Can I get a…

November 5th, 2008

To the Pittsburgh poker crew, this will be a familiar quote…

Can I get a, “FUCK YEAH!” ???

Were we playing a hand right now, I’d open raise big, just for the hell of it.

Fuck.  Yeah.

Reporting from Statesboro

April 16th, 2008

It’s been a little while since I posted over here at theantidj.net.

I’ve been down in Statesboro for just over a month now, and I’m in my fifth week of work at Georgia Southern University.

Work has been very busy, but is going well. Statesboro itself, however, is definitely not Pittsburgh, and it shows in what I’ve been doing (or not doing) in the off hours. The lack of social opportunities so far hasn’t been an completely bad thing, though. It’s lead me to get back on the bicycle.

As you may be aware, for the last 4 years I’ve had a Gary Fisher Utopia hybrid bike. It had served me well, over all. I was able to get out on it on Sunday, 4/6 for a 16 mile ride to get back in the swing of things. That Monday I made it out for 18 miles, 24 miles on Wednesday, and 16 on Thursday. After this, that means I’ve ridden that bike a total of 2595 miles since I bought it in June of ’04, and also have spent countless hours using it on a trainer during the winter months. It’s done well, but considering that I long ago transitioned to riding almost exclusively on the road, and around here I don’t really have much of an option but to ride on the road, I figured it was time for a change.

So, this past Saturday morning, I made a trip to the local bike shop here, and made a purchase.

Behold my new ride:

Brand New Trek 1.2

It’s a Trek 1.2, which is their entry-level road bike. I didn’t want to spend massive amounts of cash, and I figured it was good enough for my purposes.

The day I got it, I got out on the road and went for a 25 mile ride. The original plan was to hit 40, but I got caught in a thunderstorm, and riding in heavy rain isn’t really all that fun. It felt good the first time out. Very fast compared to what I am used to riding. Yesterday, I was able to get out for another 28 mile ride. Still felt very good, and I’m feeling good about the purchase.

Today, however, I did something a little bit different. On my trips to the bike shop, the owner mentioned that there was a local ride that left his shop every Wednesday at 6:00 PM. He made it sound like not that crazy of a thing. So today after work, I hopped on the bike and headed down to the shop.

When I arrived, there were about 5 or 6 other guys there. They all had some pretty nice bikes, and a few even had fully matching bike shorts/shirt combos. Two of the guys started talking about their last race, and how they were asked to step up to the next class or something like that. It was about then that I realized I might be screwed.

Everyone was friendly and introduced themselves. They seemed like a good group. As we get underway, I realize that they were forming up a paceline. I’ve never ridden in a line before, but I know the basic idea. Stay on the wheel of the dude in front of you. The problem was that, at least at first, there was a lot of speeding up and slowing down. This lead to me hitting the brakes a lot. It only took a few minutes before a dude rode up beside me and asked “You haven’t ridden in a paceline before, have you?”

The guy was nice about it and gave me tips for what to do. Not using the brakes, never stop pedaling, etc. I was still having problems staying close enough to the wheel of the bike in front of me though, as it’s sort of a nerve-wracking thing at first. Almost everyone in the group, though, was really friendly and accepting of my incompetence.

After my first time at the front of the line, I dropped back, and the next leader kicked up the pace. Rather than falling in at the end, I just got left behind. One dude dropped back and rode next to me, and despite my insistence that they should continue the ride at their pace, he stuck with me and we reformed at the next turn. After that a guy stuck with me, and even occasionally helped me with a push.

When it was all said and done, I had ridden about 31.5 miles, at an average speed of about 23 mph. It seriously kicked my ass. They do a Saturday and Sunday ride, which are a bit more laid back. I think I might stick with those for a few weeks, before trying to hang with them on the fast ride again.

All in all, though, it was good to ride with some other people, as I haven’t really met anyone outside of work yet.

So, all of this means that I’m at total of 158.5 miles for the year. Probably not bad for less than 2 full weeks of just getting back on the bike.

So, uh, yeah… bike bike bike.

Poker for Obama

March 5th, 2008

So, in this primary race, Obama is my man.  Obama isn’t quite liberal enough for me, but I think he’s far superior to Hillary Clinton.  I’ve been watching the returns tonight, and I’m not exactly a big fan of what’s been going on.

Let me just say this.. fuck Cleveland man.  They can have their Browns, and they can have their Clinton.

Ok, now that that is out of the way…

Since I’ve likely been disenfranchised in this primary process (I won’t be a legal resident of PA when they vote, and GA has already voted), last week I did the “vote with my dollars” thing and donated to the Obama campaign.

I feel compelled to donate again, after tonight, but I’m not exactly a rich man.  I have hatched a plan, however.  I wanted to get another trip to <a href=”http://poker.wikia.com/wiki/Mountaineer”>Mountaineer</a> for some live action before I leave Pittsburgh.  I’m now leaning towards a trip out on Sunday afternoon-evening, and making this a Trip with a Cause.

The idea is that I will play some great poker, and donate my winnings (if they should materialize) to the Obama campaign.  I will make this public knowledge at the table.  I’ll make a shirt, or card protector or something, and talk about how my winnings to go to the campaign.

The question is, do you think this will affect people’s play against me?  Would an Obama sympathizer be more likely to fold to me if they have a marginal decision?  Will Clinton supporters or republicans play tougher against me?  Or, maybe, they’ll make less rational decisions against me, since the mere idea of what I’m doing pisses them off?  Maybe it won’t affect anyone’s play at all.  Will it affect my play at all?

I think it would be an interesting experiment.  My time left here is limited, though, and I might not be able to swing another trip out there.  If it does happen, however, you can be sure I’ll write about it here.

Man, I’m moving to Georgia in just one week.  That’s pretty fucking weird.

The AntiDJ went down to Georgia…

March 2nd, 2008

It’s been a long time since I published something here.  I just sort of got out of the writing habit.  I also suspect that I haven’t been doing much stuff that has been interesting over the last eight months or so, which means there hasn’t been much to write.

At any rate, there is now.  I have accepted a job at a large public university in Georgia, and will be moving there on March 12.  I’ll be living about 45 minutes northwest of Savannah.  While I’ve already announced this in other not-fully-public forums, I have yet to put something out on the inter-web in a fully open manner.

Basically, the job is the next step up from the one that I currently do.  I’ll be supervising a few people who work as Resident Directors, and will be doing some other stuff, too.  The area is nice, and the school has a really good ‘vibe’ to it, but it is a little bit in the middle of nowhere.  This isn’t terrible, but it will be an adjustment from living in Oakland.

This is something that is both exciting and neat, but also sad and a bit scary, too.  I really like living in Pittsburgh, and I suspect that it will always be a target area for me in future job hunts.  Right now, however, there just doesn’t appear to be any ‘next step’ positions for me here.

Things.

July 17th, 2007

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in AntiDJ land, mostly of the good sort.

Tomorrow I’m heading up to CT for an extended weekend. The original plan was to ride my pretty pretty blue friend on up to the homeland, but I decided against it.  The forecast is calling for rain all week long.  Now, I wouldn’t have minded rain on either the ride up or back, as that’s what rain gear is for, but it’s also just going to be rainy for the whole trip.  Given I don’t have any indoor parking for the bike in CT, and it wouldn’t really be great riding weather on any of my days up there, making this a bike trip just really doesn’t make sense.  I’m disappointed.

I should get a chance to see some folks though, and I’m scheduled for a trip to Foxwoods on Friday.  Hopefully I can reverse my horrible trend from Vegas at the tables when I’m back in my own neck of the woods.

Also, I finally saw the Transformers movie, and it was Good.  Like, as in God looking upon his creation and it was Good kind of Good.

Ok, I’m done now.

Ready to Head Back

July 6th, 2007

I’m sitting now in one of the air-side terminals at McCarran International, waiting to catch the first leg of my flight home.  I still have about 3 hours until we take off.  I then have about a 3 hour layover at JFK, and will arrive back at good ol’ PIT around 9 in the AM.  Not exactly my idea of a party, but hey, when the tickets are free, a little layover/overnight action is no big deal.

The trip out here to Vegas was fun.  Many things went well, a couple of things did not.   One of those things that didn’t go well was my flight out, but you’ve already heard about that. The other thing that didn’t go well was that whole ‘Poker Playing’ part of the trip.  It’s not that I didn’t get enough time in at the tables.  No, no, dear reader, the problem was the results of my many hours at the felt.  There are plenty of reasons for my poor performance, but lets just say I made some mistakes here and there, and I also have a couple of crazy bad beat stories to add to my poker experiences.

Some of the neat things included getting some good food at various places, attending  KA last night, and today’s trip out to the Hoover Dam.  My original idea was to rent a Harley for the day (as there are 2 Harley rental places in Vegas) and ride around, with the dam being one of my two wheeled destinations.  The problem with this plan though was the excessive heat that’s been hitting the area, with temperatures today reaching 115 degrees or so.  I love riding and all, but riding in 115 degree weather probably wouldn’t make for a really great time.  I also went through the obligatory Star Trek: The Experience attractions (they were in our hotel, after all), which were kinda cheesy but also sort of neat.

All in all it was a great trip, but I know that I’m going to be really happy to be home as soon as I get to my apartment. As for right now, I think it’s time to watch a DVD to kill some of this wait.

I hate you, Kennedy Airport

July 2nd, 2007

So it’s 1:30 AM on Monday morning, but this will be posted later, as
the most recent wordpress version’s post-writing page can’t be
properly displayed on my mobile browser.

I was supposed to be on the 9:35 PM flight out of JFK on JetBlue,
however, since my flight to JFK was stuck on the tarmac for an hour
and a half after landing, it became impossible for me to make the
connection.  I landed here at about 8 PM, and will be here until the
next flight to Vegas leaves at 6:55 AM.  Not exactly how I wanted the
big trip to start, but it will have to do.

My laptop battery was good for one DVD  to help pass the time, but now
is almost dead.  In another hour I’ll be able to check in and then
I’ll try to catch some sleep at the gate.

The good news is that if I can grab enough sleep between gate time and
on the plane, I won’t even have missed much effective vacation time.

_______

Update: It’s 4:10 AM now, and I’m finally past security at the JetBlue terminal.  “Check In” opened at 2:55 AM, but they didn’t open the security line until 4.  I’m in the free wifi area, and have an outlet charging up lappy.  Shortly I’ll head over to the gate, and try that whole ‘sleeping in the airport’ thing.

The streak continues!

July 1st, 2007

Scoreboard: 7-2 woo!

Well, even though the Pirates are in the middle of their 15th consecutive losing season, their record with me in attendance at PNC Park has improved to 5-0. I really need to write up a proposal to their ownership… they don’t want to spend any money on their players payroll? Ok. Just pay me something like 70K a year (nothing by their standards!) and I’ll come to every home game. They’ll win every time!

The other point of interest of last night’s game was the planned “fan walkout” at the end of the 3rd inning. It was organized by fans to protest the terrible management of the team over the past several years. Organizers were hoping to get fans to stand up and leave after the 3rd inning and exit the stadium to protest. Alternately, fans could just leave for the 4th inning and hang out on the concourse, then return to their seats at the top of the 5th.

Well, the walk out happened, but it didn’t really have much of an effect. The park was only at about 26,000 in attendance last night anyway, and the extra few hundred to 1,000 or so fans who exited for the inning were barely noticeable. There was even booing when people started to walk out.

This was my first game of the year, and it was really fun. I’ll probably try to hit up a few more before the season’s end. Let’s see if the streak will live. As for right now, it’s time to pack and get ready to leave for Vegas.

Well I’ve been driving in the wrong gear, It’s been a long and lonely ride

June 29th, 2007

So the last time I checked in, I was a little rant-y.  I go back and forth about how I feel about what I wrote and having put it up here.  For me, I think it was important to get some things out and let them come under some scrutiny from some of you, my dear readers.  I was given some helpful feedback both public and private, so I think it was helpful.  However, it doesn’t seem right to leave those words up so publicly anymore.

I guess what I would want to have out there for all to see is this:  Angela and I were together for about 14 months, and it was quite a time.  There were lots of great times, and also a couple of really bad patches in there, but all in all, it was good.  I am glad to have spent that time with her.  And while, this time around, she was the person to break it off, a couple of weeks of distance has really allowed me to see that it was right for our relationship not to continue.

I also have to acknowledge that I’m still trying to come to terms with everything, and I think it’s going to be a little while before I’m feeling completely resolved.  But the main message is that this is good, it is what needed to happen, but I’m still glad to have had all of the positive experiences with Angela that I did.

All that being said, it’s clearly the time to Get the Fuck Out of Dodge.  Luckily, I’ll be doing just that on Sunday.  I’ll be headed off to Vegas with Alan, and I’m sure that will be a blast.  And now before you leap to any conclusions, you all should know I’m not exactly ‘drug and alcohol infused bender involving strippers’ type, so there’ll be none of that.  What there will be is a whole lot of time inside of the various card rooms trying to win some cash playing some solid poker.  There will also be a trip or two to Quark’s Bar.  Oh yes, there will definitely be some Trek-tastic experiences.

I’m sure my camera will be on hand, and you know I’m not going to be able to resist sharing some notable poker hands from the trip with you (sorry, non poker folks!), so there’s sure to be word from me while I’m there.

For even more fun, I’ll be heading to my first Buc’s game of the year tomorrow with a coworker and her friend.  This is probably good for the Pirates, as they’ve never lost with me in attendance.  We’ll see if the streak holds.

As for tonight, it’s Shadyhouse poker night!  The crazy thing is that this is probably the last time I’ll play there as Jeremy and Lily are moving, which means our primary venue will move as well.  Here’s to a good night at the table!

That’s it, kids.  I need to get my bike sorted out, as I’ve decided to pedal my way around tonight… another thing I’ve been doing just too little of.

Farewell to “The Wheatie”

June 6th, 2007

Last night I participated in the final WilWheaton.Net poker tourney.  Wil has hosted these games for the last two years, from when he became a member of Team PokerStars.  Because the current conditions of online poker have changed after the passage of the UIGEA  last fall, PokerStars, it seems, has had to cut back on its endorsements.

At any rate it was a big field, with 67 players showing up to get a piece of the action.  I, with the help of a couple of horrendous suckouts, was able to hang on and finish in second place.  The Results:

Results from the final Wheate

All in al, it was a fun time, and it was great to see Wil at the final table of his own last tourney.  All is not lost, however, as we will be continuing the tournament, but in a slightly different form.  Wil asked me to take over hosting responsibilities, so that the game would continue.  Since it’s not his game anymore though, I was asked to change the name.  As such, I’ve set up MonkeyTourney.com to serve as the tournament’s new home on the web.  I’m being assisted in the tourney set up by Jimmy.

More information coming soon… including some insights on using Drupal vs. Joomla.