I’m back and Impressions of Alaska

As I’ve written a few times before, I’ve been away from this blog for a while. There will be no apologies though.  I write for myself when I feel like writing.  Few of my friends read what I post, but they do so at their own risk. Occasionally, I’ll write something to put mark what I think and when I was thinking it, or something that is longer that fits into Facebook or Twitter that I can point anyone interested toward.  The truth is that I’ve just not felt like writing recently.  Life has been very busy with fun adventures and activities, but I’ve not been able or I’ve not wanted to write about them in public.  Life continues to be good.  My mood or physical heath haven’t changed markedly over the past few months.  The biggest thing that has changed to get me back to writing here is that I feel like it.  So until my mood changes again, here goes.

As I write this, I’m finishing up a business trip to Alaska and I’m on a 777 between Seattle and Tokyo, Japan.  This trip to Alaska was my first.  I’ve now been to 47 states.  I still have not been to a Dakota or Nebraska.  My employer has a big support site in North Dakota, so that might get me to that state sometime.  I have no idea why I would end up in SD or NB, but I never thought I ‘d go to Afghanistan, and that happened, so we’ll see.

It sounds like bad luck that my first trip to AK would come in February, or that I’d go to the interior of the state where temperatures run 20 degrees colder than Anchorage.  Now that the visit is done, I’m not sure myself.  Yes, it was cold.  Two weeks before my visit, lows in Fairbanks were hitting –50 F and highs were –10 or –20F.  I got lucky that I visited during a winter heat wave.  Highs almost got up to 20 F and lows got as low as –5 F.  It was cold, but could have been much more challenging.

Driving was a challenge.  The roads were covered in snow and ice.  I’m a southern boy.  I don’t get much practice at this type of driving.  Silly me, I was thinking that they get snow and ice all the time and would have it cleared so long as the snow was not falling.  Not so.  I guess there is really nothing you can do when the freeze is solid for months at a time.  There was a light at the main road near my hotel where I had to turn left.  The turn was protected by a turn light, but the road was so slick that I couldn’t get the car through the intersection before the light turned yellow.  Some snow fell and my car slid a few times, but I didn’t get stuck or hit anyone or anything. The rental car was returned unharmed and I was glad to get that done.

A few other things were unexpected about AK.  Snowmobiles are called Snow Machines.  There was/is a big 2000 mile snow machine race going on across the state, The Iron Dog.”  The speed and distance sounded insane to me, but there were daily updates on the radio and in the newspapers, so this is real sport in AK.  Another sport that I heard about that I did not get a chance to try was Moose Turd Bowling.  I asked some of the locals about it, and it is exactly what it sounds like.  Luckily, it is strictly a winter outdoor sport.  The summer or indoor MTB champ would have both my respect and disgust.

The last and lasting impression of AK was the people I met.  I didn’t meet a single Alaskan that was not exceptionally friendly.  When I met a waitress at a restaurant, her hello sounded like she was talking to me instead of at me as I’ve come to expect.  The gas station attendant stood at my window and chatted while the car filled with gas.  I am perplexed why people would like living there in the cold and snow, but I’m equally impressed with the people in AK.  Perhaps latter has a lot to do with the former.

Thanks Alaska.  I think my trip had a lot of good luck.

I’ve got a bit of ‘splanin to do

That’s because it’s been since October since I’ve done a real blog post.  It’s not that nothing blog worthy has happened. A lot has happened, actually.  It’s just that I haven’t felt like writing it up and since I don’t make any money or make any promises about posting, I just didn’t.  So let’s see what I remember.

My job kept me on the road after the October triathlon.  I’ve traveled to Germany, Vegas, St. Louis, Vegas (again), St. Louis (again), G-Vegas, DC, and Charleston, SC.  The Germany trip was to upgrade a customers database server.  It took a 24 hour work day (my first ever), but we hit the planned return to service time and the customer has invited me back.  I don’t have any problem with that. 

The first trip to Vegas was for the celebration of my 50th birthday.  I’m still not used to being that old, but so be it.  That trip was awesome.  Most of the folks that I really wanted there made it.  We had incredible dinner at the Hofbrauhaus on Thursday, followed by another incredible dinner Carnevino in the Palazzo, followed by the Cher show at Caesar's on Saturday.  There was some gambling in between with a good session of blackjack, a bad session of pai gow, and lot’s of poker.  Dr. K and I got in a couple of good workouts in the beatuiful fitness spa of the Venetian (where we stayed courtesy of Skoon and Brian the Red) and a visit with my younger brother and Dr. K’s aunt.  Though I ended up on the negative end for gambling, it was my best trip to Vegas ever.

The first trip to St. Louis was for work and nothing real special on that.  I did play some poker at Lumiere Place and River City, both times with poor outcomes, and stayed right downtown near the arch and Busch Stadium.  That was fun.

The second trip to Vegas was for the World Poker Blogger Tour (WPBT).  Seeing that bunch of degens just gets better and better the more times we get together.  The gambling hit a new low as I posted my biggest Vegas loss ever, but I’d do it again.  If I’ve got the resources, I will.

The second trip to St. Louis is probably best forgotten.  I was to present two days of training, but the customer’s folks only showed for 1 of the 4 sessions due to poor weather and general disinterest.  Too bad.  I had some good stuff planned.  I stayed and played at the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino.  My losses continued to mount this trip as well (are you seeing a trend here), so I’ll just move on.

G-Vegas brings us up to the new year and actually New Years Day and the BadBlood New Year’s Tourney.  You can hear all about it on the Gambling Tales Podcast, but the gory details are that I got my money in good and didn’t win any of the significant hands that I needed to post another big loss.  I’ve had good luck and bad luck in G-Vegas.  I’ll try again soon.

Finally, the trip to DC was interesting.  I think that will make for a good blog post of it’s own as that memory is fresh from last week.  I’ll break out this weekend’s trip to Charleston as well.

As for other highlights from the past quarter – Thanksgiving and Christmas were good with family and friends healthy and doing well.  Dr. K lost a bet with her nephew (a Clemson fan) and went over the top in paying off as the picture shows.

The two pictures in this post were taken with my new Windows Phone 7 which really kicksass.  I won’t say that it’s better than the other smart phones (iPhone, Driod), but it holds it’ own with a lot of potential yet to come.

That’s most of the highlights.  There are trips to Seattle, Colorado Springs and San Antonio in the near future.  I’ll try to do better at keeping up.

United Airlines F’s over its Customers

On Thursday I had what must rank as one of my top ten all-time worst customer service experience at the hands of United Airlines.  It all started when my 2:30 pm flight to Washington-Dulles was cancelled due to bad weather in the DC area.  I don’t blame them for not flying without permission, but cancelling the flight altogether put the 130 or so folks on the plane in need of rebooking to get to their destination.  Had we flown when the airport reopened, I would have made my flight to Kuwait which was also delayed instead of enduring the torture that followed.

As we pulled back to the gate an announcement was made for domestic customers to line up at one gate and international customers at the other.  I’m thinking that they will give the international customers a priority since they have more expensive tickets and longer delays if flights are missed.  Nothing could have been further from what happened.

The domestic line was about twice as long as the international line, so it wasn’t surprising to see two agents servicing those passengers.  I was 9th of about 45 passengers in the international line.  Things were looking ok until the second customer in my line.  The first customer was in the wrong line so he was gone at once.  The next guy took over 50 minutes to try every possible option and ask every possible question.  Several international passengers asked for the agents to help us out a bit.  That wasn’t going to happen. 

As the ‘help’ whet on, the average time to book domestic passengers was maybe 5 minutes and the average passenger in the international line took about 30 minutes.  Even though I started 9th in line, I didn’t get any help with my travel until I had stood in line for over 3 hours.  Of course, by that time there was no way to get to Kuwait in time to catch my connection. None.  And since my connection only runs three days a week, it pushed my travel back 3 days.

Even though our line was moving so much slower, the 2 agents serving domestic passengers made no effort to help our line at all until all of the domestics were gone.  That happened right about the 3 hour mark.  Score 90 domestic, 8 international.  Nice.

At that point, some folks from further back in the international line stepped into the domestic line.  Once the domestics were gone, the agents continued with those line-jumpers in front of them instead of serving the next customer in the proper line.  Let that be a lesson to those who listen to instructions and play by the rules.  The folks behind the desk don’t give a crap about that.  They will do what is easier for them.  And did United keep all 3 agents working to help customers?  Nope.  One of the agents disappeared with no explanation.

Thankfully I was in my home town, so I could schedule a tentative trip and go home.  I really feel for the folks who were still 3 hours deep in the line and facing a night in a hotel and another day of traveling.

DId I say I could just go home?  That’s not quite true.  I still had to retrieve my bag from the airline.  That took another 30 minutes of waiting at the bag conveyor line.  From there I hopped on the waiting shuttle to airport parking and got right to my car.  Then I say the worst backup at the parking pay windows that I’ve every seen.  It took another 30 minutes to pay for the parking that I didn’t need.  I was home about 20 minutes later, much to the surprise of Dr. K.

As I’m writing this, my second try at this trip is going much better, but there is a long way to go.

On the road again

Actually, in the air again would be more correct.  I’m currently recovering from the overnight flight, sitting in my hotel room in Heidelberg, Germany.  I’m pretty excited to be here.  I love the location.  This hotel has one shop between it and my favorite restaurant in Germany, the Vetter.  They have a plate of sausage, kraut, and potatos that is to die for.  I’ve posted the plate and pictures of the restaurant on this blog before, but in case you don’t want to go looking for it:

Oh yea, they have bier, too.

In fact, if I had taken this picture from the other side of the street, my hotel would have been visible through the gate, but I think it gives you the idea.  I will definitely have to get out and around this town as much as possible this week.

The transition from one continent to another is the most difficult part of the trip.  At least this time my host and ride aren’t expecting me to work until tomorrow.  On one of my trips here, I was not only kept at work with no ride and nothing to do, but I was kept there until after 7 pm which meant I was up for about 36 hours.  Needless to say I’ve avoided that situation and letting that person set my schedule on arrival.

Well, it’s time to head to the Vetter for dinner.  Maybe I’ll try something different this time.  Naaaaah.

Odds and Ins and Ends and Outs

The odds of me making my 100 post year seem to be slipping away.  I only write when I feel like it or if I have something that really needs to be said despite how I feel and that is just not conducive to a lot of posts this time of year.  So be it.

I am having a hella good time with our new podcast.  The whole intent of the podcast was to have fun, go fun places, and meet people that I want to meet.  This has worked out remarkably well.  We’ve (we being Falstaff and me) posted 2 shows and recorded the tracks for 2 more.  That’s enough to get us through our upcoming Vegas blogger trip and that trip should be a bounty of material.  That’s our plan anyway.

If you haven’t, check out the ‘cast at http://gtpodcast.com.

I’ve been learning about digital recording, editing, creating Feedburner, Call Burner, Skype, mp3s, WordPress, RSS feeds, iTunes, Audacity, jpg logos, and on and on.  It has been frustrating at times but I’ve really enjoyed learning new stuff.  I think/hope that the result looks and sounds professional.  That is a key to getting and keeping an audience.  I know a lot of podcaster don’t want to charge or get sponsors for their podcasts out of a desire to remain creatively unfettered or under some moral obligation to keep the internet free.  No me.  I’d like to get some sponsorship and make the deal produce some cash.  Not a lot of green, but enough to cover the cost of the equipment, licensing, and maybe a room in Vegas for a few nights.  That should be doable.  Heck, my poker hobby has made money so far.  Why not our podcast?

Did I mention that it is up at http://gtpodcast.com?

Other Odds and Ends:

• The trip back from Sao Paulo was hell and I really don’t feel like reliving it enough to write it up except to say that the gate agent who thinks seat G is an isle seat can kiss my American butt.
• Everything I had to be thankful for in 2008 is still in my life in 2009 plus one or two things.  It has been too much to have asked for.  All I can be is thankful.
• I’m skipping poker tonight to be with Dr. K.  Good call.  I’m really glad the game found enough players without me.

That’s enough for now.  Dr. K will be home shortly.  If you need something to do, take 40 minutes or so and listen to The Gambling Tales Podcast.  You’ll sleep better for it.

Impressions of Sao Paulo

I’m winding up my visit to the 3rd (or 3° as it is written here) largest city in the world (or 6°, depending how you count).  There have been many interesting things I’ve noticed here so I’ll jot a few down before I forget.  First, the caveat: I’ve only seen a small portion of the city, namely Morumbi, and the roads between there and the airport.  All observations are from my very limited experience.

The place looks like many places in the US at street level.  There are tall buildings and shops and busy people going to and from work.  The people dress about the same as in the US.  I think I could have forgotten that I was in Brazil if I didn’t speak with anyone.

There is no such thing as someone who looks Brazilian.  They have a much or more of an ethnic mix as the US with Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Native Americans.  They do talk funny, though.  They really, really like their meat.  The Brazilian restaurant is the same, but the meat is much better than where I’ve been in the states.

Brazilians pride themselves on being good hosts and do a fantastic job at it.

The elevators are odd.  You hit an up or down arrow as I’m used to.  When the arrow above the elevator door lights, that doesn’t mean the elevator is arriving.  That arrow might just go out with no elevator.  The arrow will flash when the elevator is arriving.  So you get on and hit the button.  If you don’t hit is quick enough, which may be before the door closes, you very well may be going the direction you didn’t want to go.  This get to be a real problem when you have to swipe a card to get to your floor.

Some here say Portuguese sounds more like Italian than Spanish.  I’ve always heard that it’s enough like Spanish that Portuguese speakers can usually understand Spanish.  I’ve been corrected.

They have TV channels that don’t have soccer, or so I’ve been told.

Tipping in the restaurants and for other service workers is not expected.  When getting change for a purchase, the cashier will usually not give the pennies unless you insist.  They will, however, insist that you give them enough to cover every penny.

The hotel staff here at the Hilton Morumbi has blown me away with great service, especially the staff at the Canvas restaurant.  I arrived for dinner tonight and the hostess remembered that I was there for Sunday brunch.  That was 4 days ago.  She almost remember my name.  I left a cheese plate on my table when I left and it was brought it up to my room in case I wanted a snack later.  Now that is service.

I’ll probably think of more later.  All in all, it’s been a good trip.  I’m still looking forward to home.  It’s been a long year of travel.

Stalled in Transit

If you were reading this blog last year, you might remember that I arrived in Baghdad on time, but my luggage didn’t make it until 3 days later.  Well this time neither me nor my luggage has made it to Baghdad as yet.

My trip started off well enough.  Dr. K dropped me off at the Charlotte airport in plenty of time to get something to eat before my flight.  While there, I ran into T from our poker home game.  She was on her way to a “professional conference” in Las Vegas.  That’s lucky right there.  I hope she is doing well at the tables.

My flights from CLT and Dullas both departed on time and arrived early.  Due to problems with my paperwork, I knew that I would spend a day at the hotel airport until the issue got resolved.  In talking to the gate agent for my Kuwait to Baghdad airline, he pointed out that the passport number on my paperwork didn’t match the number on my passport.  Great, a second problem.

They called the hotel and get me an escort and bus ride over to the hotel. The two advantages to this hotel are that I don’t have to officially enter Kuwait to stay there and it is cheap.  My first shock came when I learned that I would not be getting my bags at the hotel.  They would have to stay at the airport.  I had meds, a t-shirt and change of underware, so I could handle this for one night. Next was the size of the room.  I’ve owned bigger closets.  I knew right then that I’d only be in this hotel one night.  I’d be one my way to somewhere else the next day, whether that was Baghdad or a better hotel or the streets of Kuwait City.

Due to the time zone and timing of the flights, it was pie-in-the-sky thinking that this paperwork would come through on time for me to fly on Monday.  Luckily, my contact in Baghdad got me in touch with Mandy, a local employee of the company we are working for.  She told me that they have apartments set up like dorms that are used for just this type of layover.  I got myself back to the airport, got a visa to enter Kuwait, tracked down my bags and escaped the airport. 

I had to hang out at the Caribou Coffee just outside of the official airport for about 90 minutes until Mandy could come pick me up.   I must say this apartment is really nice.  I have access to food, a big screen TV, Internet, and a pool table.  There are a couple other guys staying here right now.  It is nice to have someone to chat with and just be around.  Loneliness is my mortal enemy for the next 4 weeks.  This place really helps on that score.

The apartment in in a high-rise right on the Persian Gulf.  Attached are a few views from the windows.

I’m still waiting to hear from my project manager on my paperwork, but I have to believe that it will come through today (Tuesday).  I’m currently schedule to fly to Baghdad on Wednesday evening.  If I don’t get it by 11 pm or so, I’m going to miss the guy I’m replacing and not get any real introduction to the project.  It will be a big disadvantage to my start on this project.  It could also mean that I’ll take a military flight into camp.  That sounds like a bit more adventurous though maybe not Dr. K approved.

There isn’t anything I can do about any of this.  It is all in the hands of the project management and the Army.  My attitude is to be patient, do what I need to do first and what else I can do second and to keep my cool at all times.  So far I’m good on those points.

Okie Vegas 2009

The only bad part about the great weekend I just had is the let-down when it is all over.  Really, that was the only negative.

It all started with an insanely early departure from my hotel in DC.  Believe it or not, there is a good bit of traffic on the highways around DC at 4 o’clock in the morning.  I got upgraded to first class for both legs of my flight.  My flight departed about five minutes early and we were wheels up for Charlotte before 6 am.

For the first time ever, Charlotte’s Douglas International Regional Airport and Car Wash (the pilot’s description) was not the destination, it was a connection on the way to Dallas-Fort Worth.  Flight number two was also right on time taking off so we landed at DFW about 15 minutes early.  Just like clockwork, I breezed past the rental counter, jumped in the Ford Fusion that I was assigned and headed north.  That Fusion now has a lot more than the 128 miles that were showing when I turned the key.

Two and a half hours later I was pulling up to the home of GCox25 in OKC.  I got and quick hug from the man himself, the wife DD, and Katitude (who still blames me for introducing her to BC Powder)  We did a quick turn-around and headed for lunch.

We dined, if eating with your hands off sheets of paper is dining, at Eischen's Bar, the oldest bar in Oklahoma.  Fired chicken as good as what Mom used to make, fried okra and pitchers of lite beer fueled us for the rest of the afternoon.  Though I’ve met up with these folks no more than 5 times in my life I felt like I was among the oldest and best friends I’ve ever had.  Let the good times roll.

The next stop was the just less than fabulous Lucky Star Casino in El Reno 911,  OK.  Four of us sat at a new 1-2NL table and proceeded to harass the local rocks.  They were actually a fun group save one jerk who didn’t know how to play nor play nice with others.  There was an unnatural amount of 9-2-Face flops.  Greg on my right seemed to get a hand of 9-2 every time that 9-2-x did not flop.  It really got comical after about the dozenth time.

Eventually Greg decided to take a break.  The very next hand I get 9s-2s on the button and I decide it couldn’t miss.  Sure enough, 9-2-J hit on the flop.  The jerk that is 2 seats to my left bets out.  I’m not worried about the rainbow flop so I just call.  The turn puts a second spade on the board and Jerk bets $30.  I push for $46 more and he eventually calls.  I don’t turn over as the table speculates about my hand.  I ask “What works at this table?” and then answer “NINE_DOOOOCH”.  The board does not pair.   Jerk flashes his Kings and mucks.  OK, for that hand there were two jerks at the table but all of the Okie Vegas folk loved it.

Dinner time was approaching so we hopped in the cars (OSU hopped on his Harley) and we headed for Lake Okie Vegas (Ft. Cobb Lake 51 weeks a year).  The temperature was a warm 108, so OSU’s ride felt like a blast furnace.  It was also warm enough that Greg’s ragtop and AC in his BMW decided to make an appearance.

Dinner of cold fried chicken and cold Foster’s over a friendly cash game rounded out the day and evening.  The arrival of Tragedy and the Mrs. Tragedy the Sequel arrived shortly before bed. (Sequels are better than the original).

Day 2 started with doughnuts and Coke for breakfast (of Champions) and a four-wheeler ride to the lake shore.  OSU’s lady friend joined to party.  We were to find out later that she was part native american and that she claimed that her indian name was Sure-Thing-on-a-Blanket. “ Welcome to Okie Vegas.  You’ll fit right in.”  The party really got going with the arrival of the Smoke-on-the-Water Party Boat.  Capt. KK took us out to the middle of the lake for some swimming and the worst diving exhibitions in the history of Okie Vegas.  This all caused a late start to the Annual OKV Poker Tournament, but no one seemed to mind.

I started the tourney hot as a firecracker.  Actually everyone started out hot.  We were on the porch and the temp was well over 100.  The shade and breeze helped some.  No one busted before the first break.  We took the opportunity to move the table indoors where the AC helped moods but not the quality of play.

The first bust out almost took out OOSSUUU.  I don’t remember all of the details,  but the action put OSU all-in preflop with a typical race (A-J vs 44 is what I remember).  The board hit Greg and OSU’s stack slid across the table.  Then Yesbay, who had dealt the flop, turn and river says “wait a minute.”  He looks closer at the board as if we had misread it, flips a card to it’s back and explains that he was not the dealer for that hand and the wrong deck had been used. Sure-thing-on-a-blanket was supposed to be dealing.  A misdeal was declared, chips were distributed back to the original owners and OSU was still alive.  Sure-thing became the Gigli shortly thereafter.

I made it to the cash bubble before I ever had to show a hand.  My QQ all-in went up against Yestbay’s A-K and two A's hit the board.  Congrats to Greg, Yestbay, and Kat for cashing.  The rest of  the day and evening was spent just sitting and talking with a lot of laughing – a LOT   of laughing.

Random Memories

• “No, it’s Special K, not Circle K.  I’m a breakfast cereal, not a damn convenience store.”
• Wall, chest, chin – That’s all I’m saying about that.  You figure it out.
• LED shot glasses
• Dial-a-shots to TripJax, Jordan, Joannada, and several others. Too many went unanswered.
• “You just let me know what you need and it will get done.”  Tragedy, you are the best.
• I swear, I did not know!
• What is in the NASCAR gas pump dispenser, Rum or Whisky?  Who cares, pour me some.
• Deer steak and rice
• Sunning in the Okie Vegas pool (Picture to be inserted below)

Sunday meant packing up and moving on to my next stop.  All that were left at the lake were GCox, Kat, and TC.  I said my goodbyes and pointed the Fusion south toward Killeen, TX and Fort Hood.  To each of you who make Okie Vegas 2009 a special time as we toasted Saturday, “May all of our thoughts of you turn into your good fortune.”  Hope to see you all in the real Vegas in December.

Impressions of Korea

• This place is very hilly, Even mountainous at times.  The weather has been cold and foggy since I've been here, though I'm told that it could get up to 70 or down to 0.  Sounds a lot like Charlotte.
• This is no third world country.  They've got money and like showing it off.
• it is very hard to believe the Korean War (that's what they call it, too) was 50 years ago.  I see no sign of it in Seoul.  The base where I am working was built by the Japanese while they occupied Korea in the first half of the last century.
• The Koreans really hate the Japanese.  Really.  They are not found of the Chinese either.
• It has been mentioned to me more than once that If the north invades, most of us would not survive 15 minutes.  There are thousands of missiles pointed at Seoul.  It hasn't bothered my sleep yet.
• The people have something of a complex about foreigners.   I can't blame them. They have been occupied for most of their history, something Americans know nothing about.  They seem desperate for unification and independence.
• It would help if the cab drivers spoke more English or if I spoke more Korean.  Apparently neither is about to happen anytime soon.
• This hotel, the Millennium Seoul Hilton, is the best hotel I've ever stayed in, hands down.  The room is outrageously stocked with everything I could need.  There are 8 restaurants on-site.  The staff is attentive, almost to extreme.  Example, the breakfast buffet in the executive lounge (for us diamond members :) ) never seems to run low on anything.  All of the food is topped off before it gets halfway down.  I've yet to sit down before being asked if I wanted coffee.  Absolutely excellent, except for one little thing.
• They don't seem to know what "Do Not Disturb" means all of the time.  Twice I've left the room with the sign on and they've made my room anyway.  it is an error of giving more than great service.  I can overlook it as long as nothing disappears from my room.
• I wish they had more choice in beer.  We are much closer to Australia.  Where is the Fosters?  Cass beer is OK.
• Finally, something that fascinates me even though I have no desire to partake.  Sex seems to be wide open here.  It is illegal, but as un-enforced as speeding in Charlotte.  One of the alleys in the main tourist area of town is known as "Hooker Hill" and you cannot walk past many of those bars without being 'encouraged' to stop in.  You can go to many barber shops, juicy bars (Google that one if interested), massage parlors, and lounges and openly proposition the girls there and I'm told that even if they don't do such things that they won't really take offense.   If only poker were so open here.

That's my impression anyway.

Pictures from Korea

The View from my hotel room which gives a pretty good impression of the weather here.

The wrapper from the cigar that made me barf.  Cuban cigars suck if you ask me.

The standard in stocking a hotel room.  I've never seen anything like it.

 

A bad picture of Itaewon, the tourist shopping district of Seoul.  Sorry, no pictures from the nearby Hooker hill.

Diorama from the Korean War Museum.

 

More from the museum.

I have no idea how they arrived at this.

Neither Korean nor American.  Or is it both?

Old gate.

It has been a very interesting and rewarding trip so far.  Even so, I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

I got Won out the Yang

I feel like I've got Won coming out the yang right now.  I checked out the only legal poker room in Korea tonight, the Paradise Walker-hill Casino in the Sheraton Grande (you know when they can afford that extra 'e' that you are walking into a high-end joint.

I started with a quick buffet dinner.  I didn't bother to check the price.  It was a buffet in Korea.  There were kids running all over the place and the food wasn't special.  How expensive could it be?  Well, the buffet itself was almost $50 American.  Add on the $7 beer, and I was 1)glad I'm on per diem and 2) that I hadn't paid for a meal all day, otherwise I'd have been quite upset.  I asked and found out that it was the cheapest place to eat other than the casino bar, so really didn't make a difference.

Next it was off to play some poker.  They spread only 1000/2000 no limit poker.  That sounds so cool to have played in a game that big until you do that math.  One American dollar brings over 1300 Korean won, so we were really playing smaller than $1/2. So we were really playing $.72/1.45.  It still played pretty big.  Also, I didn't bring bankroll money and didn't want to convert any more into won than I had to.  I started with 200,000 when the rest of the table bought in for 500,000.

I played as tight as I could, treating it like a tourney with a 4 hour first level.  If I lost those chips I was done.  I got down to about 100,000 and won a few small pots to get back to around 170,000.  The big hand came when the board flopped with three clubs including the A.  The fellow to my right bet me all in and I called with the Kc.  This fellow was in the middle of an even night when he should have been way up.  Earlier, he had been sucked out one when a case 2 hit on the river making his opponent a set of 2s to crack his pair of Kings.  Anyway, the turn was a red card and the river was a beautiful 2c.  I was now up about 120,000 and feeling much better.

It turns out that the guy that I won the chips off of and I have a mutual acquaintance.  He was wearing an Asia Poker Tour jacket and I could tell that he knew how to play well, so I asked if he had played in the APT events, and he said that he did.  I mentioned that I know several people that cover tournaments for a living and he asked if I knew F-Train (he used FT's real name which I now know thanks to Facebook).  That is so cool to step into a poker room half-way across the world to meet someone with only one degree of separation.  (F Train, Ron K says thanks for being his fan).

I ended the night up 100,000, so I'm sitting on about 360,000 Koreas Won which I can't turn back into dollars until Friday at the airport.  I'm sure that won't cost much.  Anyway, it was fun.  Tomorrow it is back to work.  Four more days until I head home.  I'm looking forward to that.

Danube, Part III - The Journey Home

I was feeling a little queezy when we arrived in Saltzburg. I was convinced that it was my turn to have the crud that Dr. K had a few days before, but I was fine for the tour and wondering around the city. The ride to Munich for our last night took about 2 hours. It was going well until the guide and driver decided to take us on a tour through the middle of Munich with its stop-and-go traffic and fumes. Again, I was feeling pretty ill by the time we finally arrived at our hotel. It was Octoberfest time in Munich and my brothers and I were making plans to attend. I figured that I would be OK after some rest and dinner.

I got some rest and I made it about half-way through dinner, but I was not feeling better, so I had to bag Octoberfest and headed back up to the room. I had just told Dr. K that I just could not get comfortable when my pipes reversed flow and I became violently ill. This was about 8 pm. Uncontrollable retching hit me again at 10, and 12, and 3. During the 12:00 session, I heard my brothers and their wives returning from Octoberfest. I felt like I had missed Christmas and a trip to Disney World. Arrg. I also had the trip home to look forward to in the morning. I had no idea how I would survive the 15 minute ride to the airport, much less getting all the way back to the USA in this shape.

Morning came and I was mobile, but that was about it. We got to the airport early and the fun really started. Our plane to Paris was late arriving due to fog in Paris. We were told that there were so many people from our flight connecting to the US, that our plane from Paris to NY would wait. Ha! We arrive at the gate an hour late to find that the plane had left on time. Rebook.

We get on a later flight to NY-Kennedy airport that gets us into the US about the time our Delta flight to Charlotte leaves. I'm feeling a little stronger by the time we get to NY, but still not great. As we expected, the flight to Charlotte had left without us. Worse yet, there were no other Delta flights out that night. Delta had no responsibility to help us with a hotel or food or booking on another airline. Air France had the attitude that they had done their job by getting us to NY and thay were no help either. We were stuck.

At this point, Dr. K made a wise decision and said "just get me home!" We bolted for the JetBlue terminal, threw down the credit card and $600 later, we were on our way home. We made this flight, the absolute last flight to CLT, with maybe 5 minutes to spare. JetBlue was wonderful. They had live TV on each personal screen. They left and arrived on time and kept track of our bags. We walked in the door of our home at 15 past midnight. My bed never slept so good.

It was a good vacation. I enjoyed spending time with my mother, brothers and sisters in-law. I always enjoy it when Dr. K and I get away. The ride home sucked and was completely avoidable, but that didn't change the great time we had.

Next, Vegas Trip Report

Danube, Part II

We departed Vienna late in the day and cruised all night and much of the next day until we arrived in Budapest.  That is an interesting place.  The Danube runs between the ancient cities of Buda (the high mountainous side) and pest (on the low plain).  The communist era influences were striking.  Much of the art and monuments were hold-overs from that time.  They are doing there best to bring their economies up to speed.  The will soon join the European Union and begin using the Euro, but not yet.  Here are a few pictures from Budapest.

As we returned from our half-day tour of Budapest, Dr. K starting looking pretty ill.  We had to bolt from the tour bus straight to our cabin.  Next thing I know, she is retching her guts out.  It turned out that she had picked up a stomach flu from another passenger or a crew member.  The illness only lasted a day to a day and a half.  She was back on her feet before we got to Bratislava, our next stop.  Unfortunately, the illness started working its way through our group.

Bratislava has a lot in common with Budapest.  They are both former communist areas and both are trying to get closer to the west and are having a hard time.  Bratislava does have a nice center city.  There are still a few building that are in need of renovation, but that served to show us how far they have come.  I believe there is even a European Poker Tour event scheduled for Bratislava very soon.  Here are a few pics from Bratislava.

The last stop on the river was Melk, Austria.  Melk is a small town with a huge monastery as you can see here:

It was gorgeous.  I'll let more pictures do the talking:

These are Turks (invaders) that are depicted in their punishment of holding up the ceiling

 

Moses with horns (anyone know why he has horns?)

By the way, these low-light, high magnification picture are brought to you my my new 400 mm lens with Vibration Reduction.  It made many of these pictures possible. It gave me about 3 to 4 extra stops, so it absolutely rocks.

Our last stop on the trip involved a 2 hour bus ride to Saltsburg (Saltzburg), Austria.  We took a short tour and were left on our own for a couple hours to tour.  Dr. K and I got some lunch at an ourdoor restaurant and then wondered around.  I, of course, took a few more pictures.

 

They like that Mozart guy.

Tomorrow, the last night and the trip home.  It's a dozy.

The Danube, Part 1

I've been home for almost a week now and I'm coming up on my next Vegas adventure. That means I'd better post my impressions of my Danube River Cruise before it gets too late. Here goes.

Actually, the trip could have had a much better start. The night before I left Jackson Hole I picked up a little cold. The cold never amounted to much more than congestion and a scratchy throat, but when the cold starts 24 hours before a vacation, the stress and worry about what it's going to turn into is awful.

I got home, did the quick turnaround and Dr. K and I were on our way at 10 am the next morning. We had decided to drive ourselves later rather than have my mother pick us up 3+ hours before the flight (we live 15 minutes from the airport). That decision would turn out to be very fortunate. We had no trouble getting parked, getting our tickets, bags checked and through security. The flights to Munich went very smoothly and we arrived right on time.

Then the fun began. All of the luggage arrived except for one bag - mine. I had a couple of conversations with the Air France rep. She seemed very competent and promised to get my bag to me as soon as possible.

The cruise started after a 1.5 hour bus ride to Passau. We cruised from there to Vienna, Austria. They call it Wein. Where do we get Vienna from? We had purchased tickets to see an orchestra in Vienna. 10 minutes before we were to leave, one of the ship's crew told me that my bag had arrived. Since all of my simi-dressy clothes were in there, I bolted to my cabin and got appropriately dressed for the evening. That was a huge relief. The evening was wonderful.

We toured Wein the next day. Here are a few pictures.

The challenges didn't end with the lost luggage. I'll continue with the adventure later.