The other night, Diana and I were talking about movies to watch. I've always liked whodunnit type murder mysteries, but haven't seen very many. Yesterday, Diana headed to the ol' li-berry and rented two Agatha Christies, a Shelock Holmes, and one other mystery. We watched "A Body in the Library", one of the Agatha Christie movies (with Ms. Marple), and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to pause the movie throughout and wonder aloud at motives and opportunities and so forth. Good stuff.
Even though the movie wasn't scary at all, I was still a little scared after it. Suspenseful movies can really freak me out. It all stems back from the Night I've been the Most Scared in my Life.
*dreamy harp music and soft fade*
When I was 9 years old, my family lived in Vienna for six months. During that summer, my brother turned 13 on Friday the 13th. That night, there was a thunderstorm, and we were off to see an Agatha Christie play, "The Mousetrap". The theater, I remember, was tiny, and we were really close to the stage.
The story of the play is about a group of strangers snowed in at a bed and breakfast inn somewhere. One of the lodgers is a nasty, mean old lady, who during the course of the play manages to piss off everyone in the house in some way or another. At some point in the story, the lights in the inn go out while she's alone in the room, reading. We then hear a door open, and someone cross the stage, and the sounds of a struggle and strangling going on, and then a hasty exit by the murderer.
Soon after, the lady of the house comes in with a candle, wondering what the commotion was. I remember somehow a spotlight shines down on the body of the woman on stage, and at this point, the lady who found her let out the loudest, most horriffic, piercing scream. I specifically remember my bodies reaction. My entire body when completely stiff as a board. My knees extended straight, kicking the chair in front of me REALLY hard. My back arched, my little butt lifting entirely off the chair. I was completely supported by my shoulder blades on the back of the chair, and the back of my legs on the front edge of the seat. Absolutely freaked. I wasn't crying or anything, and I didn't lose my composure, but I was absolutely petrified.
Intermission followed immediately after that scene, and I remember talking with my parents and brother about it. How did we like the play, who did we think was the murderer and so forth. I enjoyed the rest of the play (and I remember who did it). That night, though, I had scary dreams and ran into my parents bedroom crying and scared. And really, from that night on, for quite a long time, I was pretty freaked out by dark. Not universally scared of the dark (like, I didn’t need a light on to sleep or anything), but things like coming home to a dark house, or crossing a dark courtyard at night, stuff like that. I remember watching Psycho at Baditude's old pad, and having to restraing myself from bolting across the darkened parking lot to get to my car. Even last night, after watching the movie, Diana heard me walk quickly through our dark house on my way to the bedroom.
There. Now you all know a little more about Adman.
Before watching the movie last night, I caught the end of the Democratic National Convention. Specifically, Bill Clinton's speech. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Maybe I'm a sucker for rousing speeches, and Bill certainly is a good speaker, but I was all sorts of fired up on being a Democrat. I also liked how positive the message was. It seemed there was a lot more "look how good we are" rather than "look how bad they are". Good stuff. I look forward to more of the same, as well as more from the Republicans and their responses and their own speeches.
I only caught the end of the DNC because I was at our first workboy (and girl) softball game. We lost, but I accomplished my goals of hitting well. I'm definitely not a power hitter, so instead my goal was to place the ball well and get on base. I went 2 for 2 with two singles, 1 RBI, and I scored a run. So in spite of a 10-3 loss or something, I was pleased.
That's all for now.
Oh yeah… "Sledge Hammer, Season 1" is out on DVD. Just FYI.
2004/07/27
2004/07/26
I haven't been keeping up that well with the ol' bloggage. Sorry about that.
Friday (was it Friday? Or Thursday?) night, Diana and I were going to go see "Riding Giants", but while it was $9.50 that night, it was $4.00 on Tuesday. $9.50 for a movie… this is getting out of control. So, we decided to come back on Tuesday, and instead went out to dinner (which is sort of silly, but there it is).
Saturday, we headed out with Eryn and Iwan and saw Napolean Dynamite, which, in spite of being basically the same running gag for two hours, had some hilarious moments. I enjoyed it. I have a feeling that I'll enjoy it again on subsequent viewings.
"What's are you drawing?"
"It's a liger. Probably my most favorite animal…. Half lion and half tiger, bred for it's magic abilities."
Ahhh, good stuff.
That night, I beat Far Cry finally. I enjoyed the game throughout, but was a little dissapointed at the ending. There wasn't really a huge uber-boss to be defeated. Instead, the final level was just a big level with lots of normal bad guys. But it was satisfying to beat the game. I tried to play multiplayer, but Ubi has some whack registration system that said my account was blocked. Dumb. Oh well.
Sunday, we hit up the beach with Iwan, which was nice. Great beach weather this weekend.
Not a whole lot else going on. Our house is still in some disrepair from painting (which looks really good!). We're contemplating new carpet, and are waiting to put everything back in it's place until that's decided upon one way or another. Work is going to be busy this week, but there's a Montana trip right around the corner. I hope that goes ok.
That's about it for now.
Friday (was it Friday? Or Thursday?) night, Diana and I were going to go see "Riding Giants", but while it was $9.50 that night, it was $4.00 on Tuesday. $9.50 for a movie… this is getting out of control. So, we decided to come back on Tuesday, and instead went out to dinner (which is sort of silly, but there it is).
Saturday, we headed out with Eryn and Iwan and saw Napolean Dynamite, which, in spite of being basically the same running gag for two hours, had some hilarious moments. I enjoyed it. I have a feeling that I'll enjoy it again on subsequent viewings.
"What's are you drawing?"
"It's a liger. Probably my most favorite animal…. Half lion and half tiger, bred for it's magic abilities."
Ahhh, good stuff.
That night, I beat Far Cry finally. I enjoyed the game throughout, but was a little dissapointed at the ending. There wasn't really a huge uber-boss to be defeated. Instead, the final level was just a big level with lots of normal bad guys. But it was satisfying to beat the game. I tried to play multiplayer, but Ubi has some whack registration system that said my account was blocked. Dumb. Oh well.
Sunday, we hit up the beach with Iwan, which was nice. Great beach weather this weekend.
Not a whole lot else going on. Our house is still in some disrepair from painting (which looks really good!). We're contemplating new carpet, and are waiting to put everything back in it's place until that's decided upon one way or another. Work is going to be busy this week, but there's a Montana trip right around the corner. I hope that goes ok.
That's about it for now.
2004/07/23
2004/07/19
So. Another successful weekend in the books.
Late last week, I went out to dinner with Diana and some of her work girls and their husbands. It was a lot of fun to put faces to the names that I've heard so much about, and to listen in on their conversations about their work stuff.
Saturday, Diana and I did a lot of shopping and errands and stuff. That evening, we met up with peeps heading out to dinner up in Carlsbad. After dinner, we headed up to the ol' beach house for some s'more making and bonfire-sitting. Good times.
Sunday, Iwan and I joined up with Norm and Teri for golf out in Poway. It was pretty freaking hot, but at least there was a good breeze which made it bearable. I played ok. Could have done better, but definitely could have done worse. Iwan was on fire for the front nine, shooting one over and basically almost getting a hole in one (on a par 4 no less), leaving a tap-in for an eagle. Nice work. I ended up 15 over, I think. Norm and Teri have gotten a lot better since the last time I played with them, and it was great to see them both hit some really great shots.
That evening, we met up with Iwan and Sara down at the beach for dinner, and Eryn and H-bomb joined us. Nice end to a nice weekend.
You know what's dumb? Movies (or whatever) that claim in their advertisments "Inspired by a true story". What, exactly, does that mean? "Based on a true story", yes, I understand. But "inspired by"? That the most vague statement ever and I hate it. :)
I saw two deaf people driving in a car, talking to each other. If Diana doesn't like it when I hold the steering wheel with my knees, she should be glad I'm not deaf. I have no idea how the driving was steering the car, but his hands were all over the place when he was "talking". Kind of scary, actually.
I played a lot of Far Cry over this last week, and I've been really impressed by it. That gameplay is a bit better than average, but nothing too spectacular. However, the graphics and physics engine is phenomenal. For the uninitiated: in most games, when you shoot a monster, it it plays a pre-canned "monster death" animation. Every time you kill a monster, the same animation plays. In Far Cry, it uses something called "rag doll" physics, or something like that, so when the monster dies, it flops over in a very realistic manner. Bodies will sort of tumble down stairs, or fall off ledges and richochet off stuff, whatever. And it's almost every object in the game that works this way. I spent time shooting microscopes off tables just to watch them fly off the table and tumble to the ground. I pushed boxes off ledges just to watch them fall. Really neat.
There's even one point in the game where a guy is standing basically on one side of a see-saw, and above him on a ledge is a rock that you can push off, presumeably onto the other side of the see-saw and fling him up into the air. Unfortunately, I killed him through other means, so never got the chance, but I'll probably go back and check it out.
That's about it for now.
2004/07/12
Long time no blog!
Things have been just cruising along. We had our new windows installed, and they look really great. Diana's been continuing her painting work on the trim around the house (doors, doorways, floorboards, etc), and that looks really great, too.
Saturday morning, we went to see Spiderman 2 with Norm and Teri, and in spite of good things I've heard about it, I thought it was a non-trivially bad movie. When I wasn't bashed over the head with the oh-so-subtle character development, or groaning at stupid jokes or gag humor, I guess there were some interesting action sequences and FX to see. I dunno if I'm just jaded or what, but I wasn't too hot on this movie. I really l liked X-men and X-men 2, though, so it's not that I just don't like big summer blockbuster super hero movies. I dunno.
That night a little impromptu BBQ was set up, and we played a mini poker tournament followed by normal play. That was a lot of fun. I got killed out of the tournament pretty quickly on a great hand from Sara, but won most of the money back in the following cash game. Good times with good friends. It was really fun to have people over.
I played some golf yesterday with Iwan and Diana. Iwan was on fire (ended up 3 over par!), and Diana, in spite of having not played for six months, played really well herself. They were both fun to watch. I felt like I couldn't hit anything, but I ended up at 14 over, which I guess isn't too bad. My tee shots were pretty lousy, but I felt good about my 6-8 foot putting.
We have a guy leaving work, and my next weeks are filled with multi-hour long meetings to do a brain dump before he leaves. Bleah.
Things have been just cruising along. We had our new windows installed, and they look really great. Diana's been continuing her painting work on the trim around the house (doors, doorways, floorboards, etc), and that looks really great, too.
Saturday morning, we went to see Spiderman 2 with Norm and Teri, and in spite of good things I've heard about it, I thought it was a non-trivially bad movie. When I wasn't bashed over the head with the oh-so-subtle character development, or groaning at stupid jokes or gag humor, I guess there were some interesting action sequences and FX to see. I dunno if I'm just jaded or what, but I wasn't too hot on this movie. I really l liked X-men and X-men 2, though, so it's not that I just don't like big summer blockbuster super hero movies. I dunno.
That night a little impromptu BBQ was set up, and we played a mini poker tournament followed by normal play. That was a lot of fun. I got killed out of the tournament pretty quickly on a great hand from Sara, but won most of the money back in the following cash game. Good times with good friends. It was really fun to have people over.
I played some golf yesterday with Iwan and Diana. Iwan was on fire (ended up 3 over par!), and Diana, in spite of having not played for six months, played really well herself. They were both fun to watch. I felt like I couldn't hit anything, but I ended up at 14 over, which I guess isn't too bad. My tee shots were pretty lousy, but I felt good about my 6-8 foot putting.
We have a guy leaving work, and my next weeks are filled with multi-hour long meetings to do a brain dump before he leaves. Bleah.
2004/07/06
OH!
I left out one of the best parts!
Saturday afternoon, after we'd been out all day, we came home and were hanging around. Diana called me from the living room with a note of urgency. "Adam! There's something in the living room. I think it's poo!" I came out, and so it was. There was a little chunk of poo in our living room. Where did THAT come from, we wondered. I'd recently cleaned up some coyote poo from our sidewalk, so maybe I tracked some in? It was a longshot, particularly since we take our shoes off, but it wasn't impossible.
Anyways, later that night, we were in the bedroom folding laundry. I think I'd just gotten out of the shower. The TV was on and we were just sitting there, and all of a sudden, a cat walks by. When we move to get it, it cruises under the bed. We tried to get it out, but it just got more scared and went up INTO the boxspring (the lining was torn). And there it stayed for about the next hour. We eventually lured it out with a can of tuna fish, and it bailed out the back door, but not before really growling and getting substantially pissed off.
The weird thing is that we have NO idea how it got into the house, or how long it had been there. Since we'd just gotten home from being out all day, it must have been in the house for most of the day. The carpet by the garage door is sort of torn up, and I suspect it was digging at the door. We can't see how it could have gotten in that morning, so it certainly may have been in the house overnight? Hard to tell, but either way, pretty weird.
One of the funniest moments was when we first opened the can of fish, and put it by the open back door, a little inside the door. Another cat showed up from outside, and poked his head in, like, "what's this? I smell fish!" Diana tried to shoe it away with a stick, but it just kind of sniffed the stick and was interested in the food. Good stuff.
So, there you go.
I left out one of the best parts!
Saturday afternoon, after we'd been out all day, we came home and were hanging around. Diana called me from the living room with a note of urgency. "Adam! There's something in the living room. I think it's poo!" I came out, and so it was. There was a little chunk of poo in our living room. Where did THAT come from, we wondered. I'd recently cleaned up some coyote poo from our sidewalk, so maybe I tracked some in? It was a longshot, particularly since we take our shoes off, but it wasn't impossible.
Anyways, later that night, we were in the bedroom folding laundry. I think I'd just gotten out of the shower. The TV was on and we were just sitting there, and all of a sudden, a cat walks by. When we move to get it, it cruises under the bed. We tried to get it out, but it just got more scared and went up INTO the boxspring (the lining was torn). And there it stayed for about the next hour. We eventually lured it out with a can of tuna fish, and it bailed out the back door, but not before really growling and getting substantially pissed off.
The weird thing is that we have NO idea how it got into the house, or how long it had been there. Since we'd just gotten home from being out all day, it must have been in the house for most of the day. The carpet by the garage door is sort of torn up, and I suspect it was digging at the door. We can't see how it could have gotten in that morning, so it certainly may have been in the house overnight? Hard to tell, but either way, pretty weird.
One of the funniest moments was when we first opened the can of fish, and put it by the open back door, a little inside the door. Another cat showed up from outside, and poked his head in, like, "what's this? I smell fish!" Diana tried to shoe it away with a stick, but it just kind of sniffed the stick and was interested in the food. Good stuff.
So, there you go.
Has the blatant polygamy of the Fonz occurred to anyone else? That cat was always cruising around with upwards of four or five kittens on his arm, leaving to go on a date with all of them at the same time. Unbelievable.
Anyhoo, speaking of that, I had a great weekend! Let's see here...
Friday evening, Diana and I headed out to a local park for a free "concert in the park" series type thing. We brought a picnic dinner and blanket and listened to music and watched the peeps. It was a really relaxing and good time.
Saturday, we headed out for some shopping, and saw "Fahrenheit 911". I wasn't really too impressed with the movie. "Bowling for Columbine" really made me think about our fearful society, but "Fahrenheit" seemed a little all over the road. The first part of the movie discussed Bush's various business connections with various people, most notably the bin Laden family. Given the vast array of business networking that goes on in the world, picking out single threads and trying to incorporate some meaning is a little too much for me. I know a certain investment company, for instance, that manages some significant Saudi money. The rest of the movie was mostly the stuff that's on the news every day: no significant WMDs found, no war-justifying connection between Iraq and Al-Queda, bin Laden, etc, all of which seemed pretty sound to me, but weren't really any new revelations. Interesting to watch, but I guess I was expecting a little more.
That evening, Iwan and Diana and I decided to put our lessons to the test and played some more poker. We all played really well: Diana and I won $58 EACH, and Iwan only won $43. We had a great time, and won some money to boot. I'll spare you the details.
Sunday was the 4th of July. Diana and I met up with Iwan and Sara and Gabe and Rhiannon and little Landon, and headed to the beach. We were joined by some friends of Sara's, and had quite a little posse down there. We hung out, BBQ'd, played horseshoes, and had a good time. I put on sunscreen all over my body except my chest and stomach for some reason, and got a nice sunburn there. Sweet. It was really great to hang out with the Buhr's, though, as I haven't seen them in forever. Little Landon seemed to be doing well, and I was impressed and admired the transformation that Gabe and Rhiannon have made into responsible parents. Nice work, those guys. That evening, Iwan and Sara came over, and we found a spot near our house to watch some fireworks off in the distance.
After Iwan and Sara left, and Diana and I popped in "The Good Girl", with Jennifer Anniston. It was somewhat depressing, but we both thought it was a really good movie. I was really happily surprised and impressed with how good an actress Jennifer Anniston is. Good for her.
Monday, Diana and I headed to her parents house, where I helped clean their computer up. I think (hope) I made some significant steps. The main things I did were download/installed critical updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. I ran spybot S&D and ad-aware and cleaned up some garbage there. I cleaned up some registry entries for programs that didn't exist anymore. By the time I left, I think things were working a lot better than before.
Then, I met up with Iwan for some golf, and tied the best score of my life at Lomas, beating Iwan by a single stroke on the final hole. I would have had an even better score, but I triple-bogeyed one of the later par 3s. Doh. I did get two birdies in a row, though, so that was kind of sweet. Iwan joined us for dinner post-golf (which is sort of turning into a regulare thing, which is fun), and we hung out and watched some celebrity poker. Good times.
Anyhoo, that's about the size of it. Today, windows installers are coming! I'm really excited.
Anyhoo, speaking of that, I had a great weekend! Let's see here...
Friday evening, Diana and I headed out to a local park for a free "concert in the park" series type thing. We brought a picnic dinner and blanket and listened to music and watched the peeps. It was a really relaxing and good time.
Saturday, we headed out for some shopping, and saw "Fahrenheit 911". I wasn't really too impressed with the movie. "Bowling for Columbine" really made me think about our fearful society, but "Fahrenheit" seemed a little all over the road. The first part of the movie discussed Bush's various business connections with various people, most notably the bin Laden family. Given the vast array of business networking that goes on in the world, picking out single threads and trying to incorporate some meaning is a little too much for me. I know a certain investment company, for instance, that manages some significant Saudi money. The rest of the movie was mostly the stuff that's on the news every day: no significant WMDs found, no war-justifying connection between Iraq and Al-Queda, bin Laden, etc, all of which seemed pretty sound to me, but weren't really any new revelations. Interesting to watch, but I guess I was expecting a little more.
That evening, Iwan and Diana and I decided to put our lessons to the test and played some more poker. We all played really well: Diana and I won $58 EACH, and Iwan only won $43. We had a great time, and won some money to boot. I'll spare you the details.
Sunday was the 4th of July. Diana and I met up with Iwan and Sara and Gabe and Rhiannon and little Landon, and headed to the beach. We were joined by some friends of Sara's, and had quite a little posse down there. We hung out, BBQ'd, played horseshoes, and had a good time. I put on sunscreen all over my body except my chest and stomach for some reason, and got a nice sunburn there. Sweet. It was really great to hang out with the Buhr's, though, as I haven't seen them in forever. Little Landon seemed to be doing well, and I was impressed and admired the transformation that Gabe and Rhiannon have made into responsible parents. Nice work, those guys. That evening, Iwan and Sara came over, and we found a spot near our house to watch some fireworks off in the distance.
After Iwan and Sara left, and Diana and I popped in "The Good Girl", with Jennifer Anniston. It was somewhat depressing, but we both thought it was a really good movie. I was really happily surprised and impressed with how good an actress Jennifer Anniston is. Good for her.
Monday, Diana and I headed to her parents house, where I helped clean their computer up. I think (hope) I made some significant steps. The main things I did were download/installed critical updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. I ran spybot S&D and ad-aware and cleaned up some garbage there. I cleaned up some registry entries for programs that didn't exist anymore. By the time I left, I think things were working a lot better than before.
Then, I met up with Iwan for some golf, and tied the best score of my life at Lomas, beating Iwan by a single stroke on the final hole. I would have had an even better score, but I triple-bogeyed one of the later par 3s. Doh. I did get two birdies in a row, though, so that was kind of sweet. Iwan joined us for dinner post-golf (which is sort of turning into a regulare thing, which is fun), and we hung out and watched some celebrity poker. Good times.
Anyhoo, that's about the size of it. Today, windows installers are coming! I'm really excited.
2004/07/02
Poker report
I like posting detailed poker reports here, because in the future, I know I'll enjoy reading back through hand histories and stuff. Also, I want to keep a somewhat official record of winnings and losings, and doing so in a public forum will help keep me honest, so to speak. So (as goes without saying), feel free to skip these sorts of posts if you're not into it.
So, I went with Miami Kyle, Iwan, and Miami John to our local card house to play some poker last night. Intrepid readers will remember that the first time I went, I played very tighly, winning 4 of (only) 5 showdowns for a profit of $39.
This time around, I didn't play as well. I didn't get very good cards, and spent the first two rounds of the table folding literally everything, and watching people win with absolute crap. Playing any two cards can certainly be profitable in the short run, but I'm convinced it's not the right way to play in the long run. But watching people make their full houses with Q4o is rough.
I was prepared to cash in for $50, but no one ever showed up with chips. The dealer offered to cash in $20, so I did that, and ended up just playing with that, which I was pleasantly surprised to find was enough to play with for the night.
I went down a few bucks in blinds, and was dealt K2 clubs in a late position, and figured "what the hell". Flop came AK8 rainbow. There were a lot of callers (one guy, really tight player, going all in with his last few chips) and a few folders. I figured I was beat with an ace, but figured I'd stick around to see if another K or 2 came up. Turn came a 9 and everyone checked around. River came a 2, giving me two pair. It gets checked around to me, and I bet $2. The player to my left (who was all in) thought that everyone had checked around, and flipped his cards up, and I saw his A-J. Others folded. I win a pot. That put me up to about $35.
Some hands later, I was on the button and get Q10 hearts. Lots of limpers, and I call. Flop comes 8h-9d-Jh. I've got the nut straight, four-to-a-flush, and a straight flush draw. My heart is pounding! Checked to me. I bet, lots of callers. Turn comes some low diamond. Checked to me, I bet, get lots of callers. River comes another diamond. Checked around to the guy before me (who I just realize was the big blind), and he now bets. Fuck. I reluctantly call. He flips over 10-5 of diamonds, meaning he missed his open ended straight draw, but fell into a flush to take a huge pot. Stink. I was reeling.
Another hand I got pocket jacks, raised pre-flop. The flop came Q73. Long story short, the big blind won with 7-3o (calling my raise with 7-3o! Ugh).
Those two hands left me crippled and reeling, and I chased a couple more hands, and died a slow death. Best hands I saw over the night was A9 suited, JJ, stuff like that, which are really pretty marginal at a full table full of callers. In retrospect, I really should have played more patiently, and be satisfied to fold and not chase. Good poker is not necessarily fun poker.
During the evening, I saw Miami Kyle stand up and stomp out of the room. He lost an undisclosed amount. By the time I was out (which was about the time we all agreed we wanted to leave anyways), Iwan was down $18, and John (who was playing at the $2-$4 table) was up $84! Nice work that guy. From his descriptions of some hands, it sounded like he was getting cards and playing them well, on a loose table to boot. Very nice.
So, I think my lesson is patience. Don’t stray from (what I think is) the right path, even if that means not playing a single hand. The small and big blinds combine for $1.50, and an average pot is maybe $10 or $15, so I can afford to wait.
Two-day total: +$19
I like posting detailed poker reports here, because in the future, I know I'll enjoy reading back through hand histories and stuff. Also, I want to keep a somewhat official record of winnings and losings, and doing so in a public forum will help keep me honest, so to speak. So (as goes without saying), feel free to skip these sorts of posts if you're not into it.
So, I went with Miami Kyle, Iwan, and Miami John to our local card house to play some poker last night. Intrepid readers will remember that the first time I went, I played very tighly, winning 4 of (only) 5 showdowns for a profit of $39.
This time around, I didn't play as well. I didn't get very good cards, and spent the first two rounds of the table folding literally everything, and watching people win with absolute crap. Playing any two cards can certainly be profitable in the short run, but I'm convinced it's not the right way to play in the long run. But watching people make their full houses with Q4o is rough.
I was prepared to cash in for $50, but no one ever showed up with chips. The dealer offered to cash in $20, so I did that, and ended up just playing with that, which I was pleasantly surprised to find was enough to play with for the night.
I went down a few bucks in blinds, and was dealt K2 clubs in a late position, and figured "what the hell". Flop came AK8 rainbow. There were a lot of callers (one guy, really tight player, going all in with his last few chips) and a few folders. I figured I was beat with an ace, but figured I'd stick around to see if another K or 2 came up. Turn came a 9 and everyone checked around. River came a 2, giving me two pair. It gets checked around to me, and I bet $2. The player to my left (who was all in) thought that everyone had checked around, and flipped his cards up, and I saw his A-J. Others folded. I win a pot. That put me up to about $35.
Some hands later, I was on the button and get Q10 hearts. Lots of limpers, and I call. Flop comes 8h-9d-Jh. I've got the nut straight, four-to-a-flush, and a straight flush draw. My heart is pounding! Checked to me. I bet, lots of callers. Turn comes some low diamond. Checked to me, I bet, get lots of callers. River comes another diamond. Checked around to the guy before me (who I just realize was the big blind), and he now bets. Fuck. I reluctantly call. He flips over 10-5 of diamonds, meaning he missed his open ended straight draw, but fell into a flush to take a huge pot. Stink. I was reeling.
Another hand I got pocket jacks, raised pre-flop. The flop came Q73. Long story short, the big blind won with 7-3o (calling my raise with 7-3o! Ugh).
Those two hands left me crippled and reeling, and I chased a couple more hands, and died a slow death. Best hands I saw over the night was A9 suited, JJ, stuff like that, which are really pretty marginal at a full table full of callers. In retrospect, I really should have played more patiently, and be satisfied to fold and not chase. Good poker is not necessarily fun poker.
During the evening, I saw Miami Kyle stand up and stomp out of the room. He lost an undisclosed amount. By the time I was out (which was about the time we all agreed we wanted to leave anyways), Iwan was down $18, and John (who was playing at the $2-$4 table) was up $84! Nice work that guy. From his descriptions of some hands, it sounded like he was getting cards and playing them well, on a loose table to boot. Very nice.
So, I think my lesson is patience. Don’t stray from (what I think is) the right path, even if that means not playing a single hand. The small and big blinds combine for $1.50, and an average pot is maybe $10 or $15, so I can afford to wait.
Two-day total: +$19
2004/07/01
First things first. My boy posted up some Mud Run pictures from a while ago. Check 'em out.
Next things next. Diana and I just got back from a long weekend in Maryland, visiting my brother and his wife and their new little boy and my first nephew, Ben. It was a great weekend, all in all, and I was very pleased to meet the little tyke and witness my brother and sister-in-law in full parenting mode. Looking back, we didn't really do that much during the days: lots of playing around, a trip to the park, some work out in the yard, but the time went really fast.
Ben's a great little guy. He's (in my eyes) incredibly well adjusted and easy to get along with. He literally only cried for about 30 cumulative seconds the whole time we were there. His parents were also on him like a hawk, constantly making sure he's dry, fed, napped, and happy. I was really expecting sleepless nights and plenty of walks with Diana to get away from a screaming baby, but it was a joy to see him and hang out. I look forward to seeing him more and watching him (read: his calves) grow up.
On our final day there, we headed into DC and met up with Diana's friend Megan for lunch. We ate at some place right near the capitol building surrounded by peeps in suits. I could just feel the political scene in the air. Lunch was nice, and afterwards we killed some time wandering around the Mall. We checked out the new WWII Memorial, which was nice, and then headed to the National Archives and checked out the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, among other important documents. Pretty neat to see, but lots of security and long lines was a little frustrating.
That evening, we met back up with Megan and Diana's aunt and uncle for a very delicious dinner. That was a lot of fun. Diana's aunt and uncle remind me of my own aunt and uncle, who are very easy to get along with and love to laugh and have fun. Diana's uncle is a big Civil War buff, and has done some research into Diana's own family history with regard to the Civil War. He sounded pretty willing and able to take us on a tour the next time we're up there, which I think would be a lot of fun.
Plane ride movies were "Scooby Doo II" (we passed), and "Miracle" on the way back, which we watched. It was somewhat cheeseball, but pretty entertaining. I really would like to watch the original game. I only vaguely remember it (or perhaps footage of it), but my dad remembers people going outside and high fiving neighbors, honking horns, etc. Incredible.
That's about the size of it for now. Back to work, hot and ready to pop. Long weekend for the 4th, and some BBQ plans in the works… what could be finer?
Next things next. Diana and I just got back from a long weekend in Maryland, visiting my brother and his wife and their new little boy and my first nephew, Ben. It was a great weekend, all in all, and I was very pleased to meet the little tyke and witness my brother and sister-in-law in full parenting mode. Looking back, we didn't really do that much during the days: lots of playing around, a trip to the park, some work out in the yard, but the time went really fast.
Ben's a great little guy. He's (in my eyes) incredibly well adjusted and easy to get along with. He literally only cried for about 30 cumulative seconds the whole time we were there. His parents were also on him like a hawk, constantly making sure he's dry, fed, napped, and happy. I was really expecting sleepless nights and plenty of walks with Diana to get away from a screaming baby, but it was a joy to see him and hang out. I look forward to seeing him more and watching him (read: his calves) grow up.
On our final day there, we headed into DC and met up with Diana's friend Megan for lunch. We ate at some place right near the capitol building surrounded by peeps in suits. I could just feel the political scene in the air. Lunch was nice, and afterwards we killed some time wandering around the Mall. We checked out the new WWII Memorial, which was nice, and then headed to the National Archives and checked out the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, among other important documents. Pretty neat to see, but lots of security and long lines was a little frustrating.
That evening, we met back up with Megan and Diana's aunt and uncle for a very delicious dinner. That was a lot of fun. Diana's aunt and uncle remind me of my own aunt and uncle, who are very easy to get along with and love to laugh and have fun. Diana's uncle is a big Civil War buff, and has done some research into Diana's own family history with regard to the Civil War. He sounded pretty willing and able to take us on a tour the next time we're up there, which I think would be a lot of fun.
Plane ride movies were "Scooby Doo II" (we passed), and "Miracle" on the way back, which we watched. It was somewhat cheeseball, but pretty entertaining. I really would like to watch the original game. I only vaguely remember it (or perhaps footage of it), but my dad remembers people going outside and high fiving neighbors, honking horns, etc. Incredible.
That's about the size of it for now. Back to work, hot and ready to pop. Long weekend for the 4th, and some BBQ plans in the works… what could be finer?
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