Because We are Cheap
Posted on January 7, 2009 by Ching under Life.
We couldn’t find inexpensive bedroom furniture that is both the right style and color locally; and, since there is no IKEA anywhere near us, we ended up ordering our furniture from Wal-Mart. We figured that we could save money on delivery by having the boxes shipped to the store and then simply picking it up.
Since Brian hates the Wal-Mart by us (the one on 29th Street — parking is a hassle and he thinks the place is dirty and just all-around horrible), we selected the Wal-Mart on Greenwich. The funny thing is, when we arrived at the Greenwich Wal-Mart, we had to circle the parking lot a few times to find parking. We had to endure the very thing that he wanted to avoid. Although he still believes that the Greenwich Wal-Mart is nicer than all the other Wal-Mart locations. A Wal-Mart nice? That’s like an oxymoron. It’s like saying, “Wow. That was a really fragrant fart.” Or, “That murderer is such a benevolent criminal.” There are words that just don’t go together. Whatever. We are cheap and decided to buy our furniture from Wal-Mart.
Brian’s dad David was nice enough to come to the store with us. He drove his truck just in case the boxes don’t all fit in our truck. So the three of us head to the Site-to-Store pick up section, which is at the farthest corner of the store. I told Brian that if we do this again, we are picking the smallest Wal-Mart in town so that we don’t have to walk so far to get to the Site-to-Store section.
The boxes all fit in our truck, but David followed us home. It worked out great because he was able to help Brian unload most of the boxes. Brian put together the bed that same evening. One of the pieces was damaged but we didn’t want to hassle with shipping it back for a replacement. Brian and I agreed that since it is on the back of the headboard, no one will really see it.
We used the all-in-one bedding set that Brian’s parents got us for Christmas. The colors are perfect for our chocolate room. Anyway, you can’t see the headboard because the bed is really high. The bed is really high because we put the box spring under the mattress even though we weren’t supposed to (it’s a platform bed)… We just didn’t know where else to store our box spring in the meantime. For now we just have to endure being really high up off the floor when we are laying in bed and feeling like “The Princess and the Pea Pod.”
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Blurb is Still the Best Value in Photobooks
Posted on January 4, 2009 by Ching under Reviews.
I hate you, MyPublisher! I want the last three weeks of my life back! GRRR!
Wait until I tell Brian. He is going to be livid because he sacrificed three weeks of no World of Warcraft so that I could borrow his computer while I built the second edition of the 2008 Halloween Poker Cruise photobook using MyPublisher — and for what?
I guess it would make more sense if I explained what was going on instead of just ranting and raving like a crazed loon. So I have been spending all my free time (any time I have not playing poker) outside of work creating this book on MyPublisher, thinking that it would be great to check it out and compare it to Blurb. The process was frustrating from the very beginning. The MyPublisher software is clunky and sluggish and not as user friendly as Blurb’s. However, I kept telling myself that it will be worth it because I have a two-for-one coupon so I’ll actually have two books at the end of this horrendous ordeal. Believe me, it was horrendous. I would click on something and have to wait several minutes before anything happened. I had to be careful not to work too fast or the program would crash and quit responding. I would have to save after every page to make sure that I didn’t lose anything in the event of an unexpected crash. I would have to reboot the computer several times in one sitting. And, if you’ve been following my tweets, you know that in some cases a page could take hours to complete. Suffice it to say, the process was just very, very agonizing.
So now I’m finally done. Hurrah! Time to celebrate, right? NOT! I click on the purchase button and after the usual long wait (which I am used to at this point, mind you, because I’ve had to suffer through it for the last three weeks) I find out that one book is going to cost me $130. Yes, ONE book! No wonder they are doing two-for-one offers. You could get two books for the price of one book at MyPublisher. It’s not much of a savings really. I very much would like to see the product of three weeks of hard work, but I do not want to spend $130 on a silly, frivolous book, so I’m thinking of scrapping the whole idea. I’m just sad that I wasted all this time working on the stupid book for nothing. You know, I wonder how many books they’ve sold (despite how overpriced the books are) because the person making the book felt so vested? I’m actually feeling this first hand. I don’t want to spend that much money, but at the same time I feel compelled to buy the book simply because of how much time and effort I’ve spent toiling over the book over the last three weeks. All that time and effort and nothing to show for it… What a nice gimmick!
BTW, another downside to MyPublisher is that it would not let me go beyond 100 pages. Blurb allows you add as many pages as you want. In fact, Sunny’s cruise photobook was 200 pages!
Anyway, I did a comparison of pricing of Blurb vs. MyPublisher for a 100-page hardcover book with a dust jacket and Blurb comes out way, way, way ahead.
- BLURB with shipping = $48.57
- MYPUBLISHER with shipping = $122.94
See the disparity? You could buy almost THREE similar Blurb photobooks for the price of one MyPublisher book. I’m so sad, I feel like I’m going to cry. I don’t think I ever want to use (or see for that matter) MyPublisher ever again.
BTW, I had a comment form Andrew Laffoon to check out MixBook not too long ago. It is another photobook creation tool. I was smart this time and priced it before investing too much time creating an actual book. A similar book would cost about $78.98 at MixBook, though you can save $3.00 by opting for the USPS media mail instead of ground shipping. It’s entirely up to you if the wait is worth the savings.
MixBook is actually very promising from what I have seen so far. Unlike MyPublisher, which doesn’t really contribute anything special or unique, MixBook has three key features I like: (a) I don’t need to download and install anything on my computer, a definite plus; (b) I can grab my photos directly from my Flickr account so I don’t have to endure the cumbersome process of downloading my photos from Flickr where they are permanently stored and then uploading them into the photobook software; (b) I can easily share my completed MixBook with others without cumbersome IDs and passwords; and (c) I can collaborate with other people, so I don’t have to build the book by myself. I think this last feature is brilliant because other people at the same event might have captured moments that I missed. If you are doing a photobook for a wedding or some other special occasion, then creating a group MixBook makes for a more complete book. Plus, the new web is all about collaboration so call this photobook 2.0 — LOL.
Granted MixBook is a little more expensive than Blurb, but they have all these wonderful features that Blurb doesn’t. It’s up to you guys if you think it’s worth the price premium. I think it is. The again, I store all of my pictures on Flickr so MixBook is going to save me a lot of time. If you have all of your photos on your hard drive and are on a tight budget, Blurb is probably the way to go.
Definitely going to try MixBook soon, I have to save some money though because I’m going to need about $80 to create the book I want to make. Maybe I’ll win some money at poker… I placed 4th last night and won $40. Took home $35 after tipping the dealer. After you consider our chair rentals for Friday and Saturday night, we are still down by $5 so I guess I need to find a way to save money some other way.
Oh, hey. I have an idea. I ought to collect donations. Contribute any amount you like toward my photobook happiness. Click here if you would like your donation to go toward MyPublisher so I can stop whining about how much time I spent on it OR here if you would like it to go toward MixBook so I can check it out now and be excited about something again. Thanks a bunch!
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The Pink Boa is the Girliest Store Ever
Posted on January 4, 2009 by Ching under Flickr, Life.
The Pink Boa has been around for about two years now and I’d still never been there. When Sunny found out she gave me a 25% off coupon to the store. With some of the weather we’d had over the last month and the craziness of the holiday, I’d still never gotten around to going. That changed yesterday afternoon when Sunny picked me up and too me there. It worked out perfect because my loving husband had absolutely no desire to go. He missed out on seeing some of the girliest stuff on the planet, though. Here are some of the photos I took with my phone…
It is the neatest store ever! I can’t believe I’d never been there. I ended up picking up an “Art by Amy” poker themed pendant (similar to the one that Sunny has, but with different baubles dangling from it) and two silks (a red one and a black one) to go with it. The store doesn’t allow any discounts on “Art by Amy” because they don’t do any markup on the price so I had to pick something else out to use my 25% off coupon on… Well, I technically didn’t HAVE to but I was compelled to because I am not one to pass up a good deal and I really didn’t know when I could return to the store, knowing Brian. Anyway, I picked out this Pink Panache ball-bearing poker themed necklace that I thought was really cool and unique. I was able to use my coupon on that.
Thank you so much for the coupon and for taking me, Sunny!
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New Year’s Eve Pictures
Posted on January 4, 2009 by Ching under Family.
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Last Woman Standing
Posted on January 3, 2009 by Ching under Poker.
“I don’t want to jinx you,” Kristy came over and told me when we were down to the final two tables, “but you are the last woman standing.” That prompted a discussion of Tiffany Michelle at the 2008 WSOP and what everyone considered to be bad poker behavior on her part. As pretty as she is and as much as I love her, I really did not want to be compared to her because everyone (at least those discussing her at the table) thought she was a bitch. I don’t like being a bitch. I don’t want people to think that I’m a bitch. I want them to think of me as a nice, personable poker player.
Anyway, I did tend to get a little testy throughout the evening. I think the weirdness at my table and the weirdness of the evening in general started to get to me.
It was a huge night at Highlands. The turnout for the Blue Collar Poker Tournament was so great that they had to set up tables beyond the designated BCPT area. That normally is a bad sign for me. It means that a lot of non-regulars have come out to play. In the past some of these people have really irritated me because they don’t know when it’s their turn (acting out of turn once is forgivable but doing it a lot throughout the course of the game is really annoying) or when they are in the blinds or how much to bet/raise (sometimes not betting enough to cover the big blind, which is the minimum bet or not raising 2x the amount of the original bet) or not keeping the cut card at the bottom so everyone can see that the card you are pretending to have is not really in your had but at the bottom of the deck or discussing their hand while people are still playing… Those are just some of the things that bug me. I have some minor pet peeves that I don’t really get cranky about but also dislike nonetheless. I don’t like rabbit-hunting because it delays the game, pre-burning (I think this is one of Scott’s peeves, too), tossing the burn cards into the muck pile because it’s hard to tell if people are actually burning cards or if they’re burning more than one card (it’s just really weird, don’t do it), splashing the pot… I normally don’t say anything, but these things do bug me.
Last night was just really weird, though, so I was more outspoken than usual. People just get so confused about dead blinds and dealers, or when it is their turn to deal period. I wanted to maintain some semblance of order so I spoke up in order to keep people on track.
Early on in the game, when the blinds were still at $100-$200, one of the players threw out a $500 chip at the table without saying anything. Heather, because she is so nice, asked him if it was a call or a raise. He nodded yes. We allowed the raise but I had to comment that technically that action would have been considered a call. Then other people chimed in and explained what I meant and Rich, who was on my immediate left, pointed out that the best way is to announce the amount of the raise or simply say raise so that other players at the table do not misconstrue your intentions.
Later on the same guy tried to deal twice. I was like, “Didn’t you just deal that last hand?” He said yes and the guy to his left goes, “I was just small blind.” I said, “Okay. You were the small blind so this hand you get to be the dealer.”
I wasn’t being mean or anything, but I didn’t exercise my usual restraint either. I guess I was a little on the controlling side that night because the player across from me, who I had told to be the dealer previously, commented that I ought to play at a casino. He said it in a fun, joking way but I took it as a sign and laid off a little.
I think it was too late, though, because I had already established myself in the unpopular role of table captain. Throughout the rest of the tournament, other players (even those who just moved to our table from another table) would refer to me for guidance asking if it was their turn to be small/big blind. They didn’t do it sarcastically. Not that I could tell, anyway. It seemed to me like they really weren’t sure and honestly sought my response.
I did get somewhat crabby a couple of times during the tournament. Once was at my original table when we were still at the $200-$400 blind level. I looked down at a good hand, but someone acted out of turn so they were already back to the small blind before I could even act. I was so mad that I raised just to punish them for acting out of turn. I figured that if they had a good hand then they would have raised so I was counting on just picking up the pot. Everyone folds except for the guy who acted out of turn. He puts in an additional $1200 to match my raise. There was a pair on the flop, but they were all low cards. Newer players don’t realize that it is far wiser to fold pre-flop than to sink $1200 more to defend their $400, so I figured that he only called my raise because he was compelled to and that he had nothing and hit nothing. I was to act first so I bet again. I was a little nervous about this because I didn’t hit the flop either, but I figured that (a) I had better cards because mine were good enough to raise with (b) I would get away with it because I was playing against a weaker player. He folded just as I predicted.
The second time that I got cranky was when I moved over to the next table. Two guys had split the pot and there was an extra chip. One of the guys goes, “Do you want to high card for the extra chip?” No one else was paying attention so I felt like it was my responsibility to speak up. I told them that the extra chip goes to the player to the left of the dealer. Guy goes, “That’s fine if that’s how you want to do it.” That’s not how I want to do it, I thought to myself. That’s the rule. “The extra chip always goes to the player who is to the left of the dealer.” This time other players noticed, so they backed me up. Guy goes, “That’s fine. I’d just never heard of that before.” They might do it differently at other places and I realize that some people who are used to playing elsewhere might not know any better so I said, “That’s Blue Collar rules.” Another player goes, “Why don’t we ask the tournament director? He’s right there.” At this point, Dan had walked up to our table. Guy goes, “Don’t worry about it.” He still acted like he didn’t believe me, though. I hate it when Brian does that to me — when he agrees just so I will shut up, but really doesn’t believe me — and I never let him get away with it. Neither did this guy. “When there’s an extra chip on a split pot, the extra chip always goes to the player to the left of the dealer,” I said out loud so Dan would hear. Dan agreed and said the same thing for all the other players at the table to hear. “They,” nodding my head toward the doubtful guy, “are unfamiliar with Blue Collar rules so I just wanted to clarify.” I kind of said this in a condescending tone — like thank you for demonstrating your utter ignorance of the rules, you pathetic excuse for a poker player — but I don’t think anyone else picked up on it. Feeling vindicated, I was finally ready to let it go. And that is the end of that discussion.
Despite having my patience tested all evening, I made it to the final table. My patience had worn thin at that point, though. I was bored and tired and feeling impatient. That combined with being short-stacked tends to make a poker player suicidal. I went all in with AJ off and got called by AK, which held up. I was knocked out of the tournament in 9th place just like that. And that is the conclusion of one very weird evening at Highlands.
It was an out-of-body experience as I felt completely unlike my usual self. I took down the title of “Last Woman Standing” that night, though, so that is a pretty good accomplishment. Next time we’re going for the “Last Playing Standing” title…
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