It Has Been A Long Freaking Wait

The Bulin Wall

CALGARY, Alberta -- The Chicago Blackhawks have eliminated Calgary from the NHL playoffs, beating the Flames 4-1 in Game 6 of their first-round Western Conference series Monday night.

Yes -- 1996 was a loooooong time ago. A very long time ago for suffering Hawks fans. Shazam!!

Hit or Miss -- Predictions from the Past

1) "That college guy Tiger Woods is pretty good. I'll bet he does well when he turns pro."

2) "Michael Jordan? To tell the truth, I thought James Worthy was the best guy on that North Carolina team, and maybe Sam Perkins was second. I hope the Bulls know what they are doing."

3) "I bought this new album. The guys in the band are all wearing makeup. I listened to it and it sounds pretty good. I bet they will be popular." (lightning36's brother Dan was right-on with his instincts on Kiss's first album)

4) "I decided to watch Big Brother instead of Survivor. I read an advance review of Survivor. It sounds like the series won't last long."

5) "You have to hear this band that is really popular in Detroit. I'll bet Aerosmith will become really big." (lightning36's high school friend Russ)

6) "I think that the demand for technology jobs will finally slow down in the near future."

7) "Just think -- someday you'll be able to say that you were at the game when Bee Bee Richard hit his first major league home run." (lightning36's brother Jim after a 1971 Chicago White Sox game. btw -- Lee "Bee Bee" Richard hit a total of two home runs in the majors.)

8) "This band is really popular at Eastern Illinois University. Listen to this great song called Roxanne. They're gonna be big." (lightning36's friend Brian)

9) "Geez -- those CD's are expensive. I can't see them replacing casette tapes."

10) "That new guy playing third base for the Cubs -- Ryne Sandberg -- is going to be pretty good." (lightning36's friend Brian)

11) "That new Bears linebacker -- Mike Singletary -- is going to be good." (lightning36's friend Brian. Damn -- that guy was smarter than I thought).

12) "Obama!" (lightning36's brother Jim after hearing Barack Obama speak at Benedictine University. lightning36, a Republican and staunch pro-lifer, refused to go and instead felt more at home watching the picketing pro-lifers outside the Dan and Ada Rice Center).

13) "I got a VHS player. I hope deciding against Betamax won't come back to bite me in the butt."

14) "I don't believe it. The Cubs are actually going to the World Series." (sadly, lightning36's comment seconds before the "Bartman play").

15) "Oh no -- oh shit -- oh no." (sadly, my correct assumption seconds after the Bartman play).

Hey Baby -- Wanna Get Lucky Tonight?

KABUL (April 15) -- A group of some 1,000 Afghans swarmed a demonstration of 300 women protesting against a new conservative marriage law on Wednesday. The women were pelted with small stones as police struggled to keep the two groups apart.

The law, passed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse — a clause that critics say legalizes marital rape. It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home alone.

Calling All Chicago Sports Fans

Wowsa -- ESPNChicago.com looks great! http://espn.go.com/chicago/index

BBT4 Update

Although I am hanging in at third place on the overall leaderboard, I have yet to win a tournament. Very frustrating. Yesterday's Brit Blogger tournament was a disaster. With only 1500 starting chips and facing a big push by an unfamiliar opponent with a horrible ROI, do you call? I chose not to and immediately was down. I chipped back up, then took a big risk ... and lost. I guess I could have played the conservative route, but I wanted to be a factor rather just hanging on, hoping for some big cards.

Poker Streaks

Amazing how things in my poker life go in streaks. I can't win a BBT4 tournament, yet I can't seem to lose when I play against the people in the MurryTheCat forum. It is uncanny how the right cards always seem to appear in an MTC game. I would guess that my fellow bloggers don't consider me to be too much of a maniac, but the MTC folks probably see me as an ultimate LAG player. Go figure.

Daughters

Item: Daughter had mononucleosis and missed two weeks of school. She was lonely and decided to greatly exceed the number of text messages her plan allows. Cost: You don't want to know.

Item: Daughter has steady boyfriend and is going to prom. Daughter needs prom dress. $15 used dresses dad sees on Craig's List don't seem to be acceptable. Wife takes daughter shopping for prom dress. They find nice dress and excitedly call to tell me the good news. I hear the going price for prom dresses. I guess I am living in 1979. Paramedics are now gone and said that I should live. Only a mild heart attack, they speculate.

Item: Daughter wants to upgrade her style and decides to get contacts along with her glasses. Health plan only covers one set of glasses or contacts. Cha-ching.

Item: Son is hungry -- as always. I stop at fast food joint and order $5 worth of food. Son is happy as a clam.

Item: Local man advertises on Craig's List and offers to trade his daughters for boys ...

Everyone Is Jumping On The BandWagon

Thome's eighth-inning home run rallies White Sox past Royals

CHICAGO -- Jim Thome pumped his fist as he rounded the bases and then came out for a curtain call. Even after all these years, a go-ahead home run on Opening Day is something to celebrate. Thome hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, rallying the Chicago White Sox past the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Tuesday in a season opener delayed a day because of bad weather.

One game lead on all the other teams and never looking back ...

Almost a Double

Finished in second place in the Blogger Skillz game, which was Stud Hi this week. I was patient and was fortunate to get some great hands including a straight flush. More importantly, I got paid on my good hands. I had a decent chip stack most of the game, allowing me to steal lots of pots and play speculative hands, many of which turned into winners with some help from the Full Tilt RNG. Unfortunately, I went into heads-up play with my opponent having around a 5-1 chip advantage. A couple of good hands got me close, but the RNG finally seemed to even things up with me. I hated to have gotten so close to a TOC seat without winning, but considering that I don't see myself as being particularly skilled at Stud, I was still happy to at least have banked second place money.

The MurryTheCat + Friends tournament was a small HORSE victory, but hey -- a win is still a win. I have done really well in the MTC games in 2009. A little skill and a little luck can sometimes go a long way.