Party last night was an awesome time. 8 people total, which worked out perfect for the amount of space, chips, and everything else. The funny part is that the group of people just ended up being my standard AD&D group of friends plus 2 other friends. And a lot of us hadn't even seen each other in some time, so it was great to just socialize for awhile using poker as the excuse. Had some college hockey playing in the background, pizza, snacks and good times.
We started the first hand going over the rules and trying to emphasize the first few hands being "practice", but with real betting. What happened next was hilarious. Now, keep in mind, technically speaking, this is some low stakes poker. Betting starts out with white chips, that from a dollar value, are .02 cents a piece. Yes, 2 pennies. But what happens? A few people have really good hands and all of a sudden people are throwing around their highest value chips ($2 dollar chips). Off the first hand, one person basically took 2 people down half their chips. So much for "practice" hands!
First person went out shortly after 7pm, and the game lasted until just before 11:30pm. Some highlights include one guy getting pocket Aces TWICE in a row. The odds of getting dealt pocket Aces is around 220 to 1, and this guy got it twice! I got pocket aces once, but didn't show them (won the hand without being called). The highest hands all night were full houses, no 4-of-a-kinds all night. There were a quite a few number of Full Houses though, including a hand where two guys both had full houses. One had 7s over 6s and the other had 6s over 7s!
In the end, I made it to the final two, but I was severely short stacked. I won a solid all-in with 3 10's when my opponent had 2 pair 10s and Jacks. But he had so many chips that he could just keep bleeding me. I tried a few bully moves that didn't work out. Despite all that, as it got down to the end, he goes blind all-in against me (all-in without looking at his first 2 cards). I had Ace & 2 of spades, a solid opener. So I said what the hell and called. He flips his cards over, 10-4 off suit. I'm clearly ahead at this point. Flop comes up... 10-4-Ace. So now he has 2 pair and I have a pair of aces, but I'd need a 2 or Ace to come up to win. What happens? Another 10 or 4, I honestly don't remember. Point is, he gets a friggen Full House off a blind all-in! Crazy. So I came in second, but had a great time.
Everyone had so much fun, that I might even be motivated to do one more this year, in late fall before the winter sets in.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
There we go
Could this week be the true start to spring weather? Sure hope so. I took the chance this weekend to try my first outdoor run of the year and only my 3rd run since Feb 1st (the other 2 being short treadmill runs when the ellipticals were full). The run went well, although turned out to be a bit colder then I realized. 7.75 miles at a decent pace. In the end, my foot felt no better or worse, so... More outdoor runs to follow, probably starting with this weekend. Fingers crossed that no "new" pain develops.
Our colds are still kicking our ass, which is dragging me down a bit this week. It would be nice to have everyone healthy again by this weekend. Casey has it the worst, simply because there isn't anything she can do. It's still hard for her to get a good nights sleep, so she is extra moody and tired (which in turn, makes the rest of us tired). I'm thinking we should be free and clear within a week. Again, fingers crossed.
I'm looking forward to this weekend, as I'm hosting a poker night that I planned out a few months in advance. Small, myself and maybe 5-6 others. Small stakes, nothing huge, but it should be fun to just get together for a guys night. I did a poker night in both 2005 and 2006, and then sorta just stopped doing it for 3 years. Figured it's about damn time to start it up again, so bring on the 3rd "not-really-annual" Poker Night!
Our colds are still kicking our ass, which is dragging me down a bit this week. It would be nice to have everyone healthy again by this weekend. Casey has it the worst, simply because there isn't anything she can do. It's still hard for her to get a good nights sleep, so she is extra moody and tired (which in turn, makes the rest of us tired). I'm thinking we should be free and clear within a week. Again, fingers crossed.
I'm looking forward to this weekend, as I'm hosting a poker night that I planned out a few months in advance. Small, myself and maybe 5-6 others. Small stakes, nothing huge, but it should be fun to just get together for a guys night. I did a poker night in both 2005 and 2006, and then sorta just stopped doing it for 3 years. Figured it's about damn time to start it up again, so bring on the 3rd "not-really-annual" Poker Night!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
From Tired to Busy
Being overly tired was the worst thing to happen leading into the day light savings time weekend. On top of that, we had a full weekend of travel, spending time with family, and all sorts of stuff that just kept us going all weekend. In the end, no one adjusted very well to the time change and it's been dragging on everyone all week.
I think I'm finally recovered today, since I got to sleep in until 8am. I was up with Casey a few times during the night, but nothing too bad. Me and the girls all have colds right now. Andrea has avoided it so far, so she might be in the clear. The rest of us are just miserable. I'm hoping this is the last round of colds we get for awhile as we lead into spring.
Speaking of spring, the girls are definitely enjoying more time out side lately. You quickly forget how "new" everything is to a 10 month old. Stuff outside to see, touch and smell are all still new to her. To Casey, the coolest thing in the world is to just hold her near a tree branch so she can grab it.
Meanwhile, Megan asks me pretty much every other time we go outside if she can take her training wheels off! She's not quite ready for that, but our neighbors daughter is a year older than Megan and she might get this off this summer. So of course, Megan wants the same. So typical!
Here's a recent video of Casey practicing walking with assistance outside.
I think I'm finally recovered today, since I got to sleep in until 8am. I was up with Casey a few times during the night, but nothing too bad. Me and the girls all have colds right now. Andrea has avoided it so far, so she might be in the clear. The rest of us are just miserable. I'm hoping this is the last round of colds we get for awhile as we lead into spring.
Speaking of spring, the girls are definitely enjoying more time out side lately. You quickly forget how "new" everything is to a 10 month old. Stuff outside to see, touch and smell are all still new to her. To Casey, the coolest thing in the world is to just hold her near a tree branch so she can grab it.
Meanwhile, Megan asks me pretty much every other time we go outside if she can take her training wheels off! She's not quite ready for that, but our neighbors daughter is a year older than Megan and she might get this off this summer. So of course, Megan wants the same. So typical!
Here's a recent video of Casey practicing walking with assistance outside.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tired
No other words come to mind right now. I'm seriously worn down. If I put my head on a pillow right now I think I'd pass out before I closed my eyes. So why am I blogging? Cause Megan took a huge nap tonight and isn't remotely tired. Ah well. I should stop getting to work at 6am, might help.
This weekend was pretty tough driving around, seeing runners everywhere I looked. I was feening pretty hard to get out there. My foot condition hasn't changed significantly over the last 5 weeks of no running. If anything, it maybe feels slightly better. I have no real pain anymore unless I really crank on the stretching. I'm probably going to end up at the foot doctor again in a few weeks and discuss any other options. It might just be a giant waste of time and money, but I need something. One way or another I'm going to start running outside again in early to mid April.
Once I start running again, I see 3 possible outcomes. I'm trying to mentally prepare for the worst of those, but it's not coming easy. The best possible outcome of course is that running outdoors again with orthopedic shoe inserts will somehow magically readjust my foot and help it heal and go back to normal. Odds of that happening? I'm going to say less than 10%. Second outcome is that the pain I have now just stays more or less the same. I mean, even at the "peak" it never actually hurt. It was just a minor annoyance, mostly in the morning (which is a lot better thanks to the night splint). The last outcome, and most likely outcome, is that running again aggravates it and results in worse pain.
Of all the things I wanted to do this year, quitting running for good was not one of them. But if after I start running again, the pain gets worse, I'm not sure what other options I would have. The thought of being done running for good is not something I can swallow right now. So I'm just going to have to take one day at a time and see how this spring goes.
This weekend was pretty tough driving around, seeing runners everywhere I looked. I was feening pretty hard to get out there. My foot condition hasn't changed significantly over the last 5 weeks of no running. If anything, it maybe feels slightly better. I have no real pain anymore unless I really crank on the stretching. I'm probably going to end up at the foot doctor again in a few weeks and discuss any other options. It might just be a giant waste of time and money, but I need something. One way or another I'm going to start running outside again in early to mid April.
Once I start running again, I see 3 possible outcomes. I'm trying to mentally prepare for the worst of those, but it's not coming easy. The best possible outcome of course is that running outdoors again with orthopedic shoe inserts will somehow magically readjust my foot and help it heal and go back to normal. Odds of that happening? I'm going to say less than 10%. Second outcome is that the pain I have now just stays more or less the same. I mean, even at the "peak" it never actually hurt. It was just a minor annoyance, mostly in the morning (which is a lot better thanks to the night splint). The last outcome, and most likely outcome, is that running again aggravates it and results in worse pain.
Of all the things I wanted to do this year, quitting running for good was not one of them. But if after I start running again, the pain gets worse, I'm not sure what other options I would have. The thought of being done running for good is not something I can swallow right now. So I'm just going to have to take one day at a time and see how this spring goes.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Back on Track
Once again find myself breaking my self imposed rule of at least 1 blog post a week. Last week I just couldn't find the time, despite being fascinated reading through posts by Sunnybrook Farm. Considering how much I whine about finding a way out of a system I hate, I only joke about dropping off the grid. Reading about someone that actually did it was cool.
The lack of posts last week came mostly from work. I've been pouring WAY too much into it the last month or so. One night this week, Andrea looked at me and asked, "What are you thinking about?" And I said, "I'm thinking about how pissed off I am that I can't stop thinking about work."
The opportunity to bring the project that I work on out of the 90s and into the latest decade has presented itself again. I've mentioned this over half a year ago and I'm not sure this time will be any different. I've jokingly referred to it as "Project Unobtainium", but it isn't too far from the truth. No matter how cool I can make something look or how many value statements I can come up with, some senior executive that doesn't know what Windows 7 is, won't understand why it might be a good idea to re-architect our software for that platform. But I figure I'll give it one more shot, and when the competition begins to steamroll us, I can at least say I gave it my best shot, instead of just "I told you so."
The lack of posts last week came mostly from work. I've been pouring WAY too much into it the last month or so. One night this week, Andrea looked at me and asked, "What are you thinking about?" And I said, "I'm thinking about how pissed off I am that I can't stop thinking about work."
The opportunity to bring the project that I work on out of the 90s and into the latest decade has presented itself again. I've mentioned this over half a year ago and I'm not sure this time will be any different. I've jokingly referred to it as "Project Unobtainium", but it isn't too far from the truth. No matter how cool I can make something look or how many value statements I can come up with, some senior executive that doesn't know what Windows 7 is, won't understand why it might be a good idea to re-architect our software for that platform. But I figure I'll give it one more shot, and when the competition begins to steamroll us, I can at least say I gave it my best shot, instead of just "I told you so."
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