My Last Blogger Post (ok, Next to Last)

I'm closing on my third year anniversary of this blog. It started as a poker blog to share my terrific, rocket-like advancement in my poker prowess.

That was the first day.

I then moved onto sharing what it felt like to lose my bankroll. Maybe you've never experienced that or don't remember it. There is this cold sweat that develops over your chest, down your arm, then ultimately to the mouse that you've vice-gripped in your fist. The mouse has come a long way in three years as this post-bankroll-clearing last hand trauma normally would yield a broken mouse or monitor. The hand details are somewhere in the recesses of my hard drive and brain I'm sure, but the typical final hand was either preceded by a flopped straight taking out my overpair or someone calling my raise with some horrific hand out of position then flopping trips or two pair.

Then this site changed as I changed. Poker became a metaphor for the struggles in my life. To an outsider, it might have appeared like poker was cause. It's never been that, just as the TV or eating or surfing the web or any of the number of time-consuming ventures have been the cause of what illed me. It was more of what I had become over the decade of running my own company, a career that has become increasingly insular.

The site moved away from this URL then returned this year, and I've continued to be a part of a great community of people all over the world. I thank all of you for letting me still be in your club even as I haven't been with you as much. As many, many of you have told me and others, a blog should primarily be written for one audience: the writer. It's always been that way for me, but I've benefited most when connection has followed. Connection comes from comments and chatting and talking, and I've grown alot through my times with those who have invested in me.

As the site moves to a new URL, my poker exploits will not be left behind. And I hope many of you will take the time to follow me along the new road. I also hope I can find others out there, others who have their act together or not, others who are great parents or not, others who are great spouses or not.

Others who are believers or not. Waffles has called me the Preacher (when he's called me--or that's probably the nicest thing he's called me!), and I hope I haven't offended or come off that way. As I've grown older, I've found myself not to be a preacher but really a seeker. I've come to find my faith as a journey rather than a destination. I feel much safer being a big fish in a small pond rather than the other way around, yet I find that I am more like the latter now in my spiritual journey.

So it came to pass that I would either kill this blog or invest in it and try to do more. I decided to rebuild it. The next post will be the famous go-to-the-new-link post, and hopefully folks will update links and feeds.