Choices

Falstaff is a friend of mine. Despite this character flaw, he's a damn fine writer. He's been writing his heart out over on his new blog and posting excerpts 1000 words at a time (he doesn't have an easy way to subscribe to his RSS, so just copy it and paste it into your reader). It makes for compelling reading in that chapbook kind of way since each 1000 words must stand on it's own and be entertaining. Aside from being a good read, it has the added benefit that it will likely piss off quite a few people given the subject matter. My kind of read!

Go. Read.

Thank me later.

Choices

Camelot

No, not Spamalot. Camelot!

Not a silly place

From Wikipedia:

Camelot is the most famous castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur.

It's also strongly associated with JFK:

The charisma of Kennedy and his family led to the figurative designation of "Camelot" for his administration, credited by his wife...

That's how some have referred to my situation. It's certainly the face I present to the world, both here in the blog and in person. For the most part it's true. I really do have a great life. Sure, I've tried to screw it up a few times, but the foundation is too strong to let a moron like me crack it so easily.

I have no intention of letting you see all the way behind the curtain, but let's just say that over the last year, we've been tested more than any other time in our nearly two decades together. In fact, the test really began around the time I was preparing to leave for Iraq. The stress of that time, coupled with the crazy hours The Wife had to keep, plus the death of my Father, my return home, her losing her job... well, you get the idea.

It's easy to "work it out" when you can easily define the problem. Despite being a fairly intelligent couple (ok, she's much smarter than me, but dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a vice president!), we were not able to do so. For the first time, a space began to open between us. Over the last year, it widened to a chasm and threatened to consume us both. Let me put it this way - I was actually looking forward to The Wife moving to California without me. It's hard to type that even now. Read it again. That's crazy talk, right?

We seemed to turn a tiny corner when we went to Vegas several months ago. It was a little spark, but you have to keep blowing on the ember, and we didn't. I don't think we tried very hard. There were other sparks, too. I wrote about some of them on Facebook and here. In the midst of all this, The Wife officially moved out. I got a charge out of it when people asked how I was doing. "Good," I replied. "My wife just moved out."

It's true. The Wife is now a California resident and just "visits" us here in Washington. She's here this week in fact. This coincided nicely with the Entrepreneur of the Year awards, a black tie event we go to every year with her old firm, Ernst & Young. It was a little strange going this year because she doesn't work there anymore. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret since you've read this far - we are not above gloating. Damn right - she's a Vice President now, bitches!

I could really delve into some of the changes we've seen this week, but I won't. I'll leave you with this. We are better. In fact, we are getting better by leaps and bounds. My love for her has never been stronger. I will grow old with this woman if she's continue to put up with me.

Can you blame me?

Twitter

Dammit all, but I've been seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. You can now follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/DrChako

Happy Father's Day!

After a fantastic home game that lasted right into Father's Day (we broke at 3am), I was treated to a Father's Day brunch of crepes, bacon, eggs and candlelight. Of course, I was "forced" to watch the US Open while waiting for the head waiter and assistant waiter to take me to my seat.


Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

Summer Bankroll Challenge!

It begins:


Edit: Should I be concerned that this is post 666?

Three Things

1. The lastest issue of Truckin' is out. Go read. I loved the short from Johnny Hughes.
2. The Wife and I are hosting a poker game this Saturday. What is your excuse for not coming?
3. Speaking of The Wife, she said some nice things about me. 'Bout time.

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Kidding

Random Notes

Today you get the random stuff stuck in my head.

• I played in the annual Boys & Girls Club charity golf event. Despite not having picked up a club this season (!), I hit one drive almost 300 yards and won the closest to the pin contest on hole #3.
• Everyone who paid $5 prior to their shot got a chance at the prize pool. Half of the money went to the charity and the other half to the winner.
• My take was $180.
• I gave it all back to the charity in the auction that followed.
• I played a little 1/3 NL poker while waiting to get The Wife's car fixed.
• Yes, I do my Honey-Do's on my day off.
• I folded TPTK to a river all-in when the guy to my left talked me off the hand. He flipped over his 6-high busted straight draw and dragged a huge pot.
• Perhaps it's the Karma from the golf event, but I eventually got all his money. I went on a sick run that involved getting my money in behind twice and once turning a set to beat a flopped set.
• On his final hand, I raised in the cut-off with Qc-9c (crubs!) and he went over the top for his last $60. I told him I had a crappy hand, but maybe the poker gods would pay me back for folding TPTK earlier. I was way up, so what the heck. He had me with K8o.
• I turned the straight.
• Karma!
• The Wife is back in California and I'm working all week. Anyone up for poker?

Summer Bankroll Challenge!

Last year, MHG and I had a prop bet to see who could build their bankroll the most in a set period of time. He kicked my butt with a score (get ready for it) of -40%. That's correct. He LOST 40% of his bankroll and still beat me.

Well, we are starting it up again, but opening the challenge to anyone interested. The rules are, you have to post a screen-cap of your online BR on June 20th. At the end of the contest (date TBD by MHG), you post another screen-cap. The person with the largest PERCENT increase wins.

We will not be playing for high enough stakes to cheat. Last time, I shipped him $5 for his victory. We looked at this as a way to really focus on good, solid play (yeah, like that did a lot of good).

Seriously, if you agree to join and DON'T PLAY AT ALL, you'll probably win.

Who's with us?

Racquetball!

Well, the spin class is getting easier, so yesterday morning I hit it again. Around 6:45 pm I was thinking this may have been a little too aggressive because I was playing racquetball with two kids who's combined ages probably didn't add up to mine.

It was a bit of a drag driving north for an hour and a half to get to the court, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the games were. MeanHappyGuy, his buddy Travis (Trevor?) and I played a little cut throat. In the middle of the second game, Travis got a little winded and called it quits. Damn lazy kids! Well, technically they had been playing for a half hour before I got there, but it's no excuse. I did spin class that morning, dammit!

MHG and I played some singles, but got kicked off by the next group. We convened at his parents house for a cold beer and great conversation with his Mom.

Next time they come to me. I'm getting too old to be driving all over Hell's half acre to school a couple kids in the box.

They Passed!

As many of you know, not only am I a physician, but I'm also a teaching chief in a large residency. It's a 4 year residency and we have 5 doc per year. In order to be a board certified radiologist, you need to pass 3 boards: Physics, Writtens and Orals.

Before I got to my hospital, they had a pretty poor pass rate. Since I've been here, it's been 100%. I was a little nervous this year, but I just found out that once again, everyone passed! I'd like to think I had a small part in their success. It sure did feel good this morning when they each came to me and told me how much they appreciated all my teaching over the last 4 years.

Well done guys!

Double A/B on Full Tilt

I was bored on this quiet Sunday, so I decided to try my hand at a 275 FTP freeroll into the Daily Double B. Nailed it on the first try. I had no idea what a Daily Double B was, so I checked. It's a 10 + 2. Two seemed like a crazy high rake until I realized that $1 is set aside for a progressive jackpot which now stands a little over $32K. But you have to win the Double A and B at the same time.

So, of course I tried another 275 FTP to the Double A.


Come rail me if you're bored.

Edit:
A - out in 565th
B - out in 463rd

Nothing to see here. Go about your business.

Poker Philosophy 101

I had a long post in mind, but it all boiled down to this:

Would you rather get your money in first (regardless of what you are holding) or call behind with Aces?

The first person who replies with, "It depends" gets a punch in the nose.

Biggest Cash

Perhaps I should have said, "In the money in a tournament with the most number of entrants in my online poker career," but that wouldn't fit as a title. Okay, so it was only $1.60, but it's a cash in a tournament with over 1000 entrants, darn it. And this after playing 10 games of racquetball! Allow me to bask in my moment of glory, please.

Spin!

Not much going on here. Ever since The Wife left me, I've been trying to find ways to improve my life. I cooked dinner twice in a row (Copper River salmon the first night and crepes the second for those keeping score), and I'm going back to the gym. Mondays and Wednesdays at LA Fitness are spin classes.

I've never done a spin class before. It always looked liked fun as I gazed through the window like a kid outside Marble Slab. They were yelling and screaming. And smiling. Can I play, too?

So I got there early (class begins at 5:45 am, so I was there at 5 - it's an Army thing), and the instructor set up my bike. 5:45 on the nose and we were off. If you've ever done this, you know it's a lot or work, but you don't think about it much. It really can be a lot of fun, and if the puddle of sweat around my bike was any indication, I got a pretty good workout.

The only hitch came around 45 minutes into the routine. I took a small break from "jumps" to drink from my bottle of water. As I sat up, I had this urge to close my eyes. Before I knew it, I lost my balance a little. I think I was about to pass out! I sure have come a long way from the Paris Marathon. The wrong way.

That's about to change.

***

Since this is a blog about poker (seemingly less and less), I'll leave you with this. 14 bucks, baby!