Book It!

Flight and hotel have been reserved for Vegas. PHL > LAS 12/11 arriving around dinner time. LAS > PHL 12/14 leaving after breakfast.

Going to be a loooonnnng 7 weeks.

Take Off To The Great White North... Ok, Not Quite

Although we didn't actually make it over the border, we took the family almost 500 miles north from southeastern PA to the coast of Maine for a week long, much needed vacation. Since family oriented trip reports aren't nearly as fun as those other kinds (check back mid-December for the next one), I'll be brief.

Friday - left around 5:00, grabbed dinner along the way in NJ, and found a place to crash in MA around 11:30 PM.

Saturday - finished the drive after the wife mandated pit stops in Kittery and Freeport. Arrived at our cabin on Georgetown Island around dinner time, grabbed some grub and chilled for the rest of the night.

Sunday - Reid State Park - although the beaches were all closed (something about a bill out in the ocean), kids has a good time in the lagoon. Let me tell you, though, 18-20 foot waves crashing down on a rocky coastline are really impressive.

Monday - only bad weather of the whole week. We took the kids to see Shorts at the closest metroplex on the mainland. The 8 year old LOVED it. The 4-1/2 year old realized that she really likes goobers (the chocolate covered peanuts, you scum bag).

Tuesday - York Wild Kingdom & Amusement Park - the 2 hour drive each way pretty much made this the only event of the day. Nothing compared to America's oldest zoo, but still cool to get within 5 feet of a full grown bengal tiger.

Wednesday - Popham Beach State Park - arrived half way between low and high tides. Stayed until the land bridge between the beach and Fox Island was completely covered by the returning waters. Typical beach day with small children.

Thursday - returned to Popham, but right before low tide. Climbed to the top of Fox Island, helped the kids try to find some sand dollars (we found 4 good ones), and some more time in the water and on the sand. Then back to Freeport (where it wouldn't suffer from weekend crowding) for the obligatory souvenir shopping.

Friday - a morning boat ride and tour of Robinhood Cove courtesy of our cordial host, followed by some kayaking. Then the wife took the girls blueberry picking while I got everything together and into the car. I was determined to make it all the way home without stopping and, despite the torrential downpours that started halfway through Massachusetts, managed to get home by 12:30 Saturday morning.

Yikes, that was some family friendly week. I'm bored just having typed it. Just over 3 months until Vegas where there will be absolutely no thoughts of blueberries or sand dollars.

Saturday was my fanatasy football draft where I think I put together the most meh team in history. I got to pick 9th in a 10 team league and after my starters were set, I mostly concentrated on possible good value position picks. My roster, in as close to drafted order as I can remember: Andre Johnson, Chris Johnson, Roddy White, Pierre Thomas, Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, Matt Cassel, Brandon Marshall, Jay Cutler, Jericho Cotchery, Titans DST, Mason Crosby, Jeremy Shockey, and Ricky Williams.

At least I'm not going into the season starting Laurence Maroney and Ronnie Brown as my running backs like last year. Oh wait, I won my league last year. Interestingly, none of the Patriots RBBC was drafted, but all of both the Giants' and Titans' were.

Every year, we try to set a team name theme. This year we finally got around to a Simpson's theme. I am The Flying Hellfish. Best name? Nerds Pummelled In Football Melee. Worst Name? Fat Bald Guy.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

My Vick Dilemma

Last week on Facebook, I publicly asserted that the signing of Michael Vick officially made the Philadelphia Eagles dead to me. Was this a knee-jerk reaction based more on emotion than on an internal logical conclusion? Probably.

Am I stating now that I have absolutely no problem with bringing in a player who commited, was convicted of, and served 2 years for an absolutely abhorrent act? No. Resoundingly.

However, upon deeper reflection, am I also willing to discard almost 35 years of faithful fandom to an admittedly frustrating football franchise based on what seems to be a poor decision by management? I don't think I can.

If this was purely a decision that the coaching staff and front office made, that would be one thing. I could easily separate my distaste for the signing from my love of the team. But it was reported that Donovan McNabb actively campaigned to bring this guy in. And that complicates things for me. What were HIS motivations for such action? Does he know things about Vick that are not widely reported or is there something else?

Of course, Jeff Lurie said all the right things at the press conference introducing his newest Eagle. And it really sounded like he struggled with the decision, having put Vick through an extremely rough interview process before agreeing to proceed. Make no mistake, I don't believe that Michael Vick needs to merely show that he is reformed. Just one slip up, and the owner has already promised he is gone. He needs to go out of his way to attempt to mend his reputation as a human being. Above and beyond. Way above.

That means lots of dollars to the local SPCA's, shelters, and rescue organizations.

That means volunteer time at one or more of the above on a continual basis. Bathing strays, cleaning shit out of kennel runs, anything and everything.

That means speaking engagements and PSA's.

And that means never, and I mean never, have contact with anyone associated even tangentally with that operation.

This man is going to be under the microscope, and I honestly hope that he has been reborn in a way. For his sake, and for the sake of my team. I will leave it to the offensive coaching staff to make the best use of his unique on field talents and I have no doubt that it will be at least mildly successful. A guaranteed deep playoff run again? I don't think this guarantees anything, but with the proper schemes and some good fortune on the injury front, the Eagles go from having a lot of questions offensively pre-draft to a downright scary team for an opposing defensive coordinator to prepare for.

So what have I really been blabbering about? I am retaining my fandom and going to take a wait and see attitude with Vick in particular. I hope I'm not let down.

I'll let you know in Vegas at the Winter Gathering.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Keg's Almost Kicked, But I Made It To The Party

Yesterday was the first Riverchasers TOC of 2009. Making these it not all that hard. In fact, 400 donkeys are invited for each one, in each region. So having qualified for each and every one since I started playing in Riggs' little sandbox a little over 3 years ago is, to me, really no big deal. In fact, during one cycle, I was able to qualify in both regions. Unfortunately, back then, both tournaments were held on the same day, so i was SOL.

The bigger accomplishment is that around 225 of the 400 show up each time around and I have been heads up at the end of the last 2, having won the last. Previously though, the final tables in each region would reconvene at the Borgata for a 2 table freeze out, with the winner grabbing a buyin to a major tournament there. This time, there is a TOC day 2 involved where each day 1 is played down to 30 and stopped. Then, those 60 players combine to finish off the tournament with whatever stacks they had remaining. Essentially, the individual regions no longer have their own TOC, but each make up a day 1.

Anyway, it was a super deepstack, slow (for riverchasers) structure that held the potential for a lot of play. Everyone started with T400, level 1 was 1/2 (no antes at any point), and 30 minute levels. I generally played my tight game, but called a few more raises in position with speculative cards. I won't go through the entire 6 hours of play, but will note a few of the key hands that I was involved in.

I called a raise from LP with 44 against a known LAG and flopped a set. When he bet out, I min raised on the rainbow flop as I was only mildly concerned about a possible straight draw and wanted to build the pot a little. I raised bigger against the same opponent earlier with a flopped set and he folded. Lo and behold, the case 4 comes on the turn and he leads again which I call. The straight card comes on the river and he fires a 3rd bullet. I honestly thought he was stronger than he was and massively overbet to which he folds 66 unimproved face up. Damn.

Later I called another raise with 7c5c in position that I knew would also get flatted by the pre-raise limpers. Flop is AQ7 with 2 crubs and I knew I wasn't going anywhere. Yet. Limpers checked as did the raiser who I observed as one who tries to slow play big hands, so I took the free card and hit my flush. After another pair of checks, he fires T100 (pot-sized) and I call. I'm not thrilled with a 7 high flush, but I can't put him on a made flush unless he raised with something like KJc or KTc. The other players get out of the way and the flop pairs the 7. I'm less than thrilled, but call the second 100 chip bet. He tables AQ for a flopped two pair and says show me two clubs in quite the condescending manner. So I do. He mutters about 75 suited for the next 15 minutes until JJ cracks his AA and is gone.

Soon after that, millerd33 gets moved to my table directly on my right and all hell breaks loose. He is already short stacked, and starts open shoving with alternately air and big cards. He has most of the entire table on tilt but I just laugh about it with him. Right up until he forgot that the BB will defend with almost any 2 cards and shoved with 6 high and couldn't catch up to KJo.

Right before miller's exit, I open-raised with AhQh from the SB and got flatted by a notoriously tight BB. Flop was jack high with 2 hearts and I check raised her for the rest of her stack, but she had the one hand in her range I didn't want to see, JJ. I really thought that my A was still live when she bet out (I had her on KK or QQ at that point) and that I was about 50/50 and willing to race. Oops. Down from T1300 back to a starting stack.

Doubled with QTo through the same guy who busted miller when I four flushed his KQ. Then I got a little revenge on JJ when I completed from the SB with T7o with a few limpers already along for the ride. I bet the T74 rainbow flop and BB called. Limpers got out of the way. A 6 came on the turn and I shipped the rest of it and she called with 55 for an OESD and 4th pair. After fading the 3, 5, and 8, I was up to around T2600 and there were under 40 left in the room.

We broke down to 4 9-handed tables and I decided that it was time to try to accumulate some chips for day 2. The shorties were desparately trying to hang on (why I have no idea as this wasn't a satellite) and the big stacks at my table we generally willing to coast. After a few hands, I picked up AhQh again in MP and raised 3x BB to T600. The tournament chip leader who had just been moved to our table was in the BB and had a tad over 6000. She had seemed willing to coast, but when she looked at her cards, shrugged, called, and bet 1/2 pot on an A75 flop. I called, hoping to solicit a turn check where I could take the pot, but instead she put me all in when the turn brought a K. At this point, we are on the day 2 bubble, and I'm down to T1400 so I tank for a good 2 minutes. Eventually I come to the conclusion that she really is strong and fold. She flips A7o for the flopped top 2. FAWK.

The bubble bursts at another table during our next hand, so I made day 2, but not in the position I was hoping to be in. 214 showed up to play in the Eastern day 1, so about 86,000 chips are moving on for an average stack size of a little under T3000 and the chip leader with around 8 or 9k. The blinds were stopped at 100/200 when we got down to 35, so hopefully we play level 1 starting from there. If we pick back up at 200/400, even the chip leaders will have less than 20 BB to start and that will make for some sub-optimal poker to say the least. Personally, I'm hoping for a 50/100 start so that chip leaders will be rewarded with approximately a standard riverchasers starting stack (usually 100BB) and the rest of us, while (much) shorter will still have some hope. I know multi-day tournaments generally don't work that way, but this is all new for RPT and they are pretty good at finding and implementing creative solutions to less than ideal circumstances.

fawking AQ. I call it Al Qaeda for a reason. It always blows up in your face making playing it a suicide mission.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Happy Memorial Day!

Take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice made by current and past generations to sustain a level of freedom where you can do this with your free time:



And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Indoctrination... Complete

Saturday was my older daughter's first communion. I'm not Catholic. I wasn't raised under any form of Christianity whatsoever. And today, honestly, I can't say I'm really anything of that nature. My wife, however, is. So I went along with the program. Let my daughter develop the same level of cynicism that I have on her own.

That morning really reinforced my feelings, though, toward organized religion of any sort. Stand up, sit down, kneel, sing this song, lather, rinse, repeat.

I was a little saddened, actually, by the sheepishness of it all. I don't mean to offend either of you who read this drivel, and if you take solace in your weekly spiritual rejuvenation that way, I'm glad it works for you. Me? I just see a 2,000 year old global enterprise, with generationally instilled brand loyalty, brainwashing its customer base on a weekly basis under the guise of a reward program that they will never have to provide. All this for only 10% per annum.

That's just the church. I don't doubt that the premise and goal are the same across the board, just the methodology and specific script are different. Sad. And now my daughter is officially in the fold. Hopefully she will come to her senses over time, but I won't do or say anything to encourage/discourage her ultimate decision.

I think I prefer the gospel according to the Wyld Stallyns. Two simple commandments. Be excellent to each other. Party on. Fathers Preston and Logan nailed that one.

Anyway, I'm looking for some other 40ish year old musicians to start a basement band. I want to call it "Mid-Life Crisis". Suburban Philly area. People with day jobs. Maybe pick up a gig every once in a blue moon. Just for the fawk of it. Know anyone? Leave it in the comments.

Wow, that was post #100? Pretty anticlimactic.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...

Tax Day

On this, the holiest day of the redistributionist calendar, I can only reflect on what is, and what should be...

Nothing is given to man on earth except a potential and the material on which to actualize it. The potential is a superlative machine: his consciousness; but it is a machine without a spark plug, a machine of which his will must be the spark plug, the self-starter and the driver; he has to discover how to use it and he has to keep it in constant action. The material is the whole of the universe, with no limits set to the knowledge he can acquire and to the enjoyment of life he can achieve. But everything he needs or desires has to be learned, discovered or produced by him––by his own choice; by his own effort; by his own mind. - The Objectivist Ethics

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...