2006 June

Archive for June 2006

I Won First Place Last Night

Posted on June 17, 2006 by Ching under Poker.

So I finally win first place at poker after being in a rut for so long. I didn’t do too well at first session. I was hoping to place in the top 16 and qualify in the ten o’clock invite session. Brian had qualified for it at Heroes last week so he was already in. I usually don’t like having to play in the open side so whenever one of us doesn’t qualify we just go home. Brian doesn’t care either way because if we go home, he has WOW waiting for him.

Neither of us did well. I think my only consolation was I outlasted Brian after having been the one to get knocked out first the last few times we’ve played. My knockout hand was actually pretty exciting. Blinds were at 2K and 4K. I am sitting in the small blind position with a total of 7K in chips after posting my 2K blind. Sandy is sitting across from me. It goes fold, fold, call, fold, fold, fold, back to me. I should’ve known better than to try and steal the pot with Sandy calling but I was feeling pretty ballsy right then. I had a feeling I could get big blind to fold if I pushed all in and I could sense Sandy had a mediocre hand and she just wanted to see the flop for 4K.

I decided to push in my remaining 7K in chips for a total of 9K all in. It is only 5K more to call for big blind. He thinks for a moment and he folds just as I predicted. Now the action returns back to Sandy. She thinks about it for a long time which confirms my guess. She has a mediocre hand. If she had a strong hand like A K or A Q or even pockets she would’ve called much quicker. She reluctantly calls and, before even seeing her A 2, I knew I was beat. I wanted her to fold because I knew that my puny 9 10 would not hold up. I just wanted to steal the pot.

The first card of the flop is a 9 which gives me hope because that puts me in the lead. The other cards come and they’re 9 and A. Set! Nice! The A makes me uncomfortable because that gives her 2 pair and the tides could turn very quickly. I chant, “No ace! No ace!” as the dealer reveals the turn card. It’s an A. Slap! I get a set and she boats over the top of it. Incidentally, the second A gave me a boat too but it was a smaller one.

Anyway, I didn’t mind getting knocked out because I put myself in that position. Besides that Sandy is a great sport. She doesn’t gloat like other people tend to do. She is super nice and she went in with the best hand so it’s not like she called my all in with 7 2. Anyway, what a rollercoaster ride! That was probably the most exciting hand I’ve had in a while.

After I got knocked out and went over to Brian and proceeded to tell everyone about my “exciting” knockout hand. We stayed for the late game this time because Brian was on the invite. He and Dill, who is always on the invite because he plays poker a lot and places a lot, were assigned to the same table. Bill just happened to be on the open side last night, too. We were assigned to the same table. Alan (aka, “The Professor”) sat between us.

The second session was actually a lot of fun. Brian didn’t get a chance to switch to the open side because he didn’t get knocked out of the invite game until after break. He had to sit and wait for me. I went all in a few times after he got knocked out. As luck would have it, I ended up prevailing each time instead of losing and actually started to build a hefty stack. Once I had the chips I decided to start playing to win instead of trying to leave. I felt bad for Brian because he had to wait for me. Having been knocked out before him a few times, I know how boring it can be. Specially if you don’t bring anything to do.

Our table was actually a lot of fun. They were all good sports about it. I actually bluffed a guy out of a pot by going all in with 6 7. What was worse was he wanted to play really badly because he had his favorite cards, 8 9, and they were suited to boot! Bill was laughing because whenever we’d play together he’d always hear other people say, “She never bluffs. If she bets, she’ll usually have something good.” He would just shake his head because he knows better. He’s busted me on some bluffs before.

For instance last night, I raised pre-flop with A J. It’s a decent starting hand and if it’s fold, fold, fold, with only one other person in the pot, why not try to steal it? My mistake was that I was trying to steal the pot from Bill. Flop came Q 2 3. Bill checks and I immediately go all in. The key to winning hands is if you raise pre-flop, you have to continue the aggressive play.

Bill initially put me on a decent pocket pair because the Q didn’t scare me off. That is what I wanted him to believe. I only had A J. I missed the flop completely. I wanted him to think I had something and fold. Bill thought about it and after much scrutiny his gut told him to call. It was a good call because we all know I had nothing. As soon as he called, I knew I was beat. My mind told me that he would not have called if he didn’t get a piece of that flop. If he got a piece of it, no matter how small, he’s got me. Much to my relief, he reveals an A J which is the same hand I have. It was a split pot.

My point is, Bill has witnessed me try to steal pots many a time. He knows I can play pretty wreckless and pretty aggressive if the mood strikes. It’s important to shake it up a bit sometimes. You don’t want to be predictable. Of course, if you’ve played with me a few times I can’t help if you know my style of play no matter how spontaneous I try to be.

Anyway, the semi-aggressive semi-tight play worked for me last night. It took me all the way to the final table and helped me win first place. But don’t feel bad for the guy I bluffed into folding his favorite hand. He took second. =)

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The Case of the Missing Drivers License

Posted on June 15, 2006 by Ching under Life.

I seem to have lost my drivers license. We’ve searched all over the house and rummaged through my purse and everything. There is no sign of it anywhere.

I have no idea when or how I lost it. However, I remember seeing it the last time at Abuelo’s. I had to show it to our waitress. I think may have lost it sometime after drinking almost an entire carafe of sangria. Brian just came back from Abuelo’s, though, and they do not have my drivers license. This irks me beyond anything you can imagine!

You want to know the crazy thing? I’ve been driving all week without it. It just dawned on me today to check. This is nuts! So anyway, I have to get to the DMV tomorrow before they close so I can get another one. How aggravating!

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It’s Official

Posted on June 14, 2006 by Ching under School.

It’s official! I’ve been accepted to Wichita State’s MBA program. I’m so happy!

Mom never doubted that I would get in, but after a week of waiting I was beginning to wonder. Anyway, I’m thrilled to be in grad school. I can’t wait to start. Go me!

P.S. Brian told me that we could do whatever I wanted tonight to celebrate my acceptance to grad school. So you know what I said? “Let’s go play poker!” LOL.

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Itâ€™s my Birthdayâ€¦â€¦ Yippy-Fucking-Do!

Posted on June 14, 2006 by Brian under Life.

This will be an account of my Birthday. This is the first time that I have ever kept a record like this so it should be pretty amusing.

6:30am

Got up this morning and was greeted by my cat (Oscar) trying to see how far he could shove his head down my throat. That drives me nuts, great way to start the morning in a pissy mood with a mouth full of hair. I normally get greeted by my wife telling me Happy Birthday and giving me a Kiss but that didnâ€™t happen. Hell I didnâ€™t even get a kiss this morning. Sheâ€™s probably still mad at me because Care One took $300.00 and applied it to a credit card that we paid off after they told us that it would not be applied. Oh well, I guess itâ€™s just another day for me. 32 is starting to look crappy but what can you do but move on.

7:15am

At work now and still having a shitty day. Set up the board and was told after I had it all set up that three people were not going to be here today. It would be nice if the TSE supervisor would update the vacation calendar (I just think to myself that it was a last min thing and he didnâ€™t have time. That way I done get too upset and make an ass out of myself).

7:48am

Sent an e-mail to my wife telling her to not worry about the auditors and asking her if sheâ€™s still mad at me. Iâ€™m so sensitive, I donâ€™t know why. If she gets mad then I guess Iâ€™ll just try to suck it up and take it for pestering her on a busy day.

8:50am

So far my wife has e-mailed me and told me Happy Birthday. She said that she was sorry for forgetting and would make it up to me tonight. As for anyone else, I wasnâ€™t told happy birthday by anyone but I told someone that it was my birthday and he told me â€œIâ€™m Sorryâ€. Wow, what a great way to start the day. As for work, this is the first time in 8 years that I have had to work my birthday and it sucks. I woke up this morning and new that today was going to be crappy and it is busy as hell here, it sucks.

9:00am

Cheez-itâ€™s, Breakfast of champions! NOT!

(more…)

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Brian Was Pooped

Posted on June 10, 2006 by Ching under Family, Games, Life.

Brian was pooped after the garage sale today. Mostly there was a lot of waiting around. We didn’t get much business and sold very few items, but getting rid of all of our junk (which the DAV will pick up from mom’s house on Monday) was well worth it.

We actually had fun after Dawn and her girls showed up. Amber and Haley came to sell soda and water to the customers. We all thought it would be a good idea specially on a hot summer day. Very few sodas and waters got sold, though.

Anyway, there was still a lot of waiting around with a bit of horsing around in between. Amber played chess with me. It was her first time playing, so I had to show her how the various pieces move, and she won! She was really excited about that. She learned the moves really quickly. She seems to be really sharp.

After that she taught me how to play Go Fish and Speed. We had a long discussion of how people are wrong to refer to “sugargliders” as “sugar gliders” because it is a compound noun. After all, it’s “firehouse” not “fire house” and “fireman” not “fire man” and “doghouse” not “dog house” and “superman” not “super man” and “butterfly” not “butter fly” and “watermelon” not “water melon” and… I could keep going, but you get the point.

Try searching for “sugargliders” on Google, though and you won’t get very many hits. However, if you use “sugar gliders” as the search term then you’ll get lots of hits. We both agreed that it should not have a space in between the two words.

Anyway, I realize that there compound nouns can exist in the open form but I don’t like them. I think compound nouns should consist of words stuck together like Siamese twins or at least be hyphenated. But that’s just me. =P

So that’s about the extent of my garage sale experience. It was my first one ever and I have to say, I refuse to participate in any kind of garage or yard sale ever again! It was so hot outside that we finally gave up and packed up early. I swear there were ten drivebys after our garage sale officially closed for the day. I kind of feel bad for closing early, but Brian and them insisted that we do because it had been almost two hours since the last victim (err, customer). It was Ching against everyone else so I was out-voted. It was actually good that we closed early because that gave Brian and I time to shower before dinner. It was a necessity because Brian and I were both really grody for being out in the heat all day. After our shower, he promptly passed out on our favorite sleeping couch (see the photo above).