The bills keep mounting and the income keeps dwindling. I know I am not alone feeling that I work more to make less, and those of us in that boat agree we are happy to have a job at all. I thank God for it everyday, but it would be nice not to have ‘too much month left at the end of the money’ once in awhile. Then when I think I will have a month where I actually may be able to go do something like visit my sis, it is Truck/RV insurance time, property taxes, plumber bills…it never ends. None of this brings rays of sunshine breaking through the black clouds in my head.

And speaking of weather related topics, we have had the most mild winter here I have seen in six years. The rest of the country is getting pounded and here, I have dirt and mud where there should be a couple of feet of snow. But I know why, because I spent a ton of $$ on a Ranger with a fancy snow plow. If I didn’t have the damn thing there would be 25 ft of snow in the driveway and I would be snowed in.

For quite awhile now I feel like a fish flopping on the shore, not sure how to get back into the water, not sure if that is where I should even be. Can’t figure out what the next move should be, what I want or what to possibly look forward to. Maybe working to just pay bills IS life but it sure sucks. Yep my attitude on life has not been anything joyful to write about, so I stay away.

Poker. Just the word makes me ill. I hate it right now. Last night was the PW family tourney and I had to force myself to enter and tried my best to get out as soon as I could. The only reason I wasn’t out real fast is I made some miracle hand I didn’t even see could be made. There were FreeRolls on PokerStars I qualified for, the $2k donkafests every weekend. Yesterday the field was only 300+ but not to worry I couldn’t even best that many. The last tourney I played for money was the $250k last weekend. The donkass in front of me raised every hand and I mucked crap every hand until the dreaded AA. He didn’t disappoint, he raised, I raised, he raised and I went all-in for a total of about $4k. Was I surprised he raised me a zillion times and couldn’t wait to go all-in with a 7-7? Nope. Was I surprised when a 7 hit the river? Nope…. not surprised but extremely pissed off.

The last tourneys I have played in, I have been shown the door with AA, KK, QQ, JJ and 10-10. I can’t stomach it anymore. So I have decided not to play anything that costs money until my mental attitude and luck changes. IF I play (doubtful at this point) it will be FreeRolls only. I did the 0 to $1,400 thing a couple of years ago and the best part of it all was - I didn’t invest a dime. I have no clue how people play a million tournaments a week and fade the beats, I can’t do it. When I play I feel like my brains are splattered all over my monitor, getting beat by Q-6 off suit is something I can’t get used to or accept. I would however love to know where those players get the money to keep playing that bad though, because if I played like that I would have to sell my house to pay for my poker habit.

The next time I will be at the tables will be for the SCOOP event since I have a couple of free tickets and honestly, I don’t even know when that takes place. But I will, as I will write about it. For now, it is poker break time (except for the written word) which my mind really needs badly. To the rest of you - good luck with the poker battle, I have to get my brains wiped off the monitor.

Back to credit. I have been playing the $3.30 R/A tourney in the afternoon on PokerStars. Most days my compadre Linda is there too which is the most fun for me as we can sweat each other and cuss up a storm when either of us gets a bad beat. Yep, we do a LOT of cussing. I was struggling in the tourney and doing ok until I got AQ and called a raise from Mr. UTG. Flop was A-7-3 rainbow with one diamond. UTG bet and I called (mistake 1) the turn was a Jd and he fired again and I called thinking maybe he had AK or AJ. River was a blank diamond and he went all-in. I called (mistake 2) I had him covered so I wasn’t busto when he showed the Q-10 of diamonds.

Mistake one was not raising him on the flop. I gave him credit for being a player which I do all too often in these donkfests. I don’t give anyone credit during the rebuy period as 95% of them play any two cards and if they go broke they just get more chips. But this hand was well after the R/A time was done, so I gave him credit for having something and not wanting to blow his chips as he couldn’t rebuy. WRONG! Mistake #2 was calling on the river when it was runner runner diamonds.
I should have given him credit for making a miracle flush but I didn’t. But I had been watching his play and to say it was awful would be again, giving him too much credit. I have to learn to give credit to where it is due.

Every tourney, every table, has the long-eared seat who plays anything till the end, stuffing big hands and having the most chips going into the 2nd period (after rebuys). It really makes me think playing good is of absolutely NO advantage. Ok I know that in normal situations this thinking is way off, but I can’t think of these tourneys as anywhere near normal.

The last three I have been in have had mostly Latin players at my table, which really makes me wonder if this is normal play for players in their country? Don’t ask me where they are from, I can’t begin to pronounce the names. But I do know if this is the average play in their country, I want to move there and play live full time. I would love to sit in a live game with Mr. Q-10 everyday.

After that hand all the wind went out of my sails along with the biggest portion of my chips. I went two orbits seeing nothing and shoved on 5-5 and was up against AQd who made a flush - no surprise there. Earlier if I had called all my chips with 4-4 in the SB I would have won a $50k pot. Timing is everything.

That is another thing, I see most players shoving on any pair and I mean ANY, even 2-2. I like limping or calling small raises in late positiion. I do love calling with them in the blinds too, so I can check raise if they flop and I have had quite a bit of success with this play. So just how do you shove with 2-2 UTG? Or go over the top with A-Joff? Hoping lady luck is on your shoulder I guess.

Winning these online tourneys takes a huge amount of luck and perfect timing. I was watching Clearspine in a WBCOOP event when he called two raises and went all-in with 10-10. He was against A-Q and K-K and he flopped a 10 and won. I went all in with 10-10 vs KK and the KK flopped a full house and no 10 in sight. Is this skill or luck? Play as good as you want boys and girls but if you don’t have luck and make the right choice at the perfect time - you won’t win no matter how much skill you possess. I have been lucky as I placed in all of these $3.30 tourneys except for one - yesterday and that was my fault, I just gave up and didn’t care.

One railbird laughed with me when I had the Q-10 beat me as I couldn’t resist chatting ‘lol’ and he agreed. He told me to hang in and he was a fan. I asked if he read PokerWorks and he said “yes - do you?” I replied ‘yea, I write for them’…so I am not sure if he was joking/did know who I was/didn’t know who I was. I went busto and the conversation was over. Yep another quirk of mine, when I go bust I leave PDQ, can’t wait to hit the exit button as a matter of fact. One exception was when RIP_AA called my all-in J-10 with J-5 off and rivered a 5 to beat me a few days ago. I checked in on the tourney later to see if he was still in and playing J-5. He made it to #11 so he didn’t see the big bucks (hee-hee) but I watched some of the final table as it was 2 am and I couldn’t sleep. First took down over $8k for 11 hours work…sweet. Ten long hours NOT sweet.

I am off to join Linda in a $2.75 for $7.5k and some cussing…

The first Mr.Time-out seemed shocked when he finally appeared that he has been dealt in at all. Is there some PokerStars glitch that sits them back in the game? Maybe one per table? Seemed so today.
When Mr. Time-out did come in he went all-in every hand while making comments he was ‘high on Jesus’ guess Jesus wasn’t paying attention when at about #10 of his all-in nonsense I picked up QQ and busted him. That gave me a few chips to sit on.

Basically I had three decent hands, the QQ a JJ and my AA. The AA came at a crucial time first hand after the break and a raise in fron’t of me, I only had $8k and the blinds were huge, like 500/750 or something. I doubled my stack and was able to slide into the ticket zone. I have a problem saying ‘into the money’ as there is no money. Maybe I can run a ticket into some money…but for now it is an $11 SCOOP entry. The next to the last hand I played was on the BB, Kh-Js and a flop of 3 hearts and an inside straight draw. I bet and the Ks-10c behind me couldn’t wait to call with his double gutshot draw. No he wasn’t short chipped just taking a flyer to bust me which he almost did when I missed and he paired his ten on the river. With no chips I called all-in with J-2s and hit nothing and was out. Nope I didn’t expect anything different, as I never made a hand in 2 hrs at that table except when my AA won. I stayed alive by raising and taking the blinds when everyone folded.

I had Yestbay1 and Clearspine sweating me and I was sweating them and ThunderBob. Yestbay1 busted and it was down to three. Clearspine had enough chips to slide awhile when he said he had to go and sat out. I am sure he will have a report.

Linda was MIA with family and chores today but there is always tomorrow.

I was getting real tired of ‘notontilt09′ who requested time every hand, preflop, on the flop…didn’t matter he kept the game at a pace that would make a snail look like Speedy Gonzales. I finally asked him “Is every hand a major decision?” and that seemed to stop the insanity for the most part thankfully.

The jerky part of the tourney came early on at Level II (15/30) here is the condensed version:
Table ‘280000002 58′ 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: lucasbubu (1990 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: imahugeshark (1450 in chips)
Seat 3: PokerHack07 (2530 in chips)
Seat 4: tof072 (3336 in chips)
Seat 5: victoRR99 (2714 in chips)
Seat 6: zwemnaar (1970 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: notontilt09 (1970 in chips)
Seat 8: dcsscd (1970 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: Renai$$ance (2030 in chips)
PokerHack07: posts small blind 15
tof072: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PokerHack07 [Ac 6h 5d Kd]
victoRR99: calls 30
zwemnaar: folds
notontilt09: folds
dcsscd: folds
Renai$$ance: calls 30
lucasbubu: folds
imahugeshark: calls 30
PokerHack07: calls 15
tof072: checks
*** FLOP *** [Td Jd 2s]
PokerHack07: bets 60
tof072: calls 60
victoRR99: folds
Renai$$ance: raises 120 to 180
imahugeshark: raises 630 to 810
PokerHack07: calls 750
tof072: folds
Renai$$ance: raises 1190 to 2000 and is all-in
imahugeshark: calls 610 and is all-in
PokerHack07: calls 1190
imahugeshark said, “crap gg”*** TURN *** [Td Jd 2s] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Td Jd 2s Ad] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PokerHack07: shows [Ac 6h 5d Kd] (a flush, Ace high)
Renai$$ance: shows [Tc 8d Qd 4h] (a flush, Ace high - lower cards)
PokerHack07 collected 1160 from side pot
imahugeshark: shows [Kc 2d 5s 2h] (three of a kind, Deuces)
imahugeshark said, “unreal luckbox drwing idiot”
PokerHack07 collected 4470 from main pot
imahugeshark [observer] said, “idiot”
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5630 Main pot 4470. Side pot 1160. | Rake 0
Board [Td Jd 2s Ad Kh]
Seat 2: imahugeshark (button) showed [Kc 2d 5s 2h] and lost with three of a kind, Deuces
Seat 3: PokerHack07 (small blind) showed [Ac 6h 5d Kd] and won (5630) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: Renai$$ance showed [Tc 8d Qd 4h] and lost with a flush, Ace high

Like I said I admit to not liking or knowing how to play the game and I really didn’t care much if I won anything or not. I originally called $15 in the SB just because why? Hell if I know but from watching the hand selection’s of junk like J-7-3-2 rainbow (to beat my A-A-K-9 double suited hand) a couple of high cards and being suited in two looked ok (comparitevly speaking). Being called an idiot not once but three times doesn’t bother me either, I have been called much worse. But he could have left his comments with the “crap gg” and got his point across without looking like a jerk. It was disappointing because I (until today) for some weird reason held bloggers to a higher standard. Maybe this is because of the class and general ‘niceness’ that my fellow PokerWorks bloggers always show and of the other blogs I have read, plus Linda’s blogger event reports…ah well bad apples in every barrel I guess.

Of course the sharkwannabe couldn’t exit gracefully and Linda was watching:
imahugeshark [observer] said, “call of ur entire stack with draws”
imahugeshark [observer] said, “idiots”
imahugeshark [observer] said, “total wankers”
PokerWorks [observer] said, “thought bloggers had fun when they played”
PokerWorks [observer] said, “instead they cry and call people names”
PokerHack07 said, “guess he thought K225 was the nuts lol”

I will say it again, I don’t like or know how to play the game so maybe going all-in preflop with the K-2-2-5 and 10-8-Q-4 rainbow hands is a good play when you are not short stacked and don’t have to take a shot. I have no idea because I don’t even call with hands like that, let alone raise, reraise and go all-in. I think it is funny in a way, these players that must spew their frustration all over others in the chat box in a poker game. They all act like it is the WSOP and they just got sucked out on for a million $ or more. Cripes it is a FREEroll get over it. And all to win a seat to another tournament where you may or may not win something worth winning…like real money. I liked these bloggerfests better when they paid cash *hint*hint* PokerStars.

Speaking of winning a seat to something else:

PokerStars Tournament #280000002, Pot Limit Omaha Freeroll
1634 players
$5096.50 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $5096.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/26 14:00:00 PT [2010/01/26 17:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerHack07,
You finished the tournament in 58th place.
You have won an admission ticket to ‘SCOOP - $16.50 Entry’. This ticket allows you to participate only in a tournament of this type. Tickets are not redeemable for cash or Tournament US Dollars.

So it looks like I will be trying to do some SCOOPing in whatever that ticket gets me into. Thanks Linda for sweating me and busting out was okay with me, I was hungry, exhausted and my dog was sick all over the floor…*yucko* real life rears it’s head.

Other observations are: It is hard to play these tourneys where half the table (sometimes more) is sitting out. Makes it almost impossible for me to play and work because I have to pay attention and can’t use the ‘fold box’ in case it gets down to me and a ghost or three. I have done it in the past and felt like a real idiot (if imahugeshark was there no doubt he would have confirmed that for me). I don’t know what the answer is, but maybe to just boot players who haven’t been in their seat for 30 minutes. Three players at my table were never there and at another table five were never there which totally changes the game when it is short handed. Not that I mind short handed games, IF they are just that way and not short because of ghosts.

If the weather holds and I can hang onto a decent connection I will be back at the WBCOOP today playing whatever it is on the menu. Yesterday I was disconnected for about 3 hands which wasn’t bad but I hope it is even better today. I just tried logging on to see what SCOOP events my ticket is good for and no go…*sigh* such is life in winter on the hill….

So here is the required insert…come on PokerStars, let me in!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 347992

Too bad you haven’t been playing long enough to realize how much $$ your mouth costs you and the other players at the table. And the worst part is you are ahead when you open your mouthy A@@. Case in point a great little 2/4 Stud H/L game where one guy was just dumping chips until he had enough of being laughed at by Mr. Einstein JRod. When he left so did I and all the other players - Game over. I hope to hell you read this - hand selection does NOT make you a good player. Yep that was me who made quad tens in four and you called me down even when you missed your 1 way low and made 2 pair. Sweet and it was 3/6!

I have been playing quite a bit of poker, even played 10/20 H/L New Years eve and booked a nice win. What I learned was none of them play any better than I do…they just have bigger bankrolls. Someday maybe that can be my regular game…when it is worth sitting in which the one I was in was.

Then today I played the Head Hunt tournament and came in 164th out of 8,175 players. I sat card dead looking at an endless stream of 7-2, 8-3 and that kind of crap when I was 1 off the button and went all in for $20+k with A-2 of clubs. Flop was Qc - Jc and x turn was a K and the 98 that called me hit a 9 on the river and I was gone. Just never get a break to go deep in any of these things, guess I should take my $54 and be happy I got that much. I hear Daniel N. was out fast with a bad bluff, I never saw a famous name and was at 8 tables so never even had a shot at any bounties.

No complaints on the poker playing exept idiots like JRod who hamper my ability to make more money. Fishies only swim by once in a while so when some jerk scares them off it really irritates the hell out of me.

It’s funny I could really like JRod if he would just learn to stay out of the chat box with his dumb remarks. At least for a multi-tabler he plays fast, I give him that, something most multi-tablers can’t do.

So far my New Year is prosperous…hope yours is too! And if you want to join me at PokerStars use this link.

I usually get sad at New Years, remembering the past year and the resolutions I didn’t keep - yet again.  This year is very different. Last year my whole focus was on keeping my husband alive and dreading the year 2009. When all efforts failed, for the rest of the year, it was all I could do to just keep going. This year I will be sad remembering the events of the past year but I will feel strong too, knowing that 2010 could never be as bad as 2009 was, no matter what happens.  Yes, I will be very glad to see 2009 slide into history.

As for goals? Work harder, pay off debts, love more, enjoy family more, show friends I love them more, try to find happiness and thank God more for getting me through the last year and for all his blessings. Add in… to make a big score in a tournament and that wraps it up.

If you party tonight - be safe and don’t drink and drive! See ya next year…

I am escaping Christmas this year at least the kind of Christmas I have had the last 50+ years. Much to the displeasure of family and at least one friend, I will not be doing the family thing - the gathering around the dead tree and opening presents then grazing through a few days worth of food. I feel the need to go somewhere I have never been, somewhere with no memories, no computer, no one I know, so that is what I am doing. Well sort of. I am going to Carson City, NV and yes I have been there before. But I am staying someplace I have never been and meeting someone (an online friend) I have never met - so new experiences await.

This is yet another way of me trying to muddle through this new life of mine. I didn’t send cards, did e-cards instead and sent very few gifts and only wrapped one. To me, being a Christian, all of the commercial stuff is not what it is about once I reached adulthood anyway. I can celebrate the biggest Birthday party in the world without all that. There is much truth to the saying ‘Christmas is for kids’ and that includes kids of all ages, be it 5 or 75, but this year I don’t feel childlike, Merry or Joyful.

The decorating, shopping and all that has lost it’s appeal for me since the two biggest kids I knew are gone, Monta and my Mom…oh how they loved this time of year. For the first year out of 11, I wasn’t out buying Monta tons of stuff, one big gift and several small ones because he LOVED opening presents, yes he was about 5 years old every Christmas morning. Those are turning into pleasant memories…slowly… but for this year, I need to be somewhere that the memories of Christmas past don’t haunt me.

So this year the 25th will involve mind numbing-memory escaping slot machines, much drinking and shopping on the 26th. This may not be a great idea but I won’t know until I try it and who knows it may be my new Christmas tradition.

I haven’t been able to play poker, tried once in a $1.10 Stud H/L tourney and my connection was so slow I was timing out damn near every hand…it was too frustrating! The weather plays hell with the satellite internet connection, so I hope it is good on New Years eve so I can play. Yesterday we had about a foot of snow, so if you are anywhere east of me, get ready it is coming your way! Today is a nice balmy 40 degrees (and a cool 18 at night) and it is supposed to be nice through until next week. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t be making a 4 hour drive tomorrow morning.

Until next time…no matter what you do or who you do it with….enjoy your holiday……

The day was okay, I didn’t have a melt-down,  worked and baked banana bread which Monta would have loved. Our anniversary was the most important day of the year to him and he never forgot it, I was guilty of that instead. So many things I realize were so important - but now it is too late because they are gone forever.  Guess this is human nature. I remembered, and so did my friend, the other Linda, Linda C. Bless her, she never fails to call me on the 8th of each month (the sadaversary) and she didn’t fail to call Sunday evening. I hadn’t heard from anyone and didn’t expect to, people have more important things to remember than my now defunct anniversary. But Linda C being the person she is did not forget and it made me feel very good that someone besides me remembered the day. Of course she was my maid of honor and has been with me through almost 30 years of hills and valleys, joys and sorrows - and she is always there. To give me a shoulder to cry on, just to listen when that is all that is needed and to offer help in any way she can. Yes, I am blessed, she is one in a million, a friend, sister, soul mate. Her only flaw is she doesn’t play poker Thank you dear friend - for always remembering and making those days just as important to you as they are to me.

Then there are things that are not important, but someone makes them out to be so.

I read that the House today voted to make TV stations/advertisers turn down the volume on commercials. Ok I agree it is annoying as hell to be watching TV at an acceptable volume then BAM…be hit with a blaring commercial - but that is why I have a mute button. I just think the House would have much more important things to worry about, vote on and decide than the sound level of commercials. Like maybe the UIGEA or Health reform bill? Maybe those are stuck in the Senate, I have no clue as I am non-political. But still, there has to be some big issues on their agenda besides blaring TV commercials I would think.

Some things matter, some don’t and some used to but don’t anymore.

This summer I have a firm idea that I was not going to stay home in winter and fight the snow. So I made a deal with my girlfriend - I traded her my nearly new studded snow tires for her hubs cutting down some trees for me. She commutes to work everyday 30 miles over a snowy pass, she needs the tires much more than I thought I would and I need some trees cut down. Sounded like a good plan, too bad it wasn’t.

A week before turkey day she put the tires on her truck (which is a Dodge Ram like mine). I went to her house for the turkey day thing and Friday after she followed me home to spend the weekend here. She made it fine…of course she did, she had my tires. I did a 360 spin-out and had to call AAA and get unstuck 2 blocks from home. The road hadn’t been plowed and for all the good my tires were in the snow/ice I would have been better off to have skiis on the truck instead of tires. The next Monday found me in town spending $1,400 on new agressive snow/mud tires. The trees are right where they have been since we moved here, I got tire-d, have less money, and my friend is safe on her work commutes.

Winter brings some really nasty weather here and this year it has been colder than it ever has been in December (below 0 last week), of course it is, because I am here alone. I have no choice about leaving unless I want to spend my time sharing my RV with 3 big dogs and a cat…which I don’t. Nephew took 2 of the dogs for me last year, this year he can’t and there is no where else I can park them. They can’t stay here alone, mainly because of frozen water, problems with someone getting here to check on them and it is so cold. So here I am adjusting to being a snow bunny by myself.

My husband used to say ‘pay attention Glenda’ because he knew I didn’t. Outside stuff was his domain, as was the fix-it, repair it and winterize stuff. So I asked nephew to come up and winterize because I had little clue what all to do. He came and as usual was more worried about how the fish were biting than making sure what needed to be done was done. Ok, I am sure in his mind that is not the case, but it appears so from my side of it. He did do a lot but there were two things undone that turned out to be the most important, naturally.

First thing that wasn’t done: Last Sunday I got up to find I had no water. This seems to happen at least once a winter and usually requires hot water poured into the pump. While I was boilng water I went to the pump house to check it out, power was on…pipes were frozen and busted. Called the local plumber and left a message I needed them Monday. I keep plenty of water on hand, so it is not a big deal and of all my comforts, I will take no water over no electricity, heat or phone anyday. Plumber came and was here for 6 hours but he finally found all the breaks, replaced pipes, put heat wires on them and we insulated the pipes outside and the well head. All of it could have been avoided IF the heater in the pump house had been on. I asked questions, paid attention and it should never happen again, lesson learned.

Dumb me thought nitwit would have turned the heater on and I also thought it was like all other heaters and had a thermostat..nope. Hundreds of dollars wasted but the worst of it is nitwits comment, “I have more important things to worry about than if the heater is on in the pump house up there.” Humm, well since the house was going to be his someday….I am rethinking my plans. I don’t want someone to have my house that doesn’t have time to think about taking care of it. And no, it is not his job to take care of me, but when I raise concerns over things all I hear is ‘don’t worry about it Auntie, I will take care of it’ which now I finally got it through my head is not and will not be the case. It is me, me and me who has to and will make sure everything that needs to be done is done. Lesson two learned.

Second thing: The woodstove flue was ablaze while he was here due to creosote. His solution was ’shut it down.’ Ok did that and I can’t use it and now use the monitor heater. There is no chimney sweep within 3 hrs of here…how stupid that is in an area where close to 100% of people have wood heat? And right now with the snow, even getting someone here to clean it out would be impossible.

No problem unless I lose electricity, if I do then I lose my heat as the monitor uses electricity too. I do have back-up, an old propane floor furnace that I am sure the pilot is not even lit. I bought stuff to prevent creosote and do have the wire chinmey brush etc. so one day will just have to figure it out myself and clean it out so I can use the woodstove. Not that I don’t have anything else to worry about except surviving winter here, but it is at the top of my list. Lesson three learned, have flue cleaned by a professional every year.

I am not helpless and am pretty tough and getting tougher all the time. I am also much less willing to put up with BS from anyone. My goal is to not ask anyone to do anything. I will hire someone or learn to do it myself and when I have enough, will sell the house and buy a condo in the Bahamas that I will leave to my 40 cats when I die. Well the 40 cats thing doesn’t sound good, but the condo sure as hell does.

Had a Reno trip planned with my GF but weather changed our minds, so we went to Klamath Falls, OR instead. Spent the night and shopped till we dropped. Except for her shopping, mine was mostly groceries and house needy stuff. I am not doing Christmas, the plumber and tire place got all my money this year. Plus I do not need presents, trees or anything else to celebrate what the day really means to me. Maybe I’ll bake Jesus a birthday cake and sing to him, do something totally off the norm. Came home to more unplowed roads but with my new tires it was no problem and now I am all set to hunker down for awhile if I need to.

Been dabbling at poker, over last month I played in 15 MTT tourneys and placed in 13 of them. None of them for big money, the most was around $160. Also hit a few Stud H/L ring games here and there which was nice for the Bankroll. Played the PokerWorks Family tourney and started getting sick. If it wasn’t for the plain bad manners factor, I would have just left and sat out, but I was heads up the king of the donkeys who’s idea of multi-tasking is playing while watching TV. I never just watch TV as I think it is a waste of time, so when I do watch, I am writing, playing and many times even on the phone and in IM chat all at the same time.  This night I was sick, watching TV, playing and trying to finish an article and managed to do it all while being sucked out on….

The only other tidbit is my cool new “husband” Mr. Ranger and his handy dandy snowplow works great and is fun to operate. Of course after 4 more months I may not think he is so much fun. I did order a cab and heater for him, so I can stay dry and warm while plowing, now if UPS can only get here to deliver it:-)