Cajun Spice

For some bizarre reason this week, I've been making a lot of Cajun food. I'm not sure why - it could be because Kim just came back from New Orleans or because I'm getting excited about going to Biloxi in a couple of weeks. It could be because I'm starting school next week and I won't have the time so much to cook these sorts of meals.

Whatever the reason, it's almost been down home week from a culinary standpoint. I figured I would share the recipes here - how's THAT for a twist?

On Sunday, I made a roast chicken with the fixins, so we had plenty of leftover chicken, stock, and fat to use for a nice gumbo I made Tuesday night.

I took 1 cup of the chicken grease/fat (you could use oil if you had no grease or fat) and added some pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, paprikaand a cup of flour to make a nice roux.

Once it was all mixed together and heated (turning golden brown, as it should) I added my leftover chicken - probably about a pound or a pound and a half and a can of diced tomatoes, and mixed it all together.

The next step in most recipes calls for chicken stock and water - but, well, I didn't have any stock so I turned to what I actually had in the cupboard - chicken noodle soup, which was a good way of getting the kids' attention when eating. It also took care of the salt content and bringing the consistency to a level more like what gumbo should be.

After that came the vegetables. Now, I didn't spend all day chopping vegetables - I got home and had about 90 minutes to put it all together. I already had sliced the vegetables I needed - okra, celery, corn, peppers and onions. I added those in, put in some bay leaves and a bit of hot sauce, and let it all simmer for about 40 minutes.

It turned out extremely well - a little salty, because I used the soup mix instead of stock, but very good nonetheless. The kids ate their food quickly, which is a rarity - normally they fidget or pick at food, but this time they ate it up fairly quickly.

Now, to turn back the clock one more day - I skipped Monday. In New Orleans, Monday is laundry day - put on the red beans, let them cook all day, do the laundry, then finish making red beans and rice.

Well, it didn't take me all day, but once I got home, I made some red beans and rice after starting some laundry. Since I didn't have all day to let them boil, I used two cans of red beans - it's a type we normally bring back from Louisiana because they don't sell it in Atlanta, called Blue Runner. It's a creamy style, and saves a lot of time on our end without compromising the quality.

(No, this is not a paid post. We just really, really like them. And one good thign about writing is that you learn new things - such as, you can order them online without driving 530 miles to go get them.)

Anyway, we'll take the beans, cut up about a pound of beef sausage or Andouille sausage (which they do sell here, thankfully), brown it up, and add onion, garlic (or garlic powder), worcestershire, spicy mustard, a lot of ketchup, pepper, and a lot of Crystal hot sauce. Mix it, cook it up, cook some white rice, and ...mmmmmmmmmmm.

I've gotten hungry just writing this post.

It's a good thing I've got some gumbo left for lunch today. I made a lot last night.

Too bad I didn't snap any pictures to post to really get your mouth watering.

I'm just glad it's only 16 days until a return to the Bayou.

Writing complexity

More often than not, I try to be entertaining, interesting, or informative, but there are occasions where I feel my writing resembles this:



Too funny not to share. H/t Ishkur.

Olympics

Prepare for six hours of listening to Bob Costas making you want to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil.

H/t Unmotivation. Where there are many, many, many funny posters.

I think with this week coming to a close that I need a drink or eight quite badly, so let's try one drink of each.

This has probably been my busiest week of work so far at the new company. However, the rough part hasn't been the volume of work, or the short deadlines. Instead, the rough part has been trying to get things done when you aren't given complete information or when other folks, far more experienced, are making mistakes or just putting off essential items.

Don't get me wrong, other people are busy too, but I can't stand when other people shirk off work and instead spend their time doing almost nothing, or not paying attention to what they are doing (and as a result, screwing up what needs to be done further down the pipeline.

About the only decent thing that occurs from these episodes is that I appear to be the only one who has a fucking clue. In the long run, I suppose that is a good thing.

I would have written this last night, but a power outage took out the entire neighborhood from 8:30 PM to almost 1 AM. I actually did the unthinkable - I went to bed before midnight, for once.

However, I didn't appreciate the automated phone call at 4:30 AM letting me know the power had returned. A big thanks to Captain Obvious for that phone call.

Flight 93 Families Divided

"Flight 93 Families Divided"



Tom Burnett Sr. entered the lion's den on Saturday to oppose the crescent memorial to Flight 93 (now called a broken circle). An excerpt from the beginning of the Somerset Daily American's banner headline story about division amongst the families:

"Tom Burnett Jr. led the effort to take the plane back," his father said. "When I was on the design jury, I saw the red crescent of embrace and realized it was an obvious and blatant symbol of Islam. It does not properly honor our people — those Flight 93 heroes. I think it's a travesty that it's moved along so fast."

He called for an investigation into the design. When he has brought up his concerns, some of the task force and advisory commission members have dismissed him, he said. "

This is a cataclysmic mistake," he said. "I'm going to save you from yourselves. I'd like to ask for an unbiased, transparent, honest investigation. This is just a terrible, terrible mistake. I'm asking every American — we must stop this mistake. This panel doesn't own the design, I don't own it, Pennsylvania doesn't own it, all of America and all of the world own it."

He said he is also tired of the controversy, but that they must honor the heroes properly. It will reverberate in history.

"I'm not going to stop fighting this thing, it is very, very bad," Burnett said. "Wake up. Get your heads out of the sand."

Other Flight 93 family members roared back. What is usually a three hour quarterly meeting of the Memorial Project stretched to five hours as over twenty people signed up to speak on both sides.

One side wants scrutiny. The other is desperate to avoid it.
The pattern at the meeting was simple and consistent. Critics of the crescent design pointed out damning facts and called for independent investigation. Defenders of the broken circle insisted that there is nothing to investigate, and cried out for critics of the design to stop putting them through this agony.

If the claims of the critics are not accurate, independent investigation would end the agony. If the crescent/broken-circle does not actually point within two degrees of Mecca, then put this explosive claim to rest by showing where the crescent does point. If there are not actually to be 44 inscribed translucent blocks emplaced along the flight path (matching the number of passengers, crew, and terrorists), it is a simple matter of opening up the design drawings and counting.

If the defenders of the crescent had truth on their side, they would be eager to have it exposed. Unfortunately for them, the giant crescent does point to Mecca, and somehow they don't want the public to know it.

Todd Beamer's father is on the side of the crescent?
The highest profile defender of the crescent design was Mr. David Beamer, whose son Todd issued the "Let's roll" signal to re-take Flight 93. Mr. Beamer, beloved by conservatives for his opposition to Congressman Murtha, had not previously taken a public position on the crescent design. He has apparently gotten involved in fundraising for the memorial, and announced at the meeting that he has undertaken two months of due diligence, looking into criticisms of the design.

Listeners expected Mr. Beamer to continue with a report on his fact-checking efforts, but he did not have a single word to say about any of the claims that Mr. Rawls and Mr. Burnett have put forward, launching instead into an extended condemnation of Alec Rawls for his "obsessive" persistence.

If he found that the giant crescent does not point to Mecca, surely he would have said so. Similarly for the terrorist memorializing block count, or the placement of the 9/11 date in the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag. What better way to be rid of this dastardly Rawls fellow than to expose his claims as a fraud?

Mr. Beamer's silence about what he found speaks volumes, and not just about the crescent design. Who could fact check these claims and then be silent about his findings?

Don't look at the design drawings!
Every defender of the crescent had his own scheme of evasion and obfuscation. Patrick White, Vice President of Families of Flight 93, took Alec Rawls to task for holding up a 2005 graphic of the top of the Tower of Voices, where an Islamic shaped crescent soars in the sky above the symbolic lives of the 40 heroes. This old graphic should not be taken as indicative of the current design Mr. White suggested, as the design has evolving for three years now. Yet the exact same graphic was brought to the meeting by the Memorial Project itself, and was on display right outside the courtroom where the meeting was held.

That's going to make some great video, as will one particularly scurrilous attack on Mr. Burnett, and the victim card played by Project Superintendent Joanne Hanley. Several videographers will be sending raw footage, which Alec will start putting together when he returns to California next week.

Big enough to check the facts yet?
How big does the conflict have to get before some major media outlet is willing to do their jobs and actually check the facts for themselves? David Dunbar and Brad Reagan of Popular Mechanics were willing to fact-check the "9/11 truth" morons, finding that most of their evidence is deliberately taken out of context, and that none of their claims stand up to the least bit of scrutiny. Come on PM. If we are a bunch of frauds then we are just as much in need of debunking. We've even got Flight 93 family members at loggerheads and crying out for relief. What are you waiting for?

(A handy dandy list of damning facts to check here.) To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

script language="javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=c9772897903facc56d35d9d0f9360331" type="text/javascript">

Ending a saga

Thank God this won't be the lead story on all sports shows anymore.

Bett Favre has now been traded. Not a big surprise.

The shocking part is that he has been traded to the JETS????!?!

I guess it finally means the end of the Chad Pennington era - about two seasons later than it should have ended.

So, let's see...

Aaron Rodgers gets a starting gig.
Brett Favre also gets a starting gig.
The Jets get someone to advertise with who also improves their QB situation.
We get spared endless coverage from Green Bay.

Everybody wins.

Coding/Blogging Outage

For the past couple days, it seemed odd that I had no visitors and no subscribers.


I caught up on some reading today and realized that Sitemeter code took down a lot of blogs over the weekend - some famous, some not so famous.

Since I didn't try to blog anything, I didn't notice. Once I did notice, I removed the code.

For some reason, after I removed it, I was receiving reports with zeroes all the way across - which can't be accurate in the slightest.

I think I've gotten the kinks figured out. For now. So, hopefully you are able to see an accurate counter on the sidebar, and are able to see this in your reader, or Facebook, or wherever you read this thing.

I've also finished updating the links/blogrolls and added some new widgets. I was hoping to add a music player of some sort, but decided it would just make loading the page too damn long. It takes long enough already.

Bad Run

I haven't played very much at the tables lately, as you can probably tell, but tonight I fired it up to play a bit.

I don't think tonight was my night so much, as I got stacked twice in cash tables - QQ to A-5 with an A on the turn, and then running JJ into QQ in the blinds.

I decided to fire up one more tourney before closing the client for the night, a $3500 guaranteed $10 rebuy. As further proof of how poorly I was running, I saw 64 hands and won a grand total of...4.

The one premium hand I saw, JJ, went down to...QQ. Again. I did rebuy, and took the add on as well, which was about what I expected when I signed up. Thankfully I did not run into anything more during monkey hour.

There was a slight overlay, and 130 of 165 finished monkey hour (with 20 paying out), after which folks began dropping fast and furious - 24 in the first level after play resumed.

As for the ending...I ran KJ and the BB woke up with AK, and I finished 58th.

I hope I run slightly better in a few weeks.

Not full of hot air

For once, the McCain campaign has found an easy way to make a mark against Barack Obama's empty words and platitudes of hopey, changey, feelgood nothingness.

A tire gauge.

Being the natural cynic that I am, I don't expect this newfound fight to last, but at least the tire gauge gimmick and the House actions last week have actually made it seem like Republicans have a pair.

For once.

And no, one act is not enough to make me consider supporting McCain.

Stage Change

We had an interesting and funny development on Saturday while we were at the mall.

While in Macy's looking through kids' clothes, Sammie decided that she absolutely HAD to have certain clothes.

She walked over to the underwear section, grabbed a pair of panties, and tried to put them on with her skirt.

As she has also been trying over the past week to walk to the potty and pull off her diaper, I think it is safe to say we've had enough signs that she is ready for potty training.

So, we went and bought her first pair of big-girl underwear. Little Mermaid, to go with the Ariel doll she brings to many, many places.

I'm hoping it goes a bit easier and quicker than Alex's potty training. Everyone says girls are easier to train, so I hope that is indeed the case.

BlogWorld

I just found out about this BlogWorld convention going on in a relatively well-known convention city.



It's from September 19-21, so you could actually do it without losing much time from work. Get a late flight out on Friday, and come back Sunday. There is nothing wrong with a quick little jaunt to Vegas.

Unfortunately, I will probably not go. If I have to pick in Vegas trips between this and the Winter Gathering in December, I'll pick going in December. Hopefully, I can actually make it for once. It starts the day after finals end and would be a nice reward.

You can even recoup your costs with a couple of hours at the poker table. Or, perhaps you could write off all associated travel costs as a busienss expense if writing covers a decent amount of income.

Stop Bribing Me

Pandering ticks me off.

I've spoken before about how I wasn't too fond of the recent round of "stimulus payments". They seemed like an election year tactic in 2006 and 2008 - attempts to subdue voter discontent by giving them back money they had already earned. They seemed more like a bribe than an actual plan of government - and of course, almost all of that stimulus money has been sent, and spent, and American consumers are still feeling the pinch.

But fear not, for the Obamessiah has decided that George Bush's policy is good enough for him. Apparently, he would like to send every family a stimulus check for $1,000 (or $500 for each individual worker) funded by "windfall profits from Big Oil". i.e. raising taxes.

Yes, that's right. Barack Obama's answer to a problem is to take a page from George Bush's playbook.

(H/t Slublog for the PhotoShop)

And of course, we all know that those additional costs wouldn't be passed on to the customer, because companies are ALWAYS willing to eat higher costs.

So, in the end, you will get a check from the government, funded by taxes paid by oil companies, which will be used to pay for more expensive gasoline, oil, and so on, which will then stay elevated even after your stimulus payment has disappeared.

Let's just spend another $50 billion, even though there is no guarantee of having the revenue to cover that, when we've already been screwed into a massive federal deficit.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Heaven forbid the money be used to continue working on developing more sources of oil (DRILL DAMMIT!) to lower prices or alternative energy sources.

You know you are devoid of ideas when you take ideas from someone you despise and ridicule on a daily basis...but that's exactly what Obama is doing in trying to push this idea and I'm once again reminded that we have an election between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.

Bookworms

One thing for which I've always been thankful is that my kids love to read. Even when it wasn't so much reading as it was looking at the pictures, they have both always loved reading.

As I've mentioned in passing, this week is an interesting one, as I am doing the solo parenting thing from Saturday to Saturday while the wife is in New Orleans. I realized today that this was also the topic of my second blog post ever on this little corner of a series of tubes (as a recently indicted Senator describes it.)

It's also the un-birthday of this blog - it is two and a half years old today. Kooky, eh?

Anyway, I decided that yesterday should be a remote day - as I had no meetings to attend, and everyone else was working remotely yesterday, I decided to save myself 90 miles of driving to day care and back and work from home during the day. Throughout the morning, I worked on a couple of prpoposals while the kids played, ate breakfast and lunch, watched TV, and of course acted goofy.

In the middle of the afternoon, I packed up the brood to head over to the library. While Alex had gone a couple of times, I don't think Samantha had ever gone, and I don't think they had seen a library with me other than GSU's library, so I figured it would be fun to take them over. They could pick out some books to read and/or look at, and there was a movie showing at 3:00 which would entertain them while also allowing me to work on anything else for work.

So, they both got to watch Bee Movie, and even though it wasn't a great movie, both of them had fun at the library - Alex by reading (for real) through several books, and Sammie by stacking about 20-30 books on top of a table until they all fell down. She didn't have much patience to have me read to her while we were there, but instead wanted to wander the aisles and explore for herself.

Yesterday was momentous for one other reason, though. Alex got to feel even more like an adult by getting his very first library card. He used it to check out three books - naturally, all three books were about dinosaurs.

He's now decided that he needs to have a wallet like me, but I told him it would be a long time before he got any credit cards. Still, it will be fun for him to show to his classmates during show and tell.

I think I was six or seven when I got my first library card, so I guess he's ahead of me on the learning curve. I don't remember if I was reading at four, but it's pretty cool that he's doing so now.

Now if he would just go to bed without trying to make 17 excuses a night for getting out of bed - but it's one battle at a time.

Inattentive (UPDATED)

Just to clear things up, the reason I have not been writing anything about baseball has nothing to do with the fact that the Braves are below .500 and have had injuries left and right during the year.

No, the real reason I haven't written much about baseball these past few months is that I really haven't been paying much attention this season. Not just the Braves, but the entire sport.

I had not really wattched much baseball this year, but I decided to flip on the All-Star Game last week around 11:00, as I figured I would be catching the tail end of the game. As we all probably know by now, it went 15 innings, and the extra six innings played were some of the most inept baseball I've ever seen. It only served to remind me why I've preferred to watch other things or not watch TV at all lately.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise this week to find out that the Braves traded away Mark Teixeira for an inferior (but cheaper and younger) first baseman and a middling pitching prospect. Generally, the Braves have not been sellers at the trade deadline.

In looking a little closer, though, I guess we can't be too surprised. The games since the All-Star break were really a make-or-break time for the season, despite the injuries to Smoltz, Hudson, Chipper, and about half the roster. Instead, they've gone 4-7 to fall into fourth place in the division, 8.5 games behind first.

UPDATE: Tim Hudson will need Tommy John surgery. So you can probably write off 2009 too.

The only surprise there should be from this deal is that the Braves get so little in return. Even though it is a rent-a-player deal for a Boras client, this is still a 28-year old 1B with 37 homers in the past 162 games who's just entered his prime.

At least that prediction can go into the garbage pretty early this year.

I would hope, for the Braves' sake, that this is not the last deal to come down the pike. The Braves really need a lot of pieces at this point, so now may be as good a time as any to stockpile as many young assets as possible.

In the meantime...training camp is underway, and as bad as the Falcons will probably be this year I'll still be paying more attention to them than to the Braves, not to mention the Dawgs pursuing #1.

Getting old sucks

For once, I am not talking about myself.

For your review, I present a study in contrast.

James Hetfield, 1983:



James Hetfield, 1993:



Not too much of a difference, but then, in a game of what doesn't match:

James Hetfield, 2008:



Armani? Flip-flops? Clean-shaven?

Extreme metal...FAIL.

If it weren't so sad, it would be extremely funny.

End is nigh

Prepare thee for thy day of reckoning, the end is at hand. The apocalypse is nigh!


How do I know this?


Because my father, who is the most technologically naive person on the planet (or at least one of the higher-ranking Luddites) has now gotten a cellphone.


This must be one of the signs of impending doom for us all. Thank God he hasn't figured out these crazy intertube thingabobs.


/sarcasm off.

RickRolled in Flowchart Format

I don't need to state a reason why I came up with this. I was bored and decided to fuel my creative instincts.

It's amazing the sort of stuff you (in this case, I) can do when you really, really, REALLY don't want to work in Microsoft Excel.

I resent this to GraphJam today, so we'll see if there's another bum rush.

And, to enhance the experience.....

Company Marketing

One thing that's been noticeably different between my current job and previous jobs is the lack of promotional items.

With the Bank, it was fairly easy to see what promotional business items were available and how much they cost. Between online catalogs, road shows, and store locations in main buildings, it was easy to acquire branded merchandise or business promotional items to display, wear, show off, etc. On many days there would be a large number of associates wearing bank-branded gear.

But here, it's a lot more difficult to find any sort of business promotional item available. Even finding a way to get a polo shirt with the company logo has been somewhat difficult, which seems strange for a Fortune 500 company - no catalog, no online site, nothing which is readily accessible. Even when I mention who I work for, most folks' first reaction is "Who?"

Meanwhile, I now have a drawer full of bank shirts which come in useful when cleaning the house because I pretty much don't wear them anymore.

I think I might go to an outside site to get some shirts, just so I can have something to wear or show off. We'll probably be looking at some sort of promotional business item site over the next few months to prepare for Nationals anyway, so it might be good to try and find some sort of business partner now in order to be ready for December. One site in particular seems to have a lot of different marketing options available, so it may be worth looking into for a lot of different types of marketing materials for both Nationals and trade shows I might have to attend this fall and spring without having to worry about quantity.

After all the driving around this morning and fun of last night, this is probably about all my brain can handle at the moment.

Solo Parenting Live-Blog

Hey, it's got to be better than an election-night blog.

It was just a very strange day yesterday and today. Kim is out of town for a week for a conference, so I al flying solo with the kids from this past Saturday until this coming Saturday.

The last 24 hours have been, well, interesting. here goes.

We start off Sunday morning: Easygoing, very light. We clean the dining room, watch some kids shows (Oswald, Diego, Clifford), have pizza for lunch.
1:30 PM: Kids go down for naptime.
1:50 PM: Alex tries to claim he has taken a long nap. Um, no, Tuck him back into bed.
3:45 PM: Both kids wake up from nap after Sammie climbs out of crib and hollers.
4:30 PM: Get everyone showered, cleaned up, and dressed to go outside.
4:35 PM: Reveal that we’re going for ice cream before we go to the playground. Yay!
4:45 PM: Get ice cream.
4:48 PM: Alex throws fit because the chocolate syrup is touching the dinosaur cookie. Refuses to eat ice cream and throws a sulky tantrum. I wish I was making this up. Sadly, no.
5:00 PM: Sammie finishes her little strawberry ice cream sundae – and has not messed herself at all. She ate it all, with a spoon, and got none of it on her face, hands, or clothes. Wow. Is she really still under 2?
5:10 PM: Still in a tantrum, Alex is still refusing his ice cream, so Sammie and I eat it. Sammie has no problems with eating more ice cream.
5:15 PM: Back in the truck to go home – playground cancelled on account of tantrum.
5:16 PM: Disclose punishment – he must go to his room, clean it all by himself, and is not allowed to do anything else until it is done, and in the meantime Sammie can play with any toys she wants downstairs.
7:00 PM: Alex finishes cleaning his room. I am extremely impressed by how well he did.
7:05 PM: Alex and Sammie take turns jumping on his bed with 90 or so stuffed animals on it.
7:20 PM: Dinnertime – chicken nuggets, peas, carrots, and iced tea at the newly cleaned dining room table.
8:00 PM: Finish dinner and go back to the living room for playtime and reading before bedtime.
8:01 PM: Start watching a movie the entire family can enjoy…..Caddyshack. (edited version on ESPN Classic) Alex liked a lot of the silly things in the movie. Thankfully the Lacey Underall parts were a bit over his head and there wasn’t any of that kind of activity shown.
8:45 PM: Boats crashing into each other is very funny.
8:50 PM: Getting struck by lighting is also very funny.
9:05 PM: So is cleaning your house with a leafblower.
9:20 PM: Take kids upstairs after a golf course blows up (again, very funny to a four-year old).
9:40 PM: Finish changing kids, tuck kids in.
9:55 PM: Alex comes downstairs #1
10:10 PM: Alex comes downstairs #2
10:30 PM: Alex comes downstairs #3 – he definitely has my procrastination gene.
10:45 PM: Thank God, he’s finally asleep.
11:20 PM: Samantha starts screaming in bed and pulling her jaw – hooray for growing molars and teething!
11:23 PM: Tylenol and cuddling = no more screaming.
11:40 PM: Attempt to place Sammie back into crib.
11:50 PM: Abandon attempt to place Sammie back in crib due to screaming fears of the dark and of closets.
11:55 PM: Finish tucking Sammie into big bed.
12:15 AM: Finish reassuring Sammie that nothing in the house will hurt her or get her and that there are no monsters in the closet.
12:16 AM: Turn on closet light to reinforce lack of scary monster thingamabobs. She stops pointing at the closet.
12:30 AM: Sammie falls back asleep after trying to cuddle as close to me as humanly possible. Very cute.
12:31 AM: I finally fall asleep.
4:05 AM: Sammie falls off bed while sleeping. We are no longer sleeping. Repeat Tylenol and cuddly reassurance.
4:20 AM: Sammie goes back to sleep.
4:50 AM: Alex comes into big bed to cuddle too.
5:05 AM: Everyone’s asleep again.
6:00 AM: Alarm clock goes off.
6:01 AM: Alarm clock stops going off when it hits the wall.
7:00 AM: Wake up.
7:40 AM: Get out of house with kids in tow.
7:58 AM: Arrive at office. Momentary check-in while the kids eat Nutri-Grain bars and milk. Nothing urgent, time to take the kids to school by 9 AM.
8:45 AM: Arrive at daycare. Drop off Alex.
8:48 AM: Get back in truck with Sammie to go get diapers and another pair of shorts because she messed up her outfit with the NutriGrain blueberry bar and spilled milk on herself.
9:22 AM: Drop off Sammie, who promptly starts crying again when it’s clear I’m going back to work.
9:59 AM: Return to work.
10:04 AM: Find out that I could have worked from home because no one else is working in the office today.
10:05 AM: Begin banging head on desk.
10:28 AM: Finish banging head on desk.
10:40 AM: Debate whether I can get away with sleeping under my desk.

Hopefully, tonight will be smooth, and I can actually marinate the steaks I had planned yesterday to serve tonight. Maybe I can also get more than 4 hours of consecutive sleep. At least I already know that I can work from home tomorrow so that’ll save me about 80 miles of driving.

In the meantime, there is a bottle of SoCo calling my name this coming weekend. Only 5 more nights to go.

Epic Betting Fail

The one thing that is never said is what sort of bet that amount of weed would have equaled at the table.

Are Fresno casinos that boring?

H/t Pot Committed.

Spam alert

I'm sure he has some friends in Nigeria who can put him up in tough times.

‘Spam King’ escapes from federal prison by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine --

Edward “Eddie” Davidson, a notorious e-mail spammer who was sentenced to jail time in April, has escaped from a federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado. Davidson (left), also known as the “Spam King, made a run for it when his wife visited him last Sunday and is now officially listed in “escape” status, according to a [...]

Calling a bottom

Do you remember a week ago when I said that it may finally be a good time to buy BAC, and I was lifting my curse against the stock with it dropping into the teens? If not, click here.

Last week's price when I made the post: 18.54.

Today's price: 32.28.

That would be a 74% gain. In one week.

I hope you bought some and made a nice killing. Just remember to ship me an appropriate commission. If that isn't calling a bottom, I don't know what is.

Oh, and you're welcome.

Confirmed

I will be playing in event #4 of the Gulf Coast Poker Classic.

I will also spend time relaxing on the beach, because, well, I deserve it. It's been a rough few months, and school will be starting back up, and I need to recharge my batteries.

Besides, the room is also discounted. I got the confirmation today.

We'll also go see some family at some point, whether it means driving east to Pensacola or west to New Orleans.

And who knows, perhaps I can walk out with a nice little paycheck.

Aging

I spoke with my sister for a while last night, catching up on how the northern branch of the family tree is coming along. I found out that my nephew had made a decision where he will be going to college.

He will be starting at Towson University next month, in Maryland. Apparently, he was extremely interested in their audiology program, and such interest was reciprocated, so he will be starting there in the fall. He has had some hearing deficiencies for several years now, and as such is very interested in going into this line of work.

In addition, he has almost gotten all the way through to becoming an Eagle Scout. He has been very involved with Scouting for a number of years, and will probably be gonig through an Eagle Scout ceremony in the fall or during winter break, once everything is organized and a good time is found for everyone. I mentioned that I'd been at a few Eagle Scout ceremonies back when I was a section chair in the fraternity to recognize new Eagle Scouts, and found out he may be interested in such an organization as they already know about it.

So, I realized a few things from this call:

1. The next generation of Franci are beginning college. Already.
2. The next generation of Franci may pledge the same fraternity as me.
3. Holy crap, I'm friggin old.
4. AAAUUUGHGGGHHH!!!!!

Now, what would be really strange is if he pledged and ended up in Boston at Nationals along with us. That would be even freakier.

Curious Searching

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if everyone who comes here searching for "atlanta barbie" is looking for something like this?

Strangely, that and "strip fire" have been most common in search terms.

Apparently, it's time for Barbie to go down to Ponce or Metropolitan Pkwy:

Critics Slam Mattel's New Barbie, Calling S&M Outfit 'Filth'

Personally, it seems more like a rocker outfit, but that could just be my interpretation.

Link Refresh

I haven't done any updating to the links on the side of the page, but I'll probably be doing that this weekend.

If you aren't listed, and I need to add your page, drop me a comment so I can add it. Especially if you read this through Facebook or another reader, because I can't pick up your links very easily. That requires, like, work, and stuff.

Let me know if the link is wrong too.

If nothing else, enjoy clicking away and killing the rest of your weekend.

$mokkee
23Skidoo - Compromising Anonymity
4dbirds
Ace of Spades HQ
AlCantHang
The AppGap
Astin
Atlanta Hawks Blog
Atlanta Metblogs
B.W.o.P
Bayne's Poker Suffering
Bill Rini
Boobs, Injuries, and Dr. Pepper
Bring A Deuce
Buddy Dank
Butch Howard
C2 Choices
Conservative Belle
The Conservative Brotherhood - Keeping It Right
The Cranky Conservative
Creative Commons
dunford
DealBreaker
Donkette
Donkeypuncher
Donkeys Always Draw
Drawing Dead
East Village (EV) Grieve
FAIL Blog: Pictures and Videos of Owned, Pwnd and Fail Moments
Falstaff
F Train
Fuel - Creativity breeds Madness
Freakonomics
Geek Soap Box
Good Beers/Bad Beats
Gothamist
GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Memes)"
Haley's Poker Bl-Auggh!!
Mary Katherine Ham
Hoyazo
I Can Has Cheezburger?
I had outs
Iggy
Irongirl
It's Braves Time type
Jacks R OK
Jeciimd
Jen Leo
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York
Joe Speaker
Julius Goat
Kajagugu Poker
Katitude does poker type
Kick Ass Poker
Kid Dynamite's World
Las Vegas News Blog
Lightning Strikes
Little Miss Attila
Loretta
Lost City
Love Elf
Low Limit Grinder
Lucko
Medusa's Castle
Miami Don
Michele Lewis
MOOOOOOKIE
My Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
Nice Deb
Nickel and Dimes
NYC Pocket Blog
O-Poker
The Obituarium
Cowboy Poker - OOSSUUU754
The Over-Educated Nympho
Patchwork
Peach Pundit
Pecan Flan
Kuro Kitty
Poker Enthusiast
CarmenSinCity - Poker Girl in Vegas
PokerNews.com
Columbo
Pokerati
PokerPeaker
Pot Committed
Protein Wisdom
Red Meat for a Red State
Riggstads Nut Straight
RightyBlogs.com » Georgia
Spaceman
StB
Strip Search City
Surflexus
Tao of Pauly
Tao of Poker
This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here
TripJax
Trust Me, I'm A Blonde
Two Black Aces
The Vegas Year
Voted Off the Island
Waffles
Wall Street Poker
Weak Player
Wicked Chops Poker
Wired - GeekDad

Yes, I know they aren't EXACTLY alphabetical. Trying to do that while a toddler with strep is sleeping on you is extremely difficult to accomplish.

Flight Memorial

Thanks to Muslims Against Sharia for putting together a short video on the re-hijacking of Flight 93:







The voice at the beginning is flight attendant CeeCee Lyles.



CeeCee's family has really struggled without her. One of the many stories that clearly illustrate how much one life matters. (Serious tear-jerker warning.)





Check out The Strata-Sphere



Last week's blogburst asked those hero bloggers who forced the redesign of the crescent memorial back in 2005 to please notice that the giant Mecca-oriented crescent is still there.



Many thanks to AJ Strata for taking another look, and writing a long post on the fundamentally unchanged memorial. It looks like he might keep after this too, since he gives the memorial another mention amidst his debunking of recent claims that Obama's birth certificate scan shows signs of Photoshopping.



If you aren't familiar with The Strata-Sphere, it is second to none as a source for terror war news and analysis.





The Pennsylvania press reports our "who broke the circle?" email campaign, and covers up the Park Service's refusal to answer



Since the memorial design is still being described as a broken circle, and since the unbroken part of the circle (the crescent) remains completely unchanged, our email campaign demanded to know "WHO is being depicted as breaking the circle?"



It can only be the terrorists. The circle is a symbol of peace, and it was the terrorists who broke the peace on 9/11. So the design shows the terrorists breaking our peaceful circle and turning it into a giant Islamic shaped crescent. A clearer depiction of al Qaeda victory is hard to imagine.



The Memorial Project and the Park Service sent evasive replies to the hundred or so emails they received, never answering the question posed, but the fact that they issued a mass response made the email campaign news. How did the Pennsylvania press cover it? With a cover up.



Reporter Kecia Bal mentions our "who broke the circle?" subject line, but never reports the substance our letter: that the circle can only have been broken by the terrorists, who then succeed in turning it into a giant (Islamic shaped) crescent.



Instead, Kecia quotes an emailer admitting that "it was a cut-and-paste kind of thing," as if they might not even have understood the content, which remains a mystery to Kecia's readers. She does not even let her readers know that the official government response failed to answer the question.



Why is the local media covering this up? Because the entire Memorial Project, including both advisory boards, was appointed by the Somerset County Board of Supervisors. As a result, it is stacked with local eminences, all of whom are by now deeply implicated in the two and a half year cover up. Kecia thinks she is doing these local eminences a favor by trying to make this story go away, but she is not.



The further that architect Paul Murdoch's terrorist memorializing plot proceeds, the bigger the scandal. All of these local folks could still be heroes by stepping up and tackling the hijacker. Continuing to block for him instead is the worst thing they can do, not just for the country, but for themselves. We are trying to haul these people out of a burning building and they are tearing their fingernails out on the doorjambs. Crazy.





The August 2nd Memorial Project meeting



If you are within weekend traveling distance, please consider joining Tom Burnett Sr. in Somerset PA on August 2nd. If you get there early enough for the Memorial Project's public meeting (10AM-1PM) you can sign up to speak. We will rally in the afternoon on Saturday, and visit the crash-site Sunday.



To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

Hand of the day

Second orbit, in the blinds. This is always fun.

ROBIRD1 Posts SB 0.10
APOSEC72 Posts BB 0.25
jimmyb72 Calls 0.25
SwampAss331 Folds
Auditor222 Folds
swamptoe1 Calls 0.25
DaRealViRuS2 Folds
Aventurera Folds
ROBIRD1 Calls 0.15
APOSEC72 [6c] [6s] Checks

FLOP: [Qs] [6s] [6d] DQB!!!

ROBIRD1 Checks
APOSEC72 Checks
jimmyb72 Bets 0.25
swamptoe1 Folds
ROBIRD1 Folds
APOSEC72 Raised to 0.50
jimmyb72 Calls 0.25

TURN: [Qs] [6s] [6d] [Kd]

APOSEC72 Bets 0.50
jimmyb72 Calls 0.50

RIVER: [Qs] [6s] [6d] [Kd] [4c]

APOSEC72 Checks
jimmyb72 Bets 3.20
APOSEC72 Raised to 13.00
jimmyb72 All In 8.95
APOSEC72 Shows [6s] [6c]
jimmyb72 Shows [Kc] [Kh] Wow, that's painful. Boated up on the turn, but still drawing to one out.
APOSEC72 Won 25.94 from pot 1 with Four of a Kind Sixes


Thank God the last king didn't come on the river - that would have been a killer beat for the ages.

Dirty Water

Click through for video sponsored by worldvision.org...

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:

Pres. Bush actually takes a position that a majority of people agree with which doesn't tick off the base by endorsing drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf.

There's been no good reason why China and Cuba can drill right off our shores, but we refuse to take advantage of our resources.

The bad: An embassy in IRAN??? Days after nuclear missile tests? Did I miss a policy change?

The ugly: Get ready to be raped for bank bailouts. If the government buys trillions of dollars in failing banks and companies like Fannie/Freddie Mac/IndyMac to keep them afloat, where exactly will the money come from? It will unfortunately play very well into the massive tax increases we will see next year in a worst-case election sccenario.

Oh, who am I kidding...there is no good-case scenario.

Sweet

Another oddball chart for you - because I don't want to do any TPS reports.

On the mark

I know a lot of people who love the Daily Show, and a lot of people who hate the Daily Show.

For those who find it too liberal, they would probably love the clip about the Obamessiah last night - which might be one of the few times Jon Stewart and Rush Limbaugh are on the same page.

The clip is below.

H/t RightyBlogs - because I didn't write it up last night when I first saw it during the show.

Soon after was another good clip, this time on Leno, which made more fun of Obama riding a unicorn (though in fairness, it took on everyone).

Latest Linkage

Apparently, I moved to Florida and mobody told me.

Seriously, though, thanks to RightyBlogs for the link-up.

Now, who's going to spill the beans about buying me a house in the Keys?

Anyone?

(F)Ax Men

TPS reports gone wild....

Dedication

This clip is for all of the politicians who have been calling, letter-bombing, and e-mail bombing me in the lead-up to today's primary.

Please go away and stop writing me. The banner on the side of this page ought to be a hint.

Lifting the curse

I've decided today that it is finally time to lift my curse against BOA's stock.

Since leaving a year ago, I sold off any remaining stock I had in the company, thanks to retirement plans and other employee benefits.

Since then, the stock has fallen from 51 (ha!) to a low today of 18.5.

I think that is enough of a fall now for Bank of America, so I am lifting my curse against them, regardless of who remains there or any stupid practices they may continue to have.

With the stock under 20, I'm now thinking it could be a good long-term buying opportunity. For now, though, I'm satisfied with the damage done to their stock price and current market standing. It might be a good opportunity, depending on their earnings release next week.

Karma is fun sometimes. I consider this score settled. A drop of over 60% puts us even, don't you think?

Acquiring humor

Did you know that four-year olds can find Monty Python funny?

Thanks to this clip, they do.

It was quite hilarious. Granted, he may not have understood a lot of the other humor in the clip, but there was enough to find it funny.


Monty Python Ministry Of Silly Walks - For more funny videos, click here

The Last Day

Today is the last real day of the WSOP Main Event. They will play down to 9 players today, who will reconvene in November to play out the final table.

Last year, Tiffany was doing interviews/writing/etc for PokerNews and (I think) broadcasts for Bluff Poker Radio - I know I have a couple of podcasts saved with her as a fill-in host.

This year, she is the poker news. Update: She busted 17th, which is still a good payday, but no final table.)

She sits 6th in chips out of 27 remaining players as the Last Woman Standing (tm). With the last two big names, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow, busting yesterday, there are a lot of people hoping, wishing, praying, etc. that Tiffany Michelle makes the final table and brings some interest to their broadcast.

Of course, most poker folks wouldn't mind a Tiffany effect similar to the Moneymaker effect - lots of women playing more poker (as Pauly wrote this morning). The poker world could use some pretty-ing up.

It'll also make four months of hype fairly easy to accomplish. What degenerates wouldn't be interested in an attractive female, who actually talks to people (unlike Jerry Yang) also known for some possible off-the-cuff behavior?

If she doesn't make it, ESPN is going to have a really, really hard time hyping a final table of people that even hardcore poker fans, for the most part, don't really know.

But if she does, it will be easy to market to a much wider audience.

Besides, I think someone once said lesbians equal ratings. Doesn't matter to me if true or not, but ESPN probably won't mind in its marketing efforts.

Hopefully she is able to put up with the pressure of it all if she does make the final table.

Below, a clip. Then, a link to an interview. Then, a picture from yesterday and her sizable stack.

Gambling + sex + sex appeal + money = God Bless America :)

WHORE-OFF!

With Spitzer call girl Kristin/Ashley Dupre/whatever the hell she calls herself now announcing a move to LA for a TV show, I think we have a very big threat on our hands.

This means that Kristen, Tila Tequila, and New York from Flavor of Love may all be on set at the same time, shooting their "reality shows".

We may see skank levels never before seen, surpassing even car rides of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and Britney Spears.

Are there enough keywords now? Good. I can't believe I just typed so many at once. I can't put pictures of any of them up, though. Even I have SOME standards. Not many, but a few.

If these three ever share the same space, we may see a disease emerge of unthinkable proportions, infecting the entire American Southwest, and possibly, the world.

Run away! Run away!

Global Communication

For the last couple of weeks or so, I've been working on a project that has required international e-mail and conference calls.

As a result, I've been actually working later or at home very late at night, as that is morning business hours for other locations.

That being said.....

It's a bit annoying to say that you'll be available until a certain time (say, 2 AM local time, to benefit trans-oceanic parties at 8 or 9 AM) before going to sleep, then getting a cellphone call at 5 AM which could have been done much, much earlier - about two days earlier.

There are many words which describe me at 5 AM.

CONSCIOUS is not one of those words. COMATOSE, perhaps.

Considering that Sammie woke up at 3:30 AM and would not go back down without some soothing, I am a bit grumpy this morning (which probably explains my last post).

Perhaps a pub visit might be in order.

Wah

I would have thought a lot more than 40,000 New Yorkers had moved down here over five years. That really doesn't seem like a lot.

Aside from that, this article is basically a bunch of New Yorkers who have enough time here in Atlanta to whine to a fourth-rate blog/paper, but apparently are too damn lazy to move back and expect everyone to cater to their own wishes.

In short, they're perfect for what New York has turned into over the last few years, so if they want to call some moving trucks, be my guest, there are enough other folks who obviously want to be here.

Take a flamethrower to the place

Well, I did indeed make it almost to 3 AM last night.

Aside from actually doing things for work, I also stayed up to sweat the Main Event bubble thanks to PokerNews and Pauly.

Thankfully, everyone's favorite drunk blogging MMA-junkie midget has cashed and sits on a decent stack of chips heading into day 4.

No word if the stack of chips is taller than he is.

Way to go, Iggy, now take a flamethrower to the place and get that $9 million.

Just don't spend it all at the Rhino or Sapphire.

Quick thought

Working on an European timeframe when you are in the States really, really sucks when it comes to communicating during an early-morning meeting and it's the middle of the night here.

I may just stay up late tonight for their morning phone call. It will only be 2 AM here :)

Brick Wall

Well, I was running well in my challenge, but it might be time to take a day or two off.

In a span of about twenty minutes, I was stacked three times:

• Running J-J preflop into Q-Q.
• Running A-K into A-J after the flop and seeing a Jack spike on the turn.
• Running the second nut flush on the flop into the nut flush.

And that is how you wipe out a week's worth of progress in one fell swoop.

No more today, or tomorrow either.

Yuck.

Fall Preview

I've finally settled on a course load for Fall 2008:

• MBA 8145: Marketing Management (can't put it off any more)
• CIS 8080: Security/Privacy of Information Systems
• CIS 8850: Web Application Development

Two classes on Wednesday, and a late class Thursday, starting in six weeks.

After this term, I will have four classes left to go.

So close, yet so far away.

Set the calendar

Let's just get all of the dates out of the way in one post, OK?

OK.

First up, we've got WSOP Circuit dates released for 2008-2009.

• Oct. 2-14 — Caesars Indiana
• Oct. 24-Nov. 2 — Horseshoe Hammond (near Chicago)
• Nov. 6-16 — Harvey’s Lake Tahoe
• Dec. 5-18 — Harrah’s Atlantic City
• Jan. 20-Feb. 9 — Harrah’s Tunica
• Feb. 12-25 — Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Iowa
• March 4-14 — Caesars Atlantic City
• April 12-29 — Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
• March 19-29 — Harrah’s Rincon
• May 8-20 — Harrah’s New Orleans

If those dates and locations don't interest you, here are the Season 7 WPT locations for next year. I would list them here, but the WPT site isn't very friendly to cutting and pasting. One note is that the WPT event at Beau Rivage will actually be in January, not around Labor Day, but I still might go.

Not enough?

OK, here's some dates on the virtual felt.

In September, there's PokerStars' WCOOP with about $30,000,000 in guarantees over 33 events.

1	5-Sep	Fri	14:30	$215	NL Hold'em [6-max]	$1,000,000
2	5-Sep	Fri	16:30	$215	PL 5-Card Draw	$100,000
3	6-Sep	Sat	14:30	$215	Limit Hold'em	$300,000
4	6-Sep	Sat	16:30	$215	2-7 Triple Draw	$100,000
5	7-Sep	Sun	14:30	$10,300	High-Roller NL Hold'em	$2,000,000
6	7-Sep	Sun	16:30	$530	NL Hold'em*	$3,000,000
7	8-Sep	Mon	14:30	$215	PL Omaha [6-max]	$300,000
8	8-Sep	Mon	16:30	$320	8-game Mixed Event	$200,000
9	9-Sep	Tue	14:30	$215	NL Hold'em [4-max]	$400,000
10	9-Sep	Tue	16:30	$215	Razz	$100,000
11	10-Sep	Wed	14:30	$320	PL Omaha Hi/Lo	$300,000
12	10-Sep	Wed	16:30	$320	Mixed Hold'em	$300,000
13	11-Sep	Thu	14:30	$215	NL Hold'em w/Rebuys	$1,000,000
14	11-Sep	Thu	16:30	$320	7-Card Stud	$100,000
15	12-Sep	Fri	14:30	$320	NL Hold'em [Heads-Up]	$500,000
16	12-Sep	Fri	16:30	$215	PL Omaha [1R1A]	$300,000
17	13-Sep	Sat	14:30	$530	PL Hold'em [6-max]	$400,000
18	13-Sep	Sat	16:30	$215	HORSE	$300,000
19	14-Sep	Sun	14:30	$25,500	High-Roller HU NL Hold'em	$1,600,000
20	14-Sep	Sun	16:30	$1,050	NL Hold'em 2-day*	$3,000,000
21	15-Sep	Mon	14:30	$530	7-Card Stud Hi/Lo	$200,000
22	15-Sep	Mon	16:30	$530	Mixed Omaha Hi/Lo [6-max]	$200,000
23	16-Sep	Tue	14:30	$530	NL Hold'em [1R1A]	$500,000
24	16-Sep	Tue	16:30	$530	NL 2-7 Single Draw	$200,000
25	17-Sep	Wed	14:30	$320	PL Omaha w/rebuys	$500,000
26	17-Sep	Wed	16:30	$320	NL Hold'em [6-max]	$500,000
27	18-Sep	Thu	14:30	$530	NL Hold'em Triple Shootout	$300,000
28	18-Sep	Thu	16:30	$530	Limit Omaha Hi/Lo	$400,000
29	19-Sep	Fri	14:30	$530	NLHE w/Rebuys [6-max]	$400,000
30	19-Sep	Fri	16:30	$1,050	PL Omaha	$500,000
31	20-Sep	Sat	14:30	$1,050	Limit Hold'em [6-max]	$500,000
32	20-Sep	Sat	16:30	$10,300	HORSE	$500,000
33	21-Sep	Sun	16:30	$5,200	NL Hold'em Main Event*	$10,000,000

And finally, FTOPS IX. Yes, they just finished FTOPS VIII in May. Maybe they're getting desparate for rake.

Event #1 Wednesday August 6th 21:00 ET		$200 + $16 NL Hold 'em	$1,000,000
Event #2 Thursday August 7th 14:00 ET		$240 + $16 PL Omaha/8 Knockout	$200,000
Event #3 Thursday August 7th 21:00 ET		$200 + $16 NL Hold 'em 4 x Shootout 6-Max	$250,000
Event #4 Friday August 8th 14:00 ET		$300 + $22 NL Hold 'em 1 rebuy and 1 add-on 6-Max	$600,000
Event #5 Friday August 8th 21:00 ET		$200 + $16 Stud	$100,000
Event #6 Saturday August 9th 14:00 ET		$500 + $35 PL Omaha 6-Max	$300,000
Event #7 Saturday August 9th 16:30 ET		$100 + $9 NL Hold 'em Rebuy	$500,000
Event #8 Sunday August 10th 14:00 ET		$240 + $16 NL Hold 'em 6-Max Knockout	$500,000
Event #9 Sunday August 10th 16:00 ET		$500 + $35 NL Hold 'em Heads Up	$500,000
Event #10 Sunday August 10th 18:00 ET		$300 + $22 NL Hold 'em	$1,500,000
Event #11 Monday August 11th 14:00 ET		$200 + $16 Limit Hold'em	$200,000
Event #12 Monday August 11th 21:00 ET		$1,000 + $60 NL Hold 'em 6-Max	$1,500,000
Event #13 Tuesday August 12th 14:00 ET		$200 + $16 HA (half PL Hold 'em, half PL Omaha)	$200,000
Event #14 Tuesday August 12th 21:00 ET		$500 + $35 HORSE	$300,000
Event #15 Tuesday August 12th 21:00 ET		$200 + $16 NL Hold 'em Turbo	$500,000
Event #16 Wednesday August 13th 14:00 ET		$200 + $16 Omaha/8	$200,000
Event #17 Wednesday August 13th 21:00 ET		$300 + $22 NL Hold 'em 6-Max Rebuy	$1,000,000
Event #18 Thursday August 14th 14:00 ET		$500 + $35 NL Hold 'em 3 x Shootout	$300,000
Event #19 Thursday August 14th 21:00 ET		$300 + $22 Mixed Hold'em 6-Max	$300,000
Event #20 Friday August 15th 14:00 ET		$200 + $16 NL Hold 'em 6-Max	$400,000
Event #21 Friday August 15th 21:00 ET		$300 + $22 Razz	$150,000
Event #22 Saturday August 16th 14:00 ET		$2,500 + $120 NL Hold 'em Two Day Event	$2,000,000
Event #23 Saturday August 16th 16:30 ET		$100 + $9 PL Omaha Rebuy	$350,000
Event #24 Sunday August 17th 14:00 ET		$120 + $9 NL Hold 'em Knockout	$400,000
Main Event Sunday August 17th 18:00 ET		$500 + $35 NL Hold 'em	$2,500,000

Hustlin

You could do anything to this song and it would probably feel a hundred times more fun than it actually was.

Rick Ross - Everyday I'm Hustlin' -video
by banwait

Try it. Even walking out of your cube at work will feel more lively, if that's where you are.

'Cos dat's mah sheet, yo.

Economic Outlook

H/t Pokerdoodle.

For the record, here's some comparative rates:

Bank of America Savings Account: 0.4% APR.
HSBC Online Savings Account: 3.5% APR.
Bodog: 14,400.0% APR (projected to a full year, based on the last two months)

Maybe the cartoon isn't that far off...

Defined

Staycation (sta*ca*shun) - A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer.

After much deliberation and numerous possibilities, we finally decided to stay around town for this weekend. While we might have been able to pull off going out of town, we figured that with all the hectic wrk and drama as of late that it would be best to just take it easy this weekend.

We did get to do one thing that we had never done, despite 13 years in Atlanta - we all went to see the fireworks at Lenox at dusk.

After spending the morning in relatively quiet form, we took the kids after naptime down to Buckhead. Starting in the middle of the afternoon, they opened up a really big kids' zone that was basically a big block party.

After several hours of inflatable rides, food, and navigating big crowds, the fireworks began at about a quarter to ten. It was a short show - it took longer to get out of the Lenox parking deck (30 minutes) than it did to watch the show (20 minutes).

This was the first really big fireworks show that both the kids had seen up close. Despite the late start, both of them behaved ridiculously well. Sammie was not scared by the loud booms and bright lights in the slightest - and I saw a lot of kids older than her who were crying, melting down, or just scared of the noises and lights.

Sammie and Alex, on the other hand, were ready for more. I think they are both almost ready to go rage in Vegas - which might be where we go next year.

That, or New York.

Now that we've done the Atlanta show - well, once was enough. NY was definitely a longer show (probably about 45 minutes to an hour from what I remember) and I Vegas generally doesn't second-rate anything.

Still, it was a fun way to celebrate the Fourth.

Today was another quiet day - while Kim slept, the kids and I went to the Farmer's market, bought grapes and lemonade, and sat in the park eating grapes and playing.

That's probably better than sitting in a car for five hours.

Gulf Coast Classic

I am strongly considering playing in one of the smaller events and the cash tables of the Gulf Coast Poker Classic around Labor Day in Biloxi.

Any readers out there thinking about going?

Rooms are $80 for Sunday-Thursday and $100 for Friday/Saturday.

Drop me a line or a comment.