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...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tax Day
On this, the holiest day of the redistributionist calendar, I can only reflect on what is, and what should be...
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
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...
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sageness of the Boomtown Rats
I don't like Mondays. And the Monday after L.O.A.D.? Ooomph.
It's been years since I could physically handle the cabin for an entire weekend. Eventually, the body just can't handle that kind of abuse. Evidently, 12 hours is my rapidly approaching breaking point.
Rolled into the lodge around 2 P.M. Saturday afternoon and, after a badly needed trip to the bathroom and some brief greetings to those already gathered, went directly to one side of the improvised outdoor beer pong table. I was lights out in game 1, taking out 7 of the 10 cups on our way to a 3 cup victory. Game 2 was a more team based triumph, going down to the final cups. The knock out blow was self-inflicted as an opponent miscue sent the terminal volley directly into his team's final cup. Never seen it before, might not ever see it again. A win is a win.
Thus concluded beer pong. No more takers. Obviously our karma was entirely too strong for anyone else to want to try to test.
There might have been a tales game break out after that. Remaining details of the night are sketchy at best.
Hey, poker content!!! Micro poker, but still...
We played 2 5-man SNGs. I went gigli in both. In the first, I ran with a semi-bluff one street too many into a guy who I later realized was going to showdown if he was in the hand. Every time. Card death plus drunken luckboxy calling station (DLCS) never shows good results. Finally ran presto into AK and, since I am actually J.D. McDuffie, lost the race and was gone. Tried to play much tighter in the second one, but of course ran 77 into DLCS's KK and stacked myself. Even morons have a hand sometimes. Even morons have a hand sometimes. Of course, he didn't win either game.
Being quite frustrated, I tried to transition the game into a cash table. 3 handed. Me, DLCS, and one other unfortunate soul. .10/.20 NLHE. Huge stakes, I know, but the average pot was actually around $15. DLCS was raising 2 of every 3 hands to $3.00 pre-flop. Usually blind. We each bought in for 200 BBs so, theoretically, we should have been able to play some good deep stack poker. Should have been. I dropped 85% of my buy-in, most of which came in two hands that DLCS rivered a winner. 30 minutes later, the game ended and I cashed out +25 BBs.
Finally, the table was usurped for Whales Tales. L.O.A.D. is generally the one place where you will find a professional grade game of Tales and this was no exception. And if that wasn't enough, one of the older guys threw in a new rule as a challenge. Between that, the frequent golden chairs, and the bottle of Sambuca on the table to supplement all the malted goodness, my destiny was just about set. The intermittent hiccups were the final straw.
I finally gave in around 1:00 AM, tried one last time to banish the diaphragmatic contractions and, unable to do so, curled up on the floor in the side bedroom. The problem was that the terminal point in the day's digestive process wound up being the northernmost egress. Not good. But the kick in the junk? DLCS was the only one in the room who managed to sleep through the yacking. One last one-outer and he didn't even know it.
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
It's been years since I could physically handle the cabin for an entire weekend. Eventually, the body just can't handle that kind of abuse. Evidently, 12 hours is my rapidly approaching breaking point.
Rolled into the lodge around 2 P.M. Saturday afternoon and, after a badly needed trip to the bathroom and some brief greetings to those already gathered, went directly to one side of the improvised outdoor beer pong table. I was lights out in game 1, taking out 7 of the 10 cups on our way to a 3 cup victory. Game 2 was a more team based triumph, going down to the final cups. The knock out blow was self-inflicted as an opponent miscue sent the terminal volley directly into his team's final cup. Never seen it before, might not ever see it again. A win is a win.
Thus concluded beer pong. No more takers. Obviously our karma was entirely too strong for anyone else to want to try to test.
There might have been a tales game break out after that. Remaining details of the night are sketchy at best.
Hey, poker content!!! Micro poker, but still...
We played 2 5-man SNGs. I went gigli in both. In the first, I ran with a semi-bluff one street too many into a guy who I later realized was going to showdown if he was in the hand. Every time. Card death plus drunken luckboxy calling station (DLCS) never shows good results. Finally ran presto into AK and, since I am actually J.D. McDuffie, lost the race and was gone. Tried to play much tighter in the second one, but of course ran 77 into DLCS's KK and stacked myself. Even morons have a hand sometimes. Even morons have a hand sometimes. Of course, he didn't win either game.
Being quite frustrated, I tried to transition the game into a cash table. 3 handed. Me, DLCS, and one other unfortunate soul. .10/.20 NLHE. Huge stakes, I know, but the average pot was actually around $15. DLCS was raising 2 of every 3 hands to $3.00 pre-flop. Usually blind. We each bought in for 200 BBs so, theoretically, we should have been able to play some good deep stack poker. Should have been. I dropped 85% of my buy-in, most of which came in two hands that DLCS rivered a winner. 30 minutes later, the game ended and I cashed out +25 BBs.
Finally, the table was usurped for Whales Tales. L.O.A.D. is generally the one place where you will find a professional grade game of Tales and this was no exception. And if that wasn't enough, one of the older guys threw in a new rule as a challenge. Between that, the frequent golden chairs, and the bottle of Sambuca on the table to supplement all the malted goodness, my destiny was just about set. The intermittent hiccups were the final straw.
I finally gave in around 1:00 AM, tried one last time to banish the diaphragmatic contractions and, unable to do so, curled up on the floor in the side bedroom. The problem was that the terminal point in the day's digestive process wound up being the northernmost egress. Not good. But the kick in the junk? DLCS was the only one in the room who managed to sleep through the yacking. One last one-outer and he didn't even know it.
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Leave Your Voter Registration Card At The Door
Seriously? Who are these 24% and why do they still have a say in things that effect me and my family?
From the raw data of a recent Opinion Dynamics pool...
12. In thinking about funding the federal government, which of the following
statements do you believe?
1. The federal government has plenty of money of its own without using
taxpayer dollars, or
2. The federal government is entirely funded by taxes and
taxpayer dollars
3. (Neither)
4. (Don't know)
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
From the raw data of a recent Opinion Dynamics pool...
12. In thinking about funding the federal government, which of the following
statements do you believe?
1. The federal government has plenty of money of its own without using
taxpayer dollars, or
2. The federal government is entirely funded by taxes and
taxpayer dollars
3. (Neither)
4. (Don't know)
Government Government funded
has own money by taxpayers (Neither) (Don’t know)
3-4 Mar 09 24% 65 8 3
Democrats 26% 62 8 3
Republicans 21% 68 7 4
Independents 24% 67 6 3And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
On The Origin Of Species
Sharks and other smaller fish. They existed happily in the same seas for a long time obeying the natural predator/prey relationships.
In a fluke accident, an asteroid, the Moneymaker, collided with the known world setting off a chain of events eventually known as the Binion-Harrah (B-H) Boundary. The seas boiled and many areas of land were uncovered, previously barren of life. In these areas, huge numbers of braying quadrupeds emerged, evidently mesmerized by the aftereffects of the asteroid strike.
The sharks found themselves competing with these wild, unpredictable creatures for sustenance and many could never overcome the typically irrational behavior exhibited by the newcomers. Only time will tell whether this will lead to a mass extinction event, but certainly there have already been many deaths...
Happy 200th Chuck!
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
In a fluke accident, an asteroid, the Moneymaker, collided with the known world setting off a chain of events eventually known as the Binion-Harrah (B-H) Boundary. The seas boiled and many areas of land were uncovered, previously barren of life. In these areas, huge numbers of braying quadrupeds emerged, evidently mesmerized by the aftereffects of the asteroid strike.
The sharks found themselves competing with these wild, unpredictable creatures for sustenance and many could never overcome the typically irrational behavior exhibited by the newcomers. Only time will tell whether this will lead to a mass extinction event, but certainly there have already been many deaths...
Happy 200th Chuck!
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
Monday, February 9, 2009
Back To Back
Not only did I accomplish my goal in making consecutive Riverchasers TOC final tables, I improved on last trimester's 2nd place finish. The Eastern TOC was on Saturday, which I could not make, so I trekked 2 friggin hours from north of Philly to Hershey on Sunday to play with the hillbillies in Central. Banjos were wayyyyy more than dueling. Seriously.
Maybe I'll fill in some of the detail as the work day goes on, but just a few tidbits...
-- I was down to 1/2 BB and all-in blind in the SB when at 100/200 (level 9).
-- KTo can beat KJs and AKo AIPF when it needs to
-- 83o if perfectly acceptable to call off your stack with, assuming the correct conditions
Borgata bound on March 22 for a 1 in 20 shot at a big buy in (to what I don't remember, and I can't get to RPT from work to check). And from what I hear, there are not nearly as many players to be concerned with this time around. Can't do worse than the 17th place egg I laid 4 months ago. Do not go broke with TPTK, do not go broke with TPTK (especially holding AJs).
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
Maybe I'll fill in some of the detail as the work day goes on, but just a few tidbits...
-- I was down to 1/2 BB and all-in blind in the SB when at 100/200 (level 9).
-- KTo can beat KJs and AKo AIPF when it needs to
-- 83o if perfectly acceptable to call off your stack with, assuming the correct conditions
Borgata bound on March 22 for a 1 in 20 shot at a big buy in (to what I don't remember, and I can't get to RPT from work to check). And from what I hear, there are not nearly as many players to be concerned with this time around. Can't do worse than the 17th place egg I laid 4 months ago. Do not go broke with TPTK, do not go broke with TPTK (especially holding AJs).
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
Friday, February 6, 2009
When Bacon Explodes
http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html
5000 calories of bacon and other associated pork fats. Dinner for 10 or an afternoon snack for Al and a date.
What had me rolling was the closing quote used in the wiki article I found this bad boy on:
Riverchasers TOC on Sunday in Hershey. Let's see if I can put together back-to-back final tables at this bad boy (2nd place last time).
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
5000 calories of bacon and other associated pork fats. Dinner for 10 or an afternoon snack for Al and a date.
What had me rolling was the closing quote used in the wiki article I found this bad boy on:
After preparing a version of the dish, Andrew Vennari of the San Francisco Food Examiner said the dish tasted better than expected, "but I didn't learn the true meaning of the bacon explosion until the next day."
Riverchasers TOC on Sunday in Hershey. Let's see if I can put together back-to-back final tables at this bad boy (2nd place last time).
And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're not getting back...
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