Now you see me...

Well kiddies, it looks like my blogging days are numbered. Or at least, less numbered. It seems the server at work no longer cares much for blogger, or any blog site for that matter. I can't really read your blogs (at work) and I can't really post on mine (at work). While I can still post from home (they can't get me here), it certainly won't be with the regular frequency you all look forward to. I will still post, until the computer burns my retinas and cripples my lower body. Honestly, after sitting at a computer all day, and then having to come home and do it some more, I don't expect that to take long.

You win corporate America, you fucking horror. You win.

Nick

Picture Monday

Been a while since I've posted some pics. Here's some of the boy and a recent home poker game. Aren't everyone just darlin'?

You thought Minnesota was sore when we left...

Well, you may have gathered from the post the other day that we were asked to go to Mexico with some friends. Well, we've decided that we're going to go. It took a little prodding for both of us. Mainly for two reasons.

First is, we don't like to fly. We've done it before, and we'll do it again, but if we can avoid it at all... we do.

Personally, were it up to me (it's actually not), I would be perfectly content with hopping in the car and driving down to Cancun. I've heard some parts of Mexico can get a little hairy though, so, probably not the best idea. Hell, we almost died in New Orleans, can you imagine us in the middle of Mexico? By the way, when I think of Mexico, I think of the same pungent piss smell that consumed New Orleans, even before the flood. It's something you just have to live with the rest of your life, once you've witnessed it.

The second reason we needed a little convincing by ourselves that we should go to Cancun, was, well... it's with other people. Another couple. I've tried, and I'm just not sure I can visualize how travelling with two other people is a benefit to anyone. It's one thing to try to convince one person that you would rather sit on the beach drinking Coronas all day rather than trek thru the Mexican jungle looking for things that are lost for a reason. If I have to convince three people, or even two, I might just need to switch to Tequila. And Tequila hates me...

But, when it was all said and done... we decided to say yes. Because who the hell in their right mind, says no, to this:



If I believed in heaven, and I don't, this is what I would believe it looked like...

Nick

Go die.

It's nice to know that when you're black, there's a group of people who will stick up for you no matter what you do. The Atlanta chapter of the NAACP has now come out defending Michael Vick after he pleaded guilty to federal dog fighting charges.

I mean this sincerely, what exactly does a black person have to do before the NAACP will rip them?

"As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football," said R.L. White, president of the NAACP's Atlanta chapter. "We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country."

That makes me want to barf. And when I hear other athletes, and public figures defend this thug, I want to keep on barfing. Even if you don't like animals, even if you hate dogs, how in the hell can you justify dog fighting? How can you defend the creeps and thugs who face off two animals and let them fight until death?

White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.

"His crime is, it was a dog," White said.

There you have it. The second strongest human trait - rationalization.

Nick

I know a lot of people, but I don't have any friends...

I was reading over my horoscope this morning, as I do every morning. You never know when it may contain valuable information. I know when it doesn't, which is every day, but I read it anyways. I don't really believe in horoscopes, but then, I don't believe in the Easter Bunny either, and I still eat a shit load of candy on Easter.

So, today, my horoscope started in this fashion:

Memories of an awkward moment in a friendship still hang in the air -- don't you think it's time for one of you to reach out and make an effort to reconnect?

I thought, wow, that makes sense. But then, all of my friendships are full of awkward moments, which one are they talking about? I've just never been a very good friend. I think mostly because I despise the telephone, and thus, I never call my friends and I often avoid any incoming calls. I figure if I don't want to hang out, what's the point of talking on the phone? If I can't reduce a phone call to "what time do you want to meet at the bar?", it involves too much talking, and I hate talking on the phone. And when I say hate, I really mean really fucking hate.

And then I started to think about what it would be like to have that one friend that you're always with. You don't have to call them up, they're just there. Or you're just there. When you look at some of the more famous friendships of our time, they were never talking on the phone. There were never awkward moments. Why can't I have a friendship like that?

Like, for example, Norm and Cliff.



You know they never had to call each other on the phone. They always met at the bar. It's nice and simple. Not complicated and awkward.

Or George and Jerry.



George would just pop over, ring the buzzer, and they would hang out. He never called and said, "Hey, whatchya doin'?" And Jerry never replied, "Nothin. You?"

Or what about Balki and... that other dude?



Uh. Yeah, I don't know about that one...

Here's a good one though, Joey and Chandler.



Of course, they lived together, so that's a little different. And they had a foosball table, which would just eliminate the awkwardness altogether. Then you could just call your friend and say, "Hey, I'm coming over for some foosball. I'll bring some beer too." It's all good.

You know what would really be the best friend situation though? Being friends with the cast of Three's Company...



Oh, who am I kidding. I really would have just loved to be Jack. That guy had it made... But, can't really say that that got him anywhere, can ya?

I guess, when you think about it, having good friends never got any of these people anywhere. Except cancelled. Maybe I'm better off not having any friends.

Nick

Sandwich blogging

* Our weekend was pretty action packed. I'll try to summarize.

* Saturday during the day we had a brat fry for the poker league I'm in. I think one could come to a couple of conclusions about this. 1 - brat fries don't make any money, and 2 - everyone has something better to do during the summer. We cashed a cool $50, and no one I invited showed up. What do you do? At least the wife came along with the boy. She's my only friend I guess... ./sob story

* I did double my money in a poker tournament we did at the brat fry though. In fact, I was looking over my finishes (I'm a dork and keep track of them), and I've cashed in 4 of my last 5 tournaments. Pay no attention to the big bucks I'm raking in, but it's a sign that my game is improving. Observe:



* Saturday night the wife and I attended our 10 year high school reunion. I don't have any crazy stories, and we didn't have sex on the golf course, which is disappointing... but I will say this. After seeing some of these people for the first time in 10 years, I feel pretty damn good about myself. Yup.

* How about I cut my loses with this post, spare you, and just post some music. These are a couple of songs from Kirsten Jones. She's from Canada hey. She reminds me of Sheryl Crow a bit.



Nick

Is that a cd in your mp3 player, or...

Here's a groovy idea from designer Yong-Seong Kim. It's an .mp3 player. No, it's a cd player. Eh, it's both?

Not sure why exactly you would want to play cds when you have a collection of .mp3s, but in case you did... here's the solution. Cds really just bother me. With the technology to put millions of songs on computer chips you can't even see with the naked eye, why in the hell should I carry around a big plastic disc that can fit 25-30 songs max.?



In other news, are we actually arguing about whether this guy killed someone??? Whether he did or didn't wouldn't you want to convict him if you were on the jury? We should not be subjected to shit like this... Phil. Phil Phil Phil... what are you thinking? You're on trial for murder! Wake up, it's not 1976 anymore!

This bitch has too much time on her hands...

Sometimes I find it hard to be human. I just find it so hard to relate to others sometimes. Like this bitch, Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word [bitch], saying it creates "a paradigm of shame and indignity" for all women.

"They buried the n-word, but what about the other words that really affect women, such as 'b,' and 'ho'? That's a vile attack on our womanhood," Ms. Mealy said in a telephone interview.

Where am I? Our civilization has come this far for this?

You know what's scary about all this? Not only do we have people that are this fucking stupid in our world, they're running our cities, and states, and our country. They're elected officials in charge of making sure our society functions, and that law and order are in place.

If that doesn't scare the shit out of you, I don't know what will...

Nick

Happy Birthday me!

Wow. I am impressed again, and honored! The wife really went out of her way this year for my birthday...

I'd like to thank all the other pimps out there, for making me look so damn good.

Nick

From here on out...

* Does it surprise you that I've already bored myself with a poker blog? I really wish I had the discipline to write about one topic, but alas, my ADD won't allow it. I promise I won't keep changing the title of this blog, but someday it may make sense. In the meantime, I'll post on whatever. I think it will be more enjoyable for all.

* First off, kudos to the wife. She planned and fully executed a surprise birthday party for me and another friend on Saturday. It was a ton of fun, and despite drinking until well in the morning, I didn't wake up hungover. However, after only 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I did wake up very tired... It's not all that fun to drink all night when you have a child to retrieve from Grandmas early in the morning...

* I did manage to sneak in some poker games Saturday during the day (that's how they got me out of the house...) and Saturday night. I lost $10 during the day but stayed in long enough to fend off the other drunks Saturday night, and split a $70 prize. So, $25 up on the day... not bad.

* My friends are by far the most dysfunctional when it comes to relationships. It's really quite boring. Every time we see certain couples, they're drunk and fighting, and it's no coincidence that the two go hand in hand. I felt like telling a few people to just grow up on Saturday. At least act like you're adults when you're around other people.

* The wife and I don't have many couples-friends to do stuff with. Will you be our friends?

* Is it just me, or does everyone have a certain person that just drains the life out of them? Kind of like Bill Lumberg in the movie Office Space. You do everything you can to avoid them, but they're always there. And they really just piss you off so bad that you can't focus on anything else. I can't say I want to kill a certain person, that's not necessary, I just wish I could never have to talk to them again. I wonder if anyone feels that about me...

* I turn 28 tomorrow. Bleh. Birthdays seem like such a hassle as you get older. Gone are the days of people just coming over and unloading cool presents on you. Now I have to buy bagles on my way to work for all the goats I work with. That's bull, people should be buying stuff for me. Better yet, I shouldn't have to work. You should never have to work on your own birthday. I'm bitter.

Nick (still 27... and loving it.)

The table project and some free time...

Here's a look at the table project. When I'm done, I'm hoping for something to this effect:



Might need some crafty help from the wife on this one :) The problem with my table is the outside edge is only about 1 1/2", which doesn't lend well to stapling the rail material (the black part) and hiding the staples well. We'll have to get creative.

I think for the middle, just a thin piece of wood with some felt will work well. It will be raised up more, but I'm not sure that would be such a bad thing.

Aside from that, the wife went out tonight, so after the boy went down I played a few free rolls on Poker Stars. I don't play for real money online anymore, because, besides being a hassle to get your money in with all the stupid new laws, I'm not big of internet play. I like being able to look at someone when I'm playing. Too many fishes ands donkeys out there playing online to put much money on it. It's just not really my idea of poker. But... the free rolls give me my poker fix when I can get it. Which isn't much.

I played one No Limit Hold 'Em sit and go with 27 players. Someone went all-in on the first hand, and I had A-10, so I figured my chances were as good as any to double up right away. I hate doing that, because that's really not poker, but what the hell. I missed and was out.

Then I played a HORSE tournament with 4,000 players. 27 spots were awarded free buy in to a $1000 round two tournament. HORSE is a limit game, with a combination of Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi/Low, Razz, seven card Stud and seven card Stud Hi/Low. Each time the deal goes around, you switch games. I did fairly well for a while, and then busted out on a table of mostly people sitting out. Only three of us were playing, and at that point, all your hands look decent. There were about 2,000 players left when I went out.

Next was a HORSE sit and go with eight players. Busted out sixth, because the person to my left just raised everything with anything. Not too much fun, so I blew all my chips away and quit.

But... looks like Saturday during the day there might be another friendly cash game going down, so we'll see what happens. As well, there is a pot limit Omaha tournament a few hours north on Sunday, but doubt I'll make it to that. For only a $10 buy-in, it's not really worth the drive, although it would be fun to play an Omaha tournament. Not too many of those around. Oh well.

Nick

More music

I was thinking about some more music to put on here, and instantly thought of an Elliot Smith cover song that Mason Jennings does, Angeles. I think it fits this blog well because the lyrics remind me of poker...

And what's a game of chance to you, to him is one of real skill
So glad to meet you
Angeles
Picking up the ticket shows there's money to be made
Go on and lose the gamble that's the history of the trade
You add up all the cards left to play to zero
And sign up with evil
Angeles

I like Mason's version because it's live and was done in a theater, which adds a cool effect. When we seen him in Milwaukee, it was at the old Pabst Theater, which is beyond cool. It took me a few 16oz Pabsts to get past the vertigo from being in that place though...

I was thinking too... It says in my profile that I'm 27, which I am. But next week I'll turn 28. When I think of some of the famous musicians that died at 27, it'll be kind of nice to make it past it. Probably jinxing myself here... When you consider though that people like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, just to name a few, all died at 27. Weird.

Anyways, here's the song, Angeles. It's good stuff, give it a listen.



Nick