Europe this week

It's been quite a week. I've not posted since last weekend only because I've been too busy. After my sightseeing, my week turned to work. Running a workshop that I've done dozens of times not shouldn't take so much of my time, but it always seems to. In addition to that, just finding food and sleep in a strange, time-shifted land makes time extremely short.

But I finished that up on Thursday afternoon and it was nearly time to let the fun begin. I drove to Frankfurt to be close to the airport (top speed - 185 kph). I had an early morning flight out. Before dawn broke, I had checked out of the hotel, dropped off the rental car and found my way to the proper desk at the airport.

My flight was on Lufthansa. This marked the first time I've flown from one foreign airport to another. It was also the first time I've flown on an airliner where the first announcement or instruction was not in English. I thought it politically interesting that the order of languages on Lufthansa as German, English, and then French. Maybe it's nothing.

We got to CDG airport in Paris on time and my bag was the first out of the chute. I love it when that happens. I go to the cab stand and just point to my hotel's name and address. We were probably half-way there before the driver knew I was American. I've worked pretty hard to do that as much as possible on this trip. Advice that I got about staying quiet has proven to be good. The cab ride with tip came to €40 with a tip for what should have been a 20 minute ride. My hotel room was ready (it was still only 10 am), so I dropped my bags, got organized and hit the road.

I got a 3 day pass for the Metro and the next thing you know I'm emerging on the Champs-Élysées. Another good piece of advice that I got before leaving was to get a ticket for the double-decker tour bus. I got a Red Bus ticket and spent the rest of the day touring and taking pictures. I managed to get to the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and many points in between. Here are some pictures from Day 1 in Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You notice that I made my way back to the Eiffel Tower for a night shot. It was definitely worth it. Day 2 was much simpler, just as exciting and more exhausting. Two word: The Louvre. I purchased a walking tour before leaving the states. I had heard that the lines were terribly long, but I never saw them except for the main entrance near the pyramid.

This tour took a couple hours and was a good start and introduction to the highlights of the museum. After lunch, a nice lady gave me her electronic tour guide and I was off on tour number two, the history of the museum. I got through this tour and part of the antiquities tour when my e-guide and legs died. Here are some pictures from the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

So it is now 0230 on Sunday morning. The weather for tomorrow doesn't look great, so I'm likely to head back to the Louvre for the rest of what I can see. There is a station that will drop me right in the museum. I may stroll the Champs-Élysées if the weather turns good. Either way, I leave for home Monday morning for a 6:45 flight to Frankfurt and an 1145 connection to Charlotte. It's been a great trip and it will be great to get home.

Luxembourg

Not much time to write today, so I'll just post some pictures from my drive to Luxembourg.  It was particularly interesting to me that there was no border stop.  It was going from one state to another in the US.

Technology Rocks

I made it to Germany today.  Actually, since it is 0330 Germany time (3:30 am as we write it), I got here yesterday morning.  Tonight, Germany went on daylight savings time so I'm having a little trouble keeping up with the time for several reasons.

With the Tarheels doing so well in the NCAAs, I was going to hate missing the games tonight and next weekend.  They were going to have to make the final game for me to see them again.  Ah, but this is 2008 and CBS is putting all of the games on the web.

So I'm typing this post in one window while I watch the game on CBS.com.  I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of the video over wi-fi.  It's a little jumpy which I don't get on TV, but it is widescreen formated which I don't get at home.

As for Germany, I didn't do a lot today.  The plane landed around 0700.  Customs in Europe is a breeze and my rental Mercedes was ready (it's a little diesel SUV). I did enjoy cruising down the autobaun with the speedometer reading 160+. I have no idea how fast that is, but it feels real fast in a mini-SUV.  Wow.  I just calculated it and it is 100 mph.  Cool.

I got to my hotel about 0900.  My run of luck continued as my room was ready.  That let me get some rest before starting my day.  That rest took about 5 hours.  I spent the rest of the day wondering around the little town near my hotel.  Here are some pictures. 

 

I would have like to have gone up to the castle, but they put it at the top of the hill overlooking the town.  How inconvenient!

The Tarheels are rocking.  44-32 at the half.  If they play like that, they are going to be tough to beat.

Headed Out

We played a little poker this Wednesday night.  One of our players had his wife out of town, so he had the boys over to play.  I got crushed by the deck.  I won a few substantial pots early and then I couldn't buy a card that I needed.  I guess you could say I got 2nd place.  The problem was that I got 2nd over and over and over.  It's OK.  I've been on a good run and have a good bankroll built up.  I'll try again later.

I really don't have time to worry about that now.  I'm sitting in the Philadelphia Int'l Airport awaiting my flight to Frankfurt, Germany.  I've got to run a four day workshop nearby.  Afterwards, I plan to take a few days in Paris.  I hope that lots of pictures follow from my adventures.

Stay tuned.

Online Poker for the USA

<sponsored post>

It has been over a year and a half now since the passage of the UIGEA and seemingly the end of internet poker for players in the USA. I came across a site today that works to help poker players in the USA to find internet sites where they are welcome. The site is Internet-Poker.co.uk. Their main page is located at http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/. Let me tell you, this site is a one stop portal for all you need to get back into playing poker on the internet.

The first thing I saw on the site was a chart listing the top 10 internet poker sites. The chart has a special column for those sites that accept players from the United States. The chart also shows the bonuses offered to players who can play for real cash and the bonus codes to use.

If you like, you can click on the link below the site to get the best sites for US Poker Players. That site is http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/US-Online-Poker-Sites-Accepting-USA-Players/ in case you want to go straight there. Once there, you get the same chart, but now with only sites that accept players from the United States. For those players who can deposit British Pounds, the UK Poker link (http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Best-UK-Poker-Sites-Rooms/) will give you the sites that accept your money as is. Canadian’s also get their own page (http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Poker-Reviews/Canadian-Poker-Sites-Canada-Accepted/). Those lucky Canadian don’t, however, get a list of sites that they can play on. They get the shorter list of sites where they cannot play along with deposit options.

The folks at Internet-Poker have given some of the top sites their own pages, complete with links, bonus codes, and reviews. Some of these sites are Party Poker (http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Poker-Reviews/Party-Poker-Bonus-Code/), Poker Stars (http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Poker-Reviews/www-PokerStars-com/) and one that I’ve not heard of before, Sky Poker (http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Poker-Reviews/Sky-Poker-Review~41.html). There is even a page that lists sites that accept PayPal deposits from European players only.

Internet-Poker.co.uk rounds out their site with pages for Poker strategy and Poker news. Like I said, it is a one stop portal for the poker information that you are looking for. I do wish that the news page was full of hope for US players to be lifted free of the bonds of the UIGEA, but we will half to wait on that a while. In the mean time, you should check out Internet-Poker.co.uk.

<end of sponsored post >

Poker in Mount Holly

Last night was this first chance I've had to get together with the gang for a night of poker in about 3 weeks.  We started with a tournament.  Losers started a cash game of hold em until midnight when we changed over to dealer's choice.

My first hand of the tournament was AK suited with me under the gun.  I raise pre-flop and get 2 callers.  The flop was TTK. It gets checked to me and I bet about the pot.  Both callers call.  "Okay," I think, "No aggression" so I think I'm up against a flush draw with 2 clubs on the board.  I'll keep after it until another club hits.  The next card was a J or Q, something that makes a straight possible, so I go with about half the pot.  Call.  Call.  The river brings a small club.  The big blind (one of my callers) checks, I check and Jim completes the hand by checking.  Jim tables a K with a low kicker.  I table my TPTK.  T in the big blind tables two more tens for quad tens on the first hand.  I feel like this is a good sign because I'm not crippled or out on the first hand.

Unfortunately, I don't think I took any more than a hand or two in the whole tourney.  I bleed down to just a few blinds when I got ATo and push in pre-flop.  Falstaff is my only caller and he tables JTh, so I'm looking good until a J spikes on the flop.  I get no Ace and head for the cash game.

Congrats to Big Nick for winning, Dave B for 2nd, and Falstaff for cashing for the 2nd week in a row.

I win the fist hand after sitting down and then go pretty dry here as well.  I manage to eak out a few hands to stay right around my buy-in amount for the next 3 hours.  Every time I got a decent hand, somebody got a monster.  I tried to make one nut flush on a draw, but couldn't hit it or much of anything else. Finally at midnight we switched over to other games.

The stud round didn't do much for me, but Omaha and O8 did great things for me.  I drug some really good pots to end the night up 140 points.

I don't remember much of the conversations.  There was very little talk early.  I don't know if that was because of the daylight or the tourney making everyone concentrate a little harder.  But here's what I remember 24 hours later:

• I'm going to Germany, Jim's going to London
• Vegas in June, October, December
• Bobby B's coming to Charlotte
• I'm going to Paris, Jim's going to London
• 95.3% of statistics are made up on the spot
• A humidifier?  I thought is was a weird water pitcher.
• Garmins and Tom-Toms
• Poker Chip Displays
• The next president is going to be a Democrat, even if it's McCain.

Arthur C. Clarke is Dead

2001 - A Space Odyssey will always be one of my favorite books.  Rendezvous With Rama still fascinates me with it's big cylinder flying and rotating through space with the environment on the inside surface.  Somebody should make that movie.  His writing certainly expanded my mind.  Thanks, Mr. Clarke.

They Sent a Carrier up from Norfolk

That line from Billy Joel's "Miami 2017" keeps going off in my head. I never did understand that song, but I've always liked it. 2017 sure was a lot further away when I first heard it in high school and HS is the topic of this post. I'll get to that in a sec.

I'm in Norfolk, VA this week, working in the shadow of those carriers. I won't say exactly where or for whom as that makes me seem much more exciting and mysterious. I can say for sure that nearly unlimited patience is required to play good poker and to work anywhere near government, any government.

I did have a very good conversation with an old friend today. First a little back story. I was the class president my junior year in high school (and not a very good one). As I understand it, it is traditionally the senior class president's job to coordinate the reunions. I can't seem to find Jim (not his real name). I've got a few more place to look, but I'm not hopeful. I've been told more than a couple times that the responsibility falls to me.

Well, I liked HS and I almost always enjoy visiting with my old classmates. I would like to see a reunion happen, however, I'm not looking for a part-time job. Planning such an occasion for a graduation class of 600 (or what's left of us) could easily overwhelm anyone.

That is where the old friend comes in. Jen, not her real name, was very involved in putting on a reunion for the HS class that is one year ahead of mine. I was hoping that she would be involved this time and could share some hints or lessons learned. She isn't involved, for reasons I'm coming to, but she did share some good advice on the subject. But as these things happen, there was so much more to be discovered and the reason for the call became eclipsed by the visit and the stores she shared.

As it turns out, Jen came home from the hospital a few days ago. She went in for 5 days and came home after 5 weeks. I don't think they keep heart/lung transplant patients for 5 weeks any more, so I knew that her case was very serious. She told me that she came very close to never coming home, though she never believed it. She told me with all the conviction in the world that she would continue to heal and then travel to all the people and places that she had put off. The thought of having to watch my wife go through something like that scares me deep.

She told me about her husband and children and job as an associate pastor. She told me about her mother passing recently and current enrollment in divinity school. It is certainly a life worth hanging on to. I tried to share some stories of hope and faith that have happened to me recently. I took away inspiration and purpose and a smile. Thanks Jen. After all that, I look so forward to hugging my wife when this trip to Norfolk is done.

Corrupting Sir AlCan'tHang

After work last night, I took a trip over to the hangout of Sir Al Can't Hang.  Al was high atop his usual bar stool surrounded by a troop of locals.  I was fortunate enough to be able to visit with Al, Big Mike, Connie, and more for a couple of hours.  They were most welcoming.

The Tyler James Pub will be the location of "The Bash" in September.  I got a short tour of the facilities.  The huge room with a bar and street level access (we don't want too many drunks navigating the stairs) will make for a great party.  My calendar is already marked for the weekend of Sept. 27th.

We talked about work, retirement (Al's, not mine), dogs, baseball, Key West, Eh-Vegas, Oki-Vegas, Las Vegas, AC and more.  Connie's story about bringing a drowned puppy back to life was particularly enthralling.  My Bass ale, bacon burger and fries dinner was excellent.

I learned that the myth, the legend, the utter bullshit about Al is true.  Though he had not taken a drink since Eh-Vegas, he broke bad and ordered us up a couple of shots.  I knew the stories to be true when, upon Al asking for two shots of SoCo, the bartender asked if he wanted "your kind of shots?"  Al has his own kind of shot?  The bartender really just meant big shots, but the point was made.  These were not among the first hundred shots that Al has ordered.

It was a good time and I look forward to returning.  If you find yourself in the vicinity of Valley Forge, PA, make your way to Tyler James' Pub and knock one back with Al.  I'm sure he well be there.

Saturday Poker

We played again this Saturday night.  Saturday night in Mooresville, NC is like being nowhere at all... Oopps.  I reverted back to that John Denver song for just a second (See the post from 2/17).  Actually, it was quite fun except for the fact that I didn't get to play cards much.  I did get off to a good start in the first orbit and probably had twice the chips as I started with.  Then I got to look at a lot of crappy starting hands and I got into a fair number of limped pots.  Considering that I had BG and Falstaff on my immediate left, seeing any limped pots is a minor miracle.

Pretty much all of the hands from there on went south pretty quickly, so I sit and sit and wait for the tide to turn.  I did donk off some chips to Twitch when I should have known that my two pair were beat.  I know how he plays well enough that I could have avoided it, but frustration overtook me and I called him down.  I later got KK, bet, got two callers and saw an ace flop.  T bet and I'm gone.  Kings cracked!  I also had Nate dead to rights when he went all in with K2 to my KJ when a K hit on the flop.  The 2 hits on the river and I get more chips (from the bank).

It wasn't all bad.  I made a big comeback late in the Omaha hour (literally 2 hands before I had to leave) to finish the night up by 12 points.  I'd have to say the patience was the only thing that kept me around that night.

Table talk:

• Either BG really had to go bad or his nose opened up again.
• Make a double batch (hair color)
• It's hard to tilt listening to Perry Como (yea, that was me)
• If T were going to get embarrassed, she would have left years ago.
• Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Springsteen)

Poker this week will be on Friday and I will just be returning home from Philly, so no poker for me this week.  I'll miss the gang, but I could use a break.

One last note, I've been invited to become a contributor on a real web site - LasVegasVegas.com.  I have no idea what form my posts will take and they will probably be few and far between.  I'm honored and excited to be a part of the LVV team.

Vegas Hotel Shorthand

When Dr. K came back from Vegas last week calling the Imperial Palace the "ip", I knew this post had to happen.  Here it the totally unofficial list of shorthand names for Vegas casinos:

• IP or "ip" - Imperial Palace
• TI - Treasure Island, but even they call it the TI now
• The Castle - Excalibur
• P Ho - Planet Hollywood
• The Gem - MGM
• The Burnt Marshmallow - Monte Carlo (that one only lasted a couple of weeks)
• GVR - Green Valley Ranch
• That place where the waitresses have huge hooters - pretty much anywhere in Vegas except Caesars.
• The Rhino - no wait, that's not a casino

I guess that's it.  Feel free to suggest more.

Bonus Whoring

I started my one full day in Vegas, not by hitting the nearest poker table, but by touring the strip and joining player's clubs to get some good coupons and swag. The main coupons that I wanted were for match play.

I had 3 match plays on this trip. Two were for $25 and one for 5. I won one of three for a profit of $20. so before any poker, I'm up about $30 for the trip at the start of the poker playing day. (I had a real nice +$170 session at the Hooters Poker Room late Tuesday night to put me up $10 at the start of the day)

A few other impressions of the strip:

• The City Center and Cosmopolitan projects (between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo) is a huge mass of construction. It is remarkable how far they have come in the last 10 months. (Pictures above)
• You can not tell there was a fire at the Monte Carlo a few weeks ago.
• Wynn's Encore tower is nearly complete. Except for the cranes, it looks complete.
• The Palazzo (new tower at the Venetian) is fabulous. (Pictures below)

I stopped by the Wynn to see the start of the Wynn Classic poker tournament. I was hoping to run into FlipChip, but no such luck today. I don't know if it was a sad sight or not, but I did spot poker pro T.J. Cloutier at a $15 craps table all by himself. I thought about placing a bet so I could recount the day TJ and I played craps together, but I didn't think it was worth $15. I made a swing through the Palazzo and Venetian on my way to my poker objective, the fabulous Flamingo.

The poker room there sucks, but I was hoping that the players would match. Unfortunately for me, the cards are what sucked. I found a very familiar pattern of playing very tight, getting some action on every bet, and hanging around even until a good starting hand gets my chips in only to be sucked out by somebody who should not have been in the hand.

That is exactly what happened after about 3 hours of play. I got QQ and got my $12 open called by 2 players. The flop is all low trash, I jam for about $60 more and get one caller who hit his 64o for two pair. IGBTHN (I go back to hotel now).

I hung out at my hotel for about an hour checking email and taking a short break before heading to the Planet Hollywood for the 6 pm tourney. The Grinder used to play in this one, but no longer. It is just a well structured $60 tourney. Since it was really a 7 pm tourney, I signed up and then sat at a $1-2 NL table to pass the time.

That familiar pattern of hanging around to get stacked was still in force and took about an hour before I ran my flopped 2 pair into an over-sized stack on an outside straight draw. Guess what. yep. IGGDN (get dinner). I'm now down $200 for the day and $170 for the trip.

But I'm not posting bad-beat stories on this trip. I did well in the tourney getting 6th out of 36 to double my buy-in and bring my trip total to -$110. From here I cruised to Bellagio to play some $1-3 NL and find again that they don't spread such low limits. They start at $2-5, so I keep moving. Bally's has a good sized list for $1-2, but Paris is open (they post both lists at Bally's).

I show up at Paris at about 11 pm, Ready to play for about an hour. I hang around my $115 buy-in for the hour and start to look for the exit. Then I get dealt 66 on the button and get in a 6 way limped pot. the flop comes 567 and it gets checked to me. I bet $12 and get 2 callers. The turn is a 2 and the player to my right goes all in for $38 more. I call and the 3rd player folds. The river brings the fourth 6 to make me quad 6s. Bonus! So I take down the $120 ish pot and a $110 high hand bonus. After a couple more good hands I stand up and cash out for about $300.

I end this Vegas trip just a little over $100 thanks to a late rally. I board the plane in about 20 minutes and will be home in 5 hours. Good times.

Vegas 2/2008

What a day!  We get to the customer site this morning and get some really strange looks, or maybe they were strained.  We are told that the SQL part of the meeting will now begin after lunch and not at 10:45 as we had been told.  In addition, they want us to speak with the hardware rep.  Curious.

She comes out and explains that they are not just giving the results of their audit, but are doing a presentation to get a contract to do the whole project.

Well that changes things a bit.  Mostly it meant that no one from our company could attend the meeting.  Yep, I flew 4/5 of the way across the country to not attend a meeting.  After speaking with my manager and the manager of the customer's team, we split for the airport.

I was not supposed to leave Phoenix until 7 pm and it was only 1 pm when I got through security at the airport.  I checked the desk about the next flight to Vegas and they gave me a seat.  I had to take a middle seat and give up my first-class seat, but it beat the crap out of sitting in the airport for 5.5 hours.  Best part that I still got upgraded before we took off.

So I'm now in Vegas and have joined the Owl Club here at the Hooters Hotel and Casino.  They gave me $100 in slot play and a table match play of $25.  I've also played poker at the MGM for 3 hours.  Since I'm not going to write anymore bad beat stories about this trip, that is the end of this post.

Business First - Solo Rage Next

I've got a few minutes and I finally feel like writing something.  When I'm home, there are some many other things that I like to do or have to do that blogging get pushed to the back burner.  Playing pool, guitar hero, paying bills, fixing something on the house, playing with the dogs, going out (or staying it) with the wife, etc. all rate higher than blogging. 

When I'm on the road, those things aren't available and so it comes time to catch up on the blog.

I'm currently in Phoenix, AZ awaiting a meeting with one of my customers.  Right now it is clear and 55 degrees here.  Charlotte is 49 degrees and raining like crazy.  I hate I'm missing out on that.

I flew all the way out here yesterday for the meeting today.  We won't start until 10:45 and I won't be surprised if we are done my lunch.  I hope we at least go until 3 or 4.  It would just be too crazy to come all this way for a 1 or 2 hours meeting.  That's what con calls are for.  I'm not even presenting at the meeting.  Hardware vendors are doing that.  I'm just there to represent my company and to stay involved in the project.

So, to make the best of a bad situation, after the meeting, I'm hopping on a plane and making the 1 hour journey to Vegas.  I plan to go solo for about 32 hours or so before flying out Thursday morning.  My rough plan is to play at the MGM tonight.  After a good night's sleep, I head up to the Venetian and Wynn to check out some of the sights and action.  Wednesday night is still to be determined.  Any offers?

Before I go, I have to report on last night's poker action.  I returned to the casino that I don't think I have ever left with money that has been placed on a table.  It has felted me every time.  Last night was no exception.  All that is allowed in AZ is limit poker.  The only no-limit substitute was a $5-200 game that sounded to rich for me. 

So I sat at a donkey $2-4 table.  I lost with flopped top trips 4 times, once to a flopped straight, once to flopped trips with a bigger kicker, and once each to a rivered flush and boat.  My top straight got beat by a rivered flush.  I think I took one or pots of any decent size.  Casino Arizona has never been kind to me and I'll never go back this month.  I only went through $100, but I was looking to kill time and have dinner.  I guess I got that, but I'm now behind for the trip.

 

Next up, Vegas, baby.

Saturday Night in Concord, NC

Just reading those words in the title reminds me of a John Denver song from my youth.  The song is "Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio".  In case you aren't familiar with it, it goes something like this:

"Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio is like being nowhere at all.
All through the day how the hours rush by, you sit in the park and you watch the grass die.

"You ask how I know of Toledo, Ohio? Well I spent a week there one day.
They've got entertainment to dazzle your eyes: go visit the bakery and watch the buns rise."

You get the idea. 

Well, Dr. K and I found just the opposite in Concord last night.  We attended the Old Courthouse Theater's production of "Moon Over Buffalo".  The play was hilarious.  Jim the Knife is a good friend and the male lead in the play. 

I have to say it really is a bitch supporting your friends sometimes.  We had to drive a whole 20 minutes to be greeted as somebody special, sit in a comfortable theater for 2 hours, be thoroughly entertained by a troop very talented actors and in the end have the wife be very happy with her man for the hefty price of $15 per person.  Oh, the things I'll endure for my friends. :)

I've known for some time that Jim has a great voice.  I've also seen him act in some commercials, but last night, he put the whole package together.  I would have been impressed with his performance had he been a complete stranger.  He was professional quality.  I really think he could go as far as he wants with his acting.

We were also very impressed with the performances of Andrea Rassler as the daughter and Becky Porter who played the grandmother.  Those were the standouts, but there wasn't a weakness in the entire cast.  They were all terrific.

The greatest discoveries are those that show up in unexpected times and places.  I would not have expected so much from an evening in Downtown Concord.  It was a great discovery and a wonderful evening.

Poker not so much fun tonight

Yea, I lost a few points, but that doesn't bother me.  Normally the entertainment value would be worth several times what I invested.  No, it was something else and it ate on me all night.  I wish it hadn't and I wish I could just let it go.  That's what a grown up would do.

I know that nobody there meant anything personal, but the timing really left me with something I want to say, and the folks gathered were pretty aggressive about not wanting to hear it.   The topic was politics and one of the guests had just made what, to me, was a purely partisan political comment that contradicted an earlier statement he had made.  In affect, he told me I was wrong and that it (all the problems in the world?) was always the republican's fault as the rest of the group cut off the conversation.  They've never cut off any conversation before, but they sure cut me off.

Well the reaction in my gut was and big "Fuck That!!" It must be something from my childhood, but that hit a button that hasn't been hit in a long time.  I didn't rant or rave, but I kinda wish I had.  Had I done that, Falstaff could have thrown me out (it's his house after all) giving me some finality to the discussion.  Had there been more folks there I would probably have hit the road, at least to cool down for a while.  In my younger days, I would have called it a night.  Instead, I just sat there like a jerk and didn't say a thing.

It's a sign of growth that I didn't react as I would have, but after 47 years I should be a lot further along than I showed tonight.  There is a lot of growth still in front of me.  We have a good fun group that I really love being around and I'm sorry to anyone who was paying enough attention to have been made uncomfortable.  I know I sure was tonight.

Gratuitous Photo Posting

Just because I haven't seen this one in a while.

This is Dry Falls near Highlands, NC.

Happy Valentine's Day - not

(disclaimer: I don't have any children) 

A buddy of mine at work is going through a rough time.  A week ago, his wife left him.  He had no idea it was coming.  Worse yet, she took their 6 year-old twins with her to a friends house.  She called him at work that day to make sure he was not on his way home and made an excuse for why she would be out with the kids.  The friend's that she took the kids (who are asmatic) to stay with have cats and a dog to which the kids are allergic.  He found out what had gone down about 9 o'clock that night when he reached his wife on the phone and she told him that she was gone and the kids are safe and "that's all you need to know."

Damn.

Now I know I'm only getting one side of the story and there is a lot more to go with what I have above, but skip ahead to today.  My buddy has moved out of his house so his wife and kids can move back in.  I would imagine that it will be her's (and the kid's) to keep.  She has avoided getting a job for the past two years, so he'll get to pay her for leaving him and it is already pretty clear that they (the wife and layer) are going to do everything they can to make him out to be a pervert or monster.

To hear his side, he was staying in this marriage to keep the family together for the kids.  I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but I'll bet it was better that what they have right now.  And if you are wondering if she was abused, she is a black belt martial arts instructor and he weighs about 160.  I don't think that is an issue.

The real problem, to hear him tell it, is that he is trying to play by the rules, be a nice guy and try to settle things as quickly as possible for the kids sake.  He doesn't realize that she has probably been talking to her lawyer and setting him up for months.

If there were any justice, the kids would be at home with him and she would be visiting them from wherever she found to live.  But it doesn't work that was for guys.  She will probably get the house, the kids (which she will use as a lever with which to beat him), cash and every opportunity to date and move on.  If he is a good guy, he will get indentured servitude for the next 12 years.

This is going to be sad to watch as the system roll over him like a Mac Truck.  I could understand (but not condone) why some guys do real stupid things in situations like this.  I would probably be one of them.

Happy Valentine's Day. :(

Break is over - Back to Work

That was a nice little break from blogging.  It's not that nothing has been happening or that nothing was on my mind.  I just didn't feel like writing it down.

Going back a little over a week, there was Poker at BG's in the country.  I won the tournament with very few cards, but really strong cards when others had good enough cards to play with me.  I think I busted out about half the players, but that was a good while ago and the story may have grown in my mind.  I also did real well in the cash game finishing the night with about 170 more points than I started with.

Oh yea, that was the night our host's nose opened into a red torrent to start a run of three straight days visiting the local emergency room.  Falstaff wrote it up much better than could I.  Read it here.

The following night was pool league and the super bowl.  Both worked out the way I wanted.  I smoked my opponent and the Giants took down the Patriot's collective egos.

Work was really busy last week, thought I don't remember just what happened.  I remember that there were lots of con calls and interviews and no time to sit and write up a decent blog post, so I didn't.  It was nice to be home at night for the first week in the past three.

The biggest news for the Special K household is that Dr. K has taken a position with a local audiology clinic.  She is already very happy with the new employer and co-workers.  Better yet, it is only 10 minutes from the house.  That is compared to the 40-50 minutes she spent getting to and from her last job.  Last and probably least important in the big scheme, the pay is much better that she has ever received before.  I'm so proud of her I can't put it into words.

This past Saturday was alright for pasta and poker.  Damn, I've been playing lots of poker here recently, but it is so much fun and Jim the Knife made us an offer that we couldn't refuse.  The offer was a home-made pasta dinner followed by hours of cards.  The meal and company were big winners for me.  The poker was a little winner (21 points), but that beats the crap out of losing.  Thanks again, Jim.  It was a terrific night.

One interesting hand happened when three of us hit our flushes on the river.  I beat the low flush and got beat by T with the short stack and a J to beat my ten.  I at least got some money back from the side pot.  You can read more about the night here.

Pool on Sunday was a different story.  Where I smoked last week, I got smoked this week.  I took a 3-0 loss to a lower ranked player.  I probably hurt my game by raking leaves and shoveling dirt before going to play, but my opponent played really well and I didn't.

Wow, not that I've got that all recorded, we can move on to more important matters.  I'll let you know as soon as I figure out what those are.

One more thing though.  I upgraded my Flickr account and uploaded a heaping helping of photos last night.  I wanted to test the integration of Flickr with this Windows Live Writer that I use so here goes with some photos from Yellowstone in October 2004:

Larger versions are available by clicking on the photos. That wasn't much integration, but I can work with it.

Quote

Linus Torvalds (creator of the Linux operating system) on the slow uptake of Linux on desktop computers:

"Better is worse if it's different."

So true.