Saturday will rock

I am very much looking forward to it, but only have 5 players confirmed (including myself) so far. Jenny's cousin Seth, who was very interested in this at Easter, still hasn't responded. Dickhead. All y'all, RSVP! It was asked that you respond by yesterday! Fizzuck! I want a full table.

On a different, poker related, note, I got $10 free for signing up with Royal Vegas. I need to start playing within a week, but that shouldn't be a problem. Hooray free money!

Terri Schiavo...

...had finally died, physically at least. She may as well have been dead since 1990. I hope the autopsy will shut the critics up.

Blog loose ends

Lupe is not going to Mexico to see her family. Jenny is not going because Lupe is not going. Fatima is not going because Lupe is not going. I don't need to watch Enrique for her because she's not going. Fatima is cute as hell, and she's still a pretty baby. She's also a snuggler. Enrique is still frustrating to work with, but he's getting better. Jenny is convinced that he's dyslexic, and I'm 99.99% there. The .01% of doubt I have left comes from him being a southpaw. His counselor at school thinks he has ADHD. I think ADHD gets thrown around too much, and that high energy children often get painted with that brush when they shouldn't, but not in this case. He's a hyper little fucker and I have to be a bit of a Nazi to keep him on task during our tutoring sessions. I'd really want to send him to the "showers" if, when I ask him if he's done working with me, he didn't sound so sad like he wished he could do better. Poor kid.

Oh well. He's getting better the more we work together. He's also really funny. I'll have to talk about the "finger family" he came up with someday.

More Pokah!

I'm very excited. This Saturday I'm hosting a poker tournament. So far I only have 3.5 people confirmed (Jenny is the .5), but I think I'll get a full table. Tom is coming, and I haven't seen him for like 8 months, since the last time Fish had a get together. Tom's bailing on his Mom and Brother who invited themselves over to watch the final 4 action. Instead, he's coming over to watch some hoops and play in the tourney! I love playing with Tom, ever since about a year and a half ago when I semi-bluffed him off of pocket queens. That was really fucking sweet. I had jacks (one in hand, one on board) and a flush draw and bet strong before the river. A rag that didn't complete my flush fell but I bet it like I had it (the board also had a K), he stewed for a bit, rocking back and forth like the kids from the short bus, then folded. Looking back on it, it was a totally fishy play on my part, but I'd been showing down some solid stuff up to that point and would have taken 2nd if I busted, so why the hell not? Anyhow, Fish was all in since before the flop with very few chips, so I had to show my pathetic hand down even though Tom folded. I had Fish beat, and Tom went apeshit when he saw my hand. He was tilting for the rest of the night. It was stupid, but it worked, and I was happy for the rest of the night.

Can't wait for Saturday!

Special

One of my closest friends, Edward, came over last night with his girlfriend so that Jenny and I could meet her and all of us could catch up a little. Coincidentally, his girlfriend's name is also Jennifer. They just went on a whirlwind trip of the west coast meeting each other's families, and stopped off at Ed's parents' home last night before continuing on back to grad school on the dry side of the mountains today.

Jen is very nice, and I like her so far. She and Ed seem well matched. Anyhow, Ed and Jen are not the point of this post. The point is the hilarious story she told us last night.

Jen was working with some preschool special needs kids, all boys. The bathroom was right off of the classroom so that there could be a higher level of supervision. One day, one of the boys is in the bathroom for an excessive amount of time. Jen goes over to the bathroom and hears sloshing noises coming from behind the door. She opens the door to discover this boy standing in front of the toilet with his front all wet and water dripping down his arms. He then looks up at her and says "my grandma says I'm a poo eater but I'm NOT!"

That's when I lost it. I have no idea if I just pulled off the delivery on that story, but when Jen told it, it was f'ing hilarious.

I abuse my liver enough

It's a good think I don't take this anymore. I'm very happy with my Copaxone, thank you.

For those interested in last week's poker game

The 500 lb gorilla came out, and was making a mess of things for all the bystanders. Unfortunately, one of the bystanders had a gun. Bang. Dead gorilla.

Lessons learned: pushy IS effective, but choose your spots better. All-in on a semi-bluff (nut flush draw) is bad when your opp has you covered. Whoops.

Green cards are good

Losing yours isn't. Fortunately, you can get a temporary one until the replacement comes. It's expensive, though.

Lupe had hers stolen about a year ago, which I would assume meant that she would get a new one, but she didn't! I admit that, being born here, I don't fully understand what a green card is used for, but I do know that you absolutely need to have one if you want to leave the US and come back. Lupe's sister, who lived in Mexico, died on Tuesday. Lupe wanted to go down for the funeral, but couldn't make it in time, especially since I understand that they don't embalm in Mexico. Now she may or may not be going down to be with her family. I don't know whether she's going to go or not, and I don't think that even she knows what she wants.

Regardless, she needs to get a new card. Jenny is helping her with that today. If Lupe goes to Mexico, Jenny will go with her assuming airfare is reasonable. In any case, if she goes, I (and possibly Jenny) will be on the hook to watch Enrique.

Grr! It's a giant cluster fuck right now. I'll be happier later when I know more.

Reinforcement for my ambivalence

This is the first well-reasoned piece I have seen that is in favor or keeping Terri Schiavo hooked up to the feeding tube. Now my feelings on the case are very conflicted.

Go, David!

I hate bible thumpers. We are not a nation under god. We're a nation under a constituation. So there. Stay strong, Mr. Habecker.

Terri is free to die, at least for now

A federal judge from the bible belt made a decision based on evidence, rather than politics. According to the ruling, Terri is NOT to be hooked back up to the feeding tube.

I haven't written anything down, but I've spoken with my spouse, my parents, and my in-laws regarding the unlikely situation that I am on some sort of life support with no reasonable chance of recovery, and they all know to pull the plug.

Anyhow, I don't think I could personally withdraw Terri's feeding tube (since I don't have first-hand experience of the evidence), but the state AND federal courts have been satisfied, so the rest of us should leave well enough alone. And, to Dubya and the US Congress, fuck you all for signing and passing 11th hour legislation that prolongs the suffering of Mrs. Schiavo and her family. Take your bibles and shove them up your asses.

Stupid Feds

I don't know the details of this case, and don't know where I would personally stand on it, but why the fuck are the feds stepping in? The state courts have already decided, and the right-to-lifers in congress have seriously overstepped their bounds. The hard right pisses me off. I hope they all get trapped in Terri's situation.

Read the story...

Oldie

but goodie. Zig.

Last night was frustrating

I went to tutor Enrique last night. I picked him up, and we went to two libraries that were closed before I figured out that it must be because of St. Pat's day. Fuckin' A, man, even BANKS are open! Do these idiots close for Cinco de Mayo, too? Arbor Day? Anyhow, no library was available, so we went to the food court at the mall.

We managed to get a little of his math done (fill in the chart blanks stuff), it was about fruit and how much it costs. I tried to get the concept of different coins being worth different amounts to sink into his head, but he only paid attention and tried to understand for a minute or two before making some SWAGs (silly, not scientific) at how many pennies a nickel is worth. I asked him if he wanted me to keep helping him or if he wanted to go home. He said "home", and off we went. I was kind of pissed by this time, but I made a point of not taking it out on him. He doesn't know any better, and it's not his fault that his understanding of money is at about the same level as my skill at transforming lead to gold. He was tired and I was frustrated, so we'd done enough for the night.

I talked with his mom when we got back. I asked her if his teacher was going to socially promote him, and she thinks so. GOD DAMN IT! I really don't think that should happen. It's become clear that he lags far behind where a 1st grader should be and he hasn't done much of his homework over the past school year. His life has been so unstable this school year that it would be a miracle if he were able to keep up. He's not gaining the skills he needs to do well in 2nd grade, and I fear that he will not catch up, will be branded the "dumb" kid, and will drop out of school before he graduates. He's not dumb. He just needs more than he's been getting. He's pretty hyper, and I also think he may be dyslexic. I don't have the skills or knowledge to make a diagnosis, but lots of the letters and numbers he writes are mirror images. Also, when writing a two digit number, 14, for example, he will start with the 4.

Well, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! All I can do is keep on working with him to the best of my ability. I'll have to lean on mom a little to get him evaluated at his school. Beyond that, I don't know what I can do. I want him to succeed, but I don't think he has the right tools at his disposal to do that.

Okay, okay, I know. Think happy thoughts. Poker, yeah, that's happy! I'm playing the monthly tonight. Should be fun.

Note to self: Be the 500 lb. gorilla, not the chimp in the corner throwing feces at the glass.

Lord of the flies

Maggots, actually.

Potential for much poker this week

I am playing in the monthly 3 table tourney run by Aaron. It's tomorrow at 8. I've been playing at his events for 7 or 8 months, now. The first time I went I was expecting to loose quick and be sent home with my tail between my legs, but I won the whole thing. That was really cool, but it did not prepare me for the swings in bankroll. I have yet to place ITM in any of the multi tables he's hosted since them. I've won some single tables, but DAMN, the competition is getting stiffer. After winning the first one, I got some poker books (Caro, Sklansky, Brunson's 1st edition Bible) and read voraciously. My understanding of the game rose immensely, but I misplaced my nuts and my game has been off ever since then. I need to figure out what the fuck is going on here. I want to go back to crushing the opposition like turtles under a steamroller. THAT is fun. And I have a special line saved up for when I've squished someone and they're bitching about it: "Sssshh! I'm counting chips."

There may also be a game at our house on Saturday during the party. I need to remember to just have fun at that one. It would be a social game. Now, if everyone else wants to be cutthroat, that works for me, but I'm not going to start it.

I still need to read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker", and want to pick up some game theory stuff.

I am a desperate, needy individual...

...otherwise known as a blog whore. If you're out there, please post a comment!

What to do, what to do?

Jenny is going to be away at school until late tonight and tomorrow night. She's frantically trying to get some papers done by the end of the quarter. I can't wait for it all to be over. Her school stuff takes all of her time. I think I'll do some chores and play with my girlfriend (as Jenny likes to call it). If I have time left over, I'll try to watch and delete some stuff off the TiVO.

Well, this was certainly a gadget link laden post.

The quarter is ending...

...for Jenny, and she's throwing a party. It looks like all of our friends will be invited, and there may be poker! Exciting for me, not so much for most others, I'm sure. If our neighbor comes, he'll be excited, but I'm not sure who else would be into it. Actually, I take that back. Jenny's maniac alcoholic cousin would want to play, but this time I want the buy-in to be too high for him to handle. Playing with him is just nuts. Incidentally, the buy-in doesn't have to be that high to price him out, as he is minimally employed. $20 will do nicely, unless his brother (whom he is depending on for support) is feeling extremely generous. I guess I don't mind playing with him that much, as I've learned better over the past few months how to play with people who don't know what they're holding, but it really messes with the folks who are somewhat serious but don't have a lot of experience.

I'm tutoring Enrique tonight. The plan right now is to go somewhere semi-private (like one of the glass library conference rooms) and work on his "paper". Jenny and I worked with him on it on Thursday, and he has a good start. There's a couple of nonsense sentences, but he's actually stringing related thoughts together in some others. His teacher said that it would be great to have him get 3 sentences together. I think he's going to pleasantly surprise her.

Admin note

I changed the settings so that unregistered users can now post.

Music makes the people come together

This video is even better than the Numa Numa dance. They're both rather funny, but his one takes the prize as it is a serious, mainstream release rather than a fat guy with a webcam.

Odd question

If you had to choose, which would you prefer for a pet - a retarded puppy or a talking fish? Talk amongst yourselves and post.

Picking up baby

Jenny and I are going to pick Lupe and Fatima up from the hospital today. We offered to take them and Enrique in for a little bit so that she can get used to having to care for all of them (after a C-section) with some backup immediately available, but she's being dumb and is declining, stating that she doesn't want to be a burden. We're going to try to convince her that she and the kids are no burden and that we want them to stay. We'll see...

Tutoring

I was just at the hospital hanging out with Lupe and Fatima. Lupe was sick last night, she had a high (for an adult) fever, but she's doing much better now. Fatima is a sweetie. I got to hold her for a long time and fed her most of a bottle. She's a hungry little thing. Pretty, too. Some people say that all newborns are cute, but I've seen some that really aren't. The phrase "ugly like a mud fence" comes to mind, but anyhow...

Lupe and I were discussing Enrique's school and reading ability, and she asked me to tutor him. I'm not sure exactly what she means by that, but if she just wants me to meet with him a couple of times a week to help him with his reading and homework, that's fine. He acts out a lot, but it's only because he feels he needs more attention. I hope I can give that to him, be a positive male role model, and teach him some discipline, too. (Note to D/S NAMBLA freaks, not that kind of discipline! That's sick.)

So, it looks like I'm his new tutor. Maybe I'll style myself after Billy Bob Thornton's mall Santa "Willie" in "Bad Santa".

Willie: I loved a woman who wasn't clean.
Kid: Mrs. Claus?
Willie: Actually it was her sister.

Hmm... maybe not.

It's the 5th day...

and I'm tired. Between visiting Lupe and making sure Enrique is fed and clean, reading to him, getting him to school, getting him to STFU (yeah, right), and trying to have a little bit of a life of my own, I am seriously fucking wasted. BTW, the "fucking" in the previous sentence is not gratuitous. It goes a long way towards expressing the depths of my tiredness. (Is "tiredness" a word? Dunno, don't care.)

Hopefully I get a good night of sleep in before tomorrow. I need to be at least semi-concious for my gig as a teen night volunteer tomorrow.

KenJen!

Poor Ken. I feel bad for him. Read the story...

It's a girl!

We already knew that, but there's always a tiny bit of uncertainty until the baby emerges. Anyhow, she was born around 4:45 this morning by C-section. Enrique was born by C-section, but this time the plan was to have a normal birth (VBAC, anyone?). Unfortunately, (currently nameless) baby girl was not cooperating and she got stuck, so they had to birth her via the knife. Bummer, as Lupe now has a 3 day hospital stay.

As an aside, why the hell did I bother calling Lupe's baby nameless? I give everyone I mention in this blog a pseudonym anyway. I'll call her Fatima from now on.

Dogs

Apparently, the younger one (Tan) didn't do everything he needed to do earlier.

Lupe is actively popping

Well, she's in labor, anyhow. Her water broke around 1 PM today, and we picked her and Enrique up about an hour later and took her to the hospital. The baby's father and 2 of Lupe's Latina friends showed up at the hospital and we all hung out in the room while she was being monitored for several hours. It's a nice room, fortunately large enough to accomodate the entire entourage.

Anyhow, I left a little while ago with Enrique in tow. We picked up his toothbrush and then came to me and Jenny's house. We played some N64 games, and are now watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas". I was a little suprised at his lack of skill playing the 3d stuff (he's used to NES), and I was a LOT suprised that he can't read. I don't know, maybe he can and he's just fucking with me, but he seemed to have problems reading the stuff on the screen when he was playing. If there's anything he'd be motivated to read, I'd think it would be stuff in a game.

Tomorrow morning we'll have to go by Lupe's house to get his school stuff. We forgot to get that when picking up his toothbrush. Mibad.

Total non-sequiter- the Oogie-Boogie song is hilarious and Sally is really hot for an animated dead chick.

I hope Lupe pops soon. She was looking pretty uncomfortable when I left the hospital a few hours ago. I predicted that the baby would come at 1:27 this morning but I'd like to be really wrong and for her to have a shorter labor.

Gotta go. The younger dog is being annoying, even though I let him out not too long ago.

Bagels

SWMBO asked what was wrong with me when I offered to go to the store for bagels to help her heartburn. Grrrrr! I'm being nice! Is that so wrong?

Lupe is going to pop soon

Lupe (not her real name) is a friend of my wife, and she's almost ready to drop a baby. She's having a little girl. My wife, who I will refer to either as "Jenny" when I like her or "SWMBO" (She Who Must Be Obeyed) when I don't (she's Jenny right now), has been friends with Lupe for a couple of years now. Lupe wants Jenny to be there for the birth of this baby. My wonderful wife is overjoyed at this prospect, and has been getting all sorts of baby stuff together around here. Lupe, her 8-ish son (let's call him Enrique), and the baby may be staying here for a short period after the birth. To watch Jenny, she seems to be preparing for them (well, the baby anyway) to have an extended stay.

The thing that scares me a little is being on the hook to watch the boy when Lupe (and Jenny) are busy with the delivery. Jenny was nice enough to clean out the spare "kid's" bedroom we have so that he'll have a place to sleep. I have plenty of video games to keep him entertained, and if I can get the hyper little shitfucker to calm down a bit it should be okay. Okay, I'm being cruel. He's a nice kid, and I like him, but he annoys me when he just can't calm down. Maybe I can read to him or something to get him to chill. I have the Magician series by Raymond E. Feist that should be interesting for him. It's something I plan to someday read to my child (when Jenny and I have one). I might try to dig up the Narnia books or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While still engaging, they're a bit less complex and would be easier for him to follow. I really enjoyed them when I was about his age, so it's worth a shot. I'll definitely tell him that he has to STFU (in kinder words) and chill out if he wants me to read to him. Hopefully that will work.

NOTE TO SELF: Don't give caffiene or sugar to Enrique. If I fuck up and accidentally give some to him, drink or take narcotics (me, not him) so that I don't care about having turned his crank.

Anyhow, Lupe's baby will be born any day now. Jenny is on call to take her to the hospital when it's time. I hope I can get to the library or a bookstore before the call comes. The more I think about it, the less I think Enrique will enjoy the Magician books. I think his attention span is too short for those. Better go with Charlie. It's much more straightforward, and I really loved it as a child.

Getting better at 2 table tourneys

I played 3 or 4 or 5 $2+.20 20 person tourneys online today. Busted out of all but 2 of them, but took first in the other 2. Yay! Money! BR is back above $50, which makes me really happy. I thought I was going to have to grind it out at the 6 person $2.50+.25 tables, since I'm ITM greater than 75% of the time there, but the payout stinks. 1st only pays $6.25, which is really $3.50 (prize - (entry+fee)), but the 20 person $2+.20s are much better (1st is $20 - $2.20, so $17.80). They take about 3 times as long to play (1.5 hours), but the money to time ratio, even figuring in the non-ITM finishes, is much better.

So, things for me to remember while playing early:

Don't EVER play tired/angry/frustrated (and duh, don't play drunk)
Don't blind steal until they're up to 25/50
Don't play anything except PP over T or suited face cards in early position
Lower suited connectors are acceptable when you have position and a bunch of folders in front
By the time blind stealing is worth it, people lay down to 1-2x the minimum raise if they don't have a hand
Be aggressive when 3 handed
Be super-aggressive when heads up
Drop the aggression for a few hands when the opp grows a spine, then go back at them
THESE RULES (except #1) ALWAYS DEPEND ON THE SITUATION

Just some notes that I'll start reviewing before every time I play. I think it will help in the long term. These are all things that I know but sometimes ignore if I don't conciously think about them before playing.

For those of you who think poker is boring, I'll post some other stuff shortly. The other thing, though, is that if you find poker boring, this blog probably isn't for you. I'm just sayin'...

Meow?

Cats are dumb

First FTR Tournament

I played in the Carribean Sun FlopTurnRiver.com freeroll last night. There were 26 of us, and I went out around 22nd on a busted nut flush draw. The table had been pretty tight and I decided to push. I was a couple of seats off the button with A6s, had a couple of limpers ahead of me, and bet something like 4x the BB before the flop. It was folded around except for one of the limpers who called. A ragged flop gets me 4 to the A-high flush, it's checked to me so I push AI (about equal stacks). Dude thinks for a few seconds, then calls me. He turns over TT, one of them a spade (taking one of my outs) but I'm still feeling OK about it 'cause I have 8/45 cards to make the best hand with two more to come. The turn and river are no help so I almost double this guy up with all my chips and am out of the tourney. I didn't need to push here as I still had lots of chips and the blinds were low, but my gut was telling me opp was trying to steal because the table had been tighter than a frog's asshole and he had been taking down some uncontested pots pre-flop. I had him read for a mid pair, so I decided to rep a painted PP with the AI on the ragged flop (which he told me he put me on), but he called anyway. Loose call if that's what he put me on, but it was a freeroll. BTW, the board paired on the turn giving him two pair, not that it mattered at that point. Whatever. It was fun anyway.

PRN "Hello, world"

Hi people. This is my very first post. Even though it's titled "Hello, world", I'm probably only talking to myself. Oh, well..

Anyhow, a little about myself - I am a married 29 year old male who works in the software industry. I enjoy hunting birds, playing poker (NLHE, limit is a grind), and watching movies. I volunteer at the YMCA a couple of nights a month with my wife for "Teen Night". It's fun to tell the little fuckers to knock off the types of behaviour I was engaging in at their age. Ah, youth...

I'll post some links and pics later. If anyone were to read this, I'm sure they'd find those interesting.