For DNasty13: Got it all in on the flop.
Told ya I would take care of that aggro monkey! :)
Fun playing with you.
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Goat Speaks for Me
Julius Goat fast became one of the reads I look forward to most when I fire up Bloglines. I have him categorized in the LOST section, but it is very hard to pigeonhole a talking goat so that was more a selection of convenience. If you are not up on his Table Profiles and Stupid System you owe it to yourself to browse his archives.
The Goat's latest post struck a chord. I think he nailed it on the head. I am happy to play the blogger tournaments now and then and appreciate all the people who play, set up the games, and do the really special stuff like BBT3. It is kind of weird how catty and dramatic a lot of the poker blogosphere has become lately. The name calling and other bashing is nothing new, nor is the calling out and comment wars.... but the amount of people that have allowed themselves to get caught up in the pseudo-drama seems new to me. If nothing else, it makes the morning read slightly more interesting... but overall seems pretty silly.
On a poker note, I played the first blogger event in awhile with the Mookie this week and managed a 3rd place finish for my efforts. Overall I was happy with my performance. I played very tight:
and I had two notable suckouts. One kicked off my final table run, the other ended it. I was ITM and I misread BuddyDank's hand when he limped with Kings in the highjack. I raised 3x from the BB and BD called. The flop came 8 high with one over to my pocket sixes and two diamonds. BD bet out the size of the pot and I put him on a flush draw. I jammed and he had me covered and called. I nailed the 6 on the river to cripple him and had a couple chip lead over PureProphet. It was a tough beat and BuddyDank took it well.
The last suckout occurred at my elimination. Memphis00 had been running very well and single handedly took out most of the final table. He was playing his big stack well and getting the cards he needed. He made a standard steal raise from the button and I went all in over top with my pocket 8s. He called with 35d. The flop seemed harmless enough with only one diamond. When the 4c hit on the turn I knew I was in trouble. The Ace on the river sealed my fate and I was out. I snapped a screenshot and watched the end as it only took a few more minutes for Memphis00 to make a flush on the river to eliminate Astin. I was happy with my performance and think that I could have given Memphis00 or Astin a run for 1st if those 8's stand up.
I wish Memphis00 all the luck in the TOC and might try the Mookie again next week. It was as fun as I remembered it... and maybe a little less chatty than I recall. Perhaps my expectations were too high from reading all the complaining or I never sat at the worst poker player's table. Either way, the chat seemed pretty tame and it was a lot of fun.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Confidence Booster
Technically I am in greater need of an immune system booster but the win I booked this morning helped me feel better. I took off the second day of work this week due to the gunk that has taken up residence in my head and sinuses. I feel that I am starting to turn the corner today and will likely be back at the salt mines tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting back to the office because there is so much to do there.
I played pretty tight through the whole tourney and really caught some cards at the end. Early on I doubled up with trip sevens and was never below average again. Down to the final two tables I was steadily in the top 3 and played my big stack pretty well. I would pick my spots and attack the middle and bigger stacks and leave the shorties alone unless I had great cards. On the final table bubble, during hand for hand, I really made some aggressive moves and was able to get some separation as I padded my stack. The final table bubble soon broke and 9 spots paid. One player had T260 and it was pretty sure they were going to pop the money bubble.
The baby was fed, dry, and getting sleepy and SteelerSteph was headed to a doctor's appointment. My mom was on standby in case Sawyer got fussy. What to do? How about a 90 seat $3+.30 KO sitngo? Sounds like a good fit. I want to try my hand at some larger field low buy-in games but I rarely have the time to devote in case I go deep. I watch DNasty13 splash around in these things and they look like fun. I think the KO format is a bit of a hedge since you have a chance to get some or all of your buyin back even if you don't make the money. The flip side is that it decreases the final table payouts but that usually is not a problem for me.
Here were my stats for the whole game:
I played pretty tight through the whole tourney and really caught some cards at the end. Early on I doubled up with trip sevens and was never below average again. Down to the final two tables I was steadily in the top 3 and played my big stack pretty well. I would pick my spots and attack the middle and bigger stacks and leave the shorties alone unless I had great cards. On the final table bubble, during hand for hand, I really made some aggressive moves and was able to get some separation as I padded my stack. The final table bubble soon broke and 9 spots paid. One player had T260 and it was pretty sure they were going to pop the money bubble.Money bubble popped and I set about to play smart poker. I managed 2 big resteals and kept myself in the top 2 chip spots without really risking much of my stack. Overall, the tourney played pretty fast and I was able to pick my spots. Suddenly (or at least it seemed that way) we were down to three with two of us almost even in chips and third place well behind. I had restolen once from williteverend and watched him play relatively loose but decent poker and he was getting out of line now. I knew it would only be a matter of time and I would get his chips. I did and had almost a 5 to 1 chip lead over the "happy to be in second place money because of the real donkey that busted out when he did not need to" guy that was left. I doubled him up once to 68k but made sure I kept the pressure on and soon had him back below 30k to my 240k. I felt a bit like cat playing with a mouse and ultimately got him all in with his K6 against my K10. My hand held up and I was pumped. Not a bad way to dip your toes back in the FT waters.
I collected several KOs along the way (probably 8 total) and had a blast. It is easy when you get good cards and your heavy favorite hands stand up. I think the best manipulation play of the day was when I got 99 to get it all in against my AQh on an all heart K high flop. I used the clock, the min-re-raise and all of my best online acting skills. It feels good when all the chips are in and the opponent is drawing dead on the turn.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Blah
I hate being sick and not feeling 100%. I doubt that anyone likes it, but I really can't stand it. Luckily, I am pretty healthy and don't come down with gunk often but something is working the immune system right now. I felt a tickle and cough in the throat last night and today I am oscillating between being uncomfortably hot and uncomfortably cold. Did I mention the lightheadedness and watery eyes? Boo being sick. I am trying to stay away from SteelerSteph and the baby. I can't imagine what it would be like if she was out of commission. I guess you can't breastfeed when you are sick so that would really suck for Sawyer. If one of us has to be funkified, I suppose I am the best candidate right now.
I took a 2 hour nap and then some Advil Cold and Sinus washed down with a dose of Emergen-C and I am feeling better... but I can feel the presence of the funk on the peripherals of my head. Will have to see how it goes. I should be more pumped because I finally loaded some money on Full Tilt today. The juice was about 11% by the time I purchased a $100 Visa pre-paid (5.95) and then it was not accepted on BoDog or PokerStars. Poop. Tired of railing, I bit the bullet and created an ePassport account. $5 more for their piece of the pie and I had $90 on Full Tilt. It would have been $95, but the "verification" process had a pending charge of $1.69 and I was not sure what was being charged by who so I only loaded $95. I will have to figure out what to do with $5 on a prepaid Visa... save it for the next one? :-) Not if I practice proper BR management.
Wish me luck heading off this gunk and perhaps I will be making a cameo at one of the blog-aments in the near future. See you there.
I took a 2 hour nap and then some Advil Cold and Sinus washed down with a dose of Emergen-C and I am feeling better... but I can feel the presence of the funk on the peripherals of my head. Will have to see how it goes. I should be more pumped because I finally loaded some money on Full Tilt today. The juice was about 11% by the time I purchased a $100 Visa pre-paid (5.95) and then it was not accepted on BoDog or PokerStars. Poop. Tired of railing, I bit the bullet and created an ePassport account. $5 more for their piece of the pie and I had $90 on Full Tilt. It would have been $95, but the "verification" process had a pending charge of $1.69 and I was not sure what was being charged by who so I only loaded $95. I will have to figure out what to do with $5 on a prepaid Visa... save it for the next one? :-) Not if I practice proper BR management.
Wish me luck heading off this gunk and perhaps I will be making a cameo at one of the blog-aments in the near future. See you there.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Despite my distaste for all the major candidates
I did vote today and I would strongly encourage my fellow blog readers to vote too.
You can do it over the internet anytime you want. Proposition 3.17
Prop 3.17 is important enough for me to blog about my support, and I know that the blogfather will be voting if he has not already.
Irish Americans, and those of us that wish we were Irish on that one day of the year so we could sing along with those awesome sounding drinking songs, have a duty to vote yes for Prop 3.17.
Amen.
You can do it over the internet anytime you want. Proposition 3.17
Prop 3.17 is important enough for me to blog about my support, and I know that the blogfather will be voting if he has not already.
Irish Americans, and those of us that wish we were Irish on that one day of the year so we could sing along with those awesome sounding drinking songs, have a duty to vote yes for Prop 3.17.
Amen.
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What's New Pussycat?
Feeling the urge to get a post up but nothing exciting happening on the poker front (as in no poker at all recently) so a general update will fit the bill.
Sawyer is being Sawyer and we are adjusting pretty well to his routines. SteelerSteph is headed back to work next week so that is a hurdle on the horizon that needs to be cleared, but I think we will be able to take it in stride. My mother is coming up from Baltimore this weekend to stay with us and provide excellent grandmotherly day care for the next 5 weeks. That will really help the transition back to work but will also provide some challenges of its own as we all absorb the adjustment to our lives. It has been a long time since I "lived" with mother. I can only hope that she pays my house the same respect I paid hers and does not keep a messy room, have friends over when I am not home and water down my liquor. Oops. Paybacks are a bitch I suppose.
Generally, life has been pretty general lately. Most of the poker and motorcycle riding has been accomplished vicariously through all the other great blogs out there (congrats to: GCox on all your recent success, Jordan on your Bloggerment win, Hoy on your 50/50, Chad on your FTOPS 9 performance... I watched you play for awhile but bailed at 12:30 when there were 140 some left, Surflexus on all those Mookie final tables and wins and everyone else that seems to be enjoying success lately). Everything else is baby and work centric with patches of sleep grabbed when possible.
Sawyer is getting more interactive and enjoyable everyday. This is good because I really look forward to coming home from the increasingly stessful work days. The project I am managing has had some technical issues that really pushed me to the limits the past 2 weeks. I have it all sorted out now but I am pretty disappointed in Microsoft documentation. Coming from the IBM/Domino world it has not been an impressive transition in using the MS documentation for Office Communication Server 2007. The project is still on track to be delivered on time (and over budget) but it should not be this hard. I had lunch with the CIO today and alluded to some of the challenges but assured him we were still on track. That is true, and will remain true, as long as I can get this Public Internet Connectivity provisioning process on track with Microsoft. That is a seemingly simple administrative process where we register our new Instant Messaging (ghirly chat for all you ghey bloggers) servers registered and authenticated with the major IM providers: Yahoo, AOL, and MSN. I built the servers, tested the crap out of them, and federated with some other companies so I know my stuff is tight.... but I can't seem to get an traction on getting the request to turn it on with these providers up the chain and in the right places at Microsoft. Who knew that would be so hard? It is frustrating because you expect the hard parts in getting everything built and configured properly not in getting a form completed and an authentication (federation) process started. Booo administrata.
If you are a real sicko and are curious what OCS 2007 is, check out this link explaining one of the servers (an EDGE server) that has been kicking my nerd skills up and down the block the past two weeks. Happy to say that I finally got it all in line, but I was plagued with certificate and connectivity issues along the way.
Edge Server Topology
Best of luck to all you poker bloggers who are still playing poker. I will have to explore some options to get some of the bankroll back online so I can donk it off when I get .... make some time to get back up on Full Tilt. Until then, the proud papa in me wants to leave you with this:
Reason to play online poker #7: When I get pocket Aces on the button with 2 raises in front of me, I make that same face.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Big Poppa
I have discovered that all the advice and maxims about parenthood that people offered to us about becoming parents does not become real until the baby does. Cards with the sentiment, "get some sleep now dad, ha ha" were plentiful but simply could not prepare me for the harsh reality of "parenting" a newborn. I use the term parenting liberally because at this stage it is probably more appropriately "care taking".
"Sleep when he sleeps" - Sage advice, yes. Damn near impossible to accomplish. If the infant eats an average of every 2-2.5 hours that is a good amount of sleep between, right? Umm yeah, not so much. Through reading of parenting and baby books (such as "Babywise") you will learn that nursing infants should eat for a good 15 to 20 minutes per breast. Do the math - 2 x 20 minutes = 40 minutes. That math works using the assumption that 20 minutes of feeding will take 20 minutes. Ooops. Often it takes 30 minutes per side to get a good 15-20 minutes of feeding. The first two weeks it was my job to annoy Sawyer while he was eating so he would stay awake and actually eat. This was accomplished by rubbing his head, tickling his feet, changing his diaper, etc. So back to the math. 40 mins feeding = 1 hr. 2-2.5 hours - 1 hr = 1-1.5 hours. Not quite. After he finishes eating he is awake for a bit. The natural inclination is to put him back in his bassinet once he is back asleep.... and then lay there listening to him to make sure he is really asleep.... and not, for some irrational fear, suffocating on his blanket. That requires getting out of bed and making a visual check. Bottom line the equation works out like this:
60 minute feeding + 5 minute awake period + 5 minute diaper/outfit change +10 minute falling back asleep allowance = 80 mins
120 - 80 or 150 - 80= 40 to 70 minutes of sleep between feedings. Don't even get me started on the times he wakes up 20 minutes after falling asleep because he has gas.
All that arithmetic was to highlight one concept that is still boggling my mind - How is SteelerSteph still functional?!?! She has not had more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep in almost 3 weeks but is still being a great new mother. She is not complaining (much) and has embraced the job of caring and loving little Sawyer like she was born to do it.
__________________________________________________________________
I am back at work this week and it has been a mixed bag. I am more tired than I have ever been at work but I am still getting it done. We are in the midst of many high impact technology projects right now and it is pretty exciting to go to work each day knowing the impact my work is having. As a firm, we are transitioning from multiple IBM Domino (Lotus Notes) centric systems to the equivalent Microsoft solutions. For example, I am leading a project that is deploying Office Communicaton Server 2007 to replace our current Instant Message software called Sametime. It is going pretty well although slightly behind (I can pinpoint that to my two weeks away from work with the baby) and slightly over budget. This is not as much of a concern as it normally would be since we have instituted a "first to the trough" policy. I purchased an entire IBM Blade chassis, a $15k of switching hardware, and $13k of Virtualization software that I will only be using a portion of, but since I was the first to this point it is charged to my OCS budget. Planning, testing, and then deploying and troubleshooting the new software has been a welcome challenge. After I get my OCS servers ship shape I will be jumping feet first into a Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP1 migration. That will be a much more complex project. All of this new technology will be deployed firmwide this June. Right now it looks like it will consist of Vista on the desktop, Outlook/Exchange for Mail, OCS 2007 for Instant Messaging, Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) for collaboration, and a new Identity Management Software solution from Novell to manage all these accounts. Shaping up to be very fun (hectic, busy, crazy) spring and summer at work.
___________________________________________________________________
Poker and a new baby turned out to not mix very well. I managed to deplete my $50 seeded bankroll on Full Tilt. Playing $5 and $10 SNGs with a bankroll under $100 is not advised, especially at odd hours when you are trying to comfort a fussy baby and cannot sleep. I do not have Poker Tracker installed on the new computer so I don't have much to review but I am confident it was a mixture of some bad luck, poor play, and pushing the limits to chase losses. Not sure how many diapers $50 would have purchased but it lasted at least 5 months at the low levels of Full Tilt tables and gave me some satisfaction and ultimately some frustration. Casual poker player? No doubt. It is tempting to re-load somehow so I can play in some blogger-ments but I feel like dead money in most of those due to the caliber of players.... but it is still fun and worth the price of admission.
Finally, I understand now the severe decrease in posting frequency (after becoming a dad) by one of my favorite reads, Absinthe. Wishing him luck in his live games this week.
"Sleep when he sleeps" - Sage advice, yes. Damn near impossible to accomplish. If the infant eats an average of every 2-2.5 hours that is a good amount of sleep between, right? Umm yeah, not so much. Through reading of parenting and baby books (such as "Babywise") you will learn that nursing infants should eat for a good 15 to 20 minutes per breast. Do the math - 2 x 20 minutes = 40 minutes. That math works using the assumption that 20 minutes of feeding will take 20 minutes. Ooops. Often it takes 30 minutes per side to get a good 15-20 minutes of feeding. The first two weeks it was my job to annoy Sawyer while he was eating so he would stay awake and actually eat. This was accomplished by rubbing his head, tickling his feet, changing his diaper, etc. So back to the math. 40 mins feeding = 1 hr. 2-2.5 hours - 1 hr = 1-1.5 hours. Not quite. After he finishes eating he is awake for a bit. The natural inclination is to put him back in his bassinet once he is back asleep.... and then lay there listening to him to make sure he is really asleep.... and not, for some irrational fear, suffocating on his blanket. That requires getting out of bed and making a visual check. Bottom line the equation works out like this:
60 minute feeding + 5 minute awake period + 5 minute diaper/outfit change +10 minute falling back asleep allowance = 80 mins
120 - 80 or 150 - 80= 40 to 70 minutes of sleep between feedings. Don't even get me started on the times he wakes up 20 minutes after falling asleep because he has gas.
All that arithmetic was to highlight one concept that is still boggling my mind - How is SteelerSteph still functional?!?! She has not had more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep in almost 3 weeks but is still being a great new mother. She is not complaining (much) and has embraced the job of caring and loving little Sawyer like she was born to do it.
__________________________________________________________________
I am back at work this week and it has been a mixed bag. I am more tired than I have ever been at work but I am still getting it done. We are in the midst of many high impact technology projects right now and it is pretty exciting to go to work each day knowing the impact my work is having. As a firm, we are transitioning from multiple IBM Domino (Lotus Notes) centric systems to the equivalent Microsoft solutions. For example, I am leading a project that is deploying Office Communicaton Server 2007 to replace our current Instant Message software called Sametime. It is going pretty well although slightly behind (I can pinpoint that to my two weeks away from work with the baby) and slightly over budget. This is not as much of a concern as it normally would be since we have instituted a "first to the trough" policy. I purchased an entire IBM Blade chassis, a $15k of switching hardware, and $13k of Virtualization software that I will only be using a portion of, but since I was the first to this point it is charged to my OCS budget. Planning, testing, and then deploying and troubleshooting the new software has been a welcome challenge. After I get my OCS servers ship shape I will be jumping feet first into a Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP1 migration. That will be a much more complex project. All of this new technology will be deployed firmwide this June. Right now it looks like it will consist of Vista on the desktop, Outlook/Exchange for Mail, OCS 2007 for Instant Messaging, Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) for collaboration, and a new Identity Management Software solution from Novell to manage all these accounts. Shaping up to be very fun (hectic, busy, crazy) spring and summer at work.
___________________________________________________________________
Poker and a new baby turned out to not mix very well. I managed to deplete my $50 seeded bankroll on Full Tilt. Playing $5 and $10 SNGs with a bankroll under $100 is not advised, especially at odd hours when you are trying to comfort a fussy baby and cannot sleep. I do not have Poker Tracker installed on the new computer so I don't have much to review but I am confident it was a mixture of some bad luck, poor play, and pushing the limits to chase losses. Not sure how many diapers $50 would have purchased but it lasted at least 5 months at the low levels of Full Tilt tables and gave me some satisfaction and ultimately some frustration. Casual poker player? No doubt. It is tempting to re-load somehow so I can play in some blogger-ments but I feel like dead money in most of those due to the caliber of players.... but it is still fun and worth the price of admission.
Finally, I understand now the severe decrease in posting frequency (after becoming a dad) by one of my favorite reads, Absinthe. Wishing him luck in his live games this week.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Happy Dad
Sawyer Charles came early this morning. He clocked in at 6 lbs 9 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great. He came a little earlier than expected but was still considered full term at 37 weeks. I am still trying to absorb it all and spend a good bit of my time staring at him. Kinda hard to explain, but the dads out there probably know where I am coming from.
SteelerSteph blames the Steelers-Jags game for his early arrival. That and maybe the gameday chili we had. Regardless, we are pumped that he is here and healthy! Happy Birthday Sawyer.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Boooo
In addition to high blood pressure, gripes about the annual horrible post season officiating, and frustration in some of the Steeler play calling.... I am left feeling unfulfilled. I don't think they had the personnel or the play calling to go all the way again but I do think that they should have won the game tonight and I really would have liked to see them give the Pats a run.
On the piss poor officiating of the playoffs - why does it seem so horrible every year? In both games I watched today there were blatant no calls, unexplicable overturned calls, and phantom penalty calls. I don't know why the NFL does not keep regular season crews together for the playoffs.
Enough steam blown off I suppose, time to dwell on my dissapointment until the next season..... oh wait, perhaps only as long as it takes for the next generation Steeler fan to arrive in the SteelerJosh household! SteelerSteph is ready to pop and I am amazed that this game tonight did not send her into labor. Yeah, I suppose that will put it in perspective and quickly bury this loss in the archives of my brain.
Looking forward to reading what MeanGene has to say about the game.
On the piss poor officiating of the playoffs - why does it seem so horrible every year? In both games I watched today there were blatant no calls, unexplicable overturned calls, and phantom penalty calls. I don't know why the NFL does not keep regular season crews together for the playoffs.
Enough steam blown off I suppose, time to dwell on my dissapointment until the next season..... oh wait, perhaps only as long as it takes for the next generation Steeler fan to arrive in the SteelerJosh household! SteelerSteph is ready to pop and I am amazed that this game tonight did not send her into labor. Yeah, I suppose that will put it in perspective and quickly bury this loss in the archives of my brain.
Looking forward to reading what MeanGene has to say about the game.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Those Brownies
They had me and SteelerSteph sweating and cursing the first half. I think that Sawyer learned his first bad word in utero as SteelerSteph dropped several F bombs. The Steelers D could not get off the field four 3rd and longs in a row....against the Browns......at home.....in a game that was for the division lead. I guess if I have to teach my son bad words that is an appropriate instance. That and if the Steelers D did the same thing against the Ravens. Other than that? Ixna on the Uckfa little Sawyer.
Not much poker this weekend. I missed the neighborhood game Friday night. SteelerSteph and I went to the movies and caught Michael Clayton. Pretty good flick, I enjoy George Clooney. After that I had some servers to reboot for work and I was pretty beat from two days of passing judgement on my fellow man. I am still surprised how much that whole experience weighed on me. Anyway, I did get some online poker in and it was a little frustrating. I finally got the roll above the amount required to get out of $2 SNG hell and I bubbled on my first shot at the $6 +.50 turbo SNG. The play there was slightly better than the $2 dollar games but I think it will be very beatable. Once I get my online roll back to the $10 games I plan on making some appearances at the blogger games again. Dead money or not, I miss the challenge and the shared donkerey. Plus, I can't let DNasty make all the noise at the blogger tables.
I will sleep better tonight that my beloved Steelers did not drop a game to the Browns and are looking good at 7-2.
Not much poker this weekend. I missed the neighborhood game Friday night. SteelerSteph and I went to the movies and caught Michael Clayton. Pretty good flick, I enjoy George Clooney. After that I had some servers to reboot for work and I was pretty beat from two days of passing judgement on my fellow man. I am still surprised how much that whole experience weighed on me. Anyway, I did get some online poker in and it was a little frustrating. I finally got the roll above the amount required to get out of $2 SNG hell and I bubbled on my first shot at the $6 +.50 turbo SNG. The play there was slightly better than the $2 dollar games but I think it will be very beatable. Once I get my online roll back to the $10 games I plan on making some appearances at the blogger games again. Dead money or not, I miss the challenge and the shared donkerey. Plus, I can't let DNasty make all the noise at the blogger tables.
I will sleep better tonight that my beloved Steelers did not drop a game to the Browns and are looking good at 7-2.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Verdict!
We left the jury deliberation room last night after reaching a consensus on 3 of the 4 counts. The Aggravated Stalking charge was our sticking point and with a 9-3 vote of guilt it appeared that we might be in for a long Friday. Instructed to report back at 8:30 this morning, I endured the traffic home with a heavy head. I was surprised at how much this whole process was affecting me. It is hard to describe the whole experience and everything that goes through your mind but a few of the words that came to my mind were "sobering" and "sad". The rational part of me was focused on the "facts" of the case and coming to a common sense conclusion of what the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The human side of me calculated the consequences of our actions and conclusions as jurors and there were no happy endings there. The whole case brought home the level of insulation I (and I would propose most of the bloggers I read) have from a lot of the ugliness in this world. I would venture that all of us are above the poverty level and do not have to deal with the decisions, problems, and ramifications that I was witnessing in the courtroom. The preposterousness of someone assaulting me outside of my mobile home, physically forcing me inside and then to get naked and smoke crack is not even something that I could come up with in a crazy nightmare. Who does that?!!? Who has to deal with that possibility when they wake up?
The case was as such: The defendant was charged with Home Invasion 1, Aggravated Stalking, Domestic Violence, and Resisting/Obstructing. The prosecutor put the 911 caller who notified the police about the struggle on the stand first.
He was awoken around 3:30 AM on April 5th, 2007 by the sounds of a struggle outside. He looked out his window and saw two people fighting. He thought it was two guys at first and was ready to go back to sleep but realized that it was a woman and a man so he called 911. While on the phone he witnessed the man pull the woman so hard that the porch railing she was clinging on to broke. He watched him drag her into the mobile home and the light come on and then go out. He stayed on the phone to talk to the cops in to the mobile home park and to the right lot. we read a transcript of his call and listened to a recording of it.
Next, the victim took the stand. She was led by the prosecution through telling the story of multiple contacts with the defendant (important for satisfying some of the charges but this was not obvious to us at the time). According to her, he was stealing her garbage and on April 1st, against all the rules of the Personal Protection Order in place since March 2nd, 2007 against him, she caught him looking in windows of her trailer. She opened the back door to confront him and they exchanged words. It was detailed to us that the back door was about 4 feet off the ground and there were no steps. He parked in the lot of a store close by despite the available parking in the trailer park. Then, on April 4th he called the victim to ask if she was working the next day. She was and her shift as a package handler starts at 4 AM. She has to walk to work as she has no transportation and when she was leaving at 3:30 that morning she was attacked by him outside the mobile home. In the struggle, her company ballcap was knocked off, her wallet was dropped and left outside the home. This was important since the cops found this outside on arrival and it was suspicious.
During the struggle, after the porch collapsed, the defendant bit her on the face and she thought she was bleeding (felt something running down her face) and she gave in. She gave him the keys and they went inside and then it got really weird. According to her (and not denied by the defense) he forced her to get naked and then smoke crack. She said that he smoked too. She knew the "lingo" telling us that she "hit the crack pipe twice" which makes you wonder some, but she was not on trial. Anyway, the cops got there and were banging on the door and shining flashlights in the windows. The defendant made her crawl to the bathroom and put on her clothes telling her that he was going to run out the back when the cops left. Then the phone rang. She did not answer it the first time and when it started ringing again she told him that it was work because they knew about her domestic situation and if she did not answer they would call the police. On the phone was a dispatcher for the police and she pretended it was work. She answered a few of his questions with Yes/No/Yeah answers and ended the call abruptly with the message that she was not feeling well and would not be coming in to work. With that, the cops made forced entry and the defendant hid in the closet. She ran towards the cops and they found the defendant and cuffed him. Other questions were asked during cross examination but overall her story was believable and corroborated with pictures of her bitten face, bruises, the trailer porch and the eyewitness 911 caller.
The arresting officer took the stand and gave details about the call and the subsequent chase of the defendant. Apparently (the defendant was a pretty big dude) they had trouble cuffing him behind so they cuffed him in the front and took his shoe laces. While escorting him to the patrol car he took off running and they gave chase on foot. Sporting the stereotypical cop doughnut eating very large gut I chuckled to myself thinking no way this dude caught the running guy. I was right, it was his partner that caught him when he tripped (he was running in socks now, his shoes fell off) in a parking lot across the major road near the park. The re-arrested him and kept a much tighter grip on him. Once they knew he was "arrestable" they left the personal property he had on him (he claimed he lived there) at the trailer. Among these items were his car keys. The victim testified earlier that she used these keys to find his car. It was parked down the street and in there she found and listened to a very disturbing tape. That was among the most telling and confusing evidence in the case.
The tape was accepted into evidence without objection by the defense (not sure why) and it apparently was the defendant talking to his mother. The transcript was one and a half typed single spaced pages of profanity laced rampaging by the defendant. The tape was played and it was pretty disturbing. The person raging on the tape was far different than the man sitting in front of us. At the time I was not sure why they were playing the tape but parts of it became important during deliberations and I suppose it set the reference for the character/personality of the defendant. It was a vulgar roller coaster and I was almost uncomfortable for the older ladies in the jury with me when he was dropping the "F-ing C U Next Tuesday" line.
The prosecution rested and then the defense called his mother to the stand. She did not add much and mostly talked about things before the dates in question (although this was not obvious at the time). We were sent to deliberate around 3:45 PM and finally had to leave a little after 5 PM as we were unable to reach an agreement on all of the charges. We agreed to guilty on 3 of the 4, the aggravated stalking was our sticking point. I was not looking forward to today and getting back in that room with these people.
We started back in a couple minutes after 8:30 today and it was quickly obvious that we were in the same spot as last night. 9 for, 3 against. There were 7 factors that had to be satisfied to meet the charge and two of them involved assessing if the victim was caused emotional distress and if the victim felt intimidated, harassed, etc. 2 of the jurors did not think she was distressed on the April 1st incident. This was important since the charge said there had to be 2 non continuous incidents that met the conditions. They reasoned that since she did not call the cops, she was not distressed. One gentleman did not believe her testimony when she said she was terrified. "If she was" he reasoned, "why did she open the trailer door and try to confront him?". Mentally, the night before I had rationalized with myself and was prepared to go with a Not Guilty verdict on this charge if it meant that we would not have a mistrial. This was a minor charge, the major charge was the Home Invasion 1. As it turned out, after 2 plus hours of debate it became a moot point.
The clerk came in and told us that the judge wanted us to present the 3 counts we agreed on. (and the communication while in deliberation is very weird. There can be no contact with the judge or any parties. We would buzz for a "runner" person and then we could submit a question that we wrote on paper. The reply would be written by the judge on the paper and run back to us. This was an obstacle to communication and dragged out the process as we had several clarification questions.) We were summoned back to the court room and instructed to read our verdict on the three counts. We did, were polled individually as to our answers, and then we were sent back to the room. When we announced Home Invasion 1, the guy started crying and was pretty upset. I reminded myself of the times I have made a mistake and regretted it... and that there are consequences for actions. The mother remained pretty stoic and the victim, his wife started crying too. Not sure if the tears were relief, sadness, or both. My money is on both.
Back in the room, we started deliberating again and pretty soon the clerk came in and told us the judge was coming to see us. Some postulated that we were going to get talked to about reaching a verdict but that was not the case. He advised us that he let the prosecution drop the charge that we were stuck on and that a sentencing date had been set. Since the trial was concluded, his demeanor with us changed completely. Suddenly, he was sharing his opinion with us and information that we were not allowed to know during the trail. He told us that we had reached the correct conclusions (in his opinion) and even brought in the prosecutor to give us more background that we could not have considered legally during the trial. I think that helped ease some the burden from our minds that naturally comes when you make a decision like that.
The clerk handed out a personalized and hand signed "Certificate of Appreciation" to each one of us. I found that odd. Would I frame that and hang it? Where?!? I don't think that I want to dwell on this whole experience. I understand the concept of civic duty and I am embrace it. I would gladly serve as a juror again and expect I will (just not in the next year, I am exempt for 12 months I think). That said, the human side of this whole thing is pretty depressing. I don't know how the court staff, the victim advocacy/support groups, detention facility staff deal with this ugliness all the time. It really is sad. Here is a 28 year old woman who looks like she is older than 40. She has been beaten into submission on many levels, among them physically, and she has two kids with her husband: a crack addict with sever anger management issues and an unfathomable attitude towards women. What is her future? What are the kids' futures? The father's future in prison. It is a zero sum game and outside of the prosecutor's office there were definitely no winners today.
I headed back to my milquetoast upper class neighborhood in my well running comfortable car and appreciated my position in life. I am a happily married, expecting father to be, working at a job I enjoy at a company that appreciates me, lucky person.
Jury duty helps your perspective.
The case was as such: The defendant was charged with Home Invasion 1, Aggravated Stalking, Domestic Violence, and Resisting/Obstructing. The prosecutor put the 911 caller who notified the police about the struggle on the stand first.
He was awoken around 3:30 AM on April 5th, 2007 by the sounds of a struggle outside. He looked out his window and saw two people fighting. He thought it was two guys at first and was ready to go back to sleep but realized that it was a woman and a man so he called 911. While on the phone he witnessed the man pull the woman so hard that the porch railing she was clinging on to broke. He watched him drag her into the mobile home and the light come on and then go out. He stayed on the phone to talk to the cops in to the mobile home park and to the right lot. we read a transcript of his call and listened to a recording of it.
Next, the victim took the stand. She was led by the prosecution through telling the story of multiple contacts with the defendant (important for satisfying some of the charges but this was not obvious to us at the time). According to her, he was stealing her garbage and on April 1st, against all the rules of the Personal Protection Order in place since March 2nd, 2007 against him, she caught him looking in windows of her trailer. She opened the back door to confront him and they exchanged words. It was detailed to us that the back door was about 4 feet off the ground and there were no steps. He parked in the lot of a store close by despite the available parking in the trailer park. Then, on April 4th he called the victim to ask if she was working the next day. She was and her shift as a package handler starts at 4 AM. She has to walk to work as she has no transportation and when she was leaving at 3:30 that morning she was attacked by him outside the mobile home. In the struggle, her company ballcap was knocked off, her wallet was dropped and left outside the home. This was important since the cops found this outside on arrival and it was suspicious.
During the struggle, after the porch collapsed, the defendant bit her on the face and she thought she was bleeding (felt something running down her face) and she gave in. She gave him the keys and they went inside and then it got really weird. According to her (and not denied by the defense) he forced her to get naked and then smoke crack. She said that he smoked too. She knew the "lingo" telling us that she "hit the crack pipe twice" which makes you wonder some, but she was not on trial. Anyway, the cops got there and were banging on the door and shining flashlights in the windows. The defendant made her crawl to the bathroom and put on her clothes telling her that he was going to run out the back when the cops left. Then the phone rang. She did not answer it the first time and when it started ringing again she told him that it was work because they knew about her domestic situation and if she did not answer they would call the police. On the phone was a dispatcher for the police and she pretended it was work. She answered a few of his questions with Yes/No/Yeah answers and ended the call abruptly with the message that she was not feeling well and would not be coming in to work. With that, the cops made forced entry and the defendant hid in the closet. She ran towards the cops and they found the defendant and cuffed him. Other questions were asked during cross examination but overall her story was believable and corroborated with pictures of her bitten face, bruises, the trailer porch and the eyewitness 911 caller.
The arresting officer took the stand and gave details about the call and the subsequent chase of the defendant. Apparently (the defendant was a pretty big dude) they had trouble cuffing him behind so they cuffed him in the front and took his shoe laces. While escorting him to the patrol car he took off running and they gave chase on foot. Sporting the stereotypical cop doughnut eating very large gut I chuckled to myself thinking no way this dude caught the running guy. I was right, it was his partner that caught him when he tripped (he was running in socks now, his shoes fell off) in a parking lot across the major road near the park. The re-arrested him and kept a much tighter grip on him. Once they knew he was "arrestable" they left the personal property he had on him (he claimed he lived there) at the trailer. Among these items were his car keys. The victim testified earlier that she used these keys to find his car. It was parked down the street and in there she found and listened to a very disturbing tape. That was among the most telling and confusing evidence in the case.
The tape was accepted into evidence without objection by the defense (not sure why) and it apparently was the defendant talking to his mother. The transcript was one and a half typed single spaced pages of profanity laced rampaging by the defendant. The tape was played and it was pretty disturbing. The person raging on the tape was far different than the man sitting in front of us. At the time I was not sure why they were playing the tape but parts of it became important during deliberations and I suppose it set the reference for the character/personality of the defendant. It was a vulgar roller coaster and I was almost uncomfortable for the older ladies in the jury with me when he was dropping the "F-ing C U Next Tuesday" line.
The prosecution rested and then the defense called his mother to the stand. She did not add much and mostly talked about things before the dates in question (although this was not obvious at the time). We were sent to deliberate around 3:45 PM and finally had to leave a little after 5 PM as we were unable to reach an agreement on all of the charges. We agreed to guilty on 3 of the 4, the aggravated stalking was our sticking point. I was not looking forward to today and getting back in that room with these people.
We started back in a couple minutes after 8:30 today and it was quickly obvious that we were in the same spot as last night. 9 for, 3 against. There were 7 factors that had to be satisfied to meet the charge and two of them involved assessing if the victim was caused emotional distress and if the victim felt intimidated, harassed, etc. 2 of the jurors did not think she was distressed on the April 1st incident. This was important since the charge said there had to be 2 non continuous incidents that met the conditions. They reasoned that since she did not call the cops, she was not distressed. One gentleman did not believe her testimony when she said she was terrified. "If she was" he reasoned, "why did she open the trailer door and try to confront him?". Mentally, the night before I had rationalized with myself and was prepared to go with a Not Guilty verdict on this charge if it meant that we would not have a mistrial. This was a minor charge, the major charge was the Home Invasion 1. As it turned out, after 2 plus hours of debate it became a moot point.
The clerk came in and told us that the judge wanted us to present the 3 counts we agreed on. (and the communication while in deliberation is very weird. There can be no contact with the judge or any parties. We would buzz for a "runner" person and then we could submit a question that we wrote on paper. The reply would be written by the judge on the paper and run back to us. This was an obstacle to communication and dragged out the process as we had several clarification questions.) We were summoned back to the court room and instructed to read our verdict on the three counts. We did, were polled individually as to our answers, and then we were sent back to the room. When we announced Home Invasion 1, the guy started crying and was pretty upset. I reminded myself of the times I have made a mistake and regretted it... and that there are consequences for actions. The mother remained pretty stoic and the victim, his wife started crying too. Not sure if the tears were relief, sadness, or both. My money is on both.
Back in the room, we started deliberating again and pretty soon the clerk came in and told us the judge was coming to see us. Some postulated that we were going to get talked to about reaching a verdict but that was not the case. He advised us that he let the prosecution drop the charge that we were stuck on and that a sentencing date had been set. Since the trial was concluded, his demeanor with us changed completely. Suddenly, he was sharing his opinion with us and information that we were not allowed to know during the trail. He told us that we had reached the correct conclusions (in his opinion) and even brought in the prosecutor to give us more background that we could not have considered legally during the trial. I think that helped ease some the burden from our minds that naturally comes when you make a decision like that.
The clerk handed out a personalized and hand signed "Certificate of Appreciation" to each one of us. I found that odd. Would I frame that and hang it? Where?!? I don't think that I want to dwell on this whole experience. I understand the concept of civic duty and I am embrace it. I would gladly serve as a juror again and expect I will (just not in the next year, I am exempt for 12 months I think). That said, the human side of this whole thing is pretty depressing. I don't know how the court staff, the victim advocacy/support groups, detention facility staff deal with this ugliness all the time. It really is sad. Here is a 28 year old woman who looks like she is older than 40. She has been beaten into submission on many levels, among them physically, and she has two kids with her husband: a crack addict with sever anger management issues and an unfathomable attitude towards women. What is her future? What are the kids' futures? The father's future in prison. It is a zero sum game and outside of the prosecutor's office there were definitely no winners today.
I headed back to my milquetoast upper class neighborhood in my well running comfortable car and appreciated my position in life. I am a happily married, expecting father to be, working at a job I enjoy at a company that appreciates me, lucky person.
Jury duty helps your perspective.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
They call me juror #4
I was randomly selected to the first group of 30 from the juror pool and then selected to the panel of 12 once in the courtroom. The case is expected to take 1-2 days and is a criminal trial. I have to admit it is quite a sobering experience and I am curious how it will all turn out.
Jury Duty
Jordan (the devil's advocate of poker bloggers) crossed my mind this morning as I sat in the Sixth Circuit Court parking lot this morning. Somehow I screwed up my calculations when I set the alarm last night and I bad beat myself out of an extra hour of sleep. Arriving 40 minutes before my scheduled juror report time left me plenty of time to lawyer watch in the parking lot. If only I could get some poker on my Blackberry....
Congrats to DNasty who apparently took down the Mookie last night. Looking forward to hearing his side as soon as I finish this jury gig. Nothing against civic duty but I am hoping this is pretty short lived. Work will be crazy the next 8-10 months and this is not a good time to have to be away from the office. I don't think that Jordan practices law outside of Zoo York but I will be looking for a lawyer sporting a Superman shirt and rocking an ipod.
Congrats to DNasty who apparently took down the Mookie last night. Looking forward to hearing his side as soon as I finish this jury gig. Nothing against civic duty but I am hoping this is pretty short lived. Work will be crazy the next 8-10 months and this is not a good time to have to be away from the office. I don't think that Jordan practices law outside of Zoo York but I will be looking for a lawyer sporting a Superman shirt and rocking an ipod.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Test Picture Post
I took this at a Steeler game and was playing with the BW Focal point setting in Picasa 2. Testing to see if this will upload with that setting even if I don't save it. Go Steelers!!
Friday, November 02, 2007
Overheard in a WaWa Parking Lot
My younger brother noted that I have been running
silent/running deep on the electronic front lately so I feel compelled to
post. I spent an enjoyable hour talking
to him on the phone last night which was a welcome distraction from the very
monotonous drive through Northern Ohio on I-80.
This post is for you “Lucky”.
SteelerSteph and I spent this past weekend in PA doing what
Pennsylvanians do best and quite often: tailgating and watching football. It started early on Saturday morning when we
drove west from Pittsburgh to Shippensburg, PA to watch her little brother play
in his final home football game.
Surprisingly, the weather cooperated and it was a great tailgating-football
watching day. My parents drove up from
Baltimore and were treated to a 56 to 10 thrashing of Lock Haven by the
Shippensburg Red Raiders. It is always a
treat to see them since I live so far away.
Pre and post game tailgating consisted of Omlettes (cooked to order by
yours truly and Chip), Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork, Hot Cider, Coffee, Beer, and
lots of snacks. My little “Fire and Ice”
portable grill/cooler combo is a great invention and served its purpose well
this trip. It was sad to have the day
with my parents end, but nice to know that we would see them soon for
Thanksgiving.
Sunday brought more of the same with the team I was rooting
for winning handily. The Cincinasti
Bungals have a special kind of hatred for the Steelers ever since the Steelers
knocked them out of the playoffs (by knocking Carson Palmer out of the game) and
went on to win the SuperBowl. Plus, the
“away” game for the Steelers in Paul Brown Stadium is usually more of a
semi-home game. The cheering is usually
equally loud for each team. SteelerNation
travels well.
Poker has been good lately too. I finally beat my neighborhood game (now only
-$15 after 4 sessions… much better than -$140).
I also took down a 13 seat $25 buy in monthly home game tournament that
is organized by DNasty. I was feeling
good about my game and called it ahead of time.
I told D that I was going to take it down and I did.
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