Yin Yang

Item I:

An e-mail I received at work today:

"Hey lightning,

I would just like to thank you for all the help, advice, and anything else you did to help me. A few weeks ago, I did find out that I got into U of I for the spring semester. So I hope all is well and once again, I appreciate all you helped me with."

Quote from the last student I saw today, a woman who decided that I was to blame for her struggles in one of her classes:

"You don't give a shit" -- as she storms out of my office.

Item II:

Juan Williams

Joy Behar

'nuff said.

Item III:

"Nattering nabobs of negatism" & "an effete corps of impudent snobs"

"Tea Baggers" & "Fox News"

A Long Day

You might have heard how the midwest had high winds today and how power was out in many places. Yes, it was a fun day indeed.

I was up at 6:45 this morning trying to get a jump on the day. As I was getting ready to shave ... flicker flicker, and out went the lights. The nasty part about losing power was that it was so rainy and dark outside that the whole house was really dark.

After getting myself ready, I checked on the sump pump. Hmmm ... does that back-up system really work? Thank goodness the rain stopped and I didn't have to worry about my basement flooding.

On the way to drop off my daughter at school, we heard on the radio that power lines were down near my workplace. A free day, perhaps? Not a chance! It did, however, look like a tornado briefly touched down as some fences were knocked down.

As soon as I got to work, my son called. "The key won't turn in the ignition." I tried to get him to work it a little bit, but he was already out of sorts due to the power outage and change of routine for the day. Of course, when I checked the problem on my lunch hour, it took a whole three seconds to start the car. At least the power was back on and food in the fridge and freezer was okay.

The afternoon dragged on near the end with a 2 1/2 hour Curriculum Committee meeting. Sounds exciting right? I got home, ate, then went to the annual Homeowners Association meeting. Another 1 1/2 hours of pure delight.

After watching the last hour of the latest WSOP Main Event episode on ESPN, I did a little catching up on internet reading. It looks like the Tuesday Spewsday was da bomb -- not. Congrats to Wolfshead, though, for second place in the super turbo.

Oh yeah -- it is now late Tuesday night and tomorrow is garbage day. Time to make the rounds. FML -- I am one damn exciting dude!

NFL Monday: Da Bears, Brett Favre, and New NFL Rules

Da Bears ...

Notice: It is not accurate to say that the Bears stink, that they are pretenders. The defense has been very good. Special teams are very good. The offense -- stink would be over-the-top praise. The coaching and management -- horrible beyond belief.

A huge problem with this season has been that the Bears got off to an undeservedly good record. Even now with two losses in a row, they are 4-3. Amazing.

The offensive line is the worst I have ever seen in all my years of watching football. Defensive players blow past them virtually untouched. With no line to block, the rest of the offense falls apart. Running backs have few holes to run through. Jay Cutler has had the crap beat out of him. And I have to believe he has been as terrible as he has since he knows the offense won't work as it is. But he has been terrible.

The management and coaching? They are the biggest culprits. General Manager Jerry Angelo cannot judge talent. Drafts produce virtually nothing. He did not get any help for this terrible o-line.

Lovie Smith? The local press is so tired of him. No real answers. Stubborn and won't make adjustments. Is totally clueless about the offense. Makes mistake after mistake.

Mike Martz? How about you consider a few three-step drops, roll outs, or running plays when you have no o-line? You adapted against the Cowboys -- what has happened since?

The season will continue to get worse as the Bears start to play some very good teams in a few weeks. There is a possibility that the Bears will not win a game after November 7.

Sigh.

Favre is Scrambling ...

Now that Brett Favre has reportedly admitted sending text messages to the bimbo ... uh ... Jenn Sterger, the whole thing makes sense to me. He sent the messages and when the story broke, he knew he would be busted by his wife. I am guessing that the pictures were not of him and were not sent by him.

Maybe I have this right, maybe not. Regardless, he is still fun to watch. He makes these great plays that remind you of the old Favre, then, like the quarterback he has become, he makes the bonehead play toward the end of the game.

I get the feeling that he will really retire after this year. It is a tough situation for the elite athlete -- do you retire when you are no longer elite but still better than most? How low do you go?

More NFL Issues

What is with the new rules and penalties regarding hard hits? Players are bigger, stronger, and faster, so the potential for injury should be greater. But ahhh ... I did hear that the NFL is doing this to try to position itself as best it can in case of lawsuits. Sounds like the NFL ...

Home Poker Games are Rigged, Too

I decided not to play in today's WSOP Circuit Event at the Hammond Horseshoe casino. Instead, I made a road trip last night to play in gadzooks64's home game. Since today appears to be a gorgeous day outside, it looks like it was a good decision. Maybe ...

My own home game actually showed some life recently. I hosted the last two, but we haven't played for a couple of weeks. Sometimes life gets in the way. Two guys are always on the road for work and one guy had the nerve to actually have a child. Well, his wife did, but you knew what I meant, right?

I had played at Zook's home game twice before. The first time I took a nasty beat and the second time I just never got anything going. I was determined to do much better.

My stack bounced around a bit as I won a few hands but lost some when getting outkicked at showdown. However, the first big hand at my table came after the rebuy period was over. I had taken most of the stack of the player to my right when my pocket Kings held up post flop to some junk he was playing. He went all in a couple of hands later and had three others in at the flop. The flop was J-10-9. Then the circus began. "All in." "All in. " "All in." Zooks tabled pocket Aces and both other players showed K-Q for flopped straights. Zooks couldn't improve on the turn or river, and bam -- two people were out on one hand. Wow -- just like at Full Tilt or PokerStars!

We were now down to ten players and the final table. I ended up the biggest aggro guy to my immediate left. This helped determine my strategy that I needed to play extra tight and trap. I knew that any sign of weakness would elicit a big raise.

My chance came when I was dealt pocket Aces on the button. I made a small raise, and the small blind called. The flop was a rainbow of junk and I checked. Aggro guy made a big raise and I went all in. He called with pocket 3's. I doubled up and had the chips to make a deep run.

I snatched my one and only bounty when I raised with A-10 sooted and a guy went all in with K-J os. He hit his Jack on the flop, but I made Broadway on the river. Just like in online poker, you could see that one coming a mile away.

We got down to four players (tourney paid top four) and I was second in chips to the aggro guy. I was dealt A-A on the button again. I again made a smallish raise and aggro guy went all in. The big blind folded and we were heads up. He showed pocket Kings, and I just had that bad feeling. The flop missed us both, but it had two clubs in it. Aggro guy had the King of clubs and I had none. You can guess what happened next. The turn was a club and sure enough, the Ace of clubs was the river, giving him a runner-runner four flush -- in my mind, the worst possible way to lose a hand. Just like on Full Tilt. And PokerStars. Bah!

It was time for a late long drive home. At least I cashed, but I hated to go out the way I did. Even the host took a bad beat on pocket rockets, so I guess the game wasn't REALLy rigged...

So ... a big thanks to gadzooks64 for the invite to her home game. Maybe next time we'll just fold those Aces pre-flop ...

Weighty Issues and Poker

The Diet

Okay -- I am happy to report that I actually DID embark upon a better eating plan and have been sticking to it. For example, breakfast today was a large piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and lunch was a Smart Ones entree (290 calories, 50 of them from fat). Drinks were coffee and Coke Zero. Dinner last night was a large Greek salad.

So ... my plan was to cut out snacks and bad food from my diet, substitute in more vegetables and healthier food, and stop eating after dinner or by 8:00 p.m. at the latest.

The results so far: 1) I feel better in the morning since I am not eating late at night. Take THAT, acid reflux problem! 2) I have lost six pounds. I know those were the easy ones to lose. I hope to incorporate more exercise into the plan.

The Poker

I wish I could say that poker has been going as well as the new diet. Unfortunately, I cannot. I seem to have somehow pissed off the poker gods. Either I get terrible cards, I make a small error which costs me (yeah, I admit to some of these), or I play the hand well and get burned when my opponent catches the perfect card on the river.

I have options this weekend to play at gadzooks64's home game or a WSOP Circuit Event in Hammond, Indiana. Maybe I'd be best staying in bed!

WBCOOP 2011 Coming in January

The Waffles Effect and Other Profound Thoughts

1) Reading about Waffles and his progress with C25K, I have finally been shamed enough to get off my butt, begin to exercise, and modify my diet. Or maybe it was stepping on the scale and seeing that I have ballooned up to the highest weight in my life. Whichever does not really matter, I guess. But it is time for me to step up and quit being such a pudge.

2) Watching Monday Night Football tonight, I saw a Brett Favre to Randy Moss touchdown. Or should I say a prima donna times two score. Yeah, one is one of the best ever at throwing the football, one is one of the best ever at catching the football. But what else do they bring to the table? Moss -- little. Tons of problems in the past, a crappy teammate in a team sport. Favre? He used to be golden. Hell, even a staunch Bear fans like me liked and respected the guy. But ever since he started his do I/don't I retire stuff, he has appeared to be more interested in Brett Favre than anything else. I guess we'll soon find out whether he was a total scumbag with his creative use of a cell phone. His failure to immediately declare his innocence and then his apology to teammates for the disrtractions he has caused make it seem like he is culpable. But to tell the truth, I hope the story is garbage.

3) Although it took several teen suidcides to bring the issue of school bullying to national attention, I am happy to see that the issue might now be taken more seriously at many levels. Two of my three children were victims of some nasty bullying in middle school. Unfortunately, some of these middle school kids (future denizens of our prison system, I am sure) have grown up in households where intimidation and violence are part of their everyday life. That video of the parent who boarded the school bus and went ballistic because his daughter was being bullied? For every guy who has done something like this, there are many of us who would have liked to. My son sometimes is put off by what he perceives as my endorsement of occasional vigilante justice. But sometimes assholes only understand things if you put them in a language they understand.

4) I have continued to suffer in silence with online poker, so let me take this opportunity to whine a bit. I am tired of playing a hand perfectly and then getting boned on the river by a two-outer. I am tired of running good hands into rockets. There. I feel better already.

Actually, I have been playing only a few private online tournaments lately. I have not invested the time in playing many of the popular tournaments on Full Tilt or PokerStars. I am concerned I am losing my edge -- or what little edge I might have had!

5) The Bears are tied for the best record in the NFL. Hey -- a lame 4-1 is still 4-1. The defense is back. Now if only the offensive line can actually block some people, Cutler can get rid of the ball and stay healthy, and the Bears coaches get their heads out of their butts. Am I asking for too much?

Holy Buttafuoco! Amy Fisher to Star in New Porn Movie.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Amy Fisher, the "Long Island Lolita," is once again in the news, promoting her new hard core porn movie and career as a porn star.

To refresh our collective memories ... about 20 years ago Amy Fisher was a high school student who was having an affair with Joey Buttafuoco, an older guy who owned a local body shop. Amy met Joey when Joey's shop did repairs on 16-year old Amy's car. The love-struck teen eventually went to Joey's house and shot Joey's wife, Mary Jo, in the head. Mary Jo survived, but had to deal with paralysis in her face that resulted from the shooting. Amy Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison and eventually was released in seven years.

After keeping her name in the news with various media jobs and appearances, she hit the world of porn when her husband sold a sex tape of them to a porn video studio. After dabbling in the industry, she now has immersed herself in it, celebrating the release of her first hard core film, "Deep Inside Amy Fisher," today. Co-stars in the film include Dale DaBone and Tommy Gunn. Gotta love those porn star names!

Of course, Amy Fisher sees this as a logical way to go since she has been branded a whore or slut anyway and will use this as a way to make money. I guess the idea of changing her name and getting a regular job just didn't appeal to her.

As for the Buttafuocos? They divorced long ago. Joey seems to get himself in the news from time to time. Mary Jo became an author and speaker and appears to have found a loving man to replace the loser she initially married. Best wishes to Mary Jo, the only winner in this story of lowlifes.