OMGWTF: It's a Blog!?

Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T12:19:00.001-06:00

From all of us to all of you,

Happy Holidays!

Androidify Me!

2011-11-02T07:49:00.002-05:00

It seems like ages ago that I did the Oona Kickstarter. I haven't actually received my Oona yet but the updates from them indicate that they are actually shipping them now so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Today another interesting Kickstarter project showed up in my GReader.

Yep, I'm totally going to buy some of these. Everybody in my family now sports and Android phone, we have two Rooted and Androided (why, yes, that is a word ;P) Nooks, and an ASUS Transformer tablet.

I'm pretty sure we've all played with the Androidify Me app. If you haven't you totally need to download that app and play around. It is on par with that Southpark character creation site that we all are guilty of using, repeatedly, over and over and over again. *raises hand* *hangs head*

I only wish they had a support level that fit more into what I wanted to get but I'm sure they'll be delighted to have whatever we give. Let's hope this one doesn't take more than six months to deliver!

So head on over to Kickstarter and make a donation already.

Browser Battle

2011-11-01T10:15:00.001-05:00

Back in the dark ages, it took me a while to switch to Firefox but once I did I loved it. LOVED IT!

All those addons. The tabbed browsing. So much goodness.

Then came Chrome. I tried to like Chrome. I’m an admitted Google fanboi but I still couldn’t do without some of the features of Firefox I had grown to love.

The pivotal feature became Delicious Bookmarks. I loved having the exact same bookmarks on every machine. Delicious allowed me that luxury. I know what you are thinking, “But Firefox and Chrome both offer syncing.” Yes, they do NOW but they didn’t then. None of the Delicious addons for Chrome worked the same way that they in Firefox.

As soon as Chrome offered bookmark syncing I switched. It was painful – so many things I had relied on in Firefox just weren’t there in Chrome but I learned to live without or found another source for those features.

It wasn’t long after that that Yahoo announced they were selling Delicious and were no longer supporting it. That was a huge let down for a lot of my friends that used it daily. By then I was already using Chrome Bookmarks so it didn’t really impact me.

Yesterday Google released the updated GReader. It sure is purdy. But. But, it doesn’t do anything for the horrible lag I get in Chrome when I go through my Greader. I follow many feeds and read a large number of items daily. I use the expanded format which, granted, uses more resources, BUT (yes, BIG BUT) even my totally pimped out laptop struggles with the rate at which I go through the items in my reader so I’m inclined to believe that it isn’t a hardware issue at all.

For many reasons I keep Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome on all my machines. I did figure out a pretty easy way to get my bookmarks from Chrome into Firefox (I don’t even bother to do that with Internet Explorer because my usage is limited to extreme cases) so that made the hassle of switching from one to the other a little easier.

With all the latest improvements to Firefox I just had to give it another try. I notice NONE of the lag going through my GReader that I get when I do it in Chrome. None. That’s a big plus. Huge. Ginormous.

I think I will be using Firefox for a while – at least a week – and see if I still want to go back to Chrome. All my previous attempts to go back to Firefox have been short lived. Funny how you get used to something and don’t want to change. Damn old people .

It looks like Firefox’s concentration on speed and memory management have finally paid off for them. I just wonder if all those people switching to Chrome should have waited for the latest version of Firefox before doing so. I gotta tell ya, Firefox 7.0.1 is speedy.

Old Geeks

2011-10-14T11:14:00.001-05:00

OK, who’s calling me an Old Geek???

My kids, that’s who. Bastards.

Sugar Rush

2011-09-02T10:42:00.001-05:00

I am at the beginning of what will surely be an epic sugar rush today.

It all started when I received a text from a neighbor asking if I wanted to go to Tanners Orchard with her this morning. Well, DUH! Of course I do. I needed some more apples, pies, caramel corn nuggets, and donuts ~~like I need another hole in my head~~.

While I was putting away the frozen pie (birthday treat for Zooks97 who turns *gasp* 14 next Friday) I spotted the cookie dough I meant to bake Wednesday night. Those perky little high school cheerleaders are totally complicit in my sugar coma. I wish they would stop selling those premade cookie dough nuggets. At least when I’m done eating all these triple chocolate chunk cookies I won’t have to see them staring at me from the fridge anymore – nope, they’ll be bouncing right behind me everywhere I walk.

If you are ever in central Illinois stop by Tanners Orchard. You won’t be disappointed.

Novelty

2011-08-31T16:48:00.000-05:00

So, yeah, I've been a lazy bum this entire summer.

It is hard to break out of that habit of being a bum. I'm still struggling with it even with the kids in school freeing up a lot of my time. Well, that's sort of a fallacy since they weren't that much more time consuming over the summer than they are now since they spent much of their time in front of their computers.

So where does 'novelty' come into play???

I have passed a few articles in my reader touting the 'new' Blogger. New Blogger. Two words you don't often see together. Heck, I even saw pictures of the 'New Blogger'. So the novelty of trying this brought me over here.

It is definitely starker than what I am accustomed to, but I have been using Windows Live Writer for a while now so any improvements to Blogger would have been a big change to me. I was never a fan of the Blogger posting template. But, this does seem to be an improvement.

It probably isn't enough to get my blogging on a regular basis again. Heck, Windows Live Writer is a WYSIWYG editor and that didn't inspire me to ramble so why would this?

So much has been going on in the Poker World, my real life, and just the world in general but I'm just blase' about it all. Every now and then I run a few lines through my head thinking they would be a great seed for a blog post but then it flits right out of my (now blonde) head never to be heard from again. I blame my hair dresser.

Game of Thrones

2011-08-05T13:57:00.001-05:00

I love pretty much anything and everything that HBO creates. Those people have really figured out how to make shows that grip you and make you yearn for more.

I spotted this little beauty on Unrealitymag.com.

I started reading the Game of Thrones books before the show started. I’m about 90% of the way through the first four books. I just found out the author has released another book. A mere 1000 pages. Sigh. I think I’m going to have to indulge in some free smutty, chicky litty, sci-fi, mystery, did I mention free drivel from Amazon before I plunk down more $$ for a 1000 page tome from George R.R. Martin.

If you have a Kindle, or a Kindle App, you owe it to yourself to check out this feed for daily updates on the free books available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/rss/top-free/digital-text/154606011/ref=zg_tf_154606011_rsslink

Where’s My Money, Professor!?!

2011-07-11T07:45:00.001-05:00

I’m not a huge fan of Tony G but this video is downright hilarious.

The Micros vs The Nosebleeds

2011-07-03T07:32:00.001-05:00

These videos are friggin hilarious.

I’m not sure which I laughed at more but given recent events the Nosebleeds might have the edge.

Some Mac Chat

2011-06-30T09:02:00.002-05:00

It has been ages since I’ve posted a Mac chat. He’s changed jobs and we don’t chat nearly as much as we once did. There are days when I could sure use some Mac to cheer me up.

Today we had a little chat. Here’s a snippet:

Zooks64: you have too many (kids) for me to remember
Zooks64: how do you keep them all straight?
Mac: We make them wear name tags
Zooks64: tattoos
Zooks64: forehead
Zooks64: think about it
Mac: Did
Mac: Apparently there are 'laws'
Zooks64: pffft

So there’s 30 seconds you’ll never get back.

Staying’ Alive

2011-06-21T16:57:00.002-05:00

I dare you to try to forget you saw this. I dare you.

I expect you to Push Hard and Fast you ever seen me having a heart attack. Just sayin.

PowerSchool

2011-05-24T07:10:00.001-05:00

The local school district started using an online grading program a few years ago. Too bad it sucked. Last year they upgraded to PowerSchool. Which rocks my world.

At least once a week I login to check on my boys’ grades. It’s amazing how much leverage you have as a parent when you have up to the minute grade information. My boys are familiar with the insta-ban on TV and computer resulting from poor grades.

We gave the boys the password so they could check their grades themselves. What a huge motivator that was. This system even lets us sign up for daily or weekly email updates.

I’ve seen my boys dig themselves quite the hole at the beginning of a grading period only to salvage an A by the time the final grade is posted. I can even tell if an assignment was turned in late or not at all. Let’s just say there are no surprises come the end of the semester. What a relief.

Kickstarter

2011-05-17T08:36:00.001-05:00

I was watching Tekzilla this morning when I saw a segment on this really cool phone holder.

I had to have one. I’m thinking I will use it for a car window mount but it looks like it will do so much more than that. I’m going to wander around the Kickstarter site to see what other cool ideas are out there.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

2011-05-16T08:19:00.001-05:00

The guys at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal are consistently good for a chuckle but this one really sent me over the edge.

Levity

2011-04-30T11:03:00.001-05:00

That Erik Seidel is en fuego.

So nice of the folks at TheMicros to give him some love.

PokerSlut Tour on Hiatus

2011-04-15T16:59:00.001-05:00

Until the legal issues between the U.S. government and the major online poker outlets are resolved the PokerSlut Tour will be on hiatus.

I had requested a cash out from Full Tilt late in March when I knew I would be moving the Tour to PokerStars. In the mean time I turned some FPPs into $90 and today I got notice of a $6 affiliate payment.

I had debated about ending the Tour after season XX but the PokerStars Home Game made me reconsider. Now the decision has been made for me.

I went ahead and asked for a cash out from PokerStars. My request went through without any problems but who knows if it will actually happen.

Because my balance on Full Tilt is less than $100 they requested that I contact their withdrawalsupport@fulltiltpoker.com people. Can’t wait to hear what they have to say after they finish with the 123908709846 people in front of me in the withdrawal queue.

RIP online poker. You will be missed.

PokerSlut Tour Stud Results

2011-04-11T11:48:00.001-05:00

I’d like to say I’m over my bitterness of that brutal Stud hand…. but, I’m not.

Here are the results:

Paybacks

2011-04-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

This is what I get for bragging about that full house hand in razz. Paybacks are a bitch.

PokerStars Home Game #60648568674: {PokerSlut Tour} Tournament #384151187, $1.00+$0.10 7 Card Stud Limit - Level X (200/400) - 2011/04/10 21:45:30 CT 2011/04/10 22:45:30 ET
Table '384151187 1' 8-max
Seat 2: gadzooks64 (1272 in chips)
Seat 5: PokerGeekMN (5482 in chips)
Seat 7: blindluck91 (1246 in chips)
gadzooks64: posts the ante 40
PokerGeekMN: posts the ante 40
blindluck91: posts the ante 40
3rd STREET
Dealt to gadzooks64

Dealt to PokerGeekMN
Dealt to blindluck91
blindluck91: bets 200
gadzooks64: calls 200
PokerGeekMN: raises 200 to 400
blindluck91: raises 200 to 600
gadzooks64: raises 200 to 800
Betting is capped
PokerGeekMN: calls 400
blindluck91: calls 200
4th STREET
Dealt to gadzooks64

Dealt to PokerGeekMN
Dealt to blindluck91
PokerGeekMN: bets 200
blindluck91: raises 200 to 400
gadzooks64: raises 32 to 432 and is all-in
PokerGeekMN: raises 168 to 600
blindluck91: calls 6 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (168) returned to PokerGeekMN
5th STREET
Dealt to gadzooks64

Dealt to PokerGeekMN
Dealt to blindluck91
6th STREET
Dealt to gadzooks64

Dealt to PokerGeekMN
Dealt to blindluck91
RIVER:
Dealt to gadzooks64

SHOW DOWN :
gadzooks64: shows

PokerGeekMN: shows
(a pair of Sevens)
gadzooks64 collected 52 from side pot
blindluck91: shows

PokerGeekMN said, "wow"
gadzooks64 said, "sigh"
blindluck91 collected 3738 from main pot
PokerGeekMN said, "nhs"
SUMMARY:
Total pot 3790 Main pot 3738. Side pot 52. | Rake 0
Seat 2: gadzooks64 shows
and won (52) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 5: PokerGeekMN shows
and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 7: blindluck91 shows
and won (3738) with a full house, Jacks full of Deuces

Le sigh.

PokerSlut Tour XXI Stud

2011-04-10T09:09:00.001-05:00

PokerSlut Tour Razz

2011-04-04T12:10:00.001-05:00

Warning: Shameless self-aggrandizement ahead.

The PokerSlut Tour lost some players in the move to PokerStars but I think they will eventually find us again. I have to admit that I am less than thrilled when Sunday rolls around and I have to deal with all the PokerSlut business.

Luckily, last night’s turnout was bolstered by CK and her friend, Blakwingbrd – we had a whopping 7 runners for Razz.

While I wasn’t exactly trying to dump my chips off as early as possible (which, sadly, I have been known to do on occasion) I wasn’t exactly playing my A game. I was surfing and goofing off. I chipped up then back down. How I managed to make it into the money is beyond me. I think it was more a matter of others playing big pots and going out before me than me doing anything remarkable.

Once it got down to Heffmike and me, well, that’s when I was really regretting handing out so many chips to start with. I knew this wasn’t going to end any time soon. AND, unlike FTP, PokerStars doesn’t have a chop option readily available.

I was able to pick up some hands and run a couple bluffs while Heffmike wasn’t being his usual cardrack. To be honest I just ran better.

I was channeling my inner Blazman when I led out on the river here: “Please fold! Please fold!”

150/300 ANTE 30 LIMIT RAZZ TOURNAMENT • 2 PLAYERS
$1.00+$0.10

Seat 2
Hero
6,918

Seat 5
heffmike
7,082

ANTE 30

3rd Street (60, 2 players)

Hero is dealt
heffmike is dealt

Hero bets 150, heffmike raises to 300, Hero raises to 450, heffmike calls 150

4th Street (960, 2 players)

Hero is dealt
heffmike is dealt

Hero bets 150, heffmike calls 150

5th Street (1,260, 2 players)

Hero is dealt
heffmike is dealt

heffmike checks, Hero checks

6th Street (1,260, 2 players)

Hero is dealt
heffmike is dealt

heffmike checks, Hero bets 300, heffmike calls 300

7th Street (1,860, 2 players)

Hero is dealt

heffmike checks, Hero bets 300, heffmike folds

It’s not often you can win a Razz hand with a full house.

Don’t be bashful. Get back into the habit of playing the PokerSlut Tour on Sunday nights. We don’t bite….. much.

PokerSlut Tour XXI Razz

2011-04-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

PokerSlut Tour 8 Game

2011-03-27T08:56:00.001-05:00

Android v iPhone

2011-03-23T15:53:00.001-05:00

Bwahahahahhahha!

I hate how Apple tries to make everybody that doesn’t have their product feel inadequate. Like we are missing out somehow.

Yeah, GLWT.

Engineer Guy

2011-03-21T07:33:00.001-05:00

I was led to one of his videos by my Google Reader when he had a video that explained the best method for queuing customers. After watching that video - and a few others he’s done - I subscribed to his YouTube feed.

This morning I was treated to this:

This is amazing to me. These screens have become ubiquitous (and now cheap). If it hadn’t been so cheap to replace that screen I ruined on my old netbook I would have ended up buying another netbook…. Oh, wait. I did end up buying another netbook. Well now TOH has his own netbook. I’m a sucker for new toys.

PokerSlut Tour XXI PLO8 DS

2011-03-20T08:12:00.001-05:00

PokerSlut Tour XXI NLHE DS Results

2011-03-14T09:20:00.001-05:00

PokerSlut Tour XXI

2011-03-13T10:18:00.001-05:00

Please join the Home Game early to ensure that you will be able to register.

As always, the game will start at 8:00pm central.

PokerSlut Tour Moves To PokerStars

2011-03-05T09:24:00.001-06:00

The PokerSlut Tour has had a long run at Full Tilt Poker but that is coming to an end. The Tour will be moving to PokerStars to take advantage of their Home Game feature. If you want to play in any future Tour events you will need to register for the PokerSlut Tour Home Game.

Three new games will be added to the rotation: 2-7 Triple Draw, 8 Game Mix and Badugi.

The Tour will be taking this week off but will start up again next Sunday night on PokerStars.

MSDos to Windows 7

2011-03-03T11:12:00.001-06:00

This is amazing. I am truly impressed that you could actually make this happen.

PokerSlut Tour XX $1 Rebuy

2011-02-27T17:18:00.001-06:00

TV Table

2011-02-20T17:18:00.001-06:00

Holy shit! Check this out!

Fike has been wanting to do something this for his home game but we have all said we weren’t interested in letting him have that much access to our hole cards.

PokerSlut Tour Stud Hi/Lo

2011-02-20T08:51:00.001-06:00

PokerSlut Tour XX HORSE

2011-02-13T09:11:00.001-06:00

Super Bowl Sunday!!!

2011-02-06T07:39:00.001-06:00

Enjoy the Super Bowl! The PokerSlut Tour will not be playing tonight so all of you degenerates can eat like pigs, drink like fish, and win/lose your bankroll at the sportsbook. Oh, don’t give me that look. You know who you are.

High Stakes Poker

2011-02-04T05:45:00.000-06:00

Now that PokerStars’ Big Game is over I’m at a loss for good TV poker. I can’t wait for the next season of High Stakes Poker to start. Sadly, a lot of the pros that are the most fun to watch won’t be there. Full Tilt isn’t letting any of their players, including Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius, play in the game now that PokerStars owns the show. It’s a shame, too. They certainly make for must see TV whenever they play.

Am I the only one that thinks they used blackjack cards for the scenes where the dealer is laying out the flop? I don’t know of any poker decks that have the corners cut off. That seems like such a silly mistake to make.

Next Phone

2011-02-03T05:38:00.000-06:00

I have birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I think my in-laws are getting tired of hearing me say I want a new phone every year but they still include a nice check in my birthday card.

This HTC Thunderbolt phone is looking awesome! My next upgrade isn’t until late March but this phone is rumored to be coming out in the next two weeks or less. That’s ok though, I want other people to discover any flaws there might be before I buy one.

I love my HTC Incredible that I picked up last April. I liked it so much that I bought my boys each one for Xmas. I think HTC makes the best phones out there. Oh sure, Motorola and Samsung are making some nice stuff. Motorola’s Blur interface doesn’t do anything for me and Samsung is dragging their feet on updating their phones to the latest version of Android. I’m not inclined to buy a phone from either of them (although the Motorola Bionic looks amazing).

Rumor has it the Thunderbolt will go on sale the day after that other popular phone goes on sale. I’m assuming Verizon wants something else to tempt buyers with if/when they run out of the other one. I’m all for that if it means the Thunderbolt comes out sooner rather than later. They better have stock when I my upgrade hits.

What is the Internet?

2011-02-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Good times. Who knew it would turn into what it is today… the world’s source of pron and viruses.

Home Game?

2011-02-01T09:09:00.001-06:00

Ok, who’s been watching my home???

Game of Skill and Strategery

2011-01-31T07:46:00.001-06:00

I hosted my home game this weekend. One of the regular players offered to stake my oldest to play. I knew his objective was to take all the boy’s chips for himself. I offered to let him do it but only if the boy played at a different table. I was rejected.

I assume the day will come that I will allow my boys to play but not before I have improved their pokers skills to the point where they would not be dead money. Duh.

Between running big hands into hands that out flopped me and just playing badly I was the first person out at the final table. There is usually one epic hand at my home game and this last game was no exception. Two players were busted by a third – all of them flopped a flush! 45dd v 67dd v A8dd. Rigged. Totally rigged. Just ask Lightning; he swears my game is rigged, too.

PokerSlut Tour XX PLO DS

2011-01-30T08:40:00.001-06:00

Twit It!

2011-01-28T07:45:00.001-06:00

Too late. Much, much, too late.

Trickle Down Theory

2011-01-26T07:29:00.001-06:00

It is all so clear to me now….

WBCOOP

2011-01-25T20:25:00.002-06:00

I took advantage of the opportunity to have a dinner out with my family tonight which caused me to join tonight's WBCOOP event late.

I walked in the door and heard the telltale sounds from my netbook. I had left PokerStars running. I opened the lid of the netbook and click the I'm Back button even though I needed to run my son to the pool for practice. I folded the first hand but found myself with playable cards the next hand.

Hand info:

100% Deposit Bonus

Date:	2011/01/25 18:39:52 CT [2011/01/25 19:39:52 ET]
Type:	Tournament (339187690)
Game:	Hold'em NL
Table:	'339187690 32' 9-max
Blinds:	$25/50

Table info:

Seat 1: blackcat770 ($2,762)

Sitting out

Seat 2: AbsolutHam ($2,690)
Seat 3: PackoTaylor ($1,778)

Dealer

Seat 4: N0sferatv ($8,481)

Posts small blind $25

Seat 5: lorenzo570 ($749)

Posts big blind $50

Seat 6: cyppokerstar ($3,175)
Seat 7: gadzooks64 ($2,740)
Seat 8: Peter23777 ($2,985)
Seat 9: keksen ($3,750)

Dealt to gadzooks64

Check odds

Preflop: (Pot: $75)

RAISE gadzooks64, to $150
FOLD Peter23777
FOLD keksen
FOLD blackcat770
FOLD AbsolutHam
FOLD PackoTaylor
FOLD N0sferatv
FOLD lorenzo570
RAISE cyppokerstar, to $3,175 and is ALL-IN
CALL gadzooks64, $2,590 and is ALL-IN
RETURN cyppokerstar, $435

Check odds

Flop: (Pot: $5,505)

Check odds

Turn: (Pot: $5,505)

River: (Pot: $5,505)

Showdown:

SHOWS cyppokerstar

SHOWS gadzooks64

cyppokerstar wins the pot of $5,505 with two pair, Aces and Queens

I wonder if I couldn't have just blinded into the top 200. It certainly would have been more enjoyable.

PokerSlut Tour XX Limit HE

2011-01-23T07:34:00.004-06:00

HP48SX

2011-01-19T16:38:00.002-06:00

Back in the day, when I was a struggling engineering student HP programmable calculators were all the rage. I lusted after the HP48SX.
They cost over $200. Back then that was A LOT OF MONEY FOR A COLLEGE STUDENT. I held out as long as I could but I eventually bought one. The best part was being able to load in the formulas that some ~~lame~~ professors expected you to memorize.
I was reminded of this calculator when I was perusing the Android Market via App Brain. I found three different emulators for Texas Instruments calculators. I recalled seeing one for HP a while back but at the time it didn’t interest me much.
After showing the boys (who now have Android phones) these apps I dug around and found my HP calculator. Unfortunately the batteries had leaked and corroded one of the connections. It was now useless. Sigh.
I hit App Brain to search for the HP48 emulator. Sure enough there was one for an HP48. The colors are for the GX version (obnoxious teal and green) instead of the orange and blue of the SX but everything else seemed the same.
I wouldn’t even begin to know how to operate this thing anymore. Hell, I can barely make it add up numbers. That whole Reverse Polish notation thing was an anathema to me at the time I was using it back in the day. I’ve forgotten more vital things in that time span so I’m not much concerned about forgetting how to run that HP calculator. Besides, it doesn’t work anymore.
I’m toying with the idea of getting it fixed. Used ones are going for over $100 on eBay. Go figure. Hahahahahhahaha. Get it? Go figure!?!?!? Well, it amused me at least. If I still had my TI-55II from high school I would have quite the collection of nearly worthless geek toys.

PokerSlut Tour

2011-01-16T09:56:00.001-06:00

There is no PokerSlut Tour game tonight because I’m being a total degenerate at the Harrah’s in St. Louis. If I run QQ into a set of 6s one more time I might have to beat the shit outta the douchebag I see with Dr. Dre headphones.

ESP

2011-01-13T18:15:00.001-06:00

Wow, somebody totally read my mind….

WBCOOP

2011-01-13T13:19:00.001-06:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 009120

PokerSlut Tour XX Stud

2011-01-09T07:29:00.001-06:00

Droioioioioioid!

2011-01-08T12:44:00.002-06:00

Ever since I got my Droid Incredible phone last year my boys have always wanted to mess with it. Unlike some parents I know, I do not encourage my kids to play with my stuff. I don’t give them my phone to keep them entertained and out of my hair. Never. That’s why I buy them their own gadgets, damnit!

They have had plain cell phones for over a year and half and have done quite well with them. The youngest hasn’t yet gotten into the texting craze but the oldest has damn near worn the buttons off his phone. He would complain to me that the sounds weren’t working anymore but I would be able to revive it in a few minutes – that boy messes with his settings a tad too much methinks. There was a moment there when he thought I might actually get him a new phone but, alas, I was able to fix his. Bwaahahahahha.

At the time he was trolling for a new phone I told him he was eligible for an upgrade in January and he should just wait until then. There was a good chance he could get a really nice phone if he waited.

After spying deals for phones AND Verizon offering a deal on service for lines upgraded from feature phones to smart phones I was seriously considering getting them Droid Incredibles when their upgrade was available.

By the time Christmas rolled around I had promised them new android phones as a gift but they wouldn’t get them until the upgrade date. I had tried a couple places and was told there was no way to upgrade early. Wait they must. Yes, on occasion, I let my inner Yoda loose.

On Monday I had to call Verizon about our bill so I asked how long this Feature Phone to Smartphone upgrade offer would last. Baaaaaaaah! It was going to expire on 1/7. That was not good. I groused about getting my sons smartphones when their upgrade was available on 1/20 but I really wanted that deal. After a little back and forth with the representative she offered to do the upgrade for me now! AND I qualified for the BOGO offer on Droid Incredibles.

Scooooooooooooooore!

Somehow I neglected to mention this deal to either of my boys.

FedEx was supposed to deliver them by 7pm on Thursday. Of course, I bowl on Thursday morning. I think you see where I’m going with this, Fedex attempted delivery while I was bowling and would not be able to redeliver. If I wanted the phones I would have to pick them up at their office. Sigh.

I had this elaborate plan for surprising the boys with their new phones. So off I went to FedEx with charged batteries in tow. After picking up the package I headed to my favorite Starbucks for free wifis. It took me about an hour and a half to get the phones activated, loaded with apps, and the surprise ringtone installed.

The plan was to sneak the phones into their bedrooms, wait for them to get home from swimming, then set off the “Where’s My Droid” app to ring for five minutes – giving them enough time to find the hidden phones.

The youngest was already home when I got back with the newly activated phones. I had to BS with him in his room until I spotted an opportunity to plant the phone. The oldest was easy since he wasn’t home yet.

Zooks97 gets home from swimming, and, instead of going straight to his room like he usually does, he proceeded to bend my ear for a full 15 minutes. Every other comment from me was, “Go get in the shower,” but he wasn’t taking the hint. Finally, he headed upstairs and TOH and I sent off the triggering text messages.

After what seemed like an eon, their phones started ringing. Within moments Zooks97 was downstairs yelling, “This is the best way EVER to get a new phone!”

Mission accomplished!

PokerSlut Tour XX Razz

2011-01-02T07:22:00.001-06:00

Merry Xmas

2010-12-25T06:44:00.001-06:00

Here’s wishing you the best of holidays.

Get Out of My LINE!

2010-12-22T14:13:00.001-06:00

I used to experience gridlock on a daily basis when I worked in Mexico and lived in the US. Those border crossings are brutal. And, of course, I never picked the right line.

The Micros–Holiday Special

2010-12-21T15:39:00.001-06:00

You will have to watch this several times just to get half the stuff. Awesome!

Blogger

2010-12-20T06:10:00.000-06:00

The vast majority of blogs I read are hosted by Blogger.

Yet, most people treat Blogger like the ugly, redheaded step-child of blogging platforms.

I tried to switch over the WordPress a while back but they are not as flexible or useful unless you plan to host your site outside of the free WP site. I couldn’t get flash to work unless I was willing to pay for it. Screw that. Blogger let's me do that for FREE.

Anywhooooo. I popped over to the Blogger Dashboard today to make some modifications to my template when a message popped up notifying me that Blogger Beta (if you haven’t check it out you totally should) now offers a Mobile Template (Beta). I turned that feature on and was able to see a preview:

I don’t know about you guys, but my phone is what I rely on to keep me entertained when I am stuck waiting somewhere.

It was always annoying to try to read blogs on the phone because they just weren’t phone friendly – although, it is much better now with my Android phone than it was with my old Blackberry and WinMo phones.

One of the reasons I prefer to read blogs on my Google Reader is that I don’t have to try to block out all the formatting people do. Not that y’all have fugly blogs, but let’s face it, I’m pretty sure none of you are web designers (and that includes me). Just saying.

Speaking of design, if you are a Blogger user and haven’t checked out the new Template Designer you are totally missing out. It offers so many options to make your blog look spiffy and not the least bit, erm, trashy. NTTAWT.

There is a huge selection of backgrounds many with customizable color options. The designer makes it so easy to change column widths, headers, fonts, colors. It is incredibly easy to use and the results are noticeably NOT STOCK BLOGGER TEMPLATE.

One of the best parts is the live preview. Change anything and it is reflected in the preview. No more saving and viewing only to find out that something didn’t turn out quite right AND it is live until you fix it.

If you have grown tired of your blog template, or, if you think your readers have gotten tired of it just pop over the the Blogger Beta and have some fun.

PokerSlut Tour XX 7 Game Mix

2010-12-19T08:35:00.001-06:00

Sarcasm

2010-12-16T06:30:00.001-06:00

You know it!

Google Gives

2010-12-15T13:29:00.001-06:00

I just spotted this in my reader. I’m a HUGE Google fan but I’ve just had a real hard time giving up my Firefox. Believe me, I’ve tried. Most recently a few days ago. My Firefox was acting squirrelly and I was just about to call it quits. I loaded all my bookmarks into Chrome and was off and running again. Then Firefox released an update and I was back like an addicted crack whore.
But, this little article by TechCrunch will get me back to using Google Chrome – at least for the next few days. Maybe by then I will assimilated and there will be no looking back.
Be sure to tech out TechCrunch if you aren’t already a regular reader.

I’m addicted to browser tabs. I probably open several hundred of them each day during my regular web browsing. And today brings good news: Google wants to reward me for that.
Well technically, Google wants to reward charities on my behalf for my obsessive web browsing. A new initiative today called “Chrome for a Cause” asks you to download a Google-made Chrome extension that will note your tab opening activity and allow you to donate to one of five charities at the end of each day based on your usage. Yep, just browse the web, and donate to charity.
The charities involved in this are: The Nature Conservancy, charity: water, Doctors Without Borders, Un Techo para mi Pais, and Room to Read. Here’s Google’s breakdown of how much you have to browse to donate to the various charities:

10 tabs = 1 tree planted
10 tabs = 1 book published and donated
25 tabs = 1 vaccination treatment provided
100 tabs = 1 square foot of shelter built
200 tabs = 1 person’s clean water for a year

The initiative will run for five days from December 15 to the 19. Google says they’ll donate up to a million dollars on behalf of the extension’s users.
Find the extension here. Get clicking.
CrunchBase Information
Google Chrome
Information provided by CrunchBase

PokerSlut Tour PLO8 DS

2010-12-12T08:35:00.001-06:00

PokerSlut Tour XX Starts Tonight

2010-12-05T07:26:00.001-06:00

Rush Flush

2010-12-02T16:13:00.001-06:00

I had no intention of even trying to do that Rush Week promo on Full Tilt. Hell, I haven’t even fired up FTP in ages except to try out the Rush app on my phone.

Snuffy asked me if I was going to do it and I said, “Uh, hell no,” or something equally as obnoxious. Then I had to sign in to do some research for a writing job only to have the Rush promo pop up in my face. It was easier to just say yes and go on than to turn it down.

There I was sitting there on the couch last night. Nothing new on the intertubes. Ho hum. Aw heck, I should fire up FTP and play some Rush pokers cause they are sooooo much fun. Not. No, not really. Not fun at all. The last several times I played Rush I swore I would never, ever play that shite again.

So, instead of playing my usual stakes I figured I could just donk around at $10 Rush. That can’t be that painful, right? I mean, how long can it take me to get 10 FPPs at Rush? (I totally forgot that FTP decided to change their FPP formula to reward the agrodonktarded players and penalize the nits. And by nits, I mean me.

I play the few small pairs I get until I pick up KK. I raise it up and get a caller. An A on flop but I still bet at it and get raised. I fold like the nit I am and move on. Since I have the auto-top off feature turned on I have no idea how down I am when I pick up KK again. The flop comes out 8 high and, once again, my c-bet gets raised but I’m not going to fold this time. It all goes in on the flop and I’m rewarded with a nice double up versus 99.

Then comes THE HAND.

Pre-Flop ($0.15, 9 players) Hero is CO

2 folds, DieBySword901 raises to $0.20, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.20, 2 folds, izei84 calls $0.10

Flop ($0.65, 3 players)

izei84 checks, DieBySword901 checks, Hero bets $0.40, izei84 raises to $1.10, DieBySword901 folds, Hero calls $0.70

Turn ($2.85, 2 players)

izei84 checks, Hero bets $2.85, izei84 calls $2.85

River ($8.55, 2 players)

izei84 checks, Hero bets $6, izei84 folds

Final Pot: $14.55

Hero wins $13.98 (net +$3.83)
izei84 lost $4.15
DieBySword901 lost $0.20

Yeah, I was feeling jiggy. I mean who wouldn’t play that in position???

I was totally not going away on that flop. I had second nut flush and a gutterball straight flush draw. I think that’s donkey for, “I’m ready to gambol, bitches!”

Why oh why couldn’t that guy have the As? Sigh. I was convinced he did or I wouldn’t have bet so much. As it was, I’m sure he wasn’t calling any bet on that river.

I’ve hit four royal flushes on FTP and a few straight flushes but I never suspected I would actually hit one at Rush since I mostly set mine my pairs and hope to stack somebody. Rush just doesn’t lend itself to playing a lot of soooooted connectors.

I managed to get my 10 FPPs in just 115 hands. As soon as I was done with the Rush Flush hand I logged off. Nothing like quitting while you are ahead.

Thankful

2010-11-25T12:16:00.001-06:00

I’m thankful that we don’t do our big meal on Thanksgiving Day.

My brothers-in-law go to their in-law’s houses for Thanksgiving Day so we get together as a family on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Yeah, that can really mess you up if you are one of those crazy people that shop at the butt crack of dawn on Black Friday. Luckily, I’m not one of those people. I usually buy my stuff online and thank the UPS driver profusely when he cheerfully delivers my packages.

Instead of slaving over a hot stove today…. wait a second, we do that today too. Sigh. We are busy pre-preparing as many dishes as we can so we can spend the day tomorrow cleaning house and setting the table.

My in-laws purchase and prepare the turkey. I just throw its ass in the oven and wait for the little popper to tell me it is done while the four men watch sports, and the six children run amok in the basement. We womenfolk drink in the kitchen. It’s a win/win situation. I have to have everything presentable by 2:00pm. I plan to be tipsy from about 2:15pm on. Just so’s you know.

The replacement tree was delivered bright an early on Monday morning! Just in time for the torrential rains to hit next two days later. It really is quite a feat to watch them remove the old stump then return to install the new tree. The same guy installed two other trees for us when we first moved into this house 6.5 years ago. He truly is an artiste.

PokerSlut Tour $1+1 NLHE Rebuy!

2010-11-21T07:30:00.001-06:00

Nit

2010-11-19T09:34:00.001-06:00

I have a reputation of being quite the Nit. Unfounded I must say. But, if you work it right you can play on your image and win pots you have no business winning.

In the last cash game I was able to steal a pot from QQ with nothing better than a turned pair of Yaks on a K high board because the victim was convinced that I would never bet anything less than a K there.

Here’s Phil Laak taking advantage of his reputation for being a nit:

Plays like that set you up for plays like this:

Schwartz never saw that coming.

New Toy

2010-11-17T13:19:00.001-06:00

I have a new toy!

No, it doesn’t need batteries. Battery, yes. Batteries, no.

I have had my eye on this Toshiba netbook for some time. I even recommended it to a neighbor that was looking for a netbook. She bought one when a great deal came up. I held off.

I kept looking for a new netbook since my old one is horribly underpowered for I want it to do. But, alas, I am really really cheap. Really cheap. My first netbook was a HUGE deal for the money. I really loved having that little lightweight wonder to haul around with me when I left home instead of my 8lb 17.3” ASUS.

Late last week the dual core version of the Toshiba netbook I had been lusting for all this time went on sale for the same price that the single core version was at several months ago. What a dilemma. Should I bite the bullet or hope for a better price?

I rushed over to my friend’s house and abused her netbook to make sure I could live with the keyboard and form factor. It took me about 15 minutes to decide to buy one. It arrived on Monday! I have been messing around with it ever since.

I love Toshiba. I really do. This is the 3rd one in our house. But, OMG, those people load up an absurd amount of bloatware. I removed about half of it; it has made a HUGE difference in how long it takes this machine to load. I will do a little more research but I suspect that most of the programs left can also be removed with little or no impact. Hell, they even included a CD/DVD writing program – this netbook DOESN’T HAVE A CD/DVD DRIVE! Doh.

The original plan was to sell the old netbook but TOH has expressed some interest in having it (Not Zerb called him a douchenozzle for wanting to keep it, oh yes he did). That will officially up the count of computers in our house to, gasp, six. We are totally outnumbered. If they ever decide to revolt we are toast.

Too bad the extra ram stick I ordered turned out to be defective. A replacement will be sent but until then I will have to live with the 2gb it came with.

P.S. I was working my way through my reader on Monday and ran across a deal on an Acer netbook comparably equipped for $100 less! Sigh. But, it looked like that deal was live for about a nanosecond because the second time I went back to look at it the deal had expired. Had I not already purchased the Toshiba I would have ordered one of those in less than nanosecond time. Acer may not be a top brand but that little netbook I have has held up quite well in spite of all the abuse I have dished out.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Stud Hi/Lo

2010-11-14T09:29:00.001-06:00

PokerSlut Tour XIX HORSE

2010-11-07T06:38:00.001-06:00

A horse is a horse, of course, unless it’s a donkey. Then all bets are off.

Online Poker Commercial

2010-11-04T14:27:00.001-05:00

I totally ripped this off of foucault at Thinking Poker.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T11:03:00.001-05:00

Sundays, but not today. Go give yourself a sugar coma sneaking candy from your kids’ treat bags. That is, after all, what Halloween is all about.

Windy

2010-10-26T15:27:00.001-05:00

Just a little windy out here today.

Just a little.

PokerSlut Tour PLO DS

2010-10-24T06:10:00.000-05:00

Not only will I be hungover from my Home Game, I will be trashed from attending the Central Illinois Youth Symphony’s Wine Tasting and Silent Auction fundraiser.

So, come take my chips.

Home Game

2010-10-23T09:53:00.001-05:00

I’m hosting a home game tonight. After the boys spend the whole afternoon at a swim meet I should be primed to drink and play poker.

Maybenotsomuch but I will do it anyway.

Poker is starting to wear thin with me.

The PokerSlut Tour has been running for what feels like an eon. It has been a struggle to get the numbers back up after taking the summer off. I suspect it may run through this season and maybe one more but unless the poker landscape improves in that time frame I see the end of the PokerSlut Tour on the horizon.

I lost my ass at the SlyPalooza in Michigan only to come home and lose even more at my local boat. I have been trying to play more online but I have been so busy with “real life” that I haven’t had much time for it. I was doing well until the other night when I lost four buyins playing 6M 25nl.

Yeah, poker is wearing on me.

Maybe I’ll just plan on drinking and donking out early tonight. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

T-1

2010-10-22T07:10:00.001-05:00

If only….

I would kill for a T-1 connection. I live out in BFE. I doubt we ever get fiber optic service out here.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Limit Holdem

2010-10-17T07:25:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is time for that slow painful death known as Limit Poker.

Hot Date!

2010-10-16T17:04:00.001-05:00

Tonight is drunken euchre.

TOH is out of town at his Alma Mater’s homecoming.

I have a date. Wooohoooooo ooooo.

I offered to drive since he doesn’t know where we are going so there won’t be any drinking for me. My neighbor might want me to bring her husband home alive after agreeing to loan him to me for the night. If not for her I’d be stuck at home with the kids tonight.

Gay Marriage

2010-10-15T13:18:00.001-05:00

My BFF T sent me this. Awesome!

If you mind the f*cking language, well, then don’t hit play.

Falling for Fall

2010-10-11T15:38:00.001-05:00

In the last few days the Ash tree in my front yard has gone from luscious green to burnt yellow and is now spewing leaves all over my yard. I guess that’s what happens after a few frosty nights followed by several 80° days. My poor tree.

I guess Fall has finally made it here. I find it hard to believe since I’m sweltering in my office even as the air conditioner is running.

I can’t wait for Halloween - by then the weather is down right chilly at night. I usually sit on the front porch and hand out candy to the kids. I had to stop wearing my witch’s cape and making up my face after I scared the begeesus out of the little kids in the neighborhood a few years ago. Maybe after they have grown up some they will be ready for my witchiness; by then it won’t require any makeup .

PokerSlut Tour XIX Stud

2010-10-10T05:57:00.000-05:00

Bring on your studliness!

Multi-tasking

2010-10-09T15:20:00.001-05:00

I always knew I was an excellent multi-tasker…

P.S. Windows Live Writer automagically resized this comic to fit my blog’s width setting. Just sayin.

Windows Live Writer

2010-10-08T19:11:00.001-05:00

I listen to several tech podcasts: CNet’s Buzz Out Loud (the boys and I think Molly Wood is a scream!), This Week in Tech, This Week in Google and Windows Weekly among others.

The Windows Weekly has been very helpful; based on Paul Thurrrott’s unabashed love of his Windows Home Server I ended up buying one and fell in love with it myself. For less than $300 I picked up a refurbed (roxors!) HP MediaSmart Home Server with a 750gb hard drive. Now that we have five computers in the house the home server has been the a life saver for backing up all the machines. I don’t really use it much for media sharing but I have set it up to collect music and pictures from all the machines.

Recently Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott discussed the newly released Microsoft Essentials. With the exception of the Windows Movie Maker I have no use for the programs bundled in the Essentials package. Paul waxed poetic about Windows Live Writer; he uses it to write his many blog posts.

Let’s admit it: Blogger sucks as far as it’s interface for composing posts. A long time ago I started using the ScribeFire add-on to Firefox. One of the reasons I gave up on Chrome was how horrible ScribeFire was in Chrome – well, that among other reasons. Recent updates to ScribeFire have left me less than dazzled by the program but it was significantly better than Blogger.

I was more than ready to give Live Writer a try. After setting it up I spewed out a post. I was more than delighted to see that it pulled in my Style Sheet in perfect detail. Everything about my post was exactly as it would appear once posted unlike any other posting program I have tried. It offers all the expected options: links, photos, videos, and the usual formatting stuff. Spell checking and word count are also very handy.

You can publish to multiple blogs and numerous blogging protocols are supported. I’m not usually a Windows fangirl but this little freebee has really impressed me. If you have a blog, particularly a Blogger blog, you should give it a try.

Wake Up!

2010-10-05T07:22:00.001-05:00

My youngest is sleep challenged. Or rather, wake challenged. Talk about grumpy and impossible to wake up.

I thought it would improve now that he can actually sleep in later in the morning but, alas, this isn’t the case.

Mind you, this boy is only 11 years old! Oh the hell I will go through when he actually hits those teen years.

I can’t tell you how many times I have felt like doing this:

I’m sure I have a stray water bottle running around here somewhere…

HP Fail

2010-10-04T05:23:00.000-05:00

My FIL (father-in-law) has been having problems with an HP laptop that he bought about 3 years ago. He uses it only for travel. Every Sunday he fires it up, checks for Windows updates and runs a virus scan.

Not too long ago his screen started giving him fits. We thought it was probably dead and found a nice little ASUS to replace it but first he took it to the computer shop. I warned him that he shouldn’t invest a lot of money into fixing it as it wasn’t worth it. He ended up getting it repaired against my advice. He even said he was excited to buy the new machine but instead opted to get the old one fixed.

A few weeks later he told me that it wouldn’t start up. After a lengthy conversation I determined that there were probably some updates that hadn’t completed installing and that he should fire it up again and give it some time to finish doing its thing. Sure enough the laptop made it back into the world of the living…. until….

Until he called me again saying his machine was acting squirrelly. He wasn’t wrong. There was definitely something wrong with it. When Windows 7 came out I bought him a copy to upgrade the laptop. He opted for an in place upgrade instead of a completely fresh install (my preferred option). Somehow something managed to get totally messed up.

I suggested that we do a completely new install of the OS and hope that fixes his problems. I picked the machine up from him and spent a few hours getting the new installation up and running. Everything was working fine until I got a frantic call from him yesterday saying it wasn’t booting up.

He was finally resigned to replacing it since he was going out of town in a week and really wanted a laptop to take with him. Luckily there was a nice deal on a 14” Toshiba at Amazon. I ordered it with my Amazon Prime account with free 2-day shipping. You know what I’ll be doing come Tuesday afternoon.

I really enjoy shopping for computers. But you knew that already, didn’t you????

A neighbor told me she was in the market for a netbook so I recommended a Toshiba T215d that I had been eyeballing for myself. After I trashed my netbook’s LCD I seriously considered buying one the Toshibas to replace it. There was even a killer deal running on the red one. I got to play with hers for a bit and I was impressed. Toshiba has one of the best reliability records for laptop computers as opposed to HP who has one of the worst reliability records for laptops (1 in 4 machines is expected to fail within the first 3 years).

I have owned several HPs and have been disappointed in all of them. My Toshiba has been an excellent machine and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one (we have two now) and recommend them to my friends. My experience with HP has not been good and I have had several friends that have had machines fail as well.

I can’t wait to get my hands on my FIL’s new Toshiba. I’m sure he will be delighted with it and I expect it to give him many years of trouble free service. I’m still lusting after that Toshiba netbook. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a killer deal that I can’t pass up. Or I’ll get a real job and be able to afford new toys. Nah, that’ll never happen.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Razz

2010-10-03T08:58:00.001-05:00

It's time to Razzle Dazzle!

Blind Type

2010-10-01T18:29:00.001-05:00

When I first saw this a while back I was thrilled! I really wanted to try it but it hadn't been released.

I just read this on AndroidGuys:

Ever wonder what happened to the company BlindType? You know, the one's that have the bad ass predictive keyboard (to see a demo click here). Well Droid-Life is reporting that the company announced today that they have been acquired by the Big G, Google. This is great news! See the official statement below!

We are excited to announce that BlindType has been acquired by Google!

We want to thank everyone for their overwhelming support and positive feedback.
We know that typing on your mobile device can be a frustrating experience, which is why
we’ve worked hard to make touch typing easier and faster than ever – the way it should be.

We’re excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead.

The BlindType team

Does this mean BlindType is going be built into the Android stock keyboard? Let's hope so! That is one great keyboard!

PokerSlut Tour XIX 7 Game Mix

2010-09-26T06:19:00.000-05:00

Tonight: 7 Game Mix

Fall?

2010-09-20T15:03:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting on my front porch with my panting puppy wondering where the hell is fall?

It is 86 fripfrapping degrees outside right now and I have a closet full of new mommy jeans damnit!

I'm ready for fall. Bring it on. Now. Please.

I think I have finally got the swim team finances under control. Well, at least until the first meet entries are ready to be processed. They are probably sitting in my folder at the pool as I type. Oh joy. I also volunteered to order the team shirts. As soon as I get this order in I'll be handing out 120 lime green tshirts.

The PokerSlut Tour has started up after the first hiatus in the 3+ years it has been running. I think some people forgot about us but with some (not so) gentle reminders we should be back on track soon. I am also trying to host a bi-weekly cash game. I had to miss a week for the first night of swimming but the 2nd installment is scheduled for tonight. If you find yourself in the neighbor feel free to stop by and donk off a few of your hard earned pesos my direction.

Even though I resigned my position as the HOA President last December I haven't found a replacement ~~sucker~~ volunteer so I have been stuck doing some of the unavoidable duties, ie., hold the annual meeting this past Sunday. We had a small turnout but it seems like we have some renewed interest in running the association. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

TOH (The Other Half) is in Germany. He went on a whirlwind 12 day journey to Germany and Austria for work complete with scenic half day train ride through the Alps. No matter how much he tries he can't convince me that business trips are a pain in the ass. I used to LOVE to go on business trips when I was gainfully employed and had an expense account. Poor guy has been plied with beer and food at every stop. Yeah, I feel real sorry for him.

The boys and I have been roughing it all alone. We have become enthralled with the latest (2005-present) BBC production of Doctor Who. The other night we were up to 1am finishing off season three. Torchwood is also on the must watch list. I'm not sure when we are going to squeeze that in with all the swimming and other activities we have lined up.

The oldest has been playing the cello for over three years. He was invited to audition for the local Youth Concert Orchestra and Youth Symphony. That is coming up this Thursday and I can tell he's apprehensive. I'm sure he will do fine - if his last minute homework crunching skills are any example he performs well under pressure. *hangs head and shakes it in frustration* I once hoped he would get a horrible grade on a project he threw together the morning it was due because he'd been denying he had any homework. The little snot got an A.

Now that I have soothed my guilty conscience for not posting on here I will sign off and try to convince the panting puppy that we should be in the comfortably air conditioned house.

PokerSlut Tour PLO8 DS

2010-09-19T08:26:00.001-05:00

PokerSlut Tour XIX

2010-09-12T06:54:00.001-05:00

Wow! Season XIX kicks off tonight with NLHE DS!

It's Baaaaaaaaack!

2010-09-06T08:14:00.001-05:00

Just a few more days!

Mark your calendars.

Sunday, September 12th.

Be there.

Don't make me hurt you.

Cause I would, ya know. Yeah. I would.

Duct Tape

2010-08-25T10:39:00.001-05:00

Engineers LOVE duct tape.

Yes, we do.

And we aren't alone.

Everybody loves duct tape.

I bet all y'all have some at home right now.

Today was a cold lunch day. My kids are now old enough to make their own lunches. Since we missed the first cold lunch day I made it a point to remind the boys this morning that they needed to fix a lunch to take to school or they would be stuck eating something they didn't like.

I purposely stayed out of the kitchen. I didn't want to get sucked into helping them with their lunch business. After about 10 minutes I wander into the kitchen trying to be all nonchalant but really I was spying on them. The youngest was shoving his messy PB&J into a bag but the oldest, the oldest was working on his lunch BOX not his lunch.

I was forced to buy him a new lunch box sometime during the last school year because a friend of his had pulled the handle off the box. By the time I got there he had already put several layers of duct tape on his old lunch box. My not-so-little engi-nerd had fashioned a handle for his box out of duct tape.

As soon as I got my camera out to take a picture of his masterpiece he knew I was going to put it on my blog, email, twitter and facebook. I don't know who is prouder: him or me!

Netbook Lives!

2010-08-23T16:45:00.001-05:00

After repeatedly watching that YouTube video of the guy removing the LCD in the previous post and downloading the manufacturer's service guide for the netbook I thought I was ready to install the replacement LCD myself. Ok, maybe with a little help from a neighbor who volunteered to help me.

I wasn't expecting the replacement LCD until tomorrow or even the day after that so imagine my surprise when I found it in my mailbox this afternoon. I set the box on the counter planning to wait until tonight to install it when there was a chance the neighbor could come help me but then I got itchy fingers. I was dying to get started.

I cleaned off the kitchen counter, gathered my tools and brought the ASUS over to watch the video while I was doing the installation. The teardown went well. I had to reference the service guide a couple of times and rerun the video but I got it done! Only 6 screws to remove the bezel, disconnect the webcam and pull out the microphone, carefully remove the tape holding the connector to the LCD and then 4 more screws to remove the LCD from the frame. Once that was all apart it was pretty easy to put it all back together.

I put the battery back on and fired it up just to make sure everything worked BEFORE I put it all back together - just in case, you know, something didn't work. I was tickled with myself when the whole screen lit right up! So, here it is in all its glory!

It lives!

Netbook Down!

2010-08-19T18:00:00.002-05:00

I bought my netbook last fall. It was a deal that was just too good to pass up. Turns out there was a reason it was such a good deal - many people were having serious issues with it locking up. Knock on wood, I didn't have any of those issues. I invested in a bigger RAM chip, a better wireless card, a car charger, an upgrade to Windows 7 and an extended life battery. You might say I have a little invested in this bad boy.

I haul it around the house, around town, even around this country. I take it just about everywhere that I can't or won't take my ASUS laptop.

I had one minor mishap when it fell off the side table on the front porch. It survived with nothing more than a small dent in the corner and a missing cover for the front lights. Phew.

Today, after spending some porch time with the dog, I got up, grabbed my phone and netbook, then walked into the house. I lost control of the netbook in the office and, splat, it was on the floor open like a book with the keyboard facing the floor. It seemed to float gently down when compared to the last fall it took. I flipped it over and snapped the keyboard back into place before I noticed the screen.

It wasn't pretty.

Shit. Shit. Shit!!!!!!

I love this little netbook with its pathetic processor, bouncy keyboard and small screen.

I found a replacement LCD on eBay for $76. My local computer shop quoted $85 to install it. After watching this YouTube video it is tempting to give it a try myself but, yeah, nevermind. I'm totally paying somebody else to do it.

Yep, definitely paying somebody else to do it.

Quads

2010-08-16T08:06:00.001-05:00

Dems Quads, Bitches!

For the second time during one of my home games I managed to come from VERY far behind to hit quads against a better hand.

The first time I had 77 v AA on an Ax7 flop. We get it all in on the turn and I'm drawing to ONE out. Yeah, I hit it. Don't pretend you didn't know that.

I hosted my home game this past weekend - the first time in ages. It was a small turnout, just ten of us, but we were having a great time catching up.

My game is a 1x rebuy before the end of the fourth level. The blinds are very low to start to encourage play. This hand started with about 28 limpers to a 458 flop. I was delighted to have flopped bottom set with my 44. I check called hoping that I wasn't already a mile behind a made hand. Yeah, yeah, Monsters Under the Bed, etc. The turn gave me that warm fuzzy feeling that you don't bother to hide when you play online. This is when online players do the happy dance while trying to figure out it they are going to get paid off. I check called again. The river was another 5 making for a board of 45845. I think we are about to find out where all the 5s and 8s are. I go ahead and lead out only to hear those sweet, sweet words, "I raise." Squeeeeeeeeeeee! I waited to hear the amount of the raise ..........

"I'm all in."

OMG it doesn't get any better than this.

"I call. I have quads." Poor Jon had flopped top set with 88 only to have me hit my one outer. He, of course, rebought. He got me back later when he sucked out a better hand on me but I could hardly be bitter about it.

Jon's bad beats weren't over. When it got down to four handed (top 3 get paid) he ran AA into KK only to have a K flop. Don't feel too sorry for him though. He and I ended up getting heads up. That's right. This guy took horrible beats and still ended up in the final two. I had about 2/3 of the chips to his 1/3 and my sleep deprived brain offer to just let him have second place money. He didn't take it and rightfully so. We played some more and when we got to even stacks we settled on an even chop. Considering I was in for only one buyin AND collected FOUR bounties I was justifiably thrilled.

I have to apologize to Lightning36! He drove 100 miles to play my game and I took him out when I completed my small blind with Q8 sooooooooooted versus his Ax big blind. He shipped his short stack and I spite called. I blame my addled brain and the fact that it was soooooooooted. I sucked out to take him out of the game and scored his bounty.

Summer Pokering

2010-08-10T20:08:00.001-05:00

Summer pokering has been pretty much nonexistent. But, it has been profitable. Since I took a vast majority on my bankroll offline I have been relegated to my old stomping grounds: 25NL.

Back in the day (said in my best old person voice and, NO, that is not my everyday voice), the 25NL tables were just loaded with donkeys. Good ole 'merican donkeys. Now they are full of Eurodonks. Well, ok, not so much donks but definitely not the rock garden it used to be before poker became big across the pond.

Check out my graph for this month:

Not too shabby.

Even better is my graph since May:

Now don't go being that person that speaks of things such as "statistically insignificant" and "totally (un)sustainable". Don't be that guy. Just don't.

My kids are going back to school soon and I plan to hit my local boat more than I did last year - they just started spreading 1/2 PLO! I also plan to play more online. I have friends that are poker coaches and one offered me an hour of coaching in exchange for all the computer tech support I have given him. Sounds like a win/win to me.

So look for me at the 25NL tables and then find a different table to play, damnit! These are my eurodonks. Go find your own. :)

P.S. The PokerSlut Tour will resume the Sunday after Labor Day weekend! Be there!

Joseph

2010-08-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Joseph, Oregon

Joseph is a small town at the foot of the Wallowa mountains. Joseph hosts a few events every year but probably the most famous it Chief Joseph Days Rodeo. My dad had suggested a visit to Joseph during last year's visit that just happened to coincide with the rodeo but we ended up not going.

This year the boys and I went to Enterprise with Red in order to pick up our new kayak and then on to Joseph just 6 miles away to see the sites and shop. We parked at the edge of the downtown shopping area right in front of the sporting goods store. After lunch at a nice outdoor cafe we wandered around to see the sites and do some shopping keeping an eye out for the storm that was brewing over the mountains.

After the lumber mill closed down a bronze foundry took over as the only real local industry aside from tourism and farming. At every corner of the downtown district you will find the most amazing bronze statues.

It didn't take the storm long to hit but what was most surprising about it was the HAIL! Yes, I said HAIL! We hid away in a store until the storm passed by and we could continue our tour. The temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and the street and highway were littered with hail for many hours afterward.

Our final stop was the Sporting Goods store where we picked up some cheap fishing rods, a tshirt and a nice hat. Zooks99 and I fell in love with the olive caps at an earlier store while Zooks97 would not leave the sporting goods store without his straw hat - he later embellished it with a rattlesnake rattler donated by Grandpa! I'll be rocking my new hat at my next poker game. Count on it!

Joseph reminds me a lot of a smaller and less upscale version of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. All in all, a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon. We missed out on Wallowa Lake and the Tram this trip. I guess we will just have to save those for next year.

Living the Wild Life

2010-08-04T22:01:00.001-05:00

We settled into a routine at my Dad's: hiking, fishing, shooting guns, and kayaking. It doesn't take long to get used to living the wild life! So much fun!

Well most of it was fun. If only I could train my youngest to STFU and quit whining when it came time for our daily hike. That boy was seriously getting on my nerves. It wasn't until the last day there that he was finally half way pleasant to be around during the hike. It was so bad the oldest resorted to plugging his ears with his iPod headphones so he could listen to podcasts and not have to listen to all the whining. My dad scored these really cool walking sticks for the boys to personalize. You would think that would make that (hardly) arduous walk a little easier but not so much.

The fishing was mostly uneventful. At dinner one evening my dad asked who would be the one to catch the first fish and both '97 and I pointed at '99. He has an uncanny ability to score the fish. Sure enough he landed the first fish but it was too small to keep. Unfortunately for the fish he'd pretty much deep throated a triple hook and wasn't going to survive the removal process but we had to throw him back anyway. Zooks97 landed the first and only edible fish of the trip. He even gutted and cleaned it himself. I was so proud.

Last year Grandpa gifted the boys with their very own BB Guns! Holy Shit! My boys own guns! My dad even has my now highly desirable to collectors "vintage" BB Gun with the olive green military style strap. Don't even bother trying to talk me out of it. Imagine my boys' surprised when I proved I could still shoot it. The boys had a great time shooting at pretty much anything that didn't move. The oldest decided he liked shooting at the river until he accidentally bounced a BB off the deck rail and into my shirt. That was the end of the BB guns for this trip.

Grandpa scored us some inner tubes thinking that it would be fun to tube down the river. I was totally up for that but the boys were somewhat apprehensive since neither of them had done it before. Yes, I am a horrible mother. We took off for our maiden voyage just up river from my Dad's place with the intention of getting out at the bridge about half a mile or less down river. I had warned Zooks99 that he needed to steer to the right hand side of the river so we could get out in the shallow water and walk across the bridge to meet up with Red, my stepmother. He didn't make it and had to get out on the deep side of the river and climb a steep bank out. Did I mention this boy likes to whine? HO MY GAWD! You would have thought he was going to die a horrible lonely death. Sigh. I wasn't sure I was going to convince him to go again.

I had to agree to tether his inner tube to mine for the next trip. This time we drove at least a mile up river and put in. Yes, he bitched and moaned the whole way down. It didn't help that we got caught in an eddy (now dubbed Zook99's Hole) twice and had to swim our way out.

After a visit from George, my dad's neighbor, we were able to borrow some inflatable kayaks that George had laying around his place. Score! OMG, I never knew how much fun kayaking could be. Since there were only three kayaks we tethered Zooks99 and his inner tube to one of the kayaks. He wasn't terribly crazy about that idea but the next day we let him have one of the kayaks - tethered to mine at his insistance, of course. Within minutes of getting into the kayak Zooks99 was in heaven. He kept telling me the whole time, "Oh yeah, I really like this!" and "Oh yeah, we can do this again tomorrow and you don't have to tie mine to yours."

Thanks to Amazon Prime shipping I was able to order a smaller inflatable kayak delivered overnight so now we had enough for everybody! We went kayaking every day after that going farther and farther away each time. The plan is to buy our own fishing poles and kayaks before we return next year. I guess we are getting used to living the wild life.

Netherlands

2010-07-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it.

We survived getting up at the butt crack of dawn for two flights and a 3+ hour car ride to make it to my Dad's place on the Grand Ronde River.

Our original trip was supposed to coincide with my trip to Vegas during the WSOP but had to be rescheduled do to sever weather conditions that caused some flooding of the property.

Luckily we were able to reschedule our trip. The river has dropped, the skies are blue and the weather is fabulous! We could not have asked for better conditions.

The boys rediscovered their love of BB guns and fishing. Today we went tubing down the river. The younger boy isn't too wild about it but we are going to go in spite of him. The weather tomorrow is supposed to hit the 100 mark so we will definitely be looking for something to do to cool off.

So, if you need me you know where I will be. I guess you'll just have to make do without me. :)

Crack of Dawn

2010-07-21T05:56:00.001-05:00

I don't know why but pretty much every flight I take out of my local airport leaves at the Crack of Daaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwn!

Ok, every flight except the one to Vegas which I wish was at the Crack of Daaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwn!

The boys and I are headed to the netherlands of Oregon to visit my dad and his wife. We expect to see wildlife, swim in the river daily, and the boys are scheduled to be the official poop scoopers for the horses. My oldest is already planning to volunteer to drive the four wheeler to the mailbox a half mile away as often as needed. Silly boys and their toys.

I lose cell signal about 45 miles from my dad's place. He does have satellite internet but I don't foresee a lot of opportunity to steal his internets. So don't be surprise if you don't hear from me for the next 10 days what with me going all native. I'll see you on the flip side.

May The Farce Be With You

2010-07-19T09:58:00.001-05:00

Those Pokerati guys gave me a laugh today.

2010-07-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

Based on my last blog post:

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Or, if you go a back a few posts.

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I apologize to anybody who reads my pathetic babbling and actually likes either of those authors. Any resemblance is purely accidental and wholly unintentional.

OMGWTF: It's a Blog!?

Happy Holidays

Androidify Me!

Browser Battle

Old Geeks

Sugar Rush

Novelty

Game of Thrones

Where’s My Money, Professor!?!

The Micros vs The Nosebleeds

Some Mac Chat

Staying’ Alive

PowerSchool

Kickstarter

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Levity

PokerSlut Tour on Hiatus

PokerSlut Tour Stud Results

Paybacks

PokerSlut Tour XXI Stud

PokerSlut Tour Razz

150/300 ANTE 30 LIMIT RAZZ TOURNAMENT • 2 PLAYERS$1.00+$0.10

ANTE 30

PokerSlut Tour XXI Razz

PokerSlut Tour 8 Game

Android v iPhone

Engineer Guy

PokerSlut Tour XXI PLO8 DS

PokerSlut Tour XXI NLHE DS Results

PokerSlut Tour XXI

PokerSlut Tour Moves To PokerStars

MSDos to Windows 7

PokerSlut Tour XX $1 Rebuy

TV Table

PokerSlut Tour Stud Hi/Lo

PokerSlut Tour XX HORSE

Super Bowl Sunday!!!

High Stakes Poker

Next Phone

What is the Internet?

Home Game?

Game of Skill and Strategery

PokerSlut Tour XX PLO DS

Twit It!

Trickle Down Theory

WBCOOP

I took advantage of the opportunity to have a dinner out with my family tonight which caused me to join tonight's WBCOOP event late.

Hand info:

Table info:

Preflop: (Pot: $75)

Flop: (Pot: $5,505)

Turn: (Pot: $5,505)

River: (Pot: $5,505)

Showdown:

PokerSlut Tour XX Limit HE

HP48SX

PokerSlut Tour

ESP

WBCOOP

PokerSlut Tour XX Stud

Droioioioioioid!

PokerSlut Tour XX Razz

Merry Xmas

Get Out of My LINE!

The Micros–Holiday Special

Blogger

PokerSlut Tour XX 7 Game Mix

Sarcasm

Google Gives

PokerSlut Tour PLO8 DS

PokerSlut Tour XX Starts Tonight

Rush Flush

Thankful

PokerSlut Tour $1+1 NLHE Rebuy!

Nit

New Toy

PokerSlut Tour XIX Stud Hi/Lo

PokerSlut Tour XIX HORSE

Online Poker Commercial

Happy Halloween

150/300 ANTE 30 LIMIT RAZZ TOURNAMENT • 2 PLAYERS
$1.00+$0.10