IQ Test and Card Trick

Palooza!

OMG I so need a palooza. 

I WANT MY PALOOZA NOW!

I missed out on the Winter Blogger gathering in Vegas. (Are Z listers even invited?) I so plan on crashing that event next year if at all possible.

T and I were tossing around the idea of a palooza; we have finally settled on a venue: Indianapolis, IN.  The good news is that we have several friends (effers and others) that live in and around Indy.  The bad news is that the Dolts Colts will be playing a playoff game some time that weekend.  We've been told that there should still be hotel rooms and the rates shouldn't be jacked up huge because most of the seats in the stadium will be filled by season ticket holders but I would get a room lined up now if you think you might want to attend.

There will be the usual Poker Suite for low stakes, degenerate donkitude.  Hoosier Park horse track is nearby with Pokertek tables. We plan on hitting up that place and seeing if they'll humor us with a PLO or even a PLO8 table.  We love the flexibility of the Pokertek tables when it comes to game selection.

Did I mention degenerate donkitude?  Yeah, there will be plenty of that going around.  You can check out The Forum for more details.

Wow, I feel better already.

Theme Tree

Why didn't I think of this?

PokerSlut Tour XVII $1 Rebuy

It's the last PS Tour event this year and I'm sure it will be quite the donkament!

Next season starts January 3rd, 2010!

PokerSlut Tour XVI Stud Hi/Lo

Is your Stud Hi or Lo?

Overeducated/Underemployed

I used to jokingly use 'Overeducated and Underemployed' as a tag line in my forum profile.  I have an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering but have been a stay at home mom for many years now.

I found my first job out of college hugely frustrating because I did no engineering to speak of.  Some of the other new hires in my group did actually do engineering but for the most part the rest of us just did paperwork and went to meetings.  I suppose it shouldn't come as any surprise that I was working for a division of General Motors at the time.



I saw this in my reader this morning and had to chuckle.  I'm convinced that just about every college graduate - particularly those in the scientific fields - feels this way at some point in their career usually within the first few months.

I moved on from General Motors to Rockwell just before they were bought by Boeing.  I worked out at the NASA test facility in White Sands, NM.  One might think this was a step up on the career ladder.  One might.  Until one figured out that the NASA engineers pretty much controlled everything.  You may THINK you are in control of the project until you walk in one morning only to be told, "I spec'ed and order your clean room."  Stuff like that happened constantly.

There are days when I could certainly use more mental challenges in my life but for the most part I keep myself busy.   I don't look back on my working days fondly but I'm definitely glad I had the experience if for no other reason that to be able to appreciate the Dilbert comic strips.

LuckBox Revenge

Last month I was a luckbox.  I admit it.  I ran good.  I won a few huge pots I had no business winning.

Poker is a bitch of a mistress.  She's getting her due.  Payback is her calling card.

October



November

December

I'm getting coolered, sucked out on, AND I can't win a flip to save my life.

What to do? What to do?

I guess I'll go squander some of my offline bankroll playing at the boat tomorrow while I wish I was in Vegas for the Winter Bloggerment.  At least I would be having a good time while I donk off my money.

PokerSlut Tour XVI HORSE & Justin Shronk Memorial

You're going to be playing anyway so you might as well sign up for both!

Justin Shronk Memorial Tourney
Where: Full Tilt Poker

 

Tournament ID: 121607994
Time: Sunday, December 6 @ 18:00 (or 6pm ET)
Game: NL
Buy-In: $5 + $5
Password: Justin Shronk (type as is)

Senator Diane Savino rocks!

Mac Chat

Time for another lazy blogger post.

Thing is: I installed Windows 7 not long ago and now I have to dig through multiple files for ammunition for this post.  We all know how lazy I am.  This doesn't bode well for this post.

Mac: wife made me a sandwich with fresh homemade bread (well, homemade in a bread machine)
Mac: but it's cut kinda wonkie so one side of it is like 2" thick
Mac: I don't care for bread quite that much, but I don't think i can tell her that the bread was too thick either
Mac: esp after yesterday
Me : hahah
Me : yeah I wouldn't go there
Mac: my sandwich is so absurd
Mac: sent you a pic

Me : lol
Me : ok
Me : it's charming, and hand made by your wife so STFU LOL
Mac: oh, I know
Mac: it was really nice and it's all fresh and everything
Mac: which is why I can't joke about it with her
Me : right
Me : and I'm starving
Me : if only I didn't smell bad I could do a Taco Bell run
Mac: cause then I seem like an unappreciative dick instead of just trying to have fun
Mac: http:www.amazon.com/Norpro-Bread-Slicer-Crumb-Catcher/dp/B00004UE6T

Me : don't even think about it
Mac: oh, come on
Me : she'll hurt you
Mac: at least I get credit for being thoughtful then no?
Me : you get credit for saying she can't slice bread for shit
Mac: that's just BS
Mac: that's like saying I can't give her perfume cause it's telling her i think she smells
Me : lol
Mac: that with the cookbook they list on that page too
Me : lol
Mac: the bread making cookbook
Mac: fuck off, this is a good idea
Me : step away from amazon
Mac: stop harshing my gift giving buzz
Me : well then buy me something
Me : I could use some ram
Mac: http://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Erotic-Borosilicate-The-Ram/dp/B002DVAZ9A/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1256839074&sr=1-12

Me : I like the way you think
Mac: you said ram
Me : yes I did

Mac: shit is just irritating me today
Me : me too
Me : cranky and crabby
Me : and all I want to do it crawl back in bed
Me : my nose has been itching like crazy
Me : and it won't fucking stop raining
Me : http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/celebrity-pictures-butler-santoro-greeks-sex.jpg

Me : hahahahahah
Mac: fired?
Me : you could stay home all day and play poker
Me : sfw
Mac: :)
Mac: I told you about goozex, right?
Me : uh, no
Me : you been holding out on me?

Mac: http://pictureisunrelated.com/
Me : and you weren't worried about getting fired for looking at that?
Me : yet you worry every time I send you a link?
Me : bizarre
Mac: your link actually had "sex" in the url
Me : pussy

Mac: http://twitter.com/big_ben_clock/
Me : hahahhahahahah
Me : ok that's cute
Me : but what time zone is he in?
Me : not ours
Mac: 0
Me : ah london
Mac: duh
Me : yeah
Mac: GMT
Mac: didn't know you are blonde
Me : yeah, I color
Me : makes me look smarter

Me : ooh I have 7 points so far this month
Mac: haha
Mac: 1431.35 POINTS
Me : blow me
Me : ;P

Mac: oh, ugh
Mac: #6 on there is horrible
Mac: well, didn't listen to part 2
Mac: listened to half of part 1
Mac: it was awful
Mac: it basically shoulda been titled "Why I don't get laid"
Me : lol
Mac: oh sweet
Me : pretty sure I didn't get that one

Mac: you care what I think or you just want me to say NH?
Me : hahahah
Me : not right now
Me : we'll discuss later
Me : look at this one
Me : http://weaktight.com/1659562
Mac: I'm ok with either, just didn't know what you were looking for
Mac: so I'll just say NH
Me : nah, we can discuss it later
Me : if you want
Me : but I'm on 7 tables now
Mac: it's your hand
Me : I don't feel the need to comment on the hands you post that I read
Me : sometimes it's just fun to see what happens to other people
Mac: well, that's different cause I play awesome :D
Me : uh huh
Me : welcome to my retarded world

Mac: BTW
Mac: you shouldn't start your tweets with @somebody since it treats them as a reply then
Mac: kinda annoying
Me : yeah sorry
Mac: not annoying for me
Mac: but only people who follow both of us will see it
Me : that works for me
Me : lol
Me : or were you trolling for followers?
Me : pimp your own bad self
Mac: If I was doing that, I would make posts that randomly have the word "sex" in them and just not report all the new found adult website spammers
Me : uh huh
Me : too easy
Me : you should have to do it the hard way
Me : and sleep with each and every one personally
Me : that's what we need to do
Me : start a site called Twatter
Me : you can't add somebody unless you've slept with thenm
Mac: I'ld have a pretty short follow list
Mac: but might be a good excuse
Mac: "no, honey, I was only nailing them so I could follow their twats"
Me : bingo
Mac: you think that would work?
Me : you can always try
Mac: ok, seesmic is really kinda nice
Mac: esp the beta since it supports lists
Me : I think he is
Me : ooops
Me : is that a twatter client?
Mac: yeah

Me : things going any better with the wife?
Mac: going better?
Me : smoothed over with the twitter thing?
Mac: she was just being a PITA
Me : ahhh
Me : wives are good for that
Mac: that's why I like being a douche
Mac: people are more likely to be a PITA when they are in a good mood
Mac: if I'm a douche, I can prevent them from being in a good mood
Mac: which prevents them from being a PITA
Me : well that some rationale you got there
Mac: I'm on a whole new level than most people
Me : clearly

Me : yeah I think you told me about that once before
Mac: cause that's what I do
Mac: spread little bits of awesome all over the place
Me : you keep telling yourself that
Mac: we both know it's true
Mac: you surely didn't befriend me for my good looks and charm
Me : shh I'm busy shoping
Me : or watching pron
Me : you decide which
Mac: I will take pron for $200, Alex
Me : lol

Mac: did you watch that durrr video yet?
Mac: I have to say, he really looks like a tool when he wears a baseball cap
Me : hahahah
Me : that was not a good look for him
Me : but he's got charisma oosing out of him compared to Antonius
Me : I swear IDK how Antonius gets women cause he can't even mumble a coherent sentence
Mac: I'm sure he sounds much better in dutch or whatever the fuck it is they speak from where he's from
Me : you gotta hope so
Me : cause he sounds retarded in english
Me : I'd totally hit Durr over him any day of the week
Mac: what if he was small in the pants?
Me : well he better be talented then
Mac: like he can juggle?
Me : more like, are you good with your tongue?

Me : how did the weekend treat you?
Mac: well, I didn't get arrested or anything
Me : well that's a win
Mac: but I didn't win the PST tourney though either
Me : bummer
Me : cash?
Mac: um
Me : oops
Mac: I didn't play any poker yesterday
Me : me either
Mac: just watched football
Me : including sluts
Me : I ran tptk into kk twice and on my last hand into AA
Me : fml
Mac: on ring games?
Me : no just the ps tour
Me : I don't go broke with tptk in ring games
Mac: I thought you were saying to didn't play any yesterday
Me : yeah I was being sarcastic
Me : guess that didn't make it through
Mac: notsomuch
Mac: plus it's a bit ambitious to expect it to work on a monday morning
Me : yeah, I think that's the crux of the problem right there

Mac: why online poker videos are awesome?
Me : ok, why?
Mac: I just heard "PantySniffer is pretty solid"
Me : lol
Me : hahahahhahaha
Me : as he should be
Me : or she

Me : that was bizarre
Mac: totally
Me : first I got no dial tone
Me : then that annoy please hand up and try your call again but I it wouldnt' hang up
Mac: and then some dude in a scream mask jumped through your back patio door?
Me : glwt
Me : I have a killer poodle dontcha know
Mac: don't really care for poodles
Mac: you need like 3 of them to make a good meal
Me : lol

Me : you got skype handy?
Mac: yep
Me : well get on it
Mac: I am
Me : one ringy dingy
Me : two ringy dingy

Slut Free Weekend

I know it devastates you to know that this is a PokerSlut free weekend.  I know it devastated me, ok, not so much.  I love my Sunday nights of poker but when Monday morning rolls around and I have the pressure of getting the leaderboard updated I start suffering PS Tour remorse. 

I guess I'll just have to read more of the Sookie Stackhouse novels or, equally as good, watch Dexter tonight.  My BFF, T, hooked me up with Dexter.  Why o why didn't any of you other degenerate friends of mine tell me about Dexter ages ago?  I'm only about 2/3 of the way through the first season.  I'm going to have to do a marathon to catch up to the current season.

I'm still a little pissed off at myself for blowing the Iron Man this month.  I was a lock to get Silver this month but I was lazy and let it get past me.  Maybe next month.

Until next week happy pokering, reading or Dextering to all of you.

Speeding on the Internet

Well, utorrent said I was getting 2.1MB/s...

PokerSlut Tour XVI PLO DS

The Poker Star

I'm a huge fan of Joe Hachem.  He's got personality, charm, charisma and he knows a little about poker ;).  I am also a big fan of poker television.  I've been known to download poker shows from all over the world.  When (not)Zerb suggested I give The Poker Star show from Australia a try I was definitely game.

The premise of the show is that Joe Hachem is looking for the next Poker Star.  This competition starts with 11 players that are vying for the title which includes $100,000 and the seat to next year's WSOP ME.  The twist comes with the challenges - ala Survivor, the challenges are physical and mental. 

Each week there is a challenge, a tournament and an elimination.  It is quite compelling.  Clearly Poker Stars is sponsoring this show and they have spared no expense.  Lee Nelson, a very intimidating pro, 'assists' Joe with the challenges, assessments, and moving the players around to each assignment.  Initially there doesn't seem to be that much interaction with Joe but as the show progresses he spends more and more time with the players.

The challenges are incredibly well thought out.  They deal with individual skills that players need: stamina, reading, bluffing, focus, composure.  I think the players themselves are surprised by the nature of these challenges and how difficult some turned out to be. 

While the poker playing isn't the main focus of the show, the poker content is more representative of actual tournament poker than what you see on the usual poker shows.  I love seeing Joe and Lee discussing the play especially when they dislike a player's actions.  Clearly all of these players have experience playing and are successful players but we all have our leaks.  It's amazing how much easier leaks are to spot in other players. 

Bad play is roundly criticized by both Joe and Lee.  They are brutal in their assessments of the players' leaks and weaknesses.  They have zero tolerance for bad play and let the player know about it in no uncertain terms. 

Full episodes are available at the site as well as more content.  I haven't been there yet myself but I'm sure I will wander around over there after I get caught up with the shows. 

PokerSlut Tour XVI LHE

Time to donk it up one bet at a time. 
A slow painful death.
Not for the weak but definitely
fun for the donkeys - and you know who you are!

Kindle

My oldest son talked me into getting a Kindle so he could read it at school.  I was a prime target since I do love the idea of having all these books to read without having to worry about where to PUT the book when I'm done.  Almost every bookshelf in our house is already packed.

Before I agreed to buy the Kindle I made the boys try the Kindle app for their iPod Touch.  One thought it was ok but the youngest wasn't fond of it.  I gave it a try and was quickly suckered in.  I loved reading on that iPod Touch.  I do not have an iPhone but I could see how I would be seriously tempted to get one if Verizon ever gets one (which is looking more and more unlikely after the recent release of the Droid).

Just the other day I saw a notice that Amazon had released the Kindle PC application!  Wooooooot!  I have this snazzy little netbook that would be perfect for that!  I downloaded and installed it; I was connected to my account in no time.  I retrieved the eight book Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris that I recently purchased.  It wasn't until this morning that I had the time to fire up the netbook and try out the Kindle for PC software.  I have to say I like it.  Oddly, I like the actual Kindle itself the least of all my options. 

The best part about the Kindle and all the Kindle Applications is the FREE content that is available.  Many old classics are available for FREE.  Did I mention FREE books?  Jack London, Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Shakespeare, Jonathon Swift, Nathaniel Hawthorne....  The list goes on and on.  Additionally, there is a ton of content that is very cheap and no book is more than $9.99.

Now if only they would get that rumored BlackBerry app released!

Mmmm, Flowcharts!

PokerSlut Tour XVI Stud

Save a HORSE, ride a STUD!

Poker and Chores

I've been so lazy busy lately that I have neglected this place.

On the bright side I had the best month playing poker last month.  I scored a nice profit AND qualified for Bronze in the Iron Man Challenge!  Wooooooot!  I haven't played yet this month.  Sigh.

I managed to tackle a couple of nagging household chores yesterday.  Today I want to knock a few more off the list in addition to the normal stuff.

Last night Zooks99 meekly told me that he pulled the drawer front off of one of the new dresser drawers.  Hmmm.  Turns out I left out a couple key parts when I built it.  D'oh.  IKEA was kind enough to send me replacement parts.  Another item to add to my to do list.

I might actually get around to updating the PokerSlut Tour leaderboard this morning.  Some things just fall by the wayside when you start tackling those pesky chores.  I might even try to squeeze in some poker later today. 

In the mean time I'm off to change light switches and clean out linen closets.  Isn't that what all poker players do in their off time?

PokerSlut Tour XVI Razz

She's a brick house....

Windows 7

When I bought my Toshiba X205-sli1 in July of 2008 I seriously considered putting a 64bit operating system on it.  I did the usual Googling to see if anybody else had done it.  While it appeared to be doable, it was reportedly a daunting task mostly because 64bit drivers were hard to come by. 

I even called Toshiba asking for 64bit installation disks and was told to go fly a kite that Toshiba did not support 64bit operating systems and they would, therefore, not supply me with any 64bit Operating System Disks.  Bah!  At that time few computers where sold with 64bit Vista in contrast with the present day when almost all computers, excepting netbooks, are sold with Vista 64bit or Windows 7 64bit.

I finally talked myself down from the 64bit ledge.  With the help of some friends that said it just wasn't worth it, don't go there, and Bwwahahahahahahah! Fool! whenever I would bring up the subject. 

When Windows 7 Beta appeared I was sorely tempted to give it a try - in the 64bit version of course.  But I pussied out.  I had just gone through a system reinstall that left a bitter taste in my mouth.  I just didn't want to rock the boat anymore.  As time went by and I kept hearing how awesome Windows 7 was I knew I was going to break down and buy it as soon as it came but, even more significant, I was going to go with the 64bit version.  Finally.

The first computer to get an upgrade to Windows 7 wasn't my screaming machine.  Oh no.  The first machine in our house to get updated: the lowly Acer netbook.  Yeah that's right.  The Intel (sub)Atom(ic) netbook.  I was forced to download a copy because the netbook has no CD/DVD drive.  A student friend was kind enough to score me a copy using his discount. 

The netbook actually survived the upgrade nicely.  It is as speedy or even perkier than it was under XP.  Although it can't handle the Aero Themes is does quite nicely with the basic setup.

When I finally got my hands on a Family 3 Pack for Windows 7, my oldest son grabbed the box, removed the wrapper and was ready to slam the disk in his drive.  He's been all fired up for the upgrade.  He was delighted to get my old laptop as a hand me down but as soon as his brother got a slightly better laptop the oldest has been in a snit wanting a new laptop for himself.  Dream on, baby, dream on. 

The best thing about Windows 7 isn't the Aero themes or the Task Bar, it's how much more efficiently it uses resources.  The best example is my old, handed down HP laptop.  What a piece of dung that machine was.  Had I known I would have never bought it but, alas, we all have 20/20 hindsight.  Additionally, HP is not offering Windows 7 support for this particular series of laptops.  Yes, I said SERIES of machines. Here is its Windows Experience Score under Vista.

Yeah, that's right, a whopping 2.5.  I recall it being a 3.0 when I first bought the machine but after updating the video driver I WENT DOWN HALF A POINT.  I was not happy about this turn of events.

So how much difference did switching from 32bit Vista to 64bit Windows 7 make?  A good question indeed.

I'm VERY impressed with the improvement!  This is with the stock video driver loaded by Windows 7.  I did go hunt up a beta version of a 64bit driver released by NVidia but didn't bother installing it after I saw how well it was running without it.  Even without HP's support, Windows 7 managed to load drivers for all this hardware and everything works.  Everything.  My son is delighted by this new zippy OS.

The other son's laptop showed a marginal improvement in score but his machine had an issue with the wireless card.  I was listening to This Week in Tech (TWiT) podcast today.  The panel was discussing Windows 7 and the few reported problems people were having with it after the public release.  Turns out one of them had a problem with W7 trying to install an older wireless driver than what was already on the machine.  This is the exact issue I am having with my younger son's machine.  Sounds like something that needs to be addressed immediately.  Oddly, this machine is supported for Windows 7 by HP but no driver for this particular wireless card is listed for any of the versions of Windows 7.  Very odd, indeed.

I cruised by Toshiba to see if they had anything for my machine in the way of Windows 7 support.  I was shocked when I saw they had a whole gambit of drivers for W7 32bit AND for W7 64bit.  I downloaded all of them but wasn't sure I would be needing them.  I had some hope after my previous three experiences that the OS would find all the appropriate drivers for my hardware.

After I installed W7 it was obvious that I would need to install the video driver I had downloaded from Toshiba.  I had read some instructions that some of the chipset drivers would be needed so I cherry picked those out of the list and installed them.  Then I picked a few other drivers I thought I should load but left the rest to install if needed. 

It didn't take long for Windows 7 to let me know that there were some issues with some of the hardware and I needed to address these problems.  I pretty much just let Windows 7 tell me what to do.  I was so pleased when the results showed that I needed to download a driver from the Toshiba site.  "Click here to download the driver from Toshiba."  That's exactly what it said.  I clicked.  It immediately downloaded the file I needed.  I installed it.  It was that easy.  THAT EASY!  Who knew it could be that easy?

So, you want to see my Windows Experience Index?  Do ya, huh?  Of course you don't.  You've already moved on to the Fail Blog or xkcd.  Well screw you.  Here it is anyway.

Hahahahhaha!  I kid, I kid.  That's for my netbook.  :)

Toshiba before:

Toshiba after:

I did install a faster hard drive along with my upgrade to Windows 7 so that did help my score somewhat.  The RAM improvement confuses me since it is still the original ram but it might be related to the ability of the 64bit system to address all 4gb instead of just 3gb of the 4gb.

Regardless of the cause, it in undeniable that Windows 7 improves the performance of your machine. 

Is it worth upgrading?

Absolutely.