Big Game Tonight

I am having a card game tonight. It should be a good time. It is not going to be a big game, only ten people, but it is going to be a high dollar cash game. I made the buy in $50. Since people can buy in several times, I am thinking that there will be about $1000 on the table. Fun stuff. I would like to win it all, but will be happy with doubling my initial $50 buy in. I would love to get enough to pay for my entire Caesar's Indiana trip. Still, just as long as I have fun and win a little bit, I will be happy.

Speaking of my Indiana trip, I just found a voucher for a free room. This means that I only will need to pay my buy in and for food and drink. I am hoping to do well in the tournament so that I spend all the time playing in the tourney and not much time at cash tables. That is where I could potentially lose alot of money. Still, I am getting mu bonus from work this month, so I have the costs covered. Fun stuff!

Halo 3: The new Love Affair

As you know, I play Halo 3 alot. I love that game. Lately, I had been getting a little tired of playing, since I don't seem to be getting anywhere with my ranking. I have been yo-yo-ing from level 25 to level 30. I guess it depends on if I am on my game or not. Some days I play better than others. Anyway, I found a new spark to feul my Halo 3 obsession. Team Slayer. I played a little with some friends I know, but their ranking for team slayer is much higher than mine. I should say WAS a lot higher. they are all mostly level 20 or higher and I was level 3. It made finding a match harder because of the different skill levels. Anyway, I started playing team slayer on my own (just searching for a game and finding random players to play with) and in a span of two days, I have brought my level up to 17. Of course, since I am a level 25-30 Major in solo slayer, I was basically kicking the shit out of inexperienced players for a while. One game, I had 20 of my team's kills (out of 50) and died only eight times. I was ROLLIN'! Anyway, I have met a few players that I like playing with, so I guess we sorta have a set team. We sometimes win, sometimes don't. It is a helluva lot of fun though.

General Post

1. When did Moe grow a beard? I logged into Blogger.com just now, and this picture popped up as one of their current members. I don't know why I could care that this Mountain Man Moe is a member of Blogger.com, but the doppelganger pic gave me a chuckle.

2. Working from home is nice some times. 300 central Ohio schools are closed today, due to snow. I was watching the news and the trafic report said that there was a car overturned at the exit I would use to get to my office (if I were to go to my office). The downside is that, if people call off because of the snow or the office closes because of the snow, I get to pick up all the slack.

3. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I got a poker DVD through NetFlix a while back. It really changed the way I think about playing poker. I would like to say that I am unstoppable now, but I still have some bad habits I need to break. Plus, winning poker really depends on the cards that you get (to a large degree). Sure, you can bluff every hand, but that wouldn't work for long. Still, the last two games I played, I came in 3rd and 2nd place.

4. What the fuck is going on with Lost? (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) The show is good enough that I am going to watch the rest of the season, but I think that the writers smoke a bag of pot before writing and try to think what they can do to give watchers more questions. "How can we fuck with them this week?" I am getting really thrown by the way they are showing flash forwards. Mostly the time lime is throwing me. In the season opener, we see Jack and Kate meeting with Jack saying they need to go back. Last night we see Kate on trial. Did the trial happen before or after their other meeting? Plus, we see Aaron looking like a three year old. Why wouldn't Jack want to see him? I assumed it was because Kate got knocked up by Sawyer. I think probably the biggest question now is, why are there only six survivors from the island? Did everyone else die ro stay? I really want to kick Locke in the balls for being so wishy washy and a whiney little bitch. AAAARRRGH!!!! There are just SO many questions about this show! There are so many new questions that I am forgetting old questions from previous seasons!

TV Updates

So, Knight Rider was a bit of a disappointment. They spent entirely too much time on making the car effects look cool, used them too many times, and forgot that plot is pretty important to a show as well. I am hoping that it was just a pilot episode blunder. The effects were good, but not enough to make up for a weak story and a stupid cameo by David Hasselhoff. Plus, I was really hoping for an appearance by the original KITT. There were also some time line issues. KITT is supposed to go hundreds of miles per hour, and yet the bad guys were always one set ahead of Mike (the new good guy). Yes, the bad guys had a helicopter, but they are not as fast as a super powered Mustang. Maybe it was the "as the crow flies" routes they took instead of being confined to roads. I will give Knight Rider another shot, but it may fall to the way side if it does not get better.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is still pretty good. I am a little worried that they are going to try to make too much of character intrigue. They are casting suspicion on Uncle Reese a bit and making some conflict between him and Summer Glau. I guess they need to do something to make the show more than just fighting T-888s. I still like the show alot. I just hope they don't ruin it by trying to make too much out of it.

Ain't I Sweet?

This is a picture of Jessica's Valentine's Day present. I know, I know.... flowers die, but they always seem to make her happy. I usually ger roses, but decided to switch things up a bit. I thought these looked nice. Plus, I thought the vase was nice. I felt a little bad because I was out a little late. Valentine's Day fell on my bowling night. Still, it was an OK day, I guess. I usually don't get into Valentine's Day much more than dinner and a card or flowers and a card. I guess that is more than some guys do. Jessica got me a Vader bobble head. Fun stuff.

Multi-Bloggin'

I was bored at work yesterday (we were out of work and I was counting the minutes before I could log off) so I did a blog search on poker. I found several blogs and checked a few out. The first didn't have much to offer, but the second was slightly interesting. Hella Hold'em is the site name. I haven't read much of it, but what I did read, I liked a bit. Anyway, during the search, I found the person first and she had several blogger pages. One looked like a general posting blog, there was the poker blog, and a few others. I wonder, does the author have too much time on her hands, or does she separate her posts for her readers. I'm sure that most of you would rather skip my OSU football posts. Should I have an OSU blog for football season? I know Amy did it while she was preggers. I would check both on occasion. Honestly, I doubt I will check this stranger's daily blog, but I was glad to find the poker blog. I don't think I am going to separate my posts into two or more blogs. Honestly, I don't have enough time or material to multi-blog. So, I guess you will just have to read this some days and skip it on others.

Speaking of poker I won a bit of cash last night. I bought in for $40 and left with $101. I can live with that. I would have won more, but I went all in with pocket aces and lost to pocket kings. A third king came up on the board and kicked my ass. I had a bad feeling that he had kings, but had to play my hand. It cost me about $80. I hate those hands where I know I am beat but have to play anyways.

Enough is Enough Already

Ok Winter, you can go away now. I usually don't mind this time of year. I like cold weather. The snow and ice is what I am getting tired of. Trash day was Tuesday, during a long snow and rain storm. The lid was left off the can, so it filled up and then froze. Plus, it melted a little during the day and refroze, effectively freexing the trash can to the ground. I fixed that yesterday by bumping it (on purpose) with my car, but it is heavy as hell because of the ice in the bottom. Don't get me started on my gas bill. I guess what I am saying is, I am ready for Spring.

I'm sure I have already mentioned, but Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love all the green stuff popping out of the ground. Tree blossoms, flowers, green grass, are all so nice in the spring. Plus, the temperature is perfect and there are no bugs. I also look forward to the gardening/landscaping plans I think up during the winter. Sure, it is tiring, but I like making my yard look nice. I sort of let things slide last summer, so I have alot to do thins coming Spring. I want to expand some flower beds and 'fix' my front yard. There is a big tree in the front and its roots are popping up making it hard to mow the grass. That means putting down dirt to comer the roots and then planting grass. While I am at it, I am going to put in a flower bed around the tree. I also need to prune my trees and bushes and spread mulch. I don't enjoy those things too much. The bad things about alot of flower beds are the mulching and pulling weeds. I will probably take a week off to get all of these things done. Fun stuff. Actually, if starting a business isn't so scary, I would do landscaping stuff as a career.

A Happy Birthday Present we want to return

Why have a party for your kid's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's? Games, pizza, fun all around.

Why NOT have a party at Chuck E Cheese's? Germs, bacteria, and viruses all over the place.

Since Gabriel's party last Friday, both he and Ally have been sick. This illustrates how parents are irresponsible and allow sick kids in a public places so that they can spread their germs and also illustrates how poorly Chuck E Cheese's crew cleans and sanitizes. It isn't the same illness either, I don't think. Ally has had a runny nose, bad cough, and a mild fever. Gabe has a higher fever and a cough, not so much the runny nose. Ally seems to be getting better, but Gabriel's fever has been going strong since Sunday. He is being a trooper, saying that he feels OK, but that fever just won't go away. This will be his fourth missed day of school this week. Jessica is taking him to a doctor today. Hopfully, he will kick this soon so that he can go back to school. Not that I want to get rid of him, he likes school and is sad when he can't go. Seriously.

The Orange Box

Since I finished Bioshock, I wanted to get a new FPS (first person shooter) game. I was thinking about Turok, which looks pretty good, but I went with a game that I knew more about. Although they called it The Orange Box, it is really Half Life 2. I had played Half Life on my PC WAAAAAAAY back in the day. The situation is kinda like Doom 3, what with the old game getting new life on the new gaming console. Anyway, the reason I went with Half Life 2 is because I remember that the old game scared me a bit and was quite fun. Although I have only played The Orange Box for a few hours, it is not disappointing. The graphics are good and, so far, it is playing quite well. I am trying to get to some doctor's lab through a maze of tunnels with bad guys trying to kill me. Not an easy task since the tunnels are dark and hard to get though.

Another feature of The Orange Box is called Portal. I haven't played it yet, but have heard good things about it. You get to be the unwilling participant in some lab experiments, like getting through mazes and solving puzzels. My firends say that it is something that I "need to try." I am unsure if I will give Portal a shot right away or get all the way through Half Life first. Plus, I still will need to feed my Halo 3 addication. One bad thing about Half Life is that the buttons are a little different than H3. Hopfully it won't though me off too much when I switch back and forth between the two games.

On a side note: FUCK ME!!!! IT'S COLD!!!!! The pipes to our shower are frozen. Luckily the other shower is fine.

Party Time

I can't believe it, but my little boy is turning six this weekend. It amazes me how quickly he seems to be growing up. Again, Gabriel asked that we have his party at Chuck E Cheese's. That is OK by me. The kids have fun and we don't need to clean up at all. I think three or four of Gabe's friends will be coming along. My parents will be here as well. The party is tonight, but his actual birthday is this Sunday. He also lost his first tooth this week. He lost it at school, and then he lost it at school, so the tooth fairy didn't get to take it. He still got a dollar though.He has other loose teeth, so pretty soon he will be missing all his front teeth. I think kids are cute when they are missing their front teeth.

Anyway, I will be sure to post pictures of the party on my Flickr site.

Poker on the Brain

I know I have been posting about poker alot lately. Sorry. Really though, I would love it if I could make playing cards my career. I know I am not good enough for all that and Jessica would probably frown at moving to Las Vegas, but could you imagine playing cards for your job? how fun would that be?

I am going to watch an instructional DVD today about playing in tournaments. It will probably be boring and include alot of things that I already know, but if I can learn something to improve my game, it will be worth it. I am playing in a little tournament tonight and will be playing in the big one in April. you all know that though, so I won't go over that again.

I won a tournament on my Xbox yesterday. I was pretty happy. I got three achievements for it, which I need to catch Woody in achievement points. He made a huge jump this past month. Anyway, it was a seven card stud game, which is really different from Texas Hold'em. In seven card stud, you get two cards face down (you can look at them) and one card face up. There is a round of betting, another card face up, a round of betting, another card face up (betting), another card face up (betting), and a final card face down. Basically, you get three cards face down and four face up. You make the best five card hand out of the seven cards. You get to see half of your opponent cards, so it kinda makes the game a bit interesting.

I was thinking about getting a card related tattoo. I'm not sure what or where though. I was thinking about an ace of spades with the Japanese symbol for the word patience in the center. My biggest poker problem is being over aggressive when I should fold cards. I was also thinking about a spades royal flush. I just don't know where I would get a tattoo. I am kinda hairy, so placement would be difficult. I would be silly to get a tat and have hair grow all over it. I'm not Robin Williams hairy, at least. I was thinking either my calf or my forearm. Probably some place hidden so that my parents wouldn't give me crap about it. Actually, I don't care about that. Cost is another issue for me. Tattoos can be expensive. Especially if I were to get the royal flush. I'll probably just go with the Ace of spades idea.

Not Going Well Bloggin' in 08

It's been a slow blog year so far. Sorry about that. I don't really know the reason. Maybe I am just running out of things to babble about. Let's face it, I don't exactly have the most exciting life. I get up, get out of bed, drag a comb across my head...... Go downstairs and drink a cup..... ok, ok, you know the song. Seriously though, I don't really do too much that is intersting enough to write about my daily life. Maybe my life has gotten even more bull, since January 08 has the fewest posts in one month since 06. Maybe I am just getting lazy.

Anyway, the Super Bowl was on last night. I am glad the Giants won. Not because I like the Giants, I just dislike the Patriots. They cheat and are sore losers. Their coach left the field before the game was officially over. Are you kidding me? Show some class, you dick.

I watched House after the Super Bowl last night. It is one of our usual shows. I was a bit leary about this episode when I started seeing the commercials. (SPOILER ALERT) They were video phone calling someone in the South Pole and talking them through tests and diagnosis. They made the patient poke, prod, and stick herself over and over trying to figure ou twhy she was dying. It was highly unbelievable. After all the tests and telling her she was dying, it turned out she had a broker toe. Are you kidding me? How retarded. "Sorry we made you stab yourself with a needle and then drill a hole in your head. Our bad."

Jessica's New Ride

We went to the car dealership to get a new car for the family. I was on the fence about getting myself a truck or getting Jessica a car. We decided on a car. Initially, we were looking for a used Toyota Yaris that was on the web for $11900. I think it was a 2003 model. With the payment we could put down, the payments wouldn't be too bad. Unfortunately, when the salesman started up the car, it sounded like shit. Plus, it was obvious that the windows were left open during a rain storm at some point. The seats were wet, the windows fogged up, and a mildew smell was present. So, we started looking around some, test drove a Toyota Carolla and then a Toyota Matrix. The Matrix is basically the same as a Carolla, but has more room and an SUV-type body. We ended up going with the Matrix. If you want to check it out, follow this link. It is a little more than I wanted to spend, but it is a 2004 model and looks brand new. It has some milage on it, but we have a five year warranty and Toyotas tend to last forever. Plus, Jessica really likes it. I just hope she doesn't wreck this one. It has some really cool features, including an actual plug outlet, a moon roof, and I think a plug for your MP3 player to go into. I must admit, I am a little jealous. I guess it is a little small for me, if I want anyone to ride in the back seat, but I like the extra features she gets to play with.

Best Time of the Year

Well, for us it is. Tax time is always fun for us. The best thing about having kids isn't making them. The best thing about kids is the tax credit that you get after the end of the year. Especially if you have more than one. Ok, Ok. I guess the love that you get from them is OK too. Anyway, I think I still have my tax reporting through work indicating that I am single. This means more money is taken out during the year and a bigger refund. I't kind of like a savings. I won't tell you how much we are getting back, but I will say that we are going to buy a new shed for the back yard and a new garage door. Maybe a new lawn mower. After that, we should have a substantial amount left over. An indicator at how much we get back: we got our last W2 on Thursday and out return was mailed today. Give me my money back Uncle Sam! Plus, we should get the $800 bonus refund from G Dubya. He is an idiot, but he sure likes to give us money back.