back in the usual direction

Poker: lost 3BI in 150 hands to:

  •  flopped quads (v my AA) which i’d play the same way every time
  • flopped flush (v my overpair with what i thought was a flush redraw) that i need to look at
  • flopped flush (v my flopped top 2 in a three way pot with a shortie) that i think i could have folded the river

so, suffice it to say that the nice little start i had in coming back to the game was shot and then some.  all short term results mind you, but i’m remembering why i lost the draw towards this game quite quickly. 

ok, off to play the drums.  oh, before i forget, a quick . . .

Hockey Blurb – i played the geriatric game on sunday.  at one point i won a race for the puck in the O zone and slid a pass sideways into the slot, where my trailer caught it and deposited it into the net.  two days after it happens i realize that young gilger rubbed me out on the play, taking me into the wall.  two thumbs up for johnnie.  it was my first game since the philly tourney and i was in “move the play” mode, but now that i replayed it in me noggin, I realized that young Gilger is now old and big enough to take me out.  (actually, he’s got 20lbs on me).

good for you, kid!  but . . . it still ended up in the net.

June 23, 2010   Posted in: Cards  No Comments

so, once again, from the beginning

hey, happy father’s day everyone.  i got a hug from the teenage girl child who told me she loves me before she headed out on a week vacation with a friend’s family.  good start to it all in my book.

DRUMS – been playing pretty much twice a week between band practices and gigs.  that’s a lot more than same time last year.  none of the playing was practicing the instrument though, it’s been memorizing songs or playing performances.  as of last night i thought, “screw it, i’m going to work on X or Y aspect of my game this week”.  so i’ll be plugging in the metronome tonight and getting some “drum calisthenics” in. 

the rock band just finished the auditions for 2nd guitar spot.  now, we need a stinking name.   lol.

CARDS - it’s been sooo long since i played cards that i think it’s starting over from the start.  last night i got a couple of hundred hands in after work.  i thought i must’ve been playing 26/20 while i was playing.  it turns out i went 15/11 over 200 hands. 

so here’s the realization.  i played 40 minutes or so, and ended up ahead 62bb, so over 1/2 a BI.  not earth-shattering, BUT i went to showdown 25% of the time and won every single one of them.  and the most i lost in a pot was 4bb.  results-wise, it probably could not have been better.  it just struck me that the cards couldn’t have treated me any better, and it’s still not like i was racking up BI after BI.  it’s a slower moving thing than i remember. 

now, watch that totally turn around next session.

i’m off to start the day, hopefully the coffee will kick in and i’ll get some giddy up in my ass.

June 20, 2010   Posted in: Cards  No Comments

actually, the eyes were green

it was strange enough at the tavern tonight for me to check the phase of the moon when i got home.   top sentences of the evening were . . .

  • dude, i’ll hit you up with a tip next time.  that broad just grabbed my wife’s tit and it’s definitely time to bail.
  • my boy was ten pounds at birth and once he was crowning, he just shot out.  his face was all black and blue, and his eyes were like 100%  bloodshot.  when they saw him in the nursery all my friends could pick him right out – “he looks just like you!”
  • my wife asked me what color her eyes were because she said i’m always staring at her boobs.  man, i married a stripper.  i didn’t even know she HAD eyes!
  • (someone asked this pretty young girl what she did for a living, and instead of saying she was a pet groomer . . . )  “i cut hair, and every now and then I shave a pussy.” 

June 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

so summer has started

with the fly guys taking the fall last night, a new season is at hand.  i guess it’s summer for a couple of weeks, and then preSeason football.  not sure.  either way, i’m going to Camden Yards this sunday for a game (bus trip) and the weatherman says 94 degrees with T Storms.  yuck.  sounds like a good time to sell the tickets to a Mets fan and hit up the aquarium or some such thing.

on the Flyers Front . . .

what a run! 

  • Briere still needs to learn to play D
  • Leighton gave it his all, but he’s really not that good, and so soft stuff gets in.
  • Hartnell woke up.  he played like absolute crap all year, and then it’s like he took a magic pill and played like a man in the playoffs
  • the D is still shaky with the puck.  at one point in the final game they started that hand grenade hockey, which makes me scream.  they were out of earshot, so i don’t think it did any good.

now we’ve lost 6 Cup Finals in a row.   

With my discovery of the World Junior tourney at New Year’s, the Olympics, and a deep run by the Flyers – this has been an incredible season!!  at least the kids beat the Canadien kids for the Junior’s title.  oh, hershey is tied 2-2 in the AHL finals v Texas.  all in all with the last East reps in the Cup finals being the ‘guins, the ‘guins, and the Flyers, and the Bears going back to back in the AHL finals, it’s a pretty good time to be a hockey fan in Penna.

of course almost all the players are imported, but what can you do?  kids here are brought up to play football and baseball – rinks are not commonplace, fields and backstops are.  so be it.

been locked in the studio . . .

of my own doing.  been mixing blues band tracks practically every chance i got recently.  still not finished. 

rock band practice on friday, blues gig saturday – plenty of banging going on. 

time to go grab the mail . . .

June 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

red dead redemption

so, the kid gets a new videogame tonight.  a western, where you can sit in on a poker game.  he looks down at a pair of nines, we raise.  all undercard flop, two tone.  we bet, get one caller.  turn comes no help on the flush, but pairs the middle flop card (5′s).  we bet, get called.  river comes a King, misses the flush.  we check, villan shoves.  we call.

villan had K3, and caught his three outer on the river.   we killed the guy and took the money back.

videogames are soooo satisfying.

May 26, 2010   Posted in: Cards  No Comments

so, if a tree falls

in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it, it’ll be kinda like the show i just played. 

it was the strangest thing.  Relay for Life is an overnight walkathon that raises money for cancer care.  the wife used to be co-chair for the local one.  granted, that was before the economy took the taildive.  but, there used to be tents all over.  packs of kids who had found an excuse to stay out all night in the spring running around like banshees.  vendors filled the outside of the walking track.  it was just abuzz with people. 

not tonight.  i think there were less than 12 walkers when we played.  the field that used to be filled with cars and tents had maybe six tents in it.  it was like, i dunno, going to a florida marlins game. 

so we set up and played.  to an empty stadium.  lol.  and we played fine.  its just that no one was there.  and at least in this instance, i’m sure it wasn’t because of us!  no one comes to, or takes a pass on a walkathon because of the bands. 

anyway, i’m off to down a couple of cold ones and get some sleep.  tomorrow is another day.

Oh Duh – just settled in to check scores and saw the Phils took the series opener from the Dead Sox.  Yay.

May 22, 2010   Posted in: Drums  2 Comments

that’s not the FedEx guy

the doorbell rang this morning at 11:30.  that’s the fedEx guy’s time, so i grab a pair of jeans and head down the steps.  if i had hair, i’d look as bad as i did the morning the jehova’s witnesses decided they’d leave my soul to the devil rather than talk to me on my porch.

it wasn’t the fedEx guy.  it was a single policeman.  stocky fellow, musta been a weightlifter in his day.  my very first thought was . . . “this could be ANYTHING”. 

ok, checklist:

> delayed noise complaint?  makes no sense

> where’s my kid?  is he in the back of the cruiser? 

and then i actually look behind the cop for my kid. 

no kids anywhere on scene.  cool. 

turns out the neighbor’s alarm went off, and he wanted to know if i had her cell number so he could wrap up the call.   ”the house is secure” he says.  hehe.  read: “this was a waste of time, but i’m taking lunch while i’m out this way”.

May 20, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

stoxblocked

well, we made it to Philly and back.  the results were poor, and could barely have been worse.  but, it was a great experience.

the game was played at a very high level, with a high level of intensity.  it took me two games to get my bearings.  i think i ended up with a -3 for the tourney.  and i think i led the team in +/-  oh well, gotta start somewhere

Poker: it’s been that long that i just noticed that Stoxpoker and CR are the same now.  and i pulled the subscription to CR ’cause i wasn’t using it.  the Stoxpoker video library is getting assimilated, and it’s seems to have an uncertain outcome as far as what vids make the new library and what ones don’t, blah, blah, blah.  i only checked because i thought i’d pick up where i left off. 

my DC account has been active, and unused since the beginning of the year.  the big “duh” is simply to pick up over there.  i feel the need to watch some vids and go through some forums before i sit down at a table again, that’s for sure.  and after this long of a layoff, it very may well be starting over. 

i know that i’m feeling a draw to the game for the first time in forever.  and i don’t think in a bad way.  don’t be surprised if i start posting about the game again, and it all reads like kindergarten level understanding of NLHE. 

DRUMS: rock bnad has a benefit gig – Relay for Life – this friday night, at 12:30 am.  we’re the last band to perform for the evening, at the high school stadium.  haven’t headlined a stadium show before.  lol.  will probably have a quick practice earlier that night. 

have blues band practice tonight.  will set the tape recorder in motion for that, and i expect some interesting results.  blues band gig next saturday.

FLYERS: have undergone a complete transformation, except maybe Pronger and Gagne, and perhaps Carcillo.  coburn and carle are no longer battling for the title of  “human turnover machine”, Giroux has stopped performing that one extra fancy move where he turns it over in the neutral zone and it ends up in our net.  briere is scoring goals – although his D is spotty.

it’s as though they finally get it.  as a result, we’re two games away from a spot in the Stanley Cup Championship. 

ok, off to face the day while the caffeine is working.

May 19, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

hot time in the old town

well, the weekend was full.  friday band practice, saturday i spent at the tavern tending during the day and running an in house version of “Card Sharks” for our “Survivor Saturday Night” Immunity Challenge.  it was interesting.  grab a nap and catch the final hockey practice before the tourney first thing in the AM before the Mother’s Day dinner.  in there on Saturday night was the girl child’s prom, so that kept her and the wife busy.

Fire:  that corner store that gram used to send me to on my bike, burned down last week.  here’s the vid . . .

there’s a backdraft at like 5:55 or so that apparently happens when the kitchen windows blow out in the back, and the fire gets a nice rush of oxygen.  quite dramatic, and terribly dangerous. 

and to think, at 3:35 AM i get pissed if the dog wants out.  firefighters get woken up for a far more important task. 

this is all one block from the bar.  my parent’s house was four doors up from this.  no one was hospitalized, everyone lived.

there’s a reason to support the local fire company.  over 100 emergency personel  were involved in this fight.  we opened the doors to give them water, soda, ice, and a place to piss and catch their breath.  no one involved gets paid to tackle this.  this isn’t manning a telephone asking for a donation, it’s not banging on the drums for a two dollar donation – it’s front line volunteer work.  god bless’em. 

my mom told me that the scariest moment was when every emergency vehicle blew their air horns at the same time, all dozen plus of them.  that’s the signal that a structural collapse is eminent, and any firefighter in the building SHOULD GET OUT NOW!!!  people came flying out of every part of the buildings, windows, doors, front and back.  and then the 2nd story collapses onto the first. 

Hockey: ends up that i’m staying with the goalie at his brother’s house, instead of a hotel room.  hehe, an adventure it is! 

i had expected i’d be centering either the second or third lines.  then a discussion about the power play came up, and our big gun from the point wanted me to be down low with him on that team.  so, i get to center the first power play unit.  that, makes me happy. and frankly, it’s a good fit.  we have the right men for the jobs on that team.

turns out i’m centering the top line, not the second or third.  that we’ll have to see about.  i have no fear in putting my stick skills up against anyone on planet earth.  but you don’t have to look far to find someone that i just can’t keep up with.  hopefully i’ll be able to see the plays develop more quickly and just outposition the opposing center, so i don’t have to outrun him.

i spent some time reviewing a coaching manual written by one of the New Jersey Devils assistant coaches from their cup years.  on sunday, i did a shift on D on a penalty kill drill, just telling the center to guide the play to the outsides . . .  into a waiting defensemen.  you can just watch as someone waltzes into a trap.  almost made me chuckle.  err, actually it did make me chuckle. 

gotta, gotta, gotta get  in some cardio in these last days!!

NHL – go fly guys.  “not dead yet”.  and Allan Muir likes their chances.  (he has my vote for crappiest haircut, ever – btw). 

Parting Shot:  my baby girl before her prom at the mam mam’s house . . . .

May 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

on the move

my hobbies have taken on their own lives.  they’ve all stepped themselves up a notch, and i’m being lifted in the process.  i know my month of May is shot between gigs, tournaments, and practices for the gigs and tournaments!

HOCKEY – i used to play in what i affectionately referred to as the “local geriatric league”.   it was a close quarters game where positioning, stick handling, and shooting skills were the difference makers.  there were young guys who did things like p90X for shits and giggles, and tougher guys who were in the military machine.  but there were enough old farts, and i’m talking 50+, to balance it all out. 

mind you if you’re 50 and you don’t know where to be, when to be there, and can bring it, you’re not still playing hockey.  so i have  a group of athletes that whose bodies have left them and they’re basically distilled skill sets versus those who have strength and stamina, but less than stellar skill sets.  that’s the game in the geriatric league.  and it’s usually “old guys v young guys” where the geezers win the first two, and lose the third. 

NOW, i’m in this travelling group who has yet to play an officiated game.  it’s five on five on the big court, and we’re taking this untested machine into philadelphia.  that’s the sixth largest city in the U.S.  no sense taking it to like Harrisburg or Scranton first. 

there are three practices (only one of them full) left before we go.  so hopefully i’ll have enough time to bang strategy and coverage responsibility into most people’s heads. 

anyway, i went from  Sunday afternoon three hour workout that’s closeby to this adventure.  it’s certainly a step up.

DRUMS - this thing blew up too.  i’ve been playing with a blues band that was in essence a musical collective for years.  we’ve had players come and go.  the band is whoever showed up that night, and we played whatever songs we could do with the people at hand.  some shows were just us, camping in the woods, playing for ten to thirteen hours in some way, shape, or form. 

now this thing has distilled to a more or less solid lineup of five, and we’ve been playing parties and benefits.  which is cool.  but now there is a desire to venture out into the “paying gig” scene.  so, we played a show last week for a party.  there was a “set list” which is standard fare for a band to have.  but, the blues band never has a set list.  we just wing it.  well, i guess we’re getting civilized, lol.

we have a paying gig lined up for the end of the month.  and they want to “practice” for it.  lol.  it’s a fine idea, but nine years into it and Now we’re going to practice?  it seems so odd to me. 

on the rock front a group of guys i’m jamming with looks like we’re coming together as a group.  we’ll be playing a Relay For Life benefit later this month, so that’s more music to be played.  i haven’t played a rock gig for i think a year and a half at least.  and even that was just a party in a hall we rented.  so an actual set with other bands and someone else running the sound/lights . . . closing in on three years. 

LOL, i guess it is time to get playing again!

 CRUX –  my “goofing around on Friday Nights” looks ready to take off into a band.  my “goofing around on Sunday afternoons” looks ready to take off into a hockey team.  and my “goofing around every six weeks blues thing” looks ready to take off into a band as well.

life just changed again.  maybe it’s waking me up :)

and now i’m off for a run.  maybe i can make myself puke?  oh, before i go . . .  

Snippets from the Tavern  – you hear the strangest things in there.  one fellow has an elderly mother who wakes in the middle of the night to pee, and then falls asleep on the toilet.  so he wakes in the middle of the night to pee, but its kindof like he gets blocked and has to find a creative way out.  terribly odd, and for me, very amusing situation.  so . . .

Spearsy: “Hey, is it true you pissed in a Mt. Dew bottle last night, and then took a sip of it in the morning?”

Man: “It was can, not a bottle.”

deadpan delivery as well.  i almost pissed myself.  that’s something you just can’t make up.

May 5, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment