Hella Hold'em

Hello, again, my pretties!

I'm here waiting for a 90-player SnG to fill up, and in the meantime (and beyond), I will hang out and ramble with you all.

It's likely the 2nd to last beautiful day of 2008 in Chicagoland. Tomorrow will be nice, and after that, we drop into the 60's and below, probably for the rest of the year. We've had 2 of the most gorgeous weeks of weather I've ever experienced - so you'll all have to remind me of this when I'm bitching in a couple months that Chicago weather sucks, and that we never get any moderate temperatures - just freezing cold into boiling hot, skipping over anything resembling spring or fall.

Ahh, we're full. Let the games begin!

I've been catching up on the WSOP on the TiVo. There was a segment where Ray Romano was saying that it's nice to have something that makes your heart pump. I still get that feeling when playing poker. I just don't have as much time to play as I used to. However, I'm glad it still makes my heart pump, so to speak.

I love Ray Romano. I never watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" when it was on, I think because it was on in first-runs before I had a TiVo (and thus, pretty much before I watched TV on a regular basis). Now, I watch it whenever I catch it, and every episode cracks me up. He looks good with a little gray :)

Ouch, set over set, FTP classic - good thing it wasn't me.

Joy, I've got the every-hand-min-raiser at my table.

I had my first hummingbird ever come to my back yard bird feeders yesterday. Totally stoked. Yeah, I like birds. What of it?

I don't necessarily like 3-9 suited.

I do like the smell of exhaust from a dryer drying clean laundry.

I've been back in Ultima Online again. It'll be 11 years this November that I've been playing that game... effectively, a third of my life. Crazy. There's a new expansion coming out in 2009 that I'm totally looking forward to. They really have a brilliant business model. There's no end-game, so it's a subscription based cash cow, for all intents and purposes. Many players have multiple accounts (including myself). And so it goes, cha-ching, month after month. Compared to the big guys like World of Warcraft, the subscription base of UO is minuscule, around 100,000 subscribers - but I've never found a MMORPG that is anywhere near as flexible in terms of making it whatever you want it to be. WOW is built on the "kill stuff" premise. You can kill stuff in UO, but you can also build a life for yourself crafting or gardening or working as a merchant. There's a vibrant PvP community, a respected roleplay community, and just a great variety of things to do. As long as UO exists, I will play it.

Hovering right around average in chips...

I bought Parallels, the virtual machine software, so that I could run Windows within OS X on my Mac. I had hoped to be able to play UO on it, but it's just not quite fast enough in video rendering (even though it says it can play games - UO isn't one of the listed "official" games that it supports. I thought it might work anyway, as UO's video demands are much lower than some of the games on the list). I've heard that VMWare Fusion works better, and I probably should have tried them both out before I spent $50 on Parallels. I will get use out of Parallels anyway, as it makes it much easier for me to test web sites in IE (barf-a-roni), and it gives me easier access to MS Office (they use it at work, so sometimes I must play nice and be compatible). I had been running Vista with Bootcamp on my Mac, but it's a bit of a pain to have to reboot and boot into Windows for the few things I use it for, because then I don't have my web bookmarks, or access to my documents or my iTunes or anything that lives on the Mac side. I may try VMWare Fusion. We'll see.

I'm getting tired of folding decent hands to raises, but I'm out of position and too likely dominated. Still, it's annoying.

Wow - I'm watching a video tour of VMWare Fusion, and already I see a feature that makes me want it: it can run my existing Bootcamp installation right within OS X! I won't have to reinstall Windows! (again!!) They've got an academic discount, $39.99. TYVM, career! Hmmm this is intriguing. Still, I will download the free trial and test it before buying - but this looks quite promising. Kudos to VMWare's download site too - I'm pulling over 1,000 KB/sec down. Nice.

Card dead...

Might as well install VMWare while I fold... Down to 11xBB... Gotta move soon...

So, Dave Matthews had joined Twitter.com, and holy cow does he post some funny stuff! He's @DaveJMatthews - lots of funny pictures, and nuggets of wisdom like only Dave can do... lovin it.

My hair is getting long. Not long, relative to people with long hair, but long relative to the length I've had it for like the last 8 years. It's longer than it's been in a long time. I wish it would grow faster!! I need a dye job, too. Oy.

Big time push of fold mode. Nothing to push with. Oooh, A3s. Here we go. Damn it, 2 people all in in front of me. FOLD.

Owie antes hurt!!

So I finally got sick of the spicy Italian sandwich at Subway. Trouble is, nothing else is really calling my name there. i've given the chicken bacon ranch sandwich a few days in court, and it hasn't really sold me. I feel lost without a signature sandwich. *sniffle*

AQo, I'm pushing regardless...

2 callers. Nada on the flop. And... I'm out, in 34th place.

Time to go play with VMWare!

A poster I made for my friend and photog professor's upcoming photo exhibit. See the photography of Carol Thorner at her show: "What Will People Think? (and other concerns)" at The Center for Visual & Performing Arts in Munster, Indiana. Sept 12 to Oct 19.

Come out and meet Carol at the artist reception on Sept 19, 6-9pm.

I have just fired up a lil' 27 person SnG on Full Tilt, baby size. Five buckeroos.

I'm also fired up over the infiltration of damn ragweed that is occurring. I cannot breathe and it is driving me insane. This wicked congestion has foiled every allergy med I've got, and it is so bad that is is messing with my inner ear and giving me vertigo and just making me overall miserable. Mold spores can kiss my ass, too. Man, I am miserable!

In happier news, I've got 49 prints so far up on my eBay store, and had a good first week. Check it out if you're into art prints - http://stores.ebay.com/Purple-Penguins-Studio. Right now, I've only got 8 1/2 x 11" max, but that will change once I get around to buying some larger format paper. I can do up to 13x19" prints.

Rest assured that anything you purchase helps to keep this single gal in a roof over her head!

My starting hands are decent so far, but the flops are missing me.

OESD, called it down with odds, didn't hit. Way to become the short stack, Shel!

It must be the dramamine.

So, I'm taking an art class this semester - ART101, to be exact. 2D design. Typically, I don't do art, but it's part of the photography program, and one of my photography classes canceled, so this was all I could pick up. It has me a bit terrified. The only saving grace is that about half of the projects can be completed on the computer (which is my only hope, because I *really* cannot draw). Any advice from creative types for a non-artsy-type trying to survive a 2D design class?

Has everybody heard by now that Google is launching a new web browser tomorrow? Google Chrome - I'm mildly curious. I'm still a bit peeved at Google, as traffic to this here blog has dwindled to less than 25% of what it was before they implemented their Big Brother twist on terms of service. Thank heavens for all of you RSS peeps!

Wow, I sure exited that tourney in joker-iffic fashion. Well, my AK vs K8 looked good, until the flop.

Sadly, I had to suck out my meager bankroll to pay bills (again), so this next tourney will be even more Scooby-tastic: a $1+.25 90 player sit n go. Bring it on!!

You see, I'm trying to keep myself awake until a respectable bedtime hour. These meds that keep me from spinning are also trying to knock me unconscious.

Maybe iTunes will help.

Nice, I'm sitting next to the hot pirate avatar!!

Here's a little something I posted to my personal blog the other day...

From the eulogy of the late LeRoi Moore of DMB:

Edna St.Vincent Millay:
“I burn my candle at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light."

---
If I should happen to expire before my time, I wouldn't mind if one of you considered eulogizing me with this.

Something to keep in mind, you know, if ever...

Chatter has begun about the Winter Classic in Vegas... I know I'll shock you all by saying it's unlikely I'll make it out. I've come to accept my lot in life - I teach for a living, and teachers don't make squat for pay - particularly when they have expensive hobbies and the philosophy that she who dies with the most toys, wins. If lots of peeps go buy my photos, then maybe you'll see me in Sin City - but artists don't make squat for pay either, so squat + squat = .... not a whole lot. Such is life!

Finally, a hand I can call with. 33. No flopped set. Boo.

I should really be working on a couple articles, but my mind is too foggy to write.

Playing da hammer, yeah doggie.

Folding da hammer, indeed.

Wow, AA vs KK and a JT came along for the ride (???) and outflopped us both. Ugly. (I had the pointy ones).

Looking through photos for a suitable one to make a September desktop calendar out of. Searching for "symbolize September" doesn't work very well, due to a particularly unsavory event in recent US past.

See, I can be productive while folding. Get your free September desktop calendar here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phlyersphan/2820256482/

I'm severely short-stacked... you might need to get that eulogy ready...

Now, I'm going to attempt an upgrade on my WordPress site... I am brave. Actually, WordPress has always been good to me. If my URL wasn't established here, I'd switch this blog to WordPress, but... I'm not that brave.

Doubled up. 13xBB.

And... out! Ahh well. At least it's a decent hour to go to bed now.

And I finished the WordPress update... Purple Penguins shall live on!