to troubleshoot. I was the one who told him that he probably had a problem with the cable - and dammit, I was right! Oh well. He also told us how to access the internet while the systems being fixed up. So, here I am!

Orlando has been ok so far. Yesterday was a bit hellish though. Silly me, I offered to be bumped from my flight so I could get a free ticket (thinking Vegas in December). The next flight was at 4 PM, so I would still be in by 6:30 PM and all set for the conference today. Ha ha - what was I thinking. The first flight went out on time, but my new flight was delayed almost an hour. They were able to make time up on the way, but I was afraid that the shuttle to the hotel would stop running since it was only scheduled to run until 7 PM. Luckily, they extended it and I got to the hotel.

Now, if that was only the hotel I had reservations at, it would have been much better. :-) It seems that there are two Courtyard Marriotts at Lake Buena Vista, and I was booked at the other one about 5 miles away. Great. It might as well have been 500 miles away since I didn't have a rental car and the conference shuttle didn't run to that hotel. The desk guy was great and got my reservations cancelled at the other hotel, then made new ones at their site. I made sure to send my boss an email and let him know it was going to be $30 more a night. Hey - I tried to follow company policy and look where it got me. Damn corporate travel agents.

After an awesome dinner of cajun shimp pasta (yum yum!), I crashed. (Actually, I tried to get onto Full Tilt, but their "high speed" internet access sucks. It was timing out trying to find websites like google and aol.) I figured that since I actually had to look presentable today, I had to get up early. Like an hour before my usual time. I actually IRONED MY CLOTHES today! I thought hell was going to freeze over with that one. My clothes didn't have any burn marks, so I was happy.

I get to the conference by 8:15 AM (after the continental breakfast at the hotel) and start with the meetings. Yawn, for the most part. I've learned some cool things for work, and I definitely have plans running through my brain. After a pretty good lunch (lots of veggies and roast pork tenderloin), I've ended up here. Drinking my Diet Pepsis (for caffeine to stay awake) and messing around on the internet. Of course, I thought of you, my dear reader. (Yeah, I know there's only one of you out there, and I appreciate it Al, but I already married you.)

More to come, I'm sure. I don't plan on doing much tonight except study. I have a 3 hour span tomorrow where I should be able to take my certification test. Wish me luck - I need to pass this! (If not, I'll be spending my own money to take it again on Thursday. I need that money for Vegas!) Yeah, that, and there aren't many cool people here to hang out with. I'm surrounded by Geeks! Usually that's not a bad thing, but I haven't found the cool ones yet. I'm going to keep looking...

Power Tools and Packing Up

2005-10-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

I've never been known to be the most graceful woman on earth. I mean, I don't fall over my own feet when I walk, but I've had plenty of injuries in the past. Messed up my right knee roller skating and finished it (along with my ankles) off with 3 years of high school volleyball. Many sets of stitches. Sprained wrist when I hit a deer with my car. Car accidents in July or August of 3 consecutive years. I'm past that now... I've come a long way since the days when I gave myself a black eye in batting practice for softball.

So, why does my husband turn 3 shades of pale when I tell him I was working with a power saw earlier that day? He visibly cringes when I start talking about how I was putting up tyvek lining on the side of a house - two stories up near the roof. Our company support the United Way and allows us to take work days to help out the local communities. I volunteered to help repair a 95 year old woman's house. It needed lots of work, and including replacing a toilet and residing part of the house. I like doing physical work - my job has me sitting on my butt most of the day. I'm actually pretty good doing that type of stuff. I'm a little sore, but it's that good type of sore that lets you know you accomplished something. Otherwise, I'm completely unhurt.

He'd better get used to me using power tools. We close on our house in 12 days. Twelve whole days, and I have all kinds of plans for the house. Installing ceiling fans and new light fixtures. Repainting several rooms. Finishing the basement. I'm going to have to be up on ladders doing work. I'll be helping cut and put up drywall, along with building a set of cabinets in the basement. I'm looking forward to it. Not the actual moving, but having a place of our own will be so worth it!

The next couple of weeks will be a blur. I leave tomorrow for a week in Orlando for a conference. I have an HP-UX certification test or two to take while I'm there. I get back on Friday and have to prep for updating 4 servers on Sunday. Back to work for 3 days, then close on the house Thursday. Four days of painting and installing fixtures, split with another Sunday of updating servers. Getting the new appliances delivered on Monday. Moving in and getting things put away. (If anyone living close is good at painting, I pay in beer and good food. I'd love the help!) :-)

Poker will be limited for the foreseeable future. I'm looking forward to the blogger tourney on the 23rd. It will be good to play against everyone again. Vegas is still up in the air. By that time, I'm sure I'll need the vacation. Until then, I'll be doing everything I can to keep my sanity. What little I have left...

No poker for you!

2005-10-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't had 10 minutes to play poker since the weekend. I had to go shopping for business casual clothes for my conference next week, and I had a date last night. Yes, the married woman had a date. Before anyone starts to think that I'm crazy, it was a friend that I used to work with and was in my wedding. We've stayed really good friends over the years... and besides, I'm lacking a lot of what he's looking for in a relationship (like a penis). We had a great time, and I got to hang out with my old team. I'm just a little tired today.

After dinner last night, a bunch of us went to another bar to hang out and relax. Of course, the topic always turns to stories of the old times when we were young and stupid. (Now, we're just old and stupid.) We began to reminisce about my time working with them, and my "going away" party was brought up. My date was highly amused because the last shot of Yukon Jack he bought me that night was the one that sent me over the edge and puking on an hour ride home. I got a little payback in last night though. When I went to order another round, I made sure that he got a shot of Yukon Jack, just for old times' sake. I owe him so many more of those...

Tonight is dedicated to the mortgage. Ick. Finishing up the paperwork and working with the mortgage broker to get the final pieces done. I know very little about mortgages, so she's been walking me through every step of the way. She's explained a lot to me about all the different kinds of mortgages there are, but I have a few more questions to clear up before we put the pens to paper. That should be done tonight, and it's one more item off my checklist.

I can't wait until the next 3 weeks are over. The conference and my certification test will be done, the house will be ours, and I can finally relax. Sort of. I'll still be moving stuff in and decorating and the like. I want to get a bunch of painting done the first weekend we move in, but Al thinks I'm crazy. I know that since it's a new construction that there will be nail pops and patching that will need to be done, but I don't think I could live in an all-white painted house for a year. I'll repaint sections as necessary, but I need to make this place mine. Oh yeah, and Al's too. The guys are already working on the plans for the poker tables. He has his priorities and I have mine...

The Weekend in Poker

2005-10-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

...for me. Unlucky as hell, at least in the beginning. I'm sure I could've played my hands a little stronger, but I was getting slapped left and right by the deck and not in a good way. The first time my pocket As got cracked by pocket 3s, I figured that those things would happen. The guy caught trips on an otherwise harmless flop and I fell right into it. When I got another set of pocket As 20 minutes later, I got really annoyed when I put QJ all-in after the Q-high flop...and the J came on the river. Not much long after, my beautiful pocket As ran up against J9o, which held in for a gutshot straight on the turn. I don't slow play my As. I've seen them cracked when you try to sucker in as many people as possible. I usually only had one or two callers pre-flop. It seemed that it was enough. I hadn't even thought to keep track of the other bad beats.

That was yesterday. Today would be different, right? Wrong. It started with pocket Qs losing to KQo on an all low flop. The guy made a small bet, and I pushed all in. He calls... next card is that king. Another pair of pocket As - J high flop, he bets, I push all in... and yeah, it was the river that brought the K this time. I was ready to give up right there...

...then I thought about it. My cards were the best when I got all of my money in (except for those damned 3s). I played really well otherwise. I was thinking I could've raised more pre-flop, but I'm not going to get anywhere taking just a quarter or two. I want one person to call, two if I'm feeling bold.

So I keep playing, and this hand happens - which reminds why I play on these tables. [I'm not just posting a hand history I promise - but you have to see how it went to understand why I love this place so much.] BTW - the comments make more sense if you know that my icon is a cat (which just happens to look exactly like mine).

Seat 6: stop_six ($24.15)
Seat 8: MrsCantHang ($12.80)
MrsCantHang posts the small blind of $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MrsCantHang [Qd Ac]
stop_six raises to $0.60
MrsCantHang calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [Qh 9c Qc]
MrsCantHang checks
stop_six bets $1
MrsCantHang raises to $2
stop_six raises to $3
MrsCantHang raises to $4
stop_six calls $1
*** TURN *** [Qh 9c Qc] [6s]
MrsCantHang bets $8.20, and is all in
stop_six calls $8.20
MrsCantHang shows [Qd Ac]
stop_six shows [9s Td]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 9c Qc 6s] [Qs]
MrsCantHang shows four of a kind, Queens
stop_six shows a full house, Queens full of Nines
MrsCantHang wins the pot ($24.60) with four of a kind, Queens

DxMagneto: lol nh
MrsCantHang: thx
stop_six: the big blind flops quads, wow.
DxMagneto: small blind
MrsCantHang: I was staying in w/the AQ anyways, but....
DxMagneto: beautifully played kitty
stop_six: beautifully played?
stop_six: how the !&!$ hard is it to play that
DxMagneto: she made u call all in
stop_six: ..I would've called if you had gone all in initally
DxMagneto: dont be mad puppy, cats rule!
stop_six: man these low limits are annoying

I mean really... does anyone else think T9o is such an awesome hand? I know most people would have raised in that situation, but I wanted to hide the strength of my hand a little bit and make some money on the hand instead of having everyone fold. Plus, he raised for me... let the dumb man do all the work! :-)

The comments were what really made me realize why I still play. There are people like that out there that will call all-ins with crap. I stayed around and ended up tripling up a couple of times, which made back everything I lost plus quite a bit more.

Now, if this would only happen at the higher stakes, I'd be all set!

I suck

2005-10-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

And not in the "good way" either. I didn't get drunk last night, I'm not hung over this morning, and I suck at bowling.

It started out pretty good. I'd only subbed one other time for this league, and my average from that night was a 154. Pretty good for a chick, huh? Last night started out good. First game was a 163 and we beat the other team by 10 pins, even though one of the other guys had 6 strikes in a row and bowled 100 pins over his average. Second game wasn't so good - 129. Everyone has a bad game, and usually it's the middle one for me. Third game, I'm lucky I could find the lane, much less the pins! I swear, they kept jumping out of the way whenever I tried to hit them. I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't even break 100. Heck, I didn't break 90. My lowly 88 was the reason we lost the third game and total pins. So it was declared that I suck, and not in the good way.

I did drink, but I was oncall for work and had to be prepared in case I got called. Now that I no longer have any backup, I actually have to start staying sober for work. Dammit! At least it's Friday. I'll be oncall until Monday, so I'm prepared for a very rainy and very sober weekend in the house.

I guess I should start packing anyways. We finally have a settlement date for the townhouse we signed for in April of 2004. The basement will become the party room, complete with poker tables! That will be fun to set up...

Just 3 more weeks to settlement. Then I'm going to have to start making money at poker to pay for my drinking habits. I need a crash course! :-)

The site was down, I swear....

2005-10-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

I was planning on posting last night after work, but they took the site down for maintenance. I know I've been slacking off on the writing, but it really wasn't my fault yesterday...

On Wednesdays, I always write about the freeroll the night before. This Tuesday, I can honestly say I felt good about my play. I think it was better than it had been in a long time. I was steadily building my stack. We had a guy on the table who'd been drinking and was uber-aggressive... kind of like Lewey on a bender, but I've played with Lewey before and I can read him a little better. Drunk guy took out one guy, then someone else took out Landow and drunk guy took out him! He was big stack, but I was still above average pretty high up on the food chain for our table. Then, they broke up another table and we ended up with 4 new additions. We played for a while, and I ended up losing some chips when my best hand went to worst with the turn of a few cards.

The new additions included a guy who was pretty easy to read. Whenever he had a middle to low pair, he'd overbet to take the pot. He happened to do that while I held AQs. Blinds were 4/8 getting ready to go up and I needed to make a move. I knew he had a middle pair - I called. It turned out to be pocket 10s. It was a classic race. I flopped a jack, but there were 3 hearts on the board. Of course, I was suited in diamonds. The turn brought another heart and I was done - one of his tens were hearts. I still think I made the right call, which is a change since I usually beat myself up over how I go out. Since I was out, I sat and talked to the woman I was sitting next to.

Her and her boyfriend have been coming to the Boathouse for as long as they've had the freeroll. They are the nicest people! (Her boyfriend is the one who I will get out of the pot when he reraises since I know he doesn't bluff that often. He's a rock!) We started talking about various things - the house coming up, painting, decorating and the like. A comment was made about someone who works at the BH, and she whispers that she used to work there. I was shocked! Knowing the soap opera drama that occurs between the staff in that place, I couldn't imagine. She only worked there for a short time, and the drama was the reason why she couldn't stay. We talked about a whole lot more, but it was a private conversation and I found out a whole bunch of things that I didn't know before. What a small world!

Well damn, this has got to be some of the worst drivel I've written in a while. I don't even know if I had a point to the whole story... See, this is what happens when you try to write documentation at work then try to write something for pleasure. Documentation turns your brain to mush!

I'm going bowling with Danielle tonight. I'll be hungover tomorrow. It's a given. I just hope to be home by 1 AM. Don't expect much from me tomorrow either....

Bash at the Boat 6 dawns bright and early

2005-10-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Since everyone has read much better writeups about this than I could ever do, I'll (try to) make this the quick version....

Picked up Otis at the airport at noon, after getting stuck in construction traffic that made me late. Since we had time to kill before BadBlood's flight came in, we went for lunch. Yup, cheesesteaks. Two days in a row. Awesome food - brought some back for the others. While finishing up lunch, we get a call from BadBlood saying that his flight was already in. Awesome! We head back to the airport, and after a couple of mistakes, we find him and toss him in the truck.

At this point, we head straight to the Boathouse. I've already gotten calls from a few people for directions, questions, and the like. We get there just as the general manager is arriving, around 2 PM. Joaquin and his friends are already waiting for us. I get the gm Matt to let us hang out on the deck before they open, and we get the tables and chairs prepped in thanks. Others began pouring in - Jason Spaceman and his lovely wife, Carter, Helixx, F-train and Stephanie, Al and Landow, Pauly, Derek, StB, Bobby Bracelet. Of course, this meant that there was enough for 2 tables of cards, not just one. One limit HORSE table, one NLHE table. While everyone was otherwise occupied, I snuck off to get ready for the evening.

I get back, and cards are still going fast and furious. I begin drinking. The magician got there, and asked that I help him out during his fundraising for the evening. BigMike was paying him to be there to raise money, but he thought that my presence gave him more credibility. He came over to the blogger tables first, and he was a hit! Amazing tricks. Joaquin performed a trick of his own - he made over 20 roosters appear.... by dropping his pants to reveal rooster-covered boxers! I have to rat out Joaquin, because I know I did much worse by the end of the night....

The whole time I'm escorting the magician, I'm greeting friends and accepting beers. I must have had 6 or 7 in the 3 hours that I was working with the magician. I was feeling no pain by this point. I was talking to the lead singer Jake of Petey and the Band Campers when I found out he had Mardi Gras beads. They were going to hold a contest - the woman with the most beads would get her bar tab paid. I already knew mine was paid, but it didn't keep me from trying to win anyways. I can only imagine how many times I flashed people that night... and I'm still hearing stories of random acts that I can't even begin to remember.

Here's what I do remember -
* Sending shots of petron tequila to the end of the bar where F-train and Otis (?) were, asking Terri to tell them I'd be right there, and walking over to find that they'd already done the shots! Party foul...
* Dancing with Jake and having him give me several strands of beads - just for the dance!
* Telling the bartender Terri that we wanted red-headed sluts (shots), just not the one that was hanging out with Bobby Bracelet's conquest of the evening.
* Having a chugging contest with Otis... water chugging. :-)

Being a hostess, I saw that Otis was looking a little rough and might need a nudge in the right direction. Honestly, I was more worried he'd try to recreate a "Running of the Lewey" and kill himself in the process. How could I ever explain that to Mrs. Otis? We took turns keeping him away from the gate to the hill, and I started thumbwrestling people. Why? I don't know. Drunk muscles? Whatever... :-) it was fun, but I don't have much recollection of who I competed against and how I did. If someone can only tell me...

Fast forward - end of party. Ugly lights. Ugly bar tab. Final cleanups. I think I actually won the bead contest, but Carter took my beads. I don't know if anyone thought about counting at that point. Making sure everyone got back to the hotel. I know I got back there... but I don't remember the drive so much. BigMike was my hero and ran to Wawa (local convenience store) for water! It was the only thing that saved me the next day.

Next day - brought StB and Otis for their flights - at some ungodly hour - 7 AM or something? Way too early to be up after the night we'd had. I threatened to make them walk if they did this next year. :-) Came back, and we all headed to the BH for football. Another trip to get BadBlood to his plane and went back for more football. StB had won the gift certificate for dinner at Hibachi, and he generously slipped it to me before he left on Saturday. (Thanks!) Since we had the free food and Bobby Bracelet (and I) wasn't up for much drinking, we went and grabbed dinner instead. Great dinner, and off to bed to pass out.

Bobby had an early flight, so I saw him again at 5:30 AM the next morning. Again, more threatening about early flights. Shipped him off and started work early.

It's been a week now, and I think my body is still recovering. My memory has lots of holes, but I have friends who are taking great pleasure in filling those in for me. The fun part is that we're already starting to plan next year's party!

One of the cool kids

2005-10-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

Of course I had to do what all the cool kids were doing... just a little later than everyone else.

I'm signed up for the blogger tourney over at Pokerstars. Just another one of the awesome perks from having a blog!

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 7893058

Better Late Than Never

2005-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok... I know I'm the last one to post my writeup of the weekend. I'm a lousy blogger. Beat me with a wet noodle and I'll repent.

Again, I want to tell everyone how happy I was to see them this weekend and how much I enjoyed your company. I only get to see some of you once or twice a year, but I enjoy it every single time. I don't feel like I have to hold anything back, and it makes for some awesome partying!

My weekend actually started on Thursday. I took Friday off to get people from the airport and finish preparations, so my friend Danielle convinced me that I could go out drinking and sleep it off the next day. My expectations for the weekend had put me in a great mood, and it showed on Thursday. It actually got to the point where I called Al and told him I'd be crashing at Danielle's place, but after a little breakfast, I was sober enough to drive home. I crashed at 3:30 AM.

I forgot that I had to be up at 9 AM to head to the airport. Damn. I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed a quick shower and headed down. I had to make an extra loop around the airport because security wouldn't let me sit for a minute or two, but I found Steve and we headed out for lunch. When I know that I have to stay in the area (like we did to pick up Bobby Bracelet at 2), I usually take my first pickup to grab cheesesteaks - so I did. It was Steve's first Philly cheesesteak, and it wasn't even in Philly - it was in Delaware! The place is awesome, and we were in a food coma by the time we left. We wandered a little bit and stopped at the smoke shop in Delaware for cheap cartons. Since we still had 45 minutes to kill, I offered to take Steve down for a beer at one of the little bars near the airport. On our way, Al called and said Bobby was early. We grabbed him instead and headed back to the home area.

We picked up Al at home (where Steve and Bobby were greeted by the sight of my little sister in her robe on the front step). She grabbed the smokes we picked up for her and we were off. To the bar!

It was 3:45 PM and the upstairs bar was busy. Everybody heads there early on nice days, and they down open the downstairs bar until 4. We got our first beer and headed down when we could. The guys originally wanted to sit on the deck, but it was getting really warm out there. We all piled inside and grabbed my favorite spot on the inside bar. There's a narrow walkway between the bar and the seating area/window behind it. When you have a group of people back there, nobody else can walk through and it's like having your own VIP area. We effectively sealed our area up for the night when Pauly and Derek showed up. Drinks were ordered for them.

Now, this is where it gets a little fuzzy. Many beers, many shots. Friday just happened to be our wedding anniversary, so many people wanted to (and did) buy us shots. I vaguely remember some of the conversations... and showing Derek my tattoo. Oops. I also remember watching Bobby getting the third confirmation on the huge junk. I mean, who could forget such a momentous event?

Knowing I needed to sober up a little, I convinced Bobby to come play pool with me. We were actually doing really well considering the amount of alcohol we'd consumed. We'd kept the table pretty much the whole time.... then these two chicks come over to play, obviously lured by the huge junk at the table. I watched the man do his work, but we were called away by the group for a diner run before the girl could fully comprehend the honor being bestowed upon her. She promised to show up the next night.

We piled in vehicles and headed up to our local 24 hour diner, the Val Rio. It's been here for as long as I've lived in the area (11 years) and likely many, many before that. I've spend more alcohol-fueled nights in there than I care to admit. After Derek made some room in his stomach for some grub, we headed in. We got my favorite waitress, and she took good care of us. Pauly lost his cracker bet (you have to check out his writeup), and nobody else cared to give it a try. Food was good, and we decide it's a good idea to save ourselves for tomorrow. Home is 3 minutes away, and I crash hard.

I'll write up the bash tomorrow. It's after 5 PM and time to head to the bar now. Until tomorrow....

Truly Amazing!

2005-09-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life....

I'm winning at something that requires knowledge of sports stats and players. Woo-hoo!

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every once in a while.

.......

Ok, I know I'm remiss in the weekend BH posts. I'm still sick over the post I lost yesterday, and today isn't allowing for much time to read other people's posts, much less write one of my own.

I promise to get something posted tomorrow. Tonight is the BH freeroll, and I'm actually contemplating skipping it just to get some stuff done. Contemplating... then again, we know my lack of sense of responsibility will override my logical brain and I'll be there. Someone has to give all their chips to Al and Mike so they can win.

DAMMIT!

2005-09-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Blogger ate 3/4 of my post about this weekend. DAMN!

So, for now, I just want to say thank you to everyone who came this weekend and spent time with us! I love you all! :-)

Freerolls and such

2005-09-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

We went to the BH to play in the freeroll last night, as we usually do every Tuesday night. Nothing new to report - same play, same suckouts. Long story short - wasn't getting cards. Got pocket Js, raised preflop from BB, bet on 10-high flop, got reraised by the guy who never reraises unless he's got the nuts. Folded, and he showed me his pocket As. Played one other hand - pocket Ks. Blinds are getting up there. Raised big preflop, one caller. Another 10-high flop and I go all-in - get called by QTo. Rivered a Q, and I'm out.

Oh well. The BH has opened up their wireless router, so I sat and played some poker on Full Tilt while I was waiting. Not a good idea - all I had for dinner was a bowl of soup and I was feeling those 3 beers I had. I really don't think I was playing that badly, but I was down about $5 when the battery died. Oops. It was fine though... I got tired of waiting for Al to quit goofing off and let BigMike take him home. They were supposed to be bringing home some Wendy's food (jr. bacon cheeseburger!), so I played a little while waiting. I doubled up on two tables and finished up about $25. I was beat, called the guys to cancel my food order, and went to bed.

I know I'm a little superstitious, but it was when my bankroll was at this point last time that I had the nasty run of cards that wiped me out. I'm just being cautious, and I know I've learned more since that happened. I'm better at picking out tables where I can win and getting off the tables when things start to slide. I know I'm reading people better (anything was better than how I was doing) and I've starting calling (correctly!) in situations where I'd fold to scare bets.

It's all a good experiment in my progress. I've only got money on the one site, but I might try signing up for another one. Maybe Party (Bonus Code:Iggy)? I don't know if it's worth it to have two accounts when I don't spend that much time playing. Usually I only have time for an hour-long session here and there. Is it better to build bankrolls on two sites or keep focusing on the one?

Happiness, as promised

2005-09-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone who gave me a little support when I needed it. I'm much better now... still busy, but I promised I wouldn't whine anymore. :-)

Here's some poker happiness for ya. I logged on to Full Tilt last night, and sit down at one of the .10/.25 NL tables. (I'm definitely a low limit player right now.) I usually only buy in for $10 even though the max is $25. So, I sit down with $10 on this table, and I'm in the SB position. I wait for the button to pass, and post my blind one before the button. I get dealt A6c, and call a 1xBB raise to $.50. Flop comes 66K. Trips - nice! I'd prefer a full house, but... Someone in early position bets $2 and I call. Turn comes - A. Jackpot! The only thing that could beat me now is pocket As, but I was guessing that they didn't have it when they overbet the pot. I pause for dramatic effect and call. River is a rag, and I'm happy. Opponent puts me all in (looks like they bought in for $25) and I call. They flop over A7o for just a pair. I couldn't believe it! Nothing better that letting them do all of the work of getting their money in there for you.

I played two tables for about an hour and ended up about $20. Not bad for low-limits.

I know many of you are thinking that I could have made much more if I'd only bought in for $25 instead of $10. I used to buy in for the full amount. Here's the rub though - especially when sitting down at a new table, I won't buy in for the full amount until I get a good sense of the table. I'd hate to misread someone early and lose a max buy-in instead of a smaller one. Also, suckouts tend to happen more often at these low limits. Once I get a little more comfortable with the table, I'll buy in for more. If it's a good table for me to be playing on, I usually don't have to buy in for any more though. They give their money to me and I'm up past the max buy-in anyways.

Another thing - can someone tell me if I'm as stupid as I think I am for playing A-whatever suited? I won't play it if there's a decent size raise (more that 2xBB) or I'm out of position unless I can limp. Any card 5 and under will give straight possibilities along with the flush possibilities. If I don't get at least 2 cards of that suit or two pair (and sometimes a straight draw if I'm in late position), I fold to anything. I don't feel any attachment after the flop, but it's hard to not give the hand a shot when I could make the nut flush (provided the cards cooperate). With flushes, there's always some idiot who thinks his 10-high flush is going to make it, and they just love to give you their money. I don't have stats to back it up, but it seems like I make a whole lot more money with that hand when I hit than I lose limping in and folding with it when I don't hit my flop.

I'm reverting back to my lousy poker-playing days when I'd do things just 'cause they felt right. Oh wait, I don't think I ever got out of those. At least the strategy I've adopted seems to be winning me some money. I play much different live, but I have to support my habit somehow.

Getting back to "Normal"

2005-09-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, my little blog has been neglected as of late. Things are changing quickly these days. It's left my head spinning, and I'm just waiting for it to slow down long enough to start trying to control where its going again. I'm hoping soon.

I've already whined about getting my sister moved into the house. We're about a month and a half away from settling on our first home, and I'm a wreck about that. Trying to deal with a mortgage, insurance, appraisals, paperwork, money, and a hole in one of the walls that you can see the siding through. I can't imagine how some people can plan weddings and buy a house at the same time.

Things had been going pretty well at work, just busy. I figured that I'd be able to use a little time here and there to finish up on the stuff for the house when I got my project done. I was in the last testing phase, and I was settling in for a nice month-long lull to update documentation while I was waiting for the project to be put into production. Sounds good, right? Wrong.

I walked into work on Tuesday, and I knew it was going to be a bad day when I saw several people walking out with boxes. There had been rumours of layoffs, and they usually occurred every September at the end of our fiscal year. Layoff day always leaves me with the strangest feelings inside. There's the sympathy that you feel for those friends and co-workers who are leaving, but I hate the relief of knowing that you still have a job and the shame at knowing you feel relieved. It always makes me feel like the lowest person.

I get to my door, and as I'm putting the key into the lock, my manager walks out of his office and looks at me. After seeing the boxes of others and the look on his face, I just put my head down and walked through my door. I'm the newest member of the group, and I figured if someone was getting laid off, it was me. I was going to make him come into my office to do it though. I sat down and started up my laptop, then waited. He didn't come in, didn't call me to let me know he wanted to talk to me. After half an hour, I realized it wasn't me he was waiting for.

I head my officemate Dean come in. He was talking to someone in the hall and I heard his voice. Then, the hall got quiet. Dean hadn't come into the office yet. I was afraid my gut feeling was correct. He came in about 10 minutes later and started packing his stuff up. I'd been friends with Dean for the last 6 years, and he was a huge proponent in getting me hired into this group. I was in shock. Dean is one of the best Unix systems people I'd ever met. He could figure anything out, regardless of what flavor of Unix or Linux you threw at him. They let him go and kept me, who's only been doing the heavy-duty systems work for a year. I'm the only person in the group who has any amount of HP experience.

I had to rearrange a whole lot that day. Out went the plan of updating docs and planning out new projects. Dean was working on several ssh projects, and I'd only had minimal contact. I have to learn ssh inside and out in the next two weeks so I can make sure Development can go forward with a new version of software. Not just on Unix - mainframe too. I've made sure that the proxy server project he was working on went to someone else. There's other stuff to be doled out yet.

The worst part about the whole process was the feeling of relief, and I think it made me feel worse than if I had gotten laid off. We're closing on the house next month, and how do you get a mortgage company to give you a very large loan if half your income is going away? I don't have a college degree, so who's going to want to hire me, even if I do have 9 years experience in computers? I wasn't building Unix systems for the last 9 years... I supported VMS, Unix (several versions), and Windows, upgraded OS/390 and mainframe along with the other O/S versions I supported, worked with applications and different third party products. What does that amount to? A whole lot of knowledge that won't get me anywhere. And I'm scared.

I've built my career in this company. I'm respected and well-liked by the people I work with. I've had offers from past managers to come back and work for them if I decide I want to change groups. If I'm laid off, where do I go? I'd have to start all over. And I know I'd get through it. I always do... always have over the years. I know I'm too lazy to go back to college. I hated the work the first time I tried it, right after high school. I don't think it's going to be any better now that I'm 10 years out of doing that stuff. I just hold on for now and do my best to pretend that it will never happen to me. Call me the ostrich.

If you're still with me (but I doubt anyone is), thanks for letting me get that off my chest. It's one of those weights that you can never seem to fully get rid of. It wasn't how I was planning this post when I started, but my fingers seemed to take on a life of their own. I guess this is the whole point of a blog for most people... get those things out there that are difficult to otherwise.

I promise the next post will be full of happiness and light. Or at least stories of taking people's money in poker. That always makes me happy. :-)

Happy B-day to me....

2005-09-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I was told I'd better post something since Al announced that I had to up the little number next to Age: on any form. I'm definitely not scared of birthdays. I still get ID'd for cigarettes, so why would I care?

This is going to be a VERY short post since I'm swamped. But that's another post for another day....

Here's to being one year better!

Poker Etiquette

2005-09-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

Just playing a little online poker tonight on Full Tilt. In the big blind, got 9Ts. No raise preflop. Flop comes, 2 As and 2 spades. I bet $.50, guy across the table raises to $1, everyone else folds. I put the guy on an ace, but the A of spades was on the board. I call, catch my flush on the turn. Didn't think he had the flush, bet out and called his raise. No more spades come up, and I have the winning flush. No big deal right?

Wrong. It seems that I mortally offended the guy. I got "f" you several times, and called a whore for no reason, among other things. Talk about PMS... so, if you happen to see Luvtodive, make sure you stop by, say hi, and take all of his money. Tell him the whore MrsCantHang says hi, too. :-)

Happy Monday!

2005-09-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

Things still show no signs of slowing around here. (When I wrote that, all I could think of was Willy Wonka in the boat in the psychadelic tunnel... odd thought, but no rowers.) As it was, I had a ton of stuff to do this morning before I could even think of reading a blog or writing a post. I need to make this quick since I still have plenty left to do today...

I finally got Al to go down to my favorite Thursday night bar... on Friday. It was a little quieter than usual, but he got to meet some of the characters that Danielle and I hang out with there. I played a game of golf while Al proceeded to get REALLY drunk. Some of you may have noticed since there were some dial-a-shots that went out. I should never leave my phone on the bar unattended. It was a fun night, but I was a little slow on Saturday. Good day to rest up before football on Sunday.

Before I met Al, I never would have thought about joining a fantasy football league. Even in the first couple years of marriage, I still wanted nothing to do with it. Last year, he encouraged me to give it a try. BG was kind enough to give me a cheat sheet for the first draft, and I'm proud to say that I didn't come in last place. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did it anyways. This year, I printed out my own lists and made my own picks. I thought I had a pretty good team. Culpepper and some of the others proved to me that no matter how well they SHOULD do, they don't. If you don't particularly like a team, have me pick a couple of players from that team. You can watch that team go straight into the toilet! :-)

As long as I don't end up in last place, I'm happy. And it's always good to be happy... :-)

Where did the week go?

2005-09-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Lately I haven't had that much to post about or as much inclination to post as I usually do. I was reading Iggy's blog, and I think I know the reason. Make sure to check out this pamphlet to see if you're also suffering from the same disorder.

I think I actually know the cure for this condition, and it's coming up shortly! It's called Bash at the Boathouse 6, and it will be occurring September 24th at the Boathouse in Malvern, PA. It's a charity event to benefit Michael's Miracle, a charity devoted to helping families cope with Cystic Fibrosis and supporting research to find a cure. Don't think that it won't be any fun though... there will be tons of drinking, partying, and debauchery that you won't find anywhere else. It just gives your conscience less to feel guilty about if it benefits charity. Just think, all the partying you've come to expect with 50% less guilt... and you'll have plenty to blog about when you're done (as long as your significant other doesn't read your blog), right Al?

Post a comment or email me if you want more info...

********

This past weekend seemed to simultaneously last years and minutes at the same time. My sister Deanna is living with Al and I while she looks for a job, and she moved in this past weekend. Dee and I used to share a room when we were growing up, and I was always the pack rat of the room. She used to be the one to throw things away while I always saved things until I had to throw them away. When I made the offer to have her share our townhouse while she looks for a job, I thought that it would be an easy move - throw the furniture that isn't being used in the basement, a few boxes here and there, and we'd be done. I'd forgotten that it had been about 14 years since we'd shared a room, and that she'd had her own apartments for the last 10 years. Damn, things have changed...

My house looks like a garage sale waiting to happen. We were able to put quite a few things in the basement, but it's packed! There were a few pieces (including her entertainment center) that were too heavy to put into the basement for the short time which they'll be there, so they're sitting in my dining room. She also lived with her boyfriend, so there's his stuff too. Everywhere I go in my house, there's boxes, bags or other containers of "stuff".

Since my sister and her boyfriend are here, I invited them down to the Boathouse freeroll last night. I called at 4:45 to see if they wanted to come down and have dinner before the tourney started. (I also asked if they wanted to play, but they don't think they know the game well enough. From my past posts, you all know that you don't have to know the game to play at the Boathouse...) They said that they'd get ready and come down soon. When I called at 6:30 to see where they were, they said that they were leaving the house shortly. How long does it take for two people to get ready? I asked if I'd interruped "anything", but it seems that her boyfriend just takes forever to get ready. They also tried to use the excuse that they were unpacking and rearranging things, but I couldn't verify it when I got home.

Before the tourney started, both Danielle and I decided to sit at the same table as Al, Lewey, BigMike, JDub and the rest of our friends. We'd feel guilty for leaving Dee and Deron alone while we was playing, so we decided to play fast and lose in the tourney - either get lots of chips or lose quickly. If we lost our chips, they'd go to friends who would hopefully take them all the way to the final table. It wasn't chip dumping, but we'd know who would get them.

Dee and Deron get to the Boathouse just as the tournament starts. I get them each a drink and tell the bartender Bobby to put their stuff on our tab. They sit out on the back deck with their drinks, and I go back in to play. In the second hand, I get pocket 10s. I raise to 3x BB, and get 4 callers. I hit gold when a 10 comes out on the flop, but there was a queen and two clubs on the board. In an attempt to take the pot, I go all-in. To my surprise, Danielle (who's sitting to my left) calls me! Everyone else immediately folds. I flip up my 10s, and Danielle turns over pocket As. She doesn't get any help and I double up. Danielle goes out and sits with Dee and Deron.

A few hands later, I get AKo, raise it, and have to fold after an all spades flop causes a raising war (and here I am, without a spade). I don't play again until I'm in the big blind with K5d. Al raises to 4x BB and I call - fast and loose! Two diamonds come out, and Al goes all-in. It folds around to me, and I'm the only one left. If I was playing my normal conservative game, I would've folded. I have him by over 70 chips, so even if I lose I'm still in. The fast and lose takes over, and I call. No help, and Al doubles up to a commanding chip lead.

At this point, I'm still not the short stack. After the blinds go to 2/4, I find myself with AJ in the big blind. A few people limped, and I raise all-in. Everyone folds except the small blind, Lewey's friend Rob. He has AQ, so I figure I'm done. Flop comes out KJT and Rob has the straight. A rivered Q gives me a split pot, and I'm happy.

I don't remember the hand I eventually went out on, but it was Al and I again. I think I had top pair and he had a flush draw - and he caught his. I'm out, but at least I know where all my chips went. I tell him to use them wisely and head out to the back deck.

After dinner and some chatting with Dee, Deron and Danielle, my sister and her boyfriend head home. Danielle and I go inside to see how the guys are doing. They're down to 7 on the final table, and Al's the chip lead. They battle it out, and it goes heads up between Al and JDub. One hand, and Al takes him out. Al wins his first Boathouse freeroll! Now I'm jealous.... both Al and BigMike have won, and Landow has come in second twice. I have some catching up to do.

I learned quite a bit from my play last night. I'm usually very conservative and tight when I play in tourneys. I don't take too many chances since I hate busting out early. This always leaves me as one of the shorter stacks, and unless I hit a run of great cards, I very rarely make it to a final table. Thinking back to the past tourneys that I've done well in (both single and multi-table), I realized that I was playing more agressively. I think that the recent bad luck that I've had both live and online has conditioned me to shy away from raising pre-flop with good hands. I was losing quite a bit of money with my pre-flop raises, so I'd started just calling before flop so I could see where I stood before I committed any more money. This has allowed more people to stay in and take hands that I might have been able to take otherwise. It's something I'll be working on over the next few weeks.

I consider any session that you learn something from to be a good session. For me, last night was a great session and I hope this means that I'm starting on an upward section of the poker learning curve again.

Boathouse Freeroll

2005-09-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Now that I've proven that I should never, EVER talk about anything remotely dealing with politics or government policy, I'm going to find a much less controversial subject. Free poker. Ok, yeah, there's debate over that, but not in this blog. I like free poker. Every bar has free poker tourneys around here. That's the way it should be!

As usual, we headed over to the Boathouse on Tuesday for the weekly free tourney. In general, the people who play are lots of fun and don't start flipping out when they lose since they know that it is a free tourney. (I've heard from other players that it's not usually the case in many of the bars. They all like the BH tourneys best.) We all sit down and start shuffling up to play. The seat to my right was empty, but at the last minute a woman comes over and takes the chair. She admits to the table immediately that she's never played anything like this before.

I feel sorry for her and take her under my wing. We introduced ourselves, and she told me her name was Sheryl. I did a quick explanation of how things would go and confirmed she knew what the order of winning hands were. I also ended up having to explain about blinds and how to deal properly. Without telling her how to play any hands, I gave her an idea of the strategy as we went through several more rounds. Sheryl is a very social person like me, and we had a great amount of fun while we played. She played like you'd expect any new person to play - playing a few more hands than she should and slowly losing her money.

I got moved to another table, and I was able to pick up a decent amount of chips. I'm feeling really good about my play and I'm actually catching a few cards! Some of the other tables got broken up, and Sheryl gets put to my right. She's drinking wine and has had a couple by this time. She's still in a good mood, since she wasn't even expecting to play. This is where things get interesting...

Sheryl is low in chips - about 35 out of the starting 100 with blinds at 4/8. She goes on one of those amazing streaks of luck a player always dreams about but dreads when they see someone else on. She begins amassing chips at an alarming rate. Some of the hands she played well, but there were some card catching plays you wouldn't believe.

Sheryl is in late position - one before the button. She calls the blinds, and the semi short-stacked button goes all in. The big blind calls, and so does Sheryl. The flop comes out - J T 2, rainbow. At this point, BB goes all in. BB has more chips than Sheryl, but she calls anyways. Everyone flips up their cards. The button has J 9 for top pair decent kicker. BB has J T for top two pair. Sheryl flips up A 2 for bottom pair. Everyone figured she was gone... until a 2 hit the river for trips. The BB was shaking his head in disbelief.

Everyone on the table's in shock. She'd had a few lucky catches, but that was by far the most amazing one that night. The guys don't want to be in a hand with her. Two hands later, Sheryl actually raises - she's just called all night. She min-raises, and everyone folds including Louie. Her cards get turned over, and she's got pocket As. We rabbit-hunted, and the flop would have been A Q x - a pair of queens for Louie but trips for Sheryl. He was very happy he'd folded his KQ.

We're almost down to the final table (out of 50). I'm getting short-stacked by this time, since Sheryl seems to be taking all my luck. Blinds are 20/40 and I'm down to 140 on the big blind. I get KJo, and I figure this is it. Sheryl had called the big blind, but the small blind goes all in ahead of me. I've played with the SB before, and I put him on a small to medium pocket pair. I figure it's a race at best and I don't have much of a choice. SB has me covered for chips, but I still go all in. We were both in shock when Sheryl calls both of us. She really liked her cards. SB flips up pocket 8s, and Sheryl turns over 45o. SB and I both dismiss Sheryl's hand, thinking it would just be the race. Wrong. Flop comes 6 7 8 with 2 spades - SB is cheering because he has trips, but he doesn't realize Sheryl already has the straight. I didn't have much of a chance since I didn't even have a spade. SB doesn't improve and she takes both of us out.

It was something to watch. I told her I was taking her to AC that night. When everyone moved to the final table, she went out on the second or third hand. She told me later that she was enjoying playing with everyone at our table before, but the new group didn't look like they were any fun and she was tired. I saw the hand that she went out on, and I could believe that. She called a big all in with A4o when there were two 8s on the board, and she told the guy that he had a third 8 (which he did). We sat and had a few more beers outside while we waited for them to finish.

I would love to have luck like that playing in a major tourney. I think with a little bit of study, we'll have Sheryl ready for next year's WSOP - as long as the luck holds out. She'll be back next week since she had so much fun. I'll see how lucky she really is then.

Unbelievable

2005-08-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

My favorite city is filling up. Unfortunately, it's with water. I was on the edge of my seat Monday morning when I found out the hurricane would hit New Orleans. I have family in Louisiana, but they are to the West of New Orleans. I was extremely happy when I heard the storm had shifted course and would be going more east. It would keep my relatives out of the worst of it. (Not that I would with that on anyone's relatives...)

Monday afternoon, I was again happy to hear that although New Orleans had sustained some damage downtown and the 9th Ward, the French Quarter and Garden District were spared the worst of it. I mean, I know I have my selfish reasons - I was supposed to have a conference just outside the French Quarter the week of 9/12. I was looking forward to the travel, but it was more than that. I'd been to New Orleans for five Mardi Gras plus other assorted trips, and I have a lot of memories in that city. I've wandered around the garden district looking at the stately old homes and stood on the steps of the Saint Louis Cathedral (oldest church in LA) watching the artisans around the park. Heck, the background on my computer is a I took picture of Bourbon Street from the balcony of the Cat's Meow on Mardi Gras in 2002. It's a pleasant reminder of some of the great times I've had in that city.

Now, most of the city is under several feet of water. With the 2 breaches in the levees, water has been pouring through the streets with nothing to stop it. The pumps to remove the water are either clogged with debris or don't have electricity to power them. Attempts to fix the levees have been mostly unsuccessful because of the rushing water. It's been estimated that it will take a month to get rid of all of the water. Where does that leave the residents? Evacuated, for now.

Where does this leave my "home away from home"? Damages have been estimated in excess of $25 billion. What will happen to those historic homes and buildings that have been there for over 100 years? Will they tear them down and start over? I'm sure it will be much more expensive to try to preserve the original structures and repair them. Can you replace history though? What about the standard of living for those people who were evacuated? Many have nowhere to go to. If they come back to the city, who can tell how safe it will be since the water is carrying sewer and septic debris, along with chemical spills and decaying bodies - both recent and from the above-ground cemetary graves.

I try to stay out of political discussions, since I feel that everyone should have their own views and I won't impose mine unless asked. I still have to vent about what I can only imagine will happen in the upcoming weeks. When there are other major natural disasters in the world, everyone expects the U.S. to come to their aid - and we do. Now that we have been rocked by the effects of a hurricane, how many foreign countries do you think will help us? No - that's not exactly what I mean either. (this is exactly why I stay out of these types of discussions) We definitely have friendly countries that help out. It just seems that we always have to come to the rescue of any other country having problems, but the response that we get never seems to be quite as hearty as the one we are expected to give to those countries.

Something else that disturbs me - while Bush feels the need to spend billions of dollars to invade other countries to keep us "safe", the places he's taking the money from could have been used to help prevent much of this disaster! This article from June shows that Bush's administration cut the Army Corps of Engineers' budget by $71 million. Without this money, they've had to shelve several major projects, including one that would have helped the city withstand a category 5 hurricane. I am not against our soldiers by any means. I stand behind them 100%, but I just hate that they had to go to war in the first place. It makes my heart ache to know that his budget cuts that were made to make room for war ended up costing more in lives, livelihoods and history than anyone could ever imagine.

Losing Battle?

2005-08-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

I'm tired again. It's not because I had a fantasy football draft last night and had a few beers. It's not that I'm being overworked at my job (but I'll never tell my boss that). It's not even from playing too much online poker at night. You're going to think I'm crazy, but I've been having a battle with my sister's cat. Yeah, you heard me right. A cat. Not necessarily a very smart cat, just a very persistent one.

My sister Deanna is moving in with Al and I on Saturday. She'd gotten layed off from her job when Bank of America bought out Fleet Bank and closed her site. She's been looking for a job for the last 10 months without success. We've talked about this many times over the last few months, and I'd told her before that she'd probably have much better luck in this area with the number of banks and financial institutions in the area. With other circumstances giving her a nudge, she's decided to move in with us for the next couple of months to look for a job in the area and help us pack for the new house. When we finish purchasing our new house, she and her boyfriend will be taking over the townhouse we're renting now.

Ok, enough background.... (if you ever need anyone to make a short story long, let me know.) Since Dee didn't want to have to deal with the cats (Bonnie and Clyde) in the moving van, she brought them down last Wednesday when she met with my landlord. They're pretty good cats for the most part - very lovable. After my cat did a little adjusting to the new visitors, things had been pretty good. That's when the trouble started.

It seems that Bonnie doesn't feel like she's getting enough attention. It's bad enough that my cat now feels unloved in his own house, I now have to deal with Bonnie's emotional problems. She's been acting out, much like you'd expect from a 2 year old. My sister swears that she didn't have any problems with Bonnie in their apartment after the initial training. Now, I'm dealing with Bonnie on the dining room table - WHILE I'M STANDING RIGHT THERE! I have a paper tube from a roll of wrapping paper that I use to make noise and will even swat her with if it needs to be done. When she sees it, she flees.

With the threat of the tube, you would think she'd behave. Nope. It didn't stop her from jumping on the counter in the kitchen when Al was there. It also didn't stop her from trying to sharpen her claws in the carpet. She got a "time out" for that one - just like a 2 year old, I put her in a room by herself (with hardwood floors) and let her "think" about what she did wrong.

The latest trick has been to visit us at night. You would think that this isn't so bad, but my sister doesn't allow the cats in their bedroom and I'm trying to keep the same boundaries. Bonnie just won't hear of it. I woke up two nights ago to find Bonnie sleeping on my feet. Some people would think that's cute, but I must tell you that she's a 20 lb. (or so) cat putting her dead weight on my feet. It will cut of circulation if you're not careful. I push her off the end of the bed and roll over. I just get back to sleep when I have this same cat getting comfy between Al and I - pushing me out of the way. I don't think so!

I pick up Bonnie and put her outside the room, shutting the door. I wake up about 20 minutes later to the same cat sleeping between my legs (I'm laying on my back) and I can't even roll over because she's so heavy! Al picks her up and dumps her outside the room again. It turns out that the door doesn't latch very well. Al puts something in front of the door to discourage her from pushing it and comes back to bed. I'm getting comfortable again when I hear, "thump, thump". Bonnie is using her thick skull to head-butt the door open. Here she comes again! This gets Bonnie a time-out for the rest of the night. This was Sunday night. I wake up to find that Al's let Bonnie out of the room. When she heard Al was up and moving Monday morning, she started scratching at the door to get out. She's going to end up declawed shortly, and not by the vet...

So, now we need a new plan. We go to bed last night and put a small file-size fireproof safe in front of the door. This thing must weigh at least 50 lbs. with the stuff we have in it. This should keep her out, right? Wrong. The safe has a plastic case which slides on the hardwood floors. She's up with us again. Al picks her up and tosses her out again. Somehow, Al McGyver rigs something up with the safe, a pillow, and my laptop case to keep her out. Luckily he's the first one up and getting ready so he tore down the booby-trap before I had to deal with it. When I open the door to head to the bathroom, Bonnie comes barrelling into the room and hides under the bed. At this point, I don't care.

These "episodes" have been occurring at around 3:30 every morning, right in the middle of deep sleep. My eyes feel like someone has poured sand into them and I've been grumpy all day. Am I fighting a losing battle? Probably. Dammit, I refuse to let a cat get the better of me, though I might not have a choice....

Last night's results

2005-08-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I made $6 last night. I actually played really well. Since I needed the extra concentration to play, I think I was making better decisions and playing better cards. Of course, I didn't play that many hands since I went for a period of almost 45 minutes without cards above a 10. Bluffing was out of the question, for the most part. I did well not chasing either. I don't think I want to make a habit of playing that way, though.

I've been taking a long look at my game lately. I think part of my problem has to do with my recent streak of lousy luck (or what I perceive as such). Since I haven't been winning much, I've become rather scared in my betting. I haven't been raising as much pre-flop with some hands because I'm afraid I won't catch anything. With us buying the house, I haven't had as much money to put towards my bankroll either. A few losing sessions can take a large chunk of what I have left, even playing the lower limits. I should probably switch to a limit game, but I hate giving up on my no limit play, which is more enjoyable to me.

I also need to take look at starting hands and when it's acceptable to play lower-quality hands. Again, the whole pot odds and betting thing. I still suck at calculating pot odds and the like, especially pre-flop. I'm pretty good about laying down cards after the flop, but I think I throw away cards pre-flop that I could be playing due to the circumstances around the hand.

I wish I could afford a "tutor" to watch me play and discuss the hands. Or even if I could watch them play and discuss the hands. Of course, everyone's style is different, but I think that doing something like that would help me learn some of this stuff best. I can imagine how annoying it would be for someone to have to go through an ordeal like this while they're trying to play and make money, so I know I'd have to pay someone enough to make up for the lost concentration, possibly lost money, and annoyance. I can only pay in mixed drinks... :-)

I'm going to play a little more tonight and see if I can make any more progress.

Kings and such

2005-08-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

I'm very proud of myself. I had pocket kings, flopped quad kings, and actually made it pay off. After a little checking, I found someone who thought their two pair were the best. Funny thing with quads... you have to act so weak/tight. I need those more often. hehehe

I have to apologize. It's almost 2 AM and I just got home from the bar with my friend Danielle. Danielle was the good sport tonight and agreed to be designated driver. Although she wanted to go home at 12:30 AM instead of waiting until the bar closed, I still have to appreciate my designated driver. :-) At least I was told by someone that they thought I was only 22. Damn, I've gotta thank my parents for the genes.

When I got home tonight, as drunk as I am, I decided to play a little poker on Full Tilt. Not the greatest idea, I'll admit. I don't know how the whole thing will finish out, but I know that I folded the card to make a straight flush on a hand. It could really put a person on tilt... if they weren't so relaxed. I plan on being very relaxed. Let's see how it goes.

Damn, I'm sure I'll regret this post later. Booze does that to me... regrets and such. Here's to hoping I double up and make this little poker session worthwhile!

hung over again

2005-08-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

not using caps today. hurt the eyes too much. why do I do let myself drink like that on a thursday? this isn't the first time, and it probably won't be the last. what starts out as, "we'll just grab dinner and a few beers" turns into "damn, i'm not done with my beer and it's only 2:30, so why are they kicking us out?" bad, bad, bad...

of course, i got to work and was immediately paged about a server i updated yesterday. dumb-ass sna wasn't working properly, so i had to troubleshoot before i could do anything else - like eat a greasy egg sandwich from the cafeteria and pop a couple of excedrin. once i did that, things got better.

i started doing a little reading before i got the energy to write, and iggy's post hit way too close to home. the first part of the post talks about why some people fail at poker, or at least fail to improve. it sounded way too familiar. i think that a big part of my problems is that i'm too impatient to do my studying and too complacent to try hard enough to get better. when i find flaws, i try to correct them but i don't think i'm trying hard enough to find them.

another part of my problem is the studying too. the area where i went to school was a bunch of mouth-breathing rednecks for the most part. i had a big advantage over the rest of the kids in the intelligence department. i never really had to study much, so it doesn't come naturally to me. plus, the classes that i always did the best in were the interactive, hands-on ones. i learn better by doing than by reading and memorizing. its just the way my mind works. very bad when you don't have someone to sit and talk poker theory with. i really wanted to join doubleas, maigrey and april when they were having their discussions at bradoween, but i was in the completely wrong mindset for it. by dealing out hands and discussing how to play it, i can relate to it and pick it up much easier. just not while drinking long island iced teas.

at least i can be honest enough with myself to admit these things. i know what i have to change. now, i just to get off my ass and do it. ...add procrastinator to my list of flaws too.

update - never try to take on general tso in this condition. he's kicking my butt right now. maybe the colonel would've been an easier opponent. lol

Waking up his hard to do

2005-08-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

After 6 or 7 hours of sleep, it's time to get up for Brad-o-ween! We all get ready and head over to Otis' house around noon. We get there just as people start digging into the feast! I don't know where they got the food from, but I was craving it the next day... I finished eating and set up the bar. I was all ready to start with the mixing, but for some unknown reason, nobody wanted to start drinking at noon before a tournament. I just don't understand... I did convince April and Gracie that they needed a little relaxation before the tourney, so the girls sat in the shade and sipped our cocktails.

At 1 PM, the announcement was made that the tournament was about to begin. We all drew for tables and placement. I drew the ace of clubs (I think), so I won the deal and choice of seat in the kitchen. That was the best win of the day for me. We all got settled in and started playing. I won a few small hands, but I couldn't get any action when I flopped trip 10s (best hand I had). At this point, I don't even remember when I got knocked out with. Let's just say I was out early - within the first 8 or 10 people. It was ok though. It was at that time when I realized that a long island iced tea sounded REALLY good. It was a hot day, and I wanted something cool and refreshing. That did it!

I took orders for the teas, and I think I made 4 in the first batch. I made sure that Mrs. Otis was one of the first recipients since she'd been working her butt off all day! I offered one to Otis, but he was still running around getting last minute party items. He's got a heck of a lot more dedication to his parties than I do. After a few hours, I'm ready to let the guests fend for themselves. Otis was still being the perfect host until the end.

After I "forced" other people to try the drinks, I started getting orders left and right for them. I'm sure I affected several people's play. :-) This went on for several hours... the rest of the day is all a little fuzzy.

We got to the final table, and I got to see the trick that DoubleAs played with the deck. His writeup is much better than anything I can do - go check it out. When the final table was done, more people headed outside for the festivities.

Drunk-a-lympics. I didn't participate, but boy did I laugh! I would never have survived the SoCo shots though. My marriage to Al is a good balance - he drinks all the SoCo and keeps me from having to. The flip-cup race at the end was my favorite. I got to see the comeback for Team Evil and was jealous that I didn't get to race. I was hoping there would be more flip-cup races, but it ended with the drunk-a-lympics. People went back to their social boozing.

By the end of the night, there had been a wet t-shirt contest (that I was NOT a part of) and several people passed out all over the place. (People at the party were fairly nice to the passed out guys - I believe they left with their eyebrows and all of their clothes still in place.) There was some drunken tree-climbing and Dr. Jeff had to perform surgery in the living room. I was happy just to lay in the grass and look at the stars.

I think we left around 2 or 3... I didn't look at the clock. BigMike, Al and I got up the next morning and tried to head to the diner to eat. The line was out the door! We ended up driving around until we found a place called Ryan's. We thought it was a place like Appleby's or TGIFridays where we could get some food. It ended up being an all-you-can-eat buffet place. Ug. The guys seemed ok with it, so we ate there. Not on my list of places to recommend to anyone, though the hot rolls they brought out kicked butt! I should've just eaten those...

We got a call from G-Rob, BG, CJ and Lefty asking if we'd be eating at the diner. We let them know about the crowd, so they came down to meet us. By the time they got to Ryan's, the line was out the door there, too. (Still not sure why...) BG had to catch a flight, so they just said their goodbyes and headed out.

After lunch, we had time before our flight so we stopped by BadBlood's house for a bit. (BadBlood had a little too much to drink the night before and probably didn't remember the ride home. Thank God for Mrs. Blood!) We sent Al upstairs to race the kids on the gamecube (and they beat him senseless) while the adults sat downstairs and talked. I got a call from April who had forgotten her keys in the minivan, so she and Maigrey stopped by to pick them up. BadBlood returned with Iggy and Daddy from Otis' house, where they had spent all night playing cards. Since we had all these poker minds in one room, BadBlood allowed us to play some cards against the MiniBloods. I wish I'd had a video camera to record the whole thing... I couldn't stop laughing! I watched a 5 and 7 year old dominate the table against people who have been playing longer than they've been alive. They are some of the most polite kids I've ever seen, and hearing 5-year-old MiniBlood saying, "I'm putting you all-in, Mr. Al" was so silly I thought I was going to pee myself from laughing. Those kids were check-raising and slow-playing too! They are going to be a force to be reckoned with when they're old enough to hit the casinos.

Unfortunately, time went by too quickly and we had to leave for the airport. We knew our flight was going to be a little delayed, so we waited an extra hour before heading out. Our flight ended up being 3.5 hours late instead of one, so we spent a whole lot of time in the airport. They actually closed the concourse so we couldn't leave. Luckily it was a quiet flight home, and we made it back to our house by 12:30 or so.

I just want to say thank you again to Otis and everyone else who made my Brad-o-ween such a blast! I look forward to the next time I get to see and hang out with everyone. I don't mind that I played such lousy poker while I was there. It was more than worth it just to party with everyone!

Now, if anyone is interested in the "Bash at the Boat" here in Philly... :-)

Welcome to the South!

2005-08-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

It started off like any of our little trips. We get up early and finish packing the daily use items. Jump in the car and drive to the airport. You get the idea. It was definitely a weekend that could be imagined, but the anticipation would be nowhere near what the reality would be.

When the plane pulled up to the jetway, we were pleasantly surprised to find a small jet instead of a turbo-prop plane. For those who have taken the turbo-props, you know how small, noisy, and turbulent those little planes are. Instead, we had a comfortable little jet. I'm in 1A - the exit row. I'm not just in the exit row, I AM the exit row. Luckily, it was an uneventful flight and we get into the Greenville/Spartanburg Airport shortly after 11 AM. From the terminal we get a shuttle to the rental car office.

Here's where we get our first taste of South Carolina rednecks. There's a couple trying to rent a car with cash in front of us while their four kids are running around the office. I'm sure the young mother would've corrected her kids, but the fifth one growing in her belly was slowing her down. The considerably older (15 years?) husband was trying to work through renting the car. Since they were using cash, they had all kinds of paperwork all over the desk. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to look at his name. I don't remember his last name, but he had three names before that - Robert Lee Wayne. A quick reminder that we were south of the Mason-Dixon line. It seems that they were having problems using his documentation to rent the car. They needed recent paystubs - he said he'd just gotten paid but didn't have it with him. They needed proof of residency - he provided an electric bill with an overdue balance on it. There was no way they were getting a rental car that day. Another agent came out and finally got working on our paperwork. I handed her my rental card (I have all my info entered into their website) and my license. She gets the paperwork printed and says that she has a very nice Hyundai Elantra waiting out in the parking lot for us. A Hyundai Elantra? BigMike would be arriving that evening, so we'd rented a full-size (Intrepid or Taurus) vehicle for his comfort. Yeah, Hyundai Elantra my ass. When I asked about the full-size, she told me that they don't have them at that location. Great. She did say that she had a minivan that she could give me for the same price. Minivans are not my idea of cool, but I figured that it would be useful for the weekend. After a quick snag where we had the wrong key and accidentally locked our luggage in the wrong vehicle, we were off.

We call G-Rob to see what's up so far. He offers to meet us at the hotel so we could meet up with Otis, Mrs. Otis and some of the Missouri Crew for lunch and a few beers. Luckily the restaurant is a few doors down from the hotel, and G-Rob hops into the minivan. (His car would stay in the same spot where he'd just parked it for the next couple of days.) We get to Chiefs, a little dive bar that had you blinking as you walked inside from the blinding sun into a deep gloom. Once you adjusted to the light, you could see they had a little bar and a bunch of tables huddled in the "dining room". We sat down with everyone, ordered a couple pitchers of beer and some food, and caught up with people. Of course the shots flowed... Al's first double was a good-size plastic cup of SoCo. He'd forgotten the bottle rule and ended up with quite a shot. This started the rounds of shots (it was after noon, so it was ok) and we walked out an hour later in a more relaxed state of mind.

Since there was time to kill before BadBlood's tourney, we headed over to Otis' house to help out and play a little cash game. I know I said that I wasn't going to stress out about my poker play this weekend. Thank God, because I got my ass kicked in the game. BadBlood and MrsBlood arrived shortly after us, and I ended up getting wedged with BadBlood on my right and (a drunk and reckless) G-Rob on my left. I should've just skipped the game, but I was having too much fun. Pauly and Derek showed up and cheered us on, then Pauly took over Al's stack and built it up quite a bit. After BadBlood sucked out on MrsBlood (HUGE suckout) and the rest of the table was decimated by BadBlood, G-Rob and Dr. Jeff, we headed over to CasaDeBlood for some pizza and prep for the tourney.

Pizza was good, but I have to say that MrsBlood made some of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had! While the guys were doing shots, MrsBlood and I got a chance to sit and talk for a little bit, which was very cool. There was always so much going on in Vegas that I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her much then. I really enjoyed the quiet interlude before all hell broke loose.

Other people started showing up. First Maigrey and Austin April (who brought me an awesome poker bracelet!), then Iggy and Daddy. We were all sitting on the front porch and people started to trickle in. Too many for my little brain to remember. We were just about to sit down for the tourney when G-Rob announces that a stripper is coming to the game. Of course the guys perk up. Everyone is surprised when Maudie walked through the door! We all gave her hugs and welcomed her in. The game was to begin!

I was seated in the dining room with Maudie to my right, Dr. Jeff on my left (I think), and Derek two down on my left. I'm horrible with the small details like that. The only details I needed to remember were that I was so cold-decked that I needed a parka and that Maudie ran over my pocket Qs to knock me out. I'd taken a couple of small pots with bluffs or partial catches, but I knew I wasn't going anywhere. When I had the pocket Qs, I figured it was as good as any to take a stand on. Wrong. I was way outclassed. I used my spare time to hang out and catch up with people. We had to pick up BigMike and BG at the airport at 10 PM. Then, we were going out!

So, now we have Al, April, BigMike, BG and I in the minivan - and we pick up G-Rob for navigation. We head down to the Bait Shack, a little dive bar in the basement of some building. Just my kind of place! It was dimly lit with loud music and an eclectic mix of patrons. The blogger crew had taken over the back room of the place, and I grabbed and beer and sat down. We had all kinds of conversations sitting there... Maudie and I planned our skydiving trip (which I can't wait for!), dial-a-shots with a bunch of people, and Dr. Jeff and I counted how many times we found the phrase "Anal is kool!" on the walls in the booth. After a few dares and bets (look for the awesome picture of BG chugging bucket water on Maudie's site), we were heading to the strip club! I'd even gotten Maigrey and April to agree to go with us when someone became all responsible and thought a little sleep was in order instead. We headed back to the hotel.

We get back and decide a little food is in order. I haven't eaten anything since 5 PM or so when we had pizza, and I need to put a little food in my stomach when I'm drinking. There's an all night diner right in front of the hotel - Al decides to crash while BigMike, Maigrey, April, DoubleAs and I head for food. They actually serve beer in the diners! I was floored... since I was no longer driving, I ordered another beer. We were joined shortly after by TeamScottSmith. By this time it's 10 minutes to 2, and they have this rule about no bottles on the table at 2 or you get fined and arrested, or something silly like that. We had to call the manager over to get TeamScottSmith a beer, and the manager did give him one but warned him that he would have to pay the fine when the cop came in at 2. When he couldn't finish it in time, he drank his soda and poured the stout into his soda glass. He continued sipping on his "Dr. Pepper" for the next half hour. When he tried to order another one, the waitress just laughed - she knew what he'd done and was really cool about it. It seems that the cops really do come in, because he paid us a little visit over in the corner.

I hadn't realized it at first, but TeamScottSmith was smoking clove cigarettes. I have a few friends here that do, so it didn't seem odd to me. I'm guessing that someone else complained about what he was smoking since the cop came over to let us know that we couldn't smoke "tobacco products" in the restaurant. We'd been seated in the smoking section and were a little confused. BigMike held up his cigarettes and gave the cop a questioning look. The cop said those are ok but no more tobacco. I finally caught on and let everyone else know what he was talking about. As he's standing there, we ask the cop if he'd mind taking a picture with the girls. He starts laughing and turns us down, saying that the last person he knew who did that found his picture on the internet. How did he guess? I then asked, "Can I borrow your handcuffs?" and gave a silly grin. The cop just looks at me, and in a deadpan voice says, "You'll have to see me later for that." We all died laughing! I guess I just propositioned the cop, and got a proposition in return. At least he had a sense of humor. The rest of the meal was uneventful, and we returned to the hotel shortly after.

All this, and it's just day one! It will take me a while to write up day two. Until then...

Taking Score

2005-08-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a blast! It will take me a day or two to recover, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I loved seeing everyone again, and I have many stories to tell over the next few days.

Thanks for Otis and Mrs. Otis for a great party on Saturday. Same to BadBlood and Mrs. Blood for Friday. I love you guys! Thanks to everyone else for making my weekend memorable. There's so much to write about... I need to get a little more sleep and get my thoughts in order first.

At least I can let you know how I did on my list of goals. Here's the results:

1. No puking.
I didn't. Derek did. 4.5 times. Better him than me!

2. No nude pictures - of me.
There were nude pictures all right. It started off with a wet t-shirt contest, and ended up with one girl who couldn't keep her top down. Luckily, this girl WAS NOT ME.

3. No dancing on tables unless I have at least one other girl with me.
There weren't many tables on Saturday without people playing poker on them, so that was easy. Friday night almost got ugly though. Little bar called the Bait Shack. If we'd had a couple more hours of drinking in there, I would've bet there would've been some dancing on the tables.

4. Get another blackmail picture of Iggy to add to my collection. They've been getting better with each gathering.
Forgot to charge the batteries on the camera. Didn't have my camera with me on Saturday. ...and alas, Iggy was behaving this trip.

5. Dial-a-shots!
Those definitely happened. We got StB, Joanne, and several others. Al kept dialing, and we just kept drinking.

6. Beer pong and flip-cup.
Unfortunately, there was only one flip-cup game, and it was during the drunk-o-lympics. No beer pong. Something to do next time...

7. Make friends with the cops when they come on Saturday so that nobody gets arrested for public drunkenness.
No cops on Saturday, which was a good thing. I did proposition a cop on Friday to keep us out of trouble, and that seemed to work. He just didn't want video evidence. (More on that story later.)

8. Remember at least 50% of what happens so I have stories to write.
I have all kinds of stuff to write. Let me get some sleep first so I'm at least coherent. I'll do my best to amuse you with stories over the next couple of days.

Here comes a rough weekend

2005-08-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Nope. Tuesday was as bad as I thought it would be. Only won two hands. I won one with A7o in the SB - flopped 2 pair and turned the full house. It was against my friend Danielle, and I felt bad because she lost with Big Slick suited. Her flush had come up, but it didn't beat my boat. I doubled up on that hand, which unfortunately wasn't very much. The other hand I had pocket As and I got one caller on the pre-flop raise but nothing after.

I play tight, or at least I try to. Stick with the better hands, and you'll win more often, right? In my case, no. That's my biggest frustration right now. I've been playing limit ($.50/$1) to try to work out some of my flaws, and I can't seem to get any love from the cards. Playing last night on FTP, I'd get AK, AQ, KQ and lose with them every time. My pocket Ks got busted by pocket Js when the board made a straight to the 10. Then I'd watch as the crap (Q4o, 59s, 36o) that I folded would have made trips, a straight, a flush, etc and WON. I'd see two or three hands like that, and I'd play decent but lesser cards (i.e. 89s) but the run would be over. I usually finish up a little, but not enough to cover the loss of a single session when I can't grind out a win.

I think my other problem is that I give other players too much credit for their play. I've folded good hands when I have top pair high kicker(KQ on a QJJ board), but there's another pair on the board. It's plausible for them to have trips, possibly a boat at that stage. When the person before me comes out firing big, I fold. Someone else calls, and the hand gets won by that pair and the person with the higher kicker. A lot of it comes down to reading other players, and I'm still working on that.

It was suggested by PokerWolf that my problem may be due to the fact that I'm focusing on new areas of learning and neglecting some of my basics. Could be. So, for this weekend, I intend to play the crappiest poker possible at Bradoween and play without trying to calculate pot odds or the like. I'm going back to basics and the fun aspect of it. Maybe taking a break from the academic side of poker will help revitalize it when I come back and try again next week...

And the fact that I probably won't even be able to see my cards while playing this weekend doesn't hurt either. :-)

I plan on drinking lots and enjoying myself this weekend. My goals:

1. No puking.
2. No nude pictures - of me.
3. No dancing on tables unless I have at least one other girl with me.
4. Get another blackmail picture of Iggy to add to my collection. They've been getting better with each gathering.
5. Dial-a-shots!
6. Beer pong and flip-cup.
7. Make friends with the cops when they come on Saturday so that nobody gets arrested for public drunkenness.
8. Remember at least 50% of what happens so I have stories to write.

I'm sure you'll hear plenty of stories from this weekend. As far out as the stories sound, they're true. It's hard to make up anything quite this crazy. I plan to have video, so maybe I'll have something good to share when I get back.

Enjoy your weekend! I know I will...