The Blah, Blah, Blog

Bittersweet

2006-11-30T23:10:00.000-08:00

So I took third in another one. Won another $36, making $72 in nine tries. Put the tenth one in, even though I've yet to play it, and even if I lose it, I've won $72 with a cost of $55. Seventeen dollar profit at this point. If I cash in the tenth one, it's gravy. Lots of interesting hands, but I cut and pasted the two that were the most interesting. I think I made a good push on the first hand. Had top pair, best kicker and nut flush draw, plus the ace as extra coverage. Even if I'm not ahead, and there's decent reason to think I might not be, although just as good reason to think I could be, I've got plenty of outs, and my best one hit on the turn. Put me comfortably in first place at a critical time.

It's bittersweet, though, because of that last hand. I got kind of tight for a while, hoping xfl would go, because he was ss at 3000 chips. And Cweb was aggressive. Finally xfl got to where it was clear he wasn't on life support anymore, and even took the lead. I had been getting marginal hands and missing the flops. Really stung. Got raised in the BB by CWeb, but he did that almost eevery hand. Didn't like J5, but I called. Usually I'll often call with just about any face card, but they had me off my game, and it was a hard call. Flop is 99J. CWeb goes all in. Automatic call for me. If he has the nine or a bigger pair, hats off to him. He didn't. AQ. Then he hits his damn Ace on the damn river.

It really hurts. I mean, it's tough to complain, since I got my fair share of good cards and favorable flops and even a couple lucky hits (although, to my credit, always from good plays with the right odds) along the way at just the right times. Still, what a way to go out. And I'd have had a staggering chip advantage over xfl. CWeb went on to win, in fact.

Assuming I don't cash in the next tourney, I've honestly got to be dissappointed in this round of tournies. Don't get me wrong, a $17 profit is sweet enough, and I played pretty badly in two or three of those tournies, but I really do think I'm at the level where I can come out 85 dollars ahead per every ten tournies on a regular basis. We'll see on the next round. And, hey, there's still one more tourney left.

Full Tilt Poker Game #1333521178: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (9365639), Table 4 - 500/1000 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:54:34 ET - 2006/12/01
Seat 2: jmiller3299 (14,120)
Seat 4: boredmomma (10,710)
Seat 5: cow62087 (2,365)
Seat 6: dave_worrell (10,210)
Seat 7: xfl615 (15,115)
Seat 8: CWeb (14,980)
cow62087 posts the small blind of 500
dave_worrell posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dave_worrell [7c Ad]
xfl615 raises to 3,000
jmiller3299: tx
CWeb folds
jmiller3299 folds
boredmomma calls 3,000
cow62087 calls 1,865, and is all in
dave_worrell calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [7d 3d 6d]
dave_worrell bets 7,210, and is all in
xfl615 calls 7,210
boredmomma: oh man
boredmomma folds
dave_worrell shows [7c Ad]
xfl615 shows [Qh Qs]
cow62087 shows [Qd 8h]
*** TURN *** [7d 3d 6d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [7d 3d 6d 2d] [5s]
dave_worrell shows a flush, Ace high
xfl615 shows a pair of Queens
dave_worrell wins the side pot (16,325) with a flush, Ace high
cow62087 shows a flush, Queen high
dave_worrell wins the main pot (9,460) with a flush, Ace high
dave_worrell: gg
cow62087 stands up
The blinds are now 600/1,200
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 25,785 Main pot 9,460. Side pot 16,325. | Rake 0
Board: [7d 3d 6d 2d 5s]
Seat 2: jmiller3299 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: boredmomma (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: cow62087 (small blind) showed [Qd 8h] and lost with a flush, Queen high
Seat 6: dave_worrell (big blind) showed [7c Ad] and won (25,785) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: xfl615 showed [Qh Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: CWeb didn't bet (folded)
Full Tilt Poker Game #1333579247: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (9365639), Table 4 - 1000/2000 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:12 ET - 2006/12/01
Seat 6: dave_worrell (19,415)
Seat 7: xfl615 (27,305)
Seat 8: CWeb (20,780)
CWeb posts the small blind of 1,000
dave_worrell posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dave_worrell [Js 5d]
xfl615 folds
CWeb raises to 6,000
dave_worrell calls 4,000
*** FLOP *** [9s 9c Jh]
CWeb bets 14,780, and is all in
dave_worrell calls 13,415, and is all in
CWeb shows [Qc As]
dave_worrell shows [Js 5d]
Uncalled bet of 1,365 returned to CWeb
*** TURN *** [9s 9c Jh] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [9s 9c Jh 3c] [Ac]
CWeb shows two pair, Aces and Nines
dave_worrell shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
CWeb wins the pot (38,830) with two pair, Aces and Nines
dave_worrell: wow
dave_worrell stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 38,830 | Rake 0
Board: [9s 9c Jh 3c Ac]
Seat 6: dave_worrell (big blind) showed [Js 5d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 7: xfl615 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: CWeb (small blind) showed [Qc As] and won (38,830) with two pair, Aces and Nines

And a big ol' helping of defeat

2006-11-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

Three five dollar tournies, three whiffs.

First two were pretty bad play on my part. First I played one more at 3am when I should have been in bed. Blinds were still fairly low and short stack of 450 went all in a couple times. Went all in again and I had AJ suited. I pushed to isolate her. She's got Kings. They held up. Horrible play on my part. No reason to call. Too early, weak hand. I only had about 1200 chips myself. I guess I was thinking she was going all in a lot and could have had anything. Still a really bad play. Left me severely short stacked at a time when the blinds were moving into the 100 chip range.

Next tourney was tonight just card dead and made an early mistake, literally got confused on which tourney I was looking at, and called a min bet I wouldn't have otherwise. It didn't hurt that bad, but it did lower my stack enough where I was behind more than I should have been at a time when it made a difference.

Third I was doing ok. I limped in a multi-pot with 67. Flop was 358. I put in a half pot bet, just to see where I was. Only 180 chips, but I only had 830 left after that. Two callers. Pot is 800. Turn is a 7. I figure I've got the open ended draw and a pair, so I make the aggressive pot bet, leaving me with 30 chips. One caller. River is a six. I put in my last 30. He hesitates, then calls. He's got Kings. I win with two small pair. I think I played it fairly well. Some might say the potential of a made nine high straight on the turn was too big to be that aggressive, but I think it was reasonable. And the Kings probably should have folded with the possible straight on board and the stiff bet. Not sure if I would in that situation, but I don't slow play high pairs.

So I'm in decent shape at this point. Catch KQ in big blind. Like 6 limpers in front of me. I raise to five hundred. Most of them call. Flop is JTK Pot is huge. 2400. I'm in early position, I bet the pot. Get called. Everyone else folds. Jerk called 5x blind with KT. I'm out of the tourney. Very bitter, but wondering about my pot bet. Someone maybe called with Jacks, Tens, or AK. Probably not Queens, Kings, or Aces. Last two callers probably had odds to call with lesser hands. But I had to make a bet there, I've got to go strong enough to 1)weed out a draw, b)not look like I'm weak and trying to steal the pot or just making a probe bet, and 3)take away automatic pot odd calls. And once I do that, I'm chip committed when KT reraises me. I think I made all the right moves, other than raising stronger there pre-flop. And, frankly, if he's calling a 5x raise under the gun with four people left to act behind him and he's only got KT, I'm not sure he folds to anything. Sticks in my craw, though.

And now I'm $1.50 down net, with only two tournies left to cash in and break even for this round.

First taste of success

2006-11-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

Lost one more 5 dollar tourney tonight, but hit third in one. I played very well, no blow by blow, though. I got lucky once when I hit three of a kind and so did another guy. I was outkicked but hit a boat on the river. That saved me from getting booted early and doubled me up to a nice stack. Then I won a couple big hands and was in the top 3 for most of the tourney. Had a small setback when I caught AQ and raised the short stack. He called 3x and I missed the flop. So I'm in a quandry. I act first. If I check he almost certainly bets something unless he's just a coward or really thinks I'm trapping him. I pretty much have to call anything he bets, because he's at that point where his stack size is less than the pot. On the other hand, his stack size is big enough where I'm gonna lose a good 2k. I went with the aggressive move and bet the pot. He calls. He had JT suited and had hit the flop. I probably should have put him all in to begin with. He might have still called, but that'd have given me more folding equity and kept me from being in a bad post-flop decision.

I got my chips back and even got back in the lead because the chip leader loved his cheap chips. Went all in with Queens (three limpers), he called with A7 suited. Ridiculous call. I mean, this is for a hell of a lot of chips and he's got basically nothing worth calling that big a raise with. Lucky for me he missed, but he came close to his flush.

From there, it was downhill. I got decent cards twice in a row and raised 3x. Both times the guy to my left, now the chip leader, called. First time I missed the flop with AQ and he bet out. I was dubious, but there was a ten or a jack on the board, so I went ahead and folded. Next hand I catch sevens and raise 3x. He calls. Miss the flop, but there's just a Jack on the board, with two under rags. I made a small bet and he reraised me all in. I almost called, but I'm sitting in 5th and the other two are seriously short stacked. So now I'm down to pathetic levels and can't really do anything, because the two chip leaders have me outchipped 6 to 1 each and the short stack only has a third of my stack. Made more sense to let him die. He did, and I actually briefly doubled up, but I just didn't have the cards.

Still, took third. By my calculations, I only need to finish 6th twice and 5th twice every ten of these to more or less break even, so this finish puts me on pace to cover that. One third place finish in four attempts. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.

Round 2, Loss 2

2006-11-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Not a lot to tell. Another 5 dollar 45 man tourney. Early on I called a minimum raise with sixes. Four other callers. Flop was 64Q rainbow. Three checks and an all in. I called. Actually raised all in, but the raise was negligible. Everyone else folds. He turns over 8s. I have around 3700, which is a great start to these things. I'm set to pick my spots until well into the tourney. I needed it, too, because I got no cards for forever and I'm not really the stealing type. I guess I need to work that into my game more, though, at least once in a blue moon, if not regularly.

Had one hand where I had did try to steal, but it wasn't in the best spot. Had suited connectors, 6th position. Problem was, first position limped. I raised, they folded, but he called. Then he bets on the flop. I'm thinking he had a high pair. I actually had a straight draw, but it wasn't worth it to me. Started to worry, but caught AQ suited with two limpers in front of me. I did a pot bet and everyone folded. That helped things a little, but I still needed more. Won a blind from a limp when I was in the BB. Caught AT suited and went all in, making four limpers fold. That netted me about a grand. I was getting in better shape.

Raised with KQ from the button and got one caller after several limpers folded. Flop was 9Q9, two diamonds. He checked, I bet the pot, which was pretty much an all in bet. He looked like he wanted to call, but he folded. I didn't check, but I'm in pretty good shape now. Caught AK. Had a raise in front of me. I reraised.Everyone folded he called. Flop is 7JT. He min bets. I call. Turn is a nine. He min bets. I decide not to see a river and try to raise him off the pot. Fairly stiff raise. He comes over the top. I know I'm beat, but the pot is huge and I've only got a grand left afterwards. Probably smarter to fold. He turns ovewr the straight. I'm a little ticked that he called a reraise with KQ, but my reraise probably wasn't big enough. Bigger than a minimum, but not as big as I should have.

So I'm out 15th. Regret that last hand. Raising there isn't my normal move, and I really should have been more wary from the start. Really disappointed in my play there. I was in good shape to make the final table, too.

Blogging again

2006-11-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm gonna start this here thingee again. I never really had anything to say, and only had two readers, anyway, but we're switching things up here. It's poker blog, basically. I've decided to try these little five and ten dollar 45 man tournies to get some steady cash in. I figure I need to finish 6th twice and fifth once out of every ten tournies to stay just about break even. Anything on top of that is gravy. So I'm journaling to review what I'm doing, what kinds of hands I'm playing, how I'm losing, what my record is, etc. With luck, it'll help my game.

So tonight, just minutes ago, I do my first tourney under the new system. Five dollar, nine table tourney.

1st $85.50
2nd $56.25
3rd $36
4th $22.50
5th $13.50
6th $11.25

Played tight, aggressive. Didn't get many hands. Caught KQ spades fairly early on at the button and one early limper folded and one early limper called. Flop was a bunch of rags, nine high. I led out with a probe bet and he took forever but finally folded. That set me up decently for a while. Ended up getting pretty good respect, which wasn't a great thing. Blinds started to grow and I caught AQ in third position. Raised 3x and everyone folded to me. It's nice to win, but the blinds still weren't high enough to make it worth it. Ended up in a decent pot from the big blind with a couple of limpers. Had 49 off. Flop is 345 rainbow. Pot is 280. I think about putting in a bet, just to see where I am, but out of position and only middle pair, weak kicker, I just checked. Next guy bets 120 and the other guy folds. I go ahead and call, which is kinda weak, but he might have the straight already, so raising wasn't right, and you gotta figure he's weak, too. Nine hits on the turn. I'm feeling good, but afraid of the made straight, so I bet 360 into a 560 pot. Get called. River's a two. Figure there's a good chance he's got an ace, so I check. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Lucky bastard. That hurt, too. That pot would have got me to the final 15 and would have set me up nicely for the final table.

Next hand I'm in the small blind with 10 7 off. Two limpers, I call for the odds, and the BB checks. Flop is 5 Ace 7, two hearts. Everyone checks. Turn is an 8 of clubs. Again, I almost do a probe bet, just to see where I stand, but theace is already there and the 8 is higher than my seven. Ends up we all check again. River is three of clubs. I figure nobody's slow playing at this point, unless an 8 was scared of the ace, so I do a little 120 chip bet. Everyone folds to me. Not a bad pot, but I'm still behind pace.

Five hands later, catch tens in early position. Not sure if I should push or do a 4x raise. Don't really like tens at second to act. Decide to do just a 3x, but I pretty much have to push if anyone raises me or if the flop is anything but an ace, as it's about half my chips for the raise. Again, I get respect and everyone folds to me.

Next hand I catch 8s. Decide to limp this time since I'm under the gun. Guy to my left goes all in and everyone folds to me. His stack is shorter than ine. He could have a big pocket pair, but I'm thinking High cards. Really hard decision for me, tempted to fold. I ask him if he has a pair and he actually tells me no. Ordinarily that'd scare me off, and I did wonder, but decided he was telling the truth and decided to race. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Why he told me, I'll never know. If he said he had a pair, I'd have folded for sure. Flop is 5 10 4, two spades. Turn is a two. Anyone wanna guess the river? Yep. Three. That was harsh. So he doubles up and I'm crippled with like 300 chips left and in the big blind. He says he got lucky, but it was a race, he wasn't far behind, if at all. Get a limper and an all in call in front of me, so I have to call, even with 8 ten off. First guy checks on the flop, second guy bets strong. He's got Queens. I've got nothing. I'm out at 24th.

Played decent, if tight, poker and just got a couple bad breaks. Maybe should have folded the 8s, since I had plenty of time to double up under better circumstances, but I'm gonna have to learn to make calls like that now and then, especially if I play more multi-table tournies.

Post Script:

Took second in a 6 dollar turbo after the loss. To say I got all the breaks back that went against me in the 45 man tourney would be a big understatement. I was dead several times over and kept catching the card that saved me. Anytime they caught a pair, my higher pair also hit. It was amazing. I'd rather my hands in the 45 man tourney held up, if I was gonna get luck in one or the other, but I won't turn it down.

Anyway, $16.20 won there, subtract the $6.50 entrance, and I netted $9.70. Subtract the $5.50 from the other tourney, add 85 cents from taking third in a dollar turbo, and I'm at $5.05 for the night and the next 45 man tourney is almost free. That sounds anal and nit-picky, but my whole plan revolves around cashing in x number of the 45 man tournies out of ten tries to become profitable, so a free try is fairly significant in those terms.

Life's theme song

2005-10-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/member/birthdayno1.php

A fun little link that tells you the number 1 song on the US and UK charts on your birthday.

You can also find your so-called "Life's Theme Song" by the number 1 song on your 18th birthday.

#1 on the day I was born:

Joy to the World by Three Dog Night

Yeah!

My life's theme song:

Like A Prayer by Madonna

Halloween Meme

2005-10-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

Halloween is here at last. Witches, goblins, big black cats.

Leave your answers and post the questions on your blogs with any additions or subtractions you want.

Any plans for Halloween this year?

Any favorite Halloween memories?

What was your best costume?

What's your favorite movie for Halloween?

What was the best spook house you went to?

What's your favorite mood music for Halloween?

What was the best haul you ever got from trick or treating?

What's your favorite spooky story? (Tell it or link to it if you have the time.)

Favorite costume for the opposite sex? (Or the more attractive sex, if that's a more applicable question.)

Who would you most like to find in your trick or treat bag?

What's your favorite Halloween party game?

What was your biggest scare on Halloween? (That scared you, I don't want to hear about your sadistic adventures. Well, o.k., but answer the other one, too.)

Fights I've Fought This Week

2005-09-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. I'm tired of making the same point time after time after time, only to have people come in and make the same faulty point that completely ignores the facts that I've so kindly made available. Yes, I've engaged in net debates and think there's a way to win. Perhaps my parents did raise a fool or two, afterall.

So, in the interest of posterity, these are the fights I've fought this week:

1)No, "global warming" has not increased the frequency or intensity of hurricanes. Nobody is claiming that it has caused an increase in frequency, mostly because there is no increase in frequency of hurricanes. There are normal fluctuations, and we've seen the peak of the fluctuations, but that's not unusual. It's normal. So the next person that claims some expert said "global warming" caused an increase in hurricane frequency, they made it up and there is not a single bit of data to back that up.

There were two recent papers claiming "global warming" may be responsible for a measurable increase in the intensity of hurricanes in recent years. The most recent paper, especially, has been quoted quite a bit in recent weeks. Invariably, this is what people point to when they say they've "heard it suggested" or "read a report". They mean they saw a headline for a story that ended up demonstrating that the guy is a quack and shouldn't be listened to. Most scientists dispute the man's report, call it junk science, and even he admits his methodology had a large margin of error. He has also stated plainly in recent days that "global warming" had nothing to do with Katrina.

So don't tell me what the guy from the World Wildlife Fund said and think you've won points, because the guy from the World Wildlife Fund was taking his conclusions from that same discredited report. Only he doesn't care about his source, because he knows it's been repeated enough that it's now truth by reporting and people will soon safely be able to say Bush is willfully ignoring the proof about global warming and hurricanes because he's such an evil fool, even though the actual data shows no such thing.

2)No, Bush did not cause or contribute to the disaster in New Orleans by cutting anti-disaster funds. Even if he personally cut 100% of the funding, he would not have caused or contributed to the disaster.

The levees were engineered to withstand a category 3 hurricane.

Katrina was a category 5 hurricane.

If you listen to reports on the levees, or do research, you'll find that this disaster has been warned against for many decades. It was "an accident waiting to happen", as has been stated time and time again. This was the worst case scenario hitting in the worst possible way. Fully funding the requested budget would not have averted or ameliorated this disaster. You're falling victim to partisanship at a time when there should be none. Let's at least find all the bodies before you say it's all Bush's fault.

3)No, even if the levee situation in New Orleans had been one of Bush's top priorities when he first entered office, any changes enacted probably wouldn't have gotten far enough in four and a half years to change anything. We're talking about a huge problem that would have taken an enormous amount of time and money to fix.

4)Yes, if the Bush administration has overseen the biggest rollback of constitutional rights in history, I would expect you to be able to give twenty examples. Or ten. Or five. Or more than one. And if you can't, then you've probably lost that argument.

5)No, if someone suggests a scientific theory based on demonstrably and admittedly shaky data and that the foremost experts on the subject have resoundly debunked, we do not have to remain skeptical that the theory is true. That is not how the scientific process operates.

6)No, the CIA operative in question was stationed in Washington, D.C. at the time and was never in any physical danger whatsoever.

7)No, Karl Rove may indeed have done something nasty and petty, but he is inarguably not a traitor and almost definitely not guilty of a crime, if you're going to look at the actual facts of the case at hand. The more facts that have come out about the case, the more evident that has become.

8)Look, the guy that wrote the report admitted his methodology had a wide margin of error, said he ordinarily wouldn't have published such a flimsy report, and flatly stated this week that "global warming" had nothing to do with Katrina. What more do you need?

9)What exactly could Bush have done in response to the disaster that hasn't been done?

10)No, capping the price of gasoline would be a disastrous mistake and would lead to a gas shortage and gas lines. It would be one the worst things Bush could do.

11)Yes, stating that the destructive path of a hurricane was the karmic payback for a region's past actions is a really slimy, pathetic thing to do.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

2005-08-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

I joined up with Real Player's SuperPass thingee a few years back. I honestly don't remember why. It was around fifteen bucks. It gave me access to various stuff from a variety of entertainment sources. I got Big Brother's 24 hour live telecast one year, for example. It was o.k., although I don't watch Big Brother. I got some video from NASCAR.com that let me see parts of a few races I missed. That was nice. Still, it was all coincidental and any value I got from the service had nothing to do with why I signed up. So I tried to cancel once. They asked me why. I told them I just didn't use it. They gave me two free months. At the end of the two months I tried to cancel. They offered to knock the price down to $9.95. I caved. Didn't matter that I never used it. I was getting a deal! (It's a healthy tip that I've used several times in the past few years. You'd be surprised how good a deal you can get if you tell people you want to cancel their service. And if you get no deal, you can always sign up again.)

So then I found out that I got two free music downloads ((my choice) and a free game download (their choice) every month, as part of the service. That made it more attractive, but I still found I couldn't justify paying for a service I almost never used. So I tried to cancel again. They offered to knock the price down to $6.95. I caved. And a month later, I'm just about ready to try to ditch it again, because I don't use the service, don't have room to download games I don't really want, and never seem to remember to download my two songsd a month.

That brings us to tonight. Tonight, Real networks informs me that I now get 10 music downloads a month with no additional charge. Any ten songs in the entire Real Music Store catalog. Every month.

I'm paying $6.95 a month to receive $10.00 worth of music downloads, plus whatever service I can find from the SuperPass. I'll take it. Yes sir. That's the kind of deal I can get behind.

Jedi

2005-08-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

It's been thirteen years in the making.

It's an accomplishment I'm incredibly proud of.

It's almost entirely meaningless to anyone but me.

Tonight, I made Jedi.

Well, not quite. I've posted before about Kobra mud. It's the Star Wars based mud I've been playing for five odd years now. Same one I played for a year or so back in college before losing my internet connection for almost a decade.

You start at level one and advance through solving missions and gaining experience. you get to level 19 and when you next advance, you become a Jedi.

That's how it worked back in '93. Hell, that's how it worked in '03. But things change. When they made mission info legal back in '03 or so, they changed other things and you can only Jedi if you are approved by the current Arches. And they really, really want you to code. And I can't. Just don't know how. So I'm not even going to request approval.

So my character will continue to advance. Now I'm level 20, soon I'll be 21, and on and on.

But in my heart, I've just Jedied.

And it is good.

The end of an era

2005-06-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

They called it "O-Hell". And then they tore it down.

It wasn't a bad dining hall, as dining halls go. I mean, yeah, the food stank, but that's the point. It's a dining hall. But once you got around that fact, it was my dining hall. Most of my meals during my first year of college came from O.Hill. I stole dozens of cookies from the place and took them back to my room. I used to plot ways to steal a gallon or so of their Hawaiian punch and take it home. Never really got around to it. I met some really amazing people in that shitty little dining hall. Had some good times. I just found out that they tore the place down yesterday. I actually feel some honest to goodness loss.

Dave, Steve, Curt, Jeff, Mike, Seuss, Rich. You guys were the best. And O.Hill was part of that. Godspeed, my friend.

Death By Robot

2005-06-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Stroke my ego

2005-05-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Shamelessly stolen from Robson and Tilson. I wonder, does anyone even read this thing anymore? Give answers in the comments, if you please.

Who are you?
Are we friends?
If we've met, when and how did we meet?
What social event or place would you like to go to with me?
Would you kiss me?
Describe me in one word.
What was your first impression?
Do you still think that way about me now?
What reminds you of me?
If you could give me anything what would it be?
How well do you know me?
When's the last time you saw me?
Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
Are you going to put this on your blog and see what I say about you?

Thirty-four.

2005-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

As of April 25th, that's my age. To all my friends who've yet to reach that milestone, I highly recommend it. Seriously, thirty-four is so much cooler than thirty-three. I'm not exactly sure why, either.

The day in question was quite nice, thank you. Nothing big. Went to work, as usual. My brother had told his class that it was my birthday, so I got a bunch of well wishes from four year olds. Some of the twos and threes picked up on it, too. I'd hoped to get off early, but a swing broke on the playground and I'm still in charge of those kinds of things. I think I ticked my boss off a little. She was really agitated that it broke while in use, I guess sending a child for a sudden, if brief, flight. For my part, I was non-plussed. "That's how you know it's broken." I think I actually uttered that at some point. And it's true. It's not like there's any outward indication that the internal structure of the metal has weakened to the point of failure. That's why they call it "internal". You don't know it's going to break until you go to tell the kid not to jump out of the swing and realize the swing jumped out of the kid. Really, I'm not as heartless as I probably sound. It's just that's it's happened before, there's very little chance for injury in the situation, and in fact the child was completely unharmed, and I was a little put off at the idea that somehow I'd failed to properly "check" the swings to prevent this from happening. Again, "internal".

Anyway, brother and sis-in-law and mom and me all get together for mom's stellar spaghetti casserole, cake, and all around good times. I'd kind of wanted to just not do anything at all, but decided not to be a prig about it. I was just kind of moody in the days leading up to the birthday. Not even because of the birthday, just in general. I'm glad I relented, because I had a good time. I don't see my sister-in-law much anymore since she no longer works at the center.

It wasn't the highlight of the festivities, by any means, but I should point out that there were goodies of the presents type. I got some cash that I quickly used for some wrestling dvds. I got the second season dvd set of The Greatest American Hero. That would have been stellar, except I recently found out that the great cover songs from the series weren't included in the second season. That especially sucks since my all-time favorite episode completely revolved around the Barry Maguire classic "Eve of Destruction". The aliens play it for Ralph to warn him of impending disaster and it plays throughout the episode. Not paying for that song was a really bad move, and I'm a little surprised they didn't realize that. Still, I'm glad I've got it. I also scored DOOM3 for my XBox. It's the collectors edition, so it includes the original Ultimate Doom and Doom II. It's a really nice package. The game, as games tend to be for me nowadays, is kind of tough. I'm just slowing down. I'm at a baseball pace and it's at a basketball pace. I want to stop and putter around. Look at stuff, have a decent idea where I am, where I'm supposed to go, and how to get there. It wants me to run around with lights flashing and sirens and screams filling the air and nasty things quickly coming out of the shadows after me. That's another thing. I miss games where I can see what's going on. It seems like ever since they figured out they could do cool things with lighting effects they throw them in as much as they can, wherever they can. For my part, I think it's a shame they create such a wonderfully large and detailed world and then keep you from actually seeing it.

One last word on the birthday. It was the neatest little surprise. I was always a huge fan of The Wild, Wild West when I was growing up. I used to watch it on weekday afternoons with my dad. I got tired of waiting for season sets, so I bit the bullet and have been getting dvds from Columbia. Every 4-6 weeks they charge me thirty bucks and send me two dvds with three episodes on each. I'm around a third of the way through season two. I figure I'll have all four seasons sometime next year. It'll have cost me something like five hundred bucks over two years when it's all said and done, but it's worth it to me.

Anyway, I had a package from Columbia waiting for me when I left for work on Monday. It was my monthly Wild, Wild West fix, and even had one of my all-time favorite episodes, the very first episode I ever saw. It's sentimental. It's pseudo-mysticism, but I appreciated the coincidence of something I have so strongly associated with my dad showing up on my birthday. It's like God's little way of telling me that he (and He) was there with me for my birthday. Even accepting it for the coincidence it was, it was a nice moment that I cherished through the day.

Chess Update

2005-03-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, last October I bought a "Chess for Dummies" book. I mostly got it because I like chess and it was cheap. Super cheap. But I've come to realize that I'm really not very good at chess. I knew I didn't think far enough ahead...being that chess requires you to think three, four, five, or even more moves ahead and I think about half a move ahead. I've come to realize, however, that I've got basic flaws in my game beyond even that severe liability. So I've started reading "Chess for Dummies". I get most of my reading done while I'm watching the kids during naptime, much to my bosses' chagrin. Truth be told, I end up reading ten to thirty pages a day, if I'm lucky, but she seems to think I should be doing something job-related if I'm doing anything during that time. My point is that if I were doing something job-related, it'd be something that would require real concentration and something I'd have to do right and actually make progress on. With a book, the priority is the kids. If I read a page one day, great. If not, it's no big deal. It's more to keep my mind active during two hours when I'd just as soon be taking a nap, too.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that in the 150 pages or so I've read, I've already found several flaws in my game that should be easily correctable and realized how several strategies I've avoided really are critical to success in the game. I haven't played Chessmaster in a couple weeks, so I haven't had a practical test yet, but I'm pretty sure my game's improved. Probably not enough to beat Tilson or waters, but it should give that monkey in Chessmaster a shock!

2005-03-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

My Inner Hero - Wizard!

There are many types of magic, but all require a sharp mind and a cool head. There is no puzzle I can't solve, no problem I can't think my way out of. When you feel confused or uncertain, you can always rely on me to untangle the knots and put everything back in order for you.

How about you? Click here to find your own inner hero.

I can't believe it myself.

2005-02-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

It hasn't officially shipped yet, but the kind folks at Deep Discount DVD will be sending me my Greatest American Hero season 1 set tomorrow. I'll be groovin' to Ralph and Bill this weekend.

I love this show. It's hard to overstate how much I enjoyed it. Bill Maxwell was one of my favorite characters when I was growing up. The super-suit with no instructions and two guys (and a gal) trying to make the best of it and doing a mostly good job for fifty odd minutes every week. I liked that Ralph did actually grow in his powers, both in terms of his command of them and the number of powers he discovered. And I liked that Bill more or less didn't. I still say that Steve Cannell misses out in his Shane Scully novels by not having the Ralph and Bill or the boys from the Scremin' Mimi drop in to help out on a case.

Gif Crazy

2005-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've gone gif crazy. I'll admit it. I'll probably post many more here soon, but here's one of my favorite, taken from someone's sig on the PWTorch wrestling forum. It's the coolest, because you can listen to music and watch them dance and more often than not, they follow the music extremely well.

On Carpenter

2005-01-16T22:39:00.000-08:00

One of the really groovy thing I received for Christmas was JOHN CARPENTER, THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, by Gilles Boulenger. I'd had great hopes for this book. I'm a big fan of many of Carpenter's movies and he's one of the people I'd pick in that "10 People That Most Intrigue Me" list I keep thinking about formulating as message board fodder. The book ended up being one big interview with Carpenter, moving through each movie chronologically and every now and then touching on an event that happened at that time. There are some starter biological and general methodology questions, too, but it's mostly about the movies and craft and themes.

The interview is at times enlightening and at times frustrating. There are way too many examples of Boulenger asking a fairly complex question such as,"Were you using the continuing encroachment of space to up the overall tension?" And Carpenter would answer with a meager, "Yeah." And not in a "That's obvious, let's move on" type way, but simply as "That is correct" with no additional insight. It was sloppy of Boulenger and made one feel the question as a whole was worthless.

One thing that stood out for me with Carpenter was just how many box office failures he's had. I didn't really realize that. It's pretty clear to me, from reading the interview and reflecting on his movies, that Carpenter just needs a small budget. He doesn't seem to have the vision to make his ideas translate to the screen in a way that justifies the budget. Not that he doesn't have a worthy vision, just that it doesn't translate onscreen in a way that will make enough money to recoup a lot of money.

The best gem I took from the book, so far, was his thoughts on his love of German expressionism vs. Russian montage. Not so much as the concepts themselves, but in terms of his films. It's something that is obvious in Halloween, even with not knowing the actual concept, but I appreciated it a lot when I watched The Thing for the first time this weekend. Letting the camera sit and framing the shot to let the suspense build, rather than doing multiple quick cuts. It's a double edged sword, I think, because it can build tension, but it can also make scenes drag a little. I think there's probably a happy medium. I've got ASSULT ON PRECINCT 13 ready to watch, again for the first time, and I'm looking forward to that.

The biggest disappointment I had with the book was not getting any more insight into Carpenter's use of religion in films. There are several mentions, but nothing that I thought fully explored why it is so prevalent in them.

All in all, it was probably worth $20 for a Carpenter fan, although a used copy at half the price and reasonable condition would be a steal. A great attraction to the book were the many pictures, including a middle section of color plates with pictures I thought were freshers than one might expect.

Christmas Booty

2005-01-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks for the thoughts over the holidays. More on that in my journal.

Second, man, I didn't realize how long it had really been since I'd updated these things.

Third, man, I can't believe how hard it's been for me to sit down and update these things, especially since I've got a lot to say and know what I want to start with.

Christmas booty. Christmas isn't about the gifts. I'll say it and say it and say it some more. But they are nice, aren't they? And I got a nice little stash. I thought I'd hit a few high spots over a handful of entries in the next week or so.

I got Chessmaster 9000, which is a solid chess program. One of the best available, in my opinion, especially for the price. I'd gotten interested in chess again after reading Tilson's blog entries about his chess club.

I quickly discovered I still suck at chess. I'm even worse, if that's possible. My problem is I just don't think far enough ahead. And I don't give my opponent enough credit when predicting his next move. Somehow I never factor in that he's not going to ignore what I'm obviously trying to do.

Anyway, it's something I'm determined to work on, if I can make the time. I'm spending way too much time on the computer nowadays, and that's without playing chess. I'm working through the kiddie school on Chessmaster 9000, and the chump players, at that. But it's a good move for me. About time I learned the game correctly. It's been somewhat rewarding, as I'm starting to think about moves with a little more depth. The chump players tend to end up doing something grossly incompetent, which kind of spoils the games, but I just move up a notch after each win. Soon I'll reach a level where there's more consistent skill, but still geared at my level. One day, I might be ready to challenge one of you over on Yahoo Games.

Primtetime

2004-12-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

I hadn't meant to make another wrestling post so soon, but LOOK!

"Primtetime" Elix Skipper does a modified head-scissors/hurricanrana from the top of a six-sided steel cage at last Sunday's TNA PPV, Turning Point. It is my hope that this move, and the cage match that spawned it, will create the kind of buzz that really will end up being a turning point for the sputtering wrestling company. Workers like Skipper should have a place where their work is appreciated.

Cds on Demand

2004-12-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm out of the loop on these kinds of things, so it may be the norm, but I'd gotten some credit for Musicmatch downloads. I had to download the player, which I didn't want to do, since I've got so many now, but I found I quite enjoyed getting one song off an album for 99 cents instead of having to buy the whole thing. I know that's fairly common nowadays, but I had stayed away from it mostly since I went for the dvd player instead of the cd burner when I bought the computer a few years back and don't have an Ipod or its cousins, so downloaded music pretty much stays on my computer, making it less appealing.
Anyway, I started looking into Musicmatch's "On Demand" service, and as of right now, I'm impressed. Maybe the other music download sites and players do this, too, but for a flat fee of ten dollars a month, they let you stream entire albums from their 60,000 cd collection. There are some pretty big names that don't participate, AC/DC being the biggest absence I've noticed.
Overall, though, I've been impressed with how many artists and titles are available. U2, Pink Floyd, The Who, Sting, The Police, pretty much all the big names you'd think of are there. Even better, The Connells, The Pixies, Siouxsie and the Banshees, King Crimson, even the Jesus and Mary Chain are there. Relatively obscure stuff, at least in terms of a service like this. I'm not sure how soon new releases pop up, but I noticed several cd's from just one or two months back were available. As with Netflix, it'll probably save me enough in cd purchases a month to pay for itself. And then there are the cd's I've been interested in but never really wanted to sink money into. Plus, you can acess it from any computer, which is nice. Of course you only stream the music rather than download it, and you can only listen to it while online, but it seems to be a fairly nice, legal way of getting as much music as possible for as little money as possible. Thought some of you might be interested. They've got a seven day free trial for it.
http://www.musicmatch.com/

Thanksgiving with the Superstar

2004-12-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

I spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte this year. My brother and sister-in-law, and mom all went there on Thursday. Stopped at a Cracker Barrell for a pretty good Thanksgiving meal. Not as good as mom's, but it did the trick. It was the first Thanksgiving without dad, and I was more affected than I thought I'd be. Christmas is gonna be bad, but Thanksgiving had been slipping away the past few years, so I didn't think it would be as emotional as it was. But we got through it. And the weekend went well.

We went to Charlotte at my brother's urgings because of the Mid-Atlantic Legends reunion. It's a gathering of old wrestlers and old wrestling fans. It started last February and has spawned a few imitators throughout the year, which have pretty much lost money for the organizers to the point that there may very well be no more. A shame, really. It was poorly run, but still a lot of fun. My brother and sis-in-law had been to the one in February and to an NWA Legends reunion (that's the National Wrestling Alliance, no attitudes there) in Fayetteville, NC back in August, so they knew the agenda, and knew the promoters, and knew a bunch of participants. I'm socially retarded, no social skills whatsoever, so I was impressed with how many people they'd gotten to know from previous events. It was pretty cool to see so many of the wrestlers I'd grown up watching in Danville and Greensboro.

My brother also had a big advantage over me here in that he's been a huge wrestling fan all his life and has an almost encyclopedic memory of everything he's seen. Me, I've got a sieve where my memory is supposed to be and I didn't really watch wrestling on tv til the mid-80s, so I'd go to the cards and enjoy them, but I didn't know many wrestlers by name. I mention it only in that I never really made an effort to meet the wrestlers because I didn't want to just say "I enjoyed watching you way back when". I wanted to be able to tell Ivan Koloff,"I saw you in a cage match in Greensboro against Flair and it was one of the coolest things I'd seen at the time." I mean, I could have done that with Ivan, but there were so many others that I'd have had nothing more to say than "I dug your stuff". I don't know, it just seemed pointless at the time. Better to enjoy seeing them from afar.

Things officially began Friday, but there wasn't a lot scheduled. Q&A sessions with Greg Valentine and Paul Jones. I expected zero from the former and much from the latter, and was fooled both times. Greg had some interesting things to say and I realized I was more interested in his career than I'd thought. Paul couldn't seem to focus and stay on track with his answers. To be fair, his plane had been delayed five hours in Florida and they rushed him straight from the airport to the hotel and he didn't start til ten or so, so I expect he was tired and maybe just a little jet lagged. Valentine was on the same flight and in the same situatioon, but I guess he handled it better. I came down with a bug and slept through most everything Saturday, but I did manage to make a comeback on Sunday. I slept in and missed the autograph session with one of my all time favorite wrestlers, but I made up for it later.

It's in no way an understatement that I am a huge fan of the Masked Superstar. I just loved him as a kid. I'd eventually come to like Ric Flair as much as I liked Superstar. (Superstar went on to the WWF, which didn't run shows down South, and eventually switched from mask to make-up to become Axe of the Demolition tag team, Flair stayed in my area for another decade plus.) My brother liked another masked wrestler, Mr. Wrestling II, but not me. I liked his hated rival, the Masked Superstar. He had a cool mask and ran with cool people and did cool stuff in the ring. He was cool. And I got his autograph Sunday. And I was the biggest, goofiest fanboy while doing so. I stood politely as he was talking to some exhibitors. Finally, I squeaked out a "Superstar?" He didn't hear me. I waited almost five more minutes before trying again. "Superstar?" He noticed me. "Superstar..." I held out my VIP badge. "I only want one signature on this badge. You were my favorite wrestler as a kid, will you do the honor of signing this for me?" To his credit, he didn't laugh at me. He signed it. And by signed it, yes, he wrote the word "Super" and drew a little star under it. It's his signature. It is. It's how he signs his checks. There is no Bill Eadie. There is only Superstar.

Minutes later, I realized he was standing right there, I had my camera around my neck, and I didn't get his picture. As luck would have it, I caught up to him about fifteen minutes later. "Can I get a quick picture?" I asked. "It'll have to be really quick," he replied,"cause I'm on my way to the bathroom." I told him I'd wait.

They also had a raffle where the winner got a ring-worn pullover shirt that was specially made for and autographed by The Masked Superstar. The very same shirt you see him wearing in the picture above. And whose name do you think, out of the hundred or more entries in the raffle, did the Superstar himself pull out of the bag to win that special prize? Yep. My brother's. Heh. Gotta love the irony. I'm actually thrilled Michael won it, though. While I was the bigger Superstar fan, Michael was by far the bigger wrestling fan. I think it meant more to him than it would have to me. Plus, I got a great picture of him. And he shook my hand. And I got his autograph.

Unrequited

2004-11-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

I've got to confess, I'm in love. In love with someone famous who doesn't know I exist. It's not some weird lust thing that would make for a scary third reel in a late night horror movie on regional cable. No, it's not pathetic. It's pure and beautiful and only sad in the gentlest way.

I'm in love with Hilary Hahn. Twenty-four year old, world renowned violinist Hilary Hahn, who can make a violin do things that cause my heart to give my mind a conspiratorial wink and plunge them both in a deep conversation that disturbs me. My first stab at putting that into words was laughably corny, and this isn't much better, but it fits, I tell you. Disturb: afflict, agitate, amaze, arouse, astound, badger, burn up, complicate, confound, confuse, discompose, disrupt, distress, excite, fluster, frighten, interfere, interrupt, intrude, muddle, pain, perplex, pique, provoke, puzzle, rattle, rouse, ruffle, shake, shake up, startle, trouble, unhinge, unnerve, unsettle, vex, worry. Thesaurus.com is my friend.

For several years now, I've been flirting with the arts. I'm an ignorant art tool. I can't speak intelligently about the subject. I like classical music because when I hear Bach's Air I'm awestruck at the beauty of the sound. Wiped out. Spent. I'm moved. That's a pretty good fake, I'll grant myself. But when you scratch the surface, you'll find that I can name a half dozen pieces or so, tops. I can't put a piece to a composer, I almost never can identify a performer by just listening. But I listen. I'm even more dumbfounded by paintings. I don't know this era from that. I'm beginning to recognize artists by style, but I'll be damned if I can analyze purpose or period. I'm at the point where I'll notice the artist used a heck of a lot of red, for example, but I usually figure there must have been a sale. Starving artist, can't afford the blues and greens, you buy what you can and make do. I'm getting cutesy, but my point is, I'm no expert, I have no aspiration toward becoming cultured, but I know what I like.

Which brings me back to Hilary, with whom I am in love. There were days gone by I'd probably have developed a real crush on her. She's not unattractive. She's highly intelligent. She writes extremely well. She has a sense of humor. She plays a mean violin. So, romantic love? Yeah, in another life, maybe. But here and now, I'm in love with the artist. The passion, the sound, the technique that I don't even understand and could never describe in actual musical terms, but I appreciate nonetheless. And as I say, it's not appreciation. It's connection. Contact. She moves me, and I long to move back. Again, there's no freaky pseudo-romance there, just a desire somewhere inside to react. To take that feeling, that agitation, that vexing and return it somehow. I guess that's the impetus behind applause. And I guess that's the impetus behind this post. But someday, I'll use my own limited artistic talent and write a story or sketch or scene, and in my heart I'll recognize it as a note to Hilary, with love.

On being old and geeky.

2004-11-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

Over at Therefore, I must Blog, I realized, in passing, that one day soon we'll have people who won't recognize the term "the tube" to describe a television, because they won't have tubes anymore. (Unless I really have the technology wrong.)

It reminded me of one of my favorite jokes and a "you had to be there" anecdote. It's one of my favorite stories and I guess it should be plunked down somewhere permanent-ish, if only to guarantee that I never be elected to public office.

Actually, this one isn't so bad. Remind me to tell you about the time I met Death.

Anyway, back in college, 1992-'93 or so, I was heavily involved in an online role playing game called Kobra. It was a MUD, a multiple user dungeon/multiple user dimension, basically a role playing game where the NPCs and die rolls and what-not were run by a program and people could log in all over the world and wander around this fantasy world, interacting with each other and all the various monsters and items and completing missions and quests. (I believe the host computer was [and still is] located in Sweden.) It was the forerunner on the online videogaming in much the same way that AD&D was the forerunner to Final Fantasy. Kobra was based on the Star Wars universe, allowing you to kill jawas, encounter droids and familiar characters, and travel deep space from Alderaan to Dagobah to Tatooine. The more foolish of us even dreamed of one day wielding a lightsaber. The game grew very quickly (it was created in '91) grew to include planets with themes from any number of s/f sources. There was the Hitchhiker's guild, the Predator Armour, and ad2029, where you could get mercilessly slaughtered by Terminators.

Turns out Kobra is still alive and relatively well. There are horror stories about the "cannon wars" that resulted in loads of great programmers packing up and leaving as TPTB decided that non-cannonical s/f works were no longer welcome and everything that wasn't Star Wars kosher had to be dumped or recoded so it only vaguely resembled the dreaded non-SW worlds. They also changed things around so giving mission info was illegal. When I was around, you could give a walkthrough over the public channels. The decade also saw the rise of the evil creature known as "Balance", which is Kobra-speak for "Players are getting too good, killing too many things, and getting too much money, how can we make it harder for them?" There isn't a single recorded instance of "balance" resulting in the game becoming easier for players.
On the other hand, there have been some wonderful new additions to Kobra. There are armour and weapon types that will make s/f fans drool. The worlds are bigger, the guilds more varied, and the rewards more rewarding. To top it off, lightsabers are fairly easy to get and use, and there are even more wicked and powerful lightsabers available. Yes, I am a geek. A total geek.

Recent years have even seen another shift in the power structure. In a desperate attempt to keep player interest up, and the fact that those who thought it was a good idea pretty much moved on, the canon-only rule was ditched and some of the old worlds are slowly making their way back.
I am also proud to be the chief instigator of the return of legal mission info. An acquaintence who'd been there forever told me that he'd helped every Jedi (as you complete missions and gain experience and skill, you rise in rank until you become a Jedi and have a say in the coding and running of the mud. Geeks, I tell you) who had Jedi'd since mission info was outlawed had received mission info from him and others. I happened to be running my mouth about it during one session and some Jedi took an informal poll and realized it was true. Mission info is now legal.

Anyway, to back up, after college I had no computer access. I remained mudless until I got a computer and went online in 2000. I eventually made my way back on the mud and even today I'll pop in every now and then and kill a few jawas.

But a couple years ago, I'd gotten pretty heavy into playing again. I'd be on for hours and hours and would sometimes regale my comudders with tales of the old days. Every chance I got, and I also used it on usenet and posting boards as much as I could, I'd throw in my favorite joke, "I was on way back in '93. 'Course back then we all had Commodore 64s and connected to our modems via rotary dial."

Seriously, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that joke. It makes me smile even now. A couple of people even understood it. It was a couple years after I started making that joke that someone on Kobra asked, genuinely clueless, "What's a rotary dial?"

And that was when I knew I'd become old. I not only remember rotary dial phones, I've used one. One of my favorite toys from my maternal grandparents house on Lee Street was there big black rotary dial phone. I was fascinated with it. You stuck your finger in, pulled the dial around, let go, and it made such a wonderful sound as it wound back to its starting point. I even figured out that you could dial a number without touching the metal finger guard if you stuck your finger one hole past the number you wanted and stopped one hole short before hitting the guard. Forget Fisher-Price. Ma and Grandaddy's big black rotary dial phone taught me cognitive reasoning skills.

And now I have to come to grips with the idea that in a few years, people won't realize you used to "dial in" to your modem.

We Know Who you Are. We Know Where You Live.

2004-11-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying a few web searches, trying to find the long lost Mike. Mike, one of the five finest people I've ever known. Funny how those five people were in my life in the exact same place at the exact same time. I caught up with Mike several years back, but lost him again. Through a couple of longshots, I think I may just have him. I've got a phone number to try out and we'll see.

While I love the fact that I may have found the long lost Mike again, it's disturbing just how readily available the information I found was. The only reason it was a last ditch, longshot that got me the information was that I, being the naive sort, figured the resource advertised was a gimmick or only worked if people plugged their information into it.

Nope.

It pretty much nailed everybody I know. First and last name and a year of birth and I've got possible addresses on a bunch of people I haven't thought about in years. Plug in the name and the possible city, and I've got a phone number and street address for all these people. If I had the money, I'd have full criminal background checks.

Frankly, I know what a couple of you ate last night. The information age is a wonderful and scary thing.

Now, the process wasn't perfect. I'm pretty sure that one friend left Charlottesville several years back, for example. Still, it was dead on accurate and up to date many more times than not.

The upside of maybe finding Mike and finding out that one of my long lost friends is listed on the imdb in the role of "Loud Sex Neighbor" leaves me giddy at my junior grade people spying, but I can't help but be the teensiest bit apprehensive about the ramifications of that much information being so freely and readily available. I don't want to overstate it, but it made me stop and think a minute.

First things first

2004-11-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

And here I am, blogging at last. Welcome.

It should be noted this is, in fact, my third Blog. My first is my Live Journal, Therefore, I Must Blog. I'm not entirely sure if Live Journal realizes it is a blog or if it has pretensions that it is not, so maybe I'm stepping on toes calling it a blog, but I liked the title.

My second blog was on blogspot and was titled Blah, Blah, Blog. I am proud to announce that because of my computer ignorance, I completely and utterly fried my second blog into uselessness. I can't even get in to try to save the poor critter. I can't even delete it. It's dead, Jim.

And that brings me to my third blog, The Blah, Blah, Blog.

As to why I've got more than one blog, it's mostly answered in the LiveJournal.