Chillin Chillin...

GO HEAT!!!

2006-06-16T09:27:00.000-04:00

Wow, who would of thunk it. Down 2-0 in the series and down by double digits in Game 3 with 5 minutes left. Five minutes and two days later and we have ourselves a series. Tied 2-2. Awesome!!!

The Heat played some great ball last night. Wade started it off early with his mid range jumper, and Posey and Udonis kept Dirk in check. These two guys are really starting to get to Dirk. Seems like once you get a little physical with this guy, he disappears. Even though Shaq picked up an early foul in the game, I think the hard one he gave to Dirk in the first quarter sent a message... Don't take it to the rim again.

Mourning also came up big in this game. We finally saw him making a difference down low. He blocked shots, altered shots, and caused Dallas to think before taking it the hole. Really caused problems for the Dallas offense.

I also like Walker one on one against Dirk off the dribble. When Shaq is out of the game we need to take advantage of the match up. We could get some easy buckets or try to get Dirk into some foul trouble. Oh yeah, and all of you Heat fans that are Walker haters need to keep quiet. The guy is doing what he was brought here to do. Providing some offense when Wade and/or Shaq are on the bench. He's not going to get 20 every game, and he is going to air ball a three every once in a while, but the he is an offensive weapon that is getting the job done, and on top of that his defense has been pretty good.

Game 5 will be interesting. Scary to think we could be one game away if we win Sunday. Hopefully we will come out with the same kind of energy and being going to Dallas with a 3-2 lead.

GO HEAT!!!

Getting Ready for Game 4

2006-06-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

I still can't believe we pulled off the win in Game 3. I am so glad I decided to stay up and watch the end of the game. Hopefully we won't need the late game heroics for this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's necessary.

Seems like it's been a while from my last post, but can't think of too much to update on. Father's day is this coming weekend so that's pretty cool. Going out for lunch with Les's side of the family, and having my side coming over for dinner.

Sam was a handful this morning. She woke up at 5 this morning. I woke up and changed her diaper and put her back in her crib... LOL, I was dreaming if I thought that would work. She then cried for an hour straight before we brought her into our room. She then proceeded to have a temper tantrum. She just stood in the middle of the family room screaming and crying. It was a fun morning. Finally after giving her some muffins and milk at 6:30 she settled down.

Work is good. Have been working on a bunch of different things. Seems like I have 5 or 6 projects going on that are all about 90% done, but getting them completely done is taking forever. Reason is because I am getting to the point where I need to get the stuff in production which means depending on others to help me. Well, it's not that easy getting some people's time. So, projects continue to wait to be completed.

Finally going to be playing tennis on Saturday. Feels like its been a while since I have played tennis or basketball. Just got new strings on my racket, so I should be killing the ball. We'll see.

Well, the game is about to start, so going to take off.

GO HEAT!!!

I must admit...

2006-06-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

Before I get to my confession, let's talk about the Heat vs. the Mavericks in the Finals. The storylines this Finals matchup has are unbelievable.

1 - Let's start with the future of the NBA. Does it get any better than Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. Well, I guess some people would include LeBron, but I think these two guys are the best right now. Nowitzki is the future of what every team will want at the center position (of course this after Duncan and Shaq retire), and Wade should be what every kid playing ball on the streets strives to be like. Wade does it all and unselfishly.

2 - First year coach versus hall of fame coach. What Avery Johnson has done with this team is unbelievable. A lot of people think the coach is an overrated position, but I am one of those fans that think it is very important. Motivation, focus, and keeping your team under control pays big dividends. You almost have to view the coach role as a CEO with basketball knowledge. It takes someone who has been in that position to understand how important it is (weird, since I have never had the type of positon... at least yet). It's so nice to see Riles being in the big game again. It feels like yesterday (ok, not really yesterday), that he was taking my favorite team (yes, I was a Laker fan preHeat) of all-time to the Championships in the 80s. Which of course included who I view the best basketball player of all-time, Magic Johnson (ok, I guess that's my biased opinion... but he's any easy second best of all-time).

3 - One word. Shaq. Do I need to say more. The humor, the one-liners, and his kid like behaviors always provide entertainment. Not to mention his dominance on the court.

4 - The amount of veteran all-stars (particularly on the Heat), that are probably looking at their final opportunity to get a ring. Payton is a good story. Walker and Stackhouse are as well. But nothing would make most Heat fans happier than seeing Alonzo Mourning (my second favorite player) get a ring. This guy has been the heart of the Heat for so many years now. Aside from Magic (my favorite player, if you didn't catch on to that in the earlier point), I can't remember a guy who brings his best game to the court day in and day out, and puts his entire heart into the game. The guy gets me out of my seat when I am watching him. What this guy has overcome with his kidney ailment is unbelievable. Hopefully the Heat will win it for him.

5 - How could we have a story line that didn't include Gator Nation, especially since the entire world revolves around the best city (gainesville of course) and college in the nation. We are witnessing pure greatness when we speak of players like Udonis Haslem and Jason Williams. We could expect nothing less from Florida graduates... I mean a Florida graduate and a Florida ex-student.

6 - And now to my confession. Probably what could turn into the biggest story line of the series... Mark Cuban. I have to admit, I am a BIG Mark Cuban fan. I know he has more haters, but I think this guy is awesome. Successful business man, lots of money, and the Dallas Mavericks as a hobby. Are you kidding me?!?!? I envy this guy. He does what any successful business man would do. He does whatever he thinks he can do to get an edge for his business. Whatever it takes. One hundred thousand dollar fines, blogging about anyone and anything, and getting in anyones face (including Mr. Stern and the refs) when he isn't happy with what he sees.

If I were to come up with a phrase to describe Mark Cuban it would be poker's check-raise, and here is why. Old schoolers frown upon the check-raise. It was considered rude and bad form. People would get killed for check raising back in the day (I think, maybe they would just be kicked out of the game). Well today's generation is all about the check-raise. It's all about doing whatever it takes to be successful at what you are doing. If it's a check-raise, complaining about the refs, or blogging about a coach or player, then you have to do what you have to do. That's the new generation for you. The old-schoolers just have to accept it and get with the program, or they will be lost in the dust...

But for the next week or two I will be putting my Mark Cuban fan club T-Shirt in the back of the closet. I am officially on a two week hiatus of admiring this guy, and will join the old-schoolers in criticizing his antics. Hopefully he will not get in the way of the Heat winning the championship. Hopefully he will keep his mouth shut, and stop complaining about anything and everything (yeah right).

Only time will tell. All in all it should be a great series. My prediction of course will be for the Heat to win. I'm thinking in 7. Should be fun.

GO HEAT!!!

I'm back

2006-05-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since I have had time to post on the blog. But here I am, I'm back. Hopefully I haven't lost my four consistent readers (Leslie, Justin, Aunt Debbie, and Doobie). Sorry guys, hopefully we will be seeing more posts in the next couple of days. A lot has happened since my last post, and I don't know where to start, so I will randomly talk about everything (hopefully I will cover everything).

First the job. I have been back at ADS for two weeks now, and so far it has been great. I really like my boss (which was a big question mark since he started two weeks before me and I hadn’t met him). He has a very strong technical background, knows how to deal with politics (which I lack), and is a no-nonsense type of a guy. In the two weeks I have been there I have already learned a good deal from him. I have created a couple of windows services, and have started designing a new database for one of the major applications used over there.

Next, Leslie is 10 weeks pregnant. Yeah!!! We went to the doctor's office last week and got to hear the heart beat. It was a big relief considering Leslie hasn't been feeling great lately. So far this pregnancy has been a lot different from Sam's. Leslie is tired a lot (which she was with Sam), but she is constantly feeling nauseas and sick. Hopefully it will go away in the next couple of weeks.

Samantha is doing great. She has four teeth coming in on the top, and two coming in on the bottom. She is doing awesome at swim practice. She is going under the water without crying, and is starting to have a really good time during the class. She's walking all over the place, saying hi to every person she sees, and displaying her independence every chance she gets. We are still struggling with eating meat and veggies, but it seems like every chance we introduce a new fruit she finds her new favorite food. Here is the latest picture.

Leslie and I went to an amazing wedding a couple of nights ago. It was for a close family friend. The wedding ceremony (which started at 8:00) was in a beautiful room that seemed like it was taken out of a fairy tale. It took about twenty minutes just for the wedding party to walk in. I was of course on my blackberry for the majority of the time trying to get updates on the Heat vs. Pistons Game 3 playoff game. The party started off with the Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof performing for about thirty minutes. Was a surprise for everyone, and was amazing. A one hour hora followed the performance. And then it was off to partying (two bands so there was constant music). By the time we got the food it was past my bed time. We ended up leaving the party around 2:00, but I heard the party lasted until 3:30.

Last night we went to Blue Moon Fish Company for my Mom's birthday. Of course, the food was amazing. I had some Gumbo to start off. Awesome. Next a Caesar Salad. As far as I'm concerned, a salad is a salad. Then it was the main course, the Lobster special with a shrimp milanese rice pilaf. Awesome. And then we finished the evening off with a liquid filled chocolate torte. Awesome!!! Was the perfect dinner...

Well, almost. About half way through the dinner my second glass of wine was on the way to the table. As the waitress was handing my dad his glass of wine, for some reason the bus boy thought he was helping out the waitress by taking the tray from her (without her knowing). The tray then falls right on my Aunt Debbie. Her shirt was ruined along with her pants. Some of the wine got on my cousin Melissa's Coach stuff (you don’t mess with my cousin’s Coach stuff). The waitress was completely embarrassed, while the busboy was smiling when this happened and snuck away instead of helping clean up.

The manager came over and took care of everything. She comp’d my Aunt's dinner and the coffee. They are replacing her clothes, and she got a free Blue Moon Fish Company shirt out of the deal.

After dinner I headed of to my buddies house to play some poker. Was only five of us for most of the night. Turned out to be a good session for me. Was up $73 for the night, and played some really good poker. Made a couple of really good bluffs, but also got some really good cards.

Whew, I'm tired of typing and Game 4 of the Heat Pistons series is about to start. Hopefully it won't be too long before my next post.

Prediction for the game:

Heat - 102
Pistons - 89

Last Day at the Bank

2006-05-10T09:50:00.000-04:00

So today is my last day at the bank, and then next week it is back to Access Diabetic Supply (ADS). Should be lots of fun. Will have a lot more responsibility and will be working on creating a ASP.NET/C# intranet application. Will also be responsible for redesigning the database in SQL Server 2005. Have a some processes I plan on bringing over there that I took from my job in Tallahassee. Hopefully I will get some buy in from the team.

Will have more updates after next week...

Samantha Update

2006-05-08T09:01:00.000-04:00

Been a while since I posted about Sam. Have been slacking on the pictures, but plan on taking some soon and will post them up here.

She is walking all over the place, and surprisingly she loves to wear her shoes. Her grandma bought her two new pairs that she brings all over the house with her when she is not wearing them.

She has a new dance where she turns around in a circle one way, stops and then turns around in a circle the other way, stops and then bends her knees and waves her hand in the air. It's the cutest thing in the world. We were playing lots of music this weekend at the house because she kept doing this. I actually got it on video one time. Pretty funny stuff.

She's got about three or four teeth coming in on the top. The two bottom teeth have already come through. Another surprise is she loves when Les brushes her teeth. For some reason I thought this would be something kids would hate, but Sam loves it.

She's been going to swim practice for about 5 or 6 weeks now and she is doing great. I have only gotten in the water with her once at class (have been playing tennis), but will probably be in there this coming weekend. She is really starting to get good at it. She knows to hold her breath when we put her under the water, and is reaching for the side of the pool when we let her go.

That's it for now. I'll try and remember to post some pictures later in the week.

Five Reasons why the Heat lost Game 4

2006-05-01T14:38:00.000-04:00

5. We have absolutely nobody who can cover Nocioni and Ben Gordon. I almost think we would be better off if Dorell Wright was covering one of these guys. Too bad he isn't on the playoff roster.

4. Riley does not have this team in order. Players are crying to the refs... The team is not playing defense... He seems to be doing nothing about this. In the past a slap on the wrist, an evil stare, or a motivational speech would do the trick.

3. Wade needs to stop crying to the refs after every single play (ok, maybe he doesn't do after every play). It would make my day to see him play an entire game without saying one word (this includes sighs, stare downs, and lifting his hands up in disbelief) to the refs.

2. Wade needs to start playing some defense. Gordon and Heinrich take the ball to the hole at will. What is he thinking? Is he tired, lazy? WAKE UP!!!, this is the playoffs!!!

1. Any team that has to play against basketball players and referees, have a slim to none chance of winning. I couldn't believe we were in the game when the 4th quarter started.

With all of that aside you have to give credit to the Bulls. They are playing their hearts out and shooting lights out. Ben Gordon is a stud, and if this team gets a solid big man in next years draft (I think they have two first rounders, and the best chance at getting the #1 pick), they could be a very scary team.

In the mean time, I am pretty confident the Heat will show up on Tuesday and this series will be going back to Chicago with the Heat leading 3-2.

GO HEAT!!!

Dolphin Season starts Tomorrow

2006-04-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

Well, it does for me at least. Very excited about this season and this years draft. Would love it if we had more draft picks, but what are you going to do. We had to give up our 2nd rounder for Culpepper. Not sure where the rest of the picks went, but we have a 1st rounder (16th overall), a 3rd rounder, a 4th rounder, and a bunch of 7th rounders.

The needs for our team are focused around the OLB, DT, WR, S, backup QB, and backup RB positions. I think Harrington is a lock for the back QB position, but I think Saban doesn't want to reveal that until after the draft. Between the radio talk shows, message boards, and ESPN, nobody has been able to figure out what Saban (The Nicktator) is going to do.

Some people are saying if Cutler is available at 16 the Dolphins will be able to trade down. If he's not they will go for Santonio Holmes or Chad Jackson. Others are saying Saban will stick to his roots (Saban was a defensive back in his day) and draft a Saftey (Jason Allen's name has been thrown around).

Whatever it is I'm sure will help the Dolphins. It seems we have so many needs, it won't make a difference. Can't wait for the season start.

GO FINS!!!

Time to move on... Again

2006-04-27T16:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I gave my two weeks notice to BankAtlantic yesterday, and I am on way back to work at Access Diabetic Supply (ADS).

This is nothing to be proud of, but this will be my seventh job (now twice with ADS; that's a first) since I started back in May of 2000.

I am really excited about going back to ADS. They have a new director starting next Monday who has a wealth of experience (at least that's what his resume indicates). Looking forward to working and learning a lot from him.

When I start over there my focus will be on their Leads application (migration to .NET and SQL Server 2005, and implementing CISCO IPCC features). Should be lots of fun.

I'm hoping to be able to use a lot of the stuff I learned while I was at Infinity Software Development (ISD) as far as project planning and project design. Something I have missed since I left ISD.

So now the big question is how long will I last at ADS?

Based on my past it doesn't look good:

Semtor: 05/2000 - 03/2002
StrataSys Group LLC: 03/2002 - 12/2002
Veracity Group LLC: 12/2002 - 03/2003
Infinity Software Development: 03/2003 - 06/2005
Access Diabetic Supply: 06/2005 - 10/2005
BankAtlantic: 10/2005 - 05/2006
Access Diabetic Supply: 05/2006 - ??/????

I think it's time to break the trend. Hopefully I will have a long and wonderful career (career?, what's that?) with ADS.

Props to Nova Baseball Team

2006-04-20T14:01:00.000-04:00

Looks like my highschool's baseball team is making a pretty strong run this year. Had to give them some props. Here are the latest polls.

Back from Vegas

2006-04-18T11:33:00.000-04:00

What a much needed trip for Leslie and I. Wish I wish still out there playing poker, but had to come back to reality.

Friday's trip was uneventful. We had a lot of turbulence the last thirty minutes of the flight into Vegas, but other than that it was ok. We should have packed some food for the flight. I was pretty stubborn at the layover in Dallas and decided to not get something at the airport (only thing close to our gate was Popeye's, yuck). By the time we got to the Bellagio I was starving and exhausted. We checked in and checked out the room (very nice), and then walked around the hotel in search of food. Somehow we ended up in Caesar's and ate dinner at one of their restaurants (pretty good).

I wasn't feeling too good after dinner, so we headed back to the room. Surprisingly it was very cold (40s or 50s), and the winds were around 15-20 mph. Got back to the room, eight o'clock hit and I was out. Leslie stayed up for a couple hours watching TV.

Saturday morning we were both up at four o'clock (not adjusted to the time yet). We tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. Went to eat breakfast at Cafe Bellagio, which was some good stuff. Then we headed towards the south side of the strip. Walked down to Mandalay Bay to check out the hotel. Wanted to show Les where we stayed for her bro's bachelor party. While we were their, I sat down to play some $2/$4 limit poker. After about a forty-five minute session I was down $30. There was one hand that killed me where I hit a set of 2's. Girl caught a straight on the river and stole a big pot from me. Leslie played the slots and was down around $10.

After that we made our way back to the Bellagio. We walked through New York, New York, The Luxor, Ex Calibur and a handful more hotels. When we got back to the hotel we changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool. It was beautiful outside. We stayed out there for about an hour, and then loooked for somewhere to eat lunch. Ended up at a small cafe outside of Bellagio's Poker room. This is where we got our first glimpse of all of the Professional Poker players. Throughout the trip we saw the following people play in the Bellagio Poker Room: Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneau, Johny World, Gus Hanson, Cecilia Mortensen, Barry Greenstein, Freddie Deeb, Phil Gordon, James Woods, Humberto Brenes, Erick Lindgren, Antonio Esfandiari, and David Williams. Very cool stuff. Some of them were playing in a 25K Satellite, and the others were playing 3K-6K limit Hold 'Em.

After lunch we went back up to the room to relax for a bit. I then took a walk to the Mirage to pick up our tickets for the Danny Gans show. While I was there I checked out the Poker Room and entered myself in a $70 10 person Sit and Go. I started off pretty well, and was able to steal three or four blinds. The second level of blinds is where everything went downhill. I was dealt pocket Js, and was two spots to the right of the button. Blinds were 25/50 and two players limped in when it came to me. I didn't want any callers so I raised it up to $350 (1/3 of my stack). The button re-raised me all-in (I had him covered by 325). Was in a bind, thought I was against AK or A's or Ks. Was hoping for AK and called him, but he turned over Ks. I then waited eight or nine more hands before I made my move to double up. Was faced with had A2 vs Q7 (big blind called). He flopped a 7 and I was the first person eliminated.

So I headed back to the hotel to tell Les the news. My gambling for the trip was off to a bad start (-$100). We slowly got ready for the night the rest of the afternoon, and headed to a Japanese restaurant called Shintaro in the Bellagio for dinner. Hibachi, our favorite. Was a pretty expensive dinner, but it was worth it. We sat with a guy who was playing in all of the poker tournaments Bellagio had running (including the 25K tourney). This guy was buddies with TJ Cloutier, and placed in a couple of the WSOP events last year. Had a good time chatting poker with him and his kid. Sounded like he was living a nice life. He also plans on spending the entire month of June in Vegas (must be nice).

We got out of dinner with enough time to get lost on our way to the Mirage and still make it in time for the Danny Gans show. The show was great. This guy is extremely talented. It's amazing how many different impersonations he can do. He had a couple (Homer Simpson and Jay Leno) that needed some more practice, but man it was funny stuff.

After the show we played a little blackjack at Caesar's and I lost $80. Had a couple of nice runs of three winning hands in a row, but couldn't get to four. Headed back to the room after the blackjack and called it an early night.

Woke up pretty early on Sunday. Went to a coffee shop in Bellagio for breakfast, and then went to O'Sheas. O'Sheas is a small casino we found when we came to Vegas for Matt and Shak's wedding. They have $5 blackjack and $.25 Roulette and Craps. Leslie sat down and played blackjack for about an hour while I watched. She ended up $20 for the session. We then headed over to Harrah's to check out the hotel in hopes of some WSOP apparel (I later found out Rio's is the hotel that hosted the WSOP last year).

While we were there I visited the poker room, and sat down to play what I thought was $1/$2 limit. After two or three hands I realized it was $1/$2 No Limit. No big deal. Figured I would play real tight and wait for a hand. The first hand I ended up playing was AQ on the small blind. There were 5 callers and I decided to stick with my conservative play and just call. The flop was AQ7. I was first to act and I checked. The guy to the left of me threw out a $15 bet. Everyone folded, and I re-raised him to $55. He called. The turn was a 3. I went all-in (another $40), and he called and flipped over QJ. Sweet!! Doubled up after about 15 minutes of play.

For the next 15 minutes I stayed out of the action again. I then got dealt 56 off suit on the big blind and was able to see a flop for free (3 players). The flop was J65. I checked the flop and was to the button. He bet out $10. I re-raised it to $35 (which put him all-in). Both players called my raise and we checked to the river. I ended up taking down the pot with my 2 pair against his Js. Played about ten more hands and then cashed out up $175.

After that we walked through a couple hotels. We went through the Venetian, and the Wynn. Both hotels were very nice. While we were at the Wynn a very bad thing happened. I was introduced to the slot Wheel of Fortune. Be very careful of this slot machine. Leslie was obsessed with it. It's very misleading. You deposit your money, and can play anywhere from 1 to 15 lines. We were mostly playing 15 lines. Where this slot gets you is say play 15 lines (15 credits), and win, the slot machine makes all of kind of noises (you would think you won a car). You get all happy and start getting into it. But it turns out you only won 4 credits, so you actually lost money. Still the noise of the slot, and the fact that you can spin the wheel every 20 spins, kept us amused, and we ended up throwing away close to $20.

After that we jumped on the monorail over to Bally's. In Bally's we spotted a Sbarro's and sat down to eat some lunch. After that it was back to Bellagio, where Leslie headed up to the room, and I stood outside the poker room to watch the likes of James Woods. He didn't fair well while I was watching him, but he is apparently a very good poker player.

Watched the poker for about thirty minutes and headed up to the room to get in the swim gear. We chilled out by the pool for 45 minutes and then watched some more poker. Headed up to the room and started getting ready for the night. Went over to Caesar's around 5:00 to pick up the tickets for Celine. Unfortunately the show was cancelled because Celine was sick. Apparently she cancelled Saturday nights show too. We were really bummed.

That left us with a lot of time for gambling. I headed straight for the poker room while Leslie looked for the closest Wheel of Fortune slot. I really liked Caesar's Poker Room. They had flat screens in there that showed the waiting lists, and they had a lot of tables. I put my name down for a $60 Sit and Go. After waiting for about 10 minutes I decided to also put my name down for $1/$2 No Limit. Fifteen minutes later a seat opened up at the $1/$2 No Limit game. I took the same approach I used at Harrah's. Played very tight and waited for a monster. After about 15 minutes I got As. The guy to my left acted before me and raised it to $12. The dealer told him to take his money back, and the I raised it to $20. Unfortunately since I raised it more than his $12, he wasn't forced to play the hand. If I would have just called, he would have had to make the $12 raise. After seeing my raise, he decided to fold, as well as the rest of the table.

On the next hand I got dealt Ks. I again raised it to $20 and this time I got two callers. The flop was J93. I came out with a $40 bet, and got one caller. The turn was a 4 and I went all-in. The one guy in the hand called and turned over Qs. The river was a K and I doubled up.

Later I played K9 in the small blind and hit a K on the flop. One guy came out with a $10 bet, and I called. A nine came on the turn and the same guy bet out $10. I re-raised to $40 and he folded. I stayed for another time around the table, and ended up cashing out up $138.

After that we headed to a restaurant called 808 in Caesar's. Very good stuff. I had the Lobster Bisque and Shrimp and Scallops in a Red Curry Sauce. Leslie had the Lamb Chops. Both were great. After dinner we walked back to Bellagio. Leslie was exhausted. We played some more Wheel of Fortune at Bellagio and then headed up to the room. It was still on the early side and Leslie was in for the night, so I decided to go back to Caesar's to play some more poker.

Went back to my favorite game, $1/$2 No Limit. I had a lot of fun at this table. Half of the table was filled with twenty year old punks or teenagers with good fake id's. They actually played very well. They knew how to play monster hands very well, but couldn't get away from mediocre hands which got them in trouble. I played my same game. Lost a decent size pot on a good bluff from one of the young guys. I hit As on the flop and he called my down to the turn. The river brought a third diamond and he came out betting big. I thought about calling for about a minute, and then folded my hand. He turned over pocket 2s and took the pot. I got him back two hands later.

I had K8 suited and was the two of us again. The flop was KJ3. He came out betting $10 and I called. The turn came an A, and he came out with a $20 bet. I made it $60 to play. He thought about calling for about a minute and mucked his hand. Played pretty tight the rest of the way. Then the biggest mistake of my weekend play came.

I got AT on the button and limped in. Three players. The flop was AKT with two hearts. The guy to my left checked. The third player (plays a lot of hands and draws) bets out $10. I re-raised it to $45. Both players call, and with the call the guy to my left was all-in. The turn comes and it’s another A. I hit the boat. The guy who is not all-in bets the minimum $2. I think for a while on deciding what I want to do (raise or call). As I am thinking he turns over one of his cards and it's an A (didn't know you were allowed to do that). Now I am starting to worry. He's talking a lot as I decide on whether I should call him or raise him. For some strange reason I was convinced he had AK, so I just called. The river was a 6. He bets another $2. I decide to play ultra conservative and just call again. He turns over his 4 kicker and I lose out on an opportunity to get paid off big time. It was still a big pot, but I could have gotten at least another $40-50 out of him. Bad play on my part.

The next hour or so was very dead. The entire table started playing very tight, and there was very little action. I was hitting any cards and started opening up my starting hands. Didn't hit anything and ended up cashing out up $131. Headed back to the room and that was the end of our Vegas Vacation.

Good times and can't wait to do it again. Would have been great to come back to a Monday-Friday cruise (with Samantha). After all of the walking we did in Vegas we were exhausted and needed another vacation. Thinking that might be plan next time.

One more day...

2006-04-13T11:32:00.000-04:00

and it is off to Vegas. Can't wait. Haven't been this excited since I was a kid going to Disney World.

We received all of the information regarding the shows from my cousin yesterday. We are seeing Danny Gans Saturday night and Celine Dion Sunday night. Should be lots of fun. Only thing left now is figuring out where we are going to eat for dinner those nights. I think Danny Gans is at the Mirage. Hopefully they have some nice restaurants over there. Celine is at Ceasar's and I know they have a handful of good restaurants.

Still haven't packed yet. That is going to have to be tonight. Thinking it's going to be an all jeans weekend with khaki shorts during the day. No need to get all dressed up, don't think we will end up going to any fancy restaurants. Ok, maybe one nice outfit just in case.

Going to need to stop by a Border's during lunch so I can have some good reading material for the plane rides. Thinking I am going to get a book on Service Oriented Architecture or C# or both. Leaning towards SOA, but will see what they have.

My next blog should be on Tuesday telling you how I won a million bucks over the weekend playing poker (Hmm, wonder if I would have enough time to blog if I won that much money). Well, if you never hear from me again then you know I hit it big.

Wish me luck.

Vegas Baby!!!

2006-04-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

Two days and counting for our trip to Vegas Baby!!! I think I am going to have to watch Swingers tonight... or maybe Casino. Probably won't watch either of them but I'm psyched for our trip. Already did some research on poker tourneys. Hoping to get into a couple while I'm out there.

Will definitely have to check out Binion's and Harrah's while we are out there. Anything to do with the World Series of Poker deserves a visit. I think the hotel we are staying at (Bellagio) is having a big poker tournament while we are there. The buy-in is too expensive for me, but would be cool if we saw any of the big name poker guys/girls out there. Will have to bring the camera.

Right now the weather isn't supposed to be great, but hopefully it will turn out ok. I think the last time I checked there was anywhere from a 10-20% chance of rain each day. And the temperatures were around 50-70 degree highs and lows.

That's enough excitement for now. Back to work.

Next up, the NBA Playoffs

2006-04-10T13:18:00.000-04:00

Now that the College Basketball season is over, it's on to the NBA Playoffs. Right now the Heat are looking pretty pathetic. I was fortunate enough (maybe unfortunate) to go to last nights game against the Magic (Pops had scored tickets from his boss). What a terrible display of team basketball. I couldn't help but think of the Gator basketball team while watching this game and think they were the complete opposites of each other.

The Heat came out with zero energy. No defense from the backcourt, and there was no help from the frontcourt on drives to the hoop. I think the first four buckets for Orlando were layups or dunks. On offense nothing was happening in the first quarter. Whenever Halsem or Payton got the ball they were immediately looking for Wade or Shaq instead of looking at their options. Walker was the only one who was aggressive offensively, but he is is ice cold.

They desperately miss Jason Williams and Alonzo Mourning. Zo gives pushes them to an average defensive team by himself, while without him they are one of the worst teams defensively. Jason Williams brings a lot of energy, a good but streaky jump shot, and great court awareness. If these guys are in the lineup we have a small chance at making a run, but without them we could easily lose in the first or second round.

Gary Payton's play the last couple of weeks (last night in particluar) has been disappointing. He needs to get his confidence back with his shot. Seems like the only thing he is confident with these days is his mouth. They guy never shuts up. Starting to believe he is bad for the team. Not sure it is just him, but these guys aren't spending more time complaining than playing team ball.

That brings me to Wade. Wow this guy is amazing. Some of the shots he makes are Jordanesque. Probably the only guy that can come close to being compared to Jordan, but this year he has disappointed me. Wade rarely complained about getting fouled to the refs his first two years in the laegue. He was a very humble guy, who gave it his all, and didn't let the refs play into his game. This year all I see him do is complain. Starting to think he should be on the Pistons team. There have been a number of occasions this year where he has complained to the refs after not getting a call and didn't get back on defense (happened three times last night). Another occasion where he tunred the ball over, and instead running back on defense he just stopped in disgust of himself.

He is a changed player this year. Is it the presence of Payton? Is it the NBA stardom? I don't know, but if the Heat are planning on getting anywhere this year things need to change now.

Florida Gators 2006 National Champs

2006-04-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the pic Doobie

Woohoo!!! I can finally retire all of my 1996 National Championship Gators T-Shirts. Between the paint, dirt, food, and blood stains (some very intense basketball games) they have on them, it's probably the right thing to do. Sports Authority and the Union's Gator store are going to be making a killing on me.

Ok, on with the game. Wow!!! What a complete game. Taurean continued to struggle from the field, but he was the general on the floor. Eight assists and one turnover is very impressive. And the most important thing is he can finally rest those legs. It seems like every box score I look at, he has a minimum of 36 minutes a game. Hopefully next year he will have a suitable backup and bring back the hot shooting he displayed earlier in the year.

Humphreys continued to be consistent from the three point line. He is the Steve Kerr of our team, with the addition of some great defense. This guys defense is so overlooked, but when it comes down to it he is our best one-on-one defender with quick guards.

Corey Brewer put up two great back to back performances in the Final Four. This guy is going to be real special. Sometimes when he gets hot he makes some bad shot selections, but he makes some of them so you have to give him the green light. If he can put on some weight and work out in the offseason he is gonna be a lottery pick after next season.

Al Horford is Mr. Consistency. If it wasn't for Noah, he would be a double double guy every game. Would love to see him get the ball more in the post next year, and unfortunately I think we are going to see that (see two paragraphs down). It amazes me how good he is with passing, ball handling, and controlling the boards. The guy is so much stronger than he looks.

And then there is Mr. MVP. He is the heart of this team. When I think of this guy the words that I think of are team, unselfish, heart, hustle, intimidating, fun, work ethic, etc. I'm sure there are a lot more. He is the real deal. The only thing he would need to improve if he wants to be successful in the NBA is a mid range jump shot.

Speaking of the NBA, I can't see him not taking advantage of the opportunity to go this year. I know he is having fun and all, but the ultimate goal is to make it to the NBA and make some money (yes, I know he already has it, but it's not the same). Right now his stock is as high it's gonna get unless the Gators repeat (unlikely).

I'll wrap up this post with the bench play. They all did great. Richard provided some tough defense down low and got some easy buckets. Hodge had some great defense and came away with some steals. But what I was so happy to see is Adrian Moss playing well in this game. This guy has so much heart, and I am guessing most people who went through the injuries he went through the past couple of years would have hung up the sneakers a long time ago. Just shows you how tough this guy is. He is the only guy on this team who went through all of the 1st and 2nd round mishaps of the past. What a way to go out, a National Champ.

What am I thinking? How can I write a post like this and not comment on the superb coaching of Billy Donovan. I am not going to lie. Earlier in the season I was one of those guys complaining about the lack of game time adjustments made in the Tennesee and South Carolina games. Well, I think Billy D proved me and all of the doubters wrong. He is one the of the elite coaches in College Basketball. His resume certainly proves it, and last nights game was a big exclamation point. The last time I saw a coach get outcoached like that was the Florida / Michigan State championship game back in 2000 (damn Izzo). Well, we can finally put that to rest.

Thanks Billy D and this years Florida Gator team. Go Gators!!!!

Here come the Gators!!!

2006-04-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

Wow, I cannot believe we are in the Championship game. A very young team nobody thought would do anything this year is playing UCLA for the Championship tonight!!! Very excited about the game.

I would like to point how accurate my prediction on the George Mason game was. Guess there is a first time for everything.

As for tonight's game, I really have no clue. I haven't seen UCLA play once this year. I was at wedding Saturday night, so I had to tape the Gator game and watch it Sunday morning. Didn't have time to watch the UCLA / LSU game (wasn't that interested either).

If the Gators continue to play how they have been for the past 4 weeks, I don't see UCLA stopping them. UCLA was able to disrupt LSU's big guys on Saturday, but LSU doesn't have shooters like Florida. You give us open shots, and Humphreys will have another 15-20 point game.

Should be a great game. GO GATORS!!!

Nasdaq-100 Open

2006-03-29T15:29:00.000-05:00

My pops invited me to watch some tennis tonight down in Key Biscayne. I think the last time I went to watch this tournament it was still called Lipton. Very excited. Looks like I might get to see a good Russian woman's singles match between Sharapova and Myskina. Never heard of Myskina, but she is ranked 10, so she has to be pretty good. Should be fun.

While I'm on the subject of tennis... I played tennis for the first time last Saturday with my father-in-law, uncle, and my father-in-law's friend. Had to be the first time I picked up a racket in over a year (maybe two). I ended up pairing up with my father-in-law's friend and we beat the heck out of my uncle and father-in-law.

Surprisingly I was on fire. Had only one bad service game, and my ground strokes were on. Had trouble with my uncle's serve on one side of the court, but other than that my game was pretty solid. My biggest advantage to the "older guys" was my speed. I covered a lot of court, and was able to get to shots they didn't expect.

Since everyone had such a great time, we are planning on doing it again this Saturday. This time my Pops is coming out there too. Should be a good time. Hopefully I can continue the good play.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to post the score (7-5, 6-0). We killed them!!!

Gators in the Final Four!!!

2006-03-29T15:22:00.000-05:00

So the Gators handled Nova last week and are going to tangle with George Mason in the Final Four. George Mason is this year's feel good story of March Madness. An eleven seed who beat Michigan State, UNC, Witchita State, and UCONN. They are on an unbelievable run, but I think we match up great with them.

I have only seen their last two games, but it seems like they try to get the ball inside and and if it's not there, kick out for the open jumper. They play great defense, and unselfish team ball. Sounds familar.

My guess is this game will be close all the way down to about 10 minutes left in the game. That's where I see the Gators pulling away. We just have too much depth and better talent down low. With all of the hype surrounding Noah and Horford, I see Humphreys being able to get open looks and having a big scoring night.

We'll have to wait and see Saturday.

My prediction:

Gators - 72
Mason - 59

I'm Still Here

2006-03-24T13:38:00.000-05:00

Between BizTalk Training at work, spending time with the family at home (all of us have been sick the past couple of weeks), and the NCAA games I have not had time to post in a while.

Lots of good things going on right now. The Gators have a big game tonight against Georgetown. Game starts at 9:40 so I am going to have to force myself to stay up. We win this game and we are in the Elite 8.

Leslie surprised me with a Vegas trip for our anniversary (April 14 - April 16). We started doing the research on hotels earlier in the week, but it turns out my cousin has some connections, and was able to get us taken care of at the Bellagio (good to know important people). He might even be able to get us some tickets for shows. We are using our credit card points for the airfare, so so far we are looking at a free trip to Vegas Baby!!!!

We also visited Gerlinde (photographer) a couple weeks ago and got our family potrait's taken, and some pictures of Sam by herself. Originally we were all going to look at the pictures together, but with Sam being sick we had to reschedule for during the week. So I haven't seen the pictures yet, but Leslie says they came out great. Gerlinde also hooked us up. A gift certificate for one of the pictures Leslie wanted. For some reason people are in the mood of hooking us up with free stuff. Keep it coming!!!

Sam has her second swimming lesson Saturday so that should be fun along with the Basketball Games and some contracting work I have to do. Also have to go and get a tuxedo... Hopefully I will have enough time for everything. We'll see.

GO GATORS!!!

Samantha's Sick :(

2006-03-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

Since the start of March Madness, I have been slacking on the Samantha posts. So here are the updates:

Last Saturday was Samantha's first swimming lesson. All in all it went pretty well. She was very attached to Mommy, but she did pretty well for it being her first lesson.

After the lesson we took her home for her nap. Later on we went to the mall and Samantha had her first taste of ice cream. She loved it!!! After the mall we took her home fro her nap. When she woke up, we found her covered in throw up. It was all over her crib and herself. This was the first time she had done this. So we cleaned her up, changed the sheets, and didn't think anything of it. Thought it was the ice cream.

On Sunday, she started to get a stuffy nose, and was very congested. Lots of coughing up phlegm. Jaime and Jeff came over Sunday night to help out with Samantha's eating habits (doctor says she’s underweight). Apparently the doctor told us a Speech Pathologist can help babies with eating issues (don't ask me how). So Jaime (she's the Speech Pathologist) came over to help.

Samantha was very cranky and wanted to have nothing to do with the exercises. So Jaime wrote down some notes for Leslie to try later. As the night went on Samantha continued to get worse. She had coughing fits where she couldn't breathe for 3 or 4 seconds and was very uncomfortable. We ended up calling the doctor, and he said to give her saline nasal drops to clear up her nose, and PediaCare if she is having trouble sleeping.

Surprisingly she slept through the night, but her appetite was completely shot. She would give Les trouble, even with her favorite foods (yogurt and goldfish). Monday and Tuesday night were rough too.

And then there was Wednesday night. We put her down for bed around 7:30, and she woke up around 9:00 with one of her coughing fits. Leslie was able to calm her down after a while. We then gave Sam her first does of PediaCare. It seemed to do the trick. She was happy and ready to play within 15 - 20 minutes. So we put her back down for bed and then put ourselves down for bed.

So I'm sleeping, and at 12:00 I hear Samantha screaming. Not crying, but screaming. So I go get her, and she is burning up. I bring her to our room, and Les takes her temperature. She's got a 102.4 fever. I completely start to freak out. My first thoughts were hospital and call the doctor. Fortunately Leslie didn't freak out as much as I did. She called her mom, and asked what we should do. While she was on the phone I am googling "One year old" + "Fever" + "What do I do". After an unsuccessful search I then attempt to search for Message Boards for Baby Care. I was in complete panic (what a nut). Looking back it's pretty funny.

So after Les got off the phone we gave Sam some Tylenol and steamed up the shower to help with her breathing. Also tried to put wet towels on Sam's wrists and ankles, but she was not having it. After an hour of all of this, Sam's temperature came down and she was back to bed.

The next morning Les brought Sam to the doctor's office. Turns out she has Bronchitis. They used a nebulizer on her to help with her breathing, and we are giving her some medicine every 6 to 8 hours to help clear up the passage way for her breathing.

Yesterday was a lot better. Her appetite is slowing coming back, and she is getting back to her smiling happy personality. Hopefully she will knock this thing out, and we will be back to having our healthy and happy little girl.

First Round Upsets

2006-03-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

So March Madness has officially started. We're about one hour into the action, and my biggest sleeper (Pacific tied with BC at the half) is holding their own so far.

Here is the list of first round upsets I have picked:

(9) NC-Wilmington over (8) George Washington
(10) NC State over (7) California
(10) Alabama over (7) Marquette
(9) UAB over (8) Kentucky
(12) Utah State over (5) Washington
(13) Pacific over (4) Boston College
(10) Northern Iowa over (7) Georgetown

Tip Off Time - 2:45 P.M.

2006-03-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

One of the big advantages of my previous job was the four plasma screen TVs in the conference room. The last couple of years I was fortunate to be able to watch March Madness games while at work. A luxury that I will truly miss today.

I could attempt to take a late lunch, but then I will miss the second half of the Gator game and have to work late (not even sure my boss would allow this). Probably not worth it. So I have decided that I will just be glued to the CBS Sportsline website all day, and watch the games on-line.

I have heard that the games are being streamed live on-line, but have yet to find a site that is doing this. Once, I'm done with this post I'm going to browse around and see if I can find something.

That's it for now. Go Gators!!

Did I Embarrass Gator Nation?

2006-03-14T22:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I came across an ESPN Florida Gator Message Board titled Copycats at FSU. In it was a link to an article on the Tallahassee WCTV web site. The article was about 5th graders from a Tallahassee elementary school creating a sports drink called Noleade.

From there the Florida/Florida State bashes started. Typical stuff. Was all about the schools. Really had nothing to do with the 5th graders. Just an opportunity for Gators and Seminoles to talk their typical trash. I found some of it very funny, and decided to post it on my blog.

Well, one of the parents happen to come across my blog (when you search Noleade on Google, MSN, etc., my blog comes up in the Top 5) and was very offended, and said I was an embarrassment to my fellow Gators (see comments in blog post). In know way did I intend to make fun of the 5th graders, just found some of the Florida State bashes funny.

So my question to my fellow Gator Alumni is, did I embarrass you? Do you find my post offensive? If I receive enough negative feedback I will remove the post.

Again, in no way did I intend to make fun of the 5th graders, and I apologize if readers felt that way.

Round One - South Alabama

2006-03-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

So for our first game in the Dance we match up against a 14 seed South Alabama team coached by ex-Assistant Florida Gator Coach John Pelphrey. I remember being very impressed with Coach Pelphrey when I was going to the Gator games from 1996 - 2000. I never saw any of the team's practices, but during the game Pelphrey was always coaching the players on the bench, and he was the first guy Donovan would go to when discussing strategy during timeouts. Was very involved, and the team took a big hit when he left for South Alabama.

He is the reason why this first round matchup scares me. South Alabama plays a lot of guards and have a deep bench. They are a hustle team, and play a team game. No superstars on this team. They press most of the game which will give Taurean Green a lot of problems. They also have a number of players who can come out and give you 15 points on any given night. Look for them to create a fast paced game.

The one knock on South Alabama is there frontcourt, or lack of frontcourt. The Gators must get the ball inside to Noah, Horford, and Richard on every half court possession. This is something the Gators tend to lose focus on late in games.

I think we win this game easily if we get the ball inside to the big three, and limit our turnovers (need to break their press).

Prediction
Gators - 70
S. Alabama - 54

March Madness is here!!!

2006-03-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

I am happy to say that my SEC Tourney predictions were all wrong. I was very surprised to see us win the Tournament. Was unhappy with our play against South Carolina in the finals, but a win is a win.

With the SEC Tournament under our belt, it's on to March Madness. I was expecting a 3 or 4 seed, and was happy to see the committee give us the 3 seed. More importantly they sent us to Jacksonville for our first two games. We are matched up against South Alabama in our first round game, and would play the winner of Oklahoma/Wisconsin-Milwaukee if we win. We should be favorites in both games especially with the home cooking, but you never know with this team. Sometimes we just don't show up, and our youth and turnovers are a big concern.

Back to the brackets. Was hoping we would get a Friday game instead of a Thursday game in the first round. The committee did this to us last year too. We played the SEC Tournament Championship game on a Sunday and we had our first March Madness game on a Thursday. We deserve the extra day of rest, and need it. Especially for Taurean Green. Don't get how this happens two years in a row.

I also can't believe Tennessee got a 2 seed. I mean they had a great year, but their finish did not warrant a 2 seed? I know they have a great RPI and all, but to lose four out of your last six (two at home), does not make a great two seed. Sounds shady (Coach Pearl = Shady). Wonder if there is something there?

Now it's off to filling up my brackets. I already did the easy part... No not the first round, the part where I mark in Florida for the Championship game. For some reason I just can't be unbiased when it comes to the Gators. I guess that's why I haven't won any pools in the last 4 years.

SEC Tournament Predictions

2006-03-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

The SEC Tournament starts today. The Gators need to get at least one win to solidify a 5 seed for the Dance. If they are able to get by Arkansas (play UGA today), I see them coasting to the finals. LSU is banged up, and they should have a tough time with the Vanderbilt/Auburn winner.

Here are my predictions for the tourney:

Vanderbilt vs. Auburn
Arkansas vs. Georgia
Kentucky vs. Mississippi
Mississippi State vs. South Carolina
---------------------------------------------
LSU vs. Vanderbilt
Florida vs. Arkansas
Alabama vs. Mississippi
Tennessee vs. South Carolina
---------------------------------------------
Vanderbilt vs. Florida
Alabama vs. Tennessee
---------------------------------------------
Florida vs. Alabama
---------------------------------------------
Alabama

Sams 1st Birthday

2006-03-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

Mommy, Daddy, and Sam

Samantha in her Party Dress with Bubbie

Aunt Debbie and Samantha

Grandpa and Samantha

All Smiles

Grammie and Samantha

DeeDee, Aunt Debbie, and Samantha

Papa and Samantha

Mommy and Samantha

Samantha loves Baby Doll

The Girls

The Guys and Sam

The Cousins

Weeeeeeh!

Bring the Cake Grandpa

Let me have it Mommy

Yummy!!!!!

Chinese Noodles for Dinner

Good Night

Seven Things

2006-03-03T10:38:00.000-05:00

Saw this on of my buddy's blog and decided I would do it.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
1. play in a major Poker Tournament
2. go to the French Open, Wimbledon, Us Open, and Australian Open
3. buy a custom built house
4. get an MBA degree (preferrably from UF)
5. be a grandpa
6. travel around the world with my wife
7. win the lottery

Seven Things I Can’t Do:
1. remember things (mostly short term)
2. public speaking
3. pilates (I have tried multiple times)
4. kiss *ss
5. fix your computer (I'm a programmer)
6. be without my family
7. can't think of another thing I can't do (and I know Leslie could probably point out seven in a matter of seconds)

Seven Things That Attract Me To Blogging:
1. improve my horrible spelling and writing
2. show off my family
3. it's the cool thing to do
4. learn about web 2.0 so I can create the next million dollar site
5. getting advice from other people
6. sharing my stories with others
7. everybody's doing it

Seven Things I Say Most Often:
1. good deal
2. cool deal
3. honey
4. hey baby
5. chillin, chillin
6. bro
7. whats up buddy

Seven Books That I Love, in no particular order, with the caution that these are not necessarily my favorite books of all time:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. I don't read books.

Seven Movies I Watch Again and Again:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Groundhog Day
3. Casino
4a. Godfather I
4b. Godfather II
5. Heat
6. White Men Can't Jump
7. Pure Luck

Considering I do not know seven people that blog, and the few I do know probably have already done this, I will not tag seven people.

Noleade?

2006-03-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

Apparently there are a group of 5th grade Seminole fans upset that we have our own drink (Gator envy again). Seminoles just can't help to want to be like the best. Click on the link below for more details.

http://www.wctv6.com/home/headlines/2383986.html

Here are a few comments I have heard from my fellow Gator alum:

Why not call it Seminade?
FSU has developed a sports drink and are working on getting a medical school.
...and 40 years after Gatorade is invented, some fifth graders realize that FSU doesn't have its own drink. Noleade is created!!!
have you heard of the Noleade formula? they actually pour Gatorade into their own bottle.
fifth graders = FSU PhD students
FSU is at least 40 years behind UF. Making it worse, is that the most they can come up with is to copy something that greater humans already made.

Saved the best one for last (from CK)

Here is a listing of FSU’s future endeavors:

Koka-Kola
Mikrosoft
Leveye Jeans
Pepzi
Nron
McDonaldz

How big is Samantha?

2006-03-01T23:52:00.000-05:00

So Big!!!!

Samantha having fun at dinner

2006-03-01T23:35:00.000-05:00

Sam's First Steps

2006-02-28T09:18:00.000-05:00

Samantha took her very first step this past weekend. I can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday, but Mommy has it written down in her baby book.

Last night Leslie and I sat across from each other so Sam could walk back and forth to us. But for some reason it's not cool to walk to Daddy, only to Mommy. So after she walked to Mommy, I would get her and she would then walk back to Mommy. Samantha thought this was the coolest game in the world. It turned into Daddy's coming to get me, and I need to run to base (Mommy).

She would laugh so hard when I would get her, that when she started walking back to mommy she was very wobbly. It was a fun game for everyone. We will continue to practice, and hopefully she will be able to show her walking skills off to the family for her birthday party on Sunday.

On-Line Poker Strategy II

2006-02-27T14:34:00.000-05:00

When it gets down to 4 - 6 players my game is still about positioning. I don't like going into a hand without being the raiser. I don't always stick to this with suited connectors or A rag suited, but for the most part I will fold unless I'm coming in for a re-raise.

Early position play:

I try to be very tight in early position (keyword being try). I want to make sure I don't find myself in pots with the chip leaders. I start to consider whether or not I want to call certain bets based on the people who I am playing against (who are the blinds). I open my hands up a bit and play almost all pocket pairs depending on the table's aggressiveness. If a lot of re-raising is going on I will avoid playing low pocket pairs.

I will pretty much call any hand on the small blind unless I'm the short stack. I like to see what the big blind does when I just call. If he raises all the time, I will wait for a monster and just call to then re-raise him. If he checks, I will raise to see if I can steal the blinds. At this point the game because a mind game. You just have to mix up your play, and hope to catch the guy to your left (big blind) on a bad hand.

Middle position play:

In middle position I try and steal the button with mediocre hands (AT, AJ, KQ, KJ, etc.). This gives me the ability to represent the flop when someone checks in to me. I like to take advantage of players' tight play in this stage of the game. Players tighten up when the table gets to four to six people so they can sneak into the top 3. This is the best time to build your stack with little to no action. Just make sure you pick your battles. If you raise every time the big blind is the same person, eventually the table figures out what you are doing.

Late position play:

I stick to my tight game in late position. If I am the chip leader, I will pick on the short stacks in this position. Other than that, I will typically raise 3 to 4 times the blind if I have a strong hand.

Note: If the action is down to me and one other player and I have AK or AQ I will re-raise the player if he is the short stack, where I will only call if the player has the same amount or more chips than me. Don't want to risk a big portion of my chips on AK or AQ without seeing a flop. Don't like to gamble at this stage unless I have a big chip advantage. Not worth all the time you spent in the tourney to risk it on one hand.

On-Line Poker Strategy I

2006-02-26T07:57:00.000-05:00

I have been playing poker on-line for about 2 years now, and I wanted to share the strategies I use. They are quite simple, and you have probably heard them before from other poker players.

These tips are all related to sit and go games. I usually play 9 or 10 person tourneys, but these tips are also effective in the 18 or 20 person tourneys.

Seven or More Players

Early position play:

In early position I will only play premium hands (pocket 9s or higher and AQ or higher). The last thing I want to do is get re-raised by someone I don't have a read on yet. Especially since they are so many different types of players in the on-line world. I have no problem folding an AT and waiting for the next hand. You have to be able to do that if you want to win in this game.

Middle position play:

Here I start to open up my hands a little bit. I'll try and limp in with A rag suited, or suited connectors. If I get raised by more than four times my bet, I'll fold; otherwise I'll call and hope for a good flop. If I don't hit the flop, I'm out.

Late Position Play:

Here my play is the same as middle position, but I'll raise with A rag suited and suited connectors (usually only if there are no raisers or callers before me). Here I usually raise 2.5 times the blind. I've noticed a lot of players are afraid of this raise. It's not the minimum raise, but it's pretty close. I usually don't get too many callers with this raise. People think it's a please call me raise, I have a monster hand. With monster hands I will raise the typical 3 or 4 times the big blind, and hope the blinds think I am trying to steal the blinds.

One thing to know is that if I am the short stack, all of these tips are thrown out the window. When I'm the short stack I wait for a big hand and go. If I'm on the button, and nobody has called or raised, K high will put me all-in (try and steal blinds). Otherwise I wait for A high or a pocket pair and go all-in.

Another thing I like to do is create a tight table image. It allows me to steal blinds later in the game (increases my bluffing power). To do this I play limited hands. Sometimes I show monster hands when nobody calls my raise pre-flop. And I will fold in the small blind if nobody has raised and I have nothing (even though it’s cheap).

That's it for now. Next I will talk about how my strategy changes when it’s down to 4 -6 players.

Happy Birthday Jazmin

2006-02-26T07:52:00.000-05:00

IT Jobs... Permanent or Contracting

2006-02-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

With the exception of a 3 or 4 month contract in between jobs in 2002, I have always had a permanent job. I loved that 3 or 4 months. The money was coming in. I think it was something around a 30% increase in take home. Not sure why I have always looked for permanent positions opposed to contracting gigs. Maybe it's the medical benefits, the 401(k), stability, and vacation. That was my reasoning, but I have recently found out that most contractors that go through recruiters have these same benefits.

So what is the advantage of a full-time position? Salaried employees always seem to make less money. That's at least the impression I have gotten. If you have the skill set, you shouldn't have to worry about finding another job if the contract ends early. It seems to me a lot of people out there are taking advantage of this. Maybe I should consider it? Still need to find out more information on it. So if there is anyone out there with something to share, please do so.

The Science of Time Tracking

2006-02-24T14:16:00.000-05:00

It amazes how some companies I have worked for struggle with time tracking. Whether it's making sure people are putting in their hours or deciding on how to track hours, it always seems to be an issue. Let me run though what I have been exposed to in the six years I have been working:

The first company I worked for used Changepoint for time tracking. This was a pretty cool tool. At first we were asked to update our time to the minute. That eventually changed to 15 minute updates. What was so ridiculous at this company is that we also had to track the amount of time we spent tracking our time. What a waste of time.
Company two also used ChangePoint if I remember correctly, and I think it was done in thirty minute time spans, which I loved.
After that company I started contracting. Time tracking consisted of a Word Invoice I would send to the Director of IT every month. The company was only about seven or eight people at the time, so there was no reason for a time tracking system.
Then off to Company 3. This place was an IT shop. You know a company that creates state of the art IT solutions so companies can increase revenue and become more efficient. Well they were tracking time in Outlook. Yes you heard me correctly, Microsoft Outlook. Somebody created a time tracking tool using the Calendar in Outlook over there. It wasn't soon before the system had too much data, and was extremely slow. Especially when everyone in the company waited until the last day of the month to update all of their entries for the entire month. Finally they created an in-house time tracking tool (pretty weak if you ask me). This was the first company where I noticed time tracking was being captured in multiple places. We had a weekly task list that captured how much time we spent on tasks (Excel document). We also had a weekly status report (Word document), that described all of the tasks. I was doing this for the entire team. Then I had to update my time in the time tracking tool. Copy and paste time. What a waste of time. And for some reason at the end of the month I had to print out my timesheet, sign it, and then give it to my manager. Don't ask me why.
Company four was pretty cool. We had badges that we scanned when we got in and left that tracked our time. We were supposed to clock in and out for smoke breaks, bathroom breaks, lunch, and cell phone usage, but the department I was in never did for some reason. They had a tool called Track It, but nobody ever used it. The one other thing we had to do was sign on to a web site and approve our time for each pay period. Pretty painless. Oh yeah, I forgot my manager was really strict on making sure you we put in 47.5 hours a week. Was supposed to be related to our bonus, but the rumors were everyone always got their full bonus no matter what.
The current company I work for is pretty interesting. I am documenting my time in Track It detailing out each task. All of the stuff I work on goes in this one task. Each time I have a new task, I just add it in to the hours of the one task. Then there is a bug tracking document that originally was in excel and is now a VB.NET application. It tracks each bug, the amount of hours it took to fix, and what days you worked on it. Pretty much the same information. About a month ago we started updating another excel document that has the amount of hours we spend each day on the project I am on. Each day has a comment where we put if we are updating bugs or creating new functionality. In addition to all of that documentation, we have to sign a sheet at the end of each pay period with the amount of time we took off for holidays, sick time, vacation, etc.

Seems to me none of these companies have mastered time tracking yet. Not sure why it seems to become such a difficult task wherever I go. I know one thing, these time tracking companies out there are making lots of money.

Pictures of Sam

2006-02-23T15:28:00.000-05:00

I figured there could never be enough pictures of Sam on my blog.

Mommy and Sam

Daddy and Sam

Daddy and Sam II

Gator Sam

Sam

Getting my PC back

2006-02-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, I did not realize what a pain it was going to be to get my PC up and running again. Fortunately I was able to borrow my buddies external hard drive for storing my restore file, and get a copy of XP Professional from another buddy. So on Tuesday night I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled XP. After that I had all of my files back on the PC, and it was off to setting up the DSL connection.

In the morning Leslie started installing some applications (del.icio.us, acrobat reader, etc.). When I got home I installed Trillian, iPod Software, iTunes, Poker Stars (should have been first), and all of the Windows Updates (this took forever and 4 or 5 reboots). This time I made sure I installed Service Pack 2 on my machine. I think if I would have had the Personal Firewall installed on my machine beforehand, I wouldn't have had to go through this.

My buddy from work is supposed to be cutting me copies of Visual Studio 2003 and 2005, and SQL Server 2000 and 2005. Oh yeah, and Doobie has Office XP on the hard drive, so I'll have to install that as well. Hopefully I will get all of this done by tomorrow because I have a new project I am going to start, and would like to get some work done this weekend. It's a pretty small project, and they couldn't match my quote ($300 under it), but I am going to take it anyway. I have a feeling these guys will be throwing more work my way in the future (at least that's what they say).

Sports Sports Sports

2006-02-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Heat:

We have the Heat coming back from the All-Star break playing the New York Knicks in NY at 7:30. The Heat is on a nice run winning their last three (Detroit and Orlando twice). Hopefully they can continue the streak. I really like the starting lineup with Antoine Walker. Not only is his performance better when he is starting, but I also feel that Posey comes off the bench with something to prove.

Prediction:
Heat - 107
Knicks - 97

Gators:

The Gators Baseball team swept Miami in Coral Gables over the weekend. Very big accomplishment for the Gators. I think I remember reading this was the first time we have swept them in Coral Gables. Looks like that number one ranking is the real deal. With a young pitching staff, it will be an interesting year. No breaks too, because the next two weeks they play Wake Forest, FSU, and Texas A&M.

The other big game tonight is the Gators hosting Tennessee. Both teams need this game coming off losses over the weekend. Alabama crushed Tennessee, and the Gators lost to Arkansas in overtime (gave up another close one at the end of the game). I have a feeling both teams will come out with a lot of energy. I'm hoping for a close game like the game in Tennessee, but for some reason I have a bad feeling about this game.

Prediction:
Gators - 57
Tennessee - 73

Dolphins:

Our buddy Ricky Williams failed his fourth drug test. He must have found out I have season tickets for next year. They have kept most of the news on this pretty hush, hush, but it looks like we won't be seeing Ricky for another year. Hopefully Ronnie Brown can stay injury free next season, because it looks like he is going to have to carry us the entire season.

There has been lots of talk about the QB position. The big names people have been talking about are Culpepper, Brees, and McNair. All of them are a crap shoot. Culpepper isn't supposed to be ready until October or November. Brees is progressing faster than expected, but I think he is still a big gamble. McNair hasn't played an entire season in how many years now? I say go with Gus for one more year, and get a young guy in the draft. If there is nobody in the draft, wait for the free agent market or draft next year. It's not like we are going to win the Super Bowl next year.

My take on Chuck Norris

2006-02-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

As long as I can remember I have always disliked Chuck Norris. From Walker Texas Ranger to all of the other ridiculous TV shows and movies. If I remember correctly, the dislike I had for him and his shows is one of the first things my wife and I realized we had in common when we first started dating. Whenever we were channel surfing, if Chuck Norris' face came on the screen, a rude comment would be made by both of us and the channel would be changed immediately.

Well, something changed in the past couple of months. I started listening to the Dan Le Batard show on 790 the Ticket (with Stugotz). Talk about obsessions with Chuck Norris. These guys are Chuck Norris fanatics. They actually had Chuck Norris on the show last week, and were so nervous they completely screwed up the interview (was pretty funny).

I have to say, these guys have turned me into a fan of the Chuck Norris sayings. Now that doesn't mean my finger will start to cramp up when he shows up on my TV. Maybe the rude comments will be replaced with on of the famous Chuck Norris facts. We'll see.

With that being said, I would like to share my favorite Chuck Norris facts in no particular order.

1. The leading causes of death in the United States are: 1. Heart Disease 2. Chuck Norris 3. Cancer
2. Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
3. If at first you don't succeed, you're not Chuck Norris.
4. When Chuck Norris says "More cowbell", he MEANS it.
5. Chuck Norris was so mad when he found out Santa wasn't real, he invented Hanukkah.
6. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
7. They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice. Neither does Chuck Norris. He doesn't have to.
8. Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris.
9. Chuck Norris ends every relationship with "It’s not me, its you".
10. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

How To Poop At Work

2006-02-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

We've all been there but don't like to admit it. We've all kicked back in our cubicles and suddenly felt something brewing down below. As much as we try to convince ourselves otherwise, the WORK POOP is inevitable. For those who hate pooping at work, following is the Survival Guide for taking a dump at work.

CROP DUSTING

When farting, you walk really fast around the office so the smell is not in your area and everyone else gets a whiff but doesn't know where it came from. Be careful when you do this. Do not stop until the full fart has been expelled. Walk an extra 30 feet to make sure the smell has left your pants.

FLY BY

The act of scouting out a bathroom before pooping. Walk in and check for other poopers. If there are others in the bathroom, leave and come back again. Be careful not to become a FREQUENT FLYER. People may become suspicious if they catch you constantly going into the bathroom.

ESCAPEE

A fart that slips out while taking a leak at the urinal or forcing a poop in a stall. This is usually accompanied by a sudden wave of embarrassment. If you release an escapee, do not acknowledge it. Pretend it did not happen. If you are standing next to the farter in the urinal, pretend you did not hear it. No one likes an escapee. It is uncomfortable for all involved. Making a joke or laughing makes both parties feel uneasy.

JAILBREAK

When forcing a poop, several farts slip out at a machine gun pace. This is usually a side effect of diarrhea or a hangover. If this should happen, do not panic. Remain in the stall until everyone has left the bathroom to spare everyone the awkwardness of what just occurred.

COURTESY FLUSH

The act of flushing the toilet the instant the poop hits the water.

This reduces the amount of air time the poop has to stink up the bathroom. This can help you avoid being caught doing the WALK OF SHAME.

WALK OF SHAME

Walking from the stall, to the sink, to the door after you have just stunk up the bathroom. This can be a very uncomfortable moment if someone walks in and busts you. As with farts, it is best to pretend that the smell does not exist. Can be avoided with the use of the COURTESY FLUSH.

OUT OF THE CLOSET POOPER

A colleague who poops at work and is damn proud of it. You will often see an Out Of The Closet Pooper enter the bathroom with a newspaper or magazine under their arm. Always look around the office for the Out Of The Closet Pooper before entering the bathroom.

THE POOPING FRIENDS NETWORK (P.F.N)

A group of co-workers who band together to ensure emergency pooping goes off without incident. This group can help you to monitor the whereabouts of Out Of The Closet Poopers, and identify SAFE HAVENS.

SAFE HAVENS

A seldom used bathroom somewhere in the building where you can least expect visitors. Try floors that are predominantly of the opposite sex. This will reduce the odds of a pooper of your sex entering the bathroom.

TURD BURGLAR

Someone who does not realize that you are in the stall and tries to force the door open. This is one of the most shocking and vulnerable moments that can occur when taking a poop at work. If this occurs, remain in the stall until the Turd Burglar leaves. This way you will avoid all uncomfortable eye contact.

CAMO-COUGH

A phony cough that alerts all new entrants into the bathroom that you are in a stall. This can be used to cover-up a WATERMELON, or to alert potential Turd Burglars. Very effective when used in conjunction with an ASTAIRE.

ASTAIRE

A subtle toe-tap that is used to alert potential Turd Burglars that you are occupying a stall. This will remove all doubt that the stall is occupied. If you hear an Astaire, leave the bathroom immediately so the pooper can poop in peace.

WATERMELON

A poop that creates a loud splash when hitting the toilet water. This is also an embarrassing incident. If you feel a Watermelon coming on, create a diversion. See CAMO-COUGH.

HAVANAOMELET

A case of diarrhea that creates a series of loud splashes in the toilet water. Often accompanied by an Escapee. Try using a Camo-cough with an Astaire.

UNCLE TED

A bathroom user who seems to linger around forever. Could spend extended lengths of time in front of the mirror or sitting on the pot. An Uncle Ted makes it difficult to relax while on the crapper, as you should always wait to poop when the bathroom is empty. This benefits you as well as the other bathroom attendees.

Wedding Crashers

2006-02-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

My buddy Jared got married this weekend. What a great time. Had way too much to drink, and probably made of a fool of myself on the dance floor and the wedding video.

So on to the funny story. The wedding took place at the Signature Grand in Davie, FL. This place does all types of functions, and has a bunch of ballrooms in it.

In Jewish weddings it is custom to dance the hora. The dance consists of everyone forming a circle around the bride and groom and their parents. They each take turns getting lifted up in a chair while everyone in the circle is clapping and singing. So while Jared's dad was being lifted up in the air, Jared's brother-in-law (Rick) recognized one of the guys lifting his dad up. He thought to himself, that looks a like my buddy Jim. So he waited until the dance was over, and went up to him.

He says, "Jim right? You're a police officer?" And Jim says, "Yes!" Rick says, "It's me Rick." So they catch up for five or ten minutes. After catching up Rick says, "So who are you here for, the bride or the groom?" And Jim responds, "Neither." He then explains that he had a Police Officer banquet a couple of rooms down, and the party was real boring. Him and a couple of his other police officer buddies went to the wedding in the room next to Jared's, but that too was pretty weak. Then they walked by Jared's wedding, and knew they finally found a party.

Then Rick noticed the kippah Jim was wearing, and said, "Jim, I didn't kow you were jewish." He said, "I'm not, I just wanted to blend in."

So Jared and Jen (his wife), will always have wonderful video memories of the police officer with a kippah nobody knew (except Rick), dancing the hora on there special night.

19 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity:

2006-02-17T15:43:00.000-05:00

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy." . ..

8. Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

Poker Last Night

2006-02-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

So last night I played two tournaments. The first was a $50 18 person tourney. I played very tight most of the game, and was not involved in too many hands. It was down to 12 players, and I took a stand with this really loose player with the blinds at 25/50. I had pocket 8s and raised it up to $150. This guy re-raised me for another $200. Was hoping he was over playing A rag or had AK or AQ. So I called. The flop came T76. Good flop for me. It was to me and I checked (looking back, this is where I think I made my mistake). He threw out $200. I figured he was trying to buy the pot here. So I re-raised him to $700, leaving me with $300 or $400 in chips left. He re-raised me all-in. OUCH. I knew I was in trouble, but had to make the call. He flips over pocket Qs, and I am out of the tourney.

On to the next tourney. This one was a $200 9 person tourney (most expensive game I have played). This was my 2nd time playing the $200 tourney. Didn't make the money the first time around. Again, in this tourney I played very tight at the beginning. Most of the other players did too. Long story short, I won the tourney. Cashed in $900.

Two of the big hands were the following:

Down to six players and I am one of two short stacks. I’m on the button and the other short stack calls the big blind (75/150). I have AQs, and re-raise all in (around $900). The small blind is the large stack and he re-raises all-in. The big blind and the other small stack fold, and I'm thinking I am in trouble. I was right, he flips over pocket Qs. Only 3 live cards... The flop comes K64... Turn J... River T. Yes!!! Somehow I hit the straight. Very lucky hand. That put me in 2nd place.

Down to four players, and still in 2nd place with the guy in 3rd very close. I'm on the big blind for this hand, and I'm dealt K8. The small blind raises pre-flop the minimum raise (still 75/150) to 300. I decide to call and see a flop. The flop comes AK6. He checks to me, and I bet 150. He just calls. The turn comes 9. He bets $300, and I re-raise to $1200. He goes all-in. I take a minute to think…

If he had the A he probably would have raised more pre-flop. Well, maybe not. But he would have definitely bet after the flop or re-raise me on the turn. So I'm convinced he doesn't have the A. Probably has the K or is bluffing (was leaning towards bluffing). My 8 kicker worried me, but I made the call. He turns over KT. Ouch!!! But as you already know, I won this tournament, and the 8 came on the river.

I was very lucky on both of those hands. After this hand I had more than half of the chips remaining. Played very aggressive, and stole a lot of blinds. The guy I played heads up was extremely tight with his starting hands. He also could not throw away his hand if he hit a pair. The final hand came down to my AT vs his A9.

Bankroll is now at $2900.

Wicked

2006-02-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Went to see the show Wicked last night with the Mrs. for Valentine's Day. Overall the show was pretty good. Started off pretty slow, but after the intermission it was entertaining. It definitely puts a big twist on the Wizard of Oz. Will have to watch the movie again. Whoever wrote the book had a very creative mind.

Things I liked:
The Wicked Witch of the West was good.
The Wicked Witch of the West was getting it on with the Scarecrow.
Oz is The Wicked Witch of the West's father.
Oz was played by Marcy's first husband from Married with Children.

Things I didn't like:
Wasn't in to the music (besides the Wicked Witch of the West solos).
The Good Witch didn't sing that well.
Thought the Wicked Witch of the West's sister would have had a bigger role.

Most amusing scene at the show was the two drunk women sitting to the right of us dressed up Guh-Linda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Sports Post

2006-02-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

So the Gators lost again to South Carolina. This time at home. The game wasn't on TV, so I am not able to criticize how we played. By looking at the stats, it looks like we did not defend the three to well and Brewer had a horrible shooting night. It's surprising how we can look so good against Kentucky one day, and then lose to the team with the worst SEC record, not once but twice.

This loss drops us to two games behind Tennessee in the SEC East, and one game ahead of Kentucky. Our next game is against LSU (first in the SEC West) on Saturday at 1:00 P.M. Need to come up with a win so we can hold on to second place in the East (need the bye for the SEC tourney).

The Heat have a big game on the road tonight against Dallas. This is a tough game. Dallas is on a big winning streak, and the Heat have yet to beat any of the top four teams this year (Detroit, San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix). As much as everyone talks about Shaq not being the same this year, I think the key to this game and there run to the Finals is the supporting cast. Posey, Payton, and Walker need to provide some consistency on both sides of the court.

As for the Dolphins, there are reports out (which the Dolphins have denied), that Terrell Owens was here talking with the team. Jason Taylor, Chris Chambers, and Randy McMichael have already come out and said they don't want him. Would be interesting to see how these guys would react to the Dolphins signing him. I have a feeling it's not going to happen (just a gut feeling). Would rather see us spend money on guys for the offensive and defensive lines... oh yeah, and a quarterback. I'm crossing my fingers for a Rivers, Culpepper, or Favre pickup. We shall see.

Birthday Weekend

2006-02-08T11:52:00.000-05:00

Have been pretty busy at work this week and have not been able to post. This is a good thing (the days go by so much faster). Had a very good birthday weekend. Friday night I went out to dinner with the Mrs. and Samantha to one of my new favorite restaurants “The Blue Moon Fish Company.” The food was awesome as usual, but kind of wished we got a babysitter for Samantha. Instead of enjoying my dinner, I was worrying half of the time that she was bothering the other customers. She wasn’t crying or anything, just talking loud, and continuously throwing her toys on the ground. Will have to remember that for next time.

Leslie gave me my birthday present at dinner (an iPod). I still have yet to get it working. I’m still having problems with my PC and my laptop only has one USB port (I need two to setup the iPod). So hopefully this weekend I can try and get the PC working again. My buddy Matt is supposed to get me a copy of the OS software for me (probably should call him). Then it’s off to listening to my music.

Saturday night a bunch of my friends came over for some pizza and poker. Didn’t win any money, but had a great time. Wore my new poker shirt from Sam. We setup on the porch (was a little nippy) so we didn’t bother Samantha sleeping, and I had a TV out there so we could watch the Gator Kentucky game. The girls spent most of the night inside talking. Was a good time by all.

Sunday morning we had the family over for brunch. Leslie made french toast (recipe from Helen) and I made the eggs. My in-laws picked up some bagels and my grandma brought over some tuna fish. That covered all of my favorites. We had a great time like we always do. Everyone sat around talking after we ate. The weather was beautiful. My pops and I played a bit of klabiash on the patio for a bit. We didn’t get to finish the game, but I was winning of course.

Once everyone left, Leslie and I cleaned everything up and chilled out the rest of the afternoon. We were really exhausted. We actually both passed out for about an hour. We debated on whether or not we wanted to go to my Aunt and Uncle’s for the Super Bowl, but we were just too exhausted. So we chilled at the house, and watched the game. Watched the first half and was unimpressed with the game and the commercials. I love the “Secret Fridge” commercial, but that was about it. Leslie passed out some time in the second half, and I stayed up and played poker until the game was over.

Poker Update: Had a really good session on Friday night. Almost hit the 3K mark. Have since dropped a bit and now hovering around the 2.7K mark. Think I am going to take the rest of the week off. Have gotten back into to playing almost every night.

Super Bowl Prediction

2006-02-03T13:20:00.000-05:00

Super Bowl Sunday is around the corner and and it's time for my prediction. I usually have a pretty good idea on who would win with the amount of research I do during the fantasy football season, but this year I slacked with fantasy football. First time in about five years.

To be honest, I have no clue how good Seattle actually is. I mean, I know Alexander is awesome, and Hasslebeck has his great games, but I don't know anything about there defense.

As for Pittsburgh, I know Big Ben is great when he is healthy (which he is). Hines Ward is one of the best wide-outs out there, and there defense (blitz-burgh) is tough to play against.

So through my lack of knowledge on Seattle I am going to have to pick Pittsburgh. The score, I have no clue. But for fun I'll throw out Pittsburgh 27 - Seattle 17.

What will be interesting come Sunday is the quality of commercials. I have a feeling we will be disappointed. I heard today that since the Winter Olympics will be starting within the week, a lot of companies are not airing there commericals for the Super Bowl and saving them for the Olympics.

Maybe the game will be better than the commercials?

Miami Heat Basketball Game

2006-02-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

So last night I was fortunate enough to go to the Miami Heat basketball game with my buddy Jared. He scored lower level, 2nd row seats in between the foul line and three point line across from the Cavaliers bench. It was unbelievable. First big shock was pulling into the underground garage where all you saw were BMWs, Bentleys, Lexus's, etc. Once we got in the Arena the first thing we had to do was check out the seats. Wow!! Ten feet from Lebron James.

After that we headed back "up" to the concourse level to get something to eat and drink. Not surprised, but the food and drinks were expensive. My personal Papa John's pizza was $7 and my Budweiser Beer was $6. After killing both of those, I decided to go with a Corona Beer (looked like a 40 oz) for $12, and cinnamon almonds for $6. At this point I was so glad I didn't have to pay for the $230 tickets.

So after all the drinking and eating we headed back down to the seats. Jared introduced me to the guy who got us the tickets (very wealthy), and his lawyer (very, very wealthy). They were drinking double Black Label on the rocks. The lawyer noticed we did not have passes to get to the VIP lounge, so he brought us into the lounge to get us bracelets. Pretty cool stuff. Inside the lounge was a full bar and restaurant. People were eating steaks, sushi, you name it. There were rooms off to the side with flat screen TVs so you could watch what you wish.

After we finished checking out the lounge we headed back to the seats, and the introductions were about to start. Just before they started, Marv Albert walked by us. He and Steve Kerr were setup just to the right of us for TNT. We were so close the fire they let out during the introductions burnt most of Jared's hair off. LOL, no just kidding he didn't have any hair to begin with, but it was pretty hot.

So the game starts, and about one or two minutes into the game the guy to the left of me taps me on the shoulder and says, "If you lean forward when the ball is on the opposite side of the court, I can't see." LOL, I apologized to him and sat back for the rest of the game. I thought this was hilarious.

When halftime came around we hung out in the lounge for a bit. Inside the lounge there were the likes of Matt Geiger (ex-heat player), Alex Rodriguez (does he need an introduction), and a bunch of rich Hispanic people. I have never been around so many wealthy people. You could just tell by looking at them that they were wealthy. Watches that had to be worth $10,000. Pimped out clothes. It was crazy. The net worth in that room had to be close to a half a billion.

Later on in the game the big screen showed some of the other celebrities at the game (which we had better seats than): Jason Taylor (I'm sure he went to Hard Rock after the game for some Poker), Charles Johnson (ex-Marlin), Rony Seikaly (ex-Heat), and Anna Kournikova (Tennis player).

The game for the most part was dominated by the Heat. The fourth quarter had some amazing plays by Alonzo, Shaq, and Wade. There was a Wade alley-oop to Shaq that had to be on SportsCenter.

It was a pretty amazing game. Probably will never sit that close again at a basketball game. Well, that's if you don't count my Sunday morning basketball games in Weston. Just a little bit different I guess. Definitely a game I will never forget.

Does the Perfect Job Exist?

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

So it's been a while since I have been happy with my job. I find myself always looking for the perfect fit. When I was working up in Tallahassee with Company 3 I had a cush position. I was technical lead / project manager for a client. I maintained 8 or 9 applications with the main one being an ASP.NET/VB.NET intranet application with an Oracle 10g backend. Had three developers on my team, and ran a weekly status meeting with the executive officers and IT staff.

When we had projects in development I mostly managed the projects, and handled any "emergency" ad-hoc reporting requests. I liked being involved with the design of all of the applications, but once it came to development I had no problem handing it off. Just was not challenging. We are talking about building forms or reports, and calling stored procedures. Too easy. I would still be a resource to the developers for the business rules and understanding the database schema, but that's pretty much it. I found it more challenging when the executives would come to me and ask for specific data with crazy conditions. That stuff was fun to work on. For some reason I always found it more interesting and challenging to write SQL than to write ASP or VB.

Although I continued to gain more and more responsibility at Company 3, I was not happy with my salary. I was making good money, but expected an increase with the added responsibility. So I started looking for a new job. Found a place in South Florida, Company 2, that seemed like a good fit. I also was very interested in working directly for a company. Up until this point I had only worked for IT shops. Company 2 was definitely a company that showed big time growth opportunities. And they were looking for someone to come in and help them to convert there in house application from ASP to ASP.NET. Two big plusses. So the family and I made the move back home.

This was in the plan from when we made the move to Tallahassee. We wanted Samantha to grow up around the family. Both Leslie and I were brought up around our grandparents and wanted the same for Sam.

So Company 2 kind of sold me on the .NET conversion, but there was no buy-in from upper management for the conversion. Something I did not know when I came on board. Apparently they had been talking about moving to .NET for a year or two before I started, and politics always got in the way. Too make a long story short (too late for that now), after three months of updating Visio diagrams I was contacted by a recruiter. Told him I was not thrilled with the work I was doing, and he was able to find me a job with Company 1.

They were looking to re-architect there .NET Intranet application. It sounded very cool and exciting. But here I am now three months into the job, and I have been put on an emergency project, and I am doing updates to a VB.NET client application that has probably the worst design of any application I have seen... and I have seen some pretty bad ones.

So what do I do? I am now on my sixth job in six years of work. Would like to find a place I can call home. I have been considering the contracting thing. I would be interested to see if I could make more money doing that. Would love to open up my own shop, but just don't have enough contacts yet for something like that. I'm sure things will eventually work out on the job front for me. Will just have to wait and see for now.

* - See "Four Things" post if you are interested in the Company Names.

High Stakes Poker

2006-02-02T08:42:00.000-05:00

So I was watching one of my favorite poker shows the other day on the Game Show Network, "High Stakes Poker." Poker seems to be one of the few things that I watch on TV these days. Basically it's a bunch of the best poker players in the world playing a cash ring game. I think the minimum buy-in is $50,000 and the maximum is $1,000,000. I'm pretty sure Daniel Negreanu bought in for a million (must be nice). The likes of Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, Sam Fahra, Jennifer Harmon, and others are on the show.

I'm just amazed that there are people out there that spend this kind of money on poker. I mean, I saw Ted Forrest lose $200,000 in a matter of 20 hands (I would love to put that money towards my mortgage). I'm not sure I would be able to walk after losing that kind of money. Later on I saw Daniel Negreanu raise somebody $1,000,000. What!?!?!?! Now, he did happen to have the best hand, but still how does somebody risk $1,000,000 on a poker hand? I would be interested to know how well off these players are. I guess if you have $100,000,000, a $1,000,000 raise isn't that big, right?

Install Seatbelts for the State of the Union?

2006-02-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

So during commercials of the Gator/Ole Miss basketball game I am flipping to Bush's State of the Union address. Is it just me, or is the standing ovation after every 10 words ridiculous? Am I the only person out there that finds this extremely annoying? What is the point? Ok, he is the president... big deal, does that mean it should take the guy hours to give a 10 minute speech. On with the regularly scheduled TV programs please. Sit down and keep your hands in your lap, and let the guy finish.

Gators beat Ole Miss

2006-02-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

Alright, so the Gators come up with a win on the road on ESPN last night. Big win for us, especially considering we were playing without Lee Humphreys and a banged up Cory Brewer (who should not be playing). Donovan already came out and said Brewer will not be playing Saturday against Kentucky. We need him healthy for March.

Taurean Green and Al Horford led the team in scoring, but the two things that impressed me most in this game was the team defense, and the play of the young guys (Walter Hodge, David Huertes, and Garrett Tyler).

The team defense was awesome. In the man to man they were double teaming Ole Miss's big man Curtis when he got the ball on the block, and everyone was rotating and helping out when the ball was swung out. Not the easiest thing when you have such a young team. This shows what great team chemistry these group of guys have, and the good coaching and preparation. The 2-3 zone defense they played late in the game was also very effective. The guards up top were moving to the ball and rotating, and the guys on the baseline were coming out and defending the three. The only way this defense is effective is if you have big men that are quick and can run to the ball on the wings, and we are fortunate to have a bunch of guys who can do that (Noah, Huertes, Brewer, Moss, Horford).

Then there is the play of Hodge, Huertes, and Tyler. Hodge has become a very consistent player who will gaurantee you a couple of three point shots and a layup or two every game. He is very explosive. There was a point in the game where it looked like we were getting tired and couldn't buy a bucket. Hodge had a steal or a rebound (can't remember), and took it the entire court and made an easy layup in traffic. Big boost for the team. Momentum changer.

I think this game was Huertes' break out game. He has scored for us in the past, and has proven he can knock down the three point shot, but his defense has been suspect. This game he proved he can play defense. He had four rebounds, and did not give up any open three point shots. I also like his aggressive plays towards the hoop. He made some nice offensive moves to the basket that came up short, but those shots will eventually fall.

Tyler also played an important role in this game. With us thin on the bench he was able to come in and play very good defense. His quickness on defense led to Ole Miss taking bad shots and giving the ball up.

Overall a very impressive win for the Gators on the road. I think the same kind of play will be needed for our game with Kentucky Saturday night. Kentucky did start off slow, but they are on a nice run right now. With College GameDay being in Gainesville on Saturday, the game will be very hyped, and will provide with a great game atmosphere. Should be a great game.

If I won the lottery I would...

2006-01-31T10:49:00.000-05:00

quit my job and become a professional poker player.
build a new house (probably in Plantation).
buy season tickets for the Dolphins, Gator basketball and football, Heat, and Nasdaq 100.
plan vacations to Vegas, New England, Alaska, Mediterranean, Ireland, Italy, and London.
take the JC on a cruise.
pay off my sister's and brother-in-law's mortgages.
hire a personal trainer and get in shape.
buy Leslie a bunch of diamonds.
buy a Bentley.
buy an Armani suit.
buy a Bose surround sound system.
buy a car that has hydrolics and a pimped out speaker system.
start my own web and database development company.

Weekends are too short

2006-01-30T08:38:00.000-05:00

Had a pretty good weekend (was too short though). Friday night we met my sister for Japanese food (our favorite). Wasn't that good though. We got seated right away, but waited for a cook for about an hour. When the cook came I felt like he was rushing. They had a lot of people waiting, so he wasn't on his game. No big deal.

Went home after dinner and got on the computer for some poker. Turned out to be one of my best sessions. Played 2 $100 9 person games and finished 2nd and 3rd. Then played a $30 18 person tourney and got first. I played pretty stupid early on (one hand in particular), but came back and played really good poker. On an early hand I was dealt AKo on the button with the blinds 25/50. Everyone folded to me. I raised to $150 and was hoping I would get one of the blinds to call. The small blind re-raised me for $350 more. Big blind folded. I decided to call and see a flop. Nothing came on the board, and the small blind was first to act. He throws out $250. This guy was involved in a lot of pots, so I put him on nothing, or a low pocket pair. This was also the first hand I was involved with, so I thought I'll move all-in and he'll probably fold (big mistake). Turned out to be a really stupid play. He called and turned over pocket Qs. I had him covered by $190...

Some of my all-in hands that kept me in the game and doubled me up were AJ vs A5 and KQ vs AT. I was very patient for these hands. Later on in the tourney when it went one table I was on the button with A4 of diamonds. Blinds were 75/150 and they were no callers when it got to me. I called as did the small blind, and the big blind checked. Flop came 523 of diamonds. Sweet!! Flopped a straight flush. I checked and the small blind (chip leader) threw out $400. The big blind folded and I called. Turn came up with an Ah. Small blind checked and I checked. River was a 9c. Small blind threw out $1125 and a raised the minimum (another $1125). He folded and I showed my hand. Was in 2nd place at this point. One hour later I won the tourney.

Saturday morning I woke up early and went to my folks house with Samantha. Helped my Pops bring down my furniture from upstairs. Kym was getting new furniture for her room and they moved her furniture into my old room. My furniture was in the loft. Brought it down to the garage and had some breakfast. The Eichels (Mark and Linda, parents neighbors) stopped by for breakfast with Gavin (grandson). We took some pictures of Sam and Gavin as you can see.

Left my folks house around 10:00 A.M. and was off to pick up Leslie and head to West Palm Beach to visit Grammie. Grammie was very excited to see us. She looked very good and seem to be feeling a lot better compared to earlier in the week. I ran to the grocery store while we were there to get her some fruit, bread, and drinks. Picked up some Checkers on the way home, and relaxed this rest of the afternoon.

Saturday night Samantha and I hung out for the night while mommy went to hang out with the girls. Went and picked up some Stevie B's for dinner and headed back to the house where Samantha and I sat around and played with her toys. She went to bed at 7:55 and I was off to playing on-line poker. I almost wish I didn't. I was coming off of one of my best sessions from the night before. Played in 3 $100 9 person tourneys and got knocked out early in all of them. Played really stupid. Was chasing draws for the most part.

Leslie got home around 9:00. She had a good time. They went to some Mexican restaurant. Can't remember the name. She went with Anona, Alyssa, Jen, Jaime, and Shak.

Sunday I woke up early and went to play some basketball. Second week in a row I got out there. I haven't done that since the hurricane hit. I played very well this time around. Was hitting my jump shot, and my stamina was coming back. Won about 4 or 5 games in a row. When I got back from basketball Leslie made us some french toast (yummy!). Hopped in the shower and did some stuff around the house. Then it was off to cheesecake for lunch. Headed back to the house for Sam's nap, and then went to visit the in-laws. Watched the Heat game on their HDTV. My father-in-law made his famous spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Good stuff!! By the time 7:30 came around I was exhausted. Must have been the five glasses of wine. Went home and watched Cold Case, and then passed out.

Funny blond joke...

2006-01-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

For some reason I got a kick out of this.

Funny blonde joke

One month down

2006-01-27T09:09:00.000-05:00

So another week has gone by in 2006. It's hard for me to believe that the first month of 2006 has already gone by. This week seems to be going by pretty slow. I think I got used to all those 4 day weeks, and actually having a 5 day week has been rough on me. I will just have to look forward to President's Day in February...

February? I just realized my birthday is one week from today. I'm not really that big on birthdays. Would rather it just come and go. It's not the whole age thing, just don't like to make a big deal about it. Just not my thing.

Not too much going on this weekend, I think? You never know, half the time we have plans and I forget about them. As far as I know I am going to my parents house tomorrow morning to help my Pops move my old furniture out of my old bedroom. Will probably bring Samantha over with me so my sister and Moms have a chance to see her this weekend. From there it's back to the house to pick up Leslie and off to see Grammie (Leslie's Grandmother) in West Palm Beach. She hasn't been feeling well lately, and it has been a while since we visited her. Not sure about the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday night it's Daddy and Samantha night. Leslie is going out for Jenn's "bachelorette" party. Not really a bachelorette party, just the girls going out for dinner, so they say. I'm sure on Sunday we will stop by my in-laws house to visit. My mother-in-law is having knee surgery today, and I'm sure a Samantha fix will be in order. Not sure about the rest of the day.

No football on Sunday. That stinks. At least I have the 1:00 Gator basketball game (might have to tape it). I am hoping they snap out of the funk they are in. The last two games have been horrible. I couldn't even watch the end of the South Carolina game. I am kind of down on Billy Donovan right now. Think he needs to improve on his game-time coaching. The guy is a great recruiter, but he doesn't seem to make the game-time adjustments to help our team win. I think ever since we lost Coach Pelphrey we took a hit in that aspect.

Alright, time to get back to work. I'll post up some of my latest poker stories in the next post.

Four Things

2006-01-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

I’ve been tagged by Doobie.

"Four Things":
Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
1. Developer II / BankAtlantic
2. Systems Developer / Access Diabetic Supply
3. Technical Lead / Infinity Software Development
4. Software Engineer / StrataSys Group LLC

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Pure Luck
2. Groundhog Day
3. Casino
4. Sleepers

Four places I have lived:
1. Plantation, Florida
2. Gainesville, Florida
3. Weston, Florida
4. Tallahassee, Florida

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. World Poker Tour
2. World Series of Poker
3. High Stakes Poker
4. Big Brother

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Israel
2. Napa Valley
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Bahamas

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Filet Mignon
2. Spaghetti and Meatballs
3. Brisket
4. Hibachi

Four websites I visit daily:
1. CbsSportsline.com
2. Espn.com
3. Google.com
4. CardPlayer.com

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Home with the wife and kid
2. On a cruise
3. Las Vegas
4. Gainesville

Four bloggers I’m tagging to do this:
Not only do I not know four bloggers, but I don't think more than four people read my blog.

This Weekend in Review

2006-01-17T08:58:00.000-05:00

Alright, so the bachelor party wasn't as good as I hyped it. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time, but when you are ready to leave at 12:00 A.M., and don't get home until 6:00 A.M., it kind of kills the night (or in this case the morning). Plus, I had to get up at 8:30 A.M. to take care of Sam (Leslie was spending the morning with her Mom for her birthday at the spa). And to make matters worse, Sam is teething, and yes you guessed it, she was already up when I got home at 6:00 A.M. So those 2 or 3 hours of sleep I was planning on getting didn't happen. Leslie had been up with her since 5:00 A.M., and Leslie didn't get too much sleep as well. So, the three of us were a real pleasure to be around to say the least.

Fortunately Sam was in a very good mood the rest of the day. And once the sun came up I was feeling ok as far as energy. I think the shower and the bagels and cream cheese kept me going. The rest of the afternoon was pretty chill. Later on that night the family, my in-laws, and my brother and sister-in-law all went out to dinner for my mother-in-laws birthday. We had 6:00 P.M. reservations at the Blue Moon Fish Company. This place was awesome. I had gumbo as my appetizer and the surf and turf special as my entree. Really good stuff. I had some of Leslie's Rack of Lamb and that also was very good. It was a really nice dinner. We’ll definitely be going back there. By the time dinner ended it was about 8:30 (Samantha was starting to get cranky). We got home and passed out. The three of us were all very exhausted.

The next day was MLK Day, and since I work at a bank I got the day off. It was an uneventful day. We ran a couple of errands, got Samantha some clothes and pajamas. The highlight of the day was we ate lunch at Firehouse Subs. I have been craving a Steamer sandwich since I left Tallahassee, and it was right next to the Babies R Us on Commercial and University. It was awesome. After the shopping we went home. Did a few things on the outside of the house. Then just chilled the rest of the night. Watched a little of the Golden Globes with Leslie and managed to get a poker game in before the night was over.

That's it for now.

Poker Stories...

2006-01-14T15:15:00.000-05:00

So I played a couple of games last night. Overall I did well. Played in two $50 9-person tourneys and one $100 9-person tourney. Placed 2nd in one of the $50 games and 3rd in the $100 game. In the other $50 game I got knocked out early (bad beat).

Of course I will get into the details. Doesn't every poker player have to explain his or her bad beats? Even as annoying it is to listen to other peoples bad beat stories we always feel the need to talk about our own (at least that is my feeling).

So I get A9 suited on the big blind. Blinds are $15/30 so it's still very early. One player has been eliminated so far. Five players call the blind and I decide to check to see a flop (I'm a very conservative player, some people think too conservative). The flop comes J99 rainbow. Awesome!!! I check and the player to the right of me throws out a $60 bet. Two more people call the $60 bet and it’s to me. So I re-raise to $360. First guy folds... Second guy goes all-in, what?!?! Next guy folds and it's to me again. He has me covered so I would be all-in. So I'm thinking the only thing that beats me is pocket Js and J9. Have to call. So after about 10 seconds into my time bank I make the call. So the cards are flipped over...

He's got K9. YES!!!!! So I am a big favorite right now. He's got 3 outs for the Ks to take the pot and 3 Js for the split. Next card comes up and it's the J. Ouch!!! Split pot. Man. What an opportunity to double up. So I'm pissed right now. But then the next card comes out and it's the K. NO!!!! I'm out. What are you going to do.

Looking back I'm really not too disappointed with this game. I put all of my chips at risk with the best hand. What more can you ask for.

All right, enough of my rambling of this bad beat. I'm sure there will be a lot more to come. Plus my sister just got here (was supposed to be babysitting tonight, but has turned out to Leslie and her chillin for the night), and they are staring at me as I write this post. Hopefully more good stories to come tomorrow (JTs bachelor party tonight).

2005 Holidays

2006-01-14T08:26:00.000-05:00

Picture of the family from the Holidays this past year.

My first post

2006-01-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

Alright my first blog post. Finally getting up to speed with the whole Web 2.0 thing. Hopefully I will keep this thing up to date. Very excited about this weekend. Have a bachelor party for JT this weekend. We are going to start it by meeting up at Hooters for some beer and food. Will get to catch the end of the Gator basketball game (against Auburn 6:00 P.M.) and the beginning of the New England / Denver game which should be interesting. Also, Monday off (banking holiday). Lucky me.

Speaking of the Gators, I can't believe how well they are doing this season. Man, never would have thought they were going to come out and start like this. Number 2 in the polls. Just hope they stay there, cuz we all know what happens when we get the number one ranking. I don't think we have to worry about that, Duke doesn't look like they are going to lose any time soon.

One more thing, I can't possibly leave a first post and not talk about poker. Have been playing mostly on Poker Stars as of late. I also have an account at Pacific Poker, Doyle Brunson (which I think is now FullTilt), and Party Poker. I mostly play the nine person sit and go's with an occasional 18 person or 45 person tourney. Also have tried the Omaha Hi/Lo tourneys, but try to stay away from them (too many manics). Right now I am at the 2K mark with my bankroll (started with 100 about 2 years ago). Last night I won a $50 nine person tourney and finished 4th (one out of the money) in a second tourney. I'm sure I will get a game or two in tonight as well.

Oh yeah, and last but not least (definitely not least)... Samantha is getting her first tooth (bottom left). She actually is very close to walking too. I would give her another 2 or 3 weeks and she should have it down. Leslie has been taking her to "Mommy and Me" classes which I think is helping her progress. Most of the kids are 2 - 5 months older than her which I think helps.

Alright that's it for now. I'm guessing the next post will either be Monday or never (lol). Hopefully Monday.