Friday, August 28, 2009

A WCOOP-ing We Will Go

Back in the saddle, more or less, and just in time for the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at Stars. I'll play between two and five of the events depending on bankroll, which has undergone another dip in the last two weeks. I did pick up one Level 4 ($200+15) steps entry already, and it looks like the razz (!) tourney on Sep. 4 is the likeliest use for that. The early 8-game event looks like another must; one wish I have is that they'd run a stud-8 event at less than $530, but the last time that happened was, to the best of my memory, back in 2007.

See ya there, perhaps.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Hangin' Out the Shingle

I have returned... from the first wave of vacation trips I promised myself during August. There was the 12-day trip to northern Wisconsin (which I'll reprise next month), followed by a short four-day jaunt to the camp country north of Muskegon, Michigan.

I won't bore you with too many details, though I did tangle with a deer near the end of my Wisconsin trip. It's the fourth deer I've biffed with my vehicle, though as with two of the the other three instances, it did only minimal damage to deer or car. This time around a big doe tried to jump over the front of my Yaris and didn't quite make it. She shot out from the brush on one side of the road, angled in front of me, and I was dawdling and slowed down just enough to make it perhaps a net 10-mph collision. She flipped on over the front hood and into the ditch on the right, knocking the Toyota emblem off the front of the car as her rear legs kicked over the hood. Other damage to the car included a couple of scratches and one small chip of paint removed.

By the time I went back to pick up the emblem from the road, the deer had already regained her feet and vanished deeper into the woods. I don't think I hit her hard enough to damage anything internally and I don't think any of her legs broke when she flopped over the hood. It's an everyday hazard up there; I believe my brother-in-law has hit 12, most during his years as a third-shift sheriff's deputy. And, it's been quite the wildlife habitat around my sister and brother-in-law's house of late. Among creatures sighted during my stay were whitetailed foxes (numerous), weasels, turkeys, hummingbirds, a timber wolf, and a small black bear. That's in addition to the more run-of-the-mill stuff like deer and rabbits and such that are everyday sights.

Poker? Sure, I've played a bit. Went oh-fer-two in the horrid northwoods Indian-casino tourneys during my stay up there. Played online some, too, with not much good happening there either. I'm sure I'll be around for the WCOOP stuff, and maybe the mini FTOPS, too. Elsewhere, I checked the news headlines every so often and all I can say is, "What a blecch month for poker." Seems I didn't miss much.

So, it's time to start looking for new gigs. I can write, edit, do business analysis, create basic web code, and of course I know the poker business reasonably well. I'm willing to travel, as always. In the meantime I have two or three minor things lined up that'll let me keep my hand in until better times return. I'm experienced enough to know that some things are beyond one's control, and one simply has to move on. In the near future, I'm also going to address a few topics here that I was forced to hold back on in recent months.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Goals

Being goal-oriented is something that I never used to be. I suppose that's changed some as I've grown older, merely because there are things that I want to do in my remaining years, and goals are a means of achieving those things. However, I seldom set goals for goals' sake, nor make iron-clad resolutions.

But as my vacation begins, I know it's time again to get my life in better order. I've been too fixated on getting stuff done, and in fact took only one day off in the last 11 months. Short days, sure, I had a handful of those; but only one truly off day, which was Mother's Day in May.

Now it's adjustment time, searching for mind/body balance and a healthier lifestyle. I've been way too run down and sickly for the last year or two, particularly the last four months, so despite the job going away, I'll remain resolute in my belief that things happen for a reason. Right now my reason is because it's time for me to get healthy again.

Goals for the next few weeks: Eat healthy, get plenty of exercise, shoot at least ten rounds of golf, and catch lots of fish.

Of course, there are poker goals, too. Some of my more grandiose goals include playing (and cashing) in the Main Event, and cashing in any regular WSOP event is still something on my list. I'm 0-for-4 on that last one to date. I took care of cashing at a Circuit event last year, which was an intermediate step. I also took care of the goal of winning a live event, even if it was a small one.

I have some online goals, too. I play on four sites at the present time, and my goal is to have a truly playable tourney bankroll on all four. Since I tend to play only $15-50 at a time, this is a much smaller and more achievable goal than one think.

Even more specifically, I plan to finally pay enough to get back my Silver (or maybe even Gold!) status on Stars, something I haven't had the time to pursue since some time around December. Likewise, I'll finally return to taking a shot at Merge Network's monthly tournament leader board, and I'll try to take advantage of some of the other special events and promotions that come up. The Full Tilt promo thing looked sweet enough to accept, and so far I've cleared $30 and given my bankroll a little boost as well. My total combined bankroll went up 15% in the last week, and it's nice to have a solid uptick after months of non-profit play. Short-term, sure, but it beats the alternative.

Come September, it'll be time to find meaningful employment. But I'll worry about that more once September comes.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

ahhhhh...!

And enough of that. More things I'll talk about at a later date, but I plan on vacationing for about a month in an attempt to get back my health. It was a rough summer in more ways than one.

Assuming I get over the virus which currently has me on couch duty, I plan to spend a good share of August fishing and golfing and doing all sorts of useless nothing. I have a few little tasks to handle, and I'm sure I'll play some online, but the greater chore is to make myself enjoy an extended stretch of Haley time.

Back soon!