Say, What Chu Looking At?

Mmmm, I got a package in the mail today…  What could it possibly be?

They were pretty clear about this warning...

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Ladies and Gentlemen: Let the fight for domination BEGIN!

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 885712

Time for the last home game of the year.

Saturday December 5th – from 5PM until whenever the last person standing is.  Last game had people playing until 7am.  (Eep!)

Usual low stakes game, but even at low stakes last game there was a $120 pot that fell.  That’s no joke!

If you are interested and want details and an invite, shout out here. 

By request of one of the regular players, an impromptu game is being held this saturday evening.  Usual low-stakes lunch money game.

If you want in, let me know.

So here I was, sitting at my desk at home, working on an email.  Life was busy, but not bad.   I was ok.   Then I needed to sneeze.   While normally this would not be an issue, I had eaten almonds earlier.

“Almonds?”, you say as if to ponder where this is going.

Yes, almonds.  See, when you eat almonds sometimes there are little shards of almond skin and fragments that still sit there, like little land mines of the mouth, just waiting their time.

“Dude, you were talking about sneezing.”

Right.  Sneezing.   So I was at my desk, minding my own business, when I suddenly needed to sneeze.   The body kicked in, taking a nice big inhale.  Through the mouth.  Where the previous land mines were waiting.

You see where this is going.  Let me slow it down a bit and describe the next two seconds.  Picture Hollywood and CSI style slow motion for this..

I inhaled, a single bit of almond fragment went down my windpipe, my body reflexively started to spasm and want to cough, but I was mid sneeze, and…  Well, the body started to think it was choking, and closed off the pipe.   And then my diaphragm finished its spasm, and I sneezed.

… or I tried.

All the pressure hit a very closed windpipe, and my upper lungs took the hit of a massive spasm with still mostly filled lungs…

Zoom out of my windpipe to me making this strange comical inhale, then what can only be described as the worlds most pathetic sneeze.  Sort of a “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhCCCHoor.. aaa… cough? ”

Yes, you CAN put a question mark at the end of a cough.   I did.

…  An hour later I still feel dizzy..  I’m still laughing but I’m still dizzy and I have a headache.

First, a short summary.  At Tuesday night’s local poker game I was running in top form, Lady Luck was with me, and I had opponents at the table willing to give me action.  These are rare circumstances, and usually lead to very “healthy” results.  In 3 hours I almost quadrupled my money.   (I’ll leave you to do the math — the actual numbers are not really that important.)

I entered a severe slump in March that emptied my bankroll completely and severely shook my confidence, but over the last few games I’ve been rebuilding my game and instincts, and last night brought me back to full form.  THE CHU IS BACK.

Details on several key hands under the cut (for you poker geeks. )

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So got woken up by a phone call at 7:30A.M.  Instead of hiking through possible thunderstorms, family decided they would go to Atlantic City.

We got there about noon, parked at Caesar’s.  Walked down one way towards Showboat, toured the amusement parks.  The family splits here, with some of us invading Trump Taj for free money, the kids and their uncle exploring the amusement parks and getting an addiction to go-karts, and me going off to see if I could make some money putzing around on slots.  (The poker rooms were full up, I figured there was no way for me to get any gaming in..)

I putz away 20 bucks, the rest of the family get delayed and I find myself bored in Atlantic City with another hour to burn.  (Usually a bad thing.)  I walk back to Showboat, and get lucky enough to score a poker table (2/4 Limit), and make back some of my cash.   This is a great table but I’d agreed to meet my family at 5:30, so I rush back after winning just a couple of hands.

Then the slot players turn out to be delayed AGAIN, leaving me to lounge outside the Taj.. Just to see a really tall fellow hanging out by the Amusement Park.   Its Penn Jillette, completely casual, hanging out with his family.   I leave them alone, as I often do with celebrities, as I figure they usually are just trying to have a nice day with their loved ones unbothered by the unwashed masses.

I wander over to the Tropicana, where we finally all link up, and snag a huge stomach busting dinner at Carmine’s.  We stagger out of Carmine’s, and as we get to Caesars I muse about trying to snag free parking.  The kids jump on this idea, figuring “HEY lets do the go karts again!”  My uncle is all for this, as I think he’s getting addicted to.

… I go on Video Roulette, drop twenty trying to get free parking, then win it all back and ten more.

Finding myself with another 40 minutes I walk down to the poker room (following a very pretty white dress) and sit down at another 2/4 table.  I PROMPTLY win sixty in the first hand with a river flush. (Classic limit scenario, had flush and straight draws, with a ton of callers before me, so I had to keep going..)

Later had KK and took another pot down, but bled away a little bit with blinds and broken draws.  On my very last announced had, I land pocket fives, which improve to trip fives.  Unfortunately, I have one person on a draw who rivers a straight and busts my fives.  That’s OK — since I started at the table with a rivered draw to nail five people, its only fair for it to happen to me.  I left the table still ahead by 37 dollars on a 60 dollar buy in.

After ups and downs I landed 42 dollars ahead, between dinner and other food my trip was basically paid for.

And I got the free parking.

—–

Postscript 1: On the way back we ran into traffic on the Garden State Parkway.   We passed by near work, and found the cause.  A horrific accident, looks like both sides of the road had been shut down, and there was a white SUV that skidded, flipped, landed upside down on the driver’s side ON the divider railing, and skidded some MORE on the railing itself..  Three fire trucks and two ambulances, one with their sattelite antenna raised, and about 15 people crowded around the truck.  Thankfully, we did not see visible blood on the outside, but…  Well, one hopes they get the guy out, cus it was clear the only way he was being removed was by cutting him out….

Postscript 2: Got home, got to my floor, and startled two women who were CLEARLY dressed to go out and impress.   I was speechless.   One of them (I think the one who lived on my floor) said an almost embarrassed “hello” — I think I responded likewise but I was still a little too brain broken to do much else.  A pleasant “eep sorry almost ran you over” ending to the evening.

Postscript 3: Surprise, one more.  I think I’m going to sleep in on my holiday day…  But I’ll probably check on my parents.

Postscript 4: Last one, I swear.   HOUSEWARMING IS IN LESS THAN A WEEK!  WHEEEEE!

After an epic 9 hours of play, I’m pokered out but happy and ready for my next foray into Vegas.

End result, I spent 6 hours staring at a really cute woman from Wales who was serving our room, and almost busting out before making an epic comeback, leaving me 20 ahead after food and tips and stuff.

No, I didn’t get her number.  I’m way too introverted for that.  Poker details for you diehards after the cut.

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The weekend needed to be longer.  I spent much of it doing little chores, catching up on shows I haven’t watched since April of 2008, and installing WoW. 

On a few things…

1. Yes it really did take almost 16 hours to install WoW.   During which time I found such wonderful things as…  Torrenting updates, which killed my bandwidth.  Lack of a single mass update.  Non-automated updates, so I had to keep switching back to update.   But really, the killer was the sequential updating… If I’d known/realized it was that bad I’d have downloaded the client from their server from the start..
2. My online poker bankroll has taken an epic beatdown over the last two weeks, leaving my confidence completely shaken.  Meltdown is a common story for people trying to build their poker skills to make a run, but nonetheless its quite painful.  I’m not listening to my instincts nor am I making smart logical moves, and luck is not my friend either.   Obviously a horrid combination.  My only sense of relief lies in the fact that I already took out everything I put in, so the damage is only to my winnings.   (We’ll not talk about my brick & mortar bankroll.) 
3. I’m looking for people to fill a position here at work.  It is not a creative position but it’ll deal with alot of visual materials.  If you’re a designer with tech-head tendencies, or a tech-head with designer tendencies… let me know.  (This is not an entry-level position.  I need someone who is ready to go go go.  It is also subject to the full hiring process.  No free lunches and no free rides, especially in this market.)
4. I need a vacation, but I realistically should not take one until at least March or April.   I’m still considering the trip to LA though.   …  later this year, I’m seriously thinking I might take a cruise originating in NYC.  Anyone interested in joining me?
5. By the time Sunday rolled around, the snow was mostly gone.  Boo.
6. I had a horrid time sleeping last night — I had one of those dreams that’s just designed to mess with your sleep cycle.   “Waking up” repeatedly in your sleep just to realize you’re still dreaming, only to “Wake up” again, just to realize you’re still dreaming, only to….  rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.
7. I’ll try WoW out tonight for a little while. 
8. Pimping time!  My good friend has opened not one but TWO online webcomics.  Well okay, only one is a webcomic, the other is a bastard child of his twisted brain and still images that nonetheless is sure to leave me laughing until my brain leaks out through my nose.   Whenever he gets that launched.  Which is soon.  I’m sure.  Because if it isn’t I’ll have to hurt him.   Anyway, go visit them. 

   The Burrito Blade - Yes, you read that right.  The Burrito Blade.

   Things Wrong With Me – Because the MPD comes out somehow.. 

9. Right.  I’ve jabbered on long enough.  We not return you to your regularly scheduled forecast.

Have been cleaning the room, watching TV, and switching between online poker and Fallout 3. My card playing is off to a rapid 2009 start, so no complaints there! Fallout 3 has gotten boring, even playing the alternate characters is not holding my attention. I’m hoping the downloadable content will pick things up again.

Poker jibber-jabber below the cut.

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