Poignant

I love poker.

I really do. I love everything about this silly game. I love to be able to sit at a table against people from all walks of life and be able to match wits with them. Just this weekend for example, I've played poker against a doctor and an engineer, amongst others. I love the social aspect of the game - it's always a great time at a poker game, because you're always among friends. And since I acquired the gambling gene from my parents, I love to be able to have 'a lil sumpin-sumpin' riding on the decisions that I make at the table. That's just in my blood!

But the thing that I love the most about this game is also the most frustrating thing about the game, and essentially, where this game's true beauty lies... anybody can win! In golf, if you were to play a round against Tiger Woods, you couldn't win one match out of 10,000. But in poker, you could sit across from any seasoned pro and, although you'd probably be at a disadvantage, you'd stand a pretty good chance to be able to beat him. The most skilled players in the world must still rely on a certain amount of luck to be able to win a big tournament. If the poker gods aren't smiling on a player on a certain day, perfect decisions can still send him to his demise. It's a beautiful thing. Anybody can win.

That includes a stubborn, cocky twenty-something year old kid who started playing the play money tables at Poker Stars about 10 years ago. He wasn't cocky enough to play for real money at that time, but he played a lot and eventually increased his play money bankroll from PM1,000 to over PM2,000,000. If you would have had the chance to talk to him and ask him how strong a poker player he was, he'd have laughed and said 'oh, I'm pretty good'. And he'd have believed it too.

Truth be told, that kid didn't know the first thing about poker. Sure, he had good results. Sure his stack increased exponentally. But how much of that success was based on luck? How much was based on the fact that a majority of the play money players don't take their play money seriously and just donk off their chips. How much was just calling the wrong bet at the right time and reaping the benefits of a bad play?

Sit down with this kid, and he'd have many stories about sucking out on online opponents. Players would berate him, tell him how poor he played and how lucky he got and that he didn't deserve to win. They'd call him every name in the book - they'd make sure that he was on their buddy list (so whenever he logged in, it would tell those players so they could seek him out and play at his table - because they'd have a better chance to win money against him!). But according to him, they were sore losers and just complainers - he was just that good a player and had the results to back it up! This kid truthfully had no idea how fortunate he was. He was gaining experience, collecting chips and having a good time - he just didn't know how truly bad a player he was!

Fast forward to this weekend.

Saturday night, I played at Zooks' home game and finished something like 11th out of 19. I didn't play particularly well - once I bluffed with a 2-5 and went all in and everybody folded. I showed everybody the bluff - turned out to be really stupid on my part. Later, when I pushed all in preflop with a pair of 7's, I got called by a guy with Q8 ("I thought you were bluffing again!" he tells me) and lost when the board counterfeited me by showing K-9-10-K-10. True, the call with Q8 was terrible, but had I not showed the bluff, he would never have called. I was truly frustrated, but put the blame on myself. Luckily I was able to win $25 at the cash game, so I netted a positive $5 for the night! Woohoo!

Sunday afternoon, I played in 2 tourneys at Gordo's. In the first one, I finished 3rd out of 9 (won $15, net $5). Again, I played OK, but made a bad decision that cost me big time. I was getting an incredible run of cards and kept raising and raising pots preflop. I'd win most of them, losing just once in a while. Then I got dealt 3-5 on the button (3 handed). It's one of those hands that if you're going to play, you need to raise, because you'd rather take it down without having to see a flop - if it goes to a flop, you're almost assuredly behind. But since I had raised so many previous pots, I decided to limp, caught a pair of 5's on the flop 5-4-Q, but Teresa paired both her 5 and her 4 and all but knocked me out. Had I raised preflop like I should have, no way she calls with 4-5. Again, I lost to a crap hand, but because I played it poorly. When it's my own dumb fault, it's so much easier to take.

But the second tourney on Sunday was a different story. Blinds started at 10/20 and there were fireworks from the word 'Go'. One pot I raised preflop to 120, Toby re-raised to 250. I called and when the flop hit me, I pushed all in and Toby folded correctly. Just 2 hands later, I had A-K and with multiple limpers in front of me, I raised to 200. Toby came over the top for 500. I went all in and he insta-called (he was tilting a little) and flipped over A-J. He muttered something about not caring and how he shouldn't have played anyway, but when the J came on the flop, he had doubled up and I had a lot of catching up to do. Then a few hands later (still 10/20) , I managed to get all my chips (1200 or so) into the pot with T-J on a 8-9-J-3 (2 spades) board against Jeff's A-6 sooooooted in spades. The river spade knocked me out 10 minutes after I started.

My ride home is usually reserved for analyzing my play - What did I do wrong? What could I have done better. What should I do next time this situation arises? The only thing I could come up with is that I shouldn't have risked so many chips so early into a tournament. But then the more I thought about it, if you give me the option to get all my chips in with a 70/30 advantage, I'd take it every time - even 6 minutes in or 6 hours in. I decided that I wasn't taking any resonsibility for this one - I just got hosed!! I steamed and steamed most the ride home. Maybe I just need a break from this game - the frustration just doesn't seem worth it sometimes.

But then I thought about all of the reasons why I love this game so much, and why it's so much a part of me. I thought about that know-it-all kid who played on those play-money tables and won when he had no business doing so. I thought about how he felt when he was winning - even if his decisions weren't as sound, he was still having fun playing the game. I thought of all of his opponents who berated him and his play, and what was thought of them at the time (and how much merit he gave their complaints anyway). But mostly, I thought about how vastly different my life would be had I not ever played a hand of poker. A very large percentage of my very best friends in this world, I met at a poker table. I met one of my very closest friends, Tim, at a poker game, and 20 years later, I'm the godfather of his youngest daughter. I was introduced to the Peoria Jaycees through poker, and now a huge percentage of my social calendar is spent with these new friends. If it wasn't for poker, I'd have never got the opportunity to know all these truly wonderful people - that's a very scary, but very true statement. And you know what? That's not something I want to give up very easily. I owe so much to this game, so I'm just going to keep on playing and see where it'll take me next...

I do truly love poker!!

Pilferer

Sorry I haven't written in a while - between the holidays and being sick, I haven't had the chance to write until today. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have much to say.

First of all, I hope that everybody had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. Every year since I can remember, we've always gone to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, but this year, we broke tradition and went to 4:00 mass instead. It was nice - normally I don't get to bed until about 2:00 that night and with everything going on on Christmas day, I'm usually worn down pretty early. But this year, I was able to get to sleep at a normal hour and was good to go all day! We spent Christmas morning at my parents and then went to my aunt & uncles for our gift exchange and the White Elephant exchange.

For our White Elephant gift exchange, and I ended up getting a combination shoe horn/walking stick/back scratcher. It's something to see for sure! My cousin Drew ended up with what I brought - a handful of old license plates. I don't think he was very happy with that! :) My cousin Michael got the white elephant, but I guess somebody has already kidnapped it away from him. It should be an interesting year for the elephant - who knows where he's at or what he's up to!

And for those of you who think I took him, I can assure you I did not!

Karma

I just got back from a poker game in Mossville (went with Toby and Gordo), and it was indeed an experience. Buy in was 30 + 20 for a rebuy/reload. There were 3 tables (19 players) and everybody but one rebought, so that made 880 in the pot. Top 4 places paid - (440, 260, 120 and 60)... We played in some guy's garage, and well over half of the players were smokers. Normally that's not a big deal, but when you've got a couple dozen people in a garage and it's bone-chilling cold outside, you can't open up the doors and let the fresh air in - you'd freeze your butt off!! By the end of the night, I could barely see my own cards through all the smoke in there.

Gordo and Toby started out at the same table, but I was at a table where I didn't know anybody. My goal when I started to play was to sit back for the first half hour or so and not play any hands. I wanted to get a read on the players at my table before investing many of my chips - not knowing my opponents should have cost me the tournament at Zooks last home game and I didn't want to make the same mistake here (surprisingly, I learn from my mistakes). This strategy accomplished 2 things - I did get very good reads on my opponents, but more importantly, it gave me a table image of being a super tight player (I know you're all laughing, but I'm serious - these guys thought I was a rock!! hahaha if only they knew!!). This absolutely worked in my favor for the rest of the night. There were pots that I had absolute garbage and pushed in a raise and 3 guys said "Well he must have pocket aces - I'm folding". The strategy worked out really well.

After about 5 players got knocked out, a guy went all in with pocket 8's preflop and I woke up with Aces in the cutoff. That eliminated him and gave me a sizeable chipstack (and validation of my table image to my opponents ;). After that, I basically folded most every hand - except for a handful of well-timed bluffs (uncalled of course - who wants to go up against aces! :)- and made my way to the final table of 9 players.

When we got to the final table, Toby and Gordo were still alive as well. We played for what seemed like forever before we lost the first player at the final table. Then there were 8. Gordo was dealt pocket aces and got all his chips in against pocket kings, only to watch a K-2-2 flop end his night in 8th place. That was a brutal beat! Had he won that pot, he would have been the chip leader and a major player in the tourney - Tough luck Gordo!

For the next half hour or so, the blinds were getting pretty substantial, and I noticed that Toby and I were becoming targets. Toby is a very tight player, and with my newfound rocky table image, I recognized that I was ripe for other players trying to stealing my blinds. So I started pushing all-in on unraised pots relatively often. Once I pushed with 4-9o, another time with 10-3. Didn't matter - I pushed. And since they think I'm a rock, they all folded. I needed those chips for when they raised my blinds, and I absolutely used my image to my advantage! But Toby, on the other hand, I don't think recognized it. The other players knew that Toby would fold his blinds to a big raise 99 times out of 100, so they were chasing each other to raise the pot when Toby was the big-blind. Somebody would pop a nice raise, and I'd hear other players whispering "I was going to do that if you didn't". Once Toby's blind was raised and he re-raised all in over the top and got the guy to fold, resulting in a nice pot, but that only happened one time. They kept popping his blinds and he kept folding until he eventually got blinded down to where he was super short-stacked and had to call with pocket 4s against AQ (not a particularly bad spot) but lost to an A on the flop. Toby finished in 6th place, which is becoming all too familiar for him - finishing just out the money seemingly every tournament (See Exhibit A, for one example...)

After another kid lost, the remaining 4 of us were in the money. Woohoo!!

Then my luck turned a little cold. I was maybe 2nd in chips and was dealt pocket jacks, so I made a sizeable raise preflop. The chip leader went all-in over the top of me, and I made a big laydown (luckily so, as he showed his pocket aces). Then, having K-9 in the hole, I made a sizeable bet on a A-6-3 board trying to represent an ace, only to have a another guy re-raise all in. Again I folded, and he showed me his pocket 6s (I played it off like I had a big ace and made a great laydown!) Eventually, my chip stack was diminished to where my big blind made me pot committed and I was forced to call a raise from pocket 8s with Q7o. My odds were pretty bad to win, but they were even worse when each of the other two players revealed that they had both also folded Q7o. Needless to say, I didn't catch the lone remaining queen and I was eliminated in 4th place.

I ended up netting 10 dollars for the night, so that's not too bad, but I went home thinking I could have done so much better. I played as good a game of poker tonight as I have played in quite some time. My player reads were spot on all night, and their read on me was 100% wrong. They thought that the hands I won were just a matter of me catching good hands left and right! They had no idea how loose I was really playing. I only showed one bluff all night (and I didn't even have to show it - I bluffed a guy that bluffed me multiple times, so I just had to rub his nose in it like he did to me a few times earlier). Had I not run into such huge hands, I think I could have made it farther into the tourney - maybe even won the thing - but 4th is ok.

I feel bad for Gordo though - I do really think he would have won the whole tournament had his aces held up. But I guess we'll never know. Maybe it's just the poker gods kicking him in the butt for 2 weeks ago...

Banjoists

The Christmas season is officially here now - we've finally been banjoed!

Every year, a small group of insurance agents from Kuhl & Co. come to Pekin Insurance with their banjoes and walk around to each department giving us a short little concert. This year, they sang Silver Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Silent Night and White Christmas. Those songs were great, but that wasn't the highlight of the show. Some of us employees see to it that they don't leave our department until they whip out 'Dueling Banjoes'. It's been a yearly tradition for almost 15 years, and this year may have been the best ever! It's not the most holiday-inspring song, but of all the songs they did, that gets the biggest applause from us by far. I guess that speaks volumes on the group of folks I work with!! :)

Now I can't get that song out of my head!! But that's a good thing!!

Peculation

Since June, I've been a member of Blockbuster's Total Access online plan. It's a subscription service where you can rent select 3 DVDs online and they'll ship them to you. Then when you're done with those, you can return them to the store and trade them in for 3 new movies at the store. Then they'll e-mail you the next 3 on your list as well. It's like getting six movies at a time, and it was a pretty good deal. And at $17.99 a month, it was only a dollar more than Netflix. I was a member of Netflix, but I quit when I couldn't think of any more movies to rent.

Their service has been pretty shotty lately. Take this week for example. I returned my movies to the store on Monday night. Typically, they're supposed to send out three more movies - usually the next day but sometimes 2 days later. Well it's Thursday and they still haven't shipped any movies yet. And this has been happening on a regular basis - I don't know if they're just slow or if they're trying to limit the number of movies I get a month. There are a couple of my coworkers who are also memebrs of Blockbuster, and they're having the same problems as me.

Well last month, I got an e-mail saying that they've increased my monthly charge from 17.99 to 24.99. I decided to stick with them, but today I got another e-mail saying that they're increasing their rates from 24.99 to 34.99. Well they can kiss my butt! I've paid for my membership through January 9th, so I'll stay with it until January 8th or so and then I'm through with them! I'm going back to Netflix. And you know what? I checked on Netflix' site and they're still the same $16.99 they've always been. Another lesson learned!!

Erudite

Monday night, I was in Peoria for bowling night, so beforehand i stopped in to Barnes & Noble to check out their supply of desk calendars. I've always been a sucker for those things. This year, I had three calendars - Boggle, Tangrams and Sudoku. The Sudoku one (which I received as a gift) I did for about a month and ended up giving it away. The Tangrams one I kept up with until about Setember, but messing with the magnets got to be a pain, so I quit doing that one too. But the Boggle one I kept up with - it usually doesn't take very long and it's a good way to get the mental juices flowing in the morning.

Anyway, I was looking through their new calendars for 2008, and there were three that caught my eye - the Boggle calendar for 2008, a Scrabble calendar (another of my favorite games) and a New York Times crossword-puzzle-a-day calendar. I was going to get all 3, but at the last second, I decided against the Boggle one and bought the other two. When it was finally my turn to pay, the little cutie behind the counter saw the New York Times calendar and said 'Ooh - the New York Times crossword calendar - I had the 2007 one and those puzzles are hard!" I asked her if she was able to finish any of them and she said "A few, but not easily - they're really difficult!"

Now I love crossword puzzles - I would say I'm not necessarily any good at them, but I more often than not finish them, and a lot of the time without needing outside assistance (dictionary, internet, etc.). Judging by this girl's demeanor and appearance, she seemed the intellectual type - cute as a button, but definitely well spoken and probably the honor-student type. Also, the fact that she owned the 2007 calendar backed up my impression - I mean, how many dumb girls try their luck with a crossword puzzle every day? I left the bookstore thinking if she struggled with these things, what am I doing trying? I probably should have gone with the Boggle calendar - that's probably more in tune with my intellectual level than the lofty New York Times crossword calendar!

Well, I brought the calendars into work this morning, and opened them up and put them on my desk. And since January 1st is a work holiday, I thought I'd give the first crossword puzzle a try. Let's just say that I've learned my lesson - you shouldn't judge people by their first impressions!! I breezed through that crossword puzzle in a matter of minutes!! Now I realize that January 1st is a Tuesday, and the puzzles get increasingly harder as the week goes on, culminating with the imposing Sunday crossword, but if the subsequent puzzles are like the first one, I think I made the right decision!!

Maybe (just maybe) I'll find a trivia calendar and post a daily trivia question on my blog. That might be fun!

Ululation

* Well, I got to work this morning, and my new screamin' slingshot monkey was sitting on my desk. He looks a little different from the one at the party Friday - this one has a green cape and he's actually wearing a crash helmet too. And this guy is definitely much louder - he literally screams any time he crashes into something. With as much as I've been flinging him around the cube today, I'm shocked that none of my superiors have scolded me! I'm sure the whole department can hear him screaming!

* Poker update - back last weekend when I downloaded PokerTracker and RealTime, I had $140 in my PokerStars account. By the time I went to bed Saturday night (well actually Sunday morning), I had $370 in there. But Sunday was a really bad poker day, and I ended the weekend with $205. Last night, I went bowling and then to Double A's to watch some of the Bears-Vikings game with friends, but I made it home by 10:30, so I decided to play for a little while. I won a handful of big pots, but more importantly, the few pots I lost were very small. After an hour or so, I quit for the night with $285. That puts me up $145 since acquiring the new software. I'd like to think that it's helping! Plus, with all the hands that I've been playing lately, I'm earning a bunch of FPPs (Frequent Player Points) which I can spend on merchandise in the Poker Store. I have enough points right now to get a DVD player, but I think I'm going to trade them in for cash. At my current pace, I'll be able to trade in my points for $100 by this coming weekend. You gotta love getting cash for making cash at the poker tables!!

Switcheroo

As you all know, Friday was the Jaycees Christmas party, and it was a great time!! My food was excellent and the company was even better. Kudos to Dawn for putting it all together - it seemed to be a perfect evening!

Funny story - I was sitting at a table with Jason, Victor, Keri and Jeff. Keri started playing the 'switch the nametag' game, so I had her nametag on and she had mine on. Anyway, after multiple times switching, I had Jeff's nametag on. Well Victor must not have known what was going on, because he looked at me, then started talking to Keri, saying "Ya know, it's just weird to see him with that nametag on. I don't know him as Jeff, he's Tucker!" He really thought my first name was Jeff!! We all laughed and he was embarrassed (hopefully not too much though). As little as I use my first name, I'm sure he's not the only one who doesn't know it.

The white elephant was obviously the best best part of the night - I drew #19 out of 37, so I was right in the middle. Here's a synopsis of how the exchange went (it might be a little lengthy, but it's worth posting I think...)

Shane drew #1 and he opened a bottle of rum, adorned with a slingshot monkey. Being a non drinker, I could have cared less about the rum, but I had to have the monkey. I set my sights on getting him. Mary really wanted the monkey too, so I knew I had some competition, but I wasn't going to back down!!

#2-17 were pretty uneventful. Not many gifts were stolen, and most of the gifts that were opened were alcohol, however Matt Ryan opened up some frog slippers/foot massager that sort of caught my eye.

#18 was where the gift exchange really began. Gifts were stolen and restolen and by the end of that pick, wouldn't you know that Kriss stole the monkey for the third time, and thus making him off limits. I was devastated!! I'm sure Mary was too, but there was nothing either of us could do.

#19 came along, which was my pick. I had my heart set on the monkey, but I sadly settled on stealing the frog massager from Matt. That actually turned out to be a pretty good decision in the long run.

Somewhere in the low 20's, somebody opened up a little Jesus figurine (he came with something else - maybe alcohol - i don't remember). Shortly after that gift was opened, Rhonda (Matt's lady) stole my frogs back (for Matt, I'm sure) , so I was ready to open a new gift. But Kriss really wanted that Jesus, so she struck a deal with me - if I stole the Jesus, she'd trade the monkey for it!! Woohoo!! I quickly made the deal, and I had the monkey and nobody could take it from me!!

Well, somewhere in the late 20's, somebody opened up Humphrey the Humping Dog. It's this stuffed dog that wraps around whatever you want and when you push a button, he starts going to town, making moans and groans while he's dry humping whatever he's attached to. All of a sudden, the monkey didn't seem as interesting. Humphrey was cool! Too bad I was out of the running for him...

...or was I? Later on in the night, Lori had the 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader' game, but J.O. stole it from her, and there's a rule that says you can't directly steal back something that was stolen from you. Lori decided on stealing Humphrey for the 3rd and final time. Well, Mary's turn finally came, and she was still eyeing my monkey (hee hee hee). I told her that if she could get Humphrey for me, I'd trade her the monkey for him. But Lori had Humphrey and he was off limits. But Mary came up with the master plan. She struck a deal with Lori, so she stole the '5th Grader' game from J.O., traded it to Lori for Humphrey, and I traded the monkey to Mary and wound up with Humphrey! I ended up getting exactly what I wanted (and so did Mary, Kriss and Lori - it couldn't have worked out any better). That was the first 3-way switch in Jaycees white elephant history so I'm told! It's always good to be a part of making history!

And the story even gets better. I came into work this morning and was telling my story to Mike, my cubemate. After listening to the whole thing, he said that he has multiple slingshot monkeys at home and would give me one. I offered to buy it, but he wouldn't take any cash. He even let me choose what color cape I wanted on my monkey (part of me wonders what he's doing with a houseful of these monkeys, but hey, i'm not asking - especially if he's offering me one!)

How lucky am I? I'm thinking Humphrey, the monkey and I will have to celebrate!! (hee hee hee)

Mismatch

Well, it's Friday here at work, and that means casual Friday. The shirts and ties that we're required to wear during the week get to stay in the closet on Friday, to be replaced by business casual attire. For us guys, that means a shirt with a collar, dress pants and shoes. Getting rid of the tie is a big deal - not that I mind wearing a tie every once in a while, it just doesn't make sense to have to wear one every day. Anyway, it's nice to get that reprieve, if only once a week.

Last Friday, when I got home from work, I saw a package sitting on my front step, and I knew exactly what it was - my new rugby shirt! I was so excited - I wore it to the poker game I hosted Friday, I wore it to bowling Monday and Wednesday too. The master plan though was to wear it today to work. I'm not sure what the powers that be will think of it, but it adheres to every guideline in our employee handbook when it comes to dress code. I even told a few folks at work to check out the shirt I'd be wearing today.

Well, last night when I got home, I logged on to Poker Stars and started playing poker, and my one-tracked mindedness kicked in. I sat and played until bedtime. i did win about $110 last night, but imagine my disappointment when I went to pull the rugby out of my closet this morning, and it wasn't there! Of course I knew where it was - in a pile with all of the other dirty clothes that I had planned to wash last night. Oh well, procrastination is still my middle name, and my rugby work experience will have to wait at least another week!

Speaking of poker last night, here's one of the funnier hands I think I've ever played - sometimes it pays to be lucky/stupid!! Limit Hold'em Blinds $1/$2...

*********** # 6 **************
PokerStars Game #13843743803: Hold'em Limit ($1/$2) - 2007/12/13 - 20:58:15 (ET)
Table 'Donar III' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: docwally79 ($4.50 in chips)
Seat 2: AkuAku ($11.25 in chips)
Seat 3: Tuxter018 ($71.25 in chips)
Seat 4: vlarndt ($60.75 in chips)
Seat 5: pstvexpcttn ($30 in chips)
Seat 6: jaysona ($35.75 in chips)
Seat 7: Friar_Tucker ($106.25 in chips)
Seat 8: GARDOCK ($90.25 in chips)
Seat 9: Jefftrez ($111.25 in chips)
Seat 10: kennism ($45.75 in chips)
Friar_Tucker: posts small blind $0.50
GARDOCK: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tuxter018 [6s 8s]
Jefftrez: folds
kennism: folds
docwally79: folds
AkuAku: folds
Tuxter018: raises $1 to $2
vlarndt: calls $2
pstvexpcttn: calls $2
jaysona: calls $2
Friar_Tucker: calls $1.50
GARDOCK: folds
*** FLOP *** [7s 9d 9c]
Friar_Tucker: checks
Tuxter018: bets $1
vlarndt: calls $1
pstvexpcttn: raises $1 to $2
jaysona: folds
Friar_Tucker: folds
Tuxter018: raises $1 to $3
vlarndt: folds
pstvexpcttn: calls $1
*** TURN *** [7s 9d 9c] [3d]
Tuxter018: bets $2
pstvexpcttn: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [7s 9d 9c 3d] [7d]
Tuxter018: bets $2
pstvexpcttn: calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tuxter018: shows [6s 8s] (two pair, Nines and Sevens)
pstvexpcttn: mucks hand
Tuxter018 collected $25 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $26 Rake $1
Board [7s 9d 9c 3d 7d]
Seat 1: docwally79 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: AkuAku folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Tuxter018 showed [6s 8s] and won ($25) with two pair, Nines and Sevens
Seat 4: vlarndt folded on the Flop
Seat 5: pstvexpcttn mucked [5c 5h]
Seat 6: jaysona (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Friar_Tucker (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: GARDOCK (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: Jefftrez folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: kennism folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I don't know why he called the river bet - maybe frustration, maybe didn't see he was counterfeited, but I'm glad he did - the hand wouldn't have been as memorable if he had folded - thanks pstvexpcttn!!

Pachyderm

The Peoria Jaycees Christmas party is Friday night, and I'm looking forward to it. It's being held at the River Station, who has one of the best prime ribs I've had. And since that is one of the menu items for Friday, lucky me!! It should be a really good time, and I hope it's well attended.

But the part of the evening I'm really looking forward to the most is the gift exchange. This is my first Jaycees Christmas party, so I've never been involved in one of these before, but here's how I understand it. Everybody who wants to participate goes out and buys a gift (no more than $10). It can be a nice gift, a gag gift, whatever floats your boat. Then each person wraps it and brings it to the party. Each person bringing a gift draws a number and the exchange begins. Whoever drew number 1 gets to choose whichever gift they want, and they open it. Whoever drew number 2 can decide whether to take the first gift (which they already know what it is) or they can open a new gift. The process continues until each person has a gift. I believe once a gift has changed hands 3 times, it cannot be stolen anymore. It's your typical white elephant gift exchange, but knowing the Jaycees, it'll be anything but typical - I can't wait to see this group of gifts!!

A few years ago (maybe 8 or so), our family started a yearly white elephant gift exchange (works just like stated above), and it's always the hit of the day. We've gifted everything from a chia pet to a shoehorn to a giant pez dispenser. But the prized gift is a small white Buddha-looking porcelain elephant. Whoever wins this guy gets to keep him for the year, but is obligated to regift him and bring him back for somebody else to have the following year. My father won it last year, and it's sat in his family room ever since. It's always the most coveted gift at the exchange, and whoever wins him gets to write their name somewhere on him - sort of like the Stanley Cup in hockey - so that no matter who has the elephant at any time, they can see who's held him before. I'm carving out a place for him at my house as we speak!!

If the Jaycees white elephant is half as fun as our family's white elephant, Friday night will be a hoot!!

Backstop

* The Nationals have had some big acquisitions in the the past week, trading for a couple of young, potentially super outfielders in Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes, acquiring a potential starting pitcher in Tyler Clippard from the Yankees, and then yesterday signing free agent catcher Paul LoDuca (who was born on the exact same day as me by the way - 4/12/72). While none of these moves are probably going to turn Washington into a World Series team this year, they could be stepping stones to a potential World Series somehwere down the road. It's refreshing to see our team acquiring young talent, instead of trading it all away like they've done ever since I've been rooting for this team. Add the new ballpark (which will be ready for opening day) and it's a great time to be a Nationals fan!

* After playing online poker for years, I've finally broke down and bought PokerTracker this weekend. It's a program that will save each online poker hand you've played in its own database and will analyse your poker play. It will tell you pretty much anything you want to know about your game. Since buying the program Saturday, I've played 1,358 hands online and I'm down $15. I have a VP$IP of 23% (that's the percentage of hands that I voluntarily put money into the pot). I've won more money playing pocket 8's than any other hand, and I've lost the most money playing QJo. It will tell you who which player you've lost the most to, what limits you play the best at - you name it, it can tell you. Hopefully it will make me a better/more profitable player in the long run.

* I also downloaded Realtime (by suggestion from Zooks - thanks!). It's much like PokerTracker, however it charts the statistics of your opponents and overlays their stats on the screen as the hands are being played. Let's say player #3 raises a pot - Realtime will be able to show you what kind of player player #3 is. What percentage of the time does this player raise? When he raises, does he usually have a premium hand, or does he bluff a lot? How much money has this player won or lost? Realtime tells you all of this while the hand is being played - it basically helps you make informed decisions, and in the long run, better decisions mean more money!!

* I mentioned above that I've won more money playing pocket 8's than any other hand. I'm sure this hand is part of the reason why - limit hold 'em $1/$2

*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #13785682005: Hold'em Limit ($1/$2) - 2007/12/11 - 00:28:29 (ET)
Table 'Aguntina' 10-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: BobJNH ($42.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Tuxter018 ($52.50 in chips)
Seat 5: sk1llz2424 ($62.25 in chips)
Seat 6: the_caryn ($58.25 in chips)
Seat 7: CPenfold ($14.75 in chips)
Seat 8: Skiguygt ($36.50 in chips)
Seat 9: bluedevil97 ($39.50 in chips)
Seat 10: Mikk97 ($97.50 in chips)
the_caryn: posts small blind $0.50
CPenfold: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tuxter018 [8s 8h]
Skiguygt: folds
bluedevil97: raises $1 to $2
Mikk97: folds
BobJNH: calls $2
Tuxter018: calls $2
sk1llz2424: calls $2
the_caryn: folds
CPenfold: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [7d 8d 8c]
CPenfold: checks
bluedevil97: checks
BobJNH: checks
Tuxter018: bets $1
sk1llz2424: calls $1
CPenfold: calls $1
bluedevil97: calls $1
BobJNH: calls $1
*** TURN *** [7d 8d 8c] [3d]
CPenfold: checks
bluedevil97: checks
BobJNH: checks
Tuxter018: bets $2
sk1llz2424: calls $2
CPenfold: calls $2
bluedevil97: folds
BobJNH: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [7d 8d 8c 3d] [Ts]
CPenfold: checks
BobJNH: checks
Tuxter018: bets $2
sk1llz2424: raises $2 to $4
CPenfold: folds
BobJNH: folds
Tuxter018: raises $2 to $6
sk1llz2424: raises $2 to $8
Betting is capped
Tuxter018: calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sk1llz2424: shows [3h 3c] (a full house, Threes full of Eights)
Tuxter018: shows [8s 8h] (four of a kind, Eights)
Tuxter018 collected $38.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $39.50 | Rake $1
Board [7d 8d 8c 3d Ts]
Seat 2: BobJNH folded on the River
Seat 3: Tuxter018 showed [8s 8h] and won ($38.50) with four of a kind, Eights
Seat 5: sk1llz2424 (button) showed [3h 3c] and lost with a full house, Threes full of Eights
Seat 6: the_caryn (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: CPenfold (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 8: Skiguygt folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: bluedevil97 folded on the Turn
Seat 10: Mikk97 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Speechless

* I've lost my voice. Since Saturday morning, I haven't been able to talk. I don't know why - my throat's still a little sore, but for the most part, I feel ok - just can't say anything. Most of you would say that's a good thing!! Had tentative plans to karaoke Saturday night, so that obviously didn't happen. That might have been funny though...

* The poker tourney at my place Friday night was a success - except for the fact that I didn't win. There were 11 players, and I think it lasted until around midnight. Here's how it ended up (paid 3 spots)...

1st - Jeff (3 victories in a row - what a friggin luckbox!)
2nd - Jason (2nd place twice this week - always the bridesmaid...)
3rd - Zooks (folded her rags all the way to the money)
4th - Toby (bubble boy - should have known not to mess with Jeff's A3o)
5th - Tim (you sure that jerky wasn't made in a Ron Popeil dehydrator?)
6th - Mary (she finished higher than Gordo, and that's really what's important)
7th - Gordo (took me out and then saw somebody take out a deer on the way home)
8th - Shane (out early enough to play some pool in the basement)
9th - Chris (couldn't back up the smack - at least he made the final table)
10th - Me (two days later, and I'm finally over it Gordo...)
11th - Chippy (wish you could have stayed longer - we hardly got to know ya!)

The Pekin Insurance boys didn't show too well, as none of us cashed and 3 of the 4 were among the first 3 knocked out. I'm planning on having a game each month, so hopefully next month we'll show a little better!

Pity

There's no crying in poker... well maybe there is! Check this hand out from my poker tourney...

I've got about 2k out of my 2500 original stack and am dealt pocket kings in middle position m- blinds are 75/150. It's folded to me, and I pop it up to 375. Everybody folds to Gordo, who calls my raise. Sheets folds in the big blind.

Flop comes 5 J K - Jackpot!! Woohoo!!

Gordo checked it to me, and I bet 375 again. Gordo calls.

Turn comes an Ace - Perfect - Gordo plays Ax alot, and if he is here, I'm loving this even more.

Gordo checks again and I pop it to 600. Gordo calls.

River comes a Queen - I'm beat and I know it already.

Gordo checks and before I see his hand, I throw my trips in disgust. Gordo shows me his TJs and I'm all but out!

I'm boycotting ten jack forever!! Twice in a matter of days that hand has done me in!!

BTW, I'm posting this while the tourney is still going on - once I find out who wins, I'll post...

Vindication

I played in two more online tournaments last night - here's the synopsis.

First one was another 180 player SNG, same setup as the one last night. I played pretty well - kept increasing my stack slowly but surely, but eventually I was the small stack and had to race with my ATs against a pair of 8's. I ended up losing the race, and finished 23rd (top 18 got paid). Second tourney was a 9 player SNG and I ended up winning that one - my $5.50 was turned into 22.50! The payday wasn't huge, but I needed a confidence boost after a string of non-winners. Only one interesting hand to speak of, and again I was on the short end - this was from the 180 player tourney...

*********** # 111 **************
PokerStars Game #13692967734: Tournament #69445062, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (150/300) - 2007/12/06 - 18:37:39 (ET)
Table '69445062 12' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: MrsPresident (1819 in chips)
Seat 2: nash8500 (6279 in chips)
Seat 3: wayneking7 (1600 in chips)
Seat 4: Sjimian (2994 in chips)
Seat 5: iddaPhil (7480 in chips)
Seat 6: Tuxter018 (10046 in chips)
Seat 7: TiboQc (3679 in chips)
Seat 8: Cmolp2004 (9342 in chips)
Seat 9: featherly37 (14053 in chips)
MrsPresident: posts the ante 25
nash8500: posts the ante 25
wayneking7: posts the ante 25
Sjimian: posts the ante 25
iddaPhil: posts the ante 25
Tuxter018: posts the ante 25
TiboQc: posts the ante 25
Cmolp2004: posts the ante 25
featherly37: posts the ante 25
TiboQc: posts small blind 150
Cmolp2004: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tuxter018 [Kd Ks]
featherly37: calls 300
MrsPresident: raises 1494 to 1794 and is all-in
nash8500: folds
wayneking7: folds
Sjimian: folds
iddaPhil: folds
Tuxter018: calls 1794
TiboQc: folds
Cmolp2004: folds
featherly37: calls 1494
*** FLOP *** [3c Kc Ad]
featherly37: checks
Tuxter018: bets 900
featherly37: calls 900
*** TURN *** [3c Kc Ad] [3d]
featherly37: checks
Tuxter018: bets 1500
featherly37: folds
*** RIVER *** [3c Kc Ad 3d] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tuxter018: shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Aces)
Tuxter018 collected 1800 from side pot
MrsPresident: shows [As Kh] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
MrsPresident collected 6057 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7857 Main pot 6057. Side pot 1800. | Rake 0
Board [3c Kc Ad 3d Ah]
Seat 1: MrsPresident showed [As Kh] and won (6057) with a full house, Aces full of Kings
Seat 2: nash8500 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: wayneking7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Sjimian folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: iddaPhil folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Tuxter018 (button) showed [Kd Ks] and won (1800) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
Seat 7: TiboQc (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Cmolp2004 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: featherly37 folded on the Turn

Isn't it funny how the hands you remember most are the hands that you lose. I'm sure there were many hands I could have posted where I came out on top, but I don't remember those as much. :)

Munificence

* Went to Gil's in Hanna City last night for dinner, and I have to say the fried chicken there was pretty darn good. Had some steak fries and mashed potatoes (of course, no gravy!) too and everything was wonderful!! It was especially wonderful last night, because it was free. I guess the waitress accidentally put my meal on Melissa Harrison's check, so she paid for mine unknowingly. Had I known that would happen, I'd have ordered a couple of appetizers too!! Maybe a steak or two as well... :)

* After dinner, I went home and played online in a 180 player SNG ($4 + $0.40). I played exceedingly well for the first couple of hours, turning my 1500 starting stack into 8790 and finding myself 5th in chips with 48 players remaining (top 18 get paid - 1st place pays about $200). Then came hands 102 and 103...

*********** # 102 **************
PokerStars Game #13678304958: Tournament #69362125, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (150/300) - 2007/12/05 - 23:42:57 (ET)
Table '69362125 10' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: lildog8 (1860 in chips)
Seat 2: nzstoreman (8453 in chips)
Seat 3: NuhiZhuta (14136 in chips)
Seat 4: Tuxter018 (8790 in chips)
Seat 5: umfufu (11195 in chips)
Seat 7: MsbhvnTwin (4154 in chips)
Seat 8: 7xxcookxx7 (3010 in chips)
Seat 9: earck (1645 in chips)
lildog8: posts the ante 25
nzstoreman: posts the ante 25
NuhiZhuta: posts the ante 25
Tuxter018: posts the ante 25
umfufu: posts the ante 25
MsbhvnTwin: posts the ante 25
7xxcookxx7: posts the ante 25
earck: posts the ante 25
NuhiZhuta: posts small blind 150
Tuxter018: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tuxter018 [Ac Ad]
umfufu: folds
MsbhvnTwin: folds
7xxcookxx7: folds
earck: folds
lildog8: folds
nzstoreman: calls 300
NuhiZhuta: calls 150
Tuxter018: raises 1200 to 1500
nzstoreman: calls 1200
NuhiZhuta: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs Ah Kd]
Tuxter018: checks
nzstoreman: bets 900
Tuxter018: raises 2100 to 3000
nzstoreman: calls 2100
*** TURN *** [Qs Ah Kd] [5s]
Tuxter018: bets 4265 and is all-in
nzstoreman: calls 3928 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Qs Ah Kd 5s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tuxter018: shows [Ac Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)
nzstoreman: shows [Jc Td] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
nzstoreman collected 17356 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17356 | Rake 0
Board [Qs Ah Kd 5s 3d]
Seat 1: lildog8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: nzstoreman (button) showed [Jc Td] and won (17356) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 3: NuhiZhuta (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Tuxter018 (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: umfufu folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: MsbhvnTwin folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: 7xxcookxx7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: earck folded before Flop (didn't bet)

*********** # 103 **************
PokerStars Game #13678322029: Tournament #69362125, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (150/300) - 2007/12/05 - 23:44:00 (ET)
Table '69362125 10' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: lildog8 (1835 in chips)
Seat 2: nzstoreman (17356 in chips)
Seat 3: NuhiZhuta (13811 in chips)
Seat 4: Tuxter018 (337 in chips)
Seat 5: umfufu (11170 in chips)
Seat 7: MsbhvnTwin (4129 in chips)
Seat 8: 7xxcookxx7 (2985 in chips)
Seat 9: earck (1620 in chips)
lildog8: posts the ante 25
nzstoreman: posts the ante 25
NuhiZhuta: posts the ante 25
Tuxter018: posts the ante 25
umfufu: posts the ante 25
MsbhvnTwin: posts the ante 25
7xxcookxx7: posts the ante 25
earck: posts the ante 25
Tuxter018: posts small blind 150
umfufu: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tuxter018 [Qc Qd]
MsbhvnTwin: folds
7xxcookxx7: folds
earck: folds
lildog8: folds
nzstoreman: folds
NuhiZhuta: folds
Tuxter018: raises 12 to 312 and is all-in
umfufu: calls 12
*** FLOP *** [6s Ts 3c]
*** TURN *** [6s Ts 3c] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [6s Ts 3c 8c] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tuxter018: shows [Qc Qd] (a pair of Queens)
umfufu: shows [Ad Ks] (a pair of Aces)
umfufu collected 824 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 824 | Rake 0
Board [6s Ts 3c 8c Ah]
Seat 1: lildog8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: nzstoreman folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: NuhiZhuta (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Tuxter018 (small blind) showed [Qc Qd] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 5: umfufu (big blind) showed [Ad Ks] and won (824) with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: MsbhvnTwin folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: 7xxcookxx7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: earck folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Arrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like I'm playing pretty well, but lately my very strong hands are running up against the nuts and I can't seem to get away from them. Maybe I'm not supposed to get away from them and I can just chalk it up to bad luck. Then again, maybe I shouldn't risk so much unless I have the nuts. Either way, it's one (of many) parts of my game that needs improving!! Anybody out there have any suggestions???

Quadruplicate

Guess what I was doing last night at about 8:30... I'll tell you what I wasn't doing - I wasn't playing poker at math club. I was already knocked out of the tournament by then. Here's the hand that crippled me...

Blinds 20/40 - starting stack was 1500 - I had about 1700 - I was in late position and was dealt pocket queens. Jason was chip leader and UTG and he raised it to 125. He was raising pre-flop about every other hand, so I had no reason to think he had a great hand. I decided to flat call his raise - I thought a re-raise might chase him away and at that point, I wanted to spring a trap and try to win a huge pot instead of a small one. Kate was the small blind and she pushed all in - she was the short stack (605). Jason sat and pondered calling for about 5 minutes and finally made the call. I insta-called and we had a 3-player pot. Flop came 2-5-8 rainbow. Jason bet 200 into the (dry) side pot. I called. Turn came another 5. He again bet 200, which I called. River was another 8 (2-5-8-5-8 board - nothing too scary here) he bet 400, again I called. Turns out, he had pocket 8s for quads. Ouch! Kate had AKo, so had Jason not been in the pot, I'd have won. Maybe I should have re-raised before Kate's all-in. Maybe I should have re-raised after Jason's call of her re-raise. I don't know. All I do know is that it left my stack at about 300, which I lost a few hands later when I pushed with A3s and was called by Toby's AKo. Hopefully, Friday night I can stick around a little while longer!!

Recovery

Well, Friday was the day I got my wisdom teeth pulled, and everything went pretty well. Going in, I was pretty worried as to how much pain I'd be in, and truthfully, I never should have been worried at all. The pulling of the teeth was painless (considering they gave me about 15 shots of novocaine!) and the teeth haven't caused me that much discomfort. I've been able to eat solid foods and they're feeling pretty good! Now my throat on the other hand...

When the dentist was pulling my teeth, he noticed a growth on my throat which didn't look right. He said that since I was already frozen up, he thought he should go ahead and remove it, so I said OK. He snipped it off and then cauterized my throat so it wouldn't bleed. Then he stitched it up. When the novocaine wore off, I had a sore throat like you wouldn't imagine. And also, it constantly feels like I've got a straw stuck in my throat. It's pretty uncomfortable, but hopefully it will get better soon. And hopefully, the growth isn't anything to worry about - the surgeon is sending it to Kentucky for a biopsy - he didn't seem too concerned about it, so I'm not going to worry about it - I learned my lesson wasting time worrying about my teeth!!

Bugbear

* I need a weekend to recover from this past weekend. It was pretty much nonstop from Wednesday night until early Sunday morning. My butt never left the couch yesterday, and I'm still dragging. I can only imagine what I'd feel like if I drank!

* Why do teams keep insisting to kick to Devin Hester? The Bears' offense can't score to save their life - the only way they have a chance to win is if Hester returns a kick or two for touchdowns. If you don't kick to the guy, he can't score and they can't win. The Broncos played a better game than the Bears except for special teams, and for that they deserved to lose just out of stupidity!

* I guess now would be a good time to start Christmas shopping - I don't have many gifts to buy, but I haven't bought one thing yet. I've got some ideas as what to buy, so it shouldn't take too long, but like I've said before, procrastination is, well you know...

* The dictionary says that a bugbear is 'an object that causes great fear and anxiety'. Holding top two pair against Jeff's flush draw is a perfect example of a bugbear!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!

Hope your holiday is a great one!!

Factotum

Normally, when I sit down to write a post, I just start typing whatever is on my mind. It usually comes pretty easy, since I don't decide to write a post unless I have something to blog about in the first place. Then after I get finished writing, I title it and post it. Occasionally, the title comes pretty quicky, but a lot of times, I can't think of a catchy title, so I'll sit and ponder, sometimes longer than it takes to write the whole post in the first place. Today's one of those days that I can't think of a title, so I decided that I'm just going to open up the dictionary and whichever word I see first, that's the title of the post. Factotum - sounds good to me! Says here that it means 'a person employed to do all kinds of work'. I was thinking it was a bunch of fax machines stacked up on a pole, but alas, I was mistaken yet again...

I'm loopy today - I stayed up to watch the Illini game - they're playing in Hawaii, so the game didn't get over until almost 1:00. Couple that with an early wake up call for work, and that's probably a good explanation for my current condition. And with me hosting math club tonight, I should be ripe for the picking!! Good thing Gordo's missing poker tonight for the Bradley game!! I'm thinking by Friday, I should be fully rejuvenated and ready to roll!! :)

:(

I've never been the brightest bulb in the room...

A few months ago, I broke one of my teeth in half while eating lunch. As soon as it happened, I expected it to cause me a lot of discomfort, but it didn't cause me any at all. Plus, it was one of my back teeth - not visible at all when I talked/smiled. So do you think I did anything about trying to get it fixed? Shoot no - Procrastination is my middle name!! Well last weekend, it bit me in the butt. I had a really bad headache and my ear had a continuous shooting pain going through it - in fact I wasn't able to fall asleep either Friday or Saturday night. The pain finally went away on Sunday, and it hasn't been back since.

Yesterday, I went to the dentist and he said that my tooth was the cause of all of the pain I had this weekend. And luckily (depending on how you look at it), my cracked tooth is a wisdom tooth, so they decided I should just go ahead and get them all pulled. My pain threshold is pretty low, so I'm not looking forward to getting this done at all! I had it scheduled for this coming Tuesday, but I want to at least be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, so I think I'm going to reschedule for the following week. Of course I have to live up to my middle name!!

Random happenings

* Last week, the Peoria Chiefs front office contacted me about renewing my ticket package for the 2008 season. I told them that I wasted a lot of the tickets I had last year, so it wouldn't be a good idea to buy another package. After some back and forth discussing/arguing, they finally accepted my decision. Well, last week while bowling for kids' sake, I won a raffle for a 12 game package of Chiefs tickets. I'm really looking forward to contacting them again!!

* Friday night, my phone was out of service - it told me that I hadn't paid my bill, but I'm set up to have my bill paid automatically (or so I thought). If you tried to get a hold of me on Friday and got a message saying that I wasn't accepting phone calls, now you know why.

* Thursday night at the sports trivia challenge, I din't get qualified for the hottub, but I did win 4 tickets to see the Rivermen Friday night. It was a great time at the game, but they got hammered 6-3. I've never seen the arena so empty for a Friday night game - they said there was 3300 there, but there was no way there were that many.

* And finally, how about those Illini!! Knocking off the #1 team in the country - they've got more wins this year than they had in the last 4 years combined. The future's looking bright!!

Much ado about nothing...

Last night was a great night! I was able to do something that I haven't been able to do for a couple of weeks - absolutely nothing!

My schedule is so packed - bowling league on Mondays, math club on Tuesdays, bowling league on Wednesdays, virtual golf league on Thursdays and then whatever on the weekends - I rarely get a chance to stay home for an evening and relax, but last night I had the night off of bowling, so that's exactly what I did. I got caught up on The Amazing Race and Survivor, and watched a couple of movies - House of Games (which wasn't that great) and True Romance (which was really good). I was also able to get my bowling ball fixed - the insert inside the thumbhole broke off, so I had to get it replaced and redrilled.

Tonight is the sports trivia challenge at Crusen's again - if anybody wants to come out, the more the merrier - I think it starts at 6:30.

Half full or half empty?

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I usually tend towards the former (or try to anyway). Depending on your answer to that question, you'll either think my weekend was a really good one or a pretty sucky one. Let me explain...

Optimist Thursday - I went to Crusen's on Farmington Road to participate in the Sports Trivia Challenge - I was hoping to get my name drawn so I'd be able to play and they did - in fact I was in the first group. It was a really good time and I'll be going back this week as well!

Pessimist Thursday - After getting called up on stage in the first group, they proceeded to ask questions that nobody would know the answers to, like 'How many stitches does a baseball have?' or 'Who was the Sports Illustrated athlete of the year in 1973?'. I answered a few questions here and there, but I didn't do too well. By the end of the night, they were asking remedial questions that anybody could get, like 'What number is on the top of a dartboard?' or 'What bird name is the same as getting 3 strikes in a row in bowling?' Needless to say, the people who played later fared much better than I did.

Optimist Friday - I went to happy hour at Kelleher's - got to see a lot of friends and had a great time - went to the Recovery Room afterwards and played darts, where Ritter and I won a free breakfast from Victor and Gordo - stayed out much too late, but had a blast!

Pessimist Friday - On my way to Kelleher's, my friends Tim and Cathy called and invited me to a poker game. I haven't seen them in a few months and I really, really wanted to go, but I had already made plans so I didn't make it over there. I really wish I could have been in two places Friday night - I miss hanging out with those guys and hopefully we can start doing more stuff together!

Optimist Saturday - Bowled for Kids Sake in the morning, which was so much fun!! That evening, I started at Double A's with some friends for dinner and we ended up at Tomcats to watch Rachel's Hippo. They were great!

Pessimist Saturday - Some of the Jaycees set me up for a blind date Saturday night - I left Double A's to meet this girl at Kep's Place in Washington. It didn't go too well - in fact, she left about a half hour after I got there. I guess that was all for the best, as it wasn't going to work out anyway. At least I was able to catch up with the group again to see the Hippo, so the night wasn't a total loss!

Optimist Sunday - Went to TNT's to watch football - it used to be our regular Sunday hangout, but for some reason, everybody stopped going. It was good to get back out there with the fantasy football guys and watch all the games. My "big money" fantasy team did really well this week - in fact, over the last 2 weeks, I've gone from being down $150 to being up $200. That's a $350 swing in 2 weeks! Woohoo!!

Pessimist Sunday - When I got home from watching football, I placed a sizable bet (my remaining sportsbook balance) on Indianapolis to beat New England - and they were winning by 10 with 8 minutes to play. But New England came back and won the game, and now I don't have any more money left in my sports betting account. No more online betting for me - at least until they let U.S. citizens put more money in.

So as you can see, my weekend was the best of times and the worst of times. But I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about the weekend and I'm in a pretty good mood now, so I guess it's half full for me!!

End of a Season...

Well summer is definitely over. It's officially been over for a while now, but in my mind, it ended on Sunday. There wasn't one event that happened, but rather a handful that made this clear to me. Saturday, I went back to Dubuque with a group of friends to watch the dog races. This was the last weekend that the dogs will run up there this year. We all had a great time (even though nobody won), but now we'll have to wait until the spring if we want to go up again. Then Sunday, the swimming pool finally was closed up. It really should have been done weeks ago - I haven't swam in it for maybe 6 weeks or so - but seeing the pool with the cover on it just drives home the point that the warm weather is gone. Then Sunday night, the Red Sox won the World Series and ended the baseball season. No more baseball until next year.

No more dogs, no more swimming, no more baseball - but I'm not completely letting go - not yet at least. If you need to get a hold of me this afternoon, I'll be on the golf course!!

I'm rich!!

So, I get home from work the other night and check my mail and there's the usual junk mail like I always get. But one envelope had a message which said "A token of our appreciation is enclosed". It was from JD Power and Associates. Hmmm, what could it be? So I opened it up and checked inside. Basically, it was a letter that explained that they wanted me to take a survey about my experience in buying my car. Then, all of a sudden, it fell out of the letter. The token of their appreciation!! A brand new one dollar bill!! Woohoo!! Yippee!! Cold hard cash!! The first thing that came to my mind was, gee thanks for that whole dollar. Now I can play the crane game at Perkins twice! But then, I thought, hey that's pretty smart. They got me to open a letter which I normally wouldn't - and they're not out all that much. And I'm getting a dollar whether I fill out the survey or not. I might end up doing it, but I'll definitely spend the dollar - I'm thinking a double cheeseburger at McDonalds sounds good right about now...

If only they sent me ten separate letters, I'd be able to pay off my Rockies bet... :(

Wow!

OK, now I get it!

That game last night was an old fashioned butt-whoopin! 13-1, and it really wasn't even THAT close!! What an ugly way to start the series - hopefully Colorado can at least win tonight and go back to Denver tied 1-1. If they don't win tonight, I think I can kiss my $10 away and file it under 'lessons learned'.

On a side note, I was watching the game last night and a KFC commercial came on. And the song that was playing in the commercial was 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Who decides these things? Don't you think 'My Old Kentucky Home' or "Blue Moon of Kentucky' would be more appropriate? Even 'The Chicken Dance' would be a better fit. Just an observation... :)

I don't get it...

As most of you know, the World Series starts tomorrow night. And as ALL of you know, I've been known to place a wager or two every once in a while (or pretty much all the time!) So it stands to reason that I'm going to have a vested interest in who wins the series. I looked at the odds and they're not making any sense to me. The Rockies are +250 to win the series, whereas the Red Sox are -250 to win. Here's what that means. If I bet $10 on the Rockies to win and they do, I'll win back my original $10 plus another $25. So I'd be betting $10 to win $35. But if I bet $10 on the Red Sox to win and they do, I'd win my original $10 plus only $4, or betting $10 to win $14. Hmmm... let's think about this. The Rockies have won 21 out of their last 22 games, they haven't lost a playoff game all year, and they're well rested, as they just had a week off, while the Red Sox barely beat the Indians 4 games to 3 to make it to the World Series, and will only get a couple days off before having to play again. And they're giving me and extra $25 If I bet on the Rockies and they win? Call me stupid, but I'll take that bet! I know that when things seem too good to be true, they usually are, but this defies all logic.

Remind me to commiserate with you when the series is over and I've lost my money...

Weekend update...

... but no Tina Fey or Amy Poehler. Just me!

Not much to report about this past weekend - I worked at the Jaycees haunted house both Friday night and Saturday night. Most of the time I worked as a tour guide, leading people through the house, but I also worked the intro room and the cash drawer for a while too. It was a great time!! There were about 700 customers over those 2 nights, so it was pretty steady. We had a few people not make it through the whole house, and I hear that we had a few pee-ers too (though I didn't see them, thankfully!) Not to get off the subject, but should the word "pee-ers" be hyphenated, or should it be peeers, or peers? Neither of them look right, and I doubt I can look it up in the dictionary, so it might just be a mystery that will never be solved - let me know what you think! Maybe I should ask a group of my peers... 0h that was bad!!

Got to see the family this weekend too - Kelly and Chris were in town for a while, so we went to dinner Saturday night at the Burger Barge. Gotta love that place! I can now add fried pickles to the list of foods I've eaten - and that I'll eat again - they were pretty darn good! There you go Kel, the pickles made the blog - you can rest easy now!! :)

Give it up for the RPS Champion!!

Let me just tell you - if you'reading this, you're in the presence of greatness!!

Last Thursday night, we had our department cookout at the cabin behind my work. We were treated to a steak dinner with all the fixins and a great time was had by all. After dinner, they decided to have a Rock/Paper/Scissors tournament. They put us in a bracket (just like the NCAA tournament) - I think there were 16 of us that entered - and when the dust settled, who came out on top? Of course, it was me. I mean, who else out there can even approach me when it comes to making a fist, an open hand, or a sideways peace sign? Some might say that there's no skill when it comes to Rock/Paper/Scissors - and I might say they're right - but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that I came out on top and that I have the trophy to prove it - it will adorn my desk for many years to come!!

Puppy love!

Yesterday, I went to Dubuque, Iowa with my family to watch (and bet on) the dog races. It was a pretty eventful day - we got there about 11:15 in the morning, and when I tried to get in, they asked me for my ID. Since all I had was my speeding ticket, they wouldn't accept that as ID and wouldn't let me in. Crap! What am I going to do now? I thought about buying a state ID and using that to get in, but I can't get a Illinois state ID in Iowa. Luckily though, Galena was only 15 miles away, and (luckily again) the DMV was open on Saturdays until 12:00. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare, and $20 later, I had an ID and was able to get in the casino/poker room/dog track. By the end of the day, I won my $20 back plus another $80, so it was a happy ending.

If anybody wants to know my secret on betting the dogs, it's pretty simple. Before each race, they parade the dogs in front of the grandstand. If the dog takes a dump, bet on him. He'll be lighter and unhindered - hey, laugh all you want, but it worked yesterday. In a limited test sample, I won $4 with my new system, so until it fails, I'll keep with it!

Steve and leaves...

The past few days have been pretty uneventful, which is really a good thing. My couch and I have gotten to know each other pretty well! Over the weekend, I pretty much laid low, watched some baseball (how 'bout those Cubbies!!) and a few movies - saw Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer (I'd give it about a 6 out of 10), Brick (8/10) and the new Steven Wright standup DVD (9/10) - he's definitely one of my top 5 comedians of all time. For those of you not familiar with him, his humor is really dry and his delivery is monotone, but his one liners are sharp and witty! ("I put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time", or "I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone"). The guy is brilliant!!

Within the next couple weeks, I'm going to close down the swimming pool for the winter. I probably should have done it earlier, since I haven't used it in about a month. I've been in a battle with the leaves lately. I'll get home from work and the pool is full of leaves. I'm talking multiple hundreds of leaves!! I'll scoop them out and then the next day, there's more leaves than the day before. It sucks!! I feel like picking all the leaves off the tree myself so they don't fall into the pool!! Hopefully I can get it closed soon so I don't have to worry about them anymore...

My new toy!

Monday night right after work, I drove to Peoria and bought an iPhone. It is sooooooo cool!! It's got so many features, but the best feature of all is that it's got the internet. And not just the watered-down, cell phone internet that my old Sprint phone had - this is the real, full fledged internet like I get on my computer at home! It's pretty sweet. The only bad thing to say about it right now is that I don't get service sitting at my desk at work. My desk is right in the middle of the building, far from any windows so I can't get any signal. So since I can't surf the net on it at work, I can use the 8GB iPod on it instead. I haven't loaded any music on it yet, but I will before too long. And my monthy service plan is actually about $20 cheaper than with Sprint, so I should be able to recoup the $400 price for the phone during the 2 year service plan. Seems like a win/win situation to me!!

First night golf, and now...

Last night, I joined a virtual golf league. For those of you that are unfamiliar with virtual golf, here's how it works. You stand in front of a big video screen that shows a golf hole. Then you actually hit a foam golf ball into the screen, and, by calculating a bunch of different criteria, it shows you where you would have hit the ball if you were really playing that hole. Then, you hit from there, and so on and so on until you're done with the hole. We play 9 holes each week in our league. It's pretty realistic, but there's a few things that will take some getting used to. Some of my distances are off (like I normally hit an 8-iron about 150 yards, where last night it only went about 120), and the putting is a little different than real golf, but other than that, it seems pretty accurate. I shot a 48 for 9 holes, which is a few shots worse than I'd normally shoot for 9 holes, but hopefully after a couple weeks, I can improve from there!!

Bottom line, a great time was had by all, and I can't wait till we do it again!!

By the way, if anybody is interested in joining the league, let me know. There are 3-person teams and it doesn't matter which night/day you play, as long as you get your 9 holes in each week. And it's pretty cheap (I paid $7.50 last night to play for 2 hours). It's a good way to keep your swing fine-tuned during the winter!!

mmm... Chicken!

I've been doing so good with my current eating habits... until today. Some of the guys at work wanted to go to Kouri's for lunch to watch some golf and eat some semi-fine dining. I looked in my wallet and remembered that I still had a $10 gift certificate that I had won in a golf scramble last month - so how could I say no? And how can you go to Kouri's without getting their spicy bbq wings - they're the best wings in the WORLD. Of course, that's what I ordered, and as always, they were sooooooo good. And I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been - normally I'd order the wings with cheese fries and a coke, but today, no cheese, no fries, no coke - just a glass of ice water. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself!!

What a difference a month makes!

Back in August, I posted about my fantasy baseball league, and how the 'Pineapple Princesses' had overtaken me and leapfrogged into first place. Well, the season ends on Sunday, and barring any major catastrophe, my team will finish in first place. I'm in the lead right now by a few hundred points, and while nothing is impossible, it's highly improbable that she'll catch me. In fact, she's in a tight race for second place, as the 3rd place 'Drunks and 2Toners' are making a run. She put up a good fight, but in the end, to the victor goes the spoils!! :)

Now I'll have to put my efforts into my fantasy football teams (all 5 of them) - and they definitely need my attention - each of my teams are performing pretty poorly so far. And my beloved Saints are 0-3 and now their running back Deuce McAllister is out for the year with a torn ACL. At least the Saints won't lose this week - they don't play!! Hopefully, my 5 teams will get their collective butts going and start performing like I thought they would when at the beginning of the season!!

And, it's about time that the Bears benched Rex!! Finally!! That should mean they're going to start winning some games. I could see them running off 4-5 in a row. I'm not a Bears fan, but even I can see that Rex sucks and Griese will make them a better team. And if he doesn't, we can write another post in a month or so and revisit this conversation!! :)

What the ....?

* Have any of you seen the movie 'Mulholland Drive'? I saw it over the weekend, and after much thought, I still don't have any idea what I watched. I spent 2 and a half hours watching it, and then afterwards, another 3 hours looking it up on the internet trying to figure out what was going on. There are some explanations on the internet that are farther out there than the movie itself. If any of you have seen it, let me know what you think about it. If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely one worth checking out, especially if you like movies where you have to try to figure out what's going on. Then explain it to me, because my mind's still spinning!

* I just passed 1000 miles on my car, and everything is still great with it. I know it's only been a month, but after having a car where something went wrong all the time, it feels good to not have to worry about it. At this rate, I'll put about 12,000 miles a year on it, which means it'll be under warranty until 2015. Hopefully it'll be as dependable then as it's been so far!

* Well, I weighed myself this morning and I lost 5 lbs this week! I've really been doing a good job sticking with it. I've only had a couple of not-so-nutritious meals during the week, so that's not too bad. Tuesday night I made taco salad and ate the whole pound of beef I cooked up, along with some shredded cheese and tortilla chips. And Thursday night I went to Avantis and had pizza and raviolis and cheesesticks. Every other meal though, I ate stuff that was good for me. And truthfully, it hasn't been very difficult so far. I haven't really missed the fast food as much as I thought I would. I'm sure it will get harder and harder as I keep at it, but so far so good!

* I played night golf on Saturday night and I had a blast! It was the first time I'd ever played (night golf, not golf, although it sometimes looked like I'd never played golf before!). Our team finished in first place, but I didn't have much to do with that. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had a few good shots, but I also had some very ugly ones too, including a couple where I almost missed the ball completely. I'm blaming those on the darkness - it as good of an excuse as any!! :)

Well, it can at least get up to 46...

Tuesday night at poker, Sheets asked me how fast I've got my new car up to. I haven't really opened it up to see how fast it can go - I've probably topped out at 85 or so on the interstate, but that's just semi-normal driving. So I told him I really didn't know.

Well last night, driving through North Pekin (of course), I got a speeding ticket - 46 in a 35. And 46 was pretty debatable - I didn't look at my speedometer to see how fast I was going, but when he pulled me over, speeding was the last thing I thought he'd get me for. Seatbelt maybe, but not speeding!! :) You know how you usually know when you're going over the speed limit? Well I didn't have that feeling last night. And I never, ever speed through North Pekin - in fact last night, there were 4 police cars running radar on Main Street, which is only about a 1 1/2 mile stretch. I guess they must be behind on their quota. I wish I had just floored it - if I was going to get a ticket, I could at least find out what the Tiburon can top out at!!

This and That

* For those of you that don't know already, all that $1,400 I brought home from Vegas is gone. At least I kept it in the local economy though (namely, the Par-A-Dice). Also, we played poker Saturday night at Matt's bachelor party, and I got knocked out on the very FIRST hand!! Pocket queens got busted by Jack-King offsuit. It wasn't a very good gambling weekend for me!

* I think I'm finally going to start trying to lose a few lbs. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I just never found the right time to start. I figure though that if I post it on here that I'm doing it, then now will be the right time to start. I don't want to call it a diet, because I'm sure I'll still eat pizza and Mcdonalds every now and then - it's going to be more about portion control and cutting out soda and not eating between meals. If I can do those three things, I'm sure I'll notice some results.

* What's up with the Saints? 0-2 to start the season, and two really bad losses. Losing to the Colts on opening night wouldn't have been bad in itself, but to follow that up by getting a beatdown against the Buccaneers? They're looking the Saints of old - it might not be too long until the fans start wearing the bags over their heads again and calling them the Aints. At least both games have been on the road - hopefully next week they'll be able to get a 'W' against the Titans on Monday night.

Back from Sin City, and...

... as you might have guessed, I don't have as much money as when I left. But it's not as bad as it could have been - about 2 hours before we left for home, I only had $100 left in my wallet. But in those last 120 minutes, I turned that $100 into $1400. I feel like a big winner, even though I really lost a few hundred dollars for the whole trip. I never played one hand of poker while I was out there - mostly blackjack and a slot machine here and there.

We had such a great time - we went to see two shows - Le Reve and The Fab Four. Le Reve is a show that was created by the founder of Cirque du Soleil. It was incredible - I don't even know how to explain it. Like most Cirque shows, there were a lot of performers on the stage at once - for this show, the stage was a ring of water, which they performed in, above, and sometimes even on. It's definitely something worth seeing, and we got $25 free slot play with our tickets, so that was even better!! The Fab Four was a Beatles impersonation show that was spot on! It was almost like seeing the real thing. They came out with their mop tops and sang some early stuff like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Should Have Known Better" (my personal favorite), donned Sgt. Pepper gear and sang stuff like "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "A Day in the Life" (my other favorite from the show), and by the end of the show, they were doing the later stuff like "Hey Jude" and "Revolution". Great stuff - it's a show that I'd see again and again!! And we got half price tickets for this show too, which makes it that much better!!

Now I'm back home, and I have 2 and a half days left of vacation for the whole year - I guess I won't be taking any more trips for at least a few months!!

I'm leaving on a jet plane!

* Sunday I'm leaving for Las Vegas. It was originally just my parents and me that were going out there, but I just found out this week that my sister Kelly will be joining us too. We'll be gone until Wednesday night - that's more than enough time to lose my money.

* I'm sure you guys will feel bad for me, because come 11:45 today, I won't get to go home. I have to work today until 4:15. It's going to be a long day! At least the Johnsonville brat truck is in town today, so lunch should be pretty good. Chase that with a baked potato from the cafeteria and it's a real good eating day!!

* This weekend will be pretty low key for me. There's a Jaycees happy hour tonight that I'm planning on going to, but that's the only plans I've got. Tomorrow's my 'get everything done' day - I've got to mow, do laundry, pack - all that no-fun stuff.

* Don't laugh, but I'm allergic to work! At least I'm allergic to something here at work. When I'm away from work, I can breathe fine, but as soon as I come to work, my nose runs like a faucet and I sneeze all day. As soon as I leave work for the day, I'm fine again. Maybe it's somebody's cologne or perfume, or maybe I'm just allergic to working, but something's going on that's making me sneeze non-stop!!

* I sang karaoke again last night - only 2 songs though - Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles and Keep Your Hands to Yourself by the Georgia Satellites. I was too busy watching my Saints get their butts beat to sing any more than those 2.

Random stuff

* I think I'm going to get my golf clubs regripped soon - this will accomplish 2 things. First, I will have new grips on my clubs (which I really need). Second, it will keep me off the golf course for a while (which I really need as well!)

* I've been a member of Blockbuster online for about 2 months, and they've already sent me one cracked DVD and twice have lost a DVD in the mail. Hopefully that's not a sign of what I should expect in the future. It really is a good value though. $17.99 a month for 3 dvds in the mail - then when you're finished, you can turn them in for 3 more dvds in the store - it's like getting 6 dvds at a time.

* I leave for Vegas a week from today, and I really haven't even thought about it. Normally I get excited really excited about going, but this time I haven't. In fact, I think I'm more excited about the NFL season starting than going to Las Vegas. I'm sure when I get there though, I'll have a blast.

* My 3 bowling scores on Wednesday - 202, 185, 214 for a 601 series.

* My grandpa turns 90 tomorrow - we're having a big bash for him - all kind of friends and family should be there. I hope I make it to 90!!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Where did the summer go? It's almost gone!

Tonight, my bowling league starts. You know the summer's over when bowling rolls around. This year, I'm going to bowl 2 nights a week - Mondays at the Christian Center with some friends and Wednesdays at Landmark with my dad and cousin and uncle. Our Wednesday team has bowled together for 10 years or so, but after taking the year off last year, we're back at it starting tonight. And the cool part is that we have 7 people on our team this year. Since only 5 bowl each week, that means I should get a week off 2 out of every 7 weeks (theoretically - it never works out that way though!)

Also, this is the last week of summer hours at work. Every summer, our company changes their work week hours. Normally, we work from 7:45-4:15 Monday through Friday every week, but in the summer, we work summer hours (7:00-4:15 Monday through Thursday and 7:00 to 11:45 on Friday). Going in early every day isn't fun, but Friday's are really nice - I usually spend my Friday afternoons with my co-workers on the golf course, and this Friday will be no exception. Starting next week though, we're back to our regular hours (that sucks! - I wish we worked summer hours year round).

Hopefully the winter will go just as fast as the summer, but I have a feeling it won't!

Inside the numbers - this weekend

Here are some numbers, as they pertain to my life this past weekend - enjoy!!

0 - number of birdies I had golfing Friday

4 - number of holes I played Friday using just my driver and nothing else

1 - number of dollars I lost in my driver-only bet with KP

2 - number of songs I sang at karaoke Friday night (Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen)

2 - number of songs I sang at karaoke Friday night that I heard at Mary and Brad's wedding reception on Saturday night - yup both made the playlist!

2 - number of movies I watched this weekend (Slingshot and Fantastic 4 - both were OK, but nothing special)

3 - number of silver strikes i bought on ebay this weekend (they're .999 silver collector coins that I started collecting this year)

116 - number of silver strikes I currently own

14 - number of days until I leave for Las Vegas (can't wait!)

that's it for now

Back to normal... and out of the cellar!!

After a few days of non-stop activity, my life finally returned to its slow pace tonight. It was really nice to have an evening where I didn't have any commitments - I was able to get some stuff done (mow, do laundry, buy groceries, watch a movie, watch the Washington Nationals on the internet - nothing really exciting, but definitely a much needed, relaxing night).

Speaking of the Nats, for the first time since April, they're not in last place. The Marlins lost 8 games in a row, and now they're in last and the Nats have jumped up to 4th. I know that we don't have any chance to make the playoffs, but I keep watching them because I'm a loyal fan (or because I'm an idiot - you decide!) They're playing some real good baseball right now - I know before the season, there were some "experts" that thought they might lose 130 games this year. They're definitely not going to lose that many - in fact, right now they have a better record than 9 other teams in baseball!! I think they're doing things the right way, and with a new stadium next year, there should be a buzz in Washington for this team for a while to come!!

New Car!!

Yup it's true! My convertible days are over (at least for a few years anyway) Last night, I bought a brand new Hyundai Tiburon. It's the first new car I've ever owned - it had 8 miles on it when I bought it! It's a little 4 cylinder car, but it's just what I was looking for. It didn't cost too much, it's fuel efficient (30 mpg), and it's got a great warranty (10 year, 100,000 mile bumper to bumper). After all the problems I've had lately with my Sebring, it's so nice to have some peace of mind when it comes to my automobile. I know I can drive wherever I want and not have to worry whether my car will make it or not.

Speaking of which, here's a funny story! I bought the Tiburon Tuesday night, but I didn't have my car there to trade in - I didn't think it was dependable enough to drive around looking for cars. When dickering with the salesman on a price, I told him that the car I was trading in needed an alternator and some wheel bearings and he said he'd give me $2,000 for my car sight unseen. Hell yeah, I'll take that! I signed the papers and drove my new car home that night, with the understanding that I'd bring my convertible back the next day. Well today, I got it all cleaned out and went to deliver it to the dealership, but on the way there, it died on me! Yup, right on I-474 it decide it'd had enough, so I had to have my trade in towed to the dealership! Nice, huh? Well, I shouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff for quite a while (knock on wood!) Now all I have to worry about are the car payments - I haven't had any of those for a few years!

$200? Yeah, right!!

It's not been a great last 24 hours, let me tell you!

Last night after work, I went to pick up my car. I paid the $190 bill and off I went. As soon as I hit the road, I still heard some grinding noises. So I returned to the shop and they took my car on a test drive (guess they didn't do that after they "fixed" it in the first place). They told me that I needed to replace some wheel bearings and that it would be another $350. I decided I'd drive it home and bring it back to them tomorrow to get fixed. Then I left again, and the battery light came on, so back to the shop I went. They hooked it up to the computer (again, something they failed to do the first time, i guess) and it showed that I also need a new alternator, which will be an additional $550. I blew a gasket, told them where they could stick it, and took my car and sputtered all the way home.

Now the search begins to find a new car. Luckily, I've got some really good friends that can let me borrow a car until I buy a new one. Where I'd be without them, who knows! (Thanks Tim and Cathy, you guys are life savers, even though you are Cub fans!).

As some of you know, I'm not very particular when it comes to cars. To me, a car is just something that gets you from point A to point B. Right now, I'm just looking to find something that's relatively inexpensive and economical, but definitely dependable. Hopefully I can find something in the next few days - I hate being without a car!! I'm even skipping out on poker tonight to go car shopping, so you know how pressing the situation is. I'll keep y'all updated - and hopefully it won't be too long before I'm able to post all about my new car!!

The calm before the storm...

Well, I took my car in to the service shop this morning - and the news wasn't too bad. My alternator belt snapped, which damaged a tension pulley. They also suggested that I have another belt replaced, as it looked like it was also going to snap at anytime. The total estimate is under $200, which has me ecstatic. I didn't have any expectations as to how much it was going to cost, so a couple hundred dollars is a lot better than what it could have been. It helps too that I won $140 on the boat Saturday night (well really it was Sunday morning), so that almost covered all of my repairs. I get to pick it up this evening, so I don't even have to be without a vehicle for an extended period of time. All in all, I'm a happy camper today!

As for the $140 I won on the boat, here's that story. I lost about $90 in 2 hours playing penny slots. Then I went upstairs and played some dollar slots and I lost another $50 in an hour. So I took my remaining $200 and went to the blackjack table. I started at $25/hand and I lost 4 in a row right away. I was down $240, and only had $100 left! Then, this guy came to our table and sat down at 3rd base (the end spot at the table). This spot is the most important spot at the table, because what this player does affects what cards the dealer gets, and thus affects whether the rest of the table wins or not. Well this guy sat down and right away, I could tell that he had never even seen a blackjack table before. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't even know where to place his bet on the table. Well anyway, he started playing and making totally wrong decisions, but the table started winning because of him. He kept playing poorly and the table kept winning, until I left with $500 in my pocket. Thank God for that guy and his lack of blackjack skills!!

Cabins, Footballs, and Cars, Oh My!!

Today, I had the first of my 5 fantasy football league drafts this season. This draft took place in a log cabin at Oak Run in Dahinda, IL. What an absolute dream house! It sits right on the lake, and was built to be a summer house. This place probably has enough room to accommodate 20 lodgers - and that doesn't include the couches and floorspace. It was the perfect place for a football draft. Hell, it was the perfect place for just about anything!

The draft was supposed to have taken place at 1:00, but one of our owners(I won't say who, but he knows who he is!) was nowhere to be found. We gave him a call, and he dropped the bombshell that he had thought the draft was next weekend. Great! He wasn't even on the way! He hurried up and got ready, but as the cabin was over a half hour away from Peoria, the draft didn't start until after 2:00. Eventually he showed, and after we gave him a bunch of crap, we had a great draft. We've even scheduled next year's draft already at the same place - however next year, we'll be making a weekend of it - fishing and boating and whatever else we want to do. It should be a great time!

My day wasn't all good times however, because when on my way home, my car started acting up. My battery light turned on, I lost my power steering and air conditioning, and was still 30 miles from home. Luckily though, the car was functional enough for me to make it home. I looked up the problem on the internet, and it seems that the A/C, power steering and the alternator for my car run off of the same belt. Hopefully, when I bring my car into the shop tomorrow, they'll tell me that's all I need to replace and that it's not too expensive. Keep your fingers crossed for me - I need all the luck I can get!!

Last second shopping

Hello, my name is Mike, and I have an addiction... I'm addicted to Ebay.

It's true! What a great site. Anything you'd ever want to buy, you can find it there. I've bought everything from coins to dvds to baseball tickets. I check it out pretty much every day to see if there are any good deals.

The trick to bidding is, you don't want to bid on anything until the very last second. It cost me a good chunk of money to learn this lesson. Many times, I'd find an item that I really wanted, so I'd bid on it days before the auction ended. Somebody would most often outbid me. So I'd outbid them, then they'd outbid me, and on and on until one of us would win and the price was driven much higher that it ever should have gone. These days, I don't bid on anything until there's less than 10 seconds before the auction ends. This accomplishes two things - it doesn't drive up the price by bidding and outbidding, since you're only bidding once, and it also doesn't allow anybody else to outbid you, as right after you bid, the auction ends. I look back at all the stuff I bid on in the past, and wonder how much I'd have saved had I learned this earlier.

SotW - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel

As I'm sure most of you know, I'm a huge music fan. There's rarely a day that goes by that I don't listen to some kind of music, whether it be the radio or my iPod or my Yahoo Music Unlimited service (which by the way, is a great deal - $5 a month allows you to listen to any song you want at any time you want - if you're a music fan, i definitely recommend it!) I especially like discovering new music - it's always exciting to find a new band or song to listen to.

It's in this spirit that, once a week, I'm planning on posting a song of the week (SotW). I'll also provide a link where you can listen to the song yourself. Most of the time, it'll probably be one that you have never heard of - by a band you may never have heard of. Hopefully you'll give it a listen and let me know what you think. Who knows, you might end up finding a new favorite song or band!

This week's SotW is "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel. What a beautiful, beautiful song! It's one of those songs where I loved it the first time I heard it, and I love it even more with each listen. And it's got an interesting back story as well. This song (as well as the album of the same name) was conceptually written based on the life and death of Anne Frank. For those of you who don't know her story, she was the Jewish girl who hid with her family from the Nazis for 2 years during World War II. She was eventually found and sent to a concentration camp, where she died at the age of 16. However, the diary she wrote while in hiding was saved and is in publication all over the world today. Her message is certainly reflected in this song: life is beautiful - live it to the fullest while you can!! The lyrics are impressive as well - I especially like the 2nd verse...

And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly
From the aeroplane over the sea
But for now, we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all i'm keeping here with me

Listen to "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" here