What the hell

Hello folks, been awhile. Number of issues have kept me away and may do so again but some folks persuaded me to write again so I thought I might try. We’ll see what happens.

Snowing out there right now, it’s been that kind of winter, and the snow has just highlighted one of the reasons I’ve been gone. It just rubs my face in to the fact I fell helpless at times. Though I’ve recovered some use of my arm after the stroke it’s still weaker than I thought it would be now. Add in some lingering weakness in my leg and just some general all around lousy conditioning thanks to a couple of other problems that have kept me from the gym the last few months and I can’t do a frikkin thing about all this snow on the ground. Hell I can’t even lace up my boots properly without a struggle. While never the most ambitious of persons I never had to rely on others to do my work for me. It’s enough to drive anyone into a blue funk. We’ll see if we can keep from diving back in.

Speaking of work I finally convinced myself that I wasn’t going to make it back into the workforce in any foreseeable future. I knew I was out of back up options due to the fact I can’t really walk for more than a block at one time, and still need my cane, nor even stand up for any extended period. Always thought that I could get myself back in the IT field however, no great need for physical labor there as long as you can get someone to carry the equipment when needed. My hand however, has decided to disabuse me of those notions. When I first started getting the use of it back it came along so fast that I thought that I’d be up and running by January. Last January that is. Then I figured maybe by October that made it a year. Well, October has come and gone and I’m still typing one handed. Don’t get me wrong, it has improved, slowly, but it’s still not nimble enough to work a keyboard the way it needs to be massaged nor to work with the small bits and connectors that make up the hardware of a computer. Adding insult to injury my arthritis, a bane for over 30 years, has finally decided to start playing hell with my good hand. Basically what all this adds up to is that I finally let myself be convinced to file for disability. It’s not something I really wanted to do. Not only does the government put you through hell, or so I’m told, to qualify but it forces on you a realization that you are no longer a productive member of society. You can’t even support yourself let alone those that depend on you. You now depend on others. . Unemployment was bad enough. There’s always the feeling that you’ll get back in there on day, just need a break. Disability is permanent. It’s a scary feeling.

So, we’re back and we’ll see where it goes. Will probably be less poker discussed, though still some, as when I’m in poker playing moods I kind of forget about other things and so I can never really get to the keyboard while things are fresh in my memory. Probably be more on books, movies, my doings in the garden (right now I have two willow trees that I forgot to get in the ground last fall growing in pots in my basement) and other assorted things. I am reading at a greater rate than I had been as the arm has gotten strong enough to hold up a hardback for a decent length of time though nothing compared to my former days. Turning pages can still be a bitch though with my recalcitrant fingers. I may have to go looking for my old keyboards also for my desktop computers as the split boards I have come to love so much over the last few years just aren’t made for one handed work. Well it feels good to be back, now at least, and we’ll try and keep you informed of my trials and tribulations with good old Uncle as I wind my way through the disability tango.

Thanks for those of you who have come back to read this and Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to return.

Almost the end of a long weekend

Let’s finish the weekend up. After a few hours sleep I went back to get my final hours in. Now I’m just looking for some fun and to kill time and that’s mostly what I did yet I did wind up in two big pots and a controversy.

First big hand was when I pulled pocket aces. Preflop it gets capped. Pair of Ks hit the board on the flop along with 2 spades. Crap, just what I needed. Someone bats and I raise just to see what’s happening because in a 2-4 game hardly anyone will bet their trips, they love to try and trap at the $4 level. Couple of limpers and the better reraises. OK, an unusual player, he bets his trips. Either that or he bets his draws like hell. A caller in front of me and with the other limpers behind me I figure I gotta see the $2 even though the As are more than likely shot at this point. Bingo, the turn is the magic A, the A of spades putting the flush draw out there but giving me second nuts. Only quad Ks have me now although the river can also put a potential royal out there. Original better bets, a caller, I raise, another guy comes along, better raises, the other caller drops out, I cap, and the third player also drops. We go to the river heads up. It’s a blank, he bets I raise, he reraises I reraise again and he goes one better. Damn, does he have the quads? He’s been with me all the way and the table murmurings make it known that most realize I have ppAs. I raise once more figuring if he reraises I’m just calling. Yes, you can’t be afraid of the quads and if the bad beat had been Aces full of paint the way it was in other Harrah’s places I would have pushed it to the moon but the had recently switched Bally’s to Quads being the minimum beat so the bad beat was not in play. Also I was just trying to kill time, not looking to clean house, though it would be nice but that’s a nice pot already so what the hell. He reraises again and I call. Should have pushed. He’s moving with the nut flush having the Q-J of spades in his hand. Almost hit his Royal but not quite. Ah well, so I missed out on maybe another $20-30 he had in front of him. Pot was nice anyway. Too bad it didn’t stick around long. Few hands later I shoved most of it over to the guy to my left when he had As full to my Ks full. Only most of it however as I realized he was sitting with A-A by the river. Easy come, easy go.

A bit later I’m in the middle of a controversy when I catch a third K on the river and call Ks at the showdown. The woman mucks her cards on the table but not in the muck pile and before the dealer can sweep them in her brother tells her she mucked the nut flush. She reaches out, turns the cads and sure enough it’s there. The dealer starts to give her the pot and I say no, she mucked. Dealer says that the cards never touched the muck pile so they are still live. I request the floor and as the dealer explains the situation to him I pull another card from the deck. Rather than go with a decision on whether the cards were mucked or not I call the one player per hand rule. She didn’t see the flush, her brother did and he isn’t even in the game, just standing behind her. If he hadn’t said anything she never would have known. The floor actually ruled in my favor on both counts. The one player per hand was a no brainer but he then said that the hand was mucked once she tossed the cards. She made a bit of a fuss but her brother got in high dudgeon and delivered a rant about what went on for a minute or two and stormed off. WTF is your problem, you aren’t even playing? The rest of the time was spent playing for fun and chatting with the couple next to me whom I had run across a couple of times over the weekend. They are one of those retired couples I mentioned earlier who come down on a regular basis to enjoy themselves. Nice people and made the afternoon enjoyable I played until I figured I had enough hours plus a couple extra. Went to the desk to try and find my hours for the month but no one could give me them. Told me to call on Mon. Told them that did me no good, I didn’t want to leave and find a was short an hour or two so that’s why I played the extra. After 2 marathon sessions, a couple of round trips to AC and only about 4 hours sleep I was ready to pack it in so when I figured I had enough plus I finally went home. Most of the day was spent either up around $30 or down about the same and I left on the down note. How down I didn’t realize but that’s another tale.

For those of you still interested in the stroke front the arm is still coming along but progress is in such small increments that I don’t really notice them until after awhile. I just noticed that I’ve lost the spastic movement in my arm when I’m startled or I sneeze or whatever. It used to just fly out of its own accord at such times but now it stays put, moving no more than usual at such times. My fingers are a tad more flexible also. I can bend my thumb to touch my ring finger without much trouble now, something that was damned near impossible a month ago. The pinkie is still out of reach however. I am also near to flipping the bird left handed now. I get about ¾ curl on the fingers and about ¾ straitening on the middle finger. It’s the ability to operate the fingers separately that brings hope. I did find out though that trying to use a bottle opener to uncap a beer is still a risky proposition. Not enough grip strength to hold the bottle down against the force of the opener. Summer’s going to be a bitch if I can’t open beers. I hate cans. Oh well, one step at a time.

Enough for now. It’s a beautiful day here and I think it’s time to go spread some Milky Spore on the lawn since it’s fresky cut and they are calling for rain again in the next day or two. Adios amigos and thanks for your attention.