Catching Up

Did anyone notice the dust collecting on this chunk of cyberspace?

I have been busy staying busy. Work, poker, brewing, laundry, being a
single father (to my pets)... blogging has not been a priority. What could be more
important? Well, let me tell you.

SteelerSteph gets back late this Friday from her 3+ week training in North
Carolina. Despite her absence (being careful not to discount how much I
missed her) I have not been bored! Somewhat unexpectedly to me, my days
have revolved around our beagle, Copper. He gets up when I do at 6:45 and
does his business outside. By the time I leave the apartment for work, he
is soundly back in his doggy dreams under the comforter on our bed. I
don't know what he does until noon when I come home at lunch to let him
out, but I suspect it is the same thing he is doing when I leave. I can
almost surprise him when I come home and he has to stretch and shake off
the sleep. Weather permitting, we take a short walk and I head back to the
office. Routine is repeated when I get home around 6 PM and he is my
shadow until he reluctantly gets into his crate around 11.

Knowing he is cooped up all day in the apartment really makes his patented
"hound dog" look haunt me. If I have to leave during a weeknight to get
food or something, I really feel guilty. I suspect I am giving him
feelings he may not really posses, but regardless, it is really cramping my
style! I had planned on hitting the casino for some live poker while Steph
was out of town, but put that off for my homie. Ditto for going out to
catch a movie (I want to see Borat). The weekends are all about my canine
buddy as we cruise PetSmart together and he accompanies me on trips to the
grocery store. If he would just figure out that I come back everytime I
leave him in the car to run in someplace, he could maybe lose the frantic
howling routine as I walk away from the car. It can startle people because
it sounds like our government is trying to extract information from him at
Guantanamo. Torture indeed.

I did manage to put aside my doggy guilt this past Saturday and attended a
brewing demonstration by a local brew club at a store in Macomb, MI. I did
not know what to expect and I was very surprised at what a good time I had.
The guys brewing were are very friendly and willing to share their
expertise and their handiwork. It was hard to keep an empty cup and I had
to be careful; that homebrew can be powerful stuff. After enjoying the
free beer and food, I took the opportunity to purchase my ingredients for
the next batch. I also picked up a $2.95 adapter that is worth 10x that.
It allows me to hook up my wort chiller to my kitchen sink since I no
longer have access to an outdoor hose. I brewed once before I had this
little machined piece of convenience and I had to hold the hose to the
faucet head for at least 20 minutes. What a pain in the ass. Not this
past Sunday though! Armed with some tips on when to add ingredients, I had
my cleanest brew yet. It went flawlessly and I am hoping the product turns
out as good as the process was. No boilovers, much less mess to clean up,
I am ready to do it again as soon as my fermenters are clear. It was also
my first time using Dry Malt Extract (DME) so I am curious to see how this
batch tastes. It should not make a difference, but all my other batches of
HoneyWheat used liquid malt extract.

My bankroll on Full Tilt is like a tire with a very very slow leak. I
loaded $100 on there and have been playing mostly $5 and $6 SNGs with some
grinding thrown in .50/1.00 Limit. The play there is much different than
Party. I would dare say "better"... or at least more "patient". So many
of the single table SNGs go to break, it is nuts. 5-6 levels in and we are
still 6-8 handed? Not uncommon. Compared to Party, the low level SNGs seem
to be much tighter. This has been different and I think I have adapted my
game correctly. I play more suited connectors in position and try to limp
into more pots in the early stages. I have been seeing good results mixed
with some spectacular bad beats. I am looking to string together a few 1st
and 2nds so I can get some momentum with this seed money. Wish me luck.

Finally, I feel comfortable saying that we have sold our house in Ohio.
After an exciting back and forth negotiation, we accepted an offer. Originally, they wanted to close on the 15th of December but we got a call last week to see if it could be moved up to November 15th. Umm, sure! I had to jump through my own rectum to get all the arrangements in place on such short notice but that was well worth the extra 2k + closing a month earlier will save us. Curious what you could have moved into in the sprawling metropolis of Medina, OH? Here is what you missed. The movers are coming this Monday and I will be there Monday and Tuesday to make sure everything gets packed and loaded and then sent up here to MI. It will be delivered Thursday of Friday hopefully sooner rather than later because SteelerSteph and I are driving to Florida for a wedding that weekend. A high roller like me driving to Florida? I know, craziness. When we made the arrangements, the financial burden of the house and apartment was still looming large and into the foreseeable future. I am not excited about the drive, but with free gas (company car) and a free hotel that we had in Orlando, it was almost a no brainer. Driving to Kentucky Friday after work, dropping off Copper, and then heading the rest of the way Saturday. Attend wedding on Sunday and then do it all again in reverse. Yeah, I know... some guys have all the fun.

The net result of these wedding shenanigans is that I will miss a lot of cool stuff. Ohio State vs. Michigan. Yup. Steelers vs. Browns. Check. DADIX. Roger. The icing is that I am not that fond of the friend that is getting married for the second time. She is a childhood friend of Stephanie so I am doing the good husband thing and keeping my mouth shut. It would be nice if I could catch DNasty while I am down there, but I doubt there will be time.

Edit - I drafted this in an e-mail two days ago and since then I have been doing pretty well on the SNG's the seed money is up over $150 now even with the failed shot I took at a 90 person MTT with a $10 + 1 buy in. I finished 33 and was never really a factor after a horrendous beat took me well below average right after the first break. Maybe I will try a larger field game like that again, I felt like I could take it down. I hope this run continues now that I posted about it.