Stumbled Upon a "Motivational Poster" Maker.
Will share some of the fun I've had with it.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Motivational Posters
Stumbled Upon a "Motivational Poster" Maker.
Will share some of the fun I've had with it.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Population of Suburbia (+2)
I am pretty sure this is another milestone of some sort. Another pebble on the path of "living the dream"?
It just feels so white bread and stereotypical to me and I am not sure why. I bought a piece of lawn care equipment this weekend. Big deal. Why does part of me feel like a sell out?
Perhaps it is because this just so fits into my own image of "Suburbia" and all the negative connotation that concept carries.
I can just picture some jackhole riding around on his golf course looking front lawn and thinking how great his 2.3 kids, white picket fence life is going. I just don't see that as me, besides, white picket fence was too expensive and we went with the Invisible Fence.
All kidding aside, I am excited about finally owning a riding lawn mower even with my hang ups about the yellow and green branding. Stat wise, I paid $50 more for a mower that has a 2 inch bigger turning radius, a 4 inch smaller cutting deck, and a .4 gallon smaller tank. Maybe that is why I am troubled by this purchase. There is no doubt that I need a riding mower to cut the acre we now own. There is not doubt that I calculated the break even point. (without accounting for my time.. I make too much an hour in my mind for it EVER to be cost effective for me to spend time mowing the lawn) If I assume 26 weeks of paying a lawn service per year (April through September) my break even point is 52 weeks. Add in fuel and maintenance and I am at about 57 weeks, or two years and one month of mowing until it is cheaper to own vs. "rent". I did not account for the extra time out of my life it will take nor did I factor in the sense of a job well done and the fun of riding around on stuff. Lets call that a wash.
You may be asking why I spent more for the mower that did pound for pound did less than the Deere. Easy answer: SteelerSteph. She did not like the color of the Husqvarna. It was orange. The Cleveland Browns are orange and brown. Therefore is would be a loser (like the Browns). It was a no-brainer for her. She also liked the idea of a John Deere and said that she wanted to sing "the John Deere song" while I was out mowing. I don't know that particular tune but I can picture her singing it with relish as she contentedly watches me through the window - riding around on my not quite golf course looking front lawn and thinking how great my almost 1 kid, Invisible Fence life is going.
Coming Soon: I got it home, backed it off the $19.99 for 75 minute Lowe's rental truck, and attempted to start it after splashing a gallon of fuel into the tank. Nothing. Not even a click or an attempt to start. I almost read the manual, but decided to attach it to the trickle charger and let the battery charge for a night. Curious what tonight will hold. The drama: To crack the owners manual or not?
It just feels so white bread and stereotypical to me and I am not sure why. I bought a piece of lawn care equipment this weekend. Big deal. Why does part of me feel like a sell out?
Perhaps it is because this just so fits into my own image of "Suburbia" and all the negative connotation that concept carries.
I can just picture some jackhole riding around on his golf course looking front lawn and thinking how great his 2.3 kids, white picket fence life is going. I just don't see that as me, besides, white picket fence was too expensive and we went with the Invisible Fence.
All kidding aside, I am excited about finally owning a riding lawn mower even with my hang ups about the yellow and green branding. Stat wise, I paid $50 more for a mower that has a 2 inch bigger turning radius, a 4 inch smaller cutting deck, and a .4 gallon smaller tank. Maybe that is why I am troubled by this purchase. There is no doubt that I need a riding mower to cut the acre we now own. There is not doubt that I calculated the break even point. (without accounting for my time.. I make too much an hour in my mind for it EVER to be cost effective for me to spend time mowing the lawn) If I assume 26 weeks of paying a lawn service per year (April through September) my break even point is 52 weeks. Add in fuel and maintenance and I am at about 57 weeks, or two years and one month of mowing until it is cheaper to own vs. "rent". I did not account for the extra time out of my life it will take nor did I factor in the sense of a job well done and the fun of riding around on stuff. Lets call that a wash.
You may be asking why I spent more for the mower that did pound for pound did less than the Deere. Easy answer: SteelerSteph. She did not like the color of the Husqvarna. It was orange. The Cleveland Browns are orange and brown. Therefore is would be a loser (like the Browns). It was a no-brainer for her. She also liked the idea of a John Deere and said that she wanted to sing "the John Deere song" while I was out mowing. I don't know that particular tune but I can picture her singing it with relish as she contentedly watches me through the window - riding around on my not quite golf course looking front lawn and thinking how great my almost 1 kid, Invisible Fence life is going.
Coming Soon: I got it home, backed it off the $19.99 for 75 minute Lowe's rental truck, and attempted to start it after splashing a gallon of fuel into the tank. Nothing. Not even a click or an attempt to start. I almost read the manual, but decided to attach it to the trickle charger and let the battery charge for a night. Curious what tonight will hold. The drama: To crack the owners manual or not?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
What I would have posted about
Since I am so frustrated with Comcast and their crap service and customer service I did not post about the live play I had Friday night. It was a good time. I played at DNasty's brother's house in a 12 person 6 max NL Hold'em tournament. It was fun to play 6 max as I got to be a little more aggressive. For some reason, the tournament management software calculated that 4 spots should pay and the difference between 4th and 3rd was $10. I busted out third after (in hindsight) I tried to bluff the calling station that had managed to chip up at the right time. He went on to win. I liked my play (my story made sense) but the story is not worth anything when the other player can't read. That was my mistake. I represented a K and he was just playing his own hand. I left with $25 more than I bought in with and felt good about my overall play. Laid down some decent hands when I figured I was behind and made some good moves with what was probably not the best hand. Saw AA and KK once the whole night and a few middle pairs.
Lastly, I think I might have to change the blog name to include babies since they are taking over my life before they really take over my life. The wife and I went on a bit of a baby shopping spree this weekend. When the dust settled, we are now the proud owners of a "Travel System"... a fancy name for a stroller that also has a car seat for an infant, a crib, and a pack and play. Assembling the crib was not too bad and the stroller is fun to push around. Funny... women spend the first 9 months carrying the baby around and then the guys seem to take over. I can't explain why, but I am looking forward to pushing a stroller around. I just enjoy it.
Parting image: Steely McBeam violating Comcast with that dumb foam beam he carries around. Sideways.
Lastly, I think I might have to change the blog name to include babies since they are taking over my life before they really take over my life. The wife and I went on a bit of a baby shopping spree this weekend. When the dust settled, we are now the proud owners of a "Travel System"... a fancy name for a stroller that also has a car seat for an infant, a crib, and a pack and play. Assembling the crib was not too bad and the stroller is fun to push around. Funny... women spend the first 9 months carrying the baby around and then the guys seem to take over. I can't explain why, but I am looking forward to pushing a stroller around. I just enjoy it.
Parting image: Steely McBeam violating Comcast with that dumb foam beam he carries around. Sideways.
Comcast Suxors
It has been nothing but issues since I was forced to start using their high speed service. I have no choice as they are the only high speed service available in the new house. (outside of overpriced and slower satellite broadband)
I am posting this while "borrowing" a neighbor's unsecured wireless network. God bless the non technical using technical products.
To put this into perspective, I hate Comcast 13x as much as I hate Steely McBeam. Yeah, I know that is a lot but I have never had problems with other broadband ISPs like I have had with my short and torturous tenure with Comcast. Aaaargh. I want to scream.
Fack Comcast in the icehole. (gotta keep this safe for work)
I am posting this while "borrowing" a neighbor's unsecured wireless network. God bless the non technical using technical products.
To put this into perspective, I hate Comcast 13x as much as I hate Steely McBeam. Yeah, I know that is a lot but I have never had problems with other broadband ISPs like I have had with my short and torturous tenure with Comcast. Aaaargh. I want to scream.
Fack Comcast in the icehole. (gotta keep this safe for work)
Friday, August 17, 2007
For the Record
I just caught wind that the masses were waiting for me to weigh in on the new Official Steelers Mascot, Steely McBeam.
Officially, all I can say is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
WTF was the Steelers marketing team thinking?
1. The resemblance to ex Steelers Coach Bill Cowher is laughable. I am sure that new head coach Mike Tomlin really appreciates having the "Ghost of Coached Super Bowls Past" frolicking and performing silly antics on the sideline of each game under his new tenure.
2. The Steelers were a pretty popular team last time I checked. They have a nationwide network of fans, do they really need a mascot?
3. How about some cheerleaders?
4. Apparently they did not learn from previous mistakes. The Steelers had a mascot in the 80's that thankfully was retired the same year Dr. Suess ate green eggs and ham in the afterlife. Steeler Stevie, Michael Landon, and Theodore Geisel... RIP.
I am excited for the new season and the new head coach. I will be happy with a playoff appearance and expect a much better performance from Roethlisberger this year. It would be hard to be worse than last year when he was still plagued by after affects of his helmet-less Super Dave Osborne impression into that lady's windshield.... and the rumors of Cowher's "retirement", etc, etc.
Side Note: My name was memorialized for eternity this morning on the P&M Technology Team Fantasy Football trophy this morning. The ceremony was lightly attended but still special. In my acceptance speech (which I delivered in my mind...to myself) I mentioned that I was glad that my team name was not as offensive as it usually is. DonkeyPunch, Drop The Chalupa, and Team Shocker are not next to my name plate on the trophy. Last year I named my team after the sweetheart deal that I got on the Ravens defense. Snatched from the grasp of the league manager because he only had $1 left to bid on a D, I won the championship last year with "2 Dollar Defense" in large part because of my 2 buck D. They scored a shit ton of touchdowns and really were the difference in several of my games. Perhaps the Steelers D... and the silly new mascot will be my $2 difference this year.
Officially, all I can say is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
WTF was the Steelers marketing team thinking?
1. The resemblance to ex Steelers Coach Bill Cowher is laughable. I am sure that new head coach Mike Tomlin really appreciates having the "Ghost of Coached Super Bowls Past" frolicking and performing silly antics on the sideline of each game under his new tenure.
2. The Steelers were a pretty popular team last time I checked. They have a nationwide network of fans, do they really need a mascot?
3. How about some cheerleaders?
4. Apparently they did not learn from previous mistakes. The Steelers had a mascot in the 80's that thankfully was retired the same year Dr. Suess ate green eggs and ham in the afterlife. Steeler Stevie, Michael Landon, and Theodore Geisel... RIP.
I am excited for the new season and the new head coach. I will be happy with a playoff appearance and expect a much better performance from Roethlisberger this year. It would be hard to be worse than last year when he was still plagued by after affects of his helmet-less Super Dave Osborne impression into that lady's windshield.... and the rumors of Cowher's "retirement", etc, etc.
Side Note: My name was memorialized for eternity this morning on the P&M Technology Team Fantasy Football trophy this morning. The ceremony was lightly attended but still special. In my acceptance speech (which I delivered in my mind...to myself) I mentioned that I was glad that my team name was not as offensive as it usually is. DonkeyPunch, Drop The Chalupa, and Team Shocker are not next to my name plate on the trophy. Last year I named my team after the sweetheart deal that I got on the Ravens defense. Snatched from the grasp of the league manager because he only had $1 left to bid on a D, I won the championship last year with "2 Dollar Defense" in large part because of my 2 buck D. They scored a shit ton of touchdowns and really were the difference in several of my games. Perhaps the Steelers D... and the silly new mascot will be my $2 difference this year.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Baby Rain
Perhaps this is the same syndrome as what I call "New Car Syndrome". You might know the phenomenon by another moniker but it works the same: You purchase, or are close to purchasing a new car, and then you notice them everywhere. They were probably there all along, but now your awareness has been expanded to recognize them and they just seem to be all over the place. A maroon one, one with a sunroof... "that one has aftermarket rims".... you know what I am talking about.
Apparently, my awareness now registers babies and new fathers because they are all around me at work. A teammate of mine became a first time father yesterday and another is attached to his phone as his wife was due Sunday and if she does not go into labor by next Monday they will induce. Another person on our tech team is pregnant with twins and is a month further along than my wife. It is raining babies here.
Before I get rained on, I guess I should get as much poker in as I can. I am excited to get the part of my brain that regulates poker some exercise. I know that I will be rusty, but I am still anticipating the challenge of some live poker this Friday. The tournament structure will a 6 max so I am expecting some increased aggressiveness. The group of guys are pretty skilled and I would put myself in the middle of the pack skill wise. I would be pretty impressed with myself if I took it down. It is Friday night at 8 and will be a long drive home so no drinking. That should help.
A very large project that went horribly awry at work has finally completed and my life will be returning to normal. This is a good thing as teh job has been teh suck for the past month. I am very ready to move on. (Note to any work friend readers.... ready to move onto other things, not other companies!)
Apparently, my awareness now registers babies and new fathers because they are all around me at work. A teammate of mine became a first time father yesterday and another is attached to his phone as his wife was due Sunday and if she does not go into labor by next Monday they will induce. Another person on our tech team is pregnant with twins and is a month further along than my wife. It is raining babies here.
Before I get rained on, I guess I should get as much poker in as I can. I am excited to get the part of my brain that regulates poker some exercise. I know that I will be rusty, but I am still anticipating the challenge of some live poker this Friday. The tournament structure will a 6 max so I am expecting some increased aggressiveness. The group of guys are pretty skilled and I would put myself in the middle of the pack skill wise. I would be pretty impressed with myself if I took it down. It is Friday night at 8 and will be a long drive home so no drinking. That should help.
A very large project that went horribly awry at work has finally completed and my life will be returning to normal. This is a good thing as teh job has been teh suck for the past month. I am very ready to move on. (Note to any work friend readers.... ready to move onto other things, not other companies!)
Thursday, August 09, 2007
I wonder...
.....if there are any similarities between storing and restarting a blog and storing and restarting a motorcycle?
I have not put any Stabil into this blog nor have I hooked up the battery to a tender. I wonder if it will still fire up for me on the first try?
Let's give it a test, start with something strong.
"I just bought an awesome house in Michigan"
Anything?
How about this....
"I am going to be a father this January!"
Ahh, there it goes!
It is scary, but true. After several years of effort and with the assistance of modern medicine, SteelerSteph is 16 weeks pregnant. We don't know the gender yet, but plan to find out when she goes in for her ultrasound that is given between 18-20 weeks. I am a little apprehensive about this milestone of the pregnancy as this is the ultrasound where they really look at the organ development and other progress indicators on the baby. A friend at work recently had to go through the unthinkable anguish of burying his newborn that was diagnosed with trisomy-18 during the milestone ultrasound Steph and I are scheduling.
That was a tough one. They decided to carry the baby to term and she was "born to heaven" last month. I have never been to a funeral where the casket only required one pallbearer and hope to not repeat that experience again. There is something that goes completely against the grain of human nature when you bury a baby. The image of the toy sized white casket will be in my brain for a good while to come. I can't even attempt to imagine the sorrow and questioning that my friend and his wife are going through. Scary.
I hope to be posting with some regularity again. Life has been an absolute whirlwind and I have not played much/any poker since the move to Michigan. Some live events (neighborhood game, DNasty tournament) but nothing online. Since the demise of Neteller, I have not tried to load any more money online. I cleared out the online bankroll in December and saved $300 of it as a nest egg for the bankroll. It has hovered around there from the limited live action I have seen since then. The motorcycle riding has been curbed to riding to and from work and that is not very exciting or any sort of impetus to blog. Basically, I lost my original mojo for this blog and I am looking for some new things to inspire me. Hopefully I will be able to work some poker back into here too.
Take care out there. Very bummed that I missed Okie Vegas 2 but really enjoyed the recaps. If I can get some bucks on FT, I hope to make a Mookie in the near future.
I have not put any Stabil into this blog nor have I hooked up the battery to a tender. I wonder if it will still fire up for me on the first try?
Let's give it a test, start with something strong.
"I just bought an awesome house in Michigan"
Anything?
How about this....
"I am going to be a father this January!"
Ahh, there it goes!
It is scary, but true. After several years of effort and with the assistance of modern medicine, SteelerSteph is 16 weeks pregnant. We don't know the gender yet, but plan to find out when she goes in for her ultrasound that is given between 18-20 weeks. I am a little apprehensive about this milestone of the pregnancy as this is the ultrasound where they really look at the organ development and other progress indicators on the baby. A friend at work recently had to go through the unthinkable anguish of burying his newborn that was diagnosed with trisomy-18 during the milestone ultrasound Steph and I are scheduling.
That was a tough one. They decided to carry the baby to term and she was "born to heaven" last month. I have never been to a funeral where the casket only required one pallbearer and hope to not repeat that experience again. There is something that goes completely against the grain of human nature when you bury a baby. The image of the toy sized white casket will be in my brain for a good while to come. I can't even attempt to imagine the sorrow and questioning that my friend and his wife are going through. Scary.
I hope to be posting with some regularity again. Life has been an absolute whirlwind and I have not played much/any poker since the move to Michigan. Some live events (neighborhood game, DNasty tournament) but nothing online. Since the demise of Neteller, I have not tried to load any more money online. I cleared out the online bankroll in December and saved $300 of it as a nest egg for the bankroll. It has hovered around there from the limited live action I have seen since then. The motorcycle riding has been curbed to riding to and from work and that is not very exciting or any sort of impetus to blog. Basically, I lost my original mojo for this blog and I am looking for some new things to inspire me. Hopefully I will be able to work some poker back into here too.
Take care out there. Very bummed that I missed Okie Vegas 2 but really enjoyed the recaps. If I can get some bucks on FT, I hope to make a Mookie in the near future.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Crazy E-mail Day
I survived the DST update at work (so far) and life is getting back to some semblance of normalcy. There is a good bit of follow up required and minor issues to stay on top of, but on the whole I would call the patch and update effort a good success.
In between tracking down the final few rogue calendar entries that refused to update this past Friday night, I checked my gmail and had two "phunny" e-mails. Most Phishing e-mails are pretty easy to spot and understand the angle that is being shot. The first one I got (on my work account actually) is the standard type:
Dear Telus member,
You are receiving this email with regards to your personal account.
Please read carefully before continuing as some vital information is being updated.
Your account is showing to be incomplete due to a data failure in our systems and you MUST provide us with a correct information within 48 hours of receiving this email.
Failure to comply will result in account termination.
To update your account provide us with the following datas:
1. Maiden name:
2. Primary and secondary email address:
3. Account Password:
Ensure the informations are correct carefully before submitting it, mistakes can terminate your account.
Thank you for your support.
Account Supervisor Team
The grammatical and spelling errors usually are a pretty good tip that something is not right. If you are a major company and you are sending a communication to all your consumers, don't you think that it would go through at least one or two reviews and someone would catch the "informations are correct" and the "provide us with a correct information"? Secondly, a close look at the Sent From "Support@telus.net" and the Reply To "Please respond to uwanettt@yahoo.com" fields are another big red Stop sign. Finally, how many times are people warned that, "XYZ will never ask you for your password and blah blah blah"?
I guess there are enough complete and total morons on this planet that these horrible phishing e-mails are +EV for the creators.
The second one I received, and the motivator for this post, was a little more interesting. I am curious what the angle is here. Driving traffic to a site for ads? Hosting malicious code and driving my browser to it so I can be infected? It does not ask for any info... but it caught my attention in the Inbox:
From: Beat me (wagyxehon96125@gmail.com)
Subject: Beat me in poker and I 'll pay for your trip to vegas
Body:
Hey Bud ,
I heard on the boards you are a preety good Poker Player.
well, I can beat you ass in any type of poker and mostly texas holdem any given day.
Come visit me in my favorite poker room, get a decent bonus and the best of all,
If u beat me in the game I will pay for your Trip to VEGAS!!!
look for user 'playpokerwithme'
See you Tonight on http://www.geocities.com/mexulufa73227
Since I am at work and I don't understand the "trick" here, I did not visit the geocities site on the link. I would not advise anyone else to either. I am curious if other people got this e-mail, perhaps my address was scraped from this site?
In addition to all the unanswered questions above, the most lingering and perhaps most important is - Could wagyxehon96125@gmail.com beat me ass in mostly texas holdem?
In between tracking down the final few rogue calendar entries that refused to update this past Friday night, I checked my gmail and had two "phunny" e-mails. Most Phishing e-mails are pretty easy to spot and understand the angle that is being shot. The first one I got (on my work account actually) is the standard type:
Dear Telus member,
You are receiving this email with regards to your personal account.
Please read carefully before continuing as some vital information is being updated.
Your account is showing to be incomplete due to a data failure in our systems and you MUST provide us with a correct information within 48 hours of receiving this email.
Failure to comply will result in account termination.
To update your account provide us with the following datas:
1. Maiden name:
2. Primary and secondary email address:
3. Account Password:
Ensure the informations are correct carefully before submitting it, mistakes can terminate your account.
Thank you for your support.
Account Supervisor Team
The grammatical and spelling errors usually are a pretty good tip that something is not right. If you are a major company and you are sending a communication to all your consumers, don't you think that it would go through at least one or two reviews and someone would catch the "informations are correct" and the "provide us with a correct information"? Secondly, a close look at the Sent From "Support@telus.net" and the Reply To "Please respond to uwanettt@yahoo.com" fields are another big red Stop sign. Finally, how many times are people warned that, "XYZ will never ask you for your password and blah blah blah"?
I guess there are enough complete and total morons on this planet that these horrible phishing e-mails are +EV for the creators.
The second one I received, and the motivator for this post, was a little more interesting. I am curious what the angle is here. Driving traffic to a site for ads? Hosting malicious code and driving my browser to it so I can be infected? It does not ask for any info... but it caught my attention in the Inbox:
From: Beat me (wagyxehon96125@gmail.com)
Subject: Beat me in poker and I 'll pay for your trip to vegas
Body:
Hey Bud ,
I heard on the boards you are a preety good Poker Player.
well, I can beat you ass in any type of poker and mostly texas holdem any given day.
Come visit me in my favorite poker room, get a decent bonus and the best of all,
If u beat me in the game I will pay for your Trip to VEGAS!!!
look for user 'playpokerwithme'
See you Tonight on http://www.geocities.com
In addition to all the unanswered questions above, the most lingering and perhaps most important is - Could wagyxehon96125@gmail.com beat me ass in mostly texas holdem?
Monday, February 05, 2007
Hell's ZIP Code is 48169
A co-worker read teh blog today and IM'd me to correct my apparent mistake -
"your blog is off.. it's not Bullshit Cold... it's "Sofa King Cold"
I let him know that I was reserving that for the next level of chilliness, the kind where Hell starts getting icicles. You can't pull anything past these wily Michiganders. He immediately replied,
"there is plenty of ice in hell"
I may not be able to see that 23s coming to crack my Aces, but I saw this one a frozen mile away - "let me guess, there is a Hell, MI?"
Masterful user of the inter-tubes that he is, he simply replied with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
Quickly followed by where he would prefer to live in Michigan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax%2C_Michigan
And concluded with the proof that it is so cold here that all people do is think about sex: (SFW) http://www.getoffonbigbeaver.com/
I am sad to admit that while I have yet to get off on the big beaver, the lovely SteelerSteph has. Drunken College exploration you ask? Hardly. There is apparently a very nice mall at exit 69 on I-75. Since I try to avoid malls like a part time job, the chances of me hitting the big beaver while getting off on 69 are slim. I wonder what the degree of correlation between the double entendre suggested here and the act of going to the mall with my wife is.
I suspect it is high.
"your blog is off.. it's not Bullshit Cold... it's "Sofa King Cold"
I let him know that I was reserving that for the next level of chilliness, the kind where Hell starts getting icicles. You can't pull anything past these wily Michiganders. He immediately replied,
"there is plenty of ice in hell"
I may not be able to see that 23s coming to crack my Aces, but I saw this one a frozen mile away - "let me guess, there is a Hell, MI?"
Masterful user of the inter-tubes that he is, he simply replied with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
Quickly followed by where he would prefer to live in Michigan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax%2C_Michigan
And concluded with the proof that it is so cold here that all people do is think about sex: (SFW) http://www.getoffonbigbeaver.com/
I am sad to admit that while I have yet to get off on the big beaver, the lovely SteelerSteph has. Drunken College exploration you ask? Hardly. There is apparently a very nice mall at exit 69 on I-75. Since I try to avoid malls like a part time job, the chances of me hitting the big beaver while getting off on 69 are slim. I wonder what the degree of correlation between the double entendre suggested here and the act of going to the mall with my wife is.
I suspect it is high.
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We've Gone Plaid!!
I figured Michigan might be a little colder than Ohio as it is an hour or two North of where I used to live. I was right.
I never knew that the outside temperature display in my Honda could display negative numbers. I learned this morning that it can.
There is a term for this, I think what I am experiencing is known as "Bullshit Cold". Yup, we have gone past plaid cold, beyond ludicrous cold directly into Bullshit Cold. Rick Moranis would be freezing his little nerdy head off if he were in Detroit right now.
When the Pilot reluctantly cranked to life this morning, the outside temp gauge was displaying -4. With the accompanying brisk wind I am sure the windchill had us in the negative 20s. It hurt to breathe in.
All of this cold bs naturally leads to some self introspection. "Wtf am I doing in this?" "This is bs, who would live here?" and thoughts along those lines.
The icing on the proverbial cake was DNasty pinging me from Florida this morning asking if it was cold enough for me here. While I was glad to see he dodged the weather disaster that struck on Friday (Hurricane? Tornado?) I also have to laugh at him. His dumbass is excited to move back here!! I am excited too. Misery loves company, especially company that likes to play some live poker!!
Hurry h-h-h-home D-D-D-Dnasty (not a stutter, just chattering teeth from the negative degrees) but don't slip on all the snow and goddamn ice around here. If you fall, you might get stuck. You know, like that stupid kid in a Christmas Story. I triple dog dare you to move back here from Florida. :)
I never knew that the outside temperature display in my Honda could display negative numbers. I learned this morning that it can.
There is a term for this, I think what I am experiencing is known as "Bullshit Cold". Yup, we have gone past plaid cold, beyond ludicrous cold directly into Bullshit Cold. Rick Moranis would be freezing his little nerdy head off if he were in Detroit right now.
When the Pilot reluctantly cranked to life this morning, the outside temp gauge was displaying -4. With the accompanying brisk wind I am sure the windchill had us in the negative 20s. It hurt to breathe in.
All of this cold bs naturally leads to some self introspection. "Wtf am I doing in this?" "This is bs, who would live here?" and thoughts along those lines.
The icing on the proverbial cake was DNasty pinging me from Florida this morning asking if it was cold enough for me here. While I was glad to see he dodged the weather disaster that struck on Friday (Hurricane? Tornado?) I also have to laugh at him. His dumbass is excited to move back here!! I am excited too. Misery loves company, especially company that likes to play some live poker!!
Hurry h-h-h-home D-D-D-Dnasty (not a stutter, just chattering teeth from the negative degrees) but don't slip on all the snow and goddamn ice around here. If you fall, you might get stuck. You know, like that stupid kid in a Christmas Story. I triple dog dare you to move back here from Florida. :)
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Sunday, January 21, 2007
$2 MTT fun
I played in a $2 + .25 today on FT and it was amazing. 457 runners, 176 left at the first break!?!?
The blinds were 50/100 at the break, I cannot fathom why they insisted on impaling themselves on each other. Consistently.
I was a few hundy above average at the break and never really saw great cards. Two biggest pots were 56s where my OESFD missed but my bluff won (second hand of mtt) and a key double up against a maniac when I had 88 about 45 mins in.
81 spots pay, so my goal was to simply make the money and then start taking some more chances. That got a little tougher with 137 left when the SB caught a flush and cost me about T1600. My read that my middle pair was good on the flop, his K5c was flushing on the river and I paid him off on the Q high board. Tighten up or get looser to accumulate and make a real run? That was the question. I thought that I had enough chips (T3900) with 100/200 blinds that I could still wait for some premium hands and spots. Let's see if that works. One double up with the right donkey (and there are still some left around) and I am sitting pretty.
One small problem, the homebrew is starting to kick in a little. I am trying to drink enough so that I have 28 empty bottles for my next batch which I will be bottling next weekend. Tough job, I know. I have a lot of the high octane stuff on hand right now (10.5% abv) so two a day is a tall order.
92o in the BB. Doubt I get to see it for free. Surprise! I did, but the QJ6 did not help me at all. Fold to the raiser.
A9s in the SB and I flop OESD. It fills on the turn and I check it heads up. River pairs the board and my 600 bet is called. The hand holds up and I get some ammo.
AQo very next hand and it is folded around to me on button. Bet 700, SB goes all in for 250 more and BB folds. Hmm, have to call here. He flips AK and I am in trouble, especially when the K flops. NH sir, I give back my gains.
T3740 when the blinds hit 120/240 25 ante. 109 left, money starts at 81. First hand for me at this level is 1010. Win the blinds and antes. T4275 and I promptly get moved for the first time in the MTT.
First hand on the new table is KJo in the BB. I raise pot on the SB limp and he ejects. Cool. AQd is next hand and the early pot bet looks fishy. Apparently I was smelling myself because I jammed on him and his AKc hit a flush. T720 and the beep of life support can barely be heard over the gasps of this fish. I really considered folding that, should have trusted my fishy intution.
In an amazing run, the cards start coming and who am I to deny them? AJ two hands later and I turn my T650 into T2450. Then, one hand after that, my 99 gets all the chips in the middle PF and I am up against KJ. I hit a 9 on the flop and he is out. T4430. That was quite a fast and wild little ride. Let's check the tourney info. 61/95. I am in the BB for the old price when the blinds go up, that never hurts.
I am roughly 13x BB and I get AA in LP and one limper in front. I raise pot, folds around to him and he jams. Easy call, plus I have him covered by 1200 and he shows 88. The flop gives him 4 more outs with a gutshot and it does not materialize. T7290. Wheeee this is fun with good cards.
Stats look like this with 92 left:
Statistics for 111 Hands
Street Saw Saw/Total
Flop 19 17%
Turn 15 14%
River 13 12%
Showdown 8 7%
Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total
Pre-flop 4 4% 4%
Flop 2 11% 2%
Turn 0 0% 0%
River 3 23% 3%
Showdown 5 63% 5%
Random Thought while playing - I saw Freedom Writers last night and I had to admit I was moved some by it. It was not my choice of movie, but I was glad I saw it. It inspired me enough to call and thank the teachers in my life, my mother and my brother's wife. It was certainly a variation on the Dangerous Minds theme with hot white teacher doing right by the minority class, but I found it much more adept at tugging the heart strings. There were several points where the painful lump in my throat rose and I was not too far from crying. Not sure why that was, I guess I could identify with the characters and the respect themes. Last time a movie did something like that to me was Legends of the Fall. I know even admitting seeing both of these movies might put me "under suspicion" but I have to admit that I cried during the mustard gas scene in Legends of the Fall. Something about a movie with three brothers and the military made it very easy for me to put myself in the shoes of the characters. (I have two younger brothers and I served as an Armor Crewman from 93-96) The scene where Brad Pitt watches his younger brother get mustard gassed and then tangled and stuck in concertina wire and then chewed up by machine gun fire got to me. For some reason I could see that as myself and my younger brother Jared.
As I typed that, we lost 9 more and the bubble is ready to burst. 83 left and I am falling behind average. 5790 with 8300 avg stack. Hand for Hand begins and I fold A10o to a raise in EP. I get 88 in MP. Decision time. I decide to go in a blaze (the bubble popped and the difference between 80th and 64th is $0) I jam and get one caller with J8. Cool! I dodge his three outs and very dubious call (he only has 4300 left now and I have T12300) and I am back in the saddle.
Two hands later, AJo in the BB. I dislike this hand. Two raises in front make it an easy fold.
Blinds escalate to 250/500 with 50 ante and I am sitting 22/69 with 11k. I get a support call from work and now I am really multi-tasking. Auto-folding and the large blinds/antes are taking their toll. T9900 and no cards and still on the phone.
300/600 75 Ante. 8700, still on phone and no cards. This is an issue with the firm's CIO so it will take the time that it will take.
500/1000 100 ante. I go out 31st while I am still on the phone when my A7 splits the pot with A3 and then I get A7 the very next hand. I interpret this as a sign from the poker gods and that justice will be served so I go all in PF just like last time and get called by AJ this time. Fickle poker gods! 31/457 and I am not too unhappy with that. I think I could have gone farther if I had not spent 40 plus minutes on the phone troubleshooting a local mail replica issue with the CIO during a very crucial phase of the mtt, but that is how it goes. I am rewarded with a massive 3 dollars in profit and the feeling that my game is not in bad of shape as it sometimes feels.
The blinds were 50/100 at the break, I cannot fathom why they insisted on impaling themselves on each other. Consistently.
I was a few hundy above average at the break and never really saw great cards. Two biggest pots were 56s where my OESFD missed but my bluff won (second hand of mtt) and a key double up against a maniac when I had 88 about 45 mins in.
81 spots pay, so my goal was to simply make the money and then start taking some more chances. That got a little tougher with 137 left when the SB caught a flush and cost me about T1600. My read that my middle pair was good on the flop, his K5c was flushing on the river and I paid him off on the Q high board. Tighten up or get looser to accumulate and make a real run? That was the question. I thought that I had enough chips (T3900) with 100/200 blinds that I could still wait for some premium hands and spots. Let's see if that works. One double up with the right donkey (and there are still some left around) and I am sitting pretty.
One small problem, the homebrew is starting to kick in a little. I am trying to drink enough so that I have 28 empty bottles for my next batch which I will be bottling next weekend. Tough job, I know. I have a lot of the high octane stuff on hand right now (10.5% abv) so two a day is a tall order.
92o in the BB. Doubt I get to see it for free. Surprise! I did, but the QJ6 did not help me at all. Fold to the raiser.
A9s in the SB and I flop OESD. It fills on the turn and I check it heads up. River pairs the board and my 600 bet is called. The hand holds up and I get some ammo.
AQo very next hand and it is folded around to me on button. Bet 700, SB goes all in for 250 more and BB folds. Hmm, have to call here. He flips AK and I am in trouble, especially when the K flops. NH sir, I give back my gains.
T3740 when the blinds hit 120/240 25 ante. 109 left, money starts at 81. First hand for me at this level is 1010. Win the blinds and antes. T4275 and I promptly get moved for the first time in the MTT.
First hand on the new table is KJo in the BB. I raise pot on the SB limp and he ejects. Cool. AQd is next hand and the early pot bet looks fishy. Apparently I was smelling myself because I jammed on him and his AKc hit a flush. T720 and the beep of life support can barely be heard over the gasps of this fish. I really considered folding that, should have trusted my fishy intution.
In an amazing run, the cards start coming and who am I to deny them? AJ two hands later and I turn my T650 into T2450. Then, one hand after that, my 99 gets all the chips in the middle PF and I am up against KJ. I hit a 9 on the flop and he is out. T4430. That was quite a fast and wild little ride. Let's check the tourney info. 61/95. I am in the BB for the old price when the blinds go up, that never hurts.
I am roughly 13x BB and I get AA in LP and one limper in front. I raise pot, folds around to him and he jams. Easy call, plus I have him covered by 1200 and he shows 88. The flop gives him 4 more outs with a gutshot and it does not materialize. T7290. Wheeee this is fun with good cards.
Stats look like this with 92 left:
Statistics for 111 Hands
Street Saw Saw/Total
Flop 19 17%
Turn 15 14%
River 13 12%
Showdown 8 7%
Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total
Pre-flop 4 4% 4%
Flop 2 11% 2%
Turn 0 0% 0%
River 3 23% 3%
Showdown 5 63% 5%
Random Thought while playing - I saw Freedom Writers last night and I had to admit I was moved some by it. It was not my choice of movie, but I was glad I saw it. It inspired me enough to call and thank the teachers in my life, my mother and my brother's wife. It was certainly a variation on the Dangerous Minds theme with hot white teacher doing right by the minority class, but I found it much more adept at tugging the heart strings. There were several points where the painful lump in my throat rose and I was not too far from crying. Not sure why that was, I guess I could identify with the characters and the respect themes. Last time a movie did something like that to me was Legends of the Fall. I know even admitting seeing both of these movies might put me "under suspicion" but I have to admit that I cried during the mustard gas scene in Legends of the Fall. Something about a movie with three brothers and the military made it very easy for me to put myself in the shoes of the characters. (I have two younger brothers and I served as an Armor Crewman from 93-96) The scene where Brad Pitt watches his younger brother get mustard gassed and then tangled and stuck in concertina wire and then chewed up by machine gun fire got to me. For some reason I could see that as myself and my younger brother Jared.
As I typed that, we lost 9 more and the bubble is ready to burst. 83 left and I am falling behind average. 5790 with 8300 avg stack. Hand for Hand begins and I fold A10o to a raise in EP. I get 88 in MP. Decision time. I decide to go in a blaze (the bubble popped and the difference between 80th and 64th is $0) I jam and get one caller with J8. Cool! I dodge his three outs and very dubious call (he only has 4300 left now and I have T12300) and I am back in the saddle.
Two hands later, AJo in the BB. I dislike this hand. Two raises in front make it an easy fold.
Blinds escalate to 250/500 with 50 ante and I am sitting 22/69 with 11k. I get a support call from work and now I am really multi-tasking. Auto-folding and the large blinds/antes are taking their toll. T9900 and no cards and still on the phone.
300/600 75 Ante. 8700, still on phone and no cards. This is an issue with the firm's CIO so it will take the time that it will take.
500/1000 100 ante. I go out 31st while I am still on the phone when my A7 splits the pot with A3 and then I get A7 the very next hand. I interpret this as a sign from the poker gods and that justice will be served so I go all in PF just like last time and get called by AJ this time. Fickle poker gods! 31/457 and I am not too unhappy with that. I think I could have gone farther if I had not spent 40 plus minutes on the phone troubleshooting a local mail replica issue with the CIO during a very crucial phase of the mtt, but that is how it goes. I am rewarded with a massive 3 dollars in profit and the feeling that my game is not in bad of shape as it sometimes feels.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
For the Record: This Sucks
From the "Goddamn Politicians Creating More Work for Me" file, allow me to present you this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005
For the unaware (which I assume are many), Mr. Bush and our bicameral legislature decided it would be cool to extend our Daylight Savings Time by 4 weeks starting in 2007 (in addition to a lot of other junk in the act, but that is the specific change that has me riled up). 3 weeks at the front end and 1 week at the back end.
Hey, the kids get an extra "hour of light" on Halloween!! What's the big deal?
Allow me to enlighten you.
Once I get beyond the fact that I never got Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the first place - I prefer the analogy of cutting of 12 inches off of the bottom of your bedsheet, sewing that 12 inches onto the top of the sheet, and then calling it longer - this is going to create a lot of extra work for IT departments throughout the world and possible frustration for many corporate and home users.
Microsoft has released Operating System patches for its servers (unless you are on a Windows 2k server... good luck with that) and for Windows XP clients with the new rules for DST. Ok, cool. That addresses that.
Now, what about all the stuff that runs on top of the operating system. Like say, perhaps, my beloved Lotus Notes. That inherits its DST rules from the OS. Ok, that sounds good too. Patch my OS, Notes will inherit the new rules. Call it a day and crack a cold one. Not so fast.
This thread on the Domino forums sums it up nicely: (C&S is Calendar and Scheduling and DWA is Domino Web Access, a method that users can get access to their mail file from their home computer)
I have a client where the C&S system is about the most critical thing in the environment. Especially for executives.
So here is the best case scenario. On December 12th when it shipped you applied the MS Windows patches to all of your workstations and servers as well as the appropriate APAR's to your servers. As soon as you did that all meetings previously scheduled for the three weeks in question now appear one hour later than they should except on your Blackberries which aren't patched because the patch isn't available. Now you start creating more meetings for that time period which are stored and appear correctly except on Blackberries where they will appear an hour earlier than they should.
This is the BEST scenario. It falls apart very quickly if you take a while to get the Windows patches out or if you can't patch EVERYONE fairly close to each other from a time perspective.
Oh by the way if users are using DWA from home their machines probably aren't patched so they will potentially be scheduling bad entries right up to the deadline.
BTW, the worst thing that will happen is that ALL your meetings occurring in the US and Canada will be screwed up for three weeks.
Good Luck!!!
Rob
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/DateAllThreadedweb/f1029f0dcf860b4d8525725a0072f792?OpenDocument
Another poster posted his plan, it is very similar to mine right now:
I think you are right Rob..Everyone who works on large enterprise should freek out. This change will impact every individual's calendar. Here is our plan
1. Complete the OS patch across all Laptops, Desktops, PDAs, Servers, LPARs etc by end of January
2. While this patch is being loaded, work with IBM and start testing Agents to fix Calendar entries that have been scheduled before OS Patch. Testing should include running agents on Rooms & Resource Database
3. Apart from R&R, we also have external application which we use to reserve Conf Rooms with VTC. Hence will have to patch application
4. Once all clients are patched, final step would be to run the agents. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping agents work as expected and don't kill the servers :)
5. We use lot of application databases that use Calendar functions. We have to modify IBM agents to run against all our application databases.
6. Setup a swat team for March 11 to perform some testing. Not to mention, Keep IBM support person on standby
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There is also an effort underway to patch Sametime Meeting Servers, as all meetings will move 1 hour ahead like Notes meetings.
Notes Admin who is not worried about this change, should read the problem between the lines, else will see Admin Assistants standing next to him on 12th March :)
I am a little ahead of the last guy and I am attending a call with IBM tomorrow night at 9PM (might miss the Mookie) that I hope will shed some more light on this situation as far as the "tools" they will have for us administrators to ease the burden and pain for our staff. I am hoping for an agent that we will be able to run centrally that will adjust the affected entries in each calendar and also in the Resource (conference rooms, projectors, etc.) Reservations databases. As it stands right now, it will be a piece of code that each user will have to run on their own computer. I know anyone of you that read this blog with any regularity would fall firmly into the "user" category. No offense, but if I have the choice of leaving something important up to you or doing it myself... I will take the latter everytime.
To sum it up, this could be viewed as a mini-Y2K. The ramifications are not as dire, but it is an external change that will affect computer systems and may have some unknown consequences. At a minimum, I am expecting some disgruntled staff that go to the conference room they had reserved only to find it already in use or people showing up for meetings an hour after they start... basically, a lot of corporate fun.
For the non nerds out there (I expect DNasty to be the only one that made it this far... and that is iffy) enjoy your blissful ignorance of the IT stress that is going on in the background because of the wonderful Energy Policy Act of 2005 and that extra hour of daylight on Halloween.
Trick or Treat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005
For the unaware (which I assume are many), Mr. Bush and our bicameral legislature decided it would be cool to extend our Daylight Savings Time by 4 weeks starting in 2007 (in addition to a lot of other junk in the act, but that is the specific change that has me riled up). 3 weeks at the front end and 1 week at the back end.
Hey, the kids get an extra "hour of light" on Halloween!! What's the big deal?
Allow me to enlighten you.
Once I get beyond the fact that I never got Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the first place - I prefer the analogy of cutting of 12 inches off of the bottom of your bedsheet, sewing that 12 inches onto the top of the sheet, and then calling it longer - this is going to create a lot of extra work for IT departments throughout the world and possible frustration for many corporate and home users.
Microsoft has released Operating System patches for its servers (unless you are on a Windows 2k server... good luck with that) and for Windows XP clients with the new rules for DST. Ok, cool. That addresses that.
Now, what about all the stuff that runs on top of the operating system. Like say, perhaps, my beloved Lotus Notes. That inherits its DST rules from the OS. Ok, that sounds good too. Patch my OS, Notes will inherit the new rules. Call it a day and crack a cold one. Not so fast.
This thread on the Domino forums sums it up nicely: (C&S is Calendar and Scheduling and DWA is Domino Web Access, a method that users can get access to their mail file from their home computer)
I have a client where the C&S system is about the most critical thing in the environment. Especially for executives.
So here is the best case scenario. On December 12th when it shipped you applied the MS Windows patches to all of your workstations and servers as well as the appropriate APAR's to your servers. As soon as you did that all meetings previously scheduled for the three weeks in question now appear one hour later than they should except on your Blackberries which aren't patched because the patch isn't available. Now you start creating more meetings for that time period which are stored and appear correctly except on Blackberries where they will appear an hour earlier than they should.
This is the BEST scenario. It falls apart very quickly if you take a while to get the Windows patches out or if you can't patch EVERYONE fairly close to each other from a time perspective.
Oh by the way if users are using DWA from home their machines probably aren't patched so they will potentially be scheduling bad entries right up to the deadline.
BTW, the worst thing that will happen is that ALL your meetings occurring in the US and Canada will be screwed up for three weeks.
Good Luck!!!
Rob
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/DateAllThreadedweb/f1029f0dcf860b4d8525725a0072f792?OpenDocument
Another poster posted his plan, it is very similar to mine right now:
I think you are right Rob..Everyone who works on large enterprise should freek out. This change will impact every individual's calendar. Here is our plan
1. Complete the OS patch across all Laptops, Desktops, PDAs, Servers, LPARs etc by end of January
2. While this patch is being loaded, work with IBM and start testing Agents to fix Calendar entries that have been scheduled before OS Patch. Testing should include running agents on Rooms & Resource Database
3. Apart from R&R, we also have external application which we use to reserve Conf Rooms with VTC. Hence will have to patch application
4. Once all clients are patched, final step would be to run the agents. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping agents work as expected and don't kill the servers :)
5. We use lot of application databases that use Calendar functions. We have to modify IBM agents to run against all our application databases.
6. Setup a swat team for March 11 to perform some testing. Not to mention, Keep IBM support person on standby
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There is also an effort underway to patch Sametime Meeting Servers, as all meetings will move 1 hour ahead like Notes meetings.
Notes Admin who is not worried about this change, should read the problem between the lines, else will see Admin Assistants standing next to him on 12th March :)
I am a little ahead of the last guy and I am attending a call with IBM tomorrow night at 9PM (might miss the Mookie) that I hope will shed some more light on this situation as far as the "tools" they will have for us administrators to ease the burden and pain for our staff. I am hoping for an agent that we will be able to run centrally that will adjust the affected entries in each calendar and also in the Resource (conference rooms, projectors, etc.) Reservations databases. As it stands right now, it will be a piece of code that each user will have to run on their own computer. I know anyone of you that read this blog with any regularity would fall firmly into the "user" category. No offense, but if I have the choice of leaving something important up to you or doing it myself... I will take the latter everytime.
To sum it up, this could be viewed as a mini-Y2K. The ramifications are not as dire, but it is an external change that will affect computer systems and may have some unknown consequences. At a minimum, I am expecting some disgruntled staff that go to the conference room they had reserved only to find it already in use or people showing up for meetings an hour after they start... basically, a lot of corporate fun.
For the non nerds out there (I expect DNasty to be the only one that made it this far... and that is iffy) enjoy your blissful ignorance of the IT stress that is going on in the background because of the wonderful Energy Policy Act of 2005 and that extra hour of daylight on Halloween.
Trick or Treat.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
Nothing to Read Here
Keep it moving folks.
I seem to have misplaced my muse but feel compelled to make a post to the blog. Recipe for less than mediocrity? I think so.
How about a quick catch up for any family and friends that read this. The holidays were great and I enjoyed spending time with both families (in-laws and out-laws). The chance to spend time with family and friends certainly trumps any material gifts and there were quite a few material gifts given. How about a quick top 3? I was most excited to give my wife her Garmin 330c GPS. The more cynical out there might question my motivation (to get my GPS back) but that was just a nice byproduct of this thoughtful gift.
For the non techies and the late adopters out there, a GPS equals piece of mind and carefree driving. This was driven home to me recently on an out of state trip without one. It sucked. I had to pay attention to where I was, wonder if I had gone too far or not far enough before I stressed out looking for my next turn. I also had no idea how close I was to making my 5 PM arrival deadline. A GPS mitigates all of that bs. It lets you know exactly how far you are from your next turn, offers a surprisingly accurate estimate of your arrival time, and prevents arguments with your spouse who swore that she needed it more than you and then was at home when you called home to see if she was really using it (she wasn't). It is hard to express the freedom to someone that has not used one in a new city or foreign country, I think Detroit qualifies as both, and just how cool it is. I got a sweet deal (~$320 delivered to my front door, www.pricegrabber.com) and had a bow on it for our drive to Columbus. SteelerSteph was excited when she finally saw it and the detour function came in handy when I-70 came to screeching halt. We had to make the kennel before they closed at 6:30 and the detour button took us off the highway at the first available exit and put us back on a few miles down the road. Smoooove.
All that stuff I just said, ditto it for the exact same model my father received from my mother and me. He was geeked too and for some reason that still escapes me was proud that he navigated back to the house with it one day by doing the exact opposite of "bitchin' Betty's" instructions. "Off Route, Re-Calculating.....Turn Left in 500 feet" I suspect that he had to eventually give in to her coaching. I love my dad.
Personally, I got some good geek gifts from the Mrs. (4 GB iPod Nano, Scala 500 Bluetooth Headset). I purchased the Nike + kit post Christmas and will be seeking motivation to TripJax myself using the Nike website and the little shoe fob and reciever. A buddy at work has it and showed me his running progress over the past four months. Pretty cool. Football season as I know it is over so there is little excuse for chicken wings, pizza, and Sundays that I don't leave the couch. I am mourning a post season with no Steelers presence and the departure of Coach Cowher. Hard to imagine the team without him but the NFL goes on.
Poker has been extremely lackluster lately (none live and online is biting my ball bag big time). Perhaps this is highly correlated to my misplaced muse. Hmmm. Poker stinks, I have not ridden since the middle of November..... might as well delete this blog!
Does anyone else feel funny or like an impostor offering poker advice when you are a losing player? I do! 2006 was a good year, but a disastrous December found me ending the year down a few bucks online. I know that I have personally grown as a player and if I kept track of live play I would be decently ahead for the year, but I still feel that I am not one that anyone should take an opinion from. I know that I am 10x the player I was at the start, but this run of poor decisions and bad cards has me questioning my "poker skills". I am looking forward to the triumphant return of DNasty to Detroit and playing more live games to re-stoking the flame and helping me continue to improve. I think we both feel that the other has something that we could learn from as we struggle to find our own game. Hurry back D, my bankroll needs your discipline and patience!!
How long has it been since I have blogged? My hands hurt from typing all this! This is the first weekend in a long time that I will not be moving/unpacking/working/travelling/visiting in what feels like forever so don't be surprised if there are more posts to this dusty corner of cyberspace. Right now my agenda includes brewing my next batch of homebrew (a Fat Tire Amber Ale clone), attending the motorcycle show down the road from here, and spending some time with SteelerSteph. Will get some poker in if the mood strikes and some motorcycling if the weather permits. Yay me!!
I seem to have misplaced my muse but feel compelled to make a post to the blog. Recipe for less than mediocrity? I think so.
How about a quick catch up for any family and friends that read this. The holidays were great and I enjoyed spending time with both families (in-laws and out-laws). The chance to spend time with family and friends certainly trumps any material gifts and there were quite a few material gifts given. How about a quick top 3? I was most excited to give my wife her Garmin 330c GPS. The more cynical out there might question my motivation (to get my GPS back) but that was just a nice byproduct of this thoughtful gift.
For the non techies and the late adopters out there, a GPS equals piece of mind and carefree driving. This was driven home to me recently on an out of state trip without one. It sucked. I had to pay attention to where I was, wonder if I had gone too far or not far enough before I stressed out looking for my next turn. I also had no idea how close I was to making my 5 PM arrival deadline. A GPS mitigates all of that bs. It lets you know exactly how far you are from your next turn, offers a surprisingly accurate estimate of your arrival time, and prevents arguments with your spouse who swore that she needed it more than you and then was at home when you called home to see if she was really using it (she wasn't). It is hard to express the freedom to someone that has not used one in a new city or foreign country, I think Detroit qualifies as both, and just how cool it is. I got a sweet deal (~$320 delivered to my front door, www.pricegrabber.com) and had a bow on it for our drive to Columbus. SteelerSteph was excited when she finally saw it and the detour function came in handy when I-70 came to screeching halt. We had to make the kennel before they closed at 6:30 and the detour button took us off the highway at the first available exit and put us back on a few miles down the road. Smoooove.
All that stuff I just said, ditto it for the exact same model my father received from my mother and me. He was geeked too and for some reason that still escapes me was proud that he navigated back to the house with it one day by doing the exact opposite of "bitchin' Betty's" instructions. "Off Route, Re-Calculating.....Turn Left in 500 feet" I suspect that he had to eventually give in to her coaching. I love my dad.
Personally, I got some good geek gifts from the Mrs. (4 GB iPod Nano, Scala 500 Bluetooth Headset). I purchased the Nike + kit post Christmas and will be seeking motivation to TripJax myself using the Nike website and the little shoe fob and reciever. A buddy at work has it and showed me his running progress over the past four months. Pretty cool. Football season as I know it is over so there is little excuse for chicken wings, pizza, and Sundays that I don't leave the couch. I am mourning a post season with no Steelers presence and the departure of Coach Cowher. Hard to imagine the team without him but the NFL goes on.
Poker has been extremely lackluster lately (none live and online is biting my ball bag big time). Perhaps this is highly correlated to my misplaced muse. Hmmm. Poker stinks, I have not ridden since the middle of November..... might as well delete this blog!
Does anyone else feel funny or like an impostor offering poker advice when you are a losing player? I do! 2006 was a good year, but a disastrous December found me ending the year down a few bucks online. I know that I have personally grown as a player and if I kept track of live play I would be decently ahead for the year, but I still feel that I am not one that anyone should take an opinion from. I know that I am 10x the player I was at the start, but this run of poor decisions and bad cards has me questioning my "poker skills". I am looking forward to the triumphant return of DNasty to Detroit and playing more live games to re-stoking the flame and helping me continue to improve. I think we both feel that the other has something that we could learn from as we struggle to find our own game. Hurry back D, my bankroll needs your discipline and patience!!
How long has it been since I have blogged? My hands hurt from typing all this! This is the first weekend in a long time that I will not be moving/unpacking/working/travelling/visiting in what feels like forever so don't be surprised if there are more posts to this dusty corner of cyberspace. Right now my agenda includes brewing my next batch of homebrew (a Fat Tire Amber Ale clone), attending the motorcycle show down the road from here, and spending some time with SteelerSteph. Will get some poker in if the mood strikes and some motorcycling if the weather permits. Yay me!!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Anyone else on top of this?
Not Jordan's beloved Razz - BG's novel.
I did not realize how much I was enjoying my daily dose until it went dormant yesterday and I spent a second every 15 minutes today seeing if your name went bold in Bloglines. Wow, that is some great stuff. I would buy it.
Keep it up BG, I am not sure if I want "Lane" to deviate from his plan because of Sarah but that is kinda how life goes, huh? Excellent balance of knowns and unknowns and you have effectively, efficiently, and wonderfully brought me along in this story so far. I have always enjoyed your voice (and ScurvyDog's too) and would read pretty much anything you two decide to post. The fact that the post is a great story is icing. Pure cake and icing.
Good luck with the loftier 3k words a day goal. I am probably making this plea on behalf of more than just myself. Even if this does not make the NaNoWriMo goal please finish the story. I have this fear of wondering the fate and rest of "Lane's" back story for the rest of my life.
I did not realize how much I was enjoying my daily dose until it went dormant yesterday and I spent a second every 15 minutes today seeing if your name went bold in Bloglines. Wow, that is some great stuff. I would buy it.
Keep it up BG, I am not sure if I want "Lane" to deviate from his plan because of Sarah but that is kinda how life goes, huh? Excellent balance of knowns and unknowns and you have effectively, efficiently, and wonderfully brought me along in this story so far. I have always enjoyed your voice (and ScurvyDog's too) and would read pretty much anything you two decide to post. The fact that the post is a great story is icing. Pure cake and icing.
Good luck with the loftier 3k words a day goal. I am probably making this plea on behalf of more than just myself. Even if this does not make the NaNoWriMo goal please finish the story. I have this fear of wondering the fate and rest of "Lane's" back story for the rest of my life.
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