Seething

Why would Seether tour with Nickelback?? I love Seether... hate Nickelback, with a passion!!!!

A girl I work with had asked a while ago if I wanted to go, I said only if I can leave after Seether is over. She didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Seether is touring with Staind for some shows in Jan and with 3 Doors Down for a few shows in Feb.... Why, oh why could they not come to Milwaukee with either one of those bands???

Mom Update

I talked to my mom awhile ago. She came home from the hospital. They told her she could go home early this afternoon but by time they got all the paperwork and stuff together it was after 6:00pm.

She is feeling good. They sent her home with like 8 new meds and has to go back for bloodwork every couple of days due to one of the meds.

They did tell her that she needed to stop smoking, get more exercise and eat a low fat diet. She is going to have to go thru some cardiac rehab stuff.

One thing I am learning is that the body is a very delicate machine. If you upset the balance of one thing it can impact other areas. Take hubby... they listed the cause of his death as hypertension. One of the leading causes of hypertension is sleep apnea, which is triggered by him being overweight. If you lose weight, it puts less strain on the heart which in turn helps with the sleep apnea. I have started to be more careful with my eating choices lately. I have lost like 10 lbs in the past month. I need to get my ass in gear and start exercising more.

What Else??

Merry Christmas to all my friends. I wish you peace and love.

It has been an interesting couple of days. Some good, some bad, and lots of it sad.

I continued a Christmas Eve tradition and went to dinner with P&K. Ever since they sold the bar, Hubby and I would go to dinner with them. It was always a nice time. We continued that last evening and went to Outback. Food was good and should have passed on the dessert, even tho' the raspberry cheesecake was yummy.

After dinner, I (and a bottle of Riesling) walked across the street to my neighbor's and some old friends. We played a couple of games. I had a really good time. It felt good to get out and talk and laugh again. Even if for a little while. It was such a nice evening spent with friends. I have not felt that good in a the past month.

Then came the phone call about 5:30 am. It is never good news when the phone rings at that time. My mom was having chest pains. She went into the ER right away. I got up and got the dogs moving and outside. Was at the hospital by about 7:00. She was in alot of discomfort. Her right arm felt funny and her jaw was really sore.

By about 10:30 am she was stable and sleeping so I took my two youngest nieces back to my house. I had to wrap presents yet and the kids were getting antsy. Around noon we went back to the farm. We ate a bit and opened presents. Somehow it just wasn't the same. I was tired and with the smoke in the house and it being so damn hot in there, I took the boys home about 4:30 pm.

Dad and sis went back up to the hospital later. Some of the test results had come back and her cardiac enzymes were all out of whack so they did a cardiac cath on her about 6:30 or so. The doctors put in two stents in where they did the bypass a few years ago. She also has another valve that is leaking. She is resting now and will be out of it most of the night.

Tomorrow she will be having a echo cardiogram done and some other tests that my sister couldn't remember the name of. Depending on the results, she may have more surgery tomorrow again.

My dad is taking this pretty hard. He is still weak from his chemo and radiation and the past few weeks have not been easy on him as well. I worry about him.

I am exhausted both physically and mentally. I have to go into work tomorrow to take care of some insurance stuff. I really just want to crawl into bed under the covers and come out in about 3 months.

Can't Stop the Crappy Christmas Decorations

Even two feet of snow over the past week can't keep that damn blow up musical piece of crap Christmas decoration down. They dug the damn thing out of the snow today. I swear, even tho' it is 4 houses away I can hear the music in the house.

I really have no need to hear freakin' Christmas music at 11:00pm or 5:00am when I take the dogs outside. Have these people never heard of a timer?? I would so be calling the cops if I lived next door to them.

How Not To Get Rid Of All The Snow

Yes, we have had alot of snow in the past few weeks. Here is a story of how NOT to get rid of the snow.

Let this be a lesson to all of you....

Fire officials in New Bedford, Mass., say a man using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch ended up setting his house on fire, causing up to $30,000 in damage.

Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no on was injured during Monday's incident at the three-story home.

Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's second- and third-floor apartments.

It took 25 firefighters to subdue the blaze that damaged bedrooms in the upstairs units, and caused damage to the structure and wiring.

The homeowner will not be charged.

Snorkeling in Wisconsin

In Lake Michigan in January.....

Prison Break

I think this would be something Boomer would do. I am just glad the little guy didn't get hurt when jumping out. I also love the looks on the other dogs faces when they realize he escaped.

How??

Randy, how do I go on? Knowing that you are gone. Things may not have been the best between us lately but I never stopped loving you. I never got to say that one more time. This wasn't supposed to work out this way. My heart is breaking and I don't know if it will ever heal.

You went doing something that you loved. Playing poker. I never did go back online to see how you finished in that game.

I'm only 39. I'm not supposed to be burying my husband. That wasn't in the plan. Not now.

I know that you are now watching over me. With Teddy and Muggy. With your mom and dad. With Big Dave, Pat, Scott, Randy and so many others.

I'll be ok. Our friends and family are helping me get thru this. I willl never forget that. They have no idea what this means to me.

Rufus, Riley and Boomer miss you so much. Where will Boomer get his crumbs to eat? Riley just seems sad. Rufus keeps sitting on the rug by the door. Waiting for you to walk thru that door. Instead, you can be there waiting for him at the rainbow bridge. The boys are also helping keep me from losing it. I hug them and feel better.

I love you. I will miss you.

A Christmas Story for People Having a Bad Day

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree . . . .

Mumbai Attacks

To preface the following....

I received the following email from a co-worker who is friends with the author. I have removed some of the identifying pieces of the email to protect his privacy. I think that would have been just terrifying. Thank goodness they were all ok. Here is his story.....


For those of you who don't know, I was on a layover at the Oberoi Trident hotel in Mumbai when the attacks occurred there last Wednesday night. Some of my memory of some of this is sketchy but here's what I remember.

Had a great, uneventful layover...the usual, massage, lunch at Trishna etc. Napped from about six pm to 9 pm. I received my 9:50 pm wakeup call from reception, reminding me of my 10:50 pm pickup time. I left my room for the lobby about 10:35 and saw one of my flight attendants standing at the elevator bank. He said the elevators for some reason weren't working and that his calls from the house phone adjacent to them was going unanswered. My initial reaction was "Oh God, am I going to have to carry all my bags down stairs???".

I was heading back to my room to try calling from my room's phone when we heard a tremendous explosion that shook the building. We were on the 18th floor, and unaware of what was happening in the lobby and outside the hotel. I ran to my room and dialed reception, and again, no answer. I went back out into the hallway to see what we were going to decide to do when we heard another huge explosion followed by very loud screams. At first I thought that an elevator had fallen as the screams seemed to come from the elevator shafts.

Suddenly doors in the hallway were opening and heads were sticking out wondering what was going on. All of a sudden a young woman comes out and starts banging on other doors in the hallway screaming that the hotel was being attacked. Apparently she saw it on TV. My coworker and I ran into my room and turned on the television and on one of the local channels it was being reported that there were "firings" outside of some hotels. It was running across the bottom of the screen but the TV still had regular programming on. I wasn't sure what they meant by firings, but I couldn't help but wonder if that is what the explosions were. Everyone was confused about what to do, but my coworker said he was going to go down the stairway adjacent to the elevators to see if it was safe to get out. He was turned back by hotel staff several flights down.

By this time I had that hall crowd of people in my room watching the news on TV that attacks were being carried out at several locations in the city. All of a sudden one of the women who was a flight attendant got a call on her PDA and screamed that the hotel was on fire and we had to get out. Although we didn't know it at the time, it was actually the Taj Hotel on fire. But we decided to head down the stairs.

Instinctively, I grabbed my passport, crew badge, wallet, and cash, and locked my luggage in my room. Some of the women were crying but it was orderly going down. Strangely nobody from above followed the 16 of us. We made it to the pool level which is on the rooftop of the third floor, but the all the glass doors to the outside areas were locked. That floor also has banquet and meeting rooms and we found all the doors locked.

Inside the ladies room the towels are cloth, so we grabbed a bunch of them and wet them in case we had to breathe through smoke. But we hadn't smelled any if the hotel was indeed on fire. We were trying to figure out where to go at that point when we encountered a hotel security guard.

He WHISPERED (which began to scare me even more) for us to stay there as there was an "incident" in the lobby. We cut through a linen tied to the insides of large bronze handles of the doors to one of the banquet rooms. He told us to be very very quiet, and to stay there until someone came to get us. He also told us to stay on the floor. We were in that room for over an hour, and several of the crewmembers with us had PDA's, and were getting information from outside sources, so we learned the situation was not good.

Eventually hiding in the dark there, we barricaded the door with a large table and waited.....then we heard voices. My heart I swear stopped for a few seconds. We were all on the floor holding hands, praying, some were crying softly etc... . Turned out to be that same security man. He was like he was sent from heaven. He said there were men here to help us evacuate. There were about a half dozen guys in camo with large automatic rifles. We were then led through a long set of offices, storage areas etc, until eventually we came out into a mezzanine level in the lobby through the hotel's business center.

There was a Van Cleef and Arpels store and a Brioni men's clothing store and all the windows were shattered, as were all the windows to the outside. Apparently grenades had been thrown in some lobby areas. There was glass EVERYWHERE! They told us to stay closely together, and QUIETLY but quickly follow them. But every time we encountered a turn in the hallway, or an open area, they halted us and the military guys aimed their rifles in all directions. We had to descend a large staircase into the open main lobby of the hotel, and RUN past the front desk, the concierge, and out the main doors. There was not ONE window intact, there was blood everywhere, and the restaurant called Opium Den next to the elevators had at least a dozen bullet holes in the glass. Apparently several people were killed there.

Everywhere we stepped there was glass.....on the furniture, the carpeting, the marble floors...everywhere. There were also NO people....anywhere. The huge glass doors to the main entrance were reduced to about six inches deep of glass pieces similar to a windshield break. It wasn't like sheet glass. It was weird. So we didn't have to open any doors to get out. We were halted in the entrance area and the rifle men repositioned.

That was perhaps the most terrifying part. Not knowing where the bad guys with guns and grenades were, or if we were going to get shot from someplace or somebody that was hiding. We ran across the street and up about three blocks to a movie theater complex's parking ramp where we were in! the company of several hundred people....guests and hotel staff both. We got there at around 12:30-1:00 am. We found our two first officers, and one of them had an international use cell phone that ended up being our lifeline. We were on the phone with the state department, headquarters in MSP, and several others so our exact location could be known and monitored.

Since the whole area had been cordoned off, there was no traffic movement so we ended up there until dawn, when after a very confusing and chaotic shifting of groups, we finally got a private bus company to shuttle us from outside the locked-down area to a destination which changed three times enroute. It was to a hotel near the airport where we eventually met up with the crew that brought our outbound plane "in". It was pretty much carte blanche with meals, expenses, and phone calls to family, etc.

Exhaustion was setting in, as were emotions, and I didn't sleep that whole day but a shower made all the difference. EVERY sound outside my room sent the adrenaline pumping. At that point we were missing flight attendant, D, and our captain, T.

The state dept. assured us they were in contact with them every half hour even though they were still trapped inside the Oberoi. About 5:30 pm, we got calls saying they were evacuating us out of India, and to be in the lobby at 6:05 pm. We finally took off without T and D at 8 pm, and landed in Amsterdam at around 3:30 am. It is about a nine hour flight, but I slept the whole way.

We supposedly had 15 people in coach and only WE were seated in first class. Thank God those seats lie flat. We were met in Amsterdam by several managers, grief counselors, and clergy of about six different faiths.

That was good, as it turned out, one of our flight attendants was in the lobby when the shootings took place and saw several people killed. Another had actually called an elevator to her floor and found it empty, but with a pool of blood on the floor, so she ran back to her room.

We were all given emergency clothing kits of underwear, socks, and sweatshirt and sweatpants, along with amenity kits of basic sundries, at least to get us home. Since we were given the option of staying in Amsterdam to rest, counsel, have clothing purchased for us, or whatever, and fly home the next day, or to continue on to our home cities.

Out of the nine of MY crewmembers, and the 11 crewmembers who landed in Mumbai about the time this started, only two chose to stay. They also said a large group of reporters was waiting for us to exit, so we were sent off the property a different way, to a hotel nearby for a four hour layover until the first flight to Detroit departed, thank God. I was OUT that entire flight as well. A glass of wine and a xanax works wonders!

We were then met in Detroit by several senior management personnel and Employee Assistance Program psychologists. We were quickly and quietly expedited through customs and immigration and offered the chance to talk to anybody we wished, but my flight was leaving for Milwaukee in 40 minutes so I had to decline. Turns out that crew to Milwaukee had been told of my presence and they went out of their way to make me comfortable, as did the crews of every flight that got me home.

As a matter of fact, I have never seen such kindness and compassion extended to us, like it was by everybody we encountered, from hotel staffs to Airport and airline personnel. It was truly extraordinary. Some processed it differently, and at different times, but I finally broke when I learned that D and T had finally been released unharmed and were preparing to board a flight to Frankfurt before catching the flight to Detroit from there.

We left Mumbai with little more than the clothes on our backs, but Detroit inflight has been in touch, and they said they will replace EVERYTHING we lost, and at full monetary value, no questions asked, or receipts required. They have also dropped most of my December schedule with pay. I lost my TravelPro luggage, garment bag, laptop, cell phone, ipod, Nikon camera, skype phone. clothing, leather coat, uniform pieces etc, but I came out of there unharmed, and with my LIFE, which is what mattered most.

Since I sat in row 1 on my flight to Milwaukee, I was first off the plane. J met me at the end of the jetway and burst into tears, which turned on the water for me too. Then the gate agent started in, and I think everybody in the gate area waiting to depart was wondering what the hell had just happened. lol It was only when J offered up "let me help you with your bags" (I had ONE small plastic bag with a handle), did the laughter emerge through the tears.

Outside of security in Milwaukee we were met by P and L, and V and B. I wanted to get home and up to the farm to be with K, but I agreed, thankfully to stop over at Amelia's by the airport for a bloody mary. MAN, that tasted good! Special thanks go out to you guys......that small gesture did NOT go unappreciated! So tonight I'm able to finally sit here at my desktop PC and finally get back to you. Thanks for understanding.

Too Funny

Not meant to offend anyone..... just funny....

When Black Friday Comes

No, not the Steely Dan song.... Today is a day that I usually try to avoid going to any stores. I am not the type to try and fight crowds to get a deal. To me, my time and sanity is worth more than most of the deals out there.

Thanksgiving was ok. Quiet. I went by my Dad's. He still can't eat so we just watched the football games. I played football with my two youngest nieces which was fun. Basically, I would throw or punt the ball they would try to catch it and run past me to score a touchdown. I also taught them how to spike the football and then make up a touchdown dance. It was funny. They kept trying to get the ball away from each other and one would face plant the other one in the snow. We finally went in when everyone's pants and gloves were wet from the snow. I just wish that my sister would play with them like that. They really get no exercise. They both love to be outside. My sister does not believe in them playing sports saying that it is stupid and dumb. I don't even try to argue with her anymore. Not worth it.

My dad is finally done with his radiation and chemo. The doctor's gave him some "blaster" shots of radiation on his glands. His neck looks really bad. It is basically one big, icky, oozing scab all the way around his neck. It is starting to get better but... yuck. He has to keep the bandages off it during the day so the air can get at it. He is starting to get some feeling back in his tongue. He said it stings and burns. Kinda like when your leg falls asleep. The swelling around his mouth is also getting better. It is just a slow recovery. I had to yell at him yesterday that he still smokes. I told him that the cancer would just come back if he continued to smoke and did he want to go thru this all again. He didn't say much. grrrrr.... I will have to venture out to Target or Kmart later to pick my dad up a few sweatshirts. He can't wear his flannel shirts because the collars irritate his neck. He will be lost without the flannel shirts.

I'm Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

This year I volunteered to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving.

Here is a turkey recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing -- imagine that. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

8 - 15 lb. turkey
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good)
1 cup uncooked popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's Low Fat is my choice)
Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.
Listen for the popping sounds. When the turkey's ass blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room, it's done.

And, you thought I didn't cook...

We're Sick And Tired Of Raising Your Young

I took this from the Onion. Another totally hilarious article.

Listen, humans, I am really starting to get tired of this crap. Get your shit together and learn to keep better track of your young, because we wolves are seriously sick of raising them.

I was roaming the forest the other day, just marking my territory, when what do I come across?That's right, a human infant. Boy, was I pissed. I'm sure the poor little waif was orphaned in a plane crash or something, and, of course, I was supposed to take it into my pack and raise it like one of our own. Well, screw that: We've got enough humans to raise already.

We wolves have our own offspring to rear, you know. It's not like we're just sitting around all day, waiting for another one of your little twerps to fall off a cruise ship. Do you think that after a hard day of hunting, I want to come back to the cave and look after some hairless, wormy thing that isn't even going to pass on my genetic information? Do I look like a fucking nanny?

If it were just a plane-crash survivor every now and again, I could deal with it. But when you figure in the whitewater-rafting disasters, the mountain-climbing accidents, and the attacking bears that kill the parents but spare the children, those orphaned infants really start to add up. I'm working my paws to the bone as it is.

And it wouldn't be nearly so bad if your babies weren't so helpless. Our pups are weaned and out of the den within nine weeks. A human child can't even walk until it reaches 15 months. Fifteen months! Talk about pathetic: By that age, our young are having kids of their own.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I have to speak up, or the situation will only get worse. I'm the alpha female of a pretty good-sized pack, and it's hard enough finding, eating and regurgitating food for my own pups, much less a bunch of human children. I do my best to make ends meet, but your young are so picky it's next to impossible. They'll eat the partially digested berries I bring them, but they refuse to swallow the chipmunk meat I vomit into their mouths. If I injure a squirrel and put it in front of one of your young, the baby just lies there and wails at the top of its lungs for hours. Christ!

Then there's the problem of basic hygiene. Haven't you ever heard of licking yourself clean after you shit? How revolting. Our offspring instinctively know to wash themselves from the moment they're born. Then again, there are a lot of things our offspring instinctively know.

I know what you're thinking—we shouldn't drag your infants back to the den in the first place, if all we're going to do is bitch about it, right? After all, we could just send them out to start their own pack when winter approaches. To tell you the truth, we have driven a few of the more annoying ones out, but we always feel so guilty when we find their half-eaten carcasses a few days later. After the fifth or sixth time, it's hard to act like you didn't know it would happen.

Worst of all, in that rare instance when you do come to retrieve your missing kid, we don't get so much as a thank you. No, you just grab him and race back to "civilization" as fast as possible, so he can unlearn everything we taught him about marking his territory and stalking prey. No wonder wolves have been known occasionally to attack humans—you're a bunch of ungrateful bastards.

So the next time you lose one of your damn kids in the woods, you can forget about us raising it, because it ain't happening. Let the fucking elk do it.

Sincerely,
The Wolves

Welfare Check

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job.

I work, they pay me. maybe not as much as I'd like but hey, in this economy even having a job is a good thing. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit (which may or may not be a good thing). In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a urine test with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ass, doing drugs, while I work. Got that sis??

Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? I guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'.

1919 Poster

If you were around in 1919 and came across this poster.....

























I mean seriously.... would you quit drinking???

Pictures Taken From the Perfect Angle

And my personal favorite......

They Come in Three's or More??

This past week has been sucky.

Let's review.

Monday: Get phone call from sis-in-law at 3:30 am. She has kidney stones and needs someone to take her to the hospital. Hubby does this. I have to go pick up her dog and bring him back to my home as she will be there for a few days.

Get email from cousin at about 7:30 am that another cousin is really sick and not doing well. 6 hours later get follow up email, that he died. He was 51. He has had medical problems his whole life and had been on dialysis for the past 5 years. This is a blessing that he is no longer is pain.

Get call later that day from dad who says that he is not feeling well from his chemo and radiation. He was severely dehydrated. He spent the afternoon in the hospital getting fluids.

New dog guest, Bailey, is very restless. He does not sleep much at night, neither do I as I can hear his nails on the floor and his tags jingling all night as he wanders around the house. he is a good dog but sheds and I am allergic to him. Spend next three days with watery eyes and the sniffles.

Tuesday: Got to work on only a few hours of sleep. Elections. Get home from working that around 2:00 am. In bed by 2:45 am. Bailey still wanders around and I get very little sleep.

Wednesday: Work from home but get page at saying application I support is down at 7:30 am. Get up and start work. Was hoping to get some sleep, Damn.

Get phone call from dad. His sister (my aunt) dead husband's brother died. When we were younger we did alot of stuff with their family.

Skip trivia, in bed by 9:00pm. Get little more sleep as Bailey, decides he will sleep thru the night.


Thursday: Get call from dad. Sister is pissed at hubby and I. We have been sending her probation officer (PO) stuff that we get from Cheyenne's school. Also tell her that sister is stealing dad's cancer drugs. PO calls sis out on this and is livid. I could care less. Seems to me that if kids were in school and she was clean and had a job and moved out of parent's house, this would not be an issue.

Bailey goes home. My dogs are happy. I am happy as I can now breathe.

Friday: Memorial service for cousin. It was a very nice service. Lot of relatives in town. Got back to Aunt's house for a few hours to visit with everyone. It was nice.

Saturday: Burial for cousin. Cold and kinda rainy/snowy. Thank goodness it was only 20 min at the grave site. Note to self: Do not wear pointy heel shoes when having to walk thru a cemetery where the ground is all wet and mushy. Went to luncheon, it was nice to get to visit with more relatives. Don't get to see them much except for reunions, weddings and funerals.

Got to see movie, Max Payne. Kinda sucky.

Sunday: Get phone call from dad. Cousin from North Dakota died. I have not seen him since I was 15 and my grandma (dad's mom) had died. He was only 40. Not sure on the details yet.

Dad does say that he feels really good today. Better than he has in a couple of weeks. Only five more radiation treatments and one more dose of chemo left. Yeah!!

Monday: Get up and take truck to service station to get new tires put on. Get loaner car (no, it wasn't the Focus StB) Get home. Realize that when I left my keys at the service station, my house key was on the ring. No big deal. Have a spare key in the garage. Except that the garage door opener is in the house... the other opener, in my truck. Damn!! Call Dad, he meets me and gives me his copy of my house key. Yeah!!

Get email from friend. Father of another friend died on Sunday. Damn it!! This is getting ridiculous.

They say that deaths come in 3's. I am now up to 4. Does that mean there will be another 2? I hope not.

Let's hope that this week turns out better.

Ca-Ching

Last night was our poker finals. Going into last night I was in a semi solid second place. Josh had already secured first place and there were 5 of us duking it out for 2nd ($250) and 3rd ($200)place.

Because it was the last night we decided to kick in $30 each and 20 would go towards the nightly payout. I knew it was going to be a good night as I pulled the ace when we drew for seat positions and that also mean that I got the 'good' chair. Meaning I did not have to sit on a metal card chair or one of the lawn chairs (Mark is a single guy and his furniture is a bit lacking). Game started out slow as I just wasn't getting cards. I knew that I had to play semi-conservative early on until a few guys were knocked out. Kory went out first and he wasn't even playing. He was going to be late so Dave was sitting in for him until Kory got there. Just as Kory walked in the door Dave went all in (up until this point he was playing ultra conservative as he didn't want to screw up for Kory). Bottom line, Dave had pocket A and lost to the flush. Ouch!!

No one really dropped for the first hour and half. Until the blinds went up. It was then time to shit or get off the pot for folks. I was still playing only the really good hands and not getting too crazy. Final three came down to Pops, Johnny boy and myself. Johnny was short stacked and Pops and I were fairly even. We knocked Johnny out and it was down to Pops and I. By this time we knew that I had finished 2nd and Pops had 3rd locked up for overall. It now came down to who would take home the 140 for winning the nights game. We played for about 20 min and decided to raise up the blinds to 400/800 to get things moving a bit more quickly. it was then that I made my move. I was pushing on any high card and usually stealing at least the blinds. Final hand came down to where I had kings and Pops had jacks.

I win!!! Whoo Hoo.

All in all the evening netted me a cool $390 big ones. Not bad for a fun evening of poker.

We are going to try and get a more regular home game going over winter. The guys I play with are fun and the play for the most part isn't too bad.

Here are the season results . If I could have played in the first game and game 8 I think I could have made a run at Josh. I had a sub that night and they were not the best players.

Halloween Moon

Thanks, J for the pic. Thought it was funny enough to post.