Bien, No

oh s'il vous plaît, my pronunciations are terrible. I can not even roll my r in très bien. How will I ever communicate in french? I know, I know, practice practice practice. Just like baseball. At least I can still play cards. Bought Harrington's two new books on cash games. Now all I need is time from the bike riding, the dining, the theater, and work. No, there is no more time, just squeeze it all together in one big moment. Life was so much simpler a month ago.

Dog Gone

Yes, I took him up to what could be his new home this morning. The interview went well, he seemed to like the yard, the kids, and the other pets there. He barked with tilted head when I left the yard, but he did not see me leave the home. I still have one of his chew toys in my pocket. I got about about a block away before my throat tightened and my eyes welled up. Damn I wish I could keep that dog. If only I had the facilities and family that could watch him all day. For he needs watching all day. They are a good family, and seem to like him too. I gotta go.

Dog Days of February

On the first of the month, My Aunt Yanni passed away. Not being able to say her name, my brothers and I at an early age started calling her Aunt Yanni. I turned on my phone after improv class that afternoon to see two voice mails and two text messages from my sister. After reading and listening to them, she called again. When I answered, she put my mom on the phone who gave me the news. I drove right over there. After cleaning up the place and sorting through her paperwork, the question of her dog arose. Neither mom nor my sister have a hard for him. I have a small one, and could watch him until it's time to take him to a 'no-kill' shelter. Monday I left him in the yard with food, water, and apparently a new hole he dug under the back gate. He came home about two in the morning, or that's when I heard his bark to let him back in. Tuesday, after putting a brick under the back gate, he dug under the front gate, played in the gated front yard, then down the other side of the house to the other back gate and dug out again. He did not return that night. I went walking the neighborhood as before, no sight nor sound of him. Wednesday night after work, periodaclly opened the front door, and the garage door in the alley out back calling his name. Finally about 1:30 AM Thursday morning, I open the front door and yell his name. He slow comes around the from the side of the house to the front door. Tail not wagging, head down, eyes up. Bathed, fed, and watered him before he fell asleep on a pillow on the kitchen floor. After work Thursday, took him to a pet clinic where the nice doctor x-rayed, ultrasound'd, and blood tested the dog. Finding bite marks, he got shaved, cleaned, and a head cone. I got anti-biotics and doggie downers to give him twice a day for ten days. I did not plan to have him for ten days. If things went on schedule, I would have had him at the shelter yesterday. Two co-workers had family members who thought they might want to adopt this nine year old mix breed. One has now said no. The other is still pending. Not sure what the next move will be during the dog days of February.

Trojan Averted

Thanks to the helpful support forums at Lavasoft [the makers of Ad-Aware] the silly ad-popping trojan I picked up last weekend has now been cleaned from my system. Just followed their rules, asked a question, posted log files of the utilities they asked me to run, and the system seem back to it's old self again. Happy, happy, joy joy.

Poker Translation

You know all those old poker books that said in a tournament you only need to win one big hand an hour. Well, turns out they were talking about tournaments where the blinds go up only every two hours! If you were in a tournament with fifteen minute levels, you would have to win a big hand ever seven and a half minutes to follow the same guidelines. Who can do that? You are on the button only once every ten minutes or so. Playing good in every position before and after the button in a quick level tournament is even more critical than in one that has two hour level changes. I have some re-thinking to do.

Home Game

Some folk I'd been chatting with at the games during the last season took an interest in my poker stories, and invited me over for a home game. Twenty buy in, nickel dime and quarter stakes, nothing fancy. I haven't been playing much so answered, sure, I'll go. A few Thursday night's ago, I show up a couple of minutes late after driving to the beach and back after work, enter meet most of the group, all waiting on one more player after me. They pryed out of me what I like to drink an showed off an ample liquor cabinet ready to supply an alcoholic's every dream. Then they hand me a bottle, with about a third of it left, of a very nice, smooth expensive rum, and ask me if that would be okay. Okay? Would they like me to sing and dance too? Not necessary, I'm assured. Five of us sit down, and we start going after the house rules, dealer's choice of game, pre-shuffling ettiquite and ante's versus blinds sticklers. We went with an ante for every game. And instead of nickel, dime, and quarter, the chip demoninations were quarter, half dollar, and dollar. Raises, no limits. Uh oh, usually home games and card clubs have a three raise limit. This could go over the top. I settle in, with some chips and salsa and rum on ice and the sixth player arrives. A gorgeous woman whom, after conversation goes around a bit, has just gotten rid of her third husband. This is gonna hurt. She sits down on my left and asks the table if anyone would help her out with the rules. The hostess breaks out a tiny book on poker, and turns to the page that describes what hand beats what and hands it to her to use. I'm in trouble. She's cute, she is playing helpless, she is next to me... the last time a cute woman sat next to me at a home game, she ended up taking me home for the weekend after I lost everything. I do not want a repeat performance of that. The weekend was fun and all, but I was broke. An hour into the game, and an hour after I said I would help her out if she was having trouble with any hand that I was not in, I realized that it was all an act. She was, of course, a very good player. This will not be a repeat performance at all, besides, she was blonde, not a red-head. She was still flirting with me, scratching my back, offering to pour another drink from the bottle in front of me, etc. And just as animate with the other two guys and the two hostess. What game she had. Playing weak when she was strong, watching folk fold to her huge raises. An impressive performance. I lost a big hand to her four-of-a-kind when holding aces full of kings, without using wild cards. That got to me. I got up, walked around, got some ice, some snacks, and resolved to stick to my game. An hourly bluff, an hourly showing of a strong hand, a lot of folding. For the most part, it worked. She ended up the big winner with three times her buy-in, I finished fifty percent up, the other two women were out of chips, and the other two guys each finished twenty five percent down. All in all, a fun few hours with new friends. I was the first to go, since my alarm was going off at five the next morning to get ready for work. I can't wait to do it all again, and hope that they invite me in a couple of months to their next game.

Reports From Texas

Getting reports from various parts of Texas that Disaster Recovery is still underway. Ice and water are being given away at some locations now. Most are living by candles and batteries. It was a very powerful storm and estimates as to when they will get power back vary. Cleaning up is the best that they can do while waiting for insurance adjusters arrive. Most BBQ'd on Sunday everything out of their freezers and refrigerators. Now it all has to keep as they get time to eat it all. Trees that fell is the biggest issue in the suburbs. Repair crews can't get in until the are cleared first. Downtown Houston is layered in glass shards. Not a pretty site. Some are charging cell phones with generators and cars though they need to save the gas or wait in a long line for more. Galveston is going to take a long time to recover/rebuild. If work crews are ever allowed back there. Ferrying items from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula, or trucking from San Jacinto will take a long time to get there too. I'm sure they could use your prayers, too.

Acting

The last couple of days have gone better than planned. Even the Dodgers are increasing their lead in the National League's Western Division. The one drawback now is the 'every two minute' cooling fan coming on as I record for librivox.org It's getting very distracting. Maybe I need a portable voice recorder and then just copy it to the laptop later. Maybe. I also took a plunge and signed up for a voice over acting workshop. This will finally test my skills, or lack thereof, of using my voice as an instrument as so many phone contacts tell me I should think of doing. So fine, now to get a professional opinion from real voice over actors and put me in my place. It will be fun to learn another method, none the less. Off I go...

Shreding

Back from holiday, paid three weeks worth of bills and mailed them off today. Now to my shreading pile. I really like my shreader. I feed it everything with my name and address on it. Even catalog page covers and netflix envelope covers. Filled up a kitchen trashbag with my shreadings today. Now, is it puzzle time, or do I throw it all away?

Beware of Grandfather's Telling Stories

Yesterday, I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for Athena (my wonder dog) at Wal-Mart and was in the check out line.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired, with little to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again. I probably shouldn't, I continued, because I'd ended up in the hospital last time. I awoke in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. However, I did lose 40 pounds on the diet, so I was giving it another go.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is you load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete and I needed to lose a few more pounds. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was, by now, enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, this woman asked if I ended up in intensive care because I'd been poisoned by the dog food. I told her no, it happened because I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit both of us.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard!
WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore

Backup News Truck

Had a couple of hours after work Friday afternoon before the gates at the stadium would open, so I started cruising through hollywood looking for dinner. Noticed that the mini was low on petrol, so cruised into a station that was empty save for a news truck. Started to think that this can not be good, then saw another news truck parked behind the station. Apparently the prices were a little higher than average here, and it was a good back drop to their story for the four PM news broadcast. Other customers started to arrive after I started filling up, and I started to feel safe enough that this was not a robbery investigation, except maybe for the prices. Took a snap on my way out of their microwave setup and a short video clip whilst filling up.

Fire Behind Me

I started smelling smoke through my home office window, then saw flashlights in the yard below me, closed all my windows and ran out to open the gates for the police, told them it was the neighbors place behind me. The police went back to investigate while I stayed in the fresh air. They told the firetrucks where to go, who then had at it. Sounds of saws cutting into the garage roof. Well, it use to be a garage. My landlady just told me that a family was living in it. Not tonight. Finally came back upstairs and found my camera in time to see them mopping up. Sorry folk, no flame pictures for you. I'm going to need to air out my apartment once the smoke from next door settles down, yuck.

In the Public Domain

I've been lurking on http://www.librivox.org/ for a couple of years now, enjoying an old book now and then from their ever growing catalog. Well, last night I finally contributed by reading in their weekly poetry reading. You can hear it all who recorded this weeks poem in this thread here. The professionalism some put into this free audio book hobby is amazing. I am grateful that they also encourage amatuers like me to contribute. Check them out, you may find something worth listening to, or even participate in reading for.

But How?

Hey Uncle Proto,
How did you geocache in the olden days?
With a compass and a paper map, that's how!
And we liked it!

Wandering Week

Listening to the Dodgers lose five straight is never fun. Though there were moments of fun. Streak finally broken in Wisconsin this evening. One more game there on Thursday afternoon before moving on. Enough of baseball for today. Took mom out to a nice restaurant last Sunday afternoon and got current on family history. We are flung all over California, with some in Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and soon New Mexico. Arizona was so forty/fifty years ago for any of us. Southern California Electric is now billing a tiered system. If you use a nominal amount, which I do even with all these computers because no air conditioning, one stays in tier one. Use a lot of electricity in a month, and you could get a bill that includes tier five rates. Here in the LA basin it is not so bad. In the San Fernando Valley, it gets very hot, very quickly, and longer to get to tier two to make it 'fair'. Fair is a concept that eludes me. Whenever a large organization, like a utility, tries to be 'fair' someone is going to feel put upon. I haven't heard a major outcry yet, but this next month should be a good test as we start having triple digit days and very cool and breezy evenings. If I ever get my air conditioner rolled out of the closet and hooked up, I may jump straight to tier three rates and have a lot of fun figuring out my bill. It might even be over thirty bucks a month! Sure was lucky to find a place upstairs with windows on all four sides. If only it was closer to the beach, like fifteen miles closer. Or to the mountains. No, it would only add to my commute four point five days a week. And paying fifty bucks for twelve gallons of ninety one octane is about half-way to my point of consideration of an alternate method of transportation. In the mean time, the cooper is still my favorite toy.

Well, thanks for writing back, finally.

Grrr, the longest reply so far. Going to be tough to get this internet restriction lifted. Prohibition is just wrong, some see it, my senators do not.

Dear Mr. Dragon:

Thank you for contacting me regarding Internet gambling. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me on this important topic and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

There is no doubt that the Internet and related technologies have had a remarkable effect on the U.S. economy in recent years. The flow of commerce on the Internet has enhanced American industry's ability to distribute goods economically and efficiently. The continuing development of this industry in California has provided hundreds of thousands of new, well-paying jobs, and I am committed to strengthening online commerce and preserving and expanding this vital job base.

While the advent of the Internet has been beneficial to American society, I believe the same cannot be said for Internet-based gambling. Internet gambling has become too easily accessible to minors, subject to fraud and criminal misuse, and too easily used as a tool to evade State gambling laws.

I understand your thoughts on internet gambling, and as you may be aware, I have supported legislation aimed at curbing Internet gambling during my tenure in the Senate. For example, I supported the SAFE Port Act, passed into law as Public Law 109-347, which included (as Title VIII) the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Please know that I have read your letter with interest and value your thoughts. Additionally, I appreciate hearing your concerns that such restrictions are vague for poker players, and your support for legislation to exempt online poker from the Act. While we do not necessarily agree on this particular topic, be assured that I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind should this issue come before me during the 110th Congress.

Again, thank you for your letter. I hop you will continue to keep me informed on issues of importance to you. Best regards.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

Months of Laundry

Why do I do this? I waited almost three months before doing it this time. It is a good thing that February is a short month. Eighty of these, eighty pairs of those, hours and hours between the washer and the dryer and the video games and the music and the internet tv. It almost got to the point where I had to go out and buy new stuff. I have way too much stuff, especially clothes. Still have shirts I wore in high school, thirty years ago! Maybe I should start a donation hamper together. But I like all of this stuff. Maybe someone else will too....

Death to the Monitors

Yes sirree! For the last month I have been enjoying my new 24 inch monitor. Might be another reason I hadn't been bloggin'. Last weekend I was watching some silly movie on the computer to just to prove I could, when my foot kicked out from the cot I was lying on to the stand that computer was in and the monitor sitting on top of the stand leaned forward, paused, and finally crashed cracking itself on the corner of computer. Playing all those games in native 1920x1200 resolution was cool while it lasted. But now it's toast. I e-mailed support, and after a shift change and a half a dozen e-mails later, they agreed to send me a new one. Can't wait to hear their reaction when they receive this one back. Might even be worth a couple of hundred bucks for the humiliation and anger I felt. Then again, I'll see if my extended warranty covers it first. Won't know until I get an invoice. Let this be a lesson to you all, do not put a fancy monitor on a precarious perch where a wayward foot could send it into the abyss. What an expensive lesson it has been. If only in time spent. I have the cpu hooked up back to the component inputs of the TV so, all is not lost, just any pride I had in using it.

Jurist Prudence

So last Thursday I was a bit worried. There was only one more I day that I would have to go in for jury service, and I had a first class ticket to Houston on Friday. I dial the 800 number for the court jury service line, enter my jury number and pin like I had since Sunday to see if I would be called in for the next day. If I was to be called in, what would I do? Reschedule to a later flight and not have a seat in row two? Or tell them I'm out of town and need to be on-call for another day in another week. Fortunately, the recording told me that my group number was not needed, and I just had to mail in the form in the provided envelope [glad I saved that] and send it back to them with a signature and I am now done serving the LA Superior Court system for twelve months. Stamped the envelope put it by the door, packed my bag and went to sleep early after setting the alarm for three AM. Made the five forty five flight and watch a weird little movie on the plane. Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium. Must have been a really good book, but did not translate to a movie very well. At least there was sound. The flight back on Monday they showed Bee Movie, but the right side of the plane in the first twenty rows did not have sound. Glad I picked up a page turner in a bookstore of the Houston Airport. The Blue Zone. The place where you are when the witness protection plan has lost contact with you. This is starting to get long, and without saying very much. I do have more to say, maybe on another day.

Radio Health

Was driving around at lunch time listening to the radio when the commentator mentioned that we all have access to health care, it's health insurance that the people need. Changes the spin a bit, does it not?
I felt a headache a few days ago, and a fever the night after that. So I knew it was some type of infection, just did not know what kind. Then my left cheek started to swell, 'great' I thought, a problem tooth. Made an appointment with a dentist and told them where it hurt. They saw the irritation and prescribed antibiotics, but did not find a bad tooth. I then let them x-ray the whole mouth and prepare for my cleaning in a couple of weeks. The Dentist calls my house that night and tells me that it's a good thing they x-rayed the works, cause the found the problem root under an artificial crown on the lower left jaw that could cause the pain on the upper left jaw. Lovely so today I call the endodontist to schedule a root-canal pre-op through a cap. That appointment is next Tuesday, and this weekend I am flying to Texas. The last time I was in Texas I had a tooth issue, too. Should I stop planning trips to Texas? Nope, too many friends and family there.
I've been on-call for jury duty all week, but have not been selected. I call in every night and punch in my juror number and pin number but am told by a recording to call again the next night. They better not call me in on Friday, for I have a first class ticket out of here until Monday night. Hopefully the antibiotics will knock the swelling down by then.
Have a happy President's Day weekend...