My passions for Texas Hold ‘em and Photography.
I took this photo at Frederik Meijer Gardens when my wife and I went to see the butterflies, the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibit in the nation. When I took the photo I was afraid the sculpture was too “open” and might blend in a bit with its surroundings. Luckily the sky was dark blue and provided some good contrast.
In fact, now that I think about it, everything has taken a backseat to the Xbox 360. This blog, poker, productivity. I’ve been playing hold em in the Twitter Poker Tour every Thursday night, but that is about it (check out this weeks event). Every other waking moment I’m playing Call of Duty: World at War on Xbox Live. I keep thinking it has to get old soon, but it doesn’t. Here is a stat for you: from 3/2/09 to 4/7/09 I have played 118 hours of Call of Duty. Even I am shocked at how pathetic I am. I suppose I could have worse habits. So there you have it, if I’m non-existent, I’m either at work, asleep or playing Call of Duty.
My wife laughs at the things I’ll take a photo of, sometimes I laugh too. I see almost everything as a photo opp though, what can I say. Here is a macro shot of my BlackBerry at a low angle. Then in Picnik I made it black and white except for the green and red phone buttons.
Cool, or laughable?
Black and White with color isolation.
I need help. I know I play too much Call of Duty: World at War on Xbox Live but I can’t stop myself. I see my addiction only getting worse in the coming week. Tomorrow, March 19th, a new Map Pack is being released. Tomorrow also marks the start of a WEEK of double XP. This is not good, or it’s great, depending on your perspective. The problem is Prestige. What is Prestige? Prestige is starting over from scratch when you reach level 65. You see, as you level up by gaining XP, you open up new weapons and perks. When you complete challenges with weapons you get new attachments for the weapons. Level 65 is as high as you can go though, at this point all weapons and perks have been unlocked, all that is left is working on challenges. When you Prestige though, you wipe the slate clean, everything you earned through 65 levels is gone and you get to do the whole process again. You might wonder why someone would want to do this? Because the process is addicting, not having all those precious guns and attachments makes you want to play so you can get them all back. You can Prestige up to 10 times and when it’s all said and done you also open up 5 more custom classes. Holy crap how could I forget about the custom classes!? You start with 5 custom class slots to build your own unique weapon loadouts. Through Prestige though you can open up to 5 more custom classes, a total of 10! Ten combos of guns, perks, attachments, grenades, sidearms! Anyway…I was originally planning on staying at Prestige Level 2 for a while which could help stave off my addiction, because as soon as I Prestige all I want to do is play so I can get all the goodies back as quick as possible. Then they announce a week of Double XP, and now I may have no choice but to Prestige again so I can take advantage of the double XP. Do you see how this can be addicting?! Probably not…like I said, I need help.
If you’ve been lurking on the fringes and thinking of playing in the Twitter Poker Tour, now is as good a time as any to check it out. Tonights TPT event has $20 total added to the prize pool- a $5 bounty on @panndyra, $10 extra to 1st place and $5 extra to 2nd place. Not a bad deal for a $5.00 tournament with a great group of people. Hope to see you out there and good luck!
My submission to the contest.
I hate where I live, not the house itself, but the neighborhood it is located in. We’ve had people steal from our yard, vandalize our house and cars, even throw things at our dogs while they are in the fenced in backyard. Needless to say a lot of losers live around us. We know with the real estate market hurting so bad it’s already going to be real tough to sell our house. Add to that a ton of pets in a relatively small house. We know we’re going to have to find a way to remove most if not all of our pets so we don’t completely put off people during showings. Now we’re a long way from selling our house, but it never hurts to think and plan ahead. Recently I came across a website, Energized Seller, that is having a contest where all you have to do is submit your scary, funny pet pictures for a chance to win $500!! Of course with all my pets this sounded like a good idea, plus who couldn’t use $500 in this economy. Not only do you have a chance to win $500, but they offer a lot of free resources to home sellers including 101 Home Selling and Staging Tips, and we all know free is good. So if you’re a home owner with (or without) pets and you’re planning to sell your home someday, check out Energized Seller for some great free resources to help you sell your house, and to you pet owners submit your photo for a chance at $500!
I should know, it killed my game in the Twitter Poker Tour last night (congrats to those that cashed). For anyone that plays poker online at Full Tilt or Pokerstars, you really should check out the Twitter Poker Tour, it’s a fun event with a great group of players. The next TPT event has money added to the prize pool too, great time to check it out. Anyway, back to the bad news…I finished in 27th place out of 35. I was dealt A-K off-suit in my final hand. I wasn’t super short stacked by any means, I had leaked about $500 in chips and was down to about $1000 and we weren’t even to the first break yet (1 hour). I hadn’t been getting much for cards though (which is why I think I was becoming impatient) so when I saw that A-K I seemed to instantly make up my mind that the sooner I can get it all-in, the better. This was just my impatience taking over, although A-K is a great starting hand, often that is where the greatness ends. I like building a nice pot with A-K pre-flop, but usually can get away from it pretty easy after the flop if it completely misses me and everyone else is loving their hands. Looking back at all the TPT events I’ve gone deep in, I know I was much more patient. Patience is usually a strong part of my game, so when my patience wears thin I play terrible.
Some good news though, my bankroll is at a new all time high, $341. Previous high was $338 so that may not seem like a big deal, but I had almost dipped below $299 after reaching $338 last time. I’m still grinding it out a $5NL and haven’t decided when I’m going to move up to $10NL. I haven’t been playing much, but I make it a point to have fun and if I do well I keep the sessions short, rather then just playing hands for the sake of getting a big block of time in. The other night I played for about 25 minutes and won $11 and banked the positive session. Keeps the game fun and fresh.
Some Call of Duty stats from my online play.
I have played very little poker lately. I am addicted to Call of Duty: World at War on Xbox Live. Let me put it into perspective- I have some games that I haven’t ever played but I keep playing CoD. I’ve even seen my wife play some of these “other” games and thought they look really cool, but all I can think about is playing CoD. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hooked on a game. A couple times yesterday my eyes hurt. I think the addiction is finally starting to wear off some. I played a lot this past weekend and I can honestly say I’m getting a bit burnt out. My wife will be happy to have her husband back. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be going cold turkey on this, I don’t think I could do that, but playing every waking moment isn’t all that appealing anymore.
I have been playing poker, mainly in the Twitter Poker Tour every Thursday. Beyond that I might play a random session here or there, nothing consistent. I’ve done well the last 3 weeks in the TPT but didn’t cash in any of those events. I finished 6th (on the bubble), 12th out of 44 and then 7th (one removed from the bubble) the last 3 weeks. Those bubble finishes have been frustrating but I know I’ve played well and one of these times I’ll win that coin flip. Other than the TPT I’m still playing 5NL hold em and recently the bankroll has been as high as $338 and once almost crept back into the $200’s. Currently it rests at $324 but I really haven’t played enough lately to impact it much. I see that changing though, now that I have overdosed on Call of Duty.
Rasheed has been happier. Photo by radiospike.com.
The Detroit Pistons will probably (I hope) limp into the playoffs in 7th or 8th place, only to be bounced by Boston or Cleveland. The best case scenario I see is they hold onto 6th place but then they get the Orlando Magic in the first round, hardly a good scenario. The worst case scenario is they miss the playoffs, which is totally plausible considering 2 games seperate them and the 3 teams in the 7th, 8th and 9th spots. I don’t want to think about that though.
Each game I watch I think this is where they’ll break out of their funk, but after seeing them down 63-29 at one point in their last game against Cleveland, I’m convinced this team is less and less like a team everyday. Tonight they continue their road trip against Miami who is just ahead of them in the standings, a loss tonight will put them below .500 for the season, which is a bit of a shock consider they were once 10 games over .500 this season. It’s tough to watch sometimes because they’ve been so successful the past 6 years or so, but in the end I know Joe Dumars has a grand plan so I’m not too worried about one down year.
Today I came across a reminder of a great day, a reminder that inspired me to start writing.
I was outside mowing the lawn on a beautifully hot August day in 2007, the type of day one dreams of while enduring another Michigan winter in February. My wife surprised me a bit as I caught her from the corner of my eye, she wasn’t there just a minute ago. She brought some snacks and a large glass of ice water, a perfect break- food, refreshments and my beautiful wife. She handed me a small gift bag, somehow this was about to get better. Inside was a small Baby’s First Lovie, a small teddy bear with the words “I love my daddy” stitched into it’s belly. I instantly knew what this meant, but accompanying this teddy bear, probably just in case I was a typical guy, was a positive pregnancy test. Words can’t express my feelings, but I’ll try my best.
I broke down and cried with joy. It surprised my wife, in a good way I think, I’m sure it confirmed I wanted to start a family almost as bad as her. Almost, only because she is a woman who has dreamed of having children so much longer than me, and being a woman, she will carry and bear our children- something scary and exciting and sickening and emotional- something you have to want more than anyone else if you’re willing to endure it all so easily. It was the happiest time of my life, nothing can come close, a vivid memory that will withstand the test of time. Weeks I am so happy have overshadowed a time soon to come, a time that has yet to end but not as memorable as those awesome weeks.
My wife later had a miscarriage. Talk about a shock to the system, and I had it easy in comparison. My wife had to deal with the physical anguish as well as the emotional. Now I should put this all into perspective. In August of 2007 we had been trying to start a family for 6 months already, about 4-5 more months than most of our friends and family have to try. I could be cynical at this point, considering they seemingly just have to make eye contact to get pregnant, but I don’t want to be cynical (OK maybe just a little), it’s not their fault they have no issues. Our very close friends and family are very empathetic to our situation, it’s those acquaintances on the fringes that can wear down your emotions and make you want to punch them in face. I don’t want to hear that you weren’t even trying and you were taking precautions, or that you never wanted children, or that you didn’t sleep last night because you were sick, or your feet hurt, or your back is killing you. Shut your mouth- we’d relish those issues. I digress, let me get back on track here…
It is February 2009 now, exactly 2 years since we happily decided it was time to start a family. In short we’ve had one positive pregnancy and one miscarriage. As time goes on my wife has become more and more like a lab rat with all the tests. I did my tests and although I’m happy I’m not part of the problem, I wish there were some way I could bear more of the weight of this burden for my wife, I wish I could relieve some of the pain she goes through. We’ve gone the drug route in varying doses without improved results, and now we’re seeing a fertility “specialist”. With this has come more tests for my wife, and although the news we’re receiving isn’t all that good I’m happy to finally be on board with a Doctor that seems to understand what we’re going through and share our sense of urgency and pain. It’s also good to know what is really going on here, not just throwing drugs at the problem hoping to get a diagnosis through trial and error. And what is really going on is my wife has a unicornuate uterus. I’m not going to go into details, I’ll let those of you that care to know more google it. Suffice it to say this has a lot to do with the problems we’ve been facing over the past 2 years. Wow, 2 years already. It’s hard to accurately express how hard it is for two good people to so desperatley want to start a family only to fail time and time again. I think only people in similar situations can truly understand.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, I’ve always remained hopeful and that hasn’t changed. The doctor seems optimistic that we can (and will) get pregnant and have babies. We may not be able to make it happen as naturually as we’d like, that’s all. Ultimately IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) is a real possibility. Of course expenses are a concern, and compounding that is the fact that because of the unicornuate uterus diognosis, we can only implant one at a time. Most people that do IVF have multiples implanted in hopes that one takes, which also increases the chances of twins or more. With a unicornuate uterus having twins or more is far to risky and not an option, meaning we’ll have to try one at a time and deal with the costs if it takes multiple tries.
It never seems to get easier, and the obsticles keep coming, but I’ve made it clear to my wife she has my full support no matter what it takes to see this through. I’ve also made it clear I will never harbor any regrets no matter the outcomes, I will always love her and nothing can change that. You might think I’m a pompous ass for saying that, as if I think I deserve some praise for being a good husband, something I already should be. Like people that think they deserve a cookie for being good parents. Duh, you’re suppose to be good parents, no prize for that. But my wife has expressed fear of what I think of the whole situation, and I was only making it clear she has nothing to fear. She need not worry about me, I’ll always be by her side and she knows it isn’t just lip service.
When I came across that teddy bear today- the emotions flowed again, the writing came easy, and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve broke down a few times. This post has been a long time coming.
