Thursday, May 29, 2008

Whatcha gonna do, IKEA boy?


I guess this is the next logical step of Midtown NY, given the influx of young urban narcissists as Lost City refers to them.

Just remember, the second rule of Fight Club is, YOU DO NOT...TALK...ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.


Where will Project Mayhem begin?


I know there's been a lot of NY stuff lately but, well, there is a lot of weird stuff going on there. It must be something in y'all's water or just Sex and the City backlash.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Downward Spiral

This might explain some of the bizarre behavior by Hillary! over the last few weeks.

It seems her "body woman" Huma has been involved with a male NY representative.

"Body woman" is a quote straight from the article. It becomes even more interesting when other rumors are taken into account.

Strange, indeed.

UPDATE: Welcome, Ace's morons.

Trips

I didn't have time to put up the BoDonkey reminder yesterday, what with family about. We all went to dinner and I got back into the house at 9:08, and the tourney had already begun.

We only had 35 last night, with 6-10 getting their buyins back and 1-5 getting the big money and T$.

This is a 13-week series, and I missed the first eight due to classes. The first one I played, in week 9, I got knocked out early on.

Week 10: Cash in 6th place (just the buyin back)
Week 11: Cash in 3rd place
Yesterday (Week 12) Cash in 5th Place

So, that's three final tables of this thing in a row. Between the last two weeks, I've accrued a good amount of T$ to use in the mini-SOP starting this weekend.

There is one more week to move up into the top 18. I probably need another final table, at least, to make it into the top 18 and have a shot at a Main Event package that I have no vacation time to take. I can't see the leaderboard (or do a screen shot from the tourney) but I m in 33rd right now.

We will see. It is a long way to go.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Revenge of SithMan Speyer



SithMan Speyer is probably more appropriate than Tishman Speyer in this case.



Fresh off one massive publicity failure with the West Side Rail Yards, we've now got another negative story about Tishman Speyer, which bought PCV/ST about a year and a half ago.



When MetLife owned the property, they were a bit more lax in enforcing the "absentee resident" situations, unless it was blatantly obvious. It seems that new ownership is being a bit more aggressive in trying to get rid of alleged illegal sublets.



I find it interesting that their goal was to have 57% converted to market-rate units within 2011. I would have imagine the goal to be much HIGHER within a five-year timeframe.


However, if they're going to play this so aggressively, they better be damn sure about the accuracy - especially with some of the accused being mistaken for other people and falsely accused. For the money involved with 11,000 apartments, they had better be sure before they move ahead.



Beyond that - I have no comment. I can see the argument from both sides.


Market rate can be anywhere from 2600 to over 5000 per month, compared to the 1300 a month rent-controlled units can fetch. Multiply that difference by 12 months and thousands of units, and it adds up.

On the bright side, they now allow pets, so we could now technically live there if we wanted.



H/t Gothamist.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Live poker is so rigged....

I went to BrainMc's yesterday for a fun little game. We had 13 runners for a nice bounty tournament, which I've been looking forward to for quite a while.

It was a deep-stack tourney, so after three hours we had only gone from 13 to 11 players. RIght before we stopped for dinner, I picked up A-J of spades in the BB. After a weak button raise (BB was 160, and the raise was only to 500), the button and I played out the rest of the hand. We both had about 6500 in chips before the hand.

Could you get away from this hand? Here's how it went down.

Preflop: Button raise to 500
SB folds
BB: call 340.

Flop: [Ah] [Ks] [3s]
I check
Button bets 500
I call with top pair and the nut flush draw

Turn: [10s]
BAM! Nut Flush!

I bet 700
Button thinks and calls 700

I probably did not bet enough herem but in terms of keeping them involved, not too bad.

River: [Kd]

I check it.
Button pushes remaining stack which barely covers me - 4800 into a 4000 pot.

Now, I've played with him before, so I know how he generally plays. I sit for at least five minutes running through the hands he could have that would beat me.

A-K? Pocket 10's? Pocket Aces? In all of those, he would have bet the flop differently.

So, I'm thinking he has K-Q and rivered a set, or has a good flush - maybe Q-high. Both of those mean I'm winning the hand.

I finally call. I think I've eliminated every hand that can beat me, so a win will give me a big chip lead. I was right, in a way.

He did not have A-K, 10-10, or A-A.

He had 3-3 - which I didn't put him on given the position and knowing he doesn't normally play a hand like that, even with position.

In retrospect, the turn bet wasn't nearly enough, as he had odds to chase. I needed to bet at least 1500 to make it possible to fold - but then, I won't be getting his stack as I'm hoping to do with the nut flush.

As the title says, live poker is so rigged. I've seen that many times online, but not live very often even among our group.

Could any of you have folded that hand? Laying down the nut flush there was really difficult. I didn't want to bet too much on the turn, because I didn't want to chase him out of the hand, and instead I got killed on the hand.

After we ended the tourney, we started a cash game. I played for about 5 hours, and ended up $30 for that portion. Overall, I was in the red, but not as bad as could be. Still, it is the first loss for my PokerStars shirt, so it doesn't have a perfect record anymore.

Overall, it costs less than a therapy session, and I got to have some beer and pizza too.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Pork Product FAIL

AlCantHang did a contest a few months ago relating to bacon and its many uses, flavors, and forms.


I wish I had found this picture at that time.



Yours for only $100.

Irony from last post

Within MINUTES of putting up my other post this morning about taking a break from the virtual felt for a little while, Full Tilt goes and does this five-week event, while BoDog does their own version.

I imagine the BoDog tourneys would be better, since there is generally a large amount of overlay for their guaranteed tournaments. Full Tilt, on the other hand, doesn't have that problem generally of missing guarantees and overlay, but if you have rakeback with FTP you will get screwed if you're in an event and they DON'T hit the guarantee - unless you hit it big, in which case, you probably won't care about a tiny rakeback loss.

Oh well.

Falling Down

After the nice finish on Tuesday in the BoDog Blogger tourney, I have had one of the worst runs of bad luck I've every had on the virtual tables.

Whether it's rivered straights or just plain bad calls, I've been taking a whacking, and it's ot a lot of fun.

In thinking about it today, I think it's best if I take a little time off from the VIRTUAL felt. Aside from Tuesday's BoDonkey, I don't think I will be playing in anything at all for the next week.

Of course, there are a few other reasons for this as well. The most notable reason is that we will be having company starting on Sunday.

I've been trying to prepare myself, but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that my father will be flying into Atlanta on Sunday. The doctors have decided to proceed with radiation and chemotherapy, possibly simultaneously. Without it, they guess he has six months. With it, who knows, but I guess they think it is ultimately treatable (otherwise they wouldn't go ahead with it).

However, they've advised against doing anything strenuous once he starts radiation therapy, including having visitors come out to Phoenix. They would prefer he take visitors or make visits/travel plans before starting the radiation treatments in early June, so he is going to come east for eight days...starting this weekend. I'll be picking him up Sunday afternoon at the airport.

Nervous doesn't quite begin to cover how I'm feeling about this visit. Hopefully it goes well instead of devolving into a yelling match whenever we've been together for more than 24 hours at any point in the last fifteen years.

Regardless, we have a lot of items to discuss and plan for, regardless of how well we get along, so it will be better if I try to stay purely analytical whenever possible (like at a poker table) and not go on tilt (as seems to happen lately at the virtual felt).

Thankfully, there's a game I'm going to before he gets into town. Hopefully, that will be adequate relaxation for me prior to the home invasion.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Improvement

Instead of bubbling on the big money, like last week, I came in 3rd in the BoDog Blogger Tourney this week.

Big points move, and big T$ infusion in addition to the cash, but I'm disappointed because I was way ahead in this final table. I had 60% of the chips with 5 players left, and ended up donking off quite a bit in a three-way pot, running a poor bluff, and getting busted by a rivered straight by an equal-sized chipstack.

It's a nice win, but I would have much preferred the first place win and moving up much further in the points race for the ToC. It'll be interesting to see how much higher I moved, and how much more I have to make up next week to get to the top 18.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Horny bastard

I consider my drive from home to work to be very relaxing.

I take back roads, through the Kennesaw Mountain area, and sometimes I get to see deer.

Every day, I drive past a farm which has goats, emus, llamas, horses, and geese. Really, I don't see how you can get upset when you see a llama.

I've had two strange wildlife encounters in the last week.

First, I was walking outside of my office, which is near McCollum Airport. While in the parking lot, three geese walked toward me in the parking lot and just...stared. I stared back for a minute, and then we all kept going on our way.

Second (and the inspiration for this title), I was driving back to work from home, after eating lunch and checking on the dog (who also has a tumor, but non-cancerous, in her hip). I made my turn by the farm, and I saw the goat, llama, and other animals as I normally do.

Except, this time, the goat was not standing in the field behind a fence.

It was standing half-on, half-off the road.

Being a slow-moving car, I wasn't too panicked about hitting it. I guess it had jumped the fence - I didn't see a hole in the fence and other animals outside the farm. I creeped forward slowly, and the goat moved off to the side so I could continue back to work.

No, I did NOT get out of the car and try to chase the goat back to where it belonged, or try to offer it food.

I did not go that way on the way back home at the end of the day, so I guess I will find out tomorrow if the goat is back where it belongs...or is still roaming free. I haven't seen anything on the news yet, since we had our 4,376th tornado of 2008 in Georgia tonight.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Tuesday Night Special

Don't forget....Tuesdays, at 9:05 PM EDT, on BoDog...



Here's the rules again...

Bodog is proud to host the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series where poker
bloggers worldwide are gathering each Tuesday in the Bodog Poker Room to earn
points for a spot in the final tournament. The winner of the TOC will receive a
once in a lifetime opportunity to win a $12,000 WSOP* prize package and be a
part of Team Bodog 2008. Details at http://www.bodogbloggertournament.com

This tournament is open to poker bloggers from around the globe. If you are new
to Bodog, please sign up at http://poker.bodoglife.com

To register, players are required to go to
http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament
and sign in with
their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is
completed, they must then click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into
the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play
in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker
Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and
every week.

For assistance with registration, call Bodog's Poker Customer Service at
1-866-909-2237 or email http://www.bodogbloggertournament.com/contact
Please include your blogger screen name, Bodog Member Account ID number and your
poker blog URL address.

So what are YOU waiting for? Sign up today and may the best poker blogger win!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Relaxing Fun

It would have been nice to take advantage of this offer below, but I will not be in Vegas this summer after all.

Phoenix, definitely, but not Vegas. I am out for the Blogger gathering - it isn't happening. The kibosh was put in place for travel during radiation, so meeting up anywhere outside of Phoenix is not being allowed since radiation will probably start within the next 10 days.

I do know a couple of you would be interested in this blurb, though, especially you folks living in Vegas.



"Every Saturday and Sunday, from 10a to 11a, TAO Beach will offer TAO Yoga classes with wellness instructors provided by Canyon Ranch SpaClub. After the yoga sessions, guests can relax by the pool and unwind with some cocktails while they enjoy the sounds of TAO Beach’s resident and guest Djs. Classes are complimentary with a TAO Goddess card. Space is limited and is filled on a first-come, first served basis. Guests must be 21 and older."

The pool, not the yoga. I'm not that flexible.

Go read Carmen's review of Tao Beach too.

H/t Insider Las Vegas.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Economic boozing

One thing that I never understood, in retrospect, was how someone with almost no income could be an alcoholic.

Growing up, I had parents that were severe alcoholics. When I moved down here, I thought it odd that liquor stores did not deliver - the one by our house would bring by deliveries more often than the pizza store.

Looking back, I always wondered how they could afford it, without working too much and/or being perpetually hurt.

Well, I think I finally figured it out today.

I was waiting for Kim and the kids off Paces Ferry, in front of a package store. I was waiting for a while, so right before they pulled up I bought a fifth of my favorite.

Now, while many consumer products have been affected by rising oil and commodity prices, apparently alcohol was not one of them. It cost $5.79.

That's less than a double quarter pounder meal at McDonald's.

So, if you substitute a bottle for a meal, then I guess it would work, in a way. Of course, you also have to account for the diseased liver, kidneys,and everything else as a side cost.

Thankfully, I like food much more than alcohol, and I'm quite fond of my liver to decide not to drink to the extent they ever did. But it was an interesting thing to think about.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

That average would lead the majors

I played 3 tournaments in Tilt tonight, thanks to Tuesday's wins.

1) Riverchasers: I came in 50th out of 54 in OE. Awful, awful play.

2) Daily Double A: 630 of 1094.

3) Daily Double B: 1009 runners, and finished ITM at 127th. This, though, was a sick way to go:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6433331415: Daily Double - B (48237712), Table 35 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:49:21 ET - 2008/05/15
Seat 1: The Random (9,455)
Seat 2: JoeWarEagle (19,730)
Seat 3: vUoNg2o (9,282)
Seat 4: APOSEC72 (4,727)
Seat 5: vinsanity01 (11,150)
Seat 7: rusty1007 (21,284)
Seat 8: Muckaroo (3,270)
Seat 9: Tinman163 (12,415)
The Random antes 100
JoeWarEagle antes 100
vUoNg2o antes 100
APOSEC72 antes 100
vinsanity01 antes 100
rusty1007 antes 100
Muckaroo antes 100
Tinman163 antes 100
vinsanity01 posts the small blind of 400
rusty1007 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to APOSEC72 [Kh Kc]
Muckaroo folds
Tinman163 folds
The Random raises to 9,355, and is all in
JoeWarEagle folds
vUoNg2o folds
APOSEC72 calls 4,627, and is all in
vinsanity01 folds
rusty1007 folds
The Random shows [Qs Ks]
APOSEC72 shows [Kh Kc]
Uncalled bet of 4,728 returned to The Random
*** FLOP *** [5h Ts Jc]
*** TURN *** [5h Ts Jc] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [5h Ts Jc 2c] [9h]
The Random shows a straight, King high
APOSEC72 shows a pair of Kings
The Random wins the pot (11,254) with a straight, King high
APOSEC72 stands up
The Random stands up
JoeWarEagle stands up
vUoNg2o stands up
vinsanity01 stands up
rusty1007 stands up
Muckaroo stands up
Tinman163 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 11,254 | Rake 0
Board: [5h Ts Jc 2c 9h]
Seat 1: The Random showed [Qs Ks] and won (11,254) with a straight, King high
Seat 2: JoeWarEagle folded before the Flop
Seat 3: vUoNg2o folded before the Flop
Seat 4: APOSEC72 (button) showed [Kh Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: vinsanity01 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: rusty1007 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Muckaroo folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Tinman163 folded before the Flop

Definitely did not go as well as Tuesday night.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

BoDog Live Blog




9:05: BoDonkey starts.

9:07: Log in. I didn't miss much. There are 44 runners.

9:14: Bust Columbo when my snowmen become a set on the flop, then a riverboat, against his AQ (TPTK on flop).

9:22: I think that's the only decent hand I'll see this hour.

9:25: Skillz game starting in 5 minutes, I guess it's double duty tonight. At least I'm still chip leader in the BoDonkey before Alt-Tap ruins my left hand for the night.

9:30: Who you calling a HOE? Tonight's Skillz Game os HOE Limit. 67 runners. Make the final table of 8, get paid. No link available right now.

9:33: Second hand of HOE, bet flop and - everyone folds? Huh?

9:35: I forgot how much I hate Limit Hold Em.

9:38: Still at 6200 in BoDonkey.

9:42: Mmmmm.........Omaha scoops. I think I've gotta space the updates out a little more, though. 3160 in Skillz, 6300 in Bodonkey.

9:52: On the other end of a scoop in Omaha and I'm back to a starting stack in Skillz.

9:56: Chip bleeding in E (Stud H/L). Not cool.

10:00: Back to Hold Em in Skillz. Waaaaay down to T2384.

10:05: Break Time in BoDonkey and I am now second. Not cool there either.

10:17: Back over the starting stack in Skillz, and up to T7100 in BoDonkey. Yay.

10:22: BoDonkey - My Aces v. NumbBono's Queens, and the flop is A-7-7 for DA NUTS. Up to 9560 and back in the lead. (Sorry, don't have a link.) We have 33 left of 44.

10:30: We broke da HOE...and on the last hand, deuces full of sixes moved me up to T4289 and 9th of 65 left (we only lost two in the first hour). Also over 10K in BoDonkey.

10:41: Won another race in BoDonkey - my A-J caught on the turn against 10's. Over 12K.

10:50: BOUNTY! $2 for a knockout of Dwal78.

10:52: 7th in Skillz, 1st in BoDonkey, and now I've got Buddy Dank Radio on.

11:04: 4th/57 in Skillz and 4th/19 in BoDonkey. Whaaaaa?

11:10: Big hit when K-2 trips up on deuces on the flop (ow).

11:23: Another bounty, but by accident - absent all in player, and there was a live side pot, I bet out, other player folded, and I won the pot.

11:24: Points bubble popped in BoDonkey!

11:28: Bounty in Skillz for VinNay. Back to 6th. 4th in BoDonkey, and we are at the money bubble.

11:37: Break #2 in Skillz, 5th of 37. We have made the money on BoDog. 8 left on an ugly beat by me that I thought was a steal and I got massively lucky on the river.

11:45: 7 in BoDonkey. Top 5 get an extra $109 in tourney dollars. Still in 3rd.

11:50: Another bounty in Skillz, of oossuuu754. I am now 4th in BOTH tourneys again.

11:59: Another bounty in Skillz, of scottc25, but a terrible play in BoDonkey and I am 5th of 6. Ran A-7 into A-Q. Oops.

12:07: Out in BoDonkey in 6th when my A-10 lost to A-6 on a rivered diamond flush. Well, at least I get the buyin back, but the $109 would have been really nice.

12:08: Another bounty, on DragonFCP. I am 5th in the Skillz with 20 to go. I think I've got my buyin back now.

12:12: No more bounties, but now over 20K in Skillz at the points bubble.

12:20: Hanging tough, 4th of 15.

12:40: Not many. Hanging on. 7th of 10.

12:42: Make that 10th of 10, and falling very fast. I am bricking out very badly at Break #3 - I am WAY behind.

12:53: I hang on, and it's a DOUBLE CASH! WOOT!!!!!!

12:57: Double up, now out of last. Whew.

1:02: 7 left, I am 6th.

1:03: 6 of 6. Ruh-roh.

1:07: Survive a five-way pot with a quarter-chop, which means I came out a little ahead in the hand. Yikes. Still 6th and very short.

1:13: It's all over, I'm out in 6th. Still, not a bad night. Two final tables are nice. Now, time for bed.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Travel Request

I got a lot more information on my father's condition yesterday, and the prognosis is not goog. They will not be able to perform surgery on either the heart vessels or the lung tumors. They will begin radiation, possibly within a week once they determine how they will do it.

He has been cleared to travel, and it now seems likely that ALL of us will meet him in Las Vegas, probably one of the weekends that a lot of you other bloggers will be out there for the Summer gathering.

Thankfully, Harrah's was nice enough (or desparate enough) to send me some offers to stay for a reduced or free rate over the summer. The Flamingo might work, as that will keep the kids entertained. The Rio may work as well, since my father has some comps there and it's also a Harrah's property.

Really, I think the doctors cleared him to travel to essentially tell him to go out and enjoy himself - but that's not a questions I want to bring to the surface. I think he knows that, and I think he knows I know that, but neither of us really wants to put it in those stark terms. When you hear words and phrases like "lymph node", "metastasized", "fluid drained", and "inoperable", there are a lot of thing that can be naturally deduced without having to say them out loud. He knows it's less than a 20% chance of five-year survival, not factoring in the heart problems, so we both know it's not exactly a great outlook.

So, we'll all meet up, have some fun in the time there it is, hope for a miracle, and in the meantime he'll get to see his grandkids.

So, a question to you other folks who are heading out west: Have you been able to find any decent airfares? I've been plugging away at the major sites and haven't been able to crack 350 unless I select a multi-stop, overnight, pass-through-Timbuktu itinerary.

P.S. I am not too worried about the kids taking a 4 1/2 hour flight. Alex has flown that long before to Colorado, and Sammie will be fine as long as she gets to snuggle for the flight and it's close to her naptime.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

For the MILFs

Funny video, h/t comedy.com

Friday, May 09, 2008

Semester of Pi

America voted.....no, not those results.

The final grades are in for the hardest semester I've done in 10 years, and I managed a 3.14 GPA for the term. The last grade I was waiting for came in as an A-.

I'm a little disappointed, but at the same time it's pretty good considering how many other things have been going on the last three months (one job, then two, plus sicknesses and kids). I'm glad I can step back now and appreciate that it was a hell of a term to make it through and that I did so in fairly admirable fashion.

Before some of you say that anything under an A- is bad, let me point out that in two of my classes, students received D's. No grade inflation here in graduate school.

So, now we can take the summer to relax and focus a little more on other things in life. Being able to enjoy more than 4 hours of sleep a night is going to help immensely.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Facebook in real life

OK, this is pretty funny. Click to the original post for the video.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

All your friends are belong to us

As further proof that they can't develop anything worth a damn anymore and are much better in mergers & acquisitions, Microsoft may now be looking to buy Facebook after failing in a bid to buy Yahoo!

A lot of Facebook people (myself included) would be quite nervous at such a combination, given Microsoft's (lack of) adequate security protection on a large number of its products.

On the bright side, it might mean that doodling at Facebook during work could now qualify as workplace productivity - something to keep in mind the next time you poke someone.

I do wonder, though, how they place Facebook's value at $15 billion. That sort of valuation reeks of 1999-2000. We all know how well THAT worked out.

Big Troouble on LES

I hope this turns out to be a temporary closure, but apparently Veneiro's on 11th and 1st has been closed.

I'm going to be really upset if they are closed when we come up to New York soon, because we are all looking forward to some very good cannolis, just as many people have come there for exceptional food since the 19th century.

Booooo.....

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

BoDonkey Tonight

Not sure if I will make it in tonight for Bodog's blogger online poker tournament the BoDonkey.

It starts at 9 PM Eastern and normally has T$600 in added prize money to be used on other tourneys should you get a piece of it. It's a double-stack, which means no short-stack push fest after an hour.

I haven't been able to play this too many times, mostly because of school.

You can also click on the Tournament link on the right side - I made a few changes to the template last night because I was getting tired of narrow posts, so I decided I might as well do a re-design as well, so click through to the original page. I still need to fancy it up some more.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Stress Relief

After a grueling week last week, I headed to Skidoo's for a nice little bounty tournament.

Even though one of my finals was moved from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon, I decided I was still going to play, because it would help me to relax a little before the test and I didn't think I could cram any more formulas into my head.

It was one of the larger ones I've been to lately (though that hasn't been many) I did OK for a while, then popped up to being a big stack. I lost a lot when an ill-fated hammer play turned into a flush - which I had to lay down facing a re-raise from a full boat on the river.

Good thing I laid it down, as I eventually cashed out in 4th out of 18 for a profit of my buy-in and two bounties. At that point, though, it was time to go home. 3 AM is hard enough, even harder with a test the next day. Of course, if there were no test, I would have stuck around for a cash game, but in this case, it was time to go.

As for the test - well, it was manageable, but the problems I faced were because of the instructor's murkiness and not my lack of studying. I don't think I could have done any more to prepare.

My last presentation is tonight, and then I am FREE for a few months to get more than 4 hours sleep a night.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Built For Speed

Go ahead, rock out a little.

Not sure what this video is trying to suggest. I don't think it's obvious enough.