New Mario Bros. Movie Trailer | The Game Station Exclusive!

Nice. Not the same as when I played Mario Bros. 25 years ago or so. But nice.

WIN - and not even in office yet

Current ax rates extended two years, and payroll taxes cut - and the GOP hasn't even taken over the House yet.

Post 1300

With a re-direction to where it seems I am doing the bulk of my writing nowadays - yes, it will link to a fan page, but it's just a cool widget to throw in here.

That's just wrong

Bad Napoleon Dynamite...bad.

Closers brought in for last day of runoff

Closers brought in for last day of runoff

Polls are now open - but this is far from the end.

A tale of two pros - A visit to Horford's camp

I got to interview Atlanta Hawks C Al Horford at his first annual summer basketball camp for kids last week at Oglethorpe University.

 

 

Sent to you by APOSEC72 via Google Reader:

 

 

A tale of two pros - A visit to Horford's camp

via Atlanta Hawks Examiner on 7/11/10

In every walk of life, be it movies, sports, politics, or elsewhere, you have good guys and you have bad guys. In sports, we want to root for our team, because they're the good guys. We cheer them on, we root for them, and we treat them as ...

 

 

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Cobb GOP BBQ boosts Handel, Johnson

Cobb GOP BBQ boosts Handel, Johnson

Hashed Tags - Dem Stunt Goes Wrong

Hashed Tags - Dem Stunt Goes Wrong

At least the stunt didn't result in a RickRoll.

Sesame Street of Slayer

You know, I always envisioned Oscar as a mellow Radiohead-type instead of banging out to Slayer.

Examiner.com: Outlandish predictor signs books

---

This afternoon, author and former Clinton political consultant Dick Morris will be appearing at a dinner party and book signing hosted by the Atlanta Tea Party. The event will be taking place tonight beginning at 5:00 PM at the State Capitol...

To read the rest of this article, please click on the link below:

http://www.examiner.com/x-1349-Atlanta-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m6d5-Outlandish-predictor-signs-books?cid=email-this-article

BBT5 recap (New and redirect)

Reminder - this place ain't gonna be around much longer.

 

New post of BBT5 recap and UIGEA thoughts up on the new site.

 

http://francaseplace.com/archives/1334

 

Update y'all's bookmarks and links and stuff...

Who wants a LOST rant?

I do! I do!

What a Sunday night.

Packing and upgrading

I have been working on this for a while, but until the last couple of weeks, I haven't really done much work to get it done.

However, a couple of weeks ago I finally got off my duff to begin doing something about it.

It's been a long time coming, but it's time for the site to move.

I finally got my own domain, and for now will post here and there. Starting next month I will begin posting there exclusively. The feeds will redirect and I will only post over there.

So, take out the blogspot of the address here, and you have the new site:

http://francaseplace.com

I'm building the blogroll slowly and tinkering with the format but I kinda like it now.

Feel free to drop on by.

In the meantime, after June, Blogger can go DIAF.

Live-blogging the Dankie

Dank? Mookie? Both?

I dunno, but let's live-blog it. I've played seven or eight of these tourneys and failed to cash so far. Deplorable. Fullt Tilt, please treat me a little better tonight. Mmmmkay?

10:00 Off with 84 runners so far. I only recognize two names at my table.

10:14: Waffles got moved to my left. Thank you God! Time to chip back up.

10:18: Take a small pot off Waffles to move back over a starting stack. We are at 91 donkeys tonight. Final table of 9 pays out, with the winner getting a 3-in-23 chnce of a Main Event seat.

10:20: Maybe some music will do too. Dude, next month pay for the server space to get your site back.

10:25: Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, raise and take, fold, fold, fold, fold.....

10:33: Apparently folding 20 straight hands isn't enough to convince people to stay away. Pissed away about half my stack on that hand.

10:35: Do I want to try to bust Waffles? Sure.

10:36: AYFKM? My K-J v. his K-8. Guess what shows up on the flop.

DIAF.

Next hand, K-K, and I shove all 240 chips in...and run them into Aces.

I think I'll go back to Cake.

Hammertime

U can't touch this...

Hammer boats are frigging AWESOME!

I checked the BB and bet on every street, including a push on the river, and got called all the way down.

Still went out 60th in the Mookie/Dank out of 96...but it was fun. This edition of the BBT has been fun so far, even if it has been fruitless so far.

GeekDad in Practice

So, I'm solo with the kids all through the weekend. As usual, I try to make the weekend as packed as I possibly can.

Yesterday was a normal school day, with playground after school, a healthy dinner of chicken, broccoli, and macaroni (cut me SOME slack, after all) and in bed by 9:30 on a Friday.

(We'll ignore not being asleep until 11:00, as I was working on auditing an APO chapter's books last night while the kids were in bed with me. Hooray for multitasking!)

Today, I tried to pack in as much as I could, after a healthy, relaxed breakfast at home. Thankfully, the kids like strawberry waffles.

• Ballet for Sammie, from 10 to 11.
• Home to change.
• Head to Emory, to deliver the paperwork used for the audit and discuss that Emory's APO chapter was doing a pretty darn good job.
• Stop for snacks.
• Stop at a dojo near the house to learn about possible classes for Alex.
• Lunch - pizza.
• Local comic book shops Raven's Nest and Dr. No's, for Free Comic Book Day. Each of the kids now has their first comic books ever - Iron Man for Alex, and Toy Story for Sammie.

Once home, a couple hours of cleaning, included folding several loads of laundry, before making chicken alfredo and movie night. In this case, we went with a disc of Return of the Jedi, instead of Revenge of the Sith which was on TV

Alex has seen all of the original trilogy, but none of the prequels. Thankfully, he likes all of the originals. Tomorrow, that will change, as we will watch Revenge of the Sith.

Sometimes, I do need to punidh him, but not so much as to make him sit through the Phantom Menace, and really I don't think I need to make him sit through Attack of the Clones either when I can barely sit through it.

Thankfully, this was still a fun and productive day.

Trivia helper

Tuesday night I went out to trivia with some friends. Before I left, I ate dinner at home with the kids, and Phineas and Ferb (the kids' latest favorite show, which is thankfully not dumbed down very much) was on.

The show had a mention of the mother as a one-hit wonder, and the wife pointed out the beltbuckle of "Toy" which I didn't get at first, but was apparently a Madonna reference of wearing a belt buckle that said "Boy Toy".

Apparently old age makes me forget random trivia moments. Or, I was paying more attention to Bon Jovi than Madonna. Would make sense, considering how old I was at the time.

Fast forward two hours to trivia, and this question pops up:

"When Madonna performed at the 1984 VMA's, she wore a white bustier, wedding dress, and belt. What did the belt buckle say?"

So, I guess I can credit the wife for helping us to finish first in trivia.

Unfortunately, since then I've basically had no voice either, meaning I've worked from home yesterday and I'm hobbling around today.

Still, it seemed a very funny coincidence.

Revelations coming

Within the next day or two, I'll have an epic post about why I've been so drawn down the last few months and why I've been so distracted away from many things, including this little nugget. I promise not to painfully draw it out anymore or post it in 12 different parts like LOST.

Feeling slightly re-charged, but with everything over the last few months it's taken a while to get my thoughts down completely.

In the meantime, let's link dump:

• My division now has a Facebook profile, and it's more active than mine, which is cool and scary at the same time. Kudos, though.


• Florida finally gets real poker, instead of 2-4 no fold-em hold-em or $100 cap tables.


• Boobs for science.


• Bumblebee is not as tall as I expected him to be, as seen in the pic to the right my sister took in Hollywood.


• New salon and spa opened in midtown NY by folks from my old elementary school. I'm glad it's an upscale spa and not one of those seedy highway "spas".


• Overheard @ Tao Beach: "Jersey shore is in the ***** building!". Please make this Jersey Shore and Pretty Wild phenomenon go away, please. I'm begging you.


• Going to Las Vegas? Do three or four buffets for the price of one.


• Rex Ryan gives words of encouragement to Tiger Woods before the Masters.


• There's a museum for everything now. Even Waffle House.


• A good event if you misguidedly think you are hot s**t at playing pool. Like me. Preliminary rounds September 17-19 and there happens to be one at the house where I used to shoot.


• Cake or death?


• Cocaine is a helluva drug...ask Foxy Brown.

Fire away

Full Tilt decided to copy Poker Stars and add a Steps system for tournaments.

So, I decided to give it a whirl to see if I could climb the ladder. Besides, I was catching up on TV.

They even have a "Step 0" which starts at $1.10. The highest step tourney, Step 7, has a buyin of a ticket for $2100 that awards a 12K tournament package, currently for the WSOP.

So, let's have some fun.

Step 0, #155392032: Begun 11:13 PM, Finished 1/99, Win Step 1 Ticket ($3.30)
Step 1, #155400775: Begun 12:13 AM, Finished 1/9, Win Step 2 Ticket ($8.70)
Step 2, #155401845: Begun 12:46 AM, Finished 1/9, Win Step 3 Ticket ($26.00)

Rather than try to push forward and press my luck, I'm heading to bed. Not bad for about 90 minutes work.

More to try tomorrow. Step 4 ticket is $75, Step 5 is $216, Step 6 is $240, and Step 7 is $2100.

Or, I could drop out now, since I have the equivalent of a token to enter any tournament with a $24+2 buyin.

Step 8 would mean a very unlikely return to Las Vegas.

For the record, you DAMN RIGHT I'd go.

Return of the......meh

By request, I've kept quiet about recent plans, from a security perspective. Ever since we were robbed a few years ago, I've been asked not to post too much prior to trips about heading out of town or being away.

It's probably a good explanation for why I will NEVER join foursquare.

Anyway, I just returned from a week-long vacation to Las Vegas, Arizona, and Los Angeles, to see friends, family, cows, and holes in the ground.

I left for Las Vegas last week, but remarkably played only two sessions of poker. The first was a cash game at the Venetian, where the first hand dealt was the hammer and the last hand was my Queens full of tens going down to QUAD QUEENS. The second was the WSOP Circuit event on Friday where I stole, got called by the BB, got all the chips in with two pair and only three cards to dodge, and watched one of the three outs hit to kill me.

As a matter of fact, the only gambling area which was good to me was the sportsbook, where I hit two of three bets for Atlanta teams. The one I did not win ended up as a no-hitter.

(BTW, dear Hawks, when you open up a 23-point lead, please do not try to give it all back as you almost did against Milwaukee Saturday, OK?)

We went to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which destroyed my feet for the rest of the trip but was absolutely breathtaking in its views, and gut-busting for watching New York drivers try to navigate dirt roads with cows walking alongside/in the road.

I got to see the Wynn Las Vegas for the first time. Very impressive and elegant layout.

I stayed at the Palazzo/Venetian, which was extremely nice (and comped) but had a registration desk staffed with monkeys trying to screw a football.

I got to see the Palms for the first time, and was mildly impressed with it as well, but in a far different way than the Wynn.

I went to Los Angeles and Hollywood for the first time, and got to meet two of my nephews for the first time ever.

I also got a picture with Bumblebee, over which my son will flip out.

Overall, quite a good trip - and now I'm back at work - twelve hours after my flight touched down.

I think I need a vacation.

Jay-Z Vader

Too funny not to post...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Done Deal

I booked my ticket today.

I'll be playing in the WSOP Circuit event at Caesar's in April in one of the preliminary events.

After the last few months, I could use some quiet time/relaxation time/donkey-shredding time.

More to follow later.

The Vegas countdown is now underway....

Bracketology for Degenerates

Wow, 10 days without a post? Yikes.

Anyway, with March Madness coming up, it might be fun to have a little contest going on for bracket bragging rights.

If interested, drop a line in the comments with e-mail to use for, um, gathering information.

Link (on CBS):

http://bracketologydegenerates.mayhem.cbssports.com

Pwd: hammer

Diary of a Day

With the wife out of town this weekend, I'm finding it quite easy to fill up the time.

Last night had a good time for a birthday dinner, for which the kids came along and ate an ungodly amount of garlic rolls and spaghetti.

Today was a different day. Here goes:

8:30: Wake up.
8:31: Trudge downstairs, half-asleep, to make breakfast.
9:10: Begin getting everybody showered and dressed to go to ballet class.
9:40: Realize that every pair of stocking for Sammie's ballet class has run away.
9:41: Scramble to find other clothes for Sammie.
9:42: Leave for Target.
9:44: Arrive.
10:05: Leave Target with stocking after waiting for morons to clear out in front of me
10:12: Arrive for the 10:15 ballet class and get Sammie dressed in ballet clothes juuuuuust in time.
11:15: Make the unilateral decision to go to Krystal. To hell with cooking lunch.
12:30: After corn dogs and burgers, head to Kroger to get materials to cook later tonight. Yes, there is a plan.
1:00: Home. Laundry. Dishes. Let kids chill for a little while.
2:30: Pack up everybody in the car to go downtown for a Tea Party Protest, which I was going to write about and take pictures of to write up.
3:20: Arrive downtown, and see that no streets are closed. Last year, on April 15, 10,000 people were in front of the Capitol. This year, no streets closed, all folks on the sidewalk, less than 400 people. Make the decision to not cover it and not park. Kids are also wondering where the hell everybody is.
4:30: Back in the neighborhood, head to Laurel Park with the kids to get their energies out at the playground instead.
5:30: Walk to the pond to feed geese and ducks.
5:31: Hey, look, a dozen ducks want to nibble from Sammie's hand. Sammie does not like that.
6:00: I still don't feel like cooking a meal, since I'm making a dessert later. Time for pizza.
7:00: Time to start making the cake. We make the frosting, then put on Snow White, then assemble the cake afterwards.

Recipe:

• Combine 2 oz cream cheese and 3 tbsp confectionary sugar with mixer.
• Watch kids laugh as sugar sprays from bowl onto their clothes.
• Decide to mix with a fork.
• Add 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and 1 cup heavy whipping cream.
• Whip and mix.
• Allow kids to use mixer.
• Cower in fear.
• Thank the maker, nothing broke or spilled!
• Place icing in fridge.
• Place bag of popcorn in microwave.
• Pull everyone onto the couch for movie cuddle time.
• After the movie, take poundcake (not made from scratch, I have my limits) and slice horizontally twice to make three layers.
• Bottom layer: spread out 1/4 cup lemon curd, cover with 1/2 cup raspberries.
• Middle layer: slather with 1/4 cup raspberry jam, place down on top of previous layer.
• Middle layer: spread out 1/4 cup lemon curd, cover with 1/2 cup raspberries.
• Top layer: slather with 1/4 cup raspberry jam, place down on top of previous layer.
• Hand spatulas to kids.
• Begin slathering icing on cake.
• Remember that I should have put something down to take care of any drippings that come from a three-year old icing a cake.
• Ah, fuck it. Keep slathering. I'll clean it up later.
• Hey, she has some coordination and isn't dripping very much. Really. The proof is here.
• Alex got bored, though, so he isn't in the picture.
• Put cake in the fridge to chill overnight. It tastes delicious.

Put kids in bed at 10:00.

Hey, this wasn't a very hard day. Granted, I didn't cook any meals, just a dessert, but it wasn't too rough a day.

Nothing is going on until 5 PM tomorrow, when we shall bring said cake to a cooking club. So, hooray, we can sleep late!

G'night.

Me Time

I've noticed over the last few weeks that I've played less and less poker. I haven't really been up for playing too much, and haven't been too excited about either grinding away for itty-bitty amount or trying to take long shot in tourneys with thousands of players to hit a 0.05% chance of a big score.

It just hasn't interested me much lately. I've had too much other crazy stuff going on.

Of course, my computer went on the fritz as well, so that probably did not help either.

I have been starting to devote myself to other things, though. Instead of playing poker, I've been reading about it. I've actually been picking up books and reading - and not just for a class, either. It's been a long time since I bothered reading anything that wasn't for class or just a magazine (which doesn't require much of an attention span.)

I just started reading Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen, which is a review of his win at the 2007 Aussie Millions and every single hand played. Hopefully it will provide some good insights to battling through some large fields and trying to exploit every edge, which I know I've had trouble doing recently.

The last book I read for leisure prior to this was Check-Raising the Devil, an autobiography of Mike Matusow, co-written with Amy Calistri (Aimlessly Chasing) and Tim Lavalli (PokerShrink).

My big question, right now, is what else might you recommend as good reading material? I don't plan on putting any money online for the time being (unless a nice deal comes my way) and the absolute earliest I would be setting foot in a casino would be April in Vegas for a Circuit event (assuming I can still get out to Caesar's then).

Any thoughts? (Aside from Lost Vegas, when it comes out, of course.)

As for non-pokery books, the only other book I've recently read were Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin. That's it.

Gingrey participating in health care discussions in district

Gingrey participating in health care discussions in district

Posted using ShareThis

Fleeing the Titanic

It seems everyone is racing to get off the Democratic ship.

First, Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan decide not to seek re-election.

Then, Evan Bayh shockingly quits his re-election campaign - perhaps for future presidential primary challenges, or a governor's race, or who knows what despite being up by double-digits over any Republican challenger. Democrats are now scrambling to find a candidate as the seat is now an absolute toss-up and a heavier favorite to flip in November.

Last night, Sen. Frank Lautenberg falls at home, and while we can hope for a speedy recovery, he is 86 and may decide to step down anyway if he has the chance - he is not due for re-election until 2014, at which point he would be 90 years old, and New Jersey will be in GOP hands until 2013, when he will be 89.

But most interesting is the news that Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) may also withdraw from a re-election campaign in 2010 due to health-related reasons.

Now, while it is sheer lunacy to think that a Republican would have a chance in the state of Baltimore + DC Suburbs + farms, you could also say the same thing about any number of other seats.

Like Massachusetts.....oh, wait...

Or California, where heavily entrenched Democrats are unassailable...oh, um...

No seat is safe, and if there is a candidate who could make a run for it, it would be nice.

Too bad the RNC hasn't been great at finding candidates themselves lately - whoever is in charge probably should find something else to do until November.

Hey, wait a minute......

Of course, in the lunatic off-chance that Michael Steele should agree to leave the RNC chairmanship to take another stab at a Maryland Senate seat, we would need to find somebody to take over the RNC duties that Steele hasn't done a great job of doing for the past year - and at some times, has done such a poor job some folks (myself included) have said it is time for him to go.

Now, he'd have cover to leave, but we would need to find someone else up to the tasks at hand.

Going on media tours.

Finding new donors and getting heavily into fundraising.

Fielding suitable candidates who aren't liberals in sheep's clothing.

Having a telegenic personality.

I wonder who would meet all of those criteria that could do the job for 2010.......

Make the call, if the opportunity arises.

But the groundhog said it would be an early spring

Going through the site and updating a lot of lists, especially the sidebars.

So, if your site isn't there, and you'd like it in the blogroll, you should probably let me know.

That's right, I'm doing Spring Cleaning a month before Spring shows up.

Either I'm grabbing the bull by the horns and being really good in being productive...or I'm trying to put off doing other stuff that I DOAN WANNA DO YOU WOAN MAKE ME WAHHHH!

You're probably right either way.

Bayh stepping down

LInking because I started writing on Examiner again. Go check it out if you feel like it.

Evan Bayh (D-IN) decides not to chase third term

Happy Chinese New Year

Everyone else may say Happy Valentine's Day, but we didn't celebrate it too much. Sure, the kids had fun with it in making and getting valentines at school, but this year we didn't really go for (or try to do) anything along the normal Valentine's day route.

No schmaltzy stuff here.

On Sunday, we ended up going a different (and cheaper) route.

In the afternoon, the four of us went down to Georgia State's Rialto Center for the Arts. They were having a free concert, which was meant not just to highlight Valentine's Day but also the Chinese New Year (which occurred Feb. 13).

The kids behaved themselves surprisingly well, considering it was their first concert. They did get tired toward the end of the 2-hour concert, but they were quite interested throughout and behaved remarkably well.

Next stop was dinner, and again we went with the Asian fare on a budget. Trader Vic's or another fancy Asian bistro may have pushed the kids' patience and our wallets a bit, so we went to Doc Chey's in the Virginia-Highlands area of downtown - one of the few Intown Atlanta places I'd consider living - as the kids enjoyed their lo mein and we enjoyed spicier dishes and shrimp rolls.

Lastly, after a well-behaved dinner, we walked down Highland Ave. to Ben and Jerry's and had ice cream, where the kids played with other kids and I was able to turn off the radar for more than 10 seconds - always a good treat.

The kids passed out on the way home, just shy of 8:00. Thanks for the present!

So, a fun time was had by all, and the kids even got to have some decent cultural exposure. Alex will have a field trip to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra later this spring, so this was a good warm-up for that experience - and on the bright side, he enjoyed it thoroughly as well.

For the budget-conscious, the whole day ended up being a helluva lot less than the normal fancy dinner/show/babysitter combo, but more fun since the kids had a good time too.

Turn it around, back up

He didn't show, but probably flopped the flush. Was really hoping for a call on the river so I could show the table a decent hand for once. Too bad it auto-mucked.

DQB!!!

Gift-Shopping for Your Valentine

Looking for jewelry? Well, you can try this or this, depending on your affiliation. $12.99 is a lot less than dropping dough on diamonds.

As for a card, well, times are tough, so perhaps it would be best to send your loced one of 18 valentines produced by the GOP, in a humorous attempt which actually seems funny (as intended, for once).

Say "I love you" with a card that says "Happy ******* Valentine's Day" - because with double-digit unemployment and massive inflation on the way, thrift is king.

Final Prediction for 2009

This is the tiebreaker - 5-5 so far in the playoffs, so this will determine the difference between being a winner and a big fat LOSER.

Wild-card weekend: 3-1.
Divisional weekend: 1-3.
Conference Championship weekend: 1-1 (missed 2-0 by just half a point).

The line for the Super Bowl is Colts by 5.5.

It's too high.

I'm not saying the Saints will win, but I am saying they aren't going to lose by a touchdown or more. These two teams are not that far apart in terms of talent on both sides of the ball.

But I am saying the Saints (+5.5) will beat the spread.

Looking forward to a good game Sunday.

Thrashers CYA Press Release

From Thrashers GM Don Waddell, after the team tried to sign Ilya Kovalchuk and decided to ship him to New Jersey instead for multiple prospects and a first-rounder - ensuring no playoffs this year (as the Thrashers had been sitting three points out of the final spot, and almost certainly will fall backwards from it.

Wait til next year...at least.

----------

After several months of negotiations toward a long-term contract with forward Ilya Kovalchuk and his agent, we were unable to reach an agreement and elected to trade Kovalchuk and defenseman Anssi Salmela to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first round draft pick in 2010.

We want you, our fans, to know that throughout the negotiation process, the Thrashers organization remained committed to offering Ilya a contract that exceeded those of the league’s best and highest paid players, and was commensurate to his skill level and performance history.

To that end, we offered Kovy several lucrative packages in an effort to meet his financial objectives. One offer that we extended to Ilya would have made him the highest paid NHL player on a per year average with $10 million per year for seven years. Another offer totaled more than $100 million over 12 years, and it, combined with the previous contractual commitments that were made to Kovy, would have earned him more money than any other NHL player in the history of the league.

If we had met Kovy’s ultimate demand, we would have jeopardized our ability to build a competitive team around him and retain our other young players as they became eligible for new contracts in the seasons ahead. At the end of the day, we couldn’t close that gap and simply reached a point at which we couldn’t reasonably go any higher.

We’re excited about the addition of all three players and feel that Johnny and Niclas will quickly complement our team of budding young stars, highly-skilled veterans and elite players. We also look forward to having Patrice join us in the near future. Our goals for this season have not changed—to make and advance as deep as possible in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs—and we move ahead with a new sense of purpose that is energized by our continued climb in the standings as we position ourselves to compete with the best in the NHL.

We will maintain the option of bringing in more players, in addition to the ones that we have acquired in the trade, to make sure that we are fully competitive for the remainder of the season and the postseason.

We thank Ilya and Anssi for all they have done for our organization and wish them well. And we thank you, for your continued support, and look forward to your enthusiastic presence in Blueland to help drive us into the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Coming of age

Little kids can't stay babies forever. Eventually, they grow up and begin doing things on their own. They take on their own interests and you just try to hold their hand as they do them.

On Saturday, we began doing some of those things with our now three-year-old. Sammie had been interested in dancing and doing some more of it, beyond twirling around the house. We signed her up for a ballet/tap class near the house, which she would do every Saturday morning.

This past Saturday was her very first class, and we (ok, I) was a bit nervous about how she would like it, or be intimidated in being away from us and, essentially, with complete strangers in a new environment.

I shouldn't have been worried one bit. She loved it. She had a great time, and she is very much looking forward to doing it every week, much like one of her favorite stories, Angelina Ballerina.

That afternoon, we took another new step on the path of growing up: We finally took the plunge after months of discussion and went to get her ears pierced. Now, I know some folks may not think this is a big deal - they got it done at birth, or when they were young, and it was no big deal. Of course, I was worried about doing it, as I'd been reading up about it and was worried about it gunking up or getting infected, but we finally went ahead and did it.

Well, that, and I knew it would hurt and was hoping there wouldn't be a complete meltdown followed by hours of crying.

We let her pick out the studs - little gold studs with pink flowers petals coming from the studs - and sat her down for the piercing. During the whole time of paperwork and piercing, she held onto a lollipop - and my card, as she wanted to "pay" for it.

Aside from the complete shock of OMIGODWHATDIDYOUJUSTDOTOMYHEAD and about 90 seconds worth of crying, she took it very well. She was smiling by the time we walked out of the store, and was ridiculously cute and happy walking through the mall swinging her little bag of cleaner/antibiotic for keeping the punctures clean.

Sometimes, it seems like they grow up too fast.

Thankfully, she still wanted to cuddle up when we got home for naptime, which is becoming a harder task to convince Alex to do as he continues growing, and growing, and growing (which I was reminded of while filling out paperwork for first grade...and I'm not really sure how time moved so quickly).

I wonder if I'll feel the same maudlin way about kids growing up too fast when Little League starts soon for Alex...since it seems like time goes by way too fast.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

Angela Merkel? Really?

Sheesh.

How to Survive the SOTU

While there might be some more serious analyses elsewhere, I would prefer to share my own State of the Union preview.

Naturally, this preview will be based solely on the amount of alcohol that can be consumed during the course of the speech and rebuttal.

While some inspiration comes from multiple sources, such as Glock Talk and HuffPo, some are my own creation as well.

With no further delay, here are some friendly guidelines for tolerating listening to the bloviating impassioned speech and rebuttal.

ONE SHOT/DRINK:
"Let me be clear"
"Make no mistake"
"I'm fighting for you" (two if you actually believe it)
"The stimulus is working" (also weep silently)
"Healthcare reform" (though this could lead to blackouts)
"Job Creation"
Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden clap hysterically
"Change we can believe in"
Any seemingly personal narrative which can be smelled as bull**** from a mile away
Any wink or point to and follow-up shot of Michelle

TWO SHOTS/DRINKS
"Inherited from the previous administration"
"Cap and Trade"
"We must reduce spending" (Rolling your eyes will help significantly)
"Last eight years"
Harry Reid sulks/cowers (since he is on track to lose re-election)
Hillary Clinton smirks, knowing she won't get reamed as badly in November
John McCain grimaces
Any congressman caught sleeping
Any congressman caught twittering
Any reference to his "faith"
Nancy Pelosi blinks more than 100 times in one minute

OTHER
Standing Ovation from only one side of the aisle - three drinks
Mentions of campaign finance reform or Citizens United v. FEC - three drinks
"The time for debate has ended" - drain the bottle, then grab a pitchfork
"Senator Kennedy's legacy" - drain the bottle, then drive into the nearest bridge or river
"Republican leadership" - no drinks; laugh hysterically
"Democratic leadership" - ditto
Undesired yelling from the gallery or opposing senators/congressman - drain the bottle and applaud
"War on Terror" - N/A, because that would requiring acknowledging it as a war and not a criminal process.

Karma Chameleon

This weekend's games will result in an exciting Super Bowl matchup, regardless of the winners. We have the three best teams in the league as seen throughout the year, along with one underdog team which just HAPPENS to be from the biggest media market playing the "Nobody Believes in us" card to the hilt.

So, without further adieu, let's look at each game.

Jets v. Colts (-7.5)

In Week 15, when the Colts' starters were removed, the Jets were down by 5, in a similarly pressured game...have to win to stay alive, the Colts feeling pressure (or so we thought) for a perfect season, in a very loud dome, yada yada yada.

The Jets managed to hold their own, and without penalties at inopportune times may have ended up beating the starters outright. I'm not really considering the last 21 minutes of the game, since it came against the backups.

But the Jets have shown that they have the potential to play in this field. However, let's ALSO remember that the Colts' defense got a week off before throttling the Ravens last week, who sport an offense eerily similar to the Jets - limit the quarterback's potential for mistakes, win on running the ball 25-30 times and a great defense.

Mark Sanchez is not Joe Flacco ro Trent Dilfer, and the Jets defense has some injuries (Shaun Ellis, broken hand, and Kerry Rhodes, knee) which means Manning will have that extra second or two needed to find an opening when needed.

Regardless of the outcome, the Jets have a lot of reasons to be proud. They may not have any pressure on them at all, since nobody expected them to be here, and that might change things in the end. Unfortunately, I don't think the Jets win, and I don't think they can keep PEyton Manning off the field enough - their defense has injuries and Sanchez is not good enough to repeatedly engineer long drives that chew up the clock.

If the Jets pull it out, no hard feelings, despite the benjamin I'll owe someone if the manage to then go and win the Super Bowl.

THE PICK: Indianapolis (-7.5)

Vikings-Saints (-3.5)

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON'T LET ME DEAL WITH TWO STRAIGHT WEEKS OF BRETT FAVRE FELLATIO!

In a quieter tone, I have to pick the Saints, for several other reasons:

• Favre has yukked it up at the ends of seasons way too much over the past few years (as Jets fans, Dolphins fans, Giants fans, and Packers fans, and while the bye may have helped him engineer a strong performance last week, there is no rest leading up to this week's game for that ancient arm.
• The environment in the Superdome will remind Favre of his days as a Packer, visiting the Metrodome - when it was his own house of horrors. It will be LOUD.
• The Saints defense will be the best he has faced all year - better than the Cowboys, Packers, Giants, or Bengals - and fully healthy.
• Sean Payton can run circles around Brad Childress in developing schemes for this game - and if Childress developed any kind of game plan, Favre would probably overrule him in the huddle anyway.
• Karma should be heavily loaded in New Orleans' favor - comeback from Katrina (for the Saints, the Superdome, and the whole city of New Orleans), compared to comeback from I-can't-make-up-my-mind-wait-let-me-screw-over-another-team for Favre. The New Orleans region NEEDS this in a way no other city could possibly need something like this.
• Adrian Peterson still has a fumbling problem - either the Vikes try and use him (with the risk of fumbles) or let Favre throw 40+ times (and probably a pick-six or two to old teammate Darren Sharper)

Again, God, don't let Brett Favre go to the Super Bowl. The SAINTS NEED THIS ONE. If they play like they did last week and not like they did in Weeks 16 and 17, they will. I might be making this pick for more personal reasons that objective reasons, since the other half of the household is heavily in the Saints camp - but I can handle anyone else in the Super Bowl than Brett ******* Favre.

THE PICK - SAINTS (3.5)

How Breakups Affect Everyone Else

Watching the latest late-night feud between Jay Leno, NBC, and Conan O'Brien makes me sad.

It's sad to think about how such an acrimonious breakup can affect not just the main parties, but residual folks as well.

There's a lot of collateral damage.

The writers.

The staff.

Their families, who made the move to California from New York.

Other characters of the show (Except for Max Weinberg, who can just tour some more with Bruce Springsteen.)

Advertisers.

Friends and other loved ones.

And, of course, the Masturbating Bear.



(click into post if the clip isn't viewable in your reader. )

Rush Poker Review

A few days ago, a software upgrade notice fluttered across my computer screen for a new feature on Full Tilt called RUSH poker.

Soon afterwards, I got an e-mail explaining the point of said upgrade, and what RUSH poker was.

Instead of having a lot of isolated table at a certain level, with the same players through each hand, RUSH will keep moving you from table to table, as soon as you fold a hand. It is designed to keep you ALWAYS in a hand - as soon as you click "Fold", you are taken to another table, with a different group of players, for the next hand which (so far) begins with no delay at all.

I opened up one of these RUSH games last night. There were about 1300 people on a 0.05/0.10 NLHE game. I sat down, and played through for about 50 hands to get a feel for it.

My thoughts:

GOOD: More hands, more experience
GOOD: Easier to build up points and/or rakeback due to the volume of hands (if I'd stayed a full hour, I could have racked up 300 hands easily)
GOOD: Simpler Decisions on playing hands
GOOD: Players will probably not be able to get a read on you.
GOOD: Can exploit simple, ABC-type players

BAD: You can't get a read on other players - reinforces simple thinking by just playing what you have without being able to evaluate the table
BAD: Extremely difficult to put any notes down on any players due to the speed and the constant switching of players.
BAD: No chat or communication. At all. It's just not possible.

The main impression I got from this type of game was that it could easily be exploited. Most other players are strictly playing their cards, without much thought to position and obviously NO thought to how others might play.

I played 53 hands, and won about 20 of them. Most of them were due to raising pre-flop and taking down blinds, or c-betting a flop and inducing a fold. Most folks will be scared off by pre-flop raises and simply move on, or are not willing to go to war without what they believe is a good hand in this format. This can easily be exploited to rack up a LOT of orphaned blinds. It seemed possible to steal from ANYWHERE in this game, since most folks will just fold and move on.

I only had two hands go to showdown - one, a winning flush, and one, QUADS against two pair. The rest of the profit came from just being heavily aggressive pre-flop, as most folks just wanted to get out of the way and move on. With almost no pre-flop re-raises from anyone else, it seems easy in this format to play the bully.

Haiti Help

Stolen from LJ's site, with some easy ways to contribute.

----------


CR instructor Verneer is organizing donations for Haiti here and has already raised over 6k, and FTP is also doing a bunch of tournaments and fake tournaments and matching 100%. Cribbed from Brian's blog:

1. Aid For Haiti tournaments: Starting tonight and running through Sunday, there will be a number of “Aid For Haiti” tournaments at a range of buyins for players to participate in. The first one is at 2PM ET (under an hour) and it’s a $5 + $5 ($5 from every entry will be donated).

2. Aid For Haiti “no-play” tournaments: These are “fake” tournaments that won’t run. For anyone that wants to make a direct donation, they can enter one of the 10 different tournaments (all “scheduled” for Sunday at 6pm ET, 3pm PT) and not worry about playing a tournament.

3. An “Aid For Haiti” user has been set up for direct P2P transfers. Anyone can transfer any amount greater than $5 to that player ID.

All money raised will be matched by Full Tilt Poker and sent to various charities, so for every dollar you donate, an additional dollar from FTP will be directed toward helping the cause. Personally I will be making a direct donation, as well as possibly playing in some of the tournaments. I urge anyone who can help, even a little, to do so as well.

****************************************

for those who don't want to use poker monies (like me) you can donate directly through red cross here.

apparently pokerstars is matching donations. info on their blog.

lastly via riggs: You can TEXT right from your mobile phone. text “Haiti” to 90999 and your phone will be auto billed for $10 and go directly to help efforts.

WSOP Rules 2010

Still not sure about the Series itself, but the Circuit event at Caesar's in April is looking very tantalizing...

Meant to post Thursday, but stuff happens.

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LAS VEGAS (Jan. 14, 2010) – With the 41st annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) just a short 133 days from commencing, the official rules governing the largest set of poker tournaments in the world are now available online at WSOP.com for all players.

Players are encouraged to download the PDF document from the official WSOP website and become familiar with them prior to playing in any events.

The 8-page, 105-rule guide details the variety of regulations in place under the following seven categories:

• Tournament Registration and Entry
• Tournament Scheduling
• Prizing & Seating
• Player Conduct & Tournament Integrity
• Player Likeness & Image
• Poker Rules
• Tournament Operations, Policies & Procedures

Click here to view and download the official rules.

“Poker has evolved exponentially the last decade, and with so many new players to the game, it’s important that we as tournament officials, dealers and players are all familiar with the rules,” said Vice President of International Poker Operations and World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel. “We believe that as the industry leader, it’s important for us at the WSOP to have the most comprehensive rules in the game today.”

While no major additions were added to this year’s rules, several tweaks were made to better define some rules and to incorporate the revisions made in 2009 by the Tournament Directors Association (TDA).

The logo policy, which was adjusted in 2009, remains the same as it was for the 2010 event.
A more manageable and enforceable cell phone rule (Rule #55) has been adopted, in part, in recognition of social media applications such as Twitter, which has become a favorite task of poker players.

The penalty tracking system which was implemented in 2009, returns and will be in effect for 2010. A total of 186 penalties were tracked, or an average of 3.72 a day during the 2009 WSOP. Penalties ranged from warnings to disqualification from the tournament and removal from the premises. The most common penalty imposed was a one-round penalty and the range of infractions included: exposing hand, acting out of turn, removing chips from the table, abusive language, excessive celebration, soft play, cell phone use, throwing cards, dealer abuse and discussing the content of a hand.

The WSOP, an annual poker extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular variations running from May 27-July 17, 2010.

A total of 57 coveted gold bracelets will be up for grabs in 2010 – equal to last year’s total.

ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2009, the event attracted 60,875 entrants from 115 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and awarded over $174 million in prize money. The WSOP in December, 2008 was named the 7th most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Sports Survey, trailing only the older and more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties. In addition, the WSOP has experienced groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit our website at www.wsop.com.

Round 2 Picks - Now With More Notice For Fading!

The games this week are a lot harder to pick than last week. Last week, aside from the Packers-Cardinals game, I felt confident about each one of my picks - and the Packers and Cardinals ended up in a shootout totaling 96 points which went all the way to the end, so it turned out to be a deservedly difficult pick.

This week is a bit more complicated. Three of the four teams who had byes in the first round entered the postseason on shake notes, losing multiple games down the stretch, so it may be difficult to guess which versions of those teams will show up.

But, here goes anyway.

1. Cardinals-Saints (-7). Even before the Saints finally lost in Week 15, their play had been extremely uneven, almost losing to the Rams, Redskins, and Falcons before finally going down to Dallas. While I think the Saints will show up this weekend and prevail in the Superdome against a still banged-up Cardinals team, it seems a bit much to give away a touchdown based on their play of the last five weeks of the season. I don't think they'll run away with it, but there is too much talent on this Saints team to be held completely at bay against a Cardinals team that gave up FORTY-FIVE points at home last week. However, the lack of consistency leads me to pick Arizona for the spread and commence biting my nails furiously as I hope the Saints don't mess it up - being married to a Saints fan doubly ensures that a Saints win would be good.
Pick: Cardinals (+7)

2. Ravens-Colts (-7). I liked watching the Ravens destroy the Patriots last week, as they ran around the field at will in building up an early 24-0 lead. The Colts defense will be much stingier and will NOT allow the Ravens to succeed with Joe Flacco throwing only ten passes the entire game.
Pick: Colts (-7)

3. Cowboys-Vikings (-3). This is a game where I would love to see the eventual victor completely drained so that they have no chance of success in the NFC Championship. I hate both of these teams.

To me, this is the hardest game this weekend to call. On one hand, there is the playoff history of Tony Romo on the road in one of the most fearsome, loudest places to play for road quarterbacks - despite thrashing Philly for the second consecutive week last week. On the other hand, with Minnesota and New Orleans both faltering down the stretch, you could say Dallas is the hottest team in the NFC.

As for Minnesota - they are limping into the playoffs, Adrian Peterson requires a ball with a handle, and Brett Favre is becoming even more of a prick in public in trying to be a player-coach. I smell bad karma coming for the Vikings. Dallas may not get to the Super Bowl, but a win here should take away the Romo-choker tag for good.
Pick: Cowboys (+3, win outright)

4. Jets-Chargers (-8)
The Jets had a convincing win last week by running the ball, running the ball, and running the ball some more. Mark Sanchez threw the ball only 15 times last week. Whether it was on those short passes or all those runs, the Cincinnati defense couldn't drag anyone down after an emotional season.

The Chargers do not have those problems, coming into the postseason as the hottest team, by far. Their defense is worlds better than Cincinnati's, and the Jets will need 25-30 passes from Sanchez with a high completion percentage to win. I don't think a rookie QB, on the road, in the playoffs, who threw 20+ picks during the season has that in him - even against a team coached by Norv Turner featuring a fork sticking out of LaDanian Tomlinson's back.
Pick: Chargers (-8)

The Weekly Dump - Version 1

One reason I started blogging so little last year (and yes, to me, a post a week was a little) was because I was using other social media outlets more.

Excuse me, that should probably be more like OMFG SOCIAL MEDIA RULEZZZZ YO!!!!1!1!!

Posting something to Facebook, or Digging something, or re-tweeting another article was quick and easy to remind me to blog it later.

That worked well, aside from the small fact that I wouldn't blog it.

Oops.

So, let's fix that, shall we? I'd like to aim to do this once a week. If nothing else, it forces me to look at the thing every so often and not let it sit fallow for a couple of weeks.

On to the links, then:

• Health Care bill's hidden tax on over-the-counter items and how it could wreak havoc on Healthsaver Accounts (also know as cafeteria plans, Archer plans, etc.) (OpenMarkets.org)
• New Jersey Approves Medical Marijuana. I'm wondering if this story hit the web at 4:20. (NY Times)
• Going Green to Reduce Costs - Realized cost-savings for retailers and supermarkets going green. If you are wondering why I linked this, it is providing climate solutions for retailers is the work that my company's division does.
• Dating site excludes beautiful fat people after Christmas holidays - giving dissed clients another reason to eat tons of ice cream.
• The Best Time to Buy Anything, Any Time (Lifehacker)
• Video games meet cupcakes - is it sad or very cool that I knew 58 of 100? (Stellheadstudio.com)
• Six Ways for Working Parents to spend more time...Parenting (Lifehacker)

A-Team Trailer

June 11.

Yep, I'll probably go see this one.

Picks (before the games)

Trying to squeak this in, but here goes:

Jets-Bengals: Taking the Jets (+3.5) who could win outright if the Bengals don't shake off the rust from resting everyone last week, or revise the playbook past what has already been seen by the Jets in Week 17.

Eagles - Cowboys: Taking the Cowboys (-4) as I have no confidence in McNabb to deliver in Dallas, especially after getting trounced last week in Philly.

Ravens - Patriots: Picking Ravens (+3.5) and again I think they will win outright, as not having Welker is disastrous for New England; the Patriots have had too many "oops" moments to make me think they pull out a win against a tough Ravens defense.

Packers-Cardinals: Picking the Packers (-2) but this one could go either way, as both teams have been wildly inconsistent throughout the year. Mostly, if Bolden and other Cardinals still have lingering injury effects, then the Packers can pull out a road win.

OK, sure, I might drop by

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register for to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Poker Download here.

Registration code: 710928

Of course, this is assuming I am home early enough, since some of the tourneys start at 5 PM Eastern and I have this weird thing called a job :)

Yes, it is cold enough here to make the statue at right. The wind-chill every day has been in the single-digits, and the temperature has not been above freezing, so the half-inch of snow which arrived yesterday is staying on the ground for now.

Almost all schools closed today, and most businesses were delayed or closed outright.

FOR A QUARTER-INCH OF SNOW.

I've been at work all day, wondering again why everyone panics when just a couple flakes fall from the sky. It's humorous at first, but then you have to just shake your head in response to the insanity.

Naturally, everyone in Atlanta decided to PANIC and storm their stores for all the bread, milk, and water that could be carried, or plow into 30-car pileups just a few minutes after the snow starts falling.

Beyond that, in the first week of trying to lose weight, I have somehow managed to lose four pounds. I would like to think that exercise has contributed greatly to the weight loss so far, but in reality it has come from skipping both breakfast and lunch on 5 of the first 7 days of the year. However, I don't think the Karen Carpenter diet is really the way to go.

OTOH, binge eating at night does not help either, as I ate a ton while watching Texas fall last night to Alabama out in Pasadena.

In Texas' defense, though, they were without a quarterback for 90% of the game and still stayed in the game until three minutes were left.

I didn't lke Alabama when they won in 1992, and I don't like them now.

So when does Alabama play Boise State?

Resolution struggles? Take heed from evil overlords

If you are still struggling with coming up with meaningful resolutions for 2010, then take a trip in the wayback machine to review the Evil Overlord list for some suggestions.

It's old, but still funny.

I think I will add the following sub-resolutions to what I devised yesterday:

6. I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them.

10. I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum -- a small hotel well outside my borders will work just as well.

17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.

29. I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion.

50. My main computers will have their own special operating system that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh powerbooks.

58. If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner.

86. I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.

99. Any data file of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb in size.

100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free unlimited Internet access.

All Ahead Full

Now that I've got the 2009 recap out of the way, it's time to look at some things I want (or should try) to do during the course of 2010.

1. Lose some weight, fast! When I went through college, I was in pretty good shape from my sophomore year on. I worked out regularly and played hockey, so I stayed at about 185 pounds for my second through fourth years.

I shouldn't mention that the 185 number came after adding 20 pounds the first year, but at least that mostly became muscle.

When I got married a couple years later, in 2001, I went on a diet and get back down to 200 pounds from the 210-215 I'd flirted with since leaving college. Damn day job.

I was at about 220 when I started graduate school in 2006. Then the stresses of second baby (hugs), getting laid off, going back to graduate school full-time, job chances that kept eluding me for eight months, and then finally having both a job and a full-time student load meant I put being healthy way at the back of the line.

For the past six months, my weight has fluctuated between 265 and 270 pounds.

WOW.

So, I'm setting a goal of losing a pound and a half a week. This will require some changes to my diet, but none too major aside from what is described below. More importantly, I need to start exercising again, as any activity will help me start peeling off the pounds.

I've decided on a pound and a half a week, as that would mean taking off between 75 and 80 pounds over the course of this year, and would put me back down to 190 pounds.

I'm thankful that I have been lucky enough to make it to this point without any major internal health problems, but I'm starting to creep up in age, and need to start taking slightly better care of myself. That has to start with getting off my fat ass once in a while.

2) Drink less soda. The food I eat is generally healthy - I've been eating less fast food lately, and more fresh meals for lunch and dinner. I still need to work on snacks here and there, but the biggest culprit by far for my is the soda addiction I have.

I tried last year to give up coffee, to see if it would reduce my weight. I gave it up cold for six weeks, as I was drinking 4-6 cups a day. I had none for six weeks, and I lost a grand total of...ZERO pounds.

Reducing the amount of soda I drink should help a little bit. I'm drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day, but I'd been having 4-5 servings of soda to supplement it. Since the beginning of the year, I've been trying to cap myself at 2 servings a day, eventually dropping to 1 a day and then maybe 1 every other day. Reducing the sugar intake and replacing it with water or even coffee would be a step up from my current dietary consumption.

3. Get some fricking sleep. I am NOTORIOUS for staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning, sometimes for no reason at all aside from just surfing around, chatting, or catching up on recorded shows. If I want to feel healthy and more alert during the rest of the day, I need to really start making the effort to at least get to 6 hours of sleep a night. Continuing to work on 3-4 hours of sleep, especially when I don't have to, just fuels other poor behaviors I have, and it should be quite rare now that I need to be up past midnight.

Unless I'm in Vegas. Then I can go for 48 hours straight. Just watch me.

4. Clean up our debt. 2009 forced us to use up almost all of our savings, and we are still trying to hop from one foot to the next to manage our debt. We have to clean it up in 2010 so that we can rebuild our savings, as well as begin saving for (shudder) college. I'd rather not be still be paying my grad school loans when Alex goes off to his freshman dorm.

5. Be more of a chauffeur. Both kids are now at the point where they want to begin doing more activities. The days of soccer practices, T-ball and baseball practice, ballet practice, and so on are not far away. Good thing I finished the degree last year so I can be there to enjoy those moments with them.

6. Try to actually use that really, really expensive diploma. 2009 saw my company go through a round of downsizing in January, another round of downsizing in March, a restructuring in May, and the firing of our division president in October. With all that, I sure didn't take many chances job hunting. I chased a few leads, but didn't try too hard in the searching realm. Furthermore, I also wanted to see how my role at my current job might change. It is still up in the air how it might change in my current job, and frankly, I'd rather stay here and use it, and be rewarded for using it, instead of starting anew at another company. One way or another, though, I need to make this a goal for 2010.

7. Move the site. I've been mulling it over for a very long time now, and I need to change the site up in 2010 and move it away from Blogger. I've been talking about it long enough by now, and I think not moving it has really helped in avoiding coming here to write at all.

8. More local, political, and charitable involvement. While I donated as much as possible financially in 2009, I didn't really give much of my time until the end of the year. I'd like to work on giving more of my actual time in 2010.

Locally, that could mean at the kids' schools and church.

Politically, that could mean finally taking a more active role in Cobb county political events and campaigns.

Charitably, that could mean more work with Knights of Columbus or more work in helping Kim plan a National Convention for my volunteer organization - which will just happen to be in Atlanta next December. It might also mean being involved with walks for the Avon 3-Day or with the Atlanta Food Bank, as I used to do regularly.

Whatever the means, it would be good to get out and do some more of that local work that I used to do endlessly.

9. Have more fun traveling. We know there are already several trips that one or both of us will take this year that lurk on the horizon - Kansas City, Melbourne (FL), Macon, Washington, Las Vegas, and Austin - and there will be more that get added (Los Angeles, New York, Iowa, Phoenix, Biloxi, New Orleans?) as the year goes on. For any trips, though, we all need to make sure we are enjoying ourselves, as there's no fun in going on a trip if we're stressed all the time (as happened quite often last year).

There will even be instances where I'm the one who needs to cool off a bit and not stress so much. I'm sure this is absolutely SHOCKING.

Hmmm, 9 goals and not one is poker-related. Well, #10 can do the trick there.

10. Cash in a live, major tourney. It could be the WSOP, a circuit event, the Venetian Deep-Stack, the Grand Series at Binions, the Bellagio 5-Diamond, or the Southern Championship in Biloxi, but I want to cash in a large-sized (200+) tourney this year. I cam so close last year to a big run at Binions, only to bubble out, and I flamed out at the Venetian Deep-Stack Extravaganza. I want to improve on those in 2010.

I've played online donkaments and run deep or won those, sometimes with as many as 3,800 players, but I want to notch a deep run in a decent-sized live field this year. A dollar donkament against 4000 people doesn't make a difference, but final-tabling a $340 buyin with several hundred people would be extremely significant to me.

It will need to be at a point where I am comfortable buying in, because if I don't feel like I can afford to lose, then I will almost certainly lose. Almost certainly, it will come after some of the other goals above (debt cleanup, etc.) have been met.

As for more details on when such a trip and tourney might occur, that is probably best left for another time.

Boy, that sucked

Most of you will agree with me that 2009 was an awful, forgettable, lurching, sickening, mess of a year that needs to stay gone, forever.

However, it wouldn't be quite complete without a little bit of review and a little bit of looking forward.

This post is the review of 2009, of what I wrote about last year at about the same time.

1. No diet or weight resolutions. Well, that one proved easy. SO EASY THAT I GAINED TWENTY MORE FRIGGIN POUNDS!

2. Be more active, exercising at least once a week. Oops. This went out the window quickly, as the Spring term was an insane mess between school and work that I barely had any energy to walk into the house at night, let alone go back out to work out.

3. Graduate. Done in May. Yay!

4. Go to a blogger gathering. Well, I met up with several when I went in June, but I didn't go in December. Maybe this year I can see 100 fellow degenerates.

5. Give more to charity. To be determined, once I finish my taxes but I think it's a bit more.

6. Be a better writer. Boy, I was way off here - I stopped doing both of the Examiner columns I'd started in 2008, and posted here a helluva lot less - only about 120-130 posts instead of 300-350 in past years.

7. Clear $6000 in poker. Way off again, unless I take a zero off and change the first digit. Then again, I was withdrawing any small gains I made almost immediately to pay for household stuff so there was no way I was letting myself work up to the levels I'd wanted - and now I sit again at micro tables more for fun that for profit.

GODDAMN BUBBLE AT BINIONS...AARRRGH!

8. Donate 50% of poker winnings to breast cancer research/charities - Met this one easily, at least, though I wish the tally won could have been higher so that the amount given could have been higher.

9. One post or article per day - this went OK for about three months, then just fell apart after Spring Break and I didn't feel like pushing myself very much.

10. House clean and tidy - still struggling every day, and extending a job search all the way to October actually did not help very much - it seemed harder to maintain with more time than with less. We've probably averaged more time cleaning after we both started working than when I was the only one working.

You know, considering all the crap that went on in 2009 (multiple school changes, graduation, job searches, car wrecks, stresses inside the home, stresses outside the home, multiple downsizings at work, restructurings at work, and even more family illnesses) maybe I did OK with these goals.

But 2009 is gone and can STAY gone.

FOREVER.

2010, make yourself at home, and some goals for this year will come tomorrow - both the ones that are still valid and the ones I've already managed to break.

Actions over words

Forwarded to me by other Knights of Columbus members as a re-post....

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The troops overseas would like you to send this to everybody you know.




Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center Personnel

Don't know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States , especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses.

The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC,
they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses.
He asked how much one of them would cost to build.
He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for
the full amount right there on the spot.
The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story
and want to get the word out to the American public,
because it warmed their hearts to hear it.



The question is:
Why do Brad Pitt, Madonna, Tom Cruise and other Hollywood
fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics
and
Denzel Washington's Patriotism
doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro
section of any newspaper except
the local newspaper in San Antonio .



A true American and friend to all in uniform!




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