Random thoughts, proving I’m nutz!
Text Box: 01-16-12 One year ago today I packed most of my things into the back of my 4Runner and left Ohio. I ended up in South Carolina for a few months, thinking that I would be there for a few years and then head back to Ohio. Then do to circumstances beyond my control, or at least that the story I’m sticking with, my life took a directional change yet again and I ended up in Orlando. FLORIDA! ME!??!! Those that know me would put this state on a very short list of places Don would NEVER choose to live. What a difference a year makes. Not only have I taken a job that seems custom made for me, but with a very few exceptions, I can’t remember being this happy with life in the past few years. My personal turmoil was not an easy thing to survive, and it caused some hurt feelings and strife for not only me, but some that I care about, but I feel that I’m finally past all that and my life is starting to take shape,,,, actually, RESHAPE itself around me. When I first got to S.C., I tried to take the positive approach to things and forced myself to be “happy” with my surroundings, but that was an internal lie. Now, I really do feel joy in my life again. Work is good, money is,,,, well,,, adequate, and the future is positively going up. I feel I owe Florida an apology for the years and years of negativity that I felt for it. Even after all that, it opened its arms, took me in, and made me feel at home. Of course, it could be better, and I’m sure this will eventually become easier to deal with, if I had some of the people I care most about closer to me. My daughter came down for about a week and loved it here, and I must admit, THAT was the best Christmas gift I could have ever gotten. But she’s back home now, and the others that I miss the most are still about 1000 miles away. I guess until I have the chance to visit, or they happen to make a trip to Disney or Universal, I’ll have to rely on social media and technology to ease the loneliness from time to time. But don’t take that wrong, my life is still looking up, WAY UP! And on a side note, expect a little announcement in a couple weeks. I got a green light for something that I’ve been Jonesing to do for a while now. Until then PLAY STRONG! 12-03-11 Holidays are upon us, I’m away from my daughter and friends, and in a place that just quite home, at least yet. I’ve been keeping myself as busy as humanly possible at work, and looking forward to the visit from LRB in a couple weeks. But now that things should be leveling out at the new job and with the new year quickly approaching, my mind turns to poker, prop bets, and the promise of a better year than I’ve had in quite a while. The poker will happen when I can, the year will be what I make of it, and the prop bets,,, well,,, there’s a new one on the horizon that have already provided a few takers against me. This one is one of a kind, or at least a first for me. A “celebrity” was picked (and yes, the parentheses are there for a reason) and the goal is for me to have a picture taken with said “celebrity” during the calendar year of 2012 while having same “celebrity” wear BSP gear of some type, hat, shirt, something. This is a non-poker person, and I honestly have no idea how to go about it. The point is, can I pull it off? You don’t think so? Then come get some. I’m getting odds on this due to my situation. 2-1 is the going rate. The details are as follows: No action will be made until January 1, 2012. The “celebrity” must be alive on January 2, 2012. (At least I have 24 hours, this is the Chris Farley clause) The “celebrity” must have an article of BSP gear in clear possession in the picture. The picture must show both of us, and the BSP gear clearly together. (I can’t be in the background holding a hat) All bets will be settled within 31 days of completion. (If I fail all payouts will be made by January 31, 2013). Sound interesting? I thought so too. Now, for the big reveal. Of all the stars that could have been chosen, this one will accomplish a couple things. Make the terms and conditions interesting, and after I accomplish the task, I’ll have a picture with a “celebrity” that makes me the best looking guy in the picture. (At least to a few) If you want a piece, max bet is 25 apples me to 50 apples you. Prepare for the new member of The Acorn Army in 2012…… Mr. GARY BUSEY! Bring on 2012! 10-30-11 Halloween Eve in Orlando. A couple new experiences for me here this weekend. For one, I just found out that there are no beggar’s night hours here. WHAT? Seriously? So for 24 hours each and every door is basically free game? Apparently, that’s just how it’s always been here. I’ll let you know how that works out after tomorrow. For once, I’m pretty happy that I’ll end up working late. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. But that could also be because of the other issue from this week. Those of you that know me, I mean REALLY know me, realize that moral issues aren’t something that usually plague my existence. However, for some unknown reason, this week I had an issues that I had trouble coping with at first. Let me set the stage: In January I moved to South Carolina, a state where poker is illegal. The only game I sat in there was a bad game that only had a couple nits and a few idiots in it. Not saying it was a horrible game, just not a spot I want to try to win any money at. Then, about 2 months ago, I moved to Orlando. Since then, I’ve been pretty busy with a new job, getting a place to live, and trying to get my life in order as much as I can. This hasn’t left me with much time for relaxing or poker. I did, however, get an invite to a home game that I was told is more social than serious, and a way to meet some new people and just have a relaxing time. This was EXACTLY what I was looking for! It took a couple days, but I finally made my way to the game. Unfortunately, I missed out on the tourney that I wanted to play, and instead sat in the cash game. Not a huge deal, but less relaxation and more concentration than I had hoped for the first time I was there. I sat at the table for about half an orbit (8 total players at the time) before I had a feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right. **SIDE NOTE** If you get the chance there’s a book called “BLINK” by Malcolm Gladwell that I am very happy that I read specifically discussing gut reactions. Thank you Mr. Trout for the recommendation. I owe you a Guinness. Back to the story: This reaction is something that I pay more attention to now. So I decided to “rock” up and see if I could decipher what was causing this feeling. As I sat at the table, and watched the other players, I finally caught on to what I was seeing. Before the second orbit was complete, I caught 5 of the other players at the table signaling their hands to each other. Now this isn’t the first time I’ve caught on to this type of behavior at a table, but there was a new wrinkle in this particular situation. The players were signaling using American Sign Language. Again, if you know me then you also know that I know some ASL, and have been learning as much as I can for the past couple years. HA! They were cheating me out of my money, or at least trying to, and using ASL to do it? Really? This was where my dilemma came into play. I had sat at this game with $100 buy-in and had every intention of leaving with that amount, more, or no less than $75. Not too tough in a game where I have no problem being the tightest player at the table. All I had really wanted was a few hours of relaxation, and to make enough for a tank of gas and a pie. But now I realize that I’m being cheated. I run down the options in my mind: Leave right away and not say a word. Make a scene and point out that I know what’s going on, then leave or be asked to leave. Sit quietly and hope that I pick up a couple hands that can turn a big enough profit that I can feel superior. Say nothing at all, take all the information they’re giving each other, and put it to work for myself. What would you do? In most cases, I would have no problem cheating the cheaters. But this is where it got interesting to me. I didn’t want to take the “2 wrongs make it right” approach. I wanted to be the better person. I wanted to do the RIGHT thing. No idea what was coming over me, but all this was screaming through my head. I thought about it for a while, and mostly just played the tight, nit-like poker that I usually preach to students of the game and in reality am 90% against for myself. I never really came up with an answer to this. What I did was nothing more than the minimum that I could have realistically expected from myself and the loose moral standards that I have historically followed. I don’t think I’ll tell you right now how I handled it, except to say this: I eventually did leave the game before I had planned. I did NOT make a scene. I was asked to return. And I really enjoyed that pie. More about it next time. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! 10-15-11 So it’s been a while, but with good reason. I had a falling out with the company I was at in South Carolina, and am now with what could very possibly be the perfect company for me, in of all places, Orlando, Florida. Yeah, I know. Those that know me, should now close their mouths. It’s true, I’m living in Florida. Of course, with the shock and awe that comes with the realization that I’m in one of maybe two states that I never wanted to live in, comes the surprising fact that I haven’t been this happy in my day-to-day life in years. If my daughter was here, I’d have it all,,, almost. Sure there’s one part of my life that’s still missing, but I’m hoping someday that will correct itself. One other side benefit to living here in Florida, POKER! That’s right, I’m almost settled and starting to feel the desire to get back on the felt. There are a few larger events around here, and I plan on taking advantage of my location in the near future. Right now, I’m getting my bearings and working on a plan. I’m also looking for a challenger that has access to live poker. It will be an interesting experiment, and a lot of fun no matter what the outcome. Multiple challengers are welcome to inquire. So for now, I’ll just say this is the start of a good time in my life. Things are definitely looking up. More to come,,,, SOON! 08-22-11 At the moment, I have a lot of things going on in my life, some good, some bad, and some that just plain suck. However, I’m taking steps to improve not only my issues, but looking forward to making the next stage of my life the best for myself and my daughter as I possibly can. More to come…, 06-30-11 Just when I thought I was out, it pulls me back in! So after being in South Carolina for 6 months, and not being able to play live this entire time (except for a trip out of state), combined with “Black Friday” and the inability to play online, and now I’ve been hearing from everybody out at the WSOP. I can’t take it anymore. I’m leaving today to go spend some time on the felt again. I had stopped even considering a trip this year for a few reasons, but then fate stepped in. The whole story isn’t for public consumption, but let it be known that I’m being backed by an actual horse. Yep, that’s right, I’m the “horse” of a horse. In a nearly last minute deal, profits from a horse were offered to me as a way to get me to Vegas. It was a little, OK a LOT odd and I was more than a little hesitant, until I learned that the name of the horse, was SPADES. All right fate, I’m all yours. Let’s go make some DOUGH-NUTS!!! On a side note, as messed up as my personal life has been over the years, at the moment, it seems to be about as good as it can possibly be with all things being considered. Distance is a TOTAL BITCH! But I can still get a smile from time to time. Nothing else that I’m going to allow to creep into my mind at the moment. Time to get dialed in and go see my bros out in Nevada for a while. Heads-up guys, I’m on my way to Binions, the Nugget, and the WSOP! See you on the WSOP felt! 04-20-11 So I took a few days to compose myself after last weeks “BLACK FRIDAY” debacle. It seems the federal government has decided that not only is online poker illegal, but is should not be accessible to anybody in the US. To top all that off, they have seized all finds that player in the states had online. With no options on cashing out, transferring, or even the smallest notion of a solution to retrieving that money, the DoJ has just flipped the switch and for all intensive purposes stolen billions of dollars from law-abiding citizens of this country. I will not compare this to previous transgressions of our government or any others. I will not compare it to war-time activities by foreign militaries, dictators, czars, or evil wizards that imprint small children with lightning bolt scars on their foreheads. I will, however, say that “the government that must not be named” needs to get off their collective lazy ass and instead of trying to justify the thousands and thousands of man hours that they have invested in trying to STOP online poker, spend a small fraction of that energy (and TAX MONEY) to regulate it. This would not only provide many with the access to play the game that we love at the time of our choosing, but also allow so many players to CONTINUE PAYING TAXES that the same “government that must not be named” to continue receiving those tax dollars, and more. It’s not like this country has any other issues they should be spending those resources on at the moment, right? There are plenty of jobs, economic growth, public confidence in the financial institutions, and peace in the world. Oh,,, wait a minute,,, NO THERE’S NOT! I cannot place blame for this latest transgression on any single individual. There isn’t ONE person that oversees the actions of the entire government, and keeps the public trust at a high level. We don’t have a SINGLE individual that could have prevented thousands and thousand of American citizens from being robbed by our own government. Is there? Maybe there should be. Maybe we should elect an official that could see these things happen and VETO those decisions in order to stop them, or at least take actions to reverse them. Maybe, it’s “Time For A Change”. I just hope we have some change left if and when President (or whatever we decide to call that position) Obama-mort (or whatever they may be named) gets off the golf course and decides to do his (or her) job! I’d say play strong, but in this case, I’ll go against the grain and just say: I wish us ALL luck! 03-28-11 So there have been a few “developments” concerning the UB Bankroll challenge. NONE of which have anything to do with my playing or luck. I was on target to hit my end of March goal,,, but something more important has been brought to light. I have all but closed my account on UB. I was recently provided with proof that the people running the site, are STILL scamming players out of their money. In different ways, but it’s still wrong and I cannot allow myself to play there, or to even be remotely associated with that site in any way. It is my opinion and advice that if you do have any real money on UB or ABSOLUTE, that you cash it out as soon as you can. If you don’t have the withdraw limit, let me know. I might be able to assist you. The challenge has not been halted, it was only delayed for a while. The challenge has been moved to STARS and I will pick it up where I left off in the coming week. I have made it easier for me to manage and only tossed $50 onto STARS and will be going from there. I’ll look at it like I ran bad for a couple sessions. I might be a little behind schedule, but I’m not giving in. I’ll do all I can to catch up to, and pass the benchmarks that I have set for myself. As for everything else, South Carolina is a new experience. From the people to the weather, to the laws (NO poker? REALLY???). I’ve been keeping busy with a position here, and will mention more about it soon. And yes, there is a wager involved. Until then, PLAY STRONG!!! 03-05-11 I know it’s been a while since I updated anything here, but look at the date. Would I EVER miss an update with those two numbers? The last month or so has been pretty rough on me personally. I haven’t put in much of any time on UB so the total hasn’t changed. It is a bit different, and I updated it as I posted this blog. I’m hoping to get back on the virtual felt later this week and start grinding that total back up. I still think the first goal is attainable. $100 by the end of March. Fingers crossed and I’ll be focused again soon. As for South Carolina, the weather doesn’t exactly suck, but I didn’t expect to have this much trouble adjusting to the loneliness. I’ve never been a social butterfly, but this is as close to solitary confinement as I can get. I’m hoping that in the next month I’ll find time to get out and take in some of what the area has to offer. But not until I hit the $100 mark and can start feeling like I’m making progress there again. Stay tuned! I hope to see the BSP group sometime around Easter. Maybe a game will develop but it will be secondary to seeing the love of my life and spending time with her, even if it’s just for a few hours. Since I haven’t really been active, that is about all I have at the moment. I’ll be posting some commentary on the challenge in the next week or so and who knows. Maybe I’ll even get down to the coast for a while and take a couple pictures. So far the most interesting thing I’ve seen is a roll of duct tape on top of a pickup driving down the road. Yeah, gotta love the south. At least there isn’t constant talk about OSU Buckeye football. See? POSITIVE ATTITUDE STRIKES AGAIN! See you on the felt!
Follow BlndSkwerl on Twitter