last 2 weekends

OK, gotta make it short...

Thanksgiving weekend was great. Cooked an amazing bird with all the trimmings. Gravy was bad-ass. Garlic/cheddar mashed potatoes were a slice of heaven.

Hit up Rivers Casino on Friday with Caprice, TK, Eddie J, Meats, Grayday, and even Dohar rolled in from DC. Here's my report, posted on the CPMG board:

My numbers...

Poker: Up $447
Blackjack: Up $165
Slots: Down $40

My girlfriend was up $230 at blackjack on a $20 buy-in.

Most of my poker winnings were from 1 drunk guy that gifted 2 buy-ins to me. I had taken most of his first $300 when I look down at ACES. I raise to $12 UTG, get 1 caller until it gets to the drunk guy, and he shoves almost $80 on top. I call and I hold up against his 88. He also called someone another guy's $32 all-in with 7-10 sooted. He only re-bought for a hundo, added about $50 to it, then gave it all to me after I hit top-top, raise him after the flop, called his re-raise, then call his shove on the turn. He flopped bottom pair.

For the record, I only had quads once yesterday. Stacked some old lady.

I had a really timid/docile table. I kept playing above everyone's comfort level, throwing out hefty bets and raises. It worked well.

The buffet I kept hearing so many great things about was NOT worth $26.95.

So Saturday at Dave's, I drank too much, tilted out, and gave back a shitload of my profit from last week. Tried to bluff BC off top pair in the tourney. He has NEVER folded to me in a tourney. Some people cannot be bluffed.

The rest of the weekend was great too. Spent most of it with Caprice. Spent all week with her, and about 90% of this past weekend. We're pretty close these days.

Also this week I watched the Cavs get smoked by LeBron, watched the Browns win 2 in a row, had Caprice and her kids over for GLEE! on Tuesday (after her cable box died), went to the Bay teachers' Christmas party (which is always pretty lame), and went to hear centuries-old Christmas carols by Quire Cleveland. Good stuff. Me and caprice took our moms and her stepdad. Had some Christmas Ale at GLBC.

Tonight...Dentist at 6, then off to get $1 steaks and High Life's at Pearl Rd Tavern, provided the roads are OK. I'm still working on getting the Jeep into my name and getting plates on it. That will be sweet to drive this winter.

This weekend...my tourney. I'm gonna chef up some beef stew or other hearty winter fare.

Finally

I'm about to get kicking in the kitchen, but wanted to get out an update. I was 2nd out of the tourney last night. QQ cracked by AK was the biggie, but I managed a $250 win at the cash game. I was $270 deep but got it together and fought my way back. Got AA a couple times. Busted DP's KK with them once. I didn't play well at first but managed to stay off tilt and keep my head straight. I really needed a win.

Something to be thankful for, certainly.

Happy Thanksgiving

Seems like the last few years, Thanksgiving has tossed some bad shit my way, and this year has been no exception, although things sort of worked out in the end. 3 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer (which also led me to quit smoking), last year, my dad underwent a quad bypass the day before the holiday, and nearly died. That was also a bit of motivation for me to start eating a bit better and lose some weight, which I have managed to keep off for most of this year. I am down about 20 lbs.

Yesterday, I walked out to my car to go to work, and some fucking crackhead had popped the driver's side window and ransacked the inside, only taking the GPS that was in the glovebox, a cradle for my phone, phone charger, charging hub, and cables. They missed the GPS charger, those dumb fucks. I WISH they would try getting into the house while I'm home. They'll be in for a very bad day. So, I figured I would get the Jeep titled into my name and found out I can't do it without my ex wife's notarized signature, which is gonna be difficult seeing as how she has skipped the country. I am working on that, but she has been less than cooperative. Unreal. I'm saddled with a loan SHE abandoned and I'm the one putting putting her out.

So anyway, last weekend was a blast as usual. Drove to DC on Saturday and went out on the town with TK, Crina, and Dohar. Hit up some nice places and had a good time. Had brunch with everyone on Sunday and my oldest friend Sean and his wife joined us. I've known Sean since I was a baby. Cool dude. We headed home early Sunday afternoon. Next time we'll stay a weekend and see some sights. It was still fall down there too. They still had leaves on the trees and it was nice and warm. We stayed on Connecticut Ave in a really nice section of town. Great architecture.

This coming weekend I have a tourney at Dave's tonight, cooking dinner for the family tomorrow. Caprice is gonna stop by...she may be able to met my gramps if he's still hanging out with us. Cool! We want our grandparents to meet, they are both in their late 90's. Friday it's off to PIT for the day at Rivers casino. We're just gonna play some blackjack. I'd like to possibly check out downtown while we're there as well. There's another tourney at Dave's on Sat too...the deep stack. Looking forward to cashing at least once this weekend. I need the money that's for sure.

Weekend after that, on Saturday, me, Caprice, our moms, and a couple other of her family members are going to see Quire Cleveland's Christmas carol show at Trinity cathedral downtown. I went to this last year and it was pretty awesome. Check them out if you get a chance. How can you go wrong with 600 year old Christmas carols?

So, some things I am thankful for this year...
* My grandfather is still with us. He'll be 97 in a couple weeks. He's my hero.
* My dad is no longer suffering. It was pretty tough to see all the pain he went through over the past couple years.
* The rest of my family is in good health, and our relationships are strong. Pretty much anyway lol.
* I am still in the top 5 on the Player of the Year leaderboard.
* I have a fantastic girlfriend. We're in love and having a lot of fun. We're planning a future that looks very promising. She has 2 great kids that I really like. She is a breath of fresh air.

Farewell Sebring :(

Sold my Sebring yesterday. Best car I ever owned. I got close to my asking price and I really needed the money for Christmas, so it works out, but I was a little bummed to see it drive off.

Upcoming weekend

Looking to be another fun weekend. Harry Potter on Friday with Caprice and her kids. Movie is getting great reviews so far.

Leaving early on Saturday for DC. Gonna visit Dohar and my other friend Sean. Dinner/drinks Saturday night, Sunday brunch, maybe a little sight-seeing, then headed home. Sounds like I'll be getting football updates via the internet during the ride back.

I have put a $50 tourney on the CPMG calendar for my place on 12/11. Dave's taking Dec/Jan off, so I'll pick up a little slack. Already 5 on the wait list. Cash game to follow. Who knows if I'll even have a 'roll for it. Might have to float a loan just to play. I am due for a run though. Need to build something to play with.

I'm still wanting to have a very small stakes dealer's choice, and I am working with Dave on Chili Cookoff details. Looking like 2/5/2011...$50 tourney. We will surely need judges. I am hoping for 10 entrants again this year, that was a great turnout last year. Do I need to remind everyone who won?

We took my mom out for a birthday dinner this week. Went to Vieng's Asian Bistro at Crocker Park. Excellent Asian food. They pretty much cover all of Asia, from sushi to noodles to traditional Chinese stuff. Fresh ingredients. Good stuff.

Another great poker-less weekend!

I'm starting to like NOT playing poker on the weekends. Not that I have the money to play lately anyway with the fucking extra car payment :( Lesson learned. Maybe it will be destroyed by some wonderful act of nature and I'll get out of it. Otherwise I'm gonna have to move into a cave soon, or talk MEATS into moving in to be my roommate. (JK on the latter option, sorry MEATS)

Anyway, I volunteered to help Caprice at her daughter's school lock-in event Friday night. 200+ middle schoolers beating the hell out of each other and running around. It wasn't much different than being at work actually lol. My office is outside the HS cafeteria and it's like that every day at lunch time. We didn't have to stay the entire time...her daughter hated it so we left to drop her off at her Grandmother's where we hung out for a bit, then headed back to her place.

Saturday, we left for C-bus before 2 PM and stopped by carmax to get an offer on my Eclipse, which turned out to be a joke. They didn't offer me half of what I owe on it. Ah well. We checked into the hotel then headed to Dave+Busters, right on time. Until we asked where the billiards room was that it is. Turned out we were at the wrong location. I was confident Graham would be late anyway (I've never once seen him on time for anything. Not that there's anything wrong with that), so we headed across town to the other location, and of course Graham wasn't there yet, so it all worked out. We surprised him, had apps and drinks, then played some games. Turns out I am MUCH better at basketball than Caprice is. Like 34-2. :) But she did beat me at the motorcycle racing game, just before I took all her chips at the electronic poker game. I got Graham a Barnes & Noble gift card and small bottle of Maker's, all in a nice little "Sassy Pants" gift bag. Very nice. We later stopped off at another bar to have a couple more... it was just Graham and Aaron.

Me and Caprice managed to get into the hotel jacuzzi around 1:30 after the clerk said the door was unlocked and it would be OK if we "didn't scream". We soaked and talked for about 45 min. Good times.

Got up early, yada yada, yada, (LOL) had some free hotel breakfast, and headed back home so we could head to the game. Great freaking game! Last minute CLE TD sent it to OT, where we were handed the win a few times, but got no love. We lost in the last 30 seconds...WTF!! Too many missed opportunities on both sides of the ball. Oh well it was a great game to watch and we had a lot of fun. Ran into a ton of people I knew. We met JC at the Lizard for some chow and a Christmas Ale before taking the rapid back to 117th. Got home after 8 and crashed by 9:30, totally exhausted.

All weekends should be as fun! One of these days I'll get back to the cash game. it would be great to put a 'roll together and make a nice run again, I can use the scratch. I'm growing weary of paying for stupid shit my ex has screwed me on. What a financial train wreck.

Someone buy this from me!

$775 total a month in car payments makes jack a dull boy.

Holy smokes what a weekend!

Good times, good times.

Had a great Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon with Caprice. Just stayed in Friday night. Talked her into the HTC EVO and a new Sprint contract, and she seems pretty happy with it. Nice freaking phone. I'm pretty sure I'm going Android when my contract is up, provided I can still get my favorite podcasts.

Saturday, she and I met some of the CPMG gang for drinks at Quaker Steak before going to Dave's. She just kinda hung out and watched a while. I'll teach her how to play sometime soon and get her into the donkaments over there. I ended up making the final table and finished 8th or 9th. Played well overall. Got lucky once with 99 against Reigler's 10-10. I also called a huge river bet by Gary at my first table. I had AQ-high to his J-high. Ship it. He doesn't seem to have the ability to slow down.

I ended up going out with 10's vs JJ.

Went to a great Browns game Sunday. Great win. Good times. Christmas Ale.

Tonight... Melt Bar and Grilled in Lakewood! Graham's party and the Browns-Jets game this weekend. Caprice will be joining me for all the festivities. She'll get to listen to me and Graham tell 25-year old stories. Woo! We're having a blast together, she's very cool.

You've got mail!

Got this in the mail recently..from Stan, the guy that helped open Kennedy's and Gemini club. Might have to check it out sometime.

Update, and weekend preview

I am so freaking tired this week! My cold is winding down and almost gone, but that was the biggest reason I'm dragging, along with a general lack of sleep, but the lack of sleep has been for good reasons :) Caprice and I changed our Facebook status' too! Very exciting. Things are going well.

So Monday I went out with Slacks, Gross, BC, Hip, ...and maybe another 1-2 guys to watch MNF and eat $1 steaks at Pearl Rd Tavern in Clevetown. Not a bad place, but the neighborhood could be better. The cheap steaks were decent. If you get more than 1, you have to get a $3.50 side. I got the mash/gravy, which was damn good. They were real, and they were spectacular. The pic with the pissing chick is a huge 8' mural in the men's room. File that one under WTF???

So I got home late Monday night after stopping to see Caprice. We'd seen each other every day since our first date on the 22nd, and the streak just ended last night after 12 days. Stayed until pretty late on Tuesday night as well.

So Wednesday, I really wanted to stay home and veg, read my new book (I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, which is great so far. I have many similar stories, lol) and maybe catch up on some Netflix videos I have stacked up, but later in the day at work I was feeling a bit better so decided to join the gang for trivia. New gang this week too. Mr John Coleman was there along with Doug Poker and TK. Meats brought his friend Dave. We were in 2nd place going into the final question, bet it all, and came up busto. Ah well, we gave it a shot. Good times either way. Stopped by a packed Train Station on the way home and ran into Candy Weese-Simpson. Hadn't seen her in a while but we laughed about Rob's wedding story and my sweaty suit. Ask me to tell you the story sometime.

2 great weekends coming up! Get to hang with Caprice much of this weekend along with some poker and the Browns-Pats game on Sunday. Stag day at the stadium...Me, Ray, Mark, and Kurt. Game on!

Gonna cook for Caprice Friday night to show off my mad skills. We'll probably just stay in. Saturday we might go phone shopping for her, she wants to sign up with Sprint. I'm recommending an HTC EVO...sweet Droid phone.

Next weekend Caprice is coming to the Browns-Jets game with me. Should be fun.

Oh! The Black Friday Road Trip is returning! I set it up on the calendar and I think we have 8 people going so far, should be a blast. We're gonna hit up Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. No way I'm driving if it snows! LOL, you've heard that story.

More poker news...I want to have a very low stakes, 6-drink minimum game at my place sometime in December while Dave is on break. I may even toss in a 2-table $50 donkfest as well.

That's about it for now. Life is good.

Misc pics

Pics from this summer...that's Slacks dressed up as Ginger from Gilligan's Island.