The blog that lives in a bubble. . .

I would not make a good fireman. . .

2008-02-17T21:53:00.002-05:00

Hunched over our living room coffee table, I am eating a meatball sandwich while watching The Wire with my roommate. As I am looking at the television, my roommate says with an urgent tone "Glen, look! Your bag's on fire! What are you gonna do?" He then takes one of those kitchen lighters and lights a corner of the white paper lunch bag. I stare at the flame, not really thinking anything other than, "Did he really just light my bag on fire, and is the flame really getting bigger." Gabe continues to yell "Come on Glen, what are you gonna do? The bag is on fire! Take care of that shit." I still kind of stare at it, thinking, "What the hell am I going to do about this?" Finally, Gabe yells, "Take that shit to the sink, motherfucker!" I glanced at him with a "What the fuck did you get me into!" look, grabbed the bag and started to run. At this point, more than half the bag was on fire. I tossed it into the sink and turned the water on, but it wasn't really aimed at the bag, so I had to grab the spray thing and douse the flame. I yelled at Gabe for a few seconds, telling him that I am incapable of effectively dealing with such situations, and how he could not have anticipated the flame would be that big when it was finally put out. Then we laughed about it for a good five minutes, since it was really funny. . . .

the pats

2008-02-04T00:19:00.000-05:00

apparently the pats are not the formula for all problem-solving and decision-making in the 21st century. . . on with life. . .

Santana. . .

2008-02-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Will Santana push the Mets to more victories than the Red Sox next year? Glenn seems to think so, as we made a $500 bet for the upcoming season. On paper, it looks close, especially since the e.r.a. of their starting four from last year (despite pedro's few starts) is scary. . . .hopefully Santana's agent gets nitty and the Sox counter with a last minute offer. Then I would listen to buy-out offers starting at $450. . .

3 quick reviews. . . .

2007-12-10T02:38:00.000-05:00

The Wire Season 4: I just got it on dvd. I have ignored all discussion and accolades amongst my peers. I watched episode one this morning and it was excellent. . .savoring it though - not killing the season over a weekend like I have done with some series. . .

Smokin' Aces: This is the worst movie I have ever seen. It's not even close really.

No Country for Good Men: Good movie, real good.

I am glad I didn't go out like this. . .

2007-05-18T17:04:00.000-05:00

I leave work at 5:30 and start ambling down the rainy sidewalk of Broad St. in Boston. I am sort of staring at the ground a bit while crossing Broad St. A van is about to turn onto Broad St. as I am crossing. Instead of waiting for me to cross the street, the van began to accelerate very fast in my general direction. My quick reaction left me in a most unfortunate spot - I flinched so hard at the van that my slippery-soled, mildly dressy shoes just slipped out from under my feet, and I fell on my elbow and my back. There I was, practically lying down in the middle of Broad Street, with a van accelerating towards me, and now I was also completely out of his direct vision. "Oh shit, THIS IS NOT HOW I WANT TO DIE!" About a millisecond later, the driver slammed the breaks, skidded, and the van stopped about five feet in front of me. I sat on the ground for about ten seconds, slowly got up, walked by the van driver, and peered in the window. He was talking on his cell phone and never looked my way; he just hit the gas again quickly and drove away. I looked around at a few people on the sidewalk who watched what had just unfolded. They all had their jaws dropped, and after a few seconds they started shaking their heads almost in unison. One guy, who was about my age, said "Wow, I can't believe that just happened. What a dick!" Then we both sort of half-smiled, and I proceeded to amble home.

Irony. . .

2007-04-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

I ordered a credit report a while ago to make sure my credit was ok. It was, but I forgot to unsubscribe to the auto-credit report service that you sign up for to get the report. Thinking my balance was $0.00, I didn't think I had to pay a bill; but, it turns out, the credit site auto-billed my card, and I made a late payment.

GG Sony Bravia. . .

2007-04-26T00:31:00.000-05:00

Here's the only recreation of the events possible. Someone came in through my window, shut the window almost all the way except that a roll of trace paper stopped it a few inches up. They went into my bedroom, removed my sheet from my bed, wrapped it around my tv and left through the door. Unfortunate timing as well, since I had just met up with Alex to grab some food and head over to the hospital to see Ben. We had to wait for the police to come, and then afterwards we headed to the hospital. the police came over to MGH a little later to show me some pictures of suspects. I ruled out 7 of 8 (suspect was based on a mysterious maintenance man that knocked on my door 8 a.m. and engaged me in an awkward conversation about what needed to be fixed). When it seemed as though Ben might be using too much energy acknowledging the presence of his visitors, he decided to call it a night. Now I am going to do something unusual for me (unusual in the past four or five years, that is) and fall asleep without the tv on. I have a lot on my mind regrading cruel and unjust maladies and my experiences tonight. . . .

Movie review: Glengarry Glen Ross

2007-04-23T01:26:00.000-05:00

One might think I would have already seen a top 100 movie that includes my name twice in the title, but I hadn't. I decided it was time, and after watching a couple episodes of Carnivale, I threw it in last night. The first great bit of acting was Baldwin. I had previously credited Ben Affleck with one excellent bit of acting, but it is clearly modeled afterBaldwin's excellent profanity-laced tirade. Some might know what scene I am refering to - yeah, Boiler Room, when he gives the motivational speech and then gets the disgusted look on his face, throwing a set of keys onto the table: "Money can't buy happiness? Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You wanna hear details? I drive a Ferrari 355 cabriolet. I have a ridiculous house on the South Fork. . . " Lemmon, Arkin, and Ed Harris all find out they won't have jobs soon if they don't start selling fast. Everyone is antsy. . . around this time I fell asleep. I drifted into a dream where I was on the side of a hill with some woman around my age, maybe a little younger. She was telling me to sit, and she would be back in a minute. She came back with two machine guns, gave me one, and started to tell me we only had one chance, and if we failed the revolution would die. I argued that it was a dumb idea, and there was no way it would work. She started to get irritated, threw em the gun and said, "Listen, let's go now." I started whining a little, demanding she come back, but I followed her anyways. We were walking down a path for a few minutes - mountains on both sides, no one in sight. Then she said, "ok, here's the plan, we sneak around this corner and start firing. There was a shed that we started walking along, with our back against it - jack bauer style. All of a sudden I looked up and there were about 50 people with guns pointed at us, black cloth over their mouths. I slowly looked at her, and she looked at me. Her facial muscles started to twitch in terror, but I was unsympathetic. "Fuck you! You fucking idiot! I told you how stupid you were, and you didn't listen! You fucking bitch!" "Oh like this is my fault?! What?" "Yes, yes it is. I can't believe how fucking dumb you are, and now we're both going to die you dumb bitch!" "Oh what the fuck ever. You didn't have to follow me. It's just as much your fault as mine! So fuck off!" "Oh, did I suggest we make the revolution live on with two people and two guns?!" "Then we die for what we believe in!" "Right, but I don't fucking want to die. I told you that!" "Fuck you!" "Fuck you!"
Then I wake up and Al Pacino is going off on Kevin Spacey, right after he told Spacey's client Lingk that the check had gone through to the bank:

Lingk exits.  Pause.

                         ROMA
                   (to Williamson)
           You stupid fucking cunt.  You,
           Williamson...I'm talking to you,
           shithead...You just cost me six
           thousand dollars.
                  (pause)
           Six thousand dollars.  And one
           Cadillac.  That's right.  What are
           you going to do about it?  What are
           you goin to do about it, asshole.
           You fucking shit.  Where did you
           learn your trade.  You stupid
           fucking cunt.  You idiot.  Whoever
           told you you could work with men?

                         BAYLEN
            Could I...

                         ROMA
            I'm going to have your job, shithead.
           I'm going downtown and talk to
           Mitch and Murrray, and I'm going to
           Lemkin.  I don't care whose nephew
           you are, who you know, whose dick
           you're sucking on.  You're going
           out, I swear to you, you're going...

Then I turned the movie off and went back to sleep. This time the heated exchanged in dreamland happened between the two guys I work with (who are good friends) One was threatening to fire the other and kept challenging him to a fight. I was the mediator this time, and I kept saying, "You guys aren't serious? What is going on? Take it easy guys! Is this a joke?" I was in the elevator waiting for both of them when this courier girl walked on. She lit up a cigarette, and I got really scared. "Can you please put that out? My boss is going to be here in a second and he's gonna flip out if he sees you smoking in the elevator. . . " "No. Fuck him!" she yelled. "Please, come on, please. . . " I started to crumple right there, and then I woke up. At around noon the next day I resumed the movie, and it was excellent. I think I am going to leave sportscenter on tonight when I go to bed. . .

Mingulos peppers. . . .

2007-04-20T13:04:00.000-05:00

. . . don't exist. I just found this out. Ever since I saw Donnie Brasco many years ago, I always wanted to try a mingulos pepper. During Joe Pistone's speech on the meaning of "Forget about it," he says "If something's the best in the world, like mingulos peppers. . . .forget about it!" So I work with an Italian guy, and I asked if he had tried mingulos peppers, and if I could find some somewhere. He informed me that Pistone actually said "Mia (as in short for "Mama Mia"), those peppers. . . forget it." Now I will never be able to enjoy that mysteriously awesome pepper.

A few reviews. . .

2007-04-16T23:24:00.002-05:00

Extras: Ricky Gervais. . . . . . (napoleon dunamite voice, wait for it. . . ). . . .yessssssss. Inevitably excited about the series, I must also say I was unequally as disppointed by the fact that the first season consists of 2 discs and six episodes. . . The Office style. In any case, the episodes were greta and the extras on the dvd, well that's where he'll get you. I could not stop laughing at the outtakes - esp those on the second disc. They show the total amount of takes - not one crack-up, but maybe all? of them. . . Good show. . . .

Rome: I felt this show was on par with Deadwood. Anthony vehemently disagreed, and I still can't figure out why - Swerengin vs. . . ok maybe no specific character has that certain. . . what the french call. . . "I don't know what." It's going to be cancelled I hear due to budget, which is unfortunate because hbo shows in general should not be cancelled due to budget, ever. . . next

2001 by Kubrick: I spent a good time watching the first half of this movie wondering how I was supposed to perceive it in the late 60's. I haven't finished it yet. I fell asleep in the middle. It's annoying to do that because you have to over-rewind to make sure you didn't miss a word, etc. . . (This was not really a review, I know. . . . maybe when I finish it)

Ghostface Killah: Fishscale and More Fish: Fishscale is great. Sure, my transition to hiphop feels awkward slightly. I listen to songs like "shakey dog" and "the champ" - great songs - but they're about gats, smokin', big-titty bitches, and regaining past superchamp rapper glory."Pokerface," however, I can relate to, since I have watched Rounders, and I am familiar with all the quotes, which become comedy when John Malkovich is not saying them.

Vonnegut R.I.P.. . .

2007-04-15T23:51:00.000-05:00

"He threatened for a long time to sue Big Tobacco for false advertising, and as recently as 2005: "Brown and Williams, on their package, promise to kill me. And they haven't done it. I mean, here I am 83." With a wrongful death charge to back it up, maybe he'll get justice yet."

Taxi driver. . . .

2007-04-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

I wake up a little late for work - just a little, but I decide to take a cab anyways. I realize I made it sound like this is an anomaly, but despite actually living a nice (and often refreshing) 10-15 minute walk from work, I take cabs maybe 30-40% of the time. Today's taxi driver was a little different, and before I tell the story I must say I was in a good mood this morning - I got a good night sleep; I set my alarm for 7:00 and hit the snooze for ten minute intervals until 8:30; and, for the latter half of that 90 minutes, I finally watched the end of Barry Lyndon, which I will discuss briefly. So, the taxi driver picks me up. I tell him where I am going (like 1.3 miles away), he starts driving. When I am passing the Four winds bar and grill on my right, I notice he did not turn the meter on. I say, "hey, you didn't turn the meter on, you might want to do that. . . " He says "oops! I forgot" (He has a middle-eastern accent) In any case, he doesn't turn it on. This confuses me. He drives to the lights at Atlantic. As he turns the corner, he says, "What do you usually pay like six bucks?" I find this question annoying since I told him to turn the meter on and he didn't, so I say "I don't know, guy. That's why I told you to turn the meter on three blocks ago." I say it in a normal voice with a hint of annoyance. He doesn't really say anyting after that. "Next left?" he says. "Yeah." He goes to drop me off and I give him two bucks. I say, "You didn't turn the meter on so I'll give you two bucks for a tip." Then I go for the door and it won't open, even though the lock seems to be up. "Fuck!," says my inner monolouge. He is like, "What is this, two dollars? What's going on?" I am like, "Dude, I told you to turn the meter on and you didn't. I am giving you the tip only." Now I want to get out, but the door won't open, and this guy seems semi-harmless, then he starts tweaking: "Two fucking, man! Are you fucking serious. What the fuck, man!?" He opens his door, gets out of the driver seat, pounds on his roof and is like, in english that is all fucked up - (and it was fucked up because I think he was genuinely pissed but couldn't express how pissed he was in the english language, which, in turn, made him more pissed) "You have to fucking be keeding me, wtf? Are you fucking serious wtf?" At this point, let's realize he is being penalized by me for not turning on the meter. I do know what a taxi cost me to get to work. Maybe he has even been my taxi driver in the past - it is $4.35, and I give $6.00 total. All taxi drivers have turned on the meter in the past. More importantly, he was saying all that towards me through the windshield of the door I couldn't open. I say to him after his verbal assault, "Are you going to hit me or something? Why is my door locked?" He takes a respite from his frustation, as though that were a serious allegation against him as a driver," What do you mean??? That is not locked! Pull it up!" This is where I felt like a melvin sort of. The lock on the cab (Ford Taurus style) was only pulled up about 5/6th of the way. I pulled it up further and as soon as it budged, I bolted for the opposite door and got out. He jumps back in the cab. I would estimate 10 people were within earshot of the following verbal assault (in semi-broken english) "You fucker. You fucken cock SUCKAH! You fucken THIEF! FUCK you, you FUCKEN DICKHED! etc. . . . " All comments were said by a cab driver who wanted to make four extra bucks and probably would have murdered me over those four bucks if it weren't in the middle of the financial district in the morning. Since he was yelling all this at me, and I try to amuse myself in situations where I am made to look like a criminal by taxi drivers who I usually tip well if they are honest, I looked at him after ten seconds of him following me down the sidewalk with his window open, and said "take it easy, psycho." Not in the Adam Sandler way, but just as a stern last few words, and to divert any attention around me that might them think I actually was a thief. . . .So, I go into work, tell my boss, who I had imagined would have done the same as me, for he is very sensitive and a lot more argumentative than me (I rarely get into arguments, as most people know), and he is more passionate about the little things that I usually don't care about. His first response was "Wow, you took a cab here? Why? You must live some exquisite lifestyle I don't know about. . . ." Then he said, "So, it usually costs you six bucks, why didn't you just give him six bucks?" I was like, "it's the PRINCIPLE! Like, what if I asked for a receipt?" He still looked at me like I was an idiot. I don't know. . . .comments?

Part 2: Barry Lyndon. I talked about this movie with Seth, and he noted the theatrical aspect of the movie. This was when I had just passed intermission. In any case my favorite lines after intemission both come from the narrator:

"Lady Lyndon was soon destined to occupy a place in Barry's life - not much more important than the elegant carpets and pictures - which would form the pleasnat background of his existance. . . "

the other one, which I can't find right now, had to with the fact that Barry's rise to wealth could be attributed to the same traits that would eventually lead to his downfall. Seems standard to me fro some reason. . .

As for the epilouge, maybe seth will comment on that. . . .

I'm going to go watch a moooooooovie - a. powers

2007-03-27T23:31:00.000-05:00

So I am going to watch the end of Barry Lyndon by Kubrick before I go to bed. I started it on Sunday night, then I fell asleep. Then I started watching it again on Monday night. I wanted to finish it, but when it go to around the 1:40 mark, it said "Intermission" on a black screen - all old-school. So I think I have it in me to finish it tonight. I also got my two cases of Diet Moxie tonight - a little expensive for what they are, but free overnight shipping is cool. If anyone has seen Barry Lyndon, I would like to hear some opinions on the movie. . . .

Recent music downloads . .

2007-03-26T00:41:00.000-05:00

.

2007-03-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

Diet Ginger ale is my favorite drink now. I have been drinking Diet coke for so long that I decided to mix it up. Variety can be the spice of life, but only in moderation obviously. I also found out recently that they have Diet Moxie. I went to buy some online. I found cases from Maine for $36 (24 cans) - kind of pricy. In anticipation of shipping charges, I ordered two, but there was no charge for shipping, so I just bought two when one would have been fine. Since there is nothing in my refrigerator two cases will be just fine. I also hope I sort of like Diet Moxie. I know I like regular Moxie, but the diet variation of any drink can vary (Diet Dr. Pepper is awesome, but Diet root beer is meh).

making a comeback. . ..

2007-02-09T04:11:00.000-05:00

So I got laid off today. . . . I came home, had a knob creek and diet coke, then I decided I should do something productive like knock balls into pockets. Then my bud John came over, and we talked about life and stuff. Now it's 4 am and I'm listening to the Shins and playing 25/50. I might take a road trip soon, I dunno. . . .

Personailty Test Results. . .

2007-02-08T14:45:00.000-05:00

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid Disorder:	High
Schizoid Disorder:	High
Schizotypal Disorder:	Very High
Antisocial Disorder:	High
Borderline Disorder:	Moderate
Histrionic Disorder:	Low
Narcissistic Disorder:	High
Avoidant Disorder:	High
Dependent Disorder:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders --

I may have misclicked on the extra-sensory question, since I do not belive in that stuff, and that may explain the very high for "schizotypal disorder" Other than that, it still looks NOT GOOD.

Reflections on the end of the past year and the ensuing year. . .

2007-01-08T13:17:00.000-05:00

-I don’t think I am going to travel much this year. I will be going to San Francisco for George’s wedding next month, and then I will probably spend a week in Vegas this summer. While in Vegas, I will be carrying out a spontaneously formulated pool match vs. Canadian Mike. I will receive a one game spot in an 8-ball race to four for $300. I am probably a clear underdog right now, but I can be a scrappy 8-ball player, and if I start playing more anything can happen in a race to four. I think in the back of Mike’s head he is thinking he can parlay this into a larger score given my propensity for senseless wagers, but he will discover I am a huge nit when it comes to betting on pool. (edit: this aim doesn't help, although depending on exactly how bad she was this could mean nothing: "Canadian Mike: so go to strip club, offer this stripper a billiards deal....i give her $200 if she beats me in one game of 8ball, if she loses she must give me 2 free lap dances, and she can shoot 3 times to my one time every time it's her turn. . . "

-The day after Christmas I had a plane to LA at 6 a.m. I went over to Smaz’s to pick up the first season of “How I met your mother” to watch in L.A. (and I actually ended up watching 17 episodes in a row one day out there.) Anyways, when I got back I had some time to kill, so I played cards and got bludgeoned at 30-60 stud8 and holdem simultaneously. Then I played some guy hu 100-200 and lost even more. The railbirds were typing in the chatbox: “(GP), please stop playing him. This is painful to even watch.” I played this guy for a few hours and made a bunch of mistakes, but so did he. I had to quit when I had to go to the airport. I packed in about fifteen minutes. In 2007 I am not playing poker ever again on major holidays. Over the last two years my record is terrible, and it might be fun and mystical to be superstitious anyways. Also, it’s not fun to start vacations (esp. when one will be playing live poker) stuck a package before you board the plane. About two and half hours before returning to Boston, I noticed that I booked my flight for Jan. 30th, not Dec 30th, so I had no flight. This actually turned out ok and only cost me $100 extra to get on a flight a few hours later. The lady who worked for United, after handing me my ticket, said “Dude, you gotta pay attention.”

-I have recently made a personal pact to get healthy this year. This will include regular exercise, healthier food, no ephedrine, less drinking etc. I am starting to feel my age – I have a gut and I am out of breath when I run up stairs, etc. I’ll be between 165-170 again in about two months. Then I’ll start sporting my throwback puma coat and slither around like a slim, trim, smooth city slicker. . . .no prop betting or other form of motivation required tyvm (If anyone does see this as a golden opportunity to make money, I will entertain ideas obv. . .)

-The Squid and the Whale was an excellent movie. I watched it in LA, then I bought it the next day: http://www.squidandthewhalemovie.com/

It is semi-dark, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Jeff Daniels pretty much pwns this movie, with maybe Eisenberg as a close second, but everyone is excellent in it. Great soundtrack too. I am going to buy it right now. Although the plot of the movie can be somewhat depressing, reinforcing my current pessimism of the degree to which relationships can be successful and fulfilling in the long term in the current era, it is still light-hearted and somewhat uplifting. (In fact, discussions of this movie caused two people to suggest I see a psychiatrist. Why see a psychiatrist when one has friends? I always say. . . isn’t that what friends are for?)

-I am going to try to play less poker this year because I think I should be doing other stuff. I did fine last year, but I had a chance to have a much bigger year and subsequently underperformed during the second half (gambled too much, lack of discipline, needed a respite from grinding). I set my quarterly estimates slightly lower this year to take off some pressure and to try to pursue other interests. I have given some thought to taking up golf this spring as a way to spend more time with my parents, who have recently reached retirement age and have been trying to get me to play for a while now. Actually, this probably won’t happen given my proclivity for avoiding outdoor activities. . .

-A few months ago I was intent on buying a condo before my lease ends next September, but now I’m having second thoughts about tying myself down. I do want a bigger place, so I’m definitely moving out of the North End. It will be nice to get a bigger place and to pay less money. I have enjoyed living in Boston, but I said I would do it for two years, and that still seems to be the appropriate amount of time.

Awkward, stilted, and quasi-articulated reviews of various forms of media. . .

2006-12-21T16:04:00.000-05:00

not quite finished, part 2 coming soon also. . .

Will Oldham and Rian Murphy: ALL MOST HEAVEN. 2000. This album is both very ridiculous and very good, so in a sense it’s ridiculously good. Here’s how I got into this album: Lee sends me some mpa’s, says “listen to this EP it’s good.” I throw it into itunes and go out. The next day I wake up and sit down for an afternoon session of grinding. I listened to this EP, no joke, 22 times in a row! Usually when multi-tabling it is easy to get lost and let the music go until you get to a song you hate, then you switch up. Since I had the Ricky Gervais show right after Rian, I immediately went back to the beginning. Seth Tisue, noted discographer of Jim O’Rourke, feels that the first song is the weakest of the four. When I reminded him of its existence, he noted its lukewarm reception to the masses, then agreed that the album was excellent – pinpointing the fact that it challenges one’s comprehension of the English language (ok, he didn’t say that – he just said “have you seen the lyrics?”). At first, you hear the lyrics and Oldham’s voice, which cracks and breaks in an extremely melodic way (think Alanis’s “All I Really Want” from Jagged Little Pill, but the total opposite) Then after the fifth or sixth listen, you realize you can’t piece together any meaning, as sentences trail off and words sound like real words, but you can’t understand them (I have been told I talk in my sleep in a similar manner – gibberish that sounds like my own personal, yet incomprehensible, language). When I looked up the lyrics, it turns out that a lot of words are not actually words, but they make the songs sound dramatic and extremely coherent. The back of the EP has a picture of Will and Rian in Baroque garb leg-wrestling. That sums it up more or less.

Yo La Tengo: And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out. 2000. I am very close to giving up on this band. The first time I heard the album I thought it was a snooze, even the rock songs make me want to drift off. I can’t stop thinking, and this is probably semi-stupid from a critical standpoint, that I am listening to goofy They Might be Giants songs when I listen to this album. I just don’t like this group’s general vibe. I am not going to Frisbee it out my window Cranberries To the Faithful Departed style, but I just don’t get why everyone loves this band. If you feel passionate about Yo La Tengo, please leave a comment and help me understand. . .

“Road Hustler”: Jerry Forsythe. This book is essentially the memoirs of expert pool player, and one could say storyteller, Danny Diliberto. Here is what I got out of this book, besides a lot of entertainment: Hustling of any kind used to be a very dangerous and shady, and extremely difficult endeavor. It’s not like today where one can just play poker whenever and find some game one knows they can beat. There were guns, fights, narrow escapes, cons, etc. Once his friend heard a guy say if he won the next game he was going to shoot Danny, so after a five minute headstart by the friend to get the car, Danny excused himself to use the restroom, running right into the car and forfeiting profit. Danny hung out at a bar FOR A WEEK, just because he knew some guy was going to give him action on whether he could throw a golfball over a 110 yard-wide canal. Anyone that read my Eurotrip blog would realize I would lose a lot there. If that canal were in Amsterdam I might lose everything I owned. What seemed to characterize pool players was their collective casino degeneracy. It didn’t matter how smart or hard one was as a pool hustler – they all lost in casinos - could not resist house games – and that was ok. It was like a fact of life. Also, they were broke more than one would think. Even the best players/hustlers always seemed to be going broke (Lol, I just realized that it’s not that different from a lot of “famous” poker players.) I have yet to figure out the hierarchy of the nobility of the manner in which one loses money these days. I think I would honestly be happier about losing 30k if, say, someone hacked one of my accounts and chip-dumped than if I lost 30k playing high limit slots John Daly-style. . . I could easier rationalize a loss if I played with champs after having a few jack and cokes than if I just woke up sat down in a super-tough high-limit game. Gamblers are weird like that – not just poker players, but all gamblers. So, ultimately, this book would appeal as much to a poker player as it would a pool player, just as some say “The Hustler” is the best movie ever made about poker, even though it has about 4 seconds of poker footage.

Akron/Family: Meek Warrior. 2006. This is a tough album. It starts out like this: Remember the scene in the Royal Tenenbaums when Chas (Ben Stiller) stages a fire drill for his kids Uzi and Ari? The drums kick in and Chas is trying to lead the way. The drums kick in the same way at the beginning of this album, but they don’t stop – the guitar just keeps getting louder and louder and the drums keep going. . . . then the guys (who are very neo-hippyish, despite living in NYC and using lots of technology to produce their music) all start yelling “Blessing force!” over and over like a bunch of neo-hippies. That is the first half of the nine minute song. Then second half is formless noise that I skipped at some point for my first five listens. What made the first album so great was the acoustic guitar combined with mysteriously trippy/freaky/deep vocals. Fortunately, that form comes back into the seven song mini-album – particularly in “Meek Warrior” and “Lightning Bolt of Compassion,” but neither song approaches the excellence of “Lumen,” “Sorrow Boy” or “I’ll be on the Water” from the self-titled debut. “The Rider (Dolphin song)” sounded just like an early 90s tune that I couldn’t quite recall for about two weeks (I finally did and it was “Birdbrain” by Buffalo Tom). Anyways, it’s uncomfortably noisy, yet subtly melodic in a listenable way. Brian couldn’t get through a song on this album. When I started to warm up to it, I said, “Guess what? I’m starting to dig the new Akron album.” He said, “Oh, well I’m sorry because that is the biggest piece of shit ever recorded ever. . .” It’ true, though. It grew on me. I prefer to listen to it with headphones and at a high volume. Sure it seems like they steal a lot from other bands (end of dolphin song horn section = Radiohead “national athem”), but as a whole the album works – the drifting cacophony and moments of order. I might even try to see them at the Middle East in February. (It will be hard to find someone to go with me, but it’s interesting to think that they have won me over – someone who would have bet large sums of money he would never in his life buy a ticket to see a band that photographs themselves in a canoe with no shirts on for their liner notes.)

The Pipettes: We are the Pipettes, 2006. I knew they were bringing back the Supremes-esque formula of girl band, but with a modern flavor. I knew they were popular in England and a top seller on insound. So I buy the CD (part of a full-blown tilt 8 cd order.) It gets backordered despite being the one I was most interested in – bah. Ok, I get it throw it in at work. Some of the songs seem very accessible, but the problem with accessibility in music is that (for me, at least) most groups I immediately like I get bored with in a few days. One of the first things I think about is how their general audience could be – it could be 30ish indie hipster, or it could be the spice girls crowd. It could start as indie hipsters and get taken over by the Spice Girls crowd. Construction administration Chris walked into my office, threw me a puzzled glance, and hesitantly said, “GP, are you listening to the fucking spice girls? ABC. . 123. . . are you learning your ABCs GP?” In any case, it seems the indie crowd has prevailed, and I still like this album a lot. They sing innocent sounding 50’s songs that have racier, sexier, lyrics – girls in I would guess their mid-20s singing about high school drama and one night stands, etc. My friend Alex saw them in Paris and said they weren’t very good, which I can see, but their studio album is very produced and makes the songs sound tight. (They made pitchfork’s top 100 singles of 2006 at #21 with “pull shapes”:

http://74.52.66.98:9014/article/feature/40070/Staff_List_The_Top_100_Tracks_of_2006/page_8

The Best of Leonard Cohen: Leonard Cohen. 1975. I asked a Leonard Cohen fan which of his CDs to buy. I was told to get the single disc greatest hits. I thought I bought greatest hits, but I bought “the best of.” In any case, I was wrong about this guy. I figured I would like his music based on who he has influenced, etc. I thought he was going to be very poetic and very dorky; instead, he’s very poetic and very cool. The first few times I listened to the album, I would hear a verse and think “BOOM! THAT VERSE WAS AWESOME!” From Chelsea Hotel no. 2, for example:

You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception. And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."

I brought the CD to work, and it was well-received by my co-worker Brian, who rushed into my office after an hour or so and said, “Wow! Did you read the liner notes? This guy is like J. Peterman.” He handed over the inside cover and I perused his song descriptions with Peterman’s voice in my head, and I had to agree. Here’s an example:

"Hey That's no Way to Say Goodbye:"

This song arises from an over-used bed in the Penn Terminal Hotel in 1966. The room is too hot. I can't open the windows. I am in the midst of a bitter quarrel with a blonde woman. The song is half-written in pencil but it protects us as we maneuver, each of us, for unconditional victory. I am in the worng room. I am with the wrong woman.

Soon after, I asked Glenn if he had heard Leonard Cohen. He said, "I've been pushing him for years. No one listens to me. I told you. . . " I guess I'll have to start listening to him more, but then again, he likes emo crap too, so. . .

The Wire (Through 1.5 seasons): This was on the netflix backburner for me for a while. There was a waiting list for the first season. During my last homegame, Smaz and Anthony were making fun of me for not doing everything necessary to watch The Wire, i.e. just buy seasons on amazon. For the record, SMAZ AND ANTHONY LOVE THIS SHOW MORE THAN ANY OTHER SHOW EVER! Smaz actually seemed visibly agitated that I was willing to let netflix dictate the scheduling of a small portion of my life. In the middle of a pot-limit omaha hand, I was on the button and heads-up with Anthony when he bet the pot, which I think was around $300. I called (after I call Matt mumbles “Stupid, no way you win” or something, Anthony showed, I mucked, and Smaz glared at me and said, “Next time, why don’t you stop being such a fish, save that $300 and go buy every season of the Wire.” Shortly after that Season one disc one shipped. It took a while, but I started to get into it. At first, it just seemed like another cop/drugs show with a bunch of Oz’s B-grade actors. Anthony, I believe, took about a week off from life to watch every episode of every season. I find that pace unreasonable for this show. When I first watched the Sopranos, nothing else was going to go into my dvd player until all five seasons were done. I don’t think the Wire merits that, and as such I have been watching Arrested Development (great show, very funny) and Alias (very mediocre by last season so far). I told my friend Sam to watch it, and she said, “Really? It just looks like a generic show where I’m gonna think that everyone is acting, and there will just be generic drug situations over and over. ..” I had to say, based on that comment, that she probably wouldn’t like it and took back my recommendation. This is a B+/A- show. Supposedly season three is the best, however, and I am only at the halfway mark of season two.

Cat Power: Moon Pix: 1998.

Chan Marshall drinking. . . mmmmmmmm

Many years ago, I decided I would not like Cat Power because I figured I would not like a group (I thought it was a band name and not an alias for a singer) named “Cat Power.” I asked Lee for some recommendations, and he told to get Moon Pix. I looked her up on allmusic.com and browsed the albums and found that she had a covers album too, which included the Stone’s “Satisfaction” and Velevt Underground’s “Found a Reason.” I listened to these songs first, then the other covers, then “Moon Pix,” and then I got “What Would the Community Think” shortly afterwards. Here’s the bizarre paradox that developed – I didn’t care at all for any of her covers of songs with which I had been familiar. “Moonshiner” on Moon Pix may be the exception, but anyways. My two favorite songs on WWtCT turned out to be covers of Smog and some other dude. “You may know him” and “the Colors and the Kids” were the first originals I heard where I immediately decided I was a fan, and now I have all of her albums. She had a reputation for messing up and crying, both excessively, during her live shows. Apparently, she has cleaned up, which will probably lead to increasingly boring music (see every singer/band that gets off alcohol/drugs). Maybe she will compensate by losing the “Cat Power” alias and going by her real name Chan Marshall. (Lived in Bars got #30 on pitchfork’s top 100 singles of 2006 list: http://74.52.66.98:9014/article/feature/40070/Staff_List_The_Top_100_Tracks_of_2006/page_8

9 ball. . . .

2006-11-23T02:46:00.000-05:00

I played some 9-ball tonight, and now I am stuck a nine-ball in poker. happy thanksgiving - sigh an eleven-ball :(. . . .

Foxwoods Redux. . .

2006-11-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

Of the last three times I had said I was going to Foxwoods after work on a Friday, I only ended up going once. This time I actually motivated and got down there at 9 p.m. Smaz asked me to pick up a cell phone charger for him on the way down, and I didn't. He was pissed. On to the weekend highlights:

-MS: "I don't want to go into the gen. pop, wanna each put in 2k and get some drinks and play some bj?"
GP: "ehh, how about 1k?"
MS: "Ok, so 3k total?"
GP: "Ok."

-GP: "How about we just go to the poker room in a few? Lock up this win?" MS: "Alright." GP: "What?? Really? You'll go?"

-Guy in 40-80 game, after I bet the whole way and then fired a river bet extra hard at the 3 Q T 9 J board: "What? You've got to be kidding me!" MS: "A8 alllll day!" Guy, while calling: "Oh, this is sick." GP: A8!

-Guy from before at 40-80 before tanking a river call vs Matt on a 7 5 2 7 A board: "Ok, you got an ace you win." MS: "No ace." (rolls over 7d2d)

-MS: Hey can we get a comped breakfast buffet? We were playing earlier. . .
Floorman: You. . . were playing in here?

-MS: "So what are you doing? Going to down to the poker room and checking on the lists and calling me if the game is good?"
GP: "Nah I'm gonna take a bath. . ."
MS: "What?! Oh my God, I'm taking a nap."

-MS, after Matt, dressed in his Bobby Bellande gear of white socks and flipflops, and Feming played some bj: "So what are we doing? Going upstairs, putting on shoes, and coming back downstairs?"

-MS, before the three of us lost shortstacking a 25-50 nl and 25-50 plo game: "So, which of GP's accnts are we gonna bust?"

-MS: "So can you send me some stars?"
GP: "Sure, if you say it's ok I didn't get the phone charger because I am always helpful with transfers. . . "
MS: "Ok I don't want any of your stupid money!"

It was a fun time, even though foxwoods is pretty much the worst. I saw a preview for a new Diane Arbus movie that I thought looked good, starring Nicole Kidman, but all the reviews I've read so far say it's below average.

Arbus photos.

Lazy Sunday

2006-10-01T15:45:00.000-05:00

So I was watching the Office today and I drifted into an interesting dream. There was a convenient store where my stairs usually are outside my apt. in the hall. I'm hanging out talking to a bunch of people, and I am not there to buy anything. No one is working, though, so more people keep coming in. Someone finally walks behind the counter. I walked over to the counter and yelled, "Ok, listen up! If anyone wants to buy lottery tickets or anything else the line starts here!" I walked back over to the girl I was talking to and said, "I have no idea why I just did that, I should get out of here." I walked back to my apartment and opened the door. The first thing I noticed was that my new computer was gone. Then I looked in the bedroom and my furniture was gone. At this point I started to freak out, but I said to myself, "Wait, there is no way someone could take all this stuff in the time I was gone." I felt I must be dreaming, so I started slapping myself on the face but I wouldn't wake up. I saw some dude in the hall and asked him if I was dreaming. He said "What kind of a question is that?" I ran out into the hall, looked both ways, and decided to flop on the ground and try to get up to see if I was really dreaming. The movement felt awkward, and suddenly my head jerked and I sat up as I awoke. I looked at the tv and Dwight was running to his car. He backed up, turned, and slammed on the gas, hitting a pole on his way out of the parking lot. He opened the door, almost falling over, put his hands on the back of the car and ralphed all over the back windshield. Without even thinking he got back in the car and kept driving. Good show.

Home game #2 scheduled for tonight. . .

2006-09-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

My place is a mess, though. I have an eye appointment at 4:30 and not much of a window to clear off the massive pile of mail, bills, records, and other assorted random stuff off my table. The lineup will be Anthony, Matt Smaz, myself, and possible Daryn Firicano. Anthony has made it clear that is prepared to "bring it," warning me of the impending doom for us, stating "I am going to smoke bet the pot every button." He then said we may have to do something about the $400 cap per person per hand. This may happen, I dunno. The other interesting dynamic of the evening will be to see how Matt's irrational disdain for the placement for my desk within my apartment will unfold. Every time I have talked to him since I rearranged, the first thing he says is "Have you moved that desk yet?" Apparently, a computer should be positioned in front of a wall, the desk should touch the wall, and the chair should face the wall. Having the chair between the wall and the desk is unacceptable, he feels.

I run good and bad all at once. . .

2006-09-02T15:40:00.000-05:00

I came back from New York late last Saturday night, so I left my car acroos the bridge in Charlestown and planned to move it, but I could never get out of bed early enough to do so, and I was always too lazy to do it after work. On Friday I went online and saw that I had a ticket on Wednesday, so I called Smaz to see if I had like 12 more tickets or if my car got towed or something. I only had that one ticket. . .then today I went to drive to Maine to hang out with Tim before he moves to DC, and of course my car wouldn't move. It's all locked up for some reason. It's like the brakes are always jammed but they're not. I walked home. It was super windy and I had no coat. I am joking around with Bran on aim abotu my car when I say "Give me a ride to Maine."

Bran: which part
GP: portland
Bran: LOL
Bran: DONE

So he was going there anyways. Nice. And, I just bluffed the river with JT on a K 9 8 2 9 board, got called, and I won. My car is still broken, though. A demain. . .

results. . .

2006-08-31T12:45:00.000-05:00

Yes, I was told that I look "just like" Leann Rimes. . .

Well I am sorry I have never posted but the answers, but here they are. . . .Glenn won with 11/20. . . .landslide – next highest was 7/20. Later we made a random $50 bet on who would win a Matusow/Benyamine 1k/2k match, and I lost that too, so Glenn suggested I just give him a copy of my pokertracker database in lieu of $150, which I may do. In any case, the answers are as follows:

1) c. I didn’t get in any fights as a kid, even when kids made fun of my hair – I just kept it all bottled up inside :P. Also, I had a rather controlled temper. . .in public, so I didn’t throw clubs etc., although I did throw a few tennis raquets after years of beatings by my father, who always kept me in the game and gave me frequent leads. . .4-1, 5-3, etc, but never let me win.
2) b. It was said about a year ago.

3) d. It hasn’t come out yet.

4) c.

5) Wilco – AM, Beth Orton – Trailer Park, Liz Phair – Whip Smart, and The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

6) b. I thought people would guess d. for obvious reasons, but actually most got this right. Good job everyone.

7) c.

8) d. Most people guessed a. I would have guessed that too I saw this question a week before it happened, but something about that guy just tweaked me. I wanted to put my hand through the phone and grab his tie and smack him.

9) b.

10) b.

11) c.

12) c.

13) b.

14) b.

15) b.

16) c.

17) d.

18) b.

19) b. I hate these guys so much for no good reason, but I was forced to go to the concert, and now I just like hating them. I spent half of the show sitting/lying on the grass thinking how much I didn’t want to be there and exactly how big of a tool the lead singer was while on stage.

20) d.

Part 2 of the quiz and the bet is over!

2006-08-15T22:00:00.001-05:00

So the bet is off. A blockbuster deal was made where Mike wanted relief, so I said that if Matt would be willing to rescind his wager, Mike could make a payment to me which would take care of my other bets (not including Glenn’s, which was considered no action shortly after the announcing blog.) So, that’s that. Those that have yet to be paid will be paid shortly. Now onto part two of the quiz. Since I am lazy and did not put it up on Friday like I said I would, I will extend the deadline to this Friday at 5 p.m.

9. While My mother’s musical tastes include people like Yanni, Sarah Brightman, Bocelli, etc, When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she surprised me by stating which of the following cds.

a) Under the Iron Sea – Keane
b) Away From the Sun – Three Doors Down
c) St. Elsewhere – Gnarls Barkley
d) Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam

10. I was given a bonus at Eurobet, so I ended up doing some sports betting. At one point, I made a wager against the red sox for no good reason. How much did I bet that the Red Sox would lose?

a) $100 to win 255
b) $120 to win $269
c) $25 to win $53
d) $150 to win $227

11. How many PartyPoints do I currently have on my Partypoker account?

a) 81,897
b) 403,265
c) 207,858
d) 171,086

12. I currently have how much money lent out to people?

a) $4500
b) $6500
c) $9900
d) $15,500

13. What movie my mother tell me to go see, then I forgot she told me, and told her I had just seen the worst movie ever when I finally saw it?

a) The Davinci Code
b) Firewall
c) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
d) The Devil Wears Prada

14. The first pack of cigarettes I ever bought was. . .

a) Marlboro Reds
b) Lucky Strikes filters
c) Merritt Ultra Lights
d) Gauloises Blondes

15. The first time I made out with a girl, I bragged to my friend afterwards that "I kissed her for like. . . "

a) 5 seconds
b) 20 seconds
c) two minutes
d) five minutes

16. I am playing one game of 5-10 nolimit while I type this quiz, my stack is at. . .

a) $632.80
b) $942.50
c) $1566.50
d) $1924.00

17. Which of these famous axioms does my father not repeat at almost every family holiday function during some conversation?

a) It all comes down to supply and demand.
b) It's all about trying to make a buck.
c) You can only do the best you can in the time you have.That's all you can do.
d) Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.

18. After my freshman year of college, a few friends and I started bowling once or twice a week. My goal was to bowl a 200. even though I had no formal technique and basically just tried to bowl straight and slightly to the left of the headpin. Once, with my previous high being 199, I got to the 10th frame with a 193 - the 9th was an open frame (no strike or spare). What was my final score?

a) 194
b) 198
c) 200
d) 253

19. Of all the concerts I have attended, which did I enjoy the least?

a) Young MC
b) Depeche Mode
c) Sick of it All
d) Superconductor

20. Which is these nicknames have I not been called at one time or another?

a) the robot
b) the bear
c) bone
d) wembley

This is the real quiz. . .

2006-08-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

Ok. Same idea as the first time, but this one will be for something to be determined worth around $100, maybe just cash or vouchers, I dunno. .The person with the highest score by 10 p.m. next Tuesday will win. Email all answers to gandrewp@gmail.com. Good luck. . . .

1. I did a golf clinic when I was 10 at the Bellevue County Club. A bunch of kids played five holes on Saturday morning. I only did it once. What happened the day I did it?

a) I whiffed the tee shot four times in a row on one hole and threw my mother's driver, which accidentally went into a neighboring pond.
b) I got in a fight with a kid who was making fun of my hair.
c) I chipped one in from like 40 yards.
d) I wet my pants because there were no bathrooms on the course, and the instructor told me I couldn't leave the group and would have to wait.

2. Which of the following was not said by one of my friends today?:

a) "Man flying is gonna be horrid now. They should have special flights for people who don't care if they blow up."
b) (While I was looking at a Le Corbusier (famous early twentieth century modernist architect) building in a magazine) "Who is that? Oh, it's that whack-job that poured concrete all over the fuckin' place. . "
c) "Glen, have you seen those three random chicks that work upstairs now?. . .it's like, I'm waiting at the elevator and in walks a gaggle of B/B+ers."

3. Which of the following items have I not purchased in the past month? (one answer)

a) a Schlitz beer tee-shirt
b) a black and white 8" x 10" photo of David Brent dancing. . .
c) a Canon Digital Rebel
d) Season Two of the Office on dvd
e) a Bose ipod Sound Dock

4. I just bought a new camera, as I plan on learning more about photgraphy and taking a lot more pictures. One can get both my old digital camera and a 128 mb compact flash card for around $120 today. How much did I pay at the time?

a) $725
b) $475
c) $600
d) $825

5. Which of the following cds have I not purchased in the past two weeks? I purchased all but four. You can make three guesses and will get a point if you get at least two.

Cat Power - Moon Pix
Built to Spill - Live
Wilco - AM
Beth Orton - Trailer Park
David Bowie - Low
The Pipettes - We are the Pipettes
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Sonic Youth - First album Reissued
The Figurines - Skeleton
Liz Phair - Whip Smart
Scott Walker - Scott 4
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
The Palace Brothers - Days in the Wake
The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
Manitoba - Up in Flames

6. I have been told, at some point in my life, that I ressemble in either an aspect of appearance or personality all the following except:

a) Niel Patrick Harris, aka Doogie Howser, NPH
b) Kiefer Sutherland
c) Leann Rimes
d) Heath Ledger
e) Kramer
f) Ian Ziering, aka Steve from 90210

7. which of the following books am I not in the process of reading:

a) A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
b) No-limit hold'em: Theory and Practice, David Sklansky and Ed Miller
c) the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Mark Haddon
d) A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby

8. On Friday I ordered the new Dell XPS with the 30" monitor. I have heard very bad things about Dell's customer service, but the order went very smoothly. The guy was helpful and we worked it all out - including a multi-day debit plan to deal with my daily maximum debit that Sovereign has set in place. Today I get a call from Dell saying they cancelled the order on the monitor because my bank rejected the request for payment. I called the bank and, of course, they tried to debit an amount over my the limit I told them. I realize I am going to have an annoying time dealing with this already. I explain the plan I had with Rodrigo to break up the payments, and I instantly didn't like him because he said, "Ok, well I don't know what conversation might have taken place, but here's what I can do." Then he explained my order was cancelled when the bank turned down payment, and since the order was placed on the 4th, the promotion had now ended, so the monitor would be an extra $200. But, what he could do was give me a 32" Dell lcd tv that could be used as a monitor for $1999, which, he said, was even better, since I would get extra "special promotions" in the form of warranties, etc. He kept asking me if I knew that a tv could be used as a monitor, and he kept asking me if i knew my previous order was "just" a monitor. He also kept throwing in stupid statements like, "sir, the tv is an lcd, which is a "liquid crystal display," so it can be both a. . blah blah blah." He probably went back to the tv option 8 times in about 10 minutes. I told him to call me back and I would look into it. I went to the website, and I find the 32" lcd tv for $1299. I didn't want it anyways, but now I was just annoyed. He calls back. "So I decided I do not want the tv. I just want everything that was in my original invoice for the quoted price." "Sir, may I ask what are your reasons for not wanting the tv?" "Sure, I have a nice Sony tv already, my computer is in another room, my apartment is small. I just want a monitor to use for my desktop, and if I want to watch tv I go into the other room." "Sir, are you aware that you can use the tv as a monitor and watch tv in addition to using it as a monitor?" "Absolutely, and I just want the monitor I ordered on Friday. Also, the tv is $1300 on your website" "The basic version, sir, without all the special promotions, starts at $1500(not true)" "What are the special promotions?" "Can you hold on a minute while I find out exactly what they are?" "No thanks, I just want the monitor." "Ok, sir. . ." We go through about ten more minutes of technicalities when he says "You realize that your monitor is not covered under the accidental damage warranty?" "Oh, I thought Rodrigo told me it would be. . . " "No, sir, that's why I was trying to explain that lcd tv is covered. . . " At this point I snapped, cut him off mid-sentence, and said which of the following things:

a) "Look, I just don't want the tv! Let's not talk about it anymore, ok?" (agitated voice)
b) DUDE! I DON'T WANT the FUCKING tv! (very agitated voice, almost a yell)
c) "Mention the tv again! Say tv again, I dare you. Say tv one more time!" (very agitated, but in a mockingSamuel L. Jackson Pulp Fiction style tone.)
d) "I. . . DON'T. . . WANT. . . THE. . . LCD. . . TV" (loud and stern voice, which implies agitated)

Part two will be released tomorrow (Friday). . . .

So this is what I do now. . .

2006-08-07T01:16:00.000-05:00

Two weeks into the bet I am doing very well. I go to the gym a few nights a week, but I haven't really been hanging out with anyone. Yesterday I exhausted myself rearranging my apartment. Also, I have become the worst at updating my blog. New blog coming very soon. . .

game on. . .

2006-07-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

"The game is on. . . . The game is on!"

-Chau Giang when the the 6 max $2500 sh nlhe at the 2006 wsop got down to six, and now GP

Ok, registration is still open, but so far here is what we have for offers, starting with Candian Mike. . .

Canadian Mike: $1500
Smaz: $500
Glenn: $300
Tim W: $250
Susan (I love the 80's) A.: $200
Peter: $100
Lee G.: $100
John, Scott, and Seth: $50 each

there may be a few more in the next day or two, but it's game on. . .I was hoping for more, as this was at the cusp of my reserve, but oh well. . . the game is on! I am so damn motivated, I think I'm going to clean and rearrange my apt. tomorrow.

Taking action. . . .

2006-07-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been a while. I will write about a bunch of exciting things later tonight, but for now I am taking action on a new bet. Somewhat inspired my Shane's latest bet, I am proposing that I will not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes for a period of two months. . .that's right. . . two months. This will also mean I can't resort to other things or decide to develop new bad habits in this time (i.e. if I get bored and antsy I am not going to trying Robo-tripping or anything. . .) This will be an honor system type of thing (I did pay five people a total of $1900 after the last bet). I am taking all bets now, and if it gets to an amount I find sufficient, I will make it a go. So, I plan to decide by Saturday and start on Sunday if there is enough interest. (edit: I reserve the right to make it a bet and all submissions are final. So, if two people bet $100, I can cancel it, but if I get 5k in total action, all bets are final since the decision to make it a bet is relative to the total amount submitted.)

Connoisseur of the High and Low-Brow. . .

2006-07-04T01:03:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. So here's a recap of some of the events of the last week, in no particular order. . .

GP vs. Three teenage girls. . .

I went to my sister and her fiances house in Cambridge tonight for the 4th. I was reading my book while walking down Mass Ave. As I was crossing the street, the red "don't walk" sign had just started flashing, so I still had the right of way. I started to cross slowly and let two cars turn right in front of me. When the next car should have stopped, they didn't seem to be slowing down. I kind of flinched and prepared myself to jump out of the way when the car abruptly stopped about a quarter-turn onto Mass Ave. The car had three teenage girls in it. I noticed the girl in the passenger seat visibly giggled in my direction right when I reacted to their delayed stop. How could they laugh at me? It wasn't my fault, and, in fact, I was a little insulted that she opted to laugh and not apologize. I stared for about two seconds, arms akimbo, but she didn't wipe the smirk off her face. I quickly lifted my book (hardcover, about 7" x 9") and cocked it back like a Frisbee that I was going to rifle right into her open window. I then placed it in my left hand and flung my right hand in full frisbee-toss motion, watched the girl's arms quickly wrap all around her simultaneously ducking body. Then I smiled and proceeded on my path. . .

New Pokerstars software. . .

I didn't notice anything drastic, but then Glenn told me about the resizing table feature and new themes. So, I set the theme to the saloon, and maxed out the table size. On my Dell 20.1" external monitor, the table is about 8.5" x 14" actual size - the biggest online table I have ever played on. . . it also seems like the smallest size auto-readjusts the resolution much better than at Party. This makes one wonder "Why can't Party do something like this? Their interface is so boring and ugly, anyways. . .

Cultural Evening at the Museum. . .

Last Friday I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for dinner and to see the "Americans in Paris" exhibit. My mother wanted to talk about the Red Sox, and the ensuing conversation followed:

GP's mom: "So, how about those Red Sox (they has won 11 in a row at this point)?"

GP: "Yeah, they're on a little run. . . "

GP's mom: "I felt bad when they knocked out Pedro (she, for some reason, had always pronounced his name "Ped(estrian)-ro"). . .

GP's sister: What? He got knocked out? Like hit in the head?

GP: No, they just scored a lot of runs early and he got taken out of the game. . .

GP's mom: You know who I really like? That Coco Crisp. . .

GP's dad: So, do you know what position he plays?

GP's mom (turning towards me): Shortstop, right?

GP: Nope. Did you see his catch last night on the highlights? (where he made a highlight catch in centerfield)

GP's mom: Yes.

The rest of the dinner was fun. My sister is getting married in two weeks, and her fiance was there, so my father started getting his axiom mode. This is usually reserved for holidays. He starts making general comments about life and applying them to us and no one in particular: "Well, you can only do what you do in the time you have;" "You kids turned out ok, you just have to try to make a buck," etc. . .

The museum exhibit was ok. It's kind of annoying how all museums seem to recycle stuff with variations on a theme just to get people to take interest, but I understand why they do it. The Sargeants were the best part, but still, the Daughters of Edward Boit is part of the Boston collection, and the equally famous portrait of Madame X came all the way from the Met in NYC. He is one of favorite painters, though, (I used to paint a lot in high school and early college) so I still look at his paintings like Cameron looked at the Seurat painting in Ferris Beuller's Day Off. After the exhibit, when I got in my parents car, my mother gave me a late birthday present - a clock. I stared at it for a while, trying to figure out what kitchen elements were used as what. As I looked, my mother said: "It's a clock made out of kitchen parts. . . (I kept staring at it). What, you don't like it? I got it at the DeCordovah Museum - It's Fine Aht!" "No, I like it. I was just looking at it." I hung it up on my wall next to my refrigerator, right next to my Sargeant postcard and Napoleon Dynamite magnet. Then I poured myself a glass of the scotch whiskey I got in Berlin in the only cup I had - a plastic cup probably made so 3-year-olds could drink small portions of apple juice. . . .

I got home from work today and noticed my refrigerator was where my table should be, so I turned around and noticed they ripped the ceiling out and were repairing a pipe in apartment. Nice. Then I thought about the what I had in my fridge. . . Nothing, good. . .oh wait, I had two cans of beer. Then I noticed they plugged it into the other side - cool.

Saturday Night Susan. . . .

On Saturday night I met up with an old friend at Four Winds for some drinks. We reconnected on myspace and had 18 years of catching up to do. We covered a lot of high school gossip, which is probably more fun for me since I left public school after ninth grade. We also talked about sports. Susan is a big sports fan, so the following discussions ensued (pun intended): whether Papelbon should stay a closer (she says yes I say no), Ortiz mvp debate, Francona taking out Pedro, etc. That got me started on retroactive thinking, and how bad I was running at Party, and how sometimes it's hard to say whether a bad decision is a bad decision just because one loses. (I had a -200 bb swing that I just came back from over time. Since I have been back from Europe and changed my handle, I have been hesitant to even put hands in my tracker until I knew it would be in the green (which, outside of pokertracker is known as the "black") I finally got there yesterday and now can boast a .43bb/100 under my new handle :P.)
Sue mentioned she worked at a celebrity golf tournament, so I asked who was in attendance. She lit up and said "Lyndon Byers." You have to be %100 Boston to appreciate Lyndon Byers. His toughness on the Bruins may be second to only Jay Miller, who, despite his unimtimidating size, fought regularly with Chris "knuckles" Nilan, and never lost a fight. The bar got very crowded at 1 a.m. closed at 2. We went to get cigarettes, and Sue learned that's it's not easy to get any particular brand in the 7-11 near my house without a language and body language struggle. She said she wanted to see another GP quiz, sensing she may do a little better now, so I may put that together. I'm thinking the prize may be a freeroll $105 sng vs. me on stars, or maybe an ipod shuffle for those that don't play poker. We'll see. . .

WSOP News. . .

I am on the other side of the country from Vegas, but since I have a computer I keep up to date on the action. First, congrats to Vipul on getting 5th in the $1500 limit holdem for 58k. Based on the push at the beginning of the final table (the KJ hand) I figured you would be a little disappointed with anything but top three, but nice work anyways obviously. Feming cashed in the 5k nl, and the legendary Steve G. was in the thick of it until the end (search archives for Steve G. interview). I must hand over any news to the people who are currently there - Jesse Martin and Mike Schneider's in particular. . .

PLWnd8!

I took a break from grinded late Saturday night/early Sunday morning to play Glenn in a little hu plo8 5-10 on a pvt table at party. This was the by far the biggest hand of the night. When I later sent him the hand history, he refused to believe I didn't doctor it, but based on how the match was playing thus far I decided to demonstrate that even though I have been running bad in limit holdem that I can still play poker sometimes. My plan on this hand was to call the big cr on the turn and fold if he followed through on the river and push if he checked. After some discussion, he finally admitted that, although he did have the best hand at the push, he had QQ9x (maybe :P) when he cr'ed. So, he probably would have been put in a tough spot and probably would have folded anyways on the river even if I didn't catch one of the best cards given his hand:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?396140

Experimental Jet Set, Ephedrine, and Diet Rock Stars. . .

2006-06-23T04:31:00.000-05:00

So I get back from Europe and realize my ephedrine supply has run out. Ephedrine is a convenient over-the-counter drug that helps me get less sleep that I would normally require and, in turn, maximize the amount of time I can spend in a day on things I like to do or not do. It was banned for a year, then unbanned, since the FDA could not legimately tie it to the deaths of athletes (Korey Stringer, some Orioles pitcher), who both died during preseason workouts after strenuous lengthy sessions in sweltering heat. You can't get it at GNC anymore, and the reason I am told is because of the fact that in the face of future legislation, the chain would need an insanely large insurance policy, which they don't feel like getting or dealing with. So here's the connudrum: I get it at netnutri.com, and it used to cost $9.98 for a bottle of 48 pills. I usually take two a day in the morning, and sometimes two more at some point throughout the day - but usually just two a day. When I went to get more, it explicably jumped to $29.99 a bottle. Sigh. . . after about 8 minutes of deliberation, I realized that this didn't matter to me, and I bought two bottles. The realization that I may buy more in the future lead me to ponder my expenses and realize I spend a large % of my money on stuff that has no real value - food, drinks, ephedrine, cabs, etc. Also, I hate keeping any kind of financial records. With poker and online banks, it's easier because all transactions result in emails and some form of documentation. After that, though, I have no idea how much I really spend. So, I have decided to strart documenting what I spend my money on every day. I won't include my standard life fees (rent, cell, cable/int, car insurance, netflix, etc) unless they are what tennis players would call "unforced errors:" parking tickets, late payment charges, here's the first entry dating back to my initial ephdrine purchase on Wednesday, in no particular order:

Ephedrine (2): $29.99
Starbucks Double Shot: $2.17
late parking tickets (3): $90
New Sonic Youth album: $16.99
Chili and Caesar Salad, Diet Coke: $16.00 w/tip
Side of Chicken Fingers with Teriyaki Salad: $15.87
There's Nothing Wrong With Love - Built to Spill; Oh You're so Silent, Jens - Jens Lekman; You In Reverse - Built to Spill; Broken Boy Soldiers - The Raconteurs: $52.33
CHELSEA WALLS - TWEEDY,JEFF WILCO; TRUE LOVE WAITS: O'RILEY PLAYS RADIOHEAD - O'RILEY,CHRISTOPHER; The Best Of Guided By Voices: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates - Guided by Voices; St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley; The Eraser PRE-ORDER - Thom Yorke: $54.43 (I just wanted the gnarls barkley, but I went off for a package :/ - not typical weekly expenses obv)
2 Diet Rock Stars and a slimfast bar: $7.85
Eggs, homefries, toast, and coffee: $5.75
Wilco and Billy Bragg DVD: $17.99
A book called "Miss Misery" by Andy Greenwald, which was endorsed by Klosterman - "This is the emo Fight Club": $12.95
Starbucks Double Shot, Diet Rock Star, and one liter of Diet Coke: $7.19

*Stoxtrader has come out with videos of him playing 4 30-60s (also 4 1k nls) with commentary, and he's selling them for like $30 I believe. This should be well worth it, so i'll probably get those as they come out. High limit ($300-$600) videos are coming out soon as well. Lee was just telling me that he folds KJo in the hijack seat (co+1). . . KJo in the hijack! (As I am typing this I just 3-bet KJo from the sb to a co raise 5 handed, is that wrong now too?), but will raise K8s - that tidbit alone may be worth the price of the video. He apparently says he ran the numbers on large sample sizes of both hands. . .stox is also collaborating on a book which should be excellent based on the sample excerpt form his website (follow the expert millionaire link to the right).

Also, Schneider was given the job of reporting the WSOP in Vegas for seven weeks for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, MN, where he just finished studying journalism:

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/cardshark/

After one terrible session of 30 where I played horribly, I went on a 4k downswing in like 300 hands multi-tabling short 30s on Party, Mike suggested that maybe he had helped take some of that money off my hands. He wouldn't reveal his new handle to me, even though I have my guesses. In any case, that prompted to retire my previous emlyfischer handle. I have a new one now. Since Mike linked my blog to his wsop blog, though, I will give him a hint and say my new handle is the name of a famous journalist. He will now probably figure it out and continue to pick on me at the tables :/. I would prefer that he just stay in the 100 game where he belongs, though. . .

Home Sweet Home. . .

2006-06-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm back to work tomorrow (Today). I got home on Saturday at like four, only about a half hour later I was supposed to arrive. I sat next to this thirty-ish Indian dude on the plane, who was annoying but funny. He had a sweet moustache and standard indian airplane clothes - A tucked-in button-down yellow, plaid shirt. He fell asleep in four minutes and started snoring loudly, and he kind of smelled. Whenever teh flight attendants came to bring food, he always provided a comical exchange:

"Would you like something to drink?"
"Milkoff!!"he yelled.
"Sorry?"
"Milkoff!!!!!"
"Umm. . . "
"Coffee wiff Milk!!"

Also, he woke me up everytime I fell asleep to use the bathroom. I thought I had a window seat, but when I realized I didn't I knew it would be trouble. I watched King Kong, which was the most horrible movie I have ever seen. I did get to read a lot of my Grover Lewis reader, which is excellent. His movie journalism is excellent - especially the Sam Peckinpah, Robert Mitchum, and "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest" stuff. The way he portrays the making of films, and the role Hollywood played in defining oneself as an American, it made the follow-up movie experience to king kong - some action movie with Harrison Ford saving his family from some dudes that hacked his bank files or something - even worse (fortunately I got some sleep during that). I settled in a little at home, it made the follow-up movie sleep for five hours, played cards for a bit during the night, watched some old episodes of the BBC Office. As for the trip, I'm going to have to just post in the snippets format. . .

"OK, new challenge! You pick something, and if he can throw it over we've won the champagne, and that's it. That's the real quiz! That was the real quiz!" -David Brent

One day in Amsterdam, George and I walked all over for a few hours, looking for some things to see. We ended up going to the Rijks Museum, and saw some unnecessairly elaborate dollhouses, an excellent sculpture of a possesed-looking sculpture of Eros, some fantastic trompe l'oeil paintings, and about four of Jan Vermeer's 19 paintings. After that, we were feeling a little tired (Amsterdam was very hot, and I only wear dark clothes - in this case, a black button-down shirt and navy blue pants.) We sat out in the middle of a park and smoked some of George's joint from the day before. As I stated earlier, despite some experimentation in college, I had never really been high. Knowing that amsterdam has powerful stuff, we both took about four or five hits and decided to lay off for a bit. We were just laying around afterwards in the park, while everyone else secretly assumed we were cops or something. After about an hour or so, we decided to motivate and walk around.
As we started to walk, George found a rubber ball probably 2" in diameter. We walked a few miles, almost getting hit by about 31 cars and bicycles collectively, laughing at the thought of throwing the ball at different things. Then a throwing challenege presented itself. There are lots of canals in Amsterdam. So, as were walking on the sidewalk, I offered George 20 euros if he could throw the ball into the canal from the sidewalk. I would estimate this distance at around sixty feet. I then decided to get more specific by claiming the three feet of stone embankment into the canal as "my 3feet," so if the ball hit the stone, I would win. I was quoted as saying, "I just don't think you can throw it that far." He didn't seem to understand the concept of me getting the extra three feet, and I thought he was retarded for not understanding such a simple concept. We argued for about fifteen minutes I would guess. Finally, I just tell him to go to the sidewalk and throw it. He crosses the street. I am very focused on looking intently at the 3' embankment. He takes few steps and throws. I don't immediately see the ball at all, so my eyes drift up and watch the ball sail over the little embankment, and ultimately over the whole canal, which was also about 60' to 70' wide. At that moment I lost it. I started laughing so hard at myself that my cheek muscles started twitching and I felt like I had been punched in the face. We started walking down the street and neither of us could not stop laughing. Meanwhile, more bicycles were lmaost hitting us, as we kept hearing little bells ding and people yell at us as they passed. It's hard to get used to the european bike paths. I think they put them on the worng side of the sidewalk or something. Anyways, we finally collected ourselves and went to an irish pub to get a beer. Guinness would have been too much, so we ordered Coronas. The barmaid looked at us funny and asked if we wanted a lime with them. We said "no." She said, "Well that's good." She may have refused to serve us if we did want limes I think. . .

I am no Yves-Saint Laurent. . .

We just left a bar in East Berlin and wanted to grab a bite to eat. We saw a McDonalds and decided chicken sandwiches sounded good right then. We saw a German drunk scuppah make out with a guy, who then walked out the door. Thirty seconds later she started making out with another dude right in front of us in line - it was sixth-grade style out of mouth tounging - very Def Leppard videoesque. Then we get up to the counter and I say to George, "Wow, I like that dude's jeans. . " George gave me a puzzled glance. Then the guy turned around to reveal a big ,yellow stitched McDonalds logo on his back pocket. . .

Not Everyone hates America. . .

Cadenhead's and Klaus

"I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. . ." - Ron Bergundy

While walking through East Berlin, Geroge spotted a whiskey store, so we went in. This place place was clearly expert, with chalkboards of hundreds of bottles of whiskey, but I didn't recognize any. Klaus came up and made small talk with us, and we asked if they shipped. "Where to?" he asked. "America." "Sorry sir, we only ship to civilized countries," then laughed and went on to explain US shpping policies etc with regrads to whiskey. George asked if we could have some samples, and he took us into the salon in the back. Over the next hour or so, he talked about his business and we had a few 2 cl samples - and 5 and 6 euros per 2 cls. Here's some of what we learned. . .

The U.S. has a law, which Klaus said is directly linked to the forrestry industry, that every cask may only be used once. Then it must be discarded. The Cadenhead's business, which is based in Scotland and has six locations worldwide, buys the US's old casks and continues to use them. All of the Cadenhead's whiskeys are made in a single cask; thus, they only produce a limited amount of bottles from a cask - around 150-325 I gathered. A cask is usually 200 liters in the US, but they can be adjusted to hold more, usually 250. The great travesty in Klaus's mind about US whiskey is the myth that color makes a whiskey better. In other words, they add water and color, reducing the quantity of alcohol and, in turn, many of the real aromas that a good whiskey can generate. Almost all of the Cadenhead's bottles resemble white wine more than they ressemble a Jack Daniel's or a Johnnie Walker. During our sampling, Klaus brought out an some water with an eye-dropper to add water during the tasting.

This dilutes the whiskey slightly and releases different aromas. Klaus spoke passionately about the discovery of new aromas that every whiskey could contain. I was sampling a "peted" whiskey, where the whiskey maintained a woody taste produced by the cask itself. This is not possible in American distilleries. George went with non-peted whiskey. Afterwards, I purchased a bottle from Ireland, more specifically, the Island of Islay at the Laphroaig Distillery. It is aged 14 years. The wood type is Bourbon Hogshead, and there were 234 bottles produced from the cask. It is 56.1% alcohol, which is notably higher than the 80 proof bottles of the U.S., which is probably the norm. I had a few small glasses last night, and it is excellent. It really burns, though, but you get used to it. If anyone is ever in Berlin, I would suggest stopping by: Cadenhead's Whiskey Market - Ackerstr. 145 10015 Berlin; www.cadenhead-berlin.de

Architecture in Berlin. . .

Cab driver are crazy in Berlin, even when compared to the yellow menaces of NYC. On Thursday we took a cab to the center of town to walk around, shop a little, and see some stuff. The first thing we stumbled upon was an unexpected pleasure, since I did not even know that it was in Berlin - the Eisenman holocaust memorial.

Interesting fact about the pillars that compose the whole - they were provided by the same company that produced zyklon b, and they are coated with a graffiti-proof material, thus limiting freedom of expression.

George

They were donated, though, and Eisenman didn't want them to be coated, but they were anyways. The National Galleries by Jean Nouvel was also a nice structural accomplishment. It doesn't seem possible from the inside, but then you find the semi-hidden suspension cables coming from the central steel opening. You can find it at www.jeannouvel.com.

"No Deutsch. . . "

We checked into the hotel and were second in line. Geroge's girlfirend booked us a last minute hotel before we arrived, and we stayed at a best western at the Kanthotel on Kantstrauss ave. The receptionist was speaking english to everyone. George's last name is German, so he said, "Watch, she's gonna ask for my name, then start talking non-stop in German for like five minutes. . .and that is exactly what happened. . . maybe you had to be there . . .

I should go to bed now, so I will resume this later. . .

amstahdamn. . .

2006-06-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

so I'm in an internet/pool/bar/hash place in amsterdam. I watched the usa get destroyed in soccer on tv, and decided tonight is not the night for my experimentation, as I am naturally a paranoid indivdual I don't need to ruin the night. I treated George to a joint, however, since he lost 100 euros to me in pool, I think it is only fair. So far the trip has been as expected - we are treating ourselves well, relaxing always, eating and drinking well, etc. I slept for 13 hours on sat --> sunday, so George was giving me shit about not being able to wake up for the train to amsterdam. I agreed and said we should clearly stay up all night and get the six a.m. train. He agreed and that's what we did. (It would have been nice if he remembered that he bought first-class eu-rail passes, but we got here :/. . .)We are at the Merdian in Amsterdam, which is very nice. I drank the best bottle of bottled water I have ever had today. It's called SPA.
Yesterday, we were watching a soccer game in an irish bar in Brussels. Geroge went to the bathroom. When he returned, we tried to get two more drinks. The bartender was clearly ignoring us, so George got up and strolled to the other end of the bar. It was then I noticed he had made a toilet paper seat and got a piece caught. So, there he is strolling through a bar with approx. seven pieces of toilet paper hanging down the back of his jeans. I scope the scene to see who notices. Then I realize since it's George no one will notice, which is exactly what happens. He just stands in front of three girls at a table with a roll of toilet paper hanging on his pants, and no one notices. . . .
My plan of maximum relaxation has been going according to plan. While drifting down the street in Belgium, George foresaw an accident in the making - two cars at a decent speeds were about to collide, and the vector of impact was pointed right at me. Normally I flinch hard at just about everything. This time I just decided to ignore a really loudly yelled "Glllllllleeennnnnn, WATCH OUT!" After a second or so (very long time in this circumstance) I just turned my head to watch two cars screech to a halt in front of me, then threw George a sort of "don't waste my time and make me turn my head unless you really mean it, bitch. . . " look. . .

oh, Johnny O, my plan of pulling out George 's secret nickname six days into the trip went as follows: I got off the plane at Brussels and meet up with him. We make small talk for like 3 minutes, then he said, "So, did John tell you he calls me hooter." Bah. . . more coherent update to follow.

Eurotrip: Intro

2006-06-08T17:00:00.003-05:00

Going to Europe tomorrow!

I am terrible at packing. My mother knows this, since I always forget something every time I go anywhere. She decided to try to be helpful, so she made the following list for me, which I think is rather amusing:

Documents:
-Passport
-Airline Tickets
-Itinerary
-Credit Card
-Traveller's Checks
-Foreign Money
-License

Clothes:
-Jacket
-Coat
-Pants (5)
-Shirts (6)
-Sweats (2)
-Shoes
-Socks
-Pajamas
-Boxers (9)

Accessories:
-Watch
-Belts
-Tie
-Glasses

Hygeine Kit:
-Shampoo
-Deodorant
-Toothbrush
-Toothpaste
-Mouthwash
-Razor, Shaving Cream
-Soap, washcloth
-Hairbrush
-Nail Clippers

Health Kit:
-Tylenol
-Band-aides
-Contact Lens, solution
-Sunblock

Misc:
-Travel Alarm Clock
-Camera
-Umbrella
-Plastic Bag for Soiled Clothes

I think the funniest parts of the list are: sweats, 2 (I have not worn sweats in like 6 years); pajamas (I have not worn pajamas in like 17 years); hairbrush (I do not brush my hair); Nail clippers (I am going away for one week); Bandaides (I completed elementary school 18 years ago); Sunblock (I make sure not to expose myself to this for longer than a half-hour at a time); Umbrella (I suck it up and walk fast, or I take a cab); watch (watches are so 3 years ago); Itinerary (that takes away all the fun); soap and washcloth (nice hotels, tyvm - will not exactly be roughing it). . . .anyways, I'm sure the list will at least make me remember to bring my passport. . . .

I spent three hours at work today preparing itunes for my new ipod nano. It's hard to decided exactly what 59 albums to put on, but I think I have a mix that will cover all my listening desires. I also filled out one of those myspace 137 question surveys - the kind that asks questions like, "Do you have a crush on someone?" and "If you could make out with one person, who would it be?" Even though it must be geared towards middle school and high school kids, I found some of the questions to be very thought-provoking. "Who Is the last person I yelled at?" "What were is the best bedsheets I had as a child?" "If I were a crayon, what color would I be?" "If people from high school saw me today, what would they think?" Anyways, I spent like an hour and fifteen minutes on the survey, then I closed the browser by accident :(. . .

I watched Crash last night, and I thought it sucked. Chris from work summed it up perfectly when he said, "I'm never watching that movie. . .everyone I know that doesn't really think about anything loved it, and everyone I know that actually thinks about stuff hated it. . . "

Well, there should be some adventures in the future to discuss, unless the cowboy makes his now inevitable visit and ruins my trip. . .

Game over. . .

2006-06-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, the bet is over, and to no one's surprise, I lost most of it. Glenn bought out of it by overestimating my ability to make a last minute push and gave me $750 instead of risking a 2k loss. Matt and Steve have been paid. I owe Canadian Mike $500, but he is telling me to hold onto it for further action on the pool table in Vegas this summer, since he seems to think he can run it up into a preliminary event buy-in. I am such a nit in pool that I doubt that will happen (and I know he plays gooood), but we'll see. . . Peter and George will get their $200 soon. . .

On Thursday night, which is the day the bet ended, Matt wanted to get some food and grab a few beers, as he had just spent the afternoon moving two of his friends into new apartments. I suggested we go to Bacco on Salem St., since they open the windows on the first floor in the bar area, and it was nice out, and I wasn't that hungry and just wanted a few drinks. We couldn't get seated at a table, but ten minutes later we got a table upstairs, which is where the restaurant is. . . So, obviously we went off for a package - several appetizers, main course, a few bottles of wine etc. It was A LOT of food, so I went out in style. . . .

Friday after work I headed back down to Foxwoods to hang out with two old friends. Yes, I know I had less than kind words for that establishment in my last entry, but it's all about the company, and it was time for a weekend gathering with Tim and Aaron. It took an extra 45 minutes to get there due to rain and traffic, but I made decent time considering. I strolled in, hoping friday night would have better games than sunday morning -----> Nope. There was a $75-$150 h.o.e. with a list of six, and I knew it wouldn't move. There was a $50-$100 h.o.e interest list with 10, but they never called it. So, I just sweated Tim and Aaron a little bit in their $4-$8 games:

-I watched the 9th inning of the sox game, thought about how George's bud John is in town, and I have just been waiting for his team to inevitably fall apart in order to then remind him of his earlier statement that Detroit was the best team in baseball. (note: pppfffttp!). Sure enough, they did the unthinkable and Youkilis hit a two-run homer with one out left of almost-automatic Todd Jones --> gg John.

-Tim plays very tight. In two hours I saw him voluntarily play like 2 hands. I know he was getting bad hands, but I like to give him shit anyways. He had a hand that I thought he should have easily 5 bet the river with 99 on a J J 9 4 2 board, but the old guy was a little scary. He called a raise, but then waited to the river to make a move, and he got all shaky like only an old man with the nuts: "I raiiisse." Tim three bet and he instantly said, "Reee-raiaise." I still would have throw in the 5 bet and then called a reraise. He had 44 and I called Tim a fish. He redeemed himself by playing a hand expertly in the same orbit, though.

-I realized I wasn't getting in a game, so I convinced them to hit the bar. After last call, they all wanted to play short-handed, which wasn't gonna happen, especially since there were three of us. So, we sat in a $4-$8 game. Everyone at the table was the most annoying person ever times three. That was that.

-The next day I was on the fence about playing, but I wanted to cash in my silverbird. Yes, the silverbird is the same chip I meant to cash last weekend. Anyways, we ate a nice breakfast, strolled in at around 3 p.m. Again, the board was a joke - no big games except a few $75-$150 studs and a short $75-$150 h.o. It's like just Foxwoods to break my balls - they take out the other game I like from the mix. I drifted over. Some guy from A.C. was in the game. This, I decided, would be my barometer, since this guy will either book a small win, or get really, really stuck and stay up for two days and lose a package. He looked refreshed and happy, so I just said f it and decided to say my goodbyes and head back to Boston. It wasn't until exit 6 on 95 that I realized I forgot to cash my silverbird. . . bah.

Home game #1. . .

2006-05-31T22:58:00.000-05:00

I am not a huge fan of live poker. I used to think the social benefits of live poker made it a nice break from grinding online, but the last two times I have played live at a club, I haven't really had that much fun, and after about an hour both times I kind of started wishing I had just stayed in and gone to bed early. The last time I played live, though, was in January, so when Matt suggested getting a small home game, I liked the idea. Bran was supposed to come last night, but he didn't end up making the drive, so we played three handed 20-40 rotation at my place. We used it as an opportunity to play games other then limit holdem, which is basically what we all play 95% of the time. After an hour or two we added $5-$5 bling pot-limit rotation with a $400 max per person in a pot. We never had a three-way capped pot, but we did have several heads-up hands that were maxed out. Here are some game notes. . .

-The worst play of the night was made by none other than myself. Playing 20-40 badugi (the best hand is A234 of four different suits. Anthony raised on the button, I called with a three card draw to an 8, Matt 3 bet, and we both called. We all drew one. I made an 876A badugi. I checked with the intention of check-raising and standing pat, but Matt bet and Anthony raised. Since it was the first draw, I folded. Matt went on to win with a 5 badugi - basically the nuts 99.9% of the time. However, I told them what I folded and the Matt and Anthony shared a deep hearty five minute belly-laugh. I realized the error of my ways (esp. since a 235 badugi draw has 5 outs to beat me, but whatever this was like the the third hand ever of badugi I played. . . ), but it probably helped me take down a pot or two uncontested later on in the night. . .

-I thought I was the one of the laziest people ever when it comes to life's basic yet trivial responsibilities, but I have to hand that title to Anthony. We were talking before about stupid lazy habits we have - i.e. I still have my garage door opener from my last apartment and have yet to receive the deposit; I still have my old cable box, have been charged for it, and haven't got around to returning it, etc. When we were playing, though, Anthony wasn't burning cards when dealing(burning = before laying out the flop, turn, and river, it is customary to take a card off the top of the deck and turn it face down. I said, "Do you not usually burn cards?" He said, "I can if you want, but I'm just lazy. . . "

-This game is probably going to get a lot bigger when we adjust the cap accordingly to the pl games.

-5 card draw triple draw high is fun, except when you get all-in with aces up vs a pair of queens, and after the second draw, you hear someone pinch the cards and say "third queen. . ."

-Anthony wears early 80's gray sweatpants. . .

-Matt got more annoyed than I have every seen anyone get when I did a simple free showdown turn raise on him in $40-$80 holdem: "That is so dumb why don't you just call the turn and river?! You know you are getting 3-bet by anything that beats you!!! Bran does that all the time, and I tell him he's an idiot!!!!" I am anticipating the next time I raise the turn I may be getting three bet no matter what. I hope I have something. . .

-This game should clearly take place on a weekend, so I never find myself in the situation where I should go to bed at 12:30 a.m. right as someone calls pl 2-7 triple draw, and so I don't have to get up early the next day. . .

Round 2 to follow in time. . .

Almost famous. . . .

2006-05-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

It was a toss-up - go camping at Pierre's parents 300 acres in Rhode Island or do nothing and be lazy. Despite the fact I usually don't like sleeping outside, I went for it. I figured the next day I would shoot down to Foxwoods and check out their new poker room. . .

I get out of the car and immediately see a familiar face - Alex's friend Andre I met like four years ago in NYC. Most of Alex's friends are French, and they all went to a French elementary school in Manhattan. He was with two other people. We all set out for the woods. I asked if they knew where we were going. There were frogs croaking all around. She said, "Just go where the frogs are getting louder." This was humorous on many levels - mainly that the term "double entendre" itself is french. . .

I saw tiki torches and a lot of people. I wore nice shoes, but I brought sneakers so I wouldn't ruin my new nice ones. Of course as soon as I saw Andre I just wanted to see Alex and then change, but that didn't happen. Instead, I had muddy leather shoes and was surrounded by tiki torches, tons of people, and a 90 pound pig. At that moment I knew I would have to start an alliance sooner rather than later. I saw tons of people I hadn't seen in years, and it was fun. I talked to Pierre for about an hour about Berlin, where I'll be going in two weeks. He suggested we skip Dresden, and maybe that will happen. . .other notable things that happened that night:

-I was chatting with Pierre and Yousef when four girls called me over and told me to sit down in a chair. They explained that I was going to be a participant in "camp speed-dating." They told me I had 5 minutes to impress this woman who was sitting in the chair next to me. Now, I had no interest in this situation and I felt like I had been put in an uncomfortable situation. So, I decided to fight fire with fire - I just sat there and looked like I was about to say something without saying anything. Then I would stop and make it look like I was thinking. Then I would open my mouth like I was going to say something, but I wouldn't. . . .After about two minutes, the girls said "Wow Glen, you're doing a terrible job here. . ." I said nothing. Then the other contestant in this really fun game said "Yah, you're not doing a good job." After about four minutes, I asked "Did you like Pulp Fiction?" She said, "I've never seen it." I said nothing for the next minute and that was that. . . she kind of just walked away and Pierre sat down and we started talking about his real estate job. . .

-Two months ago, Pierre said the Strokes would be there. It turned out they were still gonna be on tour and Pierre knew his brother wouldn't be there for a long time, but I had thought the possibility of an improv acoustic song or two by the campfire might happen. Instead this random dude had a guitar (there's always one). He played the Nirvana cover of the Meat Puppet's "Lake of Fire." Alex started to sing it a little to himself, but he was struggling with the words, so I took over and still struggled with the words. It was a vocal rendition that could be aptly described as a "crime against humanity."

-At the end of the night I went to camp out in my car. I followed a path and stumbled upon a massive puddle. I tried to circumvent it, but I ended up back at the site of the cookout. I said "Fuck it, I'll just hang out some more." I sat down and started talking to Lucienne. Lucienne had the bottle of whiskey I brought and said, "I bet you didn't know I had this." I said, "I didn't, I thought it was in my bag." The party had %100 beer and a few bottle of twisted tea. He said, "Ha, yeeeaaahh, well here I'll give it back." I opened my bag and there was another bottle of Jack Daniels - both were about half-empty. He looked at me with a puzzled expression. I was puzzled as well, but I just said, "I learned that one from David Blaine, sir. . ." and headed to bed. I still have no idea how that happened, but I'm going to pretend I really did do some magic. . .

Alex et Yousef. . .

-I woke up when the sun hit my windshield and turned my car into an oven. I didn't know who was up, and I needed to get some water and breakfast, so I just hit the road for Foxwoods. I drove with just socks, too, which I have never done but it feels like walking barefoot on the beach, in a mechanical sort of way. I got to Foxwoods, where I haven't been since Matt took his legendary bad beat to Mark Seif on the bubble about six months ago. Without getting into the story, I was sweating him earlier in the day when he was playing at a table on the edge of the room. Then he got moved to the middle of the room - to a table with Mark Seif and Billy Gazes on his left and Kathy Liebert and Andrew Black on his right. It was not good - objectively speaking. Since it was day 3, they don't let people drift around the room, so I just went to our room. Anyways, about thirty minutes later I get a text message that says "We are leaving right now - pack your bags." It may be hard for some people to understand, but if I were to say "Do you mind if I just take fifteen minutes and cash my big chip in and get cash?" I would probably get the same reaction if I (insert whatever here) . . . you get the idea. Sooo. . . Foxwoods has a new room. I figured I would check it out and maybe play some 40-80, since I hear they have it. I haven't played live in four months, and maybe I would see some people I know etc.
I show up and go to the board. $20-$40 is the biggest game they have. . . sigh - typical Foxwoods. It's really ridiculous that the biggest poker room on the east coast doesn't have a bigger game than that, but that's how it is. I put my name on a $40-$80 interest list. I am the third name on the list. I ask the guy, "Will this game go soon you think?" He looks at me and says, "It depends on whether the list fills. . . " He seems angry that I even asked the question, but then again, all foxwoods employees seem miserable in general.
I drift around the room to see if I see any familiar faces. All I do is look at tables of yellow chips. There is an asian woman from AC that both Matt and I both have played with a bit on pokerstars named "Kieu." She is very attractive - early 40s I think but she could pass for 30. She is married and has 3 or 4 kids, I believe. Matt introduced us a year ago, and now whenever I see her she calls me, and everyone for that matter, "baby." I saw her in Vegas last summer and said hello. She said "GLYNIS, hi baby!" (GLYNIS is my pokerstars handle). Anyways, once Matt was playing $20-$40 at foxwoods, and she came over to say hello. Matt said, "Kieu, grab a seat!" She immediately declined and said, "Noooo, the red chips hurt my eyes!" This is funny for a couple reasons: her husband is a wealthy high-limit player, so she doesn't really care about money; thus, she makes decisions about what limit to play based on how aesthetically pleasing chips are to her eyes; also, it can be true for everyone to some extent for a different reason.
I decide to get some lunch even though I'm not that hungry. The employees at the 5th Street Cafe seemed miserable as well. I get chicken fingers, sit down, and watch espn highlights of Schilling's 200th win. Then a guy at a table next to me says, and rather loudly, "how are you doing?" I give him an "are you talking to me?" look. He senses this and kind of backtracks, "No, I'm just saying. . .have you been playing poker?" "No I'm just on a list," I say. Then I figured it out. I knew what was coming, yet I can't explain why. I KNOW that this guy is going to ask me if I have been on tv. One minute later. . ."You're a pro, right?" Before I can think and formulate a question as to what exactly he considers the criteria for a pro, he says "I know I have seen you playing big games here, with tons of big chips". . . etc. I don't really know what to say, so I just think about why this happens to me so much. "What do you play $20-$40? (in the foxwoods bubble, $20-$40 players are extremely well respected. . . ) Honestly, I don't play live much, but the last four or five trips I have taken, at least one person has asked me if I have been on tv or if I am a known professional, and I have no idea why. I don't really look like any famous pros at all; in fact, the best way I could describe myself with regard to who I ressemble on the WPT is that I am half Erick Lindgren and half pigpen from Charlie Brown. In any case, he got up and told me there was a $75-$150 stud game going on, so I semi-laughed and said, "Ty sir, and good luck out there (in the battlefield of weekend warrior degenerates)" I walked over to the list. The $40-$80 interest list was still three people. I decided to just leave. On my way out, I saw a mall-style photo booth. It seeemd so random that I decided to stop, sit, and get a picture taken. I knew it would only sit on my bureau as a reminder of Foxwoods and my day. I put a dollar in. An 8.5" x 11" portfolio for a picture came out. Pwned. I hate this place. I walked another twenty feet, put the portfolio in the trash, went down the elevator, got in my car, and that was that. . . I drove home and listened to the last three songs on my live Jounrey tape that I bought at a truckstop years ago over and over. If I were in highschool in the late 70's I would have loved that shit. Faithfully is great, the solo at the end of "Who's crying now?" is tight, "Any way you want it" rocks" and "When the lights go down on the city" is also excellent. When I got to Rhode Island I realized I forgot to cash in my 5k chip. Sigh. . .

no excuse. . .

2006-05-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

http://www.pokerhand.org/?350777

Yeah, what can i say, I must be in a nervous state of mind for not 3-betting the river. . .

http://www.pokerhand.org/?350791

why did his river check-call seem weird? is it a reflection of me or him?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?351743

No more Oz. . .

2006-05-24T23:08:00.000-05:00

I finished watching all of Oz on netflix, which is probably good, since it has started giving me nightmares. I had two in a row. Two nights ago, I watched an episode where a prison guard got a cocktail consisting of four assorted bodily fluids thrown in his face. I actually visited a maximum security prison while working on an expansion at the prison in Concord, MA about five years ago. I was walking around with my boss and some "hacks," as the guards are referred to on the show. I was about twenty feet behind when they turned a corner. I thought they went left, so I drifted down an aisle of maximum security cells, which actually have an empty holding cell in front of their actual cell. So, I'm like walking and twirling my hair (one of my bad habits) when I hear "Yo Nnnniiiiiiiigggggggggahhhh! See that FUCK! Throw some piss on him!!!!" I quickly decided to run out of aisle and find my groups. One of the hacks told me to be careful, as the inmates actually piss in bedpans and throw it on anyone they can. Thanks for me telling me that beforehand, buddy. Anyways, last night I was dreaming that I was extremely agitated and telling everyone to "get the fuck away from me!" and "don't fucking touch me!" etc. . .No one was actually doing anything. They were just walking by and I perceived it as an invasion of my space. Then when four people confronted me and said, "What's your problem? No one is doing anything to you. . . " I said "I can't take it anymore," and I pulled a syringe out of my pocket (obv heroin) and tried to shoot up, just like everyone in Oz (except they snort it). It didn't do anything, though, which made me even more mad (probably because it was a dream, and I have never nor will ever do heroin, so I have no idea what it's like anyways) - and then I woke up all startled. In any case, I need a new dvd show to watch, so I would appreciate any recommendations. . . .

A couple party hands from the week:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?344927 = :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?346016 = :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?348768 On this last hand I asked Glenn what he thought of not raising anywhere in the hand, and he replied: "GP, this is partypoker. partypoker, GP" So I said, "He bet into 5 people on that flop - 5!" He said, "How about just thinking, "This is partypoker, and I have top pair on the flop, so I will raise?" Meh. . .

Strippers?

2006-05-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

One Friday after work, Chris, Brian, the other Chris, and myself were talking about fireworks. Every Fourth of July, Brian and Chris each have a party (not the same party) and get donations from friends and buy around a thousand dollars worth of fireworks. Once Brian drove back from North Carolina with probably enough fireworks in his trunk to warrant a five year jail sentence, made several deliveries to different people, and for what?. . . . for the pure enjoyment of watching little explosions in the sky. (It should go without saying that Brian is also in a bowling league - the obvious sport of choice for people that like to smash things and watch explosions). They asked me to come to the party this year. Chris said he bought an ice luge last year. The cost? $300 for a block of ice. I had to say that I would rather spend $300 on a block of ice that people drink from than get $1000 worth of fireworks for $325. In other words, I think the value of both is about zero, and watching fireworks blow up is like watching money burst into flames and ice luges are like money slowly melting into vapor. I think strippers fall into the category of fireworks and ice luges. The reason that I have to place strippers a notch higher is that, when I think about it, I would much rather be looking at attractive naked women than not looking at attractive naked women. So, last night was Szymaszek's roommate's 28th birthday, and some people came over and they got strippers. . .

(The Ultimate Party Photo! front: Bran, Jamie, Anthony "Dreamclown" back: Mike, Matt)

At one point, Matt says, "GP, please get on the floor I HAVE to see that. . . " So, I did. I had a nice buzz from the Johnny Walker Blue I had been drinking courtesy of Bran. (tyvm Bran, I shipped some $$ to stars for you. . .) I had two strippers jumping around all over me. I saw money raining over me. Then all of a sudden, I got really ticklish and started laughing - I couldn't help it. After like five minutes, one of the girls asked, "Are you having any fun?" "Umm, yeah that was great." I resumed my vertical position and began socializing again. I know you're not supposed to take pictures of strippers, but how could I not take this picture of Bran?

"Do you guys wanna turn the tv off?" "No."

The original Back to the Future is on tv now. I like this movie for a few reasons, but I realized the best part seeing it for the tenth time: One of the guys that rolls with Biff in the 50s is wearing these huge, white squarish glasses - they look like the original 3-D glasses they handed out at Jaws 3, but like 4 times bigger.

Be careful with Cialis in Border's. . .

2006-05-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

So there's two dudes named Chris at my work. The one that works in construction administration is Swedish, and if you say his first initial and last name, it sounds like "cialis." I asked him if I could call him that, and he said "Only if you see me walking around with a 24-hour rocket. . . " He still plays in a competitive adult hockey league and is a tough guy, but since he is only about 5'-7", some people can be fooled. Anyways, some guy in Border's is on his cell phone. Chris is reading a magazine. Instead of saying, "Excuse me, could I squeeze through?" the guy tried to wedge himself through, talking on his cell the whole time. Cialis glares at him. After about five seconds, the guy says, "You got a problem?" Cialis responds, "Why yes I do?". . . "Well what is it?". . . "This is a public place, buddy. If you're gonna squeeze through, you might want to get off the fuckin' phone and say 'excuse me.'" So the only guys starts in with "Well you. . . " Chris sensed his whiny tone and cut him off right there with a big "FUCK YOU!" right in his face - a true 'in your face disgrace.' Everyone's jaw dropped in the new hardcover book section, including the guy's, who decided to just slowly turn and walk away. Later he said, "Yah I knew he didn't really want a piece or he would have got off the phone before he started to talk back, so I just let him have it" -- expert.

Maxing out the passport renewal fees. . .

2006-05-16T15:23:00.000-05:00

I needed a passport fast. I lost my old one, but I have my first one from when I was like 15. On Friday, the lady at the post office tells me I need a birth certificate. On Monday, the guy tells me they stop passport applications at 4:30. Bah. So today I rolled in. Everything was all set. . . "Do you need to see my birth certifcate?" "Nope (t cost $18). I just need a check." Well, I didn't have my checkbook. For some reason I didn't bring it today like I had for the last few days. "Do you take debit cards?" "Yes." Great, I opened my wallet only to discover I probably left it in an atm AGAIN - THAT'S LIKE THE 4TH TIME I'VE DONE THAT THIS YEAR. Seriously, over the past two years I have probably averaged 3.2 trips to the atm per debit card left in the machine. (I am sure I lead the Sovereign Bank League that statisical category) Maybe I am such a space-cadet that I don't even hear the loud beep when one doesn't take the card back, or maybe I am so fidgety that I am already half a block away when it beeps - I don't know. So, I had to take a cab home and back, which cost $19 total, pay $60 for expedited service on top of the $67 renewal fee. Pay a $30 post office fee. The expedited service means 2 to 3 weeks. Since I am leaving in three and a half weeks, I decided not to chance it and get express mail both ways for another $28.80. . . something's gonna go wrong anyways. I can't figure it out, but I am guessing I will have to sign for it, and the usps will leave notes at the door I never use. Then, after 3 days they will return it, and I won't be able to go to Europe. Anyways, the closer it comes to the day I leave will be proportional to the likelihood I decide to actually just eat those special european cafe brownies they have over there. . .

UB hand results/Music and Film Review part 2. . . .

2006-05-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank a few resident experts for the comments. Now for the results: Fahigulqwua called with 4s5s with a few seconds left to take it down with two pair. When I saw the hand, I thought "(apply Cartman voice) Oh Jesus Fahigulqwua, you're breakin' my balls. . . " In reality, he probably was just confused a little and had no intention of folding, but didn't want to just make it look like he was paying off my set. As for the hand, Ike is right that there is no shame in check-calling the flop, but I just felt since Fahigulqwua didn't raise, I thought I might as well build the pot and use that to define the strength of my opponents hands. When Solid just called and now Fahigulqwua did the flatcall/reraise line, it defines his hand in my mind as a big draw that doesn't mind getting money in but could also use a free card. I can't see him not raising the flop with anything but a draw, as there were already 13 smal bets in the pot when it was his action. So, when he 3 bet, I tried to exploit Solid's probable weakness by just capping the betting right there. I led the turn hoping that Solid would fold and I could get heads-up with Fahigulqwua and possibly win if no draws get there; or, better yet, river a spade and get a bet/3 bet in there. Anyways, when they both called on the turn, and the river was the innocuous non-spade 5, I slung the $100 out there. When Solid folded and Fahigulqwua raised, it presented an interesting situation. When I told Glenn the hand, he said "oh yeah that's fine (the insta-3 bet), he can't have anything there. . . " Ed Moncada, who some of you may seen taking down the pot-limit holdem event last summer on espn reruns all year, said "why 3 bet if you claim he is a bad player??....i can only understand this if you put him on a last ditch effort to steal pot when you actually believe he has a missed draw." I think it's close between calling and 3-betting. Following through the whole hand with a missed draw is something I rarely do. I have to think if I 3 bet he wouldn't put me on a missed draw ever; in fact, he is probably going to put me on a minimum of flopped top two. However, if he just had a pair - even if it was 4sxs, he would not raise the river, he would just call - esp since the pot was enormous at this point - 16 big bets to him on the river. His river raise would either be a bluff or something he is not folding. There are only a few hands he might be capable of laying down to a river reraise that I do not beat - AT and AK come to mind, where he would 3 bet the flop to try to get a free shot at his gut shot/overcard(s) that may be good, esp since Solid just called flop check-raise. This play is much more common heads-up, but I have seen it more frequently from players like Fahigulqwua in short games lately in the past few months. The small possibility that he might lay down a pair that he tried to raise as a last-ditch effort against someone he clearly does not like (G.P.), and that he may have bluff-raised a hand that beats me (AK or AT) made me 3 bet. thinking things through, though, just calling to snap off a non-paired flush draw or KT or T9 may have been better. Also, when an opponent loses a few hands to you in the recent past, and you exchange some verbal jabs, they become less likely to try to steal pots without the goods. In this hand, however, it seems like that logic would be foiled, since he obviously had a plan and it spiraled out of control. Then he found himself on the river heads-up after Solid folded with 16 big bets in it. These are the times where I make a lot of mistakes - simply unable to make the best decision in the heat of battle, so that had to be factored in as well. In any case, hands like that are not bad for one's image - one just has to adjust quickly to similar situations that follow. Interesting hand anyways. . .

I'll throw in a bonus hand, for no other reason than it made me temporarily feel like Will Ferrell in Undeclared, when he was demonstrating his awesome video game skills while strung out on speed:

"I call this move "Farewell my Concubine." Ok, now side, right, left, right click click click then left, ok, then I sneak up from behind (intense use of body english). . . . and THEN I PAUSE, ok. . . . . . . . and THEN I BLUDGEON!"

Also, I won the hand off Lee, so I want to post it because it is my blog - I won the hand, and it is my blog. . .

http://www.pokerhand.org/?334800

Ok the bludgeon is not a real bludgeon (would need a T on riv for that), just a little re-suck on river. Maybe he was inspired by the last hand I posted, but the flop 4 bet was probably spewage - he would take it down, though, if I had overcards with no diamond that I decided to get a little crazy with with the flop 3 bet. . .

Music and Film review Part Deux:

First off, I have to apologize to Johhny O and George, who had left valuable comments in the first segment. I did not even see them, though. I thought I changed it so I would get an email when new comments were submitted, but for some reason I found them in the edit blog section, and they were emailed to me after I put them up (sigh). Anyways, I'm obviously gonna get the Jens Lekman disc. Also, I'm gonna get the There's Nothing Wrong with Love CD, Johnny. Speaking of Elliott Smith (which I suppose we weren't, but anyways. . . ), the only song I know off that CD is Car, and Elliott Smith covers it here:

http://lido.binaryops.com/

That site has a ton of other good stuff too, as you will see. Ok now let's get into it. . .

Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth. (25) This is the best Malkmus solo album. His lyrics complement his music better than anyone I think. He writes extremely catchy, smart songs, and you'll find yourself singing stuff like "Upstairs mama's making some crepes, yeah From a fancy recipe book. To me they just look like tortillas. Boy, that mama can cook. . . ." while walking to the coffe machine at work. Brian, Chris, and myself once sat at the bar for about an talking seriously considering whether we could pull off doing the title track acapella for open-mic night at Brian's local dive bar - not just the words, but all the guitar solos and drums too. We would probably have to bring a smoke machine. It would probably be the most ridiculously awesome open-mic performance ever. We could even get someone to play the Malkmus' fictional villian Leather McWhip, who I suppose would probably be dressed up like the gimp from Pulp Fiction, but he would also have a cape and a stun gun. Maybe we still will, who knows. . . A-

Akron/Family. (6) I only listen to this when I play cards. It's too folky for me listen to otherwise I think - too many extended samples of running water, birds chirping, etc. It's like hippyish new age music for people under 30 (edit: wait, ok it's better than that description, as a lot of it is really good) - like how Neil Diamond is like heavy metal for people over 50. B- (I am listening to it as I write this, and I upgraded it from a B- to a B+ due to some excellent tracks)

The Bourne Supremecy. (2) Not a fan of action movies, but I like Matt Damon, and this movie has an overall great cast. Jason Bourne may be more effective than Jack Bauer if he were wired to perform his missions. Also, the guy that played Max Fisher's principle at Rushmore is in it. B (probably near the top of action movie scale for me)

King of Comedy. (1) An old Scorcese flick with Robert Deniro playing a delusional comic. Sandra Burnhard plays his sidekick. This stands the test of time, and has a great ending. It's refreshing to see Deniro play a non-tough guy in his prime. B+

Uncle Tupelo - 89/93 An Anthology. (12) Maybe it's personal preference, or the fact that I am a Wilco fan, but I just can't really get into the non-Tweedy songs. Farrar is not the singer or songwriter Tweedy is imo. Chuck Klosterman (who is now an expert espn page 2 contributor) wrote some good material on the country music scene, and Uncle Tupelo is one of the original "Alt-Country" bands:

"The problem is that guys like Farrar embrace a reality that's archaic and undesirable; the only listeners who appreciate what they're expressing are affluent intellectutals who've glamourized the alien concept of poverty. The lyrics on a track like Screen Door off No Depression have the texture of something old and profound, but they're not; techincally, those lyrics are more modern than anything off Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. And more important, they're only viewed to be profound by people who've never had the experience described in the lyrics. Truly depressed people don't need depressing music. I don't think I would have any interest in hearing lines like, "Down here, where we're at / Everybody is equally poor" when I was sixteen, sitting in my parents basement in rural North Dakota, only vaguely aware that I (and everyone I knew) had no fucking money. I probably would have thought Jeff Tweedy was whining. Oddly (maybe too predictably), I love that song today. But that's because the lyrics no longer apply to my life. I would guess the average Uncle Tupelo fan earns around $52,000 a year and has two VCRs. I would also guess they don't shop at Walmart, which is where mainstream country music sells like Pokemon."

Tweedy does write great songs, though, and I do like all the songs that Farrar sings about drinking oneself into a whiskey oblivian. Black Eye is probably my favorite song because I like to pretend it was written from my point of view, even though it would not even be accurate if it had been. So, basically, I own 2 dvd players, and would recommend this cd to everyone. George, you should try to learn Black Eye on guitar. That would be something. . . B+/A-

I'll add to this, but for the time being, I would just like to note the inclusion of two friends' Flickr pages. They just take pictures when they travel around, and a lot of them are great. . .

UB hand. . . .

2006-05-12T16:52:00.001-05:00

UB doesn't auto-import hands into pokertracker, so I don't have the actual hand history, but here's the hand:

I had been playing for like a half hour. I initially sat in the 80-160 and made the game 7-handed. I was up a decent amount when the game started to get short again. In this hand the game was 4-handed and I was in the small blind. The guy that posted the big blind I did not have a history with, but he is a fairly regular 80 player, and he seemed very solid. The button, on the other hand, I have done well against in the past. He whines a lot, especially after taking bad beats, but I don't think he plays very well. A couple of nights earlier I 3-bet his 8-handed utg raise from the button with AQs, rivered a flush, and he showed his A7o pair of 77s that I snapped. The fact that he even showed the hand there says a lot. He doesn't like me in particular as I have often responded comically to his verbal jabs at me. I will call him "Fahigulqwua." I will call the big blind "Solid"Onto the hand. . .

The cutoff folded. Fahigulqwua raised. I 3 bet with As7s. Solid now caps. (Note: I would guess he has a wide range here, since I had 3 bet the button a few times in the past few orbits - maybe taking down two pots uncontested, showing down a winner, and one where I folded to a flop raise. In the session, however, I was up maybe 40 bbs at this point, and had been playing a lot of hands in the last 30 or 40 hands or so, so I may have seemed loose-aggressive and in isolation mode). Fahigulqwua calls two more and I called.

Flop: Qs Js 4d. I checked, Solid bet, Fahigulqwua called, I check-raised, Solid called, Fahigulqwua now 3 bet, and I capped. Both called.

Turn 2c: I bet. Solid called. Fahigulqwua called.

River 5c: I bet. Solid folded, Fahigulqwua raised, and I insta-3 bet. . . .

Thoughts?

1st time I see Cowboy. . . . uh oh.

2006-05-10T18:02:00.000-05:00

grudge revisited. . .

2006-05-05T20:35:00.000-05:00

up 1800 will update. . . .

update: meh, game filled. I won 2k at stars, and I won 1k playing 2-7 triple draw. Now, this dude that gives me music recs - his name is Lee, and he beat me up heads-up two nights ago at 2-7. Tonight, however, i made a few too many hands (and he paid off my river raises with 9s etc) and won my money back from him. He wanted the beating from earlier to be mentioned in my blog but now it will simply not happen. I will, however, give him props for recomending the following album to me - Tortoise, Standards.Lee also confesses to having a man-crush on a poker player who is not Patrick Antonious: http://www.europeanpokertour.com/images/badenftpatrikwinner.jpg

hmmmmm. . . . .

Grudge match. . .

2006-05-05T09:31:00.000-05:00

I had an old friend over last night. We were just hanging out. I was in 2 stars 30 games - up a fair amount - like $2500-$3k. Then I sit in a short stud8 game and immediately get sucked out, brick, lose, what have you for like 4 or 5 hands in a row. Then this guy I really dislike, and a guy who has run well against me in the past, showed me a bluff when I folded the river in a big pot. He capped 3rd street and 4th street, so when he raised fifth I put him on a big pair instead of a low draw on 3rd because he caught two bricks. (well this was not an exact thought process obv., but this was a strong possibility. . .) I had a pair of 44s. Anyways, he shows a pair of 22s only after I folded the river. Game on. My bud went to the store. I asked him to pick up a pack of smokes for me. He comes back with Marlboro Red 100s. . .waaaaaa? Bad omen? I was even again, and it was getting heated. I received the following email. . .

"Hello GP,

We have received a complaint regarding some things you said in chat at our tables. I have reviewed the chat log and did find some of your comments to be inappropriate.

Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone can feel comfortable. Foul language and abuse of other players takes away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore cannot be permitted.We must ask you to refrain from using this type of language in the future, or we will be forced to remove your chat privileges. . . ." etc.

After I was up about 4k on him, I bluff-raised the river with king high. He folded, so naturally I showed him. About a minute later I won a $1700 pot, and he paid off my river 3 bet with jacks up. He was so tilted it was great. I felt like the big brother that holds his younger brother's head while he keeps swinging away at the air in front of him. I ended the night up about 8k. Grudge matches are fun to win. . .

Music and film review of the past year. . .

2006-05-04T08:27:00.000-05:00

When downloading music became popular, I stopped buying CDs. I would just burn everything I wanted. I probably bought maybe 5 CDs in a four year period. This year, however, I have bought prob like 75 cds and maybe 30 dvds. Since work is kind of slow today, I will be reviewing some of these throughout the day. . . .what I will do is list the name and title, followed by the approximate number of times I have listened to it in parentheses, then write a small blurb. . .

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (4): As Brian from work noted, "her voice is almost too perfect - it makes me uneasy." I agree with this. It's a good album, but she lacks the raspy soulfullness of a Beth Orton or the raw attitude of classic Liz Phair. B+

Love is All - Nine Times the Same Song (3): This is a fun, energetic, pop rock album. (edit: extra points since I just found out they are swedish. I don't know why, but that's me like them more - more real I guess. . . ) B+

Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future (8): I should have got into these guys a long time ago, and I'm not sure why I didn't. The lead singer was friends with Elliott Smith, and I like everyone he was ever friends with. I got a text from my friend Alex last night that their new album is the best album he has heard in a year. I already ordered it, and it should be arriving today. . .Woo hoo! A-

Liz Phair - Somebody's Miracle (3): The only thing I can say about this album is that I feel like a big pussy when I listen to it (excuse my vulgarity, but I can't think of any other way to put it.) I gave it three chances, but I don't think I can ever rationalize putting this one in over the previous four albums. C-

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (.16) As soon as I got this someone told me they sucked and are on the OC soundtrack or something, and I got 7 other CDs with it, so I really didn't give it a chance. I just read this review and now I want to go back to it: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/b/bright-eyes/im-wide-awake-its-morning-digital-ash-in-a-digital-urn.shtml

Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance. (6) I just got this. It is a very solid 7 songs. He used to be in sonic Youth and has produced Wilco, Stereolab, Smog, and Beth Orton. His album art is great also. I need his other albums. A-

The Books - Thought for Food. (9) I previously promoted The Lemon of Pink about a month ago. I can't quite put my finger on why I like The Books so much. It's two guys that use samples and play the banjo and it works. I was listening to the sample. . . "You have no mother and father... they left, they went somewhere else." Then a little kid is yelling "No they didn't." The song title. . . "Motherless Bastard". Expert. My inability to critically articulate why I like certain albums is really exemplifying itself in full force here, but come on - banjo, samples, awesome album?. That should be a hook to go out and buy this album if you don't already have it. A

Lou Reed - Transformer and The Definitive Collection. (6) I am a big Velvet Underground fan, but I never got a Lou Reed solo album, so I decided to buy his first and his greatest hits. Not nearly as good as the best VU stuff, but I have always been a huge fan of "Perfect Day" and "Walk on the Wild side" is great too. I crack myself up when I sing Wild Side to myself and replace "babe" with "buddy." . . ."Plucked her eyebrows on the way. Shaved her legs and then he was a she. She says, Hey buddy. Take a walk on the wild side. . . " Ha. B+

Big Star - #1 Record: Radio City. (4) They have some good songs. Elliott Smith and Wilco have both covered the song "thirteen," which is an excellent song about being in love as a kid. They also sing the original song that was redone and became the theme song for "that 70's Show." I need to listen to it more, but it's a solid classic rock album. B

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. I think it's time to include a movie on the list. I bought this dvd on ebay for ten bucks (4.99 + 4.99 for shipping). Sandler's Mr. Deeds is a good movie, I think, as far as post-Happy Gilmore Sandler movies go. . . This was fun to watch, for the new one mirrored it almost scene for scene. Gary Cooper was great, but the Babe Bennett was no Wynona Ryder - maybe I'm just not into 1930's women's hairdos and fashions. The movie, overall, is not so dated that it isn't entertaining or comical. It's worth seeing, especially if you've seen the Sandler version. If you haven't seen that, watch the 1930's version first, then watch the remake. B+

David Bowie - David Live (2 discs). (2) The bottom line is, Bowie at the Beeb is so fucking good that I still can't get past it. I'm sure this double disc would get a rave review if I just bought this alone, but since I bought at the Beeb, I have to give this a mediocre review. Right now I am listening to Suffragette City on the first disc, and it's not close to as good as the Beeb version. . . B.

Undeclared - the Complete First Season. I netflixed Freaks and Geeks, and it was so good, that I just bought this instead of just netflixing it. I have no idea why the guy that did these shows is not making more. Ok, both F & G and Undeclared were cancelled after one season. This show is like a 90210 for intelligent people. Both shows have an excellent cast, and a lot of the cast overlaps both shows a la Wes Anderson. Seth Rogan from 40-Year-Old Virgin is in both, and has a better character in both. . .anyone else seen either of these. Let me know what you thought. . .

The Russian Futurists - Let's Get Ready to Crumble. (5) I liked this the first time I listened to it. I liked it a little less the second time. By the fifth time, I started to get that crawling out of my skin feeling that one gets when they pick up their food at the drive-through, and then get home only to discover that they put mayonnaise on your burger when you told them not to. . . Maybe I was just super-antsy that day, which describes about 73% of my days, but I'm sure this is not a classic - just listen to "The Matador's Theme" and you'll see what I mean. . . C.

News Flash: Everything British people say is funny. . . from the Ricky Gervais show, talking about the true meaning of the expression "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones:" "Well. . . don't be chuckin' stuff about if you're surrounded by glass and what not. . . "

The Life Aquatic Soundtrack - (30) All Wes Anderson soundtracks are expert in my opinion. This one is no exception. The overriding theme is the Bowie covers sung acoustically by Seu Jorge - all of them good. In addition, Bowie's Life on Mars and Queen Bitch work perfectly to compliment them. The Mark Mothersbugh (of Devo fame) stuff is excellent as usual - he composed the music for Royal Tenenbaums. I looped the Ping_Island Lightning strike Rescue when I played 80-160 last year at the Belaggio and decided that is the best way to get in the zone. Iggy Pop's Search and Destroy is on it too. I would give this soundtrack and A-, but it also contains a Joan Baez song that may be the most annoying song of all time - omg it's SFannoying. B+/A-

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies (8) This may seem random, but you know all those irish songs that rock and that people love to drink beer to? I usually don't like those songs - at least I would never buy an album by someone like Flogging Molly or whoever. Something about this album reminds me of those songs, but I really, really like this album, and I really, really don't like the one's I just referred to. Destroyer is waaay better. While most would consider his (Dan Bejar's) voice to be excellent, and someone like Stephen Malkmus's to suck, I would rather listen to Malkmus than this guy for an extended period of time. In any case, Bejar writes songs that are very well crafted without falling into standard formulas. I like the 10 minute title track and "Painter in your Pocket" the most right now. The first half of the album is clearly better than the second. I would appreciate if someone that has heard this album to leave a comment on what they think. A-

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Demos. (10) None of the songs that made it on the album are nearly as good as their masterpiece counterparts. In any case, for hardcore Wilco fans, all of the alternate version give insight into how the songs final form came about through experimentation, creation, and then ultimately destruction. Tweedy said during the recording process. .."We're deconstructing things right now. There's no reason not to destroy it, and that's liberating and exciting." A few extra tracks make this nice little bootleg even better - "Cars can't escape" (or "rhythm" as it is also known as) and "Magazine called Sunset." The original YHF would get an easy A, but I have to give this an A- just because it's just part of the development. . .

GP is told to meet The Cowboy

2006-04-29T11:04:00.000-05:00

EXT. BEACHWOOD CANYON - NIGHT

GP, in his Honda Accord, makes his way up the canyon. As he nears the top of the canyon the residential area gives way to desert brush. The road winds steeply up to a dark dead end where an old barn and stable sit. GP parks in a little dirt lot and walk up past the barn to the corral. His eyes grow accustomed to the dark and he.looks about. No one is around. There's only a light wind and a few twinkling stars in the sky above. Suddenly some bare bulbs hanging from the corral gate flare up. GP hears a noise in the brightness and turns. There walking toward him into the light is the Cowboy - dressed in clean blue denim jeans, well-oiled unscuffed, beautifully engraved cowboy boots, a red embroidered ivory buttoned cowboy shirt complete with string tie. Atop the Cowboy's head is a 10 X white Stetson. The Cowboy is smiling warmly as he approaches. He stops in front of GP and begins to speak with a true, slow Western drawl.

COWBOY: Howdy!

GP: Howdy to you.

COWBOY: Beautiful night.

GP: Yeah.

COWBOY: Sure want to thank ya for drivin' all the way up to see me from that cozy North End apartment.

GP: No problem. What's on your mind?

COWBOY: Well now, here's a man who wants to get right to it. Kinda anxious to get to it are ya?

GP: Whatever.

COWBOY: A man's attitude ... a man's attitude goes some ways toward how a man's life will be. Is that somethin' you agree with?

GP: Sure.

COWBOY: Now... did you answer cause you thought that's what I wanted to hear or did you think about what I said and answer cause you truly believe that to be right?

GP: I agree with what you said...truly.

COWBOY: What did I say?

GP: That a man's attitude determines to a large extent how his life will be.

COWBOY: So since you agree I guess you could be a person who does not care about the good life.

GP: How's that?

COWBOY: Well, just stop for a little second and think about it. Will ya do that for me?

GP: Okay, I'm thinking.

COWBOY: No. You're too busy being a smart aleck to be thinkin'. Now I want ya to think and quit bein' such a smart aleck. Can ya do that for me?
GP: Look ... where's this going? What do you want me to do?

COWBOY There's sometimes a buggy. How many drivers does a buggy have?

GP: One.

COWBOY: So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy and you fix your attitude and you can ride along with me.

GP: Okay.

COWBOY Now I know a few things. I know you have had a stressful past two weeks. You're probably thinkin' I don't know the half of it, but in actual fact I know every part of it. The business of you feeling stressed out lately, compromising some parts of life for others...

GP suddenly looks stunned, unsure.

COWBOY (cont'd): realizin' you worked hard for a while and then add on to that the sickenin' feeling that you aren't confident you won't chunk off more hard-earned money playing big games in another few months. It can be a vicious cycle, but some days are like that. They are rough, but what will tomorrow bring? Will it be better than today? The same ... or worse? A lot of that is up to us individually. Up to us and our attitude. You need to fix your attitude and start taking life a little slower, but you need to work harder and faster. In time, you will begin to trust your judgement again and get back in a good state of mind. For the next few months, when you log on and hit the 30/60 tab, you're going to say "This is the game." The choice of sites can stay- that is up to you, but the limit is not up to you. Now, you will see me one more time if you do good. You will see me two more times if you do bad. Good night.

The Cowboy turns around and is engulfed in darkness.

Strokin'. . .

2006-04-27T08:35:00.000-05:00

Alex and Pierre arrived in Boston at like 6 p.m. after dropping Nikolai off at the arena. Alex is visibly still in a bad mood about his attempt to reconcile with his girlfriend Millie - who, as it turns out, is now "in love" with one Mr. Nate Miller. Nate, who took a job in NYC to be with Millie referred to the situation as "really difficult, like a real Shakespearian Tragedy." We went to the bar and had a friend-support/therapy session to try to cheer him up and help him move forward. We all talked over a few shots of Jack (which was really cheap whiskey they passed off as Jack) and some pints before the show. Pierre had been unsuccessfully trying to get him out of his down-in-the-dumps move all day. When they were in the supermarket earlier in the day, Pierre had to take a piss really bad, which caused him to get a slight boner. So, he ever-so-gently caught Alex off guard and pressed it into his thigh. This only seeemed to compound his general irritability for the remainder of the day. . . .

We caught a cab to the show and arrived about ten minutes before the Strokes were to play. Pierre tried to wing it see if he could upgrade my ticket at the last minute, but he couldn't get in touch the tour director, and the VIP security was tight, so I had to use my original ticket. I had a floor seat in teh back, but I didn't feel like standing up the whole time in the back by myself, so I just took an arena seat. The new songs sounded better live than I thought they would. Of these, "Ize of the World" was clearly the best. That was one of those songs that reverberated my chair and gave me the awe-inspired chills. They played most of the first album, with the notable exclusion of "The Modern Age." Those were the obvious fan favorites, especially "New York City Cops and the closing "Take it or Leave It", but the live experience dimmed in comparison to the show I saw in Detroit in 2001. Overall, the show was great, but the acoustics from my seat were less than ideal. I am still kind of getting used to the fact that the Strokes will never be what they once were, but they are still a very good band. They are all grown-up at like 25 now. Pierre said they were all hopping on a bus right after the show to go back to NYC. . . .

After the show we went back to the bar on my corner for a couple of pints since it was still relatively early. Alex was still down-in-the-dumps. We started talking about the Strokes New Years' Party in 2001, and Pierre started laughing saying "I freaked out and had to run out," which is only partially true. A lot of people were on drugs, and I caught a glimpse into a restroom only to see a girl with blood on her hands. I said to Alex, "I need to get out here man, someone's gonna die." Pierre said "Oh it's ok, she just cut her finger. . .you should stay, man "(heh) Even though only like ten or fifteen people were left, several were starting to seem strung out, and there were two 19 year-old Italian birds that were pounding vodka earlier that were throwing themselves at Julian while appearing only semi-conscious. Anyways, I left and everyone lived. Pierre asked if that was when we met. It was not, though. I later remembered it was at Max Fish in NYC, and I took the subway home with him and Gretchen - Pierre lectured us for 45 minutes about life while intoxicated and not one sentence made any sense whatsoever. . . so all in all, good show, good time. . Cheer up Alex. It can always be much worse - force yourself to focus on the bright side of life for a while. . .

. . .

2006-04-25T13:51:00.000-05:00

JULES

Don't do that! Don't you fuckin'
do that! Don't blow this shit off!
What just happened was a fuckin'
miracle!

VINCENT

Chill the fuck out, Jules, this
shit happens.

JULES

Wrong, wrong, this shit doesn't
just happen.

Ok. I apologize to all my fans for the late conclusion, and, unfortunately, I have to make it brief:

After I played Justin that night, I decided to play the big game on inter. What transpired in the next 45 minutes or so was the most donkirifically frightening display of short-handed holdem the world has ever seen, not just in the big game. I got stuck 40k. I walked outside to have a cigarette. I thought about a few things: 1) I intentionally live my life in denial of many important things 2) Poker is a dumb game that play a lot, but I really can't afford to get mad at it out of spite as a result of my realization that I live my life in denial of many important things. 3) I have squandered a lot of opportunity in my life, but I can't say for certain I would be better off if I followed a different path. 4) As Max Fischer said in Rushmore: "I should probably be trying harder to score chicks. That's the only thing anybody really cares about. (sighs deeply) But it's not my forte, unfortunately." 5) What the fuck I was doing up at 3:30 a.m. when I usually get up at 7:45 a.m. to go to work, and why did I think it would be a good idea to have some Dewar's and a few beers. . . .anyways, I made a highly informed and democratic decision (by democratic I mean with the different voices in my head) to throw in the 13k I had in neteller and jump back in that game. I would have a good image going for me anyways. . . .before I do I ask Justin over aim if I can give him a call. He says he doesn't have his phone with him, which probably worked out for me. Fast forward to 7:30 a.m. I pick up from both games and look at my account: $59891.27. Jebus. . . . So, I have to stop here, but I will pick up soon. Off to the Strokes tonight with my friend Alex, who is driving up from NYC with Pierre Fraiture, who is going to turn me into a V.I.GP. tonight at the show. . . I'll write about that and other stuff soon. . . .

Bad Beat!

2006-04-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

This is not a bitching post about a hand. . . I was supposed to see Wilco tonight. Brian left work at 3 to pick up his grandmother. On the way home, his car broke down and his grandmother fainted, so he had to call the ambulance again :(. So, no Wilco tonight and I am tired, so I am going to bed. Tomorrow the blgo will be updated through last night. . . .

The story must be postponed. . . .

2006-04-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

It's 2:08. I am holding up, kind of in a zone. The real challenge will be when I fall asleep in the car on the way to Providence to see wilco - if and how difficult it will be for me to get up/ out of the car. I'll get on with it when I get back from that tonight I guess. . . .

on with the saga. . .

2006-04-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

It seemed like there was only a little Dewar's left so I went to refill. The pour, however, proved that there was a healthy, deceiving amount, so I just went with it. I overpoured my glass, but I just went with it. Last week I played Schneider hu 15-30 at ub. I had no money there so he lent me $1500. He ended up winning a some, so I had to redeposit to pay him back. That is when I noticed somehow without me writing them an email that they lifted the $500 max. deposit that I used to have on my account. I paid Schneider bac and put on 5k for myself. So, I got bored writing my now-deleted blog entry, so I went to play some holdem at ub. I noticed, however, my bud Justin was sitting alone at a 50-100 hu o8 table. Now I suck at o8, and frankly Justin rules at it, but I decided maybe I would hit and run him or let him take a hand off me, so I sat and joked that I wanted to play higher. Somehow I got ahead, then JV started smashing the deck and scooping every pot. I kept telling myself to just quit after every hand, but I kept getting good starting hands and ultimately getting scooped. JV cleaned me (in reality, my bust was inevitable if we kept playing). At that moment, I realized it was very late. I felt stupid and annoyed for letting myself stay up late and finish off a large, third glass of scotch before bed. It went right to my head too since I drank it rather quickly - well, quickly enough to make it seem like a decent idea to jump into the big game at inter. . . .

Ephedrine. . . .

2006-04-20T08:37:00.000-05:00

I took three this morning before I for work. It is working ok, but I think it's a matter of time before the deliriously tired feeling comes over me. Fortunately it is kind of a relaxed day here - me, Brian and Chris have been talking about baseball a little, which is helping me move around and stay alert. I am trying to draw a section that requires brainpower and that is not going so well. I might do some ebay shopping, but yesterday I bought Lost Highway, Mr. Deeds goes to Town with Gary Cooper, and the first five seasons of the sopranos, so I may have to really think what else I want. In any case, I should probably start the story. I came home yesterday, threw in Lock, Stock, and two smoking barrels and fell asleep through the whole thing. I woke up, went to get some dinner, and dicked around in one party 30/60 game, which was not notable except for the fact that baronzeus was on my left. For that reason, I cut the session short up a few hundred and moved to stars. I busted some guy hu playing 30 he for 3k. Then I played three 30-60 stud8s for a while and broke even about. I quit to update my blog. It was a longish entry that I lost hours later when my computer crashed. . . .

GP has a religious degenerate experience. . . .

2006-04-20T07:52:00.000-05:00

Ok this is my most serious post to date. I am sitting here at work on no sleep, but this is not the typical "I got stuck" post. This is somewhat embarassing for me, but I think it's necessary. I am going to be updating this with increased detail as the day goes on, if for no other reason than to keep myself awake. I have to go see Wilco tonight in Providence, which I actually wish now that I didn't have to do. I would obviously rather just go home and bonk. But, I'll start here. I was having a typical night at home. I ended up having a brief chat with an old friend that I haven't talked to in months. Then I decided to have a glass of leftover Dewars from Saturday night. . . .

the post with many parts. . .

2006-04-17T05:28:00.000-05:00

coming soon. . . . reflections on poker with regards to the hbo show Oz, how GP ruined Easter for his family, and an introduction to a hot new rising star - RoZe!

Best $1700 win ever??

2006-04-15T07:43:00.000-05:00

I somehow crawled out of a big hole. Now, however, I must sleep for a while. . . .

Still playing and stuck even more!!!

2006-04-15T05:30:00.000-05:00

I have a headache and want to go to sleep, but a fish just sat (well, I think he is - he was on bad tilt earlier and took a bunch of my money). . . . umm I can think about sleeping now. I am going to sleep for like 14 hours. I will probably watch like 10 minutes of Oz and then drift and wake up when it's dark out on Saturday night when it's dark (edit: my Gertrude Stein-eqsue prose here should indicate how tired I was here. . . .)

playing big and stuck!

2006-04-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

update soon. . . .on how bad. . . . .

Ship the Sherbert to Szymaszek. . .

2006-04-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

So Matt S. won the $75. It seems the tiebreaker quiz was a bit harder, as the three scores were 4, 3, and 1. Here the answers. . .

1. My friend George's friend went to high school with this now professional athlete who, during a high school varsity basketball game, dunked, hung on the rim, let out a big "arrrggghhh," and grabbed his package. Was it?

c) Derek Lowe. I think this one of the funniest things ever. I got and email from George's friend to clarify that he didn't actually go to his high school, but that he squared off vs. Derek on the court on the opposing team. By the way John, I threw "Perfect sound forever" in my amazon cart. A side fun fact is that my friend Brian at work told me he was playing the new x-box (I think. . ) mlb game, and "Loud Cloud Crowd" from Face the Truth is part of the soundtrack, which is bizarre on many levels. More bizarre even, "Serpentine Pad" from Wowee Zowee is also on the soundtrack. Must have been some Pavement fans that worked on the game and had some pull with the soundtrack choices. . .

2.What was my the first tape I owned?

a) Cinderalla. . . . "Nobody's Fool! Nobody's Fool! Never again, NO NO! I count the falling tears, they fall before my eyes. Seems like a thousand years. . . .SINCE WE BROKE THE TIES!!!!!" I loved that song.

3. I call my friend Brian's couch "The Red Bitch" because it is big and has shiny Red Leather. Yesterday Brian was talking about putting a hammock in his porch, when I said "Why do you need a hammock? you have the the Red Bitch!" As I was saying "Red Bitch," what strolled right past me?

a) A short woman with bright red hair. I suppose this was a toss-up. . .

4. Who am I not seeing in concert in the next three months?

b) Tom Petty. Mike Ma wrote "I bet you think their new album (the strokes) sucks and put this question on as a way to bash them as sellouts, but it is actually good." Well, I think it is no where near the first two, but I do like it. Brian at work said it best, though: "I just can't picture you at a Tom Petty concert. That question should be easy. . . "

5. Which baseball game did I not see at Yankee Stadium?

c.) Pedro's 17 k one-hitter.

6. How am I doing right now in the 15-30 pvt table 2+2 game on party?

c.) stuck $972. I was fortunate to make a comeback over the next hour and half, however, and left up around $150. . .

7. For some dumb reason, I decided I wasn't into rock music anymore when I was like 19, so I sold about 20 cd's (with some good Jane's Addiction and Pixies' bootlegs) to the used record store in Harvard Square and got $120. What did I spend this money on?

b) meatball subs. Mike picked c. and said, "Your 'love/hate, I should do this, but won't' personality is perfect for this answer." While this is true, it turns out I got mono right after and couldn't do any shopping, but I would drift a few times a week to Stealla's and buy meatball subs. . .

8. The hand I have lost the most with in my last 120k hands of 30-60 on average per times played?

c)95s. Again, they are good candidates, and, as such, they are all near the top of list of my individual hands I lose money with.

9. After I left a cardroom in NYC, I was walking down 5th Avenue at like 11, when I sensed a presence behind me. I turned around only to find an ugly man/woman about to go for my wallet. So disturbingly gross was this person (reminded me the symbolic death figure behind Winkies in Mulholland Drive behind Winkie's), that I let out a primal scream in her face to freeze it while I side-stepped to get away from the wall, and she moved around me in with her arms out like a wrestler. What was she constanly saying as she was doing this, in an extremely manly voice?

a) "meow."

10. Chris at work one day decided to break my balls and get on my internet browser, go to google, and type something, using the space bar, so it always shows up first on auto-complete when I put the cursor in the textbox. What did he type?

b) I think this answer was good because it was tame enough to use in the workplace, but would be as humorous to see than the other two. . .

Tie breaker question, and GP has a nightmare!

2006-04-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

Ok here are the tiebreaker questions for Mike, Mike, and Matt.

1. My friend George's friend went to high school with this now professional athlete who, during a high school varsity basketball game, dunked, hung on the rim, let out a big "arrrggghhh," and grabbed his package. Was it?

a) Shawn Kemp
b) Jayson Williams
c) Derek Lowe

2. What was my the first tape I owned?

a) Cinderalla's "Night songs"
b) Whitesnake's "Whitesnake"
c) Def Leppard's "Pyromania"

3. I call my friend Brian's couch "The Red Bitch" because it is big and has shiny Red Leather. Yesterday Brian was talking about putting a hammock in his porch, when I said "Why do you need a hammock? you have the the Red Bitch!" As I was saying "Red Bitch," what strolled right past me?

a) A short woman with bright red hair
b) A golden retriever with orangish hair
c) A mean-looking, poorly dressed weightlifter-type dude with a red, curly fro. . .

4. Who am I not seeing in concert in the next three months?

a) Wilco
b) Tom Petty
c) The Strokes

5. Which baseball game did I not see at Yankee Stadium?

a) Dwight Gooden's no-hitter
b) the first game of baseball played after the strike in '94
c) Pedro's 17 k one-hitter

6. How am I doing right now in the 15-30 pvt table 2+2 game on party?

a) about even
b) up $672
c) stuck $972

7. For some dumb reason, I decided I wasn't into rock music anymore when I was like 19, so I sold about 20 cd's (with some good Jane's Addiction and Pixies' bootlegs) to the used record store in Harvard Square and got $120. What did I spend this money on?

a) tubes of paint
b) meatball subs
c) new cd's after I realized I still liked rock

8. The hand I have lost the most with in my last 120k hands of 30-60 on average per times played?

a) QTo
b) J8s
c) 95s

9. After I left a cardroom in NYC, I was walking down 5th Avenue at like 11, when I sensed a presence behind me. I turned around only to find an ugly man/woman about to go for my wallet. So disturbingly gross was this person (reminded me the symbolic death figure behind Winkies in Mulholland Drive behind Winkie's), that I let out a primal scream in her face to freeze it while I side-stepped to get away from the wall, and she moved around me in with her arms out like a wrestler. What was she constanly saying as she was doing this, in an extremely manly voice?

a) "meow."
b) "You're mine, bitch!"
c) "You know you want to fuck me you little bitch!"

10. Chris at work one day decided to break my balls and get on my internet browser, go to google, and type something, using the space bar, so it always shows up first on auto-complete when I put the cursor in the textbox. What did he type?

a) mature sluts
b) fetishes
c) advanced jack-off techniques

Submit at your convenience. . .

As for my nightmare last night, it was very stressful. I think I have a handle on its implications in terms of symbolism with regards to my amateur psychoanalytical skills. It was one of those apocylpytic dreams (I have a lot of these.) where I am kind of moving from place to place trying to find a spot to hide for a while and plan where to go hide next. I usually only move when I feel someone is coming after me. So, after what seemed like running forever, I met up with this woman who started hiding with me. After we had run to a few spots, we had a moment. she asked me if she could kiss me, and I said ok. Right then, two guys grabbed me, and pulled my arms behind my back, and pushed my face into the ground. I saw the legs of another guy walking towards. I slowly peered up. He said in this psychotic, angry voice, "How many chances do you think you're gonna get you dumb motherfucker!!? I tried to help you I was there and you ignored me??!!" Then he lifted his leg back and I knew he was gonna kick me in the head as hard as he could. Then I woke up and started my day. . . . If someone reminds me in like two months to explain what I think this means, and if I ultimately learned anything from it, I will gladly reveal my thoughts. . . .

Trivia answers. . .

2006-04-10T16:28:00.000-05:00

Matt Szymaszek came through with a David Ortizesque performance at around 10 a.m. this morning to tie Mike Ma and Canadian Mike with a score of 12/20. In any case, here are the answers. In a few responses, some people actually gave their reasoning for picking what they did, so I may reference others' responses. . . .

1. I had a tape in my car that I listened to regularly for three months, even though I never told anyone I was even a fan of this artist, which album was it?

Theresa wrote. . . ."b)Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill (This one, because it IS driving music, it's singing music AND my middle name is Mary Jane . . . ." This was the correct answer. I literally almost go into convulsions of annoyance when I hear Shania Twain, and while I actually think Jewel is decent, it's not driving music. Example:

She's a pretty girl, does she make you think nasty thoughts?
She's a pretty girl, do you want to tie her down?
She's a pretty girl, do you call her a bitch?
She's a pretty girl, did she sleep with your whole town?
Pretty girl, pretty girl, do you hate her'Cause she's pieces of you?

Yeah, I'm not listening to that in the car. . . . next Q

2. I went to elementary school with Susan, and recently I got back in touch with her again. She said she is a big Red Sox fan. I asked her if her favorite baseball player was Johnny Damon like all the other girls. She said she never really took a liking to him. Who is her favorite player?

c) Jason Varitek. If Susan does not like Damon because she never took a liking to him, it demonsrates a counter-cultural female perspective that one's favorite player should be independant of looks. Therefore, Susan has knowledge of baseball, which should eliminate Kapler. For the skeptics, I have met at least three women who have said there favorite player is Kapler, while probably 0 men in the entire state of Mass. would pick him as their favorite. Manny is obviously great but he lives in a "see-you-later world." Varitek is a solid player and consummate professional.

3. I got made fun of for like a half hour from my coworkers for saying I thought she was one of the top five hottest women. Is it??

b) Rose McGowan. The decoy answers were a and c. George picked a. and said "alternative waif girls are your wheelhouse." I think that means something along the lines of "My tastes overvalue alternative waif girls." In any case, I am growing away from that trend, but also I have been pushing the new Fiona album to people, since it is very, very good (kelly clarkson grammy? HUH?) Also, everyone knows I am/have been a fan of the wonder years, so the second most popular answer was Winnie Cooper. As Theresa noted, "however, Winnie Cooper was girl-next-door high school hot. I think that the male taste for hot has evolved from 70's frock-wearing babes to the more scantily clad Maxim-type ladies." There was a time and a place for Winnie in my life, and that was when I was like 14 or 15, comparing her to scuppahs with big, poofy hair in middle school. I like Rose because. . . I have no idea. Maybe because I find her incredibly attractive and she would probably turn down a Maxim spread out of priniciple, and she was with Marilyn Manson even though he's a dork. . . .

4. The legendary Chuck Klosterman said this band produced the best minute and a half of 80's rock. . .

a) Guns and Roses. I'll just quote the paragraph:

"Bono was able to morph himself into whatever his fans needed him to be: He could be angry, brooding, vulnerable, or romantic-and sometimes at the same moment. Rose is the same kind of shape shifter, but for a different, less stable audience. His style is even more schizophrenic. He swings from being openly violent and mysogynistic (like on "it's so easy") to acting hopeless (such as the brilliant closing two and a half minutes of "Rocket Queen," my vote for the finest 171 seconds of 80's rock). In the video "Don't Cry," emotional juxtaposition is pretty much all Axle does. But unlike Bono, Guns and Roses never played "college rock." It was never specifically directed at smart people. GNR wrote for a younger audience-the kind of people who still slammed bedroom doors and huffed gas in the garage."

Btw "Fargo Rock City" is a great book. His muscial insight is endless. On the GNR tip, he later compares Axle to Allen Iverson, as well as an incredible comparison of the last four songs of "GNR Lies" to the new testament, no joke. . .

5. I vacationed to Prague with my friend George while we were both doing our spring semester in Paris during our junior year in college. He wanted to go there to visit a girl he met in Paris named Pam. He was staying at her place one night when her Russian ex-boyfriend angrily came to visit her. Although she wanted to resist answering the door at first, he hears her voice and wouldn't give in, so she had to answer the door. How long did George end up spending uncomfortably wedged between her bed and wall?

The answer was 3 hours. This question was about George, and he knew the answer and wrote "Three hours ( scariest wake-up ever)" He got an 8/20 btw. Maybe I downplayed the threat of violence, but her bf was an angry ex-bf, and since Pam spoke like 5 languages (Chech, Russian, Spanish, French, and English), he heard arguing in foreign languages. Anyways, he managed to fall asleep at some point. He showed up at like 3 a.m. and after a while he fell asleep and left at 6. . . .

6. The first time I played Texas holdem in a casino, I played 3$/6$, limped utg with which sooooted hand, eventually calling a raise, only to flop top and bottom pair and check-call a bet on every street on my way to victory, only to crack KK?

a) Jc4c. Matt S. actually believed this hand didn't happen, since he couldn't believe I would ever do something like this ever, even the first time I played. But, I saw suited cards with a paint. Limp it up! This one was a gamble, only c. could be eliminated if one looked at probablility. Since I cracked KK, Kd4d would have had to make a flush or quad 4s. If anyone guessed that, it's ok bc the legendary Steven Guifre did as well. . .

7. At what age did I drink my first full beer?

Trick question. Like 3/25 got it right. It was 18. Perhaps now that I am not as much of a square, a lot of people got thrown off. George, who also knew this question yet still only got 8/20, said "> 7. c. (and you’ve been making up for lost time ever since).

8. The worst thing a girl ever said to me, at the time, was. . . .

Only like 3 people got this one too. It was "b. You're just like you're father. . . " Everyone else pretty much said c. I am not sure if it's because that is the worst of the three options or if everyone really thinks I am emotionally devoid. In any case, c. was said to me, but it didn't bother me because I knew it was ending, and I was being standoff-ish, so it didn't bother me whatsoever. . . .

9.Which dvd do I not own?

c) Little Nicky. Yeah, this was tough. the other two I got at Blockbuster in a buy 3 for $25, where I saw 2 I wanted and just picked a random one. Usually all the movies suck besides the ones you want. In any case, Undercover Brother is kind of funny at times, really. . . .Ali is prob one of the worst movies ever, though. . .

10. How long has the celery in the picture below been in my refigerator?

c) 3 months. Susan said, "I hope I am wrong about number 10." But, she wasn't. . . . George said, "> 10. c. (easiest qeustion in the quiz)"

11.11. I work with a guy named Brian. His four favorite bands at the moment are probably Guns and Roses, CCR, Wilco, and Pavement. When we were watching the Red Sox game tonight after work, which song came on that made him break out and sing like he was singing it live for an audience?

The answer was c. If I broke out in song, it could have been any of the three. I wished I had a picture of him for this q, but given his musical tastes, I think c. should have been the logical answer, and it was the most popular. Others were tricked by my trickery answers. . . .:P. . .

12. Where did I run my first rack of nine ball?

c) Paris. Right outside of the La Motte-Piquette stop. That flowed. . ."The La. . "

13. What tv show did I tell my sister I loved and she simply would not believe I was not messing with her? Like, I kept telling her I thought it was funny and she would have none of it. . ..

It was a. Just shoot me. We were having a conversation and she said "omg David Spade is so annoying!" I told her I thought Just Shoot me was a good show, which I think it is. Honestly, we went back and forth for 10 minutes and she thought I was fuckin' with her. . .

14. There was an annoying girl on the Bates Campus when I was there. My nickname for her was. . .

75% said Billygirl. It was b. Big Girl Bad Girl. Theresa wrote "a) Big Red - too shortb) Big Girl Bad Girl - too longc) The Billygirl - just right!" Geroge said. . "14. b. Big Girl Bad Girl (if that’s not right, can I borrow it?)" I think I came up with Big Girl Bad Girl because she tried so hard to fit in with the guys. she was playing wiffle ball with the people in my dorm freshamn year and she sucked real bad, like (apply Francis Begby accent from Trainspotting) "could't hit a ball if she triiieedd." She had tons of team spirit and wouldn't quit, even though she couldn't come within a foot of a wiffle ball floater. Even though it sounds like I am making fun of her for her athletic skills, she was just annoying in all aspects of life. . . next

15. I played some 3-cushion billiards for like 8 months. My high run was:

a) six. I'm not that good, or 3-cushion is really hard, which Canadian Mike may attest to. Even in my run of six I dumped two of the shots (I got lucky and made the shot by virtue of a "kiss" or accidental hit off the third ball. I did, however, make one expert shot for shot number five.

16. When I was like 10, I got fed up with my parents strict rules. I packed up a few shirts and pants - and no extra underwear obviously - as well as 17 dollars in change. How far did i get away from my house before I returned home?

b. 2 miles. Then I walking and my best friends' mother drove by and asked if I wanted to go back with her to hang out with Aaron - my best friend. I said yes and then my mother picked me up later in the day. She had no idea I ran away and I played it off like I didn't, because I genuinely didn't care anymore. Duke was upset by this and said, "Man, I had confidence you would get eleven miles." Maybe I would have. . .

18. My best friend Andy, when we were like 13, prerecorded a cinemax softcore porn before he went to bed one night. The next day, I asked to borrow it. He said "I'll let you borrow it, but it will cost you. . . " How much did I pay to view the movie?

a). $7. Thersa wrote "b) $10 - kids only think in round numbers." That's true, but kids also engage in extremely petty bargaining processes. . .

19. My favorite Neutral Milk Hotel song right now is. . .

a) Matt said "No way you use that many words on an incorrect answer." Good instincts, Matt. Theresa responded: b) Holland, 1945 -". . . this one for the beeat," noting it was the only one not about her burial. And, it is true, Holland 1945 is prob the best song, followed by "oh Comely," But a. is the answer :). . .

20.My favorite comedian is. . .

b. Steven Wright. Yah I like both the others, but, in perspective, I like his 80s humor about microwave ovens and rotary phones. . .

I am going to follow soon with like an 8-12 q tiebreaker for the 3 champs. . .

Weekend Update. . .

2006-04-09T23:39:00.001-05:00

After work on Friday I went to the bar with Chris and Brian for a few drinks to catch the beginning of the Sox game. It didn't take long for jocks in suits to file in. They had some promotion where they were giving away Sox and Bruins tickets, skis, etc. Perhaps they underestimated the breadth of Red Sox knowledge because every time the petite woman read a question, like twenty jocks yelled out the correct answer at the same time, which was, on average, about 3/4 of the way through the question. she kept looking at her boss with a quizical look. They couldn't figure out what to do. The Sox got a big lead early, and then I left. . .

I came home early and got uncomfortably content - I say uncomfortably because I was really feeling like playing some cards and settling in instead of being social and doing something. Matt said he was going out somewhere in town with some of his friends, but I settled into a nice, bad high-limit game. For those that don't know me very well, I have a tendency to occasionally break usual grind-it-out discipline and go against my better judgement. This usually happens when I have been running good in whatever I am playing, and I decide to gamble a little and place myself in tough spots that will challenge me. Well, I usually find a way to justify it, even if there really is no good reason. Anyways, I started at around 8 p.m. and after a few hours I was up a bit. One player was overplaying some hands vs me in the right spots. This always helps :). Just as quickly, though, I made a bunch of second best hands and I was back to even.
I hadn't eaten any dinner, so I went to the seven-eleven around the corner to get some chips and a small can of cashews. I strolled back, cracked open the can of cashews, pulled an MGD bottle out of the refrigerator and took another seat. Picked up my ipod headphones, and played the itunes from the beginning of The Books c.d. This c.d. will be in my permanent collection of good music to listen to when playing poker - mellow, minimal words, lots of samples in foreign languages, etc. I usually play several tables of $30-$60 but in this game I just play one. I crack the door of my apt. wide open because it was warm out, and that way I don't have to sit out to have the occasional cigarette. I open my kitchen window so the ventilation is great.
Two hours later I am stuck about a Kia (my friends and I usually refer to the swings in bigger games in units of small compact cars. If I were stuck twice as much, I then could say two Kias, or maybe upgrade to one off-lease Honda or a BMW with 125k miles on it, etc) I got severely owned in a few hands, but most of my losing plays were marginal decisions. At one point, I took a bad beat and followed it up with a real marginal calling of two cold from the bb to a button raise and sb 3 bet and losing when I should have just opted to fold preflop. At that point I had to throw in the best poker de-stress song of all time - "Suicide is Painless" aka The M.A.S.H. theme song. . . )
About four hours, 10 cigarettes, and three MGD's later, I managed to claw my way back and scrape out a Kia. I wanted to go to bed, but I needed to eat something again. I strolled into the Seven-Eleven again at like 4:30 a.m. As soon as I walked in the guy behind the counter - a 20-something African American - kind of grinned. When I brought another bag of chips to the counter he laughed out loud and said, "Oh man, I'm guessing you had a reeeeeeeeaaaallll good night. . . " I just kind of grinned and said, "It was ok. I got unstuck, so that's good." He had no idea what I was talking about, so he just gave me an awkward and stilted smirk and my change. I think he finally realized I wasn't stoned, anyways. . .

Saturday, I didn't play at all and went to the Beth Orton concert in the evening. It was ok. I enjoyed it, but it could have been a lot better. Since I am so oversaturated with new music now I haven't had a chance to listen to her new cd that much yet, and she played mostly new songs. I took a pic on my camera phone, but it looks like an image of a newly discovered planet. My Sunday was worthless, yet relaxing, for the most part. . .

Tomorrow night I will post answers to the quiz. 12 is still the high score. Any quizzes that I get before I put up the answers I will take. Also, Scneider noted that even though he didn't win the quiz, he still got the $75 from me, just in a more roundabout kind of way. . . .

Trivia Update/GP needs a scanner. . .

2006-04-07T02:11:00.000-05:00

"easiest $75 dollars I'll ever win.. " -George 8/20
"I am in your head!" - Schneider 9/20
"I think I did well. . ." -Justin 9/20

Ok, the range so far has been 4/20 to 12/20, and the high score is shared by Canadian Mike and Mike Ma.

Official Quizmaster and George L. in Prague, 1996. George's confidence is evident in this picture, as he was not afriad to stand close to the guard like I had been. Is it possible that when he took the quiz, his overconfidence was his weakness?

Lee recommended 8 cd's to me, so I got them, and I must say my immediate favorite is The books: The Lemons of Pink. . . something very, very good is going on here. I am probably going to listen to it all day tomorrow.

Trivia competition - $75 for first place. . .

2006-04-03T18:24:00.000-05:00

Ok, this will be an unbiased trivia contest. While some questions will obviously be about a particular person who will know the answer, others will attempt to confuse one's senses with regards to their perceptions of the true GP. In other words, most of the people that know me won't be able to answer the questions any better than those that don't. Anyways, I will try to create as many questions as I feel like right now - multiple choice, and the winner will get $75. I can send the $ to party, stars, neteller, or paypal. If you know me personally, I can hand you the money. Or, if I don't know you, I suppose I can send a check if you don't have any of the previous accnts. All responses can be sent to gandrewp@gmail.com, and please give your full name and address if you think I might not be familiar with your email address. You will receive no bubble blog spam, as this is obviously a hack blog anyways. . . . onto the Q's. . . Contest will end in one week, next monday at 6 p.m.

1. I had a tape in my car that I listened to regularly for three months, even though I never told anyone I was even a fan of this artist, which album was it?

a)Jewel - Pieces of you
b)Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill
c)Shania Twain - Come on Over

2. I went to elementary school with Susan, and recently I got back in touch with her again. She said she is a big Red Sox fan. I asked her if her favorite baseball player was Johnny Damon like all the other girls. She said she never really took a liking to him. Who is her favorite player?

a)Manny Ramirez
b)Gabe Kapler
c)Jason Varitek

3. I got made fun of for like a half hour from my coworkers for saying I thought she was one of the top five hottest women. Is it??

a)Fiona Apple
b)Rose Mcgowan
c)Danica McKellar

4. The legendary Chuck Klosterman said this band produced the best minute and a half of 80's rock. . .

a)Guns and Roses
b)Faith No More
c)Metallica

5. I vacationed to Prague with my friend George while we were both doing our spring semester in Paris during our junior year in college. He wanted to go there to visit a girl he met in Paris named Pam. He was staying at her place one night when her Russian ex-boyfriend angrily came to visit her. Although she wanted to resist answering the door at first, he hears her voice and wouldn't give in, so she had to answer the door. How long did George end up spending uncomfortably wedged between her bed and wall?

a) 3 hours
b) 8 hours
c) 17 hours

6. The first time I played Texas holdem in a casino, I played 3$/6$, limped utg with which sooooted hand, eventually calling a raise, only to flop top and bottom pair and check-call a bet on every street on my way to victory, only to crack KK?

a)Jc4c
b)9s6s
c)Kd4d

7. At what age did I drink my first full beer?

a) 13
b) 15
c) 18

8. The worst thing a girl ever said to me, at the time, was. . . .

a) Yeah. . . . well FUCK YOU!
b) You're just like you're father. . .
c) God. You can be so emotionally devoid sometimes. . .

9. Which dvd do I not own?

a) Ali with Will Smith
b) Undercover Brother with Eddie Griffin
c) Little Nicky with Adam Sandler

10. How long has the celery in the picture below been in my refigerator?

a) 1 month
b) 2 months
c) 3 months

11. I work with a guy named Brian. His four favorite bands at the moment are probably Guns and Roses, CCR, Wilco, and Pavement. When we were watching the Red Sox game tonight after work, which song came on that made him break out and sing like he was singing it live for an audience?

a) Natasha Bedingfield "Unwritten"
b) Natalie Imbruglia "Torn"
c) Duran Duran "Come Undone"

12. Where did I run my first rack of nine ball?

a) World Class Billiards in West Peabody, MA
b) Boston Billiards
c) Paris. France

13. What tv show did I tell my sister I loved and she simply would not believe I was not messing with her? Like, I kept telling her I thought it was funny and she would have none of it. . ..

a) Just Shoot Me
b) King of Queens
c) Everybody loves Raymond

14. There was an annoying girl on the Bates Campus when I was there. My nickname for her was. . .

a) Big Red
b) Big Girl Bad Girl
c) The Billygirl

15. I played some 3-cushion billiards for like 8 months. My high run was. . .

a)6
b)7
c)8

16. When I was like 10, I got fed up with my parents strict rules. I packed up a few shirts and pants - and no extra underwear obviously - as well as 17 dollars in change. How far did i get away from my house before I returned home?

a)1/2 mile
b) 2 miles
c) 11 miles

17. My favorite low-brow beer is:

a)pbr
b)mgd
c)schlitz

18. My best friend Andy, when we were like 13, prerecorded a cinemax softcore porn before he went to bed one night. The next day, I asked to borrow it. He said "I'll let you borrow it, but it will cost you. . . " How much did I pay to view the movie?

a) $7
b) $10
c) $30

19. My favorite Neutral Milk Hotel song right now is. . .

a) the aucoustic solo version of "Engine" from Jittery Joe's
b) Holland, 1945
c) oh comely

20. My favorite comedian is. . .

a) Chris Rock
b) Steven Wright
c) Mitch Hedberg

OK I played in a tough online game tonight with Mike Schneider, winner of the party poker million. A few interesting hands ensued. I will try to talk about them in the next update. . . .

Pictures of money. . .

2006-04-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

I just looked Matt's blog and found a picture of a bunch of money laying around. Shane has a picture of himself sitting on the floor naked holding a ton of money in his blog. I am going to add to this trend. Since I don't have a ton of money at hand, and I don't feel like getting naked and sitting on the floor, I am going to approach this from a slightly different angle. the picture below is a pile of one dollar bills. There is nothing bigger than a one dollar bill in there. I started my collection like two years ago. It was almost twice as big, but I started unloading it on the chinese food delivery guy.

"Did you even do anything today?"

2006-04-02T01:05:00.001-05:00

That's what Glenn asked when I said I was updating my blog again. The answer is yes and no. I left my apartment for like an hour and half. Ok, that is not true. I went to pick up my grilled chicken salad for lunch, but I only had to walk a half a block so that probably doesn't count. . . then I went to play some pool, and on the way I pondered my mortality, in depth. Then I returned to my apt, watched a few Entourage episodes, which is kind of medicore I think. Then I had a Diet Rock Star and played some poker. I played a terrible hand vs Lee, so he made fun of me. Then he recommended some cds for me to buy:

"Let's Get Ready to Crumble" - The Russian Futurists
"Nine Times That Same Song" - Love is All
"Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" - Neko Case .

I bought all three of them.

I watched the last two Office episodes in season one, and the basketball episode was goooooood. I don't think I stopped laughing for the whole time they played the game. So far the American Office has exceeded my expectations, which were set impossibly high after watching the bbc office. Then Paluka messaged me:

cpikula: u played 150/300 on interpoker ysterday?
GP: maybe
cpikula: lol
cpikula: you are a tard
GP: who told you?
cpikula: it is in your blog fuckface

Doh. April is off to a good start, though. 7.05bbs/100 in the 30 today. I will update more nothing tomorrow. . . .

GP's Big Adventure. . . .

2006-04-01T02:52:00.000-05:00

It's 2:51 now a.m. now. Don't mind the time on the blog. That's California time. Anyways, I said I might have something to report and I do. As soon as I left work I felt the spring in the air. I love the North End. Even though my rent is way too big, I am not going to want to leave in October when my lease is up. I walked to the liquor store on the way home to get some whiskey and diet coke. As I was walking up the street, I heard some 60-something round woman say to another 60-something round woman who was sitting outside her apartment, "Wow. I know it's spring when you're sitting outside. You're like my baromaDAH!" Nice.
I came home, casually playing for a bit until my ex-roommate Gabe called to tell me he was heading to a bar in the basement of the Jury Hotel in downtown Boston. I would have photos, but I asked my friend Susan if I should bring my camera. It feels so old now being like 2" thick. I realized I would only take like 3 pictures, so I decided I wouldn't take it. I took a cab to the hotel. Some Asian girl who was cute but turned out to be annoying walked by with her friends and said "Let's go here!" She struck up a conversation with me. She said she was with her friends from "The League of Women." They were recruiting tonight, so they were coming from a hotel where they had a reception, etc. They volunteer, etc. (I had a flashback to earlier in the evening when my friend Deva was telling someone that volunteering was a great way to meet women.) Well, I didn't care to talk to these women, and they kept joking, "Hey, you're still here!" Even though it was obvious I was in line with them and couldn't go anywhere. The Asian girl, Tina, made a joke that I reminded her of the guy from Troy, and started telling me she studied the classics in college. I was about to get into the bar when the bouncer said, "How many?" she said "7! Achilles, you have to be part of our group. Is that ok?" Bah. Anyways, as soon as they let me in, I drifted to find Gabe. . .
So the bar was fun. I drank a lot. I talked to some boring people and some intersting people. I ended up talking to this woman who I found out was German, so I didn't waste any time telling her about my German vacation coming up this summer. She told me what cities were cool and what cities weren't, etc. I told her the motto for my trip was going to be "Unverhooff kompt oft." I spelled that very wrong I bet. She said "I expect the unexpected?" Well, I learned from my friend Tania that it means "Expect the unexpected," and it was the punchline in her favorite series of children's books. Anyways, that's going to be the motto of our trip. Since I had a bunch of whiskey at my place, I just drank a few beers. Gabe's friend Lucas bought a round of shots later and that, combined with an I.P.A. right after, kind of made me feel real drunk. I went outside to have a cigarette with Gabe. Some woman asked me for a light. We started talking. Gabe did some drunken promoting of me, which I appreciated, then decided to go back inside, which demonstrated rock solid instincts on his part. After a few minutes of conversation I realized I was very, very drunk. She sensed this. "Are you drunk?" She asked. "Kind of." I said. After like 5 minutes she offered her number to me. I looked at my phone and pushed a button or two, but it was obvious I wasn't capable of the simple task. She said "Umm, should I do it?" I said "No, I have it. . . " Clearly, I didn't have it. She grabbed my phone and put it in for me. Her name was Kim. She told me to call her. I said I would. Gabe came outside and said he was leaving. I left with him. I took a cab. I got home and thought to myself, "I wonder if Kim actually put her number in my phone? and was that even her name?" So I found a Kim in my contacts. I proceeded to drink some water and chill for a bit. Then I played 150-3 at inter and won some money. . . . I do wish I brought my camera though. I will try not to make that mistake again.

G.P. and the Big Nothing. . .

2006-03-31T14:51:00.000-05:00

It' Friday at 3 p.m. I was going to go to Foxwoods, but now I don't think I am. Matt is leaving early on Saturday, and I don't want the room on Saturday night, nor do I want to check out early tomorrow. Also, they only have 40-80 holdem and 75-150 O.E. I hear, and I don't feel like playing either of those, or any live poker really, for that matter. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I doubt it.
I'm listening to Ben Folds right now. Ben Folds gets me all fired up to do absolutely nothing. His compositional skills I find uplifting, but I can't relate to his love songs, maybe because I think he kind of sounds too wimpy - if I forced to make an 80's style mix tape for a woman, I could see myself using like Tom Waits over Ben Folds. The best song on the album imo is Late, which is about Elliott Smith, one of my favorite musicians:

Elliott, man, you played a fine guitar
And some dirty basketball
The songs you wrote
Got me through a lot
Just wanna tell you that

But it's too late
It's too late
No, don't you know
It's been too late
For a long time

Sad. So life for the past week has been ok. I went on a date on Monday and had a great time. We had some drinks (JWBlack for me and compares for her), then dinner with wine, then more wine at her place she watched the first three episodes of Sopranos season 6 with me at her apt. so I could catch up on the season. Anyways, I emailed her the next day and never got a repsonse. I spent the next two nights sipping whiskey, followed by MGD, and playing cards, kind of being semi-bummed out in general - prob broke even for the week, but the month ended up very well considering I was stuck until about halfway through March. My old roommate invited me out tonight for adult beverages and maybe a little red rover (ok. . .maybe he was joking about that). Instead of a Foxwoods trip report involving silverbirds and adventure, maybe I'll post one about Friday night - I'll leave my silverbird at home, but maybe there be some unexpected adventure. I talked to my mother today and she told me I have to go by the house to pick up all these Maxim Magazines that somehow have been getting sent to my parents in my name. Maybe I'll pick them up and give them to some scuppah like Szymaszek. Also, she told me I need to the read the Boston Globe article on how "the industry of my past-time is going to be going down." I could tell she really enjoyed telling me this. . . There may be a Todd Witteles interview coming soon. I think some of the questions I asked him were kind of dumb, though, which might be why I haven't heard back yet, maybe I'll resubmit. We'll see. . . .more to come soon. . .

Interview with the legendary Stephen Giufre. . .

2006-03-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

Stephen Giufre is a professional poker player from Huntington Beach, CA. He is like 25 or 26 or something. I am happy to present fans of the bubble blog with the following interview:

What would you be doing in life if you weren't an expert poker player?

Honestly Im pretty sure if I didnt end up a poker player thre is a pretty good chance I would be living on some distant relative's couch or something. I'm pretty brutal when it comes to sticking to a schedule, so any 9-5 job would basically be torture for me. I took a job as prop at the Bike (note: Bike = Bicycle Casino in Gardena, CA) about a year after I moved to California, hoping to put a little more structure in my life. About three weeks into it I got extrememly drunk one night and had to work early the next morning. I surprised myself by waking up, but on the way there it became clear that if I didnt pull over and find a bathroom it might get ugly. So I stoped in a random neighborhood on the way, and due to my hangover and bad sense of direction, it took me about 2 hours to find the highway again. When I did I turned around and went home. I havent been to the Bike since. Hopefully that explains why I wouldnt fuction that well without poker.

I once had a dream that some guy that I was playing a nl cash game with moved in on me, tabled his hand, and yet I couldn't stop myself from calling anyways even though I was beat. Do you ever have dreams like that, or that you have a 9 to 5 job or something?

I dont really dream about poker much anymore. I think its because I play mostly online and it does get the be fairly repetitive.

Can you remember an instance where you were on wild monkey tilt and literally just gave money away but couldn't help yourself? Like spite capping the turn and then betting the river anyways even though you knew there was a 100% you would get called. . . If yes, what was the hand?

Yes, very recently. I was playing heads up 150-300 VS Greenaple on Doyles Room. Im not the grestest heads up player but I felt like I had an edge. After jumping out to a 9k lead, i proceeded to lose every hand and go on a 21k downswing. The last hand I played I three bet some no pair no draw hand on the turn, and bet the river. He quickly called and took the money. A few seconds later one of the obsevers chimed in and accused me of money laundering. Greenapple then correctly told his it was not money laundering, he was just better than me and I was on tilt. I took that as my cue to quit and I cashed out the rest of my money that day.

Who has helped your game the most over the years?

The famous Jesse leather ass Martin. He convinced me to start playing online, and spent a lot of time teaching me how to not be a weak tight grinder. Matt S. has also helped me a lot.

Who is the best all around or most well-rounded degenerate that you know? and please explain why you picked that person. . .

This one is tough because most of my friends are pretty good at staying out of trouble with other gambling and stuff like that. However when it comes to super high around neutral EV gambling, I dont think there is anybody sicker than Matt S. AKA suitedaces. He is famous turning low stakes pools, fantasy leagues etc. into borderline problem gambling. He is also expert at finding decent spots in the pit games, where he has a better than average chance of beating them based strictly on the number of free coronas he can drink before going bust.

What's in your cd case and dvd player right now?

I havent bought a CD in ages. Im really not that into music, Im still sitting on that expert tip you gave me to download some David Bowie.

Care to share a classic "SteveG has no respect for money" story?

I probably shouldnt go into details on this one but during the Bellagio 15k event this year I remember hitting town with about 5k, and waking up with about 4 bucks, a wraper and headache. I did get unstuck in a bad stars game later that day though.

Any embarassing live poker stories?

Most of my embarassing live poker stories relate to this guy I used to travel with a few years ago. Ive seen him use mouthwash at the table and spit it on a another players foot, eat chinese food off the Taj Mahal floor, and sleep in his car because he was too stuck to spend 40 bucks on a hotel room. Being in his presense was embarasing enough, even though he is actually a good guy.

Which poker player do you dislike the most? No explanation needed.

AmazingGrace on stars, obviously.

If someone offered you a check for $500,000 tax-free right now to never play poker or gamble on anything ever again, would you take it?

See my answer to question one. If you added a zero to that figure i'd think about it.

If there were 3 cups in front of you and two of them had a marble under them, would you bet everything you own plus assets for a chance to double up to find a marble?

Cool question. I'd like to say yes but I dont think I could pull the trigger. Doubling my bankroll would be great, but it would be nothing compared to how miserable I would be if chose wrong. Im not sure how well I would handle going broke, hopefully Im never gonna have to find out.

"Slow Century" Review, field trip to Ogunquit, ME and more. . .

2006-03-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have been a member of netflix for about a year. It is not cheaper than the old school video stores unless you basically max it out, which is very hard to do. It is, however, extremely convenient. Twice in the last year I had movies I just never wanted to watch. A month ago I got Broken Flowers, The Bicycle Thief, and Eraserhead. I returned all three yesterday, but only watched Broken Flowers. I watched like twelve minutes of Eraserhead, then immediately realized that now is not the right time in my life to watch that movie. When I got home from work today I opened my mailbox to find the first two Entourage dvds and the first disc of Pavement's two DVD set "Slow Century." I like Pavement, and I own all of their cd's etc., but I didn't know much about their history since I really only got into them when they released Brighten the Corners. For example, I didn't know what Bob Nastanovich did exactly in the band, and there's actually an explanation for that - he doesn't really do all that much. By definition, he "keeps time and backs up the drummer with percussion." In one interview segment, he discussed how a record label guy followed the band around to 15 or 20 shows then said to him, "Bob, I really can't figure out why you're in the band," and he was geniunely hurt. Anyways, what is funny is that he actually looks kind of like Will Ferrell, and whenever he's on stage or in the studio he reminds me of Ferrell in the cowbell skit.

When Glenn bought a guitar I told him to get the new Malkmus solo album. He said, "I am not buying music that is so hip it doesn't even exist. . . " It has always been clear Steve Malkmus had style, but in some of his videos he takes it to the next level. For example, in "Father to a Sister of Thought" I expected the cowboy hats, given the slide guitar and country influence in the song. But cruising around strip mall parking lots in super bright sunlight, wearing yardwork gloves? Yup.

Speaking of Pavement, my old roommate Matt Tavares used to play in a band that covered Pavement's "Here." My friend John Pham and I went up to visit him this weekend in Ogunquit, ME where he lives with his wife, Sarah, and his 18 month old daughter, Eva. (I have more pictures, but for some reason it won't let me upload them :(. . . ) Matt writes and illustrates children's books. His website is: http://www.matttavares.com/index.html

Matt has human, animal, and vegetation drawing skills. . .

In other news, Mike Schneider, poker player extraordinaire, previously featured as a guest of the bubble blog, had some good fortune last week, which is further described here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=5143313&an=0&page=0#Post5143313

Hot run kiddo. . . I hope that other thing that has been on your mind lately works itself out as well :P.

Diet Rock Stars. . .

2006-03-15T05:06:00.000-05:00

So now I drink a lot of Diet Rockstars. I eat an advantage bar in the morning and for dinner, and for lunch I get a bowl of chili and a caesar salad or buffalo tenders. I am starting to drink more water at work instead of coffee all day like I usually do. None of that is interesting. What is sort of interesting, though, is that when I was going to the gym yesterday morning, I took my keys out of my pocket and I flung two twenties and a ten onto the sidewalk. A few minutes later, some guy came in and gave it back to me. He was tall and had brown hair. After I went to the front desk to identify my money, I went to look for him to give him and ten or a twomp or something, but every guy in the gym was tall and had brown hair. In any case, I am bored of being healthy but obviously will not slow down. . . Glenn is at 33k hands going into day 15, so he's 3k behind the pace. We won't know about me until I weigh myself at the end of the month, but I am feeling slightly slimmer.

I had a flashback at work today to about a year ago. I was back in Somerville hanging out with George. He said, "Seriously Glen, don't you think it's time for some new shoes?" I still have those shoes today. :(

Vacation this year looks a lot like Paris first then the Belgium, Germany and possibly Venice stretch. I think I have decided to take two weeks in June - the first to be spent in Paris. Steve G. said he's down for the trip. I figure we'll stay near the Aviation Club. The table charges there, though, are ridiculous though. Playing 80-160 at the Borgata in Atlantic City is $9/half hour. At the Aviation club it's 45 euros/hr, which is 3 times more expensive. Stupid. Anyways, I like Paris, and I like cafes, Gaulois blues, 1664, Renaults (ha jk :P), etc. . .

3/11/2006 quick update. . .

2006-03-13T01:24:00.000-05:00

I heard Glenn had to help his friend move all day yesterday and hasn't played in a while. As for myself, here are some fun stats on the week: drinks: 0. cigarettes: 0. gym visits: regular. . . .Uh oh! Happy learned how to putt!

3/05/2006 Johnnie Walker Gold and laziness. . .

2006-03-13T01:19:00.000-05:00

Matt: "I am going to get a bottle of blue and watch the sox at your apt.
"Glen: "Ok."

Those two sentences clearly quantify the ease of making me fall off the wagon at the start of my weight bet. I keep thinking I still have three months, but I also am not considering all the situations that might arise to make it more difficult to maintain a steady pace. The way we consumed the bottle of Johnnie Walker was also clearly offensive. First, Matt showed up with JW Gold, since they did not have any blue in stock. He shows up with Coke and a bag of ice as well. I take out two glasses and throw in some ice. Matt says he needs a bigger glass to mix his with Coke. What??? Well. . . he bought it, and it's a free country. Anyways, it was really, really good. When the night approached the finish line, to use the masterful lyrics of Chris "Parns" Parnell, "my hunger pangs were stickin'like duct tape!" Instead of going to mac on some cupcakes, though, we went to get a slice, which ended up being three slices for me. Both of us left almost a full drink on the table - clearly not expert. So, that was a big step back for the bet, and, without even knowing about my slothful evening with midnight pizza, Canadian Mike decided to put $500 down against me as well. I accepted! :) Then on Saturday I drank gin over at a friend's apt and had a few late night potato chips. Not looking good. . . Glenn btw is ahead of the pace, but there's still a long path to travel.
In other news, I got Strokes tickets for April. I am still trying to decide where to go on vacation this summer. How can I not go to Vegas at least once? It seems there will a rented condo for five that actually has sleeping room for like fourteen. San Fran or LA would be a nice link to plit up time. World Cup in Germany may be the front runner right now. I don't even like soccer, but I want to go to Europe, and I can't imagine going on a vacation with my friend George and not having a great time.

i rule at variance. . .

3/02/2006 The Curse of the Cranberries. . .

2006-03-13T01:17:00.000-05:00

I buy cds from my friend Chris at work, who belongs to yourmusic.com. I have bought like 20 cds from him in the last 3 months. They are only $6 apiece. So last week I bought a Bowie CD for a friend, and then decided to snowball the order. I got a Beth Orton CD, both Wilco Mermaid Avenue CDs, the new Ben Folds (have to get everything after the surprising, monumental "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner), and the Cranberries No Need to Argue - for old time sake. I get nostalgic when I hear this because it reminds me of the first bar I used to frequent in Nantes, France when I was 19. My friend Tim and I would drink 1664s and Kronenbergs after class. Anyways, it is not as good as I remembered it, but it's still good. So Chris starts saying, "Glen, I bet you can't wait to go home so you can really let loose singing along to the Cranberries. . ." Not the best mocking material, but good enough (he later made a semi-convincing argument that women would find me attractive in the same way men might find Condoleezza Rice attractive). Anyways, I get home, open up several tables of Party 30-60 and start to import my music. After I threw in the Cranberries, my itunes messes up. The importing goes down t 1.2x, the cd-rom starts vibrating, and all my tables freeze up. I had AcTc in the cutoff, and it folded to me on one of my tables - then Party froze up, and, in addition to the AcTc, I had just paid the blinds on two other tables.) I timed out of all my hands on 5 tables. This is probably the equivalent of losing a $100 bill. I get pissed. (I have a flashback to when I was a junior in college and bought the Cranberries To the Faithful Departed. It was so bad it made me angry. I listened to it three times. Then I put on the Cranberries song "Disappointment" from No Need to Argue and invited some friends in to watch me rifle the cd out of my 3rd floor window frisbee-style.) I reopen party. 1,200 hands into the session I am stuck 8k. I just made 3 bad plays. It' like 11 p.m. I am hungry - my apt. is empty, AND I can't eat anything anyways because of my prop. bet. So I had 2 cups of coffee. I somehow get even at like 1:20 a.m. I have no idea how I do, but I do. It's 2 a.m. and I'm wide awake. I lay down on my couch, set my alarm for 7:15, and throw in The Aviator. Now it's like 3:30 a.m. I drift for 5 minutes, start to dream, then something I was dreaming about makes me jump. I decide to stop the movie, write the time I am at (like 1:14:45)on a napkin. I throw in Pulp Fiction. I can't sleep. I look at the clock and it's 5 a.m. I wake up at 7:15 a.m. and hit the snooze. Next time I look it's 8:05 a.m. Gah. Long day ahead. . . .

2/28/2006 degenerate bet. . .

2006-03-13T01:10:00.000-05:00

"Just tell me I can't do it! Just say it! Just tell me I can't do it! Arrghhh!!!" That's what Will Ferell shouted in the excellent but short-lived t.v. sitcom Undeclared when a student questioned whether he could write three termpapers in 24 hours. He did write the three papers, but whereas he usually got A's on the papers (students hired him to write papers for $50 apiece), this time he got 3 D's, wasting several hours doing speed and trying to beat a video game. . . so anyways, my friend Glenn says he needs motivation to make more money playing poker. He thinks he can play 150k hands of poker in 50 days. That's like 3k hands per day. I bet him 1k he couldn't do it. Also, I have put on a few pounds since I moved to the North End (obv too much Italian food, etc. . . ) So, we agreed on June 1st as the date when I have to weigh below 165 pounds. (I am currently 193) All I have to say is. . . ."Tell me I can't do it!" No one seems to think either of us can do it either. The last time I made a weight-loss bet I lost it - more because I was having a good month playing cards and felt the time and effort wouldn't be worth the closing suffering. That thought will inevitably cross my mind again, but I have already decided that I will let nothing get in my way. We are both taking action as well. . . so far Peter (Diplomat) bet $200 against me, Matt bet $500 against me (he will clearly tempt me by offering to buy all kinds of food and beer, etc. . ), and Steve G. bet $500 against both of us. Anyone else is free to contact me or leave a message here and it will be met for approval and documentation. Glenn once said something like the following: "it is always in one's best interest to make bets with Glen when his laziness is tested. . . ."

2/28/2006 status of my blog. . .

2006-03-13T01:09:00.000-05:00

cpikula666: by the way
cpikula666: your blog sucks

2/13/06 Bowie. . .

2006-03-13T01:08:00.000-05:00

My friend George told me a few months back to get into David Bowie, and I'm proud to say that I did. I would like to take this opportunity to plug the album "Bowie at the Beeb." It's a live double disc. Disc 2 is great - start to finish. If you must, start at song 5 - Queen Bitch. That will get you to the heart of the album quicker - two velvet underground covers, a stellar "5 years," "starman," and "Rock and Roll Suicide" - all better than the album versions. . . .
Quick hand. . . .
***** Hand History for Game 3550226072 *****$30/$60 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 13, 21:39:24 EDT 2006Table Table 68260 (Real Money)Seat 8 is the buttonTotal number of players : 10
Seat 5: hasa123 ( $982.50 )Seat 7: Kunta_Kinte_ ( $1197.50 )Seat 8: xqs_me ( $1245 )Seat 9: vancuong ( $1348 )Seat 10: Rosedale3 ( $1632 )Seat 4: EmlyFischer ( $3354 )Seat 1: MichMyLove ( $1692 )Seat 3: nickgold111 ( $263 )Seat 6: ice_princess ( $1185 )Seat 2: polki17 ( $1000 )vancuong posts small blind [$15].Rosedale3 posts big blind [$30].
** Dealing down cards **Dealt to EmlyFischer [ Kd Qh ]MichMyLove folds.nickgold111 folds.EmlyFischer raises [$60].hasa123 calls [$60].ice_princess folds.Kunta_Kinte_ folds.xqs_me folds.vancuong folds.Rosedale3 calls [$30].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ac, Ah, 4c ]
Rosedale3 checks.EmlyFischer bets [$30].hasa123 raises [$60].Rosedale3 folds.EmlyFischer raises [$60].hasa123 calls [$30].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
EmlyFischer bets [$60].hasa123 calls [$60].
** Dealing River **
[ 2c ]EmlyFischer bets [$60].hasa123 folds.EmlyFischer does not show cards.EmlyFischer wins $552
Who wants to float me next?

2/09/06 ok ok

2006-03-13T01:07:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, I know. Since my last entry, not much has changed. Latest word on Schneids in the inter 150-3 game. . . . "d0000d: dangero your money feels so good rubbing it against my c*ck." Ahh degenerates. . . . Anyways. . . . who saw the grammys last night? Yes, yes, Fiona got snubbed, but what did anyone expect? I was pulling for Kanye because he seemed like he cared the most.
I would like to give a shout out to Shane Schleger, aka "Shaniac" for his 220k win in the $300 rebuy tourney at Commerce. According to several poker sites, he "decimated" the final table. Also, props to Matt Szymaszek and Jesse Martin for having the savoir-faire to take %5 of this talented young man.
As for myself, more of the same. I have decided I am going to make the most of the Party bonus that I have been offered, which should be about 6k over the next 8 weeks. I need motivation to play anyways, especially since I have a "sigh" job, and I am often very tired at the end of the day. Last weekend I had the pleasure of a visit from my friend Tim, who was staying in Boston for the weekend with his wife. They dined on Saturday at Strega, which is a restaurant around the corner from me in the North End in Boston. Tim came over and we drank some Johnny Walker Black as well as a few Amstel Lights. At one point, Tim had to take a piss, so I decided to go have a cigarette. This is significant in that as I walked the bathroom of my one bedroom apt, I noticed Tim left the door open. There is a large mirror in the bathroom, so, as it turned out, I accidentally caught a glimpse of Tim's hog. Now that is significant. Tim once boasted of having a large hog. He gave a specific length even that neither I, nor any of our friends, believed (Tim has a slight history of exagerrating). Anyways, a few years ago, while sitting around after a night at the bar, we decided to call him out and asked him to whip it out. He wouldn't, adding to the mystery of whether this was a tall tale. It turns out that he was not lying. End of story. . . .
I just watched the second season of BBC's The Office and the Christmas special. That show is gooooooood. I actually felt a little uncomfortable watching David fall from power, and I did, in fact, get somewhat emotional at the end (Disclaimer: I was kind of drunk, and it was just like kind of how you felt when you were 8 and watched the Death Star blow up). I would get into specifics, but I don't want to spoil it for those that haven't seen it. I was telling this to Lynette, a girl I have been seeing recently, and she said, "wow, I wouldn't strike you as the sensitive type. . . " I didn't think I was either, but that's the second time in a week and a half I got emotional (by emotional I mean slight general palpable happiness, not like man-weeping) over something like that. (Other time: When the dude from That 70s show said he was in love with scarlett johanssen in Good Company in front of her cinematic dad. .
Token Poker Blog Hand: Party 20-40. . . .
***** Hand History for Game 3503488064 *****$20/$40 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 06, 01:20:14 EDT 2006Table Table 69593 (Real Money)Seat 5 is the buttonTotal number of players : 10
Seat 2: p847519 ( $1141 )Seat 3: putterdere ( $1105 )Seat 4: warden944 ( $1376.50 )Seat 5: ucelm ( $931 )Seat 6: Terminator8 ( $834 )Seat 8: EmlyFischer ( $1530 )Seat 1: richsugar ( $1142.62 )Seat 9: WhiteBubble ( $537.50 )Seat 10: anthony20001 ( $1578.50 )Seat 7: Lestat__ ( $1097 )
Terminator8 posts small blind [$10].Lestat__ posts big blind [$20].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to EmlyFischer [ 7d 7h ]
EmlyFischer raises [$40].anthony20001 calls [$40].richsugar folds.p847519 raises [$60].putterdere folds.warden944 folds.ucelm folds.Terminator8 folds.Lestat__ folds.EmlyFischer calls [$20].anthony20001 calls [$20].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 7c, 2d ]
EmlyFischer checks.anthony20001 checks.p847519 bets [$20].EmlyFischer raises [$40].anthony20001 calls [$40].p847519 calls [$20].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qd ]
EmlyFischer bets [$40].
anthony20001 calls [$40].
p847519 calls [$40].
** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]
EmlyFischer checks.anthony20001 checks.p847519 bets [$40].EmlyFischer raises [$80].anthony20001 folds.p847519 calls [$40].
EmlyFischer shows [ 7d, 7h ] a full house, Sevens full of queens.p847519 doesn't show [ Kc, Kh ] two pairs, kings and queens.EmlyFischer wins $607 from the main pot with a full house, Sevens full of queens.
One of my friends found a problem with the way I played this hand. . . Comments?

1/29/2006 So here's a hand Schneider played last night.

2006-03-13T01:04:00.001-05:00

So here's a hand Schneider played last night. Schneider is a very good online short-handed player. Most of the people that play in the 150-300 pound game (approx. 270-540 in usd) are very good, so what separates the winner from the break even or losing players is often the ability to process and analyze a lot of information and come to quick decisions. Schneider felt like he botched this one, and I agree. A lot of decisions are debatable. I am not familiar with Helsto, but PeteZah is a well-known internet player. I am not sure if this particular handle has become common knowledge, so I do not feel at liberty to reveal his name, as I was once sworn to secrecy a long time ago. In any case, here is the hand:

Ni_Han: posts small blind $75
Helsto: posts big blind $150
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to d0000d [9h Kh]
d0000d: raises $300pc1000: folds
PurplHaze: folds
PeteZah: raises $450
Ni_Han: folds
Helsto: raises $450
d0000d: calls $300
PeteZah: calls $150
----- FLOP ----- [5d Qh Th]
Helsto: bets $150
d0000d: raises $300
PeteZah: calls $300
Helsto: raises $300
d0000d: raises $300
PeteZah: calls $300
Helsto: calls $150
----- TURN ----- [5d Qh Th][8s]
Helsto: bets $300
d0000d: calls $300
PeteZah: calls $300
----- RIVER ----- [5d Qh Th 8s][Kd]
Helsto: bets $300
d0000d: calls $300
PeteZah: calls $300
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Helsto: shows [Qd As] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
d0000d: mucks hand [9h Kh]
PeteZah: shows [Jc Kc] (A Pair of Kings, Queen high)
PeteZah collects $5472 from Main pot

So Schneider raised utg with Kh9h. I am not a fan of this. This is a time and a place kind of raise, and the fact that PeteZah 3 bet him with KcJc demonstrates that his image was not exactly right to make this raise. 3 betting KcJc is usually reserved for later position open-raises who have a wide opening raise. I fold here, as I would expect to rarely take the blinds, to rarely see it fold to the blinds, and to often experience heavy action behind me (maybe even have to face a cap :P) One can make a case for folding preflop when it comes back for 2 more bets, but calling is not bad, especially when you play well postflop like Schneids.The flop play is pretty standard imo. Four people saw the flop and he has a huge draw. He wants money in there and he got it. It would be interesting if Helsto checked. I think Schneids is checking here too after bricking. There is no way he is winning the pot on the turn, and he may even get PeteZah to check behind, who just called 2 cold twice on the flop. PeteZah's hand is most likely a draw, and he, like Schneids would think there is no way a bet would take down the pot; rather, he might think that Helsto is expecting a bet from Schneids, who might then be able to check-raise both Scheids and PeteZah. Since Helsto is probably aware that at least PeteZah and maybe schneids is on a draw, he just bet out, knowing that his preflop aggression and flop 3 bet into a four way capped preflop pot means he has a hand, Schneids and Zah would likely check behind.The river is the most interesting street. The king gives Schneids top pair with a weak kicker, and Helsto bets out. The most important factor now is hand reading. The pot is 4500 pounds or 15 big bets. It is difficult to comment on hand reading in other people's hands since you do not fully understand the history one player might have with another. (i.e. my utg raises rarely get 3 bet by KcJc against player who know my typical utg raising range. They don't call because they fear some form of total domination - being against AJ, KQ, AK, etc.) . . . .Bah! I was looking at my aim conversation and Schneider said PeteZah was on tilt and Helsto is a super donk. We'll briefly discuss what that changes. It means that I would be even less likely to raise utg vs a guy who is tilting and even less chance of taking the blinds. As for Helsto it doesn't seem to change much. He has the best hand obviously, but it makes a river that much better of an option. Schneider basically had a moment where he made what would be considered an easy call in a big pot vs. Helsto. He made top on the river, and the pot is 4800 - easy call. But did he consider what PeteZah might have? Clearly PeteZah's most likely drawing hand here is KJ, and the fact that Schneider said he was tilting makes it that much more likely, since he 3 bet preflop but shut down postflop. (from what I know of PeteZah from playing with him, he is not the type to continue donking off chips postflop in multiway pots even if he were on tilt.) Ultimately, in a pot that large, the best play was to raise, since PeteZah would have an EXTREMELY difficult time thinking KJ beat both of these guys. This kind of raise is correct even if you think that Helsto has a better hand MOST of the time. It doesn't have to work very often to show a profit. Anyways, we all make mistakes. Next time Schneids!
(I just ran spell check and the first suggestion it came to for PeteZah was "fetishes". . . hmmmm. . . . )

1/28/2006 Yeah this is my blog. . . let the good times roll. . . .

2006-03-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

This is my first blog entry. It is Saturday night, and I am sitting at my computer. I just watched Raging Bull. Then I watched the Fiona Apple DVD. One sec I have KK now. . . .raised in mp, bb called, turn A i checked he had Ah9h obv. Playing two 20-40s while I write the intro to my blog. I am not sure exactly what form my blog will take. I guess it will be organic. The first person I would like to thank is Mike Schneider for trying to help me come up with a name for the blog. I obv ignored it and went with the pavement reference. Ok I am now going to try to publish this and make sure it works. . .