She's Gone

So things will be a little less fun in the blogging world with Very Josie's announcement that she will not be posting on her blog anymore. Where will I go to get my daily fix of Josieness?

"Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again after moments or a lifetime is certain for those who are friends." ~Richard Bach

What is a Chicago fan to do?

The end of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season was less than satisfying for Chicago baseball fans. Supporters of the Cubbies suffered all season  long through a nasty rebuilding year, watching their team lose more than 100 games. White Sox fans, on the other hand, were pleasantly surprised to see the Sox put together a good season, only to have everything fall apart at the end as the hot bats seemed to almost completely disappear.

The playoffs have left some unsavory realities. Detroit, the talented team that played listlessly for much of the season but played well at the end and passed the White Sox, has already secured a spot in the World Series. In the National League, the Cardinals have a 3-2 game advantage over the Giants. The Giants are a somewhat foreign team to Chicago fans, but the Cards are, of course, the big rival of the Cubs.

I live in an area that has a majority of baseball fans wearing the red and white of the Cardinals. The team is a good team with great fans, almost always run in a professional fashion by team ownership. Therefore, there is only one team to root for:

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Da Bears -- naturally!

A Musical Interlude ...

Excellent live version of a song great in so many ways.

Lucki Duck's Best Post EVER!

Looking for your usual dose of outstanding poker blogging? Head to the blog of my friend Lucki Duck. His post today (October 8) is perhaps one of his finest. Find out what a Chicago sports fan thinks about Texas teams.

Looking at My Past Poker Week

I tend not to write too much about "poker numbers" like amounts won/lost for personal reasons. However, I decided to look at a few numbers for fun this week.

Ever since I started playing in my new regular home game earlier this year, I have seen my desire to travel to distant casinos on weekend drop considerably. However, this weekend I decided to feed my jones by going to the nearest poker room, the Par-A-Dice riverboat casino in East Peoria, IL.

Par-A-Dice has five tables and four were going at the time I arrived at about 6:00 pm. The crowd was what I would describe as "mature." There were a couple of younger players at my table, but most were sporting some white or grey hair. As you might guess, this meant that the table was not overly aggressive, which fits my cash game just fine.

I decided to "rock it up" a little myself since my home game has led me to ply waaay too loosey goosey. I was, however, helped by a little cardrackitis for a short time. I was in the big blind and looked down to find Q-Q. I was delighted to see a flop of Q-K-Q! I was able to get paid off to some extent, and a river King had me hoping my opponent had a King and would call my all-in on the river. Unfortunately, he was banking on his flush holding up and folded. Drat! A couple of hands later I limped in on the button with J-8 sooted. The flop was 8-J-J! I made a little on the flopped boat but unfortunately the only other guy in the hand with me was pretty nitty and kept my winnings to a minimum.

I had a late night commitment at home and was not able to play as long as I would have liked. My final win rate: 19 bb/hr.

Last Tuesday night I played in my regular home game tournament and cash game. The tournament was blah -- few good cards, little opportunities to build the stack. However, the home game did prove to be profitable. After treading water for a few hours, I hit some big hands and was able to get the aggro players to come along with me. Because the home game has tiny blinds of $.05/.10 but plays much higher due to the aggro guys, the win rates are sometimes pretty funny. My final win rate: 122 bb/hr!

Needless to say, any week when two night of poker are both winners makes for a good week. It works for me!

The Longest Week

I never thought I would make it to the weekend. What a terrible week.

Sunday night was absolutely horrible. Hearing that our friend Cindy took her own life was almost beyond belief. Cindy was one of my wife's best friends. My wife is heartbroken. It was a night of little and uneven sleep.

Unfortunately, Monday was one of those days that could just not be taken off. My school had been working on its accreditation report and site visit for five years, and Monday was the first day of the big 2 1/2 day visit. I had to sit through several meetings and  sessions. I also had some fires to put out at work and had some other trying management situations. It was the longest day I can remember in a long time.

The crappy week continued as I found out that a special friend had to deal with a nasty situation as his wife and daughter were involved in an accident. The wife received some pretty severe injuries but fortunately has been released from the hospital and hopefully is on her way to a successful recovery. It hurts when friends hurt.

Finally, blogger friend Gary -- The Crafty Southpaw -- had a stroke. Very Josie has more details and updates. People who have read Gray's blog and/or communicated with him one way or another know that he is a great guy. It is uncertain how difficult the road back will be for Gary, as best I understand. Please send prayers, good karma, and loving vibes to help him through this.

So shit -- this was The Week That Was. Good riddance.