Area 51

As of now, it looks like this guy and this guy are playing in WSOP Event #51, starting Saturday, June 27.

That's probably the one I would be playing as well - and I'm already reserved at Imperial Palace. Right now, Im booked from the 25th through the 28th - but hopefully I would need a room for the night of the 28th.

That's the plan, man. Just need to book the flight which I should do in mid-May.

Shocked

Haven't been posting much, since I've been in the middle of Hell Week here. I wrote about what the first batch looked like, after which I got a break for a few days.

The second batch is actually getting close to do, and here's how it looks:

4/20: Capstone Presentation - we bombed, but so did 5 of the other 7 groups between last week and yesterday.

4/20: Portfolio Submission, Consulting - locked up an A-, at minimum.

4/22: Paper for CIS class in Wiki format. Five articles, which came to 13 pages double-spaced in Word. I wrote about the evolution of technical standards and development of I/T structure and requirements in the banking industry post-2000. No grade yet but it took a lot of work and I'm actually pretty proud of it.

4/22: FI 8000 Extra Credit Assignment: Unfortunately, I took so long with the item above that I complete forgot about this. I am hoping this does not come back to hurt me.

4/23: Capstone: Paper editing and rewrites, through GoToMeeting. I <3 technology.

4/25: Aim to spend whole day studying. Instead, drive to Brimingham for a wedding (reaching 110 mph going past Talladega without flipping into the wall), and get in about 3 hours of studying/index cards on the way back before meeting some Emory folks for dinner at Melton's.

Now, the fun part:

4/27, 8:05-9:00: Get chewed out at work, which is funny considering I almost QUIT on Friday.

Didn't see that one coming, huh?

I had a final interview on Friday for a worldwide consulting firm. However, I don't think I got the job, as if it had gone well I would have been offered it right there in all likelihood. It was through campus recruiting, and they were pretty much making up their minds immediately after the team interviewed the candidate. I got no offer.

So, I didn't quit. I am still working. As for the rest of the day:

4/27, 4:30-5:40: Consulting class, presentation
4/27, 5:45-6:30: CIS class, review
4/27, 6:35-7:14: Finance class, Review
4/27, 7:15-9:45: Capstone class, giant-ass paper submission

Yes, that's four class sessions in a row. What is this, high school? In reality, I didn't have a choice, if I wanted to show I was serious in each of these classes to hopefully push up my grades even by just a little bit.

Thankfully, only three items remain now.

4/29: Finance, StockTrax Trading Analysis Paper
4/29: CIS 8100 Final (only 35% of our grade)
4/30: FI 8000 Final (only 30% of the grade)

5/1: Drink.
5/3: Sober up.
5/3, 4:00 PM EST: Begin massive pwnage on Full Tilt for May for that $2,000 package.

Spectacular finish

Wow. Just Wow.

After the run, Alex now has a new favorite driver.

He got to see the last twenty laps - which meant seeing TWO big wrecks. The last one, though, looked just like the ending in Cars, even down to the blue paint.

Click the link for the video.

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Perdue voices some support for MARTA assistance

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Perdue voices some support for MARTA assistance

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Money...it's a crime

Want to see how your money is spent?

It may take you a while to get through the picture below to get an idea.

That warm, fuzzy feeling you get might be nausea, though.

Way TMI

Self-esteem is a great thing to have, especially as a poker player - you need to have that sort of attitude.

But ya know, there are probably some things you shouldn't say when the camera is rolling. Even if it is NBC and no one is watching.

Below, from Celebrity Apprentice, Annie Duke:

Atlanta Tea Party almost ready to burst (Live Post!)

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Atlanta Tea Party almost ready to burst

One benefit of having class at georgia State is this sort of actoin is only two blocks away, and easy to head over to. Crowds are growing rapidly and many streets are now shut down. Attendance may surpass 10,000.

Not bad at all.

UPDATE: Make that 15,000. For once, I see how Twitter woulda been pretty damn useful.

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Compensated

Well, I busted 19th from the Skillz game tonight. After busting out (mostly due to my own fault), I decided to donk around on the low NL tables since my conference call was done and I was out of the tournament.

Having these two hands within a span of ONE ORBIT is probably something which will never happen again.

Too bad I wasn't at a $200/$400 table instead of bumming around the micro tables.

Hand #1, at 12:14 AM:

Full Tilt Poker Game #11691262387: Table Transom (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:14:35 ET - 2009/04/15
Seat 1: Bighooks ($10.81)
Seat 2: RedDevilRed ($21.09)
Seat 3: jojorico ($4.25)
Seat 4: juanra016 ($16.42), is sitting out
Seat 5: oldjudge ($10)
Seat 6: APOSEC72 ($4.41)
jojorico posts the small blind of $0.05
oldjudge posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to APOSEC72 [Ad Ts]
APOSEC72 raises to $0.30
Bighooks folds
RedDevilRed folds
jojorico calls $0.25
oldjudge calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [Jh Tc Th]
jojorico checks
oldjudge checks
APOSEC72 bets $0.50
jojorico raises to $1
oldjudge adds $0.30
oldjudge folds
APOSEC72 has 15 seconds left to act
APOSEC72 raises to $4.11, and is all in
jojorico calls $2.95, and is all in
APOSEC72 shows [Ad Ts]
jojorico shows [Js Qh]
Uncalled bet of $0.16 returned to APOSEC72
*** TURN *** [Jh Tc Th] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Tc Th 5s] [Td]
APOSEC72 shows four of a kind, Tens
jojorico shows a full house, Tens full of Jacks
APOSEC72 wins the pot with four of a kind, Tens
jojorico is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Board: [Jh Tc Th 5s Td]
Seat 1: Bighooks didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: RedDevilRed (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: jojorico (small blind) showed [Js Qh] and lost with a full house, Tens full of Jacks
Seat 4: juanra016 is sitting out
Seat 5: oldjudge (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: APOSEC72 showed [Ad Ts] and won with four of a kind, Tens

Hand #2, at 12:16 AM (yes, two minutes later, at the same table). He was way behind, so the Jack was just gravy:

Full Tilt Poker Game #11691295029: Table Transom (6 max) - No Limit Hold'em - 0:16:47 ET - 2009/04/15
Seat 1: Bighooks ($11.16)
Seat 2: RedDevilRed ($21.24)
Seat 3: jojorico ($8.62)
Seat 4: juanra016 ($16.42), is sitting out
Seat 5: oldjudge ($10)
Seat 6: APOSEC72 ($7.88)
Bighooks posts the small blind of $0.05
RedDevilRed posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to APOSEC72 [Kc Qc]
jojorico folds
oldjudge folds
APOSEC72 raises to $0.30
Bighooks calls $0.25
RedDevilRed has 15 seconds left to act
RedDevilRed folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Tc Ac]
Bighooks has 15 seconds left to act
Bighooks bets $0.80
APOSEC72 has 15 seconds left to act
APOSEC72 raises to $2.50
Bighooks calls $1.70
*** TURN *** [8c Tc Ac] [8s]
Bighooks has 15 seconds left to act
Bighooks bets $1.10
APOSEC72 raises to $5.08, and is all in
Bighooks has 15 seconds left to act
Bighooks calls $3.98
APOSEC72 shows [Kc Qc]
Bighooks shows [6s Ah]
*** RIVER *** [8c Tc Ac 8s] [Jc]
APOSEC72 shows a Royal Flush
Bighooks shows two pair, Aces and Eights
APOSEC72 wins the pot with a Royal Flush
*** SUMMARY ***
Board: [8c Tc Ac 8s Jc]
Seat 1: Bighooks (small blind) showed [6s Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Eights
Seat 2: RedDevilRed (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: jojorico didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: juanra016 is sitting out
Seat 5: oldjudge didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: APOSEC72 (button) showed [Kc Qc] and won with a Royal Flush

Returning to Form

Last night, I essentially finished two of my classes for the semester. I turned in final projects for my Consulting Class, and I took a final exam for my Capstone class.

Both sucked. The papers sucked, even though it was on topics I enjoyed, because it took a very long time to put them together. The test sucked, because it was very difficult despite the fact I had been studying for it for a week and a half.

Thankfully, they are now both almost done. All that remains for each class is a presentation.

With that in mind, I decided on Friday to have my Examiner political column re-activated. I have since written the first two articles - one, on "Tax Freedom" day, and one regarding the Atlanta Tea Party taking place tomorrow at the State Capitol which might draw several thousand people.

I probably won't be re-posting those articles over here anymore for direct linking. Aside from digg, I probably won't go cross-posting everything as I was doing previously. It was getting to be a pain to self-hype so much. I might cross-post an occasional article, but not all of them as I was doing before.

At the very least, it's good to have some return to normalcy.

BOOM

Boy, I wish I'd thought of this. Click the link to pre-order a shirt...

WIN!

H/T Blackfive.

Grrrr

So, does means I have to bite Roy Horn when I head to Vegas?

You Are a White Tiger

You have a strong individualistic streak. You are unique and outspoken. You have firm ideas of right and wrong. You will stand up for your unpopular beliefs with pride. You believe that learning the truth is important. Even if it's ugly, uncomfortable, or awkward. You give it to people straight, and you expect them to do the same. You can't stand ambiguity of any kind.

What Big Cat Are You?

Interview: Changes for 2009

Thanks to RawVegas and WCP, an interview about what will look different at the WSOP this year.

Watch WSOP 09 Official Changes on RawVegas.tv

In other news, it may now be possible that I head out there TWICE. I'm booked for the final weekend of June, but it is now a slight possibility that we head out Memorial Day weekend as well.

Note that for May, it is not "I", but "We". Possibly.

To be continued.

One less stress

For the past few months, we have stressed and worried about where Alex would go to kindergarten next year. He's moving out of the day-care and pre-K realm, so the past few months have been fraught with worry about starting school.

In February, Alex's school changed to something closer to home, since we no longer lived or worked where his old day care was located. Both he and Sammie are now only half a mile away from my office, which makes it much easier on everyone. We don't have to spend an extra 90 minutes in the car going to Sandy Springs from Marietta/Kennesaw in rush hour traffic, and the kids can actually have more time to be kids.

We had been hoping to get Alex into the school affiliated with church. If that had failed, or if we had not been able to find some other religious or private place to send him, we were seriously considering home-schooling for a year until trying again next Spring. Even before I got married, or was even considering having kids, I was dead set against sending my kids to public schools for many political, personal, and philosophical reasons - a viewpoint which hasn't changed much over the past couple of decades, regardless of whether I lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Douglasville, Atlanta, Decatur, or Marietta. That sort of rant can take up another few pages, so I will stop there.

Thankfully, we got word on Saturday that Alex will indeed be starting at St. Joseph's in the fall, and hopefully he can spend the next nine years (K-8) there receiving a quality education. Even though it will cost more than the public school alternative (duh) it is the one thing that I was always taught as being of the utmost value while growing up.

Hopefully, he can have a better chance to succeed as well. Thankfully, it is our home parish so he is familiar with the church and the school already. It's now one less thing we have to worry about - and boy, was it a major thing we've worried about for the past several months.

Compression

I had hoped that I would be able to get about 15 hours of work in this weekend so I could finish one paper entirely for Monday and do enough studying for a test Wednesday.

I'd hoped to get in a few hours of work yesterday while at Emory for a conference, and then knock out a lot this afternoon and tonight.

Well, I only got in about 45 minutes of work yesterday, and only about an hour and a half in today. Since I've only written 4 of a possible twenty pages for my paper, I've requested for it to be pushed back until next week, and thankfully gotten an extension on it.

So, now the next eight days will be absolutely killer for me.

Tomorrow: Finish one proposal for work for a Canadian client, and determine for class where I need to work on our group paper so I am actually contributing, and make up what was missed last week. I think this means I'll probably have to take the lead on actually presenting - considering how much I LOOOOOOVE speaking in class, this should be so much fun. I will also have to meet with my Wednesday professor regarding a test I took a couple of weeks ago.

Tuesday: Work on a RFP for a new client for work, and go to practice at church for Easter Vigil. Oh, and study for a test.

Wednesday: Options test in Finance, including pricing of derivative securities and arbitrage. Yay.

Thursday: Complete draft of response for client, and finish up process mapping from work that I have been trying to complete for months. Also, go see doctor (probably) as a follow-up appointment to last week, as I had another breathing attack on Saturday and I will have to go for a follow-up appt.

Friday: Work is closed, so when I am not at church this will have to be the day I make up all of the writing for my papers for my early Monday class. If I don't make it up by the end of the day, I am in big trouble.

Saturday: Easter Vigil. I am one of the readers this year, so after I do a bit of studying during the day I'll be at church for a while. The previous time I went, Easter Vigil lasted from 7 PM until just after midnight. Some of you may have experienced longer. And no, the kids will NOT be there.

Sunday: Easter, but also, I will have to finish editing our group paper, and studying, because...

Monday: FINAL EXAM in the same class, the Capstone class. Also, now turn in two papers for my Consulting class in addition to the group paper turn-in for the Capstone class.

Also, somewhere in the middle of all of this, I need to buy a new computer. My old one has a hard drive which is pretty much shot, so it's cheaper to buy a new one that fix the old one, considering all the other damage to my old one (missing hinge, wonky trackpad and buttons, etc).

Boy, this is fun.

On the bright side, one of my finals has now been pushed back a day, so I don't have to worry any longer about taking multiple finals on the same day. I now have a CS final on Wednesday the 29th and Finance on the 30th ending at 9:45 PM.

Drinking will begin at approximately 9:50 PM on the 30th. I will probably head to SideBar right after the exam is over.

On the upswing

Why I have been off the grid for the past few days?

It's a simple explanation, actually.

I started getting a sort throat on Tuesday. on Thursday, severe congestion set in. On Friday, I began to lose my voice while we flew to Washington. On Saturday, it was pretty much gone, replaced by a drop-dead perfect imitation of Harvey Fierstein.

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of seeing our USAir flights cancelled, and a re-routing which, in the end, would have stranded us in Charlotte overnight Sunday. So, we went to the Hertz desk and were able to rent an Impala to DRIVE from Reagan Airport back home. We arrived around 1:30 in the morning, or about nine hours earlier than we would have arrived had we flown.

Monday saw me go into work and battle all day while feeling awful, as I could no longer cough up any congestion and I had to do work and finish a paper for a 4:30 class (which I finished at 3:43). I made it to class, only to be interrupted halfway through by one helluva coughing streak that saw me have to leave my early class, cancel out of my second class, and head to Piedmont Hospital.

Bottom line: I had a virus which has been going around a lot of people (pretty common) but because of my stress levels and lack of sleep thanks to home, I also had inflammation and a bacterial infection in my lungs.

I had X-rays taken, and it was NOT bacterial pneumonia - but if I had let it go another day or two, it would have probably become such.

(The X-Rays to the right are not mine. I don't have the copies.)

I came back home last night, armed with steroids and antibiotics, and I am back at work today I was very glad to see the kids last night, and hopefully, I can be back to decent shape to spend some quality time with them soon when I'm not sleeping on the couch (a very diffiult situation when trying to deal with everything else.)

It has been a very rough first quarter of the year, so hopefully the second quarter can get off to a promising start as well. I did lose 5 pounds over the last month - but another 55 remain. Only 28 days of classes remain as well. Then...who knows?

Cross this instrument off the list

I wasn't planning on the harp, so it's not like this changed the list of instruments to teach very much.



This kid is not going to get laid for a very, very, very, VERY long time.