Misc. Stuff

Hi Kids!

I'm starting to emerge from a major funk brought on by MASSIVE work tilt, poor sleeping, eating and drinking habits, oral surgery, and ongoing back problems. Not to mention I still stink at poker and continue to bleed money.

I'm hoping things are beginning to look up though. I'm beginning to catch up on some personal business, and trying to make sure my wife and kids remember who I am, and that I can still be a pretty good guy when I can get out of my own head.

So, I've been wallowing in the low limit zone as my online bankroll has dipped below a hundy, and I have vowed not to reload maybe ever..I dunno.

Who am I kidding? I'm way to weak to stop playing online. I'm still living under the misconception that I can 'beat' the game online.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a hopeful and cheerful post.

I forgot to change Maudie's link in Google reader and have missed her posts since she left Pokerworks. If you have too, then check the link to the right or this:

http://www.pokerperspectives.com/


Short story on my back. About 2 years ago I started having serious issues with my back from the mid part of my neck on the right side to the middle of my back.

Sometimes it was just a nagging dull pull (like now) and sometimes it was a full fledged back spasm completely locking me up (like last week).

I went through a couple doctors, physical therapy, and a chiropractor. Finally, the Orthapaedic Surgeon and the MRI machine.

The last two broke the news, I have a herniated disk at the base of my neck causing undue stress and inflammation. The inflammation pushes my spinal cord and causes my muscles to seize up.

Mr Orthapaed's first track was prednizone, a round of steroids to control inflammation. That worked for a bit, but I was still hurt. So we moved on to cortizone. I had 3 spinal taps to reduce the inflammation in my neck and I was good for a little over a year.

Last week, I fell asleep on the plane home from NY and woke up a bit stiff. I didn't really acknowledge it and commenced my normal duties.

Thursday night I took my son to basketball evaluations and shot a little bit with him afterwards. He wanted me to show him my massive dunking skillz on the 9' goal and I couldn't resist.

I jumped up to get his alley-oop and OOOOP it did. I came down and grimaced in pain. I knew Master P didn't notice, so I played it off as it was time to leave, and walked as normally as I could out of the rec center.

I gingerly folded myself into the car, and finally P said, "are you all right Dad?"
I said sure, and we drove home.

It took about 10 minutes to get myself out of the car and into the house. I immediately made my way to the medicine cabinet. I took 800 MG of ibuprofen and a hydrocodone tab.

Rach found me in the kitchen and saw the look on my face, noticed my back contorted and knew the drill.

I knew there was no use hoping for the ibuprofen to help, so I went to the Orthopaed the next day and requested another round of steroids. Not that I like taking steroids, but I do like walking and moving.

Once again, the Doc suggested an MRI and surgery, but I denied, hoping that the prednisone does its' job.

Possibly one of you is a Doctor and can suggest the surgery, but we're talking about cutting into my neck and replacing a disk at the largest concentration of nerves in my body. 6-8 months of recuperation and the possibility of more surgery or complications stemming.

For now, I'll pass, but I may have to face it someday.

So, probably more info than you wanted, but what the hell. I should be able to make the mook tonight. See you later.

10 things you dont care about.

Thanks for Tagging me Sean. Sorry I just read it a couple days ago.



I'm a bit tired and depressed, so sorry in advance.


1. I don't have any parents. Mom had the C and Dad drank himself there.


2. I was dropped on the head as a baby. Actually I fell down a flight of stairs learning to walk, but if you've played poker with me it's all falling into place for you now.

3. I firebombed my Fergie challenge on FT. Ran great for a month, doubled up. Then went apeshit one night and blew it all. I'm still doing fine on PS though.

4. I very nearly married a girl in the army and moved to Germany. Luckily she got cold feet.

5. My family has a new edition! We adopted a dog from one of our previous neighbors who got divorced. Funny thing is her name is Gracie, which is one of my daughters names. We had to rename her Casey. (No, the dog silly.)

6. I have 2 grandmothers who are 95+

7. I used to write poetry on a daily basis from 15 - 20. I rarely write poetry anymore.

8. My wife is an overachiever, I'm the opposite... lazy. Somehow it works.

9.Coming up with 10 things really stinks in my current state.

10. I am loyal to a fault sometimes. I won't tag anyone since this meme has been around forever.

11. I will feel better once I get a full nights sleep, don't mind me.


Have fun at the hoy tonight, and you be careful out there.

Draggin

I'm dragging a bit today..I followed up my whirlwind trip to NY with a long weekend of drinking, horseshoes, some swimming, and more drinking. Not much to report from the trip, other than I worked harder than usual, since I didn't have a game to go to...
The weekend was nice as I spent a lot of time with the kids and some of my friends with kids as well. My wife still needs to take it easy so I'm trying to alleviate the stress when I'm at home...there's just an awful lot to keep up with.

About an hour ago I started feeling not so good. Like I'm getting a cold. I hate that feeling. I'm looking forward to a night of hot tea, Vitamin C, and ginseng.

I don't like taking pills, and I loathe cold medicine so I try to just eat right, rest, and OD on vitamin c. It usually does the trick. I have no time to be sick.

Next on the docket is a three day trip to Montreal (any bloggers there?) near mid-June, then my family reunion/vacation the following week and another trip to NYC at the end of June. Yee ha!

As for poker...I have a lot of repair to do for the online coffers. Wish me luck.

Seven Things and a weekend wrap up.

Just like my fine tagger Jordan, I was beginning to feel just like I did in 4th grade kickball. But not only did I finally get tagged, but I got tagged twice, the second coming from fellow ATLien CC . Thanks guys!

Now onto seven things....

1. I worked at 6 Flags over Georgia for 3 seasons. First year in food service, second and third in rides. I became an operator of Air Racer and an attendant at The Dahlonega Mine Train when I was 16 years old. Both rides had malfunctioned 2 years prior. I had nothing to do with it.

2. I am somewhat ambidextrous - I play golf, throw frisbee (including disk golf) and play tennis with both hands. I am left dominant though and pride myself for being in my 'right' mind.

3. In High School and my first year of college I wanted to be an actor. I finally came to the realization that I was not very good, and moved on to smoking pot and playing ultimate frisbee, which I was far better at.

4. I am a huge music fan. I believe I have a fairly good ear for music. I used to have multiple hundreds of cassette tapes and CD's. I was also a DJ for a local bar and for Album 88, Georgia State's college radio station, one of the largest student-run stations in the world. I got relieved of my duties shortly after a shift in which I played Joy Division exclusively.

5. I am irrationally afraid of identical twins.

6. I've been engaged to two women named Rachel. I married the right one, thank god!

7. I accidentally found a career. In the late 90's I had 2 jobs, Waiter/Bartender and part-time grip (commercials-tradeshows). A high school friend offered me a job working for him as desktop support for a small company. Now I am Director of IT at an internet marketing company.


I tag fellow Atlantans:

Kelly - Come out of the foxhole buddy!
Brain
Surf
Kajagugu
Butch


This weekend was filled with pokery and non-pokery goodness. I started on Friday with my monthly neighborhood poker game. I went out halfway in the first tournament on a busted flush draw with second pair.
We started a cash game and played 1/2 with an 8 dollar limit. I do my best to keep it friendly as I have some players who want to keep upping the stakes. I ran the table over and made about $100 in an hour or so, but my crowning achievement was taking down the second tournament which we upped to a $40 entry. I finished the night up over $400, which is a nice bump for my limits.

Saturday MasterP received his first communion and we had various family members over for presents and snacks. I spent most of Saturday recovering from Friday though. I was exhausted.

Sunday was Mother's day of course, and we went over to the in-laws house so the kids could swim. The kids each made very nice presents for their mother, and being the slacker I only got my wife a card. I feel bad cause I really intended to get her a little something, but I just didn't make the time. She was reasonably pissed off at me, so I will have to try and make it up.

You guys have a great week. I'll be able to play in the MOOK, but probably nothing else this week. See you around.

on parenting

Kudos to wil and his latest article for the Suicide Girls.

Parenting is something that has not come naturally for me. In fact, I'm a little leery of people who make it look so easy. For me parenting is a daily struggle. I must admit I am not the most patient of people. My children often feel the brunt of this when I get frustrated.

My short fuse puts me into situations where I get more and more angry with little to no outlet. I honestly do my best not to yell and when I do, I just feel so bad. I know 99% of the time it is my shortcoming which puts me into confrontations with my children. BUT I JUST WANT THEM TO DO WHAT I ASK THEM TO DO!!!

It's an impossible dream I know, and one I strive to reconcile myself with on a daily basis, since each day brings a new challenge, and a new opportunity to effectively communicate.

I can admit that I am not dad of the year or anything, but I also know that I love those kids more than anything, and I battle my own self importance in an attempt to to the best I can do for them. Sometimes rationality wins, sometimes my emotions take over...

When it comes to style I lean on the strict side of the spectrum. I enforce rules for TV, games, bedtime, and table manners. Those of you with children know this is a daily responsibility requiring consistency, firmness, and creativity.

As parents, you can't be Hitler and Stalin, just as you can't be Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock. In my opinion you have to strike a balance between totalitarianism and overindulgence. No simple task indeed, and there is no substitute for firm yet intelligent parenting.

The over saturation of media has really taken hold over the last 20-30 years. I grew up in front of the television soaking in consumerism and dull humor. It certainly affected my personality. In the past I believed I was "due" or owed the un-reality of the eternally happy Family Ties type life.

Having children caused me to wake up a bit, and I've been learning to be a grown up for 10 years now. I hope that it is starting to stick, because I want to be so much more than my parents ever could have been for me.

The desire to provide the antithesis of my upbringing keeps me on my toes, and I probably over-compensate for it. Proper motivation? I dunno, but it seems to be working for me so far.

The one thing I and I think a lot of parents struggle with is consistency, and there is no formula for it. You have to stick to your guns, you have to make stands, and you can not give in when children are in the wrong. You also have to be able to atone for mistakes that you WILL make, and let them know that part of growing up is being able to make mistakes and learn from them.

Ok...sorry for the tangent. Back to Technology and Parenting. Just like all vices, there has to be limitations. There has to be a happy place between placating the children and your laziness and what is right and good for you all.

As Wil's article points out, if you're going on Vacation, then do it for the right reasons. Don't take your freaking living room with you! Strip off all the crap your life makes you wear and engage.

If you can't do that then what's the point? Stop being a robot and remember what it means to be a human, move out of your comfy little shell and experience the people you are supposedly doing this for. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Have a good day everyone.

Here we are.

We are here.

I am not working on my side project this week after-all, so I played in the Wheetie for the first time in a very long time. I chipped up well early and built a rocky image for myself. I didn't recognize most of the names on my table so it was kinda fun to try a few new things. About halfway in I had to fold TPSK to a stack equal to mine, she wouldn't let go after the pre-flop bet and pot sized raise....it just smelled bad to me, or perhaps I'm just a coward.

Things went downhill after that and I went out somewhere around 20th.

Moving along to FT, I played a 18 person peep with Bayne and the token frenzy and gathered up a couple tokens for future use, I also played in one of the daily double tourneys, going out around 120/1200 not to shabby for a donk fest. Of course I followed this up by losing a healthy bit on the cash tables..... and the cycle continues...

On a personal note my lovely wife has officially finished her second year of Law school and will take a much needed break this summer. I can not fully describe my admiration for her, I know the workload she has been under has been grueling, and something that would have made me fold like a cheap napkin. She's also quitting her job, which may put a bit of a financial strain on us, but we'll figure it out. The kids need their mom for the summer and she needs a sanity break. Fine by me. I'll do what I need to do to make it work.

That's just how WE roll, it's a great feeling.

By the way, I'm hosting my monthly neighborhood poker game on Friday, so if any of you ATLiens want to drive out to the burbs and sling some cards, then drop me a line.
2 to the 3 skidoo, thats gmail baby!

BREAKING NEWS!

wait for it.....




I'm a donk!!!! Who'd a thunk it???

Yeah, I suppose this isn't news to a great deal of you. But I think I am uniquely gifted at giving away money at the poker table. On the plus side I'm a pretty fun guy to be around, especially if I'm facing you at the tables where I just open up my little pockets for you to take what's mine. That said, knowing is half the battle, and I'll keep battling it until i run out of freely spendable income (which may happen VERY soon).

So in that vein, you ATL folks feel free to come get some of my hard earned cash tonight!!

If you didn't already get an e-mail, let me know and I'll send you the particulars.

In Dreams

I don't often have vivid dreams, and when I do I can only recall images or feelings.

Last night I had a dream. I woke up around 5AM disturbed and started to recall it. It was a familiar setting and one I've had in many dreams.

My Grandmother's house.

The house where my father grew up was in a large, heavily wooded neighborhood in between the marshes of Glynn county and downtown Brunswick.

Brunswick started as one of the five original ports of entry for the 13 colonies. It serves as a hub for car imports as well as wood pulp products. One thing visitors notice immediately is the smell. There is a thick mixture of heavy sea air, shrimp, and wood processing that hangs on the whim of the wind, which there is plenty.

My grandparents built the small, but comfortable house on an acre of flat land which held some of the best climbing oaks known to boy-dom. I spent several weeks of nearly every summer vacation in the house with my grandparents, usually joined by my cousin John who is only one year younger than myself. His older brother called my grandmother Gan, my grandfather was Dado. Being the oldest, he got naming rights on the grandparents, so the names stuck.

When my father decided to quit the rat race and buy a business on St. Simons island, just across the marsh, he bought the house from my grandmother and moved his new family there. I was begrudgingly moved from Atlanta into a house with my 2nd step-mother and her 2 daughters.

There are plenty of memories wrapped up in that setting, both bad and good. I did an awful lot of growing up in that house, so I suppose my mind retreats there when it's feeling lazy. Its a comfortable backdrop.

I've been trying to piece the memory of this dream together, and it seems trivial, but the fact is that it didn't feel trivial when I woke up mid-slumber at 5AM.

I was sitting in Gan's tiny kitchen. I knew it was Gan's kitchen because the old refrigerator was there. One of those bulbous 50's 'friges with the huge silver-chrome pull handles on it.

I was sitting on the floor with my wife and someone else. I tugs at my brain trying to figure out the other person there since they were central to my comfort (or lack of it) in the situation.

Behind me, there was a large pot of boiling water, steaming into the air with the screams of crabs. I used to think it was screaming when I was a kid, and I liked it in a sadistic kid-like way.

Back in the day, John and I would get our crab traps, three or 4 packs of chicken necks and a bucket. We'd walk down to the marsh when the tide was just beginning to wane, and we'd pull plenty of crabs out of the water to fill the bucket before we could see the muddy bottom of the marsh.

We'd proudly present our bucket to Gan and she'd boil 'em up for us. To this day, I have never had crab that good.

My wife and I were having a light discussion, sitting on the floor, when the phone rang. We didn't pick up the phone though. We let it ring till the answering machine picked up. There was a long pause and a smallish girl spoke. She left a message for me, but I did not recognize the voice.
The third person and I had an animated discussion surrounding the phone call. It was as if I was blaming the third person for the discomfort the call and the message caused.

What's strange is I remember the name, and when I woke up this morning, I remembered most of the number. What i remember most of all is the feeling of betrayal and anger I had after the call.

The problem is that I have no idea why I was mad...perhaps upset is a better description.

In the dream I tried to reason why this person would call me and leave a message. I remember looking at the number on the Caller ID and it was different than the one given in the message. Why would she try to lie? Too many questions, and I was anxious.

I wish I could remember more, which is the crux of most of my dreams. I remember images and feelings but never specifics.

I do know that this morning I checked the caller ID on my phone, but there was nothing from last night/this morning. I also had the distinct feeling that things were out of place.

If I was a better writer, I'd have a clever device to put this together and make it coherent, but I just felt like getting the feeling down so I could try to get to the root of it.

I'm coming up sort of empty right now, and I'm going to choose to ignore any blatant commitment/marriage/faith issues in some random girl leaving a message for me on the phone. The girl is a red herring for the feeling I woke up with.

I just cant put my finger on it.

Weekend Wrap-up and a day I will not soon forget.

Friday night didn't go as I planned, I had hoped to make it over to CC's house to christen his beautiful poker room. The problem was, Friday was also Poker Night for my neighborhood. I have the 'honor' of running the game on a Monthly basis. I was hoping we would have a bad turnout and I could close up shop, but we had a very good turn out instead. +EV for me, I get to play against a 60/40 mix of players/donks rather than the table full of sharks over at CC's. It turns out I made the right choice for the bankroll as I took 2nd in the tournament then won another 60 playing .50/1 Holdem with a $5 max. Which really turned into 5 Limit. there were 2 guys at the table who were recklessly spewing chips and I was happy to partake of the action.

Saturday I sweated out the alcohol working in the yard, beginning my quarterly yard maintenance. I sprayed weeds, spread some granules and whacked down the butterfly bushes in the pine island. I will need to get about 30-40 bales of pine straw to complete the work. I'll go back through the island and yard next weekend for more spraying and weeding in preparation. Saturday night I stayed up till 2(3) to see if anything went wrong with my servers. I spent an hour or so logging on to various systems and checking things. As I suspected, nothing major happened and every thing seems to have changed time properly except a few clients in NY who probably didn't reboot as I asked. The wife was out with her mom and sister.

I got a call around 1:30, the wife was at her sister's house and they got their mom drunk! Trust me, this is something I have never seen, I've never seen this woman have more than one drink. Saturday she had three......evidently thats her limit. The wife decided to wait it out a bit, then take her mom home. They got a real good laugh out of it, but her mother was none to pleased. She wandered in around 4 am and we slept in instead of going to church.

Sunday morning was quiet, I got up and did my usual breakfast routine. Bacon, eggs, waffles and fruit. The kids love to help, but mostly love slathering everything on their plates with maple syrup. After Breakfast was cleaned up I took my cup of coffee out to the porch to get a little air and relaxation before beginning what was to be a full day. My cousin Stew was having his second child baptized (my justification for skipping early church) then having some people over to his new house. I really wanted to see his new place, Stew and I are very close and see each other once a month or so. (usually to disastrous results....but more on that another time). Then we were heading to my big brother's house for his daughters 4th birthday.

I sat and breathed in deep, the weather was just perfect outside. I wondered what the wife was doing, as I was sure she saw me go out. Several minutes later I hear a noise, I think to myself that the children have broken,maimed or thrown something, I reminded myself to take a breath before getting angry, then I heard the screams.

I ran through the front door and saw my wife coming up the stairs from the basement. She had our youngest daughter (G-squared) in her arms, her face was covered in blood and she was screaming. I froze, just for a second, and that image burned into my mind. My beautiful daughter looking at me mouth wide open, screaming, her eyes huge as saucers,pleading to me, and a huge red gash over her right eye streaming blood into her porcelain white face.

I swallowed and tried to breathe. I took g2 and sat her on the counter. I told my wife to get the number for the hospital, not 911. She called to find out if they had a plastic surgeon on call. I took a closer look at my little girl and reassured her it was going to be OK, even though I was holding back panic to the best of my abilities. I took off the towel my wife had gotten, and took a look. It was not easy to look at. She had a slice running from just below the orbit of her eye to the middle of her forehead as deep as it could go without going through her skull.

I looked at her eyes, she was in shock, but alert and talking. She was calming down a bit, and I tore through the medicine box and found the butterfly bandages. I had to get that bleeding stopped as much as possible. I taped the wound closed and grabbed the gauze. I taped gauze over the whole thing and told her to keep her hand pressing on it. She held the gauze there and I ran upstairs to get dressed, get kids shoes and a change of clothes for g2. We called Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and let them know we were coming. I just had too many doubts about taking her to the hospital in Cumming. I knew she would get the best care at Children's, and they confirmed there was a specialist on hand.

Children's Healthcare is located about 20 miles from our house, but it felt like it took an hour to get there. Master P and mouse briefly complained about going to the hospital instead of seeing their cousins. I firmly (maybe a bit too firmly) explained the situation to the kids in an attempt to make them understand the gravity of it all, but they really had no idea how bad it could have been.

The wife's folks were called, I explained the details to my mother in law who was a nurse at one time. I asked her about shock and what to do. G2 was sleepy, and I told my wife to keep talking to her and to make her stay awake. My mother in law went through a few general nurse-type questions and convinced me that g2 would be fine. She lost a good bit of blood, but her color was good and she was coherent and talking.

I hate Hospitals...but doesn't everyone? I especially hate hospitals when I have to stand in line with my child in my arms and a bloody towel over her face. We get her checked in and I resist every urge to scream at someone...I just wanted a fucking doctor to look at my child NOW, but I played the game and we waited.

The in-laws came in the door shortly thereafter and my sister in law came in with doughnuts and milk for everyone....damn she's good. After about 10 minutes and five trips to the admitting desk, we get called by triage. They go over the basics (again) and we finally get taken back to a room. I start feeling better in small increments.

We see the first doctor, who I am sure is lighter than peter pan, but he is very good. ( We are later informed that he is in fact married with children, and all the nurses call him 'PIP', hmmmm)He asks g2 all the questions, which she answers perfectly. He then asks who put on the butterfly bandages and I get a nice little pat on the back. He confirms the plastics dude is on the way, but he has to undress the bandage and apply the numbing agents which take 20-30 minutes to activate fully.

We relax a bit, g2 gets to watch the Incredibles.

The youngish Surgeon comes in and he is all business, but gentile and reassuring. I start to think about the small mint this is going to cost me and quickly push that thought out of my mind.

What's interesting is I was listening to the news station this morning, and they were reporting on a missing boy in Glynn county. They were interviewing the missing boy's grandmother and she stated something to the effect of "they can take my cars, my house, my land or my leg.....I just want that baby back. there ain't nothing that matters to me as much as that baby"

I just sit there and traffic and cry a little for that family, I felt the same way at the moment money crossed my mind. Nothing matters as much as my baby(ies) I'd go and clean that hospital on the night shift if that's what it came down to. But I know my insurance is good, and I knew I was just thinking irrationally.

The surgeon sewed 18 stitches into the injury and did really a fantastic job of talking to us and g2 during the procedure. She went through the whole thing wide awake and didn't move a muscle, there's just no way to explain how amazed of her I was. The doctors and staff were equally amazed at her demeanor and strength. I'm pretty sure she never cried during the entire visit.

We got the kids home, fed and in bed. We went downstairs and cleaned up the broken glass and table. We finally sat and talked, we played the "what if?" game for far too long going over and over how it must have happened and how close she was to losing her eye, and possibly her life.

As my sister said, she had a little angel on her shoulder.

We could have been making funeral arrangements, but we got to kiss our baby and put her in her bed. We could have been looking for some depraved pedophile who stole into our baby's room and took her off into the night, but she was safe and warm.

A little cut can do a lot of things to you...

Odds and Sods

With all due respect and credit to The Register.


I was able to play a little live poker on Friday with my cigar buddies. The four of us played 5 $10 SNG's. I didn't manage to win a single one. Then I convinced the guys to come to my place since the cigar shop was closing and I managed to get back to -$10 from a low of -$80. It was particularly fun since my buddy the Dutch Oven decided to play a last longer on the final game for $50. I came back from a 4-1 chip deficit to take down the last tourney and win the last longer. Good Times.

If you didn't notice, I rewrote a little bit of the Salami Game. I got some expert advice and fixed the tense issues and reworked the ending. I still don't like the ending, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It went from too esoteric to too sappy. What are you gonna do? Pauly recommended reading Stephen King's On Writing, so I bought a copy off of Amazon.

I also bought 2 of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. I have never been very good at managing my money, so maybe this will help. Worst case scenario is I can pass on some rudimentary finance teaching to my children. Those little fuckers are gonna support me one day.

I also decided to start up a fantasy baseball league on yahoo for the bloggers. I thought head to head play would be a bit more fun than straight rotisserie. In H2H you play against a team for a week and score based on rotisserie categories. Whoever wins a category, gets a point. He who has the most points wins the week. So, on a weekly basis it's anyones game. So far, Chad and Shea have joined, you should too! So if you're thinking about joining please do, it's not as ghey as FUEL thinks, and he's the resident expert on gheyness. I also added a little prize pool to keep folks entertained.

Thats all for now, tomorrow marks one week of no online poker for me and boy is it a sacrifice.

Lent

Hi folks! I had a good bit of fun running in the WWDN last night. I sucked out a set early on versus poorly played kings and stayed in the top 5 for nearly the entire night. Unfortunately I couldn't will aces or a flush draw on my last hand and ended right in 5th. I was a bit perturbed, because I think if I had played a little less loose/agg at the final table I could have taken it down.

Despite a good showing last night, I'm taking a little break from online poker. I've decided to quit as a part of my Lenten obligation. Now, I may not be the most ardent of catholics, but we do try to observe the holy days.

This break will give me a chance to recollect on the last couple of months when I went completely batshit crazy as well as a chance for ePassporte to get their shit together so I can once again lose my money on a more consistent basis.
Weak has already warned me its a long process, so we shall see.

pay no attention

to the man behind the curtain.

I've got to challenge myself, not fold under the pressure. I've got something cooking with another blogger which may be fun. Maybe we can recruit some others who share our position.

Nearly stuck and running bad.

I just deleted everything else in this and kept Brain's nice comment.

I'm trying to finish it now. Writing is hard.

Oh, and I just found out the wife is goin out with her mom instead of me. Should I be worried? nah I get to play poker tonight! I'll be racing for tokens and playing some low limit SNG's and MTT's on FT wish me luck.

I like New York in ....February

How about you?

Thursday morning was going to suck, there was just no two way around it. I booked the earliest flight out of Atlanta at 7:05am, not a huge issue except taking into consideration that even on a good day, I am about 1.5 hours form the airport. Add to that the fact that the airport recommends (even on the earliest flight) to be at the airport 1.5 hours prior to the flight. Again, not a huge issue remembering this happens to be the busiest airport in the world. Now the kicker is the weather.

If you live in or have visited the south, you have enjoyed some of the best weather in the country (IMHO). Though the one thing we do not have a grasp on down here is snow and ice. Southerners (especially ATLiens) freak the fuck out when it comes to snow and ice in the forecast. Please don't ask me why, but this place turns into utter gridlock and stupidity at the drop of a flake. People rush to the grocery store to stock up on canned goods, the Home Depot is crowded with folks stocking up on kerosene and buying generators. What people don't seem to realize is that unless there is a MAJOR ice storm (last one I remember was over 10 years ago) the roads stay bad for maybe a day. But, no... the weathermen crowd the airways with snowstorm this and icy conditions that at even the HINT of snow. Well, Thursday was to be such a day. This was bound to add to the stupidity. I now had to plan on being up at 4am for my 7am flight.

Wednesday night I get home, pack the bags and hang with the wife for a bit. Around 10 I go to check the flight and check in online. Well, imagine my surprise when the flight is displayed as canceled. I check Delta's front page and they have a post that ATL has preemptively canceled some early flights for the POSSIBILITY of snow. Travel tilt has begun and I haven't even gotten in the car. Of course, they can offer no further information on the web, and I am forced to call the help line. This is my second fairly large project with my new company and I have been employed for just over a week. I HAVE to get to NY and a weekend trip is out of the question. Needless to say I'm a little stressed at this point, and after 20 minutes of elevator music, I am fully prepared to pop the first person I speak to in the testicles.

I forget the totally fake name of the operator, something like Gerald, but I press him for information as he politely and slowly gets the information I need. I keep my cool and find out that my flight has been moved to 8:15, and I can check in online. I keep 'Gerald' on the line as I do so.

Now, one would think that this means 'yay, I get to sleep for another hour!' one who thinks that has never been to Atlanta. Essentially, traffic blows mud between the hours of 7 and 7. It literally sucks to go anywhere, seriously. If you are thinking about moving to Atlanta, please lobotomize yourself first; it will be better for all of us. I generously give myself another 20 minutes, so I can set my alarm to the uber trendy 4:20.

I arrive to the airport with 1.5 hours to spare, and get to my gate about 10 minutes later. So much for being prepared, but it beats being late. I proceed to play some cards over WiFi CC style and donk off about $20 playing .50/1.

The rest of the journey is event free and we arrive in the NY office around noon after scarfing down some NY style pizza. YUM, I don't know if its a mental thing, but the pizza in NY is far superior to any pizza anywhere else.

The New York office to put it lightly is a clusterfuck. It's obviously suffering from neglect as they have not had a dedicated systems person there for awhile. We set to work, my assistant and the consultant work on the clients and I poke around server side to get an idea of whats up and set up a new server. We work furiously through 6:30, and I'm really itching to get out of there.

I had been e-mailing Jordan back and forth and he knew of a game we could get into at 7:30. I was starting to push it. My co-workers were heading back to ATL and were leaving soon. I was staying behind to deal with the certain shitstorm the next day in the office. My first priority was hitting this game with Jordan, sleep and hunger be damned.

I managed to get a cab heading towards midtown, and I had an interesting exchange with the driver. The last e-mail I received from Jordan gave me the corner the driver could drop me off. It was something and Houston. I told the driver the intersection and he had no idea what I was talking about. I slowly said the street names again thinking he just didn't hear me, but no, he had no idea where Houston street was. I tell him to just go that direction so I can get in touch with Jordan to confirm the street. I try to call, and realize I have the wrong number in my phone. Luckily for me Jordan had at the same time been leaving me a message on my phone with directions and his number. Listening to the message, he pronounces Houston as HOW-STON, being a good southerner, I was telling the driver HUGH-STON doh! I correct the pronunciation and the driver is now clear. I correct the number in my phone and call Jordan when I am dropped off.

We flag each other down as I'm in the middle of the intersection and we are off.

OK that's enough for now, I guess I will actually get to some poker in the next post.

I'm sorry

Sorry about the lack of posts, I'm re-charging and will be back FEB 1st with some stuff and things.


EDIT:
I found out earlier that I will be in New York City on Thursday of next week, February 1st.

I will be spending the night and should have some free time for dinner or whatever. If any of you New Yorkers want to meet up or what not, I'm game.

Email me at 23skidoo at g mail.com

Get your motor running.

Well, I hit the ground running last night. I took down a a $10 SNG, played in the mook IGH with QQ vs KQ...ugh. Then another $10SNG - 1st. IGH ~100 in the O/8 3k. Won a token, then lost a 2nd Tier 2-table, but got my 3rd tier ticket by winning the mook 2nd chance!! A positive night, and I am going to keep it up.

I will do my best to get in Don's BIG GAME on Sunday. Just depends on getting the wife to comply. Sunday is usually TV nite for us, but we shall see.





I have my monthly game in the Neighborhood tomorrow. I'm looking forward to doing well. I haven't had many positive sessions there as of late as I let the looseness get to me. If any of the ATL folks want to come, drop me a line at 23skidoo AT gmail. The invitation is open.


I'm working on my resolutions and a challenge to myself which could dictate the course of my poker 'career'. Stay tuned.

Downtime

Online Poker will be taking a backseat through the end of January at least. I have the semi-finals in HUC4 to take care of, but I don't think I'll be playing much after that.

I'll be back in some capacity in February with my yearly goals and perhaps some direction. I have my interest out in several areas and am looking to get my J O B situation back into a positive direction. I think I finally realized that alot of my not-so-sunny outlook is attributable to my ho-hum attitude about work.

Good luck to you all in the New Year, see you soon.

Could be something, most likely not.

Ok, gotta just jump back on the horse. Writing has been really difficult for me for a couple of weeks now. I'm not really interested in saying nothing, and when your are a not so gifted writer the BS just ends up coming out just like BS.

So I'm just gonna try an go through a little life report and see if it generates some sparks. And for kicks I'll work backwards.

I've been utterly useless today, sleepwalking through another day. Having some bizarre chest/throat/head thing going on is no fun to boot. Combine that with horrible eating habits, an accumulation of 6 hours sleep in the last 2 nights and you have my general state of being somewhat realized. I was fully intending to drop the kids off at the bus stop, turn right around and go back to bed. For some stupid reason I couldn't make myself do it and found myself at my desk some 45 minutes later.

I really had a great nite playing cards last night, results-wise, meh...up a small bit, but I still feel like I am playing really great. Early in the mook, I lost some chips to a re-raise so I had to be patient. Fortunately (unfortunately as you will see) I woke up with QQ in the cutoff and I had one limper to me. I raise about 4x the blinds to lose the ace/crap play hoping for a fold or a chance to push. I got a call from the BB and the limper folds. JJx comes the flop, and I can't see checking here. My only option is min raise or push. Being me, I pushed and was called by TT. ..hiiiyyyyyeeeeahhh . I'll spare you the rest.

Big props to my ATL brethren for getting 1st and 2nd in the mook last night. Way to represent BRAIN and Surf!!

So I sign up for the 2nd chance horse and a 22+2 turbo. I can't say much about the horse game, I played my usual questionable hands and had some fun. I hate Stud, I have no concept as to how to play this as 2 pairs usually take it down..or so it seems. I freaking dominate the 22 and my head is getting bigger since I knocked Gracie out of HU4 earlier.

Grace and I have been trying to get together a few times, but being the holidays and my lack of playing time over the last 2 weeks we had a tough time getting together. When I sparked up the old poker machine, imagine my delight when I see the little yellow smiley next to peacecorn in the girly chat. So I think to myself, "Self, you might as well bite the bullet and get yourself tore up by a former WSOP player and uber cool lady.

Something happened though about mid way through the first game. I felt goot! I felt in command. I switched up a little from the bet, raise, fold school and took some chances. Go figure, I start catching and rolling.. I made one questionable call in the third game with TPFD top pair flush draw. I held the Q and put Gracie on AQ- QT she pushed the turn and I knew she did not want a call, but I gave it and her trashy 2-pair held up. Other than that, I bobbed and weaved my way to 3-1 fairly quickly. I think we were done with all 4 matches in under an hour, or close to it.

I do not want to give the impression that I somehow outplayed her, I just got cards when I needed them... end of story.

Work has been creating a bit of tilt for me lately as I go through periods of utter boredom to frantic frustrating juggling to finish 'emergency' projects. I'm still the guy they come to when they get stuck or can't figure something out...so as long as there are persons of questionable intellect in my workplace, I'm good. I still have a 'crossing every finger' type opportunity that is beginning to look bleak, but I'll hold up hope till I hear something.

So Tuesday night at the wheetie was a trial in frustration. I made a hammer play fairly early and couldn't get some donk off Ax soooted. I should have paid attention, since it turns out he was a calling station overvaluing aces on a couple of occasions. Then it just turned into one of those games where i didn't get paid off when I wanted action, my moves missed completely, then frustration took over.

Its a snowball effect that creeps into MTT's for me a bit. It seems like I can take a a sequence of hands and roll on up, but if I get beat bad or have a string of plays with decent hands that don't hit, I get frustrated and things move south. In late stage situations, I usually have chips to lose, and this doesn't affect me, but early in tournaments a bad hand can ofter spell early destruction for me, as evidenced in both blogger tourneys I played this week.

I've been thinking alot about temperament and am not going to continue playing when I am not concentrating. My temperament and my concentration goes hand in hand. Essentially, if I'm concentrating in the moment, my actions are not dictated by my feelings. And all good cash and tournament players that I know are able to remove emotions from the decision making process.

Saturday and Sunday I spent in bed or on the couch as I was overrun with exhaustion and the onset of a cold. The wife was super spectacular at taking the kids away to let me wallow and rest. She was also retuning my favor from Friday when I let her sleep all day....she bounces back in ~24 hrs.....I'm still hacking up pieces of lung and sound like I've had my larynx removed 5 days later.

Ahh what else. Turkey day was awesome. I am lucky enough to have most of my family within driving distance and was able to hit up lunch at big bro's house and dinner at my wife's aunt's.

The wife is almost done for the semester and is gearing up for 3 big finals in Constitutional Law, Torts and a 3rd one I'm forgetting, you lawyers out there can feel her pain I'm sure. This means she will be spending a vast majority of her time the next two weeks studying, reading, and sleeping possibly allowing me to concentrate on poker and house stuff.

So that just about catches me up on what I'm not posting about for the past week. I'm looking forward to hitting the virtual felt tonight all hopped up on cold medicine.....yipee!!

zzzzzzz

I'm tired.


I've been tired all week. I think my body is preparing itself for something and is storing energy in the fat around my midsection, then again, maybe not. I'm just gaining weight.

I've made almost all of the preparations I need for the blogger game on Saturday. To say I'm overly excited about this would be an understatement. My usual actions in similar situations is to:

A. Manage to piss someone off without knowing I'm doing it.
B. Piss someone off fully intending to piss that person off.
C. Piss myself of by making an ass of myself.
D. Piss the wife off for making an ass of myself.
E. Get piss drunk and pass out/black out doing all of the above.

Knowing myself is a good thing sometimes, and I will strive to do none of these on Saturday, but no guarantees.

I have a 'not as earth shaking as the blogfather pulling the plug' possibility coming up that only 3 other people are aware of. It's weighing on me and am desperate for a positive result without even having one in sight. I really hate waiting on thing which I have no, or little control over.

So wish me luck if you will, on opening new doors.