12/29/2008

2008... Bam-Bam in the rear view....

I've actually never tried to look back on purpose before. But at an age of 1,000,046, I guess time catches up with us all and makes reflection, a dose of medicine that requires taking. So here it is, (for what it's worth) my rear view look at a year that just might have defined, being Bam-Bam.

Did I mention that I won the first Blogger game of 2008? Oh and..... It just happened to be the very first Skillz game. Actually, The Skillz series is the only major Blogger event that I had any real success in. I managed to take down 3 wins total this year, with additional cashes and top 5's in another 3 as well. The non-NLHE games obviously, are more to my liking. But there were also small cashes in The Math Game, Riverchasers and several other wins in the greatest Monday night game going on the inter-tubes, The TuckFard I & II. The Mookie I'm afraid, saw a very few feeble attempts from me, for the profile that is so highly sought after. The mid-week 10:00pm start time and a 4:30am wake up call from corporate Bedrock, just never really let me get myself into the spirit of the game unfortunately. But as always, I play as the blogger Bam-Bam for the friends I've met along the way, not always the victory. I could link dozens of you here as I enjoy the memories of our new found friendships, but the list over to the right there should basically let you know who you are anyhow right? I hope so.

Bam-Bam the poker'ish playing blogger had a rough year at the tables other than that, to be brutally honest. The intention was never to be the best of the best by any means, but small victories here and there would have been a nice treat. My SnG record as Bam-Bam was atrocious to say the least in '08 and although I've already started and have doubled up the old BR on Stars in the last two months, that's something I'm definitely going to work on in 2009. Thankfully, I had an exceptional year at "The Office" to off-set and support my Bam-Bam ways.

2008 saw some drifting apart of friends as well. The crux of which, was obviously a statement I'd made in defence of my Wife and that we were not satisfied with status-quo. I can't take it back and being the pig headed ass that I can be, I don't really think it needs to be retracted honestly. It was said to send a message and that message was obviously lost in the shock of the statement. It's sad really. Hopefully things will return to an even better state than where they left off during the year. As always, my ears are open as is my heart. The glass as always, remains 1/2 full. We'll just have to see where that takes us going forward.

Every once in a while in 2008, I wrote something from the heart. I know, I know, that's a little odd and maybe even strange for yours truly! But a friend reminded me of a Grandfather passed and throughout the year, THIS was one of the posts I wrote that I found myself reading and re-reading, as the year went on.

Without exception and miles ahead of the rest, (at about 3-1 over anything else!) my most popularly read post, was Just for Schaubs. Google of course, was the main reason for this. But what astounds and amazes this runt from Bedrock to no end is, the 492 mails I've received to date on the subject matter. Natch, there are those that think a Tiger rant mentioned, make me a Tiger hater. In fact, (and Sir Schwabbles will attest to this) I admire the game he has, the skill and the creativity to not only imagine a shot, but to pull off the shot that others can't even see. But the person in me? The person in me hates the Robot that needed to be created, in order for him to succeed. Every single time I watch anything to do with Golf, I miss Payne more and more.

I think when I look back, I like to look at things I did that no one else really tried to do. But for some reason a few of those seemingly idiotic ideas, came across as the most popular for those that stop by. My blogger you-you, was meant to be a farce on all of the me-me's that were going around at the time. Lord knows I hate the me-me's! I figure if you have something to write and a place designed for you to do so, why the hell clog the creativity process up by filling that space with someone else's ideas? But that's just me. No reflection on anyone, specially since I ended up starting that crap about Car's and Movies! THAT was NOT my intention! It started as an inner-navel gazing piece. It just got a little out of control.

The piece about the thought process that went into developing A Town of our own, basically describes Peb's and I and our everyday conversations, to a tee. It was way more fun actually, than the piece itself. But the comments were the real highlight to this post.

My favorite "live" feedback post I wrote? Never in question! To this day when I run across someone on the list of Blogger Anthem's, I'm amazed at the reactions that I get.

The end of 2007 saw me ready and fit to be tied. The challenges continued on throughout 2008. We sat and wished Fred Good Luck, and each of you were right there in our hearts. We'll never be able to properly thank each and every one of you for your support, caring and most importantly, love. If you know me at all, I know you know how I truly feel. That's what makes you one of those allowed into my inner circle. Don't be miss-guided however! It's not necessarily all that special a place you know! :) But it is if you're me. My sincerest thanks for being here with me, to all my friends. You know who you are, as do I. I'll not only never forget, but I'll come up with something someday that let's you know how much you've meant to me. It's just how I roll.

Of course in 2008 we had the Vegas Mulligan weekend. But actually...... until you've EH-Vegas'd, you may not know what a blogger gathering is all about. A beautiful hostess, an intimate setting and some of the best there are out there, at just being themselves. There's also that FRIENDLY Canadian vibe. (HINT-HINT !!! It's coming up again soon!)

There was this BASH THINGY TOO! Taking everything, just one step farther than expected. Peb's and I both agreed almost instantly, as long as he'll throw'em, we'll never miss another one.

Fortunately for yours truly, the "brudder list" just grew and grew in 2008. And let me tell you, adding the likes of Riggs & The Doc to a list of those I'd damn near do anything for, makes me one of the very fortunate indeed.

In retrospective, the year 2008 could be remembered as one of the toughest years of this kids long and very interesting journey through time. For no other reason, than having to watch the one I love stress and strain over her Father's health. But in reality, the very thing that's made it all so tough to handle, has actually brought us closer together than even I could believe was imaginable. With positives such as that coming from such incredibly tough events, I'd say the glass is 1/2 full indeed!

So no look back could ever be complete in my opinion, without a 'what have you learned from your experiences' reflection and analysis. So here in a nutshell, is what I take with me going forward.

I will not waste another minute of my time on the miserable. I feel incredibly fortunate and deeply honoured, that anyone wants to spend anytime with me at all. The fact that someone actually wants that, makes me want to make them happy in return. This has always been who I am and how I choose to treat others, as I would like to be treated myself. Defining how and when these moments occur, is not as important as enjoying each and every one of them as they come.

2008 saw me struggle to make good out of bad, bend where I know I should remain firm and push a little too hard, when the obvious direction was to pull. It was a year that saw me spend far too much time trying to lift up the spirits, of those that preferred the misery and dramatics that can arise in perceived doom & gloom.

No longer shall I allow it to transfer. Not one more second will I spend, letting the darkness weave it's evil way into my light. We're on the right side of the grass and far better off than so many others out there. If you can't see that and feel it true in your heart, it is my personal perspective that you are really missing out, on what it means to really be alive.

So with that, I offer you a Very Happy New Year dear reader!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

It's not all luck....

*** EDIT*** Our Man VinNay has a friend that could use a little help. Check out the whole story HERE. Click the link while you're there. I think you'll want to help out. It's just what we do!

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Wanna make me cry? Take the time to give me something that really took a lot of thought, is very creative and isn't something that comes right off the shelf!

In other words, channel your inner Peb's!

Check this out!



A one of a kind, hand made travel mug.

Ok, ok..... so travel mugs don't get you all that wound up! They don't me normally either. But what a loving, caring and thoughtful Wife I have in Peb's. Just another reason why, I truly am the luckiest kid in all of Bedrock!!!

Now if we can just get the cave back to some type of normalcy!

I sent a text to Riggs yesterday:

"What happens when it's 54 degrees for 24 hours straight, and you had 4 feet of snow on the ground?"

Well I'll tell you.

The religious start looking for animals paired up.
The optimists sit around doing nothing.
The pessimists run around shouting about impending doom.
The Hydro Company fails to provide adequate power to about a 1/4 million homes in your region. (of which, you are of course one)
The Bam-Bam....... Well he starts bailing water by hand, out of the sump.

With all that melting snow, rain and nearly tropical temps. outside, my initial goal was to reduce the flood damage by as much as possible! So one bucket at a time, we trudged bucket, after bucket, after bucket. We made no headway, but didn't lose that much either.

Thankfully, the closest neighbour had his generator up and running and was kind enough to allow us an outlet. Three hundred feet or so of extension cord later and voila! We were in the sump pump business again! What a blessing! But that was all we had mind you!

22 1/2 hrs. of no water, no heat and no lights.

Now I just have to get started on gathering all my new firewood. Seems the vast majority of trees over the age of 15 in our neck of the woods, were ill prepared for the 60 - 100mph winds that blew in with this little system we experienced.

Ah the blessings of country living indeed! :)

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/24/2008

No matter how you say it....

Peb's and I wish each and every one of you, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and nothing but the best for the holiday season.

Arabic: Milad Majid
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Brazilian: Feliz Natal
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Serbian: Hristos se rodi
Slovakian: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym or Z RIZDVOM HRYSTOVYM
Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!


Merry Christmas !

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/23/2008

Peb's said, "that's a big Pecker"....

Well finally... a nice calm day! The prediction is for only five or six more inches of snow. That should be fairly manageable, after everything that came down over the weekend.

Like I said yesterday though, it sure is pretty!


I don't really have my daughters eye when it comes to taking great pics, but I kinda' liked the way "The Cave" was framed by the tree branches in this one.


While I was having a chat with Zooks via I/M the other day, she asked me how much snow we actually had on the ground. I wasn't sure of the proper answer to that, as I hadn't really been keeping track. So I took these two shots for her. The railing on the deck is of your standard 48" high variety. Oh yeah! And the deck had been cleared of snow just 24 hours before this shot. (to let Peb's get to her Bird feeders)


I took this one just for fun. It's always good times when your 30" high x 36" wide snow blower, cuts under the snow instead of through it!


We could see "phase 2" of the storm was coming as we looked down the road. The wall of white was actually pretty damn impressive!


Impressive enough as a matter of fact, to convince me that inside would be the place to be for the next little while! I made it inside just in time to see the great white wall of weather, hit the barn out back.


It's really a shame that I have no talent with a camera! The shot I tried to take as the storm front was halfway through the back yard, would've really been spectacular! Instead, it turned out to be just a blurry mess. :(

Ah yes! The reference in the title of this here post!

My Peb's loves having her birds around. She has four feeders out in the back and feeds to attract an incredible variety throughout the year. But Winter is always her favorite time to attract her fine feathered friends, as she tends to see more of one of her favorite species..... The 'Pecker.

Yesterday she called me to the Kitchen window with just one sentence. "Honey! I've got a big 'Pecker hanging around my box!"



For the record, that 'Pecker is of the Pileated variety and once he grows up just a tick, he'll be bigger than any Crow or Raven. You should see the carnage these things can cause, with just a few love taps at a tree!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/22/2008

Well, it is pretty....

I'll be back tomorrow with more details, but it looks like today will be spent digging out from the nearly 4 feet of snow dumped on the Cave here in Bedrock.

Hopefully I'll be done in time to play in the TuckFard I NLHE at 7:00pm on FullTilt and the TuckFard II Omaha/8 that starts at 8:05pm, also on Tilt. If you think you can make it out to join us, the P/W for both as always is donkey. These games are an awful lot of fun, particularly for the measly $3.50 entry fee.

Hope to see you there!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/19/2008

Frantic Friday : The Christmas Edition....

I'd worked for about a week now on another lengthy Christmas Wishlist to follow up on last year's effort. But a funny thing happened as I was working out all of the things I was hoping for everyone. They all ran into each other and blended together into the same basic thing.

See, after reading the WBPT Winter gathering trip reports, I came to the realization just how much I missed getting out to Vegas to see all of my friends. I think this greatly influenced how my Christmas Wishlist shaped up this time around. So I've come up with the same wish for each of you out there.

For all of my friends out there, currently invisible or not-so-much...... I wish for us to get together during at least one Blogger get together in 2009.

If it helps you at all, Peb's and I have penciled in EH-Vegas, (if Kat will have us!) Al's BASH, (we'll never miss another one again!) and next year's WBPT Winter gathering. Also, if the Tuckfards are going to continue our Feed the Monkey tradition, we'd be glad to host the event once again as well.

There's also the potential for a couple of Bam-Bam rages solo trips, as W.A.M. has held my serious interest for two years, only to not work out in either. Anyone in their right mind would want to meet Mookie. And that goes double for those of us who are not so much! Then there's Okie-Vegas. I miss my man G and could use a little quality time with him, to improve the person I currently am. These unfortunately, are not "locks." But there is a great deal of potential and I'm going to put the push on to get to at least one of them. When the trigger is pulled on either, it won't be about preference at all. It's all about timing these days for this kid.

So there you have it! A ton of notice to make my Christmas Wishlist come true. Now be a good little Santa's helper, try and see which event we may be able to hoist a glass, sling some chips or spend a little quality/degeneracy time together at. Now I figure there's about 70 friends or so associated with that list of links over there to the right, that means I'm wishing for about 70 face-to-face Merry Christmas' throughout the year 2009! Be it February, June, August, September or December. I'm making my list.... and to check off each name, would be far better than nice!

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Just completely random...... Here's two of my favorite Christmas Carols. As always with me, there's a, "fun factor" to go along with some pretty great talent.





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Lastly I need a Christmas Wish for my baby. I had to break it down into two.

I wish for a happy AND healthy Fred. We've all been through a lot, but I know how hard this has been on you and how it's taking it's toll at times, when you'd normally have a big laugh and smile with the ones you love.

Speaking of which, I also wish for a lifetime of moments just like this with you.


Great friends, big laughs, total comfort and the strongest Love imaginable. I may make a Wishlist and ask for this and that my Love, but in all honesty since I've been lucky enough to have you in my life, this kid wants for nothing else.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/18/2008

Stupid decisions....

Occasionally, I've been known to make one or two stupid decisions. I'm not real proud of that fact but being human, I've learned to accept that it is going to happen.

Two perfect examples from last night.

1) Despite having been up since 3:45am., I signed up last minute for the 10:00pm. WBCOOP PLO HI/LO game. I was awake and why not take a crack at it, I thought.

Despite my half closed eyes and a brain incapable of processing information with any type of accuracy, I managed to get myself into the top 10 with a couple of pretty good hands.


Despite playing way more hands than normal for me, I managed to keep my stack around that $5000 mark throughout the session, until first break. That was good enough to keep me in the payout position.


Then it just all started falling apart. My thought process that is! Two miss-clicks cost me some chips. A bad gamble with less than a stellar hand to draw to cost me some chips. Getting up for a drink, thinking I could stop by and give my Sleeping Beauty Peb's a peck on the forehead and stretch my legs for a bit, all without remembering to click on 'sit out next hand' cost me my time bank. The list is actually a bit longer than this, but I think you get the point.

Then comes....

2) With a very healthy stack and a lot of time left to build it up even more, I am dealt one of my favorite starting hands. Besides myself, there are four stacks of equal or slightly larger chip counts interested in the hand. I actually talked to myself out loud and said, "here's how you win one of these things Bam! To win one, you have to get lucky at some point." There's proof positive that my head was not screwed on just right! I was listening to my own advice! Sheeeeeesh....

So I jammed the pot, crossed my fingers and toes and took a deep breath to see what would unfold. The very next player jammed them all in for a raise and one other player made the call. I got what I wanted, a race for a monster stack or, it was time for some sleep! I got the rest of my chips in and found myself with nothing to worry about except the pair of Aces to my left. I have by far the best draw and the most outs available to me.

N-A-D-A !! Not Anything, Damn Air! Unbelievably I didn't hit a card, a connector a suit..... NOTHING! I could deal out that hand over and over again and I'd have to put the odds at 80-1, that I couldn't completely whiff all four cards I was holding again.

It was a stupid decision to race in the first place I know, that's the point of all of this. But to see the two hands that were being played back at me, I had by far the best of it in the right situation. I just didn't hit in that right situation, it's that simple.

HEE-HAW...... YAWN.......

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/17/2008

Half-assed reporting and my stupid EGO....

559 !

That's how many came out for last nights WBCOOP event.

Just as the event was about to start, I asked Peb's if she'd like to play the game with me. Her natural instinct was to say, "No, I just can't sit there and watch you play hun!" I told her I didn't expect her to just watch, I wanted her to play with me. I even promised her final say on any decision. That won her over.

Now as I've mentioned several times in the past, playing together isn't always the easiest thing for us to do. We have very different styles and thoughts about the game. Her's mostly succesful and correct, mine........... well let's just leave it at they're mine OK!

During the first hour, we communicated our thoughts very well and both made what ended up being great decisions. After watching two seperate players at our table, I believed that I'd found the chips that should make their way into my stack. I just needed the opportunity and I told Peb's as much. She had been focussed on another player entirely and made a decision to call a bet he'd made, "because it was an obvious steal!" She was right and our pair of Queens, was plenty good enough to win that hand.

With a healthy but still only average chip stack, we were shuffled off to a new table. We found ourselves at a table with Baywolf and Lightning. The first words out of Peb's mouth were, "stay focussed. Don't go getting all chat distracted!" You'd think she'd seen me play with my friends before or something! Sheeeeeesh.....

My personal favorite hand of the night? I think I was on or near the cut-off and holding pocket Kings. The player to my left had been playing the part of calling station ATM and I had a good hunch that he may just get sick of spewing them slowly, and make a big play with the last 900 or so. I made it 4x the BB to go and he instantly went all-in for the rest. It folded back around to me and it was a no brainer call. My K-K managed to hold against his 9-9 and another one was out of the game. That was fine and all, but the best part came when that player came back in the chat and called me a "fishie." Peb's ranted at the screen, calling the guy, "a Donk-assed idiot" I believe was the term! I just laughed and said, "Honey, I am a fishie. A fishie with about 75% of that Donk-assed idiots starting stack!"

And then we LOL'd. :)

Part of the title for this post comes from this scenario. After putting about 10% of my stack into the pot post-flop with an incredibly strong draw, my C-bet did nothing to deter my opponent who raised it up immediately after. Peb's said fold, I said he's stealing. Peb's said, "Fine, let him steal when you have nothing." I should've folded! I made the decision to call off a little more than 1/2 my stack and try to set up the hand for the Turn or River. Remember the part about Peb's having final say on a decision? Yeah..... I forgot that part for a split second. It cost me about 3/4 of my chips in the end, to come to the decision to fold after all and I was down to scraps. I'm actually not as mad about my decision in the hand and what it cost, as I am about breaking a promise to my Peb's. Now THAT's a Donkey play!

It came down to Bay's BB and me holding the Kd-Qd with only about 1000 chips back. My only chance to make it any further in the game, was to push and pray. Bay had a no brainer call and off we went..... and out I went! At least my chips went to a friend. :)

Speaking of friends, I had a ton of them in this game. So the first part of today's title, is what comes up next. I couldn't watch them all of course, but I did try to keep track of all my friends as best I could. Here's what I know about the ones I could keep an eye on.

Top finishers that I knew,

MEMPHIS MOJO in 4th. ! WooOOOooT Memphis!
Numbono ran all the way up to 17th.
Gadzooks had another impressive finish in 42nd.
Bay took my chips to an 80th. place finish.
Lightning busted out just ahead, in 85th.
MiamiDon out in 168th.
IronGirl in 177th.
Your's truly out in 181st.
Change100 busted 187th.
Spaceman 199th.
Julius Goat at 202nd.
Astin ran out of Aces in 224th.
AlCantHang in 275th.
Schaubs out in 331st.
BuddyDank in 380th.
MeanhappyGuy just before in 384th.
CKBWoP out 392nd.
and my fellow BB, felted in 456th.

I also want to throw a shout out to Grouse. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and say hey. Of course I remember you! I never forget any Blogger cherry I pop Sir!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/15/2008

The Drive to play....

Well, day 1 of the WBCOOP is in the books for yours truly.

I finished 124th. of 450 runners in the PLO game. Hmmmmmm... I'm an Omatard and I still finished close to the top 25 percentile? Bizarre I say!

It all started out fairly simple enough for me! "Hey, (insert random I/T guy name here!) Can you do me a little favour? Can you turn your back on anything that looks like it's happening on my computer for say...about..... 2 hrs.?"

"UH sure, I guess so."

And so it started! In full stealth mode, I downloaded Stars at work and got myself into the game. My goal? Be at around $2500 chips, (starting stack) at 3:00pm and head home to see if I survived. Anything more than that, was pure gravy.

The first hour was......... interesting! In that way that says, I'd like to repeatedly drive a sharp object into your eye socket and when it's not in there, you can win a hand or two. I went two orbits without playing a single hand. Then on about the 19th. hand of the game, I'm dealt As-Ks-Ad-Qd. I like it and after 3 limpers, I make it pot to go. Six of the eight at the table, make the call. I figured this was a sure sign of things to come.

The next sign, was this hand. I got in for cheap, (1/2 pot) and get to see a flop. It was after that flop that Jam-a-haulics unanimous took over. I'm sitting there with nothing of any strength except, a pair of Kings and an open-ended middle straight draw. With three others in the hand, I figured that at least one set had to have been made and with the way everyone was chasing early on, it was only a matter of time until a Flush was made for sure. I dumped my hand......... Only to see the turn and river do this.


Later I flopped a boat and slow played it until the river. I get my chips in and get the call I'm looking for, from a poor soul that made a smaller boat on the river card. I felt bad! Well....OK..... not REAL bad!

Two hands later, I flop a boat again. Shifting gears, (as it were!) I get lot's more chips in the pot before I un-coil the beast from within. Only to have calling station numero uno, make a larger boat on the river that time and, I'm back to square one!

I managed to get back to $2300 right at the break. Of course this was right after having back-to-back rivered Flushes get there against me, after I'd made two top sets and my opponents were both holding NADA until those rivers. Ces't la vie !!! It is after all, OmahahahaDRAW.

So off to the wheels I go. I jump into the Deathmobile and set a new personal best for I.T.D.T.! (In The Door Time) My normally one hour commute, was shortened to just a measly 41 1/2 mins.! WooooOOOOooooT ! I sit down, log on and get ready to play.... only to see this.


All that rush to get back in the game and I see that I'm all-in on my BB. Surprisingly, my pair of two's does not improve and I am done.

Seems my table played 6 or 7 handed for the vast majority of that second level. Also seems, they got a few, (TONS!) extra hands in too! Three of the originals from the start, had amassed stacks upwards of $13,000 and the guy two to my left (who was sitting out) had $24,600 in his stack! Apparently, my table was where you came to get knocked out of the game. Anywho.... My calculations ended up being a little, (WAY!!!) off. I go home in the 124th. spot and only really played for the first hour. Thanks to Tan and Drew for the early rail. Great to see you both as always.

So now I have all this extra time on my hands and no real plan to use it. I took a look to see who was left in the game that I know and was pleasantly surprised to see four familiar names. So I opened up the four tables and railed, Tan, VinNay, Scotty and Gadzooks. At first I thought I was going to be the ulti-railer! As both Zooks and Tan took down pots in the first minute I was watching. Then Zooks took down another pretty descent pot just a little bit later. Look over and see that VinNay is gone. NOPE !! He's jumped over to Tan's table. Only three tables to watch now, sweet!

Scotty never really got anything going and busted out 104th. (20 better than me! ;) ) VinNay hung on and hung on, but ultimately busted out in 95th. Then with only five players left until the magic #72, Tan made a move and then backed away at the last second. That left him with a grand total of one BB plus a little change. That was the beginning of the end for my friend. But 77th. out of 450 in the minefield that was Blogger Omahahaha, not too shabby in my books Sir.

So I was left to focus on Zooks. Just before Tan busted out, Zooks took down a pot that brought her stack up to about $13,000. I knew right then that she had enough to qualify and win her ticket to the finals, and she did. Finishing in 50th. overall and playing some good solid Poker, all the way through that I could see. Congrats to you Zooks!

While watching two of the tables, I saw something that just totally blew my mind. Take a look at the Dealer chat in both screens.


Two tables in the same event at the exact same time, had boards that read particularly Flushy and even Straight Flushy to be honest. And a player at each table makes the correct call with nothing more than a pair of Aces? I don't know what those odds would be on that ever happening in just one game, but to see it happen on two tables at the same time, kind of surprised the hell out of me.

TuckFard games ran last night. Good friends showed and muhc laughter was had. Despite my making it to the final table, Suzy_Q kicked my ass in the NLHE game. My second place finish to Wolfy in the Omaha/8 game however, helped me make a little profit for all of my hard work, dedication to the game and of course, last but not least, plain old stupid luckboxery.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

300 huh....

The little tab counter up in the top right corner as I look at and review my writing here says, 301 posts. Subtract the one draft from that, ( the post that I just can't seem to get just right! Does anyone else have one of those? ) and I guess this is post #300. Who the hell thought I'd ever have enough to say to spit out 300 posts of drivel and fodder? Oh wait! After reviewing my very first post here, I guess I did huh!

It was an interesting weekend of Poker for yours truly, with several on-line variations played and joining the TuckFards for some live Poker in their league play games, down at the Pub.

Interesting as in kooky!

The RnG was having a little fun at both Tilt and Stars, as I lost to Quads over Quads on each site and won with Straight Flushes over Full Boats on both as well. Here's one screen cap., for one of those Straight Flushes... because I always thought I was one of the worst players going, in NLHE.


The hand played out as follows;

I'd just taken a massive hit, when my flopped set of Jack's was no match for a rivered Straight. That set me back $2600 in chips to skunkiblack. It was my BB the very next hand and there are two limpers. I check my option with the 4h-5h and we see a flop of 6h-7h-Jd. I now have an open ended Straight Flush draw. I bet out small and both call. The turn brings me the most beautiful card in the deck, the 3h. BAM !!! I check to hopefully induce a bet from one of them and I'm not disappointed as the player to my left Mickey, makes it pot to go. Amazingly, skunky fires his entire stack at the pot! My dreams of a double up, just turned into a triple! I obviously, get them all in. What catches me totally off-guard, is Mickey has skunky covered and makes the call. When the cards actually flip up, I'm amazed at their holdings. maybe I shouldn't be, but I was!

The jam with air by skunki makes no sense to me at all, especially the way the hand and board played out. Call it a play if you will, I'm just sayin' it makes no frickin' sense to me, AT ALL! But what I'm really wondering is, does anyone else make the call with Mickey's set, with that board and two jams in front? Now it obviously worked out for him, but I don't think I make that call.

The next hand was just too funny not to talk about. Peb's was actually the player in the game and I was just killing a bit of time, watching her play. Pre-flop, two players raised and re-raised each other at minimum increments no less, until they finally got one of them all-in. It was a slow and painful process to watch actually! Funny as hell! but it really dragged out. Anywho..... here's how to lose with Aces full of Kings, with the fourth Ace, NOT in play.


After all of that goofy betting and dragging the hand out for so long, I was quite literally, ROTFLMAO as the cards were dealt out.

Sunday Peb's and I both stood in as spares for a couple of teams in the league game that the TuckFards are playing in again. We had said we'd spare, as long as we did not or could not, impact the TuckFards out come. I guess because of the number, (or lack there of!) of players that showed up, Peb's ended up being sat at table with NutzFirth. Then, I found myself seated beside Betraisefold a little later on. Not at all what we were hoping for! Up at Peb's table, it turns out that the only real impact that Peb's had on the outcome was running over the table early on, and finally finishing third after being knocked out in a Flush against Straight Flush situation against NutzFirth. If anyone was ever worried about TuckFards helping each other and trying to stay out of the way, I think that one hand alone, should put an end to those worries! Very good game to both of you kids!

Betraisefold was seated immediately to my right. DAMN! We've played a lot of Poker together and I knew there was a chance, we could get into a few rather large pots together. I was just hoping it would be later, rather than sooner! Apparently three of the players at our table, were among the top 10 in individual points for the league. I was also hoping, that this meant some pretty good Poker would be played. WELL !! It WAS Poker! :)

For the first three levels, Betraisefold ran all over me. My TPTK would have to be folded by the turn. Top two pair looked useless to a very coordinated looking board. ETC... ETC.... ETC. Then he made the biggest mistake he could make! he turned to me and said, "I love being a spare!" "A SPARE?" I said. "You're not playing for the team this week?" After nearly knocking him to the floor with a pretty good right cross to the left shoulder, it was time to REALLY play some Poker! Game on!!!

Now to set the record straight, I was not giving in to a fellow TuckFard! It was more like I was being a little more careful not to influence his outcome in the game. I would try not to impact his stack size, either for or against. That way, I could hopefully avoid negative comments from either side of the debate. But that all changed, knowing that I could not affect the team results in this game.

I think I outlasted Betraisefold by exactly one position yesterday, as right after I crippled him with a set of fives, he was put out of the game when he whiffed on a draw with a gazillion outs and had no chips left to scare anyone away. I then ran quite a few orbits with nothing playable coming my way and increasingly escalating blinds. I ended up going out in almost the exact same fashion, holding the Ah-Qh, with a flop that read, Kh-Jh-6s. I was up against pocket 6's. (almost never see those coming!) I had any heart and any 10 two times, but failed to improve. Still a ton of fun though, as Peb's and I have really missed Team TuckFard Poker this year. It was great to see everyone again!

And speaking of great friends! I can't wait to start reading all of those great trip reports from the WBPT Winter gathering kids! Let's get them up here kiddies!

Finally, I found a bit of wisdom over the weekend as well. I thought it prudent to share with you, the faithful readers of my little corner of the intertubes.



My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/14/2008

I finally got a code....

I guess I really do exist after all!

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 653893



My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/12/2008

Frantic Friday : The Proud Daddy Edition....

I'm still all Jammed up™** about not being in Vegas with my friends! As I was driving home last night, I was convinced that nothing was going to make me feel any better about it no matter what. I'd have to be miserable until it was just over and done with, and there was nothing left to do but read all of the great trip reports.

Well...... My not-so-mini-Peb's caught on to my fetid demeanor and decided that she knew just what to do about it. She'd show me a bunch of her latest Photography work to cheer me up.

First off, this is her self-portrait that she made just for me. This is one present that has made me cry, on more than just the original occasion.


Here's what my baby girl can do, with a little imagination.


What I find so corporeal about her shots in nature, is her uncanny ability to catch the absoloute essence of the moment. Here's just a few examples.




She's also got that 'funky' talent that can express an emotion, through something a little more abstract.


These are just a very small sampling of her work but, being as proud as I am of my not-so-mini-Peb's, it makes me feel a little bit better somehow, just to share them here with you.

Have a great weekend all !

** Jammed up™ may not be used, without the express written approval of The Riggstad Corporation of Companies. On accounta' he's a Fucker... all rights reserved.

:)

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/11/2008

Fuck Thursday! It's Doomsday....

As I unlocked the door to my Office and made my way inside, I could sense his presence almost immediately. It was a worker from the floor with whom I have regular planning discussions with every single day.

"Hey Bam. We got a machine down and I need you to help me figure out the schedule." he said with that tone of near panic and desperation. In fact, that almost always accompanies this kids words for some reason.

"Well good fuckin' morning to you too!" I immediately snapped back without so much as a glimpse back in his direction. "We pay you a pretty good salary to get that kind of shit done. So get back out there and fucking get it organized!"

It was just then, that I turned around to face the young 20 something scheduler and see the shocked and slightly defeated look on his face. I was in no mood for this crap and another certainty of this situation, I was NOT going to make him feel any better, anytime soon.

It's Doomsday and that can only mean one thing!
Stay the fuck outta' my way!

I should be getting on a plane headed out West to Vegas this morning. But I'm not. I should have arrived with just enough time to check in, get cleaned up and meet BadBlood, Peaker, StB and The Doc at the MGM for some $1/$2 table fun. But I won't.

I should have been able to find muhc sometime this evening, and actually get to sit down and get to know him a little better, live and in person. But it's not going to happen today.

I should have run into some cagey mofo and shared a couple of bottles of Tecate or Dos Equis this evening, as we discuss the plans for a "PBPC 'Professional Blogger Pinball Championship' which is to take place on Friday afternoon sometime in Vegas." as his e-mail to me from earlier in the week suggested. But it's not happening either.

I should be making last minute arrangements with Miami Don, CK and The Doc., for what course we're going to play and what our tee-time is going to be. We should be laughing and arguing about who gets what strokes and what the teams are going to be, ( no doubt me and Doc would've annihilated Don and CK ! ) instead of me sitting here typing this rubbish up. But it ain't happening.

I should have been getting all wound up about how many new faces I was going to be able to match up with the Blogs, I/M's, e-mails and Blogger MTT's. But that will have to wait until next time.

If my attitude and anger on the actual day I realized this gathering was not in the cards for me is any indication, may God have mercy on the souls of anyone that even remotely pisses me off today. The day I should be getting on a plane pointed West. West towards all the good friends I should be with and, all the good times I should be having.

Fair warning........ It is in fact, DOOMSDAY !!!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/09/2008

You Up for some Degeneralism?.....

Degenerate - di-jen-uh-reyt;

–verb (used without object)
1. to fall below a normal or desirable level in physical, mental, or moral qualities.
2. to diminish in quality, esp. from a former state of coherence, balance, integrity.
3. Evolution. (of a species or any of its traits or structures) to revert to a simple, less highly organized, or less functionally active type.

–verb (used with object)
4. to cause degeneration in; bring about a decline, deterioration, or reversion in.

–adjective
5. having fallen below a normal or desirable level, esp. in moral qualities; deteriorated; degraded: a degenerate king > a degenerate Ace.
7. having lost, or become impaired with respect to, the qualities proper to the race or kind: a degenerate gambler.
8. characterized by or associated with degeneracy: degenerate gambling.

–noun
9. a person who has declined, as in morals or character, from a type or standard considered normal.
10. a person or thing that reverts to an earlier stage of culture, development, or evolution.

Capitalism - kap-i-tl-iz-uhm

–noun
1. An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

I may be stuck in corporate Bedrock, BUT my team for Degeneralism is a lock!

Team HAWT Chicks will probably roll over the field and dominate the entire trip in Vegas. It's just how they roll! TRUST ME !!!!! Bam-Bam is wise !! S'perience got me where I am today.

I highly recommend you check it out and participate HERE !!! Unless of course, U R a COMMIE bastage !!!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

I got friends in low places....

I hate Tuesday mornings! When they come around it always means the same thing! The Monday night games are finished and that bites! I love seeing everyone out at the Tuckfard Monday night NLHE and new Omaha/8 games.

We only had 13 runners out for the NLHE portion of the games, but Fred managed to make it out and that's always a good thing! Unfortunately Fred Gigli'd, when he just couldn't believe DonKaaa's push with a big boat. Speaking of PUSH!!! It had been a long, long time since I'd seen my Pal hanging around with a bunch of TuckFards. But seeing him last night was a real treat!

I was on "high-chat" status the entire time I was in the game, but I did want to take a second or two here to say a quick Hey! to Memphis. I think he was the only one that couldn't get a word in edgewise, as I kept that little chat scroll a humping!

I had absoloute crap most of the game and in typical fashion, once I managed to make a descent hand, I was dominated once the flop came down. I opened from the SB with a 4x raise with A-K and was insta-called by the lovely RedNeckTuckFard. A dream flop of A-4-A and the chips were soon destined to get into the center. I checked to give Y a chance to make a bet into me, only to have her check behind. The meaningless turn card gave me a chance to put a few chips in the center, only to have her go over the top of me. Since most of my stack is now in the pot and I'm holding top set/top kicker, I toss the rest of the stack into the center. I get to see Y's A-4 for the flopped boat and I'm done with the game. "They were sooooooted," was all she needed to type into the chat box. TILT !!!!! LMAO.....

Great game for the Carson household, as brudder Cars took the win, with the ever beautiful Suzy_Q taking the runner-up spot.


Completely different story for the second game, our new 8:00pm. Omaha/8 that has replaced the HORSE event. 21 TuckFards came out for the Donk-stravaganza.

PUSH also made this game which was great to see, and other special guests included muhc, Bay, TheGoatlady and SKI, who I believe lost his TuckFard virginity last night. Always a pleasure to pop another Blogger cherry! ;)

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Gigli efforts of M'Lady TGL in this one! ;)

I got on a fairly good run at the start of this game, not building the stack up too fast. But definitely not sitting on my hands and chips either. Slow and steady was the motto for me in this one. I thought I'd come up with a real opportunity to build the stack a bit against Bay on this hand, but he came along for the ride and we chopped it up with his.... UH..... "interesting" low. :)


A pretty solid 5th. place finish for me, considering Omaha/8 is by far the worst Poker game I play. All in all, I'll be happy considering the superior caliber of Omatards I keep putting myself up against on purpose. Fifth out of 21 feels like a big win, when you know you really started the game as a massive under-dog.

Muhc took the fooker down, with Bay making a little cash in third. Mucho congrats to you both!



The only good thing about this Tuesday is, it's officially a snow day! WoooOOOoooT! I made it about 2 miles down this long and quiet country road, only to see three vehicles in the ditch at the first hill. There's only four of us that head out that way in the wee hours of the am., and once we got everyone dug out and back on the road, the group decision was to just turn around and enjoy the day. (I love my neighbours!) It ended up being pretty good timing too! As just after I got the car about 25' into the driveway, the plow came by and put up a 4' high wall of snow at the end. Guess I'll be working at that for a bit!

Also wanted to put a shout out for masseman. Not for just making it out to our little donkfests last night, but Peb's and I really appreciate the chance to play as sub's in the Sunday league game this up-coming week. We're both really excited to get the opportunity to sling a few chips around with some folks we haven't seen since way back to last year. We'll be there with bells on and I'll do my best, NOT to look like the Donkey I really am! :)

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/07/2008

I'll be your STUD....

I put a solid seven hours of grinding into, "The Office" on Saturday, because I just couldn't walk away. I didn't want anyone to pinch me either. I was afraid it was just a dream!

A steady flow of Euro's kept jumping on to the $3/$6 STUD table I was at, and they just kept on bringing more and more re-donkulous play and cash. It was a small part of Nirvana and I couldn't pull myself away!

I was seeing plays that would make any descent STUD player, drool with the anticipation of a bank roll building dream session.

Example #1 - I have rolled up 7's and four players decide to see fourth street. No one is dealt anything too coordinated, except for the player to my immediate right. He has been dealt a second flush worthy card and bets it out. I'll see another one, thank you very much! Only the two of us go to battle on fifth street to see him blank his Flush suit and me hit a pairing card, to the Jack I was dealt on fourth. Boat it up! I lead it out, figuring there was already enough in the pot and I'd be fine if it was pushed my way right then and there. Instead, he re-potted it! It threw me a little when I saw that. I took my time and checked the notes on lost outs from earlier in the hand. He could only be on one of two things, the four Flush draw, or a made set. I have 7's over J's and only one of my cards are the Club that I think he needs to hit. It's also buried. I decide to re-pot it, thinking I just may be able to get the rest of his $ in the middle. He flats ???

**NOTE** - This is a pathetic play in STUD. If the hand is so war-worthy, get the money in the middle. It would make sense to have him put me on a set of Jacks. That's the only way he could have possibly read this board. Therefore I have to assume he either has a higher set, or he's really hoping to hit that Flush. Either way, if he really thinks he's good at that point, the jam - call my re-jam, shows me that I can pretty safely put him on the draw only.

Sixth street brings me a crap card and him a big beautiful Club! We get it capped going on to seventh street, where he proceeds to get all of his stack in the middle with no connectors, no pairs and a bunch of clubs staring me in the face. I also miraculously managed to hit the case 7 ! I didn't need it however, as my original boat would have been plenty strong enough, to take out his sixth street King high flush. Dealer... please push me the BIG POT !!!

Example #2 - I was dealt the Ah-Kh-10h and had one player join me on the road to fourth street, showing x-x-Qh. Fourth and fifth streets, brought the following board. Yours truly, Ah-Kh-10h-2h-9h... and villain, x-x-Qh-7h-3h. Can you say, WOW! Here's where it gets just plain crazy! The dude is hitting the pot button like a maniac! He just can't get his $ in the middle fast enough, even after I re-pot his every effort!

**Note** If he doesn't believe or isn't worried about my first re-pot, he surely has to give a little careful consideration to the second one. We had played together at this table for about two hours at this point, I'd shown nothing but the stone cold nuts at each showdown too.

I took this monster pot down after getting everything he had into the center. Wanna' see something insane? At showdown, his board read 4h-Jc-Qh-7h-3h-9d-Jh ! With the flip that FullTilt puts on the display of hands, I'd say that the 4h and Jh were the flipped cards. With the board I had showing and my aggressive betting pattern, he went to the end with a crap four flush and a pair of Jacks! EASY MONEY !

Example #3 -
**Important Note** Same player from example #2, has just re-bought in short, about 25 minutes after that hand!

I was dealt Ah-Ks-Kh, as "Easy M" is showing x-x-Ad and has lead out the betting. I decide to see how the board shapes up, and I go along for the ride. Bam-Bam! I go Ah-Ks-Kh-As and he runs out, x-x-Ad-10d. I bet it out and he flats instead of potting. Fifth street is dealt out and I get to Bam-Bam! Bam-Bam-Bam!!! My Ah-Ks-Kh-As-Kd is up against his x-x-Ad-10d-Ac. I'm actually begging the RnG to have dealt us both Full Houses at this point. I bet it out and am very happy to see him re-pot my bet. When we cap it, I'm pretty sure I'd gotten my wish. His short buy-in meant he was out of any extra betting bucks on sixth street. It was then that I got to see his holdings of, 3d-8c-Ad-10d-Ac-7h. MONSTER POTTIN' #2, from a player I'll be searching for at the tables every chance I get!

Example #4 - Is NOT about dragging in a huge pot! It was all about a fold I made, after reading the two boards I was up against, pretty damn good.

After getting the bring with 5s-3s-3h, there were two limper's to fourth street. Fourth brought the following hands. Myself the 5s-3s-3h-3d. My opponents, x-x-10c-Qc and x-x-Ah-Ad. The pair of Aces lead it out and was immediately called by the connected Clubs. Here's my dilemma. I'd already lost a five as an out from a folded hand on third street. Only three players playing the hand at an eight handed table, gives me pretty good reason to suspect at least one of my other 3's or 5's has been lost as well. That means that there are 14 unknown cards to me from the 7 other players down cards, 27 cards in play of which I know can see 8 and, from the folds on third street, I know what five other cards are dead from the deck. I have not seen another Ace or Club in play and with my draw having to be pretty close to two possible cards out of the 25 left in the deck, I feel that with less than a 10% chance of making what I feel need to be Quads, I can lay this hand down.

Villain #1 showing x-x-Ah-Ad just might already have his made set in which case, I was crushed. Villain #2 is apparently on a high Club and possible straight draw. My gut told me that he held the Ac buried. I can't think of another reason for him to snap call the way he did without it.

**Note** - Both players were VERY solid for the entire time they were at the table. This was actually one of the few hands, where two of the three of us had made it passed fourth street. This also factored into my fold.

I was ecstatic to see this hand go all the way to showdown, as it confirmed several of the factors from my reads along the way. I actually may have even over estimated my outs in the deck, as the boards displayed in the following manner.

Villain #1 - 9s-As-Ah-Ad-7h-Jh-7d = After the F/T display flip, A boat on fifth street.
Villain #2 - 2d-Jc-10c-Qc-8c-9c-Ac = After the flip, he'd nut flushed up on fifth, with a draw to a Straight Flush or Royal with two cards to come and he hit.

The way this hand played out, the pot was actually relatively small. Villain #1 was constantly on the lead and if/when he bet, Villain #2 merely called it all the way down to seventh street, where he obviously value popped it in the end. Then it was agonizing waiting for and watching Villain #1 make the crying call when he had to know he was solidly beat. That sometimes, is just how this kooky little game of ours goes.

Probably the three most solid players at the table get hooked up in one hand. One goes away happy, from making a solid read in a losing situation. One goes away crushed, from hitting an obvious monster and trying to figure out how to get paid for it. One goes away with the pot, after patiently controlling it's size and knowing that he needed a huge hand to have any chance.

Now if it were me personally, Villain #1 sent enough signals to let villain #2 know that he was dominated. If I was Villain #2, I don't know that I'd have had the stones to stay in it to sixth street in the first place. It was a gamble in a gambling game I guess and there's no denying the end result. I'm just glad I stepped aside and let them hash this one out.

So with cem's Skillz Series resuming tomorrow night and the game being STUD, here's my tidbit of advice for those of you thinking about giving it a whirl. Not recognizing what type of strength you're up against in the game of STUD and over-valuing your own holdings, is the single largest mistake made by beginner players in the game today. Before you go fishing for that card to make an incredible hand, make sure it's actually available to you in the first place.

Oh and if you haven't stopped by to congratulate cem on the birth of his new baby girl, take a moment to do it for me would'ya!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

My baby, (and I) do the grind....

There may be a little Poker content on this here blog come Monday. I had one of those day's. But it all lead to 4 1/2 hours of non-stop dancin' with my baby. I know which one I enjoyed the most!

A 7 hour grind session, to end up about 8 buy-ins ahead < dancin' with the love of of my life!

STUD is the single greatest game on this great big flying rock!
Dancing with Peb's, is the greatest thing that could ever happen to a kid like me.

Special thanks to Memphis.......... Just Sayin'

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/04/2008

Frantic Friday : Happy go lucky....

I'm a crazy lucky kid !

When ever things get me all Jammed up™ I can always count on friends to snap me back into the glass is 1/2 full kinda' guy I know I need to be. So after yesterday's, "I'm all down from the corporate ass kicking" post, my e-mail was all Jammed up™ with things that made me smile, laugh and out right howl for several hours. I can't say thanks enough!

I even got something I could play with a little bit, and since I'm such a big kid, I know how important play can be for the soul. So I played around with it and came up with this :

Send your own ElfYourself eCards


And this :

Send your own ElfYourself eCards


A few of the smiles came from a string of pictures that were sent from several friends, one picture at a time....... one e-mail at a time....... all throughout the day. You guy's crack me up!!

Here's a few samples. ( I don't think you need to see all 80 to 100 of them! )








So this one pretty much sums up the entire day for me.



Thanks kids !!!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

I'm toast, so I'll toast two....

Corporate Bedrock is kicking my ass hard right now. So hard in fact, that I was originally planning to skip a day or four here to get caught up. But I'd miss it too much to be honest and for me, this writing and reading is the small bit of respite I need daily, to try and clear a few cobwebs off the edges of the mush stuffed up in between my ears. So on I plod.

Today's thoughts were actually quite simple to come up with.

See that list of Blogs over to the right there -->

It holds all of the places that help take me away from what ever it is that's trying to bring me down. A couple in particular have really grabbed my attention of late, and today I thought I'd suggest that you take the time to check them out.

A friend spent November writing like a fiend, for some NaNaNaNa boo-boo thingy that I know nothing about and will probably never have the skill, style or determination to participate in. But if the very first read from her effort is any indication, I'm damn glad she's taking the time to share her work with us! I suggest you read Kat's latest piece! For when I read it yesterday, I was transported to a stretch of open road where the image felt so real to me, I thought about getting a towel to pat down the rain on my arms, while I enjoyed the aroma of the freshly brewed Coffee.

Kat can be quite flippant about her writing at times and it almost always drives me crazy, but her self deprecating ways will never work on yours truly! She's a damn fine writer!

The first of what I know will be a bunch of great reads, can be found HERE.

Secondly, a newer blog to me has managed to become a bit of a must read every day. Ken Provo's Poker Perambulation is often thought provoking, humourous, honest and entertaining reading. It also frequently reads in a very familiar style that I enjoy, that of perspective without being over bearing, or too soft either. A straight shooting style that becomes increasingly more enjoyable for me to sit down to every day I get the chance.

If that sounds interesting to you too, I suggest you check Ken out HERE.

Well, I guess that little breaks over! Time to grind out another session at the workplace. With any luck at all, maybe I'll pull a Waffles and actually manage to break even when the day is done. Who knows! It could happen.

***EDIT*** MAKE THAT THREE !!! The December Truckin' just came out too!

Truckin' - December 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 12


1. The Last Christmas by Paul McGuire
I adore the way you look. But your mother disapproves. It's that black shoe polish you have on your lips. When I was your age, the only people who dressed like that were the whores who stood on corners down in the Mission.... More

2. I Remember Christmas by May B. Yesno
I looked down at my cup, lifted a hand to the waitress for another coffee and started looking around the joint, noting the yellow brown walls a glass could stick to, if you placed a glass on it, and listened to the Christmas music being piped in... More

3. American Half-Breed by David Peterson
It is bitter cold and everywhere around me is ice and dirty snow. At my side is one of my prized possessions, an American Standard Fender Precision Bass Guitar. I don't want to do what I'm about to do, but I've run out of options. I open the pawn shop door and feel a blast of heat and the smell of tobacco smoke and desperation... More

4. Of All The Bars In NYC by Betty Underground
You know when you see someone and maybe it is the job you do or the frequency you travel to the same places, but you sort of recognize them and for some reason you can't put them in the context of where you are right then... More

5. Corner of Hopelessness by Paul McGuire
I have this odd fear that I'm going to get shanked by a gangbanger with a spork or mugged by one of the homeless people who live behind the dumpster and feast on half-eaten Jumbo Jacks and pieces of raggedly yellow leaves that they pass off as lettuce... More


What a Long Strange Trip It's Been...
From the Editor's Laptop:

Thanks again for wasting your precious time with Truckin'. We have a special year-end issue with a couple of Christmas themed stories including a submission from David Peterson, who is making his Truckin' debut. Veteran writers Betty Underground and May B. Yesno returned with a couple of standouts. And I contributed two stories this issue; a piece of fiction I wrote about my neighborhood in L.A. and the other is a dramatic Christmas story about a dysfunctional family.

Truckin' needs your help with some grassroots promotion. Please tell your friends about your favorite Truckin' stories. The writers definitely appreciate your support, as do I. Spread the word on your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and whatever social networking sites that you are addicted to.

Also, please let me know if anyone is interested in being added to the mailing list.

Thanks to the writers for writing for free. They expose their guts, blood, and soul to the universe. For that, I'm eternally grateful. The dedication to their art inspires me and I hope it inspires you too.

Be good,
McG

"It is difficult to keep quiet if you have nothing to do." - Arthur Schopenhauer


* * * * *
Tao of Pauly -- http://mcgrupp.blogspot.com
Tao of Poker -- http://www.taopoker.com
Truckin' -- http://mcgtruckin.blogspot.com
Coventry - http://phish-coventry.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/taopauly
FSL - http://www.fantasysportslive.com
Las Vegas Blog -- http://www.lasvegasvegas.com

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/03/2008

Hmmm....

We all know I hate these things...

But what do you do when they kinda' sorta' actually make sense?

I'm a Lotus Elise!



You believe in maximum performance and minimum baggage. You like to travel light and fast, hit the corners hard, and dance like there's no tomorrow.


"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.


If my life were a high-concept movie, it would be An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) meets The Lion King (1994).

Take the What Is Your High-Concept Movie? quiz.


My sincerest thanks for dropping by....