MEanderings

Chat comment to me during a stud game: "csquard, what do you call with?" This was after I took down some pot in the brutal $0.25/0.50 Stud H/L game four-handed. Of course, I called with 29 in the hole and a 2 on board, but it was like $0.10. What do I call with? For the love of Felicia, how do I know what I call with? I either shove my dime or fold, then a bunch of cards come and I have to count with my left hand to see how many diamonds have come on each street. This is why I'll never be more than a pocket change stud player (although it is a decent way to kill twenty minutes).

OK, new feature will be Friday's Recipe, where I'll give you a recipe from my collection that is easy enough for me to make and will serve you quite a long time (also could get you some sweet additional poker time from your significant other if you can knock it out). My mom made a recipe book for me when I went to college, with recipes like Green Beans ("...open can, put in pot, turn to medium heat, salt/pepper/bacon grease to taste, 15-20 minutes), baked potato, and some advanced level dishes (buttermilk biscuits). Spaghetti is part of the cc core of dishes I can knock out to treat Sweetie and the boys. She's also adopted it, and it is so absolutely easy.

• 3 cans tomato sauce (small), one can tomato paste (add can of water too), one can of diced tomatoes
• Cook in pot with two bay leaves, oregano (a pinch, less is more here--shake in your hand first) and Italian seasoning, a little pepper (I never use salt, but you can throw in a pinch of salt), 1/2 teaspoon of garlic (get the small jar of chopped garlic)
  
• Medium heat to bubble, then lower a bit, stirring every few minutes (20-30 minutes)
• Options: brown 1 pound ground beef (drain grease), brown 1 pound of sliced Italian sausage
• Noodles: bring water to a boil (pour in some salt and a few drops of olive oil), put spaghetti or linguini in the pot (either break in half or push down until it bends, then put the rest in), bring down heat a bit or be there to take the lid off (or you have to clean up the overboil afterwards), boil 5-7 minutes (just take a piece out and eat it until it's good for you), pour into callender (how do you spell that word? strainer)

That's it. You can throw in mushrooms, but we don't like them. It's extremely simple, extremely great, and you can knock it out in 30-45 minutes. Feeds 4-6. You can double the recipe no problem, then you'll just need to play with the spices a bit (taste with a spoon like they do on TV).

I have a couple secret sites that I go to, guilty pleasures you might call them. GoFugYourself I've written about before, but there just great (yesterday's post is titled The Jessifugcation of Ashlee). My new one that I've seen on a couple bloggers is New York Hack, pictures from a New York cab driver. I know I'm late to the party here (she gets 125-450 comments daily on this site), but it's pretty neat stuff to be sure.

Got to IM with willwonka last night during his HUC3. We were watching Survivor, which Will is a fan of also. No spoilers here, but this season may cause a significant shift in Survivor going forward. The one tribe, after getting numbers of 6-4 on the other tribe, have just methodically picked off the other tribe with no thought of anything. They don't even compete in the challenges, and the whole thing is very frustrating as the people are just horrible. Survivor now falls way behind 24 and Lost as must-see-TV (and American Idol). Any time I feel guilty about playing poker, all I have to do is turn on a TiVo'd Bones or Lord of the Rings and have my Sweetie watch David Boreanaz or Viggo Mortensen. We're watching LOTR2 Wednesday night after TiVo Lost, and I'm looking over at her and she's actually drooling in some sort of trance looking at Aragorn. Not exactly great for the ego for sure. I say something about David and Viggo, and she says something like "...no, it's Aragorn and Angel..." I then say, "Well, why do we watch Bones then?" She then wipes the drool from her chin and returns to her trance. PrimeTime Live tonight with Tom Cruise, which will complete the Evil Triumverate.

I have sitetracker on this blog to look at traffic, and I've started looking at top referrers daily to visit folks who have visited the site, as well as Google search terms. It's taken me to my poker buddies you see to the right, but also I'm able to visit blogs that I don't get too much. GuinPoker from Canada, Fat Dan, PokerShark, and Fat Bald Guy are a few that I've been to a few times that you should check out.

Two bits of good news yesterday which will complicate my life. I'm now 95% confident that the China project will go through (it's never a done deal until I have a signed scope of work, but I think we're there). That will be probably three trips to China over three months, which will screw up my soccer coaching. I'm assuming we'll kick things off the week of 28 April or the following week. The second was a videoconference interview with a headhunter regarding a VP position, corporate role at a $10bil company, direct report to a Vice Chairman. It would be tailor made for my background, would probably mean a relo, would be a probable segue into P & L/General Management roles but would mean moving every couple years.

My company and career have been in a real swamp-like holding pattern for probably a year now. I probably am at 30% individual capacity, never really challenged, able to keep money coming in but nothing great. I have no clients or prospects in the ATL or surrounding area, and I've lost most of the enthusiasm. I have structured the company to be able to close it if the right opportunity came along. This was after an interview with a headhunter representing a $20bil company, where the CEO (who had worked with me previously) said I was on his list of 25 people that he'd like to have work for him at some time. Neat stuff for sure, but I couldn't do anything at the time because of employees and long-term relationships with clients. I'll post a couple of ethical situations and my decisions next week that also may give you some insight as to where I've been and who I am, for what it's worth.

All that said, these are times for me that will hopefully get us to a point to really decide what's next. Could I create a process where I had billable work averaging $20k/month or big projects with big gaps, limited expenses (home office), and that's my life, should I get back into the corporate world with the uncertainty of moving around, or is there possibly something here in the ATL? All a good problem to have, I know, and we are blessed to have survived all this stuff. We'll see, and I'll keep you posted.

My goals for April so far are looking good: don't lose my bankroll and have a positive month. Due to my $0.85 stud loss yesterday, I needed $2.05 to proudly state that my bankroll was at $8k. Should be easy, right? Well, FullTilt $1/2 6-max (which everyone knows I don't play 6-max), and it's taken me forever to get unstuck trying to get somebody to give me $2.05. It took Kh9h flopping KK9 to finally push me over the top (you tend to get called down when you bet 96o and raise it when nothing hits three times in a row). I don't know how to play 6-max, stud, or Omaha, but I am now the proud owner of a $8,006.45 bankroll.

Have a good weekend and holiday everyone.

ADDENDUM: In the spirit of this weekend, an article on arguably the greatest band of our generation, U2.