very sad day today – my buddy for 16+ years passed away in my arms earlier this afternoon.

he was an amazing cat: he loved attention as much as any dog i have owned and he fetched just like a dog too! i’ve never seen a cat with such a great disposition.

Barnaby was with me when i graduated college, started my career and got married. when my wife’s dog came into my life, Barnaby adopted Xuxa like they were kin.

Barnaby went from Houston, to Waco, to Houston, to Missouri City. he lived with me in shithole apartments and in our very first house.

in 2006 when we evacuated Houston for Hurricane Rita, Barnaby made the 12 hour car ride.

he adapted to every change in our lives and never complained.

we’re going to miss him greatly.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12952534346: 150 Seat Main Event Guarantee (83239154), Table 155 – 20/40 – No Limit Hold’em – 18:30:35 ET – 2009/06/21
Seat 1: Run Luke Run (2,660)
Seat 2: icecreamboy (2,590)
Seat 3: sellthekids (3,515)
Seat 4: ALuckMuppet (2,578)
Seat 5: Jimmy Diamond (3,404)
Seat 6: khartattack (2,550)
Seat 7: Dougger316 (4,373)
Seat 8: ZEPA (2,330)
khartattack posts the small blind of 20
Dougger316 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sellthekids [Qd Qs]
ZEPA folds
Run Luke Run folds
icecreamboy folds
sellthekids raises to 140
ALuckMuppet folds
Jimmy Diamond folds
khartattack raises to 460
Dougger316 folds
sellthekids calls 320
*** FLOP *** [8d 9c 2c]
khartattack bets 960
sellthekids raises to 3,055, and is all in
khartattack calls 1,130, and is all in
sellthekids shows [Qd Qs]
khartattack shows [Kc As]
Uncalled bet of 965 returned to sellthekids
*** TURN *** [8d 9c 2c] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9c 2c 2d] [Ks]
sellthekids shows two pair, Queens and Twos
khartattack shows two pair, Kings and Twos
khartattack wins the pot (5,140) with two pair, Kings and Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,140 | Rake 0
Board: [8d 9c 2c 2d Ks]
Seat 1: Run Luke Run didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 2: icecreamboy didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 3: sellthekids showed [Qd Qs] and lost with two pair, Queens and Twos
Seat 4: ALuckMuppet didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 5: Jimmy Diamond (button) didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 6: khartattack (small blind) showed [Kc As] and won (5,140) with two pair, Kings and Twos
Seat 7: Dougger316 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: ZEPA didn’t bet (folded)

but roughly around my 30s (and especially after my wife and i launched our own business) i realized that i often get everything wrong the first time.  i then “learn” and hopefully don’t make the same mistake twice.  i wish i could say i was smart enough not to make the initial error/problem, but i am not.  i learn a lot by doing and in doing i am really good at screwing shiet up!

last night’s poker game was The Mookie.  after my deep run in the $200K Stimulus Qualifier (120/~8300) i was hoping my new found patience would pay off.  i only needed to suckout once to make the final table – that in and of itself might be a record for me!  i also had very few big pairs – never had aces or king the whole night.  but i managed to make it down heads up.  and then i fscked up.

i offered a deal without really understanding how i needed to make the outcome happen once the deal was stuck.  not smart.

ShipFaced12 and i were heads up and he already has won a seat to the Blogger Championship, so i offered cash to let me take the seat.  he agreed since you can’t really use two seats (yes, yes, i know that by winning more than one he limits the competition).  then, i assumed we would just shove match it and Al could move the seat to my name.

whoops!

actually what we should have done was have ShipFaced12 sit out, let me blind him off and win the tourney (and the seat) and then i could ship him the agreed upon payment.  why this didn’t occur to me, no clue.  i am not arguing that i am a smart man.

anyway, what actually happened was ShipFaced12 won the tourney, which means he won the seat.  and i got 2nd.  doh!

so just like in all things i do, i learned the proper way to negotiate a winner-take-all tourney on Full Tilt.  too bad i had to miss the chance to win the seat to the Blogger Championship.

there is a silver lining; two actually!  one, the Blogger series isn’t done.  so maybe my form (and luck) will hold and i can get another chance.  and number two?  the 2nd place prize money from last night is going to be combined with some ancient $T and buy me into the 150 Seat Main Event Guarantee!

putting the past behind me and moving on – one mistake at a time!

while preparing to buy the set via Amazon on Sunday, i read a review that said Best Buy not only had the set for pretty much the same price, but also were including a fifth disc.  paying an extra $2 for another disc is a pretty damn good value, so even though i am loathe to leave the house on Sunday’s, i climbed in Monster Truck and headed to my local Best Buy.

after fruitlessly searching for the box set at my local Best Buy, i used their public terminal to search via their website and find that my location was all out, but the next location 10 min away had some.  so i trolled down to Richmond/Rosenberg, where Monster Truck fit right in amongst all the other Tea Bagger’s trucks in the parking lot (go Texas secession!) (that’s sarcasm, settle down, gentle readers.)

they had two (2?!) in stock and i bought one.  win for me.

after blasting CD #3 all the way home, making sure that i played “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey” at top volume while cutting through Sweetwater and their  uppity country club, i arrived home to rip the CDs into iTunes.  and only then did i notice that i paid $64.94 for the box set – that is $59.99 plus tax.

at first i thought maybe the website price of $49.99 was web-only, but no, you can actually go pay $49.99 + tax on the website and then pick it up locally.  so what gives?

i call the Best Buy in Richmond/Rosenberg and after having to spell the band name to the 16 yr old who answered my call (and who obviously had no clue who Jane’s is/was/are) i was told that i could print out the webpage and bring it in where they would “price match” it and refund my $10.

uh, WTF?

so lemme get this straight: Best Buy is going to price match Best Buy?  what is the fscking purpose of having a website and local pickup if you are going to have to price match for your non-website using customers?

anyway, just keep this in mind whenever you are buying anything from Best Buy – they are obviously out to scam a buck any way they can.  guess it serves me right for ever thinking/trusting a retailer to not try to scam their clients.

and to Best Buy, who i now have to re-drive to to get my $10: FUCK YOU!

next up, sweat!

should be an interesting year; with the economy down and Vegas hemorrhaging money, we might see a much smaller field this year for the Main Event.  doesn’t mean i am not going to at least play in the 150 Seat Guarantee.  i’ve already saved half the $500 buy-in in $T!

in related news, Sir Al has again convinced Full Tilt to run and fund the Battle of the Bloggers Tournament series.  i’ve played in three of these and my game is not very sharp.  guess i need to start trying to make it twice a week in preperation for my WSOP run.

anyway, since torpedoing my diet right before Thanksgiving i think i have added back 20lbs of the 30lbs+ i had lost.  in my defense, i have been enjoying a lot of fine craft beer and Ben & Jerry’s, so there is that.

but, i have finally done it: i took my new road bike to the local bike shop today to be assembled.  it only took me roughly 8 months to get all the parts together. here’s the details:

Klein Reve frame + fork
$386 + $49.99 = $435.99

Bontrager Race seatpost
$9.55 + $8.00 = $17.55

Bontrager Race Lite stem & handlebar
$40.00 + $7.50 = $47.50

Roval Echappee E5 wheelset
$250.00 + $40.00 = $290.00

Bontrager Grippy Tape handlebar wrap
$16.99 + $4.00 = $20.99

Bontrager Bzzzkill Harmonic Dampers
$9.99 + $4.00 = $13.99

Continental Grand Prix 4000 tires (two)
$53.76 + $0.00 = $53.76

Selle Italia SLK saddle
$49.99 + $3.99 = $53.98

2009 Shimano Dura Ace 7800 group + Ritchey WCS carbon handlebar
$999.00 + $45.00 = $1044.00

SpeedPlay Light Action Chrome-Moly pedals
$114.99 + $9.49 = $124.48

“Pro” build @ Sugar Cycles
$75.00 + $6.19 = $81.19

TOTAL = 2183.43

for giggles, that is listed in chronological order of when i bought them.  obviously no rhyme or reason to how i roll!

i have another $400 invested in shoes (Sidi Ergo 2) and a new helmet (Giro Ionos).  who made cycling so expensive?  oh yeah – now i remember why i sold my car when i was a bike messenger!

i am also planning on buying a new set of rollers; i wish i had kept my lovely Kreitlers from oh so many years ago.  but i did find a new type, E-Motion rollers, that i am considering.  expensive, but being able to ride on shitty rain days (usually rains a lot in the Spring in TX) will be worth it.

so that is it.  bike is supposed to be ready on Wed, Mar 18th.  my goal will be to start riding and i would like to drop back to my fighting weight of 185lbs in made 6 months.  i am roughly 210lbs right now – YIKES!

ttfn!

since i got my wife a new camera for xmas, this would be a chance for us to try it out on subjects other than our pets.  i have to admit: i am below neophyte when it comes to cameras.  i have been trying to read up and learn a little, but kinda like programming, it appears you can toil for a lifetime in the photography field and still only scratch the surface of knowledge.  i did find a great photo blog using the FZ28 – some really excellent stuff from an accomplished photographer.

anyway, here are three shots that look OK to me…i am sure a real photographer would have some constructive criticim:

Komodo Dragon

Tiger

Orangutans: Mom & Daughter

anyway – i’ve got lots to learn, but it was a great day to be at the zoo!

why?

Oprah went on her October 24, 2008 show and professed her love for the Kindle.  she ooohed and ahhhhed and talked about the whys and the hows; then she let her viewers in on the deal – b/c she is so magnanimous, if you used her special code, you’d save $50 off a Kindle.  14% off!

for most people like myself – wanna-be techies who know only a smidgen more about technology, PCs, software, games, etc than our parents, their friends, and most of our own friends – we knew that this wasn’t all that great.  Boy Genius Report had already flashed the images of the new form factor on Oct 3rd.  all we were waiting for was the official announcement from Amazon.

so when my mom called me on Oct 25th asking what i knew about the Kindle and would i like one for my birthday (it was that day – thanks for the cards, bitches!) i calmly explained to her that Oprah was scratching Jeff’s back and he was gonna do her front later (shudder).

see, with BGR publishing the leaked images, the gig was up.  who would want to buy a Kindle 1.0 for Xmas (right around the corner) when you could wait and get the sexy, new, sleek Kindle 2.0 in a few months?  i am guessing all those morons people who bought the first iPhones, only to have Jobs try to fsck them without a reach-around, were the first to say no to the Kindle 1.0 at this juncture.  but Jeff Bezos is smart; wicked smart; hella-smart!

Jeff knew that if he got all of Oprah’s lemmings to buy out the dregs of his Kindle 1.0 inventory, then he would have no issues with his Cyber-Monday numbers.  but to get all of Oprah’s lemmings, he would have to offer Oprah something.  hmmm?  but what does one über-rich person give another über-rich person?

if Oprah only had an organization that could use a Kindle-like device for something like school books.

so there it is folks: Bezos and Oprah made a deal: Oprah pimps an outdated device, foisting it on an unsuspecting, captivated audience and in return, Jeff will donate X number of Kindles for Oprah’s burgeoning school projects. all we are waiting for now is Bezos’ announcement of Amazon’s gift to Oprah’s schools.

so why is this bad?  i mean, Kindles got sold, so people wanted them, right?

it’s bad b/c i think planned obsolescence hurts consumers.  i think manufacturers are loathe to discount items – even when it is their piss-poor planning that has led them to overlap production – so if they can unloaded something at almost full price prior to rolling out “the latest, greatest”, well, you can expect that the consumer loses every time.

i mean, if you got a Kindle for Xmas 2008 and the new form factor is coming out in Feb 9th, are you happy?  those crappy, big ass buttons aren’t in the way, right?

so the next time you think that Oprah is all for the little people, remember, she is for her little people.  the rest of you can just keep making her rich.

you don’t read WCP?  what, you don’t like girls or poker? most of the images are even safe for work…i think.

hope to make it home tonight in time to see you there!