EVO?

It is only fair to show the other side of the Android/iPhone debate.  Thanks to CK for the link.

iPhone?

Please don't take offense but I found this absolutely hilarious.  Definitely NSFW.

Home, Sweet Home

I miss Vegas.

How sad is that?

I wanted to spend a week there but had to settle for a few days.  I doesn't matter how many days I plan to stay there just never seems to be enough time to do the things I want to do when I am in Vegas.

Unfortunately T busted out of her WSOP event just as I was landing.  She and Snuffy picked me up at the airport.  We checked in, bought our 24 hour buffet passes at Harrah's buffet, then headed to what Snuffy promised us would be some very soft 1/2 games at Excalibur. 

Snuffy didn't lie.

All three of us managed to make some nice change there that night.  So much so that whenever we had a free moment to play that's where we headed. We did manage to play some at MGM, IP and the Venetian but we were the most profitable at Excalibur.  For whatever reason we decided to play a Strip n Go shove-a-ment at Excaliber with Predator and his friend, David.  Truly negative EV but I figure I paid $50 for my snazzy new tank top ;)

T, Snuffy, Predator and I signed up for the daily $200 DS at the Rio.  If only my QQ had been able to outrun KT and AQ I would have been poised to go deep.  As it was, I was the 3rd of us to go out but Predator managed to hang in for 6th place and $4000!  He also played WSOP Event #41 finishing 45th for $5300!  I will be keeping an eye on him this Monday when he plays the $5000 PLO8 event.  My money is on him cashing in that one, too.

Friday night, while I was sitting at a 1/2 table at MGM,  I got a frantic call from my oldest.  Our dog was attacked by two dogs; what should they do?  OMGWTF!?!?!?  WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME!??!?!?  I told him to hang up and call the vet's office to find out what to do.  D'oh.  Nothing like being miles away from home when all hell breaks loose.

The Other Half and the boys ended up spending 3 hours at the emergency veterinary hospital.  Our 6.5 pound poodle had several puncture wounds on his leg and needed 30+ stitches around his abdomen to fix the gash left by the mauling.  I was distraught.  So were my sons.  They kept calling me from the waiting room while TOH was in the room with the doctors.

I was scheduled to fly home on Monday morning so they were just going to have to muddle through on their own.  I did get regular updates with pictures and videos.  By Sunday the dog was gimping around the house a bit.  When I got home on Monday he was subdued but ambulatory.  As I write this I would say he's back to his old self again but far from healed.  His stitches won't come out for another 8 days.  He's back to running amok in the yard and chasing anything that walks by our house.  The gaping puncture wounds don't seem to be slowing him down at all.

With the help of a neighbor boy who saw the attack we were able to identify and locate the owner of the other dogs.  I had made copies of the bills and wrote a letter to give them in person but as I got out of my car their dogs run up to 'greet' me.  After what they did to my dog I wasn't going to risk trying to get to the front door so I just opted to leave the letter in the mailbox.  The following afternoon they stopped by to give me a check for the full amount and apologized for what happened.

I guess all's well that ends well but I bet it will be a long time before I get to take another trip by myself.  T has teased me with the offer of a trip to Vegas in October.  I think this isn't the best time to float that idea at my house.  Maybe in a few weeks or so... <crosses fingers>

Had to Fold

Hahahhahahahh!

Vegas, Baby!

By the time I landed T had busted out of event 30 of the WSOP. :(

Snuffy and T came out to the airport to pick me and we headed straight to the hotel and a buffet - we were all starving.  That $35 24-hour all you can eat buffet deal at Harrah's properties is a great deal.  Then is was pokers time!

I was thinking about hitting the MGM for some 1/2 poker but Snuffy suggested we hit Excalibur because the players were usually very bad.  Boy, he couldn't have been more right.  Within in the first few hands I picked up KK and put in a raise to 8$.  There were two callers when the guy in the 7 seat (I was in the 1 seat) shipped it in for 96$.  Holy shit.  Well, here go.  If he has AA so be it.  My next decision was just call or put all my chips in play.  I decided on "ore eeeeen".  The other two guys couldn't fold fast enough.  Since this was cash they didn't make you turn over your cards until you have to show a winning hand.  I showed my KK after the river and the other guys cards were eventually turned over.  I don't remember if he voluntarily showed or if a player asked to see his hand.  Either way, his K8 MONSTER was exposed.  Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore.

After some up and down I ended up with 150$+ profit for the evening.  Beats the alternative!  All three of us managed a decent profit on the night and hand fun while we were at it.  We had some fun and friendly people at our table.  I ended up talking to the guy I thought was the toughest competition at our table.  Turns out he 4-8 tables PLO on Full Tilt.  No surprise there.  We exchanged screen names so maybe I'll have to go hunt him down on FTP one of these days.

As usual the first time in Vegas turned into a near 24 hour marathon of good times.  After a short stop at Coyote Ugly with T I headed over to the Rio to meet up with Snuffy and rail some players in the 1500$ HORSE event.  Unfortunately we got there just in time to see CK bust out.  Cardgrrl was still in good shape and @caitycaity was tearing it up.

Even though it was very late there were all kinds of notable poker players still at the Rio.  I got all starstruck like I did the very first time I attended a WSOP.  I guess it is nice to know that I haven't become jaded yet.  We finally can't keep our eyeballs open any longer and head back to our hotels.

The killer part about going to Vegas is the time change.  It hasn't failed so far, that the first night in Vegas - no matter how late - doesn't affect the time I wake up.  Sure enough I was up at 6:30am local time/8:30am home time when I was wide awake.  T was up with me in no time and we were checking our email and planning our day.  We hit Caesars Lago buffet for lunch, yum!  Then headed over to the Rio to shop and check out the tables.  Snuffy played a satellite while T and I wandered around until our fellow effer Lynx showed up. 

The next stop was the Venetian.  What a stunning place.  Easily my second favorite hotel behind Caesars.  The plan was to play a satellite to one of their deep stack events but they weren't running the one we wanted to play so we played some 1/2.  After running horribly card dead I decided we should find fishier waters.  T and I stopped to rail @VinNay and @seemitch while they played a satellite before we headed to the IP for some pokers.

I sat at a 1/2 table at IP while T went to eat and Snuffy played Pai Gow.  Definitely a different crowd at this table.  There were several players that had HUGE stacks.  A few hands in I pick up KK and just call a raise when a short stack goes all in behind me.  The original raiser also calls.  Flop comes out Kxx and it goes check check.  Turn is the last King in the deck.  I just hit quads.  What are the chances I'm going to get paid here?  Zip, zilch, nada.  Sigh.  River was a blank and I made a small bet and get no action.  The all in shorty shows the rivered flush but he lost to my DEMS QUADS BITCHES!  IP had a quads bonus of a whopping $75 but I take what I can get. 

T eventually joined my table.  She had a couple ups and downs but ended up with some extra chips when we decided it was time to crash.  It was a reasonably early night but we were already sleep deprived from the previous night.  The plan today is to hit the Bellagio and Paris, maybe do some shopping, a quick stop at the Rio and finally some more poker.  Hey we have our priorities.

True Blood, Vegas & Charity

I"m addicted to True Blood.

Sad, I know. 

I just finished watching the season premier and boy did it deliver.

Nekkid people everywhere.  Would I lie to you?

I truly did LOL'd when I heard the line, "Conscience off, dick on."

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Vegas I downloaded a bunch of podcasts and two books - one is the latest in the Sookie Stackhouse series that True Blood is (loosely) based on.  While the series does diverge from the books they are both enjoyable.  Don't be too surprised if I don't make it through any of it because I opted to sleep on the plane instead.

****************

Speaking of Vegas, I am looking forward to this trip but I have no clue whatsoever what I will be doing or playing but I do know that I will be hitting up every Harrah's buffet for the low price of $34.99 (with a Rewards card) for 24 hours of unlimited dining.  Sounds yummy doesn't it?

Our good man Lightning36 has arranged a blogger breakfast on Sunday morning.  I will definitely try to make this.  It is, after all, going to be at the Carnival Buffet at the Rio which is one of the Harrah's Buffets (see above). 

I have every hope of somehow running into any or all of the following people: @ckwbop, @caitycaity, @realdawnsummers,  @pokergrump, @cardgrrrl, @memphismojo, @BJNemeth, and any other bloggers than happen to be around this coming weekend.

My BFF, T, is going to be playing event #30 so I will probably being hanging around to rail her, scoping out the WSOP store, and just generally lurking about the Rio on Wednesday and Thursday. 

****************

OhCaptain organized a wonderful event to benefit the Ronald McDonald house. Unfortunately I will be donking it up playing live poker in Vegas that night but I went ahead and registered to show my support.  Don't be stepping all over each other trying to steal my blinds now, ya hear!

PokerSlut Tour XVIII $1+1 Rebuy!!!

This is the last event of the season.

The next season will start after Labor Day weekend in September!

Foom!

Surviving the World

Clearly this guy is a much more profound thinker than I am.

Paper or plastic is about the depth of my range.

You should check out Surviving the World.  No really.  Then bookmark or, even better, subscribe with your Reader.  Yeah, I went there.  Get busy with the Google Reader already would ya!?!?!?

Plan B

Plan B

That's what my life has been about lately.

Plan A has turned into Epic Fail.

As usual life has been chaotic around here: the last couple weeks of school are always nuts, combine that with planning summer activities including a trip to visit my dad during which I was going to sneak away for a week in Vegas with my degenerate poker friends and my swim team commitments have doubled.

I was about to start my first stint as a swim meet timer when I received an email from my father's wife telling me that their property was mostly under water and the forecast wasn't improving. She asked if there wasn't any way we could postpone our trip scheduled for this upcoming Thursday.

Sigh.

I use my fabulous new Droid Incredible on the way home (I was riding shotgun) to scope out alternatives. After getting home, I spent the next several hours coordinating ticket changes, refunds, cancellations and totally rescheduled the summer for me and the boys.

I still get my trip to Vegas but I lose one day in Sin City.

My friend T negotiated a $30 each discount on our hotel room! Wooohooo! We won't even talk about the $$$ lost on airfare. Nope. We won't even go there.

And we won't even go into the astronomic stress levels I've had. Nope. We won't. So if you see me stumbling around Vegas totally out of my mind just offer to by me another drink, or a pedicure or a few minutes of casinossage. I know I will appreciate it and you will have done your good deed for the day. Just don't upload any video of me to YouTube.

PokerSlut Tour XVIII Stud Hi/Lo

My Tracks for Android

Prelude

The tornado sirens went off about 1:00am last night yet I am still up at the butt crack of dawn. Ok, not exactly the butt crack of dawn but close enough for government work.  

Today is the day my new screaming laptop arrives. UPS called yesterday to tell me it would be here sometime between 8:00am and 7:00pm. Wow, that's ever so helpful. Not to mention that it MUST be signed for. Looks like I won't be going anywhere today until that package arrives.

My Tracks

After I bought Bebe and started riding again I went looking for an Android app (There's an app for that!) that would tell me how far I rode. There were several that I looked at but the one that seemed to get the best reviews was My Tracks.

The best part about My Tracks is the Google integration, um, duh. After you finish your walk, run, ride, whatever, you can upload the data and route to Google Docs and Google Maps.

I didn't remember to start it until I was nearly home for Track 1 so that's about 1/4 of the total ride. Track 2 is a short one because '99 was being a total turd and annoying me to no end. He now has a new bike and will be forced to ride the whole route the next time.

As if having the data from your ride sent to a Google Docs spreadsheet wasn't enough, My Tracks can also overlay it onto a Google Map and save it to your Saved Maps. I may eventually get tired of looking at these and not bother to save them anymore but for now it is very kewl to look at.

My Tracks may very well turn out to be that extra incentive to ride just a little bit further just to see that improvement in the spreadsheet. Nothing keeps you honest like accurate data. No more guestimating (on the high side of course) just how far you went OR how long it took.