Sunday softball

Softball was a great time Sunday. We had 13 players total, including Wellington as all-time pitcher. He almost got his head taken off a couple times by line drives whizzing past his head. If he'd been hit, he would have gone down hard. Those balls were moving. ( I know...that's what SHE said, right?)

We played 6 innings, with half an inning in a downpour. I was team captain with Hiphop, River Pete, Hacker, Joe (new guy), and Ryan Sadd's neighbor on the team. We put up a great fight but lost to Slacks' team comprised of Slacks, Sadd, 2 of his neighbors, Brad Laidman, and Joe's brother.

Postgame festivities were held at the Parma Tavern. The cabbage and noodles with kielbasa was pretty good. I had a few wings as well.

No major injuries reported, and I'm really not even sore today. I have been getting a decent amount of exercise lately with all the biking, so I'm sure that helps. I am, however, going to be going on a diet to drop 20 lbs sometime soon. Several people have mentioned lately that I've gained weight, and I've been feeling pretty sluggish. Healthy eating, no beer, and more exercise is on the menu. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck. Maybe I'll post it on the board to see if anyone wants to put in a few bucks each as incentive to drop a few pounds.

Big win at JC's

Thanks to JC for hosting last night. Still the best venue in town. You can smell the cigars as soon as you get off the elevator. There were 2 full $1-2 tables and a very full $.25-.50 table going all night. Danielle and eRock brought a masseuse. I think she made a few bucks. We chipped in for a half hour for JC.

It was good to see everyone. Kris Rao was there, Big C, Big Show, and even Wellington! Wellington in Coleman's house! Most of the usual degenerates were there also. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

So I sat down with $50 at the kid's table, being freakin broke lately, and almost immediately tripled up. Big Show played back at me with a K4 vs my AK with a K-high board, and I just couldn't lay it down, and it was good. (I did have a flush draw on the turn as well) When Doug Poker (that's his asscrack BTW) and Special K showed up, I gave up my seat and jumped over to $1-2. Never looked back. Hit some hands, put down some bluffs, made some decent laydowns, and generally played pretty well. The one really bad move I made turned out to be classic Diabl0...I raised to $8 with KK, Jeremy re-raises, I bump it again, and he pushes. I call, he has AA. (someone to my left folded QQ) K on the flop, K on the turn...ship it. Jeremy just kinda shook his head. Got almost $200 from him. After I got up over $500, I tightened up and locked my chips down, and even thought about leaving then, but there was still beer in the fridge, so there was no way I was walking out. I did manage to rack up at $963. Coleman was still getting a rub down, so I sat back down at the kid's table again and I must have nearly doubled again, cause I cashed $1009 when JC was finished a few minutes later. I dont know what it is about Coleman's, but I seem to win there about 80% of the time.

I left and managed to catch Glenn Schwartz' last song at Hoopple's.

Vacation days

Had to burn up 2 vacation days this week or I'd lose them. We still have friends in town from Atlanta, so we went to Cedar Point on Tuesday. Good times. I didn't get there last year, so the Maverick was a new ride for me. Very cool. Fast. All I really saw was a couple of tunnels.

Went on the water rides with our friends' 11-year old because no one else was stupid enough to do it. I was wearing denim shorts and it took about 4 hours for them to dry. Nice move. At least I slapped on enough sun block that I didn't burn to a crisp.

Wednesday, I got to sleep in (rare for a weekday) and we were supposed to try to go to Kalahari again, but it was a no-go. I did some yard work instead. Later, we loaded our bikes into the pickup truck and went to the E 55th St Marina, jumped on the Cleveland Lakefront Bike Trail for a small stretch, then down MLK Blvd to University Circle for some food and jazz at Wade Oval. They have different music every Wednesday. Almost got rained on during the ride back to the truck.

Watched the latest Rambo movie back at home. Don't waste your time. Really really bad.

Weekend

Stayed home and watched movies on Friday night. "Breach", about FBI agent Robert Hanssen selling secrets to the Russians. Pretty good flick. After that it was "Dead Man" with Johnny Depp. Cameo appearances by Billy Bob and Iggy Pop. Excellent film if you like odd and off-the-wall. Music by Neil Young. The indian guy is freaking hilarious.

Saturday I busted ass in the yard much of the day, at least until the storm hit. Went to Dave's, which sucked. 3 suckouts and I was done. Was up in the cash game until Eskimo sat down and started flopping the nuts. Ended up losing a buy-in and a small add-on. Got the weekly asscrack shot though, so it was worth it.

Went to Kalahari with friends from Atlanta on Sunday, but didn't go in. Our friend's cousin was supposed to be working and was gonna hook us with tickets but the office where the tickets were was locked, so we'll go back later this week. We ended up going to East Harbor SP and hung out at the beach, then had some dinner. Saw some serious hail on the way back from the beach.

Wednesday at Tradesman

Back to the Tradesman for Wed night fun...It was me, Slacks, TK/Krina, JC, HipHop, Gross, and even Wellington graced us with his presence. Hip broke out the mullet wig that he keeps in his car for some odd reason. My theory was that he's up to something shadey and may need a disguise in a hurry. Coupled with the beat up baseball hat and sunglasses, it's pretty convincing. For TK, the look was an improvement.

Check out this news story from Elyria. If this had happened at JC's, the guy would have been a murder VICTIM instead.

Shark or sharp?

I just stumbled across this article at snopes.com. A lot of people have never heard of the term "sharp" when referring to someone who cheats at cards.
Shark Accounted

Claim: Someone who cheats at cards is properly styled a card shark, not a card sharp.

Status: Multiple — see below.

Origins: Long has the debate raged over whether a card cheat is properly termed a card sharp or a card shark. Sharks, after all, are known for dispassionately rending the flesh of their prey, which would seem in this linguistic battle to favor the card shark camp, since those who manipulate the pasteboards for the purpose of bilking others have no more conscience or concern for their victims than do their finned counterparts. Yet card sharp also has in its favor that it seems to conjure up mental images of the poker cheats of the Old West, sharp-featured men with cards up their sleeves. Which, therefore, is it?

Both terms still mean someone skilled in cheating at cards, although in recent years card shark has also come to acquire the less odious definition of someone skilled at the play of cards. (Were that not so, one would have to wonder at the naming of the 1978 TV game show Card Sharks, on which contestants tried to guess whether the next card in a sequence was higher or lower than its predecessor.)

As to whether card sharp or card shark entered the English language first, the answer is far from straightforward. A print sighting of card sharp dates to 1884 and one of card sharper to 1859, while the first print sighting of card shark takes us back only to 1942 — evidence which would seem to settle matters. However, both sharper and shark (in the sense of one who cheats) antedate all of the above, sharper to 1681 and shark to 1599, evidence which could be seen as giving the nod to shark. (By the way, the "shark" in question has nothing to do with carnivorous fish; it instead likely entered the English language via the German schurke, a word that in the 16th century had the meaning of a cheat or swindler.)

If you thought the answer might be found via looking at the words sharp and shark absent the word card, that pursuit also leads down a blind alley, because some definitions of both those words contain elements of cheating or connivance.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a sharp as "A worthless and impecunious person who gains a precarious living by sponging on others, by executing disreputable commissions, cheating at play, and petty swindling; a parasite; a sharper." While that use of the word is rarely encountered these days, remnants of it are still with us, such as when we accuse someone of engaging in "sharp practices" (meaning the cutting of corners to achieve desired ends — while the person so engaged may be staying within the strict letter of the law, his behavior could still be regarded as unethical and suspect).

As for the word shark, in addition to encompassing the species of flesh-eating fish it identifies, it has over time come to serve as a label for certain dislikable characters: those who prey greedily upon others (such as successful businesspeople famous more for their love of profit than for adherence to ethics) and those who by virtue of superior skill outmaneuver less capable opponents (highly effective divorce attorneys, for instance). Common compound nouns have been formed from 'shark' that address both meanings, such as loan shark in the "prey greedily" category and pool shark in the "superior skill" category.

Barbara "all sharks, finned or otherwise, are best avoided" Mikkelson

Update! Tonight, on Unsolved Mysteries

Sorry for not updating this week. I was stranded in a broken down truck most of Sunday, went to training for work on Monday and Tuesday, then my laptop at work took a dump on me on Wednesday, and I've been busy getting it up and running the last few days. Now yesterday, my phone died. I have a backup that's also on its last legs. I just need to make it a few more weeks until iPhone 3G comes out. I love technology. Speaking of which, work's been kicking my ass lately. We'll be getting in new equipment in a few weeks. Luckily, only about 75 new PC's this summer, but I have a boatload of software updates to do. Job security.

So that was my week in a nutshell. Last Friday at TK's was a good time but I donked out a bit too fast. I was catching great hands too. I even had quads (for like the 3rd time in 2 weeks) and was hoping there'd be no bad beat, but it came soon thereafter.

July 19th for the CPMG 5th anniversary party...be there!

New thread

No reason for this pic, I just like it.

TK's BBJ tourney is tonight

I'm looking forward to this tournament. It's $100 plus TK is adding some $$ and fun to the mix by dispersing the BBJ over a series of 5 tourneys. It's either a full house cracked, or the top 2 high hands for the event. Should be fun, and my tourney game has been fairly sharp lately.

CPMG birthday party

Planning has begun for the CPMG 5th anniversary. I'm gonna host a party at the Amherst Outdoor Life Assn. where I have a membership. It's a great park-like venue with 4 ponds, walking trails, a small camping area, a pavilion with picnic tables, etc. Great place for a party. We're thinking sometime in mid- to late July. Should be a great time. We can cook out, do some drinking, raffle off some prizes and cash, play some cards, have a fire, etc. I'm looking forward to it.

Some people I'd like to see who we haven't seen in a while: Dohar, Gibran, Big C, Felix, Lil Fag, Knish, Laz, The Scherers, Karl Tsu, and probably a few others I can't think of at the moment.

Great weekend

The weekend didn't completely fly by for a change. Went to see Indiana Jones Friday night. Don't waste your money. I was pretty disappointed, even though my expectations were pretty low. Movie tickets were $9! Ouch. Medium popcorn and coke...$10. WTF????

Anyway, the movie was extremely cheesy with awful one-liners, and the plot seemed thrown together, like they would shoot a scene, then sit down and talk about what should happen next, then shoot that scene. Just terrible. Check this out, I just stumbled across it: CLICK HERE

Went for a long bike ride on the towpath on Saturday, then played Dave's HO-down tourney later in the evening. I showed up at 8, thinking that's what was listed on the website. Tourney was set for 8:30. I did great, despite my serious lack of Omaha experience. I made a few great laydowns and also caught some hands. I boated early against Data w a K9 suited, and he paid me off after I slow-played the hell out of it. I really only put down one stone cold bluff against a new guy who was pretty aggressive. I check-raised him with nothing and got him to lay down. I caught AA twice (good both times). The first time, Kirsten pushes for 3700 with blinds of $100-200 (I think). I call and win.

So we get into the money (19 entrants, top 4 got paid) and I'm chip leader by a big margin after flopping the nuts (straight with a J-10-7-7...board was 7-8-9 rainbow), and also a set of 7's, after which I boated 7's full of 6's. Mailman mentions to me that it's gonna be me and him heads-up. I said something like "you never know", and looked down at pocket 3's. I called a decent raise from Dave W and saw a flop, which was JJ3. He pushes, I insta-call, and he hangs his head, showing 66. Turn is a blank, river is a J. Fuck!!! Mailman says "I hope I didn't jinx you". Thanks... A few hands later, I limp UTG with JJ, Dave again raises, and I push. He calls, flips AQ, and the first 2 cards are a Q and an A. Buh-bye! 4th place. $10 in profit. Barely enough for a popcorn and soda at the movie theater.

I got some errands done early on Sunday, then went to play softball. We had a great time, but there were a few more injuries this time. JC dislocated/sprained his toe (see pic). He was wearing deck shoes for crying out loud!! Doug C stumbled and fell running out a ground ball, and hurt his knee. I was running up on a fly by Slacks, tried to make an underhanded grab, and the ball smacked me right in the wrist. Don't ask me how, but it hurt like hell. I went directly for the cooler and applied some ice. We ended up at the Parma Tavern and had some chow and a few drinks, and I popped 3 Advil, which seemed to help. It's a lot better today, but still pretty sore, and my legs a re killing me. It sucks getting old.