Slogging Through Seattle

Well, actually, I’m in Redmond. The trip has gone well so far.

Getting here went great until I actually arrived. The flight from Charlotte to Chicago was good. The guy in the seat next to me was nice and mostly kept to himself. I got to watch some of the Panthers/Bears game during my 2 hour layover. I was a bit worried about the flight out of Chicago. It was very full. The agent at the United desk in Charlotte had pity on my and got me an isle seat in the emergency row. That was much better than the middle seat on row 35 that I had originally. It got even better when nobody sat down in the middle seat, so me and my row-mate had what might have been the only empty seat on the plane between us.

So I arrived in Seattle a happy camper. I called Mrs. K to let her know I was safe. Then the wheels came off. First off, my bag didn’t arrive. Since I had a 2 hour layover, there was no excuse for the bag not making it onto the plane. The agent couldn’t tell me exactly when I would get my bag so I was probably looking at returning to the airport 2 hours later when the next flight arrived from Chicago. What could I do? I filled out the form and headed to the rental car counter.

They had my reservation ready to go, except it wasn’t the intermediate car that I had asked for. As you can see below, they gave me a bright yellow Hummer H3. I asked if they had anything smaller and was offered a Ford Crown Victoria. No thanks. H3 it is.

Since then, it has been smooth sailing. My bag arrived in the middle of the night and was ready for pick up the next morning. The folks at the Redmond Inn have been great. Breakfast and the internet connection is free and the room is big and comfortable. The drive to campus takes about 10 minutes which is remarkable for Redmond. The price is right, too. If I come back in August, I’ll look to stay here again.

The poker has been fun. There was a tourney on Tuesday night for $20. I got AQs on the first hand. A 3x raise took the blinds and I was the early chip leader. I folded the next 4 hands and caught KK on when I was 2 right of the button. As the action comes around, Pat, who is 2 to my right goes all in. There are only the blinds and one caller in at this point. I’m only worried about one hand, and overbetting with AA would be aweful. It’s an easy call. Turns out that it was an aweful play on Pat’s part as he had AA. Another A come on the flop and I am gone.

Tonight went much better. I got a few cards and about 3 big hands won to take 3rd of 25 and a $35 profit. Still, I really didn’t catch any good luck. The hands that I won were strong hands that held up. I had a big JJ get outdrawn by AJ. I had QQ get outdrawn by Ax. That was two straight 70% advantages that got crushed. That’s poker. I am happy that I was able to get so far on good play.

Tomorrow night I plan to visit the local card club. I’ll let you know how it goes.