Finally

Went out looking for a walking boot (cast). Hit a couple of major pharmacy chains, only type around here any more. While on my trek I actually noticed something I’ve obviously seen many times before. While supposedly people are mainly going to a drug store for drugs or something in that area because they are sick, the large chains put their pharmacy counters as far away from the front door as possible making sick people walk the maximum amount through their stores. Obviously a marketing deal from the looks of all the crap they have in there any more. It’s that crap that prompts this little spiel. After walking through the whole store on a bad foot, 2 stores actually, I get to the pharmacy counter and inquire about the boot. I received the same answer at both stores, they don’t carry such things. Now I didn’t expect them to have such a thing in inventory, too many sizes and models to carry, but I did think they would be able to order one. No they said they don’t even bother with such stuff. Oh, they can carry toaster ovens and alarm clocks, spearmint leaves and laundry detergent but god forbid they actually carry something that deals with an illness. There are two more chains in the area but figured I would hear the same from them so decided to save myself the walk and take a chance ordering online and hoping I got the right thing. With drugstores trying to become supermarkets and supermarkets adding pharmacy counters the lines are getting blurred. The supermarkets are winning the battle though as you can get cheaper generics in the supermarkets.

Back to some poker. End of the month has arrived and with it the final game of the Buy in league. I started off hot winning the first two games then tapered off a bit but still scoring in 3 of the next 5 games. I dnp in one and sat out one as I had no money on the site. Normally that would have been good enough but a late addition to the league arrived in the 3rd game and decided to put some pressure on. I had a chance to lock it up earlier when he stumbled and a win would have put it out of his reach but alas, I only got a 5th which enlarged my lead but not significantly. If he won last night he won it all. If he finished between 2nd and 4th I had to do no worse than two spots behind him to preserve my win. To further complicate matters a third contender had thrown herself in the mix but while a very good player she still needed to win and hope the two of us did not point to take it down so she was an outside shot. As it was she ran into some problems and couldn’t make the game which left it a two man race.

Game started and I knew right away the poker gods were pissed at me. In addition to there being a slightly bigger field than usual making it tougher to win obviously I find my main opposition two seats to my left. In addition to my immediate left is the league moderator who has already told me she planned on taking me out and making me sweat the finish. Nothing comes easy. Further proof of the ire of the gods was the fact that I was wishing I was playing acey-deucey for the first hour to 90 minutes instead of NLHE. They even teased me a bit as Venti, table name of my main opponent, lost a couple of decent pots early and was a bit short for awhile. He was able to build his stack back up however before they grabbed him and moved him to another table. At least he wasn’t on my left any more. In the meantime I was just folding along. Couldn’t even make a play with my garbage as the table was aggressive and there was usually a raise before my turn when I had position. All in all maybe a good thing as it kept me in the game even though my stack was slowly dwindling. It seemed my luck changed all at once, as if the poker gods got tired of their game and said enough. I had just won a big pot, doubling me up when Venti showed up in the chat box congratulating me, saying he was out of the game, meaning I had the league won for the month no matter what. It was nice but I still didn’t want just the back door, I wanted to finish with a bang. I finally started to catch some cards and as the blinds went up the aggressiveness seemed to slack off and I was able to make a few plays and somehow found myself reaching the final table with a reasonable stack. Needed more than that as only top 5 got points and as I already had my 5 scores for the month so needed a 4th or better to improve my total. Play went on and I played solid but not spectacular and took out a few players and made it to 4 handed with the second stack. Then we were 3 and it got interesting. Top stack was an unknown to me but had over double my stack. I was 2 with a couple thousand more than the third place player, who I knew was a good one. The leader played excellent big stack poker; either that or the deck had jumped up and spanked him. I know there was a lot of stealing going on. Finally slowed it down a bit when I caught a big hand the same time the chip leader did. Mine was bigger and he doubled me up and even though he remained in first he was only a few thousand ahead. It was a tight 3 way and I lost a few chips back to the leader. Stayed that way until he took out the 3rd place player and had a good sized stack on me again as we entered heads up. I was able to get him to double me up and even out the stacks a bit but was never really able to overcome that lead and got a bit frisky and made a play at the wrong time and wound up in second place. Oh well, while a win would have been nice I can’t complain about 2nd. Kept me from feeling I got in the back door for the league win.

As for that win I got myself an entry into AP’s 40K Sniper some Sunday and 10 bucks a month for a year added to my account on Reefer. That’s nice as it will keep me in the league games on Reefer for a year. Add in winnings on Cake and AP and UB and I’m covered for league games on those sites for a couple months. Two sites for the league have no funds so will have to debate about what to do with them. As for the Sniper that’s going to have to wait awhile as my daughter is on her way down this Friday for spring break visit and while I play some when she is down here I won’t be able to give that game the attention it needs while she is here so it will wait until she goes home. It also gives me a seat on the forum team for the Forum War games. Wanted that as I had a lackluster showing in this month's games. The structure on the site sucked as I think I have mentioned before. April's games are on AP with a better structure and will hopefully allow me to redeem myself.

OK, that’s about it for now. Thanks for the listen.

A bit of poker

A bit of poker as I haven’t mentioned it in awhile except in my pet peeves. Played the AP 5K GTD, $1.10 entry, $1 rebuys, turbo. Sheesh, talk about your donkaments. Had one guy going all in with anything and double rebuying if, or more likely when, he lost. Wonder why he just didn’t enter a $20 or $30 buy in? I was blessed with a rash of good hands early and went in to the regular portion the chip leader by a decent margin especially thanks to that gentleman. If I had followed my instincts just a tad better I would have had double the chips as a couple marginal but playable hands against some of these donks would have hit big time. An A-9 suited would have flopped nut flush and a K-Q suited would have flopped TP2K, turned trips and boated on the river just to mention a couple. There were 3 all ins on both these hands so I would have really chipped up. My problem was that I had such a large stack by then and the rebuy period was close to ending that with 3 all ins I figured I really wasn’t that good and didn’t see any sense in endangering the stack as at least one of the players had a decent enough stack to hurt if I lost. Should have remembered the turbo however and taken the risks. I realized why I hate turbos. After the rebut period my cards went further south than Argentina and some of these guys were still playing like it was rebuy time so that the occasional steal attempt was about as useful as my cards. With the accelerating blinds and the decelerating cards my stack shriveled like a pecker in a cold lake. I made the money but not a whole lot. Counting the starting rebuy and the add on I got back my buyin plus another. Next time, if there is a next time, I go with the instincts.

Also played a couple of freerolls while waiting for my daughter to call me this afternoon. One, a gigantic 1K GTD on Tilt I won a seat through a smaller FR that I had popped up to occupy myself during another tourney last week. I usually play some kind of cheapie tourney when playing a more important on as a way to keep from being bored and donking off chips by playing hands I shouldn’t through boredom. The other was a $500 GTD with a pro bounty on Ziggy on Power Poker. Didn’t last long on either. The one on Tilt was reasonable as far as freerolls go, cards just sucked. The Power Poker one was almost as big a donk fest as the 5K GTD described above. 354 runners and over 80 of then out within the first 5 hands. Had a couple of the all in kiddies at the table and got smoked when my A-A got cracked by a K-8 and a 4 card straight board. Actually thought I might have had a chance as there were only 2 callers and they were K-8 off and 3-3. Oh well, gotta expect such things, especially in a freeroll. Now waiting for the third game of the forum war to start.

Forum war started and looks like an early exit again. This site and its structure sucks. Unless you have won a big pot or two you are in shove or fold mode by the third level. Beginning to wonder if I have some kind of tell. When I make a c bet or any type of play lately I’m getting called with garbage but better garbage than I have yet when I score a monster everyone folds up quicker than a cheap umbrella in a windstorm. Today no different. Three times I raise preflop, A-8, A-Q and A-T. With the Ace-Q and A- T I miss the flop and shoot out a C-bet when the caller checks to me and both times I get called. With the A-Q I even fire a second bullet and called again. Both times they have a better ace than I do. The A-8 I caught my ace and got raised when I bet out so figured at best I was out kicked and dumped it. Twice in the same period I’m on the button and flop the joint, including one pot with 5 players and it winds up checked to me on flop and turn and when I finally bet the turn everyone disappears. Must have a tell. Wound up hanging on till middle of the pack. Might have lasted longer but hit A-J just before blinds hit and being shorter than I anticipated due to a move that ran me threw the blinds twice in 5 hands I shoved and met up with A-Q and a board that didn’t go higher than 8. And so it goes. One more game next Sunday. I need to win our Buy in league even more than ever now. I want a seat on next month’s games on AP where you at least get a chance to play some sort of poker rather than bingo. Need to redeem my honor. As for the forum we came in second, again. That’s three seconds out of three games. Might not be so bad except that the team that came in first the first two games did so again. Have an outside chance of taking first but it looks like they are going to win this month. Just have to come back strong this last game and next month.

Finally I would like to say good bye to fellow forum member and poker player Bernard “Bernie” Warycha aka NY_Villain. Bernie passed away a couple of weeks ago though we just found out recently. We hadn’t seen him posting on the forum for awhile and thought he might be sick as he had some medical issues recently but when one of the other forum moderators tried to get in touch with him they discovered the bad news. Though never having met him personally from my online experiences with him the name Villain could not be further from the truth. Bernie was always one of the first to pen words of welcome to new forum members, had an upbeat attitude and was a font of friendly table chatter during games. Even though I knew of his medical problems and the fact he had spent time in the hospital because of them I had no idea they were that serious because he really never let on. He was one of the good guys in this world and was way too young to have had to cash out of the game so soon. Condolences to his family. Cya Villain.

On that note it seems appropriate to end this and thanks for the listen.

Third, and maybe final, trip to Krondor

Finished the third, and possibly the last, of Feist’s Riftwar Legacy books or as I refer to them as the Krondor books. This one, Tear of the Gods, is supposed to be the mid book of the series with two more to follow. According to his website however there are unresolved issues with the producers of the video games linked with these books and so they are on hold until if/when they are resolved. He does state that there may be a non-traditional project to the series but since it ain’t books it is no good to me. Speaking of unresolved issues, though Feist gives satisfaction in bringing the arc of the book itself to a conclusion there are still issues of the overriding arc concerning the series, or sagas as he calls them, that are left hanging. In fact the proposed 4th book was to be titled Krondor: The Crawler, The Crawler being a mysterious character that is mentioned in the first two books but never actually takes the stage, yet is a major player in all the chaos that is going on.

With Krondor III Feist has again written a good fantasy novel that both stands on its own well and yet ties in to a much larger story. A number of familiar characters are back and a new one, at least to this saga, introduced. She comes to take her place in the Prince’s Court as his advisor on things magical, except in religion. Her name had been bandied about in the previous books as the Prince, Arutha, debated on whether he needed such an advisor and later, who would take the post but she finally makes an appearance here. She is an interesting introduction because of a number of factors. She is a woman and until recently women were not supposed to be trained as magicians. She is from a neighboring kingdom, Greater Kesh, one which isn’t always eye to eye with the Kingdom of the Isles. Both of which make many suspicious of her. Even better she is related to the royal family of said kingdom and her great uncle is the ambassador to the Royal Court and who just happens to be the head of Kesh’s intelligence service. Throw in the fact that she’s the former lover of the son of the Duke of Stardock, the magician’s city, and top magician around, and that said son is a member of Arutha’s household guards, and his family by adoption, makes for fertile ground for plot threads both current and future.

Again while titled Krondor a lot of the action takes place in the hinterlands though the first part of the action does take place in the city. The main plot revolves around a missing magical artifact, the Tear of the Gods of the title. Seems that this artifact, which is renewed every ten years, is the object of a bit of piracy at the start of the book. The piracy goes awry and the object sinks into the sea and the race is on to recover it. It seems if the Tear isn’t where it belongs before the old one’s lifespan is over the consequences range from disaster at best to destruction if the bad guys get their hands on it. Can you say demon fodder? The consequences are not only to the Kingdom either; it seems the whole world is in danger even though most of the world doesn’t even know about it. Seems the power of this thing is a closely kept secret among some of the religious orders, a few of the royals and nobles and now the people sent to recover it including the new court magician and our old friend Jimmy the Hand. Also a new character is brought on stage whether just a minor one to further this story or to play a major role in the overriding arc. We also find out about the differences in magic in Feist’s world. It’s not really explained but it seems there are two branches of magic among magicians themselves, Greater and Lesser Paths as they are called. Then it seems that priests of the various temples, of which there are a damn lot, also practice forms of magic that don’t seem to be within the purview of the magicians. Then there are the women involved with magic. If they mix up a few potions and they are generally considered benign then they are village wise women. If they actually show signs of power it seems there is a prejudice against them, the power must come from making a deal with some dark power and so are witches. Why men can practice magic but women can’t is never really explained. Pug, the most powerful magician in the land is doing his part to combat the prejudice, witness the Prince’s new advisor, but the notion isn’t making a lot of headway among the masses.

In addition to the main plot the saga arc is also advanced in this book. The piracy of the Tear is part of the plot to advance the fortunes of the bad guys though this book makes it a bit more apparent that the bad guys aren’t really all n the same page. There is a lot of jealousy among the ones working for the main goal and a number of others who have joined with them in a marriage of convenience to further their own ends and still others in this marriage we still don’t know exactly what their purpose is. Suffice to say it’s all enough to be a giant pain in the arse to Arutha and his principality.

Speaking of pains in the arse the biggest one is the fact that this series may not be completed. Sure the books are good stand alone stories and the plot of the saga itself is there but not so overbearing so as to be what your mind keeps dwelling on but it is still there and there are still unresolved issues you really want to know about, at least I do. Who is the Crawler and how does he benefit from all the chaos he’s unleashing in Krondor? Is he in league with the some of the other villains because he’s a believer in their cause or is it for personal reasons, like taking over the city? Who is the dark magician who seems to be behind most of the mischief going on and what is the power he serves? Is this new power that is introduced just a plot device for this book or is it to play a larger part in the overall story as seems likely? I just hate loose ends. It’s been a decade since this book was written; you would think they could have settled their differences by now.

Ok, we’ll give you a rest from mr Feist’s books for awhile though I’m now reading the original saga in the series. Library books I am afraid as I can’t afford them just now for my collection. Thanks for the listen.

Pet peeves and irritants

On Friday we’re subjected to that upbeat Canuck and his optimism and those posts that cheer everyone up so I figured, being the grouchy bastard that I am I’d subject everyone to a bit of a downer so you don’t get to upbeat tomorrow morning upon reading him. It’s Lent you know and time for some sackcloth and ashes, especially on Fridays

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Is it just me or is anyone else out there disgusted by some of commercials out there for munchables and potables? Those yogurt commercials where the woman sticks her snout in the container like a frikkin pig? Or the candy where everyone is snapping and chomping? Sounds of people munching or slurping their food or drink in commercials has always been a pet peeve of mine but the noise in that one is particularly foul. Or even those stupid rum commercials with the idiots doing stupid things to pick up chicks? Only good one in that series is the one where every one turns in their keys before partying. Ready to go back to drinking Myers full time again.

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Politician hollering that there is a budget shortfall so they need to raise taxes to make it up. Excuse me but are they even thinking? There are two problems with this. The first and more obvious one, I first thought about a few recessions back. The second never really dawned on me until the one ten years ago and many may not think it obvious but a little thought can bring it to light. The first problem is the timing of the tax increase. Yes they are proposed at a time it is necessary but the reason it is necessary is because the people that most of these taxes fall heaviest upon are also in the same straits as the government, they don’t have enough money either. So how is taking more from them at this time supposed to help? The second part of the equation isn’t as apparent but one just need dwell on it and the light should shine. The main question is how come government didn’t need all these increases and extra taxes years ago and got along just fine. True, there have been additional mandates that require some additional monies but there is another bug in the system. In depressed times taxes are raised to meet shortfalls but what happens when the economy swings upwards again? Are these taxes lowered as good times start to bring in revenue windfalls? In some cases certain percentages may be lowered but never back to their original levels. And a lot of other nuisance type taxes such as the one proposed on sugar added drinks in Philly these days usually stay there. Hell, there is still a tax on booze in PA for Johnstown flood relief. No, not that Johnstown flood, but one almost as bad and still quite awhile ago, 1936 to be exact. So these taxes help governments get over shortfalls but create windfalls when the economy booms again and instead of repealing the new taxes or at least setting aside extra funds for the next recession that everyone knows is inevitable, they go and spend the money by setting up additional services. What the hell, we got the money, we can do it. So now what happens when that inevitable recession hits again? N Now you not only have all the old programs that were out there but you have all these nice shiny new ones too. And you just know that the beneficiaries of all these programs that didn’t exist all that long ago are going to bitch as loud and long as those of programs started decades earlier about not getting anything cut. So now you have even bigger budget shortfalls. And the solution? Yup, you guessed it, new taxes. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. New programs, new taxes, new programs, etc., the serpent eats his own tail until he destroys the world. Doesn’t anyone ever remember the old adage that it is easier to refuse in the first place than it is to take back later?

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From something that affects us all to the insignificant but still a peeve. People who have to be the friend of everyone by getting them into events that are restricted to certain people or groups. In college it was the guy trying to get everyone past the door men in to the floor parties in the dorms. As you grow older you found them in other situations. The reason I bring this up is because a poker forum I belong to has been having a problem with gatecrashers in its freeroll league. Now I may go into more about the forum and its purpose and leagues in a later post but suffice to say they have a freeroll league in which the games are restricted to members who meet certain qualifications. For the most part the qualifications aren’t that tough and were put in place to make the games someplace where those wishing to could work upon their game without having to put up with the several thousand man donkfests full of people who just jump from freeroll to freeroll shoving everything hoping to get lucky and make a few dollars. It was formed back when the sites were looking for players and were more generous with their funds. In any case you were talking about somewhere between 50 to 100 runners instead of the giant minefields in the daily open freebies the sites put on. Now for various reasons both the prizes and fields have dropped but you can still get a few bucks to try and start bankroll building on sites you might not ordinarily deposit on. However it seems a person or two has decided that once he qualified for the passwords to the games he just had to inform some friends and occasionally someone would even post the password somewhere. Never seemed to occur to them that the prize in a freeroll is fixed and that unlike a buy in, where more players only increase the pot, here they only make it harder to cash, especially the run of the mill freeroll donk. Not to mention it screws it up for those new players that are hoping to learn something about the game, besides how to get sucked out on that is. Personally it doesn’t affect me much as I still play these games more to be sociable than anything but the fact that people do what needs to be done to qualify and maintain their right to play these games and some peckerwood is screwing things up pisses me off.

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Road crews n Pa and NJ. Why do the crews in these states need to block off miles of road while only working on a section of a few yards? Once in NJ I was tuck in a 2 ½ hour, 17 mile bottleneck while 3 guys patched potholes in the last 50 yards of the work area. WTF? A trip to North Carolina a couple years ago proved that that entire blockage isn’t necessary. There the road crews seemed to operate just find by starting the cones about a hundred yards or maybe two in front of their work area and opening them up about the same distance past. Keeps traffic flowing a lot faster.

Also the communication between some road crews and the traveling public. They have been doing work on a major highway in this area, one originally designed as a bypass to the former route that ran through the towns. This means that although the highway is faster there still a major road that can get you where you need to go without too much trouble. It seems the road crews working on this highway don’t really give a damn about relieving traffic however as, instead of posting the work ahead notices in front of the exits the wait until you drive by them to see they are working in the area. Even worse they don’t even post signs at the top of the on ramps so that people that can take another route would do so instead of adding to already backed up traffic. You might think they like having a bunch of pissed off drivers and giant traffic jams.

Now the biggee though I can’t include NJ in this one. Don’t know if it’s the road crews or the higher ups in the DOT who is responsible either but I would love to know what genius is responsible for deciding that while they are working on one major route and have it half, or even totally, shut down it would be a good time to start construction on the major alternate route or one of the feeders to it. That one is a sign of total genius and I have seen it happen 3 years running during the construction season in this area alone not to mention having run across it in other parts of the state at other times. May have to put the blame here on those intellectual giants in Harrisburg for these situations.

OK, enough of the irritants of life. Thanks for the listen.

Inane ramblings because I have nothing better to do

Definitely too much time on my hands. Reading at a greater pace than even I used to. Buying books at an unprecedented rate, Thanks to ABE and EBay. Playing a lot more poker than normal and now that I’ve returned to writing the dreck that fills this blog I’m pushing out as much crap as an overfed goose. If you aren’t sure how much that is go take a walk around one of those small ponds where the lazy ass birds have set up year round residency rather than migrate. Then go throw away your shoes. If you don’t have one of those handy then think of this; a county park in this area had to close down its lake to swimming a few years ago because of the bacteria count in the lake due to the goose population. Now that’s a lot of shit, almost as much as I shovel. Maybe I should hook up the nurses at the rehab hospital I spent some time in with a flock of geese. That should make them, the nurses, happy.

No book review today. Reading Clavell’s Tai Pan which I had first read in my college years. My copy had fallen apart and so hadn’t read it in many moons but found a copy sitting on the shelves of a used bookstore I was checking out last week. Not a great copy but for two bucks who can complain. Besides, I wanted to stay on the good side of the proprietor so figured buying something would help that. The store deals in used paperbacks and while I deal mainly in hardcover these days there are some books that never made it past paperback stage that I collect and wanted him to keep an eye out for me if any came in. Have another store I want to check out soon but don’t know when I’ll get there.

Not a good morning on Friday. Doctor visit and a funeral. Funeral was for my uncle even though I find it strange to call him that. First, he was only a few years older than I. Second, he was related through marriage being wed to my father’s youngest sister who grew up with a group of us cousins who we never really viewed as an aunt either. She was always Pat as opposed to Aunt Pat and he became just Bill. Bill has had lung problems for a couple of years and last year was finally put on the list for a transplant and was called to the hospital in the middle of the night last Dec. Everything seemed to go well and the doctors were optimistic that he would be out of the hospital soon. After the usual time he was moved from ICU to a regular room. That’s when the roller coaster started. As they were getting him ready to leave he caught an infection and then spent the next few weeks in and out of ICU. Doctors still thought they would get him through it but earlier this week he finally succumbed. The last thing he said was that he was tired. Guess he just couldn’t fight any more. What is ironic is that I heard the doctors said the transplant had been good and the lungs were in good shape. It was the infection that finally got him. Even more ironic was that the day after he passed there was a big article in the Philadelphia paper on a push by local hospitals to take steps to try and cut down on infections as they were causing too many problems and deaths. I just want to say again to his family that I’m sorry for your loss. He was much too young.

Could not stay for the memorial service as I had an appointment with the podiatrist also this morning. Might have canceled but it took me two weeks to get the appt. and another month and a half to get the name of the podiatrist to make it. Needed the visit because I have a wound on the bottom of my toe that just won’t heal. Being diabetic that’s a bad sign. Problem was a strange peculiarity of my health insurance, provided by Aetna. While it’s an HMO and I have a primary I can usually find a specialist that I like provided they are willing to take the HMO. For some strange reason this does not apply to podiatrists. It seems they link a podiatrist to the primary and you are required to see that podiatrist. Ran in to this same situation when I went for out patient rehab after the stroke. (What was that you said about the government health plan restricting choices if it passes?) Why they have these restrictions on certain specialties I have no idea. Be that as it may I had run in to some problems with the podiatrist assigned to my primary a few years back and he did not inspire a whole lot of confidence in me thanks to that situation. Other members of my family had found a podiatrist they liked whom my primary had recommended to them but when I checked him out his office rates were not something I could afford without insurance, especially in my current situation. A couple of my aunts had a podiatrist that they liked and seemed to have reasonable rates but getting his name was a struggle in itself. I don’t have a lot of contact with my aunts so I asked my mother to find out who this doctor was as she speaks with her sisters on a regular basis and I speak with her. However every time I would ask my mother if she got the name it was “I forgot to ask”. After a few weeks her memory improved and I finally got the name and then it was another week and a half before I could get an appt. Popular doctor.

So I get in the chair, slide off the boots and wait for the doctor when in marches an army. Seems I’m there on guinea pig day. In addition to the doc are 3 budding doctors, med school students in podiatry on the verge of graduation. So the doctor is asking them questions and letting them do the routine work while he supervises. All 4 of them were very personable and the doctor seems pretty knowledgeable. He inquires about my stroke and how it affected me and after I answer him he asks the students how they could have guessed my answer before I gave it. When they couldn’t answer he said to study my feet, that it was apparent that I was placing more pressure on my right so that it had to be my left side affected. Hell, even I didn’t realize I was still favoring my left leg when I walked. This is what is leading to my problem. When I damaged my toe most of it healed except for this one small spot. Since that spot is where you put the most pressure on your toe when you walk, and I’m putting more pressure there than I should anyway, I’m not giving it a chance to heal. He has a student do a bit of trimming around the spot, looks at it and says it looks well taken care of, no sign of infection but unless I can get off it, it ain’t gonna heal. So I ask him about a walking cast, an idea that came to me about two weeks ago and he says good idea. Also asked a couple other questions and found he agreed with what I was doing except I was using the wrong type of bandage. I was using a non stick telfa which I had been told to use when I had screwed up my toe in a similar fashion years ago. Good for that purpose he said but with this small little spot it was no good because the non stick bandage keeps in moisture which won’t allow it to heal and promotes infection. Who knew? Plain gauze from now on. As he was called away for a minute one of the students made a remark about my knowledge of certain medical facts and procedures. I tell her that when you are the genetic train wreck I am you kind of pick it up as you go through life and they all laugh. Doctor comes back, gives me some scripts including one for the walking cast and some x-rays and says come back I two weeks. I say ok and wish the students good luck in their future practices. If they keep their “bedside” manner the way it is now the patients they see will consider themselves lucky as long as the have the knowledge necessary which they did seem to have, at least as far as the routine care went. Only problem materialized when I got home. Tried reading the script for the cast to see if I could price them online before hitting a pharmacy or medical supply house and discovered what they say about doctor’s penmanship is true. At least this doctor’s. And I have plenty of practice trying to read my own chicken scratch. Well, we’ll figure something out.

OK, enough about my problems. We’ll let you go for now. Thanks for the listen.

Not quite another trip to Krondor

Title of this post is because, while the name of the book is Krondor: The Betrayal very little of it takes place in the city of Krondor. Most of it is situated in the outlands of the Western Kingdom. Betrayal is the first book of the Legacy sub series of Riftwar. The second book I talked about in the previous post and I enjoyed it so I figured to get the other books in the set. While Squire James is also one of the main characters in this book he shares more of the spotlight in this one with a much larger cast of characters. There is his friend, and fellow squire, Locklear, A Dark Elf chieftain Gorath, Owyn, a younger son of lesser nobility studying to be a magician, Pug, the pre-eminent magician of his time and the character who seems to have started the whole over arcing cycle and Patrus, a highly entertaining old coot and lesser magician.

The book starts with the coming of Gorath, a moredhel or dark elf, to a town on the Northern Borders of the Western Kingdom from the icy lands north of the mountains where most of his race has been forced due to the coming of humans. Needless to say the moredhel aren’t really fond of humans and due to a war or two between them, or at least where they were on opposite sides, most humans aren’t exactly willing to clasp them to their bosoms. That being said Gorath has decided to make common cause with the humans to save his people from what he considers a bigger danger and so comes out of the North bearing a warning for the Prince of Krondor. He comes across Squire Locklear of the Royal Court, who has been banished to the godforsaken locality to serve the local noble because of some dalliance with the wrong woman. Locklear decides that getting Gorath to the prince is worth risking his wrath at leaving the exile decreed for him. And off we go on another adventure in the Kingdom of the Isles. BTW, although there is a Kingdom of the Isles with a king and other nobles to go with it, it seems, at least in these books, that most of the fighting is done by the Western half of the kingdom and its ruling prince. The Eastern half seems to sit on its ass a lot. The book covers the various travels and travails of the squires, magicians and Gorath in one set of groups or another as they combat the danger that the moredhel saw threatening his folk and the humans. As in Assassins the adventure, and story, are fairly straightforward though Feist throws in a few twists and turns you might not see coming.

One wonders if Betrayal originally started out to be the beginning of a new sub series. It stands on its own even more than Assassins does as there is no previous story to refer back to the way Assassins sometimes does other than general references to the cycle as a whole and there is no lead in to future stories as there is at the end of Assassins. It makes a good start if one would like to start any of Feist’s books as it has a satisfactory conclusion and one wouldn’t know it was part of a series if one didn’t know any better.

All in all another good book by Feist and enough to have me looking for other books in the Riftwar Cycle as I have already ordered the third book of this subset, Krondor: Tear of the Gods. Right now I have my eye on the Serpent War saga, a set of 4 books set in Riftwar universe. Really would like to read the original Riftwar saga but still searching for a fairly good copy of the first novel, Magician. Seems that either there aren’t a whole lot of them around or people don’t wish to part with them.

Beginning to think that the stroke was a bigger problem than I thought it would be. Having not done much reading for over a year just because of the sheer difficulty of it with an arm that wouldn’t grip a book properly and having a lot of time on my hands owing to being without gainful employment because of it, I am back to reading with a vengeance. I always was a big reader but my forays to the bookstore occurred a couple times a year at which times I would load up on a hundred or so dollars worth of books, mainly paperbacks with the occasional hardback. When I started collecting I usually saved my money for purchasing early books, hardcover, of those authors I enjoyed and was collecting, some of which were not cheap, and spending my time doing a lot of rereading of books I had. Now, with time on my hands and the discovery of a few new authors I enjoy, my book collection is again expanding rapidly. For example Mr. Feist has published approximately 30 novels in the Riftwar cycle. I have 2 at present which means another 28 books, give or take, will be heading for my shelves depending on various factors. Not to mention there are still some books by those authors I am already collecting that I still do not have. Some, such as Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight and Dragonquest I may never own due to scarcity and cost, though I do have a signed copy of White Dragon. Others though are within my means, or were not too long ago, if I can just find the right copy. Be that as it may I seem to be buying books at a far greater pace than ever before and if I’m not careful I may soon be buried in them.

Hokay, enough for now. I hope my humble opinion was of some use to someone somewhere. I try not to go too far about the plot or scenes in the book as so not to spoil anything for the potential reader. If I should ever go too far just slap me. Thanks for the listen.

A trip to Krondor

Finished another book the other day, Krondor: The Assassins, a fantasy novel by Raymond Feist. Actually I finished 3 books but the other two were rereads. I picked up this book years ago on the bargain shelf when I couldn’t find anything else worth reading and it looked like something I might be interested in. However it took a number of false starts before I finally got into it. The dust jacket isn’t exactly designed to catch your eye as it is just a field of red with the title on it. Actually there is a background of two crossed swords but they don’t exactly jump out at you. Could have been one reason it subconsciously prejudiced me, dull looking dj, dull book. Finally decided to give it another go and I found I enjoyed it.

Assassins is the second book of Feist’s Riftwar Legacy series, itself a sub series of his Riftwar novels. Actually Riftwar is a series of three books but it was the beginning of the whole shebang which amounts to about 20 or so novels in a bunch of sub series all taking place with the same background. In addition the Riftwar Legacy books are based on a computer game which in turn was based on the original series. I hate starting a series in the middle but considering the problems I had starting this book I wasn’t rushing out to buy the first one so I guess I had to live with it. Wasn’t too bad as the story can stand on its own. There is some back story to it in the first book, indeed in all the previous books dealing with Riftwar, but except for references here and there in the story and a bit of a lead in to the rest of the series at the end you can read this on its own though you probably won’t. This is actually a good thing because, while three books have been published, five books seem to have been planned but due to some kind of dispute between Mr. Feist and the game company the last two might never be published. I hate when I get left hanging.


As I mentioned in my earlier review of Parker here is another author whose strong suit is characters and he has a raft of them. Only time I’ve seen such a large list of characters sharing the stage has been in shared universe type books where different authors set their own characters amid those of other authors. Here one man is responsible for them all. The main protagonist of Assassins is Squire James, aka Jimmy the Hand, a thief who has risen to Court rank somewhere in previous books. It is set mainly in the city of Krondor, the capital city of the Western half of the Kingdom of the Isles, which in turn is set on the world of Midkemia. Being a fantasy there are magicians, royalty, mercenaries, elves, trolls, thieves, assassins and so on and so forth all over the place. Assassins, as the name says, deals mainly with the fact that someone, or something, is wiping out a good portion of certain classes of citizens in the city of Krondor. The prince of the city, having a number of other problems on his hands, needs to find out who is responsible and why and puts the problem in the capable hands of Squire James, who once roamed the disreputable highways of the city’s underworld as the young thief Jimmy the Hand. This is a mixed blessing for while James knows his way around and still has the abilities and contacts from his former way of life; he also has a death mark upon him from the Thief’s Guild for breaking faith with them when he joined the royal Court. Of course the Guild has some problems of its own as they are one of the groups the killers are picking off. Complicating matters on the other side of the scale, the prince, in addition to the problems in his city, has some visiting nobility from another kingdom who seem bent on pursuing dangerous pastimes. So the story follows James as he winds his way through the sewers and over the rooftops of Krondor as he tries to solve the mystery of the whys and wherefores of the city’s killings and the adventures of his friend William who has just become a member of the Prince’s guard and is given the mission of protecting the visiting nobility, no small task.

Feist writes a straightforward, easy to read story. While his world may have as many different races and religions as Tolkein’s he doesn’t carry the development of the mythos to the extremes Tolkein did. You don’t need all the appendices and concordances to get all the nuances in his stories. While reading his books in some kind of order would probably give a bit more understanding he does explain enough in the stories themselves to get you by with what you need to know without going into excessive back story. I found myself reading the novel in about 2 days which might translate to 3-5 days for the average Joe given that I am a fairly fast reader who doesn’t need to worry about getting up for work in the morning. I mention that because Feist knows how to keep your attention so that you really don’t wish to put the book down even at the end of a chapter and so I went a bit later in to the night than I really wished to. So if you are in to fantasy novels I can recommend Raymond Feist’s Krondor The Assassins though you might want to start with Krondor The Betrayal, the first book in the sub series. As I enjoyed Assassins I went and found me copies of the other two books in the series and am in the middle of the first one now. The third one I ordered but it seems the store had sold their copy so had to do some searching for another one. These are first editions of the hardcovers as I am a bit of a collector of authors I enjoy. Paperback copies are readily available online.

If my opinion of the book helps I’m glad to have been of service. Thanks for the listen.

PS

While I didn't get my threefer at last night's BL game I did get 5th which put a few more points on the scoreboard.

On a roll

Made a quick recovery it seems. League buy-in game Monday night after a long weekend of poker and wasn’t quite up to playing but as I won the first match of the month I didn’t want to handicap myself by missing the game. Have my sights set on winning the league this month and no sense trying to do it with one hand behind my back. Too many good players to give them a handicap. This game was at UB, an interface I don’t feel I’m fighting all the time so down I sat.

Grabbed a few chips early on and was doing fairly well when I made a stupid mistake. Somehow I hit the call button instead of the fold when preflop raise was made and I was holding 6-7. Kind of ironic considering my previous statement about the interface although I think this was more due to my touchpad than that. Anyway the flop came Q-x-6 and the raiser checked so I threw out a tester of about 1/3 the pot and was called. Turn brought a 7 and another check and another bet, a bit stronger this time and a check raise. Should have known better and dumped the hand, especially as this guy had my number the previous night, but kind of hard to turn loose of two pair so I called. Either I was slightly ahead to an A-Q or way behind to a set and the bet wasn’t big enough to cause me to turn loose. The river a blank and he bets and I call and he was sitting on a set of queens. So I make a dumb mistake that is compounded by actually getting a hand and still get smoked for not quite half my chips. It’s still early however and I still have more than the starting stack. After that though I went in to a stall, card wise. Deadly as the table turned aggressive and I was getting a run of 8-2 or 9-4s. Blinds started to hurt as I couldn’t even risk defending. Fold followed fold. Every so often I’d throw out a raise and steal some chips but that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Went on like that until it folds to me in the SB and I’m sitting with K-4 suited so I figure against the BB it’s time to raise. I do, he calls. UH-oh, not good, need a flop. It don’t help, A-x-5, rainbow. I throw out a c-bet anyway and he raises. Guy has had my number for two days now. About ready to fold and then I figure what the hell. Those bets have hurt my dwindling stack even more and maybe this guy is thinking c-bet and trying to push me off. WTF, all in. Now he is chip leader with about twice my stack but a call can hurt him as the two others are on his heels and there aren’t a lot of chips in play due to a small field. He thinks for a bit and mucks showing Aces up. Aces up? He folded aces up? I didn’t think any one folded aces up at this level. Have to keep my eye on this guy in future games. Anyway I breathed a sigh of relief and it was like the damn had broken. I started to finally catch some cards. This allowed me to win a few pots showing good cards which, in addition to rising blinds, allowed a bit more stealing until we got down to 3 and I was decent position chip wise. A good read on catching someone with his hand in the cookie jar doubled me up and gave me a massive lead. All downhill after that and I score back to back wins in the buy in league. Was just trying to get some points to keep my lead but I can’t complain about winning. Gives me some more cash on UB and a pretty good sized BL lead. It’s early yet however and still a number of games to go so I can’t rest on my laurels yet. I might however be able to skip the games on those sites where I have no funds, think there are 2 of them. Of course I can try and cash a freeroll league game on those sites to give me something to play with. Or I can go for the threefor since the next game is on AP tonight. If I can grab some points there I’ll be in pretty good shape. If I win the war is over, call in the boats and piss on the admiral. I’m gunning for the win.


Despite my big poker weekend I am slightly depressed. Been reading all the blog posts about Mastodon weekend and sounds like another great time has passed me by. One of these days I’m going to be able to get to these things. Glad you folks had a great time.

Thanks for the listen.

It was a long weekend

Ok, hurdle 2 down, home game done. Turned out to be a decent night though it didn’t start that way. Was down a buck in the first 90 minutes. I rarely go down that much the whole night unless I get coolered a time or two. After all it’s only a quarter/half game. This time it was mainly bleeding though I did payout a few bucks I shouldn’t have. Twice I had the nuts on the flop only to have a guy catch up on the turn and both times I knew he had. Not just knew it in the sense that I figured it by the call and the card that hit but literally knew it because he telegraphed it when it did hit. Tells aren’t my strong suit but a blind man could have seen these. On one he literally jumped when it hit the board.

Took a time out to slip in a political commentary. Usually avoid such, mainly because they do no good any more. Not going to enlighten anyone, they already know every thing, so why bother. This time however after listening to all the bullshit about healthcare lately my ire was sent over the top by an email I received from a good friend, passing on some ridiculous bit of propaganda, supposedly based on something from a FOX News commentator and full of half truths and distortions, I just had to vent. My friend, whom I love like a brother even if we don’t quite see eye to eye on our political views, has the habit, as do a lot of folks, of passing on email that fits his preconceived notions without checking to see if they are factual or not. Most times I don’t worry about it, maybe send back a link debugging the myth if it is such or maybe a chuckle if what he sent was true and I enjoyed it but this one, on top of the other crap just made me have to vent. So I did. Now back to poker.

What part of turbo don’t people seem to understand? Normally I don’t play turbo. While I play quickly I don’t like to be rushed and I’m much more comfortable with longer levels. I’m not an action junkie so I don’t need the rush but these things are popular so I guess a lot of folks are. Sites must love them as they clear tables quicker. Anyway somehow I got persuaded to play the mini-FTOPS on Tilt for a buck with the 5 minute blinds. You would think people would kind of move along but most of them just mosey along as if there was all the time in the world. So why play turbo if you are going to play at snail’s pace? Just another reason I don’t like turbos. Just got knocked out. Won $6 so it wasn’t a bad ROI although that 9 grand first would have a lot nicer. Considering it was a drop down to an all in situation, double up and play some more the whole time I was in it I guess I can’t complain. Still in the OFC which started while the mini FTOPS was underway.

Started the OFC fast then rode the rollercoaster for a couple hours. Made the money but not a whole lot. Wound up in the 3rd level of the cash but again I couldn’t get much traction after the first couple of levels. The weak aces killed me. People just won’t let them go but they are afraid to bet them also. They kill me in these low limit buy ins. I bleed chips betting second pairs when everyone checks around.

Finished up a long weekend of poker with the first game of GFN’s forum wars. As I stated earlier I made the team as a result of the staff vote so didn’t want to fall flat on my face here. Wanted a decent showing if for no other reason than to prove they didn’t make a mistake in thinking I was good enough to help the team. This month’s games are played on Power Poker and boy was it an experience. Again I got off to a hot start which should have been hotter. Third or fourth hand I turned the nuts and check raised my opponent. I then value bet the river when it showed a blank and got called. If I had known he was holding second nuts I would have shoved. Could have used the extra chips. Added a few chips here and there and was chip leader early on. Disaster hit in the form of a bad card when my K-K ran in to A-K and the A hit the turn. Left me very short just as the tourney took a crazy turn. The blind structure of this tourney was ridiculous. Once past the third level it became a lottery. One guy remarked he was in the top 5 and had only 17 BBs. Not a good time to be a short stack. For me it became a game of wait for the moment and shove and then cross your fingers. Somehow I crawled out of the hole and got myself back up to the chip leaders by doing a good Greg Raymer imitation winning almost every race that came down the pike. The few I lost weren’t major so I stayed among the leaders and when I got lucky by sucking out of a dominated position I hit the final table in good position. Looked good for the forum I was playing for as we had 3 runners at the final and when we got down to the last 4 it was two from our forum and two from another. To cut it short the other forum went 1-2. I wound up 4th. Tried to get tricky with small pockets and made a misread and wound up donking most of my stack to a slightly higher pocket pair. Was left with a couple hundred chips with humongous blinds but actually doubled up 4 straight times before finally meeting my fate. As a capper to a long weekend of poker it was a rush. Congratulations to the members of the Suited Pockets forum for the 1-2 finish. Good game.

Can’t say I like that 4th place finish but guess I can’t complain too loudly either considering that this game took me entirely out of my comfort zone. I prefer to grind my way through a tourney rather than go for the quick kill. With this structure though that wasn’t happening. I found myself shoving hands that I would normally take my time with. The 8-8 was my friend yesterday. I shoved that combo at least 7 times yesterday counting all the tourneys and it came through every time. Add in the fact I was very short at level 3 and I guess I’ll have to live with the 4th and plan to do better in the next 3 tourneys. It’s gonna get interesting.

Well I never thought the day would come when I would say these words but after a long weekend of the game I am finally pokered out. It was hectic to say the least and I have to recover quickly as there is another buy in league game tonight. Normally I might pass on the game to catch a breath but right now I have a lead to protect. Guess I’ll relax with a book for awhile. Thanks for the listen.

A Political Interlude

Time Out for a political moment. Usually avoid these, which is strange as I was a Poly Sci major, but was listening to the news and hear where the GOP thinks the health care bill is too big and expensive and says they should start all over. Yea, sure, right. Where have they been for the past year? Maybe if they had seriously worked on getting a proper bill written from the beginning instead of spreading misinformation, trying to scare people and just generally being obstructionist something decent might be ready to go instead of this abomination that is out there. Actually I don’t think the Republicans seriously want to start over anyway. They are just anticipating on making big gains in the off year elections and figure if they can delay they will be able to kill any bill next year.

FYI for all you people who might read this who have bought into the scare tactics. Not being able to choose your own doctor? Most can’t do that anyway. Hell, that went out the window as soon as HMOs became widespread so what’s the difference between the government or an insurance company restricting your choices? Socialism and government run medicine? Does that mean you are willing to give up your Medicare benefits or VA care for those eligible for those in the name of capitalism? Get healthcare at work? What happens if/when you become unemployed? Or maybe if your employer decides he can’t afford the cost any more? How many of you know that not only does your employer have to pay the insurance premium but he also pays a broker to deal with the insurance companies for him and that his commission his based on the amount paid to the insurance companies? Not a lot of incentive to keep the insurance costs down now is there? Sure the big companies have the wherewithal to keep an eye on their broker and to switch if they feel he isn’t doing his job properly but how about the smaller ones? The ones who don’t know if that 10% increase they are being told is necessary is a hard or soft increase, one that can be negotiated down. Many small companies rely on their broker and in many cases their broker might be a friend or just someone they have grown comfortable with and they aren’t really ready to go shopping around for a new broker. Considering that small companies are the most likely to pass increases on through to their workers and, as we are constantly being told, small companies are the ones that employ the majority of workers in this country where is this going to leave a lot of people in the near future if something isn’t done about the current situation?

That’s all I’m going to say about the situation for the moment except for this reminder since there seems to be a lot of short memories out there. The current administration is under fire for not solving a lot of problems especially the economic situation. It’s like everyone expected Obama to take the Oath, bend over, pull a magic wand out of his ass and make everything better. The previous admin had 8 years to screw the situation up with all the dismantling of the regulations that kept companies from doing the things they did to cause this situation. This admin has been in office slightly over a year. They may not have turned things around just yet, don’t even know if the will, but they have stopped the hemorrhaging. Are we so ready to tear off the bandages and give power back to the group that caused this situation in the first place? I’m not enamored of this admin as of right now but I’m at least willing to give it some time. Problem is we’ve become a country of instant gratification and if something doesn’t work in 5 minutes were ready to jump to something else.

That’s all I have to say about the situation for now. Thanks for the listen

More poker

Sitting here waiting for the OFC at Tilt to start wishing I had gone to G-Vegas. Would love to meet a number of people who I’ve enjoyed knowing through their posts and their support of mine. Would also love to find a shuflleboard table and renew my honor, and get my money back from the Black Widow since she was going to be there. Course it could be I might contribute to her bankroll. She’s good. Since a small medical matter and a prior commitment on Sunday made it impractical to make the trip I decided what better way to spend the weekend than playing poker.
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Started last night with the game for the buy in league at Poker Analysis. Was only a $3 buy in, most of the league games are either $3 or $5 but we got about 50 runners plus the added to put the first place payout around $55. I like these games. You get a good mix of very good players, good players who think they are better than they are because they are extremely lucky and donks. Basically the same mix you get at your live buy ins in AC so it’s good practice. In fact the leagues, actually the board itself, was originally designed as a place to not only chat about poker but to help improve your game. Their freeroll games, unlike a lot of sites, required a time period between joining the board and playing the games plus a decent contribution to the boards themselves. You also had to remain somewhat active on the boards to continue to play. Needless to say a number of people have, and are still trying to improve their game while others just roll along in blissful ignorance. To make a long story short, I won. Actually I steamrollered through most of the game. Both the cards and my game were on. That’s a tough combo to beat. The early game was a grind, mainly collecting blinds and the occasional limper. In fact that’s how most of the game went except for the times I caught a hand and someone in front decided to go all in. The boards were kind and I wish it had been a sniper game with the number of takeouts I had. I was big chip leader by the time the final table hit and I had double the chips of the other three when we got down to the final four. Heads up was a real bitch because it was against one of the better league players and he had a nose for the trap. I had gone from aggressive to trapping mode trying to sucker him in as he can get aggressive at times but he seemed to smell every one but the last when he actually made a hand also. Well played David, especially as I had you out chipped by a wide margin. So I match my win from last month but this time I get to sit atop the leader board. Won the first game lat month but forgot to register my table name for the sight so while I got the money I received no league points. Silly me.

So I started off with a bang. Now it’s time for the OFC freeroll at Tilt. For some strange reason I registered under RPT instead of PA as I usually do for these things. Let’s see how I do. If I do well I’ll probably hear about it on the boards, especially as the staff voted me on the team for this months Forum Wars. Oh well, I registered for the OFC before they gave me that honor. Don’t even know why I used the RPT listing as I haven’t played one of their games in months. Not being able to shuffle does put a kink in games where I need to deal but I’m probably the only one registered under them and I always did like to be the odd ball.

After the OFC it’s off to a live game at palatial Snakster Manor. It’s a fun game though not now what it once was. I met Snakster, Ron, through playing RPT games and heard about the games he held at his house. At that time they were fairly filled and people wrangled for an invite. Somehow I got myself one. It’s a fun game; people are good and fairly serious players. Ron himself is a very good player and also a very good judge of bourbon. Another reason the game is so good is that you get some excellent bourbon or rye if that’s your tipple. Ron also has a chip fetish. The cards and chips for the game are top of the line or damned close to it but Ron will get himself a nice set of chips and grow bored with them after a while and go looking for something new. He will talk all night about chips if you get him started. A good man to consult though if you are looking to get a good set of chips. One problem with the game is it is erratic. He used to hold it around once a month, maybe 6 weeks. Now you never know when he might text, game on. Don’t think his wife is sympathetic to us poker players even though her father sits in for a couple hours at the start of the game. “Pops” is a great guy though when he’s in a hand one never knows whether he has bottom pair or the stone cold nuts. Unpredictable he is. The other problem is you never know who is going to show up anymore. Since seating is limited only so many invites go out and lately a number of people say yes and then never show and by that time it’s hard to get someone to fill the seat. By then most off the fish you might call to donate have found another pond to swim in. Ah well, he’s called a game for tonight and that satisfies an urge that has been building since I haven’t been able to get to AC. Gonna go play some cards, drink some bourbon and hopefully have a good enough night to cover the chiropractor’s visit and dinner from yesterday.

Interlude here. Not enough guts to fire a third bullet costs me. Flop open ended with a flush draw in the OFC. Fire on flop and turn but give up on river. Character was chasing a gutter ball and his crap was higher than mine.

Ok, back to the story. As if this isn’t enough poker Sunday is also filled with it. In the afternoon I’m in for the buy-in part of the OFC followed by the GFN’s Forum Wars game in the evening. Was voted on to the team by the staff of PA so hope to make a good showing. First game is a freeroll so don’t know what to expect. Will they play decently as they are representing something or will it be the old hell it’s a freeroll mentality? Guess we’ll find out.

Well, as I finish this, and my plate of Singapore noodles, it seems I also finish in the OFC a very lackluster 2500 and something, or thereabouts. My short stack shove with 9-9 met a pair of tens and the board did no help. Hopefully my luck is better tonight. Will bore you with those details later. Thanks for the ear.

Book report

Just finished reading Split Image by Robert B. Parker. Regret it’s going to be one of the last of his I will read as Mr. Parker passed on in January. Think there is one more Spenser novel in the pipeline for later this year and there are still 2 or 3 of his early ones I don’t have but it looks like finis for another of my favorite authors. Another sign you are growing old is when the authors you have enjoyed for 30-40 years start disappearing. Going to have to start looking for some new ones to follow.

Split Image was the 9th Jesse Stone novel. For those who don’t follow, Jesse Stone was an L.A. homicide cop whose ex-wife drove him to drink and he wound up as a police chief in a small coast Mass. Town. Lotta crime for such a small town. The book is enjoyable as are all of Parker’s works but it’s not one of his best. It’s not one I would recommend that a newcomer to his works start with.

Parker is not a convoluted plotter such as Agatha Christie or Dick Francis. His strength is in how his stories flow along and especially in his characterizations and in his characters interactions with each other. His most notable creations, Spenser and Hawk have some of the best patter going between them I have read. That being said I think the plot here is a bit weaker than usual. In fact there are two plots here because it seems that Parker was on the path towards combining the characters from two of his series, Stone and Sunny Randall, a Boston P.I. She had her own series of about 6 books but there hasn’t been one lately and while she has appeared in the Jesse Stone books before she takes up a large part of this one. So while the book is about the same length as the others there are two plots running and except for the interaction of the characters, they’re sleeping together, there is no real link to the stories. Basically it’s like two novellas combined to form a novel.

All that being said it’s still a good read if you like Parker and I think almost anyone would like Parker if they start somewhere else. If they start here they may think him a bit weak and just brush him off. Any of the Spenser books would be a good start or if interested in Stone the first one, Night Passage gives the basic back story. Parker reads fairly straightforward, no pausing to try and remember some small thing that happened way back in the first chapter or trying to figure out 6 degrees of relationships. I stumbled across him one day when I was bored and the store had nothing that that tickled my fancy. I took a chance on a Spenser novel of Parker’s called Potshot and I’m glad I did. Started me reading, and then collecting his books. A shame there won’t be many more too enjoy.

On that note I’ll wrap this up and thank you for listening. Keep reading

Some quickies

Just some fast and furious nuggets.

Sitting here playing some poker and looking over the blogs I’ve not been reading and notice that I’m not the only one who has taken a hiatus from writing. Either that links to those sites have been broken. Going to have to check to see if some folks actually quit or if they just upgraded their sites.

Reading about Mastodon Weekend. Shows how much I’ve aged and what the stroke took out of me. Time was I would think nothing of hopping in the car and driving through the night. Only thing to stop me would have been thoughts of work. Now there is no work to hold me back but as much as I would love to make the trip I’m not sure I want to make that drive alone. This from a guy who used to travel to Chicago by car by his lonesome a couple times a year. Not that I can’t make this trip, just the fact that I’m even thinking and rethinking it worries me. I’m getting old, no two ways about it.

Back at the limit at Cake. My hot streak seems to have ended today. The suckouts are coming fast and furious. Got guys not only calling me but raising with nothing but then catching on the river. Had one guy cap every round with a K-Q off against my set of tens and hit the gutter ball on the river. I could have done the same thing a few times but I’ve got the sense to bail when I have squat. Of course the squat turned into the nuts by river time. Looks like the bear is having a nice lunch.

I’ve got to get my library database finished. Seems I just wasted money on a book I already have. Was reading the summary and knew I hadn’t read it before so I ordered it. Got here today and I went to enter it in the database and lo and behold, it’s already listed. Purchase date on it is the week right before the stroke. Must have been in a batch of books I bought just before the stroke and never got around to reading. They were some of the first I tried to catalog a couple months back when I first started the project and then I packed them away to get them out of my bedroom. O well, only an EBay purchase for about $5-6 including shipping. Just as well too as I’m not really happy about the purchase. Book not quite up to the description Not real bad, just not something I would add to my collection unless it was a scarce commodity, which this one isn’t. More fodder for the e-store if I ever go that route.

Speaking of libraries, I was reading in their latest newsletter that they offer different kinds of classes and training, both classes and one on one session, through volunteers. Thinking I might go down and offer my services with computers. Not the greatest teacher on a group starting from scratch basis, not really patient enough, but if someone has an idea of what they want to do I can usually explain that to them. So maybe I’ll head down and see if they can use my services. Who knows, may make some useful contacts.

Well, time to get some things done before the poker league game tonight so I guess this trip to the land of boredom is over for now. Thanks for the listen.