Friday Morning

Wow....what a week, and here I am missing my updating of this page...shame on me.

Let's see....since Monday I've managed to finish painting the upstairs hallway and guest bathroom and even cleaned up what little mess I made. No major paint spillage or holes in walls, so I have to say....mission accomplished. Only remaining rooms to be painted are the guest bedroom, downstairs bathroom and master bathroom. I have the paint for the masterbathroom, and will probably use it for the downstairs bathroom, so that will be easy enough. Hoping to work on some outside improvements this weekend around the family reunion on Sat in PA. Maybe clean and stain the fence in back on Sundy, and get the mower running again.

Played poker over with the usual suspects at Bishop's house last night....while I mae money in both games last week, I lost in both last night...knocked out in 5th in the first game when I my all in with Ac6c gets called by the big stack in the blind with 10c7c...he spikes a 7 on the flop and I don't improve. Make it to the final two in the second game as a huge short stack, he refuses to split and I call his all in with 6c7c against his 55...of course he hits a 5 on the flop and I'm essentially drawing dead. Was a very fun evening, punctuated by Grasshopper working very hard to get knocked out of game 2 only to see her double up 3 times and knock out 3 players before she finally gets knocked out by the new guy (Jay) who ends up winning the second game. Hoping to play some poker tonight on UB to try and win some of the free stuff they are giving away, as well as to try and pick up $65 dollars to break even for the month on the $5/10 and $4/8 tables.

Jen and the girls are headed back today YEAH...I'm really missing them all and I know Bandit will be happy to escape the daily crate time he has had to endure this past week. Can't wait to see the tans on the girls and hear about all the fun they had while in Toledo.

Back to work now....have a great weekend.

July 25, 2005

What a weekend...huge shout to all the gang that hung out for part or all of the weekend. I know I had a great time, hope you did as well....here is a quick recap for those that didn't show up...

- 2 bottles of tequilla
- 1 bottle of Jagermeister
- Games played: Zombies (won by me), Rage (Shep, Settlers of Cataan (Shane), Poker (Tom 'no bluff' Wood)
- 2 bags of pretzels
- 3 pizzas
- 1 car battery
- 5 slabs of ribs
- unknown cups of bud light

....good times, good times......

So it's back to the grind now at work...proceeded to come in a little late due to my alarm still being set for 9am on Sat. Thankfully Bandit woke me up to go out at 7:10, so I wasn't extremely late today. Looks like a quiet day at work. Have to head home for lunch to let Bandit out, then mught go see the house in Pataskala again and then head over to Lowe's to pick up paint for the bathrooms upstairs and get started on prepping them tonight, along with painting the hallway as well tonight I hope.

Later all.

July 22, 2005

FINALLY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a great start to the weekend last night playing in Bishop's poor man game last night. Was fortunate to catch some cards at the right times and ended up splitting the first pot against Rookie and then beating Rookie and Bishop in the second game with a large stack of chips and KK followed by A-10 in successive hands. Was great to play live again with Bishop, Queen, Ice, Grasshopper, Frog and the rest of the gang last night....and winning some money was pretty cool as well.

Jen and the girls are having fun in Toledo already...spent most of yesterday afternoon in the poool until a thunderstorm popped up and ended the pool party. Sounded like the girls were up and ready to go early this morning, so Jen was a little tired when we talked. I'm sure they'll have a good time over the rest of the week.

On the housing front...the house that I really liked in Pataskala is back on the market...I guess Jen wasn't as excited over the house, but I may go back and look at it this next week, take more time wandering around the house and neighborhood before we make any decisions. I'll try and take some pics/video if I go over there again and will post what I can....not sure if I can post a movie on this site.

And to top it off...Dave and Amanda are coming in this weekend....wheeee....Can't wait to see them and have a ton of fun this weekend. Watch out Rib fest....here we come.

July 21, 2005

Well..the girls are headed to Toledo later today...going to miss seeing them for a whole week. The house just isn't the same without them running around and giggling all the time. Going to be keeping myself busy with some painting projects and cleaning the garage a bit, so that will be cool to get done.

Have a big weekend planned though...Dave and Amanda are coming into town tomrrow evening to spend the weekend...planning on a zoo trip for them and spending some time with the whole gang at the Rib & Jazz fest this weekend. man i can't wait, as I missed last years event, so I'm really looking forward to the ribs this year.

Not much else going on...getting ready for a vendor meeting next week and then a 2 day training seminar on Wed & Thurs. Planning on some poker tonight over at Bishop's home game, so hopefully I can break my bad streak of live poker with a cash tonight....would make a nice start to the weekend and some more money to spend on ribs...mmmmmm....ribs.......

The weekend can't get here soon enough.

July 20, 2005

Amazing...July 20th already, hard to believe the summer is over half over at this point. I will admit, I am anxious for this summer to end, as it has been unreasonably hot and humid here in centeral Ohio for the past 4 weeks...makes doing anything outside a real pain.

Let's see...what has happened the past couple of days....I dealt NLHE at a charity event on Monday night downtown at the convention center. Was a good time and I made about $40 after paying for parking and such. Hopefully I will be contacted for more dealing gigs in the future, as it is a nice way to be involved with the game and make guaranteed money, as opposed to gambling. The evening started slow, as I sat there for about 45 minutes waiting for players, but once we did, it was a fun evening. All of the players worked together, so there was alot of good natured ribbing, especially as the two lawyers at the table seemed to be catching the cards and cleaning up...was alot of fun.

Jen worked last night, so after getting the girls to bed I was able to play some $5/10 on UB...started out pretty even on a very aggressive table, fluctuation between +25/-25 for about 30 minutes or so, then the bottom fell out of the deck for me...lost about 5 straight hands I played in....I was getting aggressive with second pairs and representing flush or straight draws, and getting called down with top pair/weak kicker, or second pair on a four card flush on the table when they didn't have that suit and I was representing it...was down about $300 at one point, but then made a very nice comback, starting with a flopped full house (J9 suited in the small blind) and a flop of J9J...the hand saw three way action to the end and I raked a very nice $170 pot to get me headed in the right direction for the evening. Caught another big pot when I hit a set of 3s on the flop, made a full boat on the turn, and was able to raise/reraise top pair/top kicker all the way to the end for another $140 pot. From there, just picked up some free money from a guy that pissed away $500 in about 25 hands...my stats show that he played 95% of the hands dealt and was calling down almost everything. He was one of the ones that helped build the full boat pots I mentioned above...I was pretty much even by the time we ran him off the table....I will definatly be looking for him again when I get a chance to play again. Anyway, by the end of the night, I was up about $150, so I was very happy to have made the comeback on the table, along with the point bonus releasing another $20 into my account...only $300 more to go in bonus money on UB.

The girls threw a scare at me when I went to bed...Ash was missing from her bed and Danielle's door was closed and locked....I popped the lock and found both of them in Danielle's bed having a sleep-over. Was very cute until Ash fell out of the big bed at 5:30 this morning...scared the crap out of everyone in the house. She seemed to be ok...no physical damage or anything...just going to be awhile before she moves to a big bed for herself.

Gioing to try and pick out some paint tonight so I can get ready for my painting projects this next week. Planning on atleast getting the hallway and two bathrooms upstairs painted before Jen and the girls come home nest week. Gotta get back to work now...ttfn.

In a Past Life...

http://www.quizdiva.net/pastlife/past-life.jpg"> %20color="#000000">You Were: A Gentle Alchemist. Where You Lived: France. How You Died: The Plague.

Were You In a Past Life?

July 18, 2005

What a weekend.....Jen worked the Harry Potter release party at the local Barnes & Noble Friday night. Didn't get home until 2am or such...said the store was packed all evening. I'm about halfway through the book and am very happy with it at this point.

The girls and I let Jen sleep in on Sat due to her late night and then loaded up the van and headed to Toledo for the rest of the weekend. Huge Kudos to Mike and Leah for housesitting for us and taking care of Bandit over the weekend. The drive to Toledo was happily uneventful, just some rain storms to drive through. Jen and I relaxed for awhile at Mary's house and then were able to sneak out for a nice dinner for the two of us, and then wnet to see Star Wars 3 (finally). While I enjoyed the movie, I was a little surprised at the rapid and severe flip in Anikan in the movie...from almost killing Palpatin when he finds out he is the Sith Lord to wiping out the Jedi Temple, including the massacre of the younglings. I did have goosebumps when he donned the Darth Vader costume for the first time and then to see the Death Star under construction. Overall, very happy with the movies....now I'm just waiting for the opportunity to watch them all in a row and see the story from beginning to end.

Sunday found us preparring for the baby shower/poker party. I definately had the easiest time of it, as I just had to walk a couple of houses down with the poker chips for the poker party. Spent the afternoon (1-5) eating some great food and playing basically $5 sit-n-gos with various family members for the day. We set them as short games ($5 = $25 in chips, blinds go up when someone gets knocked out, 1-2 gets paid if 6 or less players, 1-2-3 get paid if 7 or more). I did pretty well initially, catching a couple of full boats to get a chip lead and cashing in, so everything was going well until Jen's dad sits down. He proceeds to clean up 3 games in row by basically playing every hand and catching cards every time. Seemed like he always had at least 1 pair, but more likely was catching straights and flushes to knock people out, thus winning a big pot and raising the blinds on everyone else. I think he won 3 out of the 4 games he played using this strategy. Was amazing to watch.

Anyway, had a great time and arrived back in steamy Columbus around 10pm. Got the girls to bed, unloaded what needed to come out of the truck and then hit the sack. Have a pretty busy week planned, dealing poker at a private party tonight, Jen working tomorrow and then getting her and the girls ready for their vacation back to Toledo for a week on Wed. If my back allows me, I'll be working on some inside painting while they are gone (bathrooms and hallways), along with some other smaller projects that are easier to do without the girls in the house, not to mention the paint fumes and such.

And to top it off...the Rib and Jazz fest this weekend with Dave and Amanda coming up for the weekend. Can't wait.

One last thing....huge public congrats to Burton for winning the MtG tourney yesterday and getting the byes to Salt Lake City in August...way to go man.

TTFN.

July 15, 2005

Not much news going on....been looking at borders for the baby's room, which has been more difficult since Jen shot down my idea of getting a Steeler's based border and then putting all of my Steelers stuff in the baby's room....don't want to run the risk that the baby is anything but a Steeler's fan. I guess we're looking at planes or teddy bears for the baby.....sigh ;-)

Looking forward to playing some poker tonight and again over the weekend. Will be on UB tonight after the girls go to bed (8:30-9) and hope to get a nice winning streak started again. Then we'll be headed to Toledo over the wekend for Julie's baby shower....the gals will be doing the baby shower, the guys will be next door playing poker...how cool is that. Then I'm dealing for a local charity event on Monday evening back here in Columbus and making a few bucks for my time, so that's all good.

Looks like the WSOP is winding down in Vegas...down to the final table late last night...Raymer and Ivey both got knowcked out yesterday, so Mike Matusow is that last 'name' player left, so it will be intertaining to watch him on the final table....he's guaranteed a million at least at this point, so I'd be pretty happy to exchange seats with him for the day.

Time for work now...ttfn.

July 13, 2005

Ever been in one of those funks where there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over your head for a couple of days??? That's been me since Monday, and I'm not sure why.......

Played some poker on Monday night ($4/8...$5/10 tables were full) for about 2 hours and ended up down about $50 for the session....which is not too bad considering I was down over $200 at one point due to some overaggressive play on my part and some terrible suck outs by my opponents. The table was playing much looser than the normal $5/10 tables on UB and it took me awhile to adjust....had KK and QQ cracked a couple of times early for nice pots by fish calling Ax hands and chasing down a A on the river...seemed like we had an A on the board almost every hand and everyone was chasing for it. Made for some nice pots, but man did it hurt when my KK got cracked against A2os that reraised my pre-flop raise and then stuck around to catch his A on the river....thankfully I tightened up in time to make back most of my losses....actually I was ahead $15 at one point, decided to play very tight for the circut and then jet when the blinds came to me...I'm UNG (last hand and still up $15) and I hit AsKs....so I have to play it...hit 2 spades on a ragged 7s, 2s, 5d flop....I bet to see what's going on with everyone and get a caller than a reraise...a couple of people fold and I call the raise, looking for my nut flush draw. 5s hits on the turn, giving me the nut flush and pairing the board....needless to say I lost a nice chunk of money to the guys with pocket 2s that hit the full house on the turn....he called my bet on the turn and then reraised me on the river, I reraised back and he capped the bet, showing down the full boat and taking about $60 off of me.....I decided to call it quits and get off the table rather than play another hour to try and get the money back...I was just happy to only drop $50 rather than $250....

But, back to my initial comment...not sure why I'm in this funk the last couple of days...Jen and the girls are doing well...I'm still stoked about having a baby boy this fall, so I'm not sure what the issue is....It may have something to do with the ongoing issues between my parents. They sold the family home the other day, which now that I think about it, may have alot to do with this funk....I mean, after 40 years of marriage, it just crumbles in the matter of months, my childhood home is gone and my parents are now in different states. Going to be very interesting to see how the family reunion goes on July 30th when I see my parents together for the first time since Christmas.....sigh.

I surprised Jen and the girls yesterday by going home for lunch after stopping at the store and picking up flowers for all of them...some yellow roses for Jen and some small wildflower bouquets for the girls...they were all excited and happy with the flowers, so that was fun to do. Had hoped it would brighten my mood, but didn't really work...guess I'll just have to come to terms with the issues with my parents and let time heal the wounds.

Anyway, the WSOP is headed into day 5 and it's getting pretty intense....down to about 74 players...2004 champ Greg Raymer is still in the tourney, as is Phil Ivery and Mike Matusow....I'm rooting for Ivey at this point, as he's probably the best player left in the field...I do hope that Matusow makes the final table and then takes a serious bad beat to get busted, as he is one of the pros that I can't stand....always shooting off his mouth and talking like he's better than everyone else....this coming from a guy fresh out of a year in prison for dealing drugs and such....not sure how ESPN will spin that to the positive to promote the game. Will wait and see I guess.

Going to make some guaranteed money at poker over the next two weeks...yes, I said GUARANTEED money regarding poker......heh.....I'll be dealing at two charity events over the next 2 weeks...Monday night at the CCC ($50 for 4 hours work) and the again on Sat 7/23 ($75 for another 4 hours)....so that will help build my cash/home game bankroll back up a bit, as it's been awhile sine I cashed in a home game and I was getting short of funds. Of course, I may blow most of that money at the jazz and rib fest next weekend with Dave, Amanda, Burton and the rest of the gang, so who knows how much will be left for the bankroll...good times non the less.

Time for work...take care.

WSOP beginning Day 3

Just a quick post to say that the WSOP $10,000 main event is starting day 3 in a few minutes. 5,000 plus players are now down to 569 still competing for a 7.5 million dollar first prize....simply amazing. Everyone at the final table will make $1 million and up, which is more than the winner received just a few short years ago.

Of note, there are few recognizable names left in the tourney....Layne Flack and 2004 Champ Greg Raymer are still alive and kicking, Jason Lester and Sam Farha have some work to do, Matusow is even farther back in the field. But TJ, Doyle, Phil (Ivey and Hellmuth), Hansen, Harrington, etc are all gone at this point. Personally, I'm rooting for Farha this year, Moneymaker stole the championship from him a couple of years ago (IMHO) and I'd love to see Sammy back at the final table....he's just such a cool character for the game.

I almost feel sorry for the ESPN production manager at this point....he's got to start collecting film on some of these players that no one knows, making his job a bit tougher in 'selling' them to the public. Of course, if Raymer makes the final table, it will all be about his defense of his title and all and the possibility of a back-to-back champion for the first time in a number of years. Of course, there is a ton of poker to be played at this point, so who knows what will happen. I am pretty confident that the turn out, and relative success, of these unknown players will allow for the continued success of the game for at least another year.

Hopefully, I'll be one of those unknowns one of these days.....

Monday morning - Weekend update

Ahhhh...back at work again. Had a great weekend relaxing at home with Jen and the girls. My lovely wife allowed me to sleep in on Sat and Sun, so I owe her big time. Played some poker at a home game on Friday night, made the final table, but was shortstacked and had to push all in with AQos and was called by A7os, and of course he hit the 7 on the flop and I never improved and was knocked out of the tourney in 8th place. Had a nice run during the event, was chip leader at our table, but missed a couple of hands and the blinds wore me down quickly. Was a good time, but not sure if I'll go back, as they allow smoking in the guys basement and it just kills my sinuses and eyes, not to mention the smell on the clothes when I get home. As such, didn't get home until around 2am after dropping Burton off at his pad and getting home. Thankfully, Jen let me sleep in on Sat, so I crawled out of bed around 10am and spent the day lounging with the girls. Jen had to work at 11, so I spent the majority of the day just playing with the girls and such. I did get in a few hands of poker when Ashley was napping and posted about $85 to the profit on a very tight table, and after being down almost $200 at one point, was able to battle back and make a bit of money for the session. Stayed up later than I should have playing Settlers of Catan on the computer that I downloaded on Sat.

Sunday was much of the same, as the girls didn't want to play outside, but I did manage another session on UB during the afternoon....did much better, as I caught hands consistently and posted a $200 profit on the table...had to take a short break for the girls and when I came back the table had broken up....so I banked the money and went back to the girls. Was disappointed that the table ended, but was very happy with the improvement to the bankroll.

So, up almost $300 for the weekend, which cancels out one of the really bad sessions earlier in the week...still down about $500 from the high point at the end of June, but hopefully this weekend signifies a turn for the better for me again.

Did get to have some fun with the girls yesterday as well...did some watercolor painting with Danielle, which was a lot of fun for both of us. She was very happy for the attention and we made some flowers and rainbows and such together. The girls had a great day and we capped it off with a trip to Graeter's for desert, which is always fun for all of us. They were packed, as they had a customer appreciation sale going on...buy $10 of ice cream and get a free pint of your choice....mmmmmmmmmmm.

Back to the grind here at work...nothing of note on the calendar for today. Jen has to work this evening, so it will be just the girls and I for the evening. Hopefully we can get some outside time after work (if the weather allows) and then baths for the girls tonight before bed. Then maybe some poker for daddy after cleaning up the house....wheeeee.

Finally Friday

Another week has come and gone....wheeeeee

Going to get some poker in this evening at a home game tourney with my buddy Burton. Hopefully all the live poker I played last weekend at origins will serve me well, as I definately need to try and play more live games, as it is completly different from online. I should be pretty comfortable tonight as I played against thee guys last month with Burton and played a bunch last weekend as well. Wish me some pocket pairs tonight.

I did get a positive session online the other night (Wed)...had built up to +$105 at one point with a nice pot against one of the more aggressive/maniac players at the table. He was pretty much in every hand and had been catching some cards along the way, but for every hand he one by sucking someone out, he lost three chasing bad Aces and such. Anyway, I had found pocket 7s in one hand in middle position and called his early position raise (which he did constantly, so I didn't necessarily put him on a strong hand)...couple of other callers saw a flop of 7,x,A rainbow....which was great for me as I figured the maniac for a Ax hand and I had hit my set. The blinds checked and the maniac of course opened the pot for $5 and I smooth called to try and keep the others in the pot, which worked, as they all called the flop. Another blank hit the turn, but the blind opened the pot for $10, getting a raise from the maniac and a reraise from me. The button folded as did the guys in the blind....the maniac reraises me and asks if I caught my trips...I reraise to cap the pot and he calls. The 4th 7 hits the river for my quads and he bets into me again...I reraise, he reraises again and I cap the pot...he flips A3 for A and rag kicker and I scoop about a $200 pot...laughing all the way that this idiot would play an Ax that aggressively when he knew he was probably beat....not that I'm complaining about the money. Gave a few bucks back when my QQ ran into a flop with a K and A in it, knowing I was beat when someone reraised my bet. Left the table with about $50 in profits, so hopefully that will start me on another good win streak to make up for last weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Wednesday morning

Not much going on today to report...Jen and I stayed up too late last night playing Palabra (new game I picked up at Origins over the weekend). Very fun game based on Scrabble with elements of Poker and Rummy built into the game. Basically building words from lettered cards from your hand to score points, some letters are worth 2x or 3x for the word, and you can combo multipliers in the same word to score big. Jen whupped me by about 300 points by the end of the game, as she kept making these high scoring 3 letter words all night long. Oh well, she enjoyed it and we had fun, even though we were exhausted and probably not thinking straight at the time.

Thanks for the mini-date Jen...I love you.

Beyond that....not much to tell...Danielle got an eyeful of bath soap last night that had her crying for about 30 minutes in the tub while Jen tried to wash it out and calm her down. I took over when she came out of the tub and was able to get Danielle giggling and not thinking about her eye, so that ended the drama for the evening. Ash fell asleep cuddling with Jen, so that was worth a couple of photos for the scrapbooks....I'm continually amazed at how big she is getting...she is really stretching out her legs and torso lately...I think she'll be taller than Danielle at some point, which will probably upset Danielle to some degree.

Hoping for some poker tonight, but have to get to bed early so i can get up for the 6:30 flight to NY tomorrow. Spending the day at a new vendor doing a preliminary audit before we start production. Regardless, I'm hoping to get back some of what I lost the other day on UB and get back on another win streak. Wish me luck.

Quick Update

IT'S A BOY


.......just back to work after visiting the doctor and found out that we're due for a bouncing baby boy in November. We're very excited, and are working on names now...will keep you all posted.

July 5th, 2005

Happy belated 4th to everyone. Had a monster of a weekend, so I'll give you the highlights/lowlights....

- Had a great time at Origins Gaming Convention over the weekend. Jason and Kristie stayed at the house with me and we spent most of the weekend at the convention center. Played lots of poker (made the final table of the HLHE tourney on Sat, busted in 8th out of 97 players...prizes only to top 3...oh well). Was happy with the way I played, as I didn't take any huge risks (except for pushing pre-flop with a pair of 2s and loosing a pot to pocket 9s that called me down with an A and K on the board....amazing read on his part. Went all in under the gun with 88 on the final table and ran into AA and AQ, who hit a Q on the flop...I didn't improve and I was done.

- Jason and Kristie both qualified to play in the Settlers of Catan World Qualifier on Sunday afternoon...neither made it past the semi-final tables, but they had a great run and I'm pretty sure they had fun, even though they lost and didn't get a chance to play for the trip to Germany.

- Jen and the girls spent the weekend in Toledo and Michigan. Lots of swimming and playing for the girls, so they were exhausted yesterday when they got home. They also did their first fishing while in Michigan and both caught fish off the dock in from of their Uncle Al's house. They were both very excited and can't wait to go back....we're hoping to get a long weekend in August to spend up in Michigan with Al and Kathy and the fish....

- Went out with some local friends last night to see the fireworks in Pickerington. Weather cooperated and cooled off for the evening, so that was a welcome relief. Girls were tired, but behaved very well and made it through the fireworks and the walk back to the car before falling asleep as soon as they were in the car. They never even flinched as we carried them in the house and tucked them in. I was surprised when we got home, as it was still very hot and muggy at our house, but had been cool and pleasant in Pickerington....very weird.

- Last note...UB giveth and UB taketh away.....after a great month of June at the $5/10 tables on UB, the table struck back with a vengeance yesterday....lost about $400 in a session as my full houses were beaten, pocket AA/KK/QQ cracked by flushes on the river, straights beaten by full houses, etc, etc, etc. Was pretty sickening to watch happen. Will try and reverse the trend on Wed while Jen is at work and I get the girls to bed for the evening.

Til later.