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...

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)

              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          3

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

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...

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...

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:

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...

Steel Panther

I've read the reviews of those who made the trek to see these guys during the seasonal gatherings and I was quite intrigued. So, lo and behold, evidently Steel Panther is releasing some new original music (available on iTunes since Monday) and already into the regular rotation on Octane on Sirius/XM.

If "Death To All But Metal" is indicative of what these guys are all about, I HAVE to get my ass to GVR the next time I make the trip to Vegas.

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

Well I Guess I'm, Ummm, That Guy

That guy.

It's a description that never comes in a positive connotation. You use it for the person at the party that thinks everyone is laughing with him, but they're actually laughing AT him. The guy who pukes in the kitchen sink. Or the guy that every woman in the room is trying to avoid. And it usually follows, "Don't be..."

On the other side of the coin, "that guy" is also the chap who is so nondescript, so uninteresting that you barely remember him even being somewhere. "You know, that guy, the one with the shirt..." Completely unmemorable.

Anyway, I'm not going to say where or by who, but there I was in a series of photos from the 2008 BASH. All the others were either accurately captioned or the unknowns in the shot were just not mentioned. This one was just me. Captioned "ummm, that guy".

My question is, why post it at all if you don't know who the only person in the picture is? And a full profile no less. My self-confidence isn't all that robust to begin with. Reinforcement of my anonymous hideousness doesn't help. Or maybe I was wearing the proverbial lamp shade that night. At least it's Friday. And a 3 day weekend. Now I can bury my head in the sand for half a week and know that no one will notice and/or remember.

Weeeee.... Eagles/Cards on Sunday. I hate having the Eagles in a championship game as a favorite. No good ever comes of it. They should win but, everytime I think about it, I throw up inside. Just a little. Eagles vs. Steelers rematch in the Super Bowl. I hope.

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